(1) It is necessary to believe that God’s words are conclusively the truth. They should be accepted and obeyed, whether or not they are in line with human notions or can be comprehended;

(2) It is necessary to accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. Only thus can one come to know the essence and truth of their own corruption and purify their corrupt disposition;

(3) When one does not understand some of God’s words, they should pray to Him, seek the truth, and focus on practice and experience. Only thus can one understand the truth and enter reality;

(4) It is necessary to practice and experience the words of God. Only thus can one gain an understanding of the truth and knowledge of God, and only thus can one confirm that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.

Relevant Words of God:

The words I speak are truths directed at all mankind; they are not addressed only to a specific person or type of person. Therefore, you should concentrate on understanding My words from the standpoint of the truth, and must have an attitude of undivided attention and sincerity; do not ignore a single word or truth that I speak, and do not treat all of the words I speak lightly. In your lives, I see that you have done much that is irrelevant to the truth, and so I expressly ask that you become servants of the truth, that you not be enslaved by wickedness and ugliness, and that you do not trample on the truth or defile any corner of the house of God. This is My admonition to you.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Three Admonitions

I hope only that you are able not to let the pains I have taken go to waste, and, more than that, that you can understand the thoughtful care I have taken, and treat My words as the foundation of how you behave as a human being. Whether or not they are the kind of words to which you are willing to listen, whether or not you enjoy accepting them or can only accept them with discomfort, you must treat them seriously. Otherwise, your casual and unconcerned dispositions and demeanors will upset Me seriously and, indeed, disgust Me. I very much hope all of you can read My words over and over again—thousands of times—and that you may even come to know them by heart. Only in this way will you be able not to fail My expectations of you. However, none of you is living like this now. On the contrary, you are all immersed in a debauched life, a life of eating and drinking to your heart’s content, and none of you uses My words to enrich your heart and soul. For this reason, I have come to a conclusion about mankind’s true countenance: Man can betray Me at any time, and no one can be absolutely faithful to My words.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (1)

I have given you many warnings and bestowed upon you many truths intended to conquer you. By now, you all feel significantly more enriched than you did in the past, have come to understand many principles of how a person should be, and you have come to possess so much of the common sense that faithful people should have. All of this is the harvest you have reaped over the course of many years. I do not deny your achievements, but I must also say quite frankly that I also do not deny the numerous disobediences and rebellions you have committed against Me over these many years, for there is not one saint among you. You are, without exception, people who have been corrupted by Satan; you are enemies of Christ. To date, your transgressions and disobediences have been too numerous to count, so it can hardly be considered strange that I am always badgering you. I do not wish to coexist with you in this manner—but for the sake of your futures, for the sake of your destinations, I will, here and now, nag you once more. I hope you will indulge Me and, moreover, that you will be able to believe My every utterance and infer the deep implications of My words. Do not doubt what I say, let alone pick up My words as you wish and toss them aside at will; this I find intolerable. Do not judge My words, and still less should you take them lightly or say that I am always tempting you or, worse, that what I have told you is inaccurate. These things I also find intolerable. Because you treat Me and what I say with such suspicion, never taking My words on board and ignoring Me, I tell each of you in all seriousness: Do not link what I say with philosophy; do not link My words with the lies of charlatans. Much less should you respond to My words with contempt.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Transgressions Will Lead Man to Hell

The truth is the reality of all positive things. It can be the life of man and the direction in which he travels; it can lead one to cast off their corrupt disposition, to come to fear God and shun evil, to become one who obeys God and a qualified created being, one whom God loves and who meets with His favor. Given its preciousness, what attitude and perspective should one have in regarding God’s words and the truth? It is quite obvious: For those who truly believe in God and have a heart of reverence for Him, His words are their lifeblood. Man should treasure God’s words, and eat and drink of them, and enjoy them, and accept them as his life, as the direction in which he makes his way, as his ready aid and provision; man should live, practice, and experience in accordance with the statements and requirements of the truth, and submit to its demands of him, to each of the statements and requirements that the truth grants to him, rather than subjecting it to study, analysis, speculation, and doubt. As the truth is man’s ready aid, his ready provision, and can be his life, man should treat the truth as the most precious thing, for he must rely on the truth to live, to come to satisfy God’s demands, fearing Him and shunning evil, and to find within his daily life the path on which to practice, grasping the principles of practice and achieving submission to God. Man must also rely on the truth to cast off his corrupt disposition, to become one who is saved and a qualified created being.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Despise the Truth, Flagrantly Violate the Principles, and Disregard the Arrangements of God’s House (Part Seven)

When receiving the judgment of God’s words, we must not fear suffering, nor should we be afraid of pain, and much less should we fear that God’s words will pierce our hearts. We should read more of His utterances about how He judges and chastises us and exposes our corrupt essences. We must read them and hold ourselves up to them more. Do not compare others to them—we must compare ourselves against them. We are not lacking in any single one of these things; we can all square with them. If you do not believe it, go experience it yourself. After reading God’s words, some people are incapable of applying them to themselves; they think that parts of these words are not about them, but are instead about other people. For example, when God exposes people as sluts and whores, some sisters feel that because they have been unerringly faithful to their husbands, such words must not be in reference to them; some sisters feel that since they are unmarried and have never had sex, such words must not be about them, either. Some brothers feel that these words are only aimed at women, and have nothing to do with them; some people believe that such words of God are too unpleasant-sounding, and refuse to accept them. There are even people who say that in some instances, God’s words are wrong. Is this the right attitude to have toward God’s words? People are incapable of reflecting upon themselves based on God’s words. Here, “sluts” and “whores” refer to people’s corruption of promiscuity. Whether man or woman, married or not married, everyone is possessed of the corruption of promiscuity—so how can it have nothing to do with you? God’s words expose people’s corrupt dispositions; whether male or female, one’s level of corruption is the same. Is this not fact? Prior to doing anything else, we have to realize that we must accept every one of the words spoken by God, whether these utterances are pleasant-sounding or not and whether they give us a bitter feeling or a sweet one. Such is the attitude we should have toward God’s words. What sort of attitude is this? Is it a devout attitude, a patient attitude, or an attitude of embracing suffering? I tell you that it is not any of these. In our faith, we must firmly maintain that God’s words are the truth. Since they are indeed the truth, we should accept them rationally. Whether or not we are able to recognize or admit it, our first attitude toward God’s words should be one of absolute acceptance. Every single line of God’s words pertains to a specific state. That is, none of the lines of His utterances are about external appearances, much less about external rules or a simple form of behavior in people. They are not like that. If you see every line uttered by God as being about a simple kind of human behavior or external appearance, then you have no spiritual understanding and you do not understand what the truth is. God’s words are profound. How are they profound? Everything that God says, everything that He reveals, is about people’s corrupt dispositions, and essential and deep-rooted things within their lives. They are essential things, not external appearances, and particularly not external behaviors. Viewing people from their external appearance, they might all seem to be fine. Why, then, does God say that some people are evil spirits and some are unclean spirits? This is a matter that is not visible to you. Thus, you cannot rely on appearance or what you see from the outside to hold up to God’s words. After being fellowshiped to thusly, have you experienced a change in your attitude toward God’s words? No matter how great or small the change, the next time you read such words, you at least will not try to reason with God. You will not say, “God’s words are really hard to listen to; I’m not going to read this page. I’ll just skip over it! Let me search for something to read about blessings and promises, so as to find some comfort.” You must not pick and choose what you read like that.

—“The Importance of Pursuing the Truth and the Path of Pursuing It” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Some people equip themselves with the truth to help others and to serve God, and to lead the church properly. Is this view correct? Irrespective of how many messages you have heard or what your plans are, let Me tell you what is most critical and which view is the most correct: Whatever duty you perform, and whether or not you are a leader, you must first check yourself against God’s words and implement them within yourself. Do not treat these words as a tool to do work or as things you have accumulated while working. If you succeed in all of this, then you will surely be able to do your work well. If you always want to measure other people against these words, carry them out on other people, or regard them as capital for your own work, then you are in trouble; it means you are walking the path of Paul. This is the absolute truth. Because you have this view, you undoubtedly treat these words as doctrine and theory, and you wish to disseminate them and do the work—and this is a very dangerous thing. If you measure yourself against God’s words, and start by putting them into practice yourself, then the first one to change and attain entry will be you. Only if you yourself gain something will you have the stature, qualifications, and ability to do well in the work you must do. If you are without stature, have no experience, and have not gained entry, then you are working blindly, and are running about blindly, and there is no real outcome to this. Whichever aspect of the truth reality you have heard, if you hold yourself up against it, implement these words in your own life, and incorporate them into your own practice, then you will definitely gain something, and you are bound to change. If you simply stuff these words into your belly and memorize them in your brain, then you will never change. Whilst listening to the sermons, you should ponder thusly: “What sort of state are these words referring to? What aspect of essence are they referring to? In what matters should I apply this aspect of the truth? Whenever I do something related to this aspect of the truth, am I practicing in accordance with it? And when I’m putting it into practice, is my state in keeping with these words? If not, then should I seek, fellowship, or wait?” Do you practice in this manner in your lives? If you do not, then your life is without God and without the truth. You live according to letters and doctrines or according to your own interests, confidence, and enthusiasm. Those who do not possess the truth as reality are those who have no reality, and people who do not have God’s words as their reality are people who have not entered His words. Do you understand what I am saying? It is best if you are, but regardless of what your understanding of them is, and of how much you have comprehended of what you have heard, the crucial thing is that you are able to introduce what you have grasped into your life and put it into practice. Only then will your stature be able to grow, and only then will changes occur in your disposition.

—“The Most Fundamental Practice of Being an Honest Person” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Many people hold up God’s words to read day by day, even to the point of carefully committing to memory all the classic passages therein as their most prized possession, and moreover preach God’s words everywhere, providing and aiding others with God’s words. They think that to do this is to bear witness to God, to bear witness to His words, that to do this is to follow God’s way; they think that to do this is to live by God’s words, that to do this is to bring His words into their actual lives, that doing this will enable them to receive God’s commendation, and to be saved and perfected. But, even as they preach the words of God, they never comply with God’s words in practice, or try to compare themselves against what is revealed in God’s words. Rather, they use God’s words to gain the adoration and trust of others by trickery, to enter into management on their own, and to embezzle and steal God’s glory. They hope, vainly, to exploit the opportunity afforded by spreading God’s words so as to be awarded God’s working and His commendation. How many years have gone by, but not only have these people been incapable of earning God’s commendation in the process of preaching God’s words, and not only have they been incapable of discovering the way that they should follow in the process of bearing witness to God’s words, and not only have they not aided or provided for themselves in the process of aiding and providing others with God’s words, and not only have they been incapable of knowing God, or awakening in themselves genuine reverence for God, in the process of doing all these things; but, on the contrary, their misunderstandings about God grow ever deeper, their mistrust of Him ever graver, and their imaginings about Him ever more hyperbolic. Supplied and guided by their theories about God’s words, they appear as if completely in their element, as if plying their skills with effortless ease, as if they have found their purpose in life, their mission, and as if they have won new life and been saved, as if, with God’s words rolling crisply off their tongue in recital, they have gained the truth, grasped God’s intentions, and discovered the path to knowing God, as if, in the process of preaching God’s words, they often have come face to face with God. Also, they are often “moved” to bouts of weeping, and, often led by the “God” in God’s words, they appear to be ceaselessly grasping at His earnest solicitude and kind intention, and at the same time to have grasped God’s salvation of man and His management, to have come to know His essence, and to have understood His righteous disposition. Based on this foundation, they seem to believe even more firmly in God’s existence, to be more cognizant of His exalted state, and to feel even more deeply His grandeur and transcendence. Steeped in superficial knowledge of God’s words, it would appear that their faith has grown, their resolve to endure suffering has strengthened, and their knowledge of God has deepened. Little do they know that, until they actually experience God’s words, all their knowledge of God and their ideas about Him come out of their own wishful imaginings and conjecture. Their faith would not hold up under any kind of test from God, their so-called spirituality and stature would simply not hold up under God’s trial or inspection, their resolution is but a castle built upon the sand, and their so-called knowledge of God no more than a figment of their imagination. In fact, these people, who have, as it were, put a lot of effort into God’s words, have never ever realized what is real faith, what is real obedience, what is real caring, or what is real knowledge of God. They take theory, imagination, knowledge, gift, tradition, superstition, and even the moral values of humanity, and make them into “capital” and “weaponry” for believing in God and following Him, even making them into the foundations of their belief in God and their following Him. At the same time, they also take this capital and weaponry and make them into magic talismans through which they know God, for facing and dealing with God’s inspections, trials, chastisement, and judgment. In the end, what they garner still consists of nothing more than conclusions about God that are steeped in religious connotation, in feudal superstition, and in all that is romantic, grotesque, and enigmatic. Their way of knowing and defining God is stamped in the same mold as that of people who believe only in Heaven Above, or the Old Man in the Sky, while God’s realness, His essence, His disposition, His possessions and being, and so forth—all that relates to the real God Himself—are things that their knowledge has failed to grasp, from which their knowledge is completely divorced, and even as far apart as the north and south poles. In this way, although these people live under the provision and nourishment of God’s words, they are nevertheless unable truly to tread the path of fearing God and shunning evil. The true reason for this is that they have never become acquainted with God, neither have they ever had genuine contact or communion with Him, and so it is impossible for them to arrive at mutual understanding with God, or to awaken in themselves genuine belief in, following of, or worship for God. That they should thus regard God’s words, that they should thus regard God—this perspective and attitude has doomed them to return empty-handed from their endeavors, has doomed them to never in all eternity be able to tread the path of fearing God and shunning evil. The goal for which they are aiming, and the direction in which they are going, signifies that they are God’s enemies through eternity, and that through eternity they will never be able to receive salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. Preface

God expresses the truth for people who thirst for the truth, seek the truth, and love the truth. As for those who concern themselves with letters and doctrines and like to give lengthy, pompous speeches, they will never gain the truth; they are fooling themselves. Such people have an incorrect view of reading God’s words; they twist their necks to read that which is upright—their perspective is all wrong. Some people only know to research the words of God, studying what He says about being blessed and about man’s destination. If God’s words do not fit their notions, they become negative and halt their pursuit. This shows that they are not interested in the truth. As a result, they do not take the truth seriously; they are only capable of accepting the truth of their notions and imagination. Although such people are fervent in their belief in God and try every way they can to do some good deeds and present themselves well to others, they are only doing it in order to have a good destination in the future. Despite the fact that they also engage in church life, eating and drinking of God’s words along with everyone else, they have difficulty in entering truth reality and gaining the truth. There are still others who eat and drink of the words of God, but who merely go through the motions; they think they have gained the truth simply by having come to understand a few letters and doctrines. What fools they are! The word of God is the truth. However, one will not necessarily understand and gain the truth after they read God’s words. If you fail to gain the truth through eating and drinking the words of God, then what you gain will be letters and doctrines. You do not know what it means to gain the truth. You may hold the words of God in the palm of your hand, but after reading them you still fail to understand God’s will, you only acquire some letters and doctrines. First of all, you should realize that the word of God is not so straightforward; the word of God is utterly profound. Without many years of experience, how could you possibly understand the word of God? Even one sentence of God’s words will require your lifetime to fully experience. You read the words of God, but you do not understand God’s will; you do not understand the intentions of His words, their origin, the effect they seek to achieve, or what they seek to accomplish. If you understand none of these things, then how can you understand the truth? You may have read God’s words many times and perhaps you can recite many passages by heart, but you still have not changed at all, nor have you made any progress. Your relationship with God is just as distant and estranged as ever. There are still barriers between you and God, as before, and you still remain doubtful toward Him. Not only do you not understand God, but you give excuses to Him and harbor notions about Him. You resist Him and even blaspheme Him. How could this mean you have gained the truth? Though everyone has a copy of God’s word that they read every day, and they write down the enlightenment they receive from fellowshiping on the truth, in the end, different people achieve different effects. Some focus on doctrines, while others focus on their practice. Some prefer to study that which is profound and mysterious, while others prefer to learn about man’s future destination. Some prefer to study the administrative decrees, while some look for words of consolation, and others prefer to read the prophecies—the things that people focus on are different. Some people prefer to read the words the Holy Spirit says to the churches and want to be “My sons.” But what will such people get in the end? Nowadays, there are some new believers who say: “Look at how comforting the word of God is! ‘My sons, My sons!’ Who else in the world could provide us such consolation?” They do not understand for whom these words are intended. Even after accepting God’s new work for one or two years, some people still fail to understand and still shamelessly say these things, without reddening or feeling ashamed. Is this understanding the truth? They do not even understand God’s will, but they dare assume the status of God’s sons! What do such people learn from the word of God? All they do is misinterpret the word of God! Those who do not love the truth will never gain the truth, though they read the word of God. When someone has no love for the truth, they will not pay attention to it no matter how much you fellowship with them. Those who love the truth, after reading the words of God, will seek to grasp God’s will; they will investigate, and fellowship on the truth with others. Only this kind of person has hope of gaining the truth.

—“Only Those With Truth Reality Can Lead” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Listening to the word of God and obeying God’s requirements is man’s heaven-sent vocation; what God says is no business of man. No matter what God says, what God asks of man, the identity, essence, and status of God do not change—He is always God. When you have no doubt that He is God, your only responsibility, the only thing you should do, is to listen to what He says; this is the path of practice. A creature of God should not study, analyze, explore, reject, contradict, disobey, or deny the words of God; this is abhorred by God, and not what He wishes to see in man. So just what is the path of practice? It is actually very simple: Learn to listen, listen with your heart, accept with your heart, understand and comprehend with your heart, and then go and do, carry out, and execute with your heart. What you hear and comprehend in your heart is closely connected to what you put into practice. Do not separate the two; everything—what you practice, what you obey, what you do by your own hand, everything you run around for—is connected to what you hear and comprehend in your heart, and in this, you will achieve obedience to the words of the Creator. This is the path of practice.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Three: How Noah and Abraham Listened to God’s Words and Obeyed Him (Part Two)

Noah was an ordinary member of humankind who worshiped and followed God. When God’s words came upon him, his attitude was not to procrastinate, delay, or take his time. Instead, he listened to God’s words with great seriousness, he listened to God’s every utterance with great care and attention, diligently trying to take in and remember everything that God commanded of him, not daring to let anything pass him by. In his attitude toward God, and God’s words, was the fear of God, which showed that God had a place in his heart, and that he was obedient unto God. He listened closely to what God said, to the content of God’s words, to what God asked of him. He listened attentively—not analyzing, but accepting. There was no refusal, antipathy, or intolerance in his heart; instead, he calmly, carefully, and attentively noted, in his heart, every word and thing that God asked of him. After God gave him each instruction, Noah recorded, in detail and by his own means, everything that God had said and entrusted to him. Then he put aside his own labors, broke with the routines and plans of his old life, and began preparing for all that God had entrusted him to do, and all the supplies required for the ark that God had asked him to build. He dared not neglect any of God’s words, or any of what God asked, or any detail of what was required of him in God’s words. By his own means, he recorded the main points and particulars of all that God asked and entrusted to him, then pondered and reflected on them, over and over. Next, Noah went in search of all the materials that God had asked him to prepare. Naturally, after each instruction God gave him, he, in his own way, made detailed plans and arrangements for all that God had commissioned of him and instructed him to do—and then, step-by-step, he implemented and executed his plans and arrangements, and every detail and individual step of what God asked. Throughout the whole process, everything Noah did, whether great or small, whether remarkable or not in man’s eyes, was what he had been instructed to do by God, and was what had been spoken of and required by God. From all that was exhibited in Noah after he accepted God’s commission, it is evident that his attitude toward God’s words was not merely one of just listening, and nothing more—much less was it the case that after hearing these words, Noah chose a time when he was in a good mood, when the environment was right, or when the timing was favorable to carry this out. Instead, he put aside his own labors, broke with his life’s routine, and made the construction of the ark that God had ordered the biggest priority in his life and existence from then onward. His attitude toward God’s commission and God’s words was not casual, perfunctory, or capricious, much less was it one of rejection; instead, he listened carefully to God’s words, and put his heart into remembering and pondering them. His attitude toward God’s words was one of acceptance and obedience. To God, only this is the attitude that a true creature of God should have toward His words. There was no refusal, no half-heartedness, no willfulness in this attitude, nor was it adulterated by human intent; it was, wholly and completely, the attitude that a created being ought to have.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Three: How Noah and Abraham Listened to God’s Words and Obeyed Him (Part Two)

Abraham was an honest man. He had but one attitude toward God’s words: to listen, accept, and obey. He listened to whatever God said; if God said something was black, even if it didn’t look black to Abraham, he believed without question that it was black. If God said something was white, it was white. That’s how simple it was. When God said He would give him a child, he thought to himself, “I am a hundred years old. If God says He is going to give me a child, then I give thanks to God, I thank my Lord.” He didn’t overthink things; he just believed in God. And what was the essence of this belief? He believed in the essence and identity of God; his knowledge of the Creator was true. He was not like some people, who say out loud that they believe that God is possessed of the power to create all things, and that God made humankind, and yet in their hearts are doubtful: “Aren’t we evolved from apes? Why didn’t I see it when God created all things?” Every time they hear God speak, there are big question marks in their hearts. Every fact, thing, and instruction spoken by God they have to minutely, diligently, and cautiously study and analyze; otherwise, if they’re not careful, they could be tricked, and taken advantage of. But Abraham wasn’t like this. His heart was pure, he listened to God’s words with a pure heart, and though, when God spoke this time, it pained him, he chose to still believe and obey; he believed that God’s words would not change, that they would become reality, that they were what should be carried out and obeyed by created humankind; faced with God’s words, created mankind had no right to choose, much less should it study or analyze. Such was Abraham’s attitude toward God’s words. And so, even though it pained him greatly, even though, because of his attachment, love, and adoration toward his son, he felt the utmost stress and suffering, still he chose to give his son back to God. Why did he have to return him to God? If God had not asked, he need not take it upon himself to return his son—but once God asked, he had to give him back to God; he had no excuses, people shouldn’t try to reason with God; this was Abraham’s attitude. Such was the pure heart with which he obeyed God: This was what God wanted, and it was what God wished to see. What Abraham accomplished in offering up Isaac, and what was exhibited in him before God, was what God wished to see, and was God’s test of him. And yet, God did not treat Abraham as He treated Noah. He did not tell Abraham the whole story, the process, everything behind this matter. Abraham only knew one thing: God has asked him to return Isaac, that is all. He did not know that in doing this, God was testing him, nor was he aware of what, after being subjected to this test, God wished to accomplish in him and his descendants. God didn’t tell him everything, He just gave him a simple instruction, a request. And though these words of God were very simple, and cold-blooded, yet as expected, Abraham did as God wished and required: He sacrificed Isaac upon the altar. Everything he did shows that his offering wasn’t just a formality, he was not just going through the motions, but was sincere from his inmost heart. Even though he couldn’t bear to, even though it pained him, when faced with what the Creator asked, Abraham chose that method which any member of humankind would not: Absolute obedience to what the Creator asked, obedience without compromise, without excuses, and without any conditions—he did whatever God asked. And what was found in him, that he could do what God asked? Partly, there was in him the true faith in God; he was sure that the Creator was God, his God, his Lord, the One who ruled over all things and had created humankind. This was true faith. Partly, his was a pure heart. He trusted in every word uttered by the Creator, and was able to simply and straightforwardly accept every word uttered by the Creator. And partly, no matter how great the difficulty of what the Creator asked, how much pain it would bring him, the attitude he chose was obedience, not trying to reason with God, or push back, or refuse, but complete and total obedience, acting and implementing according to what God asked, according to His every word, and every order issued. As God asked and wished to see, Abraham sacrificed Isaac on the altar, he sacrificed him to God—and all that he did proved that God had chosen the right person, that in God’s eyes, he was righteous.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Three: How Noah and Abraham Listened to God’s Words and Obeyed Him (Part Two)

It is God’s people who treasure God’s word, who cherish God’s word, who venerate God’s word, who respect every word and sentence that God says as well as how He speaks, the perspective from which He speaks, and what He says in each passage. Only God’s enemies often mock and scorn His words. They hold them in disdain. They do not treat God’s words as the truth, as words pronounced by the Creator. As such, in their hearts, they often desire to tamper with God’s words and interpret them arbitrarily. They attempt to use their ways, their modes of thought and the logic of their thinking to alter God’s words, so that they conform to corrupt human tastes, corrupt human points of view, and corrupt human thinking and philosophy, in an effort to win acclaim from more people in the end. God’s word is God’s word, whatever it is about, however it is communicated, and from whichever perspective it is spoken. In order that corrupt mankind can more readily understand, better appreciate, and more easily gain the word of God, so that they can understand the truth in His words, God often uses human languages, human methods, as well as ways, tone of speech, and logic that are much easier for people to comprehend, to explain His will and to tell mankind of that which they should enter. Yet it is precisely these inconspicuous methods and this inconspicuous tone, and inconspicuous words that are exploited by antichrists to bring charges against God and to deny that His word is truth. Antichrists frequently compare God’s word to knowledge and the writings of renowned personages, and even compare God’s word with the speeches, phrasing, tone of speech, and moral integrity of well-known individuals. The more they compare them so, the less they feel God’s word is worthy of mention, the shallower they think it is, and the more they want to alter it, to correct God’s words, His tone and His style, as well as the perspective from which He speaks. No matter how God speaks or how much mankind benefits from what God has to say, antichrists do not regard God’s word as the truth. In God’s words, they do not seek the truth, or the principles of practice, or the way of entry into life; rather, they unfailingly approach them with a mind to research them, to study them, regarding God’s words with such an attitude of intensive research and investigation. And researching them this way and that, investigating them through and through, they continue in their belief that there are many places in God’s words that need to be altered, that need to be “fixed.” So, from the day an antichrist comes into contact with God’s words and even after being a believer for ten, twenty, thirty years, contrary to what others say, in their heart of hearts, not only do they still not think that God’s word has life or truth in it, they do not believe that it is the gate into the kingdom or the way leading to heaven. They do not see it. They cannot discover it. What, then, do they think? “Why is it that the longer I believe, the more I feel that God’s words are nothing special? The longer I believe, the more I believe that there is no truth in these words of God.” What is this? Is it a good sign or a bad sign? (It is a bad one.) How is it bad? Once your faith has come to such a point, will that be all there is to it? Will you be done believing?

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Despise the Truth, Flagrantly Violate the Principles, and Disregard the Arrangements of God’s House (Part Five)

Originally, I wished to supply you with more truths, but I have had to refrain from this because your attitude toward the truth is much too cold and indifferent; I do not wish for My efforts to be wasted, nor do I wish to see people holding My words yet in all regards doing that which resists Me, maligns Me, and blasphemes Me. Because of your attitudes and your humanity, I merely supply you with a small and, for you, very important part of My words, which serves as My trial work among mankind. Only now have I truly confirmed that the decisions and plan I have made fit your needs and, moreover, that My attitude toward mankind is the correct one. Your many years of behavior before Me have given Me an answer without precedent, and the question to this answer is: “What is man’s attitude before the truth and the true God?” The efforts I have devoted to man prove My essence of love for man, and man’s every action before Me proves his essence of loathing toward the truth and opposition to Me. At all times, I am concerned for all who follow Me, yet at no time are those who follow Me able to receive My words; they are not even able to accept My suggestions. This is what saddens Me most of all. No one has ever been able to understand Me and nor, moreover, has anyone ever been able to accept Me, even though My attitude is sincere, and My words are gentle. Everyone tries to do the work I have entrusted to them according to their own ideas; they do not seek My intentions, let alone do they ask what I require of them. They still claim to serve Me loyally, all while they rebel against Me. Many believe that the truths that are unacceptable to them or that they cannot practice are not truths. In such people, My truths become something that is denied and cast aside. At the same time, people recognize Me as God in word, yet also believe Me an outsider who is not the truth, the way, or the life. No one knows this truth: My words are the forever unchanging truth. I am the supply of life for man and the only guide for mankind. The worth and meaning of My words are not determined by whether they are recognized or accepted by mankind, but by the essence of the words themselves. Even if not a single person on this earth can receive My words, the value of My words and their help to mankind are inestimable to any man. Therefore, when faced with the many people who rebel against, refute, or are utterly contemptuous of My words, My stance is only this: Let time and facts be My witness and show that My words are the truth, the way, and the life. Let them show that all I have said is right, that it is that which man should be furnished with and, moreover, that which man should accept. I will let all who follow Me know this fact: Those who cannot fully accept My words, those who cannot practice My words, those who cannot find a purpose in My words, and those who cannot receive salvation because of My words, are those who have been condemned by My words and, moreover, have lost My salvation, and My rod shall never stray from them.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Ought to Consider Your Deeds