The Wicked Must Be Punished——Almighty God's Word

The Wicked Must Be Punished

Inspecting whether you practice righteousness in all that you do, and whether all of your actions are observed by God, are the behavioral principles of those who believe in God. You will be called righteous because you are able to satisfy God, and because you accept God’s care and protection. In God’s eyes, all those who accept God’s care, protection, and perfection and who are gained by Him, are righteous and looked upon with cherishment by God. The more you accept the words of God in the here and now, the more you are able to receive and understand God’s will, and thus the more you can live out God’s words and satisfy His requirements. This is God’s commission for you, and what you ought to achieve. If you use conceptions to measure and delineate God, as if God were an unchanging clay statue, and if you delimit God within the Bible, and contain Him within a limited scope of work, then this proves that you have condemned God. Because, in their hearts, the Jews of the age of the Old Testament cast God in the mold of idol, as if God could only be called the Messiah, and only He who was called the Messiah was God, and because they served and worshiped God as if He were a (lifeless) clay statue, they nailed the Jesus of that time to the cross, sentencing Him to death—condemning innocent Jesus to death. God had committed no crime, yet man did not spare God, and unwaveringly sentenced Him to death. Thus, Jesus was crucified. Man always believes that God is unchanging, and defines Him according to the Bible, as though man has seen through to God’s management, as though all that God does is in the hands of man. People are ridiculous to the extreme, they are possessed of the utmost arrogance, and they all have a flair for turgid eloquence. Regardless of how great your knowledge of God, still I say that you do not know God, that there are none who are more opposed to God, and that you condemn God, for you are utterly incapable of obeying the work of God and walking the path of being made perfect by God. Why is God never satisfied with the actions of man? Because man does not know God, because he has so many conceptions, and because, instead of complying with reality, all of his knowledge of God is cut from the same cloth, and rigid and inflexible. Thus, having come to earth today, God has once more been nailed to the cross by man. Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? God has spoken hundreds of thousands of words, yet no one has come to their senses. They act for the sake of their families, and sons and daughters, for their careers, prospects, status, vanity, and money, for the sake of clothes, for food and the flesh—whose actions are truly for the sake of God? Even among those whose actions are for the sake of God, there are but few who know God. How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status? Thus, God has been forcibly condemned to death innumerable times, countless barbaric judges have condemned God and once more nailed Him to the cross. How many can be called righteous because they truly act for the sake of God?

Before God, is it that easy to be made perfect into a holy one, or a righteous person? It is a truism that “there are no righteous upon this earth, the righteous are not in this world.” When you come before God, consider what you’re wearing, consider your every word and action, all of your thoughts and ideas, and even the dreams that you dream every day—they are all for your own sake. Is this not the true state of affairs? “Righteousness” does not mean giving alms, it does not mean loving your neighbor as yourself, and it does not mean not fighting, arguing, robbing, or stealing. Righteousness means taking God’s commission as your duty and obeying God’s orchestrations and arrangements as a heaven-sent vocation, regardless of the time or place, just like all that was done by the Lord Jesus. This is the very righteousness spoken of by God. That Lot could be called a righteous man is because he saved the two angels sent by God without care for what he gained or lost; what he did at that time can be called righteous, but he cannot be called a righteous man. It was only because Lot had seen God that he gave his two daughters in exchange for the angels. But not all of his behavior in the past represents righteousness, and thus I say that “there are no righteous upon this earth.” Even among those who are in the stream of recovery, no one can be called righteous. No matter how good your actions, no matter how you appear to glorify the name of God, not hitting and cursing others, or robbing and stealing from them, still you cannot be called righteous, for such things can be possessed by any normal person. Today, what’s key is that you do not know God. It can only be said that today you have a little normal humanity, yet you are bereft of the righteousness spoken of by God, and thus nothing that you do is proof of your knowledge of God.

Before, when God was in heaven, man tried to fool God in his actions; today, God has come among man—for how long no one knows—yet still man goes through the motions for God, and tries to fool God. Is man not extremely backward in his thinking? It was the same with Judas: Before Jesus came, Judas would tell lies to his brothers and sisters, and after Jesus came still he did not change; he had not the slightest knowledge of Jesus, and in the end he betrayed Jesus. Was it not because he did not know God? If, today, you still do not know God, then you will become Judas, and the tragedy of Jesus’ crucifixion during the Age of Grace, thousands of years ago, will be played out again. Do you not believe this? It is a fact! Today, most people exist in such circumstances—I may be saying this a little early—and such people play the role of Judas. I am not speaking blithely, but according to fact—and you must believe. Although many people pretend to be humble, in their hearts is nothing but stagnant, stinking water. Now, too many in the church are like this. You think I do not know anything; today, My Spirit guides Me, and bears testimony to Me. Do you think I know nothing? Do you think I understand nothing of the devious thoughts within your hearts and the things kept within your hearts? Is God so easily deceived? Do you think you can treat Him however you wish? In the past, I worried that you were enshackled, and so kept on giving you free rein, but no one realized that I was being good to them. I gave them an inch and they took a mile. Ask each other: I’ve dealt with almost no one, and have not been quick to reprimand anyone—yet I am very clear about the motivations and conceptions of man. Do you think the God Himself to whom God bears testimony is a fool? If so, then I say you are too blind. I won’t censure you, and let’s see how depraved you become. Let’s see whether your tricks can save you, or whether trying your best to love God can save you. Today, I will not condemn you; let’s wait until the time of God to see how He takes retribution upon you. I have no time for idle chit chat with you now, and am unwilling to delay My greater work for your sake, a maggot such as you is not fit for God to take up His time in dealing with you—so let’s see how much you can indulge yourself. Such people do not pursue the slightest knowledge of God, and they do not have any love for God, yet still they wish to be called righteous by God—is this not a joke? Because there is actually a small number of people who are honest, I concern Myself with providing nothing but life to man. I will only complete that which should be done today, and later, retribution shall be brought upon each according to their behavior. I have said what I am supposed to say, for this is the work that I do. I do that which I should do, and do not do that which I should not, yet still I hope that you spend more time in reflection: Exactly how much of your knowledge of God is true? Are you one of those who have once more nailed God to the cross? Finally, I say this: Woe to those who crucify God.

from “The Church of Almighty God|God's Word”

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