The Word of God Leads Me to Live Out the Likeness of Man （ 三)

The Picture of The Church of Almighty God

The Word of God Leads Me to Live Out the Likeness of Man

 December 19, 2017

 In this way, almost a month passed and I had still not made the grade. I felt particularly aggrieved and that this senior was so bad for making things difficult for me and intentionally finding fault with me. Thinking of these two months’ work experience and seeing that my classmates had already qualified and only I and a rather introverted girl had not, I felt very tired and having suffered both physically and mentally! I suddenly really wanted to go home, but my home was in China and it was very unrealistic to go back. Back in the dormitory, I inadvertently saw a passage of a sermon about life entry: “Sometimes God does not say this to your face and does not come to you Himself to tell you: ‘I saw your corruptions today. I’m going to utter words of judgment to you’ and then read you a passage of God’s words. That’s not how it is. God may send or move a person, a person whose views are least like yours or who you least look up to, to prune and deal with you. Then what will you do? It is God who sends them. Tell me, do you obey them? How do you approach the Holy Spirit moving people whose views are least like yours and who you dislike the most to prune and deal with you? … This obedience is a most real issue, which is put in front of people; everyone must choose and put it into practice. You cannot evade the issue” (“How to Eat and Drink the Words of God to Achieve Good Results” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (I)). Having read this passage of fellowship I understood that God wanted me to learn a lesson about obeying God and accepting pruning and being dealt with. When encountering difficulties, I judged right or wrong from the surface and felt that my senior was directing things at me. For several times, I really wanted to find an opportunity to retaliate against her. But I believed in God and could not do anything which shames God, so I had to feel angry and depressed in my heart. Thinking about it now, I should accept this environment from God and pursue entry into the truth of obeying God. When I continued to pray to God and seek God on the lesson of obeying God, I saw it said in God’s words: “If you believe in the dominion of God, then you must believe that the things that happen every day, be they good or bad, don’t happen accidentally. It is not that someone doesn’t get on with you or opposes you on purpose; it is actually all arranged by God and He orchestrates everything. What does God orchestrate everything for? It is not to reveal your shortcomings for everyone to see or to expose you; exposing you is not the final aim. The aim is to perfect you and save you. How does God perfect you and save you? Firstly, He makes you aware of your own corrupt disposition, your own nature and essence, your own shortcomings and what you lack. Only by knowing these things and understanding them in your heart can you cast them off—this is a God-given opportunity. You must learn to seize this opportunity and know how to seize it; don’t lock horns and don’t resist. If you are always competing with the people, events, and things that God has arranged around you, if you are always trying to extricate yourself from them, always feeling dissatisfied, always harboring a disagreeable mentality and always misunderstanding, then you will find it very difficult to enter into the truth. … God works on each and every person. Regardless of what method He employs, what form it takes or what tone He uses to speak to people, there is only one final aim, and that is to save you. Before saving you, He needs to change you. But can you change without suffering anything at all? You must suffer a little” (“If You Wish to Attain the Truth, Then You Must Learn From the People, Matters, and Things Around You” in Records of Christ’s Talks). After reading God’s words, my heart did not feel so much pain. Actually, there is God’s will behind my always being dealt with by my senior. It is not a case of someone making life difficult for me, but God wishing to change me and let me see how I am lacking and flawed, able to press onward, learn how to take responsibility and live out a normal humanity. In God’s words it is said: “How is it expressed when the truth doesn’t act as a person’s life? What do they reveal and live out when satanic dispositions act as their lives? They are arrogant and conceited, selfish and contemptible, reckless, autocratic, and love to brag; they are deceitful and treacherous. They are prone to suspicion of others, and to attacking and judging others. Their appraisals of other people are never accurate; they always carry selfishness and ulterior motives. In addition, they are always negative. They’re either negative to the point that they want to find a hole in the ground to hide in, or arrogant to the point that they are on top of the world. If they’re not baring their teeth, then they’re putting on a sad face” (“A Change in Disposition Can Only Be Achieved by Pursuing Entry Into Life” in Records of Christ’s Talks). “Because the essence of God is holy, that means that only through God can you walk the bright, right road through life; only through God can you know the meaning of life, only through God can you live out a real life, possess the truth, know the truth, and only through God can you obtain life from the truth. Only God Himself can help you shun evil and deliver you from the harm and control of Satan. Besides God, no one and nothing can save you from the sea of suffering so that you suffer no longer: This is determined by the essence of God” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Comparing God’s words and thinking back to my behavior over the last two months, I saw that I was living in arrogant and conceited corrupt disposition because I did not have God’s words as life. From arriving at the hotel I thought that my Japanese was good and so I would pass very quickly and that the hard work and dirty work was done by people whose Japanese was not good. I had never thought of conducting myself in a steadfast manner, but wanted to take short cuts and preferred to pick easy jobs and shirk the hard ones. I did not know how to be humble and looked down upon everyone. I had never thought to bow my head and learn from others and always felt that as soon as I bowed down, I would let people look down upon me and would be inferior. As for my senior who always picked on me, I obeyed her even less. As soon as she said something to me, I would argue things out in my heart and be unwilling to see my shortcomings from her words. So I often lived in disobedience and suffering. Now I really understand a little of God’s intentions. Although this environment is very hard, all that God intends to achieve is to change my arrogant disposition and enable me to humble myself, ask when I do not understand, and become an honest, humble, rational, down-to-earth person.

After this, although I was still doing the internship, every day doing hard dirty work, being dealt with from time to time by my senior, I no longer wanted to escape and I knew this was God using this environment to change my arrogant disposition and let me live out the likeness of a real man a little bit. Every time my senior dealt with me regarding some work issues when I was unwilling to humble myself, I prayed to God: “God, my senior has started to deal with me again and I still feel some resistance in my heart, but what she says is right and I should accept it. I am not willing to be hard again and live by Satan’s arrogant and conceited disposition. I ask God to give me an obedient heart and the will to endure hardships and enable me to live out the likeness of man!” In this way, when I relied upon God and looked to God, every time I prayed it brought me peace and joy and made me feel particularly close to God and able to lay my life down and obey. Although my flesh endured a little pain, my heart was still incomparably sweet and joyful and I tasted the sweetness of practicing the word of God and depending on God. Later, when my senior scolded me again, I did not argue or resist anymore, but accepted it and carefully compared what I had done and if I had done something wrong then I did my best to correct it. After two months, I finally qualified and moreover, I was nominated for praise in a customer’s feedback. This was all because the word of Almighty God had changed me and enabled me to live out the human likeness a little.

The Word of God Leads Me to Live Out the Likeness of Man Just half a month after I was labelled as qualified, I contacted brothers and sisters from the local Church of Almighty God and started my normal church life. Looking back to the path, I saw God’s omnipotence and dominion and felt God’s good intentions. God arranged all this for me to change my arrogant disposition and let me live out the likeness of man. If I had found brothers and sisters sooner, maybe I would not have suffered so much, but without experiencing such hardship, I would not know my corruptions such as arrogance, inertia and failure to pursue excellence, nor be able to learn how to seek and depend upon God and experience God’s cleansing and salvation and would be even less able to live out the likeness of a real man. As to the girl who was the same with me at the beginning who has never qualified, because she had not come before God and did not have the guidance of the word of God, every day was very hard and depressing for her. When other people raised her problems or gave her advice, she never understood how to humbly accept and often sulked, resulting in her becoming like a hedgehog over just a few months, untouchable by anyone and not even being able to bear a joke amongst friends. Now no one dare make friends with her or speak to her. Seeing such a vivid example beside me, as a comparison, I realize even more that God’s grace of salvation is so great! If it had not been for God guiding me, I would not have changed so much in such a short three months. Thank God! All glory to Almighty God!

 Recommended ：Spreading and testifying to Almighty God’s work of the last days—this is God’s commission to His chosen people, and the aims of The Church of Almighty God.

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Gospel Testimonies | Judgment Before the Seat of Christ | The Real Face of a So-called Good Person

Gospel Testimonies | Judgment Before the Seat of Christ | The Real Face of a
So-called Good Person 

2015年3月5日 13

Kemu Zhumadian City, Henan Province

In my own mind, I’ve always thought of myself as having good humanity. I’ve thought this because, my neighbors often complimented me in front of my parents for being sensible and showing concern for our family; saying I was the apple of my parents’ eyes. After getting married, my in-laws praised me in front of neighbors for being kind and filial to them. In my unit, my leader praised me for being honest and competent. And since accepting this stage of God’s work, I’ve been obedient with whatever the church asks me to do. I never contradict the leader even if I get rebuked by the leader for not doing a good job, and I often help brothers and sisters who are in need. As such, I believe myself to be a reasonable, compassionate, and kindhearted person with humanity. I’ve never thought of myself in terms of the words in which God reveals that man lacks humanity or that man has weaker humanity. When communing God’s words with brothers and sisters, even though I know I need to be aware of my own nature, I still maintain my own view, thinking in my heart: Even if I am not a person of good humanity, I still have relatively good humanity compared with others. In other words, regardless of what God’s word says or what brothers and sisters say, I am not willing to disassociate myself from the idea of being a person of good humanity.

christian life, spiritual growth, The Real Face of a So-called Good Person,

One day, as I was eating and drinking the word of God, a passage caught my attention. God says, “Some people are inherently good; they are able to practice truth. Some people’s humanity is weaker, thus it is hard for them to practice truth…. Would you say that he who does not practice truth has ever sought the truth? He absolutely has not sought it! His own thinking arises: ‘This way is good, it is to my advantage.’ In the end, he still acts based on his own ideas. He does not seek the truth because there is something wrong with his heart, his heart is not right. He does not seek, does not examine, nor does he pray before God; he just stubbornly acts according to his own wishes. This type of person simply holds no fondness for the truth. … Those without love for the truth will neither seek it in the moment, nor will they examine themselves afterward. They never scrutinize whether the act was carried out rightly or wrongly in the end, thus they always violate principles, violate the truth. … A person who has a heart is only able to make a mistake once when undertaking a course of action, twice at the very most—once or twice, not three or four times, this is normal sense. If they are able to commit the same mistake three or four times, this proves that they harbor no love for the truth, nor do they seek the truth. This kind of person is definitely not a humane individual” (“Resolving Nature and Practicing Truth” in Records of Christ’s Talks). After reading this passage of God’s words, I had a sudden revelation. As it turns out, good or bad humanity is closely connected with the implementation of the truth. A person of good humanity will seek the truth and practice the truth in everything, and examine himself afterward. I have always considered myself to have good humanity, so am I someone who seeks and practices the truth in everything? Thinking back, I did not pray or seek the truth with regard to many things I encountered. I did not examine or understand myself afterward. Even though I had expressed my corrupt disposition, I did not resolve my issues by seeking the truth, but continued to commit the same mistake repeatedly. Sometimes even if I understood an aspect of the truth, I didn’t seem to want to practice it. I recall many examples of this vividly. One time, I remember feeling a sense of estrangement with the person I was partnered with. I was aware it would directly affect work effectiveness if the problem was not solved, but because of my pride and vanity, I refused to let go of my ego and have an open communication with her. Instead, I bit the bullet and continued working, resulting in very ineffective work. When I sometimes saw brothers and sisters reveal a certain aspect of their corrupt disposition, I didn’t try to commune in truth with them to help them know themselves, but instead judged them behind their back. I didn’t repent or try to change my ways even after being dealt with a few times, but instead persisted in my old ways. I did not strive for the best results in doing my duty, but was always lazy and sneaky, dealing with things sloppily, always deceiving God to maintain my own standing, fortune, and status. I didn’t think much of it or have a guilty conscience. I didn’t seek or investigate when things happened in my work, but just did as I wanted. Even if it brought serious losses to the church, I did not feel like I was indebted to God, nor was I embarrassed by my evil deeds. Even if God reminded me through His words and exposed my corruption through dealing and pruning, I continued to ignore Him, and committed the same transgressions upward of three or four times. Do these actions not prove that I lack humanity and am not a lover of the truth in the eyes of God? Regardless, I haven’t sought to know myself based on my

Right now, my heart is filled with guilt, and at the same time full of gratitude to God. I cannot help but pour myself out before God, “God, thank You for Your enlightenment, letting me know I am not a person with good humanity, helping me understand a person with true humanity is one who loves the truth, is someone who listens to God and obeys God, is someone who is willing to practice the truth and pursue a love of God. I also realize my understanding of myself is not based on the truth of God’s words, but is based on my own imagination and ideas, as well as my worldly views. It’s totally absurd. God, from now on, I don’t want to measure myself according to Satan’s viewpoint or my own imagination. I want to know myself based on Your words, and do my utmost in pursuit of the truth, so I can soon become a person with truth and humanity to comfort Your heart.”

—This article  from  The Church of Almaighty God, Gospel Testimonies, Judgment Before the Seat of Christ

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I | Guileless People Are Not Necessarily Honest People

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43. Guileless People Are Not Necessarily Honest People 

Cheng Mingjie Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province

I consider myself to be an outgoing and forthright kind of person. I speak with people in a very straightforward manner; whatever I want to say, I say it—I’m not the type to beat around the bush. In my interactions with people I tend to be a pretty straight shooter. Often, I get cheated or ridiculed for too easily placing trust in others. It was only after I started going to church that I felt I had found a place I could call my own. I thought to myself: In the past my guilelessness has put me at a disadvantage and made me vulnerable to the deception of others; but in church God wants honest people, people who have been scorned by society, so I don’t have to worry anymore about being too guileless. I felt especially comforted when I heard that God loves the honest and simple, and that only the honest shall receive God’s salvation. When I saw how distressed my brothers and sisters had become as they began to recognize their treacherous nature but could not change it, I felt even more relieved that, being honest and straightforward, I wouldn’t have to go through such distress. One day, however, after receiving a revelation from God, I finally realized I wasn’t the honest person I thought I was.

One day, I heard God say in His fellowship: “People who are honest … are not pitiable, wretched, stupid, or simplehearted…. And so, do not put this crown upon your head, thinking that you are honest because you suffer in society, are discriminated against, and are pushed around and cheated by everyone you meet. This is utterly wrong. … Being honest isn’t as people imagine—people are honest simply because they are straightforward and plain-dealing—that’s not how it is” (“To Be Honest, You Should Lay Yourself Open to Others” in Records of Christ’s Talks). God’s words were a perfect characterization of my situation. Indeed, I always thought that because I don’t speak in a roundabout way and am often cheated by others, that this somehow means there is no part of me that is treacherous or cunning. As a result, I never related personally to God’s exposition of treachery and cunning in man, instead crowning myself as the quintessence of honesty. I thought that everyone else was treacherous and that I was somehow different, that I had been born with this innate honesty. My thinking was revolting to God. At this point, I remembered another passage of God’s words: “Honesty means to give your heart to God; to never play Him false in anything; to be open with Him in all things, never cover the truth; to never do that which deceives those above and deludes those below; and to never do that which is done merely to ingratiate yourself with God. In short, to be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man. … If your words are riddled with excuses and valueless justifications, then I say that you are one who is very unwilling to practice the truth. If you have many unspeakable confidences and are very unwilling to lay bare your secrets—your difficulties—to others so as to seek the way of the light, then I say that you are one for whom salvation will not be easily received and who will not easily emerge from the darkness. If seeking the way of truth pleases you well, then you are one who lives often in the light. If you are glad to be a service-doer in the house of God, working diligently and conscientiously in obscurity, always giving and never taking, then I say that you are a loyal saint, for you seek no reward and are simply being an honest man. If you are willing to be candid, if you are willing to give your all, if you are able to sacrifice your life for God and stand witness, if you are honest and think only to please God, and never consider yourself or take for yourself, then I say that such people are those who are nourished by the light and shall live forever in the kingdom” (“Three Admonitions” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words made me realize that what God really means by honesty, is someone who gives their heart to God without thought to their personal advancement or future plans. There is no doing business with God, no demand on payment: An honest person lives to content God. An honest person is supremely faithful to God and never tries to deceive Him. In fulfilling their duties they are diligent and never try to cheat their way out of things or go through the motions. The honest lay themselves bare in all things before God, and are also willing to share their private matters and personal troubles with their brothers and sisters. Honest people don’t give the watered-down version of the story, they call a spade a spade. Honest people hold the truth and are humane. As for me, I just didn’t get what it meant to be an honest person. In my worldly judgment of things, God’s “honest person” was what we refer to in the secular world as a “guileless person.” Little did I know that God’s “honest person” and my “honest person” hold very little in common. How ignorant I was, how preposterous!

Satan has corrupted man for thousands of years: We all grow up in an environment permeated with the repugnance and evil of Satan. Our words and behavior, the way we conduct ourselves in society, is all subject to the bidding of Satan. “Think before you speak and then talk with reservation,” “Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,” “Speak out of both sides of one’s mouth,” these most famous phrases of Satan have already planted themselves in the collective unconscious of man: They are part and parcel of our lives even as they drive us to treachery and cunning. Given that all mankind is afflicted by treachery and cunning, what made me think I was somehow immune, or innately honest? I speak straightforwardly and without equivocation because I’m a frank and outright person. I’m often cheated by others because I’m ignorant and stupid, but this doesn’t mean that I’m really an honest person. When I think back, how many times have I used fakery and lies to preserve my reputation and standing? How many times have I wallowed in anxiety over my future prospects instead of believing in God with a pure and unitary heart? I feared that in giving up everything for God, that I’d be left with nothing, so I always wanted a promise from God, a guarantee that I would one day enter His kingdom. Only in that way would I be able to seek truth wholeheartedly without worry. How many times was I unfaithful to God, fussing over small losses and gains in the process of fulfilling my duties? And how many times did I make and break resolutions, speaking “high-sounding but empty words” to curry God’s favor? How many times did I refrain from opening myself up to my brothers and sisters and sharing my personal troubles and private affairs with them for fear that they would look down on me? How many times did I say only what I believed would yield me personal benefit, putting up my guard and being suspicious of others? … Looking back, it seemed that my thoughts, words and actions were all filled with treachery and deceit. As a result, my concept of faith, my contributions, my interactions with others and with God and my fulfillment of duties were all infected with treachery. You could say I was living every moment in accordance with the very essence of treachery. Thank You God for enlightening me, for showing me that honest people are not just frank-speaking and guileless, but rather possessors of truth and humanity. Thank You also for showing me that I am not honest by God’s definition, but a person afflicted by the treacherous nature of Satan, a treachery which God has exposed. Dear God, from now on I will invest myself in becoming an honest person. I ask that You expose me and allow me to have a deeper understanding of my own treacherous nature, so that I may despise myself, deny my flesh, and soon become an honest man possessed of truth and humanity.

This article  from The Church of Almighty God BOOKS Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I | Discriminating Against Outsiders Is Too Malicious!

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42. Discriminating Against Outsiders Is Too Malicious! 

Xiaojin Pan’an County, Zhejiang Province

In February of 2007, the church received a work arrangement entitled “Water and Supply the New Believers to Help Them Take Root as Quickly as Possible.” It emphasized that “It is necessary to utilize all who are effective and experienced at watering the new believers in order to complete this work. People unsuitable for watering the new believers must not be used; they must be replaced to avoid delaying the work” (“The Issues the Church Is Currently Facing Must Be Resolved” in Annals of Fellowship and Work Arrangements (I)). After seeing this arrangement, instead of using the principles to measure whether the sister from our district who watered the new believers was suitable, I held preconceived ideas against her: This person perfunctorily performed her duty and did not focus on eating and drinking the words of God. Besides, she cared for the flesh, so she wasn’t suitable for watering the new believers. More importantly, she thought she had some caliber and so she became arrogant and looked down on others. Last time, she went to the person in charge of the region watering work and spoke ill of me. If it were not for the demands of my work, I wouldn’t have paid any more attention to her. In thinking about this, I made a plan: Why not take advantage of this opportunity and replace her so that I won’t have to see her anymore? Isn’t she arrogant? I’ll just replace her and then I’ll see how prideful she is!

Consequently, I didn’t weigh out the effectiveness of her work and I was not thinking in the interest of the church. I was just in a hurry to replace her. Afterward, I carelessly transferred a church leader to the district to fulfill the duty of watering. In my view, this person could endure hardships, she spoke kind words and was a fast worker. She had compassion for people and was very suitable for the work of watering. I didn’t realize that the person responsible for the region watering work and the coordinator thought that this person was unsuitable and that the original sister was quite suitable. I did my best to speak highly of this church leader, even to the point of saying there was no one better than her. Just when I wasn’t willing to accept their suggestions, I received news saying that this church leader was being watched by the great red dragon. Without any other option, I put myself aside and grudgingly reinstated the original sister. My heart was severely distraught and depressed, and I felt I had nowhere to vent my frustrations.

This continued until one day when I read in a passage in the man’s preaching: “How leaders treat brothers and sisters who they find disagreeable, who oppose them, who hold completely different views than them—this is a very serious issue and should be handled with caution. If they do not enter into the truth, they will certainly discriminate and strike against this person when met with this kind of issue. This type of action is precisely revealing the nature of the great red dragon resisting and betraying God. If the leader is someone who pursues the truth, who possesses a conscience, and sense, they will seek the truth and handle it correctly” (“Reckless Leaders Who Do Not Carry Out Their Proper Work Must Be Dismissed” in Annals of Fellowship and Work Arrangements (I)). At this time, I couldn’t help but think back about the recent district watering personnel transfer. At that time, God prevented me from doing a wicked thing in order to defend His own work, which prevented my plan from succeeding. However, the satanic nature and the great red dragon’s poison within me completely came to light. The work arrangement clearly emphasized to do everything possible to water new believers and transfer in suitable watering personnel. But in spite of God’s urgency to save people, and without thinking about carrying out the work properly, I took the liberty to discriminate and attack the person who offended me. In doing so, was I not using the same contemptible method as the great red dragon to eliminate outsiders? How was this serving God? It was simply oppressing people and punishing them. It was interrupting and disturbing the work of the church. I have really been deeply corrupted by Satan and have completely become the embodiment of the great red dragon. My actions were no different than those of the great red dragon. The great red dragon uses deplorable means to eliminate outsiders. I was also replacing the person who offended me in the name of putting the work arrangement into practice. The great red dragon promotes those it trusts and I was promoting someone who I personally thought was good and who conformed to my opinion. The great red dragon follows the satanic code of “Those who submit will prosper; those who resist shall perish.” I also used my “authority” to get revenge on the person who offended me and who had an opinion about me. The great red dragon twists facts; it is unjust and unfair. I was emotional when I blindly criticized the person who didn’t conform to my will. I persistently spoke in favor of the person that I liked even to the point of exaggerating, speaking contrary to the fact. … Now I see that the poison of the great red dragon is deeply rooted in me. It has already become a part of my life, to such an extent that it affects every aspect of my behavior. The poison of the great red dragon makes me sinister and malicious; it makes my soul filthy, deplorable, and ugly, which makes me unwittingly resist God. If it were not for God’s enlightenment, I would still be living in my own corruption and would still be brooding over my failed schemes. I would surely not know I had completely lost my sense and conscience and that my conduct had offended God’s disposition.

Almighty God, Your revelations have made me see that my nature is too evil and deplorable. I am completely the embodiment of the great red dragon; my conduct is no different than that of the great red dragon. From now on, I am willing to actively pursue truth. I will analyze myself by contrasting my thoughts, words and actions with the word of God, and recognize the nature of the great red dragon within me. I will see its substance clearly and will truly hate it, turn away from it, and be a real man with humanity to comfort Your heart!

This article  from The Church of Almighty God Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I 42. Discriminating Against Outsiders Is Too Malicious!
    

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment | What Is the Nature of God’s Love?

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41. What Is the Nature of God’s Love? 

Siqiu Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province

Whenever I see the following passage of God’s word, “If you’ve always been very loyal and loving toward Me, yet you suffer the torment of illness, the impoverishment of life, and the abandonment of your friends and relatives or endure any other misfortunes in life, then will your loyalty and love for Me still continue?” (“A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I feel particularly unhappy—a sense of misery creeps up within me and my heart speaks its voiceless grievance: Dear God, how can You allow those that are loyal to You and love You to meet with such misfortune? As a result, I’ve had a hard time understanding the meaning of the man used by the Holy Spirit who said, “God’s last demand of man is loving and sincere.”

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I | There Is Great Happiness in Honesty

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40. There Is Great Happiness in Honesty 

Gan’en Hefei City, Anhui Province

In my life, I’ve always gone by the phrase, “One shouldn’t have the heart to harm others, but must be vigilant so as not to be harmed” in social interaction. I never grant my trust to others lightly. I’ve always felt that in situations where you don’t know someone’s true intentions, you shouldn’t show your hand too soon. Thus, it’s enough to keep a peaceful attitude—in this way you protect yourself and will be thought of by your peers as a “good person.”

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I | Using God’s Word as a Mirror

 

Using God’s Word as a Mirror 

Wu Xia Linyi City, Shandong Province

After accepting this work and eating and drinking the word of God, it became obvious to me that it is very important that I understand myself. Consequently, while eating and drinking the word of God, I made sure to cross-check myself against the word by which God exposes man. In most cases, I was able to recognize my deficiencies and inadequacies. I felt that I would really come to understand myself. Yet, it was only through a revelation from God that I was able to see that I did not truly understand myself according to God’s word.

One day, I went somewhere with a district leader to withdraw some money. When the amount of money was confirmed and the receipt was written, we had a disagreement, and for a while, neither of us would back down. At the time, the district leader suddenly blurted out: “If you destroy the last receipt, then there would be no evidence. What if you just keep the money to yourself?” I didn’t know what to feel after hearing this, but it certainly felt like a big insult to my integrity; it was very difficult for me to swallow. I thought: What kind of person do you think I am? I have followed God all these years and am a good person. How could I do something like that? Besides, I have taken charge of this work for so many years and have never made a mistake with the finances, so why would I steal the church’s money? In what way did I resemble Judas? … The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that she looked down on me and bossed me around. I was so hurt that it nearly brought me to tears.

In my pain, I suddenly remembered God’s words, “The environment around us as well as the people, matters and objects, all are permitted by His throne.” I then thought: Why would God create a situation where this sister would say such a thing? What is God teaching me? While pondering this, my heart began to feel peace. My mind started to question the painful reactions I just had toward the sister’s comment: Was she wrong when she said “What if you just keep the money to yourself?” God said that man will betray righteousness and distance themselves from God at any time and in any place. No one is truly trustworthy. Am I an exception? Besides, how much has my disposition changed? How much truth have I obtained? If I have not obtained truth nor changed much in disposition, why shouldn’t I allow others to see me that way and on what basis should I see myself as noble and pure? And why should I be so confident that I would never steal the offering? God once said: “Man’s nature brims with the nature of Satan, they’re entirely self-centered, selfish, greedy, and extravagant” (“People Make Too Many Demands of God” in Records of Christ’s Talks). Does this only apply to others and not to myself? Everyone is greedy by nature, am I an exception? Is what the sister said inconsistent with the facts? When I usually eat and drink God’s word, I seem to be able to consciously examine myself in the light of God’s revelation. However, when the sister, without being emotional, told the truth based on God’s revelation on the nature of man, I had become so angry. Doesn’t this reveal that I don’t know myself according to God’s word? Does this not signify that I don’t have a true understanding of the nature of Satan within me? Not until then did I realize that my knowing myself by eating and drinking the word of God was nothing more than theoretical recognition and superficial understanding. I was not paying special attention to understanding my true nature through the revelation of God’s word. Therefore, this situation had to happen to me: When I communicate, it is common to speak as if I understand myself; I nod my head and agree with the word by which God exposes man, but when faced with the facts, I would die before admitting to being that person God shows to me. Reflecting on the past: How many times I’ve declared that I lack human sense, but when other people say I lack human sense, I immediately deny it and defend myself to the death. How many times my lips have uttered that I perform my duty perfunctorily, yet when other people point out that I perform my duty perfunctorily, I always think of every possible way to defend myself and to justify myself so as to exonerate myself. How many times I have recognized in front of others that I am nothing, worse than a maggot, yet when others say I don’t do anything right, I become downhearted and so negative that I can’t cheer up. How many times I have declared I have a poor caliber and lack capacity to work, yet when I hear others say that I am of poor caliber and that I would never make a good leader, I throw in the towel and slack off. … It is clear that I am a hypocrite. When I say to myself that I am corrupt, then it is fine, but when others say something about me, I cannot accept it, and I resist it. This adequately shows that my understanding of myself only goes as far as my mouth. It deceives others and is hypocritical. Since I have never been able to really dissect and understand my true self-nature through the revelation of God’s words, I have not yet truly entered into understanding of myself and my disposition has not changed.

At that time, I reflected on my own narcissistic attitude and found it to be really shameful. God’s revelations have truly convinced me and allowed me to clearly see that I do not truly understand myself. From now on, I am willing to recognize my corrupt substance through the word by which God exposes man; I am willing to courageously face the facts and truly understand myself so that I can soon change my disposition.
 This article  from The Church of Almighty God  BOOKS Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume I

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume | Source: "The Secret Held Deep Within My Heart" in Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment

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Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment Volume  | The Secret Held Deep Within My Heart

Wuzhi Linyi City, Shandong Province In the spring of 2006, I was stripped of my position as leader and sent back to where I had come from because I was considered too much of a “yes-man.” When I first got back, I plunged into a crucible of torment and agony. I never thought that after years of leadership things would go downhill on account of being a “yes-man.” This was the end for me, I thought, everyone familiar with me would know of my failure and I would be held up as a bad example in the church. How could I face others after all this? The more I thought, the more negative I became, until I finally lost the faith to continue seeking the truth. However, when I thought of all the sacrifices and expenditures I had made in these past few years, I couldn’t bring myself to quit. If I completely write myself off and accept failure, won’t all my efforts be for naught? Won’t people then think even less of me? I can’t let that happen! I’ve got to stand up for myself and not let others look down their noses at me. Now, no matter how hard I must try, how many wrongs I suffer, I’ve got to buck up—I can’t quit halfway! As long as I remember the lessons of failure and focus on seeking the truth, maybe one day I can become a leader again. With these thoughts in mind, all the negativity and sadness faded and I felt a renewed energy in my pursuit.

From that moment onward, I put in long hours every day, actively eating and drinking God’s word to equip myself with truth while reflecting and making insight into my past transgressions. I wrote countless essays detailing my experience of life, as well as sermons. A while later, when I saw that two of my essays had been selected, I felt even more faith in my pursuit. I thought to myself: Just keep working and soon enough my dream will become a reality. In that way, I continued in my pursuit and felt comforted that my condition had more or less returned to “normal.” One day during spiritual cultivation, I was drawn to a certain passage of God’s word: “If you are to understand yourself, you must understand your true situation; the most important thing in understanding your own situation is to have a grasp on your own thoughts and ideas. In every time period, people’s thoughts have been controlled by one major thing; if you can get a hold of your thoughts, you can get a hold of the thing behind them” (“People Who Always Have Requirements for God Are the Least Reasonable” in Records of Christ’s Talks). Thinking over God’s word, I suddenly turned the question back on myself: What dominates my thoughts now? What lies behind all my thoughts? I began to carefully reflect on my thought process and, with God’s guidance, came to realize that ever since I had been replaced, my thoughts had been dominated by the desire that “I must wrest back my former reputation and status and stand up for myself. I can’t keep being looked down upon by others.” This thought had been like a spiritual pillar, allowing me to persevere through the crucible of my own despair and giving me the drive to pursue my goal. With this thought in mind, I had remained “staunch and unyielding” under the constant barrage of “insults and humiliation.” At this moment, I realized that my pursuit was impure, full of desire and not in the least bit positive. Thinking back, I see that God had exposed me to allow me to reflect on myself and understand my own satanic nature so that I could be grounded and forthright in my pursuit of truth, cast of evil and sin and receive the salvation of God. However, I certainly did not thank God for His gift of salvation, nor did I hate myself for the evils I committed. What’s more, I didn’t reproach myself or feel repentant for failing to live up to God’s hopes. Rather, driven by the arrogant nature that “I must prevail at any cost,” I poured myself into the scheming of this plot, thinking only of the day when I would rise again, be reanointed as a leader, and regain the reputation that I had so thoroughly damaged. Effectively, I was hoping to rebuild a satanic image of myself for others to admire and worship. Clearly, I had grand ambitions—so grand that I was willing to go fist for fist against God to the very end. I was arrogant in the extreme and had not the least bit of reverence or fear for God in my heart. Reflecting back on my former state, I felt the hair stand up on my neck. I never would have imagined that such wild ambition lay behind my thoughts. No wonder God said, “if you can get a hold of your thoughts, you can get a hold of the thing behind them.” Indeed. In the past, I viewed my thoughts as fleeting notions and never took the time to analyze and understand them. Only now do I understand that grasping one’s thoughts and actively analyzing the things held deep within one’s heart is of grave importance to understand one’s inner nature! Thank God for this enlightenment, which has lifted me out of blindness. If not, I would still be hoodwinked by my own falsity—careening forth with blind ambition toward my own imminent demise. How incredibly scary! In the process, I also realized that in replacing me, God was protecting me and granting me salvation. For someone with such arrogance and mad ambition, if I had not gone through the tormenting crucible of God’s chastisement and judgment, I would invariably become an antichrist and invite my own demise. Dear God, I vow to abandon all wrongful pursuits, turn away from my arrogance and ambition and obey Your every command. I will pursue the truth in earnestness, fulfill my every duty and live as a real and true person to comfort Your heart.

Source: "The Secret Held Deep Within My Heart" in Testimonies of Experience 

of Christ’s Judgment

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    The Eastern Lightning is the manifestation of the Lord and His work.

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Eastern Lightning | Persecution and Adversity Helped Me to Grow Up

Persecution and Adversity Helped Me to Grow Up

Baituo Dezhou City, Shandong Province

The Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Persecution and Adversity Helped Me to Grow Up

Before, I only knew that God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots, that God is a wise God and that Satan will ever be God’s defeated foe in theory, but I had no understanding or knowledge of it based on actual experience. Later, only within an environment arranged by God did I gain some real experience of this aspect of the truth

I was at a meeting one afternoon, when suddenly the district leader’s partner hurriedly ran over to me and said, “Your mother has been taken by the great red dragon. Don’t go home for a while. The church will arrange a host family for you.” This news struck me like a bolt from the blue and shook me so much that I was suddenly stupefied: What? My mother has been taken by the great red dragon? How will the great red dragon torture her? Will she be able to endure it? I may never see my mother again. What should I do? Thinking these things, my heart was in torment and I couldn’t stop my tears. After the meeting finished, I was taken to my arranged host family and, after I was settled, my thoughts returned again to my mother. At home, I was closest to my mother. Although my non-believing father tried to force me to give up God, my elder sister ignored me because of my belief in God and all my other relatives abandoned me, I never felt lonely, because I still had my mother who also believed in God. Whether spiritually or physically, my mother always cared for me, doted on me, and helped me often. Whenever I had some problem I could always talk to her about it; you could say that she was my rock. Yet now the only one I could depend on had been taken by the great red dragon. I felt as though I had suddenly become an orphan, not knowing how to walk the road ahead, nor knowing who to go to when I came across difficulties. For the next few days, I cried all day long, lived in constant pain and felt very down. As I was living in this state, unable to free myself, God guided me from within: “Are you really willing to live always in darkness, allowing Satan to make a fool of you? And are you really not willing to understand God in His work and live in the light?” God’s guidance woke me from my pain. That’s right, I thought. Am I really going to always live like this in darkness, allowing Satan to make a fool of me? No, I can’t! This situation that has befallen me must surely hold the kindness of God. Afterward, I went before God many times to pray and to seek for God, asking God to enlighten me so that I could understand His will.

After a while, I discovered that I had started to enter into some of the truth that I had not previously understood or that I had been unable to put into practice. I used to be spoiled at home and food, clothing and having fun took up most of my time. My flesh could suffer no wrong and could not endure the slightest hardship. In the few days after I left home and was living with the host family, I could no longer do anything I wanted, could no longer do as I pleased like I had done at home. Gradually, my pampered nature and bad habits lessened, and I came to know that to have food and clothing in life is to be content. I also gained an insight into the essence of the flesh, never again to continue to pursue satisfaction of the flesh, and I came to know that seeking to satisfy God is the most important thing a creation can do. Before, when my mother was at home, no matter whether I had physical issues or problems in my life, I always depended on her and let her help me resolve them. When I came across problems, I didn’t pray to God, didn’t seek the truth, nor did I have a normal relationship with God. After my mother was taken away, I had no one I could depend on when I came across difficulties. I could only go before God more often to pray to Him, to eat and drink more of God’s words, to seek His will more often. Gradually, the place my mother had held in my heart grew smaller, while God’s place in my heart grew bigger. I felt that God could help me any time I needed, that I could not leave God even for one moment. Moreover, I also learned to rely on prayer and to rely on my pursuit of the truth to resolve my problems, and I tasted the feeling of peace, sureness and dependability that comes from having God with me. When I lived at home, although I knew that believers and non-believers were two kinds of people that were incompatible with each other, I still felt as though only my parents and my elder sister were my family, and I always saw my brothers and sisters in the church as outsiders, always feeling some distance between us. After God had used the environment to “drive” me out of my home, I was together with my brothers and sisters in my host family from morning till night, and felt their concern and care for me, their tolerance and understanding. We spoke the same language, shared the same aspirations and helped each other through life; from my heart, I felt that this was my only true family, that only my brothers and sisters in the church were my father, mother and siblings. There was no longer any estrangement between me and my brothers and sisters in the church, no distance, and I experienced the warmth that comes from having a large family. Through this environment with my brothers and sisters, I also learned how we could love each other, pardon each other and support each other through life, so that my normal humanity was recovered. This truth was what I could not put into practice before, when I lived at home and relied on meetings and sermons. After my mother was taken by the great red dragon and I was forced to leave home, in these exceptional circumstances and unbeknown to me, God wrought this truth within me and gradually deepened my understanding of it. In the wake of my entering into this truth, my heart that sought to love and satisfy God became ever stronger and my will to live my entire life for God became ever more resolute. The person I had been—who believed in God but had no purpose, who weakened whenever some problem came along—was undergoing a gradual change. What God bestowed on me really was more than I ever could have thought, and my heart became full of gratitude and praise for Him.

One day, during my spiritual devotions, I read God’s words that say: “In doing all this work, He has not only allowed humanity, who has been corrupted by Satan, to receive His great salvation, but also allowed them to see His wisdom, almightiness and authority, and in the end He will let humanity see His righteous disposition—punishing the wicked and rewarding the good. He has battled Satan to this very day and has never been defeated, for He is a wise God, and His wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots. … He still carries out His work in this same realistic manner today; in addition, as He carries out His work He also reveals His wisdom and almightiness …” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words suddenly lit up my heart, and I couldn’t help but release a sigh from deep within: God really is a wise God! God’s deeds really are wonderful and unforeseen! This situation has today befallen me and, on the surface, it looks as though the great red dragon has taken my mother, taken away my only rock, made it hard for me to return home, tried in vain to use this to obstruct my belief in God and to make me cave in, or grow weak and give up by scaring me with its influence. But God’s wisdom is exercised based on the plots of Satan, and God used it to great effect. He sprung me out of my comfy nest and, through this environment, tempered my will, perfected my will to undergo suffering, trained me to have the ability to live independently, taught me how to live out normal humanity and how to be a real person; this truth was something that I had no way to understand, no way to obtain in an environment of ease and comfort. Through this environment, God wrought His truth and what He is in life inside me, so that not only did I not give up because of the persecution of the great red dragon but, on the contrary, I obtained the truth that God had bestowed on me and I was brought under God’s salvation. Furthermore, through the persecution of the great red dragon, I saw its savage, cruel face and its reactionary nature even more clearly. From my heart, I loathed it even more, and my heart that sought to love God became even stronger.

I give thanks to God! From this experience, I gained some practical understanding of God’s almightiness and sovereignty, and gained some practical experience of the fact that God’s wisdom is exercised based on the plots of Satan. I understood that everything that befalls that does not conform to man’s conceptions is the wise deed of God. No matter how Satan enforces its plots, God will ever be a wise God, and Satan will ever be God’s defeated foe. Understanding this, my will to follow God is now more resolute, and I am filled with faith for the road ahead!

Source: "Persecution and Adversity Helped Me to Grow Up" in Testimonies of Experience of Christ’s Judgment

Recommendation:  Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God was founded by Almighty God personally

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Eastern Lightning | A Turn for the Better on the Road of Believing in God

A Turn for the Better on the Road of Believing in God

Zhuanbian     Shanghai City

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | A Turn for the Better on the Road of Believing in God

Although I had been following God for many years, I had made almost no progress with my entering into life, and this made me feel very anxious. Especially when I listened to a recording of a preaching about life entry, and heard the man used by the Holy Spirit talking to the brothers and sisters who were present and listening to the preaching, I felt filled with anxiety hearing him say this kind of thing, “You now believe in God and have tasted the sweetness of the pursuit of truth. You have started to enter onto the right track and are full of faith in your pursuit of salvation.” I thought, “These people have believed in God for such a short time but have already entered and are so full of faith about being saved. Yet here I am having so far believed in God and I still haven’t obtained the truth and my disposition in life has undergone no change whatsoever, never mind having entered onto the right track. To attain salvation is easier said than done!” I thought of how the above fellowshiped that the truth can resolve all of man’s corruptions, but I had never experienced this at all. I even felt that the truth could resolve other people’s corruptions but not my own, so I lost faith in my pursuit of the truth and of salvation. Although I was aware that my own condition was not right, there was no way I could escape it, so I could only cry to God for help. Afterward, His words enlightened me, causing me to see the reasons why I had believed in God for so many years yet had not progressed in life, and why my disposition had not undergone any change. God also set me on the path of practicing and entering the truth.

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Eastern Lightning | Every Word of God Is an Expression of His Disposition

Every Word of God Is an Expression of His Disposition

Hu Ke     Dezhou City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Every Word of God Is an Expression of His Disposition

Whenever I saw these words spoken by God, I felt anxious: “Every sentence I have spoken holds the disposition of God. You would do well to ponder My words carefully, and you will surely profit greatly from them.” I felt anxious because understanding God’s disposition is so important both to man’s understanding of God and their seeking to love and satisfy Him. But when eating and drinking the words of God, I always felt like God’s disposition was too abstract, and I didn’t know how to understand it. Afterward, through fellowship from my leader, I came to know that I should understand what God likes and what He hates from His words, and thereby come to understand God’s disposition. I subsequently tried for a while to put this into practice and I saw some results. But I still felt at a loss regarding God’s words, “Every sentence I have spoken holds the disposition of God,” and had no idea how exactly to understand it.

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The Church of Almighty God | I Am Unfit to See Christ

I Am Unfit to See Christ

Huanbao     Dalian City, Liaoning Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | I Am Unfit to See Christ

Since I first began believing in Almighty God, I have always admired those brothers and sisters who can receive the personal ministry of Christ, who can hear His sermons with their own ears. In my heart, I have thought how wonderful it would be if one day in the future I can hear Christ’s sermons, of course to see Him would be even more wonderful. But lately, through listening to His fellowship, I have come to feel deeply in my heart that I am not fit to see Christ.

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Eastern Lightning | Reflections on Being Replaced

Reflections on Being Replaced

Yi Ran     Laiwu City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Reflections on Being Replaced

Some time ago, owing to my not understanding the principle behind the church’s revision of personnel, when the church replaced a leader, a conception arose within me. From what I could see, the sister that was replaced was very good at both receiving and fellowshiping the truth, and could be open about her own expressions of corruption. So I could never get how someone who sought the truth so much could be replaced. Could it be that she talked about her own expressions of corruption too much, and so her leader mistakenly took her to be someone not in pursuit of the truth, and replaced her? If this is what really happened, then hasn’t a training opportunity for someone who was seeking the truth been ruined?

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The Church of Almighty God | “Seeing Is Believing” Is Not to Be Believed

“Seeing Is Believing” Is Not to Be Believed

Xiaowen     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | “Seeing Is Believing” Is Not to Be Believed

Before, when I used to hear people commenting on something, they would often say “seeing is believing.” As time passed, I also took this as the basis for looking at things, and it was the same regarding God’s words. The result was that I ended up unable to believe in many of God’s words that had not been fulfilled. As my time spent believing in God increased, I saw God’s words in varying degrees of fulfillment, saw the facts of the accomplishments of God’s words and no longer doubted anything God said. I thought this was my having some understanding of God’s faithfulness, and that I was able to believe that everything God said was real.

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Eastern Lightning | The Criteria of a Truly Good Person

The Criteria of a Truly Good Person

Moran  Linyi City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | The Criteria of a Truly Good Person

Since I was a child, I always attached a great deal of importance to how other people saw me and their assessment of me. So that I could get praise from others for everything I did, I never argued with anyone whenever anything cropped up, so as to avoid destroying the good image other people had of me. After I’d accepted God’s work in the last days, I continued in this way, upholding in every way possible the good image that my brothers and sisters had of me. Previously, when I was in charge of the work, my leader would often say that my performance was like a “yes-person,” and not the performance of someone who put the truth into practice. I never took it to heart, but on the contrary if other people thought of me as a good person, then I felt satisfied.

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The Church of Almighty God | What Lies Behind Lies

What Lies Behind Lies

Xiaojing     Heze City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | What Lies Behind Lies

Each time I saw God’s words calling on us to be honest people and to speak accurately, I thought, “I have no problem with speaking accurately. Isn’t it just calling a spade a spade and telling things as they are? Isn’t that easy? What had always most annoyed me in this world were people who embellished when they spoke.” Because of this, I felt super confident, thinking that I had no problem in this regard. But only through God’s revelation did I discover that, without entering into the truth or changing one’s disposition, one can in no way speak accurately.

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The Church of Almighty God | The Holy Spirit Works in a Principled Way

The Holy Spirit Works in a Principled Way

Qin Shuting     Linyi City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | The Holy Spirit Works in a Principled Way

For some time, although I had not ceased to eat and drink the words of God, I never felt the light. I had prayed to God for this but, afterward, I had still not been enlightened. So I thought, “I have eaten and drunk what I should have and God is not enlightening me. There is nothing I can do, and I do not have the faculty to receive God’s words. There is a time for God to enlighten each man, so there is no use in trying to rush it.” Afterward, I kept the rules and ate and drank the words of God without anxiety, “patiently” awaiting God’s enlightenment.

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