I Fell in the Light of Almighty God

I Fell in the Light of Almighty God

Zhou Liwei

Bei’an City, Heilongjiang Province

I was a church leader of the Pentecostal Church in Bei’an City. I turned to the Lord by grace in 1993. Since then, reading the Bible had been my great pleasure. Several months later, I began to teach hymns and give sermons in my church. I always reckoned myself as a loyal believer of the Lord, who was most worthy to see the Lord in the future. However, when the Lord truly came, I became one who resisted His new work.

At the end of 1998, I attended a co-workers’ meeting called by the leader of the upper level. At the meeting, the leader said to us, “There now appears a false Christ, called the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ Nobody knows where this gang come from. They are very horrible. As long as you join them, you’ll never get out. If you try to do so, you’ll be beaten to death. They are purely ‘heretics,’ ‘cultists,’ and are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Tell the believers, throw them out when they come to their home, and if they don’t leave, beat them away with a stick. Such behavior is loyalty to God, not a sin.” I had no doubt about what he said, and began to hate the “Eastern Lightning” from my heart. After I came back, I immediately got the brothers and sisters together and indoctrinated them with what I heard from the leader in an exaggerated way, in order to prevent them from accepting the “Eastern Lightning.” And I also told them, “Without my permission, no one shall receive any outsider, not even your parents.” What’s more, I wrote on the blackboard the words of cursing the “Eastern Lightning,” which I put down at the co-workers’ meeting, and ordered them to recite together and to say these words in every prayer.

In May, 2001, two sisters who had once sustained me came to my home to preach God’s new work of the last days. I said to myself, “Even though you sustained me before, I can’t be soft on you.” I pulled a long face and said, “Get out of here! I don’t know you devils!” Seeing this, one sister said softly, “We mean no harm. We just came here to testify God’s new work to you. Sister, let me read God’s word to you and you’ll understand!” As the sister took out the book and was about to read, I grabbed the book with fury and dashed it to the ground, and shouted at her, “Read what? I don’t want to listen! I order you to leave at once in the Lord Jesus’ name!” With that, I pushed and shoved them out of the door.

One day in the late fall of 2001, an elderly sister came to my home in the rain. When I was well aware that she was a believer of the “Eastern Lightning,” I said to her fiercely, “Who sent you here?” “God,” said the sister. “God expects you to come to Him earlier, so He gives me this burden. That’s God’s love!” I flung her a scornful smile, “You don’t deserve to talk about ‘love,’ I don’t need this kind of ‘love.’ Go away!” The sister said sincerely, “Sister, please don’t resist anymore. God truly has come and done a new work…” “Don’t talk nonsense here. I don’t want to listen. Go away!” As I was saying, I jerked the door open and shoved the sister out with force… I felt no guilty at all as I watched her doddering away in the heavy rain. After that, many people constantly came to my home to preach the gospel, but they were all refused by me by various means. Meanwhile, I put stringent measures in “flock guarding.” I paid a visit to every believer and told them never to go easy on the people of the “Eastern Lightning” and that it wasn’t a sin to treat them with any means.

Just when I spared no effort to resist Almighty God’s new work of the last days, my five-year-old child suddenly began to keep crying all day long. No matter how earnestly I prayed, there was no effect. I took her to the church and fasted and prayed with others for her. However, she not only didn’t turn better but got even worse instead. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t eat or sleep. Just when I was in anxiety, my child accidentally stepped her foot into the pan filled with hot dish. It was scalded and the whole skin peeled off, and she cried more fiercely. My husband hence shouted his complaints at me and quarreled with me every day. Furthermore, the church fell into a gradual decline, and I got no nourishment in preaching and received no moving of the Holy Spirit in praying. Facing all these, I was consumed by an unspeakable misery. The double pressure, the family problem and the desolation of the church, put me into a tight corner. Many times I called out to God with tears, “O God! Please turn and look at me. O God! What have I done to You? Please enlighten me. O God! I can’t live without You.”

When I was in a bitter struggle of weakness and disappointment, Almighty God’s great love came to me again.

One day in January, 2003, I went to the home of a relative of mine (who believed in the Lord) on business. There I met several brothers and sisters who preached God’s new work of the last days. (At that time, I didn’t know they had accepted God’s new work.) At first, we fellowshipped very harmoniously. But when they talked about God’s new work of the last days, His judging and purifying men through words, and showed me the little scroll, I took the book and slammed it aside, and said, “I didn’t expect you’re the preachers of the ‘Eastern Lightning’! You are the tares plucked out by God. But you even attempt to deceive me. A colossal joke!” But the sister said mildly, “Sister, man cannot decide who are the tares and who are the wheat, for only God can separate the wheat from the tares. It says in John 4:37, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ Here ‘One sows’ means that when Jesus did the redemptive work in His first incarnation, He sowed the seeds of the kingdom gospel in the world. ‘Another reaps’ refers to God’s carrying out the work of judgment with words in the last days through His incarnation and separating the good from the evil, that is, separating the wheat from the tares. When Jesus sowed the seeds, the tares and the wheat grew together. But when it’s time to reap, the wheat will be gathered into the barn and the tares will be burned with fire. Sister, God’s reaping is not as simple as man imagines. God has His own plan and He does not do the work according to man’s notions. For example, at the end of the Age of Law, the Israelites expected a king, like David, to lead them to overthrow the Roman rule. But when Jesus came, He didn’t work according to people’s concepts, and so people denied the truth expressed by Him, rejected Him, and nailed Him onto the cross. Today, God has done a new work on the basis of redemptive work of the Age of Grace so as to bring the people from the Age of Grace into the Age of Kingdom. Though this stage of work is likewise inconsistent with man’s notions, yet those who truly belong to God can drop their notions and seek the truth, and they can accept God’s new work and seek the transformation of their disposition and finally become sanctified. Such people are the wheat in God’s eyes. If those who don’t know God’s work and condemn it with their notions insist on refusing to accept it until the end of the work, then they will be the tares in God’s eyes. Just as 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.” (from “When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Sister, today only those who keep up with God’s new work can be purified completely in the chastisement and judgment of God’s word, and the holy ones who are purified are the grains God desires to gain. Only such mankind can glorify God, manifest God, and testify God. These people have accepted the truth God expresses in the last days and kept pace with God’s footsteps. They are the very ones approved by God. So, we can’t confine God’s work within our imaginations and notions.” At this point, the sister read the following passage of God’s word to me: “When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, the Age of Grace ended and the Age of Kingdom began. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment, which brought man to a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.” (from “Preface” to The Word Appears in the Flesh) “I am never hurried in My work. No matter how man follows Me, I do My work in accordance with each step, as in My plan. Therefore, though you rebel against Me so much, I do not stop My work and still continue to speak the word I wish. I call to My house all those I predestined to listen to My word, then place all who obey and long for My word before My throne. Those who rebel against My word, those who do not obey and submit to Me, and those who openly defy Me, shall all be cast off to the side to await their final punishment. All men live in corruption and under the hand of the evil one, so not many of those who follow Me actually long for the truth. That is to say, most do not worship Me with a true heart or with the truth, but try to gain My trust through corruption, rebellion, and deceitful measures. It is for this reason I say, ‘Many are called, but few are chosen.’ All those called are deeply corrupted and live in the same age, but those who are chosen are only the ones who believe in and acknowledge the truth and who practice the truth. …” (from “Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words, with authority, struck my heart. “In the past, I thought I was most loyal to the Lord. But faced with my family problem and the desolation of the church, I either became weak or made complaints. Do I have any loyalty? I condemned and resisted Almighty God and despised and slandered the brothers and sisters who believed in Almighty God. Do I have any love? But the brothers and sisters in front of me, who were once considered as demons by me, have such a good living out, and they can suffer and pay the price for the sake of preaching Almighty God’s gospel.” Compared with them, I felt extremely ashamed, and tears rolled down my face. The brothers and sisters saw that I was moved by the Holy Spirit, and they all shed tears with excitement. I took the book of God’s word from the sister and read it sentence by sentence. Every word of God, which carried power, shook my heart. Almighty God says: “Do many people not oppose God and obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit because they do not know the varied and diverse work of God, and, furthermore, because they possess but a smidgeon of knowledge and doctrine with which to measure the work of the Holy Spirit? Though the experiences of such people are superficial, they are arrogant and indulgent in nature, and they regard the work of the Holy Spirit with contempt, ignore the disciplines of the Holy Spirit and, moreover, use their trivial old arguments to ‘confirm’ the work of the Holy Spirit. They also put on an act, and are wholly convinced of their own learning and erudition, and that they are able to travel across the world. Are such people not those who are rejected by the Holy Spirit, and will they not be eliminated by the new age? Are not those who come before God and openly oppose Him myopic little people, who are merely trying to show how clever they are? With but a meager knowledge of the Bible, they try to straddle the world’s ‘academia,’ with but a superficial doctrine to teach people, they try to reverse the work of the Holy Spirit, and attempt to make it revolve around their own thought process, and short-sighted as they are, they try to behold in one glance 6,000 years of God’s work. Do these people have any reason to speak of? In fact, the greater people’s knowledge of God, the slower they are to judge His work. Furthermore, they only talk a little of their knowledge of God’s work today, but they are not rash in their judgments. The less people know of God, the more arrogant and overconfident they are, and the more wantonly they proclaim God’s being—yet they only talk of theory, and offer no real evidence. Such people are of no value whatsoever.” (from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words, like a sharp two-edged sword, pierced through my joints and marrow, and I knelt down, bursting into tears, “O Almighty God, I am the kind of person You speak of. I am arrogant and willful by nature and slight the work of the Holy Spirit, and I have shallow knowledge and am worthless. I, like a worm, dare to measure and condemn Your new work and reject Your coming by my only little Bible knowledge. Too arrogant I am! O God! I’m unworthy to live before You, and really deserve to be cursed. Thank You for Your mercy. You didn’t treat me according to my transgression but instead opened my blind eyes with Your words and showed me Your wonderful deeds. O God! I’m willing to accept Your work of the last days and accept the chastisement and judgment of Your word, so that I may become a person after Your heart, to glorify and testify Your holy name.”

It has been over one year since I accepted Almighty God’s new work. My family has restored to its former peace. I am performing my bounden duty under the guidance of God’s word, and feel very delighted. Dear brothers and sisters, maybe you are now full of suspicion and hostility toward Almighty God’s work of the last days and haven’t dropped your notions as I did before. I hope you may learn from my experience and come to Almighty God earlier. Almighty God will tell you all the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and even more, bring you the truth, the way, and the life.

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Almighty God's Word "God Is the Lord of All Creation"

Almighty God's Word "God Is the Lord of All Creation"

Almighty God says, "His initial work was carried out in Judea, within the scope of Israel; in Gentile nations He did not do any era-launching work whatsoever. The final stage of His work is not only carried out among the people of Gentile nations; even more so, it is carried out among those cursed people. This one point is the evidence most capable of humiliating Satan; thus, God “becomes” the God of all creation in the universe and becomes the Lord of all things, the object of worship for everything with life."

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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 "What a Real Man Means"

Almighty God's Word "What a Real Man Means"

Almighty God's Word "What a Real Man Means"

Almighty God says, "However you should know, the humans I created were holy men with My image and My glory. They were not originally of Satan, nor subjected to its trampling, but purely My manifestation, free of the slightest trace of its poison. Thus, I let everyone know that I only want that which was created by My hand, My beloved pure ones that never belonged to any other entity. Furthermore, I will take pleasure in them and see them as My glory. However, what I want is not the mankind corrupted by Satan, belonging to Satan today, which is no longer My original creation. Because I want to repossess My glory in the human world, I will gain complete conquest over the remaining survivors of mankind, as the proof of My glory in My victory over Satan. I only take My testimony as My crystallization, as the object of My enjoyment. Such is My intention."

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Almighty God's word "What is the difference between the Age of Grace and the Age of Kingdom? Why must I accept the kingdom gospel so as to be saved?"

What is the difference between the Age of Grace and the Age of Kingdom? Why must I accept the kingdom gospel so as to be saved?

The answer from God’s word:

“At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin. … Jesus did not come to perfect and gain man, but to do one stage of work: bringing forth the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and completing the work of the crucifixion—and so once Jesus was crucified, His work came to a complete end. But in the current stage—the work of conquest—more words must be spoken, more work must be done, and there must be many processes. So too must the mysteries of the work of Jesus and Jehovah be revealed, so that all people may have understanding and clarity in their belief, for this is the work of the last days, and the last days are the end of God’s work, the time of this work’s conclusion. This stage of work will elucidate for you the law of Jehovah and the redemption of Jesus, and is principally so that you may understand the entire work of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and appreciate all the significance and substance of this six-thousand-year management plan, and understand the purpose of all the work done by Jesus and the words He spoke, and even your blind credence in and adoration of the Bible. All this it will allow you to perceive. You will come to understand both the work done by Jesus, and the work of God today; you will understand and behold all of the truth, the life, and the way. In the stage of work done by Jesus, why did Jesus depart without concluding God’s work? Because the stage of Jesus’ work was not the work of conclusion. When He was nailed to the cross, the words that He had spoken also came to an end; after His crucifixion, His work consequently finished. The current stage is different: Only after the words are spoken to the end and God’s entire work is concluded will His work have finished. During Jesus’ stage of work, there were many words that remained unsaid, or which were not fully articulated. Yet Jesus cared not what He did or did not say, for His ministry was not a ministry of words, and so after He was nailed to the cross He departed. That stage of work was chiefly for the sake of the crucifixion, and is unlike the stage today. This stage of work is principally for the sake of completion, of clearing up, and of bringing all work to a conclusion. If the words are not spoken to their very end, there will be no way of concluding this work, for in this stage of work all work is brought to an end and accomplished using words. At the time, Jesus did much work that was incomprehensible to man. He departed quietly, and today there are still many who do not understand His words, whose understanding is erroneous yet still believed by them to be correct, who do not know that they are wrong. In the end, this current stage will bring God’s work to a complete end, and will provide its conclusion. All will come to understand and know of God’s management plan. The conceptions within man, his intentions, his erroneous understanding, his conceptions toward the work of Jehovah and Jesus, his views about the Gentiles, and all his deviation and errors will be corrected. And man will understand all the right paths of life, and all the work done by God, and the entire truth. When that happens, this stage of work will come to an end.”

from “The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“… after the work of Jesus ended, God still continued His work for the next age, because the entire management of God is always progressing forward. When the old age passes, it will be replaced by a new age, and once the old work has been completed, a new work will continue the management of God. This incarnation is God’s second incarnation following the completion of Jesus’ work. Of course, this incarnation does not occur independently, but is the third stage of work after the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. … When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

If people remain in the Age of Grace, then they shall never be free of their corrupt disposition, let alone know the inherent disposition of God. If people always live among an abundance of grace but are without the way of life that allows them to know God and satisfy God, then they shall never truly gain Him though they believe in Him. … if you cling to views of the past, and reject or deny the fact of the second incarnation of God, then you shall remain empty-handed and acquire nothing, and ultimately be guilty of opposing God. Those who obey the truth and submit to the work of God shall come under the name of the second incarnate God—the Almighty. They will be able to accept the personal guidance of God, and shall acquire more and higher truth and receive the real human life. They shall behold the vision that people of the past have never seen….

… when God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.”

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The Holy Spirit works in accordance with the age, not just at will or according to set rules. The age has changed, and a new age must bring with it new work. This is true of every stage of work, and so His work is never repeated. In the Age of Grace, Jesus did much of that work, such as healing sickness, casting out demons, laying His hands upon man to pray for man, and blessing man. However, to continue to do so would serve no purpose in the present day. The Holy Spirit worked in that way at the time, for it was the Age of Grace, and man was shown enough grace for enjoyment. Man did not have to pay any price and could receive grace as long as he had faith. All were treated very graciously. Now, the age has changed, and the work of God has progressed further; through His chastisement and judgment, the rebelliousness of man and the unclean things within man will be cast away. As it was the stage of redemption, God had to do such work, showing man enough grace for man to enjoy, so that He could redeem man from sin, and through grace forgive man their sins. This stage is done to reveal the iniquities within man through chastisement, judgment, the smiting of words, as well as the discipline and revelation of words, so that they may afterward be saved. This is work more in-depth than redemption. In the Age of Grace, man enjoyed enough grace and has already experienced this grace, and so it is no longer to be enjoyed by man. Such work is now out-of-date and is no longer to be done. Now, man is saved through judgment by the word. After man is judged, chastised and refined, his disposition is thereby changed. Is this not because of the words I have spoken? Each stage of work is done in line with the progress of all mankind and with the age. All work has its significance; it is done for the final salvation, for mankind to have a good destination in the future, and for man to be divided according to their kind in the end.

The work in the last days is to speak words. Great changes can be effected in man through the words. The changes now effected in these people on acceptance of these words are much greater than that of people in the Age of Grace on acceptance of those signs and wonders. For, in the Age of Grace, the demons went away from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but the work for just how the corrupt satanic dispositions within man could be cast away was not done in him. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through God incarnate, but it does not mean that man has no sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but man has been unable to resolve the issue of just how he can no longer sin and how his sinful nature can be cast away completely and be transformed. The sins of man were forgiven because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live in the old, corrupt satanic disposition. As such, man must be completely saved from the corrupt satanic disposition so that the sinful nature of man is completely cast away and never again develops, thus allowing the disposition of man to be changed. This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation. When Jesus was doing His work, man’s knowledge of Him was still vague and unclear. Man always believed that He was the son of David and proclaimed Him to be a great prophet and the benevolent Lord who redeemed man’s sins. Some, based on faith, became healed just by touching the edge of His garment; the blind could see and even the dead could be restored to life. However, man could not discover the corrupt satanic disposition deeply rooted within him and neither did man know how to cast it away. Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the blessing of the entire family upon the faith of one, and the healing of sicknesses, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and their godly appearance; if man could live based on such, he was considered a good believer. Only such believers could enter heaven after death, which means that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, they did not understand at all the way of life. They merely committed sins, then made confession in a constant cycle without any path toward a changed disposition; such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No! Therefore, after that stage was complete, there is still the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage makes man pure through the word so as to give man a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for the sinful nature of man would not be cast away and man would only stop upon the forgiveness of sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt disposition of man still remains within them and man can still sin and resist God; God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to reveal the corrupt disposition of man and asks man to practice in accordance with the right path. This stage is more meaningful than the previous one and more fruitful as well, for now it is the word that directly supplies life for man and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a stage of work more thorough. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s management plan for the salvation of man.”

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

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The Hymn of Almighty God's Word "The Symbols of God's Victory"

The Hymn of Almighty God's Word "The Symbols of God's Victory"

The Hymn of Almighty God's Word "The Symbols of God's Victory"

I

Man is restored to what he looked like in the beginning. They can fulfill their own duties, keep their own place, obey all the arrangements of God. God will then have a group of people worship Him on earth. He will have also built a kingdom that worships Him on earth too. He will have also built a kingdom that worships Him on earth too.

II

He will have eternal victory upon the earth. Those opposed to Him will perish for eternity. This will restore His intentions when He created man. It will restore His intentions in creating all things, and it will restore His authority on earth, His authority among all things and among all His enemies. These are the symbols of God's victory, of His total victory. These are the symbols of God's victory, of His total victory.

III

From now on humanity will enter into rest, enter into a life that follows the right track. God will also enter into eternal rest with mankind, enter into an eternal life shared between God and man. Filth and revolt on earth shall all disappear. Wailing on earth shall disappear, shall all disappear. All those on earth who oppose God will no longer be around. Only God and people rescued are those who shall remain. Only God's creations shall remain. Only God's creations shall remain. Only God's creations shall remain.

from “God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Recommendation:

The Church of Almighty God Website

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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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Almighty God's Word | The Sighing of the Almighty

Almighty God's Words | The Sighing of the Almighty

Almighty God's Word | The Sighing of the Almighty

There is an enormous secret in your heart. You never know it there because you have been living in a world without light shining. Your heart and your spirit have been taken away by the evil one. Your eyes are covered by darkness; you cannot see the sun in the sky, nor the twinkling star in the night. Your ears are clogged with deceptive words and you hear not the thunderous voice of Jehovah, nor the sound of the rushing waters from the throne. You have lost everything that should have belonged to you and everything that the Almighty bestowed upon you. You have entered an endless sea of bitterness, with no strength of a rescue, no hope of survival, left only to struggle and to bustle about. … From that moment, you are doomed to be afflicted by the evil one, kept far away from the blessings of the Almighty, out of reach of the provisions of the Almighty, and you embark on a road of no return. A million calls can hardly rouse your heart and your spirit. You sleep deeply in the hands of the evil one, who has lured you into the boundless realm, with no direction, with no road signs. Henceforth, you have lost your original purity, innocence, and started to hide from the care of the Almighty. The evil one steers your heart in every matter and becomes your life. You no longer fear him, no longer avoid him, no longer doubt him. Instead, you treat him as the God in your heart. You begin to enshrine him, worship him, be inseparable like a shadow of his, and mutually commit to each other in life and death. You have no idea at all from where you originate, why you exist, or why you die. You view the Almighty as a stranger; you don’t know His origin, let alone all that He has done for you. Everything from Him has become hateful to you. You neither cherish them nor know their value. You walk with the evil one, from the same day you started to receive provisions from the Almighty. You and the evil one walk through thousands of years of tempest and storm. Together with him, you counter God, who was the source of your life. You do not repent, let alone know that you have come to the point of perishment. You forget that the evil one has tempted you, afflicted you; you forget your origin. Just like that, the evil one has been damaging you step by step, even to now. Your heart and your spirit are desensitized and decayed. You no longer complain about the distress of the world, no longer believe the world is unjust. You don’t even care about the existence of the Almighty. This is because you have deemed the evil one as your true father, and you no longer can be apart from him. This is the secret in your heart.

As dawn arrives, a morning star arises from the east. It is a star never there before. It lights up the still starry skies and ignites the extinguished light in the hearts of people. People are no longer lonely, because of this light, the light that shines upon you and upon others. But only you remain soundly asleep in the dark night. You are unable to hear the sound, nor see the light, unable to notice the advent of a new heaven and a new earth, a new age. Because your father tells you, “My child, do not get up, it is still early. The outdoors are cold, stay inside, lest the sword and spear pierce your eyes.” You believe only in your father’s exhortation, because you believe that father is correct as father is older than you, and that father truly loves you. Such exhortation and such love cause you to no longer believe the legend that there is light in the world, and no longer care whether the world has truth. You no longer dare to hope for rescue from the Almighty. You are content with the status quo, no longer hope for the advent of light, and no longer keep an eye out for the coming of the legendary Almighty. In your eyes, all that is beautiful can no longer be resurrected, nor continue to exist. In your eyes, the tomorrow and the future of mankind disappears and dooms. You clench tightly to your father’s clothes, willing to suffer together, fearing the loss of your travel partner and the direction of your distant journey. The vast and hazy world has made many of you, unflinching and dauntless in filling the different roles of this world. It has formed many “warriors” that do not fear death at all. More than that, it has created batches of desensitized and paralyzed humans who do not understand the purpose of their creation. The eyes of the Almighty look around the severely afflicted mankind, hearing the wailing of those suffering, seeing the shamelessness of those afflicted, and feeling the helplessness and dread of the mankind who has lost salvation. Mankind rejects His care, walks their own path, and avoids the searching of His eyes. They would rather taste all the bitterness of the deep sea, along with the enemy. The sighing of the Almighty can no longer be heard. The hands of the Almighty are no longer willing to touch the tragic mankind. He repeats His work, regaining and losing, time and again. From that moment, He grows tired, and feels weary, so He stops the work in His hand, and no longer wanders among the people. … People are not at all aware of these changes, not aware of the coming and going, the sorrow and disappointment of the Almighty.

All that is in this world is fast changing with the Almighty’s thoughts, under His eyes. Things mankind has never heard of can abruptly arrive. And yet, what mankind has always owned can unknowingly slip away. No one can fathom the Almighty’s whereabouts, and further, no one can feel the transcendence and greatness of the Almighty’s life power. His transcendence lies in how He can perceive what humans cannot. His greatness lies in how He is the One who is renounced by mankind yet saves mankind. He knows the meaning of life and death. Moreover, He knows the rules of living for mankind, whom He created. He is the basis for human existence and the Redeemer for mankind to resurrect again. He weighs down happy hearts with distress and lifts up sorrowful hearts with happiness. This is all for His work, and His plan.

Mankind, who left the supply of life from the Almighty, does not know why they exist, and yet fears death. There is no support, no help, but mankind is still reluctant to close their eyes, braving it all, drags out an ignoble existence in this world in bodies without the consciousness of souls. You live like such, with no hope; he exists like such, with no aim. There is only the Holy One in the legend who will come to save those who moan in suffering and long desperately for His arrival. This belief cannot be realized so far in the people who are unconscious. However, the people still yearn for it so. The Almighty has mercy on these people who suffer deeply. At the same time, He is fed up with these people who have no consciousness, because He has to wait too long for the answer from humans. He desires to seek, seek your heart and your spirit. He wants to bring you food and water and to awaken you, so you are no longer thirsty, no longer hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time. He is watching by your side, waiting for you to turn back. He is waiting for the day your memory suddenly recovers: becoming conscious of the fact that you came from God, somehow and somewhere once lost, falling unconscious on the roadside, and then, unknowingly having a “father.” You further realize that the Almighty has been watching there, awaiting your return all along. He longs bitterly, waiting for a response without an answer. His watching is priceless and is for the heart and the spirit of humans. Perhaps this watching is indefinite, and perhaps this watching is at its end. But you should know exactly where your heart and spirit are now.

May 28, 2003

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The Hymn of AlmyGod's Word "He Is Our God"

The Hymn of Almighty God's Word "He Is Our God"

The Hymn of Almighty God's Word "He Is Our God"

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