I Held Fast to the Bible and Became a Pharisee of the Present Age | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

I Held Fast to the Bible and Became a Pharisee of the Present Age

Feng Gang

Shangqiu City, Henan Province

In May 2002, I accepted the gospel of the last days of Almighty God. When I went to preach to the brothers and sisters of my former denomination with guilt, they said to me, “In the past, you didn’t allow us to have contact with the believers in Almighty God, and said that they would gouge out people’s eyes and cut off their noses and commit adultery. But now you yourself have followed them. You are an apostate. How can you have the face to come to preach to us? …” When I heard those words, my thoughts returned to the past…

I began to believe in Jesus in 1989. In November 1992, I became the leader of the eight churches of the “Justification by Faith Church.” Later, the leader of the upper level said to me, “Only the God we believe in is the true God and the living God. All other denominations are heresies and cults. Never have contact with them, much less pray together with them. Otherwise, the evil spirit will come upon you. Then you will lose control of yourself.” Since then, I obeyed the leader’s “teaching” carefully and didn’t have contract with anyone of other denominations, fearing that I might “go astray.”

In 1995, more than ten people had brought me the books of God’s word, such as The Word of That Spirit and Walking in the Light. I just skimmed over a part of the content of the book The Word of That Spirit carelessly, and then said angrily, “The words in this book are all curses. God is gentle and good and kind. How could He possibly curse people in such a way?” And after those words, I remembered what the leader said, so I returned the books to them and said stiffly, “Our belief is different. It’s unnecessary for us to fellowship!” Afterward, I lost no time in telling this matter to the leader above. He said, “They are the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers. They are very powerful. They believe in a heresy and a female Christ. You must guard against them strictly and prevent them from stealing the sheep from us…” Since then, guarding against the “Eastern Lightning” followers almost became all that I did in believing in God. Each time we had a meeting, I would say, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers are coming to steal the sheep. They want to take us to death. Never have contact with them or talk to them. Otherwise, they will keep pestering you.”
One day in October 1998, I was just watering the field when a brother of my denomination greeted me from afar. He said, “Brother, let me help you.” I knew that he had already accepted Almighty God, so I said angrily, “No need. If you are here, I’ll leave!” With the word, I threw the water pipe to the ground and left without turning round… In a period of time afterward, more people came to preach the gospel to me, and every time I said to them sarcastically, “Fellowshipping with you is like playing a lute to a cow. Go to preach to those unbelievers if you are capable.” Just like that, I always made the brothers and sisters embarrassed. Nevertheless, they still came to preach to me continuously.

One day in 2001, my wife’s sister-in-law came to preach to me. I said sneeringly, “You are most ignorant and have the least knowledge of the Bible, and you have never travelled far. And you come to preach to me? I think you are all the blind leading the blind. You can come here when you have confessed and repented and converted to our belief. Otherwise, don’t come again!”

Although I watched every church “conscientiously,” there were still many brothers and sisters accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days. Then the upper leaders intensified their efforts to seal off the churches and distributed many materials that resisted Almighty God. I was particularly struck by the words in one of the materials, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers infiltrate different denominations and sects to draw the workers in the name of shepherding the church. After they win their trust, they will take them to the remote, thickly forested mountains and force them to believe. If they refuse, they will beat them or even cut off their noses or gouge out their eyes or force them to have sexual relationship with them…” At that time, without making any discernment, I completely believed those words and hated the “Eastern Lightning” followers to the core on that account. I took the materials to the churches under my supervision and preached, “Don’t receive anyone who comes to preach to you as long as they are believers in Almighty God, much less listen to them, even if they are your parents!” I remembered that a relative of mine (who sold soy sauce) often came to preach to me at that time. But I said to him through gritted teeth, “If you come again, I’ll smash your soy sauce buckets! …” Afterward, I told the matter to the brothers and sisters in the churches and asked them to treat the “Eastern Lightning” followers as I did. I also ordered the leaders of every church to watch the believers closely and not let them have contact with the believers in Almighty God, lest they be dragged away.

I was so busy sealing off the churches that sometimes I even had no time to take meals, yet still, it was to no avail. By March 2002, only few people were left in the church. Seeing the desolate state, I was extremely distressed in my heart. But I didn’t know to examine myself or seek, but only hated the brothers and sisters for their ignorance and the “Eastern Lightning” followers for stealing our sheep.

One day in May 2002, a sister of our denomination told me that two brothers from out of town who preached the gospel came to her home, and she asked me to go to fellowship with them about the Bible. Then I went to her home with curiosity. In the first two days, I saw eye to eye with them. We fellowshipped from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and with many points that I didn’t understand, they could explain them very clearly, which made me sincerely convinced. On the third day, a brother asked me smilingly, “Brother, which one do you think is greater, God or the Bible?” I felt a little surprised, “Why does he ask this way?” And I answered, “Of course God is greater.” The brother said, “Since God is greater, God can do a new work outside the Bible without being restrained by it, right?” At those words, I immediately realized that they were believers in Almighty God. So I retorted quickly, “Jesus said in John 14:6: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.’ Salvation is found in no one else except Jesus, and all Scripture is inspired by God. This is the never-changing truth. You have departed from the Bible, and you are denying the truth. My belief is different from yours. It’s unnecessary for us to talk anymore.” With the word, I got up to leave. The two brothers smiled and asked me repeatedly to stay, “Brother, don’t be angry. Let’s sit down and have a good fellowship. Let’s see whether all scripture is inspired by God.” Hearing that, I clearly knew that they wanted to talk about the work of Almighty God. So I said more angrily, “The Bible is the testimony for God and is inspired by God. This is absolutely correct. All God’s words and work are recorded in the Bible. If one departs from the Bible, he is not believing in God. It is a heresy and a cult!” I was so furious at that time that I really wanted to beat them. However, no matter how angry I was, they remained calm, and said, “Brother, we are all believers in God. The Lord Jesus said that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Why be angry? We can have a discussion together and learn from each other. What matters it?” Hearing those words, I felt a little embarrassed. So I continued to fellowship with them about the Bible with reluctance. The brother asked me to read Jesus’ genealogy recorded in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. After I read them, the brother said, “The gospels of Matthew and Luke both record Jesus’ genealogy. Could the genealogy be written at will? That was clearly Joseph’s genealogy, but they say that it was Jesus’ genealogy. We know that Jesus had nothing to do with Joseph at all. God is self-existing and ever-existing. How could He have a genealogy? God’s word says: ‘Perhaps someone thought that if God walked the earth, then He needed a family tree, and so inserted Jesus into the forty-second generation of Abraham’s descendants. What an absurd idea! How could God have a family tree when He came to earth? If He had a family tree, would that not make Him one of His own creations? God is not of the earth, He is the Lord of creation; though He is flesh, He is different from man in essence. How could you put Him into the same category as His creations? Abraham could not represent God; He was an object of Jehovah’s work at that time, just a loyal servant approved of by Jehovah, and one of the Israelite people. How, then, could Abraham be an ancestor of Jesus?’” I pondered over these words in my heart, “That’s right. The Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He has nothing to do with Joseph. Is it too preposterous to create a genealogy for God incarnate? How can God be put into the same category as His creations?” Then they showed me Luke 20:41-44, “And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself said in the book of Psalms, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you on my right hand, Till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore calls him Lord, how is he then his son?” After I read it, the brother said, “The Lord Jesus refuted the view that Christ was the son of a man. This shows that such a view is wrong and preposterous and is abhorred by God. How can such an absurd idea be a revelation from God? Could God give such an erroneous and absurd revelation to man?” I agreed with what the brother said in my heart, but to save my face, outwardly I assumed an air of nonchalance. The two brothers saw that I was still not convinced, so they found the records about Judas’ death. In Matthew 27:5, it says, “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” In Acts 1:18, it says, “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.” The brother asked, “These two verses record the same thing, yet there were two different ends. One says that he hanged himself. The other says that he burst asunder in the middle and died. What do you think all this is about?” I was stunned and had nothing to say. My previous anger was completely gone. Before the iron facts, I had to acknowledge that not all Scripture was inspired by God. “I have believed in God for so many years and I’m versed in the Bible. How come I didn’t know these?” At that time, my heart was filled with mixed feelings, and I simply couldn’t describe how I felt. “There are actually so many strange problems in the Bible that I adore. It’s really unbelievable. But they can’t be denied.”

Then the brother continued, “The Age of Grace has ended, and God has been incarnated and done a new work.” Hearing that, I flew into a temper again. “I only acknowledge that the Lord will come with clouds, for it is said in 1 Thessalonian 4:16-17, ‘For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air…’ If the Lord has really come, why haven’t I heard the shout?” The other brother said, “The ‘shout’ refers to the voice of preaching God’s work of the last days. The brothers and sisters come to your house to preach, and isn’t their voice the ‘shout’? The ‘voice of the archangel’ refers to the voice of the leaders of various denominations and sects of sealing off the churches, telling you not to have contact with the ‘Eastern Lightning’ followers, not to listen to their message, and so on. The ‘trump of God’ refers to the personal utterance of the Christ of the last days, the words that the Holy Spirit says to the churches, which all who have ears should hear. Brother, please consider this carefully: Is it really true that you haven’t heard these voices?” I thought about it carefully and considered that what they said was reasonable. And the resistance in my heart gradually disappeared. Regarding whether the Lord will come in a spiritual body or in a flesh, the brother read Matthew 24:27, 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.’ and 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.’ These two portions of scriptures both say that ‘the Son of man’ comes, so He will surely come through incarnation, not in a spiritual body.” I thought, “It’s right. If God came not through incarnation, how could He suffer many things and be rejected by this generation?” Later, I asked again, “The Bible says that ‘that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.’ Why do you say that the flesh is saved?” The brother said, “‘that flesh and blood’ refers to man corrupted by Satan. We all are the offspring of the corrupted Adam and Eve and are the corrupted ‘flesh and blood,’ so we must undergo God’s work of removing sin during the last days to have our corrupted flesh transformed into a holy body before we can inherit the kingdom of God.” Hearing that, I received revelation and at the same time felt very remorseful, “Why didn’t I listen to their exposition first in the past but have kept holding to the Bible until today? I’m really blind and ignorant to the extreme.”

During my stay with the brothers who preached the gospel, I saw that their living out wasn’t like what was described in those materials at all, which said, “They use sinister and malicious means to force you to accept their way, and if you refuse to accept, they will lay murderous hands on you,” and so on. It was really that “Words are but wind, but seeing is believing!” I thought back to the scenes in these past days: No matter how arrogant, self-right, or unreasonable I was, they tolerated me with great love and patience; sometimes my manner was very stiff, and I was very impolite to them, but they never minded it and still fellowshipped with me calmly. With such living out and humanity, how could they be the people described in those materials? I began to doubt those materials. Then, I quieted my heart and continued to fellowship with them. As a result, I understood the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and understood that God’s work today is the third stage of work after the work of the Age of Law and the work of the Age of Grace, and that not all Scripture is inspired by God and the Bible is only a historical book. Just as God’s word says: “The Bible is not entirely a record of God’s own utterance; rather, it is just an account of the first two stages of God’s work. Part of it consists of the words of the prophets, and part of it documents the experiences and knowledge of people who were used by God down through the ages. Unavoidably, the writers’ own opinions and knowledge are mixed in their experiences. Many books in it are colored by human notions, prejudices, and erroneous understandings, and though naturally most of the words were enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit and represent correct understandings, they cannot be considered entirely accurate expressions of the truth. The writers’ opinions on certain subjects merely reflect their own experiential knowledge or the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.” “What is recorded in the Bible are the affairs of ancient Israel, the things that the chosen people of Israel did, the things that Jehovah did. And so later the Holy Spirit didn’t disapprove of this. Even though some of them were put into the Bible, and some omitted, the Holy Spirit did not commend it, but did not condemn it either. The Bible consists purely of the history of Israel, the history of God’s work, and the people, events, and things it describes are for the most part real people, real events, and real things, not foreshadowings of things to come—except the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, of course, or the visions of John. The Israelites then were a very cultured and knowledgeable people, with a highly developed ancient civilization, and so what they wrote surpasses the words of people today. It is not astonishing that they were able to write these books, for Jehovah performed much work among them and they saw so much.” After reading God’s words, I even more hated myself: I had treated the Bible as God, considering that believing in God was believing in the Bible, and circumscribed God within the Bible, not allowing God to work outside the Bible, and even resisted the work of the true God with the epistles of the apostles. I am really ignorant and deserve to die!

God’s word is just like a navigation light which shines with boundless radiance. The more I read it, the more I felt enlightened. Then I read these words of God: “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.” From them I understood that God comes to earth mainly to do the work to save man, not to show man what His flesh is like. He can be a male or a female, and He can accomplish His work in either way. I really hated myself for circumscribing God’s gender according to my mind and even more hated myself for being so arrogant and self-right that I resisted God’s work and sealed off the church blindly without seeking even though I didn’t have the true knowledge of it, and thus played the role of an antichrist and became a Pharisee of the present age. However, although I was so disobedient, God didn’t abandon me but spared no efforts to save me. I indeed saw God’s boundless love for man.

After I took part in the church life, I saw that the brothers and sisters all spoke and behaved with decency and propriety and were simple and open when fellowshipping the truth and knowing themselves. Moreover, it is clearly stipulated in the fourth decree of the Ten Administrative Decrees, “Man has corrupt disposition and even more has emotion. So, in the service in coordination, two people of different sexes are forbidden to coordinate alone. If discovered, they shall be expelled, no matter who they are.” Seeing God’s words and these facts, I realized that it was purely a lie and slander that those materials say that believers in Almighty God commit adultery.

Not long after I followed Almighty God, I preached the gospel to two brothers of my former denomination, but they only believed for a few days and dropped out because of their uncertainty about God’s work. At that time, the brothers and sisters fellowshipped with me, “You should continue to preach to them. God’s intention is to save every man to the utmost. God expects that all those who truly love Him can come before Him. They drop out because they don’t know about God’s work.” I saw that when the brothers and sisters preached to those two brothers patiently again, they neither were beaten nor had their eyes gouged out or their noses cut off. That proved once again that what was said in those materials distributed by our leaders above, such as “gouge out your eyes,” and “cut off your nose,” was nothing but smears and slanders. At that time, I even more hated myself for looking up to the leaders too much before, always thinking that all that they said was true and right. Only then did I know that it was because I had no discernment and believed rumors easily that I blindly condemned God’s work of the last days and acted as a messenger of Satan. Such deeds of mine really harmed others and me. If Almighty God didn’t save me today, I wouldn’t even know why if I were punished by God to death. I thank Almighty God that He brings me, a great evil man who resisted and disobeyed Him, before Him by His wonderful and wise work. O God! In the rest of my time I will care for Your will and perform my duty to repay Your love!

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Almighty God’s Word Made Me Become Subject Before God | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

Almighty God’s Word Made Me Become Subject Before God

Zhang Mingqi

Nanyang City, Henan Province

I was formerly a mid-level leader of the Stream of Recovery. Since I was called in the Lord in 1985, I had been in the stream of the Lord’s recovery. I always believed that the Bible was a book of life, in which every word was breathed by God, and that God’s good and kind intention for mankind over six thousand years had been fully revealed to us in it. So, I regarded the Bible as my lifeblood and very much adored Brother Lee who had brought us the “higher vision.” I always believed that God had already unlocked all the mysteries in the sixty-six books of the Bible through Brother Lee and that all the mysteries and the essence of the Bible had already been revealed to us. When the antichrists would make the covenant, when the temple would be rebuilt, when the Lord would return, and where and when the Lord would take us up, all these had been told to us. So we only needed to attend meetings, be obedient, and wait to be taken up to reign and rule when the revelations were fulfilled. Therefore, I paid much attention to reading Brother Lee’s messages. I also shepherded the brothers and sisters in the area where I ministered according to the methods of Brother Lee. Honestly speaking, at that time, I only wished that I could be full of the words from the messages of Brother Lee either when I preached or when I fellowshipped, for Brother Lee once said that he was the Lord’s recorder and that we should all become his recorders. It could be said that the brothers and sisters under me and I worshipped Brother Lee’s messages as we worshipped God. We read his messages at usual times, shared his messages at the meetings, and followed the prescribed routine in his messages waiting for God’s return. I condemned anything different from the “vision revealed” by Brother Lee as a “heresy” and would not accept it at all.

At the end of the fall of 1994, a brother came to preach Almighty God’s work of the last days to me, saying that the seven seals had been broken. I immediately contradicted him with the scriptures and drove him away without giving him any chance to explain. In 1996, two former co-workers of mine came to visit me and fellowshipped with me about Almighty God’s work of the last days. As I found that what they fellowshipped did not tally with Brother Lee’s exposition of the Bible, I judged arbitrarily that they had been “deceived” and had joined the “heresy.” So I forcibly drove them away. After that, I felt a great repugnance and resistance to the people who came to preach the gospel of the last days. I went around sealing off the churches, not allowing the brothers and sisters under me to have contact with those who preached the gospel of the last days. And I said, “Those people are sheer antichrists, the deceitful false prophets, a kind of people to be cursed by God, and they are like the grasshoppers in late autumn whose days are numbered…” During that period of time, there were continually people coming to preach the gospel of the last days to me, but I refused them all.

That lasted until March 5, 2002. On that morning, a brother of our denomination, who had accepted Almighty God, called me and invited me to his home. I was unwilling to go there. But as he invited me repeatedly, I felt embarrassed to turn him down. I thought to myself, “I’m just going to meet a friend. I won’t be afraid if he talks about the work of the last days. I have Bible knowledge, and I am clear about the vision. Why not go?” When I arrived there, I saw another brother with him. I gave that brother a glance and thought scornfully, “Is this what you call the master-hand? What can such a person preach?” The brother said to me smilingly, “Brother, let’s have a fellowship. We can fellowship about what we know.” I thought to myself, “Don’t you just want to talk about the three-stage work? What else can you say? You will only repeat those few words you have been specially trained to preach. The same old story, I’ve heard too much of it! Today, I will stump you with hard questions and put you on the spot!” So, I said, “Today when we fellowship, we shall interpret whatever verse in the Bible according to its proper meaning. If we depart from the Bible, then there is no need to fellowship. We shall fellowship in the way that I ask questions and you answer them.” “OK! Let’s do what you say,” replied the brother readily.

So, I said loudly, “Can you tell me what ‘lightning’ means? You have to find this word from the Bible. I’ll believe in your God if your answer convinces me.” The brother smiled. He opened the Bible, turned to Psalms 97:4, and read, “His lightning enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.” At this, my heart skipped a beat. “Oh, my! He answers so quickly and correctly. This is far beyond my expectation.” Seeing that my countenance suddenly changed, he said with a smile, “Brother, this one scripture does not prove anything. Let’s keep seeking. The Lord is really mystery. As long as we seek with a humble heart, He will unlock His mysteries to us.” Then, he opened the Bible again and found out many other verses: Psalms 18:13-14, Zechariah 9:14, Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24, Revelation 4:5, and so on. Only then did I find that I, who had regarded myself as being “endowed with great talents” and “rich in knowledge,” was actually so superficial and ignorant. So I dropped myself and listened to the brother’s fellowship with a seeking heart. Enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, I felt as if awakening from a dream. “Actually, the one I have been resisting for so many years is not a human but the Savior Jesus whom I have been earnestly expecting for a long time. Almighty God is precisely the returned Jesus!” I really hated myself for being so blind and foolish that I believed in God yet did not know God. I echoed what others said, neither investigating nor seeking, and I showed myself off with the very little Bible knowledge that I had. I thought that I had known everything after reading and wearing out several Bibles, and I did not seek God’s intention. I was really so arrogant and ignorant.

Then, I fellowshipped with the brother about Brother Lee’s exposition of the Bible. The brother said, “Matthew 10:24 says, ‘The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.’ This shows that although Brother Lee had done much work, he was only a man, and could not replace God Himself, and we shouldn’t regard his messages as God’s words. Revelation 5:3-5 says, ‘And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. … the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.’ This shows that no one is worthy to open the scroll, and only God Himself is able to open the little scroll.” Having said that, he took out a book and said, “This is Almighty God’s personal utterance—the little scroll.” Then, he read me a passage of God’s word in “The Mystery of the Incarnation (1),” which says: “Even a man who is used by the Holy Spirit cannot represent God Himself. And not only can this man not represent God, but his work cannot directly represent God. That is to say, the experience of man cannot be placed directly within the management of God, and it cannot represent the management of God. All the work that God Himself does is the work He intends to do in His own management plan and relates to the great management. The work done by man (man used by the Holy Spirit) supplies his individual experience. He finds a new path of experience from that walked by those before him and leads his brothers and sisters under guidance of the Holy Spirit. What these men supply is their individual experience or spiritual writings of spiritual men. Though they are used by the Holy Spirit, the work of such men is unrelated to the great management work in the six-thousand-year plan. They are merely raised up by the Holy Spirit in different periods to lead people in the stream of the Holy Spirit until they have fulfilled their function or their lives come to an end. The work they do is only to prepare an appropriate way for God Himself or to continue one item in the management of God Himself on earth. Such men are unable to do the greater work in His management, and they cannot open up new ways out, much less conclude all the work of God from the former age. Therefore, the work they do represents only a created being performing his function and cannot represent God Himself performing His ministry. This is because the work they do is unlike that done by God Himself. The work of ushering in a new age cannot be done by man in God’s place. It cannot be done by any other than God Himself. All the work done by man is performing his duty as one of creation and is done when moved or enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The guidance that such men provide is how to practice in man’s daily life and how man should act to the will of God. The work of man neither involves the management of God nor represents the work of the Spirit. As an example, the work of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee was to lead the way. Be the way new or old, the work was done on the basis of not exceeding the principles of the Bible. Whether the local churches were restored or built, their work was to establish churches. The work they did carried on the work that Jesus and His apostles had not finished or further developed in the Age of Grace.” After listening to this passage of God’s word, I understood that Brother Lee was only a man. Neither he himself nor the work he did could represent God. All he did was to lead other brothers and sisters according to the principles in the Bible. He could not go beyond the Bible and beyond the Age of Grace to do a new work. Although Brother Lee could explain the Bible and preach about some biblical knowledge and theological theories, he knew nothing about the Lord’s coming again and the details about how the Lord’s work in the new age would be done. So we could not measure God’s new work or draw any conclusion about God’s work according to Brother Lee’s exposition of the Bible.

Then, the brother read me a passage of God’s word in “Concerning the Bible (1),” which says: “You all need to understand the Bible—it is very necessary that you do so. … The Bible is a history book. If during the Age of Grace you were to eat and drink the Old Testament, practicing the requirements of the Old Testament age, then Jesus would forsake you, condemn you. If you had tried to impose the Old Testament on Jesus’ work, you would have been called a Pharisee. And so today, if you eat and drink and practice the Old and New Testaments, then the God of today will condemn you; you cannot keep pace with the work of the Holy Spirit today. If you eat the Old and New Testaments, then you are one outside the stream of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ day, He led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the work of the Holy Spirit in Him. He did not look to the Bible for evidence, but spoke as His work dictated. He did not concern Himself with what the Bible said, did not lead His followers down a path found in the Bible. From the very beginning, He preached the way of repentance, and the word ‘repentance’ was not mentioned at all in all the prophecies in the Old Testament. Not only did He not follow the Bible, He brought forth a new path and did a new work. He did not make reference to the Bible when He preached, and the miracles He worked—healing the sick, casting out demons—had never been performed by men during the Age of Law. No one in the Age of Law did the work He did, taught those lessons, had that authority. He simply did His new work, though many people condemned Him, even crucified Him, by using the Bible. His work went beyond the Old Testament; if that had not been the case, why would they have nailed Him to the cross? Was it not because His teachings, His power to cure the sick and cast out demons, had never been recorded in the Old Testament? The work of Jesus was to bring forth a new path; He did not deliberately set out to ‘wage war’ against the Bible or abolish the Old Testament, but simply performed His ministry, bringing the new work to those who thirsted for Him and sought Him out. He was not trying to explain the Old Testament or defend its work. Carrying on the Age of Law was not His goal, for He did not care in the least whether His work was grounded in the Bible, but simply did the job that He needed to do. So He did not attempt to explain the Old Testament prophecies, did not base His work on words spoken in the Old Testament Age of Law. He did not concern Himself with what the Old Testament said, whether it accorded with His own work, did not care how other people saw His work or condemned His work. He simply kept on doing the job He needed to do, though many people condemned Him, invoking the words of the Old Testament prophets. In people’s eyes His work was not based on a shred of evidence, and in many ways it ran counter to what was recorded in the Bible. Were they not grossly in the wrong? Must God’s work obey any rules? Does He need to follow the words of prophets? Which is greater, the Bible or God? Why must God’s work be in line with the Bible? Is it really not within His right to stand above the Bible? Can He not depart from it and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not observe the Sabbath? If He was to observe the Sabbath, to practice the commandments of the Old Testament, then why, after His coming, did He not observe the Sabbath, but washed others’ feet and covered His head, broke bread and drank wine? Were these commandments mentioned in the Old Testament? If Jesus was to adhere to the Old Testament, why did He break these rules? You must know which came first, God, or the Bible? As He is the Lord of the Sabbath, can’t He also be the Lord of the Bible?” I listened quietly. Every word of God was so practical and so sincere that I felt bright in my heart and everything became clear in my eyes. I came to know that God’s work always progresses forward and is always new, and that God does not work according to the prophecies of the Bible, but does the newest and most realistic work according to His plan and man’s need. After hearing this passage of God’s word and thinking back to what the brother had fellowshipped with me about this stage of God’s work in the last days, I realized that God is so wonderful and so unfathomable. The new work done by God incarnate this time is to continue the work that God had not yet finished in the Age of Law and in the Age of Grace and is a newer and higher work. The Bible is only a record of the history of the first two stages of the work and the prophecies concerning the work of the last days, but it does not contain all God’s work and words, and not every word of the Bible is the word of God. But this time, God has returned to personally utter His voice and do the work of judging and purifying man with the word, and it is the last stage of the work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan. Such work of God has brought people into a brand new age and brought them the practices of the new age… Through this fellowship and eating and drinking God’s word, I, enlightened by God, understood many truths and realized that this was indeed the work done by God.

The more I read God’s word, the more I became certain about this way, because apart from Almighty God, no one else could change the age or unlock mysteries, and even less could anyone purify man and bring man into the kingdom. At that time, I felt ashamed and disgraced, wishing I could sink through the ground. Ay! I really hated myself deeply and felt bitterly regretful. I had no discernment yet I slandered others. I refused to accept the true way and I also sealed off the churches and hindered the brothers and sisters from accepting it. I, such an arrogant, self-right, disobedient, and resistant person who was extremely corrupt and worse than beasts, had resisted God for eight years. I really deserved the retribution of being put into the lake of fire to suffer the eternal punishment. However, Almighty God did not treat me according to my evil deeds; instead, He tried every means to save me from the jaws of death so that I could have a part in His kingdom training. This was indeed God’s favor and uplifting! The day for God to reward good and punish evil is close at hand. Now most of the brothers and sisters who had been bound by me have returned to God’s family with me, but there are still some brothers and sisters who have been deceived continuing to resist. So, I’m willing to do my utmost to cooperate with God and bring more brothers and sisters before God, so as to make up for my past transgressions and indebtedness to God and repay Almighty God who loves man as His own flesh and blood. This is my biggest wish and is even more the bounden duty of a created being. Dear brothers and sisters, wake up quickly! This is the work of the true God! No one else can do it in His stead! If we refuse or don’t accept it, it will be too late for us to regret on the day when God’s work is concluded. Almighty God admonishes us, “You must not blindly condemn the words expressed by God because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days, and must not be someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit because you fear deception. Would that not be a great pity?”

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Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

—The Story of a Person Who Fiercely Resisted Almighty God’s Work of the Last Days

Zheng Yongshen

Funan County, Anhui Province

I was a co-worker of the Stream of Recovery. On December 8, 1998, a brother of our church came to me to preach the work of Almighty God of the last days. He gave me a book of Almighty God’s word and asked me to read it. I was very angry and rebuked him, “We only believe in the Lord Jesus; why did you convert to the faith of another god?” Running my eyes over more than one page of the book, I laid it aside, because I thought the words were plain and simple, and too shallow. The brother said to me earnestly, “Better finish reading it, and you will know it is truly the word personally spoken by God.” “I don’t think so. Now that you insist it is God’s own word, you get a pen and a notebook, put them on the table, and ask God to speak!” I said rudely. And then I murmured to myself angrily, “You believers in Almighty God have stolen many of our lambs, and now you also want to draw me in. No way!” Then I went to the church, and called some other co-workers together and discussed how to guard against the “Eastern Lightning,” trying to work out ways to fight back against it. After that, we went to every meeting place spreading these slanderous and blasphemous words: “You mustn’t believe in the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ It is a false Christ, a false prophet, who tries to deceive people in the disguise of the Lord. What we believe in is the truth. Don’t listen to their messages. Those people are the disturbers of the church. It is a test of whether we have foundation. If your foundation is built on sand, you will be taken away by them; if you have foundation, you will be able to stand no matter how they disturb.” And I also started rumors among the believers, “The sect of Almighty God is a mafia, and they have guns. Once you join them, you can’t withdraw. If you want to, they will gouge out your eyes, cut off your nose or ears, or break your legs. And they are promiscuous.” In order to preserve my position and fame and prevent the brothers and sisters from receiving the truth, I fabricated horrible lies to seal off the church and used the biblical verses out of context to condemn God’s work of the last days. As a result, many who had no discernment and didn’t know the truth were too frightened to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. These are the evils I have done.

One day in February 2000, my younger sister came to my house, and she preached Almighty God’s gospel of the last days to me. I said to her, “Don’t come again if you preach it. I’ve heard it a few times. I won’t believe in it whatever you say.” But she kept talking about how God does the reaping, choosing, and judging work when He has come this time. No matter what she said, I couldn’t take it in. Since then, my sister often came to preach the gospel to me, and meanwhile, she helped me do any work. Even so, my marble heart was not moved. Several times she left in tears because of my stiff resistance to the gospel. Each time after she left, I still did evil as before—desperately blaspheming and slandering Almighty God’s work and sealing off the church, for fear that all the believers might accept Almighty God and I would become a “general without an army.”

One day in September 2000, my sister came again. She invited me to her home to listen to the gospel of the last days, because some preachers were there, but I brushed her off. She said to me, “Why do you believe in God, brother? People often say, ‘With the truth on your side, you can go anywhere; without it, you can’t take a step.’ Since you believe in the true God, why don’t you dare to fellowship with others?” My believing wife also said, “Why don’t you go to meet them? Are you afraid of losing face?” I was annoyed by her words and said, “Afraid of losing face? I’ll go!” So I left with my sister in a fit of pique. Arriving there, I saw seven people were present, and they were waiting for me. We immediately started to fellowship. When a brother said that God came to do the work of the word this time, I got furious and asked, “Where is the word God has personally spoken?” The brother took out a book entitled “Utterances of Christ” and said that it was God’s personal word. “You all preach the same. The book is plainly written by a man, but you say that it is God’s word. I don’t believe!” I said angrily. With that, I charged out of the door in exasperation. After I returned from there, I sealed off the church more fiercely, for I was certain that what I believe in was the most true God. I went to the meeting places everywhere preaching, “What those people believe in is the antichrist, the one written in the Bible who ‘sits in the temple of God and shows himself that he is God.’ …. What we believe in is the truth. As long as we stand firm, we will be overcomers and pillars. When the coming of the kingdom of the Lord Christ is declared, we will enter the kingdom.” I ran around sealing off the church for the sake of preserving my position, just like what Jesus said in the Bible: “… for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew: 23:13).

On December 9 of 2000, my sister came to my home again. She warned me not to speak without fear, not to blaspheme God, or I would be punished by God. I didn’t believe her words at all, and even retorted arrogantly, “Don’t try to frighten me. I’ve never feared anything.” But several days later, I really received God’s discipline. On the afternoon of December 16, I went to preach with a co-worker, and after speaking only two sentences in the meeting, I lost my voice. Seeing that, the co-worker gave me a glass of water, and I drank it. But after I said two sentences, I lost my voice again. This happened three times. Shaking my head, I had to stop preaching for a rest.

On the morning of February 6, 2001, a brother in my village, who had been a co-worker of mine, came to my home and talked with me about belief in God. While we were talking, my sister came again. She begged me to go to listen to the messages about Almighty God’s work. The brother also urged me to go, and he wanted to accompany me. I said, “We can’t go. Being weak doesn’t matter, but we mustn’t go astray.” But he said, “Since we joined the Stream of Recovery, we have heard that Brother Li talked about the oneness and the building up, but why have the churches not been united into one by now but instead divided? There must be something wrong. And Brother Li said that the ‘corporate new man’ would appear before 2000. Now is already 2001, but why has it not appeared yet? The ‘corporate new man’ is sure to have appeared, but we don’t know where it is. We should seek! Let’s go hear their messages. If it is a true way, we accept it, and if it isn’t, that’ll do us no harm, and we’ll just take it as a visit to the relative….” After much of his persuasion, I agreed to go listen to their fellowship. When we got there, we saw several brothers were waiting for us. One brother asked me how long I had believed in God and what was the condition of our church. I said, “I’ve believed for five years. Our church life is not normal.” The brother continued to ask, “What do you think is the root of the desolation of the church?” I gave no reply. Then he began to fellowship from Genesis to Revelation. He fellowshiped, “God’s work is always new and never old, and does not repeat, and it doesn’t conform to men’s notions. God can open up a new age and bring the old age to an end…. The key feature of God’s work is ‘new’ and ‘wondrous,’ and if one keeps up with God’s work, he will ‘live,’ or he will ‘die.’ For example, in the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus came, He spoke new words and did new work. Those disciples kept up with the steps of God’s work. They accepted the words and work of the Lord Jesus and received God’s new supply and blessings. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, however, failed to follow the steps of God’s work. They held on to the Old Testament and used the letters of the prophecies in it to resist and condemn the Lord Jesus and even crucified the Lord Jesus. They committed a heinous sin and received God’s punishment and curse in the end. This shows that as a believer in God, one should closely follow the footsteps of the Lamb, and wherever He went, he should follow Him closely. If one cannot give up his old notions or keep pace with God’s work, he will only end up being eliminated by God.”

The brother also fellowshiped about the causes of the Pharisees refusing to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Christ and resisting Him: 1. The Old Testament made no record of the genealogy of Jesus. If there had been a detailed genealogy of Jesus in it, people wouldn’t have resisted Him. 2. The Old Testament prophesied that a virgin should conceive, and bear a son, and should call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). However, people saw that Jesus had both parents and brothers and sisters, and moreover, His name was not called Immanuel, which were not in agreement with the prophecy. 3. The prophecy said that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah5: 2), but people saw that Jesus preached as a Nazarene, which didn’t correspond with the prophesy either. 4. What Jesus did was completely different from the work that Jehovah did in the age of the Old Testament. He didn’t enter the temple, nor did He keep the Law, not observing the Sabbath and other things. People thought that Jesus destroyed the Law and opposed Jehovah. Moreover, He even claimed Himself to be the Son of God. So the Pharisees nailed Jesus to the cross for the sake of safeguarding the Law and the work of Jehovah. 5. The Old Testament prophesied that there would come One who would be ruler over Israel (Micah 5: 2), and the government should be on His shoulder (Isaiah 9: 6). But actually a very ordinary “Nazarene” came. The chief priests, elders, scribes, and Pharisees all despised Him and all people sneered at Him (Matthew 27:29-44). The brother then asked me, “If the Pharisees had known that Jesus was the Messiah who would come, would they have resisted Him?” “Of course not!” I said quickly. “Right,” he said. “The Pharisees and scribes rejected Jesus and crucified Him simply because they didn’t recognize that Jesus was Christ and because what Jesus did was completely different from the Old Testament. Today we are all expecting the Lord Jesus to come. Will He still be called Jesus when He returns in the last days? Will people be able to recognize Him?” I replied, “It’s hard to say.” Then he continued, “The Lord has already come. He has become flesh and started new work. He is female this time.” Hearing this, I changed color, and my head buzzed instantly. I cried, “It is possible that the Lord has already come, but it is absolutely impossible that He has become flesh and is female!” These two things were most unacceptable to me, so I didn’t like to listen anymore, and I got up and wanted to leave. The brother who came with me stopped me, saying, “Since you agree with most of what he has said, let’s hear him out and see how he will explain the other questions, so that we may gain more insight….” I sat down reluctantly and prayed in my heart, “Lord, please help me and give me discernment so that I won’t be deceived.” However, I couldn’t take in anything. The brother asked me some questions, and I didn’t answer him. Seeing this, he suggested, “Let’s stop talking about that. Shall we talk about the Bible?” I nodded and said, “OK.” So he showed me several verses which predicted the coming of the Lord: Luke 17:24-25, 17:26-30, Revelation 1:12-16, Hebrews 9:28, Revelation 11:15, and Revelation 14:1-4, 17:14. The brother said, “These verses mention the ‘Son of man,’ ‘Christ,’ and the ‘Lamb.’ Then, what actually is the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb? Both Jehovah and Jesus are God Himself. Why is Jesus called the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb but Jehovah is not?” I really didn’t know the answer. I had believed several years but I had never thought about this question. However, for the sake of my vanity and face, I was ashamed to say I didn’t know the answer. So I said, “You can fellowship about it.” The brother said, “The ‘Son of man,’ ‘Christ,’ and the ‘Lamb,’ all are the names by which God incarnate is called. The Lord Jesus was called Christ because He was the holy flesh donned by the Spirit of God. He had both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. Only the One who has the two qualities can be called Christ. Jehovah was the Spirit, and He at times appeared in the spiritual body. But He had only complete divinity and didn’t have normal humanity. So Jehovah could not be called Christ, the Son of man, or the Lamb. The Bible predicts that when the Lord comes the second time, He will be called the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb. Doesn’t it mean that God will come in the flesh? If the Spirit or the spiritual body comes, can He be called those names?” Hearing these words, I suddenly saw the light: It turns out that the Lord will become flesh when He comes the second time! All at once I felt much relieved and was willing to seek. The brother went on saying, “Luke 17: 24-25 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.’ Doesn’t it also mean that the Lord will become flesh when He comes the second time? If the Spirit or the spiritual body comes, could He suffer or be rejected by people? Besides, the Bible says that false Christs will appear to deceive people in the last days (Matthew 24:3-5). We all know that false Christs must be men. If the Lord came not in the flesh but in the spiritual body, could the false Christs imitate Him or impersonate Him? Could they deceive people? Why did Jesus say there would be false Christs in the last days? Wasn’t He giving a hint to His disciples that He would become flesh when He came again? What do you think of it, brother?” Thank God! Through the brother’s fellowship, I finally understood the truth of this aspect. Then I asked, “How come I have never thought of that before?” The brother said, “You didn’t think of that because you have defined God and refused to seek. Didn’t Jesus say that ‘Seek, and you shall find,’ and that ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ and ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness’? How could one, who doesn’t seek, humble himself, or hunger and thirst for righteousness, receive the enlightenment and guidance from the Lord?” Hearing these words, I felt ashamed of myself and regretted my blind condemnation of God’s new work without seeking it because of my stubbornness and arrogance.

Afterward, through reading God’s word, I realized: Whether God chooses to do the work through the means of the Spirit or God incarnate is according to the need of His work, the need of mankind, and the extent of Satan’s corruption of man. This is like a doctor treating a patient’s illness. What methods and medicine the doctor will use must be in accordance with the need of the patient. The doctor cannot treat the patient as he likes. In the Age of Law, because men had been shallowly corrupted, God worked through the means of the Spirit, and He only asked them to keep the law and be conscious of sin. But as the times developed, men’s corruption has become deeper, and moreover, they have no power to overcome sin. If God still works by the means of the Spirit, the work wouldn’t achieve a desirable effect on them. Therefore, in the last days, God came in the flesh again, and He eats and lives together with men. He gives men accurate words and specific guidance, supplying them according to their needs. Only in this way can they be saved from the influence of Satan step by step, so that they will live in the light and live under God’s care and keeping. It is just as what Almighty God says: “This time, God comes to do work not in a spiritual body but in a very ordinary one. … In Him, you cannot see anything that is different from others, but you can receive from Him the truths you have never heard before. This insignificant flesh is the embodiment of all the words of truth from God, that which undertakes God’s work in the last days…. He is your gate into the kingdom, and your guide into the new age.” “Though what man sees this day is a God that is the same as man, a God with a nose and two eyes, and an unremarkable God, in the end God will show you that without the existence of this man, the heaven and earth will undergo a tremendous change; without the existence of this man, the heaven will grow dim, the earth will become chaos, and all mankind will live in famine and plagues. He will show you that without the salvation of God incarnate in the last days, then God would have long ago destroyed all mankind in hell; without the existence of this flesh, then you would forever be chief of sinners and corpses evermore. You should know that without the existence of this flesh, all mankind would face an inevitable calamity and find it difficult to escape God’s more severe punishment of mankind in the last days. Without the birth of this ordinary flesh, you would all be in a state where neither life nor death will come no matter how you seek it; without the existence of this flesh, then this day you would not be able to receive the truth and come before the throne of God. Rather, you would be punished by God because of your grievous sins. Do you know? If not for the return of God to the flesh, none would have a chance at salvation; and if not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ago ended the age of old. As such, can you still reject the second incarnation of God? Since you can so greatly profit from this ordinary man, then why would you not accept Him readily?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Through God’s words and the brother’s fellowship, I came to understand that corrupt men are in great need of the salvation of God incarnate. My notion about God’s incarnation was completely resolved. But I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that the God incarnate is female. So the brother read me the biblical verse in Genesis 1:27, which says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” And he also read me these words of Almighty God: “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.” “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.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) The brother fellowshiped, “We cannot understand a prophecy until it is fulfilled and God explains it. If God doesn’t interpret, we can’t understand it even though it is fulfilled. For God says: ‘In the eyes of God, man is smaller than an ant, so how can man fathom God’s work?’ (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) God is so great, so wondrous and unfathomable, and no believer in God can deny that. Since God can be incarnated as male, can’t He become female? So, as a believer in God, we should pray and seek more before God when we don’t understand, and shouldn’t jump to conclusions. This is what a true believer in God should do.”

After two days’ fellowship, I finally understood the questions that had baffled me and gave up my former notions. Only then did I realize that all that I had done before were deeds that resist and rebel against God. If God had treated me according to my evil doings, I should have long been cursed by God. I am sincerely grateful to Almighty God for giving me a second life, which left me a chance to receive God’s salvation of the last days. The above is the story of how I fiercely resisted Almighty God’s work of the last days. I hope that none of the brothers and sisters who have not accepted Almighty God’s gospel of the last days will resist God and reject His salvation while expecting Him to come like me. Because the word of Almighty God says: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)

When I finished writing this testimony, my face was covered with tears. I remembered the scenes of the past, when I rebelled against and resisted Almighty God and when my sister left my home in tears. I thought: How hard Almighty God carries out the work on the earth and how much humiliation He has suffered for saving man. Although I fabricated rumors, spoke blasphemous and slanderous words against Him, and sealed off the church, Almighty God didn’t abandon me or repay me according to my sins of resistance against Him; rather, He did all He could to save me, sending people to preach the gospel to me again and again, and finally brought me before Him and gave me an opportunity to repent and start anew. At that time, I couldn’t help crying to God, “O Almighty God! I was too rebellious and I grieved You. I feel deeply indebted to You…. In the rest of my life, I will devote myself to testifying Your wonderful deeds!”

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Almighty God Saved Me

 Almighty God Saved Me

Wang Shiliang

Xinyang City, Henan Province

I, formerly a co-worker of the Local Church, returned to Almighty God in December 2001. The following are fragments of my memory of how I resisted Almighty God’s work of the last days and how I accepted it.

The first person who preached Almighty God’s gospel of the last days to me was one of my in-laws. I not only didn’t accept it but also called him blind. And in the next three years I gave him a cold shoulder every time I met him. I also took him as a negative example in my preaching to lecture the other believers, so as to prevent them from accepting the work of the last days of Almighty God. Later, several sisters came to our church to preach the gospel, but I drove them out immediately when I discovered that. My desperate resistance restrained many brothers and sisters, and they dared not accept the true way. What’s more, I followed the “emergency announcement” against Almighty God which was distributed from the above, and made blasphemies and slanders at will and said evil words to attack the believers of Almighty God. And I also said to the believers, “Firstly, the Church of Almighty God only recruits young people but not the old. Secondly, it’s a heresy, a cult, and they always tempt people with money and beauty. Thirdly, they cut off people’s nose, gouge out their eyes, or break their legs.” Moreover, I also invented a lie that two people had been killed at such-and-such a place. This made some believers fearful and trembling, and they dared not come into contact with the preachers of the gospel of the last days. And meanwhile, I dragged one believer who had just accepted Almighty God back to our church…

Although I was so disobedient and resistant, God did not treat me according to my evil deeds but led and guided me to accept His salvation of the last days, so that I came out of the dense fog and returned to His family, having an opportunity to start a new life. I sincerely thank Almighty God for His grace and uplifting.

One day in December 2001, I suddenly felt a longing to visit my nephew (I seldom paid him visits). At his home, I met with a brother who preached Almighty God’s work of the last days (at first I didn’t know he believed in Almighty God). So, we began to fellowship about belief in God. I found his fellowship was all in conformity with the Bible, and I had never heard such truths in the Local Church during the past years. This made me sincerely convinced. However, when he said that the Lord had come back, I immediately realized that he was a preacher of Almighty God. At that moment, I struggled within myself: “Should I listen or not? I was scared of the believers in Almighty God before, and I said a lot of blasphemies and slanders when I sealed off the church. But today I find that his fellowship is all in conformity with the truth and the Bible, and I have never heard such fellowship before.” In order to get to the bottom of the whole thing, I asked the brother three questions. The first one was: “Does your church only accept young people but not the old?” Then he took out the book of God’s word and read me a piece of God’s word, in which God says: “Today everyone in this stream who truly loves God has the opportunity to be perfected by God. Whether young or old, as long as one has a heart that obeys God and a heart that fears God, he can be perfected by God. … Both young and older brothers and sisters should know the functions you yourselves should perform. The young should not be arrogant, and the older should not be passive or draw back. And you should complement each other, minister to each other, and hold no prejudice against each other, so that a bridge of friendship can be built between you young and older brothers and sisters, and you can understand each other better because of God’s love. Young brothers and sisters do not look down upon the older brothers and sisters, and the older brothers and sisters are not self-right. Isn’t this a harmonious coordination? If you all have this resolution, the will of God will surely be accomplished in your generation.” At these words, I realized what I had heard before were all rumors and hearsay and were not the facts at all. Am I not also an old man? Is the brother not preaching to me now? How foolish and stupid I am!

Then, I asked the second question. “I heard that the believers in Almighty God tempt people with money and beauty. How do you explain this?” Then the brother read me the Article 3 of the Administrative Decrees: “… All the offerings offered by man (including the money and the material things for enjoyment) are offered to God but not to man. So man should not enjoy these things. If man enjoys these things, he is stealing offerings. All such ones are a Judas, because Judas not only sold the Lord but also stole the money in the purse.” The brother said, “I have believed in Almighty God for several years, but nobody has ever given me a cent, and neither have I ever given anyone a cent. Today, preaching the gospel to others is our duty. It is to repay God’s love and to bring more true believers before God so that they can all receive God’s salvation. If we know God’s great salvation and His anxious heart, how can we not preach this gospel to more brothers and sisters? As to the rumor of committing adultery, God has stipulated in Article 4 of the Administrative Decrees: ‘Man has corrupt disposition and even more has emotion. So, in the service in coordination, two people of different sexes are forbidden to coordinate alone. If discovered, they shall be expelled, no matter who they are.’” After hearing the Administrative Decrees God issues, I felt enlightened all of a sudden: God’s requirement of man is higher and stricter in the last days. This is the work done by the true God.

However, I still felt somewhat insecure. So I asked the brother, “I heard that you gouge out people’s eyes, cut off their nose, or break their legs. What’s this all about?” “Brother, have you ever seen these with your own eyes?” he asked. “No.” I responded. Then he continued, “As the saying goes, seeing is believing. If things happened as you say, wouldn’t they have long caused a sensation? Just think about this: Around you, there are some who have accepted Almighty God, and also some who listened but didn’t accept. Is there anyone among them who has his eyes gouged out, nose cut off, or limbs broken? Isn’t it a very obvious lie? Today, we just preach God’s gospel of the last days to the brothers and sisters of all sects and denominations. It’s up to them to choose whether they accept it or not, because God never forces man. I have accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days for several years. I have personally tasted how hard it is for God to do the work on earth, and have also seen God’s great love and care for mankind. Encouraged by God’s love, we brothers and sisters actively cooperate with God by performing our duties, preaching this greatest good news to the brothers and sisters of all sects and denominations whatever it takes. However, some of them shut the door on us; some beat us up with sticks; some pour water on us; some sic the dog on us; and some report us to the police. Aren’t all these facts obvious to all?” Hearing that, I felt so ashamed and didn’t know where to conceal myself.

Through eating and drinking God’s word and the brother’s fellowship, as well as the contrast between the facts and the truths, I realized that I had been deceived by my upper leaders and at the same time I had deceived others. At that moment, I really hated myself for being so blind and foolish and lacking in discernment that I echoed what others said and blindly resisted and condemned Almighty God. “I have really disappointed God. I never expected that the Savior Jesus whom I have been yearning for day and night had already come to the world, and that I had even resisted and rejected him. How inhuman I am!” As I thought about it, I felt growing distress and could no longer refrain from tears. “O God! I am really indebted to You. I am corrupted so deeply by Satan that I do not have any likeness of a man, really benumbed and obtuse. I hate myself for being so evil and so bad. According to my actions and deeds, I only deserve to be cursed and do not deserve to receive Your salvation, much less to live before You. Yet You have selected me and saved me. O God! Your love for me is so great that I cannot disappoint Your kind intention anymore. I’m willing to make a resolution to follow You to the end to testify and glorify You. I will cooperate with You to spread Your gospel and bring before You the true believers who are still blinded by deception, so as to make up for my indebtedness and repay Your love, thereby putting Satan to shame.”

Dear spiritual brothers and sisters in the Lord, wake up quickly! I hope you will never be foolish and ignorant as I was. Almighty God is the truth, the way, and the life. Now God’s work is drawing to a close and is about to be accomplished successfully. Brothers and sisters, seek and make an investigation quickly! If you miss this good opportunity, you will regret all your life. Just as God says: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit. I advise you to tread the path of belief in God with care. Do not jump to conclusions; what’s more, do not be casual and carefree in your belief in God. You should know that, at the very least, those who believe in God should be humble and reverential.” “… do not treat belief in God as a game. Think for the sake of your destination, for the sake of your prospects, for the sake of your life….” “You must know that all of the Israelites spurned and denied Jesus, yet the fact of Jesus’ redemption of mankind still spread to the ends of the universe. Is this not the fact that God has long ago fulfilled?”

Brothers and sisters, from God’s words we have seen God’s kind intention for man and His warnings and exhortations for man. God is earnestly expecting everyone who sincerely believes in Him to return to His family as soon as possible, for He doesn’t bear to see anyone that belongs to Him fall into the disasters rare through the ages. May we be a man with conscience, and not let God worry and grieve over us any more.

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Almighty God's Word "The Wicked Must be Punished"

Almighty God's Word "The Wicked Must be Punished"

Almighty God says, "‘Righteousness’ does not mean giving alms, it does not mean loving your neighbor as yourself, and it does not mean not fighting, arguing, robbing, or stealing. Righteousness means taking God’s commission as your duty and obeying God’s orchestrations and arrangements as a heaven-sent vocation, regardless of the time or place, just like all that was done by the Lord Jesus. This is the very righteousness spoken of by God."

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Almighty God's word "Knowing God’s Work Today"

Knowing God’s Work Today

To know God’s work in these times is, for the most part, to know God incarnate of the last days, what His principal ministry is, and what He has come to do on earth. I have previously mentioned in My words that God has come to earth (during the last days) to set an exemplar before departing. How does God set this exemplar? By speaking words, by working and speaking throughout the land. This is God’s work during the last days; He only speaks, so that the earth becomes a world of words, so that every person is provided for and enlightened by His words, and so that man’s spirit is awakened and he is clear about the visions. During the last days, God incarnate has come to earth chiefly in order to speak words. When Jesus came, He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and accomplished the work of redemption of the crucifixion. He brought an end to the Age of Law, and abolished all the old things. The arrival of Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace. The arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in his conceptions, man believes that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the conceptions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Using His actual words and actual work, He moves across all lands, and the work He does among man is exceptionally real and normal, such that man comes to know the reality of God, and the vague God loses his place in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

What you must know:

1. The work of God is not supernatural, and you should not harbor conceptions about it.

2. You must understand the principal work that God incarnate has come to do this time.

He has not come to heal, or to cast out demons, or to perform miracles, and He has not come to spread the gospel of repentance, or to grant man redemption. That is because Jesus has already done this work, and God does not repeat the same work. Today, God has come to bring an end to the Age of Grace and cast out all the practices of the Age of Grace. The practical God has come chiefly to show that He is real. When Jesus came, He spoke few words; He primarily displayed miracles, performed signs and wonders, and healed and cast out demons, or else He spoke prophecies in order to convince man, and to make man see that He really was God, and was a dispassionate God. Ultimately, He completed the work of crucifixion. The God of today does not display signs and wonders, nor does He heal and cast out demons. When Jesus came, the work He did represented one part of God, but this time God has come to do the stage of work that is due, for God does not repeat the same work; He is the God that is always new and never old, and so all that you see today is the words and work of the practical God.

God incarnate of the last days has come chiefly in order to speak His words, to explain all that is necessary to the life of man, to point out that which man should enter into, to show man the deeds of God, and to show man the wisdom, omnipotence, and wondrousness of God. Through the many ways in which God speaks, man beholds the supremacy of God, the magnitude of God, and, moreover, the humility and hiddenness of God. Man sees that God is supreme, but that He is humble and hidden, and can become the least of all. Some of His words are spoken directly from the perspective of the Spirit, some of His words are spoken directly from the perspective of man, and some of His words are spoken from the perspective of the third person. In this can be seen that the manner of God’s work varies greatly and it is through words that He allows man to see it. God’s work during the last days is both normal and real, and thus the group of people of the last days are subjected to the greatest of all trials. Because of the normality and reality of God, all people have entered amid such trials; that man has descended into the trials of God is because of the normality and reality of God. During the age of Jesus, there were no conceptions or trials. Because most of the work done by Jesus was in accordance with man’s conceptions, people followed Him, and had no conceptions about Him. The trials of today are the greatest ever faced by man, and when it is said that these people have come out of the great tribulation, this is the tribulation that is referred to.

Today, God speaks to create faith, love, sufferance and obedience in these people. The words spoken by God incarnate of the last days are according to the substance of man’s nature, according to the behavior of man, and according to that which man should enter into today. His method of speaking[a] is both real and normal: He does not speak of tomorrow, nor does He look back on yesterday; He speaks only of that which should be entered into, put into practice, and understood today. If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the conceptions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, but it turned out that Jesus came, so it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again. Jesus has already come once, and it would be wrong if Jesus were to come again this time. There is one name for every age, and each name is characterized by the age. In the conceptions of man, God must always display signs and wonders, must always heal and cast out demons, and must always be just like Jesus, yet this time God is not like that at all. If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things. Why is the work of God today different to the work of Jesus? Why does God today not display signs and wonders, not cast out demons, and not heal? If Jesus’ work were the same as the work done during the Age of Law, could He have represented the God of the Age of Grace? Could Jesus have completed the work of crucifixion? If, as in the Age of Law, Jesus had entered into the temple and kept the Sabbath, then He would have been persecuted by none and embraced by all. If that were so, could He have been crucified? Could He have completed the work of redemption? What would be the point if God incarnate of the last days displayed signs and wonders, like Jesus? Only if God does another part of His work during the last days, one that represents part of His management plan, can man gain a deeper knowledge of God, and only then can God’s management plan be completed.

During the last days God has come chiefly in order to speak His words. He speaks from the perspective of the Spirit, from the perspective of man, and from the perspective of the third person; He speaks in different ways, using one way for a period of time, and uses the ways of speaking to change the conceptions of man and remove the image of the vague God from man’s heart. This is the main work done by God. Because man believes that God has come to heal, to cast out demons, to perform miracles, and to bestow material blessings upon man, God carries out this stage of work—the work of chastisement and judgment—in order to remove such things from the conceptions of man, so that man may know the reality and normality of God, and so that the image of Jesus may be removed from his heart and replaced by a new image of God. As soon as the image of God within man becomes old, then it becomes an idol. When Jesus came and carried out that stage of work, He did not represent the entirety of God. He performed some signs and wonders, spoke some words, and was ultimately crucified, and He represented one part of God. He could not represent all that is of God, but represented God in doing one part of God’s work. That is because God is so great, and so wondrous, and is unfathomable, and because God only does one part of His work in every age. The work done by God during this age is chiefly the provision of the words for the life of man, the disclosure of the substance of the nature of man and the corrupt disposition of man, the elimination of religious conceptions, feudal thinking, outdated thinking, as well as the knowledge and culture of man. This must all be laid bare and cleansed away through the words of God. In the last days, God uses words, and not signs and wonders, to make man perfect. He uses His words to expose man, to judge man, to chastise man, and to make man perfect, so that in the words of God, man comes to see the wisdom and loveliness of God, and comes to understand the disposition of God, so that through the words of God, man beholds the deeds of God. During the Age of Law, Jehovah led Moses out of Egypt with His words, and spoke some words to the Israelites; at that time, part of the deeds of God were made plain, but because the caliber of man was limited and nothing could make his knowledge complete, God continued to speak and work. In the Age of Grace, man once more saw part of the deeds of God. Jesus was able to show signs and wonders, to heal and cast out demons, and be crucified, three days after which He was resurrected and appeared in the flesh before man. Of God, man knew no more than this. Man knows as much as is shown to him by God, and if God were to show nothing more to man, then such would be the extent of man’s delimitation of God. Thus, God continues to work, so that man’s knowledge of Him may become deeper, and so that he may gradually come to know the substance of God. God uses His words to make man perfect. Your corrupt disposition is disclosed by the words of God, and your religious conceptions are replaced by the reality of God. God incarnate of the last days has chiefly come to fulfill the words that “the Word becomes flesh, the Word comes into the flesh, and the Word appears in the flesh,” and if you do not have a thorough knowledge of this, then you will still be unable to stand fast; during the last days, God primarily intends to accomplish a stage of work in which the Word appears in the flesh, and this is one part of God’s management plan. Thus, your knowledge must be clear; regardless of how God works, God does not allow man to delimit Him. If God did not do this work during the last days, then man’s knowledge of Him could go no further. You would only know that God can be crucified and can destroy Sodom, and that Jesus can be raised from the dead and appear to Peter…. But you would never say that God’s words can accomplish all, and can conquer man. Only through experiencing God’s words can you speak of such knowledge, and the more of God’s work that you experience, the more thorough your knowledge of Him will become. Only then will you cease to delimit God within your own conceptions. Man comes to know God by experiencing His work, and there is no other correct way to know God. Today, there are many people who do nothing but wait to see signs and wonders and the time of the catastrophe. Do you believe in God, or do you believe in the catastrophe? If you wait until the catastrophe it will be too late, and if God does not send down the catastrophe, is He then not God? Do you believe in signs and wonders, or do you believe in God Himself? Jesus did not display signs and wonders when He was derided by others; was He not God? Do you believe in signs and wonders, or do you believe in the substance of God? Man’s views about belief in God are wrong! Jehovah spoke many words during the Age of Law, but even today some of them have yet to be fulfilled. Can you say that Jehovah was not God?

Today, it should be clear to all of you that, in the last days, it is principally the fact of “the Word becomes flesh” that is accomplished by God. Through His actual work on earth, He causes man to know Him, and to engage with Him, and to see His actual deeds. He causes man to clearly see that He is able to display signs and wonders and there are also times when He is unable to do so, and this is dependent on the age. From this you can see that God is not incapable of displaying signs and wonders, but instead changes His working according to His work, and according to the age. In the current stage of work, He does not show signs and wonders; that He showed some signs and wonders in the age of Jesus was because His work in that age was different. God does not do that work today, and some people believe Him incapable of displaying signs and wonders, or else they think that if He does not display signs and wonders, then He is not God. Is that not a fallacy? God is able to display signs and wonders, but He is working in a different age, and so He does not do such work. Because this is a different age, and because this is a different stage of God’s work, the deeds made plain by God are also different. Man’s belief in God is not the belief in signs and wonders, nor the belief in miracles, but the belief in His real work during the new age. Man comes to know God through the manner in which God works, and this knowledge produces in man the belief in God, which is to say, the belief in the work and deeds of God. In this stage of work, God mainly speaks. Do not wait to see signs and wonders; you won’t see them! For you were not born during the Age of Grace. If you had been, you could have seen signs and wonders, but you were born during the last days, and so you can see only the reality and normality of God. Do not expect to see the supernatural Jesus during the last days. You are only able to see the practical God incarnate, who is no different from any normal man. In each age, God makes plain different deeds. In each age He makes plain part of the deeds of God, and the work of each age represents one part of the disposition of God, and represents one part of the deeds of God. The deeds that He makes plain vary with the age in which He works, but they all give man a knowledge of God that is deeper, a belief in God that is more down-to-earth, and more true. Man believes in God because of all of the deeds of God, and because God is so wondrous, so great, because He is almighty, and is unfathomable. If you believe in God because He is able to perform signs and wonders and can heal and cast out demons, then your view is wrong, and some people will say to you, “Are not evil spirits also able to do such things?” Is this not to confuse the image of God with the image of Satan? Today, man’s belief in God is because of His many deeds and the many ways in which He works and speaks. God uses His utterances to conquer man and make him perfect. Man believes in God because of His many deeds, not because He is able to show signs and wonders, and man only understands Him because they see His deeds. Only by knowing the actual deeds of God, how He works, the means by which He employs His wisdom, how He speaks, and how He makes man perfect—only by knowing these aspects—can you comprehend the reality of God and understand His disposition. What He likes, what He loathes, how He works upon man—by understanding the likes and dislikes of God, you can differentiate between that which is positive and negative, and through your knowledge of God there is progress in your life. In short, you must gain a knowledge of God’s work, and must put straight your views about the belief in God.

Footnotes:

a. The original text reads “It.”

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