Only the Word of Almighty God Can Save Me | Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

 Only the Word of Almighty God Can Save Me

Shi Lianjun

Huai’an City, Jiangsu Province

I joined the Joseph Church in 1997. In 1999, I was appointed as the district leader of the church in Shuyang County. At that time, the kingdom gospel of Almighty God had spread to our county. I remember that one day in August of that year, someone in our church told me that a person who preached the gospel of the last days was in the home of a believer in Huji Township. After I heard it, I immediately called in four young brothers, and we impersonated the local village cadres and headed swiftly toward the house of that believer on our motorcycles. When we were about 200 meters away from his house, we switched off the engines, and walked up to the house quietly. Peeking through a crack in the door, I saw a stranger in the room reading something aloud from a book in his hands. Furious, I kicked the door open with violence. At the sight of my sudden action, the man hastily put the book into his pocket. I lunged forward, and tore his pocket and snatched the book from him, which I found was a copy of The Truth That One Must Be Equipped With. I leafed through a few pages and flung it onto the desk, and then I grabbed him by the coat front with my left hand, and poking his forehead with my right hand, I asked him with a ferocious tone, “Where did you get this book? Where do you come from?” As I said this, I gave him a violent push that sent him reeling against the door. Before he realized what had happened, I grabbed the book on the desk and tore it in half fiercely. Then I ripped several pages from it and tore them to pieces, and after balling them up, I threw it at his face while blaspheming loudly, “This is purely from the devil, Satan, from an evil spirit, a deceiver!” When he saw I had torn his book, he immediately fell on his knees to pick up the torn book and the balled-up pieces of paper with his hands, and said in tears, “O God, how hard is Your work on earth!” Seeing him so grieved, I was not moved at all, and instead I shouted with glaring eyes, “Get out quickly! If you come again, I’ll send you to the police station!” In this way, I drove him out.

Later, many people came to testify about Almighty God’s work of the last days to me; but for fear of being deceived, I always drove them out before they could speak. Sometimes when they came, I was at home, but I had locked the door from the outside, or I gave them a cold shoulder by pretending to have work to do somewhere. I cannot remember how many times I had done such things.

Although I was so malicious, disobedient, and resistant, Almighty God’s great love did not leave me. On the afternoon of February 13, 2002 (the second day of the Chinese New Year), it was raining outside. Two sisters, pushing their bicycles with the wheels covered with mud and gravel, trudged into my house. When I saw it was the same two persons who had visited my house a few days before, my anger rose. I hurried to push them outward and slammed the door before they were completely out. “Ow!” I heard a cry. The fingers of a sister were shut in the door. But I shouted abuse at her: “You deserve it! Cheek!” Then I went in to watch TV.

The rain continued, but two sisters still stood outside. About half an hour later, my wife noticed that there was blood-stained rainwater flowing down the threshold of our house into the yard. Looking through the crack in the door, she saw one sister was wrapping up her injured fingers with tissues, and there were many blood-stained tissues on the ground. So my wife opened the door and let them in without my permission. At that time, I sat on a chair, legs crossed and back toward them, watching TV, with a teacup in one hand and some sunflower seeds in the other. I cast a sidelong glance at them and saw their rain-drenched hair clinging to their foreheads, their clothes dripping water, and their cotton-padded shoes saturated with muddy water. But I did not speak to them nor ask them to sit down. However, they greeted me warmly. I just took my time sipping tea and eating sunflower seeds. One hour passed, and one episode of the serial was over. Only then did I take a look at them. I thought, “Are people like you qualified to talk about belief in God with me, a dignified district leader of the Joseph Church? I have read through the Bible over a hundred times and deliberated over every word and every sentence in it, and I know which chapter and verse any sentence is in. I have preached countless sermons, sustained countless people, and trained countless workers. I usually only ‘feed’ those senior leaders and knowledgeable preachers, and the junior workers of the house of Joseph can hardly have a chance to meet me.” At this thought, I said to them with arrogance, “Ask your ‘leader’ to come and discuss the Bible with me. I’ll surely defeat him!” Hearing my words, they smiled, and one of them said to me, “Brother, it is true we don’t know much about the Bible. Please give us some instruction.” At this, I said proudly, “Genesis 28:14 says that all peoples on earth will be blessed through Jacob and his offspring. Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob, and in Genesis 49:25-26, Jacob blessed Joseph, saying, ‘Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brothers.’ You see, we, the house of Joseph, were blessed with so many blessings, and we are Jacob’s offspring, so all peoples on earth will be blessed through our Joseph Church. Besides, Genesis 37:9 says that Joseph saw in the dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. These verses are enough to prove that we people of the house of Joseph are the most blessed, and that all denominations will be ruled by our Joseph Church in the future, and the head of our Joseph Church will lead us to judge all peoples on earth! The Ephraimites of our Joseph Church will reign for hundreds of thousands of years!” After I finished these words, the sister smiled again and said, “Brother, since you know the Bible very well, you surely won’t forget what Psalms 78:67 says: ‘Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.’ Doesn’t this verse plainly say that God had already rejected Joseph? In fact, the Scripture only records the work God did before. It’s true that Joseph was blessed, but have you ever thought that it was not God Himself but his father Jacob who blessed him? Jacob was only a created being in God’s hand. He could not represent God, nor could his blessing of Joseph fully represent God’s will. Brother, you should also know that Genesis 50:22-26 says that Joseph did not come out of Egypt in the end, but died in Egypt, a land cursed by God. Finally, it was through Moses that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the good land of Canaan, the very land blessed by God. But Joseph did not enter into it, much less enjoy it. Brother, why do you still cling tightly to ‘Joseph’?” At her fellowship, I found nothing to answer, for what she said was fully scriptural and all true. However, I was unable to lay aside my vanity and face, and so I turned the pages of the yellowed Bible in my hand and said loudly, “Acts 4:12 says that salvation is found in no one else but Jesus, and Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being. These verses plainly say that Jesus is God, but why do you preach Almighty God today?” The other sister answered me calmly, “Brother, please look at Revelation 1:8, 4:8, 15:3… These verses say that the Lord God is the Almighty who is, and who was, and who is to come. From these prophecies, we can see that the entire work of managing mankind from the creation of the world to the conclusion of the age in the end is done by Almighty God Himself. Let’s also look at Genesis 17:1, 28:3, 35:11… These verses all say that God’s name is Almighty God, for His substance is almighty. Just now you mentioned that Jacob blessed Joseph; wasn’t it also done in the name of the Almighty? Isaiah 10:21 says, ‘The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.’” And then she fellowshipped with me about the three stages of God’s work: The name “Jehovah” represents the Age of Law, the name “Jesus” represents the Age of Grace, and “Almighty God” represents the final Age of Kingdom. God takes different names in different ages, and each name has its meaning.

After hearing this, I asked another question: “In John 5:39 the Lord said: ‘and [the Scriptures] are they which testify of me.’ Why then have you forsaken the Bible today?” The sister answered me with a smile, “Brother, we believe in God to gain life, and not to keep obstinately to the Bible. Before and after the sentence you just mentioned, there are other words which you have ignored. Jesus said: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.’ Just consider this: The Lord clearly said here that we human beings ‘think’ that in the Scriptures we have eternal life. It is true that the Scriptures are God’s testimony, but if we want to receive life, we must go to God, must follow God’s footsteps. Furthermore, Revelation 2:17 prophesies, ‘… To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.’ The hidden manna mentioned here refers to the words in the little scroll prophesied in Revelation, which are the utterances of God Himself in the Age of Kingdom. Brother, please think about this: Of Jesus’ disciples at that time, who had seen or got the white stone? Who had eaten the hidden manna? They will only be given to people when the Lord comes the second time. Just as the Lord said in John 16:12-13: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: … and he will show you things to come.’” The two sisters’ fellowship left me at a loss what to say or do. But I really could not put aside my pride, so I said shamelessly, “The Lord Jesus was able to raise the dead at that time. Now there’s a brother in our church who has terminal esophageal cancer. You can go to preach the gospel of the last days to him. If he gets healed, I will acknowledge that the way you preach is the true way and the one you believe in is the true God.” One sister said to me, “Brother, as a believer in Jesus, why don’t you obey the word of the Lord? In Matthew16:4, the Lord said to those who tested Him: ‘A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.’” I was dumb again. And then they read me these words of Almighty 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 the work of this age is different, 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.” At these words, I woke up somewhat, and came to realize that my former viewpoint of believing in God was wrong. I thought, “I have only sought signs and wonders but not sought God’s will, and I have believed that whether a way is the true way should be judged by whether its followers’ prayers can be fulfilled and whether they can heal the sick and drive out demons. I have determined the true way and false ways based on this without knowing that God’s work is always progressing forward.” But as my heart was too hardened, I still had my back to them. Then they turned on their recorder and played the tape of God’s word for me: “Religious heads are merely the leaders of a particular religion, and cannot represent God, or the One who created the heavens and earth and all things. Religious heads can lead all those within the entire religion, but cannot command all creatures beneath the heavens—this is a universally acknowledged fact. Religious heads are mere leaders, and cannot stand equal to God (the Creator). All things are in the hands of the Creator, and in the end they will all return to the hands of the Creator. Mankind was originally made by God, and regardless of the religion, every person will return under the dominion of God—this is inevitable. Only God is the Most High among all things, and the highest ruler among all creatures must also return under His dominion. No matter how high the status of man, he cannot take man to a suitable destination, and no one is able to class all things according to kind. Jehovah Himself created mankind and classed each according to kind, and when the end time arrives He will still do His own work Himself, classing all things according to kind—and this cannot be done by any apart from God.” When I heard this, I suddenly saw the light. “Yes, aren’t Jacob, Joseph, and the head of our Joseph Church all men, the creatures of God? Since they are creatures, they cannot be called God, much less represent God, nor can they speak in the place of God. A religious head can only lead all those within his own denomination but cannot command the people in all the other denominations. Thus, how can the people of all the other denominations turn to our Joseph Church? Only the Creator is able to do the work of unifying all denominations into one.”

Then I heard the following words: “Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent My Spirit, these names only denote the different ages in My management plan, and do not represent Me in My entirety. The names by which people on earth call Me cannot articulate My entire disposition and all that I am. They are merely different names by which I am called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, My name shall change again. I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah, but shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end.” My heart was shocked by these words, and I thought, “Why do these words carry authority, power, and majesty? Apart from God, who else dared to speak in such a position?” Then I truly realized that all my doings were exactly the same as the Pharisees’ sinful deeds of resisting Jesus in the Old Testament age. “Have I not become a Pharisee of the new age? I have only believed in God’s name, but not His substance, and I have even regarded God’s new work in the last days as the deception of an evil spirit. Haven’t I committed the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit?” At that moment, I felt as if awakening from a dream. I dared not be heart-hardened anymore. So I hastily put down my crossed legs, and turned and looked at the sisters, who had stood for several hours. When I gave my chair to them and invited them to sit down, they wept…

Thank God for His great salvation for me. It was God’s word that conquered me, so that I gave up my five years of vague belief in the Joseph Church, and turned to Almighty God—Christ of the last days, and began to walk upon the right track of believing in God and pursuing to know God. Afterward, I read these words of God: “… those who believe in God because of the signs are surely the category that shall suffer destruction. Those who are incapable of accepting the words of Jesus who has returned to flesh are surely the progeny of hell, the descendants of the archangel, the category that shall be subjected to everlasting destruction.” “Those who only care about the words of the Bible, but who are unconcerned about the truth or seeking My footsteps—they are against Me, for they limit Me according to the Bible, and constrain Me within the Bible, and so are blasphemous in the extreme towards Me. How could such people come before Me? They pay no heed to My deeds, or My will, or the truth, but instead obsess over words, words that kill. How could such people be compatible with Me?” These words of God made me tremble with fear, and moreover, made me regret my past deeds: “I not only resisted God, but also hurt so many brothers and sisters who preached the gospel of the last days and hindered so many brothers and sisters from turning to Almighty God. I was really guilty of the most heinous sin! I believed in God and longed for Him, but I didn’t know Him and even opposed Him, the returned true God. I hate myself for turning away my ears from the truth and refusing God’s salvation so many times. The brothers and sisters came time and again with smiling faces, but I always threw them out with a horrible face. I was really inhuman! No matter how high the message they preached, I always closed my ears to it, and I blasphemed that it was of an evil spirit coming to deceive people. I even thought that only I was God’s intimate and that only the God I believed in was the true God, while the God others believed in was a false god. Little did I know that what I did was opposed to the new work of Almighty God, and I was an antichrist. It is too late for me to regret…” Thinking of this, I prayed, “O Almighty God! Thank You for giving me another opportunity to be saved. It is Your word that has woken me up and enabled me to receive Your great salvation. According to what I have done, I should have been cursed by You. However, You remembered no transgressions of mine and still melt me with a tender motherly love and enlightened me with Your words, so that I could accept Your work of the last days, the work of purifying people with the word. O God! How great Your love is! You have expended too much care and thought on me, and I will not let You down. I will do all I can in these last days to cooperate with You and bring to You those who truly believe in You but are still groping in darkness, so that they will understand Your intention and stop resisting You, and so that Your heart will be consoled.”

Here I sincerely advise the brothers and sisters in the House of Joseph and all the other denominations and sects who have not turned to Almighty God: Never follow in my footsteps! Wake up and quickly turn to Almighty God! For Almighty God is precisely the returned Jesus! There is not much time left for Him to select people in a hidden way. I hope that the brothers and sisters will not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Otherwise, when God appears publicly, it will be too late for you to do anything. Just as Almighty God says: “… when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth.”

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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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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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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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