Spiritual Awakening: The “Subway” Is Heading Toward Spring

Spiritual Awakening: The “Subway” Is Heading Toward Spring

Yang Jing

On the subway, Xiaoran sat on her seat with a pensive and gloomy air, looking out of the window from time to time. She felt that her recent life and mood were gloomy like the tunnel. She reflected on her experience of the job interview from the beginning: Before the interview, she meant to ask for some interview techniques from her husband, who was an old hand at this sort of thing. But then she realized that most of those so-called techniques were actually tricks of teaching people to cheat others, and that as a Christian, she should not do that, for Jesus Christ taught us: “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). So she decided to practice God’s words—to speak honestly and not to cheat others. She thought that whether she would pass the interview was in God’s hands, and that if she failed, there must be God’s will in it.

Meditating on God’s words, she went to the interview. Facing many technical questions asked by the interviewers, she frankly answered them according to the real situations, even though she was aware that she was not the best one among the applicants. The interview was going very well, and when she felt that it was about to end successfully, an interviewer smiled and said, “We want to know one more thing: Why did you quit your job in the hospital?” Hearing the question, she was a little nervous because she knew that the interviewer intended to judge by her answer whether she had a bad record in her former workplace. After a short pause, she replied, “I’m getting old, and no longer want to do night duty. Besides … there’s more and more contradiction between doctors and patients now. It’s not easy to be a doctor. …” She, who had performed calmly, suddenly appeared to be hesitating, which made the two interviewers surprised. They exchanged suspicious looks, and asked her no more questions.

The announcement of the stop interrupted Xiaoran’s thoughts. She fretfully leaned back on her seat, and then couldn’t help recalling the incident happened several months ago….

On that night, Xiaoran was on duty in the hospital. After changing medicine for a serious patient, she returned to her office. It was 10:30 p.m. at that time. She had to finish a dozen progress notes of the patients, so she hurried to sit down in front of the computer. Around 11:30 p.m., a nurse phoned her and said, “The patient you have just changed the medicine for has a severe headache. He asks to change the ward or move out of the private ward.” Hearing her words, Xiaoran judged from experience that severe headache was the symptom of a patient in the acute stage of cerebral infarction, and that if he moved out of the private ward, he would be easily infected. For his safety, she refused his request. However, unexpectedly, when she finished the work in hand and went to see the patient, she found that the patient was in a state of clouded consciousness. After examination, it turned out that the patient’s condition had changed suddenly and he got a cerebral hemorrhage. Later, he died despite emergency treatment.

After that, the patient’s family demanded compensation from the hospital for Xiaoran’s missing the best time of treatment. Then the several cerebral specialists in the hospital studied and concluded that, based on the patient’s condition, Xiaoran could not delay the progress of disease for him or prevent him from dying even if she arrived on the spot earlier, for the sudden cerebral hemorrhage occurring based on former condition was beyond man’s control and rescue. Though it was the truth, Xiaoran still felt that it was her fault that she hadn’t arrived there immediately. For this, she felt self-blame.

Later, through negotiation, the incident ended after the hospital returned the hospitalization deposits of 30,000 yuan to the patient’s family. Not long after that, the personnel department of the hospital informed Xiaoran that her contract expired. Having experienced the incident, Xiaoran felt that she was tired with working under high pressure there and that she needed a change of scene. So her contract was not renewed.

Then Xiaoran’s thoughts drifted back to the interview again. Never had she thought that the interviewer would suddenly ask her the reason why she resigned when the interview was about to end; nor had she ever expected that she could hide the fact.

The subway train was proceeding rapidly. She stared at her reflection in the window, regret and remorse filling her heart. Suddenly she thought of God’s words: “Why do people engage in such deceit? To achieve their own aims, and to achieve the objectives they desire. And so they adopt certain methods, which shows that they are not upstanding, and that they are not honest. At such times, people’s insidiousness and cunning is revealed, or else their maliciousness and ignobility. With these things, you feel that it is especially hard to be honest; without them, you would feel that being honest is easy”.

God’s words woke up her. She pondered that the reason why she did not tell the interviewers the truth was that she worried about her personal gains and losses. She feared that the dishonorable experience of her neglect of duty might affect the result of the interview and jeopardize her future career, so she evaded the fact subconsciously. At this thought, she felt pain in her heart. She had been eagerly wishing to be an honest person, yet it had never occurred to her that when her interests might be jeopardized, she couldn’t help covering up the truth by telling lies. She naturally revealed her crafty nature, something that was deeply planted in the bones of every person through Satan’s corruption. She had thought of herself as a very honest person before, yet actually it was an illusion. Only then did she realize that she was far away from being an honest person. She felt that she was too much in need of God’s salvation and of judgment and purification of His words.

After she got home, she read some words of God about being an honest person, and one passage said: “Against a certain background or in a certain environment, you felt it was wise, or that there was a good reason to do so, or that you had ample reasons to do so, and ultimately acted, after which you felt you were fully justified in doing so, and had nothing to be remorseful of. When evening came and you reflected upon what you did, or else one day when you gained enlightenment or were reproached, you then felt that the reason for saying those words at that time was not a reason, and that you should have behaved in another way. How should you practice at such times? For example, you did something to someone, you cheated them, or you spoke words that were either inaccurate or contained your own motivations, and so you should go and find that person to dissect what you did, and say: ‘The words I said at that time contained my personal motivations. If you can accept my apology, please forgive me.’ Thus you dissect yourself, and lay yourself bare”.

God’s words made Xiaoran feel relaxed and understand His will: To be an honest person, I should first resolve my intentions and ulterior motives when I speak and do things. Once I realize I have wrong intentions, I should not be anxious to speak or act, but should try to find out the root cause of my wrong intentions. And then I shall seek God’s will and requirements and what God thinks in this matter, and seek how I shall pray to Him for His help so that I can rebel against the wrong intentions and strive to reach the standard of being an honest person under His guidance. I believe if I continually practice like this, I will make ever greater progress in being an honest person…. Thinking about this, Xiaoran made a decision in her heart silently….

Several days later, Xiaoran attended a second interview. She stated to the two interviewers the reason why she quitted her former job and her true thoughts about it, which greatly surprised the interviewers and another doctor who was waiting to be interviewed. They could not imagine that in this society where everyone lived with a mask and everyone took advantage of any situation to benefit himself, there still existed such a person who could voluntarily admit that she was lying and reveal her dishonorable side. After they showed their surprise, Xiaoran noticed a sort of admiration from their expressions. At that moment, Xiao Ran felt that a big rock was removed from her heart, and she had a strongest feeling: It’s so good to practice being an honest person according to God’s requirements. To her surprise, she, though with mediocre qualifications, was hired by the company afterward, and her salary was higher than her expectation.

On the subway back home, Xiaoran reflected on her recent experiences, and she thought of the words of Jesus Christ: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house on a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell not: for it was founded on a rock” (Matthew 7:24-25). Xiaoran told herself inwardly: From now on, I will consistently practice God’s words. I believe that God will guide me to see more of His wonderful deeds and to know His faithfulness and loveliness. When I gradually obtain the truth as life, won’t it be like building the house on a rock? Having understood God’s will, Xiaoran smiled. The train was rapidly moving to the direction of her house, and she felt that her gloomy life was heading toward the bright and beautiful spring.

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The Mystery of God’s Gospel in Every Age

The Mystery of God’s Gospel in Every Age

By Xiaoxi

What Is the Meaning of “Gospel”?

“Gospel” is an old English word, which represents “Good news.” So if we translate it literally, its meaning is good news.

Where Does Gospel Come From?

Gospel comes from God, that’s for sure. After the ancestors of our human, Adam and Eve, were tempted into sin by the snake (that is, Satan), God began the management work of saving mankind. God bestows different gospel upon man in different ages based on the needs of mankind. In the time of Noah, God revealed to Noah, asking him to spread the gospel of destroying the world with a flood. Early in the Age of Law, God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, which was a great gospel for the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt. In the Age of Law, God raised up many prophets and directly revealed to them to convey His words, which was the gospel for those who heard it. In the Age of Grace, God incarnate came to earth personally to do the redemption work, bringing the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to us mankind….

Preaching of the Gospel

In the time of Noah, men were deeply corrupted, so they lost the blessings, care and protection of God, falling into darkness. As they became increasingly depraved and evil to the extent that God didn’t bear to look, God planned to destroy the world with a flood and then told Noah to build an ark. In that time, Noah was a righteous man. He listened to God’s word, built the ark and spread the gospel for 120 years. Nevertheless, people didn’t believe his word. Eventually, only Noah’s eight family members entered the ark and survived.

As time went by, there were more and more people on earth. Satan corrupted man constantly. We mankind strayed far from God once more, degenerated. It is recorded in the Bible: People of Sodom and Gomorrah worshiped idols, engaged in sorcery, were licentious and corrupt and left no evil undone. The two cities became the cities of sin in God’s eyes, with the result that God decided to destroy them. But before the destruction, just as God always did, He gave them chances and sent messengers to arrive there. Yet people of the cities wanted to bring harm down upon the messengers. Finally, only Lot and his family accepted God’s gospel and fled from that city of sin; nevertheless the rest of people were fully exterminated by the brimstone and fire from the heaven. The Nineveh was also a city of sin in God’s eyes. But when God sent Jonah to spread the gospel to the Ninevites, they wore sackcloth and ashes, confessed and repented to God after hearing His word. Just as the Bible records, “yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands” (Jonah 3:8). As God saw their genuine repentance from within, He didn’t bring calamity on them. From these historical facts, we can see: When our human sins reached God’s eyes and we faced being destroyed, as long as we accept God’s gospel and act according to His word, we can survive in the disaster. Otherwise, we will be destroyed. Furthermore, there are still many such historical events recorded in the Bible. When God’s word was conveyed to people in that time by the prophets, if people accepted and followed His word, they would be preserved by Him; if they didn’t accept His word, even rebelled and resisted, they would suffer God’s punishment and curse. From this we can see that God’s righteous disposition encompasses mercy, lovingkindness, and even more so, majesty and wrath, and that God’s disposition exists everywhere and at all times.

At the end of the Age of Law, people were all entangled by sin, failed to keep the law and committed more and more sin, so that they faced the danger of being condemned and executed by the law. In line with the need of mankind, God ended the work of the Age of Law and started that of the Age of Grace. However, people at that time merely saw “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35). Moreover, it is written in Mark 1, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1: 14-15). Here we can see that Jesus Christ brought the gospel of repentance for the people under the law. For two thousand years, only if we mankind accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and pray in the name of Jesus Christ can we gain His salvation and be forgiven of sins by Him. Our sins are not the barrier for us to come to God any more, and Satan has no way in accusing us, for God personally became the sin offering for us mankind and redeemed us from the domain of Satan. Those who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, gain the work of the Holy Spirit, living in peace and joy and enjoying an abundance of grace of God. But the Pharisees were just the opposite. They rejected the gospel, and even resisted the gospel of the kingdom of heaven preached by Jesus Christ. In the end, they not only were condemned by God to suffer “seven woes”, but also punished justly by God.

Gospel Continues Being Spread

God does His work to regain man from the domain of Satan step by step, hence we mankind come closer to Him….

In modern times, we mankind live in a state of being estranged from God once again. Although we believe in Jesus Christ and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our hearts become more and more distant from God and we all live in the situation of committing sins in the day and confessing them at night, incapable of breaking free from the bondage of sins thoroughly. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death” (Roman 6:23). “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Therefore, what we mankind need is not the gospel of repentance any more, but the everlasting gospel promised by God.

There’s a prophecy in Revelation, “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14: 6-7). From this prophecy we know that in the last days, God will preach the final gospel to the people on earth. And this gospel tells that God will execute judgment to purify man completely in order to make man break free from the bondage of sins. We have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years. What we need is much more than God’s mercy and love, and we are more in need of God’s righteous and majestic judgment and chastisement. It is only this ways that can snatch back us the profoundly corrupt mankind from Satan’s domain. And at that time, we will know our satanic nature, such as arrogance and haughtiness, selfishness and despicableness, treachery and perversion, as well as know our own real identity and status. Also, we will no longer pursue being supermen or great people to let others look up to and admire us, and no longer live by satanic dispositions, but will honestly obey God’s predestination and sovereignty, be grounded and forthright in conducting ourselves and doing things, and pursue being an honest man to live out the manner of a true person, to satisfy God. Just as the prophecy in Revelation goes, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). So the final gospel is the everlasting gospel, which directly involves whether we can be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven.

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I Saw the Mighty Power of God’s Word in Spiritual Warfare I

I Saw the Mighty Power of God’s Word in Spiritual Warfare I

I’m an ordinary rural woman. After marriage, I often quarreled and had fights with my husband over trivial matters, living in agony every day. I considered dying many times, but at the thought of my young child I had to give up the idea of suicide. As such, my daughter became my only hope and support for survival.

In November of 2007, one of my classmates preached the gospel of the kingdom to me. I saw these words of God: “Since the creation of the world I have begun to predestine and select this group of people, namely, you today. Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly. What I allow you to enjoy today is a share that you deserve, and it was predestined by Me at the creation of the world”. After reading God’s words, I understood that my marriage and family were both ordained by God, and that I was predestined to believe in God long ago. I didn’t complain anymore. Soon afterward, I began to live the church life, praying, reading God’s words, and singing hymns to praise God with my brothers and sisters. I felt especially liberated and was free from the painful life that I used to lead. Hopes rose in my heart.

Seven months after I believed in God, my daughter, who was a high school student, went home for the summer break. That day, I went out for a meeting. My daughter happened to discover a note I put in a pocket where I copied down some words of God. When I returned home from the meeting, she looked very unhappy and asked, “Are you believing in God?” “Yes. How did you know that?” I replied. Then my daughter said angrily, “Our principal said at a school meeting that belief in God is opposed by the national government. The students whose parents believe in God will be forbidden from taking the college entrance examination, their employment will also be affected. Make your own decision!” Hearing her say this, my heart sank. Believing in God is a good thing. How can it be this way? In confusion, I said, “God comes to save man and asks man to be good people. He doesn’t participate in the politics of man. How could believing in God affect your further education and employment?” My daughter was snappy, saying, “Anyway, our principal said such things. Even if you don’t care for yourself, you should consider me.” Then she left. I felt awful and pondered over my daughter’s words. Could what she said be true? What if she can’t find a good job in the future? Should this be the case, won’t her future prospects be ruined by me? Won’t she blame me forever? Inside me there was a fierce battle. I was torn between my daughter’s future prospects and God, who gave me the truth and life. I just can’t bear to give up my belief in God. Oh, what am I to do? The more I thought about it, the more upset I felt. I was unable to eat or sleep well. During the several days that followed, I had been indecisive about this matter.

Just when I was at a loss and distressed, a sister in the church came to my home. I told her my difficulty. Then she said to me, “Man’s future and fate are in God’s hands. They are not decided by any person. Let’s see some of God’s words. God says, ‘From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to perform your duty. You assume your role in the plan of God and in the ordination of God. You begin the journey of life. Whatever your background and whatever the journey ahead of you, none can escape the orchestration and arrangement that Heaven has in store, and none are in control of their destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work. Since the day man came into existence, God has been steady in His work, managing this universe and directing the change and movement of all things. Like all things, man quietly and unknowingly receives the nourishment of the sweetness and rain and dew from God. Like all things, man unknowingly lives under the orchestration of God’s hand’. From God’s words we can see that the destiny of every one of us was arranged by God. As to whether your daughter can attend college or what kind of job she may get in the future, God has the final word. They are not up to any man, or the government.” Then I thought: Man’s fate is indeed in God’s hands. It is not decided by any person. I wished to find a great partner and live a happy life in the first place, but things just didn’t turn out that way. God’s words are correct! At this time, the sister went on to say, “God is testing our faith by allowing such a situation to befall us. It is a battle in the spiritual realm. When Satan is carrying out its cunning schemes, God wants to see whether we can stand firm and bear witness in Satan’s attacks. Let’s look at another passage of God’s words. God says, ‘Because God has become flesh, Satan has employed all sorts of methods of accusation, wanting to attack God this way. However, God does not retreat because of this—He just speaks and works among mankind and allows people to know Him through His incarnate flesh. Satan is red-eyed with fury and has put forth a great deal of effort on God’s people to make them negative, retreat, and even lose their way. But because of the effect of God’s words Satan has failed, thus adding to its wantonness. This is why God has reminded everyone: “In your lives, there may come a day when you will meet with this kind of situation: Would you willingly allow yourselves to fall captive to Satan, or will you have Me obtain you?”’. God wants to save man and free them from the bondage of Satan so that they may live in the light. But on the other hand, Satan tries to disturb and tear down God’s work and cause man to lose the opportunity for God’s salvation. Satan knows that you love your daughter most, so it uses her to disturb you and attempts to make you reject and leave God. Once you leave God, you will be under Satan’s domain, and you’ll be taken to hell by Satan. This is the treacherous intention of Satan.”

Through the sister’s fellowship, I understood it was Satan’s plot. I said to her, “It turns out that Satan was using my daughter’s words to disturb my mind and make me weak and push God away. I was almost fooled by Satan. It was so close! I can’t fall captive to Stan and allow it to take me to hell. I must stand on the side of God. No matter what my daughter says in the future, I will absolutely not waver. May God give me faith.” The sister nodded with a smile.

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Take a Firm Stance in Welcoming the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Xiewen

In our daily life, we often see that when faced with something, the ambivalent people are obsessed with right and wrong and torn between two possibilities without taking a firm stance, and afterward, they will be very bothered and regret what they have done. Today, in the important matter of welcoming the second coming of Jesus Christ, many believers also hesitate at the crossroads, following the herd without taking a firm stance. If this goes on, what then will be the consequences? Let’s read a story:

In ancient times, there was a man in the State of Qi. One day, he went to sell a donkey with his son. After going out, he asked his son to ride on the donkey while he walked and led it. On the way they met a man, and the man sneered, “What an unfilial boy! Your father is an old man, but you let him walk and you are riding on the donkey!” Upon hearing this, the boy immediately got down from the donkey and asked his father to ride, and he walked. After a short while, they met another man, and the man said, “What a cruel old man! You yourself are riding on the donkey but let your poor little boy follow as best he can on his own legs.” At his words, they dared not ride the donkey anymore, so they walked and led it. Before they hadn’t gone far, they met another man, and he said, “What a pair of fools! They trudge along the road when they might be riding!” After hearing this, they two immediately mounted the donkey. However, they hadn’t gone far when they met another man, and the man said, “They are so cruel-hearted. Both of them are riding on the little donkey. You see, the donkey is dead tired!” Hearing this, the father and son hurriedly dismounted the donkey, and discussed what they should do. Then they said, “We’d better carry the donkey.” Again, they hadn’t gone far when they met a crowd of people, and these people all said, “How stupid they are! They are carrying their donkey rather than riding on it.” At the moment, the father and son got stumped, “The donkey cannot be ridden: when one of us rode on it, we were criticized by others; when both of us rode on it, we were blamed. When we carried it, they said us to be stupid.” It happened that they saw a well at the side of the road, so they threw the donkey into it for fear of being judged by others.

This story is short, but it is thought-provoking. The father and son were unable to think for themselves, had no discernment, and were afraid of others’ criticisms, so they complied with the opinions of various kinds of people and brought a lot of troubles on themselves. In the end, they threw their donkey away alive instead of selling it. They completely lost their donkey because of their vanity and self-respect. This reminds me of a fact: Today there are many people who have heard the news that the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh and does His work in China, and they have even heard the word of the truth and read the personal utterance of God. They think that they are in accordance with what the Bible prophesied and acknowledge in their heart that they are from God, but they believe the words of their pastors and elders and reject God’s salvation in the last days because of having no place for God in their heart and adoring and looking up to man. There are many, too, who cannot maintain a firm stance after hearing the rumors of the outside world formed on mistaken premises, and they eventually follow the crowd and shut the door on God. Don’t these people who have no discernment and stance reject God’s salvation for fear of being ridiculed and slandered? This is the same as what happened in the Age of Grace. At that time, the Lord Jesus came to the world to spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and He bestowed upon man abundant grace, healed the sick, cast out demons, and performed many deeds of God, such as the great miracles of “feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish,” “resurrecting Lazarus,” and so on. The people knew that all that the Lord Jesus did was unattainable by an ordinary prophet, and they all agreed and admitted in their heart that the deeds of the Lord Jesus were extraordinary. However, when the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees attacked, condemned, and slandered the Lord Jesus, and judged that He performed miracles and cast out devils by the prince of the devils, many muddled people had no discernment, so some of them, because of admiring the leaders, others, for fear of being persecuted, and still others, because of following the general trend, denied all that the Lord Jesus had done, and followed the Pharisees to reject and resist Him and even nail Him to the cross. As a result, they were condemned by the Lord Jesus and the nation of Israel was subjected to destruction. These were the consequences of their lacking discernment and having no stance and following the herd in dealing with the great matter of the Lord’s coming. In the last days, God has been incarnated again to speak utterances among man. He has carried out a stage of work to judge and purify man upon the foundation of the work of the Age of Grace, expressing the words of life to supply man. In order to free us humans completely from sin and make man holy, now the words spoken by God in the new age are already made public to the whole world on the Internet, and the work of God in the new age is testified through various means, including a great variety of books, movies, hymns, and dances, so that all those who truly yearn for the appearance of God can receive the rich supply of life prepared for us by God, live under the personal guidance of God, and enjoy a life on earth akin to heaven. But those muddled believers, who follow what others said and have no discernment and stance, believe all kinds of rumors of the outside world and are subjected to various kinds of restraints. They dare not accept God’s work in the last days for the sake of safeguarding their own interests, and hence are classified as ones standing on the side of the evil one, and they will ultimately live in the disaster that has scarcely been seen through the ages. This is determined entirely by the righteous disposition of God. Therefore, as Christians who have been longing desperately for the Lord to come, how should we treat the great matter pertaining to our end and destination? Should we follow the herd and gain nothing like the father and son who were on their way to sell the donkey or be the wise virgins who take a firm stance and go out to meet the Bridegroom when hearing the news of His coming? To welcome the second coming of Jesus Christ, we must actively seek the truth and gain discernment, and be able to hear and recognize God’s voice. Only in this way can we witness the appearance of the Lord.

God says: “If, in the pursuit of God, man does not have his own position to stand by, and does not know what truth he should hold to, then it means that he has no foundation, and so it is not easy for him to stand firm. Today, there are so many who do not understand the truth, who cannot distinguish between good and evil or tell what to love or hate. Such people can hardly stand firm. … Those who do not understand the truth always follow others: If people say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, say it is the work of the Holy Spirit; if people say it is the work of an evil spirit, then you, too, become doubtful, or also say it is the work of an evil spirit. You always parrot the words of others, and are incapable of distinguishing anything by yourself, nor are you able to think for yourself. This is someone without a position, who is unable to differentiate…. It is actually the work of the Holy Spirit, but you say it is the work of man; have you not become one of those who blaspheme against the work of the Holy Spirit? In this, have you not opposed God because you cannot differentiate?” (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God”). From God’s words we see that if a believer in God does not have his own position to stand by, he will be a failure in his belief in God, for he can follow others to do evil and resist God. So we should draw a lesson from the failure of the Jews who blindly adored and followed the religious officials and the Pharisees. We should not parrot the words of others and follow the herd, but should stand our ground, seek the truth and rely on God, and be able to discern what is the true way.

God says: “Distinguishing between the true way and the false way requires several aspects of basic knowledge, the most fundamental of which is to tell whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit. For the substance of man’s belief in God is the belief in the Spirit of God. Even his belief in God incarnate is because this flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, which means that such belief is still the belief in the Spirit. There are differences between the Spirit and the flesh, but because this flesh comes from the Spirit, and is the Word become flesh, thus what man believes in is still the inherent substance of God. And so, in distinguishing whether or not it is the true way, above all you must look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit, after which you must look at whether or not there is the truth in this way. This truth is the life disposition of normal humanity, which is to say, that which was required of man when God created him in the beginning, namely, all of normal humanity (including human sense, insight, wisdom, and the basic knowledge of being man). That is, you need to look at whether or not this way takes man into a life of normal humanity, whether or not the truth that is spoken of is required according to the reality of normal humanity, whether or not this truth is practical and real, and whether or not it is most timely. If there is truth, then it is able to take man into normal and real experiences; man, furthermore, becomes ever more normal, man’s human sense becomes ever more complete, man’s life in the flesh and the spiritual life become ever more orderly, and man’s emotions become ever more normal. This is the second principle. There is one other principle, which is whether or not man has an increasing knowledge of God, whether or not experiencing such work and truth can inspire a love of God in him, and bring him ever closer to God. In this can be measured whether or not it is the true way. Most fundamental is whether this way is realistic rather than supernatural, and whether or not it is able to provide the life of man. If it conforms to these principles, the conclusion can be drawn that this way is the true way. … If you grasp these several key principles, then whatever happens you will not be deceived” (“Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God”).

From these words of God we see that it requires principles to distinguish what is the true way. It requires us to tell whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit in this way, whether or not there is the expression of the truth in it, whether or not it can make our conscience and sense become ever more normal, and whether or not we can obtain a knowledge of God in experiencing such work and truth. If there’s the work of the Holy Spirit, we will become ever more normal, will have an increasing knowledge of our corrupt satanic disposition and substance, and will be increasingly transformed in our corrupt disposition. At the same time, we will understand more and more truths and grow in life, have a deeper knowledge of God, recover our reason and conscience, and come ever closer to God. If there are these results of the Holy Spirit’s work following, this way is undoubtedly the true way. For example, in the Age of Grace, the truths expressed by the Lord Jesus could supply what His followers needed in life, so when the disciples spread the gospel, they didn’t revile in return when reviled or strike back when struck. They were full of faith, love, tolerance, and patience, and could endure the ridicule and slander of various kinds of people to carry out God’s will and cooperate with God in preaching the gospel to save man. Judging from the humanity they lived out, their sense and conscience as well as their knowledge of God, they were the very ones who followed God’s work. Today, The second coming of Jesus Christ has expressed all the truths that enable man to know God and be saved, including the inner truths of the three stages of God’s work, the mystery of God’s incarnation, the significance of God’s names, God’s disposition, and what God has and is. Meanwhile, He has also revealed the truths and mysteries concerning our substance corrupted by Satan, the true condition and root of our corruption by Satan, the end and the destination of us humans, and so on. Through experiencing God’s words of judgment, we can gain some knowledge of our satanic nature and corrupt disposition of arrogance and conceitedness, treachery and craftiness as well as selfishness and baseness, and we can also obtain a knowledge of God’s righteous and unoffendable disposition, so that we will have a heart that fears God and be gradually transformed in our corrupt disposition, and eventually we will be completely set free from sin and made clean. All these can fully prove that the work of God is the true way. Although condemned by the religious world and suppressed and in danger of being captured by the CCP government, the believers in God, under the guidance of the work of the Holy Spirit, have spread God’s gospel of the kingdom to all the nations by their faith and love toward God, and have established many churches in dozens of countries and regions, which is completely the result of the Holy Spirit’s work. I believe that from this the wise virgins will be able to hear the voice of God, welcome the bridegroom and feast with Him!

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Inspiration From Two Flower Baskets

Xu Fan

There was a popular story in the time of Solomon, which goes like this: Once, King Solomon received two baskets of rare flowers from the envoy of a neighboring kingdom. These two baskets of flowers were extremely alike in their leaves and petals. The envoy said to King Solomon, “Your Majesty, of these two baskets of flowers, one is that of genuine flowers and the other artificial ones. Sire, your wisdom is famous all over the world, and all the people in my country admire you. Your Majesty, please differentiate for us the basket of genuine flowers from that of artificial ones, and the people in my country will surely celebrate your inexhaustible wisdom.” Thereupon, King Solomon commanded his attendants, “Take these two baskets of flowers to the garden.” None of his courtiers knew what their king would do. After a while, Solomon led his courtiers and the envoy to the garden to admire the flowers. The garden was full of beautiful, blooming flowers giving out sweet fragrance, and many bees were buzzing around from flower to flower, collecting honey. Looking at the two baskets of flowers, Solomon said smilingly, “The flowers in that basket are exceptionally beautiful, but attract no bees. Those in this one, attracting bees, are genuine flowers.” His courtiers and the envoy of the neighboring kingdom all gasped in admiration, “You are really a wise king!”

This is a simple story, but it reflects Solomon’s wisdom, and from it we can also find the spiritual meaning. Only the flowers with life can give forth fragrance, secrete nectar, and attract bees; the flowers without life, on the contrary, are dead, and they cannot send forth fragrance to attract bees or secrete nectar for bees to gather even if they look very similar to the real ones.

After reading the story of King Solomon telling the genuine flowers from the artificial ones, I couldn’t help thinking: Now there are many believers in the Lord Jesus devoutly waiting for His return, but they at the same time refuse the gospel of His return for fear of being deceived, because of these words of the Lord Jesus in the Bible: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:23-24). In fact, God’s purpose in saying these words was for us to learn to discern false Christs, and not for us to refuse the gospel of His return because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days. If we give priority to guarding against false Christs for fear of being deceived and pay no attention to listening to and recognizing God’s voice, then how can we meet the Lord’s return? Take Peter and the Samaritan woman for example. They recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah because they had heard His words. Revelation 3:22 says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches….” And Roman 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hence when we hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ return, we should first seek and investigate it to discern whether it is His return, so that we will not miss the chance to be reunited with the Lord.

To meet the Lord’s return, we must first understand what is Christ, and know how to discern the true Christ from false ones. Let’s see what God says about it. God says, “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). From God’s words, we can see that only God become flesh is called Christ. Christ is God’s Spirit materialized in the flesh, is God appearing, and is God clothed in flesh to do His own work. Although in appearance Christ is an ordinary, normal man, His substance is the divinity, and the work He does is God’s work. Then how can we discern the true Christ? God says, “To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man.” From God’s words, we can know that to discern the true Christ, we should mainly discern Him from His substance, rather than external appearance; that is, we should discern Him from His work, His words, and His disposition. Christ can give man the truth, provide man with life, and express God’s righteous disposition and the wisdom of His work. Christ is the holy, righteous God Himself. Take for example the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace. He was no different from ordinary, normal people in appearance, but He expressed many truths and bestowed the way of repentance upon man. Through manifesting a disposition dominated by mercy and lovingkindness, He taught people to forgive others seventy times seven, healed the sick, cast out demons, performed many miracles, and led them out of the bonds of the law, and He was crucified and completed the work of redeeming all mankind. The words and work of the Lord Jesus most indisputably proved that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Today, Almighty God—the Lord Jesus who has returned to flesh—has brought a new age, the Age of Kingdom. He has expressed millions of words and carried out the work of judgment of the last days. He judges and purifies man with His righteous and holy disposition, so that man will no longer live in the cycle of sin and confession, and will ultimately be free from the bondage of sin, fully saved and perfected by God. The words of Almighty God have revealed to us all mysteries and told us God’s will for mankind, the outcomes of all kinds of people, and the work God intends to accomplish, so that we can have more ways to practice the truth. From Almighty God’s words and work, we can see that He is the embodiment of the truth. His work also proves that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. These are forever unattainable by false Christs.

Then how should we discern false Christs? God says, “If a man calls himself God yet is unable to express the being of divinity, do the work of God Himself, or represent God, he is undoubtedly not God, for he has not the essence of God, and that which God can inherently achieve does not exist within him” (“The Difference Between the Ministry of the Incarnate God and the Duty of Man”). “If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things.” “Today, God has come to bring an end to the Age of Grace and cast out all the practices of the Age of Grace. … The God of today does not display signs and wonders, nor does He heal and cast out demons. When Jesus came, the work He did represented one part of God, but this time God has come to do the stage of work that is due, for God does not repeat the same work; He is the God that is always new and never old, and so all that you see today is the words and work of the practical God” (“Knowing God’s Work Today”).

From God’s words, we can know that God is always new and never old and His work is always progressing forward. Today, Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has new work. He does not display signs and wonders, heal the sick, or cast out demons; but rather, by expressing the truth, He does the work of judging, purifying, and perfecting man and shows man the ways of practice in the new age. So if a person who can display signs and wonders, heal the sick, and cast out demons claims to be Christ, he is absolutely an evil spirit that counterfeits the work of Jesus. Once God has completed a stage of His work, the evil spirits will follow on the heels of Him and imitate the work He has finished. If man doesn’t have discernment, he will be deceived.

Moreover, false Christs possess no truth, nor can they express any truth. They can only imitate God’s former work and deceive people by displaying some small miracles and wonders, but they can never imitate such miracles displayed by the Lord Jesus as “feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish,” “bringing Lazarus back from the dead,” “rebuking the winds and the sea,” and so on. They are evil spirits that counterfeit the work of the Lord, and they don’t possess the authority and power to rule over or control all things, which are completely determined by their substance. Just as God says, “Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). So, if we can master the principles for discerning between the true Christ and false Christs, we will not be afraid of being deceived. The truths expressed by Almighty God today can enable us to differentiate between all positive things and negative things. If we don’t seek, investigate, and accept the salvation of Christ of the last days for fear of being deceived, we will miss God’s salvation in the last days.

Recommended:
The Enlightenment From “Little Foal Crosses the River”
Can We Meet the Return of the Lord by Following Blindly?

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