Never Be Another Han Hao Bird
Zhao Feng
There is such a story. In a cave there lived a Han Hao bird. As winter approached, other birds busied themselves building their nests and preparing warm and cozy nests to spend the chilly winter, while the Han Hao bird alone played around. So, other birds told it, “Before the winter comes, hurry to get the nest ready and you will pass the chilly winter.” But the Han Hao bird didn’t think so and said, “It is so warm and the winter is far away!”
Like that, other birds finished building their nests, yet the Han Hao bird didn’t build its nest other than muddle along. Soon, the winter came. In the evening, the north wind whistled into the cave. The Han Hao bird quaked with cold, whining plaintively, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” The long cold night passed eventually. In the morning of the next day, the bright sun rose from the east and the earth basked in the warm sunshine a while later. The Han Hao bird started to play around again. Other birds tried to persuade it to build its nest as soon as possible. But it said, “It is so warm today and I’ll build the nest tomorrow.” Soon, the night fell. The chilly north wind made it tremble with cold again. It whined plaintively again, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” At dawn, however, once the warm sun came out, it forgot all about the cold of the night before and continued to loiter around. Soon, the evening descended again and the north wind whistled into the cave. In the next morning, the warm sun shone as usual, but the Han Hao bird couldn’t be seen everywhere. All the birds went to the cave in succession and found the poor Han Hao bird frozen to death in the cave.
Like that, other birds finished building their nests, yet the Han Hao bird didn’t build its nest other than muddle along. Soon, the winter came. In the evening, the north wind whistled into the cave. The Han Hao bird quaked with cold, whining plaintively, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” The long cold night passed eventually. In the morning of the next day, the bright sun rose from the east and the earth basked in the warm sunshine a while later. The Han Hao bird started to play around again. Other birds tried to persuade it to build its nest as soon as possible. But it said, “It is so warm today and I’ll build the nest tomorrow.” Soon, the night fell. The chilly north wind made it tremble with cold again. It whined plaintively again, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” At dawn, however, once the warm sun came out, it forgot all about the cold of the night before and continued to loiter around. Soon, the evening descended again and the north wind whistled into the cave. In the next morning, the warm sun shone as usual, but the Han Hao bird couldn’t be seen everywhere. All the birds went to the cave in succession and found the poor Han Hao bird frozen to death in the cave.
Brief though the story is, it is of great meaning. The Han Hao bird put off building the nest again and again because of merely indulging in the immediate pleasures, and ultimately froze to death in the cold cave. Just as the song named Song of Tomorrow goes, “Tomorrow comes and again comes tomorrow, Tomorrows are like rivers that endlessly flow. If all my things are put off till tomorrow, My time wasted to no purpose will brew woe.” This song continuously admonishes people to value time, to do what they can do today, rather than put off them until tomorrow or idle the days away. If we put off everything we can do today till tomorrow, we will trifle away our time and miss many chances. The lessons of the Han Hao bird reflect the status quo of mankind in current society. Nowadays, most people gorge themselves on the ease of the flesh and have no concern for how they will be tomorrow. When facing with God’s work of saving mankind in the last days, man delays it time and again and refuses it with varieties of reasons. As we all know, today is the last days. All the disasters across the world become increasingly terrible and various disasters such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, plagues and smog become ever more frequent. These are the Creator’s warnings to mankind, for all mankind have been supremely corrupted and the evils of mankind have been unbearable for God to witness. However, before God utterly destroys mankind, He does the work of saving mankind, which is to say, the last stage of judgment work beginning with the house of God. God uses words to lead man, to save man and finally to class man according to kind. To the people in the last days, this can be called the golden opportunity of God saving mankind, for this stage of work is unprecedented and will never be repeated. When facing with the gospel of Almighty God, however, most people are unhurried about it or refuse it politely. Most young people will say, “We’re young. We want to take the chance to enjoy ourselves. We’ll believe in God when we grow old.” The elders will say, “Nowadays, it is the right time for us to help our sons and daughters. We’ll believe in God when our grandchildren grow up.” The farmers will say, “We’ll believe in God when we are not busy with farm work.” The workers will say, “We’ll believe in God when we retire.” Don’t they have no time? Yes, they have time. That is because they treasure their flesh and treat the immediate interests as the most precious things, just like the Han Hao bird only caring about the immediate petty enjoyments of the flesh and having no concern for the end of its fate. Have you ever known that you have shut the door on the chance of God’s salvation unwittingly?
In the time of Noah, men had been eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, licentious and corrupt, to such a point that it was unbearable for God to witness. Because of God’s holy and righteous essence, He had no choice but to destroy that mankind. Before destroying that mankind, He had Noah build the ark and pass to the people the message that God would destroy the world. However, the people in that age did not follow Noah’s admonitions, still living in eating, drinking, fun, and even scoffed at him and treated him as a madman. For they believed that it was fine and sunny and there would be no downpour, so that building the ark was of no use. 
However, by the time God destroyed the world, the flood was poured down, filling up the low valleys, drowning the peaks and destroying all of the people. Only Noah and the seven members of his family were on board and survived the destruction, while other people were swallowed by the flood on account of their greed for immediate pleasures. At that moment, it was too late. As Almighty God says, “Look back to the time of Noah’s ark: Mankind was deeply corrupt, had strayed from the blessing of God, was no longer cared for by God, and had lost the promises of God. They lived in darkness, without the light of God. Thus they became licentious by nature, abandoned themselves to hideous depravity. … Their heart strayed farther and farther from God, and as it did, they became depraved beyond all reason and humanity, and became increasingly evil. Thus they came ever closer to death, and fell under the wrath and punishment of God. Only Noah worshiped God and shunned evil, and so he was able to hear the voice of God, and hear the instructions of God. He built the ark according to the instructions of God’s word, and assembled all manner of living creatures. And in this way, once everything had been prepared, God unleashed His destruction upon the world. Only Noah and the seven members of his family survived the destruction, for Noah worshiped Jehovah and shunned evil” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You do not feel the preciousness of light when you are living in it, but you will be cognizant of its preciousness once you are living in the dark night. You will be sorry then. You feel fine now, but the day will come when you will be sorry. When that day comes and darkness descends and light is nevermore, your regrets will be too late. It is because you still do not understand the present work that you fail to cherish your time now. Once the work of the entire universe begins, meaning when everything I am saying today has come true, many people will be holding their heads in bitter crying. Is that not falling into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth?”(“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
However, by the time God destroyed the world, the flood was poured down, filling up the low valleys, drowning the peaks and destroying all of the people. Only Noah and the seven members of his family were on board and survived the destruction, while other people were swallowed by the flood on account of their greed for immediate pleasures. At that moment, it was too late. As Almighty God says, “Look back to the time of Noah’s ark: Mankind was deeply corrupt, had strayed from the blessing of God, was no longer cared for by God, and had lost the promises of God. They lived in darkness, without the light of God. Thus they became licentious by nature, abandoned themselves to hideous depravity. … Their heart strayed farther and farther from God, and as it did, they became depraved beyond all reason and humanity, and became increasingly evil. Thus they came ever closer to death, and fell under the wrath and punishment of God. Only Noah worshiped God and shunned evil, and so he was able to hear the voice of God, and hear the instructions of God. He built the ark according to the instructions of God’s word, and assembled all manner of living creatures. And in this way, once everything had been prepared, God unleashed His destruction upon the world. Only Noah and the seven members of his family survived the destruction, for Noah worshiped Jehovah and shunned evil” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You do not feel the preciousness of light when you are living in it, but you will be cognizant of its preciousness once you are living in the dark night. You will be sorry then. You feel fine now, but the day will come when you will be sorry. When that day comes and darkness descends and light is nevermore, your regrets will be too late. It is because you still do not understand the present work that you fail to cherish your time now. Once the work of the entire universe begins, meaning when everything I am saying today has come true, many people will be holding their heads in bitter crying. Is that not falling into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth?”(“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). 
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