Eastern Lightning | How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work （part3）

Eastern Lightning | How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work（part3）

And then there is a type of person who is the most tragic, a type that I most don’t wish to talk about. What type of person is this? I say they are tragic not because God punishes them or because God makes harsh demands of them and they come to a tragic end. That’s not it. It’s because they bring tragedy upon themselves, just as the saying says: “They dig their own graves.” They don’t walk the right path and they reveal their own ends prematurely. Their lives are now very tragic. God views them with the utmost detestation and, in human terms, I say that they are the most tragic of all. What type of person? There are some people who are very enthusiastic when they first begin to follow God’s work; they pay a great price and they have a good outlook on the prospects of God’s work, or they are filled with imagination about their own futures, feeling that God can make man complete and bring them into a good destination, and they are filled with faith for God. In short, no matter how they believe at the beginning or what kind of views they have, during God’s work they flee. What do I mean by “flee”? I mean that, without letting anyone know, without saying a word, they just up and leave without so much as a goodbye. What are these people? Although they may say they believe in God, they believe for a bit and then they’re gone; some run off into the world, some go off to run a business, some go off to live their lives, some go off to make it rich and some find a husband or wife and then leave. Of this type of person, there are some who now want to return, saying that they have drifted in the world for many years and suffered much, and they feel that they are unable to leave God, that the world is too painful, and they want to return—return to God’s family seeking comfort, seeking warmth. They want to return to God’s family and continue to believe in God in order to obtain a good destination and be saved. They want this because they believe that God’s great love is boundless and immeasurable, as is God’s great grace, higher than heaven and deeper than earth. Whatever the case, they believe that God should show patience and tolerance toward their past. They say over and over that they want to return to do their duty, and some people even donate something or another to the church, in this way wishing to once again return to God’s family. Tell Me, how in your view should God determine these people’s ends? (I used to think that God would still admit this kind of person, but after listening to the fellowship just now I think that maybe God won’t admit them again.) You’re saying “maybe,” right? Anyone else? (It’s out of the question.) Speak your reasons. (This kind of person comes before God only so that they may become immortal, not because they have a genuine and true desire to believe in God. They know that God’s work has reached the final stage, they want to return just so they can be blessed.) You’re saying they are not sincere or true, therefore God cannot admit them, right? (Yes.) (My understanding is that these people are opportunists and that they don’t truly believe in God.) They don’t believe in God and they are opportunists. Well said! Everyone hates an opportunist. They sail in whichever direction the wind blows, so of course they are hated. (We also need to look at their essences, and not just look at the external circumstances of whether or not they return to ascertain whether they are opportunists or not. It’s better to look at their essences.) So tell Me, should this kind of person be admitted? (In God’s words it is written that God detests those who betray Him.) That God detests them is His way of thinking, that is, God’s thought is this kind of attitude. But does He admit this kind of person? Can He still show tolerance? God’s essence toward man is love! It’s mercy! (I’m not sure. Maybe He can be tolerant. I mean, God absolutely hates those who betray Him, but it does indeed say in God’s words which kinds of people He can admit, and if they truly believe in God then they may still have a chance.) Mm. Does any other brother or sister have a view? (God won’t admit them again, because His work is now about to be concluded, and the time has come to determine people’s ends. If they return now then their state of mind will be that of an opportunist, and they do not genuinely want to seek the truth. It is only because they see the disasters coming, or because of some other factor in the outside world, that they want to come back. If they really had a heart that seeks the truth, then they wouldn’t have fled halfway through the journey when trials befell them.) Mm. (God won’t admit them. In fact, God has given them chances, and yet their attitude to God has always been to brush Him aside. Regardless of their intentions, whether they really feel remorse or what, God’s work will soon be concluded and He won’t admit them any longer, for He has already given them many chances. God gives people trials at different times, at different periods, and in different places and then He watches their attitudes every time. Their attitudes have already shown that they wanted to leave God, so God won’t admit them now when they want to come back again.) (God’s attitude toward this kind of person should be to not admit them.) “He should not admit them.” You’re certain about this, aren’t you? (Yes.) (I agree that God won’t admit this kind of person, because they can return to the world after seeing the true way and after having experienced God’s work for so long. Although God’s essence is merciful and loving, it depends on the type of person it is directed at. If they embrace this kind of state of mind and they come before God looking for comfort and sustenance, they are simply not people who truly believe in God, and God’s mercy toward this kind of person only goes so far.) So God’s mercy ends there, is that what you’re saying? (No. I just mean that He is not merciful to this kind of person.) God’s essence is merciful, so why doesn’t He show a little mercy to this kind of person? Wouldn’t they have another chance if God showed them a little mercy? People often used to say: God wants everyone to be saved and wants no one to perish. If one sheep out of 100 should go missing, He will abandon the 99 in order to look for that one missing sheep. Now as for these people, if they can truly believe in God then, for the sake of their belief, should God admit them, give them an opportunity and give them a second chance? This question is actually not hard to answer. It’s very simple! If you truly understood God, if you had a true knowledge of Him, then you would say only a few words and it would be very simple. You would not need to explain it over-much or engage in too much conjecture, right? You’re on the right track with what you’ve said, but you’re still some way off with God’s attitude.

Just now, some of you answered definitively with views that it was out of the question for God to admit these people; some people’s views aren’t entirely clear, saying that maybe God would admit them, and then again maybe He wouldn’t, and this is a rather middle-of-the-road attitude; and then some others believed that God would perhaps admit them, and this attitude is not entirely clear. Those who answered definitively believed that God has worked all the way up until the present day and that He should be a bit ruthless with people, and that He shouldn’t want these people under these circumstances. Those who were rather middle-of-the-road said it depends on the situation and that, if these people really love God, truly believe in God, if they’re good people and if they genuinely seek the truth, then God should forget their past weaknesses and faults, forgive them, give them another chance, allow them to return to God’s family and allow them to receive God’s salvation. If it doesn’t work out again and they leave once more, then it will not be doing them an injustice for God not to want them anymore. And then there are those who believe that God may perhaps admit these people, meaning that they don’t know very clearly whether God will admit these people or not, and that they shy away from saying with certainty whether God should admit them or not. If they believe that God should admit them, but God’s view is that they should not be admitted, then it would seem their views are somewhat incompatible with God’s view; if they believe God shouldn’t admit them, by some chance God may say He will be tolerate and loving, that He has boundless love for man and that He may well give them a second chance. Whatever the case, you all have some views and your views are dominated by your thoughts, and dominated by the level to which you have understood the truth and understood God’s will. I can say this, can’t I? It’s great that you have views on this matter, but a question mark currently hangs over whether your views are correct or not. Are you a little worried? “Which view is correct? I can’t figure this out. I don’t know how God thinks, and God hasn’t told me. Before this, God had a loving attitude and according to His previous attitude He should admit them. But what is God’s attitude now? I’m not clear on this. I can only say that maybe He will admit them, and maybe He won’t.” Isn’t this so laughable? This really has stumped you. So if your views are wrong here, how should you handle it when your church really encounters someone like this? If you do not handle it properly you will offend God. Isn’t this really dangerous?

So why do I keep asking you about this matter I have now raised? It’s because I want to test your views and test exactly how much knowledge you have of God, exactly how much understanding you have of God’s will and exactly how much of God’s attitude you understand. What’s the answer then? The answer is as you said. Some of you have views that are very conservative, while what some others said is conjecture. What is “conjecture”? It is when you are unable to figure out how exactly God thinks, so you guess. You guess that God should think a certain way, but in your heart you think: “I have no idea. How would I know? I don’t know, so I’ll just say this view!” What does this prove in actual fact? It proves that while people follow God, they seldom pay attention to His will or His thoughts or His attitude to man, and they don’t understand His heart. So the minute I ask you something that involves God’s will or God’s disposition, you become confused and you feel uncertain, just guessing and gambling. What kind of attitude is this? This proves one fact: The majority of people who believe in God regard Him as though He were empty air. Why do I say this? Because when something happens to you, you don’t know God’s will. Why don’t you know? It’s not that you don’t know right at this moment, but that you have never known, from start to finish, what God’s attitude is toward this matter. You don’t know it, but have you ever tried to figure it out? Have you ever searched for it? Have you ever fellowshiped about it? No. You have never fellowshiped about it and never searched for it. This verifies one fact: The God you believe in has nothing whatsoever to do with the real God. In your belief, you only contemplate your own will, the will of your leaders, and the meanings of external letters and superficial doctrines of God’s words; you’ve simply never really tried to understand or search for God’s will. Isn’t that so? This is very terrible, for I have seen many people believe in God over the years and what do they believe God to be? Some people believe in God as though He were empty air, saying “Is God there?” They don’t know, they cannot perceive, they are unaware, and for them to have any clear insight or knowledge of God is even more out of the question. Some people believe in God as though He were human, that is, they believe that anything they cannot do, God cannot do either, and that God should think in the same way as they think—they believe God to be human. And then there are those who believe in God as though He were a puppet, believing that God is an emotionless statue, that when things happen He has no attitude, no views, no thoughts and that He is at man’s mercy. People believe however they like; if they want God to be lofty then He is lofty, if they want Him to be insignificant then He is insignificant, and if they want God to be merciful then He must needs be merciful. When people sin, they need God’s mercy, His tolerance and His love, and they think God should be merciful. That is, in the realm of man’s thoughts they imagine a God and they make this God able to meet their every desire and physical need. No matter the time or place and no matter what they may have done wrong, they imagine God, believe in God and treat God in this way. There are even some people who aggravate God’s disposition and, after they have done this, what do they believe? “God will save me because God’s love is boundless and immeasurable and because God has a righteous disposition. No matter how I offend God, He will not remember my immaturity or my stupidity, because my faults, my transgressions and my rebelliousness are momentary expressions of my disposition. God will give me opportunities, and will show me tolerance and patience. He will still love me as He did before, therefore I still hold great hopes of being saved.” No matter what people believe, God will hold a negative attitude toward them. This is because throughout your belief in God, though you may perhaps regard the book of God’s word as your most precious possession, studying it every day and reading it every day, yet you set the real God aside, you regard God as though He were empty air, and regard Him as if He were human, with some people simply regarding Him as a puppet. Why do I say this? Because as far as I can see, no matter what happens to you or what environments you come across, whether it be the things that exist in your subconscious or the things you give rise to within yourselves, these things have never had any connection with God. You know only what you yourselves think, what your own views are and how you yourselves think. Then you force your own ideas and views onto God, regarding your own views as the views of God, as the attitude of God, and as the will of God; over time, you will not know who God is at all.

So exactly what kind of God is this God that you now believe in? Have you thought of this before? Does God hate it when He sees evil people doing evil? (Yes.) What attitude does He take when He sees ignorant people transgressing? (He is sorrowful.) What attitude does He take when He sees people stealing His offerings? (He hates them.) You’re all really clear on this, right? What attitude does He take when He sees people seeking in a muddleheaded way whilst believing in God? You’re not so clear on this. The word “muddleheaded” is rather neutral—it’s not a sin and it’s not an offense to God, and it shouldn’t be some great fault. So tell Me, what kind of attitude does God take to these people? (He detests and rejects them.) (He’s not willing to acknowledge them.) God despises these people and holds them in contempt. What is the attitude within God’s heart, when He is not willing to acknowledge them? It is that He holds them in contempt. As for those who aggravate His disposition and offend His administrative decrees, what attitude does He take toward them? Extreme detestation! To those who aggravate His disposition and are unaware that they need to repent, God feels extreme detestation! Anger is just a mood, a type of emotion. But it brings about an outcome for these people, which is God’s extreme detestation. What then is the consequence? That is, God places these people to one side and doesn’t acknowledge them, and waits until the retribution to sort them all out together. What does this imply? Do these people still have an end? (No.) God doesn’t plan on giving these people any end. Therefore, isn’t it entirely normal to ignore these people for the time being? (Yes.) And what should these people now be preparing for? They should be preparing to take responsibility for all the evil they have done and for their own behavior, and this is God giving account for these people. Therefore, I say clearly to this type of person: Harbor no illusions and no longer have any fantasies, saying that God’s tolerance of man, and His patience with man’s transgressions and man’s rebellion is illimitable. These people still believe they may be saved, but this chance is now lost, for God’s attitude toward this type of person is one of extreme detestation, so these people must not harbor any illusions. Some people say, “I have seen several people like this. They weep bitterly when they pray and are extremely moved by God, they very much have God with them and are ordinarily very happy. I see it seems as though God is with them and that they are being guided by God.” Don’t say “guided by God” so casually. They have aggravated God, so will God still guide them? They may be guided by something else. And as for what may be guiding them, I am unconcerned. In short, defined conclusion has been reached about these people, and they now have no end. No matter how good they feel about praying, or how much faith they have in their hearts for God, these things are no longer important. The important thing is that God already detests and rejects these people. Furthermore, how they are to be handled in the future is also unimportant. What’s important is right now, and it is the very moment they aggravate God that their end is determined. God’s attitude is that He will not save these people. They will be left over to receive punishment, and this is the attitude God takes.

There is love in God’s essence, yet He is righteous toward each and every person, and there is dignity in His essence. It is not the case that He feels nothing or makes no reaction when people wantonly offend Him. God is living, He truly exists. He is not some puppet or some physical object conjured up in people’s imaginations—He really does exist. Seeing as He exists, we should pay attention to His will, pay attention to His attitude and pay attention to His feelings at every moment. We must not define God using human imaginations and we must not force human thoughts and desires onto God, making Him approach people using the attitudes and imaginings of man and approach people in a human way. That means you are aggravating God, you are testing His wrath and challenging His dignity; this is God’s attitude toward those who aggravate His disposition. So once you have understood the seriousness of this matter, I advise each and every one of you here today to be careful and cautious with your actions, careful and cautious with your words, and you must be more and more cautious and careful in how you approach God. In circumstances where you haven’t understood God’s attitude, don’t speak carelessly or think up whatever you like, don’t pin labels indiscriminately, and even less should you come to arbitrary conclusions; this is fearing God and shunning evil. If you can achieve this above all else then God won’t blame you for your stupidity and ignorance or lack of common sense. Rather He will see that you have an attitude that is very God-fearing, that is very afraid of aggravating God, afraid of sinning against God, that is extremely respectful of God’s will and that is extremely willing to obey God’s will. When you have this kind of attitude, God will remember you, and He will show you tolerance for your immaturity and ignorance. Conversely, because of your cavalier attitude to God—your attitude that wantonly judges God, wantonly judges or guesses God’s intentions and will—because you have this cavalier attitude to God, God will condemn you and He will make a statement about your behavior, a statement that may have a bearing on your end. So let Me emphasize once again that each and every one of you here today must take a careful and cautious approach to everything that comes from God; don’t speak carelessly, don’t act carelessly. Before you speak, first think: “Am I fearing God by acting this way? Will I aggravate God by acting this way?” Though these are simple words, you must still contemplate them and consider them several times over with great care and great caution. If you can truly practice this way in all places, in all matters and at all times and take this attitude even with matters you don’t understand, God will see it with absolute clarity, and will give your behavior an accurate and fitting appraisal. Because of your various kinds of behavior, when at the end God gives you the final trial, He will summarize all your behavior and determine an end for you, then He will show it to you and show it to all those around you, so that each and every person may be convinced in heart and by word. Therefore, My warning to you is this: Your fate will be decided by your every deed, your every action and by every thought you have in your hearts.

There is another matter to mention which is of the highest importance; it is that your attitude to God is very important, and it is this attitude which decides whether you walk toward ruination at the end, or whether you enter the good destination that God has prepared for you—this attitude is crucial! God has worked for over 20 years and, during this time, you have all perhaps felt confused in your hearts. In God’s heart, however, He keeps a real and true record for each and every person. From the time each person begins to follow God, until the time they hear the sermons He preaches and they come to understand more and more of the truth and do their duty, God keeps His account, a record of all the performances they make whilst doing their duty, what their attitude is when they encounter all manner of environments and trials, what their attitude is to God, their earnest attitude, and what they think of God in their hearts. You may feel confused about this record, but to God it is absolutely clear, without the slightest cursoriness, for it involves the end of each and every person, their fate and their future. Maybe your own account is all muddled up, but God will not neglect His account in the slightest, and will not be cursory with it in any way whatsoever, for herein lies the painstaking price God pays. God records this account for you, records for you this account of your journey of following God from beginning to end, and what your attitude to God is during this time decides your fate—is this true? (Yes.) At this point, do you think God is righteous? (Yes.) Is it right that He does this? (Yes.) Then do you have any more imaginings about God? (No.) So tell Me, are your ends determined by God in the end, or by you yourselves? (God determines our ends.) Who determines them? (God.) You don’t know this either? The moment I ask this kind of question, you become confused. Tell Me, who determines your ends? (People themselves.) People themselves? So you’re saying it has nothing to do with God. (God determines people’s ends based on their actions and behavior, and based on the path they walk.) This is a very objective response. Herein lies a fact that you must see clearly: While at work, God sets a standard for man, and this standard is set to determine whether or not man can attain their ends. It is to see whether, on man’s part, they can follow the way of God, obey God’s words and thereby achieve God’s standard. If you practice in accordance with God’s standard then you will attain a good end; if you don’t practice in accordance with this standard, then you will not attain a good end. So tell Me, who exactly determines this end? God alone doesn’t determine it, rather it is God and man together who determine it. Isn’t that right? (Yes, that’s right.) Why do I say this? Regarding this matter of man’s end, God actively wants to do His work of salvation and He prepares a good destination for man. He determines man’s end and man is the object of His work, and it is for man that He prepares this end and destination. If man did not exist, then God wouldn’t do this work; only because man exists does God do this work. Man is the object to be saved and, although man is the passive party here, what does your end depend on? Your end depends on your attitude to God—this is very important. Would man have this opportunity if there were no God? No, they wouldn’t. So if there were no God to determine your end, then you would have no knowledge of this standard—man is inseparable from God. If you don’t cooperate, if you don’t practice and don’t pay the price, then you won’t be able to attain this end, and it will become just empty words. This end is therefore inseparable from God, just as it is inseparable from man. So who really determines it? You said God determines it for man, and this was wrong, for if people don’t cooperate then they won’t attain it. You said people themselves determine it, that it depends on people, but if God didn’t create these things especially for man, how would people practice, and what standard would they have? Would people know which way to go? They would not know, would they? Exactly who does it depend on? We should say it like this: We cannot say it depends on God, and we cannot say it depends on people, so what does it depend on? It depends on people’s attitude to God. Although it seems that the main factors are dependent upon people’s practice, on people’s seeking and on their paying a price, in the final analysis it depends on people’s attitude to God. You now understand this and are no longer confused, right? Or are you a bit confused? You must heed these words like this and not take them as doctrines. Don’t pay attention to what these words mean in the final analysis or where the topic went, just above all else think like this: Regardless of whether it depends on God or on man, man is inseparable from God, and man is the object of God’s work—this is the connection. It is still God who will save man in the end and man is inseparable from God’s salvation. In the end, man must express a response and an outcome that satisfies God; only when man gives God a satisfactory outcome will God save them. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) You must put it into practice. Are there any more questions about this? (No.)

Have you discovered any facts through our fellowshiping about these things? In your knowledge of God, have you discovered a transformation in God’s current attitude? Is God’s attitude to man immutable? Will God continue to be patient? Will He just keep giving to man all His love and mercy forever more? This again relates to God’s essence. Let’s go back to that question just now. Your answers to it were not very clear. That is, you still don’t understand God’s will very well. Once people know that God loves man, they define God as a symbol of love, saying: “No matter what people do, no matter what they behave, how they treat God or how they rebel against Him, there’s no problem, it’s nothing, because God loves and His love is boundless and immeasurable; God loves, so He can forbear with us; He loves, so He can show me mercy, show mercy to my faults, show mercy to my transgressions and show mercy to my rebelliousness.” Is this the case? Furthermore, after some people have experienced God’s patience once or experienced it a few times, God’s patience and mercy becomes the greatest help throughout their lives, and they regard it as their capital, believing that He can show them patience forever, be merciful forever and be tolerant forever. Or someone gains God’s salvation or mercy one time, and so they conclude that God will save them forever, and that He will show them unlimited and unconditional mercy, tolerance and love, treating them as He does His own life. Is this a correct way to know God? You see, the moment I mention something to do with God’s essence or God’s disposition, you become confused, and it makes Me quite angry to see you like this. You may have heard much of the truth of God’s essence, and listened to many topics to do with God’s disposition, but in your minds these things, these aspects of the truth are only words and memories, and they are only theories. None of you have ever been able to experience what God’s disposition is like, or see what His disposition is like in real life, so you all believe in a muddleheaded and blind way, even taking a cavalier attitude to God that just brushes Him aside. What does having this kind of attitude toward God mean for you? It means that you always make conclusions about God, feeling very satisfied when you only know a little, and feeling that you’ve gained God’s all. Afterward, you use your knowledge to define God and you don’t let Him move away from your definition, saying “If You move then You are not God. The moment You change, You are not God.” So much so that a day comes when God says, “I love man no longer; I will no longer be merciful to man; I will no longer show them any tolerance or patience; I feel extreme detestation and disgust for man.” And people contradict this kind of statement from within their hearts, with some even saying, “You are no longer my God; You are no longer the God I want to follow. If You are this kind of God then You are not qualified to be my God and there is no need to follow You any longer. If You show me no mercy and give me no love and no tolerance, then I won’t follow You anymore. I will only follow You and have the faith to follow You if You show me unlimited tolerance, if You are always patient with me, if You let me see that You are love, You are patience and You are tolerance. This is because only then will my rebelliousness and my transgressions receive unlimited forgiveness and absolution. What’s more, I can also commit sins anytime, anywhere, be at fault anytime, anywhere and aggravate You anytime, anywhere, and You should not get any ideas or make any conclusions about me.” Although perhaps no one will think of this issue in this subjective and proactive way, when every one of you regards God as your own antithesis, in your subconscious you have imperceptibly regarded the living God as your enemy, as your antithesis. This is something I’ve seen with My very own eyes. Though you say over and over, “I believe in God,” “I seek the truth,” “I want a change in my disposition,” “I want to break free from the influence of darkness,” “I want to satisfy God,” “I want to obey God,” “I want to be faithful to God and do my duty well,” and so on, no matter how nice your words sound, how many theories you have or even how many things you base these words on, in actual fact, up until now there have been many of you who have used the rules, doctrines and theories you’ve grasped to set God in opposition to yourselves. This is because what you believe in are letters and because you have grasped letters and doctrines. But you have never genuinely tried to know God, to get close to God or to understand God. This is very sad.

I saw this scene in a video: Several sisters were holding up a copy of The Word Appears in the Flesh, holding it up in the center and holding it up high. They were holding it high with all their might, up higher than their own heads. In My view, this is something very hurtful, though you may not be aware of it. Although this is a picture, what I saw was not a picture. It made Me see that what each and every person exalts in their hearts is not the word of God, but rather the doctrines and letters of God’s word along with that book; this simply isn’t exalting God. Because you have such little understanding of God, there exist in every one of your hearts certain conceptions about even obvious questions, and there exist in every one of your hearts conceptions about small questions. When I ask you questions and when I get serious with you, the things you come up with are just your imaginings and conjecture, and you respond to My questions with questions, and with an air of doubt. This makes it even clearer to Me that what you believe in is not the true God. You read God’s words for so many years and again you use God’s words, His work and even more doctrines to define God, but you have never tried to understand God and have never contemplated His will; you haven’t tried to see what exactly God’s current attitude toward man is, how God’s heart thinks, why God is grieved, why He is enraged and why He detests and rejects certain people. Instead you believe that God never makes a sound, that He only watches man and that He takes no attitude and has no ideas. And what do some people think? They think that God not saying a word means He is in tacit agreement, that His not saying a word means that He is waiting, that His not saying a word means that He takes no attitude, because His attitude has all been written about in the book and God has already expressed it all to man, and there is no need anymore for God to tell people about it from time to time. Though God keeps silent, He still takes an attitude, He has views and He has required standards of man; though man doesn’t try to understand Him or seek Him, His attitude remains very clear. Especially now with regard to the matter of those who were so enthusiastic back in the day or who used to follow God, who then abandoned Him and left and who now wish to return, it’s actually surprising you don’t know God’s views or God’s attitude—isn’t this sad? Isn’t this an obvious example to take? In fact, this is a very superficial matter. If you truly understand God’s heart, then you should know what His attitude is toward this kind of person, and not give ambiguous answers. But seeing as you don’t know this, I will tell you. This kind of person can be found everywhere and, for various reasons that we won’t go into, in short, once they have become certain about the way of God they then leave without a word and without so much as a goodbye. They do as they wish, go and do whatever it is they want to do. From that moment on, in God’s eyes their life of belief is at an end; it’s not they themselves who have brought it to an end, but God. What is God’s attitude to these people? It’s so clear! From the moment they leave God, this signifies that they have abandoned God, they no longer want God, and it signifies that they no longer accept God’s salvation. Since they no longer want God, why would God show them any leniency? Moreover, when they become determined to leave God, by adopting this attitude and this way of thinking, they have already aggravated God’s disposition. This is despite the fact that they may not have stomped around in a furious rage, pointing fingers and cursing God, despite the fact that they may not have acted abominably or excessively, and despite the fact that they may think in their hearts: “If one day I have had enough of having fun in the outside world, when I still need God, I will come back. Or I will come back when God calls to me.” Or they say, “When I am hurt in the outside world, when I see how dark and how evil the outside world is, when I no longer wish to go with the flow, then I shall come back and seek God.” Despite the fact that some people still think this way, leaving themselves a route of retreat, do you know what God’s attitude to these people is? From the moment they become determined to leave God, God completely washes His hands of them and He will determine their end there and then. What end will that be? It will be the same as that of a rodent, to likewise perish. When some people see this, they say, “They’ve abandoned God, so why hasn’t God punished them?” Being punished physically or not being punished physically is no representation of someone’s end—this is obvious. God always acts with principle and what people see does not amount to the true situation; it may be that what you see is not the true situation, but what you don’t see is that these people’s ends have already been determined in fact within God’s heart.

Why does God punish these people so severely? Why is He so enraged with these people? I think this is clear in the hearts of each and every person here. God requires of each and every one of us to fear God and shun evil, and above all we should know that His disposition is majestic and wrathful, know that He is no sheep for man to slaughter as they wish, much less is He a puppet to be manipulated at will, nor is He empty air at man’s beck and call. If you truly believe in the existence of God then you should have a God-fearing heart. What essence lies within God’s disposition? It is that you must not aggravate Him. This “aggravation” may come in the form of words, or thoughts, or some type of vile behavior or gentle behavior; it could be caused by a kind of passable behavior as far as people and their morals and ethics are concerned, or it could be caused by a doctrine or a theory. But once you aggravate God, you have no more chances and your end has come—this is very frightening. If you don’t understand that God allows no offense, then you may not be afraid of God, you won’t know how to fear God and you won’t know how to begin following the way of God: to fear God and shun evil. But as soon as you have come to this realization and are able to be aware that God allows no offense, then I think you will then know how to fear God and shun evil. There are some things where you don’t need to know a lot of truth or need to have experienced many trials or much discipline before you can achieve them; what is important is the nature of your heart toward God—this is key. Some of those who abandon God and depart from Him exactly aggravate this aspect of God’s disposition, and therefore, as far as God is concerned, they are forever beyond forgiveness. Because it’s not that you don’t know God is God, and it’s not that you don’t know where God is and don’t know that God is doing a stage of new work. You know all about it. You’re not in a situation where you are being deceived by someone or in a state of confusion, much less are you in a situation where you are being blinded; rather you decide to leave God in full awareness and with a clear head. This kind of state and condition causes you to aggravate God’s disposition, and your aggravation brings to you an end that is irreversible—isn’t this frightening? This kind of end is brought about. These people have no knowledge of God, so what do they think? “There’s no problem. God is still there watching and waiting anxiously for me, still waiting for me to come back! I’m that one lamb whom God has lost. No worries. God is still waiting for me!” What is this? When they want to come back, not only does God not admit them, but they have aggravated God’s disposition a second time, and this is an even more terrible thing. Your cavalier attitude to God has already aroused His ire, so would God still admit you? Therefore, God has within His heart this principle: Once someone abandons God and departs from Him in clear awareness and with a clear head, God has blocked the path of their salvation and closed the gate. When they once again knock on the gate, God will not open it for them again and will not leave it unbarred. Some of you may have read the stories about Moses in the Bible before. After God anointed Moses, those 250 leaders refused to obey due to his behaviors or for various other reasons. Who was it they refused to obey? It wasn’t Moses that they refused to obey. It was God’s arrangements they refused to obey and His work in this matter. What is it they said? Do you know? Speak up. (“You take too much on you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them …” (Num 16: 3).) Do we think these words are very serious? No, they’re not serious if we take them at their literal meaning. If we look at them from the perspective of the law, they’re not much cause for concern and, literally speaking, they contain no conflicting language or words, much less do they contain anything blasphemous—they’re just a few words. So why then did God get so angry? How did He dispose of them? These words they spoke were not spoken against man, but rather they were spoken against God. These few words they spoke precisely aggravated God’s disposition. What did they aggravate? They aggravated His unoffendable disposition. We all know how they ended up. So, are you now clear on this matter? What is God’s view? What is His attitude? What is God’s attitude to those who previously abandoned Him? You must think like this: God is the living God; people express themselves differently when they encounter issues and God adopts an attitude toward all their different expressions, for He is no puppet and He is not empty air—He takes an attitude and this attitude is worth getting to know. People should get to know it and understand God’s heart little by little. When you come to understand God’s heart little by little, you won’t feel that fearing God and shunning evil is so hard to achieve. Further, when you understand God you will not delimit God easily, and when you don’t delimit God you will have a fear of God in your heart and you will not use letters, doctrines, and theories you’ve mastered to delimit God; instead you will seek God’s will in all things and at all times. Let’s take the simple matter of how your child behaves toward you. When they’re good to you, doesn’t your heart feel warm? But when they don’t do as they’re told, don’t you feel cold in your heart? And when they also say rebellious and unreasonable things, don’t you feel downright heartbroken? And if you take this attitude to such a simple matter, this is especially so for God. Though God does the work on man that people can neither see nor touch, that which each and every person does and the attitude they take toward God is not only visible to God but is also perceptible to Him, and this is something that each and every one of us should have and recognize in our hearts. In your heart you might always be thinking, “Does God know when I am here doing this? Maybe He doesn’t know and He hasn’t seen. Does God know when I think that way? Maybe He does know and maybe He doesn’t.” If you always indoctrinate yourself with these ambiguities, sooner or later there will come a day when you will aggravate God, and you will then be in danger. So, I see there are some people who still haven’t attained the reality of the truth after believing for so many years, much less do they understand God’s will and much less have they made any progress. After a few years, someone says to them “Let’s fellowship. Have you made any progress in the last few years?” And still they have only the very shallowest of knowledge of doctrines. So tell Me, does God enjoy seeing people like this? Is His heart comforted? Therefore, there are some people whose ways of belief have already decided their fate.

What have you now gained? Concerning how people seek and how people approach God, people’s attitudes are of primary importance. Don’t put God to the back of your minds and regard Him just as empty air, but instead keep thinking at every moment that the God you believe in is the living God that truly exists. He doesn’t lie around slumbering in the third heaven with nothing to do. Instead, He constantly examines the heart of each and every one of us, examines the actions, words and deeds of each of us, as well as our expressions and our attitudes. Whether or not you are willing to give yourself to God, in actual fact, everything you do is before God and is under His examination. Because of your behavior, your actions and your attitude, God is constantly changing His opinion of you and constantly changing His attitude toward you. And now I’d like to offer some advice to some people: Don’t always see yourselves as little babies in God’s hands, as though God dotes on you and can never leave you, and as though God’s attitude toward you is unchangeable; this is just dreaming. Quit dreaming! God treats everyone righteously and He does His work of conquest and salvation seriously; this is His management. His attitude toward each and every person is a solemn one; He doesn’t play around with people as though they were His pets, teasing them and making them laugh when He has nothing better to do, and being joyful Himself. It’s not like this. Quit dreaming! Did you think that the little bit of love God gave you in the beginning would allow you to live your entire life this way? God lives and God exists. His attitude is changeable and His will toward man transforms and changes gradually as time goes by, and in step with different environments and the attitudes of every single person. Therefore, you should know in your heart with absolute clarity that God’s essence is immutable, but that His disposition is expressed with different people, at different times and in different situations. Maybe you think this is not a very serious matter, and you use your conceptions to weigh up how God should act. But some things are exactly the opposite to what you think. While you are unconsciously using your conceptions to measure God, you have already aggravated God, for God absolutely will not do as you imagine and He absolutely will not approach this matter in the way you say. So, I’d better remind you to follow God with care and with caution, follow the way of God—to fear God and shun evil. You must be certain about God’s will and His attitude, you must look for those who understand to fellowship with, and you must seek in earnest. Don’t regard the God of your belief as a doll, to be judged at will, to have arbitrary conclusions drawn about and to be approached arbitrarily with a cavalier attitude—that is not your God. Your God saves you and He will determine your end. Regardless of whether He shows you mercy, or tolerance, or He judges and chastises you, His attitude toward you is not unchangeable, and you mustn’t define God forever just because you once enjoyed an aspect of God’s disposition. Don’t believe in a dead God, but believe in the living God! Remember this? Though these words are very real and true, as a result of My current view, I don’t want to make too many of you feel too bleak or feel too much disappointment. Instead, I wish for you to be able to use your God-loving hearts and your respectful attitude toward God in order to walk the road ahead. Don’t approach this matter in a muddleheaded way, but rather treat it as the most important thing; take it to heart, don’t just pay lip-service to it, for this matter is a matter of life and death and it is something that will decide your fate. Don’t treat it like a joke or like some game. Have you understood anything in your hearts from discussing these things with you today? Do you have any more questions about these things I’ve talked about? (No.)

Though these topics are somewhat new and there may be some distance between them and your views and that which you ordinarily seek, I think you will come to a common understanding of these things I’ve talked about once you have fellowshiped a while. It’s not possible to understand it all the minute you hear about it, for these topics are brand new and you have never thought about them before. I don’t want to place any burden on you with what I say, however, so what is My aim in talking about these things today? It’s not to intimidate you, and it’s not to deal with you by using this method, but instead it is to get you to understand the truth of the fact. After all, there is a distance between God and man; although man believes in God, they have never understood Him and they don’t know His attitude. Furthermore, they have never cared very ardently about His attitude, but instead they have believed and walked blindly, and have approached this matter in a muddleheaded way. I therefore feel it is very necessary to clarify some things for you, so that you may know what kind of God is the God you believe in, what He thinks in His heart, what His attitude is, how far away your actions are from His requirements and how far away they are from His required standards. Then you will all have in your hearts a measuring stick, so that you may know how much harvest you have reaped on this path, how many things you have yet to gain, and know the spheres which you have simply not set foot in before. Ordinarily, you just fellowship amongst yourselves and discuss some usual, everyday topics, but the scope of this sphere is very narrow, and there is a distance, an errancy between it and God’s will, between it and the scope of God’s requirements of man. I don’t want you to deviate from the way of God, walking farther and farther away from it, and taking these present words of God as objects to be worshiped. In fact, God simply has no place in your hearts and God has never gained your hearts, and that’s all there is to it. But for some people, they believe that it’s very difficult to know God, and this is indeed true—it is rather difficult. This is because if people are asked to do their duty, to work, to labor and do the things that it is possible for man to achieve, then these are all things within the sphere of mankind. But the moment something involves God’s will, of course, when they hear these words and hear these things, anyone will find it difficult.

Do you have any questions concerning that which I’m fellowshiping today? (Some new believers say that they are afraid of being eliminated and being unable to be made perfect.) That’s not so. God does not eliminate people arbitrarily. Do you think that someone is eliminated when God speaks a few stern words to them? Not so; God will give them opportunities. Though God may speak this way, when He is done speaking He will still give you opportunities, will do His work on you in the proper order and do it without missing a step—God is fair to each and every person. He gives you opportunities. Whether you come early or come late to the church, He gives you the same number of opportunities. This is fair, and there is no need to worry. This is how God’s work proceeds with each and every person. Are you clear? (Yes, we’re clear.)

(Why is it that we now know God better than Job did, yet we don’t fear God?) This is the point we raised earlier, isn’t it? We’ve actually already discussed the essence of this question before. That is, at that time, although Job didn’t know God, he regarded God as God and as the Ruler of the heavens and the earth and all things. He didn’t regard God as his enemy. But why do people nowadays defy God so much? Why are they incapable of fearing God? It is because people nowadays don’t regard God as God, but instead they regard Him as the antithesis to man. The cause is very simple: It is decided by man’s essence. Didn’t we touch on this in our fellowship earlier? (Yes.) Think about whether or not this is the cause. Though you may have some knowledge of God, what is that knowledge? Is it that which everyone says? Is it that which God has told you? Once God has told you that He has these dispositions and His essence is of this aspect, then you know; you only know it, but have you realized it? Is your knowledge subjective? It’s not, is it? Then isn’t it all what God has told you? Could you know about it if God didn’t tell you? Knowing about it does not mean you have knowledge of it. No matter how you know it or how much you know, God remains the enemy of man within the essence of their natures. Let’s take a simple example: God has become flesh. Some people are able to see Him and some people aren’t. Those who are able to see Him may perhaps serve Him with three meals a day and may perhaps serve Him tea, attend to His daily needs and regard Him as God. But there is one thing that you have never noticed, which is universal to all mankind, which is that all people can do. When it comes to some issue, man can never understand God’s view and man’s view is forever running contrary to God, and this is in situations where people have views. In situations where they do not have any views, though they may treat God like this on the outside, this does not mean that they are compatible with God. Isn’t that so? The moment something happens, their rebelliousness comes to the fore, thus proving that they are hostile to God. This hostility is not that God wants to be hostile to man, or that God treats man by setting them up as His antithesis. What is it instead? It is the kind of essence which exists within man’s subjective will and within their subconscious. What kind of essence? Their essence means that they regard all that God has as the antithesis to man, and they are all hostile to God. For example, some people recently heard some rumors or some slander, and what was their very first reaction? Their very first reaction was: “I don’t know whether this rumor is true or false, whether it is or is not,” and then they wondered, “There is no way to check it, so is it really true or not? Has this really happened? Is this rumor really true or not?” They became weak. Without saying a word, their hearts were filled with doubts and their hearts had already denied God. What is this denial, this kind of attitude and this kind of view? It is a betrayal—isn’t that so? Before this happened they seemed to have no views, and it seemed as though they had no conflict with God and they didn’t regard God as their enemy; but as soon as something happened, they immediately stood on the side of Satan and set themselves up in opposition to God. What does this fact show? (Man and God are opposites.) Man and God are opposites; it is not God who regards man as His enemy, but rather it is the very essence of man itself that regards God as an enemy. Look at people who follow God—they actually don’t treat God like God, and no matter how much they praise Him, how much they exercise self-restraint or require themselves to love God, they actually don’t treat Him like God. This is man’s essence, isn’t it? If you treat Him like God and truly believe Him to be God, then what doubts could you have? Could there be any questions in your hearts about Him? There couldn’t, right? I say to those who doubt: How come you have no conceptions about yourself? The trends of this world are so wicked and this mankind is so evil; how come you have no conceptions? You yourself are so bad; how come you have no conceptions? What has God done? With just a few rumors or slanderous words there arise in you such strong conceptions and so many ideas. Have you seen the facts? Do you have any proof? Is all it takes to deceive you just the buzzing of a few mosquitoes or a few disgusting flies? What kind of person is this? Do you know what God thinks of this kind of person? The attitude God takes toward some people has actually long since been crystal clear, but He just gives them the cold shoulder, He ignores them and does not take them seriously. Why is that? See, the more I talk like this, the more I say, and you get hurt. Are you willing to be always hurt by Me in this way? (Yes.) Is there anyone willing to be hurt by someone else? I don’t believe there is. If I always hurt you this way and am always exposing your scars, will it affect the lofty image of God you keep in your hearts? (No, it won’t.) I agree that it won’t, for there is no God in your hearts, and your lofty God is not God. Therefore it’s better for Me to reveal the answer to this riddle. Excellent!

What is God’s attitude to some people? This may again hurt some of you. There are some people whose belief God has never ratified in His heart, and God does not acknowledge that they are His followers, therefore God does not praise their belief. So, what does God regard these people as? He regards them as unbelievers. And some people say, “Can unbelievers read God’s words? Can they do their duty? Can they say they live for God? Can they say these things?” More often than not, people see the surface of things and they see certain expressions on the outside, but they don’t see man’s essence. Whereas God doesn’t see man’s outward expressions, but instead He only sees their internal essence, and this is the kind of attitude He takes toward these people. So, to those who say “How can God do that? How can God do this? I don’t get this, I don’t get that; this does not conform to human conceptions; You must explain that to me,” I will say: “Is it necessary to explain these things to you? Does it have anything to do with you? Who are you? Where have you come from? Are you qualified to have any conception of God? Do you believe in Him? Does He acknowledge you? Seeing as He doesn’t acknowledge you, who are you then? Do you know who you are? If you don’t know who you are, how are you qualified to demand anything of God?” Have these words rendered you speechless? These words have hurt you again, haven’t they? But these words that have hurt you are all true. Though you are unwilling to hear them, or unwilling to accept them, these are the facts. For God has come to do this stage of His work and if you care nothing for God’s will, care nothing for God’s attitude and have no understanding of His essence and disposition, then the one who will lose out in the end will be you. Don’t blame Me for speaking words that are hard to hear, and don’t blame Me for speaking words that dishearten you. Everything I say is fact and I have no wish to deceive you or attack you. But beyond this, I still hope that you will follow the way of God and not diverge from the right path—regardless of what God asks man to do or how He asks man to do it, He hopes for them to be able to walk the right path. But if you don’t act in accordance with God’s words and don’t keep to His way, then without question you are rebelling against God and have diverged from the right path. Therefore, I feel that there is great need to clarify some things with you so that you may have a clear belief and so that you may be clear about walking this path, so that you are not muddleheaded, so that you know God’s attitude and His will clearly, know how He gives opportunities to you and how He perfects you, and what method He employs to determine your end. Even if there comes a day when you walk no farther along the path, then let Me say that it will no longer be My responsibility, for I have spoken much and clarified a great many things to you, and the matter of how you approach your own end is entirely up to you. God takes the same attitude toward the end of each and every person; He uses His own method to weigh them up, uses His own method to do it, and this is incontrovertible! Therefore, some people have no need to worry, so you can now put your minds at ease! Then would some people worry and say, “Oh no! God says He doesn’t love us, so how can we keep on living? How will we live? If we no longer have the care of God’s love, if God doesn’t give us His love and we are always sinning and always rebelling against God, aren’t we finished?” Isn’t this a misinterpretation? You’ve misunderstood God again. In saying these things to you I’m not saying that God’s essence has changed. God has not changed, rather it is people who don’t understand God. Do you understand this? (Yes.) So are you still worried? (No.) It’s good that you’re not worried. Let’s end here for today. Afterward, if there is anything you don’t understand, then take it slow and fellowship again amongst yourselves. If you need Me to fellowship with you then I will speak with you again. Speak from the heart and I will speak with you from the heart as well.

(Before, I also abandoned the true way and ran away into the world. But at that time, I had only followed God for one year and had no knowledge of God. Please may I ask, am I able to continue following God now? Has God determined my end?) God does not treat every single person in the same way without exception. He will use His own discretion based on your situation to decide exactly what your final end should be, so as long as you feel that God can still save you and feel that God’s grace or mercy is visibly with you, then continue with your seeking! Absolutely! Regardless of whether God says this person’s end has been fixed or not fixed, or what you believe or feel, how you walk the path ahead still depends on the choices you make. Do you understand? (Yes.) Any more questions? (If someone just has the idea in their heart to depart from God and go off into the world, but they don’t do it, is this an offense against God’s disposition?) To think this in their heart but not to leave is a temporary weakness; within their heart they may actually feel a slight desire to leave, and they may also feel a little reluctance about leaving. If in fact they don’t leave, then this means that their heart is not determined to leave and, because of this, God will still give them a chance. Wasn’t the example we mentioned earlier about those who were determined to leave? God does not condemn people for their weakness, but rather He reaches a verdict on them based on their explicit views and attitude toward Him, understand? It is very important to discern whether it is a temporary weakness, a temporary temptation or temporary passivity, or whether you are determined to follow this course of action. So, shouldn’t your heart be crystal clear about this? When your heart is clear about what kind of person you are, then you should use these clear thoughts to compare yourself with God’s words and see how you should be, understand? (Yes.) Then let’s end here for today. Right, see you next time.

From Records of Christ’s Talks

Source from How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work

Eastern Lightning, the Church of Almighty God was created because of the appearance and work of Almighty God, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, Christ of the last days. It is made up of all those who accept Almighty God's work in the last days and are conquered and saved by His words. It was entirely founded by Almighty God personally and is led by Him as the Shepherd. It was definitely not created by a person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. God's sheep hear God's voice. As long as you read the words of Almighty God, you will see God has appeared.