Ah! Brother Yang, this is quite a well-hidden cave you've found here.
Yes. Thanks be to the Lord!
This is all part of the Lord's plan.
Brother Yu, try this. See if it lights. That raid of our meeting was really a close one!
Ah! It lights!
Had it not been for the Lord's protection, we'd have been captured!
The CCP government is so evil!
They're forcing us to resort to new methods each time we want to meet.
It's true.
The pastors and elders are cooperating with them to capture us all.
They don't want us to believe in Almighty God, there is no way! (Indeed.)
Hey! Brother Yu, Brother Zhao,
when we last met,
we mentioned the questions of what it means to have true faith in God
and how we can gain His approval.
We didn't have time to fully discuss these
because the CCP came and broke up our meeting. (Exactly.)
Today, please talk to us about those questions. (Okay.)
Indeed, please discuss them with us.
Thanks be to God!
What does it mean to have true faith in God,
and how can our faith gain His approval?
This question is essential.
Absolutely. Yes, indeed.
This directly relates to whether our belief in God
can earn us salvation and allow us to enter His kingdom.
Yes, indeed. All they say is true. Yes.
Before, in our faith we only focused on working for the Lord
so we could enter His kingdom and be rewarded when He returned. (Yes.)
Now everyone realizes that this is the wrong path of faith.
Right. Yes, we do.
The religious community does not know what true faith in God is,
nor how to believe in God to gain His approval.
None know how to answer these questions.
That's right. Yes.
All mysteries of truth and faith
have been revealed by Almighty God, Christ of the last days.
Almighty God speaks clearly about the question what's true faith in God.
Let's read from the words of Almighty God. (OK!)
Please turn to page 1.
Belief in God isn't that simple.
Please turn to page 775.
I will read it. (Good.)
That's great. Fantastic.
We just read the words of Almighty God.
Now that you've heard them, how do you feel?
Fantastic! I feel enlightened!
The words of Almighty God clearly speak the truth of faith in God.
Yes, it's true.
What I've heard really is convincing! (Praise God.)
I've believed for over 20 years,
but I still do not know what true faith in God is.
Now that we've read Almighty God's words,
we understand what faith in God is.
This is just wonderful!
The words of Almighty God really are the truth!
No wonder so many believe in Almighty God after they hear His words.
Yes, I agree.
Almighty God's revealed the truth and mysteries of faith in God.
So do you all understand this now?
Yes. We do understand.
Many believe in God but still don't understand what true faith in God is,
they still do not know God nor His work.
This is a muddled kind of faith,
a faith that will never earn God's praise.
Indeed. It's true.
Almighty God clearly specifies what true faith is:
Amen. It truly is. This is great.
Almighty God speaks very clearly about real faith! (Yes.)
People who believe in God should believe in God's words,
that is, they should practice His words and experience His work.
This is how they'll truly understand truth,
and how they will really know God. (Yes.)
Now this is real faith in God.
Amen! Thanks be to God!
When they explain it, we understand. (Indeed.)
In the religious community,
we focus on suffering and working for the Lord
and not on practicing or experiencing His words.
Therefore, no matter how long we believe in God,
we won't understand truth or know God.
If we believe in God like this, how can God acknowledge us!
That's true.
What did the Lord Jesus say next?
Amen!
This shows we believers sacrifice for the Lord according to our own will,
we don't practice or experience His words.
Faith like this does not obtain God's approval and is condemned by God.
Yes. Indeed.
Back then, though I believed in the Lord Jesus,
I didn't try to practice or experience the words of the Lord;
I'd only repent after I sinned then beg Him for forgiveness.
When in trouble, I prayed to the Lord, asking Him for help.
I thought as long as I memorized a few Bible passages,
kept the words of the Bible, and followed the rules,
I was believing in the Lord.
I thought if I just zealously sacrificed and worked for the Lord,
I was believing in the Lord well.
I thought I loved the Lord and was loyal to Him.
I thought when the Lord returned,
I'd definitely enter His kingdom.
This continued until I accepted Almighty God's work in the last days
and saw what He says,
Almighty God here reveals the essence of men:
They believe in Him to receive blessings.
That is they want to make a deal with Him.
In time I realized that my motives for my faith were all too impure.
I was seeking blessings, grace, rewards,
and the rapture into the kingdom of heaven.
As long as I could enjoy the blessings of the kingdom of heaven,
I would bear any suffering and pay any price,
but I didn't practice and experience the Lord's words nor try to know God.
So as a result,
my life had nothing to do with the truth contained in God's words.
I'd believed for years but hadn't the slightest knowledge of the Lord.
Yet I thought my faith could obtain the Lord's praise,
and that when He returned, I would be lifted into the kingdom of heaven.
I was shameless and ignorant.
God was incarnated twice to carry out the work of redeeming and saving humanity.
He did this to give the truth to mankind.
This will allow them to accept God's words as their life,
freeing them from the bondage of sin
and making them obedient to God. (Amen!)
I did not understand God's will;
I didn't pursue truth nor seek knowledge of God.
I singularly pursued grace and sought rewards.
Even if I sacrificed,
it would've been only in exchange for the blessings of the kingdom of heaven.
How was I believing in God?
How was I loving and faithful to God?
Clearly, I was trying to make a deal with God;
I was trying to use Him and to trick Him.
In the judgment of Almighty God's words,
I've seen just how deeply I've been corrupted by Satan.
I was selfish and crafty. I lacked humanity.
I was a despicable villain, only looking out for myself.
I wasn't fit to live before God.
God's the Creator of all things. Man is His creation.
Man should believe in and sacrifice everything for God.
That's our responsibility and duty as a created being. (Amen!)
Yet I lacked any reason or conscience.
When I sacrificed or suffered, it was to make a deal.
I wanted God's compensation and blessings.
How could my faith through which I tried to trick God not incur His hatred and His loathing?
How could God possibly allow a satanic creature like I was to enter His kingdom?
Finally, I knelt before God and prayed in true repentance.
No matter how God deals with me,
no matter what my final outcome will be,
I'll willingly obey God's arrangement.
Amen! Thanks be to God!
Even if I just give service to God, I will pursue the truth.
I will do my duty as His creation.
Amen!
By going through Almighty God's many judgments, chastisements, trials and refinements,
my viewpoint of faith in Him has changed.
I've started to pursue and practice the truth.
At last, I'm on the right track of faith for salvation.
Praise God. Great.
This is the result of experiencing Almighty God's judgment in the last days! (Amen!)
Thank Almighty God for saving me! (Amen!)
Praise God!
Listen to their experience and knowledge of faith in God.
That's what it means to practice God's words and experience His work. (Yes.)
Look at how we practiced our faith, how we prayed,
how we read the Bible, and how we sacrificed and labored for Him.
It was all for rewards and entrance to the heavenly kingdom. (Yes.)
We didn't grasp what it meant to practice the Lord's words and experience His work.
This clearly isn't true faith in God, it's actually just a muddled faith!
That's correct.
We in the religious community do believe in the Lord but just keep His name.
We just keep the name the Lord Jesus,
but we do not search for the truth or accept the return of the Lord Jesus.
If we believed like this for 100 years, we couldn't cast off our sin and be cleansed.
Right. It's true.
When it comes down to it, aren't we just like Satan, remaining unchanged?
How can we make it to the kingdom of heaven? (Yes!)
This is true.
Having gone through the judgment of Almighty God in the last days,
I've finally seen that I have been deeply corrupted by Satan;
I was too arrogant and lacked reason.
On the outside, I looked like I could spread the gospel,
do some work, endure suffering,
memorize a few passages of the Bible and talk about its words.
I thought that I knew God
and acted arrogantly and holier-than-thou.
In truth, I neither prayed nor searched for truth and principles.
I went about according to my own conceptions,
especially when it came to my treatment of the Lord's return.
I restricted God to the Bible based on my own conceptions.
I thought that all of God's words and work were in the Bible
and none of His words or work existed outside of it.
I stubbornly maintained that those who believe in the Lord must keep the Bible,
and that anyone who doesn't keep the Bible couldn't be called a believer in the Lord.
The result was
when Almighty God's work in the last days touched me,
I didn't seek or investigate.
I even followed pastors and elders in denying and judging it.
I was arrogant and lost all reason before God.
Could the way I behaved be called true faith in God?
No, it was simply evil!
How am I any different from the Pharisees that resisted the Lord Jesus?
I saw something Almighty God says,
Almighty God's words pricked my heart at that time.
His judgment revealed my nature: I believed in God but resisted Him.
I could feel God's wrath upon me.
I felt His righteous disposition which can't be offended.
I trembled with fear.
The shame of my evil deeds compelled me to kneel to the ground.
I've believed for years,
but how am I still so arrogant and so conceited?
Why do I still lack true reverence to God?
When God's work didn't match my conceptions,
I judged and denied it at will.
I did not search for the truth or obey God.
Am I not arrogant, someone who believes in God yet still resists Him?
My behavior offended God's disposition long ago.
If not for God's mercy and salvation,
I'd have been sent to hell long ago.
How could I have the chance to hear God's voice,
and accept His judgment and cleansing in the last days?
Thank God! Thank God for His mercy.
I felt that I really and truly had been saved by God!
Amen. Praise God!
This time, I hated and cursed myself more than before.
I resolved that
no matter how God judges or prunes, deals with, tests or refines me,
I'll accept it and obey Him.
Amen!
By often reading Almighty God's words
and experiencing His chastisement and judgment,
I now understand truths I previously didn't.
Thanks be to God.
More and more I understand my satanic nature of resisting and betraying God.
Thanks be to God.
I've gained some knowledge of God's holy essence and righteous disposition
which indeed allows no offense.
Praise God!
I've unconsciously developed a reverence of God and a thirst for the truth.
I keep a lower profile than I used to.
I'm not as arrogant and I'm not as conceited.
When confronted with trials,
I can deny myself consciously, search for truth, and practice truth.
My life disposition gradually changed.
All this results from going through judgment and chastisement by God's word.
Amen!
Praise God.
Now finally I understand what true faith in God is.
I grasp the value and meaning of faith in God. (Amen!)
This is something that believers never achieved through the Age of Grace.
Yes!
We believe in the Lord in the religious community.
But we have never listened to people talk about how God's judgment had changed their dispositions.
That's correct!
All that we're discussing is the testimony of grace.
When we compare it to theirs, we see how backward we are! (It's true.)
In the Age of Grace, most of us believers focused on imitating Paul.
We worked for the Lord
and preferred to be jailed rather than deny His name.
Can this manner of faith in God change our life disposition?
No! No, it can't!
Can it allow us to really obey God and love Him?
No, we can't.
In the end, is this faith able to allow us to defeat Satan and satisfy God?
Definitely not! Of course not.
Why does God express truth do His work on men and ask them to practice His words?
He does it to change men's life disposition
and save them from Satan's influence.
It allows men to know and obey Him.
This is what can be achieved by true faith in God.
Amen!
But most believers think hard work
and sacrifice will win the Lord's heart, (Yes, it's true.)
and that when He returns, they'll be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.
But consider this, (Indeed.)
God does His work on us.
Does He do this so after we have spread His work, suffering in the process,
we can then say to Him:
"I've fought the good fight
and even finished running down the path.
There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness?"
No. Not at all.
Is this what God truly demands of men?
No.
Is this truly God's will?
Certainly not. Definitely not.
If that's how we grasp faith in God, aren't we misunderstanding Him?
Indeed. Yes.
It seems if we don't experience God's judgment and cleansing in the last days,
we won't understand truth, our faith will be muddled.
Exactly! Look at their faith in God.
They're undergoing judgment and cleansing by God's words and seeking truth and knowledge of God.
They've testimony of defeating Satan and changing their disposition. (It's true.)
Now look at us.
We often sin and confess,
but feel no shame asking God for grace and blessings.
Where is there any true belief in God? (It's true.)
There's no way we could ever compare with them!
That's right!
Both of us believe in God, but why then are we so far behind? (Indeed.)
Believers in God who don't accept Almighty God's judgment and cleansing in the last days
will all be forsaken!
That's correct!
Brother Yu, Brother Zhao,
your experiences of the judgment of Almighty God's word have moved me so much!
Thanks be to God!
I've believed in the Lord for years,
but never knew what it is to truly believe in Him or experience His work.
Indeed. That's right.
I certainly didn't know what kind of person God would obtain through His work in the end.
Yes!
I was living in my own conceptions and imaginings.
I thought if I labored for the Lord,
I'd obtain His praise and enter the kingdom of heaven. (Yes.)
I did not know that this kind of faith was wrong and hated and condemned by God. (Indeed.)
But you've understood the truth
by undergoing Almighty God's judgment and chastisement by the word.
You clearly see your satanic nature full of arrogance, selfishness, and deceit.
You can hate yourselves and repent.
I now see that if we don't undergo God's judgment or chastisement in the last days,
we will never know truth or God,
even if we believe in the Lord our entire lives. (Indeed. That's right.)
We won't change our life disposition or achieve purification or salvation! (Amen!)
Thanks be to God. Amen. Yes.
Thanks be to God!
Now that we have said all of this,
do you finally understand what true faith in God really is?
Yes. We know. We do.
Is it fine to believe in God but not undergo His judgment or cleansing in the last days?
No, it's not. Not at all.
Can we know God if we believe but don't undergo judgment and chastisement of His word?
No. No way.
Can we understand God's will, obey and worship Him,
if we believe in Him but do not practice His words and we don't experience His work?
No! Absolutely not!
Therefore,
if we really want to know God and change our dispositions,
accepting and going through Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days is vital! (Yes.)
Let's now read more of Almighty God's words. (OK!)
Please turn to page 5.