Praise God, almighty and wise, He has defeated Satan.
Praise God, His righteous disposition has been completely revealed.
All come to praise Almighty God, the lovely and practical God.
We praise God, humble and hidden, He is so lovely!
Praise You, Almighty God (praise God)! All come to praise You (praise You)!
Follow God by the Way of the Cross | Gospel Movie "Perilous Is the Road to the Heavenly Kingdom"
Christian Zhong Xin is a preacher in a house church in mainland China. He leads his brothers and sisters to investigate the true way and determines that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. However, some are perplexed by the CCP government's and religious circle's mad resistance to and condemnation of The Church of Almighty God. By reading the words of Almighty God, and by listening to the fellowship of witnesses from The Church of Almighty God, they understand the root cause of mankind's defiance of God, they see clearly why the road to the kingdom of heaven is full of hardships, and they come to have discernment about the truth-hating, God-opposing essence of the CCP's satanic regime and the leaders of the religious world. At last, people such as Zhong Xin have resolutely accepted Almighty God's kingdom gospel.
In the decades of rule by the demonic, atheist Communist Party, countless Christians have been detained and killed by the Communist government, causing tens of thousands of families to be torn apart and destroyed. It is God’s greatest enemy.
For those who sincerely want God, no matter how the CCP persecutes, or how harsh the environment gets, they will still follow God, perform their duty, risk everything to pursue the truth, and have more and more faith in God!
Because of the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party, people can’t follow and worship God freely in China. Pray for all Christians in China.
Recommended: How to obtain salvation? Get motivated by the christian testimonies. Find a way to get closer to God.
Christian Worship Song "God Has Appeared in the East of the World With Glory"
I
God is doing work throughout the universe. Thunderous noises in the East do not relent, shaking all denominations and all sects. It's God's voicethat brought all to the present. It's His voice that will have all conquered. They fall in this stream, and submit to Him. God has long ago reclaimed glory from the earth, and from the East He has reissued it. Who doesn't long to see the glory of God? Who doesn't await His return with eagerness? Who doesn't thirst for Him to reappear? Who doesn't miss His loveliness? Who would not come toward the light? Who wouldn't see the wealth of Canaan? Who doesn't long for the Redeemer's return? Who doesn't admire the One with omnipotence?
“Gospel” is an old English word, which represents “Good news.” So if we translate it literally, its meaning is good news.
Where Does Gospel Come From?
Gospel comes from God, that’s for sure. After the ancestors of our human, Adam and Eve, were tempted into sin by the snake (that is, Satan), God began the management work of saving mankind. God bestows different gospel upon man in different ages based on the needs of mankind. In the time of Noah, God revealed to Noah, asking him to spread the gospel of destroying the world with a flood.
In 1995, the work of testifying to the kingdom gospel of Almighty God formally began in Mainland China. Through our gratitude to God and with a love that was true, we testified to the appearance and work of Almighty God to the brothers and sisters in various denominations and sects.
As one who believes in God, you should understand that, today, in receiving the work of God in the last days and all the work of God’s plan in you, you have really received great exaltation and salvation from God. 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. Perhaps you all remember these words: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” In the past, you have all heard this saying, yet none understood the true meaning of the words. Today, you know well the real significance they hold. These words are what God will accomplish in the last days. And they will be accomplished upon those cruelly afflicted by the great red dragon in the land where it lies. The great red dragon persecutes God and is the enemy of God, so in this land, those who believe in God are subjected to humiliation and persecution. That is why these words will become reality in you group of people. As the work is carried out in a land that opposes God, all of His work is met with inordinate hindrance, and many of His words cannot be accomplished in good time; hence, people are refined because of the words of God. This too is an element of suffering. It is greatly arduous for God to carry out His work in the land of the great red dragon, but it is through such difficulty that God does a stage of His work to make manifest His wisdom and wondrous deeds. God takes this opportunity to make this group of people complete. Because of people’s suffering, their caliber, and all the satanic disposition of people in this unclean land, God does His work of purification and conquest so that, from this, He may gain glory and gain those who stand witness to His deeds. This is the full significance of all the sacrifices that God has made for this group of people. That is to say, God does the work of conquest just through those who oppose Him. Therefore, only doing so can manifest the great power of God. In other words, only those in the unclean land are worthy to inherit the glory of God, and only this can give prominence to the great power of God. That is why I say the glory of God is gained in the unclean land and from those who live within. This is the will of God. This is just as in the stage of Jesus’ work; He could only be glorified among those Pharisees who persecuted Him. If not for such persecution and the betrayal of Judas, Jesus would not have been ridiculed or slandered, much less crucified, and thus could never have gained glory. Wherever God works in each age and wherever He does His work in the flesh, He gains glory there and there gains those He intends to gain. This is the plan of God’s work, and this is His management.
In God’s plan of several thousand years, the work done in the flesh is in two parts: First is the work of the crucifixion, for which He is glorified; the other is the work of conquest and perfection in the last days, through which He will gain glory. This is the management of God. Thus, do not regard as too simple the work of God or God’s commission to you. You are all heirs of the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory of God, and this was specially ordained by God. Of the two parts of His glory, one is revealed in you; the entirety of one part of God’s glory is bestowed upon you so that it may be your inheritance. This is the exaltation from God and His plan predetermined long ago. Given the greatness of the work God has done in the land in which the great red dragon dwells, such work, if moved elsewhere, would have long ago borne great fruit and been easily accepted by man. And such work would be far too easy to accept for those clergymen of the West who believe in God, for the stage of work by Jesus serves as a precedent. This is why He is unable to achieve this stage of work of glorification elsewhere; that is, as there is support from all men and acknowledgment from all nations, there is no place for the glory of God to rest on. And this is precisely the extraordinary significance that this stage of work holds in this land. Among you, there is not one man who receives the protection of the law; rather, you are penalized by the law, and the greater difficulty is that no man understands you, be it your relatives, your parents, your friends, or your colleagues. None understand you. When God rejects you, there is no way for you to continue living on earth. However, even so, people cannot bear to leave God; this is the significance of God’s conquest of people, and this is God’s glory. What you have inherited this day surpasses that of all former apostles and prophets and is greater even than that of Moses and Peter. Blessings cannot be received in a day or two; they must be earned through much sacrifice. That is, you must have refined love, great faith, and the many truths that God asks you to attain; in addition, you must be able to set your face toward justice and never be cowed or submit, and you must have a constant and unabating love for God. Resolution is demanded of you, as is change in your life disposition; your corruption must be remedied, and you must accept all the orchestration of God without complaint, and even be obedient until death. This is what you ought to achieve. This is the final aim of God, and the demands God asks of this group of people. As He bestows upon you, so too must He ask of you in return and make of you fitting demands. Therefore, all the work of God is not without reason, and from this can be seen why God time and again does the work of high standards and strict requirements. This is why you ought to be filled with faith in God. In short, all the work of God is done for your sake, so that you will be worthy to receive His inheritance. This is not so much for the sake of God’s own glory but for the sake of your salvation and for perfecting this group of people deeply afflicted in the unclean land. You must understand the will of God. And so I exhort the many ignorant people without any insight or sense: Do not test God and resist no more. God has already endured all suffering that man has never endured, and long ago suffered more humiliation in man’s stead. What else can you not let go of? What could be more important than the will of God? What could be above God’s love? It is already a task doubly arduous for God to carry out His work in this unclean land. If man knowingly and willfully transgresses, the work of God will have to be prolonged. In any event, this is not in the interests of any, and is of benefit to none. God is not bound by time; His work and His glory come first. Therefore, however long it takes, He will not spare any sacrifice if it is His work. This is the disposition of God: He will not rest until His work is achieved. Only when the time comes that He obtains the second part of His glory can His work be drawn to a close. Should God be unable to finish throughout the universe the work of the second part of His glorification, His day will never come, His hand will never stray from His chosen, His glory will never come upon Israel, and His plan will never be concluded. You should see that the will and the work of God are not as simple as the creation of the heavens and earth and all things. For the work of today is to transform those who have been corrupted, who have grown extremely numb, and to purify those who were created then worked on by Satan, not to create Adam or Eve, much less to make the light or create all manner of plants and animals. His work now is to make pure all that has been corrupted by Satan so that they may be regained and become His possession and become His glory. Such work is not as simple as man imagines the creation of the heavens and earth and all things to be, and it is not akin to the work of cursing Satan to the bottomless pit as man imagines. Rather, it is to transform man, to turn that which is negative into the positive and to take into His possession that which does not belong to Him. This is the inside story of this stage of God’s work. You must realize it, and should not oversimplify matters. The work of God is unlike any ordinary work. Its marvel cannot be conceived by the mind of man, and its wisdom cannot be attained by such. God is not creating all things, and He is not destroying them. Rather, He is changing all of His creation and purifying all things that have been defiled by Satan. Therefore, God shall commence work of great magnitude, and this is the total significance of the work of God. From these words, do you believe that the work of God is so simple?
“Gospel” means “good tidings.” It was written in Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. ”
When mankind was corrupted by Satan, God began His management plan for the salvation of mankind. God has carried out three stages of work for the salvation of mankind. During the Age of Law, Jehovah God issued the laws and guided the life of mankind, making people know that they should worship God, and making them know what sin is. But with the arrival of the final stages of the Age of Law, mankind’s corruption became ever more profound, and people often violated the laws and sinned against Jehovah. They faced the risk of being condemned and put to death because of their violations. Thus, in answer to the needs of mankind, during the Age of Grace God assumed human form and became the Lord Jesus. He was nailed to the cross for the sake of mankind, and redeemed man from sin, enabling people to come before God and pray to God, confess and repent, be forgiven for their sins, and live under the riches of God’s grace and blessings. But because people’s sinful nature had yet to be resolved, and they still often sinned and opposed God, in the Age of Kingdom God once more became flesh, using the name of Almighty God to express all truths for the salvation and purification of mankind upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, expunging mankind’s sinful nature, causing mankind to cease its disobedience to God and opposition to God, allowing people to truly obey God and worship God, and ultimately leading mankind to a beautiful destination. Even though the work God has done in the Age of Law, Age of Grace, and Age of Kingdom has been different, and the names He has taken and disposition He has displayed have been different, the substance and aims of His work are the same—all are in order to save mankind, and all the work is done by God Himself. As Almighty God said, “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover the entire breadth of God’s management, and are all the work of one Spirit. From when He created the world, God has always been managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are surely carried out by one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages oppose God” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
For thousands of years, few people have truly known that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, that He is the appearance of God, and that the Lord Jesus is the incarnation of Jehovah. In fact, the Bible had long since prophesied this clearly. In the Book of Isaiah, it was said that “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin (or: when he shall render himself as an offering for sin)” (Isa 53:10). From this passage of the Bible it can be seen that for the Lord Jesus to serve as a sin offering means that Jehovah offered Himself as a sin offering, and that the Lord Jesus was Jehovah. The Lord Jesus also said, “he that has seen me has seen the Father” (Jhn 14:9). “the Father is in me, and I in him” (Jhn 10:38). “I and my Father are one” (Jhn 10:30). When the Lord Jesus said that “I and my Father are one,” He was saying that He and Jehovah are one Spirit. The words uttered by the Lord Jesus and those uttered by Jehovah are the same—they are both the truth, they are the utterances of one Spirit, and their source is the same; that is, the Lord Jesus and Jehovah are one God. Likewise, the source of the words expressed by Almighty God of the last days and those by the Lord Jesus is the same, they are the utterances of the Holy Spirit, they are the truth, and they are the voice of God. Those who believe in the Lord all know that greater number of prophecies in the Bible concern the return of the Lord and the work of judgment of God of the last days. As the Lord Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jhn 14:3). “And, behold, I come quickly” (Rev 22:12). “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luk 21:27). “Behold, I come as a thief” (Rev 16:15). “He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jhn 12:48). In the First Epistle of Peter it was also said that, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). It was spoken very clearly in these scriptures that the Lord Jesus would return during the last days, and would express words and do the work of judgment. When Almighty God arrives during the last days, He does the work of judgment beginning from the house of God upon the foundation of the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus, and expresses all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind. Although the work of Almighty God and that of the Lord Jesus are different, their source is the same—the one God! This completely fulfills the prophecy of the Lord Jesus: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (Jhn 16:12-13). The incarnate Almighty God of the last days is the embodiment of the Spirit of truth; Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.
VII. One Must Fellowship Clearly That Only That Which Christ of the Last Days Brings Is the Way of Eternal Life
1. One must understand that the message spread by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was only the way of repentance.
Bible Verse(s) for Reference:
“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17).
“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:28).
“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luk 24:47).
Relevant Words of God:
In the beginning, Jesus spread the gospel and preached the way of repentance, then went on to baptize man, heal sickness, and cast out demons. In the end, He redeemed mankind from sin and completed His work for the entire age.
from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Jesus’ work was done in accordance with the needs of man in that age. His task was to redeem humanity, to forgive them of their sins, and so all His disposition was one of humility, patience, love, piety, forbearance, mercy, and lovingkindness. He blessed humanity richly and brought them grace in abundance, and all things for enjoyment: peace and happiness, Jesus’ tolerance and love, His mercy and lovingkindness. In those days, all that man encountered was an abundance of things to enjoy: His heart was at peace and reassured, his spirit was consoled, and he was sustained by the Savior Jesus. That he could gain these things was a consequence of the age in which he lived. In the Age of Grace man had been corrupted by Satan, and so the work of redeeming all humanity required an abundance of grace, infinite forbearance and patience, and even more, an offering adequate to atone for humanity’s sins. What people saw in the Age of Grace was merely My sin offering for humanity, Jesus. And they knew only that God could be merciful and forbearing, saw only Jesus’ mercy and lovingkindness. This was because they lived in the Age of Grace. So before they could be redeemed, they had to enjoy much grace that Jesus bestowed on them; only this was beneficial to them. This way, they could be forgiven of their sins through their enjoyment of grace, and could have the chance to be redeemed through enjoying Jesus’ forbearance and patience. Only through Jesus’ forbearance and patience were they capable of receiving forgiveness and enjoying the abundance of grace bestowed by Jesus—just as Jesus said, “I have come not to redeem the righteous but sinners, allowing their sins to be forgiven.” … The more Jesus loved mankind, forgiving them of their sins and giving them enough mercy and lovingkindness, the more mankind was capable of being saved, called the lost lambs that Jesus bought back at a great price. Satan could not meddle in this work, because Jesus treated His followers as a loving mother treats the infant in her arms. He did not grow angry at them or despise them, but was full of consolation; He never got furious among them, but forbore with their sins and turned a blind eye to their foolishness and ignorance, such that He said, “Forgive others seventy times seven times.” So His heart reformed the hearts of others, and in this way did the people receive forgiveness through His forbearance.
from “The Truth Concerning the Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
At the time, Jesus only spoke to His disciples a series of sermons in the Age of Grace, such as how to practice, how to gather together, how to ask in prayer, how to treat others, and so forth. The work He carried out was that of the Age of Grace, and He expounded only on how the disciples and those who followed Him ought to practice. He did only the work of the Age of Grace and none of the last days. … The work of God in each age has clear boundaries; He does only the work of the current age and never does He carry out the next stage of work in advance. Only in this way can His representative work of each age be brought to the fore. Jesus had spoken only of the signs of the last days, of how to be patient and how to be saved, how to repent and confess, as well as how to bear the cross and endure suffering; never did He speak of what man in the last days should enter into or how to seek to satisfy God’s will.
from “How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the blessing of the entire family upon the faith of one, and the healing of sicknesses, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and their godly appearance; if man could live based on such, he was considered a good believer. Only such believers could enter heaven after death, which means that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, they did not understand at all the way of life. They merely committed sins, then made confession in a constant cycle without any path toward a changed disposition; such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace.
from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
The work of Jesus was only for the sake of man’s redemption and the crucifixion. Thus, there was no need for Him to say more words in order to conquer any man. Much of what He taught man was drawn from the words of the Scriptures, and even if His work did not exceed the Scriptures, still He was able to accomplish the work of the crucifixion. His was not the work of the word, nor for the sake of conquering mankind, but in order to redeem mankind. He only acted as the sin offering for mankind, and did not act as the source of the word for mankind.
from “The Vision of God’s Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
The Age of Grace preached the gospel of repentance, and provided that man believed, then he would be saved. … At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin. … Jesus did not come to perfect and gain man, but to do one stage of work: bringing forth the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and completing the work of the crucifixion—and so once Jesus was crucified, His work came to a complete end.
from “The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
Why are the “Eastern Lightning” opposed and condemned by the religious world?
God has become flesh twice to personally carry out His work on earth to save man, yet each time He meets with strong resistance and condemnation and frenzied persecution from the religious leaders. The facts are shocking and puzzling: Why is God treated this way whenever He carries out a new stage of work? Why are the most frenzied and rampant resisters of God the leaders who know the Bible well and who have served the Lord for years? Why do they, the most faithful and obedient ones to God in their own eyes, always carry out misdeeds and go contrary to God, unable to be compatible with Him? Could it be that God’s work is an error? Could it be that what God does is unsatisfactory? Absolutely not! The main reason all denominations and sects act out a role of resisting God and become God’s enemies is this: On the one hand, they have no truth and have no knowledge of the work of the Holy Spirit or knowledge of God, and they always use their limited theological theories and knowledge as well as their conceptions and imaginations to restrict God’s work that is always new and never old. On the other hand, men are so deeply corrupted by Satan that they are all arrogant and haughty by nature, are unsubmissive to the truth, and particularly value position. These two aspects together have led to the tragedy of the true way being rejected and condemned again and again in human history. Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus performed many miracles among the Jews, and He healed the sick, exorcised demons, spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, taught people to repent, and forgave them of their sins. There was no record of such work in the Old Testament, and it was the work that no one had ever done before. It was also of course the work none were capable of, for apart from God, no one had such great authority and power. What Jesus set out to accomplish at that time was to be crucified to bear man’s sins personally, bestow upon man an abundance of grace and peace and joy, and bring him out of the rules of the law through the work of the new age, so that he would no longer suffer punishment for failing to observe the law. Those under the law could receive God’s salvation and not perish only if they kept up with the work of Jesus. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees among the Jews, however, didn’t know the work of the Holy Spirit or what the work Jesus did was. In their conceptions, they believed that it was a betrayal of their God and purely the worst offense to not observe the law or pray in the name of Jehovah. Besides, as they considered that they were familiar with the Bible and had served Jehovah in the temple for many years, they believed what they held to was the truth, the most correct way; so, they regarded Jesus’ work a way outside the Bible, which ran counter to the Bible and the law. Hence, they would rather die than accept the message Jesus preached, and they even condemned Jesus’ work as heresy, a cult, and something deceiving people. Even though there was authority and wisdom to Jesus’ work and words and His miracles were unprecedented, and even though more and more people were testifying to Jesus’ deeds, they were still unwilling to investigate and seek this higher way. Rather, they were opinionated and stiff-necked and denied Jesus to be the Christ, the coming Messiah. Just as what Almighty God reveals: “Man is only able to accept one kind of work, or one way of practice. It is difficult for man to accept work, or ways of practice, that are at odds with them, or higher than them—but the Holy Spirit is always doing new work, and so there appear group after group of religious experts that oppose the new work of God. These people have become ‘experts’ precisely because man has no knowledge of how God is always new and never old, and has no knowledge of the principles of God’s work, and, what’s more, has no knowledge of the many ways in which God saves man. As such, man is utterly unable to tell if it is work that comes from the Holy Spirit, and if it is the work of God Himself. Many people cling to an attitude in which, if it corresponds with the words that came before, then they accept it, and if there are differences with the work of before, then they oppose and reject it.” (from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) A believer in God should at least have a fear of God and hunger and thirst for righteousness. Only then can he receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, come to know God’s new work, and follow God’s footsteps closely. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of the Jews met Jesus many times, but instead of seeking the truth, they just tried every means to test Him and get something against Him. Nathanael and the Samaritan woman, as well as Jesus’ disciples and the other people didn’t have knowledge of God either and also had notions about God’s new work, but they could drop them and seek the truth. As a result, they recognized Jesus’ identity and God’s voice and obeyed and accepted the truth. Thus it can be seen that those religious elites were not only obstinate and hidebound but also arrogant and self-right, and they didn’t accept or submit to the truth at all.
As more and more Jewish people followed the Lord Jesus, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees became more fearful because they worried that their expectation of having people forever obey them would become a vain hope. The authority and power of Jesus’ words and work were unmatched by them, which made them feel inferior and ashamed of themselves. Thus, they had an ever increasing sense of crisis: If Jesus existed, the temple would become more and more desolate, and they could not continue enjoying a life of being supported, regarded as supreme, and sustained by others. So, they took Jesus as their irreconcilable foe. To preserve their position, they tried in every way to frame Jesus and blaspheme and condemn His work, spreading the slander that He cast out devils through Beezlebub the chief of the devils, and bearing false witness against Him, saying that He spoke words against the holy place and the law. (cf. Acts 6:10-14) They were dead set on removing Jesus from the Jewish people, and finally crucified Him. Even when Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and His disciples had more power and were accompanied with wonders in preaching the gospel, which sufficiently proved that the way they preached had the work of the Holy Spirit and was upheld by the Holy Spirit, those chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees still didn’t consider why Jesus’ gospel could be so prosperous. In fact, these “honorable” figures who were well versed in the Bible and wealthy in knowledge simply scorned to investigate and seek from those villagers, fishermen, and “ignorant” common people, who had no standing or knowledge. On the pretext of “defending the law and guarding the right way,” they continued to use power to collude with those in office and further restrict and oppress and even frenziedly kill those disciples and other Jewish followers of Jesus, exerting all their efforts to hinder people from following the Lord Jesus. And they forbade anyone to spread Jesus’ name…. Their evil deeds aroused God’s wrath, and the whole Jewish nation suffered unprecedented destruction. They paid a bitter price for resisting and condemning God.
Today, in the last days, God has prepared a greater salvation for those who have been redeemed by His precious blood—judging and purifying man with His word, which is a newer and higher stage of work. Through this stage of work, man will be completely freed of his corrupt satanic disposition, break free from the bondage of Satan’s dark influence, and become a holy man who knows God, is compatible with God, and truly belongs to God, thus being saved and perfected. This is the last stage of work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan. During God’s work of the last days, Christ incarnate has expressed many words of life supplying man with the truth, ridding him of his corruption, and disclosing various heavenly mysteries. And by virtue of His wisdom, great power, and authority, God has the gospel of the last days spread to thousands of families, all corners of the country. Millions of people who thirst and seek the truth have left their denominations or sects and returned before Almighty God, and the unprecedented scene of “the peoples streaming to this mountain” has appeared, and it is spreading to the entire universe. However, in the face of so many truths, such a great wonder, and such testimonies of the Holy Spirit’s work, the religious people pay no heed to them and are not touched in the slightest. They neither study them with care nor accept them with humility. Like the Pharisees, they don’t know that the work of the Holy Spirit always progresses forward, and that it is always new and never old, which is a principle by which the Holy Spirit works. They don’t have the slightest knowledge of Almighty God’s work of the last days, yet they believe confidently that they have already gained the truth and known God since they have enjoyed a way higher than that of the Age of Law of the Old Testament, and they are versed in the Old and New Testament, and have worked and preached for many years. They also stubbornly believe in this: All the Lord’s words are in the Bible. Any way that is outside of the work of Jesus and the Bible is not the true way. Departing from God’s requirements for man in the Age of Grace amounts to going beyond Christ’s teaching. Only what they have accepted, known, and held to is the true way. Anything other than that is heresy, a cult. They constrain God within the Bible and within their conceptions and imaginations. No matter how high the work brought by Almighty God is, how much work of the Holy Spirit it has, how many ways of practice it brings, and how many facts there are to verify it, they do not acknowledge that it is from God. So they all are hostile to Jesus’ return and deny it, and they even blaspheme God’s incarnate flesh, and slander and condemn the work and words of Christ of the last days. Aren’t they stubborn, hidebound, arrogant, self-right, defiant of the truth, and blasphemous of the Holy Spirit like the Pharisees of those days? As Almighty God says: “If you only come to know God from one stage of His work, then your knowledge is too, too little. Your knowledge is but a drop in the ocean. If not, why would many of the religious old guard nail God to the cross alive? Is it not because man confines God within certain parameters? Do many people not oppose God and obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit because they do not know the varied and diverse work of God, and, furthermore, because they possess but a smidgeon of knowledge and doctrine with which to measure the work of the Holy Spirit? Though the experiences of such people are superficial, they are arrogant and indulgent in nature, and they regard the work of the Holy Spirit with contempt, ignore the disciplines of the Holy Spirit and, moreover, use their trivial old arguments to ‘confirm’ the work of the Holy Spirit. They also put on an act, and are wholly convinced of their own learning and erudition, and that they are able to travel across the world. Are such people not those who are despised and rejected by the Holy Spirit, and will they not be eliminated by the new age? Are not those who come before God and openly oppose Him myopic little people, who are merely trying to show how clever they are? With but a meager knowledge of the Bible, they try to straddle the world’s ‘academia,’ with but a superficial doctrine to teach people, they try to reverse the work of the Holy Spirit, and attempt to make it revolve around their own thought process, and short-sighted as they are, they try to behold in one glance 6,000 years of God’s work. Do these people have any reason to speak of? In fact, the greater people’s knowledge of God, the slower they are to judge His work. Furthermore, they only talk a little of their knowledge of God’s work today, but they are not rash in their judgments. The less people know of God, the more arrogant and overconfident they are, and the more wantonly they proclaim God’s being—yet they only talk of theory, and offer no real evidence. Such people are of no value whatsoever. Those who see the work of the Holy Spirit as a game are frivolous! Those who are not cautious when they encounter the new work of the Holy Spirit, who run their mouths off, are quick to judge, who give free rein to their natural instinct to deny the rightness of the Holy Spirit’s work, and also insult and blaspheme it—are such disrespectful people not ignorant of the Holy Spirit’s work? Are they not, furthermore, the ones of arrogance, inherently proud and ungovernable?” (from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh)
As those true believers in the Lord return to God’s family by the thousands, the spread of God’s work in the last days has gradually reached its climax. However, the magnificence of the work of the Holy Spirit hasn’t made those religious experts—who have been accustomed to leading and commanding others in a lofty position—examine themselves and lower their proud heads to seek and investigate. Instead, finding that they are in an increasing danger of losing their positions, they begin to worry that people will all return to Almighty God and “snub” and reject them. So, to change the situation, the pastors, elders, leaders, co-workers of every denomination and sect, brandishing the banner of “watching the flock for the Lord,” begin to print and distribute adverse materials, spread rumors on the internet, and use many other ways to wantonly blaspheme and attack Almighty God. They spread the slander that Almighty God’s words are written by man, not God’s words, and that there is drug in the book, and whoever reads it will be brainwashed. And they distort the facts and call white black, falsely accusing the Church of Almighty God of being the “sect of Eastern Lightning,” an underworld organization. By so doing, they deceive and threaten the believers so that they dare not approach or come into contact with God’s gospel at all, and the denominations and sects are sealed impenetrable and watertight. These religious leaders forbid the believers to read the books of the Eastern Lightning, listen to the messages of the Eastern Lightning, and receive the preachers of God’s salvation of the last days or even any stranger, which completely goes contrary to the teaching of entertaining strangers, as required by God in the Age of Grace. The most shocking thing is that as believers in God, they even collude with the government to do the evil deeds of selling out the Lord and the friends. They track, watch, and report the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel of the last days, and even act as the hidden traitors to provide information for the secret arrest of them. It seems that they only wish to catch all those who testify God and eliminate God’s new work to slake their hatred. They clearly know that Almighty God’s followers are all kind-hearted true believers in God, and that these people don’t have any ill intention in preaching the salvation of the last days, yet they savagely and rudely insult, drive, and even beat these gospel preachers. It is plain to see that these religious people have long lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and the substance of their nature is one of refusing to accept the truth, being tired of the truth, and hating the truth. Outwardly they run and spend themselves doing the work, yet they harbor ambitions and disobedience. They are actually seeking positions and running for profits, exerting every effort to satisfy their selfish desires.
Thus it can be seen that both the religious world of Judaism of that time and the religious people of all denominations and sects today act against God, the truth, and the true way determinedly again and again without “fearing death,” essentially because they have no knowledge of God’s working principles and of God’s new work and they are stubborn, hidebound, arrogant, and self-right, and don’t seek the truth at all. Moreover, it is closely related to their great ambition for position and bad character. Now is the critical time of transition from the old age to the new age. The spiritual war has reached its peak. If one still believes those religious people’s rumors and false testimonies and is at their beck and call, disregards, scorns, and sneers at God’s such work and words, is irresponsible for his own life, still says what others say, follows the crowd and comments on the work of the Holy Spirit casually and indulgently, doesn’t have any will and courage to set his face toward justice and be freed from the bondage and hindrance of Satan’s influence, and only muddles along drifting with the tides, he will never be able to see the countenance of the Creator, forever lose the opportunity to know God, and only become a puppet of the history, a sacrificial object of Satan, and fall into darkness, weeping and gnashing his teeth, and perish. And the scriptures in Isaiah 9:14-16 will be fulfilled: “Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” We must know that God will not choose any base person who does not thirst for the truth, believes in God in a muddled way, has no definite views and ground of his own, adores the powers, and veers with the wind. On the contrary, He is looking for and perfecting a group of “chaste virgins” who hold God to be great, are of clear and sober mind, simple and obedient, and sincerely thirst for and seek God. This is an absolutely true fact! Isn’t the lesson of the Israelites paid for in blood enough to wake you up?
A Surprising Gain From Receiving a Stranger – Return of Jesus
Feng ying
I used to be a preacher of a house church. One day in a co-worker meeting, Pastor Chen read a passage of the Bible, “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). And then he said, “Co-workers, now the Eastern Lightning followers say that the Lord Jesus has returned to do the work of judgment. And many good sheep in other churches have been stolen by them. How can we give an account to the Lord in the future if we fail to look after His flock well? So I decide that in order to protect the flock, no one is allowed to receive any stranger. And if anyone accepts the Eastern Lightning, he will be expelled from the church.” I was greatly shocked by his words, thinking, “Why have so many true believers in the Lord accepted the Eastern Lightning? How could that be? From now on I must be cautious and never receive strangers.”
In the following days, I went to every meeting place to communicate Pastor Chen’s words and asked the believers to obey them. After that, I breathed a sigh of relief, believing acting this way was devotion to the Lord. One day, an elderly sister came to my home in a fluster and said, “Fengying, a stranger came to preach the Eastern Lightning, and she said the Lord Jesus has already come back to express the truth …” “Where is she?” I immediately interrupted her. “I’ll go and have a look.” As soon as I got to the elderly sister’s house with her, I quickly walked up to the sister who came to preach the gospel and said, “You are the one preaching the Eastern Lightning?” “Yes, auntie,” She said with a smile. “The Eastern Lightning is the Jehovah God, the second coming of the Lord Jesus.” “Which verse of the Bible records that the Eastern Lightning is the Jehovah God?” I asked. “You’d better go now. We won’t believe whatever you are preaching.” Then she replied peacefully, “Auntie, have you forgotten that the Bible says, ‘Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain’ (Zechariah 10:1). Isn’t the LORD the God who makes the lightning?” Her words made me speechless, like giving me a head-on blow. In order to save my face, I fought back, “You can preach to those unbelievers if you will. Besides, we don’t know you. And the pastors and elders forbid us to receive strangers. Go now!” A sister said, “Right! We don’t know you. Go away!” But she said calmly, “Actually, we believers in the Lord should listen to the Lord’s word. The Lord Jesus has never said that no one is allowed to receive strangers; instead He said, ‘Whoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whoever shall receive me receives him that sent me’ (Luke 9:48). The Lord said that whoever receives the messengers that preach the gospel receives Him. But your pastors and elders don’t allow you to receive strangers, aren’t they disobeying the Lord’s teachings?” Another one said hastily, “If you don’t leave, I’ll call 110 and then you’ll go.” Everyone present attacked or threatened her, and she was driven away.
After the sister left, I couldn’t help thinking: This stranger’s words don’t depart from the Bible. And she is rather devout and doesn’t look like a bad woman. At night, my heart beat violently and I felt very uncomfortable. So I examined in what way I had offended the Lord. Then I remembered how I rejected the people who preached the Eastern Lightning in the past. Was my doing so against the Lord’s will? Thinking of this, I felt it hard to calm down. Recalling that the Lord Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves in the Bible, I got even more confused. So I prayed, “O Lord, I have worked, preached, and protected the flock for You. Why am I having a heart attack? Is it wrong for me not to receive the stranger? O Lord, I am so confused and don’t know what should I do to be after Your heart. O Lord, please guide me.” After the prayer, the words in the Bible that young sister said occurred to me, “Whoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whoever shall receive me receives him that sent me” (Luke 9:48). I pondered: Right! The Lord Jesus said we should even receive a child, and He never said not to receive strangers. So, is it wrong for me to reject that sister? Then I recalled what the pastors and elders said, thinking: They don’t allow us to receive strangers for the sake of the sheep’s life. They’ve done no wrong. I was really confused at the moment. So I prayed many times and entrusted the Lord with this matter, asking Him to guide me to understand His will.
A few days later, that young sister came to my home. I said, “These days there are many people preaching the Eastern Lightning, and our pastors and elders repeatedly ask us not to contact strangers. You are a stranger, and I don’t know you.” Then she said quietly, “Auntie, as a preacher, you should know that in the Bible there were many people who obtained unexpected blessing unawares just because they received strangers.
The Bible records: Abraham received three strangers, and then he had a son when he was one hundred years old. Lot received strangers, and when Sodom was destroyed, he and his two daughters survived. Rahab the harlot received strangers, and she and the others in her house were spared. The poor widow from Zarephath received a stranger, the prophet Elijah, and then the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry; and when the son of the widow was seriously sick and there was no breath left in him, Elijah prayed to God and cured him. All of those who received strangers obtained God’s grace unawares. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward’ (Matthew 10:41). These are the Lord’s teachings to us, and we should put them into practice. Auntie, is what I said true?” I replied, “Yes. We also frequently preach these at gatherings.” Then she said, “Auntie, if we merely talk about them without practicing them, we won’t gain the truth. Just like the Lord Jesus said, ‘Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house on a rock’ (Matthew 7:24). From these examples recorded in the Bible, we can see that if we receive strangers, not only won’t we be deceived, but instead we will gain God’s protection and blessings. The Bible also says, ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’ (Hebrews 13:2). If no one had received the strangers just as what the pastors and elders said, then how could the gospel of Jesus Christ be spread from the western countries to our country? Do we know those missionaries from the West? The Lord Jesus said, ‘Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). Since those people went to all nations to preach the gospel, there must be lots of people who didn’t know them. Just like when the Lord Jesus’ disciples and Paul were spreading the Lord’s gospel everywhere, how could many people know them? So, is it in line with the Lord’s teachings that the pastors and elders said not to receive strangers? If we blindly believe those religious leaders’ words and refuse to receive strangers, aren’t we disobeying the Lord’s word and being foolish? Then how can we enter the kingdom of heaven if we just believe in the Lord but don’t obey His word? Isn’t it so, auntie?”
At her words, I thought: Right. People who believe in the Lord should obey the word of the Lord. Since the Lord Jesus never asked us not to receive strangers, is what the pastors and elders said wrong? Then I thought: No! The pastors and elders told us not to receive strangers in case we follow any other gospel. And what they said is for our good. Thinking of this, I said, “The Bible says, ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ’ (Galatians 1:6-7). Thus the reason why we don’t receive strangers is that we fear to follow another gospel.” She smiled and said, “Auntie, a lot of people in the religious world don’t at all understand the verse of the Bible you mentioned. It is from an epistle that Paul wrote to the Galatian churches. But many people think it’s a teaching to the believers in the Lord in the last days. So they never have a proper attitude toward these words. At that time, Paul was preaching the gospel in another place, and he learned that many brothers and sisters in the Galatian churches had left the way of the Lord Jesus Christ and returned to the temple and continued to worship Jehovah and keep the laws. Paul was concerned about the churches, but he couldn’t go back to the Galatian churches immediately. So he wrote this epistle to exhort and remind the brothers and sisters in the churches. Just like he said, ‘O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?’ (Galatians 3:1). The leaders, chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism disturbed and deceived the Galatians, and asked them to deny the word of Jesus Christ. So Paul wrote an epistle, saying, ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.’ In that age, there were two groups of people preaching the gospel. One preached the old way of God, the gospel of believing in Jehovah God and keeping the law; the other preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, there were some who troubled the Galatians, trying to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ, and make them go back to keep the law. So Paul said in the epistle, ‘… preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed’” (Galatians 1:8).
After her fellowship, I felt brightened in my heart: So, this is what happened. How do the pastors and elders not know that? Since we all believe in the Lord, how could she know so much? And where does she get these? So I asked quizzically, “Sister Zhang, you are right. But how do you know all of these? The book in your hand is…” “Auntie, how could man know these things? I learned all of them from this book. This book is particularly different from any other book in the world, because the words in it are expressed by the second incarnate God Himself. It explains everything that man doesn’t understand and all the mysteries in the Bible, including what you don’t understand.” Her words reminded me of some believers who love the Lord in other churches. They had believed in the Lord for many years, yet easily accepted the Eastern Lightning, and no one could bring them back. It seemed that the Eastern Lightning really had the truth. Therefore, I received the book.
Then she fellowshiped a lot with me, such as the truth of the three stages of God’s work, the prophecies about the “Eastern Lightning,” and so on. I thought: What this young sister said is well-founded and illuminating, and I enjoyed it and learnt from it so much. I’m also a preacher, yet why do I not understand these? Before leaving, she left several tapes of the recitals of Almighty God’s words to me. I turned on the player from which a pleasing sound came, “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. … 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.” Hearing this, I felt both joy and sorrow with tears in my eyes, thinking: These words with authority can only be expressed by God Himself. The Lord Jesus also said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me’ (John 14:6). This is indeed God’s voice. At that time, the scene of my rejecting the brothers and sisters who came to preach the gospel to me time after time rose before my eyes. I was very distressed: How foolish and ignorant I am! During my years of belief, I have listened to what the pastors and elders said more than the Lord’s word, so that I didn’t dare to receive any stranger who preached the Eastern Lightning. Besides, not only did I not seek or investigate the true way, but I hindered my brothers and sisters doing that, thinking that this was devotion to the Lord. Never did I think that I was in opposition to God. However, God didn’t give up on me because of that, and instead He arranged for a sister to preach the gospel to me once more, giving me another opportunity to repent. When I received the sister, a stranger, God blessed me, and so I received the Lord and welcomed His return unawares. I thank God for His salvation of me, and I am willing to cooperate with Him to bring my brothers and sisters before Him to comfort His heart.
Not long after, I began to live the church life. Having meetings and performing my duty with my brothers and sisters, I was filled with joy. Thank God for His guidance. Later, I cooperated with some brothers and sisters and brought those who truly believe in the Lord in my former church before God. All the glory be to Almighty God!
“If I were not saved by God, I would still be drifting in this world,
struggling hard and painfully in sin; every day gets bleak and hopeless.
If I were not saved by God, I’d still be crushed below the devil’s feet,
snared in sin and its enjoyments, ignorant of what my life would be.
If I were not saved by God, I’d be without my blessings here today,
much less know why we should live on or the meaning of our lives.
If I were not saved by God, I’d still be confused about my faith,
still in empty space passing the days, unaware in whom to put my faith.
I have finally understood God’s loving hand holds mine as we go.
I would never go and lose my way ’cause I’m on this brilliant course to stay” (“If I Were Not Saved by God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Whenever I hear this hymn of experience, I am always deeply moved. If it weren’t for God saving me, as described in the hymn, I might still be wandering aimlessly in the world, tiring myself out chasing after money, even to the point that I would long since have lost my life and died abroad in a foreign land …
I’m a child of the eighties, and was born in an ordinary farmer household. My older brother was always unwell and sick since he was little. My father was wounded in an accident when I was 10; he was paralyzed two years after that. Our family’s financial situation was poor to begin with, and we went heavily into debt treating my father. Our friends and relatives were afraid that we would never be able to pay back the debt, and weren’t willing to loan us money. Helpless, I was forced to drop out of school at 16 to work away from home. In deep and quiet night, I would often think: When they were young, children the same age as me would play freely after school, while I would have to be in fields doing farming work; now they have grown up as me, and they are still going to school, acting like spoiled children with their parents, but I have to start working at an early age and suffer all kinds of hardships to support my family. … At that time, I complained to my parents about why they gave birth to me, and asked why it was that I came into this world just to suffer and toil. But there was nothing I could do about it, and I could only accept this reality. At the time, my greatest wish was to work hard, earn money, and allow my parents to live comfortably, and no longer be looked down on by others.
At first I worked in a private aluminum alloy factory. Since I was a child laborer, the boss always took good care of me with my food and housing. After one year, I felt that my wages were too low, and chose to go do the lacquer spraying work in a furniture factory that other people didn’t want to do. At that time, no matter what kind of work I was doing, as long as I didn’t break the law, I would go do it if I could make more money. My only goal was that I wanted to become a person with money, so I wouldn’t have to live the life of a poor person again. After that, my relatives introduced me to a company that offered me the opportunity to leave the country for work. I had never thought that after a few years I would go abroad.
In the Spring of 2012, I had my wish granted when I came to Japan and began my new life. I was involved in the shipbuilding industry, and through an apprenticeship I signed a three-year contract with the company. When I started work, I was exhausted and suffering. Because I didn’t know how to cook, I ate instant noodles for a month, until I couldn’t eat them with the feeling like I was going to throw up and was forced to learn to cook. I have no idea how many days I ate half-cooked rice. In Japan, we were foreigners, so it was hard for the company’s workers to keep from having an unfair treatment toward us. They made us do a lot of dirty, tiring, and dangerous tasks. When I was spraying lacquer, I was rather scared, because if the gas came into contact with fire it would ignite, and if I stopped paying attention for a moment it could endanger my life. But no matter if it was suffering in my life or danger in my work, as long as I thought of making more money to send back to my family, and being able to buy a car and a house after I returned home and elevate myself over others and no longer be poor, I felt that my suffering at the time actually wasn’t too bad. Three years of my life passed in the blink of an eye working there, and the time period on my visa was almost up. The company had a policy of renewing contracts, so in order to make more money, I chose to renew my contract and continue to work in Japan. What pleasantly surprised me was that not long after I renewed my contract, I encountered the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God.
In September of 2015, a friend I had met in Japan told me about God’s work in the last days. When she was telling me about believing in God, I thought this was just a kind of belief, and didn’t think it was interesting. I felt that believing in God wouldn’t be able to change my destiny. Soon after that, I told my friend about my own way of thinking and the hardships I had endured, then asked her, “Can believing in God change my destiny? I’ve suffered so much, I’m just an ill-fated person. If I had money I wouldn’t be suffering, and right now the most real thing for me is to make money. For me, believing in God is something remote.” When my friend heard me speaking like this, she read to me a section of the word of God: “Where you will go every day, what you will do, who or what you will encounter, what you will say, what will happen to you—can any of this be predicted? People cannot foresee all these occurrences, much less control how they develop. In life, these unforeseeable events happen all the time, and they are an everyday occurrence. These daily vicissitudes and the ways they unfold, or the patterns by which they play out, are constant reminders to humanity that nothing happens at random, that these things’ ramifications, and their inevitability, cannot be shifted by human will. Every happening conveys an admonition from the Creator to mankind, and it also sends the message that human beings cannot control their own fates; at the same time every event is a rebuttal to humanity’s wild, futile ambition and desire to take its fate into its own hands. They are like powerful slaps about humanity’s ears one after another, forcing people to reconsider who, in the end, governs and controls their fate. And as their ambitions and desires are repeatedly thwarted and shattered, humans naturally arrive at an unconscious acceptance of what fate has in store, an acceptance of reality, of the will of Heaven and the Creator’s sovereignty. From these daily vicissitudes to the fates of entire human lives, there is nothing that does not reveal the Creator’s plans and His sovereignty; there is nothing that does not send the message that ‘the Creator’s authority cannot be exceeded,’ that does not convey the eternal truth that ‘the Creator’s authority is supreme’” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After hearing this, I felt that these words made a lot of sense, and I couldn’t help but think that being able to renew my contract also seemed like something that had been arranged by God. It also made me think about the home I was born into and my life with my family were things I had no choice about. I had the feeling that somewhere out there is a Sovereign in control.
My friend also had me read this section of the word of God “‘God Himself, the Unique III’ in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh” which talks about six junctures that a person must pass through in life: Birth: The First Juncture; Growing Up: The Second Juncture; Independence: The Third Juncture; Marriage: The Fourth Juncture; Progeny: The Fifth Juncture; Death: The Sixth Juncture. When I had read the word of God, I was amazed. I had never imagined that God had spoken so clearly about man’s destiny, and the facts are indeed as He described. According to ordinary circumstances, a person will experience these six junctures in his life. I thought of how many people there are on earth suffering, and how it wasn’t just me. If destiny were really up to a person’s choice and he were in control of it, then everyone would choose to live in a big, fancy house, and would there be anyone suffering from poverty and hardship? In fact, the family a person is born into is absolutely not up to them to choose, and they can’t choose what kind of parents they have. After they grow up, the kind of husband or wife they have is also not up to them. … The more I pondered them, the more I felt these words were practical, and I then began in my heart to believe what Almighty God had said. Fate is not something that can be changed by oneself. Since then, I began to get more and more interested in believing in God, and I believed that God exists, and believed that a person’s fate is not under his own control. But because I didn’t know much about God, I felt that God was very remote from me. However, in an experience not long after that, I genuinely felt: God is beside me, watching over and protecting me.
It was raining that day, and I got to work as usual, but I had absolutely no idea that there was a disaster sneaking up to strike me. Over 10:00 in the morning, I was at work on the jobsite, when I suddenly heard a “boom.” I didn’t know what it was that had smashed to the ground, and it gave me an icy shudder of terror. When I turned my head to look, I was stunned, and saw a 40 cm diameter and 4 m long iron pipe weighing about half a ton which had fallen from a crane. It smashed to the ground less than half a meter from where I was standing. I was so terrified in that moment that I was totally speechless, and it took a while for me to regain my composure from the shock. In my heart I was yelling nonstop: “Thank You God! Thank You God!” If God hadn’t been there watching over and protecting me, then the iron pipe would have smashed straight down onto me, and my insignificant life would have been over.
After I got off work, when I was talking with the brothers and sisters about what had happened that day, they fellowshiped to me that it had been God’s protection. They also read to me from the word of Almighty God: “Throughout your long lives, basically every individual has encountered many dangerous situations and undergone many temptations. This is because Satan is right there beside you, its eyes fixed on you constantly. It likes it when disaster strikes you, when calamities befall you, when nothing goes right for you, and likes it when you are caught in Satan’s net. As for God, He is protecting you constantly, keeping you from one misfortune after another and from one disaster after another. This is why I say that everything man has—peace and joy, blessings and personal safety—is in fact all under God’s control, and He guides and decides the life and fate of every individual” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading the word of God I understood that people live every day in Satan’s net and that they are cruelly harmed. Without God watching over and guarding them, people would have long since been swallowed up by Satan. All these years, I don’t know how many times I enjoyed God watching over and protecting me, but all along I did not know God or worship Him; I truly had no conscience. Starting from that moment, I understood God’s grace of salvation better. That I was able to live up to the present is all thanks to God’s loving hand guarding me, and I thanked God from my heart. I also decided that in the future I would do all I can to follow God. In the days to come, I frequently attended gatherings with brothers and sisters, and went over into leading a regular church life, and there were slowly changes in my life. I no longer had the anxiety, suffering, and emptiness that I once had. We brothers and sisters were reading the word of God together, and fellowshiping about the word of God, singing hymns in praise of God, free and liberated in our hearts, helping each other and assisting one another in the spiritual life. Not one of them looked down on me, nor was there anyone who had disdain for the poor and fawned over the rich, and I felt I was able to live with dignity. Living among this big, warm, and blessed household of the Church of Almighty God, I felt much happier and fulfilled than in the past.
One day, something happened to a Japanese individual in our company. He was a longtime employee there and already had more than ten years of experience in the company. He was strong whether it was safety awareness or technology. That day, when he was at work, he was driving a lifting truck and was doing some work while lifted 20 meters in the air. In the course of operating it, from lack of attention he caused the truck’s liquified gas to leak onto him. There was another worker at the same time above him doing some welding, and suddenly a spark fell down and landed on his clothing. When the gas that had leaked out came into contact with the spark, it rapidly burst into flame, and a fire broke out. Many people just stared blankly at this old worker who was being engulfed in flames on the spot, but they were totally helpless and unable to do anything. It was already too late to go find someone to save him, and in a few minutes, he was burned to death. When we saw this tragedy occur, many people felt sorry for him, and couldn’t help but think about our own lives: What is it, after all, that people are living for? Because of something like this happening right next to me, I truly realized that if a person has departed from God and doesn’t have God watching over and protecting them, then their life is unprotected at all times. People are so insignificant in the face of calamities and can easily collapse, and no matter how high a person’s expertise is or how much more money a person has they are unable to save themselves.
Afterward, I read a passage of the word of God: “Because of the Creator’s sovereignty and predestination, a lonely soul that started out with nothing to its name gains parents and a family, the chance to become a member of the human race, the chance to experience human life and see the world; and it also gains the chance to experience the Creator’s sovereignty, to know the marvelousness of the creation by the Creator, and most of all, to know and become subject to the Creator’s authority. But most people do not really seize this rare and fleeting opportunity. One exhausts a lifetime’s worth of energy fighting against fate, spends all of one’s time bustling about trying to feed one’s family and shuttling back and forth between wealth and status. The things that people treasure are family, money, and fame; they view these as the most valuable things in life. All people complain about their fates, yet still they push to the back of their minds the questions that it is most imperative to examine and understand: why man is alive, how man should live, what the value and meaning of life is. All of their lives, however many years that may be, they just rush about seeking fame and fortune, until their youth has fled, until they become gray and wrinkled; until they see that fame and fortune cannot stop one’s slide toward senility, that money cannot fill the emptiness of the heart; until they understand that no one is exempt from the law of birth, aging, sickness, and death, that no one can escape what fate has in store. Only when they are forced to confront life’s final juncture do they truly grasp that even if one owns millions in property, even if one is privileged and of high rank, no one can escape death, every person will return to his or her original position: a solitary soul, with nothing to its name” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I finished reading the words of God, I was deeply stirred: People’s spirits come from God, and are destined by God to come among the world of men. But people still don’t want to believe in and worship God, and they don’t treasure the opportunity to experience the Creator’s authority, but only know to live for money, fame, and kinship. They are all busy rushing about strenuously trying to throw off the arrangement of their fate, but what can people obtain by seeking after these things? Has anyone ever thought which of these things—relatives, fame, or wealth—can save their lives when death is imminent? Look at my old coworker’s death—isn’t that the best demonstration of this fact? Thinking about the things I have sought in the past, isn’t it the same? When I went abroad to work, I would take on any filthy, tiring, or dangerous job, just to earn some more money, make people look highly upon me, and so I wouldn’t suffer the humiliation of poverty. Even though I went through every kind of suffering, I never thought to change this way of living. I just followed the same road all along. In my heart, I didn’t know if there is a God, nor did I know that man’s fate is in God’s hands. I relied on myself to change my destiny, and I strove to escape from God’s orchestration and arrangement destined in my life. Wasn’t it the road to ruin that I was following? If it weren’t for God’s salvation, or God watching over and protecting me, I’m afraid that my meager life would have long ago been snatched away by Satan. Even further, how could my life become fulfilled and meaningful as I am now? In that moment, I finally saw that the meaning of life isn’t to seek wealth or fame, it isn’t to seek to get ahead of others so they look highly upon you, but rather is to come into the presence of God, to worship God and receive His salvation, and to break free from Satan’s harm. The more I think like this, the more moved I am. I see that I am able to believe in God, and this is God treating me with a special grace. I don’t know how to express the feeling of gratitude toward God in my heart, and so I learned the hymn “If I Were Not Saved by God” to show my praise of God and to thank Almighty God for saving me!
