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.

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The Sorrow of the Eraser

The Sorrow of the Eraser

Yang Yang

I once read a parable of a pair of good friends of an eraser and a candle. The candle always wins praise from people, which makes the eraser feels imbalanced. One day, the eraser says, “We both serve humans. You’re dolled up every day, and people compare the drips you produce while burning to tears and regard your flames as the symbol of light. Whereas my body gets dirtier and the crumbles I produce are thrown away as waste. It’s unfair!”

The candle says sincerely, “You remove wrong writing for children every day. You’re a good help for them to do their homework, and a behind-the-scenes contributor to their bright future.”

However, the eraser is not satisfied with its role as a behind-the-scenes contributor, saying, “I must give off light and heat like you!”

Then the eraser throws itself on the candle. As a result, it gleams slightly, and a foul stench thickens the air.

The eraser is left charred all over. With a shake of his head, the young owner tosses it into a garbage can.

What can we learn from this parable? Much of the time we are just like the eraser. We are not satisfied with what we’ve already owned and always want to get what we lack. Some people resent being short and are envious of those tall; some with a tall and slim body structure feel pained about their ordinary appearance; some have gained a certain position and yet long for a higher status; some covet power though they have owned enough wealth. …

As a matter of fact, in our lifetime, what and how much we have, what our career is, what role we play, whether we are rich or poor—all of this is ordained by God. Some people who don’t expect to manage something achieve success in the end, while some others finally fail despite their meticulous planning and arrangement for achieving the goal. Some people lead an affluent life without paying much price, while some others spend their lives struggling and yet are still unable to move out of poverty. … Countless facts prove that we have no control over our fates and that God presides over our fates as well as the fates of all things. There is a saying prevailing among the farmers who have worked on the farms for their lifetime and experienced the vicissitudes of life, “Man works the land, but the yields depend on Heaven.” To take another example: Zhuge Liang, a chancellor and regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, was skilled at strategy and running wars. Yet in the face of a war in which he almost succeeded, he couldn’t help but sigh, “Man proposes, but Heaven disposes!” Regardless of whether we believe it or not, no one can change the fact of God ruling over all things, or contend with God’s sovereignty and predestination.

God’s word says: “Mankind does not know who is the Sovereign of all things in the universe, much less does he know the beginning and future of mankind. Mankind merely lives, perforce, amidst this law. None can escape it and none can change it, for among all things and in the heavens there is but One from everlasting to everlasting who holds sovereignty over everything. … Regardless of whether you are able to recognize the deed of God, and irrespective of whether you believe in the existence of God, there is no doubt that your fate lies within the ordination of God, and there is no doubt that God will always hold sovereignty over all things.”

“Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn. This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s life. What is the cause of this pain? Is it because of God’s sovereignty, or because a person was born unlucky? Obviously neither is true. At bottom, it is because of the paths people take, the ways people choose to live their lives. Some people may not have realized these things. But when you truly know, when you truly come to recognize that God has sovereignty over human fate, when you truly understand that everything God has planned for and decided for you is a great benefit, and is a great protection, then you feel your pain gradually lighten, and the whole of you become relaxed, free, liberated.”

God’s words are so true! We do not recognize God’s ordination and sovereignty, nor do we know what we truly need for our lives. Greed and extravagant desires cause us to never be content with our present circumstances and always rely on our own efforts to strive, which in turn invites a lot of trouble and distress for ourselves. Some people commit many evil deeds against the law, ruining their own prospects and even paying the price with their life. By contrast, those who can submit to their fates spend their lives, though unremarkable, in peace and joy. … In fact, as we humans were created by God, only God knows our real needs, and what God bestows upon us is the most appropriate.

We now are in the last days when God has come to do His work and expressed all the truths we human beings need. After reading God’s word, we will come to fully realize and confirm this fact: We will be able to shake off pain, live under God’s care and blessing, and become truly free and liberated if we can come before God to accept His word as our life, practice according to the truth, and obey God’s orchestration and arrangements, rather than cling to our excessive desires and rely on our own will and abilities to resist fate.

Watch the Video: The Sorrow of the Eraser – Inspiring Story

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What Is the True Way to Prepare Oil for Second Coming of Jesus?

What Is the True Way to Prepare Oil for Second Coming of Jesus?

Tong Tong

The 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, the 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.

In the few decades of faith in the Lord, I have always been yearning for the Lord to welcome me to the heavenly home and deliver me from this hard and sinful place, so that I will receive His beautiful promise. I often worked hard at reading the Bible and prayed to the Lord earnestly; I looked for the famous preachers who knew the Bible well and listened to them expounding the Bible; I tolerated the ridicule and sarcasm of the worldly people; when sickness or adverse things came upon me, I tried to keep myself from following Satan and complaining, for I believed that “he who endures to the end will be saved.” I thought my doing so was preparing oil. However, all these I did never brought any comfort to my heart, and I felt far away from the Lord. I was unable to feel the presence of the Lord even though I often prayed to Him.

Was my preparing oil this way not in accordance with the Lord’s will? I fell into confusion. One day, I heard a brother’s sermon, and he said: “In the Age of Grace the Jesus Christ mentioned the wise virgins. What is this mystery? Why is it said that they are the wise virgins? It is primarily because they can recognize God’s voice. As soon as they listen, they realize, ‘I felt this man’s words are God’s words, are God’s voice. There’s no way that a person could speak these words; this is the voice of God. So I believe in Him. He is Christ, that is, God has become flesh.’ You see, such is their wisdom. How are the foolish people so foolish? They think, “Isn’t this a man? Isn’t this Jesus of Nazareth? Isn’t this just an ordinary person? How can He be God? We won’t believe in Him, and we only believe in the God in heaven.’ Look, doesn’t it show that they do not have spiritual understanding? Yet they believe that their words are right and very reasonable. The result is that God allows these ‘smart’ people to fall prey to their own crafty schemes” (Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (IX)). His fellowships resolved my confusion. I understood that preparing oil means to be able to listen out for God’s voice, understand God’s words, and accept the truth and submit to God. Only those who can do so are wise virgins.

I was reminded of the fisherman Peter. After hearing the gospel of the kingdom of heaven preached by the Jesus Christ, he realized that what the Jesus Christ had spoken was the mystery about the kingdom of heaven, and that the Jesus Christ was sent by God, so he followed Him. While staying with the Jesus Christ, Peter saw that His words could not have been spoken by man, and that the work He did could not have been done by man. From the Lord’s speech and behavior, Peter recognized that He was the Son of the living God. I also thought of the woman of Samaria. When she heard the Lord Jesus say the inmost secrets of her heart, she recognized the Lord, for she knew that only God can know man’s innermost secrets. So she left her water pot and went to tell the people: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29). Facing the appearance of God, the disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus could understand that the words He had spoken were the truth and were from God, which could not have been spoken by man. And after hearing God’s voice, they could accept, submit to and follow the Lord. That’s how they prepared oil.

In contrast, those foolish virgins didn’t have a seeking and yearning heart, and they neither sought nor investigated the truth expressed by Christ to see if it was the voice of God. On the contrary, they always defined God’s work by their notions, treated the incarnate Jesus Christ as an ordinary person, and said that the utterance of God was actually the word of man. As a result, they were rejected by God and lost His salvation. Just like the Pharisees at that time, they didn’t listen carefully to the Lord’s words, blindly judged God to be a man by their conceptions, and even fanatically condemned that the Lord spoke words of blasphemy. Eventually, they were cursed and punished by God because of defying the new work of the Lord.

Then I read these words of the Lord: “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). “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” (Matthew 25: 6-7). The scriptures show us that in the future God will come again to speak many more words and tell us the future work of Him. So, when the Lord comes again, I should be a wise virgin. If someone preaches the message on the Lord’s return, I should be watchful to listen to the voice of God, and pray to the Lord more to receive His guidance. I believe that the Lord will guide me to welcome His coming, for the Lord promised: “And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). “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). Thanks be to the Lord! May the Lord’s kingdom come soon. Hope we can be the wise virgins and welcome the return of the Jesus Christ.

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Finding the Salvation of the Last Days on Facebook II

Finding the Salvation of the Last Days on Facebook II

Later, when I fellowshiped with Chen Xin and Sister Lin, I told them my worries, which were caused by my FB friend’s negative reminder, to see how they would explain. With smile, Sister Lin said confidently, “God’s sheep can hear God’s voice and God will surely recognize His sheep. Almighty God says, ‘What I desire is not man’s conceptions and thoughts, much less your money and belongings, but your heart. Do you understand? This is My will, and even more what I set out to gain’ (“The Sixty-first Utterance” of Christ’s Initial Expressions and Testimonies in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words allow us to understand that what God desires is man’s sincerity, not man’s money and belongings. The Lord Jesus also taught us to worship Him in spirit and in truth, not by our wrong notions and thought. The whole world was created by God. No person or no thing does not belong to Him. God doesn’t need our worship of money and belongings, because our whole being is from God and everything we have is bestowed by Him. The website of the Church of Almighty God is open. The words expressed by Almighty God and the films and videos produced by the Church of Almighty God are all concerned with the truth fellowship, God’s work, how God saves mankind and how man can live out a meaningful life. There is not a single place mentioning that one has to offer money to be admitted to the Church. Furthermore, a great many people have accepted Almighty God’s work across the world, but none of them are said to have been charged when joining the Church of Almighty God. This is because the water of the river of life is freely bestowed to those who are thirsty. God’s words are freely bestowed to those who thirst for the truth. Not only the Church of Almighty God does not demand money from people, but on the contrary sends all kinds of books to them freely. In God, all is open, all is clear, and nothing is hidden. So, that allegation is all the more unfounded that people have to swear not to leak any secrets of the Church before their admission. Obviously, anyone with normal conscience and sense can never spread such messages on the Internet to slander and defame the Church of Almighty God, but only those with ulterior motives could do that. This carries Satan’s schemes. Satan tries to find every possible way to disturb and impair God’s work, and hinder people from accepting the true way. Don’t be confused by merely a rumor, a lie and thus afraid to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days. In that case, you may easily miss God’s salvation of the last days. By then, it will be too late to regret. God does all He can to save man, and He gives everyone the opportunity to be saved. We should follow God’s footsteps and listen to God’s voice. Whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus is not decided by man, but is answered by God Himself. Almighty God has expressed millions of words. As long as we have a seeking heart to read Almighty God’s words, we can ascertain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus.”

After hearing her fellowship, I became much more grounded. As a believer in the Lord for several decades, haven’t I been expecting the return of the Lord? Both Xinyi and I considered what they said reasonable. Then we dropped our worries to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days.

In the following day, Sister Lin fellowshiped with us about the truth concerning the way of the Lord’s coming. Sister Lin said, “Apart from the verses concerning the Lord’s descending upon a cloud in public, there are still those mentioning the Lord will come in secret. For example, ‘I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15), ‘… for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes’ (Matthew 24:44), and ‘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). Apparently, the Lord’s return will be in two different ways. One way will be in secret. The other will be in public: Just as what you said, the Lord will arrive on a cloud and every single eye shall witness Him. However, before God publicly descends on a cloud, He will come in a hidden way through incarnation to do the work of judging, purifying, and saving man. Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days through incarnation, which we testify today, is the Lord’s work when He comes in secret. Because the incarnate God comes to the world as a man, looking ordinary and normal. It is secret for all humanity. No one recognizes Him as God, nor does anyone know His true identity. So,  “come as a thief” is a very appropriate metaphor for the appearing of the Son of man.  After the Son of man works and speaks, only those capable of recognizing His voice start to know Him. Yet those who can’t discern His voice will treat Him as just an ordinary man so as to deny and reject Him. For example, when the Lord Jesus did His work in the flesh, He was like an ordinary man outwardly. So people denied, resisted, and condemned Him. But some people, through the Lord Jesus’ work and word, recognized Him as the Christ in the flesh, the appearance of God. Now is when Almighty God is working in secret to save man. He is expressing His words to judge, purify, and perfect us. During this time, people can’t see the scene of the Lord coming on a cloud in public. Not until He has made a group of overcomers will His hidden work of incarnation come to an end. And then the great disasters fall down. The good is rewarded, and the evil is punished. He will openly appear to all nations. At that point, it is the scene of the Lord’s descending upon a cloud as we think. Just as what Almighty God 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. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that “The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ” shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud. … The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit’ (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Today, God becomes flesh and expresses the words to judge, chastise and purify man. Only by accepting God’s hidden work of judgment and achieving purity at last can we enter His kingdom. If we live in our own imagined notion—the Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ, and reject God’s work of judgment, we will lose God’s salvation of the last days and in the end we will only be subjected to God’s punishment because our sinful nature has not been purified and changed.”

Their fellowship was in complete accord with the Bible. I suddenly came to my senses and understood how these biblical verses fulfilled. “…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). Actually, the ways of the Lord’s coming are in a hidden way and in a public way. These are the signs concerning the two different ways of the Lord’s appearance. I had asked so many pastors from seminaries and read so many spiritual books but failed to understand them. I only knew that the Lord would come upon a white cloud but didn’t know the Lord would come in different ways. Now I have understood it. It’s so great! Has the Lord Jesus really come to unlock the mysteries? If not, how could they know so much and speak so clearly? Thank the Lord for His leadership. Today, I have gained a lot.

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Is the Hope of Rapture to meet Jesus Christ Achievable?

Is the Hope of Rapture to meet Jesus Christ Achievable?

Li Huan

Like many brothers and sisters who truly believe in the Lord, I have been longing for the return of the Lord Jesus, holding to the words in the Bible, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Thus, we have been obsessively looking at the sky, yearning that a day will come when the Lord Jesus will take us into the clouds to meet with Him in the air, and then we can enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life. Many years, however, have passed, and the signs of the second coming of the Lord have basically fulfilled, but we never see a believer be caught up to the heavens. It makes me wonder: Is this hope realistic? Does this word of Paul represent God’s will? If not, then aren’t we imaging it out of thin air? I have looked through the Bible, yet nothing of the kind that the Lord Jesus ever said was found. God is faithful, and He has said, “He is as good as His word, and His word shall be accomplished, and that which is accomplished lasts forever.” What God has promised will definitely be accomplished and fulfilled, as His word is the truth, the way. Now that the Lord Jesus never made such a statement, and man’s words cannot represent words of God, the Lord has His own will and plan on how to collect Christians into His kingdom when He comes back. Yet Paul was merely a man, a gospel-preaching apostle who had ever pursued the Lord Jesus and His disciples, and later was conquered after being blinded by the Lord’s great light. Even though Paul’s words were recorded in the Bible, and part of them were inspired by the Holy Spirit conformed to the truth, they were still not the words of God. What’s more, some of them were not the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and had no basis in God’s words, but mostly originated from man’s notions and imaginations and were colored by the absurdity of man’s mind. That’s why we cannot take man’s words as the basis for receiving the second coming of Jesus Christ. So, when seeking the issue “whether or not we can be caught up into the air,” we should use God’s words and His work in the Bible as the basis, which is in accord with God’s will.

The Lord Jesus once said, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13). When we try carefully to figure out the words of the Lord Jesus, we can see His great power and His humility. Only God can both ascend to the highest place and descend to the lowest place, while we humans cannot ascend to a high place to meet God. Moreover, God ordains that we human beings live on earth. He made our mankind’s ancestors Adam and Eve out of clay, and then put them in the Garden of Eden on earth and made them live there. They listened to His words and were blessed by Him, ruling over everything in the garden. Instead of in heaven, the humanity that followed still had dominion over all things on the earth. When the mankind on earth were deeply corrupted by Satan, filled with violence, God decided to destroy the earth with a flood and to save Noah, a righteous man who worshiped God. At that time, He didn’t take Noah to the air to escape the flood, but let him build the ark, so that when the flood came, his family of eight could take shelter there. In the Age of Law, God issued the laws through Moses, leading man to live on earth. In addition, when God rescued the Israelites from the hunting of Pharaoh on their way out of Egypt, He didn’t lift them into the air, but carried out His authority on earth, allowing them to see His guidance and know His power and wisdom. Also, in the Age of Grace, man didn’t go to heaven to obtain the sin offering so as to receive the Lord’s redemption, but instead the Lord Jesus personally became flesh on earth, and redeemed all mankind through His crucifixion. By this way, we man received His salvation, knew His love and mercy, and enjoyed the abundant grace God had bestowed upon us. Then, how will God receive us into the kingdom when He comes back in the last days? With the question, I studied the Bible and read the words of the Lord Jesus, “After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). This is what the Lord said, which contains the will of God: God allows us to worship Him on earth and wait for His kingdom to be established on earth; He will live on earth with man, and make the kingdoms of earth become Christ’s kingdom. Just as Revelation prophesied, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). So we are completely clear. God never said that man would be taken into heaven both in His previous work and in the Lord’s prophecies. So we always believe that the Lord will take us into the air when He returns; is this not our notions and imaginations? We always want to be raptured into heaven; is this not our extravagant thoughts? This is totally not in line with the Lord’s words and His will.

When I repeatedly pondered over how to understand the words that the Lord would bring us into the air to meet Him when He came, I suddenly recalled 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” (Revelation 14:6). Then I thought: Now messages about the Lord’s return are spreading widely on the Internet. Why is it like the angels transmitting the gospel through the air? If we people really accept the good news of the Lord’s return through the Internet, are we lifted to heaven to meet with the Lord? Clearly, there must be mysteries in our rapture into heaven to meet with the Lord. The Lord Jesus ever 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). From these words, we can easily understand that when the Lord comes, He will tell us what we don’t know and the future things, and guide us to understand the mystery of the truth. So facing the Lord’s second coming, what we should expect is the Spirit of truth and all of the truths He expresses, for He will guide us to understand the truth and come before God. When we meet the Spirit of truth, are we raised up before God? Isn’t this kind of rapture very real? This is worthy of our deep thought.

The Lord Jesus said, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). So, at this crucial moment when the Lord comes again in the last days, whether we can keep up with the Lord’s footsteps and be raptured to His presence depend on whether we can spend more time pondering and seeking after His words, whether we can relate the current news of His return to take heed of such issues as where there is the Holy Spirit’s word to the churches and where there are people testifying God’s newest words and utterances, and whether we can recognize the Lord’s voice and thus welcome His arrival when we seek and investigate actively. These are all the key questions for the wise virgins to pay attention to when investigating and welcoming the returned Lord, and are great matters that relate to our rapture and salvation!

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Why Only Peter Recognized Jesus As Christ?

Why Only Peter Recognized Jesus As Christ?

Bai Xue

The Bible records, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But whom say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also to you, That you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19). Every time I saw these verses, I would think: The twelve disciples were all the followers of the Lord Jesus, but when the Lord Jesus asked them who they thought He was, their answers were different. And only Peter said the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter recognized the inherent substance and identity of the Lord Jesus, so his answer was the most accurate, and also satisfactory to the Lord Jesus. Because only Peter had knowledge of God, the Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. So, since they were all the Lord Jesus’ disciples, why was it that only Peter recognized Jesus as Christ at that time?

Later, through reading the Bible, communicating with some brothers and sisters, and praying to God, I gained some enlightenment. I came to realize it was no accident that Peter recognized the Lord Jesus as Christ; actually it was closely related to his careful observation of the Lord Jesus’ action and His being and possessions in ordinary life. During the period of the Lord Jesus’ work, Peter lived with the Lord Jesus and ate with Him. He focused on observing every action and word of the Lord Jesus in real life, and from that he appreciated with his heart the disposition and emotions of God that the Lord Jesus revealed. Particularly, Peter paid special attention to the Lord Jesus’ words, in which he often searched for the truth and sought God’s will. He found that every word the Lord Jesus spoke was the truth, and could bring people the supply of truth and life, and that no one could speak such words. He also gradually knew God’s disposition and what God has and is from the Lord Jesus’ utterances and work. And he saw that even though the Lord Jesus looked like a normal human being, and wasn’t physically imposing or born in the palace or in the noble’s family as people imagined, yet what He expressed was the truth that wasn’t possessed by corrupt people, and He was equipped with all that God has and is. His magnanimity was as boundless as the seas and the sky, and His tolerance and mercy for mankind was without limits, yet He was humbly hidden and dined with the sinners. He was not arrogant, not selfish, and He had no trace of any corrupt disposition of human beings. All that was revealed by the Lord Jesus was holiness and righteousness, and His selfless love for us mankind. His emotions of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and happiness were not for Himself. He took pleasure because the truth He expressed had brought the light to mankind, and He felt sorrow because corrupt mankind was living in the sin and being afflicted by Satan. The truth that the Lord Jesus expressed was the reality of all positive things, and such essence and being could only be possessed by God Himself. It was through each and every detail of his contact with the Lord Jesus that Peter recognized the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Eventually, because of his knowledge of God, Peter was approved by the Lord, and the Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven and entrusted him with the mission to shepherd the flock.

I envy and aspire Peter’s experience of knowing the Lord Jesus. And from it, I saw the precious quality of Peter was that he never came to know the Lord Jesus from His appearance, but by gradually experiencing the actual words and work of the Lord Jesus, feeling them with his heart, and pursuing to know God, know God’s substance, God’s disposition, and God’s being and possessions. And eventually he recognized the Lord Jesus as the incarnate Christ. It also has brought me some inspiration: If we want our belief in God to allow us to achieve true knowledge of God, we must focus on God’s word. For it is through His word that God enables us to know His being and possessions, His disposition, His will, His requirements of man, and so on. Besides, only by taking heed of God’s word, can we come to know Him little by little. I am willing to seek the truth and grasp God’s intention more in God’s word like Peter, experience God’s work to gain knowledge of God’s disposition, and pursue to be a person who knows God.

Recommended:
Bible Secrets Revealed: Why Did the Lord Jesus Approve of Peter’s Faith?
How Peter Came to Know Jesus
What Kind of People Does God Commend?

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