By Deli, Myanmar
Though I was born into a Christian family, my parents never explained any knowledge about the Bible to me because of their being uneducated. Afterward, I attended a church parochial school. The teacher would give us a Bible lesson every week. From then on, I began to understand the Bible, knowing that in it there are so many legendary spiritual figures such as Noah, Abraham, and David. They were all marvelous persons and their stories made me admire and envy them. Gradually, I started to attend Sunday School, and leant how to pray. However, later, I dropped out of school due to the stress from life. Instead, I left home to work.
Due to the belief I accepted before, I knew that belief in God was in order to be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven, but if we wanted to enter into the heavenly kingdom, we must thoroughly confess and repent, and not leave the Lord at any time, for the Bible says, “But as he which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy” (1Peter 1:15-16). bibleThus, during the days when I worked away from home, I would go to meetings every Sunday as possible as I could.
At the same time, I also wanted to keep the way of the Lord and thoroughly repent so that I could please the Lord and be saved and enter into the kingdom of heaven in the future. Yet in fact, I often failed to overcome sin, always living in a state of sinning and confessing. For example, the Lord taught us to speak truthfully, “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no”(Matthew 5:37). But sometimes, despite the fact that I was playing cards all day long in order to satisfy my temporal lust, when my friend asked where I was over the phone, I would lie, saying I was working. And I knew very well that we should not covet other people’s wealth. But occasionally, when seeing some good things other people lost, I would want to take them for myself. Worse still, though the Lord taught us not to give rise to lecherous thoughts upon seeing a woman, yet I always indulged in evil thoughts when seeing a beautiful woman, unable to control them. And so on. In face of my situation, I had no idea when I could achieve a true repentance, and what I should do in order not to sin again. Sometimes I would talk about my situation with some Christian friends with whom I got along well, but I did not expect that we had the same confusion. So, I thought: Perhaps I can write down these problems, and later when I have an opportunity to invite the priest to my home, I can ask him and find out.
In April 2017, a priest came to our church to preach. During that period, he spoke of the prophecies in Revelation. He said that the day of the Lord was near, the great disaster would descend soon, and all kinds of indescribable calamities would occur. I listened with enthusiasm, for it was the first time that I heard someone explain the prophecies in Revelation. Next, the priest said that if we wanted to escape the disaster in the last days, we must be born again, because only genuinely regenerated and saved ones could enter the kingdom of heaven. When I heard him preach about the truth of regeneration, it seemed to me there was a ray of hope of getting rid of sins. So, during the last three days of gospel meetings, I went to the church to listen to the sermons every day without fail. However, when the gospel meetings were finished, I felt that the priest’s sermons about Revelation merely made me zealous in seeking the way to be born again, but couldn’t show me the path to solve the problem of sin. When the brothers and sisters in the church requested him to stay and give more sermons, yet he just declined, using the excuse of being too busy now, and put it off till the same time next year. Hearing the priest say so, my burning heart cooled down immediately. Didn’t he say the great disaster will descend soon? Should he come and talk about it the next year, what shall we do if disasters arrive before his coming and yet we still have not repented thoroughly by then? At the very least, he should show us the way! However, I am just an unremarkable and ordinary believer in the church, and not even qualified to speak to the priest, so how can I have the right to request him to speak about the question of repentance and regeneration in detail?
For this, I couldn’t help but sigh: “Oh, Lord! Owing to my poor caliber, I’m unable to understand the Bible well. While listening to the priest preaching, I admired him and was fascinated by his sermons, yet afterward I still have no path to practice. Oh, Lord! I believe the day of Your coming is near. If I still haven’t repented thoroughly by the time You come, I will receive misfortunes instead of obtaining blessings. Oh, Lord! Am I to continue to sin like this? Must I wait till I completely understand the Bible, and then the problem of sin will be solved?”
The Lord knew my requirement. One day in May, one of my friends asked me over to see a preacher, and I promised like a bird. At his home, I saw the preacher Brother Li. Seeing he was so young, I was a little surprised, because in my mind’s eye I thought all preachers should be slightly older.
Before I could think more, Brother Li asked me, “Brother, I heard that you have believed in the Lord since you were little, and that you are a zealous Christian. May I ask if there is any difference between a Christian and a saint? Could you tell about your understanding?”
I said, “Yes, there is. A saint should refer to someone who is holy and doesn’t sin.”
Brother Li asked again, “Then, how should we act if we want to become sanctified and never sin again?”
I answered, “I have no idea about this. I also want to know the key.”
Brother Li continued to say, “How to become a saint and never sin again is indeed a problem which can’t be explained clearly in one or two sentences. So, let’s take it slow.”
Hearing Brother Li say that he was going to give us a message on how to be free from sin, I at once had an interest to know. That night, Brother Li didn’t say too much, but every problem he fellowshiped about was directed at my state and shortcomings, and I felt his fellowship was so fresh. The next night, Brother Li played a video and integrated the Bible to fellowship with us, which I thought was very novel. In the gospel movie, the debates over the truth were very fierce and extremely attractive, and the fellowship of Brother Li was also reasonable and well-grounded. Then it was the third night. Brother Li integrated the Bible and the video to witness that the mount of Olives had already cleaved, the Lord Jesus had already become flesh once again and carried out a stage of work of judgment and purification. Hearing the news of the Lord’s return, I was very surprised and exited. Though I could not fully confirm that the Lord has really returned, yet I felt what Brother Li fellowshiped was irrefutable as it was all based on the Bible. Later on, I asked Brother Li to download some videos for me so that after returning home I could have a good look and investigate things clearly. However, when the fourth day came, several friends, who came to hear the messages and who were soldiers on service, were suddenly called back by their units. And Brother Li also left due to something unexpected. As they were in a hurry, we lost contact with each other. Even the friend who originally asked me to come to hear the messages also had gone back to his unit, so there was no one to fellowship with me and testify to me about God’s work of the last days.
Faced with such a thing, I felt so astonished and helpless, because I was still not completely certain of the work of God when He returns to flesh, yet the way for seeking it was broken down in a sudden. sadIt left me feeling strangely empty and at a loss. I thought: If I have heard the news of the Lord’s return but yet I can’t welcome the Bridegroom and am eventually confined outside the door, just like the foolish virgin, isn’t this a great loss? But I am still unable to completely believe the news of the Lord’s return or be uncertain of this new work, much less do I know how to follow the returned Lord. Although I had some downloaded videos in hand, without someone to commune with me, I couldn’t get a clear understanding of these videos, having only a hazy and vague idea of them.
About half a month later, one friend of mine came to see me. He was a zealous Christian. I spoke to him about what I heard about the news of the Lord’s return and the puzzlement in my heart, and I also showed him some videos in order for him to investigate God’s work together with me. After watching the videos, he showed great interest and then suggested: “Now is the information age. Whatever kind of information it may be, all will be uploaded to the internet. The Lord’s return is so great a matter, so there must be some information about this on websites. Let’s search online for it.” I considered his suggestion reasonable and intended to do so. After several days, he sent me a message telling me that on Facebook he had found an Eastern Lightning follower, Sister Li Jie from Italy. As he was not familiar with Chinese, he asked me to friend her on Facebook first and then tell him what I had learned in local lingo when I figure things out. After reading his message, I immediately searched his friends list for Sister Li Jie, and then sent her a friend request. At the same time, I also got ready to thoroughly investigate God’s work of the last days.
Because my friend had given Sister Li Jie an advance notice, she directly asked me something about my belief in God as soon as she added me. Then, I also came straight to the point, “Sister, do you know how the Lord will return and the method of His arrival? Is Eastern Lightning the return of the Lord Jesus?” Sister Li sent me a passage of Almighty God’s word, “When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life” (“Preface”). Listening to the words of God, I felt they clearly express that in the last days God is incarnated in the flesh again to further His salvation work.
Then, Sister Li said, “When the Lord Jesus first appeared in the flesh, He only completed the work of being crucified to redeem mankind, that is, He bought us from Satan’s hands at a high price. But within us the corrupt disposition still exists, so we still can often sin and resist God, continuously living in the cycle of committing sins then confessing, confessing then committing sins. This is really the corrupted life that all believers in the Lord are living. Therefore, God has to become flesh again to do the work of judgment and purification, which precisely realizes the words of the Lord Jesus: “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48). In the last days, God personally becomes flesh, judges and reveals our corruption by expressing words, and then uses His words to guide us to understand the truths, and to help us gradually break away from Satan’s corrupt disposition to become holy, so that we may enter the kingdom of Christ.”
At these words, I thought: Though I have believed in the Lord Jesus for so many years, I have never broken free of the bondage of sin, but still frequently live in the state of sinning and confessing, without understanding any truth. All I have done is follow the crowd and merely keep the meetings, so how can I be eligible to enter the heavenly kingdom? If God were not incarnated to further His work of salvation, it would indeed be impossible for me to solve the problem of sin by myself. Moreover, the Lord Jesus once said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). When I thought about these words now, I felt that they must imply that only through God being incarnated to do His work of thoroughly purifying man in the last days can we men be qualified to enter the heavenly kingdom.
Then, Sister Li sent me another two passages of God’s word, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity”). “Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can cast away his corruption and be made pure” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”).
The sister continued to fellowship, “Because the Lord Jesus didn’t do the work of transforming man’s life disposition, our inner arrogance, selfishness, deceit, greed and evil etc., that is, our corrupt dispositions, still remain, and have not been cleansed and changed. Anyone who can sin and resist God is not sanctified but belongs to Satan, and will finally become the target for punishment by God. So, we must undergo God’s judgment work in the last days. Only if we can have an understanding of our own corruption through the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, see that we have been corrupted by Satan to such a degree that we have become unbearably ugly, and thereby hate ourselves and forsake the flesh, and then, come to understand God’s righteous disposition and thus revere God will we not disobey and resist God anymore; only then can we become sanctified step by step and thus qualify to enter the kingdom of God. Almighty God’s work is exactly the work of judgment before the great white throne. All those who are able to accept the judgment of God’s words in the last days are just lifted before the throne of God to accept the purification and perfection of God’s words. In the end, when they obtain the truth from God’s words and completely cast off their corruption, then they are truly purified. Such people, when the disaster befalls in the last days, will receive wonderful protection of God. Just like the Bible says, “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Psalms 91:7). The disaster will not befall on this group of people, just because they are people who are saved by God and will receive God’s blessings in the kingdom of God.”
Next, the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God gave me a detailed fellowship on more aspect of truths like God’s three stages of work, what is the incarnation, how God does the work of judgment and purification in the last days, and so on. From that, I completely confirmed that Eastern Lightning is just the work of the true God, and that Almighty God is exactly the return of the Lord Jesus. I have found the path to being truly cleansed, followed the footsteps of the lamb, and walked on the path to true repentance and regeneration, which is also the only way to escape the great disaster in the last days. Thanks to the salvation of Almighty God! May all the glory be to Almighty God!
Source From: Find the shepherd