Holding Fast to the “Bible” Cannot Gain Me God’s Approval | The Church of Almighty God

Holding Fast to the “Bible” Cannot Gain Me God’s Approval | The Church of Almighty God

I had considered myself very faithful to the Lord. To safeguard the “true way” and the dignity of the “Bible,” I once disowned my younger sister and wantonly attacked and blasphemed Almighty God. When I, a watchdog of the Bible, became subject to Almighty God, I discovered that it was a great mistake to believe that I could be saved through the Bible.

Only If One Lives Out Reality Does He Have Witness | The Church of Almighty God

Only If One Lives Out Reality Does He Have Witness | The Church of Almighty God

In the course of real experience, people who are able to stand witness, who are able to stay the course and stand on God’s side, who never retreat, who are able to have normal relationships with those that love God, who obey God completely when faced with problems and even obey unto death, have the truth.

What is the relationship between God’s work and the Bible? Which comes first, God’s work or the Bible?

What is the relationship between God’s work and the Bible? Which comes first, God’s work or the Bible?

The answer from God’s word:

“… it is nothing more than a historical record of God’s work, and a testament to the previous two stages of God’s work, and offers you no understanding of the aims of God’s work. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it documents the two stages of God’s work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament chronicles the history of Israel and Jehovah’s work from the time of creation until the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul; are they not historical records? … By reading the Bible, at most you’ll understand a little of the history of Israel, you’ll learn about the lives of Abraham, David, and Moses, you’ll find out about how they revered Jehovah, how Jehovah burned those who opposed Him, and how He spoke to the people of that age. You’ll only find out about God’s work in the past. The records of the Bible relate to how the early people of Israel revered God and lived under the guidance of Jehovah. Because the Israelites were God’s chosen people, in the Old Testament you can see all the people of Israel’s loyalty to Jehovah, how all those who obeyed Jehovah were cared for and blessed by Him, you can learn that when God worked in Israel He was full of mercy and compassion, as well as possessed of consuming flames, and that all the Israelites, from the lowly to the mighty, revered Jehovah, and so the whole country was blessed by God. Such is the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament.”

from “Concerning the Bible (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Does the “judgment in the last day” spoken of in the Bible refer to Almighty God’s work of the last days?

Does the “judgment in the last day” spoken of in the Bible refer to Almighty God’s work of the last days?

The answer from God’s word:

“Some believe that God may sometime come to earth and appear to man, whereupon He shall personally judge the whole of mankind, testing them one by one without anyone being omitted. Those who think in this way do not know this stage of work of incarnation. God does not judge man one by one, and does not test man one by one; to do thus would not be the work of judgment. Is not the corruption of all mankind the same? Is not the substance of man all the same? What is judged is mankind’s corrupt substance, man’s substance corrupted by Satan, and all the sins of man. God does not judge the trifling and insignificant faults of man. The work of judgment is representative, and is not carried out especially for a certain person. Rather, it is work in which a group of people are judged in order to represent the judgment of all of mankind. By personally carrying out His work on a group of people, God in the flesh uses His work to represent the work of the whole of mankind, after which it is gradually spread. The work of judgment is also thus. God does not judge a certain kind of person or a certain group of people, but judges the unrighteousness of the whole of mankind—man’s opposition to God, for example, or man’s irreverence against Him, or disturbance of the work of God, and so on. What is judged is mankind’s substance of opposition to God, and this work is the work of conquest of the last days.

Why do people always use the Bible to define God? Why is it wrong to define God within the Bible?

Why do people always use the Bible to define God? Why is it wrong to define God within the Bible?

The answer from God’s word:

“The Bible has been accompanying man for several thousand years of history, and people all treat it as God, and in the last days people even replace God’s place with the Bible, which is a thing greatly loathed by God. So, in His leisure time, God has to make clear both the inside truth and the origin of the Bible. If not, in man’s heart the Bible can still take the place of God, and people will still condemn and measure God’s doings with the letters of the Bible. By explaining the substance and structure of the Bible and the flaws in it, God is not denying the existence of the Bible or condemning the Bible, but giving a proper and appropriate statement about it and showing what the Bible really is, correcting people’s erroneous knowledge about the Bible, so that they all can have an accurate view about the Bible, no longer worship the Bible, and no longer lose the direction—considering blindly believing in the Bible as believing in God and worshiping God, and even daring not to face the true background of the Bible and the flaws in it. After people all have a pure knowledge of the Bible, they will cast it off without any misgiving and accept God’s new word boldly. … Here, the truth God wants to tell man is that no theory or fact can replace God’s practical work and word, and no thing can take the place of God. If one cannot break away from the trapping of the Bible, then he can never possibly come before God. If one wants to come before God, he needs to first sweep away all the things in his heart that can replace God. Thus God will be satisfied. Although here God only gives explanations about the Bible, you should not forget that apart from the Bible, there are many other erroneous things that man truly worships, and that the only things that man does not worship are those truly from God. God just takes the Bible as an example to remind everyone: Do not take the wrong way, and do not go to extremes and fall into confusion again while you believe in God and receive God’s word.”

from A Brief Introduction to Part Three of The Word Appears in the Flesh

How Satan uses knowledge to corrupt man (Satan uses fame and gain to control man’s thoughts)

How Satan uses knowledge to corrupt man (Satan uses fame and gain to control man’s thoughts)

Satan’s corruption of man primarily manifests in five aspects; these five aspects are the five ways in which Satan corrupts man. The first of these five ways we mentioned is knowledge, so let us first take knowledge as the topic for fellowship. Satan uses knowledge as bait. Listen closely: It is just a type of bait. People are enticed to “study hard and improve every day,” to arm themselves with knowledge, as with a weapon, then to use knowledge to open the gateway to science; in other words, the more knowledge you gain, the more you will understand.

How did the Bible come into being? What kind of book is the Bible?

How did the Bible come into being? What kind of book is the Bible?

The answer from God’s word:

“The things recorded in the Old Testament are Jehovah’s work in Israel, and that which is recorded in the New Testament is the work of Jesus during the Age of Grace; they document the work done by God in two different ages. The Old Testament documents the work of God during the Age of Law, and thus the Old Testament is a historical book, while the New Testament is the product of the work of the Age of Grace. When the new work began, these books became out of date—and thus, the New Testament is also a historical book. Of course, the New Testament is not as systematic as the Old Testament, nor does it record as many things.”

from “Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh