God Has Brought His Glory to the East

God gave His glory to Israel then moved it away from there,bringing the Israelites and bringing all men to the East.God has led them all to the light,so that they may be reunited and associate with light,no longer have to search, search for the light.

Who is my Lord

Liu Zhizhong is a pastor at a local house church in China. He's been a believer for over 30 years, and has constantly maintained that "The Holy Bible is inspired by God," "The Holy Bible represents God, believing in God is believing in the Bible, believing in the Bible is believing in God."

Faith in God

Yu Congguang is a gospel preacher from the Church of Almighty God. Because he was pursued by the CCP government while preaching the gospel, he fled to the mountain and got help from Zheng Xun, a co-worker of the local house church.

XiaoZhen's Story

Xiao Zhen used to be a pure, kind-hearted Christian, who always treated her friends sincerely. However, when it was to their benefit, her former friends became her enemies.

The Mystery of GodLiness

Lin Bo’en had believed in the Lord for decades and was a senior preacher. Ever since his acceptance of Almighty God, Christ of the last days, he had been confronted with the condemnation and rejection of the pastors, elders, and antichrist forces in the religious world and was eventually expelled from the religion.

Showing posts with label proofs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label proofs. Show all posts

Monday, July 24, 2017

The Foolish Me Woke Up At Last | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

The Foolish Me Woke Up At Last

Li Wei

Zhumadian City, Henan Province

I was once a believer of the “Praise Church.” At the end of 1998, our leader warned us again and again in a meeting, “Now some people are preaching that the Lord has returned in the flesh. You must never believe it. It’s precisely a false way! It’s a false Christ, a deceiver! Because the Lord will come on the white cloud, and we all can see Him. Just as Revelation 1:7 says, ‘Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him….’” Hearing this, I thought, “Leader Liu has believed in the Lord for a long time and knows much about the Bible. It must be right to listen to him.” Since then, I strictly observed the leader’s words. I shut the door on the brothers and sisters time after time who came to preach Almighty God to me. Leader Liu showed more “care” for me than before and often came to my home to “water” me. So I assured him, “Brother Liu, you can rest assured! I only listen to you and follow you to the end. I will never believe in the false way! …”
Almighty God, Eastern Lightning, end-time, God's word, the church of Almighty God, proofs,
In the spring of 2002, a friend of mine (who had accepted Almighty God’s work) came to my home. He took out the Bible and asked me several questions which I never heard of. I couldn’t answer them at all. So I called Leader Liu to come to my home. I had thought that he could surely answer these questions. But unexpectedly, he not only couldn’t answer them but said fiercely to my friend, “I have no time to listen to your nonsense. Today you just came to deceive him! You are ‘the fox who preaches to the goose!’ You want to draw away my sheep? No way! Even if his parents come, they can’t, let alone you, his friend. You must leave now.” My friend said kindly, “Brother, don’t be angry. We all are believers in God. Let’s sit down and have a talk.” “Who wants to talk with you? Leave at once! Otherwise, I won’t be so easy on you. If you come again, I will call the police to arrest you! …” Just like this, my friend was driven away by the leader without having lunch at my home. When the leader left, he told me again and again, “You should treat these people in this way and never be easy on them! Don’t receive the outsiders anymore! …” “It’s lucky that we have such a good leader!” I thought. But my wife said, “Why couldn’t the leader answer your friend’s questions? These questions are not beyond the Bible. I don’t think that he knows everything! What’s more, he often told us to love enemies and love others as ourselves, but where is his love today? …” “You know what? Long hair, short wit! …” When I heard my wife speak “ill” of the leader, I got very angry with her and chewed her out.
Soon it was July. I suddenly had cerebral vascular disease and rheumatic heart disease. I lay in bed, unable to move. I prayed to the Lord about this several times every day. Two months passed, and I spent two or three thousand yuan on my diseases. However, my condition didn’t get better at all but became worse and worse. I passed the time in such suffering… One day in December, it was snowing heavily, with bitter wind howling. It hadn’t occurred to me that my friend walked about ten miles to my home. Seeing that I was so sick, he shed tears and said guiltily, “I’m really indebted to God. I failed to preach God’s new work to you, so that you suffer this.” He didn’t say much, but I felt his true feelings. “It’s half a year since I was ill, and I’ve never seen anyone shed tears for me! Why can he do so? …” My friend took my hands and said sincerely, “Lao Li, God loves man, and He desires all men to be saved and not one to perish. So He sent the brothers and sisters to preach the gospel to you again and again! God is wise and wonderful, and no one can fathom His work. The leaders don’t know everything! …” “Nonsense! If the leaders don’t know, who will know? I will only follow my leader! You go at once! Never come again!” Hearing that he said the leaders didn’t know everything, I lost my temper again and stopped him at once and showed him the door. Seeing this, he had to leave with tears into the wind and snow.
That afternoon, I sent a message to Leader Liu and asked him to come to my home. More than ten days passed away, but he didn’t come. I had to send a message to him again. A week later, he came at last. When I saw him, I felt very happy as if seeing my savior. I held his hands tightly and said, “Brother Liu, here you are at last. Please pray to the Lord for me now!” Unexpectedly, he said with a stern face, “Why didn’t the Lord cure your diseases? You should compare with your past. In the past, you had the greatest faith and were generous in receiving and offered much, but in recent months you not only haven’t attended the meetings but have offered almost nothing. You are neither hot nor cold. Could the Lord cure you? Today I have something to do and I’ll go.” Then he left, regardless of how earnestly I asked him to stay. I was plunged into a turmoil. “Ay! I expected his coming every day, but in the end I got a ‘reward’ of ‘small faith and little offering.’ He said that I had small faith. Isn’t it simply because I didn’t go to church? But I’m so sick and can’t go. Actually I didn’t forget the Lord in my heart! He said my offering was little. Right! I offered much before, and that’s because I had some money at that time. But now I even have no money to cure my diseases, so what can I offer?” The more I thought, the more I felt something was not right. Is this the leader whom I have looked up to, respected, and trusted for so many years? How come he has become so ruthless? Where is his love? Did I displease him because I didn’t kill a chicken and buy vegetables to entertain him as I did before when he came to my home? What did I do to him? …” As I thought of this, I cried in disappointment. My wife tried to persuade me, saying, “The Bible says that we should judge a tree by its fruit. Why don’t you open your spiritual eyes to discern? Won’t you turn back until you bang into the wall and die? …” Her words reminded me. “Right! A good tree bears good fruit! My leader and my friend are really quite different in behavior. One is rude, cold, and devoid of love, while the other is humble, patient, and loving.” After I had much thought, my conception of the leader began to be shaken. “My friend’s temper was worse than mine in the past, but now he seemed a different person. Who can change man except God alone? Is the way he believes in the true way?”
Thank Almighty God for His salvation! On February 2, 2003 (the second day of Chinese lunar new year), my friend came to my home again at the break of the day. At the sight of me, he told me happily, “My uncle came from Zhengzhou yesterday. He is an expert in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. I asked him to make a prescription for you. Last night I was anxious to come and felt the night too long. So I came early this morning.” Hearing his words, I really felt so ashamed. I took his cold hands and said with tearful eyes, “I owed you too much! …” “All this is Almighty God’s great love! When a brother came to preach God’s new work to me before, I even gave him a slap on the face! We did such foolish things because we didn’t understand!” Then he testified God’s new work to me in detail with patience. He fellowshipped about many truths such as the three stages of God’s work, the change of God’s name, the shift of the location of God’s work, the turn of the age, and so on. I was completely convinced by his fellowship. When he said God had returned in the flesh to work, I asked hastily, “The Bible says the Lord will come with clouds and every eye shall see Him, but now no one has seen Him. Why do you say the Lord has come?” He fellowshipped, “The Bible says ‘the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.’ (2 Corinthians 3:6) There are many verses about the Lord’s second coming, such as, ‘For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night;’ (1 Thessalonians 5:2) ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him;’ (Matthew 25:6) ‘But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only;’ (Matthew 24:36) ‘And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east;’ (Zechariah 14:4) and so on. If we interpret these verses literally, isn’t it that they conflict with each other? In fact, they don’t contradict each other. These prophecies will surely be fulfilled one by one, but they will be done in order at different times. God has a principle in doing His work: He does the work in a hidden way first and then in an open way; when He does the work in a hidden way, it is the time of His saving people, but when it is made public, that will be the time of punishment. Take the age of Noah as an example. Before the flood came, it was the time for people to be saved. However, once the flood came, all those who didn’t enter the ark fell into the disaster. So, we should keep up with the pace of God’s work during the period when God works in a hidden way. Otherwise, we will lose the opportunity to be saved.” Then he opened the book of God’s word and read these words: “Since Jesus departed, the disciples who followed Him, and all of the saints who were saved thanks to His name, have been desperately pining for Him and awaiting Him. All those who were saved by the grace of Jesus Christ during the Age of Grace have been longing for that joyful day during the last days, when Jesus the Savior arrives on a white cloud and appears to all men. Of course, this is also the collective wish of all those who accept the name of Jesus the Savior today. Throughout the universe, all those who know of the salvation of Jesus the Savior have been ‘desperately yearning for’ the sudden arrival of Jesus Christ, to ‘fulfill’ the words of Jesus when on earth: ‘I shall arrive just as I departed.’ Man believes that, following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand. Similarly, man conceives that Jesus shall descend, again upon a white cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He returned to heaven), among the mankind who has desperately yearned for Him for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of the Jews. … And so on. Yet Jesus the Savior did not do this; He did the opposite of what man conceived. He did not arrive among those who had yearned for His return, and did not appear to all men while riding upon the ‘white cloud.’ He has already arrived, but man does not know Him, and remains ignorant of His arrival. Man is only aimlessly awaiting Him, unaware that He has already descended upon a white cloud (the cloud which is His Spirit, His words, and His entire disposition and all that He is), and is now among a group of overcomers that He will make during the last days.” (from “The ‘Savior’ Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that ‘The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ’ shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud.” (from “When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) At that time, I realized that I was really so foolish that I had believed my leader’s words and restricted God within my notions and imaginations and within the letters of the Bible! “Today, I have understood. In doing His work, God first purifies people with His word, and then appears to all people publicly, which will be the time when He rewards the good and punishes the evil.”
Then my friend continued, “In the past, you believed your leader’s words, because you thought that the leaders believed in the Lord for a long time and were versed in the Bible and knew everything and that you would surely be saved as long as you followed them. Actually, it’s not true. Take for example the priests, scribes, and Pharisees at the time when the Lord Jesus worked. They could recite the Scriptures backward and were waiting for the coming of Messiah. But when the true Messiah, the Lord Jesus, came, they didn’t know Him, and moreover, they condemned Jesus with the Old Testament and in the end nailed the Lord onto the cross cruelly. From this, we can see that those who have more biblical knowledge will hold faster to the old things and have more religious notions. If they don’t seek and investigate the truth with a humble heart, they will be more able to resist God and repeat the tragedy of the Pharisees…” “Right! Who believes in God longer and is more versed in the Scriptures than the Pharisees? Didn’t they still nail the Lord onto the cross? If I continue to follow my leader like this, isn’t it that I’m rushing toward hell with him?”
Thinking of this, I hated myself bitterly. “I was so blind and ignorant that I adored the leader blindly and resisted God’s new work for so long. I shut the door on the brothers and sisters sent by God many times and treated my good old friend heartlessly who was so kind to come to preach God’s new work to me. I’m really a muddleheaded believer and have acted as Satan’s accomplice! If it were not for Almighty God’s great love, I couldn’t possibly come before God.” At that moment, remorse, regret, and gratitude welled up in me. I burst into tears and prayed, “O Almighty God! Although I believed in You, I listened to my leader and adored him as my idol and refused Your salvation of the last days. I really grieved Your heart. I thank You that You overlook my foolishness and ignorance and forget my unrighteousness and bring me back to Your family, so that I have known that You are the One whom I should worship and look up to. O Almighty God! I’m sure You are the Lord Jesus who has reappeared. I’m willing to follow You with heart and soul and never turn back! I’m more willing to offer my whole being to You and cooperate with Your gospel work in a practical way to repay Your great love!” At last, both my wife and I accepted Almighty God’s new work happily.
After following Almighty God for a few months, I was miraculously recovered. From this, I even more tasted that God’s love is really wide, long, deep, and high, and I really couldn’t put it into words. Here, I want to give sincere advice to those brothers and sisters who believe and look up to the leaders: Learn a lesson from me, and don’t persist in the wrong way, for our leaders can’t give us life. Only Almighty God can save us and bestow life on us. Wake up! Almighty God—the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time!

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Once So Foolish, I Have Finally Woken Up Today | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

Once So Foolish, I Have Finally Woken Up Today

Chen Xing

Nanyang City, Henan Province

I was formerly a preacher of the “Praise Church.” Since May 1999, I had often heard the elders say, “‘Eastern Lightning’ is a cult. Those people are together committing adultery. If you don’t obey them, they will cut off your ears, gouge out your eyes, or even cut your flesh into pieces. They will also trick you into going somewhere outside the town and shut you into a basement… These people are very crafty. They specially go to deceive people in various churches. If any stranger comes to our church, we must inspect him and verify his identity. If there is any flaw in it, he must be from the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ Then drive him away immediately…” So, I kept the elders’ “good words” in mind and went around telling the brothers and sisters not to accept the “Eastern Lightning,” and I also told them that it was the deception of Satan. When I myself met the preachers of the “Eastern Lightning,” I refused them all relentlessly, and I even told the brothers and sisters in what harsh ways I treated those preachers and how I drove them away so that they could learn from me. I, being so foolish, did many things resisting Almighty God. In the end, it was under Almighty God’s enlightenment and illumination that I woke up.
Almighty God, Eastern Lightning, the last days, the church of Almighty God, Salvation.,
I remember that on one day in July 2002, it was unbearably hot. Two sisters who had preached God’s work of the last days to me many times came to my house again and said to me, “The Lord has come back!” “Where is He?” I said, “Take Him here and let me meet Him! Don’t you try tricking me. I won’t be fooled by you. I’m not someone who is easily swayed. My foundation is built upon the rock of Jesus Christ! Don’t think of shaking my belief. Am I able to follow until today if I don’t have the truth?” I stopped the sisters and no longer let them continue. After saying those words, I went away haughtily…
One day in October 2002, I had just finished my dinner when the two sisters came again. I said angrily, “You are quite diligent! Why do you come again?” They said with a smile, “Here comes a preacher. You can have a listen.” Just then, a brother over 60 years old walked into the yard pushing a bicycle. Seeing that his face was streaked with sweat, I didn’t have the heart to drive them away. I thought, “I may as well hear what they say, so I can have a clear idea of it.” Then the brother began to fellowship. He fellowshipped from the Age of Law to the Age of Grace. And lastly he spoke of Revelation 11:17, which says, “Saying, We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.” And he said that the Lord had already come back, whose name was Almighty God, and He had done a new work, opened the little scroll, and expressed many words… Hearing that, I had a notion, because in our denomination it had never been preached that when the Lord came back He would express more words. So I asked, “There is nothing wrong with what you have said about the first two stages of God’s work. But the third stage of work is without basis. You got a book somewhere, added it to the Bible, and say that this is God’s word. Isn’t it a joke?” Regarding my notion, the brother fellowshipped with me about the rejections, slanders, humiliations, and abuses Jesus encountered when He did His work. He said that today when Almighty God worked, the brothers and sisters were also abused and beaten by people of various denominations and sects, and some were even reported to the police… Hearing those, I thought about it and admitted that it was indeed the case. By then I was moved a little. I thought to myself, “If it weren’t the work of the true God, what do they do that for? Will they pay such a price?” But I still had doubts. So I continued to ask, “How many years have you believed in the Lord? How did you accept it?” The brother said, “I have believed in the Lord for thirty eight years, but when Almighty God’s work was preached to me, I refused to listen. Many brothers and sisters preached to me but failed. In the end, they gave me the book of God’s word The Word Appears in the Flesh. I read it for seven whole days. Under the enlightenment of God, I finally understood that it was indeed the work of reaping done by God Himself. He has opened the new age and unlocked the mysteries, and brought to men the new direction for walking. It was because of the word of Almighty God that I was convinced. After I accepted, I began to preach Almighty God’s gospel…” The brother’s words aroused my curiosity. “He has believed in the Lord for so many years, but was convinced and understood the way after reading God’s word. Is this book really so miraculous?” So I asked to keep the book of God’s word, expecting to find some mysteries in it.
That night, I thought about it over and over again and couldn’t fall asleep. “Is it really that the Lord has come back? But if I make a wrong choice, won’t all that I have consecrated and spent in the past ten years be futile? Won’t I have suffered those sneers and slanders in vain? And the brothers and sisters will also laugh at me and say that I have no ground. But if the Lord has really come back, won’t I become one resisting God if I don’t accept it? …” Just like that, I tossed and turned for a night.
The next day, a young sister came to eat and drink God’s word with me. I was lukewarm toward her, but she didn’t mind it. She also helped me with the field work and cooking, and whenever there was leisure time, she read God’s word to me. But I didn’t relax my vigilance against her. I kept praying while listening to her, “O God, have You really come back? Is this really Your word? If this is indeed Your work, please lead me into it, but if it isn’t, please keep me away from the wrong way.” One week passed. I almost didn’t take in any word of God, but I had a good impression on the sister because of her living out. During the period when the sister came to visit me, I still went to attend the meetings in my former denomination. And I told the elders truthfully, “You all say that we can’t listen to the messages of the ‘Eastern Lightning’ and that as soon as we listen to them, we will be captivated. In these days, some of them also came to my home and I listened to their messages and read their book, but I wasn’t captivated. I don’t think they are so frightening!” Unexpectedly, after I said that, they immediately “looked at me with new eyes.” On October 30, I went with the sister to my mother’s to preach the gospel. Four days later when I returned home, I heard that the elders in my former demonization spread the rumor everywhere, saying that I was absent from home for four days, staying with the “Eastern Lightning” followers doing filthy things. And they even specifically said that I was committing adultery with XX… Those filthy words were simply offensive to the ear, which made me so angry that I was about to explode. I had never expected that they could smear and slander me in such a way, given that I had been with them so many years going through wind and rain. My heart was broken…
On November 5, I flipped through the book of God’s word and saw that it was written, “… God become flesh is in China….” The next day, the young sister came and I asked her hastily, “You’ve got to make this clear to me today. Has the Lord come back in His glorious body as He ascended to heaven or through incarnation?” When the sister told me that God had come back through incarnation, I flew into a rage and immediately accused, “How can God be so incapable? Isn’t it enough for Him to be incarnated once to save man? Does He need to be incarnated again? If so, will He still be called God? And is it worthwhile for us to believe in Him?” With the word, I threw the book outside the door angrily, and I also threw the sister’s bicycle outside. And I shouted loudly, “In the name of Jesus, I drive you out! Go away! Keep away from me. You are really disgusting…” Thus, the sister left dolefully.
On November 8, a brother who believed in Almighty God came to my home to help me dig up sweet potatoes. I didn’t want to talk to him at all, and only my husband made conversation with him. While we were working, the brother sang, “The perishing city, the perishing city, a city full of sins and evil. Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins. Those who escape from her will have eternal life.” As I was hearing, I thought of the elders’ slanders against me. “Isn’t this telling me that I should escape from my former denomination? They fabricated rumors to frame me, and those brothers and sisters without discernment also jeered at me. It has become the gossip of the whole church now. Is it still a church? It’s simply ridiculous! Yes, I should escape from that city, lest I be a partaker of their sins.” After a while, the brother went on singing, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness….” “Yes, I should be one poor in spirit. Maybe I should go on listening to their message?” Then, after stopping for a while, the brother continued singing, “… The Lord walks in front, and I follow behind. The Lord is my Leader. I dare not turn to the left, or to the right, and I dare not walk ahead of Him, or lag behind. Step by step, I follow the Lord into the Kingdom.” Each word of the song was spoken to my heart. “Yes! Only if I follow God’s footsteps closely can I enter into the Kingdom.” Just when I was listening with thirsty ears, the brother stopped. “Why do you stop? The lyrics are so good!” I couldn’t help praising. But the brother said, “Now the songs of ‘Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs’ are more practical and more touching to the heart, because they are the words of the true God. If you don’t believe it, we can take a look later.” At this, I said regretfully, “I’ve thrown the book away, and I’ve also driven away the sister.”
On November 10, the brother brought me another copy of the book of God’s word, and he also told me a story, “Once upon a time, a child was seized by a wolf and then he lived with the wolf. In order to save him, his father risked his life, going among the wolves at all costs. He went through hell and high water and finally saved him back.” The brother said, “Today, in order to save us, God is incarnated in China, an atheistic country, a filthy land. He is also running a great risk, and has suffered all the rejections and slanders. But people don’t know Him, and disobey Him and resist Him, shutting the door on Him, which has really broken God’s heart…” Then the brother read me the piece of God’s word “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’” in which God says: “God became flesh because the object of His work is not the spirit of Satan, or any incorporeal thing, but man, who is of the flesh and has been corrupted by Satan. It is precisely because the flesh of man has been corrupted that God has made fleshly man the object of His work; moreover, because man is the object of corruption, He has made man the only object of His work throughout all the stages of His salvation work. Man is a mortal being, is of flesh and blood, and God is the only One who can save man. In this way, God must become a flesh that possesses the same attributes as man in order to do His work, so that His work might achieve better effects.” “For those to be saved, the use value of the Spirit is far inferior to that of the flesh: The work of the Spirit is able to cover the entire universe, across all mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans, yet the work of the flesh more effectively relates to every person with whom He has contact. What’s more, God’s flesh with tangible form can better be understood and trusted by man, and can further deepen man’s knowledge of God, and can leave upon man a more profound impression of the actual deeds of God. The work of the Spirit is shrouded in mystery, it is difficult for mortal beings to fathom, and even harder for them to see, and so they can only rely on hollow imaginings. The work of the flesh, however, is normal, and based on reality, and possessed of rich wisdom, and is a fact that can be beheld by the physical eye of man; man can personally experience the wisdom of the work of God, and has no need to employ his bountiful imagination. This is the accuracy and real value of the work of God in the flesh. The Spirit can only do things that are invisible to man and difficult for him to imagine, for example the enlightenment of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit, but for man who has a mind, these do not provide any clear meaning. They only provide a moving, or a broad meaning, and cannot give an instruction with words. The work of God in the flesh, however, is greatly different: It has accurate guidance of words, has clear will, and has clear required goals. And so man does not need to grope around, or employ his imagination, much less make guesses. This is the clarity of the work in the flesh, and its great difference from the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is only suitable in a limited scope, and cannot replace the work of the flesh. The work of the flesh gives man far more exact and necessary goals and far more real, valuable knowledge than the work of the Spirit. The work that is of greatest value to corrupt man is that which provides accurate words, clear goals to pursue, and which can be seen and touched. Only realistic work and timely guidance are suited to man’s tastes, and only real work can save man from his corrupt and depraved disposition. This can only be achieved by the incarnate God; only the incarnate God can save man from his formerly corrupt and depraved disposition.” Hearing those words, I immediately felt enlightened in my heart as if walking out of the dense fog. “Yes! The Revelation mentions ‘what the Spirit said to the churches,’ ‘the hidden manna,’ ‘the sealed scroll,’ and ‘a sharp two-edged sword out of His mouth,’ and don’t they all refer to God’s word of the last days? How can God speak if He is not incarnated? If the Spirit speaks, His voice will be like thunder, and who can understand it?” After I got that enlightenment, I felt very assured. Then we also read the piece of God’s word “All Is Achieved by God’s Words,” in which God says: “During the Age of Kingdom, God incarnate speaks words to conquer all those who believe in Him. This is ‘the Word appearing in the flesh’; God has come during the last days to do this work, which is to say, He has come to accomplish the actual significance of ‘the Word appearing in the flesh.’ He only speaks words, and rarely is there the advent of facts. This is the very substance of the Word appearing in the flesh, and when God incarnate speaks His words, this is the appearance of the Word in the flesh, and is the ‘Word’ coming unto the ‘flesh.’ ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh.’ This (the work of the appearance of the Word in the flesh) is the work that God will accomplish in the last days, and is the final chapter of His entire management plan, and so God has to come to earth and manifest His words in the flesh.” Hearing these words, I understood the necessity of God’s being incarnated this time.
Thinking of the humiliations, rejections, and slanders that the supreme God has suffered in the world for the sake of saving man, and my previous deeds of disobeying God, I felt a sensation of distress and couldn’t help shedding remorseful tears… At that time, the Holy Spirit enlightened me greatly, and I seemed to understand all at once all the questions that I didn’t understand before. I remembered many songs I had sung in the past. For example, one song goes, “We shall rejoice often, and we shall rejoice greatly, because different voices all shout ‘China’ at the same time. Though we may go through water and fire, do not lose our joy, because Jehovah’s footsteps are in China…. We have at last reached this moment, for God loves China and hasn’t abandoned China. … The great return is in China.” In the past, I didn’t understand what those lyrics meant. I had asked the elders about that, but they answered, “You only need to understand what God asks you to understand. Don’t split hairs on matters God didn’t require us to understand.” Only then did I know that it was because the incarnate God was in China. At that time, I was so happy that I sang those songs again. My joy simply couldn’t be put into words. When I read the words “Almighty God! He has publicly revealed His glorious body. The holy spiritual body has appeared. He is completely God Himself!” in “What the Holy Spirit Says to the Churches,” I understood this: God’s substance is holy and glorious. No matter whether He works in the form of the Spirit or through incarnation, as long as He is God, His body is glorious. But I still half believed those words slandering Almighty God (such as, they would cut off your ears or gouge out your eyes). Then, the brother said to me, “Sister, words are but wind, but seeing is believing! Have you seen anyone who has been cut off his ears or gouged out his eyes? If we really want to learn to do ill, do we need to suffer so much and pay so much price to do it? Moreover, it is stipulated in Article 4 of the Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Keep, ‘Man has corrupt disposition and even more has emotion. So, in the service in coordination, two people of different sexes are forbidden to coordinate alone. If discovered, they shall be expelled, no matter who they are.’ From that we can see that God most hates men committing adultery. Who dares to offend God?” Hearing that, I felt assured. Later, in my contact with the brothers and sisters, I saw that they indeed kept a clear line between male and female and they all spoke properly. Then I fully realized that the elders’ words that they would “cut off others’ ears and commit adultery” were completely fabrications, slanders, and unfounded and malicious attacks.
Thinking back to the past, I saw that I was really blind, ignorant, and foolish to the extreme as to frenziedly condemn God’s flesh. I bitterly hated myself for believing hearsays and blindly resisting God, which had broken God’s heart. Today, faced with God’s grace of salvation, I couldn’t express my feeling of remorse. I could only sing the hymn No. 110 “All the Glory Be to God” to lay bare my heart:
God’s great love is as deep as sea; having experienced until today I’ve just truly known this. I hate myself for being so blind. I have been corrupted by Satan so deeply that I often disobeyed and grieved God. … I received Your salvation in corruption; I was lifted by You from the dunghill. I really don’t deserve Your love; I truly feel shame and disgrace. Dung as I am, how can I be worthy to see You? … God’s painstaking care and price on me, I really cannot count. Even if I offer up my everything, I’m unable to repay God’s love. All I can do is to perform my duty well to comfort God’s heart.”

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

I Held Fast to the Bible and Became a Pharisee of the Present Age | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

I Held Fast to the Bible and Became a Pharisee of the Present Age

Feng Gang

Shangqiu City, Henan Province

In May 2002, I accepted the gospel of the last days of Almighty God. When I went to preach to the brothers and sisters of my former denomination with guilt, they said to me, “In the past, you didn’t allow us to have contact with the believers in Almighty God, and said that they would gouge out people’s eyes and cut off their noses and commit adultery. But now you yourself have followed them. You are an apostate. How can you have the face to come to preach to us? …” When I heard those words, my thoughts returned to the past…
end-time, Eastern Lightning, the church of Almighty God, the last days, Salvation., Truth,
I began to believe in Jesus in 1989. In November 1992, I became the leader of the eight churches of the “Justification by Faith Church.” Later, the leader of the upper level said to me, “Only the God we believe in is the true God and the living God. All other denominations are heresies and cults. Never have contact with them, much less pray together with them. Otherwise, the evil spirit will come upon you. Then you will lose control of yourself.” Since then, I obeyed the leader’s “teaching” carefully and didn’t have contract with anyone of other denominations, fearing that I might “go astray.”
In 1995, more than ten people had brought me the books of God’s word, such as The Word of That Spirit and Walking in the Light. I just skimmed over a part of the content of the book The Word of That Spirit carelessly, and then said angrily, “The words in this book are all curses. God is gentle and good and kind. How could He possibly curse people in such a way?” And after those words, I remembered what the leader said, so I returned the books to them and said stiffly, “Our belief is different. It’s unnecessary for us to fellowship!” Afterward, I lost no time in telling this matter to the leader above. He said, “They are the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers. They are very powerful. They believe in a heresy and a female Christ. You must guard against them strictly and prevent them from stealing the sheep from us…” Since then, guarding against the “Eastern Lightning” followers almost became all that I did in believing in God. Each time we had a meeting, I would say, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers are coming to steal the sheep. They want to take us to death. Never have contact with them or talk to them. Otherwise, they will keep pestering you.”
One day in October 1998, I was just watering the field when a brother of my denomination greeted me from afar. He said, “Brother, let me help you.” I knew that he had already accepted Almighty God, so I said angrily, “No need. If you are here, I’ll leave!” With the word, I threw the water pipe to the ground and left without turning round… In a period of time afterward, more people came to preach the gospel to me, and every time I said to them sarcastically, “Fellowshipping with you is like playing a lute to a cow. Go to preach to those unbelievers if you are capable.” Just like that, I always made the brothers and sisters embarrassed. Nevertheless, they still came to preach to me continuously.
One day in 2001, my wife’s sister-in-law came to preach to me. I said sneeringly, “You are most ignorant and have the least knowledge of the Bible, and you have never travelled far. And you come to preach to me? I think you are all the blind leading the blind. You can come here when you have confessed and repented and converted to our belief. Otherwise, don’t come again!”
Although I watched every church “conscientiously,” there were still many brothers and sisters accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days. Then the upper leaders intensified their efforts to seal off the churches and distributed many materials that resisted Almighty God. I was particularly struck by the words in one of the materials, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers infiltrate different denominations and sects to draw the workers in the name of shepherding the church. After they win their trust, they will take them to the remote, thickly forested mountains and force them to believe. If they refuse, they will beat them or even cut off their noses or gouge out their eyes or force them to have sexual relationship with them…” At that time, without making any discernment, I completely believed those words and hated the “Eastern Lightning” followers to the core on that account. I took the materials to the churches under my supervision and preached, “Don’t receive anyone who comes to preach to you as long as they are believers in Almighty God, much less listen to them, even if they are your parents!” I remembered that a relative of mine (who sold soy sauce) often came to preach to me at that time. But I said to him through gritted teeth, “If you come again, I’ll smash your soy sauce buckets! …” Afterward, I told the matter to the brothers and sisters in the churches and asked them to treat the “Eastern Lightning” followers as I did. I also ordered the leaders of every church to watch the believers closely and not let them have contact with the believers in Almighty God, lest they be dragged away.
I was so busy sealing off the churches that sometimes I even had no time to take meals, yet still, it was to no avail. By March 2002, only few people were left in the church. Seeing the desolate state, I was extremely distressed in my heart. But I didn’t know to examine myself or seek, but only hated the brothers and sisters for their ignorance and the “Eastern Lightning” followers for stealing our sheep.
One day in May 2002, a sister of our denomination told me that two brothers from out of town who preached the gospel came to her home, and she asked me to go to fellowship with them about the Bible. Then I went to her home with curiosity. In the first two days, I saw eye to eye with them. We fellowshipped from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and with many points that I didn’t understand, they could explain them very clearly, which made me sincerely convinced. On the third day, a brother asked me smilingly, “Brother, which one do you think is greater, God or the Bible?” I felt a little surprised, “Why does he ask this way?” And I answered, “Of course God is greater.” The brother said, “Since God is greater, God can do a new work outside the Bible without being restrained by it, right?” At those words, I immediately realized that they were believers in Almighty God. So I retorted quickly, “Jesus said in John 14:6: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.’ Salvation is found in no one else except Jesus, and all Scripture is inspired by God. This is the never-changing truth. You have departed from the Bible, and you are denying the truth. My belief is different from yours. It’s unnecessary for us to talk anymore.” With the word, I got up to leave. The two brothers smiled and asked me repeatedly to stay, “Brother, don’t be angry. Let’s sit down and have a good fellowship. Let’s see whether all scripture is inspired by God.” Hearing that, I clearly knew that they wanted to talk about the work of Almighty God. So I said more angrily, “The Bible is the testimony for God and is inspired by God. This is absolutely correct. All God’s words and work are recorded in the Bible. If one departs from the Bible, he is not believing in God. It is a heresy and a cult!” I was so furious at that time that I really wanted to beat them. However, no matter how angry I was, they remained calm, and said, “Brother, we are all believers in God. The Lord Jesus said that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Why be angry? We can have a discussion together and learn from each other. What matters it?” Hearing those words, I felt a little embarrassed. So I continued to fellowship with them about the Bible with reluctance. The brother asked me to read Jesus’ genealogy recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. After I read them, the brother said, “The gospels of Matthew and Luke both record Jesus’ genealogy. Could the genealogy be written at will? That was clearly Joseph’s genealogy, but they say that it was Jesus’ genealogy. We know that Jesus had nothing to do with Joseph at all. God is self-existing and ever-existing. How could He have a genealogy? God’s word says: ‘Perhaps someone thought that if God walked the earth, then He needed a family tree, and so inserted Jesus into the forty-second generation of Abraham’s descendants. What an absurd idea! How could God have a family tree when He came to earth? If He had a family tree, would that not make Him one of His own creations? God is not of the earth, He is the Lord of creation; though He is flesh, He is different from man in essence. How could you put Him into the same category as His creations? Abraham could not represent God; He was an object of Jehovah’s work at that time, just a loyal servant approved of by Jehovah, and one of the Israelite people. How, then, could Abraham be an ancestor of Jesus?’” I pondered over these words in my heart, “That’s right. The Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He has nothing to do with Joseph. Is it too preposterous to create a genealogy for God incarnate? How can God be put into the same category as His creations?” Then they showed me Luke 20:41-44, “And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself said in the book of Psalms, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore calls him Lord, how is he then his son?” After I read it, the brother said, “The Lord Jesus refuted the view that Christ was the son of a man. This shows that such a view is wrong and preposterous and is abhorred by God. How can such an absurd idea be a revelation from God? Could God give such an erroneous and absurd revelation to man?” I agreed with what the brother said in my heart, but to save my face, outwardly I assumed an air of nonchalance. The two brothers saw that I was still not convinced, so they found the records about Judas’ death. In Matthew 27:5, it says, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” In Acts 1:18, it says, “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.” The brother asked, “These two verses record the same thing, yet there were two different ends. One says that he hanged himself. The other says that he burst asunder in the middle and died. What do you think all this is about?” I was stunned and had nothing to say. My previous anger was completely gone. Before the iron facts, I had to acknowledge that not all Scripture was inspired by God. “I have believed in God for so many years and I’m versed in the Bible. How come I didn’t know these?” At that time, my heart was filled with mixed feelings, and I simply couldn’t describe how I felt. “There are actually so many strange problems in the Bible that I adore. It’s really unbelievable. But they can’t be denied.”
Then the brother continued, “The Age of Grace has ended, and God has been incarnated and done a new work.” Hearing that, I flew into a temper again. “I only acknowledge that the Lord will come with clouds, for it is said in 1 Thessalonian 4:16-17, ‘For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air…’ If the Lord has really come, why haven’t I heard the shout?” The other brother said, “The ‘shout’ refers to the voice of preaching God’s work of the last days. The brothers and sisters come to your house to preach, and isn’t their voice the ‘shout’? The ‘voice of the archangel’ refers to the voice of the leaders of various denominations and sects of sealing off the churches, telling you not to have contact with the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers, not to listen to their message, and so on. The ‘trump of God’ refers to the personal utterance of the Christ of the last days, the words that the Holy Spirit says to the churches, which all who have ears should hear. Brother, please consider this carefully: Is it really true that you haven’t heard these voices?” I thought about it carefully and considered that what they said was reasonable. And the resistance in my heart gradually disappeared. Regarding whether the Lord will come in a spiritual body or in a flesh, the brother read Matthew 24:27, which says, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ and Luke 17:24-25, which says, ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ These two portions of scriptures both say that ‘the Son of man’ comes, so He will surely come through incarnation, not in a spiritual body.” I thought, “It’s right. If God came not through incarnation, how could He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation?” Later, I asked again, “The Bible says that ‘that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.’ Why do you say that the flesh is saved?” The brother said, “‘that flesh and blood’ refers to man corrupted by Satan. We all are the offspring of the corrupted Adam and Eve and are the corrupted ‘flesh and blood,’ so we must undergo God’s work of removing sin during the last days to have our corrupted flesh transformed into a holy body before we can inherit the kingdom of God.” Hearing that, I received revelation and at the same time felt very remorseful, “Why didn’t I listen to their exposition first in the past but have kept holding to the Bible until today? I’m really blind and ignorant to the extreme.”
During my stay with the brothers who preached the gospel, I saw that their living out wasn’t like what was described in those materials at all, which said, “They use sinister and malicious means to force you to accept their way, and if you refuse to accept, they will lay murderous hands on you,” and so on. It was really that “Words are but wind, but seeing is believing!” I thought back to the scenes in these past days: No matter how arrogant, self-right, or unreasonable I was, they tolerated me with great love and patience; sometimes my manner was very stiff, and I was very impolite to them, but they never minded it and still fellowshipped with me calmly. With such living out and humanity, how could they be the people described in those materials? I began to doubt those materials. Then, I quieted my heart and continued to fellowship with them. As a result, I understood the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and understood that God’s work today is the third stage of work after the work of the Age of Law and the work of the Age of Grace, and that not all Scripture is inspired by God and the Bible is only a historical book. Just as God’s word says: “The Bible is not entirely a record of God’s own utterance; rather, it is just an account of the first two stages of God’s work. Part of it consists of the words of the prophets, and part of it documents the experiences and knowledge of people who were used by God down through the ages. Unavoidably, the writers’ own opinions and knowledge are mixed in their experiences. Many books in it are colored by human notions, prejudices, and erroneous understandings, and though naturally most of the words were enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit and represent correct understandings, they cannot be considered entirely accurate expressions of the truth. The writers’ opinions on certain subjects merely reflect their own experiential knowledge or the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.” “What is recorded in the Bible are the affairs of ancient Israel, the things that the chosen people of Israel did, the things that Jehovah did. And so later the Holy Spirit didn’t disapprove of this. Even though some of them were put into the Bible, and some omitted, the Holy Spirit did not commend it, but did not condemn it either. The Bible consists purely of the history of Israel, the history of God’s work, and the people, events, and things it describes are for the most part real people, real events, and real things, not foreshadowings of things to come—except the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, of course, or the visions of John. The Israelites then were a very cultured and knowledgeable people, with a highly developed ancient civilization, and so what they wrote surpasses the words of people today. It is not astonishing that they were able to write these books, for Jehovah performed much work among them and they saw so much.” After reading God’s words, I even more hated myself: I had treated the Bible as God, considering that believing in God was believing in the Bible, and circumscribed God within the Bible, not allowing God to work outside the Bible, and even resisted the work of the true God with the epistles of the apostles. I am really ignorant and deserve to die!
God’s word is just like a navigation light which shines with boundless radiance. The more I read it, the more I felt enlightened. Then I read these words of God: “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh.” From them I understood that God comes to earth mainly to do the work to save man, not to show man what His flesh is like. He can be a male or a female, and He can accomplish His work in either way. I really hated myself for circumscribing God’s gender according to my mind and even more hated myself for being so arrogant and self-right that I resisted God’s work and sealed off the church blindly without seeking even though I didn’t have the true knowledge of it, and thus played the role of an antichrist and became a Pharisee of the present age. However, although I was so disobedient, God didn’t abandon me but spared no efforts to save me. I indeed saw God’s boundless love for man.
After I took part in the church life, I saw that the brothers and sisters all spoke and behaved with decency and propriety and were simple and open when fellowshipping the truth and knowing themselves. Moreover, it is clearly stipulated in the fourth decree of the Ten Administrative Decrees, “Man has corrupt disposition and even more has emotion. So, in the service in coordination, two people of different sexes are forbidden to coordinate alone. If discovered, they shall be expelled, no matter who they are.” Seeing God’s words and these facts, I realized that it was purely a lie and slander that those materials say that believers in Almighty God commit adultery.
Not long after I followed Almighty God, I preached the gospel to two brothers of my former denomination, but they only believed for a few days and dropped out because of their uncertainty about God’s work. At that time, the brothers and sisters fellowshipped with me, “You should continue to preach to them. God’s intention is to save every man to the utmost. God expects that all those who truly love Him can come before Him. They drop out because they don’t know about God’s work.” I saw that when the brothers and sisters preached to those two brothers patiently again, they neither were beaten nor had their eyes gouged out or their noses cut off. That proved once again that what was said in those materials distributed by our leaders above, such as “gouge out your eyes,” and “cut off your nose,” was nothing but smears and slanders. At that time, I even more hated myself for looking up to the leaders too much before, always thinking that all that they said was true and right. Only then did I know that it was because I had no discernment and believed rumors easily that I blindly condemned God’s work of the last days and acted as a messenger of Satan. Such deeds of mine really harmed others and me. If Almighty God didn’t save me today, I wouldn’t even know why if I were punished by God to death. I thank Almighty God that He brings me, a great evil man who resisted and disobeyed Him, before Him by His wonderful and wise work. O God! In the rest of my time I will care for Your will and perform my duty to repay Your love!

Monday, July 17, 2017

How I Fell Down Before Almighty God | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

 How I Fell Down Before Almighty God

Wang Yu’e

Yantai City, Shandong Province

My name is Wang Yu’e. I live in Yantai City, Shandong Province. Speaking of how I disobeyed and resisted Almighty God at one time, I shed remorseful tears. I believed in God but did not know God and looked up to men and listened to men, so for years I resisted God’s work of the last days and blasphemed Almighty God, seriously offending God’s disposition and committing a heinous sin. Yet, God’s love is wide and long and high and deep. God did not treat me according to my sin but moved me with His selfless love, so that I was fortunate to come before God and live under the illumination of God’s words, know God’s righteous disposition, and step onto the right way of human life gradually.
Almighty God, Eastern Lightning, the church of Almighty God, Holy Spirit, God's words,
Since 1998, there had been people accepting the work of Almighty God in our church, and the believers in our church had become fewer and fewer. Moreover, there arose intrigues, jealousy and strife, and factions among the brothers and sisters. I didn’t know what to do then, so I asked my leader in tears what was the matter. I thought to myself, “Could it be that I am unworthy to be a church leader?” The leader said, “The Bible tells us clearly that in the last days some people will apostatize, and there will appear antichrists and deceivers… The ‘Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy, a cult. You should remember: Never listen to or have contact with anyone who preaches the three stages of work or the female Christ, much less read their books. Be sure not to be deceived by them. We should keep the Lord’s way. It’s enough for us to just read the Bible and listen to Hong Kong Gospel Radio Station.”
In the days that followed, there were really many brothers and sisters coming to preach God’s salvation of the last days to me. I not only didn’t accept it, but instead I hated their guts. Once, two elderly sisters came to preach God’s gospel of the last days to me. I said to them, “You apostates are so conscienceless. You have left the Lord, and you even come to deceive me. You are all the brood of vipers. Don’t defile my house. Get out!” While saying this, I tried desperately to push them out of the door. One of them was pushed over by me. Her head was hurt and bled. Seeing this, I even said gloatingly, “Serve you right. This is God’s punishment for you!” After driving them away, I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord! Please curse them, stop their steps, seal their mouths, and bind the devil, Satan…” Another time, a distant aunt of my husband, over eighty years old, came to me and said, “I come to tell you a piece of good news. Now, God has done a new work in China, the work that the word accomplishes everything…” I was annoyed at these words, thinking, “You even come out preaching at such an old age. You have really joined in a cult. Don’t think that I will accept it because you are over eighty. Even if a 100-year-old person comes to preach, I will not accept it.” The next day, I drove her away in spite of a light rain.
Just like that, my heart became more and more hardened and more and more disobedient. And I even tore up the book of God’s word the sisters brought to me and burned it. One summer day in 2001, it was raining hard. I thought that no one would come that day. Unexpectedly, two out-town sisters came again. I was very angry and said, “Even in such weather you come and disturb my rest!” As I talked, the two sisters began to fellowship with me in the rain. Before they finished their words, I said exasperatedly, “Go or not? If you don’t go, I will dial 110! My foundation has been well established. You’ll get nothing from me! Except the Bible, I don’t want to read anything or listen to anything! I drive you in the name of Jesus. Go away. Don’t talk rubbish!” After they went away, I found a book named The Expression of the Christ in the cabinet. I took up the book of God’s word and tore and burned it like a maniac. While doing so, I kept swearing, “You devils and Satans even dare to misuse the name of the Lord Jesus. I burn you all in the name of the Lord!”
God’s disposition indeed does not tolerate man’s offense! Because of my disobedience and resistance, my family suffered God’s punishment. In April, 2002, my husband’s stomach swelled for no reason. The doctor diagnosed that he had cirrhotic ascites. Soon, it turned into liver cancer. We spent nearly 20,000 yuan during the time when he was hospitalized, but he passed away ten days after he returned home. Three days after his death, my eldest son forced his wife to worship idols. His wife didn’t listen to him, so he beat her up. As a result, she went to her mother’s home. No matter who went to persuade her, she refused to come back. My youngest son also forced his wife to lay offerings, and as his wife refused to do so, he burst into a storm of abuse. My sons kept burning paper money and my house was filled with evil smoke. This made me sick and hard to breathe. I was full of anger, hatred, and grief, and sobbed my heart out. Every time when the day for burning the seventh-day paper money came (from the day of a person’s death, his family has to lay offerings and burn paper money every seven days, until the forty-ninth day), my house was in chaos. In those days, I really lived in agony. Though I fasted and prayed earnestly all day, I still couldn’t see any hope. I completely lost the peace and joy of being with God.
October 2, 2002 was the most unforgettable day in my life. On that day, I, a stubborn and disobedient person, was conquered by God’s word and finally fell down before God.
On that day, I went to a sister’s home with my younger sister. There I met with two sisters who preached God’s work of the last days (I didn’t know about that at that time). After I talked about some of my difficulties, the two sisters began to fellowship with me, “God’s work has advanced, so the churches that do not keep up with the pace of God’s work become desolate, and some brothers and sisters go back to the world…” Hearing this, I was certain that they were the “Eastern Lightning” followers. “I mustn’t listen to them.” I thought to myself. So I gave my sister a hint that we should stop listening, but my sister insisted on listening. She asked one sister, “Since the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, why is the Christ you preach a female?” The sister took out the book of God’s word and read these words to us: “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if the conception by the Holy Spirit was to an infant girl and not a boy, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. … With God there is no distinction of gender. His work is done as He wishes and is not subject to any restrictions, particularly free, but every stage has a real significance. God became flesh twice, and it goes without saying that His incarnation in the last days is the last time. He has come to reveal all His deeds. If in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female.” God’s words explained the question very clearly, but I was still afraid to be deceived. So I secretly sang the song of beating down the devil, Satan. But after I sang two or three words of the song, I couldn’t go on. And then I began to pray to bind the devil, Satan. But I didn’t know what to pray after I said only two or three words. At that point, my sister asked, “Does the Bible mention the three stages of work?” The sister said, “Yes.” As she said that, she opened 2 Corinthians 1:10 and read it: “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us….” And she continued, “This verse was written in the Age of Grace. And so ‘who … does deliver’ refers to the salvation of the Lord Jesus, ‘who delivered …’ refers to the work of the Age of Law that Jehovah God did, and ‘he will yet deliver us’ refers to the work of judgment and chastisement God does in the last days. From this, we can see that God’s management work of saving mankind is divided into three stages: the work of the Age of Law in the Old Testament, the work of the Age of Grace in the New Testament, and the work of the Age of Kingdom in the last days. And again, Isaiah 43:11-12 says, ‘I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you….’ In these verses, ‘I have declared’ means that God had spoken to His people through prophets. That is, it signifies the work of the Spirit, the work God did in the Age of Law. ‘I have saved’ means that God, in order to save mankind, was incarnated to be the likeness of sinful flesh and was nailed onto the cross. That is, it refers to the redemptive work the Lord Jesus did in the Age of Grace. ‘I have showed’ means that Almighty God expounds all the truths to people with words in the last days. ‘Declared, saved, and showed’ signify three different stages of work done by one God. These verses show us that God’s work of saving mankind consists of three stages.” Hearing this, I suddenly felt that the sister’s fellowship was very reasonable, and I thought to myself, “I have read these verses before, but why didn’t I know that they typify God’s three stages of work?” At that point, my sister asked, “Is it that God has already begun the work in Revelation? Has the Lamb opened the little scroll and revealed the mystery?” The sister answered with a smile, “Yes, God’s sheep hear God’s voice. Today, God has done a new work, and by expressing words He has unlocked all the mysteries of His six-thousand-year management plan to His believers. As long as you read God’s word, you will know everything. If you don’t read the word God has expressed today, how can you know whether it is true or false? God’s word says: ‘You must not blindly condemn the words expressed by God because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days, and must not be someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit because you fear deception. Would that not be a great pity?’ Aunty, let’s be humble and seek whether it is the true way and investigate whether it is the truth. Don’t hold to our notions, thus hindering the Holy Spirit from working on us!”
After hearing the sister’s fellowship, I also wanted to put forward my doubts. So, I asked her, “How do you know that the Lord has descended? Doesn’t the Bible say that He will come in the same way as He went? The Lord left on a white cloud, so He will surely come back on a white cloud. Have you seen the Lord descending on a white cloud?” The sister replied, “Yes, the Lord Jesus went on a white cloud, so He will still come on the white cloud. But do you know what the ‘white cloud’ refers to? The Bible also tells us that the letter kills and the spirit gives life. It is written in Luke 17:24-25, ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ From these two verses, we may consider this: If the Son of man came on the white cloud in the sky as we imagine, who would not know Him? How could He be rejected by this generation? Only when God’s coming is very discordant with man’s notions, like the Lord Jesus’ first incarnation, people will reject Him. Aunty, concerning what the white cloud refers to, let’s have a look how God explains it. God’s word says: ‘Man believes that, following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand. Similarly, man conceives that Jesus shall descend, again upon a white cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He returned to heaven), among those who have desperately yearned for Him for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of the Jews. After appearing to man, He shall bestow food upon them, and cause living water to gush forth for them, and shall live among man, full of grace and love, living and real. And so on. Yet Jesus the Savior did not do this; He did the opposite of what man conceived. He did not arrive among those who had yearned for His return, and did not appear to all men while riding upon the white cloud. He has already arrived, but man does not know Him, and remains ignorant of His arrival. Man is only aimlessly awaiting Him, unaware that He has already descended upon a white cloud (the cloud which is His Spirit, His words, and His entire disposition and all that He is), and is now among a group of overcomers that He will make during the last days. Man does not know this: although the Holy Savior Jesus is full of affection and love towards man, how could He work in “temples” inhabited by filth and impure spirits?’” “Ah yes! Is it really that God has come to earth and done a new work? If God did not unlock the mysteries of the Bible, how could they know so much? Who can unlock this mystery except God Himself?” Hearing God’s words, I was completely convinced. And I also realized that I had been sticking to the letters of the Bible and had never sought God in the matter of the Savior’s return. I felt very ashamed of this. Nevertheless, I still didn’t understand one thing, that is, why doesn’t God do His work openly since He has come? So, I asked the sister this question. The sister answered, “God’s word says this: ‘To work in the nation of the great red dragon, the most backward of places, is no easy task. If this work was to be made known, then it would be impossible to continue. This stage of work simply cannot progress in this place. How could they tolerate it if such work were carried out openly? Would this not bring even greater risk? If this work were not concealed, and rather continued as in the time of Jesus when He spectacularly healed the sick and cast out demons, then would it not have long ago been “seized” by the devils? … And if so, how then could My work continue to be carried out? The reason that signs and wonders are not manifested openly is for the sake of concealment. So My work can neither be seen, known or discovered by unbelievers. If this stage of work were to be done in the same manner as that of Jesus in the Age of Grace, it could not be so steady. So, the work to be concealed in this way is of benefit to you and to all work. When God’s work on earth comes to an end, that is, when this work in secret concludes, this stage of work will blow wide open. All will know that there are a group of overcomers in China; all will know that God become flesh is in China and that His work has come to an end. Only then will it dawn on man: Why is it that China has yet to show decline or collapse? It turns out that God is personally carrying out His work in China and has perfected a group of people into overcomers.’” Hearing God’s words, I deeply felt that God loves us so much. He does the work in a hidden way all for our sake. Moreover, since God chooses to work in a hidden way, there is surely His wisdom in it. What are we men? How dare we tell God how to do things! Ay! I’m really indebted to God. I condemned the brothers and sisters and abused them as the devils and Satans. I really confounded black and white! I acted as an accomplice of Satan, but I thought that I was faithful to the Lord. God sent the brothers and sisters to save me time after time. But I didn’t know to thank them but hated their guts. What I did has stabbed God to the heart. Fortunately, Almighty God’s word has enlightened me, a foolish person, so that my numb and obtuse spirit is revived. With remorseful tears, I said to the sisters in shame, “I have resisted the true God and condemned the brothers and sisters. Now I see. The God you preach is the Savior Jesus, the true God!” And then I prayed to God, “O God! I’m so blind and so foolish. I have done all the wicked deeds. It’s all because I’m so arrogant and have no seeking heart that today I’ve become one who resists You. O God! Can You forgive me once more? Will You still want me? …” The sister held my sister’s hands and mine and said, “Aunty! God loves man. He desires all men to be saved and not one to perish. God says: ‘In saving every person, God will pardon him to the maximum extent, that is, show him the greatest tolerance. As long as he can turn back from his wrong way and as long as he can repent, God will give him the opportunity to receive salvation.’ Aunty, God loves you so much. As long as you come to understand, God will be happy. God’s love for man is boundless and infinite, not as narrow as man’s…” My sister and I were so excited that we could hardly say a word. We just hugged the sister tightly, and a thousand words could not even express my feelings at that time… I felt that I was full of strength and in a good spirit. And the two sisters looked pleasant to me, and I couldn’t even bear to part with them. I knew that it was God’s love that united our hearts together. All the glory be to Almighty God!
After I was certain about God’s work, the trouble in my family died away. This showed me that everything is in the orchestration of Almighty God, and Almighty God is the only true God! At that point, I understood that because I disobeyed and resisted God, God raised up environments to smite and discipline me, hoping that I could realize that and turn back from my evil way. However, I, being numb and obtuse, not only did not wake up but blasphemed God instead. I really deserve God’s severer punishment! I’m really unworthy to live before God! All I can do is to spend the rest of my life in cooperating with God to bring before Almighty God the brothers and sisters like me who believe the rumors and resist the true God, so that they can enjoy the salvation of the last days early.
In order to repay God’s love, I joined the gospel preaching. Once, I went to preach the gospel to a sister. Just after I knocked twice on the door, the sister opened the door and swore, “You devils and Satans, go away! You are simply like beggars running around all day. Be off!” With this, she shut the door with a “bang.” I said to her through the door, “Sister! In the past, I was like you; I was also afraid to take the wrong way and always listened to the leaders. Today, after I accept Almighty God, I understand God’s intention to save man. If it were not for God’s love…” As I was saying this, the door was opened suddenly. With a stick in her hands, the sister said to me fiercely, “Go or not? If not, I will dial 110…” Ay! Seeing her, I saw the me yesterday. How remorseful I was! Only then did I realize how hard God’s work on earth is! And I also understood this: The reason why the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel don’t lose faith even when cursed and beaten is that they have understood God’s eager intention to save man and God’s work has produced the result so that they all live out the likeness a normal man should have. Those who don’t keep up with the pace of God’s work and who lose the work of the Holy Spirit all live in satanic disposition without sense and humanity. They eat the food God gives to them, but do the evil deeds of disobeying and resisting God, yet they are ignorant about it; they live in the fooling of Satan but think that they are defending the true way. Ay! They are really foolish, blind, and too pitiful!
Dear brothers and sisters, wake up quickly! Don’t be bound and fooled by others. Once an opportunity is missed, it will never come back to you. God says: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit.” Every word of God is the truth and the fact, without any falsehood. Don’t persist in the wrong way, and don’t be like what I was, nearly falling into God’s eternal punishment. Now, recalling all these, I feel very frightened indeed. If it were not for God’s love and tolerance, I would have already died somewhere! I hope that brothers and sisters can take it as a warning and wake up soon after reading my testimony!