Li Mo believed in Jesus from childhood. When she was 16, she became a coworker of the house church and worked for the Lord zealously. However, the dissension in the church escalated and the believers’ faith and love became cold increasingly. The desolate scene made her fall into the distress and perplexity she had never had before.
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Saturday, December 16, 2017
The Love of God’s Salvation for Mankind | Eastern Lightning
Danyi Sichuan Province
There is a feeling of guilt that wells up in my heart every time I see these words of God: “The biggest problem with man is that he thinks of nothing but his fate and prospects, that he idolizes them. Man pursues God for the sake of his fate and prospects; he does not worship God because of his love for Him. And so, in the conquest of man, man’s selfishness, greed and the things that most obstruct his worship of God must all be eliminated. In doing so, the effects of man’s conquest will be achieved. As a result, in the earliest conquest of man it is necessary to first purge the wild ambitions and most grievous weaknesses of man, and, through this, to reveal man’s love of God, and change his knowledge of human life, his view of God, and the meaning of his existence. In this way, man’s love of God is cleansed, which is to say, man’s heart is conquered” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). It has only been through time and time again of God’s judgment and chastisement that I have finally come to my senses and recognized that what God requires is mankind’s single-minded, pure love, and that it is right and proper for all creations to seek to love God and fulfill their duty. I also recognized that when people are no longer constrained by their future destiny and are able to live for God, the work of conquest on them will bear fruit. However, when I was working as a leader, I wasn’t putting my effort into pursuing the truth; I was always ruled by thoughts of my future destiny. Because of this, I would often undergo refinement to the point that I became negative, and this was not only a loss within my own life, but it also damaged my work in the house of God. However, God didn’t deal with me based on my transgressions. He gave me many opportunities to repent. There was the judgment and chastisement as well as the bitter refinements from God’s words, the sustenance, comfort, support, and shepherding from His words, the Holy Spirit leading me, enlightening me, and illuminating the path for me time and time again—only through these things was I able to step by step break free from Satan’s snare, not lose my way, and embark on the proper path in life. When I reflect on God’s salvation of me, the past is very vivid.
I was born in the countryside. I had three sisters, and because my father was subject to the traditional idea of perpetuating the family line, he preferred to be fined for having more children than the law allowed rather than not have a son. Because the issue of preferring boys over girls is very serious in the countryside, any household that doesn’t have a son is considered to have their family line cut off. This was the thing that saddened my father the most, and my parents argued about it frequently. There were threats of divorce several times and my father was often breaking things. I was always hoping for the day that my parents wouldn’t fight anymore. I remember one time when my cousin yelled at me “Your family line is broken!” because of some petty issue. I didn’t say anything when I heard those heart-rending words. From that time on, Satan’s poisons of “Who says girls aren’t as good as boys,” “One should bring honor to his ancestors,” and “getting ahead” gained a deep hold in the depths of my soul. I developed a secret ambition: I’m the eldest daughter in the family, and I’ll strive to gain recognition for my parents. One day I’ll show that even though my parents don’t have a son, having a daughter is even better.
I was a diligent student in primary school and participated enthusiastically in all sorts of school activities. I was frequently praised by my teachers and I also won some awards. In my class I was an art committee member, a study committee member, a team captain, and a Communist Youth League member. Once I got to middle school I was the Chinese language class representative and I won awards in every year’s sports meet. In our county, they made a video for every Teachers’ Day and the school organized a program of performances. My teacher particularly requested that I participate in a leading role. At that time my teacher thought highly of me, and my classmates were envious. When my father saw that I was on television he grinned from ear to ear and was very proud of me. When I saw his happy smile, I felt thrilled that I could win this recognition for him.
In late 1999, our entire family accepted new work from God, and because I was dominated by thoughts of being blessed, I began a life of leaving home to fulfill my duty. In order to obtain the leader’s approval as well as the support of my brothers and sisters, I did my best to endure hardships in fulfilling my duty, and I would do everything I could to carry out any work that was required by the house of God or arranged by the leader. At the time, I was one of the top people among my co-workers in the work of the gospel, and every project of mine was bearing fruit. Although my understanding of the truth was superficial, when my brothers and sisters had issues at home, problems in their work, or difficulties with their life entry, I would always look for God’s words and fellowship with them. My brothers and sisters got along well with me and the leader thought highly of me. I gradually began to feel that I was a rare talent in the house of God.
In early 2006, I was promoted to be regional leader, and when I saw that the fruit from the area I was responsible for was a bit better than in other regions, I thought to myself: Even though I haven’t performed this type of duty, I implement every project more quickly than others and the outcomes of my work are also better. The leader also wants to train me; if my parents knew that I could perform this duty I don’t know how happy they would be. Particularly when I went to my hometown to work, there was always a feeling of returning home in glory, and I hoped that I would see more brothers and sisters who knew me so that they could know that the duties I was performing were at that level. I was living in a condition of being self-congratulatory, and even my speaking manner had changed. I had begun to focus on my image in other people’s eyes. By then, I was no longer focused on putting my effort into the word of God and I no longer sought to enter into life. Instead, I focused on the leader’s view and assessment of me, and whether the people I worked for supported me. Over time, I was no longer able to resolve issues in the church or deviations or omissions in the work of those I worked for. When meeting with my co-workers I could no longer share any fellowship with them. This was very painful for me, and I felt like the walking dead, living in darkness. In the end, not only was I not promoted, but I was replaced. At the time I was very hurt, and I thought to myself: If my parents and the brothers and sisters who know me knew that I’ve been replaced, what would they think of me? I won’t be able to gain family prestige or get ahead. It looks like I’m done, and I have no future to speak of. I was full of despair and unwilling to read the word of God, to pray, and I was even less willing to see or have contact with my brothers and sisters. The weakness and negativity in my heart had reached a certain point. Later, I saw these words from God: “In your seeking, you have too many individual notions, hopes, and futures. The current work is in order to deal with your desire for status and your extravagant desires. The hopes, the desire for[a] status, and the notions are all classic representations of satanic disposition. The reason that these things exist in people’s hearts is entirely because Satan’s poison is always corroding people’s thoughts, and people are always unable to shake off these temptations from Satan. They are living in the midst of sin yet do not believe it to be sin, and they still believe: ‘We believe in God, so He must bestow blessings on us and arrange everything for us appropriately. We believe in God, so we must be superior to others, and we must have more status and more of a future than anyone else. Since we believe in God, He must give us limitless blessings. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called believing in God’” (“Why Aren’t You Willing to Be a Foil?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Every sentence of these words of revelation by God gripped my heart. That I was replaced was God’s righteous disposition coming upon me, and it was to deal with the concern for status in my heart. Since I was a little girl, Satan’s poisons of “Who says girls aren’t as good as boys,” “One should bring honor to his ancestors,” and “getting ahead” had been continually corrupting my thoughts to the point that my views on belief in God had become unbearably ugly. Subject to domination by these types of thoughts, I had worked extremely hard in fulfilling my duty, I had run around busily for years, but in fact I had wanted to use God to achieve my own goals of getting ahead and gaining family prestige. I was so contemptible! So ugly! Through the facts and the judgment of His words, God exposed that my internal perspectives on pursuit were precisely the same as Satan. I was on a path of failure, and without God’s timely judgment and chastisement, I would have continued to hold on to this type of pursuit and in the end, I could only have fallen to my ruin and come to the same end as Paul.
I thought that there should be some changes after I gained this understanding, but there was another revelation in 2008 that forced me to see that a change in disposition wasn’t as simple as I had thought. I couldn’t change just from having a small understanding of my views of pursuit after undergoing some refinement. Only through long-term judgment and chastisement is change possible. At that time I was assigned to perform the duty of watering for God in another area. When a meeting with the sister who was in charge of the work was over, I began to measure in my heart who among us was good at fellowship, and what my rank was. I paid particular attention to the opinions and attitudes toward me of the sister in charge of the work. When I saw that she was paying attention to another sister, I felt really thrown off balance. When she had me go water the church leaders and deacons, I thought it was simply a waste of my abilities and felt that she didn’t know how to manage people. I could at least water district leaders and workers. For this reason I became pessimistic and disappointed and lost my will for pursuit. I was living in a condition of negativity. Even though I had come up against walls several times, I hadn’t thought anything of it. Later on God’s righteous disposition came upon me and I had a recurrence of appendicitis, but I still didn’t turn my rigid heart around. That was, until one time when I put a bottle of medicine for treating foot dryness and cracking behind the nightstand at my host family’s home. The seven-year-old girl there thought it was something good and drank it secretly, and afterward she was on the ground, clutching her stomach in pain and crying. At the time I was so scared I didn’t know what to do. My sister in the host family quickly took the child to the community health clinic to save her, and the doctor said: “The child’s stomach is so thin, but you didn’t take her to the Children’s Hospital. You want to just wait for her to die?” My legs felt like dead, and when I thought of what the doctor had said, I became deeply uneasy. I didn’t even know how I had walked back to my host family from the clinic. I thought to myself: If the child really does die, her parents will certainly look into what happened…. The more I thought about it the more scared I became. I wanted to cry but no tears came. The time passed one second and one minute at a time. I could not calm myself—I was really suffering. I flipped through God’s words and saw the following: “I believe that it is best for us to find the simplest way to satisfy Him, that is, to obey all of His arrangements, and if you can truly achieve this you will be perfected. Isn’t this an easy, joyful thing? … In God’s work today, He doesn’t become angry easily, but if people want to disrupt His plan He can change His countenance in an instant and turn it from bright to cloudy. So, I advise you to settle down and respect God’s designs, allow Him to make you complete. This is the only way to be a smart person” (“The Path … (7)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words I saw that God’s disposition does not tolerate people’s offenses; I realized that my actions had brought God’s disgust and aroused His anger. In order to show me the path, He had let me know how I should engage in pursuit. When I was ill and in pain, I did not do any introspection. God once again used the incident of the little girl eating the medicine to chastise me, to make me suffer, to make me able to put these things aside, pursue the truth, and obey God’s arrangements. God couldn’t bear to allow me to continue to be fooled by Satan, to struggle so hard and rush around for reputation and status. This type of chastisement, judgment, and purification of me was His last resort, to get me to see the deep pit of status I was trapped in. Several experiences of chastisement had not awakened my heart; I still couldn’t extricate myself from the control and affliction of the satanic nature in me. In retrospect, when I first came to do the work, I had airs of being outstanding, and I believed at first that I would be promoted for an important purpose; I had not imagined that I would be demoted to complete grassroots-level work. People who I thought were no match for me were watering brothers and sisters at leadership levels for districts, and some of them were even promoted while my own prospects looked bleak. I thought: Going back home would be better than fulfilling my duty here. So, when I met with the church leaders, I started just going through the motions. I did not take any responsibilities for their lives, and I shouldered no true burden for the various issues within the church, not to mention considering the will of God. At that time, when I was faced with God’s words which were so full of compassion and love, I felt deeply indebted to Him. God’s thoughts are for the lives of mankind, and He offers up everything for humanity; this is to fully rescue mankind from Satan’s domain. But I was unwilling to offer up anything in my work for God. The root of the problem was that I was always bound and ruled by Satan’s poison. I was just like a naive child who had no understanding of her parents’ good intentions; I had lost too many opportunities to be made perfect by God. Only having an awakening once things had gotten to that point—wasn’t it too late? I fell to the ground, full of remorse and self-reproach: “Oh God! The judgment and chastisement that has come upon me today is all Your righteousness. I am willing to obey. If there is still a chance, I am willing to change myself, to no longer rush about for the sake of my future fate. I am willing to just be a small creation in Your hand, to fulfill my watering duty as well as I can, and comfort Your heart.” After I was done praying, my heart was calmed. I was willing to give myself entirely to God, and even more willing to give that little girl entirely to God. Before long, I heard the sound of that sister in my host family opening the door, and the little girl shouted: “Auntie, will you hold me?” She then quietly said to me: “Auntie, you absolutely have to keep this a secret; you can’t tell my grandmother that I drank your water!” At that moment my heart was finally released, seeing that God had maneuvered who-knows-how-many people, events, and objects in order to save me, this “stone.” I felt that I was utterly unworthy. From then on, my intentions were no longer for my future fate. I just kept my feet on the ground and did my best to fulfill my watering duty to comfort God’s heart. I was no longer merely going through the motions, and when I discovered that there were deviations or omissions in the duties of my brothers and sisters, I just patiently communicated with them, helped, and supported them. Through my fellowship with my brothers and sisters I gained some truth, and at the same time learned some lessons from them. At that time I no longer believed that my abilities were going to waste. I understood God’s good intentions, and that fulfilling this duty was what was needed in my life. It was God designing an environment according to my deficiencies, to make up for them. I give thanks to God! From then on, I was able to fulfill my duty with peace of mind. I hadn’t imagined that before too long, the leader spoke to me and asked me to water leaders and workers for the districts in two regions. I then saw God’s righteous disposition, that He examines the depths of man’s heart and is in charge of everything. What God likes is a down-to-earth person who fulfills their duty. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to perform my duty. When meeting with the district leaders I discovered some issues and worked on them diligently. I also recorded the issues discovered in each meeting, what widespread problems there were, how I was resolving them, and which problems I had not resolved. After a period of time I felt that fulfilling my duty this way was very realistic. My heart was at ease and peaceful, and I was no longer under the rule of the poison of “getting ahead.” I felt like I was equipped with and understood some of the truth in various aspects, that I could enter in with my brothers and sisters, that I was a low-profile person. I understood that fulfilling my duty as a creation is an unalterable principle, and that I should be just like a soldier, obeying commands as my sacred duty, not considering or planning for myself, but in everything making the interests of the house of God important. This is what a creation should do.
In late February 2012, I was transferred to another province to fulfill my duty. At that time my heart was very calm, and I wasn’t gloating as I had in the past. When I had just gone to begin the position it happened to be the time that the household of God was cleaning out the church. The above said in the work arrangement: “The work of cleaning out five types of people in the church must be completed before the 2012 Labor Day holiday. Because the work of cleaning is to pave the way to expand the work of the gospel of the kingdom, it absolutely must not impact the work of the gospel” (“God Is Completely Glorified Only by Thoroughly Cleaning Out the Church and Ensuring the Smooth Expansion of the Gospel of the Kingdom” in Annals of Fellowship and Work Arrangements II). Some leaders and workers urgently needed to be replaced; every aspect of work was almost at a standstill. Because of God’s protection, I wasn’t consumed by difficulties at that time. While I was adjusting the leaders and workers, I was organizing the proper people to collect the materials of those who had to be dismissed and expelled. However, come late March, I saw that there was still not one notification to clear out a person issued. I really underwent refinement in my heart. I was full of reasons and excuses; I thought to myself that I was just practicing at performing this duty, that I was not clear on the truth, and I could no longer continue my work of guiding this effort. Just as I was receiving refinement, the sister in charge of the work called me to deal with me. I was very upset at the time and wasn’t willing to accept it. I felt wronged in my heart. I thought: I’ve just arrived here, you know very well what my work is like. I’ve been doing everything I can to cooperate, and you don’t comfort me, but instead deal with me. Just like this, I was living in the midst of refinement and the word “replaced” was haunting me. Even though I was doing the work, I had lost my confidence, and I was constantly thinking: This time I’ll probably be replaced because it says in the work arrangement that leaders who can’t do the work of dismissing and expelling five types of people must be replaced. Later, I thought of a hymn of God’s word that I used to sing frequently: “The greater God’s refinement, the more people’s hearts are able to love God. The torment in their hearts is of benefit to their lives, they are more able to be at peace before God, their relationship with God is closer, and they are better able to see God’s supreme love and His supreme salvation. Peter experienced refinement hundreds of times, and Job underwent several trials. If you wish to be made perfect by God, you too must undergo refinement hundreds of times; only if you have to go through this process, and have to rely upon this step, are you able to satisfy God’s will, and be made perfect by God. Refinement is the best means by which God makes people perfect; only refinement and bitter trials can bring out the true love for God in people’s hearts. Without hardship, people lack the true love for God; if they are not tested within, and are not truly subjected to refinement, then their hearts will always be floating in the outside world. Having been refined to a certain point, you will see your own weaknesses and difficulties, you will see how much you are lacking and that you are unable to overcome the many problems you encounter, you will see how great is your disobedience, and you will be able to truly know yourselves. Only if you have to go through this process, and have to rely upon this step, are you able to satisfy God’s will, and be made perfect by God” (“Refinement Is the Best Means by Which God Makes People Perfect” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Through the guidance of God’s words, I recognized that refinement is God’s best way of perfecting people, and if my sister hadn’t dealt with me, my heart would still be drifting about. Because my laziness and servility were too strong, it was only through this type of environment that I could be proactive and come out from my reasons and excuses. Only through this type of refinement could I clearly see that I was nothing and that I had too many faults, but it also exposed that I was still subject to the rule of thoughts of my future fate. In spite of the fact that I had had several experiences of chastisement over these few years, I was no longer willing to pursue any type of worthless reputation or status, and I had become much more honest on the outside, in the depths of my soul Satan’s poison was still present. I thought back to the conditions when I had just come here: They reflected to me that the previous leader hadn’t done practical work, but had just spoken doctrine, not performing the work of clearing out the church. I thought to myself: I can’t be someone who just speaks doctrine but doesn’t do practical work. I have to do my job well, and completely clear out these five types of people before Labor Day so that those I’m working for will see that I’m better than the previous leader, so that the person in charge will recognize me. It turned out that I was running around and working hard to achieve that desire. God is so righteous—He has deep knowledge of the filth in my heart. I was not working to stand by God’s side, or to maintain the interests of the household of God or protect my brothers and sisters, but I was scheming to establish myself. The antichrists are disrupting and destroying the work of the house of God, but I was unable to expel these demons from the house of God and comfort His heart. I truly deserve to die! In the midst of suffering and self-recrimination, I fell onto the floor: “Oh God! That I could fulfill this duty is the greatest exaltation from You, but I was ungrateful and didn’t care about Your will. I really am despicable. Today, I have tasted Your righteous disposition, and although my corruptions are still numerous, I am willing to accept You making me perfect. I am willing to be purified within this environment, and I am willing to do my utmost to work with You, and even more willing to stand united with my brothers and sisters to get rid of all antichrist demons.” After praying, I saw a passage of God’s words: “People believe in God with the purpose of seeking to obtain blessings in the future. All people have this intent and hope. Corruption within human nature must be resolved through trials, however. In whichever aspects you do not pass, it is in these aspects that you must be refined—this is God’s arrangement. God creates an environment for you, forcing you to be refined there to know your own corruption. Ultimately you reach a point where you would rather die and give up your schemes and desires, and submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement.
So if people do not have several years of refinement, if they don’t have a certain amount of suffering, they will not be able to avoid the bondage of corruption of the flesh in their thought and in their hearts. In whichever aspects you are still subject to Satan’s bondage, in whichever aspects you still have your own desires, your own demands—it is in these aspects that you should suffer. Only in suffering can lessons be learned, which means being able to gain truth, and understand God’s intention. In fact, many truths are understood within experience of painful trials. Nobody says that God’s intention is known, that His almightiness and wisdom are understood, that God’s righteous disposition is appreciated in an environment of ease or in favorable circumstances. That would be impossible!” (“How to Satisfy God in the Midst of Trials” in Records of Christ’s Talks). From God’s words, I recognized that my concerns with my future fate had become the most lethal thing in my nature. Because I could disrupt the work of the house of God for it, and could still be ruled by it, God once again created an environment to refine me. From this, I saw that the trials and refinements were all God’s arrangement, and if I had not been dealt with and refined over these few years, if I had not experienced these miserable environments, the views in my soul and mind on things of the flesh would not have changed. After several rounds of being dealt with and refined, my pursuits finally underwent a transformation. I was no longer willing to believe in God for the purpose of blessings or to conduct transactions with God, to put so much importance on reputation and status or my future fate. I also became much clearer on God’s will in saving mankind.
Since then, when fulfilling my duty, no matter if I am replaced or my duties are adjusted, I am much calmer in my heart and I am no longer as concerned as before about what I could gain or lose. I just feel that it is one more responsibility and duty. No matter what duty is arranged for me, I am willing to just obey the will of God and do whatever I am capable of. The duties that I fulfill are all ordained by God, and I am willing to keep my feet on the ground and pursue the truth, make up for my past transgressions and debts, follow Peter’s example in living out a practical love of God. Just like the words of God in this hymn: “Oh God! We have spent time apart, and time together in company. I have done nothing for You, yet You love me more than all else. I have repeatedly rebelled against You and repeatedly grieved You. How can I forget such things? The work You have done in me and what You have entrusted me with I always bear in mind, I never forget. With the work You have done in me I have tried my best. You know what I can do, and You further know what role I can play. I will dedicate everything I have to You. Although Satan fooled me so much and I have repeatedly rebelled against You, I believe You do not remember me for those transgressions, that You do not treat me based on them. I wish to dedicate my entire life to You. I ask for nothing, and neither do I have other hopes or plans; I only wish to act according to Your intention and to do Your will. I will drink from Your bitter cup. I am willing to devote my heart and body and all my true love to You, place them before You, be completely obedient toward You, and be absolutely considerate to Your will. Not for the flesh, not for family, but for Your work” (“The Prayers of Peter” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).
Now, I have believed in God for over 14 years. Because of God’s grace I have always fulfilled my duty in the household of God. There have been many ups and downs; there has been laughter, there have been tears of sorrow, there has been the happiness from understanding God’s will and feelings of guilt from indebtedness to God. Even more, there has been the joy and peace from putting the truth into practice. I really have gained so much. I have experienced the goodness of God’s judgment and chastisement—it is very real! Without His judgment and chastisement I would never have undergone the changes that I have. In my days from now on, I am willing to accept more of God’s judgments and chastisements, to accept more of the bitter trials God sets up for me so that I can be purified, be saved and made perfect by God out of His judgments and chastisements. Through this I can live out a meaningful life with value!
Introduction:
EasternLightning, The Church of Almighty God was created because of the
appearance and work of Almighty God, the second coming of the Lord
Jesus, Christ of the last days. It is made up of all those who accept
Almighty God's work in the last days and are conquered and saved by
His words. It was entirely founded by Almighty God personally and is
led by Him as the Shepherd. It was definitely not created by a
person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. God's sheep hear
God's voice. As long as you read the words of Almighty God, you will
see God has appeared.
Recommend:
The
brief introduction of the Church of Almighty God
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Eastern Lightning | I Welcomed the Return of the Lord (Audio Article)
My parents are both Christians and from an early age I started going with them to church to attend services. At the age of 12 I attended a grand Christian camp in Myanmar, and while I was there a pastor told me: “The only way to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized.” And so in order to enter the kingdom of heaven I decided to get baptized while I was at the camp. From that time on, I became a genuine Christian.
I Welcomed the Return of the Lord
After reaching adulthood, I became the chairperson of my church’s youth association for many years, and whenever the preachers weren’t there I would lead the brothers and sisters in prayer, Bible studies, hymn-singing, and the sharing of testimonies. After getting married, I was put in charge of receiving the Sunday offerings and the tithes. At first our church had the work of the Holy Spirit: The pastor talked fluently and eloquently, and the brothers and sisters enjoyed the sermons and felt that they were edified by them. Everyone was brimming with confidence, and we attended all the church services and spread the gospel wherever we could with great enthusiasm. But eventually the pastor’s sermons became repetitive and lackluster, and could no longer provide what we needed. The confidence of brothers and sisters thus began to wane, and they became more interested in money and pleasures of the flesh. Congregation numbers began to fall, until it got to the point where the pastor had to make calls every Saturday just to try and get everyone to attend. Even when the brothers and sisters did show up they sang the hymns listlessly and without devotion, dozed off during the sermons, and started talking about business as soon as the services ended. The services had become all form and no substance. And I was very troubled by this. I thought to myself: “How does our church turn into such a barren pasture?” But then I remembered how, over the previous 30 years, I had often heard different pastors saying the same thing: “We believe in the Lord Jesus, so our sins have all been forgiven.” “We gain salvation by the grace of God because of our faith.” “The Lord Jesus has already completed His work of redemption once, so we believers in the Lord are already saved and will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Because of this, “I’m already saved, I will enter the kingdom of heaven” became the basic tenet of my faith in God. No matter how bleak the church was, or how weak and passive the believers were, I would always tell myself: “I must keep the way of the Lord. As long as I don’t leave the Lord, then He won’t abandon me. When the Lord returns, He will take me into the kingdom of heaven.” Although I kept on warning myself in this way, I still wasn’t able to keep on the Lord’s path: I would sin by day and confess sins by night, but whenever I prayed, I couldn’t feel the Lord by my side. My spirit felt dark and empty, and I felt I was getting farther and farther away from the Lord, as if He had abandoned me. This caused me great suffering, but I was unable to find the source of the problem …
In February 2016 I met Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui online. After sharing experiences concerning faith in the Lord with each other, I told them about my bemusement that my church had become a barren pasture. Brother Zheng said to me: “It’s not just your church that is bleak and desolate: The whole religious community is bleak right now. It’s like the desolate temple that became a den of thieves when the Lord Jesus was doing His work. If we understand how that temple became desolate in the first place, then we’ll know how it is that the religious community is so bleak and desolate now. When the Lord Jesus concluded the Age of Law and began the Age of Grace, the Holy Spirit did not perform work in the temple but did it instead on those people who accepted and followed the Lord Jesus. Those who worshiped Jehovah missed out on the work of the Holy Spirit because they couldn’t keep up with the pace of God’s work. Without the protection and care of God, they lived in sin, as shown by their temple becoming a place to sell cattle, sheep, and doves and exchange money. A temple that originally shined with the glory of Jehovah became a den of thieves, thus offending God’s disposition and being abandoned by Him in disgust. This was one of the reasons why the temple originally fell into desolation.” Then we examined two passages from the Book of Amos in the Bible: “And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7). “Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). Brother Zheng also sent me two passages of Almighty God’s words: “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “But in fact, God’s work in them ceased long ago, and the work of the Holy Spirit is absent from them. The work of God was long since transferred to another group of people, a group on whom He intends to complete His new work. Because those in religion are incapable of accepting God’s new work, and only hold to the old work of the past, thus God has forsaken these people, and does His new work on the people who accept this new work. These are people who cooperate in His new work, and only in this way can His management be accomplished” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brother Zheng then said: “The churches at present are as desolate as the temple was, and it’s also because God is doing new work. The Lord Jesus that we have been desperately waiting for is now incarnated in human form and returns among us. He has taken the name Almighty God to express the truth and do the work of judging, cleansing and saving man in the last days. He has come to conclude the Age of Grace and begin the Age of Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has already left the churches of the Age of Grace and is now working on those who accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. All those who are merely keeping the name of the Lord Jesus but are not keeping up with God’s new work no longer have God by their side, no longer have the work of the Holy Spirit, and will never be provided with the living water of life. So, of course these churches will become more and more desolate….”
Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously!
Through listening to Brother Zheng, I came to realize that the situation with the churches nowadays is indeed the same as with the temples when the Lord Jesus began His work. I felt that there was a new light and the guidance of the Lord in what Brother Zheng was fellowshiping. But I felt a bit bemused by what he said about the Lord Jesus returning to do the new work of judging and cleansing man: It is possible that the Lord Jesus has returned, but we believers were already saved so when the Lord returns He should take us directly to the kingdom of heaven, not to carry out another stage of judgment and cleansing work! But then I realized that the Lord’s return was a big event and so I should first seek hard for answers.
So, I told Brother Zheng of my bemusement and he told me: “Many of the Lord’s brothers and sisters share your point of view. They also think that because we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then our sins are forgiven, we will attain salvation through His grace, and when He returns we will all be taken directly to the kingdom of heaven. So, they refuse to accept God’s salvation of the last days. The main reason for this is that we don’t understand the good results that the work of the Lord Jesus has brought and we don’t know the work of God. Almighty God said: ‘At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin’ (‘The Vision of God’s Work (2)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that the work of the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace was that of redemption for mankind. The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross to be our sin offerings, to redeem us from condemnation by law. By coming in front of the Lord, admitting our sins, and repenting, we are able to be forgiven of our sins. This is being saved. In other words, being saved means sins are forgiven and there is no accusation of sin under law, but it doesn’t mean that we have escaped from Satan’s corrupt disposition or our satanic nature and will never sin again. Our satanic nature such as arrogance, deceit, selfishness and greed still exists. Due to the dominion of our satanic nature and Satan’s disposition, we still frequently lie and cheat, act in an arrogant and self-opinionated manner, and pretend to be good to dupe God. We always criticize God’s work willfully, especially when it doesn’t match our conceptions, we accuse God and resist God. How could a mankind like us that is so deeply corrupt and resistant to God win His praise? Are we qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven? If God took us—a corrupt mankind that resists Him and belongs to Satan—into His kingdom, then there would be no way to account for God’s righteousness and holiness. So for us to be qualified to enter the kingdom, we need God to do a stage of judgment and cleansing work to transform our corrupt disposition and thoroughly shake off the shackles of our sinful nature. Once our life dispositions have been transformed, we will no longer rebel against or resist God and we’ll be able to truly obey Him, be completely gained by Him, be completely saved by Him and enter the kingdom of heaven to inherit what He has promised. These are the results brought by the judgment work of God of the last days, and we can see that the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption was to pave the way for the judgment and cleansing of people during the last days. Therefore, our faith in the Lord brings us forgiveness of our sins but not complete escape from sin or entry to the kingdom of heaven. We need to undergo another stage of judgment and cleansing work to be thoroughly saved from sin. God’s judgment work of the last days exactly makes these words from the Bible into reality: ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5).”
When I heard the words of Almighty God and what Brother Zheng said, I realized that what the Lord Jesus had done was the work of redemption, not the work of removing sins completely. As people commit sins, they should be accused and punished under law, but if we come before the Lord Jesus and admit to our sins, then we will be forgiven of our sins. God doesn’t see us as sinful and He absolves us of punishment, and that is salvation. But this salvation certainly doesn’t mean that we have been cleansed and thoroughly saved. It seems that people don’t understand the truth, and so have misunderstandings about what true salvation is. I think about that now we are still living sinful lives— committing sins and admitting to them every day—and so that’s why we need another stage of God’s work of judgment and cleansing. When I think about what the pastor at the camp said—“The only way for a Christian to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized”—I realize that this way of thinking really is very unrealistic. We could even say it’s childish and ridiculous. When I was later able to have long chats with Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and digest their fellowship, I came to feel that there is the truth to seek in the words of Almighty God, that they are very practical, and that they can benefit me and help me a lot. But the return of the Lord is a big thing, and in order to treat it seriously and cautiously I decided to conduct a thorough investigation of the work of Almighty God of the last days.
So, in the weeks that followed I started to search online for information about the work of the last days of Almighty God. Before going online, I prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Eastern Lightning is indeed the Lord that I have faith in, I beg You to move my heart and let me recognize Your voice.” Without really being aware of it, I clicked on a website and found to my surprise that it was all judgments, attacks, and accusations on Almighty God and His church from the religious community and the CCP. I was very shocked and became scared that I ventured down a dangerous path. So, I sent the link to Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and asked them: “How do you explain all this?” I originally thought that Brother Zheng and the others would have no reply to the information that I had sent, and so was surprised when they calmly and firmly replied: “Almighty God is the real God, the return of the Lord Jesus. The stuff that the religious community and the CCP spread online is all rumors and nonsense designed to confuse people. It’s part of their wicked scheme to prevent people from following God….”
What Brother Zheng said really moved me, and in my heart I began to struggle to make sense of it all. I got offline and prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Almighty God really is Your return then I beg You to enlighten and illuminate me so that I can understand Your way and not miss the chance to witness Your return. If all that stuff online is just rumors spread by the religious community and the CCP, then make me deaf to it, because being taken by Satan is a terrible thing.” After praying I felt a bit calmer, and then I remembered the times that I too was falsely accused, and also an occasion when a storekeeper I knew who did good business selling jade products had his reputation ruined by rumors spread by a jealous competitor. Some light began to shine in my heart and I realized just how dark and evil this world is and that most of what is online—good or bad—is just people talking. Then I thought carefully about the online accusations about Almighty God and His church spread by the religious community and the CCP: There was no evidence given and none of it seemed very believable. Furthermore, I had read Almighty God’s words and been in touch with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. What they said bore no relation to the rumors being spread online, and they hadn’t tried to force me to join their church. In the few months of contact with them, besides exploring the Bible, reading Almighty God’s words, and fellowshiping about God’s words with me, we hadn’t discussed any other topics. From the way they spoke, I could tell that they were pious and upstanding people. Their fellowship was full of light and I felt it was very useful to me, and their church was indeed a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. Thinking about this, I realized that a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit is a church of God, and so of course Satan would attack and accuse it and there would be a lot of negative propaganda surrounding it.
At a later date I read online about the many evil actions of the CCP: How they drove foreign missionaries out of China, burned Bibles, pulled down churches, and detained and killed Christians…. Hatred and anger toward the CCP grew in my heart. How could they be so spiteful as to persecute innocent, unarmed Christians? The CCP has always opposed God by promoting atheism, and has captured and persecuted Christians with a complete lack of humanity and reason, so there was no way to know whether what they said was true or false. So, I initiated contact with Brother Zheng and the others again, and they fellowshiped about a lot of truths concerning God’s work of the last days and how to discern Satan’s cunning schemes…. After listening to them I felt I had a bit of better understanding of God’s work of the last days and could discern how the nonsense disseminated online by the religious community and the CCP was all baseless rumors and ridiculous opinions that were part of Satan’s cunning plans to prevent people from accepting the work of Almighty God. I resolved not to listen to anything the religious community and the CCP said ever again. The worry and fear in my heart then disappeared and, at the same time, I recognized that the work of Almighty God and the work of the Lord Jesus was the same and they had both encountered resistance and accusations from satanic political regimes and from religious circles. To me, this confirmed even more that the work of Almighty God is the true way!
One day when I was using Facebook, I heard a hymn that praised God, which I found particularly moving. Indeed, only God deserves praise and is worthy of being extolled. This hymn had the guidance of the Holy Spirit and when I checked to see where it had come from, I discovered it was one of the hymns of The Church of Almighty God. I couldn’t help being moved to tears by this, and excitedly sought the brothers and sisters to tell them that God had moved my heart and led me…. I now completely believe that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, and I am willing to follow Almighty God to the end of the road.
Now I attend The Church of Almighty God, and I not only enjoy being provided with the water of living life that flows from the throne, but my confidence and love has been restored. Even more importantly, I can now distinguish between right and wrong, darkness and light. I know what truths are and what rumors are. Truths come from God, while rumors come from Satan. When we hear rumors, we shouldn’t just blindly go along with them but should carefully distinguish truth from falsehoods, pray earnestly, and humbly seek and examine the true way. Only then can we escape from rumors and return before God.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Xiaozhen's Story | Eastern Lightning
Xiaozhen used to be a pure, kind-hearted Christian, who always treated her friends sincerely. However, when it was to their benefit, her former friends became her enemies. After suffering this tragedy, Xiaozhen was forced to abandon her true heart and her former principles. She began to betray her own good conscience and good spirit, and wallowed in the mire of the evil world. … As she fell from grace and walked a path of depravity, she was trampled by the world and became riddled with scars and bruises. She had reached a dead end, and at her point of despair when she had given up all hope, Almighty God's sincere call finally awakened Xiaozhen's heart and spirit …
Monday, August 28, 2017
The Youth With No Regrets | Eastern Lightning
“Love is a pure emotion, pure without a blemish. Use your heart, use your heart to love and feel and care. Love doesn’t set conditions or barriers or distance. … In love there’s no suspicion,no cunning, no deceit. Use your heart, use your heart to love and feel and care. In love there is no distance and nothing that’s not pure” (“Pure Love Without Blemish” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). This hymn of God’s word once helped me get through the pain of a long and drawn-out life in prison that lasted 7 years and 4 months.
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