All these years, I’ve been rushing around to defend the Bible and protect the flock. Unexpectedly, however, my wife, my mother and my father-in-law were gradually stolen by the Eastern Lightning, which made me lose face completely before the brothers and sisters. My wife preached God’s work in the last days to me, but I flatly refused to accept it to show my loyalty to the Lord and to show that I was fighting the good fight for safeguarding the Bible. I made an oath in front of the brothers and sisters, “I am the believer who only believes in the Bible. The Bible is my Lord. Never will I follow the Eastern Lightning as my family do!”

Holding on to the Bible and Rejecting the True Way

One night, I paced back and forth in the room, feeling afraid at the thought of having a church meeting the next day. These two years, my sermons were nothing but same old things about the Bible. It sounded dull. All the brothers and sisters didn’t want to hear me preach sermons. What should I do? I thought for a while but couldn’t figure out a way. So I had no choice but to pick up the Bible to find a topic for the fellowship in the next day. When I opened the Bible, I found a note in it. It said, “God’s words say: ‘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. That will be the time when the deeds of God are revealed, and God is glorified; all people throughout the universe will worship this unremarkable ‘man.’ Will this not be the day of God’s glory?’”

After reading these words, I knew they were from the Eastern Lightning. It must be my wife who secretly put the note in the Bible for me to read, hoping to persuade me to follow the Eastern Lightning. I pondered these words for a while and thought: “These words made sense. Our church is indeed desolate. We can’t feel the Holy Spirit working there. However, they preach that God has done a new work. This is different from what we believe. We only believe in the Bible, which is God’s full revelation. We can’t accept any word outside the Bible.” And then I thought of what our pastor often emphasized in the training meetings, “The work that God desires to do, and the words that God desires to say to us are all recorded in the Bible. In other words, all God’s words and work, in the past as well as in the future, can be found in the Bible, ranging from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, there can’t be another book which records God’s words except the Bible.” That’s right! All God’s words and work are contained in the Bible. If I leave the Bible and seek God’s words and work outside it, how ridiculous I will be!

No matter how reasonable these words are, I will absolutely not believe them as long as they are outside the Bible. Thinking of this, I kept the note at the bottom of the drawer.

Failing to Turn Back Sister Li but Getting Stumped and Confused by Her Question

A few days later, I heard that Sister Li had followed the Eastern Lightning. I was worried about it. Sister Li was quite loving toward people and had a good understanding ability, even though she was poorly educated. As she was a believer who had true faith in the Lord, I definitely would prevent her from being stolen by the Eastern Lightning. Therefore, I fellowshipped some scriptures with her, full of responsibility. I said, “Sister Li, believing in God means never straying from the Bible. God’s words and work are all within the Bible. The Eastern Lightning testifies that God has done a new work. It is obviously beyond the Bible. We must not believe it …” Before I finished my words, Sister Li cut in and asked, “Brother, I have a question for you. You always say that God’s words and work are all within the Bible. So which is greater, the Bible or God? And which came first, God’s work or the Bible?” At these words, my heart skipped a beat. “Which is greater, the Bible or God? And which came first, God’s work or the Bible?” These words were so fresh. I had never heard about or thought about them before. No human mind could produce such words. It must be from the book of the Eastern Lightning. It seemed that the Eastern Lightning was indeed different. But on second thoughts, I considered: “Oh, no! Isn’t she trying to persuade me to leave the Bible? I must not be deceived!”

Then I said to Sister Li, “There is no such a comparison between the Bible and God. Belief in God is belief in the Bible. Belief in the Bible is belief in God. We can never be wrong to base our belief in God on the Bible.” Sister Li retorted, “At the time of Moses, there was no Bible. So was Moses a believer in God? Did the disciples of the Lord Jesus follow the Lord according to the Old Testament? The Pharisees held on to the Old Testament but were condemned by the Lord Jesus. Why is so? Can you explain clearly about these?” What Sister Li said startled me. I didn’t know how to answer that. I thought: “These Eastern Lightning followers are really not as simple as I have expected. What they have said is higher than the Bible. I have never heard about or thought about it. I cannot answer Sister Li’s questions even with all the truths in the Bible.”

I was sad about failing to turn back Sister Li. I was also confused, thinking: “The pastors and elders have been going around slandering and condemning the Eastern Lightning. I rush around to protect the flock every day, too. Besides, the church is sealed off very tightly. However, there are still believers following the Eastern Lightning continuously. How can the Eastern Lightning followers have so much faith? What actually makes this happen?”

Being Touched Under the Guidance of God’s Words

One evening, when I got home, I saw an unfamiliar sister who must be invited by my wife to preach gospel to me. After dinner, the sister talked with me about the desolation in our church, which fulfilled the Lord’s prediction of the last days: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12). What the sister said was a fact. I knew she would preach God’s work in the last days to me if we went further, so I hurriedly interrupted her and said, “If you fellowship the Bible, it’s OK. But if you fellowship the Lord Jesus coming again to speak and work among us, please leave my home. I will not accept it. Don’t put effort into me!” The sister prayed in her heart when seeing I rejected her. Then she read a passage of God’s words: “Today, God has new work. You may not accept these words, they may feel odd to you, but I advise you not to reveal your naturalness, for only those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness before God can obtain the truth, and only those who are truly devout can be enlightened and guided by God. Nothing will come of seeking the truth through quarreling. Only by seeking calmly can we obtain results. When I say that ‘Today, God has new work,’ I am referring to God’s return to flesh. Perhaps you do not mind these words, perhaps you despise them, or perhaps they are of great interest to you. Whatever the case, I hope that all those who truly yearn for the appearance of God can face this fact and give it careful consideration. It is best not to jump to conclusions. This is the way that wise people should act.”

At these words, I thought: “These words are sincere and earnest. That’s what I’m thinking in my heart, and seeking in all things is accordant with the Lord’s teaching in the Bible. The Lord taught: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’” (Matthew 7:7).

While I was thinking, my wife read a passage of God’s words: “Not ever does the work of God conform to the conceptions of man, for His work is always new and never old. Not ever does He repeat work of old but rather forges ahead with work never before done. As God does not repeat His work and man invariably judges the work of God today based on His work of the past, it is exceedingly difficult for God to carry out each stage of work of the new age. Man presents far too many hindrances! The thinking of man is too hidebound! No man knows the work of God, yet they all define such work. Away from God, man loses life, truth, and the blessings of God, yet neither does man accept life nor truth, much less the greater blessings God bestows upon mankind. All men wish to gain God yet are unable to tolerate any changes in God’s work. Those who do not accept the new work of God believe that the work of God is changeless, and that the work of God forever remains at a standstill. In their belief, all that is needed to gain eternal salvation from God is to keep the law, and as long as they repent and confess their sins, the heart of God will be forever satisfied. They are of the opinion that God can only be the God under the law and the God who was nailed on the cross for man; it is their opinion too that God should not and cannot exceed the Bible. It is precisely these opinions that have shackled them firmly to the law of old and kept them fettered by rigid regulations.”

After reading God’s words, the sister fellowshipped, “Today God’s words have revealed the root of the problem causing some people to resist and condemn God’s new work in each age. Primarily because people are living in their own conceptions and imaginations. They constrain God within the Bible and always cling to their notions. They insist that God won’t do new work apart from the Bible, and that believers who depart from the Bible are not believing in God. So when God’s new words and work come to us, we don’t hear, read or contact, and even condemn that it is not God’s work. Aren’t we the same as the Pharisees? As we know, God is always new and never old. In each age, God does different work. When the Lord Jesus came, He did a stage of work of redemption. He opened the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law, making it possible for those forgiven to break free from the regulations and the condemnation of the law. Thus, they could return before God to be continually guided by God and be blessed by Him. In the last days, the Lord Jesus returns in the flesh to express the truth and do the work of judgment, freeing man from sin and purifying man’s satanic corrupt disposition, so that man can be saved by God. The three stages of work—the work of Jehovah God, of the Lord Jesus, and of Almighty God, deepen gradually and rise higher with each step.

“God hopes that we can hear His voice carefully, follow the footsteps of the Lamb, and gain the truth, the way, and the life that God bestows upon mankind. These are God’s requirements to us. If we cling to our own imaginations and notions, don’t know God’s work, and blindly judge God’s work, then what will be the consequences of doing these? In the past, the Lord Jesus performed many miracles. The words He said had authority and power. Many people followed the Lord after recognizing through His words and work that He was the coming Messiah, and then they gained the Lord’s redemption. On the contrary, those Pharisees who knew the Bible well and served God in the temple didn’t recognize that the Lord Jesus was the coming of the Messiah. When they saw the Lord Jesus healed people and worked on the Sabbath, they said it was going against the Old Testament and thus condemned the Lord Jesus. When they saw the Lord Jesus preached the way of repentance, which was not recorded in the Old Testament, they denied His words and work. Why did they do this? The reason was that the Pharisees were full of notions. They believed that the Lord Jesus’ work was beyond the Old Testament, so they stubbornly held on to the Old Testament and committed the greatest of sins in nailing the Lord Jesus to the cross. As a result, they were cursed and punished by God.”

After hearing Almighty God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I got a feeling that I had never had before. I thought: “Although Almighty God’s words are not recorded in the Bible, they are full of authority and have revealed the root of man’s resistance to God. no man could say these words; maybe, they are from the Holy Spirit. So, I should not blindly condemn the Eastern Lightning anymore.” However, I remembered the oath I had made in front of the brothers and sisters. I felt disappointed and afraid, hesitating to make a decision.

Starting to Seek the Truth and Putting Aside My Notions to Follow God

A few days later, my wife brought the sister home again. I was working, so I wanted to turn away from them. The sister seemed to have read my mind, and she said, “Brother, please don’t refuse to listen. Before I came to preach gospel to you, we swore before God that we must bring you before Him.” Hearing this, I was very grateful to their sincerity. I couldn’t help thinking: “The religious community is desolate now. It’s difficult for brothers and sisters to attend church meetings, but the followers of the Eastern Lightning have so much faith and love. What’s more, the Eastern Lightning has flourished more and more. This is definitely not what people are capable of.” Therefore, I decided to thoroughly examine it.

After that, they read me some passages of God’s words: “There are those who even check the work of the present against that of Jesus in the Bible, and use any inconsistencies to deny this stage of the work. Is this not the action of one blinded? The things that are recorded in the Bible are limited; they cannot represent the work of God in its entirety. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether, in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. However, man values them as treasures, even verifying the work of today against them. They even believe that all the work Jesus did in His life amounted only to so much, as if God were only capable of doing this much and nothing further. Is this not absurd?” “After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?

“Those who only care about the words of the Bible, who are unconcerned about the truth or seeking My footsteps—they are against Me, for they limit Me according to the Bible, and constrain Me within the Bible, and so are blasphemous in the extreme toward Me. How could such people come before Me? They pay no heed to My deeds, or My will, or the truth, but instead obsess over words, words that kill. How could such people be compatible with Me?”

Then the sister fellowshipped, “As we know, the Bible is recorded by man. It came into being after God did the work. In other words, God’s work is performed before it is recorded in the Bible. Without God’s work and words, there would be no Biblical records. That is to say, what are recorded in the Bible are only the words God spoke in the past. The words and work that God hasn’t spoken or done cannot be recorded in the Bible beforehand. For example, the words of the Lord Jesus cannot be found in the Old Testament, in which there are no more than some prophecies of the Messiah’s coming to do work. But what work would the Messiah do was not recorded in the Old Testament beforehand. It was not until the Lord Jesus came to express His words and finished His work that people could record His words and work. Similarly, the work that has been prophesied by the Lord Jesus and will be done during His return isn’t recorded in detail in the Bible, such as the work of separating the goats from the sheep, the work of the harvest, the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, the work of separating all according to their kind, and so forth. So, how can we dare say that there are no more God’s new words and work outside the Bible? Hasn’t the Lord Jesus embarked on new words and work outside the Old Testament? If we believe that God’s words and work are all within the Bible and that anything beyond the Bible is false, then aren’t we denying the words of the Lord Jesus and blaspheming God? Therefore, the sayings, ‘God’s words and work is within the Bible,’ and ‘There are no more God’s words outside the Bible,’ are absolutely wrong. These views come from man’s imagination. They are nothing but fallacies and lies.”

My heart was pierced while I heard these words. I thought: “Almighty God’s words are indeed the truth. My means of pursuit in the past is summarized by these words. It can be said that these words reveal the entire religious community’s wrong perspective of holding on to the Bible. These words also tell us the consequence of doing so. They are not ordinary words that man could write out. I have read a lot of spiritual books, none of which were so heartshaking as Almighty God’s words are. It’s no wonder that the Eastern Lightning followers have so much faith. Once they followed, there is just no convincing them otherwise. Now I know that this is the result of understanding the truth in God’s words, which is completely achieved by the words of Almighty God on humans.”

Feeling God’s Love Through Seeing Clearly the Consequence of Clinging to My Notions

After that, I eagerly read the following four pieces of Almighty God’s words, “Concerning of the Bible (1),” “Concerning the Bible (2),” “Concerning the Bible (3),” and “Concerning the Bible (4).” I read them twice at one breath, and my heart became more enlightened. I understood that the Bible is just a historical record of God’s previous two stages of work, and what is recorded in the Bible is limited. God has done an immeasurable amount of work on humans, from creating all things to man, to guiding mankind to live on the earth in the Age of Law, to redeeming mankind in the Age of Grace. How can such work all be recorded just in the Old and New Testament? In addition, the Lord Jesus has prophesied: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:12-13). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). The Lord Jesus clearly told us that in the last days God would express more of the truth and speak to the churches. He will tell us many of the truth that we don’t understand. How could I dare say that there were no God’s work and words outside the Bible? Wasn’t it denying the words of the Lord Jesus and opposing God? Each stage of God’s work has never been based on the Bible or references to the Bible, and moreover He does not search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Instead, He bestows upon people a new path and performs new work beyond the Bible. How can people say that those beyond the Bible are not God’s words and work? I constrained God’s words and work within the Bible, wasn’t it despising God and treating Him lightly?

Thinking back to the past years, I realized that it was because I stubbornly held on to the Bible that I constantly refused to accept the work in the last days; it was because I blindly believed and worshiped the Bible that I completely constrained God within the Bible. I was too ignorant! God is the Creator, and is the Lord of the Bible. How could the Bible be His equal? Under the pretense of protecting the flock and defending the Lord’s way, I didn’t investigate or accept Almighty God’s work in the last days, and even prevented brothers and sisters from seeking and investigating it. Fortunately, God didn’t treat me in accordance with my transgressions, but instead God sent brothers and sisters to preach gospel to me time and time again. This was God’s great grace and mercy for me! Almighty God’s words corrected my wrong perspective and led me to keep up with His work of the last days. May all the glory be to God!

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