What Should Mankind in the Last Days Do Toward the Increase of Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes?

Recently, when surfing the internet, I read a lot of news about the increase of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

On February 27, Mount Etna, which is the largest and strongest volcano in Europe and is located on the east coast of Sicily in Italy, erupted suddenly. It is very shocking that the red lava stood out in sharp relief against the white snow around. The eruption of Mount Etna has threatened the air traffic and the surrounding villagers’ safety. The local government issued a yellow alert, stopping anyone to get close to it.

On February 25, Fuego Volcano in Guatemala erupted. It was the second time this year. The first eruption was on January 26.

On February 5, Mount Sinabung in Sumatra, Indonesia erupted seven times in a day. A large amount of volcanic ash caused thousands of local villagers homeless.

In January, the only active volcano in India, the Barren Island volcano erupted for successive four hours. It is recorded that its last eruption was in 1787.

In the end of January, Kilauea in the southeast of Hawaii in the United States spewed molten lava for several times.

It is reported that the four big volcanos in Iceland become more and more active and will erupt at any time.

So far, there are 35 worldwide volcanos which are spurting or have erupted. And it is detected that more volcanos will be about to erupt. Experts say that it is unpredictable that when volcanos will erupt, that is to say, there is always a chance that volcanos erupt explosively.

Not only the global volcanos are in the active period of eruption, but also earthquakes increase obviously in number. The data of the United States Geological Survey shows that 2697 huge earthquakes occurred globally from January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2017, 208 huge earthquakes happened world-widely in 2011 alone, and the tsunami and nuclear accident caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake of Fukushima in Japan left nearly 20,000 people dead. Comparing the 6 to 7 magnitude earthquakes happening in the past sixteen years with those of the same period in the last century, netizens find that earthquakes increase 450% in number.

Looking at the above information, I couldn’t help to think about the Four Blood Moons sparking the web discussion not long ago and the last blood moon has appeared in 2016. In light of the frequent volcanic eruptions and increased earthquakes and more and more other disaster reports overwhelming the news media every day, we can completely make sure that the last days when God will send the great disasters prophesied in the Bible have come. The verses say, “And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come” (Joe 2:29-31). “The great and terrible day” mentioned here refers to the day when God will send down great disasters. Before it, God will make man see that varying disasters arise and astronomical and geological phenomena become abnormal. Nowadays, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other disasters take place frequently. The biblical prophecies of the signs about the last days have basically fulfilled. The Lord Jesus has descended among man, that is, Almighty God has been incarnated and appeared and worked in China in the last days. Almighty God says, “All disasters befall one after another, and disasters arise in every nation and every place. Plagues, famines, floods, droughts, and earthquakes can be seen everywhere. They do not happen in one or two places, nor will they be over in one or two days, but they will spread over more and more regions. Moreover, the disasters will be greater and greater. During this period, various kinds of insect plagues will break out one after another, and cannibalism of man will occur in various places. All these are My judgment upon all nations and all peoples” (“The Sixty-fifth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Today, Almighty God incarnate descends in China in a hidden way, does the work of judgment beginning with God’s family and conquers and saves a group of overcomers. God’s kingdom gospel is spreading to all nations and all peoples quickly. Almighty God’s words of purifying and saving man, the videos and articles on various testimonies of God’s chosen people’s experience of God’s work to be transformed in their disposition, and a variety of choir and dance videos of testifying to God and praising God have been put on the website, so that people who truly seek God’s appearing all over the world can make an investigation. Meanwhile, God sends down all kinds of disasters to warn that this mankind corrupted by Satan to the extreme, should come before Him to seek the way of truth which will purify them, accept His judgment and chastisement to be transformed in their corrupt disposition and live out the likeness that a normal man who gains the truth aslife should have, so that they can be cared and protected by Him in the coming great disasters and be left alive. If they continue to love the pleasures of sin, eat and drink and have fun and get fleshly enjoyments, intrigue against each other for the interests, and become licentious and fallen to satisfy their lust, if they indulge themselves and become degenerate without repentance, when God sends down the great disasters, that is, when the door of God’s saving man closes, they will have no opportunities to be saved by God and survive and they will only be destroyed with Satan by God. This is the same with the mankind of Noah’s time who was destroyed by God with a flood. Before the flood, God had Noah preach the gospel, giving man the opportunity to go into the ark to avoid the disaster. But they persisted in their wrong way. When the flood came, it was too late for them to go into the ark. Almighty God says, “God alone knows the fate of a country or nation, and God alone controls the course of this mankind. If mankind wishes to have a good fate, if a country wishes to have a good fate, then man must bow down to God in worship, repent and confess before God, or else the fate and destination of man will unavoidably end in catastrophe” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Why does God judge and chastise corrupt mankind when he works in the end time?

Bible Reference

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God…” (1 Peter 4:17).

“And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:6-7).

The answer from God’s word:

“The work of the last days is to separate all according to their kind, to conclude the management plan of God, for the time is near and the day of God has come. God brings all who have entered His kingdom, that is, all those who have been loyal to Him to the end, into the age of God Himself. However, before the coming of the age of God Himself, the work that God desires to do is not to observe the deeds of man or to inquire about the lives of man, but to judge his rebellion, for God shall purify all those who come before His throne. All those who have followed the footsteps of God to this day are those who have come before the throne of God, hence all who accept the last of God’s work are those to be purified by God. In other words, all those who accept the last of God’s work are those who will be judged by God.”

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The essence of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is to cleanse humanity, and it is for the day of final rest. Otherwise, the whole of humanity will not be able to follow their own kind or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest. Only God’s work of cleansing will cleanse humanity of their unrighteousness, and only His work of chastisement and judgment will bring to light those disobedient things among humanity, thereby separating those who can be saved from those who cannot, and those who will remain from those who will not. When His work ends, those people who remain will be cleansed and enjoy a more wonderful second human life upon the earth as they enter a higher realm of humanity; in other words, they will enter into humanity’s day of rest and live together with God. After those who cannot remain have undergone chastisement and judgment, their original forms will be entirely revealed; after this they will all be destroyed and, like Satan, will no longer be allowed to survive upon the earth. The humanity of the future will no longer contain any of this type of people; these people are not fit to enter the land of the ultimate rest, nor are they fit to enter the day of rest that God and man will share, for they are the targets of punishment and are the wicked, and they are not righteous people.”

from “God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, which reveals all that is unrighteous, and publicly judges all peoples, and perfects those who truly love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time in which God reveals the end and the destination of man. If man does not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing the disobedience and unrighteousness of man. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and man shall be classified according to kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things shall be revealed, so that the evil shall be punished and the good shall be rewarded, and all people shall become subject under the dominion of God. All the work requires righteous chastisement and judgment to be achieved. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment, and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. … If, when the end of man is revealed during the last days, God still bestows upon man inexhaustible compassion and love, if He is still loving toward man, and He does not subject man to righteous judgment, but shows him tolerance, patience, and forgiveness, if He still pardons man no matter what serious sins he commits, without any righteous judgment, then would there ever be an end to all of God’s management? When would a disposition such as this be able to lead mankind into the right destination? Take, for example, a judge who is always loving, kindhearted and gentle. He loves people irrespective of the sins they have committed, and he is loving and tolerant of people whoever they are. Then when will he be able to reach a just verdict? During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement.”

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Today I judge you, and chastise you, and condemn you, but know that your condemnation is so that you might know yourselves. Condemnation, curse, judgment, chastisement—these are all so that you might know yourselves, so that your disposition might change, and, moreover, so that you might know your worth, and see that all of God’s actions are righteous, and in accordance with His disposition and the needs of His work, that He works in accordance with His plan for man’s salvation, and that He is the righteous God who loves man, and saves man, and who judges and chastises man. If you only know that you are of lowly status, and that you are corrupt and disobedient, but do not know that God wishes to make plain His salvation through the judgment and chastisement that He does in you today, then you have no way of experiencing, much less are you able to continue onward. God has not come to kill, or destroy, but to judge, curse, chastise, and save. Prior to the conclusion of His 6,000-year management plan—before He makes plain the end of each category of man—God’s work on earth is for the sake of salvation, it is all in order to make those who love Him totally complete, and bring them back to His dominion. … In the eyes of man, salvation is the love of God, and the love of God cannot be chastisement, judgment, and curse; salvation must contain love, compassion, and, moreover, the words of solace, and must contain the boundless blessings bestowed by God. People believe that when God saves man He does so by touching him and making him give his heart to Him through His blessings and grace. In this way, He saves man: When He touches man He saves him. Salvation such as this is salvation in which a trade is being made. Only when God bestows him with a hundredfold does man submit to the name of God, and strive to do well for God and bring Him glory. This is not God’s will for mankind. God has come to work on earth in order to save corrupt mankind—there is no falsehood in this; if not, He would not do His work in person. In the past, His means of salvation was showing the utmost love and compassion, such that He gave His all to Satan in exchange for the whole of mankind. Today is nothing like the past: Today, your salvation occurs at the time of the last days, during the classification of each according to kind; the means of your salvation is not love or compassion, but chastisement and judgment in order that man may be more thoroughly saved. Thus, all that you receive is chastisement, judgment, and remorseless smiting, but know that in this heartless smiting there is not the slightest punishment, know that regardless of how harsh the words are, what befalls you is but a few words that appear utterly heartless to you, and know that, regardless of how great My anger, what comes upon you are still words of teaching, and I do not mean to harm you, or to put you to death. Is this not all fact? Know that today, whether it be righteous judgment or heartless refinement and chastisement, all are for the sake of salvation. Regardless of whether today there is the classification of each according to kind, or the laying bare of the categories of man, all of God’s utterances and work are in order to save those who truly love God. Righteous judgment is in order to purify man, heartless refinement is in order to cleanse man, harsh words or chastening are all in order to purify, and for the sake of salvation. And thus, today’s method of salvation is unlike in the past. Today, righteous judgment saves you, and is a good tool for classifying you each according to kind, and ruthless chastisement brings you supreme salvation—and what have you to say in the face of this chastisement and judgment? Have you not enjoyed salvation from start to finish? You have both seen God incarnate and realized His omnipotence and wisdom; moreover, you have experienced repeated smiting and discipline. But have you not also received supreme grace? Are your blessings not greater than those of anyone else? Your graces are more bounteous than the glory and riches enjoyed by Solomon! Think about it: If My intention in coming to earth were to condemn and punish you, and not to save you, could your days have lasted so long? Could you, these sinful beings of flesh and blood, have survived until today? If it were only for the sake of punishing you, why would I have become flesh and embarked upon such a great enterprise? Would it not take but a single word to punish you mere mortals? Would I still be of a mind to destroy you after condemning you? Do you still not believe these words of Mine? Could I save man merely through love and compassion? Or could I only use the crucifixion to save man? Is My righteous disposition not more conducive to making man completely obedient? Is it not more able to thoroughly save man?”

from “You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will for the Salvation of Man” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

source from: Find the Shepherd

FacebookTwitterGoogle+ReddiTumblPinterest分享

We listen to and obey the pastors and the elders in everything. Is this obeying God? Can we be saved by believing in God this way?

The answer from God’s word:

“People who believe in God should obey God and worship Him. You should not exalt or look up to any person; you ought not to give first place to God, second place to the people you look up to, and third place to yourself. No person should hold a place in your heart, and you should not consider people—particularly those you venerate—to be on a par with God, to be His equal. This is intolerable to God.”

from “The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Look at the leaders of every denomination and sect. 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 him about our belief in God.’ See how 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? …

Regardless of whether you followed men or did not satisfy God’s heart’s desire in the past, in this stage you must come before God. If in this stage, on the basis of experiencing this stage of work, you still follow men, you will not be forgiven….”

from “Only Pursuing the Truth Is Truly Believing in God” in Christ’s Talks With Church Leaders and Workers

“Some people do not rejoice in the truth, much less judgment. Rather, they rejoice in power and riches; such people are deemed to be snobs. They exclusively seek out those sects in the world with influence and those pastors and teachers coming from seminaries. Despite having accepted the way of truth, they remain skeptical and are unable to devote themselves fully. They speak of sacrificing for God, but their eyes are focused on the great pastors and teachers, and Christ is brushed aside. Their hearts are filled with fame, fortune, and glory. They do not believe at all that such a meager man is capable of conquering so many, that one so unremarkable is capable of perfecting people. They do not believe at all that these nobodies among the dust and dunghills are the people chosen by God. They believe that if such people were the objects of God’s salvation, then heaven and earth would be turned upside-down and all men would laugh their heads off. They believe that if God chose such nobodies to be perfected, then those great men would become God Himself. Their perspectives are tainted with unbelief; indeed, far from unbelief, they are preposterous beasts. They only value position, prestige, and power; what they hold in high regard are large groups and sects. Therefore, they have no regard at all for those led by Christ. They are simply traitors who have turned their backs on Christ, on truth, and on life.

What you admire is not the humility of Christ, but those false shepherds of prominent standing. You do not love the adorableness or wisdom of Christ, but those wantons who associate with the vile world. You laugh at the pain of Christ who has no place to lay His head, but admire those corpses that seize offerings and live in debauchery. You are not willing to suffer alongside Christ, but gladly go into the arms of those reckless antichrists though they supply to you only flesh, only letters, and only control. Even now your heart still turns toward them, their reputation, their standing in the hearts of all the Satans, their influence, and their authority, yet you continue to have an attitude of resistance and refusal to accept the work of Christ. This is why I say that you do not have the faith of acknowledging Christ. The reason you have followed Him to this day is entirely because you were forced. In your heart forever tower many lofty images; you cannot forget their every word and deed, nor their influential words and hands. They are, in your heart, forever supreme and forever heroes. But this is not so for the Christ of today. He is forever insignificant in your heart and forever undeserving of reverence. For He is far too ordinary, has far too little influence, and is far from lofty.”

from “Are You a True Believer of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“You who follow God with your words had better open your eyes wide to see who it is you truly believe in. Is it God or Satan? If you know that the one you believe in is not God but an idol, you had better not say that you believe in God. And if you do not know who you really believe in, you had better not say that you believe in God. It is blasphemy to say that! Believing in God is not something to be forced. Do not say you believe in Me—I have heard it often enough and do not want to hear it again, for the ones you believe in are the idols in your heart and the villains among you. All those who shake their heads when hearing the truth, yet are all smiles when hearing the words of death, are the descendants of Satan and are to be eliminated.”

from “Warnings to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Letters

Su Xing

One day in 1999, my pastor said to me after a gathering, “Su Xing, here is a letter for you.” I took a look and found it was from a church that I established in Shandong Province. On my way home with that letter, I thought to myself: The letter is thick. Are they facing some difficulties?

After I went home, I could not wait to open the letter. It read, “Sister Su, peace to you in the Lord! We’re writing to tell you a piece of fantastic news: Our Savior Jesus, for whom we’ve been yearning night and day, has returned! He has returned to flesh in China and done a stage of work to purify man with the word, bringing an end to the Age of Grace and ushering in the Age of Kingdom…. We hope that you can accept God’s new work, follow His footprints, and never miss the opportunity for God to save you….” Seeing this, I thought: It’s over. So they didn’t encounter any problem, but accepted the “Eastern Lightning.” I was eager to know who on earth wrote it. When I turned to the last page, however, I found that all the brothers and sisters of this church had signed their names, though it was written by Brother Meng alone. I was left dumbfounded. They were so far away, and I could not go there for the moment. What should I do? In tears, I prayed to the Lord, “Oh Lord! These brothers and sisters have believed in You for a short time. They have not taken root. May you keep them….”

Then, I wrote the first rebuttal letter after studying the Bible. I wrote, “Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ I exhort you to be cautious and prudent. Paul said, ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel to you than that you have received, let him be accursed’ (Galatians 1:6-9). Brothers and sisters, I took painstaking efforts to bring you before the Lord, yet you actually betrayed Him so quickly. Your statures are too small. You cannot easily believe others! You must listen to me, for what I preached to you is the true way. The Lord JesusChrist is our only Savior, so you must hold on to His name forever….” After I finished the letter of eight pages, I felt grounded, thinking: I’ve written all I should write, studied all the verses I should study, and exhorted all I should exhort. I’m sure that they will realize they’ve taken the wrong way after reading the letter, and apologize to me in their reply. Then I mailed the letter with full confidence.

Half a month later, I got the reply. The brothers and sisters said, “… Sister Su, we cannot keep silent about what we see and what we hear, for what we believe in is exactly the return of the Lord Jesus, we are holding to the true path and going forward, and we have kept up with the Lord’s footsteps instead of betraying Him. ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ’ (Galatians 1:6-7). These are Paul’s words, which have a background. The ‘another gospel’ in Paul’s words refers to the Pharisees asking man to keep Jehovah’s laws at that time, not the work of judgment beginning at God’s house done in the last days when the Lord Jesus returns to flesh. Today, the Lord coming to do this stage of work just fulfills the prophecy in the Book of Revelation, ‘And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come …’ (Revelation 14:6-7). ‘The everlasting gospel’ in Revelation refers to the work of judgment beginning with the house of God done by the second coming of the Lord Jesus. When Paul wrote that letter to the Galatian churches, there was not the Book of Revelation, let alone people who preached the kingdom gospel of God. Therefore, the ‘another gospel’ mentioned by Paul cannot possibly refer to the work of judgment beginning at God’s house that the Lord comes to do in the last days. The salvation in the last days not only fulfills the prophecy in Revelation, but has already been revealed to the Lord Jesus’ disciples by the Holy Spirit. Just as Peter said, ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5). Sister Su, are we not longing for the Lord’s return as we believe in the Lord? Now the Lord has really come back. We should be the ones who seek humbly, and never be like the Pharisees who measured God’s new work with their biblical knowledge, defined God’s work by their notions and imaginations, and at last nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross, being cursed by God. Does the lesson of the Pharisees not deserve our reflection? Moreover, Sister Su, we cannot listen to you just because you preached the gospel to us, for what we believe in is God. Peter and the other apostles once said, ‘… We ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29). Sister Su, if we listen to you rather than God, do you think it is reasonable? You may think it over since you have believed in the Lord for so many years….”

I was rendered speechless by those words, but not won over. I hurried to take out the Reference Bible and turned to the introduction to the Book of Galatians. After reading it carefully, I was surprised, thinking: What they said is true! Why did I never notice that this verse had such a background? No wonder they were not convinced. On second thought, however, even if that was really the case, it could not prove that their preaching about the Lord’s return was true. I then read the letter through once again, getting more and more angry. I thought: You have known much more biblical verses in such a short period. That really surprises me. How dare you talk back to me with such severe words, and even say I am like the Pharisees? I hate most the Pharisees. I’ve believed in the Lord for so many years, working hard and laboring night and day for the believers. Don’t you know that? The more I thought about it, the more awful I felt. I thought to myself: No. How can I be taken down by these new believers? I’ve read the Bible so many times, and I refuse to believe that I’m unable to refute you.

So, I lifted my pen and wrote the second letter, saying, “Brothers and sisters, peace to you in the Lord! I feel so uncomfortable seeing your reply. I was not to have you listen to me, nor believe in me. You just have no understanding of my heart. I’m afraid that you have no discernment and thus turn away from the way of the Lord Jesus. For the Lord Jesus said, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Matthew 24:23-24). Paul also said, ‘Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means …’ (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). Dear brothers and sisters, I beseech you in the name of the Lord Jesus: There will be terrible times in the last days. We should memorize the Lord’s words. Do not believe any news preaching the Lord’s coming. Now various sects are springing up, so you should be very vigilant to avoid taking the wrong path and offending the Lord.”

Half a month later, they replied to me again, saying, “Sister Su, the verses you found for us are not wrong, but we should be clear about the true meaning of those words of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus told us clearly: When He comes in the last days, there shall arise false Christs who perform signs and wonders to deceive man. He urged us to have discernment, but He did not say that any news preaching His coming would be false. In terms of how to distinguish the true Christ from false Christs, we copy a passage of Almighty God’s words for you, hoping that you can read it carefully. Almighty 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, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, 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’ (“Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words have made it very clear that God’s work is always new and never old without any repetition, while false Christs possessed by evil spirits can only imitate the work of the Lord Jesus, such as healing and casting out demons, displaying signs and wonders. Nonetheless, however evil spirits falsely pretend, they cannot do the work of God Himself for their absence of God’s substance. Furthermore, we should not blindly deny the Lord’s return just because of the appearance of false Christs in the last days….”

Seeing those words from Almighty God they quoted, I just had no mind to read carefully or ponder, for what I cared about was whether they could turn to the Lord after seeing the verses I found for them. We went back and forth to debate, but I did not manage to persuade them; instead, they refuted me through and through. I immediately prayed to the Lord, and then laid the Bible and all spiritual books on my bed, flipping unceasingly with a view to finding evidence that could take them down. At that moment, the room was silent except for the sound of pages turning.

Unknowingly, it was night. I was tired out and sighed deeply: It does take a lot to reply to them. Then I picked up my pen and wrote the third letter to them, “Brother and sisters, having read your letter, I think you are no longer the original lovely lambs. You not only deviated from the Lord’s way, but even refused to listen to me and refuted me like that. I think what you have done has hurt the Lord’s heart. I’m grieved, too. May the Lord Jesus move you, so that you can turn around soon by perusing this letter. Amen!”

Another half month passed. I got their reply. To my disappointment, they did not turn around after my exhortation out of love, but responded in a severer tone, “Sister Su, it is true that you preached the gospel to us. We also remember how you have suffered for the Lord. However, we even more give our thanks to the Lord, for it was God who found us, the lost lambs, through you. We believe that you are only a servant in charge of watching over the flock, while the Lord Jesus is our real shepherd. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ (John 10:14-16, 27-28). God entrusts His sheep to every one who works for Him, and their duty is only to keep watch on the flock. When God comes, they are supposed to return the flock to God. Sister Su, we all know the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in the Bible, which was given by the Lord Jesus. In order to seize on the inheritance of the householder, those wicked farmers beat the servants who went to receive the fruits, and even killed the son of the householder when he was sent to them. What would the householder do to those farmers when he returned? We can absolutely not act as the wicked servants. Now God has come back, so we should give His sheep to Him. This is the sense we ought to have. You should ponder it through….”

This letter left me astounded indeed. I thought: How come they’ve understood so much in such a short time? It’s been just two years since I established this church in Shandong Province. When I left the church, they were still at the infant stage. I didn’t expect that a few months after their acceptance of the “Eastern Lightning,” their speech would become so forceful, nor that the biblical verses they found to refute me could be so appropriate that I just had no words to counter. At this point, I felt particularly disappointed, with a sense that these brothers and sisters were steadfast in following the “Eastern Lightning.” They seemed to have written me off since they did not turn around despite my exhortation out of love. I realized I was unable to have them turn back. Feeling weak and limp all over, I wrote the fourth letter in helplessness, “Have it your own way. The Bible says that what is of God will increase while what is of man will decrease, which has been acknowledged throughout the ages…. Do not write to me anymore. May you hold on to your faith and love in Jesus Christ.”

Since I rejected God’s kingdom gospel preached by the brothers and sisters from the church in Shandong Province, my spiritual circumstances had gotten ever worse. Meanwhile, my pastors and elders framed me and excluded me from the church in order to fight for the church offerings. I felt extreme pain, and had no idea of what course to take. I often went to the bank of a big river, and sang the song in tears “Lord, You Are My Most Intimate Friend” to the river. I expected the Lord to come soon, saving me from this miserable situation….

Half a year passed. One day, I heard my mother-in-law calling my name from the outside when I was cooking lunch. I made a response, and then saw her come in followed by a quiet, slim, young woman. My mother-in-law said, “This young sister comes here for you. She could not find you according to the address at her hands, so she went to your church, and was then referred to your former neighbor by a sister in your church who didn’t know your new address. The neighbor told me that this young sister was very eager to see you. I guessed she might have something very important to tell you, so I took her here at once.” I looked her up and down, thinking: Who is she? It’s like I didn’t know her. On seeing me, however, the young sister hurried to me and held my hands, saying excitedly, “So you’re Sister Su Xing! I finally found you.” Disorientated by her action, I looked at her with confusion, asking, “Who are you? It seems that I didn’t see you before.” She replied with emotion, “Sister, my family name is Wang. It was Brother Meng and Sister Zhao who introduced you to us. They wrote a letter to our church, the Church of Almighty God in the northeastern region, urging us to do everything we could to find you. They’re too busy to come here personally, so they told us to preach God’s kingdom gospel to you face to face. This letter had been transferred many times before reaching our church. I’ve asked around, finally finding your home….” With that, the young sister was choked up, and passed the letter to me. I took it and saw the following, “Sister Su Xing truly believes in the Lord. Please make sure to find her and preach God’s kingdom gospel to her….” Looking at this letter, I felt a wave of warmth in my heart with tears involuntarily falling. My mother-in-law was also moved, and said, “Thanks be to God! This truly is God’s love!” Then I said to Sister Wang warmly, “Come in, sister.” Her sincerity and kindness really impressed me, and I was not at all defensive.

After lunch, I fetched my co-worker Sister Zhang. Hearing we were going to have a fellowship, my husband decided to join us instead of going to work. Sister Wang asked me with concern, “Sister, Brother Meng mentioned in the letter that they had written many times to you preaching God’s kingdom gospel, but you didn’t accept it. Do you have some misgivings inside? If you have any difficulties, you may bring them up, and we can fellowship together.”

I said, “Since you say that, I’ll speak frankly. I do have some misgivings after reading their letters. Now we are in the last days when various false Christs and prophets have emerged, so we should be quite watchful. Besides, every Sunday our pastors and elders read chapter 24, verses 23-24 of the Gospel of Matthew: The Lord Jesus said, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ They strictly forbid us to listen to sermons elsewhere or contact strangers in case we get deceived and take the wrong way. In that case, our belief will end up in vain.” Sister Zhang, my mother-in-law and husband all expressed the same misgivings.

Then Sister Wang patiently communicated with us the truth of how to distinguish the true Christ from false Christs, and read a passage of God’s words for us. Almighty 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, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, 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 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—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” (“Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading God’s words, Sister Wang fellowshiped, “From Almighty God’s words, we can see that God has a principle in His work, that is, He never repeats the same work and His work is always new and never old with each stage. For example, in the Age of Law, the work of Jehovah was to guide man’s life on earth with the laws. In the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus came, He did not repeat the work of Jehovah, but instead did a new stage of work and made new requirements for man, like confessing and repenting, loving their neighbors, forbearing and forgiving each other, worshiping God in spirit and in truth, and so on. Moreover, He bestowed abundant grace upon man, healed the sick and cast out demons. In the last days, when Christ comes again, He will not repeat the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, that is, healing and driving out demons, and performing signs and wonders. Rather, He does a stage of work to judge and purify man with the word. These things can be seen clearly from Almighty God’s words. False Christs do not possess God’s substance and thus are unable to do the work of God Himself. In order to interrupt God’s management, they imitate the work of the Lord Jesus and display miracles to deceive God’s chosen people and destroy God’s work in the new age. As such, during the last days, if we see someone heal and cast out demons, perform signs and wonders, and even proclaim themselves to be the return of Christ, they are definitely the false Christs. Now we must have been clear about why the Lord Jesus told us, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Matthew 24:23-24).”

After listening to Sister Wang’s fellowship, I put my hand on my breast, keeping pondering in my heart: Oh Lord! I’ve been claiming to guard against false Christs all day long, but actually I have no idea of how to discern them. If I only guard against false Christs, and thus even reject the true Christ, won’t I miss Your salvation? When I thought about this likely consequence, I felt that I had reached a low point. I could no longer stay there at ease, so I went to the kitchen with an excuse to get some water and tried to calm down. While pouring the water, I thought: I did not expect that such a young sister could fellowship so well. These words are just like a timely rain, watering my thirsty spirit. So God has really come back to do a new work! Then I recalled the scenes of me writing to my brothers and sisters in Shandong Province: I lifted my pen and lectured them in an arrogant tone. I thought that I was striving to defend the true way, yet in reality I was resisting God. Was I not one of the Pharisees of modern times? At that point, I was limp and weak from head to toe, and my hands were shivering in spite of myself, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on me. The content of the letters kept replaying in my mind like a movie. I had an unrelenting sense that I had overstepped the mark. Thinking of this, I lost control and could not stop the tears from flowing down my face. After a moment, I wiped my tears and went back to the room.

Sister Wang looked at me, and said concernedly, “Sister, how do you feel about what we fellowshiped just now?”

I replied with a sigh, “Your fellowship leaves me deeply reproached. I long for the Lord’s coming every day. However, I didn’t think that when the Lord came, I would actually act like the Pharisees. I’ve committed a heinous sin.” At that time, I was already choked with tears.

After investigating Almighty God’s words for some time, Sister Zhang, my mother-in-law, my husband and I all ascertained that Almighty God is precisely the returned Lord Jesus. Feeling exhilarated, I stood by the mailbox and sent the fifth letter to my brothers and sisters in Shandong Province, and my heart was as if flying there together with the letter, “Dear brothers and sisters, thank God for having you preach God’s kingdom gospel to me time and again. Now I’ve accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days and joined the Church of Almighty God. Though I accepted it later than you, I don’t want to lag behind you. I will do my best to catch you up….”

The End.

Source: Rainbow Covenant