At the mention of destiny, most people equate having money and status, and being successful with a good destiny, and think the poor, the obscure, those who suffer calamity and hardship, who are looked down on, have a bad destiny. So to change their destiny, they fervently pursue knowledge, hoping this will help them gain wealth and status, and thus change their fate. Does having money, status, and success in life really mean having a good destiny? Does suffering calamity and misfortune really mean having a bad destiny? Most people don’t have a good understanding of this and are still intensely pursuing knowledge to change their fates. But can knowledge change a person’s destiny? Who really can save mankind and revolutionize our destiny? Let’s delve into this question today.
In day-to-day life we can see that lots of people who gain knowledge can also gain money and status. They are prosperous in life and may even become famous or lauded. Successful and well-known, it looks like they have a great destiny. But is that true? Are they actually happy? They may have power and influence and seem illustrious, but they still have a feeling of emptiness and misery, and lose their spark for life. Some even take drugs or kill themselves. And some exploit their power and influence to do whatever they want, doing evil and committing crimes, and end up imprisoned, in utter disgrace. Aren’t these intellectuals for the most part? Why would those people who seem so sensible, who understand the law do such terrible things? Why would they do such ridiculous things? Why would things turn out that way? These days everyone wants an education, everyone is pursuing knowledge, and the ruling classes for all countries, all peoples are the intellectuals. They are the ones who hold power, they are the meritocracy all over the world. It stands to reason that with intellectuals in charge, the world should become more and more civilized and loving. But what is really happening to the world? It is falling into pandemonium and chaos, with people cheating, fighting, or even killing each other. They’re all denying and resisting God, they hate the truth and exalt evil with no desire to repent, inciting the wrath of God and indignation of man. Disasters come one after another, and the world is constantly on the brink of major warfare. It is clear that having intellectuals in power, having a meritocracy is not bringing about peaceful and happy societies, but instead is bringing us more and more disaster and suffering. Pandemics are on the rise, wars break out nonstop, and earthquakes and famines follow. People are filled with fear, as if the end of the world had come. What’s the real reason for this? Why is it that when people gain knowledge, power, and status, they do so many terrible things? Why is it that having intellectuals and a meritocracy brings so much disaster to a country and a people? This is very worthy of consideration! Can gaining knowledge make someone better and free from sin? Can gaining knowledge make people kind and stop them from doing bad things? Can knowledge save people from sin, and save people from Satan’s forces? I’m more and more doubtful of the capacity of knowledge to change a person’s destiny. Why is it that after gaining knowledge and status, most people become more and more arrogant and self-righteous? Why is it that the more they know, the more self-important they are? Once in power, they become perverted and arbitrary, wreaking havoc and bringing about disaster. It seems that along with better education and more developed science, a country should be governed better and the people should be more civilized, happy, and healthy. But does that kind of country really exist? It never has. That really leaves people scratching their heads! I read this in God’s words: “Since mankind’s contrivance of the social sciences, the mind of man has become occupied by science and knowledge. Science and knowledge then have become tools for the ruling of mankind, and there is no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God has sunk ever lower in the heart of man. Without God in his heart, man’s inner world is dark, hopeless and empty. Subsequently many social scientists, historians, and politicians have come to the fore to express theories of social science, the theory of human evolution, and other theories that contradict the truth that God created man, to fill the hearts and minds of mankind. And in this way, those who believe that God created everything have become ever fewer, and those who believe in the theory of evolution have become ever greater in number. More and more people treat the records of the work of God and His words during the age of the Old Testament as myths and legends. In their hearts, people become indifferent to the dignity and greatness of God, to the tenet that God exists and holds dominion over all things. The survival of mankind and the fate of countries and nations are no longer important to them, and man lives in a hollow world concerned only with eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. … Few people take it upon themselves to seek out where God does His work today, or to look for how He presides over and arranges the destination of man. And in this way, unbeknownst to man, human civilization becomes less and less able to hew to man’s wishes, and there are even many people who feel that, living in such a world, they are less happy than those who have already passed away. Even people of countries that used to be highly civilized air such grievances. For without the guidance of God, no matter how much rulers and sociologists wrack their brains to preserve human civilization, it is to no avail. No one can fill the emptiness in man’s heart, for no one can be the life of man, and no social theory can free man from the emptiness with which he is afflicted. Science, knowledge, freedom, democracy, leisure, comfort: these bring man only a temporary consolation. Even with these things, man still inevitably sins and bemoans the injustices of society. These things cannot restrain man’s craving and desire to explore. … Man, after all, is man, and the position and life of God cannot be replaced by any man. Mankind does not just require a fair society in which everyone is well-fed and is equal and free; what mankind needs is the salvation of God and His provision of life to them. Only when man receives God’s provision of life and His salvation can the needs, the yearning to explore, and the spiritual emptiness of man be resolved. If the people of a country or a nation are unable to receive the salvation and care of God, then such a country or nation will tread the road of decline, toward darkness, and shall be annihilated by God” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
God’s words are so right, and they really reveal the truth of the matter. How is knowledge actually produced? Without a doubt, it has come from those famous and great people that are objects of adulation throughout history. There is Confucianism, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Marx’s Communist Manifesto and the theory of communism. Atheism, materialism, and the theory of evolution are all from the thoughts and theories these famous people wrote into books, and are the foundation for science and theory in our modern society. All of these doctrines and theories have been promoted by the ruling classes throughout the ages. They have made it into textbooks and classrooms, and become maxims for humanity. They have educated, corroded, and benumbed generation after generation, becoming tools for the ruling classes to mislead and corrupt mankind. All of mankind has become more and more corrupt under the education and influence of knowledge and science, and so society has become darker and more chaotic, to the point that both God and man are enraged. Now disasters are becoming more and more frequent and calamity never stops striking. Major wars could break out any time. People are living in fear, as if they’re facing the end of the world. This really makes us wonder if science and knowledge really are the truth or not. People pursue and accept them more and more, but they can’t escape sin or find happiness, instead becoming more corrupt and evil, sinking into sin and pain that they can’t escape from. Let’s take a look at the true essence of those famous, great people worshiped by everyone. They’ve all been atheists and evolutionists who deny and reject God. They don’t believe that God exists, or believe that He rules over everything. They particularly won’t accept the truths God expresses. In all their discourse, not a single word exposes the darkness of society; not a single word exposes the essence and reality of man’s corruption by Satan; not a single word exposes the nature and evil essence of the ruling classes, or bears witness to God’s existence and God’s work, or bears witness to God’s deeds and to God’s love, or accords with the truth in God’s words. All of their words are heresies and fallacies denying and opposing God. All in all, their discourse is entirely to uphold the ruling classes’ interests, to mislead, corrupt, and do harm to mankind, and as a result they have led humanity onto a dark and evil path, and mankind has become the ilk of Satan who resist and betray God. What sort of people are in the ruling class? Are they virtuous and wise? Not at all. There has yet to be a single virtuous and wise one. Their so-called virtue and wisdom has been shown for what it is, and all of their crimes committed behind the scenes have come into the light. It is evident that throughout the entire history of Satan’s corruption of mankind, there have been no virtuous or wise rulers, and all those in power have been embodiments of Satan and demons. Which of their ideas and theories have corrupted mankind most deeply? Atheism, materialism, evolutionism, and communism. They have disseminated countless heresies and fallacies, including “There is no God at all,” “There has never been any Savior,” “One’s destiny is in his own hand,” and “Knowledge can change your fate.” These things take root in people’s hearts from a young age and gradually grow. What are the consequences? People begin to deny God and everything that comes from Him, even that God created the heavens, the earth and all things, and that He rules over all. Man was created by God, but they deny this fact, and they twist the truth, saying humans evolved from monkeys, as if man belonged in the same category as animals. These fallacious, absurd intellectual theories take over people’s minds, occupying their hearts and becoming part of their nature, so they all deny God and distance themselves from Him and it’s harder and harder for them to accept the truth. They also become more arrogant, evil, and corrupt all the time. They lose all conscience and reason, completely losing hold of their humanity and ending up beyond salvation. This is how mankind has been corrupted by Satan to the point of becoming demons. This is the awful outcome of people pursuing knowledge and using that to change their destinies. The facts show that science and knowledge aren’t the truth and cannot become our lives, but they are contrary to the truth and they are incompatible with the truth. All they can do is corrupt, hurt, and destroy mankind.
So why say that these things aren’t the truth? It’s because knowledge doesn’t come from God, but it comes from Satan’s corruption of man. It comes from those great and famous people that corrupt mankind adores. So we can say with certainty that knowledge is not the truth. First, knowledge can’t help people know their corrupt essence or give them self-knowledge. Second, knowledge can’t cleanse people’s corrupt dispositions, but only makes people more and more arrogant. Third, knowledge can’t save mankind from sin and purify them. Fourth, knowledge can’t help people learn the truth and come to know and submit to God. Fifth, knowledge can’t help people gain true happiness or bring them light, and particularly can’t give them a beautiful destination. And so, knowledge isn’t the truth, and it can’t save mankind from sin or Satan’s forces. So we can be confident that knowledge cannot change a person’s fate. Only that which comes from God is the truth; only God’s words are the truth. Only the truth can be people’s life and can cleanse their corruption, letting them escape sin and become holy. Only the truth allows people to recover their conscience and reason and live out a true human likeness. Only the truth can give people true direction and goals in life, and only the truth can help people know God, gain His blessings, and gain a beautiful destination. That’s why only the truth expressed by God in the flesh can save mankind from Satan’s forces, allowing them to completely turn toward God. Only the Savior can save mankind and revolutionize mankind’s destiny, giving us a wonderful destination. So why can’t knowledge save man? It’s because man is too deeply corrupted by Satan, with satanic natures and living in satanic dispositions, constantly sinning and doing evil. They’re capable of any evil whatsoever in the right circumstances, and the moment they gain power they show their true colors and run rampant. And knowledge comes from corrupt humanity, from Satan, so knowledge isn’t the truth. No matter how much corrupt mankind learns, they cannot know the essence and truth of their own corruption, and they really cannot truly repent and turn toward God. No amount of knowledge can resolve a person’s sinful nature, much less change their corrupt disposition. No matter how much corrupt humanity knows, they cannot escape sin or Satan’s forces, and achieve holiness. Without accepting the truth, they cannot achieve submission to God, and can never resolve the problem of their sinful nature. The more elevated corrupt humanity’s knowledge is, the harder it is to accept the truth and the more likely they are to deny and resist God. When people pursue more knowledge, they become more arrogant and self-righteous, and more ambitious. They can’t help but step onto a path of sin. That’s why knowledge can only corrupt, harm, and destroy people. Lots of people can’t see the true essence of knowledge or see what it’s actually good for. They can’t see the provenance, the source of knowledge, but just blindly worship and pursue it instead of pursuing the truth. Why do all those famous people do so much evil, bringing suffering to the people and harm to the country after gaining power, causing all sorts of calamities, committing horrible wrongs beyond redemption? Those are the consequences of worshiping and pursuing knowledge. This shows us that knowledge can’t change a person’s fate, and no matter how elevated someone’s knowledge is, they can’t be saved by God if they don’t have faith and accept the truth. They won’t be blessed by God or have a good destiny no matter how elevated their knowledge is, but will go to hell when they die. God is righteous and He rules over mankind’s fates, so anyone who doesn’t gain His approval or blessing cannot have a good destiny, but is doomed to destruction, perdition, and hell.
Now the wise have stopped adulating knowledge but are longing for the Holy One to come, for the Savior to come down and save mankind. No one’s hoping that any famous, great people will save mankind. They can’t even save themselves, so how could they save all of mankind? The facts show us that knowledge can’t ensure a good destiny, and the idea of development through science and education is just nonsense. Only the Savior can save mankind from sin and Satan’s forces; only the Savior expressing the truth can lead us onto the path of light; only accepting all the truths expressed by the Savior can free us from Satan’s corruption so we can be fully saved by God and gain His approval and blessings. This is the only way to completely change our destiny. It’s clear that changing a person’s fate happens by accepting the Savior’s appearance and work, by accepting all of the truths expressed by the Savior in the last days, and by being cleansed through accepting God’s judgment of the last days. To put it simply, the only way to really revolutionize someone’s destiny is to accept the truth. Almighty God says, “God created this world, He created this mankind and, moreover, He was the architect of ancient Greek culture and human civilization. Only God consoles this mankind, and only God cares for this mankind night and day. Human development and progress are inseparable from the sovereignty of God, and the history and future of mankind are inextricable from the designs of God. If you are a true Christian, then you will surely believe that the rise and fall of any country or nation occurs according to the designs of God. God alone knows the fate of a country or nation, and God alone controls the course of this mankind. If mankind wishes to have a good fate, if a country wishes to have a good fate, then man must bow down to God in worship, repent and confess before God, or else the fate and destination of man will be an unavoidable catastrophe” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Now we can clearly see that intellectuals can’t even save themselves, so how could they save mankind? Only the Savior can save mankind from sin, and bring mankind light, happiness, and a beautiful destination. Who is the Savior, then? There is no doubt that He is God incarnate in human form, come among mankind for the work of salvation. He is our Savior. We can say that the Savior is the embodiment of God, that He is God clothed in human flesh. That’s what the incarnation is. So, God incarnate is the Savior come down among us. God has incarnated twice to save humanity since He created mankind. 2,000 years ago, He became flesh as the Lord Jesus and said in a sermon, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He expressed many truths and ultimately was crucified to redeem mankind, acting as a sin offering for humanity. This was a clear demonstration of God’s love for man. People from all over the world accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior, confessing and repenting to God, and were forgiven of their sins. They enjoyed the peace and joy bestowed by God along with a great deal of His grace. When the Lord Jesus finished His work of redemption, He prophesied many times, “I come quickly” and “the coming of the Son of man.” “For in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Matthew 24:44). That’s why everyone who has accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior is waiting for Him to come in the last days, for the Savior to come down to save them and take them into the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus prophesied, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12–13). “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Based on His prophecies, God will become flesh as the Son of man in the last days and express truths to fully cleanse and save mankind, to take humanity into a beautiful destination. So, God incarnate in the last days is the Savior who appears to mankind. So how should we welcome the Savior? The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). The Lord Jesus reminded us repeatedly that the key to welcoming the Lord is listening for God’s voice, and accepting the truths expressed by God when He returns in the last days. The disasters are right in front of our eyes now. We can see that across the whole world, only Almighty God has expressed all truths that save mankind, and no one aside from Almighty God has uttered truths. This proves that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, that He is the Savior come to save mankind in the last days. This is a tremendous piece of good news. The only way we can change our destinies is to accept the Savior’s salvation, and accept the truths expressed by God.
Almighty God says, “Christ of the last days uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced about God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the essence of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Almighty God has expressed so many truths, which are collected in books of God’s words such as The Word Appears in the Flesh, totaling millions of words. These are all truths expressed by God for His work of judgment in the last days, and amount to so much more than the truths God expressed in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. Almighty God has revealed all the mysteries of His management plan to save mankind, He has revealed all the mysteries of the Bible people have never understood, and He has revealed the truth of mankind’s corruption by Satan and our satanic, anti-God nature. This allows us to recognize the root of our sinfulness and the truth of our corruption. People all become fully convinced in the face of the facts and begin to hate themselves, develop regret, and truly repent. God also expresses all the truths that people need to practice and enter into, so that we can live by His words and live out a true human likeness and a likeness of the truth. That’s the only way to gain God’s promises and blessings. Almighty God has expressed so many truths, which are all to purify mankind’s corruption and save us from Satan’s forces so that we can turn towards God and know God. These truths are the only true maxims for life and teachings to gain salvation, and are enough to radically change a person’s destiny, allowing them to gain access to a beautiful destination— God’s kingdom. The great disasters have already begun. The only way to make their good hope come true is to accept the Savior’s appearance and work. Accepting all truths expressed by Almighty God is the only way to gain God’s approval, to gain God’s protection and blessings through the great disasters, to survive them and be brought by God into His kingdom. If people don’t accept all the truths expressed by the Savior, but just wait for a false god of their imagination, or an evil spirit to come and save them from disaster, that’s just an illusion. They will end up empty-handed, gaining nothing from their efforts. False gods and evil spirits can’t save people. Only God in the flesh, the Savior can save mankind, and that’s the only way for people to gain a good destiny and destination. Almighty God says, “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path by which man gains life, and it is the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that those who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be loathed by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, and there are none who can go around Him. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You cannot only think of gaining blessings while being incapable of receiving the truth and incapable of accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and His work is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme, or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution to be had by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).