Introduction

Good day to all! Let's delve into 1 Samuel chapter 5. Both this chapter and chapter 4 have presented considerable confusion. Consequently, the perception of God in the Old Testament, compared to that in the New Testament, has led to numerous misconceptions about God. We shall now re-examine this true God. The theme of 1 Samuel chapter 5 is The True God is Great and Awesome. As you listen, understand that we should not trifle with the true God, nor should we jest or argue with Him. If this understanding permeates our minds, our lives will be well-lived.

If we wish to know the true God, what is our understanding of Him? This truly determines the outcome of our lives. For out of the heart proceed the issues of life; as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The most important thing is not to ponder how to make money, how to attend university, how to find a good job, or how to pass civil service exams. The most crucial is to first contemplate what kind of God the true God is. What people lack most is the fear of God! Gradually, you will discover that the fear of God seems elusive. After doing something, nothing seems to happen; everything is okay! Why? Because the Ark of God is not present.

The Israelites suffered greatly because of the Ark, as they did not know how to fear the true God. Six hundred thousand Israelites died in the wilderness. We must re-acquaint ourselves with this true God. Many say, God is a God who loves me! Indeed, God is love, but whether He loves you is not a certainty! If God is a God of love, then why did the Philistines all develop hemorrhoids? What is the explanation? We are very perplexed! The most important statement in Chinese Mingding Destiny, in my opinion, is to have a correct understanding of the true God, to fear Him! So, do you know? Let’s return to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and see what Samuel's mother, Hannah, said.

Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogance come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath borne seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. (1 Samuel 2:1-6)

He maketh poor, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Samuel 2:7-10)

This incident tells us that the true God is great and awesome. To what extent is the true God great and awesome? If we revisit Deuteronomy:

Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given them: Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 29:24-28)

The greatest confusion in our generation today is that the God of the Old Testament has become Santa Claus in the New Testament. This New Testament God has a few reindeer, puts on a snow shovel, and carries a big sack filled with all kinds of toys, which he distributes from house to house. So, during Christmas, everyone exchanges gifts, which is a great source of confusion. Later, people have tweaked and tweaked, creating the notion that Jesus Christ is love which, as it developed, created problems. To what extent? Many confusing things were discovered, such as numerous children in the church developing learning disabilities. You might say that those who do not believe in God are doing quite well, but why did the children who believe in God develop this illness? Later, it was also discovered that there were many cases of cancer in the church, and some who had believed for many years developed anxiety, leaving people very confused.

Is the True God Like This?

The true God both brings disaster and bestows blessings, but the crucial point is who you are. If you are a saint, God will keep His covenant and show you mercy. Have we resolved these confusions? Upon hearing this among us, a significant portion of the confusion is resolved. Everyone must understand and fear this God. If you do not fear this God, it is as if the Ark is not present. Even if the Ark is not present, do you think you can escape unscathed? You cannot. Old Eli, his sons, and his daughter-in-law did not know God, did not understand Him, and did not fear Him; they all died. Therefore, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The Philistines captured the Ark, thinking they had captured God. Is that really the case? No. God was giving them time to learn a lesson. To go against the true God is no joke. Whether you are a Gentile or not, whether you know God or not, encountering this true God is a deadly affair. Those who know God but do not fear Him will encounter misfortune; those who do not know God will also encounter misfortune when they come across the Ark. This God is a God who brings misfortune! So, Christians do not have many good choices in this life. I offer you a suggestion: if you are to be a Christian, be a good one; otherwise, do not be one at all. I know you come to church wanting some blessings, but if you seek something else, the curses run deep. I have personally witnessed decades-long Christians among us suffering deep curses. Why? Because they do not know God.

And the Philistines, who do not know God, suffer the same curses as those decades-long Christians. The key issue is that the true God is great and awesome! The Philistines thought that by capturing the Ark, they had captured God. Eli's two sons also thought that by bringing the Ark to the front lines, they could win the battle; it is not that simple. As a result, the Ark was captured, and Eli's daughter-in-law said, The Ark has been captured. Eli died upon hearing this news, and Eli's two sons also died without hearing the news, because they did not have the opportunity to hear it!

Eli's daughter-in-law, upon hearing this news, gave birth to a son named Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed from Israel, which is pure nonsense. So, it is a tragedy when people do not know that Jehovah is a great and awesome God! To what extent is the true God great and awesome? Did you think that if the Ark was captured, God could not protect His Ark? God does not care much about the Ark, the church, the temple, or even His people. If He did, He would not have allowed this to happen.

Let me unravel everyone's confusion: the Israelites forsook their God, and as a result, they were tossed about among the nations. During the Second World War, Hitler killed more than six million Jews. There were only about ten million Jews in the world. Confused? Yes。Even those who know God are confused, let alone those who do not know God. The Philistines were the same; they did not know or understand God. As a result, they captured the Ark, piled up a broken box, and thought it was great. But when they woke up the next morning, their idol Dagon had fallen face down to the ground.

I don't know if Dagon's name is a translation of Da Gun and Xiao Gun in Chinese, or the donkey roll sold in Beijing. But a Xiao Gun really fell face down to the ground, leaving everyone confused, so they raised it up. I tell you, never try to help with the things of God. It's okay to help an idol, but helping God will cause you problems. Wasn't someone struck dead for trying to steady the Ark? Idols need help to stand, but God does not. The next day, they put the Ark back in its place, and the idol Dagon fell right on the threshold, breaking off its arms. They had no idea what was happening. Xiao Gun one day, Da Gun the next; idols are useless!

Brothers and sisters, never mess around and never worship the true God as an idol; it is a deadly thing. So, be sure to build the church according to the word of God. If you don't believe it, try messing around on your own and see what happens. Things are not as simple as they seem. The people of Ashdod all developed hemorrhoids. A large piece of flesh grew out of their anus, and it would break open, spraying blood, causing much distress. Eating, drinking, excretion, and sleeping are basic human needs. If you cannot eat, drink, excrete, or sleep, that is a big problem. You can't control whether you develop hemorrhoids or not. People cannot do without the true God!

In fact, behind the hemorrhoids is Old Ma, which is very dirty. When you go to the hospital to see a doctor and say you want to see about hemorrhoids, the doctor feels disgusted, and you also feel disgusted. Seeing these things may confuse you. How can the true God cause people to develop hemorrhoids? I tell you, behind the hemorrhoids is Old Ma, and Old Ma is sent by God. I have dealt with Old Ma quite often, and we have a good relationship. It knows me, and I know it. After experiencing many ministries, I want to tell you that these hemorrhoids were really caused by our God.

We see in the Bible that the people of Ashdod suddenly realized that the hemorrhoids were related to the Ark. So, what should they do? Forget about the hemorrhoids and the Dagon incident, and let's send the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath. I guess they wanted to do an experiment to see if the disease was related to this thing. They wanted to try it out, thinking that maybe their hemorrhoids were not related to it. You know, when people have hemorrhoids, everyone has them; those who used to have small hemorrhoids now have big hemorrhoids; those who never had hemorrhoids now have small hemorrhoids, with fleshy tumors dangling there. It sounds disgusting, and it looks even more disgusting. Have you ever seen hemorrhoids? They are quite disgusting.

After the Ark of God was sent to Gath, the people there also developed hemorrhoids. Wow! It really was this thing! As a result, all the Philistines in Gath said: This thing is too powerful! Let's put it in Gath, where Gath has its own idols. They didn't want to put this Ark in their idol temples, because it wouldn't work! They couldn't stand it; they couldn't bear it. If you were a Philistine, a Gathite, or an Ashdodite, what would you think? I think people are not very smart here. Oh! This God is powerful, let's change to another one to worship! No, they didn't think of that. Oh! This Ark, the God of Israel is powerful!

In fact, I tell you that in the land of Canaan, during the time of Eli and Samuel, there was still one person alive named Rahab. Actually, almost everyone in the area knew about Rahab's story. You may ask, how do you know about it? The people of Jericho were all destroyed, but only Rahab in Jericho survived! She turned to God. People are stupid and unwise like this. Eli was not very wise, Eli's sons were even less wise, Eli's daughter-in-law was not very wise. Those who are wise are like Samuel and Samuel's mother. Let's ask ourselves if we are wise. The true God is great and awesome!

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:5-6)

That's terrible。If they could understand, the Gathites were very clever! They sent the Ark to Ekron. When the people of Ekron heard about it, they cried out, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel over to us, to slay us and our people!

So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. (1 Samuel 5:11)

You say, how can just one Ark be so powerful? It is not the Ark that is powerful, but the true God behind the Ark that is powerful! Do you know why it is called the Ark of God, not a wooden box? The Ark is about the size of a cabinet, but the Ark is powerful! Because this thing is a covenant. You must know that anything related to a covenant is different from a contract. A covenant has a bit of a sacred quality. For example, marriage is a covenant, not a contract. A contract is a transaction, a covenant has a bit of sacred nature, and cannot be violated.

This Ark, don't look down on it as a wooden box, it is the covenant of God! Wherever there is a covenant of God, God will manifest His power, this is the glory of the true God, the glory of the true God has never left. That is to say, the Gathites saw this Ark as if they saw the plague, because our God is a great and awesome God! Don't listen to people saying that the New Testament is all about grace, it is not that simple。God has never changed since ancient times, the New Testament is also a covenant! If you can read the Bible, you will read this。

Once when I was reading the Bible, I read 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians ate the communion, that is a covenant with God! The New Covenant was established with the blood of Jesus, so that is also an Ark。As a result, they celebrated communion with out reverencing God. Many people became sick and eventually died. Why? Because they failed to treat the Ark as a covenant. You must know that God is a God who keeps covenant mercy. I encourage everyone to fear God, the true God is great and awesome.

You think the New Testament is any different? Let me ask you, are there many cancer cases in the church? I must say, why bring up cancer all the time? Of course, hemorrhoids are included, and tumors too. If you read the English Bible, it doesn't call it hemorrhoids, it calls it tumors, so tumors are very evil things. Among us, whether the tumor is on your anus or any other door, if you have a tumor, remember, you need to think carefully about where you are not reverent enough towards God. This is a very serious topic. The True God in the New Testament is also like this. The Jerusalem church collected offerings. As for how Peter, James, and the others managed the offerings, that's another matter. There's a passage that says:

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why have you contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. (Acts 5:1-6)

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5:7-11)

Keeping covenants is sacred; the True God is like this, and the New Testament is also like this. Some people say: why don't we see people who withhold offerings die immediately today? I tell you: it's just that the death isn't so quick. Remember, we need to change what's in our heads, we need to revere God! There are so many areas where we don't revere God, there are so many things we think we know. When I encounter people who are self-righteous, I often feel helpless. I wish these people could come out of malignant diseases like cancer. But there's no way. I hope you come out, but if you don't want to come out yourself, it probably won't be effective. The True God is definitely not someone who harnesses a few deer, puts on a snowplow, and fills a big bag with gifts. That's not the True God, that's Santa Claus.

Is the True God like that? If everyone can clearly recognize the True God, that would be extraordinary. Someone had a tense muscle in their back that was uncomfortable. They came to the church like that, and I prayed for them and it loosened up. After a while, they said: Teacher, this muscle has tightened up again. I prayed for them again and it was fine again. Later, it happened repeatedly. Why? They went back to being foolish! When will people stop being foolish? Don't even mention the church members being foolish. Some junior pastors can also be quite deadly when their foolishness comes up.

I really lament, why does it become like this when foolishness comes up? This is the True God, don't mess with the True God. The True God is like this, great and awesome! If you imitate the Israelites and repeatedly forsake God, I tell you, God will cause you to be tossed around among the nations, unable to find your way. Chinese Mingding Destiny studies the most: what kind of God is the True God?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10)

We Really Need to Fear God

I once heard a story, a very divine story! A child came to this place to study theology. I knew him, and he told me the story of his family. During the Anti-Japanese War, his grandparents believed in Jesus. At that time, his family was very wealthy, owning half of the county's property and employing many laborers. After his grandfather believed in Jesus, he didn't manage the family business much, nor did he handle the finances. The finances were taken over by their tenants. Some people would say that his grandparents were confused by their faith, but they weren't confused at all. It was God's wonderful arrangement. The couple greatly feared God.

Later, after the liberation, they were arrested because they were landlords. At this time, someone stood up and said: How are they landlords? They are poor peasants. Look, they only have a small broken house left. The big houses have all been taken away. The authorities asked: Who should we arrest then? Originally, they had a tenant who had saved and scrimped all his life and later took over a large portion of their property. As a result, this tenant was arrested and executed.

Later, someone wrote a book called To Live. I said to this child, So 'To Live' is about your family?! The tenant toiled for most of his life and finally seized someone else's property, but was executed. His grandparents said: We really thank God! So his father became a preacher. That was an era that didn't allow religious talk or feudal superstitions, so his father was arrested. His family's story is really wonderful. In fact, his father preached the gospel in our hometown after he was released from prison!

Although his father was imprisoned, he was very joyful. People saw that he was very joyful and wanted to sentence him to death. Someone had to sign the death sentence. The authority was about to sign when someone came to report: Your mother is dying. This authority put the matter aside and hurried to handle the things after his mother's death. After finishing, he continued with the matter. Just as he was about to sign, someone else came to report that there was a flood. This person hurried to deal with the flood. After a while, the flood was dealt with, and he took out the document again. Just as he was about to sign, someone from outside came and arrested him as a counter-revolutionary. This became a joke. Political struggles are like that.

So, don't you think the True God is amazing? The True God is too amazing! Our God often adds a little humor, and as a result, puts the person who always wanted to sign the document in prison, and even puts him in the same room as the preacher. He sat there constantly muttering: How is this possible? How could it be like this? This person was pulled down from a high-ranking official position, and his spirit was not very normal. The person next to him often prayed because he was a Christian, a preacher. He asked: Who are you? He said: I am so-and-so, I am the one whose signature you never managed to get on your document. If I had, I wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't be here either. Later, China reformed and opened up, and his father was released! A miraculous story!

What I want to say is that a person who fears God, no matter whether the gospel he preaches is Chinese Mingding Destiny or not, in that era, standing at that height, our God still worked. So our God is very powerful. Our brothers and sisters must know to fear God! In life, don't be afraid of anything, just be afraid of not fearing God. Later, this young man also became a preacher. After graduating, he went to another place to be a pastor. This story is very interesting. After hearing it, I felt it was wonderful, so I told it to everyone.

What I am saying, everyone should gradually ponder and understand, the most important thing in life is not to be rigid. If we haven't done it right, we should quickly correct it. If we didn't fear God in the past, today we should fear God properly. If we didn't know God in the past, today we should know God properly. After getting to know God, we should get to know more, don't be rigid, don't stay at that primitive stage. Our God both blesses and brings disaster, we must revere Him! Are you still confused by what I am saying? You won't be confused. The most important thing in life is to fear God. Those who fear God and trust in Him will not lack any good thing. God will surely exalt you above all nations, causing you to be at the top and not at the bottom, to be the head and not the tail.

The matter of fearing God is extraordinary, and the interpretations can be strange. Also, people should never think about helping God, the True God doesn't need people's help. For example, in the Old Testament it is written that if you build an altar to God, you must not use tools on the stones. Whatever the stones you pick up from outside are like, that's how they should be. Don't chisel them with a hammer, because chiseling them makes them unclean. That is to say, to build God's glorious church, the most important thing is not that you help God. All those who have this mentality of helping God are cursed. You say that Chinese Mingding Destiny has come to this era, and God wants to choose a person to reveal the mysteries of His gospel, without my stinky tofu, God would still work. So don't spread my name. I don't want me to be famous, I want God to be famous. I proclaim God's name, and God will magnify my name. We really need to fear God!

You have never heard me say that I helped God build the church, it's all that I am working with God. In the church, it often happens that someone comes and says: Pastor, I will help you build the church. You help me? I think you should help yourself first. These words reveal a very evil thought. You should read the Bible carefully. What did God say? Jesus said: I will build my church on this rock. When was it your turn? We are only being used by God. To have this grace to be used by God is to serve according to the grace God has given us. Don't ever say again: I will help you build the church. Such words are not reverent enough towards God. Of course, there may be times when you hear me and you may misunderstand. But in my bones, I only listen to God's words. What God says, we will do. This is the essence of Chinese Mingding Destiny.

You ask me, should we do Happy Groups? I don't do them. Why? Because I can't find any basis for it in the Bible. You ask me, why do you preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons all day long? Because this definitely has a biblical foundation. Why do you train people to do handicrafts, to be skillful, to learn to speak? How can a stupid person know God? I have biblical basis for all of these. You need to restore the glorious image that God created you in. That glorious image really requires doing many things, and you need to be able to manage things. I think if there is anything, I am working hard to build the church according to God's word, but it is to let God's Spirit dwell in us, to accomplish God's great plan in us. It is a great honor to be able to work with God.

So, after saying so much, it's about not helping God, but also not using God. Using God up, throwing Him aside, using Him again, throwing Him aside again. The Bible says: Our Lord Jesus took on the form of a servant. Do you understand? He is not a servant. It is Jesus who wants to wash your feet, not you who want Jesus to wash your feet. Scary! You have that guts, but I don't have that guts. If you have that guts, I think you are very bold! To fear God, the most important thing is not to do your own thing!

Later, I discovered that old Eli in the Bible didn't figure out what was going on until he died. Old Eli's two sons still thought: Isn't it good that I'm doing this? I am very reverent towards God! Is this called fearing God? He himself thought he was fearing God. And then there was King Saul, who did his own thing. Samuel said: You have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God. He even said: I have obeyed! I have indeed obeyed the voice of the Lord my God! I lament that many people don't know that once a person has their own set of ways, they can't listen to God's word.

The True God is great and awesome. You can do whatever you want with idols, but even people who worship idols and burn incense on the first and fifteenth of the month have a heart of reverence, but today Christians have too little reverence. Isn't it sad! This generation is a generation that needs to know the True God. Our brothers and sisters should reverse our concepts and ideas and be sure to fear God. If you insist on doing your own thing, I can only say, I wish them good luck! My heart is filled with emotion, I truly yearn for the knowledge of God in this generation to fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Start fearing God! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

May God bless everyone!

1 Samuel Chapter 5

5:1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
5:2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.
5:3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.
5:4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.
5:5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.
5:6 The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.
5:7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.”
5:8 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Have the ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.
5:9 But after they had moved it, the Lord’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
5:10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people there cried out, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.”
5:11 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel back to its place, so that it won’t kill us and our people.” For deadly plague was throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy on it.
5:12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.