Feb 21, 2018
Whew, that was lucky.
seen from United States
seen from Iraq
seen from Australia
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
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seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
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seen from Germany
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seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from T1
Whew, that was lucky.
Learning How to Discern the True Christ and False Ones, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return
In June 2011, I became a believer of the Lord Jesus. During meetings, Elder Zhang, standing at the pulpit, often said with emphasis, “Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus said, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23).
Now it is the last days. The apocalypse is coming. All those who preach the Lord Jesus has returned are fraudulent. No matter what they preach, do not believe them, or receive them, much less treat them in a friendly way.” At that moment, I thought: False Christs will appear in the last days to deceive people? If so, I had better listen to the elder. I’ll have meetings in the church and be well versed in the Bible, lest I be deceived. After that, I insisted on reading the Bible every day, believing that as long as I read more verses, I would be able to avoid being deceived and gain the approval of God then.
One day in 2014, a classmate of mine came to my home with a radiant smile. She said, “Today, I have a piece of good news to tell you. The Lord Jesus has returned, and He is Almighty God. He has performed a new stage of work on the foundation of the work of the Age of Grace, expressing the truth to judge and purify man’s corrupt disposition, and deliver us from sin thoroughly.” I could not help but be stunned after hearing this because I was reminded of the words of Elder Zhang, “All those who preach the Lord Jesus has returned are fraudulent.” Could it be that … I didn’t dare to think more. With this in my mind, I didn’t want to listen more. But, I was afraid that it would affect our harmony, and we might be estranged from one another, so I stood up and intended to cook. However, she still fellowshiped with me patiently. Not a little could I listen to her because I felt conflicted. Seeing my attitude, she said earnestly, “Almighty God is really and truly the second coming of the Lord Jesus. You ought to conduct a thorough investigation of the work of Almighty God in the last days because it relates to whether we can be saved or not.” I was a little moved by her sincere words, but at the thought of Elder Zhang’s words, I felt a sense of hesitation and thus answered perfunctorily, “Okay.” Then, I turned around to cook. My classmate had no choice but to leave.
Later, once at a co-worker meeting, Pastor Li, standing at the pulpit and waving his arm, said arrogantly, “Brothers and sisters, now we are in the last days. Deception from false Christs occurs in the religious circles of various countries. Even in our church, many believers lack discernment, causing them to be deceived into following false Christs. This has just fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ prophecy, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23). All news preaching the Lord has returned is false. We can’t believe it….” After hearing Pastor Li’s words, I didn’t dare to stop having meetings in the slightest, and I read the Bible more carefully, with a deep fear that I would be deceived one day and thus couldn’t be raptured and brought into the kingdom of heaven.
Afterward, I knew my husband had an affair, so we divorced. During that time, I felt miserable and weak. Moreover, the pastor and elder couldn’t speak of any new illumination in the meetings. Even some believers who were pretty enthusiastic before didn’t come to meetings, and some co-workers returned to the world to make money. Gradually, I felt distant from God.
In October 2016, I couldn’t go to work because my legs ached. During my recuperation, I suddenly thought of the following verse in the Bible, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” (Heb 10:25). Then I began to seek a church around my home. Coincidentally, once, when I went to the hospital to buy medicine, I heard a song of praising God, “Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you. It’s the greatest blessing that we can receive His love for you and me. … Jesus saves you. …” Immediately, a warm feeling rushed into my heart. I realized that it was the Lord Jesus who was calling me, and then I followed the singing and found “The Happy Church”. I thought: The churches in our area became more and more desolate; the brothers and sisters had lost their original love and faith; the preachers had nothing to preach about. Today, I would listen to sermons in the grand church, and I wondered whether the pastor here could preach something new and whether my parched spirit could obtain nourishment. With great expectations, I attended the meeting. After spending a whole morning listening to the pastor’s sermon, I felt I was not moved by the Holy Spirit at all, nor did I understand anything. I prayed to God silently in my heart, “Lord, where are You? Why can’t I feel Your presence? The pastor merely followed ceremony in his sermons, and I received nothing. O Lord! I feel very thirsty in my spirit. May You water my heart….”
One day, when I chatted with an auntie, a neighbor of mine, I knew she also believed in the Lord Jesus. So, I felt very happy. Afterward, as soon as I was free, I would visit her. Once, when I went to visit her, I happened to see her and several people watching a movie. They enthusiastically greeted me by saying, “You’ve come at the right time. Come and watch the movie.” I saw that in the movie, two brothers were debating about a question regarding the Bible. When I was going to figure it out, I suddenly saw the words “The Church of Almighty God” in the movie. I thought: Can it be that they are believers in Almighty God? Then I was reminded of the words of the pastor and elder in our church so I gave rise to feelings of resistance. A brother seemed to read my mind and said to me with a smile, “Go on watching, and we can fellowship when it finishes.” The auntie said similar words. At that time, I was all at sixes and sevens, not knowing whether I should go on watching. Just at that moment, I heard someone in the video reading, “The work of this day is a continuation of the work done in the Age of Grace and an advance over that done in the Age of Law. The three stages are tightly interconnected and each link in the chain is closely tied to the next.” After watching the movie, the brother fellowshiped with me about the truth of God’s three stages of work, and said that there are three stages of work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan: the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom in the last days. … His fellowship made sense, which was something I had never heard of in the churches. If God Himself hadn’t revealed these mysteries, who would have been able to see them? Through a day’s fellowship, I felt that Almighty God seems to be the return of the Lord Jesus, but I was not completely certain about that.
In the evening, I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, that brother fellowshiped that Almighty God is Your second coming. I got a lot out of it. But I’m still not sure whether or not Almighty God is the true God and whether or not He is Your return. May You guide me to seek and investigate Almighty God’s work. Amen!” After praying, 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” (Jhn 16:12–13). I thought to myself: The Lord Jesus says that He will speak and work and guide us to understand all the truth when He returns. Now I have heard the words of Almighty God and known His six-thousand-year management plan, which is the truth I didn’t understand previously. At that moment, I remembered that my classmate had preached the gospel to me before. She said Almighty God is the true God, and asked me to examine the work of Almighty God carefully. However, I was afraid of embarking on the wrong path, so I refused to accept the kingdom gospel. I pondered: After hearing that brother’s fellowship, I feel that his fellowship has the enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and also has new light, which is something that I have never heard of and seen before. After believing in Almighty God, he has really understood a lot. Could it be that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus? But just then, I recalled that in that co-workers meeting, Pastor Li said that all news preaching the Lord had returned was false and told us not to believe. Whom should I listen to on earth? At last, after praying and seeking, I determined to investigate whether Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus on earth.
On the third day, I went to the auntie’s home again. I asked the brother, “The Bible recorded, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23). In the past time, when we had meetings in the church, the pastor and elder said that everyone who preached the coming of God was preaching a false Christ, and they always asked us to cling to the biblical prophecies in case we were deceived by false Christs in the last days. But through your fellowship about God’s three stages of work, I feel enlightened. I also feel that your fellowship has the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. But I don’t understand the truth about how to discern false Christs and what false Christs are. Today, I hope you can fellowship with me about them.”
After hearing what I said, the brother replied with a smile, “God’s words have already revealed the means of false Christs’ and false prophets’ deceiving people. Let’s read God’s words. God says, ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … In the conceptions of man, God must always display signs and wonders, must always heal the sick and cast out demons, and must always be just like Jesus, yet this time God is not like that at all. If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things.’
“‘If a man calls himself God yet is unable to express the being of divinity, do the work of God Himself, or represent God, he is undoubtedly not God, for he has not the essence of God, and that which God can inherently achieve does not exist within him.’
“‘Apart from Christ, those who falsely claim to be Christ do not have His qualities. When juxtaposed against the arrogant and self-exalting disposition of those false Christs, it becomes apparent what manner of flesh is truly Christ. The more false they are, the more such false Christs show off themselves, and the more capable they are of working signs and wonders to deceive man. False Christs do not have the qualities of God; Christ is not tainted by any element belonging to false Christs.’
“God’s words tell us that His work is always new and never old, and that He never does the same work. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He didn’t repeat the work in the Age of Law, but performed the next stage of His work of redeeming mankind on the foundation of the work done in the Age of Law. Almighty God of the last days has come to do the work. He also didn’t repeat the Lord Jesus’s work of the redemption of mankind; instead, He ends the Age of Grace and begins the Age of Kingdom. He speaks words to perform the work of purifying, saving and perfecting man, thoroughly resolving man’s sinful nature and corrupt disposition, saving man from the influence of Satan, and making man gained by God in the end. This shows that God never repeats His work, but instead His work is always moving forward and always going higher and deeper at every step. Conversely, the essence of false Christs is evil spirits. They can’t do the work of God, and they can only imitate some simple work that God has done after God’s work. Some false Christs have now emerged in various places in succession, such as Hua Xuehe of the Spirit-Spirit Sect (a poor translation of Ling-ling Jiao), Wu Yangming of the Established King sect, Ji Zhongjie of the Third Redemption sect, and so on. They don’t possess the substance of God, and they are incapable of expressing the truth and doing the work of bestowing life and the truth upon man at all. They can only imitate some simple work that the Lord Jesus has done and perform simple signs to deceive those foolish and ignorant people. However, major signs such as the Lord Jesus resurrecting the dead and feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish could never be done by false Christs. Their deeds are the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders’ (Mat 24:24).
“In addition, everything that false Christs reveal is their satanic nature of arrogance. They don’t possess any divine substance, but they exalt themselves, show themselves off, even claim themselves to be God and let people treat them as God. They don’t possess any normal sense, and they are precisely evil spirits. God allows false Christs to appear so that we can truly distinguish and forsake them and at the same time, we can have real understanding of God’s work, which is God’s wisdom and wondrous deeds.”
Through the fellowship of the brother, I understood: God’s work is always new and never old, and God will not repeat His work. He did not come to perform signs and wonders this time. False Christs possess no divine substance, so they are incapable of doing the work of God and can only imitate some simple work that God has done. If there is to emerge a person who can heal the sick, cast out demons, and manifest miracles, he must be a false Christ. The brother’s fellowship solved my confusion, so I felt very happy.
Afterward, a sister from The Church of Almighty God came to have a meeting with me. She fellowshiped with me about how to know the substance of God. God’s words say, “To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining [a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man.” After reading this passage of words, she fellowshiped, “From God’s words, we can see that we should know God from His substance, rather than external appearance; that is, we should know God from His work, His disposition, and His words. God is the truth, the way and the life. Every time God becomes flesh, He does the work of starting a new age, brings forth one stage of the work He must do, and expresses God’s disposition and what He has and is. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to work, He concluded the Age of Law and opened up the Age of Grace, He saved mankind from the cross, He expressed the way of repentance, He taught people to love their enemies, to forgive others, and to be tolerant and patient, and so on. We have felt the Lord Jesus’ compassionate and loving disposition in the Age of Grace. Likewise, in the final age, Almighty God comes to conclude the Age of Grace and initiate the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out a stage of the work of judgment and purification on the basis of the redemptive work. And He has expressed millions of words, and told us all the truths that we humans need to gain salvation. Through eating and drinking God’s words and experiencing God’s work, we have found the way to be free from sins, no longer suffer the bondage of sin, and have our life dispositions transformed and we have also seen God’s righteous disposition. From the work and word of Almighty God, we can absolutely confirm that Almighty God is God’s incarnate, and that He is God Himself appearing among men in the last days.”
Through fellowshiping about God’s words with the sister in our gathering, I finally understood what false Christs are, confirmed that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus and returned to Almighty God’s family. After accepting Almighty God’s work, I have understood many truths which I didn’t understand in the religious world, and many puzzling problems have been solved. I have enjoyed the pleasure of the Holy Spirit’s work in Almighty God’s family. I thank God for saving me time and time again from my heart. All the glory be to Almighty God!
How to Recognize True Christ From False Ones
By Pingping
Receiving God’s salvation in the last days, I was joyful and happy.
In early 2017, an old lady I had met previously enthusiastically bore witness to God’s work of the last days for me and told me that the Lord Jesus has already returned.
She said that He is performing a new stage of His work to save mankind, and that many prophecies that exist in the Bible were being fulfilled. Hearing this, I got very excited. The words of God read by the old lady were very useful for me, and I hadn’t heard anything like them before. I thought: “In the past, my mother and sister often urged me to believe in God, but I didn’t accept it because I was too busy making money. Now this old lady is communicating God’s intention to save mankind so clearly. This is the last stage in God’s work of salvation. I can’t miss this opportunity. This is the grace of God!” Thereupon, I willingly accepted it.
Afterward, the elder sister (the old lady) often came to take me to attend meetings and read God’s words. Whenever I was free, I would listen to recitations of the words of God or learn to sing the hymns. I was very happy every day, and felt pleasure, peace and steadiness that I had never before experienced. But not long after, a sudden “persuasion” caused me to lose all sense of direction.
Facing temptations, I nearly lost God’s salvation.
In February 2017, I went to my mother’s for Chinese New Year. When I saw some brothers and sisters in the Lord in the village come to gather with my mother and sister, I thought: “They still don’t know that God has come back, expressed the truth and carried out the work of judgment starting from the house of God. I need to hurry up and tell them the good news!” But when I bore witness to God’s new work for them, I encountered their furious opposition and hindrances. My younger sister said, “Sister, you have not believed in God for very long and you’re not able to discern well yet. You must not be tricked and deceived by false Christs….”
Hearing these words, my heart churned and I wondered if there really were cheats among us believers. “But the elder sister doesn’t look like that. Is the One I believe in really the true God? The words of God read by the elder sister each time and her fellowshiping are great and practical. Isn’t there only one God? Then why are there true Christ and false Christs …?” After thinking these questions over and over again, I still had no idea what to do.
For a period of time after getting back home, I didn’t want to see the elder sister because I could not see to the bottom of this matter and was afraid that I would be deceived. One day, the elder sister came to visit me when my husband and daughter happened to be at home. They heard her voice outside, and didn’t let me open the door for her. And my husband said, “Your mother and sister have told you there are false Christs deceiving people in your hometown. Stop believing in their God.” Hearing his words, I was even more hesitant, and in the end I didn’t let her in.
During that time, I felt very upset. My conscience was uneasy and I felt I’d done something blameful. I thought I had gone too far. I thought about those days I’d interacted with the elder sister. It was she that led me to read God’s words and learn to sing hymns and pray. She, nearly 70, came to see me time after time, but I ruthlessly slammed the door in her face. I felt that I had no conscience at all, but I was also really confused and thought: “Is the One I believe in really the true God? If my belief is really mistaken, then why have I been so upset about not being able to read God’s words and refusing the elder sister? Could it be that the One I’ve rejected is the true God? Is God moving my heart?” At the thought of all this, I wanted to see the elder sister and ask for clarification.
Several days later, the elder sister came to visit me again and I immediately received her. As soon as she saw me, she asked me with concern, “Sister, how have you been recently? Is everything all right? I came back a few times, but I didn’t get to see you….” Hearing her simple words, I felt so warm and my heart was moved.
God’s words manifested the power to teach me how to discern the true Christ from false ones.
I told the elder sister about my weakness and confusion. She said, “If we want to know whether the God that we believe in is true or false, we need to investigate with a seeking heart and learn how to distinguish through the truths expressed by God.” Then she opened up the book of the words of God and led me in reading a passage, “There are some who are possessed by evil spirits and cry out vociferously, ‘I am God!’ Yet, in the end, they are unable to stand fast, for they are wrong in what they represent. They represent Satan, and the Holy Spirit pays them no heed. However highly you exalt yourself or however strongly you cry out, you are still a created being and one that belongs to Satan. I never cry out, ‘I am God, I am the beloved Son of God!’ But the work I do is God’s work. Need I shout? There is no need for exaltation. God does His own work Himself and does not need man to accord Him a status or give Him an honorific title: His work is sufficient to represent His identity and status. Prior to His baptism, was not Jesus God Himself? Was He not the incarnate flesh of God? Surely it cannot be said that it was only after receiving witness that He became the only Son of God? Long before He began His work, was there not already a man by the name of Jesus? You are unable to bring forth new paths or to represent the Spirit. You cannot express the work of the Spirit or the words that He speaks. You are unable to do the work of God Himself, and that of the Spirit you are unable to do. The wisdom, wonder, and unfathomability of God, and the entirety of the disposition by which God chastises man: all of these are beyond your capacity to express. So it would be useless to try to claim to be God; you would have only the name and none of the substance.”
“If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the conceptions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, but it turned out that Jesus came, so it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again.”
After reading the words of God, the elder sister said, “Let me read a passage of Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life to you, ‘This is just like when Jesus came to work: He ushered in the Age of Grace, and brought to an end the Age of Law. He did one stage of the work of redemption, and rescued mankind from sin. In order that His work would be effective, He performed some signs and wonders. In the last days, Almighty God has come, He has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and brought to an end the Age of Grace. But He does not repeat the work done by the Lord Jesus. Instead, based upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He carries out the work of judgment beginning from the house of God. He expresses all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind to resolve the source of our sin and our satanic disposition, and to thoroughly save us from the influence of Satan, so that we will be gained by God. And the false Christs? They are all evil spirits who fake Christ. They are incapable of doing work of ushering in a new age and bringing the old age to an end. They can only imitate the Lord Jesus by performing simple signs and wonders to deceive those muddle-headed people without discernment. But they are incapable of copying what Jesus did as raising the dead and feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, or rebuking the wind and sea, which is totally beyond them. In substance, false Christs are wicked, they are evil spirits and totally devoid of the truth. And so, they have to rely on signs and wonders to deceive people. Or else they deceive and admonish people by imitating the tone of God’s words and simple words once spoken by God.’”
Through reading the words of God and the sermons, I understood how the false Christs deceive people: False Christs declare that they are Christ, but they are actually evil spirits, do not possess the essence of God, and cannot do the work that God does. They can only perform some miracles, such as healing diseases and casting out demons, in order to deceive people, whereas Christ can bring new work. Just like when the Lord Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace, and He delivered sermons that enabled people to confess their sins and repent. In the same way, Almighty God has come to end the Age of Grace and bring about the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out the work of purifying and perfecting people. This is the work that false Christs will never be able to perform. Actually, if they were the real deal, it’d be hard for them to fake it. But for the fraudsters, however strongly they shout, they still do not possess God’s identity or status and will be exposed and punished in the end.
After that the elder sister read another passage of God’s word, “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself.” The elder sister then fellowshiped this, “From the words of God, we can see that Christ is God incarnate, and that He is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh. That is, all that God possesses, including what God has and is, His disposition and wisdom, are all realized in this flesh. So He possesses the substance of divinity, and is the embodiment of the truth. He is always able to express the truth anytime and anyplace to supply and shepherd mankind. Only Christ can do the work of redeeming and saving mankind. No one else can imitate this. This fact is undeniable.”
I carefully pondered over the words of God read by the elder sister and her fellowshiping. The words of God gave me some discernment and I came to know that Christ is God Himself and He can express the truth, which is not possessed by any false Christs. Only Christ can express God’s own disposition and all that He has and is, and reveal all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan. The truths Almighty God has expressed and the work done by Him completely prove that Almighty God is Christ of the last days, is the one true God, and is the work and appearance of the Lord Jesus. Those who shamelessly call themselves God are all evil spirits in disguise; they have no truth, and are even less in possession of God’s substance. They can only corrupt and deceive people in order to achieve their goal of getting everyone to follow them and thus betray God. Only when someone understands the words of God will they have discernment of the true Christ and the false ones. Not having believed in God for very long, my stature is still too small and I really lack the truth, so I am incapable of discerning properly. Because I didn’t feel God’s loving salvation with my heart, I betrayed God ignorantly. My numb heart drove me to refuse the love of the elder sister heartlessly. The condemnation and blame in my conscience made my heart finally become aware, so I knew I had to cherish the opportunity and listen to her fellowshiping carefully.
God guided me to see through Satan’s tricks.
The elder sister went on reading another passage God’s word to me, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle. … Everything that happens to people is when God needs them to stand firm in their testimony to Him. Nothing major has happened to you at the moment, and you do not bear great testimony, but every detail of your daily life relates to the testimony to God.” After reading God’s words, she said to me, “Sister, because of the manifestation of fake Christs and rumors in the outside world, and the so-called ‘kind’ exhortations of our family members, our hearts have been disturbed and we have become lost. But in fact, the main cause of our problems is that we read so little of God’s words, don’t understand the truth, and are unable to clearly see through to the bottom of spiritual matters. Sister, it is a spiritual struggle that causes you to be beset with these troubles. In fact, so long as we equip ourselves with God’s words more, have some knowledge of God’s work and His disposition, and are able to discern all of Satan’s tricks and ruses, Satan will have no way to capture us. If we don’t have God’s words as our life in our hearts, or have little discernment of spiritual matters, when Satan causes disruptions for us we will have doubts about God even to the point of denying God, betraying God, and leaving God behind. So it will happen that we will fall victim to Satan’s tricks, miss the chance of being saved by God, and lose God’s salvation. In the end we will be devoured by Satan, and be destroyed along with it. This is Satan’s sinister motive. So we absolutely must do more to pray and draw near to God, and step up our reading of the words of God and equip ourselves with the truth more in future. Only in this way can we understand God’s will, see through Satan’s tricks, and stand witness.”
When I heard this, I suddenly realized: This was actually a spiritual struggle. Satan thought up every conceivable way to use the people and things around me to disturb my mind, and prevent me from believing in, following, and worshiping God. Satan is afraid that I will follow God’s footsteps and understand the truth, and then, distinguish its evil essence, betray it, and forsake it. It was because I was muddle-headed and without discernment that I believed in what people were saying but did not listen to God’s words, so that I lost my way. I decided to read more of the words of God and equip myself with more truths so as not to be taken advantage of by Satan. At that time, the emotions I had restrained for so long were finally set free by God’s words. I felt so happy, and also became convinced that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and is the one true God.
Through reading God’s words, I began to understand some truths and had some faith to follow God. But Satan was unwilling to admit defeat, and once again instigated a plot to test me.
God protected me and helped me stand witness when Satan’s temptation befell me again.
After some time, when my sister learned I still believed in God, she hurried over here from my hometown to urge me to desist. My husband also tried with her to stop me from believing in God. Facing all this, my heart was in torment and I prayed to God in my heart, “O God! Today, my sister rushed over specially to try to persuade me and my husband also tried to stop me from following You. Now, I feel weak-spirited and I can’t overcome their resistance. What should I do? I ask You to help me and give me faith.” After praying, I thought of a passage of God’s words that the elder sister once read with me, where Almighty God says: “Externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.”
Thanks be to the enlightenment of the words of God. I thought: “This matter is another deceitful scheme carried out by Satan. It wants to use my sister and husband to disturb me and impair my relationship with God. I must not fall for its tricks again. I’ll stand firmly to witness for God this time.” Then I said to my sister, “If you do not follow the Lamb’s footsteps, only believing nominally in God but not knowing the work of God, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus once said, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27). Those who are God’s sheep can hear His voice. If you are a true believer in God, you should not uphold yourself and ought to calm yourself down, seek and study. If you read the words expressed by Almighty God, you will know whether they’re the truth, and whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 5:3).
Hearing me say this, my sister looked at me in surprise, and it took a while before she fully gathered her wits. She said, “Hmm, I’ve believed for some many years, and you’ve been a follower for just a few days, but you can already sermonize very fluently.” At that moment, my husband’s attitude toward me also improved greatly, and he said, “As long as you don’t believe in the wrong God then it’s all OK.” My sister said nothing more, but had a helpless look on her face. From then on she no longer tried to block me. I thanked God from the bottom of my heart!
Now I feel it is so nice to believe in God. For me, not only every day is fulfilling, but also my heart is full of feelings of relief and freedom. Furthermore, I’ve found the true God and now follow His footprints. And this is my greatest happiness in this life. In The Church of Almighty God, I can not only attend meetings regularly and read God’s words, but can also fulfill duties to the best of my abilities. My husband says I’ve become a better and better person. And he is no longer opposed to my faith in God. All the glory be to God!
Learning How to Discern the True Christ and False Ones, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return
By Zhenxin
In June 2011, I became a believer of the Lord Jesus. During meetings, Elder Zhang, standing at the pulpit, often said with emphasis, “Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus said, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23).
Now it is the last days. The apocalypse is coming. All those who preach the Lord Jesus has returned are fraudulent. No matter what they preach, do not believe them, or receive them, much less treat them in a friendly way.” At that moment, I thought: False Christs will appear in the last days to deceive people? If so, I had better listen to the elder. I’ll have meetings in the church and be well versed in the Bible, lest I be deceived. After that, I insisted on reading the Bible every day, believing that as long as I read more verses, I would be able to avoid being deceived and gain the approval of God then.
One day in 2014, a classmate of mine came to my home with a radiant smile. She said, “Today, I have a piece of good news to tell you. The Lord Jesus has returned, and He is Almighty God. He has performed a new stage of work on the foundation of the work of the Age of Grace, expressing the truth to judge and purify man’s corrupt disposition, and deliver us from sin thoroughly.” I could not help but be stunned after hearing this because I was reminded of the words of Elder Zhang, “All those who preach the Lord Jesus has returned are fraudulent.” Could it be that … I didn’t dare to think more. With this in my mind, I didn’t want to listen more. But, I was afraid that it would affect our harmony, and we might be estranged from one another, so I stood up and intended to cook. However, she still fellowshipped with me patiently. Not a little could I listen to her because I felt conflicted. Seeing my attitude, she said earnestly, “Almighty God is really and truly the second coming of the Lord Jesus. You ought to conduct a thorough investigation of the work of Almighty God in the last days because it relates to whether we can be saved or not.” I was a little moved by her sincere words, but at the thought of Elder Zhang’s words, I felt a sense of hesitation and thus answered perfunctorily, “Okay.” Then, I turned around to cook. My classmate had no choice but to leave.
Later, once at a co-worker meeting, Pastor Li, standing at the pulpit and waving his arm, said arrogantly, “Brothers and sisters, now we are in the last days. Deception from false Christs occurs in the religious circles of various countries. Even in our church, many believers lack discernment, causing them to be deceived into following false Christs. This has just fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ prophecy, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23). All news preaching the Lord has returned is false. We can’t believe it….” After hearing Pastor Li’s words, I didn’t dare to stop having meetings in the slightest, and I read the Bible more carefully, with a deep fear that I would be deceived one day and thus couldn’t be raptured and brought into the kingdom of heaven.
Afterward, I knew my husband had an affair, so we divorced. During that time, I felt miserable and weak. Moreover, the pastor and elder couldn’t speak of any new illumination in the meetings. Even some believers who were pretty enthusiastic before didn’t come to meetings, and some co-workers returned to the world to make money. Gradually, I felt distant from God.
In October 2016, I couldn’t go to work because my legs ached. During my recuperation, I suddenly thought of the following verse in the Bible, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” (Heb 10:25). Then I began to seek a church around my home. Coincidentally, once, when I went to the hospital to buy medicine, I heard a song of praising God, “Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you. It’s the greatest blessing that we can receive His love for you and me. … Jesus saves you. …” Immediately, a warm feeling rushed into my heart. I realized that it was the Lord Jesus who was calling me, and then I followed the singing and found “The Happy Church”. I thought: The churches in our area became more and more desolate; the brothers and sisters had lost their original love and faith; the preachers had nothing to preach about. Today, I would listen to sermons in the grand church, and I wondered whether the pastor here could preach something new and whether my parched spirit could obtain nourishment. With great expectations, I attended the meeting. After spending a whole morning listening to the pastor’s sermon, I felt I was not moved by the Holy Spirit at all, nor did I understand anything. I prayed to God silently in my heart, “Lord, where are You? Why can’t I feel Your presence? The pastor merely followed the ceremony in his sermons, and I received nothing. O, Lord! I feel very thirsty in my spirit. May You water my heart….”
One day, when I chatted with an auntie, a neighbor of mine, I knew she also believed in the Lord Jesus. So, I felt very happy. Afterward, as soon as I was free, I would visit her. Once, when I went to visit her, I happened to see her and several people watching a movie. They enthusiastically greeted me by saying, “You’ve come at the right time. Come and watch a movie.” I saw that in the movie, two brothers were debating about a question regarding the Bible. When I was going to figure it out, I suddenly saw the words “The Church of Almighty God” in the movie. I thought: Can it be that they are believers in Almighty God? Then I was reminded of the words of the pastor and elder in our church so I gave rise to feelings of resistance. A brother seemed to read my mind and said to me with a smile, “Go on watching, and we can fellowship when it finishes.” The auntie said similar words. At that time, I was all at sixes and sevens, not knowing whether I should go on watching. Just at that moment, I heard someone in the video reading, “The work of this day is a continuation of the work done in the Age of Grace and an advance over that done in the Age of Law. The three stages are tightly interconnected and each link in the chain is closely tied to the next.” After watching the movie, the brother fellowshipped with me about the truth of God’s three stages of work, and said that there are three stages of work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan: the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom in the last days. … His fellowship made sense, which was something I had never heard of in the churches. If God Himself hadn’t revealed these mysteries, who would have been able to see them? Through a day’s fellowship, I felt that Almighty God seems to be the return of the Lord Jesus, but I was not completely certain about that.
In the evening, I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, that brother fellowshipped that Almighty God is Your second coming. I got a lot out of it. But I’m still not sure whether or not Almighty God is the true God and whether or not He is Your return. May You guide me to seek and investigate Almighty God’s work. Amen!” After praying, 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 thought to myself: The Lord Jesus says that He will speak and work and guide us to understand all the truth when He returns. Now I have heard the words of Almighty God and known His six-thousand-year management plan, which is the truth I didn’t understand previously. At that moment, I remembered that my classmate had preached the gospel to me before. She said Almighty God is the true God, and asked me to examine the work of Almighty God carefully. However, I was afraid of embarking on the wrong path, so I refused to accept the kingdom gospel. I pondered: After hearing that brother’s fellowship, I feel that his fellowship has the enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and also has new light, which is something that I have never heard of and seen before. After believing in Almighty God, he has really understood a lot. Could it be that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus? But just then, I recalled that in that co-worker's meeting, Pastor Li said that all news preaching the Lord had returned was false and told us not to believe. Whom should I listen to on earth? At last, after praying and seeking, I determined to investigate whether Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus on earth.
On the third day, I went to auntie’s home again. I asked the brother, “The Bible recorded, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not’ (Mat 24:23). In the past time, when we had meetings in the church, the pastor and elder said that everyone who preached the coming of God was preaching a false Christ, and they always asked us to cling to the biblical prophecies in case we were deceived by false Christs in the last days. But through your fellowship about God’s three stages of work, I feel enlightened. I also feel that your fellowship has the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. But I don’t understand the truth about how to discern false Christs and what false Christs are. Today, I hope you can fellowship with me about them.”
After hearing what I said, the brother replied with a smile, “God’s words have already revealed the means of false Christs’ and false prophets’ deceiving people. Let’s read God’s words. God says, ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. … In the conceptions of man, God must always display signs and wonders, must always heal the sick and cast out demons, and must always be just like Jesus, yet this time God is not like that at all. If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method; once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about these things.’
“‘If a man calls himself God yet is unable to express the being of divinity, do the work of God Himself, or represent God, he is undoubtedly not God, for he has not the essence of God, and that which God can inherently achieve does not exist within him.’
“‘Apart from Christ, those who falsely claim to be Christ do not have His qualities. When juxtaposed against the arrogant and self-exalting disposition of those false Christs, it becomes apparent what manner of the flesh is truly Christ. The more false they are, the more such false Christs show off themselves, and the more capable they are of working signs and wonders to deceive man. False Christs do not have the qualities of God; Christ is not tainted by any element belonging to false Christs.’
“God’s words tell us that His work is always new and never old, and that He never does the same work. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He didn’t repeat the work in the Age of Law but performed the next stage of His work of redeeming mankind on the foundation of the work done in the Age of Law. Almighty God of the last days has come to do the work. He also didn’t repeat the Lord Jesus’s work of the redemption of mankind; instead, He ends the Age of Grace and begins the Age of Kingdom. He speaks words to perform the work of purifying, saving and perfecting man, thoroughly resolving man’s sinful nature and corrupt disposition, saving man from the influence of Satan, and making man gained by God in the end. This shows that God never repeats His work, but instead His work is always moving forward and always going higher and deeper at every step. Conversely, the essence of false Christs is evil spirits. They can’t do the work of God, and they can only imitate some simple work that God has done after God’s work. Some false Christs have now emerged in various places in succession, such as Hua Xuehe of the Spirit-Spirit Sect (a poor translation of Ling-ling Jiao), Wu Yangming of the Established King sect, Ji Zhongjie of the Third Redemption sect, and so on. They don’t possess the substance of God, and they are incapable of expressing the truth and doing the work of bestowing life and the truth upon man at all. They can only imitate some simple work that the Lord Jesus has done and perform simple signs to deceive those foolish and ignorant people. However, major signs such as the Lord Jesus resurrecting the dead and feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish could never be done by false Christs. Their deeds are the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders’ (Mat 24:24).
“In addition, everything that false Christs reveal is their satanic nature of arrogance. They don’t possess any divine substance, but they exalt themselves, show themselves off, even claim themselves to be God and let people treat them as God. They don’t possess any normal sense, and they are precisely evil spirits. God allows false Christs to appear so that we can truly distinguish and forsake them and at the same time, we can have real understanding of God’s work, which is God’s wisdom and wondrous deeds.”
Through the fellowship of the brother, I understood: God’s work is always new and never old, and God will not repeat His work. He did not come to perform signs and wonders this time. False Christs possess no divine substance, so they are incapable of doing the work of God and can only imitate some simple work that God has done. If there is to emerge a person who can heal the sick, cast out demons, and manifest miracles, he must be a false Christ. The brother’s fellowship solved my confusion, so I felt very happy.
Afterward, a sister from The Church of Almighty God came to have a meeting with me. She fellowshipped with me about how to know the substance of God. God’s words say, “To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and showman the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this, there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining [a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If a man sees only His external appearance and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man.” After reading this passage of words, she fellowshipped, “From God’s words, we can see that we should know God from His substance, rather than external appearance; that is, we should know God from His work, His disposition, and His words. God is the truth, the way, and the life. Every time God becomes flesh, He does the work of starting a new age, brings forth one stage of the work He must do, and expresses God’s disposition and what He has and is. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to work, He concluded the Age of Law and opened up the Age of Grace, He saved mankind from the cross, He expressed the way of repentance, He taught people to love their enemies, to forgive others, and to be tolerant and patient, and so on. We have felt the Lord Jesus’ compassionate and loving disposition in the Age of Grace. Likewise, in the final age, Almighty God comes to conclude the Age of Grace and initiate the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out a stage of the work of judgment and purification on the basis of the redemptive work. And He has expressed millions of words and told us all the truths that we humans need to gain salvation. Through eating and drinking God’s words and experiencing God’s work, we have found the way to be free from sins, no longer suffer the bondage of sin, and have our life dispositions transformed and we have also seen God’s righteous disposition. From the work and word of Almighty God, we can absolutely confirm that Almighty God is God’s incarnate and that He is God Himself appearing among men in the last days.”
Through fellowshiping about God’s words with the sister in our gathering, I finally understood what false Christs are, confirmed that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus and returned to Almighty God’s family. After accepting Almighty God’s work, I have understood many truths which I didn’t understand in the religious world, and many puzzling problems have been solved. I have enjoyed the pleasure of the Holy Spirit’s work in Almighty God’s family. I thank God for saving me time and time again from my heart. All the glory be to Almighty God!
Footnotes:
a. The original text reads “as for.”
How to Recognize True Christ From False Ones
By Pingping
Receiving God’s salvation in the last days, I was joyful and happy.
In early 2017, an old lady I had met previously enthusiastically bore witness to God’s work of the last days for me and told me that the Lord Jesus has already returned.
She said that He is performing a new stage of His work to save mankind, and that many prophecies that exist in the Bible were being fulfilled. Hearing this, I got very excited. The words of God read by the old lady were very useful for me, and I hadn’t heard anything like them before. I thought: “In the past, my mother and sister often urged me to believe in God, but I didn’t accept it because I was too busy making money. Now this old lady is communicating God’s intention to save mankind so clearly. This is the last stage in God’s work of salvation. I can’t miss this opportunity. This is the grace of God!” Thereupon, I willingly accepted it.
Afterward, the elder sister (the old lady) often came to take me to attend meetings and read God’s words. Whenever I was free, I would listen to recitations of the words of God or learn to sing the hymns. I was very happy every day, and felt pleasure, peace and steadiness that I had never before experienced. But not long after, a sudden “persuasion” caused me to lose all sense of direction.
Facing temptations, I nearly lost God’s salvation.
In February 2017, I went to my mother’s for Chinese New Year. When I saw some brothers and sisters in the Lord in the village come to gather with my mother and sister, I thought: “They still don’t know that God has come back, expressed the truth and carried out the work of judgment starting from the house of God. I need to hurry up and tell them the good news!” But when I bore witness to God’s new work for them, I encountered their furious opposition and hindrances. My younger sister said, “Sister, you have not believed in God for very long and you’re not able to discern well yet. You must not be tricked and deceived by false Christs….”
Hearing these words, my heart churned and I wondered if there really were cheats among us believers. “But the elder sister doesn’t look like that. Is the One I believe in really the true God? The words of God read by the elder sister each time and her fellowshiping are great and practical. Isn’t there only one God? Then why are there true Christ and false Christs …?” After thinking these questions over and over again, I still had no idea what to do.
For a period of time after getting back home, I didn’t want to see the elder sister because I could not see to the bottom of this matter and was afraid that I would be deceived. One day, the elder sister came to visit me when my husband and daughter happened to be at home. They heard her voice outside, and didn’t let me open the door for her. And my husband said, “Your mother and sister have told you there are false Christs deceiving people in your hometown. Stop believing in their God.” Hearing his words, I was even more hesitant, and in the end I didn’t let her in.
During that time, I felt very upset. My conscience was uneasy and I felt I’d done something blameful. I thought I had gone too far. I thought about those days I’d interacted with the elder sister. It was she that led me to read God’s words and learn to sing hymns and pray. She, nearly 70, came to see me time after time, but I ruthlessly slammed the door in her face. I felt that I had no conscience at all, but I was also really confused and thought: “Is the One I believe in really the true God? If my belief is really mistaken, then why have I been so upset about not being able to read God’s words and refusing the elder sister? Could it be that the One I’ve rejected is the true God? Is God moving my heart?” At the thought of all this, I wanted to see the elder sister and ask for clarification.
Several days later, the elder sister came to visit me again and I immediately received her. As soon as she saw me, she asked me with concern, “Sister, how have you been recently? Is everything all right? I came back a few times, but I didn’t get to see you….” Hearing her simple words, I felt so warm and my heart was moved.
God’s words manifested the power to teach me how to discern the true Christ from false ones.
I told the elder sister about my weakness and confusion. She said, “If we want to know whether the God that we believe in is true or false, we need to investigate with a seeking heart and learn how to distinguish through the truths expressed by God.” Then she opened up the book of the words of God and led me in reading a passage, “There are some who are possessed by evil spirits and cry out vociferously, ‘I am God!’ Yet, in the end, they are unable to stand fast, for they are wrong in what they represent. They represent Satan, and the Holy Spirit pays them no heed. However highly you exalt yourself or however strongly you cry out, you are still a created being and one that belongs to Satan. I never cry out, ‘I am God, I am the beloved Son of God!’ But the work I do is God’s work. Need I shout? There is no need for exaltation. God does His own work Himself and does not need man to accord Him a status or give Him an honorific title: His work is sufficient to represent His identity and status. Prior to His baptism, was not Jesus God Himself? Was He not the incarnate flesh of God? Surely it cannot be said that it was only after receiving witness that He became the only Son of God? Long before He began His work, was there not already a man by the name of Jesus? You are unable to bring forth new paths or to represent the Spirit. You cannot express the work of the Spirit or the words that He speaks. You are unable to do the work of God Himself, and that of the Spirit you are unable to do. The wisdom, wonder, and unfathomability of God, and the entirety of the disposition by which God chastises man: all of these are beyond your capacity to express. So it would be useless to try to claim to be God; you would have only the name and none of the substance.”
“If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the conceptions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, but it turned out that Jesus came, so it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again.”
After reading the words of God, the elder sister said, “Let me read a passage of Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life to you, ‘This is just like when Jesus came to work: He ushered in the Age of Grace, and brought to an end the Age of Law. He did one stage of the work of redemption, and rescued mankind from sin. In order that His work would be effective, He performed some signs and wonders. In the last days, Almighty God has come, He has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and brought to an end the Age of Grace. But He does not repeat the work done by the Lord Jesus. Instead, based upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He carries out the work of judgment beginning from the house of God. He expresses all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind to resolve the source of our sin and our satanic disposition, and to thoroughly save us from the influence of Satan, so that we will be gained by God. And the false Christs? They are all evil spirits who fake Christ. They are incapable of doing work of ushering in a new age and bringing the old age to an end. They can only imitate the Lord Jesus by performing simple signs and wonders to deceive those muddle-headed people without discernment. But they are incapable of copying what Jesus did as raising the dead and feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, or rebuking the wind and sea, which is totally beyond them. In substance, false Christs are wicked, they are evil spirits and totally devoid of the truth. And so, they have to rely on signs and wonders to deceive people. Or else they deceive and admonish people by imitating the tone of God’s words and simple words once spoken by God.’”
Through reading the words of God and the sermons, I understood how the false Christs deceive people: False Christs declare that they are Christ, but they are actually evil spirits, do not possess the essence of God, and cannot do the work that God does. They can only perform some miracles, such as healing diseases and casting out demons, in order to deceive people, whereas Christ can bring new work. Just like when the Lord Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace, and He delivered sermons that enabled people to confess their sins and repent. In the same way, Almighty God has come to end the Age of Grace and bring about the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out the work of purifying and perfecting people. This is the work that false Christs will never be able to perform. Actually, if they were the real deal, it’d be hard for them to fake it. But for the fraudsters, however strongly they shout, they still do not possess God’s identity or status and will be exposed and punished in the end.
After that the elder sister read another passage of God’s word, “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself.” The elder sister then fellowshiped this, “From the words of God, we can see that Christ is God incarnate, and that He is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh. That is, all that God possesses, including what God has and is, His disposition and wisdom, are all realized in this flesh. So He possesses the substance of divinity, and is the embodiment of the truth. He is always able to express the truth anytime and anyplace to supply and shepherd mankind. Only Christ can do the work of redeeming and saving mankind. No one else can imitate this. This fact is undeniable.”
I carefully pondered over the words of God read by the elder sister and her fellowshiping. The words of God gave me some discernment and I came to know that Christ is God Himself and He can express the truth, which is not possessed by any false Christs. Only Christ can express God’s own disposition and all that He has and is, and reveal all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan. The truths Almighty God has expressed and the work done by Him completely prove that Almighty God is Christ of the last days, is the one true God, and is the work and appearance of the Lord Jesus. Those who shamelessly call themselves God are all evil spirits in disguise; they have no truth, and are even less in possession of God’s substance. They can only corrupt and deceive people in order to achieve their goal of getting everyone to follow them and thus betray God. Only when someone understands the words of God will they have discernment of the true Christ and the false ones. Not having believed in God for very long, my stature is still too small and I really lack the truth, so I am incapable of discerning properly. Because I didn’t feel God’s loving salvation with my heart, I betrayed God ignorantly. My numb heart drove me to refuse the love of the elder sister heartlessly. The condemnation and blame in my conscience made my heart finally become aware, so I knew I had to cherish the opportunity and listen to her fellowshiping carefully.
God guided me to see through Satan’s tricks.
The elder sister went on reading another passage God’s word to me, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle. … Everything that happens to people is when God needs them to stand firm in their testimony to Him. Nothing major has happened to you at the moment, and you do not bear great testimony, but every detail of your daily life relates to the testimony to God.” After reading God’s words, she said to me, “Sister, because of the manifestation of fake Christs and rumors in the outside world, and the so-called ‘kind’ exhortations of our family members, our hearts have been disturbed and we have become lost. But in fact, the main cause of our problems is that we read so little of God’s words, don’t understand the truth, and are unable to clearly see through to the bottom of spiritual matters. Sister, it is a spiritual struggle that causes you to be beset with these troubles. In fact, so long as we equip ourselves with God’s words more, have some knowledge of God’s work and His disposition, and are able to discern all of Satan’s tricks and ruses, Satan will have no way to capture us. If we don’t have God’s words as our life in our hearts, or have little discernment of spiritual matters, when Satan causes disruptions for us we will have doubts about God even to the point of denying God, betraying God, and leaving God behind. So it will happen that we will fall victim to Satan’s tricks, miss the chance of being saved by God, and lose God’s salvation. In the end we will be devoured by Satan, and be destroyed along with it. This is Satan’s sinister motive. So we absolutely must do more to pray and draw near to God, and step up our reading of the words of God and equip ourselves with the truth more in future. Only in this way can we understand God’s will, see through Satan’s tricks, and stand witness.”
When I heard this, I suddenly realized: This was actually a spiritual struggle. Satan thought up every conceivable way to use the people and things around me to disturb my mind, and prevent me from believing in, following, and worshiping God. Satan is afraid that I will follow God’s footsteps and understand the truth, and then, distinguish its evil essence, betray it, and forsake it. It was because I was muddle-headed and without discernment that I believed in what people were saying but did not listen to God’s words, so that I lost my way. I decided to read more of the words of God and equip myself with more truths so as not to be taken advantage of by Satan. At that time, the emotions I had restrained for so long were finally set free by God’s words. I felt so happy, and also became convinced that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and is the one true God.
Through reading God’s words, I began to understand some truths and had some faith to follow God. But Satan was unwilling to admit defeat, and once again instigated a plot to test me.
God protected me and helped me stand witness when Satan’s temptation befell me again.
After some time, when my sister learned I still believed in God, she hurried over here from my hometown to urge me to desist. My husband also tried with her to stop me from believing in God. Facing all this, my heart was in torment and I prayed to God in my heart, “O God! Today, my sister rushed over specially to try to persuade me and my husband also tried to stop me from following You. Now, I feel weak-spirited and I can’t overcome their resistance. What should I do? I ask You to help me and give me faith.” After praying, I thought of a passage of God’s words that the elder sister once read with me, where Almighty God says: “Externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.”
Thanks be to the enlightenment of the words of God. I thought: “This matter is another deceitful scheme carried out by Satan. It wants to use my sister and husband to disturb me and impair my relationship with God. I must not fall for its tricks again. I’ll stand firmly to witness for God this time.” Then I said to my sister, “If you do not follow the Lamb’s footsteps, only believing nominally in God but not knowing the work of God, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus once said, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27). Those who are God’s sheep can hear His voice. If you are a true believer in God, you should not uphold yourself and ought to calm yourself down, seek and study. If you read the words expressed by Almighty God, you will know whether they’re the truth, and whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 5:3).
Hearing me say this, my sister looked at me in surprise, and it took a while before she fully gathered her wits. She said, “Hmm, I’ve believed for some many years, and you’ve been a follower for just a few days, but you can already sermonize very fluently.” At that moment, my husband’s attitude toward me also improved greatly, and he said, “As long as you don’t believe in the wrong God then it’s all OK.” My sister said nothing more, but had a helpless look on her face. From then on she no longer tried to block me. I thanked God from the bottom of my heart!
Now I feel it is so nice to believe in God. For me, not only every day is fulfilling, but also my heart is full of feelings of relief and freedom. Furthermore, I’ve found the true God and now follow His footprints. And this is my greatest happiness in this life. In The Church of Almighty God, I can not only attend meetings regularly and read God’s words, but can also fulfill duties to the best of my abilities. My husband says I’ve become a better and better person. And he is no longer opposed to my faith in God. All the glory be to God!
She heard the voice of God, but afraid to be deceived by false Christs. When she hold a heart of humble seeking on the Facebook, she welcomed the returned Lord.
She heard the voice of God, but afraid to be deceived by false Christs. When she hold a heart of humble seeking on the Facebook, she welcomed the returned Lord.