By Pingping
Receiving God’s salvation in the last days, I was joyful and happy.
In early 2017, an old lady I had met previously enthusiastically bore witness to God’s work of the last days for me and told me that the Lord Jesus has already returned. She said that He is performing a new stage of His work to save mankind, and that many prophecies that exist in the Bible were being fulfilled. Hearing this, I got very excited. The words of God read by the old lady were very useful for me, and I hadn’t heard anything like them before. I thought: “In the past, my mother and sister often urged me to believe in God, but I didn’t accept it because I was too busy making money. Now this old lady is communicating God’s intention to save mankind so clearly. This is the last stage in God’s work of salvation. I can’t miss this opportunity. This is the grace of God!” Thereupon, I willingly accepted it.
Afterward, the elder sister (the old lady) often came to take me to attend meetings and read God’s words. Whenever I was free, I would listen to recitations of the words of God or learn to sing the hymns. I was very happy every day, and felt pleasure, peace and steadiness that I had never before experienced. But not long after, a sudden “persuasion” caused me to lose all sense of direction.
Facing temptations, I nearly lost God’s salvation.
In February 2017, I went to my mother’s for Chinese New Year. When I saw some brothers and sisters in the Lord in the village come to gather with my mother and sister, I thought: “They still don’t know that God has come back, expressed the truth and carried out the work of judgment starting from the house of God. I need to hurry up and tell them the good news!” But when I bore witness to God’s new work for them, I encountered their furious opposition and hindrances. My younger sister said, “Sister, you have not believed in God for very long and you’re not able to discern well yet. You must not be tricked and deceived by false Christs….”
Hearing these words, my heart churned and I wondered if there really were cheats among us believers. “Is the One I believe in really the true God? I had no idea what to do.
For a period of time after getting back home, I didn’t want to see the elder sister because I could not see to the bottom of this matter and was afraid that I would be deceived. One day, the elder sister came to visit me when my husband and daughter happened to be at home. They heard her voice outside, and didn’t let me open the door for her. And my husband said, “Your mother and sister have told you there are false Christs deceiving people in your hometown. Stop believing in their God.” Hearing his words, I was even more hesitant, and in the end I didn’t let her in.
During that time, I felt very upset. My conscience was uneasy and I felt I’d done something blameful. I thought I had gone too far. I thought about those days I’d interacted with the elder sister. It was she that led me to read God’s words and learn to sing hymns and pray. She, nearly 70, came to see me time after time, but I ruthlessly slammed the door in her face. I felt that I had no conscience at all, but I was also really confused and thought: “Is the One I believe in really the true God? If my belief is really mistaken, then why have I been so upset about not being able to read God’s words? Could it be that the One I’ve rejected is the true God? Is God moving my heart?” At the thought of all this, I wanted to see the elder sister and ask for clarification.
Several days later, the elder sister came to visit me again and I immediately received her. As soon as she saw me, she asked me with concern, “Sister, how have you been recently? Is everything all right? I came back a few times, but I didn’t get to see you….” Hearing her simple words, I felt so warm and my heart was moved.
God’s words manifested the power to teach me how to discern the true Christ from false ones.
I told the elder sister about my weakness and confusion. She said, “If we want to know whether the God that we believe in is true or false, we need to investigate with a seeking heart and learn how to distinguish through the truths expressed by God.” Then she opened up the book of the words of God and led me in reading a passage, “There are some who are possessed by evil spirits and cry out vociferously, ‘I am God!’ Yet, in the end, they are revealed, for they are wrong in what they represent. They represent Satan, and the Holy Spirit pays them no heed. However highly you exalt yourself or however strongly you cry out, you are still a created being and one that belongs to Satan. I never cry out, ‘I am God, I am the beloved Son of God!’ But the work I do is God’s work. Need I shout? There is no need for exaltation. God does His own work Himself and does not need man to accord Him a status or give Him an honorific title: His work represents His identity and status. Prior to His baptism, was not Jesus God Himself? Was He not the incarnate flesh of God? Surely it cannot be said that it was only after receiving witness that He became the only Son of God? Long before He began His work, was there not already a man by the name of Jesus? You are unable to bring forth new paths or to represent the Spirit. You cannot express the work of the Spirit or the words that He speaks. You are unable to do the work of God Himself, and that of the Spirit you are unable to do. The wisdom, wonder, and unfathomability of God, and the entirety of the disposition by which God chastises man—all of these are beyond your capacity to express. It would therefore be useless to try to claim to be God; you would have only the name and none of the substance. ”
“If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, cast out demons, heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be a counterfeit produced by evil spirits which imitate Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the notions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, and the result of this prophecy was Jesus’ coming. This having already happened, it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again.”
After reading the words of God, the elder sister said, “Let me read a passage of Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life to you, ‘This is just like when Jesus came to work: He ushered in the Age of Grace, and brought to an end the Age of Law. He did one stage of the work of redemption, and rescued mankind from sin. In order that His work would be effective, He performed some signs and wonders. In the last days, Almighty God has come, He has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and brought to an end the Age of Grace. But He does not repeat the work done by the Lord Jesus. Instead, based upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He carries out the work of judgment beginning from the house of God. He expresses all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind to resolve the source of our sin and our satanic disposition, and to thoroughly save us from the influence of Satan, so that we will be gained by God. And the false Christs? They are all evil spirits who fake Christ. They are incapable of doing work of ushering in a new age and bringing the old age to an end. They can only imitate the Lord Jesus by performing simple signs and wonders to deceive those muddle-headed people without discernment. But they are incapable of copying what Jesus did as raising the dead and feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, or rebuking the wind and sea, which is totally beyond them. In substance, false Christs are wicked, they are evil spirits and totally devoid of the truth. And so, they have to rely on signs and wonders to deceive people. Or else they deceive and admonish people by imitating the tone of God’s words and simple words once spoken by God.’”
Through reading the words of God and the sermons, I understood how the false Christs deceive people: False Christs declare that they are Christ, but they are actually evil spirits, do not possess the essence of God, and cannot do the work that God does. They can only perform some miracles, such as healing diseases and casting out demons, in order to deceive people, whereas Christ can bring new work. Just like when the Lord Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace, and He delivered sermons that enabled people to confess their sins and repent. In the same way, Almighty God has come to end the Age of Grace and bring about the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out the work of purifying and perfecting people. This is the work that false Christs will never be able to perform. Actually, if they were the real deal, it’d be hard for them to fake it. But for the fraudsters, however strongly they shout, they still do not possess God’s identity or status and will be exposed and punished in the end.
After that the elder sister read another passage of God’s word, “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the essence of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh cannot be supplanted by just any man, but is a flesh that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those who impersonate Christ will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the essence of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself.” The elder sister then fellowshiped this, “From the words of God, we can see that Christ is God incarnate, and that He is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh. That is, all that God possesses, including what God has and is, His disposition and wisdom, are all realized in this flesh. So He possesses the substance of divinity, and is the embodiment of the truth. He is always able to express the truth anytime and anyplace to supply and shepherd mankind. Only Christ can do the work of redeeming and saving mankind. No one else can imitate this. This fact is undeniable.”
I carefully pondered over the words of God read by the elder sister and her fellowshiping. The words of God gave me some discernment and I came to know that Christ is God Himself and He can express the truth, which is not possessed by any false Christs. Only Christ can express God’s own disposition and all that He has and is, and reveal all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan. The truths Almighty God has expressed and the work done by Him completely prove that Almighty God is Christ of the last days, is the one true God, and is the work and appearance of the Lord Jesus. Those who shamelessly call themselves God are all evil spirits in disguise; they have no truth, and are even less in possession of God’s substance. They can only corrupt and deceive people in order to achieve their goal of getting everyone to follow them and thus betray God. Only when someone understands the words of God will they have discernment of the true Christ and the false ones. Not having believed in God for very long, my stature is still too small and I really lack the truth, so I am incapable of discerning properly. Because I didn’t feel God’s loving salvation with my heart, I betrayed God ignorantly. My numb heart drove me to refuse the love of the elder sister heartlessly. The condemnation and blame in my conscience made my heart finally become aware, so I knew I had to cherish the opportunity and listen to her fellowshiping carefully.
God guided me to see through Satan’s tricks.
The elder sister went on reading another passage God’s word to me, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men and the interference of men. Behind every step of work that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle.” After reading God’s words, she said to me, “Sister, because of the manifestation of fake Christs and rumors in the outside world, and the so-called ‘kind’ exhortations of our family members, our hearts have been disturbed and we have become lost. But in fact, the main cause of our problems is that we read so little of God’s words, don’t understand the truth, and are unable to clearly see through to the bottom of spiritual matters. Sister, it is a spiritual struggle that causes you to be beset with these troubles. In fact, so long as we equip ourselves with God’s words more, have some knowledge of God’s work and His disposition, and are able to discern all of Satan’s tricks and ruses, Satan will have no way to capture us. If we don’t have God’s words as our life in our hearts, or have little discernment of spiritual matters, when Satan causes disruptions for us we will have doubts about God even to the point of denying God, betraying God, and leaving God behind. So it will happen that we will fall victim to Satan’s tricks, miss the chance of being saved by God, and lose God’s salvation. In the end we will be devoured by Satan, and be destroyed along with it. This is Satan’s sinister motive. So we absolutely must do more to pray and draw near to God, and step up our reading of the words of God and equip ourselves with the truth more in future. Only in this way can we understand God’s will, see through Satan’s tricks, and stand witness.”
When I heard this, I suddenly realized: This was actually a spiritual struggle. Satan thought up every conceivable way to use the people and things around me to disturb my mind, and prevent me from believing in, following, and worshiping God. Satan is afraid that I will follow God’s footsteps and understand the truth, and then, distinguish its evil essence, betray it, and forsake it. It was because I was muddle-headed and without discernment that I believed in what people were saying but did not listen to God’s words, so that I lost my way. I decided to read more of the words of God and equip myself with more truths so as not to be taken advantage of by Satan. At that time, the emotions I had restrained for so long were finally set free by God’s words. I felt so happy, and also became convinced that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and is the one true God.
Through reading God’s words, I began to understand some truths and had some faith to follow God. But Satan was unwilling to admit defeat, and once again instigated a plot to test me.
God protected me and helped me stand witness when Satan’s temptation befell me again.
After some time, when my sister learned I still believed in God, she hurried over here from my hometown to urge me to desist. My husband also tried with her to stop me from believing in God. Facing all this, my heart was in torment and I prayed to God in my heart, “O God! Today, my sister rushed over specially to try to persuade me and my husband also tried to stop me from following You. Now, I feel weak-spirited and I can’t overcome their resistance. What should I do? I ask You to help me and give me faith.” After praying, I thought of a passage of God’s words that the elder sister once read with me, where Almighty God says: “Externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.”
Thanks be to the enlightenment of the words of God. I thought: “This matter is another deceitful scheme carried out by Satan. It wants to use my sister and husband to disturb me and impair my relationship with God. I must not fall for its tricks again. I’ll stand firmly to witness for God this time.” Then I said to my sister, “If you do not follow the Lamb’s footsteps, only believing nominally in God but not knowing the work of God, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus once said, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’ (John 10:27). Those who are God’s sheep can hear His voice. If you are a true believer in God, you should not uphold yourself and ought to calm yourself down, seek and study. If you read the words expressed by Almighty God, you will know whether they’re the truth, and whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 5:3).
Hearing me say this, my sister looked at me in surprise, and it took a while before she fully gathered her wits. She said, “Hmm, I’ve believed for some many years, and you’ve been a follower for just a few days, but you can already sermonize very fluently.” At that moment, my husband’s attitude toward me also improved greatly, and he said, “As long as you don’t believe in the wrong God then it’s all OK.” My sister said nothing more, but had a helpless look on her face. From then on she no longer tried to block me. I thanked God from the bottom of my heart!
Now I feel it is so nice to believe in God. For me, not only every day is fulfilling, but also my heart is full of feelings of relief and freedom. Furthermore, I’ve found the true God and now follow His footprints. And this is my greatest happiness in this life. In The Church of Almighty God, I can not only attend meetings regularly and read God’s words, but can also fulfill duties to the best of my abilities. My husband says I’ve become a better and better person. And he is no longer opposed to my faith in God. All the glory be to God!
Source From: Being Able to Distinguish the True Christ From False Christs, I Was Not Deceived