Knowing Almighty God -2ページ目

Knowing Almighty God -2ページ目

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31May
- Gospel Movie
  Daily Words of God | "God's Work, God's Disposition, and God Himself III" | Excerpt 71Forgive Seventy Times Seven(Mat 18:21–22) Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not to you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.The Lord’s Love(Mat 22:37–39) Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.Of these two passages, one speaks of forgiveness and the other speaks of love. These two topics really highlight the work the Lord Jesus wanted to carry out in the Age of Grace.When God became flesh, He brought along with that a stage of His work—He brought along the specific work of this age and the disposition He wanted to express. In that period, everything that the Son of man did revolved around the work that God wanted to carry out in this age. He would do no more and no less. Every single thing He said and every type of work that He carried out was all related to this age. Regardless of whether He expressed it in a human way with human language or through divine language—no matter which way, or from which perspective—His goal was to help people understand what He wanted to do, what His will was, and what His requirements of people were. He might use various means from different perspectives to help people understand and know His will, understand His work of saving mankind. So in the Age of Grace we see the Lord Jesus frequently using human language to express what He wanted to communicate with mankind. Even more, we see Him from the perspective of an ordinary guide speaking with people, supplying their needs, helping them with what they had requested. This way of working was not seen in the Age of Law that came before the Age of Grace. He became more intimate and more compassionate with mankind, as well as more able to achieve practical results in both form and manner. The expression to forgive people seventy times seven really clarifies this point. The purpose achieved by the number in this expression is to allow people to understand the Lord Jesus’ intention at the time that He said this. His intention was that people should forgive others—not once or twice, and not even seven times, but seventy times seven. What kind of idea is this “seventy times seven”? It is to get people to make forgiveness their own responsibility, something they must learn, and a way they must keep. Even though this was just an expression, it served as a crucial point. It helped people deeply appreciate what He meant and find the proper ways of practice and the principles and standards in practice. This expression helped people understand clearly and gave them an accurate concept that they should learn forgiveness—to forgive without conditions and without limitations, but with an attitude of tolerance and understanding for others. When the Lord Jesus said this, what was in His heart? Was He really thinking of seventy times seven? He wasn’t. Is there a number of times God will forgive man? There are many people who are very interested in the “number of times” mentioned, who really want to understand the origin and the meaning of this number. They want to understand why this number came out of the Lord Jesus’ mouth; they believe that there is a deeper implication to this number. In fact, this was just God’s expression in humanity. Any implication or meaning must be taken along with the Lord Jesus’ requirements for mankind. When God had not become flesh, people did not understand much of what He said because it came out of complete divinity. The perspective and context of what He said was invisible and unreachable to mankind; it was expressed from a spiritual realm that people could not see. For people who lived in the flesh, they could not pass through the spiritual realm. But after God became flesh, He spoke to mankind from the perspective of humanity, and this dialogue came out of and surpassed the scope of the spiritual realm. He could express His divine disposition, will, and attitude, through things humans could imagine and things they saw and encountered in their lives, and using methods that humans could accept, in a language they could understand, and knowledge they could grasp, to allow mankind to understand and to know God, to comprehend His meaning and His required standards within the scope of their capacity, to the degree that they were able. This was the method and principle of God’s work in humanity. Even though God’s ways and His principles of working in the flesh were mostly achieved by or through humanity, it truly did achieve results that could not be achieved by working directly in divinity. God’s work in humanity was more concrete, authentic, and targeted, the methods were much more flexible, and in form it surpassed the Age of Law.Below, let’s talk about loving the Lord and loving your neighbor as yourself. Is this something that’s directly expressed in divinity? Clearly not! These were all things that the Son of man said in humanity; only people would say something like “Love your neighbor as yourself. Loving others is the same as cherishing your own life,” and only people would speak in this manner. God has never spoken that way. At the very least, God does not have this type of language in His divinity because He doesn’t need this kind of tenet, “Love your neighbor as yourself” to regulate His love for mankind, because God’s love for mankind is a natural revealing of what He has and is. When have you ever heard that God said anything like “I love mankind as I love Myself”? Because love is in God’s essence, and in what He has and is. God’s love for mankind and the way He treats people and His attitude are a natural expression and revealing of His disposition. He does not need to deliberately do this a certain way, or deliberately follow a certain method or a moral code to achieve loving His neighbor as Himself—He already possesses this type of essence. What do you see in this? When God worked in humanity, many of His methods, words, and truths were all expressed in a human way. But at the same time God’s disposition, what He has and is, and His will were expressed for people to know and understand them. What they knew and understood was exactly His essence and what He has and is, which represent the inherent identity and status of God Himself. That is to say, the Son of man in the flesh expressed the inherent disposition and essence of God Himself to the greatest extent possible and as accurately as possible. Not only was the Son of man’s humanity not a hindrance or a barrier to man’s communication and interaction with God in heaven, but it was actually the only channel and the only bridge for mankind to connect to the Lord of creation. At this point, don’t you feel that there are many similarities between the nature and methods of the work done by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace and the current stage of work? This current stage of work also uses a lot of human language to express God’s disposition, and it uses a lot of language and methods from mankind’s daily life and human knowledge to express God’s own will. Once God becomes flesh, no matter if He is speaking from a human perspective or a divine perspective, much of His language and methods of expression are all through the medium of human language and methods. That is, when God becomes flesh, it is the best opportunity for you to see God’s omnipotence and His wisdom, and to know every real aspect of God. When God became flesh, while He was growing up, He came to understand, learn, and grasp some of mankind’s knowledge, common sense, language, and methods of expression in humanity. God incarnate possessed these things that came from the humans that He had created. They became tools of God in the flesh for expressing His disposition and His divinity, and allowed Him to make His work more pertinent, more authentic, and more accurate when He was working amidst mankind, from a human perspective and using human language. It made it more accessible and more easily understood for people, thus achieving the results that God wanted. Isn’t it more practical for God to work in the flesh this way? Isn’t it God’s wisdom? When God became flesh, when God’s flesh was able to take on the work that He wanted to carry out, it is when He would express His disposition and His work on the ground, and this was also the time that He could officially begin His ministry as the Son of man. This meant that there was no longer a gulf between God and man, that God would soon cease His work of communicating through messengers, and that God Himself could personally express all the words and work in the flesh that He wanted to. It also meant that the people God saves were closer to Him, and that His management work had entered new territory, and that all of mankind was about to be faced with a new era.Excerpted from The Word Appears in the FleshRecommendation:English Christian Song | The Love of God Is Great | "Only God Loves Man Most"Daily Words of God | "God's Work, God's Disposition, and God Himself II" | Excerpt 58
30May
- Gospel Movie
  Best Christian Movie | "Yearning" | God Reveals the Mystery of Kingdom of Heaven (English Dubbed)Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus promised His followers: "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). Because of this, generations of believers have continued to obsessively hope and pray for the fulfillment of the Lord's promise, and hope and pray that they are raptured into the heavens to meet the Lord and enter into the kingdom of heaven when the Lord comes.This also describes this film's protagonist, Chen Xiangguang. He is an enthusiastic seeker, spreads the gospel, and bears witness to the Lord in order to welcome the Lord's coming. In spite of being dismissed from his position in a school and failing to gain understanding from his family members, he never gives up the hope in his heart. One day while in a gathering, Chen Xiangguang is arrested and thrown in jail by the Chinese Communist government. Under God's wondrous rule and arrangements, he encounters Zhao Zhiming, a Christian from The Church of Almighty God. Zhao Zhiming gives him testimony on God's appearance and work in the last days, resolving his years of notions and imagination in hoping and praying for the Lord's return. After getting out of prison, Chen Xiangguang leads his brothers and sisters to look into Almighty God's work in the last days. Everyone finally comes to understand what it is to be raptured into the kingdom of heaven, whether the kingdom is really on earth or in heaven, and how people should welcome the Lord's return ...
- Gospel Movie
  Daily Words of God | "God's Work, God's Disposition, and God Himself II" | Excerpt 46People’s Many Misunderstandings About JobThe hardship suffered by Job was not the work of messengers sent by God, nor was it caused by God’s own hand. Instead, it was personally caused by Satan, the enemy of God. Consequently, the level of hardship suffered by Job was profound. Yet at this moment Job demonstrated, without reserve, his everyday knowledge of God in his heart, the principles of his everyday actions, and his attitude toward God—and this is the truth. If Job had not been tempted, if God had not brought trials upon Job, when Job said, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah,” you would say that Job is a hypocrite; God had given him so many assets, so of course he blessed the name of Jehovah. If, before being subjected to trials, Job had said, “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” you would say that Job was exaggerating, and that he would not forsake the name of God since he was often blessed by the hand of God. If God had brought disaster upon him, then he would surely have forsaken the name of God. Yet when Job found himself in circumstances that no one would wish for, or wish to see, or wish to befall them, which people would fear befalling them, circumstances that even God could not bear to watch, Job was still able to hold on to his integrity: “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” and “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Faced with Job’s conduct at this time, those who love to talk high-sounding words, and who love to speak letters and doctrines, are left speechless. Those who extol God’s name in speech only, yet have never accepted the trials of God, are condemned by the integrity to which Job held firm, and those who have never believed that man is able to hold firm to the way of God are judged by Job’s testimony. Faced with Job’s conduct during these trials and the words that he spoke, some people will feel confused, some will feel envious, some will feel doubtful, and some will even appear disinterested, turning their noses up at the testimony of Job because they not only see the torment that befell Job during the trials, and read of the words spoken by Job, but also see the human “weakness” betrayed by Job when the trials came upon him. This “weakness” they believe to be the supposed imperfection in the perfection of Job, the blemish in a man who in God’s eyes was perfect. Which is to say, it is believed that those who are perfect are flawless, without stain or sully, that they have no weaknesses, have no knowledge of pain, that they never feel unhappy or dejected, and are without hate or any externally extreme behavior; as a result, the great majority of people do not believe that Job was truly perfect. People do not approve of much of his behavior during his trials. For example, when Job lost his property and children, he did not, as people would imagine, break into tears. His “indecorum” makes people think he was cold, for he was without tears, or love for his family. This is the bad impression that Job first gives people. They find his behavior after that even more perplexing: “Rent his mantle” has been interpreted by people as his disrespect for God, and “shaved his head” is wrongly believed to mean Job’s blasphemy and opposition to God. Apart from Job’s words that “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah,” people discern none of the righteousness in Job that was praised by God, and thus the assessment of Job of the great majority of them is nothing more than incomprehension, misunderstanding, doubt, condemnation, and approval in theory only. None of them are able to truly understand and appreciate Jehovah God’s words that Job was a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and shunned evil.Based on their impression of Job above, people have further doubts as to his righteousness, for Job’s actions and his conduct recorded in the scriptures were not as earth-shatteringly touching as people would have imagined. Not only did he not carry out any great feats, but he also took a potsherd to scrape himself while sitting among the ashes. This act also astonishes people and causes them to doubt—and even deny—Job’s righteousness, for while scraping himself Job did not pray to God, or promise to God; nor, moreover, was he seen to weep tears of pain. At this time, people only see the weakness of Job and nothing else, and thus even when they hear Job say “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” they are completely unmoved, or else undecided, and are still unable to discern the righteousness of Job from his words. The basic impression that Job gives people during the torment of his trials is that he was neither cringing nor arrogant. People do not see the story behind his behavior that played out in the depths of his heart, nor do they see fear of God within his heart or adherence to the principle of the way of shunning evil. His equanimity makes people think his perfection and uprightness were but empty words, that his fear of God was merely hearsay; the “weakness” that he revealed externally, meanwhile, leaves a profound impression on them, giving them a “new perspective” on, and even a “new understanding” toward the man whom God defines as perfect and upright. Such a “new perspective” and “new understanding” are proven when Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born.Though the level of torment he suffered is unimaginable and incomprehensible to any man, he spoke no words of heresy, but only lessened the pain of his body by his own means. As recorded in the Scriptures, he said: “Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived” (Job 3:3). Perhaps, no one has ever considered these words important, and perhaps there are people who have paid attention to them. In your view, do they mean that Job opposed God? Are they a complaint against God? I know that many of you have certain ideas about these words spoken by Job and believe that if Job was perfect and upright, he should not have shown any weakness or grief, and ought instead to have faced any attack from Satan positively, and even smiled in the face of Satan’s temptations. He should not have had the slightest reaction to any of the torment brought upon his flesh by Satan, nor should he have betrayed any of the emotions within his heart. He should even have asked that God make these trials even harsher. This is what should be demonstrated and possessed by someone who is unwavering and who truly fears God and shuns evil. Amid this extreme torment, Job did but curse the day of his birth. He did not complain about God, much less did he have any intention of opposing God. This is much easier said than done, for since ancient times until today, no one has ever experienced such temptations or suffered that which befell Job. And why has no one ever been subjected to the same kind of temptation as Job? Because, as God sees it, no one is able to bear such a responsibility or commission, no one could do as Job did, and, moreover, no one could still, apart from cursing the day of their birth, not forsake the name of God and continue to bless the name of Jehovah God, as Job did when such torment befell him. Could anyone do this? When we say this about Job, are we commending his behavior? He was a righteous man, and able to bear such testimony to God, and capable of making Satan flee with its head in its hands, so that it never again came before God to accuse him—so what’s wrong with commending him? Could it be that you have higher standards than God? Could it be that you would act even better than Job when trials come upon you? Job was praised by God—what objections could you have?Excerpted from The Word Appears in the FleshRecommendation:Daily Words of God | "Knowing God Is the Path to Fearing God and Shunning Evil" | Excerpt 1How to Know God? | Christian Song | "God's Righteous Disposition Is Unique"
28May
- The Transformation of a Fallen Man
  I was born in the countryside. I came from a line of honest farmers and on top of that our family was few in number, so we were often bullied. When I was 13 years old, there was a child beaten by someone from outside of our village. The villagers falsely accused my father of instigating it and they said they were going to search our house and confiscate our property, take away our pigs and beat my father. There was also a time when another villager took our fishing net and kept it as his own. When my father went to get it back, the villager actually hit my father, relying on his own power and influence. My father had to just eat humble pie as he knew that he had neither money nor power. My mother told my brothers and me that we must fight for ourselves in the future, and never live a life of oppression like this. Being young and detesting the injustice in society, I was determined that in the future I would stand out from the crowd and earn their respect, and never be oppressed. So I studied very hard, but I wasn’t smart enough and I couldn’t get into any universities, so I chose to seek good prospects in the army and joined easily by going through connections.When I first joined the army, I scrambled to take on all the difficult and dirty work and to show my proactiveness to impress my leaders so that I could be promoted in the future. However, after a few years, I could not even get a position of squad leader no matter how hard I tried. I was also constantly made fun of and bullied by my comrades because of my shabby clothes and thriftiness, which just intensified my desire to stand out. Later, based on advice from my fellow villager, I learned that evaluations and promotion in the army did not depend on hard work, but rather gift-giving. Even though I found this kind of thing was disgusting, I had to take the only path to promotion. Therefore, I determined to take all my savings to give gifts to my leaders and make connections; after that I was finally able to enroll in the military academy. But when I returned to the army after graduation, I was assigned to cook in the canteen because I didn’t have enough money for gift-giving, and later I became a quartermaster, but in name only. After several years of army life, I understood such sayings as “Officials do not make things difficult for those who bear gifts,” and “You can’t accomplish anything without licking their boots.” If you want to keep a foothold, you have to try every means to make money and give gifts, otherwise you won’t achieve anything no matter how great your abilities are. In order to achieve my aspiration, I started to making money through underhanded means: I over quoted and exaggerated the quantity on purpose when buying food, getting some extra dirty money; seeing other quartermasters selling rice, I secretly sold a truck of rice from the army and made several thousand yuan, and so on. Though I had believed in Jesus since childhood and clearly knew that these things I was doing were crimes, I was also constantly worried about being found out and convicted someday, the desire to be promoted still drove me to do those things against my conscience. Once I had saved up some money, I started to flatter my leaders and give them gifts catering to their likes. Every time the leaders came to carry out inspections I would busy myself going to drink with them, sing, get in touch with prostitutes…. I did every possible thing to curry favor with them. Whenever the leaders needed some help, I was happy to offer my services. Whoever had a good relationship with the leaders, I would try to get close to him in order to get a positive recommendation. During those years, I rose quickly to the position of battalion commander by resorting to this kind of worldly philosophy. I finally stood out and I could return home gloriously! After that, every time I went back home, the villagers would crowd around me, flattering and complimenting me, which greatly satisfied my vanity. My ambitions and my desires grew then. As people say, “Officials are just looking out for number one, not the public,” “Use power when you have it, because after it’s gone, you can’t use it,” and “There’s no such thing as an official who’s not corrupt.” So, I started to enjoy the privileges of an official. I would get things for free wherever I went, and if someone sought help from me, I would ask them for gifts and I wouldn’t help them if the gifts were inadequate. I started to go after fancy food and clothing, and began to indulge in extravagance. Relying on the fact that I was like a “golden child” with important leaders such as the commander and political commissar, I even became so arrogant that I would bully people by flaunting my powerful connections, requesting gifts from my subordinates in the names of these leaders. This was how I degenerated from a simple Christian country boy into a greedy, slick, treacherous, and arrogant man.Being corrupt and fallen, I even projected my own terrible nature onto others. I often suspected for no good reason that my beautiful wife who worked for a foreign company was having affairs; this led to more conflict between us and growing estrangement. In 2006, my wife was pushed to her limit and initiated divorce; this felt like a great disgrace to me, so I would not agree to it. Late at night I would often think about my life. I thought to myself: I have been determined to stand out since childhood and my wife and I are both successful in our careers. Conditions in our home are good in every way and other people envy us, so why am I living in such pain, and why has it gotten to the point that my wife wants to divorce me? Even our son is suffering along with us. Is my life the way I want it to be? What exactly am I living for? Just as I was feeling lost and confused, my wife accepted Almighty God’s salvation in the last days. Through frequent meetings and fellowship with sisters and brothers, she became more and more optimistic, stopped arguing with me, and never mentioned divorce again. Instead, she was busy preaching the gospel and fulfilling her duty. Later, driven by my wife and mother, I also started to believe in Almighty God.Because of the life in the church, I understood that God is holy and righteous, and that He most hates the filth and corruption of humans. I thought of the filthy ways I developed in the army and that I could not possibly be saved by God if I didn’t change my old disposition, so I started to hungrily read God’s words, hoping that I could find a solution in them. One day, I read these words from God: “Born into such a filthy land, man has been severely blighted by society, he has been influenced by feudal ethics, and he has been taught at ‘institutes of higher learning.’ The backward thinking, corrupt morality, mean view on life, despicable philosophy for living, utterly worthless existence, and depraved lifestyle and customs—all of these things have severely intruded upon man’s heart, and severely undermined and attacked his conscience. As a result, man is ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him” (“To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words exposed the secrets in the bottom of my heart; I was badly shaken. Over those years of serving in the army, I had followed the unspoken rules of the world for the sake of standing out. I had done many things which burdened my conscience. I had become wealthy from ill-gotten gains and lived a dark and corrupted life—I constantly indulged myself in sin but felt no shame. Then, God’s words not only allowed me to distinguish good from evil, but also made me see clearly the origin of my fall and my corruption. It turned out that these scourges came from Satan. It was Satan that turned this country into a morass of evil and viciousness where powerless, honest people were oppressed and struggled to get by while the powerful, influential and tyrannical prospered. In this society was full of heresies and fallacies like “Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,” “Officials do not make things difficult for those who bear gifts,” “You can’t accomplish anything without licking their boots,” “Officials are just looking out for number one, not the public,” “Use power when you have it, because after it’s gone, you can’t use it,” and so on. I was taken in by these terrible sayings, and because of the oppression around me I lost my way, abandoned human principles, sought high positions unscrupulously, and became entrenched in a mire of sin. I eventually became an evil person who sought nothing but wealth, abused power for personal gain, and embezzled public funds. From the judgment in God’s words, I saw the intense rage and holiness of God, and understood that offending His righteous disposition was not permitted. I regretted my evil actions and my heart was filled with fear. I felt that if it had not been for God saving me in time and pulling me from the evil mire, I would have been cursed and punished by God for what I had done. Thank God for letting me see light again, and understand human principles. From then on, I never again did those things that brought shame to God’s name.As I understood more and more of the truth, I experienced more and deeper salvation from God. In 2009, I had served in the army for 20 years. According to national regulations, I was permitted to go out and look for work on my own. I determined to shun evil and do good, so I left the army and chose to be transferred to civilian work, and put my heart and soul into working for God. However, my leader tried to persuade me to stay and asked me to think it over thoroughly, and another older leader in a high position made me a promise: “You will be promoted to deputy regimental commander if you continue to work hard.” I hesitated a bit—this was the opportunity that I had longed for day and night! I couldn’t let go of the idea of that position, so I sought help from God and prayed, “Oh, God, being in a high position has always been my dream. Now I have that opportunity and I don’t know how to choose. May You enlighten and lead me!” Later, I thought of God’s words, “If you are of high station, of honorable reputation, possessed of abundant knowledge, the owner of plentiful assets, and supported by many people, yet these things do not prevent you from coming before God to accept His calling and His commission and to do what God asks of you, then all that you do shall be the most meaningful cause on earth and the most righteous undertaking of mankind. If you reject the call of God for the sake of status and your own goals, all that you do shall be cursed and even despised by God” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “People come to the earth and it is rare to encounter Me, and it is also rare to have the opportunity to seek and to gain the truth. Why would you not prize this beautiful time as the right path of pursuit in this life?” (“Words for the Young and the Old” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Every word of God struck my conscience, and I was awoken from my hesitation. I had the privilege of encountering the work on the earth of God incarnate and the precious opportunity to pursue the truth and work for God. What an exaltation and grace from God! What career in the world could be more meaningful than working for the Creator? Even if you were in the highest position and were the highest official, if you did not know God and had not made any changes in your disposition, you would eventually be punished by God. So many people in prestigious positions had fallen into disaster and died a premature death, and so many high-ranking officials had had an ignominious fall and a terrible end. As for me, I had fought and tried desperately to stand out as an official, resulting in me ruining myself to such an extent that I was tarnished and filthy, and lived the life of someone who was barely human. God had then led me back from the wrong path and clearly showed me the path for a human life. How could I still choose to take those risks and return to my old ways? The first half of my life had been subject to Satan’s affliction and trickery and brought me great pain. I could not be enslaved, exploited, and corrupted by Satan for the latter half. I had to change my way of living, follow God wholeheartedly, walk the path of pursuing the truth, and live a meaningful life. So I resolutely determined to find a job on my own and leave the army completely. However, because my corruption from Satan was so profound, its poisonous idea of standing out and being an important person had been deeply rooted in my heart and often hindered me from taking the right path of life.After fulfilling my duty in the church for some time, I saw that some of the church leaders were quite young and one of them had been my friend, which made me feel uncomfortable. I thought: None of your positions in the earthly world were as high as mine, but your current positions in the church are higher than mine. If you are capable of being leaders, then I am even more so! So I worked hard in this pursuit; I got up at five every morning to read God’s words, and set goals for myself—listening to at least two hours every day of sermons on entering into life, learning three songs every week, and planning to learn all the songs of God’s word. I was even more proactive and hardworking at performing my duty. As long as it was something that I was capable of dealing with in the church, I would rush to do it regardless of how difficult or tiring it was. Meanwhile, I bragged my experience and skills in the army in front of my sisters and brothers, turned my nose up at the fellowship of the church leaders or subtly belittled how they approached issues or dealt with problems. So, I charged straight ahead, struggling to seek fame and status, hoping to get a position in the church as soon as possible. In 2011, I was finally selected to be a leader in the church as I had expected. I was very excited and I wanted to distinguish myself and accomplish a great many things in order to impress others. At that time, for various reasons, I had no choice but to resign and I recommended a sister as the leader. However, I had not reconciled myself to this in my heart. After some time, I found that the leader had some shortcomings in how she dealt with problems, and my ambition once again reared its head. I indirectly suggested to her that she take the blame and resign, which would give me the chance to be selected in the next election. However, the sisters and brothers who heard of this analyzed me, saying that I was too deceitful and ambitious, and that I always wanted to take control of the church, so they dismissed me from my post of group leader. I simply could not accept it. I was such a capable person; how could it be that I was not even fit to be a group leader! For months, I was very dissatisfied in my heart and I was not happy with my sisters and brothers, so I did not talk much in the meetings. My spirit was full of darkness and I could not find God. In the midst of this pain, I asked God to lead me out of the darkness. And one day, I read God’s words, “Today, in man’s experience, every single step of God’s work strikes back at his conceptions, and all lies beyond man’s intellect and outside his expectations. God provides everything that man needs, and in every respect this is at odds with his conceptions. … By striking back at your conceptions, He makes you accept the dealing of God; only in this way can you rid yourself of your corruption” (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “If you do not obey now, in the end you will be cursed—will you be happy then? You do not pay attention to the way of life but only focus on your status and title; what is your life like? … You don’t focus on pursuing personal transformation and entering in; you always focus on those extravagant desires, and things that constrain your love for God and restrain you from getting close to Him. Can those things transform you? Can they bring you into the kingdom?” (“Why Are You Unwilling to Be a Foil?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words were like a two-edged sword cutting into my heart, making rebellious me feel ashamed and embarrassed. Not until then did I realize that all the things that had happened to me recently, while not what I wanted, did not mean that people were just giving me a hard time. Rather, they were the just judgment of me from God, and His timely salvation of me. God’s work this time was meant to change people’s old thoughts and perspectives, to save them from the influence of Satan, and for them to gain the truth and life from God to live a bright life. I did not take the correct path and seek to gain the truth as my life, but pursued status and fame, and I even played tricks and hatched schemes, no different than the pursuit of becoming an official and someone of importance. Wasn’t this against God’s work and His will to save mankind? How could I gain the truth and live a meaningful life if I continued to pursue these? If I had not turned back, wouldn’t it have ruined me and made me a target for punishment by God when He completes His work? In order to prevent me from taking the wrong path and correct my flawed ideas of pursuits, God pruned me and dealt with me “ruthlessly,” through those people and events around me, took away my status, and shattered my ambitions and desires, so that I could reflect on myself and turn back. I then understood the righteous and holy disposition of God, and that my intentions, motivations, and even every single thought and action were under His observation. God carried out the most genuine salvation of me at the same time that He demonstrated His majesty. After recognizing the grace of God’s salvation, I no longer allowed myself to get entangled in the loss of a position, and I had the will to pursue the truth. God loved me so much that He tried to save me, so I could not let Him down. I had to obey God’s arrangements, and no matter whether I was a leader or just a regular believer, I should pursue the truth and do my duty as well as possible.Half a year later, the leader in my church arranged for me to continue my church life at another church. Its church leaders were being selected at that time. When I learned that I had believed in God longer than all the sisters and brothers there, I felt very happy and I thought: “Now comes my chance. I can finally show my abilities as a leader. After all, I have more life experience and I believed in God earlier than they did. I am the best person for the position.” As I was about to present myself well to them, one of the sisters from my previous church was transferred to join the election. I was afraid that she would reveal my previous scandal of jostling for position, which would be an embarrassment to me, so I had to give up my initial plan. I decided to try to get elected as a group leader, then work my way up step by step after that. I hadn’t imagined that I would not be elected as a group leader, but I would instead be arranged to deliver books of God’s words to sisters and brothers. I really hadn’t expected that I, a dignified battalion commander, would be running around doing little errands. I found this difficult to accept. However, after undergoing the judgment and chastisement of God, I understood that this was from the rule of God and His arrangements. God was dealing with my desire to pursue status, so I forsook myself and obeyed. However, before long the place where I attended meetings was spotted by the police, so the church arranged for me to meet with another two elderly sisters somewhere else. As for the leader of the church, she could not come very often to perform her watering duty for us as she was being persecuted by the Communist Party of China. At that time, I could not bear it any longer: “Aside from having me do petty work, I have to meet with those elders with poor caliber. How did I get to this situation?” The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I even felt that life was not worth living. In pain, I earnestly prayed unto God and asked for His enlightenment. One day, I read God’s words, “What’s the most appropriate method of pursuit on today’s path? What kind of figure should you see yourself as in your pursuit? You should know how to handle everything that is befalling you now, be it trials or suffering, merciless chastisement or curses—you should give careful consideration to all of this” (“Those Who Do Not Learn and Know Nothing: Are They Not Beasts?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, I understood that I was driven by my arrogant satanic nature, deviated from God’s will, and walked on the wrong path of pursuing fame and positions. As a result, I only regarded those duties with “official titles” as important and despised other duties, and even detested those sisters and brothers of low caliber in the sense that I felt my status was lowered by being with them. The status and fame had gone to my head. However, I did not know that in the house of God, all duties were equal, and my sisters and brothers as well as I were all creatures with equal status. Thinking of this, I felt greatly relieved. However, I knew that fame and status were my fatal weaknesses and I couldn’t just easily let go of them, so I prayed unto God to seek more truth to resolve this issue. Later, I heard a sermon, saying: “In your opinion, is it meaningful for people to hold positions and cherish them? You should see clearly status and fame and be indifferent to them. They are empty and meaningless. A high position does not guarantee blessings. If you don’t have a good disposition, a high position may bring you misfortune. If you do not pursue the truth, that position will be a source of great evil for you. Without the truth, you cannot see things clearly, and might easily be ruined by positions. … You cannot be a leader without pursuing the truth; it can only ruin you. If you pursue the truth, leadership can make you perfect” (“The Differentiations of and Solutions to the False Leaders, Antichrists and the Wicked” in Sermons and Fellowship VII). “People appear to be good when they don’t have power but as soon as they have it, they will show their true colors. How can power expose people? When someone is an ordinary person, they seem decent and appear to be dignified and upright. Once they hold some power, they become perverse. What sort of problem is this? Humans who have been corrupted by Satan are all of the same nature” (“How People Should Cooperate With God’s Work of Perfecting Man” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life III). These words suddenly opened my eyes and I saw the void and meaninglessness of pursuing status. Valuing status and failing to pursue the truth can only lead to people’s ruin. Take my experience in the army as an example—I hated those corrupt officials when I was a soldier. However, as my status continued to grow, I started to become perverse and in the end I became a truly corrupt official. Those who were in high positions seemed to be good and honest when they didn’t have high status. However, as soon as they held power, they started to behave tyrannically and commit countless crimes. These facts were enough to illustrate that after people had been corrupted by Satan, they would without exception be subject to its affliction and trickery; if they did not pursue the truth and have a change in disposition, they could only become perverse and do evil once they held power and status, be it in the earthly world or in God’s house, with an end result of being punished justly by God. Thinking of this, I felt both fear and gratitude. It turned out that my repeated frustrations were my salvation, done out of love for me! Because I struggled to ascend in the world of officialdom for many years, I had been sullied with the poisons of Satan. It could be said that I was a combination of arrogance, deceit, selfishness and greed. After believing in God, I valued status too much and did not really pursue the truth. As a result, even by then I had gained little of the truth, and I had little fear of God. If I had actually been in a high position, I would only have become ambitious and behaved tyrannically as I did in the army, and I would end up being punished for offending God’s disposition. Thanks be to God’s enlightenment, I could see clearly the essence and the outcome of pursuing fame and status, and more than that, I could see the importance of pursuing the truth.After that I started to concentrate my efforts on God’s words. I deeply longed for God’s words to be my life and paid no attention to duties with “official titles,” and never belittled other duties. I felt that every duty had its meaning, that it was all ruled and preordained by God, and that my duty was the responsibility I should bear. When I longed for God’s words with all of my heart and tried to complete my duties, I not only understood many truths which I had not understood before, but also enjoyed God’s presence quite often. I received the enlightenment and leadership of the Holy Spirit, which made me feel grounded and unspeakably joyful. After a period of time, I found myself keeping a low profile when interacting with others, and I no longer boasted about my old positions in the army or used them to show off. No matter who pointed out my shortcomings, I would obey first and reflect on myself later. I could treat the sisters and brothers in the church with poor education and low caliber equally, and I no longer regarded myself as superior to them. Before I knew it my opinions on pursuit changed a lot, and I became indifferent to status and fame and was not so constrained and controlled by these. When I saw sisters and brothers who had believed in God for less time than me get elected as leaders of the church, I felt a little bit of jealousy. However, I was able to let it go through prayer. I felt embarrassed thinking of the fact that I used to struggle for fame and gain; I felt it was ugly and inhumane. Now, my wife and I fulfill our duties at home together. Though they are not significant, I feel very content and I experience enjoyment. My son now also believes in Almighty God, which makes our family a true Christian family where God’s words rule in our daily life. No matter who speaks in line with the truth, we will listen to that person. Even if there is revelation of corrupt dispositions, we can forbear and forgive each other, and know ourselves according to God’s words, which has made our family happier and happier. I strongly feel that it is Almighty God who has changed me and my wife, who has saved my marriage and family, and what’s more, has saved me from extreme corruption and transformed me from an arrogant, evil and filthy seeker of fame into a person who pursues light and justice, who has real life goals. When I read these words of God, all sorts of feelings well up in me: “From the creation of the world until now, all that God has done in His work is love, without any hatred for man. Even the chastisement and judgment you have seen are also love, a truer and more real love; this love leads people onto the right way of human life. … All the work He has done is for the purpose of leading people to the right way of human life, so that they can have the normal life of mankind, because man does not know how to lead a life. Without such leading, you would only be able to live an empty life, would only be able to live a worthless and meaningless life, and would not know at all how to be a normal person” (“The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Yes, without God’s salvation, I would not have taken the right path in life; I would only have become more and more degenerate, and would have become filthy scum who would be cursed by God in the end. It is the just judgment of God that has saved me, and ruthless refinement that has changed me. This allows me to understand what is ugly and what is holy as well as God’s greatness, beauty and goodness, and Satan’s meanness and evilness. I will never follow Satan again, and will only pursue the truth wholeheartedly, rid myself of Satan’s corruption, and live out a real human likeness. Although I have experienced the suffering of many chastisements and refinements, I have gained the most precious way of life, allowing me to be reborn and enter a true path in life.This year, I went back to my former workplace to take care of some procedural tasks. I saw that my previous colleagues and my previous leaders had all been promoted. When my previous colleagues saw me, they said, “If you had not left the army, you would have been promoted by now.” I remained unmoved, and thought: “Of what use is a high position? If you live without any goal, direction or meaning as a person but just churn in that mire of evil, isn’t it the most degrading kind of life? Aren’t you just Satan’s slaves, its toys? You will suffer God’s just punishment and retribution in the end! Though I do not have a high position, I never regret my choice, because I have truly experienced peace and ease in my heart, which is true happiness. Only being the creature you should be, obeying and worshiping God is a true human life, and only through this can you have a bright future!”From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOM
27May
- Christian testimony
  God’s Love Was With Me in the Devil’s Dark PrisonI am a Christian of The Church of Almighty God and I have been a follower of Almighty God for over ten years. During this time, one thing I’ll never forget is the awful tribulation when I was arrested by the CCP police a decade ago. Back then, despite my being tortured and trampled on by evil demons, and coming close to death several times, Almighty God used His mighty hand to guide and protect me, to bring me back to life, and return me to safety…. Through this, I truly experienced the transcendence and greatness of God’s life force, and gained the precious wealth of life conferred upon me by God.It was January 23, 2004 (the second day of Chinese New Year). I needed to go and visit a sister from the church, as she was in trouble and in urgent need of help. As she lived a long way away, I had to get up early to get a taxi, so I’d be back the same day. I left home just as it was getting light. There was hardly anyone on the streets, just the workers cleaning up rubbish. I anxiously searched for a taxi, but there were none about. I went to a taxi rank to wait and stepped into the road to flag one down when I saw it coming—but it turned out to be a vehicle belonging to the Environmental Protection Bureau. They asked me why I’d flagged them down. “I’m sorry, it was a mistake, I thought you were a taxi,” I said. “We think you were putting up illegal posters,” they replied. “Did you see me doing that? Where are the posters I was putting up?” I said. Without giving me the chance to defend myself, the three of them rushed forward and forcibly searched my bag. They rifled through everything in my bag—a copy of a sermon, a notepad, a purse, a cell phone and a pager I no longer used, and so on. Then they took a closer look at the copy of the sermon and the notepad. Seeing there were no posters in my bag, they held up the copy of the sermon and said: “You might not have been putting up illegal posters, but you believe in Almighty God.” Next, they rang the National Security Brigade’s Religion Division. Soon after, four people from the National Security Brigade arrived. They knew I was a believer in Almighty God as soon as they saw the things in my bag. Without letting me say anything, they bundled me into their vehicle, then locked the door to stop me running away.When we arrived at the Public Security Bureau, the police led me into a room. One of them fiddled with my pager and cell phone, looking for clues. He turned on the phone but it showed low battery, then the battery was completely dead. Try as he might, he couldn’t get it to turn on. Holding the phone, he looked worried. I was puzzled too—I’d just charged the phone that morning. How could it have no power? I suddenly realized that God had miraculously arranged this to stop the police from finding any information about the other brothers and sisters. I also understood the words spoken by God: “[A]ny and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Truly, all things and all events are in God’s hands. Whether living or dead, all things undergo change according to God’s thoughts. In this moment, I gained a true understanding of how God holds sovereignty over and orchestrates all things. What’s more, I gained the confidence I needed to rely upon God to face the coming interrogation. Pointing at the things in the bag, the police officer asked accusingly: “These show that you’re clearly no ordinary church member. You must be one of the senior leadership, someone important, as junior leaders don’t have pagers or cell phones. Am I right?” “I don’t understand what you’re saying,” I replied. “You’re pretending you don’t!” he roared, then ordered me to squat down and start talking. Seeing I wasn’t going to play ball, they surrounded me and began punching and kicking me—as though they wanted to kill me. With my face bloody and swollen, my whole body aching unbearably, I collapsed on the floor. I was incensed. I wanted to talk reason to them, to argue my case: What have I done wrong? Why did you beat me like that? But I had no way of talking sense with them, because the CCP government doesn’t talk sense. I was confused, but I didn’t want to give in to their beatings. Just as I was at a loss, I suddenly thought of how, since these evil officers of the CCP government were being so absurd, since they weren’t letting me speak any words of reason, I needn’t say anything to them. I was better off keeping silent—that way I’d be of no use to them. When I thought of this, I stopped paying any attention to what they were saying.Seeing that this approach had no effect on me, the evil policemen flew into a rage and grew even more barbaric: They turned to torture to extract a confession. They handcuffed me to a metal chair screwed to the ground in such a position that I could neither squat nor stand. One of them placed my uncuffed hand on the chair and struck it with a shoe, only stopping when the back of my hand had gone black and blue, while another stomped on my feet with his leather shoes, rolling his shoes around on my toes to crush them, which is when I experienced an incredible, shooting pain that went straight to my heart. After that, six or seven policemen took turns at me. One of them concentrated on my joints, and pinched them so hard that a month later I still couldn’t bend my arm. Another grabbed my hair and shook my head from side to side, then wrenched it back so I was looking up. “Look at the sky and see if there’s a God!” he said viciously. They carried on until nightfall. Seeing that they weren’t going to get anything out of me, and because it was Chinese New Year, they sent me straight to the detention house.When I arrived at the detention house, a guard ordered a female prisoner to take all my clothes off and throw them in the trash can. Then they made me put on a dirty, foul-smelling prison uniform. The guards put me in a cell and then lied to the other prisoners, saying: “She went out of her way to break up other people’s families. A lot of families have been ruined by her. She’s a liar, she deceives honest people, and upsets the public order….” “Why does she look like a simpleton?” one of the prisoners asked. To which the guards replied: “She’s putting on an act to avoid being sentenced. None of you would have been clever enough to think of doing that. Anyone who thinks she’s a fool is the biggest idiot of all.” Thus deceived by the guards, all the other prisoners said I was being let off too easily, and that the only thing good for someone as bad as me was the firing squad! Hearing this enraged me—but there was nothing I could do. My attempts at resistance had been to no avail, they had only brought more torture and savagery. In the detention house, the guards made the prisoners recite the rules every day: “Confess your crimes and submit to the law. Inciting others to commit crimes is not allowed. Forming gangs is not allowed. Fighting is not allowed. Bullying or insulting others is not allowed. Making false charges against others is not allowed. Taking others’ food or possessions is not allowed. Playing tricks on others is not allowed. Prison bullies will be cracked down on. Any violation of the rules should be reported to the correctional officers or roundsmen immediately. You must not cover up the facts or try to protect prisoners who have violated the regulations, and the prison rules must be implemented in a humane way. …” In reality, the guards encouraged the other prisoners to torment me, allowing them to play tricks on me every day: When it was 8 or 9 degrees below zero, they soaked my shoes; they secretly poured water in my food; in the evening, when I was asleep, they drenched my cotton-padded jacket; they made me sleep next to the toilet, and they often pulled off my quilt in the night and pulled my hair to keep me from sleep; they snatched my steamed buns; they forced me to clean the toilet, and forced their leftover medicine into my mouth, they didn’t let me relieve myself…. If I didn’t do anything they said, they’d gang up and beat me—and often at such times the correctional officers or the roundsmen would hurry out of view or pretend they hadn’t seen anything; sometimes they’d even hide a little way off and watch. If the prisoners went a few days without tormenting me, the correctional officers and the roundsmen would ask them: “That stupid bitch has smartened up these last few days, yes? Meanwhile, you lot have gone soft in the head. Anyone who brings that stupid bitch around will have their sentence reduced.” The guards’ brutal torment filled me with hatred for them. If I hadn’t witnessed this with my own eyes and personally experienced it, I would never believe that the CCP government, which is supposed to be full of benevolence and morality, could be so dark, fearful, and horrible—I would never have seen its true face, a face that is deceitful and duplicitous. All its talk of “serving the people, creating a civilized and harmonious society”—these are lies designed to deceive and hoodwink people, they are a means, a trick, of beautifying itself and gaining kudos it does not deserve. At that time, I thought of the words of God: “Small wonder, then, that God incarnate remains completely hidden: In a dark society such as this, where the demons are merciless and inhumane, how could the king of devils, who kills people in the blink of an eye, tolerate the existence of a God who is lovely, kind, and also holy? How could it applaud and cheer the arrival of God? These lackeys! They repay kindness with hate, they have long since disdained God, they abuse God, they are savage in the extreme, they have not the slightest regard for God, they plunder and pillage, they have lost all conscience, and have not a trace of kindness, and they tempt the innocent into senselessness. Forefathers of the ancient? Beloved leaders? They all oppose God! Their meddling has left all beneath heaven in a state of darkness and chaos! Religious freedom? The legitimate rights and interests of citizens? They are all tricks for covering up sin!” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Comparing God’s words to the reality, I saw the dark and evil demonic substance of the CCP government in perfect clarity. To maintain its dark rule, it keeps a tight grip on its people, and stops at nothing to delude and deceive them. Superficially, it purports to provide religious freedom—but in secret, it arrests, oppresses, persecutes, and murders people across the country who believe in God. It even tries to put them all to death. How evil, brutal, and reactionary the devil is! Where is the freedom? Where are the human rights? Are these not all tricks by which to deceive people? Can people glimpse any hope or light living beneath its dark rule? How can they be free to believe in God and pursue the truth? Only then did I recognize that God had permitted this persecution and tribulation to befall me, that He had used it to show me the viciousness and brutality of the CCP government, to show me its demonic substance that is in enmity to the truth and hostile to God, and to show me that the People’s Police, whom the government vigorously promotes and touts as punishing evil, advocating good, and promoting justice, are the accomplices and minions it has meticulously nurtured, a bunch of executioners who have the faces of men but the hearts of beasts, and who would kill someone without blinking an eye. To force me to reject and betray God and yield to its despotic power, the CCP government stopped at nothing in torturing and ravaging me—yet little did it know that the more it tortured me, the more clearly I saw its devilish face, and the more I despised and rejected it from the depths of my heart, making me truly yearn for God and trust in God. What’s more, it was precisely because of the guards’ torture that I unwittingly came to understand what it truly means to love what God loves, and hate what God hates, what it means to turn one’s back on Satan and turn one’s heart to God, what it is to be barbaric, what the forces of darkness are, and, furthermore, what it is to be malicious and insidious, false and deceitful. I was grateful to God for letting me experience this environment, for allowing me to tell right from wrong and even more so, determine the right path of life to take. My heart—which had been duped by Satan for so long—was finally awakened by God’s love. I felt that there was great meaning in my having the fortune to experience this tribulation and trial, and that I had truly been shown special favor.After trying everything else, the evil police came up with another plan: They found a Judas who had sold out my church. She said I believed in Almighty God and she also attempted to get me to turn my back on God. Seeing this evil servant who had reported many brothers and sisters who spread the gospel, and hearing all the wicked words that spilled from her mouth—words that vilified, slandered, and blasphemed against God—my heart was filled with fury. I wanted to shout at her, asking why she was so unconscionably hostile to God. Why was it that she had enjoyed so much of God’s grace, yet had joined forces with evil demons to persecute God’s chosen ones? In my heart, there was unspeakable sadness and pain. I also felt a great sense of remorse and indebtedness; I truly hated myself for how, in the past, I had not tried to pursue the truth, and had never known anything but the enjoyment of God’s grace and blessings like a naive child, giving no thought to the pain and humiliation God had endured for the sake of our salvation. Only now, when I was deep in this den of fiends, did I sense just how hard it was for God to work in this filthy, corrupt country, and just how great the pain He had suffered was! Truly, God’s love of man carries great pain. He does the work of saving mankind whilst enduring man’s betrayal. Man’s betrayal has brought Him nothing but pain and hurt. No wonder God once said: “Even in the space of just one night, they may go from a smiling, ‘kind-hearted’ person to an ugly-looking and ferocious killer, suddenly treating their benefactor of yesterday as their mortal enemy, without rhyme or reason” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Today, although I had fallen into the clutches of the devil, I would not betray God no matter what. Regardless of how great the hardship I suffered, I would not be a Judas for the sake of saving my own skin, and I would not cause pain and grief for God. As a result of my being sold out by that Judas, the evil police stepped up their torture. She, meanwhile, stood to one side and said: “You don’t know good from bad. You deserve this! You don’t appreciate my kindness. You deserve to be tortured to death!” Hearing these vicious, evil words incensed me—but I also felt an inexplicable sense of sadness. I wanted to cry, but I knew I must not; I didn’t want to let Satan see my weakness. In my heart, I secretly prayed: “O God! I wish for You to gain my heart. Although I can’t do anything for You at the moment, I wish to bear victorious testimony to You before Satan and this wicked person, utterly shaming them, and through this bringing comfort to Your heart. O God! May You protect my heart, and make me stronger. If I have tears, may they flow inward—I cannot let them see my tears. I should be happy because I understand the truth, for You have blown the dust from my eyes, giving me the ability to differentiate, and clearly see the nature and substance of Satan, which is to oppose You, and betray You. Amid refinement, I have also seen how Your wise hand arranges all. I wish to rely on You to face the following interrogation and defeat Satan, that You may be glorified in me.” After praying, in my heart there was the strength to not rest until I had completed my testimony to God. I knew that this had been given to me by God, that God had given me great protection and greatly moved me. The evil police wanted to use this wicked woman to make me betray God, but God is a wise God, and He employed this wicked woman as a foil to show me the rebellious nature of corrupt mankind, thus stimulating my resolve and faith to satisfy God. What’s more, I had some knowledge of God’s wise work, and I saw that God rules and maneuvers all that there is in service to perfecting the people of God. This is the indisputable fact of God using wisdom to defeat Satan.Seeing that they weren’t going to get me to say anything they wanted, they spared no expense—be it manpower, or material and financial resources—to go up hill and down dale asking for proof that I was a believer in God. Three months later, all their rushing about had come to nothing. In the end, they played their trump card: They found a master interrogator. It was said that everyone who was brought to him was subjected to his three forms of torture, and no one had ever not confessed. One day, four police officers came and said to me: “Today we’re taking you to a new home.” Next, they pushed me into a prisoner transport van, cuffed my hands behind my back, and put a hood over my head. The situation made me think they were taking me out to secretly execute me. In my heart, I couldn’t help but panic. But afterward I thought of the hymn I used to sing when I believed in Jesus: “Since the earliest times of the church, those who follow the Lord have had to pay a high price. Tens of thousands of spiritual kinfolk have sacrificed themselves for the gospel, and thus they have gained everlasting life. Be a martyr for the Lord, be a martyr for the Lord, I am prepared to be a martyr for the Lord.” That day, I finally understood the line in that hymn: Those who follow the Lord have had to pay a high price. I too was prepared to die for God. To my surprise, after getting in the van, I inadvertently overheard a conversation between the evil police. It seemed they were taking me somewhere else to be interrogated. Ah! They weren’t taking me to be executed—and I’d been preparing to die a martyr for God! Just as I was thinking this, for some unknown reason one of the police tightened the strings of the hood over my head. Soon after, I started feeling uncomfortable—it felt like I was being suffocated. I found myself wondering if they really were going to torture me to death. At that moment, I thought of how Jesus’ disciples had sacrificed themselves to spread the gospel. I wasn’t going to be a coward. Even if I died, I wouldn’t beg them to loosen it, much less would I admit defeat. But I couldn’t control myself: I passed out and collapsed onto them. Seeing what was happening, the police quickly loosened the hood. I started foaming at the mouth, then couldn’t stop vomiting. It felt like I was going to vomit my insides out. I felt dizzy, my head empty, and I couldn’t open my eyes. I had no strength anywhere in my body, as if I’d been paralyzed. It felt like there was something sticky in my mouth that I couldn’t get out. I’d always been frail, and after being abused like this I sensed I was in trouble, and that I might stop breathing at any time. Amidst the pain, I prayed to God: “O God! Whether I live or die, I am willing to obey You. I trust that whatever You do, it is righteous, and I ask that You protect my heart, so that I may submit to all that You orchestrate and arrange.” Sometime later, the van arrived at a hotel. At that time, my whole body felt weak and I couldn’t open my eyes. They carried me to a sealed room. All I could hear was the sound of many minions of the CCP government standing around discussing me, saying that seeing me was like seeing how Liu Hulan had been. “What an eye-opener, how impressive!” they said. “She’s even tougher than Liu Hulan was!” Hearing this, my heart surged with excitement. I saw that by leaning on faith and relying on God there definitely would be victory over Satan, that Satan was under God’s feet! I thanked and praised God. At this moment, I forgot the pain. I felt tremendously gratified to be glorifying God.Soon after, the “interrogation expert” the police had spoken of arrived. As soon as he entered, he shouted: “Where is that stupid bitch? Let me have a look!” He walked in front of me and grabbed me. After slapping me dozens of times on the face, he gave me several hard punches to the chest and back, then took off one of his leather shoes and hit me across the face with it. After being beaten by him like this, I lost the feeling that there was something I couldn’t get out of my mouth or stomach. I no longer felt so dazed and I could open my eyes. Feeling gradually came back to my limbs, and strength started to return to my body. Next, he roughly grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back against the wall, ordering me to look at him and answer his questions. Seeing I wasn’t paying him any attention enraged him, and he tried to get a reaction from me by vilifying, slandering and blaspheming God. He used the most contemptible, despicable means to bait me, and said ominously, “I’m deliberately tormenting you with what is unbearable to your flesh and soul, to make you suffer pain that no normal person could suffer—you’re going to wish you were dead. In the end, you’ll beg me to let you go, and that’s when you’ll speak sense, and say that your fate isn’t in God’s hands—it’s in mine. If I want you to die, it’ll happen straight away. If I want you to live, you’ll live, and whatever hardship I want you to suffer, that’s what you’ll suffer. Your Almighty God can’t save you—you’ll only live if you beg us to save you.” Faced with these despicable, shameless, contemptible thugs, these wild animals, these evil demons, I really wanted to fight them. “All things in heaven and on earth are created by God and controlled by Him,” I thought. “My fate is also subject to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. God is the Arbiter of life and death; do you think I’ll die just because you want me to?” At that moment, my heart was filled with fury. I felt like I couldn’t contain it; I wanted to cry out, to fight back, to declare to them: “A human would never beg for mercy from a dog!” I believed that this was me developing my sense of justice—but to my surprise, the more I thought this way, the darker I became inside. I found myself without words of prayer, unable to think of any hymns. My thoughts grew cloudy, I didn’t know what to do, and at that point I started to feel a little afraid. I quickly quietened myself before God. I reflected upon myself, and tried to know myself, and at that moment God’s words of judgment came to me: “What you admire is not the humility of Christ…. You do not adore the loveliness or wisdom of Christ …” (“Are You a True Believer in God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Yes—I had seen Christ as too insignificant, and I had admired power and influence, not the humility of Christ, much less had I admired the wisdom of God’s hidden work. God uses His wisdom to defeat Satan, He uses His humility and hiddenness to reveal the true face of Satan, and to gather evidence to punish the wicked. So too, all the despicable acts the policemen had perpetrated against me and all the blasphemous and God-resisting things they had said today clearly exposed their demonic substance as haters of the truth and resisters of God, and this would be the evidence needed to warrant God’s condemnation, punishment and destruction. Yet, I failed to see Christ’s wisdom and humility, and, thinking that “A kind person is liable to be bullied, just as a tame horse is often ridden,” I wasn’t content to be humiliated and oppressed. I even believed that fighting back was the most just, dignified and courageous thing I could do. Little did I know that Satan wished to incite me to fight back against them, forcing me to acknowledge the fact of my belief in God in order to convict me. If I really did fight them with impulsive courage, would I not have fallen prey to their deceitful schemes? I was truly thankful to God for His timely chastisement and judgment of me, which gave me protection amidst my rebelliousness, so that I saw through the deceitful schemes of Satan, recognized the venom of Satan within myself, and gained a little knowledge of what God is and the humble and hidden life essence of God. I thought of how Christ faced being persecuted, hunted, and killed by the CCP devil, and how all mankind passed judgment on Him, and condemned Him, and slandered Him, and abandoned Him. Throughout, He bore all this silently, enduring all this pain to carry out His work of salvation, and never complaining. I saw just how kind, and beautiful, and honorable God’s disposition is! Meanwhile, I—a filthy, corrupt person—had wanted to use my impulsive courage to uphold my supposed dignity, to fight for my own justice based on my own will when persecuted by the evil demons. Where was the sense of justice in this? And where was the strength of character and dignity? In this, was I not showing my ugly satanic face? Was I not revealing my arrogant nature? Thinking this, my heart was filled with remorse. I made up my mind to imitate Christ. I became willing to submit to this environment and to try my best to cooperate with God, leaving no opportunity for Satan.My heart grew calm, and I silently waited for the next round of this battle with the demons. My refusal to confess had cost the supposed expert a lot of face. He furiously twisted one of my arms behind my back and pulled the other behind my shoulder, then tightly cuffed my hands together. After less than half an hour, big drops of sweat were rolling down my face and into my eyes, preventing me from opening them. Seeing I still wasn’t going to reply to his questions, he threw me to the ground, then lifted me up by the handcuffs behind my back. I instantly felt a tearing pain in my arms, as if they’d been broken. It hurt so much I could hardly breathe. Next, he hurled me against the wall and made me stand against it. Sweat was blurring my eyes. It hurt so much my whole body was covered with sweat—even my shoes were soaked. I’d always been frail, and at this moment I collapsed. All I could do was pant through my mouth. The demon stood to one side watching me. I didn’t know what he saw—maybe he was afraid he’d be blamed if I died—he quickly grabbed a handful of tissues to wipe away my sweat, then fed me a cup of water. He did this every half an hour or so. I don’t know what I looked like at that time. I guess it must have been very frightful, because I could only pant with my mouth open; it seemed I had lost the ability to breathe through my nose. My lips were dry and cracked and it took all the strength I had just to breathe. I felt death once more drawing near—maybe this time I really would die. But at that moment, the Holy Spirit enlightened me. I thought of Luke, one of Jesus’ disciples, and his experience of being hanged to death. In my heart, I spontaneously regained my strength, and kept saying the same thing over and over to remind myself: “Luke died by being hanged. I, too, must be Luke, I must be Luke, be Luke…. I willingly obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and I wish to be loyal to God unto death like Luke.” Just as the pain became unbearable and I was on the verge of death, I suddenly heard one of the evil police say that several brothers and sisters who believed in Almighty God had been arrested. In my heart, I was shocked: Several more brothers and sisters were to be tortured. They were bound to be especially hard on the brothers. My heart was filled with worry. I kept silently praying for them, asking God to guard them and allow them to bear victorious testimony before Satan and never betray God, for I did not wish for any other brother or sister to suffer as I had. Perhaps I was touched by the Holy Spirit; I prayed without cease, and the more I prayed, the more inspired I was. I unconsciously forgot my pain. I knew full well that these were the wise arrangements of God; God was mindful of my weakness and was leading me through my most painful time. That night, I no longer cared how the evil police treated me, and paid not the slightest attention to their questions. Seeing what was happening, the evil police used their fists to savagely beat my face, then wound the hair at my temple around their fingers and wrenched it. My ears were swollen from being twisted, my face was unrecognizable, my bottom and my thighs had been left bruised and torn when they beat me with a thick piece of wood, and my toes, too, had been left black and blue after being smashed with a piece of wood. After hanging me up by handcuffs for six hours, when the evil police opened the handcuffs, the flesh below my left thumb had been rubbed clean off—there was only a thin layer left covering the bone. The handcuffs had also left my wrists covered in yellow blisters, and there was no way of getting them back on again. At that moment, an important-looking female police officer walked in. She looked me up and down, then said to them: “You can’t beat this one anymore—she looks like she’s about to die.”The police locked me in one of the hotel rooms. Its curtains were pulled tightly shut twenty-four hours a day. Someone was assigned to guard the door, and none of the service personnel were allowed to enter, nor was anyone allowed to see the scenes of them torturing and savaging me within. They took turns at interrogating me without respite. For five days and nights, they didn’t let me sleep, they didn’t let me sit or squat, nor did they allow me to eat my fill of food. I was only allowed to stand leaning against the wall. One day, an official came to interrogate me. Seeing that I was ignoring him, he flew into a rage and sent me flying under the table with a kick. Next, he pulled me out and punched me, causing blood to flow from the corner of my mouth. To cover up his savagery, he quickly closed the door to stop anyone coming in. Then he tore off a handful of tissues and wiped away my blood, washing the blood off my face with water and cleaning the blood off the floor. I deliberately left some of the blood on my white sweater. When I returned to the detention house, however, the evil police told the other prisoners that the blood on my clothing was from when I was being certified at the mental hospital and said that was where I’d been for the last several days. The wounds and blood on my body had been caused by the patients—they, the police, hadn’t touched me…. These cruel facts showed me the ruthlessness, insidious cunning, and inhumanity of the People’s Police, and I felt the helplessness and despair of those who fall into their hands. At the same time, I gained a deep appreciation of the righteousness, holiness, brightness, and goodness of God, and felt that everything that comes from God is love, protection, enlightenment, provision, comfort, and support. Every time my pain was at its worst, God would always keep enlightening and guiding me, increasing my faith and strength, allowing me to emulate the spirit of the saints who had been martyred for the Lord throughout the ages, thus giving me the courage to stand for the truth. When the evil police’s savagery left me at death’s door, God allowed me to hear news of other brothers’ and sisters’ arrest, using this to further move me to pray for them, so that I forgot my own pain and unwittingly overcame the constraints of death. Thanks to Satan acting as the evil, vicious foil, I saw that only God is the truth, the way, and the life, and that only God’s disposition is the symbol of righteousness and goodness. Only God rules everything, and arranges everything, and He used His great power and wisdom to lead my every step in defeating the siege of the demon legions, in overcoming the weakness of the flesh and constraints of death, thereby allowing me to tenaciously survive in this dark lair. As I thought about God’s love and salvation, I felt greatly inspired, and I resolved to fight Satan to the very end. Even if I rotted in jail, I would stand firm in my testimony and satisfy God.One day, many evil police I had never met before came to look at me and discuss my case. Without meaning to, I overheard the supposed expert say, “Of all the interrogations I’ve done, I’ve never been so hard on anyone as that stupid bitch. I had her hung up by handcuffs for eight hours (it was actually six hours, but he wanted to show off, afraid that his superior would say he was useless) and still she didn’t confess.” I heard a female voice say, “How could you beat that woman so badly? You’re brutal.” It turned out that among everyone who had been arrested, I had suffered the most. Why had I suffered so much? Was I more corrupt than other people? Was what I’d suffered God’s punishment of me? Maybe there was too much corruption in me, and I’d already reached the point of punishment? Thinking of this, I couldn’t hold back my tears. I knew that I mustn’t cry. I couldn’t let Satan see my tears—if it did, it would believe I’d been defeated. Yet I couldn’t contain the feeling of grievance in my heart, and the tears flowed beyond my control. Amidst my desperation, I could only call out to God: “O God! At the moment, I feel deeply aggrieved. I keep wanting to cry. Please protect me, stop me from bowing my head before Satan—I can’t let it see my tears. I know that the state I’m in is wrong. I am making demands of You and complaining. And I know that no matter what You do, it is the best—but my stature is too small, my rebellious disposition is too great, and I am incapable of gladly accepting this fact, nor do I know what I should do to get out of this wrong state. I ask that You guide me, and allow me to obey Your orchestrations and arrangements, and never again misunderstand or blame You.” As I prayed, a passage of God’s words floated into my head: “You too must drink of the bitter cup from which I have drunk (this is what He said after the resurrection). You too must walk the path I have walked. You must lay down your life for Me” (“How Peter Came to Know Jesus” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). My tears immediately stopped. Christ’s suffering was incomparable to that of any created being, nor was it bearable to any created being—whereas here I was feeling wronged and complaining to God that it was unfair after suffering a little hardship. Where was the conscience and reason in this? How was I fit to be called human? After that, I thought of what God said: “[B]ut the corruption in their nature must be resolved through trials. In whichever aspects you are not purified, these are the aspects in which you must be refined—this is God’s arrangement. God creates an environment for you, forcing you to be refined there so that you can know your own corruption” (“How to Satisfy God in the Midst of Trials” in Records of Christ’s Talks). Pondering God’s words and reflecting upon myself, I understood that what was arranged by God was aimed at my corruption and deficiencies—and this was precisely what my life needed. It was only through this inhuman suffering and torment that I was able to realize that I pander far too much to my flesh, that I am selfish, lowly, demanding of God and am not content to suffer for God and be a shining testimony for Him. If I hadn’t gone through this suffering, I would have continued under the mistaken impression that I had already satisfied God; I never would have realized that I still have so much corruption and rebelliousness within me, much less would I have gained firsthand experience of how arduous it is for God to do His work among corrupted mankind to save them. I also never would have truly abandoned Satan and come back before God. This hardship was God’s love for me, it was His special blessing upon me. Having understood God’s will, my heart suddenly felt clear and bright. My misunderstanding of God disappeared. I felt there was great value and meaning in my being able to suffer hardship!After trying everything they could, the evil police had gotten nothing from me. In the end, they said with conviction: “The CCP is made of steel, but those who believe in Almighty God are made of diamond—they’re one better than the CCP in every regard.” After hearing these words, in my heart I couldn’t help but cheer and praise God: “O God, I thank and praise You! With Your almightiness and wisdom, You have overcome Satan and defeated Your enemies. You are the highest authority and may glory be to You!” Only at this moment did I see that no matter how cruel the CCP government is, it is controlled and orchestrated by God’s hands. Just as God’s words say: “All things in the skies and on the ground must come under His dominion. They cannot have any choice, and must all submit to His orchestrations. This was decreed by God, and is the authority of God” (“Success or Failure Depends on the Path That Man Walks” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).One day, the evil police came to interrogate me once again. This time they all seemed a little strange. They looked at me when they spoke, but it didn’t seem they were talking to me. They appeared to be discussing something. Like the previous times, this interrogation ended in failure. Later, the evil police took me back to my cell. On the way, I suddenly heard them saying that it looked like I would be released on the first of the next month. Hearing this, my heart almost burst with excitement: “This means I’ll be out in three days!” I thought. “I can finally leave this demonic hell!” Suppressing the delight in my heart, I expected and waited as every second passed. Three days felt more like three years. Finally, the first of the month arrived! That day, I kept staring at the door, waiting for someone to call out my name. The morning went by, and nothing happened. I put all my hopes in leaving in the afternoon—but when evening arrived, still nothing happened. When it was time for the evening meal, I didn’t feel like eating. In my heart, I had a sense of loss; at that moment, it was like my heart had fallen from heaven into hell. “Why isn’t she eating?” the correctional officer asked the other prisoners. “She hasn’t eaten much since she came back from being interrogated that day,” one of the prisoners replied. “Feel her forehead; is she sick?” the correctional officer said. A prisoner came up and felt my forehead. She said it was very hot, that I was running a fever. I really was. The illness had come on very suddenly, and it was very severe. At that moment, I collapsed. Over the course of two hours, the fever got worse and worse. I cried! All of them, including the correctional officer, watched me crying. They were all nonplussed: Their view of me was as someone who was neither enticed by the carrot nor browbeaten by the stick, who had not shed a single tear each time she was faced with grievous torture, and who had been hung up by handcuffs for six hours without a groan. Yet today, without any torture, I cried. They didn’t know where my tears came from—they simply thought I must be very ill. In fact, only God and I knew the reason. It was all because of my rebelliousness and disobedience. These tears flowed because I felt despair when my expectations had come to nothing and my hopes had been dashed. They were tears of rebelliousness and grievance. At that moment, I no longer wanted to set my resolve to bear testimony to God. I didn’t even have the courage to be tested like this again. That evening, I wept tears of misery, because I’d had enough of life in prison and I despised these demons—and even more than that, I hated being in this terrible place. I didn’t want to spend another second there. The more I thought about it, the more dispirited I became, and the more I felt a great sense of grievance, piteousness, and loneliness. I felt I was like a lonesome boat upon the sea, one that could be engulfed by the water at any time; moreover, I felt those around me were so insidious and awful that they might vent their anger on me at any time. I couldn’t stop myself from crying out: “O God! I beg You to save me. I’m at the point of collapse, I could betray You anytime and anywhere. I ask that You take hold of my heart and enable me to return before You once more, and I ask that You take pity on me once more, and allow me to accept Your orchestrations and arrangements. Although I cannot understand what You are doing now, I know that all You do is good, and I ask You to save me once more, and allow my heart to turn to You.” After praying, I stopped feeling afraid. I began to calm down and reflect upon myself, and at that moment God’s words of judgment and revelation came to me: “Do you want the flesh, or do you want the truth? Do you wish for judgment, or comfort? Having experienced so much of God’s work, and having beheld the holiness and righteousness of God, how should you pursue? How should you walk this path? How should you put your love of God into practice? Has God’s chastisement and judgment achieved any effect in you? Whether or not you have a knowledge of God’s chastisement and judgment depends on what you live out, and to what extent you love God! Your lips say you love God, yet what you live out is the old, corrupt disposition; you have no fear of God, much less do you have a conscience. Do such people love God? Are such people loyal to God? … Could someone such as this be Peter? Do those who are like Peter only have the knowledge, but not the living out?” (“The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s every word of judgment was like a two-edged sword striking at my Achilles’ heel, heaping condemnation upon me: Yes, many were the times that I had made solemn oaths before God, saying that I’d forsake everything and endure every hardship for the sake of the truth. Yet today, when God used reality to ask something of me, when He needed me to actually suffer and pay a price in order to satisfy Him, I hadn’t chosen the truth or the life, but had blindly been ridden with anxiety, distress and worry because of the interests and prospects of the flesh. I didn’t even have the slightest faith in God. How could I meet God’s will by doing this? God wanted what I lived out to be fruitful. He did not want flowery, empty oaths. Yet before God I had knowledge but no reality, and toward God, I had neither loyalty nor true love, much less did I have any obedience; I lived out nothing but deceit, rebelliousness, and opposition. In this, was I not someone who betrayed God? Was I not someone who broke God’s heart? At that moment, I thought of when the Lord Jesus was arrested and nailed on the cross. One after the other, those who had often enjoyed His graces abandoned Him. In my heart, I couldn’t help but be overcome with remorse. I hated my rebelliousness, I hated my lack of humanity, I wanted to once again stand up, to use real actions to make my promises to God a reality. Even if I rotted in jail, I would never again hurt God’s heart. I could never again betray the price of blood that God had paid in me. I stopped crying, and in my heart I silently prayed to God: “O God, thank You for enlightening and guiding me, and for allowing me to understand Your will. I see that my stature is so small, and that I have not the slightest love or obedience toward You. O God, right now I wish to give myself completely to You. Even if I spend my whole life in prison, I will never make concessions to Satan. I wish only to use my real actions to satisfy You.”After a while, there were more rumors that I was to be released. They said it would only be a few days. Because of the lesson I’d learned last time, this time I was somewhat more rational and coolheaded. Though I felt very excited, I wished to pray and seek before God, to never again make choices for myself. I would only ask God to protect me so I might obey all of His orchestrations and arrangements. A few days later, the rumors had once more come to nothing. What’s more, I heard the correctional officer say that even if I died in prison, they wouldn’t let me go, the reason being that I wouldn’t tell them my home address and name—so I would be imprisoned forever. Hearing this was really hard, but I knew that this was the pain that I ought to suffer. God wanted me to bear this testimony for Him, and I was willing to obey God, and bow to God’s will, and I trusted that all matters and all things are in God’s hands. This was God showing me special grace and raising me up. Before, though I’d said I would rot in jail, that was just my own aspirations and desires—I did not have this reality. Today, I was willing to bear this testimony through the life I lived out in reality and allow God to find comfort in me. When I became full of hate toward Satan and resolved to do battle with Satan to the very end, to truly bear a genuine testimony to rotting in jail, I saw God’s almighty and miraculous deeds. On December 6, 2005, the prison van took me from the detention house and left me by the side of the road. Thus, my two-year life in prison came to an end.After experiencing this awful tribulation, although my flesh had endured some hardship, I had gained a hundred—a thousand—times more: I had not only developed insight and discernment, and truly seen that the CCP government is the embodiment of Satan the devil, a band of murderers that would kill people without blinking an eye, but I had also come to understand God’s omnipotence and wisdom, as well as His righteousness and holiness; I had come to appreciate God’s good intentions in saving me, and His care and protection toward me, thereby allowing me, during Satan’s savagery, to overcome Satan one step at a time, and stand firm in my testimony. From this day onward, I wish to give my entire being completely to God, and I will staunchly follow God, that I might be gained by Him as soon as can be.From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOM
26May
- Christian movie
  Christian Movie Clip (6) - Do You Really Understand the Truth Behind the Shandong Zhaoyuan Incident?Many people know of the Shandong Zhaoyuan incident that shocked China and the world, and have raised many suspicions about this incident. They also really want to understand the facts and the truth of the matter behind the Shandong Zhaoyuan incident. Now, this short video will answer your questions and remove your doubts.Recommendation:What’s the Origin of Eastern Lightning?Discerning Rumors and Fallacies to Avoid Being Deceived
25May
- 4 Principles of How to Properly Pray to God
  1. Stand in the Place of a Created Being in PrayerIn Luke 18:9–14, it is recorded, “And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” It’s easy to see from the Lord Jesus’ parable that the Lord approved of the publican’s prayer and detested the Pharisee’s prayer. That is because the latter was about showing off and making a display of himself and enumerating his deeds for God. He placed himself in a very high position, even at the same level as God. He bargained with God, took credit for God’s own work, and lacked even the slightest piety before Him. He completely lacked any fear in his heart for God, and this aroused God’s scorn and hatred. But the publican was entirely different. He knew that he was a lowly sinner, so in his prayer he had fear of God and laid himself bare, acknowledging his own corruption and sincerely pleading for God’s forgiveness, and in the end, he received God’s mercy. God had different attitudes toward each of them because of their different attitudes toward God. Compare this to our own prayers. We frequently take the wrong stance. For example: Sometimes when we encounter difficulties, we know what we do isn’t in line with the Lord’s words, but we are still determined to do it, and in our prayers we even want God to do things according to our own will. Or, when we accomplish something in our duties, such as not betraying the Lord when we’ve been arrested, we feel that we are someone who is very devoted to the Lord, who really loves Him, so when we pray, we ask for blessings or crowns, and if God doesn’t bless us, we bicker with Him. Or, when we fall ill or something terrible happens at home, in our prayers we blame God for not protecting us, and we even try to reason with God and settle accounts with Him. The list goes on and on. All of these prayers are placing demands on God and trying to force His hand. This is exploiting, blaming Him, and even standing against Him and opposing Him. These kinds of prayers are completely lacking in conscience and reason, and to pray like this is to resist God. If we as Christians want to have God hear our prayers, we should pray as the publican did, stand in the position of a created being, have an attitude of piety before Him, and pray to God with the precondition of being obedient. We shouldn’t try to force our own desires onto God or demand that He act according to our own will. We should only ask that God carries things out according to His own will. This is the only way God will hear our prayers, and enlighten and guide us.2. Pray to God With Sincerity and HonestyThe Lord Jesus once told His disciples: “And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly” (Matthew 6:5–6). We can see from what is written in the Bible that when the Pharisees prayed they often liked to choose a place crowded with people. They enjoyed standing in the synagogues or at intersections to pray, and then they would frequently recite the Scripture and make long, disingenuous prayers. It was all done for others to see, to make others see them as devout and pious, and through that gain people’s admiration and make people look up to them. That kind of prayer is nothing more than exalting themselves and showing off; it is trying to deceive God. That’s why the Lord Jesus said that the Pharisees were hypocrites, and that their prayers were hypocritical, detestable to the Lord. Upon reflection, at many times when we pray, we also harbor incorrect motives. For example, when praying in gatherings, we don’t speak to God about our true difficulties or corruption, speak to Him from the heart, and ask Him to lead and guide us. Instead, we say flowery words and give empty praises, otherwise we recite chapters from the Bible or go on and on about the Scripture, because we think whoever memorizes more scriptures and speaks more eloquently prays better. We also think that the more often we do our morning watch and evening prayers, or the more we pray before meals and thank God’s grace after eating, and the longer we spend on these things, the more spiritual and the more devout we’ll become. We think that praying this way is most in accordance with the Lord’s will. In fact, praying that way isn’t sharing our hearts with the Lord and it isn’t truly worshiping Him. Instead, it is clinging to our own motives and goals, and it is for the sake of showing others how well we seek when we use this to show off. Praying that way is merely doing it by rote, going through the motions, and it’s praying as a religious ritual. It’s being perfunctory with God and trying to fool Him, which disgusts Him. The Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). God is the Lord of creation, so when created beings pray before the Creator, we should have a fearful heart and worship Him with sincerity, accept His observation, and speak to God openly and honestly. Only this kind of prayer delights God.3. Pray to Do God’s WillIn Matthew 6:9–10, 13 the Lord Jesus said: “After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. … And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Ever since mankind was corrupted by Satan, God has been working to save humanity, allow us to escape from evil, allow us to escape from the bondage and harm of Satan, and ultimately to allow us to be gained by God. So, God hopes that people are able to come before Him and accept His salvation. He also hopes that people live according to His words and revere Him above all. This is why, in our prayers, we can’t just make appeals for ourselves. We must also be considerate of God’s will, pray for God’s will to be done on earth, pray for the appearance of Christ’s kingdom on earth, and pray for God’s gospel to spread to every corner of the world. This is another path of practice by which Christian prayer can be in accordance with God’s will. For example, when we encounter various difficulties, mockery, and hardships while spreading the gospel and we feel weak and negative, we should earnestly pray to God and ask Him to give us faith and strength, allow us to forsake the flesh and overcome all difficulties, and not be subject to the constraints of enemy forces. When working and preaching, we should pray to God with a burden, asking Him to enlighten and guide us to understand His words so that we can share His will in fellowship during gatherings. Then we can lead our brothers and sisters in the practice and experience of God’s words and bring them before God. When we see unscrupulous, evil things done in the church, we should pray to God and ask Him for faith and courage, as well as for understanding of the truth to see through Satan’s tricks and uphold the interests of God’s house. And so on. If we frequently pray for God’s kingdom to come and for His will to be done, and we are able to offer up our own bit of strength for the spread of His gospel, then God will approve of our prayers and they will be in line with His will. There are, in fact, some prayers in the Bible that gained God’s approval, such as when King David built a temple for Jehovah so that people could worship God within it. He often prayed to God for this, and then he put it into practice. Those entreaties gained God’s approval, and in the end David became someone in accordance with God’s will. After Solomon became king and God appeared to him in a dream, asking what he would ask for, Solomon didn’t ask for riches or a long life, but instead asked that God bestow wisdom upon him so that he could better rule God’s people, and then His people could better worship God. God approved of his prayers, and not only bestowed wisdom upon him, but also the riches and long life he hadn’t even asked for. It’s clear that praying to do God’s will is a prayer that is entirely in accord with His will.4. Pray to the Lord With Stamina and Resolve—Do Not Lose HeartIt says in Luke 18:1–8, “And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” This parable shows that when we pray to the Lord to seek God’s will or ask for something, we cannot be in a hurry for its resolution. We must learn to wait, seek, and obey. God is almighty as well as practical. He does not do supernatural things, but His work of guiding and providing for mankind is entirely based on people’s actual stature, and is all done based on what people can actually attain. As long as our entreaties are in line with His will, He will certainly fulfill our prayers, so we must have faith in God. We’ve all been through these kinds of things: Sometimes when we encounter a difficulty and we don’t know what to do, we reach out to God in prayer, and through reading God’s words and having fellowship with brothers and sisters, God very quickly enlightens and leads us, giving us a path to practice. Or sometimes, we’ve been praying about something for a long time and haven’t received a response from God, and at those times we need to calm our hearts and wait for God’s will to be revealed to us. At other times, God is testing our faith to see if we are able to truly rely on Him. Sometimes God aims to expose the adulteration within us and cleanse our corruption. At times God needs to mobilize or arrange for people, things, or events to fulfill our prayers, and this requires time and a certain process. There are also times when God sees that our current stature is small and we can’t handle or achieve something on our own, so He waits until our stature has grown a bit, and then He carries it out for us…. Regardless of whether our prayers to God have been fulfilled, we must have faith in God and believe that everything He does in us is good, that it is all beneficial for our growth in life, and that God’s good intentions exist in all things. So, no matter whether the difficulties we face are in our daily lives or in our service to God, we cannot lose heart or become discouraged. We must be like the widow seeking justice, be constant, have genuine faith in God, frequently come before Him in prayer, seek, and wait for His will to be revealed to us. We must believe that when God’s time comes, we will gain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination, and we will see God’s might, wisdom, and His wondrous deeds.The four elements of prayer above are a path of practice for Christian prayer, and if we can practice these things every day, we will be able to establish a normal relationship with God and understand the truth within the Lord’s words. The outlook for our souls will ever improve, and we will have ever more confidence in our faith and our following of God. Our prayers will also gain God’s approval!From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMFrom this article, it reminds me of a Christian worship song about praying to God, it's beautiful and inspiring. Please click this article "The Significance of Prayer" andenjoy the song.
- Gospel Song
  2020 Chinese Gospel Song | "The Root of the Pharisees' Resistance to Jesus"2020 ChineseGospelSong | "The Root of the Pharisees' Resistance to Jesus"The Root of the Pharisees' Resistance to JesusDo you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus?Do you wish to know the substance of the Pharisees?They were full of fantasies about the Messiah.What is more, they believed only that the Messiah would come,yet did not seek the truth of life.And so, even today they still await the Messiah,for they have no knowledge of the way of life,and do not know what the way of truth is,and do not know what the way of truth is.How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant peoplegain God’s blessing?How could they behold the Messiah?They opposed Jesus becausethey did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work,because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus,and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah.And since they had never seen the Messiahand had never been in the company of the Messiah,they made the mistake ofclinging in vain to the name of the Messiahwhile opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means possible.These Pharisees in substance werestubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth.The principle of their belief in God was:No matter how profound Your preaching,no matter how high Your authority,You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah.Are these views not preposterous?Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous?Given that you have not the slightest understanding of Jesus,is it not extremely easy for youto commit the mistakes of the earliest Pharisees?Are you able to discern the way of truth?Can you truly guarantee that you will not oppose Christ?Can you truly guarantee that you will not oppose Christ?Are you able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit?If you do not know whether you will oppose Christ,then God says that you are already living on the brink of death.Recommendation:English Christian Song | The Love of God Is Great | "Only God Loves Man Most"God Hopes People Do Not Become Pharisees
23May
- Christian testimony
  The Truth Showed Her the Way to Get Along With Others (Part 1)Jiandan sat on her chair, staring at the number of articles on the worksheet in complete amazement and muttering to herself: “Why is there such a backlog of unchecked articles? Could Sister Liu Yan be in a bad state? But even if she is, she mustn’t let that interfere with her work.”Jiandan was a conscientious, responsible person. When she saw a problem like this come up in work, she started to worry. She had initially wanted to call Sister Liu Yan over to ask her what exactly was going on. But thinking that if she started asking Liu Yan about her work when she herself had only just come back from performing another task somewhere else, she worried what Liu Yan would think of her. The two of them had always gotten along well together, so it would be terrible if this matter caused upset between them!Jiandan took a deep breath, and changed her mindset. Afterward, she waited for an opportunity to present itself, and then asked Liu Yan patiently: “Sister Liu, I see that there is quite a backlog of articles that haven’t been checked. Is there some difficulty?”“I’ve checked some of these articles, but I couldn’t make decisions on them all by myself. If I happened to make a mistake, the losses would outweigh the gains! I have only finalized a few of them since you left,” said Liu Yan helplessly.When Jiandan heard this, she realized that Liu Yan was still in the same old state, afraid to take responsibility if she made mistakes, which had led to her working ineffectually. Jiandan felt a little anxious and wanted to point out the problems with Liu Yan’s attitude to her work, but then she thought: “If I started pointing out her problems the minute I get back, she will say I’m too arrogant and that I’m making undue criticisms of her. Besides, our leader and co-workers haven’t even said anything, so why should I bother? Seeing as we live under the same roof, if our relationship breaks up over this matter, how then will we get along in the future? Forget it, I won’t say anything this time. I’ll just pick up the slack.” And so Jiandan once again bit her tongue and didn’t say what was on her mind.But as time went on, the number of articles that needed checking got greater and greater, and the two of them simply couldn’t manage it all. Jiandan thought that, because there was so much work to do, she must have a word with the person in charge. It would be best to have some more manpower, and then they would be able to do their duty more efficiently.One day, Jiandan happily told Liu Yan what she was thinking:“Sister Liu, as we have so much to do now, the two of us can’t manage it all anymore. We should suggest to the person in charge that we get some more people in our group. What do you think?”“This situation has happened before. There were a lot of articles for a time, but we worked hard for a while and then there weren’t so many. I don’t think we need any more people!” Liu Yan was adamant, as though her idea was undoubtedly right.Jiandan was taken aback: “Could it be that my idea is unsuitable?” But then she thought: “I’ve seldom worked in the group. It’s beneficial to the work to pull some others in to do our duty together, isn’t it? The past experiences aren’t necessarily suited to the current situation!”Jiandan knew well in her heart that her idea was right, yet as Liu Yan persisted in her opinion, she compromised, thinking that Liu Yan may perhaps have her own reason. She felt it was better to submit and not to insist on her own idea, and if they had a dispute, it could harm their friendship, and it would then be hard to communicate with each other in the future.Not long after this matter had been put to bed, Jiandan went to a church and just so happened to bump into Sister Zhao, who was performing the same duty as Jiandan.“Sister Zhao, the work allocated to our two groups is pretty much the same. Does your group have to deal with many articles, and can you manage to get through them all?”“Of course we have a lot. But last month, our group took on two more sisters, and over the intervening month they have basically both become familiar with the work, and they will soon be managing a lot more,” replied Sister Zhao easily.Hearing this, Jiandan felt a little upset. She thought of how her own group only had two people, herself and Liu Yan, and that she often had to go to churches to perform other duties. There was now such a backlog of articles that, if they didn’t get more people to help, their work would be held up.When Jiandan thought of how their work was not currently functioning properly because she had gone along with Sister Liu Yan’s idea last time, she felt like she was to blame, and in her heart she told herself: “This time, I will certainly explain the importance of getting more people in our group to Liu Yan, so that we can together uphold the church’s work.” That very night, Jiandan wrote Liu Yan an email, fellowshiping about God’s will and how she thought they should be approaching their duty properly.The next day, just as Jiandan was about to click “send” after reading through her email, again she hesitated, and her inner struggle resumed: “What will Liu Yan think of me if she sees this email? Will she form an opinion of me, and think that I’m making a fuss over nothing by deliberately telling her this by email instead of telling her at home? It’s better to talk to her when I’m back in our group, as maybe then Liu Yan will be more open to accept my idea.” After pondering it over and over, in the end Jiandan didn’t send the email she’d written.Before too long, Jiandan was back in her group, and saw that the backlog of articles had actually risen over one hundred. Faced with this situation, Jiandan was stunned. Brothers and sisters in the church had written these articles, all using their practical experiences to bear witness for God, and the articles are really helpful to people seeking and investigating the true way and turning to God. Now that these articles couldn’t be finalized, it meant that they were obstructing and interrupting the gospel work! At that moment, self-reproach, remorse and a feeling of indebtedness welled up all at once in Jiandan’s heart. Why had she time and time again not practiced the truth and not upheld the interests of the church? In particular, faced with the fact that because Liu Yan did not really have a burden for the work and was holding to her own views and opinions, the work had been held up and thus she ended up being replaced, Jiandan felt even more blame—she had never thought that her not practicing the truth time and time again could lead to this outcome.One day, Jiandan read these words of God: “Some say, ‘I am a nice man, and moderation is my goal and the principle by which I do everything in my life.’ On the surface, it seems they have good humanity, that they have sound reason in all areas. Most times they do not speak up and do not express their point of view. What is this kind of person like? A person’s never speaking or expressing any point of view does not represent that he has reason. On the contrary, people say that you, this type of person, are quite good at pretending, that you conceal your intentions, and that you are quite shrewd.” “There must be a standard for ‘good humanity.’ It is not taking the path of moderation. Not sticking to principles, not displeasing anyone, flattering everyone, being smooth, slick and worldly-wise, and making everyone feel good—these are not the standard. So what is the standard? The standard is that they have a sincere heart toward God, man, and events, they can bear responsibilities, and this is evident for all to see, and for all to feel. Moreover, God searches their hearts and knows them, each and every one. Some people always hold themselves up as examples of good humanity, saying they’ve never done anything bad, never stolen others’ things, and never coveted other people’s things, so much so that, when there is a dispute over interests, they’ll let others benefit at their own expense, preferring for themselves to suffer loss, and when they see wicked people doing evil deeds they don’t expose them and they have no principles whatsoever, and everyone else thinks they’re good people. Yet, when they perform their duty in God’s house, they are wily and slippery, always scheming for themselves, without one thing in which they’re capable of thinking of the interests of God’s house, without one thing in which they treat as urgent the things God treats as urgent or thinks as God thinks, and in nothing can they set aside their own interests so as to perform their duty. They have never abandoned their own interests. This is not good humanity” (“You Can Obtain Truth After Turning Your True Heart Over to God” in Records of Christ’s Talk).God’s words upset Jiandan a lot. The hearts of those who truly have humanity are turned toward God, and they hold to justice and protect the interests of the church. But in her dealings with other people, Jiandan always pursued the principle of “don’t fight or quarrel with others, but be tolerant and patient in all things,” she acted like a yes-man in everything and maintained her fleshly relationships with other people, not even considering whether or not it was in keeping with God’s will. Especially in her dealings with Liu Yan, she always acted on satanic laws for living such as “Lack of forbearance in small matters ruins great plans,” “Peace is paramount,” “Think before you speak and then talk with reservation,” and “Keeping silent on the faults of good friends makes for a long and good friendship,” so as to maintain the good image of herself in Liu Yan’s heart. When she saw Liu Yan’s problems, she didn’t point them out and didn’t stick to the principles of the truth, and when she saw the church’s interests being harmed, she simply turned a blind eye to it. And so Jiandan realized that, although she believed in God, she was not of one heart with God; she would rather displease God than displease other people, and her nature was too selfish and deceitful.Having been exposed by God’s words in this way, Jiandan suddenly realized that she didn’t understand what principles she should hold to in her dealings with other brothers and sisters. During one meeting, Jiandan sought the answer to this problem from her brothers and sisters.Sister Zhou said, smiling: “Thanks to God, I’ve thought of a passage of God’s words, and a passage in a sermon that may resolve this problem of yours. Why don’t you read it?”Jiandan read: “If you don’t have a proper relationship with God, no matter what you do to maintain your relationships with other people, no matter how hard you work or how much energy you exert, it will still belong to a human philosophy of life. You are maintaining your position among people through a human perspective and a human philosophy so that they will praise you. You do not establish proper relationships with people according to the word of God. If you don’t focus on your relationships with people but maintain a proper relationship with God, if you are willing to give your heart to God and learn to obey Him, very naturally, your relationships with all people will become proper. This way, these relationships aren’t established on the flesh, but on the foundation of God’s love. There are almost no interactions based on the flesh, but in the spirit there is fellowship as well as love, comfort, and provision for one another. This is all done on the foundation of a heart that satisfies God. These relationships aren’t maintained by relying on a human philosophy of life, but they are formed very naturally through the burden for God. They don’t require human effort—they are practiced through the principles of the word of God” (“It Is Very Important to Establish a Proper Relationship With God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Among partners and among leaders and workers, sometimes it is permissible to compromise. There may be forgiveness, with permission given to the other party. This is restricted to routine work only. When important work is involved, it is not permissible to compromise. The principles must be upheld” (“The Seven Principles of Cooperative Service” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (VIII)).“Before, I didn’t understand the principles of how to associate with brothers and sisters, and I was still just the same as when I hadn’t believed in God, thinking that as long as everyone got on well together, then that meant they had normal relationships with each other. So I ended up going by Satan’s life philosophies, and I always maintained fleshly relationships with others and didn’t stick up for the work or the interests of the church. … After going through some judgment, chastisement, and being pruned and dealt with, when I read these words of God and these fellowships again, I came to understand that getting along harmoniously with other people doesn’t mean not fighting or quarrelling and everyone being friendly with each other, but rather it means that on the foundation of establishing a normal relationship with God, brothers and sisters are all able to learn from each other’s strengths and make up for what each other lacks in life entry, and hold to the principles of the truth in our duties so as to satisfy God’s will,” said Sister Zhou gently and patiently.Jiandan listened attentively, nodding her head in agreement. Only now had she realized that her viewpoint had been so preposterous, because she had also always thought this way.“Sister Zhou, by you fellowshiping in this way, I now understand. When I associated with Liu Yan, from the outside it looked like we had a normal relationship, but actually it was not genuine affection for each other, neither did we help each other in the spirit. I acted on the life philosophy of ‘If you’re fine, I’m fine, then we are both fine,’ and when I encountered problems, I just skirted around them, which did nothing but cheat and harm her; when I was doing my duty, in particular with regards to important issues that involved principles, I just blindly made compromises, which caused loss to the church’s work and to the lives of brothers and sisters.” As Jiandan spoke, she felt self-reproach and a sense of indebtedness arise in her heart, and she hated herself for not having practiced the truth.Other people then fellowshiped about their own experiences and understanding one by one, and Jiandan felt even more strongly how important it is to understand the truth. She silently made a resolution: When performing my duty in the future, I will surely practice the truth, stand my ground and not be a yes-man, and no longer maintain abnormal relationships with other people; I’ll take performing my duty well to satisfy God as my goal, and I’ll make up for my transgressions.From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMRecommendation:I Am Unfit to See ChristA Letter From a Recovered Cancer Patient to Her Sister
22May
- Christian Movie
  Have You Been Raptured Before the Disaster? | "Rapture in Peril"Zhao Zhigang is an elder at the Local Church in China. Like many Christians, his greatest hope as a believer in the Lord is to be raptured alive, meet the Lord and rule with Him. In 1999, after the church leader released the message, "In the year 2000 the Lord shall come again, and His believers will be raptured alive," he was even more excited and enthusiastic than before. Brimming with faith and confidence, he looked to the future with hope and expectation…. However, after the year 2000 came and went, his hope had been all for naught. An unprecedented crisis of faith emerged in his denomination, and he couldn't help but wonder whether or not he had chosen the right path.After the gospel of the descent of kingdom of Almighty God spread throughout his denomination, Zhao Zhigang and a group of fellow workers entered into deep discussion and debate with preachers from the Church of Almighty God. These discussions revolved around beliefs they had maintained for many years within their denomination…. Finally, Zhao Zhigang could see clearly that they had been misled into confusion by religious antichrists. He quickly recognized the truth and came to accept the work of Almighty God. Eventually he was raptured before God's throne, where he could not help but to lament, "My rapture was truly in peril!"Recommendation:English Christian Movie "Deadly Ignorance" | Who Should We Listen to in Welcoming the Lord's ReturnThe True Meaning of Rapture in the Bible
- Christian Experience
  Reaping Happiness From Rebuilding Trust in MarriageA Snowball EffectYi Xuan had already suffered through one failed marriage, so she had a really clear understanding of the suffering marriage can bring. She had become very cautious about affairs of the heart. She ran into Li Wei one day by chance, and since both of them were Christians, they really shared a lot in common. Li Wei’s family wasn’t terribly well-off, but he was a good person who was eager to help others, plus he didn’t care that she was a divorcee with a child. That kind of sincerity was really moving for Yi Xuan and ultimately they disregarded their family members’ attempts to interfere and ended up together after a few twists and turns. Yi Xuan felt that because she was divorced and had a child she was in a much lesser position than Li Wei and so really treasured every bit of affection he showed. She also very meticulously cared for Li Wei’s food, clothing, and home. They lived in harmony. Yi Xuan told herself that she absolutely had to hold on tight to this hard-to-come-by happiness and work hard to manage their household, to stay with her husband for a lifetime.Several years passed in the blink of an eye. One day while Yi Xuan was straightening up clothing in the closet she found a pair of shoes that her daughter couldn’t wear and was going to throw them out. When he got back from work he saw the shoes sitting by the door and asked, “Aren’t these our daughter’s shoes? They’re so new—don’t you want them? They won’t fit you?” Busy making dinner, Yi Xuan responded, “I tried them, they’re too big. We have to get rid of them.” Looking reluctant, Li Wei picked them up and said, “Would they fit Zhang?” He said this somewhat quietly, but their daughter who was close by playing a game heard him and said with irritation, “Dad, why are you always so concerned with your apprentice, Zhang?” He couldn’t help but smile, raising his head to look at their daughter and saying, “Oh, you’re keeping an eye on your dad, hm?” Something stirred in Yi Xuan’s heart: “It’s true. Why has he been constantly talking about Zhang lately? She’s always on his mind—does he have feelings for her? No, it couldn’t be. I was the one who introduced her for that position and they already knew each other. Plus he’s a really warm-hearted person, so it’s normal for him to be caring toward her. Besides, Li Wei is also a Christian so it has to be nothing. I’m just over-thinking it.” Yi Xuan realized that she was being overly suspicious and she knew how important trust is between a husband and wife, that she shouldn’t let her imagination run wild. But what happened after that just deepened her doubts …Over a meal one day, Li Wei said to Yi Xuan very casually, “Zhang is a really picky eater. When she eats boiled eggs she’ll only eat the white, not the yolk. She usually gives me the yolk.” When she heard this the smile froze on her face, but Li Wei didn’t seem to notice. He went on. “Zhang really relies on me at work. She calls for me the moment a problem crops up. Sometimes I can’t be bothered and don’t want to help her out, but she just keeps trying to get me to help her. It leaves me with no choice.” Jealousy surged up in Yi Xuan and she couldn’t help but think, “At home I always eat the egg white and give the yolk to my husband. How could Zhang do that too? And she’s always asking him to help her with this or that—she seems to think they’re awfully close. She’s single and her conditions are more favorable than mine, plus they see each other at work day in and day out. Are they developing feelings from their constant proximity? If this goes on will his feelings for me change? Having a mistress, one-night stands, and extramarital affairs are all so common these days. Could it be that my husband is…?” At this point she was full of worry and anxiety, and she had a bit of regret. If she hadn’t recommended Zhang for work with her husband this never would have happened. She was deeply burdened with concern.In an effort to defend their marriage, Yi Xuan thought of everything she could to “gather intelligence” and “observe the enemy.” She frequently looked for excuses to come into contact with Zhang and discuss work-related matters with her, hoping to get some trace of a clue from something she said. Even though she didn’t find anything out, she often bragged to Zhang about how good her husband was to her and how happy their life together was so that Zhang would beat a retreat in the face of difficulties, and not try to win his affections. All of this left Zhang feeling really awkward and constrained. Not only that, but Yi Xuan kept indicating to Li Wei in a roundabout way not to get too close to Zhang. Seeing her strange behavior, over time Li Wei started mentioning Zhang in front of his wife less often, and the once outgoing Li Wei became quiet and taciturn. But the more Li Wei behaved that way the more Yi Xuan thought that he had something to hide, and so her own doubts redoubled. She was totally preoccupied with the issue of Zhang and her husband. Sometimes in the middle of work thoughts of the two of them would spring to mind and she’d wonder if he was with her at that moment. She wondered if they were…. Dwelling on it, Yi Xuan felt that her marriage was really in danger and she even wanted to cry. She didn’t know what she should do. Everything in her personal life and work had been upended by these strange thoughts—she was in a terrible state and didn’t know what to do.One evening after dinner, Yi Xuan realized that Li Wei had been speaking with her less and less over the past several days, and she couldn’t help but speculate. In a harsh tone of voice she said to Li Wei, “If you and Zhang continue to have this kind of work relationship, I figure nothing good can come of it!” He responded impatiently, “Don’t get carried away. There’s absolutely nothing between me and her.” But unable to hear her husband’s explanation, Yi Xuan continued to nag him. Seeing that she was becoming more and more unreasonable, Li Wei stormed out of the room. She sat next to the computer for quite a while feeling incredibly wronged and thought, “He’s really had a short temper lately. He used to always be so patient and accommodating with me in everything, but now he hardly takes notice of me. Plus I hardly said anything—how could it merit him getting so angry?” She wanted to go reason with Li Wei but then felt like it would be really awkward, so she left it alone. However, she felt an intense mix of emotions in her heart—she was really uneasy.God’s Words Provide Guidance Amidst Her SufferingIn her helplessness and suffering, Yi Xuan made an earnest prayer to God. “Oh God! A barrier has developed between me and my husband and I don’t know how to get through it—I’m really upset. God, please guide and lead me so that I can come out from this pain.” After her prayer, Yi Xuan read these words from God: “I take pleasure in those who are not suspicious of others, and I like those who readily accept the truth; toward these two kinds of people I show great care, for in My eyes they are honest people. If you are deceitful, then you will be guarded and suspicious toward all people and matters” (“How to Know the God on Earth”). Yi Xuan understood from God’s words that He likes those who are simple and honest with others, and not suspicious of others. Those who are constantly on guard and suspicious are the deceitful ones who are detested by God. Yi Xuan thought back over this period of time. Because of her compromised position as a divorced woman with a child, while Zhang was single, young, and pretty, she felt inferior to her. On top of that, it really is an age of people having extramarital affairs and taking on mistresses, so Yi Xuan was really concerned that her husband wouldn’t be able to withstand that temptation, that he would do something untoward that would end up destroying their home. That’s why, when she heard her husband bringing up Zhang all the time and knew that they were in constant contact, that they were in close proximity, she couldn’t help but suspect that their relationship was not entirely above board. She even tried to think of every means to test the two of them, wanting to glean the truth from something they said. Even though Yi Xuan didn’t discover anything improper between the two of them, she was still dubious and kept intentionally provoking her husband in conversation, insinuating that he should stay away from Zhang. So, Yi Xuan lived every day in the midst of incredible doubt and suffering and her husband had also become taciturn and was living in pain. A once-harmonious home had lost its warmth and happiness. At this point Yi Xuan suddenly realized that the root of her and her husband’s pain had been entirely because of her own deceitfulness and suspicion. Once she had found the root of her pain her gloomy mood lifted somewhat and she no longer wanted to continue doubting her husband because of her own crafty disposition.Yi Xuan read another passage of God’s words: “A marriage is not the product of both members’ families, the circumstances in which they grew up, their appearances, their ages, their qualities, their talents, or any other factors; rather, it arises from a shared mission and a related fate. This is the origin of marriage, a product of human fate orchestrated and arranged by the Creator” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). God’s words showed Yi Xuan that marriages come about from the fates and missions of both people, and that all of this is determined by what God has predestined and arranged. It’s not dependent on human labor or striving and it bears no relation to a person’s own living conditions or background. Yi Xuan thought back on her first marriage. Her family and friends were all very enthusiastic about it and she thought they’d have a really happy marriage. But after just a few short years, they simply couldn’t go on living together and they ended up going their separate ways. On the contrary, as for this marriage, although both of their families had strongly opposed their marriage, ultimately Yi Xuan and Li Wei ended up together. Pondering all of this, Yi Xuan deeply understood that her marriage was from God’s rule and that she didn’t have any say over how long they could last or whether he might be unfaithful, and that she had no control over it. All she could do was hand all of it over to God’s rule and submit to His orchestrations and arrangements—that’s the only way to live in a free and unrestrained way.Yuxuan knew that she was in the wrong, and considering that Li Wei was still angry she wanted to go comfort him, but she didn’t know what to say first. A passage of God’s words came to mind, so she rushed to get her book and find it. She then read it out quietly. “For example, after living together for several years, a husband and wife will have gotten used to each other, and locked horns sometimes. But if you are both of normal humanity, you will always commune the words within your heart to him, and he to you. Whatever difficulties you have in life, the problems in your work, what you’re thinking in your heart, how you plan to sort things out, what ideas and plans you have for your children—you’ll tell him everything. In that case, aren’t the two of you especially close to each other, and especially intimate with each other? If he never tells you the words in his heart, and does nothing but bring home a paycheck, and if you never speak to him of the words in your own heart and never confide in him, then is there not a distance between the two of you in your hearts? There surely is, because you do not understand each other’s thoughts or intentions. Ultimately, you cannot tell what kind of person he is, nor can he tell what kind of person you are; you don’t understand his needs, nor does he understand your requirements. If people have no verbal or spiritual communication, there is no possibility of intimacy between them, and they can’t provide for each other or help one another” (“The Most Fundamental Practice of Being an Honest Person”). Yi Xuan gave it some deeper thought. What’s most important between husband and wife is genuinely opening up their hearts to each other—that’s the only way to achieve intimacy, closeness, and trust. Only then can they be free from suspicion and conjecture. Thinking back on all the years the two of them had lived together, although it had been harmonious without any large conflicts, communication had been lacking between them. She rarely opened up her heart to her husband and told him about what was on her mind, and she rarely knew what was really going on inside her husband’s heart. This had led to a lack of trust between them, so naturally conflict and differences emerged between them when encountering an issue, even suspicion and doubts about the other. This impacted their relationship. Just like this time—when she noticed that he was bringing up Zhang all the time, she didn’t first open her heart to him or try to understand what he was feeling, but instead lived within her cunning, corrupt disposition and doubted him. As a result, their relationship became strained. Now that she had found a path of practice within God’s words, Yi Xuan decided to tell her husband everything, to open up to him.After saying a prayer to God, Yi Xuan mustered up her courage and went into the bedroom and said to her husband, a little embarrassed, “I’m sorry! I was just reading God’s words and only then realized how cunning I am, always doubting you. You said there was nothing between you and Zhang, but I was still worried. I was thinking that we live in such an evil society, people are having affairs and taking on mistresses all over the place. Plus I’m divorced and I have a child; Zhang’s conditions are better than mine, so I was afraid that the two of you would become closer because of your proximity and that you’d kick me to the curb. I’ve seen that I was being controlled by my cunning nature and was always suspicious of you. Not only did I suffer myself, but I hurt you as well.” Tears rolled down her face as she spoke. Seeing how Yi Xuan had opened up and come to know herself through the guidance of God’s words, Li Wei was both moved and a little reproachful of himself. His heartfelt response was: “I’m not mad at you. I’m the one who hasn’t been considerate of your feelings. Seeing you chasing the wind those few days, I thought that since there was nothing going on with Zhang I wouldn’t explain things to you. I was afraid that if I said too much your imagination would run away with you. It’s my fault too for just avoiding things and not opening up to you right away. We should have read God’s words together and sought the truth to resolve it; then this wouldn’t have been so painful for us.” He paused briefly, then said to Yi Xuan earnestly, “Our marriage is ordained by God. We came together even though it was so difficult at first—you haven’t forgotten, have you?” With tears in her eyes, Yi Xuan smiled sheepishly.Just Say “No” to SuspiciousnessA few days later, Yi Xuan saw in an internet browser an order confirmation for something that hadn’t been shipped yet; she saw that it was a woman’s wristwatch. Her heart thudded: “My watch is in perfectly good condition and none of Li Wei’s relatives are in the area. Why is he buying a watch? It’s not for Zhang, is it?” She realized that she was doubting him because of her crafty disposition, and she thought of these words from God: “I take pleasure in those who are not suspicious of others.” She knew that God likes those who are honest, that He likes those who are not suspicious of or guarded with other people. She was clear on God’s requirements of human beings and that she should act in accordance with His words and no longer be suspicious of Li Wei. She also deeply knew that doubting him because of her cunning disposition was living within the manipulations of Satan, and it was very painful—she couldn’t continue living that way. Besides, a wristwatch couldn’t prove anything. She knew she had to trust her husband. Realizing all of this, she let go of it within her heart. Li Wei later happened to mention to Yi Xuan that Zhang’s watch had broken and she wasn’t able to buy things online, so she asked him to help order it and she paid him back. When she heard this Yi Xuan felt completely calm, and she personally experienced that living based on God’s words, free of suspicion and with more trust and understanding between them, was the only way to have a harmonious relationship. She knew all of this had been achieved through God’s words, and she silently offered up thanks and praise to God.Now whenever Yi Xuan runs into an issue, she communicates and opens up to her husband more. She focuses on putting God’s words into practice, and there’s more warmth and comfort in her life.After going through all of this Yi Xuan can’t help but be deeply moved. She feels that having faith is such a wonderful thing. God’s words can resolve all the difficulties in life—they’re our guiding light on the path of life! When she was living within her doubts and all that suffering, it was God’s words that guided her to find the source of her pain as well as the path to harmonious marital interactions—they brought her out of a marital crisis. Yi Xuan has also deeply experienced that the only way to live a free and easy life is to be an honest person who is simple, open, and straightforward. Thanks be to God!From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMRecommendation:Christian Experience: Reaping Happiness From Rebuilding Trust in Marriage
20May
- The Church of Almighty God—CAG in Images app
  InformationSeller: The Church of Almighty GodSize: 9.2 MBCategory: ReferenceCompatibility: macOS 10.15 or later. Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Languages: EnglishAge Rating 4+Copyright © 2020 The Church of Almighty GodPrice FreeDeveloper WebsiteApp SupportPrivacy PolicyThe Picture Exhibition of the Appearance and Work of Almighty God is an online exhibition that has been carefully created to give those who wish to seek and explore the true way a deeper understanding of the return of the Lord Jesus—of the appearance and work of Almighty God, Christ of the last days. This app features everything from the exhibition and delivers it in an easy-to-use mobile format. The exhibition brings together hundreds of hand-drawn artworks that faithfully and vividly portray each stage of the origins and development of The Church of Almighty God. They include the background to Almighty God’s appearance and work, a record of the appearance and work of the incarnate Son of man as it happened among the house churches, the first six steps of Almighty God’s work of judgment that began with the house of God, and how the gospel of the kingdom of heaven has spread overseas amidst persecution from the CCP government. Through these images, you will gain an understanding of God’s work of purification and salvation during the last days, feel the authority and power of His words, and come to understand God’s true love and salvation of mankind during this time.Why Use CAG in Images?The app is completely free. Its intuitive, easy-to-use interface allows you to easily browse paintings and audiovisual resources.The app is clearly organized into different sections of illustrated content that recreate the origins and development of The Church of Almighty God, teaching you about the cherished history of Almighty God’s work and words among man.Users can listen to popular hymns from each stage of God’s work. These hymns will give you an in-depth understanding of every detail of God’s work and a sense of His love and salvation.Also included is the entirety of The Word Appears in the Flesh, the millions of words expressed by Almighty God when He appeared and began to work. Reading these words, you can enjoy the rich provision of the life.FeaturesReading settings: The font size of texts can be adjusted for easier reading.Online chat: Our online chat service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please contact us at any time if you would like to find out more about The Church of Almighty God.Hotline: The Church of Almighty God has churches in 37 countries and regions. You can call the hotline of your local church to seek and explore Almighty God’s work of the last days or ask any questions.Push notifications: Turn on push notifications so you don’t miss exciting new content from The Church of Almighty God.From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMIf you are interested and want to learn more, please click these links to download this app.1,https://apps.apple.com/app/cag-tv/id1497904681?l=en2,https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kingdomsalvation.cagtv
18May
- Judgment Before the Seat of Christ
  I Am Unfit to See ChristSince I first began believing in Almighty God, end-time Christ, I really admired those brothers and sisters who were following along at Christ’s side, who could personally receive Christ’s shepherding and hear His utterances with their own ears. I felt that it would be wonderful if I were able to hear Christ speak myself one day, and it would be even more glorious if I could see Him with my own eyes. But lately, through listening to Christ’s fellowship, I have come to feel deeply in my heart that I am not fit to see Christ.It was when Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life 1-3 were issued. After listening to the first volume of fellowship, I felt that the brother from the above very well. When I heard Christ’s fellowship in the second volume, at the time I didn’t know it was His fellowship; I surmised this was probably a leader under the brother from the above, and especially when Christ fellowshiped about the issue of how to view knowledge, I didn’t hear a very enthusiastic reaction from my brothers and sisters, so I was certain my guess was correct. I felt that speaker didn’t speak as well as the brother from the above, so I wasn’t listening carefully. When hearing the third volume, after the fellowship by the brother from the above, I heard Christ say, “About the brother’s fellowship just now…” and I was even more certain that this speaker must be a leader under the brother from the above, because in the world, leaders always speak first, and their subordinates speak afterward. So I hit the button and turned off the player, thinking, “I’ll listen to this later when I have time.” On the day I learned from my leader that it was actually Christ’s fellowship, I was shocked, and finally listened seriously to every word of the sermon.After that, I began to reflect: Why did I yearn so to hear the fellowship of Christ myself, yet when He spoke to us, I couldn’t recognize the voice of God? I began to read the words of God pertaining to my state and saw the following passage: “All men wish to see the true countenance of Jesus, and all desire to be with Him. I do not think that any brother or sister would say that they do not wish to see or to be with Jesus. Before you have seen Jesus—before you have seen the incarnate God—you are likely to entertain all sorts of ideas, for example, about Jesus’ appearance, His way of speaking, His way of life, and so on. But once you have really seen Him, your ideas will swiftly change. Why is this? Do you wish to know? Man’s thinking cannot be overlooked, which is true—but more than that, the substance of Christ does not brook alteration by man. You think Christ an immortal or a sage, but no one considers Him a normal man possessed of divine substance. As such, many of those who yearn day and night to see God are actually enemies of God, and are incompatible with Him. Is this not a mistake on the part of man? Even now you still think that your belief and loyalty are enough to make you worthy of beholding the countenance of Christ, but I exhort you to equip yourselves with more things that are practical! For in the past, present, and future, many of those who come in contact with Christ have failed or will fail; they all play the role of the Pharisees. What is the reason for your failure? It is precisely because there is in your notions a God who is lofty and deserving of admiration. But the truth is not as man wishes. Not only is Christ not lofty, but He is particularly small; not only is He a man, but He is an ordinary man…. And this being so, people treat Him as they would an ordinary man; they treat Him casually when they are with Him, and speak to Him heedlessly, all the while still waiting for the coming of the ‘true Christ.’ You take the Christ that has already come for an ordinary man, and His words for those of an ordinary man. For this reason, you have not received anything from Christ, and have instead completely exposed your own ugliness to the light” (“Those Who Are Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I held myself up against God’s words, and then I thought of how my own corrupt disposition and ugliness had manifested when I heard Christ’s fellowship. I realized that I believed in Christ but I didn’t understand His essence, didn’t understand His being humble and hidden, had too many notions and imaginings regarding Christ, and that my perspective on things was absurd. In my notions and imaginings, other than those brothers and sisters with immediate access to Him, others could not possibly hear Christ’s fellowship with their own ears. I imagined that Christ’s fellowship would be accompanied by Christ publicly announcing His identity and that it would be spoken in a voice different from others with many elegant turns of phrase, like some kind of extraordinary man. Christ’s fellowship, I imagined, would be accompanied by the excited, passionate cheers of my brothers and sisters; and if it was the brother from the above and Christ speaking in turn, then Christ would speak first, and the brother from the above would speak last. I delimited the work and words of Christ within the boundaries of my notions and imaginings, because I imagined Christ in a particular way. When the facts were at odds with these notions and imaginings of mine, within my heart I did not treat Him like God. Instead, I treated Christ as an ordinary person and Christ’s words as those of an ordinary person. While others gained much from Christ’s fellowship, I gained nothing, and instead completely exposed my satanic face of being arrogant, conceited, and truth-despising, and made myself one who rejects and resists Christ.Later, I saw in God’s word: “You always wish to see Christ, but I urge you not to hold yourselves in such high esteem; anyone may see Christ, but I say no one is fit to see Christ. Because the nature of man brims with evil, arrogance, and rebelliousness, at the moment you see Christ, your nature will destroy you and condemn you to death” (“Those Who Are Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You are not reverent in the presence of the truth, still less do you possess an attitude of yearning. All you do is study indiscriminately and wait with blithe unconcern. What can you gain from studying and waiting like this? Do you think you will receive personal guidance from God? If you cannot discern God’s utterances, in what way are you qualified to witness the appearance of God? … Only those who can accept the truth will be able to hear the voice of God, and only such people are qualified to witness the appearance of God” (“The Appearance of God Has Ushered in a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words cut me to the heart and made me further understand that I couldn’t discern God’s voice because I was too arrogant and too snobbish, too easily tempted to listen carefully and nod in agreement with those who have position and status, while I looked down upon those who I felt lacked position or status, such that even if they spoke the truth I wouldn’t accept it. When I listened to fellowship I was not focused on the truth, or gaining edification myself, and instead devoted my mind to speculation and scrutiny, analyzing what kind of person the speaker was. I revealed nothing but corruptness and rebelliousness, notions and imaginings. Someone as arrogant, rebellious, and lacking love of the truth as me, someone without a shred of piety or yearning before the truth as me, how could I possibly hear and know the voice of God? How was I fit to see Christ?Through that revelation I finally understood that even though I wanted to see Christ, I was unfit to see Him because Satan’s corruption of me is too deep, I am very arrogant and rebellious by nature, I possess none of the truth, I do not understand the essence of Christ, I have too many notions and imaginings about God, and in my heart the God I believe in is still a vague God, an image of a mighty and eloquent figure. And when I truly see Christ, my notions may be revealed at any time and my arrogant disposition may flare up at any moment. As a result, because of my own rebellious nature I can only do things that offend God’s disposition such as making judgments of God and resisting Him, thus doing myself in. Now I must equip myself with the truth, seek to know my corrupt nature and understand the essence of Christ through the words of God, and seek to become someone who knows and worships Christ.From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMRecommendation:God’s Words Removed My NotionsChristian Testimony "Awakening Amid Judgment" | Have You Found the Path to Have Your Sins Cleansed?
- Christian testimony
  The Hostility in His Heart Is No Longer GrowingLiu Yi had a lot of friends in school because a sense of brotherhood and getting along well with his classmates were really important to him. In his life, when he saw nice people being bullied, he would go to bat for them. In general, he could get along with just about anyone, and he would rather take a bit of a loss than take advantage of someone else. Liu Yi felt that he was someone who possessed good humanity. But only when reality came upon him, when something really encroached upon his own interests, he discovered the vile satanic disposition buried deep within his heart …On one day in May, as Liu Yi was in the office completely engrossed in editing an article, Chen Hao stepped in front of him and said: “Liu Yi, you’ve been a part of the team for a good bit of time, but there hasn’t been any improvement in your article editing. We’ve talked about these things quite a few times but they’re still an issue. Did you really study editing at university? Your resume couldn’t be falsified, could it?” Hearing this, Liu Yi’s face was burning with embarrassment. He felt like it was a huge blow to his dignity; a bias against Chen Hao developed within him. While Liu Yi was still stewing over this, he happened to pass by Chen Hao’s room, and accidentally overheard him saying to the leader: “Liu Yi’s capabilities aren’t up to par. He’s not suited to being trained to take a position of responsibility.” Liu Yi was absolutely shocked, feeling like he had just been slapped in the face. He suddenly felt like he had been dragged through the mud and his anger welled up and overflowed: “You’re so out of line! In any case, I’m a university graduate and I’ve been a leader and a co-worker in the local church. Since I was transferred to this church to fulfill my duty I can certainly be trained. Based on what you’re saying, I’m completely worthless, is that right? Won’t the other brothers and sisters look down on me? Can’t the church promote and train me?” Liu Yi went back to his own room in a huff and just stared blankly at his computer screen. He wasn’t remotely in the mood to work on the articles on his plate; Chen Hao’s words kept echoing in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more animosity he felt toward Cheng Hao. He got up, walked out to the balcony, and gazed at the gloomy sky. He felt just like the sky looked—depressed and dull.Over the following period of time, every time Liu Yi saw Chen Hao, he felt irritable and didn’t even want to acknowledge him. At times, after Chen Hao read articles Liu Yi had edited and gave him some suggestions, Liu Yi was really resistant and would directly refute him: “As I see it, this is really clear. Your suggestions aren’t necessarily better. There’s no need to change it.” At times when they had different views when discussing articles, when the majority of their brothers and sisters agreed with Liu Yi’s perspective, he would secretly look down on Chen Hao and take advantage of the opportunity to belittle him, saying that Chen Hao’s skills were lacking in editing articles. Before long, Chen Hao was promoted to a position of responsibility, and whenever he was making work arrangements for him, Liu Yi was really disgruntled and was in a perfunctory manner. Once this had gone on for a while, Chen Hao felt particularly constrained and didn’t dare give him suggestions anymore. One day, Liu Yi noticed that when the upper-level leader inquired after Chen Hao’s work, he didn’t give a clear response. Gloating, he said: “Now I know your weak points. The leader asked you a question and you got so nervous that you couldn’t even respond. I can see that you’re totally lacking in caliber, but you actually have the nerve to say that I’m lacking.” Then he publicly reproved Chen Hao: “Why don’t you say something? You have no sense.” Chen Hao hung his head and didn’t say a word. Seeing this, Liu Yi secretly felt a little unsettled, but when he thought of how Chen Hao had made him look bad in the past, he thought that he was too arrogant and applying some pressure to him wasn’t going overboard. After that, Liu Yi would frequently judge Chen Hao behind his back as having an arrogant disposition, thinking too much of himself, looking down on other brothers and sisters, and scolding people from on high, etc. The brothers and sisters in his team were all impacted by his judgments, and Brother Li even developed a bias and opinions against Chen Hao. Liu Yi felt some self-reproach; he realized the way that he was judging Chen Hao behind his back wasn’t the right way to do things, but he didn’t reflect on and understand himself better. When Liu Yi later saw some issues in the articles written by the brothers and sisters, he wanted to talk to Chen Hao about how to resolve this, but since he couldn’t put his own bias against him aside, instead he put the issues aside. Since there was no subsequent progress in the article editing of their team and there were some issues that hadn’t been dealt with in a timely manner, one brother raised a suggestion: “Do we need more editors in our team? Should we look for people from other churches? This project can’t just keep on being delayed; it’s impacting our progress.” Hearing this, Liu Yi’s heart thumped, and he felt great self-blame. He thought: “The church arranged for me to come in the first place because there weren’t enough editors here, but because I’ve been living within a corrupt disposition, I’ve never been able to cooperate harmoniously with Brother Chen. I’ve seriously delayed this important project.” At that moment, Liu Yi felt very upset; he knew that he should treat his brother appropriately and collaborate with him to do their duty well, but his corrupt disposition was ruling over him, convincing him: “You can’t bow your head to Chen Hao, then you’ll lose your dignity. He’s done harm to your face and you can’t forgive him.” That was the push and pull between his conscience and his corrupt disposition. In his helplessness, Liu Yi could only pray to God: “Oh God! I am really suffering. I’m living within my corrupt disposition and am unable to treat Brother Chen as I should. God, may You enlighten and guide me so that I may know myself and find the right path of practice within God’s words.”In the dead of night, Liu Yi was still intently focused on his computer screen reading God’s words when he saw this: “Are you capable of thinking up various ways to punish people because they are not to your liking or do not get along with you? Have you ever done this sort of thing before? (Yes.) Were you not always indirectly belittling people, making cutting remarks, and being sarcastic toward them? (Yes.) What were the states in your hearts when you were doing such things? At the time, you were venting and felt happy, and you gained the upper hand; afterward, however, you thought to yourselves, ‘I did such a despicable thing. I don’t have a God-fearing heart, and I have treated someone so unfairly.’ Did you feel to blame inside? (Yes.) … Can you contemplate attacking and seeking revenge against people, giving them a hard time and showing them who is the boss whenever you despise them, do not get along with them, or when they do not listen to or obey you? ‘If you don’t do what I want, I won’t punish you now, but I’ll find an opportunity. No one will know, no one will find out, but I will punish you and make you submit to me. I’ll make you beg for mercy; I’ll show you that I am inviolable. I’ll show you my iron fist and my power. After that, no one will dare to mess with me!’” (“The Five Conditions People Have Before They Enter the Right Track of Believing in God” in Records of Christ’s Talks). After reading God’s words, Liu Yi felt really ashamed; those words really described his state at the time as well as what he had recently been living out. His brother’s words had damaged his own face and dignity, so he then developed a great bias against him and held a grudge against him. When Brother Chen had suggestions about the articles he had worked on, he was contradictory and would refute him, unable to accept it. When the upper-level leader was inquiring after their work and Chen Hao didn’t provide a good answer, he gloated and took advantage of the situation to get back at him, belittling Brother Chen in front of the other brothers and sisters and even judging him behind his back in the hopes that he would become isolated from more of them. When he discovered that there were issues in an article he had received that urgently required discussion and seeking with Brother Chen, he preferred to hold up the church’s work rather than set concerns of his face aside to talk about and resolve the problem; this was because he couldn’t let go of his own bias against him. Liu Yi reflected on this and saw that his thinking and his actions had no semblance of humanity at all. He had thought of himself as a humane person, but through this period of time performing his duty alongside Brother Chen, he discovered that he didn’t appear to do anything obviously bad when the people, events, and things didn’t encroach on his own personal interests. However, as soon as someone else offended him or their words or actions impacted his face or status, injuring his so-called dignity, he would watch for his chance to exact revenge and even use all sorts of tactics to stifle and exclude them. He wouldn’t even uphold the interests of the church; he wouldn’t even stop at delaying and obstructing the work of the church. He felt that he really was incredibly selfish and wicked—he didn’t have the likeness of a man of faith at all! Liu Yi also realized that when Brother Chen had said that his work skills were lacking, that was an objective assessment, and even though he had studied editing in school, when editing articles for the church he needed to understand a lot of truths; he could acknowledge that he was lacking in that aspect. Chen Hao’s helping to point these things out was supporting the work of the church and it was making up for his own deficiencies. But not only did he refuse to accept it, but he made exclusionary, judgmental, and vicious attacks against Brother Chen in order to protect his own face and dignity. He really was entirely lacking humanity and reason. When he thought of all of this, Liu Yi felt extremely guilty and reproachful of himself; he no longer fixated on him, instead he was willing to treat Brother Chen with a loving and sincere heart.When Liu Yi let go of his bias against Brother Chen and was going to seek him out for a heart-to-heart, Brother Zhao, a member of his team, suddenly said to him: “Brother Chen hasn’t been in a very good state for the last couple of days. Would you like to have a chat with him?” Liu Yi realized that this was his opportunity to remove the barrier between him and Brother Chen and put the truth into practice. So he went to talk to Brother Chen. At first, he was still holding onto some concern for his own face, worried whether Brother Chen would give him the cold shoulder once he had finished telling him what was on his heart. That would be really awkward. But, when he was willing to forsake himself and practice according to God’s words, God gave him confidence and courage. He opened up to Brother Chen about his own expression of corruption, and Brother Chen also shared with him what was on his mind. Through this heart-to-heart they had, this knot that had been tied up in his heart was untied. From then on, they were no longer estranged from each other and would frequently bare their hearts to each other and talk about entry into life—they became able to interact in a free and easy way. When Brother Chen again pointed out Liu Yi’s corruption, he was able to put aside his own face and status and accept it with an open mind. And when Brother Chen again raised suggestions about his work, no matter what kind of manner or tone he had, Liu Yi was able to listen patiently and first consider whether or not his brother’s suggestions would benefit their work. As long as it was beneficial for the church’s work, he would go along. This way, their collaboration in performing their duty became more harmonious, and Liu Yi also proactively took on a burden for their duty. When there was an issue he didn’t have clarity on, he would go discuss it with Brother Chen. Through this experience, Liu Yi had a taste of how he can only cast off the strictures and binds of his corrupt disposition through putting the truth into practice. He gained true peace and joy.After a few months of this, Liu Yi felt that he had changed a bit. However, within a new environment that God set up, he saw that changing a corrupt disposition is no easy task, and that it requires undergoing more judgment and chastisement of God’s words before cleansing and transformation can be achieved.At a later point, both Liu Yi and Sister Zhang Rui were selected as team leaders to manage the work of editing articles together. One day they were talking about work with a few other brothers and sisters in their team, discussing how to divide up and cooperate on a couple of tasks. As the discussion progressed, a difference of opinion emerged between Liu Yi and Zhang Rui due to their different viewpoints. Liu Yi thought that he had a great idea and that everyone should agree to it, and that Zhang Rui in particular should support him as someone working alongside him. To his surprise, Zhang Rui directly shot down his idea. He was really embarrassed, thinking: “Why can’t you give me a little bit of an out? Doesn’t going against me in front of so many brothers and sisters make me look inadequate as a team leader?” Trying to save face, Liu Yi then said a few contrary things to back Zhang Rui, which results in them parting on bad terms. Later on, Liu Yi wanted to have a good talk with Zhang Rui about it, but as soon as he thought about how she had made him look bad in front of everyone, he could no longer let go of his views and bias against her; he let go of the idea of seeking her out for a talk. As they continued to perform their duty together, even though Liu Yi saw Zhang Rui revealing an arrogant disposition and relying on her gifts and caliber to do the work, or even being arbitrary at times, he didn’t provide her with any help. Instead, he thought to himself viciously: “All you care about is work; you don’t know yourself at all. It’s obvious that you’re not someone who pursues the truth, and you’re bound to fail and go down sooner or later!” Since Liu Yi was never able to put himself aside and relied on his corrupt disposition in dealing with Zhang Rui, when he saw her issues, he didn’t offer any help. This led to her constantly living within her arrogant disposition and not understanding herself, which held up the work of the church. Zhang Rui was later dismissed from her duty as team leader. Their leader dealt with Liu Yi, saying: “Sister Zhang was dismissed; you are also directly responsible for it. You were working together and you saw the issues she was having. Why didn’t you have fellowship with her and help her? This also reveals your own malicious nature.” Exposed by his leader, Liu Yi felt a bit of an internal awakening as well as somewhat reproached. He felt that he really hadn’t handled the situation correctly, but he had still found it was difficult to overcome the constraints of his corrupt disposition. In addition, he hadn’t been able to seek the truth to resolve the issue in time. After Zhang Rui was dismissed, she was placed within the team to reply to articles. Even though Liu Yi was aware of Zhang Rui’s experience of having failed and stumbled, and knew it was a time that she needed help and support, as soon as he thought of how Zhang Rui had damaged his face, he felt unwilling to fellowship with her.One afternoon the sky suddenly darkened and the air began to feel heavy. There were a few brothers and sisters inside quietly editing articles, and Liu Yi walked over to Zhang Rui’s desk and gave her a few suggestions on a piece that she had worked on. Zhang Rui looked at the article and pondered it for a moment, then said irritably: “I don’t feel that some of the things you’ve brought up are a big issue. There’s no need to change them.” All the brothers and sisters looked over at Liu Yi at the same time, and he thought to himself, feeling awkward and angry: “You haven’t accepted any of the suggestions I’ve made recently. You look down on me, don’t you? You think that we used to be on equal footing but now I’m not qualified to point anything out to you? If you’re always shooting down my suggestions, aren’t I team leader in name only?” Right then little droplets of rain began falling and Liu Yi became very irritable. The more he dwelled on his past experiences performing his duty with Zhang Rui, the more his bias grew. After that, when Zhang Rui asked Liu Yi for help when she ran into problems at work, he felt really resentful and gave her the cold shoulder. He paid no attention to her work, and still wouldn’t help her even after seeing that her performance was poor. When Zhang Rui raised some positive suggestions for their team’s work, Liu Yi was unwilling to listen, thinking that she was intentionally making him look bad. He was also concerned that if Zhang Rui kept bringing up issues that way, the other brothers and sisters in the team would start to look down on him. So, the notion to get her out of the team cropped up in his mind and he made a complaint to his upper-level leader in an effort to get Zhang Rui’s duty adjusted. He then started inquiring about which teams in the church were lacking people. When talking to other team leaders, on the surface he praised her strong points, but in reality, he just wanted to foist her off on another group. One time when he was collecting evaluations on Zhang Rui, he even wanted to delete all the other brothers’ and sisters’ positive evaluations on her, but started to feel uneasy just as he was doing it, so he canceled the deletion. He realized that what he was doing was wrong, so he told his upper-level leader, who sternly dealt with him: “Do you know the nature of modifying brothers’ and sisters’ evaluations? It’s punishing and fixing someone!” Hearing this was very upsetting for Liu Yi. He never imagined that he could do something so sinister and vicious—he could hardly even face himself.In his self-reproach, Liu Yi wanted to seek the truth to resolve his own corrupt disposition. Once, in his devotionals, he saw the following from God’s words: “Isn’t the character of the action of taking revenge malicious? It does contain a malicious nature. If someone didn’t have a malicious nature, they wouldn’t think of taking revenge. … People think like this: ‘If you’re not going to be kind, then I won’t be just! If you’re rude to me, then I’ll be rude to you as well! If you don’t treat me with dignity, why would I treat you with dignity?’ What sort of thinking is this? Is it not a vengeful way of thinking? In the views of an ordinary person, is this type of perspective not viable? Does it not hold water? ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’; ‘here’s a taste of your own medicine’—among unbelievers, these are rationales that hold water and are accepted as above-board. Some people even think that this is how an upright and honorable person should behave. However, as someone who believes in God—as someone who seeks to understand the truth and seeks a change in disposition—would you say that such words are right or wrong? Are these perspectives right or wrong? (Wrong.) Why is that? Where do such things come from? They come from the malicious nature of Satan; they contain venom, and they contain the true face of Satan in all its maliciousness and ugliness. They contain the very essence of that nature. What is the character of the perspectives, thoughts, expressions, speech, and even actions that contain that nature’s essence? Are they not of Satan? Are these aspects of Satan in line with humanity? Are they in line with the truth, or with the reality of the truth? (No.) They are not the actions, thoughts, or perspectives that followers of God should possess” (“Only Resolving Your Corrupt Disposition Can Free You From a Negative State” in Records of Christ’s Talks). “In your everyday lives, in what things, and in how many things, do you have God-fearing hearts, and in what things do you not? Can you hate people? When you hate someone, you think to yourselves, ‘I want to make that person suffer, punish that person, and take my revenge against that person’—can you do that? (Yes.) Well then, you are quite scary! You do not have God-fearing hearts. That you could act on those impulses is way too frightening; this disposition is quite vile and very serious! … If you were given a position, you could punish people; as such, you could turn into an antichrist at any moment. What sort of person is one who becomes an antichrist? Is he or she not one who will be eliminated?” (“The Five Conditions People Have Before They Enter the Right Track of Believing in God” in Records of Christ’s Talks). Liu Yi felt really distressed after reading God’s revealing words of judgment. He realized that he had always lived by the satanic, worldly philosophies like “If someone doesn’t tread on me, I won’t tread on them; I have to strike back at whoever does.” It was even to the point that he had become arrogant, small-minded, and merciless. He didn’t have any love or tolerance for his brothers or sisters, much less could he get along harmoniously with others. When his brothers’ and sisters’ words or actions impinged on his own interests, he bottled it up in his heart, even thinking of everything to punish them, to teach them a lesson, to exact revenge. When Zhang Rui wouldn’t accept his suggestions at work, when she inadvertently stepped on his face and status through her words and actions in front of other brothers and sisters, he held on to it and was at daggers drawn with her. When he saw her revealing corruption or in a negative state in performing her duty, not only did he fail to help her, but saw it as a joke. When Zhang Rui was replaced and she was living in weakness and negativity, needing help and support, he didn’t fellowship on the truth with her to help her out because he couldn’t let go of his own biases. He even gloated over it. When Zhang Rui pointed out problems in his performance of his duty, he complained to his upper-level leader to have Zhang Rui’s duty changed in order to preserve his own status and image among others. He even used his own power to try to get her transferred to another team, even attempting to delete other people’s positive evaluations of her so that others wouldn’t be able to see anything good in her. He belittled her and fixed her to root out anything that went contrary to himself. Realizing this, Liu Yi saw how sinister his nature is; he thought about how antichrists discriminate against anyone who doesn’t agree with them, and how they suppress and punish brothers and sisters for their status. In an effort to hold on to his own position and image in everyone’s minds, he struck out at Zhang Rui in revenge. He saw that the nature of his behaviors and manifestations was the same as the antichrists who had been expelled from the church. At this thought, he felt a lingering dread. He also recognized that being able to lash out at and take revenge on his sister was entirely from being controlled by his malicious nature. He didn’t have a heart of reverence for God in the least, and he was on the road of an antichrist. If he didn’t repent but continued on that way, sooner or later he would commit great evil and bring disaster down upon him; he would offend God’s disposition and face the possibility of being eliminated by God at any time. Once this occurred to him, Liu Yi couldn’t help but pray out to God: “Oh God! From being exposed by You I have seen that I truly lack humanity. I’m so despicable and evil. I no longer want to live by my corrupt disposition. Oh God! May You guide me so that I may treat my sister based on the principles of the truth and be a person who possesses humanity.”One day, the sun was shining radiantly and the birds were chirping merrily outside of the window; it was a scene of vitality and abundance. Liu Yi was in the middle of a gathering with a few brothers and sister, opening up about the corruption he had revealed over this period of time and seeking on how to enter in. Sister Li, a church leader, smiled and said: “Brother Liu, I can see that you’ve gained some knowledge of your own malicious nature from this experience, but you’re still lacking knowledge of God. We still need to know God from this experience, which will be of greater benefit to our life entry. Let’s take a look at a passage of sermons and fellowship.” Sister Li opened up her app and read aloud: “God is a righteous God. Does He have love for corrupt humanity? Does He have hate? He has both love and hate. Where does His love come from? Humanity was created by Him. God regards all humanity He created as His flesh and bones, so He loves humanity in the same way as He loves His own flesh and bones or the way He loves the pupils in His eyes. What does He hate about humanity? He hates the corrupt disposition that exists within humanity, He hates the satanic poison that exists within mankind, He hates the evil that exists within man, and He hates how they follow Satan and defy Him. Because of His hatred for Satan and for the corruption of man and man’s God-defying nature, He implements judgment, chastisement, dealing and pruning in order to save mankind. This is God’s love and hate. What manifestations can we see of God’s love for us? In order to save us, God has suffered so much pain, spoken so many words and paid such a price. He has endured so much of our rebelliousness, defiance and judgment, and regardless of how weak we are, how much we rebel against Him, how negative we are or how much we defy Him, God endures it all and patiently uses His words to enlighten us, comfort us and guide us. Especially when we reveal all kinds of corruption, and when we are weak or when we have grown distant from Him, all along He pities, pardons and forgives us. He does not see our weakness or corruption—He just persistently does His work. From God’s disposition, we can see that God is very lovable. At this time, we can see that, even though God is angry at us, judges us or chastises us, He still loves us very much. He does this completely out of love. That is why, through our experience, we feel more and more that only God is love. Without God, there is no love, corrupt humanity has no love whatsoever, and all that Satan has is hate” (The Meaning of Obtaining the Truth and the Characteristics of Those Who Obtain the Truth). After reading the passage, Sister Li fellowshiped: “We can see from this that God’s disposition is righteous, and that there are principles to both His love and His hate for man. Although God judges and chastises us because He hates our satanic natures, it’s all for us to escape from our own corruption and rebelliousness; He has never given up on saving us because our corruption is so deep. Instead, He has tirelessly given us watering and sustenance so that we can understand the truth and gradually achieve change. He tolerates our rebelliousness and opposition in order to save us; regardless of our transgressions, He continues to work as always, patiently comforting and exhorting us with the goal of waiting until we awake and turn toward Him. It’s clear that God’s essence is incredibly kind! His salvation for mankind is genuine, and everything He does in man is love. There isn’t the slightest aspect of hatred. However, we have been very deeply corrupted by Satan and all we have for others is hate, not love. We even take revenge on others, fix them, and punish them to safeguard our own interests, bringing them nothing but injury and suffering.” At this moment, Liu Yi felt full of shame, and saw how beautiful and kind God’s life is, and that his own nature is so ugly, so malicious! Sister Li went on: “God requires that we treat others the way He treats us, and we need to seek God’s will in how to treat Sister Zhang in this matter. God is forgiving, teaching, and encouraging those He wants to save, so we should also practice the truth according to God’s requirements. Only this is in line with His will.” Liu Yi nodded in acknowledgment. He understood that Sister Zhang was a true believer and they were of the same spiritual family. He should not treat her with such malice, but should set aside his own biases and hostility, treating her as is required by God’s will. Liu Yi then gained the resolve and the motivation to put the truth into practice.The next morning, fresh air wafted in when Liu Yi opened the window and the sun’s rays danced in the leaves of trees. He walked over to his desk, quieted his heart, and made a prayer to God, then opened up his book to this passage of God’s words: “One can hate another person—that is a part of normal humanity; however, actually being able to act on that hate and exact vengeance to achieve one’s own goals and purposes is pretty scary. Some people just hate, and leave it at that. After a while, if they cannot get along with the people they hate, they will start to distance themselves from them and avoid them; however, they do not let this affect their duty or influence their normal interpersonal relationships. They do not act on their hate because they have God in their hearts. Even though they have this idea of hate, this evil thought, they do not act upon it. Because they fear God, do not want to offend God, are afraid to offend God, and they possess God-fearing hearts, they therefore do not utter a word that is out of line. They feel they cannot get along with someone, or have some thoughts and views about them, but they never take any actions, and would not offend God on this matter. What kind of behavior is this? It is conducting oneself and handling things with principle and impartiality. ‘Although I am incompatible with this person’s humanity and personality, when we work together, I remain impartial, and won’t take my frustrations out on my duty, sacrifice my duty, or take them out on the interests of God’s family.’ You may not like this person, but you can still do things according to principle. As such, you have a basic God-fearing heart. If you have a bit more than that, you will be able to help them. When you see they have some faults or weaknesses, even if they have offended you or affronted you, or harmed your interests, you can still help them. This would be even better; this would mean that you are a person who possesses humanity, the reality of truth, and a God-fearing heart. If you cannot achieve this with your current stature but can do things, conduct yourselves, and treat people in accordance with principle, then this also counts as having a God-fearing heart; this is most fundamental” (“The Five Conditions People Have Before They Enter the Right Track of Believing in God” in Records of Christ’s Talks). God’s words really caught Liu Yi’s eyes, giving him even more of the path for practice. He understood that treatment of others should be based on the principles of the truth and shouldn’t just follow a corrupt disposition. He had to always hold a heart of reverence for God and in all things learn to put himself aside, practice the truth, and not do things that hurt others so that he and his brothers and sisters could love each other. This was the reality of the truth that he needed to enter into. He later proactively opened up to Zhang Rui about the corruption he had revealed in their cooperation on their duties. Hearing his fellowship, Zhang Rui didn’t try to settle the score with him at all, but on the contrary began recognizing her own corruption; she also opened up in fellowship on some of her views of him from before. Through this heart-to-heart, Liu Yi discovered that his revenge and attacks on Zhang Rui had been very restrictive and hurtful for her and had seriously hindered the team’s work. He felt very guilty and indebted. Liu Yi gained real understanding of the serious consequences of living by his own malicious nature; he also gained a taste of the peace and comfort of practicing the truth and living according to God’s words. After that, he and Zhang Rui were able to fulfill their duty together normally.Following this, when Liu Yi encountered situations where brothers’ and sisters’ words touched upon his own face and status, he was better able to let go of it and not lash out or take revenge on them out of hot-bloodedness. Instead, he would first accept it and reflect on his own issues. If the other person was right, he would accept it without any conditions. Sometimes the other person was also revealing a corrupt disposition, so he learned to put himself in their shoes, consider what was behind their words, and have empathy for their actual stature and difficulties. He didn’t hold grudges against others, but instead fellowshiped on God’s words through love, helping them understand their own corruption. After this kind of practice, his relationships with the brothers and sisters got better and better; they were sincere in their interactions and could cooperate harmoniously. The hostility and biases no longer ruled his heart. Liu Yi truly experienced that it was the revelations and the judgment of God’s words that allowed him to gain a bit of understanding of his malicious nature and have a bit of reverence for God. It also allowed him to treat his brothers and sisters with some genuine love. It was clear to him that being able to reap this harvest and having a bit of change was entirely achieved through the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. He offered up thanks and praise to God from the depths of his heart!From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMRecommendation:I Was Saved by Almighty God During My Opposition to HimWhat Is Being Saved? What Is Attaining Full Salvation? 4 Essentials for Christians to Be Fully Saved
16May
- Gospel Q&A
  Questions and Answers on the Truth of IncarnationQuestion 3: The Lord Jesus in whom we believe is God’s incarnation. The Lord Jesus did God’s work of redemption, no one dares deny this, but this Almighty God in whom you believe is not necessarily God’s incarnation, because there is no record of Almighty God in the Bible. So then, the pastors and elders of the religious world all say He in whom you believe is merely a man, that you’ve been fooled. Only the Lord Jesus, in whom we believe, is Christ, is God’s Son!Answer: Your belief in the Lord Jesus as God’s incarnation is not false. But why do you believe in the Lord Jesus? Do you really think of the Lord Jesus as God? You believe in the Lord Jesus because of what has been recorded in the Bible and because of the work of the Holy Spirit. But no matter what you say, if you haven’t seen the Lord Jesus face to face, do you really dare say you know the Lord Jesus? In your belief in the Lord, you’re merely echoing the words of Peter, who said that the Lord Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God, but do you believe that the Lord Jesus is the manifestation of God, is God Himself? Do you dare say that you recognize the Lord Jesus’ divine substance? Do you dare guarantee that if the Lord Jesus were to come again expressing the truth, you would recognize His voice? Your belief in the Lord Jesus amounts to nothing more than a belief in “the Lord Jesus” these three words. You believe in His name only. You don’t understand the Lord Jesus’ divine substance. If you do understand, then why can’t you distinguish the voice of God’s Spirit? Why don’t you acknowledge that the truth which Almighty God expresses emerges from God and is the voice and word of the Holy Spirit? From what I’ve seen today, how you reject the voice of God and deny the truth which God expresses, I am sure that you do not know the incarnate God! If you had been born two thousand years ago, in the age when the Lord Jesus was preaching and doing His work, you certainly would have joined the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in condemning the Lord Jesus. Is this not the case? If you had been born two thousand years ago, in the age when the Lord Jesus was preaching and doing His work, you certainly would have joined the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in condemning the Lord Jesus. Is this not the case? The Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees had believed in the one and only God for many years, but why was it that they didn’t recognize the Lord Jesus? Why did they nail Him to the cross? What was the issue? Why is it that the pastors and elders of the religious world in the last days fail to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? Why do they still condemn the judgment work of Almighty God in the last days? Let me ask you all: Isn’t someone who believes in God but fails to acknowledge God’s incarnation an antichrist? The Jewish leaders resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus, the incarnate God. They were all antichrists revealed by God’s work. As for the pastors and elders of the religious world in the last days who resist and condemn the incarnate Almighty God, are they not also antichrists exposed by God’s work? We can all plainly see that the majority of pastors and elders in the religious world all resist and condemn the work of Almighty God in the last days; they look upon Almighty God’s work without really seeing, they hear His words without really listening. Almighty God has expressed all the truths to purify and save mankind. He has conquered, saved, and made a group of overcomers. The gospel of the kingdom is spreading throughout the world, this is inexorable! Could the pastors and leaders of the religious world possibly not see the facts of God’s work? How can they still say something as ridiculous as, “Belief in Almighty God is belief in a human”? Reflecting upon this, I’m instantly reminded of how the Lord Jesus, when He came to do His work, was resisted, condemned, and blasphemed by the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees. Did they not also say that belief in the Lord Jesus was belief in a mere human? What is the issue here? This just goes to show that there are many who believe in the vague God of the high heavens, but there are few who have knowledge of the incarnate God. Why did the Lord Jesus condemn those Pharisees that resisted Him? Because they only believed in the vague God of the high heavens, but condemned and resisted the incarnate God.The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees clearly saw the authority and power of the Lord Jesus’ words and work. So how could they still brazenly resist, condemn, and blaspheme the Lord Jesus? They said that He cast out devils through Beelzebub, chief of the devils, and aimed to deceive man, and even nailed Him to the cross alive, what does this show? Was it not because they saw the Lord Jesus as an ordinary human that they did all this? Just as they said, “Is that not the Nazarene, the son of a carpenter?” In the conception of the Pharisees, the flesh of God incarnate should possess supernatural qualities. He should be of great stature and powerful build, with a heroic bearing and commanding presence. His words should have an earthshaking and deafening ring, they should strike fear in the hearts of man, so that no one dare approach Him. Otherwise, He could not be considered God. In truth, they didn’t have the slightest understanding of what is meant by the incarnation and did not seek in the Lord Jesus’ word and work for the truth, to find God’s disposition and all that God is and has. They took the Lord Jesus for an ordinary man, judging and blaspheming Him based upon their illusions and conceptions. This proves that while they believed in God, they did not know Him and even resisted Him. Now, the pastors and elders of the religious world say that the One we believe in is merely human. This is no different from how the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees condemned the Lord Jesus’ followers. As you can see, most pastors and elders of the religious world are no different than the hypocritical Pharisees of yore, they all believe in God while resisting Him at the same time. They are scoundrels who only acknowledge the vague God of the high heavens while denying Christ Himself! What right do they have to condemn those that accept and obey Christ?In the last days, God has come again into a flesh to express His word and do His work among men. He has come this time as the incarnate Almighty God. From His outward appearance, Almighty God seems just like an ordinary person, living practically in the company of men, living among them, and taking part in their lives. He expresses the truth according to man’s needs and does the work of judgment starting from God’s house. In experiencing Almighty God’s work, we have heard Almighty God’s word with our own ears. We have seen Him unveil the mysteries of God’s management plan with our own eyes, that is, the inside story of God’s three stages of work for saving mankind, the purpose of God’s management plan, the mystery of the incarnation, how Satan corrupts mankind, the substance and truth of man’s corruption by Satan, how God purifies, saves, and perfects man, the meaning and purpose of God’s work of judgment, who God loves and who He curses, who will be saved and who will be destroyed, the destination of man, the ends of all the many kinds of men, and how God’s kingdom will be realized on earth, etc. While expressing these truths, Almighty God also judges and exposes man’s satanic disposition and his nature and substance of resistance to God, allowing us to see the substance and fact of our thorough corruption by Satan, to see how arrogant and self-aggrandizing, treacherous and selfish we are, how we have nothing of the likeness of humans, how unworthy we are to live before God. And yet God has been incarnated, humbly hiding and living among filthy and corrupt man, expressing the truth to judge, expose, and save man. We have deeply felt the substance of God’s life is so kind and honorable. God’s love for mankind is so real! In experiencing God’s judgment by the word, we became intimately acquainted with God’s righteous, holy, and unoffendable disposition, and felt the authority and power of Almighty God’s word. Unknowingly, reverence grew in our hearts for God, we began to seek the truth, and our life disposition began to change. It was at this time that we truly realized that the incarnate Almighty God has expressed all the truth to purify and save us, allowing us to rid ourselves of arrogance, treachery, and our satanic disposition, and live out the likeness of an honest person. Almighty God lives among us, walking in the churches. Outwardly, He is just an ordinary person, yet He expresses the truth and manifests God’s righteous disposition, and all that God is and has. Those that follow Him and experience His work have received the truth, the way, and the life. They see how the way God works is very practical and wise. They see how humble and hidden God is, how lovely He is, God has no arrogance, God’s disposition is not corrupt. It would accord to reason that God, the Most High, would clothe Himself in a body of great height and powerful build, the kind of body that man would be compelled to worship. But this is not what God did. To save corrupt man, God clothed Himself in an ordinary flesh, He took on the visage of an unexceptional man and came to live with us corrupt humans. He expresses words, judges and supplies us according to our needs. God is incarnated as a meager man and has already endured great indignities and suffering. Besides, He has suffered the slander, condemnation, and rejection of corrupt humanity, as well as the pursuit and persecution of the CCP government, and even so, God persists with unfathomable strength of will to express the truth and carry out the work of saving mankind. God has suffered incredible torment to save mankind! God’s love of mankind is so very real! From this, we see how holy and great God is. There are no words to describe Him! Almighty God brings us closer to God, bringing us face to face with God, so that we could see Him, know Him, and have true love for Him, and in so doing, allowing us to receive God’s perfection, so that we could truly worship and obey God. We all have acknowledged in our hearts that Almighty God in whom we believe is the Lord Jesus who has returned to flesh. Right! He is man, but is also God. Almighty God is the one and only God, the Creator of the heavens, earth, and all things! the pastors and elders of the religious world condemn us, thinking that we put belief in a mere human. Now let me ask: Who among all of humankind is capable of expressing the truth and God’s voice? Who among men can so practically carry out the work of purifying and saving mankind? Who among men can allow corrupt man to be perfected into true knowers and obeyers of God by experiencing His work? There’s no one, not a one! Only Almighty God is capable of doing such practical work. Almighty God is the manifestation of the Savior of the world. He is the practical God incarnate. Only Almighty God can save mankind and provide mankind with a lovely destination!From the movie script of The Mystery of Godliness: The SequelRecommendation:Who Are the Pharisees Today? Getting the Answer From My Debate With Pastor Jin
15May
- Warnings of the Last Days From God
  Christian Short Film "The Days of Noah Have Come"This is a true story. Because of refusing to accept Almighty God’s end-time gospel again and again, Qingping Township of Sichuan Province suffered the overwhelming disaster twice, and disappeared from the earth forever. This is God’s warning to the end-time people, and makes people see the bitter fruits and disasters caused by their rejecting the end-time Christ. …Look back to the people in Noah’s age. They were corrupt and licentious and remained impenitent, which aroused God’s anger. Only the eight members of Noah’s family obeyed God’s words and survived, while the rest of the men disobeyed God’s words and lost God’s keeping. Now, God has expressed his last voice of salvation to this extremely corrupt mankind! Facts prove again that for those who accepted Almighty God’s end-time gospel, they saw God’s wonderful deeds in disasters and received God’s care and keeping; for those who refused God’s end-time work, they were devoured and destroyed in disasters! Qingping Township’s disappearing twice is a testimony of the fulfillment of God’s word: Those who accept and obey God’s word and those who refuse and resist God’s word are two kinds of people with different destinations!Recommendation:Warnings of the Last Days From God | "None Who Are of the Flesh Can Escape the Day of Wrath"
14May
- God's words
  On the Second Day, God’s Authority Arranges the Waters, and Makes the Firmament, and a Space for the Most Basic Human Survival AppearsLet us read the second passage of the Bible: “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (Gen 1:6–7). What changes occurred after God said “Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters”? In the Scriptures it says: “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.” What was the result after God had spoken and done this? The answer lies in the last part of the passage: “and it was so.”These two short sentences record a magnificent event, and describe a wonderful scene—the tremendous undertaking in which God governed the waters, and created a space in which man could exist …In this picture, the waters and the firmament appear before the eyes of God in an instant, and they are divided by the authority of God’s words, and separated into an “above” and a “below” in the manner appointed by God. This is to say, the firmament created by God not only covered the waters below, but also held up the waters above…. In this, man cannot help but stare, dumbfounded, and gasp in admiration at the might of His authority and at the splendor of the scene in which the Creator moved and commanded the waters, and created the firmament. Through the words of God, and the power of God, and the authority of God, God achieved another great feat. Is this not the might of the Creator’s authority? Let us use the scriptures to explain the deeds of God: God spoke His words, and because of these words of God there was a firmament in the middle of the waters. At the same time, a tremendous change occurred in this space because of these words of God, and it was not change in an ordinary sense, but a kind of substitution in which nothing became something. It was born of the thoughts of the Creator, and became something from nothing because of the words spoken by the Creator, and, furthermore, from this point onward it would exist and stand fast for the sake of the Creator, and would shift, change, and renew in accordance with the thoughts of the Creator. This passage describes the second act of the Creator in His creation of the whole world. It was another expression of the authority and power of the Creator, another pioneering undertaking by the Creator. This day was the second day that the Creator had passed since the foundation of the world, and it was another wonderful day for Him: He walked amongst the light, He brought the firmament, He arranged and governed the waters, and His deeds, His authority, and His power were put to work in the new day …Was there firmament in the middle of the waters before God spoke His words? Of course not! And what about after God said “Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters”? The things intended by God appeared; there was firmament in the middle of the waters, and the waters separated because God said “Let it divide the waters from the waters.” In this way, following the words of God, two new objects, two newly-born things appeared among all things as a result of the authority and power of God. How do you feel about the appearance of these two new things? Do you feel the greatness of the Creator’s power? Do you feel the unique and extraordinary force of the Creator? The greatness of such force and power is due to the authority of God, and this authority is a representation of God Himself, and a unique characteristic of God Himself.Did this passage once more give you a profound sense of the uniqueness of God? In fact, this is far from enough; the authority and power of the Creator extend far beyond this. His uniqueness is not merely because He is possessed of a substance unlike that of any creature, but also because His authority and power are extraordinary, limitless, superlative to all, and stand above all, and, moreover, because His authority and what He has and is can create life, produce miracles, and create each and every spectacular and extraordinary minute and second. At the same time, He is able to govern the life that He creates and hold sovereignty over the miracles and each and every minute and second that He creates.Excerpted from “God Himself, the Unique I” in The Word Appears in the FleshRecommendation:1,On the First Day, the Day and Night of Mankind Are Born and Stand Fast Thanks to the Authority of God2, God Is the Source of Man’s Life
- Christian family movie
  2019Christian Family Movie| "A Mother's Love" | A Heart-touching Christian StoryA Mother's Love is a Christian family movie that examines the subject of how to raise children."Knowledge can change your fate" and "The son becomes a dragon, the daughter becomes a phoenix" are the hopes that nearly all parents have for their children. To ensure that her daughter Jiarui is able to pass her university entrance exams and test into a good university, Xu Wenhui decides to retire from her job as a sales director to accompany Jiarui as she studies to retake her tests. Xu Wenhui's high-pressure teaching methods and the competitive stress of the college entrance examinations drive her daughter to collapse, and nearly to desperation. Xu Wenhui feels deep remorse over this: She thought that everything she did was for her daughter's benefit, but instead, she only caused her daughter pain and hurt…. This is when her old classmate Fang Xinping preaches God'sgospelto her. Through reading God's word, Xu Wenhui finally understands why pursuing ideals like "Knowledge can change your fate" will only hurt herself and her child, and comes to understand how to educate her daughter in a way that expresses real love …Recommendation:2019 Inspirational Christian Movie | "It's Good to Believe in God"2019 Christian Family Movie "Child, Come Back Home"(Based on a True Story)
12May
- God's words
  You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will to Bring Salvation to ManFrom a human point of view, it is not possible for the descendants of Moab to be made complete, nor are they qualified to be made so. The children of David, on the other hand, certainly have hope, and can indeed be made complete. If someone is a descendant of Moab, they cannot be made complete. Even now, you still do not know the significance of the work being done amongst you; at this stage, you still hold your future prospects in your hearts, and are loath to relinquish them. No one cares why today God has just chosen to work on a most unworthy group of people such as yourselves. Could it be that He has made a mistake in this work? Is this work a momentary oversight? Why has God, who has always known you are the children of Moab, come down precisely to work in your midst? Does this never occur to you? Does God never consider this when doing His work? Does He behave in a brash manner? Did He not know from the start that you are the descendants of Moab? Do you not know to consider these things? Where have your notions gone? Has that healthy thinking of yours become maladjusted? Where have your cleverness and wisdom gone? Is it that you have such a magnanimous bearing that you do not take heed of such small matters? Your minds are most sensitive to such things as your future prospects and your own fate, but when it comes to anything else, they are numb, dull-witted, and utterly ignorant. What on earth is it that you believe in? Your future prospects? Or God? Is everything you believe in not your beautiful destination? Is it not your future prospects? How much of the way of life do you now understand? How much have you attained? Do you think that the work being done now on the descendants of Moab is done to humiliate you? Is it done deliberately to expose your ugliness? Is it done intentionally to make you accept chastisement, and then to toss you into the lake of fire? I never said that you have no future prospects, much less that you have to be destroyed or suffer perdition. Have I publicly announced such things? You say you are without hope, but is this not a conclusion you yourself have drawn? Is this not the effect of your own mindset? Do your own conclusions count? If I say you are not blessed, then you will certainly be the object of ruination; and if I say you are blessed, then you will definitely not be destroyed. I am only saying that you are the descendant of Moab; I did not say that you would be destroyed. It is simply that the descendants of Moab have been cursed, and are one breed of corrupt humans. Sin was mentioned earlier; are you not all sinful? Have not sinners all been corrupted by Satan? Do sinners not all defy and rebel against God? Are those who defy God not to be cursed? Must sinners not all be destroyed? In that case, who among people of flesh and blood can be saved? How can you have survived to this day? You have grown negative because you are the descendants of Moab; do you not also count as humans, who are sinners? How have you lasted to this day? When perfection is mentioned, you become happy. After hearing that you must experience the great tribulation, you feel that this makes you even more blessed. You think that you can become overcomers after emerging from the tribulation, and that this, moreover, is God’s great blessing and His great exaltation of you. Upon mention of Moab, tumult arises among you; adults and children alike feel unspeakable sadness and you have absolutely no joy in your hearts, and you regret being born. You do not understand the significance of this stage of work being done on the descendants of Moab; you only know to seek high positions, and whenever you perceive that there is no hope, you backslide. Upon mention of perfection and the future destination, you feel happy; you have put your faith in God in order to gain blessings and so that you can have a good destination. Some people now feel apprehension because of their status. Because they are of low worth and low status, they do not wish to seek to be perfected. First, perfection was spoken about, and then mention was made of Moab’s descendants, so people negated the path of perfection mentioned previously. This is because from start to finish, you have never known the significance of this work, nor do you care about its significance. You are too small of stature, and cannot endure even the slightest disturbance. When you see that your own status is too low, you become negative and lose the confidence to go on seeking. People merely regard the attainment of grace and the enjoyment of peace as symbols of faith, and see the seeking of blessings as the basis for their belief in God. Very few people seek to know God or seek a change in their disposition. In their faith, people seek to make God give them a suitable destination and all the grace they need, to make Him their servant, to have Him maintain a peaceful, friendly relationship with them so that, no matter when, there would never be any conflict between them. That is, their belief in God demands that He promise to meet all their requirements and to bestow upon them whatever they pray for, in keeping with the words they have read in the Bible, “I will listen to all your prayers.” They expect God not to judge or deal with anyone, for He has always been the merciful Savior Jesus who keeps a good relationship with people at all times and in all places. Here is how people believe in God: They just shamelessly make demands of God, believing that whether they are rebellious or obedient, He would just grant everything to them blindly. They just continually “collect debts” from God, believing He must “repay” them without any resistance and, moreover, pay double; they think, whether God has gotten anything from them or not, He can only be manipulated by them, and He cannot arbitrarily orchestrate people, much less reveal to people His wisdom and righteous disposition, which have been hidden for many years, whenever He wants and without their permission. They simply confess their sins to God, believing God would just absolve them, that He would not get sick of doing so, and that this will go on forever. They just order God about, believing He would just obey them, because it is recorded in the Bible that God did not come to be served by humans, but to serve them, and that He is here to be their servant. Have you not always believed in this way? Whenever you are unable to gain something from God, you wish to run away; when you do not understand something, you grow so resentful, and even go so far as to hurl all kinds of abuse at Him. You simply will not allow God Himself to fully express His wisdom and wonder; instead, you just want to enjoy temporary ease and comfort. Until now, your attitude in your belief in God has merely consisted of the same old views. If God shows you just a slight bit of majesty, you become unhappy. Do you see now exactly how great your stature is? Do not assume that you are all loyal to God when in fact your old views have not changed. When nothing befalls you, you believe that everything is going smoothly, and your love for God reaches a high point. When something minor happens to you, you fall down into Hades. Is this being loyal to God?If the final stage of the work of conquest were to begin in Israel, then such work of conquest would have no meaning. The work is most significant when done in China, and when it is done on you people. You are the lowliest of people, the people with the least status; you are the ones at the lowest level of this society, and you are those who least acknowledged God in the beginning. You are the people who have strayed farthest from God and who have been harmed most severely. Because this stage of work is only for the sake of conquest, is it not most suitable for you to be chosen to bear the future witness? If the first step of the work of conquest were not to be done on you people, then it would become difficult to advance the work of conquest that is to come, for the work of conquest that will follow will achieve results based on the fact of this work being done today. The current work of conquest is only the beginning of the overall work of conquest. You are the first batch to be conquered; you are representatives of all humankind that will be conquered. People who genuinely possess knowledge will see that all the work God does today is great, and that He not only allows people to know their own rebelliousness, but also reveals their status. The purpose and meaning of His words is not to dispirit people, nor is it to topple them. It is for them to attain enlightenment and salvation through His words; it is to awaken their spirit by way of His words. Ever since the world’s creation, man has lived under Satan’s domain, neither knowing nor believing that there is a God. That these people can be included in God’s great salvation and can be greatly raised up by God indeed shows God’s love; all those who truly understand will believe this. What about those who have no such knowledge? They will say, “Ah, God says we are the descendants of Moab; He said this with His own words. Can we still obtain a good outcome? Who made us the descendants of Moab? Who made us resist Him so much in the past? God has come to condemn us; do you not see how He has always judged us, right from the start? Since we have resisted God, this is how we should be chastised.” Are these words correct? Today God judges you, chastises you, and condemns you, but you must know that the point of your condemnation is for you to know yourself. He condemns, curses, judges, and chastises so that you might know yourself, so that your disposition might change, and, moreover, so that you might know your worth, and see that all of God’s actions are righteous and in accordance with His disposition and the requirements of His work, that He works in accordance with His plan for man’s salvation, and that He is the righteous God who loves, saves, judges, and chastises man. If you only know that you are of lowly status, that you are corrupt and disobedient, but do not know that God wishes to make plain His salvation through the judgment and chastisement that He does in you today, then you have no way of gaining experience, much less are you capable of continuing forward. God has not come to kill or destroy, but to judge, curse, chastise, and save. Until His 6,000-year management plan comes to a close—before He reveals the outcome of each category of man—God’s work on earth will be for the sake of salvation; its purpose is purely to make those who love Him complete—thoroughly so—and to bring them into submission under His dominion. No matter how God saves people, it is all done by making them break away from their old satanic nature; that is, He saves them by having them seek life. If they do not do so, then they will have no way to accept God’s salvation. Salvation is the work of God Himself, and the seeking for life is something that man must take on in order to accept salvation. In the eyes of man, salvation is the love of God, and the love of God cannot be chastisement, judgment, and curses; salvation must contain love, compassion, and, moreover, words of solace, as well as boundless blessings bestowed by God. People believe that when God saves man, He does so by moving them with His blessings and grace, so that they can give their hearts to God. That is to say, His touching man is His saving them. This sort of salvation is done by striking a deal. Only when God grants them a hundredfold will man come to submit before God’s name and strive to do well for Him and bring Him glory. This is not what God intends for mankind. God has come to work on earth in order to save corrupt mankind; there is no falsehood in this. If there were, He would certainly not have come to do His work in person. In the past, His means of salvation involved showing the utmost love and compassion, such that He gave His all to Satan in exchange for the whole of mankind. The present is nothing like the past: The salvation bestowed upon you today occurs at the time of the last days, during the classification of each according to kind; the means of your salvation is not love or compassion, but chastisement and judgment, in order that man may be more thoroughly saved. Thus, all that you receive is chastisement, judgment, and merciless smiting, but know this: In this heartless smiting there is not the slightest punishment. Regardless of how harsh My words might be, what befall you are but a few words that might appear utterly heartless to you, and no matter how angry I might be, what rain upon you are still words of teaching, and I do not mean to harm you or put you to death. Is this not all fact? Know that nowadays, whether it be righteous judgment or heartless refinement and chastisement, everything is for the sake of salvation. Regardless of whether today each is classified according to kind or the categories of man are laid bare, the purpose of all of God’s words and work is to save those who truly love God. Righteous judgment is brought to purify man, and heartless refinement is done to cleanse them; harsh words or chastening are both done to purify and are for the sake of salvation. Thus, today’s method of salvation is unlike that of the past. Today, you are brought salvation through righteous judgment, and this is a good tool for classifying you each according to kind. Moreover, ruthless chastisement serves as your utmost salvation—and what have you to say in the face of such chastisement and judgment? Have you not always enjoyed salvation, from start to finish? You have seen God incarnate and realized His omnipotence and wisdom; in addition, you have experienced repeated smiting and discipline. However, have you not also received supreme grace? Are your blessings not greater than those of anyone else? Your graces are more bounteous even than the glory and riches enjoyed by Solomon! Think about it: If My intention in coming were to condemn and punish you rather than save you, could your days have lasted so long? Could you sinful beings of flesh and blood have survived until today? If My goal were merely to punish you, then why would I have become flesh and embarked upon such a great enterprise? Could punishing you mere mortals not simply be done by uttering a single word? Would I still need to destroy you after purposely condemning you? Do you still not believe these words of Mine? Could I save man merely through love and compassion? Or could I only use the crucifixion to save man? Is My righteous disposition not more conducive to making man completely obedient? Is it not more capable of thoroughly saving man?Though My words may be stern, they are all said for man’s salvation, as I am only speaking words and not punishing man’s flesh. These words cause man to live in the light, to know that the light exists, to know that the light is precious, and, even more so, to know how beneficial these words are to them, as well as to know that God is salvation. Though I have uttered many words of chastisement and judgment, what they represent has not been done unto you in deed. I have come to do My work and to speak My words, and though My words may be strict, they are spoken in judgment of your corruption and your rebelliousness. The purpose of My doing this remains to save man from Satan’s domain; I am using My words to save man. My purpose is not to harm man with My words. My words are stern in order to achieve results in My work. Only through such work can man come to know themselves and break away from their rebellious disposition. The greatest significance of the work of words is allowing people to put the truth into practice after having understood it, to achieve changes in their disposition, and to gain knowledge of themselves and of the work of God. Only doing the work by way of speaking words can make possible the communication between God and man, and only words can explain the truth. Working in this way is the best means of conquering man; apart from the utterance of words, no other method is capable of giving people a clearer understanding of the truth and the work of God. Thus, in His final stage of work, God speaks to man in order to unlock for them all the truths and mysteries that they do not yet understand, allowing them to gain from God the true way and the life, thereby meeting His will. The purpose of God’s work on man is to enable them to meet God’s will, and it is done to bring them salvation. Therefore, during the time of His salvation of man, He does not do the work of punishing them. While bringing salvation to man, God does not punish evil or reward good, nor does He reveal the destinations of various kinds of people. Rather, only after the final stage of His work is complete will He do the work of punishing evil and rewarding good, and only then will He reveal the ends of all the different sorts of people. Those who are punished will be those who are actually unable to be saved, while those who are saved will be those who have obtained God’s salvation during the time of His salvation of man. While God’s work of salvation is being done, every single person who can be saved will be saved as far as possible, and none of them discarded, for the purpose of God’s work is to save man. All those who, during the time of God’s salvation of man, are unable to achieve a change in their disposition—as well as all those who are unable to submit to God completely—will become objects for punishment. This stage of work—the work of words—will unlock for people all of the ways and mysteries that they do not understand, so that they can understand the will of God and God’s requirements of them, and so that they can have the prerequisites to put God’s words into practice and achieve changes in their disposition. God uses only words to do His work and does not punish people for being a little rebellious; this is because now is the time of the work of salvation. If anyone who acts rebelliously were punished, then no one would have the opportunity to be saved; everyone would be punished and fall into Hades. The purpose of words that judge man is to allow them to know themselves and submit to God; it is not to punish them with such judgment. During the time of the work of words, many people will expose their rebelliousness and defiance, as well as their disobedience toward the incarnate God. Nevertheless, He will not punish all these people as a result, but instead will only cast aside those who are corrupt to the core and who cannot be saved. He will give their flesh to Satan, and, in a few cases, terminate their flesh. Those remaining will continue to follow and experience being dealt with and pruned. If, while following, these people still are unable to accept being dealt with and pruned, and become more and more degenerate, then they will have lost their chance for salvation. Each person who has submitted to being conquered by words will have ample opportunity for salvation; God’s salvation of each of these people will show His utmost leniency. In other words, they will be shown the utmost tolerance. As long as people turn back from the wrong path, and as long as they can repent, God will give them opportunities to obtain His salvation. When humans first rebel against God, He has no desire to put them to death; rather, He does all He can to save them. If someone really has no room for salvation, then God will cast them aside. The reason God is slow to punish certain people is that He wishes to save everyone who can be saved. He judges, enlightens, and guides people only with words, and does not use a rod to put them to death. Employing words to bring humans salvation is the purpose and significance of the final stage of work.From the word appears in the fleshRecommendation:You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day
- Daily Devotionals
  Christian Sermons: God’s Will Behind Moses Fleeing to the WildernessWhenever I read through the Book of Exodus I read about Moses’ life; he was adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter and he was educated just like an Egyptian, but he never forgot that he was an Israelite. Once when he went to see his brothers, he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite and stepped in to help him, beating the Egyptian to death. He then fled to the Midian wilderness to escape the Pharaoh who was seeking his death. He stayed there for 40 years, and then Jehovah God called upon Moses to have him lead the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt. Moses accepted God’s commission and went to see the Pharaoh, but he was unwilling to let go of the Hebrew slaves. God then brought ten disasters down upon Egypt, and ultimately Moses was able to successfully lead the Israelites out of Egypt.Every time I read this in the Bible, I think about how Moses was an upright man who was staunchly loyal to his own people. He should have been able to take on what God entrusted him with, so why didn’t God just make use of him right away, but instead have him tempered in the wilderness for four decades? What was God’s will behind this? I was never able to figure this out until I read a couple passages of God’s words that were really elucidating.God’s words say, “Moses was in the wilderness for 40 years. During that time, God did not speak to him, nor supply him with truth, and Moses possessed no book of God’s words, and no one went to him to give fellowship—he just dwelt in the wilderness alone until, finally, he attained true faith. So why did God do this to Moses? God did this because He had a commission for Moses to fulfill, because He wanted to use him for a great purpose, because God had work to do on Moses, and that is why God tempered Moses in such a way. Before he departed from Egypt, Moses was hot-blooded, so much so that he struck a man with a stone, and so God made it so that Moses went out into the wilderness, so that his will and hot-bloodedness, as well as his good intentions, enthusiasm, high-spiritedness, and his heroic mettle to protect the interests of his people might be tempered. This all pertained to the will, the hot-bloodedness and the naturalness of man, and God wished to temper these things in Moses. If you are hot-blooded, if you always want to act on your naturalness and on your high-spiritedness, if you always wish to resolve issues using the ways of man, then you do not have true faith in God, and you do not rely on God and believe in His sovereignty with true faith, and so it is difficult for God to use you, and God can achieve nothing with you. When God wishes to use someone, He will perfect their faith, make them understand the truth and understand His will, make them able to obey Him truly and completely, devoid of any adulteration, and without any of the so-called heroism, high-spiritedness, great aspirations and lofty sentiments of man, nor any of the good intentions and enthusiasm of man, all of which passes for conviction. When someone is without these things, they are then able to truly obey God, and they no longer speak and act based on their imaginings or what they take to be good. And when they come again before God, has their true faith in God not grown? What constitutes true faith in God? Can a person with true faith in God still give God counsel and make suggestions to Him, saying, ‘God, by doing this, Your deeds are at odds with the notions of man; God, by doing that, it is hard for people to accept and You must do it this way; God, what You have said here is wrong, Your tone is wrong, Your method is wrong, this word is wrong…’? All these things are worn away. They can truly obey God, they develop a sense of reason and they have reverence for God” (“Only Being Truly Obedient Is a Real Belief”).“God enjoined Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt—this was the commission He gave to Moses. And how did Moses respond? He prostrated himself flat on the ground before God, he chose nothing for himself and he said nothing about any difficulty he might encounter; whatever God asked him to do, he would do it with all haste. To act with all haste is not to act carelessly, and there was something in his heart that took over. What was it that made him accept the commission God entrusted him with though feeling incapable of doing anything? He had so much experience of how God rules over all occurrences and all things, and his 40 years of experience in the wilderness enabled him to understand that God’s sovereignty is omnipotent. And so, without saying another word, he went off to fulfill God’s commission. What did this demonstrate? This demonstrated that Moses possessed true faith and was able to truly rely on God and obey God. Moses did not become fainthearted, he chose nothing for himself, and he did not refuse God. Instead, he trusted in God and he went forth filled with faith, bearing the task that God had entrusted to him. This is what Moses believed: ‘If God has entrusted me with a task, then it will all be accomplished as He said. If He asks me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, then I shall lead them, and since it is God who has entrusted me with this task, it shall be God who leads them, not man. Man merely cooperates with God.’ This was the insight Moses had. If he had been fainthearted, he would have said, ‘I won’t do it. You’ve entrusted me with this task but I’m just not up to it! The Pharaoh of Egypt is so powerful, and I have no army, so how could I possibly lead the Israelites out of Egypt? Would they even listen to me?’ These words constitute refusal, resistance and rebellion; they demonstrate no belief in God, and this is not true faith. The situation at that time was unfavorable for the Israelites and for Moses, and no one thought it possible that the Israelites could be led out of Egypt, for there was a sea to cross, which would have been a nigh impossible task. Could Moses have been unaware of just how difficult it was going to be to accomplish this task? He knew exactly, but all he said was that he was not an eloquent speaker and that no one would listen to him. God told him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, however, and so he prostrated himself on the ground and accepted the task. What store of experience did he have to enable him to carry out this commission so filled with faith, without the slightest doubt, and which enabled him to obey to such a degree? Tell Me, during his experience of dwelling 40 years in the wilderness, was Moses able to understand that nothing is impossible with God, and that mankind is held within God’s hands? Of course he was! This was the truest understanding. Therefore, after he had listened to the task God had entrusted to him, his first impression would surely have been: With God, nothing is impossible, and if God says it can be done then it shall surely be done; since God has entrusted me with such a task then God will do it, and it is God who shall do it, not any man. When people want to do something, they must first analyze the situation and make preparations: They must consider the amount of provisions and fodder to prepare, how many weapons to prepare, how many men to prepare, and then decide whether to proceed with some strategy or rely on sheer strength of numbers. People have to make such plans, but does God need any of these things? Every single creation—no matter how powerful, no matter how capable, no matter how fierce—is in God’s hands. Such was the kind of faith, understanding and experience that Moses possessed, and so his heart was free from fear and worry. In this way, Moses’ faith in God became much more true, and his true faith in God became much more direct, simple and pure” (“Only Being Truly Obedient Is a Real Belief”).Reading God’s words really opened my eyes. Before, all I knew was that Moses had killed an Egyptian to protect one of his Hebrew brethren, and I thought of this as a display of his heroic spirit. What I didn’t realize was that Moses was adulterated with his hot-bloodedness, good intentions, enthusiasm, high-spiritedness and naturalness. These parts of him didn’t just present the problem that he was capable of beating someone to death, but that he would disrupt God’s work by relying on his own enthusiasm and naturalness; he would stand in the way of the carrying out of God’s will and never would have been able to achieve true submission to God. He wouldn’t have been able to complete God’s commission, much less be suitable for God’s use. While in the wilderness, foolish Israelites complained to Moses a number of times about their access to water and meat and about other things, and even attacked him. If he had acted based on his natural temper and high-spiritedness, he never would have been able to bear that, and he particularly wouldn’t have been able to pray for the Israelites many times, ask for God’s mercy, and forgive them. God had Moses first undergo 40 years in the wilderness to wear away his temper and his naturalness, ridding him of his inborn personality. When Moses did accept God’s commission, he didn’t approach it through his own naturalness, temper, or notions and imaginings, but instead relied on God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And while going out from the wilderness, no matter how much the Hebrew people complained, how many unreasonable requests they made, or how many things occurred that were not in line with his notions, he patiently relied on God and looked to God to resolve everything—he bore the heavy burden of God’s commission.Moses’ four-decade tempering in the wilderness not only wore away the temperamental aspects within him but also gave him true faith in God. He encountered innumerable hardships in that time, facing a great deal of extreme, harsh weather as well as multiple attacks from wild beasts. However, he got through all of this by relying on God. As Moses weathered through these difficulties he saw God’s hand in this; he saw God’s deeds and developed true faith. This is why he accepted and completed God’s important commission with bravery and faith. Think about Moses leading the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt—the way we imagine it, the Pharaoh possessed great force and there was no way to know if he would let the Israelites go. Moses and the Israelites had no idea if they were in danger of being slaughtered, and even if the Pharaoh really did let them go, how would over a million of them survive the journey to Canaan? There were so many questions like these. If Moses had had to entirely rely on his own capabilities in their exodus, he would have given up after the Pharaoh had stood in their way ten times. But because Moses had genuine faith in God and he believed in God’s great power, no matter how powerful the Pharaoh was or how many hardships lay in front of him, he knew it was all in God’s hands. He knew that through God, all things are possible, that he was just a person God was using, and as long as he did as God told him he could certainly lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When Moses relied on God he was able to successfully lead the Israelites out of Egypt, completing what God entrusted him with.Mulling over God driving Moses into the wilderness to rid him of his temperamental aspects and have him develop true faith and submission to God, I couldn’t help but think of this Bible verse: “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but Jehovah tries the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). This shows that God uses trials and refinement to purify and transform people so that we may be fit for His use. I then realized that in our lives and our work, all those difficulties that we encounter so frequently seem to be out of line with our own notions, but God’s earnest intentions are behind them. God knows us like the back of His hand; He knows what sort of environment will make up for our deficiencies and allow us to be freed of our corrupt dispositions, and so He arranges every environment for our sakes. He purifies and transforms us through trials and refinement. So, when something trying comes upon us, we cannot misunderstand or blame God, but we must believe that everything He does is good. It is only by experiencing these environments that our corrupt dispositions can be cleansed and changed, and that we can develop true faith and submission to God, ultimately becoming people in line with God’s will. Thinking back to the past, because I didn’t understand God’s will, I used to just superficially rein myself in and accept it every time I encountered people, events or things that weren’t in line with my notions, but my heart was full of rebelliousness and resistance. I would also grumble about why God would allow such a thing to befall me. But now I see how little of my corrupt disposition has changed; I’ve really let God’s hard work in setting up those environments for me go to waste. Thanks to God’s guidance and through Moses’ experiences, I’ve come to understand God’s will. I’ve also realized how wonderful God’s method of perfecting people through trials and refinements is, and it is a very practical manifestation of His love for us. I have now resolved that in my future difficulties and trials, I can no longer complain about God or be rebellious, but I must seek His will and submit to all of His orchestrations and arrangements. Then I will be able to grow in my life through God’s guidance!From GOSPEL OF THE DESCENT OF THE KINGDOMRecommendation:What Is God’s Will Behind the Parable of the Lost Sheep?How to Have True Faith in God