![]() The Loss and Gain of Gatherings Guozi, USA My name is Guozi, and I’m a high school student studying abroad in the USA. I was born in a Christian family, and my mother accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days when I was one year old. I remember when I was very young that my mother would always say to me: “God created heavens, earth, and everything that exists. We humans were also created by God, and God loves us more than anything. Whenever something happens to you, remember to pray to Almighty God, and He will watch over and protect you.” So when I was very young I learned that God exists, and when anything happened to me and I prayed to God, I experienced God’s protection for me. But truly having knowledge of God and God’s work was something I gradually gained in the course of attending gatherings and fellowshiping about the truth together with brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God and practicing entering into the word of God … In December of 2015, my mother suggested I attend a meeting with the brothers and sisters and said, “The work of God in the last days will end right away, and if you don’t attend gatherings and don’t fellowship about the word of God together with the brothers and sisters, it will be very difficult to understand the truth if you just read the word of God by yourself. It won’t be easy to receive salvation.” At the time I thought my mother was just saying that without thinking about it, so I just agreed with her perfunctorily, but I didn’t think that she had actually contacted the church and gotten the sisters to convene a gathering with me online. When the sisters set the meeting time with me, I was really reluctant to do so. I thought that if I had to attend a gathering every single week it would eat into my free time, and there would be less time for me to go out eating, drinking, and having fun with my friends. In my heart I didn’t want to attend the gathering, and just wanted to keep my current situation the same: When something happened to me, I would pray to God, and occasionally experience God’s protection, and it would be sufficient to have God in my heart. But I was too embarrassed to directly refuse the sisters, so all I could do was reluctantly agree. But when the time of the gathering arrived, I was always trying to come up with an excuse to get out of it. Even though I attended the gathering, my heart did not become at peace, and when I prayed to God all I could do was utter some words of praise or ask God to help me have success on an exam or things like that. When fellowshiping about the word of God, I was really afraid when it would be my turn, because I had no light in my heart. I didn’t know what I should fellowship about, and all I could do was look for what I thought were some key passages and read them. Then I would explain a little about the literal meaning, like it was doing a reading comprehension. Because I didn’t have a proper attitude in dealing with the word of God and I didn’t pay careful attention in the gathering, I didn’t have any enlightenment and illumination by the Holy Spirit—I didn’t have any rewards. The more it went on like this, the more boring I thought it was. I thought: Going out to have fun with my classmates is so much better than this. Especially when I saw that I had gotten a bunch of text messages on my phone, I just couldn’t help myself from thinking about going out with my classmates and friends. I then mentioned to my mother that I didn’t want to attend the gathering, and it would be fine if I just read the word of God on my own. But my mother said, “If you don’t attend gatherings, will you consciously read the word of God? The word of God isn’t like that in the textbooks you read in school. It’s not something you can just understand by getting the literal meaning of the words; you have to fellowship about it by attending gatherings with brothers and sisters and share experiences and knowledge with each other. Only that way can you gradually understand it clearly.” I had never thought that attending gatherings was so important. Since it was able to give me more of an opportunity to read the word of God, and also to allow me to understand the truth even more, I wasn’t able to say anything else. But since I was only interested in having a good time, I would not forsake my flesh and put the truth into practice even though I understood a little bit of it. So afterward, every time I attended a gathering, I would still go through the motions of fellowshiping about the word of God then start to play with my phone and look at some gossip news, check out the newest recent TV series, and sometimes chat with my friends. In this way, every time I attended a gathering I continued to get nothing out of it. One time my mother suddenly asked me, “How have you been feeling recently about attending gatherings, do you understand what you hear? You absolutely can’t play with your phone during gatherings! Even though you attend gatherings online, and the sisters can’t see what you’re doing, God can see your words and actions all the time. If you never pay attention, God won’t ever enlighten you!” Right after that, my mother read to me a passage from the word of God: “Because in order to walk in God’s way, we cannot let go of anything to do with ourselves, or anything that happens around us, even the little things. No matter whether we think we should pay attention to it or not, as long as any matter is facing us we should not let it go. All of it should be viewed as God’s test for us. How’s this kind of attitude? If you have this kind of attitude, then it confirms one fact: Your heart fears God, and your heart is willing to shun evil. If you have this desire to satisfy God, then what you put into practice isn’t far from the standard of fearing God and shunning evil” (“How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). My mother said: “Even though you think that taking a peek at something on your phone while attending a gathering isn’t very serious, this is connected to your attitude of how you treat attending gatherings as well as God. God is at our side watching our each and every move, and observing every thought we have. Have you ever thought why you always want to play with your phone during gatherings? Actually, the tricks of Satan can be found in this. It is God’s will that we understand more about the truth through attending gatherings, mature quickly in our lives, and are finally able to receive God’s salvation. But in order to make you shun God and not listen to God’s word, Satan uses the things you like to entice you, to make you unable to be at peace in your heart in the presence of God, and ultimately unable to obtain anything. When God’s work is finished, your life will be forfeited.” Hearing my mother’s words, I thought to myself: It turns out that there is some truth to be sought in something as small as this, and it even involves a person’s attitude toward God. I was a little ashamed to have been so directly nailed by what my mother said about my thoughts. Before, I always thought that in any case I was just attending gatherings online, and there was no one watching, so I started to think up ideas to satisfy my own preferences. Now I finally knew that God was seeing all of this. Thinking about this, I had a sense of guilt, and was a little disturbed—in the recent several gatherings I was always playing with my phone, and God saw it all. I was full of remorse, and I hurried to acknowledge my mistake in prayer to God. I decided that after this I wouldn’t ever play with my phone again in gatherings and would try hard in pondering the word of God. I would conscientiously listen to what the brothers and sisters fellowshiped about. In the several gatherings I attended after that, I turned my phone off and left it somewhere far away from me. I focused my attention to listening to what the sisters fellowshiped about. Even though sometimes my mind would still wander and I would be absent-minded when listening, I gained a lot from attending gatherings. But because my desire to just have fun was still strong, after a short while my hands were itching again to play with my phone while in a gathering. I thought: I’ll just take a peek at my phone, I promise. I quickly picked up my phone to take a look, with the result that I was hopeless when it came to looking at my phone. Very quickly, I went back to my old ways, and even sometimes put the computer I was using for the gatherings to one side. Ignoring everything I would take my phone and watch TV shows. This attitude I had of deliberately doing wrong led to me not receiving any of the work of the Holy Spirit. Although we were holding a gathering, I simply had no idea what the sisters were fellowshiping about the whole time. When it came time for me to fellowship, I had no idea what I should say. Gradually, my thoughts of unwillingness to attend gatherings sprouted back up again, but I was too embarrassed to tell my mother. I was only able to continue to halfheartedly attend. This went on until one time at a gathering when I was playing with my phone, I noticed a new TV series that had just come out that I wanted to rush to see, but I had to download some software to watch it. I hesitated a bit, but still downloaded the software. Once I had finished the download, I went to open the program, and my phone’s screen suddenly went black. Then it showed that it wanted my password, but how could I know what the password was? When I went online to search for what reason could have led to my screen going black, I realized that I had been tricked, and someone had taken control of my phone and it was now unusable. I was extremely regretful, and at the same time my mind arrived at the idea of God’s discipline. I thought: God observes the deepest parts of people’s hearts, and every single one of my actions was in full view of God. I deliberately did wrong, and this was God’s discipline being visited on me! After I thought about it I knew I really couldn’t play with my phone in gatherings. When I told my mother about this, my mother read to me a passage from the word of God: “What’s a big matter? What’s a small matter? All matters that involve walking in God’s way aren’t divided into big or small ones. Can you accept that? (We can accept it.) In terms of everyday matters, there are some which people view as very big and significant, and others that are viewed as minor trifles. People often view these big matters as being the very important ones, and they consider them to be sent by God. However, over the course of these big matters playing out, owing to the immature stature of man, and owing to man’s poor caliber, man is often not up to God’s intentions, cannot obtain any revelations, and cannot acquire any actual knowledge that is of value. So far as the small matters are concerned, these are simply overlooked by man, left to slip away little by little. Thus, they have lost many opportunities to be examined before God, to be tested by Him. Should you always overlook the people, things, and matters, and circumstances that God arranges for you, what will this mean? It means that every day, even every moment, you’re always renouncing God’s perfection of you, and God’s leadership. Whenever God arranges a circumstance for you, He is watching in secret, looking upon your heart, looking upon your thoughts and considerations, looking at how you think, looking at how you will act. If you are a careless person—a person who has never been serious about God’s way, God’s word, or the truth—then you won’t be mindful, you won’t pay attention to that which God wants to complete, and that which God demands of you when He arranges circumstances for you. You also won’t know how the people, things, and matters that you encounter relate to the truth or God’s intentions. After you face repeated circumstances and repeated trials like this, with God not seeing any achievements to your name, how will God proceed? … there’s only one attitude that God has toward these people. What attitude is this? God spurns this kind of person from the bottom of His heart” (“How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). Reading the word of God, I thought: This time, I have genuinely experienced the discipline of God for myself, and I also saw that God is truly by my side watching my every deed. I always thought that I could deceive the brothers and sisters with my corrupt actions and thoughts. But I could never escape the observation of God. Now, I made deliberate wrong actions, and did not read the word of God or fellowship about the truth carefully during gatherings, but just played with my phone and watched TV shows. I already became detested by God, and not only someone took control of my phone, but I also didn’t get anything at all out of fellowshiping about the truth during gatherings. I wasted my time, and blocked myself from entry into life. I also thought: Before, I always wanted to use my own effort to stop myself from playing with my phone during gatherings, but the result has been that I haven’t been able to overcome the enticement of Satan. I’ve seen that by not relying on God but only on my own strength, it’s very difficult to put the truth into practice and attain a state of fearing God and shunning evil. I think my own stature is too meager. In the future I would just pray to and rely on God, and only that way would I be able to truly attain a state of fearing God and shunning evil, would I bring peace to my heart in gatherings. In the following months, I used my classmate’s phone. Because it was someone else’s phone, I didn’t dare to randomly download whatever programs I felt like. So every time I was in a gathering I would sit contentedly in my seat listening to what the sisters fellowshiped about. Sometimes I would see friends sending me one message after another, my curiosity would start to get the better of me and I really wanted to take a look at what my friends had sent me. But I then thought about God watching my every move, “I am in a gathering at the moment, and if I do not have a devout and reverent attitude it may make God detest me.” So every time when I stretched my hand out toward my phone, I would quickly pull it back. In my heart I would pray to God: “God! Please protect my heart so that it can become tranquil and not be disturbed by Satan.” When I prayed to God and made my heart tranquil, and would conscientiously listen to what the sisters fellowshiped about and shared their experience and knowledge of the word of God, I found that throughout the entire gathering I gained quite a lot of enlightenment and light from the word of God. It allowed me to gain some knowledge about God and God’s work. Before, I never wanted to go to gatherings, and I did make excuses of being busy with schoolwork to avoid attending gatherings. Now, I felt that it was necessary for me to forsake my flesh, and I should always find the time to attend gatherings. Anyway, studying wasn’t normally too much pressure or too much work, and I would often spend my free time playing with my phone and watching TV series. Actually, I was totally able to spend more time participating in gatherings, and this was very beneficial to me in understanding the truth. So I proposed to participate in gatherings two times a week. When I was genuinely carrying it out like this, I understood more and more of the truth, and the knowledge I got of the word of God was much more than I had before. Sometimes I would carry my phone on me and I would still sneak a peek at it, but I would immediately respond by remembering that I had to forsake my flesh and was able to throw my phone onto the bed and continue with the meeting. This is because I knew that God was secretly watching my every move, and I should no longer follow my flesh and had to have a heart that reveres God. Several months passed, and I really felt like I had gained a lot, understood much of the truth, and made a lot of progress in my life. By the sisters sharing their testimony of experiencing the word of God, I also gradually learned to experience God’s work in my life. The experience I remember most deeply was during a math test, when I copied another student’s answers so I could get a good result. What happened was that I was questioned by the school about whether I had a problem with academic integrity, and this problem was so severe that it would affect me getting into university. Just when I had no idea what I should do, during a gathering a sister shared with me the word of God and fellowshiped about God’s will based on my situation. She said the people God likes are honest, and that only honest people can receive God’s salvation. When I was practicing being an honest person in accordance with the word of God, I saw God’s conduct, and not only did I get an opportunity to re-take the test, but was also rewarded with getting straight A during that semester. Experiences like that were hardly limited to just that once. … Now, I like attending gatherings more and more, and I like fellowshiping about the word of God together with the sisters and talking about my own experiences of carrying out the word of God. Sometimes through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, when I’m reading the word of God and pondering it in connection with my own experience, my spirit is very moved and I was really overcome with emotion: How good it is to believe in God! Through experience, I went from being afraid to attend gatherings to enjoying it, and this is an outcome I was led to reach by the word of God! Thinking about it carefully, even though because I was attending gatherings I spent less time going out with my classmates to eat, drink, have fun, and get crazy, what I gained was God’s provision for my life. It was God’s word that allowed me to understand that being an honest person would obtain God’s blessing, and when I was carrying out the truth I felt peace and joy in my spirit. By playing with my phone and following my fleshly preferences, I could be harmed and corrupted by Satan, and it could make me get further and further from God and also cause God to detest me. Gatherings and fellowshiping about the truth gradually allowed me to learn that being a person who fears God and shuns evil is something that God praises, and is also the form of a genuine person that I should pursue and live out. Through God’s guidance, I gained so much. Thanks be to Almighty God! source: The Loss and Gain of Gatherings in Perception of Life
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![]() Judgment Has Begun in God’s Family Aishen, America I am a Christian. When I first started believing in God, I frequently heard sermons where people said, “The Lord Jesus is our Redeemer. He was nailed to the cross for our sins. Jesus is merciful and loving. As long as we frequently come before the Lord and confess our sins through prayer, our sins will be forgiven and when the Lord returns, we will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Afterward, I noticed, when I read the Bible, many parts where the word “judgment” is mentioned. For example: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). “Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained” (Act 17:31). At the time, I did not understand what judgment meant. So, I went to ask the preacher. The preacher told me, “When the Lord returns, He will do the work of judgment to determine man’s sins. Since Jesus is the sacrifice for our atonement, our sins will be forgiven and we will not be convicted. Furthermore, those who spend and toil for the Lord will receive crowns in accordance with their contributions. There will be large and small crowns….” I did not quite understand what the preacher told me. I felt that this “crown” idea was very similar to the idea that seniority must be given priority in the secular world. My heart could not accept it. Afterward, I found a secretary position working for a gospel organization. My boss was also a preacher and she naturally became one of my spiritual elders. She explained many spiritual perspectives to me. The one I remembered most clearly was: As a person, one not only must have wisdom, he must also be clever when it comes to the secular world. What she meant by wisdom referred to doing more work for the Lord. Since the results of people’s work are not the same, the crowns are also not the same. If the results of the work are big, the crown would also be big. She used her own experiences as an example. In order to spread the gospel, she suffered a lot and paid a great price. Locally, she had established a church and had guided many people into believing in the Lord. She has also been to many countries to spread the gospel and she had also been imprisoned for believing in the Lord. Each time she talked about these experiences, I thought back to the words, “The crowns will be given in accordance with the work.” Unconsciously, I felt that she was a person that the Lord liked. After all, she had done a lot of work for the Lord and she had suffered a lot. As a result, I started to worship her more and more. Just as I was passionately worshiping this preacher, I discovered that she had unexpectedly embezzled some funds from the church. This was not a small amount either. No wonder she would spend ostentatiously every day. She would frequently take her family to the restaurant to eat, pay for me to study theology with her own name and even bought a big house in the States with cash. Previously, I was very puzzled, “When her husband came to the States, he did not have a job. Her family was completely dependent on her financially. How did she have so much money?” I did not understand the inside story until I discovered that she had embezzled money from the church. I could not comprehend it. She was a preacher, yet she was able to openly violate the Lord’s teachings and steal His offerings. Could it be that she was not afraid of being punished? The Bible says: “For he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth” (Psm 96:13). God is righteous and trustworthy. What this preacher did had already violated the Lord’s demands. Could it be that when the Lord comes, He will not judge her? Externally, she looked perfect, but in reality, she was someone that did not have any reverence or fear for the Lord. Is this someone that truly believes in the Lord? Could it be that a Christian who has worked and suffered for the Lord will not be convicted regardless of how great a sin she commits? These successive problems made me want to understand just what judgment is all about. When the Lord returns, how will He judge people? However, in the end, I was unable to find the answer in the Bible. Due to this preacher, I came to know many Christian leaders. Through my interactions with them, I could see that a great many of them lived within sin and were unable to extricate themselves from it. They sinned during the day and asked for forgiveness at night. They brandished God’s name to collect money and afterward took it for themselves so that they and their families could live a lavish lifestyle. Some even had extramarital affairs which hollowed out their marriages. Some even had divorces…. Verbally, they claimed to obey the Lord’s way and that their priorities were God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. However, in practice, they were the same as worldly people. They lusted after wealth, status and fame and they lived despicable, dirty and evil lives. I was disgusted with what they did and my heart was unable to approve of it. Afterward, full of hope, I went to a few other churches. However, the circumstances of these churches and the believers in these churches were pretty much the same as what I had seen in the past. I was very disappointed. In addition, I was unable to live out the Lord’s teachings. When interacting with my family members and friends, I always got angry and got into arguments with them over small matters. I would even judge others behind their backs. Basically, I was unable to put patience and acceptance into practice. I could see that I myself was living in sin and I had no way of extricating myself from it. I felt very perplexed and I frequently thought, “If we continue down this path of faith, this endless cycle of committing sins and then asking forgiveness for them, when the Lord comes to judge people, would we really be forgiven for our sins because of Jesus’ atonement and be able to enter the kingdom of heaven?” I felt this may not be possible since I remember that the Bible said, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:45). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). If man is not pure and holy, he is not qualified to even see the Lord. Would the Lord let him into the kingdom of heaven? This is like believing one’s own lies! Nobody was able to answer my questions and it seemed that nobody was concerned about them either. Furthermore, since I was continuously committing sins and asking forgiveness for them, I felt ashamed to come before the Lord. Gradually, I no longer wanted to go to church. Just when I was feeling desperate, one day in February, 2017, I met a sister online. Listening to her talk about her acceptance of the Bible, I thought it was very pure. She communicated with a lot of light and I felt very happy that I had finally found a kindred spiritual sister. We talked endlessly. Sometimes, we would not even realize that we had talked for an entire afternoon. It never felt tiring. On the contrary, I enjoyed it very much because each time I listened to this sister communicate, I felt like I benefited a lot. One day, this sister told me that the Lord had already returned, He is expressing new words and doing His work of judgment beginning with God’s family, which fulfills Jesus’ following words: “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” (Jhn 12:47-48). When I heard this news, I was both shocked and happy. Our Jesus, whom we have been expecting, has finally returned! In the past, when I was reading the Bible, I envied the disciples that followed Jesus because they were able to see the Lord face to face and listen to Him speak. What a blessed opportunity! I never thought that I myself would have the opportunity to welcome the returned Lord. Astonishingly, I also had some worries: The Lord has returned to do His work of judgment. How will the Lord judge people? How will the Lord judge me? I was very anxious and I wanted to know the answer to these questions. Thereupon, I spoke out these questions that I had. The sister read two passages of God’s words for me: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The essence of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is to cleanse humanity, and it is for the day of final rest. Otherwise, the whole of humanity will not be able to follow their own kind or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest. Only God’s work of cleansing will cleanse humanity of their unrighteousness, and only His work of chastisement and judgment will bring to light those disobedient things among humanity, thereby separating those who can be saved from those who cannot, and those who will remain from those who will not” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After she finished reading God’s words, the sister said, “During the Age of Grace, Jesus only did the work of redemption. He did not do the work of absolving man of his sinful nature. That is why, even though we have been forgiven for our sins, our nature of committing sins still resides within and we are still capable of frequently expressing satanic corrupt disposition such as arrogance, conceitedness, crookedness, treachery, selfishness, greed, evil, etc. Due to the bindings and control of satanic nature, we frequently live in and are unable to escape from this endless cycle of committing sins and admitting to them.” The sister asked me, “If we live in sin all the time, would we be raptured into the kingdom of heaven?” I replied with certainty, “No.” The sister nodded her head and said, “Correct. Those that live in sin absolutely cannot enter the kingdom of heaven because God is pure and holy. Why would God allow people who are filled with satanic corrupt disposition and are not at all able to put the Lord’s words into practice to enter into the kingdom of heaven? If this were so, there is no way of letting people see God’s righteousness, purity and holiness, nor would Satan be convinced. Therefore, in the last days, God has done a stage of work of judgment through His words on the foundation of Jesus’ redemption work. He has expressed the truth of millions of words, revealed mysteries, exposed the truth and essence of mankind’s corruption and also pointed a practical path for man to walk, etc. The purpose of these truths is to cleanse and change man’s life disposition so that we can attain salvation, and perfection and so that we can be qualified to enter into God’s kingdom. Additionally, the purpose of God’s judgment work is not targeting any one specific person’s corruption. Instead, it targets the entire human race’s nature and essence of resisting God and betraying God in order to judge man. Through reading God’s words of judgment, we are able to understand the truth of how we have been corrupted by Satan and we can see clearly satanic poisons within us as well as satanic nature of contradicting and resisting God. This is similar to how externally, even though we are able to toil, work, cast away and spend for God, a part of the results of our work are immeasurably self-satisfied. We still lift up ourselves and bear witness to ourselves so that others will regard us highly and look up to us. When we have spent a bit for God, we try to enter into a deal with God because we want to obtain God’s grace, blessings, rewards and crowns. When we encounter unhappy situations or disasters, we start to complain to God, misunderstand God and during serious times, we are even able to betray God and leave God, etc. Within the judgment of God’s words and revealing of facts, we are finally able to have a true understanding and hatred of ourselves and thirst to no longer live in these corrupt dispositions that cause God to detest us. At the same time, we can see that God’s righteous disposition does not tolerate offense and God’s pure and holy essence does not tolerate tarnishes. We have corrupt dispositions and we should accept God’s judgment. From this, we should generate hearts that revere God. By experiencing many instances of this kind of judgment and chastisement, we gradually cast away the bindings of our satanic corrupt disposition. Our conscience and rationality is restored bit by bit and we can live out a bit of the likeness of a genuine human being. These are all results that can be obtained through God’s judgment work of the last days.” (Source: Shutterstock) Listening to God’s words and the sister’s communications, my heart felt that everything suddenly became clear and I was benefiting immensely. I understood that in the last days God does His work of judgment by means of expressing the truth. He judges, cleanses and saves man with His words. At this time, I deeply felt that this work of God was truly practical and fantastic! Now, I finally understood. If we want to enter into the kingdom of heaven, just experiencing Jesus’ redemption and having one’s sins pardoned is not enough. We must also accept the work of judgment through His words that Jesus returned to do. Only then will we be cleansed and saved. This is the only path through which man can be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven. I could not help but think of the following verses from the Bible: “Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth” (Jhn 17:17). “Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1Pe 1:5). At that very moment, I felt all the confusion that I had carried up to that point was lifted off my shoulders and my heart felt crystal clear. I thought of what Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jhn 14:6). The truth can only come from God. Only God can express the truth. I believe that the judgment work that Almighty God has started doing begins with God’s family and that it is the work of God. Almighty God is the returned Lord. Consequently, I gladly accept Almighty God’s salvation of the last days. Afterward, I actively participated in gatherings and I eagerly read God’s words. One day, I read the following passage: “I decide the destination of each person not on the basis of age, seniority, amount of suffering, and least of all, the degree to which they invite pity, but according to whether they possess the truth. There is no other choice but this. You must realize that all those who do not follow the will of God will be punished. This is an immutable fact. Therefore, all those who are punished are so punished for the righteousness of God and as retribution for their numerous evil acts” (“You Ought to Do Enough Good Deeds to Prepare for Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “I will have no sense of pity for those of you who suffer for many years and work hard with nothing to show for it. On the contrary, I treat those who have not met My demands with punishment, not rewards, still less any sympathy. … I do not care how meritorious your hard work is, how impressive your qualifications, how closely you follow Me, how renowned you are, or how improved your attitude; so long as you have not done what I have demanded, you will never be able to win My praise. … for I cannot bring My enemies and people reeking of evil on the model of Satan into My kingdom, into the next age” (“Transgressions Will Take Man to Hell” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words helped me understand that God is fair to each and every person. God does not determine someone’s final destination based on their external spending. Instead, it is based on whether someone has the truth and whether they comply with God’s way. God is indeed very righteous! Only God Himself can reveal such a righteous disposition. After reading Almighty God’s words, I associated those words with something that Jesus once said: “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21). Before, I believed that those who toiled and worked for the Lord and those who paid a big price and suffered a lot, when the Lord returns to do His work of judgment, God would definitely treat them leniently. Now, I learned that this was completely my own notion and imagination. It is an erroneous way of accepting it and it basically is not in accordance with God’s intentions. Today, Almighty God has opened up His own work, His disposition and His intentions to us. This was when I understand the inner meaning of what Jesus said. This is truly God’s blessing! What made me even happier was, after I accepted Almighty God’s work for a period of time, I could see that God’s words of judgment and chastisement were indeed able to resolve my problem of committing sins. In the past, Jesus taught us that we must be tolerant and patient to others, however, I was unable to put this into practice. After reading Almighty God’s words and accepting God’s judgment and chastisement, I recognized that the reason I was unable to put these things into practice was because I was being controlled by my arrogant and conceited satanic nature. I realized that I was full of hubris, my gaze was always fixated on others and I always looked down upon others. Through God’s words of judgment and chastisement, I came to realize the truth of how I was corrupted by Satan. In fact, I was no different from anybody else. We were all crooked, treacherous, selfish, despicable and only out for profit. We had every kind of corrupt disposition. I was also someone who had been corrupted deeply by Satan and I had no humanity and rationality. The more I received God’s judgment, the more I could see that I was impoverished, pathetic and insignificant, and the more I saw that God was pure, holy, great and supreme. I no longer wanted to be so egotistical and look down upon others. When I interacted with those around me, I was able to treat them properly. In this way, I was not relying on practicing external self-control and patience. Instead, from my heart, I had more understanding, tolerance and forgiveness for others. I understand that actually, everybody is living within satanic corrupt disposition. We are all victims. It is Satan who has corrupted us. At the same time, I was a little more grateful toward God. It is Almighty God’s work of judgment that has brought us to the path of changing our disposition and the opportunity of attaining cleansing and salvation! (Source: Fotolia) Through experiencing Almighty God’s judgment and chastisement work, I can see that God’s work of saving man is very practical! In the past, when I believed in the Lord, I sought to become holy but I did not have a path. My sins became more and more serious. Aside from praying to the Lord and asking the Lord for forgiveness, in terms of our essence of committing sins, we were the same as those who do not believe in God. God has incarnated to do His work of judgment in order to resolve our essence of committing sins. This is the work that Jesus wants to do when He returns in the last days. It completely fulfills the prophecies in the Bible involving the Son of man doing the work of judgment in the last days. Even though it has not been a long time since I had accepted God’s work of the last days, however, through reading God’s words and experiencing God’s work, I feel that when I accept God’s words of judgment and chastisement, reflect upon myself based on God’s words, seek to understand God and put God’s words into practice, I am able to attain a change in my disposition. Seeking to the very end in this manner, one can definitely attain cleansing and salvation and be allowed by God to enter God’s kingdom. At this moment, it is as if I can already see the beautiful sight of life in the kingdom. Thank God! May all the glory belong to Almighty God! source: Judgment Has Begun in God’s Family in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() A Different Kind of Love Chengxin, Brazil By a chance opportunity in 2011, I came to Brazil from China. When I had just arrived, my eyes were overflowing with fresh and new experiences, curiosity, and I had a beautiful feeling about the future. But after a short time, this fresh and new feeling was quickly replaced by the loneliness and pain of finding myself in a far-off foreign land. Every day I went back home all alone, ate by myself, looking at the walls around me every day without anyone even to talk to, and I felt especially lonely in my heart, often crying all alone. When I felt the most pain and helpless, the Lord Jesus brought me into a gathering by means of a friend. Through reading the word of the Lord, singing hymns, and praying in gatherings, my lonely heart received the consolation of the Lord. I learned from the Bible that heavens, earth, and all things were created by God, and man too is God’s creation. The Lord Jesus was crucified for the redemption of mankind, and it was the Lord Jesus who redeemed us from sin, and He is the only Redeemer of mankind. In the face of the Lord’s salvation, which is greater than all else, I felt deeply moved and resolved to follow the Lord for the rest of my life. Because of this I was baptized on Thanksgiving to become a Christian not just in name but in reality. Because I liked singing hymns, especially those in praise of God, after I was baptized I took the initiative to join the choir and work as part of it. Through God’s guidance and blessings, I lived in peace and happiness. Every time I went to a gathering or praised God in worship, I felt suffused with energy. But a good situation didn’t last forever, and as I entered the ranks of the church ministry, I gradually saw that in the concern and care the brothers and sisters in the church showed to each other on the surface they were all seemingly harmonious, but that in their speech and actions they were all actually acting out of self-interest. They didn’t want to suffer any personal loss while working in the ministry of the church, and often gossiped behind others’ backs about who was doing more and who was doing less. Even the pastor was extremely snobby. He treated people based on the amounts of their donations, and when preaching always talked about donations. Every time he came to a gathering, the thing the pastor put the most emphasis on was whether or not people were giving donations and how much they had given, and he didn’t want to hear anything about the lives of the brothers and sisters. He talked about love, but didn’t show a single genuine action. When the brothers and sisters had difficulties, the pastor wouldn’t help them, but what made people even more indignant was that he would still criticize them and that he looked down on those powerless and penniless brothers and sisters…. When I saw this environment of the church, I was disappointed but also confused: How had the church changed so that it was no different than society? Slowly, I lost the love and faith I had had before, and on Sunday when I would go to the church I felt much less invigorated. I didn’t even want to sing. Every week when I went to church, I was either standing outside drinking coffee or taking a quick nap in the pews. When the sermon was over, I’d toss in my donation and head out. There was always a feeling of grief or helplessness in my heart. One Sunday in August of 2016, I met Sister Li Min who had come from America and who was the classmate of sisters Gao Xiaoying and Liu Fang. They all believed in the Lord. We got to chatting while sitting on the lawn. We talked and talked, and came around to the topic of the church environment, and I said everything I had seen in the church. After Sister Li Min heard that, she nodded thoughtfully and said: “Nowadays, not only has your church become this way, but the whole religious world has lost the work of the Holy Spirit. They’ve fallen into darkness and desolation. The Lord Jesus once prophesied: ‘And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold’ (Mat 24:12). It’s already the period of the last days, and lawlessness is growing ever more rampant in religion. The pastors and elders don’t abide by the commandments of the Lord Jesus, they don’t carry out the way of the Lord, and they think it is not a big deal to live in sin like that. We all know that the flourishing of the church is the fruit obtained by the work of the Holy Spirit. Today, God has already done new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit has been transmitted to a group of people who accept and obey God’s new work. The pastors and elders in religion don’t lead believers in seeking and investigating God’s work in the last days, but rather resist and condemn God’s new work by disseminating all kinds of rumors and misconceptions to block people from returning to God. They meet with God’s hatred and rejection, so the entire religious world is without God’s blessing and has completely lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and has been cast aside and eliminated by the Lord. So the religion becomes more and more desolate and darkened. It is just like the time when the Lord Jesus became incarnate to perform work. The work of the Lord Jesus opened up the Age of Grace and put an end to the Age of Law. And because those people who followed the Lord Jesus accepted and obeyed the new work of God, they then gained the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas on the contrary the Holy Spirit did not work among those people who did not accept the Lord Jesus and still remained in the temple. So the temple that once was filled with glorification of God and where believers worshiped God became a place for doing business and a den of thieves. That is to say that the reason for the desolation of the church in one respect is caused by the pastors and elders not adhering to God’s commandments nor carrying out the word of God, and their commission of evil acts. In another respect it is brought about by God performing new work, and that the work of the Holy Spirit has transformed, and by people not having caught up to the footsteps of God. However, God’s will is present in the desolation of the church, and there is a truth that can be found therein. Through the desolation of the church, God compelled all those who believe in God with true hearts and who thirst for the truth to leave the religion behind, so that they can leave it to search for the work of the Holy Spirit and to catch up with the footsteps of God and to come into the presence of God to obtain God’s present work and salvation.” Hearing what Sister Li fellowshiped, I nodded my head and said: “What you said is right. It’s certainly just as you say. I was never able to understand this problem, as the church was originally a place for worshiping God, but there is no difference anymore between the church and society at large. Furthermore, there is no new light in what the pastors preach, nor any enjoyment in listening to them, and people now live in darkness. As it turns out, it is that we have not yet caught up to God’s new work, so what must we now do to catch up to God’s new work?” Sister Li said: “The Lord Jesus has long since returned. In the last days, God is incarnated as a man to express the truth under the name of Almighty God. He has done a stage of the work of judging and purifying mankind. We have to catch up to God’s work in the last days and accept the judgment of God’s word, and then we can obtain the work of the Holy Spirit….” When I heard that the Lord Jesus had already returned to do a stage of the work of judgment, I was astonished. I thought: “Isn’t judgment to punish a person after he is convicted? God comes in the last days to judge those people who don’t believe in God, and we who believe in the Lord Jesus have already been absolved of our sins and have been graced with salvation. We don’t need to receive God’s judgment, for when the Lord comes He will directly raise us to the heavenly kingdom. How could He come to judge us?” With that thought, I had given rise to my own opinion. At that moment, Sister Liu Fang said, “Brother, I have already been investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days for a week with Sister Gao. From the word of Almighty God, we have recognized it is the voice of God. Almighty God is indeed the returned Lord Jesus. Read the word of Almighty God, and you will understand. The reason why the Lord Jesus returned to do the work of judgment is that, although we who believe in the Lord have been forgiven of our sins, we are living all along amid sin from which we cannot free ourselves. There is no way to free ourselves from the bondage and control of sin, and indeed we really do need God to express the truth to judge and purify us, and to root out our sinful nature and corrupt satanic disposition. Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days is a new and outstanding work built on the foundation of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. It completely purifies and saves men through the judgment of the word, and brings people to a wonderful abiding place.” After this, they patiently fellowshiped about some more truths with me. But no matter what they said, I just couldn’t accept that the Lord was returning to judge those who believed in Him. At the same time I was conflicted, I was also bewildered in my mind: Sisters Gao and Liu were very pious believers, and everyone acknowledged their belief and love for the Lord, so how could they believe that the Lord Jesus was returning to judge us who believe in Him, and that He would not raise us directly into the kingdom of heaven? Could it be that there was some mystery of the truth in this that I did not know? As I was thinking, Sister Li Min took out a book and said earnestly to me: “Brother, the Lord Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 5:3). Don’t jump to a conclusion first, OK? Let us first see if the word of Almighty God is the voice of God, and whether it can provide life for us, and whether it can purify and save us, and then we will know whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. God’s sheep will listen to the voice of God, so let us read God’s word together!” I was a bit unwilling in my heart and didn’t answer her question. The three sisters were a little saddened to see my attitude. Sister Liu suddenly suggested: “First let’s pray, and then read some more from the word of God!” After she said that, the three sisters began to pray, and I had to follow along with them. Still, as I was praying, I could hardly quiet my heart. Even though I couldn’t hear what the sisters were praying about, I was moved by their living out. They treated God with such an attitude of sincerity, and searched for God’s will in everything. They hoped that I would investigate God’s work in the last days, and this also came out of God’s love for me. After the prayer, Sister Li handed me a book and said sincerely to me: “Most of the questions in this book, A Hundred Questions and Answers on Investigating the True Way, exist among people of all sects. For each question, related passages are chosen from the word of God to explain it. Go ahead and take a look.” I didn’t want to take the book, but seeing how sincere they were, I looked again at Sister Gao and Sister Liu, and how much they hoped I would investigate and seek. I thought how crucial a matter it was indeed to welcome the coming of the Lord, and that I shouldn’t treat it carelessly. At that, I accepted the book and said: “Alright, I’m willing to accept this book. Let’s stop here for today. I will read the book first, and then we’ll talk.” After I went back home, I set the book to one side and my thoughts were all mixed up. I thought back on what Sister Li Min had fellowshiped and had a feeling that it was all clear and distinct. Every sentence she said was a fact, but what I couldn’t understand was: Why would the Lord perform a stage of the work of judgment upon His return? After contemplating it carefully, I still didn’t understand it. But as for this matter of the Lord’s second coming, since I had heard about it, I couldn’t blindly make up the rules and sit resigned to my fate. I thought it would also be a good idea to take a look at the book and grow a little in my differentiation. At that, I spent six days reading that book from cover to cover. I saw that Almighty God had made known many, many truths and mysteries that I had never heard of before. It allowed me to gain great providence, and also, when I had read the words of Almighty God, I felt that there were many things that were said in the same tone as that of the Lord Jesus. There was authority and power as if it were God’s voice speaking. So, after I finished reading the book, I wanted to understand even more what was behind the work of judgment done by Almighty God. I decided to go find Sister Gao to ask for clarification. On the next day, I went to Sister Gao’s house, and happened to meet some of her friends. They all accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days and were in a gathering together fellowshiping to each other. We greeted each other, and Sister Li Min got right to the point by asking me: “Brother, what notions do you still hold? What aspects of God’s work in the last days do you still want to understand? We can fellowship together.” I said: “You mentioned that because the work of the Holy Spirit was moving forward in the last days, the church was made desolate. I can accept this, but we who believe in the Lord have already had our sins absolved, and the Lord does not see us as having sin. Why does God want to do a further step of the work of judgment? Aren’t we able to be raised into the heavenly kingdom without going through that step? When God judges a person, is that person not determined to be sinful? Mustn’t they all be punished? How can they still be raised into the heavenly kingdom?” Sister Li Min said: “As far as most people’s notions are concerned, the people whom the Lord returned to judge were those non-believers who did not believe in God. Because God judged people, people were determined as sinful and punished, and those who believed in God had their sins absolved. When the Lord comes, it is to raise them directly into the heavenly kingdom, not to judge them. So they refuse to accept God’s work of judgment in the last days. This is completely misunderstanding God’s will and demonstrates that a person does not know God’s work. Actually, the work of Almighty God in the last days—of expressing the truth and of judging and purifying man—is for the sake of raising believers up to the heavenly kingdom. We all know the Bible says: ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17). This prophecy tells us clearly that God’s work of judgment in the last days begins first with God’s household. That is, it begins with those people who believe in God with true hearts and accept God’s work in the last days. So, we consider the notion to be in error that believing in the Lord Jesus means one does not have to accept God’s work of judgment. In the last days, God uses His words to judge all those who come before His throne, and purifies and saves these people. Before the calamity, He makes a group of overcomers, and afterward when the calamity befalls the world He will reward the good and punish the evil. This is how God’s work of judgment in the last days proceeds. No one is able to escape from God’s work of judgment in the last days, but as for those people who accept and obey God’s judgment, they are purified, saved, and perfected. As for those who refuse and resist God’s work of judgment in the last days, although they can hide from the judgment of God’s word, they still cannot escape the catastrophe in the end. This is a fact! The reason why God wants to judge us in the last days is said very clearly in the word of Almighty God. Let us read together a section from the word of God. Almighty God says: ‘You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance’ (‘Concerning Appellations and Identity’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We understand from the word of God that in believing in the Lord Jesus our sins are merely forgiven. This does not mean that we do not sin nor that we are sinless. In reality, we all live in the vicious cycle of committing and then confessing our sin, and we still need God to express His word to judge and cleanse us. Once we are cleansed, we will be qualified to be raised into the heavenly kingdom. It is recorded in the Bible: ‘You shall be holy; for I am holy’ (Lev 11:44). ‘Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Heb 12:14). God is pure and holy. Defiled and corrupt people may not see God’s face and are unfit to enter God’s kingdom. The work of redemption done by the Lord Jesus only absolved us of our sins, but did not exempt us from our corrupt dispositions and sinful natures. So our arrogance, conceit, deceit and craftiness, selfishness and despicableness, evil and greed, aversion to the truth, fondness for injustice, and other corrupt satanic natures still remain. These corrupt natures are precisely the source that leads us to sin and to resist God. If they are not disposed of, we will often sin, compete for fame and wealth, have jealousy and strife, lie and deceive, exalt ourselves, bear witness to ourselves, and more. Especially when God’s work doesn’t conform to our notions, we are still able to rely on our notions and imaginations in judging, denying, and accusing God, and resisting God’s work. How can people like this who resist God be raised into the heavenly kingdom? God expresses the truth and does the work of judgment in the last days, and His goal in doing so is to cleanse the corrupt satanic natures we hold within ourselves as well as to fulfill our dream of being raised into the heavenly kingdom. When we accept God’s judgment and break free of our corrupt disposition, we attain purification and transform. We will have the qualification to inherit God’s promise and to be brought by God into the heavenly kingdom.” After listening to what the sister fellowshiped and to the word of Almighty God, I thought: After one enters belief in the Lord, the fact that his sins are forgiven does not mean that he doesn’t commit sin. This really is true! Looking at those in the church, from the pastors and elders all the way down to the ordinary members including myself, everyone is living in the state of sinning during the day and confessing their sin at night, and the bondage and control of sin cannot be escaped. It seems that people will certainly be unable to see the face of the Lord without going through the judgment and purification of the word of God! When it is phrased like this, it is absolutely necessary for God to come and do a stage of the work of judgment and purification of man! I once believed that if one had faith in the Lord Jesus, he did not have to be judged. I thought that when the Lord comes, He would judge those people who did not believe in Him. Now I understand that this notion is not in keeping with God’s will at all, and that it is erroneous acceptance. Then Sister Gao played for me a video with singing and dancing from The Church of Almighty God called The Happiness in the Good Land of Canaan: “I’ve returned to God’s family, excited and happy. My hands hold my beloved, my heart belongs to Him. Though I’ve passed through the Vale of Tears, I’ve seen God’s loveliness. My love for God grows day by day, God is the source of my joy. Bewitched by the beauty of God, my heart is attached to Him. I can never love God enough, songs of praise well up in my heart. …” The whole song was cheerful and moving, and was especially inspirational. I saw that the faces of every brother and sister in the video were brimming with happiness, and we couldn’t help but join along in singing. We started dancing along with the song and our hearts were really moved. I saw that the brothers and sisters who had the providence of God’s word were blessed and joyful. Though they had gone through the judgment and chastisement of God, they still had no worry at all, but were liberated, free, joyful, and happy. I think about how my own faith and enthusiasm in the religion had all but disappeared. All I saw was the desolation and darkness of the church, but the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God were full of the work of the Holy Spirit. They fellowshiped about the truth with light and praised God with vigor, and they were bearing witness to God with great excitement and energy…. Comparing the two together, they seemed like two different worlds. At that time, I felt like a drifting orphan who had returned home and was enjoying the warmth of a mother’s embrace. I thought: There really is the truth to be sought here. I must listen well to what the brothers and sisters fellowship about the truth of God’s work of judgment in the last days so that I won’t miss my chance to be raised up into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns. Following that, Sister Li read us two more passages from the word of God: “Through what is God’s perfection of man accomplished? Through His righteous disposition. God’s disposition primarily consists of righteousness, wrath, majesty, judgment, and curse, and His perfection of man is primarily through judgment. Some people don’t understand, and ask why it is that God is only able to make man perfect through judgment and curse. They say that if God were to curse man, wouldn’t man die? If God were to judge man, wouldn’t man be condemned? Then how can he still be made perfect? Such are the words of people who do not know the work of God. What God curses is the disobedience of man, and what He judges are the sins of man. Although He speaks harshly, and without the slightest sensitivity, He reveals all that is within man, and through these stern words He reveals that which is essential within man, yet through such judgment, He gives man a profound knowledge of the essence of the flesh, and thus man submits to obedience before God. The flesh of man is of sin, and of Satan, it is disobedient, and the object of God’s chastisement—and so, to allow man to know himself, the words of God’s judgment must befall him and there must be employed every kind of refinement; only then can God’s work be effective” (“Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Li fellowshiped to us, saying: “After we were corrupted by Satan, we all lived under the domain of Satan and became degenerates who resisted God. On the basis of God’s righteous and holy substance, we were all targets of God’s curse and destruction, but it is not God’s will to destroy mankind but rather to save mankind. So in order to completely rescue people out from under the domain of Satan, God expresses the word in the last days and does the work of judging and purifying man. The work of judgment is actually God using His word to expose people’s words, actions, nature, and essence of being contrary to God and of resisting God. It is to cause people to know the essence and true condition of their corruption, and to recognize God’s disposition of righteousness and holiness, in order to reach a point of self-hatred and to truly repent and transform. It is in order to break free of the corrupt satanic disposition and to be obtained by God. In this way people will receive salvation. Only through the judgment and chastisement of the word of God are we able to see that we are filled with corruption. At all times and places, we display the corrupt disposition of selfishness, arrogance, treachery, and greed. We are filled with notions and imaginations, extravagant desires, and unreasonable demands with respect to God. We don’t have any conscience and reason, nor any devotion or loyalty. The more we accept God’s judgment, the more we recognize how deeply we are corrupted and that we indeed have no humanity. We begin to feel disgusted with ourselves, and to hate ourselves in our hearts. The more we accept God’s judgment, the more we see God’s holiness, and righteousness, and the more our hearts will revere God. We will be willing to go against our fleshly desires and live in accordance with God’s word. Subsequently, a transformation will occur in our perspectives on things and our corrupt nature, and we will start to live out some likeness of a real man. It is an enormous love and salvation for us that we have truly tasted the judgment and chastisement of God. Without God’s judgment and chastisement, we would all be targets for destruction.” I was very moved when the sister had fellowshiped to this point, and I saw how great and true God’s love is. He is the God who loves mankind! It was I who misunderstood God’s good intention in saving people. I had thought that God judged people to determine their guilt and punish them, but never thought that God expressing His word and judging people in the last days was even truer love, or that it was an even greater salvation for us! Thanks be to Almighty God! Through reading the word of Almighty God and from what the sisters fellowshiped, I gained some understanding of God’s work of judgment and eliminated my mistaken notions about God. I came to the firm belief that Almighty God is none other than the returned Lord Jesus, and I became willing to accept God’s work of judgment. I fully emerged from the fog, and my face beamed with a joyous smile. Sister Li said happily: “Thanks be to God for leading you. All this is the fruit attained through God’s word. This lets us see that before understanding the truth even though we come up with notions about God and God’s work, all it takes is for us to search for and accept the truth, and to listen to God’s word, and then we will understand the truth and have knowledge of God’s work, and our notions and imaginations will be blown away like clouds or smoke. We will then be able to understand God’s will, and will no longer misunderstand God.” I nodded my head happily and thanked God for His salvation. After having accepted God’s work in the last days, I installed a messaging app on my phone so that Sister Gao and the others could often share with me some gospel movies, music videos and hymns of The Church of Almighty God. When I saw the gospel movie of The Church of Almighty God called From the Throne Flows the Water of Life, it had a great impact on me. The desolate situation of the church in the movie was just like our own situation, and the movie showed the origins of this desolation with perfect clarity. Because God’s work had transformed, and God was no longer working inside of churches, the people who refuse to accept Almighty God’s work in the last days all were suffering a famine. Those people who accept the word of Almighty God attained God’s providence of the water of life and would no longer be thirsty. They had gotten to a blessed life of being face to face with God. When I watched the movie Waiting, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. The old pastor in the movie believed in the Lord his whole life and thought that his hard work was meritorious. He was just waiting for the Lord to come so he could be raised up. But he stubbornly clung to the belief that when the Lord comes He will descend upon a cloud and will give the revelation to him first. Because of this stubbornness he resisted and refused God’s work in the last days, so in the end he was just staring off at the sky waiting for a cloud and dying regretfully. This bitter lesson really made people think deeply! At the same time, I rejoiced in my heart and gave thanks to Almighty God for saving me, a rebellious son who only sought to gain blessings from Him but was reluctant to accept His judgment and purification. He led me before the throne of God to obtain God’s salvation in the last days. Now I have entered into life in The Church of Almighty God, and through truly experiencing the judgment and chastisement of the word of God, I have slowly begun to perceive how real and practical it is that God does the work of judgment. When God dissects humans’ treacherous nature, I felt that I myself do not have any lies in my speech and did not admit the actual situation revealed in God’s words. However, when I am faced with God giving me a practical environment to make things revealed, I involuntarily blurt out lies to protect my self-interest and vanity. Moreover, I have treachery and deceit in my heart, and I also have many secrets I do not want to make openly known. This led me to see that everything revealed by the word of God is the truth and the real situation, and that it is man’s nature and essence. Only then was I truly convinced of God’s word, and I had an urgent desire to seek the truth and to transform my own treacherous nature. After this experience, I came to realize that if it weren’t for God’s practical judgment and chastisement in this way, I never would have known my own treacherous nature. I also would not have been able to carry out the truth and transform my own treacherous disposition. God’s judgment and chastisement were indeed cleansing and salvation for me, and were a different kind of love. I want to cherish this special kind of love well and to accept the judgment and chastisement of God. I want to transform soon to become a new person to satisfy God. All honor and glory be unto God! source: A Different Kind of Love in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() The Tabernacle of God Is With Men One day, I went to my sister’s house to check on our mom. Before leaving, my sister gave me a book, urging me to be sure to read it carefully. I thought to myself: This book that my sister gave me is certainly a spiritual work. It just so happens that my spirit feels quite parched right now, it does not feel like the Lord is with me, and I do not feel illuminated from reading the Bible. When I get back, I ought to read this book carefully. Perhaps it will give me something. After returning home, I opened the book and started reading, and before I knew it I was sucked in by the words in the book. The more I read it the more I enjoyed it, the more I read it the more I felt there was light in these words, that they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit, that there was no way that these words could be spoken by a normal person. Since reading this book, I’ve come to understand some truths that I did not understand before from reading the Bible, and in my mind I feel clarity and joy. I’m willing to pray to get close to the Lord, and my faith has grown. My spiritual condition has gotten better and better. I thought: Only the work of the Holy Spirit can provide man with faith and strength, and provide for and nourish man’s spirit. The words in this book certainly come from the Holy Spirit. As a result, the first thing I do every morning when I wake up is read this book. One day, I opened the book and read the following passage: “God entering into rest means that He will no longer carry out His work of humanity’s salvation. Humanity entering into rest means that all of humanity will live within God’s light and under His blessings; there will be none of Satan’s corruption, nor will any unrighteous things occur. Humanity will live normally upon earth, and they will live under God’s care” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I stopped there. My heart jumped, and I thought to myself: In the future man is going to live upon the earth? Didn’t the Lord Jesus promise that in the future we would live in heaven? How are these words talking about being on the earth? How could this be possible? Am I misreading this? So I carefully re-read the passage, and the words really were saying that in the future man was going to live upon the earth. Then what does that actually mean? This wouldn’t do. I had to understand what this actually meant. So I continued reading: “God has God’s destination, and man has man’s destination. While resting, God will continue to guide all of humanity in their lives upon earth. While in God’s light, man will worship the one true God in heaven. … When humanity enters into rest, it means that man has become a true creation; humanity will worship God from upon the earth and have normal human lives. People will no longer be disobedient to God or resist God; they will return to the original life of Adam and Eve” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The more I read the more I felt confused: Man will worship God from upon the earth? How is this going to happen? In the Bible doesn’t it say this will happen in heaven? How could it be upon the earth? I rushed over to my Bible, opening it to John 14:2-3, and read where the Lord Jesus says: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” The Lord Jesus clearly says that His resurrection and ascent into heaven was to prepare a place for us, so our destination should be in heaven. This is the Lord’s promise! I thought to myself: What this book is saying is different from what the Lord says, so I cannot keep reading it. After closing the book I was in a very confused state of mind, I didn’t know what was right, so I persistently prayed to the Lord: “Oh Lord, please guide me and lead me. What should I do? Should I read this book or not? Oh Lord, please enlighten me, guide me….” After praying I thought about how after reading this book I felt closer in my relationship to the Lord, more enthusiastic about my faith in the Lord, and that my spirit was being provided for. If I put down this book and stopped reading it then I would go back to my previous condition where my spirit felt parched. Since this book did so much for me, since I could be sure that it came from the Holy Spirit, that it couldn’t be mistaken as it came from the Holy Spirit, even though these words did not conform to my conceptions I shouldn’t renounce them for this reason and not read them. As I thought about this, I decided I better keep reading before making up my mind. Thereupon I picked up the book again and continued reading: “Man’s place of rest is on earth, and God’s place of rest is in heaven. While man rests, he will worship God and also live upon earth, and while God rests, He will lead the remaining portion of humanity; He will lead them from heaven, not from earth …” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I kept pondering this over in my mind: This passage now says that God’s place of rest is in heaven, and that while man rests he will worship God upon the earth. Could it be that man’s place of rest really is upon the earth like these words are saying? That’s impossible! The Lord Jesus has already said that we will be wherever the Lord is, and that the Lord Jesus was resurrected and ascended up to heaven, so we will also surely ascend to heaven! I thought back on years past, how I had gone down so many roads for the Lord, how I had endured so much suffering. Was it not so that I would ascend up to heaven and no longer endure the suffering on earth? If it’s really like what this book is saying, that in the future man will still be living upon the earth, then won’t my hopes come to nothing? I lay paralyzed upon my kang bed. I felt weak from head to toe. The more I thought about this the more I couldn’t quiet down. So, in order to figure this out, I rushed over to my sister’s house. When I arrived at my sister’s house, I met a middle-aged woman, and through my sister introducing us I learned that this was Sister Li. Before long, I talked with them about my thoughts after reading this book. After listening, Sister Li fellowshiped with me, saying: “Sister, all of us who believe in the Lord think that the Lord Jesus has promised to prepare a place for man, and that wherever He is He will ask for us to come there. The Lord has ascended to heaven, so in the future when the Lord returns He certainly will welcome us in heaven to live together with Him. But have any of us thought about whether this kind of imagining and reasoning is tenable? If it was how we imagine it that the Lord would come and bring us to live in heaven, then wouldn’t the words in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ (Mat 6:10) and the prophesy in the Revelation ‘And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God’ (Rev 21:3) come to naught? How could these things come about as predicted? If the final destination that God gives us was in heaven, then when God originally created man, what was the significance of Him having us live upon the earth?” I was not convinced in the least, and retorted: “Even though these sacred texts say these things, the Lord Himself said: ‘I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ (Jhn 14:2-3). After the Lord Jesus was resurrected, He ascended to heaven, and here the Lord is saying that He will go prepare a place for us. He says that where He is, we may also be. So this proves that God promised us that we will ascend to heaven to obtain eternal life, not that we will obtain eternal life upon the earth. This is something that no one can deny!” Sister Li continued to speak patiently: “Sister, it is true that the Lord is preparing a place for those who believe in Him, but is this place actually upon the earth or in heaven? The Lord does not say so in these words, so what are we basing it on when we say that the place He is preparing for us is in heaven? Is this actually the Lord’s promise or is it our own conception and imagination? For those of us who believe in God, all things should be based on the word of the Lord, our own conceptions and imaginations should not be mixed in with the word of the Lord, and then we say that this is the meaning of the Lord. Is this not relying on our own ideas to explain the word of the Lord? Is this not distorting the word of the Lord? So, we cannot rely on the imaginations in our heads and our own thoughts and preferences to explain the word of the Lord. If so, we will make a mistake. In Genesis 2:7-8 it says: ‘And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.’’ It’s clear that in the beginning God created man on the earth, and before God created man He first created all things in order to prepare a good environment for man to exist in. So we can see that it is the will of God to have us live upon the earth. In addition, in the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord has us pray to God that His kingdom come to earth. It is prophesied in the Book of Revelation, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ’ (Rev 11:15). ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them’ (Rev 21:3). From these lines of Scripture and prophesy we can see that the place that God is preparing for us is on the earth, and that our final destination in the future is on the earth not in heaven….” Sister Li’s fellowship went completely against my conceptions. I simply did not listen to what she said. I stood up and said to her angrily: “Stop talking! Over the years I have run, expended and suffered for the Lord so that I can ascend to heaven! All along I have been looking forward to the Lord bringing me back to the heavenly home, so that I would no longer suffer on earth. You say that our final destination is on earth. I cannot accept this.” After saying this I turned around to leave. My younger sister rushed over to try to talk to me: “Lisa, how can you be so stubborn? Is this standpoint you hold on to correct? The Lord says ‘go to prepare a place for you,’ you do not know the true meaning of these words, and you are maintaining your own thoughts. Isn’t that being foolish? This is not the kind of attitude people who seek the truth should have! The Lord Jesus that we look forward to has already returned, Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus! That book that I gave you to read is the personal utterances and words of God! The Lord who every day we have expected to come to take us has now returned. We must listen carefully. We absolutely must not mess up this extremely rare opportunity!” I was amazed to hear my sister say these words. I simply could not dare believe what I just heard: The Lord has returned? Is this true? Then my sister said: “Weren’t you the one that said before that the words in this book come from the Holy Spirit? When you read it, you felt you had been provided with a lot, you had the work of the Holy Spirit, and your relationship with the Lord grew closer. Now think about it: Apart from the word of the Lord, who else speaks in a way that achieves this kind of effect? Now the Lord has returned to carry out work and express new words, and we are able to enjoy the sweetness of the words of God. If we don’t seek and examine, if we just blindly hold on to our own conceptions and imaginations, and hold on to the literal meaning of the Bible without letting go, then eventually we will ruin ourselves. In their time, Pharisees who were proficient in the Bible blindly held on to words in the Bible, they didn’t try at all to question whether or not their own understanding of the Bible was correct, or whether or not it conformed to God’s will. Rather they thought that man not called the Messiah was not the Savior that was going to come, they simply did not examine whether or not the way of the Lord Jesus could supply the life of man, or if it could show man a path to practice. They just stubbornly held on to their conceptions and imaginations and blindly refused the salvation of the Lord Jesus, ultimately committing the heinous crime of nailing the Lord to the cross. We cannot follow in the footsteps of the Pharisees and go down their path of resisting God!” After listening to my sister’s words I thought to myself: What my sister is saying is reasonable. The Lord’s word is the only solution when a man’s spirit is parched. I thought back to how ever since I read the words in this book the condition of my spirit really has gotten better and better, how it has given me faith in God, and how it makes me feel that God is in my presence. I even feel like I understand some truths. Could it be that the words in this book really are the Lord returning to speak? The Lord returning is a big deal. I had best not blindly refuse and judge, I must make an effort to examine and seek, I cannot be like those Pharisees who did not seek the truth, who held on to their conceptions in resistance to God! In this moment I felt both pleasantly surprised and scared. I was pleasantly surprised because I believed in the Lord and looked forward to Him returning to accept me into the kingdom of heaven, where I could live a life free of worries, no longer needing to experience hard times upon the earth, and today I heard the news of the Lord returning. This truly is an enormous and joyous occasion. I was scared because if Almighty God is the return of the Lord then my dream of waiting on the Lord and being accepted into the kingdom of heaven would be shattered…. In my heart I felt all kinds of mixed emotions, I didn’t know how to feel. I felt helpless. All I could do was turn to the Lord in prayer: “Oh Lord! Every day I have looked forward to you coming to bring me into your heavenly home, but they are saying that the place you have prepared for my final destination is here upon the earth. I really am incapable of confronting this fact. I really do not want to experience these kinds of hard times upon the earth. Oh Lord! I feel such a suffering in my heart now, please help me, and guide me on the path ahead.” After praying I thought about the Lord Jesus’ words where He says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:3). It’s true! The Lord likes and only allows those who are poor in spirit and who seek the truth to enter the kingdom of heaven. I should be someone who is poor in spirit. Only by carefully listening to their fellowship will I conform to the will of the Lord. At this moment, Sister Li said: “The Lord said: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God’ (Mat 5:8). We ought to listen to the word of the Lord, and act as people who are pure of heart as we welcome the return of the Lord. Although the work that God carries out today does not conform to our conceptions and imaginations, still everything that God does is good, it is all for man, and among it all is the will of God, where the truth can be sought. If we don’t understand it thoroughly then we must first set aside ourselves and make an effort to seek the truth, so that we can receive the enlightenment of God and understand God’s will. Sister, open up your heart and speak about the things you still don’t understand, and we can seek together through fellowshiping.” I felt like what Sister Li had said made sense, I ought to calm down and seek, so, I said: “Sister, there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why is it that our final destination is not in heaven but rather here on earth?” Sister Li found John 3:13: “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven,” and Isaiah 66:1 “The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” and gave me these two passages to read. Then she fellowshiped on the meaning of these two passages. Through the sister’s fellowship I felt my mind was all of a sudden clear. I also knew these passages from Scripture, so why was it that I never pondered over them before? The Lord clearly says that except for the Son of man who came down from heaven no man can ascend up to heaven, for heaven is God’s throne and earth is God’s footstool, so how could man deserve to ascend up to heaven? God created man on earth, and had him live on earth. From the day that God created man, man has inhabited the earth generation after generation, gradually increasing in number. All work that God has carried out to save man has also been on earth. This was something that God predestined long ago. It is something that no man can change. It seems that God’s kingdom is actually upon the earth, and that mankind’s final destination is on the earth and not in heaven! This whole time I had been living within my own conceptions and imagination, I delimited that God would return to bring me to heaven to live, but this really does not conform to the will of the Lord, this does not conform to the facts! However, I was still not willing to live this kind of life on earth where I was afflicted by Satan. So shortly after, I explained the thoughts I was having to Sister Li. After listening to me, Sister Li opened up the book of The Word Appears in the Flesh, and read to me a passage from the word of Almighty God: “The life in rest is one without war, without filth, without persisting unrighteousness. This is to say that it lacks Satan’s harassment (here ‘Satan’ refers to hostile forces), Satan’s corruption, as well as the invasion of any force opposed to God. Everything follows its own kind and worships the Lord of creation. Heaven and earth are entirely tranquil. This is humanity’s restful life. … After God and man enter into rest, Satan will no longer exist, and like Satan, those wicked people will also no longer exist. Before God and man enter into rest, those wicked individuals who once persecuted God upon earth and the enemies who were disobedient to Him upon earth will have already been destroyed; they will have been destroyed by the great disasters of the last days. After those wicked individuals have been completely destroyed, earth will never again know Satan’s harassment. Humanity will obtain complete salvation, and it will only be then that God’s work ends completely. These are the prerequisites for God and man to enter into rest” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through reading the words of Almighty God I came to understand that, although in the future our lives are still on earth, once God finishes His final stage of work in saving mankind Satan will be destroyed, and our lives upon the earth will never again be harassed by Satan, nor will we worry or toil, or shed tears, or let out sighs. It will be just like the time when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. We will be free to worship God, living a beautiful and blessed life where God is with man. This is mankind’s final destination, and this is the final thing that God will accomplish in His work in the last days. It truly is great! At that very moment I released a sigh: “Who could speak with such a clear way about mankind’s final destination? Who could arrange mankind’s end? Only God could do this!” Within the word of Almighty God I recognized God’s voice, and saw that the work of Almighty God is God appearing to carry out work! I had finally gotten rid of the conceptions in my mind, and happily accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days, returning before God’s throne. All the glory be to Almighty God! source: The Tabernacle of God Is With Men in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() The Road to Purification Christopher, Philippines My name is Christopher and I am a pastor from a family church in the Philippines. In 1987, I was baptized and returned to the Lord Jesus. By the Lord’s grace, in 1996 I became a pastor of the local church. At that time, apart from preaching in many places around the Philippines, I also preached in places like Hong Kong and Malaysia. Because of the work and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I felt that I had inexhaustible energy in my work for the Lord and an unceasing flow of words in my sermons. I would often go to support brothers and sisters when they were negative and weak. Sometimes members of their family who did not believe in the Lord were unfriendly toward me, yet I could be tolerant and patient and not lose faith in the Lord and I believed that the Lord could change them. So I felt like I had changed a great deal since believing in the Lord. However, since 2011, I have not felt the work of the Holy Spirit as strongly as before. Slowly, I have had no new enlightenment for my sermons and have not had the strength to break free from living in sin. I could not help getting angry at my wife and daughter and teaching them a lesson through my temper when I saw that they were not doing as I desired. I knew that this was not in keeping with the will of the Lord, but often I could not help myself. I felt particularly distressed about this. In order to free myself from a life of sin and confession, I put more effort into reading the Bible, fasting and praying and found spiritual pastors everywhere to seek and explore this together. But all of my efforts were useless and made no difference to me living in sin and to the darkness in my soul. Then one evening in spring 2016, my wife asked me, “Christopher, I’ve noticed you’ve been very troubled recently. What is on your mind?” After hearing my wife ask this, I told her what was troubling me, “I’ve been wondering these last few years why I cannot break free from living in sin despite being a pastor and having believed in the Lord for many years. I cannot touch the Lord now. It is as if the Lord has forsaken me. Although I preach everywhere, as soon as I have free time, especially in the dead of night, I always feel a kind of emptiness and anxiety and this feeling just gets stronger and stronger. I think about how I have believed in the Lord for many years and how I have read the Bible a great deal and often resolved to bear the cross and conquer myself, but yet I am always bound by sins and am capable of telling lies and not abiding by ‘And in their mouth was found no guile’ (Revelation 14:5) in order to protect my own interests and face. When facing tribulations and refinement, although I know I have the Lord’s consent, I still cannot stop myself from complaining to the Lord and misunderstanding Him and I am completely unable to willingly deny myself. I am afraid that when the Lord comes, I will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven because of living in sin like this!” Upon hearing this, my wife said, “Christopher, how can you think like this? You must have faith; you are a pastor! Although we live in sin and have not broken free from the binds of sin, the Bible says, ‘That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved’ (Romans 10:9), ‘For whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:13). As long as we persist in reading the Bible, meeting, and praying for the Lord, and bear the cross and always follow until the second coming of the Lord, we shall be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive the Lord’s blessing.” I then said to my wife, “I thought so before, but in Peter 1:16 it says: ‘Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy.’ I have believed in the Lord for thirty years, yet I cannot keep the Lord’s way and, living in sin, I am still capable of often resisting the Lord; this is not holy in the slightest. Ugh! How many times did I resolve to obey the teachings of the Lord, yet I could not practice the word of the Lord. How could I be worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven under such circumstances? The Lord Jesus said: ‘Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21). According to the Lord’s words, it is not as simple as we think to enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord is holy, so how can people who cannot practice the word of the Lord and who often resist Him be raptured into the kingdom of heaven? Only those who have changed and who abide by God’s will can enter the kingdom of heaven!” My wife thought for a moment and said, “What you are saying makes sense. The Lord is holy and we are still sinful. We are not worthy of God’s kingdom. It’s just that … I suddenly remember … didn’t Pastor Liu invite a Korean Pastor Kim for the church? How about this time we seek on this issue?” I said: “Well, that’s ok too. The Lord Jesus said: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7). As long as we seek, I believe that the Lord shall lead us. As a pastor, I must consider the lives of our brothers and sisters. I must not muddle-headedly believe in God or I shall put brothers and sisters in a quandary and also entrap myself. So let’s wait until the Korean Pastor Kim arrives and then seek from him regarding this issue.” Because I wanted to seek Pastor Kim, I wanted to know a little about Pastor Kim’s background. So I searched for the Korean Church on the Internet. On the pages that popped up, I saw the website https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org. I opened the website and some words on it drew me in: “Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the blessing of the entire family upon the faith of one, and the healing of sicknesses, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and their godly appearance; if man could live based on such, he was considered a good believer. Only such believers could enter heaven after death, which means that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, they did not understand at all the way of life. They merely committed sins, then made confession in a constant cycle without any path toward a changed disposition; such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No!” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words were so good that I couldn’t help continuing to read onwards: “Therefore, after that stage was complete, there is still the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage makes man pure through the word so as to give man a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for the sinful nature of man would not be cast away and man would only stop upon the forgiveness of sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt disposition of man still remains within them and man can still sin and resist God; God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to reveal the corrupt disposition of man and asks man to practice in accordance with the right path. This stage is more meaningful than the previous one and more fruitful as well, for now it is the word that directly supplies man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a stage of work more thorough” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Reading this, I was extremely excited. Although I could not completely understand these words and some words even puzzled me, they gave me hope. I felt that here I could find a way to purify and change myself. I thanked God from the bottom of my heart for listening to my prayer. I read some of the content again and felt that the words were so well written that they watered and shepherded my thirsty soul. When I saw it written on the website: “If you can’t find the Gospel Hotline in your country or region, please leave us a message and we will contact you as soon as possible,” I quickly looked, but there was no Philippines Gospel Hotline and so I immediately left a message and did not hesitate to write down my contact number and email address. After returning home that evening, I told my wife this news and after hearing what I said, my wife was willing to seek as well. I really thank the Lord that the next day they responded to my message and arranged to speak to us online that afternoon. That afternoon, we spoke to Sister Liu and Sister Su. From the conversation, I felt that they spoke simply, deftly and with insight. My wife was even more anxious than me and said, “I have something I would like to ask you. Is that ok?” They enthusiastically said, “Of course.” My wife said, “On your church’s website it says, ‘God of the last days has done a stage of judgment and chastisement work.’ My husband and I know that without holiness no one shall see the Lord because the Lord is holy, but in Romans it says, ‘That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved’ (Romans 10:9) ‘For whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:13). If we believe in the Lord Jesus then we are already saved and can enter the kingdom of heaven, so why does God of the last days undertake a stage of work of judgment and chastisement? I don’t understand this issue and hope that you can talk about it.” Liu Yumei replied, “Thanks be to God! Let’s fellowship together and let God guide us. Let’s first take a look at what ‘being saved’ means here. In the latter period of the Age of Law, people had all shunned God and lost their respect for God. They became more and more sinful and went so far as to offer up blind, lame and diseased cattle, sheep and pigeons for sacrifice. People of that age no longer upheld the law and they were all in danger of being condemned to death for breaking the law. Under such circumstances, in order to save people under the law from certain death, God personally was incarnated and undertook the work of redemption and was in the end crucified to redeem the whole of mankind from sin. Man was forgiven his sins because he believed in the Lord Jesus and was thus eligible to come before God and pray to God and enjoy the blessings of God’s grace. This is the true meaning of ‘being saved’ in the Age of Grace. In other words, ‘being saved’ is merely a forgiveness of man’s sins. That is, God does not regard people as being sinful, although this does not mean that people themselves do not have sins. Therefore, being saved does not mean that we are completely purified and saved. If we want to be purified, we have to accept God’s judgment work of the last days.” Hearing their fellowship, my wife and I understood that “being saved,” as spoken of in the Epistle of the Romans, referred to the acceptance of Lord Jesus’ salvation and no longer being condemned to death for breaking the law. It was not as we had imagined “being saved” meaning being thoroughly purified. What they said made sense. Explaining “being saved” in this way was not contradictory to our situation of living in the state of committing sins and confessing sins. So what the Lord Jesus did was just the redemptive work, not the work of thoroughly purifying and saving man. Although people believe in the Lord and are saved, this does not mean that they have been thoroughly purified. Listening to their fellowship, I felt that there was truth to be sought within it, so I expressed my willingness to listen to their continued fellowship. I said, “Thanks be to the Lord! You speak really well. From speaking with you like this, we understand the true meaning of “being saved.” Please continue with your fellowship. May the Lord guide us.” Sister Su went on to say, “Okay, let’s read a few passages of the word of Almighty God and it will all become clearer. Almighty God said: ‘At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin’ (“The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but the work for just how the corrupt satanic dispositions within man could be cast away was not done in him. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through God incarnate, but it does not mean that man has no sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but man has been unable to resolve the issue of just how he can no longer sin and how his sinful nature can be cast away completely and be transformed. The sins of man were forgiven because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live in the old, corrupt satanic disposition. As such, man must be completely saved from the corrupt satanic disposition so that the sinful nature of man is completely cast away and never again develops, thus allowing the disposition of man to be changed. This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation’ (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). We can see from the words of Almighty God that if we only maintain God’s redemptive work from the Age of Grace and do not accept God’s judgment work of the last days, then the problem of the origin of our sin will not be resolved. Almighty God of the last days has arrived and has carried out a step of work on the foundation of redemption work judging and purifying man—uttering truths to reveal the truth of man’s corruption, judging man’s satanic nature. He has come to change people’s satanic disposition and to completely free people from Satan’s influence and to save them. It is evident that Almighty God’s judgment work of the last days is the most critical and fundamental work for purifying, saving and perfecting people. Therefore, only by accepting Almighty God’s judgment work of the last days can we have a true understanding of our own corrupt essence and God’s righteous disposition, completely break free from Satan’s influence, be saved by God and become people who obey, worship and are compatible with God.” Upon hearing these fellowships, my heart was bright and I felt like my long-standing problems had finally been resolved. So God was just carrying out the redemption work in the Age of Grace, not the work of ridding people of their corrupt satanic disposition. The judgment work done by God’s last days’ incarnation’s utterances of the truth is the work of thorough purification and salvation of man. So how does God purify and change people and completely save them? I was eager to know the answer to this question. So I could not wait to ask, “I understood what you just spoke about and know that we can only attain purification by the second coming of the Lord doing a step of judgment work. This is really what I have longed for for a long time. What I really want to know now is how Almighty God does judgment work purifying and saving people? Please share your fellowship.” Sister Su went on to say, “The question of how Almighty God does judgment work cleansing and saving people is particularly important for anyone who wants to achieve change and purification. Almighty God’s words speak of the truth of this matter. I will send you Almighty God’s words. Brother, please read them!” I excitedly read out Almighty God’s words: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I had finished reading God’s words, Sister Su continued with her fellowship, “Almighty God’s words speak so clearly of how God judges and purifies people. God in the last days is primarily uttering the truth regarding man’s corrupt disposition and man’s satanic nature of resisting God in order to judge, purify and save man. Almighty God has uttered truths on many aspects—how Satan has corrupted people, how God has saved people, what following people is, what obeying God is, what viewpoints man should have in believing in God, what the change of one’s disposition is, what fearing God and shunning evil is, what offending God’s disposition is, how to be an honest man, etc. These truths all hold authority and power and can supply people with life. It is the way of eternal life that God bestows upon mankind. As long as people accept and practice the word of God, they can attain purification and salvation. We have experienced a few years of Almighty God’s work of judgment and we have had personal experience of these. When we read Almighty God’s words of judgment, chastisement and revelation of man, we feel that God’s words are like a double-edged sword, revealing our rebelliousness, corruption, resistance, wrong intentions, notions and imaginations and even Satan’s toxins hidden in the depths of our hearts. It makes us see that we are arrogant and self-righteous, crooked and cunning, selfish and mean and blind to all but our own interests, with hardly any fear for God. We see that all that we do and what our hearts are filled with is filth and corruption, like living ghosts, without any likeness of man. We all feel too ashamed to show our faces. We realize that if we continue to live by Satan’s corrupt disposition, we will always be people who disgust God, we will never be able to win God’s praise and we will be destined for elimination and punishment. The judgment of Almighty God’s words and what they reveal make us feel like God is judging us face to face, which makes us recognize God’s majestic, wrathful and righteous disposition and gradually develop a God-fearing heart and true repentance and change. Now it feels like we are living slightly in the likeness of man and we see that we have indeed attained God’s great salvation. If God’s judgment did not come upon us, we would not be able to know God’s righteous disposition which does not tolerate man’s offense and His holy and good essence and we would not develop a hatred for our own rebellion and corruption, nor would we be able to cast aside our corruption and be purified. So the more we experience God’s judgment and chastisement, the more we see that God’s judgment and chastisement is our best protection, greatest blessing for us and the most real salvation!” Sister Liu also fellowshipped, “Almighty God’s judgment and chastisement work of the last days is the work of thoroughly purifying, saving and perfecting people. If we do not accept the judgment before the seat of the Christ of the last days, then we shall not be able to achieve purification and changes to our life disposition and the outcome will most certainly be rejection and elimination by God and we will suffer perdition and perish. There will never be a chance of salvation and to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is absolute.” I happily said, “Thanks be to God! I feel very bright in my heart after listening to your fellowship. I have believed in the Lord for so many years but really I have lived in sin and have been powerless to break free. Now I understand that if I do not experience God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days, I shall be unable to break free from the bondage and restraint of the sin. Now I have found the path to purification and salvation.” After several days’ fellowship, my wife and I understood some truths and accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. Thank Almighty God for loving me and saving me! As a pastor, I have the responsibility and the obligation to bring all the pastors and the brothers and sisters that I know before God. After a period of cooperation, not only did dozens of brothers and sisters in the church who often came to meetings all accept Almighty God, but they also brought another family church’s pastor into God’s family and the majority of the brothers and sisters from their church also returned before God. I was delighted to see that those brothers and sisters had accepted God’s salvation of the last days and had been raised up before the throne of God. This is all the fruit of the work of Almighty God and we wish to attribute all of this glory to Almighty God! source: The Road to Purification in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() I Welcomed the Return of the Lord (Audio Article) Qingxin, Myanmar My parents are both Christians and from an early age I started going with them to church to attend services. At the age of 12 I attended a grand Christian camp in Myanmar, and while I was there a pastor told me: “The only way to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized.” And so in order to enter the kingdom of heaven I decided to get baptized while I was at the camp. From that time on, I became a genuine Christian. After reaching adulthood, I became the chairperson of my church’s youth association for many years, and whenever the preachers weren’t there I would lead the brothers and sisters in prayer, Bible studies, hymn-singing, and the sharing of testimonies. After getting married, I was put in charge of receiving the Sunday offerings and the tithes. At first our church had the work of the Holy Spirit: The pastor talked fluently and eloquently, and the brothers and sisters enjoyed the sermons and felt that they were edified by them. Everyone was brimming with confidence, and we attended all the churchservices and spread the gospel wherever we could with great enthusiasm. But eventually the pastor’s sermons became repetitive and lackluster, and could no longer provide what we needed. The confidence of brothers and sisters thus began to wane, and they became more interested in money and pleasures of the flesh. Congregation numbers began to fall, until it got to the point where the pastor had to make calls every Saturday just to try and get everyone to attend. Even when the brothers and sisters did show up they sang the hymns listlessly and without devotion, dozed off during the sermons, and started talking about business as soon as the services ended. The services had become all form and no substance. And I was very troubled by this. I thought to myself: “How does our church turn into such a barren pasture?” But then I remembered how, over the previous 30 years, I had often heard different pastors saying the same thing: “We believe in the Lord Jesus, so our sins have all been forgiven.” “We gain salvation by the grace of God because of our faith.” “The Lord Jesus has already completed His work of redemption once, so we believers in the Lord are already saved and will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Because of this, “I’m already saved, I will enter the kingdom of heaven” became the basic tenet of my faith in God. No matter how bleak the church was, or how weak and passive the believers were, I would always tell myself: “I must keep the way of the Lord. As long as I don’t leave the Lord, then He won’t abandon me. When the Lord returns, He will take me into the kingdom of heaven.” Although I kept on warning myself in this way, I still wasn’t able to keep on the Lord’s path: I would sin by day and confess sins by night, but whenever I prayed, I couldn’t feel the Lord by my side. My spirit felt dark and empty, and I felt I was getting farther and farther away from the Lord, as if He had abandoned me. This caused me great suffering, but I was unable to find the source of the problem … In February 2016 I met Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui online. After sharing experiences concerning faith in the Lord with each other, I told them about my bemusement that my church had become a barren pasture. Brother Zheng said to me: “It’s not just your church that is bleak and desolate: The whole religious community is bleak right now. It’s like the desolate temple that became a den of thieves when the Lord Jesus was doing His work. If we understand how that temple became desolate in the first place, then we’ll know how it is that the religious community is so bleak and desolate now. When the Lord Jesus concluded the Age of Law and began the Age of Grace, the Holy Spirit did not perform work in the temple but did it instead on those people who accepted and followed the Lord Jesus. Those who worshiped Jehovah missed out on the work of the Holy Spirit because they couldn’t keep up with the pace of God’s work. Without the protection and care of God, they lived in sin, as shown by their temple becoming a place to sell cattle, sheep, and doves and exchange money. A temple that originally shined with the glory of Jehovah became a den of thieves, thus offending God’s disposition and being abandoned by Him in disgust. This was one of the reasons why the temple originally fell into desolation.” Then we examined two passages from the Book of Amos in the Bible: “And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7). “Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). Brother Zheng also sent me two passages of Almighty God’s words: “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “But in fact, God’s work in them ceased long ago, and the work of the Holy Spirit is absent from them. The work of God was long since transferred to another group of people, a group on whom He intends to complete His new work. Because those in religion are incapable of accepting God’s new work, and only hold to the old work of the past, thus God has forsaken these people, and does His new work on the people who accept this new work. These are people who cooperate in His new work, and only in this way can His management be accomplished” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brother Zheng then said: “The churches at present are as desolate as the temple was, and it’s also because God is doing new work. The Lord Jesus that we have been desperately waiting for is now incarnated in human form and returns among us. He has taken the name Almighty God to express the truth and do the work of judging, cleansing and saving man in the last days. He has come to conclude the Age of Grace and begin the Age of Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has already left the churches of the Age of Grace and is now working on those who accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. All those who are merely keeping the name of the Lord Jesus but are not keeping up with God’s new work no longer have God by their side, no longer have the work of the Holy Spirit, and will never be provided with the living water of life. So, of course these churches will become more and more desolate….” Through listening to Brother Zheng, I came to realize that the situation with the churches nowadays is indeed the same as with the temples when the Lord Jesus began His work. I felt that there was a new light and the guidance of the Lord in what Brother Zheng was fellowshiping. But I felt a bit bemused by what he said about the Lord Jesus returning to do the new work of judging and cleansing man: It is possible that the Lord Jesus has returned, but we believers were already saved so when the Lord returns He should take us directly to the kingdom of heaven, not to carry out another stage of judgment and cleansing work! But then I realized that the Lord’s return was a big event and so I should first seek hard for answers. So, I told Brother Zheng of my bemusement and he told me: “Many of the Lord’s brothers and sisters share your point of view. They also think that because we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then our sins are forgiven, we will attain salvation through His grace, and when He returns we will all be taken directly to the kingdom of heaven. So, they refuse to accept God’s salvation of the last days. The main reason for this is that we don’t understand the good results that the work of the Lord Jesus has brought and we don’t know the work of God. Almighty God said: ‘At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin’ (‘The Vision of God’s Work (2)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that the work of the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace was that of redemption for mankind. The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross to be our sin offerings, to redeem us from condemnation by law. By coming in front of the Lord, admitting our sins, and repenting, we are able to be forgiven of our sins. This is being saved. In other words, being saved means sins are forgiven and there is no accusation of sin under law, but it doesn’t mean that we have escaped from Satan’s corrupt disposition or our satanic nature and will never sin again. Our satanic nature such as arrogance, deceit, selfishness and greed still exists. Due to the dominion of our satanic nature and Satan’s disposition, we still frequently lie and cheat, act in an arrogant and self-opinionated manner, and pretend to be good to dupe God. We always criticize God’s work willfully, especially when it doesn’t match our conceptions, we accuse God and resist God. How could a mankind like us that is so deeply corrupt and resistant to God win His praise? Are we qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven? If God took us—a corrupt mankind that resists Him and belongs to Satan—into His kingdom, then there would be no way to account for God’s righteousness and holiness. So for us to be qualified to enter the kingdom, we need God to do a stage of judgment and cleansing work to transform our corrupt disposition and thoroughly shake off the shackles of our sinful nature. Once our life dispositions have been transformed, we will no longer rebel against or resist God and we’ll be able to truly obey Him, be completely gained by Him, be completely saved by Him and enter the kingdom of heaven to inherit what He has promised. These are the results brought by the judgment work of God of the last days, and we can see that the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption was to pave the way for the judgment and cleansing of people during the last days. Therefore, our faith in the Lord brings us forgiveness of our sins but not complete escape from sin or entry to the kingdom of heaven. We need to undergo another stage of judgment and cleansing work to be thoroughly saved from sin. God’s judgment work of the last days exactly makes these words from the Bible into reality: ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5).” When I heard the words of Almighty God and what Brother Zheng said, I realized that what the Lord Jesus had done was the work of redemption, not the work of removing sins completely. As people commit sins, they should be accused and punished under law, but if we come before the Lord Jesus and admit to our sins, then we will be forgiven of our sins. God doesn’t see us as sinful and He absolves us of punishment, and that is salvation. But this salvation certainly doesn’t mean that we have been cleansed and thoroughly saved. It seems that people don’t understand the truth, and so have misunderstandings about what true salvation is. I think about that now we are still living sinful lives— committing sins and admitting to them every day—and so that’s why we need another stage of God’s work of judgment and cleansing. When I think about what the pastor at the camp said—“The only way for a Christian to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized”—I realize that this way of thinking really is very unrealistic. We could even say it’s childish and ridiculous. When I was later able to have long chats with Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and digest their fellowship, I came to feel that there is the truth to seek in the words of Almighty God, that they are very practical, and that they can benefit me and help me a lot. But the return of the Lord is a big thing, and in order to treat it seriously and cautiously I decided to conduct a thorough investigation of the work of Almighty God of the last days. So, in the weeks that followed I started to search online for information about the work of the last days of Almighty God. Before going online, I prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Eastern Lightning is indeed the Lord that I have faith in, I beg You to move my heart and let me recognize Your voice.” Without really being aware of it, I clicked on a website and found to my surprise that it was all judgments, attacks, and accusations on Almighty God and His church from the religious community and the CCP. I was very shocked and became scared that I ventured down a dangerous path. So, I sent the link to Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and asked them: “How do you explain all this?” I originally thought that Brother Zheng and the others would have no reply to the information that I had sent, and so was surprised when they calmly and firmly replied: “Almighty God is the real God, the return of the Lord Jesus. The stuff that the religious community and the CCP spread online is all rumors and nonsense designed to confuse people. It’s part of their wicked scheme to prevent people from following God….” What Brother Zheng said really moved me, and in my heart I began to struggle to make sense of it all. I got offline and prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Almighty God really is Your return then I beg You to enlighten and illuminate me so that I can understand Your way and not miss the chance to witness Your return. If all that stuff online is just rumors spread by the religious community and the CCP, then make me deaf to it, because being taken by Satan is a terrible thing.” After praying I felt a bit calmer, and then I remembered the times that I too was falsely accused, and also an occasion when a storekeeper I knew who did good business selling jade products had his reputation ruined by rumors spread by a jealous competitor. Some light began to shine in my heart and I realized just how dark and evil this world is and that most of what is online—good or bad—is just people talking. Then I thought carefully about the online accusations about Almighty God and His church spread by the religious community and the CCP: There was no evidence given and none of it seemed very believable. Furthermore, I had read Almighty God’s words and been in touch with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. What they said bore no relation to the rumors being spread online, and they hadn’t tried to force me to join their church. In the few months of contact with them, besides exploring the Bible, reading Almighty God’s words, and fellowshiping about God’s words with me, we hadn’t discussed any other topics. From the way they spoke, I could tell that they were pious and upstanding people. Their fellowship was full of light and I felt it was very useful to me, and their church was indeed a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. Thinking about this, I realized that a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit is a church of God, and so of course Satan would attack and accuse it and there would be a lot of negative propaganda surrounding it. At a later date I read online about the many evil actions of the CCP: How they drove foreign missionaries out of China, burned Bibles, pulled down churches, and detained and killed Christians…. Hatred and anger toward the CCP grew in my heart. How could they be so spiteful as to persecute innocent, unarmed Christians? The CCP has always opposed God by promoting atheism, and has captured and persecuted Christians with a complete lack of humanity and reason, so there was no way to know whether what they said was true or false. So, I initiated contact with Brother Zheng and the others again, and they fellowshiped about a lot of truths concerning God’s work of the last days and how to discern Satan’s cunning schemes…. After listening to them I felt I had a bit of better understanding of God’s work of the last days and could discern how the nonsense disseminated online by the religious community and the CCP was all baseless rumors and ridiculous opinions that were part of Satan’s cunning plans to prevent people from accepting the work of Almighty God. I resolved not to listen to anything the religious community and the CCP said ever again. The worry and fear in my heart then disappeared and, at the same time, I recognized that the work of Almighty God and the work of the Lord Jesus was the same and they had both encountered resistance and accusations from satanic political regimes and from religious circles. To me, this confirmed even more that the work of Almighty God is the true way! One day when I was using Facebook, I heard a hymn that praised God, which I found particularly moving. Indeed, only God deserves praise and is worthy of being extolled. This hymn had the guidance of the Holy Spirit and when I checked to see where it had come from, I discovered it was one of the hymns of The Church of Almighty God. I couldn’t help being moved to tears by this, and excitedly sought the brothers and sisters to tell them that God had moved my heart and led me…. I now completely believe that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, and I am willing to follow Almighty God to the end of the road. Now I attend The Church of Almighty God, and I not only enjoy being provided with the water of living life that flows from the throne, but my confidence and love has been restored. Even more importantly, I can now distinguish between right and wrong, darkness and light. I know what truths are and what rumors are. Truths come from God, while rumors come from Satan. When we hear rumors, we shouldn’t just blindly go along with them but should carefully distinguish truth from falsehoods, pray earnestly, and humbly seek and examine the true way. Only then can we escape from rumors and return before God. source: I Welcomed the Return of the Lord (Audio Article) in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 3) Tian Ying After returning home, I kept thinking over the fellowship made by the sister, and I thought to myself: That little sister today was so loving, she really was nothing like what the pastor said she was. Also, what she was saying is all in the Bible. It really was ill-founded of me before when I believed that “to be saved once is to be saved forever.” I thought back on all the years I have believed in God and realized that I was constantly living in circumstances where I would commit sins and then plead guilty for them, but all along I couldn’t solve this, and I personally went through a lot of suffering. I felt that if I went on believing like this, in the end I could not attain God’s praise. After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I became even more certain that if people believing in the Lord want to attain salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven, then they really do have to receive the work carried out in the Lord Jesus’ return that judges and cleanses man. So then, what really is Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days? How does Almighty God cleanse and change man? … As I was thinking these things over I was flipping through the Bible until I saw a passage where the Lord Jesus says: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (Jhn 16:12-13). I also saw the Bible say: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 2:29). When I read this it felt like I had finally awoken from a dream: As it turns out the Lord Jesus had long ago prophesied that in the last days God would express more of the truth and carry out a new stage of work. Wouldn’t this be Almighty God coming to carry out the work of judging and cleansing man? Alas! If the pastor didn’t come in and disturb me today I would have been able to listen more carefully about the way of Almighty God. Before I had always listened to the words of pastors and elders, but I had never sought out and investigated Almighty God’s work in the last days, I just listened to whatever it was the pastors and elders talked about. It wasn’t until today that I recognized that I had no place for the Lord in my heart. In studying the Lord’s return, I didn’t seek the Lord’s will but listened to the words of the pastors and elders. I really was too stupid! Those of us who believe in the Lord should honor God as great, and we must actively seek out God’s footsteps with regard to the Lord’s return, only in this way will we be conforming to God’s will. Today I saw that the pastor’s actions simply do not conform to God’s will. I can no longer just blindly listen to what they have to say, I must seek out and investigate the way of Almighty God. First thing in the morning of the following day, I decided to go to Sister Hu’s home and look for the sister who had spread the gospel of Almighty God so that we could continue fellowshiping. Who would have thought, before I had even gone out the door Sister Hu had brought the sister over to my house. This was truly guidance from the Lord. She first asked me with concern whether or not I had been disturbed by the pastor yesterday. I said very definitively: “No, after yesterday’s fellowship, I came back here and carefully thought over everything, and I realized that we really cannot be cleansed just by believing in the Lord Jesus, our corrupt nature will still exist, and with it we will not be able to attain God’s salvation. What’s more, I also read a passage in the Bible that really prophesied that the Lord will return to carry out His work of judgment in the last days. The thing that I want to now know about the most is: What really is the work of judgment that Almighty God is to carry out in the last days? How will Almighty God’s work of judgment both cleanse and change man?” The sister said delightedly: “Thanks be to God! This question you have asked really is very crucial, for it has to do with the important topic of how our faith in God will really enable us to attain salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven. Let us first look at how this is said in the word of Almighty God. Almighty God says: ‘When God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘When it comes to the word “judgment,” you will think of the words that Jehovah spoke to all the places and the words of rebuke that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. For all their severity, these words are not God’s judgment of man, only words spoken by God within different environments, that is, different settings; these words are unlike the words spoken by Christ as He judges man in the last days. In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God’” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading the word of God, the sister kept fellowshiping: “Through the word of God we understand that Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days uses a lot of aspects of the truth to expose man and dissect man, and that this work of judgment is carried out using His righteous and majestic disposition that is intolerant of offense by man. God uses words to reveal the substance and truth about man’s corruption, and to judge our satanic nature that resists God and betrays God. Through experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God’s words various kinds of our corruption are cleansed, such as having plenty of conceptions and imagination about God’s work, or taking our own conceptions as the truth in our examination of God’s work, so that we judge God, condemn God and resist God as we wish; although we believe in God we really are no different from nonbelievers, we both pursue fame and fortune, willing to pay whatever price for it, but not a single person is living in order to satisfy God; we also look at a lot of things with viewpoints that are incompatible with God, such as our belief that so long as we believe in the Lord then we will be saved, and that when the Lord comes we will be raptured into the kingdom of heaven, when in fact God actually says that only by following the will of God will man be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Through God’s judgment and chastisement, these corrupt dispositions, erroneous ways of thinking and Satan’s rules for living will be cleansed and transformed, and we will more truly obey God, and at the same time, through God’s judgment and chastisement, we will also come to recognize that God’s righteous disposition is intolerant of offense by man, we will know what kind of person that God likes, what kind of person that God despises and God’s will of saving man, we will have reverence for God, we will know how to pursue the truth and properly carry out our duties to attain God’s praise. Through experiencing and practicing God’s words we will understand more of the truth. For example: We will know what it means to have faith in God; we will know what it means to truly attain salvation; we will know what it means to obey God and love God; we will know what it means to follow God’s will. Our corrupt dispositions will all change to varying degrees, and our life views and value systems will also be transformed. This is the work of judgment and chastisement that God carries out among us, you could also call it God’s loving salvation. So, only by receiving judgment before the seat of Christ of the last days—Almighty God will we be able to receive the truth, only then will we be able to break away from sin and be cleansed and attain salvation. Sister, are you able to accept this fellowship?” Through reading God’s words and through the sister’s fellowships, I came to understand God’s work and His will. I nodded my head, feeling deeply moved, and I said: “Thanks be to God, through listening to the word of Almighty God, I have come to understand that in the last days God uses the truth of His word to carry out the work of judging and cleansing man. My past pursuits were so vague, they were impractical, but now I understand that it is only through receiving God’s work of judgment and chastisement in the last days that man will be able to be cleansed by God and attain salvation so that he may enter into the kingdom of heaven. Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus! I am willing to accept Almighty God’s work in the last days, accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words so that my corrupt disposition may someday soon be changed.” As she listened to me say this, the sister smiled happily, and continuously gave her thanks to God. Almighty God’s words freed me of the conceptions I had in my mind, and they showed me the way to throwing off my corrupt disposition and being cleansed. I feel that I have a clear path to go down in pursuit of attaining salvation, and my spirit feels bright and steady, as if it’s been liberated. As I looked outside through the window I felt that the sky on that day was especially clear and sunny. I plopped down on the ground and prayed to God: “Oh God, I give my thanks to You. In my lifetime, I am so honored to welcome Your return and witness Your appearance. This is my blessing! But I am blind and ignorant, for I believed the rumors that were spread by the pastors and elders, I held on to my conceptions and imagination, and I almost lost my eternal salvation! Oh God, I am so ignorant and numb! I am willing to repent, and I treasure this extremely rare opportunity to attain salvation. I am also willing to bring more brothers and sisters into Your presence so that they may attain salvation! Amen!” source: That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 3) in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() Breaking Through Satan’s Tight Encirclement (Part 2) Audio Article Zhao Gang My wife told the sisters what Brother Guan had said to us when he came to our house, and Sister Zhang asked me how I felt about this whole thing. So I told the sisters about the weakness that I was feeling and about the knowledge that I had just come across. Sister Zhang smiled, saying: “Thanks be to God! This is such a pure understanding, this is God’s guidance!” My wife asked, confused, “Since we haven’t made any missteps, why is Brother Guan saying those things? He is a major leader who has believed in the Lord for many years!” I looked at my wife and said: “Hey, he just wants us to come back to our former church!” Sister Zhang smiled, saying: “Right now all that we are looking at is their outward appearance, but we haven’t looked into the substance of their nature! The Lord Jesus once said: ‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in’ (Matthew 23:13). ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness’ (Matthew 23:27). If you look at someone from their outward appearance, then the Pharisees were very loyal in their service to God. In people’s minds the Pharisees were devout servants to God, and they were the most trustworthy of religious leaders. However, when the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, the God-resisting nature of the Pharisees was revealed. It was these Pharisees who frantically resisted and condemned the work of the Lord Jesus. They fabricated all kinds of rumors and bore false witness to deceive the common people: They said that the Lord Jesus was deceiving all under heaven, that He cast out demons through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. And once the Lord Jesus was resurrected three days after being nailed to the cross, they bribed soldiers to spread rumors about the Lord Jesus’ body being stolen away by His disciples. The Pharisees fabricated all kinds of lies and used all the tricks at their disposal to block people from seeking out and inspecting the true way. Their goal was to suppress the work of God so that they could forever hold dominion over God’s chosen people. Although they appeared devout on the outside, in essence they hated the truth and were antichrists who stood as enemies to God. It’s just like what the Lord Jesus said when He exposed and condemned them: ‘You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?’ (Matthew 23:33). So now think about it. Are these religious leaders of today any different from the Pharisees?” As I took this in, the sisters found a passage of Almighty God’s word for me to read: “Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, no one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of ‘robust flesh,’ how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The sisters gave me a detailed fellowship according to these words of God, dissecting all the actions of religious leaders along with the substance of their nature, until finally I came to realize that by persistently disturbing and obstructing us from believing in Almighty God and even threatening and menacing us, the leaders were not in order to protect us, rather, they did this so that they could hold dominion over God’s chosen people, so that we could treat them as if they were God, worshiping and enshrining them. So actually, they are just like the Pharisees. They all are antichrists who hate the truth and resist God. God has come to save us, but they think up every possible method to stop us from accepting God’s work and to stop us from reading God’s words. Isn’t this the same as them pulling us down into hell? They truly are so malicious! If it weren’t for Almighty God’s words revealing the substance of how these people resist God and fight with God over man, then I would have nearly fallen for their tricks, ruining my own chance of receiving salvation. At this time my wife said in astonishment: “As it turns out they were here to do harm to us! Humph! These people really won’t finish until they drag us down into hell! I will no longer believe what they say.” As we took this in Sister Mu read us another passage of God’s word: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then Sister Zhang started fellowshiping: “Through God’s words we can see that whatever happens to us, although from the outside it may appear to be done by man, in reality it is Satan behind the scenes making a wager with God. It’s just like when Job was tempted by Satan. His wife asked him to abandon Jehovah, but he could see through Satan’s trickery. He relied on his faith in God to stand testimony for Him, and Job reprimanded his wife for being an ignorant and stubborn woman. Job’s experiences inform us that for everyone that God wants to save, Satan will always frantically tempt and disturb them and pull out all the tricks at its disposal to attack them so that they will forsake God and betray God, ultimately losing their opportunity to attain salvation. Since Satan wants to forever control us, and devour man, it is unwilling to allow man to attain God’s salvation!” Sister Mu also fellowshiped: “It’s true. Satan has time and again used leaders to attack us and threaten us, with the goal of making us deny God and betray God, and abandon the true way. This is the trickery of Satan. We must be able to clearly see this fight that is going on in the spiritual world!” After listening to the fellowship of these two sisters, I mulled things over for a while, and then said: “So Satan is making a wager with God, and it is through the things that leaders say that Satan attacks our weak points, and it wants us to abandon the true way and leave God because of our cowardliness! This Satan truly is treacherous!” Then my wife also said: “This Satan is so repulsive! If we didn’t listen to God’s words and your fellowship, then how could we have known about Satan’s schemes?” I said with delight: “Now that I understand these things, we need to rely on God to break through Satan’s tight encirclement, stand witness for God, and shame Satan by our practical actions!” Sister Zhang then happily said: “Brother, sister, from now on let’s come together and fellowship about the word of God. Only in this way can we equip ourselves with more of the truth so that we can someday soon be certain about God’s work in the last days. When we lay down a foundation in the true way, Satan will not dare to disturb us!” I said: “Okay! If you are able to come fellowship with us often that would be even better.” Sister Mu smiled, saying: “Then that’s what we’ll do.” Early in the morning a few days later I got out of bed and looked out the window to see that there had been a big snowfall, and I started subconsciously rubbing my hands. Then, I put on a wool cap and cotton gloves and went into the courtyard to sweep the snow. When I finished I went back inside. I opened the top of the stove and stoke up the fire while my wife was tidying up the house. At this time my wife’s older brother and his wife came in, and as soon as my sister-in-law came in she said in an anxious voice: “Leader Wang and Mr. Guan came here and told you so many things. How could you not listen to them? They specifically asked us to come here today to try to persuade you once again. Do not believe Eastern Lightning. It is our leaders who take responsibility for our lives!” After hearing her say this, I firmly stated: “If they truly take responsibility for our lives, then they ought to lead us in an investigation of Almighty God’s work in the last days, and welcome the Lord’s return!” My wife then said bluntly: “What have they done for us that’s good? They fear that if we all believe in Almighty God then there will be no one left to listen to them.” My sister-in-law became somewhat irritated upon hearing this and said: “How can you both say such things? They haven’t asked you to do anything else. Don’t they just want you to return to the church? Listen to me. Based on the relationship between our two families how can I ruin you?” My wife’s brother continued: “Think about how I’ve treated you over the years. Do you know how much we’ve paid for you? Do you really have the heart to separate yourselves from us? Do you not feel guilty?” After hearing the two of them say these things I felt very upset, and I thought to myself: They really have helped us a lot, and now they see that we are insisting on following Almighty God. Surely they feel deeply hurt, but what can be done? It’s impossible to ask me to abandon the true way and to betray God, for I know that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. But if I insist on believing in Almighty God, then what will they think of me? Will they say that I am an ungrateful person? At this moment I felt upset and swayed in my heart. I prayed to God in silence, asking Him to give me a way out. Suddenly, I thought about these words of God: “Everything that happens to people is when God needs them to stand firm in their testimony to Him” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then I thought back on the words of fellowship that Sister Zhang and Sister Mu gave me a few days before: Everything that happens to you touches upon the fight that is being waged in the spiritual world, that Satan is making a wager with God. Today my wife’s brother and my sister-in-law tried to use our kinship to urge us to betray God and return to their religion, but this is one of Satan’s tricks. If I were to betray God in order to protect my interpersonal feelings then that would truly be ungrateful and unconscientious. If I don’t want to let my brother-in-law down then I should share with him God’s gospel of the last days so that he too will have an opportunity to receive salvation. This is the only way to show the compassion that I ought to possess. As I thought about this my mind felt clear, and I said: “Brother, sister-in-law, I know that you two have been good to me, and it’s because of this that I need to tell you that Almighty God really is the return of the Lord Jesus. Only by following Almighty God’s work in the last days will we be able to attain God’s salvation! Otherwise, our faith in the Lord all these years will have been in vain, and we will obtain nothing! Here, let me read to you a passage of God’s word, and after hearing it you will know whether or not these words were expressed by the returned Lord Jesus.” I picked up the book of the word of God and was just about to start reading from it when my sister-in-law stood up and said unhappily: “We came here today to try to persuade you, but instead of changing your minds, you even try to spread this gospel to us, but we will not listen to you.” After saying this she grabbed her husband and walked out in anger. I followed them out into the courtyard until I got to the entryway, but I saw that they had already walked far off. Feeling helpless, I stood there shaking my head. It was at this time that I saw that the weather had cleared up, and that a warm light was shining upon a pine tree outside of the courtyard. The snow that had accumulated on the pine tree started to melt, as if at that very moment the tree had just gone through a baptism. In contrast to the snow-covered ground, the straight and tall tree appeared especially verdant. I felt very happy, as if I were the same as the pine tree and had also experienced the baptism of wind and snow, growing from the nourishment of the sunshine. I knew that it was God’s words that had led me to break through the tight encirclement and stand witness for Him. Thanks be to God! All glory be to Almighty God! ![]() Breaking Through Satan’s Tight Encirclement (Part 1) Audio Article Zhao Gang It was bitterly cold this past November in Northeast China, none of the snow that fell to the ground melted away, and many people who walked outside were so cold that they stuffed their hands into their armpits and walked along cautiously, bodies bent over. The other day in the early morning the winds were blowing from the northwest, when I, my brother-in-law and his wife and about a dozen brothers and sisters were sitting in my home on the warm kang (a heatable brick bed). Everyone had a copy of the Bible beside them and in their hands everyone was holding a copy of the book Judgment Begins With the House of God. Two sisters from The Church of Almighty God were fellowshiping on the truth concerning God’s three stages of work. The two sisters were drawing pictures of the three stages of work as they fellowshiped: “God’s work for the salvation of mankind can be divided into three stages, from the Age of Law to the Age of Grace and then to the Age of Kingdom. Each stage of work is newer and more improved and also more profound than the previous stage. The work done in the last days is the final stage of work, in which God expresses words to judge and cleanse man….” We nodded our heads as we listened, and our minds felt especially clear: Who would’ve thought that God’s management plan for the salvation of mankind would have so many mysteries! Besides God Himself, who else could speak of the mysteries of these three stages of God’s work so clearly? This truly is the work of God! We fellowshiped into the evening of the following day, and our whole group expressed a willingness to seek out and look into Almighty God’s work of the last days. After this the two sisters then fellowshiped on the truth regarding the significance of the incarnation of God, and the rest of us were listening attentively when all of a sudden our church leader Wang Ping showed up. When she entered the house she pointed a harsh finger at the two sisters from The Churchof Almighty God and asked me: “What are these two doing?” I spoke frankly: “These are Sister Zhang and Sister Mu …” But before I could even finish speaking she said in an exasperated tone: “Who are Sister Zhang and Sister Mu? I see that they are preachers of the Eastern Lightning, they are sheep-stealers….” After Wang Ping finished talking, we all sat there in shock. I thought to myself: Sister Wang Ping has almost always talked about loving others as you love yourself and loving your enemies; why is it that today she comes in here saying such unreasonable things? Why is she judging and condemning these two sisters? I was thinking this over when I heard Sister Zhang calmly say to Wang Ping: “Sister, there are no hidden intentions in us coming here today. We just want to spread the gospelof the Lord’s return to you …” Wang Ping interrupted Sister Zhang and yelled out: “The Lord’s return? Not even those of us who serve as leaders know anything about the Lord’s return, so how could you know anything about it? That is not possible! The Lord Jesus said: ‘All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them’ (John 10:8). You both need to leave right now and never come back here.” When I heard Wang Ping say this I felt disgusted inside: Usually she always preaches well; how is it that she can be so compassionless all of a sudden? So I asked Wang Ping: “Sister Wang, it’s late. Where are you asking them to go? The Lord teaches us that we must love even our enemies, to say nothing of these two sisters who believe in God. If we treat these two in this way, we would in no way resemble believers in the Lord …” But before I could even finish what I was saying Wang Ping anxiously grabbed the hand of my brother-in-law’s wife and said to her and her husband: “If Zhao Gang doesn’t want these two women to leave then let’s go. We won’t listen to them!” When she finished saying this she furiously grabbed a hold of these two and walked out. After they left Sister Mu turned to us and asked: “Brothers and sisters, how do you all feel about the scene that we just witnessed? Let’s discuss this together!” The brothers and sisters all turned their heads toward me, without anyone saying a word. I said frankly: “Sister, through our readings of the word of God over these past two days, and through listening to your fellowship, I firmly believe that Almighty God’s words are the truth, and that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. However, the things that Wang Ping said aren’t without reason. After all, she is our leader and she has had faith in the Lord for a long time. She is very familiar with the Bible and she has always used her energy to run around serving the Lord. If the Lord has returned, she ought to be the first to know.” Sister Zhang replied kindly: “People believe that God’s return should first be known by leaders who then tell believers about it, but is there really any kind of basis in the word of God for this kind of thinking? Is this a fact that conforms to the truth and to God’s work or is it not? Let us think back to the previous time that the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work. Those Jewish Pharisees also believed that they who had served God for generations certainly ought to be the first people that the Messiah should appear before if He came. The thought never crossed their minds that the Lord Jesus did not first reveal Himself to them, but rather first had those fishermen and publicans who were looked down upon listen to the gospel and come before the Lord. This fact should make us realize that God does not only enlighten those who serve as leaders. It’s not as though He does not enlighten the ordinary believers who follow them, for God is righteous and He certainly does not favor anyone. God approves kind-hearted people who thirst to seek out the truth. It’s just as the Lord Jesus said: ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. … Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God’ (Matthew 5:6,8). Almighty God also said: ‘God seeks those who long for Him to appear. He seeks those who are able to hear His words, those who have not forgotten His commission and offer up their heart and body to Him. He seeks those who are as obedient as babes before Him, and do not resist Him’ (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). This allows us to see that so long as we love the truth and thirst for the truth, regardless of whether or not we have any status, regardless of how much we know about the Bible, God will enlighten and guide all of us. He will allow us to listen to His voice and witness His appearance. If those who serve as leaders think that God must first give revelation to them when He returns, then this shows that they do not have any understanding of the work of God, they do not know God’s righteous disposition. It also shows that they are very arrogant. Just as it is said in the word of Almighty God: “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?” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s almightiness and wisdom are deep and immeasurable. People are just little creatures. Their minds, their thoughts are finite. How could they be able to fathom the work of the Creator? So, as we wait for the Lord to return we ought to keep reverence for God in our hearts and search and investigate carefully. We ought not to use our own conceptions and imaginations to confine God and judge God according to our wishes, for this will offend God’s disposition, and it will also ruin one’s own chances of receiving salvation.” After listening to the sister’s fellowship I understood that we are so insignificant in the presence of God. We are even smaller than ants, and furthermore we have been corrupted by Satan to the point that we are full of corrupt disposition of arrogance and self-conceitedness. We love to always rely on our imaginations and conceptions to confine God. Whenever God’s work does not conform to our conceptions we even deny God, condemn God and resist God. Apparently if man does not understand the truth and does not have a single speck of reverence for God in his heart, it is possible for him to do whatever he wants. It’s very dangerous! This made me remember that the Lord Jesus once said: “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight” (Matthew 11: 25-26). It wasn’t until today that I saw that this really is how things are! Sister Zhang’s fellowship allowed me to recognize that this idea that “leaders ought to be the first ones to receive revelation when the Lord returns” is false and absurd, it simply does not conform to the truth, and it’s absolutely the conception and imagination of man. In reality, only those who thirst for the truth and seek the voice of God will have the opportunity to receive God’s work and His guidance and be brought before God. This gave me a new understanding of God’s fairness and righteousness. Thanks be to God! Early in the morning on the following day, after Sister Zhang and Sister Mu had left, my fellow Brother Guan who is higher up than me in our church came to me and asked: “Brother Zhao, I heard that you all believe in Eastern Lightning?” I told him solemnly: “Yes, I accept Almighty God’s work in the last days, because through the words of Almighty God I have come to understand many truths that I previously didn’t understand, such as the mysteries of His three stages of work and the significance of the incarnation of God. I see that the words of Almighty God are ‘the words spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches’ as prophesied in the Book of Revelation.” Brother Guan glanced over at me and said: “Brother Zhao, are you really going to follow what these people believe? Do you know what kind of people they are?” I said: “I see that their humanity is great and that they fellowship about the truth very clearly. Everything they discuss has to do with the truths of God’s work. I truly have gained a lot these past two days.” Brother Guan said to me angrily: “How can you be so stubborn? Hebrews 6:6-8 tells us: ‘If they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft on it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God: But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is near to cursing; whose end is to be burned.’ You are a preacher, you enjoy so much of the Lord’s grace, but not only are you not leading brothers and sisters to believe in the Lord, rather you are leading them to depart the church. Could it be that you are not afraid of being punished? If you do not turn around you might lose the Lord’s protection, and you will not be able to wish for the good days of old. Your previous sicknesses will recur, and your two children will not have good jobs….” After brother Guan left I felt a little nervous, and I thought to myself: The things he said seem to have some reason to them, so what should I do just in case my faith in Almighty God causes me to lose the Lord’s grace? When I thought about this I felt my heart grow weak, so I hurriedly got down on my knees and prayed to God: “Almighty God! Brother Guan’s words have made me weak. God! Are the things he said actually true or not? I really don’t know what to do now….” As I was praying to God my wife came back, and I told her about what had just happened. After hearing this she said nervously: “Is that really what he said?” I nodded my head, and my wife said worriedly: “He has been a major leader who has believed in the Lord for many years, and he’s very familiar with the Bible. I feel that he would not tell lies. If it’s really going to be like what he says then what should we do?” At this time I suddenly thought of the truth of God’s three stages of work that Sister Zhang and Sister Mu had fellowshiped about: God’s work for the salvation of mankind is divided into three stages, but all three stages of work are carried out by one God. As I thought about this it suddenly became clear to me, and I blurted out to my wife: “I know that what Brother Guan said doesn’t seem right. He said that by accepting God’s work in the last days we are leaving the way of the Lord and betraying the Lord Jesus, but the words of Almighty God that we have been reading these few days are truly God’s voice. Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. By following Almighty God we are actually following the footsteps of the Lamb. We are the ones who are the wise virgins. Why would the Lord punish us? …” We were in the middle of discussing this when Sister Zhang and Sister Mu came in … ![]() That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 2) Tian Ying The sister continued fellowshiping: “From the word of Almighty God we can see that every stage of work carried out by God is carried out in accordance with the needs of the corrupt human race. At the end of the Age of Law, man no longer had the strength to struggle free from the binds of sin due to the temptations and corruption of Satan. Man had offended the laws of Jehovah and was confronted with the dangers of being stoned to death and burned by the fires of heaven. God loves the human race. He incarnated Himself to become the likeness of sinful flesh, and He was nailed to the cross to save man from sin. So, as long as we believe in the Lord Jesus then we will be saved. The Lord no longer remembers our sins. We can come directly before God and pray to Him, and enjoy the abundance of grace bestowed by Him. But although we have been saved, that does not prove that we are without sin. We, the human race, have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years. Satan’s poison has taken root deep inside of us, it has become our life; it has become our nature. We are controlled by the conceit and arrogance, deception and crookedness, selfishness and contempt, and greed and evil of Satan’s nature. We are still able to often lie, deceive and sin in resistance to God. This is the root of our cyclical life of constantly committing sins and then pleading guilty to them. So, God, based on the demands of the corrupt human race and God’s management plan for saving the human race, has come to carry out a new stage of work in the last days to judge and chastise man in order to cleanse him and change his corrupt disposition, so that in the end the men who have attained salvation and who have been perfected may enter into God’s kingdom. If we still now hold on to the notion that ‘to be saved once is to be saved forever,’ then we are refusing to accept God’s work of judgment in the last days. If that’s the case, then the poison of Satan that is in our blood will never be cleansed, and we will never be able to attain God’s salvation, not to even mention being brought into the kingdom of heaven. These consequences are very serious. So, now, in these last days, only by walking away from the Age of Grace and accepting Almighty God’s judgment work of the last days, will man be thoroughly cleansed, attain God’s salvation and go to a good destination.” As I listened to the fellowship by the sister, I thought to myself: “Yes, Almighty God’s words are spoken so practically. During these last several years, haven’t I been living a life where I commit sins during the day but then plead guilty to them at night? We really have only been forgiven for our sins because of our faith in the Lord, but the nature of our sins still exists. We can still sin and resist God. The Lord is holy. How can those who often sin and resist Him be raptured into the kingdom of heaven? Almighty God’s words have untied these issues in my mind that have weighed heavily on me for many years. Almighty God’s words really do have a truth to them that can be sought out. Could it be that Almighty God really is the returned Lord? I really do need to look into this properly …” I was gradually getting rid of the guards I had put up against the sister, but just as I was thinking about looking into the matters we had discussed, a loud and urgent knocking sound suddenly came from the door. Sister Hu rushed to open the door, and let in a pastor who stormed into the room. He looked at me, and then he looked at the sister who was spreading the kingdom gospel of Almighty God, and then he said to me in a tone of astonishment and anger: “What are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you not to go around listening to strangers preaching? How could you still run over here and listen to them? Go home at once, do not listen to them anymore or you will be deceived and it will be too late for you to repent!” After the pastor had finished chiding me he then turned to threaten the sister: “And you people who are spreading Eastern Lightning, you do nothing else but come to our church and steal lambs! Leave at once, if you do not go I will not be so polite!” Witnessing the pastor treat the sister in this way made me feel quite disgusted, so I said to him: “Pastor, this sister just had some really good things to say, and it keeps with the Bible. I feel that it’s really quite possible that Almighty God is the returned Lord. Why don’t you just give it a listen, and then we can decide. Besides, doesn’t the Bible say that ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’ (Heb 13:2)? We who believe in the Lord ought to have love, we cannot treat people this way. To rush this sister out like this, doesn’t that go against the Lord’s teachings?” After the pastor heard me say this he yelled out at me: “What do you understand? We who believe in Jesus have already been saved, we do not need to be saved again! They have come here to steal lambs, do not receive them!” At this time the sister who had been spreading the gospel smiled and said: “We are all waiting for the return of the Lord, why can’t we sit down and have a conversation? If we miss out on the Lord’s return we will regret it very much—” Without waiting for the sister to finish talking, the pastor started shoving her out, saying: “Do not speak, even if you had better things to say I still would not listen to them! Leave at once!” And just like that, the pastor went so far as to push, pull and swear at the sister to drive her out of the house. After the sister left, the pastor went back to threatening me: “Hurry back home. From now on you are no longer allowed to be in contact with people from Eastern Lightning. Otherwise you will be expelled from the church, and if this happens you will never have the opportunity to receive the praise of God and enter into the kingdom of heaven….” At that time I had already heard the fellowship by the sister, I understood that the Lord Jesus had only saved us, He had not cleansed us, for only when the Lord returns to carry out His work of judgment will the work of thoroughly cleansing and saving man be carried out. Without receiving God’s work of judgment in the last days, man’s corrupt disposition will not be changed, and he will not be able to attain God’s salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven. So, the pastor’s words did not have much of an effect on me, I just had to deal with what happened and nod my head, and afterward I returned home. source: That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 2) in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1) Tian Ying Note: The author was deceived and bound by the ideas of “sola fide” and “to be saved once is to be saved forever” that were disseminated by pastors, and refused to contact brothers and sisters who were spreading the gospel of God in the last days. However, later on when she witnessed a sister spreading the gospel of God’s kingdom in her elder sister’s house, and through fellowshiping, the author came to understand God’s work of judgment in the last days, and started to see clearly the absurdity of religious notions. She broke through the pastor’s control and accepted God’s work in the last days, returning before God. I used to be a believer in the Three-Self Church in China. When I first started participating in gatherings there, the pastors would often say to us: “Brothers and sisters, it is recorded in the Biblethat: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10). We’ve been justified due to our faith. Since we believe in Jesus, we have been saved. If we believed in any other, then we wouldn’t have been saved….” I held on to these words of the pastors. As a result, I ardently pursued and actively attended gatherings as I waited for the Lord to come and let me into the kingdom of heaven. Later on, as unlawful deeds kept occurring in the church, it made me feel fed up with the gatherings there. First of all, among the pastors they were divided and partitioned, each trying to establish themselves at the top of the faction and set up independent kingdoms. Secondly, the sermons from the pastors needed to obey the United Front Work Department (UFWD). It was up to them to decide what could be talked about, and no one dared to go against them. The UFWD didn’t allow them to discuss the Book of Revelation out of fear that it would disturb popular sentiment, so the pastors didn’t preach it. The pastors would often preach about donation, saying that the more one donated then the more blessings they would receive from God…. So when I saw that these were the circumstances in the church I felt quite bewildered: Why did the church change into this current form? Do the pastors not believe in the Lord? Why do they not fear the Lord? Why do they not follow the Lord’s word? From that point on I no longer wanted to go to gatherings at the Three-Self Church, for I felt that they did not truly believe in God, that they acted in the name of believing in God in order to obtain the hard-earned money from brothers and sisters. In the second half of 1995, I left the church without hesitation and joined a house church (adherents of sola fide). At first I felt that their sermons were not subject to the restrictions of the national government, and they even integrated the Book of Revelation and discussed the last days and the Lord’s return. They also dove deeper into the other topics that they sermonized on compared to the Three-Self Church, and I felt there was more enjoyment to be had by gathering here compared to gathering in the Three-Self Church, which made me very happy. But after a period of time, I discovered that here too among the co-workers there were some who became envious, disputed things and wanted to break up the group. None of the brothers and sisters were living out the requirements of the Lord, they were without the love that they had in the past…. When I saw that this church didn’t have any real difference with the Three-Self Church I felt very disappointed, but I also didn’t know where I could go to discover a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. For lack of a better option, all I could do was stay with these adherents of sola fide. As before, I pressed on with attending gatherings because the pastors and preachers all said “to be saved once is to be saved forever” and “so long as you exercise patience until the end, toil for God and defend the way of the Lord then you will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.” I kept thinking to myself at that time: Regardless of how other people are, as long as I press on in my faith in the Lord Jesus and do not depart from the way of the Lord, then when the Lord returns I will have a chance to be raptured into the kingdom of heaven. In the blink of an eye it was already the second half of 1997, and God’s gospel of the kingdom had already spread to where we were, and the church had turned into a chaotic scene. Leader Li said to us: “Nowadays a group has emerged that is spreading Eastern Lightning, they are going everywhere stealing lambs from various sects, and they are saying that the Lord Jesus has already returned and that He is carrying out a new stage of work. The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross for us, He has already paid the price of His life in order to redeem us. We have already been saved, we just need to wait patiently until the end, and when the Lord returns we will certainly be raptured into the kingdom of heaven. So, we must pay attention and we absolutely cannot receive these people in Eastern Lightning. Whoever receives them shall be expelled from the church! Also, you must be sure not to listen to what they say, and you must be sure not to read their book….” It seemed that co-workers at all levels were all talking about these things at pretty much every gathering. After listening to them, I felt conflicting ideas unwittingly arise inside of me regarding Eastern Lightning. I felt I needed to guard against them and exercise great caution, for I feared that I would be stolen away by Eastern Lightning and lose my opportunity to enter into the kingdom of heaven. However, the new year had just begun in 1998 when one day I unexpectedly ran into someone from The Church of Almighty God and had the fortune of listening to the way of Eastern Lightning for the first time. That day, my elder sister gave me a call and invited me to her house. She had also invited Sister Hu from her village to come over too, and when she saw me she smiled and said: “Oh good you came, a remote relative of mine who is a believer is visiting, come, let’s all gather together.” I responded happily: “Okay, please have her come too.” Before long, Sister Hu came back with her relative. When the sister saw us she greeted us with enthusiasm. Although I had never met her before I felt a sort of closeness to her. After we all sat down, the sister started talking. She said: “There is widespread desolation in the church nowadays. The preachers don’t have anything new they can sermonize about, and at every gathering when they aren’t discussing how to resist Eastern Lightning, it’s all just listening to tapes and singing songs. These are the gatherings. Co-workers grow jealous over one another and get into disputes, they collude and connive, they are all extremely self-righteous and everyone refuses to obey everyone else; the brothers and sisters are negative and weak, and they are without faith and love. Many have left the Lord to return to the world to make money.” Deep inside me I felt the same way, and as I nodded my head I said to the sister: “This is what it’s like where I attend too. Before we would have 20-30 people at our monthly meetings, but now there are just a few elders, even the preachers have gone into the world to make money! There is no pleasure to be had in the gatherings.” The sister nodded her head and said: “This kind of situation isn’t just at certain churches anymore, it is a widespread phenomenon throughout the religious world. This shows that the work of the Holy Spirit is not found within the church any longer, so unlawful deeds will always continue to emerge. This is a sign of the Lord’s return. It’s just like the end of the Age of Law, when the temple became a place that sold livestock and exchanged money. It was because God had already stopped carrying out His work in the temple. Instead, God had become incarnated as the Lord Jesus to carry out a new stage of work outside of the temple.” I listened attentively and nodded frequently. The sister continued speaking: “Sister, in Luke 17:24-26 it 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. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.’ How do you interpret these lines from Scripture?” I thought seriously about them for a while, and with an awkward smile I said: “Sister, aren’t these lines from Scripture talking about the Lord’s arrival?” The sister replied, saying: “These lines from Scripture are discussing the Lord’s arrival, however, they are not talking about the Lord Jesus who came during that time. Rather, they are referring to the arrival of the Lord of the last days. Where it says ‘But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation,’ this ‘and’ confirms that it is the Lord returning. Sister, right now the faith of the believers in the church has grown cold, they are negative and weak. This is because God has become flesh once again to carry out a new stage of work. God’s work is moving forward, and everyone who does not follow God’s new work will lose the work of the Holy Spirit….” As soon as I heard the sister say that the Lord Jesus has already returned I immediately guessed that she belonged to Eastern Lightning, and my heart immediately sank. The smile on my face also disappeared as the words from my leaders who sealed off the church at once started floating around in my head: “To believe in Jesus is to be saved, to be saved once is to be saved forever! … Do not receive those from Eastern Lightning! …” As I thought about these words from my leaders I wanted to rush back home. But when this idea came across my mind the Lord enlightened me by having me remember a verse from a song: “Jesus is our refuge, when you have troubles hide with Him, when the Lord and you are together what do you have to fear?” That’s it! If I have the Lord by my side then what do I have to fear? The things I am afraid of do not come from God, they come from Satan. At this time, the sister said: “If anyone has any questions, go ahead and share them, the word of God will be able to solve all the problems and difficulties that we have.” When I heard the sister say this, I thought to myself: I hope you will not be stumped with my questions! Today I’d like to hear about what has really been preached in Eastern Lightning, which is able to steal away so many of the “good sheep.”As I thought about this I started to ask: “Our leaders are always saying that the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross for us, and that He has already paid the price of His life in order to redeem us, so we have already been saved. As it is recorded in Scripture: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10). Since we have been saved once we have been saved forever, so long as we exercise patience until the end and wait for the Lord’s return, then we will certainly be raptured into the kingdom of heaven. This is the promise that the Lord has made to us. So, we do not need to accept any new work being carried out by God.” After hearing me say this, the sister smiled and said to me: “Many believers think that the Lord Jesus has already been nailed to the cross for them, and that since He paid the price of His life they have been redeemed and they have been saved. They think that to be saved once is to be saved forever, that all they need to do is exercise patience until the end, to wait for the Lord’s return when they will certainly be raptured into the kingdom of heaven, and that they do not need to accept any new work carried out by God. But is this way of thinking really correct or not? Does it really conform to the Lord’s will? Actually, this idea that ‘to be saved once is to be saved forever, and when the Lord returns we will be raptured into the kingdom of heaven’ is just man’s conceptions and imagination, it simply does not conform to the Lord’s word. The Lord Jesus never once said that ‘those who have been saved by their faith may enter into the kingdom of heaven,’ rather, He said, ‘but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven’ (Mat 7:21). To ‘be saved’ and ‘doing the will of the Father which is in heaven’ are not the same thing. When we speak of ‘being saved for your faith,’ this ‘being saved’ refers to being forgiven for your sins. That is to say, if someone was supposed to be put to death according to law, but then they came before the Lord and repented, receiving the Lord’s grace and having the Lord forgive them for their sins, then this person would break away from the law’s conviction, they would no longer be put to death according to law. This is the true meaning of ‘being saved.’ But to be saved doesn’t mean that a person has broken away from sin and been cleansed. We all know this to be deeply true through experience. Even though we have believed in the Lord for many years, often admit our sins to the Lord and repent, and also enjoy the joy and safety of being forgiven for our sins, we still often involuntarily commit sins, we become bound by our sins. This is a fact. For example: Our arrogance, slyness, selfishness, greediness, evilness and other parts of our corrupt disposition still continue to exist; we still enjoy pursuing the trends of the world, and wealth and fame, and the pleasures of the flesh. We cling to sinful pleasures, unable to free ourselves. In order to protect personal interests we are also able to often tell lies and deceive others. So, to ‘be saved’ does not mean that one has attained full salvation. That is a fact. As God says: ‘Be you holy; for I am holy’ (1 Pe 1:16). God is holy, but is He able to allow those who often sin and resist God to enter the kingdom of heaven? If you believe that those who have been saved by their faith may enter into the kingdom of heaven, then why does the Lord Jesus also say the following words? ‘Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity’ (Mat 7:21-23). Why is it said that when the Lord returns He will separate the goats from the sheep and the wheat from the tares? We believe that it is completely invalid to say that ‘those who have been saved by their faith may enter into the kingdom of heaven!’ It completely deviates from the words of the Lord Jesus! These are words that resist those of the Lord! So, if we do not receive and believe in the Lord’s word, but rather hold on to the fallacies disseminated by the pastors and elders, if we rely on our own conceptions and imagination in our faith in God, then we will never be able to achieve God’s requirements, and we will never be able to be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.” I mulled over the sister’s words and felt that what she said made a lot of sense, so I sat there listening quietly … source: That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1) in Welcoming the Lord’s Return ![]() God’s Love Is Boundless Li Qing Shandong Province I suffered many hardships in the world. My husband died a few years after we married, and since then, the family burden completely fell on me. I lived a hard life with my young child and was always cold-shouldered and bullied by others. Weak and helpless, I was in tears every day, feeling it so hard to live in the world…. Just when I was in depression and despair, a sister preached Almighty God’s end-time work to me. Almighty God says, “When you feel tired and when you slightly feel a sense of desolation of this world, do not feel perplexed and do not weep. Almighty God, the Watcher, is ready to embrace your coming at any time.” (from “The Sighs of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) When I read it, I felt very warm in my heart. God’s motherly calling gave me the feeling that I had finally found my home, found my reliance, and found the destination of my heart. From then on, I read God’s word every day. From it, I knew that God is the source of the life of all things, and God is sovereign over everyone’s destiny, and Almighty God is the only reliance and salvation of mankind. In order to understand more truths, I actively attended meetings. In the Church of Almighty God, I saw that all the brothers and sisters were simple and open. Being together with them, I felt very secure and released in my heart and enjoyed the happiness and joy I had never had in the world. Thus, I was full of confidence and hope in my future life. To repay God’s love, I began to perform duty in the church. Unexpectedly, the CCP government simply didn’t allow people to believe in the true God and walk the right way, and I was arrested and persecuted inhumanly by the CCP government because of believing in God. One afternoon in the twelfth lunar month of 2009, I was washing clothes at home. Suddenly, five or six undercover cops rushed into my yard. One of them roared, “We’re the criminal police. We specially crack down on believers in Almighty God!” Before I knew what was happening, they began to rummage everywhere like bandits and robbers. They had a thorough search inside and outside the house and confiscated the books on believing in God, a DVD player, and two CD players. Then, they pushed me into a police car and took me to the police station. On the way, I thought of the scene of one who was cruelly tortured after being arrested by the evil cops the brothers and sisters described before. I was very scared and felt as if my heart flew into my mouth. In anxiety, I prayed to God urgently, “Almighty God! Now I’m very weak. I feel scared at the thought of cruel tortures. May you give me faith and strength and remove my fear.” After the prayer, I thought of two passages of God’s words, “Those in power look ferocious in appearance, but do not be afraid. That is because you have little faith. As long as your faith rises, nothing will be difficult.” (from “The Seventy-fifth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “In all my plan, the great red dragon serves as a setoff to me and becomes my ‘enemy,’ but it is also my ‘servant.’ Thus, I am never loose in my ‘requirements’ for it.” (from “The Twenty-ninth Piece of Word” of God’s Utterance to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Pondering God’s words, I understood: I’m afraid of satan’s torture, which means that I don’t have true faith in God. Satan is a setoff in God’s work. No matter how ferocious it is, it is in God’s hand. Moreover, the more ferocious satan is, the more I need to bear testimony for God by faith. At the crucial moment, I shall never be frightened by satan’s despotic power. I’ll overcome satan by the faith and strength God gives me. Thinking of that, I was not so afraid in my heart. After arriving at the police station, without a word, two evil cops handcuffed me and kicked and pushed me to the second floor. Then, they said venomously, “A person like you deserves ‘superior treatment’!” I knew in my heart that the “superior treatment” they mentioned referred to cruel tortures. At that time, I kept praying to God inwardly and dared not leave God for a single moment, fearing that I might lose God’s care and keeping and thus be taken captive by satan the devil. As soon as I entered the interrogation room, an evil cop forced me to kneel down. Seeing that I refused, he suddenly kicked me in the bends of my legs. I flopped down on my knees despite myself. After that, they gathered around me punching and kicking me, and I got dizzy and my mouth and nose bled. They still thought it wasn’t enough and ordered me to sit on the floor and put a chair in front of me. An evil cop beat my back violently. Every blow knocked my head and face on the chair heavily. My head buzzed and ached unbearably. One evil cop laughed viciously, saying, “Someone has already sold you out. If you still don’t tell me, I’ll beat you to death.” As he said that, he punched my chest hard. It ached so much that I was short of breath for a long time. Then, another evil cop roared, “Do you really think you’re Liu Hulan? Sooner or later, I’ll beat the truth out of you.” Those devils tortured me by various means and they didn’t stop until they were tired. When I just wanted to take a breath, an evil cop over fifty years old came and used soft tactics to coax me, “Now someone has confessed that you’re a church leader. Do you think we won’t convict you if you don’t tell us? We’ve followed you for a long time. Since we had evidence, we arrested you. Speak quickly!” Hearing his words, I was astounded: Is it true? If someone really became a Judas and sold me out, wouldn’t they have known everything about me? Is it possible that I keep silent? What should I do? At the critical moment, Almighty God’s words guided me, “Think about so much grace you have received. You have heard so many words; can you hear them in vain? Even if others run away, you cannot run away. Even if others give up believing, you should still believe. If others reject God, you should safeguard God and testify God. If others slander God, you cannot slander God. However unkind God is to you, you should be worthy of him. You should repay his love. You should have conscience, for God is innocent. When he comes to earth from heaven and works among men, he has suffered great humiliations. He is holy, without any filthiness, but comes to the filthy land. How great humiliations does he have to endure? He works on you still for you. …” (from “The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Every word of God knocked my numb heart, and I was sharply rebuked in my conscience. Having followed Almighty God for years, I’ve enjoyed God’s infinite love and warmth, gained God’s rich supply of life, understood the truth that no one in the past ages could understand, known the meaning and value of man’s existence, and broken away from the painful, desolate, and helpless dark life of the past. God has given me so great love and grace; how could I forget it? How could I be at a loss and even want to betray God on hearing that someone has betrayed God? Thinking of that, I was already tearful. I hated myself for having no conscience and humanity. When a person grants me a favor, I even try my best to repay him. God has given me so much grace and blessing and bestowed upon me so great salvation, but I’m numb in conscience, not only not knowing to repay him but instead wanting to betray him at the time of danger. Don’t I grieve God too much? Then, I felt extremely miserable for my hesitation just now. If someone has truly betrayed God, it is exactly the time God is saddest and most painful. At that moment I should comfort God with my faithfulness. However, the selfish and base me not only didn’t stand on God’s side, but instead wanted to forsake God for an ignoble existence. I simply lost my conscience and sense and my thoughts were all for myself. I’ve grieved God too much and I’m so loathsome to God! In self-reproach and remorse, I prayed to God silently, “Almighty God! I’m too devoid of conscience and humanity. What I bring you in return is always hurt and pain, but what you give me is all mercy and love. O God! Thank you for letting me know what I should do. Now I’m willing to satisfy you once with my actual actions. No matter how satan may torture me, I’ll stand testimony for you even at the cost of my life and never betray you.” Seeing my tearful face, an evil cop thought that I wavered, so he walked up to me and said “gently,” “Speak quickly! If you tell me, I’ll release you.” I gave him a glare and said indignantly, “Want me to betray God? No way!” Hearing it, he was hopping mad. While slapping my face wildly, he roared hysterically, “You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. What a cheek! Do you think we are good-for-nothings? If you don’t confess honestly, we’ll sentence you to five years of imprisonment and won’t allow your child to attend school….” Then, they forced me to sit on the floor with my legs stretched. One evil cop stomped on one of my legs, while the other held my back with his knee, and seized my arms firmly and pulled them back forcefully. Immediately, my arms ached unbearably as if they were broken. My head involuntarily bent forward and banged against the desk. Then, I got a bump. At that time, it was a severe winter. The wind was so piercing and it was freezing cold. However, I was tortured by those evil cops so severely that I sweat all over and my clothes were drenched through. Seeing that I still didn’t yield, they forcibly stripped off my winter jacket, had me lie face up on the cold floor with thin clothes, and continued to interrogate me. Since I didn’t answer their questions, they kicked me wildly. Torturing me until evening, the evil cops were all exhausted, but they still got nothing. When they went for supper, they threatened me, “If tonight you still refuse to speak, you’ll be handcuffed onto the torture-rack and be frozen into the ice or even to death.” With that word, they left in anger. Then, I felt a thrill of fear: What other means will these devils use to torture me? Can I hold on? Especially when I thought of the evil cops’ ferocious faces and the scenes of their torturing me, I even more felt painful and helpless, deeply fearing that I would betray God because of being unable to endure the cruel tortures. So I prayed to God unceasingly. Just at that time, God’s words reminded me, “When man has the thought of timidity and fear, it is just the fooling of satan. It fears that we might pass the bridge of faith into God.” (from “The Sixth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words made me clear-minded. I knew that I was fooled by satan and lost faith in God. I also came to know that in this environment of suffering, I wasn’t warring alone, and I had Almighty God as my strong rear guard. Thus, I became strong in my heart and was no longer so timid and scared. Besides, I realized that I had too little faith in God and really needed to experience such an environment to be tempered and edified. Otherwise, I would never have true faith in God. Then, I remembered that when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were chased by the Egyptian soldiers to the Red Sea and had no retreat. They followed God’s word to cross the Red Sea by faith. Out of their expectation, the Red Sea became a dry land, and they got out of the danger and escaped from the chase of the Egyptian soldiers. Today, as long as I have faith, I can also defeat satan by relying on God. Then, I prayed to God in my heart, “Almighty God! I’ll war against satan by relying on you and never be intimidated by the devil’s despotic power! I’ll stand testimony for you.” At the time of danger, Almighty God not only became my strong and powerful rear guard, but sympathized with my weakness. That night, the evil cops didn’t come to interrogate me. I passed through the night securely. The next morning, several ferocious cops came. They threatened me, “If you still don’t confess, there’ll be a lot for you! We’ll let you taste death! Today even the almighty God can’t save you. Even if you’re Liu Hulan, it’s of no use. If you don’t speak, never expect to get out alive….” After that, they forced me to take off my winter jacket and lie on the freezing cold floor and interrogated me. Looking at their evil eyes, I could only call to God desperately, asking God to keep me so that I could stand testimony. Seeing that I kept silent all along, they became furious. One of them struck the top of my head with a folder so hard that my head spinned. While beating me, he shouted abuses and threatened me, “Let her have a taste of being beheaded today. Where does her child study? Inform the headmaster to bring him here. Let him know how it feels to be worse than death….” After that, they interrogated me about the things they searched out. As they were dissatisfied with my answer, they again used the folder to hit my mouth violently so that the corners of my mouth split and bled. Then, they beat me all over wildly and didn’t stop until they were tired. At that time, an evil cop came in from outside. As I didn’t confess, four or five guys including him came over together, unlocked my handcuffs, and then handcuffed my hands behind my back. They had me sit in front of a big desk, with my face parallel with the edge of the desk and my legs straightened. When my legs were not straightened, they trod on them, held my shoulders, and lifted up my arms and handcuffs for a long time. I was forced to sit still as they required. If I moved forward, I would hit my face. If I moved to the sides or backward, I would be severely tortured. Due to their base means, I felt extremely miserable and screamed incessantly. Seeing that I was dying, they put me down slowly and let me lie on the floor. After a while, those inhuman devils continued to torture and afflict me. Four or five evil cops stomped on my legs and arms so that I couldn’t move. Then they pinched my nose and cheeks and poured cold water into my mouth without stop. I was suffocated and struggled hard, yet they still didn’t let go. Gradually, I lost consciousness…. Not knowing how long had passed, I suddenly woke up because of being choked by water and I coughed violently. Water flowed out from my mouth, nose, and ears, and my chest ached sharply. I felt it was murky around and my eyeballs seemed to burst. Due to choking, I could only exhale but not inhale with my eyes fixed, and I felt as if I would die immediately…. Just when my life was at stake, suddenly I coughed and twitched violently and spat some more water. Afterward, I didn’t feel so awful. At that time, an evil cop seized my hair and sat me up, and he swayed my handcuffs wildly. Also, he ordered a lackey to get an electric baton to shock me. Unexpectedly, that lackey came back in a short time. He said, “I only found four electric batons. Two of them don’t work, and the other two have dead batteries….” On hearing that, the devil roared furiously, “You rubbish. Bring chili water!” I kept praying to God in my heart, asking him to keep me so that I could overcome the devil’s various tortures. Just then, an unexpected thing happened. One evil cop said, “That thing is too strong. We’ve tortured her so badly. Don’t use it.” At his words, the devil had to give it up. At that time, I truly felt that God is sovereign over everything and rules over everything and that it was God who kept me from the affliction. However, those devils still didn’t let me off. They handcuffed my hands behind my back, stomped on my legs, and forcefully lifted the handcuffs. I felt that my arms ached as if they were broken, and I screamed on and on. I kept calling to Almighty God in my heart, and involuntarily I cried out, “Al…” At once, I softened my tone and said, “All things, I’ll tell you….” Those devils thought that I would really tell them everything, so they stopped and roared at me, “We’re specialized in handling cases. Never expect to deceive us. Today if you don’t confess honestly, don’t expect to get out of here alive. We give you some time to think it over!” Facing the devils’ torture and threat, I was very distressed: I don’t want to die here, much less betray God or sell out the church. What should I do? How about telling a brother or a sister? Immediately, I realized that I couldn’t do it. If I said it, it would mean that I betrayed God and became a Judas. In agony, I prayed to God, “God, what should I do? May you inspire and lead me and give me strength.” After the prayer, God’s words appeared to me, “The church is my heart. … Safeguard my testimony at any cost; this should be the principle of your doing things. Don’t forget.” (from “The Forty-first Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Right! The church is God’s heart. If I sell out the brothers and sisters, it means that I disturb the church, which grieves and hurts God most. I should never do anything that demolishes the church. God comes from heaven to earth and does the work to save us. Satan is always fiercely looking at this group of people God has chosen, attempting to exterminate all of them and demolish God’s church. If I sell out the brothers and sisters, won’t I allow satan’s scheme to succeed? God is so beautiful and good, and what he does on man is all love. I can’t grieve God’s heart. Today, I can do nothing for God. I only wish to stand testimony to repay God’s love, and this is the only thing I can do now. After understanding God’s will, I prayed to God, “God, I don’t know how they will torture me. You know my stature is too small and I’m always timid and afraid, but I believe everything is in your hand. I’m willing to make a resolution before you that I’ll stand testimony even if I have to give up my life….” Right then, a devil roared angrily, “Have you thought it over? If you still don’t confess honestly, I’ll let you die here today! Even the almighty God can’t save you!” I kept my eyes closed and said nothing, with the resolution that I would stand testimony even if I had to die. Gnashing their teeth in anger, the devils rushed forward and kept insulting and torturing me by stomping, beating, and so on like before. They beat my head wildly until I felt dizzy and blacked out, feeling as if my head split. Gradually, I felt that my eyeballs couldn’t move. I couldn’t feel pain or hear anything clearly, only feeling that their voices seemed to come from afar. But I was very clear in my heart and kept repeating a word silently: I won’t be a Judas even if I die…. Not knowing how long had passed, I woke up. I found myself wet all over. Four or five evil cops were crouching around me, seemingly checking whether I was alive or dead. Looking at those evil cops worse than beasts, I was very indignant: Are they the “people’s police” who “love the people as if they were their children”? Are they the law enforcement officials “upholding justice and punishing evil and promoting good”? They are a gang of evil demons and beasts from hell! Then, I remembered these words in Fellowship and Preaching About Life Entering In, “… The great red dragon is most malicious and frenzied in resisting and attacking God. It is most cruel and severe in afflicting God’s chosen people. This is the fact. What is the great red dragon’s purpose to oppress and persecute God’s chosen people? It wants to abolish God’s end-time work and God’s coming again. This is its maliciousness and is also satan’s scheme.” Checking against the facts before my eyes, I saw clearly that the CCP government is the embodiment of satan and is the evil one that has been hostile to God from the beginning. It is because only satan the devil hates the truth and fears the true light, banishes the coming of the true God, and can so inhumanly afflict and torture people who follow God to walk the right way of human life. Today, God is incarnated and comes to its nest to work, so that I, most deeply blinded by it, know that it is satan the devil that afflicts and devours man, and that outside its dark rule, there is light and there is a true God who cares for and supplies us day and night. It is Almighty God’s coming that brings me the truth and the light, so that I can finally see clearly the devilish face of the CCP government which claims itself to be “great, glorious, and correct” every day, have bitter hatred of it, and know the meaning and value of man’s pursuing the truth. The more I pondered, the brighter I became. I felt a strength supporting me within, and I didn’t feel so painful when tortured by the evil cops. I deeply knew that God kept me so that I overcame the cruel tortures in that interrogation. In the end, failing to get any result, they imposed on me the charge of “disturbing the social order” and took me to the detention house. There, the CCP government took the prisoners as working machines, forcing them to work without stop from morning till night. Every day, I rested for less than five hours and was exhausted all day as if torn apart. Even so, the prison guards didn’t give me enough food. For each meal, they only gave me two small steamed buns, and there wasn’t any oil in the food. During my detention, the evil cops interrogated me several times. In the last interrogation, they said that they would sentence me to two years of hard labor. I questioned them justly, “Don’t I have freedom of belief? Why do you sentence me to two years of hard labor? I have sickness. If I die here, how can my children and parents live? They will starve to death without anyone’s care.” An evil cop around fifty years old said harshly, “Because you have broken the law and we have conclusive evidence!” I refuted, “It is a good thing for me to believe in God. I don’t murder or commit arson, nor do bad things, but pursue to be a good person. Why don’t you allow me to believe?” Seeing me refute them, they got furious. One of them came forward and slapped me, and then he knocked me down with one punch. They forced me to lie on the floor. One of them held my shoulders, another one held my legs, and the third one trod on my face forcefully with his leather shoe. And he said shamelessly, “Today is the time for a market fair. We can strip you naked and parade you through the streets!” As he said, he stomped and rubbed my private parts and breasts with force. Additionally, he stomped one of his feet on my breast and lifted the other suddenly, and repeatedly did so. Also, he stomped and ground my thighs every now and then. My trousers were thus torn, and the crotch was also split. My tears of humiliation kept flowing, and I felt that I would break down: O God, I really can’t stand such humiliation of the devils. It’s too miserable to live like this. May you let me die soon. Just when I felt so miserable and couldn’t restrain myself, I remembered God’s words, “Now is the time for us to repay God’s love. Although we have suffered much ridicule, slander, and persecution because of walking the way of believing in God, I think this is a meaningful thing, and it is glory, not humiliation. And anyway, we have enjoyed much blessing.” (from “The Way… (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Then, I thought of the words of the Lord Jesus, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven….” (Matthew 5:10-12) God’s words corrected my erroneous viewpoint. I realized: These sufferings and humiliations I undergo today are most valuable and meaningful. I suffer for believing in God and walking the right way of human life and for gaining the truth and the life. Such suffering is not humiliation but God’s blessing. I should feel happy and proud for it. As I’m too disobedient and my heart is too hardened, I always regard my own gain or loss and honor or disgrace so important. Once I’m mistreated, I will make complaints and want to resist God with death, so I can’t see God’s love and blessing at all. Then, how can I not grieve God? In remorse and self-rebuke, I thought about my experience in those days. Gradually, I understood: My experiencing such a tribulation of persecution is God’s deeper love and salvation for me. God wants to remove my fragility through this environment and work true faith and love into me, so that I can learn to obey in adverse circumstances, become strong in spirit, withstand storms, and be of one heart and one mind with God unswervingly in any cases, and thus inherit God’s blessing and promises in the end. Facing God’s love and reflecting on my disobedience, I came before God to repent deeply, “Almighty God, I’m too blind and ignorant. I didn’t know your love and blessing but always thought that suffering wasn’t a good thing. Now I’ve known that everything that comes upon me today is your blessing. Although this blessing is discordant with my notion and outwardly my flesh is humiliated and suffering, actually all this is the most precious treasure of life you’ve bestowed to me, is the evidence of overcoming satan, and is even more your most true and real love for me. O God! I really hate myself for being too absurd. Instead of purely understanding the work you do on me, I always misunderstand and complain against you, bringing too great hurt to you. Now facing your love and salvation, I have nothing to repay you. The only thing I can do is to hand over my heart to you, obey this environment with a heart of loving you, and endure all sufferings and humiliations to stand testimony for you.” When I was prepared for imprisonment and made a firm resolution to satisfy God, God’s love surpassed what I asked and thought and God made a way out for me. Unexpectedly, on the thirteenth day of my detention, God raised up my brother-in-law to rescue me. After spending 3,000 yuan greasing the wheels and handing over 5,000 yuan to the police, he bailed me out, and my sentence would be executed outside the prison. After I went back home, I found that the flesh on my legs was stomped so hard that it became dead, hard and black. It didn’t recover until over three months later. The evil cops’ torture damaged my brain and heart seriously. Even now, I’m still suffering from sickness. If not for God’s keeping, I would have long been paralyzed in bed. Today, it is all because of God’s great love and keeping that I can live like a normal person. Having experienced that tribulation of persecution, I’ve truly seen clearly the CCP government’s devilish substance of resisting God, and seen clearly that it is the enemy and the evil one irreconcilable with God, thus having a bitter hatred for it. Meanwhile, I have a deeper knowledge of God’s love than before. I’ve understood that all the work God does on man is salvation and love for man, and that not only grace and blessing are God’s love, but suffering and tribulation are even more God’s love. Moreover, I’ve truly experienced that I could still stand firm when cruelly tortured and humiliated by swarms of devils and walk out of the devil’s den, and it was all because Almighty God’s words gave me faith and strength, and even more because Almighty God’s love encouraged me, so that I could overcome satan and walk out of the devils’ den step by step. Thank God for his love and salvation for me. I’ll give the glory and praise to Almighty God! According to mankind’s inherent traits, that is, mankind’s true face, being able to carry on until now has truly not been an easy thing, and it is only through this that God’s great power has become apparent. Based on the essence of the flesh as well as the corruption of the great red dragon thus far, if not for the guidance of the Spirit of God, how could man still stand today? Man is not worthy to come before God, but He loves mankind for the sake of His management and so that His great work may be accomplished before too long. In truth, no man can repay God’s love for mankind within their lifetime. Perhaps some wish to repay God’s grace by sacrificing their lives, but I tell you: Man is unworthy of dying before God, and so the death of man is in vain. Because to God the death of a man is not even worthy of mention, nor is it worth a penny, and it is like the death of an ant on earth. I advise people not to think yourselves to be so precious, and not to think that dying for God carries the weight of a great mountain. In truth, the death of a man is a matter as light as a feather. It is not worthy of note. But then again, the flesh of man is doomed to die by nature, and so in the end, the physical body has to end on the earth. This is the honest truth, and none can deny it. This is a “law of nature” that is summed up from all human life experience by Me. And so unwittingly, God’s end for man is defined as such. Do you understand? No wonder God says “I despise mankind’s disobedience. I do not know why. It seems I have hated man since the beginning, and yet I feel deep sympathy for them. And so man looks upon Me with two hearts, for I love man, and I also hate man.”
Who does not praise God for His presence or His appearance? At this time, it’s as if I have completely forgotten the impurity and unrighteousness within man. Mankind’s self-rightness, self-importance, disobedience, defiance, and all of his rebelliousness—I push all of this into the back of My mind to forget it. God is not constrained because of such being of mankind. Since God and I “share this same affliction,” I will also free Myself from this puzzle lest I be further constrained by man. Why bother with that? Since man is not willing to join God’s household along with Me, how can I use My power to suppress them? I do not do things to impose My power upon them, and no wonder, because I was born in the family of God, of course man and I are always different. This has led to today’s crushing defeat. But I continue to shun the weaknesses of man; what choice do I have? I am to blame for being powerless. No wonder God wishes to “retire” from the “agency” of mankind, and wants His “pension.” I speak from the perspective of a man, and man does not listen, but when I speak as God, do they not still disobey? Perhaps the day will come when God will truly suddenly “retire” from the “agency” of mankind, and when that time comes, God’s word will become even more fierce. Today, it may be because of Me that God speaks this way, and if that day comes, God will no longer be like Me, patiently “telling stories to the kids at a nursery school.” Perhaps what I say does not hit the mark. Only for the sake of God incarnate is God willing to loosen His hold on man a bit, otherwise, it would be too horrible to contemplate. Just as God said, “I loosened My grip on them to a certain extent, allowing them to indulge in their fleshly desires, and so they dared to be unbridled, without restraint, and it can be seen that they did not truly love Me, as they lived in the flesh.” Why does God say here “indulge in their desires,” and “lived in the flesh”? Truthfully, this wording does not require My interpretation, and it can be understood naturally. Perhaps some people say they don’t understand, but I will say that you know the truth, and simply feign ignorance. I remind you: Why does God say “I only ask for man to cooperate with Me”? Why does God say that human nature is difficult to change? Why does God despise human nature? And what exactly is the nature of man? What is not the nature of man? Who has contemplated these questions? Perhaps this is a new subject to man, but regardless, I implore man to give it much consideration, otherwise you will always offend God because of words like “human nature is immutable.” What good is it to act against Him in that way? Is it not ultimately just asking for trouble? Is it not, in the end, just like hurling an egg against a stone? In truth, all the trials and temptations that come upon man are lessons that God requires of man. According to God’s original intention, even if man resigns himself to parting with something he loves, it can still be achieved. The problem is just that man always loves himself, so he fails to truly cooperate with God. God does not ask much of man. All that God asks of man is meant to be achieved easily and happily; it is just that man is unwilling to suffer hardships. Like children, they could live frugally to come up with a few pennies to honor their parents and fulfill the duty they ought to fulfill. Yet they fear that they won’t eat well enough and that their clothing will be too plain, so for one reason or another, they take their parents’ love and care and cast it far out into the clouds, as if they will start to do this after earning a great deal of money. But I can see from this that men do not have the filial piety of loving their parents—they are unfilial sons. Perhaps this is too extreme, but I can’t spout nonsense contrary to the facts. I cannot “emulate others” to resist God for satisfying Myself. It is only because no one on earth is filial that God said: “In heaven, Satan is My enemy, on earth, man is My foe. Because of the union between the heaven and earth, nine generations of theirs should be considered guilty by association.” Satan is an enemy of God; the reason I say that is because it does not repay God for His great favor and kindness, but rather “paddles against the current,” and in doing so does not fulfill its “filial piety” to God. Aren’t people also this way? They show no filial respect to their “parents” and never return the nurture and support of their “parents.” This is adequate to show that the people of earth are the kin of Satan in heaven. Man and Satan are of one heart and mind against God, and so it is no wonder God implicates nine generations as guilty by association and none may be pardoned. In the past, God had a prostrate servant in heaven who He called upon to manage mankind, but it didn’t listen, and acted based on its own temperament to rebel against Him. Aren’t rebellious humans also striding forward toward this path? No matter how much God tightens the “reins,” people simply never waver and cannot turn around. In My view, if man continues on this way, they will be ruined, and perhaps it is at this time that you will understand the true meaning of these words: “man cannot be disentangled from their old nature.” God has reminded man on many occasions: “Because of man’s disobedience, I have left him.” Why does God say this over and over? Could God really be so heartless? Why does God also say “I simply am not human”? Over so many idle days, who has really scrutinized these detailed issues? I urge mankind to put more effort into the words of God and to not treat it lightly; this has no benefit for you, or for others. It’s better to not say that which does not need to be said, and to not think of that which does not need to be contemplated. Isn’t that simpler? What wrong can come of this? Before God proclaims the end of His work on earth, no one shall stop “moving”; no one shall wash their hands of their duty. Now is not the time; do not act as guide for God, or a vanguard. I think it is too early to stop now and cease moving forward—what do you think? God brings man into chastisement, and He brings them into an atmosphere of death, but on the other hand, what does God want man to do on earth? To act as a wardrobe at home? It cannot be eaten or worn, but only looked at. If so, why employ so many complex processes, making people suffer so much in the flesh? God says, “I escort them to the ‘execution ground,’ as mankind’s guilt is enough to merit My chastisement.” At this time, does God have people walk to the execution ground themselves? Why does no one beg forgiveness for them? Then how should man cooperate? Can man truly do things without being colored by emotion, as God makes His judgments? The effectiveness of these words mainly depends on the actions of man. As a father earns money, if afterward the mother does not know how to cooperate, not knowing how to manage the household, then what state would that home be in? Look at the state of the church now; what will you as leaders think? You could hold a meeting where everyone can talk about their personal impressions. The mother makes a mess of the things in the home, so what will the children of this family be like? Orphans? Beggars? No wonder God said: “People all think that I am divinity that lacks ‘quality of intellect,’ but who can understand that I am able to see through everything in humanity?” As for such an obvious situation, there is no need to speak from His divinity. Just as God says, “there is no need to hit a nail with a sledgehammer.” At this time, perhaps there are people who have some practical experience with God’s maxim of: “Among men, there are none who love Me.” At this point, it is just as God said: “People all reluctantly bow their heads because of the current situation, but their hearts remain unconvinced.” These words are like a telescope. In the near future, man will go into another situation. This is called being incorrigible. Do you understand? That is the answer to these two questions of God: “Don’t people refrain from sin only because they fear I will go away? Is it not true that they do not complain only because they fear chastisement?” In fact, now people are a little bit slack and seem overly weary, and they are completely disinterested in heeding God’s work, and solely concerned with the arrangements and plans for their flesh. Is this not the case? source: Interpretation of the Thirty-eighth Utterance in The Word Appears in the Flesh recommend: Worship God in Spirit and in Truth | "The Heart's Voice of a Created Being" Christian Music Video Best Christian Family Movie "Where Is My Home" | God Gave Me a Happy Family What Is Incarnation? What Is the Essence of Incarnation? Corrupt Mankind Needs the Salvation of God Incarnate
God became flesh 'cause the object of His work is not the spirit of Satan, nor anything not, not of flesh, but man. Man’s flesh was corrupted by Satan and so became the object of God’s work. The place of God’s salvation is man, is man. Man is a mortal being, only flesh and blood, and God alone can save him. God must take on man’s flesh, and all that man is, in order to do His work, to achieve the best result. God must take on flesh, because man is flesh, who cannot overcome sin. God must take on flesh, because man is flesh, who cannot free himself from the bondage of the flesh. Satan has corrupted the flesh of man, who is deeply harmed and who’s blinded. And the reason God comes, the reason He comes in flesh is because man is the object of His salvation, and Satan disturbs God’s work by using the flesh, the flesh of man, of man. God battles Satan by conquering man, yet saves man at the same time. In this way God Himself must become incarnate, in order to do His work, in order to do His work. Satan has corrupted flesh, it’s indwelt man’s flesh and God has to defeat him. To battle with Satan and save man, God must come to earth and become flesh. It’s a real work. When God works in flesh He’s really fighting Satan. His work in the realm of the spirit becomes practical, it’s real on earth, in man. The one that God conquers is disobedient man, while in mankind Satan’s defeated, and ultimately the one who is saved is man, is man. It was necessary for God to become a man and take on a creature’s shell, to do battle with Satan and conquer mankind, rebellious in his creature’s shell. It was necessary for God to become a man and take on a creature’s shell, to save mankind who wears the same outer shell, but who has been harmed by Satan, who has been harmed by Satan. Man is God’s enemy, God must conquer him. Man is God’s object of salvation; God must take on flesh, and become a man. In this way His work is made easier. God can defeat Satan, God can conquer mankind, God can save mankind. from The Word Appears in the Flesh Eastern Lightning | the church of Almighty God came into being because of the work of the returned Lord Jesus—Almighty God, Christ of the last days in China, and it isn't established by any person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. After reading God's word, you will see that God has appeared. Christian Music Video | "Thanks and Praise to Almighty God" | Live in the Light of God
I We have been brought before God. His words we eat and drink. Holy Spirit enlightens, we understand truth God speaks. Rituals of religion, we’ve cast them off, all those bonds. Unrestrained by rules, our hearts released. And we are happy as can be, living in God’s light, happy as can be, living in God’s light. Thanks and praise to Almighty God, who expresses truth to all mankind. Thanks and praise to Almighty God, we have a way to change, and our vague faith subsides. We sing praise, oh. II We closely follow God, kingdom training we accept. God's judgments are like a sword, disclosing thoughts that we have. Arrogance, selfishness, and falseness are not concealed. Only then I see my truth. Ashamed I fall to God, revealed. Thanks and praise (oh, thanks to God) to Almighty God, who expresses truth to all mankind. Thanks and praise to Almighty God, we’re face to face with God, and in His joy we rejoice. Thanks and praise (thanks and praise) to Almighty God. You are holy, You are righteous, oh. My desire is to practice truth (practice truth), forsake the flesh, to be reborn (be reborn), comfort Your heart. Thanks and praise to Almighty God, Your judgment has me truly saved. Thanks and praise to Almighty God, my disposition has changed. Because of You, I am blessed, oh, I’m blessed. from Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs Eastern Lightning | the church of Almighty God came into being because of the work of the returned Lord Jesus—Almighty God, Christ of the last days in China, and it isn't established by any person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. After reading God's word, you will see that God has appeared. |
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