Zhao Yong
My wife and I had believed in the Lord for 18 years. One day after breakfast, I went to the yard to pull up weeds as usual, and my wife was reading a book carefully in the room. But when I was entering the room, she stopped reading and hastily hid the book. Her action aroused my curiosity: Over the eighteen years of believing in the Lord Jesus, she seldom read the Bible in the daytime but only read it in the gatherings, as we got lots of household chores to do. But why has she changed after she came back from seeing a doctor last time? Can it be that she has accepted the Eastern Lightning? For I heard that the Eastern Lightning’s book is very fascinating. But I then thought: It’s impossible. The Eastern Lightning followers told us that the Lord has come back and is called Almighty God, and that He has become flesh as a female. But the Lord Jesus was male; even if He has come back, He must still be male. How can He be female? We have believed in the Lord for over 10 years; we can discern this problem. Besides, my wife opposed the Eastern Lightning vigorously before, and she didn’t even allow the Eastern Lightning followers into our yard whenever they came to preach the gospel to us. Thus, it’s impossible for her to read their book. But what on earth is she reading that attracts her so much? Is it about belief in God? Driven by curiosity, many times I wanted to ask her what she was reading, but I bit the words back, afraid that she wouldn’t tell me the truth. After turning over the matter in my mind, I decided to pretend to be ignorant of it and watch for a chance to sneak a look at her book, and then the truth would be out.
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| Picture of Eastern Lightning | Reading Almighty God's Word |
One morning, my wife, wearing reading glasses, was absorbed in reading the book in her hands. Meanwhile, I was pulling up weeds in the front yard. Then through the window I saw a cow get into our backyard. Intending to seize the opportunity to send my wife away, I yelled at her loudly, “A cow has broken into the backyard. Hurry to drive it away! Hurry up!” But she was reluctant to put aside her book, and said, “You go. I’m busy now.” Hearing this, I had no intention to go, and went on to shout, “I’m tied up. Why don’t you go?” So she agreed grudgingly. I cast furtive glances at her, and saw her put the book into the cabinet and go to the backyard. So I hastened to the room and took out the book. I saw that the book’s name is The Scroll Opened by the Lamb. For fear that she would be back soon, I nervously flipped the pages as I cast glances at her through the window. When I saw her driving the cow up the hill, I was secretly thrilled, for I knew that she wouldn’t be back shortly. Thereupon, I flipped through the contents pages quickly: “Concerning the Practice of Prayer,” “Concerning the Bible (1),” “Concerning the Bible (2),” “Concerning the Bible (3),” “Concerning the Bible (4),” …. It turned out that the book was really about belief in God. But I didn’t dare to read it carefully and quickly put it back, in fear of being seen by my wife. After that, I returned to the front yard and went on with my work, thinking: Now I know the book is about belief in God and where it is put, and I’ll have a good read of it in her absence.
Then came my chance. One day, my wife felt the familiar ache in her lower back. So, when she was out to see a doctor, I laid aside my work and went into the room, and I took out the book to see its contents. I opened the book and happened to see this sentence, “Though many people believe in God, few understand what faith in God means,” which immediately riveted my attention. “It’s true. I have been a believer in God for more than 10 years, but I’m indeed ignorant of what faith in God means. Now that this question has been raised, there must be an answer in the book.” Then I read on, “‘Belief in God’ means believing that there is a God; this is the simplest concept of faith in God. What’s more, believing that there is a God is not the same as truly believing in God; rather, it is a kind of simple faith with strong religious overtones. True faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. So you shall be freed of your corrupt disposition, shall fulfill the desire of God, and shall come to know God. Only through such a journey can you be said to believe in God” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). I was astonished by this passage of words. I thought: Who said these words? And who is capable of making the belief in God so plain? He even has pointed out the path of belief in God for man—man has to experience the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things, so that he can be freed of his corrupt disposition to fulfill the desire of God and come to know God. And only through such a journey can one count as having true faith in God. Comparing these words with my years of belief, I have no true belief in God at all. When I listen to the preaching, it just goes in one ear and out the other, and I can’t put it into practice after hearing it. Reflecting on these words, I saw I had a confused kind of faith. I went on to read a few more pieces of words. Deeply attracted by them, I took notes while I was reading. And in the following days, once my wife went out, I would lose no time in getting the book out and reading it. But what often happened was that she was back at precisely the moment when I came to the key part, which made me more eager to finish the book earlier.
Finally I couldn’t help asking my wife to let me read her book. Unexpectedly, she readily consented. From then on, I no longer had to read it secretly. One day, I saw these words in the book: “In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind….” Upon seeing the words “Almighty God,” my heart sunk and I stopped reading at once. “Is it not the book of the Eastern Lightning? I have been guarding against it in this way or that way for six years, but in the end what I’m reading is exactly its book.” At that moment, I was at a loss to decide whether I should read on or not. “According to the Eastern Lightning followers, the Lord Jesus has returned and He has become flesh as a female. The Lord is evidently male, so how is it possible for Him to be female when He comes back? That just doesn’t make sense. And I cannot read it any longer no matter how good it is. If I take a wrong way, wouldn’t my over ten years of belief be in vain?” At this thought, I closed the book and put it aside. Then I walked back and forth in the yard with a heavy heart. I was in low spirits, and just couldn’t give my mind to any work I did. The words of the book I had read in those days kept recurring to my mind, “I hope that you will read it to the end, and will not put it aside easily.” “Perhaps, having heard the way of truth and read the word of life, you believe that only one in 10,000 of these words are in line with your convictions and the Bible, and then you should continue to seek in that 10,000th of these words.” These words lingered in my mind all the time, and I pondered: Merely one ten thousandth? How small the proportion is! The words I have read in these days sound reasonable, and most of them are in line with the Bible. Actually the proportion is far more than one ten thousandth. The purpose of these words is to tell people never to put the book aside easily. So, should I go on reading? If it is really the work of God but I don’t accept it, then am I not resisting God? At that time, I recalled that the Bible says, “And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing; But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:38-39). Thinking back over the past six years, Almighty God’s kingdom gospel had been preached to us constantly. If it didn’t come from God, the Church of Almighty God could not have developed to the present day, neither would any member of the Church of Almighty God have such great faith to keep preaching the gospel to us. And if the gospel does come from God and I refuse to accept it, then I will be resisting God, and won’t be saved in the end. At that moment, I was ambivalent about it. I thought it over and over, and finally decided to read through the book to see whether it was the true way; if it was, I would continue to read it together with my wife; but if not, I would keep her from reading it. After making the decision, I hurried with my reading. While reading, I found those words were in accordance with the truth, but I also felt puzzled about some of them. Within a few days, I finished reading it. Then I said to my wife seriously, “I have finished reading. It seems to be the word of God, for no one else can speak such words. But there are still some words incomprehensible to me. You find sisters from the Church of Almighty God for me; I have some questions to ask them. Provided that they can solve my puzzles, we will accept the gospel. Otherwise, you shall not believe in the way, either, and we’ll ask them to take away the book.” My wife seemed very glad to hear that, and answered with assurance, “Okay, then it’s settled!”
The next evening, Sister Sun came to our house at our invitation. She said to me in a mild tone, “Uncle, if you have any puzzles, just feel free to communicate with me.” “You said that the Lord Jesus has come back and is female. But the Lord was obviously male; how could He be female when He returns?” I asked earnestly. She replied smilingly, “Genesis records that God created male and female in His image. Then, can you tell me whether God is male or female?” Her words stunned me, and I had no idea how to reply. At this moment, she added, “So we cannot delineate God and conclude that He is only male. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s words, ‘Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if an infant girl, not a boy, was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. At the time of His work, Jesus was called the only Son, which indicates the male gender. Then why is the only Son not mentioned in this stage? This is because the needs of the work have necessitated a change to the gender different from that of Jesus. With God there is no distinction of gender. His work is done as He wishes and is not subject to any restrictions, particularly free, but every stage has a real significance. God became flesh twice, and it goes without saying that His incarnation in the last days is the last time. He has come to reveal all His deeds. If 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’ (‘The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words made it clear to us: The substance of God is Spirit, and with Him there is no distinction of gender. Only when God is incarnated on earth and becomes an ordinary person due to the needs of His work, is there a distinction of gender with Him. But regardless of whether God incarnate is male or female, His divine substance doesn’t change, and both can accomplish the work God wants to do. In the first incarnation, He was male, and this time He is female, which totally breaks apart man’s conceptions. Otherwise, man will draw the conclusion that God is only male.”
Hearing Sister Sun’s fellowship, I was inexpressibly delighted, as the years of confusion in my heart was finally released. If it had not been for God’s revealing the mystery, I would have defined God as male forever, and my conception would never have been resolved. At that time, I felt remorse and said to my wife, “My dear, this is truly God’s new work. It has been preached to us for so many years, but we simply refused to accept it, just because we didn’t know God and delineated Him by our conceptions and imaginations. Fortunately God didn’t abandon us, otherwise, we would have lost God’s salvation in the last days. Since you have accepted it, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” In tears she said, “Thank God for having not left us. Before, when someone came to preach about the Lord Jesus’ return, we never listened to them, much less did we seek or investigate, so we have missed many great opportunities to be saved by God. These days I’ve been investigating this way, but I was afraid that you wouldn’t accept it, so I didn’t tell you.”
In the following two days, Sister Sun continued to fellowship with us and solved all our puzzles. Then, we both accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days formally. All the glory be to Almighty God!
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