Christian Skit | "Watch Over This House" | Why Christians Are Treated Like This (English Dubbed)7/31/2018 Christian Skit | "Watch Over This House" | Why Christians Are Treated Like This (English Dubbed)
In China, Christians are persecuted by the CCP to the point that it's hard for them to go home, so they often live a wandering existence. In this skit, a Christian couple, fed up by being monitored in their village for their belief in God, decides to move to the city and rent an apartment, but it's not long before the CCP police officer, neighborhood committee member, security guard, and a neighborhood lout start visiting one after another to "help the old couple watch their apartment." Again fed up with the surveillance, the old couple decides to pack their bags and move again … Recommended: English Christian Skit | "The Stakeout" https://youtu.be/2xnkXnBt-aA Christian Videos https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Short Sketch From the Christian Church | "The Police Pay a New Year Visit" (English Dubbed) https://youtu.be/dZIk6afqpVE Christian Short Sketch "The Police Pay a New Year Visit II" (English Dubbed) https://youtu.be/dLcvlNUCpQU
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English Christian Song | The Love of God Is Great | "Only God Loves Man Most"
God becomes flesh in the last days to save man for He loves man. Driven by His love, He carries out today’s work. It’s under the foundation of love. God takes on flesh and suffers disgrace to save the tainted and broken ones. He endures such pain. For again and again, He shows His immeasurable love. God doesn’t want any soul to be lost. Man doesn’t care what his future will be. Man doesn’t know how to cherish his own life. But God does. Only He loves man. Oh … oh … God’s words heal, encourage man. They judge and curse, disclose and promise. No matter what His words say, it comes from His love. This is the essence of His work. Why do so many follow closely? Why are they so full of energy? God’s love and salvation, they all have seen. God’s timing is perfect. He never delays. God doesn’t want any soul to be lost. Man doesn’t care what his future will be. Man doesn’t know how to cherish his own life. But God does. Oh, yes, He does. Only He loves man. Man thinks he loves himself the most. But what kind of love is this? God’s love is the most real, you will feel. If God had not become flesh, guided and lived with man all the time, it would be hard for them to know God’s love. God doesn’t want any soul to be lost. Man doesn’t care what his future will be. Man doesn’t know how to cherish his own life. But God does. Oh, yes, He does. Only God loves man. Yes, only God loves man. Oh, yes, He does. He loves man so. He loves man so. from Records of Christ’s Talks Best Christian Music Video | So Happy to Live in the Love of God | "Christ's Kingdom Is a Warm Home"7/26/2018 Best Christian Music Video | So Happy to Live in the Love of God | "Christ's Kingdom Is a Warm Home"
I Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, it belongs to all of God’s people. Christ walks and speaks in the church and lives together with God’s people. The judgment and chastisement of God’s words is here, as is work of the Holy Spirit. God’s words water, supply and guide us, and our lives grow. This is the kingdom ruled by Christ, it is a fair and just world. II Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, it is so dear to God’s people. God’s words reign in the church, we act on the truth and exalt Christ in our hearts. There is no more infighting or intrigue, there’s no need for defense or fear. Christ is the resting place for man’s soul, I need not wander anymore. This is God’s kingdom people long for, it is mankind’s peaceful home. III Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, all of God’s people treasure it. Here I experience God’s judgment and trials, and my corrupt disposition is purified and changed. My cheers and laughter, the story of my growth are here, my quiet words to God are also here. My unforgettable memories are here, a record of the price God pays. Everything here moves me, words cannot express the sincere devotion here. Christ of the last days, my beloved, so lovely, You have given me this warm home. from Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs Recommended: God Is Great | "The True Love of God" | Praise the Lord (Best Christian Music Video) https://youtu.be/QEdz0BZQdb0 Walk in the Love of God | Christian Music Video 2018 "Where Is My Home" (Heart-touching Theme Song): https://youtu.be/Xx4T4EkPQQA Best Christian Family Movie "Where Is My Home" | God Gave Me a Happy Family https://youtu.be/moHa5xIOZ18 Best Christian Music | Praise and Worship Song | "God's Deeds Fill the Vast Expanse of the Universe"7/24/2018 Best Christian Music | Praise and Worship Song | "God's Deeds Fill the Vast Expanse of the Universe"
1. God looks down upon all things from on high, and dominates all things from on high. At the same time, God has sent His salvation over the earth. God is watching from His secret place all the time, man’s every move, everything they say and do. God knows man like the palm of His hand. The secret place is God’s abode, the firmament is the bed He lies on. Satan’s force cannot reach unto God, for He is full of majesty, righteousness, and judgment. 2. God has trodden all things with His feet, He stretches out His gaze over the universe. And God has walked among men, has tasted the sweetness and bitterness, all flavors of the human world; but men, they never truly recognized God, nor did they notice God as He walked abroad. Because God was silent, and performed no supernatural deeds, thus, no one ever truly saw Him. Things are not now as they once were: God is going to do things that, throughout the ages, the world has never seen, God is going to speak words that, throughout the ages, men have never heard, because He asks that all humanity come to know God in the flesh. from “The Fifth Utterance” and “The Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh ![]() Breaking Through the Fog to See the Light Faith, China I am an ordinary worker. At the end of November, 2013, a coworker saw that my wife and I would always make a lot of noise about little things, that every day we were worried and distressed, so he passed on the work of Almighty God in the last days to us. From the word of Almighty God, we have learned that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God, and that man’s life is bestowed on him by God. We have also understood the truth of the mystery of the six-thousand-year management plan, the mystery of the incarnation, God’s three stages of work in saving mankind, the significance of God’s work of judgment in the last days, and other respects. My wife and I thought that happening upon God incarnate having come to save mankind during our lifetimes was a great blessing. We happily accepted God’s work in the last days, and led a church life. Under the guidance of the word of God, we both pursued the truth and to transform ourselves, and whenever something happened and we started to argue, we wouldn’t just find fault with each other like we used to, but rather we would reflect on ourselves and try to know ourselves. After that, we acted in a way that forsook the flesh in accordance with God’s demands, and our marital relations became better and better, and our hearts became peaceful and steady. We felt that believing in God was truly good. However, while we were joyous and happy to follow God, when we were enjoying the blessed life, we were faced with a violent attack coming from our families…. Just when I was losing my way, it was the word of God that guided me to see through Satan’s scheme, and to break through the fog and enter onto the radiant and correct path for life. When I had just retired in February of 2014, my daughter-in-law got us two elderly folks to travel to Sichuan to babysit our grandson. Unwilling to go to their house, I prayed to God: “Almighty God! My daughter-in-law has asked me to babysit our grandson, but I’m not used to life in that place, and it’s not convenient to believe in God or read the word of God in that place. I hope You will open up a way out for us….” Not long after that, my daughter-in-law called me again to say that she would bring my grandson to us. When I heard this news I was overjoyed, and felt how almighty God is. God heard my prayer and opened up a way out for me. Before too many days had passed, my daughter-in-law and her parents brought over my grandson. As it happened, the day after that I was going to a gathering, and I told them that I believed in Almighty God. After hearing this, my daughter-in-law said unhappily, “Dad, how can you believe in Almighty God? I’m sure you know that the government doesn’t allow people to believe in Almighty God, and in recent years they have been arresting believers in Almighty God. You can’t continue to believe in Him.” I refuted her by saying, “When we believe in God, we don’t participate in politics. We just attend gatherings, read the word of God, pursue the truth, and follow the right path. How can they not let us believe?” My daughter-in-law said, “No matter what you say, and even if believing in God is the right path, as long as the government opposes it, you can’t believe in Him!” I thought to myself, “No matter what you say, it is the true God who I believe in. Even if the CCP government doesn’t allow it, I will still believe.” Later, my daughter-in-law went and found my wife and urged her that we shouldn’t believe in God…. Afterward, my son in faraway Sichuan called me up and said, “Dad, I heard you believe in Almighty God. That’s something the CCP opposes, so you can’t believe in Him anymore.” When I heard my son say this, I felt perturbed in my heart: Believing in God is the law of heaven for me, so why are you all trying to block me from it over and over? It’s so hard to believe in God and follow the correct path! I then prayed silently to God to guard me so I could resist the disturbances of my son and daughter-in-law. After praying, my heart gradually became tranquil. Although my son and daughter-in-law did not understand, I was clear that my faith in God and following the correct path was not mistaken, and that I could not be influenced by them. After three days, my daughter-in-law hurriedly came running home, and I saw that she had two stacks of something printed in her hands. She urged me to look at them quickly, and when I looked I saw that they were filled with rumors and falsehoods of the CCP government vilifying, condemning, and defaming The Church of Almighty God. For a moment I felt some confusion in my heart, and I thought: “It can’t be, I’ve been attending meetings for several months and I’ve never seen any brothers or sisters missing arms or legs! Why does the CCP government want to spread rumors and defamation about The Church of Almighty God? What is really going on here?” In the evening that day, I couldn’t sleep because I kept turning this over in my mind. “Alas! The CCP government is trying to persecute me, and my son and daughter-in-law are also trying so forcefully to block me, so what should I do?” The next day, I went out for a stroll in the neighborhood, and also saw these rumors slandering and condemning Almighty God posted on a bulletin board. I thought: What I believe in is the true God, so why does the CCP government oppose it in this way? It seems that in the atheistic state controlled by the CCP government, believing in God really isn’t an easy thing! … When I thought about this, I felt some weakness in my heart, and I returned home downcast and dejected. Just when I got home, my daughter-in-law said to me again, “Dad, I’m begging you to give up your faith. If the government finds out that you believe in God, I won’t be able to keep my job, and your son who will soon get his doctorate won’t even be able to find a job. Even your little grandson might get caught up in this, and it’s possible that in the future he won’t be able to attend school.” When I heard this, I thought it was a disaster. Believing in God can even involve the future of one’s children! I got more and more scared, and I knew that the CCP government’s ways of disciplining and punishing people are extremely cruel, so cruel that you could say that “they kill people without batting an eye.” I also thought it wouldn’t be easy for me to make my son graduate with his doctorate, and now what will I do if believing in God even gets my son involved? The price I would pay for believing in God and following the right path is too high. Better to just forget about it. Then, my daughter-in-law threatened me, saying, “My dad said that if you continue to believe in God, he will report you to the police. You know that my dad is a party secretary, and has given more than thirty years of his life to them. He hears and obeys whatever the CCP wants. He’s as good as his word, and this isn’t just to try to scare you.” The defenses in my heart then completely collapsed and toppled over, and I felt that it was too hard to believe in God, that the pressure was too much. With my son and daughter-in-law attacking me like this, if they really wanted to report me to the CCP government to be arrested and imprisoned, an old man like me could not bear such a thing. Forget it, it’s better to just give up my belief. After that, I didn’t attend gatherings anymore, and sisters came to my house looking for me several times and I always hid so they couldn’t find me. But during that time when I was not attending gatherings, as long as I thought about how it was God’s immense love that saved me from my suffering and the sweetness and happiness of the brothers and sisters and I singing hymns and praising God together, I missed and yearned for it a lot but still feared my daughter-in-law and others reporting me to the police. I felt so much pain and torture in my heart and I didn’t know what the best course of action was. At that time, a coworker (a brother who believed in God) came to my house to visit me to see why I hadn’t been attending gatherings recently. I explained to him how my daughter-in-law had been harassing me about believing in God. After he heard this, he fellowshiped to me, “When we are beset by these things, it’s actually a spiritual struggle. It’s just like the disaster that Job was faced with, in that on the surface it seemed like it had been caused by thieves robbing him, but actually what was behind it was Satan’s torment of people and fighting over mankind with God. Job revered God and was able to shun evil; in the end he could stand witness for God while Satan was humiliated in defeat. So when we are beset by these things, God’s intention is to get us to distinguish Satan’s essence of evil. When we believe in God, all we need to do is rely on God and seek the truth, and only then will we be able to see through Satan’s scheme and to stand witness! Then we can avoid being captured by Satan. Otherwise, we will lose the opportunity to receive salvation.” After that, my coworker read to me from the word of Almighty God: “God works, God cares for a person, looks upon a person, and Satan dogs His every step. Whoever God favors, Satan also watches, trailing along behind. If God wants this person, Satan would do everything in its power to obstruct God, using various evil ways to tempt, harass and wreck the work God does in order to achieve its hidden objective. What is its objective? It does not want God to have anyone; it wants all those that God wants, to possess them, control them, to take charge of them so they worship it, so they commit evil acts alongside it. Is this not Satan’s sinister motive? Normally, you often say that Satan is so evil, so bad, but have you seen it? You can only see how bad man is and have not seen in reality how bad Satan actually is. But have you seen it in this issue concerning Job? (Yes.) This issue has made Satan’s hideous countenance and its essence very clear. Satan is at war with God, trailing along behind Him. Its objective is to demolish all the work God wants to do, to possess and control those whom God wants, to completely extinguish those whom God wants. If they are not extinguished, then they come to Satan’s possession to be used by it—this is its objective” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You must be awake and waiting at every moment, and you must pray more before Me. You must recognize the various plots and cunning schemes of Satan, know the spirit, know people and be able to discern all kinds of people, matters and things; you must eat and drink more of My words and, more importantly, you must be able to eat and drink them by yourselves. Equip yourselves with all the truth, come before Me so that I may open your spiritual eyes and allow you to see all the mysteries that lie within the spirit…” (“The Seventeenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After he had finished reading from the word of God, my coworker fellowshiped to me about it, saying: “It is an intense spiritual struggle when we are beset with these things. At present, the whole world is under the domain of Satan, the evil one, and Satan continues to corrupt mankind, disturb and disrupt God’s work. It wants to fully take possession of and devour mankind whom God created, and this is Satan’s evil goal. God’s six-thousand-year management plan is for the sake of saving mankind from the dark influence of Satan so that they can be gained by God. Especially in the last days, in expressing His word, God is doing the last stage of work of cleansing and saving mankind, and Satan is afraid that we will accept God’s work, and that we will understand the truth and receive salvation. It is afraid that we will distinguish its evil and reactionary essence, abandon it, and forsake it. Because of this it is in the throes of its final deathbed struggle—battling with God for the chosen people of God and using every contemptible strategy to block us from coming into God’s presence. Schemes like assorted rumors and nonsense fabricated by the CCP government and the suppression and seizures of believers done by the CCP, family members’ disruption and persecution, as well as all the condemnations and slander spread by the religious circle are all implemented in order to prevent us from turning toward God. But God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s scheme, and God is currently using Satan’s disruption to do service for God’s work. Through this He perfects our faith and loyalty. From the outside, it is the CCP government and your family using all kinds of tricks and means to prevent and obstruct us from believing in God, but actually behind the scenes it is a ruse carried out by Satan. As long as we do more to seek the truth and to understand God’s will, have some knowledge of God’s work, are able to discern all of Satan’s tricks and ruses, and are able to stand witness for God, Satan will be humiliated in defeat. As long as we don’t seek to understand the truth and don’t understand the spiritual struggle, when Satan causes disruptions for us we are liable to be led astray and to give rise to doubts about God even to the point of denying God, betraying God, and leaving God behind. This way it will happen that you will fall victim to Satan’s tricks and miss the opportunity to receive salvation. In the end you will be devoured by Satan. So we absolutely must do more to pray and draw near to God, and step up our reading of the word of God and equipping ourselves with the truth. Only in this way can we understand God’s will, see through Satan’s tricks, and stand witness to God.” Through reading the word of God and what my coworker fellowshiped, I suddenly realized: This is actually a spiritual struggle. God expresses the truth in the last days in order to save mankind, but Satan thinks up every conceivable way to use pressure and persecution by the CCP government to prevent me from believing in God and following God. It is afraid that I will accept God’s work in the last days and understand the truth. Thus I will distinguish its evil, hideous, satanic, demonic essence and betray and forsake it, and obtain God’s salvation. Today, I have finally seen Satan’s contemptible malice and understood the painstaking care and thought that God put into saving me. At that time, the emotions I had restrained for so long were finally set free, and I felt so happy as if I was seeing the light of day again. Thank God! Afterward, I will read more of the word of God and equip myself with the truth so as not to be taken advantage of by Satan. Although I understood that my unbelieving families harassing me for believing in God was just one of Satan’s tricks, and that I should not be fooled by Satan, I was still rather worried that if the CCP government found out about my faith it would have an impact on the careers of my son and daughter-in-law. I was even more afraid of the impact it would have on my grandson going to school. So I told my coworker about my concerns and he read me another passage from the word of Almighty God: “God’s authority exists regardless of the circumstances; in all situations, God dictates and arranges every human fate and all things in accordance with His thoughts, His wishes. This will not change because humans change, and it is independent of man’s will, cannot be altered by any changes in time, space, and geography, for God’s authority is His very substance. … At all times God wields His authority, shows His might, continues His management work as always; at all times He rules all things, provides for all things, orchestrates all things, just as He always did. No one can change this. It is fact; it has been the unchanging truth since time immemorial!” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). My coworker went on to fellowship about it: “God is the Creator, and is the sovereign over the heavens, earth, and everything within. He also controls the fate of every person, and whatever kind of work or future each of us has was decided long ago by God. This is something no one can decide or change by himself. Your son and daughter-in-law’s careers and future are all controlled by God. It doesn’t matter if they believe in God or not; their fate is dictated and arranged by God. It is unnecessary for us to be worried about this or that. Job was never worried about it, because it was clear to him that all he had was given to him by God, and whatever was conferred upon him or taken away from him was done by God. So we should only be concerned with praying to God, and entrust the future of our sons and daughters to God’s hands and have faith that God has a suitable plan….” Through these words fellowshiped to me about knowing God’s authority, I came to have faith in God, and was steady and at peace in my heart. I would no longer worry about the future of my son or daughter-in-law. Afterward, through reading the word of God, I made progress in discerning the evil essence of the CCP government’s hostility to God. The word of Almighty God says: “The devil tightly trusses all of man’s body, it puts out both his eyes, and seals his lips firmly shut. The king of devils has rampaged for several thousand years, right up until today, when it still keeps a close watch on the ghost town, as if it were an impenetrable palace of demons; this pack of watchdogs, meanwhile, stare with glaring eyes, deeply fearful that God will catch them unawares and wipe them all out, leaving them without a place of peace and happiness. How could the people of a ghost town such as this have ever seen God?” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life also says: “In the heart of the great red dragon, it thinks God has come to take away from it all the people who belong to it, and He is making an enemy of it. This great red dragon is a peremptory and unreasonable thing! Mankind is created by God, and God has the authority to save mankind. Originally, mankind belongs to God, and it is the great red dragon which has usurped the chosen people of God, corrupting and trampling on them at will, eventually devouring them all. However, when God comes to save mankind it antagonizes Him. We can see from this that the great red dragon’s essential nature is in opposition to heaven, reactionary, unreasonable, and absurd in the extreme. It is a wild beast and a demon” (“The True Significance of Forsaking the Great Red Dragon to Receiving Salvation” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (III)). Now, I understand that in this atheistic country the authority of the CCP is the authority of Satan. It does not permit God to come to this land and do the work of saving people, nor does it allow people to break free of its dark influence and be obtained by God, to be led by God into a beautiful destination. So it does all it can to resist and condemn the work of Almighty God, frantically disturbing and obstructing us from following Almighty God. If we do not have the truth, don’t know the schemes of the CCP, and don’t see into its evil and reactionary essence, it will be easy to be led astray by all the kinds of lies it disseminates, or to be frightened into submission by its repression and persecution. We won’t dare to come into the presence of God, and this means it has achieved its base purpose of devouring people and destroying God’s work of saving people. But there is no one who can penetrate God’s wisdom. God perfectly makes use of the persecution by the CCP to do service for perfecting the chosen people of God, to allow people to understand the truth, and to completely understand that the CCP government is a satanic demon which is full of enmity for the truth and takes God as its enemy, so they can completely forsake it and turn fully toward God. I give thanks to God for using His words to lead me and enlighten and illuminate me, which allowed me to distinguish the devilish essence of the CCP’s resistance to God and to no longer be restrained by its threats. I am also grateful that God caused my coworker to come and fellowship about the truth with me in a time when I was negative and weak, and when I had fallen down and lost my way. God saved me from being tempted by Satan, and made me break through Satan’s net and return to the presence of God and have an opportunity to receive salvation. I have resolved that no matter how many difficulties there are on the road ahead, I will follow Almighty God all the way to the end of the road! ![]() The Light Is Warm When Passing Through the Tunnel Wang Yuping, China Just like all the other brothers and sisters who thirst for the return of the Lord Jesus, I too continuously long for our Lord eagerly to return to receive us into the kingdom of heaven soon so that we can enjoy its blessings. One day in November of 2006 I finally heard the news of the Lord’s return. Through reading the words expressed by Almighty God and through the fellowshiping about and bearing witness to God’s work in the last days from my brothers and sisters, I finally recognized that Almighty God incarnate is the returned Lord Jesus. Thereupon, I willingly accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days. In a meeting, Sister Yang told me in a very serious tone: “Right now there are many brothers and sisters who, after accepting God’s work in the last days, come across some of Satan’s disturbances and temptations. Some are deceived by the lies of the CCP, some meet with the disturbances and threats of pastors and elders, some are coerced or obstructed by their families, and family members of some suffer ailments or calamities. These are tricks by Satan trying to obstruct us from returning to God. We all already understand that the work of Almighty God’s judgment starts from God’s house, and this is God’s final stage of work in saving mankind. He is doing everything He can to save man, and Satan is constantly practicing its tricks and disturbances on us in order to obstruct us from coming before God and receiving His salvation. Right now the fight that is being waged in the spiritual world is becoming more and more intense, so we urgently need to be equipped with the truth and master discernment in order to not be deceived whenever Satan’s tricks befall us and to stand witness to God. Now, let’s read a passage from the word of Almighty God.” So, I took the book of God’s word and carefully read the following passage: “As God works, Satan harasses. In the last days, it will finish its harassment; likewise, God’s work will be finished, and the kind of person God wishes to complete will be completed. God directs people positively; His life is living water, immeasurable and without limits. Satan has corrupted man to a certain degree; in the end, the living water of life will complete man, and it will be impossible for Satan to interfere and carry out its work. Thus, God will completely obtain these people. Satan still refuses to accept this now; it continuously pits itself against God, but God pays it no attention. He has said, I will be victorious over all of Satan’s dark forces and over all dark influences. … God is wiser than it, and His work far exceeds it. Therefore, I previously stated the following: The work that I do is carried out in response to Satan’s ruses. In the end I will reveal My almightiness and Satan’s powerlessness. When God does His work, Satan tails Him from behind, until in the end it is finally destroyed—it will not even know what hit it! It will only realize the truth once it has already been smashed and crushed; at that time it will already have been burned in the lake of fire. Will it not be completely convinced then? For it has no more schemes to employ!” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Yang gently said to me: “Through the word of God we can see that in God’s management work Satan is following closely behind each step of God’s work. God is in front carrying out the work of saving man, and Satan is in the back, disturbing and destroying it. It is constantly vying for man with God, and this is especially true during God’s final stage of work in completely saving man. At this time Satan is even more so doing everything in its power, exploiting all kinds of people and things to disturb us and obstruct us from accepting and obeying the work of God. It is Satan’s despicable goal to distance man from God and make man deny God and betray God, thereby losing God’s salvation. But God’s wisdom is carried out in response to Satan’s trickery. He uses Satan’s disturbance to bring us to an understanding of His work and His wisdom and almightiness, and also to allow us to see clearly Satan’s wickedness and ugliness. So, no matter what happens in the future, we all must pray to God and rely on God and seek the truth, and we must see through Satan’s trickery so that we can stand witness to God. It’s just like the trials that Job went through. He stood witness to God, causing Satan to retreat in humiliation….” After hearing Sister Yang tell me this, I responded with complete faith: “Yes, we believe in the true God. If we depend upon God then we have nothing to fear; if I come across Satan’s temptation, I will certainly stand on the side of God.” One day not long after this when I was finished spreading the gospel I was back at my front door when my neighbor came rushing over to me waving her hands, saying: “Where have you been? Something big has happened! Earlier, your son’s friend Liu went to borrow your truck, but the truck wouldn’t start very easily. So he got the tractor to pull it along, but after trying several times it still wouldn’t move. It just so happened that Hu was there too, and he got up into the tractor and put it straight away into fifth gear. The tractor sped off and the metal cable that was pulling the truck suddenly snapped, and whoosh! The cable snapped back and hit Hu on the temple, and immediately blood started pouring out. He’s already been rushed to the hospital….” My mind suddenly went blank, and I rushed into my home to pray to God: “Oh God! I do not understand Your will. Why has this suddenly happened to me? Please enlighten me….” After praying to God I thought about the scriptures from the Bible: “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). When thinking about these words I also suddenly recalled Sister Yang’s fellowship about the truth on the spiritual fight. Then I understood. These things were just Satan tempting me and disturbing me. Satan just wanted to use these unfavorable things to attack me so that I would doubt God, blame God and deny God. This truly is a spiritual fight! It was at this time that I thought about another thing that God has said: “You are able to stand on the side of God when He does battle with Satan, and you do not turn back to Satan, then you will have achieved the love of God, and you will have stood firm in your testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words of God filled me with faith, and I thought to myself: “Satan, no matter how you disturb me I will not fall for your tricks, I will not blame God or doubt God, I will stand on the side of God, I will properly follow Almighty God.” Once I understood the will of God I felt much steadier in my heart. But Satan was unwilling to admit defeat, and it still constantly disturbs me through people and things. While Hu was hospitalized his family put all responsibility over my family. They wanted me to pay for all of the medical expenses. I kept trying to negotiate with them, telling them that I was willing to pay half, but all along they would not agree with me. After three weeks Hu was already healed, but he still wasn’t discharged from the hospital. This was done deliberately in order to extort the money from my family. Then one day Hu said: “The truck is yours, so all the expenses should be paid by you.” Hu’s wife also stood up and yelled out: “That’s right! Since it’s your truck that was involved in the accident then you should pay all the expenses….” As I stood there with them pestering me endlessly I started growing very angry. I had involuntarily gotten caught up in this matter. I felt a particular pain, I was distraught with anxiety, and I didn’t want to talk to them anymore, so I unhappily walked out of the room. When I got downstairs I thought to myself: I’m a believer in God; when things like this happen to me I should not get angry in this way, I should entrust this matter to the hands of God. I need to rely on God. When I returned home I opened up the book of God’s word and saw the following words of God: “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. … You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). As I read these words I thought back to that day when I boasted in front of Sister Yang that I would certainly stand by the side of God whenever trials befall me. I hadn’t imagined that when Satan persistently pestered me, I couldn’t calmly seek God’s will in His presence, my mind was always preoccupied. For this, I felt extremely miserable in my heart. Hadn’t I fallen for Satan’s tricks? It wasn’t until I was finished thinking about these things that I could finally see how truly sinister and evil Satan is. It had used this affair to disturb me, to make me angry for losing some of my fleshly interests, and even more so it wanted to use these things to make me deny Almighty God and betray Almighty God. But I will not fall for Satan’s tricks, I am willing to depend on God, and to deliver these things into the hands of God. Whether or not Hu would leave the hospital, how much money I would have to spend in the end, I accepted that these things would be orchestrated by the hand of God, and regardless of the outcome, I would be willing to obey. Once I had come to understand God’s will, once I was willing to stand witness to God, I unexpectedly witnessed one of God’s wondrous deeds the following day. God had aroused a young man to go to Hu’s hospital room and reprimand him: “I cannot bear to look at someone like you, someone who bullies good people, and someone who extorts someone else for their money. If it were me I wouldn’t give you a single cent.” Other people in the room also chimed in: “That’s right, he was the one that got into the truck, and now he wants this person’s money, how unreasonable!” “Right! Whoever borrowed the truck should also pay some of the money! They can’t have the owner of the truck pay for everything!” After Hu heard this he lowered his head and didn’t say a word. Three days later Hu was discharged from the hospital. I knew deep in my heart that behind these events taking place it was God who had opened up this way out for me. After experiencing this, I could see the wickedness and despicableness of Satan. It had used people and things that I knew to disturb me and attack me in an attempt to make me complain to God and blame Him and distance myself from Him due to the fact that I was going to lose some money, and it wanted me to live in suffering. At the same time, I could also see that when I stopped considering my physical gains and losses, when I relied on God through my faith in Him, when I stood on the side of God, then God used the words of nonbelievers to open up a way out for me, forcing Satan to retreat in humiliation. This granted me the chance to see God’s authority that mobilizes and rules over all things. It’s just as it is written in the word of God: “I will mobilize all to serve Me, and moreover, I will reveal My power, so that every man can see that in the whole universe world not a single object is not in our hands, not a single person is not in our service, and not a single accomplishment is not performed for us” (“The One Hundred and Nineteenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The more I read the word of God the more I see that God is almighty, that God is wonderful. I see now that all things are in the hands of God, and I now have more faith in God. I am willing now to experience more of the work of God in whatever happens next, and I will rely upon God in order to no longer fall for Satan’s temptations. A month later Satan’s temptation befell me again. One day, my daughter who had just recently gotten married came back home where she suddenly fainted at the front door. My neighbor picked her up and helped her into the house. I thought at first that it was just a common cold, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I certainly wasn’t expecting that halfway through the night she would suddenly start trembling from head to toe. I was scared and had no idea what to do. I just quickly grabbed her and held her to my chest, and after a little while she seemed a little better. The next morning my daughter said to me: “Mom, go perform your duties, I’ll be okay.” I silently prayed to God: “Dear God! All things are in Your hands, so I entrust my daughter to You….” After this I turned to my daughter and said: “Jing, you need to pray to God more and rely on God, for He is the strong support that we need.” After urging my daughter about this I went to go perform my duties. I didn’t expect that two days later when I returned I would find my daughter in a hospital bed unconscious. My daughter-in-law turned to me and said in a sad voice: “Mom, after you left, Jing’s illness started getting really serious. When the doctor examined her, he said she had a cerebral hemorrhage and that she needed a craniotomy surgery. But since you and her husband have not been here the past two days, there was no one to sign off for her, and now we’ve missed the time for surgery. I also heard the doctor tell Jing’s mother-in-law that her condition was not good and that even if she did wake back up she would be in a vegetative state.” When I heard this it felt like a knife had been twisted into my heart, and tears started falling out of my eyes. I just couldn’t accept this as the truth. So I held on to a bit of hope and went to talk to a specialist, but he shook his head as he said to me: “We’ve used all the medicine that we could, we’ve tried as hard as we can, the best possible result is that she wakes up in a vegetative state.” After hearing this doctor’s words I felt that even heaven had come crashing down. It felt like I lived in endless suffering…. Later on, when my son-in-law saw what state my daughter was in, he not only wasn’t concerned about whether she would live or die, but he even turned to me and showed a total lack of humanity asking me to return the betrothal money that he had given us at the time of the wedding. On that day the road to home from the hospital felt so long, I was a lost soul wandering down that road. It felt like I was walking down a long, dark tunnel where I could not see any light in front of me. When I returned home I was feeling dispirited and feebly opened the book of the word of God and read the following words: “On earth, all manner of evil spirits are endlessly on the prowl for a place to rest, are ceaselessly searching for the corpses of men to eat up. My people! You must remain inside My care and protection. Never behave dissolutely! Never behave recklessly! Rather, offer up your loyalty in My house, and only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning” (“The Tenth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When you face sufferings you must be able to not consider the flesh and not complain against God. When God hides Himself from you, you must be able to have the faith to follow Him, to maintain your previous love without allowing it to falter or disappear. No matter what God does, you must submit to His design, and be more willing to curse your own flesh than to complain against Him. When you are faced with trials you must satisfy God in spite of any reluctance to part with something you love, or bitter weeping. Only this can be called true love and faith” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). As I read these words of God I thought back to the events that had just taken place, and I truly could see the contempt, maliciousness and savageness of Satan. It wanted to take me away from God’s hands, it wanted to devour my spirit. It was practicing its cunning schemes against me everywhere that it could in order to disturb me and attack me. First, I was extorted by others, and since I lost money I lived in suffering; this time Satan used my beloved daughter to again test me, it tried to use my daughter’s illness to make me complain to God, deny God and betray God, so that I would lose God’s salvation in the last days. These were all the cunning schemes of Satan. It was just like the trials that Job faced in his time. In the background was a fight, and Satan wanted to make Job abandon God and deny God by making him lose his wealth and his children, but Job never complained to God. Instead, he praised God’s name, causing Satan to retreat in humiliation and giving beautiful and resounding testimony to God. Although my flesh is weak I must see through Satan’s cunning schemes and stand by God’s side. God says: “And only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning.” “You must satisfy God in spite of any reluctance to part with something you love, or bitter weeping. Only this can be called true love and faith.” God is using Satan’s attacks to perfect my faith and my devotion in God. Man’s life and death are both in God’s hands, so I should deliver my daughter into His hands. As I thought about this, I knelt to the ground as bitter tears ran down my face, and I prayed to God: “Almighty God! The fate of man lies in Your hands. But if You do not allow this then my daughter will not die so long as a single breath is in her body, and if it is like what the doctor said that she will become a vegetable, then I will not blame You, I will still follow You.” Very late at night I was sitting at the head of my daughter’s hospital bed until I was not sure when I dozed off. I woke up in a daze hearing my daughter say, “Mom, mom, I need water.” My heart skipped upon hearing my daughter’s voice, and I jumped to my feet. I rubbed my eyes and stared at her. My daughter’s hands were moving and her eyes were open. This immediately flooded me with emotions to the point that I didn’t know what to say, and all I could do was to continue blurting out: “Oh! God! Oh! God! …” Another person in the ward also said in amazement: “Oh! It’s a miracle! How has she gotten better all of a sudden?” I flashed an uncontrollable smile. I saw that man’s life and death truly are both in God’s hands. God’s deeds truly are wonderful. It was God who saved my daughter. Three days later, my daughter miraculously recovered her health, and she seemed just like a normal person again. After experiencing this suffering by the hands of Satan I was able to see that the fight being waged in the spiritual world was an intense one, and I could see clearly the sinister meanness and wicked cruelty of Satan. At the same time I had a much better understanding of the will of God. God had allowed for these trials to befall me so that He could better rescue me and perfect me, for this allowed me to recognize the almightiness and wisdom of God, and it also allowed me to see God’s authority and dominion. This perfected my faith, devotion and obedience toward God. He rescued me from the influence of Satan, allowing my life to grow. God truly is so lovable! Later on I read the following passage from the word of God: “My entire management plan, a plan that spans six thousand years, consists of three stages, or three ages: the Age of Law in the beginning; the Age of Grace (which is also the Age of Redemption); and the Age of Kingdom in the last days. My work in these three ages differs in content according to the nature of each age, but at each stage it accords with man’s needs—or, to be more precise, it is done according to the tricks that Satan employs in the war that I wage against it. The purpose of My work is to defeat Satan, to make manifest My wisdom and omnipotence, to expose all of Satan’s tricks, and thereby to save the entire human race, which lives under its domain. It is to show My wisdom and omnipotence while at the same time revealing the unbearable hideousness of Satan. Even more, it is to teach My creations to discriminate between good and evil, to know that I am the Ruler of all things, to see clearly that Satan is humanity’s foe, the lowest of the low, the evil one, and to tell, with absolute certainty, the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood, holiness and filth, and what is great and what is ignoble. This way, ignorant humanity will become able to bear witness to Me that it is not I who corrupt humanity, and only I—the Lord of creation—can save humanity, can bestow upon man things for their enjoyment; and they will come to know that I am the Ruler of all things and Satan is merely one of the beings that I created and that later turned against Me” (“The True Story Behind Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through these words of God I came to a better understanding of God’s will. I could see that everything that God does is salvation and love toward man. As I thought back to all the trials that I went through, even though I did endure some hardships, I also obtained many things. Through these experiences I saw that Satan continuously used the people and things at my side to disturb me, but all along I had God by my side. He used His words to enlighten me and guide me, so that I could better differentiate things. He gave me a road to follow, gave me faith and strength, so that I could be firm in times of passivity and weakness. Every step of the way I was able to break away from the dark influence of Satan and witness God’s wondrous deeds. In my life I grew tougher through these experiences. After I went through these experiences I felt that I need not fear these disturbances and afflictions from Satan any longer, because I have God at my side. So long as we depend on God and do not leave the word of God, so long as we have faith in God, then God will guide us to victory over Satan’s cunning schemes and attacks, and we will live protected under God’s watchful eye. Now I am of even firmer conviction that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. He is my Lord, my God! I also recognize that we are creatures, regardless of whether we receive blessings or endure hardships, we should always obey God and worship God. I stand here with my resolution firm: My heart is set on following Almighty God to the end of the road! ![]() The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit (Part 2) Yuan Zhi, Brazil One day, while I was browsing through Facebook, I read an article about someone’s experience and testimony titled “I Have Found Salvation in the Last Days on Facebook.” After I opened it, I read that this sister had similar experiences to me. When she first started contacting The Church of Almighty God, she encountered rumors about it that her friends sent to her. She was very disturbed. I wanted to understand what the conclusion was, so I continued reading impatiently. I read that this sister prayed to the Lord and asked the Lord to guide her. After she finished praying, she felt that she could not selectively listen and believe. She had to realistically investigate The Church of Almighty God in order to differentiate whether it was true or false. If she blindly listened to the rumors and refused to investigate the second coming of the Lord, it would not be very rational. She had to find out the truthabout the Lord’s return. When I read this, I felt that it was correct. The return of the Lord is an important thing and one must treat it prudently. I cannot simply follow the herd and blindly reject and resist it. I continued reading the article and saw that the circumstances regarding The Church of Almighty God that this sister came to understand was completely different from what her online friends were telling her. Additionally, she personally received as visitors some sisters from The Church of Almighty God. They fellowshiped with her about Almighty God’s words and they also helped and cared for her. The true experiences of this sister told me that I could no longer continue to be deceived by these rumors, nor could I believe gossip and reject investigating the work of Almighty God in the last days. Otherwise, it is possible that I would lose God’s grace of the last days. I must connect with The Church of Almighty God again for further investigation! At night, while I was tossing and turning restlessly in bed, I thought, “I must find Sister Yang, whom I have blacklisted. If I can find her, I would definitely be able to find Brother Zhang from The Church of Almighty God.” I recalled that Sister Yang is someone who truly believes in God. All along, she has investigated the work of Almighty God in the last days. Right now, she should have already understood a lot. I want to know how her investigation is coming along. Through the help of some friends, two days later, with difficulty, I found Sister Yang’s Facebook account. I was glad that she was not angry at me for blocking her. After I contacted her, she told me that she had already investigated things quite clearly. Almighty God is the return of Jesus. She also happily connected me with Brother Zhang. Through the Internet, I contacted Brother Zhang and Sister Yang. I said, “After this period of experience, I can see that the Lord is guiding me. I am also willing to seek and investigate the work of Almighty God of the last days. However, I have many questions to ask you two. The thing I do not understand the most is that Jesus incarnated as a man to do His work. However, today, why can Jesus incarnate as a woman to do the work? This is a mystery. Brother Zhang, can you explain this to me?” In response to my question, Brother Zhang replied, “Yes. Within God’s incarnation, there is a mystery. The meaning of His incarnation is great and it is deep. It is also something that we cannot fathom. Therefore, we must have a heart of reverence in regard to the return of the Lord. Even if God’s work is not in accordance with our notions at all, we must watch our tongues. We must not judge it without thinking the matter through. Seriously speaking, arbitrarily judging God’s work is blaspheming against God. The sin of blaspheming God cannot be pardoned in this life or the next. Almighty God of the last days has come and opened up all the mysteries. This is exactly fulfilling Jesus’ prophecies: ‘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). If we read the words of Almighty God together, we will be able to understand this aspect of the truth. Almighty God said: ‘Back then, when Jesus came, He was male, but this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for the sake of His work, and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit comes, He can take on any kind of flesh at will and that flesh can represent Him. Whether male or female, it can represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus had appeared as a female when He came, in other words, if an infant girl, and not a boy, had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If such had been the case, then the present stage of work would have to be completed by a male instead, but the work would be completed all the same. The work done in either stage is equally significant; neither stage of work is repeated nor conflicts with the other. At the time, Jesus in doing His work was called the only Son, and “Son” implies the male gender. Then why is the only Son not mentioned in this stage? This is because the requirements of the work have necessitated a change in gender different from that of Jesus. With God there is no distinction of gender. He does His work as He wishes and in doing His work He is not subject to any restrictions, but is especially free. However, every stage of work has its own practical significance. … In the beginning, when Jehovah created mankind, He made two kinds of human being, both male and female; and so His incarnate flesh was also differentiated into either male or female. He did not decide upon His work on the basis of the words He spoke to Adam and Eve. The two times He became flesh were determined entirely according to His thinking at the time He first created mankind, that is, He completed the work of His two incarnations based on the male and the female before they had been corrupted’ (‘The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘In gender, one is male and the other female; in this the meaning of God’s incarnation has been completed. It dispels man’s misconceptions of God: God can become both male and female, and the incarnate God is in essence genderless. God made both man and woman, and He does not differentiate between the genders’” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After we finished reading God’s words, Brother Zhang said, “Whatever God does has meaning. God absolutely does not get involved with matters that do not have meaning or value. The Bible says: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them’ (Gen 1:27). From this we can see, in the beginning, He created man and woman in His image. The reason He chose to embody different genders the two times He was incarnated is to make whole the meaning of His creation of man and woman. At the same time, by doing so, He dispels man’s fallacious belief that God can only incarnate as a man and that He cannot incarnate as a woman. This allows man to acknowledge that not only could God’s incarnation embody the identity of a man, but it could also embody the identity of a woman. This allows man to see that God is indeed almighty, that man is unable to fathom it and he should not arbitrarily judge or define God. Additionally, God’s essence is spirit. Spirits are not differentiated into sexes. Sex only applies to created mankind. In order to save and redeem mankind, God incarnated Himself twice. Therefore, the sex of God’s incarnation is only dependent on the period of time in which He does His work. Once the incarnated God’s work on earth concludes, God will return to the spiritual world. At that time, He will no longer be differentiated by sex. Therefore, if we confine God to a certain sex, it is a great blasphemy against God! …” After listening to the words of Almighty God and Brother Zhang’s fellowship, I had a sudden flash of insight. Finally, I understood the reason why God took on a different sex the two times that He was incarnated. As it turns out, this embodies the will that God had when He first created man and it also embodies God’s kind intentions. If God embodied a man the two times He was incarnated to do work, we would have believed that God is eternally a man and we would fallaciously believe that the male sex is greater and has higher status than the female sex. God incarnate of the last days working as a woman embodies God’s impartiality and righteousness and it lets me see that God’s incarnation this time working as a woman is very meaningful! Otherwise, I would never know God and my notions and definition about God would never have been eliminated. Furthermore, due to my defining God, I would have offended God’s disposition. The first time that God was incarnated, He embodied the identity of a man. In the last days, God’s incarnation embodied the identity of a woman. From these two times of God’s incarnation, it can be seen that these two instances indeed make whole the meaning of God’s incarnation. It allows me to have a more accurate and a more genuine understanding of God. Thank God! God’s work is truly wise! After Sister Yang and Brother Zhang listened to my understanding and knowledge of God’s words, they were happy that I was able to understand God’s will and that I had eliminated my notions and misunderstandings about God. They were so moved by the salvation work that God had done upon me that they cried. Afterward, we had fellowship three more times. Thanks to God’s guidance, I understood more and more of the truth, I learned about the mystery of God’s incarnation and I learned about the mystery of God’s three stages of work. I learned of the differences between God’s work and man’s work, the differences between the Holy Spirit’s work and Satan’s work and other such aspects of the truth. I could truly feel that Almighty God is the return of Jesus and that He is the truth, the way and the life. On Saturday night, Sister Yang sent me a new MV called Love the Practical God With All Our Heart, “God’s will has been revealed—to perfect the true lovers of God. Lively and innocent people all offer up praises to God, and dance beautiful dances around the true God together. People are called back by God’s voice from different places. Words of life are bestowed upon us. We are purified by the judgment of God’s words. …” After I listened to this song, I was very encouraged, and I cried tears full of emotion. I called Sister Yang’s telephone, but I was so emotional that I could not speak. All I could do was repeatedly say one sentence: “Thank God! Thank you….” After my emotions subsided, that night, I had a very heartfelt conversation with my brother and sister. I was thankful that Almighty God did not give up on my salvation all this time and that He did not treat me based on my resistance and contradiction. Instead, He was with me all this time. He used gospel movies or videos and my brothers’ and sisters’ experience articles to guide and move me bit by bit, and brought me back to His family and before Him. From the bottom of my heart, I told my brother and sister: “I have already experienced God’s love. I also understand the truth of God’s incarnation. I no longer believe hearsay and rumors. I completely accept Almighty God as my Savior and as my God. Since I have already determined that Almighty God is the return of Jesus, He is a God that has provided me with a lot of grace and He is the Redeemer of mankind.” I recalled the past when I listened to rumors, was full of conflict in regard to the work of God in the last days and said some words of judgment against God. I was so rebellious! My heart felt very indebted to God and I was remorseful and grieved. However, Sister Yang told me: “During circumstances when someone does not know God, it is very easy for them to be deceived by lies. As long as we truly repent, God will not remember. God’s word says, ‘God did not come this time to strike people down, but rather to save people to the greatest extent possible. Who is entirely free from errors? If everyone is struck down, then how could it be called salvation? Some transgressions are done on purpose and other transgressions are done involuntarily. With involuntary matters, you can change after you recognize them, so would God strike you down before you change? Is this how God saves people? It is not like that! Regardless of whether you transgress involuntarily or out of a rebellious nature, just remember: Hurry and wake up to reality. Press onward; no matter what situation arises, you must press onward. God is working to save people and He will not randomly strike the people He wants to save’” (“God’s Will Is to Save People to the Greatest Extent Possible” in Records of Christ’s Talks). God’s words have given me great comfort and they have allowed me to see that God is full of mercy and forgiveness. God’s love is great! Within my heart, I cannot help but be grateful to God. Afterward, I got into contact with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. I could see that The Church of Almighty God was not at all what the rumors purported it to be. In fact, it was completely opposite. This was the place where we can pursue the truth and know God. When we had gatherings in The Church of Almighty God, nobody talked about a life of pleasure. Nobody talked about cars, money or houses. Nobody talked about the dirty and filthy evil in the world. Everybody read Almighty God’s word together and we communicated our experience and knowledge of God’s words. We practiced adhering to Almighty God’s words. I can see that God’s word, the truth, and Christ are completely in power within The Church of Almighty God. This place is filled with equality and righteousness. It is like I had a taste in advance of a beautiful life in a new heaven and earth! At this time, when I recall those rumors, I realize that they simply trap and harm people. Due to those rumors, I almost lost God’s salvation of the last days. Thankfully, Almighty God saved me and helped me have an understanding of God’s work. My spirit was awakened, I broke through the net of Satan’s rumors and I came before the throne of God. I am thankful to God for saving me. All the glory be to Almighty God! source: The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit (Part 2) in Spiritual Battles ![]() The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit (Part 1) Yuan Zhi, Brazil I was born in a small city in Northern China. In 2010, I followed my relatives to Brazil. In Brazil, I got acquainted with a Christian friend. He brought me to church to listen to sermons. But though I went three times, I never absorbed it. Afterward, because my job was keeping me busy, I didn’t go to church again until one day in June, 2015, when my friend brought me to church once more. This time, through what brothers and sisters shared, I had some understanding that the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer. Especially, when I first read Genesis, I understood that man was actually created by God and that God had created all things, and I felt that the Creator is truly wondrous. In school, the textbooks had taught me that man evolved from apes and monkeys and all the things in the world were formed naturally. Suddenly, I felt that, for more than twenty years, I had been deceived. Only after reading the Bible did I completely awaken. From that point on, I believed in the Lord Jesus. At the end of 2015, I went back to China and after 5 months, I returned to Brazil. This time, I decided to find a steady job and settle down properly. But things sometimes turned out contrary to one’s wishes. Both my work and my personal life did not go smoothly. This made me feel very agitated and anxious. One night, I phoned that Christian friend to complain. He told me, “Quiet yourself and pray to God. See how the Lord has arranged everything for you.” So, I quieted my heart and prayed to the Lord, “Lord Jesus! Presently, I am encountering difficulties at work. I do not know what to do. Lord, I hope I can receive Your help.” I didn’t expect that four days later, my boss would call me and ask me to come back to work. I was ecstatic and thankful that the Lord Jesus heard my prayers. Afterward, I received more of the Lord’s grace. In order to repay the Lord’s love, I attended gatherings every week. I went and participated even if I had to take leave from work. Starting in June, 2016, not only did I attend gatherings at the church, I also shared the Bible with friends on Facebook, or I would browse Facebook so that I could have more understanding of the Lord. I added many good friends. When they had time, they would share the Bible with me. This was extremely rewarding for me. One day, when I was browsing Facebook, I saw a video, in which the words “God Descends With Judgment” immediately attracted me. I curiously clicked the video to watch it. I did not expect that the video would have been shot so well. Simply put, it was spectacular! I was attracted by the sonorous and powerful voices, the lyrics that tugged at the heartstrings, and the enthusiasm of everyone in the performance. When I focused my attention, I saw that the video was from The Church of Almighty God. I thought: Everybody plunges into the performance in this video. It is as if they are singing for God to hear. The Church of Almighty God is not bad at all! This is the first time that I have heard of this church. If I have an opportunity, I ought to get in touch with this church. One day, I sent a link for that video through Facebook to Sister Yang, with whom I frequently communicated about the Bible. After she saw it, she also felt that the video was very good and she said that she also wanted to better understand The Church of Almighty God. She felt that this church was indeed very special and that it was filled with the Holy Spirit’s work. As a result, I shared this video on my Facebook page. I did not expect that, after seeing the video, one of my good friends told me that The Church of Almighty God was not good. He also sent me a lot of negative propaganda about the church. I was surprised when I saw these words that blasphemed Almighty God and condemned The Church of Almighty God. I thought: This church is pretty decent. How come there are these criticisms? When I opened that video again, I suddenly thought back to what my pastor had once spoken about. In the last days, false Christs will appear. If I deviate from the Lord Jesus’ path, wouldn’t it be over? This problem cannot be ignored. So I better stop watching it now. Immediately, I told Sister Yang about the situation. Sister Yang said, “We cannot simply rely on one side of the story to determine whether it is real or false. This is not in accordance with the Lord’s teachings. As believers in the Lord, we are all looking forward to His return. Right now, there are some people who are saying that the Lord has already returned. We must investigate this. We must not just follow the herd and blindly judge and condemn it. Let’s find some people from The Church of Almighty God and investigate it. If they’re the real deal, it’d be hard for them to fake it. If they’re just faking, it’d be hard for them to pretend to be real.” I thought: What Sister Yang says is correct. This is indeed the first time that I have heard the good news that the Lord has returned. I also do not know whether the words on the Internet that condemn The Church of Almighty God are true or false. I can see that the videos and movies shot by The Church of Almighty God are pretty good. I should go and understand them. This is a rational way to treat the return of the Lord. In this way, I agreed to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days together with Sister Yang. With the contact details provided at the end of the video, Sister Yang contacted Brother Zhang of The Church of Almighty God in the US. After we were online, Sister Yang and I mentioned the same question: “We both know that the Lord will return in the last days, however the Lord Jesus said: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). Brother Zhang, what do you think of this issue of false Christs emerging in the last days to deceive people?” Brother Zhang said: “The Lord Jesus said these things to warn us. When He returns during the last days, false Christs will also emerge. The Lord’s intentions are that we learn how to differentiate and not be deceived by false Christs. However, the Lord’s intentions of saying this are not that we blindly ignore someone who says that the Lord has returned and even judge and condemn them. This is a misunderstanding of the Lord Jesus’ words. The Lord Jesus spoke very clearly about what false Christs are: ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ The traits of false Christs are that they will imitate the Lord Jesus to show signs, perform miracles, heal diseases and cast out demons. These are the areas where false Christs are most cunning and evil, and they are also the main traits of false Christs. In regard to the manifestations and traits of false Christs, Almighty God’s words are even more specific and incisive. Almighty God said: ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things’ (‘Knowing God’s Work Today’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We all know that all that is false can only follow and imitate what is true. False Christs are no exception. False Christs are evil spirits. They do not have the essence of Christ. They are unable to do the work of Christ, they are unable to express the truth, and they are unable to express God’s disposition and all that God has and is. They cannot bring man the truth, the way, and the life. Therefore, false Christs can only imitate the work that the Lord Jesus has done. All they can do is perform some signs and wonders to deceive stupid and ignorant people. They are exactly like some people who have been possessed by evil spirits. They falsely declare that they are the returned Lord Jesus, and imitate the Lord Jesus in doing things such as healing diseases and casting out demons, performing miracles, and preaching the way of repentance and forgiveness. Without a doubt, they are false Christs that deceive people. God’s work is always new and never old. His work is always developing in a forward direction. He will never repeat work that He has performed before. This is similar to when the Lord Jesus came to do work and concluded the Age of Law and began the Age of Grace. He did not repeat the work that Jehovah God did in issuing laws and guiding the lives of people. Instead, He did His work of redemption upon the foundation of work that was performed during the Age of Law. The Lord Jesus brought the way of repentance and forgiveness to mankind. All we had to do was come before Him, confess, and repent. As a result, the Lord would pardon our sins and forget our transgressions. After this, we would be entitled to enjoy the abundant grace and blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon man. All of this work was new. No evil spirits or Satan could have performed it. Likewise, the returned Lord Jesus in the last days—Almighty God concluded the Age of Grace and began the Age of Kingdom. Almighty God did not repeat the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. He does not cast out demons, heal diseases, nor perform miracles for people. Instead, upon the foundation of the redemptive work, He expresses the truth and performs a stage of work of judging and cleansing man. He completely rescues mankind from the domain of Satan and brings them into God’s kingdom. This work from God is all completely new and has never been performed before. It cannot be performed by any false Christ whatsoever. As long as we know that God’s work is always new and never old and we understand the principles of differentiating false Christs, we will naturally differentiate between the appearance and work of God and the deception of false Christs.” I understood a lot from Brother Zhang’s communication. He was very clear in his fellowship. False Christs can only repeat and imitate some work that God has done in the past. However, they cannot do any new work nor can they bring man to new path. At this point, I understood the true meaning behind the Lord Jesus’ words: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Sister Yang also said that she gained a lot from this exchange. As a result, we made an appointment with Brother Zhang for the next evening so we could continue listening to his fellowship. I felt that Brother Zhang from The Church of Almighty God spoke very well and that what he said was very beneficial to me. However, when I thought of the rumors on the Internet, I was still a little apprehensive. When I went back to my church, I asked one of the older brothers whether he knew of The Church of Almighty God. He told me that the pastor had said that this church should not be contacted. He also related some words of judgment, attack, and condemnation from pastors directed against Almighty God. After listening to this, I felt a little shaken. I immediately told Sister Yang about this negative propaganda, so that she could also stop contacting The Church of Almighty God. However, Sister Yang seemed determined to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days. She said to me, “Wherever the footprints of the Lamb lead me, I will follow. Through this period of reading the words of Almighty God online and watching all sorts of videos and gospel movies of The Church of Almighty God, I have understood a lot of truth. Many of the difficulties and perplexities that I had encountered in the past have been resolved. I feel that Almighty God’s words are the truth. Regardless of how others condemn The Church of Almighty God, I will investigate this clearly….” I was unable to persuade Sister Yang and as a result, I blacklisted her name and Brother Zhang’s name on my Facebook account and I no longer dared to contact them again. However, after two days, I had no work to do. Aside from cooking at home each day, I didn’t have anything else to do. Since I had nothing to do, I opened up YouTube and watched some movies. Mysteriously, each time I opened up YouTube, movies, MVs and choir videos associated with The Church of Almighty God would appear. I started to think: The videos and movies of The Church of Almighty God are recorded so quickly. It is quite astonishing! Things that come from God must be prosperous. Could it be that The Church of Almighty God truly comes from God? The things that I heard from Brother Zhang last time were in accordance with the truth. Maybe I should try once more to understand The Church of Almighty God. I cannot simply refuse to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days just because of what other people say. However, once I recalled the words of condemnation regarding Almighty God from the Internet as well as my pastor’s warning to not contact The Church of Almighty God, I thought: Perhaps I should not go any further. Consequently, I decided to look for other videos to watch on YouTube. However, everywhere I looked, there were videos from The Church of Almighty God. I started feeling helpless. In the end, my curiosity took over and I thought: Regardless of whether The Church of Almighty God is good or not, I am only going to watch their videos. If they are really not good, then it’ll be a lesson on how to distinguish things. As a result, I opened the video titled The Call of God | Musical Show “Gospel Choir 9th Performance.” This video attracted my interest because its story was a genuine portrayal of contemporary society and I really identified with it. The video portrayed human life very vividly, realistically, and genuinely. I cried and laughed along with it and my heart was very moved, and at the same time I felt very energetic. I had a feeling where I wanted to immediately watch all the videos produced by The Church of Almighty God. From then on, I would watch the videos from The Church of Almighty God on a daily basis. In one week, I watched all 17 episodes of the Chinese choir videos. The more I watched, the more I felt it was great. There seemed to be a power in my heart that is urging me forward to watch and investigate, without delay. I thought: I watched so many videos of The Church of Almighty God. Each video has been so beneficial to me. Additionally, there is not a word of negativity within any of the videos. It is all positive, some expose the darkness of the world, some bear witness to God, and some guide man to return before God. They do not contain any fleshly or worldly matters. The Church of Almighty God is filled with the Holy Spirit’s work. It is not at all like how the rumors portrayed it to be. Almighty God’s work in the last days is definitely worth my investigation! source: The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit (Part 1) in Spiritual Battles ![]() Fleeing From the “Tiger’s Den” (Part 2) Audio Article Xiaoyou I never expected that after just two days of peace, I would encounter Satan’s disturbance and coercion once again. One night, my mother, a few of my uncles and aunties as well as my third grandaunt came over in order to obstruct me from believing in Almighty God. When I saw this situation, I became extremely angry. I thought, “I just believe in true God; is this a mistake? Why are they going on and on about this?” At this time, my third grandaunt peculiarly said, “Xiaoyou, let’s go! Let’s go home to see your grandma.” When I heard my third grandaunt say this, I was surprised, “They are here to take me to my mother’s place. They want to lock me up with my grandma, who is clinically insane! How can they be my relatives? How can they be so heartless!” At this moment, my mother grabbed a rope and rushed toward me. She kneeled on the floor and tied my feet together. I became very anxious. I pushed at her hands at the same time as I yelled, “What are you doing? Why do you tie me up?” Upon seeing this, two of my uncles walked over and they pressed down on my shoulders so that I would not resist. At that moment, I was sitting on the sofa and I was unable to stand up. I urgently cried out to God in my heart, “God! They are trying to trap me. If they succeed, I will be unable to believe in You and I will not be able to go back to the church. God! Grant me faith and strength and give a way out for me!” After I finished praying, my body felt especially energetic. I struggled at the same time that I shouted, “What are you trying to do? Let me go! …” When they saw how ferociously I was resisting, they released me. I felt very thankful to God. I truly experienced how as long as you genuinely rely on God, you will see God’s deeds and you will also feel, in a very realistic manner, God at your side protecting and watching over you at all times. I thought, “In this environment, I must offer my true heart to God and I must thoroughly humiliate Satan.” So I staunchly said to them, “When it comes to other matters, I will listen to you. However, when it comes to believing in God I will only listen to God! I already believe firmly that Almighty God is the returned Lord. Regardless of how you compel me, I will not be swayed!” Once I became resolved to follow God, I witnessed God’s actions again. One of my aunts said, “Do not tie her up. It is useless to tie her up. I can see that she believes firmly.” As a result, they dejectedly left. After they left, I instantly became limp and I felt that I was exhausted physically and mentally. I did not have an ounce of strength left. I lay down on my bed and drifted into sleep. The next morning, when I thought about what happened the night before, my emotions were quite heavy. When I recalled the manner in which my relatives were treating me, I could not help but think, “Alas! My mother and my relatives have been deceived by the rumors spread by the priests and the church leaders. They continuously try to coerce me. When is all this going to end?” Then I thought back to the circumstances when I was together with my brothers and sisters. We together pursued the truth, fulfilled duties and helped each other out. There was nobody bullying me around and I did not need to keep my guard up. I was very free and liberated. Each day was abundant and peaceful. On the other hand, presently, when I am confined in my home, I do not have any freedom whatsoever and each day I feel like I am on edge. I do not know when my relatives or the people from the former church will come. On good days, they lightly reprimand me. On bad days, they threaten and menace me. I am overwhelmed by pain and misery within. I really want to go back to the church and attend gatherings, sing hymns and praise God with my brothers and sisters … Immediately following this incident, something happened that was even more unexpected. One day, my husband and I went out to buy things. After we returned home, I wanted to read God’s words on my MP5 player. However, I could not find it. I became so anxious that I paced back and forth in the room. I thought, “Where did my MP5 player go? I definitely kept it at home. Why can I not find it?” I suddenly thought my mother must have taken it away. I remembered that there was one day that my mother entered my room and saw me reading God’s word on the MP5 player. Afterward, she would frequently come to my house and search for things. I was certain that the reason my MP5 player could not be found was because she took it. I became very angry when I thought about this. I went to my mother’s house in a rage. When I entered the door, I saw that my mother was talking with my second grandaunt at that moment. I went over to her and said, “Mother, did you take my MP5 player? That is mine. If you took it, give it back to me right away.” I never expected that my mother would sternly deny it. When I saw her disdained look, I angrily said, “I kept my MP5 player at home. Nobody else would even touch it. You are the only person who constantly rummages through my things. It was definitely you that took it. Give it back to me!” Questioned by me closely, my mother replied in a harsh tone of voice, “I will not give it back to you. You will never get it back from me!” Afterward, no matter how much I insisted, she would not give it back to me. I had no choice but to go home empty handed. On the way back home, I felt very miserable. I thought, “I no longer have my MP5 player. I cannot read God’s words anymore. In the past, even though my mother and other people disturbed me, I was able to read God’s words and have the guidance of God’s words. As a result, I was able to understand God’s intentions and have the faith and strength to withstand their attacks. Now, I do not have my MP5 player. What will I do? Without God’s words, isn’t it over for me?” The more I thought, the more directionless I felt and my spirit descended into a pit of negativity. I felt extremely miserable. At my weakest and most disheartening moment, God’s words enlightened me. A song of God’s words floated up in the ocean of my mind: “Today, most people don’t realize this. They believe that suffering is without value, they are renounced by the world, their home life is troubled, they are not beloved of God, and their prospects are bleak. The suffering, the suffering of some people reaches a certain point, reaches a certain point, and their thoughts turn to death. This is not the true love of God; such people are cowards, they have no perseverance, they are weak and powerless! … Thus, during these last days you must bear testimony to God. No matter how great your suffering, you should go on to the very end, no matter how great your suffering, you should go on to the very end, and even at your last breath, still you must be faithful to God, and at the mercy of God; only this is truly loving God, and only this is the strong and resounding testimony. Only this is the strong and resounding testimony” (“No Matter How Great Your Suffering, You Should Pursue to Love God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). With the guidance of God’s words, I understood that God hoped that I would be able to bear witness for Him under these circumstances. Regardless of how difficult things got, I absolutely had to be loyal to God until the end and not lose faith in God. When I thought back on all the coercion that I had encountered, I realized: Each incident is a battle in the spiritual world. Satan was using all kinds of methods to cause me to break down bit by bit. Right now, it has snatched away my “life and spiritual nourishment.” Doesn’t it want to swallow up my soul? Satan is truly savage. I must not fall for its schemes. Even though my MP5 player is gone, I still have God. God will still enlighten me and guide me. I believe that as long as I rely on God at every moment, God will help me get through every difficulty and hardship. Regardless of what circumstances I face in the future, as long as I have a breath in my body, I must stand witness for God. God’s words once again guided me and gave me the faith I needed to carry forward. Through experiencing these instances of coercion and hardships, I saw the power and authority of God’s words. Each time, I became very negative, weak, confused and perplexed, God’s words gave me the faith and strength I needed to see through Satan’s schemes and stand witness for God. At the same time, I was also able to see that God was at my side at every moment. He was my support and He opened up the way for me. My faith in God increased bit by bit. At the same time, my desire to leave my family became more and more intense. I must rush to escape from this “tiger’s den” and go back to the church and my brothers and sisters. The Lord Jesus once said, “And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren? … For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mak 3:33, 35). As a result, I prayed to God and entrusted Him with this matter. I asked God to guide me. After a few days, I avoided my brother’s surveillance and successfully escaped from home. Once again, I returned to The Church of Almighty God to live a church life and to fulfill duties to the best of my abilities. Up until then, more than a month of hardships had finally come to an end. The depression and trouble within my heart vanished like smoke in the air. Thank God for guiding me to break through Satan’s dark influence and escape from the “tiger’s den” and once again, return to God’s family. This experience remains fresh in my memory. In this experience I vividly saw God’s love, salvation, and I saw that God was at my side protecting me at every moment, saving me from being deceived and swallowed up by Satan. At the same time, this special experience also allowed me to learn how to distinguish the priests, the church leaders and others. They frenetically convicted and blasphemed Almighty God and started rumors and bore false witness to deceive me. They used all sorts of tricks to obstruct me from following Almighty God. They are stumbling blocks for us to accept God’s work of the last days and to receive God’s salvation and be gained by God. They are satanic demons that are here to devour the soul of man! It was at this time that I finally understood the true meaning of the following words that Almighty God spoke, “Believers and unbelievers are not compatible but rather opposed to one another” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I recognized that even though the priests, the church leaders, nuns, the members of the church and my mother believe in God on the surface, they do not understand God’s voice and they do not recognize God. They refuse to accept the work of the returned God. Likewise, God does not recognize their faith. In God’s eyes, they are unbelievers. They are the tares revealed by God’s work in the last days. They are in essence demons and antichrists that oppose God. Additionally, I also saw that the coercion from family members and the disturbance of religious people are all attacks that originate from Satan. They are intense spiritual battles. Satan wants to use these to disturb me, cause me to renounce the true way, betray God, enter into its “embrace,” lose the chance of being saved by God and be destroyed along with it in hell. However, God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots. When Satan attacks and disturbs me, God is still guiding me and leading me at every moment so that I can experience God’s words, learn how to distinguish and gain insight through God’s words, and my faith in God can also be perfected. This will allow my faith in God to become true and resolute and not weak. I thank God for guiding me and helping me understand some truth in such a short time as a month. Now I know what is good and what is evil, what is beauty and what is ugliness. My faith in God has been hardened and I have become closer to God. Pain is truly God’s blessing! In my future life of faith, I am willing to experience even more of God’s work and I am willing to follow Almighty God all the way until the end! ![]() Fleeing From the “Tiger’s Den” (Part 1) Audio Article Xiaoyou My name is Xiaoyou and this year, I am 26 years old. Originally, I was a Catholic. When I was little, I went with my mother to church for Mass, chanting scriptures, confessing and receiving communion. My mother was very zealous in her faith. She would often donate food and clothing as well as money to the church. The church leaders and nuns particularly liked my mother. When they saw her, they would greet her with smiles and show great concern for her. They would also frequently call my mother on the phone to ask her to participate in all kinds of church activities and to help out with various tasks. I would also proactively participate in the classes that the nuns taught. My church friends and I would chant scriptures together. At that time, I felt the joy and the peace that comes along with being with God. I was very happy every day. However, as time passed on, the faith of my church friends became colder and colder. My spirit also became weak and I was unable to adhere to the teachings of God. I would frequently commit sins and confess. After I got married, I went with my husband to other parts of the country for work. In a flash, it was Christmas season in 2013 and I had the good fortune to encounter one of the sisters of The Church of Almighty God. She told me that the Lord Jesus has already returned and He is performing a new stage of His work. When I heard this, I felt surprised and I emotionally said, “Is that so? The Lord has returned! When did the Lord return? Where is the Lord right now? Sister, tell me right away.” This sister gave me fellowship, saying, “Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Almighty God has expressed millions of words and He is doing the judgment work of the last days. He has opened up all the truths of cleansing and saving the human race including the three stages of work that God has performed to save mankind, the mystery of the incarnation, the mystery of the Bible, the meaning of God’s name and mankind’s end and destination, etc. This fulfills the Lord Jesus’ words as follows: ‘I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you’ (Jhn 16:12-13).” I earnestly listened to what this sister was saying and I thought, “I never expected that I would be able to welcome the return of the Lord. This is fantastic.” Afterward, the sister witnessed to me the three stages of God’s work and the meaning of God’s name. Afraid that I would not understand, the sister gave me analogies and examples. She communicated these things in detail so that I could understand and it would be clear to me. Through her communications, I understood a lot of the truth that I had not understood before. I also learned that God returned in order to perform the work of cleansing and perfecting man with judgment and chastisement. I felt that it was very possible that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. At that time, I told the sister that I was willing to investigate the work of God in the last days. Afterward, I attended gatherings with my brothers and sisters, reading God’s word, singing hymns, dancing and praising God. During my reading of God’s words, when I encountered areas that I did not quite understand, my brothers and sisters were very patient in explaining these things to me. Their communications had the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination. Attending gatherings with them allowed me to enjoy once more the pleasure of the Holy Spirit’s work. I felt particularly happy. In this big family of The Church of Almighty God, there were no distinctions between high and low and poor and wealthy. Everybody opened up and spoke from their hearts. I felt that this was a genuinely happy life! After more than a month of investigation, I read many of Almighty God’s words and I can completely confirm that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. I felt that I was very fortunate. At the same time, I also wanted to tell this good news to my mother and my friends at church. During the Spring Festival, my husband and I returned home. After coming back home, I immediately bore witness to Almighty God’s work of the last days to my mother. However, regardless of how I explained it, she would not accept it. I felt a bit disappointed and very bewildered. Clearly, Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. How could she not accept this? Seeing as how my mother would not accept it, I was forced to drop the subject. Afterward, I went back to my work place once again. I attended gatherings with my brothers and sisters and practiced fulfilling duties at church. During that time, I felt much enjoyment in my spirit. My life was also very abundant with incomparable happiness and joy. I saw from God’s words how Job lost all his possessions and sons and daughters and his body became covered with sores. During this major trial, he was still able to praise God’s name and have genuine faith in God. Also, there was Abraham, who was able to return his only son Isaac to God. I was very moved by their faith and obedience toward God. I also wanted to be this kind of person. Just as I was soaking up the warmth of God’s love, a nightmare started encroaching into my life. One day in August, 2014, my mother suddenly called me to say that my daughter was seriously ill. My mother’s words hit my heart all of a sudden. My daughter is so young; how could she be seriously ill? I was very worried for my daughter and I felt very terrible. So I went before God and prayed, “God, You allowed me to encounter such a situation. My daughter’s sickness is in Your hands. I am willing to entrust my daughter to You. Please give me genuine faith.” After praying, I calmed down a little. Afterward, my husband and I hastily returned home. When we got home, what made me very surprised was that my daughter was sleeping peacefully in bed. I wanted to wake her but my mother raised her hand to stop me and sternly said, “Don’t wake her. She is fine!” This was when I discovered that many relatives were there at home. Now I was aware that my mother tricked me into returning home in order to obstruct me from believing in Almighty God. I thought, “Today, God has arranged this environment for me. It must be something that I have to experience.” As a result, I asked my mother, “Mother, my daughter is fine. Why did you trick me into returning home?” Before I could finish speaking, my mother flew into a rage and shouted, “I went to the church and asked the priests and the church leaders. They said, ‘Eastern Lightning is dangerous. You can only enter. You cannot leave.’ Do not believe any longer. I am doing this for your own good. I am afraid that you have taken the wrong path.” My mother also mentioned some rumors and slanders from the religious world against The Church of Almighty God. Listening to my mother say these things, I thought, “My beliefs are basically not wrong. I have followed God’s new work. The Almighty God that I believe in is the returned Lord Jesus who, nowadays, is doing the work of judging, chastising and cleansing man. I believe firmly that it is the true way. Why would I renounce this? When the priests and the church leaders say, ‘If you believe in Eastern Lightning, you can enter but you cannot leave,’ these are purely rumors and fallacies designed to deceive people. I have attended gatherings at The Church of Almighty God for more than half a year now. I am more clear than you people about this. The door of The Church of Almighty God is wide open. Whether you enter or leave is completely up to your own decision. This is completely contradictory to what the priests and the church leaders have said. Since my brothers and sisters have confirmed the true way from within God’s words, they have obtained life nourishment and they have found the spring of living water. That is why they are not willing to leave. Through reading Almighty God’s word, our spirits are nourished. Who would be willing to go back to desolate churches that offer no spiritual nourishment? The priests and the church leaders have not investigated Almighty God’s work of the last days at all. They have not read Almighty God’s words and further, they have not attended gatherings at The Church of Almighty God. What are they basing their words on? Aren’t they just fabricating something out of thin air?” When my mother saw that I was not speaking, she walked up toward me in a rage and slapped me a couple of times. She even forced me to say words of betrayal against God. It was very pained for me to see her like this. I thought that if it were not for the rumors fabricated by the priests and the church leaders, how would my mother coerce me to not believe in Almighty God? Then I said to my mother, “Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Believing in Almighty God is heaven’s law and earth’s principle. I must believe to the very end!” When my mother heard me say this, her eyes were red with rage. She shouted at me loudly, “I am your mother. You must listen to me!” Seeing how unreasonable my mother was, I did not say anything else. At this time, my relatives also started criticizing me. They said many things to force me to betray God. I thought, “I have already welcomed the Lord Jesus. The God I believe in is real and the path that I walk is real. I will absolutely not betray God!” I really wanted to advise them to investigate God’s work of the last days and to not be deceived by the rumors of the priests and the church leaders into blindly convicting and resisting Almighty God. However, seeing that they had an attitude that hated the truth and God, I felt that they were people who would not accept the truth. It would not matter what I said, so I no longer said anything else to them. After a while, my mother and my relatives left together. However, my mother did not let go of the situation. She had my younger brother come to my house to live. Every day, my brother would keep an eye on me as if I were a convict. Wherever I would go, he would follow me. This is how I lost my personal freedom. Two days later, just as my family and I were eating dinner, my mother suddenly entered. She was beaming ear to ear and said to me in an affected tone, “Xiaoyou, look who has come!” My mother’s expression and tone of voice made me wonder, “What kind of person has come that would cause my mother to have such a big reaction? This cannot be anything good.” At this time, church leader Liu and church friend Wang came in. I greeted them peacefully and asked them to sit. After we finished eating, church leader Liu looked at me, smiled and said, “Xiaoyou! We are not going to beat around the bush. According to your mother, you have believed in Eastern Lightning. I want to tell you that your beliefs are mistaken. You must stop believing in them. For many generations, your family has been Catholic. You cannot leave God. Otherwise God would not want you. Today, we have come to persuade you. If you do not listen to us, when you descend into hell, you cannot blame us. Xiaoyou, we are doing this for your own good. Your husband would not have gotten better if it weren’t for your mother and I praying to God every day. If you continue to believe in Eastern Lightning, your husband’s illness will return. If that happens, nobody would care.” When I heard her say these things, my heart stopped and I could not help but be afraid. I thought, “In the past, my husband was extremely sick and even though we spent a lot of money, he was not able to get better. Afterward, he was only able to get better because of our prayers every day. If things are really the way she says they are, and my husband’s illness returns, what would I do?” Just as I was feeling bewildered, a verse of God’s words floated up into my mind, “Almighty God is an all-powerful physician!” (“The Sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). When I thought of this verse, I suddenly woke up. It is correct. I believe in Almighty God who is the returned God. Whether or not my husband will become ill again is in the hands of God; it is not up to them. God has authority over everything. What is there for me to be afraid of! Furthermore, it was God that cured my husband’s sickness. It was not they that did it. I never expected that, in order to cause me to betray God, they would use my husband’s sickness to threaten me. They wanted to cause me to feel scared about my family’s well-being so that I would deny and betray God. They are truly sinister! When I saw through their sinister motives, I felt disgusted with them. I no longer wanted to talk to them. When church leader Liu saw that I no longer wanted to speak, he peculiarly said, “It seems that you are very insistent! We have spoken so much to you. Tell us where you stand!” Since they had just talked about the matter of my husband’s illness, I felt a bit troubled. However, once I recalled that God has authority over everything, I became confident. Regardless of what happened, I would not betray God. I gathered up some courage and told them, “Let me tell you, I firmly believe in Almighty God! I will not relinquish my faith in God!” After hearing me speak, my mother roared, “Let’s go! We will go to the church to pray.” After she said this, they left panting in rage. Seeing how vicious they were, I could not help but feel a little bit scared. They are going to pray, are they going to curse me? What can I do? In this state of helplessness, I came before God and prayed, “Almighty God! All of them are standing on one side of the battle line and besieging me! I feel like I am all alone, God! I do not know what to do. I am very scared. Please, guide me!” After I finished praying, I recalled some of God’s words, “You should know that all things in the environment around you are there by My permission, I arrange it all. See clearly and satisfy My heart in the environment I have given to you. Do not fear, Almighty God of hosts will surely be with you; He has your back and He is your Shield” (“The Twenty-sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). With the enlightenment and guidance of God’s words, my heart became clear: “Yes! God is my staunch support. With God by my side, there is nothing I need to be afraid of. The church leader and the church friend said these things just in order to make me scared of my going to hell, my family not being at peace, and my husband contracting an illness so that I will forsake God. If I am timid or scared, haven’t I just fallen for Satan’s scheme? The fate, final destination and the ups and downs of my husband and I are not up to anybody, nor the priests and the church leaders. They are in the hands of God. It is useless for them to convict and curse.” When I thought about this, my heart became peaceful again and I was not afraid at all. From the bottom of my heart, I praised God and thanked God for guiding me with His words. I thanked Him for granting me the faith and strength necessary to see through Satan’s schemes so that I would not be disturbed or deceived. One afternoon, just as I was about to have a midday nap with my child, Sister Zhao and Sister Zhang came to disturb me. After Sister Zhao said some things that threatened me, Sister Zhang acted as if she was very serious and said, “It is true. We have come in contact with the people of The Church of Almighty God in the past. We were almost deceived by them.” When I heard her say this, I was furious. I knew that my brothers and sisters were absolutely incapable of doing something like this. What they were saying were just rumors and slander. So, I questioned them, “How did they deceive you?” Sister Zhang said in a seemingly serious tone, “There is no way you would know! They gave me a book!” I continued to ask them, “Tell me, what was the book like that they gave you? What was the name of the book? What were the contents of the book?” They gave me an awkward look, and after hemming and hawing for a bit, they finally covered up and said, “I have forgotten.” When I heard them say this, I thought, “Are you actually nuns? How could you dare to bear false witness and knowingly frame others? How is it that you are completely irreverent toward God? Are you actually believers in God? Could it be that you are not afraid to be punished by God?” Afterward, Sister Zhao asked me again, “Are you going to work?” I resolutely replied her, “Yes!” She insincerely advised me, “Do not go to work. Staying at home and looking after your child is much better!” I felt very disgusted by their hypocrisy. So I started to walk out of the room and said, “Mind your own business.” Seeing that they were unable to disturb me, they left dejectedly. After they left, I felt very troubled and depressed. I thought that this recent episode where the church leader and these nuns came to disturb me was all to spread rumors about, slander and attack Almighty God and my brothers and sisters or to spread fallacies. Their purpose was to deceive and threaten me. Even though I was not deceived by them and I even refuted their points, each time, I felt very agitated and I was unable to quiet down before God and read God’s words after they left. My brother was still monitoring me. I felt restricted as I prayed, sang hymns and read God’s word. I felt particularly constrained. In the midst of my suffering, I prayed to God, “Almighty God! This church leader and these nuns have come to disturb me time after time. I feel very troubled and depressed. Right now, I do not know how I should deal with them. God, enlighten me and guide me!” After praying, I took my MP5 player out just in time to see a paragraph of God’s word. It said, “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, not 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). After I finished reading God’s words, I understood immediately. It turned out that these priests and church leaders were the very religious antichrists that God revealed. I pondered how even though they believed in God, they did not seek the truth at all and they did not have a heart that revered God at all. Not only did they not investigate God’s work of the last days themselves, they also blasphemed God, convicted God’s new work and started rumors to deceive my mother so that she would hit me, scold me and put me under house arrest. Afterward, they repeatedly disturbed, cheated, deceived and threatened me. Thankfully, with God’s words of guidance, I did not fall for their schemes to betray God. The Pharisees of the past also used all kinds of sinister methods to obstruct the common Jewish people from accepting the Lord Jesus’ gospel. They even used rumors to deceive the people. They said that the Lord Jesus’ work overstepped the Old Testament and that Jesus was not the returned Messiah. This caused the common Jewish people to accompany the Pharisees in nailing the sinless Lord Jesus to the cross. The Lord Jesus criticized them by saying, “But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter” (Mat 23:13). As to the actions of the priests, church leaders and nuns, I thought about the words my brothers and sisters communicated to me in the past regarding how to distinguish the essence of the Pharisees. I saw clearly that these priests and church leaders are basically Pharisees of the past. In order to protect their own status and livelihood, they use every possible means to obstruct me from believing in Almighty God. They are afraid that I would preach the work of Almighty God of the last days to my mother and my entire family. This would thereby reduce the size of their flock and the amount of donations they receive each month would also decrease. They truly are stealing the offerings to God and they are the evil servants and antichrists that obstruct people from entering the kingdom of heaven! I saw clearly their antichrist essence and I knew how to deal with these people. They believe in God yet they resist God and are God’s enemies. As such, I must abandon them. Even though these days, I have suffered due to their disturbance, I have the guidance and enlightenment of God’s words. Their negativity has allowed me to develop my ability to distinguish and moreover, it has allowed me to have some practical experience in regards to God’s words. I have experienced for myself that God’s words are the truth, the way and the life. Moreover, I am more certain that Almighty God is the true God. I feel particularly happy and steadfast in my heart. I am resolute in my belief and regardless of how Satan disturbs me, I will not betray God. I am determined to stand witness to God and to humiliate the devil Satan! ![]() Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously! (Audio Article) Ma Xin Note: Since the writer’s husband was not engaged in honest work, she believed in God in order to gain blessings. Not long after she started believing in God, first, her daughter became sick and then afterward, her husband was faced with dismissal by his boss and started suffering a condition in his legs. Through God’s words, the author recognized that her perspective of believing in God in order to gain blessings was not in accordance with God’s intentions. In this way, Satan had captured the author by attacking this weak and fatal point. Satan harmed, deceived and coerced the author into doubting, denying and betraying God. Once the author understood God’s intentions and saw through Satan’s schemes, she let go of her own perspective of gaining blessings twice in the midst of Satan’s temptations. She was willing to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements and saw God’s miraculous achievements and salvation. Since my husband was not engaged in honest work, frequently drank alcohol and showed no concern for family matters, I would often sink into bitterness and pain. At a time when I did not have the strength to struggle on, a relative delivered Almighty God’s kingdom gospel to me. Through reading God’s word, I understood: God expresses the truth and does the judgment work of the last days in order to save the human race from the hands of Satan. He instructs us to understand, obey and return to Him so that we can receive His protection and care. As a result, I gladly accepted the work of Almighty God of the last days and quickly started my church life. However, right as I found something I could depend my life upon and felt a sense of joy and cheer, Satan’s temptations pounced on me like a wild beast rushed after its prey and a spiritual war erupted … One day, my daughter came home from school and said to me, “Mom, today, I was helping my teacher bring some things upstairs when my hand accidentally banged into the railing. It hurts a lot.” I anxiously looked at my daughter’s hand. It was not red and it was not bruised. There was just a small cut at the base of her thumb. I comforted my daughter and said, “Don’t worry, after two days, it will be better.” I thought, “I believe in Almighty God. With God’s protection and care, my child will be fine for sure.” However, after ten days, the bruise on my daughter’s thumb and half her palm became more serious. After two months, her thumb and half her palm became black and purple. Her thumb was now bigger than her big toe. This time, I became very worried. My husband and I brought our daughter to the hospital immediately. However, the examinations did not turn up anything out of the ordinary. I silently prayed to God in my heart, “Almighty God. What is wrong with my daughter’s hand? I am willing to entrust my daughter to You. Please care for her and protect her.” However, when my relatives and friends saw my daughter’s hand, they all said, “Your daughter’s hand is strangely diseased.” Her grandmother also anxiously said, “This child’s hand might become disabled.” When I heard these things, I became extremely anxious and upset: If my daughter’s hand really needs to be disabled, what will we do? She is so small. How can she bear this kind of blow? The more I thought, the more vexed, worried and pained I felt. I thought, “I have prayed to God for such a long time. Why is it that my daughter’s hand is still like this? God did not answer my prayers and He did not protect my daughter!” My heart was filled with misunderstandings about and complaints toward God. At this time, my husband botched things up at work due to his drunkenness and his boss wanted to fire him. When it rains, it pours! When I heard this news, I became even more agitated. If my husband lost his job, how would our family survive the future? This situation made me feel very ill at ease. I was unable to calm down. Even when I read God’s word, I was unable to absorb any of it. I thought, “I believe in God. Why have I encountered so many misfortunate situations? Why is God not watching over us?” For this reason, I became very negative. When the relative who had spread the gospel to me learned of my thoughts, she patiently told me, “The reason why we encounter unfavorable matters today is because of Satan’s disturbance. There is a war going on in the spiritual world. The work of God of the last days is to save mankind. When man forsakes Satan and returns to God, Satan is not willing to be resigned to defeat. It will disturb and deceive man in every possible way. It will give man all kinds of suffering and tribulations so that man would generate misunderstandings and complaints about God. Its purpose is to cause man to deny God, reject God, lose God’s salvation and once more return under Satan’s domain. If we are this negative and keeping far away from God, we have fallen for Satan’s crafty scheme! In fact, even if we do not believe in God, these matters are unavoidable. Because our perspective about believing in God is not correct, we have given Satan an opportunity to harm us. Let’s take a look at a passage of God’s words. Almighty God said, ‘Most people believe in God for the sake of peace and other benefits. Unless it is to your benefit, you don’t believe in God, and if you can’t receive God’s graces, you fall into a sulk. How could this be your true stature? When it comes to inevitable family incidents (children falling ill, husbands going into hospital, poor crop yields, persecution of family members, and so on), you can’t even make it through these things that often happen in day-to-day life. When such things happen, you’re thrown into a panic, you don’t know what to do—and most of the time, you complain about God. You complain that God’s words tricked you, that God’s work has messed you around. Do you not have such thoughts? Do you think such things happen among you only rarely? You spend every day living amid such events. You don’t give the slightest thought to the success of your faith in God, and how to satisfy God’s will. Your true stature is too small, even smaller than a little chick’s. … Your belly is stuffed full of complaints, and you sometimes don’t go to assemblies or eat and drink the words of God because of this, you likely become negative for a great length of time’ (‘Practice (3)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh).” When I heard these words of God, my heart trembled: God really examines the bottom of man’s heart! Each word reached deep into my heart. The reason I believed in God was indeed because I wanted my family to be safe! When I encountered troublesome matters, I misunderstood God, I complained to God and I lost faith in God. I was living in negative conditions and my spiritual stature was very small. My relative continued to communicate to me, “God’s words point out our wrong perspective of believing in God in order to obtain blessings. Due to our conceptions and imagination, we believe that as long as we believe in God, God will bless us and make sure everything goes smoothly. Since this conception exists in our hearts, once we encounter unhappy situations in our lives, we immediately blame God and as a result, we are capable of denying, betraying and leaving God at any time. Satan understands this fatal weak point of ours. That is why it gives us all kinds of calamities and suffering in order to disturb us. If we are unable to see through Satan’s crafty schemes, we will involuntarily oppose God, blame God, deny God and even leave and betray God. In the end, we will be seized and swallowed up by Satan. Just as God’s words say, ‘On earth, all manner of evil spirits are endlessly on the prowl for a place to rest, are ceaselessly searching for the corpses of men to eat up’ (‘The Tenth Utterance’ of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). What God’s words reveal are the facts of the spiritual world! If we get swallowed up by Satan, we will lose our opportunity to be saved by God. We must see through Satan’s crafty schemes!” When I heard these things from my relative, my heart brightened up immediately. Then, I knew that the things that my family was encountering were in fact Satan’s disturbance and calamity. At the same time, God also revealed my incorrect perspectives on faith. I said to my relative, “Since I believed in God, I believed that God is a God that bestows grace upon man. As long as one believed in God, things would go smoothly in one’s family and one would receive God’s care and protection. If I encountered some unhappy circumstances, I believed that something was wrong and that believing in God meant that I would not encounter these unhappy circumstances. Only after reading the previous selection of God’s words did I understand that my perspective on faith was incorrect and that Satan used this as a way to disturb me and cause me to generate notions and misunderstandings about God and keep far away from God. Truly, I had fallen for Satan’s crafty schemes! Afterward, regardless of how Satan would disturb me, I should see through Satan’s crafty schemes and I will not blame, misunderstand or even more so, betray God. I have to stand witness for God. Regardless if my child’s hand gets better or not or whether or not my husband has a job, I will be willing to entrust them to God and let God make His arrangements.” What I did not expect was that once I was willing to obey God’s arrangements and orchestrations, in a short period of time, my daughter’s hand became infected. When the doctor brushed away the pus, he discovered that there was a splinter stuck at the base of her finger. After he removed the splinter, it wasn’t long before my daughter’s hand recovered. After experiencing this situation, I could see that once I reversed my own mistaken perspectives and was willing to obey God, Satan was defeated. God took away my daughter’s sickness. God is truly miraculous and almighty! However, sinister Satan was not willing to give up. If one of its plans failed, it would try another one. One night at around 8 p.m., my husband all of a sudden called me and asked me to go downstairs to give him some money. I wrapped our baby over one year old and went downstairs. I saw my husband strenuously exit the taxi cab. He had great difficulties moving around. When I saw my husband suddenly become like this, my heart became very anxious and I did not know what to do. All I could do was continuously call to God, “Almighty God. In this environment, please protect my heart. My spiritual stature is small. Please give me faith to stand witness in this kind of situation and to not blame You.” After I prayed, my heart calmed down a lot. However, afterward, the condition of my husband’s leg became more and more serious. He was not able to move at all. All I could do was let his elder brother and his elder brother’s wife to bring him to the hospital. When I thought about how my husband’s legs could not move, I became especially anxious. As a result, I once again prayed to God, “God! Today, my husband is sick. Satan has come to disturb me so that I would complain and betray You. I am willing to see through Satan’s crafty schemes. Regardless of how much my money needs to be spent on my husband’s condition, I will not blame You. I am willing to obey You. Please make sure that I am able to stand witness for You.” After I finished praying, my heart calmed down a lot. Not long after, my sister-in-law called and said that my husband was not willing to go to the hospital and insisted on coming home. I thought that this was God’s intentions and I let them take my husband home. After they got home, my husband’s brother and his wife pinched my husband’s leg and washed it with hot water. They busied themselves for a long time but my husband could not feel anything in his leg. Out of desperation, my husband said, “It’s over. I do not feel anything in my leg!” When I heard this, tears suddenly rushed out and I thought, “It’s over. My husband is unable to walk. If he is paralyzed, what will we do? How will our family live?” Right at this time when I was about to be drowned by pain and despair, I thought of God’s words: “If many things come upon you that are not in line with your notions but you are able to put them aside and know God’s actions from these things, and in the midst of refinements you reveal your heart of love for God, this is standing witness. If your home is peaceful, you enjoy comforts of the flesh, no one is persecuting you, and your brothers and sisters in the church obey you, can you display your heart of love for God? Can this refine you? It is only through refinement that your love for God can be shown, and it is only through things occurring that are not in line with your conceptions that you can be perfected. It is through many negative things, many adversities that God perfects you. It is through many of Satan’s actions, accusations, and its expression in many people that God allows you to acquire knowledge, thus perfecting you” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through God’s words, I understood that Satan was using my husband’s sickness to put its schemes into action. Since Satan knew that my perspective of obtaining blessings from God and conducting transactions with God through faith had not completely disappeared, it did this in order to entice me to misunderstand, blame, deny, betray and resist God. If I did these things, in the end, I would lose God’s grace and Satan’s despicable purpose would prevail. At the same time, God used this kind of a situation to perfect my faith in Him. At the moment when Satan was accusing, I was supposed to see things from the perspective of God’s words and penetrate through Satan’s crafty schemes. I should not rely on my intention of obtaining blessings to haggle with God once more. In the battle between God and Satan, I must stand on the side of God and not lose my witnessing. After I understood God’s intentions, I silently prayed to God, “God, protect my heart. Let me stand firm in this situation. Regardless of my husband’s condition, I will not blame You. Even if my husband is paralyzed, I am willing to continue to follow You.” After I finished praying, I heard my husband pleasantly say, “I am better. I can move my legs.” Once I heard this, my heart felt very moved and I could feel that God is truly wise and almighty! God did not intentionally make me suffer this pain. Instead, He used this circumstance to test me and to reverse my incorrect perspective of faith! Afterward, I continued reading God’s words, “After humanity was corrupted by Satan, He continuously worked among people to defeat His enemy who corrupts humanity. This battle will continue from the beginning until the world’s end. In doing all this work, He has not only allowed humanity, who has been corrupted by Satan, to receive His great salvation, but also allowed them to see His wisdom, almightiness and authority, and in the end He will let humanity see His righteous disposition—punishing the wicked and rewarding the good. He has battled Satan to this very day and has never been defeated, for He is a wise God, and His wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots. And so He not only makes everything in heaven submit to His authority; He also makes everything upon earth rest below His footstool, and not last of all, He makes those evildoers who invade and harass humanity fall within His chastisement. All the results of the work are brought about because of His wisdom” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From these words of God, I understood that from the moment that mankind was corrupted by Satan, all along, Satan has been disturbing and harming us. Also, from beginning to end, God has been saving us and allowing us to break free from Satan’s harm. In my experience, from the moment I started to believe in God, all along, Satan was thinking of schemes to disturb me. It used my daughter’s and my husband’s sickness to cause me to become negative and weak. It used these situations to make me misunderstand and blame God. It attempted in vain to cause me to leave God, betray God, lose God’s care and protection and drag me down into hell. Also, God’s wisdom is eternally exercised based on Satan’s schemes. Through realistic people, events, and objects, God allows me to see through Satan’s evil nature and despicable deliberations. He also uses realistic refinement to cleanse my incorrect perspectives on faith and allow me to be able to renounce evil and turn to virtue. This way, I will no longer live by relying on the deliberation of obtaining blessings but according to God’s words. With a genuine faith in God, I can overpower Satan and be obtained by God. God’s almightiness and wisdom is miraculously unfathomable. God’s love and salvation for me is truly real and genuine! Thank God for guiding me to see through Satan’s crafty schemes! From now on, I will pray to God, rely on God more and I will stand witness in every fight. I will definitely follow God unswervingly to the end! All the glory be to Almighty God! source: Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously! (Audio Article) in Spiritual Battles ![]() How I Nearly Became a Foolish Virgin Li Fang, China In the fall of 2002, Sister Zhao from my denomination, the Church of Truth, brought her niece, Sister Wang, to my home to tell me some great news that the Lord has come back. After a few days of reading the words of Almighty God and listening to the sister’s detailed fellowship, I understood that from the creation of the world until now God has performed three stages of work in order to save mankind. Other truths that I also came to know were God’s adoption of a different name during each stage of the work, the significance of God’s name for each age, and the mystery of God’s incarnation, etc. These truths really allowed me to open my eyes wide and see my fill. I said to myself: “It all sounds crystal clear, and Almighty God very probably is the returned Lord Jesus so I’d better make sure I grasp this chance and read more of Almighty God’s words.” Before leaving, Sister Wang left some books of God’s words for me. Whenever I had time during the day, I read God’s words. The more I read the more I loved reading them and the more I felt that they were the words of God. After three days I became anxious. I thought: “My son, who is also a believer, and many brothers and sisters in our church still don’t know this great news about the return of the Lord. I’d better hurry up and tell them.” The next day early in the morning I went to my son’s home. I said happily to him: “This is such a great book. You should read it as soon as possible.” My son glanced at me and asked: “What book? You seem pretty delighted. Just put it down there and I’ll take a look at it when I have time.” I thought that as all believers were looking forward to the Lord’s return my son would be happy to learn that the Lord has already returned. I would never in a million years have imagined, however, that three days later my son would show up at my home in the company of six religious figures. One of them was Pastor Xia from my denomination, and the others were pastors and preachers from my son’s denomination. I was a bit stunned to see them, as I couldn’t figure out what was up and why so many people had come to see me. A pastor surnamed Li looked closely at me for a moment and with a look of concern on his face he said: “Auntie, we’re all believers in the Lord, one big family. Your son tells me that someone has given you a book, but you really shouldn’t read it. Now it’s the last days, and the Lord Jesus said: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). We believe that these words of the Lord Jesus mean that anyone who says that the Lord has returned is a fraudster who we must guard against and refuse to listen to. Right now in the whole religious world there is only Eastern Lightning that is publicly bearing witness to the Lord’s return, so, whatever you do, don’t have anything to do with them. Don’t read any of Eastern Lightning’s books either. Their way is different from our faith, so don’t listen to them. You don’t understand the Bible very well, and you have small stature, so you’re easily deceived. We’ve been preaching for many years and we understand the Bible well. We’ve travelled all over China and we’ve seen a lot and our life is bigger. We’ve come today specially to rescue you, so you’ve got to believe us and not try to have it your own way.” When I heard this I thought to myself: “This pastor seems to be concerned about me and what he said isn’t wrong. I’m old and not very well educated, and I don’t understand the Bible that well. I certainly can’t discern as well as they do.” At this point Pastor Xia said: “I’m a pastor, and the Lord has given me His flock to manage. So it’s my responsibility to make sure that you don’t stray from the true way. If I don’t look after the Lord’s flock I won’t be able to settle my account with the Lord. Sister, don’t run around to other groups like this. If you get stolen from us by Eastern Lightning then all these years that you’ve believed in the Lord will be wasted!” Looking at their tense faces and hearing the serious tone in which they were talking to me made me feel a bit frightened. I thought: “That’s right. If I start believing wrongly then won’t all those years of faith be wasted?” But then I thought: “The words in that book seemed so good, so right. These pastors and preachers haven’t read the words of Almighty God, so how could they say that it isn’t a true way?” So I said to them: “The way you put it makes it seem like that really is the case but what I heard from them completely matches the words of the Lord in the Bible!” When they heard me say that they all started talking at once, saying so many things to scare me that I became dizzy and confused and experienced a lot of emotional turmoil. I sat there like an idiot, unable to say a single thing. Then they wanted me to pray with them and utter some curses, but I didn’t go along with it so they started to terrorize me again. Finally, my son said: “Let me deal with this matter of my mom’s.” Then he took the two hymn books named “Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs” and the cassette tapes of hymns as well as a book of God’s words named “Judgment Beginning With the House of God” from the cupboard and gave them to the pastor to take away. After they left I was so upset that I couldn’t even eat my dinner, so I came before the Lord and prayed: “Lord Jesus, is what those pastors said true or not? It seems like they’re really concerned for my life. If I don’t listen to them, will I put my faith in the wrong place? Oh Lord, if You really have returned as Almighty God and I don’t accept You then wouldn’t I be closing the door on You? Wouldn’t I just be like one of the foolish virgins? Oh Lord, through reading the words of Almighty God these last few days I feel that I’ve gained a lot of spiritual supply. I’ve truly and honestly felt this, but could I be wrong? Now that they’ve taken away my books and my cassette tapes of hymns I feel really sad. Please show me the way as I don’t know what to do….” After praying I suddenly remembered that Sister Wang had given me another book of Almighty God’s words and I hid it deep inside the cupboard. When I realized that I still had this book I felt a little bit better. But then I thought about what those pastors had said, and I was still at a loss about what to do. Should I read that book or not? That night, I hardly slept at all, my mind in turmoil. Again and again I prayed to God in tears … Early the next day my son came to take me to my former church meeting. I was very much undecided, but my son dragged me down to the meeting place and even told a preacher that I’d nearly been stolen by Eastern Lightning and he asked her to do her best to persuade me to stay. In an instant, the preacher and all of the brothers and sisters surrounded me. The preacher took hold of my hand, and in a gentle voice said: “Auntie, whatever you do, don’t listen to anyone else preaching. If you start believing wrongly, when the Lord comes to rapture the congregations then you’ll be left behind, won’t you? You have small stature, so if anyone gives you any kind of book to read it would be better for you to ask us first. Let us check on it for you….” The brothers and sisters were also all very keen to persuade me to stay, and I was moved to tears by their “love.” When they saw how moved I was they made their point once more: “If anyone from Eastern Lightning comes to visit you again, don’t let them in. Don’t have anything to do with them!” I nodded in agreement. It was only a few days later that Sister Wang came to see me again. I told her: “The pastor read this passage from the Bible to me: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). In the last days false Christs shall appear and anyone who says that the Lord has returned is a fraudster. I don’t understand the Bible, and my stature is small, so I’m easily misled. I don’t dare to listen to any other messages, so I’m not going to let you in. Don’t come again.” With great sincerity Sister Wang said: “The Lord Jesus said this to ensure that we would guard against false Christs during the last days but He didn’t intend for us to also turn our backs on Christ. If there are false Christs it’s because the real Christ has already appeared, because without the real Christ the imposters have nothing to imitate. Those words of the Lord Jesus tell us that we have to learn to discern; they aren’t saying that we should refuse to listen to the gospel of the Lord’s return just because false Christs will appear during the last days. Otherwise, how will we be able to welcome the Lord’s return? Actually, the Lord Jesus has already clearly described the characteristics of false Christs. The main ones include manifesting signs, performing miracles, healing the sick and exorcising demons, and copying the work that the Lord Jesus had already done in order to deceive people. So during the last days anyone who impersonates the Lord Jesus to preach the way of repentance and who can manifest a few simple signs or heal the sick and exorcise demons is a false Christ. Almighty God, who is the Lord Jesus returned in the flesh in the last days, doesn’t repeat the work that the Lord Jesus had already done but does new work on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption. Almighty God has ended the Age of Grace and has opened the Age of Kingdom by expressing truths to do a stage of work of judging and cleansing mankind. Almighty God will thoroughly save all those people who have been redeemed but still live in sin by removing the shackles of their sinful nature and taking them away from Satan’s dark influence. Mankind will thus be taken to their wonderful final destination. Only God Himself can do this work; none of the false Christs can.” Although what the sister was saying seemed reasonable, the things that the pastors had told me were still swirling around in my head. My mind was agitated and unable to focus and I didn’t want to hear any more of her fellowship. So I told her that I had something to do next door, which was a lie, in order to get away from her. Sister Wang came back to my home many times after that but I always avoided her. My neighbor told me: “She doesn’t look like a bad person so what are you afraid of?” In my heart I knew that Sister Wang was a good person, but as I was of small stature I was afraid of getting my faith wrong. After I returned to the meeting of my former church I heard the preachers still saying things in the sermon that they’d said before. They always talked about how to guard against Eastern Lightning, or donating to the church, or they repeated a lot of boring old stuff about how much they had worked and suffered for the Lord and how much God’s grace they had obtained…. They could not even say a little bit of something fresh and bright. I quickly grew fed up of listening to them, and started to doze off. On another occasion, a brother from another church came to give a sermon, but it was more of the same stuff about how he’d walked across mountains to do the Lord’s work and how much he’d suffered, how many people he’d converted through spreading the gospel and how many churches he’d set up. He used the sermon to blow his own trumpet. Listening to him made me feel very uncomfortable, and I came to the opinion that he wasn’t bearing witness for the Lord but just bearing witness for himself. On another day, I’d just arrived at the meeting place when one of the sisters said to me: “Today we’ve got a 20-something female theology student giving the sermon.” I was very happy to hear that and told myself that I was going to pay special attention because she would definitely give a better sermon than our preachers did. But the student started her sermon with how to guard against Eastern Lightning, and then went on to talk about how she’d given up her regular studies at the age of 16 to enter the seminary to study theology, how she’d worked and suffered outdoors in spite of the rain, how many places she’d been to…. The more I heard, the more fed up I got. I thought to myself: “This is all just old wine in new bottles! Why do they keep on trotting out the same old boring stuff? None of this has got anything to do with their experience or knowledge of the Lord’s words, nor is it leading us in following the Lord’s way or practicing and entering into His words.” I’d already been back at the meetings for over a month but I hadn’t gained anything from them. The more I listened to these messages, the drier I felt in my spirit, and I thought that I would die of spiritual thirst if I carried on believing like this. The more I thought about it, the more upset I got. After the meeting I walked home with a heavy heart. I thought about the book Judgment Beginning With the House of God that Sister Wang had given me, which stated that people shouldn’t be arrogant and shouldn’t exalt themselves but should honor God as great and exalt God. But these preachers were all bearing witness for themselves, honoring themselves above all else, and getting others to look up to them. It seemed to me that what the book said was right! So that evening when I was alone at home I took out the copy of Judgment Beginning With the House of God and read some of it. The more I read the more my heart soared, and I really felt that these words could be sustenance for my life. I was puzzled as to why our pastor wouldn’t let me read such a good book. Our pastor often said that he was responsible for my life and yet he only seemed to know how to bear witness for himself in his sermons. He never told me how to gain life. I remembered a period when I was very weak and didn’t want to go to the meetings. The pastor never came to visit me or offer support. But how come as soon as I started getting some spiritual nourishment from reading Almighty God’s words he showed up to force me into listening to them repeating the same old stuff? That’s not taking responsibility for my life! I suddenly realized just how wrong I’d been, and I blamed myself bitterly: Almighty God’s words could give supply to my life, and they probably came from God. How could I have been so stupid and blind as to believe what the pastor had said and give up investigating the true way? I also thought about how Sister Wang had always given me loving support, and had borne witness to God’s work of the last days for me so that I had the chance to gain God’s salvation of the last days. But I wasn’t all that nice to Sister Wang, and even avoided seeing her on a number of occasions. I shouldn’t have treated her like an enemy. When I thought of this I felt extremely sad. So I came before the Lord and tearfully said a prayer of repentance: “Lord, I treated that sister who brought me the book of God’s words as an enemy and turned my back on her. This isn’t a case of abandoning someone but is actually a case of refusing Your salvation. Lord, now I know that I shouldn’t have listened to those pastors and given up investigating God’s work of the last days. I wish to repent to You, but I don’t know how to find Sister Wang. Please help me find her.” After praying, I picked up the book again and read it late into the night. The more I read the more I felt that the content was good, and the more I came to despise the pastors for preventing me from reading the words of Almighty God. I’m so grateful to the Lord for listening to my prayer! The next day at noon, when I was eating lunch, Sister Wang came to my house. I told her about everything that had happened since I last saw her. When she heard that I’d been unable to gain supply in religious church she read out a passage of Almighty God’s words for me: “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). Then the sister fellowshiped this with me: “God is the wellspring of living water, and only God can supply life for people. When people leave God they will be in darkness and wither and die, just like a branch that has broken off from the tree trunk. In our faith in God, we must closely follow the footsteps of the Lamb, accept God’s work as it appears now, and come before God in order to be able to gain the work of the Holy Spirit and the nourishment and supply of God’s living water of life. Why is it that we can’t get sustenance from listening to those pastors and elders in religion? There are two reasons for this. One is that those pastors and elders don’t abide by the Lord’s commandments and don’t put the Lord’s words into practice. They don’t have real life experience and have no real knowledge of God and much less have hearts that fear God, which shows in the way they don’t at all exalt God or bear witness to Him in their work and preaching. They only blow their own trumpets and bear witness to themselves. By completely deviating from the Lord’s way they have turned into typical false shepherds who deceive people. This is why they are loathed and rejected by the Holy Spirit and never get His enlightenment and guidance. And this is the main reason why the religious community is so desolate. The other reason is that the Lord has already returned to do the work of the new age. The Holy Spirit’s work on people of the Age of Grace has already come to an end, and is now being done on the group of people who are up to speed with God’s new work. But the pastors and elders do not at all investigate God’s new work and do not follow God’s footsteps and accept His leadership. All they do is crazily resist God, condemn God’s work of the last days, and slander and blaspheme Almighty God, the Christ of the last days. They do whatever they can to prevent believers from investigating the true way and returning to God, and thus have become just like the Pharisees who nailed the Lord to the cross. They have already been condemned and eliminated by God, so there is no way the Holy Spirit could work on them. So, if we want to receive life sustenance we must align ourselves with the Holy Spirit’s current work, accept the things that God is currently expressing, and accept the leadership, supply, and shepherding of Almighty God, the Christ of the last days. This is the only way for us to gain truth and life. This proves what the Lord Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jhn 14:6). ‘But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life’ (Jhn 4:14).” After listening to Sister Wang’s fellowship about God’s words I had a sudden realization as to why the pastors, elders, and theology students had nothing worthy to preach: They don’t have truth! They resist God, and that’s why the Holy Spirit left them long ago. When they preach they only have intellectual knowledge to rely on, but they don’t have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and that’s why their preaching is not helpful to people. But there was still something that I didn’t understand, so I asked Sister Wang: “All those pastors and elders say that they’re very familiar with the Bible, that they’ve been to seminary school and have much life. I don’t understand the Bible that well and believed that they were really more mature than me in life, so that’s why I listened to them. So now I can’t decide whether they really have much life or not. Sister, do you think that they really have much life?” Sister Wang replied: “No one can say that they have life. This is all decided according to God’s words. What does it mean to have life? What things specifically should be manifested? The Lord Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jhn 14:6). And Almighty God said: ‘Whether you are in possession of reality or not is not based on what you say, rather, it is based on what you live out. When God’s words become your life and your natural expression, only this counts as reality, and only this counts as you possessing understanding and real stature. You must be able to withstand examination for a long period of time, and you must be able to live out the likeness that is required of you by God; it must not be mere posturing, but it must flow naturally out of you. Only then will you truly have reality, and only then will you have gained life’ (“Only Putting the Truth Into Practice Is Having Reality” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Why is it said that many people have no life? Because they do not know God, and thus it is said that they have no God, and have no life’ (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that Christ is the truth, the way and the life. Truth can act as people’s life, so gaining truth is the same as gaining life, and having life indicates that someone has gained truth and known God. Someone who doesn’t understand truth and doesn’t know God will not have a heart that fears God and will be unable to live out the reality of God’s words. This means that they have no life. If someone doesn’t have God’s words as their life then they still live by Satan’s poisons. They often reveal their corrupt dispositions—arrogance, conceit, selfishness, despicableness, crookedness, cunningness, and so on. And even if they believe in God they are still unable to fear God and stay away from evil. They often lie, cheat, commit sins, and resist God. How could they ever be called people who have life? If they say they have life it’s just the same fleshly life, the satanic life that is full of corrupt dispositions that are in opposition to God, and not the new life, which comes from experiencing God’s words and gaining the truth. So though the pastors and elders may be familiar with the Bible, and possess knowledge of the Bible and theological theories, that doesn’t mean that they know God and fear God and that they understand truth and have the work of the Holy Spirit. And it certainly doesn’t mean that they practice the Lord’s words or obey Him. Instead, what we see is that they usually exalt and bear witness to themselves, and generally try to get believers to worship them. What they reveal is the likeness of Satan—being arrogant and conceited, lacking fear for God, and always pretending to be good in order to fool people. Neither in their work nor in their preaching can they speak of any real knowledge of the Lord’s words or any practical experience that is beneficial to other people. No matter how many years you listen to them you will never understand any truth and your life will never grow. They have no knowledge of God or of His work, and when God has returned to flesh in the last days to express truths and do His work of judgment they frenziedly resist, condemn, and blaspheme Him without the tiniest bit of fear in their hearts. What kind of life do they have? They totally have the life of Satan. They’re just like the Pharisees who knew the Bible well and thought that they had sincere faith in God and had life but who didn’t know God and even resisted and condemned the Lord and nailed Him to the cross. This tells us that just because someone knows the Bible it doesn’t mean that they have truth and life. The only people who have life are those who understand and practice truth and who know God, have a heart that fears Him, and can live by God’s words. Those pastors and elders say that they have much life, and this is only fooling believers and deceiving themselves.” After listening to Almighty God’s words and the fellowship of Sister Wang everything became much clearer in my mind: Just because someone knows the Bible well and can explain the Bible it doesn’t mean that they understand truth, know God or have life. I used to think that people in high positions or who had studied theology or had Bible knowledge all had much life. But now I see that my viewpoint was totally absurd. It seems that people who don’t have truth are unable to discern, and so are easily fooled. So I then asked Sister Wang a question: “Almighty God speaks so well. All we have to do is read His words carefully and we’ll realize that these are the words of God, God’s voice. So how come the pastors and elders don’t accept this and even do their utmost to resist and condemn Him?” Sister Wang replied: “During the last days, Almighty God has come and expressed all of the truths that corrupt mankind needs to be cleansed and saved. These truths are the way of eternal life that God has bestowed upon us. As long as people seriously read God’s words they will admit that these words are the truth, the life, and the way and are the foundation and the guide for mankind’s survival. This is a fact. Although most pastors and elders resist and condemn God’s work of the last days, and try to prevent people from reading Almighty God’s words, this doesn’t mean that they can’t hear God’s voice in them. Some pastors and elders can’t preach anything useful so they steal Almighty God’s words and preach them to their congregations, claiming that they are enlightenments that the Holy Spirit offered to them. So we can see that they are completely able to tell that these words are the expression of the truth. But why do they still frenziedly resist and condemn Almighty God? This has to do with their nature and substance of hating the truth. If we think back to when the Lord Jesus first started doing His work, He manifested many miracles, especially the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. An even more astonishing miracle for the people throughout the land of Judea was when He brought Lazarus back from the dead. So, many of the common people in those days recognized from the Lord’s words and work that He was the coming Messiah. But the leaders of the Jews didn’t accept the Lord Jesus, and instead resisted and condemned Him and in the end conspired with the Roman government to crucify the Lord. Why did this happen? Was it because they couldn’t hear the authority and power in the Lord Jesus’ words and recognize that they were from God? Was it because they were in some way inferior to ordinary Jews? No! It was because they saw that more and more people were accepting the Lord Jesus’ way. They were afraid that if all of the ordinary folk believed in the Lord Jesus then no one would follow or worship them and they would lose their status and their livelihood. They clearly knew the Lord Jesus was God and yet purposefully resisted Him; this revealed their antichrist essence, which is resistance to God and hatred of the truth. The Lord Jesus bitterly rebuked them when He said: ‘But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God…. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him’ (Jhn 8:40, 43-44). In present times, the words of Almighty God have revealed with crystal clarity the nature and essence of the current leaders of the religious community. Almighty God said: ‘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, not 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). These leaders of the religious community today are just like the Pharisees of old: Although they know the Bible well they know absolutely nothing about God’s work. They see that the words of Almighty God are being accepted by more and more people who long for and seek God’s appearance, and they’re afraid that if the believers all believe in Almighty God then no one will follow them anymore or donate money to them. So in order to protect their status and their livelihood, under the banner of being loyal to the Lord and protecting His flock they have manufactured all kinds of vicious rumors to frenziedly resist and condemn God’s work of the last days and done their best to prevent believers from seeking and investigating the true way. So we can see that religious leaders are in fact Pharisees who dislike and hate the truth. They are living demons who eat people’s souls; they are antichrists who are being revealed by God’s work of the last days.” After listening to God’s words and the sister’s fellowship I had a sudden realization and nodded my head a few times and said: “Now I finally get why those pastors and elders, on hearing that there are people bearing witness to God’s return, don’t seek or investigate it but instead persistently condemn Him. Now I understand why those pastors and elders are shouting that they are protecting me and are concerned about my life when in fact they are doing their utmost to hold me back and prevent me from reading God’s words and gaining the life sustenance from God. It is all because everything they do is to protect their own interests. They’re afraid that if people start following Almighty God they won’t listen to their sermons or donate money to them so that’s why they prevent people from investigating the true way. They really are despicable, and they have come very close to making me lose my chance of salvation. Now that I know how to discern better I’m going to refuse to have anything to do with them. No matter what they do to disturb me, I’m going to stand firm and follow Almighty God.” After that, I never went back to my original church meetings again. Not long after, two preachers from my original denomination came to my house. One of them, Preacher Zhang, said to me: “Auntie, why haven’t you been to the meetings? Have you been in contact with the people from Eastern Lightning again? Whatever you do, don’t switch to their faith. If you follow their faith you’re done for!” With a firm voice I replied: “I got nothing from meetings with you recently and I grew ever darker in my spirit and I wasn’t able to feel the Lord’s presence. But since I started reading Almighty God’s words my spirit has been uplifted and now I’m starting to understand truths and my life is nourished. I feel that God is with me and that the Holy Spirit is working on me. Now I’m sure that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and that the truths expressed by Almighty God are the living water of life. Only Almighty God’s words can give me sustenance, and wherever I can gain life that is where I shall go.” The other of them, Preacher Song, then said: “We worry about you. We worry that you’ll deviate from the right way. You’re immature in life.…” I said to her: “Maybe I’m immature in life, but God will lead me anyway. Thanks for your concern, but you should think about your own lives. My life is in God’s hands….” When they heard what I had to say they left in a huff. As I watched them disappearing into the distance I felt a huge sense of relief like I’d never felt before. Afterward, they came back twice more, but seeing that I was totally unmoved by their exhortations they never returned again. I thank God for guiding me and allowing me to see through the true faces and wicked hearts of those religious leaders, to see through Satan’s tricks and to find my way out of the confusion and back to God. I’m now being supplied with living water of life, and I will always follow and worship Almighty God! source: How I Nearly Became a Foolish Virgin in Spiritual Battles ![]() A Small Blade of Grass That Grew Among the Brambles Yixin, Singapore In November 2016 I became acquainted, through Facebook, with Brother Lin and Sisters Zhang and Xiaoxiao of The Church of Almighty God. They integrated some of the prophecies in the Bible, fellowshiped with me and bore testimony to God’s work of the last days. Their fellowshiping and testimonies made me understand that Almighty God is conducting the work of judging and cleansing people through words on the foundations of the work of redemption done by the Lord Jesus. Almighty God wishes to thoroughly save mankind from Satan’s power and rid us of our corrupt disposition so that we’ll no longer rebel against and resist God but instead will become people who truly obey and worship Him. From the words of Almighty God I came to understand that God’s work of the last days will reveal all of the wheat and tares, sheep and goats, wise virgins and foolish virgins, so that each will end up with its own kind and virtue will be rewarded while evil will be punished. I realized that Almighty God was the return of the Lord Jesus that I’d been waiting for and I joyously accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. One day, Sister Zhu from my original denomination asked me out of the blue what I’d recently been busy with, and so I told her that I’d been investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days. Sister Zhu had a lot of bad things to say about The Church of Almighty God and also blasphemed Almighty God. She urged me not to have anything to do with them. I said: “I’ve been in touch with some brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God for some time now and I’ve been fellowshiping really well with them. They have a fresh and clear way of fellowshiping truths and I’ve understood a lot of truths from listening to them. I’ve grown a lot, and benefited a lot, and they certainly aren’t like you’ve made them out to be. And Almighty God’s words are very practical and have resolved a lot of the bemusement I felt regarding some issues. Those words have given sustenance to my life and have indicated a way of practice for me …” On seeing that my attitude was unyielding, Sister Zhu changed the subject and asked me if I’d tell Sister Yun—who preached the gospel of the Lord to us—about my investigation into Almighty God’s work of the last days. I told her: “There are still many things that I don’t understand, but when I’ve finished looking into it I’ll tell everybody what I’ve discovered.” She agreed that I should have a clear picture before I said anything to Sister Yun. So it was a surprise to me when 5 days later the boss of the salon I worked for came to me and said: “Yixin, Yun has asked me to pray for you. In fact, I don’t know how to pray but I’ll do my best …” On hearing this I immediately realized that Sister Zhu had already told Sister Yun about my investigation into Almighty God’s work of the last days. I felt that Sister Zhu hadn’t behaved very virtuously, and I was a bit annoyed with her. I felt that she’d deceived me and sold me out, and I started to feel that even my brothers and sisters in the Lord were untrustworthy … but just as I was thinking this my boss, without consulting me about anything, got the attention of the dozen or so colleagues in the salon and told them that I wasn’t a good Christian and that I was walking a deviant path. She went on to say many things in condemnation of The Church of Almighty God. This all happened so quickly that I didn’t know how to react, and I got very upset. So I prayed silently to myself: “Lord, they’ve heard that You have returned so why aren’t they at all interested in investigation? Why are they only listening to online rumors and saying all that stuff that opposes and condemns You? Almighty God has expressed so many truths, so doesn’t that prove that Almighty God is Your return? Why are they so opposed to my believing in Almighty God? Could it be me who’s wrong? Oh Lord, I don’t know what to do. Please lead me and guide me …” At a later date, I told Brother Lin what had happened that day. Brother Lin found two passages of Almighty God’s words for me: “Satan is constantly devouring the knowledge that men hold of Me in their hearts, and constantly, with teeth bared and claws unsheathed, engaged in the last throes of its death struggle. Do you wish to be captured by its deceitful stratagems at this moment? Do you wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to cut off your own life? Surely you are not still waiting for Me to dispense My leniency one more time? Seeking to know Me is the key thing, but neither should you neglect to pay attention to actual practice. I am revealing insights to you directly in My words, in hopes that you will be able to submit to My guidance …” (“The Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When God is working in the flesh, He is actually doing battle with Satan in the flesh. When He works in the flesh, He is doing His work in the spiritual realm, and makes the whole of His work in the spiritual realm real on earth” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brother Lin fellowshiped about these passages in this way: “We can see from God’s words that what happened to you was a spiritual battle and you came up against Satan’s testing. In the last days, God has incarnated in human flesh in order to speak and save people. From God’s words we can understand truths, know God’s work, know God’s disposition, and totally forsake Satan and go back to God. We can attain salvation and be gained by God. Satan always follows behind God in order to try and disrupt and disturb God’s work. Satan uses whoever it can to create rumors to slander and condemn Almighty God, the Christ of the last days, and prevent us from coming before God. Religious leaders and atheists in positions of power are the embodiment of Satan, and every time that God incarnates on earth to do His work they resist and condemn Him, disrupt His work, and prevent people from following Him. When the Lord Jesus did His work, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of that time were charged by Satan to do everything they could to condemn and oppose His work. They spread false rumors, made false testimonies, and slandered and blasphemed Him. They claimed that the Lord Jesus was exorcising demons through Beelzebub; they said that the Lord Jesus was inciting local citizens to not pay taxes to Caesar; they bribed some soldiers to give false testimonies stating that the Lord Jesus had not resurrected and that His body had been secretly taken by His disciples. When God of the last days incarnated to do His new work, the Chinese Communist government, who are attempting to turn China into atheist territory, along with many pastors and elders who want to protect their own livelihoods and status, began to spread countless lies and false testimonies about Almighty God and The Church of Almighty God in order to deceive, frighten and prevent people from investigating and accepting God’s work of the last days. A lot of people who don’t understand the truth, and are unable to discern properly, blindly believe these rumors and do Satan’s bidding by spreading these fallacies that disturb others and prevent them from accepting the true way. Such people become evil accomplices of Satan who oppose God. So, we must see through the atheist Communist government, which is the enemy of God, and see through those pastors, elders, and wicked people who prevent people from investigating God’s work, as they are the Pharisees of our times. We must see that all the rumors on the Internet are part of Satan’s scheme to prevent us from returning to God. If we want to investigate the true way, then we should only listen to God’s words and definitely must not listen to Satan’s rumors. This is how we will be able to stand on God’s side during the spiritual battle and bear testimony for God, and not be grabbed by Satan …” Brother Lin’s fellowshiping helped me to understand the origins of the rumors. I now understood that the purpose of Satan in spreading rumors and disrupting and putting obstacles in my way is to prevent me from gaining God’s salvation of the last days. After thinking more about it, I realized that these people who were attacking me had never read Almighty God’s words, had never investigated Almighty God’s work of the last days, and were merely blindly listening to rumors and resisting and condemning Almighty God. Their minds have been completely messed up by Satan and they are doing Satan’s bidding and resisting God without even knowing it. A wise person would first meticulously read Almighty God’s words and conduct a thorough investigation before coming to a conclusion. But faith in God is a big thing, and I also was afraid of taking the wrong path, so I still had some worries in my heart. After getting home from work, I prayed to the Lord with tears in my eyes: “Oh Lord, I am very lost and confused, but I don’t want to become a blind believer in what others say. I want to act according to Your intentions, so please lead me and guide me.” I fell asleep, and sometime in the middle of the night I had a vague, sleepy feeling that something was pressing down on me. I struggled to open my eyes but couldn’t. Realizing that struggling was pointless, I hurriedly shouted: “Save me Lord Jesus!” I shouted this twice but it didn’t work. I could still feel the thing pressing down on me. I was at a loss about what to do, and got very scared. Suddenly, I thought about Almighty God, and so shouted twice, “Almighty God! Almighty God!”, and then woke up immediately. After waking, I was still a bit shaken, and it took a while before I fully gathered my wits. I thought about why calling out the name of the Lord Jesus hadn’t worked while calling out “Almighty God!” had woken me up straight away. Then I remembered that Brother Lin had told me that God has a name for each era and after God does the new work for each era the Holy Spirit protects the name for the new era. So for believers to gain God’s commendation, care, and protection they must pray using the name of God for the new era. In this era, the Lord Jesus has already returned and is using the name Almighty God to end the Age of Grace and open up the Age of Kingdom. During the last days, God’s name is Almighty God, so when we pray we must use this name otherwise God won’t heed us. It was then that I realized that my nightmare hadn’t been spontaneous, but was God listening to my prayers and giving me proof that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. Thank God! After realizing this, my heart swelled with strength and I now had the confidence to face the verbal attacks from my boss and colleagues. The next day at work my boss once again told everyone that I was going down the wrong path and also said a lot of things that blasphemed Almighty God. Listening to her made me really angry, so I asked her: “What ‘evil’ are you talking about? We are believers in God. Why don’t you investigate the words and work of Almighty God and seek God’s intention instead of blindly condemning and blaspheming Him? Do you really fear and revere God in your heart?” After saying all this I left in a huff. A short while later my boss came looking for me and told me that I should not have lost my temper with her. I said: “I didn’t want to lose my temper but you shouldn’t have said those things. Words that blaspheme, resist, and condemn God are not things that we believers in God should ever say, because they offend Him. Looking from your angle, it may seem that you are doing a good deed by urging me to change my mind. But I’m an adult, and I think things through rationally. The issue of whether or not Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus is something that I’ve sought knowledge about and investigated. It’s not something that I just decided to believe in willy-nilly. Please respect my decision, and don’t try and restrict me or prevent me from seeking knowledge about and investigating God’s work of the last days.” My boss then asked me if I’d watched any of the TV programs or read any of the rumors on the Internet about the Church of Almighty God. I replied: “Negative stuff always comes from Satan. What I read are the words of Almighty God, and what I watch are the films, choir videos, and MVs produced by The Church of Almighty God. I don’t watch what you watch. The Church of Almighty God doesn’t allow its members to do wicked deeds, which is exactly the opposite of what you lot are saying. Almighty God demands that we become honest and rational people who have humanity and good consciences.” After listening to what I had to say my boss was at a loss for words, and so she left looking like she had no idea how to deal with me. After that my boss started picking on me and even started saying sarcastic things about me. I knew that she was trying to force me to abandon my faith in Almighty God. One day, she suddenly said to me: “Yun wants to talk with you when she returns from her business trip.” When I heard that I felt a bit upset and a bit nervous. I thought: “She will definitely try to prevent me from believing in Almighty God. I became a Christian after listening to Sister Yun preaching and she’s a VIP customer in our beauty salon, so if I offend her then the boss won’t be happy and I’ll have even more problems getting along with her in the future.” As the day of Sister Yun’s return got closer I got more nervous and afraid. One afternoon, I was sitting in the VIP room praying to God. I’d just finished my prayer when my phone rang. It was my boss: “Yun is coming soon. Give her a facial.” I wasn’t at all keen to do it but there was no way I could refuse. When I got back to the facial room I put on a recording of hymns of God’s word in order to calm myself in God’s presence. While listening to the hymn “I Am Determined to Love God With My Heart” I heard these lines: “I wish for You to open the eyes of my spirit, I wish for Your Spirit to touch my heart, so that before You I am divested of all passive states, and unconstrained by any person, matter, or thing; my heart I completely lay bare before You, such that my entire being is devoted before You, and You may test me however You wish. Now, I give no thought to my prospects, nor am I bound by death. Using my heart that loves You, I wish to seek the way of life.” God’s words gave me confidence, and gradually I began to feel calmer and more grounded. That’s right: I shouldn’t be restrained by any person, matter, or object when choosing the true way. Since I’ve already decided that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus then I should go with it without the slightest doubt or hesitation. How my boss sees me and treats me and how my relationship with Sister Yun develops is all in God’s hands. I should rid myself of my worries and abide by God’s arrangements. So, I went to face the situation with confidence. A few minutes later, Sister Yun arrived. I prayed silently to God: “Almighty God, I’m afraid that she’ll say something that blasphemes, resists, condemns and attacks You. I’m also afraid that she’ll hassle me. Please help and protect me, God.” At first, Sister Yun only talked about her business trip to Israel and how successful it had been. Eventually, however, she brought up the topic in a roundabout way: “During the last days there are lots of false Christs and false prophets who try to deceive people …” I didn’t want to hear her say anything that would blaspheme Almighty God so I interrupted her by saying: “Yes, the Lord reminded us in this way so we can guard against those false Christs who imitate the Lord Jesus by manifesting signs and miracles. But the Lord’s intention is to make us develop discernment, not to have us refuse to listen to all people who are spreading the gospel of the Lord’s return. The Lord Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (Jhn 10:27). The Lord will lead us along the true path, so we shouldn’t just worry about being misled by the false Christs of the last days but also consider the Lord’s return during the last days. As long as we seek the Lord then we’ll find the manifestation of the Lord because He has told us that God’s sheep can hear God’s voice.” But Sister Yun didn’t pay any attention to what I said and just repeated the stuff about false Christs deceiving people during the last days and that I should be more careful. Then she said more things about how bad The Church of Almighty God is. I ignored her, and when she saw that I wasn’t going to reply she stopped talking. But my boss still wasn’t happy about me believing in Almighty God and continued to pick on me and attack me in front of my colleagues. During this period, the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God were always there to fellowship and share God’s words with me so that I could understand God’s intentions. They also told me that God is holy, and that when God created mankind He gave us free will, the freedom to choose. They said that God never forces anyone to do anything but only expresses truths that provide sustenance for us and help us to understand His intentions and differentiate good from evil. It’s similar to when God told Adam and Eve that they could eat fruit from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because if they did they would surely die! That showed that God is essentially benevolent in giving mankind the freedom to choose, and it is only Satan that controls and coerces people, because Satan is evil. So, accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days is each individual’s decision, and nobody is forced into it. The brothers and sisters found a passage of God’s words: “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. … When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The communications with them helped me to understand this passage a little bit better. I now understood that no matter what happened to me, it was always sanctioned by God. God was using these situations to test me to see if I had real faith in Him and to make me develop discernment. God wanted me to see clearly what comes from Him and what comes from Satan, and the trials were to make me learn to rely on God and look up to Him, bear witness for God like Job, and thus humiliate Satan. With the leadership from God’s words and the assistance of the brothers and sisters, I was able to build a clearer picture of the true way. I was certain that I wasn’t on the wrong path by following Almighty God but was following the footprints of the Lamb. The brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God were fellowshiping truths and God’s intentions with me. They were bearing witness to God’s work of saving mankind, and to all that God has and is. They never tried to force me to believe anything, but instead helped me to learn how to discern each kind of voice so that I could make my own decisions freely. But Sister Yun and my boss believed in all the online rumors, and didn’t hesitate to say anything that resisted and blasphemed God in order to coerce me and prevent me from accepting God’s work of the last days. When I didn’t accept their point of view they started to bully me, mock me, and verbally attack me. But I saw clearly that everything they said and did came from Satan, because bullying, coercing, and attacking people are actions that derive from Satan. I thanked God for giving me the ability to see at a glance who comes from God and who from Satan. I now felt that there was brightness in my life and that a heavy weight had been lifted from my heart. I was so grateful to God for incarnating in human form during the last days and expressing so many truths so that every time I was harassed I was able to turn to God’s words and understand His intentions and find a way of practice. I felt so fortunate that through the sustenance provided by God’s words I was able to grow, inch by inch! At first, I thought that the whole affair had come to a conclusion, so I was surprised when a new round of attacks started. I had just finished giving a customer a beauty treatment when my boss came and took me to the room next door. As we got to the door she told me that Sister Yun was in there waiting for me. I went in, and when I saw that Sister Yun and Pastor Liu and his wife were there I immediately got a bit nervous as I didn’t know what they were going to do. I quickly said a silent prayer to God: “God, they’ve come to talk with me again. Please protect me and help me by giving me wise responses to what they say.” After praying, I no longer felt nervous, and I wondered if they had come to force me to leave Almighty God. And if I refused to, would I lose my job? But then I remembered that everything was in God’s hands and that God’s arrangements were always suitable, so even if I lost my job I wouldn’t leave Almighty God. The pastor asked me when I first started believing in the Lord, and then talked about many things to do with faith in the Lord. Then he asked me: “Do you know about The Church of Almighty God? Are you still in touch with them? …” Then he said many things that blasphemed Almighty God and falsely incriminated The Church of Almighty God. I got angry listening to him, and said: “Why is it that The Church of Almighty God that you are talking about is nothing like the one that I have been in contact with and know something about? We have all seen the stuff online. What I’ve seen are the words of Almighty God and the films and videos produced by The Church of Almighty God, as well as the written testimonies of the brothers and sisters. I’ve also looked at some of the negative propaganda, but all I saw was a lot of baseless rumors and lies. No matter which rumor it is they are unable to produce a shred of believable evidence to back it up. They either make things up from scratch or take an existing falsehood and embellish it and then spread it around more. These are all Satan’s lies, so I don’t believe them and have absolutely no interest in them. How is it that you only believe negative rumors but never even look at the words of God on The Church of Almighty God’s website? None of you read Almighty God’s words, nor do you investigate God’s work of the last days, but you just condemn it as you please. Is that the right thing to do?” The pastor didn’t answer my question directly but instead said: “The Church of Almighty God has expanded very quickly, and they’ve been actively going to other churches to steal their members. If you insist on believing in Almighty God, then we won’t be nice to you. We’ll tell all of the brothers and sisters in our church that you now believe in Almighty God, so the next time you come to our congregation they’ll think you’ve come to steal them away and they’ll give you the cold shoulder.” He then tried to use some false testimonies to scare me but nothing he said affected me. In fact, I felt even more emboldened and said: “This stuff that you’re talking about, did you personally see it happen? Or have you done a thorough investigation and got solid evidence? What proof do you have that the members of The Church of Almighty God did all this? Where’s the evidence? You’re just taking the rumors and false testimonies spread by the CCP and religious community to condemn Almighty God and falsely incriminate The Church of Almighty God. Aren’t you worried that you’ll be condemned by the Lord, just like the Pharisees were?” I also said: “The Lord Jesus predicted this about His return, ‘But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ (Luk 17:25). What does this mean? At present, the whole religious community and the atheist Communist government of China are trying their best to resist and condemn Almighty God’s work of the last days. Doesn’t this fulfill the Lord’s prediction? Isn’t the resistance to and condemnation of Almighty God the same as the Jewish Pharisees’ resistance to and condemnation of the Lord Jesus? The Pharisees resisted the Lord Jesus and denied that He was the returning Messiah, but the Lord’s disciples were able to recognize that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah foretold in the prophecies and so they followed Him. In our time, we have the same situation. The pastors and elders don’t accept Almighty God’s work of the last days, and even resist and condemn Almighty God, but the good sheep in the various denominations are able to recognize the voice of God in the words of Almighty God. Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus, but how is it so? The Lord Jesus said that God’s sheep are able to hear God’s voice, and that God’s return would separate the sheep from the goats. I’ve only believed in the Lord for a short time, and I don’t understand the Bible all that well, so I don’t know how the Lord will separate the sheep from the goats. Pastor Liu, you’ve been to seminary and have been a pastor for many years now. Perhaps you’d be so good as to explain it to me?” Pastor Liu looked at me angrily, because he clearly didn’t know how to explain this to me. All he said was: “We believers gain eternal life because we have been baptized.” So I said: “What? Gaining eternal life is that easy?! So everyone who has come to your church and been baptized will enter the kingdom of heaven? Does that accord with what the Lord said? Are they all people who treat the Lord with true hearts? Do they all abide by the will of the heavenly Father? Every sermon in the church mentions giving offerings, but the Lord never said that giving offerings is the same as loving the Lord. So what is loving the Lord?” Pastor Liu replied: “Reading the Bible a lot, praying a lot is loving the Lord.” Although I didn’t know what truly loving the Lord meant, I knew that it was a load of baloney to say that reading the Bible and praying is loving the Lord. The Pharisees read the Bible and did plenty of praying, but can it be said that they loved the Lord? If they loved the Lord, then why did they blaspheme and condemn Him, and nail Him up on a cross? It seemed to me that the pastor didn’t understand what loving the Lord meant at all. Pastors may well understand biblical knowledge and theological theories but that doesn’t mean that they understand truths! But I could only blame myself for not previously having enough discernment and holding them in too high esteem. When I realized this, I didn’t see the point of continuing to debate with Pastor Liu, so I stopped talking. But the pastor had more to say: “Do you know that they say that the Lord has returned incarnated as a female to do the work?” On hearing this I felt that I had to reply: “What form the Lord takes when He returns and incarnates to do the work is God’s business. We are just tiny, tiny beings created by God, so how can we make rules for God’s work? In the Bible it says: ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?’ (Rom 11:34). Almighty God’s words say: ‘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?’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). God is the Creator of all things and God’s wisdom exceeds everything, so however God does His work He doesn’t need to check in with us humans first!” Seeing that they didn’t have the slightest interest in seeking and investigating God’s work of the last days, but only wanted to nitpick and look for chances to attack and blaspheme God and prevent me from accepting God’s work of the last days, I decided not to continue the conversation. My final question to them was: “Did you ever think about how your coming to the salon today would affect my work here?” To my utter surprise, the pastor lied to my face: “Your boss doesn’t know what this conversation is about.” If I’d heard him say that before I would have been very shocked that this pastor—a man who preaches and instructs people and knows the Bible so well—could tell such bare-faced lies. But after having just heard them make up lies that blasphemed God, I wasn’t at all surprised. It was obviously quite normal for them to tell lies. I couldn’t help but think of the Lord Jesus’ words: “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (Jhn 8:44). In my heart I said these words to God: “Thank You, God! You have allowed this event to happen to me today so that I can see that they have no understanding of the truths. You have let me see that they are liars who brazenly spread falsehoods and deceive people. They’re hypocritical Pharisees.” I had nothing more to say to them and wanted to leave immediately. Seeing that I was in no mood to continue the conversation, Sister Yun said to me: “Yixin, you should think about your children and parents.” I replied: “They are all doing well and we all feel peaceful and secure. I believe in the one true God, the Creator of all things. Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. God is the God that loves and saves people, and with God’s blessings and leadership my family will do better and better.” The pastor and Sister Yun wanted to pray for me, but I refused. So Pastor Liu finished off with a warning: “If you don’t leave The Church of Almighty God then you’ll be ostracized from our church!” I thought: “And what is the church like these days? It’s like the temple when the Lord Jesus first started His work: a den of thieves. The gatherings don’t provide any spiritual sustenance, so what is there for me to miss?” I’ve already accepted God’s work of the last days, and I’ve followed the footprints of the Lamb and come before God’s throne. I’m being provided with the living water of life issued by Christ and I’m enjoying face-to-face nurturing and shepherding from God. Nobody is more fortunate than me, and The Church of Almighty God is now my true home. Almighty God’s words say: “Everything that has been arranged now is for the purpose of training you so that you may grow in your lives, to make your spirit keen and sharp, to open your spiritual eyes and recognize the things that come from God” (Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning). I’m grateful to God for taking pity on me and using the disturbance of religious forces to make me develop discernment. I saw how full of lies those pastors are, how they resist and condemn God’s work of the last days, how they don’t have a shred of fear or reverence for God. I saw how their congregations cling to their sinful ways, how they blindly follow the trends and fashions of the material world, how they deceive each other, and how lacking in piety they are. All this convinced me that the religious community no longer had the work of the Holy Spirit, that it was smothered in darkness and under Satan’s control. At the same time, I was able to see that the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God are seeking truths and knowledge of God through the guidance in God’s words. When they encounter difficulties, they seek to use God’s words to resolve their problems and then it is wholly the truth, God’s words, and the Holy Spirit wielding power. Almighty God’s words cannot be taken back, and what is said will be done. Nobody can stand in the way of what God wants to accomplish, and this is an undeniable fact! Almighty God’s words are indeed truths, and Almighty God is the manifestation of the Lord of creation. I’m now willing to follow Almighty God for the rest of my life! source: A Small Blade of Grass That Grew Among the Brambles in Spiritual Battles ![]() I Have Come to Know How to Distinguish Between the True Christ and False Christs Chuanyang, United States In 2010, the winter in the United States made me feel very cold. In addition to the bitter cold from the combination of wind and snow, what was even more serious was that my heart had been invaded and attacked by a “cold wave.” For those of us in the interior decorating business, winter is the hardest time of the year, because once winter starts there is very little work. We even face losing our jobs. This year was my first year in the United States, I was fresh off the boat, and I felt that everything was unfamiliar to me. Renting an apartment, finding a job, nothing was easy, and my days were full of hardships. It got to the point to where I was borrowing money to rent an apartment. Being faced with this kind of predicament put me in a bout of sadness, and I felt like the days were really hard to bear. At night I faced the ice-cold wall, with so much pain in me that all I wanted to do was cry. One day, as I walked around listlessly in my state of sadness someone who was spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus handed out a card to me, and said: “The Lord Jesus loves you, brother, come to our church and listen to the Lord’s gospel!” I thought to myself: I guess there’s nothing I have to do right now, so there’s no harm in me going to listen to this, I might as well, it’s something to do. So like that, I stepped into the church. I heard the pastor read aloud the Lord Jesus saying: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jhn 3:16). When I heard this sentence I felt deeply moved by the Lord’s love. I cannot clearly explain the kind of feeling it was, but I could feel that the Lord’s love was real, and that it surpassed the love of the entire secular world. My grief-laden heart felt greatly consoled. As a result, I decided to dedicate myself to putting trust in the Lord Jesus. Afterward I started enthusiastically participating in meetings every Sunday, and because of my enthusiastic pursuit I quickly became a co-worker in the church. After serving in the church for two years, I felt more and more like the Lord was not with me. I didn’t feel enlightened when reading the Bible, I didn’t feel moved through prayer, and I didn’t feel like I was being provided with anything through meetings. In addition, I saw how everyone in the church lived in a condition where they sinned in the day only to confess in the evening, and how everyone, whether pastors, elders or ordinary believers, was bound by sin, having jealous disputes, creating factions, fighting over fame and profit, and clinging to worldly things. All kinds of unlawful behaviors were becoming more and more apparent. I also saw that people in society were becoming more depraved with each passing day, they were becoming more and more evil and more and more selfish, with disasters springing up all over the world—earthquakes, famines and epidemics were constantly breaking out. All kinds of signs made it clear that the last days were fast approaching, and that the Lord Jesus would soon return. The pastors and elders often talked about these Bible verses to us: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:23-24). And in earnest, they talked about how in the last days false Christs would appear, they told us that by all means we must not listen to strangers preach, and they even said that besides those in our church, the believers in the other denominations and sects were all wrong, that we must be sure to carefully distinguish this so as not to allow ourselves to be deceived and walk down the wrong path. Since I often heard the pastors preach in this way I told myself: I cannot deviate from the path in this crucial moment of the Lord’s imminent arrival, I must be sure to keep my faith in the Lord. One day in mid-September, 2016, I received an unexpected phone call from Sister Zhu. Sister Zhu was a long-time believer and an active pursuer of the truth in our church, and we had always been on good terms, so I was very happy to get a phone call from her. I listened as Sister Zhu spoke to me excitedly: “Brother, I have some good news to tell you, the Lord Jesus has returned, He is Almighty God! This time God has been incarnated to carry out the work of judging man, cleansing man and saving man …” I was somewhat surprised to hear these words, and I thought to myself: “Has Sister Zhu held on to the way of the Lord? Has she converted to another religion? How could she be so foolish? Haven’t the pastors and elders repeatedly emphasized that false Christs will emerge in the last days? Why hasn’t she listened? If we believe in the wrong thing in this crucial moment when the Lord is soon to come, then won’t we have practiced our faith in vain for these past many years?” As I thought about this I nervously asked Sister Zhu: “Sister, in the Bible it says that in the last days there will be false …” but without waiting for me to finish speaking, Sister Zhu cut in: “Brother, the Lord Jesus warned us to ‘Judge not,’ and we must not pass judgment as we please, so as not to be condemned by God.” The sister’s warning made me think of these words of the Lord: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned” (Luk 6:37). I didn’t dare pass judgment anymore. However, facing such a big event as the return of the Lord, Sister Zhu and I each had our own opinions, and we both wanted to persuade the other, so we took turns trying to make our points, but in the end neither of us could persuade the other. For over a month after this Sister Zhu gave me repeated phone calls to spread the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God, but I always refused to accept it, and even kept urging her to come back and continue believing in the Lord. Later, I saw that she was very firm in her belief in Almighty God, that she would not waver in the least in her faith, so I had to let it go, and stopped trying to persuade her. I said: “From now on, I’ll still believe in my Lord Jesus and you can believe in your Almighty God, and we will not get in each other’s way!” After that, whenever Sister Zhu gave me a phone call giving me testimony of God’s work in the last days, I would look for an excuse to avoid her. I kept on refusing to accept the work of God in the last days, but this did not stop her from spreading the gospel to me. One morning in November shortly after 5 am, before daylight had even broken, someone rang the doorbell at my home. I opened the door and saw Sister Zhu, and with her were a brother and a sister. When I saw Sister Zhu I felt conflicted. I thought to myself: “Have I not explained this to you? How could you still travel such a far distance to come to my home? Regardless of what you say I’m not going to believe in it.” In spite of our many years of getting to know each other as members of the church, I said some unpleasant words to them and didn’t let them come in. When Sister Zhu saw that I was so determined in my approach, a downcast look showed on her face and in a voice choked with emotion she said to me: “Brother, the reason I have come to spread the gospel of the kingdom to you is because I have been moved by the Holy Spirit. If it weren’t for God’s love, I wouldn’t have been able to put my feelings aside and spread the gospel to you time and again. Brother, the Lord Jesus really has returned. Right now the Holy Spirit is working on those who have received God’s new work. If it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit, how could anyone have this much faith and willpower to come to spread the gospel to you? You too have seen the current situation of our church, our brothers and sisters all live bound by sin, lacking the strength to break free. God has come this time to express words to judge man, and to carry out the work of ridding us of sin and cleansing us. If we miss God’s work in the last days we will not have another opportunity to attain God’s salvation.” The sister’s sincere words moved me and somewhat softened my heart. In particular, when she was talking about the church’s situation, the facts I had seen within the churches came to my mind one after another: In the first church I served at, the pastors said one thing and did another, and whoever contributed the most money was welcomed by these pastors with smiling faces, who would concern themselves with how they were doing, but anyone who didn’t contribute very much money was ignored and looked down upon by them. I really couldn’t bear to see this happen, so I went to the second church. In this church I saw the co-workers excluding one another, getting into jealous disputes, and creating factions, and they were no different from people in the secular world. This made me feel disappointed. At first I wanted to move to yet another church, but a brother told me that he had already changed many churches, and that no matter where he went it was always the same desolation and darkness…. As I thought about this I also thought of the various behaviors I have exhibited while living in sin, which made me somewhat waver in my heart: Could it be that the Lord Jesus truly has returned in the flesh to carry out the work of eradicating sin? At this time Sister Zhu continued speaking: “As far as whether or not Almighty God is the returned Lord, all you need to do to know this is read the word of Almighty God. At the time that the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, His disciples followed Him because they recognized through His word and His work that He was the coming Messiah. Today, in determining whether or not Almighty God is the Lord Jesus appearing to carry out His work, we must also determine this through the work and the word of Almighty God. If, after you read all of Almighty God’s words, you still believe that He isn’t the returned Lord then I will not force anything upon you, and I will stop spreading the gospel to you, because God has never forced anyone to receive His gospel.” After hearing Sister Zhu say this I hesitated for a moment, and thought to myself: I might as well read them and see which truths spoken in the words of Almighty God have made Sister Zhu so firmly believe in this. Thereupon, I opened the door and let Sister Zhu and the rest of them into my home. Sister Zhu introduced the others, and they were Sister Zhang Qing and Brother Liu Kaiming from The Church of Almighty God. Sister Zhu said: “Brother Chuanyang, since I accepted the last-days work of Almighty God, it has been several months. I have gone to The Church of Almighty God to check it out for myself. I have participated in their church life. Through personal experiences and through carefully investigating it, I have seen that The Church of Almighty God really is a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit, it is a genuine church, and it absolutely comes from God. We have been members of the church together for years, and as a co-worker in the church you ought to know better than I do about what’s going on within it now. The Holy Spirit stopped working in our church long ago, and this is a fact that everyone has accepted. The pastors cannot preach sermons that supply us with life, they only lecture on how to attack and be on guard against other Churches, telling us that we must keep the Lord’s name, that we will be saved if we do not leave the church, but really there is no basis in the word of the Lord for them to be acting in this way. They are doing so all in order to protect their status and keep their jobs, and they are not doing it for our lives. If they truly felt responsible for our lives then they ought to take the initiative in taking us in search of a church where the Holy Spirit is at work, rather than have us remain obstinately in a religious church where the Holy Spirit stopped working long ago, only to await our deaths by starvation or exhaustion.” After hearing this I thought to myself: “Sister Zhu’s words really do speak of what’s going on, the church today really does not have the work of the Holy Spirit, everything that the pastors and elders do really is not in consideration of the lives of the believers, and as I’ve stuck with this church over the years I’ve felt more and more like the Lord is not with us. I long ago felt withered and dark in my spirit, with nowhere to go.” Hearing her speak in this reasonable and well-grounded way, I felt I could no longer reject their visitation. At this time, Brother Liu who had come with her said, “Brother, the reason that the religious world is this desolate is because God has come to carry out new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit has progressed forward, but they have not caught up with the new work that God is doing. An even greater reason for this is that the pastors and elders have not obeyed the Lord’s commandments or put the Lord’s words into practice, and instead, they have led believers to follow the evil trends of the world, and even resist and condemn the new work of God. It’s just like when the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, the temple had been turned into a place where cattle, sheep and doves were sold and money was exchanged. Priests violated laws and offered animals with blemishes as sacrifices to deceive God, the Pharisees coveted wealth and enjoyed the spoils of their position, and other sins were committed. Even those who served God lived in sin, without the least bit of reverence for God in their hearts. This was enough to show that the Holy Spirit no longer worked in the temple, the work of the Holy Spirit had moved onward, and God’s work in the Age of Law had come to an end. The Lord Jesus had come to carry out the work of redemption on the foundation of the work of the Age of Law, and the Holy Spirit no longer worked in those who kept the name of Jehovah God and clung obstinately to the laws, and instead, the Holy Spirit had transferred His work to those who accepted the new work of the Lord Jesus. Since the presence of God was no longer in the temple, it became more and more desolate, until in the end it became a den of thieves. But the Lord Jesus’ disciples received the Lord’s salvation, they put into practice the Lord’s teachings, they had faith and strength to follow the Lord, they forsook their homes and abandoned their jobs in order to bear witness to and spread the Lord’s gospel, and they did not fear persecution and adversity. Wasn’t all of this the effect achieved in them by the work of the Holy Spirit? In the same way, today the return of the Lord signifies that the old age has come to an end and a new age has begun. The Holy Spirit has long ago stopped working in the churches of the Age of Grace; rather He has begun to work on those who have accepted God’s new work. This is fulfilling the prophecy 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’ (Amo 4:7). ‘Behold, the days come … 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 Jehovah’ (Amo 8:11). Almighty God also says: ‘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). ‘All of God’s work in the entire universe has focused on this group of people. He has devoted all His efforts to you and sacrificed all for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why I say, you are the fortunate. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, to you, in order to make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through you group of people. Therefore, you are those who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more the heirs of God’s glory’ (‘Is the Work of God So Simple as Man Imagines?’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘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). From these words of God we can see that the Holy Spirit has stopped working in the churches of the Age of Grace, so no matter how hard people try or what kind of man-made methods they use to revive the churches, it is of no use. The Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations are all the same, the spirits of their believers are parched and starved, their faith and their love are gradually growing cold, they are unable to hold on to the teachings of the Lord, and many of them are following the evil trends of the world, pursuing wealth and coveting worldly things. The churches have become places of desolation. On the other hand, the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God are people who have walked away from different denominations and sects and who come from different professions to accept the work of God in the last days. They are the wise virgins who, upon hearing the voice of God, have returned before His throne. They are receiving the supply of the living water of life that flows out of the throne of God, they are being shepherded and led by God Himself, and they are spreading and bearing witness to the gospel of the kingdom of God with one accord. They endure being ridiculed and slandered by the world, they endure the abuse and condemnation from the leaders of various denominations and sects, they are even beaten, and they endure being arrested, having their homes searched and their possessions confiscated, and being cruelly tortured and imprisoned by the CCP government. Still, they have faith, they have strength, they have love, and they are tenacious and unyielding as they follow Almighty God and bear witness to God’s work in the last days. It isn’t by their own strength that they are able to do so. These are all effects achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit! In addition, God’s will is to be sought for in His sending of a famine into the religious world, for His purpose in doing so is to compel those who truly believe in God and who thirst for the truth to break away from their religions, to break away from the deception and control of the antichrists in their religions, and to walk away from their religions and seek God’s footsteps and God’s appearance, accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and be cleansed and perfected by God, while simultaneously leaving those false believers in their religions and exposing and eliminating them, who seek bread to satisfy hunger and who do not believe in God with a true heart and instead adore men and follow men. In this way people will be classified according to their kinds. Is this not the wisdom and almightiness of God?” Listening to God’s words and this brother’s fellowship made me feel this was very real, and that it completely conformed to the truth. It felt like I had awoken from a dream, and I realized the source of the desolation of the various churches. Before I had only known that the Lord Jesus drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, saying that they had turned the temple into a den of thieves, but I had not known the reason that led to the temple being turned into a den of thieves. Only then did I know that it was because God was carrying out new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit had moved onward, which was being carried out on those who had accepted God’s new work, and therefore those who did not follow God’s new work lost the work of the Holy Spirit and lost reverence for God in their hearts, so that they did things that broke the law in the temple, turning it into a den of thieves. Knowing that this is what happened, I see that the reason today’s churches are desolate is the exact same as with the temple at that time! In this moment I finally saw how insensitive I had been. Although I had seen that from the pastors and elders to the ordinary believers all had been bound by sin, and that the church was brimming with lawlessness and iniquity, I still had not sought God’s will, nor had I sought the work of the Holy Spirit. I also had not paid any attention to listening to God’s voice, and as a result, I had been eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit without knowing that at all. I realized that I needed to carefully read the word of Almighty God. On that day, before Sister Zhu and the rest of them left they scheduled a time to come back and fellowship with me again, and they also left me with a copy of The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, which I was very happy to receive. Later, when I read The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, a book of Almighty God’s word, I saw that the word of Almighty God opened up a lot of mysteries, such as the three stages of work carried out by God to save mankind, the work of His judgment in the last days, the beauty of His kingdom, etc., which gave me a deeper understanding of God’s work. My parched spirit felt quenched, and the more I read this book the more I loved it. I had used to get up at 5:30 AM, but since I got a copy of The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, I started getting up at 4:30 to read the word of Almighty God, and I would ponder over Almighty God’s words, which made my heart feel so satisfied. One morning, as I was reading the chapter “Are You a True Believer of God?” I was really touched in my heart. Almighty God is the God who searches people’s hearts, and He has exposed our corrupt nature that we can never know by ourselves. That enabled me to see the real situation of my corruption by Satan. This was especially true when I read these words of Almighty God: “In any case, I say that all those who do not esteem the truth are all unbelievers and traitors of the truth. Such men shall never receive the approval of Christ. … You should understand that God does not belong to the world or any one person, but to all those who truly believe in Him, all those who worship Him, and all those who are devoted and faithful to Him.” While pondering over these words, I kept asking myself: Am I someone who truly believes in God? Is the truth what I esteem? What have I esteemed in these past years as I’ve believed in God? I thought about how I was the same as the majority of the brothers and sisters: On the outside I read the Bible and attended meetings, but I didn’t pay attention to experiencing and practicing the word of the Lord; rather I esteemed the sermons preached by pastors, and the letters in the Bible. I put my faith in the biblical knowledge and theological doctrines preached by these pastors. I never thought about whether or not what they preached actually contained the truth, or whether or not it conformed to the will of the Lord, and I certainly never used the Lord’s words to examine and measure what they were saying. I just believed whatever they preached. At that time, I realized: I really was so blind and ignorant that I blindly adored people! I thought back on the sermons from these pastors and elders. They were either sermons on giving offerings or ones about guarding against other denominations and sealing off the church, or they would just talk about the old things that had been spoken of for all those years. There was no new illumination, no new enlightenment, they had absolutely nothing to provide us with, nor could they solve the problem of our spirits being parched, and they certainly could not solve the issue of the church being in a state of desolation. This led to the brothers and sisters just going through the motions when they participated in meetings. During meetings some would chat, some would doze off, some would play on their phones…. I lived in this dark and desolate kind of church, but I did not know to seek God’s will, nor did I know to seek the work of the Holy Spirit. Apparently I was not someone who sought the truth or who truly believed in God. Almighty God says: “All those who do not esteem the truth are all unbelievers.” “God does not belong to the world or any one person, but to all those who truly believe in Him, all those who worship Him.” These words were so real, and they made me suddenly think about the Lord Jesus’ words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jhn 14:6). I understood: God is the truth, God carries out His work in order to give man the truth, the way and the life, and the people who truly believe in God pay attention to seeking the truth and obtaining the truth. As a believer in God, I did not pay attention to seeking the truth, so was I not being foolish in my faith? If this was the way I believed in God, then how could I receive God’s approval? The words of Almighty God edified and benefited me so greatly! The more I read the word of Almighty God, the more I felt that I was lacking in so many ways. As a result, except for when I had to work, I spent all of my spare time reading the word of Almighty God. In my heart I felt sure that this was the true way. But I still felt perplexed because of these words said by the Lord Jesus: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:23-24). I did not know what their intended meaning was, so I decided to seek it when Sister Zhu and the rest of them came again. Sister Zhu and the rest of them came by my house at the time we scheduled, and I said to Sister Zhang: “These past few days I’ve been reading a lot from the word of Almighty God, and I feel that every sentence of Almighty God’s words is the truth, and that it is really what I need. Before, Sister Zhu tried again and again to invite me to look into the work of Almighty God, but since pastors had preached about how false Christs would appear in the last days to deceive people, I refused to look into the true way, and now I truly regret feeling that way. However, this confusion in my mind has still not been resolved, so I want to seek for fellowship. The Lord Jesus said: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). How do you understand these words?” Sister Zhang said: “Thanks be to God! May God lead us in this fellowship! As for the question that our brother has raised, first we must understand what aim and meaning the Lord Jesus had when He said these words. The Lord Jesus told us that when He returned He would become flesh again as Christ, as the Son of man, and in this passage the Lord said that false Christs would also appear, showing signs and wonders to deceive people. That is to say, the next time that God appears in the flesh, these false Christs will also appear. From this we can see that the Lord said these words in order to tell us that we must distinguish these false Christs so as not to be deceived by them, and not to tell us to always lock our doors and refuse to listen to anyone who spreads the good news of the Lord’s arrival. It would be a mistake to act like this, and it would be a total misunderstanding of the Lord’s intention. The Lord Jesus already prophesied: ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Mat 25:6). ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Rev 3:20). ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (Jhn 10:27). The Lord’s words make it very clear that when the Lord returns, He will use His voice to call God’s sheep, and through His voice God’s sheep will recognize Him and return to Him. That is to say, whether or not we are able to meet the Lord when He returns depends on whether or not we are able to recognize God’s voice. If we do not make an effort to listen to God’s voice, and constantly refuse those who spread the gospel of the Lord’s return, then wouldn’t we easily shut the door on the Lord and leave Him outside? From the words of the Lord we see that the distinguishing characteristic of false Christs is to work signs and perform miracles. By emulating the work that the Lord Jesus has performed in the past, they work some signs and wonders, like healing the sick and casting out demons, to deceive man. However, false Christs are the embodiment of evil spirits, so regardless of what kind of signs they work, they cannot express any truth. This is absolute. The words of Almighty God make the expressions and substance of false Christs abundantly clear. Let us look at several passages from the word of Almighty God and you will understand. Almighty God said: ‘If in the last days a “God” the same as Jesus appeared, one who healed the sick, cast out demons, and was crucified for man, that “God,” though identical to the description of God in the Bible and easy for man to accept, would not, in its essence, be the flesh worn by the Spirit of God, but by an evil spirit. For it is the principle of God’s work never to repeat what He has already completed. And so the work of God’s second incarnation is different from the work of the first’ (‘The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things’ (‘Knowing God’s Work Today’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words make it very clear that false Christs are all evil spirits posing as Christ. Even though they call themselves God, they do not possess the least bit of the truth and certainly cannot carry out God’s work, since they do not have the substance of Christ. They are just able to follow on the heels of God to imitate the work that the Lord Jesus has already carried out, in order to deceive people. False Christs will never be able to bring the truth or a new path of practice to people. Everyone knows that all the knockoff products in this world are made by copying real products. False Christs are just the same, they heal the sick and cast out demons and perform some simple miracles to deceive people by copying the work carried out by the Lord Jesus, but there’s no way false Christs can perform such miracles as bringing the dead back to life and feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. So, anyone who calls themselves Christ, who says they are the Lord Jesus returned and who displays signs and wonders and heals the sick and casts out demons, these people are one hundred percent false Christs deceiving people. However, Christ is the incarnation of God Himself, He is the Spirit of God realized in the flesh, He has normal humanity and complete divinity, and He is absolutely God Himself. Almighty God said: ‘God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself’ (‘Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). So, only Christ can carry out God’s own work, only Christ can express the truth, only Christ can express God’s disposition and provide for man and shepherd man. And only Christ can carry out the work of redeeming and saving mankind, only He can bring an end to the old age and usher in a new age. Also, God’s work is always new and never old, and God never repeats the same work, so, every time that Christ comes to carry out work He will always bring new work, expressing God’s disposition and what He has and is. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to carry out work, He ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace, and He delivered the sermons that enabled people to confess their sins and repent, and He taught people to love their enemies and, among other things, to be humble, be patient and forgive others. The Lord Jesus revealed to man God’s loving and merciful disposition. Almighty God has come in the last days, and in the same way, He has ended the Age of Grace and ushered in the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out the work of judging man and saving man with His words on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, giving us all the truths we need to be cleansed and attain salvation, providing us with the path that shows us how to rid ourselves of sin and attain salvation, and expressing the righteous, majestic and wrathful disposition of God. Through the work and words of Almighty God, we absolutely are able to recognize that Almighty God is God incarnate and that He is God Himself appearing among men in the last days.” After listening to God’s words and the fellowship from this sister, I felt like I had awoken from a dream, and that I finally understood how to distinguish between the true Christ and false Christs. This made me feel both happy and ashamed; I saw the pitifulness of myself as someone without the truth. I thought about why time and again I had refused the work of God in the last days. It was because I feared that I might be deceived by false Christs, with the result that I rejected the true Christ like someone not eating for fear of choking. When the Lord returned and knocked on my door I refused to listen to the voice of God. Time and again I shut the door and left the Lord outside. But God did not deal with me based on my transgressions, He did not give up on saving me, but rather He moved these brothers and sisters to come to my home to spread the gospel. God really did never leave me, God’s love really was so great! When I thought about how I had decided that everyone who witnessed for the returned Lord was preaching a false Christ because of the words I believed from pastors, how I had erroneously understood the word of the Lord, and how I had forsaken, condemned and resisted Almighty God, while believing that the conceptions I held on to were right, I felt that I had really been quite ridiculous! If I hadn’t read the word of Almighty God and listened to the fellowships of these brothers and sisters on how to differentiate between the true Christ and false Christs, then I would have never been able to distinguish between the true Christ and false Christs, and I would have only been deceived by the words of pastors and elders, and followed them in their resistance and refusal of God, thereby losing this extremely rare opportunity to attain God’s salvation. As I thought about this, I said to Sister Zhu and the others, “Through listening to the word of Almighty God and your fellowships I can distinguish between the true Christ and false Christs. Now I am convinced that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, and I am willing to receive the work of Almighty God in the last days.” After participating in the church life, I saw that the brothers and sisters understood many truths, and that I was quite lacking compared to them. I thought to myself: I must have Sister Zhu and the rest of them fellowship with me more on the word of God and help me so that I will more quickly understand the truth. As a result I discussed this with Sister Zhu, asking her if they could have fellowship meetings in my home, and she agreed right away. After this we gathered together every week to read the word of God and fellowship about the truth. I gradually came to have more and more knowledge of the words of God and understand more and more truths. I could feel in my heart that these words were the expressions of the truth. In that moment, I thought about the words the Lord Jesus had said: “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 felt all the more moved, and I saw that these words of the Lord had all come about as predicted. The word of Almighty God is “what the Spirit says to the churches.” Almighty God is in the process of guiding man to understand and gain entry into all truth. Only by accepting God’s work in the last days and only by accepting the truths expressed by God can you be cleansed, attain salvation and become someone who is after God’s heart. It was the word of Almighty God that brought me back to the house of God; that brought me before the throne of God. Now, every day I have God’s words to provide for me, guide me, bring me peace and happiness, and make me feel steadfast and brightened. I am willing to do all that I can to pursue the truth and follow Almighty God to the very end. All the glory be to Almighty God! source: I Have Come to Know How to Distinguish Between the True Christ and False Christs in Spiritual Battles ![]() God’s Word Leads Step by Step to Victory Yili, USA I was born in a Chinese Christian family, and my grandmother always used to take me to the church for gatherings and to sing hymns in praise of God when I was young…. After I grew up I obtained some grace of the Lord and experienced some of the Lord’s deeds, and I felt even more that the Lord is trustworthy. The Lord’s love for people is the truest, and the Lord’s word has authority and power and can give people hope. Whenever I would sing hymns, pray to the Lord, and read the word of the Lord, I would feel especially steady and tranquil in my heart. I came to the USA in 2007, and was baptized at church in October of 2010, when I began my service. At that time, my heart was impassioned. Because my house was far away from the church, I had to get up at 5:00 to take the subway there. But I felt a sweetness in my heart and that as long as I could satisfy God then suffering these hardships would be worth it. I took part in everything in the church, big or small, and I gained a lot of enlightenment from reading the Bible. But after a few years, without knowing why, when I listened to pastors I would doze off. I didn’t get any clear enlightenment from reading the Bible, and my spirit often sank down into weakness. When the pastor preached, I thought it was the same old cliches, without any new light. Every time I was at a gathering, as soon as it was over, the brothers and sisters would start chatting about things that had nothing to do with believing in the Lord. Some would be selling insurance, some would act as matchmakers, and still others talked about where they were going to go on vacation…. Seeing all this, I couldn’t help but be reminded of what was recorded in the Bible about how at the end of the Age of Law, when Jesus came to carry out His work, the Jews were doing business in the temple selling oxen and sheep and doves. When Jesus saw this, he overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the stools of those selling doves. He reprimanded them for having turned a temple for worshiping God into a den of thieves. Seeing the churches of today having become just like the temple was at that time was something that especially caused me to feel pain and helplessness in my heart. I was also perplexed and couldn’t understand how the church could have changed like this. For this reason, I would often come into the presence of God and lament bitterly, “Oh Lord! Where are You? The churches are already no longer churches, and most people just say they believe in You, but their hearts are actually very far from You. All that they do does not receive Your praise. Lord! Where are You? When will You come to receive us? …” Just when I was in pain and perplexed, I came to know a sister who bore witness for me about Almighty God’s work in the last days. Through the fellowship about the word of Almighty God, I finally understood that the desolation of the church was because of an increase of things within it that went against the law. Mainly, it was that the pastors and elders were not carrying out the word of the Lord, not observing the commandments of the Lord, leading the believers to deviate from the way of the Lord, following along with worldly trends, shunning and betraying the Lord, and bringing about the hatred and loathing of the Lord. Another thing was that God had long since become incarnate to do a new stage of work, which is none other than the work of judging and cleansing people in the last days. Subsequently, through God having done a new work, the work of the Holy Spirit has also transmitted from the church of the Age of Grace to the people keeping up with God’s new work. In the churches there is no work of the Holy Spirit anymore, so now there is every kind of appearance of disorder. The sisters went from speaking about the significance of God working to lead mankind in living their lives in the Age of Law of the Old Testament, to talking about the significance of the work of the Lord Jesus in being crucified for the salvation of mankind, and then to discussing the intended results of the judgment work of Almighty God in the last days for thoroughly cleansing and saving people. She spoke with remarkable thoroughness about each stage of God’s work, always on the basis of Scripture. After I heard this, I was convinced in both heart and mind, and right then and there I happily accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days. In August of 2012, I began to participate in the life of the church, and to fellowship about the word of God together with the brothers and sisters as well as to share knowledge of experience of God’s words. Gradually, the problem of my spirit being thirsty was resolved. In order to let more people be able to hear God’s voice quickly, and to return to the presence of the throne of God, after three months I began to preach the gospel to the brothers and sisters of my original church. I never thought I would face attacks from my family members who were believers and from the pastors and preachers of the church. Fortunately, having the guidance of the word of God, I gradually triumphed over Satan’s temptations, and I stood the witness for God. One day in January of 2013, I took Sister Liu of The Church of Almighty God to the house of a certain sister of my original church to spread the gospel to her. Just when we were fellowshiping, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law suddenly stormed in from outside. My mother-in-law pointed to Sister Liu and abused her loudly, saying: “What did you come here for? Why did you come to our church to steal our sheep? …” I was intimidated by this spectacle that erupted all of a sudden, and I didn’t know how my mother-in-law who had been a believer for many years and was always good-natured and humble could have suddenly changed like this. To let Sister Liu continue to bear witness to the work of God in the last days to this sister, I hurriedly urged my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law to leave the sister’s house with me. After returning home, my mother-in-law angrily said to me: “If not for Sister So-and-so’s mother calling me on the phone today, I still wouldn’t know that you went to her house to spread the gospel! The preacher in our church and the other workers all say that if you believe in Almighty God then you have moved away from the Lord Jesus. Our pastors have believed in the Lord for decades, so wouldn’t they understand better than you? You are too young, and you don’t have life experience. You’ve been confused and led astray from the path!” When I heard my mother-in-law’s words, I remembered the truth that I had seen during gatherings about the difference between following God and following man. Almighty God says: “For where there are the new words of God, there is the voice of God, and where there are the footsteps of God, there are the deeds of God. Where there is the expression of God, there is the appearance of God, and where there is the appearance of God, there exists the truth, the way, and the life” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Those who do not understand the truth always follow others: If people say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, say it is the work of the Holy Spirit; if people say it is the work of an evil spirit, then you, too, become doubtful, or also say it is the work of an evil spirit. You always parrot the words of others, and are incapable of distinguishing anything by yourself, nor are you able to think for yourself. This is someone without a position, who is unable to differentiate—such a person is a worthless wretch!” (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The word of God tells us clearly that in following God one must look for the truth, that only God can express the truth, and that only those who have found the One expressing the truth have found God. I saw the words expressed by Almighty God, knew the three stages of God’s work in saving mankind, and the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan. I learned what incarnation is, as well as the work of judgment in the last days, the work of the Holy Spirit, Satan’s work, God’s work, man’s work, and so on. All these words are the truth, and what they all speak of is God’s own work and God’s will with respect to mankind. They are God teaching us how to distinguish and forsake Satan and turn back to God. None of these truths can be expressed by a person. From when I was young until I grew up, I heard many pastors and elders preach, and not one of them was able to express these mysteries and truths. I was certain that the words of Almighty God are the voice of God. Almighty God is that “Spirit of truth” who was to come, and I am not wrong in following Almighty God. The word of God also allowed me to understand that on the road of following God, one must have their own views and can’t be a confused and undiscriminating person. Especially in investigating the true way, one must not just go along with what people around him are saying, otherwise it is easy to follow others in resisting and betraying God, and to lose the opportunity to receive salvation. The early Jewish people, because they did not care about being discriminating and didn’t have their own viewpoints, blindly believed what they heard from the priests and Pharisees, and they resisted and accused the Lord Jesus and suffered the punishment of God. My mother-in-law had not read the word of Almighty God, and had not sought to investigate the work of Almighty God, but had blindly and obediently listened to the words of the pastor. Isn’t this following man? By doing this, my mother-in-law is resisting and betraying God! Thinking of this, I said at once to my mother-in-law, “Mom, I have gone through ardent investigation of the work of Almighty God in the last days, and I have confirmed from the word of Almighty God that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Only then did I believe. In the Age of Law Jehovah proclaimed the laws for people to follow in their lives; in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus was crucified to save mankind; and in the last days, Almighty God expresses the truth and does the work of judging and cleansing people. He thoroughly rescues people from sin, allows people to break out of the bondage of their sinful nature, obtains people, and in the end brings people into a beautiful destination. These three stages of work are different kinds of work done in three different ages by one God, but the objective of the work was all for the salvation of mankind. In accepting the work of Almighty God in the last days, I was catching up with the Lamb’s footsteps, and I have not left the Lord Jesus behind. It’s like when at first the Lord Jesus came for work—those people who followed the Lord were not betraying Jehovah, but were catching up with the pace of God’s work. It is the same today, when Almighty God is doing a stage of work that judgment begins with the house of God on the basis of the work of the Lord Jesus. Accepting the work of God in the last days is catching up with pace of the newest stage of the work. How could it be betraying God? Mom, ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Rom 10:17). We can’t just blindly listen to and believe in the words of pastors, but must distinguish and investigate for ourselves, and only after that can we know what is true and what is false! Furthermore, at times when we do not understand, we must have hearts that revere God and not sin in our words, in order to avoid being like the Jews at that time in following the Pharisees and resisting God….” Just when I got to this point, my mother-in-law suddenly interrupted me and said, “Fine, enough! As early as 1997, I heard about The Church of Almighty God bearing witness that the Lord Jesus had already returned, and had done the work of judgment in the last days. But the pastors and elders all said this was untrue, and how couldn’t the priests and elders understand the Bible better than you? You shouldn’t believe anymore. If you persist in believing in Almighty God, we will sever relations, and my son will have to divorce you and you will have nothing but leaving the household….” My mother-in-law berated me loudly, and my sister-in-law was also there criticizing me. Since I felt afraid and bad, I continuously prayed to God: “God! You know my stature is small, and I am very scared right now in my heart. I am afraid that my mother-in-law will actually do the things she said. God! I am very weak, and I want You to give me more faith and strength, and let me be able to understand Your will, and to stand witness to You in this environment.” After praying, I felt a lot of peace in my heart, and I thought of the words in the Bible: “These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4). I also thought of verses in the hymn of God’s word: “Do not be discouraged. Do not be weak. God will reveal everything to you. The road to the kingdom is not that smooth, nothing is that simple! Blessings won’t be gained easily. Everyone will endure bitter trials and hardships, or your love to God won’t be stronger and you will not have true love for God. Circumstances, even they are minor, everyone needs to get past. It’s just that they differ to some degree. Circumstances are God’s blessings. How many of you have often knelt before God and asked for His blessings?” (“Bitterness Is God’s Blessing” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). At that time, I understood that when these things befall me it is with God’s permission. God was testing me through the words of my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, to see if I still had the faith to continue following God. The road to the kingdom is bumpy, but since I was firmly of the opinion that it was the right path, no matter what dangers and obstacles there might be I must carry on following God. This is a loyalty to God that a Christian must be held onto. Having understood God’s will, I was steadfast in my heart. I told myself: I can’t give up on pursuing the truth just because of some suffering of the flesh, and even more so I can’t miss the extremely rare opportunity for God’s salvation for the sake of harmony in my family. God’s word has given me faith, and I have established my will: No matter how my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law compel and obstruct me, I will never give up following God! Afterward, the matter of my belief in Almighty God reached the pastors, and when the pastors and preachers saw that the sisters of The Church of Almighty God and I had set up a stall in the street for spreading the gospel, they were very angry. After that they made it their mission to come to my house and preach to me, and great disturbance was caused to my life, that was very painful for me in my heart. One time, the preacher came to my house and preached to me, saying: “Sister, how could a person as smart as you be snatched away by Eastern Lightning? You have to come back quickly….” There was also a coworker who said, “Right! The good sheep in the church have all been snatched away. The Church of Almighty God is really threatening, stealing all the good sheep it can! Sister….” They wouldn’t stop talking, and in my heart I was constantly calling on God to help me. Then I said to them, “Brothers, if you want to seek the way of Almighty God, I am happy to investigate and fellowship about it with you. I can also ask the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God to come and bear witness to the work of God in the last days at the church and let all the brothers and sisters hear it. We will see if the words of Almighty God are the expression of God and whether they are the voice of God. But if you still come to persuade me to give up believing in Almighty God, then stop talking!” The preacher immediately asked me: “You say that the word of Almighty God is the word of God, but what factual basis is there for that? How do you know that is the word of God?” I said, “I have read a lot of the word of Almighty God. The word of Almighty God has as much authority and power as that of the Lord Jesus, and it lays bare all the mysteries that are in the Bible. It reveals all the mysteries of work from the time when God created the world up to the last days, and the word of God also reveals and judges the truth of people’s corruption and their substance. It reveals the false paths that people have followed in believing in God, and it also points out the proper path for delivering oneself from sin and reaching salvation for people in believing in God. It allows us to know what we should do to be in accord with God’s will. Also, when I’ve heard you preach at church in the past, in years of listening I didn’t notice a single new light. The more I heard, the less faith I had, but ever since I read the word of Almighty God, my spirit is no longer parched, and my initial faith and love have been restored. Think about it. Besides God Himself, who else could have this kind of power? Who would be able to do this kind of work? So, I am resolutely determined that the word of Almighty God is none other than the word of God! Think back, when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He too did not say that He was God. The people who followed the Lord at the time all did so because they had simple hearts that sought the truth, and only because of that did they receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit from the word of the Lord. They could hear that what the Lord Jesus said was the truth. Like Nathaniel and the Samaritan woman—they recognized from the words of the Lord Jesus that He was the Messiah that was to come, and only then did they follow the Lord Jesus. So today we have heard that there is someone spreading the gospel that the Lord has returned, and the most sensible course of action is to seek the truth and inspect it, and to listen for whether the word of Almighty God is actually the voice of God. Only this way can one be a wise virgin, and only in this way can one have the opportunity to meet the returned Lord and be raptured into the kingdom of heaven! …” When the preacher saw that he couldn’t get the better of me, he said many accusatory words of Almighty God in utter exasperation, but I refuted them all one by one by using the word of Almighty God. Finally, I said: “The Bible says, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches’ (Rev 3:13). If there is someone spreading the gospel that the Lord has returned, and you don’t listen or investigate it, but rather make whatever accusations you feel like, this is not in accord with the teaching of the Lord. It is also something that is offensive to the disposition of God, and this is the same as the Pharisees of the time accusing the Lord Jesus and is another case of crucifying God.” When I got to this point, I could see sweat on the preacher’s face. Then, my grandmother sitting nearby, who was nearly sixty years old, said: “You people! You can’t get the better of her. This way that she believes in now must be lofty indeed!” They saw that they couldn’t beat me in the debate, they got up and left in exasperation. Seeing the angry and ashamed way they left, I thought to myself: The words expressed by Almighty God are all the truth, but you still don’t investigate or accept them, and still block us from accepting them, aren’t you just the blind leading the blind that the Lord Jesus talked about? I was reminded of the Lord Jesus’ words: “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” (Mat 23:13). The word of Almighty God also says: “Look at the leaders of every denomination and sect. They are all arrogant and self-right, and they interpret the Bible out of context and according to their own imagination. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they were incapable of preaching anything, would those people follow them? They do, after all, possess some learning, and can speak a little of doctrine, or know how to win over others and how to use some artifices, through which they have brought people before themselves and have deceived them. Nominally, those people believe in God—but in reality they follow their leaders” (“Only the Pursuit of the Truth Is the True Belief” in Records of Christ’s Talks). The pastors and elders repeat over and over that they look forward to the return of the Lord Jesus, but when the Lord really has come back, they don’t seek the truth and don’t investigate it. They even distort the facts and deliberately misrepresent the truth in making accusations against the new work of God. This goes as far as to prevent believers from accepting it. They nominally believe in God, and all day they work at preaching, but in reality they are resisting God. This kind of fact that God has exhibited today has made me able to see their true faces, and to see that their substance is the same as that of the Pharisees who at the time made accusations against the Lord Jesus, and that they are all antichrists who hate the truth and make God their enemy. It is the word of Almighty God that allows me to always discriminate and never again to be deceived by the pastors and elders. If I hadn’t read the word of Almighty God, I might be just like my mother-in-law, blindly resisting God alongside them and making accusations against God’s work in the last days. Thinking of this, I thank Almighty God from my heart for saving and taking pity on me. It was God who gave me more courage and wisdom and allowed me to use the word of Almighty God to fight back against their fallacies and heresies. Later, they came back several times, but I already had distinguished who they were, and I wasn’t disturbed by them at all. Every time, I would use the words of Almighty God to refute their fallacies. They saw that I was fixed in my intention to believe in Almighty God, and they failed to disturb me, so they stopped coming. But Satan had not stopped besieging me, and my mother-in-law was all along forbidding me from believing in Almighty God, and indeed her resistance became more and more serious. She kept a close eye on me every day, and when I just went out for a while, she would call to see where I was. Every day I lived under the gaze of my mother-in-law, my spirit was stretched taut, and I felt especially under pressure and in pain. One time, I had just returned home from spreading the gospel, and my mother-in-law came to block me. She cried and attacked me, and wouldn’t let me believe in Almighty God. When she saw I wasn’t listening to her, she wept with one hand on her knee and hit herself in the breast with the other hand, and said to me: “Why don’t you listen to me? Just let me stop worrying!” Seeing my mother-in-law weeping, I felt a wave of pain come over my heart, and unwittingly had a moment of weakness. I suddenly became aware that my state was wrong, and quickly came into the presence of God to pray: “God! I ask of You to preserve my heart from straying from You. I had a moment of weakness because of my mother-in-law disturbing me, and I want God to help me, to open up the way for me. I want to stand witness for God’s sake in these circumstances.” When the time came for a gathering, I told the sisters about my own difficulties. The sisters read to me some passages from the word of God: “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). “You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me; do not be obstructed by anything, so that My will can be carried out. … Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block the road? Remember this! Remember!” “You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for the sake of Me, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart” (“The Tenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After finishing reading the word of God, the sisters fellowshiped to me, saying: As for the things that we are faced with today, when you look at them on the outside, it might seem that it is our family compelling us, but it’s actually a battle in the spiritual realm. God comes to save us, but Satan thinks up every possible way to block us from coming into the presence of God. It uses people, events, and objects around us to harass us, or uses our weaknesses (like our emotions and reputation) to control us. It makes our spirits sink down, and the goal of Satan in disturbing us like this is to make us grow distant from and betray God, and to lose the salvation of God in the last days. So if we want to see through Satan’s schemes, we must see things on the basis of God’s word, and come ever more often to pray in the presence of God. We must ask God to lead us to stand witness, and make Satan be ashamed…. Hearing what the sisters fellowshiped, I pondered God’s word, and felt as if God was speaking to me face to face. God’s word comforted me, and gave me more faith and strength. No longer would I suffer the control of the dark influence of Satan. I had the faith to stand witness to God. At that time, I thought again of Job when he was being tested. He would rather curse the day of his birth without complaining to and abandoning God in order to stand witness to God. Finally, God appeared to Job and granted him great blessing. The things we are faced with today are allowed by God, and are all the arrangements and sovereignty of God. Through these things, God allows us to always discriminate, and at the same time to inspect our faith in God. Even more than that, it is to purify our love. Understanding God’s will, I wouldn’t ever be negative or complain to God again. I wanted to stand up and cooperate with God, and even if my pain increased I would stand witness to God and comfort God’s heart. When I thought this, my heart no longer felt any pressure or anguish, but instead felt that I had a limitless share of energy. Not long after that, I was faced again with Satan’s temptations. By relying on God’s word I stood witness, and in fact saw the miraculous ways in which God works. One day, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law came and said to me: “You have misplaced your faith, and have moved away from the name of the Lord Jesus. …” At that time, I was at peace in the presence of God, and cried out to God to preserve my heart and thought of God’s word: “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover the entire breadth of God’s management, and are all the work of one Spirit. From when He created the world, God has always been managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are surely carried out by one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages oppose God. Now, you must understand that all the work from the first stage until today is the work of one God, the work of one Spirit, of which there is no doubt” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Afterward, I said serenely: “I have not misplaced my faith, nor did I betray the Lord. Almighty God I believe in today is the one true God who created heaven, earth, and everything therein, and is the returned Lord Jesus. Almighty God has laid bare the mysteries of the six-thousand-year management plan, and has told us that God’s work of saving mankind is in three stages. The content, means, and place of each stage of work are different, and God’s name is not the same in each one, but God’s substance does not change and is still God Himself. God’s name has changed, and that depends on the needs of God’s work. God uses His name to change the age, uses a name to divide the ages, and the name of every age represents an age. But the three stages of work are all done by one and the same God, and this is certain and without doubt.” As soon as my words had been spoken, my mother-in-law pulled a long face and threatened me, saying: “If you really want to believe in Almighty God, then there’s no way we can accept you. Figure it out yourself!” I wasn’t afraid at all, because I believed that everything was being ruled and orchestrated by God’s hands. Very calmly, I said, “Mom, Mary, all these years you’ve known what kind of person I am, and since I married into your family, I’ve done my duty all along. Now, because I believe in Almighty God and walk on the right path, there’s no way you’ll accept me. So I have nothing to say, because I can look into my heart without shame. Mom, don’t call me to stop me from believing in Almighty God anymore, and don’t call the pastor and preacher to come to my house. There is freedom of belief in America, so you have no right to stop me from believing in God. One more thing, no matter whether you let me believe or not, I am determined to be with Almighty God, and this is something that will never change.” I never thought that when I was standing witness to God, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law wouldn’t cut themselves off from me. It was as if they had forgotten that I believed in Almighty God, and they never tried to stop me again. My life went back to being at peace like it had been before. Almighty God’s word says: “The heart and spirit of man are held in the hand of God, and all the life of man is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From this practical experience, I knew even more that Almighty God is the one true God. Man’s heart and spirit are all within the control and sovereignty of Almighty God. My faith in God was even greater. After experiencing these things, I learned from practical experience the authority and power of Almighty God, and I saw God’s almightiness and wisdom as well as His miraculous deeds. Although many things that befall us do not conform to our notions, they are all permitted by God, and God’s beautiful intention is in them. When the temptations of Satan that are permitted by God befall me, they cause me to discriminate Satan’s sinister motives and ugly appearance. They have perfected my faith and loyalty. I have seen that as long as I rely on God’s word in what I do, want to satisfy God’s requirements, and do not follow fleshly emotions in my action, then God will open up the way for me and lead me triumph over Satan’s temptations to stand witness to God. In the course of this, although I have been faced with many difficulties and suffered many hardships, and have also at times been negative and weak, I still see that God is a helper for people at all times. What God finally grants people is knowledge of the truth and of God, and tranquility, joy, steadfastness, and sweetness of spirit. Such gain, enjoyment, happiness, and blessing cannot be expressed in words. Thanks and praise be to Almighty God! It is God’s word that has led me step by step to triumph over Satan’s temptations, and in fact I have triumphed over them. I have established my will: My motive is to repay God’s love, to spread the gospel and bear witness to God, and to let those people who live like me under the dark influence of Satan all be able as early as possible to catch up with Almighty God’s work in the last days and to obtain the work and leading of the Holy Spirit, and to be like me, and face to face to enjoy the living water of life that God supplies and to obtain true blessing and happiness. source: God’s Word Leads Step by Step to Victory in Spiritual Battles |
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十一月 2018
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