The Church of Almighty God -- The Inside Story of the Bible (3)

    Question: How will we believe in the Lord and receive life if we leave the Bible?

Answer: This question is very crucial. This is what we believers in God all want to know. The Lord Jesus once said, “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). Before, we studied the Bible again and again, thinking that we could gain the eternal life from it. Actually, the Bible is only the testimony of God. If we want to gain the truth and life while believing in God, it’s not enough to rely on the testimony in the Bible. Almighty God says, “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. … The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows in the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old? And how can the words of your yellowed books carry you across the threshold of the new age? How can they lead you to seek the steps of God’s work? And how can they take you up to heaven? What you hold in your hands is the letters that can provide but temporary solace, not the truths that are capable of giving life. The scriptures you read are that which can only enrich your tongue, not words of wisdom that can help you know human life, much less the ways that can lead you to perfection. Does this discrepancy not give you cause for reflection? Does it not allow you to understand the mysteries contained within? Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own? Without the coming of God, can you take yourself into heaven to enjoy family happiness with God? Are you still dreaming now? I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming, and look at who is working now, at who is now carrying out the work of saving man during the last days. If you do not, you shall never gain the truth, and shall never gain life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From Almighty God’s words, we understand that only Christ can express the truth, redeem mankind, and save mankind. Only if man comes to Christ can he receive the truth and life. The Bible can’t replace God’s authority and power and can’t bestow to man life on behalf of God, much less replace the Holy Spirit’s working. Only if we accept and obey Christ of the last days can we receive the Holy Spirit’s working and gain the truth and life. If man doesn’t accept the words expressed by Christ of the last days, he can’t gain life, because the Bible isn’t God but just the testimony of God’s work. Here we see that life isn’t from the Bible but from Christ. Only Christ is the Lord of the Bible and the spring of life.

Before, we believed in God only according to the Bible. In our eyes, the Bible represented the Lord and God. The Bible replaced God in our heart. Rather than believing in God, we believe in the Bible. So, when Christ of the last days, Almighty God, works, we think what Almighty God speaks and does doesn’t agree with the Bible and thus deny and reject and even condemn and resist. Brothers and sisters, we know that God’s disposition is righteous and doesn’t tolerate man’s offense. At that time, the chief priests, teachers of the law, and Pharisees in Judaism believed in God for generations, but they held on to the Old Testament, condemned the Lord Jesus by the law, and crucified the Lord Jesus. Today Almighty God comes and we also resist Almighty God’s work by the Bible. Isn’t it the same as the Pharisees’ resisting the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace? We should draw a lesson from the Pharisees’ failure. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Before I accepted God’s work of the last days, I didn’t understand the meaning of this word. Today, I understand that only the last Christ is the gate for man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Only if we accept and obey the last Christ can we be led onto the way of being saved.

Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s word, “Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that the people who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be despised by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, which none may bypass. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You must not just think of gaining blessings without receiving the truth, or accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution that should be suffered by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you oppose Christ of the last days, and deny Him, then there is no one who can bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you oppose is not a man, what you deny is not some puny being, but Christ. Are you aware of this consequence? You have not made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, we see that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven if not through Christ of the last days. When God’s new work comes upon man, whether man accepts or rejects it decides his destiny. We can say that man’s attitude toward the last Christ is his attitude toward God. If man always resists and rejects Christ of the last days, he’ll lose the opportunity to be saved and lose the eternal salvation. Here we see God’s righteous disposition. Since 1991, Christ of the last days, Almighty God, has expressed millions of words, that is, The Word Appears in the Flesh. He discloses the biggest mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan to us, and points out the only way to be saved and to gain the truth in believing in God.

        From:"The Church of Almighty God"

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