I Found the Way to Discern Between the True Christ and False Christs (Part 2)

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May 9, 2019

By Xiangwang, Malaysia

    Brother Zhang continued his fellowship, saying, “God is the truth, the way and the life, and besides discerning between the true Christ and false Christs by the principles of God’s work, we can also discern them by the essence of Christ.” At that point, Brother Zhang sent over a passage of God’s words: “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. The real Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those who impersonate Christ will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

 Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Brother Zhang went on with his fellowship, saying, “We can see from God’s words that Christ is the incarnation of the Spirit of God—He possesses a divine essence, He performs the work of God, He expresses the disposition of God, He can express the truth to supply and shepherd man at any time and in any place, and only Christ can perform the work of saving man. The Lord Jesus was Christ, for example, and His appearance and work brought the Age of Law to a close and began the Age of Grace. He also spoke His words to give mankind the way of repentance, to enable us to know clearly God’s will and requirements and so that we would have a way to follow when difficulties arise. Through the words of the Lord Jesus, man understood how to pray to the Lord, how to get along with one another, how to forgive each other, and so on. Moreover, the Lord Jesus expressed His disposition of lovingkindness and mercy, He healed the sick, cast out demons and He bestowed endless grace on man. Ultimately, He was crucified in order to redeem mankind, thus completing the work to redeem all mankind and saving us from the bonds and fetters of the law, as well as sparing us from the danger of being condemned and put to death for violating the law. These are just some of the things the Lord Jesus did, and no one else could have done them in His stead. From the work and words of the Lord Jesus, we can see that He is the truth, the way and the life. Similarly, God has once again become flesh in the last days and He has ended the Age of Grace and begun the Age of Kingdom. He has uttered millions of words, He performs the work of judgment and purification, and He expresses the righteous disposition of God that is majestic, wrathful and inviolable. The words spoken by Almighty God not only unveil the mystery of God’s entire management plan and the end and final destination of man, but they also expound in perfect clarity the truths we need to be purified and to attain true salvation. For example, how Satan corrupts man, the truth of man’s corruption at the hands of Satan, how God judges and purifies man’s corrupt dispositions, how man should believe in God and obey God, what kind of person God loves and what kind of person He detests and weeds out, and how we should pursue in order to be made perfect by God, and so on. Through experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, we see clearly the essence and root of our corruption by Satan and we come to understand God’s righteous, holy and inviolable disposition. We then cannot help but fall to the ground before God in true remorse, we become more and more reverential and obedient toward God and, gradually, we cast off our satanic corrupt dispositions, free ourselves from the bonds of sin and achieve the true salvation of God. The utterances and work of Almighty God bring us the truth, the way and the life—Almighty God is God Himself and He is Christ become flesh. False Christs do not possess the essence of God and they cannot express the truth, much less perform the work of saving mankind. They can only say some things that may sound true but are actually false in order to deceive and harm people. When someone listens to them, they not only obtain no supply whatsoever, but furthermore their hearts become darker and darker, their hearts sink lower and lower, they have nowhere to turn to, and they inevitably end up being devoured by Satan. Therefore, we are able to ascertain from God’s utterances, work and the disposition He expresses that only Christ is the truth, the way and the life.”

After listening to the words of Almighty God and the brother’s fellowship, I came to understand completely the truth of how to discern between the true Christ and false Christs. “Yes,” I thought. “Only Christ is the truth, the way and the life, and only Christ can express the truth and perform the work of God Himself. All who name themselves Christ but who are incapable of expressing the truth and who cannot perform the work of saving man are false Christs. I’ve now found the way forward and I’m no longer afraid of being deceived by false Christs and constantly being passive and guarded. Thanks be to God!”

Over the time that followed, Brother Zhang gave me fellowship on other truths, such as the mystery of the incarnation, the difference between God’s work and the work of man, the inside story on the Bible, and more. The more I listened, the more satiated I felt, and I looked forward every day to attending gatherings with the brothers and sisters. Each time a gathering ended, I would discuss with my mom the things that had been newly illuminated to us and, slowly, I came to have some understanding of God’s work of the last days. Over a period of seeking and investigating, I became certain that Almighty God was indeed the Lord Jesus returned. I then began to spread the gospel and to tell the news of the Lord’s return to even more people who longed for the appearance of God.

The Wicked Servants Show Their True Colors

Later, my mom and I went to our old church to attend Friday worship. After the assembly was over, to our surprise, the pastor began to play a video that laid false charges against The Church of Almighty God. When I saw the fabricated rumors and the slander they’d leveled against The Church of Almighty God, I became angry, and I thought: “The Church of Almighty God is nothing like they say at all. They have never had anything to do with The Church of Almighty God and neither have they investigated God’s work of the last days. How can they so baselessly and arbitrarily judge the work of God?”

After the video was over, the pastor, two deacons and two church council members asked my mom and I to stay behind. The pastor asked us, “Are you two now believers in Almighty God?” We replied, “Yes.”

The moment we said this, one of the deacons suddenly sprang to his feet and, pointing at my mom, said ferociously, “So you now believe in Almighty God? From tomorrow, you are no longer permitted to teach Sunday school. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll come to your home and take back the church’s money.”

My mom said, “You can take it whenever you like.”

The pastor asked angrily, “The entire religious world resists and condemns The Church of Almighty God. Why would you persist in having contact with them?”

My mom retorted, saying, “Pastor, does the religious world possess the truth? Did the Lord Jesus ever say that one can only welcome Him by following the religious world? When the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work all those years ago, the Jewish leaders not only refused to seek or investigate His work themselves, but they also stopped believers from accepting it, and they even made up rumors about Jesus and they frantically resisted, judged and blasphemed against Him. In the end, they offended God’s disposition and were thus cursed and punished by God. If we go by what you say and say that any way the religious world resists and condemns is not the true way, then would that not mean that you are denying even the work of the Lord Jesus? You go along with the religious world in your resistance to and condemnation of The Church of Almighty God, and you refuse to seek or investigate God’s work of the last days—does this accord with the truth? As the pastor and deacons of the church, why do you just arbitrarily condemn and judge Almighty God’s work of the last days without even bothering to look into it? Through reading many of Almighty God’s words, by seeing that Almighty God’s words are the truth and that they are the voice of God, we have become certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned.” To my surprise, they showed a contemptuous disregard for what my mom had said, and they didn’t accept it at all.

My mom opened an app on her phone and read Almighty God’s words to them. One of the church council members then spoke very arrogantly and said some blasphemous things against Almighty God. My mom said angrily, “You are so unbelievably arrogant. These words are the truth—can you not hear it? Can you understand the voice of God when you hear it? Are you God’s sheep?”

They smiled mirthlessly and just looked haughtily at us. The pastor then said self-importantly, “The One we wait for is the Lord Jesus who has nail wounds in His hands and who comes with the appearance of a Jew. Apart from the Lord Jesus, we won’t accept anything, even if what Almighty God expresses is the truth.” Seeing how stubborn they were being, my mom and I gave up trying to talk to them. I saw that their behavior was exactly the same as that of the Pharisees who had resisted the Lord Jesus; they believed in God but they didn’t seek the truth, nor did they take heed to listen to God’s voice. Instead, they were just arrogant and conceited, they stubbornly clung to their own notions and imaginings and they arbitrarily judged and resisted God’s work—they were indeed the ones who appeared to serve God but who actually resisted Him.

The pastor then threatened us, saying, “We’ll give you one month to reconsider. If you’re still persisting in believing in Almighty God in a month’s time, I’ll expel you from our church.”

I said indignantly, “No need to wait a month. Just expel us now. Having spent this time seeking and investigating God’s work of the last days, we’re already certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. We have finally heard God’s voice, so even if you don’t expel us, we won’t be coming back to attend assemblies in this church anyway.”

The pastor lowered his voice and said slyly, “That won’t do. If we expel you now, what will the brothers and sisters think of us? They’ll say that we expelled you just for attending some gatherings online, and then we’ll look totally heartless. In a month’s time, we’ll tell the brothers and sisters in our church that we’ve gone to great lengths to counsel you and have given you more than enough time to reconsider, but in the end you persisted in believing in Almighty God and decided to leave the church, and only then did we expel you.”

Hearing the pastor say this, I felt disgusted, and I didn’t want to say one more word to them. I then started to walk out, pulling my mom along with me. Just as we were leaving, the pastor gave us a warning: “It’s up to you whether you believe in Almighty God or not, but I won’t allow you to have any contact with the brothers and sisters in our church.”

When we left the church, it was already past one in the morning. As I thought back over what had just happened, I just couldn’t believe that the pastor, the preacher who we’d respected so much as being so virtuous and moral, could be like that. Just then, God’s words came to mind: “Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, head demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of ‘robust flesh,’ how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

I’d always thought that the pastors and elders were servants of the Lord and that they should have the most understanding of the Bible and be people who most accorded with God’s will. I’d always thought that, when the Lord returned, they would definitely be able to welcome the Lord. Never had I imagined that, when the pastor heard the news of the Lord’s return, not only would he not seek or investigate it, but he would also become so arrogant and self-important, stubbornly clinging to his notions and imaginings, and that he would judge and condemn both God and God’s work of the last days. He was completely without a God-fearing heart, so much so that he would even pretend to be “protecting the flock” and would obstruct and stop believers from investigating God’s work of the last days, just for the sake of maintaining his own status and livelihood. To those believers who did accept God’s work of the last days, the pastors and elders resorted to expulsion to threaten, and intimidate them and even make the other brothers and sisters in their church reject them so that they wouldn’t be able to preach the gospel to their brothers and sisters. They were so sinister and malicious! In order to maintain their positions and livelihoods, the Pharisees at the time of Jesus wildly resisted and condemned the Lord and they crucified Him upon the cross. The pastors and elders of today have exactly the same essence as the Pharisees—they are the antichrists who have been exposed by God’s work of the last days, and they are the demons who devour the souls of man. At that moment, I finally understood completely that when someone believes in God but doesn’t know God and doesn’t know God’s work, then no matter how much they appear to suffer or how much they appear to expend themselves, they just always resist God and offend God’s disposition by relying on their arrogant and conceited satanic disposition.

At that moment, I couldn’t help but express thanks and praise to God in my heart. Thinking back, I had been deceived by the hypocritical appearance of the pastors and elders and had always idolized them, followed and obeyed them, and in the matter of welcoming the Lord, I had even gone along with them and resisted God. God exposing them for what they were allowed me to see, at last, the truth-hating, God-hating demonic essence of the pastors and elders, and I was then able to pass through the trap they had laid for my soul and welcome the return of the Lord. I truly give thanks to God for saving me, and I wish to pursue the truth in earnest on the path ahead of my faith in God so that I may repay God’s love!

from The Church of Almighty God

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What Is Christ? How to Understand the Divinity of Christ

 ________»♣ ☆  Christian Reflections  ☆ ♣«_______

What Is Christ? How to Understand the Divinity of Christ

By Xiaojuan

   I trust all of us are familiar with the word “Christ”. In the Bible, it has been recorded, “He said to them, But whom say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15–17). Many people see these verses and say without thinking, “Christ is the incarnate  ” or “Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God”, and others say, “Christ is the Son of man” “Christ means the anointed one.” But faced with these claims, some people are puzzled: The prophets, kings, and priests of the Old Testament, were all anointed, so are they also Christs? Just what is Christ?

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Why Did the Lord Jesus Say He Is the Lord of the Sabbath?

Why Did the Lord Jesus Say He Is the Lord of the Sabbath?

By Li Qing, China

Early one morning, as I was practicing my spiritual devotions, I saw this written in the Bible: “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath day. But he said to them…. 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” (Matthew 12:1–3, 6–8).

After reading this passage, I fell into deep thought: “In the Age of Law, Jehovah instructed the common people to keep the Sabbath. On the Sabbath day, the common people were to stop all work; if they did not stop work on that day, then that would be a sin, and they would have to be dealt with. When the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, He no longer kept the Sabbath day, but instead He led the disciples to various places to preach the gospel and to work. Why was this? What warning does the Lord Jesus doing this hold for us?” I pondered this for a long time, but still I didn’t understand.

About Lord Jesus

Several days later, I heard that Co-worker Xue had returned from a trip to hear sermons, and so I went to visit her at her home. She cheerfully shared with me what she had gained from listening to sermons and she took out a book. She said the book revealed many truths and mysteries that had never before been heard. She said that she’d read much of the book, that the more she read it, the more light filled her heart, and that she had come to understand many truths which she had not previously understood. After listening to Co-worker Xue, I kept thanking God’s preparations with all my heart, and I couldn’t stop myself from telling her about what had been perplexing me over the past few days. Smiling, she said to me, “Thank the Lord. This book speaks very clearly about the issue of why the Lord Jesus worked on the Sabbath day. Let’s look at it together.” As she said this, she opened the book and let me read. I read: “When the Lord Jesus came, He used His practical actions to communicate to people: God had departed the Age of Law and had begun new work, and this new work did not require observation of the Sabbath; when God came out from the confines of the Sabbath day, this was just a foretaste of His new work, and His truly great work was continuing to play out. When the Lord Jesus began His work, He had already left behind the shackles of the Age of Law, and had broken through the regulations and principles from that age. In Him, there was no trace of anything related to the law; He had cast it off entirely and no longer observed it, and He no longer required mankind to observe it. So here you see that the Lord Jesus went through the corn fields on the Sabbath; the Lord did not rest, but was outside working. This action of His was a shock to people’s conceptions and communicated to them that He no longer lived under the law, and that He had left the confines of the Sabbath and appeared in front of mankind and in their midst in a new image, with a new way of working. This action of His told people that He had brought with Him new work that began with going out from the law and going out of the Sabbath. When God carried out His new work, He no longer clung to the past, and He was no longer concerned about the regulations of the Age of Law. Neither was He affected by His work in the previous age, but He worked as usual on the Sabbath and when His disciples were hungry, they could pick ears of corn to eat. This was all very normal in God’s eyes. God could have a new beginning for much of the work that He wants to do and the things that He wants to say. Once He has a new start, He neither mentions His previous work again nor continues it. For God has His principles in His work. When He wants to begin new work, it is when He wants to bring mankind into a new stage of His work, and when His work has entered a higher phase. If people continue to act according to the old sayings or regulations or continue to hold fast to them, He will not remember or praise this. This is because He has already brought new work, and has entered a new phase of His work. When He initiates new work, He appears to mankind with a completely new image, from a completely new angle, and in a completely new way so that people can see different aspects of His disposition and what He has and is. This is one of His goals in His new work. God does not hold on to the old or take the beaten path; when He works and speaks it’s not as prohibitive as people imagine. In God, all is free and liberated, and there is no prohibitiveness, no constraints—what He brings to mankind is all freedom and liberation. He is a living God, a God who genuinely, truly exists. He is not a puppet or a clay sculpture, and He is totally different from the idols that people enshrine and worship. He is living and vibrant and what His words and work bring to humans is all life and light, all freedom and liberation, because He holds the truth, the life, and the way—He is not constrained by anything in any of His work. … Thus, the Lord Jesus could openly go out and work on the Sabbath because in His heart there were no rules, and there was no knowledge or doctrine that originated from mankind. What He had was God’s new work and His way, and His work was the way to free mankind, to release them, to allow them to exist in the light, and to allow them to live” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”).

I understood a little after reading this passage, and I said to Co-worker Xue: “So when the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, He didn’t keep the Sabbath day, but He led His disciples to various places to preach the gospel and to work, and He did this to tell the people of that time that God had left the laws behind and was now doing a new work. He wanted to lead people into the new age. It seems that God’s will is behind every single thing God does!”

About Lord Jesus

Co-worker Xue said to me, “Yes, this passage states very clearly why the Lord Jesus worked on the Sabbath day. When God works, He does not cling to old ways of doing things and He does not travel down old roads. God always does newer and higher work according to the needs of corrupt mankind. When He does a new work, God no longer holds to previous work, and if people hold to previous practices then they are clinging to rules. Only by giving up old rules and practices and closely following the footsteps of God’s work can people attain His salvation. In the Age of Law, for example, through Moses, God proclaimed the laws and commandments to guide mankind’s life on earth, and He required that man observe the laws and commandments and that they must keep the Sabbath day. This was because the people at that time didn’t know how to conduct their lives, and they knew nothing about what worshiping God was, about how to worship God or when to work, and so on. God didn’t wish to see mankind busying themselves all day long, working from the break of day and then resting at sundown, living only for the sake of food, clothing and shelter and raising their families. And so, He proclaimed His laws and commandments for man to observe, and He prepared the Sabbath day for man, requiring that they work six days, and then stop all work on the seventh day in order to come before God and worship Him. But at the end of the Age of Law, mankind was becoming more and more corrupted by Satan and, even though they appeared to keep the Sabbath day and they appeared to worship and praise God on the Sabbath, they no longer had any true worship of God in their hearts. Even though they kept the Sabbath day, it was still just a kind of rule or ritual, without any meaning whatsoever. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, He expressed the way of repentance in light of man’s needs and He no longer enjoined people to keep the rules and practices of the Sabbath day. Instead, He led people to leave behind the laws and the Sabbath day, and He proposed new requirements for man: To worship God in spirit and in truth. In this way, people were able to have a newer, higher path of practice and, only by letting go of previous rules and practices and practicing in accordance with God’s requirements could they enjoy the peace and joy bestowed by the Lord and live under God’s care and protection. From the outside, it looked as though the Lord Jesus was abandoning the laws by no longer keeping the Sabbath day, but in essence He was fulfilling the laws, and was allowing people to move on from rules and rituals to worshiping God in spirit and in truth. This was a more profound practice and entry into worshiping God that enabled people to be closer and more intimate with the heart of God. If the Lord had not personally led His disciples to leave the Sabbath day behind them, then no one would have been able to move beyond the constraints of the laws. Only by God Himself continually doing new work were people able to have a new path of practice and obtain liberation and freedom of the spirit. From God’s work, we can see that God is the true and the living God, and that with God there are no rules and no taboos. God is not limited by laws or rules when He performs a new work, and He does not cling to old work. God is ever new and never old, and is always leading man into a newer, higher realm. When God performed His new work, He did not cling at all to old rules or practices; He worked amongst man in an entirely new way, thus enabling them to have a newer path of practice and, ultimately, He saved people from the laws and allowed them to live before Him in freedom and liberation, and to attain His salvation.”

After listening to Co-worker Xue’s fellowship, I said in excitement: “My heart is so clear now! God’s work is very practical and He does not cling to old ways of doing things at all. He always performs new work according to our needs, He shows us new paths of practice, and He enables us to better come before Him to worship Him and to enjoy His blessings. If God hadn’t done a new work and guided man away from the Sabbath day, people would have been constantly bound by the laws; they would have worshiped God in rules and rituals and would even have been condemned and punished for violating the laws. God really loves us so much!”

Co-worker Xue nodded her head, and said happily, “Yes indeed. Every single thing God does has a profound meaning, and they are all filled with the love God has for us mankind! Therefore, when God performs a new work, whether God’s work tallies with our misconceptions and imaginings or not, or whether we understand it or not, we should always seek God’s will and try to know His work with a heart that reveres Him, for only in this way can we follow closely God’s footsteps and attain His salvation. If we are arrogant and conceited, and we do not seek or know God’s new work, then we will be apt to rebel against God and resist God, and we will lose God’s salvation—the consequences don’t bear thinking about! The chief priests, scribes and Pharisees back then, for example, saw clearly that the words and work of the Lord Jesus possessed authority and power, but they did not seek the truth with an open mind, nor did they know God’s work. Instead, they clung tightly to laws and rules, and they used them to condemn the Lord Jesus’ work and words as having gone beyond the Old Testament, and they judged the Lord Jesus to have violated the laws by not keeping the Sabbath day. And they compared the Lord Jesus’ work with the work of Jehovah at every turn, and so long as they failed to tally with their own misconceptions and imaginings, they condemned, judged and even blasphemed the Lord Jesus. In the end, they collaborated with the Roman authorities to crucify the Lord Jesus upon the cross, and thus they were cursed and punished by God. The lesson of the Pharisees’ failure serves as a warning to us that, no matter where God appears or in what way He works, we cannot rely on our misconceptions and imaginings and use God’s previous work to delimit His new work. The wisdom of God is so wondrous and unfathomable; no matter what God does, He does it to better be able to save mankind, and behind it all lies God’s will and His painstaking efforts. We—corrupt mankind—cannot possibly fathom God’s work. All we can do is seek and accept God’s work with a heart of reverence, for only in this way will we be able to win God’s approval and blessing.”

I nodded my head, and said to Co-worker Xue, “Yes! God is so wise, so almighty, how can we humans possibly fathom His work? Just like it says in the Bible: ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?’ (Romans 11:33–34). In our approach to God’s new work, we must seek and study it more with a heart that reveres God, and only then will we be able to attain God’s salvation! Thank the Lord! Today’s fellowship has really done me a lot of good!”

“Thank the Lord!”

Source From：The Church of Almighty God | Why Did the Lord Jesus Say He Is the Lord of the Sabbath?

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God's Utterance "God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III" (Part Six)

God's Utterance "God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III" (Part Six)

Almighty God says, "God’s treatment of people who blaspheme or resist Him, or even those who malign Him—people who intentionally attack, malign, and curse Him—He does not turn a blind eye or a deaf ear. He has a clear attitude toward them. He despises these people, and in His heart He condemns them. He even openly declares the outcome for them, so that people know that He has a clear attitude toward those who blaspheme Him, and so that they know how He will determine their outcome. However, after God said these things, people still could rarely see the truth of how God would handle those people, and they could not understand the principles behind God’s outcome, His verdict for them. That is to say, mankind cannot see the particular attitude and methods God has for handling them. This has to do with God’s principles for doing things. God uses the advent of facts to deal with the evil behavior of some people. That is, He does not announce their sin and does not determine their outcome, but He directly uses the advent of facts to allow them to be punished, to get their due retribution. When these facts happen, it is people’s flesh that suffers punishment; it is all something that can be seen with human eyes. When dealing with some people’s evil behavior, God just curses them with words, but at the same time, God’s anger comes upon them, and the punishment they receive may be something people cannot see, but this type of outcome may be even more serious than the outcomes that people can see of being punished or being killed."

from "The Word Appears in the Flesh"

    Recommended:  What Are the Aims of The Church of Almighty God?

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Unveiled: The True Meaning of “It Is Finished” Spoken by the Lord Jesus on the Cross

Unveiled: The True Meaning of “It Is Finished” Spoken by the Lord Jesus on the Cross

Nov 9, 2018774

By Xiang’ai, Heilongjiang Province

Many brothers and sisters believe that what Jesus meant by saying “It is finished” when He was on the cross was that God’s work to save mankind was completed. But was this really the case? What exactly did He mean by saying “It is finished”? The following article will uncover the true meaning of the words “It is finished” that the Lord Jesus spoke upon the cross. Please read on …

At seven o’clock in the morning, Wang Xue was hurrying to her daughter Hui Min’s house. Half an hour before, Pastor Zhang had come to Wang Xue’s house to tell her that her daughter and son-in-law had accepted Eastern Lightning. This came as a great surprise to Wang Xue, and she thought to herself: “The members of Eastern Lightning testify that the Lord Jesus has returned and that He is expressing His words and performing a stage of work to judge and purify man. And yet the Lord Jesus clearly said ‘It is finished’ when He was upon the cross, and this shows that God’s work to save mankind has already finished. How can the Lord possibly return to do a new stage of work? My daughter and her husband are quite familiar with the Bible, and they pursue the truth quite diligently; they are thoughtful and insightful people, so they won’t have made this decision blindly. How could they have accepted Eastern Lightning? What’s going on here?” Wang Xue was extremely baffled and she wanted to understand the reasons behind this as soon as she could, and so she hurriedly set off for Hui Min’s house.

30 minutes later, Wang Xue arrived at her daughter’s home. As soon as she was inside, Wang Xue got straight to the point, and she said to her daughter, “Pastor Zhang came to find me at the crack of dawn this morning and said the two of you had accepted Eastern Lightning. Is this true?”

Li Jun, who had been reading in the study, overheard his mother-in-law and came out of the room. Hui Min saw her mother wearing a rather stern expression, so she took her mother’s hand and sat down. Smiling, she said, “Yes, mom, we’ve accepted Eastern Lightning. Lately, Li Jun and I have been reading the words of Almighty God and we’ve seen Almighty God’s words reveal all the truths and mysteries of God’s salvation of mankind, such as the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mystery of God’s incarnation, the mystery of God’s three stages of work, how God performs His work of judgment to purify and save man in the last days, and the end and final destination for mankind, and so on. The more we read Almighty God’s words, the more we feel that these words are the truth, that they have power and authority and that they are the voice of God! Mom, the Lord Jesus whom we’ve yearned for for so long really has returned as the incarnated Almighty God. Why don’t you investigate it yourself!”

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Wang Xue listened to her daughter and her expression softened a little. She said, “Hui Min, our church is now desolate, so if you go looking for a church which has the work of the Holy Spirit, then I won’t stop you. But Eastern Lightning preaches that the Lord has returned and is performing a stage of work to judge and purify man. How is this possible? When He was on the cross, the Lord Jesus very clearly said ‘It is finished.’ This shows that God’s work to save mankind is over, and so long as we confess and repent to the Lord then our sins can be forgiven, and when the Lord returns, He will immediately raise us up into the heavenly kingdom. He won’t be performing any new work. This is often preached by pastors and elders, so how could you have forgotten it? How could you have accepted the way of Eastern Lightning?”

Li Jun smiled and said, “Mom, we’ve always followed the pastors and elders of the religious world, and believed that what the Lord Jesus meant by saying ‘It is finished’ when He was on the cross was that God’s work to save mankind was finished, and that when the Lord came again He would immediately raise us up into the heavenly kingdom and would not perform any new work. But does this view accord with the original meaning of the Lord’s words? Does it accord with the facts of God’s work? When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He only said these three words, ‘It is finished.’ He did not say that God’s work to save mankind was totally finished, and yet pastors and elders just go by these words spoken by the Lord Jesus to decide that God’s work is now over and that when the Lord returns He will not perform any new work. By saying this, aren’t they making too much of a subjective assertion? Aren’t they just interpreting the Lord’s words by what they themselves wish? Mom, think about it. If the Lord Jesus saying ‘It is finished’ meant that God’s work to save mankind was over, then how would the Lord Jesus accomplish the work in fulfillment of His prophecy, that when He returned He would separate the goats from the sheep, the wheat from the tares, and the good servants from the wicked servants? The Lord Jesus also prophesied: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16:12–13). ‘He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:48). And it is recorded in 1 Peter 4:17, ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.’ These words tell us clearly that when the Lord returns He will express the truth and perform His work of judgment. If we go by the understanding of the pastors and elders, that the Lord Jesus saying ‘It is finished’ on the cross meant that He had then completed His work to save mankind and that He had no need to perform any further work, then how would these prophecies ever be fulfilled? Wouldn’t the Lord’s prophecy that He would return to express the truth and perform His work of judgment then just come to nothing? Looking at it this way, wouldn’t it seem that the religious world’s interpretation is negating the Lord’s words and negating the Lord’s salvation in the last days? Therefore, we cannot determine that God’s work to save mankind is finished on the basis that the Lord Jesus said ‘It is finished’ when He was on the cross; this is our imaginations and it does not accord with what the Lord meant. If we delimit God’s work in accordance with our own wishes, then we will be apt to defy God!”

Wang Xue pondered the verses Li Jun had talked about, and she fell into deep thought: “Yes! All these years, I’ve listened only to what the pastors and elders have said, believing that what the Lord Jesus meant when He said ‘It is finished’ on the cross was that God’s work to save mankind was completed, and that He would never again perform any new work. But the prophecies of the Lord that my child and her husband have just mentioned do indeed say that when the Lord returns He will express the truth and perform His work of judgment. So what exactly did the Lord mean when He said ‘It is finished’ on the cross?” Thinking these thoughts, Wang Xue told them of her puzzlement.

Seeing Wang Xue begin to seek the truth, Hui Min and Li Jun smiled cheerfully, and Hui Min said patiently, “Mom, when the Lord Jesus said ‘It is finished’ on the cross, He was actually saying that His work of redemption in the Age of Grace was finished. As long as we accept the Lord Jesus’ work and confess and repent to the Lord, then our sins can be forgiven, and we are then qualified to pray to the Lord and enjoy the abundant grace and truth the Lord bestows on us—this is the result achieved by the Lord Jesus performing the work of redemption. But God’s work to save mankind did not come to an end because the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption was finished. Let’s read a couple of passages of Almighty God’s words together, and after we’ve read them, we will have a better understanding.” Saying this, Hui Min then brought from her bedroom a book entitled The Word Appears in The Flesh. Opening it, she read: “To man, God’s crucifixion concluded the work of God’s incarnation, redeemed all of mankind, and allowed Him to seize the key to Hades. Everyone thinks God’s work has been fully accomplished. In actuality, to God, only a small part of His work has been accomplished. He has only redeemed mankind; He has not conquered mankind, let alone changed the ugliness of Satan in man. That is why God says, ‘Although My incarnate flesh went through the pain of death, that was not the whole goal of My incarnation. Jesus is My beloved Son and was nailed to the cross for Me, but He did not fully conclude My work. He only did a portion of it’” (“Work and Entry (6)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of men sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even if the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

When she’d finished reading, Hui Min gave fellowship, saying, “The words of Almighty God are very clear. The work of redemption performed by the Lord Jesus only completed one half of God’s work to save mankind. Although our sins were forgiven after undergoing the Lord Jesus’ redemption, we no longer committed obvious sins and we had some good external behaviors, we had not totally cast off the bonds of sin; we are dominated by corrupt dispositions such as being arrogant and conceited, selfish and contemptible, crooked and deceitful, and we often tell lies and cheat others for the sake of protecting our own interests and prestige. When we see someone who is better than us, we feel jealous and we don’t want to listen to them; if someone threatens our interests then we hate them, to the point of wanting to exact retribution on them; we also follow the evil trends of the world, we cling to wealth, covet vanity and we adore fame and fortune; when natural disasters or man-made calamities befall us, or if something unfortunate happens, we misunderstand and blame God, and we even judge and condemn God’s work based on our own conceptions and imaginings, and so on. Behaving in this way is enough to prove that only our sins are forgiven in our belief in the Lord, yet the satanic nature and corrupt dispositions within us remain deeply rooted. These are the root cause of us committing sins and defying God. If we do not solve our sinful nature, then we will be unable to control ourselves from sinning and defying God, or from betraying God and opposing God. God’s words in the Bible clearly state: ‘You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:45). Also, chapter 12, verse 14 in Hebrews says ‘holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ God is holy, and the heavenly kingdom permits no stained human being to enter. So how could we who so often commit sins and defy God ever be worthy to see God’s face? How could we ever be worthy for God to lead us into the heavenly kingdom? Therefore, we still need God to return in the last days to perform a stage of new work and to solve the problem of the root cause of our sins. Only in this way will we be able to cast off our satanic and corrupt dispositions and attain God’s purification and salvation. This is also the fulfillment of the prophecy in the Bible that says, ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5).”

When she had spoken, Hui Min flipped to a page in The Word Appears in the Flesh and said to Wang Xue, “Mom, we will understand better once we’ve read two passages of Almighty God’s words. God’s words say: ‘A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance’ (‘Concerning Appellations and Identity’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life’” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Having listened to her daughter, Wang Xue unconsciously nodded her head and thought to herself: “These words possess authority! It turns out that the Lord Jesus only performed the work of redemption, and even though our sins were forgiven, our sinful nature was not purged, so no wonder we live in sin all day long. Even though we want to cast off the bonds of sin, we can’t do it no matter how much we pray or try to exercise self-restraint. It seems that if we want to cast off the bonds of sin, then we truly need God to perform another stage of work!”

Li Jun got up and poured Wang Xue some water, saying, “Mom, Almighty God’s words explain very clearly why God is to perform His work of judgment in the last days and the results achieved by this work. Having been through the Lord Jesus’ redemption, only our sins have been forgiven, and yet our satanic nature was still deeply rooted within us and we are not yet qualified to inherit God’s blessings. Therefore, according to our needs as corrupt humanity, God will perform in the last days a stage of work upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, whereby God uses words to judge and chastise man, so that our sinful nature can be resolved and so that we are utterly saved from sin. Only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can we see clearly the truth about our corruption by Satan, know our own God-defying satanic nature, experience God’s righteous and inviolable disposition and generate a God-fearing heart. We can thereby prostrate ourselves before God, hate ourselves and become willing to forsake our flesh and practice the truth. In this way, we will gradually be able to cast off the bonds of our satanic dispositions, be cleansed and changed, attain salvation and perfection, and become people who truly obey God and love God. Only then will God’s management plan to save mankind be totally finished, and God’s great work shall be accomplished. This precisely fulfills the words in Revelation which say: ‘And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely’ (Revelation 21:5–6).”

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Li Jun and Hui Min’s fellowship surprised Wang Xue and sounded new and fresh to her ears. She thought: “What they are fellowshiping accords with the Bible and with the Lord’s words, and it sounds perfectly clear to me. It turns out that the Lord returning to express the truth and perform His work of judgment is precisely what we need, and it is done to save us utterly from sin, to enable us to attain God’s salvation and be perfected, and to become people who truly love and obey God …”

Hui Min saw her mother with her head lowered and not saying anything, and she gently shook her arm and asked, “What are you thinking, mom?”

Wang Xue relaxed her expression, raised her head and looked at Li Jun and Hui Min, and with a smile on her face she said, “Well, I never! You haven’t long accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days and you understand so many truths already. Listening to you both give fellowship today, I’ve come to understand a little too. The Lord Jesus only performed the work to redeem mankind, which was a part of God’s work to save mankind. By accepting the Lord Jesus’ work, we can only have our sins forgiven, but our sinful nature is not yet resolved, and we still cannot control ourselves from committing sins and defying God. We are simply unqualified to see God’s face or to be led by the Lord into the heavenly kingdom. If we want to cast off the bonds of sin, we still need God to come again and perform another stage of work, that of judgment and purification!”

Hui Min and Li Jun were thrilled to hear Wang Xue say this, and they kept thanking God!

Seeing her daughter and son-in-law’s happiness, Wang Xue spoke reproaching herself: “Ah, all these years I’ve listened to what the pastors and elders said, believing that what the Lord Jesus meant when He said ‘It is finished’ on the cross was that God’s work to save mankind was completed, and I’ve been longing with all my heart for the Lord to return and raise us up into the heavenly kingdom. In the end, I heard The Church of Almighty God testifying that the Lord had returned, but I didn’t seek or investigate it, and instead I clung to my own conceptions and imaginings, trying to advise you to keep to the Lord’s way, almost making a big mistake and losing God’s salvation of the last days. It seems that by understanding God’s words and approaching God’s work based on one’s own conceptions and imaginings, one is then capable of defying God at any moment and destroying one’s chances to attain God’s salvation! I now understand that if we want to be thoroughly cleansed and enter into the kingdom of heaven, then we must accept God’s work of judgment in the last days! But I’m not so clear on how God’s work of judgment in the last days purifies and changes people, so I want to keep seeking and investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days and read more of His words!”

“Thanks be to God! It just so happens that tomorrow the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God are holding a gathering with us, so why don’t you come with us and hear them fellowship?” said Hui Min.

“OK.”

“Thanks be to God!”

The sun shone bright and beautiful outside and, from time to time, the joyful sound of Wang Xue’s family talking together drifted out through the window …

from The Church of Almighty God

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Do You Know the Real Meaning of Easter?

Do You Know the Real Meaning of Easter?

Mar 19, 2019104

By Hanxiao

What Is Easter? The Origins of Easter

Easter, or Resurrection Sunday as it is also called, is a holiday which celebrates the Lord Jesus’ resurrection that occurred three days after He was crucified upon the cross. Its exact time falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox every year. In order to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus and to remember the salvation and hope Jesus brought to mankind, each year from March to April, Christians all over the world hold celebrations on the day of Easter. So while us Christians are commemorating the resurrection of Jesus, do we know why He returned from the dead and appeared to man despite having already finished His work of redemption? And what is the meaning behind His resurrection and His appearance to man?

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

The Meaning of the Lord Jesus’ Resurrection and of His Appearance to Man

God’s words say: “The first thing that the Lord Jesus did after His resurrection was to allow everyone to see Him, to confirm that He exists, and to confirm the fact of His resurrection. In addition, it restored His relationship with the people to the relationship He had with them when He was working in the flesh, and He was the Christ they could see and touch. This way, one outcome is that the people had no doubt that the Lord Jesus had been resurrected from death after being nailed to the cross, and there was no doubt in the Lord Jesus’ work to redeem mankind. And another outcome is that the fact of the Lord Jesus appearing to people after His resurrection and allowing people to see and touch Him firmly secured mankind in the Age of Grace. From this time on, people could not return to the previous age, the Age of Law, because of the Lord Jesus’ ‘disappearance’ or ‘desertion,’ but they would continue forward, following the Lord Jesus’ teachings and the work He had done. Thus, a new phase in the work in the Age of Grace was formally opened up, and the people who had been under the law formally came out from the law from then on, and entered into a new era, with a new beginning. These are the manifold meanings of the Lord Jesus’ appearance to mankind after the resurrection” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”). “After the Lord Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to the people He thought necessary, spoke with them, and made requirements of them, leaving behind His intentions, and His expectations of people. That is to say, as God incarnate, it doesn’t matter if it was during His time in the flesh, or in the spiritual body after being nailed to the cross and being resurrected—His concern for mankind and requirements of people did not change. He was concerned about these disciples before He was up on the cross; in His heart, He was clear on the state of every single person, He understood every person’s deficiency, and of course His understanding of every person was the same after He had died, resurrected, and become a spiritual body as it was when He was in the flesh. He knew that people weren’t entirely certain of His identity as Christ, but during His time in the flesh He did not make strict demands of people. But after He had been resurrected He appeared to them, and He made them absolutely certain that the Lord Jesus had come from God, that He was God incarnate, and He used the fact of His appearance and His resurrection as the greatest vision and motivation for mankind’s lifelong pursuit. His resurrection from death not only strengthened all those who followed Him, but also thoroughly put His work of the Age of Grace into effect among mankind, and thus the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ salvation in the Age of Grace gradually spread to every corner of humanity. Would you say that the Lord Jesus’ appearance after His resurrection had any significance? … His appearance allowed people to have another experience and feeling of God’s concern and care while also powerfully proving that God is the One who opens up an age, who develops an age, and He is the One who ends an age. Through His appearance He strengthened the faith of all people, and through His appearance He proved to the world the fact that He is God Himself. This gave His followers eternal confirmation, and through His appearance He also opened up a phase of His work in the new age” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”).

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

From God’s words, we can see that there is a profound meaning to the Lord Jesus appearing many times to His disciples after He had returned from the dead, and God’s painstaking care and thought is also hidden behind it! Jesus knew that, although those who followed Him at the time had listened to many of His teachings and had seen many miracles performed by the Lord, and they claimed that Jesus was their Lord and that He was the Son of God, yet they had no true understanding of the fact that Jesus was Christ and that He was God Himself. When Jesus was captured by the Roman authorities and was flogged and mocked by the soldiers, many of those who followed Him began to have doubts about His identity, and their faith in the Lord grew weaker and weaker. Especially when the Lord Jesus died after being nailed to the cross, many people were utterly disappointed in Him, and what had begun as doubt became denial of the Lord Jesus. Against such a context as this, if the Lord Jesus had not appeared to man after His resurrection, many of those who had followed Him would no longer have believed in Jesus Christ and they would have turned back to the Age of Law and continued to observe the law of the Old Testament. God scrutinized the innermost hearts of man and understood their weaknesses, however, and He knew that the people were of small stature. The Lord Jesus therefore returned from the dead and appeared to His disciples many times; He spoke with His disciples, He showed to them His spiritual body after the resurrection, and He ate with them and expounded on the Scriptures to them. His purpose in doing all this was to allow those who followed Him to be certain from the bottom of their hearts that the Lord Jesus had truly returned from the dead, that He was still the same Jesus who had loved man and taken mercy on man, that the Lord Jesus was the incarnate God Himself, and that He was the Messiah prophesied in the Bible who would come to redeem mankind. They no longer doubted or denied the Lord Jesus, but instead they sincerely believed in Him and they acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Lord. From this we can see that, by resurrecting and appearing to man, Jesus strengthened people’s faith to believe in and follow the Lord, thus drawing man closer to God. This is one aspect to the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection.

Besides this, Jesus appeared and worked in the flesh, He thoroughly brought the Age of Law to an end, and He began the Age of Grace. After He resurrected, Jesus enabled people to see this fact even more clearly, that although the incarnated Jesus Christ had been crucified, yet He had overcome sin and death, He had defeated Satan, and He had completed His work of redemption and gained glory. The Lord Jesus began a new era, brought mankind utterly out of the Old Testament Age of Law and firmly established them in the Age of Grace, thus He enabled them to accept the guidance, shepherding and watering of God in the Age of Grace. In this way, even though Jesus resurrected and ascended to heaven, and He no longer ate, abided or lived with man, man could still pray to and call on Jesus’ name, keep His teachings, follow Jesus with unassailable faith and spread the Lord’s gospel. In particular, after the Lord Jesus resurrected and appeared to the disciples who had followed Him, their faith waxed great, and when it came to spreading the Lord’s gospel or bearing witness to it, they feared no hardship or danger, they were indomitable in their perseverance and they dedicated their all to spreading the gospel, even martyring themselves for the Lord. Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus extended throughout the entire universe and all across the world, and followers of the Lord Jesus continually grew in number until everyone in every household had heard His gospel and it became known to all.

After He had returned from the dead, the Lord Jesus appeared to man, He came into contact with them and spoke to them, He expounded on the Scriptures and communed with them, and He ate alongside them, and so on. These deeds allowed those who followed the Lord Jesus to feel His care and concern for man and to affirm that Jesus was indeed God Himself, the incarnated Christ, and these deeds firmly established God’s followers in the Age of Grace. Moreover, Jesus’ work of redemption thereupon began to spread until it had reached throughout the entire universe and all across the world. It is therefore evident that the meaning behind Jesus’ resurrection and His appearance to mankind is so profound as, not only is God’s painstaking care and thought hidden within these deeds, but God’s wisdom and almightiness are hidden within them also!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us give thanks to God’s enlightenment and guidance that have enabled us to understand the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection, and for allowing us to perceive within His work once again God’s care and concern for us mankind. Thanks be to God!

from The Church of Almighty God

    Recommended: The Eastern Lightning website is testimony that the Lord Jesus has returned in the flesh and appeared in China, that He is Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has expressed truths to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, and brings true light down upon mankind.

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