Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

Because there are always new developments in God’s work, there is work that becomes obsolete and old as new work arises. These different types of work, old and new, are not contradictory, but complementary; each step follows from the last. Because there is new work, the old things must, of course, be eliminated. For example, some of the long-established practices and habitual sayings of man, coupled with man’s many years of experience and teachings, have formed all manner and form of notions in the mind of man. That God has yet fully to reveal His true face and inherent disposition to man, along with the spread, over many years, of traditional theories from ancient times have been yet more propitious to man’s formation of such notions. It may be said that, over the course of man’s belief in God, the influence of various notions has led to the continual formation and evolution of all sorts of notional understandings of God in people, which has caused many religious people who serve God to become His enemies. So, the stronger people’s religious notions are, the more they oppose God, and the more they are the enemies of God. The work of God is always new and never old; it never forms doctrine, instead continually changing and being renewed to a greater or lesser extent. Working in this way is an expression of the inherent disposition of God Himself. It is also the inherent principle of God’s work, and one of the means by which God accomplishes His management. If God did not work in this way, man would not change or be able to know God, and Satan would not be defeated. Thus, in His work, changes continually occur that appear erratic, but which are actually periodic. The way in which man believes in God, however, is quite different. He clings to old, familiar doctrines and systems, and the older they are, the more palatable they are to him. How could the foolish mind of man, a mind that is as intransigent as stone, accept so much unfathomable new work and words of God? Man abhors the God who is always new and never old; he likes only the old God, who is long of tooth, white of hair, and stuck in place. Thus, because God and man each have their own likes, man has become the enemy of God. Many of these contradictions still exist even today, at a time when God has been doing new work for almost six thousand years. They are, then, beyond remedy. Perhaps it is because of the stubbornness of man, or the inviolability of God’s administrative decrees by any man—but those clergymen and women cling still to moldy old books and papers, while God carries on with His uncompleted work of management, as if He had no one by His side. Though these contradictions make enemies of God and man, and are even irresolvable, God pays them no heed, as if they were at once there and not there. Man, however, still sticks by his beliefs and notions, and never lets go of them. Yet one thing is self-evident: Even though man does not deviate from his stance, God’s feet are always moving, and He is always changing His stance according to the environment. In the end, it is man who will be defeated without a fight. God, meanwhile, is the greatest enemy of all His defeated foes, and is also the champion of mankind, defeated and undefeated alike. Who can compete with God and be victorious? Man’s notions seem to come from God because many of them were born in the wake of God’s work. However, God does not forgive man because of this, nor, moreover, does He pour praise on man for producing batch after batch of products “for God” in the wake of His work that are outside of His work. Instead, He is extremely disgusted by man’s notions and old, pious beliefs, and does not even have a mind to acknowledge the date on which these notions first emerged. He does not accept at all that these notions are caused by His work, for the notions of man are spread by man; their source is the thoughts and mind of man—not God, but Satan. God’s intention has always been for His work to be new and alive, not old and dead, and what He has man adhere to varies with the age and period, and is not everlasting and immutable. This is because He is a God who causes man to live and be new, rather than a devil who causes man to die and be old. Do you still not understand this? You have notions about God and are incapable of letting go of them because you are close-minded. It is not because there is too little sense within God’s work, nor is it because His work is inconsiderate toward man’s feelings, nor, moreover, is it because God is always negligent in His duties. You cannot let go of your notions because you are too lacking in submission, and because you have not the slightest likeness of a created being; it is not because God is making things difficult for you. You caused all of this, and it bears no relation at all to God; all suffering and misfortune is created by man. God’s thoughts are always good: He does not wish to cause you to produce notions, but wishes for you to change and be renewed as the ages pass. Yet you do not know what is good for you, and are always either scrutinizing or analyzing. It is not that God is making things difficult for you, but that you lack a heart of fear for God, and your rebelliousness is too great. A tiny created being, daring to take some trivial part of that which was previously given by God, then turning around and using it to attack God—is this not the rebellion of man? Humans, it is fair to say, are utterly unqualified to express their views before God, and less still are they qualified to parade around their worthless, stinking, rotten, flowery language as they wish—to say nothing of those moldy notions. Are they not even more worthless?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know the Work of God Today May Serve God

Know that you oppose God’s work, or use your own notions to measure the work of today, because you do not know the principles of God’s work, and because of your rash treatment of the work of the Holy Spirit. Your opposition to God and obstruction of the work of the Holy Spirit is caused by your notions and inherent arrogance. It is not because God’s work is wrong, but because you are naturally too rebellious. After finding their belief in God, some people cannot even say with certainty where man came from, yet they dare to make public speeches appraising the rights and wrongs of the Holy Spirit’s work. They even lecture the apostles who have the Holy Spirit’s new work, passing comment and speaking out of turn; their humanity is too low, and there is not the slightest sense in them. Will the day not come when such people are spurned by the work of the Holy Spirit, and burned by the fires of hell? They do not know the work of God, but instead criticize His work, and also try to instruct God how to work. How can such unreasonable people know God? Man comes to know God during the process of seeking and experiencing; it is not through criticizing at whim that man comes to know God through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. The more accurate people’s knowledge of God becomes, the less they oppose Him. In contrast, the less people know of God, the more likely they are to oppose Him. Your notions, your old nature, and your humanity, character and moral outlook are the capital with which you resist God, and the more corrupted your morals, odious your qualities, and low your humanity, the more you are the enemy of God. Those who are possessed of strong notions and who have a self-righteous disposition are even more in enmity of God incarnate; such people are the antichrists. If your notions are not rectified, then they will always be against God; you will never be compatible with God, and will always be apart from Him.

Only by putting aside your old notions can you gain new knowledge, yet old knowledge is not necessarily equivalent to old notions. “Notions” refers to the things imagined by man that are at odds with reality. If the old knowledge was already outdated in the old age and stopped man from entering into the new work, then such knowledge is also a notion. If man is able to take the correct approach to such knowledge and can come to know God from several different aspects, combining the old and the new, then the old knowledge becomes an aid to man, and becomes the basis by which man enters the new age. … man believes in his own imagined God in his mind, and does not seek the realistic God. If one person has one kind of belief, then among a hundred people there are a hundred kinds of belief. Man is possessed of such beliefs because he has not seen God’s practical work, because he has only heard it with his ears and has not beheld it with his eyes. Man has heard legends and stories—but rarely has he heard the knowledge of the facts of God’s work. Thus it is that people who have only been believers for a year come to believe in God through their own notions. The same is also true for those who have believed in God their entire lives. Those who cannot see the facts will never be able to escape from a faith in which they have notions about God. Man believes that he has freed himself from the bonds of his old notions, and has entered new territory. Does man not know that the knowledge of those who cannot see the true face of God is nothing but notions and hearsay? Man thinks that his notions are right and without error, and he thinks that these notions come from God. Today, when man witnesses the work of God, he lets loose notions that have built up over many years. The imaginings and ideas of the past have become an obstruction to the work of this stage, and it has become difficult for man to let go of such notions and to refute such ideas. The notions toward this step-by-step work of many of those who have followed God until today have become ever more grievous, and these people have gradually formed a stubborn enmity to the God incarnate. The source of this hatred lies in the notions and imaginings of man. The notions and imaginings of man have become the enemy of the work of today, work which is at odds with the notions of man. This has happened precisely because facts do not allow man to give free rein to his imagination, and, moreover, cannot be easily refuted by man, and the notions and imaginings of man do not brook the existence of facts, and, furthermore, because man does not give thought to the correctness and veracity of facts, and merely single-mindedly lets loose his notions and employs his own imagination. This can only be said to be the fault of the notions of man, and cannot be said to be a fault of the work of God. Man may imagine whatever he wishes, but he may not freely dispute any stage of God’s work or any bit of it; the fact of God’s work is inviolable by man.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

If you use your own notions to measure and delimit God, as if God were an unchanging statue of clay, and if you completely delimit God within the parameters of the Bible and contain Him within a limited scope of work, then this proves that you have condemned God. Because the Jews in the age of the Old Testament took God to be an idol of fixed form that they held in their hearts, as if God could only be called the Messiah, and only He who was called the Messiah could be God, and because humanity served and worshiped God as if He were a (lifeless) clay statue, they nailed the Jesus of that time to the cross, sentencing Him to death—the guiltless Jesus was thus condemned to death. God was innocent of any offense, yet man refused to spare Him, and insisted on sentencing Him to death, and so Jesus was crucified. Man always believes that God is unchanging, and defines Him on the basis of one single book, the Bible, as though man has a perfect understanding of God’s management, as though man holds all that God does in the palm of his hand. People are absurd in the extreme, arrogant in the extreme, and they all have a flair for hyperbole. No matter how great your knowledge of God, I still say that you do not know God, that you are someone who opposes God the most, and that you have condemned God, because you are utterly incapable of submitting to the work of God and walking the path of being made perfect by God. Why is God never satisfied with the actions of man? Because man does not know God, because he has too many notions, and because his knowledge of God in no way agrees with reality, but instead monotonously repeats the same theme without variation and uses the same approach for every situation. And so, having come to earth today, God is once more nailed to the cross by man.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Evil Will Surely Be Punished

When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold Him and hear His words, and all see the deeds that God works from within His body of flesh. At that moment, all man’s notions become foam. As for those who have seen God appearing in the flesh, they shall not be condemned if they willingly submit to Him, whereas those who purposefully stand against Him shall be deemed an opponent of God. Such people are antichrists, enemies who willfully stand against God. Those who harbor notions regarding God but are still ready and willing to submit to Him will not be condemned. God condemns man on the basis of man’s intentions and actions, never for his thoughts and ideas. If He were to condemn man on the basis of his thoughts and ideas, then not a single person would be able to escape from the wrathful hands of God. Those who willfully stand against the incarnate God shall be punished for their lack of submission. With regard to these people that willfully stand against God, their opposition stems from the fact that they harbor notions about God, which leads them in turn into actions that disturb God’s work. These people intentionally resist and destroy the work of God. They do not merely have notions about God, but they also engage in activities that disturb His work, and for this reason people of this kind shall be condemned. Those who do not willfully disturb God’s work shall not be condemned as sinners, because they are able to willingly submit and not engage in activities that cause disruption and disturbance. People like this shall not be condemned. However, when people have experienced God’s work for many years, if they continue to harbor notions about God and remain unable to know the work of the incarnate God, and if, no matter how many years they have experienced His work, they continue to be filled with notions about God and are still unable to come to know Him, then even if they do not engage in disturbing activities, their hearts are nevertheless filled with many notions about God, and even if these notions do not become apparent, people like this are of no help whatsoever to the work of God. They are unable to spread the gospel for God or stand witness to Him. People like this are good-for-nothings and imbeciles. Because they do not know God and are moreover wholly incapable of casting away their notions about Him, they are therefore condemned. It can be said like this: It is normal for novices in the faith to hold notions about God or to know nothing of Him, but for one who has believed in God for many years and experienced a good deal of His work, it would not be normal for such a person to continue to hold notions, and it would be even less normal for someone like this to have no knowledge of God. It is because this is not a normal state that they are condemned. These abnormal people are all garbage; they are the ones who oppose God the most and who have enjoyed the grace of God for nothing. All such people shall be eliminated in the end!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God

People’s notions often cause them to misunderstand God and often make all kinds of demands and judgments about God and have all kinds of criteria for measuring God; they cause people to often use certain incorrect thoughts and views to measure whether things are right or wrong, whether someone is good or bad, and to measure whether someone is loyal to God and has faith in God. What is the root cause of these mistakes? It is people’s notions. People’s notions may have no effect on what they eat or how they sleep, and they may not impact their normal lives, but they do exist in people’s minds and in their thoughts, they cling to people like a shadow, following them around all the time. If you aren’t able to resolve them in time, they will constantly control your thinking, your judgment, your behavior, your knowledge of God, and your relationship with God. Do you see this clearly now? Notions are a major problem. People having notions about God is like a wall standing between them and God, one that stops them from seeing the true face of God, that stops them from seeing the true disposition and true essence of God. Why is this? It’s because people live among their notions, and among their imaginings, and they use their notions to determine whether God is right or wrong, and to measure, judge, and condemn all that God does. What kind of state are people often plunged into by doing this? Can people truly submit to God when they live among their notions? Can they have true faith in God? (No, they cannot.) Even when people do submit to God a little, they do so according to their own notions and imaginings. When one relies on their notions and imaginings, it becomes tainted with personal things that are of Satan and the world, and it is at odds with the truth. The problem of people’s notions about God is a serious one; it is a major issue between man and God that urgently needs to be resolved. Everyone who comes before God brings notions, they bring all manner of suspicions about God. Or, it can be said that they bring myriad misunderstandings about God in the face of all that God bestows upon them, in the face of His arrangements and orchestrations. And what will become of their relationship with God? People constantly misunderstand God, they are constantly suspicious of God, and they constantly use their own standards to measure whether God is right or wrong, to measure each of His words and work. What is this kind of behavior? (It’s rebelliousness and defiance.) That’s right, it’s people rebelling against, defying, and condemning God, and it’s people judging God, blaspheming against God, and competing with Him, and in severe cases people want to take God to court and engage in a “decisive struggle” against Him. What is the most severe level that people’s notions can reach? It is denying the true God Himself, denying that His words are the truth, and condemning the work of God. When people’s notions reach this level, they naturally deny God, condemn God, blaspheme against God and betray God. They not only deny God’s existence, but they refuse to accept the truth and follow God—isn’t this frightening? (Yes.) This is a frightening problem.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (1)

Some people think that believing in God should bring peace and joy, and that if they encounter situations, they only need to pray to God and God will lend His ear, grant them grace and blessings, and ensure everything goes peacefully and smoothly for them. Their purpose in believing in God is to seek grace, gain blessings, and enjoy peace and happiness. It is because of these views that they forsake their families or quit their jobs to expend themselves for God and can endure hardship and pay a price. They believe that as long as they forsake things, expend themselves for God, endure hardship, and work diligently, displaying exceptional behavior, they will receive God’s blessings and favoritism, and no matter what difficulties they encounter, as long as they pray to God, He will resolve them and open up a path for them in everything. This is the viewpoint held by the majority of people who believe in God. People feel that this viewpoint is legitimate and correct. Many people’s ability to maintain their faith in God for years without shrinking back is directly related to this viewpoint. They think, “I have expended so much for God, my behavior has been so good, and I haven’t done any evil deeds; God will surely bless me. Because I have suffered a lot and paid a great price for every task, doing everything according to God’s words and requirements without making any mistakes, God should bless me; He should ensure everything goes smoothly for me, and that I often have peace and joy in my heart, and enjoy God’s presence.” Isn’t this a human notion and imagining? From a human perspective, people enjoy God’s grace and receive benefits, so it makes sense to have to suffer a bit for this, and it’s worthwhile to exchange this suffering for God’s blessings. This is a mentality of making deals with God. However, from the perspective of the truth and from God’s perspective, this fundamentally does not conform to the principles of God’s work nor the standards God requires of people. It is entirely wishful thinking, purely a human notion and imagining about believing in God. Whether it involves making deals with or demanding things from God, or contains human notions and imaginings, none of it aligns with God’s requirements, nor does it meet God’s principles and standards for blessing people. In particular, this transactional thought and viewpoint offends God’s disposition, but people do not realize it. When what God does doesn’t align with people’s notions, they quickly develop complaints and misunderstandings about Him in their hearts. They even feel wronged and then begin to reason with God, and they may even judge and condemn Him. Regardless of what notions and misunderstandings people develop, from God’s perspective, He never acts or treats anyone according to human notions or desires. God always does what He desires to do, according to His own way and based on His own disposition essence. God has principles in how He treats every person, and nothing He does to each person is based on human notions, imaginings, or preferences. This is the aspect of God’s work that is most at odds with human notions. When God orchestrates an environment for people that completely contradicts their notions and imaginings, they form notions, judgments, and condemnations against God in their hearts, and may even deny Him. Can God then satisfy their needs? Absolutely not. God will never change His way of working and His desires according to human notions. Who is it that needs to change then? It is people. People need to let go of their notions, accept and submit to the environments orchestrated by God, experience and appreciate those environments, and seek the truth to resolve their own notions, instead of measuring what God does against their notions to see if it is correct. When people insist on holding onto their notions, they develop resistance against God—this happens naturally. Where does the root of resistance lie? It lies in the fact that what people usually possess in their hearts are without a doubt their notions and imaginings and not the truth. Therefore, when faced with God’s work not aligning with human notions, people can resist God and make judgments against Him. This proves that people fundamentally lack a heart of submission to God, their corrupt disposition is far from being cleansed, and they essentially live according to their corrupt disposition. They are still incredibly far from attaining salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (16)

What other notions are there within your hearts that can influence the performance of your duties? What notions often influence and govern you in your lives? When certain things happen to you that are not to your liking, your notions naturally appear, and then you complain to God, argue and compete with God, and they bring about a rapid transformation in your relationship with God: You go from how you were at the beginning, feeling that you love God so much and that you are very loyal to Him, and wanting to devote your whole life to Him, to suddenly having a change of heart, to not wanting to perform your duty or be loyal to God anymore, and you regret your belief in God, you regret having chosen this path, and even complain about being chosen by God. What other notions are able to suddenly cause a change in your relationship with God? (When God arranges a situation to test me and reveals me, and I feel that I won’t have a good outcome, I form notions about God. I feel that I believe in God and follow God, and that I’ve always done my duty, so as long as I do not forsake God, then He shouldn’t abandon me.) That is one kind of notion. Do you often have such notions? What is your understanding of being abandoned by God? Do you think that if God leaves you, then that means God does not want you and will not save you? This is another kind of notion. So how does such a notion come about? Does it come from your imagination, or does it have a basis? How do you know that God won’t give you a good outcome? Did God tell you personally? Such thoughts are entirely delineated by you. Now you know that this is a notion; the key question is how to solve it. People actually have many notions about faith in God. If you can realize that you have a notion, then you should know that it’s wrong. So, how should these notions be resolved? First, you need to see clearly whether these notions come from knowledge or satanic philosophies, where the fault lies, where the harm lies and, once you’ve seen this clearly, you’ll naturally be able to let the notion go. However, this is not the same as you thoroughly resolving it; you must still seek the truth, see what God’s requirements are and then dissect the notion according to God’s words. When you can clearly discern that the notion is wrong, that it is something absurd, and that it is totally out of line with the truth, that means that you have basically resolved the notion. If you don’t seek the truth, if you don’t compare the notion with God’s words, you won’t be able to clearly discern how the notion is wrong, and so you won’t be able to thoroughly give the notion up; even if you know it is a notion, you still won’t necessarily be able to let it go completely. In such circumstances, when your notions conflict with God’s requirements, and even though you may realize that your notions are wrong, yet your heart still clings to your notions, and you know for sure that your notions are at odds with the truth, yet in your heart you still believe that your notions are tenable, you will then not be someone who understands the truth, and people like you have no life entry and are too lacking in stature. For instance, people are especially sensitive toward their own outcome and destination, and toward adjustments of their duty and being replaced in their duty. Some people frequently jump to an erroneous conclusion about such things, thinking that as soon as they are replaced in their duty and they have no status anymore, or God says He does not like or want them anymore, then it is over for them. This is the conclusion they come to. They believe, “There’s no point in believing in God, God doesn’t want me, and my outcome is already set, so what’s the point in living anymore?” Others, hearing such thoughts, think them reasonable and dignified—but what kind of thinking is this, actually? It is rebelliousness against God, it is abandoning themselves to despair. Why do they abandon themselves to despair? It is because they don’t understand God’s intentions, they can’t clearly see how God saves people, and they don’t have true faith in God. Does God know when people abandon themselves to despair? (Yes.) God knows, and so how does He treat such people? People form a kind of notion and say, “God has paid such a painstaking price for man, He has done much work in every person, and exerted much effort; it is not easy for God to choose and save a person. God will be so hurt if a person abandons themselves to despair, and will hope each day that they can pick themselves up.” This is the meaning on a superficial level, but in fact, it is also a notion of man. God takes a certain attitude toward such people: If you abandon yourself to despair and do not try to move forward, He will allow you to choose for yourself; He will not force you to do anything against your will. If you say, “I still wish to perform the duty of a created being, to do all I can to practice as God asks, and to satisfy the intentions of God. I will use all my gifts and talents, and if I’m not capable of anything, then I’ll learn to submit and be obedient; I will not abandon my duty,” God says, “If you are willing to live in this way, then continue following, but you must do as God asks; the standards required by God and His principles do not change.” What do these words mean? They mean that only people can abandon themselves; God would never abandon someone. For anyone who is able to ultimately attain salvation and behold God, who establishes a normal relationship with God, and who can come before God, this is not something that can be achieved after failing or being pruned a single time, or after being judged and chastised a single time. Before Peter was made perfect, he was refined hundreds of times. Of those who remain after laboring to the very end, there will not be one who has only experienced trials and refinement eight or ten times before making it to the end. Regardless of how many times someone is tested and refined, is this not the love of God? (Yes, it is.) When you can behold the love of God, you can then understand God’s attitude toward man.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (1)

Many people have notions and opinions about the Jewish exile from Judea, and they do not understand God’s intentions, but this is a very easy problem to fix. I will tell you a simple way to do it. Listen, and see if it can address these difficulties of yours. The simplest way, first off, is for people to know that they are created beings, and that it is perfectly natural and justified for created beings to submit to their Creator. If created beings constantly have notions about their Creator and cannot submit to Him, then that would be a great rebellion. People must understand that there is a fundamental principle of the Creator’s treatment of created beings, which is also the highest principle. How the Creator treats created beings is completely based on His management plan and on His work requirements; He does not need to consult any single person, nor does He need to get any single person to agree with Him. Whatever He ought to do and however He ought to treat people, He does, and, no matter what He does or how He treats people, it all accords with the truth principles, and the principles by which the Creator works. As a created being, the only thing to do is to submit to the Creator; one should not make any choice of one’s own. This is reason that created beings ought to have, and if a person does not have it, then they are not fit to be called a person. People must understand that the Creator will always be the Creator; He has the power and the qualifications to orchestrate and hold sovereignty over any created being as He pleases, and does not need a reason to do so. This is His authority. There is not one among the created beings who has the right or is qualified to pass judgment on whether what the Creator does is right or wrong, or how He should act. No created being is entitled to choose whether to accept the sovereignty and arrangements of the Creator; and no created being is entitled to make demands of how the Creator holds sovereignty over and arranges their fate. This is the highest truth. No matter what the Creator has done to His created beings, and no matter how He has done it, the humans He created should do only one thing: seek, submit, know, and accept everything put in place by the Creator. The final result will be that the Creator will have accomplished His management plan and completed His work, having caused His management plan to progress without any obstructions; meanwhile, because the created beings have accepted the Creator’s sovereignty and arrangements, and submitted to His sovereignty and arrangements, they will have gained the truth, understood the Creator’s intentions, and come to know His disposition. There is yet another principle I must tell you: No matter what the Creator does, no matter how He manifests, and no matter whether what He does is a great deed or a small one, He is still the Creator; whereas all mankind, which He created, regardless of what they have done, and regardless of how talented or gifted they might be, remain created beings. As for created humanity, no matter how much grace and how many blessings they have received from the Creator, or how much mercy, lovingkindness, or benevolence, they should not believe themselves to stand apart from the masses, or think they can be on equal footing with God and that they have become highly ranked among created beings. Regardless of how many gifts God has bestowed on you, or how much grace He has given you, or how kindly He has treated you, or whether He has given you a few special talents, none of these are your assets. You are a created being, and you will thus forever be a created being. You must never think, “I am a little darling in the hands of God. God will not ever abandon me, God’s attitude toward me will always be one of love, care and gentle caresses, with warm whispers of comfort and exhortation.” To the contrary, in the eyes of the Creator, you are the same as all other created beings; God can use you as He wishes, and can also orchestrate you as He wishes, and He can arrange as He wishes for you to play any role among all sorts of people, events, and things. This is the knowledge people should have, and the reason that they should possess. If one can understand and accept these words, their relationship with God will grow more normal, and they will establish a most legitimate relationship with Him; if one can understand and accept these words, they will orient their station properly, assume their place there, and uphold their duty.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Understanding the Truth Can One Know God’s Deeds

When people develop misunderstandings and notions about God, they first must acknowledge that God is the truth and that people do not have the truth, and it is certainly they who are mistaken. Is this a kind of formality? (No.) If you only adopt this practice as a formality, superficially, then can you come to know your own mistakes? Never. Coming to know yourself requires several steps. First, you must determine whether your actions are in line with the truth and with principles. Do not look at your intents at first; there are times when your intents are correct but the principles you practice are wrong. Does this kind of situation occur often? (Yes.) Why do I say that your principles of practice are wrong? You may have sought, but perhaps you have no understanding at all of what principles are; perhaps you have not sought at all, and have based your actions solely on your good intentions and enthusiasm, and on your imaginings and experience, and as a result, you have made a mistake. Can you envision that? You cannot anticipate it, and you’ve made a mistake—and have you not then been revealed? If you keep contending with God after being revealed, where does the error in this lie? (It lies in not acknowledging that God is right, and insisting that I am right.) That’s how you erred. Your greatest mistake was not that you did something wrong and violated the principles, thereby causing a loss or other consequences, but that, having done something wrong, you yet persist in your own reasoning, unable to admit your error; you still oppose God based on your notions and imaginings, denying His work and the truths He expressed—this was your greatest and most serious mistake. Why is it said that such a state in a person is one of opposition to God? (Because they don’t acknowledge that what they are doing is wrong.) Whether or not people recognize that everything God does and His sovereignty are right, and what their significance is, if they cannot first recognize that they themselves are wrong, then their state is one of opposition to God. What is to be done to rectify this state? First, one must deny oneself. What we just said about needing to first seek God’s intentions is not so practical for people. Some say, “If it isn’t so practical, then does that mean seeking isn’t necessary? Some things that can be sought and understood don’t need to be sought—I can just skip that step.” Will this do? (No.) Is one who acts in this manner not beyond saving? Such people have distortions in their comprehension. Seeking God’s intentions is a bit distant and cannot be achieved immediately; for a shortcut, it’s more realistic to first let go of oneself, knowing that one’s actions are wrong and not in line with the truth, and then seek the truth principles. These are the steps. They may seem simple, yet putting them into practice presents many difficulties, for humans have corrupt dispositions as well as all manner of imaginings, all manner of demands, and they have desires as well, all of which interfere with people denying themselves and letting go of themselves. These are not easy things to do.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (3)

There is meaning in everything God does, and whether it is easy for you to accept, or difficult for you to accept and likely to cause notions in you, in any case, the identity of God does not change as a result; He shall always be the Creator, and you will always be a created being. If you are able to not be limited by any notion, and still maintain with God the relationship of a created being and the Creator, then you are a true created being of God. If you are able to not be influenced or disturbed by any notion, and are capable of true submission to God from the depths of your heart, and if, regardless of whether your understanding of the truth is profound or shallow, you are able to put notions aside, and not be constrained by them, believing only that God is the truth, the way, and the life, that God will forever be God, and does not make mistakes, then you can be saved. In fact, everyone’s stature is limited. How many things can be packed into people’s minds? Can they fathom God? That’s wishful thinking! Do not forget: People will always be infants before God. If you think you’re clever, if you always try to play clever, and try to figure everything out, thinking, “If I can’t understand it, then I cannot acknowledge that You are my God, I cannot accept that You are my God, I cannot acknowledge that You are the Creator. If You don’t solve my notions, You’re dreaming if You think that I’ll acknowledge that You are God, that I’ll accept Your sovereignty, and that I’ll submit to You,” then things have become troublesome. How have they become troublesome? God does not argue over such things with you. Toward man He shall ever be as follows: If you do not accept that God is your God, He shall not accept that you are one of His created beings. When God does not accept that you are one of His created beings, a change occurs in your relationship with God as a result of your attitude toward Him. If you are unable to submit to God, and to accept the identity and essence of God, and all that God does, there will be a change in your identity. Are you still a created being? God does not acknowledge you; there’s no point in arguing. And if you are not a created being, and God does not want you, do you still have hope of salvation? (No.) Why doesn’t God regard you as a created being? You are unable to perform the responsibilities and duties that a created being ought to, and you do not treat the Creator from the position of a created being. So how will God treat you? How will He view you? God will not view you as a qualified created being, but as a degenerate, a devil and a Satan. Didn’t you think you were clever? How is it that you’ve made yourself into a devil and a Satan? This isn’t clever, it’s stupid. What do these words teach people? They must stay in line before God. Even if you have a reason for your notions, do not think yourself possessed of the truth, and that you have the capital to clamor against God and delimit Him. Whatever you do, don’t be like that. Once you lose your identity as a created being, you will be destroyed—this is no joke. It is precisely because, when people have notions, they take a different approach, and adopt a different solution, that the outcome is entirely different.

—The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (16)

People’s notions can only be resolved through God’s words and by using the truth; they cannot be put aside through preaching doctrine and by giving exhortation—it is not that easy. People have no commitment to righteous matters, but are liable to cling to various notions or wicked, distorted things, which they find hard to put aside. What is the cause of this? It is because they have corrupt dispositions. Whether people’s notions are large or small, serious or not, if they do not have corrupt dispositions, these notions are easy to solve. Notions, at the end of the day, are just a way of thinking. But because of people’s corrupt dispositions, such as arrogance, intransigence, and even wickedness, notions become a fuse which causes people to conflict with, misinterpret, and even pass judgment on God. Who can still submit to and praise God when they harbor notions about Him? No one. Harboring notions, people are just conflictive toward God, they complain about Him, they judge Him, and they even condemn Him. This is sufficient to show that notions arise from within corrupt dispositions, the appearance of notions is the revelation of corrupt dispositions, and all corrupt dispositions that are revealed are rebellious against and resistant to God. Some people say, “I have notions, but I don’t resist God.” This is deceptive talk. Even if they don’t say anything, in their hearts they are still conflictive, and their behavior is conflictive. Can such people still submit to the truth when they’re like this? It’s impossible. Governed by a corrupt disposition, they cling to their notions—this is caused by their corrupt dispositions. And so, as notions are solved, so too are people’s corrupt dispositions. If people’s corrupt dispositions are solved, then many of their immature, childish thoughts, and even the things that have already become notions, are not an issue for them; they are just thoughts, and do not affect the performance of your duty, or your submission to God. Notions and corrupt dispositions are connected. Sometimes a notion is in your heart, but it does not direct your actions. When it does not infringe upon your immediate interests, you ignore it. Ignoring it, however, does not mean there is not a corrupt disposition within your notion, and when something happens that is in conflict with your notion, you cling to it with a certain attitude, an attitude dominated by your disposition. This disposition could be intransigence, it could be arrogance, and it could be viciousness; it causes you to shoot your mouth off to God, saying, “My point of view has been academically ratified many times. People have held it for thousands of years, so why can’t I? The things You say that are at odds with human notions are wrong, so how can You still say they are the truth, that they are above all else? My perspective is the highest of all mankind!” One notion can lead to you behaving like this, to such bluster. What causes this? (Corrupt dispositions.) That’s right, it is caused by corrupt dispositions. There is a direct relationship between notions and people’s corrupt dispositions, and their notions must be resolved. Once people’s notions about faith in God have been addressed, it becomes easy for them to submit to the work arrangements of the house of God, and so they more smoothly perform their duty well, they are not taking circuitous paths, they do not disrupt or disturb, and they do not do anything that brings shame upon God. If people’s notions and imaginings are not addressed, it becomes easy for them to do things that cause disruptions and disturbances. In more serious cases, people’s notions can produce in them all manner of conflict to the incarnation of God. Speaking of notions, they are certainly wrong views that are at odds with the truth, they are entirely opposed to the truth, and they can cause all kinds of conflictive feelings to God to arise in people. This conflict makes you question Christ and become unable to accept or submit to Him, whilst also affecting your acceptance of the truth and entry into the truth reality. In even more serious cases, people’s various notions about the work of God cause them to deny the work of God, the ways in which God works, and the sovereignty and arrangements of God—in which case they have no hope of salvation whatsoever. No matter which aspect of God people have notions about, behind these notions lurk their corrupt dispositions, which can cause these corrupt dispositions to become worse, giving people even more of a pretext to approach the work of God, God Himself, and the disposition of God using their own corrupt dispositions. And does this not encourage them to resist God with their corrupt dispositions? This is the consequence of notions for man.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (1)

When notions arise, no matter what the notion is, first ponder and analyze in your heart whether this thinking is correct. If you clearly feel that this thinking is incorrect and distorted, and that it blasphemes God, then pray immediately, asking God to enlighten and guide you to recognize the essence of this problem, and after that, discuss your understanding during a gathering. While gaining understanding and experience, focus on resolving your notions. If practicing in this way does not achieve obvious results, you should fellowship about this aspect of the truth with someone who understands the truth, striving to gain help from others and solutions from God’s words. Through God’s words and your experiences, you will gradually verify that God’s words are correct, and you will realize great results in regard to the issue of the resolution of your own notions. By accepting and experiencing such words and work from God, you will finally understand God’s intentions and have some knowledge of God’s disposition, which will enable you to let go of and resolve your notions. You will no longer misunderstand or guard against God, nor will you make unreasonable demands. This is for easily resolvable notions. But there is another type of notion that is difficult for people to understand and resolve. For notions that are difficult to resolve, there is one principle you need to uphold: Do not release or spread them, because releasing such notions does no good to others; it is a fact of resisting God. If you understand the nature and consequences of spreading notions, you should best measure it clearly yourself and refrain from speaking recklessly. If you say, “It feels terrible holding my words in in the church; I feel like I could burst,” you should still consider whether spreading these notions is truly beneficial to God’s chosen people. If it is not beneficial and can lead others to have notions about God, or even resist and judge God, aren’t you harming God’s chosen people? You are harming people; it is no different from spreading a plague. If you truly have reason, you would rather endure the pain yourself than spread notions and harm others. However, if you still find it agonizing to hold your words in, you should pray to God. If the problem gets resolved, isn’t that a good thing? If you pray to God but still judge and misunderstand God with your notions, then you are only bringing trouble upon yourself. You should pray to God like this: “God, I have these thoughts, and I want to let go, but I can’t. Please discipline me, reveal me through various environments, and let me recognize that my notions are wrong. No matter how You discipline me, I am willing to accept it.” This mindset is correct. After praying to God with this mindset, won’t you feel less stifled? If you continue to pray and seek, receiving enlightenment and illumination from God, you understand God’s intentions, and your heart becomes bright, then you won’t feel stifled anymore. Won’t the problem be resolved then? Your notions, resistance, and rebelliousness toward God will mostly disappear; at the very least, you won’t feel the need to release them. If that still doesn’t work and the problem isn’t completely resolved, find someone with experience to help you resolve your notions. Have them find a few passages of God’s words related to resolving the notions you have, and read them dozens or hundreds of times; perhaps your notions will be thoroughly resolved. Some might say, “If I express myself during a gathering with the brothers and sisters, that will be spreading notions, so I can’t do that. But it feels terrible holding them in. Can I talk about them with my family?” If your family members are also brothers and sisters of the faith, releasing these notions around them would also disturb them. Is this appropriate? (No.) If what you say would have a detrimental impact on others, harming and misleading them, you absolutely must not say it. Instead, pray to God to resolve the issue. If you pray and eat and drink God’s words with a devout heart, a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, your notions can be resolved. God’s words contain the comprehensive truth; they can resolve any problem. It just depends on whether you can accept the truth and are willing to practice God’s words, and whether you can let go of your own notions. If you believe that God’s words contain the comprehensive truth, you should pray to God and seek the truth to resolve problems when they arise. If, after praying for a while, you still do not feel enlightened by God and have not received clear words from God on what to do, but unconsciously your notions no longer affect you internally, do not disturb your life, gradually fade away, do not affect your normal relationship with God, and of course do not affect your performance of duty, then hasn’t this notion basically been resolved? (Yes.) This is the path of practice.

—The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (16)

Do you have principles for how to practice in regard to notions? … Once you understand the truth and grasp the principles, your notions will naturally be resolved. You must not let notions hinder or trip you up; resolve those notions that can be resolved as best you can, and for those temporarily unresolvable ones, at least do not let them affect you. They should not prevent you from doing your duty, nor should they affect your relationship with God. Your bottom line is to at least not spread notions, not commit evil, not cause disruptions or disturbances, and not act as a servant of Satan or a conduit for Satan. If, despite your efforts, some notions can only be superficially resolved and not thoroughly resolved, then simply ignore them. Do not let notions affect your pursuit of the truth or your life entry. Master these principles, and under normal circumstances, you will be protected. If you are someone who accepts the truth, loves positive things, is not an evil person, is unwilling to cause disruptions or disturbances, and does not purposefully cause disruptions and disturbances, then when you typically encounter anything that gives rise to notions, you will generally be protected. The most rudimentary principle of practice is this: If a notion arises that is difficult to resolve, do not rush to act upon the notion. First, wait and seek the truth to resolve it, believing that what God does cannot be wrong. Remember this principle. Additionally, do not put aside your duty or let notions affect your performance of duty. If you have notions and think, “I’ll just muddle through with this duty; I’m in a bad mood, so I won’t do a good job for you!” this is no good. Once your attitude turns negative and perfunctory, it becomes troublesome; this is the notion acting up inside you. When notions act up within you and affect your performance of duty, that means that by this point your relationship with God has actually already undergone a change. Some notions can affect your performance of duty, which is a serious problem, and they must be resolved promptly. Other notions do not affect your performance of duty or your relationship with God, so they are not major issues. If the notions you develop can affect your performance of duty, causing you to doubt God, not do your duty diligently, and even feel there will be no consequences for not doing your duty, and you do not have any dread or a God-fearing heart, this is dangerous. This means you will fall into temptation, and be duped and captured by Satan. Your attitude toward your notions and the choices you make are crucial; regardless of whether the notions can be resolved, and irrespective of the degree to which they can be resolved, the normal relationship between you and God must not change. Partly, you should be able to submit to all the environments orchestrated by God; affirm that everything God does is correct and meaningful, and this knowledge and the truths relating to this should never change. Partly, you must not put aside the duty that God has entrusted to you, you must not unburden yourself of this. If, internally or externally, you have no resistance, opposition, or rebelliousness toward God, God will see only your submission, and that you are waiting. You may still have notions, but God does not see your rebelliousness. As there is no rebelliousness and resistance in you, God still considers you one of His created beings. In contrast, if your heart is full of complaints and defiance, you are looking for an opportunity to retaliate, and do not wish to do your duty, wishing instead to unburden yourself of it, even to the point that, in your heart, there are all manner of complaints about God, and certain manifestations of defiance and resentment are revealed in the course of doing your duty, then, at this time, your relationship with God has already undergone a huge change. You have already switched from your position as a created being; you are no longer a created being, but have become a conduit for the devil Satan—and so God will not show you any kindness. When someone gets to this point, they are approaching dangerous territory. Even if God does nothing, you will be on shaky ground in the church. And so, in everything they do—particularly when it involves issues such as resolving notions—people must take care to avoid doing things that offend God, or that are condemned by God, or that hurt or harm others. This is the principle.

The problem of people having notions about God is not a small matter! It is crucial for people to maintain a normal relationship with God, but what most affects this relationship is people’s notions. Only when people’s notions about God are resolved can a normal relationship with God be maintained. Currently, many people have a serious problem. Regardless of how many years they’ve believed in God, although they may be able to endure suffering and pay the price in their performance of duties, yet throughout, their notions cannot be completely resolved. This seriously affects their relationship with God and directly impacts their love for God and their submission to Him. Therefore, no matter what notions people develop about God, it is a serious matter that must not be overlooked. Notions are like a wall; they cut off people’s relationships with God, making it so they are unrelated to God’s salvation work. Thus, people having notions about God is a very serious issue that cannot be ignored! If people have notions and cannot promptly seek the truth and resolve them, this can easily give rise to negativity, resistance against God, and even hostility toward Him. Can they still accept the truth then? Their life entry will come to a standstill. The path of experiencing God’s work is uneven and bumpy. Because people have corrupt dispositions, they can take many detours, and they may wind up forming notions in any situation. If these notions are not resolved by seeking the truth, people can rebel against God and resist Him, walking the path of hostility toward Him. Once people take the path of antichrists, do you think there’s a chance of salvation left for them? It’s not easy to handle at that point, and there will be no chance left. Therefore, before God denies you as His created being, you should learn how to be God’s created being. Do not attempt to scrutinize the Creator or attempt to find out how to prove and verify that the God you believe in is the Creator. This is not your obligation or responsibility. What you should be thinking about and pondering in your heart every day is how to fulfill your duties and become a qualified created being, instead of how to prove whether God is the Creator, whether He is indeed God, or scrutinizing what God has done and whether His actions are correct or not. These are not what you should be scrutinizing.

—The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (16)

Related Hymns

Notions and Imagination Will Never Help You Know God