He Ling

The Lord Jesus said, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). From these words of the Lord Jesus, we know that only those who do the will of the Father in heaven shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. We also see that many people have prophesied and cast out devils in the Lord’s name, and have had such great faith in the Lord that they have spent for Him, suffered hardships for His sake, and spread His name by bearing testimony for Him, but in the end the Lord will condemn them, and say to them, “depart from me, you that work iniquity!” Why is this so? Then, what kind of people are the ones who do the will of the Father in heaven?

As we all know, in the Age of Law the followers of Judaism all acknowledged that Jehovah is the only one true God who created the heavens and earth and all things. At that time, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees all prayed in the name of Jehovah and often made long prayers before people. Outwardly they were very godly and seemed to abide by the regulations of the law. In the eyes of man, they didn’t break any law. But they had deviated from the way of God, for they focused on performing religious ceremonies, keeping rules, and interpreting the scriptural rules and doctrines, and didn’t fellowship about God’s will at all, didn’t pay attention to practicing God’s words or observing the commandments of God, and even set aside God’s commandments. They did not know God, and what they did ran contrary to God’s will and requirements. So, when the Lord Jesus came to preach and do His work, they revealed more thoroughly their satanic nature of hypocrisy and hostility against God. They were hostile to the Lord Jesus and often tempted Him, trying to find something wrong in His words in order to condemn Him. The Pharisees clearly knew that the words of the Lord Jesus had authority and power, and they also heard that the Lord Jesus had manifested some great signs and wonders, such as feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, bringing Lazarus back from the dead, and so forth. None of these things could be done by ordinary people, and only God Himself had the power and authority to do them. However, the Pharisees still clung to their own notions. They not only refused to seek and investigate the essence and source of the Lord Jesus’ words and work, but maliciously attacked and slandered Him, saying that He drove out demons by the prince of demons, and characterized His work—which was full of authority and power, as madness, so they committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and seriously provoked the disposition of God. Not only did the Pharisees themselves blaspheme and condemn the Lord Jesus, but they also deceived the Jews and instigated them to oppose and condemn Him, causing them to lose the Lord’s salvation and become their victims and join them in hell. They served God as priests and leaders, but they didn’t seek God’s will at all, and were unable to recognize God’s work and words. Furthermore, they opposed God and were in enmity to God, and performed all manner of awful deeds. They even treated Christ incarnate as their enemy and thereby condemned and persecuted Him, and nailed Him to the cross, committing a heinous crime. This was the ironclad proof of the chief priests and Pharisees serving God and yet opposing Him. So God hated and grew angry at them, exposing, judging, and condemning them with these words: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). These words show that though the Pharisees compassed sea and land to preach in the name of Jehovah and were outwardly godly, they neither revered God nor knew Him. Eventually, they became antichrists who defied and blasphemed God and who were in enmity to God, becoming the brood of the devil that devours the soul of man and seduces man into hell. So, the Lord Jesus denounced the Pharisees with the “Seven Woes” due to their evil behaviour. This manifested God’s holy, righteous disposition tolerating no offense!

Let’s look at the pastors and elders in the religious community today. They have preached, driven out demons, and performed a great many miracles in the name of the Lord. They have worked hard for the Lord and paid a large price, but while working and expending themselves for Him, they can still act according to their own will, do things as they prefer, form cliques, establish their own kingdom, and exalt and testify about themselves to meet their desire for fame, gain, and position. After doing some work and enduring some suffering, many of them are even conceited with and show off their seniority. They confidently demand God’s blessing of the kingdom of heaven. How could such people be commended by God? They are simply making a deal with the Lord by working hard for Him, and they are not ones who truly obey and fear the Lord. Furthermore, they focus on preaching Bible knowledge and theological theories, just perform religious rituals and abide by rules, and pay attention to expounding the apostles’ words instead of the Lord Jesus’ words, replacing God’s words with man’s words. This proves that they never believe or accept God’s words, much less practice God’s words. Faced with the desolation of the church and the believers’ faith and love growing cold, the pastors and elders don’t seek the living water of life to supply them. Moreover, now Almighty God incarnate of the last days has come to express the truth and supply man with life, they oppose Him by playing the role of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in the Age of Grace. Compared with the sins of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who opposed the Lord Jesus, their sins have reached an insurmountable level. They detest the truth to the extreme. They fear that the believers of the Lord will accept the true way and obey God’s work and be gained by God, leaving them isolated, so they make up lies and rumors against The Church of Almighty God to delude people at any cost, and they even frame, vilify, and condemn The Church of Almighty God. Furthermore, they misinterpret the Bible out of context to condemn Christ of the last days and blaspheme against His utterances and the work of the Holy Spirit, as well as judging, blaspheming, and opposing Him with various contemptible methods. Meanwhile, they show great approval and support to the atheistic CCP’s endeavor to hunt Christ and impair His work of the last days, and closely cooperate with the CCP in trying to abolish it. They are the same as the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who made use of Satan’s varied deceitful stratagems to oppose the Lord Jesus, and like them, they walk the path of antichrists against God. The pastors and elders hinder the believers from accepting God’s salvation in the last days for the sake of their status and livelihood. The Lord Jesus taught His believers to be the wise virgins and go out to meet Him when hearing someone cry “Behold, the bridegroom comes,” but when the pastors and elders hear the news that the Lord Jesus has returned, they do their utmost to seal off the churches and hinder the believers from seeking and investigating the true way. The Lord Jesus taught His believers to love their neighbors as themselves, but the pastors and elders incite them to slander and persecute the witnesses of Almighty God’s work of the last days. The Lord Jesus required that people should not lie and not give false testimonies, but the pastors and elders start all kinds of rumors to smear and slander Almighty God, and they even collude with the evil CCP to oppose and condemn Almighty God’s work of the last days, and discredit His church. … This shows that what the pastors and elders say and do runs completely counter to the teachings of the Lord. They are outwardly humble, patient, and loving, but their hearts are full of cunning, insidiousness, and maliciousness. Taking defending “the true way” and protecting the flock as camouflage, they oppose and condemn Almighty God, attempting to control the believers and achieve their aim of establishing their own kingdom and ruling forever in the religious community. They’re all blind guides, opponents of God, and deceivers like the hypocritical Pharisees. They hate the truth and God, and are revealed by Almighty God’s work of the last days as a group of antichrists that stubbornly oppose God.

Most believers in God listen to their pastors when studying the true way. They believe whatever their pastors tell them, and believe in whomever the pastors tell them to believe in. The pastors condemn and resist Christ, and most people in religion follow them to condemn and resist Christ. The pastors walk the path of antichrists, and most people in religion follow them to walk it. This is a fact perfectly obvious to everyone. Aren’t they dragging people into hell? Aren’t they doing evil and opposing God? Aren’t they the wicked servants spoken of by the Lord Jesus? Aren’t they the modern-day Pharisees? Just as Almighty God says, “There are those who read the Bible in grand churches and recite it all day long, yet not one among them understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one among them is able to know God; still less can any one among them accord with God’s will. They are all worthless, vile people, each standing on high to lecture God. They willfully oppose God even as they carry His banner. Claiming faith in God, still they eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such people are devils that devour the soul of man, head demons that deliberately get in the way of those trying to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks impeding those who seek God. They may appear of ‘sound constitution,’ but how are their followers to know that they are none other than antichrists who lead people to stand against God? How are their followers to know that they are living devils dedicated to the devouring of human souls?” (“All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of Almighty God have incisively disclosed the substance of the nature of these religious leaders. They are the same as the earliest Pharisees that condemned and resisted the Lord Jesus. Though they take great pains to study the Bible, in essence they are hypocritical, truth-hating, and God-opposing antichrists—demons that trample man and devour his soul. They have seriously offended God’s disposition, and will surely receive God’s righteous punishment.

If we look at the words of the Lord Jesus we can see that God commends those who do the will of the Father in heaven, and that only such people can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Then what does it mean to do the will of the Father in heaven? Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). “Be you holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). From these words we see that people who do the will of the Father in heaven are ones who have been delivered from sin and been purified and transformed. They can practice the truth and truly obey God, can always put the words of the Lord into practice and keep His commandments, and can love God from their heart and live by His words. Today, Almighty God—the Lord Jesus who has returned to flesh, has also told us the answer: “You must know what kind of people I desire; those who are impure are not permitted to enter into the kingdom, those who are impure are not permitted to besmirch the holy ground. Though you may have done much work, and worked for many years, in the end if you are still deplorably filthy, then it will be intolerable to the law of Heaven that you wish to enter My kingdom! From the foundation of the world until today, never have I offered easy access to My kingdom to those who curry favor with Me. This is a heavenly rule, and no one can break it! You must seek life. Today, those who will be made perfect are the same kind as Peter: They are those who seek changes in their own disposition, and who are willing to bear testimony to God and perform their duty as a creature of God. Only people such as this will be made perfect. If you only look to rewards, and do not seek to change your own life disposition, then all your efforts will be in vain—this is an unalterable truth!” (“Success or Failure Depends on the Path That Man Walks” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of Almighty God clearly tell us that God never permits the impure and corrupt to enter His kingdom. God judges people not according to how much they work or suffer, but instead, according to whether they have the truth, practice His words, obey His will, and act in accordance with His requirements. This is the standard and principle by which to measure whether one can enter into the kingdom of heaven. God made it clear that those who will be made perfect today are the same kind as Peter. As we all know, Peter followed the Lord Jesus all his life, and he yearned for and sought the truth. After receiving the Lord’s commission, he shepherded the churches in strict accordance with the will and requirements of the Lord. He experienced refinement hundreds of times, and pursued an understanding of God and of himself, and thus his life disposition changed. In the end, Peter was nailed on the cross upside down for God, achieving obedience unto death and the supreme love of God. Abraham was the same kind as Peter. He could listen to and obey God’s words, and bear great pain to offer to God his only beloved son, Isaac. Because of his absolute obedience, God blessed his descendants to be a great nation. Job is another example. He feared God and shunned evil. In the trial of being stripped of all his property and children, he’d rather curse his flesh than complain about God, and he still praised the holy name of Jehovah. So he was a perfect man in God’s eyes. They all feared God and obeyed God, so they were ones who truly did the will of the Father in heaven.

God is holy and righteous, and what God intends to gain are people who have experienced His judgment and chastisement and achieved purity and transformation, who have broken free from corruption and are able to fear Him and shun evil. Therefore, if we want to become ones who do the will of God, we have to experience God’s judgment and purification of the last days to cast off our corrupt disposition and achieve purity and transformation. When we are able to truly obey and worship God, and have truly obtained salvation and been gained by God, we will be qualified to enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is determined by God’s righteous disposition, and no one can change it. On the contrary, if we can’t cast off our corrupt disposition and achieve purity and transformation, even if we work hard, suffer, and spend for God, or even if we run our legs off or break our back laboring, we will not be commended by God, and instead, we will be condemned as evildoers, be eliminated, and be punished by God in the end.