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A Small Blade of Grass That Grew Among the Brambles
2018年2月26日
By Yixin, Singapore
In November 2016 I became acquainted, through Facebook, with Brother Lin and Sisters Zhang and Xiaoxiao of The Church of Almighty God. They integrated some of the prophecies in the Bible, fellowshiped with me and bore testimony to God’s work of the last days. Their fellowshiping and testimonies made me understand that Almighty God is conducting the work of judging and cleansing people through words on the foundations of the work of redemption done by the Lord Jesus. Almighty God wishes to thoroughly save mankind from Satan’s power and rid us of our corrupt disposition so that we’ll no longer rebel against and resist God but instead will become people who truly obey and worship Him. From the words of Almighty God I came to understand that God’s work of the last days will reveal all of the wheat and tares, sheep and goats, wise virgins and foolish virgins, so that each will end up with its own kind and virtue will be rewarded while evil will be punished. I realized that Almighty God was the return of the Lord Jesus that I’d been waiting for and I joyously accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days.
One day, Sister Zhu from my original denomination asked me out of the blue what I’d recently been busy with, and so I told her that I’d been investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days. Sister Zhu had a lot of bad things to say about The Church of Almighty God and also blasphemed Almighty God. She urged me not to have anything to do with them. I said: “I’ve been in touch with some brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God for some time now and I’ve been fellowshiping really well with them. They have a fresh and clear way of fellowshiping truths and I’ve understood a lot of truths from listening to them. I’ve grown a lot, and benefited a lot, and they certainly aren’t like you’ve made them out to be. And Almighty God’s words are very practical and have resolved a lot of the bemusement I felt regarding some issues. Those words have given sustenance to my life and have indicated a way of practice for me …” On seeing that my attitude was unyielding, Sister Zhu changed the subject and asked me if I’d tell Sister Yun—who preached the gospel of the Lord to us—about my investigation into Almighty God’s work of the last days. I told her: “There are still many things that I don’t understand, but when I’ve finished looking into it I’ll tell everybody what I’ve discovered.” She agreed that I should have a clear picture before I said anything to Sister Yun.
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So it was a surprise to me when 5 days later the boss of the salon I worked for came to me and said: “Yixin, Yun has asked me to pray for you. In fact, I don’t know how to pray but I’ll do my best …” On hearing this I immediately realized that Sister Zhu had already told Sister Yun about my investigation into Almighty God’s work of the last days. I felt that Sister Zhu hadn’t behaved very virtuously, and I was a bit annoyed with her. I felt that she’d deceived me and sold me out, and I started to feel that even my brothers and sisters in the Lord were untrustworthy … but just as I was thinking this my boss, without consulting me about anything, got the attention of the dozen or so colleagues in the salon and told them that I wasn’t a good Christian and that I was walking a deviant path. She went on to say many things in condemnation of The Church of Almighty God. This all happened so quickly that I didn’t know how to react, and I got very upset. So I prayed silently to myself: “Lord, they’ve heard that You have returned so why aren’t they at all interested in investigation? Why are they only listening to online rumors and saying all that stuff that opposes and condemns You? Almighty God has expressed so many truths, so doesn’t that prove that Almighty God is Your return? Why are they so opposed to my believing in Almighty God? Could it be me who’s wrong? Oh Lord, I don’t know what to do. Please lead me and guide me …”
At a later date, I told Brother Lin what had happened that day. Brother Lin found two passages of Almighty God’s words for me: “Satan is constantly devouring the knowledge that men hold of Me in their hearts, and constantly, with teeth bared and claws unsheathed, engaged in the last throes of its death struggle. Do you wish to be captured by its deceitful stratagems at this moment? Do you wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to cut off your own life? Surely you are not still waiting for Me to dispense My leniency one more time? Seeking to know Me is the key thing, but neither should you neglect to pay attention to actual practice. I am revealing insights to you directly in My words, in hopes that you will be able to submit to My guidance” (“Chapter 6” of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “When God is working in the flesh, He is actually doing battle with Satan in the flesh. When He works in the flesh, He is doing His work in the spiritual realm, and makes the whole of His work in the spiritual realm real on earth” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of GodBecome Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brother Lin fellowshiped about these passages in this way: “We can see from God’s words that what happened to you was a spiritual battle and you came up against Satan’s testing. In the last days, God has incarnated in human flesh in order to speak and save people. From God’s words we can understand truths, know God’s work, know God’s disposition, and totally forsake Satan and go back to God. We can attain salvation and be gained by God. Satan always follows behind God in order to try and disrupt and disturb God’s work. Satan uses whoever it can to create rumors to slander and condemn Almighty God, the Christ of the last days, and prevent us from coming before God. Religious leaders and atheists in positions of power are the embodiment of Satan, and every time that God incarnates on earth to do His work they resist and condemn Him, disrupt His work, and prevent people from following Him. When the Lord Jesus did His work, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of that time were charged by Satan to do everything they could to condemn and oppose His work. They spread false rumors, made false testimonies, and slandered and blasphemed Him. They claimed that the Lord Jesus was exorcising demons through Beelzebub; they said that the Lord Jesus was inciting local citizens to not pay taxes to Caesar; they bribed some soldiers to give false testimonies stating that the Lord Jesus had not resurrected and that His body had been secretly taken by His disciples. When God of the last days incarnated to do His new work, the Chinese Communist government, who are attempting to turn China into atheist territory, along with many pastors and elders who want to protect their own livelihoods and status, began to spread countless lies and false testimonies about Almighty God and The Church of Almighty God in order to deceive, frighten and prevent people from investigating and accepting God’s work of the last days. A lot of people who don’t understand the truth, and are unable to discern properly, blindly believe these rumors and do Satan’s bidding by spreading these fallacies that disturb others and prevent them from accepting the true way. Such people become evil accomplices of Satan who oppose God. So, we must see through the atheist Communist government, which is the enemy of God, and see through those pastors, elders, and wicked people who prevent people from investigating God’s work, as they are the Pharisees of our times. We must see that all the rumors on the Internet are part of Satan’s scheme to prevent us from returning to God. If we want to investigate the true way, then we should only listen to God’s words and definitely must not listen to Satan’s rumors. This is how we will be able to stand on God’s side during the spiritual battle and bear testimony for God, and not be grabbed by Satan …”
Brother Lin’s fellowshiping helped me to understand the origins of the rumors. I now understood that the purpose of Satan in spreading rumors and disrupting and putting obstacles in my way is to prevent me from gaining God’s salvation of the last days. After thinking more about it, I realized that these people who were attacking me had never read Almighty God’s words, had never investigated Almighty God’s work of the last days, and were merely blindly listening to rumors and resisting and condemning Almighty God. Their minds have been completely messed up by Satan and they are doing Satan’s bidding and resisting God without even knowing it. A wise person would first meticulously read Almighty God’s words and conduct a thorough investigation before coming to a conclusion. But faith in God is a big thing, and I also was afraid of taking the wrong path, so I still had some worries in my heart. After getting home from work, I prayed to the Lord with tears in my eyes: “Oh Lord, I am very lost and confused, but I don’t want to become a blind believer in what others say. I want to act according to Your intentions, so please lead me and guide me.” I fell asleep, and sometime in the middle of the night I had a vague, sleepy feeling that something was pressing down on me. I struggled to open my eyes but couldn’t. Realizing that struggling was pointless, I hurriedly shouted: “Save me Lord Jesus!” I shouted this twice but it didn’t work. I could still feel the thing pressing down on me. I was at a loss about what to do, and got very scared. Suddenly, I thought about Almighty God, and so shouted twice, “Almighty God! Almighty God!”, and then woke up immediately. After waking, I was still a bit shaken, and it took a while before I fully gathered my wits. I thought about why calling out the name of the Lord Jesus hadn’t worked while calling out “Almighty God!” had woken me up straight away. Then I remembered that Brother Lin had told me that God has a name for each era and after God does the new work for each era the Holy Spiritprotects the name for the new era. So for believers to gain God’s commendation, care, and protection they must pray using the name of God for the new era. In this era, the Lord Jesus has already returned and is using the name Almighty God to end the Age of Grace and open up the Age of Kingdom. During the last days, God’s name is Almighty God, so when we pray we must use this name otherwise God won’t heed us. It was then that I realized that my nightmare hadn’t been spontaneous, but was God listening to my prayers and giving me proof that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. Thank God! After realizing this, my heart swelled with strength and I now had the confidence to face the verbal attacks from my boss and colleagues.
from The Church of Almighty God
