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The earth’s ecosystems we live in are organized so delicately and exquisitely that we can’t help but think someone has designed them. What would happen if the earth was a little bit bigger or smaller than it is now? What if the earth was slightly closer or farther away from the sun? If the size of the earth and the distance from the earth to the sun changed even a little bit and if the satellite moon didn’t exist, there would be no life on the earth. The earth would face a shortage of water or oxygen and its temperatures would be too hot or too cold; the earth’s environment would not be suitable for human habitation, as it is now.
It is God who created all things and made the earth habitable for humans (Heb 3:4). God designed order in the whole universe, and He also designed a plan for our salvation. The Bible is a grand blueprint that God has designed for our salvation (2 Ti 3:15). Let’s see what God has contained in His blueprint for salvation.
We are God’s temple
The Bible teaches that many false prophets will appear as the eternal kingdom of God draws near and that God’s chosen children must discern this and abide in the truth all the time (Mt 24:3–13). Let’s find out how we can discern false prophets and find the truth church.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 1 Co 3:16–17
The Bible tells us that we are God’s temple and we should be holy as God’s temple is holy. Only God’s Spirit must dwell in the temple. There should not be wicked and adulterous spirits, false spirits, robbing spirits, and deceiving spirits in God’s temple. The Bible says that if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. The people of Zion must never forget this and glorify God with a more godly heart and behavior, being always filled with the Holy Spirit as the temple of God.
The goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls (1 Pe 1:8–9). However, there are some who set heaven as their goal when they first believe in God but become distracted away from heaven and want to occupy the honored and exalted positions in the church, as time passes by. That is a very dangerous thought. We should always make it our goal to save souls, no matter what position we are in, and reflect on ourselves to see if we are living upright, according to God’s will.
We may have lived according to the sinful nature before having the right faith. However, since we have known God and been born again to a new life, we are being changed into God’s holy temple. As the people of Zion, let us accept all the teachings and commands of God into our hearts and carry them out diligently so we can be changed into the perfect heavenly beings day by day, instead of remaining stagnant in our faith even after a month, a year, and a decade.
God’s commandments observed in the temple
The temple, God’s dwelling place, is also a place where God’s decrees, laws and regulations are enforced. The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, repeatedly emphasizes that we should observe God’s commands and laws. It’s because we are God’s temple.
The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.’ ” Nu 15:37–40
We will be consecrated to God when we remember to obey all God’s commands. The temple is the very place where God’s commandments have been kept most preciously. A place without God’s commandments cannot serve as the temple.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. Dt 7:9–11
The Bible urges us to faithfully follow God’s commands, decrees and laws, saying that God keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generations. According to these words, our ancestors who had true faith in God devoted their lives to keeping God’s commandments.
When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go . . .” 1 Ki 2:1–3
“But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.” 1 Ki 8:61
David loved God’s commands more than pure gold and told his son Solomon to live by God’s decrees and obey His commands. The Bible, God’s blueprint for salvation, emphasizes so many times that we should keep God’s laws and commands. It also says that God’s people, who will be saved in the last days, are those who obey God’s commandments (Rev 12:17; 14:12). It’s because God’s people are the temple, where God’s laws, decrees and regulations are always observed.
By their fruit you will recognize them
Many people today claim to believe in God, but most of them do not keep God’s commandments. What is the reason they disobey God’s commandments? It’s because they are not the temple of God.
God’s people, who will be saved, are the temple of God. Under this great principle, we can easily distinguish true prophets from false ones and the true church that can be saved by God from the churches where there is no salvation, through God’s commands and man-made rules.
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? . . . A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Mt 7:15–20
The Bible teaches us that there will be false prophets and we should watch out for them, recognizing them by their fruit. Thornbushes produce thorns, and fig trees produce figs. Likewise, if we see their fruits, we can see whether their teachings are from God or they are man-made rules.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ . . .” Mt 7:21–27
Jesus taught, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Then He said, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.” Jesus said this because they were not true prophets, but false prophets.
Jesus calls them false prophets by seeing that they practice lawlessness, not keeping God’s law. According to Jesus, those who practice lawlessness cannot go to heaven, and we can recognize them by their fruit. So we must discern false prophets by the fruit of their deeds, not by their appearance or eloquence.
Then, when it comes to worship days, which is lawlessness—the Sabbath or Sunday? There is a specific day that God has set for us to remember in God’s temple. It is the seventh-day Sabbath. God Himself declared the Ten Commandments, in which He ordered, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex 20:8). In the New Testament, too, we can see the scene where Jesus kept the Sabbath as was His custom (Lk 4:16) and the apostles of the early Church, who followed Jesus’ will, also kept the Sabbath as was their custom (Acts 17 and 18).
Both in the Old and New Testament times, sacrifices (worship services) were always offered in the temple of God on the Sabbath according to God’s word; Sunday worship was never conducted. As the holy commandments have been carried out in God’s temple until now, God’s people who are the temple of God must keep God’s feasts holy, including the Sabbath, the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This is why we worship on the Sabbath and at each feast.
Wisdom to discern false prophets
A bad tree bears bad fruit, and a good tree bears good fruit. However, if we do not look carefully into the words of the Bible—God’s blueprint for salvation, we will fail to properly discern between true and false prophets and will be deceived by the sweet talk of false prophets. That is something truly sad.
God’s word is holy and true. How can people dare to add to or subtract from what God has designed to save the people of heaven? This is God’s will: If anyone adds anything to the Bible—the blueprint for salvation, God will add to him the plagues, and if anyone takes anything away from it, He will take away from him the privilege of going to heaven (Rev 22:18–19). Through the words of the Bible, we should have the wisdom and discernment to recognize false prophets and find the true church.
Again the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.’ There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” Eze 22:23–26
God says He is profaned among those who shut their eyes to the keeping of His Sabbaths. This is the first characteristic of false prophets. Those who break the Sabbath cannot be God’s temple or true prophets, no matter how hard they try to tempt people with sweet words. They seem to glorify God, saying, “Lord, Lord!” but actually they are profaning God in the spiritual world.
“Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’—when the LORD has not spoken.” Eze 22:27–28
The second characteristic of false prophets is that they devour and destroy souls in the end. The Bible, the blueprint for salvation, warns that many false prophets and false Christs will appear and deceive even the elect in the last days (Mt 24:24). They look like true prophets, wearing sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves because they practice lawlessness. Please remember this.
The Bible says that there are true prophets in Zion where God’s feasts are celebrated (Jer 3:14–15). I would like to ask all of you, brothers and sisters in Zion, to discern false prophets and to find the true church, so you can all enter the eternal kingdom of heaven, without anyone falling away from the faith in the spiritual desert.
Live holy and godly lives
God’s temple is the place where God’s will is executed and God’s commandments are observed. God is holy. So we, who are God’s temple, should also be holy in everything we do (1 Pe 1:14–16).
. . . But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming . . . 2 Pe 3:6–12
If the temple is dirty and polluted, how can God dwell there? As the eternal kingdom of heaven is drawing near, let us live more godly lives as the people of heaven, looking forward to the day of God and speeding its coming, so that we can meet God in holiness when He comes. Then we, God’s people, will be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, and enjoy eternal life and happiness in the everlasting kingdom of heaven.
Today we are dwelling in Zion, where Christ Ahnsanghong has restored and proclaimed the law of the new covenant at His second coming. Without coming to Zion, we cannot find the law of truth and true prophets; they can be found nowhere else in the world except in Zion. So, Heavenly Father and Mother are calling people of all nations to “come” to Zion where the Sabbath and the seven feasts in three times under the new covenant are observed.
As God’s children who have already received all these blessings, let us dwell in Zion with thankful hearts and lead many people to Zion. Brothers and sisters in Zion! I earnestly ask you to follow the commandments of Father and Mother on your remaining journey of faith, so you can all enter the eternal kingdom of heaven.