Bible Mysteries and the Word of God

12/24/2023

🕊🌿Under a starry, quiet and peaceful night sky, a group of Christians earnestly awaiting the return of the Savior sing and dance to cheerful music. When they hear the joyful news "God has returned" and "God has uttered new words", they are surprised and excited. They think: "God has returned? He has already appeared?" With curiosity and uncertainty, one after another, they step into the journey of seeking God's new words. In their arduous seeking, some people are questioning while others simply accept it. Some people look on without comment, while others make suggestions and search for answers in the Bible-they look but in the end it is fruitless.... Just when they become discouraged, a witness brings them a copy of the Age of Kingdom Bible, and they are deeply attracted to the words in the book. What kind of book is this really? Have they actually found the new words that God has uttered in that book? Have they welcomed the appearance of God?
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After two thousand years of hoping and waiting, the Lord has finally returned! You're welcome to contact us to learn about the Lord's appearance and work in ...

12/24/2023

27. Reunited With the Lord✨🙏
By Jianding, United States
I was born into a Catholic family, and from an early age my mother taught me to read the Bible. That was during the time the Chinese Communist Party was building up the nation after the civil war, and since the CCP government was suppressing all religions, I was 20 years old before I finally got the chance to go to church and listen to sermons. The priest often said to us: “We Catholics must properly confess our sins and repent. We must do good, not evil, and always go to Mass. During the last days, the Lord is going to come and judge everyone and send people to heaven or to hell based on their behavior. The greatest sinners will suffer eternal punishment in hell, whereas those who commit minor sins can still go to heaven as long as they confess their sins to the Lord and repent. Anyone who doesn’t believe in the Lord will never get to heaven, no matter how good they are.” When I heard this, I rejoiced that I had the good fortune to be born into the Catholic faith. I told myself to be serious in my seeking, attend Mass more often, and confess my sins and repent to the Lord more so that I could go to heaven and not suffer in hell. That’s when I developed the determination to go to church and participate in Mass regularly. The priest also told us then that the Lord would return in the year 2000—we were all elated to hear that, and we all became very earnest in our pursuit, awaiting the Lord’s return. But the year 2000 came and went and we didn’t see any sign of the Lord’s return. Many in our congregation lost their faith, and fewer and fewer people attended Mass. I also felt a sense of disappointment, but I still felt that my faith in the Lord wouldn’t be shaken, no matter what others did. That was because there had been many times when I’d been in danger when the Lord had protected me and I had emerged safely. If it hadn’t been for the Lord’s protection I’d have died long before, so I wasn’t going to be so ungrateful as to lose faith in the Lord.
In the following years I heard from people around me that the USA was “heaven on earth,” and so a strong desire to come here grew in me. In December 2014 my entire family immigrated to the U.S., but the reality of life here was nothing like the beautiful picture I’d painted in my mind. At first, everything in the U.S. seemed unfamiliar—we were strangers in a strange land. The environment and climate were very different from what I was used to in China, and I soon began to suffer some physical complaints. I often felt weak and listless, completely devoid of energy, but when I went to see doctors they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I was at my wit’s end, so I started praying even more sincerely to the Lord, hoping to gain His protection. While keeping up my prayers I began looking for a church where I could attend Mass and eventually found one for Chinese Christians. But after going to the church a few times I discovered that it wasn’t much different from what was going on in everyday society: Members of the congregation were superficially friendly but their interactions were governed by power and money. Seeing this situation in the church was really disappointing for me. I thought to myself: “Oh Lord, when will You return? When You return, the good will be separated from the wicked and the world will be cleansed.” Although I still kept on going to Mass I was never able to feel God’s presence in the church; this left me frequently feeling disappointed and depressed, and it impacted my faith.
One day in July 2015 when I was working out of state, I got a phone call from my wife. She said to me excitedly: “The Lord has returned. He has uttered words and is doing the work of judgment of the last days! Hurry back so that we can accept God’s new work together.” Hearing this, I couldn’t help but feel a bit suspicious. I thought: “The Lord has returned? How is that possible? When the Lord returns it will be to judge the world, and to separate the good from the evil. But now the good and the evil are still mixed together, so why is my wife saying that the Lord has returned? Does she have a different belief system now? We’ve been Catholics for most of our lives, there’s no way we can stray from this path now!” So I finished up my work as quickly as I could and returned home.
Upon returning I asked my wife: “How do you know that the Lord has returned? You haven’t strayed from the path, have you? You’re saying that the Lord has returned to do the work of judgment, but right now the good and the evil are still mixed together, so how could it be that the Lord has already returned? We may long for the Lord’s return, but we can’t be disloyal to Him!” She heard me out and then patiently replied: “It’s okay, don’t worry. I only just found out myself about the Lord’s return. The Church of Almighty God is now bearing witness to the Lord’s return and Almighty God is expressing truths to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. I’m not clear on the specifics, but I’ve been reading a lot of the words that Almighty God has expressed online and I’m sure that they are all the voice of God. The Lord once said: ‘My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27). We can find out whether Almighty God is the returned Lord by going to The Church of Almighty God together to look into it, right?” What my wife said sounded reasonable, and the Lord’s return to do the work of judgment is in line with biblical prophecies, so I figured there was no harm in me going along with her to the church to take a look, and then I could make up my mind.
So, my wife and I went to the home of Brother Zhang, one of the members of The Church of Almighty God. Brother Wang, Sister Li, and some other fellow Catholics also came. Seeing that I had plenty of company greatly put my mind at ease. After a little polite chit-chat we all sat down and I asked the brothers and sisters this: “My understanding of the Lord’s return is this: When He returns to do the work of judgment, the good will be separated from the wicked, and then the good people will be accepted into heaven by the Lord and will meet with Him, while the wicked will be sent to hell and punished. You say that the Lord has returned and He is doing the work of judgment, so how come we haven’t seen any of these things happening?” Brother Wang replied: “Brother, I used to think the same thing. I also thought that the Lord’s return meant that good people would be separated from wicked people, that good people would live in heaven eternally and the wicked would be punished, and that if we didn’t see this happen then that proved that the Lord hadn’t returned. But after reading Almighty God’s words I realized that is only our notions and imaginings—it isn’t the reality of God’s work. God’s way of undertaking the work of judgment in the last days is something that God alone plans and organizes. God’s wisdom surpasses the heavens, and in God’s eyes humans are as small as a speck of dust, so how can we fathom God’s work? In the Bible it says: ‘Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?’ (Isaiah 40:13). ‘Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust’ (Isaiah 40:15). Every one of us has thoughts in our heads, so we can speculate about God’s work as we like, but God never does His work according to what we imagine. If we use our imaginations to delimit God’s work, isn’t that extremely arrogant? So then, how does God do His work of judgment? How does He separate the good from the wicked? Let’s read several passages of Almighty God’s words to help us understand. Almighty God said: ‘The work of judgment is God’s own work, so it must naturally be carried out by God Himself; it cannot be done by man in His stead. Because judgment is the use of the truth to conquer humankind, there is no question that God would still appear in the incarnate image to perform this work among man. That is to say, Christ of the last days shall use the truth to teach people across the world and make all truths known to them. This is God’s work of judgment’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth). ‘The last days have already arrived. All things in creation will be separated according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the moment when God reveals humanity’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of exposing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcome of all creation be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all humanity shall be separated according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcome of all creation will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and all people become subject to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience become exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). ‘My purpose in doing the work of conquest is not solely to conquer for the sake of conquest, but to conquer so as to reveal righteousness and unrighteousness, to obtain proof for the punishment of man, to condemn the wicked, and, furthermore, to conquer for the sake of perfecting those who willingly obey. In the end, all will be separated according to kind, and the ones who are perfected will be the ones whose thoughts and ideas are filled with obedience. This is the work that shall ultimately be accomplished. Those whose every action is rebellious, meanwhile, will be punished and sent to burn in the fires, the objects of eternal curse’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Obey God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God). We have the notion that God coming to do the work of judgment is to directly separate the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, the good servants from the wicked servants. In other words, it is to classify all people according to their kind. But if we give it some thought, there are at present over 2 billion Christians around the world—and they all say they have true faith in God and love God—so how are we to discern good from bad, righteous from evil? If God determines that you are good and that I’m evil, I’ll certainly have an issue with that because I’ll feel that I’m also a good person. If God determines that I’m good and that someone else is evil, they’ll have an issue with it too. So how on earth are we supposed to know who is good and who is evil? We can’t, because we humans don’t have the principles or standards to gauge this. If God were to determine things this way we certainly wouldn’t submit and would have notions about it, believing God to be unfair and unjust. So how could the work of classifying each according to his own kind thus proceed? The Lord who has returned in the last days, that is, Christ of the last days—Almighty God—uses truths to do the work of judgment. For all Christians, who are the wheat and who are the tares, who are the goats and who are the sheep, who are the good servants and who are the wicked servants, who are the wise virgins and who are the foolish virgins, is all revealed through the truth, through God’s words. The wise virgins are those who truly believe in God and love the truth. When they hear that someone is bearing testimony of God’s coming they go out to welcome it and actively investigate God’s words and work. They recognize God’s voice and accept His work of the last days, and they will ultimately gain purification and full salvation through God’s judgment. They will have God’s protection through the great disasters and will remain, and in the end will be taken into God’s kingdom. By contrast, the foolish virgins do not love the truth, they insist on holding onto their own notions and imaginings or believing in rumors. They don’t seek or investigate God’s work of the last days, and some of them even follow religious leaders in resisting and condemning God and refusing God’s salvation of the last days. For all of these reasons, they will be revealed as evildoers by God’s work of the last days and will be eliminated. Their fate will be to suffer punishments during the great disasters. We can see from this that God’s work of putting each with its own kind during the last days is not done according to our notions and imaginings. Instead, God uses the method of judgment to do the work of exposing people, and the ultimate outcome is that everyone is thoroughly revealed and sorted according to their own kind based on whether they accept or resist the truth. Isn’t this exactly God’s wisdom, God’s fairness, God’s righteousness?”
After listening to Almighty God’s words and Brother Wang’s fellowship, I recalled what the priest in our church had said about “When the Lord comes the good will be separated from the bad” and realized that this notion is just too vague, too impractical, and doesn’t match the reality of God’s work at all. We all live in sin, we continue to commit sins and then confess but can’t escape from this cycle, so who are the truly good people? When the Lord returns, if we haven’t been cleansed of our sins, will we be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven? Thinking of this was like turning on a light in my heart, and I thanked the Lord for His leadership. I hadn’t gone to that gathering in vain, because I then understood that God distinguishes good from evil according to how people approach the truth. In other words, people are good or evil depending on whether or not they accept and obey the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, and this is God’s righteousness being wholly manifested. Through His words and work, God separates the wheat from the tares, the sheep from the goats, the wise virgins from the foolish virgins, the true believers from the false believers, and the lovers of the truth from the haters of the truth. God is so incredibly wise! However, I also recalled the priest saying that when the Lord returns to judge people He does it one by one, and each individual’s sins are also listed and judged one by one before He decides if that person will go to heaven or to hell. But now Almighty God is saying that God’s work of judgment of the last days is being done through His words, so just how are these words being used to judge people?
I then raised this question and Brother Zhang answered it by reading two passages of Almighty God’s words to me: “Some believe that God may at some unknown time come to earth and appear to man, whereupon He shall personally judge the whole of mankind, testing them one by one without anyone being left out. Those who think in this way do not know this stage of work of the incarnation. God does not judge man one by one, and He does not test man one by one; to do thus would not be the work of judgment. Is not the corruption of all mankind the same? Is not the essence of all mankind the same? What is judged is mankind’s corrupt essence, man’s essence corrupted by Satan, and all the sins of man. God does not judge the trifling and insignificant faults of man. The work of judgment is representative, and it is not carried out especially for a certain person. Rather, it is work in which a group of people are judged in order to represent the judgment of all of mankind. By personally carrying out His work on a group of people, God in the flesh uses His work to represent the work of the whole of mankind, after which it is gradually spread. This is also how the work of judgment is. God does not judge a certain kind of person or a certain group of people, but instead judges the unrighteousness of the whole of mankind—man’s opposition to God, for example, or man’s irreverence toward Him, or man’s disturbance of the work of God, and so on. What is judged is mankind’s essence of opposition to God, and this work is the work of conquest of the last days” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of the Incarnate God). “Christ of the last days uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced about God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth).
Brother Zhang then fellowshiped this with me: “We have the notion that during God’s work of judgment in the last days He will call each and every person to come before His white throne in order to judge them. Every person will have to kneel on the ground and then confess to every single one of the sins they’ve committed throughout their lifetime, and then God will decide whether they will go to heaven or to hell depending upon the severity of their sins. We think that God judges people according to sins such as physically or verbally abusing people, not being filial to their parents, or stealing from or robbing others. But in fact, God’s work of judgment in the last days is not concerned with these external behaviors or flaws of ours, but is instead aimed at judging mankind’s satanic nature of resisting God and each one of our corrupt dispositions. These include our arrogance and self-importance, our crookedness and craftiness, our selfishness and baseness, our greed and evil, and so on. We also have many viewpoints that are not compatible with God, many outdated religious notions and feudal ideas. These things are all sources of our resistance to God, they are all problems that are shared by all of corrupt mankind, and so are the things that God’s work of judgment aims to purify and transform. So, the words that God expresses reveal mankind’s nature and essence and every corrupt member of humanity on earth is a part of this, without exception. Or to put it another way, God’s words of judgment are directed at the whole of mankind and so there is no need to judge people individually. By reading the words of Almighty God and accepting the judgment and chastisement of God’s words we can understand many truths and clearly see the essence, nature and truth of our being corrupted by Satan. Doing this will also allow us to recognize God’s righteous disposition and develop hearts of reverence for God, and we can start to despise ourselves so that we’ll be willing to betray our flesh and practice the truth. In this way, our corrupt satanic disposition will gradually be purified and our viewpoints and outlook on life will also change. When we start to live by God’s words, when we cease to oppose and resist God, instead truly obeying and revering Him and shunning evil, then we will gain God’s salvation and become people who are compatible with God’s will. This is the reality of and the purpose of God expressing truths to do the work of judgment during the last days.”
Listening to Brother Zhang’s fellowship left me with a sense of just how practical and realistic God’s work of judgment is! I was able to accept what he said—it resonated with me deep in my heart. Yes, people are arrogant, they seek fame and fortune and status, and they live mired in their various corrupt dispositions. God uses the judgment of His words to rid us of all of the filth and corruption inside of us. Our nature of resisting God can thus be resolved and our corrupt disposition transformed, and then we can become truly good people. Looking at it this way, I could see that when the priest had spoken of people being judged one by one and each one of their sins being judged when the Lord returns to judge mankind is nothing but human notions and imaginings. It has nothing to do with the way God actually does His work. Almighty God’s words really do contain truths; they really are the voice of God! I then decided to thoroughly examine the work of Almighty God.
While I was looking into this, I watched a number of gospel movies produced by The Church of Almighty God, including The Days of Noah Have Come, The Mystery of Godliness, and Caught the Last Train, as well as some hymnal videos of God’s word such as How Important God’s Love for Man Is. I also read a lot of Almighty God’s words and listened to brothers and sisters fellowshiping on a number of aspects of the truth. This helped me determine that Almighty God is indeed the returned Lord Jesus, and that Almighty God is the one true God and is the returned Lord that we have been awaiting! I very happily accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days.
Since believing in Almighty God I’ve been frequently gathering with other brothers and sisters or listening to sermons with them. Every day is filled with joy for me and I feel that I’m gaining spiritual sustenance. I’m enjoying the comfort that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit, and I’m starting to understand more and more truths. In The Church of Almighty God, the brothers and sisters are all very warm and honest with each other, and nobody tries to deceive anyone else or keeps their guard up. Everybody is simple, open and sincere, and even when they reveal their corrupt dispositions they are each able to know themselves through God’s words and seek the truth to resolve their corrupt dispositions. I feel that this is the only kind of true brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. I’m particularly impressed by the hymnal videos, music videos, dance and song videos, and gospel movies produced by The Church of Almighty God, which all hold the truth on high and bear witness to God and His work of the last days. This is all so that people may submit to and worship God, and the church really does feel like a place where God does His work! Having seen, heard, and experienced all of this is proof within my heart that The Church of Almighty God is a true church where God personally nurtures and shepherds His flock. The fact that I’ve been able to enter God’s house and live a life face-to-face with God is being exceptionally exalted by God. I really am so fortunate! Thank You, Almighty God!

from How I Turned Back to Almighty God
If God is important in your heart! If you want to welcome the return of the Lord Jesus! If you want to enter the Kingdom of God! Please click on the WhatsApp link on the home page to contact us!
Feel free to contact us. WhatsApp: https://shurl.me/ENSPWhatsApp

💚Read more at 👇👇👇
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The Church of Almighty God: https://en.godfootsteps.org

Gospel of the Descent of the Kingdom:

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You are welcome to download the Apps of The Church of Almighty God.

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in God in the Lord Jesus for God Jesus has returned

12/22/2023

Gospel Choir | "God's Call and Salvation" 🕊🌾

Songs of Choir: 1.The Sorrow of Corrupt Mankind 2.Man's True Condition of Being Corrupted by Satan 3.The Practical God Saves Men in Obscurity
1.The Sorrow of Corrupt Mankind Man walked through the ages with God, yet man knows not that God rules the fate of all things and living beings or how God orchestrates and directs all things. This is something that has eluded man since time immemorial to the present day. As for the reason why, it is not because the ways of God are too elusive, or because the plan of God has yet to be realized, but because the heart and spirit of man are too distant from God. Therefore, even as man follows God, he unknowingly remains in the service of Satan.
…
None actively seek out the footsteps or appearance of God, and none wish to exist in the care and keeping of God. Rather, they are willing to rely on the corrosion of Satan and the evil one in order to adapt to this world and to the rules of life the wicked mankind follows. At this point, the heart and spirit of man are sacrificed to Satan and become its sustenance, and moreOver, beCome a place
in which Satan can reside and a playground for it. In this way, man unknowingly loses his understanding of the principles of being human, and of the worth and purpose of human existence. The laws from God and the covenant between God and man gradually fade away in man's heart until man no longer seeks or pays heed to God, no longer seeks or pays heed to God. As time passes, man no longer understands why God created man, nor does he understand the words that come from the mouth of God or realize all that is from God. Man begins to resist the laws and decrees from God; the heart and spirit of man become deadened. ..God loses the man of His original creation, and man loses the root of his beginning. This is the sorrow of this mankind, this is the sorrow of this mankind. Woo .. wOo .. wo0 .. WOO...

from "God is the Source of Man's Life" in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Friends, do you want to get closer to God and know more about God? You are invited to join our group, and we will share God's words with you, so you can draw near to God. WhatsApp: https://shurl.me/ENSPWhatsApp

Friends, do you want to get closer to God and know more about God? You are invited to join our group, and we will share God’s words with you, so you can draw...

12/20/2023

11. I Am Reunited With the Lord
By Li Lan, South Korea
Almighty God says, “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path by which man gains life, and it is 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, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life nor gain the perpetual way of life. This is because all they have is turbid water which has been clung to for thousands of years instead of the water of life that flows from the throne. … The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit passively awaiting destruction, clinging to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows 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? And how can the words of your yellowed books carry you across into a new age? How can they lead you to seek the steps of God’s work? And how can they take you up to heaven? What you hold in your hands are letters that can provide but temporary solace, not truths that are capable of giving life. The scriptures you read can only enrich your tongue and are not words of philosophy that can help you know human life, much less the paths that can lead you to perfection. Does this discrepancy not give you cause for reflection? Does it not make you realize the mysteries contained within? Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own? Without the coming of God, can you take yourself into heaven to enjoy family happiness with God? Are you still dreaming now? I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming and look at who is working now—look to see 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” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life). This passage of Almighty God’s words made me think back on my faith before. Since I clung to religious notions and the words of the Bible, I nearly shut the door on God’s salvation of the last days. God used wondrous means so that I could be fortunate enough to hear His voice and greet the Lord’s return.
One morning a couple of years ago, I woke up really early and opened up the Bible by my pillow. I read about the Lord Jesus rebuking the Pharisees: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said to them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:12–13). I was a little sad at the time. I felt like the current state of the church was no different from that of the temple at the end of the Age of Law. The pastors and elders in the church were always saying that believers should love each other, but they themselves were always getting into jealous disputes, and arguing over the offerings. They’d even let believers grease their palms to pray for them, and sometimes they decided how long they would pray based on how much they got. Most church members were negative and weak, and less people showed up to gatherings by the day. The pastors and elders didn’t put their hearts into their sermons and they didn’t seek how to shepherd the Lord’s flock well, yet they were never tired of officiating believers’ weddings. The church should be a place of worship, but it had become a wedding venue. I couldn’t help but think, “The pastors and elders have strayed from the Lord’s way. The church has a totally secular feeling. It’s just like the end of the Age of Law, when the temple was desolate and became a den of thieves. Will the Lord appear to this kind of church when He returns?”
The alarm on my phone suddenly went off just as I was thinking this, and when I turned it off, I noticed a recommendation for a YouTube video from The Church of Almighty God. I was really puzzled. I’d never subscribed to that church’s channel, so why would I get that notification? Then I remembered that a month before, a friend had taken me to hear a sermon there, and what I heard was really new and enlightening. I really gained something from it. I’d wanted to keep looking into it, but they testified that the Lord Jesus had already returned, that He was doing the work of judgment in the last days and expressing a lot of truths, and that the book, The Word Appears in the Flesh, was filled with words expressed by Almighty God. They said that in gatherings, they all read and fellowshiped on Almighty God’s words. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The pastors and elders always told us that all of God’s words and work are in the Bible, and that His words and work don’t exist outside of that. How could they testify that the Lord had uttered new words? In any case, generations of believers had based their faith on the Bible, so belief in the Lord was belief in the Bible. How could anything else be faith in the Lord? Every time my friend asked me to go hear more sermons at that church, I declined. So, when I saw that link from The Church of Almighty God on my phone, I didn’t tap on it.
But to my surprise, for several days after that I kept getting YouTube recommendations for movies and hymns on the church’s channel. I thought, “I haven’t subscribed to their channel, but I keep getting these notifications. Could the Lord be guiding me? Is it the Lord’s will that I look at The Church of Almighty God’s channel?” At this thought I prayed to the Lord: “Oh Lord! Why do these videos keep popping up on my phone? They testify that You’ve already returned. Is that really true? Should I watch these videos? Lord, please guide me.” After my prayer, these words from the Lord Jesus came to mind: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The coming of the Lord is a huge deal, so I thought, when I hear about it, I should seek with humility, investigate it, and give it careful thought to see if Almighty God really is the Lord Jesus returned. If I didn’t seek or investigate it, and the Lord really had returned, wouldn’t I be missing my chance to welcome His coming? At this thought, I decided I should watch some of the church’s videos. When I checked out its website, I saw that there was such a wide variety of content, including movies, hymn videos, choral specials, and articles on experiences and testimonies. One of the hymn videos, “O My Beloved, Please Wait for Me,” had lyrics that were so moving for me. They made me think of all the time I’d been in a desolate church, looking everywhere for a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. The more I looked through the site, the more sustenance I gained from it. I wanted to understand and look into the church, so I found more movies to watch on their website.
One day I watched a gospel movie that was mostly about the relationship between God and the Bible. There was a passage of God’s words in there that I’ll never forget: “From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible. In this way, people worship the Bible as if it were God, as if it were their lifeblood, and losing it would be the same as losing their life. People see the Bible as being as high as God, and there are even those who see it as higher than God. If people are without the work of the Holy Spirit, if they cannot feel God, they can carry on living—but as soon as they lose the Bible, or lose the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, then it is as if they have lost their life. … Most people simply do not understand why they should believe in God, nor how to believe in God, and do nothing but search blindly for clues to decipher the chapters of the Bible. People have never pursued the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit; all along, they have done nothing but desperately study and investigate the Bible, and no one has ever found newer work of the Holy Spirit outside of the Bible. No one has ever departed from the Bible, nor have they ever dared to do so” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (1)). After watching this part, I thought, “That’s precisely my attitude toward the Bible. I feel like it represents the Lord, that belief in Him is belief in the Bible, and the two are inseparable. But what I don’t understand is this: The Bible is testimony of the Lord and the foundation of our faith. As Christians, we’ve based our faith on the Bible for two thousand years, so could it really be that this isn’t in line with the Lord’s will? What’s really going on here?”
I kept watching the movie, eager to get these questions answered. The character sharing the gospel read another passage of God’s words: “They believe in My existence only within the scope of the Bible, and they equate Me with the Bible; without the Bible there is no Me, and without Me there is no Bible. They pay no heed to My existence or actions, but instead devote extreme and special attention to each and every word of Scripture. Many more even believe that I should not do anything I wish to do unless it is foretold by Scripture. They attach too much importance to Scripture. It can be said that they see words and expressions as too important, to the extent that they use verses from the Bible to measure every word I say and to condemn Me. What they seek is not the way of compatibility with Me or the way of compatibility with the truth, but the way of compatibility with the words of the Bible, and they believe that anything that does not conform to the Bible is, without exception, not My work. Are such people not the dutiful descendants of the Pharisees? The Jewish Pharisees used the law of Moses to condemn Jesus. They did not seek compatibility with the Jesus of that time, but diligently followed the law to the letter, to the extent that—after having charged Him with not following the law of the Old Testament and not being the Messiah—they ultimately nailed the innocent Jesus to the cross. What was their substance? Was it not that they didn’t seek the way of compatibility with the truth? They obsessed over each and every word of Scripture while paying heed neither to My will nor to the steps and methods of My work. They were not people who sought the truth, but people who rigidly clung to words; they were not people who believed in God, but people who believed in the Bible. Essentially, they were watchdogs of the Bible” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ). After reading these words from Almighty God, they went on in fellowship. They said people of faith all think belief in the Lord is belief in the Bible, otherwise, it’s not faith in the Lord, but this view is wrong. They also said, “When the Lord Jesus was preaching and working, His followers departed from the Scriptures to accept His work and words, so could we then say they weren’t really believers in the Lord? The Pharisees of Judaism all clung to the Scriptures, but they crucified the Lord Jesus, who expressed the truth and did the work of redemption. What was the problem there? Does clinging to the Scriptures mean a person knows the Lord? Does it mean they adhere to the Lord’s way, that they revere and submit to Him? God is the Lord of creation, the source of life for all things, while the Bible is just a record of God’s past work and words. How could it be placed on par with God? Believers in the Lord blindly believe in and worship the Bible and treat it as equal to God, even supplanting the Lord and His work with the Bible. Isn’t that devaluing and blaspheming the Lord? Is someone who clings to the Bible without seeking the Lord’s appearance and work really a believer or follower of the Lord? This is what the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me, that you might have life’ (John 5:39–40). He also said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me’ (John 14:6). The Lord Jesus was very clear on the relationship between God and the Scriptures. The Scriptures merely testify to God—they do not represent the Lord, nor can they replace His work of salvation. Holding to the Bible alone can’t bring us eternal life. Only Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. To gain life, we have to seek the Lord!”
I was so moved after I finished the movie. I felt that everything it said was right and accorded with the Lord Jesus’ words. I realized that the Bible really doesn’t represent the Lord. He’s the One who supplies us with life, not the Bible. Believing in it is not the same as believing in and following the Lord! But I’d always thought the Bible did represent Him. Hadn’t I been regarding the Bible as higher than the Lord? The more I thought about it, the more I felt there was truth in Almighty God’s words, that they could resolve my confusion. I knew I had to seriously seek and investigate so I didn’t miss my chance to welcome the Lord. I then decided to go back to The Church of Almighty God with my friend. The brothers and sisters all received us warmly when we got to the church and fellowshiped with us really patiently. I explained my confusion to them, saying, “The pastors and elders always tell us in gatherings that all of God’s work and words are in the Bible, and so anything outside of that can’t contain His work or words. But you’re bearing witness that the Lord Jesus has returned as Almighty God and that He’s doing new work in the last days, and expressing new words. What’s really going on?”
Sister Zhou read a few passages of Almighty God’s words in response. “Many people believe that understanding and being able to interpret the Bible is the same as finding the true way—but in fact, are things really so simple? No one knows the reality of the Bible: that it is nothing more than a historical record of God’s work, and a testament to the previous two stages of God’s work, and that it offers you no understanding of the aims of God’s work. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it documents the two stages of God’s work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament chronicles the history of Israel and Jehovah’s work from the time of creation until the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul—are these not historical records?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (4)). “The things that are recorded in the Bible are limited; they cannot represent the work of God in its entirety. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether, in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. However, man values them as treasures, even comparing the work of today against them. They even believe that all the work Jesus did in His life amounted only to so much, as if God were only capable of doing this much and nothing further. Is this not absurd?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)). “At the time, Jesus only gave His disciples a series of sermons in the Age of Grace on such subjects as how to practice, how to gather together, how to supplicate in prayer, how to treat others, and so forth. The work He carried out was that of the Age of Grace, and He expounded only on how the disciples and those who followed Him ought to practice. He only did the work of the Age of Grace, and none of the work of the last days. … The work of God in each age has clear boundaries; He does only the work of the current age, and never carries out the next stage of work in advance. Only thus can His representative work of each age be brought to the fore. Jesus spoke only of the signs of the last days, of how to be patient and how to be saved, of how to repent and confess, and of how to bear the cross and endure suffering; never did He speak of how man in the last days should achieve entry, nor of how he should seek to satisfy God’s will. As such, is it not ridiculous to search the Bible for God’s work of the last days? What can you see by merely clutching the Bible? Be it an expositor of the Bible or a preacher, who could have seen the work of today in advance?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How Can Man Who Has Delimited God in His Notions Receive the Revelations of God?). “If you wish to see the work of the Age of Law, and to see how the Israelites followed the way of Jehovah, then you must read the Old Testament; if you wish to understand the work of the Age of Grace, then you must read the New Testament. But how do you see the work of the last days? You must accept the leadership of the God of today, and enter into the work of today, for this is the new work, and no one has previously recorded it in the Bible. … The work of today is a path that man has never walked, and a way that no one has ever seen. It is work that has never been done before—it is God’s latest work on earth. … Who could have recorded every single bit of today’s work, without omission, in advance? Who could have recorded this mightier, wiser work that defies convention, in that moldy old book? The work of today is not history, and as such, if you wish to walk the new path of today, then you must depart from the Bible, you must go beyond the books of prophecy or history in the Bible. Only then will you be able to walk the new path properly, and only then will you be able to enter into the new realm and the new work” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (1)).
After reading Almighty God’s words, Sister Zhou continued her fellowship. She said, “Everyone familiar with the Bible knows that the Old and the New Testaments are only a record of God’s two stages of work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. They are a testimony to God’s work. Every time God completed a stage of work, the people who experienced it recorded His work and words, and then these records were later compiled into the Bible. But God’s work and words in both of those ages weren’t fully recorded in the Bible. The Lord Jesus’ words in the Bible are just the tip of the iceberg. Just as it says in the Gospel of John: ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written’ (John 21:25). There were some prophets’ prophecies in the Age of Law that weren’t fully recorded in the Scriptures. This is common knowledge. So when the pastors and elders say that all of God’s words are in the Bible, and none of His work and words exist outside of it, are they not contradicting the facts? Aren’t they lying and being deceitful? God is the Lord of creation. He’s so great and abundant, how could one book, the Bible, fully encompass His work and words?” She then read from the Book of Revelation: “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals” (Revelation 5:1). “And one of the elders said to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:5). She fellowshiped, “It says here that there’s writing inside and outside of this book, only that it’s sealed with seven seals, and only the returned Lord of the last days can open the book and loose the seven seals. That’s the only way we can see what’s written inside the book. It is also prophesied many times in Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation Chapters 2–3). These biblical prophecies prove that the Lord will utter more words when He returns. So could the returned Lord’s work and words really be recorded in the Bible in advance? Could the words of God in the Bible take the place of what the Holy Spirit says to the churches in the last days? Could they replace the book opened by the Lamb? Could they replace God’s work of judgment in the last days?” Hearing this, I thought to myself, “I’ve read these verses quite a bit. Why haven’t these questions ever occurred to me?” The sister then went on in fellowship: “The Bible is a record of God’s past work. Many years after the Old Testament was produced, the Lord Jesus came and did the work of redemption for the Age of Grace. So did His work and words just automatically insert themselves into the Scriptures? God’s work and words had to have been compiled and made into the Bible. Almighty God has come in the last days and He has expressed all truths to purify and save mankind. Could these truths just automatically insert themselves into the Bible? So claiming that all of God’s work and words are recorded in the Bible, and that there can be none outside of that, is an erroneous, absurd view, and it’s entirely a result of human notions and imaginings.”
Hearing Sister Zhou’s fellowship was really enlightening for me. I felt that everything she fellowshiped lined up with the facts. The Bible is just a record of two stages of God’s work: The Age of Law and the Age of Grace. It’s a testimony to His work, but it can’t represent the Lord or His work and words in the last days. The Lord Jesus’ work and words weren’t even fully recorded in the Bible, so how could the work and words of God in the last days be recorded in the Bible ahead of time? I followed the pastors’ and elders’ words, limiting God’s work and words to what’s in the Bible, and believing that nothing outside of that came from God. Wasn’t I just talking nonsense with my eyes wide open? Wasn’t I delimiting and blaspheming the Lord? I was full of regret at this thought. Why hadn’t I read Almighty God’s words earlier? I really shouldn’t have blindly followed the pastors and elders, delimiting God’s work based on notions and imaginings. These views are so harmful!
Sister Zhou then brought up another point for discussion: Why is it that just upholding the Bible without accepting God’s work and words of the last days means people can’t get into God’s kingdom and gain eternal life? She said, “The Bible is just a record of two stages of God’s work. It can’t replace God’s work of judging and purifying mankind in the last days. In the Age of Law, God’s main work was to proclaim the law and commandments to guide people’s lives on earth. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus just did the work of redemption. He was crucified to redeem mankind from Satan’s domain, redeem us of our sins, and make us qualified to pray to God so we could enjoy all of God’s grace. But our sinful nature and the root of our sin were not resolved. That’s why we still constantly lie, sin, rebel against and resist God, and we’re not worthy to enter God’s kingdom. That’s why the Lord Jesus prophesied that He would return and express truths in the last days to judge and fully save man. It says in the Gospel of John, ‘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’ (John 16:12–13). It also says, ‘He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:48). Almighty God coming in the last days to express the truth and do the work of judgment perfectly fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecies. Almighty God has expressed millions of words and these words cover everything. Mysteries of the Bible are unveiled, there are prophecies for the future of the kingdom, some discuss mankind’s destination, and others dissect the root of mankind’s opposition to God. God also very clearly reveals the truths people need to attain full salvation. That includes the inside story of God’s three stages of work to save man, the mysteries of God’s work of judgment in the last days, and the mysteries of God’s incarnations. God reveals how Satan corrupts mankind, how God works to save man, the essence and truth of mankind’s corruption by Satan, what true faith, submission, and love for God are, how to live out a life of meaning, and more. The truths expressed by Almighty God are the way of eternal life He gives us in the last days. If we just cling to the Bible without accepting God’s judgment and purification in the last days, we’ll never gain the truth, cast off sin, be fully saved, and get into the kingdom of heaven.”
The fellowship from the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God helped me see that Almighty God’s judgment work in the last days completely fulfills biblical prophecies. Almighty God’s words are the truth, they are the voice of God, and they are the way of eternal life God gives us in the last days! I’d thought God’s work and words were limited to the Bible because I’d listened to the pastors and elders, and held to religious notions. I refused to accept or seek God’s work of the last days. I couldn’t gain the sustenance of God’s current words and fell into darkness. Without God’s mercy and salvation of having YouTube recommend The Church of Almighty God’s videos to me, giving me the good fortune to hear God’s voice, I’d still be following the pastors and elders, and I wouldn’t have sought or investigated God’s work in the last days. If that were the case, I could read the Bible for a hundred years but I’d never welcome the Lord’s return. I see that my being able to gain God’s salvation in the last days is entirely down to His guidance. This is God’s wondrous salvation!

from How I Turned Back to Almighty God
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