Almighty God's Word "Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement"

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Like hundreds of millions of other followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we abide by the laws and commandments of the Bible, enjoy the abundant grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and gather together, pray, praise, and serve in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—and all this we do under the care and protection of the Lord. We are often weak, and often strong. We believe that all of our actions are in accordance with the teachings of the Lord. It goes without saying, then, that we also believe ourselves to walk the path of obedience to the will of the Father in heaven. We long for the return of the Lord Jesus, for the glorious arrival of the Lord Jesus, for the end of our life on earth, for the appearance of the kingdom, and for everything as it was foretold in the Book of Revelation: The Lord arrives, and brings disaster, and rewards the good and punishes the wicked, and takes all those who follow Him and welcome His return into the air to meet Him. Every time we think of this, we can’t help but be overcome with emotion. We are thankful that we were born in the last days and are lucky enough to witness the coming of the Lord. Though we have suffered persecution, it is in return for “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”; what a blessing that is! All of this longing and the grace bestowed by the Lord make us often sober unto prayer, and bring us together more often. Maybe next year, maybe tomorrow, or maybe even sooner when man does not expect it, the Lord shall suddenly arrive, and shall appear among a group of people who have been attentively waiting for Him. We are all contending with each other, none wanting to fall behind, in order to be the first group to behold the appearance of the Lord, to become one of those who shall be raptured. We have given everything, regardless of the cost, for the coming of this day. Some have given up their jobs, some have abandoned their families, some have renounced marriage, and some have even donated all of their savings. What selfless devotion! Such sincerity and loyalty must be beyond even the saints of ages past! As the Lord bestows grace upon whomever He wishes, and has mercy on whomever He wishes, our devotion and spending, we believe, have already been beheld by His eyes. So, too, have our heartfelt prayers already reached His ears, and we trust that the Lord will reward us for our devotion. Moreover, God was graceful toward us before He created the world, and none shall take away God’s blessings and promises to us. We are all planning for the future, and take it for granted that our devotion and spending are bargaining chips or stock for our rapture into the air to meet the Lord. What’s more, without the slightest hesitation, we place ourselves on the future throne, presiding over all nations and all peoples, or ruling as kings. All this we take as a given, as something to be expected.

We disdain all those who are against the Lord Jesus; in the end, they will all be annihilated. Who told them not to believe that the Lord Jesus is the Savior? Of course, there are times when we learn from the Lord Jesus and are compassionate toward the world, for they do not understand, and we should be tolerant and forgiving of them. Everything that we do is in accordance with the words of the Bible, for everything that does not conform to the Bible is heresy, and an evil cult. Such belief is deeply embedded in each of our minds. Our Lord is in the Bible, and if we do not depart from the Bible we shall not depart from the Lord; if we abide by this principle, then we shall be saved. We spur each other on, and support each other, and every time we gather together we hope that everything we say and do is in accordance with the will of the Lord, and can be accepted by the Lord. Despite the severe hostility of our environment, our hearts are filled with joy. When we think of the blessings that are within such easy reach, is there nothing we cannot forsake? Is there nothing we cannot bear to part with? All of this is implicit, and all of this is looked upon by the eyes of God. We, the handful of the needy who have been lifted from the dunghill, are the same as all ordinary followers of the Lord Jesus: We dream of rapture, and of being blessed, and of ruling all the nations. Our corruption is laid bare in the eyes of God, and our desires and greed are condemned in the eyes of God. Yet all of this happens so unremarkably, so logically, and none of us wonder whether our longing is right, much less do any of us doubt the accuracy of all that we hold to. Who can know God’s will? We do not know to seek, or explore, or even concern ourselves with the path that man walks. For we only care about whether we can be raptured, whether we can be blessed, whether there is a place for us in the kingdom of heaven, and whether we shall have a share of the water of the river of life and the fruit of the tree of life. Do we not believe in the Lord, and are we not followers of the Lord, for the sake of gaining these things? Our sins have been forgiven, we have repented, we have drunk the bitter cup of wine, and we have put the cross upon our back. Who can say that the price we have paid will not be accepted by the Lord? Who can say that we have not prepared enough oil? We don’t want to be those foolish virgins, or one of those who are forsaken. Moreover, we pray often, and ask the Lord to keep us from being deceived by false Christs, for it is said in the Bible that “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:23-24). We have all committed these verses of the Bible to memory, we know them back to front, and we see them as precious treasure, as life, and as the credentials for our rapture and salvation …

For thousands of years, the living have passed away, taking their longings and dreams with them, and no one truly knows whether they have gone to the kingdom of heaven. The dead return, and they have forgotten all the stories that once occurred, and still follow the teachings and the paths of the forefathers. And so, as the years pass and the days go by, no one knows whether our Lord Jesus, our God, truly accepts all that we do. We simply look forward to an outcome and speculate about all that will happen. Yet God has kept His silence throughout, and has never appeared to us, or spoken to us. And so we willfully judge God’s will and disposition according to the Bible and the signs. We have become accustomed to the silence of God; we have become accustomed to measuring the rights and wrongs of our behavior using our own way of thinking; we have become accustomed to using our knowledge, conceptions, and moral ethics to replace God’s demands of us; we have become accustomed to enjoying the grace of God; we have become accustomed to God providing assistance whenever we need it; we have become accustomed to holding out our hands to God for all things, and to ordering God about; we have also become accustomed to following doctrine, not paying attention to how the Holy Spirit leads us; moreover, we have become accustomed to days in which we are our own master. We believe in a God such as this, whom we have never met. Questions such as what His disposition is like, what His possessions and being are, what His image is like, whether or not we will know Him when He comes, and so on—none of these are important. What’s important is that He is in our hearts, that we all await Him, and that we are able to imagine what He is like. We appreciate our faith, and treasure our spirituality. We consider everything as dung, and tread all things underfoot. Because we are the followers of the glorious Lord, no matter how long and arduous the journey, no matter what hardships and dangers befall us, nothing can halt our footsteps as we follow the Lord. “A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeded out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. On either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5). Every time we sing these words, our hearts brim with surpassing joy and satisfaction, and tears flow from our eyes. Thanks be to the Lord for choosing us, thanks be to the Lord for His grace. He has given us a hundredfold now in this time, has given us eternal life in the world to come, and if He asked us to die now, we would do so without the slightest complaint. Lord! Please come soon! Do not delay a minute longer, for we desperately yearn for You, and have forsaken everything for You.

God is silent, and has never appeared to us, yet His work has never stopped. He looks upon all lands, and commands all things, and beholds all the words and deeds of man. His management is conducted in steps and according to His plan. It proceeds silently, without dramatic effect, yet His footsteps advance ever closer to mankind, and His judgment seat is deployed in the universe at the speed of lightning, immediately followed by the descent of His throne among us. What a majestic scene that is, what a stately and solemn tableau. Like a dove, and like a roaring lion, the Spirit arrives among us all. He is wise, He is righteous and majestic, He quietly arrives among us possessed of authority and filled with love and compassion. No one is aware of His arrival, no one welcomes His arrival, and, moreover, no one knows all that He will do. Man’s life remains unchanged; his heart is no different, and the days go by as usual. God lives among us like an ordinary person, as a most insignificant follower and an ordinary believer. He has His own pursuits, His own goals, and, moreover, He has divinity not possessed by ordinary men. No one has noticed the existence of His divinity, and no one has perceived the difference between His substance and that of man. We live together with Him, unconstrained and unafraid, for we see Him as nothing more than an insignificant believer. He watches our every move, and all of our thoughts and ideas are laid bare before Him. No one takes an interest in His existence, no one has any imagination of His function, and, moreover, no one has any suspicion about who He is. We merely continue our pursuits, as if He has nothing to do with us …

By chance, the Holy Spirit expresses a passage of words “through” Him, and though it feels very unexpected, we recognize that this is the utterance of God, and we readily accept it from God. That is because, regardless of who expresses these words, as long as they come from the Holy Spirit we should accept them, and cannot deny them. The next utterance could be through me, it could be through you, or it could be through him. Regardless of who it is, all is the grace of God. Yet no matter who the person is, we should not worship them, for regardless of anything else, they cannot possibly be God; we can by no means choose an ordinary person such as this to be our God. Our God is so great and honorable; how could He be represented by someone so insignificant? What’s more, we are all awaiting the arrival of God to take us back to the kingdom of heaven, and so how could someone so insignificant be qualified for such an important and arduous task? If the Lord comes again, it must be upon a white cloud, visible to all. How glorious that will be! How could He quietly hide among an ordinary group of people?

And yet it is this ordinary person hidden among people who is doing the new work of saving us. He does not clarify anything for us, nor does He tell us why He has come. He merely does the work He intends to do in steps, and according to His plan. His words and utterances become ever more frequent. From consoling, exhorting, reminding, and warning, to reproaching and disciplining; from a tone that is gentle and kind, to words that are fierce and majestic—they all instill both compassion and trepidation in man. Everything that He says hits home at the secrets hidden deep within us, His words sting our hearts, sting our spirits, and leave us ashamed and humiliated. We begin to wonder whether the God in this person’s heart really loves us, and what exactly He intends to do. Perhaps we can only be raptured after enduring such pain? In our heads we are calculating … about the destination to come, and about our future fate. Still none of us believes that God has assumed flesh and works among us. Even though He has been with us for so long, even though He has already spoken so many words face to face with us, we are still unwilling to accept someone so ordinary as the God of our future, much less are we willing to entrust control of our future and fate to someone so insignificant. From Him we enjoy an unending supply of living water, and thanks to Him we live face-to-face with God. We are only thankful for the grace of the Lord Jesus in heaven, and have never paid any attention to the feelings of this ordinary person who is possessed of divinity. He still does His work humbly hidden in the flesh, expressing His heart’s voice, seemingly insensible to mankind’s rejection of Him, apparently eternally forgiving of man’s childishness and ignorance, and forever tolerant of man’s irreverence toward Him.

Unbeknownst to us, this insignificant man has led us into step after step of God’s work. We undergo countless trials, are subjected to innumerable chastenings, and tested by death. We learn of God’s righteous and majestic disposition, enjoy, too, His love and compassion, come to appreciate God’s great power and wisdom, witness the loveliness of God, and behold God’s eager desire to save man. In the words of this ordinary person, we come to know the disposition and substance of God, come to understand God’s will, come to know the nature and substance of man, and see the way of salvation and perfection. His words cause us to die, and cause us to be reborn; His words bring us comfort, yet also leave us wracked with guilt and a sense of indebtedness; His words bring us joy and peace, but also great pain. Sometimes we are as lambs to the slaughter in His hands; sometimes we are like the apple of His eye, and enjoy His love and affection; sometimes we are like His enemy, turned to ashes by His wrath in His eyes. We are the mankind saved by Him, we are the maggots in His eyes, and we are the lost lambs that He thinks of finding day and night. He is merciful toward us, He despises us, He raises us up, He comforts and exhorts us, He guides us, He enlightens us, He chastens and disciplines us, and He even curses us. He worries for us night and day, He protects and cares for us night and day, He never leaves our side, and He devotes all His care to us and pays any price for us. Among the words of this small and ordinary flesh, we have enjoyed the entirety of God, and beheld the destination that God has bestowed upon us. Yet despite this, vanity still stalks within our hearts, and we are still unwilling to actively accept a person such as this as our God. Though He has given us so much manna, so much to enjoy, none of this can usurp the Lord’s place in our hearts. We honor this person’s special identity and status only with great reluctance. If He does not speak up to make us acknowledge that He is God, then we will never take it upon ourselves to acknowledge Him as the God that is soon to arrive yet has been working among us for so long.

The utterance of God continues, and He employs various methods and perspectives to admonish us what to do and express His heart’s voice. His words carry life power, and show us the way we should walk, and allow us to understand what the truth is. We start to be drawn to His words, we begin to focus on the tone and manner of His speaking, and subconsciously begin to take an interest in the heart’s voice of this unremarkable person. He makes painstaking efforts for us, loses sleep and appetite for us, weeps for us, sighs for us, groans in sickness for us, suffers humiliation for the sake of our destination and salvation, and His heart bleeds and sheds tears for our numbness and rebelliousness. Such being and possessions of His are beyond an ordinary person, and cannot be possessed or attained by any of the corrupted. He has tolerance and patience possessed by no ordinary person, and His love is not possessed by any created being. No one apart from Him can know all of our thoughts, or have such a grasp of our nature and substance, or judge the rebelliousness and corruption of mankind, or speak to us and work among us like this on behalf of the God of heaven. No one except for Him can possess the authority, wisdom, and dignity of God; the disposition of God and what He has and is are issued forth, in their entirety, from Him. No one apart from Him can show us the way and bring us light. No one apart from Him can reveal the mysteries God has not disclosed from creation until today. No one apart from Him can save us from Satan’s bondage and our corrupt disposition. He represents God, and expresses the heart’s voice of God, the exhortations of God, and the words of judgment of God toward all mankind. He has begun a new age, a new era, and brought a new heaven and earth, new work, and He has brought us hope, and ended the life we led in vagueness, and allowed us to fully behold the path of salvation. He has conquered our whole being, and gained our hearts. From that moment onward, our minds become conscious, and our spirits seem to be revived: This ordinary, insignificant person, who lives among us and has long been rejected by us—is He not the Lord Jesus, who is ever in our thoughts, and whom we long for night and day? It is He! It’s really Him! He is our God! He is the truth, the way, and the life! He has allowed us to live again, to see the light, and has stopped our hearts from wandering. We have returned to the home of God, we have returned before His throne, we are face-to-face with Him, we have witnessed His countenance, and have seen the road ahead. At the time, our hearts have been completely conquered by Him; we no longer doubt who He is, and no longer oppose His work and word, and we fall down, completely, before Him. We wish for nothing except to follow the footprints of God for the rest of our lives, and to be made perfect by Him, and to repay His grace, and repay His love for us, and to obey His orchestrations and arrangements, and to cooperate with His work, and to do everything we can to complete what He entrusts to us.

Being conquered by God is like a martial arts contest.

Each of God’s words strikes at our mortal spot, and leaves us sorrowful and afraid. He reveals our notions, reveals our imaginations, and reveals our corrupt disposition. Through all that we say and do, and every one of our thoughts and ideas, our nature and substance are revealed by His words, leaving us humiliated and trembling with fear. He tells us of all of our actions, our aims and intentions, and even the corrupt disposition that we have never discovered, making us feel we are thoroughly exposed, and even more feel completely convinced. He judges us for our opposition to Him, chastises us for our blasphemy and condemnation of Him, and makes us feel that in His eyes we are worthless, and we are the living Satan. Our hopes are dashed, we no longer dare to make any unreasonable demands and attempts upon Him, and even our dreams vanish overnight. This is a fact that none of us can imagine, and which none of us can accept. For a moment, our minds become unbalanced, and we do not know how to continue on the road ahead, do not know how to continue in our beliefs. It seems like our faith has gone back to square one, and that we have never met and been acquainted with the Lord Jesus. Everything before our eyes perplexes us, and makes us feel as if we have been cast adrift. We are dismayed, we are disappointed, and deep in our hearts there is insuppressible anger and disgrace. We try to vent, try to find a way out, and, what’s more, we attempt to continue waiting for our Savior Jesus, and pour our hearts out to Him. Though there are times when we are neither haughty nor humble on the outside, in our hearts we are afflicted with a sense of loss like never before. Though sometimes we may seem unusually calm on the outside, inside we endure rolling seas of torment. His judgment and chastisement have stripped us of all our hopes and dreams, have left us without our extravagant desires, and unwilling to believe that He is our Savior and capable of saving us. His judgment and chastisement have opened up a deep gulf between us and Him and no one is even willing to cross. His judgment and chastisement are the first time that we suffer such a great setback and such great humiliation. His judgment and chastisement have allowed us to truly appreciate God’s honor and intolerance of man’s offense, compared to which we are so lowly and impure. His judgment and chastisement have made us realize for the first time how arrogant and pompous we are, and how man will never be the equal of God, or on a par with God. His judgment and chastisement have made us yearn to no longer live in such a corrupt disposition, and have made us long to rid ourselves of such nature and substance as soon as possible, and no longer be detested by Him and disgusting to Him. His judgment and chastisement have made us happy to obey His words, and no longer willing to rebel against His orchestrations and arrangements. His judgment and chastisement have once more given us the desire to seek life, and have made us happy to accept Him as our Savior…. We have walked out of the work of conquest, stepped out of hell, stepped out of the valley of the shadow of death…. Almighty God has gained us, this group of people! He has triumphed over Satan, and defeated all of His enemies!

We are just such an ordinary group of people possessed of corrupt satanic disposition, we are the ones predestined by God before the ages, and we are the needy whom God has lifted from the dunghill. We once rejected and condemned God, yet now we have been conquered by Him. We have received life and have received the way of eternal life from God. No matter where we are on earth, despite persecution and tribulation, we cannot be apart from the salvation by Almighty God. For He is our Creator, and our only redemption!

The love of God extends forth like the water of a spring, and is given to you, and to me, and to him, and to all those who truly seek the truth and await the appearance of God.

Just as the moon always follows the sun, the work of God never ceases, and is carried out upon you, upon me, upon him, and upon all those who follow the footprints of God and accept the judgment and chastisement of God.

Expressed on March 23, 2010

from The Word Appears in the Flesh

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                   The brief introduction of the Church of Almighty God

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The Church of Almighty God | A Lost Sheep Has Returned to the Side of the Shepherd

Xinjing, Malaysia

Ever since I have any memory, my parents have been doing odd jobs and worship in the temple. I once asked my mom, “What kind of god do you believe in?” She said, “I don’t know, yet I have to worship because this has been handed down through generations.” I thought: If she herself doesn’t know what she worships, what’s the meaning of her worship? Therefore, I think my mom is blindly worshiping. Afterward, I grew up gradually, and began to search for my own belief. At that time, I had a middle school classmate who was a Christian. After graduation from middle school, she invited me to attend a preaching meeting, and I accepted her invitation happily. At the preaching meeting, I heard the pastor read the following scripture: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I was deeply touched, feeling God’s love is so great that He has bestowed mankind His Son in order that they could gain eternal life through Him. Therefore, after the preaching meeting, I asked the pastor to pray for me and decided to return to the Lord. After believing in the Lord, I was eager to read the Bible. Gradually, I understood some biblical knowledge, and began to serve in the English church service.

But later, I saw believers in the church paid too much attention to speaking in tongues, and they said I was not of their category because I couldn’t speak in tongues. However, I found what they pursued was not practicing the Lord’s words in the Bible. As a result, I left that church a year later. After experiencing a stroke, I went to a Baptist church, which providing Chinese and English services. After I attended meetings for a period of time, I found the believers there also didn’t keep the Lord’s teachings. The Lord demanded us to love each other, have humility and patience, be tolerant and merciful to others. However, what I saw was that the brothers and sisters in the English group were against those in the Chinese group, the co-workers of the two groups often had disputes while having meetings, and common believers would judge the upper leaders behind their backs, and many factions were formed in the church. I was greatly disappointed to see all of these things. Although people believe in God on the lips, they violate the Lord’s teachings, isn’t this exactly what the Lord says “This people … honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me”? Are there any differences between such acts and those of the unbelievers? I didn’t feel the Lord’s presence there at all, therefore, after two years, I left there in hopelessness and sadness.

After leaving that church, I stayed at home for five years. During that period, I became cold in the faith, and was weak in the spirit, hardly praying or reading scriptures. Without any spiritual devotion, I was passive to the extreme, and the last hope was that I didn’t deny the Lord in my heart. Moreover, the saddest thing to me was that since I left the church, nobody, whether the leaders or the co-workers of the church, had ever visited me, and only one sister wrote a letter to me. The church should be home to believers, a place full of the Lord’s love, and the duty of the pastors and co-workers should be caring for and shepherding the believers to keep them from lost, and the brothers and sisters should show care and concern for each other. But I didn’t know why the church had become worse than the society and there was no love in it at all. I felt rather lonely in my heart.

One day in July, 2008, when I worked in the company, four robbers suddenly broke into my office, and they hit me on the hand and head fiercely with a wooden stick, and had robbed my belongings there. At that time, my head was broken, my arms were wounded, and the blood on the head just dropped on one of my favorite spiritual books named “God’s love.” After that, I lived in constant fear for half a year, the scenes when I was beaten often appeared in my mind. I thought: Is it because I didn’t go to church all the time that I don’t have the Lord’s keeping anymore? Therefore, I returned to that Baptist church while my arms were still banded with gauze. When I came into the church, the brothers and sisters were singing hymns, I heard one lyric from a song “I live on in Your grace….” At that moment, I cried and thought in my mind: Yes! O Lord, owing to Your grace, I’m still alive, I would like to return to the church. However, after returning to the church, I still felt disappointed. Except two sisters who had known me for a long time gave me greetings, nobody else, including leaders, co-workers, and other members, expressed their happiness for my returning to the church. But no matter how others treated me, I knew that I returned for following the Lord. In view of this, I decided to stay in the church, and later began to do the serving of collecting offerings, reading scriptures, and reception. I saw that many people served in the church, but only talked about the Lord’s teachings on the lips, nobody had put them into practice. Usually, while the pastor is preaching on the pulpit, people sitting in the congregation would just do their own things, such as sleeping, playing the cellphones, or chatting with others etc. I thought: Isn’t going to church for listening to the Lord’s words? How could things have become like this? As time passed, I also became cold in the heart. Each time I read scriptures on the pulpit, my heart wasn’t touched and couldn’t feel any light, as if I were reading a common book. I was very thirsty in spirit. In facing of the growing desolation of the church, I had no solution. In that period, I was robbed once on my way to the church service, and later I found that I had uterine fibroids and might get uterine cancer if things became worse. I often cried out to the Lord in those difficulties and pains, “Oh, Lord! Where are You?” But I couldn’t get the Lord’s response at all.

In July, 2016, I met Brother Bowman on Facebook, and he shared with me a gospel film named Awakening From the Dream. I knew from the film that the heroine was a church co-worker and she was determined to labor hard for the Lord from her childhood, waiting the Lord to rapture her into the heavenly home. Later, she met the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God, heard the news that the Lord has already returned, and also learnt that God has done the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. At first, she held on to her own notions and didn’t accept it, and later, the witnesses read Almighty God’s words and fellowshiped with her their knowledge of God’s words. She finally found her notions and imaginations were wrong, and therefore she gave up her notions and accepted God’s end-time work. After seeing the film, I thought Almighty God’s words and the fellowship of the witnesses were both very practical, and I had a little knowledge of what the film testifies—Almighty God is the returned incarnate Lord Jesus. However, I was still not certain that the Lord Jesus has returned and done a stage of new work, for I was afraid of going astray and offending the Lord. In my hesitation, I saw another article shared by Brother Bowman, in which were listed some examples of ancient saints and prophets who forgot or gained God’s blessings. What most impressed me was the citation of Isaiah Chapter 43 Verses 18-19: Thus said the LORD … Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. When I read the Bible before, each time I read these verses, I would be attracted by them without knowing why. And I often thought: O Lord! What kind of new thing will You do on earth? But I didn’t find out the answer all the time. Now it seemed to be clear to me that this new thing is God’s judgment work in the last days, which is completely new, and has never been done by God before. I thought: Those unpleasant things happened to me have passed by, and I need to stand up again and investigate God’s new work. Reading the verse at the end of the article: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before…” (Philippians 3:13), I was greatly moved, I said in my heart, “O Lord! You are right, I’m willing to forget the past and rouse myself again. If Almighty God is really Your second coming, I’m willing to be a person who can “follow the Lamb wherever he goes.”

The next day, I met Brother Yang on Facebook, we communicated the work God did before in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, and talked about the desolate scenes in the church of the Age of Grace and my hard experiences these years. Brother Yang sent me a passage of Almighty God’s words: “Mankind, who left the supply of life from the Almighty, does not know why they exist, and yet fears death. There is no support, no help, but mankind is still reluctant to close their eyes, braving it all, drags out an ignoble existence in this world in bodies without the consciousness of souls. You live like such, with no hope; he exists like such, with no aim. There is only the Holy One in the legend who will come to save those who moan in suffering and long desperately for His arrival. This belief cannot be realized so far in the people who are unconscious. However, the people still yearn for it so. The Almighty has mercy on these people who suffer deeply. At the same time, He is fed up with these people who have no consciousness, because He has to wait too long for the answer from humans. He desires to seek, seek your heart and your spirit. He wants to bring you food and water and to awaken you, so you are no longer thirsty, no longer hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time” (“The Sighing of the Almighty”). I was touched by God’s words. These words are like the calling of a gentle loving mother, who has been hoping I can understand God’s heart, and eagerly expecting me to truly rely on Him. At that moment, tears were filled with my eyes. I said in my heart: “O God! Without your leading, I can’t feel any support. Just like an orphan, I don’t know where the direction to proceed forward is. I’m more like a body without soul, living hopelessly in this world. O God! Looking back on these years, though I have been serving in the church, I only saw jealousy and strife, and couldn’t feel any love among believers, and neither could I feel Your presence! God! Only You know my inner hardship, and only You have mercy and love for people. I’d like to sincerely rely on You.” From that moment, I undoubtedly believe this is the voice of God, and am willing to know more about Almighty God.

In the following days, Brother Yang gradually sent me many words of Almighty God, including words about knowing God’s work, knowing God’s sovereignty and authority, revealing the actual fact of man’s corruption, and about the destination and outcome of mankind and so on. These various kinds of words are abundant, and they give my life unprecedented watering and supply, and I could heartily enjoy the richness from God just as if I came to the beautiful land of Canaan. When I have meetings with the brothers and sisters of the church of Almighty God, whether singing hymns, praying, reading God’s words or fellowshiping about the truth, I feel the presence of the work of the Holy Spirit; and no matter what difficulties I have, the brothers and sisters would help and support me with God’s words and their own experiences, which give me more faith to follow God.

One day, I read from Almighty God’s words: “but in fact, God’s work in them ceased long ago, and the work of the Holy Spirit is absent from them. The work of God was long since transferred to another group of people, a group on whom He intends to complete His new work. Because those in religion are incapable of accepting God’s new work, and only hold to the old work of the past, thus God has forsaken these people, and does His new work on the people who accept this new work. These are people who cooperate in His new work, and only in this way can His management be accomplished” (The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived). “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived”). When I read these passages, I was suddenly enlightened, and couldn’t help recalling my experiences in the religious church: Co-workers raised jealousy and strife against each other, the believers judged each other, the preachers weren’t responsible for the flock’s life, the believers slept in meetings, and I didn’t feel a bit of fresh light even when reading scriptures. All of these are because God has stopped doing work in the church of the Age of Grace, He has started to do a stage of new work on earth, and the work of the Holy Spirit has moved. Thinking of the time I have spent together with brothers and sisters of the church of Almighty God, I see that my heart is often touched by God’s words, and the experiences of the brothers and sisters have also given me much encouragement and help. This makes me no longer feel thirsty in spirit and my heart no longer feel lonely and lost, all of which are the results achieved by the work of the Holy spirit! At this moment, I am further certain that Almighty God is the unique God Himself, and only when we return before Almighty God can we get satisfied in our life. Thinking about this, I strengthened my resolution to follow Almighty God.

When I went to attend the meeting in the religious church, I resigned from my serving position to the pastor. The moment I walked out of the church building, I really felt relaxed in my heart, for I knew there is no leading or working of the Holy Spirit there anymore. Only if we accept the end-time work of Almighty God and the watering and shepherding of God’s present words can we get full supply and have a more and more normal relationship with God. Looking back on the course of my growing up, I thank God! It is Almighty God that has led me to keep up with God’s new work. Like a lost sheep, I have returned to the side of the Shepherd and have been led by Him to the green pastures and the side of the stream. I feel unprecedentedly liberated in my spirit. All the glory and praise be to Almighty God!

Read more: Eastern Lightning

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Christ of the Last Days Is the Lord of Judgment and the One Who Opens the Scroll

Christ of the Last Days Is the Lord of Judgment and the One Who Opens the Scroll

"And one of the elders said to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof" (Revelation 5:5).

1. Almighty God is all-powerful, all-achieving and utterly complete true God! He not only carries the seven stars, bears the seven Spirits, has seven eyes, opens the seven seals and opens the scroll, but more than that He administers the seven plagues and the seven bowls and opens the seven thunders; long ago He has sounded the seven trumpets! All things created and made complete by Him should praise Him, give glory to Him and exalt His throne. Oh, Almighty God! You are everything, You have accomplished everything, and with You all is complete, all bright, all emancipated, all free, all strong and powerful! There is nothing hidden or concealed, with You all mysteries are revealed. Furthermore, You judge the multitudes of Your enemies, You show Your majesty, show Your raging fire, show Your wrath, and even more You show Your unprecedented, everlasting, entirely infinite glory! All peoples should awaken and should cheer and sing without reserve, extolling the almighty, the all-true, all-living, bountiful, glorious and true God who is from everlasting to everlasting.

from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning

2. The work of the last days is to separate all according to their kind, to conclude the management plan of God, for the time is near and the day of God has come. God brings all who have entered His kingdom, that is, all those who have been loyal to Him to the end, into the age of God Himself. However, before the coming of the age of God Himself, the work that God desires to do is not to observe the deeds of man or to inquire about the lives of man, but to judge his rebellion, for God shall purify all those who come before His throne. All those who have followed the footsteps of God to this day are those who have come before the throne of God, hence all who accept the last of God’s work are those to be purified by God. In other words, all those who accept the last of God’s work are those who will be judged by God.

As previously spoken of, judgment would begin with the house of God. This “judgment” refers to the judgment God does today on those who come before His throne in the last days. Perhaps there are those who believe in such supernatural imaginings as that when the last days have arrived, God will erect a big table in the heavens, upon which a white tablecloth will be spread, then God will sit upon a great throne and all men will kneel on the ground. God shall then reveal all sins laid against each man to determine whether he shall ascend to heaven or be sent down to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. No matter what the imaginings of man, the substance of God’s work cannot be altered. The imaginings of man are nothing but the constructs of man’s thoughts and come from the brain of man, summed up and pieced together from what man has seen and heard. Therefore I say, however brilliant the images conceived, they are still no more than a drawing and no substitute for the plan of God’s work. After all, man has been corrupted by Satan, so how can he then fathom the thoughts of God? Man conceives the work of judgment by God to be particularly fantastic. Man believes that since it is God Himself doing the work of judgment, then it must be of the most tremendous scale and incomprehensible to mortals; it must resound through the heavens and shake the earth, otherwise how can it be the work of judgment by God? Man believes that as this is the work of judgment, then God must be particularly imposing and majestic as He works, and those being judged must be howling with tears and on their knees begging for mercy. The scene must be a grand sight and very rousing…. Every man conceives God’s work of judgment to be legendary. Do you know, however, that long after God has begun the work of judgment among men, you are still nestled in sleep? Do you know, at the time that you believe God’s work of judgment has officially begun, it shall already be the time when God changes heaven and earth? At that time, perhaps you will have only just understood the meaning of life, but the merciless work of punishment of God shall bring you, still slumbering, into hell. Only then will you suddenly realize that God’s work of judgment has already concluded.

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

3. I will punish the wicked and reward the good, I will bring into force My righteousness and I will carry out My judgment. I will use My words to accomplish everything and make everyone and everything experience My hand that chastises. I will make all people see My entire glory, see My entire wisdom, see My entire bountifulness. No person will dare to rise up to pass judgment as all is completed with Me. In this, everyone will see My entire honor and all will experience My entire victory as everything is manifested with Me.

from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning

4. I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior because they loved and respected Me. But today I am not the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past—I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up at the ends of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor and glory. People have never engaged with Me, have never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man during the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the flaming fire, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire.

from “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

5. All those that I love will surely live for eternity, and all those who stand against Me will surely be chastised by Me for eternity. For I am a jealous God, I will not lightly spare men for all that they have done. I will watch over the whole earth, and, appearing in the East of the world with righteousness, majesty, wrath, and chastisement, I will reveal Myself to the myriad hosts of humanity!

from “The Twenty-sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

6. When God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

7. Those who obey the truth and submit to the work of God shall come under the name of the second incarnate God—the Almighty. They will be able to accept the personal guidance of God, and shall acquire more and higher truth and receive the real human life. They shall behold the vision that people of the past have never seen: “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the middle of the seven candlesticks one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 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” (Revelation 1:12-16). This vision is the expression of God’s entire disposition, and such an expression of His entire disposition is also the expression of the work of God when He becomes flesh this time. In the torrents of chastisements and judgments, the Son of man expresses His inherent disposition through the speaking of words, allowing all those who accept His chastisement and judgment to see the true face of the Son of man, a face that is a faithful depiction of the face of the Son of man seen by John. (Of course, all this will be invisible to those who do not accept the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.) The true face of God cannot be fully articulated using the words of man, and so God uses the expression of His inherent disposition to show His true face to man. Which is to say that all those who have experienced the inherent disposition of the Son of man have seen the true face of the Son of man, for God is too great and cannot be fully articulated using the words of man.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

8. In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, which reveals all that is unrighteous, publicly judges all peoples, and perfects those who truly love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to their kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time when God reveals people’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and people shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things will be revealed, so that the evil will be punished and the good will be rewarded, and all people will become subject under the dominion of God. All the work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

9. It is because of these judgments that you have been able to see that God is the righteous God, that God is the holy God. It is because of His holiness and righteousness that He has judged you and visited His wrath upon you. Because He can reveal His righteous disposition when seeing mankind’s rebelliousness, and because He can reveal His holiness when seeing mankind’s filth, this is enough to show that He is God Himself who is holy and without taint, but also lives in a land of filth.

from “How the Second Step of the Work of Conquering Bears Fruit” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

10. The work of judgment is God’s own work, so it must naturally be done by God Himself; it cannot be done by man in His stead. Because judgment is the conquering of man through the truth, it is unquestionable that God still appears as the incarnate image to do this work among men. That is to say, in the last days, Christ shall use the truth to teach men around the earth and to make all truths known to them. This is God’s work of judgment. Many have a sour taste in their mouths about the second incarnation of God, for man finds it difficult to believe that God shall do the work of judgment as an incarnation. But I must tell you that often the work of God greatly exceeds man’s expectations and is difficult for the minds of men to accept. For men are merely maggots upon the earth, while God is the supreme One that fills the universe; the mind of man is akin to a pit of foul water that gives rise only to maggots, whereas each stage of the work directed by the thoughts of God is the fruit of God’s wisdom. Man constantly wishes to contend with God; then I say it is self-evident who stands to lose in the end. I exhort you all not to regard yourselves with more importance than gold. If others can accept the judgment of God, then why can you not? How much higher do you stand above others? If others can bow their heads before the truth, why can you not also do so? The great trend of God’s work is unstoppable. He will not repeat the work of judgment again for the sake of your “merits,” and you will sorely regret losing such a good opportunity. If you do not believe My words, then just wait for that great white throne in the sky to pass judgment upon you! You must know that all of the Israelites spurned and denied Jesus, yet the fact of Jesus’ redemption of mankind still spread to the ends of the universe. Is this not the fact that God has long ago fulfilled? If you are still awaiting Jesus to take you up to heaven, then I say that you are an obstinate piece of deadwood.[a] Jesus will not acknowledge a false believer such as you who is disloyal to the truth and seeks only blessings. On the contrary, He will show no mercy in casting you into the lake of fire to burn for tens of thousands of years.

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

11. No one is more suitable, and qualified, than God in the flesh for the work of judging the corruption of man’s flesh. If judgment were carried out directly by the Spirit of God, then it would not be all-embracing. Furthermore, such work would be difficult for man to accept, for the Spirit is unable to come face-to-face with man, and because of this, the effects would not be immediate, much less would man be able to behold the unoffendable disposition of God more clearly. Satan can only be fully defeated if God in the flesh judges the corruption of mankind. Being the same as man possessed of normal humanity, God in the flesh can directly judge the unrighteousness of man; this is the mark of His innate holiness, and of His extraordinariness. Only God is qualified to, and in the position to judge man, for He is possessed of the truth, and righteousness, and so He is able to judge man. Those who are without the truth and righteousness are not fit to judge others.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

12. What is judged is mankind’s corrupt substance, man’s substance corrupted by Satan, and all the sins of man. God does not judge the trifling and insignificant faults of man. The work of judgment is representative, and is not carried out especially for a certain person. Rather, it is work in which a group of people are judged in order to represent the judgment of all of mankind. By personally carrying out His work on a group of people, God in the flesh uses His work to represent the work of the whole of mankind, after which it is gradually spread. The work of judgment is also thus. God does not judge a certain kind of person or a certain group of people, but judges the unrighteousness of the whole of mankind—man’s opposition to God, for example, or man’s irreverence against Him, or disturbance of the work of God, and so on. What is judged is mankind’s substance of opposition to God, and this work is the work of conquest of the last days. The work and word of the incarnate God witnessed by man are the work of judgment before the great white throne during the last days, which was conceived by man during times past. The work that is currently being done by the incarnate God is exactly the judgment before the great white throne. The incarnate God of today is the God who judges the whole of mankind during the last days. This flesh and His work, word, and entire disposition are the entirety of Him. Although the scope of His work is limited, and does not directly involve the entire universe, the substance of the work of judgment is the direct judgment of all mankind; it is not work that is undertaken only for China, or for a small number of people. During the work of God in the flesh, although the scope of this work does not involve the entire universe, it represents the work of the entire universe, and after He concludes the work within the work scope of His flesh, He will immediately expand this work to the entire universe, in the same way that the gospel of Jesus spread throughout the universe following His resurrection and ascension. Regardless of whether it is the work of the Spirit or the work of the flesh, it is work that is carried out within a limited scope, but which represents the work of the entire universe. During the last days, God appears to do His work using His incarnate identity, and God in the flesh is the God who judges man before the great white throne. Regardless of whether He is the Spirit or the flesh, He who does the work of judgment is the God who judges mankind during the last days. This is defined based on His work, and is not defined according to His external appearance or several other factors. Although man has conceptions of these words, no one can deny the fact of the incarnate God’s judgment and conquest of all mankind. Regardless of how it is evaluated, facts are, after all, facts. No one can say that “The work is done by God, but the flesh is not God.” This is nonsense, for this work can be done by no one except God in the flesh.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

13. 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…. 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.

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

14. His words carry life power, and show us the way we should walk, and allow us to understand what the truth is. We start to be drawn to His words, we begin to focus on the tone and manner of His speaking, and subconsciously begin to take an interest in the heart’s voice of this unremarkable person. He makes painstaking efforts for us, loses sleep and appetite for us, weeps for us, sighs for us, groans in sickness for us, suffers humiliation for the sake of our destination and salvation, and His heart bleeds and sheds tears for our numbness and rebelliousness. Such being and possessions of His are beyond an ordinary person, and cannot be possessed or attained by any of the corrupted. He has tolerance and patience possessed by no ordinary person, and His love is not possessed by any created being. No one apart from Him can know all of our thoughts, or have such a grasp of our nature and substance, or judge the rebelliousness and corruption of mankind, or speak to us and work among us like this on behalf of the God of heaven. No one except for Him can possess the authority, wisdom, and dignity of God; the disposition of God and what He has and is are issued forth, in their entirety, from Him. No one apart from Him can show us the way and bring us light. No one apart from Him can reveal the mysteries God has not disclosed from creation until today. No one apart from Him can save us from Satan’s bondage and our corrupt disposition. He represents God, and expresses the heart’s voice of God, the exhortations of God, and the words of judgment of God toward all mankind. He has begun a new age, a new era, and brought a new heaven and earth, new work, and He has brought us hope, and ended the life we led in vagueness, and allowed us to fully behold the path of salvation. He has conquered our whole being, and gained our hearts.

from “Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

15. God is silent, and has never appeared to us, yet His work has never stopped. He looks upon all lands, and commands all things, and beholds all the words and deeds of man. His management is conducted in steps and according to His plan. It proceeds silently, without dramatic effect, yet His footsteps advance ever closer to mankind, and His judgment seat is deployed in the universe at the speed of lightning, immediately followed by the descent of His throne among us. What a majestic scene that is, what a stately and solemn tableau. Like a dove, and like a roaring lion, the Spirit arrives among us all. He is wise, He is righteous and majestic, He quietly arrives among us possessed of authority and filled with love and compassion. No one is aware of His arrival, no one welcomes His arrival, and, moreover, no one knows all that He will do. Man’s life remains unchanged; his heart is no different, and the days go by as usual. God lives among us like an ordinary person, as a most insignificant follower and an ordinary believer. He has His own pursuits, His own goals, and, moreover, He has divinity not possessed by ordinary men. No one has noticed the existence of His divinity, and no one has perceived the difference between His substance and that of man. We live together with Him, unconstrained and unafraid, for we see Him as nothing more than an insignificant believer. He watches our every move, and all of our thoughts and ideas are laid bare before Him.

from “Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

16. The function of My judgment is to get man to better obey Me, and the function of My chastisement is to allow man a better transformation. Although what I do is for the sake of My management, I have never done anything that was unprofitable for man. That is because I want to make all the nations outside of Israel just as obedient as the Israelites and make them into real men, so that I will have a foothold in the lands outside of Israel. This is My management; it is the work I am accomplishing in the lands of the Gentiles.

from “The Work of Spreading the Gospel Is Also the Work of Saving Man” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

17. The current conquering work is work intended to make it obvious what man’s end will be. Why do I say that today’s chastisement and judgment are the judgment in front of the great white throne of the last days? Do you not see this? Why is the conquering work the last stage? Is it not precisely to make manifest how each class of man will end up? Is it not to allow everyone, in the course of the conquering work of chastisement and judgment, to show his true colors and then to be classified according to kind afterward? Rather than saying this is conquering mankind, it might be better to say that this is showing how each class of man will end up. That is, this is judging their sins and then showing the various classes of man, thereby deciding whether they are evil or righteous. After the conquering work comes the work of rewarding good and punishing evil: People who obey completely, meaning the thoroughly conquered, will be placed in the next step of spreading the work to the entire universe; the unconquered will be placed in darkness and will meet with calamity. Thus, man will be classified according to kind, the evildoers grouped with evil, never again to see the sunlight, and the righteous grouped with good, to receive light and live forever in the light.

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

18. The last days are when all things will be classified according to kind through conquering. Conquering is the work of the last days; in other words, judging each person’s sins is the work of the last days. Otherwise, how could people be classified? The classifying work being done among you is the start of such work in the entire universe. After this, people of all nationalities everywhere will also be subjected to the conquering work. This means every person in creation will be classified according to kind, coming before the seat of judgment to be judged. No person and no thing can escape suffering this chastisement and judgment, and no person and no thing can skirt this classifying by kind; everyone will be sorted into classes. That is because the end is near for all things and all the heavens and earth arrive at their conclusion. How can man escape the end of his existence?

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

19. He is God, filled with mercy and lovingkindness; He is the sin offering for man and man’s shepherd, yet He is also judgment, chastisement, and curse on man. He could lead man to live on earth for two thousand years and also redeem the corrupt mankind from sin. And this day, He is also able to conquer mankind who does not know Him and make them subject under His dominion, so that all submit to Him fully. In the end, He will burn away all that is unclean and unrighteous within men in the entire universe, to show them that not only is He a God of mercy, lovingkindness, wisdom, wonder and holiness, but even more, He is a God who judges man. To the evil among all mankind, He is burning, judgment and punishment; to those who are to be perfected, He is tribulation, refinement, and trial, as well as comfort, sustenance, supply of words, dealing, and pruning. And to those who are eliminated, He is punishment, as well as retribution.

from “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

20. My final work is not only to punish man but to arrange the destination of man. Moreover, it is to receive acknowledgment from all for all that I have done. I want each and every man to see that all I have done is in the right and is an expression of My disposition; it is not the doing of man, least of all nature, that brought forth mankind. On the contrary, it is I who nourish every living being among all things. Without My existence, mankind can only perish and suffer the invasion of plagues. None will ever again see the beauteous sun and moon or the green world; mankind shall encounter only the frigid night and the inexorable valley of the shadow of death. I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests. Without Me, mankind will immediately become stagnant. Without Me, mankind will suffer catastrophe and be trod upon by all manner of ghosts, even though none take heed of Me.

from “You Ought to Do Enough Good Deeds to Prepare for Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

21. Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that “The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ” shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud. They are too stubborn, too confident in themselves, too arrogant. How could such degenerates be rewarded by Jesus? The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit.

from “When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

22. Some people do not rejoice in the truth, much less judgment. Rather, they rejoice in power and riches; such people are deemed to be snobs. They exclusively seek out those sects in the world with influence and those pastors and teachers coming from seminaries. Despite having accepted the way of truth, they remain skeptical and are unable to devote themselves fully. They speak of sacrificing for God, but their eyes are focused on the great pastors and teachers, and Christ is brushed aside. Their hearts are filled with fame, fortune, and glory. They do not believe at all that such a meager man is capable of conquering so many, that one so unremarkable is capable of perfecting people. They do not believe at all that these nobodies among the dust and dunghills are the people chosen by God. They believe that if such people were the objects of God’s salvation, then heaven and earth would be turned upside down and all men would laugh their heads off. They believe that if God chose such nobodies to be perfected, then those great men would become God Himself. Their perspectives are tainted with unbelief; indeed, far from unbelief, they are preposterous beasts. For they only value position, prestige, and power; what they hold in high regard are large groups and sects. They have no regard at all for those led by Christ; they are simply traitors who have turned their backs on Christ, on truth, and on life.

What you admire is not the humility of Christ, but those false shepherds of prominent standing. You do not love the loveliness or wisdom of Christ, but those wantons who associate with the vile world. You laugh at the pain of Christ who has no place to lay His head, but admire those corpses that seize offerings and live in debauchery. You are not willing to suffer alongside Christ, but gladly go into the arms of those reckless antichrists though they supply to you only flesh, only letters, and only control. Even now your heart still turns toward them, their reputation, their standing in the hearts of all the Satans, their influence, and their authority, yet you continue to have an attitude of resistance and refusal to accept the work of Christ.

from “Are You a True Believer of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

23. Do you understand now what is judgment and what is truth? If you now understand, then I exhort you to submit to judgment, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be commended by God or to be taken by God into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee in the midst of the work of judgment, shall forever be detested and rejected by God. Their sins are much more, and more grievous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. Such men who are not worthy even to do service shall receive more severe, everlasting punishment. God shall not spare any traitor who once claimed loyalty with words yet then betrayed Him. Such men shall see retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Does this not reveal the righteous disposition of God? Is this not exactly the purpose of God’s judgment and revelation of man? God shall place all those who perform all kinds of wicked deeds during the time of judgment in the place where evil spirits live for their fleshly bodies to be destroyed at the will of the spirits. Their bodies shall give off the odor of a corpse, and such is their fitting retribution. God writes down in their record books each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers, then when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits so their entire bodies may be defiled by the spirits at will and, as a result, they will never be reincarnated and shall never again see the light. Those hypocrites who did service at one time but are unable to remain loyal to the end shall be numbered by God among the wicked so that they walk in the counsel of the wicked, becoming part of the disorderly multitude. In the end, God shall destroy them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or dedicated any effort, and shall destroy them all in the change of ages. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. Those who have never been true to God but are forced into dealing with God shall be numbered among those who do service for His people. Only a small number of such men can survive, while the majority shall perish along with those who are not qualified even to do service. Finally, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same mind as God, the people and sons of God as well as those predestined by God to be priests. Such is the fruit begotten by God through His work. As for those who can belong to none of the categories set by God, they shall be numbered among the unbelievers. And you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the road that you choose shall be your decision to make. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with God, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man.

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

24. The Bible comprises the words of God told by the prophets and the words written by the men God used at the time; only God Himself can explain those words, only the Holy Spirit can make known the meaning of those words, and only God Himself can break the seven seals and open the scroll. You are not God, and neither am I, so who dares to explain at will the words of God? Do you dare explain those words? Even if the prophets Jeremiah, John and Elijah were here, they would not dare to, for they are not the Lamb. Only the Lamb can break the seven seals and open the scroll, and none other can explain His words.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

25. In the Bible it is written that only the Lamb can open the seven seals. Throughout the ages, there have been many expositors of the scriptures among those great figures, and so can you say that they are all the Lamb? Can you say that their explanations all come from God? They are merely expositors; they do not have the identity of the Lamb. How could they be worthy to open the seven seals?

from “Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

26. I will tell you this when I open My scroll in the last days. (The scroll refers to all of the words that I have spoken, My words in the last days—this is all inside of it.)

from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning

27. The last days are no more than the last days and no more than the Age of Kingdom, which do not represent the Age of Grace or the Age of Law. The last days are merely the time in which all the work in the six-thousand-year management plan is revealed to you. This is the unveiling of the mystery. Such mystery can be unveiled by no man. No matter how great an understanding man has of the Bible, it remains nothing more than words, for man does not understand the substance of the Bible. When man reads the Bible, he may receive some truths, explain some words or scrutinize some famous passages and quotes, but he will never be able to extricate the meaning contained within those words, for all man sees are dead words, not the scenes of the work of Jehovah and Jesus, and man is unable to unravel the mystery of such work. Therefore, the mystery of the six-thousand-year management plan is the greatest mystery, the one most hidden and utterly inconceivable to man. None can directly understand the will of God, unless He Himself explains and opens up to man, otherwise, they will forever remain riddles to man and forever remain sealed mysteries. … This work of six thousand years is more mysterious than all the prophecies of the prophets. It is the greatest mystery since creation, and no former prophet has ever been able to fathom it, for this mystery is only unraveled in the final age and has never before been revealed. If you understand this mystery and are able to fully receive it, those religious persons will all be conquered by this mystery. Only this is the greatest of visions, that which man most longs to understand but also that which is most unclear to him. When you were in the Age of Grace, you did not know the work done by Jesus nor that done by Jehovah. People understood nothing of why Jehovah set forth laws, why He asked the people to keep the laws or why the temple had to be built, and much less did people understand of why the Israelites were led from Egypt to the wilderness and then on to Canaan. It is not until this day that these matters are revealed.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

28. In this final stage of work, results are achieved through the word. Through the word, man comes to understand many mysteries and God’s work throughout generations past; through the word, man is enlightened by the Holy Spirit; through the word, man comes to understand the mysteries never before unraveled by generations past, as well as the work of prophets and apostles of times past, and the principles by which they worked; through the word, man also comes to know the disposition of God Himself, as well as the rebelliousness and resistance of man, and comes to know their own substance. Through these steps of work and all words spoken, man comes to know the work of the Spirit, the work of God’s incarnate flesh, and moreover, His entire disposition. Your knowledge of God’s management work over six thousand years was also gained through the word. Was not your knowledge of your former notions and success in putting them aside also attained through the word? In the previous stage, Jesus worked signs and wonders, but it is not so in this stage. Was not your understanding of why He does not do so also achieved through the word? Therefore, the words spoken in this stage surpass the work done by the apostles and prophets of generations past. Even the prophecies made by the prophets could not have achieved such results.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

29. The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life. From when He created the world, God has done much work involving the vitality of life, has done much work that brings life to man, and has paid a great price so that man might gain life, for God Himself is eternal life, and God Himself is the way by which man is resurrected. God is never absent from the heart of man, and lives among man at all times. He has been the driving force of man’s living, the fundament of man’s existence, and a rich deposit for man’s existence after birth. He causes man to be reborn, and enables him to tenaciously live in his every role. Thanks to His power, and His inextinguishable life force, man has lived for generation after generation, throughout which the power of God’s life has been the mainstay of man’s existence, and for which God has paid a price that no ordinary man has ever paid. God’s life force can prevail over any power; moreover, it exceeds any power. His life is eternal, His power extraordinary, and His life force not easily overwhelmed by any created being or enemy force. The life force of God exists, and shines its brilliant radiance, regardless of time or place. God’s life remains forever unchanged throughout the upheavals of heaven and earth. All things pass away, but God’s life still remains, for God is the source of the existence of all things, and the root of their existence. Man’s life originates from God, the existence of the heaven is because of God, and the existence of the earth stems from the power of God’s life. No object possessed of vitality can transcend the sovereignty of God, and no thing with vigor can break away from the ambit of God’s authority. In this way, regardless of who they are, everyone must submit under the dominion of God, everyone must live under God’s command, and no one can escape from His control.

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

30. Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life, and will never be able to gain the perpetual way of life. That is because all they have is turbid water that has lain stagnant for thousands of years, instead of the water of life that flows from the throne. Those who are not supplied with the water of life will forever remain corpses, playthings of Satan, and sons of hell. How, then, can they behold God? If you only try to hold on to the past, only try to keep things as they are by standing still, and do not try to change the status quo and discard history, then will you not always be against God? The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old?

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

31. Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that the people who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be despised by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, which none may bypass. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You must not just think of gaining blessings without receiving the truth, or accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution that should be suffered by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you oppose Christ of the last days, and deny Him, then there is no one who can bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you oppose is not a man, what you deny is not some puny being, but Christ. Are you aware of this consequence? You have not made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God.

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

32. Throughout the universe I am doing My work, and in the East, thunderous crashes issue forth endlessly, shaking all denominations and sects. It is My voice that has led all men into the present. I shall cause all men to be conquered by My voice, to fall into this stream, and submit before Me, for I have long since reclaimed My glory from all the earth and issued it forth anew in the East. Who does not long to see My glory? Who does not anxiously await My return? Who does not thirst for My reappearance? Who does not pine for My loveliness? Who would not come to the light? Who would not look upon the richness of Canaan? Who does not long for the return of the Redeemer? Who does not adore the Great Almighty? My voice shall spread throughout the earth; I wish, facing My chosen people, to speak more words to them. Like the mighty thunders that shake the mountains and rivers, I speak My words to the whole universe and to mankind. Hence the words in My mouth have become man’s treasure, and all men cherish My words. The lightning flashes from the East all the way to the West. My words are such that man is loath to give them up and at the same time finds them unfathomable, but rejoices in them all the more. Like a newborn infant, all men are glad and joyful, celebrating My coming. By means of My voice, I shall bring all men before Me. Thenceforth, I shall formally enter into the race of men so that they will come to worship Me. With the glory that I radiate and the words in My mouth, I shall make it such that all men come before Me and see that the lightning flashes from the East and that I have also descended unto the “Mount of Olives” of the East. They will see that I have already long been on earth, no longer as the Son of the Jews but as the Lightning of the East. For I have long since been resurrected, and have departed from mankind’s midst, and then reappeared with glory among men. I am He who was worshiped countless ages before now, and I am also the infant forsaken by the Israelites countless ages before now. Moreover, I am the all-glorious Almighty God of the present age! Let all come before My throne and see My glorious countenance, hear My voice, and look upon My deeds. This is the entirety of My will; it is the end and the climax of My plan, as well as the purpose of My management. Let every nation worship Me, every tongue acknowledge Me, every man repose his faith in Me, and every people be subject unto Me!

from “The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Gospel of the Kingdom Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

33. The objective of God’s appearance free from the constraints of any form or country is for Him to be able to complete the work of His plan. For example, when God became flesh in Judea, His aim was to complete the work of crucifixion to redeem all mankind. Yet the Jews believed that it was impossible for God to do this, and they thought it impossible that God could become flesh and assume the form of the Lord Jesus. Their “impossible” became the basis by which they condemned and opposed God, and ultimately led to the destruction of Israel. Today, many people have committed a similar error. They wantonly proclaim the imminent appearance of God, yet also condemn His appearance; their “impossible” once more confines the appearance of God within the limits of their imagination.

from “The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

34. Put your conceptions to one side! Stop and carefully read these words. If you yearn for the truth, God will enlighten you to understand His will and His words. Put aside your view of “impossible”! The more that people believe something is impossible, the more likely it is to occur, for the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and the work of God transcends the limits of man’s thinking and conception. The more that something is impossible, the more there is the truth to be sought; the more that something is beyond the conception and imagination of man, the more it contains the will of God. Because no matter where God reveals Himself, God is still God, and His substance will never change because of the location or manner of His appearance. The disposition of God remains the same regardless of where His footprints are. No matter where the footprints of God are, He is the God of all mankind. For example, the Lord Jesus is not only the God of Israelites, but is also the God of all people in Asia, Europe, and America, and even more the only God in the entire universe. So let us seek God’s will and discover His appearance from His utterances, and follow His footprints! God is the truth, the way, and the life. His words and His appearance exist concurrently, and His disposition and footprints shall always be accessible to mankind. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can see the appearance of God in these words, and will begin to follow His footprints toward a new age, and into a beautiful new heaven and new earth prepared for those who await the appearance of God.

from “The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Footnotes:

a. A piece of deadwood: a Chinese idiom, meaning “beyond help.”

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