I. Which Is Greater: God, or the Bible? On the Relationship Between God and the Bible

26. 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.

from “The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

is god greater or is the bible greater

11. The Bible is a historical record of God’s work in Israel, and documents many of the foretellings of ancient prophets as well as some of the utterances of Jehovah in His work at that time. Thus, people all look upon this book as holy (for God is holy and great). Of course, this is all a result of their reverence for Jehovah and their adoration for God. People refer to this book in this way only because the creatures of God are so adoring of their Creator, and there are even those who call this book a heavenly book. In fact, it is merely a human record. It was not personally named by Jehovah, nor did Jehovah personally guide its creation. In other words, the author of this book is not God, but men. The Holy Bible is only the respectful title given to it by man. This title was not decided by Jehovah and Jesus after they had a discussion amongst each other; it is nothing more than a human idea. For this book was not written by Jehovah, much less by Jesus. Instead, it is the accounts of many ancient prophets, apostles, and seers, which were compiled by later generations into a book of ancient writings that, to people, seems especially holy, a book that they believe contains many unfathomable and profound mysteries that are waiting to be unlocked by future generations.

from “Concerning the Bible (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Does the Bible Contain the Way of Eternal Life?

By Weixiang

One evening, Brother Gao was rushing along, gripping the Bible and hurrying to the home of Brother Gui …

When he got there, the two of them sat down on the couch.

Brother Gao opened the Bible and said, “Brother Gui, I’ve come across a problem in my reading of the Bible and I don’t know how to solve it. I feel like this problem is key to us obtaining eternal life through our faith in the Lord, so I hurried over to seek the answer with you.”

Hearing God’s Voice: How to Be a Wise Virgin to Welcome the Lord’s Coming

Hello brothers and sisters of Testify God,

Nowadays disasters are getting worse and worse all over the world and the situation in every country is very tense. The prophecies in the Bible of the Lord’s second coming have basically been fulfilled, yet I have still not welcomed the Lord. I’m afraid that I will be abandoned by the Lord. Therefore, I’d like to ask for your advice: What should I do to greet the Lord’s second coming?

Jingxing

What Does No Other Gospel Mentioned in Galatians 1:6–8 Mean?

By Li Qiang

The Bible says, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:6–8).

Sermon：It Is Only Through Faith in Christ That We Are Able to Know God in Heaven

How to know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life is a crucial question. The essence of Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. But how do you experience and understand the word of God in the words spoken by Christ, so that you’ll truly see Christ in your heart as the truth, the way, and the life? Now we all believe in Christ, which is to believe in the practical God. Because Christ is God incarnate, therefore Christ is the practical God. What this practical God has and is is the truth, the way, and the life. Although from the outside God incarnate is a totally ordinary human being, however the essence of His life is the truth, the way, and the life. What would you say is the difference between belief in such a practical God and believing in God in heaven? Does faith in Christ have meaning, or does believing in God in heaven have meaning? Christ has an external appearance of a flesh, a normal humanity, He does not have the authority and especial power like God in heaven and like the Spirit of God. In believing in the practical God, from the outside people have faith in a person. Externally, the practical God and God in heaven are as different as the gulf between heaven and earth. In the case of God in heaven, He is supremely omnipotent, dominating over the entire universe. With one word, He can alter everything, He can bring about enormous change in heaven and earth. However, the practical God does not have the great ability of God in heaven. Therefore, those who believe in the practical God are few, while those who believe in God in heaven are particularly numerous. Everyone looks up at the power and authority of God in heaven and they feel that the more that God cannot be seen, the more powerful He is, and the more that God like ordinary flesh and blood can be seen and felt, then He has no omnipotence at all. Man selects his belief in God according to human conceptions and imagination. In fact, in believing in God man ought not to care about how omnipotent or how great God is from the outside, but he should care about what he is able to obtain and what results he can achieve through a faith in God; this is most crucial. Today, we, this group of people, believe in the practical God and now we all know why God has come to carry out His work, what work God has come to do, what man ought to obtain from believing in God. We know that what man ought to obtain is the truth and salvation. If man wants to obtain salvation and the truth, can he obtain these through faith in a vague God in heaven? He cannot. But as it happens he can obtain these by believing in Christ because Christ is the truth, the way and the life, everything that He has is the truth, the way and the life. Apart from the truth, the way, and the life, He has nothing else, and He does nothing else. What He has, and what He is, is just that which corrupted mankind ought to obtain. Therefore, it is precisely appropriate that we believe in the practical God as this completely accords with God’s intention. Now that we have experienced the work of the practical God and we are all receiving God’s judgment and chastisement, and we are receiving God’s pruning and dealing as well as all manner of trials and refinement, what sort of knowledge do we have of Christ? All the truth that Christ delivers is exactly a direct expression of God’s Spirit, it is exactly the expression of God in heaven; it is God in heaven taking on a flesh to carry out His work among men on earth. What corrupted mankind requires is salvation, what it needs is the truth. God incarnate has brought to mankind all that it needs, and that which He has brought is God’s salvation, God’s love, and also the truth, the way, and the life. The more that we experience the work that Christ undertakes, the more we know the disposition of God in heaven, the more we know what God in heaven has, and what He is, the more we know the omnipotence and wisdom of God in heaven; what God in heaven has, and what He is, is entirely expressed through Christ. It is only through faith in Christ that it is possible to truly know what God has and is, and to truly understand the disposition of the Creator. So, our faith in Christ is entirely faith in God in heaven because He is the expression of God in heaven. It is only those who believe in Christ who can truly know God in heaven. If you do not believe in Christ, you cannot arrive at a knowledge of God in heaven. This is the meaning of knowing Christ. Christ is the practical God, and God’s essence is within Him. He has what God has and what God is, and what He brings is one stage of God’s work. What He delivers is precisely the truth, the way, and the life that corrupted mankind needs. In our experience of God’s work, we have all basically seen God’s disposition which gives primacy to righteousness, and God’s disposition which does not tolerate man’s offense; we have seen God’s holiness, we have seen His omnipotence, we have seen God’s wisdom; all of these are a true knowledge of God. When we have come to such knowledge of God, we then see that Christ really is the truth, the way, and the life. After we have experienced the judgment and chastisement of Christ, we have a true knowledge of Christ’s disposition, and an understanding that God’s disposition is righteousness, it is dignity, it is wrath. With this understanding, we then obtain a truth from Christ—God’s disposition is righteousness. If we have not experienced the work of God, and we have not experienced God’s judgment and chastisement, then we cannot understand that the disposition of God is righteousness.

Why Was Thomas’ Faith Not Approved by the Lord Jesus?

By Hongyu

It is recorded in the Bible, “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace be to you. Then said he to Thomas, Reach here your finger, and behold my hands; and reach here your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, My LORD and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:26–29).

Each time I saw these verses I would think: Why did the Lord Jesus not commend Thomas’ faith? Was it merely because he didn’t believe the Lord Jesus’ resurrection? If so, then didn’t Thomas have any doubts toward God before that? Or was it because the Lord Jesus hadn’t seen through his doubts before? I felt very puzzled about these questions.

I Have Walked on the Path to Purification

by Gangqiang, United States

In 2007, due to the pressure of life, I came to Singapore to carve out a career by myself. As the temperature was very high all year round in Singapore, every day I was streaming with sweat while working, which was a real torture. Also, being a stranger without family or friends, I felt my life awfully dull and boring.

One day in August, on my way back from work, I received a gospel leaflet on which was written, “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10). These words warmed my heart. Then a brother led me to a church, and the brothers and sisters there brought me a savory food warmly. The warmth of home and tasty food that I had not enjoyed for over half a year since I left home immediately moved me to tears. At that time, I, a lonely and drifting man, felt myself like a human and as if I had been back home. From then on, the church became the place that I must go to every Sunday.

In December, I received baptism and formally walked on the way of confession and repentance. One time in the church, I heard a pastor read the verses of Matthew 18:21-22, “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not to you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” After hearing that, I thought: Why did the Lord Jesus have so great tolerance and patience? If people really can do what the Lord Jesus said—forgiving others seventy times seven, there will be love and warmth among men. So much was I touched by these words that I made up my mind to practice the Lord’s teachings.

What Is Exactly the Relationship Between God and Jesus?

By Zheng Xi

After receiving grace and returning to the Lord, we read in Matthew 3:17 in the Bible, “And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Also, when the Lord Jesus preached to the disciples, He also called God in heaven the Father, saying when He prayed in Gethsemane, “O my Father,” which makes us think that the Lord is the Son, and this is what all who follow the Lord Jesus have thought over the past two thousand years. But some brothers and sisters also read in the Bible that when Philip asked the Lord Jesus to make the Father appear to them, the Lord Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works” (John 14:9–10). Also, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). So, some of our brothers and sisters are confused, “Since the Lord Jesus is God’s beloved Son, why does the Lord say, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me’ and ‘I and my Father are one’? Here it seems like the Lord is telling us that He is God Himself, and that the Father and the Son are inseparable, so is the Lord Jesus God’s Son or God Himself?” Let’s fellowship about this question today.

Q&A About Why the True Way Is Persecuted-Question 4

Question 4: Under the rule of the CCP government, people can be arrested, persecuted, and even executed for accepting the true way! I don’t understand, why is the CCP so afraid of the work of Almighty God?

Answer: The CCP government is now going all over the country to fully suppress the Church of Almighty God, furiously hunting Christ and capturing and persecuting God’s chosen people. To believe in the true God and perform our duties in China indeed carries great dangers, but people in religious circles and unbelievers don’t understand: Why do we still believe in Almighty God when the government is persecuting and condemning us like this? It’s because Almighty God is the true God, the reappearance of the Redeemer. Only Almighty God can save us from Satan’s influence, set us free from sin, grant us a wonderful destination. In the final age, whether or not man believes in Almighty God will determine their ending, their fate. The Bible says, “the whole world lies in wickedness.” This means that the whole world is under Satan’s control, that all of mankind lives under Satan’s domain, corrupt to the core, with no likeness of humanity. The arrival of Almighty God in the last days is to save man from Satan’s influence, so they can truly return before God, achieve salvation, live out a true life, and receive a wonderful destination. That’s the meaning of our faith in Almighty God. Additionally, we also have to see through why the CCP hates Almighty God and suppresses and persecutes the Church of Almighty God. What is its purpose? Most people see it very clearly. The evil CCP is doing all it can to discredit, frame, and condemn the Church of Almighty God, wantonly arresting and persecuting God’s chosen people and attempting to make China a region without God, all so it can preserve its dark regime and forever control the Chinese people, sit on their heads and abuse its power. In the end, they will torment all Chinese people to death and pull them toward hell. The evil CCP is the most truth-hating, God-hating satanic regime. It knows now that Almighty God is the only One in the world who can express the truth, that He is currently performing His judgment, cleansing, and salvation work of the last days. Almighty God’s words have already been published on the Internet, so it can be sought and investigated by all mankind. The CCP devil is extremely terrified that once Almighty God’s words spread out among the people, all those who love the truth and justice will turn to Almighty God. Then its truth-hating, God-resisting demonic face will be thoroughly exposed in the light, and all of humanity will reject it, strike it down, trample it beneath their feet, letting it leave a stink for ten thousand years, so that it will never again have a place to stand in China, so that it will never again be able to corrupt and harm the people of the world. That is why the CCP extremely hates all the truth expressed by Almighty God, hates the Church of Almighty God, and does everything it can to prevent people from accepting the true way and turning to Almighty God. If we cannot see through Satan’s scheme, and continue to be deceived, bound, and controlled by the CCP, then we are foolish beyond salvation.