God’s Attitude Toward Sinners

God’s Attitude Toward Sinners

Wang Yan

The last days are here, the prophecies in the Bible have basically all been fulfilled, and brothers and sisters all look forward to the Lord coming to receive us into the kingdom of heaven. But many brothers and sisters in the Lord are asking: Although we go to church every week to give worship, and we often read the Bible and we expend ourselves and work for the Lord, we are always committing sins in the daytime and then confessing in the evening, living in this vicious spiral, and we can never free ourselves from the bonds of sin. If things carry on this way, will the Lord really forgive us, and receive us into the kingdom of heaven? How exactly does the Lord treat sinners?

The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit

The Awakening of a Deceived Spirit

By Yuan zhi, Brazil 

I was born in a small city in Northern China. In 2010, I followed my relatives to Brazil. In Brazil, I got acquainted with a Christian friend. He brought me to church to listen to sermons. But though I went three times, I never absorbed it. Afterward, because my job was keeping me busy, I didn’t go to church again until one day in June, 2015, when my friend brought me to church once more. This time, through what brothers and sisters shared, I had some understanding that the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer. Especially, when I first read Genesis, I understood that man was actually created by God and that God had created all things, and I felt that the Creator is truly wondrous. In school, the textbooks had taught me that man evolved from apes and monkeys and all the things in the world were formed naturally. Suddenly, I felt that, for more than twenty years, I had been deceived. Only after reading the Bible did I completely awaken. From that point on, I believed in the Lord Jesus.

Listen! Who Is This Who Speaks?

Listen! Who Is This Who Speaks?

Feb 25, 2018

Zhou Li, China

As a church preacher, the greatest affliction is no more than spiritual dryness and having nothing to preach. I felt helpless seeing fewer and fewer brothers and sisters coming to meetings and I came before the Lord many times to pray earnestly and ask the Lord to strengthen brothers and sisters’ faith. But the desolation of the church had not improved at all and even I lived in weakness and negativity …

Who Is the Obstacle on the Road to the Heavenly Kingdom (Part 2)

Who Is the Obstacle on the Road to the Heavenly 

Kingdom  (Part 2)

February 26, 2018

Bearing this question in mind, I went to find the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. Sister Lin fellowshiped to me, saying: “As for why it is that the elder and the pastor did not seek or investigate Almighty God’s work in the last days, but instead frantically accused and resisted Him, Almighty God has already made clear the essence and origin of this problem. Almighty God says: ‘Do you wish to know the root of why the Pharisees opposed Jesus? Do you wish to know the substance of the Pharisees? They were full of fantasies about the Messiah. What’s more, they believed only that the Messiah would come, yet did not seek the truth of life. And so, even today they still await the Messiah, for they have no knowledge of the way of life, and do not know what the way of truth is. How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing? How could they behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah. And since they had never seen the Messiah, and had never been in the company of the Messiah, they made the mistake of paying empty tribute to the name of the Messiah while opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means. These Pharisees in substance were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The principle of their belief in God is: No matter how profound Your preaching, no matter how high Your authority, You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah. Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous?’ (‘When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Look at the leaders of every denomination. They are all arrogant and self-right, and they interpret the Bible out of context and according to their own imagination. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they were incapable of preaching anything, would those people follow them? They do, after all, possess some learning, and can speak a little of doctrine, or know how to win over others and how to use some artifices, through which they have brought people before themselves and have deceived them. Nominally, those people believe in God—but in reality they follow their leaders. If they encounter those who preach the true way, some of them would say, “We have to consult our leader about our belief in God.” They require someone’s consent to believe in God; is that not a problem? What have those leaders become, then? Have they not become Pharisees, false shepherds, antichrists, and stumbling blocks to people’s acceptance of the true way?’ (‘Only the Pursuit of the Truth Is the True Belief in God’ in Records of Christ’s Talks). When the Lord Jesus had first come to do His work, He was beset by the frantic accusations and resistance of the Jewish leaders—the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees. In the end, they crucified the Lord Jesus. The ancestors of the Pharisees believed in God and were expert in the law. So why would they resist and accuse the Lord Jesus, and nail Him to the cross? We can see from the word of God that this was brought about by their satanic nature of being obstinate, arrogant, and not submitting to the truth. The Lord Jesus expressed so much truth, and they did not seek after or investigate it, but rather adhered to their own viewpoints. Their belief in God relied only on their own notions and imaginations, and they interpreted the Bible by taking verses out of context. This caused them to be blind, and not to obtain enlightenment from God. They did not know the work of the Holy Spirit, and did not understand the truth, nor could they understand God’s voice. This truly caused the words of the Bible to come true: ‘By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed’ (Mat 13:14–15). The pastors and elders in religious circles in the last days are the same as the Pharisees of that time, as what they place importance on is knowledge of the Bible and theoretical study of theology. They rely on their own thinking and imaginings to interpret the word of the Lord, and to delimit the way the Lord will return. They stubbornly cling to their own notions and imagination, and they do not seek the truth whatsoever. Not only do they not investigate the work of God in the last days, but they blindly resist and accuse Him, exposing their satanic nature of stubbornness, arrogance, and hostility to the truth. They study theology, equipping themselves with knowledge of the Bible, but that does not mean that they have any love for the truth, nor does it mean that they are able to accept and obey the truth. They explain Bible knowledge and theological theory, their only goal being to increase their own renown and reputation. They do so to safeguard their own status, and make believers look up to them reverently, adore them, and follow them. They see that the words which Almighty God expresses are the truth, and that they are able to conquer and save people, and that many people who have a love for the truth and who yearn for God’s appearance have read the word of Almighty God and have turned to Almighty God. They believe that the work of Almighty God is a threat to their status and livelihood, and so they fight back frantically and do their utmost to accuse and resist Almighty God. They take whatever means necessary to obstruct and disrupt believers from turning to Almighty God in an attempt to dominate God’s chosen people for all time. This is the root of why elders and preachers do not seek or investigate the work of Almighty God and why they frantically resist and accuse Almighty God. It can be seen in the evil deeds of the preachers and elders who resist God that they are the Pharisees of our time, and that they are the obstacle preventing believers from accepting the truth and being raised up into the heavenly kingdom. They are the antichrists, who resist God and make God their enemy, and have been revealed by God’s work in the last days.”

I Have Come Home (Part 2)

I Have Come Home (Part 2)

December 16, 2018

By Chu Keen Pong, Malaysia

The next day, March 12, I felt a kind of indistinct hope and ineffable excitement. This was because I had mostly discussed the “Son of man” with Susan the night before, and had talked about the “incarnation” as well. Even though I could draw a connection between the ‘Son of man’ and the ‘incarnation,’ and could know in theory that the Lord Jesus is none other than the incarnate Christ, I still wanted to know the answers to questions such as what the incarnation truly is, what Christ is, on what basis one could say with certainty that God has become incarnate, and so on. But since Susan and I both had work during the day and were only free in the evening, I just hoped that time would move a bit more quickly.

Christian Marriage | The Aftermath of My Husband’s Affair (Audio Essay)

Christian Marriage | The Aftermath of My Husband’s Affair (Audio Essay)

December 12, 2018

Lu Lu Anhui Province

In the middle of the night around 12:00 a.m., Lu Lu was staring at the computer screen, not daring to believe that what it displayed was a list of her husband’s expenses from the last few months: a few hundred yuan on women’s clothing at a department store, over a thousand yuan on a bottle of imported alcohol from a high-end liquor store … Seeing this list of numbers, Lu Lu collapsed into the chair and felt a taste of despair for the first time in her life. She never could have imagined that her husband who had been through thick and thin with her would suddenly betray her. Her sister-in-law’s kind warning came to mind: “Lu Lu, aren’t you afraid that my brother will do something disrespectful to you while he’s away?” Her response was, “I couldn’t say what others might do, but your brother isn’t that kind of person.” Her air of confidence at that time surfaced in her memory—faced with the bitter truth in that moment, it really felt like a mockery. The truth, hard as nails, completely obliterated the last line of defense in Lu Lu’s heart, and tears rolled down her cheek one after another, like a string of pearls. She hoped so fervently that this was a delusion and so longed to return to the wonderful times of the past, to the nostalgia of their innocent love. …

I Have Finally Seen the Way of Being a True Person （2）

I Have Finally Seen the Way of Being a True Person （2）

October 29, 2017

Xiao li    Henan Province

Even though I am willing to pursue being an honest person, as I have been too deeply corrupted by Satan, putting it into practice is still quite difficult; especially the moment it has to do with my reputation or status, I just lie and cheat in spite of myself. I remember when I was preaching the gospel and I saw that my brothers and sisters really threw themselves into their evangelism, and were winning many people for God, but my results were never very good. I felt ashamed, and I was worried that other people would look down on me because of that. During those few days I had just borne witness to a new member about God’s work in the last days, and she brought two more friends to her house so that I could chat with them as well. But because some other things came up that day, I never made it. In the evening a sister asked me how many people I had converted, and without thinking I told her: “Three people.” After she left, I started to reproach myself: I clearly just converted one person, so why did I say three? Wasn’t it just for my own vanity, my own face? Before, when I didn’t focus on being an honest person, I told many lies without being conscious of them, but when I started focusing on it I discovered that I lied quite a lot and that these lies just fell out of my mouth. It seemed that I was killing myself with these lies. I was subject to a lot of refinement on this, and I was concerned that I was so difficult to deal with. I questioned myself: Will it kill you to tell the truth? Why don’t you just remember things? I was disheartened because I had never been able to truly enter into the truth of being an honest person. I felt that I was an utter failure as a human being and I even believed that God didn’t want to see me, this deceitful person, anymore. It was so difficult for me to tell the truth, and I had so many corrupt dispositions, how could I possibly change? It turned out that my essence was as the devil’s and I could not be saved by God. Sooner or later He’ll get rid of me. When my thoughts went there, I lost all confidence in myself and began to give up.

My Daughter at Death’s Door: I Witness a Miracle by Praying to God

My Daughter at Death’s Door: I Witness a Miracle by Praying to God

December 5, 2018

By Wang Yue, China

God’s Words Comfort Me After My Daughter Is Involved in a Sudden Car Accident

It was gone 11 a.m. on the morning of October 8, 2011 and I was just preparing lunch at home, when suddenly the phone rang. As soon as I answered it, the person calling said anxiously, “Your Lanlan has been in a car accident and they’re trying to save her at the county hospital. You’d best get here as soon as you can!” Hearing this, I felt a loud buzzing in my head, and before I’d said anything, the other person hung up. After I’d put the phone down, I just stood there for a while, thinking: “My daughter went out on her bicycle this morning to run some errands. How could she have been in a car accident? It’s just a prank call, isn’t it? But their tone didn’t sound like they were trying to trick me….” I didn’t have time to think any more, so I stopped what I was doing and left the house. I hurriedly waved down a cab and rushed to the county hospital. I was so worried as I sat in the cab that I clenched my fists tightly together, and I just kept looking out the window. I felt totally confused and upset and I couldn’t stop thinking: “How badly hurt is my daughter? Where has she been hurt? Is her life in danger? She’s only 17. She must be really scared being in the hospital on her own….” The more I thought about it, the more panicky I got, and I couldn’t calm down. I wanted to be there instantly by my daughter’s side to see what exactly the situation was. In my helplessness, I thought of God, and then quickly I called on God in my heart: “O God! I hear that my daughter has been in a car accident. My heart is in turmoil and I’m really worried, and I don’t know how my daughter is right now or how bad her injuries are. O God! I ask that You protect my heart so that I may keep calm before You. However serious my daughter’s injuries are, give me the courage to face it all.” After praying, I thought of these words of God: “Because I am your Father, I am your strong tower, I am your shelter, I am your backup, and moreover I am your Almighty One, and I am your everything!” (“Chapter 109” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). Yes, God is almighty, and He holds sovereignty over everything and administers all things. God is our strong backup and He is our greatest support. I should entrust my daughter to God and rely on God as I experience this situation. As I thought this, my panicked heart gradually began to calm down.

God Is With Me—Witnessing a Miracle Amidst Despair

December 7, 2018

By Zhao Zhihan, China

As we journey through life, every one of us will experience some extraordinary events which become inscribed on our memory and will never be forgotten. The experience that has left me with the deepest impression was the time my husband was involved in a car accident, when no one knew whether he would pull through or not, and the days that followed, during which I felt at a complete loss and was at the end of my tether. But what was different for me was that, because God was with me and I had His guidance, I thus had a support, and through praying to God and relying on Him, I witnessed a miracle in the midst of my despair. During that disastrous time, what I gained more was understanding of God’s authority and sovereignty, and a true appreciation of God’s love …

Testimony of a Christian: How She Overcame the Temptation to Have an Affair (Part 1) Audio Essay

Testimony of a Christian: How She Overcame the Temptation to Have an Affair (Part 1) Audio Essay

November 16, 2018

Xiyue

One evening, Jingru was tidying her place.

“Ring, ring.” The phone began to ring. She answered it and a strange yet familiar voice sounded in her ear: “Hello! It’s Wang Wei. You’re home!”

“Wang Wei?” Jingru was somewhat astonished: Why was he calling her now after so many years?

“Yes … I’m home. What’s up?” asked Jingru in surprise.

“Long time no see. I’d like to take you for a ride. I’m on my way to your place and will arrive soon. Wait outside your door for me!” said Wang Wei.

After she’d hung up, Jingru’s heart began to race, and her thoughts immediately returned to those days at school …

To Be an Honest Person Is Truly Great! (Audio Essay)

July 3, 2018

Wu Ming, China

One day in 2004 a friend said to me: “Every day you get up early and are busy all day cutting cloth, you exhaust yourself, yet you still don’t make money. Today’s society relies on the tongue to make money, like the popular saying goes: ‘It is better to have a slick tongue than to have strong arms and legs.’ You know that I’m now engaging in the direct sales business selling makeup products, not only does it make me beautiful, I also don’t need to exert too much effort each day, I just need to speak a few words with my customers and sell my products in order to make a lot of money. Why don’t you change jobs and come sell makeup products with me?” I looked my friend over, she really was prettier than before, and then I thought about how I had been a dressmaker for over 10 years, how I hadn’t really made any money at it, and how I wasn’t getting any younger. If it really was like what my friend was saying, if by switching to a job where I sold makeup products I could make easy money, and could even become younger and prettier and win the high praises of others, then that would be much better! As I thought about this, I told her right then and there that I was willing to become a part of the company. Later, after my inspection, I ordered over 3,000 yuan worth of products, and I started my job in the cosmetics industry as a beauty consultant for this company.