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Monday, October 16, 2017

Finding the Salvation of the Last Days on Facebook I

Finding the Salvation of the Last Days on Facebook I

Meng’ai    Malaysia
My name is Meng’ai. I’m 54 years old. I’m a Christian in Malaysia who has believed in the Lord for over 30 years. I have four sons. My husband passed away when my youngest son was only several years old, leaving me alone to raise the children. Later, I turned to the Lord. Thanks to the keeping and grace of the Lord, as well as the help of the brothers and sisters, I lived through those toughest years. Now, everything is fine. Thanks be to the Lord! …
As I lived a simple and enriched life, and my four sons were all Christians who were filial and obedient, I didn’t need to worry much about them and thus had more time to draw close to the Lord. In addition to having meetings and doing service in the church, twitter-292994_1280I would browse some messages in the Lord on the Internet, read and studied the Bible together with my friends on Facebook, and shared with them the Lord’s grace. Whether on Facebook timeline or in Facebook teams, I saw that every brother and sister was longing for the Lord Jesus’ return to take us to heavenly home to enjoy the heavenly blessings. This was also my greatest hope in my belief in the Lord. But, how will the Lord take us to heavenly home when He comes? The Bible says, “…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven” (Act 1:11), “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), and “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). I didn’t know whether the Lord would come upon a cloud or like a thief or in the way that when someone makes a cry and then we welcome Him. I have asked many old pastors and read many spiritual books. They all told me that when the Lord comes, He will take us riding upon a white cloud in the sky. And the old Pastor Li who was the most authoritative one in the church also said that the Bible brims with mysteries and can’t be fully understood by us but it is a fact acknowledged by Christianity that the Lord will arrive upon a cloud to take us to heavenly home. He told me that we should have faith in the Lord and believe that He will surely come to take us to heavenly home upon a cloud and then we will enjoy the heavenly blessings. I thought: He is right. As long as I don’t forsake the Lord and insist on serving in the church, I believe the Lord will not abandon me when He comes. So, I waited for the Lord’s return with the confidence in success.
In December, 2015, as I commented on the post on Xinyi’s Facebook, I got acquainted with her. We often had a good and congenial talk. Xinyi also suffered a lot, and we both had been yearning for the day when the Lord came to take us to the heavenly home. Xinyi was intelligent, obedient, and sensible, and I took her as my own daughter, which in turn added color to my life. I felt really happy to live in the presence of the Lord and have the company of my children every day.
One day, Xinyi sent a message to me. She said she came across a video on the timeline of one of her FB friends which was about the Lord’s coming upon a cloud, and she asked me to have a look at it hurriedly. When I replied to her message, she was occupied with her work. I opened the link Xinyi sent to me, and found it was a gospel film, The Mystery of Godliness. With curiosity, I watched it for several minutes. As I had to go to work, I stopped watching it. I messaged Xinyi to look for some films which were easy to understand, such as some films about Jesus’ cross salvation, which could help us to know more of the Lord’s love. One day, about one month later, the cousin of my good friend Chen Xin, Sister Lin testified to me that the Lord had come back and was doing the work “judgment begins with God’s family.” And she read one passage of God’s words to me, “Man believes that, following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand. Similarly, man conceives that Jesus shall descend, again upon a white cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He returned to heaven), among those who have desperately yearned for Him for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of the Jews. After appearing to man, He shall bestow food upon them, and cause living water to gush forth for them, and shall live among man, full of grace and love, living and real. And so on. Yet Jesus the Savior did not do this; He did the opposite of what man conceived. He did not arrive among those who had yearned for His return, and did not appear to all men while riding upon the white cloud. He has already arrived, but man does not know Him, and remains ignorant of His arrival. Man is only aimlessly awaiting Him, unaware that He has already descended upon a white cloud (the cloud which is His Spirit, His words, and His entire disposition and all that He is), and is now among a group of overcomers that He will make during the last days” (“The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
These words astonished me. Has the Lord descended upon a cloud? Does white cloud refer to God’s spirit, God’s words, and God’s entire disposition and all that God is? I was surprised as well as a little confused, “Doesn’t white cloud mean the white cloud in the sky? How can white cloud be God’s words, God’s disposition and all that God is? What’s God’s disposition and all that God is?” I felt very curious. These words completely differed from those of the spiritual books I had read. It was the first time that I heard that the Lord doesn’t come upon a white cloud. But these words vividly described the mentality and thought of people who were yearning for the Lord to take them to heavenly home. They also said that the Lord Jesus had come upon a white cloud among a group of overcomers that He would make during the last days. Has the Lord Jesus truly come back? I dare not believe it. This was different from the way I always thought in which the Lord would come. I hesitated whether to continue communication with Sister Lin. I was afraid I would take the wrong way and follow heresy. But then I had another thought: What she fellowshiped is based on the Bible and does not deviate from the Lord’s way. I also want to know what “the Lord has come upon a cloud” is about. Hearing the news that the Lord had come back, Xinyi kept asking me, “Has the Lord truly come back?” As Xinyi didn’t know much about the Bible, I told her not to be anxious and that we should first know the situation of it. I couldn’t make a decision and had to reply to Sister Lin, “Sister, what you said is quite reasonable. But the Lord’s coming is a great matter. I need time to investigate it. I also know the situation of other denominations. As long as what one says is right and in accord with the Bible, I will not arbitrarily judge it. The Lord Jesus also taught us, ‘For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again’ (Matthew 7:2). After careful consideration, I will reply to you.”
finding-the-salvation-of-the-last-days-on-facebookI could hardly fall sleep that night. Over the more than 30 years of my belief in the Lord, I’ve been longing for the Lord to take us to the heavenly home at His return, and now I’ve finally heard the Lord has already come back. Although it differs from what I have in mind, it is related to the great matter of the Lord’s coming. I should take it seriously. Just when I got ready to have a good investigation, a FB friend sent me a message, “Whoever intends to join the Church of Almighty God has to pay 2,000$ in advance; besides, he is obliged to swear a blood oath never to give away any affairs of the Church, or he will be punished….” I was frightened at this message. What’s all about this Church? Isn’t it testifying that the Lord has returned? How come the new believers have to pay and swear a blood oath? Faced with all this, I was afraid and was so agitated that I just could not calm down. I’ve been yearning for the Lord Jesus to come and take us. Now the Church of Almighty God testifies that the Lord has already returned. I’d like to have an investigation, but my FB friend denied it. I’m so afraid of taking the wrong path. In entanglement and confusion, I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord! I heard that You have come back, and I want to figure it out. But some FB friends speak ill of that Church. O Lord! I don’t know what to do. May you bestow upon me discernment in the spirit, guide me, and protect Xinyin and me. Pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!” In the end, after discussion, Xinyi and I decided to investigate the Church of Almighty God. We couldn’t listen to only one side. Only after practical contact would we know whether what my FB friend said was true or not. If I listened to one side blindly and refused to investigate it, it was not rational. I had to make certain whether it was the Lord’s coming.
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