Praise God, almighty and wise, He has defeated Satan.
Praise God, His righteous disposition has been completely revealed.
All come to praise Almighty God, the lovely and practical God.
We praise God, humble and hidden, He is so lovely!
Praise You, Almighty God (praise God)! All come to praise You (praise You)!
Could you tell us what the difference is between believing in Jesus and believing in God?
In the beginning, God’s original intention in creating men is that men can believe in him, obey him, worship him, live in the light, and enjoy his riches on earth. But after being tempted by satan, men fell and lived under satan’s authority and in sufferings and darkness. God sorrowed over the falling of mankind created by himself, so he began the six-thousand-year management plan of saving mankind. In the whole management plan, God does three stages of works in three different ages according to the extent of mankind’s being corrupted, and in the end he will save men completely from satan’s authority and recover the likeness of men created by God in the beginning. Almighty God says, “The work of saving mankind began only after mankind was corrupted, so the work of managing mankind also began only after mankind was corrupted. That is to say, the ‘management’ came into being because of the start of the work of salvation but not with the work of creating the world, and the management work came into being only after mankind had corrupt disposition. So, the work of managing mankind only includes three parts, not four stages or four ages. It is right to say it this way. By the end of the final age, the management work has completely ended. When the management work ends, it means that the work of saving all mankind has completely ended. Then mankind comes to the end of a stage. If there were not the work of saving all mankind, there would not be the management work or the three stages of works. Because mankind fell and badly needed to be saved, Jehovah ended the work of creating the world and started the work of the Age of the Law. Thus, the work of managing mankind started, that is, the work of saving mankind started. The inner meaning of ‘managing mankind’ is not to lead the men who had just been created (that is, who had not been corrupted) to live on earth, but to save the mankind who had been corrupted by satan, that is, to transform the mankind who had been corrupted. This is the inner meaning of ‘managing mankind.’” “God was incarnated the first time through the conception of the Holy Spirit. This had to do with the work he would do. The Age of the Grace began with the name of Jesus. When Jesus began to perform his ministry, the Holy Spirit began to testify the name of Jesus; the name of Jehovah was no longer mentioned, and the Holy Spirit did a new work mainly with the name of Jesus instead. The testimonies his believers bore were borne for Jesus Christ, and the works they did were also for Jesus Christ. The end of the Old Testament Age of the Law meant that the work done mainly with the name Jehovah ended. From then on, God’s name was no longer Jehovah but Jesus, and the Holy Spirit began to do the work mainly with the name Jesus.” “So, God has to take a different name in a different age, using his name to change the age and using his name to represent the age. For no name can fully represent God Godself and it can only represent God’s disposition typical of the age, and it is proper as long as it can represent his work. So, God can choose any name that suits his disposition to represent a whole age. Whether it was the age of Jehovah or the age of Jesus, God used his name to represent the age. The Age of the Grace has ended and the final age has come, and Jesus has come. How could he still be called Jesus? How could he come among men still in the image of Jesus?” “So when the final age, that is, the last age, comes, my name will still change. I will not be called Jehovah or Jesus, much less Messiah, but the powerful Almighty God Godself, with which name I will end the entire age. I was once called Jehovah and was also once called Messiah by people, and people also once called me the Savior Jesus out of love and esteem for me. Today, I am no longer Jehovah or Jesus whom people knew before but the God who has returned in the end time and who will end the age and the God Godself who arises in the ends of the earth, laden with all my disposition and full of authority, honor, and glory.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Almighty God’s words tell us clearly that God didn’t simply do a stage of work but did three stages of works in his management plan. In other words, he worked with different names by three ages, that is, the Age of the Law, the Age of the Grace, and the Age of the Kingdom in the final age. In the end, he will save men from sins completely and bring them into a pleasant destination. In each age, God uses a fitting name to represent the work in this age. One’s believing in God is exactly believing in God’s name in this age. But as God’s work in each age is not everlasting, God’s name changes with the age. That is to say, when an age ends, the work God does with the name of that age will end accordingly. Then if one still holds on to God’s name in that age, he is not believing in God; only those who accept God’s work and God’s name in the new age are believing in God. For example, in the Age of the Law, the name Jehovah represented the work in the Age of the Law, and there was no God except Jehovah. Thus, one’s believing in God was believing in Jehovah, and the believers in Jehovah were the ones who believed in God. In the Age of the Grace, God’s name was Jesus, and the age in which God was called Jehovah ended. There was no Savior except Jesus. At that time, only if one believed in Jesus, he was believing in God; those who held on to the name of Jehovah yet didn’t believe in Jesus were not believing in God. In the Age of the Kingdom at the end time, God’s name is Almighty God, and the age in which God was called Jesus ended. Only those who accept Almighty God’s work and believe in Almighty God are truly believing in God and can be brought into the eternal destination by God. Thus, man’s believing in God is believing in Almighty God, and only those who believe in Almighty God are the ones who believe in God truly. The name of Jesus only represents the Age of the Grace but doesn’t represent the Age of the Law or the Age of the Kingdom, because Jesus only did the redemptive work but didn’t do the work of the Age of the Law or the work of the Age of the Kingdom. So, the saying that “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus” is only applicable to the Age of the Grace, and it is correct to say so in the Age of the Grace. However, if we say “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus” in any age other than the Age of the Grace, it will be wrong. This is because in the ages other than the Age of the Grace, God’s names are not Jesus, and God’s works are not the redemptive work. We should know that God’s work is continuously progressing forward, and that as God’s work is constantly deepening and advancing and continuously progresses forward, people grow in life, have their disposition transformed, and are eventually purified by God. Only if we closely keep up with the pace of God’s work can we be completely saved by God.
When Almighty God began to do the work of the Age of the Kingdom, it means that the work God did mainly with the name Jesus ended. From then on, God was no longer called Jesus but called Almighty God. This is just as when Jesus began to do the work of the Age of the Grace, the work of the Age of the Law God did mainly with the name Jehovah ended, and from then on people should believe in Jesus and keep Jesus’ way. If people didn’t believe in Jesus or obey Jesus’ teachings but still believed in Jehovah and kept the law, they were not believing in God but were resisting God, and they would be cursed by God. (cf. Galatians 3:10; 5:4) Since we believe in God, we should keep up with God’s footsteps, accept God’s work and word of the new age, believe in whatever name God takes, and accept whatever work God does; otherwise, we are not believing in God, but instead, we will be cast away and eliminated by God’s work. Almighty God admonishes us, “Those who cannot closely follow God’s footsteps will not be able to have such kind of life. They all will fall into darkness, weeping and gnashing their teeth. They all are ones who believe in God but do not follow God and ones who believe in God but do not obey any of God’s work. Since one believes in God, he should closely follow God’s every footstep and should ‘follow the Lamb wherever he goes.’ Only such a person is one who truly seeks the true way and one who knows the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who rigidly observe letters and doctrines are all the ones eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit. In each age God will carry out a new work, and in each age he will make a new start among men. If one only holds on to such truths as, ‘Jehovah is God’ or ‘Jesus is Christ,’ which are only applicable in one age, he will never be able to keep up with the work of the Holy Spirit and will never receive the work of the Holy Spirit. No matter what work God does, if one follows it without any doubt and follows it closely, then how could he be eliminated by the Holy Spirit?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, we understand that it’s really very important whether we can follow God’s footsteps in believing in God. This is a matter concerning our life and death! Today, if we still hold on to Jesus’ name and the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of the Grace but reject God’s work and word of the new age, then we not only cannot be considered as believers in God but will be condemned by Almighty God of today.
From the above fellowship, we can see that there is a difference between believing in Jesus and believing in God. “Jesus” was only God’s name in the Age of the Grace. That is to say, in the Age of the Grace, it was right for us to say “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus.” But today, the Age of the Grace has ended, the Age of the Kingdom has arrived, and God has done a new work and taken a new name, “Almighty God.” At this time, if we still stick to Jesus’ name, it cannot be called “believing in God.” Only believing in Almighty God and accepting Almighty God’s work is believing in God. If we refuse to accept God’s new work or the new name God takes, Almighty God, but stick to the work and the name of Jesus, we will be condemned by God. As the work of God’s saving mankind cannot be completed in one stage, man should follow wherever God’s work leads. God takes different names and does different works in different ages. When an old age ends, there will be a new age to replace it. If we still stick to the name “Jesus” in the Age of the Kingdom at the end time, saying that “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus,” it will be too erroneous, too conservative, and not after God’s heart. Since God is always leading all mankind to keep going forward, man should closely follow the pace of God’s working and follow God’s footsteps. Only by believing in God this way can we be after God’s heart and eventually be saved by God.
Come out of the Temple and Seek the Voice of Christ
Cui Na
One day, my classmate and I came to the outside of a Catholic cathedral unconsciously. Attracted by this beautiful building, we entered it. What met our eyes were several small buildings in blue bricks. The European-style spires were surmounted by statues, which looked so handsome. Fascinated by its imposing exterior, my classmate took pictures continuously, and said excitedly, “Look at the pictures. It seems that we are abroad.” When we went into its interior, we saw it was more gorgeous: Lines of European-style chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. The front of the church was well decorated with stained-glass windows. On the high ceiling was painted a giant mural painting. Under the painting was a stage, with many flowers and ornaments on it. On both sides of the stage were two small platforms, with a sculpture of the Lord Jesus on one platform and a Madonna on the other side; in front of them were plenty of flowers and candles. All these things dazzled me.
Looking around this gorgeous church, I suddenly thought of my aunt who was a Catholic. I remembered she proudly said to me that their church was very beautiful. She consecrated the Mass once a month, which was actually offering money. Because their priests told them that to do this was to store up treasures in heaven, and that the more treasures they stored up, the more blessings they would get. Especially, every May they would go on a pilgrimage to Madonna Mountain. On that day, over one hundred thousand people from all over the surrounding region gathered there. There were more than ten statues on the mountain. When coming in front of each of the statues, they would offer some money. At the end of that day, the money in every offering box could fill up several gunnysacks. They reckoned that acting in this way was worshiping God. After hearing her words, I thought: The various temples have been handsomely furnished to attract people to worship God, but does this prove that God works there? Later, my aunt said, “Because preachers have nothing to preach in the church, many fellow believers have gone back to the world to earn money and fewer and fewer fellow believers attend meetings. In order to attract believers, the bishops and priests founded a drummer team equipped with gorgeous costumes. This team gave performances in every church on festival days. The show was pure spectacle and really attracted many people to watch. Just then, the magnificent church appeared so impressive. …”
At the moment, a passage of God’s word in a book suddenly occurred to me: “‘But I say to you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day’ (Mat 12:6-8). What does ‘temple’ refer to here? To put it simply, ‘temple’ refers to a magnificent, tall building, and in the Age of Law, the temple was a place for priests to worship God. When the Lord Jesus said ‘in this place is one greater than the temple,’ who did ‘one’ refer to? Clearly, ‘one’ is the Lord Jesus in the flesh, because only He was greater than the temple. What did those words tell people? They told people to come out of the temple—God had already come out and was no longer working in it, so people should seek God’s footsteps outside of the temple and follow His steps in His new work. The background of the Lord Jesus saying this was that under the law, people had come to see the temple as something greater than God Himself. That is, people worshiped the temple rather than worshiping God, so the Lord Jesus warned them not to worship idols, but to worship God because He is supreme. Thus, He said: ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.’ It is evident that in the eyes of the Lord Jesus, most people under the law no longer worshiped Jehovah, but were merely going through the process of sacrificing, and the Lord Jesus determined that this process was idol worship. These idol-worshipers saw the temple as something greater, and higher than God. In their hearts there was only the temple, not God, and if they lost the temple, they lost their dwelling place. Without the temple they had nowhere to worship and could not carry out their sacrifices. … Because they used the temple as a cover, and sacrifices as a guise for cheating people and cheating God, the Lord Jesus said this to warn people. If you apply these words to the present, they are still equally valid and equally pertinent. Although people today have experienced different work of God than people in the Age of Law experienced, the essence of their nature is the same.”
At that time, the Jewish chief priests, scribes and Pharisees all occupied the temples and the synagogues. They had status and power. It seemed that the magnificence of the temple represented their grandeur. They, dressing in rich robes, performed various rituals in the temple, offered sacrifices to Jehovah God to make atonement for the people, and focused on keeping the Sabbath and all the feasts. In people’s eyes, they were men who served God in the temple. Naturally, the temple became a place to worship God. At the end of the Age of Law, the sins of the Jewish religious world grew each day. The Jewish leaders only concentrated on leading people to conduct all sorts of religious rituals, instead of concentrating on obeying God’s commandments and seeking to know God. It caused people to merely have the position of the temple and their leaders, rather than the position of God in their hearts. As a result, the entire religious world lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and the temple became a den of robbers. In addition, when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, people still followed the religious leaders and worshiped the “temple” in their hearts within the temple, but didn’t seek or investigate God’s new work. In that condition, the Lord Jesus said, “in this place is one greater than the temple.” His purpose was to teach us: In our belief in God, we should honor Christ as great, magnify God, pay attention to the work of the Holy Spirit, recognize the voice of God, and follow Him, not man. We shouldn’t be deceived by those who have positions and gifts outwardly but don’t truly believe in or worship Him in essence, for such kind of people have no place for God in their heart. Rather, they occupy high status and domineer over others under the guise of believing in and serving God. In fact, God simply does not work among these hypocrites. When the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He didn’t preach to the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees in the temple who resisted Him. On the contrary, He came out of the temple and went everywhere with His disciples to testify to the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. As for the Jewish chief priests, scribes and Pharisees in the temple, not only did they not seek God’s will, but doggedly stayed within the temple and rigidly stuck to the Bible. No matter how great the authority and power of the Lord Jesus’ words and work was, they still refused to seek and investigate. For fear that people all followed the Lord Jesus and in order to safeguard their position and job, they publicly opposed the Lord Jesus, God incarnate. On the grounds that the Lord Jesus was not the coming Messiah and that He broke the laws to heal the sick on Sabbath, they condemned and arrested Him, and in the end nailed Him to the cross. They not only offended God’s disposition but also received His punishment and curse. As a result, the nation of Israel was destroyed. This is the bitter consequence and disaster brought by their holding on “The temple is greater than God.”voice of God Yet, those who magnified God and had Him in their hearts laid stress on seeking the voice and the working trend of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, from the work and word of the Lord Jesus, they recognized His voice, and confirmed that the Lord Jesus is the appearance of Christ. Hence, they followed Him, received His commendation and blessings, and gained His great salvation.
The Lord Jesus preaches on the mountain
We have to reflect on these historical facts. If we have only temple but no God in our hearts, and treat temple as something above God, then what will be our end? In these magnificent churches, how many people are true believers in the Lord? If they only keep their external practices and religious rituals, will God like them to do this? Is this what it means to worship God? Still, many people think that they can buy the blessings of the kingdom of heaven as long as they read the scriptures repeatedly, offer more money, do much work, spend and sacrifice a lot, and so on. But few think: What kind of people can enter into the kingdom of heaven? How should we deal with the condition of committing and confessing sins every day? Without breaking away from the bondage of our sinful nature, can we enter into the kingdom of heaven? At that time, the Pharisees “served God” punctually and regularly, kept external rules and ceremonies very well, and had godly behavior outwardly. Yet, they were punished by God because of resisting God. This shows that they didn’t have a knowledge of God at all, much less understand His will. The pastors, elders, bishops and priests in today’s religious world know the Bible well, but they don’t lead believers to obey God’s words and commandments. Instead, they only attach importance to how lively the activity is, how noble their churches are and how attractive the decoration of the churches is. Although they stand in the position of serving God, they don’t lead believers to pursue knowledge of God, but explain letters and doctrines and theological theories to deceive and entrap believers, so as to let them stay within the church. Unconsciously, the Bible, churches and even the leaders’ lofty figures are in their hearts. What’s more, they don’t place importance on the Lord Jesus’ words and requirements at all, let alone practice them. Is there any difference between them and the Jewish Pharisees at that time? If we have no discernment, still follow them and remain in the desolate religion, how can we gain the approval of the Lord? Just like what the Lord Jesus said, “This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9). As believers in God, if we do not have a place for God in our hearts, or magnify God or honor Christ as great, then we cannot be approved by God, no matter how much biblical knowledge we know and how “devoutly” we worship Him in the church.
The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Revelation prophesies, “These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). “Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). Our belief in God is not believing in the magnificent and tall temple, or rigidly keeping the words and rules of the Bible and religious rituals, or least of all, following the pastors and elders to stay within the church where there is no work of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we should keep pace with the work of the Holy Spirit when it progresses forward. And moreover, we should seek where there is the Holy Spirit’s work and where there are God’s new utterances. Such are the ones who follow the footsteps of the Lamb. Because only Christ can express the truth and God’s voice, thus only when we live by the truth expressed by Christ can we be the ones who truly worship God, exalt Him and honor Him above all else. Only when we come out of the temple to seek the truth and utterances of Christ of the last days, can we keep up with the pace of God’s work, obtain the truth and life from Him, attain His salvation, and gain His approval and blessings.
Christ of the last days has been doing His work in mainland China for over 20 years, work which has shaken the various religious sects to their core. The most perplexing question for the religious community during this time has been: Most pastors and elders in the religious community have done their utmost to judge and attack the Eastern Lightning through various means such as spreading rumors about and defaming the Eastern Lightning. Furthermore, they have even sealed off their churches and even gone so far as colluding with the CCP government to arrest and persecute the Christians in the Church of Almighty God. But while under the frantic condemnation, resistance, and persecution by the CCP government and the religious world acting as two arms of Satan’s forces, why are there more and more believers from various denominations and sects accepting and following Almighty God? Why is it those who have good humanity and used to have sincere belief in the Lord are willing to follow Almighty God to the very end? Why do they continue to do so despite enduring endless condemnation, defamation, coercion, and persecution by the CCP government and the religious world? The CCP imprisons them and yet they don’t look back. How is it that the Eastern Lightning surges forward, unbeaten and unbroken by Satan’s forces, to bloom with new prosperity and growth day by day? How has it spread so far and wide to every corner of China to be accepted and followed by millions? Why has it also spread throughout the world to many different countries and regions?
In fact, religious people who are familiar with the Bible have overlooked a crucial truth, which is: Anything that comes from God will thrive and anything that comes from man will surely decay. Think about this for a moment: If the Eastern Lightning wasn’t the appearance and work of the one and only true God, would it have been able to break through the fortress of obstruction, resistance, and persecution put up by the religious world and the atheistic CCP government and spread so quickly? If it was not guided by the work of the Holy Spirit, would it have the authority and power to make all nations flow to this mountain and for all denominations to become one? If the Eastern Lightning wasn’t the appearance and work of God, would it have brought the truth that allows people to understand God? Would it have pointed the way to salvation? Would it have been able to judge and conquer the true believers of the various faiths, those good sheep and leading sheep, to submit and follow with resolute hearts? Those in the various religious sects had no way to expect that the Almighty God whom they are self-assured and bold enough to condemn, resist, and persecute is in fact the return of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for whom they had so anxiously and persistently waited.
The Book of Revelation records that only the Lamb is able to open the scroll and break the seven seals. Christ of the last days, Almighty God, has issued forth millions of words that not only reveal all mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan, reveal God’s purpose in His three stages of work to save humanity, as well as provide the background, behind-the-scenes information, and the substance behind each of the stages in His work, but moreover His words also unfold the judgment and cleansing work that is directed at mankind’s satanic nature and the truth of their corruption. In addition, His numerous words cover multiple subjects involving the inside story of the Bible, the mystery of God’s incarnation, God’s clear intentions and specific requirements for mankind, mankind’s process of development and mankind’s future destination, etc. These are not only a feast for mankind’s eyes so that they may broaden their horizons, but also allow people to understand God’s work, God’s disposition and essence. Moreover, His words allow us corrupt humans to attain a change in disposition and be purified. His words contain all the truths that we corrupt people need in order to be saved and perfected. The sheep of God hear His voice and the believers who humbly submit have been thoroughly conquered by God’s words as they seek and study the true way; they have truly and clearly seen that God’s real work and words are incomparable and cannot be substituted by any theories or knowledge wrought by mankind. His words and work verify to those who humbly submit that the incarnate Almighty God is precisely the Son of man returning in the last days and the appearance of the one true God. They see that the kingdom has descended to the realm of man and they also clearly observe that the three stages of work in the Age of Law, Age of Grace, and Age of Kingdom are the work of one God and that they are the work of God Himself, there is absolutely no doubt about it. Only if they are equipped with the truths issued forth from Almighty God and experience God’s work of the last days will they know God and enter the right track of faith in Him to achieve salvation. Therefore, they prostrate before God and acknowledge that He is their God and they return to Him and pledge their lives to Him. This is why there are more and more truly faithful people who no longer fear the unknown and follow the Eastern Lightning with unshakeable determination.
In fact, there is no “right” or “wrong” in God’s work, there is only “new” and “old” or “early” and “later” because the inherent principle behind God’s work is that it is always new and never old and He adheres to no regulations and there are no contradictions between His new and old work. Instead, they complement one another with each stage building upon the other; like links in a chain forged together. If we seek and study with a quiet heart, if we can understand the three stages of work in God’s entire 6,000-year management plan, then it’s easy to see that the work of Christ of the last days—Almighty God—has been built upon the foundation of God’s work done in the Age of Grace and it flows as one with the Lord Jesus’ work; it is not independent and not in any way separate. Moreover, we will understand why only Almighty God’s work of the last days can cleanse and change mankind, as well as completely allow mankind to break away the shackles of Satan’s dark influence to achieve God’s salvation.
Looking back on the later period of the Age of Law, mankind all knew what sin was, but in spite of themselves they all kept sinning constantly, and they were incapable of adhering to the laws and decrees. As mankind’s sins increased, their sacrifices became fewer and fewer and they fell into an inescapable trap of sin. Gradually, mankind lost its reverence for God and they went so far as sacrificing blind and lame livestock at the holy altar of Jehovah God. In this way, they faced death by the law and God’s curse. It was against this backdrop that for God to save man, a new stage of work was needed. This is because only God Himself—the Creator—could save the corrupted and depraved mankind. For this reason, God became flesh and appeared in the form of the Lord Jesus to begin the work of the Age of Grace. He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and was crucified on the cross to complete the work of redemption. The Lord Jesus taught His followers that they should forgive and be patient, love their neighbors as themselves, and to bear the cross to follow Him. He also taught people to break bread, drink wine, wash the feet of others and to cover their heads. He asked people to put more truth into practice and He elevated the requirements of mankind higher than they had been during the Age of Law. The Lord Jesus brought man a new age and a new direction to travel and He gave people a path to travel so that they could enjoy the ample grace of God and obtain His redemption. The work of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace concluded the Age of Law that had extended for over 2,000 years in a way that fulfilled the law. It is a new and higher work carried out on the foundation of Jehovah God’s work.
The Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh redeems all of mankind. If we believe in the Lord and are forgiven our sins, then we will be justified by faith and saved. Even though we have our sins forgiven, the root cause behind these sins, namely the satanic nature of us which resists and betrays God, has not been completely resolved. In this manner, even if God does forget our sins and doesn’t treat us based on our sins, nonetheless we live in the flesh and have no way to break the bonds and control of sin. We are merely stuck in a vicious cycle of constant sinning and confession and repentance and we have not escaped sin to become holy people. In the right circumstances, our corrupt satanic disposition will be exposed in spite of ourselves; which includes arrogance, greed, treachery, deceit, and our sins and offenses against the Lord that we cannot control, which is just as Paul says here: “for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom 7:18). Clearly, “being saved” does not represent that we have been fully gained by God. In other words, with only the redemption that we received in the Age of Grace, we still cannot triumph over Satan’s influence to be gained by God because God did not engage in the work of casting off the corrupt satanic disposition that dwells in man in the Age of Grace. If we merely linger in the stage of work done in the Age of Grace and hold on to some simple and outdated methods and practices, even the passage of 1,000 years would produce no changes in us; we could not achieve holiness, and we also could not gain a greater understanding of God. We are merely stuck in a rut with no hope of ever maturing in our lives. We will gradually drift further and further away from God and finally end up in the clutches of Satan. So for corrupt mankind to be fully saved from Satan’s influence, God must personally perform another stage of work, one which is more deep and thoroughgoing, to save mankind. God supplies mankind with the words it needs for life so that mankind may: understand God’s work and His management; know God’s almightiness, wisdom, substance, disposition, and all that He has and is; know all truths; and be guided on the right path of life. Thus mankind’s old notions and old disposition will be changed, and mankind’s sinful nature will be thoroughly removed, which is to say, mankind will break free from the satanic philosophies and rules as well as the satanic poisons that dwell deep inside its nature. Mankind can then become humane and a possessor of the truth and thereby become someone who truly submits to God. Currently, all Almighty God’s work is exactly this stage of work where the thorough cleansing and salvation of man is occurring. Almighty God is not only giving more truths to humanity based on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, but He is also proclaiming the commandments and administrative decrees for the Age of Kingdom. He has raised His requirements for mankind so that: Mankind is supposed to seek and understand the truth in God’s word; know God’s disposition and all that He has and is; and know mankind’s own satanic nature that disobeys and resists God. Mankind should practice the truth and live by God’s word under the precondition of understanding the truth so that mankind can attain the transformation of its disposition, regain a normal life where it worships God, become holy, and enter the wonderful destination that God has prepared for mankind.
The Bible contains prophecies about God’s salvation in the last days where the First Epistle of Peter chapter 1 verse 5 says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” This piece of scripture clearly foretells: For we who follow the Lord Jesus, God has prepared salvation for us in the last days. So, what will this salvation in the last days actually be? The Bible says: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength” (Rev 1:16). “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev 14:6-7). We can see from the scriptures that the everlasting gospel refers to God’s judgment work in the last days, where God uses words as sharp as swords to judge and cleanse man. This is exactly the judgment before the great white throne mentioned in the Book of Revelation, which is the work that shall decide the outcome of mankind and their destination. Almighty God says, “When it comes to the word ‘judgment,’ you will think of the words that Jehovah spoke to all the places and the words of rebuke that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. Though these words are stern, they are not God’s judgment of man; these words are only those spoken by God within different environments, that is, different settings, and they are unlike the words spoken by Christ as He judges man in the last days. In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, reveal the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and disposition of God, and so on. These words are all focused on the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that reveal how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation, dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his 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 could not be understood by man. 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 such work is actually the work of opening up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We can understand from God’s words that: In the last days, God uses truth to do His judgment work so that mankind can better understand His will, have true knowledge of Him, and understand the source and substance of man’s corruption by Satan. Furthermore, the work of judgment also allows mankind to truly gain the truth, the way, and the life bestowed by Christ of the last days so that it may be completely gained by God and attain His salvation. This is the more thoroughgoing salvation that is built upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ redemption work and it is also the final stage of work in the 6,000-year management plan, which is to conquer and perfect man; this is the salvation that appears in the last days.
Brothers and sisters, despite mankind’s lack of understanding about the work God does, and despite much of mankind not understanding all that God does and not knowing His intentions and being evasive and reluctant toward God’s new work, nonetheless, the true followers of God do have a place for Him in their hearts. They set aside their own notions and seek and study the true way with a quiet heart and listen to God’s voice, thereby gaining His enlightenment and a genuine recognition of God’s voice. These true followers move from their notions to actual knowledge about the second incarnate God. These true believers move from resisting God to submitting to Him, they move from persecuting God to accepting Him, and they move from forsaking God to loving Him. This is akin to the past where the disciples and some Jewish common people recognized that the Lord Jesus is the One of heaven. Although they confronted a heavy blockade, obstruction, confinement, oppression and persecution by the religious community and the satanic regime, once they recognized the true way they were firmly convinced and knew no doubt and they followed God closely. Such is the formidable power of the work of the true God. Now, the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God has been spreading at blazing speed throughout all of mainland China. Now it expands to every country and nation; are you truly unwilling to obtain the full truth that God bestows upon mankind and live in the light? Have you truly not understood the content and intent behind the Lord Jesus’ constant reminders for mankind in the last days to watch? Are you not worried about missing out on this opportunity for complete salvation from God? Are you not concerned about your heartbreaking regret? Could it be that you still don’t understand the reason behind the Eastern Lightning’s boundless and unstoppable progress? If you do understand, then what are you waiting for?
Can We Truly Be Saved by Believing in God in the Heart and Confessing Him With the Mouth?
Liang liang
Question: The Bible says, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
Once Satan has been defeated, that is to say, once man has been completely conquered, man will comprehend that all of this work is for the sake of salvation, and that the means of this salvation is to regain from the hands of Satan. The 6,000 years of work of God’s management are divided into three stages: the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. These three stages of work are all for the sake of mankind’s salvation, which is to say, they are for the salvation of a mankind that has been severely corrupted by Satan. At the same time, however, they are also so that God may do battle with Satan. Thus, just as the work of salvation is divided into three stages, so the battle with Satan is also divided into three stages, and these two aspects of God’s work are conducted simultaneously. The battle with Satan is actually for the sake of mankind’s salvation, and because the work of mankind’s salvation is not something that can be successfully completed in a single stage, the battle with Satan is also divided into phases and periods, and war is waged upon Satan in accordance with the needs of man and the extent of Satan’s corruption of him. Perhaps, in man’s imagination, he believes that in this battle God will take up arms against Satan, in the same way that two armies would fight each other. This is only something that man’s intellect is capable of imagining, and is a supremely vague and unrealistic idea, yet it is what man believes. And because I say here that the means of man’s salvation is through the battle with Satan, man imagines that this is how the battle is conducted. In the work of man’s salvation, three stages have been carried out, which is to say that the battle with Satan has been split into three stages prior to the complete defeat of Satan. Yet the inner truth of the entire work of the battle with Satan is that its effects are achieved through bestowing grace upon man, and becoming a sin offering of man, forgiving the sins of man, conquering man, and making man perfect. As a matter of fact, the battle with Satan is not the taking up of arms against Satan, but the salvation of man, the working of the life of man, and the changing of man’s disposition so that he may bear testimony to God. This is how Satan is defeated. Satan is defeated through changing the corrupt disposition of man. When Satan has been defeated, that is, when man has been completely saved, then the ashamed Satan will be completely bound, and in this way, man will have been completely saved. And so, the substance of man’s salvation is the battle with Satan, and the war with Satan is primarily reflected in the salvation of man. The stage of the last days, in which man is to be conquered, is the last stage in the battle with Satan, and also the work of man’s complete salvation from the domain of Satan. The inner meaning of man’s conquest is the return of the embodiment of Satan, man who has been corrupted by Satan, to the Creator following his conquest, through which he will forsake Satan and completely return to God. In this way, man will have been completely saved. And so, the work of conquest is the last work in the battle against Satan, and the final stage in God’s management for the sake of Satan’s defeat. Without this work, the full salvation of man would ultimately be impossible, the utter defeat of Satan would also be impossible, and mankind would never be able to enter the wonderful destination, or get free from Satan’s influence. Consequently, the work of salvation of man cannot be concluded before the battle with Satan is concluded, for the core of the work of God’s management is for the sake of mankind’s salvation. Earliest mankind was in the hands of God, but because of Satan’s temptation and corruption, man was bound up by Satan and fell in the hands of the evil one. Thus, Satan became the object to be defeated in the work of God’s management. Because Satan took possession of man, and because man is the stock of all God’s management, if man is to be saved, then he must be snatched back from the hands of Satan, which is to say that man must be taken back after having been held captive by Satan. Satan is defeated through changes in man’s old disposition that restore his original sense, and in this way, man, who has been taken captive, can be snatched back from the hands of Satan. If man is freed from the influence and bondage of Satan, Satan will be shamed, man will ultimately be taken back, and Satan will be defeated. And because man has been freed from the dark influence of Satan, man will become the spoils of all of this battle, and Satan will become the object that will be punished once this battle has finished, after which the entire work of mankind’s salvation will have been completed.
God has no malice toward the creatures and wishes only to defeat Satan. All of His work—whether it be chastisement or judgment—is directed at Satan; it is carried out for the sake of mankind’s salvation, is all in order to defeat Satan, and it has one objective: doing battle with Satan to the very end! And God will never rest before He has been victorious over Satan! He will rest only once He has defeated Satan. Because all of the work done by God is directed at Satan, and because those who have been corrupted by Satan are all under the control of Satan’s domain and all live under Satan’s domain, if God did not battle against Satan or cause them to break with it, Satan would not relax its hold on these people, and they could not be gained. If they were not gained, it would prove that Satan has not been defeated, that it has not been vanquished. And so, in God’s 6,000-year management plan, during the first stage He did the work of the law, during the second stage He did the work of the Age of Grace, that is, the work of crucifixion, and during the third stage He did the work of conquering mankind. All this work is directed at the extent to which Satan has corrupted mankind, it is all in order to defeat Satan, and not one of the stages is not for the sake of defeating Satan. The substance of the 6,000-year work of God’s management is the battle against the great red dragon, and the work of managing mankind is also the work of defeating Satan, and the work of doing battle with Satan. God has battled for 6,000 years, and thus worked for 6,000 years, to ultimately bring man into the new realm. When Satan is defeated, man will be completely liberated. Is this not the direction of God’s work today? This is precisely the direction of the work of today: the complete liberation and freeing of man, so that he is not subject to any rules, nor limited by any binds or restrictions. All this work is done in accordance with your stature and in accordance with your needs, meaning that you are provided with whatever you can accomplish. It is not a case of “driving a duck onto a perch,” of forcing you to do things beyond your ability; instead, all this work is carried out in accordance with your actual needs. Each stage of work is in accordance with the actual needs and requirements of man, and is for the sake of defeating Satan. In fact, at the beginning there were no barriers between the Creator and His creatures. They are all caused by Satan. Man has become unable to see or touch anything because of Satan’s disturbance and its corruption. Man is the victim, the one who has been deceived. Once Satan has been defeated, the creatures will behold the Creator, and the Creator will look upon the creatures and be able to personally lead them. Only this is the life that man should have on earth. And so, God’s work is primarily in order to defeat Satan, and once Satan has been defeated, everything will be solved. Today, you have seen that it really is something for God to come among man. He has not come to spend each day finding fault in you, to say this and that, or to simply allow you to see what He looks like, and how He speaks and lives. God has not become flesh merely to allow you to look upon Him, or to open your eyes, or to allow you to hear the mysteries He has spoken of and the seven seals that He has opened. Rather, He has become flesh to defeat Satan. He has personally come among man in the flesh to save man, to do battle with Satan, and this is the significance of His incarnation. If it were not in order to defeat Satan, then He would not personally do this work. God has come to earth to do His work among man, to personally reveal Himself to man and allow man to behold Him; is this a small matter? It really is something! It is not as man imagines that God has come so that man may look upon Him, so that man may understand that God is real and not vague or hollow, and that God is lofty but also humble. Could it be that simple? It is precisely because Satan has corrupted the flesh of man, and man is the one who God intends to save, that God must assume the flesh to do battle with Satan and to personally shepherd man. Only this is beneficial to His work. The two incarnate fleshes of God have existed in order to defeat Satan, and have also existed in order to better save man. That is because the one doing the battle with Satan can only be God, whether it be the Spirit of God or the incarnate flesh of God. In short, the one doing the battle with Satan cannot be the angels, much less can it be man, who has been corrupted by Satan. The angels are powerless to do it, and man is even more impotent. As such, if God wishes to work the life of man, if He wishes to personally come to earth to work man, then He must personally become flesh, that is, He must personally put on the flesh, and with His inherent identity and the work that He must do, come among man and personally save man. If not, if it were the Spirit of God or man that did this work, then this battle would forever fail to achieve its effect, and would never end. Only when God becomes flesh to personally go to war against Satan among man does man have a chance of salvation. Furthermore, only then is Satan shamed, and left without any opportunities to exploit or any plans to execute. The work done by God incarnate is unachievable by the Spirit of God, and even more incapable of being done on God’s behalf by any fleshly man, for the work that He does is for the sake of the life of man, and in order to change the corrupt disposition of man. Were man to participate in this battle, he would only flee in woeful disarray, and would simply be incapable of changing the corrupt disposition of man. He would be incapable of saving man from the cross, or of conquering all of rebellious mankind, but only be able to do a little old work according to principle, or else work that is unrelated to the defeat of Satan. So why bother? What is the significance of work that cannot gain mankind, much less defeat Satan? And so, the battle with Satan can only be carried out by God Himself, and is simply incapable of being done by man. Man’s duty is to obey and to follow, for man is unable to do the work of opening up a new epoch, nor, moreover, can he carry out the work of battling Satan. Man can only satisfy the Creator under the leadership of God Himself, through which Satan is defeated; this is the only thing that man can do. And so, every time a new battle commences, which is to say, every time the work of the new age begins, this work is personally done by God Himself, through which He leads the entire age, and opens up a new path for the whole of mankind. The dawn of each new age is a new start in the battle with Satan, through which man enters a newer, more beautiful realm and a new age that is personally led by God Himself. Man is the master of all things, but those who have been gained will become the fruits of all battles with Satan. Satan is the corrupter of all things, it is the loser at the end of all battles, and is also the one which will be punished following these battles. Among God, man and Satan, only Satan is the one which will be detested and rejected. Those who were gained by Satan but are not taken back by God, meanwhile, become the ones who will receive punishment in behalf of Satan. Of these three, only God should be worshiped by all things. Those who were corrupted by Satan but are taken back by God and who follow the way of God, meanwhile, become the ones who will receive God’s promise and judge the evil ones for God. God will surely be victorious and Satan will surely be defeated, but among man there are those who will win and those who will lose. Those who win will belong to the Victor, and those who lose will belong to the loser; this is the classification of each according to kind, it is the final outcome of all God’s work, it is also the aim of all God’s work, and it will never change. The core of the main work of God’s management plan is focused on the salvation of man, and God becomes flesh primarily for the sake of this core, for the sake of this work, and in order to defeat Satan. The first time God became flesh was also in order to defeat Satan: He personally became flesh, and was personally nailed to the cross, in order to complete the work of the first battle, which was the work of mankind’s redemption. Likewise, this stage of work is also personally done by God, who has become flesh to do His work among man, to personally speak His word and allow man to see Him. Of course, it is inevitable that He also does some other work along the way, but the main reason He carries out His work personally is in order to defeat Satan, to conquer the whole of mankind, and to gain these people. And so, the work of God’s incarnation really is something. If His purpose were only to show man that God is humble and hidden, and that God is real, if it were only for the sake of doing this work, then there would be no need to become flesh. Even if God did not become flesh, He could reveal His humbleness and hiddenness, His greatness and holiness, to man directly, but such things have nothing to do with the work of managing mankind. They are incapable of saving man or making him complete, much less can they defeat Satan. If the defeat of Satan only involved the Spirit doing battle against a spirit, then such work would have even less practical value; it would be incapable of gaining man and would ruin the fate and prospects of man. As such, God’s work today is of profound significance. It is not only so that man may see Him, or so that man’s eyes may be opened, or in order to provide him with a little moving and encouragement; such work has no significance. If you can only speak of this kind of knowledge, then it proves that you do not know the true significance of God’s incarnation.
The work of God’s entire management plan is personally done by God Himself. The first stage—the creation of the world—was personally done by God Himself, and if it had not been, then no one would have been capable of creating mankind; the second stage was the redemption of all mankind, and it was also personally done by God Himself; the third stage goes without saying: There is an even greater need for the end of all God’s work to be done by God Himself. The work of redeeming, conquering, gaining, and perfecting the whole of mankind is all personally carried out by God Himself. If He did not personally do this work, then His identity could not be represented by man, or His work done by man. In order to defeat Satan, in order to gain mankind, and in order to give man a normal life on earth, He personally leads man and personally works among man; for the sake of His entire management plan, and for all of His work, He must personally do this work. If man only believes that God came to be seen by him and make him happy, then such beliefs hold no value, they have no significance. Man’s knowledge is too superficial! Only by carrying it out Himself can God do this work thoroughly and completely. Man is incapable of doing it on behalf of God. As he does not have God’s identity or His substance, he is incapable of doing His work, and even if man did, it would not have any effect. The first time God became flesh was for the sake of redemption, to redeem all mankind from sin, to make man capable of being cleansed and of being forgiven for his sins. The work of conquest is also personally done by God among man. If, during this stage, God were only to speak prophecy, then a prophet or someone gifted could be found to take His place; if only prophecy were spoken, man could stand in for God. Yet if man were to personally do the work of God Himself and were to work the life of man, it would be impossible for him to do this work. It must be personally done by God Himself: God must personally become flesh to do this work. In the Age of Word, if only prophecy were spoken, then Isaiah or Elijah the prophet could be found to do this work, and there would be no need for God Himself to do it personally. Because the work done in this stage is not merely the speaking of prophecy, and because it is of greater importance that the work of words is used to conquer man and defeat Satan, this work cannot be done by man, and must be personally done by God Himself. In the Age of Law Jehovah did part of God’s work, after which He spoke some words and did some work through the prophets. That is because man could stand in for the work of Jehovah, and the seers could foretell things and interpret some dreams on His behalf. The work done in the beginning was not the work of directly changing man’s disposition, and was unrelated to the sin of man, and man was required only to abide by the law. So Jehovah did not become flesh and reveal Himself to man; instead He spoke directly to Moses and others, made them speak and work on His behalf, and caused them to work directly among mankind. The first stage of God’s work was the leadership of man. It was the start of the battle with Satan, but this battle had yet to officially begin. The official war with Satan began with the first incarnation of God, and it has continued right up until today. The first instance of this war was when God incarnate was nailed to the cross. The crucifixion of God incarnate defeated Satan, and it was the first successful stage in the war. When God incarnate begins to directly work the life of man, this is the official start of the work of regaining man, and because this is the work of changing man’s old disposition, it is the work of doing battle with Satan. The stage of work done by Jehovah in the beginning was merely the leadership of man’s life on earth. It was the beginning of God’s work, and although it had yet to involve any battle, or any major work, it laid the foundation for the work of the battle to come. Later, the second stage of work during the Age of Grace involved changing man’s old disposition, which means that God Himself wrought the life of man. This had to be personally done by God: It required that God personally become flesh, and if He had not become flesh, no one else could have replaced Him in this stage of work, for it represented the work of fighting directly against Satan. If man had done this work on God’s behalf, when man stood before Satan, Satan would not have submitted and it would have been impossible to defeat it. It had to be God incarnate who came to defeat it, for the substance of God incarnate is still God, He is still the life of man, and He is still the Creator; whatever happens, His identity and substance will not change. And so, He put on the flesh and did the work to cause the complete submission of Satan. During the stage of work of the last days, if man were to do this work and were made to speak the words directly, then he would be unable to speak them, and if prophecy were spoken, then it would be incapable of conquering man. By assuming the flesh, God comes to defeat Satan and cause its complete submission. He utterly defeats Satan, fully conquers man, and completely gains man, after which this stage of work is completed, and success achieved. In God’s management, man cannot stand in for God. In particular, the work of leading the age and launching new work is in even greater need of being personally done by God Himself. Giving man revelation and providing him with prophecy can be done by man, but if it is work that must be personally done by God, work of the battle between God Himself and Satan, then this work cannot be done by man. During the first stage of work, when there was no battle with Satan, Jehovah personally led the people of Israel using the prophecy spoken by the prophets. Afterward, the second stage of work was the battle with Satan, and God Himself personally became flesh, coming into the flesh, to do this work. Anything that involves the battle with Satan also involves the incarnation of God, which means that this battle cannot be waged by man. If man were to do battle, he would be incapable of defeating Satan. How could he have the strength to fight against it whilst still under its domain? Man is in the middle: If you lean toward Satan you belong to Satan, but if you satisfy God you belong to God. Were man to stand in for God in the work of this battle, would he be able to? If he did, would he not have perished long ago? Would he not have entered into the netherworld long ago? And so, man is unable to replace God in His work, which is to say that man does not have the substance of God, and if you did battle with Satan you would be incapable of defeating it. Man can only do some work; he can win some people over, but he cannot stand in for God in the work of God Himself. How could man do battle with Satan? Satan would take you captive before you’d even started. Only God Himself can do battle with Satan, and upon this basis man can follow God and obey Him. Only in this way can man be gained by God and escape from the bonds of Satan. What man can achieve with his own wisdom, authority and abilities is too limited; he is incapable of making man complete, of leading him, and, moreover, of defeating Satan. Man’s intelligence and wisdom are unable to thwart the schemes of Satan, so how could man do battle with it?
All those who are willing to be made perfect have the chance to be made perfect, so everyone must relax: In the future you will all enter the destination. But if you are unwilling to be made perfect, and are unwilling to enter the wonderful realm, then that is your own problem. All those who are willing to be made perfect and are loyal to God, all those who obey, and all those who faithfully perform their function—all such people can be made perfect. Today, all those who do not loyally perform their duty, all those who are not loyal to God, all those who do not submit to God, particularly those who have received the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit but do not put it into practice—all such people are unable to be made perfect. All those who are willing to be loyal and obey God can be made perfect, even if they are a little ignorant; all those who are willing to pursue can be made perfect. There is no need to worry about this. As long as you are willing to pursue in this direction, you can be made perfect. I am unwilling to forsake or eliminate any of those among you, but if man does not strive to do well, then you are only ruining yourself; it is not Me that eliminates you, but you yourself. If you yourself do not strive to do well—if you are lazy, or do not perform your duty, or are not loyal, or do not pursue the truth, and always do as you please, spending money and having sexual liaisons, then you condemn yourself, and are unworthy of anyone’s pity. My purpose is for all of you to be made perfect, and at the very least be conquered, so that this stage of work may be successfully completed. God’s wish is for every person to be made perfect, to be ultimately gained by Him, to be completely cleansed by Him, and to become one He loves. It matters not whether I say you are backward or of poor caliber—this is all fact. My saying this does not prove that I intend to forsake you, that I have lost hope in you, much less that I am unwilling to save you. Today I have come to do the work of your salvation, which is to say that the work I do is a continuation of the work of salvation. Every person has the chance to be made perfect: Provided that you are willing, provided that you pursue, in the end you will be able to achieve the effects, and not one of you will be forsaken. If you are of poor caliber, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your poor caliber; if you are of high caliber, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your high caliber; if you are ignorant and illiterate, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your illiteracy; if you are literate, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your level of literacy; if you are elderly, My requirements of you will be in accordance with your age; if you are capable of providing hospitality, My requirements of you will be in accordance with this; if you say you cannot offer hospitality, and can only perform a certain function, whether it be spreading the gospel, or taking care of the church, or attending to other general affairs, My perfection of you will be in accordance with the function that you perform. Being loyal, obeying to the very end, and pursuing the supreme love of God—this is what you must accomplish, and there are no better practices than these three things. Ultimately, man is required to achieve these three things, and if he can achieve them he will be made perfect. But, above all, you must truly pursue, you must actively press onward and upward, and not be passive toward that. I have said that every person has the chance to be made perfect, and is capable of being made perfect, and this counts, but if you do not try to be better in your pursuit, if you do not achieve these three criteria, then in the end you must be eliminated. I want everyone to catch up, want everyone to have the work and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and be able to obey to the very end, because this is the duty that each of you should perform. When you have all performed your duty, you will all have been made perfect, you will also have resounding testimony. All those who have testimony are those who have been victorious over Satan and gained God’s promise, and they are the ones who will remain to live in the wonderful destination.
Footnotes:
a. The original text reads “today, it is because.”
I was born in a Catholic family. Since I was little, I attended Mass at church with my grandparents. Due to the influence of my environment and my belief in God, I learned to chant many different scriptures and practice various rituals.
In 2009, I arrived in Japan to study. One time, in a fellow student’s dorm room, I met by chance a Christian small group leader who had come to spread the gospel. I thought: Protestants and Catholics believe in the same God. They both believe in the Lord Jesus. As a result, I accepted the small group leader’s invitation to join him at the church. After listening to the pastors preach and hearing some brothers and sisters talk about the Bible, I had some understanding about the Lord Jesus’ life. This caused me to have more faith in the Lord.
However, after a few months, the pastors and the preachers asked us to donate tithe every week. Also, each week, we were to hand out pamphlets to spread the gospel. Sometimes, we were so tired that we would snooze during Sunday service. We no longer had a normal routine in our life. At that time, some of us were both working and studying. Not only did we have to make money to pay for our studies, but we also needed money for our everyday expenses. Our lives were already quite difficult, but they still wanted us to give them our money and our energy. We were under a lot of stress and pain. Gradually, I discovered that the pastors and the preachers were not truly people that served the Lord. Normally, since they were those who shepherded the church, they should have been helping us grow in our spiritual lives. However, they did not care about our lives. They did not think at all about our practical problems. Instead, they wanted our energy and our money. Everything they did was to help expand their church and consolidate their status and their influence. At this time, we felt like we had been deceived. Consequently, a few of my brothers and I left the church.
After leaving the church, I found a Catholic church that was situated at the top of a mountain. The people in the church were Japanese. I attended Mass a few times but I felt that it did not benefit me spiritually. Additionally, it was inconvenient to attend fellowship, so I left the church also. In this way, I led a muddleheaded and empty life devoid of direction and a sense of purpose. … This happened all the way until October, 2016. Sister Liang, who I had met in the Protestant church in the past, suddenly contacted me, asked how I was doing and invited me to see her. I thought about how disappointing my experience with the Protestant church in that one year had been and as a result, I rejected Sister Liang’s invitation. However, Sister Liang invited me again and again and out of respect for her feelings, I decided to meet her.
Through Sister Liang, I met Sister Ma and Sister Fang. One day, they spoke to me about a lot of the prophecies of the Bible. They told me about the work of Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus. Their understanding was very fresh and they talked about things that I had never heard before. I told them about the dark situation that I witnessed in the church and how I was so frustrated with my inability to obtain spiritual nourishment from the church that I was no longer willing to attend meetings. Sister Fang said: We have also experienced what you have experienced. Presently, the entire religious world is in a dark and desolate situation. Within this, there is God’s intentions and truth to seek. Presently, we are in the world’s final times. The Lord Jesus predicted: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Mat 24:12). Iniquity is more and more prevalent in the religious world these days. The pastors and the elders do not follow the Lord’s teachings and they do not obey His commands. They only preach and work for their status. They always exalt themselves and bear witness to themselves so that other people will look up to them and worship them. They make other people donate and spread the gospel. Nominally, they say their purpose is to save people’s souls, but in reality, they do not lead people to experience the Lord’s words nor do they help people put the Lord’s words into action. They only want other people to obey them. They are itching to have other people treat them as God. Long ago they started walking on the path of the antichrist which is hostile to God. They have lost the Holy Spirit’s work and they have been abandoned by God. Think back to the late period during the Age of Law when the temple was desolated and had become a den of thieves. Priests made inferior offerings while the common people exchanged money and sold oxen, sheep and doves within the temple. But God’s discipline and punishment did not fall upon them. Why is this? The chief priests, scribes and Pharisees who served God did not obey the law, were hypocritical and deceived people, and had led God’s chosen people onto the path of resisting God. This led to God detesting and rejecting them and the temple losing the work of the Holy Spirit and becoming a den of thieves. In order to save people from being convicted to death by the law, God was incarnated for the first time, did the work of redemption under the name of Jesus, started the Age of Grace and concluded the Age of Law. The work of the Holy Spirit thereupon shifted onto the people who accepted the Lord Jesus. The temple no longer had the Holy Spirit’s work. In present times, the Lord Jesus has returned as predicted. He has already come back in the flesh. He is Almighty God, Christ in the last days and has started to express the truth and do the work of judgment starting with God’s family. The Holy Spirit’s work has shifted onto those who have accepted the work of God of the last days. Since the religious world has not kept pace with God’s work and many pastors and elders convict and resist God’s new work, this has led to God hating and cursing them. This is the source of the religious world’s darkness and desolation.
Afterward, the sisters read a passage of God’s words so that I would have a clear understanding. Precisely because God has once again done new work, the Holy Spirit’s work has shifted. All the sects that do not have the Holy Spirit’s work become more and more dark and desolate. Almighty God said: “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 starving, 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. That will be the time when the deeds of God are revealed, and God is glorified; all people throughout the universe will worship this unremarkable ‘man.’ Will this not be the day of God’s glory?” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). When I recalled the situation that I saw in Protestantism and Catholicism, it was further confirmed in my heart that the words of Almighty God spoke of the actual situation. His words are very realistic and true. The Holy Spirit’s work has indeed shifted. Regardless if it was in Protestantism or Catholicism, what I had felt was just people’s external passion. What I learnt was just scriptural knowledge and theological theories. There basically was no new light nor did I feel any spiritual supply of life. Among people who genuinely follow God, who hasn’t wanted to obtain spiritual nourishment? I saw that the words of Almighty God are capable of breaking my shackles and opening up the mysteries of the Bible. His words illuminated my heart. My heart was no longer bewildered. I have truly gained many benefits!
After that, Sister Ma brought out a copy of the book The Word Appears in the Flesh and read some other passages: “The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom” (“Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover the entire breadth of God’s management, and are all the work of one Spirit. From when He created the world, God has always been managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The work done at present has pushed forward the work of the Age of Grace; that is, the work in the entire six-thousand-year management plan has moved forward. Though the Age of Grace has ended, the work of God has progressed further. Why do I say time and again that this stage of work builds upon the Age of Grace and the Age of Law? This means that the work of this day is a continuation of the work done in the Age of Grace and an uplifting of that done in the Age of Law. The three stages are closely interconnected and linked one to the next. … Only the combination of the three stages of work can be deemed the six-thousand-year management plan” (“The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After she finished reading Almighty God’s words, she said, “From Almighty God’s words, we see that since mankind was corrupted by Satan, God started doing the work of saving mankind. This work has been separated into three stages: Jehovah God’s work in the Age of Law, the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace and Almighty God’s work in the Age of Kingdom of the last days. During the Age of Law, Jehovah God issued laws so that man would be aware of his sins. During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus was nailed to cross to redeem man. Now, in the Age of Kingdom of the last days, Almighty God has done the work of judgment through His words upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ redemption work in order to resolve our sinful nature, eliminate our sins and thoroughly cleanse and save us. The proof confirms that Almighty God is the appearance of Jehovah God who issued the laws and guided man’s life. He is the second coming of the Lord Jesus who redeemed mankind by being nailed to the cross. Within these three stages of work, no matter how God’s name and work have changed, the purpose of God’s work, which is the intention to save mankind, has never changed. God’s essence will never change. Each of these three stages of work has been built upon the foundation of the preceding stage. Each stage is deeper and higher than the last. God’s work has been done in accordance with the development of the ages. It has been done based on the needs of mankind so that He could better save and obtain us. In other words, the work of law of Jehovah God, the redemption work of the Lord Jesus and the work of judgment starting with the house of God done by Almighty God in the last days are different kinds of work performed in different ages by the same God. According to His own plans and according to the needs of mankind, God is saving us stage by stage.”
At this point, I felt that God’s work was very fantastic, almighty and wise. I also felt the care and thought God had put into saving mankind who has been corrupted deeply by Satan and God’s great love for us! Almighty God’s words shed light on these truths and mysteries that I had never heard of. My horizons were truly expanded and I gained a lot. I decided to examine carefully Almighty God’s work of the last days.
Since it was quite late by that time, we decided to continue the fellowship the next time we met. Before they left, Sister Ma gave me a copy of Classic Words of God on the Gospel of the Kingdom so that I would be able to examine carefully God’s work of the last days when I went back home. After I went back, out of curiosity, I searched for “the Church of Almighty God” on the internet. I never thought that I would see so much negative propaganda from the CCP government and the religious world resisting and convicting Almighty God and His Church. When I saw this content, I was even more certain that the Church of Almighty God is the church that truly has the Holy Spirit’s work and that Almighty God is the God who has appeared and works in the last days. This is because, since ancient times, the true way has always been suppressed! When I went to the gatherings with my grandparents in China, I also suffered the persecution from the CCP government. We had to be secretive when we attended these gatherings. The CCP government is truly evil! They are an atheistic regime. They hate the truth and God the most. So, what they oppose and suppress perhaps is the true way and the true church. Later on during a gathering, I told this to Sister Fang and the others. She let me see a marvelous episode, Awaken from Deception, in the gospel video entitled Break Through the Snare. The main character was seeking, “…But I don’t understand, if the Eastern Lightning is the true way, then why would it be strongly opposed by the CCP government? Why would religious leaders also furiously condemn it?”
In the video, one of the brothers responded, “The Bible says, ‘the whole world lies in wickedness’ (1Jn 5:19). The Lord Jesus also said: ‘This is an evil generation’ (Luk 11: 29). In that case, to what extent is the world dark and evil? During the Age of Grace, in order to redeem mankind, the Lord Jesus incarnate was nailed to the cross by the religious world and rulers of that time. Almighty God of the last days who has come to express the truth and judge mankind also faces the conviction and resistance of the religious world and the political regime of the great red dragon and is rejected by this age. This fulfills the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ (Luk 17:24-25). This prediction of the Lord Jesus has finally been fulfilled. Each and every person who thirsts for the appearance of God should see clearly that the Lord has already come back a long time ago and is in the process of doing the judgment work of the last days. The Lord Jesus’ prediction has already been fulfilled. Could it be that we do not see the truth clearly?”
Another witness continued to speak: “Brothers and sisters, this atheistic political regime and the majority of the leaders of the religious world are satanic forces that hate God and the truth. This has already been confirmed by the fact that the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross. That is why the true way will always face the rejection and conviction of atheistic political regime and the religious world. Moreover, all those who spread the true way and put the truth into practice will be framed and coerced by them as well. This is just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’ (Jhn 15:18-19). It is for this very reason that throughout generations, those who can accept the true way and follow the true God are only a very small minority who love the truth and pursue the truth. However, the majority of people do not dare examine the true way and as a result, lose the opportunity of God’s salvation because they follow Satan’s force or are afraid of being persecuted. That is why the Lord Jesus warned previously: ‘Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it’ (Mat 7:13-14).” When I saw these things in the video, I felt even more certain that what the CCP government persecutes and convicts is in fact the true way. This is for sure.
After a period of gathering and investigation, I had a deeper understanding of God’s judgment work of the last days from Almighty God’s words and the sharing and communication of the brothers and sisters. I also gained an understanding of the truth concerning incarnation, salvation and full salvation, God’s purpose of managing mankind, mankind’s end and destination and the originals of the way of eternal life. The truths that Almighty God has expressed are very abundant. From within my heart, I believed firmly that Almighty God is indeed the second coming of the Lord Jesus. I cheerfully accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days.
I have persevered in praying daily and reading God’s words. Now and then, I also listened to the sermons and fellowship on entry into life and hymns of God’s words and I watched gospel videos. Every week, I gathered with my brothers and sisters and proactively spread the gospel and bore witness to God together with them. I feel that my life right now is very rich and my spiritual life has been nourished and is enjoyable. Finally, I have returned to the true church and I have found my true “family.” In the past, the churches that I used to go to had pastors and priests that needed to be addressed. However, in the Church of Almighty God, my brothers, sisters, and I all honor God as great. Our relationship with one another is not differentiated according to status. Everyone is equal. There are also no regulations or religious rituals during these gatherings. You can attend according to your own needs and time. Nobody will restrict you or force you. What everyone communicates about is how to seek to become an honest person, how to seek for a change in one’s disposition to obtain cleansing and salvation, how to fulfill one’s duties in order to repay God’s love and to satisfy God, etc. Unconsciously, under the guidance of God’s words, I also started to seek a change in my disposition and view things according to God’s words; I also had some understanding of and knew how to distinguish the evil essence of society’s tide and the methods and ways that Satan corrupts man. From then on, I no longer played video games nor did I waste time by going to KTV. When I had time, I would read God’s words or I would gather with my brothers and sisters for fellowship where we would sing and praise God. Each day was abundant. I no longer felt empty and helpless. Moreover, I was clear about my life goals. I knew that meaning was to be found through fulfilling one’s own duties before God and living for God as one of His creations. I am thankful to Almighty God for guiding me to walk upon the proper path of life. I am willing to place all the authority, glory and praise at the feet of the one true God, from now until forever. Amen!
In the beginning, God’s original intention in creating men is that men can believe in him, obey him, worship him, live in the light, and enjoy his riches on earth. But after being tempted by satan, men fell and lived under satan’s authority and in sufferings and darkness. God sorrowed over the falling of mankind created by himself, so he began the six-thousand-year management plan of saving mankind. In the whole management plan, God does three stages of works in three different ages according to the extent of mankind’s being corrupted, and in the end he will save men completely from satan’s authority and recover the likeness of men created by God in the beginning. Almighty God says, “The work of saving mankind began only after mankind was corrupted, so the work of managing mankind also began only after mankind was corrupted. That is to say, the ‘management’ came into being because of the start of the work of salvation but not with the work of creating the world, and the management work came into being only after mankind had corrupt disposition. So, the work of managing mankind only includes three parts, not four stages or four ages. It is right to say it this way. By the end of the final age, the management work has completely ended. When the management work ends, it means that the work of saving all mankind has completely ended. Then mankind comes to the end of a stage. If there were not the work of saving all mankind, there would not be the management work or the three stages of works. Because mankind fell and badly needed to be saved, Jehovah ended the work of creating the world and started the work of the Age of the Law. Thus, the work of managing mankind started, that is, the work of saving mankind started. The inner meaning of ‘managing mankind’ is not to lead the men who had just been created (that is, who had not been corrupted) to live on earth, but to save the mankind who had been corrupted by satan, that is, to transform the mankind who had been corrupted. This is the inner meaning of ‘managing mankind.’” “God was incarnated the first time through the conception of the Holy Spirit. This had to do with the work he would do. The Age of the Grace began with the name of Jesus. When Jesus began to perform his ministry, the Holy Spirit began to testify the name of Jesus; the name of Jehovah was no longer mentioned, and the Holy Spirit did a new work mainly with the name of Jesus instead. The testimonies his believers bore were borne for Jesus Christ, and the works they did were also for Jesus Christ. The end of the Old Testament Age of the Law meant that the work done mainly with the name Jehovah ended. From then on, God’s name was no longer Jehovah but Jesus, and the Holy Spirit began to do the work mainly with the name Jesus.” “So, God has to take a different name in a different age, using his name to change the age and using his name to represent the age. For no name can fully represent God Godself and it can only represent God’s disposition typical of the age, and it is proper as long as it can represent his work. So, God can choose any name that suits his disposition to represent a whole age. Whether it was the age of Jehovah or the age of Jesus, God used his name to represent the age. The Age of the Grace has ended and the final age has come, and Jesus has come. How could he still be called Jesus? How could he come among men still in the image of Jesus?” “So when the final age, that is, the last age, comes, my name will still change. I will not be called Jehovah or Jesus, much less Messiah, but the powerful Almighty God Godself, with which name I will end the entire age. I was once called Jehovah and was also once called Messiah by people, and people also once called me the Savior Jesus out of love and esteem for me. Today, I am no longer Jehovah or Jesus whom people knew before but the God who has returned in the end time and who will end the age and the God Godself who arises in the ends of the earth, laden with all my disposition and full of authority, honor, and glory.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Almighty God’s words tell us clearly that God didn’t simply do a stage of work but did three stages of works in his management plan. In other words, he worked with different names by three ages, that is, the Age of the Law, the Age of the Grace, and the Age of the Kingdom in the final age. In the end, he will save men from sins completely and bring them into a pleasant destination. In each age, God uses a fitting name to represent the work in this age. One’s believing in God is exactly believing in God’s name in this age. But as God’s work in each age is not everlasting, God’s name changes with the age. That is to say, when an age ends, the work God does with the name of that age will end accordingly. Then if one still holds on to God’s name in that age, he is not believing in God; only those who accept God’s work and God’s name in the new age are believing in God. For example, in the Age of the Law, the name Jehovah represented the work in the Age of the Law, and there was no God except Jehovah. Thus, one’s believing in God was believing in Jehovah, and the believers in Jehovah were the ones who believed in God. In the Age of the Grace, God’s name was Jesus, and the age in which God was called Jehovah ended. There was no Savior except Jesus. At that time, only if one believed in Jesus, he was believing in God; those who held on to the name of Jehovah yet didn’t believe in Jesus were not believing in God. In the Age of the Kingdom at the end time, God’s name is Almighty God, and the age in which God was called Jesus ended. Only those who accept Almighty God’s work and believe in Almighty God are truly believing in God and can be brought into the eternal destination by God. Thus, man’s believing in God is believing in Almighty God, and only those who believe in Almighty God are the ones who believe in God truly. The name of Jesus only represents the Age of the Grace but doesn’t represent the Age of the Law or the Age of the Kingdom, because Jesus only did the redemptive work but didn’t do the work of the Age of the Law or the work of the Age of the Kingdom. So, the saying that “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus” is only applicable to the Age of the Grace, and it is correct to say so in the Age of the Grace. However, if we say “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus” in any age other than the Age of the Grace, it will be wrong. This is because in the ages other than the Age of the Grace, God’s names are not Jesus, and God’s works are not the redemptive work. We should know that God’s work is continuously progressing forward, and that as God’s work is constantly deepening and advancing and continuously progresses forward, people grow in life, have their disposition transformed, and are eventually purified by God. Only if we closely keep up with the pace of God’s work can we be completely saved by God.
When Almighty God began to do the work of the Age of the Kingdom, it means that the work God did mainly with the name Jesus ended. From then on, God was no longer called Jesus but called Almighty God. This is just as when Jesus began to do the work of the Age of the Grace, the work of the Age of the Law God did mainly with the name Jehovah ended, and from then on people should believe in Jesus and keep Jesus’ way. If people didn’t believe in Jesus or obey Jesus’ teachings but still believed in Jehovah and kept the law, they were not believing in God but were resisting God, and they would be cursed by God. (cf. Galatians 3:10; 5:4) Since we believe in God, we should keep up with God’s footsteps, accept God’s work and word of the new age, believe in whatever name God takes, and accept whatever work God does; otherwise, we are not believing in God, but instead, we will be cast away and eliminated by God’s work. Almighty God admonishes us, “Those who cannot closely follow God’s footsteps will not be able to have such kind of life. They all will fall into darkness, weeping and gnashing their teeth. They all are ones who believe in God but do not follow God and ones who believe in God but do not obey any of God’s work. Since one believes in God, he should closely follow God’s every footstep and should ‘follow the Lamb wherever he goes.’ Only such a person is one who truly seeks the true way and one who knows the work of the Holy Spirit. Those who rigidly observe letters and doctrines are all the ones eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit. In each age God will carry out a new work, and in each age he will make a new start among men. If one only holds on to such truths as, ‘Jehovah is God’ or ‘Jesus is Christ,’ which are only applicable in one age, he will never be able to keep up with the work of the Holy Spirit and will never receive the work of the Holy Spirit. No matter what work God does, if one follows it without any doubt and follows it closely, then how could he be eliminated by the Holy Spirit?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, we understand that it’s really very important whether we can follow God’s footsteps in believing in God. This is a matter concerning our life and death! Today, if we still hold on to Jesus’ name and the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of the Grace but reject God’s work and word of the new age, then we not only cannot be considered as believers in God but will be condemned by Almighty God of today.
From the above fellowship, we can see that there is a difference between believing in Jesus and believing in God. “Jesus” was only God’s name in the Age of the Grace. That is to say, in the Age of the Grace, it was right for us to say “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus.” But today, the Age of the Grace has ended, the Age of the Kingdom has arrived, and God has done a new work and taken a new name, “Almighty God.” At this time, if we still stick to Jesus’ name, it cannot be called “believing in God.” Only believing in Almighty God and accepting Almighty God’s work is believing in God. If we refuse to accept God’s new work or the new name God takes, Almighty God, but stick to the work and the name of Jesus, we will be condemned by God. As the work of God’s saving mankind cannot be completed in one stage, man should follow wherever God’s work leads. God takes different names and does different works in different ages. When an old age ends, there will be a new age to replace it. If we still stick to the name “Jesus” in the Age of the Kingdom at the end time, saying that “believing in Jesus is believing in God and believing in God is believing in Jesus,” it will be too erroneous, too conservative, and not after God’s heart. Since God is always leading all mankind to keep going forward, man should closely follow the pace of God’s working and follow God’s footsteps. Only by believing in God this way can we be after God’s heart and eventually be saved by God.
