Eastern Lightning | The Importance of Coordination in Service

The Importance of Coordination in Service

Mei Jie     Jinan City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | The Importance of Coordination in Service

After changing the church administration back to its original form, partnership was established for every level of leader in the household of God. At the time I thought this was a good arrangement. I was of a low caliber and I had a great deal of work; I really did need a partner to help me complete all types of work in my region.

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The Church of Almighty God | I Saw My True Stature Clearly

I Saw My True Stature Clearly

Ding Xiang     Tengzhou City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | I Saw My True Stature Clearly

At a meeting of church leaders I once attended, a newly elected church leader said: “I don’t have enough stature. I feel I’m not suited to fulfilling this duty. I feel pressured by so many things, to the extent that I haven’t been able to fall asleep for several days and nights in a row….” At the time, I was carrying burdens in my pursuit of God, so I communicated with her: “All work is performed by God; man simply cooperates a little. If we feel burdened, coming before God more often and relying on God will surely make us see God’s omnipotence and wisdom. Feeling burden from our work is a good thing. But if the burden becomes a distress, that will become an obstacle, and will lead to negativity and even misunderstanding toward God.” Under God’s guidance, I felt my communications were especially illuminating. The sister also recognized that she was in a situation where God did not have a place in her heart, and that she was doing it herself rather than relying on God, and she thus found the path to entry. I was very happy at the time because I thought I could resolve the sister’s problem, proving that I possessed the reality of this aspect of the truth.

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Eastern Lightning | An Understanding of Being Saved

An Understanding of Being Saved

Lin Qing     Qingzhou City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | An Understanding of Being Saved

Over these several years of following God, I have given up the enjoyments of my family and the flesh, and I have been busy all day fulfilling my duty in the church. So I believed: As long as I don’t abandon the work in the church entrusted to me, don’t betray God, don’t leave the church, and follow God to the end, I’ll be spared and saved by God. I also believed that I was walking the path of salvation by God, and all I had to do was follow Him to the very end.

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The Church of Almighty God | God’s Words Have Awakened Me

God’s Words Have Awakened Me

Miao Xiao     Jinan City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | God’s Words Have Awakened Me

In the past, I used to always think that when God said “a puppet and traitor who flees from the great white throne” He was referring to those who accept this stage of work but end up retreating because they are unwilling to bear the suffering of His chastisement and judgment. Therefore, whenever I saw brothers and sisters back out from this path for whatever reason, my heart would be filled with contempt toward them: There goes another puppet and traitor fleeing from the great white throne who shall receive God’s punishment. At the same time, I felt I was behaving properly in accepting God’s judgment and was not far from receiving God’s salvation.

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Eastern Lightning | A Battle of Life and Death

A Battle of Life and Death

Chang Moyang     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | A Battle of Life and Death

“When you forsake the flesh, inevitably there will be a battle inside. Satan wants you to follow the notions of the flesh, to protect the interests of the flesh. However, God’s word still enlightens and illuminates you within, moves you from within and works from the inside. At this point, it is up to you whether you follow God, or Satan. Every time truth is practiced and every time people practice loving God, there is an enormous battle. When you practice the truth, deep inside there is a battle of life and death. Victory will only be determined after fierce fighting. How many tears of sadness have been shed” (“Every Time You Forsake the Flesh There Is a Battle of Life and Death” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Every time I used to hear God’s words in this song, I would ponder the following: Is practicing the truth really that difficult? When people don’t understand the truth, they cannot practice it. Once they have understood it, wouldn’t acting according to God’s will be enough? Could it really be as serious as “deep inside there is a battle of life and death”? It wasn’t until later, through my actual experience, that I had a taste that practicing the truth truly is not easy. What God said is entirely in line with the truth; it is not even a little exaggerated.

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Eastern Lightning | Who Knows the Motherly Heart of God?

Who Knows the Motherly Heart of God?

Qingxin     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Who Knows the Motherly Heart of God?

Regarding the “God is righteous” aspect of the truth, I used to always have a somewhat absurd understanding. I thought that as long as someone reveals corruption in their work or commits transgressions that damage the church’s work, that person shall face retribution, or lose their duty or be subjected to punishment. That is God’s righteousness. Given this incorrect understanding, plus the fear of losing my duty from committing mistakes in my work, I thought of a “clever” method: Whenever I do something wrong, I try my best to not let the leaders know first, and quickly try to make up for it myself and do my utmost to make it right. Won’t that then help me keep my duty? Hence, whenever I gave reports on my work, I would reduce big issues into small ones and small issues into nothing. If I was sometimes passive I would do my best to cover it up in front of the leaders and pretend to be very active and positive, terrified that the leaders would think I was incompetent and stop using me. So just like that, I would be very carefully guarded against the leaders in everything I did.

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Eastern Lightning | Shaking Off the Shackles of the Spirit

Shaking Off the Shackles of the Spirit

Wu Wen     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Shaking Off the Shackles of the Spirit

I was a weak person with a sensitive character. When I didn’t believe in God, I would frequently feel down and distressed from things that came up in life. There were many of these times, and I always felt that my life was difficult; there was no joy, no happiness in my heart to speak of. After I started believing in God, there was a period of time where I felt particularly joyous and at peace, but after that, I once again felt the same as ever. I couldn’t make sense of why I was always that way.

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The Church of Almighty God | There Is a Way to Resolve Arrogance

There Is a Way to Resolve Arrogance

Xiaochen     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | There Is a Way to Resolve Arrogance

Arrogance is my fatal flaw. I used to frequently reveal my arrogant disposition, always thinking that I was better than other people. Especially when I amended articles or communicated about work with a partner, I was always opinionated and did not modestly listen to other opinions. My inability to cooperate harmoniously with my partners often caused problems for work. Brothers and sisters raised this issue with me many times, and I also regularly read about God exposing people’s arrogant nature. But since I still had not achieved true understanding of my own nature and essence and also could not truly hate it, whenever I encountered a suitable environment I would lose control. Afterward, I would also feel quite disgusted, but since what’s done has been done, all I could do was to keep trying to understand it. And so it happened again and again. This made me feel very embarrassed and helpless.

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The Church of Almighty God | The Bitter Fruit of Arrogance

The Bitter Fruit of Arrogance

Hu Qing     Suzhou City, Anhui Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | The Bitter Fruit of Arrogance

When I saw God’s words saying: “Those of you who serve as leaders always want to have greater ingenuity, to be head and shoulders above the rest, to find new tricks so that God can see how great a leader you really are. … You always want to show off; isn’t this precisely the revelation of an arrogant nature?” (“Without the Truth It Is Easy to Offend God” in Records of Christ’s Talks), I thought to myself: Who has such nerve to try to find ingenious new tricks? Who doesn’t know that God’s disposition does not tolerate man’s offense? I certainly wouldn’t dare! I personally believed that I had a heart of reverence for God, and in my work I didn’t dare to try to find tricks. However, it was only in God’s revelation of the facts that I realized that trying to find new tricks wasn’t what someone dares or doesn’t dare to do—it is entirely determined by an arrogant nature.

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The Church of Almighty God | Breaking Off the Shackles

Breaking Off the Shackles

Zhenxi     Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Breaking Off the Shackles

Ten years ago, driven by my arrogant nature, I was never able to completely obey the church’s arrangements. I would obey if it suited me, but if it didn’t I would choose whether or not to obey. This resulted in seriously violating work arrangements during the fulfilling of my duty. I did my own thing and offended God’s disposition, and was subsequently sent home. After several years of self-reflection, I had more or less some knowledge of my own nature, but regarding the aspect of the truth that is God’s essence I still did not have much knowledge. Later, the church gave me another chance, but when I was in charge of gospel work, I began to have suspicions about God: I’m so corrupted and had also offended God’s disposition. Why would God use me? Is He taking advantage of me? Will I be eliminated after being taken advantage of? Ah! Since the church gave me a chance I am going to cherish it, even if I have to become a service-doer. From then on, I fulfilled my duty carrying such a mentality, but without seeking a higher goal—being made perfect by God.

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Eastern Lightning | It’s Not Easy to Truly Know Yourself

It’s Not Easy to Truly Know Yourself

Zhang Rui     Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | It’s Not Easy to Truly Know Yourself

I was a deceitful person. In God’s word we can see that deceitful people will not be saved by God; only honest people will receive His praise. So, I sought to be an honest person, to consciously practice speaking accurately, to be objective and practical, and to seek the truth from facts when reporting on issues. In my work, whether it was an error or an omission, I related it in detail to the leader. I also consciously dissected and exposed my own corruption. Every time I put this into practice, I felt that I had undergone some changes and I got a little taste of being an honest person.

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Eastern Lightning | Human Nature Cannot Be Judged on Appearances

Human Nature Cannot Be Judged on Appearances

Yang Rui     Yuci City, Shanxi Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Human Nature Cannot Be Judged on Appearances

One day, I suddenly heard that my father was expelled from the church. I was totally stunned at the time and couldn’t figure it out. In my heart, my father was the world’s greatest person. Even though he has a bad temper, he took great care of us sisters and never beat or scolded us. Despite our family’s struggles, he would not let us feel indignant no matter how much suffering he would have to endure. After our whole family accepted God’s work, my father was moreover proactive in fulfilling his duty, and often encouraged us to fulfill our own duties properly. Though my father was sometimes a little wild, as soon as there was duty to fulfill, regardless of the wind and rain or the extent of the difficulty, he would find a way to complete it. How could such a good person get expelled? If he cannot receive salvation, then who can? The situation filled my heart with resentment and conflict, because I felt the church did not treat my father fairly. Although I did not say it, I found it difficult to calm my heart and I agonized in torment.

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Eastern Lightning | Understanding God’s Will in the Midst of Difficulties

Understanding God’s Will in the Midst of Difficulties

Xiao Rui     Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Understanding God’s Will in the Midst of Difficulties

When I was preaching the gospel I encountered sectarian leaders who bore false witness to resist and disrupt, and called the police. This led to those I was preaching to not daring to come into contact with us, and those who had just accepted the gospel being unable to be confident in God’s work. When I worked very hard but the results were poor, I thought: Evangelical work is so difficult to carry out. It would be so wonderful if God just showed some miracles and punished those who bear false witness as well as those who seriously resist God to show to those who have been deceived. Then wouldn’t the work of the gospel be carried out more quickly? It wouldn’t be so difficult for us to preach the gospel…. This is why this hope came up in my heart every time I encountered these types of difficulties. Later, I saw written accounts bearing witness to examples of punishment and during fellowship heard witness of some of God’s signs and wonders, and I felt very glad in my heart. I hoped even more that God would do some things in the areas that I worked in so that the predicament of our gospel work could be resolved more quickly. But no matter how I hoped, I still didn’t see God perform any miracles here or punish people. The sectarians were still fully resisting God, and difficulties in evangelical work were still great. I became negative about this: Why doesn’t God open up a way out for us? Could it be that our faith is inadequate?

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Eastern Lightning | There Is No Special Treatment in the Church

There Is No Special Treatment in the Church

Liu Xin     Liaocheng City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | There Is No Special Treatment in the Church

After following God over these years, I felt I had endured some suffering and paid a certain price, so I gradually started living off my past gains and flaunting my seniority. I thought: I’ve left home for so many years and my family hasn’t heard from me in a long time. Under these circumstances, the church will surely look after me. Even if I don’t perform my work well they won’t send me home. At most they’ll just dismiss me and get me to do some other work. Due to such thinking, I did not have any burden at all in my work. I turned a blind eye to everything, and I even viewed gospel work as an encumbrance, always living in difficulties and excuses. Even though I felt my heart accused and my conscience blamed because I was owing God too much through my perfunctory behavior, and that I would be eliminated sooner or later, I still just drifted along with the mentality of hoping to luck out, dawdling away my days in the church.

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Eastern Lighting | The Essence of Personal Revenge

The Essence of Personal Revenge

Zhou Li     Xintai City, Shandong Province

 The Picture of The Church of Almighty God | The Essence of Personal Revenge

Some time ago, we needed to plot out districts within our area, and based on our principles for the selection of leaders, there was one brother who was a relatively suitable candidate. I prepared to promote him to district leader. One day when I was chatting with this brother, he mentioned that he felt I was overbearing in my work, too intense, and that in a gathering with me there wasn’t much enjoyment…. When I heard this, I felt that I had been belittled. I felt terrible; I immediately developed a certain opinion of this brother, and no longer planned to promote him to district leader.

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The Church of Almighty God | Don’t Find New Tricks When Serving God

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Heyi     Zhuanghe City, Liaoning Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Don’t Find New Tricks When Serving God

I had just been promoted to take on the responsibility of church leader. But after a period of hard work, not only was the church’s evangelical work fairly lackluster, but my brothers and sisters in the evangelical team were all also living in negativity and weakness. Faced with this situation, I could no longer contain my feelings. How on earth could I work to revitalize the evangelical work? After racking my brains, I finally thought of a good solution: If I held a monthly awards ceremony for the evangelical team and selected outstanding individuals and model preachers, whoever won more souls for God would be rewarded, and whoever won fewer souls would be admonished. This would not only excite their enthusiasm, but it would lift up the negative and weak brothers and sisters. When I thought of this, I was very excited for this “clever move” of mine. I thought: “This time I’ll really amaze everyone.”

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Eastern Lightning | I See the Path to Knowing God

I See the Path to Knowing God

Xiaocao     Changzhi City, Shanxi Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | I See the Path to Knowing God

One day, I saw this following passage of God’s word in the piece “How Peter Came to Know Jesus”: “Over the time he followed Jesus, Peter observed and took to heart everything about His life: His actions, words, movements, and expressions. … From his time in contact with Jesus, Peter also realized that His character was different from that of an ordinary man. He always acted steadily and never with haste, never exaggerated nor underplayed a subject, and conducted His life in a way that was both normal and admirable. In conversation, Jesus was elegant and graceful, open and cheerful yet serene, and never lost His dignity in the execution of His work. Peter saw that Jesus was sometimes taciturn, yet other times talked incessantly. He was sometimes so happy that He became agile and lively like a dove, and yet sometimes so sad that He did not talk at all, as if He were a weather-beaten mother. At times He was filled with anger, like a brave soldier charging off to kill enemies, and sometimes even like a roaring lion. Sometimes He laughed; other times He prayed and wept. No matter how Jesus acted, Peter grew to have boundless love and respect for Him. Jesus’ laughter filled him up with happiness, His sorrow plunged him into grief, His anger frightened him, while His mercy, forgiveness, and strictness made him come to truly love Jesus, developing a true reverence and longing for Him. Of course, Peter only gradually came to realize all of this once he had lived alongside Jesus for a few years.” After reading this passage I thought: No wonder Peter could achieve knowledge of God! Turns out it was because during the time he lived alongside Jesus day and night, he personally witnessed Jesus’ every word and every move, and from that he discovered more of God’s adorableness. Now is also the era of when God becomes flesh to personally descend upon the world of man to work. If I could also have the fortune of being able to come into contact with God and spend time together like Peter had, then wouldn’t I also know God better? Oh! It’s a shame that now I can only read God’s word but cannot see the face of Christ. Then how would I be able to gain true knowledge of God?

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Eastern Lightning | Realizing I’ve Been Walking the Path of the Pharisees

Realizing I’ve Been Walking the Path of the Pharisees

Wuxin     Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Realizing I’ve Been Walking the Path of the Pharisees

Something we have always discussed in previous communions is the paths walked by Peter and Paul. It is said that Peter paid attention to knowing himself and God, and was someone God approved, while Paul only paid attention to his work, reputation and status, and was someone God despised. I have always been afraid of walking Paul’s path, which is why I normally often read God’s words about Peter’s experiences to see how he came to know God. After living like this for a while, I felt I had become more obedient than before, my desire for reputation and status had dimmed, and that I had gotten to know myself a little. At this time, I believed that even though I was not completely on Peter’s path, it could be said that I had touched the edge of it, and at least it meant I was not heading down Paul’s path. However, I would be shamed by the revelations of God’s word.

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The Church of Almighty God | A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall

A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall

Baixue     Shenyang City

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall

Because of a work requirement, I was transferred to another work area. At that time, I was very grateful to God. I felt that I was lacking so much, yet through God’s divine promotion, I was given the opportunity to fulfill my duty in such a wonderful work area. I made a vow to God in my heart: I would do my very best to repay God.

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Eastern Lightning | Service of This Kind Is Truly Contemptible

Service of This Kind Is Truly Contemptible

Ding Ning  Heze City, Shandong Province

Picture of The Church of Almighty God | Service of This Kind Is Truly Contemptible

Over the past few days, the church has arranged a change in my work. As I received this new assignment, I thought, “I need to take this final opportunity to call a meeting with my brothers and sisters, speak to them clearly about matters, and leave them with a good impression.” Therefore, I met with several deacons, and at the close of our time together, I said, “I have been asked to leave here and move on to different work. I hope you will accept the leader who is coming to replace me and work together with her with one heart and one mind.” As soon as they heard me say these words, some of the sisters who were present blanched, and the smiles fell from their faces. Some of them grasped my hands, some of them embraced me, and weeping they said, “You cannot leave us! You cannot cast us aside and ignore our needs! …” The sister of the host family was especially unwilling to let me go. She said to me, “It is so good that you are here with us. You are someone who can endure hardship, and you are good at fellowshiping about the truth. No matter when we needed you, you were always there to patiently help us. If you go, what will we do? …” Seeing their reluctance to part from me, my heart was full of joy and satisfaction. I comforted them with these words: “Depend on God. When I can, I will come back and visit you….”

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