Hey, Brother Xiang.
Yes?
Have you heard that saying?
Which one?
This one: "Your eyes can deceive you. Hearing is believing."
Yes.
- See, this— - Wait, wait, wait.
That's wrong, that's wrong!
No, it's not.
- It's backwards. - Not at all!
It should be "Your ears can deceive you; seeing is believing."
Seeing is believing?
That's Right.
As for welcoming the Lord, believing only what we see is a real big problem.
Why do you say that?
I know that one— the Lord Jesus said that one to Thomas.
He did.
Thomas didn't believe the Lord had been resurrected
until He personally appeared to Thomas after that.
The Lord condemned him for that.
Indeed.
Wait, what does that have to do with welcoming the Lord?
Everything, my brother!
Oh?
Those who won't accept the Lord until they finally see Him returning on a cloud
will be themselves condemned just like Thomas.
That's so?
I made that mistake and was almost cast aside, rejected entirely by the Lord!
Seriously? What's the story behind all this?
So I'm waiting for years for the Lord to return on a cloud and bring us into heaven.
Yeah.
I'm always gazing up at the sky, looking for the Lord.
That's right, all of us believers gaze up at the sky.
But I wait and wait until the four blood moons appear,
all sorts of disasters happen, the pandemic ravages the world,
but I still haven't greeted the Lord.
The anxiety is just killing me.
I understand.
So, if we still aren't able to welcome the Lord,
we'll probably perish in the great disasters, right?
Absolutely right!
Most of the prophecies of the Lord's coming have been fulfilled.
That's true.
So why hasn't He returned on a cloud to take us with Him into His kingdom?
I don't know, either.
I read and reread the Bible, trying to figure this out.
Great.
I even go surfing to find my answer.
Surfing?
Surfing the web!
Oh, you …
One day I see a post.
Brother Chen posted something interesting online that says—
Says what?
"Did you know that the Lord has already returned in secret and spoken?"
The Lord has returned in secret?
"2,000 years ago,
He's already come back just as He promised, as Almighty God Himself in the flesh."
Wow!
"He expresses truths to do the work of judgment beginning with God's house.
He's uttered millions of words during His work
which are what the Holy Spirit says to the churches in the last days.
This truly fulfills the prophecy in Revelation:
The Lord has returned and has spoken?
He has returned, become flesh, and spoken?
It's the first I've heard of that.
The pastor never mentioned it.
So it looks like I have to—
Check it out!
Sayonara.
No, no, no, wait.
You can't just do that. You simply can't!
Why?
Welcoming the Lord is a big deal. Let's learn more about it.
The problem is, our pastor has us waiting for the Lord to return on a cloud,
and that's what the entire religious world does.
I've never heard about the Lord coming again in the flesh.
You're right.
Just as I'm about to close the page,
Brother Chen sends a passage of Almighty God's words.
It strikes me just like a bolt of lightning.
What is it? Is it really that powerful?
I'll read it for you.
Okay.
So it'll be too late to welcome the Lord when He comes on a cloud,
and we'll be punished then?
That's why I just couldn't sit still after reading this.
And?
"To be punished?
Won't the Lord return on a cloud and take us straight up into heaven?
So why does it say we'll be punished
when we see the Lord Jesus coming down from heaven?
What's all this about?"
Hold on, you have to ask what it's all about.
Alright!
Hey, Brother Chen responded.
Oh?
"An essential question. Essential!"
Yeah.
"In the last days the Lord returns in two stages."
Two stages?
"In secret, God incarnates before the disasters happen to make the overcomers.
After the disasters He comes in clouds to reward good and punish evil.
If we only accept Him when He returns to us on a cloud,
we'll miss the chance to be perfected into overcomers by God,
and we'll just be punished when the Lord comes openly,
weeping and crying in agony."
The Lord comes in two stages, first in secret, and then openly, right?
That's right.
That's the first time I've ever heard that.
I can't figure it out either.
Why haven't I seen it in the Bible that He'll return to us in the flesh in secret?
Exactly.
Right then, Brother Chen just bam! bam! bam!
What? What does he do?
He sends me a few verses.
Oh yes.
Are these related to the Lord arriving in secret?
I'm just mulling it over when Brother Chen responds again.
"The Lord Jesus mentioned 'the coming of the Son of man'
and said 'the Son of man comes' many times.
'The Son of man' is born of a human, with normal humanity.
The Lord called His return 'the coming of the Son of man.'
So it's about God incarnating as the Son of man in the last days
and coming in secret."
Didn't "the Son of man" in these verses refer to the Lord Jesus?
"Are you confused?
The Lord Jesus was God in the flesh. Yes, He was the Son of man."
That's right.
"But that was the Lord's prophecy about His return to us.
How could that be about the Lord Jesus?"
That's right! How come I never realized that before?
"The Lord said this about Him returning to all of us in the flesh.
Christ of the last days, Almighty God, is the Son of man incarnate.
He looks ordinary, with normal humanity, just as the Lord Jesus.
From looking at Him, no one would know that He's God.
That's why His incarnation is kept secret from all humanity.
But in fact God in the flesh has a divine essence.
He can bring us truths, do God's work, cleanse and save mankind.
Those who truly desire God's appearance
recognize God's voice when they read Almighty God's words.
They accept and follow Him.
It's just as the Lord Jesus said:
So it means the Lord has already come in secret
and we can only welcome Him if we hear God's voice?
That's exactly it!
So then, Brother Chen bam! bam! bam! fires over more verses.
Oh good.
Have all these come to pass yet?
Keep listening.
Okay.
"Almighty God incarnate's appearance and work fulfill these biblical prophecies."
It's true.
"God incarnate knocks at our doors with His words,
and if we recognize His voice, accept and submit to Him,
we are all the wise virgins who welcome the Lord and then attend His feast."
That's wonderful!
After hearing all this, I felt like a train emerging out a long tunnel—
What do you mean by that?
Into the light!
God incarnate arriving in secret is totally in line with the Bible.
I've read these words plenty of times. Why haven't I ever seen that before?
We've just been listening to pastors and elders all this time,
stupidly waiting for the Lord to come on a cloud and take us into heaven.
We don't know how to listen to God's voice and welcome Him.
Isn't that a really big problem?
- It really is a problem. - Definitely.
Brother Chen said
that Almighty God brings us truths to do the work of judgment,
to fully save all mankind,
so we can escape sin and be taken into His kingdom.
Oh.
When a group of overcomers has been made,
God incarnate's work in secret will finally come to a close.
He'll rain down disasters, reward good and punish evil.
Those who don't accept God's work of the last days
while He's working in secret,
but resist and condemn Almighty God, Christ of the last days,
will of course fall in the disasters.
When the Lord comes openly on a cloud,
they'll be weeping and gnashing their teeth.
Yeah, that's absolutely right.
This fulfills the prophecy in Revelation 1:7.
Amen.
So that's how "kindreds of the earth shall wail" will happen.
Right!
Now I finally get why Almighty God said
Now I get it too!
Half of it.
Huh?
I still can't figure some things out.
Tell me.
Our sins, they've been forgiven and we've been saved by our faith and God's grace,
so why doesn't the Lord come on a cloud and take us straight up into heaven?
Why does He have to—
become flesh and do the work of judgment?
We're on the same page!
I asked about this.
So Brother Chen hits me right there
with a few words,
"It's true that our sins have been forgiven.
But did the Lord Jesus say that would simply allow us into the kingdom of heaven?"
You know, He never actually said
that it would grant us entry into the kingdom of heaven.
That's true.
Brother Chen then sends bam! bam! bam! a few more verses.
Afraid I won't understand, Brother Chen shares fellowship:
"The Lord was extremely clear.
We have to truly repent and follow the Lord's will to enter the kingdom of heaven."
That's the standard for getting into it.
"Look at us then—
we've been forgiven, but we're still always lying and sinning.
We're arrogant, deceitful, evil, vicious, hard, and despise the truth.
We have all these corruptions.
We lust after money, vanity, fleshly pleasures, and follow worldly trends."
This …
"We live in a cycle of sinning, confessing, and sinning again.
We can't keep the Lord's commandments.
Are we really people who both obey God and follow His will?"
Well …
"Have we truly repented then?"
Not really.
"Without true repentance, can we even enter God's kingdom?"
Definitely not.
- I have one more question for you. - Yeah?
So, our pastor said to us
that since the Lord Jesus was our eternal sin offering,
even though we're always sinning, He's forgiven all of our sins for good,
so He doesn't see us as sinful anymore,
and we can get into the kingdom of heaven when He comes.
Did you ask Brother Chen about that?
Of course I did, but he stumped me again.
Huh?
"Does the Lord not seeing us as sinful mean that all of a sudden we're holy?
Does it mean that we're free from sin?
The Bible also says,
Would God treat people who sin often as holy?
If people who sin and resist God got into His kingdom,
wouldn't they keep resisting?
Would God really let someone like that into His kingdom?"
What great questions, huh?
They had me sweating.
So without getting rid of sin
we can't truly repent
or see the Lord's face
or get into God's kingdom!
Brother Chen, right then, bam! bam! bam!
Sent more Scripture verses?
A passage of Almighty God's words.
Oh? What was it?
Through Almighty God's words and Brother Chen's patient fellowship
I finally got it.
Great!
So the Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption,
not the work to judge and purify people in the last days.
Our faith just allows sins to be forgiven, but we still have a sinful nature.
So no matter how much we pray, confess, and try to rein ourselves in,
we can't escape sin.
That's so true.
Take lying as a prime example,
it can't be resolved with any sort of prayer or any means of self-control.
True.
A smack in the mouth doesn't work.
It has nothing to do with your mouth.
Oh?
It comes from your satanic nature.
Satanic nature?
Brother Chen told me
that a satanic nature
is what Satan implants deep inside of us so we resist God,
and it's the root of our sin.
Think of being arrogant, deceitful, evil, vicious, hard, and despising the truth,
all of these satanic natures are rooted deep in our hearts.
They drive us to cheat and lie very selfishly,
to plot and manipulate, pursue fame and status,
to always want to be in charge and hold power over others,
follow evil trends and lust for fleshly pleasures.
They drive us to—
Hang on. I get it.
So it's impossible for us to escape the bonds of sin
because the root cause is in our satanic nature!
That's it!
Then Brother Chen said,
"If our satanic nature isn't resolved,
it's impossible for us to be an honest person.
Even if you want to, you can't obey or worship God,
much less practice the truth or follow God's will."
So true.
"Almighty God does the work of judgment,
bringing us all truths that purify and finally save mankind,
to fix man's satanic nature of sinning and resisting God
so that we can truly escape sin and be fully saved."
Wow! So after that we finally won't sin anymore?
Right.
"After we undergo God's judgment and know many truths,
we'll no longer be misled by Satan or be corrupted.
We'll genuinely hate Satan and forsake it,
practice the truth and submit to God."
Yeah.
"We'll be totally freed from the bonds of sin and truly gained by God."
Now I really get it!
Half—
and the other half.
So that's all of it!
To escape the bonds of sin,
we have to accept Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days.
Exactly!
Since I learned this, I've been reading nothing but Almighty God's words online.
I read testimonies and watch films from The Church of Almighty God.
It's a marvel to see those brothers and sisters experience God's work of judgment
and have their corrupt dispositions cleansed.
There are all sorts of testimonies.
What kinds of testimonies?
Of how they experience the judgment of God's words,
truly repent and change their corrupt dispositions,
how they practice the truth to be honest and become devoted in their duty,
how they submit to and love God through many trials,
and testimonies of becoming overcomers.
There're so many testimonies from the followers of Almighty God
and there are even overcomers.
Yes!
But look at us,
just idly waiting for the Lord to come on a cloud to take us into heaven.
That's so foolish, so backward, so absurd, so idiotic.
In all our years of faith in the Lord, we've never understood this.
Even without God's judgment in the last days or our corruptions being cleansed,
we still think we'll enter His kingdom.
Yeah.
That's like climbing stairs to get to space.
Wait, what?
Pure fantasy.
It really is.
Lots of people still wait for the Lord to return on a cloud.
They don't look out for what the Holy Spirit says to the churches
or try to hear God's voice to welcome Him.
If they don't wake up soon, they'll be cast out as foolish virgins.
They won't be blessed at all.
Now I'm certain that the Lord has returned and spoken.
I completely accept it.
Then you really are blessed!
I am.
You haven't seen the Lord come on a cloud
but you've accepted the truths expressed by God.
You've accepted Christ incarnate of the last days.
This is a blessing from God!
Oh yes. Thanks be to God!
It's just as the Lord Jesus said: