How does God incarnating to do the work of judgment bring to an end mankind’s belief in the vague God and the dark age of Satan’s dominion?

I. One Must Bear Witness to the Aspect of Truth Concerning God’s Incarnation

9. How does God incarnating to do the work of judgment bring to an end mankind’s belief in the vague God and the dark age of Satan’s dominion?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah” (Isa 2:2-5).

Relevant Words of God:

The arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in his conceptions, man believes that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the conceptions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Through His actual words and actual work, His movement across all lands, and the exceptionally real and normal work that He does among man, He causes man to know the reality of God, and removes the place of the vague God in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

from “Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

It is only today, when I personally come among man and speak My words, that man has a little knowledge of Me, removing the place for “Me” in their thoughts, instead creating a place for the practical God in their consciousness. Man has conceptions and is full of curiosity; who would not want to see God? Who would not wish to encounter God? Yet the only thing that occupies a definite place in man’s heart is the God that man feels is vague and abstract. Who would realize this if I did not tell them plainly? Who would truly believe that I indeed exist? Surely without a hint of doubt? There is a vast difference between the “Me” in man’s heart and the “Me” of reality, and no one is capable of drawing comparisons between them. If I did not become flesh, man would never know Me, and even if he came to know Me, wouldn’t such knowledge still be a conception? …

… Because man has been tempted and corrupted by Satan, because he has been taken over by the thinking of conceptions, I have become flesh in order to personally conquer all of mankind, to expose all the conceptions of man, and to tear apart the thinking of man. As a result, man no longer parades about in front of Me, and no longer serves Me using his own conceptions, and thus the “Me” in man’s conceptions is completely dispelled.

from “The Eleventh Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In the building of the kingdom I act directly in My divinity, and allow all people to know what I have and am based on the knowledge of My words, ultimately allowing them to achieve the knowledge of Me who is in the flesh. Thus it brings to an end all mankind’s pursuit of the vague God, and puts an end to the place of the God in heaven in man’s heart, which is to say, it allows man to know My deeds in My flesh, and so concludes My time on earth.

from “The Eighth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

For all of those who live in the flesh, changing their disposition requires goals to pursue, and knowing God requires witnessing the real deeds and the real face of God. Both can only be achieved by God’s incarnate flesh, and both can only be accomplished by the normal and real flesh. This is why the incarnation is necessary, and why it is needed by all corrupt mankind. Since people are required to know God, the images of the vague and supernatural Gods must be dispelled from their hearts, and since they are required to cast off their corrupt disposition, they must first know their corrupt disposition. If only man does the work so as to dispel the images of the vague Gods from people’s hearts, then he will fail to achieve the proper effect. The images of the vague Gods in people’s hearts cannot be exposed, cast off, or completely expelled by words alone. In doing so, ultimately it would still not be possible to dispel these deep-rooted things from people. Only the practical God and the true image of God can replace these vague and supernatural things to allow people to gradually know them, and only in this way can the due effect be achieved. Man recognizes that the God whom he sought in times past is vague and supernatural. That which can achieve this effect is not the direct leadership of the Spirit, much less the teachings of a certain individual, but the incarnate God. The conceptions of man are laid bare when the incarnate God officially does His work, because the normality and reality of the incarnate God is the antithesis of the vague and supernatural God in man’s imagination. The original conceptions of man can only be revealed through their contrast to the incarnate God. Without the comparison to the incarnate God, the conceptions of man could not be revealed; in other words, without the contrast of reality the vague things could not be revealed. No one is capable of using words to do this work, and no one is capable of articulating this work using words. Only God Himself can do His own work, and no one else can do this work on His behalf. No matter how rich the language of man is, he is incapable of articulating the reality and normality of God. Man can only know God more practically, and can only see Him more clearly, if God personally works among man and completely shows forth His image and His being. This effect cannot be achieved by any fleshly man. Of course, God’s Spirit is also incapable of achieving this effect.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When God works in His flesh, those who follow Him no longer seek and grope after those vague and ambiguous things, and cease to guess at the will of the vague God. … The Spirit is impalpable to man, and invisible to man, and the work of the Spirit is incapable of leaving any further evidence or facts of God’s work for man. Man shall never behold the real face of God, and shall always believe in a vague God that does not exist. Man shall never behold the face of God, nor will man ever hear words personally spoken by God. Man’s imaginings are, after all, empty, and cannot replace the true face of God; the inherent disposition of God, and the work of God Himself cannot be impersonated by man. The invisible God in heaven and His work can only be brought to earth by God incarnate who personally does His work among man. This is the most ideal way in which God appears to man, in which man sees God and comes to know the true face of God, and it cannot be achieved by a non-incarnate God.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When all people have a greater knowledge of Me after accepting My utterances is the time when My people live Me out, it is the time when My work in the flesh is completed, and the time when My divinity is entirely lived out in the flesh. At this moment, all people will try to know Me in the flesh, and will truly be able to say that God appears in the flesh, and this will be the fruit. … Ultimately, the people of God shall be able to give God praise that is true, not forced, and which comes from their hearts. This is what’s at the heart of God’s 6,000-year management plan. That is, it is the crystallization of this 6,000-year management plan: letting all people know the significance of God’s incarnation—letting them practically know God become flesh, which is to say, the deeds of God in the flesh—so that they deny the vague God, and know the God who is of today and also yesterday, and, more than that, of tomorrow, who has really and actually existed from everlasting to everlasting. Only then shall God enter rest!

from “Interpretation of the Third Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The best thing about His work in the flesh is that He can leave accurate words and exhortations, and His accurate will for mankind to those who follow Him, so that afterward His followers can more accurately and more concretely pass on all of His work in the flesh and His will for the whole of mankind to those who accept this way. Only the work of God in the flesh among man truly accomplishes the fact of God’s being and living together with man. Only this work fulfills man’s desire to behold the face of God, witness the work of God, and hear the personal word of God. The incarnate God brings to an end the age when only the back of Jehovah appeared to mankind, and also concludes the age of mankind’s belief in the vague God. In particular, the work of the last incarnate God brings all mankind into an age that is more realistic, more practical, and more pleasant. He not only concludes the age of law and doctrine; more importantly, He reveals to mankind a God who is real and normal, who is righteous and holy, who unlocks the work of the management plan and demonstrates the mysteries and destination of mankind, who created mankind and brings to an end the management work, and who has remained hidden for thousands of years. He brings the age of vagueness to a complete end, He concludes the age in which the whole of mankind wished to seek God’s face but was unable to, He ends the age in which the whole of mankind served Satan, and leads the whole of mankind all the way into a completely new era. All this is the outcome of the work of God in the flesh instead of God’s Spirit.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

God comes among man this day for the purpose of transforming their thoughts and spirits as well as the image of God in their hearts that they have had for thousands of years. Through this opportunity, He will make man perfect. That is, through man’s knowledge He will change the way they come to know Him and their attitude toward Him, so that their knowledge of God can start from a clean slate, and their hearts are thereby renewed and transformed. Dealing and discipline are the means, while conquest and renewal are the goals. Dispelling the superstitious thoughts man has held about the vague God has forever been the intention of God, and lately has become a matter of urgency to Him. I hope all people give this further thought.

from “Work and Entry (7)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

God’s arrival in the flesh is primarily to enable people to see the real deeds of God, to materialize the formless Spirit in the flesh, and allow people to see and touch Him. In this way, those who are made complete by Him will live Him out, they will be gained by Him, and after His heart. If God only spoke in heaven, and did not actually come on earth, then people would still be incapable of knowing God, they would only be able to preach God’s deeds using empty theory, and would not have God’s words as reality. God has come on earth primarily to act as an exemplar and a model for those who are to be gained by God; only in this way can people actually know God, and touch God, and see Him, and only then can they truly be gained by God.

from “You Should Know That the Practical God Is God Himself” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Man will be without a sinful nature after he has been refined, because God will have defeated Satan, which means that there will be no encroachment by hostile forces, and no hostile forces that can attack the flesh of man. And so man will be free, and holy—he will have entered eternity. Only if the hostile forces of darkness are bound will man be free wherever he goes, and without rebelliousness or opposition. Satan has but to be bound for man to be okay; today, he is not okay because[a] Satan still stirs up trouble everywhere on earth, and because the entire work of God’s management has yet to reach its end. Once Satan has been defeated, man will be completely liberated; when man gains God and comes out from under the domain of Satan, he will behold the Sun of righteousness. The life due to normal man will be regained; all that should be possessed by normal man—such as the ability to discern good from evil, and understanding of how to eat and clothe oneself, and the ability to live normally—all of this will be regained. Even if Eve had not been tempted by the serpent, man should have had such a normal life after he was created in the beginning. He should have eaten, been clothed, and led the life of normal man on earth. Yet after man became depraved, this life became a pipe dream, and even today man does not dare to imagine such things. In fact, this beautiful life that man longs for is a necessity: If man were without such a destination, then his depraved life on earth would never cease, and if there were not such a beautiful life, then there would be no conclusion to Satan’s fate or to the age in which Satan holds dominion over earth. Man must arrive at a realm unreachable by the forces of darkness, and when he does, this will prove that Satan has been defeated. In this way, once there is no disturbance by Satan, God Himself will control mankind, and He will command and control the entire life of man; only this will count as the defeat of Satan.

from “Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

As My words are consummated, the kingdom is gradually formed on earth and man is gradually returned to normality, and thus there is established on earth the kingdom in My heart. In the kingdom, all the people of God recover the life of normal man. Gone is the frosty winter, replaced by a world of cities of spring, where it is spring all year round. No longer are people faced with the gloomy, miserable world of man, no longer do they endure the cold chill of the world of man. People do not fight with each other, countries do not go to war against each other, no longer is there carnage and the blood that flows from carnage; all lands are filled with happiness, and everywhere teems with warmth between men. I move throughout the world, I enjoy from atop My throne, I live among the stars. And the angels offer unto Me new songs and new dances. No longer does their own fragility cause tears to run down their faces. No longer do I hear, before Me, the sound of the angels weeping, and no longer does anyone complain of hardship to Me.

from “The Twentieth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When the people have all been made complete and all the nations of earth become Christ’s kingdom, then will be the time when the seven thunders peal. The current day is a stride forth in the direction of that stage, the charge has been unleashed on the coming time. This is God’s plan—in the near future it will be realized. However, God has already accomplished all which He has said. Thus, it is clear that the nations of earth are but castles in the sand trembling as high tide nears: The last day is imminent and the great red dragon will topple under God’s word. To ensure that God’s plan is carried out successfully, the angels of heaven have descended upon earth, doing their utmost to satisfy God. The incarnate God Himself has deployed to the field of battle to wage war on the enemy. Wherever the incarnation appears, so the enemy is destroyed from that place. China is the first to be annihilated, to be laid to waste by the hand of God. God gives absolutely no quarter to China. Proof of the great red dragon’s progressive collapse can be seen in the continued maturation of the people. This can be obviously seen by anyone. The maturation of the people is a sign of the enemy’s demise. This is a bit of an explanation of what is meant by “do battle.”

from “Interpretation of the Tenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

This work must be carried out through God raising up various disasters on earth. But God will not appear; because, at this time, the nation of the great red dragon shall still be a land of filth, God will not appear, but will merely emerge through chastisement. Such is the righteous disposition of God, and no one can escape it. During this time, all that inhabits the nation of the great red dragon will suffer calamity, which naturally also includes the kingdom on earth (the church). This is the very time when the facts come forth, and so it is experienced by all people, and no one can escape. This has been predestined by God. It is precisely because of this step of work that God says, “Now is the time to carry out grand plans.” Because, in the future, there will be no church on earth, and due to the advent of catastrophe, people can’t think of anything else, and it is difficult for them to enjoy God amidst catastrophe, thus, people are asked to love God with all their heart during this wonderful time, so that they don’t miss the chance. When this fact passes, God has utterly defeated the great red dragon, and thus the work of testimony of the people of God has come to an end; afterward God will commence the next step of work, laying waste to the country of the great red dragon, and ultimately nailing people throughout the universe upside down on the cross, after which He shall annihilate all mankind—these are the future steps of God’s work.

from “Interpretation of the Forty-second Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When the nations and the peoples of the world all return before My throne, I will thereupon take all the bounty of heaven and confer it upon the human world, so that, thanks to Me, it will brim with matchless bounty. But so long as the old world continues to exist, I will hurl forth My rage upon its nations, openly promulgating My administrative decrees throughout the universe, and visit chastisement on whomever violates them:

As I turn My face to the universe to speak, all mankind hears My voice, and thereupon sees all the works I have wrought throughout the universe. Those who go contrary to My will, that is to say, who oppose Me with the deeds of man, will fall down under My chastisement. I will take the multitudinous stars in the heavens and make them anew, and thanks to Me the sun and the moon will be renewed—the skies will no longer be as they were; the myriad things on the earth will be renewed. All will become complete through My words. The many nations within the universe will be partitioned afresh and replaced by My nation, so that the nations upon the earth will disappear forever and become a nation that worships Me; all the nations of the earth will be destroyed, and will cease to exist. Of the human beings within the universe, all those belonging to the devil will be exterminated; all who worship Satan will be laid low by My burning fire—that is, except for those now within the stream, the rest will be turned to ashes. When I chastise the many peoples, those in the religious world will, in differing degrees, return to My kingdom, conquered by My works, because they will have seen the advent of the Holy One riding on a white cloud. All of humanity will follow their own kind, and will receive chastisements varying with what they have done. Those who have stood against Me will all perish; as for those whose deeds on the earth have not involved Me, they will, because of how they have acquitted themselves, continue to exist on the earth under the governance of My sons and My people. I will reveal Myself to the myriad peoples and the myriad nations, sounding forth with My own voice upon the earth to proclaim the completion of My great work for all mankind to see with their own eyes.

from “The Twenty-sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Footnotes:

a. The original text reads “today, it is because.”

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