Why Did the Jews Yearn for the Coming of the Messiah yet Oppose Him When He Truly Came?

By Xia Wei

As we all know, the Jews were God’s chosen people, Israel was the birthplace of God’s work, the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would lead the lives of the Israelites, and thus the Jews had eagerly yearned for the coming of the Messiah. But why was it that when the Messiah—the Lord Jesus—truly came to work, they didn’t accept Him, yet opposed Him and even crucified Him? This is what we will talk about today. May the Lord guide us.

The first reason was that the Jews relied on their imaginings and notions to understand the prophecies and delimit God’s work.

It is recorded in chapter 9, verses 6–7 in the Book of Isaiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.”

He must be born in a palace

The Jews’ imaginations ran wild based on this prophecy. They believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He must be born in a palace, He must be majestic, with a kingly bearing, and He would lead them to overturn the Roman regime. However, when the Lord Jesus was born, not only was He not born in a royal palace, but actually was born in a manger. 

Not only did He not behave in a kingly way as they imagined, but appeared to be a very common and ordinary man. Not only did He not lead them to overturn the Roman regime, but actually taught them to be forgiving and tolerant, to love their enemies, and to forgive others seventy times seven times. The image and the work of the Lord Jesus completely overturned the Jews’ imaginings of the Messiah in their minds. In addition, in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14, it says: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” In light of this prophecy, the Jews believed that the virgin who would give birth to the Messiah must be an unmarried woman. So when they saw that Mary had a husband, they thought, “How could it be possible that ‘a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son’ is fulfilled on Mary?” Accordingly, they concluded that the Lord Jesus couldn’t possibly be the prophesied Messiah based on their own conceptions and imaginings. This was why they refused to accept the Lord Jesus’ words and work, and why they ultimately crucified Him, committing the most heinous of sins.

The second reason was that, the Jews looked up to the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees—outwardly, they believed in God, but in substance, they followed man.

The Pharisees, chief priests, and scribes were all the leaders of the religious world that held authority, prestige and position; they appeared pious, were well-versed in the Bible, were very familiar with the law, and served God in the temple for generations. Because the Jews worshiped power and status, they thought that, since the chief priests, scribes and the Pharisees had believed in God for a long time and had read the Bible for many years, they must be able to recognize the Messiah when He came, and thereby following them would not be wrong. Thus when the blind and ignorant Pharisees relied on their own imagination and conceptions to deny that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah and even to condemn and blaspheme the Lord Jesus, the Jews followed them in doing the same. Just as when the Pharisees said that the Lord Jesus cast out devils through Beelzebub, chief of the devils, the Jews thought that their condemnations couldn’t possibly be wrong, and thus followed them to condemn Him. 

Lord Jesus

Even when the chief priests yelled out to nail the Lord Jesus to the cross, the Jews still blindly played along with them, as recorded in John 19:6–7, “When the chief priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. Pilate said to them, Take you Him, and crucify Him: for I find no fault in Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” The Jews did not apply their discernment to what the chief priests said. When the chief priests said that Jesus should be crucified, the Jews chimed in and used the law to convict Him, following the chief priests in resisting God. And they even made the vow that the sin would be on them and their descendants, with the result that their offspring fled to countries around the world and many of them were killed.

God said: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The Jews didn’t understand the truth, nor did they seek the truth or examine whether the Lord Jesus’ work was from God or whether His words were beneficial to people, and they just blindly followed and worshiped the Pharisees and the chief priests, such that they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. As a result, they met with God’s curses and punishment.

The Warning to Us

What warning does the failure of the Jews give us? We all know that we are already in the last days, that the prophecies of the Lord’s return have all been fulfilled, and that it is time for the Lord to return. According to the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, God will have a lot of work to do in the last days, such as opening the scroll and seven seals, expressing the words the Holy Spirit speaks to all churches, making a group of overcomers, and so on. But only a few words about these works are mentioned in the Book of Revelation and how God will accomplish these works is not recorded in detail. Under these circumstances, when the work of God’s return in the last days seems at odds with our notions and imaginings, we must not compare the literal meaning of the prophecies in the Bible with what God does, or rely on our conceptions and imaginings to delimit His work, or refuse to seek and study the returned Lord’s work, and even less can we blindly obey man or follow man, like the Jewish people. But instead, we should be wise virgins who long for and seek the truth, examine God’s new work in the last days and see whether it really is from God. Only in this way will we have the chance to welcome the Lord and gain His salvation in the last days.

The Lord Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8). I believe that when the Lord Jesus returns to perform His work in the last days, as long as we seek the truth and focus on hearing His voice, we will attain His salvation. Amen!

Source The Internet 

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I Have Come to Know How to Distinguish Between the True Christ and False Christs

I Have Come to Know How to Distinguish Between the True Christ and False Christs

Feb 27, 201843

Chuanyang, United States

In 2010, the winter in the United States made me feel very cold. In addition to the bitter cold from the combination of wind and snow, what was even more serious was that my heart had been invaded and attacked by a “cold wave.” For those of us in the interior decorating business, winter is the hardest time of the year, because once winter starts there is very little work. We even face losing our jobs. This year was my first year in the United States, I was fresh off the boat, and I felt that everything was unfamiliar to me. Renting an apartment, finding a job, nothing was easy, and my days were full of hardships. It got to the point to where I was borrowing money to rent an apartment. Being faced with this kind of predicament put me in a bout of sadness, and I felt like the days were really hard to bear. At night I faced the ice-cold wall, with so much pain in me that all I wanted to do was cry. One day, as I walked around listlessly in my state of sadness someone who was spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus handed out a card to me, and said: “The Lord Jesus loves you, brother, come to our church and listen to the Lord’s gospel!” I thought to myself: I guess there’s nothing I have to do right now, so there’s no harm in me going to listen to this, I might as well, it’s something to do. So like that, I stepped into the church. I heard the pastor read aloud the Lord Jesus saying: “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” (Jhn 3:16). When I heard this sentence I felt deeply moved by the Lord’s love. I cannot clearly explain the kind of feeling it was, but I could feel that the Lord’s love was real, and that it surpassed the love of the entire secular world. My grief-laden heart felt greatly consoled. As a result, I decided to dedicate myself to putting trust in the Lord Jesus. Afterward I started enthusiastically participating in meetings every Sunday, and because of my enthusiastic pursuit I quickly became a co-worker in the church.

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

After serving in the church for two years, I felt more and more like the Lord was not with me. I didn’t feel enlightened when reading the Bible, I didn’t feel moved through prayer, and I didn’t feel like I was being provided with anything through meetings. In addition, I saw how everyone in the church lived in a condition where they sinned in the day only to confess in the evening, and how everyone, whether pastors, elders or ordinary believers, was bound by sin, having jealous disputes, creating factions, fighting over fame and profit, and clinging to worldly things. All kinds of unlawful behaviors were becoming more and more apparent. I also saw that people in society were becoming more depraved with each passing day, they were becoming more and more evil and more and more selfish, with disasters springing up all over the world—earthquakes, famines and epidemics were constantly breaking out. All kinds of signs made it clear that the last days were fast approaching, and that the Lord Jesus would soon return. The pastors and elders often talked about these Bible verses to us: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:23-24). And in earnest, they talked about how in the last days false Christs would appear, they told us that by all means we must not listen to strangers preach, and they even said that besides those in our church, the believers in the other denominations and sects were all wrong, that we must be sure to carefully distinguish this so as not to allow ourselves to be deceived and walk down the wrong path. Since I often heard the pastors preach in this way I told myself: I cannot deviate from the path in this crucial moment of the Lord’s imminent arrival, I must be sure to keep my faith in the Lord.

One day in mid-September, 2016, I received an unexpected phone call from Sister Zhu. Sister Zhu was a long-time believer and an active pursuer of the truth in our church, and we had always been on good terms, so I was very happy to get a phone call from her. I listened as Sister Zhu spoke to me excitedly: “Brother, I have some good news to tell you, the Lord Jesus has returned, He is Almighty God! This time God has been incarnated to carry out the work of judging man, cleansing man and saving man …” I was somewhat surprised to hear these words, and I thought to myself: “Has Sister Zhu held on to the way of the Lord? Has she converted to another religion? How could she be so foolish? Haven’t the pastors and elders repeatedly emphasized that false Christs will emerge in the last days? Why hasn’t she listened? If we believe in the wrong thing in this crucial moment when the Lord is soon to come, then won’t we have practiced our faith in vain for these past many years?” As I thought about this I nervously asked Sister Zhu: “Sister, in the Bible it says that in the last days there will be false …” but without waiting for me to finish speaking, Sister Zhu cut in: “Brother, the Lord Jesus warned us to ‘Judge not,’ and we must not pass judgment as we please, so as not to be condemned by God.” The sister’s warning made me think of these words of the Lord: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned” (Luk 6:37). I didn’t dare pass judgment anymore. However, facing such a big event as the return of the Lord, Sister Zhu and I each had our own opinions, and we both wanted to persuade the other, so we took turns trying to make our points, but in the end neither of us could persuade the other.

For over a month after this Sister Zhu gave me repeated phone calls to spread the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God, but I always refused to accept it, and even kept urging her to come back and continue believing in the Lord. Later, I saw that she was very firm in her belief in Almighty God, that she would not waver in the least in her faith, so I had to let it go, and stopped trying to persuade her. I said: “From now on, I’ll still believe in my Lord Jesus and you can believe in your Almighty God, and we will not get in each other’s way!” After that, whenever Sister Zhu gave me a phone call giving me testimony of God’s work in the last days, I would look for an excuse to avoid her. I kept on refusing to accept the work of God in the last days, but this did not stop her from spreading the gospel to me.

One morning in November shortly after 5 am, before daylight had even broken, someone rang the doorbell at my home. I opened the door and saw Sister Zhu, and with her were a brother and a sister. When I saw Sister Zhu I felt conflicted. I thought to myself: “Have I not explained this to you? How could you still travel such a far distance to come to my home? Regardless of what you say I’m not going to believe in it.” In spite of our many years of getting to know each other as members of the church, I said some unpleasant words to them and didn’t let them come in. When Sister Zhu saw that I was so determined in my approach, a downcast look showed on her face and in a voice choked with emotion she said to me: “Brother, the reason I have come to spread the gospel of the kingdom to you is because I have been moved by the Holy Spirit. If it weren’t for God’s love, I wouldn’t have been able to put my feelings aside and spread the gospel to you time and again. Brother, the Lord Jesus really has returned. Right now the Holy Spirit is working on those who have received God’s new work. If it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit, how could anyone have this much faith and willpower to come to spread the gospel to you? You too have seen the current situation of our church, our brothers and sisters all live bound by sin, lacking the strength to break free. God has come this time to express words to judge man, and to carry out the work of ridding us of sin and cleansing us. If we miss God’s work in the last days we will not have another opportunity to attain God’s salvation.” The sister’s sincere words moved me and somewhat softened my heart. In particular, when she was talking about the church’s situation, the facts I had seen within the churches came to my mind one after another: In the first church I served at, the pastors said one thing and did another, and whoever contributed the most money was welcomed by these pastors with smiling faces, who would concern themselves with how they were doing, but anyone who didn’t contribute very much money was ignored and looked down upon by them. I really couldn’t bear to see this happen, so I went to the second church. In this church I saw the co-workers excluding one another, getting into jealous disputes, and creating factions, and they were no different from people in the secular world. This made me feel disappointed. At first I wanted to move to yet another church, but a brother told me that he had already changed many churches, and that no matter where he went it was always the same desolation and darkness…. As I thought about this I also thought of the various behaviors I have exhibited while living in sin, which made me somewhat waver in my heart: Could it be that the Lord Jesus truly has returned in the flesh to carry out the work of eradicating sin? At this time Sister Zhu continued speaking: “As far as whether or not Almighty God is the returned Lord, all you need to do to know this is read the word of Almighty God. At the time that the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, His disciples followed Him because they recognized through His word and His work that He was the coming Messiah. Today, in determining whether or not Almighty God is the Lord Jesus appearing to carry out His work, we must also determine this through the work and the word of Almighty God. If, after you read all of Almighty God’s words, you still believe that He isn’t the returned Lord then I will not force anything upon you, and I will stop spreading the gospel to you, because God has never forced anyone to receive His gospel.”

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

After hearing Sister Zhu say this I hesitated for a moment, and thought to myself: I might as well read them and see which truths spoken in the words of Almighty God have made Sister Zhu so firmly believe in this. Thereupon, I opened the door and let Sister Zhu and the rest of them into my home. Sister Zhu introduced the others, and they were Sister Zhang Qing and Brother Liu Kaiming from The Church of Almighty God. Sister Zhu said: “Brother Chuanyang, since I accepted the last-days work of Almighty God, it has been several months. I have gone to The Church of Almighty God to check it out for myself. I have participated in their church life. Through personal experiences and through carefully investigating it, I have seen that The Church of Almighty God really is a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit, it is a genuine church, and it absolutely comes from God. We have been members of the church together for years, and as a co-worker in the church you ought to know better than I do about what’s going on within it now. The Holy Spirit stopped working in our church long ago, and this is a fact that everyone has accepted. The pastors cannot preach sermons that supply us with life, they only lecture on how to attack and be on guard against other Churches, telling us that we must keep the Lord’s name, that we will be saved if we do not leave the church, but really there is no basis in the word of the Lord for them to be acting in this way. They are doing so all in order to protect their status and keep their jobs, and they are not doing it for our lives. If they truly felt responsible for our lives then they ought to take the initiative in taking us in search of a church where the Holy Spirit is at work, rather than have us remain obstinately in a religious church where the Holy Spirit stopped working long ago, only to await our deaths by starvation or exhaustion.” After hearing this I thought to myself: “Sister Zhu’s words really do speak of what’s going on, the church today really does not have the work of the Holy Spirit, everything that the pastors and elders do really is not in consideration of the lives of the believers, and as I’ve stuck with this church over the years I’ve felt more and more like the Lord is not with us. I long ago felt withered and dark in my spirit, with nowhere to go.” Hearing her speak in this reasonable and well-grounded way, I felt I could no longer reject their visitation.

At this time, Brother Liu who had come with her said, “Brother, the reason that the religious world is this desolate is because God has come to carry out new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit has progressed forward, but they have not caught up with the new work that God is doing. An even greater reason for this is that the pastors and elders have not obeyed the Lord’s commandments or put the Lord’s words into practice, and instead, they have led believers to follow the evil trends of the world, and even resist and condemn the new work of God. It’s just like when the Lord Jesus came to carry out His work, the temple had been turned into a place where cattle, sheep and doves were sold and money was exchanged. Priests violated laws and offered animals with blemishes as sacrifices to deceive God, the Pharisees coveted wealth and enjoyed the spoils of their position, and other sins were committed. Even those who served God lived in sin, without the least bit of reverence for God in their hearts. This was enough to show that the Holy Spirit no longer worked in the temple, the work of the Holy Spirit had moved onward, and God’s work in the Age of Law had come to an end. The Lord Jesus had come to carry out the work of redemption on the foundation of the work of the Age of Law, and the Holy Spirit no longer worked in those who kept the name of Jehovah God and clung obstinately to the laws, and instead, the Holy Spirit had transferred His work to those who accepted the new work of the Lord Jesus. Since the presence of God was no longer in the temple, it became more and more desolate, until in the end it became a den of thieves. But the Lord Jesus’ disciples received the Lord’s salvation, they put into practice the Lord’s teachings, they had faith and strength to follow the Lord, they forsook their homes and abandoned their jobs in order to bear witness to and spread the Lord’s gospel, and they did not fear persecution and adversity. Wasn’t all of this the effect achieved in them by the work of the Holy Spirit? In the same way, today the return of the Lord signifies that the old age has come to an end and a new age has begun. The Holy Spirit has long ago stopped working in the churches of the Age of Grace; rather He has begun to work on those who have accepted God’s new work. This is fulfilling the prophecy in the Bible: ‘And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered’ (Amo 4:7). ‘Behold, the days come … that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah’ (Amo 8:11). Almighty God also says: ‘God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him’ (‘The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘All of God’s work in the entire universe has focused on this group of people. He has devoted all His efforts to you and sacrificed all for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why I say, you are the fortunate. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, to you, in order to make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through you group of people. Therefore, you are those who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more the heirs of God’s glory’ (‘Is the Work of God So Simple as Man Imagines?’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘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’ (‘God’s Work and Man’s Practice’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From these words of God we can see that the Holy Spirit has stopped working in the churches of the Age of Grace, so no matter how hard people try or what kind of man-made methods they use to revive the churches, it is of no use. The Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations are all the same, the spirits of their believers are parched and starved, their faith and their love are gradually growing cold, they are unable to hold on to the teachings of the Lord, and many of them are following the evil trends of the world, pursuing wealth and coveting worldly things. The churches have become places of desolation. On the other hand, the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God are people who have walked away from different denominations and sects and who come from different professions to accept the work of God in the last days. They are the wise virgins who, upon hearing the voice of God, have returned before His throne. They are receiving the supply of the living water of life that flows out of the throne of God, they are being shepherded and led by God Himself, and they are spreading and bearing witness to the gospel of the kingdom of God with one accord. They endure being ridiculed and slandered by the world, they endure the abuse and condemnation from the leaders of various denominations and sects, they are even beaten, and they endure being arrested, having their homes searched and their possessions confiscated, and being cruelly tortured and imprisoned by the CCP government. Still, they have faith, they have strength, they have love, and they are tenacious and unyielding as they follow Almighty God and bear witness to God’s work in the last days. It isn’t by their own strength that they are able to do so. These are all effects achieved through the work of the Holy Spirit! In addition, God’s will is to be sought for in His sending of a famine into the religious world, for His purpose in doing so is to compel those who truly believe in God and who thirst for the truth to break away from their religions, to break away from the deception and control of the antichrists in their religions, and to walk away from their religions and seek God’s footsteps and God’s appearance, accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and be cleansed and perfected by God, while simultaneously leaving those false believers in their religions and exposing and eliminating them, who seek bread to satisfy hunger and who do not believe in God with a true heart and instead adore men and follow men. In this way people will be classified according to their kinds. Is this not the wisdom and almightiness of God?”

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Listening to God’s words and this brother’s fellowship made me feel this was very real, and that it completely conformed to the truth. It felt like I had awoken from a dream, and I realized the source of the desolation of the various churches. Before I had only known that the Lord Jesus drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, saying that they had turned the temple into a den of thieves, but I had not known the reason that led to the temple being turned into a den of thieves. Only then did I know that it was because God was carrying out new work, and the work of the Holy Spirit had moved onward, which was being carried out on those who had accepted God’s new work, and therefore those who did not follow God’s new work lost the work of the Holy Spirit and lost reverence for God in their hearts, so that they did things that broke the law in the temple, turning it into a den of thieves. Knowing that this is what happened, I see that the reason today’s churches are desolate is the exact same as with the temple at that time! In this moment I finally saw how insensitive I had been. Although I had seen that from the pastors and elders to the ordinary believers all had been bound by sin, and that the church was brimming with lawlessness and iniquity, I still had not sought God’s will, nor had I sought the work of the Holy Spirit. I also had not paid any attention to listening to God’s voice, and as a result, I had been eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit without knowing that at all. I realized that I needed to carefully read the word of Almighty God. On that day, before Sister Zhu and the rest of them left they scheduled a time to come back and fellowship with me again, and they also left me with a copy of The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, which I was very happy to receive.

from The Church of Almighty God

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2019 Christian video | "Wishful Thinking" | Can We Enter the Kingdom of Heaven by Following Paul?

2019 Christian video | "Wishful Thinking" | Can We Enter the Kingdom of Heaven by Following Paul?

     Li Mingdao is a preacher at a house church. He has believed in the Lord for many years, and has always followed Paul's example, focusing on preaching, work, suffering, and paying a price. He believes that "as long as one labors and works, one can enter the kingdom of heaven, be rewarded, and gain a crown." But, at a meeting with his coworkers, Brother Zhang raises doubts about this view. Li Mingdao, not convinced, returns home, and after researching the Bible, engages in an intense debate with Brother Zhang…. Is labor and work for the Lord doing God's will? Does pursuing this way ultimately allow one to be lifted up and enter the kingdom of heaven? Watch the skit Wishful Thinking to find out.

     Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God was created because of the appearance and work of Almighty God, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, Christ of the last days. It is made up of all those who accept Almighty God's work in the last days and are conquered and saved by His words. It was entirely founded by Almighty God personally and is led by Him as the Shepherd. It was definitely not created by a person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. God's sheep hear God's voice. As long as you read the words of Almighty God, you will see God has appeared.

     Special statement: This video production was produced as a not-for-profit piece by The Church of Almighty God. This video may not be distributed for profit to any third party, and we hope that everyone will share it and distribute it openly. When you distribute it, please note the source. Without the consent of The Church of Almighty God, no organization, social group, or individual may tamper with or misrepresent the contents of this video.

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

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Jesus Eats Bread and Explains the Scriptures After His Resurrection

Jesus Eats Bread and Explains the Scriptures After His Resurrection

Apr 26, 2018271

(Luk 24:30–32) And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

(Luk 24:36–43) And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said to them, Have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.

Next we’ll take a look at the passages of scripture above. The first passage is a recounting of the Lord Jesus eating bread and explaining the scriptures after His resurrection, and the second passage is a recounting of the Lord Jesus eating broiled fish. What kind of help do these two passages provide for knowing God’s disposition? Can you imagine the kind of picture you get from these descriptions of the Lord Jesus eating bread and then broiled fish? Can you imagine, if the Lord Jesus were standing in front of you eating bread, how you might feel? Or if He were eating with you at the same table, eating fish and bread with people, what kind of feeling you would have at the time? If you feel you would be very close to the Lord, that He is very intimate with you, then this feeling is right. This is exactly the fruit that the Lord Jesus wanted to bear from eating bread and fish in front of the multitude after His resurrection. If the Lord Jesus had only spoken with people after His resurrection, if they could not feel His flesh and bones, but felt He was an unreachable Spirit, how would they feel? Wouldn’t they be disappointed? When people were disappointed, wouldn’t they feel abandoned? Wouldn’t they feel a distance with the Lord Jesus Christ? What kind of negative impact would this distance create on people’s relationship with God? People would certainly feel afraid, that they didn’t dare come close to Him, and then they would have an attitude of keeping Him at a respectful distance. From then on, they would sever their intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and return to a relationship between mankind and God up in heaven, as it was before the Age of Grace. The spiritual body that people could not touch or feel would lead to the eradication of their intimacy with God, and it would also make that intimate relationship—established during the Lord Jesus Christ’s time in the flesh, with no distance between Him and humans—cease to exist. People’s feelings toward the spiritual body are only fear, avoidance, and a wordless gaze. They do not dare to get close or to have a dialogue with Him, let alone follow, trust, or have hope in Him. God was reluctant to see this type of feeling that humans had for Him. He did not want to see people avoiding Him or removing themselves from Him; He only wanted people to understand Him, come close to Him, and be His family. If your own family, your children saw you but did not recognize you, and did not dare to come close to you but always avoided you, if you could not gain their understanding for everything you had done for them, how would that make you feel? Wouldn’t it be painful? Wouldn’t you be heartbroken? That is precisely what God feels when people avoid Him. So, after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus still appeared to people in His form of flesh and blood, and ate and drank with them. God sees people as family and He also wants mankind to see Him that way; only in this way can God truly obtain people, and can people truly love and worship God. Now can you understand My intention in extracting these two passages of scripture where the Lord Jesus eats bread and explains the scriptures, and the disciples give Him broiled fish to eat after His resurrection?

It can be said that the series of things that the Lord Jesus said and did after His resurrection were thoughtful, and done with kind intentions. They were full of the kindness and affection that God holds toward humanity, and full of the appreciation and meticulous care He had for the intimate relationship He had established with mankind during His time in the flesh. Even more, they were full of the nostalgia and the hope He had for the life of eating and living with His followers during His time in the flesh. So, God did not want people to feel a distance between God and man, nor did He want mankind to distance themselves from God. Even more, He didn’t want mankind to feel that the Lord Jesus after His resurrection was no longer the Lord who was so intimate with people, that He was no longer together with mankind because He returned to the spiritual world, returned to the Father who people could never see or reach. He didn’t want people to feel that there was any difference in position between Him and mankind. When God sees people who want to follow Him but keep Him at a respectful distance, His heart is in pain because that means their hearts are very far from Him, it means that it will be very difficult for Him to gain their hearts. So if He had appeared to people in a spiritual body that they could not see or touch, this would have once again distanced man from God, and it would have led mankind to mistakenly see Christ after His resurrection as having become lofty, of a different kind than humans, and someone who could no longer share a table and eat with man because humans are sinful, filthy, and can never get close to God. In order to remove these misunderstandings of mankind, the Lord Jesus did a number of things He frequently did in the flesh, as recorded in the Bible, “he took bread, and blessed it, and broke, and gave to them.” He also explained the scriptures to them, as He had used to do. All of this that the Lord Jesus did made every person who saw Him feel that the Lord had not changed, that He was still the same Lord Jesus. Even though He had been nailed to the cross and had experienced death, He had been resurrected, and had not left mankind. He had returned to be among humans, and His everything had not changed. The Son of man standing in front of people was still the same Lord Jesus. His demeanor and His conversation with people felt so familiar. He was still so full of lovingkindness, grace, and tolerance—He was still that Lord Jesus who loved others as He loved Himself, who could forgive mankind seventy times seven. As always, He ate with people, discussed the scriptures with them, and even more importantly, just the same as before, He was made of flesh and blood and could be touched and seen. The Son of man in this way allowed people to feel that intimacy, to feel at ease, and to feel the joy of regaining something that has been lost, and they also felt at ease enough to bravely and confidently begin to rely on and look up to this Son of man who could forgive mankind of their sins. They also began to pray to the name of the Lord Jesus without hesitations, to pray to obtain His grace, His blessing, and to obtain peace and joy from Him, to gain care and protection from Him, and began to perform healings and cast out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

During the time that the Lord Jesus worked in the flesh, most of His followers could not fully verify His identity and the things that He said. When He went up on the cross, the attitude of His followers was one of expectancy; when He was nailed to the cross all the way until He was put into the grave, people’s attitude toward Him was disappointment. During this time, people had already begun to move in their hearts from doubting to denial of the things the Lord Jesus had said during His time in the flesh. And when He walked out from the grave, and appeared to the people one by one, the majority of people who had seen Him with their own eyes or heard the news of His resurrection gradually shifted from denial to skepticism. By the time the Lord Jesus had Thomas put his hand into His side, by the time the Lord Jesus broke bread and ate it in front of the crowd after His resurrection, and after that ate broiled fish in front of them, only then did they truly accept the fact that the Lord Jesus is Christ in the flesh. You could say that it was as if this spiritual body with flesh and blood standing in front of those people then was awakening every one of them from a dream: The Son of man standing in front of them was the One who had existed since time immemorial. He had a form, and flesh and bones, and He had already lived and eaten with mankind for a long time…. At this time, the people felt that His existence was so real, so wonderful; they were also so joyful and happy, and at the same time filled with emotion. And His reappearance allowed people to truly see His humility, to feel His closeness, and His longing, His attachment for mankind. This brief reunion made the people who saw the Lord Jesus feel as if a lifetime had passed. Their lost, confused, afraid, anxious, yearning and numb hearts found comfort. They were no longer doubtful or disappointed because they felt that now there was hope and something to rely on. The Son of man standing in front of them would be behind them for eternity, He would be their strong tower, their refuge for all time.

Although the Lord Jesus was resurrected, His heart and His work had not left mankind. He told people with His appearance that no matter what form He existed in, He would accompany people, walk with them, and be with them at all times and in all places. And at all times and all places, He would provide to mankind and shepherd them, allow them to see and touch Him, and make sure they never again feel helpless. The Lord Jesus also wanted people to know this: Their lives in this world are not alone. Mankind has God’s care, God is with them; people can always lean on God; He is the family of every one of His followers. With God to lean on, mankind will no longer be lonely or helpless, and those who accept Him as their sin offering will no longer be bound in sin. In human eyes, these portions of His work that the Lord Jesus carried out after His resurrection were very small things, but the way I see it, every single thing was so meaningful, so valuable, and they were all so important and weighty.

Although the Lord Jesus’ time of working in the flesh was full of hardships and suffering, through His appearance in His spiritual body of flesh and blood, He completely and perfectly accomplished His work of that time in the flesh to redeem mankind. He began His ministry by becoming flesh, and He concluded His ministry by appearing to mankind in His fleshly form. He heralded the Age of Grace, He began the Age of Grace through His identity as Christ. Through His identity as Christ, He carried out the work in the Age of Grace and He strengthened and led all of His followers in the Age of Grace. It can be said of God’s work that He truly finishes what He starts. There are steps and a plan, and it is full of God’s wisdom, His omnipotence, and His marvelous deeds. It is also full of God’s love and mercy. Of course, the main thread running through all of God’s work is His care for mankind; it is permeated with His feelings of concern that He can never put aside. In these verses of the Bible, in every single thing that the Lord Jesus did after His resurrection, what was revealed was God’s unchanging hopes and concern for mankind, as well as God’s meticulous care and cherishing of humans. Until now, none of this has changed—can you see it? When you see this, doesn’t your heart just automatically become close to God? If you lived in that age and the Lord Jesus appeared to you after His resurrection, in a tangible form for you to see, and if He sat in front of you, ate bread and fish and explained the scriptures to you, spoke with you, then how would you feel? Would you feel happy? How about guilty? The previous misunderstandings and avoidance of God, the conflicts with and doubts of God—wouldn’t they all just disappear? Wouldn’t the relationship between God and man become more proper?

Through interpretation of these limited chapters of the Bible, did you discover any flaws in God’s disposition? Did you discover any adulteration of God’s love? Did you see any deceit or evil in God’s omnipotence or wisdom? Certainly not! Now can you say with certainty that God is holy? Can you say with certainty that God’s emotions are all a revealing of His essence and disposition? I hope that after you have read these words, what you’ve understood from it will help you and bring you benefits in your pursuit of a change in disposition and a fear of God. I also hope that these words will bear fruit for you that grows by the day, thus in the process of this pursuit bringing you closer and closer to God, bringing you closer and closer to the standard that God requires, so that you are no longer bored of the pursuit of the truth and you no longer feel that the pursuit of the truth and of a change in disposition is a troublesome or a superfluous thing. It is, rather, the expression of God’s true disposition and the holy essence of God that motivate you to long for the light, to long for justice, and to aspire to pursue the truth, to pursue the satisfaction of God’s will, and to become a man gained by God, to become a real person.

from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

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

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Gospel Reflection: Giving Credence to Rumors Means Losing God’s Salvation of the Last Days

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

Gospel Reflection: Giving Credence to Rumors Means Losing God’s Salvation of the Last Days

Jun 22, 2017322

 Many brothers and sisters are unable to take heed whenever they hear someone talking about Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, and don’t dare accept what is preached because they have been spooked by the sensationalized rumors fabricated within religious circles. They may hear someone say: “Those who believe in Almighty God are really something—you’ll be taken in as soon as you have contact with them. There are many true believers from every denomination who are good sheep and even bellwethers of good caliber, but they are being stolen by believers in Almighty God….”Or some have said: “The believers in Almighty God are really enthusiastic about spreading the gospel. If they convert a believer they receive a prize of 2,000 RMB, if they convert a church leader they can get 10,000 to 20,000 RMB….” And still others have said: “They don’t maintain good boundaries between men and women—they are all very promiscuous….” Some have even said: “Eastern Lightning is a criminal underworld organization. If you get involved with them, you’ll never escape. If you try, they’ll gouge out your eyes and cut off your ears, or they’ll break your legs….” and so on, and so forth. It is rumors like these that stop some brothers and sisters who are not clear on the facts from seeking and studying Almighty God’s work of the last days. Brothers and sisters who believe the rumors, have you earnestly considered or investigated whether there is any basis for these things, and if they are in line with the facts? Have you ever thought about what sort of dire consequences there will be if you blindly believe all the rumors you hear and miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s arrival? For now, we will first have a simple fellowship on these rumors so that our brothers and sisters can clearly see their substance, and have clear discernment regarding who is really spreading them, what the motivations are behind their fabrication, and what goal they want to achieve.

 The rumor goes: “Those who believe in Almighty God are really something—you’ll be taken in as soon as you have contact with them. There are many true believers from every denomination who are good sheep and even bellwethers of good caliber, but they are being stolen by believers in Almighty God.…” Today, most of the believers in Almighty God do indeed come from many different denominations and among them, a great many are those from their denominations that have caliber, insight, and are dedicated seekers, but saying that they are all taken in is malicious slander, pure and simple. Just think about it: Could so many devout people all be deceived who come from various denominations to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days? Does it make sense that they’d be believers for so many years and know the Bible well without having some discernment? Even if people are deceived, they could only be those who are not seekers, those who eat the loaves and are filled, and those who are muddled in their faith. How is it even possible that so many seekers and so many with sincere faith in God have been deceived? As everyone knows, it was prophesied in the Bible long ago that God would come in the last days “like a thief” to “steal” treasures, that He would “steal” those who are “treasures.” This means that all of those who are “stolen” are of good caliber, they can understand and accept the truth, and know God’s voice. Those who have been “stolen” are all good sheep and the Lord’s return is to save and perfect them. It is clear that being “stolen” is actually being raptured to meet the Lord. Those with true faith in the Lord from different denominations read Almighty God’s words, and see that He has unveiled the mysteries of God’s management plan for saving mankind as well as the relationship between the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, the Age of Kingdom (the three stages of God’s work), the truth and inside story of the Bible, the significance of God’s work of judgment in the last days, how God classifies people according to their kind and determines their outcome, and finally how God will bring the age to an end and how Christ’s kingdom will be realized. Seeing these, they are able to confirm in their hearts that this is the voice of God, and that Almighty God’s words are what was prophesied several times in Revelation: “what the Spirit says to the churches.” It is all the truth, and they have recognized that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and so have turned toward Him, one by one. If it weren’t God’s appearance and work, who else would have the authority and power to conquer brothers and sisters from all denominations and have all faiths become one? It is because Almighty God is the Lord Jesus, who has returned and who has appeared and works in the last days, that those true seekers of God have heard God’s voice and seen God’s appearance and so they accept the work of Almighty God in the last days. Who wouldn’t want to be a wise virgin and follow the footsteps of the Lamb? This is the reason so many seekers from different denominations have accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. The idea that people who have accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days are deceived is clearly an outright lie, it is defamatory, and it is blasphemous to God.

 Some people have said: “The believers in Almighty God are really enthusiastic about spreading the gospel. If they convert a believer they receive a prize of 2,000 RMB, if they convert a church leader they can get 10,000 to 20,000 RMB….” Within this lie, it is mentioned that believers in Almighty God are very enthusiastic about spreading the gospel of Almighty God. While this part is indeed factual, the rest about being bribed with money to spread His gospel and about their enthusiasm being driven by personal benefit, is purely fabricated nonsense and a defamatory rumor. The fact is, believers in Almighty God who spread His gospel do not receive an award of any kind. On the contrary, they spend their own savings to do so, and sometimes all they have. The reason they are so enthusiastic is not because they are bribed with money, rather, it’s because they have understood the truth from Almighty God’s words, truly seen the appearance of God, received His great salvation, experienced God’s love, and felt God’s eagerness to save people. Therefore, they are willing to spend all they have and endure any hardship or humiliation to spread the gospel of God’s kingdom. They are just like the original disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, who heard the voice of God through Jesus’ work and words, recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for, and saw that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to save mankind, to be crucified. God’s love is so great, so real! Moved by the Holy Spirit, spurred on by God’s love, they were willing to give up homes and careers and to withstand all kinds of oppression and difficulties to spread the news, to bear witness for the Lord. It’s true! Perhaps some brothers and sisters have seen and heard what kind of “compensation” believers in Almighty God get when they spread the gospel: Some are humiliated, others are beaten with clubs, some are chased off, and others have even been sentenced and imprisoned at the hands of those in power; they suffer all manner of persecution…. I urge everyone to consider this: Who would willingly submit themselves to curses, beatings, and humiliation to spread God’s gospel of the last days if it were not for God’s great love and the work of the Holy Spirit? Who would risk the dangers of prison and even his life to spread the gospel of God’s salvation in the last days if it were not for God’s work? Thus “If they convert a believer they receive a prize of 2,000 RMB, if they convert a church leader they can get 10,000 to 20,000 RMB” is nothing but a lie, a pure fabrication.

There are still others who have said: “They don’t maintain good boundaries between men and women—they are all very promiscuous….” Regarding this point, let’s take a look at Almighty God’s words: “I am the holy God Himself, I cannot be sullied, and I cannot possess an unclean temple” (“The One Hundred and Ninth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). And the regulation is very clear in “The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom”: “Man has corrupt disposition and, moreover, he is possessed of emotions. As such, it is absolutely prohibited for two members of the opposite sex to work together when serving God. Any who are discovered doing so will be expelled, without exception—and no one is exempt.” We can see from Almighty God’s words that God’s disposition is holy and righteous and does not tolerate any offense from mankind. He does not live in an unclean temple. God does not want a single one that engages in promiscuous behavior. Every follower of Almighty God must strictly adhere to God’s administrative decrees, or they will be expelled from the church—no exceptions. Besides, the brothers and sisters who are believers in Almighty God are primarily drawn from those genuine seekers from various denominations; some of them are leaders and co-workers from different denominations. They know from the Age of Grace that God is a jealous God and despises promiscuous behavior. They have always maintained the Lord Jesus’ commandments, something which truly reverent people have always done in the past. Would someone like this intentionally violate the administrative decrees of the Age of Kingdom today? So you can see, the root of this rumor is simply nonsensical and purely meant as a smear campaign.

Some people have said that “Eastern Lightning is a criminal underworld organization. If you get involved with them you’ll never escape. If you try, they’ll gouge out your eyes and cut off your ears, or they’ll break your legs….” When they bring up underworld organizations, we all know that those involve murderers, arsonists, thieves, and robbers who do all manner of evil things. No one wants to provoke those sorts of people. Even the Chinese government and its police won’t dare mess with some of them, isn’t that right? So let’s take a look at the brothers and sisters who spread Almighty God’s gospel of the last days. When they go out to bring people to God, they endure being thrown out, insulted, beaten, attacked by dogs, arrested, imprisoned, and even tortured. They suffer all kinds of cruel treatment. If these brothers and sisters were really members of an underworld organization, would anyone really dare treat them that way? Would they endure verbal abuse and not respond? Would they be beaten and not fight back? Do you know of any gangsters like that? Could anyone involved in that kind of thing truly believe in God? If they did believe in God, could they have the work of the Holy Spirit? Would they be able to preach the gospel to relatively dedicated seekers? Furthermore, there are many brothers and sisters from various denominations who have heard God’s gospel of the last days. Whether they accepted the gospel and then withdrew from the church for whatever reason, or they never accepted it in the first place, who among them has had their eyes gouged out, ears cut off, or legs broken? According to this, there must be a number of people who have had eyes gouged out, legs broken. Have you seen a single one? If there really were one, wouldn’t the CCP government have long ago brought this to trial in a court of law, and issued a sentence, and then mobilized all the presses to spread the news across the entire world? Is there any factual basis for the things these rumor mongers have said? Neither is there any factual basis when they say things like: “If you get involved with believing in Almighty God, once you go in, you’ll never get out.” It is written in “The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom”: “Kin who are not of the faith (your children, your husband or wife, your sisters or your parents, and so on) should not be forced into the church. God’s household is not short of members, and there is no need to make up its numbers with people who have no use. All those who do not believe gladly must not be led into the church.” The Church of Almighty God has no need of those who do not gladly believe in God just to make up the numbers and when preaching the gospel, people particularly cannot drag people along or force them to believe in God. This is God’s administrative decree and every person must strictly adhere to this—it cannot be violated. The truth is that the door of the Church is open, and those who want to leave the church and their faith can go at any time. Nobody will coerce them. The Church of Almighty God always gives each person the freedom to make their own choices. In fact, it’s not that those who accept God’s work in the last days are unable to leave, but that they themselves do not want to leave. Why is this? Almighty God says, “The incarnation of God has sent shockwaves through all religions and denominations, it has ‘thrown into disarray’ the original order of religious circles, and it has shaken the hearts of all of those who yearn for the appearance of God. Who is not adoring? Who doesn’t long to see God? God has personally been among man for many years, yet man has never realized it. Today, God Himself has appeared, and shown forth His identity to the masses—how could this not bring delight to man’s heart?” (“Work and Entry (10)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. … All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). The appearance and work of God incarnate in the last days has indeed sent shockwaves through the entire religious world and it has shaken the hearts of those who thirst for God’s appearance. The reason brothers and sisters from various denominations have returned to God is because they have seen the appearance of God, heard His voice, understood that Christ of the last days is the truth, the way, and the life, and that only belief in Almighty God will allow them to achieve salvation and enter into the kingdom of heaven. Who would want to leave after receiving salvation like this? Therefore, it’s easy to see that rumors about people not wanting to leave due to being afraid of having their eyes gouged out, ears cut off, or legs broken are just being fabricated by people with ulterior motives.

 From what we fellowshiped about above, we can see that the slanderous comments about God’s work in the last days are nothing but lies that are complete fabrications with no basis in the truth. If we apply just a little bit of discernment here these rumors really start to unravel. A believer concocting lies and bearing false witness is behavior that God most detests; it is condemned by God, just as the Bible says: “A false witness deceit” (Proverbs 12:17). “Lying lips are abomination to Jehovah” (Proverbs 12:22). The Lord Jesus said: “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Knowing that concocting lies and bearing false witness is something God detests, why would they persist in doing this? John chapter 11 verses 47-48 say: “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man does many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” Matthew chapter 28 notes this fact: After the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and the Pharisees were afraid that everyone would believe in the Lord Jesus and that they would then lose their status and income. They then colluded to cover up the fact that the Lord Jesus was resurrected. They bribed the soldiers with silver and made up lies to persuade people that the Lord Jesus had never resurrected, saying that His disciples took His body away when the soldiers were sleeping. We see from this that people can intentionally fabricate lies, and judge and slander God’s work as well as blaspheme God. They do this to protect their own reputations, statuses, and profits. This shows their evil nature, that they hate the truth and are enemies of God. It’s just the same now, in the last days. As Almighty God has expanded His work of the last days in mainland China, great swaths of believers from many different religious denominations have come to accept God’s new work. When some leaders of these denominations see more and more people believe in Almighty God while the believers under them dwindle, they fabricate all sorts of lies and slander to condemn Almighty God’s work of the last days so that they can protect their own status and income. This is how they deceive and frighten brothers and sisters to make them afraid to seek, investigate, and accept God’s work in the last days; their purpose is to trap and control their congregations forever. From this we can see that the leaders of various denominations are the modern-day Pharisees revealed by God’s work of the last days. They make up rumors to protect their own status and income—they have their motives, their own goals in this.

If we are unable to discern these lies fabricated by religious circles and blindly follow them, then we stand on the side of those who slander, resist, and disrupt God’s work. This not only causes one to lose God’s salvation in the last days, but also turns one into a target for God’s loathing, rejection and punishment. This is just like the Lord Jesus’ work among the Jewish people, where the Pharisees made up all kinds of lies and slander against Him, such as saying that the Lord Jesus’ ability to cast out demons was only because He was conjuring the prince of demons, Beelzebub, saying that He was possessed by demons, as well as other blasphemous things. Because of the Pharisees’ lies and rumors, because they lacked discernment, and because they did not carefully study the Lord Jesus’ work and word, many Jewish people took the evil path of resisting God, blindly accepting the lies of the Pharisees and joining them in abandoning and murdering the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees spread falsehoods and slandered and blasphemed God, and we can all guess what ending they met, but what about those Jewish people who took those lies and slander as truth—wasn’t their ending just as tragic? They suffered unprecedented national destruction and the Jewish people scattered to the four winds. They had no home to return to for 2,000 years. Aren’t these the consequences of taking the lies of the Pharisees as truth and resisting God? We can see then, that those that believe in God without a reverent heart, who do not seek or investigate God’s new work, and who easily believe lies become accomplices to Satan and evildoers who resist God. In the end, they sink down into destruction because of this resistance to God. This fulfilled what is written in the Bible: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). “But fools die for want of wisdom” (Proverbs 10:21).

 It says in the Bible that demons lie from the very start. Lying and slandering are two common tricks Satan uses to resist God and deceive people, and its evil intentions and cunning are hidden within. However, God’s wisdom is always a step ahead of Satan’s tricks. Satan is not only incapable of ruining God’s work, but on the contrary, it renders its service to God’s work. Just like when the Jewish chief priests, scribes and Pharisees tried so hard to resist and condemn the Lord Jesus’ work; they colluded with Rome to have the Lord Jesus crucified, thinking that they were succeeding in their scheme and they would obliterate the Lord Jesus’ work, but to their great surprise, the Lord Jesus said: “It is finished.” This shows us that God used Satan’s tricks to achieve His management plan and to complete His redemption of mankind. Today is no different. Even though there are leaders in various denominations who will stop at nothing to create lies and rumors to resist Almighty God’s work of the last days, not only is all of this incapable of harming God’s work, but in fact, they aid in the accomplishment of His work of the last days: the work of reaping and winnowing, of separating the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, to classify man according to their kind, and to reward the good and punish the evil. Through our actual experience, we have seen that the lies of the CCP government and the religious world have deceived some brothers and sisters who don’t understand the true situation. However, through seeking and investigating God’s work of the last days and reading Almighty God’s words, those who genuinely believe in God and love the truth clearly see the fact that the true way has been subject to oppression since time immemorial. They understand that the more the CCP government and the religious world resists and condemns it, the more it is the true way—they thus turn back to God. But those who detest and hate the truth mindlessly listen to the lies and rumors and follow other people because they love evil and adore power. As a result, they are caught up in a web of lies and are stuck outside of the kingdom’s gate. Isn’t that God’s wisdom and almightiness? Lies may tightly bind together the “tares,” but these lies do not do the same to “grains of wheat.” The wind blows the chaff away, while the plump seeds will be gathered into the granary in the end. In this manner, Satan’s tricks end up only being the tools, the serving objects to complete God’s work in the last days of classifying man according to their kind, as well as rewarding the good and punishing the evil. God’s work is so wondrous and unfathomable.

As I get to this point, I trust that you have gained some knowledge of the rumors’ cause, their substance, and their harmfulness! And now, Almighty God’s work in the last days has reached unprecedented new heights—it approaches its glorious conclusion and Almighty God will reveal Himself for all nations and all peoples to see. At such a crucial time, are you willing to lose your life just for being taken in by some rumors? Are you willing to so narrowly miss God’s salvation of the last days for that? I believe that any intelligent person will certainly make the wise choice.

from The Church of Almighty God

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