The Wonderful Surprise of the Lord’s Return
In June 2017, I got to know Sister Liu and Brother Duan, both in Germany on Facebook, and through my communication with them I saw that they were genuine and modest people. They had a very pure understanding of the scripture and the content they shared in fellowship really contained light and was very beneficial for me. After joining them for a few gatherings, I understood a number of truths I never had before. My heart was really brightened; I loved meeting with them. During one gathering, Brother Duan referenced this passage of scripture: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27).
In his fellowship, he said that God would once again appear and work in the flesh in the last days, and that He had already come to the East, to China. He said that this prophecy had already been fulfilled. Hearing this, I felt a bit shocked, thinking, “The Lord Jesus has already returned?” In this state, I thought of what I had heard the pastors and elders say, that only the people of Eastern Lightning bore witness that the Lord Jesus has already returned in the flesh. They told us we couldn’t believe in this, because only the Lord Jesus is Christ. I then felt really unsettled and no longer took heed of Brother Duan’s fellowship, thinking, “The pastors and elders are all people who serve God. They understand a lot about the Bible and they should have clarity on something as important as the Lord’s coming. I’ll ask them and then see!”
Listening to the Pastor and Sinking Into Darkness
I went to church that Sunday and asked the pastor about Eastern Lightning testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned. He said, “Though the sermons of the people with Eastern Lightning are really lofty and are in line with the Bible, they bear witness that the Lord Jesus has already returned, that He is Almighty God in the flesh. That’s simply not possible. They just believe in a person, while we believe in the Lord Jesus, the only incarnation of God and God’s son. Plus the CCP government is doing all they can to condemn and strike out at The Church of Almighty God, saying that they just believe in a human being and that Eastern Lightning is organized by a person….” Hearing this I suddenly felt afraid, thinking, “If that’s true, then wouldn’t believing in Eastern Lightning be a betrayal of the Lord Jesus?”
I went back home, feeling ill at ease. I couldn’t get comfortable and couldn’t seem to do anything right. I even forgot to pick up my kid after school. I was really feeling in pain and in darkness, so I came before God in prayer: “Oh Lord! After hearing what the pastor had to say today I’ve felt very suspicious and guarded toward Brother Duan, and I don’t dare continue to seek and investigate Eastern Lightning. But the more doubts I have, the more darkness I feel, and I can’t feel Your presence anymore. Lord, I’m longing for Your return, but I’m also afraid of taking the wrong path and betraying You. I really don’t know what to do. Lord, may You enlighten and guide me so that I may discern right and wrong and know what choice to make.”
I gradually had more of a sense of peace after praying. Something Brother Duan had shared with me in fellowship suddenly came to mind: “In our faith, we must revere God as great and in all things seek His will. When encountering an issue, if we don’t seek the truth but just ask other people and listen to what they have to say, that’s not believing in God but is believing in and following man.” With this in mind, I reflected on how, when I heard the news of the Lord’s return, I didn’t first seek and pray to God, but went straight over to ask the pastor. Isn’t that not having a place for God in my heart? I then thought of how, every time I joined a gathering with the brothers and sisters with The Church of Almighty God, their fellowship was well-founded, in line with Bible. It contained light and they fellowshiped very clearly on God’s will. After a few gatherings I understood many truths I never had before and my relationship with God had grown closer and closer. That was very clearly the work of the Holy Spirit! But I didn’t engage in seeking or submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. If I determine whether the Lord has truly returned based on what the pastor said because I thought that he knew more about the Bible, isn’t that just having faith in the pastor? Without a place for God in my heart, how could my spirit not be in darkness? I thought of how, when the Lord Jesus appeared and worked, the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees serving God in the temple refused to acknowledge that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah they were waiting for, even though they were very familiar with the scripture and well-versed in the law. They even madly condemned and opposed the Lord Jesus, ultimately nailing Him to the cross. At that point I finally realized that knowing the scripture well does not mean having knowledge of God, and if I just blindly listened to the pastor, that would not be in line with God’s will. I had to actively seek and investigate this to see whether Almighty God really is the return of the Lord Jesus. I resolved to continue going to gatherings with Brother Duan, and if I was able to determine that Almighty God really is the return of the Lord Jesus, I would accept and follow Him.
Resolving My Doubts by Seeking the Truth
The next time I got online for a gathering I shared my dilemma with my brother and sister to seek with them. I said, “Sister Liu, Brother Duan, our pastors and elders have said that you just believe in a person, and that only the Lord Jesus is God incarnate and the Son of God. And since the CCP government is also crazily condemning and striking out at The Church of Almighty God, saying that those in the church just believe in a human being and Eastern Lightning is organized by a person, I’m really concerned about believing in the wrong thing and betraying the Lord Jesus. I’d really like to hear your fellowship on this.”
Brother Duan then shared his fellowship on this: “Whether Almighty God really is God incarnate, whether He is the return of the Lord Jesus is not determined by the acknowledgment of any one person or government. It is determined by the very essence of God. Sister, we can be taken in by the lies of pastors and elders of the religious world and the CCP government because we don’t understand the truth about God’s incarnation and we don’t understand God’s essence. As for what the incarnation is, Almighty God’s words explain this very clearly. Let’s read some of it. Almighty God says, ‘The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man’ (‘The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. The real Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life’ (‘Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining[a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
 |
|
Picture of The Church of Almighty God
|
Hearing Almighty God’s words and Brother Duan’s fellowship, I understood that God incarnate is God come down to mankind from heaven to express the truth, working to save mankind. From the outside it looks like Christ in the flesh is just as common and normal as we are, but His essence is divine; He can express the truth and do the work of God Himself. Not a single corrupt human being such as us possesses that. Wow! If we just look at Christ’s outward appearance but don’t focus on the truths expressed and the work done by God in order to recognize Christ’s divine essence, we won’t be able to recognize Christ. That really would make us prone to taking Christ for an ordinary person and doing things to reject and oppose God!
Sister Liu went on to share this fellowship: “Now that we understand truths about God’s incarnation, so let’s give some thought to why the pastors and elders in religious circles won’t acknowledge that Almighty God is God in the flesh, that He is Christ of the last days. It’s mainly because the religious leaders do not remotely understand the incarnation. They don’t understand that God in the flesh possesses both normal humanity and full divinity. Plus, they are arrogant, and have not modestly sought and investigated Almighty God’s work and words, instead they stubbornly cling to their own notions and imaginings. They think that only the Lord Jesus was God incarnate, which is why they say that Almighty God, Christ of the last days, is just a regular person. The truth is that the religious world has never, ever understood what the incarnation is. Their faith has entirely been in a vague God up in heaven. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to work and He performed so many miracles, uttered so many words, and expressed so much of what God has and is. However, the leaders of the Jewish faith never recognized that the Lord Jesus was God incarnate who possessed the divine essence of God. Instead, they just saw that He appeared very common, very normal on the outside, so they treated Him as an average person. They also spread rumors about Him, slandered, judged, condemned, and blasphemed Him, and they even colluded with the Roman government to nail Him to the cross. In the last days God has once again become flesh to appear and work, but the religious world has not sought or investigated this. They stubbornly insist on condemning Christ of the last days, who possesses the essence of divinity, as a human being. They also condemn The Church of Almighty God by saying that we believe in a person. If they really knew Christ, would they dare to judge and condemn Him this way? If the religious world acknowledges that the Lord Jesus they believe in was of the flesh and possessed normal humanity and was also God incarnate, why would they speak of the Lord Jesus, who has returned in the last days, as if He were just a person? Isn’t that just shooting themselves in the foot? This just shows that those in religious circles acknowledge that the Lord Jesus is Christ, but they have absolutely no understanding of Christ’s essence. What they believe in is a vague God of their own notions and imaginings. They approach the Lord’s return just as the Pharisees approached the Messiah’s coming two thousand years ago. While awaiting the Lord’s coming they still actively oppose Christ, who has already arrived. Aren’t the pastors and elders of the religious world antichrists who deny Christs, who deny God in the flesh?”
Hearing Sister Liu’s fellowship, the confusion within my heart was finally lifted. I said happily, “That’s right! The religious pastors and elders know that the Lord Jesus was Christ, but they have no understanding of Christ’s essence, so they just blindly follow the CCP government in their judgment and condemnation of Almighty God as a human being! Their attitude toward Almighty God is exactly the same that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees had toward the Lord Jesus—it was one of judging, condemning, and blaspheming God!”
“So why is the CCP government spreading these lies? What sort of plot lies behind this? It’s common knowledge that the CCP is an atheistic party that has always seen God as its enemy. Ever since coming to power, it has condemned Christianity and Catholicism as evil religions and the Bible as evil literature; it has burned and destroyed countless copies. It wantonly arrests and persecutes Christians, and many have been forced to go on the run, families have broken apart; many have suffered imprisonment and hard labor, and some have even tragically died from their brutal torture. The CCP has particularly been like a cat on a hot tin roof since Christ of the last days, Almighty God, appeared in China and began working, expressing truths to save mankind. It deeply fears the Chinese people accepting Almighty God’s work, understanding the truth through His words, seeing through its devilish essence of hating the truth and hostility toward God, and thus rejecting it. Then they would no longer worship and serve it as the ‘the red sun’ or ‘the people’s savior’, which is why it has seen Christ incarnate and believers in Almighty God as a splinter in their eye, a thorn in their side. They throw themselves into fabricating lies and spreading rumors, condemning God’s appearance and work to maintain permanent control over the people and turn China into a zone of atheism. They insist on saying that Almighty God is just a person and they condemn The Church of Almighty God as a human organization. They do this to create confusion and shift people’s focus so that they can confuse, deceive, and incite the people, getting them to stand on the CCP’s side in rejecting Almighty God and condemning His work of the last days. Ultimately they will be condemned and punished by God for offending His disposition. The CCP also uses the rumors it fabricates about The Church of Almighty God as its basis to manufacture public outrage so it can crack down on, suppress, and persecute the church. This has always been its tactic to strike out at righteousness and ban religious beliefs, and really lays its demonic nature bare. Just as Almighty God revealed: ‘The manifestations of the great red dragon are resistance to Me, lack of understanding and comprehension of the meanings of My words, frequent persecution of Me, and seeking to use schemes to interrupt My management’ (‘Chapter 96’ of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The CCP is precisely the great red dragon as prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and from start to finish, it has set itself firmly against God in an arrogant attempt to disrupt God’s management plan. It is a demon in opposition to God! So when we investigate God’s work of the last days, we must have discernment over the CCP’s lies and see through its evil motives and despicable goals. We cannot be misled by it, otherwise we may very easily go along with it in opposing God and lose God’s salvation of the last days!”
My heart brightened considerably after reading God’s words and hearing Brother Duan’s fellowship. It’s true—Christ is God, and is the Ruler of heaven and earth and all things. Christ only does the work of saving mankind, and The Church of Almighty God was personally established by Almighty God, absolutely not by any human being. The CCP’s lies really are so absurd! It is evident from the CCP’s various tactics in opposing God and from its evil goals that it is the serpent, the great dragon prophesied in the Book of Revelation—it is the devil, Satan, misleading everything under the sun! And even the pastors and elders of the religious world listen to the CCP’s lies and go along with it in opposing and condemning God, and denying Christ of the last days. Doesn’t that expose them as antichrists? I then thought of how, when the Lord Jesus came to work in the flesh, the Jewish people followed along with the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in condemning and rejecting the Lord Jesus instead of seeking and looking into whether He was the Messiah based on His own words and work. Ultimately, they were damned and punished by God. I must learn from that bitter lesson! I give thanks to God! The doubts within my heart entirely evaporated, and I very happily accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. I also resolved to steadfastly believe in and follow Almighty God no matter how the pastor may try to misguide me.
The Pastor Hoodwinks My Husband and a Family Spiritual Battle Ensues
Following that, my husband seemed like a completely different person. Before, he wasn’t irritated when I showed him videos and gospel films, and read Almighty God’s words to him, but after seeing the pastor when he wasn’t mad at me, he was losing his temper with our child. When he saw that I was online gathering with my brother and sister, he’d be constantly in and out of the room disrupting me and throwing things around. What particularly bothered me was that he just completely disregarded our family business, a corner store, using this to pressure me into giving up my faith in Almighty God. Plus he went out every single day to hang out with friends and when he came back, told me how much money he had lost gambling. I knew that all of this was Satan’s tricks and I couldn’t fall for it, that I had to stay firm on the true way and not betray God. But if my husband continued refusing to work, I didn’t know how we could pay the household bills or even pay our child’s tuition. Thinking of this was very painful for me. Over that period of time, the pastor’s wife also came to our home frequently telling me I shouldn’t believe in Almighty God anymore, and once she got in the door she wouldn’t stop for hours. I fell behind on some of the housework because of the time I spent hosting her. All this disruption left me feeling deeply unsettled. Even though I was always able to attend regular gatherings with my brother and sister, I could never find any kind of internal calm.
In my pain and helplessness, I came before God in prayer. “Oh God! I don’t know how I should experience this in the face of such hindrances. May You guide me to understand Your will and show me a path.” After praying, a passage of God’s words came to mind. “Those who God refers to as overcomers are those who are still able to stand witness, maintain their confidence, and their devotion to God when under the influence of Satan and under siege by Satan, that is, when within the forces of darkness. If you are still able to maintain a heart of purity and your genuine love for God no matter what, you stand witness in front of God, and this is what God refers to as being an overcomer. … Since you are certain that this way is true, you must follow it until the end; you must maintain your devotion to God” (“You Ought to Maintain Your Devotion to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
God’s words provided me with faith and strength, and allowed me to understand that God wanted to test my faith and devotion to Him through this onslaught from Satan, through which I could grow in my life. Since I already determined that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus, I should hold fast on the true way and no matter how Satan may disrupt or hinder me, I have to follow God to the very end without ever turning back. If I were to give in to my husband’s constraints and give up my faith in God, that would be giving in to Satan and betraying God. I could not fold to Satan in that spiritual battle—I had to hold on to my faith and devotion to God, be steadfast on the true way, and stand witness for God!
I felt buoyed up after understanding God’s will, and I had the faith to continue undergoing this. My husband continued to go out every day, but I didn’t get angry with him. Instead, I spoke with him very calmly and was just as caring to him as always. To my surprise, a couple of weeks later he started running the business as usual again. I knew that this was God’s doing and I felt a surge of excitement. I saw that when I wasn’t hemmed in by what was going on around me but stayed firm in standing witness for God, Satan was shamed and retreated. I gave thanks to God for leading me out of that situation. My resolve to follow God became even greater after the experience of that spiritual battle.
Thinking about that bumpy road I had been on, I felt indignant at the pastor’s behavior. Faced with the appearance and work of the returned Lord Jesus, not only did he not look into it himself, but he employed all sorts of tactics to prevent me from accepting the true way. He unleashed all sorts of evil words and absurdities to lead me astray and even got my husband to stand in the way of my faith. His actions were so despicable! I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words when He exposed and condemned the Pharisees: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). When the Lord Jesus was doing His work, the Pharisees were afraid that believers would all follow Him and that they would lose their status and livelihoods, so they madly condemned and opposed the Lord Jesus. They judged Him as being merely the son of a carpenter and maligned Him, saying that He cast out demons through the prince of the devils. They even sowed discord by telling Pontius Pilate that the Lord Jesus was leading an uprising to overthrow the Roman government, that He was fomenting political unrest. As a result, many of the Jewish people blindly heeded the Pharisees’ words, rejecting and condemning the Lord Jesus, and some even went along with the Pharisees in nailing Him to the cross. They were then condemned and damned by God. From the Pharisees’ many evil actions it can be seen that they were antichrists who prevented people from accepting the true way, who were vying with God for mankind.
Once I had seen the essence of the Pharisees I also gained more clarity on the essence of the leaders within religious circles. On the outside, the pastors and elders wave the flag of serving God and are always preaching the Bible to believers, but they lack even the slightest knowledge of God. They do not love the truth or long for the Lord’s appearance. When Almighty God, Christ of the last days appeared and began working to save mankind, even though they heard God’s words and knew they possessed authority and power, they did not engage in any seeking or investigation. On the contrary, they relied on their own notions and imaginings to condemn and oppose God. Afraid that believers would hear Almighty God’s gospel of the last days and then accept and follow Him, and that they’d lose their status and livelihoods, the pastors and elders have wantonly judged and condemned God’s appearance and work. They have said that Christ of the last days is just a human being; they have condemned and denied Christ’s divine essence and have even taken the side of the CCP government. They are drumming up support for it, Satan the devil, maligning The Church of Almighty God as just a human organization, using this to lead believers astray so that they reject Christ of the last days. They are preventing believers from turning toward God and getting them to follow along in their opposition to God so that they lose God’s salvation of the last days. We can see from the actions of the pastors and elders that they are the stumbling block, the roadblock on the path leading to the entrance to the kingdom of heaven. They are the antichrist devils who swallow people’s souls whole! It’s just as Almighty God’s words say: “Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, head demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of ‘robust flesh,’ how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Thanks be to God! Seeing through the pastor’s essence of hypocrisy and hatred for the truth even further invigorated my resolve to follow Almighty God. Now I frequently have gatherings with my brother and sister to share fellowship on God’s words, and through His words I’ve gained a bit of understanding of my own corrupt disposition. I’ve started to focus on putting His words into practice in my life, and I’ve been performing my duty in the church to the best of my ability. I feel such internal tranquility and joy. Having the chance to accept and follow Almighty God’s work of the last days and to step onto the life path of pursuing dispositional change is the greatest honor I could have! I give thanks to God for His love and salvation for me!
Source From: Eastern Lightning | Discerning Modern-Day Pharisees and Welcoming the Lord Jesus’ Return
Recommendation： Teachings of Jesus Christ: What Is God’s Will Behind the Parable of the Master and Servant?
0 意見:
Post a Comment