Tasting God’s Love Under the Guidance of Awakening

Tasting God’s Love Under the Guidance of Awakening

Janice    Germany

Editors’ note:

Janice, Nigerian, moved to Germany together with her husband and two young children in 2014. In Germany, she suffered the betrayal of her husband and the pain and helplessness of being parted from her children. Just when she lost all hope for life, Awakening, a gospel movie from the Church of Almighty God, guided her to find God’s work and word of the last days. Almighty God’s words brightened her heart, allowed her to be reunited with the Creator, to gain the watering of the living water of life, to know the source of man’s corruption and suffering, and finally to find out the bright path to getting rid of corruption and pain and attaining God’s salvation. Starting from then, she has been made anew.

After the arrival of our family in Germany, my husband and I lived a hard life in the beginning. We had to take care of our children and earn a living, but we loved each other and led a life of mutual support. At least we were both devoted to our family and children then. However, I found gradually that my husband changed. He often complained about the hardships in life, grew ill-tempered, and spent fewer nights at home. As a Christian, I only prayed to the Lord, hoping that I could get help from the Lord Jesus. I also communicated with my husband and tried to straighten him out. In the end, nonetheless, he still betrayed me, and even took away my two beloved children by contemptible means. He filed a lawsuit and falsely accused me of child abuse, demanding deprivation of my custody of our children. What surprised me most was that my best friend should stand on my husband’s side and bear false witness. Eventually, my husband, my friend abandoned me, and I was also separated from my children.

All this just happened too suddenly, like hailstones falling from the sky hitting me. I did not understand why my husband was so cruel and heartless, nor did I know what I had done wrong, why I must suffer such pain, or where the meaning of my life lay since I had lost everything. I was devastated, having no heart to anything, and began a decadent life. Every day I did nothing but go on a drinking binge to paralyze myself and pass the time with movies in futility and boredom. As the days passed, my anguish did not lessen; instead, I felt increasing emptiness and agony. I had no more courage to live on, and thought about suicide. However, as soon as I thought about dying, I would feel particularly scared, and I just had no idea of where this vague feeling of fear came from.

Gospel movie “awakening“

One day, I thought of my belief all of a sudden, as well as the Lord Jesus. I googled “ChristianMovie” with a view to seeking help from gospel movies and ending my agony. When I browsed on Youtube, I saw “Voice of God ‘Awakening’,” which seemed kind of appealing to me: awakening from what? I opened the link and watched the movie for two minutes, feeling it similar to other gospel movies. Then I dropped it and continued to browse African movies. But there was always a moving inside me: Go on with Awakening. It came up several times, and I felt it was from the guidance of the Lord. So I returned to the movie Awakening and watched it seriously from the beginning. When I saw the part where the heroine refused to listen to the gospel preached by two sisters, I was very curious: What gospel were they preaching? Why did the heroine cast them out without even listening to it? I wondered what was going on, so I continued with it. Then I saw the desolate scenes in the church in the movie, and I felt they were exactly what happened in the practical church life: The believers intrigued against each other, the pastors preached and worked for the offerings, and so on. Following that, when I saw the preachers communicate that the reason for the desolation in the church was that God has done a new work, I was even more curious: God has done a new work? What is it? I kept on watching the movie with wonder.

The heroine said, “But you said that God comes again to do the work of saving man. That’s impossible. As long as we obey the Lord’s teachings to confess and repent and rely on the Lord Jesus’ redemption, we got saved.”

The preacher from the Church of Almighty God replied, “Sisters, although we’re not of sin due to the Lord Jesus’ redemptive work, it doesn’t mean that we’ve broken away from sins and always got saved. Because we haven’t broken away from sins, we still live in the fallen life of committing sins in the day and confessing them at night, and still can’t break free from the bondage and restriction of sins. This is the state of us believers in the Lord. As Paul said, ‘… for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans 7:18-19). Although the apostle Paul was forgiven of his sins due to the Lord Jesus’ salvation, the biggest misery in his heart was that he still often committed sins and resisted God in spite of himself because of being unable to break free from the bondage and restriction of sins. So he said helplessly, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). Sisters, isn’t Paul’s misery the misery of the brothers and sisters believing in the Lord today? Isn’t the salvation that Paul eagerly wished to receive what we believers in the Lord eagerly wish to receive today? Sister, especially believers in the end time have a deep experience of it. Man’s heart is taken by various poisons and philosophies of Satan and man is filled with arrogance, selfishness, craftiness, greed, evil, and so on. So, we can still go with the world trend and associate with Satan, seeking after position, fame and gain, and money and enjoying the pleasure of sin. Even if one is familiar with the Bible, he can in no way break free from the bondage of sin. So, in the Age of Grace, all believers in the Lord who have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus haven’t truly broken away from Satan’s influence of darkness and their heart hasn’t been completely gained by God. Even if they have some changes in their outward behaviors and sometimes they can do some good things, their inner sinful nature still rules and controls them within, so that what they live out is still the corrupt satanic disposition and they haven’t broken away from the bondage of sin.

Almighty God says, ‘A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as sinners because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance’ (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

‘Though man has been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it is only considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with man’s transgressions. However, when man lives in the flesh and he has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing the corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sin and forgiveness. The majority of men sin in the day only to confess in the evening. As such, even if the sin offering is forever effective for man, it would not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has corrupt disposition’ (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sisters, God speaks very clearly that it is because of God’s salvation that man is forgiven of sins after being redeemed by the Lord Jesus. God says that man is no longer of sin, but it doesn’t mean that man won’t commit sins. It just means that God doesn’t remember man’s sins and doesn’t treat man as a sinner. But the Lord Jesus’ work just achieved the result of redeeming man’s sins, and it didn’t solve the problem about the root of man’s sinning. So, man’s sinful nature still roots in his heart. In this regard, even if the Lord Jesus’ sin offering is forever effective for man, it can’t save man from sin thoroughly. So, those who have received the Lord Jesus’ redemption still commit sins and resist God. They need God’s further work of salvation, and only thus can they thoroughly break away from sin and receive God’s full salvation.”

The dialogue in the movie made me clearly understand that God’s new work stems from our living in the cycle of sinning and confessing without breaking free from the bondage of sin. We’re only redeemed by the Lord Jesus, yet our sinful nature has not been rid of. So we can still commit sins in spite of ourselves, and we really need God to do a new work to thoroughly get rid of our sins. It’s quite likely that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Though I’d believed in the Lord for years, I lost my faith and began to degenerate in the face of trials. I was simply not a strong and good Christian. The pastors also committed sins, and even stole the offerings. They lived in sin without being able to extricate themselves from it, so they were truly in need of God’s salvation. Suddenly I felt as if I had seen the sun, and that all my agony and helplessness could be resolved there. Then I watched several other movies of the Church of Almighty God where many truths were fellowshiped about. I felt that God’s words had come into my heart, and my intuition in the spirit told me that it is the true way. I prayed to God silently in my heart, asking Him to lead me to understand more. Many movies I watched before seemed made up, whereas these movies did not. They were preaching the gospel, were under the guidance of God’s work, and were preaching Almighty God’s words to let more people hear them and recognize that the Lord Jesus has returned. Almighty God’s words were something I had never heard before, and they had deeply attracted me. I kept watching the movies. It was not until the dawn broke that I realized that I did not sleep the whole night.

After the breakfast,I found the gospel hotline of the Church of Almighty God in Germany and called. Sister Zhenzhen received my call. Later, she invited Sister Liu Xin and me to an online fellowship on Skype. We really had a good talk. They read Almighty God’s words for me, “Mankind, who left the supply of life from the Almighty, does not know why they exist, and yet fears death. There is no support, no help, but mankind is still reluctant to close their eyes, braving it all, drags out an ignoble existence in this world in bodies without the consciousness of souls. You live like such, with no hope; he exists like such, with no aim. There is only the Holy One in the legend who will come to save those who moan in suffering and long desperately for His arrival. … When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“From the time you were born all the way up to now, God has carried out much work on you, but He did not tell you every time He did something. You were not to know, so you were not told, … from the time you were born up to now, God must guarantee the safety of each one of you. You may feel as though you do not fully understand, saying ‘Is this safety so important?’ So what is the literal meaning of ‘safety’? Maybe you understand it to mean peace or maybe you understand it to mean never experiencing any disaster or calamity, to live well, to live a normal life. But in your hearts you must know that it is not that simple. So what on earth is this thing that I have been talking about, that God has to do? What does it mean to God? Is it really a guarantee of your safety? Just like right now? No. So what is it that God does? This safety means you not being devoured by Satan. … Once you have been devoured by Satan, neither your soul nor your flesh belongs to God any longer. God will no longer save you. God forsakes souls like that and forsakes people like that. So I say the most important thing that God has to do is to guarantee your safety, to guarantee that you will not be devoured by Satan. This is pretty important, isn’t it?” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in A Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Sister Zhenzhen said, “The emptiness and pain in man’s living in this world are all caused by Satan. However, Almighty God has mercy on everyone. He guarantees the safety of each one of us, and finds us back so that we will avoid being devoured by Satan. Our God has never left us. When we don’t know why we exist but fear death, God has seen all this. He knows our sufferings, so He miraculously arranged for us to follow His footprints. God loves man so much! Sister, as long as you read more of Almighty God’s words, you’ll become aware of God’s kind intention of saving man. In God’s six-thousand-year management plan, from the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, from the work of Jesus to that of Almighty God, God’s work goes higher and deeper with each stage. In the last days, for us to completely cast off corruption, achieve purity, and enter His kingdom, God becomes flesh again to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God to judge and purify us. All that is God’s practical love and salvation toward us. Praise God! We should cherish this salvation.”

Hearing the calls of Almighty God and the heartfelt words of the sister, I was deeply touched: This is God’s love, God’s great love! Tears flowing down, I did not know how to express my gratitude for God’s love and salvation. Then Sister Liu Xin combined my sufferings to communicate with me. She said, “Without your family, husband, and children, you lost the goals and direction of your life, felt no more the meaning and value of your existence, and even thought about ending your life with suicide. That is Satan’s affliction and trickery. Satan has been corrupting man, and it just wishes people to turn away from God and rebel against God, living in misery. Man’s fate is subject to God’s sovereignty and orchestration, so your children will grow up under God’s protection.”

Almighty God’s words and the two sisters’ fellowship made my heart lighter and lighter, and the long-forgotten expression of a smile appeared on my face. At that time, I had realized how and for whom I should live. I vowed to entrust my children to God and walk out of the harm of Satan thoroughly. No matter what happened, I would obey God and never blame Him, for all the sufferings befalling me were Satan’s mocking. Satan wished me to have misgivings and doubts about God’s sovereignty and orchestration and deny God, but I would never rise to its hook. Thank Almighty God! Since I accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days, I’ve been reading Almighty God’s words every day, and have had a renewed outlook. In my daily life, I try to practice according to God’s words. Every week I have two gatherings with my brothers and sisters, and we pray, sing hymns, and read God’s words together. Besides dealing with my own life affairs, I fulfill my duty as a creature, and preach to others Almighty God’s work of the last days so that more people who are struggling in Satan’s trickery and affliction can receive the salvation of God’s work of the last days. Thank Almighty God for His salvation toward me. All the glory be to Almighty God!

Source: Find the Shepherd  

Related movie: The Everlasting Gospel in the End Time “Awakening“

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Judgment Is Not Condemnation

Judgment Is Not Condemnation

Enhui    Malaysia

In 2015, I was sent to work in another city by my unit. At that time, because of being stuck at work, I could not go to church every Sunday. After getting married, my husband was an unbeliever and I just arrived in a new environment, so I lost the life of fellowship. Afterward, my parents passed away and I also remained sick without improvement. I then unconsciously lost confidence in the Lord, prayed less than I used to and often lived in weakness. Even though I was busy all the time, I felt particularly empty.

In April of 2016, I had flatulence and it got more and more severe that I even put on my clothes with great difficulties. One of my fellow believers recommended Doctor Zheng to treat me. During the treatment, apart from prescribing medicines for me, Doctor Zheng told me that God is an almighty doctor and is man’s refuge and that I should rely on God and have faith in the trial given by Him. From our casual conversations, I thought he understood the Bible rather well. So I spoke to him that we were unable to feel God’s blessing and presence during meetings, fewer and fewer believers came to attend meetings, my spirit was particularly weak, and I was the target of the pastor’s cultivation before, but I didn’t even have the confidence to have meetings. Doctor Zheng told me that the situation in his former church was the same: The communications were dull and dry during meetings and believers couldn’t feel the presence of the Lord in prayer. But later, he found the place where there was the work of the Holy Spirit, and kept up with God’s footsteps, and thereby saw the light again in darkness. Brother Zheng said with delight, “The Lord Jesus has come back. He has already expressed words and done the work of judgment beginning with the house of God.”

Upon hearing this, I was shocked and said, “The Lord has come back? How could it be possible? I have read the Bible for more than twenty years. We Christians are all waiting for the Lord to collect us to heavenly home upon a white cloud. The Bible says clearly, ‘…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). Now we haven’t seen the signs of the Lord’s coming riding upon a white cloud. How could the Lord possibly have come back? Brother, have you gone the wrong way?”

But Brother Zheng answered, “I didn’t go the wrong way but instead have kept up with the Lamb’s footsteps. Sister, you said that the Lord will come upon a cloud when He comes and also provided the biblical basis. But regarding the prophecy ‘shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven’ recorded in the Bible, we should understand how it will be fulfilled. Only when the prophecy concerning the Lord’s return comes into reality can we know it. We can’t define God based on our imagination. This is wrong. I used to think that the Lord will come upon a cloud to take us to heavenly home. However, after reading Almighty God’s words, I had the correct understanding of the ways of the Lord’s return. Actually, the Lord’s return will be in two different ways: in secret and in public. And the way of arriving on a cloud, which you have mentioned, refers to the Lord appearing in public.

“The Lord will come in two ways: in secret and in public” was a subject I had never heard of before. I felt that what Brother Zheng was saying was very novel. I dearly loved to know what “the Lord will come in two ways: in secret and in public” was about. It has been a long time since someone helped me with a problem of thebelief like this. It seemed that my yearning heart has revived. Then I listened to Brother Zheng carefully about what he was going to talk about.

Brother Zheng continued, “In addition to the verses concerning the Lord’s descending upon a cloud in public in the Bible, 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). Here ‘the son of man comes’ means that the Lord will appear in His fleshly form when He comes again. When God incarnate comes into the world of man, His exterior appearance is an ordinary, normal man, which is secret for all humanity. No one recognizes Him as God, nor does anyone know His true identity. Not until the Son of man works and speaks do those who are able to recognize His voice come to know Him. Yet those who can’t discern His voice will certainly regard Him as an ordinary man and thus deny and reject Him. For instance, when the Lord Jesus was incarnated to do His work, He appeared as a man, looking ordinary and normal. So most people denied, resisted, and condemned Him. Whereas some other people, through the Lord Jesus’ work and word, recognized Him as the incarnate Christ, the appearance of God. Now, God has appeared to man by becoming flesh again and begun the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. He is expressing His words to judge, purify, and perfect man, which really is the Lord’s work when He comes in secret. During this time, people can’t see the scene of the Lord coming on a cloud in public. Not until God has made a group of overcomers will His hidden work of incarnation come to an end. And the great disasters shall consequently fall. It will be the time when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked and the time God reveals Himself publicly to the myriad peoples and the myriad nations. At that point, the prophecies of the Lord’s public descent will be fulfilled: ‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Matthew 24:30), and ‘Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him’ (Revelation 1:7). When people see the Lord publicly appear to them on a cloud, they should be wild with joy as we can imagine. But right here it says that all kindreds of the earth shall wail. So why is that? That’s because when God appears to the public, His hidden work of salvation in His incarnate flesh will have been finished. After that comes the work of rewarding good and punishing evil. And then, all those who refused to accept God’s hidden work will thoroughly lose the chance to be saved. Those who pierced Him, that is, those who resisted and condemned Christ of the last days, Almighty God, will seeAlmighty God whom they resisted and condemned is exactly the returned Lord Jesus. How could they not beat upon their breasts and weep and gnash their teeth? So then, at that moment the scene that all kindreds of the earth shall wail will appear. Sister, we should seek and investigate the true way during the time of God working in secret, accept the work of salvation and judgment of man that Almighty God does. Just as the wise virgins: Once hearing the cry that the bridegroom has come, they come out to meet him. If people blindly await the open arrival of the Lord Jesus upon a white cloud, they will miss the chance for salvation and only fall into disasters mourning and grinding their teeth.

After hearing what Brother Zheng had said, I thought it was not without reason. I have already read these verses, yet I indeed did not get such a light. The Lord Jesus will come in two ways: in secret and in public, which was in line with the Bible. It indeed was the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit. But God does the hidden work of judgment and salvation of man. Is that true? Won’t God condemn man based on his actions and deeds when God judges man? How can it be the work of saving mankind? Is God’s work of judgment to save man or to condemn man? I am a believer over 20 years and the Lord’s return is a great matter. So, I should read and understand more of the Bible first.

At night, I thought of the conversation with Brother Zheng. Then I googled the word “judgment” to see what I could get. So, I opened the browser and searched. Then I came across the words God’s Chastisement and Judgment Is the Light of Man’s Salvation, which attracted me. I clicked on the link at once to check it out. It says, “In his life, if man wishes to be cleansed and achieve changes in his disposition, if he wishes to live out a life of meaning, and fulfill his duty as a creature, then he must accept God’s chastisement and judgment, and must not allow God’s discipline and God’s smiting to depart from him, so he can free himself from the manipulation and influence of Satan and live in the light of God. Know that God’s chastisement and judgment is the light, and the light of man’s salvation, and that there is no better blessing, grace or protection for man. …” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). These words touched my heart. I would really like to know what is God’s chastisement and judgment being the light of man’s salvation. Won’t man be condemned when God judges him? How can it become the light of man’s salvation? I was curious and somewhat excited. I had never heard of such view. Although it was quite different from what I understood it to be, the judgment seemed to have a very profound meaning. I noticed that the content was from the Church of Almighty God. I clicked the column of Books and browsed through the page. I saw a book titled Testimonies of Experience in Life Entry. I clicked on it and found that most of the articles were testimonies concerning judgment, such as God’s Chastisement and Judgment Has Saved Me, I Have Seen God’s Love in His Chastisement and Judgment, God’s Chastisement and Judgment Awoke My Sinful Heart, God’s Chastisement and Judgment Has Brought Me to the Right Path, and so on. I skimmed through a few ones. They were all testimonies from the believers in God of how their corrupt disposition got changed and cleaned through experiencing God’s chastisement and judgment. Some talked about how their arrogance, craftiness or selfishness became transformed; some talked about how their wrong viewpoints of believing in God were changed and so on. It made me more curious about the statement that God’s chastisement and judgment is the light of man’s salvation. Is the work of judgment by God really the work of purifying and saving man? At that time, I could not calm down. I must figure out the true meaning of God’s chastisement and judgment being the light of man’s salvation. Testimonies of Experience in Life Entry should be a book greatly helpful for one’s belief in God. I should read it seriously.

So, I told Brother Zheng that I had googled and found God’s chastisement and judgment being the light of man’s salvation online. And I expressed a desire that he could speak more of the work of judgment by Almighty God. Brother Zheng talked a lot to me and sent me the words of Almighty God. Almighty God says, “Righteous judgment is in order to purify man, heartless refinement is in order to cleanse man, harsh words or chastening are all in order to purify, and for the sake of salvation. And thus, today’s method of salvation is unlike in the past. Today, righteous judgment saves you, and is a good tool for classifying you each according to kind…” (“You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will for the Salvation of Man” in Listen to the Voice of God   Know Christ). “God uses His judgment to make man perfect, He has been loving man, and saving man—but how much is contained within His love? There is judgment, majesty, wrath, and imprecation. … He curses you so that you might love Him, and so that you might know the essence of the flesh; He chastises you in order that you might be awakened, to allow you to know the deficiencies within you, and to know man’s utter unworthiness. Thus, God’s curses, His judgment, and His majesty and wrath—they are all in order to make man perfect” (“Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

The Church of Almighty God

“When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation, dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that could not be understood by man. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of such work is actually the work of opening up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Combining with Almighty God’s words, Brother Zheng again communicated with me, “All the work of God is for the sake of saving mankind. The work of judgment by God incarnate is in order to completely change, purify and gain man. In the Age of Grace, God did the redemptive work, that is, the work of forgiving man of their sins. But the sinful nature of man is not taken away and man is still dominated by it to often sin in spite of himself. Moreover, man has not gained the truth and developed a true understanding of God. And man has not yet become someone who is in line with God’s will. Therefore, in the last days, God becomes flesh again to judge and purify man with His words. He has expressed all the truths mankind needs in order to achieve purification and salvation. God uses these truths to expose the true fact of man’s corruption, to reveal God’s righteous disposition and all of His will and requirements for man, to show man the way to cast aside the corrupt disposition so as to be cleaned and saved. As long as man readily accepts and obeys the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, he will surely get cleansed and perfected by God. This is the fact that God has fulfilled and can be confirmed from the testimonies of the experiences of the brothers and sisters from the Church of Almighty God.”

Praise the Lord! I have yet to experience God’s judgment and chastisement, but through reading Almighty God’s words and the brothers and sisters’ testimony articles of experiencing God’s chastisement and judgment work of the last days, as well as what Brother Zheng has talked about, I also felt that it indeed can change man. We really need God to do a stage of work of judgment and chastisement, instead of obsessively awaiting the Lord upon a white cloud to take us. Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, and we remain corrupt and often sin. If the Lord did not carry out the work of judgment to purify us when He comes, how could we become clean and enter the kingdom of heaven? Thanks be to God! I really have felt that Almighty God’s judgment and chastisement is the light of man’s salvation. Later, through many times of communication, I came to understand the significance of the work of judgment by God, the truth about the name of God, Besides, I also understood the truths of how to distinguish the true Christ from false ones, of how to discern the true church from false ones, of the difference between God’s work and man’s work, of how Satan corrupts man, of how God saves man, and so on. Hence I ascertained that Almighty God, who can express these truths and reveal these mysteries, is truly the returned Lord Jesus. So, I accepted His work in the last days happily.

Thanks be to God! I was clear about the reason why I always lacked motivation for the meeting over these years and the reason for my brothers and sisters’ passiveness and weakness. It is because God’s work has been changed and elevated. God no longer works in the Age of Grace. Instead, He has become flesh to do His work among man in a hidden way, expressed new words and begun the work of judgment and purification among men in the last days. It is true that without God’s work, no matter how hard man works, it will count for nothing. If God had not led me to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days, I would have been awaiting the Lord riding a white cloud in the sky to take me by my own imagination. In that case, I would lose the chance to welcome and to meet with the Lord. Thanks be to Almighty God!

Source: Find the Shepherd

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God’s Saving Hand Delivered Me From Grave Peril

God’s Saving Hand Delivered Me From Grave Peril

Zi Chao

I am a maintenance worker in a coal mine. Three months after I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, I experienced a mine accident due to water spill. It was thanks to the deliverance of Almighty God that I narrowly escaped death.

One day in late September, about 7 a.m., I went to the production group to get the assignment. The technical manager told me to do maintenance work in the coal-carrying tunnel where the coal-mining team worked, so I went down the mine shaft for work. When I got all the tools ready in the mine and began to work, it was already 10 a.m. I worked in the tunnel where the scraper-trough conveyers went through, and the location of my work was 150 meters away from the exit. At 1 p.m., I heard a fellow worker shouting, “The water comes out from the upper tunnel!” Hearing that, everyone panicked and ran for his life. I also threw down the tools and made a run for the exit. I moved forward by gripping the hydraulic prop, falling behind others. But I walked so slowly, so I wanted to relax my grip and run. But hardly had I relaxed my grip when a rushing torrent came from the upper end of the tunnel, and it swept me off my feet and carried me about 30 meters away downward. I was swallowed up by the water, and felt as if there was no hope of survival. In the moment of danger, I prayed to Almighty God in my heart and committed my life and death into His hands. After praying, I felt very peaceful within and did not panic anymore. The surrounding water seemed not that violent. I opened my eyes and saw a large pit down below me. “Has the coal seam between this pit and that of the main mine been dug through? If I had been swept down into it, I would surely die.” This thought sent a chill down my spine. At that time, my upper body was hanging down from the edge of the pit, and my left shank was pinned under two planks about 7 feet long. I knew clearly that God had used these two planks to keep me from being washed away. In order to survive I groped around and found a rafter 10 cm wide, 2 cm thick, and 1.5 m long. I tried to pry the two planks off my left shank with it, but failed even when it was broken. Then I tried pulling my wounded left shank out from under the planks, but I couldn’t budge it. Again I tried prying the planks off my shank using the broken rafter I only had. I tried with all my strength, and at last, I succeeded. After that, I thought I must leave there immediately, but I was weak all over, and wanted a break. Just then, I noticed another violent torrent rushing down the tunnel. I hurriedly climbed onto the beams by grabbing hold of a prop of the tunnel. Part of the roof above the place where I stayed had caved in and a great quantity of fallen coal piled there, and pieces of coal might fall off from the roof anytime. The only thing I could do then was cry out to Almighty God incessantly. I prayed to Him in my heart, “My life and death are in Your hands.” I wanted to stay there until the water subsided, then run up the tunnel. I flashed my light around and saw the tunnel was flooded with water, the water at its lower end was gushing up, that at its upper end was running down, and the surface of the water at its lower end was only one or two meters away from me. Looking upwards, I couldn’t see a way out, and pieces of coal dropped from the roof above my head from time to time. I was likely to be killed at any time, and I felt completely hopeless. At this moment, I prayed to God again, “Almighty God! My life and death are in Your hands. Even if I die today, I will not complain against You. I believe You are the true God.” Then, I got a clear thought: Climb up against the torrent. So I got down immediately from the beams, and climbed up by grabbing hold of the planks and rafters lying scattered. While climbing, I felt the water behind me, like a pair of strong hands, suddenly pushed me forward by 5 or 6 meters. Then I saw clearly the situation of the tunnel in front of me: A torrent 1 meter wide was rushing down it; some parts of the tunnel narrowed; planks and rafters were lying scattered. Some sections of it weren’t supported by any props, and pieces of coal were dropping with flops. It was really scary and dangerous. With great caution, I, breathing heavily, trudged about 50 or 60 meters. I felt exhausted and wanted to have a rest. When I flashed my light around, I saw the tunnel I had maintained earlier, not far from where was a low area inundated. At that time, the water was up to my shoulders. I walked through the water and reached the cage at the bottom of the auxiliary shaft, which was the elevator car used to raise and lower people. I knocked at the cage to draw the attention of the people outside, and then sat in it. They heard the echoes and operated the elevator and raised me up.

After I came out of the mine, I saw a crowd of people surround its entrance, including the leaders. They were all surprised to see I came out alive. The technical manager told me that he and a miner had been to the scene of the accident in the mine twice, and that when seeing the water flow was large and kept rushing down the tunnel, they thought that I stood no chance of survival. There were seven maintenance workers working in the upper tunnel at that time, but none of them came out, but I, working in the lower tunnel, escaped. In general, it was easier for those working in the upper tunnel to escape than those working in the lower tunnel. I really thank God for His protection for me.

That night my neighbors paid a visit to me. I testified about Almighty God to them and told them how I had come out of the mine by relying on God. Two days later, the brothers and sisters who lived nearby came to visit me after learning what had happened to me. I told them my experience, and they were all moved to tears. I said, “I had only believed in Almighty God for three months, but when I cried out to Him in disaster, He guided me. If it had not been for His protection, I would not have come out of the mine. …” Then my brothers and sisters sang a hymn of God’s word “God Is the Only Foundation for Men’s Existence”: “When the waters swallow men whole, I save them from the stagnant waters. When men lose their confidence to live, God stretches out his hand of salvation and pulls them up from the edge of death, giving them the courage to live, letting them have him as the foundation for their existence, have him as the foundation for their existence.” I was deeply moved by it: I have experienced exactly what this hymn says! When I was swallowed up by the water in the mine, it was God who reached out His saving hand to me; otherwise I would have lost my life. I cannot thank God enough!

Through this experience, I saw God’s protection and salvation for me, and I became more certain that Almighty God is the reliance of man’s existence. I was willing to follow Him seriously, and I made up my mind to preach the gospel to testify about Him. Then I went to preach the gospel to my relatives, friends, and fellow miners. Two of my fellow miners accepted God’s work of the last days right away. All the glory be to Almighty God!

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Can One Enter the Kingdom of Heaven by Working Hard?

Can One Enter the Kingdom of Heaven by Working Hard?

Every brother and sister in the Lord has a desire: to enter the kingdom of heaven, which is also the Lord Jesus’ promise to us. Then, how can we enter the kingdom of heaven? The Lord Jesus said to us, “There is no man that has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundred times now in this time … and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). So, most brothers and sisters in the Lord believe that as long as they forsake their family, job and marriage and work hard for the Lord, they will enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life. Therefore, some Christians choose to renounce marriage to work for the Lord, thinking they can enter the kingdom of heaven in this way; some choose to serve the Lord in all their lives, spending all their efforts and time in building churches, by which, they think, they can enter thekingdom of heaven; some think as long as they give more offerings and preach everywhere to spread the gospel, they can enter the kingdom of heaven.… Actually, most brothers and sisters think these are the standards for entering the kingdom of heaven, and even envy such Christians, believing they will surely enter the kingdom of heaven. But is this really the fact? Recently I studied the Bible and read the words of the Lord Jesus, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Only then did I know toil is not the standard for entering the kingdom of heaven, and that only those who do the will of the heavenly Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. Doing the will of the heavenly Father means practicing the Lord’s words and abiding by the Lord’s commandments. When toiling and laboring, if one practices according to the Lord’s words, submits to and fears the Lord, pursues loving God as above all else, as well as sincerely expends for God, completely to satisfy the Lord, without transactions or impurities, they will be after the Lord’s heart and eventually enter the kingdom of heaven. On the contrary, if one simply works hard but refuses to practice the Lord’s words or abide by His commandments, he will not truly obey or worship Him but work arbitrarily. Such toil is full of his natural character and preferences and can in no way satisfy the Lord’s desire. And if there are impurities, transactions, intentions and purposes in one’s hard work, and they even take paying the price and working hard for God as the bargaining chip for entering the kingdom of heaven to make a deal with God in exchange for the blessings in the kingdom of heaven, these are even more the manifestations of resistance to and blasphemy against God.

Think back to how those priests, scribes, and the Pharisees served God in the temple throughout the year. They were familiar with the Bible and were well versed in the law. They burned incense, offered sacrifices, made prayers, interpreted scriptures and preached in the temple, and even traveled over land and sea, toiling and laboring for spreading the gospel. They were admired by people for their suffering, but why did the Lord Jesus condemn and curse them? The Lord Jesus said, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother: and, He that curses father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, Whoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me; And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:3-9). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Pondering over the Lord’s words, I knew that the Pharisees traveled far and wide spreading the gospel, but they didn’t preach God’s laws or commandments but their ancestors’ traditions, which was essentially abandoning God’s commandments. They passionately worked hard and paid a price not for loving God or obeying God, and not for leading people to walk in God’s way or worship God, much less for exalting or testifying to God. Instead, they exalted and testified to themselves to make others worship them through preaching their ancestors’ traditions. So, in the toil and labor of the Pharisees were full of personal aims and goals. When the Lord Jesus came to do His new work, His sermons and work were warmly welcomed by the people and many people followed Him. While the Pharisees were feared of losing their place in people’s hearts. For the sake of maintaining their statuses and jobs, they resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus frenziedly, and even colluded with the Roman government to crucify Him, which revealed their nature of hating the truth and their substance of antichrists. That is why the Lord Jesus cursed them and condemned them as hypocrites. Their pursuit decided the way they walked was a way of resisting God. So, their toil and labor didn’t bring them into the kingdom of heaven. Quite the opposite: They were subject to God’s righteous punishment.

Thus, one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven by expending and running around outwardly, for what God wants is man’s true heart. About the standard of entering the kingdom of heaven, the Lord Jesus also said, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). The Lord Jesus told us clearly that only those who do the will of the heavenly Father can enter into the kingdom of heaven, but He didn’t say one who works hard for Him can. People who can spend for the Lord according to His requirements, practice His words and obey His commandments, and love Him with their heart, their soul, their mind, without resistance and betrayal, are ones who follow God’s will. Just like what the Lord Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Following God’s will doesn’t lie in how many sacrifices one makes or how many hardships one endures outwardly, or in how he is pious, but in that he possesses reverence and obedience of God in doing everything. People expend for God for loving Him, caring for Him and satisfying Him, without personal intentions; they can put aside their own profits and extravagant desires, no longer consider their own future prospects, and fulfill God’s commission wholeheartedly; they can exalt and testify to God in their work, not working for their status and reputation; when God’s word and work don’t align with their notions, they don’t define or judge them with their conceptions and imaginations but obey and accept them; no matter what trials and tribulations they encounter: the death’s drawing near or being jailed and tortured…, they all obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements without their own choice. Only such people are worthy to enter into God’s kingdom.

Let’s think about those apostles and prophets approved by God. They all not only worked and ran around for the Lord, but more than that, they could put God’s words into practice, obey His words, submit to and accept whatever He did, without their own term or reason. In the end, they gained the approval of God. For example, Peter followed the Lord Jesus all his life, pursued to love God, focused on practicing the Lord’s words, cared for His will and satisfied Him in all things. He didn’t go after future prospects and fate for himself, but endured all sufferings for loving God. Even being crucified, he could still obey unto death. He bore resounding testimony to God before Satan, receiving God’s approval. Or as another example, Abraham. When God’s trial, that he was asked to offer his only son to God, came upon him, he could endure the suffering and give up what he loved to satisfy and obey God even though God’s requirement made him very painful. As he followed God’s way, he finally was commended by God. There is also Job. In the trial of losing all, extremely grieved, he still followed God’s way, not sinning with his lips. He was called by God a person fearing God and shunning evil. The reason why they could stand firm in these great trials was because they had a heart of bearing sufferings, denying themselves, forsaking the flesh to love and satisfy God. They all lived out the testimony of following God’s way, so they gained God’s approval.

Obviously, only if people pursue the truth, practice God’s words, live the reality of God’s words and carry out His will can they enter the kingdom of heaven. If they only work hard, but cannot obey God’s will and haven’t cast off their corrupt disposition to become holy, not being the ones who love, obey and worship God, then never shall they enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Can Man Enter Kingdom of Heaven by Laboring for the Lord?

Can Man Enter Kingdom of Heaven by Laboring for the Lord?

I believe that all true believers in the Lord expect the Lord Jesus to come to take them into the heaven soon. Some firmly believe that they will surely be taken into the kingdom of heaven by the Lord when He returns, if they work hard for Him, shepherd the church believers, and even give up their family and marriage, dedicating their all to Him.

In fact, such thought is wrong. Man’s sacrifice, expenditure, hard work do not mean that he is cleansed, because he is possessed of satanic dispositions of arrogance, self-conceit, self-rightness and self-importance and can still resist God.

To trace the root, originally when in the heaven, the archangel was the greatest of heaven’s angels and God authorized it to govern millions of angels. After God created mankind on earth, its ambitions were so inflated that it even desired to stand equal to God and rule over mankind on earth. In the end, it was cast into midair by God. As man was corrupted increasingly deeply, his nature became that of the archangel: arrogance and self-conceit, self-rightness and self-importance and having no place for God in his heart as well as no respect for others…. With such corrupt dispositions, man can contend with and fight against God at any time. When he first believes in God, he produces conceptions about God when seeing God’s work conflicts with his will, and even talks about and judges the Lord Jesus and His work carelessly. After he does services for a period of time, he can often testify how much work he does or how much he suffers, even regarding himself a holy man and one that pleases God because he can expound on the Bible, support the believers, work and preach for the Lord. And in the end, he thinks that he has finished his course and cast away what he should, thus he asks God for the glorious crown and a place for him in the kingdom of heaven just like Paul. … The more work one has done, the more easily he thinks highly of himself, feeling that he has the capital. As a result, he becomes more arrogant, self-right and unreasonable. The Jewish Pharisees are typical examples.

They served Jehovah God in the temple for generation after generation. Considering themselves to be well versed in the law, they frequently interpreted the law amongst the Jewish people, and thus often sat in the first place of the synagogue to receive people’s respect and worship. When the Lord Jesus came to do His redemptive work, their arrogant and self-right nature was completely exposed. They did not know God’s work, and used their brain and religious knowledge and theory to resist the Lord and His work. They thought that the One to come should be called Messiah rather than Jesus, and should be born in the royal palace or a noble family rather than in a poor carpenter’s. Therefore, they regarded the Lord Jesus as a man instead of God and thus spared no effort to condemn and slander Him. Even though they listened to the Lord’s preaching, they didn’t mean to seek the truth, but just tried to find a handle to hand Him over to the Roman government for condemnation. At last, they incited and deceived the Jewish people to nail the Lord Jesus onto the cross. When the Lord Jesus did His work, the Pharisees not only refused to seek His work themselves, but deceived and controlled the Jewish people and forbad them to convert to Him, fighting against God for His chosen people as well as status. Therefore, the Lord Jesus cursed them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15) “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heavenagainst men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). The Pharisees’ evil deeds of condemning and resisting the Lord Jesus, deceiving and controlling people reveal their devilish substance of antichrists thoroughly. Eventually, they paid the due price for their maleficence and were subjected to destruction of their nation.

We can see that if man does not get rid of the corrupt dispositions of arrogance, self-rightness, self-importance and conceit, they will never be able to be purified, much less will they be approved into thekingdom of heaven by the Lord even if they work hard and spend for the Lord all his life. In Leviticus 11:45, Jehovah God says, “you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” As God is holy, if the Lord receives man with satanic dispositions to His place, will He still be a God of holiness? It is also said in Hebrews 12:14, “without which no man shall see the Lord.” The Bible says that man can see the Lord Jesus only if he is cleansed. It doesn’t say that all those who can spend and throw things out for the Lord will see Him. Therefore, to be purified is the target that man should pursue in believing in the Lord. Only when man gets purified by God, no longer lives by his satanic dispositions of arrogance, conceit, self-rightness, self-importance, and can truly do God’s will in everything, can he receive God’s approval and be fit for the kingdom of God.

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