Easter Lightning | Chapter 15. What Is Meant by “Offending God”

Chapter 15. What Is Meant by “Offending God”

If you alter or distort the word of God Himself, then that amounts to defiance of God, blasphemy against Him and betrayal. This is just the same as the archangel saying: “God, You can create the heavens and earth and all things and You can work miracles, but so can I. You ascend to the throne, and so do I. You rule all nations, I rule all nations too. You created man yet I manage them!” Isn’t this of the same nature? Some have such an impudent attitude toward the work arrangements from the above. They think: “The above makes the work arrangements and we work on the lower levels. There are some words and some things that we can apply flexibly, that can be altered once they reach the lower levels, because the above only says things, and we lower down do them.

We understand the situation on the lower levels, which the above does not, so we can work in any way that suits us. As those in the lower levels have been assigned to us, we can lead them however we want. It doesn’t matter how we lead them, and no one has any right to interfere.” They maintain this principle in their serving of God: “I will listen to anything that I think is correct but I won’t listen to anything I think is unsuitable. I can resist You and go against You. I won’t implement anything or put anything into effect for You. If You say anything unsuitable then I will alter it for You, and will pass it on only after it has been through me. If it hasn’t been approved by me, then it will not be printed.” Elsewhere, the arrangements from the above are passed on in their original form. But these people first alter the work arrangements before sending them onto the regions they lead. This kind of person always wishes to put God to one side and is so anxious for others to follow them, to believe in them. In their eyes, God does not quite compare with them in some areas, and they think that they have something that God doesn’t, that everyone should believe in them and that they are God. Their actions are of this nature. Do you understand? If you have understood, can you still weep? Can you still sympathize with these people? Can you still think that the above has done wrongly or has not acted righteously, and that those who can suffer so much are removed? Who do they suffer for? They suffer for their own status. Are they serving God? Are they doing their duty? Are they loyal to God? Are they obedient? They are the lackeys of Satan, pure and simple. Their work is the devil taking power, to destroy God’s management plan and to disrupt God’s work. What is their faith? They are the devils and the antichrists, pure and simple. Some people say: “Look how they suffer, putting in so much effort to write those books.” Writing what? What books? Who do they suffer for? You always see how they suffer, and say: “Oh, they suffer so much! So it’s okay that they defied God a little. God should pardon them.” No way! If they had their way, everyone would be allowed to defy God! Does a little suffering mean that they are then qualified to defy God? Does it mean that they should defy God? Does it mean that they should rebel against God? Does it mean that they should take the law into their own hands and not obey God? Does it mean that they can do whatever they want? If everything man did was right and everyone was in possession of the truth, then there would be no need for this stage of work to save man. It would prove that man has no corruption and that man does not belong to Satan. Man does not have the truth, they still don’t obey and they still want to act blindly. God speaks the truth, yet they still seek to modify it, and they think that what they do contains the truth, that what they do is right. They are simply something sent by devils and sent by Satan! If you can still feel sympathy for this kind of person, still weep tears for them and can still champion the cause of justice for them, then you are also good-for-nothings. You also think that the above has acted unkindly, and that these people suffered so much and how they could be removed so suddenly. In saying this, you are also lackeys of Satan and you are devils. Are there now any among you who still wish to champion the cause of justice for them? You say: “Someone accused them and God removed them. God doesn’t know anything, and the above who leads us doesn’t know anything either.” Your opinion is so mistaken, so absurd! Some people have a loose tongue and say whatever they feel like saying. They see that God is now a normal and regular person, so they slander God as much as they want. This kind of person bears only rotten fruit! You defy God so much and go against God; you publicly defy God, blaspheme against God, slander, judge and smear God. This kind of person will afterward be objects of severe punishment. For example, there are some people who have resentment toward God that they continually spread around. Whatever words are callous and that best vent their hatred, they say. Are these kinds of people not devils? After a while, they feel remorse, and some say: “They are so pitiful. They repent and say they are in debt to God, that they don’t understand God. They say things like this and it sounds like they have come to their senses. Can’t they be forgiven?” How can they be forgiven so easily? If there is dignity in one person, what then can we say about God? They blasphemed and slandered God, then repented, and they should be forgiven? It is said they were temporarily ignorant. Was it temporary ignorance? Some people speak deliberately, pure and simple. Seeing that the above has removed them, they could no longer enjoy their status and are afraid that they will be hardly able to survive, so they speak much of their discontent. Then afterward, they repent and they weep bitterly. But your words are out there, and water that has been spilled on the ground cannot be gathered back up again. Can God allow people to casually defy Him, judge Him and blaspheme against Him and just brush it aside? That would be undignified! Some are past all feelings of shame, and say: “God, Your precious blood redeemed me. You ask us to forgive others seventy times seven, so You should forgive me!” Even after they are done with their defiance, they still speak like this. They really are past all feelings of shame! Some start rumors and slander God in the lower levels. After they are done insulting God, they become afraid, fearing to be punished, and they quickly fall to their knees and pray: “Oh God! Please don’t leave me! Please don’t punish me! I admit to my sin and I repent. I am in Your debt. I have done wrong.” Do you think this kind of person can be forgiven? They can’t! Why can’t they? Because this is an offense against the Holy Spirit, and the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven in this life or in the life to come. God means what He says; God is dignified and wrathful. He has a righteous disposition and cannot be the “nice guy” that people imagine, thinking that He will not look anymore at the past transgressions of whoever is good to Him. This won’t happen. What good can come of defying God? If you do something wrong due to some temporary ignorance, then this is pardonable. It is also pardonable if your corrupt disposition reveals itself at times. But if you defy God directly, rebel against God directly, go against Him directly, blaspheme against Him, slander Him, start rumors about Him, then you will come to no good and must wait for punishment. This kind of person needn’t pray anymore. They need only go and wait to be punished. Forgiveness is impossible. When the time comes, don’t shamelessly say: “Oh God! Please forgive me!” If, after someone has some understanding, they go and do these wrong things again, then they commit this violation knowingly, and so it is impossible to forgive them. When it was said before that God would not remember man’s transgressions, it was said in relation to minor transgressions which do not include offenses against God’s administrative decrees, or offenses against God’s disposition; these minor transgressions are not considered blasphemy. If you just once blaspheme against God, judge God or slander God, then this is an eternal blemish that is impossible to wipe clean. Yet still people think to casually blaspheme against God, sling abuse at God and use God. How can such a thing be possible? People always think that God is mercy and love, that God is kind, and that God is open-minded, as open-minded as the sea is boundless. They think that He doesn’t remember man’s transgressions, that He lets bygones be bygones with regard to man’s past transgressions and previous deeds. But He only lets bygones be bygones with small matters, He cannot let big matters go.

People believe in God but don’t fear Him. When they lose their temper and get angry, they say what they want. So they must pay a price for what they say, and this is not a simple matter. When some people blaspheme, when they judge God, do they know in their hearts what they are saying? All those who say these things know in their hearts what they say. Apart from some who have been possessed by evil spirits and whose reason is abnormal, regular people know in their hearts what they are saying. If they say they don’t, then they are lying. When they speak, they think: “Hmm. You are God and I know that You are God. I’m saying that You are not doing right, so what can You do to me? What will You do when I am done talking?” They do this intentionally, to disturb others, to draw others over to their side, to make others say similar things, make others do similar things. They know that what they say is in defiance of God, that it is going against God, blaspheming God. After they have mulled it over they think that what they did was wrong: “What was I thinking, saying those things? It was an impetuous moment and I really regret it!” Their regret proves that they knew exactly what they were doing at that time; it wasn’t that they didn’t know. If you think that they were momentarily ignorant and confused, that they had not thoroughly understood, then this is not entirely correct. People may not have understood thoroughly, but if you believe in God then you must have a minimum of common sense. To believe in God you should fear God and revere Him. You cannot blaspheme against God, or judge or slander Him however you like. Do you know what is meant by “judging,” “blasphemy” and “slander”? When you say something, do you not know whether or not you are judging God? To create enthusiasm amongst those below, some people use examples, saying: “God is ill now yet you are still not serious in your belief!” They say these words, and it is possible they don’t know what they mean themselves, and maybe their intentions are good for those below. But they must not use this example or say these words to inspire people. There are many other things they can say to inspire people, so why do they have to say this? The root cause of someone saying this is that they basically don’t have a God-revering heart, and they don’t fear God. After some people repeat these words, they feel remorse and say: “How could I say such a thing? I have felt uneasy ever since I repeated those words.” This is what happens when someone doesn’t have a God-revering heart! They don’t tremble with fear at all and, they say things like this as they please. They have no reverence for God, no piousness. How can they act up and shoot their mouth off before God? God is dignified. If they recognized this point, then would they be able to say such things? They don’t have a God-revering heart. To achieve their own intentions and to reach their own personal goals, they talk as they please, saying this about God, saying that about God, and will even blaspheme against God and judge Him. Just like some people who are now spreading the gospel and who, in order to get people to join, play along and say: “Eastern Lightning is an evil cult.” Whatever the intention is, it is not right to say things like this. Is there nothing else you could say instead? Why do you have to say this? Isn’t this blaspheming against God? These words come out of your own mouth, so it is you who has blasphemed. Why do you use these words? You say them in order to get people to join and to complete your task. You pay the price of these words in order to get people, but aren’t you blaspheming against God? Regardless of whether you are saying it intentionally or unintentionally, these words are impious and you don’t have a God-revering heart at all. You use words that blaspheme against God in order to get people—you are so impious! Is God there for you to toy with as you please? To judge as you please? To speak carelessly of as you please? This is a terrible thing. You will be finished if you say anything wrong; it is a matter of life and death! Some people think: “Since it’s over, he said these things, as did I, so are we not both finished? How many people will be left?” How many will be left? It is acceptable for there to be no one left. Who made you all say these things? All who say these things are finished. Do you think man is worth anything? You really are clueless about what you are, and actually think that you are worth something! “If we are all finished, then hasn’t God worked in vain?” If it was done in vain then it was done in vain; no big deal. You think you are worth something, that God cannot leave man, and that the whole point of His management plan is to manage people, so if God leaves man then His management will be no more. You are wrong to think this! God continues with His plan no matter who He leaves behind. People think too much of themselves and they don’t have a God-revering heart. They don’t have the slightest piety before God, nor do they have any well-behaved attitude. Because man lives under the domain of Satan and they belong to it, they can judge God and blaspheme against God at any time and in any place. This is a most terrible matter. Like some of you who dare to have that kind of idea: “I want to print a book too. I will issue it out and it will be handed down from generation to generation.” Was the lesson given to you by Paul’s example not profound enough? You still want to write a book and still want to make a “celebrity autobiography.” You still want to put together a book of “summaries of the truth.” You really are ignorant. Haven’t you suffered enough hardships over these years of believing in God? Do you still not understand this matter thoroughly? What does man understand? The little doctrine you understand cannot even supply yourselves and yet you want to supply it to others. You really don’t know your own stature. See, people are all different. Although some people don’t necessarily understand everything that is arranged by the above, they still obey and say: “All God does is correct. Though we may not understand it thoroughly, we shall still obey. We certainly shouldn’t judge God. We should listen even if it doesn’t sound correct, because we are people and there is no mistake in what God does. There is meaning behind it all, but what meaning can us fools see? We shall simply follow God and obey God’s arrangements, until the day when we will understand. Even if we still don’t understand on that day, we shall still obey willingly. We are human beings, and so we should obey God. It is as it should be.” But some people are different. When they see what the above does, they first deliberate, saying: “You have said this, God, and You have demanded this. I think the first thing is fine, but I don’t think the second thing is very suitable. I will alter it for You.” Do these words show a God-revering heart? Or they have conceptions about the things that God does, and so don’t carry them out in the lower levels. Instead, they talk casually and circulate their conceptions as they please amongst those below, letting those below know that what God does doesn’t conform to man’s conceptions. Then everyone will have conceptions about God. Firstly, they cannot supply the truth; secondly, they circulate conceptions; thirdly, they let everybody know so that they will all oppose God’s way of doing things, they will make God do things a different way and finally make God give in. Some people can do things like this in order to make people have no conceptions, to make God give in, make God do things in a different way and make Him satisfy people. If these people afterward feel remorse and weep tears, can this be accounted as them having a God-revering heart? Some of you are a little too enthusiastic and are ignorant about how to serve God, but you can be spared for this. If you do it again, then it will be considered as having been done knowingly. Then your sins will be great and severe, and it will be a terrible thing. If you regard this matter too simply, that it is just nothing, then there will come a day when you will offend God. I have seen some people like this. It is not necessary to expel them, nor is it necessary to eliminate them, or announce it. Actually, the end that awaits these people is already set. In their belief of God, man must have at least a God-revering heart. Do you understand what is meant by “revering”? You must fear God, everything must be done prudently and you must allow yourself some leeway. Don’t just do whatever you want to do. Just as when some leaders have been removed, some people said: “It is hard to talk about this. We have no idea what they did exactly. Even if we did know what they did, we still wouldn’t be able to thoroughly understand the nature behind it. All God does is correct. There will come a day when God will reveal all to us and will allow us to understand His will.” You may not have understood why God does something, but you can continue to obey. You are then someone who is relatively pious and can be considered as having a God-revering heart. If you don’t understand and even go against God, then you will only bear rotten fruit. Whenever a leader is removed, there will always be a few die-hard followers in the lower levels who will follow them, who will champion the cause of justice for them. Because of this, they publicly judge God, and they say that God is not righteous and to let the Holy Spirit reveal everything. Even if these people achieve outstanding results in spreading the gospel, it is all to no avail. One betrayal forever decides your fate. You must regard the nature of this matter seriously. Don’t underestimate this matter. It can be said that you have all defied God at some point in the past, but the nature of your defiance was different. The nature of this matter is serious. Some people put books together and issue them to those below. Why are they not allowed to print these books or issue them? You don’t understand. If you did then you wouldn’t do such a thing. Why? Even tthough people may understand the truth, some words are just not possible to express using human language. They can only be fellowshiped by word of mouth, resolving problems in this way as they arise. They cannot be recorded in one or two texts. Take the experiences of Peter—are they found in Peter’s epistles? If people are truly well-behaved before the word of God, then they will no longer do things zealously or those things they think are good. If you recognize the insignificance, the poverty and pitifulness of man, then you won’t dare to do things as you wish—writing books or writing an autobiography. All those who always want to write books or autobiographies, who always want to do something in the name of making a contribution in order to establish themselves, are all people who overreach themselves.

From:"Records of Christ’s Talks"

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