Going Astray and Finding the Way | The Church of Almighty God

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1. Going Astray and Finding the Way

Xiaobing    Xuanzhou City, Anhui Province

“That which you are enjoying today is the very thing which is ruining your future, whereas the pain you are suffering today is the very thing that is protecting you. You must be clearly aware of that so as to keep away from the hook of temptation and to avoid entering the dense fog that blocks out the sun.” Every time I sing this song of God’s word “Enjoying Fleshly Comforts Will Ruin Your Future,” I think of time after time when I tested and betrayed God, and I feel both endless remorse and incredible gratitude.

With Life Hanging by a Thread, the Hand of God Came to the Rescue | Eastern Lightning

The picture comes from  the Church of Almighty God

                                   

With Life Hanging by a Thread, the Hand of God Came to the Rescue | Eastern Lightning

August 10, 20175

Ling Wu, Japan

“If I were not saved by God, I would still be drifting in this world,

struggling hard and painfully in sin; every day gets bleak and hopeless.

If I were not saved by God, I’d still be crushed below the devil’s feet,

snared in sin and its enjoyments, ignorant of what my life would be.

If I were not saved by God, I’d be without my blessings here today,

much less know why we should live on or the meaning of our lives.

If I were not saved by God, I’d still be confused about my faith,

still in empty space passing the days, unaware in whom to put my faith.

I have finally understood God’s loving hand holds mine as we go.

I would never go and lose my way ’cause I’m on this brilliant course to stay”

(“If I Were Not Saved by God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Whenever I hear this hymn of experience, I am always deeply moved. If it weren’t for God saving me, as described in the hymn, I might still be wandering aimlessly in the world, tiring myself out chasing after money, even to the point that I would long since have lost my life and died abroad in a foreign land …

I’m a child of the eighties, and was born in an ordinary farmer household. My older brother was always unwell and sick since he was little. My father was wounded in an accident when I was 10; he was paralyzed two years after that. Our family’s financial situation was poor to begin with, and we went heavily into debt treating my father. Our friends and relatives were afraid that we would never be able to pay back the debt, and weren’t willing to loan us money. Helpless, I was forced to drop out of school at 16 to work away from home. In deep and quiet night, I would often think: When they were young, children the same age as me would play freely after school, while I would have to be in fields doing farming work; now they have grown up as me, and they are still going to school, acting like spoiled children with their parents, but I have to start working at an early age and suffer all kinds of hardships to support my family. … At that time, I complained to my parents about why they gave birth to me, and asked why it was that I came into this world just to suffer and toil. But there was nothing I could do about it, and I could only accept this reality. At the time, my greatest wish was to work hard, earn money, and allow my parents to live comfortably, and no longer be looked down on by others.

At first I worked in a private aluminum alloy factory. Since I was a child laborer, the boss always took good care of me with my food and housing. After one year, I felt that my wages were too low, and chose to go do the lacquer spraying work in a furniture factory that other people didn’t want to do. At that time, no matter what kind of work I was doing, as long as I didn’t break the law, I would go do it if I could make more money. My only goal was that I wanted to become a person with money, so I wouldn’t have to live the life of a poor person again. After that, my relatives introduced me to a company that offered me the opportunity to leave the country for work. I had never thought that after a few years I would go abroad.

In the Spring of 2012, I had my wish granted when I came to Japan and began my new life. I was involved in the shipbuilding industry, and through an apprenticeship I signed a three-year contract with the company. When I started work, I was exhausted and suffering. Because I didn’t know how to cook, I ate instant noodles for a month, until I couldn’t eat them with the feeling like I was going to throw up and was forced to learn to cook. I have no idea how many days I ate half-cooked rice. In Japan, we were foreigners, so it was hard for the company’s workers to keep from having an unfair treatment toward us. They made us do a lot of dirty, tiring, and dangerous tasks. When I was spraying lacquer, I was rather scared, because if the gas came into contact with fire it would ignite, and if I stopped paying attention for a moment it could endanger my life. But no matter if it was suffering in my life or danger in my work, as long as I thought of making more money to send back to my family, and being able to buy a car and a house after I returned home and elevate myself over others and no longer be poor, I felt that my suffering at the time actually wasn’t too bad. Three years of my life passed in the blink of an eye working there, and the time period on my visa was almost up. The company had a policy of renewing contracts, so in order to make more money, I chose to renew my contract and continue to work in Japan. What pleasantly surprised me was that not long after I renewed my contract, I encountered the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God.

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In September of 2015, a friend I had met in Japan told me about God’s work in the last days. When she was telling me about believing in God, I thought this was just a kind of belief, and didn’t think it was interesting. I felt that believing in God wouldn’t be able to change my destiny. Soon after that, I told my friend about my own way of thinking and the hardships I had endured, then asked her, “Can believing in God change my destiny? I’ve suffered so much, I’m just an ill-fated person. If I had money I wouldn’t be suffering, and right now the most real thing for me is to make money. For me, believing in God is something remote.” When my friend heard me speaking like this, she read to me a section of the word of God: “Where you will go every day, what you will do, who or what you will encounter, what you will say, what will happen to you—can any of this be predicted? People cannot foresee all these occurrences, much less control how they develop. In life, these unforeseeable events happen all the time, and they are an everyday occurrence. These daily vicissitudes and the ways they unfold, or the patterns by which they play out, are constant reminders to humanity that nothing happens at random, that these things’ ramifications, and their inevitability, cannot be shifted by human will. Every happening conveys an admonition from the Creator to mankind, and it also sends the message that human beings cannot control their own fates; at the same time every event is a rebuttal to humanity’s wild, futile ambition and desire to take its fate into its own hands. They are like powerful slaps about humanity’s ears one after another, forcing people to reconsider who, in the end, governs and controls their fate. And as their ambitions and desires are repeatedly thwarted and shattered, humans naturally arrive at an unconscious acceptance of what fate has in store, an acceptance of reality, of the will of Heaven and the Creator’s sovereignty. From these daily vicissitudes to the fates of entire human lives, there is nothing that does not reveal the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty; there is nothing that does not send the message that ‘the Creator’s authority cannot be exceeded,’ that does not convey the eternal truth that ‘the Creator’s authority is supreme’” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After hearing this, I felt that these words made a lot of sense, and I couldn’t help but think that being able to renew my contract also seemed like something that had been arranged by God. It also made me think about the home I was born into and my life with my family were things I had no choice about. I had the feeling that somewhere out there is a Sovereign in control.

My friend also had me read this section of the word of God “‘God Himself, the Unique III’ in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh” which talks about six junctures that a person must pass through in life: Birth: The First Juncture; Growing Up: The Second Juncture; Independence: The Third Juncture; Marriage: The Fourth Juncture; Progeny: The Fifth Juncture; Death: The Sixth Juncture. When I had read the word of God, I was amazed. I had never imagined that God had spoken so clearly about man’s destiny, and the facts are indeed as He described. According to ordinary circumstances, a person will experience these six junctures in his life. I thought of how many people there are on earth suffering, and how it wasn’t just me. If destiny were really up to a person’s choice and he were in control of it, then everyone would choose to live in a big, fancy house, and would there be anyone suffering from poverty and hardship? In fact, the family a person is born into is absolutely not up to them to choose, and they can’t choose what kind of parents they have. After they grow up, the kind of husband or wife they have is also not up to them. … The more I pondered them, the more I felt these words were practical, and I then began in my heart to believe what Almighty God had said. Fate is not something that can be changed by oneself. Since then, I began to get more and more interested in believing in God, and I believed that God exists, and believed that a person’s fate is not under his own control. But because I didn’t know much about God, I felt that God was very remote from me. However, in an experience not long after that, I genuinely felt: God is beside me, watching over and protecting me.

It was raining that day, and I got to work as usual, but I had absolutely no idea that there was a disaster sneaking up to strike me. Over 10:00 in the morning, I was at work on the jobsite, when I suddenly heard a “boom.” I didn’t know what it was that had smashed to the ground, and it gave me an icy shudder of terror. When I turned my head to look, I was stunned, and saw a 40 cm diameter and 4 m long iron pipe weighing about half a ton which had fallen from a crane. It smashed to the ground less than half a meter from where I was standing. I was so terrified in that moment that I was totally speechless, and it took a while for me to regain my composure from the shock. In my heart I was yelling nonstop: “Thank You God! Thank You God!” If God hadn’t been there watching over and protecting me, then the iron pipe would have smashed straight down onto me, and my insignificant life would have been over.

After I got off work, when I was talking with the brothers and sisters about what had happened that day, they fellowshiped to me that it had been God’s protection. They also read to me from the word of Almighty God: “Throughout your long lives, basically every individual has encountered many dangerous situations and undergone many temptations. This is because Satan is right there beside you, its eyes fixed on you constantly. It likes it when disaster strikes you, when calamities befall you, when nothing goes right for you, and likes it when you are caught in Satan’s net. As for God, He is protecting you constantly, keeping you from one misfortune after another and from one disaster after another. This is why I say that everything man has—peace and joy, blessings and personal safety—is in fact all under God’s control, and He guides and decides the life and fate of every individual” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading the word of God I understood that people live every day in Satan’s net and that they are cruelly harmed. Without God watching over and guarding them, people would have long since been swallowed up by Satan. All these years, I don’t know how many times I enjoyed God watching over and protecting me, but all along I did not know God or worship Him; I truly had no conscience. Starting from that moment, I understood God’s grace of salvation better. That I was able to live up to the present is all thanks to God’s loving hand guarding me, and I thanked God from my heart. I also decided that in the future I would do all I can to follow God. In the days to come, I frequently attended gatherings with brothers and sisters, and went over into leading a regular church life, and there were slowly changes in my life. I no longer had the anxiety, suffering, and emptiness that I once had. We brothers and sisters were reading the word of God together, and fellowshiping about the word of God, singing hymns in praise of God, free and liberated in our hearts, helping each other and assisting one another in the spiritual life. Not one of them looked down on me, nor was there anyone who had disdain for the poor and fawned over the rich, and I felt I was able to live with dignity. Living among this big, warm, and blessed household of The Church of Almighty God, I felt much happier and fulfilled than in the past.

One day, something happened to a Japanese individual in our company. He was a longtime employee there and already had more than ten years of experience in the company. He was strong whether it was safety awareness or technology. That day, when he was at work, he was driving a lifting truck and was doing some work while lifted 20 meters in the air. In the course of operating it, from lack of attention he caused the truck’s liquified gas to leak onto him. There was another worker at the same time above him doing some welding, and suddenly a spark fell down and landed on his clothing. When the gas that had leaked out came into contact with the spark, it rapidly burst into flame, and a fire broke out. Many people just stared blankly at this old worker who was being engulfed in flames on the spot, but they were totally helpless and unable to do anything. It was already too late to go find someone to save him, and in a few minutes, he was burned to death. When we saw this tragedy occur, many people felt sorry for him, and couldn’t help but think about our own lives: What is it, after all, that people are living for? Because of something like this happening right next to me, I truly realized that if a person has departed from God and doesn’t have God watching over and protecting them, then their life is unprotected at all times. People are so insignificant in the face of calamities and can easily collapse, and no matter how high a person’s expertise is or how much more money a person has they are unable to save themselves.

Afterward, I read a passage of the word of God: “Because of the Creator’s sovereignty and predestination, a lonely soul that started out with nothing to its name gains parents and a family, the chance to become a member of the human race, the chance to experience human life and see the world; and it also gains the chance to experience the Creator’s sovereignty, to know the marvelousness of the creation by the Creator, and most of all, to know and become subject to the Creator’s authority. But most people do not really seize this rare and fleeting opportunity. One exhausts a lifetime’s worth of energy fighting against fate, spends all of one’s time bustling about trying to feed one’s family and shuttling back and forth between wealth and status. The things that people treasure are family, money, and fame; they view these as the most valuable things in life. All people complain about their fates, yet still they push to the back of their minds the questions that it is most imperative to examine and understand: why man is alive, how man should live, what the value and meaning of life is. All of their lives, however many years that may be, they just rush about seeking fame and fortune, until their youth has fled, until they become gray and wrinkled; until they see that fame and fortune cannot stop one’s slide toward senility, that money cannot fill the emptiness of the heart; until they understand that no one is exempt from the law of birth, aging, sickness, and death, that no one can escape what fate has in store. Only when they are forced to confront life’s final juncture do they truly grasp that even if one owns millions in property, even if one is privileged and of high rank, no one can escape death, every person will return to his or her original position: a solitary soul, with nothing to its name” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I finished reading the words of God, I was deeply stirred: People’s spirits come from God, and are destined by God to come among the world of men. But people still don’t want to believe in and worship God, and they don’t treasure the opportunity to experience the Creator’s authority, but only know to live for money, fame, and kinship. They are all busy rushing about strenuously trying to throw off the arrangement of their fate, but what can people obtain by seeking after these things? Has anyone ever thought which of these things—relatives, fame, or wealth—can save their lives when death is imminent? Look at my old coworker’s death—isn’t that the best demonstration of this fact? Thinking about the things I have sought in the past, isn’t it the same? When I went abroad to work, I would take on any filthy, tiring, or dangerous job, just to earn some more money, make people look highly upon me, and so I wouldn’t suffer the humiliation of poverty. Even though I went through every kind of suffering, I never thought to change this way of living. I just followed the same road all along. In my heart, I didn’t know if there is a God, nor did I know that man’s fate is in God’s hands. I relied on myself to change my destiny, and I strove to escape from God’s orchestration and arrangement destined in my life. Wasn’t it the road to ruin that I was following? If it weren’t for God’s salvation, or God watching over and protecting me, I’m afraid that my meager life would have long ago been snatched away by Satan. Even further, how could my life become fulfilled and meaningful as I am now? In that moment, I finally saw that the meaning of life isn’t to seek wealth or fame, it isn’t to seek to get ahead of others so they look highly upon you, but rather is to come into the presence of God, to worship God and receive His salvation, and to break free from Satan’s harm. The more I think like this, the more moved I am. I see that I am able to believe in God, and this is God treating me with a special grace. I don’t know how to express the feeling of gratitude toward God in my heart, and so I learned the hymn “If I Were Not Saved by God” to show my praise of God and to thank Almighty God for saving me!

The Chinese Communist Party Uses "Cult" as a Pretext to Persecute Religious Beliefs | The Church of Almighty God

Since the Chinese Communist Party took power, it has been frantically suppressing religious beliefs. The Chinese Communist Party's religious policy and China's human rights conditions have been roundly denounced by democratic countries and international human rights organizations. China's definition of "cult" and its use of cult as a pretext to attack religious beliefs have particularly drawn serious doubts and criticisms of the international community. The guests in this episode are Professor Massimo Introvigne, founder and director of the Center for Studies on New Religions in Italy and Professor Holly Folk from the University of Western Washington of the United States. They have an in-depth discussion and exchange of views on the CCP's definition of "cult" and on the issue of the CCP's condemnation of The Church of Almighty God under the pretext of cult. So, how do the professors look at the CCP's use of cult as a pretext to suppress and persecute religious beliefs? Please have a look!

What is the nature of the issue of believing the rumors of the CCP government and the religious world?|Eastern Lightning

9. What is the nature of the issue of believing the rumors of the CCP government and the religious world?

Relevant Words of God:

Those who shake their heads when they hear the truth, who smile widely when they hear talk of death are the offspring of Satan, and they are all objects to be eliminated. There exist in the church many people who have no discernment, and when something deceptive happens they just stand by Satan’s side. When they are called Satan’s lackeys they feel so wronged. And someone might say they have no discernment, but they always stand on the side without truth. There has not been a single critical time when they have stood on the side of truth, not a single time when they have stood up and argued for the truth, so are they really without discernment? Why do they always stand by Satan’s side? Why do they never say one word that is fair or reasonable for the truth? Is this situation really created by their momentary confusion? The less discernment someone has, the less able they are to stand on the side of truth. What does this show? Does it not show that those without discernment love evil? Does it not show that those without discernment are the loyal offspring of Satan? Why is it that they are always able to stand on the side of Satan and speak the same language as it? Their every word and deed, and their expressions prove amply that they are not any kind of lover of the truth, but rather that they are people who detest the truth. That they can stand on the side of Satan proves amply that Satan really loves these petty devils who fight for Satan’s sake all their lives. Are all these facts not abundantly clear?

from “A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Those who do not understand the truth always follow others: If people say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, say it is the work of the Holy Spirit; if people say it is the work of an evil spirit, then you, too, become doubtful, or also say it is the work of an evil spirit. You always parrot the words of others, and are incapable of distinguishing anything by yourself, nor are you able to think for yourself. This is someone without a position, who is unable to differentiate—such a person is a worthless wretch! Such people always repeat the words of others: Today it is said that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, but chances are one day someone will say it isn’t the work of the Holy Spirit, and nothing but the deeds of man—yet you can’t see through this, and when you witness it said by others, you say the same thing. It is actually the work of the Holy Spirit, but you say it is the work of man; have you not become one of those who blaspheme against the work of the Holy Spirit? In this, have you not opposed God because you cannot differentiate? Who knows, maybe one day some nitwit will appear who says that “this is the work of an evil spirit,” and when you hear these words you’ll be at a loss, and once again bound up by the words of others. Every time someone stirs up disturbance you’re incapable of standing by your position, and this is all because you do not possess the truth.

from “Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

For example, what is the first reaction of some people when they hear some rumor or slander about God? Their first reaction is: I don’t know if this rumor is true or not, whether it exists or not, so I’ll wait and see. Then they start to ponder: There’s no way to verify this; does it exist? Is this rumor true or not? Though this person is not showing it on the surface, their heart has already started to doubt, already started to deny God. What is the essence of this kind of attitude, this kind of viewpoint? Is it not betrayal? Before they are faced with the matter, you can’t see what this person’s viewpoint is—it seems like they don’t conflict with God, like they don’t regard God as an enemy. However, as soon as they’re faced with it, they immediately stand with Satan and oppose God. What does this suggest? It suggests that man and God are opposed! It’s not that God regards man as an enemy, but that the very essence of man itself is hostile toward God. Regardless of how long someone follows God, how much they pay; regardless of how someone praises God, how they keep themselves from resisting God, even urging themselves to love God, they can never manage to treat God as God. Is this not determined by man’s essence? If you treat Him as God, you truly believe that He is God, can you still have any doubt toward Him? Can there still be any question marks concerning Him in your heart? There can’t. The trends of this world are so evil, this human race is so evil—how is it that you don’t have any conceptions about them? You yourself are so wicked—how is it that you don’t have any conceptions about that? Yet just a few rumors, some slander, can produce such big conceptions about God, can produce so many ideas, which shows just how immature your stature is! Just the “buzzing” of a few mosquitos, a few repulsive flies, that’s all it takes to deceive you? What kind of person is this?

from “How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

There are some people who are always thinking: “Where does God live? What kind of place does He live in? How big is the house? I’ve heard that … I don’t know if that rumor started by the Chinese Communist Party that He lives in a big house, in a mansion is true. If I could get the address …” Then one day they get the address, and think: “I’ve got the address. It’s easy to check it out now. I’ll look it up online by the satellite location and I’ll be able to see it right away. I’ll locate it, I’ll take a look.” They check it out and think: “Wow, that’s not a small place! What the CCP said was true! He lives in a big house? Where is that place? What place is it? Is it far from the city? I’ll take another look.” “Found it—it’s an hour’s drive from the city, and half an hour from the mountainous rural areas.” They keep looking to see how far it is from the Chinese area, and it’s two or three hours. “That’s really far! Is living there, and grocery shopping convenient?” Is that kind of worrying thorough? Some people say that’s not worrying, nor is it vile, that it should be called curiosity. They attribute it to curiosity. “He lives so far away; is it convenient? Are there any Chinese people around? Is there a Chinese supermarket? If not, is it easy to get food? How does He get there? Isn’t it necessary to drive?” See, they think about it more and more and they can’t stop worrying about it! What can be done about this? They ponder it: “Drive? I bet it’s too far for a bicycle, so it’s necessary to drive. How long does it take to drive to a supermarket? I’ll take another look.” They look into it in more and more detail and their curiosity is satisfied. God is disgusted, and says, “You are so nauseating! You’re investigating Me, aren’t you? What’s that about? You lack faith in Me? If so, why believe in Me at all?” You’ve heard so many truths—so many have been spoken of—so why do you have to look into God? You’re always looking into Him; what does this represent? (Evil.) It’s so evil! What’s even more serious, what’s even beyond that is that after getting this piece of gossip, they have some capital: “I know where God lives, do you?” The person replies: “I don’t know, and I don’t want to inquire.” “I’m telling you, you have to know. I have to tell you—you definitely must know.” What happens in the end? (It makes God disgusted.) God is disgusted, He’s nauseated. What kind of person is this? Can this be called a person? Isn’t it a living devil? It is a living devil! This is no believer in God! They are always thinking along evil lines, as if the more gossip they know the more a part of the house of God they are, the more they will be someone who understands the truth. Is this someone who believes in God? (No.)

from “Six Aspects of Corrupt Dispositions Must Be Understood for a Change in Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks

The Man’s Fellowship:

Nowadays, the great red dragon, the devil has been making a lot of rumors, smearing, and saying a lot of hostile and blasphemous words against Christ. What position did you take? Did you stand on the side of Christ to repudiate this nonsense of the great red dragon Satan or did you accept it? If you accepted the great red dragon’s nonsense and fallacy and generated some notions about Christ, what kind of problem would this be? Are people like these compatible with Christ? Everyone says no. Why are they not compatible? What events exposed them? Had the great red dragon not said these hostile, blasphemous and smearing words, these people would not have any notions. Would they be compatible with Christ in this case? Of course not! Now when the great red dragon is saying these fallacious, hostile, smearing and blasphemous things against Christ, they accept them. They have soaked them all up and generated notions and conflicts, and began to deny Christ. What kind of problems are these? Isn’t the nature of this more serious than that of Eve accepting Satan’s nonsense? Eve was bewildered because she did not have the books of God’s words on seeking the true way and distinguishing right from wrong at that time, as she had only heard one statement from God. The moment Satan came to test her, she fell for Satan’s trick and accepted its suggestion by assuming what Satan said was correct and reasonable. But it is quite different in the last days. The great red dragon is none other than the ancient serpent, which has transformed into the great red dragon in the last days. The great red dragon directly expresses the words that attack and blaspheme God. Regardless of how much work God performs, the great red dragon resists, blasphemes and judges all of it. The great red dragon’s nature has not changed but become worse since Genesis. In the last days, man accepts the nonsense of the great red dragon, and then begins to doubt and judge Christ and generate many notions about Him. What kind of problem is this? This sufficiently demonstrates that man does not love the truth, so he disbelieves God’s word. Instead, he believes the great red dragon’s word because he loves evil. In the last days God has spoken so many words, a hundred times more, even ten thousand times more than the lies of the great red dragon, so why doesn’t man believe in any of God’s word? On the other hand, he believed in the very first nonsense that came out of the great red dragon’s mouth. What was this all about? Doesn’t that show man’s satanic nature that prefers evil? He does not believe in the word of God because he loves evil.

Someone says, “Didn’t these people fall for the great red dragon’s trick because they had no truth, thus no discernment?” Is this a valid statement? Not at all! Why not? If they didn’t understand the truth, why didn’t they seek the truth by reading God’s word? Why didn’t they accept God’s word but Satan’s word instead? This exposed their evil nature, didn’t it? Their nature is evil. That’s why they believe in the nonsense of Satan instead of God’s word.

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 139

There are many people in the religious world who always listen to the great red dragon upon examining the true way instead of listening to the word of God. If you don’t listen to the word of God, how can you ascertain God’s work and appearance? Can it be the word of the great red dragon that bears witness for God to you? Does the great red dragon have the truth? Is the great red dragon right? Can it bear witness for God? Can it recognize God? Since the creation of the world, has there ever been a time when the devil Satan recognized God, a time when it recognized the word of God as the truth? Has Satan ever said anything like this? Look at the ruling parties in the world, does any one of them say that the word expressed by Almighty God is the truth, or the word said by the Lord Jesus is the truth and so the people of their entire country should accept this truth? Which ruling party has borne witness for God like this? Which God has the great red dragon recognized as the true God? They don’t even see through what kind of creature the great red dragon is, but they believe its word. According to the word of God, whoever believes the nonsense of the great red dragon is its pious scion. If you believe the nonsense of the great red dragon, will God acknowledge you as a believer of His? God will absolutely not acknowledge the scions of the great red dragon as those belonging to Him. God says you belong to the great red dragon. The great red dragon is your master, your god. You are a doer of evil. Therefore, what breeds are the ones who can generate notions about God in the word of the great red dragon? They are all scions of the great red dragon, the worshipers of the great red dragon, and the followers of the great red dragon. They are not fit to meet Christ! These people are certainly antichrists. They are resistors of God! There is not a good person among those who believe the nonsense of the great red dragon!

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 139

Is judging God’s work and spreading notions about God a serious transgression? It is a transgression that violates administrative decrees and is serious. You see some people always brazenly want to research God and inquire everywhere about Christ’s address and Christ’s family. They also check on the websites of the great red dragon and religious websites and specifically inquire about what is going on with Christ, what is going on with the man whom the Holy Spirit uses and always want to get involved with matters of God’s family. What kind of person is this? (Nonbeliever.) What else? This is called cherishing sinister intentions! This person is evil and heretical and not someone who seeks the truth. Normally people who truly love and pursue the truth do not interfere in other people’s family matters nor do they bother themselves with what the great red dragon says outside or how they discuss and comment. They do not inquire about these personal matters. Some people always inquire about these things. Is there some intention or purpose? What is their intention or purpose? What is their purpose in grasping this? They are researching “Are you really God or not? If you are not God then I will not believe or I will spread and disseminate your personal matters and have a hold on you.” Isn’t this the purpose? Is this intentional purpose not a sinister intention? It is also mean and sinister. Does this offend God’s disposition? Is this a transgression? (Yes.) Will God hate such people? (Yes.) Would you hate it if people inquired about your private business? Everyone would hate it. If people truly love the truth, then as soon as they see the words uttered by God and God’s work they would see that it is the incarnation of God and then just pursue the truth well. Why do some people not pursue the truth? Why do they always study those matters? Can they grow in life by researching those things? Can they get the truth? (They cannot.) Such people are very disgusting. In the words of nonbelievers, “This person is meddlesome and a meddlesome wretch.” After they have researched these things and got some information, can they still love God in their hearts? Can they still pursue the truth? (They cannot.) The more they research, the more they doubt and the more they doubt, the more they see Him as unlike God. They will certainly ponder, “I have to find a chance to retreat. I must reap a profit and then retreat. I cannot afford to lose.” Is this not a nonbeliever revealing their true colors? Tell me, are the things that Satan and the great red dragon spread not a little slanderous, disparaging and defamatory? Can they evaluate people fairly? The devil will not evaluate people fairly. He is always somewhat defamatory and disparaging and makes people reject you. Some people say: “I will see what kind of person the man whom the Holy Spirit uses really is. Is this person someone who pursues the truth? Is this someone who has had changes to his disposition? Is there the reality of the truth in what he says? Can he lead me? Can he provide for me? Can he benefit my life growth? If he possesses all of these things, then I see this person as being testified to by God and someone whom God raises up. That is true. So we shall obey. No matter how the great red dragon and the religious community slander and judge, I want to accept this person’s leadership and shepherding.” How is this view? It is legitimate. Some people cover their eyes and do not see these things and especially listen to the words of evil spirits, demons and Satan. Is this not evil? Isn’t this kind of situation a transgression? Does it offend God’s disposition? (Yes.) Judging God is a serious transgression. If you intentionally judge God and do not confess and repent, then the Holy Spirit shall not do work in you and you shall not be perfected. If you are God’s enemy, can God still perfect you? If you judge the man whom God testifies to (that is the person whom God uses), then this is also a violation of the administrative decrees. Do these things count as big transgressions? (Yes, they do.) What are the consequences of you not resolving these two types of transgressions? One dare not imagine. God defends His work. Once you violate God’s administrative decrees, the Holy Spirit will not work in you and God shall hate you and be disgusted with you from His heart. Is God’s disposition like this? (Yes.) It is a righteous disposition. God is a God who hates evil. If you have evilness, you are heretical, He will not do work in you and He will abandon you. You see if people are neither cold nor hot, but like lukewarm water, then God will spit them out. What water are you? Sewage water, evil water. So God will certainly spit you out and eliminate you! Is it not troublesome if you do not confess and repent transgressions that can make God feel hatred, disgust and utter detest? Can these transgressions take people to hell? This is serious! You always research, but what are you researching? Why do you believe in Satan and the great red dragon’s lies? Why do you not believe the word of God? This shows that people are crooked. Can such people be saved by God? (They cannot.)

from “Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word ‘Transgressions Will Take Man to Hell’”in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (XIII)

We do not say, to believe in God for one year or two years, we say to have already believed in God. They have eaten and drunk so many of God’s words but do not recognize that God is the truth. When the great red dragon attacks God and frames and discredits God’s family, they immediately say blasphemous words about God and believe that what the great red dragon says is correct. They immediately stand on the great red dragon’s side, speak for the great red dragon and immediately attack God. What is this problem? Is this an enemy of God? (Yes.) … If blasphemous words have already been said, then what problem does this illustrate? That their hearts are God-resisting. What are they in their bones, when they do not recognize the truth after having read so many words of God and immediately say blasphemous words about God having heard one word of the great red dragon’s rumors, slander and defamatory words? The great red dragon and evil spirits are in their bones.

from “Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word ‘God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself I’ (II)” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (X)

Do you know what is called Satan? The name Satan is spoken of so often. But I am asking you what is called Satan? Just answer me this question. Satan is being able to create all kinds of lies to attack God. Are you Satan if you can believe Satan’s lies to resist God? People cannot say this fact. People who can believe that Satan’s lies are true and resist God are also Satan. Satan only follows Satan. Satan and Satan together is a gang. So Satan believes Satan the most. ... What type of person most believes Satan’s words and does not believe God’s? They believe whatever Satan says and whatever God says seems to be theories and high-sounding words. What kind of people are in this situation? They do not have a God-revering heart and have no truths at all and they believe Satan. Their believing in negative things triumphs over believing in positive things. Is such people’s elimination revealed?

from “Only People Who Stand Witness Have the Reality of the Truth” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (IX)

Read more: Where Does Eastern Lightning Come From?
          The origin of the Church of Almighty God.

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.

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!

I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation

19 I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation

Xie Qiang

Shangqiu City, Henan Province

I was formerly the president of a mission of the “China Gospel Fellowship” in the Pentecostal Church. Since 1997, there had been people preaching Almighty God’s work of the last days to me many times, but I always stopped them before they finished their words and said, “I may receive you when you come to preach a male Christ. But if you still preach that your God is a female, then don’t come! You say God has come, but how come I haven’t seen Him? Have you seen Him?” Every time I met the brothers and sisters who testified God’s work of the last days, I always rebuffed them with these words. Then, I went around “guarding the church” to prevent those “heretics” from disturbing our churches. I treated Almighty God, the “Eastern Lightning,” as “a cult.” And I, together with my upper leaders, collected the rumors that resisted and slandered Almighty God from various denominations and sects, and with my imaginations added, we printed them into booklets, The Sound of the Trumpet in the Church and Resist the Heresy—the Eastern Lightning, and then distributed them to all the churches in my charge. And I said to the brothers and sisters wherever I went, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ is a cult. If you read their books or fellowship with them, you will be deceived. You must stay away from them. Don’t fellowship with them. They are of an underworld organization which is against the Communist Party. Their key persons even have guns. And they seduced people with beautiful men and women. If you join them, you cannot drop out. If you try to do so, they will gouge out your eyes or cut off your nose, or even your whole family will be in danger!” I wantonly sealed off the churches in such a way at that time, yet I regarded myself as faithful to the Lord, responsible for the churches, and a guard for the churches. Little did I realize that I had become an antichrist. Now, I regret it very bitterly.

In 1999, one of my co-workers received a book of Almighty God’s word and showed it to me. I flipped through it critically. When I read God’s stern words of judgment, I felt a great aversion to it. In order to keep the brothers and sisters from reading this book, I even tore it up and threw it into the excrement of the outhouse. Afterward, the brothers and sisters who preached the gospel of the last days preached to me many times, but every time I refused them coldly. Nevertheless, through contact with them many times, I found such a fact: No matter how I treated them and no matter in what way I spoke to them, they all had a common manifestation, that is, they had love, were patient, never lost temper and persuaded me with kind words. That was what I couldn’t find in the believers of our denomination. To be frank, such a living out as theirs really made me admire, but as I was deceived by the rumors and always considered that anything apart from the Bible was a heresy, a cult, I dared not accept it all along.

One day in mid-April 2002, I received a call from my upper leader, and he invited me to Qingdao for a theological training. On the third day of the training, I realized that they were the preachers of Almighty God, the “Eastern Lightning” sect, as I considered. “I’m deceived. I’m finished!” I thought to myself, “If I refuse to accept their way, they will gouge out my eyes or cut off my nose, or even my life will be in danger.” So, I made up my mind inwardly, “This time I’d rather lay down my life for the ‘true way’ than accept it. I’ll set an example for the believers even if I may be martyred for the Lord. Since I can’t leave anyway, I’ll stick your preaching out. As long as what you preach doesn’t agree with the Bible, I won’t believe it. In the past I didn’t give you a chance to preach. Now you have it.” They fellowshipped with me about the Bible for thirteen days, mainly centering on the direction and several key principles of the Holy Spirit’s work: First, God’s work is always progressing forward; second, God’s work is always new and never old and is never repeated; third, God does His work by ages, stages, and steps; fourth, God’s work counters man’s notions. And they especially fellowshipped with me about the root of the Pharisees’ resisting Jesus, the difference between the substance of the work of the New Testament and the work of the Old Testament, the relationship between the Old Testament and Jesus, and so on. As I listened to their fellowship, I didn’t find anything wrong or misinterpretation in it. It was all based on the proper meaning of the scriptures and was what I had never heard before. But later, when they fellowshipped about the difference between the Age of Law and the Age of Grace and the Pharisees’ resistance against God because of their sticking to old things when the Age of Law turned into the Age of Grace, I felt an aversion to it. I shouted at them, “Stop beating about the bush. Do you think that I don’t know what you’ve got in your sleeves? If you want to talk about the third stage of work, just say it!” Seeing that I was in a great rage, they took out two books Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs and The Word Appears in the Flesh, and some tapes of God’s word. Then they began to read God’s word to me, but as I resisted it strongly in my heart, I didn’t take anything in. It was really true that “where there is God’s work, there is Satan’s disturbance.” At that time, I felt very bad in my heart, my head was dizzy, and I even wanted to throw up. So I stopped them and said, “It’s merely a recount of the Bible in vernacular Chinese. Could this be God’s word?” I was really so arrogant that I lost my sense. After that, whenever they read God’s word, I recited the scriptures aloud to interrupt them purposely. Whenever they played the tapes of hymns or God’s word, I pretended to be asleep. And sometimes, I even spoke offensive words to mock or dig at them. Like this, in the whole three days, regardless of how I treated them or what I said to them, they never lost their temper or contradicted me with words but fellowshipped with me patiently. That was just the opposite of my original thought that if I didn’t accept their way, I would be in danger, my eyes would be gouged out, my nose would be cut off, and so on. Then, I observed them secretly and found that their daily prayer before God was sincere, either in the presence of people or behind their backs, which was far more than I could do. They were not like those of an underworld organization at all. Although I didn’t listen attentively to their new songs, honestly speaking, both the words and tunes of the songs were very touching. Furthermore, though I was so unfriendly and arrogant, the host entertained me with warm hospitality all the time. In addition, during the more-than-ten-day stay with them, I found that they were steady and decent and that they kept a very clear distance from the opposite sex and behaved properly in having meals, fellowshipping, and accommodating. There was not at all the “sexual seduction” as I had fabricated. So, my misunderstanding about the people in this stream gradually disappeared and my resistance against them was also removed, and I said to the one who gave the testimony, “I ask you three typical questions. If you can make them clear to me and show me biblical proofs, I will believe. Otherwise, I’d rather die than believe.”

“First, I don’t believe that God will be incarnated in the flesh again, because the Scripture says that Jesus will come with the glorious resurrected body on the white cloud. Second, I cannot accept that God is female, because I believe that God will never change. Third, I don’t believe that God will be incarnated in China, because the Scripture says that He will stand on the Mount of Olives and appear to the entire universe.”

With regard to my first question, they fellowshipped about Luke 17:24-25, which 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.” Actually, they were the scriptures I had recited and expounded often in the past. I had thought that they referred to the fact that Jesus suffered and was rejected when He was incarnated the first time. But at that time when I read them carefully, I realized that they were a prophecy about the Son of man’s second coming. Furthermore, the whole passage from verse 22 to verse 37 in Luke 17 was prophesying signs of the Son of man’s second coming, and the Lord said that first He must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation the second time. Since it was a prophecy, it clearly refers to things about the second incarnation. Moreover, if Jesus came on the white cloud with a spiritual body, how could He suffer? Who would not bow his knees and worship Him? Who would dare to resist Him? Hebrews 1:6 says, “And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he said, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Since it says that God “again” brings in the first-begotten into the world, it proves that Jesus was the first incarnation into the world and the incarnate flesh this time is “the second incarnation” into the world, which refers to God’s returning in the flesh. They also read me the piece of God’s word “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh,’” which made me utterly convinced. God says: “The only reason that the incarnate God has come into the flesh is because of the needs of corrupt man. It is because of the needs of man but not of God, and all His sacrifices and sufferings are for the sake of mankind, and not for the benefit of God Himself. There are no pros and cons or rewards for God; He shall not reap some future harvest, but that which was originally owed to Him. 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 in 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 best thing about His work in the flesh is that He can leave accurate words and exhortations, and His accurate will for mankind to those who follow Him, so that afterwards His followers can more accurately and more concretely pass on all of His work in the flesh and His will for the whole of mankind to those who accept this way. Only the work of God in the flesh among man truly accomplishes the fact of God’s being and living together with man. Only this work fulfills man’s desire to behold the face of God, witness the work of God, and hear the personal word of God.”

After they fellowshipped about the first question, though I considered it a satisfactory answer and felt much better, I still had doubts. Then, they fellowshipped with me about the second question, “In Genesis 1:27, it says, ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ This verse proves that man and woman both have God’s image. So who can conclude that God is male or female? Man was created in God’s image, so was woman. Therefore, it exactly proves that God is Spirit and has no gender and that God can do His redemptive work in an image of male and can also complete His work of conquering and saving men in an image of female.” Then we ate and drank the piece of God’s word “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation,” in which 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. … 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 in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female.” Faced with these words of the truth, I had to be convinced, “Can I, a little created being, interfere with the Creator’s freedom? Can I direct God how to do His work? Isn’t it that I’m blaspheming the Holy Spirit if I circumscribe God’s gender?” Thinking back to my circumscribing and judging and resisting God’s work in the past, I felt extremely ashamed and guilty.

In regard to God’s being incarnated in China, they fellowshipped with me about Matthew 24:27-28, which says, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Here, “the east” refers to the east of the world—China, and “the west” refers to the western countries. And then we read Malachi 1:11, “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; … said the LORD of hosts.” They said, “The ‘rising of the sun’ also refers to China, because China’s Mount Tai is the place where the sunrise can be seen first in the world. And this is known to all. Moreover, it is an acknowledged fact that China is in the east of the world. As to the word ‘my name shall be great among the Gentiles,’ we see from God’s work that God did the first two stages of His work in Israel and all the countries outside Israel are called Gentile nations. Over two thousand years, the gospel has spread out from Jerusalem, from the west to the east, and China is the last to receive Jesus, so it is called a Gentile nation. If this stage of work were still started from Israel, how could God be great among the Gentiles? How could this verse be fulfilled?” One brother read the following God’s words to me: “The purpose of conquering you today is to have you acknowledge that God is your God, and the other’s God, and most importantly the God of all who love Him, and the God of all creation. He is the God of Israelites and the God of the people of Egypt. He is the God of the British and the God of Americans. He is not just the God of Adam and Eve, but also the God of all descendants of Adam and Eve. He is the God of everything in the heavens and everything on earth. The Israelite family and all Gentile families alike are in the hands of one God. Not only did He work in Israel for several thousand years and was once born in Judea, but today He is descending in China, this place where the great red dragon lies coiled. If being born in Judea makes Him the King of the Jews, then does not descending among all of you today make Him the God of you?” “In the final era, I will have My name magnified among the Gentile nations, make My deeds seen by the Gentiles so they will call Me the Almighty, causing My words to soon come to pass. I will make all people know that I am not only the God of the Israelites, but the God of all Gentile nations, even of the nations I have cursed. I will let all people see that I am the God of all creation. This is My greatest work, the purpose of My work plan for the last days, and My only work to be fulfilled in the last days.” Hearing these words of God, I was very enlightened in my heart. “Yes! The God I have been expecting has now descended among us, yet I do not dare to believe. Then what have I been expecting? God has come to China to do His work, and this is a super great blessing coming upon us. What reason do I have to refuse it? How can I, a little created being, fathom God’s deeds? Thank God’s enlightenment! So that I can understand that God is the God of all created beings in the world, not belonging to any country or race. Since God has done His work in China in the last days, we should unconditionally obey it, because in everything God does there is God’s good purpose, and it is all for saving corrupt mankind.” Just like this, I was utterly convinced. It was God’s wonderful work and word that conquered me, and so I knew that I was arrogant, ignorant, blind, and foolish. At that moment, I had enjoyment in my heart, and my misunderstandings and notions about God disappeared, and the barrier against the brothers and sisters was removed. We talked and laughed heartily…

picture the church of Almighty God

Later, I ate and drank God’s word with a seeking heart, and the Holy Spirit enlightened me greatly. I felt that every piece of God’s word was particularly sweet, not as shallow and common as I thought before, that every word of God was with authority and power, and that it was truly God’s own utterance and was the irrefutable truth! I regretted very much that I was so arrogant and self-right in the past that I understood the words out of context while ignoring the background and the inner meaning of God’s words and thus committed the monstrous sins of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and tearing up what the Holy Spirit said to the churches. At that time I even more hated myself, so I knelt down before God and prayed, “O the only true almighty God! I deserve to die ten thousand times. I’m not worthy to come before You. For so many years, I have been judging and slandering You and greatly sealing off the churches. This has seriously hindered the spreading of Your gospel of the last days, and thus many brothers and sisters have been locked in the darkness, unable to come before You. O God! I’m a sheer, real antichrist, and should have been cursed and cast into hell. I’m unpardonably sinful. Yet, You didn’t treat me according to my evil deeds or punish me, but have been sparing no efforts to save me, waiting for me to turn back. O God! Your love is so great that it makes me feel terribly ashamed. Thank You for giving me the opportunity to start a new life. I’m willing to mend my ways sincerely, spread Your gospel widely for the rest of my life, testify Your wonderful deeds, and bring more deceived brothers and sisters before You, so as to make up for my indebtedness to You and repay Your great love!”

Since I followed Almighty God, I have truly enjoyed the sweetness and abundance of God’s words. I deeply feel myself unworthy. At the same time, I have also tasted the hardships of God’s working on earth. Seeing that God has expended great effort and price for mankind, I felt ashamed all the more. Especially when I saw that God says the word “This means I will have to trouble you to make the choice once more…,” I couldn’t control myself anymore and was moved to tears, feeling that God loves man so much and God is so great! At that moment, I couldn’t tell clearly whether it was regret, enjoyment, moving, or comfort. All sorts of feelings welled up in my heart. The supreme God has to “trouble” me, a sinner, to choose once again, and this really makes me extremely ashamed. God’s heart is as boundless as the sea and sky! His desire for mankind is that all men can be saved and none will perish or be destroyed!

Under the illumination of God’s words, my former imaginations, notions, and misunderstandings have been thoroughly dispelled by God’s words, God’s work, and the facts. I have understood what theory is, what reality is, what notion is, what truth is, what imagination is, and what fact is. In the past, I was self-right, self-important, arrogant, and self-conceited, and didn’t seek or investigate God’s new work but only blindly condemned God and sealed off the churches according to my imaginations and notions, playing the role of Satan. Today I have realized it, yet it is too late to regret! Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can take warning from me. Don’t be stiff-necked to resist God anymore. Seek immediately! Now, God’s gospel work is about to be concluded and the disasters have been poured down one after the other. Just as God says: “… the repeated reminders and exhortations of God are because in His hand is prepared an unprecedented disaster, one that will be unbearable for the flesh and spirit of man. This disaster is not merely a punishment of the flesh but of the spirit as well. You must know this: when the plan of God is made void and when His reminders and exhortations beget no response, what anger will He unleash? This will be like nothing that has heretofore been experienced or heard by any creation. And so I say, this disaster is unprecedented and it will never be repeated. This is because only one creation and one salvation are within the plan of God. This is the first time and also the last.”