54 The epistles in the Bible were all written by men. If men’s word were said to be God’s word, wouldn’t those people have become God?

The answer from God’s word:

“Today, people believe the Bible is God, and that God is the Bible. So, too, do they believe that all the words of the Bible were the only words God spoke, and that they were all said by God. Those who believe in God even think that although all of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament were written by people, they were all given by revelation of God, and a record of the utterances of the Holy Spirit. This is the erroneous interpretation of people, and it does not completely accord with the facts. In fact, apart from the books of prophecy, most of the Old Testament is historical record. Some of the epistles of the New Testament come from people’s experiences, and some come from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit; the Pauline epistles, for example, arose from the work of a man, they were all the result of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, and they were written for the churches, were words of exhortation and encouragement for the brothers and sisters of the churches. They were not words spoken by the Holy Spirit—Paul could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and neither was he a prophet, much less did he see visions. His epistles were written for the churches of Ephesus, Philadelphia, Galatia, and other churches. And thus, the Pauline epistles of the New Testament are epistles that Paul wrote for the churches, and not revelations from the Holy Spirit, nor are they the direct utterances of the Holy Spirit. They are merely words of exhortation, comfort, and encouragement that he wrote for the churches during the course of his work. So, too, are they a record of much of Paul’s work at the time. They were written for all of the brothers and sisters in the Lord, and were in order to make the brothers and sisters of all of the churches at the time follow his advice and abide by all of the ways of the Lord Jesus. By no means did Paul say that, be they the churches of that time or of the future, all must eat and drink the things of him, nor did he say that his words all came from God. According to the circumstances of the church at that time, he simply communed with the brothers and sisters, and exhorted them, and inspired belief in them; and he simply preached or reminded people and exhorted them. His words were based upon his own burden, and he supported the people through these words. He did the work of an apostle of the churches of that time, he was a worker who was used by the Lord Jesus, and thus he was given the responsibility of the churches, he was charged with carrying out the work of the churches, he had to learn about the circumstances of the brothers and sisters—and because of this, he wrote epistles for all of the brothers and sisters in the Lord. All he said that was edifying and positive to people was right, but it did not represent the utterances of the Holy Spirit, and he could not represent God. It is an egregious understanding, and a tremendous blasphemy, for people to treat the records of a man’s experiences and a man’s epistles as the words spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches! That is particularly true when it comes to the epistles that Paul wrote for the churches, for his epistles were written for the brothers and sisters based on the circumstances and situation of each church at the time, and were in order to exhort the brothers and sisters in the Lord, so that they could receive the grace of the Lord Jesus. His epistles were in order to rouse the brothers and sisters of that time. It can be said that this was his own burden, and was also the burden given to him by the Holy Spirit; after all, he was an apostle who led the churches of the time, who wrote epistles for the churches and exhorted them—that was his responsibility. His identity was merely that of a working apostle, and he was merely an apostle who was sent by God; he was not a prophet, nor a foreteller. So to him, his own work and the lives of the brothers and sisters were of the utmost importance. Thus, he could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit. His words were not the words of the Holy Spirit, much less could they be said to be the words of God, for Paul was nothing more than a creature of God, and was certainly not the incarnation of God. His identity was not the same as that of Jesus. The words of Jesus were the words of the Holy Spirit, they were the words of God, for His identity was that of Christ—the Son of God. How could Paul be His equal? If people see the epistles or words like Paul’s as the utterances of the Holy Spirit, and worship them as God, then it can only be said that they are too indiscriminating. To speak more harshly, isn’t this nothing but blasphemy? How could a man talk on behalf of God? And how could people bow down before the records of his epistles and of the words he spoke as if they were a ‘holy book,’ or a ‘heavenly book’? Could the words of God be casually uttered by a man? How could a man talk on behalf of God? And so, what say you—could the epistles that he wrote for the churches not be tainted with his own ideas? How could they not be tainted with human ideas? He wrote epistles for the churches based on his personal experiences and the extent of his own life. For instance, Paul wrote an epistle to the Galatian churches which contained a certain opinion, and Peter wrote another, which had another view. Which of them came from the Holy Spirit? No one can say for sure. Thus, it can only be said that they both bore a burden for the churches, yet their letters represent their stature, they represent their provision and support for the brothers and sisters, and their burden toward the churches, and they only represent human work; they were not entirely of the Holy Spirit. If you say that his epistles are the words of the Holy Spirit, then you are absurd, and you are committing blasphemy! The Pauline epistles and the other epistles of the New Testament are equivalent to the memoirs of the more recent spiritual figures. They are on a par with the books of Watchman Nee or the experiences of Lawrence, and so on. It’s simply that the books of recent spiritual figures are not compiled into the New Testament, yet the substance of these people is the same: They were people who were used by the Holy Spirit during a certain period, and they could not directly represent God.”

from “Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Today, who of you dare to say that all the words spoken by those who were used by the Holy Spirit came from the Holy Spirit? Does anyone dare to say such things? If you do say such things, then why was Ezra’s book of prophecy discarded, and why was the same thing done to the books of those ancient saints and prophets? If they all came from the Holy Spirit, then why do you dare to make such capricious choices? Are you qualified to choose the work of the Holy Spirit? Many stories from Israel were also discarded. And if you believe that these writings of the past all came from the Holy Spirit, then why were some of the books discarded? If they all came from the Holy Spirit, they should all be kept, and sent to the brothers and sisters of the churches to read. They should not be chosen or discarded by human will; it is wrong to do that. Saying that the experiences of Paul and John were mixed with their personal seeings does not mean that their experiences and knowledge came from Satan, but only that they had things that came from their personal experiences and seeings. Their knowledge was according to the background of the actual experiences at the time, and who could confidently say that all of it came from the Holy Spirit? If the Four Gospels all came from the Holy Spirit, then why was it that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each said something different about the work of Jesus? If you don’t believe this, then look at the accounts in the Bible of how Peter denied Jesus three times: They are all different, and they each have their own characteristics.”

from “Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Today, I am dissecting the Bible in this way and it does not mean that I hate it, or deny its value for reference. I am explaining the inherent value and origins of the Bible to you to stop you being kept in the dark. For people have so many views about the Bible, and most of them are wrong; reading the Bible in this way not only prevents them from gaining what they ought to, but, more important, it hinders the work I intend to do. It is a tremendous nuisance for the work of the future, and offers only drawbacks, not advantages. Thus, what I am teaching you is simply the substance and inside story of the Bible. I’m not asking that you don’t read the Bible, or that you go around proclaiming that it is totally devoid of value, but that you have the correct knowledge and view of the Bible. Don’t be too one-sided! Although the Bible is a history book that was written by men, it also documents many of the principles by which the ancient saints and prophets served God, as well as the recent apostles’ experiences in serving God—all of which were really seen and known by these people, and can serve as reference for the people of this age in pursuing the true way.”

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

28 I Held Fast to the Bible and Became a Pharisee of the Present Age

Feng Gang

Shangqiu City, Henan Province

In May 2002, I accepted the gospel of the last days of Almighty God. When I went to preach to the brothers and sisters of my former denomination with guilt, they said to me, “In the past, you didn’t allow us to have contact with the believers in Almighty God, and said that they would gouge out people’s eyes and cut off their noses and commit adultery. But now you yourself have followed them. You are an apostate. How can you have the face to come to preach to us? …” When I heard those words, my thoughts returned to the past…

I began to believe in Jesus in 1989. In November 1992, I became the leader of the eight churches of the “Justification by Faith Church.” Later, the leader of the upper level said to me, “Only the God we believe in is the true God and the living God. All other denominations are heresies and cults. Never have contact with them, much less pray together with them. Otherwise, the evil spirit will come upon you. Then you will lose control of yourself.” Since then, I obeyed the leader’s “teaching” carefully and didn’t have contract with anyone of other denominations, fearing that I might “go astray.”

In 1995, more than ten people had brought me the books of God’s word, such as The Word of That Spirit and Walking in the Light. I just skimmed over a part of the content of the book The Word of That Spirit carelessly, and then said angrily, “The words in this book are all curses. God is gentle and good and kind. How could He possibly curse people in such a way?” And after those words, I remembered what the leader said, so I returned the books to them and said stiffly, “Our belief is different. It’s unnecessary for us to fellowship!” Afterward, I lost no time in telling this matter to the leader above. He said, “They are the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers. They are very powerful. They believe in a heresy and a female Christ. You must guard against them strictly and prevent them from stealing the sheep from us…” Since then, guarding against the “Eastern Lightning” followers almost became all that I did in believing in God. Each time we had a meeting, I would say, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers are coming to steal the sheep. They want to take us to death. Never have contact with them or talk to them. Otherwise, they will keep pestering you.”
One day in October 1998, I was just watering the field when a brother of my denomination greeted me from afar. He said, “Brother, let me help you.” I knew that he had already accepted Almighty God, so I said angrily, “No need. If you are here, I’ll leave!” With the word, I threw the water pipe to the ground and left without turning round… In a period of time afterward, more people came to preach the gospel to me, and every time I said to them sarcastically, “Fellowshipping with you is like playing a lute to a cow. Go to preach to those unbelievers if you are capable.” Just like that, I always made the brothers and sisters embarrassed. Nevertheless, they still came to preach to me continuously.

One day in 2001, my wife’s sister-in-law came to preach to me. I said sneeringly, “You are most ignorant and have the least knowledge of the Bible, and you have never travelled far. And you come to preach to me? I think you are all the blind leading the blind. You can come here when you have confessed and repented and converted to our belief. Otherwise, don’t come again!”

Although I watched every church “conscientiously,” there were still many brothers and sisters accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days. Then the upper leaders intensified their efforts to seal off the churches and distributed many materials that resisted Almighty God. I was particularly struck by the words in one of the materials, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers infiltrate different denominations and sects to draw the workers in the name of shepherding the church. After they win their trust, they will take them to the remote, thickly forested mountains and force them to believe. If they refuse, they will beat them or even cut off their noses or gouge out their eyes or force them to have sexual relationship with them…” At that time, without making any discernment, I completely believed those words and hated the “Eastern Lightning” followers to the core on that account. I took the materials to the churches under my supervision and preached, “Don’t receive anyone who comes to preach to you as long as they are believers in Almighty God, much less listen to them, even if they are your parents!” I remembered that a relative of mine (who sold soy sauce) often came to preach to me at that time. But I said to him through gritted teeth, “If you come again, I’ll smash your soy sauce buckets! …” Afterward, I told the matter to the brothers and sisters in the churches and asked them to treat the “Eastern Lightning” followers as I did. I also ordered the leaders of every church to watch the believers closely and not let them have contact with the believers in Almighty God, lest they be dragged away.

I was so busy sealing off the churches that sometimes I even had no time to take meals, yet still, it was to no avail. By March 2002, only few people were left in the church. Seeing the desolate state, I was extremely distressed in my heart. But I didn’t know to examine myself or seek, but only hated the brothers and sisters for their ignorance and the “Eastern Lightning” followers for stealing our sheep.

One day in May 2002, a sister of our denomination told me that two brothers from out of town who preached the gospel came to her home, and she asked me to go to fellowship with them about the Bible. Then I went to her home with curiosity. In the first two days, I saw eye to eye with them. We fellowshipped from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and with many points that I didn’t understand, they could explain them very clearly, which made me sincerely convinced. On the third day, a brother asked me smilingly, “Brother, which one do you think is greater, God or the Bible?” I felt a little surprised, “Why does he ask this way?” And I answered, “Of course God is greater.” The brother said, “Since God is greater, God can do a new work outside the Bible without being restrained by it, right?” At those words, I immediately realized that they were believers in Almighty God. So I retorted quickly, “Jesus said in John 14:6: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.’ Salvation is found in no one else except Jesus, and all Scripture is inspired by God. This is the never-changing truth. You have departed from the Bible, and you are denying the truth. My belief is different from yours. It’s unnecessary for us to talk anymore.” With the word, I got up to leave. The two brothers smiled and asked me repeatedly to stay, “Brother, don’t be angry. Let’s sit down and have a good fellowship. Let’s see whether all scripture is inspired by God.” Hearing that, I clearly knew that they wanted to talk about the work of Almighty God. So I said more angrily, “The Bible is the testimony for God and is inspired by God. This is absolutely correct. All God’s words and work are recorded in the Bible. If one departs from the Bible, he is not believing in God. It is a heresy and a cult!” I was so furious at that time that I really wanted to beat them. However, no matter how angry I was, they remained calm, and said, “Brother, we are all believers in God. The Lord Jesus said that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Why be angry? We can have a discussion together and learn from each other. What matters it?” Hearing those words, I felt a little embarrassed. So I continued to fellowship with them about the Bible with reluctance. The brother asked me to read Jesus’ genealogy recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. After I read them, the brother said, “The gospels of Matthew and Luke both record Jesus’ genealogy. Could the genealogy be written at will? That was clearly Joseph’s genealogy, but they say that it was Jesus’ genealogy. We know that Jesus had nothing to do with Joseph at all. God is self-existing and ever-existing. How could He have a genealogy? God’s word says: ‘Perhaps someone thought that if God walked the earth, then He needed a family tree, and so inserted Jesus into the forty-second generation of Abraham’s descendants. What an absurd idea! How could God have a family tree when He came to earth? If He had a family tree, would that not make Him one of His own creations? God is not of the earth, He is the Lord of creation; though He is flesh, He is different from man in essence. How could you put Him into the same category as His creations? Abraham could not represent God; He was an object of Jehovah’s work at that time, just a loyal servant approved of by Jehovah, and one of the Israelite people. How, then, could Abraham be an ancestor of Jesus?’” I pondered over these words in my heart, “That’s right. The Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He has nothing to do with Joseph. Is it too preposterous to create a genealogy for God incarnate? How can God be put into the same category as His creations?” Then they showed me Luke 20:41-44, “And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself said in the book of Psalms, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore calls him Lord, how is he then his son?” After I read it, the brother said, “The Lord Jesus refuted the view that Christ was the son of a man. This shows that such a view is wrong and preposterous and is abhorred by God. How can such an absurd idea be a revelation from God? Could God give such an erroneous and absurd revelation to man?” I agreed with what the brother said in my heart, but to save my face, outwardly I assumed an air of nonchalance. The two brothers saw that I was still not convinced, so they found the records about Judas’ death. In Matthew 27:5, it says, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” In Acts 1:18, it says, “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.” The brother asked, “These two verses record the same thing, yet there were two different ends. One says that he hanged himself. The other says that he burst asunder in the middle and died. What do you think all this is about?” I was stunned and had nothing to say. My previous anger was completely gone. Before the iron facts, I had to acknowledge that not all Scripture was inspired by God. “I have believed in God for so many years and I’m versed in the Bible. How come I didn’t know these?” At that time, my heart was filled with mixed feelings, and I simply couldn’t describe how I felt. “There are actually so many strange problems in the Bible that I adore. It’s really unbelievable. But they can’t be denied.”

Then the brother continued, “The Age of Grace has ended, and God has been incarnated and done a new work.” Hearing that, I flew into a temper again. “I only acknowledge that the Lord will come with clouds, for it is said in 1 Thessalonian 4:16-17, ‘For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air…’ If the Lord has really come, why haven’t I heard the shout?” The other brother said, “The ‘shout’ refers to the voice of preaching God’s work of the last days. The brothers and sisters come to your house to preach, and isn’t their voice the ‘shout’? The ‘voice of the archangel’ refers to the voice of the leaders of various denominations and sects of sealing off the churches, telling you not to have contact with the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers, not to listen to their message, and so on. The ‘trump of God’ refers to the personal utterance of the Christ of the last days, the words that the Holy Spirit says to the churches, which all who have ears should hear. Brother, please consider this carefully: Is it really true that you haven’t heard these voices?” I thought about it carefully and considered that what they said was reasonable. And the resistance in my heart gradually disappeared. Regarding whether the Lord will come in a spiritual body or in a flesh, the brother read Matthew 24:27, which says, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ and Luke 17:24-25, which says, ‘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.’ These two portions of scriptures both say that ‘the Son of man’ comes, so He will surely come through incarnation, not in a spiritual body.” I thought, “It’s right. If God came not through incarnation, how could He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation?” Later, I asked again, “The Bible says that ‘that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.’ Why do you say that the flesh is saved?” The brother said, “‘that flesh and blood’ refers to man corrupted by Satan. We all are the offspring of the corrupted Adam and Eve and are the corrupted ‘flesh and blood,’ so we must undergo God’s work of removing sin during the last days to have our corrupted flesh transformed into a holy body before we can inherit the kingdom of God.” Hearing that, I received revelation and at the same time felt very remorseful, “Why didn’t I listen to their exposition first in the past but have kept holding to the Bible until today? I’m really blind and ignorant to the extreme.”

During my stay with the brothers who preached the gospel, I saw that their living out wasn’t like what was described in those materials at all, which said, “They use sinister and malicious means to force you to accept their way, and if you refuse to accept, they will lay murderous hands on you,” and so on. It was really that “Words are but wind, but seeing is believing!” I thought back to the scenes in these past days: No matter how arrogant, self-right, or unreasonable I was, they tolerated me with great love and patience; sometimes my manner was very stiff, and I was very impolite to them, but they never minded it and still fellowshipped with me calmly. With such living out and humanity, how could they be the people described in those materials? I began to doubt those materials. Then, I quieted my heart and continued to fellowship with them. As a result, I understood the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and understood that God’s work today is the third stage of work after the work of the Age of Law and the work of the Age of Grace, and that not all Scripture is inspired by God and the Bible is only a historical book. Just as God’s word says: “The Bible is not entirely a record of God’s own utterance; rather, it is just an account of the first two stages of God’s work. Part of it consists of the words of the prophets, and part of it documents the experiences and knowledge of people who were used by God down through the ages. Unavoidably, the writers’ own opinions and knowledge are mixed in their experiences. Many books in it are colored by human notions, prejudices, and erroneous understandings, and though naturally most of the words were enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit and represent correct understandings, they cannot be considered entirely accurate expressions of the truth. The writers’ opinions on certain subjects merely reflect their own experiential knowledge or the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.” “What is recorded in the Bible are the affairs of ancient Israel, the things that the chosen people of Israel did, the things that Jehovah did. And so later the Holy Spirit didn’t disapprove of this. Even though some of them were put into the Bible, and some omitted, the Holy Spirit did not commend it, but did not condemn it either. The Bible consists purely of the history of Israel, the history of God’s work, and the people, events, and things it describes are for the most part real people, real events, and real things, not foreshadowings of things to come—except the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, of course, or the visions of John. The Israelites then were a very cultured and knowledgeable people, with a highly developed ancient civilization, and so what they wrote surpasses the words of people today. It is not astonishing that they were able to write these books, for Jehovah performed much work among them and they saw so much.” After reading God’s words, I even more hated myself: I had treated the Bible as God, considering that believing in God was believing in the Bible, and circumscribed God within the Bible, not allowing God to work outside the Bible, and even resisted the work of the true God with the epistles of the apostles. I am really ignorant and deserve to die!

God’s word is just like a navigation light which shines with boundless radiance. The more I read it, the more I felt enlightened. Then I read these words of God: “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.” From them I understood that God comes to earth mainly to do the work to save man, not to show man what His flesh is like. He can be a male or a female, and He can accomplish His work in either way. I really hated myself for circumscribing God’s gender according to my mind and even more hated myself for being so arrogant and self-right that I resisted God’s work and sealed off the church blindly without seeking even though I didn’t have the true knowledge of it, and thus played the role of an antichrist and became a Pharisee of the present age. However, although I was so disobedient, God didn’t abandon me but spared no efforts to save me. I indeed saw God’s boundless love for man.

After I took part in the church life, I saw that the brothers and sisters all spoke and behaved with decency and propriety and were simple and open when fellowshipping the truth and knowing themselves. Moreover, it is clearly stipulated in the fourth decree of the Ten Administrative Decrees, “Man has corrupt disposition and even more has emotion. So, in the service in coordination, two people of different sexes are forbidden to coordinate alone. If discovered, they shall be expelled, no matter who they are.” Seeing God’s words and these facts, I realized that it was purely a lie and slander that those materials say that believers in Almighty God commit adultery.

Not long after I followed Almighty God, I preached the gospel to two brothers of my former denomination, but they only believed for a few days and dropped out because of their uncertainty about God’s work. At that time, the brothers and sisters fellowshipped with me, “You should continue to preach to them. God’s intention is to save every man to the utmost. God expects that all those who truly love Him can come before Him. They drop out because they don’t know about God’s work.” I saw that when the brothers and sisters preached to those two brothers patiently again, they neither were beaten nor had their eyes gouged out or their noses cut off. That proved once again that what was said in those materials distributed by our leaders above, such as “gouge out your eyes,” and “cut off your nose,” was nothing but smears and slanders. At that time, I even more hated myself for looking up to the leaders too much before, always thinking that all that they said was true and right. Only then did I know that it was because I had no discernment and believed rumors easily that I blindly condemned God’s work of the last days and acted as a messenger of Satan. Such deeds of mine really harmed others and me. If Almighty God didn’t save me today, I wouldn’t even know why if I were punished by God to death. I thank Almighty God that He brings me, a great evil man who resisted and disobeyed Him, before Him by His wonderful and wise work. O God! In the rest of my time I will care for Your will and perform my duty to repay Your love!

56 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

“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.”

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

“The Bible is a historical book, and if you had eaten and drunk the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—if you had put into practice what was required in the time of the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—Jesus would have rejected you, and condemned you; if you had applied the Old Testament to the work of Jesus, you would have been a Pharisee. If, today, you put the Old and New Testament together to eat and drink, and practice, then the God of today will condemn you; you will have fallen behind the Holy Spirit’s work of today! If you eat the Old Testament, and eat the New Testament, then you are outside the stream of the Holy Spirit! During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. His work, His teachings, His authority—no one had done this during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? His work was in order to lead a new path, it was not to deliberately ‘pick a fight’ against the Bible, or to deliberately dispense with the Old Testament. He simply came to perform His ministry, to bring the new work to those who yearned for and sought Him. He didn’t come to explain the Old Testament or uphold its work. His work was not in order to allow the Age of Law to continue developing, for His work gave no consideration to whether it had the Bible as its base; Jesus simply came to do the work that He ought to do. Thus, He did not explain the prophecies of the Old Testament, nor did He work according to the words of the Age of Law of the Old Testament. He ignored what the Old Testament said, He cared not whether it agreed with His work or not, and cared not what others knew of His work, or how they condemned it. He simply kept doing the work that He ought to do, even though many people used the foretellings of the prophets of the Old Testament to condemn Him. To people, it appeared as if His work had no basis, and there was much of it that was at odds with the records of the Old Testament. Is this not folly? Does doctrine need to be applied to the work of God? And must it be according to the foretellings of prophets? After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?”

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

59 Many people believe that a believer in God can by no means depart from the Bible, and that departure from the Bible is betrayal of God. Is such a saying right?

The answer from God’s word:

“The Jewish Pharisees used the law of Moses to condemn Jesus. They did not seek compatibility with the Jesus of that time, but diligently followed the law to the letter, to the extent that they ultimately nailed the innocent Jesus to the cross, having charged Him with not following the law of the Old Testament and not being the Messiah. What was their essence? Was it not that they didn’t seek the way of compatibility with the truth? They obsessed over each and every word of the Scripture, while paying no heed to My will and the steps and methods of My work. They were not people who sought the truth, but people who rigidly followed the words of Scripture; they were not people who believed in God, but people who believed in the Bible. Essentially, they were watchdogs of the Bible. In order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, and uphold the dignity of the Bible, and protect the reputation of the Bible, they went so far as to nail the merciful Jesus onto the cross. This they did merely for the sake of defending the Bible, and for the sake of maintaining the status of each and every word of the Bible in people’s hearts. So they preferred to forsake their future and the sin offering to condemn Jesus, who did not conform to the doctrine of Scripture, to death. …

And what of people today? Christ has come to release the truth, yet they would rather expel Him from among man in order to gain entry into heaven and receive grace. They would rather completely deny the coming of the truth in order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, and would rather nail the Christ returning to flesh to the cross again in order to ensure the everlasting existence of the Bible. How can man receive My salvation, when his heart is so malicious, and his nature so antagonistic toward Me? I live among man, yet man does not know of My existence. When I shine My light upon man, he still remains ignorant of My existence. When I unleash My wrath upon man, he denies My existence with even greater vigor. Man searches for compatibility with words, with the Bible, yet not a single person comes before Me to seek the way of compatibility with the truth. Man looks up to Me in heaven, and devotes particular concern to My existence in heaven, yet no one cares about Me in the flesh, for I who live among man am simply too insignificant. Those who only seek compatibility with the words of the Bible, and who only seek compatibility with a vague God, are a wretched sight to Me. That is because what they worship are dead words, and a God that is capable of giving them untold treasures. What they worship is a God that lays himself at the mercy of man, and which doesn’t exist. What, then, can such people gain from Me? Man is simply too lowly for words. Those who are against Me, who make limitless demands of Me, who have no love of the truth, who are rebellious toward Me—how could they be compatible with Me?”

from “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Since there is a higher way, why study that low, outdated way? Since there are newer utterances, and newer work, why live amid old historical records? The new utterances can provide for you, which proves that this is the new work; the old records can’t sate you, or satisfy your current needs, which proves that they are history, and not the work of the here and now. The highest way is the newest work, and with the new work, no matter how high the way of the past, it is still the history of people’s reflections, and no matter its value as reference, it is still the old way. Even though it is recorded in the ‘holy book,’ the old way is history; even though there is no record of it in the ‘holy book,’ the new way is of the here and now. This way can save you, and this way can change you, for this is the work of the Holy Spirit.

… During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. His work, His teachings, His authority—no one had done this during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? His work was in order to lead a new path, it was not to deliberately ‘pick a fight’ against the Bible, or to deliberately dispense with the Old Testament. He simply came to perform His ministry, to bring the new work to those who yearned for and sought Him. He didn’t come to explain the Old Testament or uphold its work. His work was not in order to allow the Age of Law to continue developing, for His work gave no consideration to whether it had the Bible as its base; Jesus simply came to do the work that He ought to do. Thus, He did not explain the prophecies of the Old Testament, nor did He work according to the words of the Age of Law of the Old Testament. He ignored what the Old Testament said, He cared not whether it agreed with His work or not, and cared not what others knew of His work, or how they condemned it. He simply kept doing the work that He ought to do, even though many people used the foretellings of the prophets of the Old Testament to condemn Him. To people, it appeared as if His work had no basis, and there was much of it that was at odds with the records of the Old Testament. Is this not folly? Does doctrine need to be applied to the work of God? And must it be according to the foretellings of prophets? After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?”

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

“If you wish to see the work of the Age of Law, and to see how the Israelites followed the way of Jehovah, then you must read the Old Testament; if you wish to understand the work of the Age of Grace, then you must read the New Testament. But how do you see the work of the last days? You must accept the leadership of the God of today, and enter into the work of today, for this is the new work, and no one has previously recorded it in the Bible. Today, God has become flesh and selected other chosen ones in China. God works in these people, He continues on from His work on earth, continues on from the work of the Age of Grace. The work of today is a path that man has never walked, and a way that no one has ever seen. It is work that has never been done before—it is God’s latest work on earth. Thus, work that has never been done before is not history, because now is now, and has yet to become the past. People don’t know that God has done greater, newer work on earth, and outside of Israel, that it has already gone beyond the scope of Israel, and beyond the foretellings of the prophets, that it is new and marvelous work outside of the prophecies, and newer work beyond Israel, and work that people can neither perceive nor imagine. How could the Bible contain explicit records of such work? Who could have recorded every single bit of today’s work, without omission, in advance? Who could record this mightier, wiser work that defies convention in the moldy old book? The work of today is not history, and as such, if you wish to walk the new path of today, then you must depart from the Bible, you must go beyond the books of prophecy or history in the Bible. Only then will you be able to walk the new path properly, and only then will you be able to enter into the new realm and the new work. You must understand why, today, you are asked not to read the Bible, why there is another work that is separate from the Bible, why God does not look for newer, more detailed practice in the Bible, why there is instead mightier work outside of the Bible. This is all what you should understand.”

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

55 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

“In ancient times, prior to the Age of Grace people read the Bible, but at that time there was only the Old Testament; there was no New Testament. Since there was the Old Testament of the Bible, people began reading the holy scriptures. After Jehovah’s guidance of him had finished, Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy…. He recalled Jehovah’s work at the time, and wrote it down. The Bible is a book of history. Of course, it also contains some of the foretellings of prophets, and of course, these foretellings are by no means history. The Bible includes several parts—there is not just prophecy, or only the work of Jehovah, nor are there only the Pauline epistles. You must know how many parts the Bible includes; the Old Testament contains Genesis, Exodus…, and there are also the books of prophecy that they wrote. At the end, the Old Testament finishes with the Book of Malachi. It records the work of the Age of Law, which was led by Jehovah; from Genesis to the Book of Malachi, it is a comprehensive record of all the work of the Age of Law. Which is to say, the Old Testament records all that was experienced by the people who were guided by Jehovah in the Age of Law. During the Age of Law of the Old Testament, the great number of prophets raised up by Jehovah spoke prophecy for Him, they gave instructions to various tribes and nations, and foretold the work that Jehovah would do. These people who had been raised up had all been given the Spirit of prophecy by Jehovah: They were able to see the visions from Jehovah, and hear His voice, and thus they were inspired by Him and wrote prophecy. The work they did was the expression of the voice of Jehovah, it was the work of prophecy that they did on behalf of Jehovah, and Jehovah’s work at the time was simply to guide people using the Spirit; He did not become flesh, and people saw nothing of His face. Thus, He raised up many prophets to do His work, and gave them oracles that they passed on to every tribe and clan of Israel. Their work was to speak prophecy, and some of them wrote down Jehovah’s instructions to them to show to others. Jehovah raised these people up to speak prophecy, to foretell the work of the future or the work still to be done during that time, so that people could behold the wondrousness and wisdom of Jehovah. These books of prophecy were quite different from the other books of the Bible; they were words spoken or written by those who had been given the Spirit of prophecy—by those who had gained the visions or voice from Jehovah. Apart from the books of prophecy, everything else in the Old Testament is records made by people after Jehovah had finished His work. These books can’t stand in for the foretellings spoken by the prophets raised up by Jehovah, just as Genesis and Exodus can’t be compared to the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Daniel. The prophecies were spoken before the work had been carried out; the other books, meanwhile, were written after it had been finished, which was what people were capable of. The prophets of that time were inspired by Jehovah and spoke some prophecy, they spoke many words, and they prophesied the things of the Age of Grace, as well as the destruction of the world in the last days—the work that Jehovah planned to do. The remaining books all record the work done by Jehovah in Israel. Thus, when you read the Bible, you’re mainly reading about what Jehovah did in Israel; the Bible’s Old Testament primarily records Jehovah’s work of guiding Israel, His use of Moses to guide the Israelites out of Egypt, who rid them of the Pharaoh’s shackles, and took them out into the wild, after which they entered Canaan and everything following this was their life in Canaan. All apart from this is records of Jehovah’s work throughout Israel. Everything recorded in the Old Testament is Jehovah’s work in Israel, it is the work Jehovah did in the land in which He made Adam and Eve. From when God officially began to lead the people on earth after Noah, all that is recorded in the Old Testament is the work of Israel. And why is there not recorded any work beyond Israel? Because the land of Israel is the cradle of mankind. In the beginning, there were no other countries apart from Israel, and Jehovah did not work in any other places. In this way, what is recorded in the Bible is purely the work in Israel at that time. The words spoken by the prophets, by Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel … their words foretell His other work on earth, they foretell the work of Jehovah God Himself. All this came from God, it was the work of the Holy Spirit, and apart from these books of the prophets, everything else is a record of people’s experiences of Jehovah’s work at the time.”

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

“What kind of book is the Bible? The Old Testament is the work of God during the Age of Law. The Old Testament of the Bible records all the work of Jehovah during the Age of Law and His work of creation. All of it records the work done by Jehovah, and it ultimately ends the accounts of Jehovah’s work with the Book of Malachi. The Old Testament records two pieces of work done by God: One is the work of the creation, and one is decreeing of the law. Both were the work done by Jehovah. The Age of Law represents God’s work under the name of Jehovah; it is the entirety of the work carried out primarily under the name of Jehovah. Thus, the Old Testament records the work of Jehovah, and the New Testament records the work of Jesus, work which was carried out primarily under the name of Jesus. Most of the significance of Jesus’ name and the work He did are recorded in the New Testament. In the time of the Old Testament, Jehovah built the temple and the altar in Israel, He guided the life of the Israelites on earth, proving that they were His chosen people, the first group of people that He selected on earth and who were after His own heart, the first group that He had personally led; which is to say, the twelve tribes of Israel were Jehovah’s first chosen ones, and so God always worked in them, right up until the work of Jehovah of the Age of Law was concluded. The second stage of work was the work of the Age of Grace of the New Testament, and it was carried out among the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. That the scope of the work was smaller was because Jesus was God become flesh. Jesus worked only throughout the land of Judea, and only did three-and-a-half years of work; thus, what is recorded in the New Testament is far from able to surpass the amount of work recorded in the Old Testament. The work of Jesus of the Age of Grace is primarily recorded in the Four Gospels. The path walked by the people of the Age of Grace was that of the most superficial changes in their life disposition, most of which is recorded in the epistles.”

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

“At the time, Jesus had done much work that was incomprehensible to His disciples, and had not provided any explanation. After He left, the disciples began to preach and work everywhere, and for the sake of that stage of work, they began writing the epistles and the books of gospel. The books of gospel of the New Testament were recorded twenty to thirty years after Jesus was crucified. Before, the people of Israel only read the Old Testament. That is to say, in the Age of Grace people read the Old Testament. The New Testament only appeared during the Age of Grace. The New Testament didn’t exist when Jesus worked; the people after He was resurrected and ascended to heaven recorded His work. Only then were there the Four Gospels, in addition to which were also the epistles of Paul and Peter, as well as the Book of Revelation. Only over three hundred years after Jesus ascended to heaven, when subsequent generations collated their records, was there the New Testament. Only after this work had been completed was there the New Testament; it had not existed previously. God had done all that work, the apostle Paul had done all that work, and afterward the epistles of Paul and Peter combined, and the greatest vision recorded by John in the island of Patmos was put the last, for it prophesied the work of the last days. These were all the arrangements of later generations, and they are different to the utterances of today. … What they recorded, it can be said, was according to their level of education and caliber. What they recorded was the experiences of men, and each had their own means of recording and knowing, and each record was different. Thus, if you worship the Bible as God you are extremely ignorant and stupid!”

from “Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

61 Is it right that believers in God can never depart from the Bible and whatever departs from the Bible is false and is a heresy?

Bible Reference:

“Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life” (John 5:39-40).

The answer from God’s word:

“The Bible is a historical book, and if you had eaten and drunk the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—if you had put into practice what was required in the time of the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—Jesus would have rejected you, and condemned you; if you had applied the Old Testament to the work of Jesus, you would have been a Pharisee. … During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. His work, His teachings, His authority—no one had done this during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? His work was in order to lead a new path, it was not to deliberately ‘pick a fight’ against the Bible, or to deliberately dispense with the Old Testament. He simply came to perform His ministry, to bring the new work to those who yearned for and sought Him. He didn’t come to explain the Old Testament or uphold its work. His work was not in order to allow the Age of Law to continue developing, for His work gave no consideration to whether it had the Bible as its base; Jesus simply came to do the work that He ought to do. … Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?

… Thus, the work done by Jesus exceeded the law of the Old Testament, it was higher than it, and was not in accordance with it. During the Age of Grace, Jesus did not work according to the law of the Old Testament, He had defied those doctrines. Today there are still people who adhere to the Bible, and the law of the Old Testament in particular—does this not deny the work of Jesus? Some people say the Bible is a holy book, that it must be read, and some people say that God’s work must be upheld forever, that the Old Testament is God’s covenant with the Israelites, and cannot be dispensed with, and the Sabbath must always be kept! Are they not ridiculous? Why didn’t Jesus keep the Sabbath? Was He sinning? Who can see through to such things?”

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

“The work of God continues to advance, and though the purpose of His work remains unchanging, the means by which He works are constantly changing, and thereby so are those who follow God. The more work of God, the more thoroughly man comes to know God, and the disposition of man changes accordingly along with His work. However, it is because the work of God is ever-changing that those who do not know the work of the Holy Spirit and those absurd men who do not know the truth become opponents of God. Not ever does the work of God conform to the conceptions of man, for His work is always new and never old. Not ever does He repeat work of old but rather forges ahead with work never before done. As God does not repeat His work and man invariably judges the work of God today based on His work of the past, it is exceedingly difficult for God to carry out each stage of work of the new age. Man presents far too many hindrances! The thinking of man is too hidebound! No man knows the work of God, yet they all define such work. Away from God, man loses life, truth, and the blessings of God, yet neither does man accept life nor truth, much less the greater blessings God bestows upon mankind. All men wish to gain God yet are unable to tolerate any changes in God’s work. Those who do not accept the new work of God believe that the work of God is changeless, and that the work of God forever remains at a standstill. In their belief, all that is needed to gain eternal salvation from God is to keep the law, and as long as they repent and confess their sins, the heart of God will be forever satisfied. They are of the opinion that God can only be the God under the law and the God who was nailed on the cross for man; it is their opinion too that God should not and cannot exceed the Bible. It is precisely these opinions that have shackled them firmly to the law of old and kept them fettered by rigid regulations. …

At that time, Jesus stated that the work of Jehovah had fallen behind in the Age of Grace, much as I say today that the work of Jesus has fallen behind. If there had been only the Age of Law and not the Age of Grace, Jesus could not have been crucified and could not have redeemed all mankind; if there had only been the Age of Law, could mankind possibly have developed until this day? History advances forward; is not history the natural law of God’s work? Is this not a depiction of His management of man within the entire universe? History progresses forward, so does the work of God, and the will of God continuously changes. It would be impractical for God to maintain a single stage of work for six thousand years, for all of man knows that He is always new and never old. He could not possibly continue to sustain work akin to the crucifixion, and once, twice, three times … be nailed to the cross. This is the perception of an absurd man. God does not sustain the same work, and His work is ever-changing and always new, much as how I daily speak to you new words and do new work. This is the work I do, the key of which lies in the words ‘new’ and ‘wondrous.’”

from “How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“If you use conceptions to measure and delineate God, as if God were an unchanging clay statue, and if you delimit God within the Bible, and contain Him within a limited scope of work, then this proves that you have condemned God. Because, in their hearts, the Jews of the age of the Old Testament cast God in the mold of idol, as if God could only be called the Messiah, and only He who was called the Messiah was God, and because they served and worshiped God as if He were a (lifeless) clay statue, they nailed the Jesus of that time to the cross, sentencing Him to death—condemning innocent Jesus to death. God had committed no crime, yet man did not spare God, and unwaveringly sentenced Him to death. Thus, Jesus was crucified. Man always believes that God is unchanging, and defines Him according to the Bible, as though man has seen through to God’s management, as though all that God does is in the hands of man. People are ridiculous to the extreme, they are possessed of the utmost arrogance, and they all have a flair for turgid eloquence. Regardless of how great your knowledge of God, still I say that you do not know God, that there are none who are more opposed to God, and that you condemn God, for you are utterly incapable of obeying the work of God and walking the path of being made perfect by God.”

from “The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

64 We believe that God’s words are all in the Bible and that outside the Bible, there are no more words or revelations of God. Why is such a saying not right?

Bible Reference

“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25).

“And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:1-5).

“And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not” (Revelation 10:4).

The answer from God’s word:

“All that is recorded within the Bible is limited and unable to represent all the work of God. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. These are but a few writings, yet man values them as treasures, even verifying the work of today against them. They even believe that Jesus only did so much in the time after His birth. It is as if they believe God can only do this much, that there can be no further work. Is this not ludicrous?”

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The work of God in each age has clear boundaries; He does only the work of the current age and never does He carry out the next stage of work in advance. Only in this way can His representative work of each age be brought to the fore. Jesus had spoken only of the signs of the last days, of how to be patient and how to be saved, how to repent and confess, as well as how to bear the cross and endure suffering; never did He speak of what man in the last days should enter into or how to seek to satisfy God’s will. As such, would it not be an act of fallacy to search within the Bible for God’s work of the last days? What can you discern merely holding the Bible in your hands? Be it an interpreter of the Bible or a preacher, who can foreknow the work of today?”

from “How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“If you wish to see the work of the Age of Law, and to see how the Israelites followed the way of Jehovah, then you must read the Old Testament; if you wish to understand the work of the Age of Grace, then you must read the New Testament. But how do you see the work of the last days? You must accept the leadership of the God of today, and enter into the work of today, for this is the new work, and no one has previously recorded it in the Bible. Today, God has become flesh and selected other chosen ones in China. God works in these people, He continues on from His work on earth, continues on from the work of the Age of Grace. The work of today is a path that man has never walked, and a way that no one has ever seen. It is work that has never been done before—it is God’s latest work on earth. Thus, work that has never been done before is not history, because now is now, and has yet to become the past. People don’t know that God has done greater, newer work on earth, and outside of Israel, that it has already gone beyond the scope of Israel, and beyond the foretellings of the prophets, that it is new and marvelous work outside of the prophecies, and newer work beyond Israel, and work that people can neither perceive nor imagine. How could the Bible contain explicit records of such work? Who could have recorded every single bit of today’s work, without omission, in advance?”

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

“… since we are searching for the footprints of God, we must search for God’s will, for the words of God, for the utterances of God—for where there are the new words of God, there is the voice of God, and where there are the footsteps of God, there are the deeds of God. Where there is the expression of God, there is the appearance of God, and where there is the appearance of God, there exists the truth, the way, and the life. While seeking the footprints of God, you ignored the words that ‘God is the truth, the way, and the life.’ So when many people receive the truth, they do not believe that they have found the footprints of God and much less acknowledge the appearance of God. What a serious error that is! The appearance of God cannot be reconciled with the conceptions of man, much less can God appear at the behest of man. God makes His own choices and has His own plans when He does His work; moreover, He has His own objectives, and His own methods. It is not necessary for Him to discuss the work He does with man or to seek the advice of man, much less notify each and every person of His work. This is the disposition of God and, moreover, should be recognized by everyone.”

from “The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh