Being Reborn Through the Word of God | Eastern Lightning

Being Reborn Through the Word of God | Eastern Lightning

Being Reborn Through the Word of God

Wang Gang    Shandong Province

I am a farmer and because my family is poor, I always had to travel all over to find temporary jobs to earn money; I thought that I could make a good life for myself through my physical labor. However, in reality, I saw that there were no guarantees for the legal rights of migrant workers like me; my salary was frequently withheld for no reason at all. Time and time again I was cheated and taken advantage of by others. After a year’s worth of hard work, I didn’t receive what I was supposed to receive. I felt that this world was truly dark! Humans treat each other just like animals where the strong prey on thae weak; they contest with each other, fight hand-to-hand, and I simply didn’t have a foothold to live on like this. In the extreme pain and depression of my spirit, and when I had lost faith in life, a friend of mine shared the salvation of Almighty God with me.Since then, I regularly gathered, prayed and sang with brothers and sisters; we communicated truth, and used our strengths to make up for each other’s weaknesses. I felt very happy and liberated. In the Church of Almighty God, I saw that the brothers and sisters didn’t try to outwit each other or make social distinctions; they were all purely open and got along with each other. Everyone was there to diligently seek truth in order to throw off their corrupt dispositions, and live like humans and obtain salvation. This allowed me to experience happiness in life and understand the significance and value of life. Therefore, I decided that I should spread the gospel and allow more people who live in darkness to come to God to receive His salvation and see the light again. Consequently, I joined the ranks of proclaiming the gospel and testifying of God. But unexpectedly, I was arrested by the CCP government for preaching the gospel and I suffered the extreme brutality of torture, cruel treatment and imprisonment.

Return of a Prodigal Son | Eastern Lightning

Wang Xin  
Harbin City

Christian The Church of Almighty God

In 1999, I became a leader due to the requirements of the work of the church. Although I felt deeply that I was not worthy of the job when I first started, after a while, due to my arrogant and self-righteous nature, my initial cautiousness gradually turned into exalting myself and testifying about myself. I cared about food, clothes, and enjoyment, greedily indulging in the blessings of my status. I even wanted to be on an equal footing with God. In the end, I was finally dismissed and sent home. It was only after this that I had an awakening and realized that “status” had made me give up on God and the truth; “status” had made me set up my individual kingdom; “status” had turned me into an antichrist; “status” made me embark on the road to death. It was only then that I discovered that I had strayed so very far from the right path and already fallen too deep.

God’s Words Have Awakened Me | Eastern Lightning

Miao Xiao  
Jinan City, Shandong Province

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.

Tribulation Inspired My Love for God | Eastern Lightning

Tribulation Inspired My Love for God | Eastern Lightning

Tribulation Inspired My Love for God

Meng Yong    Shanxi Province

I am by nature an honest person, which is why I have always been bullied by other people. As a result, I have tasted the coldness of the world of man and felt my life empty and without meaning. After I started believing in Almighty God, through the reading of God’s words and living the church life, I enjoyed an earnestness and joy in my heart I had never felt before. Seeing the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God love each other like a family made me realize that only God is righteous, and that only in the Church of Almighty God is there light. Through several years of personally experiencing Almighty God’s work, I have come to truly appreciate that the words of Almighty God can indeed change people and save people. Almighty God is love, and He is salvation.

Why does one have to pray, have meetings, and read God’s words while believing in God so as to receive a new life?

The answer from God’s word:

“Prayer is one of the ways in which man cooperates with God, it is a means by which man calls upon God, and it is the process by which man is touched by God’s Spirit. It can be said that those who are without prayer are dead ones without spirit, proof that they lack the faculties to be touched by God. Without prayer, they are unable to attain a normal spiritual life, much less are they able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit; without prayer, they sever their relationship with God, and are incapable of receiving God’s approval. Being someone who believes in God, the more you pray, the more you are touched by God. Such people have greater resolution and are more able to receive the latest enlightenment from God; as a result, only people like this can be made perfect as soon as possible by the Holy Spirit.”

from “Concerning the Practice of Prayer” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Finally I Live Out a Little Like a Human | Eastern Lightning

Finally I Live Out a Little Like a Human

Xiangwang    Sichuan Province

I feel deeply chastised in my heart every time I see that God’s words say: “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? God has spoken hundreds of thousands of words, yet no one has come to their senses. They act for the sake of their families, and sons and daughters, for their careers, prospects, status, vanity, and money, for the sake of clothes, for food and the flesh—whose actions are truly for the sake of God? Even among those whose actions are for the sake of God, there are but few who know God. How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status? Thus, God has been forcibly condemned to death innumerable times, countless barbaric judges have condemned God and once more nailed Him to the cross” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

52 You say that God has come, but we dare not believe it. For it is written in the Bible, “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” How should we discern the true Christ and the false ones?

The answer from God’s word:

“To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining[a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man. External appearance does not determine substance; what’s more, the work of God has never conformed with the conceptions of man. Did not the outward appearance of Jesus conflict with the conceptions of man? Were not His appearance and dress unable to provide any clues as to His true identity? Was not the reason why the earliest Pharisees opposed Jesus because they merely looked at His external appearance, and did not take to heart the words that He spoke? It is My hope that the brothers and sisters who seek the appearance of God will not repeat the tragedy of history. You must not become the Pharisees of modern times and nail God to the cross again. You should carefully consider how to welcome the return of God, and should have a clear mind of how to be someone who submits to the truth. This is the responsibility of everyone who is waiting for Jesus to return with the clouds. We should rub our spiritual eyes, and not fall prey to the words full of flights of fancy. We should think about the practical work of God, and should take a look at the real side of God. Do not get carried away or lose yourselves in daydreams, always looking forward to the day that the Lord Jesus suddenly descends among you on a cloud to take you who have never known Him or seen Him, and do not know how to do His will. It is better to think upon practical matters!”

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh