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| Pictures of the Church of Almighty God |
Why Does Eastern Lightning Surge Forward With Unstoppable Progress?
Christ of the last days has been doing His work in mainland China for over 20 years, work which has shaken the various religious sects to their core. The most perplexing question for the religious community during this time has been: Most pastors and elders in the religious community have done their utmost to judge and attack the Eastern Lightning through various means such as spreading rumors about and defaming the Eastern Lightning. Furthermore, they have even sealed off their churches and even gone so far as colluding with the CCP government to arrest and persecute the Christians in the Church of Almighty God. But while under the frantic condemnation, resistance, and persecution by the CCP government and the religious world acting as two arms of Satan’s forces, why are there more and more believers from various denominations and sects accepting and following Almighty God? Why is it those who have good humanity and used to have sincere belief in the Lord are willing to follow Almighty God to the very end? Why do they continue to do so despite enduring endless condemnation, defamation, coercion, and persecution by the CCP government and the religious world? The CCP imprisons them and yet they don’t look back. How is it that the Eastern Lightning surges forward, unbeaten and unbroken by Satan’s forces, to bloom with new prosperity and growth day by day? How has it spread so far and wide to every corner of China to be accepted and followed by millions? Why has it also spread throughout the world to many different countries and regions?
In fact, religious people who are familiar with the Bible have overlooked a crucial truth, which is: Anything that comes from God will thrive and anything that comes from man will surely decay. Think about this for a moment: If the Eastern Lightning wasn’t the appearance and work of the one and only true God, would it have been able to break through the fortress of obstruction, resistance, and persecution put up by the religious world and the atheistic CCP government and spread so quickly? If it was not guided by the work of the Holy Spirit, would it have the authority and power to make all nations flow to this mountain and for all denominations to become one? If the Eastern Lightning wasn’t the appearance and work of God, would it have brought the truth that allows people to understand God? Would it have pointed the way to salvation? Would it have been able to judge and conquer the true believers of the various faiths, those good sheep and leading sheep, to submit and follow with resolute hearts? Those in the various religious sects had no way to expect that the Almighty God whom they are self-assured and bold enough to condemn, resist, and persecute is in fact the return of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for whom they had so anxiously and persistently waited.
The Book of Revelation records that only the Lamb is able to open the scroll and break the seven seals. Christ of the last days, Almighty God, has issued forth millions of words that not only reveal all mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan, reveal God’s purpose in His three stages of work to save humanity, as well as provide the background, behind-the-scenes information, and the substance behind each of the stages in His work, but moreover His words also unfold the judgment and cleansing work that is directed at mankind’s satanic nature and the truth of their corruption. In addition, His numerous words cover multiple subjects involving the inside story of the Bible, the mystery of God’s incarnation, God’s clear intentions and specific requirements for mankind, mankind’s process of development and mankind’s future destination, etc. These are not only a feast for mankind’s eyes so that they may broaden their horizons, but also allow people to understand God’s work, God’s disposition and essence. Moreover, His words allow us corrupt humans to attain a change in disposition and be purified. His words contain all the truths that we corrupt people need in order to be saved and perfected. The sheep of God hear His voice and the believers who humbly submit have been thoroughly conquered by God’s words as they seek and study the true way; they have truly and clearly seen that God’s real work and words are incomparable and cannot be substituted by any theories or knowledge wrought by mankind. His words and work verify to those who humbly submit that the incarnate Almighty God is precisely the Son of man returning in the last days and the appearance of the one true God. They see that the kingdom has descended to the realm of man and they also clearly observe that the three stages of work in the Age of Law, Age of Grace, and Age of Kingdom are the work of one God and that they are the work of God Himself, there is absolutely no doubt about it. Only if they are equipped with the truths issued forth from Almighty God and experience God’s work of the last days will they know God and enter the right track of faith in Him to achieve salvation. Therefore, they prostrate before God and acknowledge that He is their God and they return to Him and pledge their lives to Him. This is why there are more and more truly faithful people who no longer fear the unknown and follow the Eastern Lightning with unshakeable determination.
In fact, there is no “right” or “wrong” in God’s work, there is only “new” and “old” or “early” and “later” because the inherent principle behind God’s work is that it is always new and never old and He adheres to no regulations and there are no contradictions between His new and old work. Instead, they complement one another with each stage building upon the other; like links in a chain forged together. If we seek and study with a quiet heart, if we can understand the three stages of work in God’s entire 6,000-year management plan, then it’s easy to see that the work of Christ of the last days—Almighty God—has been built upon the foundation of God’s work done in the Age of Grace and it flows as one with the Lord Jesus’ work; it is not independent and not in any way separate. Moreover, we will understand why only Almighty God’s work of the last days can cleanse and change mankind, as well as completely allow mankind to break away the shackles of Satan’s dark influence to achieve God’s salvation.
Looking back on the later period of the Age of Law, mankind all knew what sin was, but in spite of themselves they all kept sinning constantly, and they were incapable of adhering to the laws and decrees. As mankind’s sins increased, their sacrifices became fewer and fewer and they fell into an inescapable trap of sin. Gradually, mankind lost its reverence for God and they went so far as sacrificing blind and lame livestock at the holy altar of Jehovah God. In this way, they faced death by the law and God’s curse. It was against this backdrop that for God to save man, a new stage of work was needed. This is because only God Himself—the Creator—could save the corrupted and depraved mankind. For this reason, God became flesh and appeared in the form of the Lord Jesus to begin the work of the Age of Grace. He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and was crucified on the cross to complete the work of redemption. The Lord Jesus taught His followers that they should forgive and be patient, love their neighbors as themselves, and to bear the cross to follow Him. He also taught people to break bread, drink wine, wash the feet of others and to cover their heads. He asked people to put more truth into practice and He elevated the requirements of mankind higher than they had been during the Age of Law. The Lord Jesus brought man a new age and a new direction to travel and He gave people a path to travel so that they could enjoy the ample grace of God and obtain His redemption. The work of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace concluded the Age of Law that had extended for over 2,000 years in a way that fulfilled the law. It is a new and higher work carried out on the foundation of Jehovah God’s work.
The Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh redeems all of mankind. If we believe in the Lord and are forgiven our sins, then we will be justified by faith and saved. Even though we have our sins forgiven, the root cause behind these sins, namely the satanic nature of us which resists and betrays God, has not been completely resolved. In this manner, even if God does forget our sins and doesn’t treat us based on our sins, nonetheless we live in the flesh and have no way to break the bonds and control of sin. We are merely stuck in a vicious cycle of constant sinning and confession and repentance and we have not escaped sin to become holy people. In the right circumstances, our corrupt satanic disposition will be exposed in spite of ourselves; which includes arrogance, greed, treachery, deceit, and our sins and offenses against the Lord that we cannot control, which is just as Paul says here: “for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom 7:18). Clearly, “being saved” does not represent that we have been fully gained by God. In other words, with only the redemption that we received in the Age of Grace, we still cannot triumph over Satan’s influence to be gained by God because God did not engage in the work of casting off the corrupt satanic disposition that dwells in man in the Age of Grace. If we merely linger in the stage of work done in the Age of Grace and hold on to some simple and outdated methods and practices, even the passage of 1,000 years would produce no changes in us; we could not achieve holiness, and we also could not gain a greater understanding of God. We are merely stuck in a rut with no hope of ever maturing in our lives. We will gradually drift further and further away from God and finally end up in the clutches of Satan. So for corrupt mankind to be fully saved from Satan’s influence, God must personally perform another stage of work, one which is more deep and thoroughgoing, to save mankind. God supplies mankind with the words it needs for life so that mankind may: understand God’s work and His management; know God’s almightiness, wisdom, substance, disposition, and all that He has and is; know all truths; and be guided on the right path of life. Thus mankind’s old notions and old disposition will be changed, and mankind’s sinful nature will be thoroughly removed, which is to say, mankind will break free from the satanic philosophies and rules as well as the satanic poisons that dwell deep inside its nature. Mankind can then become humane and a possessor of the truth and thereby become someone who truly submits to God. Currently, all Almighty God’s work is exactly this stage of work where the thorough cleansing and salvation of man is occurring. Almighty God is not only giving more truths to humanity based on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, but He is also proclaiming the commandments and administrative decrees for the Age of Kingdom. He has raised His requirements for mankind so that: Mankind is supposed to seek and understand the truth in God’s word; know God’s disposition and all that He has and is; and know mankind’s own satanic nature that disobeys and resists God. Mankind should practice the truth and live by God’s word under the precondition of understanding the truth so that mankind can attain the transformation of its disposition, regain a normal life where it worships God, become holy, and enter the wonderful destination that God has prepared for mankind.
The Bible contains prophecies about God’s salvation in the last days where the First Epistle of Peter chapter 1 verse 5 says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” This piece of scripture clearly foretells: For we who follow the Lord Jesus, God has prepared salvation for us in the last days. So, what will this salvation in the last days actually be? The Bible says: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength” (Rev 1:16). “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev 14:6-7). We can see from the scriptures that the everlasting gospel refers to God’s judgment work in the last days, where God uses words as sharp as swords to judge and cleanse man. This is exactly the judgment before the great white throne mentioned in the Book of Revelation, which is the work that shall decide the outcome of mankind and their destination. Almighty God says, “When it comes to the word ‘judgment,’ you will think of the words that Jehovah spoke to all the places and the words of rebuke that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. Though these words are stern, they are not God’s judgment of man; these words are only those spoken by God within different environments, that is, different settings, and they are unlike the words spoken by Christ as He judges man in the last days. In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, reveal the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and disposition of God, and so on. These words are all focused on the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that reveal how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation, dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that could not be understood by man. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of such work is actually the work of opening up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We can understand from God’s words that: In the last days, God uses truth to do His judgment work so that mankind can better understand His will, have true knowledge of Him, and understand the source and substance of man’s corruption by Satan. Furthermore, the work of judgment also allows mankind to truly gain the truth, the way, and the life bestowed by Christ of the last days so that it may be completely gained by God and attain His salvation. This is the more thoroughgoing salvation that is built upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ redemption work and it is also the final stage of work in the 6,000-year management plan, which is to conquer and perfect man; this is the salvation that appears in the last days.
Brothers and sisters, despite mankind’s lack of understanding about the work God does, and despite much of mankind not understanding all that God does and not knowing His intentions and being evasive and reluctant toward God’s new work, nonetheless, the true followers of God do have a place for Him in their hearts. They set aside their own notions and seek and study the true way with a quiet heart and listen to God’s voice, thereby gaining His enlightenment and a genuine recognition of God’s voice. These true followers move from their notions to actual knowledge about the second incarnate God. These true believers move from resisting God to submitting to Him, they move from persecuting God to accepting Him, and they move from forsaking God to loving Him. This is akin to the past where the disciples and some Jewish common people recognized that the Lord Jesus is the One of heaven. Although they confronted a heavy blockade, obstruction, confinement, oppression and persecution by the religious community and the satanic regime, once they recognized the true way they were firmly convinced and knew no doubt and they followed God closely. Such is the formidable power of the work of the true God. Now, the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God has been spreading at blazing speed throughout all of mainland China. Now it expands to every country and nation; are you truly unwilling to obtain the full truth that God bestows upon mankind and live in the light? Have you truly not understood the content and intent behind the Lord Jesus’ constant reminders for mankind in the last days to watch? Are you not worried about missing out on this opportunity for complete salvation from God? Are you not concerned about your heartbreaking regret? Could it be that you still don’t understand the reason behind the Eastern Lightning’s boundless and unstoppable progress? If you do understand, then what are you waiting for?
