Recalling the time when I believed in the Lord, I had a puzzle all the time: Could we go to heaven if we merely believe in the Lord Jesus? I thought to myself: Considering my sister, having believed in the Lord Jesus for over twenty years, she still is irascible. Whether in small or big things, as long as she is unsatisfied, she will break out in curses. Thus, she has a bad relationship with her family and colleagues, so she lives in pain and under great pressure, which causes her frequent insomnia. She has believed in the Lord for many years, but why is she still like this? I can’t see any witness of living out the word of the Lord from her.
As for me, I also constantly live in sins. I don’t have forbearance and patience for my family, nor can I practice the Lord’s word even if I want to. Therefore, I feel miserable. When I listened to sermons in the church, the preachers said that we could get the salvation of the Lord Jesus as long as we believed in Him. They also said that as long as we had faith in the Lord, we were His children, and that we would be forgiven by Him if we sinned, because God used His precious blood as the price to buy us back, and that we could go to heaven as long as we prayed and repented. Moreover, they said even those who determined to believe in the Lord on their deathbed also could go to heaven. Is it really so simple? If what the preachers said is real, how should we understand the verse, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14)?
Thank Almighty God for His leading and enlightenment! Later I watched the movie, Song of Victory, in which this aspect of the truth was clearly communicated.
Almighty God says, “Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons were already planted within him. After thousands of years of Satan’s corruption, man already has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than redemption, where man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before being worthy to serve God. Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can cast away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage of salvation. Man is gained by God through judgment and chastisement by the word; through the use of the word to refine, judge and disclose, all of the impurities, notions, motives, and individual hopes within man’s heart are completely revealed” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
“The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but man has been unable to resolve the issue of just how he can no longer sin and how his sinful nature can be cast away completely and be transformed. The sins of man were forgiven because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live in the old, corrupt satanic disposition. As such, man must be completely saved from the corrupt satanic disposition so that the sinful nature of man is completely cast away and never again develops, thus allowing the disposition of man to be changed. This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
A sister in the movie says, “Almighty God’s words are very clear: In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus only performed His redemption work. Our sins were forgiven for believing in the Lord, but our sinful nature has not been resolved. Our sinful nature is Satan’s nature. It has already taken root deep inside us, becoming our life. That is why we still can’t help but sin and resist God. Our having satanic nature is the root cause behind our resistance of God. Our sins can be forgiven, but can God forgive our satanic nature? The satanic nature directly opposes God and the truth. God would never forgive it. Therefore, God has to thoroughly save mankind from the bondage and control of satanic nature, and must judge and chastise mankind. The judgment and chastisement of God in the last days is the work targeted at the satanic nature and disposition inside humans. Some people might ask, can our satanic nature only be resolved by judgment and chastisement? Can’t we, through paying the price of suffering, subduing our body, and restraining ourselves with volition, resolve our satanic nature? Definitely not. Let’s take another look at the many saints throughout history who all paid the price of suffering and subdued their bodies, who all wanted to escape the bondage and control of sin, and to transcend the flesh. But who among them managed to overcome Satan to become someone who truly obeys God? Almost none. Even if there were, they were people whom God especially made complete. But how many such people were there? It was precisely because there was no God’s judgment and chastisement, so man’s satanic disposition was unable to be cleansed. Man’s life disposition was therefore unable to change. This fact is sufficient to prove that using our human means is incapable of resolving our satanic nature. We must go through God’s judgment and chastisement, pruning and dealing, and trials and refining, before we can gain the truth and life, receive the way of eternal life. It is only then that our satanic nature can be thoroughly resolved. That is why, on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ redemption work, Almighty God carries out His work of judgment and chastisement in the last days, to thoroughly save mankind from the bondage and control of satanic nature, so that humans can be cleansed to receive God’s salvation and be gained by God. From this we can see that it is God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days that thoroughly cleanses and saves humans. This is the truth.”
Almighty God says, “In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, which reveals all that is unrighteous, publicly judges all peoples, and perfects those who truly love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to their kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time when God reveals people’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and people shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things will be revealed, so that the evil will be punished and the good will be rewarded, and all people will become subject under the dominion of God. All the work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. … During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)”).
The sister says, “After reading Almighty God’s words, we can all see a truth from God’s word: We corrupt mankind cannot receive the truth and life if we do not go through God’s judgment and chastisement, and will therefore be unable to get rid of our sinful nature to achieve salvation, and moreover cannot get to know God’s righteous disposition and all God has and is. We mankind have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years and all have satanic nature. We are all arrogant, deceitful, and reckless. Even though we have believed in God, but we often still can’t help ourselves but sin and resist God. This shows that we do not have true knowledge and fear of God. That’s a fact. For a person full of satanic disposition to truly be obedient before God and be utterly convinced by God, he must experience God’s judgment and chastisement, by which he sees God’s righteous, majestic, and wrathful disposition, and sees all the truths expressed by God to judge and cleanse mankind. Only then can he be conquered, fall down completely before God, and truly repent, and start to understand the truth, practice the truth, and gradually achieve dispositional change and compatibility with God. Then why couldn’t believers in the Lord from the Age of Grace truly get to know themselves? Why didn’t they fear God and often lived in sin, disobeyed God and opposed God, and didn’t even think that was a big deal? It was because God had not performed His judgment work of the last days. Without experiencing God’s judgment and chastisement, man cannot get to know his own satanic nature, his arrogant disposition will never be able to change, and it won’t be possible for him to achieve true obedience toward and fear of God. Some might say, ‘How could we bear the cross and follow the Lord if we don’t obey Him?’ In the Age of Grace, we gave up everything to work and pay the price for the Lord. But the aim was all so we could receive the crown, be rewarded and enter the kingdom of heaven. Did we truly love and obey the Lord? Were we the ones whose lives and disposition really changed? Did we really achieve compatibility with the Lord? Then why, when we are expending for the Lord, can we still simultaneously engage in transactions with Him, take advantage of Him and deceive Him? God observes the depths of man’s heart. Man looks at the outside, God looks at the inside. No matter how good we are on the outside, it does not mean we are after God’s heart. Therefore, God’s work of judgment starting at the house of God in the last days is the work targeted at man’s satanic nature for thoroughly cleansing and saving man. Only after we experience God’s judgment and chastisement of the last days can we see clearly the nature and substance, and the real situation of our being corrupted by Satan, and that what we live out is all the image of the devil Satan, without much humanity. We all feel deeply ashamed, fall down before God, repent to God, and are extremely remorseful, never again feeling that we are stronger or better than anyone. We start to despise ourselves, curse ourselves, and are no longer willing to live in our corrupt disposition. We unconsciously become humble, no longer able to be insolent. At the same time we also see that God’s disposition is too righteous, too holy, which is unoffendable, and can’t help but develop a heart of reverence for God. We don’t dare to do whatever we please and say whatever we want any more, and begin to forsake the flesh, practice the truth, and change the way we look at things. Our life disposition starts to change, and we are willing to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements, no longer controlled by our future and fate and our desires for blessings, and live out the likeness of a real man. Also, we have also seen that the work of judgment beginning at the house of God is targeted at all those who accept God’s work of the last days. God is going to make a group of overcomers before the disaster. This group of people are those who will receive God’s promise and enter the kingdom of heaven.”
After watching the film, all the questions which puzzled me when I believed in the Lord were solved. I thought: Right! We still have the corrupt Satanic disposition and haven’t broken free of the bondage of sin yet. We still need God to do the work of judgment and chastisement, and only in this way can we get cleansed. God’s substance is righteous and holy; how could we, such filthy and corrupt people, be qualified to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Thank the Lord! Only then did I understand that it is because of God’s careful arrangement that I could accept Almighty God’s work in the last days. He used brothers and sisters to preach the gospel to me and brought me before Him. I see that God’s love for me is so great. I am so insignificant, but God doesn’t leave or abandon me. He is beside me and cares me all the time. From now on, I will pursue the truth with diligence, and practice and live out God’s word to achieve a change in my life disposition so that I could be a person that truly obeys, worships God and is compatible with God. Thank God! All the glory and praise be to the almighty and one true God!
Source from: find the shepherd
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