I’m a preacher in a church, but I have had nothing worthy of preaching and have been unable to supply the brothers and sisters. Their faith has generally become weak and insipid, and during congregations they either doze off or chat in low voices. Seeing this scene being regularly played out in the church always made me very upset. I’ve prayed to the Lord many times, and on many occasions have reminded the brothers and sisters to be alert and watchful, but because they haven’t been able to welcome the Lord’s return, they have lost their faith. No matter what I do, it isn’t enough to bring the church back to life. And now it’s the last days and even the unbelievers know that great disasters are about to occur, so it stands to reason that the Lord should return. But why haven’t we been able to welcome Him? Will we really be able to welcome the Lord’s return just by watching the clouds and sky? My heart has really been ill at ease!

Just when I was feeling unenthusiastic and puzzled, 3 of my coworkers – Sister Liu, Brother Zhang, and Brother Wang – came to visit me at home, and I told them about my vexation.

Brother Wang said, “Desolate churches are already a common phenomenon throughout the entire religious world, but many pastors and preachers won’t admit this because they want to protect their status and livelihoods, and they hold on tight to what they’ve got. But the disasters are getting greater and 4 blood moons have already appeared, which fulfills the prophecy in the Book of Joel in the Bible: ‘And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes’ (Joel 2:29-31). Recently, I’ve been mulling over this prophecy, and the appearance of the 4 blood moons seems to be the fulfillment of the line ‘turned…the moon into blood.” The prophecy also states, ‘before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes’. I believe that this ‘great and terrible day’ refers to the great disasters. And the verse, ‘And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit,’ definitely refers to the work God will do in the period before the great disasters. This is what I understand these prophecies to mean. It seems that, before the great disasters, the spirit of God will speak and will be poured onto the servants and handmaids of God. I feel that the Holy Spirit is about to do a new stage of work in the last days!

Everybody was enlightened by this and looked at Brother Wang.

I was pondering what Brother Wang had said when Brother Zhang picked up where he’d left off. “If it’s really like that, then we should all be out looking for the utterances of the Holy Spirit. We should find where the Holy Spirit is expressing Himself so that we wouldn’t be eliminated by God and meet with disaster.”

Hearing this, I could feel even more light reaching my heart, and I said, “Listening to your fellowshiping, I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7). ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled’ (Matthew 5:6). It seems to me that we should quickly seek out the utterances of the Holy Spirit and see which churches the Holy Spirit is speaking to. Otherwise, if we just hang around stupidly, I fear that we’ll be cast aside by the Lord.”

Sister Liu then spoke, in a measured tone, saying, “You are saying that the utterances of the spirit of God is the Holy Spirit talking to the churches. This makes me think of the Eastern Lightning believers who bear witness to the Lord having returned as Almighty God. Almighty God has issued many truths, is performing the work of judgment beginning in God’s house, and is currently perfecting a team of overcomers. Do you think this is related to the spirit of God being poured onto the servants and handmaids of God? If it is, then we should waste no time in investigating whether Eastern Lightning really is God’s work or not.”

Brother Wang said, “Yes, I’ve heard that too. With regards to welcoming the Lord’s return, the Lord Jesus said something very important, something very crucial, which helps us to be wise virgins. He said: ‘‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). From this we can see that, when the Lord returns, He will use people to transmit His voice to all those who have been waiting for His appearance. When we hear someone bearing witness to the Lord’s return, we should be wise virgins and carefully listen to God’s voice. Only then will we be able to welcome the appearance of the Lord.”

Then Sister Liu said, “I have a female cousin who lives far away who now believes in Almighty God and has preached the gospel to me. I have debated this question with her, but because the pastor in our church threatened to expel anyone who reads Eastern Lightning’s books, I didn’t dare to investigate further. My cousin told me about the Lord’s prophecies, such as the Lord’s prophecies in Revelation 16:15, ‘Behold, I come as a thief’ and Matthew 25:6, ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ and also Revelation 3:20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.’ They say that, according to the Lord’s words, He will come like a thief when He returns and that someone witnessing a “bridegroom coming” at “midnight” means that, without people realizing it, God will incarnate as the Son of man and secretly and silently come to issue utterances and do His work. It’s not the case that everyone will know about it. Only those who can listen to the Lord’s voice will be able to recognize the Lord and accept the Lord. My cousin also said that anyone who hears someone bearing witness to the Lord’s return and thus carefully listens to the Lord’s voice will be raptured before the throne and will feast with the Lord.”

Brother Wang said: “In these prophecies, the Lord Jesus does indeed mention that not everyone will see Him when He returns. Only those who can hear the Lord’s voice will be able to welcome Him. It seems that if you want to welcome the Lord’s coming, then you have to pay very careful attention to listening to the Lord’s voice!”

Brother Zhang looked at us pensively and then said, “What you are fellowshiping sounds very rational. We can lose everything we possess but we can’t afford to lose a single word of the Lord’s teachings.” The Lord said, ‘And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ (John 14:3). This will certainly come to pass, but how the Lord’s prophecy will be accomplished and fulfilled is indeed a mystery. It’s not something that human beings can figure out. It seems now that we shouldn’t just follow the pastors in denying and condemning Eastern Lightning, but instead should hurry to investigate their way. Otherwise, we’ll be cast aside by the Lord and won’t even have time to regret it!”

Brother Wang then went on to say, “Yes, we’ve believed in the Lord for most our lives in order to welcome the Lord’s return and be raptured to the kingdom of heaven. Since we’ve now heard about the Lord’s return, we should seek and investigate it, and not be restricted by the pastors any longer. As the saying goes, ‘You don’t know if a tangerine is sour or sweet until you’ve tasted it…’”

Thank the Lord. Through the brothers’ and sisters’ fellowshiping, I was able to come through my predicament. I’m going to waste no time in finding a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Lord really has returned, then by doing this at least I won’t obstruct the brothers and sisters from experiencing such a major life event as being raptured to the kingdom of heaven.

Read more on our Topics page on Second Coming of Jesus, or click on the related articles below.

• What Does God Imply Us in Amos 8:11 by Mentioning the Church’s Desolation in the Last Days?

• Preacher’s Confusions: Where Is the Work of the Holy Spirit?

• Coming Out of the Desert, I Have Found the Spring of Living Water