Menu

Being Certain of God Through My Experience—Seeing Through the Online Rumors

I was once a female military officer. One day in 1999, a South Korean pastor preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me. Afterward, because of my passionate pursuit, I was specially trained by the pastor and then became his right hand. In the summer of 2000, the pastor came to Kunming with some university students of the South Korean church to preach the gospel, which unexpectedly alarmed the CCP government. We were arrested by the CCP government while having a meeting at the pastor’s, and later we were taken to the Public Security Department of Yunnan Province. After the interrogation, the South Korean students were deported that very night, and so was the pastor. Since then, many brothers and sisters in our church were timid and dared not believe, and some were forced to go to the Three-Self Church. And so, our church was dispersed. As a major co-worker of the church, I lost my job due to the persecution.

Christian

In March 2005, I heard the kingdom gospel of Almighty God. When I learnt that the Lord Jesus had come back, I was so excited that my eyes brimmed with tears and my feeling of gratitude was beyond words. I had never expected that I could meet the return of the Lord Jesus. I wanted to bring my brothers and sisters before Almighty God so that they could follow the footprints of God. So I preached the gospel of Almighty God to them. Under God’s guidance, they accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days in succession. However, after hearing the testimony of Almighty God’s work in the last days, a most capable co-worker of the church said, “Your fellowship is right, but we should still ask the pastor first and see what he says.” Soon, the pastor phoned me after receiving the co-worker’s call, saying, “The outside world is in chaos now, and many false Christs have appeared in South Korea. You have believed in God for only a short time and can’t see things clearly. Don’t listen to any messages outside carelessly lest you take the wrong way. We should only receive the watering of our own church and must not listen to the messages of other churches.” I said calmly, “Through investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days recently, I find that what they preach is in accordance with the truth and the Bible, and has the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.” The pastor said, “Regardless of how well they preach, we must know that only the Lord Jesus is the true God, and we must never leave Him!” “I’m not departing from the Lord but following the footsteps of the Lamb,” I said firmly. “The Lord Jesus has already returned. We should actively welcome Him like the wise virgins.” Then he said stiffly, “They said that the Lord has returned, but how couldn’t our evangelical church in South Korea know that?” I said, “It’s hard to make it clear in a few words.” The pastor said presumptuously, “What they believe is Eastern Lightning, the focus target of the suppression by the CCP government. It’s said clearly on the internet. You’ll know it if you search the internet. You must check it on the internet.…” The pastor kept urging me to search the internet. After I hang up the phone, my heart couldn’t calm down for a long time, and the pastor’s words kept echoing in my ears. I was eager to know what was actually said on the internet.

In order to know what it was all about, I quickly ran to a net bar. I was stunned as soon as I opened a web page, for there were a lot of words of resisting, blaspheming, and condemning God from the CCP government, as well as the words of slander and blasphemy from the authoritative figures of the religious world. They first blasphemed God’s flesh, saying that God incarnate could not be female. Though I remembered God’s word said with Him there was no distinction of gender, I still began to doubt when I saw the judgmental remarks about Christ’s flesh, thinking: How could it be? Could it be that I really take the wrong way? No! Almighty God has clearly revealed the truth of God’s gender. God’s substance is the Spirit, and with Him there is no distinction of gender. It is just for the work of saving mankind that He takes on the appearance of a flesh, which is more beneficial to saving man. But why does the website spread such rumors? This website is the public media, and its audience is the people of the world. How could it possibly be wrong? Besides, many famous pastors also stand on the side of the CCP government to condemn and blaspheme God. What’s the reason? Seeing the negative propaganda, I was agitated within. Not only that, when I saw the attack against the man used by the Holy Spirit, my heart was even more tightened. Do I really believe in a man? It is acknowledged by the whole world that the Lord Jesus is God and is Christ, while Almighty God’s work in the last days is opposed by so many people. What if I take the wrong way? I continued to browse the information on the internet, and the more I read the more I got flustered. I felt so puzzled and perplexed that I was unaware how I walked out of the net bar at last.

On my way back, I recalled the scenes of my seeking and investigating Almighty God’s work of the last days: Whenever I put forward a question, the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God solved it through reading God’s words to me, which made me sincerely convinced. It was after debating and investigating for eleven days that I was certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. But why is the propaganda on the internet negative? If I really take the wrong way, I will not only do harm to myself but also ruin the brothers and sisters. In that way, I will commit a great evil, and what will I use to give an account to the Lord then? Thinking of this, I was so depressed that I almost got hit by a car while crossing the street.

Returning home, I couldn’t calm down at all. Those rumors on the internet arouse in my mind from time to time, and I just couldn’t get rid of it. My heart was in great turmoil, and I considered and reconsidered, unable to fall asleep that night. I thought: If I take a wrong way, I will believe in vain. No. I must turn back right now. It’s not yet too late to turn this situation around. But if Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus, won’t I miss the opportunity to be saved by God? Hovering between these two thoughts, I came before God to pray, “O God! Since I accepted this stage of work, I have felt assured in my heart. While reading Your words, I feel great enjoyment and I’m nourished in my spirit. However, after I read some negative propaganda on the internet, my heart can’t calm down now. May You keep my heart. O God, I’m small in stature and unable to discern. If Almighty God is really Your return, please lead me to be certain about Your work and keep me from the disturbance of any person, matter, or thing; if it is not, please guide me to gain discernment.” After prayer, a thought came into my mind: I’d better read all the words of Almighty God immediately so as to determine whether they are God’s utterances. If I do have misjudged, I will turn back right away. Then I spent all night reading God’s words and unknowingly fell asleep on the desk.

pray

Early next morning, I was woken by a knocking on the door. I went to open the door in a daze, and saw that it was Sister Wu who watered me. Seeing me groggy, she asked me concernedly what had happened. I said, “I searched the internet yesterday and saw many words of resisting and blaspheming God.” Sister Wu immediately fellowshiped with me, “Sister, the rumors on the internet are all fabricated by the CCP government to persecute the Church of Almighty God. Its purpose is to abolish God’s work, make China a place without God, and prevent people from worshiping and following God. You are very clear about the CCP government’s attitude toward Christians. It is an ironclad fact that they have persecuted numerous Christians. Sister, since the CCP government has always condemned God’s work, can we easily trust the heresies and fallacies spread by it?” The sister’s words reminded me in time: Right! How can I believe the CCP’s words? It is a satanic regime that hates the truth and opposes God. Outwardly, it brandishes the banner of the “freedom of religious belief,” but secretly it persecutes and arrests believers in God wantonly. In the past, the CCP government persecuted our church and arrested the believers, resulting in many brothers and sisters losing faith and daring not to believe anymore. I also lost my job due to its persecution. Is this not the CCP government’s attitude toward believers in God? In order to restrict the religious belief, the CCP established the Three-Self Church, asking people to love the country first and then the church, while its true purpose is to firmly control people in its hand. Thinking of this, I had a little discernment about the CCP’s substance.

Sister Wu continued to fellowship, “The CCP government is a satanic regime of atheists and is in enmity to God. It runs counter to right principles, acts against heaven, and confounds black and white. Its purpose is to make China an atheistic place so as to achieve its ambition and desire of becoming the eternal arbiter of man. Where there is God’s work, there is Satan’s disturbance too. Recalling the time when the Lord Jesus did the work of redeeming mankind 2,000 years ago, He encountered the condemnation and resistance of the priests, scribes, and Pharisees in the religious world and of the Roman government. They fabricated rumors to slander God’s work and nailed the Lord Jesus onto the cross. Now, the history repeats itself. It’s true that the truth has been persecuted since ancient times. Therefore, it’s not at all surprising that the CCP government and the religious world resist God.” Hearing the sister’s fellowship, I thought: It’s true. The Pharisees, priests and scribes were all the authoritative figures of the religious world who indeed resisted God. At this thought, I felt a little assured in my heart. Sister Wu continued, “The substance of the negative propaganda spread on the internet by the CCP government and the religious world is to destroy and disturb God’s work. Satan always uses lies to deceive men so as to make them leave and deny God. Its ultimate purpose is to make men be punished by God and go to hell together with it, and thus forever lose the chance of being saved by God. We must have discernment toward their rumors. Otherwise, we will lose the opportunity of being saved by God.”

Sister Wu then took out the book of God’s word, saying to me, “Sister, let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says: ‘In My plan, Satan has, all along, been stalking behind each step and, as the foil of My wisdom, has always been trying to find ways and means to disrupt My original plan. Yet could I succumb to its deceitful schemes? Everything in heaven and on earth serves Me; could the deceitful schemes of Satan be any different? This is precisely where My wisdom intersects; it is precisely that which is wondrous about My deeds, and it is the principle of operation for My entire management plan. During the era of the building of the kingdom, still I do not avoid the deceitful schemes of Satan, but continue to do the work I must. Among the universe and all things, I have chosen the deeds of Satan as My foil. Is this not a manifestation of My wisdom? Is this not precisely that which is wondrous about My work?’(“Chapter 8” of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Sister Wu fellowshiped, “From the words of Almighty God we see that each stage of God’s work contains God’s will as well as God’s wisdom and wonderfulness. God has never avoided Satan in His work but uses these negative things of Satan to serve His work, so as to accomplish His management plan of saving mankind and perfect those who sincerely believe in Him. Outwardly, Satan is arrogantly resisting God, but God’s wisdom is always exercised based on Satan’s plots. God created man, after which Satan corrupted man, but God does not destroy Satan directly. Instead, He saves mankind through His three stages of work, so that men can reject and betray Satan initiatively after seeing clearly its ugly face and evil substance. This is the most powerful testimony, and in this way Satan will be ashamed and defeated. For example, Job was a man who feared God and shunned evil, but God allowed Satan to afflict him, and he bore testimony for God and humiliated Satan during the trials. It is prophesied in Revelation: ‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death(Revelation 21:8). In the last days, God comes to work and save man, ending the evil world and leading mankind into the kingdom. God will separate the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares, bringing those who truly belong to Him into the kingdom, and after that, He will destroy all those evil ones who belong to Satan. This is the righteous disposition of God. All enemy forces serve God’s work. Through the persecution of the CCP government and the religious world, those who genuinely believe in God, after experiencing all kinds of trials and the disturbance and attack from Satan, can understand the truth and gain discernment, and will ultimately reject Satan and be saved by God. In His work, God just uses negative things to serve as foils so as to reveal, eliminate, and perfect man. This is just the wisdom and almightiness of God.” After hearing her fellowship, I couldn’t help thinking: Two thousand years ago, while the Lord Jesus was nailed on the cross by the Pharisees and the Roman government, He said: “It is finished.” This is God using Satan’s schemes to accomplish the work of redeeming mankind. Today in the last days, God’s work is condemned and slandered by the CCP government and the religious world, but it is just through these schemes of Satan that God perfects the true believers in Him. At the same time, to those who resist God this is also a mark of being condemned. God’s work in the last days is indeed a repeat of history. Just as the Lord Jesus said: “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation(Luke 17:25). Almighty God’s work not only has fulfilled the Lord’s prophecy but also accomplished God’s work in the last days. Almighty God says: “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s schemes(“The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The Bible records: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). At this point, I couldn’t help uttering praises to God deep in my heart.

Through the sister’s fellowship, I had some knowledge of God’s work and gained some discernment about the substance of the CCP government’s and the religious world’s resistance against God. But I still couldn’t understand the statements on the internet that we believed in a man, that is, the man used by the Holy Spirit. So I asked Sister Wu, “It is said on the internet that we believe in a man. Is that true? Is the man used by the Holy Spirit really able to lead us?” She fellowshiped with me about this question, “It seems like you are not clear about the truths regarding God’s work and man’s work. Let’s first read some passages of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says: ‘The work of God Himself involves the work of all of mankind, and it also represents the work of the entire era, which means that God’s own work represents every dynamic and trend of the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas the work of the apostles comes after God’s own work and follows from it, and it does not lead the era, nor does it represent trends of the Holy Spirit’s work in a whole era. They only do the work man ought to do, which has nothing at all to do with the management work. The work God does Himself is a project within the management work. Man’s work is only the duty that people who are used fulfill, and it is unrelated to the management work.’ ‘The work God does is not representative of the experience of His flesh; the work man does is representative of his experience. Everyone talks about their personal experience. God can express the truth directly, while man can only express the experience that corresponds to his having experienced the truth. … To tell whether something is God’s own work or man’s work, you must simply compare the differences between the two(“God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of Almighty God tell us that the work God does is to initiate a new era and lead the whole of mankind. God’s work in the last days is to express and supply the truth, whereas man’s is to experience them within the scope of God’s work and word. The man used by the Holy Spirit experienced God’s words in advance of us, and he leads us to understand and experience God’s words by his experiences of God’s words. What he testifies to is the word of Almighty God and what he performs is the duty of a man. In the Church of Almighty God, what the brothers and sisters read is the word of Almighty God, what they pray in is the name of Almighty God, and what they believe in is Almighty God, the incarnate God, Christ of the last days. It is entirely Christ that reigns in the Church of Almighty God and is God Himself that holds the power. So, whom you say do we believe in, man or God?” After hearing her fellowship, I thought: We who accept Almighty God’s work in the last days are following God and accepting the guidance of God and the supply of His words. We are not following man or believing in man. The rumors on the internet are indeed Satan’s lies and deceptions. Also, our ancestors Adam and Eve fell into Satan’s scheme and committed sins just because they listened to Satan’s lies. When the Lord Jesus did His work, the Pharisees fabricated rumors acting the role of Satan, and the people of Israel believed the rumors and fell into Satan’s scheme, becoming eternal sinners who resisted God. In the last days, the CCP government and the religious world have tried every possible means to resist, condemn, and blaspheme Almighty God, and to attack the man used by the Holy Spirit. These are all the schemes of Satan by which it attempts to make people doubt and deny God and ultimately lose God’s salvation in the last days. It can be seen how base and malicious Satan’s means of resisting God are. At this thought, I said firmly, “The One we believe in is the true God.”

God’s Work and Man’s Work

Sister Wu then turned to Concerning God’s Use of Man. Almighty God says: “The man who is used by God, on the other hand, is someone who has been prepared by God, and who possesses a certain caliber, and has humanity. He has been prepared and made perfect in advance by the Holy Spirit, and is completely led by the Holy Spirit, and, particularly when it comes to his work, he is directed and commanded by the Holy Spirit—as a result of this there is no deviation on the path of leading God’s chosen ones, for God surely takes responsibility for His own work, and God does His own work at all times(“Concerning God’s Use of Man” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Wu fellowshiped, “In the Age of Law, people couldn’t understand the voice of Jehovah God, so God used Moses to cooperate with His work and lead the Israelites who lived under the law. Therefore, only Moses could understand God’s voice, and through the conveyance of Moses, people could easily understand God’s words. Yet Moses was not perfected by God. In the Age of Kingdom of the last days, the man used by the Holy Spirit also cooperates with God’s work like Moses. The difference between him and Moses is that he has been prepared and made perfect in advance by God, and is completely directed and commanded by the Holy Spirit, that is, directly led by the Holy Spirit. Outwardly, it is man who is working, but actually it is God Himself who is working. We believers in God should view all things from a spiritual perspective rather than with our physical eyes. God is faithful, and He is responsible for His own work. God says: ‘for God surely takes responsibility for His own work, and God does His own work at all times.’ God examines the innermost heart of man, knowing well the thoughts and ideas of the corrupt mankind. He knows that we will develop notions because we have no truth and can’t see things of the spiritual world clearly, so He expresses all aspects of truth to let us understand His good intentions. All this is for saving mankind.” After her fellowship, I gained some knowledge of the truth in this aspect, feeling that God had worried His heart to pieces for saving mankind. God’s words are all-embracing and are all for us to come before Him and accept His salvation.

Before she left, Sister Wu advised me to read God’s words more and gave me a book of fellowship of the man used by the Holy Spirit. One day, I saw a passage of the fellowship regarding being loyal to God by the man used by the Holy Spirit: “At the final, crucial moment, in regard to people’s practice, they should give first place to eating and drinking God’s word, fulfilling God’s commission, and performing duty to satisfy God and glory Him. Only such practice is being loyal to God. Before, the saints often said, ‘Care not for personal loss or gain. To the will of God take heed.’ All people should take this as their motto. The specific practice and manifestations of this are as follows: If Satan comes to disturb you, you should first defend God’s testimony as well as God’s work, and defeat Satan in reliance on the truth; if evil or Satan’s temptation comes upon you, put the glory of God first, rather than commit sins to shame God; if any person, event, or object restrains you from doing your duty, you should first of all complete God’s commission, shake off all entanglements in order to be loyal to God; if anything that touches upon your vital interests happens, then you should place the interests of God’s house ahead of your personal interests, as being mindful of God’s will is a matter of importance; and if you are bound to secular entanglements, then abandon everything to expend yourself for God, as performing your duties to satisfy God is first” (“Fellowships About Being Loyal to God”). The fellowship of the man used by the Holy Spirit made me know clearly how to practice in real life to understand God’s will better and how to be faithful to God. I came to realize that the man used by the Holy Spirit was guiding us to satisfy God, and felt that it was so good to have such a “translator”! God really loves us mankind, preparing a man used by the Holy Spirit in advance to lead us to understand the truth and know God more quickly. This is God’s love. God is so righteous! I finally saw through the online rumors of condemning God’s work of the last days and attacking the man used by the Holy Spirit. My heart was released at last. It was not wrong for me to believe in Almighty God, and much less did I take a wrong way.

After experiencing Satan’s disturbance, I became more certain about Almighty God’s work of the last days. Now, I have experienced God’s work in the last days for over ten years. When I recalled all the conceptions I had when I just accepted the work of Almighty God, I even more truly appreciated God’s words: “In his relationship with God in the flesh, man progresses from opposition to obedience, from persecution to acceptance, from notions to knowledge, and from rejection to love—these are the effects of the work of the incarnate God(“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of the Incarnate God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words are the truth!

Leave a Reply