Friday, August 31, 2018

Welcoming the Lord’s Return (“Pigeon” Mail—3)


“Pigeon” Mail



One day six months later, whilst I was cooking lunch, I heard my mother-in-law call my name outside my door. I answered the door and saw a slender young woman with delicate features behind my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law said: “This little sister has come to see you. She had an address but couldn’t find you, so went to the church. Hearing her say that she needed to urgently see you, I quickly brought her over.” I looked at this sister carefully and thought to myself: Why do I not appear to know her? The little sister saw me and quickly came to pull my hand and said excitedly: “So you are Sister Su. I found you after all!” I was dumbfounded by her actions and looked at her in surprise and asked: “Who are you? I don’t appear to have met you before?” The little sister excitedly said to me: “Sister, my surname is Wang. It was Brother Meng and Sister Zhao from Shandong who introduced you to me. Brother Meng and the others wrote a letter to The Church of Almighty God here and told us to think of a way to find you, no matter what. They entrusted us to preach God’s gospel of the kingdom to you because they are too busy and there really wasn’t time for them to come in person. I do not know how many people have passed on this letter, but it was passed on to us after many others. I came here to inquire many times. It wasn’t easy to find you …” Speaking up to here, the little sister sobbed and put the letter into my hands. I took the letter and saw that it said: “Sister Su believes in the Lord sincerely. Please, you have to find her and preach God’s gospel of the kingdom to her….” Reading these words warmed my heart and my tears could not stop flowing. My mother-in-law was moved and said: “It really is thanks to the Lord! This really is the love of the Lord!” Looking at the kind and sincere little sister, I thought back to the moving words in the letter and could feel the urgent intentions of the brothers and sisters to preach the gospel of the Lord’s return to me. My spiritual intuition told me that this love came from God. Because only God cherishes every soul in this way and cares about every person who truly believes in God. Therefore, I decided that this time I would seek and study the last days’ work of Almighty God. I could no longer refuse. I enthusiastically said to the little sister: “Sister, come and sit inside.” The little sister nodded happily, her eyes still shining with tears.

After eating, I called my co-worker Sister Zhang over too. My husband heard that we were going to fellowship and asked for time off work too. The little sister warmly asked: “Sister, in Brother Meng’s letter they said that they had written several letters to you, to preach God’s last days’ work to you but that you didn’t accept it. I wonder if you have any thoughts on this? Sister, if you have any difficulties, please come out with them and we will fellowship and seek together.” I said: “Since you have asked this question, I will open up and talk to you. In the past I was afraid of being taken in by false Christs that appear during the last days and so kept to ‘all those who preach of the Lord’s coming are all false’ and therefore I never studied Almighty God’s last days’ work. Later, I thought about what Brother Meng and the others said in their letter and felt it is justified. Because false Christs appear in the last days, we blindly reject the gospel of the Lord’s return. It really is a case of being put off easily by a slight risk. However, not being able to distinguish between the true Christ and false Christs really will not do when greeting the Lord’s return. You came today, so please give us fellowship on this aspect.” Sister Zhang, my husband and my mother-in-law also nodded their heads in agreement.


Then, the little sister read a passage of God’s words to us, where Almighty God said: “To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading God’s words, the little sister said in fellowship: “We can see from the word of Almighty God that when distinguishing between the true Christ and false Christs, the most important thing is to distinguish from the essence. That is, from their work, words and disposition. The Lord Jesus once said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jhn 14:6). It is thus clear that since God becomes flesh, He can express the truth and do God’s own work, He can also express God’s own disposition and all that He has and is. Just as in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus expressed many truths, expressed a disposition that is mainly mercy and love, and completed the work of redeeming the whole of mankind, from the Lord Jesus’ work, words and the disposition He expressed, we can be sure that Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life and is God incarnate Himself. This lets us see that only the one who can express truths and do God’s last days’ judgment work is the manifestation of Christ of the last days. Now Almighty God has come and expressed all of the truths that purify and save man and has done the last days’ work of judging and chastising people. Almighty God’s words reveal the true situation, nature and essence of mankind being corrupted by Satan and tell people all aspects of the truth such as what salvation is, what changes to disposition are and what the path to changes to disposition is, as well as mankind’s future destination and what the ending will be for all kinds of people. Moreover, Almighty God has also revealed the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan and the mystery of incarnation, and expressed God’s original disposition, essence, and everything that He has and is. Provided we diligently read God’s words, we will be able to see that the words spoken by Almighty God are the voice of the Holy Spirit, God’s way of judgment in the last days. Almighty God’s last days’ work has fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible, such as, ‘Judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17). ‘The Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth’ (Jhn 16:13). And ‘He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (Jhn 12:48). The truths that Almighty God has expressed, the work of judging, chastising and purifying people that He has done and the mainly righteous disposition that Almighty God has expressed fully confirm that Christ is the truth, the way and the life and that Almighty God is the manifestation of Christ of the last days. But false Christs do not possess the essence of God. Most of them are possessed by evil spirits or are extremely arrogant, unreasonable demons and evil spirits that can neither express truths to supply people nor do judgment work to purify people. They can only deceive those foolish, ignorant, confused people who seek bread to satisfy hunger by showing them simple signs and wonders. Therefore, it is very easy for us to distinguish between the true Christ and false Christs by this one principle: ‘Christ is the truth, the way, and the life,’ which is completely in accordance with God’s intentions.”

Listening to the sister’s fellowship, I couldn’t stop pondering: I have believed in the Lord for so many years but never heard this aspect before. Today Almighty God’s words spoke of distinguishing between the true Christ and false Christs so thoroughly, it seems as though the word of Almighty God really might be the voice of the Holy Spirit. Lord! I have always anxiously awaited Your return, but these last years I have just looked to guarding against false Christs and have hardly had any heart to seek. I have never studied You returning to do the last days’ judgment work as The Church of Almighty God has testified and I blindly resisted and condemned. Lord, did I really shut You out? Thinking of this, my heart quivered and I felt a little flustered and could no longer sit still, so I got up and went into the kitchen to pretend to pour a glass of water, trying to calm my emotions down a little. As I poured the water, I pondered: The little sister is very young, yet her fellowship of the truth is so real. The brothers and sisters of Shandong church also progressed so fast after accepting the work of Almighty God. Their acceptance of the Bible and knowledge of God’s work were much greater than mine. This way could make people understand the truth and make people have knowledge of God’s work. Is this not God’s work? Thinking of this, I felt both excited and remorseful. I recalled my circumstances when I wrote the letter to brothers and sisters in Shandong. With one stroke of the pen I taught the brothers and sisters a lesson in a frenzied tone and in my approach to the Lord’s return, not only did I not seek the truth and accept the brothers and sisters’ fellowship, but on the contrary I vigorously refuted and rejected it and considered myself the master of truth, making brothers and sisters all listen to me. I also thought that I was doing my utmost to defend the true way. I hadn’t considered that I was resisting God. So am I not a modern-day Pharisee? At this point, I felt like I had been soaked from head to foot by cold water and felt aching and weak all over. Both of my hands trembled uncontrollably and I kept replaying the scenes of me resisting God in my mind…. I could no longer control myself and wept uncontrollably. I hated myself for being too arrogant and too blind. After a while, I wiped my tears and carried the water into the room. The little sister looked at me and asked with concern: “Sister, can you accept our fellowship like this?” I sighed and reproachfully said: “After listening to Almighty God’s words and your fellowship just now, I feel that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. I have looked forward to the Lord’s return every day but did not expect that now the Lord has returned, I would actually act out the role of the Pharisees. I have really done great evil! I resisted God …” At this time, I was crying so much I could not speak.

Later, after a period of studying the word of Almighty God, Sister Zhang, my mother-in-law, my husband and I were completely settled on Almighty God being the returned Lord Jesus. I was so unusually excited that I excitedly sent brothers and sisters in Shandong a fifth letter: “Dear brothers and sisters! Thanks be to God that through your preaching to me God’s gospel of the kingdom many times, I have now accepted Almighty God’s last days’ work and have become a member of The Church of Almighty God. Although I accepted later than you, I do not want to be left behind and I am going to rouse myself to catch up….” At this moment, my heart seemed to have flown back to Shandong with the letter to be intimately united with my brothers and sisters there. Thanks be to God for His love!

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