Although we know that as a believer in God, one should only follow God and obey God, actually in real life we may unconsciously walk the path of following man. For example, when the Lord Jesus did His work, most of the Jewish faithful at that time only listened to the teachings of the chief priests and the Pharisees and they did not accept the work and words of the Lord Jesus, and in the end they lost the salvation of the Lord Jesus. Nominally, they believed in God, but in reality they believed in the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees. Clearly, if we don’t know what obeying and following God is, and what obeying and following man is, we are most likely to miss our chance of welcoming the Lord’s return. So, whom should we believers of the Lord obey? And how can we become the ones who truly follow and obey God?
Answer: Concerning this aspect of the truth, let us first read a passage of Almighty God’s words: “Of principal importance in following God is that everything should be according to the words of God today: Whether you are pursuing entry into life or the fulfillment of God’s will, everything should be centered around the words of God today. If what you commune and pursue are not centered around the words of God today, then you are a stranger to the words of God, and totally bereft of the work of the Holy Spirit. … Those who can follow the present work of the Holy Spirit, and who are able to follow the footsteps of God, such that they follow God wherever He leads them—these are people who are blessed by God. Those who do not follow the present work of the Holy Spirit have not entered into the work of God’s words, and no matter how much they work, or how great their suffering, or how much they run about, none of it means anything to God, and He will not commend them. … ‘Following the work of the Holy Spirit’ means understanding the will of God today, being able to act in accordance with the present requirements of God, being able to obey and follow the God of today, and entering in accordance with the newest utterances of God. Only this is someone who follows the work of the Holy Spirit and is in the stream of the Holy Spirit. Such people are not only capable of receiving God’s praise and seeing God, but can also know God’s disposition from the latest work of God, and can know man’s conceptions and disobedience, and man’s nature and substance, from His latest work; furthermore, they are able to gradually achieve changes in their disposition during their service. Only people such as this are those who are able to gain God, and who have genuinely found the true way” (“Know the Newest Work of God and Follow the Footsteps of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Following God primarily refers to following God’s current work, submitting to and practicing God’s current words, being able to keep God’s commandments, seeking out God’s intentions in all matters, practicing in accordance with God’s word, and absolutely submitting to the work and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Finally, it refers to becoming a person who practices the truth and follows God’s will. Only by doing these things can someone be said to follow God and be someone who gains God’s salvation. If we outwardly base our faith on the Bible and exalt the Bible, but in reality we practice and experience everything according to the words and teachings of man in the Bible instead of submitting to and practicing the word of God from the Bible. Also, we do not grasp God’s intentions and instead only adhere to religious ceremonies and rules, this is following man, not God. If we follow and practice the words of people from the Bible as if those were the words of God, yet consider the Lord Jesus a mere figurehead and ignore the words of the Lord Jesus and do nothing to follow His commandments, then we will surely be spurned and cursed by the Lord Jesus, which is just like what happened with the hypocritical Pharisees. There are many people who have faith in the Lord, yet they also maintain blind faith in spiritual celebrities or pastors and elders and they worship the hypocritical Pharisees. Whatever befalls them they run to the pastors and elders to seek guidance and they do the same when it comes to studying the true way. The result is they are deceived and misled by the hypocritical Pharisees and religious leaders and they start down the path toward resisting God, these are the consequences and ends of following man instead of God. The only way to truly follow God is to solely base our faith on following the work of the Holy Spirit, following the current words of God, following the footsteps of the Holy Spirit’s work, and giving our utmost to fulfill our duties.
Especially as God does His work of judgment in the last days, the religious world has lost the Holy Spirit’s work and it has become desolate. When we are compelled to seek the true way, we must put even more focus on seeking the Holy Spirit’s words toward the churches and we must seek out the words and utterances of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. If we do not seek out the words and work of the Holy Spirit, if we are unable to hear the voice of God, if we are unable to gain what God’s current words provide for us, then we will instead be eliminated during God’s work in the last days and cast aside into the darkness of grief and sorrow. People who truly follow and submit to God will never be abandoned by Him. Those who worship religious pastors and elders are submitting to man and have become followers of man. These people will be revealed by God’s work in the last days and they shall be eliminated and cast aside.
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