We've always maintained that God's words and work are contained in the Bible.
It's simply impossible for God to speak beyond the Bible.
The Bible contains the fullness of God's salvation.
As for God's words and work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace,
do any dare say the Bible records all?
No. I wouldn't dare.
Lord Jesus foretold He would come again.
How could the returned Lord Jesus' words be recorded in the Bible ahead of time?
What's wrong? What are you brooding about so late?
Pastor Zhu and I went to Chen Yongguang's meeting.
They do believe in the Eastern Lightning.
Really?
Yes.
I can't believe just how quickly
Brother Chen and the others have gained true insight.
Their communion is so well grounded.
I didn't know how they could improve so quickly.
So they've been studying the Eastern Lightning all along
and reading Almighty God's words.
The truth they fellowship can not be denied.
I am convinced!
It seems the Eastern Lightning does have the truth.
No wonder many believers who pursue truth accept the Eastern Lightning.
From what you say, the Eastern Lightning is really worth studying!
Otherwise,
why would so many of the church's lead sheep convert to Almighty God?
Zhizhong,
do you think the Eastern Lightning might really be the return of the Lord?
Hard to say now.
Tomorrow, Brother Chen will invite over some of their members.
They will fellowship with us.
I'll use this time to investigate
though I still believe that belief in the Lord cannot stray from the Bible.
Brother Gao, Brother Song, have a seat, please.
Thanks.
Please have a seat.
Thank God! Now for introductions.
Brothers Song Yang and Gao Zhiyuan from the Church of Almighty God.
Thanks be to God!
This is Pastor Zhu and Elder Liu of our church.
We welcome the two of you to our church.
Please sit! (Mm.)
Please!
We all know
that since Almighty God has begun His work of judgment here in China,
people from different denominations who thirst for God's appearance
have turned toward Almighty God. (Yes. Amen!)
They have all been raptured before God
because of hearing His voice (That's so great. Yes.)
and enjoyed the living water of life which flows from God's throne. (Amen!)
They've attended the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Amen!)
These are the wise virgins who've been brought before God's throne. (Yes.)
Only through these months of investigation do we see this truth.
Yes. That's right.
Thank God.
Before, we all had imaginations and notions,
we believed the Bible was all God's word and inspiration,
that the Bible represented God,
and that the words of the Bible represented all God's words and work.
We believed that salvation lay in the Bible.
Therefore we never sought the work of God in the last days.
We all lived in desolation.
We lost the Lord's presence and the work of the Holy Spirit.
We felt forced to search for a church that held the Holy Spirit's work.
Yes. That's right.
Thanks be to God!
God has given us His grace and allowed us to hear His voice
and find the footprints of His work and return before Him.
Amen!
Through this experience, we've learned about
how we should think of the Bible in our faith
and the relationship between it and God.
Understanding this aspect of the truth is so important. (That's true! Yes.)
It determines whether or not we'll be brought before God's throne,
whether we will enter God's kingdom!
Yes, indeed. That's true. Yes.
If this issue is not resolved,
false notions will keep us from seeking the true way. (Yes, it's true!)
Such mistaken theories have really resisted God.
We should seek truth in the relationship between God and the Bible.
Aright.
Right, this is crucial. We should definitely seek the truth. (Right! Yes.)
Now then, please raise any questions you have.
We'll all fellowship. (OK.)
Yes, it's about time we really seek the truth.
Brothers Gao and Song, now let me raise a question.
Mm.
You say that the Lord Jesus has already arrived.
He's Almighty God and He's doing the work of judgment.
Is that true? (Right. Indeed.)
I think this can't be.
We've always maintained that God's words and work are contained in the Bible,
and that they don't exist outside the Bible. (Indeed! Amen.)
We believe that belief in the Lord can't stray from the Bible.
Through the Bible, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven. (Amen!)
Is anything wrong with this understanding?
Please commune with us.
Elder Liu is right.
God's words and work are within the Bible. (Amen!)
It's simply impossible for God to speak beyond the Bible.
The Bible contains the fullness of God's salvation.
The Bible is the Lord. (Amen!)
Our belief is based on the Bible.
Straying from it is a betrayal of the Lord! (Amen!)
Do you not accept all this as fact?
That's right! The words and work of God are all contained within the Bible.
No matter what happens, we must exalt and uphold the Bible. (Amen!)
Isn't that so? (Right.)
Hmph! The Bible is all we need to follow. (Amen!)
He is wrong. What we should exalt is God. How come it is the Bible?
Everyone, you say that all God's words and work are within the Bible,
and that it contains God's full salvation,
and that God's words and work will not appear outside the Bible.
The religious world believes this.
It seems no one can truly ascertain if this view is valid.
In the past, we treated all issues according to the Bible.
Let me ask:
Does this religious world's view accord with the Bible or with God's word?
No!
Lord Jesus never said anything like that in the Bible,
nor did the Holy Spirit ever speak so.
So where does this idea come from, you may ask?
Yes, where does it come from?
Well alright, let's hear it. So where does it come from?
Right! Let's hear it.
Mm. OK! This isn't hard to explain.
It can be said with certainty
that this notion comes from man's imagination. (Right!)
The conception and imagination …
Why do I say this?
We all know both Testaments of the Bible record two stages of God's work.
As for God's words and work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace,
do any dare say the Bible records all? (No.)
Do any dare say all God's words delivered through prophets in the Age of Law
and all of the Lord Jesus' words in the Age of Grace are in the Bible?
No. I wouldn't dare.
Actually, you're all well aware that
many of Lord Jesus' words are not recorded in the Bible. (Right.)
The words of Lord Jesus within the Bible are just the tip of the iceberg!
Many of the prophets' books in the Age of Law
are also not included in the Bible.
This is commonly acknowledged.
How could you say all God's words and work are recorded within the Bible?
Does this not contradict all fact?
In this sense, are you not liars?
It is resisting God to lie.
Lord Jesus foretold He would come again.
How could the returned Lord Jesus' words be recorded in the Bible ahead of time?
That's impossible!
Right, impossible!
We should be very clear:
The Bible is a record of God's work performed in the past.
Many years since the writing of the Old Testament,
Lord Jesus did the work of redemption during the Age of Grace. (Yes!)
Tell me now, would the Lord Jesus' words automatically get written down?
No, impossible. No way.
That's right. That would be impossible!
God's words and work had to be compiled
before they could be in the Bible. (Amen!)
That does make sense.
In the last days, Almighty God has come to do judgment starting from God's house
and has expressed truths to save mankind.
Could these truths automatically appear in the Bible? (Impossible!)
The Church of Almighty God compiles all truths Almighty God expresses
into the Bible of the Age of Kingdom—The Word Appears in the Flesh.
This Bible of the Age of Kingdom contains only the expression of God
with none of man's words inside. (Amen.)
We say The Word Appears in the Flesh is the eternal way of life
given by God in the last days.
Amen!
Thank God! (Thanks be to God!)
This is the precious treasure God has bestowed us.
The view that God's words and work are all within the Bible,
and that God's words and work won't appear elsewhere
is not true, absurd,
and completely the product of man's notions and imaginations.
Amen!
Do we all agree with these facts? (Indeed! Yes, it's all true.)
They spoke well. They're aligned with fact!
I'm reminded of the Gospel of John,
This Bible passage clearly states
that it doesn't contain all of Lord Jesus' words and work.
The Bible's actually a very limited account.
How could we say that all of God's words and work are within the Bible?
That's right!
Therefore, what is this but a bare-faced lie? (Yes, that's right.)
The pastor and elder's view
that God's word is only in the Bible just doesn't hold up! (Indeed!)
Let's read from Almighty God's words to further clarify. (OK.)
Please turn to page 984.
Now page 1274.
I will read. (Mm, good.)
Amen! Thanks be to God!
Yes, that's right.
Almighty God's word is completely aligned with facts.
The Bible's just a record of God's word and work
in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. (Right!)
The words and work of God in the last days couldn't be written in advance.
Right.
We used to claim all God's words and work were only within the Bible.
This doesn't line up with the fact of God's work.
It's true.
Yes, and if we don't seek and study the work of God during the last days
and refuse to accept the return of the Lord Jesus,
we'll be forsaken by God! (That's right. Right!)
This fulfills the Lord Jesus' words,
Yes.
If we don't welcome the Lord when He comes, are we not betraying Him?
How does adhering to the Bible and the Lord's name constitute betrayal?
I don't agree with your views.
How many times have pastors and elders said
we mustn't ever forsake the Bible in our faith.
Only by adhering to the Bible may we enter the kingdom of heaven. (Amen!)
How could this be wrong?
Right, pastors and elders can't be wrong.
Why do you always listen to pastors and elders?
You claim only through the Bible may we enter the kingdom of heaven.
Let me ask: Is there any evidence of this in the Bible?
Did Lord Jesus ever say this? Did the Holy Spirit ever say this?
So where does this idea even come from?
That's right, there's no evidence.
There is a grave problem with this idea.
The Bible was compiled by man and not by God.
Given this, naturally some things were left out and errors were made.
Man had not received God's salvation and perfection and so lacked the truth.
Man was not able to tell what issued from God and what was from man.
They were even less able to recognize deviations
in the experience, testimonies of men.
Right!
And so, lacking truth and discernment,
man often selected what he liked according to his imagination,
and left out that which issued from God but did not align with his own thinking.
He was prone to mistakes.
So inevitably, man made mistakes while compiling the Bible.
If our faith is based solely on the Bible,
how can we know we'll enter the kingdom of heaven?
Tell me now, am I right? (Yes. Indeed!)
No one can ensure that.
You say it well!
The Lord Jesus has never said
that only through the Bible can man enter God's kingdom.
As for entrance into His kingdom, He said,
Amen!
The Lord Jesus put it clearly:
Only those that do the will of the heavenly Father shall enter God's kingdom.
To those who say only by clinging to the Bible may we enter God's kingdom,
let me ask: Does adhering to it mean doing the heavenly Father's will?
Can the Bible stand in for the work of the Holy Spirit? (No.)
Without the work of the Holy Spirit, can man achieve salvation?
There's no way. It's true.
Can the Bible alone cleanse man's corrupt disposition?
Can the Bible change his life disposition?
By understanding the Bible alone, can man know God? (No way! Right!)
As everyone knows, the Pharisees understood the Bible.
But why did they nail Lord Jesus to the cross?
When the Lord Jesus came, why did He curse the Pharisees,
those great Bible interpreters?
Does clinging to the Bible mean you know God's voice?
Does it mean you've been raptured before God's throne?
Does it bring you to the feast of the Lamb?
Do you have an answer for these questions?
No, we've never thought about that.
Amen!
You substitute the Bible for the Lord and the words and work of His return.
Isn't that a betrayal of the Lord?
Are you a servant of the Lord or a servant to the Bible?
Are you serving the Lord or serving the Bible?
If you don't grasp the relationship between them,
how do you ever expect to know Him? (That's right.)
You put blind faith in the Bible to bring eternal life,
and yet you fail to obey and worship the Lord.
Is this not the path the Pharisees walked?
It sure is. It definitely is. Yes. Just like the Pharisees.
Didn't the Pharisees all worship the Bible, not the Lord?
Did they not nail the Lord to the cross, incurring curses of the Lord?
This is fact. There's no denying it. (That's right!)
Yet you say through the Bible you'll enter God's kingdom,
is this not just absurd?
Indeed it is.
You've served for years as elder and pastor, yet still hold such absurd views.
How are you any different from those hypocritical Pharisees?
Indeed. Aren't they the right hypocritical Pharisees?
You've believed for years and still don't understand. (Right!)
After years of faith, man should know the Lord's will.
His return is to deliver all saints to His kingdom. (Amen!)
As to how the Lord delivers the saints, no one is quite sure.
The Lord Jesus has said
the wise virgins who hear the bridegroom's voice
shall go with the Lord to the feast. (Amen!)
This proves that when the Lord comes again during the last days,
those who have heard His voice and have gone with Him to the feast
shall be taken into His kingdom. (Amen!)
Those who hear the voice of the Lord are indeed the most blessed.
Amen! Thanks be to God!
Yes, we're truly blessed.
Thanks be to God.
Does knowing the Bible by heart mean that one can recognize the Lord's voice?
No, it doesn't. (It certainly does not.)
Does knowing it by heart mean one knows the Lord's voice? (No.)
Right, the Pharisees memorized and even interpreted it,
yet they still nailed Him to the cross.
What went wrong?
Thus, it's clear only those who love truth and can hear God's voice
will welcome the Lord, (Amen!)
and receive life from Him.
Only they shall be brought to the kingdom of heaven. (Amen!)
Thank God!
Thanks be to God!
Praise the Lord.
It truly is as you've said.
Before, we blindly followed pastors and elders
and confined the work of God within the Bible.
We thought that as long as we adhered to the Bible,
we would enter into the kingdom of heaven,
never bothering to seek the true way
and unaware of how to search for the words of the Holy Spirit
spoken to the churches.
How'd we think we'd see God's appearance? (That's right.)
The worst of it is
I even followed them in resisting Almighty God's work of the last days.
By following pastors and elders,
I opposed God just as the Pharisees once did. (Indeed, that's right!)
Yes, we were all so blind, so ignorant! (Yes!)
Only through your fellowship did I see
that following the footsteps of God's work
is how we might receive salvation. (Indeed. Yes.)
If we just accept the Bible and not the work of God in the last days,
then we'll be abandoned.
Right.
How do we expect to be purified and receive salvation?
That is all true!
It's been years
that we've been listening to pastors' interpretation of the Bible,
yet received little truth. (That's right.)
We believed all God's words and work are within the Bible,
and that by adhering to it, we'd enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, we rejected the work of God in the last days.
Thinking back, we're lucky. God didn't abandon us! (Right.)
Thanks be to God.
Bad news … Brother Chen,
someone's reported our meeting place. (What?)
We better relocate.
Where there is the work of the Holy Spirit, there is Satan's interference.
Let's adjourn now before the police arrive.
Sister, let's go first.
Pastor Zhu,
this fellowship had everyone sitting on the edge of their seats. (Yes.)
Let's try to find a safe place to continue?
That's my wish too!
I agree too. Yes, me too.
Very well, their fellowship is quite enlightening and all seem intrigued.
Brother Chen, let's move to a new location. (Okay.)
Hey, let's use my storehouse.
It's safe and out-of-the-way.
Good, good, let's go then.
Great.