What is the truth? What is Bible knowledge and doctrine?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, … full of grace and truth” (Jhn 1:1, 14).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jhn 14:6).

“Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth” (Jhn 17:17).

“He answered and said to them, Well has Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. However, in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do. And he said to them, Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. … Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which you have delivered: and many such like things do you” (Mak 7:6-9, 13).

The Road to Purification

Christopher, Philippines

My name is Christopher and I am a pastor from a family church in the Philippines. In 1987, I was baptized and returned to the Lord Jesus. By the Lord’s grace, in 1996 I became a pastor of the local church. At that time, apart from preaching in many places around the Philippines, I also preached in places like Hong Kong and Malaysia. Because of the work and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I felt that I had inexhaustible energy in my work for the Lord and an unceasing flow of words in my sermons. I would often go to support brothers and sisters when they were negative and weak. Sometimes members of their family who did not believe in the Lord were unfriendly toward me, yet I could be tolerant and patient and not lose faith in the Lord and I believed that the Lord could change them. So I felt like I had changed a great deal since believing in the Lord. However, since 2011, I have not felt the work of the Holy Spirit as strongly as before. Slowly, I have had no new enlightenment for my sermons and have not had the strength to break free from living in sin. I could not help getting angry at my wife and daughter and teaching them a lesson through my temper when I saw that they were not doing as I desired. I knew that this was not in keeping with the will of the Lord, but often I could not help myself. I felt particularly distressed about this. In order to free myself from a life of sin and confession, I put more effort into reading the Bible, fasting and praying and found spiritual pastors everywhere to seek and explore this together. But all of my efforts were useless and made no difference to me living in sin and to the darkness in my soul.

A Restaurant’s Harvest (Audio Essay)

Cong Xin worked as a waitress in a restaurant, and she had always been a conscientious worker. But for some reason, the manager had recently started to lose his temper with her indiscriminately. Ever since she was small, Cong Xin had always wanted to excel and to do her best at everything she did, and even her stepfather very seldom spoke ill of her. But now she had to face the restaurant manager who was purposefully making things difficult for her. So many times, Cong Xin had wanted to get into a blazing row with him, but when she thought of how she was a believer in God and that she must be someone with humanity and reason, she would realize that she could no longer act however she wished, as she had done before she believed in God. Therefore, whenever the manager got angry at her, Cong Xin prayed in her heart: “O God! You permit this current situation to happen, and I pray that You keep me from getting hot-blooded, and from doing anything that brings shame to Your name or that makes me Satan’s laughingstock.” After praying, her heart would become a little calmer.

I Welcomed the Return of the Lord (Audio Essays)

Qingxin, Myanmar

My parents are both Christians and from an early age I started going with them to church to attend services. At the age of 12 I attended a grand Christian camp in Myanmar, and while I was there a pastor told me: “The only way to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized.” And so in order to enter the kingdom of heaven I decided to get baptized while I was at the camp. From that time on, I became a genuine Christian.

The Transformation of a Fallen Man

Tong Xin    Fujian Province

I was born in the countryside. I came from a line of humble 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 even 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 pursue development in the army and joined easily by going through connections.

After Listening With My Heart, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return

In 1994, I was born in the United States. My parents are both Chinese. My mother was the classic example of a successful career woman. She is able to think for herself and is very competent. I love my mother very much. When I was in Grade 2, my parents brought me back to China to study so that I would be able to learn Chinese. It was also at that time that I started to get acquainted with the Lord Jesus. I remember one day in 2004, after I got home from school, there was a guest at our house. My mother introduced her and told me that she was a pastor from the United States. I was very happy because that was when I found out that my mother had believed in the Lord Jesus for some time. Before, she did not believe. Every Chinese New Year, she would burn incense and worship Buddha. However, after my mother started to believe in the Lord Jesus, I no longer had to smell the whiff of burnt Joss paper and incense. That day, the American pastor told me a story about the Lord Jesus. Soon after, I was brought to the bathroom and before I could react, “plop,” the pastor had dunked my head into the bathtub and after a moment, pulled my head out. All I heard was my mother and the pastor telling me, “Welcome to the embrace of the Lord Jesus. We are all lost sheep.” In this way, I started a new life journey before I knew it. However, because the Lord was with me, my heart was very happy. Afterward, each Sunday, I would go to church to worship and listen to the pastor talk about Bible stories and read from the scriptures. I was very happy all along. My heart was steadfast and I felt that believing in the Lord Jesus was truly a good thing.

In 2008, my father accompanied me to the United States so that I could study here. During this time, I went to church and participated in fellowships. In 2012, after I graduated from high school, my father bought me a plane ticket so that I could go back to China to visit my mother. Right before leaving, my father sat down with me and spoke many heartfelt words to me. He told me that in China, my mother had started to believe in Eastern Lightning. He hoped that on my return, I would be able to talk to my mother and get her to abandon her faith in Eastern Lightning. As a student who was about to enter into university, of course, I would not only listen to my father’s side of the story. Soon afterward, I went on the internet and searched for information related to Eastern Lightning. I wanted to have more of a realistic understanding of them. The result was that I found some opinions originating from the CCP government and pastors and elders from the religious world that condemned and slandered Eastern Lightning. I started feeling worried for my mother. I decided to go home and see how my mother was doing. After I got back home, I found that everything was normal with my mother. Her concern and love for me had not changed. Her faith and love for God had grown greater and she was more devout than before. I was a little less worried about my mother then.

During the time I was back in China, my mother, as expected spoke to me about Eastern Lightning. She said, “The Lord Jesus has already returned and He has started doing a stage of judgment work beginning with the house of God….” From my mother’s words, I understood that when the Lord Jesus incarnated this time, He had come as a female to do His work. I just remember that at that time, I stared blankly because this was completely different from what I had been told about the Lord Jesus when I was in the States. My pastor always emphasized in the sermons that Jehovah God is the Holy Father and the Lord Jesus is the Holy Son. Since They were Father and Son, both of them were male. Moreover, all the portraits of the Lord Jesus that were hung in the church and all the crosses that had the Lord Jesus on them indicated that the Lord Jesus was a male. However, my mother said that this time, the Lord Jesus has returned as a female. This completely exceeded my knowledge of the Lord Jesus. My heart could not take it and I told my mother, “The Lord Jesus is a male. When the Lord returns, how could it be that He would return as a female?” My mother replied, “God is Spirit in essence. God does not have a gender. It is only because He has incarnated to do the work of salvation that He chose a different gender….” However, since the viewpoint that my pastor had inculcated me with was the first and strongest impression, regardless of what my mother said, I would not believe it.

A few days later, my mother wanted to take me to attend a gathering with her. Even though I did not want to, because I respected my mother, I went with her. At the time, I remember that there was an aunty from Northeast China that said, “The last days have already arrived. The Lord Jesus has already come back in the flesh and lives amongst us. He is doing the work of the Age of Kingdom. Presently, the churches of the Age of Grace no longer have the Holy Spirit’s work and they are all completely desolated….” However, since my heart was already closed, I still maintained that the Lord Jesus is a male and that when He returns, He would surely return as a male. That is why I basically did not believe in what this aunty was talking about. All the way until I left China, I was still very bewildered: Why would the Lord Jesus return as a female? I was worried that my mother was walking on the wrong path. All I could do was pray for my mother, “Lord Jesus! Please keep my mother and make sure she does not walk on the wrong path. Guide her back into Your embrace….”

After I returned to the United States, I continued attending worship at my church. However, gradually, I discovered that the majority of what my pastor was saying was outdated and repetitious. Otherwise, it was specifically about donating to the church. As a believer, we were not able to obtain genuine shepherding. Many people would doze off during the gatherings and the number of people that attended gradually diminished. In 2014, the church I went to encountered a significant misfortune. The pastor had used public money to buy a house for himself in another state and as a result, our church went bankrupt. When I saw all these things, I felt very disappointed. At this time, my classmates brought me to their church to participate in worship. This church was a lot bigger than the previous church I went to. Each Sunday, when the pastor was giving his sermon, I would sit in the upper row of seats to listen. However, as before, I saw many people dozing off. Sometimes, even I started to doze off. Frequently, the pastor would deliberately raise his voice in an attempt to wake up the brothers and sisters. However, his attempts to get us to listen to his sermons failed. I thought back to the previous church I attended where the pastor misappropriated the church’s money to buy himself a house. His sermons were unable to provide for the spiritual life needs of the brothers and sisters. Instead, they basically came to church to sleep! The church that I was going to at that time was also like this. I asked myself, “Could it be that all churches are desolate?” Suddenly, I thought back to 2012 when I went back to China and the things that my mother and that aunty from Northeast China said. They told me: God has started the work of the Age of Kingdom. The Age of Grace has concluded. God no longer works in the churches belonging to the Age of Grace. Only by following God’s work in the Age of Kingdom can one be able to obtain the Holy Spirit’s work. This was the first time that I asked myself, “Could it be that the Lord Jesus has really returned?”

In a blink of the eye, it was the end of 2015. I received news that my mother went to San Francisco to visit my elder brother. I bought a plane ticket so I could go and see her. Once again, my mother mentioned Eastern Lightning—the second coming of the Lord Jesus. She also got me to watch many gospel videos from The Church of Almighty God as well as read many of Almighty God’s words. This time, I did not resist in the way I did before because in the past two years, I saw many scenes of desolation in the churches that I went to. This confirmed for me what they were telling me about the desolation in the churches. It is indeed the truth! I started to quiet my heart and listen to what my mother was saying, so that I could unlock the shackles that were within my heart. At that time, my mother targeted my notions. She read to me God’s words concerning the aspect of God’s gender. This left a very deep impression on me. It also explained the confusion I had all along regard the gender of the Lord who has returned. Almighty God says, “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if an infant girl, not a boy, was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. … If in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female” (“The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward and always going deeper, for He is always new and never old. … If He were only incarnated as a male, people would define Him as male, as the God of men, and would never believe Him to be the God of women. Then, men would believe that God is of the same gender as men, that God is the head of men—and what of women? This is unfair; is it not preferential treatment? If this were the case, then all those whom God saved would be men like Him, and there would be no salvation for women. When God created mankind, He created Adam and He created Eve. He did not only create Adam, but made both male and female in His image. God is not only the God of men—He is also the God of women” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I finished reading God’s words, this matter which was gnawing at my mind disappeared almost instantly. In my heart, I felt that these words are correct. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve. Originally, male and female were equal. If that’s the case, why can’t God return as a female?! God’s essence is Spirit. Of course He can assume either gender identity when He comes amongst us to do His work. Regardless of whether God incarnates as a male or a female, it is God’s choice. God has the right to choose what gender to incarnate into because God is the Ruler of all things and He is the Creator. Is God’s work restricted by people? What is man when compared to God? Isn’t man just dust? How can man fathom God’s wisdom? Before, I believed that God could only be a male. I truly defined God and it reveals that I did not have any knowledge of God. I was too arrogant and foolish.

After I read more of God’s words, my notions about God incarnating as a female this time to do work became thoroughly extinguished. I was also able to accept that God has already returned to do new work. However, I was still not one hundred percent certain about the work of Almighty God because I had read negative propaganda about resisting and condemning The Church of Almighty God on the internet. As a result, my heart still had a bit of apprehensions. I thought, perhaps I should thoroughly examine this and see whether The Church of Almighty God is like this. As a result, starting in February of 2016, with an objective lens, I officially had online meetings with the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God. I also prayed to God to guide and lead me to distinguish what is true and what is false regarding the negative propaganda.

After a period of time of investigation, I discovered that each time that we had a gathering, the brothers and sisters would read God’s word, communicate the truth and fellowship about God’s intentions. Moreover, Almighty God’s words requires people to live out a normal humanity and become honest people. The content of Almighty God’s words also includes how to know God’s disposition, how to pursue the truth in order to attain God’s salvation etc. These are all necessities when it comes to our spiritual life needs and they are beneficial to us living genuinely as humans. From what the brothers and sisters were saying, I could see that they genuinely show care and concern and help each other in spiritual life. The intentions of an individual’s conduct are evident from what he says and the points of views he expresses. From my interactions with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God, I could feel that they simply are not the way that the material on the internet purported them to be. Instead, they are very kindhearted and sincere. They have a heart that reveres God in all the things they say and do. Moreover, I felt that the Holy Spirit’s work is there. These brothers and sisters pursue the truth with passion. In their communication of God’s words at gatherings and their individual experiences and knowledge, there were certainly the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination. Each time we had a gathering, I was able to have some understanding of the truth and could have something to gain. This was something that I did not experience at the churches I attended in the past. The truth is victorious over mere rhetoric and rumors are discredited in the face of the facts.

In one gathering later, I told the sister about the rumors that had been fabricated by the CCP government and the pastors and elders of the religious world. I did not understand: The Church of Almighty God has the Holy Spirit’s work and it is the church that has been produced by God as He appears to do His work in the last days. Why does it face the frantic opposition and condemnation of the CCP government and the pastors and elders of the religious world? The sister communicated with me about the truth of this aspect, “We must see through the rumors on the internet. It is not strange that the CCP government and the pastors and elders of the religious world would attack and judge God’s work of the last days and condemn The Church of Almighty God because since ancient times, the true way has been persecuted! Satan has always been the enemy of God. It fabricates and spreads all sorts of rumors in order to deceive and disturb us so that we will leave and betray God. Its goal is to control us and possess us. This is similar to the beginning when Satan used rumors to deceive Eve into denying God’s word and betraying God. When the Lord Jesus came to do His work, the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees also relied on all kinds of rumors to deceive the common Jewish people. They disparaged the Lord Jesus as a carpenter’s son. They blasphemed that the Lord Jesus relied on the ruler of demons to drive out demons and even colluded with the Roman government to nail the Lord Jesus to the cross. After the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, they even bribed soldiers to lie and say that the Lord Jesus had not resurrected to block the common Jewish people from returning to the Lord. In the last days, God has incarnated once again to do a stage of judgment work to thoroughly cleanse and save man. God’s kingdom gospel is already common knowledge in mainland China. Presently, Almighty God’s work is in the process of being spread to all corners of the world. Under the guidance of God’s words, more and more people are able to distinguish the evil forces that originate from Satan. They also see clearly the satanic and demonic essence of the leaders of the religious world and the atheistic political regime of the Chinese Communist Party. They thoroughly reject them and have started to return to God, pursue the truth and walk on the proper path of life. Will Satan just do nothing as God comes to do the work of saving man and helping man break away from Satan’s dark influence? It is not willing to be defeated. In order to vie over God’s chosen people with God, it will fight to the end. The religious world and the satanic CCP regime have teamed up together and through the internet and media, they spread rumors about and smear the name of The Church of Almighty God without restraint in order to deceive those who do not have the truth or cannot distinguish. They are attempting to obtain control over the human race forever. Their evil goal is to corrupt and devour mankind. It is precisely as the Bible says: ‘the whole world lies in wickedness’ (1Jn 5：19). The Lord Jesus said, ‘And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved’ (Jhn 3： 19-20). In terms of how to see through Satan’s evil schemes and not to be deceived by Satan, Almighty God exhorts us and says, ‘When you have undergone experiences, you will be able to differentiate many things—you will be able to distinguish between good and evil, between righteousness and wickedness, between what is of flesh and blood and what is of the truth. You should be able to distinguish between all these things, and in so doing, no matter the circumstances, you will never be lost. Only this is your real stature. Knowing the work of God is no simple matter: You should have standards and an objective in your pursuit, you should know how to seek the true way, and how to measure whether or not it is the true way, and whether or not it is the work of God’ (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). When we think about the background of the Lord Jesus’ work and based on the truth, weigh God’s salvation work in the last day and the rumors and lies that Satan spreads in order to obstruct man from returning to God, it is not hard to see Satan’s sinister motives. It is also not hard to understand the reasons why the CCP government and the religious world resist, condemn, suppress and persecute The Church of Almighty God.”

After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I gained some discernment about Satan’s schemes. I also had some knowledge about Satan’s essence of resisting God. Moreover, I understood that someone simply has to practically examine and understand God’s work to distinguish all these rumors and separate the truth from the lies. If you just blindly believe in the one-sided story and do not seek the truth nor investigate the facts, you will be deceived by the rumors of the Chinese Communist Party and the pastors and elders of the religious world. If this is the case, you will have missed out on the salvation of God in the last days. At this time, my heart was thankful to Almighty God for guiding me to understand these truths and helping me become completely certain that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus, so that I could keep up with the footsteps of God and welcome the Lord’s return. Thank God! Amen!

What Does Christianity’s Frenzied Opposition to Christ Show?

Amongst the many Christian denominations, each has their own teachings and understanding, what their believers practice and observe are different, and they each stick to their own views and refuse to give in to each other. However, they happen to hold the same view and speak with one voice on how to treat the second incarnate Christ and God’s work of the last days. They need only hear things like “The Lord Jesus has returned to flesh,” “God has done new work,” or the phrase “the Eastern Lightning” and they will deny, condemn and renounce it without hesitation, calling God’s work of the last days heresy. They frantically oppose and obstruct God’s work, and do their utmost to seal off the churches. Particularly, they do everything possible to make things difficult for, drive away, insult and verbally abuse the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel of the last days, and even beat them up and send them to the hands of those in power. These circumstances are just like how the Pharisees opposed the Lord Jesus, even worse than then.

The Truth Showed Her the Way to Get Along With Others (Part 3)

Xiaomo

Soon after, as the duty became more difficult, the four people in Jiandan’s group came across a new problem. While they were checking the articles, they would often come across some issues they didn’t thoroughly understand and sometimes they would get quite worried. When they discussed the issues together, if one person suggested a solution and the other two were all of the same opinion, they would not wait for the fourth person to have their say. Jiandan felt that if the majority held the same view then it should be right, and that by doing this they could be considered to be performing their duty in accordance with principles.

The Truth Showed Her the Way to Get Along With Others (Part 2)

Xiaomo

Soon after, three new sisters came to work in Jiandan’s group. Jiandan thought of how she was now the person in the group who had done this duty the longest, and in her heart she silently told herself to be sure to take real responsibility for the work, to pick up the pace with finalizing these articles and to remedy her lingering regrets.

In the days that followed, whether in dealing with articles or group meetings, Jiandan acted positively and pro-actively, she diligently supervised and checked up on the articles her sisters had finalized, and when she discovered any problem, she spoke out without reserve.

While Jiandan was checking over the work, she discovered some issues with the articles a new sister, Li Yue, had finalized. She spoke frankly about this with Li Yue several times, but Li Yue wore an unnatural expression, and looked somewhat embarrassed. Every time this happened, Jiandan would feel worried in her heart: “I point out the issues with Li Yue’s duty so straightforwardly, will Li Yue have an opinion of me? Even if she does, I can’t be like I was before any longer, maintaining fleshly relationships with other people. Now that I’ve discovered some issues, I have to speak up, adhere to principles and stick up for the church’s interests.” After practicing this way for a while, Jiandan felt secretly glad. She felt that she was at last free of the constraints of vanity, and that she could now practice the truth.

The Truth Showed Her the Way to Get Along With Others (Part 1)

Xiaomo

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.

In Your Experience, How Much Practical Understanding Do You Have of God’s Salvation?

Nannan

Since I was small, I had always had a strong desire to be better than others. No matter what group of people I was in, I always sought to be the best. While I was still at school, though I had an average mind and my grades weren’t outstanding, I studied very hard so that I wouldn’t fall behind the other students. Teachers praised me for my desire to make progress, and relatives also praised me for being such a diligent student and taking my studies so seriously. I would often feel proud of myself for receiving their praise and getting favorable comments from them, and I considered myself top of my age group. After I’d accepted God’s work in the last days, I came to understand some truths by reading God’s words and living the church life, and I saw that, no matter what disposition God expresses, whether it be mercy, lovingkindness or righteous judgment and chastisement, they are all God’s true love for man. My heart was moved and inspired by God’s love, and I felt that the only right path in life was to believe in God and seek to be perfected by God. I therefore made a resolution to pursue the truth in earnest, to give up everything and expend myself for God to repay His love. But because my deeply-rooted corrupt disposition and satanic nature had not yet been resolved, I still sought to distinguish myself and to make others look highly upon me when performing my duties. I remember one time when I was given the choice of two duties, and without any hesitation whatsoever I chose the duty that I thought would cause others to look highly upon me. Once I’d started this duty, a sense of superiority arose in my heart, so much so that I looked down on other brothers and sisters, thinking that they were only doing common duties, whereas I was performing an important duty, and that I was a person of talent in God’s family.

Through the Great Tribulation, I Have Reaped Great Benefits

Rongguang Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

After following Almighty God, I was put in prison because I believed in God. At that time I was a new believer and God had given me strength so that I could stand firm in my testimony. However, I mistakenly believed that I had the stature; I thought that I had a great amount of faith, love and loyalty for God, therefore I didn’t pay particular attention to eating and drinking God’s words of judgment and chastisement. Even though I read, I compared the word by which God exposes man with other people and excluded myself from God’s judging words. I was only willing to read about the mysteries God has revealed and prophecies as well as words concerning obtaining blessings; these are the words I was most interested in. I read God’s words: “Based on their different functions and testimonies, the overcomers within the kingdom will serve as priests or followers, and all those who are victorious amid tribulation will become the body of priests within the kingdom. … In the body of priests there will be chief priests and priests, and the remainder will be the sons and people of God. This is all determined by their testimonies to God during tribulation; they are not titles that are given at whim” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The time of the tribulation will not be too protracted—it will not even be a year. If it were to last for a year it would delay the next step of work, and people’s stature would be inadequate. If it were too long they wouldn’t be able to withstand it—their stature has its limitations” (“How You Should Walk the Last Leg of the Path” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I thought: Position in the kingdom will be determined based on how people testify during the tribulation; these testimonies could influence someone’s fate. When the tribulation comes upon me, I will have to grit my teeth and put forth enough energy, and I will certainly offer a beautiful testimony. That way I will be able to obtain great blessings; besides, the tribulation won’t last too long–it will be less than a year. No matter what happens, I’ll be able to endure this period of hardship. By being dominated by thoughts of obtaining blessings I made up my mind to get ready for battle; I thought that by relying on my own “faith” and “will,” I would be able to be an overcomer in the tribulation.

God’s work of saving people is so wonderful and so wise. In 1996, we all entered into the great tribulation through God’s arrangement. But when the tribulation came upon us, no one was aware of it; everything happened so naturally, my true form and disgraceful situation of being an opportunist came to light during the tribulation.

In June and July of 1996, I was in another part of the country fulfilling my duty involving writing. One day, the leader of this area came and told us that the recent situation was not very good and that Sister so-and-so had been arrested by the great red dragon. When we heard of this, we wanted to pray for this sister and didn’t think of much else, because we all knew that it was a common occurrence for people to be arrested for their belief in God in China, a country that persecuted God like this. But, it wasn’t many days before we heard that a few more brothers and sisters were arrested. After a few more days, we heard that a dozen or so were arrested, and many well-known believers who were serving as leaders in God’s family were secretly listed as wanted. There were also some who had bounties for their arrests. The local leaders were also on the black list of the great red dragon. I sensed that things were not good: It looked like the great red dragon was trying to destroy the believers in one fell swoop. We felt a kind of terror in the atmosphere that enveloped us; we didn’t know what to do in this kind of situation; we wanted to contact the above and ask him how to proceed, but we couldn’t contact him. Later I found out that the tribulation had begun a month earlier. God’s word came true that “That is, when God smites the shepherd, the sheep of the flock will be scattered, and at that time you won’t have any true leader. The people will be divided—it won’t be like now, where you can come together as a congregation.” But at that time we were numb in spirit and we didn’t dare make wild guesses and define God’s work. Therefore we didn’t know that this was the great tribulation. All we could feel was the dark hand of the great red dragon pressing near us and we couldn’t progress in our work for objective reasons. In facing this kind of plight, we faintly became aware that the work had been obstructed by God’s hand; God was leading us to stop the work and hide ourselves and lose no time returning back to our homeland. That way we would be safer. Consequently, we were forced to disperse and return to our homeland.

I had only been home for a week when a sister came and gave me a letter saying that a brother in our church was arrested, and I needed to immediately leave home. At this time I was just like a deer in the headlights; I didn’t have any faith and I only had one thought in my heart: Quickly hide and don’t allow the great red dragon to capture me; the great red dragon is too deplorable and cruel, the vicious methods it uses to ravage believers is unprecedented. If I fall into the hands of the demon, the consequences would be unimaginable. Following this, a sister introduced me to the mountains to cook for the miners. I was there with two sisters and we took advantage of the times when no one was around to eat and drink the words of God, fellowship and sing hymns. Because we had a supply of God’s words, each day was very enriching. However, in less than a month, police came into the area and I had no choice but to quickly leave. Afterward I came to another restaurant to work. Everyone I came into contact with was an unbeliever and I didn’t have any common language with them; moreover, I didn’t have God’s word in this kind of environment, and there was no one to fellowship with to the point that it was difficult to even offer a proper prayer. I felt lonely and desolate and my heart couldn’t help but start complaining. I even wanted to betray God and not believe anymore: “Believing in God is really not easy and I am on edge all day; I am wandering in a world that lacks justice; when will these days be over? If I didn’t believe in God, living an easy and stable lifestyle like the unbelievers, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Even though my heart thought this way, I felt afraid and didn’t dare leave God; I also felt like I couldn’t leave God, the thought of leaving God caused me pain. Yet since I didn’t love reading God’s words in the past, didn’t seek after truth, and only fulfilled my duties to obtain blessings, therefore, the moment I left the books of God’s word, my heart didn’t have a line of God’s word left in it. Without God’s words of life supporting me, I was just like a fool who had lost his mind. I didn’t know what to do with myself or what to pursue after. I just desperately struggled through each day. What was God’s will? Why did He arrange this for me? How could I practice and satisfy God? I didn’t have the strength to ponder this, all I thought about was my hardships. At that time my belief in the omnipotence and omniscience of God and my belief in God’s universal dominance were all lost. It got to the point that when a sister came to invite me to go visit some brothers and sisters, I declined, because my heart was fearful and cowardly. I didn’t have faith or strength, I only relied on my mind and thoughts, thinking that the environment will not be good before Hong Kong’s return to China. During this period of time, the great red dragon will frantically suppress and eradicate everyone who sincerely believes in God. Now it will be a long time before Hong Kong’s return, I certainly must protect myself well. During the two and a half months that I worked in the restaurant, my heart became more and more distant from God, almost to the point that I only acknowledged God’s name, but didn’t have God in my heart. My heart was often attracted to the sensual pleasures; I wanted to run away from God and live the life of the unbelievers. However, over the next few days I especially missed God and the brothers and sisters; I missed my former church life. While being by myself, I always couldn’t help but cry. My heart was sorrowful: Oh God, all day I am with people who belong to the devil; if I am not working, then I am eating or having a boring conversation. Only You know the emptiness and pain in my heart. Oh God, when will this long night pass? When will we be set free to believe in God, like in the past when we lived in Your warm family? My heart was tormented like it was being overrun by weeds and I couldn’t stay any longer. It just so happened to be getting close to the Spring Festival and I took advantage of the opportunity and quit my job and quickly returned to my brothers and sisters. Afterward I realized that it wasn’t just me who had these thoughts; there were many brothers and sisters who had avoided being arrested by the great red dragon by fleeing to other areas who had experienced the same thing. They all returned home because they were thinking the same thing. This was a miraculous guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Not more than a few days after I had returned home, a sister came to notify me of a church gathering. When I heard the sister say that the tribulation was over, and that everything had returned back to normal, and that I could go and fulfill my former duty, I took a moment before I realized: “What? The tribulation is over? This was the tribulation? It will still be a few months before Hong Kong’s return to China. How could the tribulation have ended? This is not what I expected! All along these things we have been experiencing were the tribulation, now I am finished! What did I manifest during the tribulation? Besides being cowardly and afraid, I complained, escaped, and betrayed. I didn’t have any components of faith, not to mention loyalty and love. This time God has tested my work and I completely failed.” I hung my head in despair with all kinds of feelings in my heart. This time I was able to understand what God said before the tribulation began: “After My own work has been completed, the next step will be for people to walk the path that they should. Everyone must understand what path they should walk—this is a path of suffering and a process of suffering, and it is also a path of refining your will to love God. Which truths you should enter into, which truths you should supplement, how you should experience, and from which aspect you should enter in—you must understand all of these things. You must equip yourself now. If you wait until the tribulation comes upon you, it will be too late” (“How You Should Walk the Last Leg of the Path” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). This tragic lesson tells me: People cannot stand testimony in the tribulation if they do not have truth and if they rely on their own desires. People who live without truth in God’s work will certainly be thoroughly revealed; they will not be able to conceal themselves in the least bit or be able to fake it anymore. Without truth, you are built on a sand foundation, which won’t withstand the slightest test. Only with truth can you see things clearly, have faith and strength, be able to triumph over Satan and be able to put truth into practice to satisfy God and testify for God. I really hated myself: God has already patiently told us these things a long time ago, and why didn’t I believe it, why didn’t I take it seriously! Nothing can be taken back; there is no other choice but to diligently seek truth on the path ahead.

When we were finished meeting, I heard a sister reveal some internal intelligence: The great red dragon is still aggressively going about arresting believers and it is getting even more intense. When I heard this, my heart of little faith again whispered: The environment is this tense and the brothers and sisters are all fulfilling their duties. Is this OK? But the fact allowed me to see that: Even though the situation is tense, people are not fearful as they were during the tribulation; when we fulfill our duties, our hearts are especially steadfast and peaceful as if everyone forgot about the piece of intelligence the sister told us. The Holy Spirit is also doing an enormous work in the church; it won’t be long before the grand occasion when the gospel is extended into every land. Our work is getting busier and every duty is being smoothly carried out. Nearly all the brothers and sisters are fulfilling their duties with their best efforts in their respective positions. The scene is progressing in full swing just under the great red dragon’s nose, but with the work expanding this vigorously, there have not been any arrests like that in the midst of the great tribulation. These facts allowed me to see a truth clearly: In fact, the great red dragon is always working to resist God, persecute God and coerce God’s chosen people; it has never stopped and wants to assassinate God and His chosen people. Sometimes the butcher’s knife in its hand does not fall down on us, and that is God watching over and protecting us. Sometimes we don’t even perceive its intention to kill, and that is God using His great wings to shelter us, it is not that the great red dragon put its butcher’s knife down and stopped its persecution. The great red dragon has never put down its butcher’s knife, it will never put it down; it wants to resist God to the end and the closer it gets to the end, the more frantic it becomes, because the great red dragon is Satan, the evil spirit. It knows that the glorious day that God completes His work of salvation is its last day. Therefore, the closer death draws near, the more it struggles. However, no matter what happens, God’s work uses the great red dragon as a foil, it is a serving object in God’s hands, it is a tool for testing God’s chosen people. Its cruelty cannot block God’s work, without God’s permission, it has no power over God’s chosen people. When God does not allow it to hunt, God’s chosen people will be under its nose and it won’t be able to catch them. It has no other choice but to be at God’s mercy. Just like God’s word says: “When I formally begin My work, all people move as I move, such that people throughout the universe occupy themselves in step with Me, there is ‘jubilation’ across the universe, and man is spurred onward by Me. In consequence, the great red dragon itself is whipped into a state of frenzy and bewilderment by Me, and serves My work, and, despite being unwilling, is unable to follow its own desires, leaving it no choice but to submit to My control” (“The Twenty-ninth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). In the great tribulation, God allowed the great red dragon to persecute God’s chosen people, because He wanted to exploit the great red dragon and use it to benefit God’s chosen people so that they see clearly the substance of the great red dragon’s resistance against God. If God was always watching over and protecting us, and didn’t allow us to suffer even a little bit of persecution in the real environment, then we would not be able to truly believe the words God revealed about the substance of the great red dragon’s corruption; and we wouldn’t be aware of the faithfulness of God. Therefore, God allows us to see the truth of the facts when appropriate. Only in this way can we see that everything God says is true and that the great red dragon is indeed the enemy of God, that it is an evil spirit, and that it slaughters people and swallows people’s spirits. If these facts were not revealed, I would still be fooled and cheated by it; I would still believe it when it said, “freedom of religion” and “legal rights of the citizens.” Today, I have personally experienced the pursuit and persecution of the great red dragon, I have seen the atrocious countenance of the great red dragon’s slaughtering of God’s chosen people with my own eyes. And I know now that the freedom and democracy that it proclaims is all a cover-up for its crimes. I now clearly see the evil and deplorable demonic substance of the great red dragon, and my heart truly despises it. I have made up my mind to betray it and follow God to the end.

Tribulations come from God, and the timing of their ending is surely in God’s hands. When God’s work produces results, God will certainly not procrastinate the time. Just like God said: “The time of the tribulation will not be too protracted—it will not even be a year. If it were to last for a year it would delay the next step of work, and people’s stature would be inadequate. If it were too long they wouldn’t be able to withstand it—their stature has its limitations” (“How You Should Walk the Last Leg of the Path” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God has His plan, and He does not delay the next step of spreading His gospel. God has a thorough understanding of us, He knows our statures, He knows our circumstances, and He is not willing to allow our lives to have losses. God has made exact plans for us in His work, He has thought about our lives in every way; but in my tribulation, all I thought about was my own safety and whether or not I was suffering hardships; I didn’t think about God at all. I am truly selfish and deplorable; I don’t have a rational conscience and am not worthy to live in God’s presence. In my tribulation, God revealed my actual stature, which caused me to have a realistic understanding of myself. I saw how poor, pitiful and blind I was; I saw that I had no faith or love for God, but only had rebellion and resistance to the point that I would betray at any time and any place. At this time, I was able to see my danger, and I felt the importance of being equipped with truth; since then I have had a thirst for truth. At this time I read the words God revealed about man’s corrupt nature and felt that God’s word came alive in me like a two-edged sword piercing my joints and marrow and revealing the filth and injustice in the depths of my heart. It caused me to see that I was deplorable and ugly and to see that I was deeply corrupted by Satan. I began to despise myself and have desire to change myself; I thirsted to be a genuine person. I felt the work of God’s judgment and chastisement was truly cleansing people and as long as I sincerely sought after truth, I would surely be cleansed and saved. The first time I felt the preciousness of God’s words and the importance of truth, my heart inwardly became gladdened: I have finally entered into my belief in God, I am striding toward a new beginning and can see the hope of obtaining salvation. Consequently, I set a resolution: No matter how bumpy the path is ahead of me, I will always be firm and unmoving in following God and walk in the correct path of life.

God’s wonderful arrangements allowed us to unwittingly enter the tribulation and to unwittingly rise out of the tribulation. The harvest we reaped from this was clear and easy to see. Through the tribulation, we can see that God is almighty and wise; we see that the great red dragon is incapable and foolish. It is unbridled and savage, and has no other choice but to be involuntarily tossed to and fro by God’s work; it will forever be defeated in God’s hands. The great red dragon vainly attempts to scare God’s chosen people through cruel persecution and disturb and dismantle God’s work. It doesn’t realize that God is using this to perfect God’s people. Even though on the outside it looks like the great red dragon’s persecution has come upon the people, in reality, it is all arranged by God’s almighty hand. He scatters people and gathers people, He leads people into tribulations and leads people out of tribulations; He allows people to endure until they want to leave, but He has always supported people, pulled people, and caused people to not be able to leave. It is amidst these wonderful arrangements of God that people are able to clearly see the ugly face of the great red dragon and to truly despise the great red dragon from the bottom of their hearts. People are also able to see God’s great power and experience God’s love, almightiness and wisdom. They are more steadfast and unwavering in following God, and can see their true statures and deficiencies; their hearts have a greater thirst for God and truth. There is so much significance in God raising the great tribulation; there is so much wisdom in God’s work. No one can fathom it. I was able to take part in the great tribulation arranged by God; it was truly God’s exaltation and abundant love and my honor in this life. Every time I reflect on this I am overwhelmed with emotion and want to give my heartfelt thanks and praise to God. If I didn’t experience the tribulation, I would have had no other choice but to follow blindly like a layman standing outside of the ranks of the training of the kingdom who ultimately would sink and be destroyed. If I didn’t experience the tribulation, I wouldn’t have true faith in God and wouldn’t understand the difficulty of God’s work and that saving people was not easy. If I didn’t experience the tribulation, I would not be able to see the true face of the great red dragon and I would still have delusions about this dark society, I would still have a fondness for this world and would not be able to follow God with an iron heart. It is God’s wonderful and wise work that has conquered me; it is God’s omnipotence and great love that has led me to where I am today! From now on, no matter what trials and tribulations I face, I will be willing to rely on my faith and love for God to stand witness for God and comfort God’s heart.

God’s Best Protection for Mankind

Kuiqian Rizhao City, Shandong Province

My station in life, or status, was something I could never let go of, and when God created an environment that exposed me, I was only negative, complaining, and despairing. Only through refinement after refinement did I come to understand God’s good intentions, and that His testing of me was not to torment me. Rather, it was to cleanse me and make me perfect, to allow me to understand that believing in God for the sake of a station can only ruin me, thus allowing me to let go of improper views of pursuit, and to have a proper goal to pursue.

After some time of serving as a leader in the church, I was promoted to be a district leader’s partner. Before long, I was promoted again and entrusted with being a district leader. This linear “rise” made me work even harder to perform my duty, looking forward to the day that even more would be entrusted to me. This hope became the impetus for my pursuits. However, just as I was dreaming of my step-by-step “ascent,” I was replaced! At the time I was crushed—I felt that I had lost my station and my path of faith in God had come to its end. I was in pain to the point that I considered leaving the church. I even thought about dying. Later, through enlightenment from God’s words, I gradually came out of that negativity. His words were: “When the mountains move, could they make a detour for the sake of your station? When the waters flow, could they cease before your station? Could the heavens and the earth be reversed by your station?” (“The Twenty-second Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At the time, although I realized that my desire for status was too strong and that faith in God should not be a pursuit of status, I didn’t have any real understanding of myself, and I thought to myself: I won’t pursue status anymore; no matter what duties are arranged for me, I’ll obey and that’s it. Later, the church arranged for me to preach the gospel and to look after new believers. I accepted all of this. So, I believed that I had let go of my desire for status.

Who Knows the Motherly Heart of God?

Qingxin Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

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