Never Be Another Han Hao Bird

Never Be Another Han Hao Bird

Zhao Feng

There is such a story. In a cave there lived a Han Hao bird. As winter approached, other birds busied themselves building their nests and preparing warm and cozy nests to spend the chilly winter, while the Han Hao bird alone played around. So, other birds told it, “Before the winter comes, hurry to get the nest ready and you will pass the chilly winter.” But the Han Hao bird didn’t think so and said, “It is so warm and the winter is far away!” Like that, other birds finished building their nests, yet the Han Hao bird didn’t build its nest other than muddle along. Soon, the winter came. In the evening, the north wind whistled into the cave. The Han Hao bird quaked with cold, whining plaintively, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” The long cold night passed eventually. In the morning of the next day, the bright sun rose from the east and the earth basked in the warm sunshine a while later. The Han Hao bird started to play around again. Other birds tried to persuade it to build its nest as soon as possible. But it said, “It is so warm today and I’ll build the nest tomorrow.” Soon, the night fell. The chilly north wind made it tremble with cold again. It whined plaintively again, “It is so cold! So cold! I’ll freeze in the cold wind. I must build a nest tomorrow.” At dawn, however, once the warm sun came out, it forgot all about the cold of the night before and continued to loiter around. Soon, the evening descended again and the north wind whistled into the cave. In the next morning, the warm sun shone as usual, but the Han Hao bird couldn’t be seen everywhere. All the birds went to the cave in succession and found the poor Han Hao bird frozen to death in the cave.

Brief though the story is, it is of great meaning. The Han Hao bird put off building the nest again and again because of merely indulging in the immediate pleasures, and ultimately froze to death in the cold cave. Just as the song named Song of Tomorrow goes, “Tomorrow comes and again comes tomorrow, Tomorrows are like rivers that endlessly flow. If all my things are put off till tomorrow, My time wasted to no purpose will brew woe.” This song continuously admonishes people to value time, to do what they can do today, rather than put off them until tomorrow or idle the days away. If we put off everything we can do today till tomorrow, we will trifle away our time and miss many chances. The lessons of the Han Hao bird reflect the status quo of mankind in current society. Nowadays, most people gorge themselves on the ease of the flesh and have no concern for how they will be tomorrow. When facing with God’s work of saving mankind in the last days, man delays it time and again and refuses it with varieties of reasons. As we all know, today is the last days. All the disasters across the world become increasingly terrible and various disasters such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, plagues and smog become ever more frequent. These are the Creator’s warnings to mankind, for all mankind have been supremely corrupted and the evils of mankind have been unbearable for God to witness. However, before God utterly destroys mankind, He does the work of saving mankind, which is to say, the last stage of judgment work beginning with the house of God. God uses words to lead man, to save man and finally to class man according to kind. To the people in the last days, this can be called the golden opportunity of God saving mankind, for this stage of work is unprecedented and will never be repeated. When facing with the gospel of Almighty God, however, most people are unhurried about it or refuse it politely. Most young people will say, “We’re young. We want to take the chance to enjoy ourselves. We’ll believe in God when we grow old.” The elders will say, “Nowadays, it is the right time for us to help our sons and daughters. We’ll believe in God when our grandchildren grow up.” The farmers will say, “We’ll believe in God when we are not busy with farm work.” The workers will say, “We’ll believe in God when we retire.” Don’t they have no time? Yes, they have time. That is because they treasure their flesh and treat the immediate interests as the most precious things, just like the Han Hao bird only caring about the immediate petty enjoyments of the flesh and having no concern for the end of its fate. Have you ever known that you have shut the door on the chance of God’s salvation unwittingly?

In the time of Noah, men had been eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, licentious and corrupt, to such a point that it was unbearable for God to witness. Because of God’s holy and righteous essence, He had no choice but to destroy that mankind. Before destroying that mankind, He had Noah build the ark and pass to the people the message that God would destroy the world. However, the people in that age did not follow Noah’s admonitions, still living in eating, drinking, fun, and even scoffed at him and treated him as a madman. For they believed that it was fine and sunny and there would be no downpour, so that building the ark was of no use. However, by the time God destroyed the world, the flood was poured down, filling up the low valleys, drowning the peaks and destroying all of the people. Only Noah and the seven members of his family were on board and survived the destruction, while other people were swallowed by the flood on account of their greed for immediate pleasures. At that moment, it was too late. As Almighty God says, “Look back to the time of Noah’s ark: Mankind was deeply corrupt, had strayed from the blessing of God, was no longer cared for by God, and had lost the promises of God. They lived in darkness, without the light of God. Thus they became licentious by nature, abandoned themselves to hideous depravity. … Their heart strayed farther and farther from God, and as it did, they became depraved beyond all reason and humanity, and became increasingly evil. Thus they came ever closer to death, and fell under the wrath and punishment of God. Only Noah worshiped God and shunned evil, and so he was able to hear the voice of God, and hear the instructions of God. He built the ark according to the instructions of God’s word, and assembled all manner of living creatures. And in this way, once everything had been prepared, God unleashed His destruction upon the world. Only Noah and the seven members of his family survived the destruction, for Noah worshiped Jehovah and shunned evil” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You do not feel the preciousness of light when you are living in it, but you will be cognizant of its preciousness once you are living in the dark night. You will be sorry then. You feel fine now, but the day will come when you will be sorry. When that day comes and darkness descends and light is nevermore, your regrets will be too late. It is because you still do not understand the present work that you fail to cherish your time now. Once the work of the entire universe begins, meaning when everything I am saying today has come true, many people will be holding their heads in bitter crying. Is that not falling into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth?”(“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). 

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Spiritual Food of Life

Spiritual Food of Life

There is such a group of people in our lives. They all dip their heads concentrating on the phone in cars and on the road and even keep the phone in their hands when having meals or going to the restroom…. Such a group of people are called “phubbers.” Obviously, phone is a convenient means of communication, which appears to narrow the distance between people. But most of the time, people are prone to smile at the cold mobile phone screens yet forget to greet people around them. As time passes, they become more and more indifferent to each other and their hearts become more and more distant. Unknowingly, phone has become “the third person” between lovers, family, and friends. People turn to the internet to get what they can’t get in their real life, and are more inclined to live in such a virtual world, as if only in this way could the emptiness in their hearts be filled.

At one time, I also lived my life in that way: spending every day playing phone, reading novels, hitting the internet cafe, and playing computer games. These things were addictive like drugs, making me unable to extricate myself from this virtual world. Every time I went out of the internet cafe, excitement and pleasure games brought to me were gone, leaving me inexplicable emptiness only. Though I didn’t want to live such a life, I couldn’t break free from it, stuck in such a vicious cycle.

Later, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days and read these words of God, “From when man first had social sciences, the mind of man was occupied by science and knowledge. Then science and knowledge became tools for the ruling of mankind, and there was no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God sunk ever lower in the heart of man. A world in man’s heart with no place for God is dark, empty without hope. And so arose many social scientists, historians, and politicians to express theories of social science, the theory of human evolution, and other theories that contravene the truth that God created man, to fill the heart and mind of man. And in this way, those who believe that God created everything become ever fewer, and those who believe in the theory of evolution become ever greater in number. More and more people treat records of the work of God and His words during the Old Testament age as myth. In their hearts, people become indifferent to the dignity and greatness of God, to the tenet that God exists and holds dominion over all things. The survival of mankind and the fate of countries and nations are no longer important to them. Man lives in a hollow world only concerned with eating, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure. … Few people take it upon themselves to seek out where God does His work today, and to look for how He presides over and arranges the destination of man. And in this way, human civilization unconsciously becomes ever more incapable of meeting the wishes of man, and there are even many people who feel that, living in such a world, they are less happy than people who have gone. Even people of countries that used to be highly civilized air such grievances. … Man, after all, is man. The position and life of God cannot be replaced by any man. Mankind does not just require a fair society in which everyone is well-fed and is equal and free, but the salvation of God and His provision of life to them. Only in this way can the needs, yearning to explore, and spiritual emptiness of man be resolved.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, I came to understand that the emptiness in man’s heart is actually because man’s heart has no place for God and is taken captive by Satan. They are fooled by Satan and lose their direction, and believe no more that God is the Ruler of mankind. Therefore, they all prefer to living in such a virtual world to fill the void in their heart. Although man hates this fallen life from the bottom of their heart, they have no idea how to rid themselves of the empty feeling. Because man, after all, is man; only God can be the life of man, only God is the truth, and only accepting God’s salvation and God’s supply for man is the way to remove the feeling of emptiness.

Sharing a fantastic praise dance: If I Were Not Saved by God

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How Can Christians Gain The Eternal Blessings?

How Can Christians Gain The Eternal Blessings?

In the past, I always thought that as long as believers in God could hold fast to external good deeds, spend for the Lord zealously, and suffer and pay the price to preach and work everywhere for the Lord, they would bring joy to the Lord and gain the eternal blessings when the Lord came.

One day, I came across a story in the Bible: “Jesus entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was encumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). When I repeatedly contemplated the exchange between the Lord Jesus and Martha, I realized that what I held to were just my conceptions and imaginations. I actually had no knowledge of what kind of people the Lord liked and approved of. From these passages of scripture, I saw: When Martha received the Lord Jesus into her house, she thought according to her notions and imaginations that she would bring joy to the Lord and obtain the blessings if she made her room clean and tidy, was dressed neatly, and busied herself enthusiastically serving the Lord. However, the Lord did not approve of what Martha did. Instead, He commended Mary who listened to His sermons quietly, saying that she had received the blessings. From this, I deeply felt that the Lord approved not of man’s passion and external good deeds, but commended those like Mary who listened to His words quietly, and focused on understanding His will and practicing according to His teachings, and that only such people could gain God’s blessings and promises in the end.

Contemplating the Lord’s words, I gradually had some understanding of God’s will to save mankind. I saw that God appeared and worked among mankind not for enjoying our warm hospitality or asking for our flatteries and outward sacrifices. Instead, He came to express the truth and wanted us to know His righteous disposition and His beauty and goodness from His words and work, and practice according to His words, so that we would revere God, obey God, love God, and become ones who were of one mind with God. Therefore, only if we focus on listening to God’s voice and practicing God’s words can we understand the truth, serve in harmony with God’s will, and ultimately be worthy to inherit God’s beautiful promises. Just as the Lord Jesus said: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

I couldn’t help remembering when the Lord Jesus was doing His work, those who were simple and loved the truth did not cling to their notions and conceptions but focused on listening to the Lord’s words, so they finally beheld the appearance of God from the Lord’s words. They felt that the Lord’s words contained power and authority, could supply man with life, and could not be expressed by any man. Therefore, they believed that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who was to come, and then they followed God’s footsteps and received the Lord’s blessings. For example, after Peter had listened to the Lord’s preachings for a while, he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, recognizing that the Lord Jesus was the Son of the living God. Then he said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). For another example, Nathanael let go of his conceptions and imaginations and followed the Lord Jesus after hearing that the Lord Jesus had already known him when he was under the fig tree. … All these people followed God’s footsteps and beheld God’s appearance because of listening to the Lord’s words, and they finally received the great blessings of the Lord. On the other hand, those priests, scribes, and Pharisees who served Jehovah God in the temple traveled far and wide to preach gospel and suffered a lot, but they did not pay attention to listening to the Lord’s words and did not recognize the Lord. They had clearly witnessed that the words and work of the Lord Jesus shocked all of Judea and were from God, but they did not accept any truth expressed by the Lord. Moreover, they held on to the laws of the Old Testament and did their utmost to search for handles against the Lord Jesus, and condemned the Lord on the excuse that He did not observe the Sabbath and was not called the Messiah. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross, committing a heinous crime. This proves that if believers in God only pay attention to outward suffering and sacrifice, do not pay attention to listening to God’s words, they will possibly become ones detested and rejected and condemned by God at any time.

Now, various disasters have occurred frequently, and four blood moons have appeared. The prophecies concerning the return of the Lord have been fulfilled. How should we practice in order to welcome the second coming of the Lord and receive the eternal blessings? I remembered it was said in Revelation: “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches” (Revelation 2:29). “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). These verses show that if we want to obtain the eternal blessings, we must seek out the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, that is, listen to the voice of the Bridegroom; and only by doing so can we be the wise virgins and behold the appearance of the Lord, and have the opportunity to be approved by the Lord.

While thinking of this, I felt brightened within. Then I thought of the words of the Lord Jesus: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). I was even more assured that the Lord would still express a lot of truth and reveal all the mysteries when He came again in the last days. So we should put aside our conceptions and imaginations, focus on listening to God’s voice like Mary, and follow the Lamb’s footsteps. Only in this way can we possibly receive the truth, the way, and the life expressed by the Lord in the last days, and thus gain the eternal blessings of the kingdom of heaven. Now, on the internet, only the Church of Almighty God is openly testifying that the Lord has returned. We can only discern whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus by hearing if the voice of Almighty God is truly that of God.

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The Transformation Of A Businessman

The Transformation of a Businessman

Xiaofen

Previously, I ran a small shop. I was sincere with my customers and sold genuine goods at a fair price, so my business was flourishing day by day. At that time, I didn’t really experience the two popular words: “Money talks,” and “Money makes the mare go.” No long after I opened my shop, another shop was also set up opposite to mine. Although his shop was larger than mine, it didn’t influence my business much. I worked from dawn to dark, and tried my best to meet every customer’s needs. My hard work finally got paid off. My sincerity won many regular customers. Furthermore, some customers in the opposite shop also came to my store to shop.

However, after a period of time, my business increasingly fell, and even some regular customers went to the opposite shop. This made me very confused. One day, a regular customer said to me, “The owner of the opposite store said that the prices of your goods were a little bit more and many of their goods were at preferential prices. He asked me not to shop in your store.” I was angry at what I heard, thinking: There must be fair competition in business. How could he do that? No wonder my business is declining. So it is they who play a dirty trick on me in the back. I do business lawfully with my conscience, but eventually I can’t retain my customers…. Just when I was perplexed, a deliveryman for the opposite shop passed in front of my shop and I stopped him and asked, “What’s the secret for the opposite shop to achieve a booming business?” He answered beneath his notice, “A bottle of Wuliangye white spirits costs 80 yuan, but he prices it at 360 yuan; a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes costs 120 yuan, but is sold for 550 yuan….” I said angrily, “Doesn’t he sell fakes?” He said, “Both real and sham. Nowadays people are all like this. You say nothing and I say nothing; who knows? This way can make quick money.” I stared at him speechless, and then he added, “If you go on doing business this way, your shop will be closed sooner or later. Your customers all become theirs; couldn’t you make any profit? It’s necessary for you to play some tricks. Think it over.” After hearing his words, I sank into confusion: What should I do? Should I stop my business or make dirty money like them? If I make dirty money like them, I will become so conscienceless. But if closing the shop, I’ll sustain losses. When I was torn between two opposing choices, those words popular in the world occurred to me, such as “Without money you have nothing,” “Money makes the mare go,” and “Money talks.” At the thought of my plan to buy a house and car in the future, I considered it necessary to resort to their tricks. So, in order to retain customers, I stocked some fakes as well, and put genuine articles on the rack and fakes in secret places. When customers shopped, I gave them fakes. In addition, I also learned to use some petty favors to win their hearts. Driven by the interests, I betrayed my conscience and began to earn dirty money. Gradually, my conscience became numb and I began to wallow in the mire with the world. After some time, I indeed made much money, but I lost the peace of my heart and lived in fear and unease every day, afraid of being inspected by the officials of the Trade and Industry Bureau and also afraid of suffering retribution. Besides, the competitive pressure among the fellow traders was quite great. Thus, I lived in misery.

Later, I was fortunate to accept Almighty God’s end-time gospel. I read Almighty God’s words, “In your heart there is a very big secret, which you have never realized, because you have been living in a world without the shining of light. Your heart and your spirit have been taken away by the evil one; your eyes have been covered by darkness and cannot see the sun in the sky and cannot see the twinkling star in the night sky; your ears have been blocked by deceitful words and cannot hear the thunderous voice of Jehovah and cannot hear the sound of many waters flowing from the throne. You have lost everything you should possess and have lost everything bestowed to you by the Almighty, entering into the boundless sea of misery, with no power of rescue and with no hope of survival, only struggling and rushing…. From that moment on, you are bound to be afflicted by the evil one, turning away from the blessings of the Almighty, turning away from the supply of the Almighty, and taking a path of no return. Thousands of calls can hardly arouse your heart and your spirit. You are fast asleep in the hand of the evil one and are enticed by the evil one into a boundless realm, where there is no direction or road signs. Since then, you have lost your original innocence and guilelessness and begun to escape from the care of the Almighty. The evil one directs your everything in your heart and becomes your life. You no longer fear him and no longer avoid and doubt him, but regard him as the God in your heart. You begin to enshrine him and worship him, you and he are inseparable as body and shadow, and you and he promise to live and die together.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words fully exposed the secret of my heart. In the past, when I earned money based on conscience, I felt at ease and peaceful in my heart. However, driven by Satan’s philosophies such as “Money talks” and “Money makes the mare go,” in order to make more money and profits, I betrayed my conscience and lost integrity, living in anxiety, unease, and darkness every day without knowing how to remove pain from my heart. Almighty God’s words made me understand suddenly: Actually, my pain was because I took these satanic philosophies as the foundation of my existence, throwing away the conscience and integrity and giving up the most basic faithfulness in conducting myself. God’s words helped me find the root of my misery. I made up my mind not to do business against my conscience or make profits at others’ expense for the sake of money and interests.

Later, I read God’s words: “Cruel mankind! When will you cease from intriguing against each other, vying with each other, scrambling for fame and gain, and fighting against each other? … How many are not for their own interests? How many do not suppress and exclude others for the sake of preserving their own position?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From God’s words, I understood that Satan uses money and interests to corrupt mankind and makes them fight against one another for interests to meet their contemptible purpose of making profits. I formerly lived in Satan’s snare and didn’t hesitate to betray my conscience for money. Because of God’s salvation and the supply of God’s words, I saw through Satan’s scheme, broke away from Satan’s bondage and fooling, and lived in the light!

Soon, I diverted to the children clothing business. When I treated customers sincerely in good conscience, my heart was assured and joyful and my business was also more and more flourishing. I really experienced the authority and power of God’s word. From my experience, I’ve learned that Almighty God’s work indeed can save man and change man’s wrong perspective of survival, causing man to live with dignity and integrity and in an open, aboveboard manner, and to live out the likeness of a real man. Thank God. All the glory be to Almighty God!

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The Lord Jesus Has Returned; Do You Remain Stubbornly in Religion Like the Pharisees?

The Lord Jesus Has Returned; Do You Remain Stubbornly in Religion Like the Pharisees?

On my first Christmas in America, I clicked some Christmas preaching videos of the religious groups on my computer. All that I saw seemed alike: The believers dressed in Christmas robes and sang the anthems. Then the pastor delivered a written sermon and led the prayer to the Lord for blessings, after which all the people dispersed. I heard from a friend who frequented the church that they spent more time on Christmas dinner. Later, I clicked another video from a comparatively well-known religious group in North America. The pastor was familiar to me, as he led a Chinese student movement of the last century and later escaped from China. I still remembered the time when I first watched his preaching video, which was a sermon he delivered in Taiwan over ten years ago. In it, he narrated his escape experience on Christmas Eve and the marvelous salvation of the Lord Jesus. I was truly moved by the Lord’s wonderful deeds at that time. Today, the pastor who turns grey at his temples continues the sermon centering around the testimony of God’s grace, in the newly-decorated and sumptuous church on such a grand festival packaged and prettified by the religious world. Many people who were not regular attenders drove purposely to the meeting from afar that day, earnestly listening to the preach that stood unchanged for more than a decade. It seemed they were enjoying a spiritual feast of the highest standard of that year. Naturally, I felt regrettable at the sight of such a scene. For these people remained in their own temple, enjoying the Lord’s grace habitually, with numb cry and laugh. However, have they ever thought of the questions seriously: Will the Lord really listen to our praise and prayers? Does the Holy Spirit still work in the place full of religious rituals?

At this moment, I couldn’t help but remember the Jewish Pharisees who served Jehovah God originally in the temple. They served there as the chief priests and priests from generation to generation. Like people clothed in Christmas robes, they preached the laws and commandments in classy clothes. Some even wrote the verses on the fringe of their clothes to show their piety. However, the Lord Jesus scolded these Pharisees who were pious by appearance, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). “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). In the late period of the Age of Law, the hypocritical substance of the Pharisees was fully revealed. They connived at people’s selling and buying goods like oxen, sheep and doves in the temple, turning the holy place that had been used to offer sacrifices to God into a den of thieves. They prayed loudly at the crossing, deceiving man that they were the most pious to God, but they secretly embezzled the possessions of widows. They repeatedly declared that they would not take part with their ancestors in shedding the blood of the prophets, but actually had many prophets and apostles killed. … As the laws only enabled man to know sin, they could still sin against God constantly due to their corruption, with the result that they sinned more and more. If that had continued, mankind would finally be punished by death for the violation of the laws. Therefore, God was incarnated among man to do a stage of redemptive work by the name of the Lord Jesus. After some people saw and heard His word and work, they came to follow Him. However, the Pharisees feared that people would all convert to the Lord Jesus and thus they would lose their position and job. Thereupon, they deceived the Jewish people that the Lord Jesus was not the coming Messiah, for the name was different, and they even condemned Him for the violation of the laws by not keeping the Sabbath. They required the Jewish people to keep the words of the laws and not to seek the Lord’s work, and they even went so far as to incite and delude them to crucify the Lord Jesus. Even nowadays, only a few Jews believe in the Lord Jesus, which is the irrefutable evidence of the Pharisees resisting God and devouring man’s soul. Nevertheless, as to the evil substance of the Pharisees, how much could the Jewish people, the Pharisees’ followers differentiate?

In the last days, God becomes flesh again and uses the name of Almighty God to carry out a stage of work of judging and purifying man based on the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, ending the Age of Grace and opening the Age of Kingdom. Almighty God has expressed all the truths for mankind to be saved, which can judge and purify their corrupt dispositions, make them free from sin and be saved. Nowadays, Almighty God’s work of the last days has been carried out for over two decades, and His name has already been spread to countless homes, shocking every sect and group. Those truly yearning for God’s appearance have returned before the throne of God in succession at hearing His voice. God has conquered and gained a group of overcomers in Mainland China and His kingdom gospel is being spread to all nations and all lands of the world. But the pastors and elders of the religious world still stubbornly cleave to the words of the Bible and preach the notions and fallacies such as “All beliefs beyond the Bible are the heresies,” “Whoever does not descend on a heavenly white cloud is not the return of the Lord,” “The returned Lord is to take man into the sky to meet with Him,” etc. They are the same as the Pharisees. To keep their position and job, they deceive the believers that God simply does His work according to the words of the Bible, and any work that is outside the Bible is not from God. Those who believe the heretical fallacies stay in the religious places, the sumptuous churches where the presence of the Holy Spirit is absent. They are merely satisfied with some outward pious religious rituals. Yet they do not receive the slightest supply of the living water of life from God, much less have the way to seek the truth to have their corrupt dispositions thoroughly cleansed. Even if they hold such faith in God to the end, will there be any difference between their ending and that of those Jewish people who didn’t accept the Lord Jesus’ redemptive work throughout their whole life? Do you still have no discernment on the evil substance of some pastors and elders in today’s religious world, who ignore the followers’ lives but only maintain their own status and job? God’s work of the last days will conclude with His glorification. Are you still waiting and seeing or refusing to seek and investigate it for listening to the pastors and elders? In the end, let’s enjoy a passage of warning words from Almighty God to seek and think over the question carefully: On the matter of welcoming the returned Lord in the last days, should we tightly keep to the teachings of the pastors and elders, or come out of the religion, follow God’s footsteps, and seek the way of eternal life from the latest utterance and word of God?

Almighty God says, “since we are searching for the footprints of God, we must search for God’s will, for the words of God, for the utterances of God—for where there are the new words of God, there is the voice of God, and where there are the footsteps of God, there are the deeds of God. Where there is the expression of God, there is the appearance of God, and where there is the appearance of God, there exists the truth, the way, and the life” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven…. The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows in the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old? … I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming, and look at who is working now, at who is now carrying out the work of saving man during the last days. If you do not, you shall never gain the truth, and shall never gain life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Recommend:
Discernment Between the True Christ and False Ones
How Should We Welcome the Return of the Lord Jesus?
Can Man Gain Eternal Life by Clinging to the Bible? – Gospel Movie clip “Come Out of the Bible” (2)

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Why Does God Mourn For Mankind?

Why Does God Mourn For Mankind?

Han Xue

Ever since I believed in the Lord Jesus, I had enjoyed much grace from Him, often living in the peace and joy bestowed by Him. However, I always felt distressed in my heart whenever I saw the Bible say, “And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). I called to mind: When the Lord incarnate came to work, He, having no place to lay His head, was born in a manger. Since the three wise men came to meet Herod the king, He had been hunted closely by the rulers, living a life on the run. When He started to work and preach, what He faced were still man’s sneers and slanders, along with the government’s persecution and the religious Pharisees’ resistance and condemnation. The Lord Jesus was forced to drift about with nowhere to lay His head, and in the end, was even cruelly nailed onto the cross. Thus, my heart frequently ached for the Lord Jesus’ sufferings which I believed were the worst for Him. Only after I read God’s words did I know there was a world of difference between my imagination and God’s true thoughts.

God’s word says, “There are some people who often sympathize with Christ’s plight because there is a verse in the Bible that says: ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.’ When people hear this, they take it to heart and believe that this is the greatest suffering that God endures, and the greatest suffering that Christ endures. Now, looking at it from the perspective of the facts, is that the case? God does not believe that these difficulties are suffering. He has never cried out against injustice for the difficulties of the flesh, and He has never made humans repay or reward Him with anything. However, when He witnesses mankind’s everything, the corrupt lives and the evil of corrupt humans, when He witnesses that mankind is in Satan’s grasp and imprisoned by Satan and cannot escape, that people living in sin do not know what the truth is—He cannot bear all of these sins. His loathing of humans increases by the day, but He has to endure all of this. This is God’s great suffering. God cannot fully express even His voice or His emotions among His followers, and no one among His followers can truly understand His suffering. No one even tries to understand or to comfort His heart—His heart endures this suffering day after day, year after year, time and time again. What do you see in all of this? God doesn’t require anything from humans in return for what He has given, but because of God’s essence, He absolutely cannot tolerate mankind’s evil, corruption, and sin, but feels extreme loathing and hatred, which leads to God’s heart and His flesh enduring unending suffering. Could you see all of this? Most likely, none of you could see this, because none of you can truly understand God.”

Every word of God struck my heart. Although I had believed in the Lord for many years, never had I ever known God’s heart. Today when God is incarnated to speak to us personally, then I come to realize that the true suffering of God is not that of the flesh, about which He never makes any complaint. All His sufferings are for the sake of us. When He sees us living in sins, unable to extricate ourselves from them and incapable of distinguishing that which is positive and negative, what He likes and what He loathes…, these are what make God suffer most.

In face of each of God’s heartfelt words, I perceived that God is great and holy, while we human beings are so insignificant that we just see the part that our mind can reach. Yet, what God reveals is determined by His substance. Regardless of His care for us human beings, or His mercy or hate, these are all perfect manifestations of God’s disposition and contain God’s love for us humans. God says, “The pleasure of God is due to the existence and emergence of righteousness and light; because of the destruction of darkness and evil. He takes pleasure because He has brought the light and a good life to mankind; His pleasure is one of righteousness, a symbol of the existence of all that is positive and, most of all, a symbol of auspiciousness. The anger of God is due to the existence of injustice and the disturbance it causes that are harming His mankind; because of the existence of evil and darkness, the existence of things that drive out the truth, and even more so because of the existence of things that oppose what is good and beautiful. His anger is a symbol that all things negative no longer exist and, moreover, is a symbol of His holiness. His sorrow is due to mankind, for whom He has hopes but who has fallen into darkness, because the work He does on man does not reach His expectations, and because the mankind He loves cannot all live in the light. He feels sorrow for the innocent mankind, for the honest but ignorant man, and for the good but ambivalent man. His sorrow is a symbol of His goodness and of His mercy, a symbol of beauty and of kindness. His happiness, of course, comes from defeating His enemies and gaining the good faith of man. Moreover, it comes from the expulsion and destruction of all enemy forces and mankind receiving a good and peaceful life. The happiness of God is unlike the joy of man; rather, it is the feeling of receiving pleasant fruits, a feeling even greater than joy. His happiness is a symbol of mankind breaking free of suffering and entering a world of light.”

Through God’s word, I sincerely felt God’s greatness and His true love for us mankind. Whatever He does is for the sake of us, and every part of His emotions centers around us, representing His love for us. In retrospect, after God created man, He used skins to make clothing for them with His own hands; what God revealed then was that He treated them as His family as well as His children, and took care of every detail of their lives. When the Israelites lived under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, God used Moses to guide them out of Egypt step by step and then into the good land of Canaan. When we mankind lived in sins, God came personally as flesh and was willing to be crucified as our mankind’s sin offerings. Today, in order to thoroughly save us man out of Satan’s camp, God is incarnated again and comes into the tiger’s den—China which is under the reign of atheism and regards God as the enemy. God incarnate is confronted with swords and spears, as well as those believers of the religious world who claim to believe in Him yet refuse His salvation again and again, but He never complains in the slightest. During the course, no man understands His heart, nor appreciates His sorrow and pain, but instead misunderstands, complains against Him and has numerous notions about His work, but God has always been enduring all these silently, waiting for someday when we mankind will awaken and comprehend His thoughtful kind intention.

The more I ponder over God’s words, the more I feel myself so fortunate to hear His personal utterances and hear Him express His heart’s voice, which is truly the exaltation of God. Had God not personally become flesh, I would never be aware that the God I believe in is so great and holy and that His love for us is so selfless, much less would I find myself so small. It is God incarnate that grants me the opportunity to know God and to understand the heart’s voice of God, and even more, an opportunity to open my heart to God and appreciate His heart. Today, if we want to know God, the only path is through God’s own utterances and through experiencing His work. Only then can we know God and finally become confidants of God. At this moment, I cannot help remembering the Hymn of God’s word “God’s Love and Essence Has Always Been Selfless”: “God always gives His best side and the best things to mankind while quietly bearing all the suffering Himself. God never openly discloses these sufferings. Instead, He endures them and waits in silence. God’s endurance is not cold, numb, or helpless, nor is it a sign of weakness, but it is that God’s love and essence has always been selfless. This is a natural revelation of His essence and disposition, and a genuine embodiment of God’s identity as the true Creator” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).

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