Most believers in Jesus Christ have heard the “Eastern Lightning” from their pastors, elders, or preachers. But actually no one knows exactly where the Eastern Lightning comes from. There are different opinions about the origin of the Eastern Lightning among the denominations and sects. Some think that the Eastern Lightning is an emerging Christian denomination, some even condemn it as a cult.… People have such erroneous opinions of the Eastern Lightning because they do not have any knowledge of God’s work.

God’s work is continuously moving forward. However, because people do not know the principle of God’s work being always new and never old or the purpose of God’s work of saving mankind and because they have satanic disposition—being arrogant and self-right and obeying no one, each time when God does a new work, it will inevitably be blasphemed, persecuted, and condemned by the religious world which obstinately sticks to the old way, and those who accept the new work and preach the true way are imposed on various false charges and are misnamed. The records in the New Testament show us a fact: In order to deliver mankind from punishment for being unable to keep the laws, God was incarnated and began the work of redemption in the Age of Grace. At the time when Jesus worked in Judea, He performed many miracles and signs, healed and cast out demons, bestowed upon people rich grace, and expressed many truths. That was sufficient proof that Jesus was really and completely God Himself, the Messiah that would come. However, the Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah they had desperately longed for. They even slandered, judged, and condemned the work of Jesus as a heresy, a cult. As Jesus grew up in Nazareth and started doing His work in Nazareth, they called Jesus and His followers the Nazarenes. They also accused Paul of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. (cf: Act 24:5) What can we see from this fact? Every believer in the Lord knows this: When Jesus did the work in Judea, He ushered in the Age of Grace and did the new work of redeeming mankind fully according to God’s own management plan. Whether the Jews or the Gentiles, whether the Zelotes or the Sadducees, as long as they truly thirsted for and sought the true way and followed the only true God, they would be forgiven of their sins and receive God’s salvation. God didn’t need to establish and had never established any religion, organization, or party, so how could He found the sect of the Nazarenes? Therefore, the sect of the Nazarenes was an offensive term fabricated by the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees who “served” Jehovah in the temple for the purpose of attacking and framing Jesus and condemning His work. It was because of being deceived and controlled by these so-called servants of God that the Jews crucified Jesus and the entire Jewish nation was thus subjected to unprecedented destruction in the end.

Similarly, to free man from the endless cycle of committing sins and confessing them and completely rid man of his corrupt satanic disposition and sinful nature so that he will become holy and be fully saved by God, God is incarnated again in the last days and expresses the truths to judge and chastise the corrupt mankind, carrying out a new work in order to utterly purify them. The brothers and sisters who accept God’s gospel of the last days and keep up with God’s new work have undergone the judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinements of God’s word, and seen clearly that Almighty God who expresses the truth in the last days is exactly the returned Lord Jesus. They shout with joy and sing praises to God from the bottom of their hearts, for they have truly realized God’s great exaltation and salvation for them. In order to repay God’s love and help more people follow God’s footsteps and return to God’s household, they rush about everywhere to preach the good news to the brothers and sisters in the Lord who are still eagerly expecting the return of Jesus, telling them that the Lord Jesus has already returned to flesh and come to the east of the world—China, and He ushers in the Age of Kingdom and does a new and high work, the work of judging and purifying man. This has fulfilled Matthew 24:27: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The truth God brings this time is higher than in times past, and the brothers and sisters who truly believe in God have all come to the light. And the reaping work God does in the last days will be finished in a short time like lightning. In more than ten years only, God’s kingdom gospel has spread all over the Mainland China, and now is expanding to the entire universe. However, those arrogant, self-right, and stubborn ones in all denominations and sects who hold to the old things and don’t keep up with God’s new work that is irreconcilable with man’s conceptions not only don’t seek or investigate it, but even seize on this Biblical prophecy by which the brothers and sisters testify God’s work of the last days, and wantonly judge, condemn, and slander the Church of Almighty God to be the sect of the Eastern Lightning. What they do is no different from the act of the Jewish religion which attacked, slandered, and condemned Jesus’ disciples and apostles as the Nazarenes. They resist and attack God’s work of the last days in such unbridled way and hinder the people from following God’s footsteps and obeying God’ work. Are they not the Pharisees of the present age who resist and condemn Christ? Is the substance of their act one of hating the truth and blaspheming the Holy Spirit?

If Almighty God didn’t speak and disclose the mysteries, we would never understand what the true meaning of the prophecy “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west.” Almighty God says: “Just when all men are giving their attention, when all things renew and revive, and when all people assuredly obey God and are willing to undertake God’s burden and shoulder grave responsibility, the Eastern Lightning comes forth, flashing from the East to the West, and the whole earth is greatly startled because of the coming of this beam of light. God, at this moment, begins a new life again. … That is, in the East of the world, from the time God Himself begins to be testified, to the time He begins to do the work, and to the time His divinity begins to reign on the whole earth, the light beam of the Eastern Lightning shines upon the whole universe all along. When the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ, it will be the time the whole universe is lighted up. Now it is the time that the Eastern Lightning comes forth; the incarnate God begins to work and speaks directly in divinity. It can be said that when God begins to speak and utter His voice on earth, it is the time the Eastern Lightning comes forth. To put it exactly, when the living water flows from the throne, that is, when the voice emanates from the throne, it is the time the seven spirits formally begin to speak.” (from “The Interpretation of The Twelfth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Throughout the universe I am doing My work, and in the East, thunderous crashes issue forth endlessly, shaking all denominations and sects. It is My voice that has brought all men to the present. I let My voice be that which conquers man; they all fall into this stream and all submit before Me, for I have long ago reclaimed My glory from all the earth and issued it forth anew in the East. Who does not long to see My glory? Who does not anxiously await My return? Who does not thirst for My reappearance? Who does not long for My loveliness? Who would not come to the light? Who would not see the richness of Canaan? Who does not long for the return of the Redeemer? Who does not adore the Great Almighty? My voice must spread throughout all the earth; I wish to speak more to My chosen people. The words I utter shake the mountains and rivers like mighty thunders; I speak to all the universe and to mankind. Hence My words become man’s treasure, and all men cherish them. The lightning flashes from the East even to the West. My words are such that man loathes to give them up and finds them unfathomable, but moreover, man rejoices in them. Like a newborn infant, all men are glad and joyful, celebrating My coming. Because of My voice, I shall bring all men before Me. Thenceforth, I shall formally enter among men so that they come to worship Me. The glory I give forth and My words make it such that all men come before Me and see that the lightning flashes from the East…. For I have long since been resurrected, gone away from among men, then reappeared among men with glory. I am He who was worshiped before the ages, and the ‘infant’ forsaken by the Israelites before the ages. Moreover, I am the all-glorious Almighty God of the present age!” (from “The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Kingdom Gospel Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) From the words of Almighty God, we can see that God’s work and word of the last days is the lightning coming from the East. The “lightning” refers to the way of God’s judgment in the last days, that is, the word by which God chastises and judges man. And moreover, it will spread from the East to the West, which is to says, Almighty God first makes complete a group of people who have a true knowledge of God in the East (China), and then has them spread His gospel of the last days to the West, so that people all over the world can receive His salvation of the last days. The lightning of the East (God’s work of judgment in the last days in China) can even more enable us to receive the whole of God’s love and salvation for mankind, know God’s true countenance, and have true reverence and worship for God. God’s word, like the lightning, brings mankind light and hope. All those who accept the lightning of the East, God’s work of the last days, can bear testimony to it.

God is the Lord who created the heavens and earth and all things. As mankind was corrupted by Satan, God began to work to save them. In the end, God will make all people throughout the universe see His deeds—all denominations will become one and worship the Creator. God will purify and save all those who seek His appearance with a true heart and who keep up with His footsteps, and bring these people who are after His heart into His kingdom and allow them to enjoy peaceful rest with Him. So, every brother and sister who truly believes in God and is eagerly expecting the return of the Lord Jesus should drop their religious notions and seek and examine the true way. Don’t believe the rumors and blindly oppose it lest you lose God’s salvation of the last days. We all should keep pace with God’s work and follow His footsteps closely. Only in this way can we be saved and brought into the kingdom by God in the end.