With Life Hanging by a Thread, the Hand of God Came to the Rescue (Audio Essays)

Ling Wu, Japan

“If I were not saved by God, I would still be drifting in this world,

struggling hard and painfully in sin, every day bleak and hopeless.

If I were not saved by God, I’d still be crushed below the devil’s feet,

snared in sin and its enjoyments, ignorant of what my life would be.

It’s Almighty God who saves me; all God’s words have purified my heart.

Through God’s judgment and His chastisement, my corrupted disposition’s changed.

All the word and truth God expresses, it has all given me new life.

I have seen my God face to face and have tasted God’s true love.

Finally I’ve understood God’s loving hand holds mine as we go.

Now I have heard the voice of God and been raised before God’s throne.

The feast of my Christ I attend, to be perfected and purified by Him.

What I’d hoped for is finally realized, I have now been saved by God.”

A Rebirth

Yang Zheng Heilongjiang Province

I was born into an impoverished rural family that was backward in their thinking. I was vain from a young age and my desire for status was particularly strong. Over time, through the social influence and a traditional education, I took all sorts of Satan’s rules for survival into my heart. All kinds of fallacies nurtured my desire for reputation and status, such as building a beautiful homeland with your own two hands, fame will make you immortal, people need face like a tree needs its bark, getting ahead and being on top, one should bring honor to his ancestors, etc. These gradually became my life and made me firmly believe that as long as we are living in this world, we have to work to be seen highly by others. No matter what crowd we are with we must have status, we should be the most outstanding one. Only through living this way can we have integrity and dignity. Only living a life this way has value. In order to achieve my dream, I studied very diligently in elementary school; through storms and sickness, I never missed class. Day by day, I finally made it to middle school that way. When I saw that I was getting closer and closer to my dream I didn’t dare slack off. I frequently told myself that I had to persevere, that I had to present myself well to my teachers and classmates. However, just then, something unexpected happened. There was a scandal about our head teacher and the principal of the school that caused an uproar. All the teachers and students knew about it. One day in class, that teacher asked us if we had heard about it and all the other students said “No.” I was the only one who honestly replied “I heard.” From that time on, that teacher saw me as a thorn in her side and would frequently find excuses to make things difficult for me, to crack down on me. My classmates started to keep their distance from me and exclude me. They made fun of me and humiliated me. Finally, I was no longer able to tolerate that kind of torment and I dropped out of school. That was how my dream of getting ahead and being on top was crushed. Thinking of my future days with my face to the earth and back to the sky, I felt an inexpressible sadness and melancholy. I thought: Can it be that my life will be passed so unremarkably? No status, no prestige, no future. What’s the point of living like this? I really wasn’t willing to accept that fact at that time but I was helpless to change my circumstances. Just as I was living in pain and hopelessness that I wasn’t able to extricate myself from, Almighty God saved me and reignited the hope in my heart that had been extinguished. From then I began a whole new life.

Returning to Life From the Brink of Death

By Yang Mei, China

In 2007 I suddenly fell ill with chronic renal failure. On being told the news, my Christian mother and sister-in-law, and some Catholic friends all came to visit me to preach the gospel to me. They all told me that I only had to go to God and my illness would be cured. But I didn’t believe in God at all. I thought that illness could only be cured through scientific medical treatment, and that any disease that couldn’t be cured by science was incurable. After all, was there any power on earth greater than the power of science? Faith in God was just a form of psychological crutch, and I was an upstanding state school teacher, a person who was educated and cultured, so there was no way I’d start believing in God. So I turned them down and started looking around for medical treatment. Within a few years I’d been to virtually every large hospital in my home county and throughout the province, but my condition didn’t improve. In fact, it was getting worse, but I stubbornly clung to my own way of looking at the situation and insisted that science could change anything and that curing illness was just a question of finding the right process.

God’s Primary Work in the Age of Law

During the Age of Law, the work of guiding mankind was done under the name of Jehovah, and the first stage of work was initiated on earth. At this stage, the work consisted of building the temple and the altar, and using the law to guide the people of Israel and to work in their midst. By guiding the people of Israel, He launched a base for His work on earth. From this base, He expanded His work beyond Israel, which is to say that, starting from Israel, He extended His work outward, so that later generations gradually came to know that Jehovah was God, and that it was Jehovah who created the heavens and earth and all things, and that it was Jehovah who made all creatures. He spread His work through the people of Israel outward beyond them. The land of Israel was the first holy place of Jehovah’s work on earth, and it was in the land of Israel that God first went to work on earth. That was the work of the Age of Law.

What Does It Mean to Have Humanity?

Yue Ming

God said: “Normal humanity includes these aspects: insight, sense, conscience, and character. If you can achieve normality in each of these respects, your humanity is up to standard. You should have the likeness of a normal human being and behave like a believer in God. You don’t have to achieve great heights or engage in diplomacy. You just have to be a normal human being, with a normal person’s sense, be able to see through things, and at least look like a normal human being. That will be enough” (“Improving Caliber Is for Receiving God’s Salvation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). In the past, my understanding was that as long as one did not fight or quarrel with others and could live harmoniously with others, one was living out a normal humanity. Today, when I contemplate this passage of God’s word, suddenly I understand that when God is talking about normal humanity, it does not merely involve being conscientious and sensible when getting along with others. The key is being considerate of God’s will while one is fulfilling one’s duties, seeking to love and satisfy God and fulfill the responsibilities of one of God’s creations. When I compare God’s words with my own actions and deeds, I can see that I am quite far from fulfilling God’s demands. Many times, on the surface, I am fulfilling duties. However, when I encounter practical problems, I am not considerate of God’s will and I do not have a heart that loves God. Instead, I am very prudent in protecting my own interests and reputation. After many instances of God’s judgment and chastisement, my conscience has gradually started to perceive. I started to focus on practicing the truth to satisfy God during the daily fulfillment of my duties, thereby living out a bit of normal humanity.

Only God’s Love Is Real

Xiaodong Sichuan Province

God said, “The Chinese nation which has been corrupted for thousands of years has continued on until today. All sorts of viruses continue to expand and are spreading everywhere like the plague; just looking at people’s relationships is enough to see how many viruses are in people. It’s extremely difficult for God to develop His work in such a tightly closed and virus-infected area. People’s personalities, habits, the way they do things, everything they express in their lives and their interpersonal relationships are all broken beyond belief …” (“The Path … (6)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The revelation in God’s words made me see how Satan’s corruption makes all relationships between people abnormal, because all are based on Satan’s philosophy of life, without containing even a shred of truth. Without God’s salvation, my eyes would still be covered and my emotions entrapped, but experiencing the work of God made me understand the essence of what it means to “help one another” and showed me the truth of friendship, love, and familial affection. I saw that only God’s words are the truth, and that only by living by God’s words could we escape the influence of Satan, and that only by comporting oneself according to the truth could one live out a meaningful life.

The Voice and Word of the Holy Spirit | "When It Comes to God, What Is Your Understanding"

The Voice and Word of the Holy Spirit | "When It Comes to God, What Is Your Understanding"

Almighty God says, "The so-called God is not only the Holy Spirit, that Spirit, the sevenfold intensified Spirit, the all-encompassing Spirit, but also a person, an ordinary person, an exceptionally common person. He is not only male, but also female. They are similar in that They are both born to humans, and dissimilar in that one is conceived by the Holy Spirit and the other is born to a human but derived directly from the Spirit. They are similar in that both incarnate fleshes of God carry out God the Father’s work, and dissimilar in that one does the work of redemption and the other does the work of conquering.

Best Christian Music Video | So Happy to Live in the Love of God | "Christ's Kingdom Is a Warm Home"

Best Christian Music Video | So Happy to Live in the Love of God | "Christ's Kingdom Is a Warm Home"

I

Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, it belongs to all of God’s people.

Christ walks and speaks in the church and lives together with God’s people.

The judgment and chastisement of God’s words is here, as is work of the Holy Spirit.

God’s words water, supply and guide us, and our lives grow.

This is the kingdom ruled by Christ, it is a fair and just world.

II

Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, it is so dear to God’s people.

God’s words reign in the church, we act on the truth and exalt Christ in our hearts.

There is no more infighting or intrigue, there’s no need for defense or fear.

Christ is the resting place for man’s soul, I need not wander anymore.

This is God’s kingdom people long for, it is mankind’s peaceful home.

III

Christ’s kingdom is my warm home, all of God’s people treasure it.

Here I experience God’s judgment and trials,

and my corrupt disposition is purified and changed.

My cheers and laughter, the story of my growth are here,

my quiet words to God are also here.

My unforgettable memories are here,

a record of the price God pays.

Everything here moves me, words cannot express the sincere devotion here.

Christ of the last days, my beloved, so lovely,

You have given me this warm home.

from Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs

Christian Music Video | "Thanks and Praise to Almighty God" | Live in the Light of God

Christian Music Video | "Thanks and Praise to Almighty God" | Live in the Light of God

I

We have been brought before God. His words we eat and drink.

Holy Spirit enlightens, we understand truth God speaks.

Rituals of religion, we’ve cast them off, all those bonds.

Unrestrained by rules, our hearts released.

And we are happy as can be, living in God’s light,

happy as can be, living in God’s light.

Thanks and praise to Almighty God,

who expresses truth to all mankind.

Thanks and praise to Almighty God,

we have a way to change,

and our vague faith subsides.

We sing praise, oh.

God’s Best Protection for Mankind

God’s Best Protection for Mankind

March 5, 2015

Kuiqian    Rizhao City, Shandong Province

My station in life, or status, was something I could never let go of, and when God created an environment that exposed me, I was only negative, complaining, and despairing. Only through refinement after refinement did I come to understand God’s good intentions, and that His testing of me was not to torment me. Rather, it was to cleanse me and make me perfect, to allow me to understand that believing in God for the sake of a station can only ruin me, thus allowing me to let go of improper views of pursuit, and to have a proper goal to pursue.

After some time of serving as a leader in the church, I was promoted to be a district leader’s partner. Before long, I was promoted again and entrusted with being a district leader. This linear “rise” made me work even harder to perform my duty, looking forward to the day that even more would be entrusted to me. This hope became the impetus for my pursuits. However, just as I was dreaming of my step-by-step “ascent,” I was replaced! At the time I was crushed—I felt that I had lost my station and my path of faith in God had come to its end. I was in pain to the point that I considered leaving the church. I even thought about dying. Later, through enlightenment from God’s words, I gradually came out of that negativity. His words were: “When the mountains move, could they make a detour for the sake of your station? When the waters flow, could they cease before your station? Could the heavens and the earth be reversed by your station?” (“The Twenty-second Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At the time, although I realized that my desire for status was too strong and that faith in God should not be a pursuit of status, I didn’t have any real understanding of myself, and I thought to myself: I won’t pursue status anymore; no matter what duties are arranged for me, I’ll obey and that’s it. Later, the church arranged for me to preach the gospel and to look after new believers. I accepted all of this. So, I believed that I had let go of my desire for status.