Because of faith, we are forgiven of sins; because of faith, we follow Christ till today. The website, Follow Christ, provides the latest information about the truth of Christ's return.
When I believed in the Lord, I saw the Bible recorded, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). So, I knew God would judge us mankind in the last days. At that time, I imagined: When God appears publicly in the last days, He will sit on a great white throne and set a large table before Him. On the table there was a big screen where various sins of people before their death are projected. All the people will accept God’s judgment one by one, and know their outcome.
This was my understanding of judgment at that time. After I was uplifted by God to accept God’s work of the last days, God’s word revealed this mystery and reversed my conceptions of judgment, so that I returned before God’s throne.
I admit not everything in the Bible is the word of God. It also contains the words of man as well as the words of Satan. This is a fact. But I also believe God’s words and work all are recorded in the Bible. I dare say that this is also fact. Therefore, our faith in God needs to be based on the Bible. We can’t believe in or accept anything beyond the Bible. Do you dare to say there are God’s words and work outside of the Bible? We believe all of God’s words and work are inside the Bible. Do you dare deny this point?
In the study, Muxun, Fu Rong and Si’en were studying the Bible together …
Muxun said, “Sisters, I have a question that I’d like to ask. Ever since I started to believe in the Lord, I’ve always believed that all of God’s words are recorded in the Bible and that there are none outside the Bible. But recently, there are some people preaching that the Lord Jesus has already returned, and that the Lord is speaking new words beyond those that are recorded in the Bible. I feel very confused about this. Are there words of God outside the Bible? I want to hear your views on this matter.”
Editor’s note: Many brothers and sisters see the words “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8), and they believe that the Lord Jesus’ name cannot ever change. But some people have made a new discovery in the Book of Revelation, being that God will have a new name in the last days. What does all this mean? Could it be that, when the Lord Jesus returns in the last days, His name really will change? Continue reading this article and you’ll get the answers.
Peace to you in the Lord! I’m very glad to receive your letter. In your letter you say: “I’ve always believed that we believers in the Lord have been reborn and saved and become an entirely new being because of having been baptized, so we are qualified to enter the heavenly kingdom, for the Lord once said, ‘He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned’ (Mark 16:16). But some brothers and sisters said: ‘Though we have been baptized and accepted the Lord’s salvation, we still live in sin and are unable to cast off the bondage of sin, so we must accept God’s work of judgment and purification in the last days for admission into the heavenly kingdom.’ I am very confused by this. Can people be saved and enter the heavenly kingdom through baptism?
The question you have raised also puzzles many brothers and sisters in the Lord. And I was not an exception. It was not until recently when I attended a meeting—where the preacher, Sister Li, just happened to give a sermon about this aspect, which made me feel a special kind of brightness in my heart—that I came to understand the relationship between baptism and entry into the heavenly kingdom. Next I will share with you something that the sister fellowshiped that day and my gains. Sister Li said, “In Matthew 28:19-20, it says, ‘Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.’ From the verses, we can see: Baptism is just a kind of ritual of accepting the work of the Lord Jesus and it represents our formally becoming a Christian and returning before the Lord. It also represents that we can enjoy the Lord’s care and protection as well as blessings, and that we have received the sin offering. But it doesn’t mean that we have been reborn and saved and can enter into the heavenly kingdom. We have to admit the fact that we still cannot help but often commit sins though we have been pardoned for our sins. For example, we still lie and cheat in pursuit of reputation and status. When others harm our interests, we can still hate them, utterly incapable of practicing tolerance and patience as the Lord Jesus requires. When confronted with natural and manmade disasters, or trials and tribulations, we blame and betray God. When God’s work is not in accordance with our own conceptions, we deny, judge, and oppose God. These are facts for all to see. The Bible says, ‘Be you holy; for I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16). And the Lord Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the Son stays ever’ (John 8:34-35). Therefore, because God is holy, only those who have freed themselves of sin and have been cleansed can enter the heavenly kingdom. Although we believers in the Lord have been baptized, we still have corrupt dispositions and can still sin and resist God. We have not yet been cleansed and changed and become an entirely new being. So how can we be qualified to enter into God’s kingdom?”
Then, the sister shared with us a passage of words: “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.”
After listening to this passage and the sister’s fellowship, I understood: In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus only performed His redemption work. By believing in the Lord our sins are absolved and we are saved through our faith. But this saved refers to no longer being convicted by law and sentenced to death. It doesn’t mean that we are completely holy, much less does it mean that we can enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is because though our belief in the Lord Jesus pardons our sins, our sinful nature is still deeply rooted within us, and we can still resist God, betray God, and consider God as an enemy. Evidently, if our corrupt satanic dispositions are not resolved, we will be unqualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). The Lord’s words are very clear. During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus never gave humans all the truths they needed in order to be saved. There are still many deeper and higher truths—the truths that will allow people to be freed from their corrupt satanic dispositions and achieve holiness. The Lord Jesus didn’t tell mankind these truths because at that time, the people lacked the necessary stature to bear them. Man must wait until the Lord Jesus returns to do His work in the last days. He will, through His work of judgment and chastisement, thoroughly cleanse us from our sinful nature and allow us to escape the bondage of sin and attain sanctity, and to be saved into the heavenly kingdom. This fulfills the prophecies in the Bible, “He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). So, our baptism does not mean that we have been reborn and saved and become an entirely new being. Only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can we have the opportunity to achieve purification and enter into the heavenly kingdom.
Sister Wang, that is some of my understanding, and I hope you can benefit from it. If you have any new insights or enlightenment, please write to share them with me!
Editor’s note: As for how the Lord will return in the last days, the religious community has long had many differing opinions. Most Christians believe that the Lord will descend on a cloud. But some wonder: The Bible states that when the Lord returns He will separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, and that each will be put with his or her own kind, etc. If when the Lord descends on a cloud, and everyone falls to the ground to worship Him, then how will this work be done? This article will bring you new light. Continue reading.
By Linlin
At the co-worker meeting many different opinions were voiced.
Wenwen: Recently, many of the brothers and sisters have been exploring a very contentious issue: In the year 2000 the pastors and elders said that the Lord’s return was imminent, but now it’s 2018 and we haven’t seen it happen. But some people are saying that the Lord has in fact already returned, while others say that when the Lord returns everyone will see Him. There are so many different opinions about this. So, how on earth will the Lord return? What do you all think of this issue?
Hu Yue: Regarding the Lord’s return, the Bible very clearly states: “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27). “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him” (Revelation 1:7). From these paragraphs we can see that everyone will see the Lord’s return. This should be believed.
Li Qi: This was my understanding too, but then I read that the Bible states that when the Lord returns He will separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, He will put each with his or her own kind, and so on. So I began to wonder that if when the Lord descends on a cloud, and everyone falls to the ground to worship the glorious Lord, then how will this work be accomplished?
Brother Wu: That’s right! If the Lord descends on a cloud, then good and evil people, true believers and false believers, good servants and bad servants will see the Lord appearing openly and then will fall to the ground in front of Him, right? So how will the sheep be separated from the goats and each put with their own kind?
Cheng Li: Regarding the issue of the Lord’s return I had also long been puzzled by it. But some time ago, following the recommendation of a friend, I visited a gospel website. On that site I read some books that address this issue and was able to find the correct answer.
Wenwen excitedly asked: What’s the answer? Hurry up and tell us!
Cheng Li: In the books, I read that the Scriptures not only mention the prophecies concerning the Lord appearing openly to all, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30), “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him” (Revelation 1:7), but also mention in many places that He will return secretly, “I will come on you as a thief” (Revelation 3:3), “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Revelation 16:15), “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luke 12:40), “But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). These prophecies mention the return of the Son of man, saying that the Lord will come like a thief. What this means is that the Lord can come openly on a cloud as well as secretly. We all know that if the Lord descends on a cloud there will be many signs to indicate it, such as the upheaval of heaven and earth and stars falling from the sky. If everyone sees these things happen they’ll know for sure that the Lord has returned. But as for the prophecy of the Lord returning like a thief, how could it be fulfilled? We know that every word and sentence of the Lord must be verifiable, so we can’t set parameters for the method of the Lord’s return according to one or two passages in the Scriptures. Actually, the Lord’s return will be done in stages: The first stage is His secret return as the Son of man; after that He will descend openly on a cloud and appear to all. During the secret stage, the Lord will come to create a group of overcomers, in other words, He will save all those who truly believe in and obey Him. At the same time, He will reveal all those people whose faith is false and who resist God. When this great work has been completed, He will then reveal Himself to the world, which will also be the period of rewarding the good and punishing the wicked. How does all this sound to you?
Li Qi: Hmm, what you’re saying sounds reasonable and accords with what is prophesied in the Bible and the reality of God’s work. I remember that it is written in the Bible: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30). In the age of Noah, God told Noah that He would destroy the world but also commanded him to build an ark. During the 100 years that Noah was building the ark, nobody believed a flood was coming, so God sent down the disaster. During this period, only Noah’s family of eight followed God’s instructions and got on the ark, and were thus saved. Everyone else was washed away by the floodwaters and drowned. And then there is the story of Sodom: Before God burned the town down He sent angels to save people, but only Lot worshiped God and received the angels. The rest of the townsfolk spent their time eating, drinking, gaming, and generally living sinful, pleasure-seeking lives. They even attacked the angels and resisted God. So the angels took Lot and his two daughters outside the town and God protected them while He rained sulfur and fire down on Sodom and completely destroyed it and its wicked residents. From these two events, we can see that before disaster strikes, God is strenuously trying to save people. God looks for those who truly believe in Him and brings them before His throne, while those evildoers who make an enemy of God will all be struck down by God’s wrath when He manifests Himself in the disasters.
Cheng Li: Yes, on the gospel website I read a passage of God’s words that says: “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth”).
From these sentences we can see that blindly waiting for the Lord to openly descend on a cloud is wrong, because that only happens when God comes to reward or punish people, and so it is already too late for people to be saved. This fulfills the prophecy in Revelation chapter 1 verse 7: “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” When God descends on a cloud, and openly appears before the peoples of the world, they will wail loudly and all those who resisted Him will be punished. This is determined by God’s righteous disposition!
Wenwen: Thank the Lord! This kind of fellowshiping is the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit!
Li Qi: But there’s still one thing I don’t really understand: If the Lord descends secretly before the disasters then how are we supposed to know?
Cheng Li: The Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). From these verses we can see that when the Lord returns He will utter truths and speak to the churches. The wise virgins hear God’s voice and are then able to welcome His coming. So, we should pay close attention to listening to God’s voice, and when someone is bearing witness to God’s appearance or God’s utterances then we must seek and investigate. We mustn’t refuse or condemn them. Then, before the disasters strike, we’ll be able to welcome the Lord, feast with the Lord and ultimately be gained by Him!
Now the disasters are getting greater and there have been frequent earthquakes, famines and wars. In addition, from the end of 2019 to 2020, the new coronavirus emerging in Wuhan, China, has spread to over 20 countries. Now Wuhan coronavirus is still spreading and the death toll is rising. Besides, from September 2019 to January 2020, the Australian bushfires destroyed thousands of buildings. In addition, dozens of people died and billions of animals are reported to have been killed. On January 18, 2020, a 100-year heavy rain lashed Australia, causing flooding, power failures in some districts, and the death of large amounts of aquatic life. In January 2020, torrential rains swept across Indonesia, so that tens of thousands of people became homeless. Furthermore, the four blood moons have appeared, and disasters have frequently occurred worldwide. These fulfill the prophecies of the return of the Lord Jesus, “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, see, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood” (Revelation 6:12). “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows”(Matthew 24:7–8). Seeing the fulfillment of these prophecies, many brothers and sisters in the Lord raise such questions: Since the prophecies of the second coming of Christ have been basically fulfilled, has the Lord come back? If so, why haven’t we welcomed the Lord? Where can we find the Lord’s footprints?
I believed in the Lord by chance when I was 11 years old. After my father knew it, he opposed me strongly, saying that he was the head of the family so that I needed to obtain his permission before I could have faith, and he didn’t allow me to go to the church. After that, I did not go to church anymore, but I still prayed to the Lord every day, and the Lord heard my prayers and responded to me in different ways.
I have believed in the Lord for forty years. In the past I was constantly living in a state of sinning and confessing and couldn’t free myself, feeling miserable. This continued until the time when I accepted the gospel of the Lord’s return and found the path to be cleansed of corruption.
Originally, I had a very happy family. Because of the need of my husband’s work, we lived far from each other and couldn’t often meet. But this didn’t influence our feelings, and my husband was still tender and considerate toward me. As long as he had a holiday, he would go back to Taipei and take my children and me out for dinner or to travel around. Our whole family was harmonious. My relatives and friends all envied me very much and I also felt my life was perfect because I could possess such a family.
However, a phone call shattered the tranquil calm of my family. One night, I suddenly received a call of my husband’s mistress. At that moment, it was like thunder from a clear sky to me: My husband, who loved me so much, actually had found another woman outside. I didn’t believe that he would betray me, so I called him to ask whether he really did that. At that time, he didn’t acknowledge that. I thought: No smoke without fire. Since the woman has called me, I must definitely get to the bottom of this. However, I was also in a mental conflict and felt tortured, thinking: He is so honest and treats family well. How could such a thing happen? But in case he really has betrayed me, what should I do? How I hope that everything is not true! During that period of time, I couldn’t eat or sleep and I also regretted not going with him to Taizhong at that time.
In my miserable struggle, I decided that no matter whether or not this thing had happened, I would have to investigate it. The next day, I called my husband and got his address in Taizhong. A week later, I suddenly went to his dwelling place and began to comb every corner in the house while he went to work. I never thought that I really found a box of woman’s clothes, and besides, I found a love letter written to my husband by that woman at the dump. I was so angry that I trembled and bitterly cried, thinking: I take good care of the family in order to allow him to work outside with peace of mind, but he actually betrayed me and had a mistress. The more I thought about that, the more I felt angry, so when my husband returned, I said to him in a fit of pique, “Let’s get divorced. I really can’t bear such a blow.” Seeing that he couldn’t hide any more, he told me the truth. Moreover, he said he made the mistake just because he couldn’t resist the enticements in a moment of confusion and that he had broken up with that woman. Besides, he pitifully pled with me not to divorce him, saying that he loved our family and me very much and promising he wouldn’t do that any more. In fact, my husband treated me very well, but as a woman, how could I accept the truth that my husband had had an affair? Later, though we didn’t divorce, our marriage had been no longer perfect. My heart had suffered great pain, so I didn’t dare to believe him any longer; no matter how well he treated me, I all felt he was deceiving me. Afterward, I became suspicious: As long as he wasn’t at my side, I would guess whether or not he went to find that woman again and I would call him unceasingly every day; sometimes, when a woman’s voice came on the other end of the line, I would become very sensitive. I, who was originally outgoing became taciturn, disconsolate and dispirited: I didn’t want to step foot outside my home nor did I want to talk to others, living an exhausting and painful life. The moment I thought my family was once shattered, I would be incredibly angry and would vent all my grudges on my husband. However, every time after I scolded him, he would be silent. Seeing his painful and remorseful expression, I also felt very sad. Though I knew that flaring up hot-bloodedness and hating others were all sins and were displeasing to the Lord, I just couldn’t control myself, much less let go of the hatred for my husband.
Later, I told the group leader and the elder of our church my problems, hoping that they could help me out of my sinful behavior. But every time they just said they would pray for me and told me that the Lord is merciful and compassionate and that when I committed sins, as long as I confessed and repented, the Lord would forgive them. But I thought believing in the Lord and being able to gain His approval were not as simple as it seemed. At that time, I also looked for a way out from the Bible carefully, seeing the Lord Jesus required us to forbear with others, be patient and forgive others seventy times seven. I engraved His teachings in my mind and wanted to practice hard according to His demands, but as long as I recalled the scene of my husband betraying me or heard the topic of men around going off the rails, I would be doomed to lose my temper, and sometimes I even wanted to take revenge on that woman. Every time when I had these thoughts and ideas, I would do my utmost to betray them and even curse myself, but such situations repeated all the time and didn’t have any change over the years. I began to think: Why can I not live out the Lord’s demands, being bound and controlled by sin all along? How can I get rid of the bondage of sin?
At the end of 2016, my younger sister came to my home with a sister and told me excitedly, “Sister, the Lord Jesus we’ve longed for has returned.” Once I heard this, I said, “The Lord has returned? Is this true?” I couldn’t help but feel a moment of pleasant surprise and thought to myself: Judging from the signs of all kinds of disasters, the Lord indeed will soon come. If the Lord really has returned, then I will be saved!
Afterward, the sister shared with me various aspects of the truth such as the inside story and the substance of God’s three stages of work, the inside story of God’s name and the Bible, and the incarnation. What she shared was very good. Though I had believed in the Lord for decades of years, I had never heard any doctrine as good as this. I was profoundly drawn in, so I asked her: “We have believed in the Lord, but why do we still sin continuously?” She read two passages of God’s word to me：“Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan” (“Preface”). “For, in the Age of Grace, the demons went away from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but the work for just how the corrupt satanic dispositions within man could be cast away was not done in him. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through God incarnate, but it does not mean that man has no sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but man has been unable to resolve the issue of just how he can no longer sin and how his sinful nature can be cast away completely and be transformed” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
The sister fellowshiped with me, “At that time, the Lord Jesus just did the work of redemption so we could be forgiven of our sins and be eligible to pray to God, commune with God and enjoy the grace and blessings of God. But the redemption work of the Lord Jesus only forgave our sins without pardoning our satanic nature. Thus, it is because we still have sinful nature within us as well as the corrupt satanic disposition that we can still sin. We are arrogant, selfish, despicable and malicious, and we are narrow-minded, haggle over every little thing and even treat our family without tolerance and patience, having no human likeness at all and completely losing God’s testimony. That God becomes flesh again and expresses words to do the work of judgment and chastisement is just for the sake of taking away our deeply rooted sinful nature within. God uses His word to reveal and judge us, allowing us to know the truth of our corruption by Satan and our nature and substance of resistance to Him, and then He points out to us the path of practice, through which He instills these truths in us so that they become our life. Thus, our satanic disposition will be destroyed completely. Therefore, only by accepting the judgment and punishment of God’s word can we resolve the root of the sinful behavior.” After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I understood: The reason why I hate my husband at all times and can’t live out the Lord’s requirements is because my sinful nature is still not resolved, so I always live in the state of sinning and confessing. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption and gave man the way of repentance, which were just for the sake of achieving the result of allowing man to confess his sins, repent and turn to the Lord, but not for resolving our sinful nature. At that moment, I gained some understanding of the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace.
These years, I had always been distressed because of my sinful behavior, but in the sharing this time, I finally found the answer. I was very curious about The Scroll Opened by the Lamb in the sister’s hands. Upon seeing this, she told me, “This book is just the little scroll from the Book of Revelation. God has come, broken the seven seals and opened the little scroll. The Scroll Opened by the Lamb is all the words expressed by God. God has revealed to us all the mysteries of the truth such as the mysteries of the three stages of work, the mystery of His incarnation as well as mankind’s future destination and outcome.” At that point, I felt immeasurably excited: I have waited for so many years and the Lord Jesus I have long longed for has finally returned. I asked the sister right away, “How much is this book?” She answered, “God’s words will be bestowed on everyone who truly thirsts for God. The living water of life is freely bestowed on those that are thirsty.” When I took the book, I felt as if I had returned to God’s embrace. It was the first time that I had felt happy and content again since my husband betrayed me, and only then did I realize I was still alive. I told myself that I would closely follow God!
From then on, I read God’s word every day and regularly gathered with brothers and sisters. In a meeting, we read two passages of God’s word: “Of course, when God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom” (“Preface”). “Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can cast away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage of salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”). Brothers and sisters shared with me: “In the past, in believing in God, we only knew how to enjoy God’s grace and blessing but didn’t gain true knowledge of Him. Today, God does the work of judgment and chastisement and brings higher truth. Through reading God’s word and experiencing His work, we get some knowledge of God’s disposition and see that God not only has the disposition of mercy and love but also has the disposition of righteousness, majesty and wrath. At the same time, we also know that which kinds of people God loves as well as the kinds He loathes and know how we should do so that we can be in line with God’s will and that only when we gain the knowledge of God can we revere God and shun evil. Besides, God’s words also have revealed the truth of man’s corruption by Satan: Satan uses various heretical fallacies, knowledge and evil trends to deceive and corrupt man so that man becomes barely human and all lives in sin, struggling bitterly and being powerless to break away from it. Today, as long as we understand the truth within God’s word we can distinguish the ways that Satan corrupts mankind and can have a knowledge of the truth of our corruption by Satan so that we can hate Satan and are willing to forsake our flesh and put the truth into practice. Only by this way can our corrupt disposition be purified and can we live freely and without restraints.” The sisters also shared with me some gain and paths of their experiencing God’s work. After hearing their sharing, I felt that the process of God saving mankind is too practical and too real. I remembered that I had believed in the Lord for forty years and that I often prayed to the Lord, confessed my sins and repented, yet my hate within for that woman and my hatred for and mistrust of my husband couldn’t be resolved. Thank God. Now I have the path of practice and understand that the work God does today is the work of judgment by the word. What I can do at present is read more God’s word, know God, understand His will in His word, and at the same time, focus on accepting the judgment and punishment of God’s word and examining myself in His word, and then practice the truth in daily life.
Later, I read a passage of God’s word: “People harbor many illusions about marriage before they experience it themselves, and all these illusions are beautiful. Women imagine that their other halves will be Prince Charming, and men imagine that they will marry Snow White. These fantasies go to show that every person has certain requirements for marriage, their own set of demands and standards. Though in this evil age people are constantly bombarded with distorted messages about marriage, which create even more additional requirements and give people all sorts of baggage and strange attitudes, any person who has experienced marriage knows that no matter how one understands it, no matter what one’s attitude toward it is, marriage is not a matter of individual choice” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). God’s word is too practical. In my opinion, I thought marriage was holy and unblemished. Because I pursued the perfect marriage, I demanded that my husband should also regard the marriage with absolute loyalty and respect; because I had my own set of demands and standards of marriage, when my family was destroyed and my husband was possessed by others, my heart felt as if it were emptied and I was living like a zombie. I thought it was the greatest disgrace in my life. I even couldn’t bear or forgive my husband’s momentary fault, developing the hate for him in my heart. Even more terrible was that I developed the thought of taking revenge on that woman, which let me see that I am really narrow-minded and evil in nature. Thank God. If not for God’s revelation, I would have never realized how deeply I had been corrupted by Satan or how pity I was. I thought: In reality, my husband, who is the same as me, is a man corrupted by Satan and is one of the victims. I can make mistakes, and he also can make mistakes. Why can I not treat him correctly? At that moment, I could understand my husband a bit and also had some sense of indebtedness in my heart. I established a resolution before God: I’m willing to follow Christ’s example. I have seen how Christ loves, bears, tolerates and forgives us. So I should treat him the way God treats us, and forgive him as God forgives us.
Later, through reading God’s word, I understood that only by seeking the truth could I get rid of the bondage and control of sin and live out a valuable and meaningful life. Hence, every day I paid attention to establishing a proper relationship with God by reading God’s word, praying to God and singing hymns to praise God, and moreover, I often attended gatherings and performed duty with my brothers and sisters. Unknowingly, several months passed, because I had understood some truths, when I hated my husband within again, I would consciously calm my heart down, come before God, pray to Him, and then practice His word. Gradually, my mood improved and my temper also became not so temperamental. Seeing my changes, my husband felt very surprised and said: “In believing in the Lord for so many years, you haven’t had any change. How can you change so much in a few months?” Taking this opportunity, I bore witness to Almighty God’s work of the last days to him and told him that the Lord Jesus has returned and has expressed words, doing the work of judgment and chastisement. That I could have changes today was the outcome of the word of Almighty God in me. Later, my husband also accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days.
Now I believe in God with my husband. As long as we are free, we will read God’s word together. In our life, when we see each other’s display of corruption, we will remind each other and fellowship about the truth to solve the problems. Today, we can help and understand each other and become good spiritual partners. I have felt that this is the real happy life. It is the truths expressed by God that take me out of sin, cure the wound of my soul and also allow my lifeless family to have laughter again. Thank God! All the glory be to Almighty God on the throne!
After getting married, I needed to face a new home environment. In order to protect my relationships with my husband’s family, I spoke and acted cautiously every day, fearing that I would make mistakes. So, I felt a lot of pressure in my heart. At that time, when I saw the believers in the Lord in my village lived with much joy, I just couldn’t figure that out: Why are they so delighted? Out of curiosity, I also went to the church to attend a meeting. In the meeting, a sister told me: “The Lord Jesus is a God who is full of lovingkindness and mercy. He loves others more than Himself; He is meek and lowly and is by our side at any time; moreover, He is the lamp to our feet and the light to our path. No matter what difficulties we have, we can tell Him and He will hear our prayers.” Hearing these words, I was moved very much and I felt warm and at ease as if I had found a true friend. I even more felt that God’s compassionate and loving disposition was so wonderful especially when I saw the Lord’s words “Take my yoke on you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls” (Matthew 11:29). And I rather longed for following His words, so I prayed to the Lord, saying I wanted to imitate Him. Afterward, when interacting with my husband’s family, I tried my best to be a humble person, forbear and forgive them. Gradually, my relationship with them became more and more harmonious. My mother-in-law said I was closer than her daughter. What she said made me very happy within my heart. Thank God. It was God’s word that guided me to the correct direction. I had to follow the Lord carefully.
In 2008, a rare magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck China’s Wenchuan County. This sudden massive earthquake made me feel particularly scared and helpless. That was the first time that I had sensed the frailty of life. During a meeting, the pastor said to us, “Brothers and sisters, don’t be afraid. The Bible says: ‘And as he sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?’ (Matthew 24:3). And ‘For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places’ (Matthew 24:7). Now, disasters are getting bigger and bigger, which shows that the days of God’s coming are imminent. We must watch and wait, uphold the Lord’s teachings and be ready to welcome the Lord that descends with the clouds to bring us into the kingdom of heaven at every moment.” And then, he also described to us how wonderful the kingdom of heaven was, in which there was no war, no disaster and no tears … After learning that one day in the future I would be brought into the heavenly kingdom by the Lord, I was very excited inside, my faith to follow the Lord was bigger and I had a new hope in my life.
Several years had gone by in the blink of an eye, and the Lord had still not come. However, the church had changed some: The young sisters in our church all worked away from their home in succession. The people left were all the illiterate aged ones. Listening to the pastor’s explaining the Bible repeatedly together with them every day, I felt I had no progress in spirit. Moreover, when I encountered difficulties and prayed to the Lord, I had no moving in my heart as before. I felt the church didn’t have the Lord’s presence. For fear that I would be forsaken by the Lord, I decided to go out to seek a church in which the Holy Spirit was at work. However, after I successively visited several churches, the situations I saw in these churches were the same as my church. I felt miserable, so I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, where exactly are You? I beg You not to hide Your face from us. We really quite need You!” Although I often obsessively called upon the Lord just like this, I still couldn’t feel the Lord’s response. Thus, I felt more and more listless within my heart.
Follow Christ 