Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts

Monday, May 7, 2018

Gospel Music | "God Incarnate of the Last Days Mainly Does the Work of Words"


Gospel Music | "God Incarnate of the Last Days Mainly Does the Work of Words"

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Incarnate God of the last days ends the Age of Grace and speaks words which perfect and enlighten, words which rid vague notions of God from the heart of man. Jesus walked on a path that was different. He did miracles and healed the sick, preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and was crucified to redeem all people. So man conceived a notion that this is how God will always be. God incarnate of the last days fulfills and reveals all with words. In His words you see what He is; in His words you see that He is God.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Los Angeles North Hollywood KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival: Musical Xiaozhen's Story Wins Award

Xiaozhen's Story, a musical by The Church of Almighty God, has been the object of much attention and praise since its 2015 release, winning multiple awards at international film festivals. In October 2017, the film received nine awards at the Virginia Christian Film Festival, including best director, best feature film, and best musical score. Xiaozhen's Story once again stood out at the US KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival, winning the award for the best foreign experimental feature. This is the eighth time this film has received an award at an international film festival.

Xiaozhen's Story, a musical by The Church of Almighty God, has been the object of much attention and praise since its 2015 release, winning multiple awards at international film festivals. In October 2017, the film received nine awards at the Virginia Christian Film Festival, including best director, best feature film, and best musical score. Xiaozhen's Story once again stood out at the US KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival, winning the award for the best foreign experimental feature. This is the eighth time this film has received an award at an international film festival.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Witnesses for Christ of the Last Days | Eastern Lightning

Some people ask: After believing in the Lord, we practice humility and patience, love our enemies, bear our crosses, abandon worldly things and we work and preach for the Lord and so on. We have achieved a little change. So why must we accept God’s work of judgment in the last days before being able to be cleansed and saved?


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Answers:
We can love our enemy, bear the cross, overcome our body, and spread the gospel of the Lord. These are positive behaviors coming from our belief in the Lord. Our exhibition of such good behaviors signifies that our faith in the Lord is true. These good behaviors may appear correct to people, as if these are in line with the word of God, but it does not mean that we are practicing God’s word and following the will of the heavenly Father, it doesn’t mean that we have quit our sinful nature and become sanctified. There is a reason why we cannot just look at people’s good behaviors by appearance. We also need to look at their intentions and ultimate purposes. If our intention is to obey God, love God, and satisfy God, this kind of good behavior is practicing The truth and obeying the will of the heavenly Father. On the other hand, if our good behavior is solely for the solicitation of blessing and reward, for the reward of a crown, but not from a loving heart for God, then this kind of good behavior is the hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees instead of doing the heavenly Father’s will.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Walking Down the Bright Path of Life | Eastern Lightning

Walking Down the Bright Path of Life | Eastern Lightning

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Xie Li, America
I used to be someone who would chase after the trends of the world, I wanted to abandon myself to a life of pleasure, and I just cared about the pleasures of the flesh. I would often go with my friends to KTV all night long, I would go for joyrides in the middle of the night, I would go fishing out on the ocean, and travel all around in search of fine foods. I’d see others around me, and they too were all striving to eat well, wear nice things, and enjoy good things. I felt that these were the things that a man must work for in his life, that this is why you must work hard to earn money, that this is the goal in life that everyone should have. Only with these things would life not be in vain. In order to obtain these things, I didn’t care what distance I had to travel, so I crossed the ocean to come to America, and after struggling for several years, I opened my own business. I had my own car and my own house. I was living the blessed life that I had dreamed about. Every day I would eat, drink and pursue pleasures until I was full and my heart was content. I thought that it was only by living in this way that life had any meaning, and that is until I received the work of Almighty God in the last days. Only after experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God did I become aware of what a truly significant life is, and then I set out walking down the bright path of life.
In May of 2016, my wife passed on to me the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God. Through reading the word of Almighty God, I became aware of God’s six-thousand-year management plan to save mankind, and I also came to understand that Almighty God is the Jehovah God who led the Israelites out of Egypt, that He is also the Lord Jesus who redeemed mankind by being nailed to the cross, and that now He has returned in the flesh to express The truth and carry out the work of judging, cleansing and saving man…. Before too long, I started participating in church life at The Church of Almighty God and there I came into contact with the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God. I saw that they were all very sincere, there was no pretense or empty pleasantry in the words that they spoke, and to be in contact with them gave me a feeling of liberation that I had never felt before.
When I started attending church gatherings I felt fresh, and I wanted to gather together with the brothers and sisters and properly pursue the truth and pursue a change in my life disposition. But, since up until this time I had coveted the comforts of the flesh and pursued life’s pleasures, I couldn’t help myself even though I had the desire to congregate and pursue the truth. One time when a friend invited me over for dinner, it was during the same time as a church gathering, which made me feel very conflicted inside. Should I go or should I not go? I thought this question over to myself: It has been a long time since I went out to have fun. It isn’t easy for my friend to invite me today, so I should go. After all, my friends don’t invite me out every day, and I can just go to the church gathering next time. So, I claimed that I had something to do and dropped my plan to go to the church gathering and instead went out to the dinner. We ate, we drank, we went to KTV, but on the way back home I didn’t feel any sense of happiness inside. Deep in my heart I felt a kind of indescribable emptiness, and I also had feelings of guilt. I thought back to the past. When I was at the meal with friends and fellow villagers they were all extra cordial to me at the dinner table, but behind my back they were racking their brains, scheming, trying to figure out how to swindle me for my money. Dealing with all of them made me feel so tired. I simply could not find anyone to talk to about the things that I cared about. I went out today and drank and ate to my heart’s content, and I have also satisfied my friends, but what did I really gain? I felt empty and helpless, I felt that I had let God down, and I felt sorry to my brothers and sisters.
However, this emptiness in my spirit, this feeling of self-blame I had still could not free me from the enticements of the world of sensual pleasures. In my heart I was still yearning to abandon myself to a life of pleasure, to things that belong to the flesh, but God arranged things and set up an environment in a practical way to change these erroneous views on pursuing. With National Day coming, my wife suggested to me: “Let’s just have a simple celebration, and then with whatever time we have left over we can read some more of the word of God and watch some videos from God’s family so that we can be equipped with more of the truth and understand God’s grace of salvation.” But I did not really take my wife’s words to heart, and instead started making preparations for how I was going to celebrate the holidays. I carefully chose what route I was going to take, and I went to the market and bought all the food and other things I would need. I decided to go with my wife to the seaside and have our own little barbecue. So when National Day came I brought my wife with me and we set out happily in the car. However, everything was not going according to plan, there was a traffic jam the entire way, and halfway through the trip we realized that the GPS was not working properly so we were going the wrong way. It was not easy to get to our destination, and in the end, once we got to the seaside the winds were very strong, making it impossible for us to have our barbecue. So my wife asked me to turn the car around and go back home, but I was not willing to do so. I insisted that we keep on driving in search of a nearby park where we could have our barbecue, but the three parks we went to were filled with people, and there wasn’t even anywhere to park. Only after all this did I reluctantly turn around to drive back home. The road home was just as heavily trafficked as before. We had originally set out to barbecue for lunch, but it was now already past 4 p.m. and we still had not cooked anything. We were starving. Ordinarily I feel that I’m in the right and full of self-confidence, and at this time I did not have a temper, and there was nothing that I wanted to say. I just sat in silence and drove back feeling unhappy. It was at this time that the car in front of me suddenly slammed on their brakes, and so I had to quickly step on mine. Although I didn’t hit the car in front of me, I was rear-ended by the car behind me. Fortunately, nobody got hurt, and only the surface of the car got a little dinged up. I knew that God permitted this event, I was not looking to blame the other driver, and so I just drove off. I thought to myself: Hey, all those careful plans I made for the holiday were a wasted effort, it really is true that plans can never keep pace with changes, and everything is arranged by God. I really should not have gone out today to abandon myself to life’s pleasures. I should not have relied on my own temperament!
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When we arrived back home my wife and I read several passages from the word of God together: “More and more people treat records of the work of God and His words during the Old Testament age as myths and legends. In their hearts, people become indifferent to the dignity and greatness of God, to the tenet that God exists and holds dominion over all things. The survival of mankind and the fate of countries and nations are no longer important to them. Man lives in a hollow world only concerned with eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. … Few people take it upon themselves to seek out where God does His work today, or to look for how He presides over and arranges the destination of man” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “One that is becoming more and more so. When people look upon the world, their hearts are drawn to it, and many are unable to extricate themselves from it…. If you do not strive for progress, and are without ideals, you will be swept away by this sinful wave” (“Practice (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of Almighty God make the essence of the trends of the world very plain and clear. The trends of the world are just Satan seducing man and making him depraved. They are just tricks and schemes meant to devour man. Satan just uses eating, drinking, the pursuit of pleasure and other things that conform to the flesh to deceive man and tie man down. Once man’s heart becomes possessed by these things that belong to the flesh he will no longer be inclined to pursue positive things, and he will become more and more distant from God, which will cause him to be devoured and captured by Satan. Through reading the word of God I came to realize that my views on pursuing were all completely wrong. Regardless of what I’m concerned with, whether it be eating, drinking, pursuing pleasures of the flesh or seeking a life where I am above others, these things are all a result of Satan corrupting the human race. I have confirmed through my own experiences that when one pursues these things that belong to Satan they will only become more and more depraved, and more and more loose and debauched. It will just add to their greed, their selfishness, their wickedness and their treachery. They will be living in sin, and they will be without normal humanity. Even if man enjoys more and more of these things, even if man obtains more and more of these things, in the end, they will still be in an empty space. If man possessed all these things but did not come before God, life would still be in vain, and it would be without significance or value. Only by coming before God and believing in God and worshiping God will man be going down the path of living a proper life, and only then will man free himself from a life of emptiness and evil. So, I decided to change the way I live my life and walk down the right path of life.
When I saw my brothers and sisters actively expending themselves for God, when I saw their devotion to performing their duties and their pursuit of meaningful lives I too then felt the desire to pursue these things and live the way that true people live as required by God. So, in addition to regular gatherings, I also wanted to find the time to perform my own duties. It was at this time that the church arranged some duties for me. They wanted me to drive a car to take two of our sisters somewhere, and they wanted me to pick them back up next week. The first time that this duty was handed down to me, I happily agreed to it. But when the brothers and sisters who assigned this task to me left, I started to have second thoughts and even felt some regrets: “Oh man, the day I’m supposed to take these sisters is supposed to be my day off, and next week I have to go pick them up. I’ll have to wake up super early on those two days. It doesn’t matter how long the trip is, but the important thing is that it’s really easy for that road to get congested with traffic. It’s best to go early in the morning because then there are fewer cars, but who’s to say how long I’ll be stuck in traffic on the way back? All my time will be wasted sitting in traffic, and I won’t have my day off….” When my wife heard me complain like this, she fellowshiped with me: “Performing your duties is not as simple as what you’ve imagined. It definitely will involve you putting the truth into practice. To practice the truth is to forsake the flesh, and it means you will suffer hardships and pay a price. Think about it, you used to go out and drink, eat and pursue pleasures, and even if you didn’t really have fun after a tiring day, you would never complain. But now you have been assigned a task and need to spend some of your time on it, and you need to go down a path that has hardships, but in your heart you do not want to do this. This duty, although on the outside it seems like something that was arranged for you by your brothers and sisters, in reality it’s not for a particular person you are performing this duty, but it’s for satisfying God and repaying God’s love. This duty has been given to you today, this is God uplifting of you, and this is God’s love coming down on you. You ought to cherish this. Don’t leave yourself regrets on your first duty.” After she said this, she read me a passage of God’s word: “Everything you do requires you to pay a certain price in your efforts. Without actual hardship, you can’t satisfy God, it does not even come close to satisfying God, and they are nothing but empty slogans! Can these empty slogans satisfy God? When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony. Externally, they might not seem like a big deal, but when these things happen they show whether or not you love God. If you do, you will be able to stand firm in your testimony to Him, and if you have not put the love of Him into practice, this shows you are not someone who puts the truth into practice, that you are without the truth, and without life, that you are chaff! Everything that happens to people is when God needs them to stand firm in their testimony to Him. Nothing major has happened to you at the moment, and you do not bear great testimony, but every detail of your daily life relates to the testimony to God” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
When I finished reading the word of Almighty God, when I finished listening to my wife’s words, then I realized that God giving me this duty was Him giving me a real test, to see whether or not I could satisfy God and endure hardships. But what I revealed was that I only considered the interests of my own flesh, that I only considered my personal gains and losses, that I was not willing to suffer and pay a price, that instead I was complaining about things. I saw that I was being extremely selfish, that in my heart fleshly delights like drinking, eating and other pleasures had already surpassed God’s status in my heart. I was perfectly happy to spend whatever I had, to pay any price in order to eat, drink and pursue pleasure, but when I was given a duty that required me to spend my time for God I started to calculate my own gains and losses, and I was unwilling to practice the truth in order to satisfy God. These thoughts and actions of mine would let Satan laugh at me, and not allow me to stand witness before God. After I came to understand these things I quickly came before God and prayed that He could give me the will to ensure that I could forsake my flesh and no longer follow Satan, so that I could stand witness before God and defeat Satan in the spiritual fight that I was in! After I changed my attitude about the duty, in my practical cooperation, I indeed saw God’s blessing. It didn’t matter whether it was when I was taking the sisters to their place or picking them back up, in neither direction did I come across large traffic jams. It had completely exceeded my imagination, and my conceptions were truly countered. I experienced for the first time the feeling of peace and happiness that performing duty brought to me, and I also saw that when people forsake the flesh and practice satisfying God, God will not only pave the way for them, but also allow them to understand the truth and see His deeds. I suddenly felt that this made me happier than going out on vacations or eating extravagant meals. As it turns out, doing this on a day of rest truly isn’t a waste a time. It’s actually quite significant!
Within these practical experiences I was able to know for myself what the sweet taste of forsaking my flesh and performing the duty to satisfy God. I saw that all that God does is in order to save me from the dark influence of Satan, so that one day quite soon I can walk down the right path of pursuing the truth. These things are all of God’s love and God’s salvation. A few days went by and then I received a call from one of the brothers. He asked me whether or not I was willing to go to another state to pick up some brothers and sisters, and I agreed to it without the slightest hesitation. After agreeing to this I did not feel complaints. I was perfectly willing and happy to do what I was supposed to, and the whole trip went unimpeded. After I delivered the brothers and sisters to their destination safely, I felt very proud of myself, because this was the first time that I had performed a duty willingly, without any impurities. This also taught me that performing the duty that a creature ought to perform is truly the most significant thing one can do. I was no longer wanting to drink, eat and pursue pleasures, I was no longer wanting to pursue the pleasures of the flesh, and all I wanted to do was pursue the truth, accept the truth and practice the truth, so that someday soon I can become someone who truly loves God. These little things in my life have come to change me in ways I am unaware of. My life is no longer rotten and depraved like it was in the past. I have started to change and actively work toward things. It’s as if I have started a brand new chapter in my life. In my heart I feel sweetness and pleasure that I have never before experienced, and I am thankful to Almighty God for leading me down the bright path of life. All glory be to Almighty God!

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

How can you pursue the truth so that you are not taken in by lies? What are the principles of practice? (2)

How can you pursue the truth so that you are not taken in by lies? What are the principles of practice? (2)

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The Man’s Fellowship:
Some people listen to so many of God’s words, yet when they listen to one sentence of the great red dragon’s negative propaganda, they start to be suspicious all of a sudden. It is as if God’s words are not true and the work that God does is false. Do these kinds of people have faith in God? This is not faith. Look at the faith of Abraham and Job. That is genuine faith. They did not have any notions no matter what God said! What are the most important words that Peter spoke? “Even if God were playing with humans like they were toys, how would humans be able to complain? What right would they have?” (“Interpretation of the Thirty-fifth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Do you think these are words of faith? No matter what God does, he would obey. What’s the big deal with the great red dragon spreading rumors? “Even if all the things that the entire religious world and the great red dragon say were true, I would still believe in Almighty God.” Is this a genuine faith? This is what a genuine faith is like. Why do you need to believe in this manner? You can see that God is real. You can see that the things that God says are true. You can see God doing the work of perfecting man. This is why even if what the great red dragon says were true, God would still be God. God will forever be God! Someone asked, “Now, is it the case that no matter what God does, He is still God?” Correct. This is how it is. If He throws your child into a well, is He still God? Would you still believe? Let’s say you have two children. With one word, God lets your two children die. Would you still believe? If God lets your entire family perish in an earthquake, would you still believe? You all say that you would still believe. Why would you still believe? Isn’t it because this does not affect the essence and the reality that God is still God? God is God. No matter how many good things that Satan does, it is still Satan. No matter how many things God does that are not in accordance with man’s notions and no matter how many times He destroys mankind, He is still God. Isn’t this a genuine knowledge of God? Someone asked, “Then how do you tell the positive from the negative?” What are positive things and what are negative things? What is correct, and what is wrong? What is true and what is false? How do we differentiate these things? What God says is the truth. God is the truth. All the things that Satan says and does are evil. That is why everything that Satan does and says is fallacy. They are all negative. It is fine if you define these things in this way. No matter how many things Satan does that people think are good, it is still Satan. No matter how many things God does that destroy and punish mankind, He is still God. Isn’t this an objective fact? It is an objective fact. I’ll give you an example. Regardless of why your father hits you, he is still your father. No matter how he scolds you, he is still your father. No matter how he treats you, he is still your father. If he treats you well, he is still your father. If he does not treat you well, he is still your father. If he gives you money to spend, he is still your father. If he does not give you money to spend, he is still your father. Isn’t this the case? Why do I say this? It is a fact that he is your father. If he actually is your father, then what he does is not related at all to this fact. Nothing that he does can cause this fact to be untrue. This is the correct way to see things. Someone said, “Of the things that God does, there are some matters in which I do not see how it could be the truth nor do I see how they could be beneficial to mankind.” In this case, you must seek the truth, listen to sermons, and read and ponder more of God’s word. As for some key aspects which are not clearly explained by man, pray to God about them and perhaps the Holy Spirit will enlighten you so you can understand a bit more. One day you will know whatever comes from God, everything that God does or says is the truth. All of it is positive. Is it good to experience God’s work in this way? Everyone says it is good. If you always try to define God, you will never be able to know God. Once you learn how to obey God, you will be able to know God. This is the secret to obtaining the truth!
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 142
Some people say, “How many years do I have to pursue the truth in order to attain an understanding of God? I have yet to attain the truth. If the tricks and rumors of Satan come upon me, what should I do?” Is this problem easy to tackle? Let me tell you the truth. If you firmly believe that Almighty God is the incarnate God and He has begun to speak and appear at work, then no matter what Satan says, first, do not listen. Say no to Satan. Second, you say, “Even if what you say is all true, I cannot deny God. I still accept God’s work.” Is this true faith? Why is it so? Don’t look at this statement as very ordinary. The meaning therein is deep! Take a thousand steps back and say, “Even if what Satan says is true, Almighty God is God. He is still God appearing at work. Why don’t I accept Him? Even if what the devil Satan says is true, it cannot be denied that He is the incarnate God, that this is God’s judgment work in the last days.” (Yes.)
Suppose there is someone who really recognizes Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus and God’s appearance at work in the last days, and Satan says to him, “The Church of Almighty God is a criminal enterprise that has been convicted by the Communist Party as a cult.” He will retort, “Oh, what does the conviction of a cult have to do with my belief in Almighty God? You wouldn’t dare to say that Almighty God is not God, would you? I challenge the Communist Party to tell me, isn’t Almighty God the incarnate God? Would you dare to deny it? Would you dare to say that the truth expressed by Almighty God is not the truth? If you would, why don’t you try to express something about the truth? Pastors and elders of the religious circle, you keep denying Almighty God. Can you express anything about the truth? What are you babbling about when you can’t express anything about the truth?” Some people made up a lot of rumors about Christ. They made up a lot of rumors about me too. There are those who are confused, “Is it true?” For argument’s sake, would you still believe in Almighty God if the rumors were true? Those of you who say, “If the rumors were true, I would still believe,” please raise your hands. Everybody did. What about those who wouldn’t believe anymore if the rumors were true? No one raised his hand. Why did you still raise your hands if you felt the rumors were true? Someone says it has nothing to do with God. That’s right. These rumors have nothing to do with God and God’s work.
How should man face the fallacies, nonsense and lies of Satan? First, deny them, reject them. Say no to Satan. Second, whether its lies are consistent with your notion or not, they have nothing to do with the appearance, work and incarnation of God. There is no contradiction at all. Isn’t it what this is about? Then why did some say this after listening to Satan’s lies, “I don’t believe in God anymore. God is false”? It was all because of the nonsense uttered by Satan that they denied God incarnate, along with the truth expressed by God and the judgment work of God in the last days. Someone says that “It is because God did that thing, so I don’t believe in Him. No matter how real, how practical and good are the things He accomplishes and the truth He expresses, I still don’t believe.” Isn’t this person absurd? Too absurd.
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 142
Today there are many people whose notions are absurd, stupid and ignorant! Would you believe it if someone fabricated some lies and rumors about me? (I definitely wouldn’t believe rumors.) How would you know they were rumors? You do not know they are rumors. From where I stand they are rumors, but from where you stand they are not necessarily rumors. This is a real problem. Whether or not people believe depends on whether or not they can distinguish them. Remember! All that nonbelievers, the great red dragon, and the religious world say about God and the man used by the Holy Spirit is incorrect. It is all rumors, lies, distorted facts, fabrications and false charges. Because they are nonbelievers and demons. They are not God. You must be certain of this first. Whose words are most credible? God’s words are most credible. In addition, the words of God’s family and of the man used by the Holy Spirit are also credible. What he tells you is all the truth. He does not distort the facts. He speaks according to the truth and reality and he takes responsibility for people in what he says. So no matter what you are dealing with, you must first have the truth. If you do not have the truth then you can only rely on your notions and that little normal sense that you have to make a judgment and this is not appropriate and you will not be able to stand firm. You must be able to see through many real matters. If you can only speak letters and doctrines then as soon as you face a real matter, you will get confused. Such people do not have the reality of the truth. If you do not have the reality of the truth then when faced with many issues, you will not be able to see through them and you will act passively when the great red dragon’s rumors and the religious world’s lies come. You will deny and doubt God and will develop notions. What does this illustrate? If you do not have the truth you cannot see things clearly. What problem needs to be resolved before you can know if a word is true or false? You need to first see whose mouth this word came from. Is this important? (It is important.) Why can you not grasp this principle? Can good words come out of the great red dragon’s mouth? Can there be true words? There cannot be true words. Can true words come from the mouths of the priests of the religious world? They cannot either. Because the priests of the religious world do not know God. If they do not know God, can good words come from their mouths? Can good words come from the mouths of nonbelievers? None of these can be good words. So from whose mouth do reliable words come? (God’s.) The words that come from God’s mouth are the truth and the words that come from the mouths of those who have the truth are reality. Those are true words and in line with the facts. Have you grasped this principle? (Yes.) What must you get to know first when you hear something? Whose mouth it comes from. If the words come from Satan, the great red dragon or the religious community, then they are one hundred percent certain to be lies, rumors, fabrications, false charges, defamatory words and false accusations! If they are spoken from the mouths of people who understand the truth, then they are the true, honest and highly credible words. If they come out and are revealed from the mouth of God incarnate, then no matter whether you understand or not, know or not and recognize or not, these words are all the truth. If you do not recognize it today then you must sooner or later recognize that this is the truth. If the great red dragon says another word and discredits the Church of Almighty God, what should you do? You say: “The words come from the mouth of the great red dragon. They are lies and rumors! They are fixed as such!” If they are words uttered by God and literally they look to be correct and as soon as you see they were uttered by Christ, then say: “Without a shadow of doubt, this is the truth! Today I did not recognize it, and I did not yet understand, but it is the truth.” Or: “Today these words did not match my notions but they are also the truth. Sooner or later I must recognize that this is the truth and this is undeniable.” Can you treat the word of God like this? If you uphold this principle, you will be able to stand firm. If you do not uphold this principle, you will easily fall down. ... A lot of things happen to reveal people! If people do not have the reality of the truth, it is so easy for them to be taken in and deceived. There are some things that God will not tell you and nor will I and there is not an environment to tell you, so what should you do? What should you rely on to resolve them? (The truth.) If you do not have the truth then you cannot see through them. For example, if someone says that your husband has had sexual relations with another person or that your husband has stolen money from people, or that your husband has committed a crime, how would you judge if this is true or false? What would your first reaction be? Is my husband that kind of person? Could my husband do this kind of thing? That is according to your understanding and knowledge of your husband. If you do not understand or know your husband and you have just been united, then you dare not say if this is true or false. If you have lived with your husband for many years and understand your husband very well, then you can easily judge whether this is true or false. Here, understanding is the most important thing. If Satan makes up some rumors and lies about things about God, what should you base your judgment on? The most accurate way is based on your knowledge and understanding of God. Because at that time, God cannot see you and you cannot get definitive words from God. If you do not truly know God, then this is really troublesome for you and may reveal and even eliminate you. So people will face many issues. The critical thing as to whether or not people can stand firm is whether or not they have the truth. If you do not have the truth then when you face many of Satan’s temptations, you will not have a way and you will feel doubt in your heart and develop notions, you will be shaken and make some wrong judgments and choices and may even be ruined. This is such a critical issue!
…………
Can people who do not know God follow Him until the end? It is not easy! People who do not know God can resist, deny or betray God at any moment. The danger of people betraying God is one hundred percent! Are you in danger of betraying God now? Everyone has this danger. Whatever you do must be done in a principled manner. Understanding and knowledge of God is not a simple matter. If you do not understand or know God, then you will easily believe Satan’s lies and whatever the great red dragon and the religious world say. What is this called? Bewilderment! Where did those words come from? You also believe that which comes from the mouth of demons. Are you not stupid? You let yourself be trapped by Satan and were hit by Satan’s enchantment bomb. If you do not believe God’s words, do not believe God’s holiness, do not believe God’s righteousness and do not believe that God is the truth and are still capable of believing Satan’s words then this is called being blind! Is what you believe in not God? If you believe that Satan’s words are real, possible and credible then do you actually believe in God or Satan? You cannot say. You believe in God nominally but actually in your heart what you believe in most of all is Satan. Can this be said? (Yes.) Do you believe that words of the truth can also come from Satan’s mouth? (No.) What words can be used to explain this fact? (A filthy mouth cannot utter decent language.) This is a good proverb. If you have really understood this sentence, you will know that words of truth will never come from Satan’s mouth. Some people only understand doctrines, but doctrines are of no use. As soon as Satan speaks, they believe it. “Oh, maybe it is true!” This is the end! “A filthy mouth cannot utter decent language.” It will not do for you not to believe this proverb. The truth will never come from Satan’s mouth. Satan will only ever speak lies, rumors and distortions. It is all false charges, fabrications, slander and defamation of positive things! Do you believe this? (Yes.) If there were many people discrediting, making up rumors and false allegations about the Church of Almighty God, what would you do? Could you see through it all as absolutely being lies, not listen to it at all and renounce it from your hearts? You must be able to renounce it. Regardless of what words come you must get where they come from right first. If these words come from God’s mouth, then this is the truth; if they come from the mouths of the people the Holy Spirit uses, then they are credible; if they come from the mouths of nonbelievers, religious people and the great red dragon, then they are not credible and you must totally deny and not accept them. Even if their words are somewhat factual, they are also distorting the truth and are still defamatory words and false charges…. Have you understood the meaning of these words that I have conveyed to you today? Whether or not people have a true knowledge and understanding of God determines everything. If you only understand some doctrines then that is of no use and cannot substitute your real knowledge of God. You can only avoid being taken in by Satan, reject all of Satan’s lies and overcome Satan’s temptations by having a real knowledge and understanding of God. This is the main meaning. Did you understand? (Understood.)
from “Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word ‘God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III’ (I)” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (XI)

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Almighty God Saved Me

22 Almighty God Saved Me

Wang Haijun

Shenyang City, Liaoning Province

I. Resisting the Lord Blindly Because of Listening to the Rumors and Believing the Lies
Shutting the Door on the Lord in order to “Guard the Church” and “Defend the Way”
My name is Wang Haijun. I was a preacher of the Justification by Faith Church. Like other brothers and sisters, I believed in God in order to go to heaven and gain eternal life, and I labored and worked in serving God in order to gain the crown of righteousness. But while I was desperately yearning for the Lord to return and reward me, I believed the rumors and shut the door on the Lord because of my foolishness and ignorance, becoming an opponent of God.
In 1999, a booklet called The Inside Story of the Eastern Lightning was circulated to our church, which says, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ is a cult, a heresy. There is a kind of drug in its book, and one will be deceived if he reads it. Its followers give very profound preaching, and one will join them once he listens to it. The ‘Eastern Lightning’ is an underworld organization. If one joins it, he can never withdraw. Its followers will break the legs of those who withdraw or cut off their nose.” I swallowed all the words in it without thinking, and spread them brazenly. Moreover, I laid down several rules in the church to guard against the “Eastern Lightning”: No one shall have any contact with the believers of the “Eastern Lightning.” No one shall listen to their fellowship or read their book. No one shall receive any outside believer in God without my permission, and they must be brought to the church; violators must make a serious prayer of repentance, and such people will be helped or expelled according to how deeply they have been “poisoned.” The visiting believers are forbidden to preach in our church; they can only listen here.
At that time, Sister Wang in our church had accepted the “Eastern Lightning.” I forced her to make a prayer of repentance, but she refused. So, I drove her out of the church and did not allow her to attend the meetings anymore. Sister Zhang’s elder sister came from over twenty kilometers away to preach God’s gospel of the last days to her. She, however, was so frightened under my pressure that she hid herself and dared not even serve her sister a meal. Afterward, I still forced her to pray a prayer of repentance, and she was dumb with grievance and just shed tears. Whoever came to attend our church service could only listen, and was forbidden to preach. Anyone who mentioned the return of the Lord would be driven out. Later, two sisters from another place came to my home and said to me, “The Lord has come. Woe to those who do not accept…” I said contemptuously, “The Lord has come? Have you seen Him? Woe to whom? I think woe to you.” With that I drove them out and told them never to come again. After that, nearly one hundred people came to preach the gospel of the last days to me one after another. Some of them I brushed aside, some I rebuked angrily, displaying my devilish vicious features, some I pushed violently and mocked, derided, and even teased and insulted them, and some I threatened to dial 110 to drive away.
By 2000, our church had completely lost the normal church life. Guarding against the “Eastern Lightning” and telling the rumors about the “Eastern Lightning” occupied most of our meeting time, and there was no supply of the way of life at all. However, the more I guarded against the “Eastern Lightning,” the fewer people came to attend the meetings. The brothers and sisters became increasingly weak, and more and more of them dozed during sermons. The leaders committed adultery and were engaged in disputes, and the brothers and sisters intrigued against one another and colluded and connived. The church was already divided. In the autumn of 2001, though I desperately opposed the “Eastern Lightning” and stepped up efforts to seal off the church, over half of the people in our church, including my wife and my sister-in-law, accepted the “Eastern Lightning” behind my back. Only I was kept in the dark. When I knew the fact, I could do nothing about it. Even so, I frenziedly shouted these words: I will not accept the “Eastern Lightning” even if I am the only one left! At that time, I was fully aware that the church had completely lost the work of the Holy Spirit. When we preached, we could only do it by depending on the strength of our flesh, and the songs we sang were all sad ones about “the desolation of God’s temple.” The atmosphere was so gloomy. I knelt down before the Lord and prayed in bitter tears many times, asking Him to revive the church, but I got no “answer.” I then began to think deeply, “What exactly is the ‘Eastern Lightning’? Is it really like what the rumors say? Wherein is it ‘heretical’? It doesn’t matter if I cannot go to heaven, but what matters is the life of so many brothers and sisters. The Lord said that the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Now, some of the Lord’s sheep have returned to the world, some have joined the ‘Eastern Lightning,’ and the rest are too passive and weak to rise up. If this continues, how can I give an account to the Lord when He comes? In order to get the Lord’s sheep back and prevent other brothers and sisters from being ‘deceived,’ I must ‘enter the tiger’s den’ and bring the whole thing to light.”
II. Seeing Through the Deceits by Listening to the Fellowship and Asking for a Proof
Receiving the Further Salvation by Getting the Answer to the Riddle Through Reading the Word of God
In April 2002, I began to greet the people of the “Eastern Lightning,” and I even invited them to my house for a fellowship. Sister Jiao, formerly a member of our church, came to communicate with me. Starting with the point that God’s six-thousand-year management plan consists of three ages, she talked about the three stages of God’s work. She said that in each age, the location, the object, and the way of God’s work, and the disposition God expresses are different from those in the other ages, but no matter what God does, the purpose of His work does not change, and it is to save mankind. … Sister Jiao talked for more than two hours, but to be honest, my mind was a complete blank, and I didn’t take her words to heart at all. In the end, before she finished her words, I said, “Please stop here. I accept it. Just give me the book.” In fact, my purpose in reading the book was not to seek the truth but to see whether there is a kind of drug in it. Sister Jiao gave me a copy of Judgment Begins With the House of God. After I read a few pages, she asked me what I felt about it. To be frank, I was neither touched nor shocked by it, and I thought to myself, “This isn’t like God’s word at all!” So I squeezed out a word: “It seems not as interesting as the Bible.” She said, “You still have many notions inside which are against God. You have to drop yourself and sincerely ask God to enlighten and illuminate you. God searches minds and hearts. If you don’t have a right attitude and a proper intention when reading God’s word, the Holy Spirit will not move you.” Instead of taking her words to heart, I just listened absent-mindedly. However, although I didn’t take in much of what she communicated this time, I found a serious problem and began to doubt the booklet The Inside Story of the Eastern Lightning: The booklet says that there is a kind of drug in the book of the “Eastern Lightning,” and one will be deceived once he reads it, and that one will join it once he listens to its followers’ preaching. Today, I have read the book of the “Eastern Lightning” myself and listened to its follower’s preaching personally, but why am I not deceived? Why am I not controlled by them? And why have I not joined them after listening to it? Then I thought: The booklet also says that the “Eastern Lightning” is an underworld organization, and one can never withdraw if he joins it, and that its followers will break the legs of those who withdraw or cut off their nose. There are some brothers and sisters around me who had accepted the “Eastern Lightning” but who were dragged back by me afterward, but I have never seen any of them has lost his arms or legs or his nose has been cut off because he left the “Eastern Lightning.” Furthermore, the “Eastern Lightning” has been preached in China for many years. If such things had happened, wouldn’t there have been thousands upon thousands of such “victims” throughout China? If that were the fact, would they not have reported the cases to the police? How could the news media have ignored such appalling cases? How could we have never heard or seen the radio or TV coverage of them? Pondering over these things, I gradually realized that what the booklet says are all falsehoods of the cheats and nonsense. Today, as I view those lies, I find that they are so obvious that one can see through them as long as he gives a little thought to them and takes a look at the reality. However, these small inferior tricks even cheated me for four entire years and nearly caused me to go down to hell and the lake of fire for stubbornly opposing God. What an awful consequence!
What I had personally experienced sobered me a lot. The three ages, the three stages of God’s work, the purpose of God’s work, and many other things, as talked about by Sister Jiao, appeared in my mind, scene after scene. I began to feel that her preaching was reasonable, yet I was still doubtful. So, I asked the Lord for a proof. I prayed, “O Lord Jesus! I am an ordinary mortal, like a worm or a maggot. I don’t know You, much less understand Your will, but I dare not oppose You anymore. Today I accept the third stage of Your work and accept Your new name—the Almighty. If I am wrong to do so, may You let me die within three days with my body bursting open like Judas’, so that my death will prove that it is not Your work and those ‘deceived’ ones will be turned back.” After the prayer, I wrote a note to state this matter. Three days passed, but nothing had happened. Then, I started to read the word of Almighty God seriously.
 the church of Almighty God, Eastern lightning, Church,

picture the church of Almighty God
As I had a right state of mind and read the word of Almighty God with a heart that fears and adores God, when I read “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud,’” tears blurred my eyes. Almighty God says: “I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior because they loved and respected Me. But today I am not the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past—I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up at the ends of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor and glory. People have never engaged with Me, have never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man during the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the flaming fire, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind, and I was once the sin offering for man, but in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that burn all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. Such is My work of the last days.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) I came to know that Almighty God, whom I had resisted and condemned, is the returned Lord Jesus and the incarnate Jehovah, and that Jehovah, the Lord Jesus, and Almighty God are one God. I was too blind to recognize God as a believer in Him! Later, I read these words of Almighty God: “God and man cannot be spoken of as equals. His substance and His work are most unfathomable and incomprehensible to man. If God does not personally do His work and speak His words in the world of man, then man would never be able to understand the will of God, and so, even those who have devoted their entire life to God would be incapable of gaining His approval. Without God’s work, no matter how good man’s doing, it will count for nothing, for the thoughts of God shall always be higher than the thoughts of man, and the wisdom of God is unfathomable to man. And so I say that those who have ‘seen through’ God and His work are ineffectual, they are all arrogant and ignorant. Man should not define the work of God; moreover, man cannot define the work of God. In the eyes of God, man is smaller than an ant, so how can man fathom God’s work? Those who are constantly saying, ‘God does not work in this or that way’ or ‘God is like this or that’—are they not all arrogant? We should all know that people, who are of the flesh, have all been corrupted by Satan. It is their nature to oppose God, and they are not on a parity with God, much less can they offer counsel for the work of God. How God guides man is the work of God Himself. Man should submit, and should not hold such and such a view, for man is but dust.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Yes! How can man fathom what God does? How can man see God’s work clearly? Who can be God’s counselor? But today, I, a man less than an ant, have even dared to condemn God’s work at will. I am too overconfident! God’s words have left me ashamed and humiliated. Almighty God is the returned Jesus. I am utterly convinced of this and cannot but acknowledge it after I have read God’s words and personally experienced those things. But why did I blindly condemn God’s work without seeking it in the past? Why did I fail to recognize God though I longed for Him to return every day? Why did I oppose God while believing in Him? Why was I so self-confident and so arrogant? Why did I become a Pharisee of modern times.” In God’s words, I found the answers to these questions. Almighty God says: “Do you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus? Do you wish to know the substance of the Pharisees? They were full of fantasies about the Messiah. What’s more, they believed only that the Messiah would come, yet did not seek the truth of life. And so, even today they still await the Messiah, for they have no knowledge of the way of life, and do not know what the way of truth is. How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing? How could they behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah. And since they had never seen the Messiah, and had never been in the company of the Messiah, they made the mistake of paying empty tribute to the name of the Messiah while opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means. These Pharisees in substance were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The principle of their belief in God is: No matter how profound Your preaching, no matter how high Your authority, You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah. Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous? I ask you again: Is it not extremely easy for you to commit the mistakes of the earliest Pharisees, given that you have not the slightest understanding of Jesus?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) “I blindly opposed God’s work of the last days without listening to the message about it or investigating it; I readily believed the lies of the cheats without personally listening to the preaching of any gospel preacher; when the church was so desolate and divided and without the work of the Holy Spirit, I did not seek the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work but just held to the teaching of justification by faith; and I never knew God’s substance and firmly believed that ‘You are not Christ unless You are called Jesus,’ but I regarded myself as a man who is most after God’s heart and most worthy to be taken up to the third heaven by God to receive blessings. I was so foolish, stubborn, arrogant, and disobedient to the truth; how could I not oppose God? How could I possibly know God’s present work?” As I thought about this, I could not help but pray to Almighty God, “O God! In the past, I made careless criticisms on the pulpit to condemn Your work at will. I was too poor and blind to recognize that You are the returned Lord Jesus, and so I slandered and blasphemed You. I reviled, mocked, and insulted those brothers and sisters who came to preach the salvation of the last days to me, but they bore all that silently. They were the slain Abel, the persecuted Jacob, and the sacrificed Isaac, while I was the murderer Cain, the persecutor Esau, and the wild donkey-like Ishmael. …” I bitterly hate my past, but I have no way to make up for it. I only wish for brothers and sisters to draw revelation from my personal experiences and take warning from my past and not to repeat my blunder. Almighty God says: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit. I advise you to tread the path of belief in God with care. Do not jump to conclusions; what’s more, do not be casual and carefree in your belief in God. You should know that, at the very least, those who believe in God should be humble and reverential. Those who have heard the truth and yet turn their nose up at it are foolish and ignorant. Those who have heard the truth and yet carelessly jump to conclusions or condemn it are beset by arrogance. No one who believes in Jesus is qualified to curse or condemn others. You should all be someone who is rational and accepts the truth.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)
Dear brothers and sisters, I frenziedly opposed the second coming of the Lord Jesus because of believing the lies. Later, I entered the “Eastern Lightning” to investigate it thoroughly, for fear that I might go astray and lead the brothers into a ditch and be unable to give an account to the Lord. And I also asked the Lord for a proof. Finally, from the facts that I had personally experienced and the words of Almighty God that are like a sharp double-edged sword, I saw clearly that the “Lightning of the East” opposed frenziedly by me for four years was actually my long-expected Savior Jesus. Freed from the deception of the lies and the notions, I am desperately anxious to tell this fact, this great good news, to all the brothers and sisters who are sincerely longing for the Lord to return: The Savior Jesus has indeed come among men! My dear brothers and sisters! Don’t believe the lies of the cheats in the religious world anymore. If we hand our lives over to the liars and rumormongers, won’t we ruin our own lives? If we do not drop our notions and imaginations immediately, isn’t it that we have fallen right into the scheme of the evil one and into darkness and will miss the last opportunity for us to be saved by God? Only Christ of the last days can give man the way of eternal life and take man to a wonderful destination. Brothers and sisters, time is too short. There is only a little time left. Wake up quickly! For how miserable it is to be forsaken!

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Eastern Lightning | Almighty God Saved Me

14 Almighty God Saved Me

Xiao Shuqin

Baoding City, Hebei Province

“The darkness covers the earth; the devils are extremely ferocious. God does His work with difficulty; He suffers all kinds of humiliations. Men are corrupted too deeply, and they have become the hostile force. What Jesus encountered has reoccurred today. They believe in God but do not know God, crucifying God again; ferocious and vicious they are, even more than those at that time. Although there are many believers in God, very few of them know God. Wherever we go in the mainland, it’s not easy to testify God. When we try to testify God to others, we meet with disasters instead; lifting up swords and clubs, they drive us out of their houses. With tears in our eyes, we are heartbroken with grief. The path of the cross is hard, along with tears and bloodstains. Idols are everywhere, and the evil servants are entrapping men; they believe in God in name, but are controlled by man. Where are those who love God? Where are those who seek? God calls and knocks at the door, but they hastily shut it even tighter. Men are wicked extremely, which has been revealed in this. May God bestow mercy, to pity those who love God. God’s heart is so grieved; who cares for His heart? He does such a great work, but no one understands Him. No one understands Him.” (from “Who Cares for God’s Heart” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) Whenever I sing this plaintive and touching hymn, tears course down my cheeks unceasingly. It was this hymn that touched me and caused me to come before Almighty God. It is the real portrayal of the brothers’ and sisters’ hard experiences of preaching the gospel in following Almighty God, as well as the real portrayal of God’s love and salvation for man. “Being ferocious and vicious” and “lifting up swords and clubs,” are exactly the real portrayal of my ugly face of resisting and disobeying God. This hymn reminds me of my regrettable past….
I was formerly a mid-level co-worker of the Praise Church. In 1994, I believed in Jesus because my family had no peace. One day in early summer of 1999, a familiar sister brought to my home a sister from the Northeast. After the introduction, the sister from the Northeast said to me, “God has become flesh for the second time, and He has begun to carry out the work of judgment beginning at the house of God!” I was astounded to hear that. Out of curiosity, I was eager to hear what that was all about. The sister took out a Bible, found from it several verses prophesying that God would do the work of judgment in the last days, and showed them to me:
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (John 12:47-48)
And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.” (John 5:27)
For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son:” (John 5:22)
 the church of Almighty God, Eastern lightning, Church,
picture the church of Almighty God
The sister interpreted each of these verses very clearly. I had never heard such a clear and fresh message. I had read these verses before, but I had never found from them that God would carry out the work of judgment in the last days, and moreover, He would become flesh to do it. Later, she took out a book titled Judgment Begins with the House of God. She found two passages from it, and told me to read them first when I was free. I accepted the book because I had a great curiosity to know what was actually said in it. But before I could grasp the meaning of the two passages, my leader came to my home with an angry face. He asked me furiously, “I heard that a woman from the Northeast preached many things to you and also gave you a book. Is it so?” I was stunned by his shout, and said, “Yes. Her preaching was quite good, even fresher and clearer than that of the people from the seminary. I have read a few lines of that book. I read from the middle of it and haven’t understood anything yet.” He said angrily, “You are deceived, do you know? She is a preacher of the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ Fortunately, you haven’t understood what you’ve read. Give me the book. Never read it again, or that spirit will enter into you and you will be finished. Even those from the seminary won’t be able to save you then.” Half convinced, I gave the book to him reluctantly. Seeing this, he said, “Don’t you believe me? Can I deceive you? You should confess your sin thoroughly before the Lord! I tell you, the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers will offer you anything you need, like money, a car, or a wife. But once you are deceived into joining them, they will control you, and you will have to do whatever they tell you. If you refuse, they will hack off your arms or legs, cut off your tongue, or gouge out your eyes. Then there will be no way for you to withdraw from it even though you want to. They also have killers. You must be careful.” After the leader left, a sister came. She advised me in all sincerity and earnest, “If the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers come, don’t allow them to say anything or give them a sip of cold water to drink, much less allow them to sit down to talk. Just say to them one word—‘scram’!” Thinking about what the leader and the sister had said and that I had almost been deceived, I gritted my teeth in anger, bitterly hating the sister from the Northeast. From then on, I began to wildly resist and blaspheme the work of Almighty God in the church. And I even, by my imagination, fabricated rumors based on what the leader had said, saying that the “Eastern Lightning” was a licentious underworld organization, its followers were totally devoid of humanity, had no emotions, and were cold-blooded like killers, and that once a person came into contact with them, he could never escape. The rumors fabricated by me terrified the brothers and sisters, and they frowned while listening. Moreover, as I had read a few words of God and had some schooling, I commented critically on God’s words, belittled God’s words, and compared God’s words with those in the Bible, saying, “They’re too common, not as unfathomable as the words in the Bible.” I was arrogant to the extreme! I frenziedly resisted God for three months like that.
One day in early August, a medical team came to our village and offered a free check-up. I went for it because my hands and feet felt numb constantly. After the examination, it was found that there were many tiny blood clots in my blood and that my arteries had become even harder than those of a man of eighty. When I heard this result, my mind went blank. “I’m only twenty-nine. How can this be?” The doctors and the people there all looked at me strangely, as if I had done wrong and received retribution for it. I felt uncomfortable all over, and really wanted to have a good cry. After I got the medicine, I hurried back home and immediately knelt before God and prayed, “O Lord, how come I have got such an illness? Please heal me. I will do my best to work for You.” After I was on medication for three days, my condition did not get better, but on the contrary became worse. So I went to the hospital to have an injection. That day, when I had just returned home from the hospital, my heartbeat suddenly doubled, and after a while, it slowed down. It sped up one minute and slowed down the next, without regularity. My whole body curled into a ball, my tongue stiffened, and I could not speak… After the emergency treatment by the doctors, I survived. That sudden illness did not wake me up, and I worked even harder and intensified my effort to bind the brothers and sisters. One year later, my illness became ever more serious, and my blood was black. But I still did not come to my senses, as if my heart had become calloused. I continued to work hard for the sake of being healed soon.
Though I was so rebellious, God only gave me a warning, and He didn’t strike me down but still tried every possible means to save me. While I was working hard in order to be healed, a sister, introduced by my friend, came to my home. In the beginning, I suspected that she might be a follower of the “Eastern Lightning,” but after two days of association and fellowship with her, I didn’t guard against her so much. When she invited me to listen to messages somewhere, I decided to go with her. Before I made this decision, I had truly experienced a battle within. At first, thinking of the words of our leader and of the sister in our church, I was afraid that if I went there, they might detain me or cut off my nose or gouge out my eyes. But later I thought of her behavior during the two days we had spent together: She has delivered a very good message and lived out a very good humanity. After our fellowship, she always helped me with the chores. It seems that she is not a bad person. So I said to myself, “I can imitate the little horse in the story of A Little Horse Crosses the Brook and go to have a listen myself. Thus, with thirty percent belief and seventy percent doubt, I went with her. After I arrived there, the host family welcomed me enthusiastically and took very good care of me. The fact was just opposite to the rumors I had fabricated, and I felt somewhat embarrassed. Several brothers and sisters attended the meeting with me, and a young brother expounded the Bible to us. He expounded it clearly from God’s creation of the world through the law of Jehovah to the redemption of Jesus and ultimately to Revelation. God’s 6,000-year management plan was laid out before my eyes. I came to know that the aim of God’s managing man is to save all mankind, and that regardless of what work God does, the aim of His work does not change, the heart of His work does not change, and His will toward man does not change. I also came to know the source of mankind’s corruption and how God has been saving mankind, and that the Bible only records the two stages of work God had done. I became clear that as a creature of God, I should worship God. Having understood so many things that I had not understood before, I was suddenly enlightened in my heart and felt that the Bible was not so inapprehensible as before. Considering the aim of God’s managing man, I felt that all riddles were solved and that I had found the key to unlock the mysteries in the Bible. In those few days, we got on very well and had a wonderful time. We sang and danced together, very free and released. When praying, I was especially moved and felt that God was so lovely and that the brothers and sisters were so lovely. All this countered the rumors fabricated by me once again.
Although I had accepted the messages that accorded with my notions, when the brother told us that God became flesh again to do His work and His incarnate flesh is female this time, I immediately changed my attitude. I was so averse to it that no matter what he said, I just couldn’t take it in, and sometimes I even lost my senses and sprang to my feet and said that he was wrong. He asked me, “Do you think what we have talked about these days are in accordance with the truth or not?” “Yes!” “Is corrupt man in need of the salvation of God become flesh?” “Yes!” “We are created beings. Should God consult with us before He does anything?” “No. I don’t have such a right!” He continued, “Today God has become flesh as a female. Can we not allow God to do so?” “I dare not!” “Then, as God’s incarnation today is a fact, can we accept this fact as a creature of God?” “I can’t accept it!” At that time, I felt especially distressed and ambivalent as well. So, I found a quiet place to pray to the Lord and ask Him to give me a revelation: “O Lord, what should I do? I am utterly convinced by what he has fellowshiped about. I admit it is the truth, and I also know that it is indeed necessary for You to do so. But why do so many people oppose it? If it is the true way, why does our leader not accept it? If it is really done by You, please give me a revelation and let me accept it. If it is not done by You, please let me be away from here. O Lord, I am hesitating at the crossroads. Please show me the way! I know that I’m a created being and should obey You, but I don’t know what to do to obey You. I’m afraid of failing to keep pace with Your new work and also afraid of being deceived. What should I do? …” In distress, I sobbed bitterly, “O Lord, the Scripture says that men, though fools, shall not err therein. O Lord, as long as I follow You with a sincere heart, You will surely keep me and save me. Lord, I commit my future path to You. No matter what, I will follow the only true God who created the heavens and the earth. O Lord, I’m willing to seek You.” I kept praying to God, wishing the Lord could immediately appear to me and tell me what to do and whether I should accept it or not. Then, I remembered our leader and preacher. I thought to myself, “Maybe I should give them a call and ask them to come here to listen and help me discern.” I called them, but they said, “Come back. Don’t be deceived. We won’t go there. However good their preaching is, we won’t listen. You shouldn’t listen to it either. Just attend the meetings in our church.” I was very disappointed at their answer and felt I was like a beggar wandering the streets, lonely and helpless, not knowing where to go. In the few days that followed, I was in an agony of ambivalence and apprehension. I struggled in distress, often weeping. I lost much weight, and my face turned sallow. The brothers and sisters, seeing my state, were worried about me. The young brother worried so much that his lips were covered with blisters, and whenever he opened his mouth, they bled. And his eyes were red with weeping. The young sister who liked singing and dancing also wore a worried frown. No one talked or laughed as before when we had our meals. Actually, I had long been convinced in my heart and had nothing to refute, but I was simply unwilling to accept it easily. So I brazenly talked nonsense, arguing unreasonably. In a meeting, the young brother prayed to God on his knees, “O God! I’m really useless. I’ve followed You for so long and enjoyed so much of Your love, but today I’m incapable of testifying to what You have done, unable to fulfill the duty of a created being, and unable to comfort Your sorrowful heart. I’m unworthy to be called a human and unworthy to live before You. O God, You have devoted all Your care to us and paid any price for us, but I’m incapable of caring for Your will, and incapable of shouldering a heavy burden for You to share a bit of Your worry. … O God, I can do nothing. May You enlighten this sister to know Your will and not to misunderstand You anymore.” A sister sang a hymn: “Man has comfortable home, but God has no place to lay His head. How many can offer up their all? He has tasted enough of the coldness of the world, and undergone all the hardships of the world, but can hardly gain a touch of sympathy! He is worried about man day and night, coming and going among man, but who shows care for His safety? He rushes about all the year round, giving up His all for man, but no one asks after His needs. Man only knows to make demands of God; how could they think a bit about God’s will! Man enjoys family happiness; why always leave God shedding tears? …” (from “What a Desolate and Miserable World” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) As I listened, I seemed to see the incarnate God bustling and rushing about in the teeth of wind and rain and in spite of intense heat or bitter cold. I was touched and could no longer control myself, and fell on my knees and sobbed bitterly, “O God! Almighty God! I give thanks to You. I’m willing to call on Your name. Today I have resisted You, not because I had a strong attachment to Jesus and was unwilling to leave Him, but because I was afraid of betraying Him. I was too insensible, and I deliberately resisted what I knew to be the truth. I have grieved You and caused the brothers and sisters to suffer. O God! From their prayers, I can see that they are not the inhuman harsh killers as the rumors say they are. Their prayers can touch me and reduce me to tears more than the tearful prayers of our leader. Those who are devoid of humanity can never speak such words of caring for Your grief, and those words are so real and sincere. O God, I have let You down and have done wrong to the brothers and sisters. I have treated them in such a way, but they still treat me with love. From their conduct, I have seen that the God they believe in and Jesus are one God, because I have seen love in them. O Almighty God, I should not make things difficult for You or for the brothers and sisters anymore. I will speak out what is in my heart and drop my prejudices.” After my prayer, the atmosphere of the meeting was no longer heavy. I spoke out the words bottled up in my heart all along: “In fact, I don’t have an aversion to you but instead have a very good opinion of you. I’m very moved by all that you have done for me. But do you know what our leaders say about you? They say that you people commit adultery, beat and harm people, and force people to accept what you preach. Why is this?” The young brother asked me, “Did you hear it or witness it?” “I heard it.” “Then what have you witnessed?” I began to recall what I have seen in those over ten days: They are neatly and decently dressed; the brothers knock the door before entering the room; when they dance, the sisters dance first, and then the brothers; they are not dissolute at all. I said, “I don’t think you are like that kind of people, but why do they all say so?” The brother’s eyes reddened. He said, “We know what they have said about us. ‘What one sees is true, and what one hears is not.’ You should believe what you have seen. God is holy, and He loathes corruption the most. You read Article 4 of ‘The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People’: ‘Man has corrupt disposition and, moreover, he is possessed of emotions. As such, it is absolutely prohibited for two members of the opposite sex to work together when serving God. Any who are discovered doing so will be expelled, without exception—and no one is exempt.’ Is the fact like what they say? Today, God incarnate has come hopefully to save man, but He, who is innocent, is insulted, slandered, and blasphemed by man. Just as the Bible says, ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ (Luke 17:24-25). Today, God incarnate has undergone the sufferings unimaginable to man, and the more grievous thing is that people have even fabricated many rumors and imposed all unrighteousness on Him. So, no matter what others think of us today, we will testify God so that the true believers in God will all turn to Almighty God. People do not accept these truths, for one thing, because they do not know God, and for another, they turn a deaf ear to the true way without making any investigation after they have heard some groundless rumors.” Then the brother told me how they were driven out of the houses by the people with a club when preaching the gospel to them. From their experiences, I saw how hard it was for God to do His work. Then, the brother told me, “You know, this hymn ‘Who Cares for God’s Heart’ is the real experience of the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel, and they wrote its words with tears.” We sang this hymn over and over again: “The darkness covers the earth; the devils are extremely ferocious. God does His work with difficulty; He suffers all kinds of humiliations. Men are corrupted too deeply, and they have become the hostile force. What Jesus encountered has reoccurred today. They believe in God but do not know God, crucifying God again; ferocious and vicious they are, even more than those at that time. Although there are many believers in God, very few of them know God. Wherever we go in the mainland, it’s not easy to testify God. When we try to testify God to others, we meet with disasters instead; lifting up swords and clubs, they drive us out of their houses. With tears in our eyes, we are heartbroken with grief. The path of the cross is hard, along with tears and bloodstains. Idols are everywhere, and the evil servants are entrapping men; they believe in God in name, but are controlled by man. Where are those who love God? Where are those who seek? God calls and knocks at the door, but they hastily shut it even tighter. Men are wicked extremely, which has been revealed in this. May God bestow mercy, to pity those who love God. God’s heart is so grieved; who cares for His heart? He does such a great work, but no one understands Him. No one understands Him.” It’s true that God does such a great work, but no one understands Him. My heart was deeply moved. Thus I accepted the third stage of God’s work and turned to Almighty God.
Through eating and drinking God’s word, I had a better and clearer understanding of many truths. God’s word says: “God became flesh because the object of His work is not the spirit of Satan, or any incorporeal thing, but man, who is of the flesh and has been corrupted by Satan. It is precisely because the flesh of man has been corrupted that God has made fleshly man the object of His work; moreover, because man is the object of corruption, He has made man the only object of His work throughout all the stages of His salvation work. Man is a mortal being, is of flesh and blood, and God is the only One who can save man. In this way, God must become a flesh that possesses the same attributes as man in order to do His work, so that His work might achieve better effects. God must become flesh to do His work precisely because man is of the flesh, and incapable of overcoming sin or divesting himself of the flesh.” “All that He does and sacrifices for mankind is not so that He might gain great rewards, but purely for the sake of mankind. Though God’s work in the flesh involves many unimaginable difficulties, the effects that it ultimately achieves far exceed those of the work done directly by the Spirit. The work of the flesh entails much hardship, and the flesh cannot possess the same great identity as the Spirit, cannot carry out the same supernatural deeds as the Spirit, much less can He possess the same authority as the Spirit. Yet the substance of the work done by this unremarkable flesh is far superior to that of the work done directly by the Spirit, and this flesh Himself is the answer to all of man’s needs. For those to be saved, the use value of the Spirit is far inferior to that of the flesh: The work of the Spirit is able to cover the entire universe, across all mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans, yet the work of the flesh more effectively relates to every person with whom He has contact. What’s more, God’s flesh with tangible form can better be understood and trusted by man, and can further deepen man’s knowledge of God, and can leave upon man a more profound impression of the actual deeds of God. The work of the Spirit is shrouded in mystery, it is difficult for mortal beings to fathom, and even harder for them to see, and so they can only rely on hollow imaginings. The work of the flesh, however, is normal, and based on reality, and possessed of rich wisdom, and is a fact that can be beheld by the physical eye of man; man can personally experience the wisdom of the work of God, and has no need to employ his bountiful imagination. This is the accuracy and real value of the work of God in the flesh. The Spirit can only do things that are invisible to man and difficult for him to imagine, for example the enlightenment of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit, but for man who has a mind, these do not provide any clear meaning. They only provide a moving, or a broad meaning, and cannot give an instruction with words. The work of God in the flesh, however, is greatly different: It has accurate guidance of words, has clear will, and has clear required goals. And so man does not need to grope around, or employ his imagination, much less make guesses. This is the clarity of the work in the flesh, and its great difference from the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is only suitable for a limited scope, and cannot replace the work of the flesh. The work of the flesh gives man far more exact and necessary goals and far more real, valuable knowledge than the work of the Spirit. The work that is of greatest value to corrupt man is that which provides accurate words, clear goals to pursue, and which can be seen and touched. Only realistic work and timely guidance are suited to man’s tastes, and only real work can save man from his corrupt and depraved disposition. This can only be achieved by the incarnate God; only the incarnate God can save man from his formerly corrupt and depraved disposition.” (from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) From these words of God, I understood the significance of God’s incarnation, saw the loveliness of God incarnate, and knew that God’s incarnation is completely because of the needs of corrupt mankind and is God’s great love and salvation for man. With regard to the gender of God incarnate, Almighty God says: “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if an infant girl, not a boy, was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. At the time of His work, Jesus was called the only Son, which indicates the male gender. Then why is the only Son not mentioned in this stage? This is because the needs of the work have necessitated a change to the gender different from that of Jesus. With God there is no distinction of gender. His work is done as He wishes and is not subject to any restrictions, particularly free, but every stage has a real significance. God became flesh twice, and it goes without saying that His incarnation in the last days is the last time. He has come to reveal all His deeds.” “If only the work of Jesus was done without the complement of this stage in the last days, then man would forever hold onto the notion that Jesus alone is the only Son of God, that is, God only has one son, and that any who comes afterward with another name would not be the only Son of God, much less God Himself. Man has the notion that He who serves as a sin offering or who assumes power for God and redeems all mankind is the only Son of God. There are some who believe that as long as He is a male who comes, He can be deemed the only Son of God and a representative of God. And there are even those who say that Jesus is the Son of Jehovah, His only Son. Is this not a serious notion of man? If this stage of work was not done in the final age, then all mankind would be shrouded in a shadow when it comes to God. If so, man would think himself to be of a higher status than woman, and women would never be able to hold their heads high. At such time, no female would receive salvation. People always believe that God is a male, and He always loathes woman and would not give woman salvation. If so, then is it not true that all women created by Jehovah and also corrupted would never have the opportunity to be saved? Then would it not have been pointless for Jehovah to have created woman, that is, to have created Eve? And would not woman perish for eternity? Therefore, this stage of work in the last days is to save all mankind, not just woman but all mankind. This work is for the sake of all mankind, not just for woman. If any think otherwise, then they are fools all the more!” (from “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Yes, regardless of whether God is incarnated as a male or a female, as long as it is the work done by God, I should accept it. God is Spirit, and with Him there is no distinction of gender. It is only because of the needs of the work that God takes on a flesh as a male or a female. If a man defines and denies God according to the gender of His incarnate flesh, this only reveals his blindness, foolishness, and ignorance. From God’s two incarnations, I also saw God’s wisdom and unfathomableness and His wonderful deeds. If God did not counter our notions or correct our erroneous knowledge of Him through such a wise work, we would forever define Him in our notions, denying, rejecting, resisting, and blaspheming Him, and would end up being punished by Him. I truly realized: God is so wise and He loves us so much! His work is so meaningful!
Thinking back to my past disobedience and resistance, I feel bitterly regretful. God had sent the sister to preach the gospel to me, but I, disturbed and deceived by others, gave up His salvation and even fabricated rumors to slander and resist Him. Later, God disciplined and warned me through the illness. But I not only did not wake up but resisted Him more strenuously. Now I have realized that I got the illness, which became ever worse later, because I had offended God’s disposition. It served me right! God says: “I am a consuming fire and do not tolerate man’s offense. Because all men are created by Me, they must obey whatever I say and do and must not revolt against it. Men do not have the right to interfere in My work, much less are they entitled to analyze whether My work and word are right. I am the Creator; created beings should meet all My requirements with reverence, and they should not reason, much less resist. I rule over My people with My authority; all creation of Mine should submit to My authority.” (from “When Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots, You Will Regret All Your Evil Deeds” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Brothers and sisters, have you had a similar experience of being disciplined by God? Please rein in on the brink of the precipice! As a created being, we should be sensible. When we are unclear about God’s work, we should not jump to conclusions or carelessly blaspheme it, for the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come. We should not trifle with our live! I had once trifled with my own life and the lives of the brothers and sisters. The rumors I spread have ruined the lives of a few hundred brothers and sisters. By now, some of them have returned to the world because they saw the desolation of the church and lost their zeal to pursue the Lord. And others, because of firmly believing the rumors I had fabricated, have become veritable antichrists. I really hate myself. A person like me, who have done so many evils, is really unworthy of God’s salvation. I only deserve to be cursed and struck down by God. If God had not tolerated me and done all He could to save me, I, who had done so many things that resist God, would have long since died somewhere. It is Almighty God who saved me! I will follow Almighty God forever.
Dear brothers and sisters, what do you think after reading my experience? I have already returned to Almighty God and committed myself into the embrace of the Creator, enjoying His rich supply. When will you come? Now, I have begun to perform my duty, and in doing it, I have tasted how hard it is for God to do His work and seen man’s disobedience more clearly. And I have seen God’s loveliness and His sincere love for mankind in how He has endured all the sufferings of the world in saving them. Brothers and sisters, I hope that you will come before Almighty God soon, so that you will be able to personally experience God’s work and feel His love for man which is beyond description!