The Mystery of God’s Gospel in Every Age

The Mystery of God’s Gospel in Every Age

By Xiaoxi

What Is the Meaning of “Gospel”?

“Gospel” is an old English word, which represents “Good news.” So if we translate it literally, its meaning is good news.

Where Does Gospel Come From?

Gospel comes from God, that’s for sure. After the ancestors of our human, Adam and Eve, were tempted into sin by the snake (that is, Satan), God began the management work of saving mankind. God bestows different gospel upon man in different ages based on the needs of mankind. In the time of Noah, God revealed to Noah, asking him to spread the gospel of destroying the world with a flood. Early in the Age of Law, God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, which was a great gospel for the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt. In the Age of Law, God raised up many prophets and directly revealed to them to convey His words, which was the gospel for those who heard it. In the Age of Grace, God incarnate came to earth personally to do the redemption work, bringing the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to us mankind….

Preaching of the Gospel

In the time of Noah, men were deeply corrupted, so they lost the blessings, care and protection of God, falling into darkness. As they became increasingly depraved and evil to the extent that God didn’t bear to look, God planned to destroy the world with a flood and then told Noah to build an ark. In that time, Noah was a righteous man. He listened to God’s word, built the ark and spread the gospel for 120 years. Nevertheless, people didn’t believe his word. Eventually, only Noah’s eight family members entered the ark and survived.

As time went by, there were more and more people on earth. Satan corrupted man constantly. We mankind strayed far from God once more, degenerated. It is recorded in the Bible: People of Sodom and Gomorrah worshiped idols, engaged in sorcery, were licentious and corrupt and left no evil undone. The two cities became the cities of sin in God’s eyes, with the result that God decided to destroy them. But before the destruction, just as God always did, He gave them chances and sent messengers to arrive there. Yet people of the cities wanted to bring harm down upon the messengers. Finally, only Lot and his family accepted God’s gospel and fled from that city of sin; nevertheless the rest of people were fully exterminated by the brimstone and fire from the heaven. The Nineveh was also a city of sin in God’s eyes. But when God sent Jonah to spread the gospel to the Ninevites, they wore sackcloth and ashes, confessed and repented to God after hearing His word. Just as the Bible records, “yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands” (Jonah 3:8). As God saw their genuine repentance from within, He didn’t bring calamity on them. From these historical facts, we can see: When our human sins reached God’s eyes and we faced being destroyed, as long as we accept God’s gospel and act according to His word, we can survive in the disaster. Otherwise, we will be destroyed. Furthermore, there are still many such historical events recorded in the Bible. When God’s word was conveyed to people in that time by the prophets, if people accepted and followed His word, they would be preserved by Him; if they didn’t accept His word, even rebelled and resisted, they would suffer God’s punishment and curse. From this we can see that God’s righteous disposition encompasses mercy, lovingkindness, and even more so, majesty and wrath, and that God’s disposition exists everywhere and at all times.

At the end of the Age of Law, people were all entangled by sin, failed to keep the law and committed more and more sin, so that they faced the danger of being condemned and executed by the law. In line with the need of mankind, God ended the work of the Age of Law and started that of the Age of Grace. However, people at that time merely saw “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35). Moreover, it is written in Mark 1, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1: 14-15). Here we can see that Jesus Christ brought the gospel of repentance for the people under the law. For two thousand years, only if we mankind accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and pray in the name of Jesus Christ can we gain His salvation and be forgiven of sins by Him. Our sins are not the barrier for us to come to God any more, and Satan has no way in accusing us, for God personally became the sin offering for us mankind and redeemed us from the domain of Satan. Those who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, gain the work of the Holy Spirit, living in peace and joy and enjoying an abundance of grace of God. But the Pharisees were just the opposite. They rejected the gospel, and even resisted the gospel of the kingdom of heaven preached by Jesus Christ. In the end, they not only were condemned by God to suffer “seven woes”, but also punished justly by God.

Gospel Continues Being Spread

God does His work to regain man from the domain of Satan step by step, hence we mankind come closer to Him….

In modern times, we mankind live in a state of being estranged from God once again. Although we believe in Jesus Christ and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our hearts become more and more distant from God and we all live in the situation of committing sins in the day and confessing them at night, incapable of breaking free from the bondage of sins thoroughly. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death” (Roman 6:23). “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Therefore, what we mankind need is not the gospel of repentance any more, but the everlasting gospel promised by God.

There’s a prophecy in Revelation, “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14: 6-7). From this prophecy we know that in the last days, God will preach the final gospel to the people on earth. And this gospel tells that God will execute judgment to purify man completely in order to make man break free from the bondage of sins. We have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years. What we need is much more than God’s mercy and love, and we are more in need of God’s righteous and majestic judgment and chastisement. It is only this ways that can snatch back us the profoundly corrupt mankind from Satan’s domain. And at that time, we will know our satanic nature, such as arrogance and haughtiness, selfishness and despicableness, treachery and perversion, as well as know our own real identity and status. Also, we will no longer pursue being supermen or great people to let others look up to and admire us, and no longer live by satanic dispositions, but will honestly obey God’s predestination and sovereignty, be grounded and forthright in conducting ourselves and doing things, and pursue being an honest man to live out the manner of a true person, to satisfy God. Just as the prophecy in Revelation goes, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). So the final gospel is the everlasting gospel, which directly involves whether we can be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Inspiration From Two Flower Baskets

Xu Fan

There was a popular story in the time of Solomon, which goes like this: Once, King Solomon received two baskets of rare flowers from the envoy of a neighboring kingdom. These two baskets of flowers were extremely alike in their leaves and petals. The envoy said to King Solomon, “Your Majesty, of these two baskets of flowers, one is that of genuine flowers and the other artificial ones. Sire, your wisdom is famous all over the world, and all the people in my country admire you. Your Majesty, please differentiate for us the basket of genuine flowers from that of artificial ones, and the people in my country will surely celebrate your inexhaustible wisdom.” Thereupon, King Solomon commanded his attendants, “Take these two baskets of flowers to the garden.” None of his courtiers knew what their king would do. After a while, Solomon led his courtiers and the envoy to the garden to admire the flowers. The garden was full of beautiful, blooming flowers giving out sweet fragrance, and many bees were buzzing around from flower to flower, collecting honey. Looking at the two baskets of flowers, Solomon said smilingly, “The flowers in that basket are exceptionally beautiful, but attract no bees. Those in this one, attracting bees, are genuine flowers.” His courtiers and the envoy of the neighboring kingdom all gasped in admiration, “You are really a wise king!”

This is a simple story, but it reflects Solomon’s wisdom, and from it we can also find the spiritual meaning. Only the flowers with life can give forth fragrance, secrete nectar, and attract bees; the flowers without life, on the contrary, are dead, and they cannot send forth fragrance to attract bees or secrete nectar for bees to gather even if they look very similar to the real ones.

After reading the story of King Solomon telling the genuine flowers from the artificial ones, I couldn’t help thinking: Now there are many believers in the Lord Jesus devoutly waiting for His return, but they at the same time refuse the gospel of His return for fear of being deceived, because of these words of the Lord Jesus in the Bible: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:23-24). In fact, God’s purpose in saying these words was for us to learn to discern false Christs, and not for us to refuse the gospel of His return because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days. If we give priority to guarding against false Christs for fear of being deceived and pay no attention to listening to and recognizing God’s voice, then how can we meet the Lord’s return? Take Peter and the Samaritan woman for example. They recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah because they had heard His words. Revelation 3:22 says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches….” And Roman 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hence when we hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ return, we should first seek and investigate it to discern whether it is His return, so that we will not miss the chance to be reunited with the Lord.

To meet the Lord’s return, we must first understand what is Christ, and know how to discern the true Christ from false ones. Let’s see what God says about it. God says, “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). From God’s words, we can see that only God become flesh is called Christ. Christ is God’s Spirit materialized in the flesh, is God appearing, and is God clothed in flesh to do His own work. Although in appearance Christ is an ordinary, normal man, His substance is the divinity, and the work He does is God’s work. Then how can we discern the true Christ? God says, “To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man.” From God’s words, we can know that to discern the true Christ, we should mainly discern Him from His substance, rather than external appearance; that is, we should discern Him from His work, His words, and His disposition. Christ can give man the truth, provide man with life, and express God’s righteous disposition and the wisdom of His work. Christ is the holy, righteous God Himself. Take for example the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace. He was no different from ordinary, normal people in appearance, but He expressed many truths and bestowed the way of repentance upon man. Through manifesting a disposition dominated by mercy and lovingkindness, He taught people to forgive others seventy times seven, healed the sick, cast out demons, performed many miracles, and led them out of the bonds of the law, and He was crucified and completed the work of redeeming all mankind. The words and work of the Lord Jesus most indisputably proved that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Today, Almighty God—the Lord Jesus who has returned to flesh—has brought a new age, the Age of Kingdom. He has expressed millions of words and carried out the work of judgment of the last days. He judges and purifies man with His righteous and holy disposition, so that man will no longer live in the cycle of sin and confession, and will ultimately be free from the bondage of sin, fully saved and perfected by God. The words of Almighty God have revealed to us all mysteries and told us God’s will for mankind, the outcomes of all kinds of people, and the work God intends to accomplish, so that we can have more ways to practice the truth. From Almighty God’s words and work, we can see that He is the embodiment of the truth. His work also proves that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. These are forever unattainable by false Christs.

Then how should we discern false Christs? God says, “If a man calls himself God yet is unable to express the being of divinity, do the work of God Himself, or represent God, he is undoubtedly not God, for he has not the essence of God, and that which God can inherently achieve does not exist within him” (“The Difference Between the Ministry of the Incarnate God and the Duty of Man”). “If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things.” “Today, God has come to bring an end to the Age of Grace and cast out all the practices of the Age of Grace. … The God of today does not display signs and wonders, nor does He heal and cast out demons. When Jesus came, the work He did represented one part of God, but this time God has come to do the stage of work that is due, for God does not repeat the same work; He is the God that is always new and never old, and so all that you see today is the words and work of the practical God” (“Knowing God’s Work Today”).

From God’s words, we can know that God is always new and never old and His work is always progressing forward. Today, Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has new work. He does not display signs and wonders, heal the sick, or cast out demons; but rather, by expressing the truth, He does the work of judging, purifying, and perfecting man and shows man the ways of practice in the new age. So if a person who can display signs and wonders, heal the sick, and cast out demons claims to be Christ, he is absolutely an evil spirit that counterfeits the work of Jesus. Once God has completed a stage of His work, the evil spirits will follow on the heels of Him and imitate the work He has finished. If man doesn’t have discernment, he will be deceived.

Moreover, false Christs possess no truth, nor can they express any truth. They can only imitate God’s former work and deceive people by displaying some small miracles and wonders, but they can never imitate such miracles displayed by the Lord Jesus as “feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish,” “bringing Lazarus back from the dead,” “rebuking the winds and the sea,” and so on. They are evil spirits that counterfeit the work of the Lord, and they don’t possess the authority and power to rule over or control all things, which are completely determined by their substance. Just as God says, “Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). So, if we can master the principles for discerning between the true Christ and false Christs, we will not be afraid of being deceived. The truths expressed by Almighty God today can enable us to differentiate between all positive things and negative things. If we don’t seek, investigate, and accept the salvation of Christ of the last days for fear of being deceived, we will miss God’s salvation in the last days.

Recommended:
The Enlightenment From “Little Foal Crosses the River”
Can We Meet the Return of the Lord by Following Blindly?

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Have You Found the Secret of Teaching? I

Have You Found the Secret of Teaching? I

Li Min

When I was a child, I had high regard for teachers. After graduation from senior high school, I got my wish and became a teacher in a private primary school, and then I made a firm resolution: Children are the flowers of our motherland. I must educate them carefully to make them pillars of the state when they grow up, lest I should bring disgrace on the sacred title of “the engineer of the human soul.”

When working as a teacher, at the beginning, I gave the excellent students more encouragement and also helped the poor students with their lessons patiently. It surprised me that my class ranked last in the exam. I felt very dismayed and thought: In the last six months, I taught assiduously and conscientiously, but why did my class do so badly in the exam? As I could find out no way, a close colleague had a heart-to-heart talk with me: “You should treat these students harshly. Spare the rod and spoil the child. So, if they can’t get good scores, you should punish them and give them some pressure. Gradually their scores will be improved.” I was astonished at these words. And I thought: The responsibility of a teacher is to teach and nurture people. In order to improve the students’ exam results, a teacher puts pressure on them and punishes them, then does he have professional ethics? But considering that I have just entered into this profession and the competition was so fierce, if the exam results of my class always stayed in the last place, I can’t teach at this school. For the sake of my career prospects, I tried to accept my colleague’s “experience” after turning this matter over and over in my mind.

At first, I didn’t have the heart to mete out physical punishment to them. Over time, my conscience became dull. Thus, I often asked disobedient students to remain standing in the playground; When they got up to mischief, I pulled their ears or spanked them; If they didn’t hand in homework, I would ask them to copy the homework for many times and stand on the platform; Sometimes I called their parents to teach them. As a result, those students behaved themselves in my class and everyone feared me and treated me with great respect. After six months, their exam results rose from the last to third from last. It seemed that my colleague’s method was effective.

Afterward, their exam scores rose rapidly and ranked among the best always. Meanwhile, I was assessed as an advanced teacher for many times. Ten years later, I was promoted to teach in a public school. Soon I was transferred from a rural school to an urban one. I saw my colleagues there also educated students by meting out corporal punishment to them. Civilized teaching didn’t exist at all. In addition, for improving exam scores, those teachers arranged the seats painstakingly by matching outstanding students with slow students before exams. Furthermore, they put pressure on the outstanding students by requiring them to “help” slow students. Teachers told those outstanding students, “if the slow students do poorly in exams and affect the total scores of the class, you will lose your opportunity of being assessed as excellence.” Additionally, teachers also instilled into their students the idea that “Fullness for the bold, famine for the timid.” Besides, they told them to seize every chance to copy other’s and those who could get high scores by copying were proved to be really capable. Even those students who didn’t normally hand in their homework could get over eighty scores in the exam in the end. In this way, not only would the students and their parents be happy, but teachers would also be happier. The headmaster knew it in his gut and everyone had a tacit understanding. Only by seeing this did I know that the teaching method was the same in rural places and urban areas. It was indeed true that “All crows under the sun are black,” and “Exams are the most effective method for teachers and scores are the lifeblood to students.” In order that I could stay at the school, I promptly followed their teaching method.

Before long, some students of our school were sent back to school by policemen because they climbed onto the moving train, including a student in my class. Contrary to my expectations, after coming back, this boy bickered with other students and then they fought with each other. Moreover, he took a knife and intended to revenge them. If it were not caught timely, the consequence would be unpredictable; When holding sport competitions, the school, advocating the slogan, “Friendship comes first and competition second,” intended to enhance the friendship among students. To my surprise, the students of my class voluntarily organized together, shouting the slogan wantonly, “Defeat the other class firmly!” That raised a strife between two classes. In addition, a girl envied another girl’s good grades. They usually attacked, abused and fought with each other so that their parents fell out with each other too, which left a shadow on their young mind. … I was lost in thought after seeing all these matters: Are these “fruits of education” come out through my “careful” education over these years? “Teaching and nurturing people,” how sacred duty it is! “A teacher is an engineer of the human soul.” What a glorious title it is! But what did I bring to these children? How could I educate them well? I felt confused.

When I was at a loss, my relative preached God’s kingdom gospel to me. Through reading God’s words and living the church life, my heart came to be attracted by His words. One day, I saw God’s words: “There is an enormous secret in your heart. You never know it there because you have been living in a world without light shining. Your heart and your spirit have been taken away by the evil one. Your eyes are covered by darkness; you cannot see the sun in the sky, nor the twinkling star in the night. Your ears are clogged with deceptive words and you hear not the thunderous voice of Jehovah, nor the sound of the rushing waters from the throne. You have lost everything that should have belonged to you and everything that the Almighty bestowed upon you. You have entered an endless sea of bitterness, with no strength of a rescue, no hope of survival, left only to struggle and to bustle about. … From that moment, you are doomed to be afflicted by the evil one, kept far away from the blessings of the Almighty, out of reach of the provisions of the Almighty, and you embark on a road of no return. A million calls can hardly rouse your heart and your spirit. You sleep deeply in the hands of the evil one, who has lured you into the boundless realm, with no direction, with no road signs. Henceforth, you have lost your original purity, innocence, and started to hide from the care of the Almighty.” God’s words lit up my heart like a lamp, through which I saw I have been corrupted by Satan and lost my direction. I thought: When I started to be a teacher, in conformity with the sacred duty of a teacher, I did my part with a sense of responsibility and had a clear conscience. However, facing the fierce competition, in order to remain as a teacher in the school, I went against my conscience at any cost, carrying out corporal punishment. In consequence, those students were scared of me just like mice met a cat. During examinations, I encouraged them to cheat, instilled them the thoughts “Fullness for the bold, famine for the timid,” and “The fittest will survive.” Consequently, they were wrecked both physically and mentally. However, if I had not been awakened by God’s words, I would have still educated them in an immoral way, which would hurt these naive and innocent children. Realizing this, I prayed to God, “O God, I will no longer follow Satan. Please guide and lead me, so that I can live under Your protection and care.”

One day, I read these words of God, “In your seeking, you have too many individual notions, hopes, and futures. The current work is in order to deal with your desire for status and your extravagant desires. The hopes, the desire for status, and the notions are all classic representations of satanic disposition. The reason that these things exist in people’s hearts is entirely because Satan’s poison is always corroding people’s thoughts, and people are always unable to shake off these temptations from Satan. They are living in the midst of sin yet do not believe it to be sin. … For many years, the thoughts that people have relied upon for their survival have been corroding their hearts to the point that they have become treacherous, cowardly, and despicable. Not only do they lack willpower and resolve, but they have also become greedy, arrogant, and willful. They are utterly lacking any resolve that transcends the self, and even more, they don’t have a bit of courage to shake off the strictures of these dark influences.” From these words, I came to realize: Over these years, for the purpose of saving face and preserving my standing, I kept working hard and acting unscrupulously, hoping to gain a foothold in the education world and other’s admiration. I have been actually driven by the thoughts of Satan, “People want to move up as water has to flow down,” and “Stand out from others and pursue to stand high among people.” When I pursue fame, gain and status, I have been taken captive by Satan and become a servant of them, betraying my conscience to teach and living in pain. This is exactly the contemptible means by which Satan corrupted man. I made my resolution to get rid of these wrong view points and no longer willing to be used by Satan.

Afterward, I voluntarily made apologies to my students in class: “Dear students, I only knew to treat you rudely in the past. I am sorry. Now, I hope you can supervise me. If you find I do something wrong in the future, please tell me and I will change.” After saying this, I felt a sense of release. Then they all looked at me in amazement, and whispered: “What’s wrong with our teacher today? Even her tone has changed. Does she really mean that? …” After a while, the monitor incredibly stood up and asked me, “Miss Li, won’t you punish us any longer?” I nodded with a smile. Then they made some proposals, “Miss Li, I think you are a little partial, please pay more attention to us.” “Miss Li, if something happens in school, please solve it in school and don’t tell our parents.” Hearing the low students were willing to speak, I felt very gratified. It seemed that the relationship between us was closer suddenly. It was all due to God’s guidance. Thank God! Thereafter, when seeing me, they greeted me actively and they became attentive in class; after class, my appearance wouldn’t put a sudden stop to their laughter; some slow students actively found me for making up missed lessons and asked me questions. Moreover, some helped me fetch water when I was watering flowers in the schoolyard. … Their small changes made me feel pleased for practicing the truth.

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Obeying God and Shaking Off Pain and Emptiness

Cheng Yi

I am an ambitious and arrogant woman. When I was thirty years old, my husband overstepped the bounds, abandoning my daughter and me. So, I left with my daughter in humiliation, for which people felt regret. After arriving in a new city, I resolved on being a strong and independent woman as well as set a goal to strive for: I must train my daughter as a graduate. I must buy a suit of house in this city. I must stand in high spirits before that man who forsook me to retrieve my dignity someday. I did believe that I could change my fate by my efforts. However, in the over ten years that followed, no matter how I strove, my dream never came true. Not only did I suffer setbacks in my career time and again, but I ran up debts. Furthermore, my daughter wallowed in online games at an early age, becoming more and more decadent. My desire of retrieving the lost dignity fell short of the mark. … Faced with my own circumstance, I thought that I paid so much but none was fulfilled. I felt pained as if my heart was hollowed out. I sensed that I was a failure, exhausted. I didn’t resign myself to plodding hard but accomplishing nothing, yet I neither knew how to change my fate nor what the value of man’s living was. When I was in pain and feeling helpless, I often looked up at the sky and cried: There is no hope in my life; what is the significance of being alive?

At this time, my mother back home called me, saying: “Get back home. Stop struggling. That’s fate.” At that moment, I saw myself with white hair in the mirror. I could not help but sigh in my heart: I’m already forty-five years old. I’ve gone through half a life’s journey, but now I’m still as bare as the palm of my hands. The former haughtiness becomes a sigh. What other results can I get in my own strength? Thinking of the word people often say “acknowledging the will of Heaven at fifty,” I calmed down and thought: I exert myself to the utmost over ten years for achieving my life goal but end up with nothing. Will I really spend a flat life as fate would have it? I’m not reconciled, but what else can I do? I had no choice but to compromise to fate. From then onward, facing all manners of circumstances, I no longer was swayed by my feelings or had a senseless struggle or uttered complaints, but was content with things as they were. It seemed I stood aloof from worldly strife. I thought I had found the best way of living and the best life attitude, but in reality, I could not free myself from the struggle and emptiness in my deep heart. I was still living in pain and hopelessness. …

Up to one day, I surfed on the Internet, seeing a religious website inadvertently and then I clicked it. I was greatly touched by its content, in which I found the root of my living a painful and empty life and had a correct understanding of life. I read this passage of words, “Some people have a profound, deeply-felt understanding of the phrase ‘that’s fate,’ yet they do not in the least bit believe in God’s sovereignty, do not believe that a human fate is arranged and orchestrated by God, and are unwilling to submit to the sovereignty of God. Such people are as if adrift on the ocean, tossed by the waves, floating with the current, with no choice but to wait passively and resign themselves to fate. Yet they do not recognize that human fate is subject to God’s sovereignty; they cannot come to know God’s sovereignty on their own initiative, and thereby achieve knowledge of God’s authority, submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, stop resisting fate, and live under God’s care, protection, and guidance. In other words, accepting fate is not the same thing as submitting to the Creator’s sovereignty; belief in fate does not mean that one accepts, recognizes, and knows the Creator’s sovereignty; belief in fate is just recognition of this fact and this outer phenomenon, which is different from knowing how the Creator rules humanity’s fate, from recognizing that the Creator is the source of dominion over the fates of all things, and even more from submitting to the Creator’s orchestrations and arrangements for humanity’s fate. If a person only believes in fate—even feels deeply about it—but is not thereby able to know, recognize, submit to, and accept the Creator’s sovereignty over the fate of humanity, then his or her life will nonetheless be a tragedy, a life lived in vain, a void; he or she will still be unable to become subject to the Creator’s dominion, to become a created human being in the truest sense of the phrase, and enjoy the Creator’s approval. … Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life, will one gradually break free from all heartbreak and suffering, shake off all the emptiness of life.” These words woke me up. It turned out that it was because I didn’t have the stamina to try doggedly that I had to resign myself to fate. I recalled my experience over a decade: For the sake of realizing my desire, I have ran a beauty salon, managed a Taobao shop and made a private investment, but I ended up with complete failure. Afterward, I hung the only hope on my daughter, setting my heart on sending her into the college. However, she insisted on dropping out of school and stepped into the society early. My hope shattered thoroughly. No longer did I have the motivation for struggling at this time, only choosing to submit to the will of Heaven. Nevertheless, I didn’t truly know that God rules over humanity’s fate and willingly accept and obey all things arranged by the Creator, but chose another lifestyle to escape His sovereignty over my fate, that is to say, had no alternative but to fritter away my life when opposing Him. I did acknowledge the will of Heaven, yet it did not mean me obeying God’s will. Thus, I couldn’t be freed from the struggle deep in my soul, still living in emptiness and misery.

I went on surfing and saw another passage, which pointed out a clear way to me. It says, “If one’s attitude toward God’s sovereignty over human fate is active, then when one looks back upon one’s journey, when one truly comes to grips with God’s sovereignty, one will more earnestly desire to submit to everything that God has arranged, will have more of the determination and confidence to let God orchestrate one’s fate, to stop rebelling against God. For one sees that when one does not comprehend fate, when one does not understand God’s sovereignty, when one gropes forward willfully, staggering and tottering, through the fog, the journey is too difficult, too heartbreaking. So when people recognize God’s sovereignty over human fate, the smart ones choose to know it and accept it, to bid farewell to the painful days when they tried to build a good life with their own two hands, instead of continuing to struggle against fate and pursue their so-called life goals in their own manner. When one has no God, when one cannot see Him, when one cannot clearly recognize God’s sovereignty, every day is meaningless, worthless, miserable. Wherever one is, whatever one’s job is, one’s means of living and the pursuit of one’s goals bring one nothing but endless heartbreak and irrelievable suffering, such that one cannot bear to look back. Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life, will one gradually break free from all heartbreak and suffering, shake off all the emptiness of life.” My heart was awakened by these words. I thought about the way I had walked before. Without direction, I staggered and tottered through the fog, moving every step with hardships and sorrows. Even though I had believed in God, I didn’t truly recognize God’s sovereignty over human fate. Depending on my own efforts, I planned my own life and pursued the objective set by myself. When I suffered defeats after going all out, not attaining my aim, I was painful, disappointed, and even thought death was the best mercy. Whenever I ran back over all of this, I felt distressed. Through reading these words now, I felt they pointed out my confusions and thoughts. I didn’t believe that my fate is in God’s hands, and wanted to change my fate by my effort. Opposing God was grieving and agonizing. I felt these words were the truth and came from God. What’s more, they told me that if I wanted to get rid of these sufferings, I only had one path: bidding farewell to the lifestyle of creating a good life by my own efforts, not continuing to plan my future by myself any longer, but accepting God’s sovereignty, submitting to His orchestrations and arrangements and living under His leadership and guidance. Only in this way could I shake off all the suffering and emptiness. At that time, I gained the unprecedented comfort, feeling my life had a favorable turn. Enlightened a lot in my heart, I was willing to practice in accordance with these words.

After that, I often prayed to God and read His words. I learned to rely on God when I encountered something in my life, committed my job, family and daughter to His control and no longer changed things depending on my own efforts. Gradually, I found God’s arrangements are good and felt so wonderfully assured and peaceful deep in my soul. I was full of hope and confidence in my future life. Looking back upon every stage of life I had gone through, I understood that each step is led by God, regardless of whether it is hard or smooth. My birth, family, job, marriage, including any tribulation I will experience in my life, have long been destined by God. Thank God! I am willing to commit all my life to Him, letting Him be my Lord, my God, and pursuing to be a true worshiper of Him.

Recommended:
With God, I’m No Longer Empty and Helpless
My Painful Experience of Struggling Against Fate
Walking the Bright Path of Human Life

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How to Shake off Worries and Find a Happy Life

How to Shake off Worries and Find a Happy Life

Hanxiao

There is no denying that we all want to live a happy life, having a warm and harmonious family, an ideal job, a good prospect, sensible children and so on. However, in the process of seeking happiness, we are besieged by all sorts of worries. Some people worry about whether their jobs will be threatened in face of fierce social competition. Some worry about their success in competition with their colleagues. Some rack their brains trying to make big money to remain invincible in the business. Some seek every means to attend training classes given by famous teachers to improve themselves constantly, so that they will become the strong of life or social elites. And some worry about when they can pay off their car loan or housing loan and therefore rush and busy about for it. More people can hardly breathe due to hard work or heavy business, and pressures of life have greyed their hair. Others worry about their marriage and family in face of the temptations from the evil trends of the world. Still others worry about how to educate their children and make them stand out among others in the increasingly fierce social competition. … With so many worries in our life, isn’t the happy life we yearn for far from the reality?

Then, What Causes the Worries in Our life?

There are mainly two reasons.

First, our criteria of a happy life are fame and gain. We think we will live happily as long as we succeed in our studies, careers, and marriage, our children become useful, and we become the best of the best and are admired by others. We all live by the rules for survival such as the “wealth and status,” “family prestige,” “rising above others,” “money talks,” “money isn’t everything but without money you can’t do anything.” So we fix our life goals firmly on those which can bring us fame and gain, and fear that something would go wrong in the course of our pursuit and thus we might brush past happiness.

Second, we live in our own worlds and always want to live the life we desire through our own exertion. In fact, we are insignificant in this universe, but we always consider ourselves powerful. We think that our fates can be controlled by our own hands. Only by seizing the right moment and grasping our fate can we succeed, and only by keeping ourselves progressing can we achieve a happy life step by step. For these reasons, we often worry: Should I have done it better? Have I missed any chance?

Can These Things We Pursue Bring Us a Happy life?

In reality, if we think back and observe carefully, we can easily find this fact: Many people try their best to live happily, but when some of them do get fame and gain and position, they find themselves living in a treacherous world where people intrigue against and outwit each other. They are no happy at all. Some people have reaped fame and gain after struggling most of their life, but they do not feel happy within their hearts. For they have seen that there is no justice, no righteousness, and no light in the world—everyone lives for fame and gain and for pursuing fleshly enjoyments, and nobody can find a shred of the value and meaning of life. Some people have successful careers and happy marriages, but in real life, they rack their brains to get money, fame, gain, and position, and are exhausted from the sinister interpersonal relationship. Some people become millionaires, but they die young or commit suicide, for the material wealth cannot fill the emptiness of their hearts. So money cannot bring us happiness, either. Even many elderly people who used to eat bland food say, “Now we are wealthy and don’t need to worry about food and clothing, but we always have a sense of emptiness within. Well, we’re just muddling along.’” Maybe you don’t understand why they say so. Since they had gone through many hardships and now live a wealthy life, they should feel happy. But how come …

Actually, King Solomon’ words in the Bible have given us the answer. He said, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). This shows that a wealthy life, and fame and gain cannot bring us happiness; they can only make us feel increasing emptiness.

How Can We Shake off Worries and Live a Happy Life?

As a matter of fact, the true happiness comes from God, and only God is the source of our happiness. Only by obeying God’s sovereignty and walking the way of human life in accordance with God’s requirements, can we have the true happiness. The Lord Jesus has said to us, “Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? … Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-26, 31-33).

We were created by God; and in the beginning, in order to make us mankind live better on earth, God created the beautiful Garden of Eden for our ancestors, Adam and Eve, and unconditionally bestowed upon them everything they needed to exist. They were carefree and blissfully living in Eden. Abraham, recorded in the Bible, heard God’s command and went to the place God promised to him. He didn’t worry about his future life, rising up and leaving his hometown. Because he had the true faith in God and true worship of God, he could obey all the orchestrations and arrangements of God. He took no thought of his own future and fate, nor did he have unreasonable requirements or extravagant desires for God. He lived in God’s blessings all his life because of his worship for God. In addition, Job, a character in the Bible that is familiar to us, spent all his life in seeking to know God among His creation of all things and worship Him, so he was blessed by God and became wealthy. When he was stripped of all, he neither complained or misunderstood God, nor worried about his future life, because he knew that everything was in God’s hands. When he absolutely obeyed and offered praise to God, not only did he gain double blessings from God, but also his life was prolonged and he died full of days at last. The Lord Jesus’ words make us understand that in our real life, if we are able to practice the Lord’s words, follow His way, and pursue the truth to gain life and attain fearing God and shunning evil, we will receive God’s blessings and salvation and be qualified to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Only when we love the Lord with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul, only when we have an obedient attitude to our future life, and only when we receive everything God has arranged and prepared for us and seek to know God through it, can we live in happiness.

Finally, let me share a passage in “God Himself, the Unique III”: “For one sees that when one does not comprehend fate, when one does not understand God’s sovereignty, when one gropes forward willfully, staggering and tottering, through the fog, the journey is too difficult, too heartbreaking. … When one has no God, when one cannot see Him, when one cannot clearly recognize God’s sovereignty, every day is meaningless, worthless, miserable. Wherever one is, whatever one’s job is, one’s means of living and the pursuit of one’s goals bring one nothing but endless heartbreak and irrelievable suffering, such that one cannot bear to look back. Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life, will one gradually break free from all heartbreak and suffering, shake off all the emptiness of life.”

Dear friends, I hope this article could help you reflect on life, shake off your worries, and have a happy life.

Recommended:
The Secret of Happy Life
A Symphony of My Fate
My Painful Experience of Struggling Against Fate

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