Investigate God’s Name: Jesus and Jehovah

In the golden autumn, blown by the wind, the yellow withered leaves were falling down from the trees slowly, and the ground was covered with a thin layer of them. In a residential building, Zhang Yongxin was sitting at the desk. As he looked through the Bible, he furrowed his brow and whispered, “In the Old Testament, God’s name was Jehovah, but in the New Testament, God’s name was Jesus. Why are they different?” He spent a good deal of time pondering over it. Just at that moment, there was a knock at the door.

It was his old co-worker, Yang Mingzhi whom he hadn’t seen for many years. They sat on the sofa, talking happily. And unknowingly an hour passed quietly. Suddenly, Zhang Yongxin remembered the question of God’s name, so he said to Yang Mingzhi, “Mingzhi, I just don’t understand a question. Shall we explore it together?”

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How to Enter Into a Normal State

The more people accept the words of God, the more enlightened they are, and the more they hunger and thirst in their pursuit of knowing God. Only those who accept the words of God are capable of having richer and more profound experiences, and they are the only ones whose lives can continue to grow like sesame flowers. All who pursue life should treat this as their full-time job; they should feel that “without God, I cannot live; without God, I can accomplish nothing; without God, everything is empty.” So, too, should they have the resolution that “without the presence of the Holy Spirit, I will do nothing, and if reading the words of God has no effect then I am indifferent to doing anything.” Do not indulge yourselves. Life experiences come from the enlightenment and guidance of God, and they are the crystallization of your subjective efforts. What you should demand of yourselves is this: “When it comes to life experience, I cannot give myself a free pass.”

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Forgiveness of Sins, Can Christians Enter God’s Kingdom?

Brother Zhen,

In the last co-workers meeting, I heard your perspectives about Eastern Lightning, and I thought Eastern Lightning is indeed worth our seeking and investigating. However, I heard witnesses of Eastern Lightning fellowship, “In the last days, God has become flesh again and is performing the work of judgment beginning from the house of God. Only if we accept the truth expressed by Christ in the last days can we be purified and enter the kingdom of heaven.” Regarding this, I am rather confused: We have received the Lord’s redemption by believing in Him, with our sins forgiven, so when the Lord comes again we will be directly raptured into the kingdom of heaven. However, Eastern Lightning witnesses said that if we don’t accept the judgment work of Christ in the last days, we won’t be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Brother Zhen, I want to hear your opinions on this question. I’m looking forward to your reply!

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The Lord Is Knocking at our Doors: Have You Heard It?

Revelation 3:20 clearly prophesied, “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.” It is also prophesied seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” It can therefore be seen that, when the Lord returns in the last days, He will express words of the Holy Spirit to the churches and use His words to knock at the doors of our hearts. Now the Lord Jesus has come back and He is Almighty God, Christ of the last days. God is uttering and knocking at our doors. Listen …

God says, “So long as the old world continues to exist, I will hurl forth My rage upon its nations, openly promulgate My administrative decrees throughout the universe, and visit chastisement upon whosoever violates them:
“As I turn My face to the universe to speak, all mankind hears My voice, and thereupon sees all the works I have wrought throughout the universe. Those who set themselves against My will, that is to say, who oppose Me with the deeds of man, will fall under My chastisement. I will take the multitudinous stars in the heavens and make them anew and, thanks to Me, the sun and the moon will be renewed—the skies will no longer be as they were and the myriad things on the earth will be renewed. All will become complete through My words. The many nations within the universe will be partitioned afresh and replaced by My kingdom, so that the nations upon the earth will disappear forever and all will become a kingdom that worships Me; all the nations of the earth will be destroyed and cease to exist. Of the human beings within the universe, all those belonging to the devil will be exterminated, and all who worship Satan will be laid low by My burning fire—that is, except for those now within the stream, all will be turned to ashes. When I chastise the many peoples, those in the religious world will, to varying extents, return to My kingdom, conquered by My works, because they will have seen the advent of the Holy One riding on a white cloud. All people will be separated according to their own kind, and will receive chastisements commensurate with their actions. All those who have stood against Me will perish; as for those whose deeds on earth have not involved Me, they will, because of how they have acquitted themselves, continue to exist on the earth under the governance of My sons and My people. I will reveal Myself to the myriad peoples and the myriad nations, and with My own voice, I will sound forth upon the earth, proclaiming the completion of My great work for all mankind to see with their own eyes
.”

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Understanding of a Preacher: The Returned Jesus Christ Won’t Give Revelations to Man in Advance

In 1989, I believed in the Lord Jesus with my wife. At that time, I was in my 30s and willingly spent and sacrificed for the Lord. Our pastor and elder thought I was a promising young man, so they thought highly of me. Before long, I became a good preacher and often preached the gospel with the pastor here and there, contacting many church leaders.

As I worked with the pastor, I often heard him say, “When the Lord comes back He will give revelations to those who work hard for Him and personally reveal to pastors and elders, for they are very familiar with the Bible and always work hard for Him.” These words were deeply rooted in my heart and I thought: If one wants to welcome the Lord’s return and receive His revelations, he must be a person who works hard for Him. Only such people can be approved by the Lord and gain His revelations. For this, I worked more diligently, spending and sacrificing for the Lord, and often did charity, donate. I preached the Lord’s gospel everywhere, and built more than ten churches in less than one year. Seeing the fruit of my hard work, I felt very flattered inside, thinking: When the Lord returns, He will surely give me a revelation …

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How Should We Prepare Oil to Be Wise Virgins?

Jesus Christ said: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:1-10). Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ once told us a very vivid parable about who can enter the kingdom of heaven. He said that only the wise virgins can welcome the bridegroom, and the foolish virgins who haven’t taken oil with them cannot. When I read this parable, I was determined to be a wise virgin to welcome the Lord’s return, and feast with Him.

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Matthew 5:10 – Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness

Thoughts on Today’s Verse

The prophets throughout the ages have been persecuted, and some of them have even been killed. The twelve apostles of the Lord Jesus, except John, were all martyred, and when those foreign missionaries came to China to preach the gospel, they used their own blood and lives to sow the seeds of the gospel in China, completing their mission. But compared with the promises of the Lord Jesus, what do these persecutions count for? The Lord Jesus clearly told us that it is blessed that we are persecuted for believing in God, because the reward which was given by God is great. God’s words say: “Have you ever accepted the blessings that you were given? Have you ever sought the promises that you were made? You will surely, under the guidance of My light, break through the stranglehold of the forces of darkness. You will surely not, in the midst of darkness, lose the light guiding you. You will surely be the master of all creation. You will surely be an overcomer before Satan. You will surely, at the downfall of the kingdom of the great red dragon, stand up amid the myriad throngs to bear witness to My victory. You will surely be resolute and unwavering in the land of Sinim. Through the sufferings you endure, you will inherit the blessing that comes from Me, and will surely irradiate within the entire universe with My glory” It is the end time now, the Lord Jesus also prophesied that there will be great disasters in the last days. When we are able to bear resounding testimony in the great tribulation and to be an overcomer before Satan, we are to be qualified for God’s blessing.

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What Is Eternal Life and How Can We Get It

One morning after finishing my spiritual devotions, I visited a gospel website and on the discussion board I came across a post which said, “Gaining eternal life through faith in the Lord is the longing of many Christians. But do you know what the way of repentance and the way of eternal life are? What is the difference between them? If you want to figure out these questions and gain the way of eternal life bestowed by God, come and join our discussion.”

Upon seeing the post, I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words, “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). So I got confused: “Since we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior and had our sins absolved, haven’t we gained new lives and the way of eternal life given by God? What exactly is the difference between the way of repentance and the way of eternal life?” With these questions, I decided to view the discussion.

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Stay Here for 3 Minutes and You Will Gain the Chance to Welcome the Lord Like the Wise Virgins

In the Lord Jesus’ prophecy about His return, He mentioned two types of people: the wise virgins and foolish virgins. The wise virgins will listen to the voice of God and welcome the Lord, while the foolish virgins will be forsaken by the Lord and be plunged into disasters and eliminated. A lot of people hope to be wise virgins to welcome the Lord’s return in the last days, then how can we achieve it? The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). The Book of Revelation predicts, “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). So the Lord would speak utterances to knock on our doors upon His return. The wise virgins are those who seek and listen for the words of the Lord returned. They can recognize the voice of God from the words and put aside their notions to obey and accept the new work of the Holy Spirit. This is receiving the Lord and feasting with Him. Just as God’s words say, “Since we are searching for the footprints of God, it behooves us to search for God’s will, for the words of God, for His utterances—because wherever there are new words spoken by God, the voice of God is there, and wherever there are the footsteps of God, God’s deeds are there. Wherever there is the expression of God, there God appears, and wherever God appears, there the truth, the way, and the life exist” (“The Appearance of God Has Ushered in a New Age”). “All who are able to obey the present utterances of the Holy Spirit are blessed. It does not matter how they used to be, or how the Holy Spirit used to work within them—those who have gained the latest work of God are the most blessed, and those who are unable to follow the latest work today are eliminated. God wants those who are able to accept the new light, and He wants those who accept and know His latest work. Why is it said that you must be a chaste virgin? A chaste virgin is able to seek the work of the Holy Spirit and understand the new things, and moreover, able to put aside old notions, and obey the work of God today” (“Know God’s Newest Work and Follow His Footsteps”). Today, the Lord has returned and expressed millions of words. God is using His words to seek those who pay attention to His words and yearn for His return. Friends, would you like to be a wise virgin who listens to God’s voice and welcomes the Lord? Please contact us on Messenger.

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