Bearing this question in mind, I went to find the brothers and sisters of
The Church of Almighty God. Sister Lin fellowshiped to me, saying: “As for why it is that the elder and the pastor did not seek or investigate Almighty
God’s work in the last days, but instead frantically accused and resisted Him, Almighty God has already made clear the essence and origin of this problem.
Almighty God says: ‘
Do you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus? Do you wish to know the substance of the Pharisees? They were full of fantasies about the Messiah. What’s more, they believed only that the Messiah would come, yet did not seek the truth of life. And so, even today they still await the Messiah, for they have no knowledge of the way of life, and do not know what the way of truth is. How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing? How could they behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah. And since they had never seen the Messiah, and had never been in the company of the Messiah, they made the mistake of paying empty tribute to the name of the Messiah while opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means. These Pharisees in substance were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The principle of their belief in God is: No matter how profound Your preaching, no matter how high Your authority, You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah. Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous?’ (‘When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘
Look at the leaders of every denomination. They are all arrogant and self-right, and they interpret the Bible out of context and according to their own imagination. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they were incapable of preaching anything, would those people follow them? They do, after all, possess some learning, and can speak a little of doctrine, or know how to win over others and how to use some artifices, through which they have brought people before themselves and have deceived them. Nominally, those people believe in God—but in reality they follow their leaders. If they encounter those who preach the true way, some of them would say, “We have to consult our leader about our belief in God.” They require someone’s consent to believe in God; is that not a problem? What have those leaders become, then? Have they not become Pharisees, false shepherds, antichrists, and stumbling blocks to people’s acceptance of the true way?’ (‘Only the Pursuit of the Truth Is the True Belief in God’ in Records of Christ’s Talks). When the Lord Jesus had first come to do His work, He was beset by the frantic accusations and resistance of the Jewish leaders—the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees. In the end, they crucified the Lord Jesus. The ancestors of the Pharisees believed in God and were expert in the law. So why would they resist and accuse the
Lord Jesus, and nail Him to the cross? We can see from the word of God that this was brought about by their satanic nature of being obstinate, arrogant, and not submitting to the truth. The Lord Jesus expressed so much truth, and they did not seek after or investigate it, but rather adhered to their own viewpoints. Their belief in God relied only on their own notions and imaginations, and they interpreted the Bible by taking verses out of context. This caused them to be blind, and not to obtain enlightenment from God. They did not know the work of the Holy Spirit, and did not understand the truth, nor could they understand
God’s voice. This truly caused the words of the Bible to come true: ‘
By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed’ (Mat 13:14–15). The pastors and elders in religious circles in the last days are the same as the Pharisees of that time, as what they place importance on is knowledge of the Bible and theoretical study of theology. They rely on their own thinking and imaginings to interpret the word of the Lord, and to delimit the way the Lord will return. They stubbornly cling to their own notions and imagination, and they do not seek the truth whatsoever. Not only do they not investigate the work of God in the last days, but they blindly resist and accuse Him, exposing their satanic nature of stubbornness, arrogance, and hostility to the truth. They study theology, equipping themselves with knowledge of the Bible, but that does not mean that they have any love for the truth, nor does it mean that they are able to accept and obey the truth. They explain Bible knowledge and theological theory, their only goal being to increase their own renown and reputation. They do so to safeguard their own status, and make believers look up to them reverently, adore them, and follow them. They see that the words which Almighty God expresses are the truth, and that they are able to conquer and save people, and that many people who have a love for the truth and who yearn for God’s appearance have read the word of Almighty God and have turned to Almighty God. They believe that the work of Almighty God is a threat to their status and livelihood, and so they fight back frantically and do their utmost to accuse and resist Almighty God. They take whatever means necessary to obstruct and disrupt believers from turning to Almighty God in an attempt to dominate God’s chosen people for all time. This is the root of why elders and preachers do not seek or investigate the work of Almighty God and why they frantically resist and accuse Almighty God. It can be seen in the evil deeds of the preachers and elders who resist God that they are the Pharisees of our time, and that they are the obstacle preventing believers from accepting the truth and being raised up into the heavenly kingdom. They are the antichrists, who resist God and make God their enemy, and have been revealed by God’s work in the last days.”
After hearing the word of Almighty God and what the sisters fellowshiped, I compared it to what the pastor and elder had said and done. I saw that the word of Almighty God was spoken in a very practical way and that, even though the pastor and elder can read and interpret the Bible over and over again, it still does not mean that they are the people who have knowledge of God. They rely on natural talent and knowledge in their work to elevate themselves so that others will worship them and follow them. On the surface they seem to be serving God, but in reality what they are serving are their own notions and imagination, their own status and livelihood. Through the pastor and elder repeatedly harassing and obstructing me, I was able to see through to who they truly are. They are antichrists who believe in God but do not seek the truth and who serve God but resist Him. Even though the pastor and elder have still not given up harassing me to this day, I have already seen clearly their true antichrist nature of hostility for
the truth and resistance to God. I will no longer allow myself to be harassed or controlled by them, and I am completely determined that the work of Almighty God in the last days is true. I wish to follow Almighty God to the very end, and never change! Amen!
