Questions and Answers About the Way in Which the Lord Returns——The Church of Almighty God

Picture of The Church of Almighty God

Question 1: The Lord said He will come back and take us to the kingdom of heaven. However, what you’re saying is that the Lord has become flesh to do the work of judgment in the last days. It is said right in the Bible that the Lord will come upon a cloud all in glory. But you’re saying that the Lord has become flesh in secret. That sounds a lot different.

Answer: The Lord will come and take us to the kingdom of heaven. That is definite. Our Lord is faithful indeed. And so His promises will surely come true. But first we need to know the work of judgment in the last days the Lord does in His second incarnation. It relates directly to how man is raptured into the kingdom of heaven. If we study the Bible carefully, it’s easy to find that the Lord will return through incarnation, as many verses in the Bible have clearly prophesied. For example, “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luke 12:40). “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24-25). Many have mentioned that “the Son of man comes,” or “the Son of man descends.” When we talk about the “Son of man,” it refers to a person born to a human and with normal humanity. So the Spirit can’t be called the “Son of man.” For instance, Jehovah God is the Spirit. We can’t call Him the “Son of man.” The angels people saw are spirit entities. They can’t be called the “Son of man.” Any spiritual being that looks like a human also isn’t the “Son of man.” The Lord Jesus incarnate was called the “Son of man,” and “Christ,” because He was the incarnate flesh of God’s Spirit, becoming an ordinary and normal man who just lived among man. So then, when the Lord Jesus said “the Son of man comes,” “the Son of man descends,” He meant in the last days He would become flesh again. Especially the words “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” better prove that the Lord would come through incarnation. If God didn’t become flesh but appeared in a spiritual body, He wouldn’t suffer as much, much less be rejected by this generation again, which is beyond doubt. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ will become flesh when He comes back and He will do the work of judgment in the last days.

People do question: Hasn’t the Lord promised to rapture us to the kingdom of heaven when He comes again? And why will He come to do the work of “judgment beginning with the house of God”? Actually, the judgment work of God is to make overcomers, that is, to take the saints. Let’s see why God does the work of judgment in the last days. There is evidence in the Bible. The Bible mentions about God’s judgment in the last days. It’s a lot, at least two hundred verses. Many verses have also prophesied the Lord will do the work of judgment in the flesh. For example, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people” (Isaiah 2:4). “… for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity” (Psalms 98:9). “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7). “Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained …” (Acts 17:31). “And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man” (John 5:27). “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son …” (John 5:22). “He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). etc. All these verses mention “he shall judge among the nations” “for he comes to judge the earth” “because he is the Son of man” “has committed all judgment to the Son” “judgment must begin at the house of God,” which clearly show us that God will surely become flesh to do the work of judgment among men during the last days.

When God becomes flesh in the last days, He just judges, purifies, and saves man through expressing the words. Whoever seeks and accepts the Lord after hearing His voice at His return, is indeed a wise virgin attending the feast with the Lord. This just fulfills the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). The wise virgins hear the Lord’s voice and go out to meet Him. Unknowingly, they’re taken up before the throne to meet the Lord, and accept God’s judgment, purification, and perfection in the last days. Finally, their corrupt disposition will be cleansed through God’s judgment by the word and they will become overcomers who love God, obey God, and worship God, and be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. Obviously, if we want to receive the Lord’s promise, we must first come before Almighty God, Christ of the last days. We must accept and experience God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days and be purified and perfected by Him. Otherwise, we won’t be qualified into the kingdom of heaven. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says, “You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as sinners because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that the people who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be despised by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, which none may bypass. None may be perfected by God except through Christ” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words have shown us the way to the kingdom of heaven. Christ of the last days is the gateway to the kingdom of heaven. If we don’t experience the work of judgment done by Christ of the last days, we won’t attain purification or perfection and will never enter the kingdom of God. This is the authority manifested by the incarnate God. It’s sufficient to prove the Lord will definitely return through incarnation to do the work of judgment in the last days, which is a fact fulfilled by God already. If one wants to be taken into the kingdom of heaven directly without experiencing God’s work in the last days, he still lives in his imagination and notion which will never come true.

Some ask, “If the Lord really comes through incarnation, then how to explain the many prophecies in the Bible that the Lord will arrive on clouds, and that every single eye shall witness Him?” The Bible prophesies in many places that the Lord will come upon a cloud with power and great glory. This is a fact. However, there are more prophecies in the Bible mentioning the Lord will come in secret. For example, “I come as a thief” (Revelation 16:15), “for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Matthew 24:44), and “But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). Apparently, the Lord’s return will be in two different ways. One way will be in secret. The other will be in public. That is, the Lord is incarnated in the last days and descends in a hidden way to do the work of judging, purifying, and saving man. When a group of overcomers are made, God’s work in secret will be finished, and the disasters will come. God will send disasters to reward the good and punish the wicked. And after the disasters, God will appear to all nations and all peoples publicly upon a white cloud. Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days, which we testify today, is the Lord’s work when He comes in secret. Because the incarnate God comes to the world as a man, looking ordinary and normal, it is secret for all humanity. No one recognizes Him as God, nor does anyone know His true identity. After the Son of man works and speaks, only those capable of recognizing His voice start to know Him. Yet those who can’t discern His voice will treat Him as just an ordinary man so as to deny and reject Him. For example, when the Lord Jesus did His work in the flesh, He was like an ordinary man outwardly. So people denied, rejected, and condemned Him. But some people, through the Lord Jesus’ work and word, recognized Him as the incarnate Christ, the appearance of God. Now is when Almighty God is working in secret to save man. He is expressing His words to judge, purify, and perfect us. During this time, people can’t see the scene of the Lord coming on clouds in public. Not until He has made a group of overcomers will His hidden work of incarnation come to an end. And then great disasters fall. The good is rewarded, and the evil is punished. He will openly appear to all nations. At that point, the prophecy of the Lord’s public descent will be fulfilled. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him” (Revelation 1:7). When people see the Lord publicly appear to them on clouds, they should be wild with joy as we can imagine. But right here it says that all kindreds of the earth shall wail. So why is that, we wonder? That’s because when God appears to the public, His hidden work of salvation in His incarnate flesh will have been finished. Then God will reward the good and punish the wicked. And then, all those who refused to accept God’s hidden work will thoroughly lose the chance to be saved. Those who pierced Him, that is, those who resisted and condemned Christ of the last days, Almighty God, will see Almighty God whom they resisted and condemned is exactly the returned Lord Jesus. How could they not beat upon their breasts and weep unceasingly? So then, at that moment the scene “all kindreds of the earth shall wail” will appear. Let’s read some words from Almighty God.

Almighty God says, “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that ‘The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ’ shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud. … The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

From Almighty God’s word we can see that God’s hidden work in His incarnate flesh in the last days is the most crucial part to perfect man. This is also an extremely rare opportunity for us to be perfected in God’s six-thousand-year management plan. All those who accept God’s hidden work and are perfected have God’s special grace and are the most blessed ones. If we don’t cherish this once in a lifetime chance, and miss God’s work of making overcomers, we will only end up mourning and sorely regretting.

from the movie script of The Mystery of Godliness

From in:Typical Questions and Answers From Films I

Almighty God’s Word Made Me Become Subject Before God

Almighty God’s Word Made Me Become Subject Before God

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Zhang Mingqi
Nanyang City, Henan Province

I was formerly a mid-level leader of the Stream of Recovery. Since I was called in the Lord in 1985, I had been in the stream of the Lord’s recovery. I always believed that the Bible was a book of life, in which every word was breathed by God, and that God’s good and kind intention for mankind over six thousand years had been fully revealed to us in it. So, I regarded the Bible as my lifeblood and very much adored Brother Lee who had brought us the “higher vision.” I always believed that God had already unlocked all the mysteries in the sixty-six books of the Bible through Brother Lee and that all the mysteries and the essence of the Bible had already been revealed to us. When the antichrists would make the covenant, when the temple would be rebuilt, when the Lord would return, and where and when the Lord would take us up, all these had been told to us. So we only needed to attend meetings, be obedient, and wait to be taken up to reign and rule when the revelations were fulfilled. Therefore, I paid much attention to reading Brother Lee’s messages. I also shepherded the brothers and sisters in the area where I ministered according to the methods of Brother Lee. Honestly speaking, at that time, I only wished that I could be full of the words from the messages of Brother Lee either when I preached or when I fellowshipped, for Brother Lee once said that he was the Lord’s recorder and that we should all become his recorders. It could be said that the brothers and sisters under me and I worshipped Brother Lee’s messages as we worshipped God. We read his messages at usual times, shared his messages at the meetings, and followed the prescribed routine in his messages waiting for God’s return. I condemned anything different from the “vision revealed” by Brother Lee as a “heresy” and would not accept it at all.

10. I Was Saved by Almighty God

10. I Was Saved by Almighty God

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—The Story of How I, Once an Opponent of Almighty God, Accepted Him

Li Mingguang
Zhoukou City, Henan Province

    I was formerly a worker of the Hua Xuehe sect. On December 2, 1998, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. Only then did I come to know that God’s work is always progressing forward, understand the inside truth and the effects of God’s work in the Age of Law. And I also knew that in the Age of Grace, God was incarnated to be the Son of man, and He was crucified as the sin offering and redeemed the whole mankind. And furthermore, I knew that in the last days, on the foundation of the first two stages of His work, God has opened up a new age—the Age of the Word. And through His word, God exposes and judges men and will completely conquer men in the end, so that they will obey His word, submit to Him, and be of the same mind with Him, and become His manifestation on earth, the evidence of His defeating Satan, and the group of people who can bear testimony to His deeds. This group of people are the 144,000 overcomers mentioned in Revelation.

6 Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

6 Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

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—The Story of a Person Who Fiercely Resisted Almighty God’s Work of the Last Days

Zheng Yongshen

Funan County, Anhui Province

I was a co-worker of the Stream of Recovery. On December 8, 1998, a brother of our church came to me to preach the work of Almighty God of the last days. He gave me a book of Almighty God’s word and asked me to read it. I was very angry and rebuked him, “We only believe in the Lord Jesus; why did you convert to the faith of another god?” Running my eyes over more than one page of the book, I laid it aside, because I thought the words were plain and simple, and too shallow. The brother said to me earnestly, “Better finish reading it, and you will know it is truly the word personally spoken by God.” “I don’t think so. Now that you insist it is God’s own word, you get a pen and a notebook, put them on the table, and ask God to speak!” I said rudely. And then I murmured to myself angrily, “You believers in Almighty God have stolen many of our lambs, and now you also want to draw me in. No way!” Then I went to the church, and called some other co-workers together and discussed how to guard against the “Eastern Lightning,” trying to work out ways to fight back against it. After that, we went to every meeting place spreading these slanderous and blasphemous words: “You mustn’t believe in the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ It is a false Christ, a false prophet, who tries to deceive people in the disguise of the Lord. What we believe in is the truth. Don’t listen to their messages. Those people are the disturbers of the church. It is a test of whether we have foundation. If your foundation is built on sand, you will be taken away by them; if you have foundation, you will be able to stand no matter how they disturb.” And I also started rumors among the believers, “The sect of Almighty God is a mafia, and they have guns. Once you join them, you can’t withdraw. If you want to, they will gouge out your eyes, cut off your nose or ears, or break your legs. And they are promiscuous.” In order to preserve my position and fame and prevent the brothers and sisters from receiving the truth, I fabricated horrible lies to seal off the church and used the biblical verses out of context to condemn God’s work of the last days. As a result, many who had no discernment and didn’t know the truth were too frightened to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. These are the evils I have done.

5. God’s Discipline Made Me Examine Myself; God’s Word Conquered Me——The Church of Almighty God

5. God’s Discipline Made Me Examine Myself; God’s Word Conquered Me

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Zhang Congxian

Fuyang City, Anhui Province

I was formerly a leader in the Born Again Church. Since 1997, the believers in the Almighty God had been constantly preaching the gospel to me, no matter whether it was windy or rainy, extremely hot or bitterly cold, daytime or nighttime. However, I always retorted upon them, saying, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ you preach is a female Christ. Don’t deceive me. Moreover, you cannot deceive me. I have searched the whole Bible. It never says that God will be incarnated the second time, much less as a female Christ. You say that God has been incarnated the second time. It is a deceitful lie and is purely a heresy, a cult! Believers in God should take the Bible as the standard. Anything apart from the Bible is not to be believed. Even if you come ten thousand times, I absolutely will not accept!” And I often used Alarm Bell (a handbook printed by our Born Again Church specially for blaspheming and resisting the Almighty God’s end-time work) to seal the churches and said to the brothers and sisters many times, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy, a cult. Take strict precautions against it! None of you can receive them or dispute with them, because you cannot match them in dispute. Even less should you listen to them. Once you listen, you will be deceived, and once you go in, you cannot get out. They even cut off others’ noses, gouge out others’ eyes, and commit sexual immorality. They are the ones who drag people into hell and into the lake of fire. … Only our Born Again Church is the true way. The Lord has promised us that once saved always saved, and he will definitely come and take us to heaven. We absolutely cannot accept ‘the Eastern Lightning’!” In this way, I condemned and resisted the Almighty God’s end-time work all along.

2 Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus——The Church of Almighty God

2 Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus

2 Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus——The Church of Almighty God

Wang Yang

Guichi City, Anhui Province

I was formerly a leader of the Justification by Faith Church in the city of Guichi. Before I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, I, like all brothers and sisters, had been eagerly expecting the Lord Jesus’ coming again. But because of the constant “warnings” from the senior leader above and the biblical verse that there will surely appear many false Christs in the last days, I became one who resisted and condemned God’s work of the last days. Thinking of these, I feel very guilty. Now, I will tell brothers and sisters my personal experience, hoping that brothers and sisters will learn a lesson from it and come back to God’s family soon.

Is God Greater or Is the Bible Greater? A Talk About the Relationship Between God and the Bible——Almighty God's Word

Ⅰ Is God Greater or Is the Bible Greater? A Talk About the Relationship Between God and the Bible

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

1 For many years, people’s traditional means of belief (that of Christianity, one of the world’s three major religions) has been to read the Bible; departure from the Bible is not the belief in the Lord, departure from the Bible is an evil cult, and heresy, and even when people read other books, the foundation of these books must be the explanation of the Bible. Which is to say, if you say you believe in the Lord, then you must read the Bible, you must eat and drink the Bible, and outside the Bible you must not worship any book that does not involve the Bible. If you do, then you are betraying God. From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible. In this way, people worship the Bible as if it were God, as if it were their lifeblood and losing it would be the same as losing their life. People see the Bible as being as high as God, and there are even those who see it as higher than God. If people are without the work of the Holy Spirit, if they cannot feel God, they can carry on living—but as soon as they lose the Bible, or lose the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, then it is as if they have lost their life. And so, as soon as people believe in the Lord they begin reading the Bible, and memorizing the Bible, and the more of the Bible they are able to memorize, the more this proves that they love the Lord and are of great faith. Those who have read the Bible and can speak of it to others are all good brothers and sisters. For all these years, people’s faith and loyalty to the Lord has been measured according to the extent of their understanding of the Bible. Most people simply don’t understand why they should believe in God, nor how to believe in God, and do nothing but search blindly for clues to decipher the chapters of the Bible. They have never pursued the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit; all along, they have done nothing but desperately study and investigate the Bible, and no one has ever found newer work of the Holy Spirit outside of the Bible, no one has ever departed from the Bible, nor have they ever dared to depart from the Bible. People have studied the Bible for all these years, they have come up with so many explanations, and put in so much work; they also have many differences of opinion about the Bible, which they debate endlessly, such that over two thousand different denominations have been formed today. They all want to find some special explanations, or more profound mysteries in the Bible, they want to explore it, and to find in it the background to Jehovah’s work in Israel, or the background to Jesus’ work in Judea, or more mysteries that no one else knows. People’s approach to the Bible is one of obsession and faith, and no one can be completely clear about the inside story or substance of the Bible. Thus, the result is that today, people still have an indescribable sense of magicalness when it comes to the Bible; even more than that, they are obsessed with it, and have faith in it. Today, everyone wants to find the prophecies of the work of the last days in the Bible, they want to discover what work God does during the last days, and what omens there are for the last days. In this way, their worship of the Bible becomes more fervent, and the closer it gets to the last days, the more credence they give to the prophecies of the Bible, particularly those about the last days. With such blind belief in the Bible, with such trust in the Bible, they have no desire to seek the work of the Holy Spirit. In people’s conceptions, they think that only the Bible can bring the work of the Holy Spirit; only in the Bible can they find the footsteps of God; only in the Bible are hidden the mysteries of God’s work; only the Bible—not other books or people—can clarify everything of God and the entirety of His work; the Bible can bring the work of heaven to earth; and the Bible can both begin and conclude the ages. With these conceptions, people have no inclination to search for the work of the Holy Spirit. So, regardless of how much of a help the Bible was to people in the past, it has become an obstacle to God’s latest work. Without the Bible, people can search for the footsteps of God elsewhere, yet today, His footsteps have been “contained” by the Bible, and extending His latest work has become double difficult, and an uphill struggle. This is all because of the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, as well as the various prophecies of the Bible. The Bible has become an idol in people’s minds, it has become a puzzle in their brains, and they are simply incapable of believing that God can work exclusive of the Bible, they are incapable of believing that people can find God outside of the Bible, much less are they able to believe that God could depart from the Bible during the final work and start anew. This is unthinkable to people; they can’t believe it, and neither can they imagine it. The Bible has become a great obstacle to people’s acceptance of God’s new work, and has made it difficult to broaden this new work.

The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation——Almighty God's Word

The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation

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Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if an infant girl, not a boy, was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. At the time of His work, Jesus was called the only Son, which indicates the male gender. Then why is the only Son not mentioned in this stage? This is because the needs of the work have necessitated a change to the gender different from that of Jesus. With God there is no distinction of gender. His work is done as He wishes and is not subject to any restrictions, particularly free, but every stage has a real significance. God became flesh twice, and it goes without saying that His incarnation in the last days is the last time. He has come to reveal all His deeds. If in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female. Before this, all believed that God could only be male and that a female could not be called God, for all regarded man as having authority over woman. They believed that no woman could take on authority, but only man. They even said that man was the head of woman and that woman must obey man and could not surpass him. When it was spoken in the past that man was the head of woman, it was said in regard to Adam and Eve who had been beguiled by the serpent, and not to the man and woman created by Jehovah in the beginning. Of course, a woman must obey and love her husband, much as a man must learn to support his family. These are the laws and decrees set forth by Jehovah by which mankind must abide in their lives on earth. Jehovah said to woman, “your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” This was said only so that mankind (that is, both man and woman) could live normal lives under the dominion of Jehovah, so that the lives of mankind would have structure and not lose order. Therefore, Jehovah made appropriate rules for how man and woman should act, but these only referred to all the creation living on the earth and not to God’s incarnate flesh. How could God be the same as His creation? His words were directed only toward the mankind of His creation; they were rules set forth for man and woman so that such mankind could live normal lives. In the beginning, when Jehovah created mankind, He made both male and female; therefore, His incarnate flesh was also differentiated into either male or female. He did not decide His work based on the words He spoke to Adam and Eve. The two times He became flesh were determined entirely in line with His thinking when He first created mankind. That is, He completed the work of His two incarnations based on the male and female that had not been corrupted. If man applies the words spoken by Jehovah to Adam and Eve who had been beguiled by the serpent to the work of God’s incarnation, should not Jesus also have to love His wife as He ought? Is God still God then? If so, can He complete His work? If it is wrong for God’s incarnate flesh to be female, would it not also have been a great error when God created woman? If man still believes that for God to be incarnated as female is wrong, would not the incarnation of Jesus, who did not get married and therefore could not love His wife, be as much an error as the present incarnation? Since you use the words spoken to Eve by Jehovah to measure the truth of God’s incarnation this day, you must use Jehovah’s words to Adam to judge the Lord Jesus who became flesh in the Age of Grace. Are these two not the same? Since you judge the Lord Jesus by the male who had not been beguiled by the serpent, you cannot judge the truth of the incarnation this day by the female who had been beguiled by the serpent. That is unfair! If you make such a judgment, then this proves your lack of rationality. When Jehovah twice became flesh, the gender of His flesh was related to the male and female that had not been beguiled by the serpent. Twice did He become flesh in accordance with such male and female not beguiled by the serpent. Do not think that the maleness of Jesus was the same as that of Adam who was beguiled by the serpent. He is completely unrelated to him, and they are two males of different natures. Surely it cannot be that the maleness of Jesus proves He is only the head of all women but not that of all men? Is He not the King of all the Jews (including both men and women)? He is God Himself, not just the head of woman but the head of man as well. He is the Lord of all creatures and the head of all creatures. How could you determine the maleness of Jesus to be the symbol of the head of woman? Is this not blasphemy? Jesus is a male that has not been corrupted. He is God; He is Christ; He is the Lord. How could He be a male like Adam who had been corrupted? Jesus is the flesh worn by the most holy Spirit of God. How could you say He is a God possessing the maleness of Adam? Then would not all of God’s work have been wrong? Could Jehovah incorporate within Jesus the maleness of Adam who had been beguiled? Is not the incarnation at present another work of God incarnate different in gender from Jesus but alike in nature? Do you still dare say that God incarnate could not be female since it was woman who was first beguiled by the serpent? Do you still dare say that as woman is the most unclean and the origin of the corruption of mankind, God could not possibly become flesh as a female? Do you still dare say that “woman shall always obey man and may never manifest or directly represent God”? You did not understand in the past; can you now still blaspheme the work of God, especially the incarnate flesh of God? If you cannot see this clearly, best mind your tongue, lest your foolishness and ignorance be revealed and your ugliness exposed. Do not think that you understand everything. I tell you that all you have seen and experienced is insufficient to understand even one thousandth of My management plan. So why then are you so haughty? The mere bit of talent and the minimal knowledge you have are insufficient to be used in even one second of the work of Jesus! How much experience do you actually have? What you have seen and all that you have heard in your lifetime and what you have imagined are less than the work I do in a moment! You best not nitpick and find fault. No matter how haughty you may be, you are still a creature less than an ant! All that within your belly is less than that within the belly of an ant! Do not think that because you have experienced much and become senior, you can speak and act with unbridled arrogance. Are not your experiences and your seniority a result of the words I have uttered? Do you believe that they are earned through your labor and toil? This day, you see My incarnation, and as a result you have such rich conceptions, from which come innumerable notions. If not for My incarnation, no matter how extraordinary your talents, you would not have as many conceptions. Is it not from this that your notions arose? If not for the first time Jesus became flesh, what would you know of the incarnation? Is it not because of your knowledge of the first incarnation that you dare to brazenly judge the second incarnation? Why should you scrutinize it instead of being an obedient follower? You have entered into this stream and come before the incarnate God. How could you be allowed to study? It is fine for you to study your own family history, but if you study the “family history” of God, how could the God of today allow you to do so? Are you not blind? Are you not asking for troubles?

12 How do God’s three stages of work deepen stage by stage and cause man to be saved?

The answer from God’s word:

“The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. The work of creating the world was the work of producing the whole of mankind. It was not the work of saving mankind, and bears no relation to the work of saving mankind, for when the world was created mankind had not been corrupted by Satan, and so there was no need to carry out the work of mankind’s salvation. The work of saving mankind only began once mankind had been corrupted, and so the work of managing mankind also only began once mankind had been corrupted.”

from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word

In the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to usher in a new age, to change the means of His work, and to do the work for the entire age. This is the principle by which God works in the Age of Word. He became flesh to speak from different perspectives, enabling man to truly see God, who is the Word appearing in the flesh, and His wisdom and wonder. Such work is done to better achieve the goals of conquering man, perfecting man, and eliminating man. This is the true meaning of using the word to work in the Age of Word. Through the word, man comes to know the work of God, the disposition of God, the essence of man, and what man ought to enter into. Through the word, all the work God wishes to do in the Age of Word is accomplished. Through the word, man is revealed, eliminated, and tried. Man has seen the word, heard the word, and become aware of the existence of the word. As a result, man believes in the existence of God; man believes the almightiness and wisdom of God, as well as God’s heart of love for man and His desire to save man. Though the word “word” is simple and ordinary, the word from the mouth of God become flesh shakes the entire universe; His word transforms the heart of man, the notions and the old disposition of man, and the old appearance of the entire world. Through the ages, only the God of this day works in such a manner, and only He speaks and saves man thus. Thereafter, man lives under the guidance of the word, shepherded and supplied by the word; they live in the world of the word, live within the curses and blessings of God’s word, and even more live under the judgment and chastisement of the word. These words and this work are all for the sake of man’s salvation, achieving God’s will, and changing the original appearance of the world of old creation. God created the world with the word, leads men throughout the universe with the word, conquers and saves them with the word. Finally, He shall use the word to bring the entire world of old to an end. Only then is the management plan wholly complete. Throughout the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to do His work and achieve the results of His work; He does not work wonders or perform miracles; He merely does His work through the word. Because of the word, man is nourished and supplied; because of the word, man gains knowledge and true experience. Man in the Age of Word has truly received exceptional blessings. Man suffers no pain of the flesh and simply enjoys the bountiful supply of the word of God; they need not seek or journey forth, and at ease they see the appearance of God, hear Him speak personally, receive His supply, and see Him personally do His work. Man in ages past was unable to enjoy such things, and these are blessings that they could never receive.

Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

God became flesh because the object of His work is not the spirit of Satan, or any incorporeal thing, but man, who is of the flesh and has been corrupted by Satan. It is precisely because the flesh of man has been corrupted that God has made fleshly man the object of His work; moreover, because man is the object of corruption, He has made man the only object of His work throughout all the stages of His salvation work. Man is a mortal being, is of flesh and blood, and God is the only One who can save man. In this way, God must become a flesh that possesses the same attributes as man in order to do His work, so that His work might achieve better effects. God must become flesh to do His work precisely because man is of the flesh, and incapable of overcoming sin or divesting himself of the flesh. Though the substance and identity of God incarnate differ greatly from the substance and identity of man, yet His appearance is identical to that of man, He has the appearance of a normal person, and leads the life of a normal person, and those who see Him can discern no difference to a normal person. This normal appearance and normal humanity are sufficient for Him to do His divine work in normal humanity. His flesh allows Him to do His work in normal humanity, and helps Him do His work among man, and His normal humanity, moreover, helps Him carry out the work of salvation among man. Although His normal humanity has caused much tumult among man, such tumult has not impacted the normal effects of His work. In short, the work of His normal flesh is of supreme benefit to man. Though most people do not accept His normal humanity, His work can still be effective, and these effects are achieved thanks to His normal humanity. Of this there is no doubt. From His work in the flesh, man gains ten times or dozens of times more things than the conceptions that exist among man about His normal humanity, and such conceptions shall all ultimately be swallowed by His work. And the effect that His work has achieved, which is to say, the knowledge that man has toward Him, far outnumbers man’s conceptions about Him. There is no way to imagine or measure the work He does in the flesh, for His flesh is unlike that of any fleshly man; although the outer shell is identical, the substance is not the same. His flesh produces many conceptions among man about God, yet His flesh can also allow man to acquire much knowledge, and can even conquer any man possessed of a similar outer shell. For He is not merely a man, but is God with the outer shell of a man, and none can completely fathom or understand Him. An invisible and intangible God is loved and welcomed by all. If God is just a Spirit that is invisible to man, it is so easy for man to believe in God. Man can give free rein to his imagination, can choose whatever image he likes as God’s image to please himself and make himself feel happy. In this way, man may do whatever is most pleasing to his own God, and that which this God is most willing to do, without any scruples. What’s more, man believes that no one is more loyal and devout than he toward God, and that all others are Gentile dogs, and disloyal to God. It can be said that this is what is sought by those whose belief in God is vague and based on doctrine; what they seek is all much the same, with little variation. It is merely that the images of God in their imaginations are different, yet their substance is actually the same.

Knowing God’s Work Today

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

To know God’s work in these times is, for the most part, to know God incarnate of the last days, what His principal ministry is, and what He has come to do on earth. I have previously mentioned in My words that God has come to earth (during the last days) to set an exemplar before departing. How does God set this exemplar? By speaking words, by working and speaking throughout the land. This is God’s work during the last days; He only speaks, so that the earth becomes a world of words, so that every person is provided for and enlightened by His words, and so that man’s spirit is awakened and he is clear about the visions. During the last days, God incarnate has come to earth chiefly in order to speak words. When Jesus came, He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and accomplished the work of redemption of the crucifixion. He brought an end to the Age of Law, and abolished all the old things. The arrival of Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace. The arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in his conceptions, man believes that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the conceptions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Using His actual words and actual work, He moves across all lands, and the work He does among man is exceptionally real and normal, such that man comes to know the reality of God, and the vague God loses his place in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. The work of creating the world was the work of producing the whole of mankind. It was not the work of saving mankind, and bears no relation to the work of saving mankind, for when the world was created mankind had not been corrupted by Satan, and so there was no need to carry out the work of mankind’s salvation. The work of saving mankind only began once mankind had been corrupted, and so the work of managing mankind also only began once mankind had been corrupted. In other words, God’s management of man began as a result of the work of saving mankind, and did not arise from the work of creating the world. There could be no work of managing mankind without the corrupt disposition of mankind, and so the work of managing mankind includes three parts, rather than four stages, or four ages. Only this is the correct way to refer to God’s management of mankind. When the final age comes to a close, the work of managing mankind will have come to a complete end. The conclusion of the work of management means that the work of saving all mankind has been completely finished, and that mankind has reached his journey’s end. Without the work of saving all mankind, the work of managing mankind would not exist, nor would there be the three stages of work. It was precisely because of mankind’s depravity, and because mankind was in such urgent need of salvation, that Jehovah concluded the creation of the world and began the work of the Age of Law. Only then did the work of managing mankind begin, which means that only then did the work of saving mankind begin. “Managing mankind” does not mean guiding the life of newly-created mankind on earth (which is to say, a mankind that had yet to be corrupted). Rather, it is the salvation of a mankind that has been corrupted by Satan, which is to say, it is the changing of this corrupt mankind. This is the meaning of managing mankind. The work of saving mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and so the work of managing mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and only includes three stages of work that are separate from the world’s creation. To understand the work of managing mankind, it is necessary to be aware of the history of the three stages of work—this is what everyone must be aware of in order to be saved. As creatures of God, you should recognize that man was created by God, and should recognize the source of mankind’s corruption, and, moreover, should recognize the process of man’s salvation. If you only know how to act according to doctrine in order to gain God’s favor, but have no inkling of how God saves mankind, or of the source of mankind’s corruption, then this is what you lack as a creature of God. You should not only be satisfied with understanding those truths that can be put into practice, while remaining ignorant of the wider scope of God’s management work—if this is the case, then you are too dogmatic. The three stages of work are the inside story of God’s management of man, the advent of the gospel of the entire universe, the greatest mystery among all mankind, and are also the foundation of spreading the gospel. If you only focus on understanding simple truths that relate to your life, and know nothing of this, the greatest of all mysteries and visions, then is your life not akin to a defective product, good for nothing except being looked at?

The Mystery of Godliness

Lin Bo'en was an elder at a house church in China. During all his years as a believer, he felt honored to suffer for the Lord, and valued the knowledge and attainment of the Lord Jesus Christ above anything else in the world. One fateful day, he went out to preach and heard some shocking news: The Lord Jesus has returned in the flesh, and He is Christ of the last days—Almighty God! Lin Bo'en was puzzled. When the Lord returns, He is supposed to descend with the clouds, so why would He take on a human form and do His work in secret? What mysteries were hidden behind God's incarnation? If the Lord has truly returned, why haven't we been raptured? … An intense debate unfolds between Lin Bo'en and his co-workers and the preachers from the Church of Almighty God … Will they finally be able to understand that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus, the appearance of God in the flesh?

Concerning the Bible (1)

Concerning the Bible (1)

     How should the Bible be approached in the belief in God? This is a question of principle. Why are we communing this question? Because in the future you will spread the gospel and widen the work of the Age of Kingdom, and it’s not enough to merely be able to talk of God’s work today. To broaden His work, it is more important that you are able to resolve people’s old religious conceptions and old means of belief, and leave them utterly convinced—and getting to that point involves the Bible. For many years, people’s traditional means of belief (that of Christianity, one of the world’s three major religions) has been to read the Bible; departure from the Bible is not the belief in the Lord, departure from the Bible is an evil cult, and heresy, and even when people read other books, the foundation of these books must be the explanation of the Bible. Which is to say, if you say you believe in the Lord, then you must read the Bible, you must eat and drink the Bible, and outside the Bible you must not worship any book that does not involve the Bible. If you do, then you are betraying God. From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible. In this way, people worship the Bible as if it were God, as if it were their lifeblood and losing it would be the same as losing their life. People see the Bible as being as high as God, and there are even those who see it as higher than God. If people are without the work of the Holy Spirit, if they cannot feel God, they can carry on living—but as soon as they lose the Bible, or lose the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, then it is as if they have lost their life. And so, as soon as people believe in the Lord they begin reading the Bible, and memorizing the Bible, and the more of the Bible they are able to memorize, the more this proves that they love the Lord and are of great faith. Those who have read the Bible and can speak of it to others are all good brothers and sisters. For all these years, people’s faith and loyalty to the Lord has been measured according to the extent of their understanding of the Bible. Most people simply don’t understand why they should believe in God, nor how to believe in God, and do nothing but search blindly for clues to decipher the chapters of the Bible. They have never pursued the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit; all along, they have done nothing but desperately study and investigate the Bible, and no one has ever found newer work of the Holy Spirit outside of the Bible, no one has ever departed from the Bible, nor have they ever dared to depart from the Bible. People have studied the Bible for all these years, they have come up with so many explanations, and put in so much work; they also have many differences of opinion about the Bible, which they debate endlessly, such that over two thousand different denominations have been formed today. They all want to find some special explanations, or more profound mysteries in the Bible, they want to explore it, and to find in it the background to Jehovah’s work in Israel, or the background to Jesus’ work in Judea, or more mysteries that no one else knows. People’s approach to the Bible is one of obsession and faith, and no one can be completely clear about the inside story or substance of the Bible. Thus, the result is that today, people still have an indescribable sense of magicalness when it comes to the Bible; even more than that, they are obsessed with it, and have faith in it. Today, everyone wants to find the prophecies of the work of the last days in the Bible, they want to discover what work God does during the last days, and what signs there are for the last days. In this way, their worship of the Bible becomes more fervent, and the closer it gets to the last days, the more credence they give to the prophecies of the Bible, particularly those about the last days. With such blind belief in the Bible, with such trust in the Bible, they have no desire to seek the work of the Holy Spirit. In people’s conceptions, they think that only the Bible can bring the work of the Holy Spirit; only in the Bible can they find the footsteps of God; only in the Bible are hidden the mysteries of God’s work; only the Bible—not other books or people—can clarify everything of God and the entirety of His work; the Bible can bring the work of heaven to earth; and the Bible can both begin and conclude the ages. With these conceptions, people have no inclination to search for the work of the Holy Spirit. So, regardless of how much of a help the Bible was to people in the past, it has become an obstacle to God’s latest work. Without the Bible, people can search for the footsteps of God elsewhere, yet today, His footsteps have been “contained” by the Bible, and extending His latest work has become double difficult, and an uphill struggle. This is all because of the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, as well as the various prophecies of the Bible. The Bible has become an idol in people’s minds, it has become a puzzle in their brains, and they are simply incapable of believing that God can work exclusive of the Bible, they are incapable of believing that people can find God outside of the Bible, much less are they able to believe that God could depart from the Bible during the final work and start anew. This is unthinkable to people; they can’t believe it, and neither can they imagine it. The Bible has become a great obstacle to people’s acceptance of God’s new work, and has made it difficult to broaden this new work. Thus, if you don’t understand the inside story of the Bible, you will be unable to successfully spread the gospel, nor will you be able to bear testimony to the new work. Although, today, you do not read the Bible, you are still extremely amiable toward it, which is to say, the Bible might not be in your hands, but many of your conceptions come from it. You don’t understand the origins of the Bible or the inside story about the previous two stages of God’s work. Although you do not eat and drink the Bible, you must understand the Bible, you must achieve the correct knowledge of the Bible, and only in this way will you be able to know what God’s 6,000-year management plan is all about. You will use these things to win people over, to make them acknowledge that this stream is the true way, to make them acknowledge that the path you walk today is the path of truth, that it is guided by the Holy Spirit, and has not been opened up by any human.

Chapter 1 You Must Know That Only Almighty God Is the One True God Who Created the Heavens and the Earth and Everything in Them

2. Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus.
Relevant Words of God:


    God is incarnated in the Chinese mainland, what the compatriots in Hong Kong and Taiwan call the inland. When God came from above to the earth, no one in heaven and earth knew about it, for this is the true meaning of God returning in a concealed fashion. He has been in the flesh working and living for a long time, yet no one has known about it. Even to this day, no one recognizes it. Perhaps this will remain an eternal riddle. God’s coming into flesh this time is not something anyone is able to be aware of. No matter how large-scale and powerful the Spirit’s work, God always stays composed, never giving Himself away. One can say that it is as if this stage of His work is taking place in the heavenly realm. Even though it is perfectly obvious to everyone, no one recognizes it. When God finishes this stage of His work, everyone will awake from their long dream and reverse their past attitude. I remember God once saying, “Coming into flesh this time is like falling into the tiger’s den.” What this means is that because this round of God’s work has God coming into flesh and being born in the dwelling place of the great red dragon, His coming to earth this time is accompanied even more so with extreme dangers. What He faces are knives and guns and clubs; what He faces is temptation; what He faces are crowds wearing murderous looks. He risks being killed at any moment. God did come with wrath. However, He came in order to do the work of perfection, meaning to do the second part of His work that continues after redemption work. For the sake of this stage of His work, God has devoted utmost thought and care and is using every conceivable means to avoid the assaults of temptation, concealing Himself humbly and never flaunting His identity. In rescuing man off the cross, Jesus was only completing redemption work; He was not doing perfection work. Thus only half of God’s work was being done, and finishing the redemption work was only half of His whole plan. As the new age was about to begin and the old one about to recede, God the Father began to deliberate the second part of His work and started preparing for it. In the past, this incarnation in the last days may not have been prophesied, and therefore that laid a foundation for the increased secrecy surrounding God’s coming into flesh this time. At the break of dawn, unbeknownst to any, God came to earth and began His life in the flesh. People were unaware of this moment. Maybe they were all fast asleep, maybe many who were watchfully awake were waiting, and maybe many were praying silently to God in heaven. Yet among all these many people, not one knew that God had already arrived on earth. God worked like this so as to more smoothly carry out His work and achieve better results, and it was also to avoid more temptations. As man’s spring slumber breaks, God’s work will have long been finished and He shall depart, bringing to a close His life of roaming and sojourning on earth. Because God’s work requires God to act and speak personally, and because there is no way for man to help, God has endured extreme pain to come to earth to do the work Himself. Man is unable to stand in for God’s work. Therefore God risked dangers several thousand times greater than those during the Age of Grace to come down to where the great red dragon dwells to do His own work, to put all His thinking and care into redeeming this group of impoverished people, redeeming this group of people mired in a heap of manure. Even though no one knows of God’s existence, God is not troubled because it greatly benefits God’s work. Everyone is atrociously evil, so how can anyone tolerate God’s existence? That is why on earth God is always silent. No matter how excessively cruel man is, God does not take any of it to heart, but just keeps doing the work He needs to do so as to fulfill the greater commission that the heavenly Father gave Him. Who among you has recognized God’s loveliness? Who shows more consideration for God the Father’s burden than His Son does? Who is able to understand the will of God the Father? God the Father’s Spirit in heaven is often troubled, and His Son on earth prays frequently over God the Father’s will, worrying His heart to pieces. Is there anyone who knows of God the Father’s love for His Son? Is there anyone who knows how the beloved Son misses God the Father? Torn between heaven and earth, the two are constantly gazing after each other from afar, side by side in Spirit. O mankind! When will you be considerate of God’s heart? When will you understand God’s intention? Father and Son have always depended on each other. Why then should They be separated, one in heaven above and one on earth below? The Father loves His Son as the Son loves His Father. Why then should He have to wait with such longing and long with such anxiety? Although They have not been separated for long, does anyone know that the Father has already been anxiously yearning for so many days and nights and has long been looking forward to His beloved Son’s quick return? He observes, He sits in silence, He waits. It is all for His beloved Son’s quick return. When will He again be with the Son who is wandering on earth? Even though once together, They will be together for eternity, how can He endure the thousands of days and nights of separation, one in heaven above and one on earth below? Tens of years on earth are like thousands of years in heaven. How could God the Father not worry? When God comes to earth, He experiences the many vicissitudes of the human world just as man does. God Himself is innocent, so why let God suffer the same pain as man? No wonder God the Father longs so urgently for His Son; who can understand God’s heart? God gives man too much; how can man adequately repay God’s heart? Yet man gives God too little; how could God not therefore be worried?