All Things Work Together for Good. A Commentary on Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

- Romans 8:28

Confusion Resolved: Why Jews Didn’t Believe in Jesus

By Cheng Tu

One day in 33 A.D., dark clouds loomed over Jerusalem, filling the air with gloom.

The Lord Jesus, with a crown of thorns on His head, was standing on the platform where the trial had been held. Off the platform were the angry chief priests, scribes and Pharisees, who shouted, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Many furious Jewish people were also yelling as they raised their arms, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

…………

The Suffering Is More Beneficial for Us Than an Easy Life

By Liu Xuena, China

In our real life, almost every one of us enjoys comfort and fears about experiencing suffering. If these two living environments were displayed in front of us for us to make a choice, few people would choose the latter, because we all enjoy life of comfort. However, is what we choose more beneficial for us?

Three Key Elements Help You Gain God’s Approval in Trials

By Song Yan

Faced with trials and refinement, many brothers and sisters in the Lord would get bewildered, not knowing how to experience them to be after God’s heart. Thanks to God’s leadership, I’ve grasped some principles on this aspect through studying the Bible and fellowshiping with my brothers and sisters in the church. Now I’d like to share them with you, which I hope can help the brothers and sisters who are undergoing trials.

A 70-Year Old Nearly Becomes a Vegetable but Miraculously Recovers by Relying on God

By Sun Hong

I am a Christian, and I am 70 years old. I once became paralyzed because of an illness, and nearly became braindead. During that period, I gave up any hope of surviving, but at a critical juncture, God’s words gave me faith and allowed me to miraculously regain my life. If God hadn’t saved me, I would have left this world a long time ago.

Why Does God Test Us? What Exactly Is God’s Will in Trials?

By Jiangjing

As Christians, none of us are strangers to trials. The Bible says, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, Jehovah is my God” (Zechariah 13:9). It also says in the Bible, “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2). From this, we can see that God wants to give refinement and trials to His chosen people and, through this, to perfect our faith and our love for God, to resolve our corrupt dispositions or the taints in our belief, to remedy our wrong views and to enable us to be purified. We can therefore encounter all kinds of environments that are at odds with our own notions. Examples of these environments may include sometimes encountering the refinement of illness, and sometimes our families may encounter misfortune, such as the suffering of a relative or our homes being burgled; sometimes we may encounter difficulties in our jobs or things in our lives that are not as we would wish; another example is what we decide to do when the interests of our flesh clash with the interests of the church. All these examples are, without a doubt, trials to us. So what approach should we take to the trials God sets for us? And when trials befall us, what is God’s will?

Over my recent contemplations on the Bible, I have been inspired by the experiences of Job and Abraham when trials befell them, and I’d like to share this with everyone.

The Trials of Job

What Are Those Who Do the Will of the Father in Heaven?

By Xingwu

One may ask: In the Bible, the Lord Jesus said, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). These words clearly tell us that only those who carry out the heavenly Father’s will can enter the heavenly kingdom. Then, how do we follow the heavenly Father’s will?

3 Aspects of Inspiration From Story of Abraham

By Xiaoguo

There is a story in the Bible: God promised to give Abraham a son when he was one hundred years old. Although Abraham thought it was impossible, God fulfilled His promise and really did give him a son. However, when his son grew up, God asked Abraham to offer him up. Abraham obeyed God and unconditionally put his only son Isaac on a sacrificial altar. However, in the end, not only did God not let him offer his son, but God provided him with greater blessings, allowing his descendants to become great nations. I think brothers and sisters in the Lord have all read this story. Then what knowledge do we learn from what God has achieved in Abraham? Today, I want to fellowship with everyone about what I have gained from reading this story.

1. God’s words contain authority and power and will surely be fulfilled.

It is recorded in the Bible: “And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give you a son also of hstory-of-abrahamer: yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Genesis 17:15-17).

God said, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year” (Genesis 17:21).

“For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac” (Genesis 21:2-3).

From these verses we can see that when God said He would bestow upon Abraham a son, Abraham thought it was impossible because his wife Sarah and he were both over childbearing age. But God said, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year” (Genesis 17:21). And the fact came to be according to God’s words that Sarah really gave birth to a son. From this I have seen God is faithful, and that we humans cannot fathom the power and authority of His words. Just as when God created the world, He used the word to create the heavens and the earth and all therein, and every word He spoke came true immediately. No one can change or destroy God’s creation. But because we humans lack experience and have very little faith in God, we often form notions about God’s words. However, everything that God wants done will not be affected by our conceptions. Just as God’s words say, “What man does or thinks, what man understands, the plans of man—none of this bears any relation to God. Everything proceeds according to God’s plan, in keeping with the times and stages set by God. Such is the principle of God’s work. God does not interfere in whatever man thinks or knows, yet neither does He forgo His plan, or abandon His work, because man does not believe or understand. The facts are thus accomplished according to the plan and thoughts of God. This is precisely what we see in the Bible: God caused Isaac to be born at the time He had set. Do the facts prove that the behavior and conduct of man hindered the work of God? They did not hinder the work of God! Did man’s little faith in God, and his conceptions and imagination about God affect God’s work? No, they did not! Not in the least! God’s management plan is unaffected by any man, matter, or environment. All that He resolves to do will be completed and accomplished on time and according to His plan, and His work cannot be interfered with by any man. God ignores certain aspects of man’s foolishness and ignorance, and even certain aspects of man’s resistance and conceptions toward Him, doing the work that He must do regardless. This is God’s disposition, and is a reflection of His omnipotence.” From this passage we can see that God can see deep into the heart of man. He knows we corrupted human beings like to treat the words from His mouth with the so-called natural law and our notions and imagination. But His power will never change because of our imaginations and ideas, and the things He has destined to accomplish will not be changed by anyone or anything. This is God’s righteous disposition, and even more a reflection of the Creator’s authority.

2. God treasures man’s sincerity and bestows His blessings upon those who obey and listen to His words.

As the Bible records, “And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son” (Genesis 22:9-10).

“By myself have I sworn, said Jehovah, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son: That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice” (Genesis 22:16-18).

We can see from the scriptures that Abraham obeyed Jehovah God and offered up his son for sacrifice. However, God did not really let him kill his son, but instead promised him that his descendants would become great nations. Moreover, God treasured Abraham’s obedience very much. God said, “When Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son, God’swere his actions seen by God? They were. The entire process—from the start, when God asked that Abraham sacrifice Isaac, to when Abraham actually raised his knife to slay his son—showed God the heart of Abraham, and regardless of his former foolishness, ignorance, and misunderstanding of God, at that time Abraham’s heart for God was true, and honest, and he truly was going to return Isaac, the son given to him by God, back to God. In him, God saw obedience—the very obedience that He desired.”

“Only then, when Abraham was able to obey God’s requirement, when he offered Isaac, did God truly feel reassurance and approval toward mankind—toward Abraham, whom He had chosen. Only then was God sure that this person whom He had chosen was an indispensable leader who could undertake His promise and His subsequent management plan. Though it was but a trial and a test, God felt gratified, He felt man’s love for Him, and He felt comforted by man as never before.”

From these verses and God’s words above, we can see that Abraham obeyed God’s words completely. In regard to God’s instructions, he did not have any complaints nor gave any excuses. Rather, he completely obeyed and unconditionally returned his beloved Isaac to God. Although in the beginning Abraham had little faith and harbored doubts about the words that God would give him a son, God did not nitpick with him. Later, when Isaac grew up, God’s trial came upon Abraham. God’s intention was to examine his faith in Him and to confirm whether he was qualified to be the leader who could undertake His management plan. But Abraham did not know the things God wanted to accomplish. He simply kept an attitude of obedience; he bound Isaac, offered him as a sacrifice to meet God’s requirements. If God tests us in this way, each of us may blame and even reason with Him. But at that time Abraham did not complain about or reason with God, saying “When I did not expect that I would have a son late in life, God bestowed upon me Isaac, but a dozen or so years later, God asks me to offer up Isaac. Since God asks me to do so now, why did He give me Isaac in the first place?” God saw his sincerity when he offered up Isaac. In that era when no one listened to God’s words nor knew God, Abraham’s sincerity was impressive. For this reason, God felt comforted and so gave him greater blessings, allowing his descendants to become great nations.

3. The deeds of Abraham bring us inspiration.

Through thinking about what God has achieved in Abraham, we can see God’s great power and know what kind of people God blesses. So, if we want to gain God’s blessings today, we should truly obey all of God’s arrangements and should not make any requests but satisfy God wholeheartedly.

However, many of us are incapable of achieving this. For example, we’ll tell others God’s grace, often sing songs of praise to God, pray to God, and thank God when our homes are totally peaceful and our jobs go smoothly. But when our situation is the opposite, we’ll misunderstand the Lord and feel resentment in our hearts, “Why did the Lord not care for me and not keep my family safe? Why did such misfortunes befall me?” When some of us suffer the tortures of illness and even though we pray to God our illnesses do not get better, we’ll lose faith in God, become unwilling to sing hymns or attend gatherings, and be in no mood to read the Bible. Sometimes when God calls on us and requires us to devote ourselves to spending for Him, which means we will spend more time for the church and less time for our flesh and families, we need to truly submit, dedicate ourselves to Him, and not talk about conditions with Him. However, often times we are not willing to dedicate ourselves to God but consider our own interests first, and even lay down terms to God, saying that the Lord should compensate us for spending for Him…. If we take this attitude, how can we be qualified to gain God’s blessing? At that time Abraham did not obey God’s arrangements in order to receive His blessing. He did not make demands of God but simply wanted to satisfy Him. So, we should emulate Abraham. Only by gradually practicing this way, giving our true hearts to God, and standing on His side and pursuing to satisfy Him in everything even when He tries us, will we be qualified to inherit His blessings. Just as God’s words say, “To those who sincerely expend for Me, I shall surely bless you greatly.”

This is all I have gained from reading Abraham’s story. I hope it can bring some help to brothers and sisters in the Lord in knowing God’s authority, the principles of His blessing of man, and how we should act to earn the Lord’s praise.

Rumors Almost Destroyed My Family

By Changqing, Australia

The consequences and effects that rumors have on people are never good, and the effect they have on Christian families is even more disastrous. As a Christian, how should you face it when your beliefs are attacked by rumors?

Happily Welcoming the Lord’s Return

I believed in the Lord with my mother from childhood, and I moved to Australia with my parents when I was in my teens. In early 2018, I heard the news that the Lord Jesus has already returned. Through Almighty God’s words and the fellowship from the brothers and sisters, I gained much knowledge of the mysteries of the Bible and also some understanding of the three stages of God’s work in saving mankind. In the Age of Law, God proclaimed laws to guide the people’s lives. Later, people faced the danger of being executed under the law because they couldn’t keep the law. In order to redeem mankind, God began the work of the Age of Grace and was nailed to the cross for mankind. In the Age of Kingdom, on the basis of His redemption work, God expressed the truth to judge and cleanse mankind, so as to thoroughly save mankind from the bondage and constraints of sin and take mankind to a wonderful destination. Only God can reveal the truths and mysteries and speak so clearly about God’s work of saving mankind. I confirmed that The Scroll Opened by the Lamb expressed by Almighty God was God’s voice. I was surprised and happy that the Lord really came back.

Perserverance Bible Verses: Love Suffers Long

To follow the Lord and walk the path of the cross, perseverance is essential. Whatever tribulations or refinement we encounter, we should not lose faith in God. For God hopes that we can look up to Him in everything and stand testimony in trials. The following 23 verses about perseverance help you strengthen your faith so that you can nerve yourself to face the difficulties by relying on God, and have the perseverance to move on.

Recommended Reading:

As Christians, How Can We Lose Faith in God in Such Minor Setbacks?

At Difficult Times, 2 Practical Ways Help You Submit to God

I Welcomed the Return of the Lord

My parents are both Christians and from an early age I started going with them to church to attend services. At the age of 12 I attended a grand Christian camp in Myanmar, and while I was there a pastor told me: “The only way to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized.” And so in order to enter the kingdom of heaven I decided to get baptized while I was at the camp. From that time on, I became a genuine Christian.

After reaching adulthood, I became the chairperson of my church’s youth association for many years, and whenever the preachers weren’t there I would lead the brothers and sisters in prayer, Bible studies, hymn-singing, and the sharing of testimonies. After getting married, I was put in charge of receiving the Sunday offerings and the tithes. At first our church had the work of the Holy Spirit: The pastor talked fluently and eloquently, and the brothers and sisters enjoyed the sermons and felt that they were edified by them. Everyone was brimming with confidence, and we attended all the church services and spread the gospel wherever we could with great enthusiasm. But eventually the pastor’s sermons became repetitive and lackluster, and could no longer provide what we needed. The confidence of brothers and sisters thus began to wane, and they became more interested in money and pleasures of the flesh. Congregation numbers began to fall, until it got to the point where the pastor had to make calls every Saturday just to try and get everyone to attend. Even when the brothers and sisters did show up they sang the hymns listlessly and without devotion, dozed off during the sermons, and started talking about business as soon as the services ended. The services had become all form and no substance. And I was very troubled by this. I thought to myself: “How does our church turn into such a barren pasture?” But then I remembered how, over the previous 30 years, I had often heard different pastors saying the same thing: “We believe in the Lord Jesus, so our sins have all been forgiven.” “We gain salvation by the grace of God because of our faith.” “The Lord Jesus has already completed His work of redemption once, so we believers in the Lord are already saved and will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Because of this, “I’m already saved, I will enter the kingdom of heaven” became the basic tenet of my faith in God. No matter how bleak the church was, or how weak and passive the believers were, I would always tell myself: “I must keep the way of the Lord. As long as I don’t leave the Lord, then He won’t abandon me. When the Lord returns, He will take me into the kingdom of heaven.” Although I kept on warning myself in this way, I still wasn’t able to keep on the Lord’s path: I would sin by day and confess sins by night, but whenever I prayed, I couldn’t feel the Lord by my side. My spirit felt dark and empty, and I felt I was getting farther and farther away from the Lord, as if He had abandoned me. This caused me great suffering, but I was unable to find the source of the problem …

In February 2016 I met Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui online. After sharing experiences concerning faith in the Lord with each other, I told them about my bemusement that my church had become a barren pasture. Brother Zheng said to me: “It’s not just your church that is bleak and desolate: The whole religious community is bleak right now. It’s like the desolate temple that became a den of thieves when the Lord Jesus was doing His work. If we understand how that temple became desolate in the first place, then we’ll know how it is that the religious community is so bleak and desolate now. When the Lord Jesus concluded the Age of Law and began the Age of Grace, the Holy Spirit did not perform work in the temple but did it instead on those people who accepted and followed the Lord Jesus. Those who worshiped Jehovah missed out on the work of the Holy Spirit because they couldn’t keep up with the pace of God’s work. Without the protection and care of God, they lived in sin, as shown by their temple becoming a place to sell cattle, sheep, and doves and exchange money. A temple that originally shined with the glory of Jehovah became a den of thieves, thus offending God’s disposition and being abandoned by Him in disgust. This was one of the reasons why the temple originally fell into desolation.” Then we examined two passages from the Book of Amos in the Bible: “And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7). “Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). Brother Zheng also sent me two passages of Almighty God’s words: “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “But in fact, God’s work in them ceased long ago, and the work of the Holy Spirit is absent from them. The work of God was long since transferred to another group of people, a group on whom He intends to complete His new work. Because those in religion are incapable of accepting God’s new work, and only hold to the old work of the past, thus God has forsaken these people, and does His new work on the people who accept this new work. These are people who cooperate in His new work, and only in this way can His management be accomplished” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brother Zheng then said: “The churches at present are as desolate as the temple was, and it’s also because God is doing new work. The Lord Jesus that we have been desperately waiting for is now incarnated in human form and returns among us. He has taken the name Almighty God to express the truth and do the work of judging, cleansing and saving man in the last days. He has come to conclude the Age of Grace and begin the Age of Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has already left the churches of the Age of Grace and is now working on those who accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. All those who are merely keeping the name of the Lord Jesus but are not keeping up with God’s new work no longer have God by their side, no longer have the work of the Holy Spirit, and will never be provided with the living water of life. So, of course these churches will become more and more desolate….”

Through listening to Brother Zheng, I came to realize that the situation with the churches nowadays is indeed the same as with the temples when the Lord Jesus began His work. I felt that there was a new light and the guidance of the Lord in what Brother Zheng was fellowshiping. But I felt a bit bemused by what he said about the Lord Jesus returning to do the new work of judging and cleansing man: It is possible that the Lord Jesus has returned, but we believers were already saved so when the Lord returns He should take us directly to the kingdom of heaven, not to carry out another stage of judgment and cleansing work! But then I realized that the Lord’s return was a big event and so I should first seek hard for answers.

So, I told Brother Zheng of my bemusement and he told me: “Many of the Lord’s brothers and sisters share your point of view. They also think that because we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then our sins are forgiven, we will attain salvation through His grace, and when He returns we will all be taken directly to the kingdom of heaven. So, they refuse to accept God’s salvation of the last days. The main reason for this is that we don’t understand the good results that the work of the Lord Jesus has brought and we don’t know the work of God. Almighty God said: ‘At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin’ (‘The Vision of God’s Work (2)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘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 to The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that the work of the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace was that of redemption for mankind. The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross to be our sin offerings, to redeem us from condemnation by law. By coming in front of the Lord, admitting our sins, and repenting, we are able to be forgiven of our sins. This is being saved. In other words, being saved means sins are forgiven and there is no accusation of sin under law, but it doesn’t mean that we have escaped from Satan’s corrupt disposition or our satanic nature and will never sin again. Our satanic nature such as arrogance, deceit, selfishness and greed still exists. Due to the dominion of our satanic nature and Satan’s disposition, we still frequently lie and cheat, act in an arrogant and self-opinionated manner, and pretend to be good to dupe God. We always criticize God’s work willfully, especially when it doesn’t match our conceptions, we accuse God and resist God. How could a mankind like us that is so deeply corrupt and resistant to God win His praise? Are we qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven? If God took us—a corrupt mankind that resists Him and belongs to Satan—into His kingdom, then there would be no way to account for God’s righteousness and holiness. So for us to be qualified to enter the kingdom, we need God to do a stage of judgment and cleansing work to transform our corrupt disposition and thoroughly shake off the shackles of our sinful nature. Once our life dispositions have been transformed, we will no longer rebel against or resist God and we’ll be able to truly obey Him, be completely gained by Him, be completely saved by Him and enter the kingdom of heaven to inherit what He has promised. These are the results brought by the judgment work of God of the last days, and we can see that the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption was to pave the way for the judgment and cleansing of people during the last days. Therefore, our faith in the Lord brings us forgiveness of our sins but not complete escape from sin or entry to the kingdom of heaven. We need to undergo another stage of judgment and cleansing work to be thoroughly saved from sin. God’s judgment work of the last days exactly makes these words from the Bible into reality: ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5).”

When I heard the words of Almighty God and what Brother Zheng said, I realized that what the Lord Jesus had done was the work of redemption, not the work of removing sins completely. As people commit sins, they should be accused and punished under law, but if we come before the Lord Jesus and admit to our sins, then we will be forgiven of our sins. God doesn’t see us as sinful and He absolves us of punishment, and that is salvation. But this salvation certainly doesn’t mean that we have been cleansed and thoroughly saved. It seems that people don’t understand the truth, and so have misunderstandings about what true salvation is. I think about that now we are still living sinful lives— committing sins and admitting to them every day—and so that’s why we need another stage of God’s work of judgment and cleansing. When I think about what the pastor at the camp said—“The only way for a Christian to avoid death and enter the kingdom of heaven is to be baptized”—I realize that this way of thinking really is very unrealistic. We could even say it’s childish and ridiculous. When I was later able to have long chats with Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and digest their fellowship, I came to feel that there is the truth to seek in the words of Almighty God, that they are very practical, and that they can benefit me and help me a lot. But the return of the Lord is a big thing, and in order to treat it seriously and cautiously I decided to conduct a thorough investigation of the work of Almighty God of the last days.

So, in the weeks that followed I started to search online for information about the work of the last days of Almighty God. Before going online, I prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Eastern Lightning is indeed the Lord that I have faith in, I beg You to move my heart and let me recognize Your voice.” Without really being aware of it, I clicked on a website and found to my surprise that it was all judgments, attacks, and accusations on Almighty God and His church from the religious community and the CCP. I was very shocked and became scared that I ventured down a dangerous path. So, I sent the link to Brother Zheng and Sister Li Hui and asked them: “How do you explain all this?” I originally thought that Brother Zheng and the others would have no reply to the information that I had sent, and so was surprised when they calmly and firmly replied: “Almighty God is the real God, the return of the Lord Jesus. The stuff that the religious community and the CCP spread online is all rumors and nonsense designed to confuse people. It’s part of their wicked scheme to prevent people from following God….”

What Brother Zheng said really moved me, and in my heart I began to struggle to make sense of it all. I got offline and prayed to the Lord: “Lord, if Almighty God really is Your return then I beg You to enlighten and illuminate me so that I can understand Your way and not miss the chance to witness Your return. If all that stuff online is just rumors spread by the religious community and the CCP, then make me deaf to it, because being taken by Satan is a terrible thing.” After praying I felt a bit calmer, and then I remembered the times that I too was falsely accused, and also an occasion when a storekeeper I knew who did good business selling jade products had his reputation ruined by rumors spread by a jealous competitor. Some light began to shine in my heart and I realized just how dark and evil this world is and that most of what is online—good or bad—is just people talking. Then I thought carefully about the online accusations about Almighty God and His church spread by the religious community and the CCP: There was no evidence given and none of it seemed very believable. Furthermore, I had read Almighty God’s words and been in touch with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. What they said bore no relation to the rumors being spread online, and they hadn’t tried to force me to join their church. In the few months of contact with them, besides exploring the Bible, reading Almighty God’s words, and fellowshiping about God’s words with me, we hadn’t discussed any other topics. From the way they spoke, I could tell that they were pious and upstanding people. Their fellowship was full of light and I felt it was very useful to me, and their church was indeed a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. Thinking about this, I realized that a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit is a church of God, and so of course Satan would attack and accuse it and there would be a lot of negative propaganda surrounding it.

At a later date I read online about the many evil actions of the CCP: How they drove foreign missionaries out of China, burned Bibles, pulled down churches, and detained and killed Christians…. Hatred and anger toward the CCP grew in my heart. How could they be so spiteful as to persecute innocent, unarmed Christians? The CCP has always opposed God by promoting atheism, and has captured and persecuted Christians with a complete lack of humanity and reason, so there was no way to know whether what they said was true or false. So, I initiated contact with Brother Zheng and the others again, and they fellowshiped about a lot of truths concerning God’s work of the last days and how to discern Satan’s cunning schemes…. After listening to them I felt I had a bit of better understanding of God’s work of the last days and could discern how the nonsense disseminated online by the religious community and the CCP was all baseless rumors and ridiculous opinions that were part of Satan’s cunning plans to prevent people from accepting the work of Almighty God. I resolved not to listen to anything the religious community and the CCP said ever again. The worry and fear in my heart then disappeared and, at the same time, I recognized that the work of Almighty God and the work of the Lord Jesus was the same and they had both encountered resistance and accusations from satanic political regimes and from religious circles. To me, this confirmed even more that the work of Almighty God is the true way!

One day when I was using Facebook, I heard a hymn that praised God, which I found particularly moving. Indeed, only God deserves praise and is worthy of being extolled. This hymn had the guidance of the Holy Spirit and when I checked to see where it had come from, I discovered it was one of the hymns of The Church of Almighty God. I couldn’t help being moved to tears by this, and excitedly sought the brothers and sisters to tell them that God had moved my heart and led me…. I now completely believe that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, and I am willing to follow Almighty God to the end of the road.

Now I attend The Church of Almighty God, and I not only enjoy being provided with the water of living life that flows from the throne, but my confidence and love has been restored. Even more importantly, I can now distinguish between right and wrong, darkness and light. I know what truths are and what rumors are. Truths come from God, while rumors come from Satan. When we hear rumors, we shouldn’t just blindly go along with them but should carefully distinguish truth from falsehoods, pray earnestly, and humbly seek and examine the true way. Only then can we escape from rumors and return before God.