The preacher still isn't here.
I know we should have started.
I'm not waiting.
Hey, sister…
Xiao Yuan, now you show up! Do you know how late you are?
Let's go in. They're all waiting for you…
Hey, Xiao Yuan!
Xiao Yuan, it's your sermon today! Why are you so late!
I was busy getting all the information for today's sermon.
I did read a lot of spiritual books, online I did a lot of research,
but even after that, I didn't put anything on paper.
I came here to tell you I have nothing to preach.
Should one of you preach?
What should we do now? I have no sermon ready.
Maybe, Meng'ai, how about you?
Me?
I haven't felt the Holy Spirit working in me for quite a while.
I can't preach either.
I think it's best if one of you go.
You? Brother Ding…
I cannot go.
Giving sermons scares me.
All I could tell you is letters and doctrines. None has reality.
I'd be just misleading people.
We're already late.
Tao Wei, why don't you go today?
(sigh) I will go.
Let's go first!
I guess I'm doing it after all.
I'm scared of giving sermons. What should I do?
Lord! The church is a cold place today.
We've lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and it's starving us.
We preachers don't even know what to preach.
Lord! Please help us!
Without Your work, we're stuck using theology to analyze the Bible.
Like that, we can't benefit anyone. It just becomes another religious service.
Lord, I know what we preached in the past wasn't what You wanted from us.
But now, what can we do?
Brothers and sisters, let's turn in our Bibles to John 4:14.
In the past, when we read the Lord's words,
we found enlightenment and ways to practice.
The Lord's word was like the river of life that waters our heart,
and gave us the sustenance we needed to live.
And we had endless words in the sermon.
But now, we can't feel the presence of the Lord.
We don't understand the truth in His words.
In this situation, can the words He left, the way He preached
be living water in our hearts that wells up to eternal life?
This is the problem!
Without the Holy Spirit's work, is the living water still here?
Can we receive the truth without the Holy Spirit's work?
Can we still receive life?
Of course we can't!
It's the time of the Lord's return,
but we don't feel the work of the Holy Spirit.
We have read and fellowshiped on the Lord's word at every meeting,
but we can't fellowship His truth clearly,
and we have nothing to say.
There is no reality of the truth and we can't supply our brothers and sisters.
Why is this happening now?
I think this is something we should talk about today.
Even the preacher has nothing to say. That's how starved we are for truth.
We're all so weak and negative, and most of us believe half-heartedly.
It's just like the Laodicean church in the book of Revelation.
Does this mean the Lord has spewed us out?
Well, Sister Tao, then haven't you become the leader of the church in Laodicea?
If we're lukewarm, neither hot or cold, how could you have anything to preach?
Since you mention it, that might be the reason.
Those lukewarm in their belief will be eliminated. So what should we do?
We should focus on the book of Revelation.
Which type of church are we caught up in? Which type of church will be raptured?
If we can't be raptured, doesn't that mean we've wasted time all these years?
Brothers and sisters, why don't we feel the work of the Holy Spirit?
Why is there so much hunger in the church?
Why is the religious world so cold and desolate?
There must be a divine mystery in this!
We should pray to the Lord together and search for His will together.
The Lord Jesus is the fountain of living waters,
but we can't receive the water from it.
Have you thought the Lord may have reappeared to do His work elsewhere?
We all have great thirst and we must search for the Lord's footsteps.
That is because where to find the Holy Spirit's work and His utterances
is something we must fellowship clearly on right now.
This affects the future and destinies of every believer.
What do you all think about this?
The desolation in the church didn't happen overnight.
We haven't felt the Holy Spirit's work for a long time.
The water of life isn't here.
We need to look for the Lord's footsteps!
Yes, predictions of the return of the Lord have come true.
Disasters are happening around the world. Churches are getting more desolate.
The Lord might have returned.
Maybe He has already appeared somewhere to work,
but we just don't know about it.
The Lord has returned? Impossible!
If He really is back, then shouldn't we all have been raptured?
That's right. As long as we keep the name of the Lord,
we'll enter the kingdom of heaven when the Lord returns! (Amen! Hmm, exactly.)
Where the "rapture" is concerned, we shouldn't be using our own imaginations,
because God's mind is higher than man's.
What the rapture really is, what entering the kingdom of heaven is,
and what work the Lord will do when He returns,
we have no way to know.
Plus, we are negative and weak, and always sin.
The Lord is holy.
We don't know
if we can be raptured and enter the kingdom of heaven when He returns.
The church today is desolate.
We feel dark in spirits and we don't feel the Lord's presence.
Our first task
is to find a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit,
and find the Lord's footsteps again!
Right! We have to start looking right now!
Let's search for where the Lord appears!
We can't be foolish virgins eliminated by the Lord!
Brothers and sisters, we should search around at other churches.
Whichever church has the work of the Holy Spirit,
that's where we'll find the water of life.
Does everyone agree?
Right. We should be clever virgins, and actively seek the Lord's footsteps.
When Canaan was in famine,
Jacob and his family left,
and went to Egypt to look for food to survive the disaster.
Let us look at Genesis 41:53.
Let's read together.
Today, the situation in the religious world
is similar to what happened in Canaan.
We must find the church with the work of the Holy Spirit.
Where we find the work of the Holy Spirit, we'll find the Lord's blessing too.
Where we find the Holy Spirit's utterance,
we will also find the Lord's appearance.
The Lord keeps His promises.
As long as we follow His word, the Lord will guide us.
However, house churches all across the country
face cruel oppression and arrest from the CCP.
They have been underground for years,
and no one dares to have public gatherings.
If we go looking for churches everywhere, it will be dangerous.
It will be very dangerous.
I think we better just leave it!
No. We have to look! We can't wait here and do nothing.
We have to know God can only be seen in our faith.
No matter how dangerous it is, we have to look!
Right, we have to look for those churches.
But if we don't know anyone else, if we don't have a starting point,
it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
We'll never find it!
We need to know first and foremost what we're looking for.
Right! Where should we look?
China is huge. We need to know where to start!
I have an idea. What does Satan's regime fear most?
Satan fears the truth and the arrival of light most.
So we should start with the church the CCP fears most,
which suffers the worst persecution.
I'm sure we'll find the work of the Holy Spirit there,
and maybe the Holy Spirit's utterance and God's appearance.
Everyone with me?
Yes, now we have a target!
Brother Ding is right!
The CCP is an atheist government that hates the truth and resists God most.
China is a large country,
but the CCP would be the first to know where God's work appears,
and would oppress and persecute His followers first.
For more than sixty years in power, they see God as an enemy,
and try to make China a place without God.
So, wherever God's work appears, they will naturally persecute and oppress it.
I just remembered Henan was the worst the crackdown on the Shouters.
When the Shouters spread the gospel to the peak,
in Henan alone millions cried out for the Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit worked there,
which is why they suffered the CCP's worst oppression.
Brother Yang, you are correct.
In the past, the Shouters faced the harshest persecution.
But today,
the harshest attacks, condemnation, crackdowns, and arrests
are directed at the Eastern Lightning.
Everyone in the world knows that.
On the Chinese mainland,
the CCP is suppressing and arresting the Church of Almighty God,
and manufacturing evidence to twist the facts
and smear the Church of Almighty God.
We have seen it in newspapers and online.
So why the wild condemnation and brutal suppression
of the Church of Almighty God?
There must be divine mystery,
because the CCP is a satanic power
and it knows upon which church the Holy Spirit works.
It knows in which church the Lord appears, and in which truth is expressed.
Satan certainly knows these things before man,
so the Eastern Lightning might actually be the appearance and work of the Lord.
Because wherever the true God appears and works,
the condemnation against God will be loudest,
resistance and oppression will be the harshest.
That's right. Every level of the CCP government condemns
and bans against the Eastern Lightning.
In every city and county in the mainland,
you'll find slogans and posters
proclaiming the ban on the Church of Almighty God.
In factories, schools and villages,
you find propaganda and discussions
about how to interpret the suppression of the Church of Almighty God.
That's something everyone in the street knows. It's a recognized fact.
It is.
That's right. What you're saying is true.
Yes, I've seen it too.
If the Eastern Lightning is the appearance of the Lord,
it will be met with the CCP's harshest condemnation and persecution.
That much I understand.
But why do the pastors and elders of the religious world
also suppress, resist, and condemn the Eastern Lightning so much?
Can we explain that?
Yes, the pastors and elders are people who serve the Lord.
If the Eastern Lightning is really the appearance of the Lord,
why do they resist and condemn it?
The CCP's mad! What makes them resist so fiercely?
Jesus was crucified
because Jewish religious leaders colluded with the Roman government.
So, it's easy to understand
why the religious world follows the CCP resisting Almighty God.
Most people don't understand
that the nature of the religious world is to resist God,
which makes it easy for the religious world to mislead and deceive them.
When the Lord Jesus came to do work,
Judaism's highest leaders colluded with the Roman government
to resist and condemn Him,
finally crucified Him.
This we all know, something we all recognize.
"The truth has been persecuted since ancient times."
When the true God appears to do work,
He will be oppressed, persecuted and resisted
by the religious world and political power.
Just like it says in the Bible,
The world is under the control of the evil one,
and drives out light wherever it exists.
When the true God comes to man, His work will be rejected by the evil age.
The fact that the Lord Jesus was crucified is proof
that since the Age of Grace,
the religious world has been controlled by hypocritical Pharisees,
that is, antichrists,
which is why the religious world following the atheist CCP
in persecuting God's appearance
is not hard to understand. I guess this is very likely the truth.
Yes, right. Lord Jesus said this long ago. This is right, exactly.
From the prophecy we can see that
when the Lord Jesus comes again in the last days,
He will undergo much suffering, and be rejected by this generation.
Now, only the Eastern Lightning
suffers the CCP's and religious world's worst resistance,
condemnation, and oppression.
Then the Eastern Lightning is very likely to be the appearance of the Lord!
If this is how the Lord chooses to appear to humanity,
then this is a very wise, significant insight.
To us, it seems counterintuitive.
Only the clever virgin discovers the Lord's appearance,
while the foolish virgin follows the religious world
and the world in condemning the Lord's appearance,
and easily loses the Lord's salvation in the last days.
We have to seek! We should be wise virgins.
Thank the Lord!
Finally, we have a way to find the Lord's appearance and His work.
Let's start our search with the Eastern Lightning,
and see what they have to tell us!
The Eastern Lightning might really be the Lord's appearance and work,
with the words of the Holy Spirit!
We have to seek them out!
Thank the Lord! Then that's what we'll do!
We'll start our search with the Eastern Lightning!
But how can we find people from the Eastern Lightning?
The Eastern Lightning has a website.
They have books, songs, and films. We can start looking there.
That won't work. We can't look online.
The CCP monitors the Internet. It's too dangerous.
Don't worry.
If we can get past the Great Firewall, we'll see the Eastern Lightning website.
From home, I'll try to download some books for you to look at.
Good, alright. My son knows computers.
He can teach me how to get over the Great Firewall when I get home,
so I can get on the Eastern Lightning website too.
I just remembered. Some of my relatives are the Eastern Lightning followers.
I heard the police arrested them once. I'll go ask them what happened.
Good, we'll pursue different leads.
You go find the Eastern Lightning followers.
I'll go today. (Mm.)
Brother Xin, get over the Firewall to the Eastern Lightning site.
Sure! I'll take care of it!
Hmm.
This is great! We're seeking the truth!
All right.
Thank the Lord. I've invited two sisters from the Church of Almighty God.
Hello, everyone! I'm Su Ran. (Hello, I'm Tian Xin.)
These are Sister Tao, Sister Yi, Sister Sun, and Brother Fang.
Thank God! Thank the Lord!
For years, we feel an emptiness in our church.
We've lost the faith and love we had at the start,
and become weaker and negative.
We preachers sometimes feel lost and don't know what to talk about.
We feel we've lost the work of the Holy Spirit.
We've looked everywhere for a church with the Holy Spirit's work,
but every church we see is as desolate as our own.
Why are so many churches hungry and desolate? What is happening now?
That's right.
Every church is empty and desolate, and we can't feel the presence of the Lord.
Do you know what is behind this?
We also see more and more serious disasters.
We're seeing
the prophecies about the Lord's reappearance in the last days coming true.
Has the Lord already come, and we just don't know?
We invited you here today to discuss and seek answers to these questions.
Regarding the desolation in the churches, what do you think of that question?
I'd very much like to hear your opinions.
Yes, this is something we urgently need to understand.
Please fellowship with us.
The question you've asked is an important one.
We all know that we live in the late period of the last days.
The Lord Jesus once prophesied,
Lawlessness in the world of religion is growing.
Religious leaders don't abide by the commandments.
They abide by men's traditions.
They only preach biblical knowledge to show off and testify themselves.
They don't testify or exalt God at all.
They've completely departed from the Lord's way,
which is why God rejects and eliminates them.
This is mainly why the religious world has lost the work of the Holy Spirit.
But also, it's because the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh,
and begun the work of "judgment beginning with the house of God."
When Christ of the last days—Almighty God expresses the truth of saving man
to purify all who accept God's work of the last days,
the work of the Holy Spirit will turn to God's work of the last days.
Those who accept Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days
will receive the work of the Holy Spirit,
and receive the living water of life that quenches their thirst.
Those who return before His throne, God will make them overcomers,
and bring them into accordance with His will.
While those who stop in religion
and refuse to accept God's work of the last days,
will be left in dark desolation.
This proves a prophecy in the Bible,
Here, "one piece was rained on"
refers to churches who accept and obey God's work of judgment in the last days.
They have accepted the present words of God,
and so enjoyed provision of the living water of life that flows from the throne.
"… and the piece whereupon it rained not withered"
refers to the religious pastors and elders
who refuse to practice the Lord's words and disobey His commandments,
and reject, resist, and condemn Almighty God's work of the last days,
which leads the religious world to be rejected and cursed by God,
to lose completely the work of the Holy Spirit
and access to the living water of life,
and become trapped in desolation.
Just like at the end of the Age of Law,
when the temple, once so full of Jehovah's glory, became desolate,
the Jewish people didn't hold to religious laws.
They made improper sacrifices,
and the temple became a place of trade, a den of thieves.
Why did this happen?
Yes, that's true.
Primarily because the Jewish religious leaders didn't abide by Jehovah's laws
and didn't fear God in their hearts.
They abided by men's traditions, but rejected God's commandments.
They departed completely from the way of God and so were cursed by God.
But another reason was that
God had been incarnated to do the work of redeeming mankind in the Age of Grace.
God's work had changed.
All those who accepted the Lord Jesus' redemptive work
received the work of the Holy Spirit,
and had a new way to practice,
but those who rejected and resisted the work of the Lord Jesus
were eliminated by God's work and fell into a dark desolation.
If you want to receive the work of the Holy Spirit
and gain provision of the living water,
the most important thing you have to do
is seek and investigate Almighty God's work of the last days.
That will solve the darkness in your spirits and the desolation in your church
at the root of the problem.
Don't you think?
Such fellowship does make sense!
Right.
Thank the Lord.
After your fellowship, I understand.
The desolation in the religious world is mainly because
the pastors and leaders don't follow the Lord's way,
don't practice His words and don't keep His commandments,
so they are rejected and cursed by God.
But also, it's because God has done a new work
and the work of the Holy Spirit has moved.
We haven't kept up with God's footsteps and we have fallen into darkness.
We need to seek Almighty God's work in the last days.
Thank the Lord.
We've sought many pastors and elders.
None clearly explain the desolation in the churches.
Today's fellowship is so clear! True enlightenment from the Holy Spirit!
You say the increasing lawlessness refers to
the religious pastors and elders refusing to obey the commandments.
They depart from the Lord's way and are cursed by God.
Yet we see pastors and elders are people serving the Lord in the churches.
Pious men they seem to be.
Could they be a source of lawlessness?
That's right. How could the pastors and elders do anything lawless?
That's not the right way to think about it.
You see, the priests, scribes, and Pharisees in Judaism
were people who served God in the temple.
But when the Lord Jesus came to do work,
they led others in resisting and condemning Him, (Yes.)
and they even colluded with the Roman government to crucify Him.
How do you explain that?
Today many pastors won't allow their believers to learn about Eastern Lightning.
Instead, they slander and condemn the Eastern Lightning
and report the preachers of Almighty God's gospel to the police.
Don't those acts sound lawless to you?
Have you forgotten about that?
Brother Ding just talked about some lawless acts.
So, what specific acts are increasing lawlessness?
I don't understand. Can you explain?
More lawlessness
means mostly that religious leaders, pastors, and elders
go against God's will, go their own way.
They don't obey God's commandments,
misinterpret the Bible to shackle, control, and deceive people,
drowning them in biblical theology, taking them further away from God,
turning churches into places of religious ritual,
and they treat their responsibilities and duties as access to status and job,
which leads to many hypocritical acts that resist God in the church.
Many people have exposed their unbelieving viewpoints.
They pursue worldly pleasures, depart from the way of the Lord,
and even treat God's words as mere myth.
They do not believe at all
that the Lord Jesus will come again to speak and do work.
Especially religious leaders without any fear of God in their hearts,
and all kinds of evil men and unbelievers who do not love the truth are exposed,
committing evil acts, denying God's work of the last days, rejecting the truth.
These religious pastors and elders preach biblical knowledge and theology.
They strive to protect their own status, influence and income,
but they refuse to follow the Lord's way or spread the Lord's word.
They don't exalt or testify the Lord at all.
Instead, they preach things that betray the truth in God's word,
using traditions to deceive and control people,
stubbornly taking the Pharisees' path of resistance to God.
Many religious pastors and elders also pursue worldly pleasures.
They seek fashion, lust for money, and struggle for position.
They are purely men of the world, purely unbelievers.
Infuriating is that these religious leaders, pastors and elders
wildly condemn God's work in the last days to control the believers.
They even collude with the CCP,
standing with Satan against God, striving to create their own kingdoms,
also re-crucifying God, for which God hates and curses them.
These lawless acts are facts apparent to us all.
They are nothing less than a betrayal from the religious world.
Because of the increase in lawless acts,
the faith and love of many believers has gone cold,
and they are negative and weak.
Because these religious leaders have chosen their own path
and no longer follow God's way,
the work of the Holy Spirit has been withdrawn
and the religious venues have been abandoned.
The Holy Spirit's work has moved to those
who accept Almighty God's work of the last days.
These things reveal that
God's righteous disposition is intolerant of offense by man.
What you've fellowshiped are true facts!
No wonder the religious world's so dark and desolate today,
it's because the religious pastors and elders have taken their own path
and no longer follow the Lord's way.
So God hates them and He curses them.
They have accepted Almighty God's work in the last days,
and explained the reason behind the desolation in the religious world
so clearly.
It seems like the Eastern Lightning has access to the truth.
It's worth investigating!
We just fellowshiped on some of the reasons the religious world is desolate.
That was just an outline.
You asked what we mean by increasing lawlessness,
which Sister Su answered very clearly,
and which you understood.
Now, I'd like to add my own perspective and opinion
to the root causes of the desolation in the religious world.
Let's read two passages from Almighty God,
which will help you better understand the causes of desolation in religion.
Almighty God has clarified the cause of the famine in the religious world.
This allows us to see the omnipotence and wisdom of God.
God has not abandoned those who love the truth and thirst for His appearance.
God has used the famine's arrival to compel people to seek the true way,
making them find His will and His footsteps
amidst the desolation in the churches.
He did this to help those in every denomination
who love the truth and truly believe in God to come before His throne.
So God says,
From this we can see
that the work of the Holy Spirit has moved
to those who accept God's work in the last days.
This proves the fact
that God means, for all those who come before His throne,
to become those after God's heart.
These people will be made overcomers by God before the disaster,
and so the Lord Jesus' prophecies of the clever virgin
attending the wedding feast with the Lamb will be borne out. (Yes, it will.)
The foolish virgins,
who, no matter how desolate or dark their churches become,
remain in them and wait for death,
are just like the Israelites who died in the wilderness
after being led out of Egypt.
The whole religious world has become a place of ruin,
primarily because the religious world's leaders follow the path of the Pharisees
and disobey the Lord's will.
They don't follow God's will, don't obey the Lord's commandments,
and were abandoned by God long ago.
Through the truth God incarnate expresses in the last days,
their nature, their antichrist nature is exposed.
They become those who re-crucify God and are cursed by God.
What is God's purpose in causing the religious world to face famine?
He wants people to seek the true way.
Those who long to search for God's voice,
who accept Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days,
will again receive the work of the Holy Spirit,
provision of the living water of life which flows from His throne,
and finally be saved to enter the kingdom of heaven.
These are the people the Lord Jesus prophesied,
would be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.
If we refuse the judgment, chastisement, purification,
and salvation of Almighty God's words,
we will be eternally abandoned and eliminated.
Let's read another passage from Almighty God.
Almighty God's words have authority.
God has reclaimed the Holy Spirit's work throughout the universe
and worked among those who accept Almighty God's work of the last days.
Now I understand the cause of desolation in the religious world!
The Lord has already appeared to do the work of judgment in the last days,
so we have to seek Almighty God's work of the last days right away!
We should investigate.
Otherwise the Lord might abandon us.
We'll lose God's salvation in the last days!
If Almighty God really is the second coming of the Lord Jesus,
then we have to accept and obey Almighty God's work in the last days right away!
That's the only way we can be provided from the fountain of the living waters,
and escape the desolation and darkness we felt in the past.
That's right. We've waited every day for the Lord.
If the Lord really has come back, then we can be raptured before Him,
and all of our problems will be solved.
You've explained
the root cause of the desolation in the religious world quite clearly.
But, you say that God becomes flesh in the last days to do the work of judgment.
Does this have basis in the Bible, or fulfill biblical prophecies?
Without a biblical basis, we shouldn't be so quick to believe it.
Yes, we believe in the Lord through the Bible.
Whether the Lord has returned is a big question,
one we should determine using the Bible.
That's right.
Actually, there's clear prophecy in the Bible,
God becoming flesh in the last days to do the work of judgment.
Let's read some verses in the Bible.
In Acts chapter 17 verse 31, it says,
Next, in John chapter 5 verse 27,
Also, in John chapter 5 verse 22,
This shows us clearly
that in the last days,
God becomes flesh as the Son of man to do the work of judgment to men.
The "Son" or "Son of man" in the prophecies
must refer to the incarnate flesh.
The work that "judgment begins at the house of God"
done by Almighty God of the last days
fulfills the prophecy
that the "Son of man" will do the work of judgment in the last days.
This is an undeniable fact.
I have read the same Bible verses,
but I ignored the words "Son of man."
Lord Jesus spoke clearly,
Doesn't that mean that the incarnate God will come as the Son of man to judge?
It's so clear to me now.
God's work of judgment in the last days is done through the incarnate God.
That fulfills the prophecy. (Keep listening.)
Any major incidents of God's work are prophesied in the Bible,
and there are quite a few
relating to the second coming of the Lord Jesus and God's work of judgment.
But we should understand that prophecies only tell people what will happen.
They are reminders
for people to be aware and to seek and investigate in the last days,
so they won't be abandoned or eliminated by God.
That's all the prophecies can do.
The prophecies can't help us to know God's work, nor understand the truth,
or help people obey God, or increase people's love for God.
So, our best course is to directly investigate
the words expressed by Almighty God and the work done by Him,
from these determine whether they are truly God's voice and expression.
That is the most important course of action.
This is much more realistic and useful
than searching for a basis in biblical prophecies.
Yes, that sounds more practical.
We all know that when the Lord Jesus came to do work,
the disciples and believers who followed Him,
they only recognized Him gradually,
through His work and words, that the Lord was Christ, the Messiah prophesied.
The priests, scribes, and Pharisees who knew religious law and studied the Bible
knew that the Lord Jesus' word is the truth, has authority, and has power.
But because they hated the truth,
they not only refused to follow the Lord Jesus,
they used the letters and regulations in the Bible
to oppose and condemn the Lord Jesus,
and finally nailed Him to the cross.
This shows us the Bible can't lead or guide us to accept the return of the Lord.
For those who wait the Lord's return, the Bible only serves as corroboration.
The clever virgin doesn't welcome her groom using the Bible.
When she hears her groom's voice,
she ascertains it is God's voice and goes to meet her Lord.
Those who rely on biblical prophecy rather than seeking God's voice,
and who reject and condemn Almighty God's work in the last days—
they are the most foolish virgins, those who God will abandon and eliminate.
So the clever virgin recognizes that her groom has come,
because she hears God's voice.
This is so enlightening. We would never have figured it out.
We have to be like the clever virgin,
hear if the voice of Almighty God is truly that of God.
If we can recognize the voice of God
and God's work in the words of Almighty God,
then we are truly blessed!
Yes!
We need to study Almighty God's words,
and see if they are the true words of the returned Lord Jesus!
That's the most important.
Thank the Lord!
In the past, I thought reading the Bible, praying, and working hard for the Lord
made me a clever virgin.
But today I realize,
the most important part of being a clever virgin
is learning to recognize God's voice!
If that's the case,
then what we should do now
is listen more to Almighty God's words and talk about them more,
and naturally we'll know if Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned.
Thanks be to God. Now let's read a passage from Almighty God.
Let me read it. (Alright.)
To discern whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus,
we cannot rely solely on evidence in the Bible.
Most important is whether the words expressed by Almighty God are the truth,
whether what Almighty God expresses is God's disposition and what He has and is,
whether Almighty God's words are the truth, the way, and the life
necessary to man,
whether they relieve people's confusion about belief in God,
whether they save people
from their corrupt satanic dispositions and satanic natures,
and whether they can save people from Satan's influence,
achieve purity and enter the kingdom of heaven.
That's the most important factor.
The words of Almighty God are very practical and very clear.
The Bible can't help us know God's work in the last days.
The Jewish Pharisees searched for evidence of the Lord Jesus' work
in the Old Testament,
and in the end they crucified Him.
If we only rely on the Bible for evidence of God's work in the last days,
and don't investigate the words of Almighty God,
aren't we making the same mistake as the Pharisees? (That's right!)
We have to be very careful.
We can't let ourselves follow the religious pastors
in judging and condemning Almighty God's work,
or else, we'll commit the terrible sin of re-crucifying God
and be punished and cursed by God.
It says in the Bible,
We have to listen to the word of Almighty God,
and we'll know whether the words expressed by Almighty God are the voice of God,
whether they're the truth, the way, and the life.
If we don't listen or investigate,
even if the Lord Jesus has returned, we won't recognize Him!
That's right. If we don't read more of Almighty God's words,
we'll be easily deceived by the religious antichrists
and follow them in judging and condemning God.
That would be very dangerous for us!
Almighty God's words reveal people so much.
Where Almighty God's work of the last days is concerned,
if people don't investigate, seek, and accept it,
they are judging, condemning, resisting it.
There is no middle way.
We can be clever virgins or foolish ones. It's up to us to choose.
We should be very careful.
Sister, I have another question.
The Lord Jesus was crucified as a sin offering to redeem man.
We have accepted the Lord, and obtained salvation.
Why do we still have to accept Almighty God's work of judgment and purification?
We believe the Lord has already forgiven us, forgiven us all our sins.
The Lord doesn't see us as sinners.
Why does the Lord need to do the work of judgment on His return?
About this question, can you please explain more?
Yes, sure. This is what so many people don't understand,
and a question we absolutely have to look into.
We need fellowship about this.
In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption.
It was not God's work of judgment in the last days to save all of man.
What the work of redemption achieved
was a sacrifice to atone for the sins of man through the Lord Jesus' work.
He saved us from the clutches of Satan,
made us repent our sins and accept God's salvation.
He qualified us to go before God and enjoy God's grace and blessing.
That was the real significance of the work of redemption.
But many people don't understand.
They always think that the Lord Jesus' work of redemption
granted complete salvation to all mankind into the kingdom of heaven.
That notion comes from man's imagination.
We were given redemption by the Lord Jesus. That much is true.
But did that change our sinful natures?
Does the fact that God forgave us our sins mean we've truly been holy?
Then why do we still sin so frequently?
Can those who often sin really be approved by the Lord?
No, they can't.
Not many people have considered this problem,
and we've never seen anyone truly understand this problem.
The Lord Jesus redeemed us from a state of sin.
We were forgiven our sins, granted salvation, and this is a fact.
But then, as we believe in and follow the Lord,
we also often betray the Lord's teachings,
and give in to our fleshly desires to sin.
We do things like lie, commit fraud, deceive,
engage in intrigue, seek fame and fortune.
We give in to vanity, lust for wealth, and follow evil worldly trends.
In times of bitterness and trial, we often misunderstand and blame God,
or even leave and betray God.
When God's work doesn't align with man's notions,
we carelessly judge, condemning God.
At the same time we follow God, we worship man and follow man.
People live in a cycle of sinning and repenting. That's hard to escape.
We can't free ourselves from the binds and control of our satanic nature.
This is a fact.
And although the Lord Jesus' work of redemption is done,
people's sins are forgiven,
and people are no longer cursed for violating God's laws,
and can come before God to pray to Him,
and enjoy the entirety of God's grace,
that does not mean God's work of saving mankind is over,
because the sinful nature inside us still remains.
People are still compelled by their satanic nature to resist and betray God.
People have no knowledge of God and can't fear God and shun evil,
even less can they reach complete obedience to God and the sanctity with God.
These people haven't been gained by God.
We all know God is holy and righteous.
Unsanctified people can't see the Lord.
God won't allow the impure or corrupt into the kingdom of heaven.
This is decided by God's righteousness.
So in the last days,
God will, according to His management plan to save mankind,
carry out His work of judgment and chastisement,
remove the shackles and restraints of the corrupt mankind
and the root causes of sin,
and help mankind completely escape the influence of Satan,
be saved by God, and enter God's kingdom.
Let's look at two more passages from Almighty God.
In the last days, God will completely save man from Satan's influence,
make man to turn to God, be compatible with Christ,
becoming holy people who fear God and obey God.
The only way to achieve that
is through God's work of judgment and chastisement in the last days.
Only through the judgment and revelations in God's words
can people finally come to know the truth of how they've been corrupted by Satan
and the essence of their nature,
and know the righteousness, majesty, and intolerance of offense
in God's disposition.
Only in this way can people produce true remorse and repentance,
wills that hate the flesh and betray Satan, and hearts that fear God,
truly escape the dark influence of Satan, turn to God, and be gained by God.
Only such people will finally be those who are saved and enter God's kingdom.
Thanks be to God. All these years,
I've often suffered and been confused over the cycle of sin and repentance.
Hearing your fellowship today, I feel liberated.
Even though we've been redeemed, our sinful nature hasn't changed,
which is why we can't achieve true sanctity,
and are unqualified to enter God's kingdom.
We need the purification of God's judgment!
Like it says in the Bible,
To cast off our sinful nature, be holy and enter God's kingdom,
we need to undergo God's judgment of the last days!
Thanks be to God.
Thank the Lord. Your fellowship is wonderful.
It's answered so many of my doubts.
Looks like God's work of judgment in the last days is meaningful and necessary.
We need to read more of Almighty God's words!
Hearing your fellowship on Almighty God's words,
it feels very practical and contains truths. (Yes.)
We want to seek those truths.
Can you loan us this book The Word Appears in the Flesh?
Of course I can!
People find answers to difficulties and confusion about believing in God
in Almighty God's words.
The Word Appears in the Flesh is an expression of Almighty God.
Anyone who wants to seek can read it.
No wonder for so many years,
I haven't felt the work of the Holy Spirit, and have been trapped in darkness.
No matter how I read the Bible, no matter how I prayed,
I couldn't receive the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.
It turns out that
God began His end-time work of "judgment beginning at the house of God."
The work of the Holy Spirit has changed!
I'd heard the Eastern Lightning testified that Lord had returned,
but I didn't investigate.
I only knew to seek out answers from spiritual giants and those with fame,
but I never thought to look for God's footprint,
or a church with the work of the Holy Spirit!
I was so ignorant!
I want to share a passage from Almighty God. (Mm. OK.)
Mm, the words of Almighty God are so practical!
In more than a decade, I've read a lot of spiritual books,
and listened to so many pastors preach,
but I never thought people could explain how to discern the true way so clearly!
Right. (Amen!)
Almighty God points out all the principles
by which to determine the true way. (Yes.)
The true way contains the work of the Holy Spirit, and contains the truth,
and provides a timely answer to people's needs,
and answers all confusion and practical difficulties
people experience in their belief in God.
It brings people closer to God.
It helps people know God better, and inspires people to love God.
Almighty God's words clearly help discern the true way from the false ones.
Almighty God's words really are the truth!
Well said! (Absolutely!)
If Almighty God can give people the truth and express God's disposition,
and He's doing the work of God's judgment in the last days,
Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus.
That couldn't be more right! (Amen.)
Let's read another passage from Almighty God. (Mm. OK.)
Almighty God's words really have authority and power.
No one else could say these things.
But the Lord Jesus said,
The Lord's words are the way of everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus granted us the way of life long ago,
but Almighty God says that
Christ of the last days is the way of everlasting life.
What is going on here?
Then, how are we meant to accept Almighty God's words?
I'd like some more fellowship from Su Ran,
so we can know how to think about it.
Seeking God's work in the last days is good for all of us,
so let's ask Su Ran and her sister
to our church to testify Almighty God's gospel of the last days.
We can also ask co-worker Feng, Zhu, and the others from our church to join us.
What do you think?
That's really good! (Great.)
I've been reading Almighty God's word lately,
and it feels very practical, and I'm sure it is the truth.
It's given me a source of life. I've gained a lot.
But when I saw this line of Almighty God's,
"Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life,"
I remembered what the Lord Jesus once said,
We already know the Lord Jesus is the source of the water of life
and the way of everlasting life.
Could it be that Almighty God and the Lord Jesus are the same source?
Are Their work and words both of the Holy Spirit?
Are they done by the same God?
I don't understand. Please tell us about this.
Right. The Lord Jesus and Almighty God
both call Themselves the way of everlasting life.
I suppose Their work and words are of the same Spirit.
Do I understand this correctly?
I've believed in the Lord for so many years,
and I'm certain that the Lord Jesus is the way of everlasting life.
But you testify that
only Christ of the last days, Almighty God, is the way of everlasting life.
That confuses me. But I haven't read Almighty God's word.
I think you should fellowship with us
on why only Almighty God can give us the way of everlasting life.
You have to convince us before we will accept this.
That's right!
If you can testify clearly that Almighty God is the way of everlasting life,
we'll accept.
God twice becomes flesh to do His work.
He testified He was the truth, the life, the way of everlasting life.
He expressed many truths, and did many practical works
to prove that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.
That is sufficient to prove they are from the same source.
Both speak with the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Their works are done by one God,
and They both testify that God is the source of life in all its forms,
because the truth expressed by God
is the fountain of the waters of everlasting life,
which is the river of life which flows from His throne,
and the way of everlasting life.
That proves even more that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus,
and that both are God doing the work in His management plan.
This proves the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God.
The Lord Jesus predicted He would come again,
and that He would be incarnated as the Son of man
to do work of judgment in the last days.
Let's read a passage from Almighty God.
Please turn to page 1018.
Almighty God's words clearly tell us
that Almighty God and the Lord Jesus
are both the fleshes worn by the Spirit of God.
They only differ in that They do different work in different ages,
using different names,
but They are both one God.
Now we know that both times God becomes incarnate,
He testifies that He is the source of the water of life,
an endless supply of the living water.
He also testifies that God is the way of everlasting life.
Although Their words and manner of speaking differ slightly,
the essence of what They say is the same.
So what is the way of everlasting life?
What is that exactly? Not Sure.
How are the way of everlasting life and entering the kingdom of heaven related?
The Lord Jesus said only by obeying the heavenly Father's will
can you enter the kingdom of heaven.
Those who truly do God's will
are capable of practicing God's words and obeying God's commandments.
The Lord Jesus taught that
we should love God with our heart, our soul, our mind,
love others as we love ourselves.
Do people practice those words now?
If people don't practice those words, then they aren't doing God's will.
If people can't practice God's words and keep God's commandments,
how can they ever obtain the way of everlasting life?
They never will!
That's right. Gaining the way of everlasting life
means receiving the whole truth expressed by God to purify and save man,
and finally becoming those who know God and obey God's will.
If those who believe in God
don't receive the truth, don't change their life disposition,
and don't obey God's will,
can they enter the kingdom of heaven?
Can those who don't enter the kingdom of heaven receive everlasting life?
Those who don't obey God's will
have no way to receive the way of everlasting life.
Also, in the Bible it says,
Believing in the Son means believing in the One sent by God,
the incarnate Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of man.
He returned to heaven after finishing the work of redemption.
The Lord Jesus promised us He would come again.
So then, it is important to accept the Christ returning in the last days.
Whoever accepts the returned Christ will obtain the way of eternal life.
If people only believe in the Lord Jesus,
and don't accept the Lord Jesus' second coming,
they are cutting themselves from the source of the water of life!
Ah, you know, that is really something I think about!
Would the Lord Jesus still acknowledge us?
Could we still gain everlasting life?
While believing in the Lord,
we must also accept the second coming of the Lord Jesus.
Only such are true believers in the "Son."
Only those who follow Christ of the last days will gain eternal life.
If people only believe in the Lord Jesus,
but reject the return of the Lord Jesus,
then their belief is a waste of effort abandoned half-way,
and they will never gain the Lord Jesus' approval.
I also read "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life" in the Bible.
My belief in Jesus was the same to belief in the Son,
and that would give me everlasting life.
But after hearing your fellowship, I understand more clearly.
We have to do more than just believe in the Lord Jesus,
we have to accept His return to truly believe in the Son,
and only that way can we gain everlasting life! (Exactly. Yeah.)
Hm, as believers we are waiting for the return of Lord Jesus,
so we can gain the way of everlasting life.
Now you're testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned
and brought the way of everlasting life with Him.
If that's so, we can't afford to miss this opportunity.
Or else, our belief in the Lord will really have been for nothing!
Yes, the way of eternal life is granted to us
by the returned Lord Jesus in the last days.
If we only acknowledge Jesus, but don't accept His return,
we'll never gain everlasting life.
Accepting Almighty God's work is very important!
If what you're saying is true,
then if we believe in the Lord Jesus but don't accept Almighty God,
we won't gain everlasting life?
Certainly not!
Because what Jesus did in the Age of Grace is the work of redemption.
He only expressed truths about man's redemption,
which can only help people repent of their sins and turn to God.
But because man's sinful nature and corrupt disposition remain,
even though our sins have been forgiven,
we still often sin and rebel against and resist God.
This is a fact.
It is proof that what the Lord Jesus did was the work of redemption.
Only the work of judgment by the returned Lord Jesus in the last days
can fully save mankind,
allowing man to break free from sin and the influence of Satan,
achieve dispositional change, being gained by God.
So the work of judgment done by the returned Lord Jesus in the last days
is critical to the salvation of mankind.
If people only accept the Lord Jesus' work of redemption,
wanting to enter the kingdom of heaven
without accepting the returned Lord's judgment in the last days,
they have their head in the clouds.
Actually, the Lord Jesus said long ago,
At the time, no one understood the Lord Jesus' words,
because mankind had just come before God, and was small in stature.
If the Lord Jesus had expressed the words of judgment in the last days,
man could not bear it.
Only when Almighty God comes in the last days
and expresses all the truth that purifies, saves, and perfects man,
and people see His words,
do they suddenly become aware, finally understanding the will of God.
God didn't directly do the work of judgment in the last days in the Age of Grace.
Right. What's the reason? I never thought about it.
Because there are three stages of work in God's plan to save man.
God does the work of judgment in the last days, as Almighty God says.
Let's all turn to page 5.
The Lord Jesus' work of redemption paved the way
for the work of judging and purifying man in the last days.
The truth that saves, changes, and perfects man
will be expressed by the returned Lord Jesus.
This truth is the way of everlasting life given to man by Almighty God.
So if people want to receive the way of everlasting life,
the key is to accept the Lord Jesus' return.
Those who accept the second coming of Christ are clever virgins.
After hearing God's voice, they go with the Lamb to the feast.
People like these are blessed,
and they have followed the Lamb's footsteps.
They are the firstfruits purified by God's judgment in the last days,
and the overcomers made by God.
So only those accepting the second coming of Christ
are those who gain the way of everlasting life.
After your fellowship, I understand.
Almighty God is the returned Jesus, and They are the same God.
It is not contradictory that Almighty God and the Lord Jesus both say
They are the way of eternal life.
Before we thought we could gain eternal life
by accepting the Lord Jesus' way of repentance.
It's right. Now we understand
that the way of eternal life is given through the Lord's return.
And as such,
we still have to accept Almighty God's work in the last days
to gain the way of eternal life!
Oh, yes! The Lord Jesus did the work of redemption,
and Almighty God does the work of judgment in the last days.
Although They do different work, They are from the same source,
which is why
the Lord Jesus and Almighty God said They are the way of eternal life.
Those words were spoken by one God.
Isn't it true
Almighty God's word is the water of the river of life from the throne?
That's right! We must follow the Lord's footsteps.
If we don't accept the way of eternal life granted by Almighty God,
doesn't it mean that we've cut ourselves off from the source of living water?
Then, is Almighty God the returned Savior we've been expecting for years?
Mm, this issue is serious!
With our spirits so withered, we need the supply of living water badly.
Almighty God has expressed so much truth. Isn't this what we need?
We should investigate more closely.
Mm. Yes, you're right. That's true.
Thank God!
Now I understand.
The Lord Jesus and Almighty God are one God,
but do different work in different ages.
Jesus did the work of redemption and preached the way of repentance.
But now, Almighty God does the work of purifying mankind
and brings the way of everlasting life.
But another question:
What is the difference
between the way of repentance and the way of eternal life?
Well! We still don't quite understand this aspect. Could you explain it more?
Since Almighty God and Lord Jesus are one God,
They bestow the same way to man.
Why is there a difference?
Yes, they should be the same.
Jehovah and the Lord Jesus are one God.
Since this is the case, did They bestow the same way to man?
Jehovah decreed laws for man to abide.
Jesus did the work of redemption to make man repent. They did different work.
Do you agree these works were done by one God?
Yes, that's right. They were indeed done by one God.
There is but one God,
and His work of saving mankind cannot be done in one or two stages,
because there are three stages of work in God's management plan.
You see, the truth expressed by God in each stage is different,
and gradually deepens so that it reaches perfection in the end.
God does different work across the ages based on the needs of man at the time,
so the way God gives to man in every each age is in fact different.
You ask
what's different between the way of repentance and the way of eternal life,
which is a crucial question.
It is a truth every true believer in God must understand,
because it's related to how man knows the truth and gains eternal life.
Now we all know that
the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption in the Age of Grace
and gave man the way to repent.
As the Lord Jesus said,
Which is to say, man should confess his sins and repent before God
if he wants to enter the kingdom of heaven.
After admitting previous sins, such sins will be forgiven.
It means man will no longer sin, but repent and be born again.
Back then Jesus only taught man to confess his sins and repent,
not to commit sins or do evil,
to deny himself, take up the cross, and follow the Lord,
to love the Lord with all his heart, his soul, and his mind,
to love others as himself,
to be humble, forbearing, patient,
and to forgive others seventy times seven and so on.
These are the ways for man to repent.
When man confesses and repents before Jesus, his sins will be forgiven,
and this qualifies man to pray before God and also to fellowship with Him,
and enjoy the bountiful grace and the truth given by God.
But what we can't deny is even if man's sins are forgiven,
his sinful nature still exists, and he can still betray and oppose God.
This proves that
although man's sins can be forgiven,
he can still commit sin and can't become holy,
because the Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption,
which lets man confess sins, repent and return to God,
and enjoy the grace given by God.
This shows the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus is the way to repent.
Just as Almighty God says,
The words of Almighty God clearly tell us
that Jesus did the work of redemption and gave us only the way to repent,
but He didn't give man the way of everlasting life
to cast off his satanic nature and become holy.
In the last days,
Almighty God has come to build upon Lord Jesus' work of redemption.
He's done the work of "judgment beginning at the house of God"
and gives us the way of everlasting life.
Only by accepting the way of everlasting life
given by Almighty God in the last days,
can people become obedient to the will of God,
completely escape the dark influence of Satan,
reach a state of holiness and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Almighty God's words are so practical.
In the Age of Grace, God only did the work of redemption.
That's why however man repented and confessed,
he couldn't cast off the bonds of sin.
No matter what price man paid or how hard he worked,
he couldn't reach a state of holiness.
Now, I understand God's work of judgment in the last days
is the work of saving man completely from the sin and the influence of Satan.
Almighty God brings the way of everlasting life,
and shows us the path to get rid of sinful nature and achieve holiness.
We finally have a hope of escaping this bitter life
of sinning by day and confessing by night.
We really need to catch up with Almighty God's work in the last days!
That's right. But sister,
could you give us a clearer explanation of the way of everlasting life?
That's what we most urgently need to understand now.
Yeah, I also want to know.
Just now we fellowshiped about the way of repentance,
which I think you all understand.
Now I'll discuss what the way of everlasting life is,
and then I'll discuss about the differences
between the way of repentance and the way of everlasting life. (Hmm. Good.)
When we talk about the way of everlasting life,
we don't mean simple confession and repentance.
We mean the truth that gives people everlasting life,
more specifically, how men gain salvation, break free from Satan's influence,
how people gain the truth as life, become compatible with God,
and then be gained by God.
That's the way of everlasting life.
So, those who attain the way of everlasting life
are those who receive the truth,
who gain the truth as life,
which are the people completed by God, who can enter the kingdom of heaven.
Are these not the ones gaining the way of everlasting life?
Would those who gain the truth as their life ever oppose or betray God? (No.)
Will those who enter the kingdom of heaven ever die, or be sent to hell? (No.)
So then, any who gain the truth as life and come to know God
attain the way of everlasting life, yes?
Let's look at Almighty God's words on the subject.
Let me read it. (Alright.)
Turn to page 1460.
From the words of Almighty God, we can see,
the way of everlasting life
isn't something that can just be taught with a few rules,
nor can man's tendency to sin and oppose God
be solved with several pieces of God's word.
Mankind has been deeply corrupted by Satan,
and filled with all kinds of Satan's poisons.
They are brazenly arrogant, prideful, and self-centered,
and toward God, are full of notions, fanciful ideas, and outrageous demands.
They have no real knowledge of God,
much less do they have true fear, or obedience, or love.
If people want to escape their satanic dispositions and become holy,
or truly come to know, obey, fear, and love God, and become compatible with God,
it requires them to understand many aspects of truth.
As required by the corruption in man,
in the last days, God does the work of "judgment beginning at the house of God,"
and expresses all truths man needs
to escape Satan's influence and attain salvation.
So the way of everlasting life is more than one or two facets of truth.
It's comprised of many, many aspects of truth.
If, while people experience God's work in the last days,
they come to understand the entirety of the truths
He has expressed to save mankind,
and enter into the reality of the truth,
then without doubt they can achieve a dispositional change in their life,
and become those who truly obey and worship God.
They're the ones who'll be given the way of everlasting life.
What is the way of everlasting life?
It's all the truths God expresses in the last days to grant mankind salvation.
God's work in the last days is to instill these truths in man
so that they become man's life.
People who live by these words of God will gain the way of everlasting life.
No matter how deeply a person experiences the truth of God's words,
so long as we practice all aspects of these truths to some extent,
live out the likeness of a real man, are honest, truly obey God,
act in a principled manner, fear God, and avoid evil,
we become people who possess the truth and humanity.
Hence we gain the way of everlasting life.
When we attain the way of everlasting life,
we'll escape sin and the influence of Satan completely,
meaning we no longer sin or rebel against God.
We'll gain true knowledge of God, and have our life disposition transformed,
obey God, worship God, love God, become compatible with God,
and become one who obeys God's will.
Gaining the way of eternal life means you'll never die.
You'll enjoy God's blessings, and are promised entry into the kingdom of heaven.
Let's read some more words from Almighty God.
I'll read it.
You've said the truth expressed by Almighty God is the way of everlasting life.
It truly accomplishes what Jesus said,
We've never heard the truth expressed in the last days by Almighty God before.
These truths are so practical. Mankind really needs them.
People need to understand them to enter into the truth.
Only in understanding and gaining these truths
can we become those who do God's will,
enter God's kingdom, and enjoy His eternal blessings.
That's right. All the truths expressed by Almighty God are so rich,
and they have opened our eyes!
No wonder Almighty God says
Christ of the last days alone can give man the way of eternal life!
If we accept the truth expressed by Almighty God,
we'll never have to live with our spirits in drought or darkness again!
This is God's blessing to mankind. Thank You, Almighty God!
We finally have a source of living water!
Yeah, it feels like
we're a dry forest, finally quenching our thirst in the rain!
Thank God! We are so lucky to have been born in the last days!
Right. The Christ we've been waiting for has returned,
and we all get to enjoy the water of life that flows from the throne.
This is such a rare incredible opportunity! (Yes!)
Thank the Lord! That's right. It's exactly.
You say only those who obey the will of God receive the way of everlasting life.
Since we believed in the Lord,
we've suffered much and paid much to spread the Lord's gospel.
We've shepherded the Lord's flock, taken up the cross
and followed the Lord, practiced humbleness, patience, and tolerance…
Are you saying we haven't been following God's will?
We know that if we continue,
we will become holy and be raptured to the kingdom of heaven.
Do you mean our understanding and practice of God's word is wrong?
That's right.
Any who suffer and work for the Lord are obeying the heavenly Father's will.
When the Lord comes, we'll be raptured to the kingdom of heaven!
Amen!
Many people have the notion
that if they labor, sacrifice for the Lord, or do good deeds,
they are obeying God's will.
But are these imagined notions of men after God's heart?
Do they have a basis in God's word?
Let's see what the Lord Jesus said.
From the Lord Jesus' words, we can see
that those who prophesy, cast out devils,
and do many wonderful works in His name
are the ones who suffer and do works for the Lord.
They serve the Lord.
It's true that they devote all their time to Him and behave very well.
But why does Jesus call them those who work iniquity?
How should we understand this?
By man's notions,
any who suffer and do works for the Lord, and devote their time to Him,
are obeying God's will.
The priests and scribes and the Pharisees in Judaism also appeared very pious.
They traveled far and wide to preach the gospel.
So why did the Lord Jesus condemn them and also curse them?
That's something worth reflecting on, isn't it?
We can't determine obedience to God's will using the notions of man.
True obedience to God's will refers to those who can obey God's works and words,
practice God's words, follow God's commandments,
and fulfill their duties according to God's will and requirements.
You say any who suffer and do works for the Lord are obeying God's will.
Then let's evaluate them using the Lord Jesus' requirements.
What was Jesus' most important requirement for man?
But are people doing this?
I've never thought of that. Mm.
Obeying God's will means loving God with all of your heart, and soul, and mind.
No matter how much work you do or how much you suffer,
there must be no impurity or ambition,
just pure devotion to satisfying and obeying God,
to carrying out God's will.
You must be happy to sacrifice everything for God,
without demand for recompense.
In the face of trials and tribulation from God,
you must not complain or betray Him,
and put yourself at the mercy of God's arrangements,
like Abraham, Job, and Peter.
When God's trials come,
you must accept with utter obedience and without complaint or question,
and bear good and resounding testimony for God.
And this is obedience to God's will.
Given those demands,
it should be obvious
whether or not we are people who truly obey the heavenly Father's will.
We see many,
capable of suffering, doing work and sacrifice in the Lord's name,
but in their suffering and sacrifice, there's personal ambition and desire.
They seek to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Is this not using and defrauding God?
How is this practicing the truth to satisfy God?
But there's an even bigger tragedy going on.
Although the religious pastors and elders often work and preach in their churches,
and outwardly appear to do good acts,
and yet when Almighty God does the work of judgment in the last days,
to protect their own influence and their position and their income,
they wildly judge and they wildly condemn, profane Almighty God,
and try to stop people from seeking the true way.
Doesn't this make them enemies of God?
How is this any different
from the crimes of the Pharisees who resisted the Lord Jesus?
These facts are enough to prove that people have no knowledge of God,
that people's satanic nature remains and people haven't gained truth as life.
Even those who can suffer, labor, and sacrifice for God
do so to barter with Him.
They believe in God with the aim of gaining blessings for themselves.
Such people are not practicing God's words at all
and do not care for God's will.
They're not testaments of obedience and love for God.
How could such people be obeying God's will?
And how could they be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven
and gain the way of everlasting life?
Let's read a passage from Almighty God.
God decides the destination of each man
not on the basis of how much work he does or suffering he undergoes,
but on the basis of whether he possesses truth,
practices God's word, and obeys God's will.
Because only those who obey God's will
can enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life.
This is decided by God's righteous disposition and cannot be changed.
So, we all need to reflect on the path we've taken to belief in God.
Why, while we believe in and follow God, do we also sin and resist God?
It's caused entirely by the sinful nature hidden within man.
With man's sinful nature, it's very difficult to truly obey and love God.
Thus man's sinful nature
makes it hard to avoid trying to barter and gain blessings
while sacrificing for God.
And man's sinful nature
creates complaints, and betrayal and negativity in man
when faced with the trials of God.
So, with man's sinful nature, how can he become someone who obeys God's will?
How can he become holy?
It's completely impossible!
For man to truly obey God's will and become holy,
the problem of his sinful nature must be solved.
If people don't accept Almighty God's work of judgment and chastisement,
then they will never be approved by God.
If they don't experience God's work of judgment in the last days,
they will never receive the truth,
achieve dispositional change or be after God's heart.
That is a fact that no one could ever deny.
Thank God! I understand more.
Suffering, works and sacrifice aren't the same as obeying God's will.
Obeying God's will
requires practicing God's words and following God's commandments.
We used to focus on works and sacrifice,
and we didn't seek God's will or practice His words.
I can see we have a long way to go to obey God's will! (Right.)
Now I understand, if we want to truly follow God's will,
it's going to take more than effort on our part.
We have to accept Almighty God's work of judgment,
become holy, receive salvation, and gain the truth as life
to get the way of everlasting life and truly obey God's will.
That's right. Our thoughts on obeying God's will were too simple.
We thought suffering and working was obeying God's will.
Now I see that to be someone who obeys God's will,
I have to accept the judgment before Christ's seat.
Then I'll understand the truth and have real knowledge of God.
When people have truth as life, they no longer sin or oppose and betray God.
That's how one can truly obey and love God.
Those are the people who truly obey God's will.
God's work is really so practical!
Yeah. Thank God.
Yeah. Without today's fellowship, we'd still be living in our imaginations,
thinking we were obeying God's will, waiting to enter the kingdom of heaven!
Yeah!
It seems our ambitions and desires interfere with our belief.
So how can we enter the kingdom of heaven, umm, without practicing God's word?
Right. We can only be purified and enter the kingdom of heaven
if we accept Almighty God's work of judgment.
If we don't accept
Almighty God's work of judgment and purification in the last days,
and continue to seek as we did before, ending up without God's approval,
we'll be out of luck with nothing to show for our effort!
Mm. Right.
From this fellowship, I understand:
Although we've suffered and worked and have sacrificed,
our sinful satanic natures haven't been cleansed.
Our selfish desires interfere with our faith,
and we struggle for rewards, crowns, and to enter the kingdom of heaven,
which means we aren't obeying God's will,
and aren't qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.
We must accept Almighty God's work of judgment and chastisement,
and receive God's way of eternal life in the last days,
to be those who obey God's will and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Yes. True.
I have another question.
If we accept Almighty God's work in the last days,
how should we seek to receive the way of everlasting life?
Yes, you've shared about Almighty God's words.
This knowledge is practical and in accord with truth. It's been of immense help.
It seems Almighty God's work of judgment
is the work that saves and perfects mankind.
It's the way of everlasting life that God bestows to us.
But I'd like to ask:
How should we accept Almighty God's work of judgment and chastisement
to gain the way of everlasting life?
I'd love some more specific fellowship on this aspect of truth.
Thanks be to God. This is truly guidance from the Lord!
You asked the same question I was going to ask. We must be communing in spirit.
Thank the Lord! (Yes.)
Through this fellowship Almighty God's words are helping us understand that
only by accepting God's end-time work of judgment
can we attain the way of everlasting life.
We all thirst for the way of everlasting life.
These truly are the grace and blessings of God.
You're wondering just how to gain the way of everlasting life.
That's a very necessary question. It's what we most need to know.
For Almighty God, in the last days,
expresses the entirety of the truth that can purify and save mankind.
These truths are all expressed
according to man's corrupt substance and all that he lacks,
meaning they are the reality of truth that man should have.
God wants us to receive these truths and gain the way of everlasting life.
This truth is the way of everlasting life bestowed to man by God.
So, how are we to seek and gain the way of eternal life?
Almighty God has already laid out a practical path for us.
Let's read some more from Almighty God.
I'll read.
Now let's turn to page 45.
Let me read it.
Now I'll read another passage from Almighty God,
Praise God!
We can see from the words of Almighty God
that God's work in the last days is the work of the word.
God uses the word to judge, purify, and perfect man.
If we want to gain the way of everlasting life,
we must accept and obey
the end-time judgment and chastisement before Christ's seat,
eat and drink God's word, accept the judgment of His word,
come to know God's righteous disposition
and find true fear of God in our hearts,
and then experience God's word
to understand the truth and live the reality of God's word.
This is the only path to receive the way of everlasting life.
Yes. Right. It's the only way. Thanks be to God!
Now we all know,
only by accepting Almighty God's word can man be purified, saved, and perfected.
To gain the way of everlasting life,
we need to eat and drink, and experience His words,
because the satanic corruption in man is too deep.
We live in sin, scrambling blindly to secure our own futures and fates.
We don't know the difference between good and evil,
and don't know the substance of our nature and the truth about our corruption.
We don't know God's desire and don't know God,
nor do we understand what God likes and dislikes.
We can't see through to Satan's evil substance,
for we live by the satanic natures.
We seek fortune and fame, and engage in intrigue, admiring power and evil.
We confuse black and white, and indulge our greed and desires.
And we live out demonic images of Satan, without any likeness of real humans.
Only God is the truth, and the way, and the life.
The truths expressed by God show God's disposition and all that He has and is.
To man, the truth is judgment, chastisement, examination,
and it's also purification.
Before God's words, people can feel God's righteous disposition.
Just like when man sees the appearance of God, their hearts feel fear of God.
Man feels that he is low, dirty, and small.
He sees the truth about his corruption by Satan
and how far he is from meeting God's standards.
And when through practice, people come to understand more truth,
they feel shame and accusation for actions not after God's heart.
The truth serves as an examination.
And in the actions men take and the paths they walk,
the truth serves as a guide,
becoming the principles by which people speak and act.
When this happens, the truth becomes man's life.
We see the truth can change people.
It changes their disposition and perfects them.
The truth has profound value and significance for man's existence.
So, if people accept and live the truth expressed by Almighty God in the last days,
they can achieve change in their life disposition
and become those who have the truth and the humanity.
These people who have been perfected by God and who have gained the truth
are those who have escaped the dark influence of Satan and been gained by God.
They obey God, love God, follow God's will, and they are compatible with God.
These are the ones who gain the way of everlasting life.
Thanks be to the Lord! Even though I knew that the Lord Jesus said,
"… the words that I speak to you,
they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63)
I never understood what those words meant.
Through your fellowship about Almighty God's words, I understand.
Only God's word can purify man, change man, and give man new life.
Just like the Lord Jesus said,
If we live on bread alone without the word of God as our life,
we are walking dead,
who can only live in the dark where we are toyed with and corrupted by Satan.
We can't tell good from evil, and have no life goals.
All we can do is live in evil like beasts.
The truths expressed by Almighty God to save man
are the light that grants man salvation, the life man ought to have.
We must accept Almighty God's salvation!
Mm-hm. Almighty God really is the return of Jesus.
Those words have been fulfilled. They're reality now.
The truth of Almighty God in the last days is so abundant.
It really is a never-ending source of living water for us!
The more you think about it, the sweeter it becomes! Thanks be to Almighty God!
Yeah. That's right. Thank God.
Right. I really need to read more of Almighty God's word!
Your fellowship is so practical. It teaches much and shows us a way. (Yes.)
But we'd like to know:
How did you experience Almighty God's chastisement and judgment?
How did you experience, practice,
and enter into the truth expressed by Almighty God?
Yes. I also want to know. I wanna listen, too.
If you have testimony of Almighty God's judgment and chastisement,
we'll be convinced.
That's right. Tell us!
I'm wondering how they enter. We should listen carefully.
Thank God. I'll share some of my experience and knowledge.
In the past, when I believed in the Lord,
I also worked and preached His word and took up the cross.
I tried to be humble, patient, and loving.
But I didn't get what the Lord demanded of me,
and I treated parts of the Lord's word as strict rules.
In the end, after years of believing in the Lord,
I still hadn't achieved any fundamental change,
and I often found myself sinning and opposing God.
In the face of trouble and hardship, I would even complain and blame God.
As I often couldn't break free from the binds of sin
and practice the Lord's word, I felt difficult and painful.
But when I finally accepted Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days,
I saw that
because our satanic nature hadn't been dealt with
and we didn't understand the truth, we often sinned and opposed God.
Just as Almighty God says,
Now I'll read another passage from Almighty God,
After seeing Almighty God's words, I understood.
Even though a temporary bout of passion and faith
can inspire people to preach the gospel work, suffer, and take up the cross,
their satanic corruption is too deep.
All kinds of satanic poisons make up man's nature,
becoming the principles by which they exist and live.
The satanic disposition of man is brazenly arrogant, and crooked,
selfish, deceitful and base.
People do all things for the sake of their own benefit.
They even believe in God to gain blessings, rewards,
and to enter the kingdom of heaven.
It is why when we encounter trials that harm our fleshly interests,
we develop notions about God,
and we blame God, oppose God, and even betray God.
This is a fact.
After being judged, chastised, dealt with, and pruned by Almighty God's word,
I began to know my own satanic nature,
and I saw the arrogance, selfishness, greed, deceit in my satanic disposition.
Everything I did was for my own sake, to benefit myself.
Even my faith in God was to gain blessings and grace.
My suffering and sacrifice
were to receive rewards and enter the kingdom of heaven.
It wasn't to practice the truth or obey God.
I saw that I had completely lost the sense and conscience inherent in man.
But the truth expressed by Almighty God helped me understand
that to live, man at least needs sense and conscience.
It's right and proper to fulfill the duty of a created being.
Whether we're blessed or have bad luck, we must be loyal to God,
and not attempt to barter with Him.
Through my experience of Almighty God's work,
I understood God's desire to save mankind.
God gives us trials and refinement to purify us and change us.
It showed me God's care in granting mankind salvation.
I saw the truth of God's love for mankind.
I made a resolution and left my family to testify God,
devoting all my time to Him.
No matter how much I suffered,
I knew I must obey God's orchestrations and arrangements,
and make no demands of Him.
I knew, whether blessed or not,
I should fulfill my duty and role to repay God's love.
I could no longer bring my personal aims and goals into my work for the Lord,
and seek crowns or entry to the kingdom of heaven.
I should sacrifice for God willingly, and not barter or demand recompense.
I should do it only to repay God's love and practice the truth to satisfy Him.
Now that's my only desire.
In my years of belief, I've definitely changed some.
I've come to understand some truth, and have some reality.
That's the most important thing I've learned from this.
I'm still a long way from God's standards.
But for me,
these have been the wonderful fruits of Almighty God's work in the last days.
Thank Almighty God for saving me.
Thank God. Your testimony is so helpful for us.
It's what I needed to hear. We need to hear testimony like this.
Right. We need to hear more of such testimony.
Hey, Sister Tian, please share as well!
Yeah, I want to hear some more!
Yeah, I want more, too.
Through my experience of Almighty God's work, I've really gained so much!
Not only gained some knowledge of God's work,
disposition, and desire to save mankind,
but also some purification and change of my satanic disposition.
I was quite an arrogant person.
I put myself above others and hated to submit to anyone.
I liked to show off, brag, and make a show of my work and lecture.
I wanted people to look up to me, admire me, and worship me.
Later, I accepted Almighty God's work of the last days,
and read this from Almighty God.
In the judgment and revelation in Almighty God's words,
I saw that the substance of my nature was arrogant, and disobedient to the truth.
That in my heart I had no place at all for God.
I often was haughty and showed off.
I always wanted a place for myself in the hearts of others.
I wanted them to listen to me and obey me.
Was I not just like Satan, trying to steal people away from God?
Was I not playing archangel?
That was a grave offense to God's disposition.
It was the path of the antichrist.
I began to tremble with fear.
I saw that if my arrogant nature remained unchanged,
I could stand in God's place to testify and exalt myself.
I could do evil things, oppose God, and in the end, be punished by God.
Through my experience of Almighty God's work of judgment,
I saw there was much to love in the substance of God's life.
God is the Creator,
and became flesh twice to grant man salvation from corruption.
Humbly hidden, bearing humiliation, He came among men,
quietly granting salvation as He lived and resided with us.
I felt such guilt and such shame, too ashamed to face God.
God, who is supreme, humbled Himself and came hidden.
But I, a deeply corrupt human, lower than even a maggot,
tried to raise myself up and fight for position with God.
I had no humanity, no sense. I was shameless!
In God's harsh judgment and revelation,
I saw God's righteous and majestic disposition
which is intolerant of offense by man.
Gradually, I came to fear God in my heart.
I began to hate and curse my satanic nature.
I wanted to expose my corrupt substance, and slowly I learned to betray myself.
I exalted God, and I testified God,
and began to practice the truth by using it as a principle for action.
Without even realizing it, my arrogant disposition began to change.
I began to accept and obey the words which are in accord with the truth.
I recovered some of my conscience and humanity,
and learned to accept and to submit to other people.
I felt relaxed and free and gained some of the likeness of a real man.
I sincerely felt Almighty God's words can change and purify us.
Those are the fruits of my personal experience of Almighty God's work.
Thank God. Glory be to Almighty God!
Thanks be to God!
Your testimony has shown us Almighty God can see everything in our hearts.
He reveals all the corruption which lurks in man's spirit,
leaving man convinced,
with no choice but to return to God to know himself.
I see the selfishness and arrogance in my own nature.
I've believed in God to gain blessings and rewards.
Once I'd gained some position, done some works, and run for God,
I looked down on other people.
I wanted a place in other people's hearts.
Almighty God's words give people life.
We need to be judged and chastised by God,
because that's the only way we can know ourselves and turn to God,
repent, and make a real change.
Almighty God's words are like a sharp sword.
They expose man's opposition to God with such precision.
The judgment and purification of Almighty God's words
leave people with nothing to feel except shame!
Only by accepting the judgment in Almighty God's words
can we cast off our corruption and be truly saved!
We've believed in the Lord many years,
and all we've heard is testimony about grace and peace.
But you have shared about knowing yourselves,
casting off corruption, and entering the reality of truth.
We've seen that God's work of judgment
is deeper and more profound than the work of redemption.
It tackles our corrupt disposition,
helps us break away from the influence of Satan and gain salvation.
Right. We would never know this without hearing it from you!
Their testimony sounds far more profound than ours!
They are already in the Age of Kingdom,
while we are still stuck in the Age of Grace!
This is the first time we've heard testimony like this.
Yes, their testimony is very true! (Yes!)
Thank God.
Thank the Lord. We've gained so much from your preaching today.
It just makes so much sense. I have to go read Almighty God's word more!
Almighty God really is doing the work of the Age of Kingdom.
By accepting God's work of judgment, people directly enter the kingdom.
We're really falling behind!
We've been lost in the wilderness, right?
They've entered Canaan, while we're still wandering in the wilderness.
We have been foolish virgins! Very foolish!
Thank God!
Thanks be to God. We've had such a testimony of experience.
It's the living water that flows from God's throne and this is our provision.
It's the fruits of experiencing Christ's judgment and chastisement.
All glory be to Almighty God!
Let's read some more from Almighty God.
Okay. Everyone, let's read together. (Okay.)
Christ of the last days, Almighty God, expresses many truths.
And these truths are the word that gives man life,
the water of the river of life that flows from the throne.
Today we all come before the throne of Almighty God,
hear the voice of Almighty God and accept God's salvation.
God has indeed lifted us up and blessed us greatly.
Thank God! (Amen!)
Let's read more words from Almighty God. (Okay.)
I'll read more from Almighty God.
Thanks be to God! God's words are so good!
God's words really possess authority! Great!
I'll read one more passage from Almighty God. (Okay.)
Thanks be to God! God's kingdom is on earth! It's so wonderful!
Thanks be to God!
We all know of Jesus' prophecy
that He would return to separate the wheat from the tares,
good servants from evil ones.
I didn't know what it meant.
Turns out,
God in the last days would use the judgment and chastisement of His word
to reveal every kind of man and determine where they'll end up.
All those who truly believe in God, love the truth,
and can accept and obey God's judgment and chastisement
will be saved by God.
These people are the wheat,
those who will finally attain salvation and be perfected,
and those qualified to enter the beautiful kingdom
which God has prepared for man.
Those who are weary of the truth, hate the truth,
and oppose God's work of the last days
will all be revealed as evil.
These people are the tares and they are sure to perish along with Satan.
God's work is so practical, almighty, and wise! (Yes.)
I finally understand
that this is what the parable of wheat and tares in the Bible meant.
Mm, right.
Almighty God's words are so very enlightening.
God's word is practical. These words are indeed…
They are. (They are exactly what we…)
We used to hope and wait for the Lord to lift us up into heaven.
Now we understand how ignorant and ridiculous we were.
Yes!
The destination God has prepared for man is on the earth.
God will establish His kingdom upon the earth,
and those who have been saved and purified will enter God's kingdom.
They will worship God on earth,
and enjoy the wonderful life God has prepared for man in His kingdom.
There's a prophecy in Revelation.
Almighty God's word reveals the whole truth of this mystery.
Now we understand what the prophecy means!
God's words really have authority. They are exactly what we need. We should read Almighty God's words carefully.
Brothers and sisters,
we've thirsted for the provision of the living water that flows from the throne.
Today Almighty God has blessed us, (Amen!)
and freely bestowed His living water upon us.
Let us receive this provision and supply of His life.
Let's sing "A River of Water of Life" to praise God!
Okay!