Salvation Can Only Come Through Belief in Almighty God.

Salvation Can Only Come Through Belief in Almighty God.

Relevant Words of God:

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.

…………

… 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

A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as sinners because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity.

from “Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

… 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.

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

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

In the work of the last days, the word is mightier than the manifestation of signs and wonders, and the authority of the word surpasses that of signs and wonders. The word reveals all the corrupt dispositions in the heart of man. You are unable to recognize them on your own. When they are revealed to you through the word, you will naturally come to the realization; you will not be able to deny them, and you will be utterly convinced. Is this not the authority of the word? This is the result achieved by the present work of the word. Therefore, man cannot be fully saved from his sins by the healing of sickness and casting out of demons and cannot be fully made complete by the manifestation of signs and wonders. The authority to heal and cast out demons only gives man grace, but the flesh of man still belongs to Satan and the corrupt satanic disposition still remains within man. In other words, that which has not been made clean still belongs to sin and filth. Only after man has been made clean through words can he be gained by God and become sanctified. If no more is done than casting out the demons within man and redeeming him, that is only seizing him from the hands of Satan and returning him to God. However, he has not been made clean or changed by God, and he remains corrupt. Within man still exists filth, opposition and rebelliousness; man has only returned to God through redemption, but man has no knowledge of Him and still resists and betrays God. Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons were already planted within him. After thousands of years of Satan’s corruption, man already has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than redemption, where man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before being worthy to serve God. Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can cast away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage of salvation. Man is gained by God through judgment and chastisement by the word; through the use of the word to refine, judge and disclose, all of the impurities, notions, motives, and individual hopes within man’s heart are completely revealed. Though man has been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it is only considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with man’s transgressions. However, when man lives in the flesh and he has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing the corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sin and forgiveness. The majority of men sin in the day only to confess in the evening. As such, even if the sin offering is forever effective for man, it would not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has corrupt disposition.

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

All of you live in a place of sin and licentiousness; you are all licentious and sinful people. Today you not only can see God, but more importantly, you have received chastisement and judgment, received such deepest salvation, that is, received God’s greatest love. All that He does is true love for you; He has no ill intention. It is because of your sins that He judges you, so that you will examine yourselves and receive this tremendous salvation. All this is done to work man. From beginning to end, God has been doing His utmost to save man, and He is certainly not willing to completely destroy the men He created with His own hands. Now He has come among you to work; isn’t this even more salvation? If He hated you, would He still do work of such magnitude to personally lead you? Why should He suffer so? God does not hate you or have any ill intention toward you. You should know that God’s love is the truest love. It is only because of people’s disobedience that He has to save them through judgment; otherwise, they would not be saved. As you do not know how to lead a life or how to live, and you live in this licentious and sinful place and are licentious and filthy devils, He does not have the heart to let you become even more depraved; neither has He the heart to see you living in the filthy place like this, being trampled by Satan at will, or the heart to let you fall into Hades. He only wants to gain this group of you and thoroughly save you. This is the main purpose of doing the conquering work on you—it is just for salvation.

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life, and will never be able to gain the perpetual way of life. That is because all they have is turbid water that has lain stagnant for thousands of years, instead of the water of life that flows from the throne. Those who are not supplied with the water of life will forever remain corpses, playthings of Satan, and sons of hell. How, then, can they behold God? If you only try to hold on to the past, only try to keep things as they are by standing still, and do not try to change the status quo and discard history, then will you not always be against God? The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old?

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution that should be suffered by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you oppose Christ of the last days, and deny Him, then there is no one who can bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you oppose is not a man, what you deny is not some puny being, but Christ. Are you aware of this consequence? You have not made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God.

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

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The Almighty God Conquered Me, a Stubborn Person Who Resisted God

The Almighty God Conquered Me, a Stubborn Person Who Resisted God

Li Wenming

Mulan County, Heilongjiang Province

I am Li Wenming, formerly a leading area co-worker of the Three Grades of Servants Church. In 1991, I was called and turned to the Lord. After that, inspired by the Lord’s love, I pursued very hard. In less than one year, I became a preacher and shepherded some nearby churches, whose members totaled over two hundred. At that time, my faith and love were especially great, and I had the working of the Holy Spirit when I preached. Whether it was in spring, summer, autumn, or winter, and whether it was windy or rainy, I did not stop going to the churches to support the brothers and sisters. I considered doing so as suffering for the Lord, so I believed that I would surely receive a reward from the Lord and be taken to heaven by the Lord when he came in the future. However, I had never thought that when the Lord really came to “take me,” I, ignorant and blind, failed to know God and completely shut him out. And I even exerted myself to the utmost to resist and condemn the only true almighty God. My deeds brought me lasting remorse and nothing could make up for them.

In 1995, at a co-worker meeting, the servant and the maidservant preached, saying, “Now, there are some people preaching that the Lord has come the second time. They preach specially to seeking believers and co-workers in all sects and denominations. So, don’t contact them. That ‘spirit’ is very powerful. Once you join them, you can never withdraw. They always use specious biblical doctrines to deceive people. You’re immature in life, so don’t fellowship with them. After you go back, tell all the host families and the believers: Don’t receive anyone who is not of our denomination. Make no exception even for your own father or mother.” The words of the servant and the maidservant were deeply engraved on my heart. I thought, “If God had really come, would the servant and the maidservant not know it? Since even they don’t know it, then it must be false.” From then on, I wildly blasphemed and condemned the Almighty God’s new work and sealed the churches everywhere. I told the brothers and sisters, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy and a cult. If they come, just drive them out. If they don’t leave, just beat them. This is not committing sin but is guarding the truth. Only the way we believe in is the true way. We can never be saved except through the servant and the maidservant.”

In August 1997, the work of the Almighty God spread to our area. My second uncle (formerly an area co-worker of the Three Grades of Servants Church) and his wife accepted the Almighty God’s new work, and all the several dozen believers in our church, except for my mother and my younger sister, also accepted it with them. Yet I was kept in the dark. In December, my second uncle came to my photography studio with a book. He opened it and showed me one piece of word, whose title is: “The ‘Savior’ Has Already Returned on the ‘White Cloud.’” At the sight of it, a thought came to mind: “Isn’t it saying that God has come? This must be a book of ‘the Eastern Lightning.’” Instantly, my temper flared up, and I shouted to my uncle, “You have accepted a heresy. In the name of the Lord, I warn you, turn back quickly. Otherwise, I’ll break with you once and for all. …” After he left, I immediately informed my upper co-worker that my uncle had accepted the heresy. The upper co-worker told me, “Watch closely everything your uncle does.” So, I spied on my uncle’s movements like a plainclothes policeman and also asked my mother and younger sister to keep an eye on him.

One day after the Spring Festival, my younger sister hurriedly came to my photography studio and told me, “Our uncle and aunt are having a meeting.” Hearing that, I felt a surge of fury. I immediately went to my uncle’s home by motorcycle. I flung the door open and saw two unfamiliar sisters among them (one was over 20 years old and the other over 50). When seeing me, the two sisters stood up and greeted me warmly; yet when I saw them, I became more furious, even to the point that my belly almost burst with anger. I bawled, “What are you up to? Who told you to come here? You deceitful thieves, get out of here!” Without allowing them to speak at all, I drove them away fiercely. Then, I turned toward the brothers and sisters present and shouted to them, “Why did you receive strangers? Did you get permission from the church or from me?” At this time, my uncle and aunt fellowshipped with me again, advising me to make an investigation. They also said that all of them believed it was the true way. I was even more enraged at that: “Uncle, ah, uncle, aren’t you doing evil? You not only have accepted it yourself but also try to draw others in. I tell you, don’t try to do that to me again. I’ll have nothing to do with you from now on!”

After I came out of my uncle’s house, I immediately went to seal the other churches shepherded by my uncle. And I informed all the churches in the county: “From now on, don’t receive any co-worker or believer not brought by me. Especially reject my second uncle. If he comes, drive him out. Don’t serve him anything to eat or drink. This isn’t committing sin. You must not share in his sins. If in the future I preach a different way from the one I preach today, you should also reject me and not receive me.”

Since then I had regarded my uncle and aunt as enemies and also hated those brothers and sisters who had accepted the Almighty God. I hated them for letting me down and failing to stand the testimony. However, my uncle and aunt and those brothers and sisters who believed in the Almighty God always returned good for evil. They spared no trouble to come to my home to preach God’s end-time new work to me. From December 1997 to June 1998, they came almost every day to preach to me, yet every time I abused them with malicious words and drove them away. Once, worst of all, I even beat a brother and hustled him out of the door. I thought to myself, “You deserve it, since you do evil deeds. May you freeze to death, thirst to death, and starve to death!”

Once, my second uncle came to my home again. At the beginning, I did not drive him out. However, when he started to preach the Almighty God to me once again, I flew into a rage and drove him away angrily. It was just lunch time. After my uncle left, my family-sister got somewhat angry. She scolded me, “How could you do that? Can man’s anger achieve God’s righteousness? He is our uncle in the flesh and is our elder after all. You’ve gone too far in treating him like that. The Lord told us to love each other, and love even our enemies. Do you have love?” “Though he is our elder, I can’t make an exception. Even for our own father or mother I can’t make an exception. This is a thing in the spirit,” I said angrily. Later, I did feel a sense of guilt when thinking of my family-sister’s words. However, when I thought of my upper co-worker’s words: “If you are deceived, you’ll have no part or share in the church. We can only see God through the servant because the servant has a direct relationship with God as Moses did. Disobeying the servant is disobeying God and the servant’s words are equal to God’s words, because the servant is our earthly master,” I felt what I had done was right. So, I put the blame on my uncle, thinking, “Didn’t he deserve it for accepting the heresy?” In the face of my family-sister’s advice, I not only did not turn back but went even further: I allowed no one in the churches to contact believers in the Almighty God. I believed that only by doing so could I guard the flock well and be a good faithful steward of the Lord.

One day in mid-April, I was just about to call the area co-workers together to discuss what course should be taken to stop the preachers of the Almighty God’s new work from entering the churches to snatch the sheep, when my belly hurt unbearably. No matter how hard I prayed, it was to no avail. So I had to go to the hospital. After an examination, I was found to have acute appendicitis. I prayed hastily, “O Lord, please heal me. You know I am faithful to you. I have to go to the church to guard the flock!” But no matter how hard I cried out, I did not turn better. In the end, I was obliged to have an operation. Even so, I did not realize that I had been disciplined for resisting the Almighty God and that God was trying to stop my evil footsteps by the illness. I stayed in the hospital for nearly a month, and after I was released, I continued to resist and condemn the Eastern Lightning. In early June, while I was working, my incision was torn open and hurt unbearably. So, once again, I was hospitalized.

After being hospitalized twice, I could not remain calm anymore. Losing the Lord’s keeping, I felt very depressed in spirit. I prayed but got no response, so I felt especially distressed. Moreover, the condition of the churches got worse and worse. Most of the co-workers and the preachers in every church were so weak that they could not pick themselves up. Each meeting place which used to have over eighty believers had only over twenty left. The co-workers used the platform to attack each other, and there was not a bit of love among them. I myself was unable to preach anything except about how to guard against “the Eastern Lightning.” Faced with my own plight and the condition of the churches, I had no strength to resist anymore. I pondered in my heart, “Since I began to resist ‘the Eastern Lightning,’ I haven’t received God’s keeping because of my faithfulness but kept suffering misfortunes: my wife got ill and was hospitalized, my photography studio was robbed, I was hospitalized twice, and the churches became desolate. God is almighty; how could he not defeat satan? Have I resisted wrongly? Is the one my uncle and those preachers of “the Eastern Lightning” believe in really the true God? Otherwise, how could they have such great strength and love? They can pretend for a while, but they can’t pretend all the time! To be frank, their love, their sincerity in treating others, and their living out really arouse my admiration. They never lost their tempers when preaching the gospel to me. No matter what I called them, devils, lunatics, psychopaths, or shameless jerks, they never got angry yet only advised me with kind words. So many times they were driven out by me and suffered from hunger or cold. Some of them even stayed overnight in the haystacks outside because of having no place to go to. …” Thinking back to what the believers in the Almighty God had done, I could not help praying to the Lord, “O Lord, I have neither their faith, nor their love, nor their sincerity. O Lord, if it’s not the true way, who can have such great faith? O Lord, what is all this about? Please guide me.”

Thank God for hearing my prayer. One day at the end of June, my aunt came to my home once again with a sister. My aunt said to me earnestly, “Wenming, whether it’s right or wrong you should investigate. You’ve encountered so many things, so you should wake up. God doesn’t want to abandon you. Two brothers are at my home now. You’d better go and have a fellowship with them lest you regret.” I thought to myself, “This must be God’s preparation. I believe God will definitely guide me to know whether it’s right or wrong.” I said hurriedly, “OK, Aunt, I’ll go and listen.” Hearing that, my aunt was so excited that tears streamed down her face. When I arrived at my uncle’s home, two brothers stood up and welcomed me warmly. Such a thing had never happened in our church. Then, we started to fellowship. The two brothers fellowshipped from Genesis all the way to Revelation and made very clear the three stages of works, God’s names, and God’s working principle of being ever new. One brother said, “The three stages of works are the center of God’s managing mankind. Only by knowing the three stages of works can man understand the whole course of God’s saving mankind. In the Age of the Law, God led people to live on earth, and he made people conscious of their sins through issuing the laws. The work of the Age of the Grace was the work of crucifixion; Jesus became man’s sin offering and bore man’s sins. The work of the Age of the Kingdom is to judge and purify man with the word, the purpose of which is to remove man’s sins. The word here is exactly the word in the little scroll prophesied in Revelation 5:1-5. Now God has come and personally made his word known to us. This has fulfilled the word in Revelation ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” After listening to the brother’s fellowship, I was convinced. But I still could not help asking him, “If God has come, how come the servant and the maidservant don’t know? Can man be saved not through the servant and the maidservant? The servant has a direct relationship with God just as Moses did. Disobeying the servant is disobeying God and the servant’s words are equal to God’s words!” With regard to my question, the brother specially fellowshipped with me about the relationship between God and man. He said, “God is the Creator, and man is the created being. God and man cannot be considered to be the same. Since we believe in God, we cannot exalt man and cannot treat man as God. In essence, you have treated the servant and the maidservant as God while believing in God that way. Only the Lord Jesus was qualified to say ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6), because he was God’s incarnated flesh and was God Godself on earth. Apart from him, no one is qualified to say so, because all men are created beings and none can represent God. Only God is the source of man’s life, and he can express the truth to supply man and can open an age and end an age. The servant, the maidservant, and the apostles, and even those used by the Holy Spirit can only speak something about their own experiences and their shallow knowledge of God’s work on the basis of the work of the new age opened by God. However, they must have a humble and seeking heart before they can receive the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Some of their knowledge is helpful to people, and some has errors and can mislead people and cause them to have erroneous knowledge of God. For this, the followers need to have discernment so as not to resist God. For example, when the Lord was incarnated and did the work of the Age of the Grace, those high priests, teachers of the law, elders, and Pharisees in the temple were all leaders in man’s eyes, yet they became sinners resisting God because of their stubbornness and their sticking to old things. Didn’t those who followed them also become ones condemned by God? Let’s look at Moses. Though he was used by the Holy Spirit, the issuer of the law was God Godself, for God is the source and man is only the channel. Moses was only performing man’s duty: conveying God’s will to the people.” I was rendered speechless by his words and could not but feel convinced in heart and in mouth. The brother continued, “Today, God wants to personally do the work that he has not completed, that is, the work of reaping, judging, selecting, and unifying. This work can only be done by God Godself, and only God can divide created beings into their kind. As Matthew 13:47-48 says: ‘Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.’ Here, the ‘net’ refers to the gospel, the ‘lake’ refers to the world, all kinds of ‘fish’ in the net refer to the believers in God in all sects and denominations, and the ‘fishermen’ on the shore refer to Christ. Then, isn’t the servant also in the ‘net’? Can he come ashore to pull the ‘net’ up?” Then, the brother opened the book of God’s word and read these words: “The development of mankind, the turn of society, and the progress of science cannot be achieved without the arrangement of the Creator. These works cannot be done by the founder of any religion. The founder of a religion is only the leader of a religion, and he cannot represent God and does not represent the One who created the heavens and the earth and all things. The founder of a religion may be able to lead all the people in the entire religion, but he cannot lead all the created beings in the entire world. This is a fact known to all. The founder of a religion can only be a leader and cannot be equal with God (the Creator). All things are in the hand of the Creator, and in the end they will have to come under the hand of the Creator. Mankind was created by God. No matter what religion it is, it will have to come under God’s authority. This is the sure trend. Only God is the supreme One among all things. The highest ruler among the created beings will have to come under his authority. No matter how high a man’s position may be, he cannot bring mankind into the proper destination. No man can divide all things into their kind. Jehovah himself created mankind and divided them into their kind, and in the end he will still do his own work and divide all things into their kind. Except God, no one else can do this.” After listening to God’s word and the brothers’ fellowship, I felt clearer in my heart. Thank the only true almighty God for making me understand so many truths and enabling me to come out of the dominion of the servant and the maidservant and return before God in a real sense.

After I accepted the new work, I ate and drank God’s word hungrily and felt bitter remorse for my past resistance. I abhorred my foolishness and ignorance and felt even more grateful for God’s tolerance and salvation. When I listened to hymn 221 “Who Cares for God’s Heart,” which goes,

“The darkness is over the earth; the devils are extremely ferocious.

God does the work with great difficulty, and suffers all humiliations.

Men have been corrupted so deeply, becoming the hostile force.

What Jesus suffered, has recurred today.

They believe in God yet do not know God, and crucify God again.

They are even more ferocious and vicious, than they were before.

Although there are many believers in God, few of them know God.

As we try to testify about God in the whole mainland, we find it so hard.

When we try to testify about God to others, we ourselves meet troubles instead.

With swords and bludgeons, they drive us out of their houses.

With tears in our eyes, we are heartbroken with grief.

We walk the way of the cross with difficulty, shedding tears and blood.

They all worship idols, and the evil slaves are entrapping them.

They believe in God in name, but are controlled by the evil slaves.

Where are those who love God? Where are those who seek God?

When God calls and knocks at the door, they hastily shut it tighter.

Men are desperately wicked, which has been revealed from these facts.

May God have mercy, and sympathy on those who love him.

God’s heart is so grieved, but who cares for his heart?

He does such a great work, but no one understands him,”

I felt that every word of it struck my heart. Thinking of the rejections that God had suffered for mankind, and thinking of how ferocious and vicious I was when beating and abusing the brothers and sisters who preached the gospel, I shed floods of tears, feeling extremely grieved, and I abhorred myself for being so blind and having no discernment. I remembered those past scenes in our denomination: At every big co-worker meeting, several hundred co-workers knelt on the floor listening to the servant’s message, whereas the servant sat in a big chair, around which knelt a ring of co-workers chosen from different churches of the denomination. A young, beautiful, and unmarried sister of over 20 years old held a wet towel in her hand and wiped the servant’s face from time to time. The co-workers (sisters) behind the servant fanned him in turn. All these gave the impression of serving an “emperor.” Besides, at each co-worker meeting, everyone had to offer at least 50 yuan. Such sharp contrast made my mind like a clear mirror. I deeply felt this: God has paid too much and suffered too much for mankind. God’s substance is forever holy and beautiful. Only God can bring man into the pleasant destination, and only God’s word can purify us thoroughly. No one can do God’s work in his stead. The servant isn’t God, and he cannot express the truth, much less give us life. He is a created being like us and is also under God’s control. Only when we come before God can we really receive salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that my personal experience can give you a bit of enlightenment. I hope that you will no longer disobey and resist the Almighty God’s new work of the last days as I did, nor treat the servant as God at his beck and call as I did. Only God is the source of man’s life, and only the Almighty God can thoroughly save man. Dear brothers and sisters, break through the bondage quickly and follow the Almighty God who was, and who is, and who is to come. Let’s step toward the new age together!

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Inspirational Stories: Woe to the Conservative!

Inspirational Stories: Woe to the Conservative!

Xiaowen

There is an ancient Chinese story called “Carving the Boat to Seek the Sword.” It goes like this: During the Spring-Autumn and Warring States periods, when a man from the state of Chu was crossing a river, his sword dropped into the water. He hurriedly carved a mark on gunwale. And after the boat came alongside the bank, he jumped into the water to seek his sword from where he had made the mark. Seeing this scene, people burst into an uproar: The sword doesn’t move but the boat has sailed away. Isn’t it too foolish to seek the sword in this way? The lesson of the story is that things are constantly changing and developing forward, and so if man views things as static and through conservative eyes, he will ultimately gain nothing.

Perhaps you deem that it is simply a ridiculous story and there is no such a foolish man in real life. But is it really the case? The answer is no, because such a story has been repeatedly presented in the history of human development, making numerous sinners of all time.

Two thousand years ago, that is, at the end of the Age of Law, the people became ever more degenerate and were in the danger of being sentenced to death by the law for committing sins. Jehovah God saw that. He loved the world. Therefore, He concluded the work of the Age of Law and was incarnated as the Son of man in the human world to do the work of redeeming mankind under the name of Jesus, so that man could continue to exist. During His work, the Lord Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven throughout the land, forgave man’s sins, healed the sick, cast out demons, and so on. He displayed numerous signs and wonders, which caused an uproar throughout the Jewish state. A lot of people saw, heard, and also spoke of the Lord’s great power and authority, from which many people recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah, the ever-existing God Himself with unique authority and power, and thus accepted Him as their God and received His salvation. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of the religious community also heard the preachings given by the Lord Jesus and saw His extraordinary power and authority, but they simply clung to their own conceptions and imaginations, believing that God’s work was forever unchanging and could only remain in the Age of Law, and that God’s name would always be Jehovah, because God once said, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). They thought that when God came back, He should only be called Messiah rather than Jesus. Therefore, they unscrupulously opposed and condemned the Lord Jesus’ work on the pretext that the name of the Lord Jesus was not that of the Messiah who was prophesied to come and His work transcended the laws of the Old Testament, treated Him as their enemy, and condemned His words with authority as blasphemies. And they blasphemed the Lord Jesus, saying, “This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matthew 12:24), so as to deceive the ignorant people. As a consequence, the people rose up to oppose, defy, and condemn the Lord Jesus, and eventually crucified the merciful Lord Jesus alive—committed a heinous crime—and provoked the righteous disposition of God. Ultimately, the Jews were expelled from Israel and fled to countries around the world.

In the last days, God becomes flesh again and does the work of judgment beginning with God’s family under the name of Almighty God. He expresses a variety of truths to judge and purify man, and brings mankind the way of casting aside their corrupt disposition. Many people who truly thirst for God’s appearance are certain that Almighty God is actually the returned Lord Jesus through reading His words online, and watching the Church of Almighty God’s videos of hymns and gospel movies, and more. More and more people havereturned under the name of Almighty God. They are being led and shepherded by Almighty God andenjoying the provision of the truth and life bestowed by God, and their life disposition is being transformed gradually. However, some religious people still hold on to the work done by God in the Age of Grace and deny and reject God’s salvation in the last days when they know that Almighty God brings a new age, the Age of Kingdom, does the work of judgment with the word, and no longer heals the sick and casts out demons, andthat God’s name has changed, is no longer the Lord Jesus but Almighty God. They believe that when God comes again, He should still do the work of healing the sick, casting out demons, and forgiving man’s sins, and His name should still be the Lord Jesus, because the Scripture says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8), and “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). They think that only by trusting in and keeping the name of the Lord Jesus, can they enter the kingdom of heaven and gain the eternal life. So they blaspheme, slander, condemn, and oppose Almighty God on the grounds that departure from the Lord’s name and way is a betrayal of the Lord, and they spread various fallacies to deceive and control people and hinder them from seeking and investigating the true way. Besides, they abuse and driveout the brothers and sisters preaching Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, and even call the police and collude with the CCP government to arrest the brothers and sisters from the Church of Almighty God.

The Lord Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). As for those who have preached, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works in the Lord’s name, why will the Lord Jesus say that He never knew them and condemn them? The reason is that because of their ignorance of God’s work which is always new and never old and continues to advance, and moreover, because of their arrogance and self-righteousness and obstinately holding to themselves, when they hear the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh and done the work of judgment andchastisement under the name of Almighty God, they not only have no intention of seeking, but alsomisinterpret the Bible out of context, and openly oppose and condemn Almighty God’s work in the last days. That’s why God will call them evildoers. And their ending is self-evident.

Today, people in the religious world awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus are just like the man who made a notch on the boat to mark where his sword had fallen overboard. They neither seek nor investigate the words and work of the returned Lord Jesus—Almighty God, but oppose and condemn them, and nail God to the cross again. They repeat the historical tragedy of the Jewish people who awaited the coming Messiah yet opposed and condemned and crucified the Lord Jesus, which eventually led to the destruction of their nation. Isn’t this worth thinking deeply about?

Almighty God says, “In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still do the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because Their work in these ages is different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? In this way, God must be called by a different name in a different age, must use the name to change the age and represent the age, for no one name can fully represent God Himself. And each name can only represent God’s disposition during a certain age and needs only to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age. … There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. … God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work will not stop in one age. Jehovah, for example, will not always stand for the name of God; God also does His work under the name of Jesus, which is a symbol of how God’s work is always progressing forward” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From Almighty God’s words, we can see that God is always new and never old; because of the change in era, God must take a new name to represent His disposition and His work in that age; and although God’s way of working and His name change, His substance and righteous disposition will never change. When God did the work of the Age of Law under the name of Jehovah, He expressed the disposition of wrath and curse, making people at that time know what was sin; when the Lord Jesus came, He condemned and cursed those Pharisees who served God but opposed Him, saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Matthew 23:13), allowing people to see that God not only possessed the disposition of love and mercy, but also revealed majestic and wrathful disposition to the enemy force opposing Him; and Almighty God—the returned Lord Jesus—expresses more of His righteous and majestic disposition in the last days. He expresses the truth to judge man and reveal the facts and truth of man’s corruption by Satan, so that man can get rid of sin, gradually be cleansed and changed, know God’s righteous disposition, and have reverence for Him through experiencing His work in the last days. This type of work from God is all to make man know more of His disposition, what He has and is, and His wisdom and almightiness, be more obedient to and reverent of Him and thus satisfy His will.

Therefore, when it comes to a major issue concerning the Lord’s coming, if man always sticks to his own belief, regards his own conceptions as the truth and God’s intention, stubbornly clings to the wrong viewpoints such as “The Lord Jesus Christ’s name will never change,” and “Any departure from the Lord’s name is a betrayal of the true way,” and defines God’s name and His work by a set of rules, he will never meet the Lord’s return, but ultimately be forsaken by God and fall into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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