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

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

However, Satan was not willing to be defeated. It employed new tricks. One night less than a month later, knowing that I was still believing in God, my daughter said to me impatiently, “Mom, stop believing in God! I’m going to take the college entrance examination. If you insist on your belief in God, my school will not allow me to take the test. You should think of me. Don’t be too selfish.” Hearing these words, I thought: It is for your sake that I’ve made compromises and lived together with your father for all these years. Since I believed in God, I have been less depressed and distressed than I was before, and my mental outlook has been improved a lot. Don’t you see that? Then, I said to my daughter in a mild tone, “Haven’t you noticed that I’ve been in excellent spirits every day since I believed in God? I’ve come a long way to find the true God. Why don’t you understand me?” Seeing that I didn’t listen to her, my daughter walked off in a huff without another word. I hastened to ask, “It’s already dark out. Where are you going?” She didn’t respond and continued her way. At that time, my cousin was also there. She rushed to drag her back, but my daughter just wouldn’t come back no matter how hard she tried. After my daughter left, my heart was in turmoil: The day is dark already. Now the school is on summer vacation, she cannot go back there. And we have no relatives nearby. Where could she have gone? My cousin and I called her repeatedly, but she never answered the phone. We went out to look for her but to no avail. It was past ten o’clock at night. I send texts to her, but she didn’t reply. I was so agitated that I walked back and forth across the house, with my heart in my mouth. My cousin cried from worry, saying, “Sister, what if your daughter has any kind of accident?” Hearing this, I was even more anxious: Yes! She is a young girl aged about 18. How am I supposed to live if she meets with some accident? The more I thought, the more afraid I became. I waited in suspense for my daughter to reply to my texts. It was not until five minutes after midnight that I finally received her reply. I opened the text, only to see the following words: “I’m not going back until you promise what I told you.” Looking at her text, I was worried and fearful. So, I responded in a negotiating tone, “You may come back now. I’ll consider what you said and answer you later.” An hour later, however, my daughter replied, “If you do not agree to my request and persist in your belief, I’ll break up with you and put it in writing that I’ll never have contact with you for the rest of my life.” I was dumbfounded at my daughter’s text. What’s going on? I’m just believing in God; I’m not doing anything wrong. Yet my daughter is actually going to break up with me. It breaks my heart. She is my only child, my lifeblood. I’ve paid a great price for her during all these years. I never imagined that she could be so heartless to me because of my belief in God. At that moment, I wanted to cry but no tears came. Then I thought: I might as well not believe. Believing in God is too difficult. I put my hope completely on my daughter. I can’t lose her. My heart ached increasingly as I thought about it. I felt as if the sky were falling. I knelt down and cried out to God, “Oh God! What should I do? Please help me. My daughter is going to break up with me because of my faith. I’m afraid of losing my only daughter, and I don’t want to leave You. Oh God, I don’t know how to choose. I’m unable to overcome it. I really have no way out. God, what should I do?” Just when I was praying, I remembered God’s words: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men”. Through God’s words I suddenly saw the light. Oh! Am I not falling into Satan’s scheme? Is it not another spiritual war? I should stand witness for God and never make concessions to Satan. With God’s word supporting me, I had the courage inside to go to war with Satan. So, I sent a text to my daughter, “In any case, I cannot agree to your request.” Then I felt much more grounded inside my heart, and was no longer as worried as before.

Half an hour later, my daughter texted me again, saying, “Well, I’ll go to die.” I was shocked, thinking: Oh, she has actually said something like this. Maybe I should tell her that I’ll stop believing. Then she will not go to die, and I will not be refined as such. I picked up my phone and wanted to contact my daughter. Just at this moment, I recalled the happy time when I gathered with my brothers and sisters with my heart at ease and peaceful. If I didn’t believe in God, however, I would simply return to the dark and painful life I had lived in the past. Holding the phone, I thought of my daughter and the church life alternately, wavering back and forth inside. Should I compromise with my daughter? Feeling helpless, I put down my phone and prayed to God, “Oh God! What shall I do? Please help me …” At this point, I thought of God’s words: “The heart and spirit of man are held in the hand of God, and all the life of man is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things”. Yes, whether my daughter will end her life tonight is in God’s hands. It’s not up to her. Man’s life is controlled by God. The heart and spirit of my daughter are also controlled by God. Her thoughts will shift according to God’s thoughts. Is she not trying to persuade me out of my belief in God by threatening me with death? Under the guidance of God’s words, I had confidence again. So, I replied to my daughter, “I’ll insist on believing in God.” After a while, she sent a text back, saying, “I’m going to die!” This time I realized it was Satan’s sinister plot. It threatened me with the death of my daughter over and over again. It was too despicable! Being much calmer than I had been, I reminded myself that I should never fall for Satan’s tricks again. My daughter’s life was in God’s hands. It was not decided by Satan, let alone any man. When my thoughts went there, I replied to my daughter, “Do as you please.” Then, I said a prayer to God, “Oh God! I will entrust my daughter to You. Whether she will die or not is in Your hands. Without Your permission, she will not die even if she wants to. I’m willing to obey Your plans.” After I had prayed, my heart was at ease. It was two o’clock in the morning. I lay in bed and fell asleep unconsciously. After dawn, I was still a little worried when I thought back to what had happened last night. I stood on the street for a while, and didn’t hear any bad news. Then, my heart settled.

One day, a week later, my phone rang. I was extremely excited when I saw it was my daughter calling. I picked up my phone immediately and said, “Hello!” “Mom, happy birthday!” I was pleasantly surprised, and said in tears, “Oh, today is my birthday! I forgot it myself.” My daughter also said she had bought a present for me. Hearing this, I kept giving thanks to God in my heart. When the call ended, I came before God at once and sincerely offered up a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God.

Since then, my daughter has never again prevented me from believing in God. Besides, her career prospects were not affected at all, and she instead found a satisfactory job. She even encouraged me, saying, “Mom, I find that you have really changed since you believed in God. You are not the same as before. Just be a good believer in God, as long as you feel good.” My daughter’s attitude has changed. I know this is all God’s deeds. God used the real environments to let me see Satan’s meanness and evilness. It employs all sorts of methods to deceive and swallow man, trying to make all of them turn into its funerary objects. Through this experience, I have also realized that if we can rely on and look up to God and make God’s word have dominion with us, Satan will withdraw. It will forever be defeated in God’s hands. I have truly appreciated the power of God’s word and seen how difficult it is for God to save man. After experiencing this spiritual war, I have seen that God is right beside me helping and guiding me constantly. Thanks be to God! All the glory goes to God!

The End.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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International Refugee Freedom of Religion Professional Seminar—A Witness, Zhang Fu Released the Mournful Truth

【KNS Newsletter Reporter: Huang Ziyi】

(Photos after the International Refugee Freedom of Religion Professional Seminar)

On August 16th, Do Hee-youn, the head of the Citizens’ Coalition for the Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees hosted a seminar on International Refugees and Religious Freedom at the Korea Press Center. The religious suppression and persecution in China as well as solutions about guaranteeing freedom of religious belief and human rights have been discussed at seminar. Youngjae Kim, a professor from Dankook University headed the seminar. The participants watched a video first, Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China.

After watching this video, Do Hee-youn expressed sadness and said he had a similar experience, so he had deep experience with the hardship suffered by these Christians. Hearing this kind of things from a church leader earlier, it occurred to him to help these Christians report the situation, make more consultations and make effort to resolve their problems together.

In the seminar, Do Hee-youn, the head of the Citizens’ Coalition for the Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, lawyer Myung-Sup Byun from Sooin Law Firm, Kim Jeong-min, an expert of the International Relations Institute of National University of Mongolia, Kim Jeong-Ae, an author and a North Korean defector, Linda Wang, a former Chinese lawyer, also one of the spokesmen of refugees of the Church of Almighty God made speeches.

As the first spokesman in this seminar, lawyer Myung-Sup Byun talked about the necessary legal conditions, credibility and consistency of the statements for people present who failed to get refugee status. He also introduced the asylum process in detail. And he added human rights of people of religious world and in special social groups should be protected, provided they suffer persecution.

Kim Jeong-min was the second spokesman. He had some understanding of religious suppression and had spoken to the relevant people, noting that China’s neighbors were all affected by Chinese government.

(Speakers of the International Refugee Freedom of Religion Professional Seminar are discussing and speaking)

The third spokesman was Linda Wang, a representative of the Church of Almighty God. She felt grateful to attend this seminar. And she said China was powerful outside, but it stretched out its evil hand to everywhere. She also said because of religious suppression in China, her mother was detained and her father committed suicide because he couldn’t bear the persecution of the CCP. After experiencing these sufferings, she had seen clearly the substance of the CCP. She said, “China just respects the freedom of belief on the surface, but it uses ‘keep the social order’ as an excuse to suppress religious belief. The CCP designates Christianity as evil cult, expels preachers, arrests and imprisons Christians and even kills Christians without the least hesitation.”

The fourth spokesman was Kim Jeong-Ae. This author talked about her hard life in North Korea, and her mood after fleeing North Korea because of the current situation of dictatorship in North Korea.

Many mournful truth had been released at the second part of the seminar. After hearing Zhang Fu’s speech, who suffered religious suppression and persecution in China and then escaped to South Korea, all people were plunged into grief. At last, Mr. Zhang made a speech focused on his own experiences which had been reported in a program of a certain TV station, The Reporter.

(The last speaker Mr. Zhang Fu.)

“My name is Zhang Fu, I was persecuted by the CCP due to believing in God in China. I have to suffer the pain of being parted with my wife and son and flee to South Korea to seek asylum. Unexpectedly, after I fled China, the CCP stretched its evil hand overseas and tried every possible means to force me to go back to China. Now I will talk about what I have gone through.” “I believed in the Lord Jesus in 1998 with my parents. After stepped into the society, bitter and drifting working life made me see the darkness and evil, depravity and corruption of the world. I felt extremely empty and sad, perplexed and helpless, and was unable to find the direction of life. In 2005, when the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God testified about Almighty God’s work of the last days to me, I got to know the Lord Jesus had already returned. Almighty God is exactly the returned Lord Jesus. From Almighty God’s words, I understood how to be a real man, how to walk on the right path of the human life. My wife neither believe in God nor oppose my belief. However, good times didn’t last long. One day in 2010, my wife saw rumor condemning and slandering the Church of Almighty God when she read news online. She believed it and started to constrain me in my belief in God. From then on, there was no peace in our home anymore. Especially since the CCP used the May 28 McDonald’s Murder Case to frame the Church of Almighty God in 2014, my wife has been increasingly deceived by the CCP’s rumor. She opposed my belief even more and discouraged me from reading God’s words and attending meetings. She asked me to keep my cellphone on 24 hours so that she could know my whereabouts any time. Once I didn’t answer the phone in time, she would quarrel with me, and even forced me to give up my belief many times with her death. I felt extremely painful and oppressed. Never did I expect that the rumor spread by the CCP could make my wife hysterical. Seeing my wife was poor and deeply deceived by the rumor spread by the CCP, I could only always pray for her.”

“During the Spring Festival in 2015, some of the brothers and sisters in my church were arrested in succession. I faced the danger of being arrested any time. I had no choice but to leave my 2-year-old son and my parents who were in their 70s. After many setbacks, I fled to South Korea for asylum. I thought I could enjoy the freedom of believing in God in South Korea, a liberal democratic country. However, I never expected that I was still unable to flee from the persecution of the CCP.

On May 18, 2016, my wife took my son and my elder sister to Jeju Island and contacted me. In the evening of May 22, I was very excited when I met my family. I felt heartbreaking when I thought my young kid had suffered the pain of being parted with his father, and I held my son and wept. If the CCP hadn’t persecuted me, how could I bear to part with my son, making him lose father’s love at such a young age? How could I be willing to leave my home? Wasn’t it the CCP government who destroyed my happy family?

When I was immersed in the happiness of reunion with my family. Never did I expect that this meeting was a scheme plotted by the CCP itself. On the afternoon of May 23, I went out for a walk, and returned to the hotel at about 5pm. As I entered the room, I saw a man dodging into the toilet swiftly. The man noticed I had seen him, so he came out and sat down, pretending to be calm. He dared not look into my eyes. I asked who he was. He said he was Xiaohan, my wife’s colleague. A few seconds later, he suddenly went out of the room without notice. At that moment, I suddenly noticed my cell phones had been tampered and my passport was gone. I asked my wife who took away my passport. My wife urgently explained that she called the police for she thought I had run away, and it was the policeman who took away my passport. I felt it strange. How could it be possible for me to run since my luggage, my passport and my cell phones were left in the hotel? Obviously, my wife was lying. I felt disgusted about that and she apologized to me. Later she contacted a policeman surnamed Cheng through WeChat. Mr. Cheng said he was a police officer of the Public Security Bureau of Shanxi Province, and had already dealt with over 2,000 cases of the Church of Almighty God. He then said so much words to coax me to go back to China. About half an hour later, Xiaohan entered our room again. He said it was good for me to talk with Mr. Cheng. I asked whether he knew Mr. Cheng. He blurted out that Mr. Cheng was his teacher. Later, Xiaohan tried hard to pry into the information of our South Korean church, which made me realize that Xiaohan must be a CCP spy.

That very night, my wife and elder sister went out in turns. Every time they came back, they pressed hard on me for returning to China. I told my wife again about my situation and the reason why I could not go back to China. I hoped she and my child could stay and live in South Korea. ‘No way! You must go back with me.’ she said. At last, seeing me have no inclination to go back, they took away my wallet, credit card and the only 700,000 KRW on me and stole my cellphones while I was sleeping soundly at night. In the morning of May 24, my wife said I must go back to China with her and even threatened me with death. After much effort, I finally escaped with another cell phone on me. About a quarter after I arrived at the Jeju Island airport, my sister suddenly appeared behind me to snatch my cell phone while I was editing the message to her, hoping that she could leave my passport to me. I snatched it back and turned around to run away. At this moment, I saw my wife was in front of me and Xiaohan was at my right side. They three had surrounded me. I immediately dashed to the crowd. ‘Stop, stop, Zhang Fu stop!’ Xiaohan then shouted at me and rushed to me. I ran desperately and dared not stop for a second, fearing of being caught up by them. I kept running through streets and alleys of Jeju Island for over 4 hours. The fear in my heart was beyond words. Thank God for His protection that I escaped narrowly.

In August 2016, the CCP incited my wife to South Korea again. As soon as she got off the plane, she was accompanied by someone. She obviously knew where I was, but she did not contact me. She followed some unidentified people to call a press conference in the name of searching for her husband and made troubles at the Church of Almighty God, vilifying the Church by saying that the Church coerced her husband so that her husband could not go back to China. She used South Korean news media to wildly make public opinions, attempting to force me back to China and achieve the purpose of discrediting the Church of Almighty God. My wife was just an ordinary housewife. Without the CCP’s instigation, plot and involvement, how was she able to do it? I knew she was used as a tool by the CCP. The CCP had not only deprived me of the right to freedom of religion, ruined my family, but also made use of my wife’s tears and child’s crying to deceive those who were unaware of the fact, which framed the Church and also caused the public to lay the blame on the Church of Almighty God. It was the evil intention of the CCP.

A few days ago, I happened to see a piece of news that the CCP wanted to repatriate 5 North Korean defectors forcibly, which caused the 5 North Korean defectors to commit suicide by drinking poison. I was enraged at this news and grieved for the 5 North Korean defectors who longed for a free life. There are still many North Korean defectors being arrested by the CCP government and confined in prison in China. Thousands of Chinese Christians are still struggling hard under the suppression and persecution of the CCP government. I wish more people with noble aspirations can stand up and call upon for the North Korean defectors and the persecuted Chinese Christians to expose the CCP’s evil deeds in abusing human rights, and denounce the CCP for its inhuman persecution on the North Korean defectors and Christians.”

At that day, the conference disclosed an open letter from Mr. Willy Fautré, the director of Human Rights Without Frontiers. The letter called upon the South Korean authorities to grant those 41 Chinese Christians political asylum. Those 41 Christians were forced to leave China to escape religious persecution of their Church. Their Alien Cards were withdrawn by the South Korean Immigration Office, among which twenty-seven people received the Departure Order and fourteen people received Disapproval Notices on the extension of their sojourn period.

(The open letter from Mr. Willy Fautré, the director of Human Rights Without Frontiers)

Original source: http://www.kns.tv/news/articleView.html?idxno=343158

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Put Aside Our Notions to Welcome the Lord’s Return

Wang Hui

We often live in our notions and imaginations, which can give us wonderful hope or become the motivation of our life. However, once the reality doesn’t line up with our imaginations, that can have serious consequences for us.
I have heard such a story:

Once there was an old lady and her two sons. When the sons were small, their father went abroad to work. The father often sent money and necessaries of life to support the family. As time passed by, the two sons had forgotten what their father looked like, so the old lady often talked about their father to them. Thus, there was an imagined father in their mind. Soon after the old lady’s death, their father wrote to them that he would come back, but he didn’t tell them the time of his return. Knowing that their father would be back, the two sons were very excited and looking forward to their father’s return, for they had long known from their mother that their father had already become a rich man abroad.

One day, an ugly old man dressed in rags, was standing at the door of the elder son. He knocked at the door softly and called the son’s pet name. “Who is it?” asked the elder son. “It’s me, your father,” answered the old man. Hearing his pet name, the elder son knew it was his father coming back because no one knew his pet name except his mother and father. He was both astonished and happy; he wasn’t expecting his father back so soon. He gladly ran to open the door, but he was dumbfounded. Standing outside the door was an old man, short, ugly, and in shabby clothes. “How can he be my father? My father will come back in a limousine with his bodyguards.” So he roared angrily, “You poor beggar! How dare you profess to be my father! I won’t give you any food! Go away!” Hearing that, the old man still said calmly, “I am really your father…” But before he could finish speaking, the elder son interrupted him and shouted, “My father is not like you! He is abroad, rich, and will be back soon. Don’t you try to profess to be my father to take advantage of me? Go away quickly!” The old man wanted to say more, yet the elder son pointed at him and said, “Do you not go? If you don’t go, I’ll set my dog on you!” The old man shook his head, sighed and left disappointedly.

Then the old man came to the younger son’s house. He called his pet name as he knocked at the door. On hearing this, the younger son felt it was like his father’s voice, but he was not sure, for this old man before him differed greatly from his father in his mind. However, he invited the old man into the house and got him something to eat. Afterward, he inquired him of the details of his past. From his words, he confirmed that this old man was indeed his father. So he said, “Father, whether poor or rich, you are my father. I will look after you. Please live with us. This is your home.” Hearing these words, the old man was moved to tears.

Afterwards, the old man had ascertained that his younger son treated him genuinely. No matter how his brother gave bad advice to him, his younger son never kicked him out, but treated him better. In the end, the old man gave all his property to his younger son. After the elder son knew it was a test, he sorely regretted, kowtowing continually and apologizing to his father in bitter tears. He promised that he would mend his ways and treat him well. However, his father shook his head and said, “It’s too late!”

After reading this story, you may feel sorry for the elder son. When his father was standing at his door, he refused him and shut the door on him due to his imaginations. Eventually he was filled with bitter regret. This shows us that our notions and imaginations are too harmful. At the moment, I can’t help thinking of the time when the Lord Jesus came to do His work. Wasn’t it because of their notions and imaginations that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees opposed the work of the Lord Jesus? Because God’s work was incompatible with their imaginations, that is, because they held on to the views of “impossible,” such as the Lord couldn’t possibly be called Jesus or preach outside the temple when He came, much less be born in a manger, etc., they opposed God—nailed the Lord Jesus who came to redeem mankind to the cross—and committed a heinous crime. Consequently, the entire Israel was subjected to destruction.

Today, two thousand years later, all Christians are looking forward to the return of the Lord Jesus. But they have committed the same mistake, that is, they also use their notions and imaginations to define God. Some insist that God cannot work in China and should work in Israel; others think that God cannot come in flesh and should come upon a white cloud in spiritual body; and so forth. These notions and imaginations severely hinder people from investigating God’s work, and make them shut the door on God’s salvation time and again. Jehovah God said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). And the word of God says, “Put aside your view of ‘impossible’! The more that people believe something is impossible, the more likely it is to occur, for the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and the work of God transcends the limits of man’s thinking and conception. The more that something is impossible, the more there is the truth to be sought; the more that something is beyond the conception and imagination of man, the more it contains the will of God” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age”).

From God’s words, we can see that God’s thoughts soar higher than the heavens. We can never fathom His thoughts, much less can we measure how He will work by our notions and imaginations. God cannot possibly do His work according to our notions, for man’s notions and imagination are Satan’s schemes. If we always live in our notions and imaginations, we will make the same mistake as the Pharisees—nailing God to the cross. Only if we put aside our notions and imaginations, seek and investigate God’s work, can we witness God’s appearance and welcome the Lord’s return. Otherwise, we will lose the chance to be saved. Just as God says, “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”).

The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 5:3). We can see that the Lord loves people who has a humble heart. So when it comes to the matter of the Lord’s second coming, if we can put our conceptions to one side, seek humbly and follow God’s footprints, then we will be the most blessed ones. If you have other understanding and new light, you’re welcome to have a real-time chat with us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website or send an email to info@findshepherd.com. We’re all ears to your experience and knowledge of belief in the Lord. Looking forward to exchanging our sharing and welcoming the Lord’s second coming together.

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Have You Welcomed the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus?
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Take a Firm Stance in Welcoming the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Xiewen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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