Farewell to Those Days of Wrestling With Fate (Audio Essay)

Yixin

A rustic village fallen behind, my parents exhausted from their work, a life in financial straits … these gloomy memories were branded on to my young mind, they were my first impression of “fate.” After I started attending school, the first time I heard my teacher say that “You control your fate in your own hands,” I kept these words firmly in my mind. I believed that although I could not change the fact that I was born into poverty, I could still change my own fate through hard work. As a result, I exerted my full strength to wrestle with my “fate,” and gain a slice of heaven to call my own.

A Setback in My Studies

Just like generation after generation of countless students, my determination to study and get into college was the first step in changing my fate. To this end, I studied hard. When in class I listened attentively, when outside of class while other students were all out playing, I was still studying, often immersed in my books deep into the night. Due to my rigorous studying, my grades were always among the best. Every time that my teachers or classmates would cast gazes of admiration upon me it would reinforce my conviction that “I need to rely on my own two hands to carve out a place in the world for myself.” But the ways of the world are unpredictable. As I was striving for these beautiful ideals, my father suddenly fell ill. After his being examined we found that he had cirrhosis, and that it had already progressed into the middle stages. My father grew swollen all over his body due to the illness, and not only was he not able to work, he also had to spend a lot of money on doctor visits. For a period of time all house work, as well as farm work on over 3 acres of land, fell on to my mother, and at the same time my mother also came down with a serious gynecological disease. One day my father told me, with a face laden with grief: “Daughter, right now our entire family is relying on just your mother for support. Her burden is very heavy. It costs a lot of money to send four kids to school to study for a year. We really don’t have any way to provide all of you with schooling. You are the oldest, so you should consider your brothers and sisters. Why don’t you stop going to school so that we can set aside this opportunity for your brothers and sisters?” After listening to my father’s words, I felt an overwhelming pain in my heart: I had always hoped to study hard and become an outstanding person, but if I acquiesced to my father’s wish that I give up on my studies, then wouldn’t all of my prospects and hopes just all of a sudden completely vanish?! My eyes were full of teardrops, and I felt a fit of sadness in my heart. I knew that my father had thought it over for a long time before saying these words, and looking at my sick mother, I could not bear to lay such a heavy burden down upon her. Confronted with my family’s impoverished financial situation, I had no choice but to compromise with the current situation and fight back the tears as I acquiesced to my father’s wishes.

Without having finished junior high school, I was young but I was full of ambition. Although I wasn’t able to finish my studies, I quickly set my sights on getting a temporary job to make money. I believed that through hard work I could still absolutely change my fate. Before too long, through a relative’s introduction, I went to the city to work at a textile factory. In order to make more money I worked as hard as I could. Where other people watched after two machines I watched after four, and when others took breaks I would go on working. The boss saw that I was reliable and capable, and within five months of working he increased my wages to as much as what workers who had been there for a long time working. My workmates all cast looks of envy upon me.

That year as I was feeling proud of my success and wanting to keep working hard, mother spread the gospel of Almighty God in the last days to me. Mother told me that God rules over and arranges all things, and that everyone’s fate is administered in God’s hands, but in my proud and arrogant mind there was only the belief that “You control your fate in your own hands,” and I simply did not listen to my mother’s words. In this instance, in my brief encounter with God’s salvation, I did not receive the gospel spread by my mother, rather I continued struggling and fighting in the world.

I went on in this way for several years, and my life started to stabilize. Not only did I have a little savings for myself, I was also frequently able to give a little to my family. I felt that so long as I continued working hard then I would certainly have bright and boundless prospects. As I was lost in the tide of pursuing wealth and the pleasures of the flesh, an unexpected car accident smashed my entire life plan. I lay unconscious in a hospital bed for three days and three nights, and after I awoke I couldn’t say anything. I was just like a mute. It was only after the doctor let me get out of bed to move around a little that I realized that due to the seriousness of my injury I could not move the entire left side of my body. There was no way that I could accept this reality, I was only twenty years old! If from now on I was to always be paralyzed in bed like this, then wouldn’t my splendid youth be ruined? My beautiful life had not even started, and could it really be coming to an end? I was grieved and heart-broken, I wanted to cry but shed no tears, and I did not know how to face the future. … At this time, my mother came to my side to console me. She told me, “Daughter, it was because God protects you that you were able to wake up! Don’t you know? The doctor said that even if you were able to wake up you would be a vegetable. As soon as your father and I heard this our hearts grew cold. For the past several days I’ve been constantly praying to God, delivering you into God’s hands, willing to submit to God’s sovereignty. Thank God! Look at you, now you have awoken. This is God taking pity on you. It is God’s gracious will that this car accident fell upon you! Although we have suffered some pain in the flesh, isn’t it through facing this kind of situation that we are able to turn away from the world and turn toward God? Daughter, you must start believing in God with me right away!” As I saw mother hold back tears while she spread the gospel to me, my heart finally felt stirred. Mother said that while I was unconscious she was constantly praying to God. Regardless of whether or not it was possible for me to wake up, in either case she was willing to submit to God’s orchestration and arrangement. She didn’t actually expect that I would wake up. As I was listening to all of this, I felt that God really was great! Although I had refused His salvation, He had not given up on me. When calamity fell upon me, His protections were by my side all along. He took pity on me and protected me, and He saved me from death. I could not help but start to feel some appreciation toward God. Because of God’s care and protection my body recovered extremely fast, and I was discharged from the hospital one month ahead of schedule.

Persisting to Go About Things the Wrong Way

Although I had enjoyed God’s love and mercy, I still did not understand the true significance of believing in God, so I did not treat having faith in God as a serious matter. It wasn’t until after my body had recovered some that mother suggested that I find a job close to home to eke out a living, and that she hoped that I would spend more of my spare time on practicing my faith in God. But I was not willing to live this kind of life. I waited until my leg injury healed completely and then left home without hesitation to work a temporary job. During this job I had a relationship with a boy, and after courting each other for a period of time, he asked me to marry him, promising me that he would love me for the rest of our lives. I thought about how my studies had been obstructed over the years, how part way through I also suffered a car accident, and how after these efforts I still wasn’t able to change my fate. So this time I placed my hope of changing my fate onto this marriage. If I married a man who was willing to promise to love me for my whole life, then the latter part of my life would certainly be happy and blissful. I carried this vision of a beautiful life with me into the marriage hall. But unexpectedly, once I was married, it completely wasn’t how I imagined it would be. My husband would often quarrel with me because of trifling matters, and my mother-in-law was also tepid toward me, and would even instigate my husband to quarrel with me. … I lived in suffering with no one to console me. What’s more, the family I was married off to lived far away, so there was nobody around me that I could find to open up to. Under this feeling of helplessness, all I could do was go off again and look for a temporary job. Due to my husband and I living in two different locations, it wasn’t long until we felt like strangers. After five years of marriage my husband brought up getting a divorce, telling me that he had already met another woman that he liked more. When I heard him say this, my mind felt completely empty, and I thought to myself, “What do I do? Everyone says that divorce to a woman is the same as being half alive, so how should I live the latter part of my life?” As I signed my divorce certificate, I was by myself carrying luggage onto a train to head back home, and I started to cry uncontrollably. I had a deep sense of the pain people experience while living in this world, and I had an even greater sense of the unprecedented solitude that faced me. It was such a big world but there was no place where I could stay. I felt quite desolate. I really wanted to kill myself to end it all. But then I thought about my parents who were growing older with each passing day, and I felt a sense of hesitation: If I died, what would my parents’ grief do to them! It was out of the question. I could not die in that way. I must wipe my tears dry, bite the bullet and continue living.

The Return of a Prodigal Son

When I returned home, mother once again fellowshiped the word of God to me. I took the book that was in mother’s hands and read God’s words: “From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to perform your duty. You assume your role in the plan of God and in the ordination of God. You begin the journey of life. Whatever your background and whatever the journey ahead of you, none can escape the orchestration and arrangement that Heaven has in store, and none are in control of their destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You and the evil one walk through thousands of years of tempest and storm. Together with him, you counter God, who was the source of your life. You do not repent, let alone know that you have come to the point of perishment. You forget that the evil one has tempted you, afflicted you; you forget your origin. Just like that, the evil one has been damaging you step by step, even to now. Your heart and your spirit are desensitized and decayed. You no longer complain about the distress of the world, no longer believe the world is unjust. You don’t even care about the existence of the Almighty. This is because you have deemed the evil one as your true father, and you no longer can be apart from him. This is the secret in your heart” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After reading God’s words, I understood. God is the Creator and Ruler of the heavens and earth and all things, and even more so He is the source of life for mankind. Everyone’s fate is ruled over and controlled by the hands of God. But I did not truly believe in God, and I did not have true knowledge of God’s sovereignty. I still relied on the seed of Satan planted deep within me to live, telling me that “You control your fate in your own hands.” I still attempted in vain to rely on myself and wander the world looking for a piece of heaven, throwing off God’s sovereignty and arrangements. I thought back on the past decade, how in order to change my fate I had studied hard and struggled to make money. Later on, after getting into a car accident, God protected me and helped me escape from calamity, allowing my body to miraculously recover quickly. But I still had not come to see the truth in spite of mother’s attempts to convince me. I did not receive the gospel and come before God, rather I relied on ambition and desire to make my plans, to figure out what road my life was going to take in the future. Then once again I placed happiness in my own life onto a marriage. I thought I had found someone to marry who could stay committed to me and love me for a lifetime, and that I would certainly be happy, but in the end a failed marriage brought me endless suffering. … I held on to the words that “You control your fate in your own hands,” believing that through relying on my own hard work I could change my fate, and that eventually there would be a day where I would certainly become successful. But after so many years, after being scarred and bruised, after crushing defeats, besides pain and suffering there was nothing else that I had obtained. Only by looking back on how I relied on the poison of Satan to live, how this was in competition with my fate, did I see that I did not recognize God’s authority, that by relying on my own capabilities I was throwing off God’s sovereignty. It really was so stupid and foolish! Although I distanced myself from God and refused to listen to the voice of God, God still forgave me and endured me, and waited quietly for me, and created my surroundings in order to awaken my heart and my soul. Through mother spreading the gospel to me once again I was brought back before God. In this moment I have endless regrets, but I am full of gratitude and debt in my heart toward God, and I cannot stop the tears from falling down my face.

Finding Happiness

Returning before God and enjoying being watered by the word of God healed my wounded spirit bit by bit. Later on, a neighboring sister found out about my divorce and wanted to introduce me to a partner. This time I actively sought out mother’s opinion. Mother did not make the decision for me, rather she had me pray to seek out God’s will. I came before God to pray, delivering the matter of my marriage into God’s hands. After praying, I felt very much at peace in my heart, and it made me recall a passage from the word of God: “The fate of man is controlled by the hands of God. You are incapable of controlling yourself: Despite always rushing and busying about for himself, man remains incapable of controlling himself. If you could know your own prospects, if you could control your own fate, would you still be a creature? … The destination of man is in the hands of the Creator, so how could man control himself?” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). It’s true. My fate is controlled by the hands of God. Whatever kind of marriage I am to have is dictated and arranged by God. I cannot make the choice on my own, like I did in the past, based on my own demands and standards. Whatever life I am to live in the latter part of my life, whatever kind of husband I am able to find, I believe that this is all predestined and arranged by God. What I need to do now is seek God’s will, follow God’s leadership, and submit to God’s sovereignty.

The day that we met I saw that the man was not very tall, nor was he very good at talking. Based on my previous standards for choosing a spouse, I certainly would have looked for a partner who could talk really well, or who was tall and handsome, but this time I didn’t make such a hasty refusal. Instead, I agreed to us getting to know each other for a while first. In the days that followed I discovered that although he was not charming or romantic, he was honest and considerate toward others, steadfast in his duties, and, most importantly, he supported my faith in God. I felt that he must be the husband that God arranged for me. After getting to know each other for a while we got married. After getting married, my husband’s family was very good to me, and they all supported my faith in God. When brothers and sisters come gather in our home, they all cordially greet our guests. I feel very happy, and my heart feels very content. In my heart I am grateful for God’s grace and blessings. God says: “When you truly come to recognize that God has sovereignty over human fate, when you truly understand that everything God has planned for and decided for you is a great benefit, and is a great protection, then you feel your pain gradually lighten, and the whole of you become relaxed, free, liberated” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

God’s words made me recognize that God alone understands everything that each person needs. He observes all of our plights, and He alone has sovereignty over us and arranges everything for us in the best possible way. Nowadays I have attained God’s salvation and come before Him. I enjoy being watered and supplied by the word of God, and through my experiences in work, family and marriage, I have been able to resolve the satanic rule that dwelt within me and told me that “You control your fate in your own hands.” I’ve come to recognize that these are satanic words that deceive and corrupt men, tricking them into distancing themselves from God. At the same time, I have also come to a clear understanding that the human race was created by God, that our whole lives are ruled over and administered by God, and that nobody can break away from this, nor can they control this. We attempt in vain to rely on ourselves to change our fate, only to become beaten and bruised. This is a manifestation of the authority of the Creator. God has rescued me from being under the domain of Satan. I have returned before God, God has led me to understand the truth, and I am finally walking down the true and correct path of human life. Through the things that I have experienced, I have truly come to realize that all wealth and rank and all material things in this world are empty, that you can only rely on the word of God to live. Only then will your heart be steady and at peace. This is the greatest love and blessing that God has given me. As I continue on my journey, I am moved by only one thing: Ignorant men who resist God live with the most suffering, and only wise men who submit to God’s sovereignty are liberated and happy!

When There’s a Knock at the Door, You Must Open It

By Qing Ting, China

In 1989, I followed along with my mother in accepting the gospel of the Lord Jesus. After I began to believe in the Lord, through often attending gatherings and reading the Scriptures, I came to know that it was God who created the heaven, the earth, and everything therein, and that He had created mankind, and that it is God who provides everything for mankind. At that time the preacher would often tell us, “No matter how many difficulties there are, as long as we pray to God, God will help us. This is because the Lord said, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened’ (Mat 7:7–8). The Lord is trustworthy, so if we have difficulties and pray to the Lord, the Lord will listen to our prayers. He speaks to us through the words of the Bible, and leads us through all difficulties….” After that, I entrusted everything to the Lord, no matter if they were the great or small matters in life. The Lord in fact listened to my prayers and guided me through the words of the Bible, and made all the things I sought come to fruition. Because of this I treasured the Bible more and more, and it was something inseparable from me that I would carry everywhere.

One Sunday in September of 1997, I came to a gathering just as I always had, and the elderly sister who was preaching said, “Give thanks to the Lord for His Grace. Today I have invited these two young sisters to fellowship to us, and you can ask whatever questions you have in mind….” All along, I had adored this elderly sister who had begun to believe in the Lord when she was 18 years old, and who was now 68. In her 50 years of belief, she had read the Bible with such vigor that she had worn out three copies, and she was quite proficient in the Bible, but today to my surprise she was letting these two twenty-something-year-old sisters preach to us. How long had they believed in the Lord? What message were they able to tell us? I wasn’t convinced, but because the elderly sister had recommended it, I didn’t say anything. When the young sisters taught us to sing a verse originated from Revelation 22:1–5, “A River of Water of Life,” I thought this verse was quite fresh and nice to listen to, so my heart was calmed. After that they also got us to sing another new verse, called “Almighty God Has Already Appeared in the East,” and I thought that this hymn was also very good, and that it had character and energy. I thought it was more able to give people faith than the verses we had sung before in church. At that moment my heart was no longer conflicted about those two young sisters. But soon, one of the young sisters bore witness to the Lord Jesus having already returned, and also said that in the last days God has come again incarnate, appearing and working as the Son of man. She said that on the basis of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He has performed a stage of the work of word that judges and cleanses people, and that He has personally opened the little scroll…. As she was speaking, she set down the Bible and took out a book called The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, and my insides started to turn: “These people believe in God but actually put down the Bible. That definitely couldn’t be right! Where is the sense in believing in the Lord, but not reading the Bible? We base our faith in the Lord on the Bible, and we must read it at all times!” Just when I wanted to refute them, I saw the elderly sister nodding her head over and over, and I swallowed the words I was going to use to refute them. I thought, “If the elderly sister would approve of what they are preaching, with what knowledge I understand about the Bible I might not be able to refute them, and I would end up being embarrassed. It would be better to wait until they have left and then talk with the elderly sister. It is definitely not right to believe in God but leave the Bible behind, because in the Bible it says: ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ (2Ti 3:16). Since the Bible is given by inspiration of God, it represents the voice of God. Whether or not we abide by the Bible, indeed, is with regard to the great matter of whether we receive blessing or suffer misfortune, and I have to get a clear understanding of this matter. I must not let these two sisters mislead and deceive us.” I was panicked the whole time, carrying a belly full of worry. It wasn’t easy to wait until the gathering finished. I kept looking over at the elderly sister, seeing how she apparently approved of what the young sisters were fellowshiping. The whole time, she seemed calm and happy, and I couldn’t help but whisper to myself: “Why are you not saying anything? Are you just going to let them preach like this, abandoning the Bible? Is this what you call being a good steward for the Lord?”

On the way back home, the more I thought about it the more anxious I became. “I have read the Bible for seven or eight years, and now there are people getting me to abandon the Bible. Also, the elderly sister unexpectedly seems to think there is nothing wrong with it, but how is this in accordance with the demands of the Lord? But most of the brothers and sisters of the church have accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days, and if I do not accept it, on the off chance that the Lord really has returned and is in fact Almighty God, won’t I be missing the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s return?” Still, I had second thoughts about it. I couldn’t just accept the words of Almighty God and abandon the Bible as they had done, but what could I do? Because I was ill at ease in my heart, and the road under my feet seemed to be bumpy and uneven, I returned home all flustered. When my husband saw my bewildered expression, he quickly asked me, “Why are you so distracted? What is it that’s on your mind?” “Ah! Forget it, today two young sisters came to the church and preached to us, and said that the Lord Jesus had already returned and opened up the little scroll. They also gave each of us a book, and said that this is the new word of God. In the future, they’re getting us to only read this book called The Scroll Opened by the Lamb. What do you think? We have believed in the Lord for so many years, and all along have read the Bible, and the Bible has brought so much benefit to us. We can never abandon the Bible!” My husband also said in amazement, “Oh? Is that what’s going on?” After being in deep thought for a moment, he said, “I think you’re right. We must have a conscience toward the Lord, and we have to read the Bible in our belief in God. We can never abandon the Bible.” My husband’s certain answer strengthened my conviction in guarding the Bible.

In the evening, I knelt before the Bible and prayed impatiently to the Lord, beseeching the Lord to watch over His flock and not let people steal them away. A few days after this, I read the Bible just as before, and when Sunday came I got my Bible and set out in advance. I also put that book, The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, into my bag. Because I didn’t know how I should treat this book, I wanted to hear the opinions of the elderly sister and others. When I saw the elderly sister, I told her all of my notions about it. After she heard it, the elderly sister smiled and said, “Sister, this is certainly not a trivial matter, and is something we must treat with great caution. If we blindly come up with a judgment in treating the matter of the Lord’s return, it is very easy to commit an offense against the Lord. Sincerely pray in the presence of the Lord a bit more, and I have faith that the Lord will illuminate and enlighten us, so that we will understand His will.” I never thought that the elderly sister would say this, but when I looked at her attitude, it was as if she already had come to a final conclusion about this matter. That evening, I tossed and turned restlessly in my bed, and I could not get to sleep. I thought of how the elderly sister had believed in the Lord for so many years, and was a person with great discrimination. In those years the church was in great chaos, and she was able, in the midst of being coerced and pushed aside by pastors and elders, to firmly and decisively set aside her position in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement church and enter into the house church environment through praying and seeking the will of God. Living under the threat of imprisonment, she continued to serve the Lord. I greatly respected and admired her, and I believed that she would not this time just accept at will the work of Almighty God in the last days without prayer and seeking. “But this book, The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, has abandoned the Bible. No matter which way you look at it, that’s still wrong! Lord, what should I do?” At that time, I remembered the injunction of the elderly sister that one must pray and seek more about things he doesn’t understand well. At that, I knelt before the Lord in His presence and prayed: “Lord Jesus Christ of grace, our author and perfecter, the brothers and sisters of the church have all abandoned the Bible, and have begun reading a book called The Scroll Opened by the Lamb. They also say that this is Your new word, Lord! For so many years, when was there ever a person who believed in the Lord and abandoned the Bible? Yet today, all that is fellowshiped in gatherings is something other than the contents of the Bible. Lord! In what way am I to believe in You? I beseech You to show me the way forward, because You are the lamplight before me, the light on the road, and I await Your guidance.”

After that, I still brought the Bible with me to gatherings, and when I heard that the content communicated at gatherings was in keeping with the word of the Bible, I would reluctantly accept a little of it. I pretended not to hear whatever was not in keeping with the Bible, all the while waiting for the day when the brothers and sisters would awaken to the truth. But continuing on, I found that the condition of the brothers and sisters was becoming better and better, and each of their faces was brimming with happiness. On the other hand, my own mood was gradually sinking ever lower, and I would have to force myself to smile when responding to the brothers and sisters. One day at a gathering, I saw the brothers and sisters in high spirits fellowshiping what they had accepted and learned from the word of Almighty God, and every one of them seemed as elated as if he had just found a treasure. As for me, it was as if I could hardly understand what they fellowshiped, and that I was as dumb as a brick. I didn’t even have one sentence to add, and could only stand stupidly to one side. I felt very sorrowful and upset in my heart. I could only cry out to the Lord in my heart: “Lord! Before, You treated me with so much grace, and would often enlighten me. Why is it that You aren’t enlightening me now? Could it be that You don’t want me? Lord, You are my only hope, and I beseech You not to forsake me….” Even though I cried out to the Lord with great effort, I still felt no response or consolation from the Lord whatsoever. My heart grew cold: The Lord does not want me …

When I returned home, I could no longer bear the grief in my heart. I lay prostrate on my bed and involuntarily cried out to the Lord: “Lord, You know I love You, and no matter what circumstances arise, I just can’t abandon the Bible and shun You. But I have believed in You for many years, and I’ve never felt such a darkness in my spirit. Lord! I ask You not to turn Your face away from me. May You have pity on me. The brothers and sisters all say that the new words are Your voice, having returned. In reading these words they have all received a great harvest, and are all living in joy and happiness, yet I have fallen down into darkness and can no longer feel Your presence. Lord! I am suffering deeply in my heart, and I’m also perplexed, not knowing how to face all of this. Lord! Is this book, The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, really Your voice, having returned? If so, I beseech You to enlighten and guide me! Allow me to understand Your voice, as I too want to follow You!” At that point in my prayer, an image of the Lord Jesus standing outside knocking at my door suddenly appeared in my mind, and it was as if the Lord had already been outside waiting for me for a long time. I was startled, and suddenly realized that I was the one who had closed the door on the Lord Jesus. I immediately blamed myself, repented, and felt tears of indebtedness force their way out of my eyes…. I couldn’t even wipe the tears away, and hurried to get up off the floor. I took out my Bible and read Revelation 3:20–22: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” I was certain this was the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. At this, I knelt again in the presence of the Lord, my tears of repentance flowing nonstop: “My Lord, Almighty God, I didn’t think I would treat Your arrival in a way such as this … it was that I was blind and ignorant, and couldn’t understand Your voice, and shut You outside the door … I caused You to feel hurt and disappointed … if it weren’t for Your mercy, I might still be forsaking Your voice, and living in darkness. Almighty God! I want to come around to You, accept Your word, and ask for You to turn Your face away from my sins, and to continue to work Your salvation on me.” After my prayer, in my heart I felt a sense of unparalleled liberation, and it seemed that the massive stone that had been pressing down on my heart had been lifted. My heart felt so light! After this, as long as I had time I would read the word of Almighty God. I was eager to make up for all the time I lost, but I still felt perplexed in the depths of my spirit about the matter of God’s work leaving behind the Bible.

One day, I opened up the word of God, and read: “How should the Bible be approached in the belief in God? This is a question of principle. … For many years, people’s traditional means of belief (that of Christianity, one of the world’s three major religions) has been to read the Bible; departure from the Bible is not the belief in the Lord, departure from the Bible is an evil cult, and heresy, and even when people read other books, the foundation of these books must be the explanation of the Bible. Which is to say, if you say you believe in the Lord, then you must read the Bible, you must eat and drink the Bible, and outside the Bible you must not worship any book that does not involve the Bible. If you do, then you are betraying God. From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading this passage of God’s word, it was as if I were face to face with God. Yes, what I was thinking was the same as what God revealed; I thought that one needed to read the Bible to believe in God and could not read any other books besides the Bible, or else he was betraying God. But I was still confused: “Isn’t the Bible given by inspiration of God? In believing in the Lord, aren’t we following the Bible? Then, how great a difference is there really between returning to the presence of the Bible and returning to the presence of God?” I continued to search for an answer in the word of God. Soon after, I saw that the word of God says: “The Bible is a historical record of God’s work in Israel, and documents many of the foretellings of ancient prophets as well as some of the utterances of Jehovah in His work at that time. Thus, people all look upon this book as holy (for God is holy and great). Of course, this is all a result of their reverence for Jehovah and their adoration for God. People refer to this book in this way only because the creatures of God are so adoring of their Creator, and there are even those who call this book a heavenly book. In fact, it is merely a human record. It was not personally named by Jehovah, nor did Jehovah personally guide its creation. In other words, the author of this book is not God, but men. The Holy Bible is only the respectful title given to it by man. This title was not decided by Jehovah and Jesus after they had a discussion amongst each other; it is nothing more than a human idea. For this book was not written by Jehovah, much less by Jesus. Instead, it is the accounts of many ancient prophets, apostles, and seers, which were compiled by later generations into a book of ancient writings that, to people, seems especially holy, a book that they believe contains many unfathomable and profound mysteries that are waiting to be unlocked by future generations. As such, people are even more disposed to believe that this book is a heavenly book. With the addition of the Four Gospels and the Book of Revelation, people’s attitude toward it is particularly different from any other book, and thus no one dares to dissect this heavenly book—because it is too sacred” (“Concerning the Bible (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The word of Almighty God has revealed the eternal mystery, and has explained the enigmas of the Bible. It has also explained the difficulties in my heart. God’s word says: “The Bible is a historical record of God’s work in Israel.” Thinking about it carefully, I concluded: “It really is this way, and all that is recorded in the Bible is indeed the history of God’s work done in Israel. It is the work that God did in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, but God is the God who created the heaven, the earth, and everything, and also rules over all mankind. God is always guiding and providing for mankind, so how can He only work in Israel? How could He say only what is in the Bible? The Bible is called the ‘Holy Book’ by people, because it records much of what God said. They give it this honorary title because of their reverence for God, but in fact the authors of the Bible are those ancient saints, prophets, and apostles, not God. It appears that the Bible is not all given by inspiration of God, and not all of it is the word of God. It is only a historical book for bearing witness to God. No wonder the Lord Jesus said: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life’ (Jhn 5:39–40).” Reading the word of Almighty God in comparison with the word of the Lord Jesus, I understood those words of the Lord all of a sudden. At this, I asked myself: “God is the Creator, and is the fountainhead of life. God can create the heaven, the earth, and everything therein, and rules over all things. Can the Bible do this work? It can’t. Looking at it like this, it seems the Bible certainly can’t represent God. God and the Bible are not on an equal level. I should follow the footsteps of God, and shouldn’t uphold the Bible and reject God’s new work.” The more I pondered God’s word, the more knowledge I had about the essence and inside story of the Bible, and the more I felt humiliated and ashamed. I thought about the notions I had cherished for so many years in believing in God, and I thought the Bible was as important as God. I treated them equally, and thought that leaving behind the Bible meant not believing in God. But in fact, I was not clear as to the essence of the Bible and its original value, and had never thought about what difference there was between believing in the Lord and believing in the Bible. The practical meaning of believing in God was all unknown, and in fact I regarded my own notions as the truth, and spoke nonsense. I rejected God’s work and word in the last days, and was really too foolish and ignorant, too arrogant and without reason. But God did not treat me on the basis of my ignorance, and did not condemn me, but still enlightened and guided me. He brought me step by step away from the Bible, and I came before the throne of God, so that I could receive the nurturing and sustenance of the word of Almighty God and gradually understand some of the truth and know the essence of the Bible. The door of my heart that had been sealed for so long was finally opened to God, and I could no longer evade God’s salvation. Rather, in the new voice of God, I enjoy as much as I like of the provision of water of life that flows from the throne. I sincerely offer up thanks and praise to God!

A Different Kind of Love

Chengxin, Brazil

By a chance opportunity in 2011, I came to Brazil from China. When I had just arrived, my eyes were overflowing with fresh and new experiences, curiosity, and I had a beautiful feeling about the future. But after a short time, this fresh and new feeling was quickly replaced by the loneliness and pain of finding myself in a far-off foreign land. Every day I went back home all alone, ate by myself, looking at the walls around me every day without anyone even to talk to, and I felt especially lonely in my heart, often crying all alone. When I felt the most pain and helpless, the Lord Jesus brought me into a gathering by means of a friend. Through reading the word of the Lord, singing hymns, and praying in gatherings, my lonely heart received the consolation of the Lord. I learned from the Bible that heavens, earth, and all things were created by God, and man too is God’s creation. The Lord Jesus was crucified for the redemption of mankind, and it was the Lord Jesus who redeemed us from sin, and He is the only Redeemer of mankind. In the face of the Lord’s salvation, which is greater than all else, I felt deeply moved and resolved to follow the Lord for the rest of my life. Because of this I was baptized on Thanksgiving to become a Christian not just in name but in reality. Because I liked singing hymns, especially those in praise of God, after I was baptized I took the initiative to join the choir and work as part of it. Through God’s guidance and blessings, I lived in peace and happiness. Every time I went to a gathering or praised God in worship, I felt suffused with energy.

But a good situation didn’t last forever, and as I entered the ranks of the church ministry, I gradually saw that in the concern and care the brothers and sisters in the church showed to each other on the surface they were all seemingly harmonious, but that in their speech and actions they were all actually acting out of self-interest. They didn’t want to suffer any personal loss while working in the ministry of the church, and often gossiped behind others’ backs about who was doing more and who was doing less. Even the pastor was extremely snobby. He treated people based on the amounts of their donations, and when preaching always talked about donations. Every time he came to a gathering, the thing the pastor put the most emphasis on was whether or not people were giving donations and how much they had given, and he didn’t want to hear anything about the lives of the brothers and sisters. He talked about love, but didn’t show a single genuine action. When the brothers and sisters had difficulties, the pastor wouldn’t help them, but what made people even more indignant was that he would still criticize them and that he looked down on those powerless and penniless brothers and sisters…. When I saw this environment of the church, I was disappointed but also confused: How had the church changed so that it was no different than society? Slowly, I lost the love and faith I had had before, and on Sunday when I would go to the church I felt much less invigorated. I didn’t even want to sing. Every week when I went to church, I was either standing outside drinking coffee or taking a quick nap in the pews. When the sermon was over, I’d toss in my donation and head out. There was always a feeling of grief or helplessness in my heart.

One Sunday in August of 2016, I met Sister Li Min who had come from America and who was the classmate of sisters Gao Xiaoying and Liu Fang. They all believed in the Lord. We got to chatting while sitting on the lawn. We talked and talked, and came around to the topic of the church environment, and I said everything I had seen in the church. After Sister Li Min heard that, she nodded thoughtfully and said: “Nowadays, not only has your church become this way, but the whole religious world has lost the work of the Holy Spirit. They’ve fallen into darkness and desolation. The Lord Jesus once prophesied: ‘And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold’ (Mat 24:12). It’s already the period of the last days, and lawlessness is growing ever more rampant in religion. The pastors and elders don’t abide by the commandments of the Lord Jesus, they don’t carry out the way of the Lord, and they think it is not a big deal to live in sin like that. We all know that the flourishing of the church is the fruit obtained by the work of the Holy Spirit. Today, God has already done new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit has been transmitted to a group of people who accept and obey God’s new work. The pastors and elders in religion don’t lead believers in seeking and investigating God’s work in the last days, but rather resist and condemn God’s new work by disseminating all kinds of rumors and misconceptions to block people from returning to God. They meet with God’s hatred and rejection, so the entire religious world is without God’s blessing and has completely lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and has been cast aside and eliminated by the Lord. So the religion becomes more and more desolate and darkened. It is just like the time when the Lord Jesus became incarnate to perform work. The work of the Lord Jesus opened up the Age of Grace and put an end to the Age of Law. And because those people who followed the Lord Jesus accepted and obeyed the new work of God, they then gained the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas on the contrary the Holy Spirit did not work among those people who did not accept the Lord Jesus and still remained in the temple. So the temple that once was filled with glorification of God and where believers worshiped God became a place for doing business and a den of thieves. That is to say that the reason for the desolation of the church in one respect is caused by the pastors and elders not adhering to God’s commandments nor carrying out the word of God, and their commission of evil acts. In another respect it is brought about by God performing new work, and that the work of the Holy Spirit has transformed, and by people not having caught up to the footsteps of God. However, God’s will is present in the desolation of the church, and there is a truth that can be found therein. Through the desolation of the church, God compelled all those who believe in God with true hearts and who thirst for the truth to leave the religion behind, so that they can leave it to search for the work of the Holy Spirit and to catch up with the footsteps of God and to come into the presence of God to obtain God’s present work and salvation.”

Hearing what Sister Li fellowshiped, I nodded my head and said: “What you said is right. It’s certainly just as you say. I was never able to understand this problem, as the church was originally a place for worshiping God, but there is no difference anymore between the church and society at large. Furthermore, there is no new light in what the pastors preach, nor any enjoyment in listening to them, and people now live in darkness. As it turns out, it is that we have not yet caught up to God’s new work, so what must we now do to catch up to God’s new work?” Sister Li said: “The Lord Jesus has long since returned. In the last days, God is incarnated as a man to express the truth under the name of Almighty God. He has done a stage of the work of judging and purifying mankind. We have to catch up to God’s work in the last days and accept the judgment of God’s word, and then we can obtain the work of the Holy Spirit….” When I heard that the Lord Jesus had already returned to do a stage of the work of judgment, I was astonished. I thought: “Isn’t judgment to punish a person after he is convicted? God comes in the last days to judge those people who don’t believe in God, and we who believe in the Lord Jesus have already been absolved of our sins and have been graced with salvation. We don’t need to receive God’s judgment, for when the Lord comes He will directly raise us to the heavenly kingdom. How could He come to judge us?” With that thought, I had given rise to my own opinion. At that moment, Sister Liu Fang said, “Brother, I have already been investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days for a week with Sister Gao. From the word of Almighty God, we have recognized it is the voice of God. Almighty God is indeed the returned Lord Jesus. Read the word of Almighty God, and you will understand. The reason why the Lord Jesus returned to do the work of judgment is that, although we who believe in the Lord have been forgiven of our sins, we are living all along amid sin from which we cannot free ourselves. There is no way to free ourselves from the bondage and control of sin, and indeed we really do need God to express the truth to judge and purify us, and to root out our sinful nature and corrupt satanic disposition. Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days is a new and outstanding work built on the foundation of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. It completely purifies and saves men through the judgment of the word, and brings people to a wonderful abiding place.” After this, they patiently fellowshiped about some more truths with me. But no matter what they said, I just couldn’t accept that the Lord was returning to judge those who believed in Him. At the same time I was conflicted, I was also bewildered in my mind: Sisters Gao and Liu were very pious believers, and everyone acknowledged their belief and love for the Lord, so how could they believe that the Lord Jesus was returning to judge us who believe in Him, and that He would not raise us directly into the kingdom of heaven? Could it be that there was some mystery of the truth in this that I did not know?

As I was thinking, Sister Li Min took out a book and said earnestly to me: “Brother, the Lord Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 5:3). Don’t jump to a conclusion first, OK? Let us first see if the word of Almighty God is the voice of God, and whether it can provide life for us, and whether it can purify and save us, and then we will know whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. God’s sheep will listen to the voice of God, so let us read God’s word together!” I was a bit unwilling in my heart and didn’t answer her question. The three sisters were a little saddened to see my attitude. Sister Liu suddenly suggested: “First let’s pray, and then read some more from the word of God!” After she said that, the three sisters began to pray, and I had to follow along with them. Still, as I was praying, I could hardly quiet my heart. Even though I couldn’t hear what the sisters were praying about, I was moved by their living out. They treated God with such an attitude of sincerity, and searched for God’s will in everything. They hoped that I would investigate God’s work in the last days, and this also came out of God’s love for me. After the prayer, Sister Li handed me a book and said sincerely to me: “Most of the questions in this book, A Hundred Questions and Answers on Investigating the True Way, exist among people of all sects. For each question, related passages are chosen from the word of God to explain it. Go ahead and take a look.” I didn’t want to take the book, but seeing how sincere they were, I looked again at Sister Gao and Sister Liu, and how much they hoped I would investigate and seek. I thought how crucial a matter it was indeed to welcome the coming of the Lord, and that I shouldn’t treat it carelessly. At that, I accepted the book and said: “Alright, I’m willing to accept this book. Let’s stop here for today. I will read the book first, and then we’ll talk.”

After I went back home, I set the book to one side and my thoughts were all mixed up. I thought back on what Sister Li Min had fellowshiped and had a feeling that it was all clear and distinct. Every sentence she said was a fact, but what I couldn’t understand was: Why would the Lord perform a stage of the work of judgment upon His return? After contemplating it carefully, I still didn’t understand it. But as for this matter of the Lord’s second coming, since I had heard about it, I couldn’t blindly make up the rules and sit resigned to my fate. I thought it would also be a good idea to take a look at the book and grow a little in my differentiation. At that, I spent six days reading that book from cover to cover. I saw that Almighty God had made known many, many truths and mysteries that I had never heard of before. It allowed me to gain great provision, and also, when I had read the words of Almighty God, I felt that there were many things that were said in the same tone as that of the Lord Jesus. There was authority and power as if it were God’s voice speaking. So, after I finished reading the book, I wanted to understand even more what was behind the work of judgment done by Almighty God. I decided to go find Sister Gao to ask for clarification.

On the next day, I went to Sister Gao’s house, and happened to meet some of her friends. They all accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days and were in a gathering together fellowshiping to each other. We greeted each other, and Sister Li Min got right to the point by asking me: “Brother, what notions do you still hold? What aspects of God’s work in the last days do you still want to understand? We can fellowship together.” I said: “You mentioned that because the work of the Holy Spirit was moving forward in the last days, the church was made desolate. I can accept this, but we who believe in the Lord have already had our sins absolved, and the Lord does not see us as having sin. Why does God want to do a further step of the work of judgment? Aren’t we able to be raised into the heavenly kingdom without going through that step? When God judges a person, is that person not determined to be sinful? Mustn’t they all be punished? How can they still be raised into the heavenly kingdom?” Sister Li Min said: “As far as most people’s notions are concerned, the people whom the Lord returned to judge were those non-believers who did not believe in God. Because God judged people, people were determined as sinful and punished, and those who believed in God had their sins absolved. When the Lord comes, it is to raise them directly into the heavenly kingdom, not to judge them. So they refuse to accept God’s work of judgment in the last days. This is completely misunderstanding God’s will and demonstrates that a person does not know God’s work. Actually, the work of Almighty God in the last days—of expressing the truth and of judging and purifying man—is for the sake of raising believers up to the heavenly kingdom. We all know the Bible says: ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1Pe 4:17). This prophecy tells us clearly that God’s work of judgment in the last days begins first with God’s household. That is, it begins with those people who believe in God with true hearts and accept God’s work in the last days. So, we consider the notion to be in error that believing in the Lord Jesus means one does not have to accept God’s work of judgment. In the last days, God uses His words to judge all those who come before His throne, and purifies and saves these people. Before the calamity, He makes a group of overcomers, and afterward when the calamity befalls the world He will reward the good and punish the evil. This is how God’s work of judgment in the last days proceeds. No one is able to escape from God’s work of judgment in the last days, but as for those people who accept and obey God’s judgment, they are purified, saved, and perfected. As for those who refuse and resist God’s work of judgment in the last days, although they can hide from the judgment of God’s word, they still cannot escape the catastrophe in the end. This is a fact! The reason why God wants to judge us in the last days is said very clearly in the word of Almighty God. Let us read together a section from the word of God. Almighty God says: ‘You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance’ (‘Concerning Appellations and Identity’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We understand from the word of God that in believing in the Lord Jesus our sins are merely forgiven. This does not mean that we do not sin nor that we are sinless. In reality, we all live in the vicious cycle of committing and then confessing our sin, and we still need God to express His word to judge and cleanse us. Once we are cleansed, we will be qualified to be raised into the heavenly kingdom. It is recorded in the Bible: ‘You shall be holy; for I am holy’ (Lev 11:44). ‘Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Heb 12:14). God is pure and holy. Defiled and corrupt people may not see God’s face and are unfit to enter God’s kingdom. The work of redemption done by the Lord Jesus only absolved us of our sins, but did not exempt us from our corrupt dispositions and sinful natures. So our arrogance, conceit, deceit and craftiness, selfishness and despicableness, evil and greed, aversion to the truth, fondness for injustice, and other corrupt satanic natures still remain. These corrupt natures are precisely the source that leads us to sin and to resist God. If they are not disposed of, we will often sin, compete for fame and wealth, have jealousy and strife, lie and deceive, exalt ourselves, bear witness to ourselves, and more. Especially when God’s work doesn’t conform to our notions, we are still able to rely on our notions and imaginations in judging, denying, and accusing God, and resisting God’s work. How can people like this who resist God be raised into the heavenly kingdom? God expresses the truth and does the work of judgment in the last days, and His goal in doing so is to cleanse the corrupt satanic natures we hold within ourselves as well as to fulfill our dream of being raised into the heavenly kingdom. When we accept God’s judgment and break free of our corrupt disposition, we attain purification and transform. We will have the qualification to inherit God’s promise and to be brought by God into the heavenly kingdom.”

listening to what the sister fellowshiped and to the word of Almighty God, I thought: After one enters belief in the Lord, the fact that his sins are forgiven does not mean that he doesn’t commit sin. This really is true! Looking at those in the church, from the pastors and elders all the way down to the ordinary members including myself, everyone is living in the state of sinning during the day and confessing their sin at night, and the bondage and control of sin cannot be escaped. It seems that people will certainly be unable to see the face of the Lord without going through the judgment and purification of the word of God! When it is phrased like this, it is absolutely necessary for God to come and do a stage of the work of judgment and purification of man! I once believed that if one had faith in the Lord Jesus, he did not have to be judged. I thought that when the Lord comes, He would judge those people who did not believe in Him. Now I understand that this notion is not in keeping with God’s will at all, and that it is erroneous acceptance. Then Sister Gao played for me a video with singing and dancing from The Church of Almighty God called The Happiness in the Good Land of Canaan: “I’ve returned to God’s family, excited and happy. My hands hold my beloved, my heart belongs to Him. Though I’ve passed through the Vale of Tears, I’ve seen God’s loveliness. My love for God grows day by day, God is the source of my joy. Bewitched by the beauty of God, my heart is attached to Him. I can never love God enough, songs of praise well up in my heart. …” The whole song was cheerful and moving, and was especially inspirational. I saw that the faces of every brother and sister in the video were brimming with happiness, and we couldn’t help but join along in singing. We started dancing along with the song and our hearts were really moved. I saw that the brothers and sisters who had the provision of God’s word were blessed and joyful. Though they had gone through the judgment and chastisement of God, they still had no worry at all, but were liberated, free, joyful, and happy. I think about how my own faith and enthusiasm in the religion had all but disappeared. All I saw was the desolation and darkness of the church, but the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God were full of the work of the Holy Spirit. They fellowshiped about the truth with light and praised God with vigor, and they were bearing witness to God with great excitement and energy…. Comparing the two together, they seemed like two different worlds. At that time, I felt like a drifting orphan who had returned home and was enjoying the warmth of a mother’s embrace. I thought: There really is the truth to be sought here. I must listen well to what the brothers and sisters fellowship about the truth of God’s work of judgment in the last days so that I won’t miss my chance to be raised up into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns.

Following that, Sister Li read us two more passages from the word of God: “Through what is God’s perfection of man accomplished? Through His righteous disposition. God’s disposition primarily consists of righteousness, wrath, majesty, judgment, and curse, and His perfection of man is primarily through judgment. Some people don’t understand, and ask why it is that God is only able to make man perfect through judgment and curse. They say that if God were to curse man, wouldn’t man die? If God were to judge man, wouldn’t man be condemned? Then how can he still be made perfect? Such are the words of people who do not know the work of God. What God curses is the disobedience of man, and what He judges are the sins of man. Although He speaks harshly, and without the slightest sensitivity, He reveals all that is within man, and through these stern words He reveals that which is essential within man, yet through such judgment, He gives man a profound knowledge of the essence of the flesh, and thus man submits to obedience before God. The flesh of man is of sin, and of Satan, it is disobedient, and the object of God’s chastisement—and so, to allow man to know himself, the words of God’s judgment must befall him and there must be employed every kind of refinement; only then can God’s work be effective” (“Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Sister Li fellowshiped to us, saying: “After we were corrupted by Satan, we all lived under the domain of Satan and became degenerates who resisted God. On the basis of God’s righteous and holy substance, we were all targets of God’s curse and destruction, but it is not God’s will to destroy mankind but rather to save mankind. So in order to completely rescue people out from under the domain of Satan, God expresses the word in the last days and does the work of judging and purifying man. The work of judgment is actually God using His word to expose people’s words, actions, nature, and essence of being contrary to God and of resisting God. It is to cause people to know the essence and true condition of their corruption, and to recognize God’s disposition of righteousness and holiness, in order to reach a point of self-hatred and to truly repent and transform. It is in order to break free of the corrupt satanic disposition and to be obtained by God. In this way people will receive salvation. Only through the judgment and chastisement of the word of God are we able to see that we are filled with corruption. At all times and places, we display the corrupt disposition of selfishness, arrogance, treachery, and greed. We are filled with notions and imaginations, extravagant desires, and unreasonable demands with respect to God. We don’t have any conscience and reason, nor any devotion or loyalty. The more we accept God’s judgment, the more we recognize how deeply we are corrupted and that we indeed have no humanity. We begin to feel disgusted with ourselves, and to hate ourselves in our hearts. The more we accept God’s judgment, the more we see God’s holiness, and righteousness, and the more our hearts will revere God. We will be willing to go against our fleshly desires and live in accordance with God’s word. Subsequently, a transformation will occur in our perspectives on things and our corrupt nature, and we will start to live out some likeness of a real man. It is an enormous love and salvation for us that we have truly tasted the judgment and chastisement of God. Without God’s judgment and chastisement, we would all be targets for destruction.”

I was very moved when the sister had fellowshiped to this point, and I saw how great and true God’s love is. He is the God who loves mankind! It was I who misunderstood God’s good intention in saving people. I had thought that God judged people to determine their guilt and punish them, but never thought that God expressing His word and judging people in the last days was even truer love, or that it was an even greater salvation for us! Thanks be to Almighty God! Through reading the word of Almighty God and from what the sisters fellowshiped, I gained some understanding of God’s work of judgment and eliminated my mistaken notions about God. I came to the firm belief that Almighty God is none other than the returned Lord Jesus, and I became willing to accept God’s work of judgment. I fully emerged from the fog, and my face beamed with a joyous smile. Sister Li said happily: “Thanks be to God for leading you. All this is the fruit attained through God’s word. This lets us see that before understanding the truth even though we come up with notions about God and God’s work, all it takes is for us to search for and accept the truth, and to listen to God’s word, and then we will understand the truth and have knowledge of God’s work, and our notions and imaginations will be blown away like clouds or smoke. We will then be able to understand God’s will, and will no longer misunderstand God.” I nodded my head happily and thanked God for His salvation.

After having accepted God’s work in the last days, I installed a messaging app on my phone so that Sister Gao and the others could often share with me some gospel movies, music videos and hymns of The Church of Almighty God. When I saw the gospel movie of The Church of Almighty God called From the Throne Flows the Water of Life, it had a great impact on me. The desolate situation of the church in the movie was just like our own situation, and the movie showed the origins of this desolation with perfect clarity. Because God’s work had transformed, and God was no longer working inside of churches, the people who refuse to accept Almighty God’s work in the last days all were suffering a famine. Those people who accept the word of Almighty God attained God’s provision of the water of life and would no longer be thirsty. They had gotten to a blessed life of being face to face with God. When I watched the movie Waiting, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. The old pastor in the movie believed in the Lord his whole life and thought that his hard work was meritorious. He was just waiting for the Lord to come so he could be raised up. But he stubbornly clung to the belief that when the Lord comes He will descend upon a cloud and will give the revelation to him first. Because of this stubbornness he resisted and refused God’s work in the last days, so in the end he was just staring off at the sky waiting for a cloud and dying regretfully. This bitter lesson really made people think deeply! At the same time, I rejoiced in my heart and gave thanks to Almighty God for saving me, a rebellious son who only sought to gain blessings from Him but was reluctant to accept His judgment and purification. He led me before the throne of God to obtain God’s salvation in the last days.

Now I have entered into life in The Church of Almighty God, and through truly experiencing the judgment and chastisement of the word of God, I have slowly begun to perceive how real and practical it is that God does the work of judgment. When God dissects humans’ treacherous nature, I felt that I myself do not have any lies in my speech and did not admit the actual situation revealed in God’s words. However, when I am faced with God giving me a practical environment to make things revealed, I involuntarily blurt out lies to protect my self-interest and vanity. Moreover, I have treachery and deceit in my heart, and I also have many secrets I do not want to make openly known. This led me to see that everything revealed by the word of God is the truth and the real situation, and that it is man’s nature and essence. Only then was I truly convinced of God’s word, and I had an urgent desire to seek the truth and to transform my own treacherous nature. After this experience, I came to realize that if it weren’t for God’s practical judgment and chastisement in this way, I never would have known my own treacherous nature. I also would not have been able to carry out the truth and transform my own treacherous disposition. God’s judgment and chastisement were indeed cleansing and salvation for me, and were a different kind of love. I want to cherish this special kind of love well and to accept the judgment and chastisement of God. I want to transform soon to become a new person to satisfy God. All honor and glory be unto God!

How I Nearly Became a Foolish Virgin

Li Fang, China

In the fall of 2002, Sister Zhao from my denomination, the Church of Truth, brought her niece, Sister Wang, to my home to tell me some great news that the Lord has come back. After a few days of reading the words of Almighty God and listening to the sister’s detailed fellowship, I understood that from the creation of the world until now God has performed three stages of work in order to save mankind. Other truths that I also came to know were God’s adoption of a different name during each stage of the work, the significance of God’s name for each age, and the mystery of God’s incarnation, etc. These truths really allowed me to open my eyes wide and see my fill. I said to myself: “It all sounds crystal clear, and Almighty God very probably is the returned Lord Jesus so I’d better make sure I grasp this chance and read more of Almighty God’s words.” Before leaving, Sister Wang left some books of God’s words for me. Whenever I had time during the day, I read God’s words. The more I read the more I loved reading them and the more I felt that they were the words of God. After three days I became anxious. I thought: “My son, who is also a believer, and many brothers and sisters in our church still don’t know this great news about the return of the Lord. I’d better hurry up and tell them.”

The next day early in the morning I went to my son’s home. I said happily to him: “This is such a great book. You should read it as soon as possible.” My son glanced at me and asked: “What book? You seem pretty delighted. Just put it down there and I’ll take a look at it when I have time.” I thought that as all believers were looking forward to the Lord’s return my son would be happy to learn that the Lord has already returned.

I would never in a million years have imagined, however, that three days later my son would show up at my home in the company of six religious figures. One of them was Pastor Xia from my denomination, and the others were pastors and preachers from my son’s denomination. I was a bit stunned to see them, as I couldn’t figure out what was up and why so many people had come to see me. A pastor surnamed Li looked closely at me for a moment and with a look of concern on his face he said: “Auntie, we’re all believers in the Lord, one big family. Your son tells me that someone has given you a book, but you really shouldn’t read it. Now it’s the last days, and the Lord Jesus said: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). We believe that these words of the Lord Jesus mean that anyone who says that the Lord has returned is a fraudster who we must guard against and refuse to listen to. Right now in the whole religious world there is only Eastern Lightning that is publicly bearing witness to the Lord’s return, so, whatever you do, don’t have anything to do with them. Don’t read any of Eastern Lightning’s books either. Their way is different from our faith, so don’t listen to them. You don’t understand the Bible very well, and you have small stature, so you’re easily deceived. We’ve been preaching for many years and we understand the Bible well. We’ve travelled all over China and we’ve seen a lot and our life is bigger. We’ve come today specially to rescue you, so you’ve got to believe us and not try to have it your own way.” When I heard this I thought to myself: “This pastor seems to be concerned about me and what he said isn’t wrong. I’m old and not very well educated, and I don’t understand the Bible that well. I certainly can’t discern as well as they do.” At this point Pastor Xia said: “I’m a pastor, and the Lord has given me His flock to manage. So it’s my responsibility to make sure that you don’t stray from the true way. If I don’t look after the Lord’s flock I won’t be able to settle my account with the Lord. Sister, don’t run around to other groups like this. If you get stolen from us by Eastern Lightning then all these years that you’ve believed in the Lord will be wasted!” Looking at their tense faces and hearing the serious tone in which they were talking to me made me feel a bit frightened. I thought: “That’s right. If I start believing wrongly then won’t all those years of faith be wasted?” But then I thought: “The words in that book seemed so good, so right. These pastors and preachers haven’t read the words of Almighty God, so how could they say that it isn’t a true way?” So I said to them: “The way you put it makes it seem like that really is the case but what I heard from them completely matches the words of the Lord in the Bible!” When they heard me say that they all started talking at once, saying so many things to scare me that I became dizzy and confused and experienced a lot of emotional turmoil. I sat there like an idiot, unable to say a single thing. Then they wanted me to pray with them and utter some curses, but I didn’t go along with it so they started to terrorize me again. Finally, my son said: “Let me deal with this matter of my mom’s.” Then he took the two hymn books named “Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs” and the cassette tapes of hymns as well as a book of God’s words named “Judgment Beginning With the House of God” from the cupboard and gave them to the pastor to take away.

After they left I was so upset that I couldn’t even eat my dinner, so I came before the Lord and prayed: “Lord Jesus, is what those pastors said true or not? It seems like they’re really concerned for my life. If I don’t listen to them, will I put my faith in the wrong place? Oh Lord, if You really have returned as Almighty God and I don’t accept You then wouldn’t I be closing the door on You? Wouldn’t I just be like one of the foolish virgins? Oh Lord, through reading the words of Almighty God these last few days I feel that I’ve gained a lot of spiritual supply. I’ve truly and honestly felt this, but could I be wrong? Now that they’ve taken away my books and my cassette tapes of hymns I feel really sad. Please show me the way as I don’t know what to do….” After praying I suddenly remembered that Sister Wang had given me another book of Almighty God’s words and I hid it deep inside the cupboard. When I realized that I still had this book I felt a little bit better. But then I thought about what those pastors had said, and I was still at a loss about what to do. Should I read that book or not? That night, I hardly slept at all, my mind in turmoil. Again and again I prayed to God in tears …

Early the next day my son came to take me to my former church meeting. I was very much undecided, but my son dragged me down to the meeting place and even told a preacher that I’d nearly been stolen by Eastern Lightning and he asked her to do her best to persuade me to stay. In an instant, the preacher and all of the brothers and sisters surrounded me. The preacher took hold of my hand, and in a gentle voice said: “Auntie, whatever you do, don’t listen to anyone else preaching. If you start believing wrongly, when the Lord comes to rapture the congregations then you’ll be left behind, won’t you? You have small stature, so if anyone gives you any kind of book to read it would be better for you to ask us first. Let us check on it for you….” The brothers and sisters were also all very keen to persuade me to stay, and I was moved to tears by their “love.” When they saw how moved I was they made their point once more: “If anyone from Eastern Lightning comes to visit you again, don’t let them in. Don’t have anything to do with them!” I nodded in agreement.

It was only a few days later that Sister Wang came to see me again. I told her: “The pastor read this passage from the Bible to me: ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Mat 24:23-24). In the last days false Christs shall appear and anyone who says that the Lord has returned is a fraudster. I don’t understand the Bible, and my stature is small, so I’m easily misled. I don’t dare to listen to any other messages, so I’m not going to let you in. Don’t come again.” With great sincerity Sister Wang said: “The Lord Jesus said this to ensure that we would guard against false Christs during the last days but He didn’t intend for us to also turn our backs on Christ. If there are false Christs it’s because the real Christ has already appeared, because without the real Christ the imposters have nothing to imitate. Those words of the Lord Jesus tell us that we have to learn to discern; they aren’t saying that we should refuse to listen to the gospel of the Lord’s return just because false Christs will appear during the last days. Otherwise, how will we be able to welcome the Lord’s return? Actually, the Lord Jesus has already clearly described the characteristics of false Christs. The main ones include manifesting signs, performing miracles, healing the sick and exorcising demons, and copying the work that the Lord Jesus had already done in order to deceive people. So during the last days anyone who impersonates the Lord Jesus to preach the way of repentance and who can manifest a few simple signs or heal the sick and exorcise demons is a false Christ. Almighty God, who is the Lord Jesus returned in the flesh in the last days, doesn’t repeat the work that the Lord Jesus had already done but does new work on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption. Almighty God has ended the Age of Grace and has opened the Age of Kingdom by expressing truths to do a stage of work of judging and cleansing mankind. Almighty God will thoroughly save all those people who have been redeemed but still live in sin by removing the shackles of their sinful nature and taking them away from Satan’s dark influence. Mankind will thus be taken to their wonderful final destination. Only God Himself can do this work; none of the false Christs can.” Although what the sister was saying seemed reasonable, the things that the pastors had told me were still swirling around in my head. My mind was agitated and unable to focus and I didn’t want to hear any more of her fellowship. So I told her that I had something to do next door, which was a lie, in order to get away from her. Sister Wang came back to my home many times after that but I always avoided her. My neighbor told me: “She doesn’t look like a bad person so what are you afraid of?” In my heart I knew that Sister Wang was a good person, but as I was of small stature I was afraid of getting my faith wrong.

After I returned to the meeting of my former church I heard the preachers still saying things in the sermon that they’d said before. They always talked about how to guard against Eastern Lightning, or donating to the church, or they repeated a lot of boring old stuff about how much they had worked and suffered for the Lord and how much God’s grace they had obtained…. They could not even say a little bit of something fresh and bright. I quickly grew fed up of listening to them, and started to doze off. On another occasion, a brother from another church came to give a sermon, but it was more of the same stuff about how he’d walked across mountains to do the Lord’s work and how much he’d suffered, how many people he’d converted through spreading the gospel and how many churches he’d set up. He used the sermon to blow his own trumpet. Listening to him made me feel very uncomfortable, and I came to the opinion that he wasn’t bearing witness for the Lord but just bearing witness for himself. On another day, I’d just arrived at the meeting place when one of the sisters said to me: “Today we’ve got a 20-something female theology student giving the sermon.” I was very happy to hear that and told myself that I was going to pay special attention because she would definitely give a better sermon than our preachers did. But the student started her sermon with how to guard against Eastern Lightning, and then went on to talk about how she’d given up her regular studies at the age of 16 to enter the seminary to study theology, how she’d worked and suffered outdoors in spite of the rain, how many places she’d been to…. The more I heard, the more fed up I got. I thought to myself: “This is all just old wine in new bottles! Why do they keep on trotting out the same old boring stuff? None of this has got anything to do with their experience or knowledge of the Lord’s words, nor is it leading us in following the Lord’s way or practicing and entering into His words.” I’d already been back at the meetings for over a month but I hadn’t gained anything from them. The more I listened to these messages, the drier I felt in my spirit, and I thought that I would die of spiritual thirst if I carried on believing like this. The more I thought about it, the more upset I got.

After the meeting I walked home with a heavy heart. I thought about the book Judgment Beginning With the House of God that Sister Wang had given me, which stated that people shouldn’t be arrogant and shouldn’t exalt themselves but should honor God as great and exalt God. But these preachers were all bearing witness for themselves, honoring themselves above all else, and getting others to look up to them. It seemed to me that what the book said was right! So that evening when I was alone at home I took out the copy of Judgment Beginning With the House of God and read some of it. The more I read the more my heart soared, and I really felt that these words could be sustenance for my life. I was puzzled as to why our pastor wouldn’t let me read such a good book. Our pastor often said that he was responsible for my life and yet he only seemed to know how to bear witness for himself in his sermons. He never told me how to gain life. I remembered a period when I was very weak and didn’t want to go to the meetings. The pastor never came to visit me or offer support. But how come as soon as I started getting some spiritual nourishment from reading Almighty God’s words he showed up to force me into listening to them repeating the same old stuff? That’s not taking responsibility for my life! I suddenly realized just how wrong I’d been, and I blamed myself bitterly: Almighty God’s words could give supply to my life, and they probably came from God. How could I have been so stupid and blind as to believe what the pastor had said and give up investigating the true way? I also thought about how Sister Wang had always given me loving support, and had borne witness to God’s work of the last days for me so that I had the chance to gain God’s salvation of the last days. But I wasn’t all that nice to Sister Wang, and even avoided seeing her on a number of occasions. I shouldn’t have treated her like an enemy. When I thought of this I felt extremely sad. So I came before the Lord and tearfully said a prayer of repentance: “Lord, I treated that sister who brought me the book of God’s words as an enemy and turned my back on her. This isn’t a case of abandoning someone but is actually a case of refusing Your salvation. Lord, now I know that I shouldn’t have listened to those pastors and given up investigating God’s work of the last days. I wish to repent to You, but I don’t know how to find Sister Wang. Please help me find her.” After praying, I picked up the book again and read it late into the night. The more I read the more I felt that the content was good, and the more I came to despise the pastors for preventing me from reading the words of Almighty God.

I’m so grateful to the Lord for listening to my prayer! The next day at noon, when I was eating lunch, Sister Wang came to my house. I told her about everything that had happened since I last saw her. When she heard that I’d been unable to gain supply in religious church she read out a passage of Almighty God’s words for me: “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then the sister fellowshiped this with me: “God is the wellspring of living water, and only God can supply life for people. When people leave God they will be in darkness and wither and die, just like a branch that has broken off from the tree trunk. In our faith in God, we must closely follow the footsteps of the Lamb, accept God’s work as it appears now, and come before God in order to be able to gain the work of the Holy Spirit and the nourishment and supply of God’s living water of life. Why is it that we can’t get sustenance from listening to those pastors and elders in religion? There are two reasons for this. One is that those pastors and elders don’t abide by the Lord’s commandments and don’t put the Lord’s words into practice. They don’t have real life experience and have no real knowledge of God and much less have hearts that fear God, which shows in the way they don’t at all exalt God or bear witness to Him in their work and preaching. They only blow their own trumpets and bear witness to themselves. By completely deviating from the Lord’s way they have turned into typical false shepherds who deceive people. This is why they are loathed and rejected by the Holy Spirit and never get His enlightenment and guidance. And this is the main reason why the religious community is so desolate. The other reason is that the Lord has already returned to do the work of the new age. The Holy Spirit’s work on people of the Age of Grace has already come to an end, and is now being done on the group of people who are up to speed with God’s new work. But the pastors and elders do not at all investigate God’s new work and do not follow God’s footsteps and accept His leadership. All they do is crazily resist God, condemn God’s work of the last days, and slander and blaspheme Almighty God, the Christ of the last days. They do whatever they can to prevent believers from investigating the true way and returning to God, and thus have become just like the Pharisees who nailed the Lord to the cross. They have already been condemned and eliminated by God, so there is no way the Holy Spirit could work on them. So, if we want to receive life sustenance we must align ourselves with the Holy Spirit’s current work, accept the things that God is currently expressing, and accept the leadership, supply, and shepherding of Almighty God, the Christ of the last days. This is the only way for us to gain truth and life. This proves what the Lord Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jhn 14:6). ‘But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life’ (Jhn 4:14).”

After listening to Sister Wang’s fellowship about God’s words I had a sudden realization as to why the pastors, elders, and theology students had nothing worthy to preach: They don’t have truth! They resist God, and that’s why the Holy Spirit left them long ago. When they preach they only have intellectual knowledge to rely on, but they don’t have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and that’s why their preaching is not helpful to people. But there was still something that I didn’t understand, so I asked Sister Wang: “All those pastors and elders say that they’re very familiar with the Bible, that they’ve been to seminary school and have much life. I don’t understand the Bible that well and believed that they were really more mature than me in life, so that’s why I listened to them. So now I can’t decide whether they really have much life or not. Sister, do you think that they really have much life?” Sister Wang replied: “No one can say that they have life. This is all decided according to God’s words. What does it mean to have life? What things specifically should be manifested? The Lord Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (Jhn 14:6). And Almighty God said: ‘Whether you are in possession of reality or not is not based on what you say, rather, it is based on what you live out. When God’s words become your life and your natural expression, only this counts as reality, and only this counts as you possessing understanding and real stature. You must be able to withstand examination for a long period of time, and you must be able to live out the likeness that is required of you by God; it must not be mere posturing, but it must flow naturally out of you. Only then will you truly have reality, and only then will you have gained life’ (“Only Putting the Truth Into Practice Is Having Reality” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Why is it said that many people have no life? Because they do not know God, and thus it is said that they have no God, and have no life’ (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that Christ is the truth, the way and the life. Truth can act as people’s life, so gaining truth is the same as gaining life, and having life indicates that someone has gained truth and known God. Someone who doesn’t understand truth and doesn’t know God will not have a heart that fears God and will be unable to live out the reality of God’s words. This means that they have no life. If someone doesn’t have God’s words as their life then they still live by Satan’s poisons. They often reveal their corrupt dispositions—arrogance, conceit, selfishness, despicableness, crookedness, cunningness, and so on. And even if they believe in God they are still unable to fear God and stay away from evil. They often lie, cheat, commit sins, and resist God. How could they ever be called people who have life? If they say they have life it’s just the same fleshly life, the satanic life that is full of corrupt dispositions that are in opposition to God, and not the new life, which comes from experiencing God’s words and gaining the truth. So though the pastors and elders may be familiar with the Bible, and possess knowledge of the Bible and theological theories, that doesn’t mean that they know God and fear God and that they understand truth and have the work of the Holy Spirit. And it certainly doesn’t mean that they practice the Lord’s words or obey Him. Instead, what we see is that they usually exalt and bear witness to themselves, and generally try to get believers to worship them. What they reveal is the likeness of Satan—being arrogant and conceited, lacking fear for God, and always pretending to be good in order to fool people. Neither in their work nor in their preaching can they speak of any real knowledge of the Lord’s words or any practical experience that is beneficial to other people. No matter how many years you listen to them you will never understand any truth and your life will never grow. They have no knowledge of God or of His work, and when God has returned to flesh in the last days to express truths and do His work of judgment they frenziedly resist, condemn, and blaspheme Him without the tiniest bit of fear in their hearts. What kind of life do they have? They totally have the life of Satan. They’re just like the Pharisees who knew the Bible well and thought that they had sincere faith in God and had life but who didn’t know God and even resisted and condemned the Lord and nailed Him to the cross. This tells us that just because someone knows the Bible it doesn’t mean that they have truth and life. The only people who have life are those who understand and practice truth and who know God, have a heart that fears Him, and can live by God’s words. Those pastors and elders say that they have much life, and this is only fooling believers and deceiving themselves.”

After listening to Almighty God’s words and the fellowship of Sister Wang everything became much clearer in my mind: Just because someone knows the Bible well and can explain the Bible it doesn’t mean that they understand truth, know God or have life. I used to think that people in high positions or who had studied theology or had Bible knowledge all had much life. But now I see that my viewpoint was totally absurd. It seems that people who don’t have truth are unable to discern, and so are easily fooled. So I then asked Sister Wang a question: “Almighty God speaks so well. All we have to do is read His words carefully and we’ll realize that these are the words of God, God’s voice. So how come the pastors and elders don’t accept this and even do their utmost to resist and condemn Him?” Sister Wang replied: “During the last days, Almighty God has come and expressed all of the truths that corrupt mankind needs to be cleansed and saved. These truths are the way of eternal life that God has bestowed upon us. As long as people seriously read God’s words they will admit that these words are the truth, the life, and the way and are the foundation and the guide for mankind’s survival. This is a fact. Although most pastors and elders resist and condemn God’s work of the last days, and try to prevent people from reading Almighty God’s words, this doesn’t mean that they can’t hear God’s voice in them. Some pastors and elders can’t preach anything useful so they steal Almighty God’s words and preach them to their congregations, claiming that they are enlightenments that the Holy Spirit offered to them. So we can see that they are completely able to tell that these words are the expression of the truth. But why do they still frenziedly resist and condemn Almighty God? This has to do with their nature and substance of hating the truth. Think back to when the Lord Jesus first started doing His work, He manifested many miracles, especially the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish. An even more astonishing miracle for the people throughout the land of Judea was when He brought Lazarus back from the dead. So, many of the common people in those days recognized from the Lord’s words and work that He was the coming Messiah. But the leaders of the Jews didn’t accept the Lord Jesus, and instead resisted and condemned Him and in the end conspired with the Roman government to crucify the Lord. Why did this happen? Was it because they couldn’t hear the authority and power in the Lord Jesus’ words and recognize that they were from God? Was it because they were in some way inferior to ordinary Jews? No! It was because they saw that more and more people were accepting the Lord Jesus’ way. They were afraid that if all of the ordinary folk believed in the Lord Jesus then no one would follow or worship them and they would lose their status and their livelihood. They clearly knew the Lord Jesus was God and yet purposefully resisted Him; this revealed their antichrist essence, which is resistance to God and hatred of the truth. The Lord Jesus bitterly rebuked them when He said: ‘But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God…. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him’ (Jhn 8:40, 43-44). In present times, the words of Almighty God have revealed with crystal clarity the nature and essence of the current leaders of the religious community. Almighty God said: ‘Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of “robust flesh,” how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?’ (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These leaders of the religious community today are just like the Pharisees of old: Although they know the Bible well they know absolutely nothing about God’s work. They see that the words of Almighty God are being accepted by more and more people who long for and seek God’s appearance, and they’re afraid that if the believers all believe in Almighty God then no one will follow them anymore or donate money to them. So in order to protect their status and their livelihood, under the banner of being loyal to the Lord and protecting His flock they have manufactured all kinds of vicious rumors to frenziedly resist and condemn God’s work of the last days and done their best to prevent believers from seeking and investigating the true way. So we can see that religious leaders are in fact Pharisees who dislike and hate the truth. They are living demons who eat people’s souls; they are antichrists who are being revealed by God’s work of the last days.”

After listening to God’s words and the sister’s fellowship I had a sudden realization and nodded my head a few times and said: “Now I finally get why those pastors and elders, on hearing that there are people bearing witness to God’s return, don’t seek or investigate it but instead persistently condemn Him. Now I understand why those pastors and elders are shouting that they are protecting me and are concerned about my life when in fact they are doing their utmost to hold me back and prevent me from reading God’s words and gaining the life sustenance from God. It is all because everything they do is to protect their own interests. They’re afraid that if people start following Almighty God they won’t listen to their sermons or donate money to them so that’s why they prevent people from investigating the true way. They really are despicable, and they have come very close to making me lose my chance of salvation. Now that I know how to discern better I’m going to refuse to have anything to do with them. No matter what they do to disturb me, I’m going to stand firm and follow Almighty God.” After that, I never went back to my original church meetings again.

Not long after, two preachers from my original denomination came to my house. One of them, Preacher Zhang, said to me: “Auntie, why haven’t you been to the meetings? Have you been in contact with the people from Eastern Lightning again? Whatever you do, don’t switch to their faith. If you follow their faith you’re done for!” With a firm voice I replied: “I got nothing from meetings with you recently and I grew ever darker in my spirit and I wasn’t able to feel the Lord’s presence. But since I started reading Almighty God’s words my spirit has been uplifted and now I’m starting to understand truths and my life is nourished. I feel that God is with me and that the Holy Spirit is working on me. Now I’m sure that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and that the truths expressed by Almighty God are the living water of life. Only Almighty God’s words can give me sustenance, and wherever I can gain life that is where I shall go.” The other of them, Preacher Song, then said: “We worry about you. We worry that you’ll deviate from the right way. You’re immature in life.…” I said to her: “Maybe I’m immature in life, but God will lead me anyway. Thanks for your concern, but you should think about your own lives. My life is in God’s hands….” When they heard what I had to say they left in a huff. As I watched them disappearing into the distance I felt a huge sense of relief like I’d never felt before. Afterward, they came back twice more, but seeing that I was totally unmoved by their exhortations they never returned again. I thank God for guiding me and allowing me to see through the true faces and wicked hearts of those religious leaders, to see through Satan’s tricks and to find my way out of the confusion and back to God. I’m now being supplied with living water of life, and I will always follow and worship Almighty God!