Now that you have listened to the previous fellowship about God's authority, I am confident that you are equipped with quite an array of words on the matter. How much you can accept, grasp and understand all depends on how much effort you will apply to it. It is My hope that you can approach this matter earnestly; by no means should you deal with it half-heartedly! Now, is knowing God's authority equal to knowing God's entirety? One can say that knowing God's authority is the beginning of knowing the unique God Himself, and one could also say that knowing God's authority means that one has already stepped into the gate of knowing the substance of the unique God Himself. This understanding is one part of knowing God. What is the other part, then? This is the subject that I would like to fellowship about today—God's righteous disposition.
I have selected two sections from the Bible with which to fellowship about today's topic: The first concerns God's destruction of Sodom, which can be found in Genesis 19:1–11 and Genesis 19:24–25; the second concerns God's deliverance of Nineveh, which can be found in Jonah 1:1–2, in addition to the third and fourth chapters of the book. I suspect that you are all waiting to hear what I have to say about these two sections. What I say naturally cannot stray from the theme of knowing God Himself and knowing His substance, but what will be the focus of today's fellowship? Do any of you know? Which parts of My fellowship about "God's Authority" caught your attention? Why did I say that only the One who possesses such authority and power is God Himself? What did I wish to explain by saying that? What did I wish to inform you of? Are God's authority and power one aspect of how His substance is displayed? Are they a part of His substance that proves His identity and status? Have these questions told you what I am going to say? What do I want you to understand? Think this over carefully.
Gen 19:1–11 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and you shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, No; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed on them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men which came in to you this night? bring them out to us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door to them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brothers, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with you, than with them. And they pressed sore on the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Gen 19:24–25 Then Jehovah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
As he found himself face-to-face with a gang of inhumane thugs, people who were filled with soul-devouring ambition, how did Lot respond? According to the Scripture: "I pray you, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do you to them as is good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." Lot meant the following with his words: He was willing to give up his two daughters in order to protect the messengers. Out of reason, these people should have agreed to Lot's conditions and left the two messengers alone; after all, the messengers were perfect strangers to them, people who had absolutely nothing to do with them; these two messengers had never harmed their interests. However, motivated by their iniquitous nature, they did not leave the matter at this. Rather, they only intensified their efforts. Here another one of their exchanges can undoubtedly give one further insight into these people's true vicious nature; at the same time it also lets one know and comprehend the reason why God wished to destroy this city.
When the people of Sodom saw these two servants, they did not ask their reason for coming, nor did anyone ask whether they had come to spread God's will. To the contrary, they formed a mob and, without waiting for an explanation, came to seize these two servants like wild dogs or vicious wolves. Did God watch these things as they happened? What was God thinking in His heart as to this kind of human behavior, this kind of thing? God decided to destroy this city; He would not hesitate or wait, nor would He continue to show patience. His day had come, and so He set about the work He wished to do. Thus, Genesis 19:24–25 says, "Then Jehovah rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground." These two verses tell people the method with which God destroyed this city; it also tells people what God destroyed. First, the Bible recounts that God burned the city with fire, and that the extent of the fire was enough to destroy all the people and that which grew on the ground. That is to say, the fire that fell from heaven not only destroyed the city; it also destroyed all people and living things inside it, all without leaving a single trace behind. After the city was destroyed, the land was bare of living things. There was no more life, nor any signs of it. The city had become a wasteland, an empty place filled with dead silence. There would be no more evil deeds against God in this place; there would be no more slaughter or spilled blood.
Although these two passages do not record the details describing the extent of the corruption of the people of Sodom, instead recording their conduct toward God's two servants following the latter's arrival in the city, a simple truth can reveal the extent to which the people of Sodom were corrupt, evil and resisted God. With this, the true face and substance of the city's people are also exposed. Not only did they not accept God's warnings, they also did not fear His punishment. To the contrary, they scorned God's anger. They blindly resisted God. No matter what He did or how He did it, their vicious nature only intensified, and they repeatedly opposed God. The people of Sodom were hostile toward God's existence, His coming, His punishment, and even more so, His warnings. They saw nothing else worthwhile around them. They devoured and harmed all people that could be devoured and harmed, and they treated God's servants no differently. In regard to the whole of the wicked deeds committed by the people of Sodom, harming God's servants was only the tip of the iceberg, and their wicked nature that this revealed actually amounted to little more than a drop in a vast sea. Therefore, God chose to destroy them with fire. God did not use a flood, nor did He use a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami or any other method to destroy the city. What did God's use of fire to destroy this city signify? It meant the city's total destruction; it meant that the city vanished entirely from the earth and from existence. Here, "destruction" not only refers to the vanishing of the city's form and structure or outer appearance; it also means that the souls of the people inside the city ceased to exist, having been utterly eradicated. Simply put, all people, events and things associated with the city were destroyed. There would be no next life or reincarnation for them; God had eradicated them from humanity, His creation, once and forever. The "use of fire" signified a halt to sin, and it meant an end to sin; this sin would cease to exist and spread. It meant that Satan's evil had lost its nurturing soil as well as the graveyard that granted it a place to stay and to live. In the war between God and Satan, God's use of fire is the brand of His victory with which Satan is marked. Sodom's destruction is a great misstep in Satan's ambition to oppose God by corrupting and devouring men, and it is likewise a humiliating sign of a time in humanity's development when man rejected God's guidance and abandoned himself to vice. Furthermore, it is a record of a true revelation of God's righteous disposition.
God's treatment of the whole of foolish and ignorant humanity is primarily based on mercy and tolerance. His wrath, on the other hand, is concealed in the vast majority of time and of things; it is unknown to man. As a result, it is difficult for man to see God display His wrath, and it is also difficult to understand His wrath. As such, man makes light of God's wrath. When man faces God's final work and step of tolerating and forgiving man—that is, when God's final instance of mercy and His final warning reach them—if they still use the same methods to oppose God and do not make any effort to repent, mend their ways or accept His mercy, God will no longer bestow His tolerance and patience upon them. To the contrary, it is at this time that God will retract His mercy. Following this, He will only send forth His wrath. He can express His wrath in different ways, just as He can use different methods to punish and destroy people.
God's use of fire to destroy the city of Sodom is His swiftest method of utterly annihilating a humanity or a thing. Burning the people of Sodom destroyed more than their physical bodies; it destroyed the entirety of their spirits, their souls and their bodies, ensuring that the people inside this city would cease to exist in both the material world and the world invisible to man. This is one way in which God reveals and expresses His wrath. This manner of revelation and expression is one aspect of the substance of God's wrath, just as it is naturally also a revelation of the substance of God's righteous disposition. When God sends forth His wrath, He ceases to reveal any mercy or lovingkindness, nor does He display any more of His tolerance or patience; there is no person, thing or reason that can persuade Him to continue to be patient, to give His mercy again, to bestow His tolerance once more. In place of these things, without a moment's hesitation, God will send forth His wrath and majesty, do what He desires, and He will do these things in a swift and clean manner in accordance with His own wishes. This is the way in which God sends forth His wrath and majesty, which man must not offend, and it is also an expression of one aspect of His righteous disposition. When people witness God showing worry and love toward man, they are unable to detect His wrath, see His majesty or feel His intolerance to offense. These things have always led people to believe that God's righteous disposition is one solely of mercy, tolerance and love. However, when one sees God destroy a city or detest a humanity, His wrath in the destruction of man and His majesty allow people to glimpse the other side of His righteous disposition. This is God's intolerance to offense. God's disposition that tolerates no offense surpasses the imagination of any created being, and among the non-created beings, none is capable of interfering with it or affecting it; even more so, it cannot be impersonated or imitated. Thus, this aspect of God's disposition is the one that humanity should know the most. Only God Himself has this kind of disposition, and only God Himself is possessed of this kind of disposition. God is possessed of this kind of righteous disposition because He detests wickedness, darkness, rebelliousness and Satan's evil acts—corrupting and devouring mankind—because He detests all acts of sin in opposition to Him and because of His holy and undefiled substance. It is because of this that He will not suffer any of the created or non-created beings to openly oppose or contest Him. Even an individual that He had once shown mercy to or selected need only provoke His disposition and transgress His principle of patience and tolerance, and He will release and reveal His righteous disposition without the least bit of mercy or hesitation—a disposition that tolerates no offense.
By understanding these examples of God's speech, thoughts and actions, are you able to understand God's righteous disposition, a disposition that cannot be offended? In the end, this is an aspect of the disposition unique to God Himself, regardless of how much man can understand. God's intolerance of offense is His exclusive substance; God's wrath is His exclusive disposition; God's majesty is His exclusive substance. The principle behind God's anger demonstrates the identity and status that only He possesses. One needs not mention that it is also a symbol of the substance of the unique God Himself. God's disposition is His own inherent substance. It does not change at all with the passage of time, nor does it change whenever the location changes. His inherent disposition is His intrinsic substance. Regardless of whom He carries out His work upon, His substance does not change, and neither does His righteous disposition. When one angers God, that which He sends forth is His inherent disposition; at this time the principle behind His anger does not change, nor do His unique identity and status. He does not grow angry because of a change in His substance or because His disposition has produced different elements, but because man's opposition against Him offends His disposition. Man's flagrant provocation of God is a severe challenge to God's own identity and status. In God's view, when man challenges Him, man is contesting Him and testing His anger. When man opposes God, when man contests God, when man continuously tests God's anger—which is also when sin runs rampant—God's wrath will naturally reveal and present itself. Therefore, God's expression of His wrath symbolizes that all evil forces will cease to exist; it symbolizes that all hostile forces will be destroyed. This is the uniqueness of God's righteous disposition, and it is the uniqueness of God's wrath. When God's dignity and holiness are challenged, when just forces are obstructed and they are unseen by man, God will send forth His wrath. Because of God's substance, all those forces on earth which contest God, oppose Him and contend with Him are evil, corrupt and unjust; they come from and belong to Satan. Because God is just, of the light and flawlessly holy, all things evil, corrupt and belonging to Satan will vanish with the release of God's wrath.
Although the outpouring of God's wrath is one aspect of the expression of His righteous disposition, God's anger is by no means indiscriminate as to its target or without principle. To the contrary, God is not at all quick to anger, nor does He rashly reveal His wrath and His majesty. Additionally, God's wrath is considerably controlled and measured; it is not at all comparable to how man will flare into a rage or vent his anger. Many conversations between man and God are recorded in the Bible. The words of some of these individuals were shallow, ignorant and infantile, but God did not strike them down, nor did He condemn them. In particular, during Job's trial, how did Jehovah God treat Job's three friends and the others after He heard the words that they spoke to Job? Did He condemn them? Did He fly into a rage at them? He did nothing of the sort! Instead He told Job to entreat for them, to pray for them; God, on the other hand, did not take their faults to heart. These instances all represent the primary attitude with which God treats corrupt, ignorant humanity. Therefore, the release of God's wrath is by no means an expression or venting of His mood. God's wrath is not a full-blown eruption of rage as man understands it. God does not release His wrath because He is unable to control His own mood or because His anger has reached its boiling point and must be vented. To the contrary, His wrath is a display of His righteous disposition and a genuine expression of His righteous disposition; it is a symbolic revelation of His holy substance. God is wrath, tolerant of no offense—this is not to say that God's anger does not distinguish among causes or is unprincipled; it is corrupt humanity that has an exclusive patent on unprincipled, random bursts of rage that does not distinguish among causes. Once a man has status, he will often find it difficult to control his mood, and so he will enjoy seizing upon instances to express his dissatisfaction and vent his emotions; he will often flare up into rage for no apparent reason, so as to reveal his ability and let others know that his status and identity are different from those of ordinary people. Of course, corrupt people without any status will also frequently lose control. Their anger is frequently caused by damage to their individual benefits. In order to protect their own status and dignity, corrupt mankind will frequently vent their emotions and reveal their arrogant nature. Man will flare up in anger and vent his emotions in order to defend the existence of sin, and these actions are the ways with which man expresses his dissatisfaction. These actions brim with defilement; they brim with schemes and intrigues; they brim with man's corruption and evil; more than that, they brim with man's wild ambitions and desires. When justice contests wickedness, man will not flare up into anger to defend the existence of justice; contrarily, when the forces of justice are threatened, persecuted and attacked, man's attitude is one of overlooking, evading or flinching. However, when facing the forces of evil, man's attitude is one of catering, and of bowing and scraping. Therefore, man's venting is an escape for evil forces, an expression of the rampant and unstoppable evil conduct of the fleshly man. When God sends forth His wrath, however, all evil forces will be stopped; all sins of harming man will be stopped; all hostile forces that obstruct God's work will be made apparent, separated and cursed; all of Satan's accomplices who oppose God will be punished, rooted out. In their place, God's work will proceed free of any obstacles; God's management plan will continue to develop step by step according to schedule; God's chosen people will be free of Satan's disturbance and deceit; those who follow God will enjoy God's leadership and supply among tranquil and peaceful surroundings. God's wrath is a safeguard preventing all evil forces from multiplying and running rampant, and it is also a safeguard that protects the existence and spread of all just and positive things and eternally guards them from suppression and subversion.
Can you see the substance of God's wrath in His destruction of Sodom? Is there anything mingled within His rage? Is God's rage pure? To use man's wording, is God's wrath unadulterated? Is there any ruse behind His wrath? Is there any conspiracy? Are there any unspeakable secrets? I can tell you sternly and solemnly: There is no part of God's wrath that can lead one to doubt. His anger is pure, unadulterated anger and harbors no other intentions or goals. The reason for His anger is pure, blameless and above criticism. It is a natural revelation and display of His holy substance; it is something that none of the creation possess. This is a part of God's unique righteous disposition, and it is also a striking difference between the respective substances of the Creator and His creation.
Regardless of whether one becomes angry in the sight of others or behind their backs, everyone has a different intention and purpose. Perhaps they are building up their prestige, or maybe they are defending their own interests, maintaining their image or keeping face. Some exercise restraint in their anger, while others are more rash and flare up with rage whenever they wish without the least bit of restraint. In short, man's anger derives from his corrupt disposition. No matter what its purpose, it is of the flesh and of nature; it has nothing to do with justice or injustice because nothing in man's nature and substance corresponds to the truth. Therefore, corrupt humanity's temper and God's wrath should not be mentioned in the same breath. Without exception, the behavior of a man corrupted by Satan begins with the desire to safeguard corruption, and it is based on corruption; thus, man's anger cannot be mentioned in the same breath as God's wrath, no matter how proper it may seem in theory. When God sends forth His rage, evil forces are checked, evil things are destroyed, while just and positive things enjoy God's care, protection, and they are allowed to continue. God sends forth His wrath because unjust, negative and evil things obstruct, disturb or destroy the normal activity and development of just and positive things. The goal of God's anger is not to safeguard His own status and identity, but to safeguard the existence of just, positive, beautiful and good things, to safeguard the laws and order of humanity's normal survival. This is the root cause of God's wrath. God's rage is a very proper, natural and true revelation of His disposition. There are no intentions behind His rage, nor is there deceit or plotting; or even more so, His rage contains none of the desire, craftiness, maliciousness, violence, evil or anything else that all corrupt humanity share. Before God sends forth His rage, He has already perceived the substance of every matter quite clearly and completely, and He has already formulated accurate, clear definitions and conclusions. Thus, God's objective in every matter He does is crystal-clear, as is His attitude. He is not muddle-headed; He is not blind; He is not impulsive; He is not careless; more so, He is not unprincipled. This is the practical aspect of God's wrath, and it is because of this practical aspect of God's wrath that humanity has attained its normal existence. Without God's wrath, humanity would descend into abnormal living conditions; all things just, beautiful and good would be destroyed and cease to exist. Without God's wrath, the laws and rules of existence for created beings would be broken or even utterly subverted. Since the creation of man, God has continuously used His righteous disposition to safeguard and sustain humanity's normal existence. Because His righteous disposition contains wrath and majesty, all evil people, things, objects and all things that disturb and damage humanity's normal existence are punished, controlled and destroyed because of His wrath. Over the past several millennia, God has continuously used His righteous disposition to strike down and destroy all kinds of unclean and evil spirits which oppose God and act as Satan's accomplices and bailiffs in His work of managing humanity. Thus, God's work of the salvation of man has always advanced according to His plan. This is to say that because of the existence of God's wrath, the most righteous cause among men has never been destroyed.
Now that you have an understanding of the substance of God's wrath, you must certainly have an even better understanding of how to distinguish Satan's evil!
In every matter, Satan's behavior exposes its evil nature. Out of all the evil acts that Satan has carried out upon man—from its early efforts to delude man into following it, to its exploitation of man, in which it drags man into its evil deeds, and Satan's vindictiveness toward man after its true features have been exposed and man has recognized and forsaken it—not one fails to expose Satan's evil substance; not one fails to prove the fact that Satan has no relation to positive things; not one fails to prove that Satan is the source of all evil things. Every single one of its actions safeguards its evil, maintains the continuation of its evil acts, goes against just and positive things, ruins the laws and order of humanity's normal existence. They are hostile to God, and are that which God's wrath will destroy. Although Satan has its own rage, its rage is a means of venting its evil nature. The reason why Satan is exasperated and furious is thus: Its unspeakable schemes have been exposed; its plots are not easily gotten away with; its wild ambition and desire to replace God and act as God have been struck and blocked; its goal of controlling all of humanity has now come to nothing and can never be achieved. It is God's repeated summoning of His wrath that has stopped Satan's plots from coming to fruition and cut short the spread and rampancy of Satan's evil; therefore, Satan both hates and fears God's wrath. Each application of God's wrath not only unmasks Satan's true vile appearance; it also exposes Satan's evil desires to the light. At the same time, the reasons for Satan's rage against humanity are completely exposed. The eruption of Satan's rage is a true revelation of its evil nature, an exposure of its schemes. Of course, each time Satan is enraged, it heralds the destruction of evil things; it heralds the protection and continuation of positive things, and it heralds the nature of God's wrath—one that cannot be offended!
When you find yourself facing God's judgment and chastisement, will you say that God's word is adulterated? Will you say that there is a tale behind God's rage, and that His rage is adulterated? Will you slander God, saying that His disposition is not necessarily entirely righteous? When dealing with each of God's acts, you must first be certain that God's righteous disposition is free of any other elements, that it is holy and flawless; these acts include God's striking down, punishment and destruction of humanity. Without exception, every one of God's acts is made in strict accordance with His inherent disposition and His plan—this does not include humanity's knowledge, tradition and philosophy—and every one of God's acts is an expression of His disposition and substance, unrelated to anything that belongs to corrupt humanity. In man's conceptions, only God's love, mercy and tolerance toward humanity are flawless, unadulterated and holy. However, no one knows that God's rage and His wrath are likewise unadulterated; furthermore, no one has contemplated questions such as why God tolerates no offense or why His rage is so great. To the contrary, some mistake God's wrath for corrupt humanity's temper; they understand God's anger to be the rage of corrupt humanity; they even mistakenly assume that God's rage is just like the natural revelation of humanity's corrupt disposition. They mistakenly believe that the issuing of God's wrath is just like the anger of corrupt humanity, which arises from displeasure; they even believe that the issuing of God's wrath is an expression of His mood. After this fellowship, I hope that every one of you will no longer have any misconceptions, imaginings or suppositions as to God's righteous disposition, and I hope that after hearing My words you can have a true recognition of the wrath of God's righteous disposition in your hearts, that you can put aside any previous mistaken understandings of God's wrath, that you can change your own mistaken beliefs and views of the substance of God's wrath. Furthermore, I hope that you can have an accurate definition of God's disposition in your hearts, that you will no longer have any doubts as to God's righteous disposition, that you will not impose any human reasoning or imagining onto God's true disposition. God's righteous disposition is God's own true substance. It is not something molded or written by man. His righteous disposition is His righteous disposition and has no relations or connections to any of the creation. God Himself is God Himself. He will never become a part of creation, and even if He becomes a member among created beings, His inherent disposition and substance will not change. Therefore, knowing God is not knowing an object; it is not dissecting something, nor is it understanding a person. If you use your concept or method of knowing an object or understanding a person to know God, then you will never be able to attain the knowledge of God. Knowing God is not reliant on experience or imagination, and therefore you must never impose your experience or imagination on God. No matter how rich your experience and imagination may be, they are still limited; what is more, your imagination does not correspond to facts, much less does it correspond to the truth, and it is incompatible with God's true disposition and substance. You will never succeed if you rely on your imagination to understand God's substance. The only path is thus: accept all that comes from God, then gradually experience and understand it. There will be a day that God will enlighten you to truly understand and know Him because of your cooperation and because of your hunger and thirst for the truth. And with this, let us conclude this portion of our conversation.
Jon 1:1–2 Now the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.
Jon 3 And the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you. So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God: yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do to them; and He did it not.
Jon 4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed to Jehovah, and said, I pray You, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish: for I knew that You are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent You of the evil. Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech You, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said Jehovah, Do you well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Do you well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even to death. Then said Jehovah, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Let us first look at the beginning of this story: "Now the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me" (Jon 1:1–2). In this passage from Scripture, we know that Jehovah God commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh. Why did He order Jonah to go to this city? The Bible is very clear about this: The wickedness of the people inside this city had reached the eyes of Jehovah God, and therefore He sent Jonah to proclaim to them what He intended to do. While there is nothing recorded telling us who Jonah was, this is, of course, unrelated to knowing God. Thus, you need not understand this man. You need only know what God ordered Jonah to do and why He did such a thing.
Let us proceed to the second passage, the third chapter of the Book of Jonah: "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." These are the words that God directly passed on to Jonah to tell the Ninevites. They are also, naturally, the words that Jehovah God wished to say to the Ninevites. These words tell people that God began to abhor and hate the people of the city because their wickedness had reached the eyes of God, and so He wished to destroy this city. However, before God destroyed the city, He would make an announcement to the Ninevites, and He would simultaneously give them an opportunity to repent for their wickedness and start anew. This opportunity would last forty days. In other words, if the people inside the city did not repent, admit their sins or prostrate themselves before Jehovah God within forty days, God would destroy the city as He did Sodom. This was what Jehovah God wished to tell the people of Nineveh. Clearly, this was no simple declaration. Not only did it convey Jehovah God's anger, it also conveyed His attitude toward the Ninevites; at the same time this simple declaration also served as a solemn warning to the people living inside the city. This warning told them that their wicked acts had earned them Jehovah God's hatred, and it told them that their wicked acts would soon bring them to the brink of their own annihilation; therefore, the lives of everyone in Nineveh were in imminent peril.
God's changing of His intentions toward the people of Nineveh involved no hesitation or ambiguity. Rather, it was a transformation from pure anger to pure tolerance. This is a true revelation of God's substance. God is never irresolute or hesitant in His actions; the principles and purposes behind His actions are all clear and transparent, pure and flawless, with absolutely no ruses or schemes intermingled within. In other words, God's substance contains no darkness or evil. God became angry with the Ninevites because their wicked acts had reached His eyes; at that time His anger was derived from His substance. However, when God's anger vanished and He bestowed His tolerance upon the people of Nineveh once more, all that He revealed was still His own substance. The entirety of this change was due to a change in man's attitude toward God. During this entire period of time, God's unoffendable disposition did not change; God's tolerant substance did not change; God's loving and merciful substance did not change. When people commit wicked acts and offend God, He will bring His anger upon them. When people truly repent, God's heart will change, and His anger will cease. When people continue to stubbornly oppose God, His rage will be unceasing; His wrath will press in on them bit by bit until they are destroyed. This is the substance of God's disposition. Regardless of whether God is expressing wrath or mercy and lovingkindness, man's conduct, behavior and attitude toward God in the depths of his heart dictate that which is expressed through the revelation of God's disposition. If God continuously subjects one person to His wrath, this person's heart doubtlessly opposes God. Because he has never truly repented, bowed his head before God or possessed true belief in God, he has never obtained God's mercy and tolerance. If one often receives God's care and often obtains His mercy and tolerance, then this person doubtlessly has true belief in God in his heart, and his heart is not opposed to God. He often truly repents before God; therefore, even if God's discipline often descends upon this person, His wrath shall not.
This brief account allows people to see God's heart, to see the realness of His substance, to see that God's anger and the change of His heart are not without cause. Despite the stark contrast that God demonstrated when He was angry and when He changed His heart, which makes people believe that a large gap or a large contrast seems to exist between these two aspects of God's substance—His anger and His tolerance—God's attitude toward the repentance of the Ninevites once again allows people to see another side of God's true disposition. God's change of heart truly allows humanity to once again see the truth of God's mercy and lovingkindness and to see the true revelation of God's substance. Humanity has but to acknowledge that God's mercy and lovingkindness are not myths, nor are they fabrications. This is because God's feeling at that moment was true; God's change of heart was true; God indeed bestowed His mercy and tolerance upon humanity once more.
This "evil way" does not refer to a handful of evil acts, but to the evil source behind people's behavior. "Turning away from his evil way" means that those in question will never commit these actions again. In other words, they will never behave in this evil way again; the method, source, purpose, intent and principle of their actions have all changed; they will never again use those methods and principles to bring enjoyment and happiness to their hearts. The "abandon" in "abandon the violence in their hands" means to lay down or to cast aside, to fully break with the past and to never turn back. When the people of Nineveh abandoned the violence in their hands, this proved as well as represented their true repentance. God observes people's exteriors as well as their hearts. When God observed the true repentance in the hearts of the Ninevites without question and also observed that they had left their evil ways and abandoned the violence in their hands, He changed His heart. This is to say that these people's conduct and behavior and various ways of doing things, as well as the true confession and repentance of sins in their heart, caused God to change His heart, to change His intentions, to retract His decision and not to punish or destroy them. Thus, the people of Nineveh achieved a different end. They redeemed their own lives and at the same time won God's mercy and tolerance, at which point God also retracted His wrath.
After understanding the story of Nineveh, do you see the other side of the substance of God's righteous disposition? Do you see the other side of God's unique righteous disposition? Does anyone among humanity possess this kind of disposition? Does anyone possess this kind of wrath like God's? Does anyone possess mercy and tolerance like God's? Who among creation can summon forth so much wrath and decide to destroy or bring disaster upon mankind? And who is qualified to bestow mercy to tolerate and pardon man, and thereby change one's decision to destroy man? The Creator expresses His righteous disposition through His own unique methods and principles; He is not subject to the control or restrictions of any people, events or things. With His unique disposition, no one is able to change His thoughts and ideas, nor is anyone able to persuade Him and change any of His decisions. The entirety of the behavior and thoughts of creation exist under the judgment of His righteous disposition. No one can control whether He exercises wrath or mercy; only the substance of the Creator—or in other words, the Creator's righteous disposition—can decide this. This is the unique nature of the Creator's righteous disposition!
Once we have analyzed and understood the transformation of God's attitude toward the people of Nineveh, are you able to use the word "unique" to describe the mercy found within God's righteous disposition? We previously said that God's wrath is one aspect of the substance of His unique righteous disposition. Now I shall define two aspects, God's wrath and God's mercy, as His righteous disposition. God's righteous disposition is holy; it is unoffendable as well as unquestionable; it is something possessed by none among the created or non-created beings. It is both unique and exclusive to God. This is to say that God's wrath is holy and unoffendable; at the same time, the other aspect of God's righteous disposition—God's mercy—is holy and cannot be offended. None of the created or non-created beings can replace or represent God in His actions, nor can anyone replace or represent Him in the destruction of Sodom or the salvation of Nineveh. This is the true expression of God's unique righteous disposition.
The following is recorded in the Book of Jonah 4:10–11: "Then said Jehovah, You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" These are the actual words of Jehovah God, a conversation between Him and Jonah. While this exchange is a brief one, it is brimming with the Creator's care for mankind and His reluctance to give him up. These words express the true attitude and feelings that God holds within His heart for His creation, and with these clear-cut words, the likes of which are rarely heard by man, God states His true intentions for humanity. This exchange represents an attitude God held toward the people of Nineveh—but what kind of attitude is this? It is the attitude He held toward the people of Nineveh before and after their repentance. God treats humanity in the same manner. Within these words one can find His thoughts, as well as His disposition.
This conversation between Jehovah God and Jonah is without a doubt an expression of the Creator's true feelings for humanity. On one hand it informs people of the Creator's understanding of all creation under His command; as Jehovah God said, "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" In other words, God's understanding of Nineveh was far from a cursory one. He not only knew the number of living things within the city (including people and livestock), He also knew how many could not discern between their right and left hands—that is, how many children and youths were present. This is concrete proof of God's superb understanding of mankind. On the other hand this conversation informs people of the Creator's attitude toward humanity, which is to say the weight of humanity in the Creator's heart. It is just as Jehovah God said: "You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city…?" These are Jehovah God's words of blame toward Jonah, but they are all true.
Although Jonah was entrusted with proclaiming Jehovah God's words to the people of Nineveh, he did not understand Jehovah God's intentions, nor did he understand His worries and expectations for the people of the city. With this reprimand God meant to tell him that humanity was the product of His own hands, and God had put forth painstaking effort for every single person; every person carried with them God's hopes; every person enjoyed the supply of God's life; for every person, God had paid a painstaking cost. This reprimand also told Jonah that God cherished humanity, the work of His own hands, as much as Jonah himself cherished the gourd. God would by no means easily abandon them before the last possible moment; moreover, there were so many children and innocent livestock inside the city. When dealing with these young and ignorant products of God's creation, who could not even distinguish their right hands from their left, God was all the more unable to end their lives and determine their outcomes in such a hasty manner. God hoped to see them grow up; He hoped that they would not walk the same paths as their elders, that they would not have to hear Jehovah God's warning again, and that they would bear witness to Nineveh's past. Even more so God hoped to see Nineveh after it had repented, to see Nineveh's future following its repentance, and more importantly, to see Nineveh live under God's mercy once again. Therefore, in God's eyes, those objects of creation who could not distinguish between their right and left hands were Nineveh's future. They would shoulder Nineveh's despicable past, just as they would shoulder the important duty of bearing witness to Nineveh's past and future under Jehovah God's guidance. In this declaration of His true feelings, Jehovah God presented the Creator's mercy for humanity in its entirety. It showed to humanity that "the Creator's mercy" is not an empty phrase, nor is it a hollow promise; it has concrete principles, methods and objectives. He is true and real, and uses no falsehoods or disguises, and in this same manner His mercy is endlessly bestowed upon humanity in every time and age. However, to this very day, the Creator's exchange with Jonah is God's sole, exclusive verbal statement of why He shows mercy to humanity, how He shows mercy to humanity, how tolerant He is of humanity and His true feelings for humanity. Jehovah God's succinct conversation expresses His complete thoughts for humanity; it is a true expression of His heart's attitude toward humanity, and it is also concrete proof of His bestowal of abundant mercy upon humanity. His mercy is not only bestowed upon humanity's elder generations; it is also granted to the younger members of humanity, just as it has always been, from one generation to the next. Although God's wrath frequently comes down upon certain corners and certain eras of humanity, God's mercy has never ceased. With His mercy, He guides and leads one generation of His creation after the next, supplies and nourishes one generation of creation after the next, because His true feelings toward humanity will never change. Just as Jehovah God said: "And should not I spare Nineveh…?" He has always cherished His own creation. This is the mercy of the Creator's righteous disposition, and it is also the pure uniqueness of the Creator!
For the time being, I will leave our fellowship about God's righteous disposition finished at that. Next I will classify God's followers into several categories, according to their understanding of God and their understanding and experience with His righteous disposition, so that you may know the stage you currently belong to as well as your current stature. In terms of their knowledge of God and their understanding of His righteous disposition, the different stages and statures which people occupy can generally be separated into five types. This topic is predicated on the basis of knowing the unique God and His righteous disposition; therefore, as you read the following content, you should carefully attempt to figure out exactly how much understanding and knowledge you have regarding God's uniqueness and His righteous disposition, and then use this to judge which stage you truly belong to, how large your stature truly is, and which type of person you truly are.
What is an infant in swaddling clothes? An infant in swaddling clothes is an infant who has just come into this world, a newborn. It is when people are at their smallest and most immature.
People at this stage essentially possess no awareness or consciousness of matters of belief in God. They are bewildered and ignorant toward everything. These people may have believed in God for a long time or for not a very long time at all, but their bewildered and ignorant state and their true stature place them within the stage of an infant in swaddling clothes. The precise definition of the conditions of an infant in swaddling clothes is as such: No matter how long this kind of person has believed in God, he will always be muddle-headed, confused and simple-minded; he does not know why he believes in God, nor does he know who God is or who is God. Although he follows God, there is no exact definition of God in his heart, and he cannot determine whether whom he follows is God, let alone whether he truly should believe in God and follow Him. These are the true conditions of this type of person. These people's thoughts are clouded, and simply put, their belief is one of confusion. They always exist in a state of bewilderment and blankness; muddle-headedness, confusion and simple-mindedness summarize their states. They have never seen nor felt God's existence, and therefore, talking to them about knowing God is as much use as making them read a book written in hieroglyphics; they will neither understand nor accept it. For them, knowing God is the same as hearing a fantastical tale. While their thoughts may be clouded, they actually firmly believe that knowing God is an utter waste of time and effort. This is the first type of person: an infant in swaddling clothes.
Compared to an infant in swaddling clothes, this type of person has made some progress. Regretfully, they still have no understanding of God whatsoever. They still lack a clear understanding of and insight into God, and they are not very clear as to why they should believe in God, but in their hearts they have their own purpose and clear ideas. They do not concern themselves with whether it is right to believe in God. The objective and purpose they seek through belief in God is to enjoy His grace, to have joy and peace, to live comfortable lives, to have God's care and protection and to live under God's blessings. They are not concerned with the degree to which they know God; they have no urge to seek an understanding of God, nor are they concerned with what God is doing or what He wishes to do. They only blindly seek to enjoy His grace and obtain more of His blessings; they seek to receive a hundredfold in the present age, and eternal life in the age to come. Their thoughts, spending and devotion, as well as their suffering, all share the same objective: to obtain God's grace and blessings. They have no concern for anything else. This type of person is certain only that God can keep them safe and bestow His grace upon them. One can say that they are not interested in and not very clear as to why God wishes to save man or the result God wishes to obtain with His words and work. They have never made an effort to know God's substance and righteous disposition, nor can they muster the interest to do so. They do not feel like paying attention to these things, nor do they wish to know them. They do not wish to ask about God's work, God's requirements of man, God's will or anything else related to God; nor could they be bothered to ask about these things. This is because they believe these matters are unrelated to their enjoyment of God's grace; they are only concerned with a God who can bestow grace and is related to their personal interests. They have no interest whatsoever in anything else, and so they cannot enter the reality of the truth, regardless of how many years they have believed in God. Without anyone to water or feed them often, it is difficult for them to continue down the path of belief in God. If they cannot enjoy their earlier joy and peace or enjoy God's grace, they are quite liable to back out. This is the second type of person: the person who exists in the stage of the suckling infant.
This group of people possesses some clear awareness. These people are aware that enjoying God's grace does not mean that they themselves possess true experience; they are aware that if they never tire of seeking joy and peace, of seeking grace, or if they are able to bear witness by sharing their experiences of enjoying God's grace or by praising the blessings God has bestowed upon them, these things do not mean that they possess life, nor do they mean that they possess the reality of the truth. Beginning from their consciousness, they cease to entertain wild hopes that they will only be accompanied by God's grace; rather, as they enjoy God's grace, they simultaneously wish to do something for God; they are willing to perform their duty, to endure a bit of hardship and fatigue, to have some degree of cooperation with God. However, because their pursuit in their belief in God is too adulterated, because the individual intentions and desires they harbor are too strong, because their disposition is too wildly arrogant, it is very difficult for them to satisfy God's desire or to be loyal to God; therefore, they frequently cannot realize their individual wishes or honor their promises to God. They often find themselves in contradictory states: They very much wish to satisfy God to the greatest possible degree, yet they use all their might to oppose Him; they often make vows to God but quickly shirk their oaths. Even more often they find themselves in other contradictory states: They sincerely believe in yet deny God and everything that comes from Him; they anxiously hope that God will enlighten them, lead them, supply them and help them, yet they still seek their own way out. They wish to understand and to know God, yet they are unwilling to draw close to Him. Instead, they always avoid God; their hearts are closed to Him. While they have a superficial understanding and experience of the literal meaning of God's words and of the truth, and a superficial concept of God and truth, subconsciously they still cannot confirm or determine whether God is the truth; they cannot confirm whether God is truly righteous; nor can they determine the realness of God's disposition and substance, let alone His true existence. Their belief in God always contains doubts and misunderstandings, and it also contains imaginations and conceptions. As they enjoy God's grace, they also reluctantly experience or practice some of what they believe to be feasible truths, in order to enrich their belief, to augment their experience in believing in God, to verify their understanding of believing in God, to satisfy their vanity of walking upon the life path that they themselves established and accomplishing a righteous cause of mankind. At the same time they also do these things in order to satisfy their own desire for gaining blessings, in order to make a bet so that they can bear greater blessings of humanity, in order to accomplish the ambitious aspiration and lifelong desire of not resting until they have obtained God. These people are seldom able to obtain God's enlightenment, for their desire and their intention of gaining blessings are too important to them. They have no desire to and cannot bear to give this up. They fear that without the desire to gain blessings, without the long-cherished ambition of not resting until they have obtained God, they will lose the motivation to believe in God. Therefore, they do not wish to face reality. They do not wish to face God's words or God's work. They do not wish to face up to God's disposition or substance, let alone bring up the subject of knowing God. This is because once God, His substance and His righteous disposition replace their imaginations, their dreams will go up in smoke; their so-called pure faith and "merits" accumulated through years of painstaking work will vanish and come to nothing; their "territory" that they have conquered with their sweat and blood over the years will be on the verge of collapse. This will signify that their many years of hard work and effort have been futile, that they must begin again from nothing. This is the most difficult pain for them to bear in their hearts, and it is the result that they least desire to see; therefore they are always locked in this kind of stalemate, refusing to turn back. This is the third type of person: the person who exists in the stage of the weaning infant.
The three types of people described above—in other words, the people who exist in these three stages—do not possess any true belief in God's identity and status or in His righteous disposition, nor do they have any clear, definite recognition or confirmation of these things. Therefore, it is very difficult for these three types of people to enter the reality of the truth, and it is also difficult for them to receive God's mercy, enlightenment or illumination because the manner in which they believe in God and their mistaken attitude toward God make it impossible for Him to perform work within their hearts. Their doubts, misconceptions and imaginations regarding God have exceeded their belief and knowledge of God. These are three very dangerous types of people as well as three very dangerous stages. When one maintains an attitude of doubt toward God, God's substance, God's identity, the matter of whether God is the truth and the realness of His existence and cannot be sure of these things, how can one accept everything that comes from God? How can one accept the fact that God is the truth, the way and the life? How can one accept God's chastisement and judgment? How can one accept God's salvation? How can this kind of person obtain God's true guidance and supplying? Those who are in these three stages can oppose God, pass judgment on God, blaspheme God or betray God at any time. They can abandon the true way and forsake God at any time. One can say that people in these three stages exist in a critical period, for they have not entered the right track of believing in God.
After one has been weaned—that is, after they have enjoyed an ample amount of grace, one begins to explore what it means to believe in God, to wish to understand different questions, such as why man is living, how man should live and why God performs His work upon man. When these unclear thoughts and confused notions emerge within them and exist within them, they continuously receive watering and are also able to perform their duty. During this period, they no longer have any doubts as to the truth of God's existence, and they have an accurate grasp of what it means to believe in God. Upon this foundation they have a gradual knowledge of God, and they gradually obtain some answers to their unclear thoughts and confused notions as to God's disposition and substance. In terms of their changes in disposition as well as their knowledge of God, people in this stage begin to step onto the right track and enter a transition period. It is within this stage that people begin to have life. Clear indications of possessing life are the gradual resolution of the various questions related to knowing God that people have in their hearts—misunderstandings, imaginations, conceptions and vague definitions of God—that they not only really believe and know the realness of God's existence but also possess a clear definition and orientation of God in their hearts, that truly following God replaces their vague faith. During this stage, people gradually come to know their misconceptions toward God and their mistaken pursuits and ways of belief. They begin to crave the truth, to crave experiencing God's judgment, chastening and discipline, to crave a change in their disposition. They gradually abandon all sorts of conceptions and imaginations of God during this stage; at the same time they change and rectify their incorrect knowledge of God and obtain some correct fundamental knowledge of God. Although a portion of the knowledge possessed by people at this stage is not too specific or accurate, at the very least they gradually begin to abandon their conceptions, mistaken knowledge and misunderstandings of God; they no longer maintain their own conceptions and imaginations toward God. They begin to learn how to abandon—to abandon things found among their own conceptions, from knowledge and from Satan; they start to be willing to submit to correct and positive things, even to things that come from God's words and conform to the truth. They also begin to attempt to experience God's words, to personally know and carry out His words, to accept His words as the principles of their actions and as the basis for changing their disposition. During this period, people unconsciously accept God's judgment and chastisement, unconsciously accept God's words as their life. While they accept God's judgment, chastisement, and accept God's words, they become increasingly aware of and able to sense that the God that they believe in within their hearts truly exists. In God's words, their experiences and their lives, they increasingly feel that God has always presided over man's fate, led man, and supplied man. Through their association with God, they gradually confirm God's existence. Therefore, before they realize it, they have already subconsciously approved of and firmly believed in God's work, and have approved of God's words. Once people approve of God's words and approve of God's work, they unceasingly deny themselves, deny their own conceptions, deny their own knowledge, deny their own imaginations, and at the same time also unceasingly seek what the truth is and what God's will is. People's knowledge of God is quite superficial during this period of development—they are even unable to clearly elaborate this knowledge using words, nor can they specifically elaborate it—and they only have a perceptive understanding; however, when juxtaposed with the preceding three stages, the immature lives of people in this period have already received watering and the supply of God's words, and have already begun to sprout. It is like a seed buried in the ground; after obtaining moisture and nutrients, it will break through the soil; its sprouting represents the birth of a new life. This birth of a new life allows one to glimpse the indications of life. With life, people will thereby grow. Therefore, upon these foundations—gradually making their way onto the right track of believing in God, abandoning their own conceptions, obtaining God's guidance—people's lives will inevitably grow step by step. Upon what basis is this growth measured? It is measured according to their experience with God's words and their true understanding of God's righteous disposition. Although they find it very difficult to use their own words to accurately describe their knowledge of God and His substance during this period of growth, this group of people is no longer subjectively willing to pursue pleasure through the enjoyment of God's grace, or to pursue their purpose behind believing in God, which is to obtain His grace. Instead, they are willing to seek living by God's word, to become a subject of God's salvation. Additionally, they possess the confidence and are ready to accept God's judgment and chastisement. This is the mark of a person in the stage of growth.
Although people in this stage have some knowledge of God's righteous disposition, this knowledge is very hazy and indistinct. While they cannot clearly elaborate this, they feel they have already gained something internally, for they have obtained some measure of knowledge and understanding of God's righteous disposition through God's chastisement and judgment; however, it is all rather superficial, and it is still at an elementary stage. This group of people has a concrete point of view with which they treat God's grace. This point of view is expressed in the changes of the objectives they pursue and the way in which they pursue them. They have already seen—in God's words and work, in all kinds of His requirements of man and in His revelations of man—that if they still do not pursue the truth, if they still do not pursue to enter the reality, if they still do not seek to satisfy and know God as they experience His words, they will lose the significance of believing in God. They see no matter how much they enjoy God's grace, they cannot change their disposition, satisfy God or know God, and that if people continuously live among God's grace, they will never achieve growth, obtain life or be able to receive salvation. In summary, if one cannot truly experience God's words and is unable to know God through His words, one will eternally remain at the stage of an infant and never make a single step forward in the growth of one's life. If you forever exist in the stage of an infant, if you never enter the reality of God's word, if you never have God's word as your life, if you never possess true belief and knowledge of God, is there any possibility for you to be made complete by God? Therefore, anyone who enters the reality of God's word, anyone who accepts God's word as their life, anyone who begins to accept God's chastisement and judgment, anyone whose corrupt disposition begins to change, and anyone who has a heart that craves the truth, has a desire to know God, has a desire to accept God's salvation—these people are those who truly possess life. This is truly the fourth type of person, that of the maturing child, the person in the stage of childhood.
After experiencing the toddling stage of childhood, this stage of growth full of repeated reversals, people's lives have already stabilized, their forward paces no longer cease, nor is anyone able to obstruct them. Although the path ahead is still rough and rugged, they are no longer weak or fearful; they no longer fumble ahead or lose their bearings. Their foundations are rooted deep within the real experience of God's word. Their hearts have been drawn in by God's dignity and greatness. They crave to follow God's footsteps, to know God's substance, to know God in His entirety.
People in this stage already know clearly who they believe in, and they know clearly why they should believe in God and the meanings of their own respective lives; they also know clearly that everything God expresses is the truth. In their many years of experience, they realize that without God's judgment and chastisement, one will never be able to satisfy or know God, nor will one ever truly be able to come before God. Within these people's respective hearts is a strong desire to be tried by God, in order to see God's righteous disposition while being tried, to attain a purer love, and at the same time be able to more truly understand and know God. Those belonging to this stage have already entirely bid farewell to the infant stage, the stage of enjoying God's grace and eating bread and being filled. They no longer place extravagant hopes on making God tolerate and show mercy to them; rather, they are confident to receive and hope for God's unceasing chastisement and judgment, so as to separate themselves from their corrupt disposition and satisfy God. Their knowledge of God, their pursuits or the final goals of their pursuits: these things are all very clear in their hearts. Therefore, people in the adult stage have already completely bid farewell to the stage of vague faith, to the stage in which they rely on grace for salvation, to the stage of immature life that cannot withstand trials, to the stage of haziness, to the stage of fumbling, to the stage of frequently having no path to take, to the unstable period of alternating between sudden heat and cold, and to the stage where one follows God with one's eyes covered. This kind of person frequently receives God's enlightenment and illumination, and frequently engages in true association and communication with God. One can say that people living in this stage have already grasped part of God's will; they are able to find the principles of the truth in everything they do; they know how to satisfy God's desire. Furthermore, they have also found the path to knowing God and have begun to bear witness to their knowledge of God. During the process of gradual growth, they have a gradual understanding and knowledge of God's will, of God's will in creating humanity, of God's will in managing humanity; additionally, they also gradually have an understanding and knowledge of God's righteous disposition in terms of substance. No human conception or imagination can replace this knowledge. While one cannot say that in the fifth stage a person's life is completely mature or call this person righteous or complete, this kind of person has already taken a step toward the stage of maturity in life; this person is already able to come before God, to stand face to face with God's word and face to face with God. Because this kind of person has experienced so much of God's word, experienced innumerable trials and experienced innumerable instances of discipline, judgment and chastisement from God, their submission to God is not relative but absolute. Their knowledge of God has transformed from subconscious to clear and precise knowledge, from superficial to deep, from blurry and hazy to meticulous and tangible, and they have changed from strenuous fumbling and passive seeking to effortless knowledge and proactive witnessing. It can be said that people in this stage have possessed the reality of the truth of God's word, that they have stepped onto a path to perfection like Peter's. This is the fifth type of person, one who lives in a state of being mature—the adult stage.


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Royals, underdogs, friends and Baby Yoda - it's time for the Emmys
Royals, underdogs, friends and Baby Yoda - it's time for the Emmys - Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021
LOSANGELES – Lavish royal series "The Crown" is expected to reign at television's second pandemic era Emmy Awards on Sunday on what could be a big night for British talent.
Comedy "Ted Lasso," about a lovable American coach played by Jason Sudeikis navigating the idiosyncrasies of English soccer and society, is also expected to take home multiple awards for its mostly British cast after winning hearts with its optimism and sugary treats.
"We don't just have front runners this year, we have runaway front runners in most of the races," said Tom O'Neil, founder of awards website Goldderby.com.
Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and moved to an outdoor tent because of concerns over the Delta variant, the Emmys will be a scaled down gathering with vaccinations, testing and masks mandatory.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS television starting at 8 pm ET.
"The Crown" is widely expected to clinch its first best drama series Emmy, as well as trophies for the actors who played Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Coleman), Prince Charles, (Josh O'Connor), a young Princess Diana (newcomer Emma Corrin) and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson).
Corrin "really delivered and embodied everything that people love still to this day about Diana," said Gerrad Hall, senior TV editor at Entertainment Weekly.
A best drama series win for "The Crown" would mark a milestone for Netflix, while Apple TV+ would enter streaming's big league with a comedy series win for "Ted Lasso."
Other leading best drama series contenders include dystopian saga "The Handmaid's Tale," sci-fi favorite "The Mandalorian" featuring the lovable Baby Yoda and period romance "Bridgerton." [L1N2QJ1QW]
The closest contest on Sunday is for limited series, which produced contenders ranging from harrowing British rape drama "I May Destroy You" to Kate Winslet's downtrodden detective in "Mare of Easttown," and innovative superhero dramedy "WandaVision" on Disney+.
"Limited series is the most exciting race of the entire year," said Hall.
The Television Academy, whose members choose the winners, is known for pulling out surprises.
Billy Porter and MJ Rodriguez of FX drama "Pose" won plaudits for their turns in the emotional final season of the series about New York's underground drag culture in the 1980s that features a large cast of LGBTQ performers. "Pose" is also a best drama series nominee.
If Rodriguez wins on Sunday she would become the first transgender woman to win a best actress Emmy.
"It was a knockout performance by Billy Porter and it would be a historic moment for MJ Rodriguez," said Hall.
One of television's most popular shows – 1990s comedy "Friends" – could make an Emmys comeback. The "Friends" reunion special that saw the six main actors reminisce earlier this year about their days playing 20Something New Yorkers is competing against the filmed version of Broadway musical "Hamilton" for best variety special.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If filing your taxes over the next few weeks isn't on your calendar, it certainly should be. Tempting as it may be, this is one area where procrastinating can only make things worse.
Unlike sales tax, which is a pay-at-the-pump proposition, Canada's income tax system is based on self-assessment. Make your money, plan your affairs as best you can and then, pay up.
Not everybody does though. So before the April 30 deadline sneaks up and passes you, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Simply forgot to file last year?
Some people may neglect to file one year and then freeze when it comes to the next year's tax return because of the old unfiled return.
This type of procrastination hurts since the Canada Revenue Agency will monitor your financial behaviour over time, using identifiers like your SIN and your date of birth to access data from your bank accounts or credit card transactions.
At this point, it's best to contact the CRA to find out any penalties you may have incurred, as well as the best way to file and pay off your outstanding balance immediately.
Save 20% when you file your taxes with TurboTax! Valid until April 30, 2018. Click here for more details.
If you owe taxes and don't file your return by the deadline (it has to be postmarked on or before April 30), the CRA will charge you a late-filing penalty.
The penalty is five per cent of your balance owing, plus one per cent of your balance owing for each full month that your return is late, to a maximum of 12 months. In other words, you're already looking at an additional six per cent hit if you end up filing in early June.
Your late-filing penalty could also become higher if you were charged a late-filing penalty on a return in the past three years. In this instance, you're looking at 10 per cent of the balance owing plus an additional two per cent per month, to a maximum of 20 months.
Many otherwise honest people fail to report all the income they should, either inadvertently thanks to the complexities of the tax rules or because they're actually trying to get away with something.
For those who get caught fiddling with the books, the penalties can be severe. Cheating on taxes is a criminal offence punishable by fines equal to several times the amount of tax owing, plus the tax, plus the interest, and possibly even criminal prosecution.
And, contrary to popular belief, there's no time limit for the CRA to prosecute you for cheating or filing late. It's never too late to be brought up on tax misdemeanors from years ago.
Furthermore, waiting until you're caught, or until an investigation on your return has begun, means your bargaining power is reduced. If you've made a mistake, finance professionals advise that it's better to fess up as soon as possible, and then look into the possibility of amnesty or reprieve.
CRA's policy is to encourage tax laggards to come clean through tax amnesty or pardon – a voluntary disclosures program. It's designed to encourage both individuals and corporations to come forward and disclose material they didn't previously report, possibly avoiding penalties or prosecution.
The program is open-ended in nature, meaning there's really no specific deadline after which you're simply out of luck. In fact, those who voluntarily file uncompleted returns may only be required to pay the tax owing on the reported income, with interest and no other penalty.
The whole thing must be voluntary though. Your plea won't be accepted if the CRA has already initiated an enforcement action, including sending out an audit letter.
For more information on filing your income tax return, on time or late, check out the CRA website.
Tags: Canada Revenue Agency, filing late taxes, Filing taxes, Gordon, gordon powers, government of canada, is there a penalty for filing my taxes late, late tax penalty, late taxes, T4, tax penalties, tax season 2016, tax season 2017, tax season 2018, taxes, using an accountant, what happens if i file my taxes after the deadline, what happens if i file my taxes late, what to do if you file your taxes after the deadline, what to do if you forgot to file your taxes. Bookmark the permalink.


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16 Questions with Chris Riley
Our 40th anniversary celebration continues! We're featuring a different partner every few weeks this year, and up next is Chris Riley. Follow along on our social media as well, where Chris takes over this week!
Chris graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor's of Architecture in 2004. He is a registered architect in Tennessee and North Carolina, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certified, and a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Chris is a former head of his neighborhood's Architecture Committee, where he was tasked with reviewing, commenting on, and approving local construction projects. His past and current design projects range from conceptual carport additions to adaptive reuse to large scale master planning; and he's been the lead designer or assisted on projects in Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.
1. Where is your favorite place to eat in Nashville?
Way before times: Thai Phooket. It used to be close to home; we could take kid(s) there, get a beer, get spicy food, and the staff knew us.
2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I think I always wanted to be in a creative if not investigative field – astronomer.
3. Where haven't you been to visit yet, but have at the top of your bucket list?
There are too many! The most achievable – in the States - are probably the Grand Canyon or Zion National Park.
4. Have you ever had a nickname? What was it?
Yes. No way.
5. Favorite film?
The Usual Suspects – overall good movie, why I like it: Del Toro's part in the lineup scene and Stephen Baldwin getting hit in the face with a cigarette. Both scenes still crack me up.
Also Deerhunter, Suicide Kings (because I need more Walken), Heat, Enter the Dragon.
6. What's the most beautiful city you've been to?
Genoa, Italy. Only spent a day or two there, but the views coming into the town are postcard quality. Florence, Italy and parts of Delft, Holland are up there too.
7. Where do you get your coffee from? How do you take it?
I'm not really picky. The last time I visited my parents they had Folgers instant, and I am ok with that. Yeah, there's a difference between that/decent/good coffee; but it's ok. I take mine black ever since an over-sweetening experience turned me off additives for good.
8. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Chocolate and peanut butter. I can do one or the other, mix and match other flavors… but if chocolate and peanut butter are included in the base I'm good.
9. Sounds, Predators, Nashville SC or Titans?
Titans/Preds tossup. I follow Titans more closely between the two, though the Preds games are more fun to attend in person.
10. Is your glass half full or half empty?
Oh, man. Complicated question based on perspective, but half empty for me.
Taking all metaphors and world view out of the equation – my literal brain can't get past the concept of filling a glass halfway and stopping there.
11. Where did you grow up?
Small town Columbus, MS.
12. What's the best career advice you've ever heard?
Don't edit yourself – Lesley Beeman.
13. What's your favorite place to go for a vacation?
Beach/es. Hilton Head to call out a specific favorite – the difference in the beach area between high and low tide is awesome, and the times I've visited were relatively secluded.
14. Who are your architectural influences?
Eisenman, Koolhaas (early – I like their books as much/more than their work), Marlon Blackwell.
15. What is something surprising that you good at?
Strategy games.
16. What do you put on your pizza?
It's about the pizza quality – I can eat about anything if the base is good. I like NY style, red sauce, sausage. If I'm making one at home – pineapple usually gets thrown on. Special shout to Pizza Perfect – BBQ, Cheeseburger, and Margherita.
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