I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation

Zhi Yong

Chengde City, Hebei Province

I was formerly a senior co-worker of the Three Grades of Servants Church. In 1995, I gave up my study and left home and stepped onto the way of serving the Lord. In the Three Grades of Servants Church, there was a requirement for every co-worker: Since you have left home, you must not go back or write to or call your family. At that time, there was only one thought in my mind: The severer the requirements are and the more sufferings one has to endure, the more it proves that it is the true way. Only the Three Grades of Servants Church is the true way, and the others are false ones. If one leaves the Three Grades of Servants Church, he cannot be saved. So, I was resolved to serve God all my life and follow the “servant” appointed by God to the end.

Since 1996, the servant and the leaders of all levels had often said in meetings, “Now, the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers are very rampant, and they kill people and set fire and do all kinds of evil deeds. We should protect the brothers and sisters from being deceived. Tell them not to receive any stranger.” So, I went to the churches and said to the brothers and sisters, “Never have contact with the followers of the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ They do all kinds of evil deeds. If you refuse to accept their way, they will kill you. That spirit is powerful! Once you talk with them, you will be controlled by them. They are ‘that man of sin’ and ‘the son of perdition’ mentioned in the Bible who takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God. They are following a false Christ and are deceivers. The Lord Jesus was crucified and bled His precious blood for us, and we should have conscience and hold to His name. As the saying goes, a dutiful son often comes from a poor family, and a loyal official is revealed at the time of national crisis. Now is just the time. We must hold fast to the true way and wait for rapture. The Three Grades of Servants Church is appointed by God, and one cannot be saved if he leaves the Three Grades of Servants Church.” As these words were from the servant, I believed them without any doubt and hated the “Eastern Lightning” followers bitterly. In every prayer I asked the Lord to cut off the “Eastern Lightning” followers lest more people be deceived by them. Once, a sister from the city of Xingtai told me that someone gave her a book, which was named The Trumpet of the Truth, and she dared not read it, and she asked me what she should do with it. I said, “Didn’t you hear what the servant said? The book is poisonous. Burn it right away.” And I also told her, “You should firmly believe in Jesus and the servant. Even if your parents join in the ‘Eastern Lightning,’ you should break off with them. From now on, any co-worker who has been transferred to another place shouldn’t be received unless he is accompanied by a local co-worker.” Just like that, I, ignorant of the facts, sealed off the church and resisted God together with the servant. In 1998, the servant and many leaders were arrested and put into prison, and the church was in chaos. But that didn’t slow down my pace of resisting the work of Almighty God. Seeing the chaotic state of the church, I made a resolution then: I’ll be a “dutiful son” at the time of family poverty and a “loyal official” at the time of national crisis, and even if I might die, I will be loyal to the servant to the end.

At the end of 1999, many co-workers of the church in my hometown led the brothers and sisters and accepted the work of Almighty God. The leader above sent me back home to investigate the situation and make a convert of those who had followed Almighty God. Unexpectedly, the salvation of Almighty God came upon me through this opportunity.

It had been four years since I saw my parents last. So, when they saw me back, they were very happy and kept saying that God answered their prayers. Then they brought home a sister to fellowship with me about God’s three stages of work. Only at that time did I know that my parents had actually accepted Almighty God. My anger quickly took over me at that time, and I said to my mother, “How come you are so conscienceless? The servant is in prison now, and the church is at the time of crisis. But you betrayed the servant and joined in the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ Have you forgotten the resolution you made before the servant at that time?” Then, no matter what they said, I turned a deaf ear to it and just prayed silently in my heart, “O Lord, may You bind them, so that I won’t be deceived by them. I will be a ‘dutiful son’ at the time of family poverty and a ‘loyal official’ at the time of national crisis…” Seeing that I didn’t make any response, the sister was so anxious that she knelt down and prayed alone, “O Almighty God, the sister acts this way because she doesn’t understand Your intention of saving man. May You enlighten her. O Almighty God, You know that I’m too ignorant to explain clearly the three stages of work You have done. I’m unwilling to hinder the sister from accepting the true way because of my ignorance…” Hearing her tearful prayer, I was moved very much, feeling that her prayer was very real and sincere. By comparison, my prayer was just like saying the line, very dull. But thinking of the “earnest instruction” the servant gave us in the meetings, I was hardened inwardly again, “All this is your mask. Even if you wail out of life, you deserve it. Want to cheat me? No way!” My mother also begged me in tears to make the decision after hearing first. Yet that didn’t touch my hardened heart in the slightest. I pointed at my mother and said fiercely, “Don’t pretend; quit playacting. Li XX, you are a traitor. If you say any more, I will break off my relationship with you. You go your way, and I’ll go mine. You can just forget that I have been your daughter. Otherwise, I will keep guard at the door with a knife and kill any of them who come.” I actually said such words to my mother at that time. I had simply lost humanity and had no sense at all. After that, I boarded in the church and began a crazier resistance. At that time, the “Eastern Lightning” was like a plague in my mind and must be exterminated. So, every day I went to “persuade” the brothers and sisters who had accepted Almighty God and attempted to drag them back to the presence of the servant. But all my effort ended in failure. Facing the situation, I felt at a loss, “O Lord, they were never so zealous when they followed the servant, but now they have such great strength in following Almighty God. What is it all about? …” In May 1999, the leader above me came to preach Almighty God’s work to me. It didn’t occur to me that my leader had also actually accepted Almighty God. I was so angry that I went to the home of one of my classmates and refused to see anyone. After a period of time, I quieted my heart and began to think about what had happened and asked God to enlighten and guide me because I didn’t know how to walk the future way. Later, the leader who had accepted Almighty God called me and told me that she wanted to see me. I agreed as I thought that we were best friends in the Three Grades of Servants Church and I would just go and listen first. On July 14, I met her and several sisters who had accepted Almighty God. It was the first time that I fellowshipped with them openly without any resistance. After I stayed with them for several days, I found that they were not at all as frightening or malicious as the servant said. Instead, I found something precious from their speeches and manners. That was the “love” between the brothers and sisters which I had not tasted in the Three Grades of Servants Church. In my years of service, I saw that the co-workers were united apparently but separate at heart, intriguing against one another, having jealousy and strife, and scrambling for power and position, and when you rested for a few days because of illness, others even said that you were indulging in ease and comfort, not to mention to get some comfort from others when you were in sorrow. So, in my heart, I was already numb to the “love” between the brothers and sisters, and I didn’t know what the mutual love was, much less trust in anyone. I always presented myself as stern to conceal my inner loneliness and emptiness. However, in contact with them, when I watched their behavior and listened to their open-hearted fellowship, there was a stir in my heart, “Don’t people say that anyone who doesn’t accept the ‘Eastern Lightning’ will be killed by them? Why do they always fellowship with me friendly without any anger no matter how I treat them or what unpleasant words I say or what a long face I pull? It’s said that the followers of the ‘Eastern Lightning’ are devils, but why do they have so much love? Are they making a pretense? It’s impossible. One can pretend to have anything but love, because only God is love and only God has love. Could it be that what people say is a rumor?” Gradually, the hostility for them in my heart was lessened, and I began to listen to their fellowship.

The sister said, “In seeking the truth, we cannot obtain results through arguing and disputing but should seek calmly and peaceably. In Revelation 3:20, the Lord said: ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ This means that when the Lord comes, He will stand at the door and knock. If we close the door tight, won’t we shut the Lord out? Then how can we receive the truth from God? Now there are over two thousand denominations in the world, and each of them says that what they hold to is the true way and only the people of their denomination can be saved in the future. And they do not have contact with each other and don’t receive those from other denominations. Do you think that we can see the returned Jesus by doing so?” Ah yes, why haven’t I considered those before? I somewhat began to regret having said the word “never receive any stranger” to the brothers and sisters at the beginning. When the sister said that God had done a new work again, I refuted, “God will not do any new work, and He never said so.” The sister continued, “In Isaiah 40:12-15, it says, ‘Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.’ What do you think man is before God? Just as Almighty God says: ‘“God” and “man” cannot be spoken of as equals. His substance and His work are most unfathomable and incomprehensible to man. If God does not personally do His work and speak His words in the world of man, then man would never be able to understand the will of God, and even those who have devoted their entire life to God would be incapable of gaining His approval. Without God’s work, no matter how good man’s doing, it will count for nothing, for the thoughts of God shall always be higher than the thoughts of man, and the wisdom of God is unfathomable to man. And so I say that those who have “seen through” God and His work are ineffectual, they are all arrogant and ignorant. Man should not define the work of God; moreover, man cannot define the work of God. In the eyes of God, man is smaller than an ant, so how can man fathom God’s work? Those who are constantly saying, “God does not work in this or that way” or “God is like this or that”—are they not all arrogant? We should all know that people, who are of the flesh, have all been corrupted by Satan. It is their nature to oppose God, and they are not on a parity with God, much less can they offer counsel for the work of God. How God guides man is the work of God Himself. Man should submit, and should not hold such and such a view, for man is but dust. Since we try to seek God, we should not superimpose our ideas on the work of God for God’s consideration, least of all should we employ our corrupt disposition to deliberately try to oppose the work of God. Would that not make us antichrists? How could such people say that they believe in God? Since we believe that there is a God, and since we wish to satisfy Him and to see Him, we should seek the way of truth, and should look for a way to be compatible with God. We should not stand in stiff-necked opposition to God; what good could come of such actions?’ (from “Preface” to The Word Appears in the Flesh) Why will the scribes and Pharisees suffer seven woes in the end though believing in God, as is recorded in the Bible? Wasn’t it by their imagination that they nailed the Lord onto the cross with the Old Testament? Wasn’t that the result of their circumscribing God’s work willfully? One should wait to see how the prophecy is fulfilled, but should not interpret it willfully. The scribes and Pharisees nailed the Lord onto the cross according to their understanding of the prophecy while disregarding the facts. Will we repeat the mistake of the Pharisees today? Aren’t we afraid? Don’t hold to the letters. We should see whether the way preached is beneficial to us and whether it is our need.” Reading the word of Almighty God, I felt that every word was directed at me and was very convincing. Little by little, I was attracted by the word of Almighty God.

Then she told me the process of the woman of Samaria knowing Jesus. It was written in John 4:6-30, “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy meat.) Then said the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband: For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messias comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am he. And on this came his disciples, and marveled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seek you? or, Why talk you with her? The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and said to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came to him.” The sister said, “Why did the woman of Samaria go to draw water at noon? And why was it that she met Jesus at that time? Because it was the hottest time and also the time when she would meet fewest people. She didn’t want to meet people because she knew that she was not good and felt ashamed in the heart. She knew herself but had no way to be transformed. The Lord said He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The sick needed the patient, so the Lord appeared to her. This means that the more one knows his own deficiencies and has a thirsting and seeking heart, the more he will receive God’s work and see God’s appearing. Jesus’ talking with the woman of Samaria was most discordant with people’s notions at that time, because the historic background of that time was that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. When Jesus asked the woman of Samaria, she didn’t turn away because He was a Jew, whom she didn’t know. Rather, she answered Jesus very politely and also opened her heart and told Jesus what she thought. Through talking with Jesus, she had an increasingly deeper knowledge of Jesus. This can be seen from the addresses, ‘Sir,’ ‘prophet,’ and ‘Christ,’ by which she called Jesus. At first, seeing Jesus’ appearance, she called Him Sir. When Jesus said that He had the living water, as she didn’t want to come so far to draw water, she then asked Jesus to give her the living water. According to her understanding, the living water Jesus spoke of was the water for drinking. But no matter what intent she had, as she was willing to seek, God bestowed to her on the condition that she had to call her husband here. What Jesus asked was just her privacy, yet in order to get the living water, she was very honest and didn’t conceal herself, and said, ‘I have no husband.’ While saying this, she felt surprised at how this Jewish man could be so clear about her privacy. Then she knew Jesus as ‘prophet’ from as ‘Sir.’ At this point, she no longer sought the temporary fleshly satisfaction but began to seek the way of life. She asked Jesus about the subject that the Jews and the Samaritans argued at that time and wanted to know which was right. But Jesus said, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father, and the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, but the salvation is of the Jews. After hearing what Jesus said, the woman was certain that Jesus was the coming ‘Christ,’ because she knew that when God came, He would open a new way and bring new practices and all that people needed. When the woman gained the new way, she left her water pot, that is, the old things she held fast to, and went to testify Jesus. The woman of Samaria came to know God through God’s words and work, not by imagination. This was her way of knowing God. Today, we should not believe the rumors blindly but should discern from His work and word whether He is the incarnate Christ.” Hearing this, I was struck dumb with surprise. I had read these verses so many times but found nothing special, but that day, after they were explained by the sister, they were so fresh and clear. Only then did I know the true meaning of these scriptures. And a sudden start came to my heart: Ah, hasn’t what they preach unlocked the mysteries in the Bible? Could it be that the way is the true way? So, I decided to continue to listen.

Then the sister asked me, “What do you think God is?” Hearing this simple and profound question, I didn’t know how to answer it, but outwardly I tried to conceal myself, pulling a long face and ignoring her question. The sister was not impatient but said to me with a smile, “I was also a preacher in the past. Every day I held the Bible and talked boastfully on the platform, thinking that I was very rich. But one day when I saw the explanation of the question in the word of Almighty God, I suddenly woke up and realized that I had believed in God foolishly for years.” We turned to the piece of God’s word “When It Comes to ‘God,’ What Is Your Understanding,” in which Almighty God says: “People have believed in God for a long time, yet most of them have no understanding of this word ‘God.’ They merely follow along in a muddle. They have no clue as to why exactly man should believe in God or what God is exactly. If people know only to believe in and follow God, but not what God is, nor do they understand God, then is this not the biggest joke in the world? Even though people have witnessed many heavenly mysteries by now and have heard of much profound ‘knowledge’ that man had never grasped before, they are in the dark on many of the most elementary, as-yet uncontemplated truths. Some people might say, ‘We have believed in God for many years. How could we not know what God is? Does this not belittle us?’ But in reality, although everyone is following Me today, no one has any understanding of all this current work. They let go of even the plainest and easiest of questions, let alone this most complex question of ‘God.’ You should know that those questions that you brush aside and are unable to discover are the ones you most should understand, for you know only to follow the crowd, paying no attention and giving no care to what you should be equipping yourself with. Do you truly know why you should have faith in God? Do you really know what ‘God’ is? Do you truly know what ‘man’ is? As a ‘man who has faith in God,’ if you fail to understand these things, do you not lose the dignity of a believer of God? My work today is this: to have people understand their essence, understand all that I do, and know the true face of God—this is the closing act of My management plan, the last stage of My work. … Among men, I was the Spirit that they could not see, the Spirit that they could never come into contact with. Because of My three stages of work on earth (creation of the world, redemption, and destruction), I appear in their midst at different times (never publicly) to do My work among men. The first time I came among men was during the Age of Redemption. Of course I came among the Jewish family; therefore the first to see ‘God’ coming to earth were the Jewish people. The reason I did this work personally was because I wanted to use My incarnate flesh as a sin offering in My redemption work. So the first to see Me were the Jews of the Age of Grace. That was the first time I worked in the flesh. In the Age of Kingdom, My work is to conquer and perfect, so I again do shepherding work in the flesh. This is My second time working in the flesh. In the last two stages of work, what people come into contact with is no longer the invisible, untouchable Spirit, but a person who is the Spirit actualized as flesh. Thus in the eyes of man, I again become a person with none of the look and feel of God. Moreover, the God that people see is not only male, but also female, which is most astounding and puzzling to them. Time and time again, My extraordinary work shatters old beliefs held for many, many years. People are stunned! The so-called ‘God’ is not only the Holy Spirit, that Spirit, the sevenfold intensified Spirit, the all-encompassing Spirit, but also a person, an ordinary person, an exceptionally common person. God is not only male, but also female. They are similar in that They are both born to humans, and dissimilar in that one is conceived by the Holy Spirit and the other is born to a human but derived directly from the Spirit. They are similar in that both incarnate fleshes of God carry out God the Father’s work, and dissimilar in that one does the work of redemption and the other does the work of conquering. Both represent God the Father, but one is the Lord of redemption filled with loving kindness and mercy, and the other is the God of righteousness filled with wrath and judgment. One is the supreme Commander to launch the redemption work, and the other is the righteous God to accomplish the work of conquering. One is the Beginning, the other the End. One is sinless flesh, the other is flesh that completes the redemption, continues the work, and is never of sin. Both are the same Spirit, but They dwell in different fleshes and are born in different places. And They are separated by several thousand years. Yet all Their work is mutually complementary, never conflictual, and can be spoken of in the same breath. Both are people, but one is a baby boy and the other is an infant girl. For all these many years, what people have seen is not only the Spirit and not only a man, a male, but also many things that do not jibe with human notions, and thus they are never able to fully fathom Me. They keep half believing and half doubting Me, as if I do exist and yet am also an illusory dream. That is why to this day, people still do not know what God is. Can you really sum Me up in one simple sentence? Do you truly dare to say ‘Jesus is none other than God, and God is none other than Jesus’? Are you really so bold as to say ‘God is none other than the Spirit, and the Spirit is none other than God’? Are you comfortable saying ‘God is just a person clothed in flesh’? Do you truly have the courage to assert ‘The image of Jesus is simply the great image of God?’ Are you able to thoroughly explain God’s disposition and image on the strength of your gift for words? Do you really dare to say ‘God created male only, not female, after His own image’? If you say this, then no female would be among My selected and much less would females be a kind within humankind. Now do you truly know what God is? Is God a human? Is God a Spirit? Is God really a male? Can only Jesus complete the work I want to do? If you choose only one of the above to sum up My essence, then you would be an exceedingly ignorant faithful believer. If I work as incarnate flesh once and only once, might you define Me? Can you really take one glance and see through Me? Can you really sum Me up completely thanks just to what you have been exposed to during your lifetime? And if in My two incarnations I do similar work, how would you perceive Me? Might you leave Me forever nailed to the cross? Can God be as simple as you say?” After reading this passage of God’s word, I was enlightened in the heart, thinking, “God is really so unfathomable. The word is so clear and with authority and is absolutely the word God speaks.” At this point, there was not any resistance in my heart, and my doubts within were all cleared away. I believed that this was the true way and made a resolution inwardly: I will testify God’s new work to those who are still in darkness and repay God with my love.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is my experience, the experience of a person who resisted and blasphemed God yet has received the great salvation of Almighty God. God is innocent, and in order to save mankind, He has been incarnated twice and has suffered all man’s rejections and slanders. Recalling that I disturbed God’s work everywhere and hindered many brothers and sisters from coming before Almighty God, I am remorseful for my resistance and hate myself for being blind and ignorant, and I even more thank Almighty God for not treating me according to my resistance but giving me a great salvation. I sincerely advise every brother and sister not to resist Almighty God anymore. The rumors of slandering Almighty God that spread in all denominations and sects are things fabricated by those who harbor evil intentions. The hearsay is something untrue, and you have to go to investigate and experience to find out the facts. Almighty God has brought the truth, the way, and the life, and the work of judgment has begun with the family of God and is drawing to an end. Just take this opportunity and come before the throne of Almighty God to enjoy God’s judgment! Only Almighty God can make your long-cherished wish in believing in God come true. Brothers and sisters, repent and keep up with the pace of God’s newest work!

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It Is Almighty God Who Saved Me | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

It Is Almighty God Who Saved Me

Li Tianhong

Lingbao City, Henan Province

I believe that every brother and sister in the Lord is expecting the Lord’s coming and is expecting the Lord to take us to heaven and into the glorious and beautiful home soon. Like you all, I also expected that all along. I remember that as early as March 1999, I had heard that there were a group of people of “the Eastern Lightning” preaching that the Lord had already returned, yet our leader said that that band of people were wrong and were cultists and antichrists…. He did not allow us to contact them lest we be deceived. So I, as an instructor of the Praise Church, actively cooperated with the leader and spread his words wherever I went. Moreover, I kept myself on full alert, always afraid that the brothers and sisters would be deceived by them.

One day in July 1999, several people of our village came to preach God’s end-time gospel to me. They told me that the Lord had already returned to do the work of judgment and chastisement and of unifying all denominations into one. As soon as I heard it, I shouted at them, “I won’t listen! Our leader has said that God hasn’t returned yet! Besides, you’re almost illiterate, yet you even come to preach to me? I teach the Bible every day. Don’t I know more than you? If God had come back, he would surely let me know first. Is it necessary for you to tell me? Go away now! I won’t listen!” As I said that, I drove them out. That night, I went to the church and told the brothers and sisters about how I had driven away those who preached the end-time gospel. I also told them to keep a strict guard and never let people of “the Eastern Lightning” take a “sheep” away from us!

In October of the same year, my leader assigned me to make rounds among the churches in a certain region. Once, I met several strangers in a host home. They said, “Do you know? God has returned and done a new work….” Before they had finished their words, I retorted immediately, “You are of ‘the Eastern Lightning.’ You are preachers of a false way. It’s a deceitful trick!” Then I said to the host family, “We can’t listen to them. Drive them away!” Later, I announced in the church seriously, “From now on, without my permission, no one is allowed to contact people of ‘the Eastern Lightning.’ Whoever disobeys will be expelled!” So, I made those rules wherever I went so as to seal the churches.

In May 2000, six or seven people of a church accepted “the Eastern Lightning.” After I learned it, I immediately went to disturb them with a co-worker. I said to them, “That band of people of ‘the Lightning’ use various means and tricks to deceive people. You have been fooled! You are small in stature and know little about the Bible, so you don’t have discernment. But as long as you confess your wrong and try hard to do good deeds to atone for your sins, you can come back. Never ever contact them again….” Then, the co-worker who came with me added, “People of ‘the Lightning’ are extremely brutal. It’s said that once you accept, they will take you out and force you to do this and that. If you don’t obey, they will gouge out your eyes, cut off your ears, break your legs, or use a knife to force you to commit adultery. …” At these words, they turned pale with fear and all stated that they would never contact people of “the Lightning” again. To further insure that the brothers and sisters would not contact “the Eastern Lightning,” I spent all my time bustling about among the churches everywhere, so much so as to neglect my meals and sleep. Sometimes, I even prayed all night long to curse people of “the Lightning.” Besides, every time I made rounds among the churches, I would tell with embellishment the rumors I had heard about “the Lightning” to the brothers and sisters so that they would stay away from “the Eastern Lightning.”

Because of the “price” I had paid, my leader thought more highly of me. But somehow the churches’ condition got worse and worse. The co-workers formed factions, had jealousy and strife, and scrambled for power and profit among themselves. The lectern became an emplacement, and the Bible became a weapon to attack each other. Whoever occupied the lectern had the opportunity to attack others, and even prayer became a way to dig at or fight against each other. In the churches the previous vigor had been completely lost, and even more, the love among the brothers and sisters had disappeared. The attendance at the meetings kept on dropping, and a meeting which had sixty or seventy people had now only four or five left. What puzzled me more was: There was a brother Fu in our church. He was only 42 years old and had been zealous in expending himself for the Lord all the year round. Now instead of receiving peace, he got cardia cancer. A good many people fasted and prayed for him, but it did not help. The brothers and sisters felt very puzzled, and I was also downhearted, not knowing why all these happened. However, I still forced myself to go on. On the one hand, I was afraid of being deceived; on the other hand, I was afraid of losing the position of “instructor.” I thought to myself, “It’s really not easy for me to get the position of instructor. I must ‘cherish’ it!” So, in order to preserve my position, I ingratiated myself with my leader and did the work of resisting God over and over again to gain his trust and favor.

One day in early June of 2001, I went to Yima City of my native province. There I gave a message about discernment to the brothers and sisters. Unexpectedly, a relative of the host family came. Through the introductions, I knew that he was also a believer in Jesus. So, we began to fellowship together. During the fellowship, I found that the light the brother had received was much higher than mine and that he had unique views on the Bible. I admired him from the bottom of my heart, but, as an instructor, how could I bow my head before him? Later, when we spoke of Paul, the brother said, “Paul is one we imitate. He suffered many hardships and ran around much for the Lord. His thirteen letters are very beneficial to the brothers’ and sisters’ experience of life. However, in his letters, there are also some things which are not after the Lord’s heart. For example, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness….’ (2 Timothy 4:7-8). These words revealed his intent and purpose in working for the Lord. The efforts he expended were to make a deal with God. Such a viewpoint of pursuit and such knowledge are not after God’s heart….” Before he had finished his words, I retorted immediately, “How dare you belittle Paul? If it had not been for Paul’s preaching, how could we have our today? Paul is one for us to imitate and is a model for us to follow in preaching the gospel. If people believe in Jesus not to gain anything, is there any meaning in such belief? Who will ever believe?” Then I pointed my finger at him and said, “You dare condemn Paul. Aren’t you arrogant? Paul suffered so many hardships and received so many lashes for the Lord! Have you suffered any? Paul could say those words boldly, can you?” I got so emotional that even my complexion changed, and I glowered at him, as if in a quarrel. But that brother did not get angry at all. He said gently, “Sister, don’t be angry. Let’s take our time talking about it. Here! Have a glass of water.” I did not even give him a look, but he did not mind at all. He continued, “Even though Paul suffered a lot for the Lord, as a created being he should…” I interrupted him again, “As the instructor of the Praise Church in Lingbao City, I know much more than you. I read The Bible for Intensive Study, The Bible With Commentaries, and Jia Yuming’s Essentials every day. Is there anything that I don’t know? Just drop it!” “Yes, what I know is very limited, but I’m willing to discuss this subject with brothers and sisters,” he said, still gently. At that time, I thought, “I treat him in such a way, yet he doesn’t get angry at all. Instead, he is so gentle, humble, sober, and natural. He is a preacher; am I not a preacher as well? But I get so impatient as to forget myself when encountering things. Why is that? …” “Sister, why are you silent? What are you thinking?” asked the brother. I hesitated a moment and then said, “Nothing, you may go on.” Afterward, through the brother’s dissection of the viewpoint of Paul’s pursuit, I understood a truth: It is only right and proper for a created being to worship God. He should not harbor his own intent and purpose, and even less should he use his suffering as the capital for receiving blessings to make a deal with God. That was what I had never heard before. I felt his fellowship was so good and so high.

Following that, the brother fellowshipped with me about many more verses of the Bible, and I felt that everything he said was very good and clear. However, when speaking of God’s work, he said, “The Old Testament records the work of the Age of the Law: God led people in the form of the Spirit and was called Jehovah. He worked in Israel, issuing the laws to make people conscious of sin. The disposition he expressed was righteousness, burning, and curse. The New Testament records the work of the Age of the Grace: God was incarnated to be man’s sin offering and was called Jesus. He worked in Judea, and the disposition he expressed was love, mercy, forbearance, and patience. Revelation prophesied that God would do a work of judgment and purification in the end time, that is, the work of the Age of the Kingdom. Since the age has changed and the work has become different, his disposition and name as well as the place he works in, and so on have changed accordingly. The disposition he expresses is no longer love and mercy but righteousness, majesty, and judgment. God is no longer called Jesus but the Almighty as prophesied in Revelation….” Hearing that, I could no longer hold myself back. “Our senior leader Qiao says that now there are a band of people preaching Almighty God. The one they believe in is a false christ and a deceiver. He also says that if we refuse to accept their way after listening to it, they will gouge out our eyes, cut off our ears, break our legs, or force us to commit sexual immorality. I think you are with them, aren’t you? I won’t be taken in by you….” As I said that, I got up to go. “Sister, from these days of contact, do you think I’m like what your leader says? Why do we not respect the fact but trust only one side?” “Right!” I thought to myself, “Through these days of contact with the brother, I have seen that he is very humble and gentle, and there is nothing in him like what our leader says. But I shouldn’t disobey my leader’s words. He can’t cheat me, and he can’t be wrong. Besides, what if my leader finds out that I have contacted them? Won’t I lose the position of instructor? Then won’t my years of pursuit be all in vain? I must go!” As I thought of this, I said to them firmly, “I have been out so long. I have to go back….”

The brothers and sisters saw me out reluctantly. All the way I kept thinking, “When I get back, I’ll tell my leaders in detail about how I debated with the people of ‘the Lightning’ and how I fought for the truth. They are bound to give me some credit.” When I got back to Lingbao, it was already past 8 o’clock at night. Immediately after I got off the train, I saw Brother Zhao and Brother Guo of my church. I greeted them joyfully, but they ignored me. Just when I felt puzzled, I saw my leader, Brother Li, who was not far away. He was staring at me and looked extremely displeased and fierce. As I saw this, my heart pounded as if I had done something to be ashamed of. A three-wheeler took us to a host home, and not long after we entered the room, they began to question me, “What did you do in Yima?” “How did you preach? Could it take such a long time?” “Did you actually preach? You didn’t commit sins, did you?” “Did they beat you? Did they force you to do anything? Have you contacted them? You have accepted, haven’t you?” “Never mind, all you have to do is to admit your mistake and speak out the inside story….” They bombarded me with questions, so that I lost my bearings. Their questioning in such a way hurt my self-respect terribly, and I felt as if my heart would break. “How come these people all become like this? …” That night, I could not fall into sleep. I wept and thought, feeling extremely wronged.

After a few days, I still could not get the better of it. The expressions shown that night by the leaders I looked up to and admired all along, and their questioning tones and cold words kept appearing in my mind and ringing in my ears. I felt wave after wave of grief piercing my heart, extremely distressed. At that time, I thought, “This time they will expel me. What will they say about me? What will the brothers and sisters think of me? …” In despair, I constantly reflected on the scenes in Yima. Not only was the way that the brother preached higher than ours, but he also behaved calmly and naturally, spoke gently, and was easy to approach. He was very pious during the fellowship and always treated others sincerely. Our leaders, however, were all full of arrogance and appeared superior and domineering. Even more, our co-workers had no love for one another but all supplanted each other and scrambled for fame and gain. Thinking of that, I did not feel like seeing them anymore, disgusted with their words and deeds. Those whom they called the people of “the Lightning,” however, constantly appeared in my mind. Their living out roused my admiration and respect. I remembered that at the time when I lost my temper and accused them of being wrong, evil, and false, that brother remained amiable, still treated me sincerely, and fellowshipped with me in a patient and painstaking way. I was simply filled with admiration for their magnanimity and love. I really could not figure out what kind of power was driving them to live out completely differently from us. Then I thought, “At that time, I didn’t accept their way after listening to their fellowship. Didn’t they still treat me sincerely? And isn’t it that my nose and eyes are intact and not a single hair of my head has lost? Doesn’t this even more prove that those words our leader says are purely lies?” Thinking of that, I could not help shuddering. I felt that it was not the people of “the Lightning” who were to be dreaded, but the leaders whom I looked up to and admired! They had the audacity to give false testimonies. It was really unbelievable! So, I decided to go to the people of “the Lightning” alone for a good talk without letting anyone know.

On June 19, I set out on my journey to Yima again. On the train, I felt it was so slow, and I wished I could fly to that unforgettable place instantly. At that time, I really felt that when the mind was bent on returning, it was like a flying arrow. After I got off the train, I headed straight to that host home. When I walked in the door, the brothers and sisters were all taken by surprise. They were stunned for quite a while and then said excitedly, “You are back. How surprising! Great! Great!” “Thank God! It’s God’s moving that causes me to come back here,” I also said excitedly, holding the sister’s hands tightly. … The next day, the brother fellowshipped with me again in detail about God’s three stages of works and God’s eager intention to save man. He also read me several passages of God’s word: “He has already descended, but people do not recognize him, nor do they know it, and they are just waiting for him aimlessly. Little do they know that he has already descended on the white cloud (the white cloud refers to his Spirit, his word, and all his disposition and being) among a group of overcomers he will make in the end time! How could people know: Although the holy Savior Jesus is full of lovingkindness and full of love for man, how could he work in the ‘temples’ that are full of filthiness and inhabited by swarms of unclean spirits? Although people are all waiting for his descent, how could he appear to those who eat the flesh of the unrighteous, drink the blood of the unrighteous, and wear the clothes of the unrighteous, and who believe in him but do not know him and yet keep extorting from him? People only know that the Savior Jesus is full of lovingkindness and full of mercy and that he is the sin offering full of redemption, but they do not know that he is God Godself who is laden with righteousness, majesty, wrath, and judgment and who is with authority and full of dignity. So, even though people all eagerly expect and thirst for the return of the Redeemer and their prayers have even moved ‘Heaven,’ the Savior Jesus does not appear to them who believe in him but do not know him.” “If people always call me Jesus Christ and yet do not know that I have opened a new age again and carried out a newer work in the end time but keep waiting for the descent of the Savior Jesus infatuatedly, I call all such people ones who do not believe in me, ones who do not know me, and ones who pretend to believe in me.” “Maybe many people do not pay attention to what I am saying. But I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus: When you see with your own physical eyes Jesus descending from heaven on a white cloud, it will already be the time the Sun of righteousness appears publicly. At that time, you may be beside yourself with excitement. But have you ever known this: When you see Jesus descending from heaven, it will be the very time you go to hell to receive punishment. That will already be the time God’s management plan is declared concluded and the time God rewards the good and punishes the evil. This is because God’s judgment has ended at the time when people have not seen miraculous signs but only the truth is expressed.” Hearing that, I felt much clear and regretted my past deeds very much. So, I came before God and prayed to God, “O Lord! Almighty God! Thank you for saving me so that I can have the honor of hearing your voice and seeing your work. In the past, because I was blind and ignorant and didn’t know you and blindly listened to my leaders’ words without seeking or investigating, I was deceived by the lies. Moreover, I slandered and blasphemed your work, and spread the rumors and sealed the churches everywhere. This has blinded many brothers’ and sisters’ eyes and closed many brothers’ and sisters’ hearts, so that they are now still unwilling to accept your end-time salvation and thus live in darkness. O God! I am indeed sinful and evil to the uttermost. Please give me an opportunity to repent. I’m willing to expose my evil deeds to the light so that those innocent brothers and sisters who are still being deceived by the rumors can see the truth of the matter and return to your family. O Almighty God! It is because of your moving and your revealing that I, a foolish, ignorant, numb, and obtuse person, begin to wake up. Now, I’m convinced that you are the One whom I have been expecting. I resolve to follow you and expend myself for you in all my life so as to repay your grace of salvation and repay your great love!”

Dear brothers and sisters, this is my personal experience. I wonder if it can give you some warnings. Now, are you still being deceived by rumors? Are you also looking up to your leaders? If so, then I advise you to drop the place for any man in your heart right now, for only the One who rules over everything can save us! May brothers and sisters see through satan’s schemes and not be deceived by lies or restrained by evil leaders anymore. Step forward boldly and take the initiative to seek. I believe God will surely make a way out for you and bestow to you abundantly! Amen!

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I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

 I Have Received Almighty God’s Great Salvation

Xie Qiang

Shangqiu City, Henan Province

I was formerly the president of a mission of the “China Gospel Fellowship” in the Pentecostal Church. Since 1997, there had been people preaching Almighty God’s work of the last days to me many times, but I always stopped them before they finished their words and said, “I may receive you when you come to preach a male Christ. But if you still preach that your God is a female, then don’t come! You say God has come, but how come I haven’t seen Him? Have you seen Him?” Every time I met the brothers and sisters who testified God’s work of the last days, I always rebuffed them with these words. Then, I went around “guarding the church” to prevent those “heretics” from disturbing our churches. I treated Almighty God, the “Eastern Lightning,” as “a cult.” And I, together with my upper leaders, collected the rumors that resisted and slandered Almighty God from various denominations and sects, and with my imaginations added, we printed them into booklets, The Sound of the Trumpet in the Church and Resist the Heresy—the Eastern Lightning, and then distributed them to all the churches in my charge. And I said to the brothers and sisters wherever I went, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ is a cult. If you read their books or fellowship with them, you will be deceived. You must stay away from them. Don’t fellowship with them. They are of an underworld organization which is against the Communist Party. Their key persons even have guns. And they seduced people with beautiful men and women. If you join them, you cannot drop out. If you try to do so, they will gouge out your eyes or cut off your nose, or even your whole family will be in danger!” I wantonly sealed off the churches in such a way at that time, yet I regarded myself as faithful to the Lord, responsible for the churches, and a guard for the churches. Little did I realize that I had become an antichrist. Now, I regret it very bitterly.

In 1999, one of my co-workers received a book of Almighty God’s word and showed it to me. I flipped through it critically. When I read God’s stern words of judgment, I felt a great aversion to it. In order to keep the brothers and sisters from reading this book, I even tore it up and threw it into the excrement of the outhouse. Afterward, the brothers and sisters who preached the gospel of the last days preached to me many times, but every time I refused them coldly. Nevertheless, through contact with them many times, I found such a fact: No matter how I treated them and no matter in what way I spoke to them, they all had a common manifestation, that is, they had love, were patient, never lost temper and persuaded me with kind words. That was what I couldn’t find in the believers of our denomination. To be frank, such a living out as theirs really made me admire, but as I was deceived by the rumors and always considered that anything apart from the Bible was a heresy, a cult, I dared not accept it all along.

One day in mid-April 2002, I received a call from my upper leader, and he invited me to Qingdao for a theological training. On the third day of the training, I realized that they were the preachers of Almighty God, the “Eastern Lightning” sect, as I considered. “I’m deceived. I’m finished!” I thought to myself, “If I refuse to accept their way, they will gouge out my eyes or cut off my nose, or even my life will be in danger.” So, I made up my mind inwardly, “This time I’d rather lay down my life for the ‘true way’ than accept it. I’ll set an example for the believers even if I may be martyred for the Lord. Since I can’t leave anyway, I’ll stick your preaching out. As long as what you preach doesn’t agree with the Bible, I won’t believe it. In the past I didn’t give you a chance to preach. Now you have it.” They fellowshipped with me about the Bible for thirteen days, mainly centering on the direction and several key principles of the Holy Spirit’s work: First, God’s work is always progressing forward; second, God’s work is always new and never old and is never repeated; third, God does His work by ages, stages, and steps; fourth, God’s work counters man’s notions. And they especially fellowshipped with me about the root of the Pharisees’ resisting Jesus, the difference between the substance of the work of the New Testament and the work of the Old Testament, the relationship between the Old Testament and Jesus, and so on. As I listened to their fellowship, I didn’t find anything wrong or misinterpretation in it. It was all based on the proper meaning of the scriptures and was what I had never heard before. But later, when they fellowshipped about the difference between the Age of Law and the Age of Grace and the Pharisees’ resistance against God because of their sticking to old things when the Age of Law turned into the Age of Grace, I felt an aversion to it. I shouted at them, “Stop beating about the bush. Do you think that I don’t know what you’ve got in your sleeves? If you want to talk about the third stage of work, just say it!” Seeing that I was in a great rage, they took out two books Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs and The Word Appears in the Flesh, and some tapes of God’s word. Then they began to read God’s word to me, but as I resisted it strongly in my heart, I didn’t take anything in. It was really true that “where there is God’s work, there is Satan’s disturbance.” At that time, I felt very bad in my heart, my head was dizzy, and I even wanted to throw up. So I stopped them and said, “It’s merely a recount of the Bible in vernacular Chinese. Could this be God’s word?” I was really so arrogant that I lost my sense. After that, whenever they read God’s word, I recited the scriptures aloud to interrupt them purposely. Whenever they played the tapes of hymns or God’s word, I pretended to be asleep. And sometimes, I even spoke offensive words to mock or dig at them. Like this, in the whole three days, regardless of how I treated them or what I said to them, they never lost their temper or contradicted me with words but fellowshipped with me patiently. That was just the opposite of my original thought that if I didn’t accept their way, I would be in danger, my eyes would be gouged out, my nose would be cut off, and so on. Then, I observed them secretly and found that their daily prayer before God was sincere, either in the presence of people or behind their backs, which was far more than I could do. They were not like those of an underworld organization at all. Although I didn’t listen attentively to their new songs, honestly speaking, both the words and tunes of the songs were very touching. Furthermore, though I was so unfriendly and arrogant, the host entertained me with warm hospitality all the time. In addition, during the more-than-ten-day stay with them, I found that they were steady and decent and that they kept a very clear distance from the opposite sex and behaved properly in having meals, fellowshipping, and accommodating. There was not at all the “sexual seduction” as I had fabricated. So, my misunderstanding about the people in this stream gradually disappeared and my resistance against them was also removed, and I said to the one who gave the testimony, “I ask you three typical questions. If you can make them clear to me and show me biblical proofs, I will believe. Otherwise, I’d rather die than believe.”

“First, I don’t believe that God will be incarnated in the flesh again, because the Scripture says that Jesus will come with the glorious resurrected body on the white cloud. Second, I cannot accept that God is female, because I believe that God will never change. Third, I don’t believe that God will be incarnated in China, because the Scripture says that He will stand on the Mount of Olives and appear to the entire universe.”

With regard to my first question, they fellowshipped about Luke 17:24-25, which says, “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” Actually, they were the scriptures I had recited and expounded often in the past. I had thought that they referred to the fact that Jesus suffered and was rejected when He was incarnated the first time. But at that time when I read them carefully, I realized that they were a prophecy about the Son of man’s second coming. Furthermore, the whole passage from verse 22 to verse 37 in Luke 17 was prophesying signs of the Son of man’s second coming, and the Lord said that first He must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation the second time. Since it was a prophecy, it clearly refers to things about the second incarnation. Moreover, if Jesus came on the white cloud with a spiritual body, how could He suffer? Who would not bow his knees and worship Him? Who would dare to resist Him? Hebrews 1:6 says, “And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he said, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Since it says that God “again” brings in the first-begotten into the world, it proves that Jesus was the first incarnation into the world and the incarnate flesh this time is “the second incarnation” into the world, which refers to God’s returning in the flesh. They also read me the piece of God’s word “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh,’” which made me utterly convinced. God says: “The only reason that the incarnate God has come into the flesh is because of the needs of corrupt man. It is because of the needs of man but not of God, and all His sacrifices and sufferings are for the sake of mankind, and not for the benefit of God Himself. There are no pros and cons or rewards for God; He shall not reap some future harvest, but that which was originally owed to Him. All that He does and sacrifices for mankind is not so that He might gain great rewards, but purely for the sake of mankind. Though God’s work in the flesh involves many unimaginable difficulties, the effects that it ultimately achieves far exceed those of the work done directly by the Spirit. The work of the flesh entails much hardship, and the flesh cannot possess the same great identity as the Spirit, cannot carry out the same supernatural deeds as the Spirit, much less can He possess the same authority as the Spirit. Yet the substance of the work done by this unremarkable flesh is far superior to that of the work done directly by the Spirit, and this flesh Himself is the answer to all of man’s needs. For those to be saved, the use value of the Spirit is far inferior to that of the flesh: The work of the Spirit is able to cover the entire universe, across all mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans, yet the work of the flesh more effectively relates to every person with whom He has contact. What’s more, God’s flesh with tangible form can better be understood and trusted by man, and can further deepen man’s knowledge of God, and can leave upon man a more profound impression of the actual deeds of God. The work of the Spirit is shrouded in mystery, it is difficult for mortal beings to fathom, and even harder for them to see, and so they can only rely on hollow imaginings. The work of the flesh, however, is normal, and based on reality, and possessed of rich wisdom, and is a fact that can be beheld by the physical eye of man; man can personally experience the wisdom of the work of God, and has no need to employ his bountiful imagination. This is the accuracy and real value of the work of God in the flesh. The Spirit can only do things that are invisible to man and difficult for him to imagine, for example the enlightenment of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit, but for man who has a mind, these do not provide any clear meaning. They only provide a moving, or a broad meaning, and cannot give an instruction with words. The work of God in the flesh, however, is greatly different: It has accurate guidance of words, has clear will, and has clear required goals. And so man does not need to grope around, or employ his imagination, much less make guesses. This is the clarity of the work in the flesh, and its great difference from the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is only suitable in a limited scope, and cannot replace the work of the flesh. The work of the flesh gives man far more exact and necessary goals and far more real, valuable knowledge than the work of the Spirit. … The best thing about His work in the flesh is that He can leave accurate words and exhortations, and His accurate will for mankind to those who follow Him, so that afterwards His followers can more accurately and more concretely pass on all of His work in the flesh and His will for the whole of mankind to those who accept this way. Only the work of God in the flesh among man truly accomplishes the fact of God’s being and living together with man. Only this work fulfills man’s desire to behold the face of God, witness the work of God, and hear the personal word of God.”

After they fellowshipped about the first question, though I considered it a satisfactory answer and felt much better, I still had doubts. Then, they fellowshipped with me about the second question, “In Genesis 1:27, it says, ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ This verse proves that man and woman both have God’s image. So who can conclude that God is male or female? Man was created in God’s image, so was woman. Therefore, it exactly proves that God is Spirit and has no gender and that God can do His redemptive work in an image of male and can also complete His work of conquering and saving men in an image of female.” Then we ate and drank the piece of God’s word “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation,” in which God says: “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. … With God there is no distinction of gender. His work is done as He wishes and is not subject to any restrictions, particularly free, but every stage has a real significance. God became flesh twice, and it goes without saying that His incarnation in the last days is the last time. He has come to reveal all His deeds. If in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female.” Faced with these words of the truth, I had to be convinced, “Can I, a little created being, interfere with the Creator’s freedom? Can I direct God how to do His work? Isn’t it that I’m blaspheming the Holy Spirit if I circumscribe God’s gender?” Thinking back to my circumscribing and judging and resisting God’s work in the past, I felt extremely ashamed and guilty.

In regard to God’s being incarnated in China, they fellowshipped with me about Matthew 24:27-28, which says, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Here, “the east” refers to the east of the world—China, and “the west” refers to the western countries. And then we read Malachi 1:11, “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; … said the LORD of hosts.” They said, “The ‘rising of the sun’ also refers to China, because China’s Mount Tai is the place where the sunrise can be seen first in the world. And this is known to all. Moreover, it is an acknowledged fact that China is in the east of the world. As to the word ‘my name shall be great among the Gentiles,’ we see from God’s work that God did the first two stages of His work in Israel and all the countries outside Israel are called Gentile nations. Over two thousand years, the gospel has spread out from Jerusalem, from the west to the east, and China is the last to receive Jesus, so it is called a Gentile nation. If this stage of work were still started from Israel, how could God be great among the Gentiles? How could this verse be fulfilled?” One brother read the following God’s words to me: “The purpose of conquering you today is to have you acknowledge that God is your God, and the other’s God, and most importantly the God of all who love Him, and the God of all creation. He is the God of Israelites and the God of the people of Egypt. He is the God of the British and the God of Americans. He is not just the God of Adam and Eve, but also the God of all descendants of Adam and Eve. He is the God of everything in the heavens and everything on earth. The Israelite family and all Gentile families alike are in the hands of one God. Not only did He work in Israel for several thousand years and was once born in Judea, but today He is descending in China, this place where the great red dragon lies coiled. If being born in Judea makes Him the King of the Jews, then does not descending among all of you today make Him the God of you?” “In the final era, I will have My name magnified among the Gentile nations, make My deeds seen by the Gentiles so they will call Me the Almighty, causing My words to soon come to pass. I will make all people know that I am not only the God of the Israelites, but the God of all Gentile nations, even of the nations I have cursed. I will let all people see that I am the God of all creation. This is My greatest work, the purpose of My work plan for the last days, and My only work to be fulfilled in the last days.” Hearing these words of God, I was very enlightened in my heart. “Yes! The God I have been expecting has now descended among us, yet I do not dare to believe. Then what have I been expecting? God has come to China to do His work, and this is a super great blessing coming upon us. What reason do I have to refuse it? How can I, a little created being, fathom God’s deeds? Thank God’s enlightenment! So that I can understand that God is the God of all created beings in the world, not belonging to any country or race. Since God has done His work in China in the last days, we should unconditionally obey it, because in everything God does there is God’s good purpose, and it is all for saving corrupt mankind.” Just like this, I was utterly convinced. It was God’s wonderful work and word that conquered me, and so I knew that I was arrogant, ignorant, blind, and foolish. At that moment, I had enjoyment in my heart, and my misunderstandings and notions about God disappeared, and the barrier against the brothers and sisters was removed. We talked and laughed heartily…

Later, I ate and drank God’s word with a seeking heart, and the Holy Spirit enlightened me greatly. I felt that every piece of God’s word was particularly sweet, not as shallow and common as I thought before, that every word of God was with authority and power, and that it was truly God’s own utterance and was the irrefutable truth! I regretted very much that I was so arrogant and self-right in the past that I understood the words out of context while ignoring the background and the inner meaning of God’s words and thus committed the monstrous sins of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and tearing up what the Holy Spirit said to the churches. At that time I even more hated myself, so I knelt down before God and prayed, “O the only true almighty God! I deserve to die ten thousand times. I’m not worthy to come before You. For so many years, I have been judging and slandering You and greatly sealing off the churches. This has seriously hindered the spreading of Your gospel of the last days, and thus many brothers and sisters have been locked in the darkness, unable to come before You. O God! I’m a sheer, real antichrist, and should have been cursed and cast into hell. I’m unpardonably sinful. Yet, You didn’t treat me according to my evil deeds or punish me, but have been sparing no efforts to save me, waiting for me to turn back. O God! Your love is so great that it makes me feel terribly ashamed. Thank You for giving me the opportunity to start a new life. I’m willing to mend my ways sincerely, spread Your gospel widely for the rest of my life, testify Your wonderful deeds, and bring more deceived brothers and sisters before You, so as to make up for my indebtedness to You and repay Your great love!”

Since I followed Almighty God, I have truly enjoyed the sweetness and abundance of God’s words. I deeply feel myself unworthy. At the same time, I have also tasted the hardships of God’s working on earth. Seeing that God has expended great effort and price for mankind, I felt ashamed all the more. Especially when I saw that God says the word “This means I will have to trouble you to make the choice once more…,” I couldn’t control myself anymore and was moved to tears, feeling that God loves man so much and God is so great! At that moment, I couldn’t tell clearly whether it was regret, enjoyment, moving, or comfort. All sorts of feelings welled up in my heart. The supreme God has to “trouble” me, a sinner, to choose once again, and this really makes me extremely ashamed. God’s heart is as boundless as the sea and sky! His desire for mankind is that all men can be saved and none will perish or be destroyed!

Under the illumination of God’s words, my former imaginations, notions, and misunderstandings have been thoroughly dispelled by God’s words, God’s work, and the facts. I have understood what theory is, what reality is, what notion is, what truth is, what imagination is, and what fact is. In the past, I was self-right, self-important, arrogant, and self-conceited, and didn’t seek or investigate God’s new work but only blindly condemned God and sealed off the churches according to my imaginations and notions, playing the role of Satan. Today I have realized it, yet it is too late to regret! Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can take warning from me. Don’t be stiff-necked to resist God anymore. Seek immediately! Now, God’s gospel work is about to be concluded and the disasters have been poured down one after the other. Just as God says: “… the repeated reminders and exhortations of God are because in His hand is prepared an unprecedented disaster, one that will be unbearable for the flesh and spirit of man. This disaster is not merely a punishment of the flesh but of the spirit as well. You must know this: when the plan of God is made void and when His reminders and exhortations beget no response, what anger will He unleash? This will be like nothing that has heretofore been experienced or heard by any creation. And so I say, this disaster is unprecedented and it will never be repeated. This is because only one creation and one salvation are within the plan of God. This is the first time and also the last.”

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I Was Saved by Almighty God | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

I Was Saved by Almighty God

Zhang Min

Luoyang City, Henan Province

I was formerly a leader of the Independent Church, in charge of more than a dozen churches, and had the final say on all the affairs of the churches. By my abilities to preach, compose songs, heal the sick, and drive out demons, I often showed myself off. So I became the “most able person” and the “toast” of the churches, exalted and looked up to by all the brothers and sisters, and became an idol in their hearts. They all thought highly of me and adored me. As a result, I became all the more self-right and arrogant. When I said “Yes,” none of them ever dared to say “No.” Whenever I went out to visit the churches or preach the gospel, a church member would be assigned to carry my book bag and luggage. Whichever church I went to visit, the brothers and sisters there would travel a long distance to pick me up and see me off. I kept all the brothers and sisters in the churches under strict control. Without my permission, no one should overstep the mark (that is, go out to seek the true way). It was not until I had accepted God’s work of the last days that I came to realize that I was in no sense one who led the churches but a leading demon that resisted the work of God.

In 1996, God’s gospel of the last days was preached to our churches. Since then, I began to resist, blaspheme, and condemn God’s work, and desperately hinder the brothers and sisters from accepting it. I went everywhere to seal off the churches. I specially assigned people to guard each church, and forbad anyone to receive those who preached Almighty God’s gospel of the last days or go out to contact them. If I found that a church member had received them, I would hold meetings to denounce and disgrace him. I would have all the brothers and sisters attack and reject him and force him to confess his sins before them, so that he would never be able to hold up his head again. The churches were sealed off by me so tightly as to be impenetrable, and the brothers and sisters were strictly controlled in my hands. But this could in no way hinder their hearts from thirsting for and seeking the truth.

Once, the leader of a church secretly received some preachers of the gospel of the last days. After he heard their preaching about the true way, he was willing to follow Almighty God and also wanted to bring the brothers and sisters in his church to Almighty God. When I learned of that, I immediately rushed there to “save” them. I led some believers to abuse, slander, and insult the gospel preachers and spite them by every means, and I also prayed loudly to curse them, and told the believers to mock and drive them until they were thrown out. After they left, I rebuked the brother who received them, and began to consider how to punish him. Another time, when I learned that a brother whose home was a meeting place also wanted to accept Almighty God, I braved the snow and walked dozens of miles visiting several places at that very night, trying to find a home to host the church in his home’s stead. After that, I had all the believers accuse him of taking the wrong way and falling into the trap of the “Eastern Lightening,” so that he was under attack by all, unable to lift up his head in the churches.

At another time, the believers in several meeting places were gathered together celebrating Christmas. I knew that a brother among them had received the believers in Almighty God, so I dragged him out and forced him to confess his sin in front of everyone and denounced him. I also told all the believers to rise up against him. He was so frightened that he slunk off into a cave-house and hid himself. When I found him, I pulled him out, and forced him to stand still before everyone and confess what he had done, and made an example of him. I pointed at him, like a criminal, and said to the brothers and sisters, “He received the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers. If I hadn’t kept a close watch over him, he would have followed them and led away the believers in his charge. Today, I make him lose face before all the brothers and sisters just for you never to be like him or to be deceived by the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers! From now on, whoever receives them will suffer what he suffers today…” At that, all the brothers and sisters were scared into silence.

One day in 1998, I remember, it was raining heavily when two brothers came to my house to preach the gospel to me. No sooner had they opened their mouth than I jumped down my throat and rudely drove them away. After that, some other brothers and sisters came several times to preach to me, but I drove all of them out of the door. Once, a brother came again. It was a Sunday, and there was a meeting going on in my house. At the sight of him, I told the congregation to sing the songs of driving out demons, and I also called him a big gray serpent. But he told us calmly, “God has already returned and done a new work…” Before he had finished his words, I pointed at his head and shouted, “Is your father male or female? It is written: ‘Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. …’ Isn’t the Father male? The one you believe in is female; you came here to deceive people. Get away quickly!” Then, I threw him out before he could say anything. Later, some other people came to preach to me, but I still refused to listen, and I even fasted and prayed to the Lord and asked Him to shut up their mouths. Before long, on a rainy night, two brothers came to our church again to preach Almighty God’s work of the last days. When I learned of that, I rushed there in anger. Pointing at their heads, I said, “Get out, you preachers of the ‘false way’! Or else, I won’t be so easy on you…” Then, I called the brother who guarded the church to me and rebuked him, “How did you guard the church? Why didn’t you drive them away?” Just before the preachers went out of the church, I suddenly thought to try a scheme, and so I said to them, “If you want to be friends with us from now on, come to visit me in my house, and don’t come here again.” They immediately asked me, “Where is your house? We are glad to be friends with you.” I then told them my address. The next day, they really came to my house. I forced them to kneel before the cross and “confess their sins and repent.” And I also spoke some offensive words to them. After a period of time, one of them didn’t come anymore. That might be because he was busy with other things or because he couldn’t bear my ill-treatment. The other brother still came to have meetings in my house. I often asked him to do a lot of work for me, but he never complained. He helped me do the farm work and cook meals, and he never talked much. Once we went up a hill to cut sesame plants, and he alone pulled the cart. By the time he had reached the top of the hill, he was sweating like a pig, but he didn’t say anything. After we cut off and bound up the sesame plants, he pulled them to my house and carried them up to the roof by himself. Seeing all that, not only did I not feel ashamed and uneasy, but I still told him to kneel before the cross and continue to confess his sins. I thought, “Who told you to join in the ‘Eastern Lightning’? You deserve this!” Like this, I didn’t have any feelings of guilt about what I had done, but believed that by doing so, I was loyal to God, responsible for the life of the brothers and sisters, and completely after God’s heart. I rushed to and fro all day long, busy with guarding against the “false way.” However, the more I did so, the less faith the brothers and sisters had. They were passive, cold, weak, and fell. Some went to work out of town to earn money; some, though they attended the meetings, dozed or slept during the service. The number of the believers in the churches kept on dropping. I also found that while preaching, I was dry and had no guidance of God, and what I delivered was all old stuff. I didn’t know the reason for that, and so I prayed to God, “O God! Why all these happened? Have I done any thing wrong? If I have done something wrong and resisted You, I’m willing to confess my sins and repent. May You enlighten me, guide me, and give me the direction ahead. I am willing to seek and understand Your will and bring the brothers and sisters before You.”

God heard my prayer. A few days later, the brother who had never talked much but often labored for me without any complaints said to me gently, “Sister, would you like to go and hear messages with me?” I looked at him, and somehow, a sense of indebtedness welled up within me: In the past, I deliberately created difficulties for him and treated him badly, but he never took it to heart, and instead just kept silent and treated me sincerely as before. If God had not worked in him, how could he have had such great patience, faith, and love? I shall not hurt him anymore. At the moment, I said to myself, “It’s all right to go and listen. Anyway, I have my own judgment, and I won’t follow others blindly.” So, I went with him. After we got there, a sister told me, “God has already come among men and begun to do a new work. His first stop is China, the nation of the great red dragon, the most dark, corrupt, filthy, and cruel place, where God is resisted the most. And enduring rejections and slanders, God has been saving those who are desperately longing and waiting for Him in darkness. But they do not know Him, and even try every possible means to resist Him. No one welcomes His coming, because His work does not conform to man’s notions, and especially His incarnation as a female this time all the more shatters man’s notion.” Having said this, she took out the book of Almighty God’s word and read, “The work of God continues to advance, and though the purpose of His work remains unchanging, the means by which He works are constantly changing, and thereby so are those who follow God. The more work of God, the more thoroughly man comes to know God, and the disposition of man changes accordingly along with His work. However, it is because the work of God is ever-changing that those who do not know the work of the Holy Spirit and those absurd men who do not know the truth become opponents of God. Not ever does the work of God conform to the conceptions of man, for His work is always new and never old. Not ever does He repeat work of old but rather forges ahead with work never before done. As God does not repeat His work and man invariably judges the work of God today based on His work of the past, it is exceedingly difficult for God to carry out each stage of work of the new age. Man presents far too many hindrances! The thinking of man is too hidebound! No man knows the work of God, yet they all define such work.” “His substance and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward, always going deeper, for God is always new and never old. In every age God assumes a new name, in every age He does new work, and in every age He allows the creatures to see His new will and His new disposition. If people do not see the expression of God’s new disposition in the new age, would they not forever nail Him to the cross? And by doing so, would they not define God? If God was only incarnated as a male, people would define Him as male, as the God of men, and would never believe Him to be the God of women. Then, men would believe that God is of the same gender as men, that God is the head of men—and what of women? This is unfair; is it not preferential treatment? If this were the case, then all those whom God saved would be men like Him, and there would be no salvation for women. When God created mankind, He created Adam and He created Eve. He did not create only Adam, but made both male and female in His image. God is not only the God of men, He is also the God of women.” When I heard this, I couldn’t help crying. I had never expected that the God whom I had been longing for day and night had returned, yet I had failed to recognize Him. I had opposed, rejected, and slandered Him time and again, and had actually become a leading demon that resists Him. “O my God! My God! Why are Your enemies the members of Your own household?” I choked with sobs, and began to recall the scenes of the brothers and sisters preaching the gospel to me in the past years. “The painstaking effort God has exerted on me and the price He has paid for me are too great. He has given me so many opportunities to be saved, but I, a blind, foolish, ignorant, arrogant, and malicious person, have missed them all, and I have even done everything possible to resist, condemn, and impede His work, and have tried by every means to bully, disgrace, abuse, and mock the brothers and sisters who preached the gospel to me. I am really a most wicked servant. Am I different from the Pharisees who opposed the Lord Jesus?” The more I thought about that, the more remorseful I felt, and the more deeply I regretted. I cried and prayed to God to confess my sins and repent, “O dear Almighty God! I, a sinner, have done so many things that resist You in these years. And for so many times I have abused, disgraced, and bullied the people sent by You to preach Your work of the last days to me, and I have hindered the brothers and sisters from accepting the true way. I am grievously sinful and deserve more than death. O God, not only have You not abandoned me, but sent people time and again to preach Your new work to me. O Almighty God, no matter how You punish me in the future, I will be most willing to accept it. O God, I will hand all Your sheep over to You, so that this hungry and lost flock will be filled.” I cried every day confessing my sins to God and asking His forgiveness. When I read the words from the very mouth of God, I felt that every word struck right home to my heart. My hardened and numb heart was touched, and I knew for sure that the work of Almighty God is the work of God Himself. I always couldn’t help shedding remorseful tears. I cried for over ten days, and finally I resolved to offer up my whole being to bear witness to God.

Soon I brought the brothers and sisters under my charge to Almighty God, and so they all could read the words from the very mouth of God, and they were extremely excited. The once lifeless churches completely changed, as if placed under a new heaven and on a new earth. All the brothers and sisters wore smiles on their faces and were in good spirits. They sang new songs, danced new dances, and drank the inexhaustible living water of life flowing out from the throne of Almighty God, of which no one can enjoy the last. All the churches saw the true light of Almighty God and were lightened up by His words. Seeing these, I felt my indebtedness was somewhat relieved. But I knew that what I had done was far from enough to make up for my indebtedness to God. So, I made up my mind to bring more hungry and lost lambs in darkness to the house of Almighty God, so that they would, like us, enjoy the nourishment of the words of Almighty God, the watering of the living water, and receive His personal guidance and shepherding and all the riches bestowed by Him.

Later, I went out to preach the gospel, and I saw with my own eyes how the people of various denominations and sects resisted, slandered, blasphemed, and falsely accused Almighty God, and how they reviled and hit the gospel preachers and even reported them to the police, which was no different from how I had resisted Almighty God. So I even more regretted my past doings and disobedience and resistance. And I couldn’t help but fall down before Almighty God and prayed, “O God! Dear Almighty God! If You had not enlightened and saved me, I would still live in darkness like them, and would still resist and disobey You. Thank You for bestowing such great grace upon me. Such a person like me, who has done all kinds of evil, can still receive Your salvation and have an opportunity to know You and enjoy You, and this is really a great uplifting and favor from You. What You have done in me has revealed Your loving kindness and mercy, Your infinite and boundless love for man, and moreover, revealed that Your intention is to save rather than to destroy mankind. O God! Your love is so great and so real that it has melted my heart. I will love You with all my heart, and will devote all my life to Your gospel work to repay You, and use my personal experiences to wake up those who are still fooled and deceived by Satan and live in darkness. O God! I will live for You, enjoy Your words gratefully, and seize the opportunity You give me to fulfill the duty of a created being and cooperate with Your gospel work properly, so that more innocent souls may come back to Your house and Your sorrowful and anxious heart may be comforted. O God! I will offer up to You all I have to repay Your love for me!”

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