Answer:
The essence of how people in religious circles defy God can only be revealed and dissected after the coming of the incarnate Christ. No corrupt humans can see through the truth and essence of the religious circles defying God, because corrupt humans hold no truth. They can only be controlled, confused, and manipulated by false shepherds and antichrist demons into joining them in doing evil, and become servants and accomplices of Satan in defying God. This is natural. … Let us see how, during the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus revealed the truth and essence of how antichrist evil forces in religious circles always defied God:
“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. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
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.
Woe to you, you blind guides, which say, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! You fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. You fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Whoever therefore shall swear by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon. And whoever shall swear by the temple, swears by it, and by him that dwells therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits thereon.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Why you be witnesses to yourselves, that you are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill you up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Why, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you whip in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, All these things shall come on this generation” (Mat 23:13-36).
These are the most well-known words of the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace that reveal and judge the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaic religious circles.
From the fact that the Lord Jesus pronounced “seven woes” that revealed and dissected chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees from religious circles during the Age of Law, we can see that most of the religious leaders are hypocritical Pharisees and have, since a long time ago, been satanic evil forces opposed to God. This is already an indisputable fact.
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The “seven woes” of the Pharisees revealed by the Lord Jesus had already exposed that the darkness and depravity of religious circles are no different from that of the secular world. So people can completely see that the actions of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles were not serving God at all, but were rather defying and opposing God. They stood as priests and leaders in positions of serving God, yet they didn’t practice truth and righteousness. Rather, they performed all manner of awful deeds, and they even treated the incarnate Christ as a rival, condemning and oppressing Him and nailing Him to the cross. Having committed these great sins, how could they not incur God’s wrath? This is why God hated them and was wrathful toward them, and why He revealed, judged, and condemned them. This is completely natural. This shows us that God does not allow anyone to offend His righteous disposition. During the Age of Grace, God had already despised and hated the various evil acts against truth and Himself performed by these chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles. The merciless revelations and judgments He used against them illustrate that God is righteous and holy. God has never commended those in religious circles that serve God yet defy Him. God became flesh precisely for the purpose of coming to the human world personally to search for His sheep, to rescue all who love truth and can hear the voice of God. God picks all those that wholeheartedly want God, and who can accept the truth. During the time of the Lord Jesus’ preaching, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles all became targets of God’s condemnation and elimination. This reveals God’s righteousness and holiness. Only God is lovable, dear, respectable, and trustworthy, and the leaders, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles were all hypocrites, full of lies, deceit, sinisterness, and evil. They were all the ilk of vipers that confused and controlled people and defied God. They were precisely the type of people that should be abandoned. During the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus was carrying out His redemptive work, no Judaic chief priests, scribes, or Pharisees ever came before the Lord Jesus in repentance. Nor did many Pharisees truly reflect on and regret their own evil deeds after the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross and completed His redemptive work. If there were, there were only a few individuals. These facts are enough to prove that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees were all demons who hated the truth and defied God. No matter how much evil they performed, even nailing the Lord Jesus to the cross, they never regretted their actions. This issue is truly thought-provoking. Here it is not difficult to see that most leaders in religious circles are false shepherds that serve God yet defy God. They are truly the embodiment of the antichrist demon—Satan. Yet, many people who believe in God still adore and follow them. This is enough to show that humans are totally corrupt, and they have already been deceived by lies and sin. Satan has blinded their eyes. Though they have been ruined by the demons, they still stubbornly refuse to change, as if they were already dead. Thus, we can see how difficult God’s work of saving these deeply corrupted humans is! This is a key question that all corrupt humans should reflect on and recognize.
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The Bible records many instances of the Judaic chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees defying and condemning the Lord Jesus. Here people can see that these Judaic chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees only focused on performing religious rites and teaching people to follow rules and obey laws. This is enough to show that these chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees did not practice any truth and did not have reality at all. They were well-read in the Bible and studied the law, but they did not know God at all. The most detestable thing is that they could even murder the prophets and righteous people. Not only did they not submit to Christ, who had become flesh and expressed truths, they could even condemn, capture, entrap, and murder Him, making themselves into God’s enemies. So God’s hatred for them was deeply rooted, and He revealed, dissected, and condemned them. Even more, this reveals that God is a righteous and holy God. He likes those that do justice, and hates those that do evil. God never commended the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of the Judaic religious circles. God only revealed, judged, and cursed them. This is a true fact recognized by all those that believe in the Lord Jesus. If people really understand the Bible, why can’t they use the Lord Jesus’ words to recognize the true hypocritical, God-resisting faces of contemporary pastors and elders in religious circles? Why can’t people stand on the side of the Lord Jesus in order to distinguish and abandon the ungrateful ilk of vipers who serve God yet defy Him? If people really understood the Bible, then they should be able to see an even more terrifying fact that most leaders and pastors in religious circles today are acting in the same roles as the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who defied our Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace. They are still defying Almighty God who has been incarnated in the last days, and their sins are even greater than those of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees that defied the Lord Jesus. They hate truth in the extreme, and they are deeply afraid that they will be alienated when God’s chosen people accept the true way, submit to God’s work, and are gained by God. Therefore, they do not hesitate to fabricate lies and rumors to deceive people, and even twist the truth, distort facts, frame and entrap, slander and condemn, and they shamelessly, willfully misinterpret the Bible in order to condemn Christ and blaspheme against the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s utterances. In order to save their own positions and livelihoods, they use all sorts of trickery to judge God, blaspheme against God, and defy God. Their actions are completely the same as the various satanic tricks used by the Judaic chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in defying the Lord Jesus. They’re all walking on the antichrist’s path of opposing God. By observing the various forms of outwardly serving God—yet inwardly resisting Him—performed by most leaders and pastors of religious circles, we can see that there are mainly seven evil acts that have already offended God. They will certainly be punished. The seven evil acts performed by most pastors and leaders in religious circles are listed here:
1. They only do religious rituals that maintain and pronounce mankind’s inheritance and doctrines, but they abandon God’s commandments. They never teach people to submit to God, know Him, or listen to His words. They do not speak at all of the reality of truth, and never use God’s words to reveal the darkness in religious circles to let people know about the age of evil.
2. They do not revere God at all. They do not have a place for God in their hearts, yet they greedily and sneakily eat from offerings to God. They can’t truly serve God, but they use offerings to God as their livelihoods, and they often appeal and force people to donate so that they can live more luxuriously, making themselves true vampires and parasites.
3. They compass land and sea to seduce people into their church, and once they do, people are confused and controlled into becoming slaves. They do not give people free choice, and do not allow people to investigate the true way, to seek out God’s appearance and work, causing them to be reduced to being children of hell. It is the blind leading the blind, and all will fall into the pit.
4. In their preaching they often steal God’s glory in order to show off themselves and bear witness to themselves for people to imitate, admire, and follow, making people idolize them in order to entrap and control them. They never honestly and truly bear witness to God and honor God as great, so that people will submit to and worship God.
5. They hate the truth, and are especially jealous of people who pursue and understand the truth: They suppress, reject, and convict them. They only allow people to adore and follow them, yet they impede and restrict people from accepting Christ, and they seal off the churches because they are afraid of people witnessing God’s work in the last days.
6. In order to save their own positions and livelihoods, they even invent all sorts of rumors and lies to slander, condemn, and blaspheme Christ of the last days, Almighty God. They fill everything with their darkness, and they would even prefer a life and death struggle against God to the end. It is obvious that they do not serve God but rather their own positions and livelihoods.
7. They don’t admit the fact of God’s incarnation, nor do they believe in the word and work of God incarnate in the last days. This is enough to prove that they all have the nature and substance of antichrists of hating the truth. They walk the antichrist’s path of serving God but defying and opposing God.
These seven evil acts by the antichrist forces in religious circles that defy God are openly recognized facts by all believers in God. These seven evil acts committed in religious circles today have almost the exact same characteristics as the “seven woes” by which our Lord Jesus revealed and judged the Pharisees. This is enough to prove that religious leaders have, for a long time, always seemed to serve God but have in fact defied God and walked the path of the antichrist. These facts have also exposed that they all have the satanic nature and essence of hating truth and defying God. This is why they can become the hostile forces to Christ of the last days: They lead religious circles to darkness and evil. This completely fulfills the prophecy in the Bible’s Book of Revelation that religious circles are “the great whore” and “the great Babylon.” Now, some people that love God and long for God’s appearance have already seen through the antichrist nature and essence of these modern Pharisees, and have begun to leave religious circles to look for the footsteps of God’s work. Even though these “Pharisees” of religious circles are clearly aware that all the words expressed by Christ of the last days are truths, judgments and chastisements aimed at corrupt humans, they nonetheless chose to assume an attitude of defying, judging, condemning, and opposing God because of their hatred of the truth. Primarily, they have also committed a heinous sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and God’s work. The main three manifestations of this sin are listed as follows:
1. They invent lies to slander God’s flesh. This is a serious blasphemy against God.
2. They treat God’s words as human words, and they say that there are evil spirits in God’s words that bewitch people when they look at them. This is a serious blasphemy against God.
3. They describe God’s work in the last days as the work of evil spirits, which is like saying the work of the Holy Spirit is the work of evil spirits. This is a blasphemy against God.
People in all religious circles are spreading serious blasphemies against God in these three ways. If they were truly people that revered God, they would absolutely not dare to say such things. Recalling the time of our Lord Jesus’ preaching days, at that time there were religious people who said that the Lord Jesus used Beelzebub, the king of demons, to dispel demons. This is truly committing the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus said, “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men” (Mat 12:31). In today’s religious circles, most leaders and pastors go out and spread rumors and slander that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Regardless of what their intentions and goals are, they have already committed the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Those that truly revere God would never dare to speak carelessly without having conducted a detailed investigation of the true way, yet they decide arbitrarily that the Eastern Lightning is the work of evil spirits, and that people are deceived when they hear its message. This is truly ridiculous! … Most pastors and leaders in religious circles have already been revealed as precisely those that walk on the path of the antichrist. To keep their status and livelihood they struggle in desperation against Christ until the end. Their hearts are hard, they have no regrets, and they think that God will ultimately reach a compromise with them, in the manner of how the Lord Jesus treated Paul during the Age of Grace. They think that God will reveal Himself and call to them from heaven. To nail God on the cross and then wish to receive God’s pity is already shameless to the extreme. They are foolish and uncompromising until death, displaying the “heroic, unwavering” attitudes typical of the “heroism” of religious dynasties. This fulfills the prophecy in the Book of Hebrews in the Bible: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb 10:26-27).
… Now is a key moment for spreading the gospel of the kingdom. Many people, when surveying the true way, are dazed and confused by the lies and rumors of the antichrist demons in religious circles. They are confused by the great red dragon’s fallacies and heresies so they dare not accept the true way. Many people, when surveying the true way, have been impeded and confused by leaders and pastors in religious circles, so they cannot come before God. Their lives are then ruined and suffocated by religious leaders, pastors, and the great red dragon. For pastors and leaders in religious circles to fight with God over His chosen ones is depravity to the point of being enemies of God. They do not give the chosen of God the right to investigate the true way or choose freely. This evil fact is enough to explain that they, like the great red dragon, are demons that stamp out lives and gorge on human souls. They have already committed this heinous sin of offending God. Doesn’t the fact that they can so wildly hinder people from accepting the true way and returning to God expose them as Satan’s accomplices and allies? The blood debt they owe humans must be paid in full. God will repay them based on their own individual actions, and this is the basic reason why God does not reveal Himself and work in religious circles in His incarnation in the last days. How the Lord Jesus hated, revealed, judged the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles is how Almighty God in the last days hates, reveals, judges, and condemns the pastors and elders of modern religious circles who walk the path of the antichrist. You can see that when God has appeared in the flesh to work again, although His name has changed, His disposition and essence has not. God is always God, humans are always humans, and Satan is always God’s enemy. These are unchanging truths. People must clearly see the essence and truth of religious circles serving God yet defying God, so that they can accept the true way, obey God’s work in the last days, and attain God’s salvation. This is a matter of urgency and cannot be delayed, for God’s day is coming. Almighty God says: “What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
We can see a truth from the Bible that, during the Age of Grace, not only did the Lord Jesus not call the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of religious circles, but on the contrary, He revealed and judged them. In particular, everybody involved in nailing the Lord Jesus to the cross was severely punished, and all of them suffered terrible fates. This is a fact recognized by all. Does anyone think that Almighty God who comes in the Age of Kingdom can be pitying and forgiving to antichrist forces in religious circles? Absolutely not, because God is righteous and holy, and God does not allow anyone to offend His disposition. Almighty God has already decided their endings, and clearly revealed the sinful fact that most pastors and leaders in religious circles today resist God. Let us see what Almighty God says: “Do you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus? Do you wish to know the substance of the Pharisees? They were full of fantasies about the Messiah. What’s more, they believed only that the Messiah would come, yet did not seek the truth of life. And so, even today they still await the Messiah, for they have no knowledge of the way of life, and do not know what the way of truth is. How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing? How could they behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah. And since they had never seen the Messiah, and had never been in the company of the Messiah, they made the mistake of paying empty tribute to the name of the Messiah while opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means. These Pharisees in substance were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The principle of their belief in God is: No matter how profound Your preaching, no matter how high Your authority, You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah. Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous? I ask you again: Is it not extremely easy for you to commit the mistakes of the earliest Pharisees, given that you have not the slightest understanding of Jesus? Are you able to discern the way of truth? Can you truly guarantee that you will not oppose Christ? Are you able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit? If you do not know whether you will oppose Christ, then I say that you are already living on the brink of death. Those who did not know the Messiah were all capable of opposing Jesus, of rejecting Jesus, of slandering Him. People who do not understand Jesus are all capable of denying Him, and reviling Him. Moreover, they are capable of seeing the return of Jesus as the deceit of Satan, and more people shall condemn Jesus returned to flesh. Does not all of this make you afraid? What you face shall be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the ruination of the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, and the spurning of all that is expressed by Jesus. What can you gain from Jesus if you are so befuddled? How can you understand the work of Jesus when He returns to flesh on a white cloud, if you obstinately refuse to realize your errors? I tell you this: People who do not accept the truth, yet blindly await the arrival of Jesus upon white clouds, will surely blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, and they are the race that shall be destroyed. You merely wish for the grace of Jesus, and merely want to enjoy the blissful realm of heaven, yet you have never obeyed the words spoken by Jesus, and have never received the truth expressed by Jesus when He returns to flesh. What will you hold up in exchange for the fact of Jesus’ return upon a white cloud? Is it the sincerity in which you repeatedly commit sins, and then confess them, over and over? What will you offer in sacrifice to Jesus who returns upon a white cloud? Is it the years of work with which you exalt yourselves? What will you hold up to make the returned Jesus trust you? Is it that arrogant nature of yours, which does not obey any truth?” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“How many seek the truth and follow righteousness? They are all beasts like pigs and dogs, leading a gang of stink flies in a dung heap to wag their heads and incite disorder.[1] They believe that their king of hell is the most superior of kings, without realizing that they are nothing more than flies on rot. Not only that, they make slanderous remarks against the existence of God by relying on their pigs and dogs of parents. The minuscule flies think their parents to be as large as a toothed whale.[2] Do they not realize that they are diminutive, yet their parents are unclean pigs and dogs a billion times larger than themselves? Unaware of their own lowliness, they run amok on the basis of the putrid odor of those pigs and dogs and have the delusional idea to procreate future generations. That is absolutely shameless! With green wings upon their backs (this refers to their claiming to believe in God), they begin to become conceited and boast everywhere of their own beauty and attractiveness, secretly casting away their impurities onto man. And they are even smug, as if a pair of rainbow-colored wings could conceal their own impurities, and thus they persecute the existence of the true God (this refers to the inside story of the religious world). Little does man know that, though the wings of the fly are beautiful and enchanting, it is after all no more than a minuscule fly that is full of filth and covered with germs. On the strength of their pigs and dogs of parents, they run amok across the land (this refers to the religious officials who persecute God on the basis of strong support from the country betraying the true God and the truth) with overwhelming ferocity. It is as if the ghosts of the Jewish Pharisees have returned along with God to the nation of the great red dragon, back to their old nest. They have again begun their work of persecution, continuing their work spanning several thousand years. This group of degenerates is sure to perish on earth in the end! It appears that, after several millennia, the unclean spirits have become even more crafty and sly. They constantly think of ways to secretly undermine the work of God. They are wily and cunning and wish to replay in their homeland the tragedy of several thousand years ago. This almost goads God into giving out a loud cry, and He can hardly keep Himself from returning to the third heaven to annihilate them” (“Work and Entry (7)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
from “Why the Religious World Has Always Resisted God While Serving Him” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life
Think about the Age of Grace, when deeply corrupted humankind nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. What exactly was the nature of their action? To be able to turn the Lord Jesus, who spread the way of the kingdom of heaven, over to the devil, and on top of that to say also that it was necessary to nail the Lord Jesus to the cross, that they would rather free a robber and crucify the Lord Jesus: Was such a corrupt humankind not demonic? Only demons could hate God so much that they are at deadly feud with God. The chief priests, scribes, and so many followers—who at that time shouted in unison that the Lord Jesus must be crucified—could only have been a crowd of demons that hated God, isn’t that so? Now don’t most pastors and leaders in the religious community, along with many believers, also condemn Almighty God with one voice? Are these not demons that are opposing God? Especially now, when the great red dragon madly resists and condemns God’s work, the religious community also takes the side of the great red dragon, and even joins hands together with it to resist God, condemn God, and blaspheme God. The human race is thus witnessing the religious community and the great red dragon are united together in Satan’s camp. The religious community has long turned into an accomplice of Satan, which thoroughly reveals that the essence of the religious community’s “serving God” is, in fact, resisting God, which completely proves the words of the Lord Jesus that revealed and judged the Pharisees. This is precisely the essence of the corruption and evil of the religious community today. The resistance to God of the religious community today equals or surpasses that of the religious community at the time of the Lord Jesus. They are a demonic group opposing Christ that God has rejected and condemned, and they belong completely to the evil forces of Satan. From this it is evident that the corruption of the human race has reached an extreme where it can actually once again crucify Christ, who in the last days is delivering truth and passing judgment. This is enough to show that the human race has been so corrupted by Satan that it has turned into demons. … The judgment and chastisement of God in the last days are the work of bringing Satan’s destiny to an end. Is it likely that God will show leniency to these demonic antichrists of the religious community that is at deadly feud with the real God incarnate of the last days? Everyone can wait and see what a sight it will be when the nations and peoples of the world witness the public appearance of God. Why will the peoples wail? Then the truth will be brought into daylight!
from “How to Know God’s Work of Judgment and Chastisement in the Last Days” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life
10. The Pharisees’ Judgment on Jesus
(Mak 3:21-22) And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils.
11. Jesus’ Rebuke to the Pharisees
(Mat 12:31-32) Why I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
(Mat 23:13-15) 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. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. 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.
There are two separate passages above—let’s first take a look at the first one: The Pharisees’ Judgment on Jesus.
In the Bible, the Pharisees’ appraisal of Jesus Himself and the things that He did was: “they said, He is beside himself. … He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils” (Mak 3:21-22). The scribes’ and Pharisees’ judgment of the Lord Jesus wasn’t parroting things or imagining out of thin air—it was their conclusion of the Lord Jesus from what they saw and heard of His actions. Although their conclusion was ostensibly made in the name of justice and appeared to people as if it were well-founded, the arrogance with which they judged the Lord Jesus was difficult for even them to contain. The frenzied energy of their hatred for the Lord Jesus exposed their own wild ambitions and their evil satanic countenances, as well as their malevolent nature of resisting God. These things they said in their judgment of the Lord Jesus were driven by their wild ambitions, jealousy, and the ugly and malevolent nature of their hostility toward God and the truth. They did not investigate the source of the Lord Jesus’ actions, nor did they investigate the essence of what He said or did. But they blindly, impatiently, crazily, and with deliberate malice attacked and discredited what He had done. This was even to the point of indiscriminately discrediting His Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit. This is what they meant when they said “He is beside himself,” “Beelzebub and the prince of the devils.” That is to say, they said the Spirit of God was Beelzebub and the prince of the devils. They characterized the work of the flesh God’s Spirit clothed in as madness. They not only blasphemed God’s Spirit as Beelzebub and the prince of the devils, but they condemned God’s work. They condemned and blasphemed the Lord Jesus Christ. The essence of their resistance and blasphemy of God was entirely the same as the essence of Satan and the devil’s resistance and blasphemy of God. They not only represented corrupt humans, but even more they were the embodiment of Satan. They were a channel for Satan amongst mankind, and they were the accomplices and messengers of Satan. The essence of their blasphemy and their denigration of the Lord Jesus Christ was their struggle with God for status, their contest with God, their unending testing of God. The essence of their resistance to God and their attitude of hostility toward Him, as well as their words and their thoughts directly blasphemed and angered God’s Spirit. Thus, God determined a reasonable judgment of what they said and did, and determined their deeds to be the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This sin is unforgivable in both this world and the hereafter, just as the following scripture passage says: “the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men” and “whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Today, let’s talk about the true meaning of these words from God “it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” That is demystifying how God fulfills the words “it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”
Everything that we’ve talked about is related to God’s disposition, and His attitude toward people, matters, and things. Naturally, the two passages above are no exception. Did you notice anything in these two passages of scripture? Some people say they see God’s anger. Some people say they see the side of God’s disposition that does not tolerate mankind’s offense, and that if people do something that is blasphemous to God, they will not gain His forgiveness. Despite the fact that people see and perceive God’s anger and intolerance of mankind’s offense in these two passages, they still don’t truly understand His attitude. These two passages contain an implication of God’s true attitude and approach toward those who blaspheme and anger Him. This passage in the scripture holds the true meaning of His attitude and approach: “whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” When people blaspheme God, when they anger Him, He issues a verdict, and this verdict is His final outcome. It is described this way in the Bible: “Why I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men” (Mat 12:31), and “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Mat 23:13). However, is it recorded in the Bible what the outcome was with those scribes and Pharisees, as well as those people who said He was mad after the Lord Jesus said these things? Is it recorded if they suffered any punishment? It is certain that there wasn’t. Saying here that there “wasn’t” isn’t that it wasn’t recorded, but in fact there was no outcome that could be seen with human eyes. This “wasn’t” elucidates an issue, that is, God’s attitude and principles for handling certain things. God’s treatment of people who blaspheme or resist Him, or even those who malign Him—people who intentionally attack, malign, and curse Him—He does not turn a blind eye or a deaf ear. He has a clear attitude toward them. He despises these people, and in His heart He condemns them. He even openly declares the outcome for them, so that people know that He has a clear attitude toward those who blaspheme Him, and so that they know how He will determine their outcome. However, after God said these things, people still could rarely see the truth of how God would handle those people, and they could not understand the principles behind God’s outcome, His verdict for them. That is to say, mankind cannot see the particular attitude and methods God has for handling them. This has to do with God’s principles for doing things. God uses the advent of facts to deal with the evil behavior of some people. That is, He does not announce their sin and does not determine their outcome, but He directly uses the advent of facts to allow them to be punished, to get their due retribution. When these facts happen, it is people’s flesh that suffers punishment; it is all something that can be seen with human eyes. When dealing with some people’s evil behavior, God just curses them with words, but at the same time, God’s anger comes upon them, and the punishment they receive may be something people cannot see, but this type of outcome may be even more serious than the outcomes that people can see of being punished or being killed. This is because under the circumstances that God has determined not to save this type of person, to no longer show mercy or have tolerance for them, to provide them with no more opportunities, the attitude that He takes toward them is to put them aside. What is the meaning of “put aside”? The meaning of this term on its own is to put something to one side, to no longer pay attention to it. Here, when God “puts aside,” there are two different explanations of its meaning: The first explanation is that He has given that person’s life, that person’s everything over to Satan to deal with. God would no longer be responsible and He would no longer manage it. Whether that person were mad, or stupid, and whether in life or in death, or if they descended into hell for their punishment, it would have nothing to do with God. That would mean that that creature would have no relation to the Creator. The second explanation is that God has determined that He Himself wants to do something with this person, with His own hands. It is possible that He will utilize this kind of person’s service, or that He will utilize this kind of person as a foil. It’s possible that He will have a special way of dealing with this type of person, a special way of treating them—just like Paul. This is the principle and attitude in God’s heart of how He has determined to deal with this kind of person. So when people resist God, and malign and blaspheme Him, if they aggravate His disposition, or if they reach God’s bottom line, the consequences are unthinkable. The most severe consequence is that God hands their lives and their everything over to Satan, once and for all. They will not be forgiven for all of eternity. This means that this person has become food in Satan’s mouth, a toy in its hand, and from then on God has nothing to do with them. Can you imagine what kind of misery it was when Satan tempted Job? Under the condition that Satan was not permitted to harm Job’s life, Job still suffered greatly. And isn’t it even more difficult to imagine the ravages of Satan a person would be subjected to who has been completely handed over to Satan, who is completely within Satan’s grasp, who has completely lost God’s care and mercy, who is no longer under the Creator’s rule, who has been stripped of the right to worship Him, and the right to be a creature under God’s rule, whose relationship with the Lord of creation has been completely cut off? Satan’s persecution of Job was something that could be seen with human eyes, but if God hands over a person’s life to Satan, its consequence will be something that no one can imagine. It’s just like some people being reborn as a cow, or a donkey, or some people being taken over, possessed by unclean, evil spirits, and so on. This is the outcome, the end of some people who are handed over to Satan by God. From the outside, it looks like those people who ridiculed, maligned, condemned, and blasphemed the Lord Jesus did not suffer any consequences. However, the truth is that God has an attitude for dealing with everything. He may not use clear language to tell people the outcome of how He deals with every type of person. Sometimes He does not speak directly, but He does things directly. That He does not speak about it doesn’t mean there isn’t an outcome—it is possible that the outcome is even more serious. From appearances, it seems God does not speak to some people to reveal His attitude; in fact, God has not wanted to pay them any mind for a long time. He does not want to see them anymore. Because of the things they have done, their behavior, because of their nature and their essence, God only wants them to disappear from His sight, wants to hand them over directly to Satan, to give their spirit, soul, and body to Satan, to allow Satan to do whatever it wants. It is clear to what extent God hates them, to what extent He is disgusted by them. If a person angers God to the point that God doesn’t even want to see them again, that He will completely give up on them, to the point that God doesn’t even want to deal with them Himself—if it gets to the point that He will hand them over to Satan for it to do as it will, to allow Satan to control, consume, and treat them in any way—this person is thoroughly finished. Their right to be a human has been permanently revoked, and their right as a creature has come to an end. Isn’t this the most serious punishment?
All of this above is a complete explanation of the words: “it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come,” and it is also a simple commentary on these scripture passages. I think you have an understanding of it now!
from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
