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| Reading Almighty God's words |
Question 1: “God became man that man may become God” is the highest vision in Brother Lin’s preaching. It’s true that God created man in the beginning, but His plan of making man is for man to become God. And as man didn’t have God’s life disposition in the beginning, it was easy for Satan to tempt him to sin. God saving us is to dispense His life disposition into us. Once we have God’s life disposition, won’t we then become God? Is there anything wrong?
Answer: Believers in the Local Church said “God became man so that man may become God.” The meaning of these words is that God is incarnated as a man just in order to make man God. According to this viewpoint, God’s creating man is also to make them God. But is this really what God wants? We should measure it according to God’s words.
At the creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Today Almighty God also says, “In the beginning, I created mankind, that is, I created mankind’s ancestor, Adam. He was tangible and formed, brimming with life, brimming with vitality, and furthermore, having My glory’s company. That was the glorious day when I created man. Following that, Eve was produced from the body of Adam, also the ancestor of man, and so the people of My creation were filled with My breath and brimming with My glory. Adam was originally produced by My hand and was the representation of My image. Thus the original meaning of ‘Adam’ was to be My creation imbued with My vitality, imbued with My glory, tangible and in good form, having spirit and breath. He was the only creation endowed with a spirit that could represent Me, have My image and receive My breath. In the beginning Eve was the second person endowed with breath that I had determined to create, so the original meaning of ‘Eve’ was to be a creation to continue My glory, filled with My vitality and furthermore be endowed with My glory. Eve came out of Adam, so she was also of My image, for she was the second person created in My image. The original meaning of ‘Eve’ was to be a living being, given a spirit, existing in flesh and bone, being My second testimony as well as My second image in mankind. They were mankind’s ancestors, his pure and precious treasure, and originally living beings with a spirit” (“What a Real Man Means” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words tell us clearly what God created in the beginning is man, living man with a spirit, who is a created being. And man is created to rule over all things on the earth to glorify and manifest God. Besides, we need to pay special attention to God’s words. When creating man, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26). God never says that He made God, much less that He created man in order to make them God. If someone misinterprets God’s word, taking creating man for creating God, what problem is this? Isn’t it misinterpreting God’s word? Isn’t it distorting the facts? Or is there unspeakable malintent behind it? Besides, we all know God is the Creator and man is His creation. Man and God are totally different in substance. Just as Almighty God says, “God, after all, is God, and man is man. God has the substance of God, and man has the substance of man.” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s word is one hundred percent true, and His word is the truth. God is faithful in His disposition, without any deception or trickery in Him. So God’s word is immutable truth. It is entirely without fault. God said He made man in His image, so He made man. Why would one think that He made God then? That’s something the archangel would say, because the archangel always desires to be equal to God and to be God. Satan is a great corruptor. All it needs to do is let us misinterpret God’s word so as to deceive and corrupt us, and then let us follow it. So we can say with certainty that if we stubbornly misunderstood “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” as the words of God creating God, it’s a grave resistance and blasphemy against God, a gravest offense to His disposition. If one misinterprets God’s word at will and distorts the facts, this in substance is a serious problem. It’s not just a simple problem of misinterpreting God’s word. If that comes from Satan, it could be very grave. So the words that “God became man that man may become God” is absurd. It’s from man’s conceptions and imaginations and is out of Satan. We need to see this fact clearly. If one doesn’t repent and still holds on to this view, the outcome is dire.
What’s the thing we believers in God should seek above all else? About this, we need to understand God’s will. What kind of result is God after, when He strives to redeem and save mankind? That is, what kind of man does God hope to make in the end? It’s a vision for believers, which involves the truth of God’s work. And the path that we choose to follow must be in accordance with the word of God. Never should we be deceived into following man and walking the path of resisting God. We should know that after mankind’s corruption by Satan, we lose the glory of God and the testimony to Him. All that man lives out is corrupt satanic disposition, with no human likeness at all. We’ve all become devils who disobey, deny, resist and even betray God. It’s a fact. In order to save mankind, God was incarnated in the Age of Grace and offered Himself up as the sin offering for mankind so that we would be redeemed. Now in the Age of Kingdom, God is incarnated again in order to do the work of judgment in the last days, and express all the truths that will purify and save us. So then, man can gain the truth, cast away the corruption, live out a meaningful life and the image of loving God, and enter into rest. This is what God hopes to finally achieve by saving mankind. Let’s read the word of Almighty God.
Almighty God says, “God created humanity and placed them upon earth, whom He has led to the present day. He then saved humanity and served as a sin offering for humanity. At the end He still must conquer humanity, save humanity entirely and restore them to their original likeness. This is the work that He has been engaged in from the beginning to the end—restoring man to his original image and to his original likeness” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“When the three stages of work come to an end, there will be made a group of those who bear testimony to God, a group of those who know God. These people will all know God and will be able to put the truth into practice. They will possess humanity and sense, and will all know the three stages of God’s work of salvation. This is the work that will be accomplished at the end, and these people are the crystallization of the work of 6,000 years of management, and are the most powerful testimony to the ultimate defeat of Satan. Those who can bear testimony to God will be able to receive God’s promise and blessing, and will be the group that remains at the very end, which possesses the authority of God and bears testimony to God” (“Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“One day when one experiences to an extent that his outlook on life, the meaning of his existence, and the foundation of his existence have all changed, that is, he has been thoroughly remolded and has become a new man, this will be amazing! This will be a great change, a tremendous change. For the worldly fame and gain, position, money, pleasure, and wealth and honor, you feel it makes no difference to you whether you have them or not, and you can easily drop these things. Then you will be a person who has human likeness. The ones made complete in the end will be such a group of people, who live for the truth, live for God, and live for the just things. Such is human likeness” (“Know that There Are Similarities and Distinctions Between Men’s Natures” in Christ’s Talks With Church Leaders and Workers).
“Throughout the entire management work, the most important work is man’s salvation from the influence of Satan. The key work is the complete conquest of corrupt man, thus restoring the original reverence of God in the heart of conquered man, and allowing him to achieve a normal life, which is to say, the normal life of a creature of God. This work is crucial, and is the core of the management work” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
According to the words of Almighty God, we’re sure that the aim of God managing mankind with the three stages of work, is to make a group of those who know God, obey God and testify to God. God has been incarnated twice for the purpose of saving man completely from the influence of Satan, so that man can attain sanctity and be of the same mind with God. God’s word has explained it quite clearly and quite thoroughly. In that case, the work of God is definitely not to make man God. From the beginning of God’s management to the last days, all the former saints approved and blessed by God are those who align with His heart. Saints like Abraham, Job, and Peter, they have God’s words of approval and blessing as proof. These people were regarded very highly and emulated by other saints throughout the ages. It’s safe to say they’re in the kingdom of heaven. But did God say these people became God? Never has God made such a claim. He only said that they had the greatest faith, were perfect in that they feared God and shunned evil, and knew God. Clearly, this is the final result that God will achieve by saving mankind. God hopes that one day we can become like Abraham and Job, and the perfected man will be like Peter who knows God. This is the truth God clearly said right in the Bible. It can’t be refuted. Here the will of God has been made clear. Those approved and blessed by Him are the kinds of people that He’ll make at the end of His management. They’re the ones He’ll gain in the end. Hence our belief in God should be based on God’s requirements. We should take Abraham, Job and Peter as our examples, seek truth fervently and obey God’s work, and be perfected. This is the path we should take as believers in God. So it’s proven we weren’t made for the purpose of becoming God. Actually, this was never mentioned by Jehovah God in the Age of Law. And yet again, Jesus didn’t mention it in the Age of Grace. In the Age of Kingdom, Almighty God makes it more clear for us—He never said He’d make man into God. Therefore, we can be sure that the viewpoint “God became man that man may become God” did not originate from God Himself. It’s from man’s conception and imagination, and out of Satan. God’s disposition cannot be offended. Satan wanted to be God and considered itself equal to Him, which offended God’s disposition. Therefore, Satan was struck down in midair. If man tries to become God, isn’t that from Satan? Isn’t that the point of view of the archangel? Isn’t it mankind’s own ambition and desire?
Answer: Believers in the Local Church said “God became man so that man may become God.” The meaning of these words is that God is incarnated as a man just in order to make man God. According to this viewpoint, God’s creating man is also to make them God. But is this really what God wants? We should measure it according to God’s words.
At the creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Today Almighty God also says, “In the beginning, I created mankind, that is, I created mankind’s ancestor, Adam. He was tangible and formed, brimming with life, brimming with vitality, and furthermore, having My glory’s company. That was the glorious day when I created man. Following that, Eve was produced from the body of Adam, also the ancestor of man, and so the people of My creation were filled with My breath and brimming with My glory. Adam was originally produced by My hand and was the representation of My image. Thus the original meaning of ‘Adam’ was to be My creation imbued with My vitality, imbued with My glory, tangible and in good form, having spirit and breath. He was the only creation endowed with a spirit that could represent Me, have My image and receive My breath. In the beginning Eve was the second person endowed with breath that I had determined to create, so the original meaning of ‘Eve’ was to be a creation to continue My glory, filled with My vitality and furthermore be endowed with My glory. Eve came out of Adam, so she was also of My image, for she was the second person created in My image. The original meaning of ‘Eve’ was to be a living being, given a spirit, existing in flesh and bone, being My second testimony as well as My second image in mankind. They were mankind’s ancestors, his pure and precious treasure, and originally living beings with a spirit” (“What a Real Man Means” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words tell us clearly what God created in the beginning is man, living man with a spirit, who is a created being. And man is created to rule over all things on the earth to glorify and manifest God. Besides, we need to pay special attention to God’s words. When creating man, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …” (Genesis 1:26). God never says that He made God, much less that He created man in order to make them God. If someone misinterprets God’s word, taking creating man for creating God, what problem is this? Isn’t it misinterpreting God’s word? Isn’t it distorting the facts? Or is there unspeakable malintent behind it? Besides, we all know God is the Creator and man is His creation. Man and God are totally different in substance. Just as Almighty God says, “God, after all, is God, and man is man. God has the substance of God, and man has the substance of man.” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s word is one hundred percent true, and His word is the truth. God is faithful in His disposition, without any deception or trickery in Him. So God’s word is immutable truth. It is entirely without fault. God said He made man in His image, so He made man. Why would one think that He made God then? That’s something the archangel would say, because the archangel always desires to be equal to God and to be God. Satan is a great corruptor. All it needs to do is let us misinterpret God’s word so as to deceive and corrupt us, and then let us follow it. So we can say with certainty that if we stubbornly misunderstood “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” as the words of God creating God, it’s a grave resistance and blasphemy against God, a gravest offense to His disposition. If one misinterprets God’s word at will and distorts the facts, this in substance is a serious problem. It’s not just a simple problem of misinterpreting God’s word. If that comes from Satan, it could be very grave. So the words that “God became man that man may become God” is absurd. It’s from man’s conceptions and imaginations and is out of Satan. We need to see this fact clearly. If one doesn’t repent and still holds on to this view, the outcome is dire.
What’s the thing we believers in God should seek above all else? About this, we need to understand God’s will. What kind of result is God after, when He strives to redeem and save mankind? That is, what kind of man does God hope to make in the end? It’s a vision for believers, which involves the truth of God’s work. And the path that we choose to follow must be in accordance with the word of God. Never should we be deceived into following man and walking the path of resisting God. We should know that after mankind’s corruption by Satan, we lose the glory of God and the testimony to Him. All that man lives out is corrupt satanic disposition, with no human likeness at all. We’ve all become devils who disobey, deny, resist and even betray God. It’s a fact. In order to save mankind, God was incarnated in the Age of Grace and offered Himself up as the sin offering for mankind so that we would be redeemed. Now in the Age of Kingdom, God is incarnated again in order to do the work of judgment in the last days, and express all the truths that will purify and save us. So then, man can gain the truth, cast away the corruption, live out a meaningful life and the image of loving God, and enter into rest. This is what God hopes to finally achieve by saving mankind. Let’s read the word of Almighty God.
Almighty God says, “God created humanity and placed them upon earth, whom He has led to the present day. He then saved humanity and served as a sin offering for humanity. At the end He still must conquer humanity, save humanity entirely and restore them to their original likeness. This is the work that He has been engaged in from the beginning to the end—restoring man to his original image and to his original likeness” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“When the three stages of work come to an end, there will be made a group of those who bear testimony to God, a group of those who know God. These people will all know God and will be able to put the truth into practice. They will possess humanity and sense, and will all know the three stages of God’s work of salvation. This is the work that will be accomplished at the end, and these people are the crystallization of the work of 6,000 years of management, and are the most powerful testimony to the ultimate defeat of Satan. Those who can bear testimony to God will be able to receive God’s promise and blessing, and will be the group that remains at the very end, which possesses the authority of God and bears testimony to God” (“Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“One day when one experiences to an extent that his outlook on life, the meaning of his existence, and the foundation of his existence have all changed, that is, he has been thoroughly remolded and has become a new man, this will be amazing! This will be a great change, a tremendous change. For the worldly fame and gain, position, money, pleasure, and wealth and honor, you feel it makes no difference to you whether you have them or not, and you can easily drop these things. Then you will be a person who has human likeness. The ones made complete in the end will be such a group of people, who live for the truth, live for God, and live for the just things. Such is human likeness” (“Know that There Are Similarities and Distinctions Between Men’s Natures” in Christ’s Talks With Church Leaders and Workers).
“Throughout the entire management work, the most important work is man’s salvation from the influence of Satan. The key work is the complete conquest of corrupt man, thus restoring the original reverence of God in the heart of conquered man, and allowing him to achieve a normal life, which is to say, the normal life of a creature of God. This work is crucial, and is the core of the management work” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
According to the words of Almighty God, we’re sure that the aim of God managing mankind with the three stages of work, is to make a group of those who know God, obey God and testify to God. God has been incarnated twice for the purpose of saving man completely from the influence of Satan, so that man can attain sanctity and be of the same mind with God. God’s word has explained it quite clearly and quite thoroughly. In that case, the work of God is definitely not to make man God. From the beginning of God’s management to the last days, all the former saints approved and blessed by God are those who align with His heart. Saints like Abraham, Job, and Peter, they have God’s words of approval and blessing as proof. These people were regarded very highly and emulated by other saints throughout the ages. It’s safe to say they’re in the kingdom of heaven. But did God say these people became God? Never has God made such a claim. He only said that they had the greatest faith, were perfect in that they feared God and shunned evil, and knew God. Clearly, this is the final result that God will achieve by saving mankind. God hopes that one day we can become like Abraham and Job, and the perfected man will be like Peter who knows God. This is the truth God clearly said right in the Bible. It can’t be refuted. Here the will of God has been made clear. Those approved and blessed by Him are the kinds of people that He’ll make at the end of His management. They’re the ones He’ll gain in the end. Hence our belief in God should be based on God’s requirements. We should take Abraham, Job and Peter as our examples, seek truth fervently and obey God’s work, and be perfected. This is the path we should take as believers in God. So it’s proven we weren’t made for the purpose of becoming God. Actually, this was never mentioned by Jehovah God in the Age of Law. And yet again, Jesus didn’t mention it in the Age of Grace. In the Age of Kingdom, Almighty God makes it more clear for us—He never said He’d make man into God. Therefore, we can be sure that the viewpoint “God became man that man may become God” did not originate from God Himself. It’s from man’s conception and imagination, and out of Satan. God’s disposition cannot be offended. Satan wanted to be God and considered itself equal to Him, which offended God’s disposition. Therefore, Satan was struck down in midair. If man tries to become God, isn’t that from Satan? Isn’t that the point of view of the archangel? Isn’t it mankind’s own ambition and desire?
from the movie script of Rapture in Peril
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