Alright, let's delve into the Book of Jonah, Chapter Three. The theme here is Repentance can alter God's intention to bring disaster. You must understand, God's plans are not always set in stone, especially when it comes to calamities. So, brothers and sisters, if you experience a small misfortune, soften up quickly. Because if you don't soften up after a small misfortune, and you don't soften up after a medium misfortune, then a major calamity is in store.

Let me tell you, God's plan isn't rigid, as if He's out to destroy people. If God were out to destroy people, I wouldn't be alive today. Why? Because I often offend God. You know, offending God is no joke, so the best lesson is repentance. In my ministry, nine times out of ten, I have to point out people's faults. Oh, the risk I take! If I don't point out their faults, everyone thinks they're doing fine. But I tell you, if people are stubborn again and again, that is disaster, that is destruction!

I. God Does Not Delight in Death, but Desires Life

Why did God have to send Jonah to Nineveh? Haven't the people of Nineveh done enough wicked things? Let me tell you, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, which invented the most brutal tortures in the world, unparalleled before or since. Similar to some practices among us Chinese—for example, slow slicing, cutting flesh piece by piece from a living person. Some were cut over three thousand times before they died! Oh, every cut brought a scream. Can you imagine such brutal torture? So, people must know God's heart.

When we read the Old Testament, we find a group of people being wiped out by God, then another group being wiped out. We develop a strange notion that God delights in wiping people out. Have you noticed? Consider the Israelites who left Egypt, six hundred thousand soldiers, and in the end, only Joshua and Caleb remained. Touching, isn't it? Like winning the lottery! But we must understand how many chances God gave the Israelites. He gave them chance after chance, but they simply did not fear God.

When I encounter people who do not fear God, my heart aches. If you soften up just a little, you'll see you're still kicking around today. Isn't that right? Hey? Why am I, so flawed, still kicking around after all these years? Is it because God wants to crush you? If God wanted to crush you, you would have been crushed long ago. If God wanted to crush me, I would have been crushed long ago too. Isn't that so? So, people must have a correct understanding of God.

Then you ask, why did all the Israelites die in the wilderness? Let me explain. When the Israelites left Egypt, did they see God sending plagues to the Egyptians? They did. After seeing that, why did they still act foolishly? Let's not talk about the Israelites first, but the Egyptians. God said, Let my people go. But Pharaoh wanted to let them go, then didn't want to let them go, until the firstborn of every family and the firstborn of every animal in Egypt were struck down by God.

Why didn't you do it sooner? Oh, first this plague, then that plague. I find that many people's brains have been squeezed by a door. After being squeezed, their brains are shaped like crooked melons. What kind of brains are these? Our brothers and sisters probably know what kind of brains these are. Let me tell you, the Egyptian Pharaoh eventually died at the bottom of the Red Sea, which is today's Red Sea. The Israelites saw all this, yet they still opposed God and ended up dying in the wilderness.

The Egyptians ate manna that God sent down every day, yet they wanted to kill Moses and so on—they just didn't understand how powerful God was. Oh, God was patient with these people. God said to Moses, Let me destroy them all, and I will raise up your descendants. Moses cried out to God, begging, God, don't do this. And God listened to Moses' prayer and spared the Israelites. Then there was the making of the golden calf—they spared no ridiculous deeds.

The Ninevites were a very wicked group. Just look at Nineveh, the Assyrian Empire—how evil they were. God allowed them to punish the Israelites, and they found pleasure in torturing the Israelites, thinking it was great fun. Oh, God became angry and wanted to punish the Ninevites. Before punishing them, God chose an Israelite.

Let me tell you, Israelites and Ninevites were sworn enemies. Mentioning Ninevites to an Israelite was like a Chinese person hearing about the Japanese devils and remembering the Nanjing Massacre. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn them, but Jonah simply refused. He said, I'll do anything, just don't make me warn the Ninevites. I hate them!

What was the result? The prophet didn't go, so calamity came upon the prophet. The prophet's heart, I tell you, was as good as dead. Make me go to Nineveh? I'd rather die! I just want to see them punished. God, I've prayed for so many years, and only now do you think of bringing disaster upon Nineveh. Destroy it! But God does not delight in death; God desires life. We must know this.

As a result, God brought disaster upon Jonah. Later, he finally repented. Oh, he was in the sea, then swallowed by a big fish and smoked in its belly. Oh, the smell! It wasn't just burping. I think Jonah in the belly of the great fish really had to vomit bile and gastric juices. Later, Jonah repented. Did God let Jonah die? No. God had the big fish save Jonah. So, do you see God's heart? The entire Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we must know that God both brings disaster and bestows blessings. But God does not desire death; God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that they should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Let me tell you, I am so thankful to my God! For someone like me to offend God is commonplace. Some people see me and say, Teacher, why did you get COVID? I say, Because I am a model of a sinner. Don't think of me as a model of a righteous person. Oh, I tell you, sometimes I am like Jonah. God, let me be as far away from this person as possible; I get agitated just looking at them. God, have mercy on me. And God says, I want you to serve him; you must serve him. Oh, my goodness! God, forgive me.

Let me tell you, I have a bad habit that I couldn't change without God's discipline. I'm not saying I'm smart; I have my foolish moments too. But I have this fear of being foolish. Isn't that a bad habit? Of course, it's a bad habit. Someone like you who thinks you're smart and doing well.

I think God is so good! I say, God, if not for your grace and mercy, who among us could come before you? So sometimes, when I see God saving us sinners, what do I feel? I tell you, when God sees a group of foolish earthlings, He must think, What kind of brains are these? Oh, my goodness! Isn't it like eating dung beetles? So, people must repent.

Do you know that people often experience small misfortunes? I tell you, small misfortunes include colds, menstrual pain, swelling of the face after a tooth extraction, and fish bones stuck in the throat. God sends these small misfortunes because He constantly wants to guide us to repentance. I find that people are very stubborn.

Some time ago, I went to visit a dying friend with cancer. Oh, the spirit of death came looking for him every night. He died a week later. His son was by his side and personally experienced the story of the ghost killing him. It's hard for cancer patients to repent! I tell you, many Christians have something very foolish: self-righteousness and stubbornness.

I ministered to a sister, and what she said made me angry. So, I had to suppress the fire. Oh, after a while, it rose again, and I had to suppress it again. I said if I speak too harshly, it would hurt their heart, a light word, they would say: teacher, I treat my husband and mother-in-law as my own, but they don’t treat me as my own, so I’m heartbroken.

Listen to these words, what do you think? After hearing this, that is, I beat her up. Why should people believe that you treat them as their own? How could I not see that you treated them like that? What heart are you hurting? There once another sister and, she: oh, I treat my mother-in-law as my own mother. That's it, so that is, you and mother quarreled when you meet, don't treat my mother-in-law as my own mother. I ask you, can a person like this be blessed by doing things? Alas, she felt uncomfortable, and working was hard, and she thought she was good and filial.

Don't think you are filial, ask them: Am I a filial daughter-in-law? If they think you are not, then you have to listen, people won't accept it wrongly, everything is in their hearts. What exactly did you do to prove that you treated your mother-in-law as your own, right? It's so self-righteous. After a whole, just talk about who is right and who is wrong. Oh, it's all bitterness. i said: Did your mother-in-law sell you to Egypt? did not. I your mother-in-law take advantages of you with 10,000 yuan ? Did not. Oh, what's hurting your heart? With this brain, how can you be blessed?

You are not qualified to distinguish between good and evil, and you create a reason to distinguish between good and evil? So that’s why my heart is pain, you know why it hurts? It's not because what she said. It's not that I care about her mother-in-law, nor about her things, what I care about is her, how many catastrophes will it take to change them dirty things in people's hearts. That is, even we were sold to Egypt and we don't have the right to hate our brothers. Understood? That is the image of God, so God does not want people to die, but wants people to live.

Brothers and sisters, you must be careful about what I say. I can give many examples. For example, I arranged a sister, this sister had just repented, and been challenging her bottom line bit by bit. I have changed her thoughts a lot, I said: Next, you should serve well. Served by the person is said to have diabetes, both legs are about to be amputated, this service is, the person gets to distinguish between good and evil, and speaking is not nice. I was thinking a lot of people are very strange, people serve you, what do they want? They also feel that what they say is unpleasant and not in place, and then they distinguish between right and wrong.

We all have a root for identifying good and evil. I often say that people's brains are like walnut kernels and their minds are like peanuts. Later, I said that the mind is like a mung bean, and that peanuts are praising him, everyone slowly thought about it. The prophet repents, and God saves him from death. The Ninevites repent, and God saves them from the disasters that were originally arranged. Whoever repents, God is pleased.

II. Man's Repentance Can Change God's Will to Bring Disaster

Isn't God going to bring disaster? Actually, no. If He really wanted to bring disaster, it would be over in an instant. One tsunami would wipe out a large group of people; one landslide would wipe out a large group of people; one chain car accident would wipe out a small group of people. But God had to send a prophet to warn them, you know? When people hear the prophet's warning, or see God sending a small or medium-sized disaster, it depends on their reaction.

Those seriously ill patients I minister to, like cancer patients, have a wickedness in their bones! Some are deceived and only like to believe lies, thinking they are smarter than me. He says, Teacher, you must be careful of the people around you. Careful of what? I'm much smarter than you. Someone like you gets deceived all the time, yet you think you have good judgment.

How many of us have been warned by God? Some people are stubborn, truly stubborn. I minister and minister, and if I don't train myself to be bulletproof, I would be covered in wounds. Some people say, Teacher, are you sad? I say, Oh, my heart has become a sieve, full of holes, but thankfully it's bulletproof. Don't be stubborn. Suddenly, your eyes can't see. Did you repent? Repented a little, and then suddenly you're giddy. Did you repent? Anyway, these things happen often.

Brothers and sisters, those who have been deceived or have been deceived, must repent deeply. Those with serious illnesses must also repent deeply. I tell you, people are so fragile that one lie can defeat you. Someone like me, how much have I given? Actually, I don't want to boast about my giving, but in return, people give me a look, tell me I'm wronging them, or something. Thank God! I am becoming stronger and stronger; I know God's heart. I am not qualified to distinguish between good and evil. God! May you remember me and be gracious to me. God! This is my destiny. I long for brothers and sisters to receive the benefits of this gospel and not be stubborn anymore.

The stubbornness in people is lamentable! Those who receive grace from me are indebted to me forever. But with a thousand good deeds, one bad deed cancels them all out. People simply refuse to repent until they perish. I encourage you not to be stubborn. Experience it once, have more reverence. Experience it again, have more reverence. As long as people are willing to repent, I tell you, the angels in heaven will cheer for you. There is a cheering squad in heaven. As soon as you repent here, it's like winning a gold medal at the Olympics, and they shout over there. This is our God, so repentance is good.

Brothers and sisters, if you have lived to this point, perhaps you are only in your twenties and realize you are unlucky, repent. If you are in your thirties and realize you are unlucky, repent. Isn't that right? You are already so unlucky, penniless, and seemingly incapable of anything, achieving almost nothing. What else can you do besides repent? Do not be stubborn, learn to fear God. God often warns you, and God often warns you through the sermons I preach, but after listening, you still insist on your own logic; you always feel you are right. How can you still be right when you are already so unlucky?

I tell you, you need to realize that this logic is not logic at all; it is the logic of bad luck. I do not want to be unlucky anymore; I repent. I tell you, I was relatively obedient at home, so when my father beat me, I immediately said I would change. When God disciplines me, I immediately say I will change. My logic is the logic of deserved beating. But some people in my family are just stubborn, like a dead duck with a hard beak; that is just foolish. If you change, you will avoid a lot of discipline, so do not be stubborn, fear God.

Three, True Repentance

Do you all know what true repentance is? Jonah went to Nineveh, and walked through the city for a day. How big was this place? From south to north, from east to west, it took a person three days to walk across, with one day being equivalent to walking thirty kilometers. Did you all know that? A person can walk thirty kilometers in a day. A fast march can cover fifty kilometers in a day, and a slower pace makes it about thirty kilometers. Meaning Nineveh was ninety kilometers across, so he shouted all over the streets from south to north for a day. God is going to bring disaster, bang a gong, just afraid people won't hear, and in forty days Nineveh will be overthrown. He walked for a day, covering only one-third of the city.

Oh, I tell you, Jonah was especially happy. Why? Because God was going to bring disaster to Nineveh. Ah, Jonah's face, his shouting was so interesting, much more impressive than today's internet celebrities. Nineveh will be overthrown in forty days. People who heard it would say: You punk, I'll kill you! You're gloating! Looking for death! Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, would they allow you to shout like that in the streets? Did you get a permit from the Public Security Bureau, a permit allowing you to shout in the streets, banging on a broken gong? If it were today, that guy would use an amplifier, shouting from Chang'an Street, from south to north, from morning till night.

As a result, after hearing this, the people of Nineveh all began to repent, and the word spread like wildfire. The entire city of Nineveh, all the people put on sackcloth and sat in ashes, from the smallest to the greatest, all wearing sackcloth. Do you know what sackcloth is? It is like wearing mourning clothes. When the King of Nineveh heard this, he thought: What happened? What are you all doing? Who died? Then the people of Nineveh said: O King, we are going to die in forty days. The King of Nineveh was also quite impressive; I found this very interesting. The people of Nineveh were simply amazing. The King of Nineveh descended from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

Why did the people of Nineveh do this? Did the people of Nineveh do many bad things? Yes! Did they know about the bad things they had done? Yes, they knew. Were they cruel? Yes, they were cruel. When the King saw this, he thought: Oh no! I must change! God put this heart of repentance into him; I do not know if God put it into his heart, or if they already had it. I think this is a miracle, creating a story of repentance for us. What happened as a result?

Then he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (Jonah 3:7-9)

Do you think they had faith? Even without faith, it was uncertain. But I tell you, such a heart moved God. Our God saw that the people of Nineveh had turned away from their evil ways, and God relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened. Let us compare this to Pharaoh; Pharaoh was not like this. Pharaoh was not a prophet shouting in the streets. Later, I thought about it, the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Then what about the people of Nineveh? Did God soften the hearts of the people of Nineveh? Is that what it says? I feel there is nowhere to reason with it. So I concluded from this what true repentance is: it is humility! I tell you, some people think they are right, but they only accumulate reasons for disaster, reasons for bad luck. Why bother? Repentance is admitting, I did it wrong! Teacher, do not say anymore, I am wrong, I will change! I was not filial, I received a curse, I am a model of bad luck. Just change, and it is done.

If we had such a conversation, oh, my tears would almost fall. You see, when I say that, the tears, I sigh in my heart, are these tears of repentance? Or are they tears of grievance? Speaking with tears and snot all over the face, but when I see tears and snot all over the face, it is almost never repentance, but rather grievance. I think, you have messed up like this, and you are still feeling aggrieved? You are just a little old self, your head is like a walnut, and your heart is like a mung bean. Quickly expand to the size of a peanut. Do not keep making it smaller, if you make it smaller, it will become a sesame seed.

There are also people who feel that they are right without reason, and feel aggrieved even when they have not done the right thing. No one has sold you to Egypt, but you seem to feel so aggrieved as if you are about to be sold to Egypt. If you go from mung bean to peanut, then it is alright. A humble and contrite heart, God will not despise.

In fact, the Bible says this, a mustard seed is much smaller than a sesame seed, a hundred mustard seeds might equal one sesame seed. Several sesame seeds might equal one mung bean, several mung beans might equal one peanut. God does not despise a heart like a mustard seed. A humble, contrite, and sorrowful heart, God will not despise. God is not afraid of you making mistakes, He is afraid of you being stubborn. I praise my God, because my God is so great, if it were not for His merciful heart, who among us could stand before Him?

For example, cancer, can a small cancer repent? And change its malignancy. A small case of arthritis can change its evil ways. Do not let the joint swell up, and then remain stubborn. Oh, is it that one moment the fingers are failing, then the knees are failing, then the toes are failing, then the waist is failing, then the neck is failing, and finally the brain is failing? Why is it so difficult? Is it not painful enough? How much more pain do you need? It just continues to hurt like this. People just feel: I am not wrong. It is all someone else's fault. The moon can be wrong, but I will never be wrong. The sun may be in the wrong position, but I am definitely not wrong. Oh, this mouth is something else, you just won't shed tears until you see the coffin.

I ask you, brothers and sisters, how many of the Ten Commandments have you violated with your behavior? You have almost violated all of the Ten Commandments, everything is there, not missing a single one. But God still preserves your life, because God does not want you to die, God wants you to live. Do we have this soft heart? We experience a small cold. Some people say: Teacher, I am having night sweats. Ah, repent. True repentance is humility. Knowing that you have not done the right thing, knowing that you need God, even if you have done the right thing, you are still far from God's standards.

Take a look at yourself in the mirror, look at your heart the size of a mung bean, that wounded soul, that fragile glass heart. Why is it so easy to be hurt? No one has sold you to Egypt, but it is as if you have been sold to Egypt, it is just unbelievable! As soon as you say something, they feel so aggrieved that they could die. Oh, in a moment, they will almost hate me. Can you not be so selfish? Do not care so much about yourself. Ah, I feel God's feelings in my heart. God sees a group of selfish earthlings in heaven. It is just like an Indian military parade. Stacking people, with layers built on top of each other, stacking many layers of ghosts. People carry dozens of ghosts on their bodies and live on earth, how can they not be unlucky? How many ghosts do you have to invite before you will stop? How much bad luck do you have to endure before you repent?

True repentance is forsaking evil ways, and abandoning violence. You know that hating someone is like murdering them. We can ruin relationships, but we cannot make them better. With just this, sometimes I see a couple, one sings on the first day of the month, the other sings on the fifteenth; today you are enemies, tomorrow you are fine, and the other becomes the enemy. There is simply not one good day, it is just a narrow escape from enemies. What can I do? What I can do is to turn one roof into two roofs, so you do not see me, and I do not see you, lest seeing each other turns you into enemies.

If you had the capacity, would I give you this bad idea? Giving you this bad idea, I also bear a bad name. When two people are controlled by each other, separation is the best choice. When you separate, you both grow. Let us not keep on cutting the wound before it is healed.

Sometimes I have to bring up Adam and Eve. I say: What do you think of Adam and Eve? Adam and Eve, the first couple, were fighting from the beginning; the first couple was not so good. Oh, what has it evolved into with you? They only ate a bite of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but you eat a basket full every day. You grew up eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do not know good and evil, how can you live?

True repentance is a humble and contrite heart, forsaking evil ways, abandoning violence, removing the grievances in the heart, removing the anger in the heart, and knowing that you have done wrong. But people often feel: I am not wrong. I say: Then whose fault is it? They say: The moon's fault. I say: The moon is quite close, even Mars is at fault. You become Elon Musk, ride a rocket to Mars, and after fixing the Earth, fix Mars. Anyway, they just will not fix themselves; they might become mummies before they even reach Mars.

Four. God Does Not Bring The Threatenend Disaster When People Repent

If people are to repent, they must truly repent, not just quibble. In fact, I tell you, some people think: Look, my arthritis is better. As a result, after a few days, the old illness relapses, and they start to hate again, that evil energy comes back. What happens as a result? They just toss back and forth, this road of repentance is difficult! You are back before liberation, after liberation, just going back and forth, until God's wrath. People must repent; this is a lifelong homework for us.

We must completely drive the devil out of us, completely drive out the devil's lies from within us. Like the King of Nineveh did, actually you have not become the King of Nineveh yet. If you become the King of Nineveh, my God! What would happen then? What if you are the King? You are just a hundred pounds or so of meat, just like that, put it on a scale and weigh it, a hundred pounds or so, heavy two or three hundred pounds. With a calculation, you will die sooner or later, what is there to be arrogant about? There are so many problems you cannot solve. You cannot argue with God, you cannot argue with disaster, do not let God intend to bring disaster.

When people repent, God does not bring the threatened disaster. So people must carefully observe throughout their lives, whether it is people or countries, you will find that individuals or countries become arrogant and lose themselves, and disaster comes. Some time ago, I met an old man who said: Shakyamuni, Taishang Laojun, the Jade Emperor, Jesus Christ, all sit under my butt. What was the result? He was so arrogant, he died after saying it. What kind of brain is that?

Some people say: Singapore? Tiny place, destroy this country. What are you saying? Many of the old men I meet are like this, and they later die of cancer. I say: What kind of brain is that? Is it your family's warship? Destroy Singapore? People are just ignorant and arrogant. I feel that when people become arrogant, they do not know the immensity of the universe, just a grain of dust on earth. So repentance is the golden rule. You have repented, but not enough, far from enough.

Brothers and sisters, do not think: I have already repented, what else do you want from me? As if you have repented so well. The way you are, you have to repent for a lifetime to have less disaster. Do you want less disaster? Do you want fewer days of bad luck? Fear God. Do more homework in repentance, casting out demons is endless, repentance is endless, knowing God is endless, and climbing spiritual peaks is endless. Being blessed is endless. I just hope that our brothers and sisters will all become blessed people.

Do not think you are amazing just because you made a few ten thousand dollars! I have seen a kind of person, I can tell from the way he walks that he has made a lot of money, but how much did he make? Only twenty thousand. I say: Is this what you are like with just twenty thousand? What about two hundred thousand? Would wings grow out then? Would hair grow on your face, horns grow on your head, wings grow out, and then you would lie on the ground and become a crab, or a hairy crab? I just feel how could twenty thousand dollars make you like this? You're arrogant over twenty thousand dollars, if you get more arrogant, you'll be put on a plate of steamed crab. We must know the immensity of the universe, may God be gracious to us, and rely on God's grace throughout our lives.

May God bless everyone!