Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (1Pe 5:8).
And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me (Mat 10:38).
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:10).
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone (Rev 21:8).
Relevant Words of God:
Because God has become flesh, Satan has employed all sorts of methods of accusation, wanting to attack God this way. However, God does not retreat because of this—He just speaks and works among mankind and allows people to know Him through His incarnate flesh. Satan is red-eyed with fury and has put forth a great deal of effort on God’s people to make them negative, retreat, and even lose their way.
from “Interpretation of the Thirteenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
On earth, all manner of evil spirits are endlessly on the prowl for a place to rest, are ceaselessly searching for the corpses of men to eat up. My people! You must remain inside My care and protection. Never behave dissolutely! Never behave recklessly! Rather, offer up your loyalty in My house, and only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning. Under no circumstances must you behave as in the past, doing one thing before My face and another behind My back—that way you are already beyond redemption.
from “The Tenth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh
In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle. For example, if you are prejudiced toward your brothers and sisters, you will have words that you want to say—words that you feel may be displeasing to God—but it will be hard for you inside, and at this moment, a battle will commence within you: Do I speak or not? This is the battle. Thus, in everything there is a battle, and when there is a battle within you, thanks to your actual cooperation and actual suffering God works within you. Ultimately, inside you are able to put the matter aside and the anger is naturally extinguished. Such is the effect of your cooperation with God. Everything you do requires you to pay a certain price in your efforts. Without actual hardship, you can’t satisfy God, it does not even come close to satisfying God, and you are just saying empty slogans! Can these empty slogans satisfy God? When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony.
from “Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Another side of Job’s humanity is demonstrated in this exchange between him and his wife: “Then said his wife to him, Do you still retain your integrity? curse God, and die. But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9-10). Seeing the torment he was suffering, Job’s wife tried to advise Job to help him escape his torment—yet the “good intentions” did not gain Job’s approval; instead, they stirred his anger, for she denied his faith in, and obedience to Jehovah God, and also denied the existence of Jehovah God. This was intolerable to Job, for he had never allowed himself to do anything that opposed or hurt God, to say nothing of others. How could he remain indifferent when he saw others speak words that blasphemed against and insulted God? Thus he called his wife a “foolish woman.” Job’s attitude toward his wife was one of anger and hate, as well as reproach and reprimand. This was the natural expression of Job’s humanity of differentiating between love and hate, and was a true representation of his upright humanity. Job was possessed of a sense of justice—one which made him hate the winds and tides of wickedness, and loathe, condemn, and reject absurd heresy, ridiculous arguments, and ludicrous assertions, and allowed him to hold true to his own, correct principles and stance when he had been rejected by the masses and deserted by those who were close to him.
from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh
You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me; do not be obstructed by anything, so that My will can be carried out. This shall be your duty…. You must endure all, you must relinquish everything you have and do everything you can to follow Me, pay all the costs for Me. This is the time that I shall test you, will you offer your loyalty to Me? Will you follow Me to the end of the road with loyalty? Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block the road? Remember this! Remember! Everything that occurs is by My good intention and all is under My observation. Can your every word and action follow My word? When the trials of fire come upon you, will you kneel and call out? Or will you cower, unable to move forward?
You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for the sake of Me, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart. You shall not seek the approval of men; isn’t it more valuable and weighty to satisfy Me? In satisfying Me, won’t you even more have eternal and lifelong peace and happiness? The suffering before you signifies how great your future blessings shall be; it is indescribable. You know not how many blessings you shall have, you couldn’t even dream of it. Today they become real, so very real! This is not so far away, can you see it? Every last bit of this is within Me and how bright it is ahead! Wipe away your tears, feel no pain or sorrow, all is held within My hands and My goal is to make you the overcomers soon and to bring you into glory with Me. You shall be grateful and praise for all that befalls you, and that shall satisfy My heart.
from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning
The Man’s Fellowship:
For all the people who belong to the first group to have accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days, in all walks of life in all countries, you need to pursue the truth; God has given you a great commission. Those who have first accepted, and who first obtain the truth, certainly will be used by God, to water, to shepherd their own people, the chosen of God in their country. You first accept the work of Almighty God in the last days and if you in fact are pursuers of the truth, God will entrust you with a task, He will train you, and you will face trials; God will test your faith, to see how truly you believe, to see if you can be certain about God’s word, be certain about the appearance of God. For example, with some people, as soon as they believe, someone in their family falls ill; with others, when they believe, unbelievers rise up to persecute them and oppress them; with yet others, as soon as they believe, their family suffers a serious problem. “What is this? The true God comes, but as soon as I believe something bad happens, bad luck, a disaster? Is this really the true God?” Some people doubt, and don’t pray. Think about it, you believe in the true God, won’t the devils and Satan hate this? Will they just let it go? They will want to snatch you! They will create this or that sort of situation to create difficulties for you, to make you back off and leave Almighty God. … Because demons and Satan prowl everywhere seeking victims to devour, if you believe in Jesus they don’t respond to you, but if you believe in Almighty God this is critical in the spiritual world. This is an ideological war between the truth and falsehood! So when you face a trial do not doubt God; stand by your testimony. Everything is in the hands of God; all you have to do is stand by your faith.
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, B7 Volume 131
In religion, the majority of people worship pastors and they listen to what the pastors say. They don’t even listen to the words of God, they just listen to whatever the pastors say, and do anything the pastors tell them to do. So who exactly do these people believe in? Do they believe in the pastors or in God? Can they tell them apart? Whoever they most listen to, that is who they believe in. Is this not the reality of the situation? This is absolutely the reality. If you are a sister and your husband says something that is at odds with the truth, do you listen? How do you approach this? How do you handle it? In day-to-day things, you can listen. The path that people should take and the things they should do must be based on the words of God. When it comes to day-to-day matters, husband and wife each have their responsibilities in the home; if it’s something you are responsible for, then you must do it, you must take the responsibility. And if you don’t do it properly and he rebukes you, then this is right. But if he doesn’t allow you to believe in God, and makes you walk the path of the worldly people, then you must not listen to him, yes? ‘Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. I must obey Christ in all things. Christ’s words and the truths expressed by Christ are the path that I must walk, and I cannot stray from the words of Christ. Such are our beliefs.’ If your husband violates your belief, then you absolutely must not tolerate this. This concerns questions of principle, and you cannot back down! … When it comes to the way of the life, you absolutely must not give way. You must stick by the truth, stick by our beliefs, and comply with God’s words in all things. Only then will you be someone who truly believes in God.
from “The Value and Significance of Pursuing the Truth” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (V)
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