Love of the Lord Came Upon Me in My Bottom-of-the-well Moment

Because my husband died so early, I was deep in debt. Out of the stress of life, I brought my children to America for work in early December 1998. In order to earn money to pay the debts, I didn’t even spare a moment to have a rest. As time passed by, my health broke down and I suffered uterine fibroid and hypertension and had to stay in the hospital for treatment. After the operation, I went to hunt for a job hurriedly before I recovered well. However, no matter which unit I went to, they did not hire me when they noticed my pale face. Just then, I felt the pressure was so great and did not have any reliance.

Two days before Easter Day in 2011, when I was walking in Chinatown helplessly, I saw somebody preaching Falun Gong and I stopped to take a look. At that time, all of a sudden, a sister went up to me and said: “Don’t believe in Falun Gong. Go to the church to believe in Jesus, please.” Hearing the name of Jesus, I felt it very fresh. Then she told me many deeds about Jesus. Later, she took me to Connecticut to attend a spiritual meeting, which lasted for three days and three nights. During the meeting, the pastor told us many Bible stories, which I enjoyed very much. Especially, when hearing the verse that the pastor explained: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), I was attracted deeply by it and pondered it over and over again. I felt that God loves man so greatly and even gave his beloved Son to us. The Lord Jesus was nailed on the cross as a sin offering and shed His last drop of blood. He did so in order that He could save man from the clutches of Satan, and make man not die under the law due to their sins. What’s more, He wished man to be saved and get everlasting life by the grace of Jesus’ precious blood. The love of the Lord is really too great and nobody possesses it. I made certain in my heart that the Lord Jesus is the true God and determined to follow Him faithfully. Because the Lord Jesus entered my life, I had reliance from then on.

Committing Sins and Making Confession Cause Trouble in My Heart

My landlord was a believer in the Lord as well and she often said: “As long as we believe in the Lord, we can be saved.” But her behaviors made me doubt it. I saw that she committed no big sins but small ones ceaselessly. Every day she committed sins in the day and made confession at night. From her, I learned that the pastors in her church had jealous disputes with each other. When I heard that, I thought: Why do the pastors have jealous disputes? Aren’t they the same as the unbelievers? It is too easy if we can be saved after believing in the Lord like this.

Gradually, I found that I myself was just like them. Although I read the Bible every day, I lived in sin without any change at all, producing contradictions with the landlord very often. Because she always found faults with me, complaining that I used too much water and electricity. I said nothing to her outwardly, but my complaints within came out in spite of myself. Then I thought the Bible says: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). The Lord required us to follow peace with all men and pursue to be clean. Although I didn’t reason with the landlord outwardly, I harbored many complaints in my heart. The Bible says: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). Then can I be said to be clean while always acting like this? How can I gain the Lord Jesus’ approval? What should I do on earth to attain sanctity? I was always troubled by the problem in my heart and didn’t know how to solve the problem of my making sins, for which I had been praying to and seeking the Lord.

God’s Love Came Upon Me When I Was Alone Without Reliance

At the end of 2012, I went to another city to run a laundry, so I couldn’t go to the former church for meetings (not in the same state). I could only spare some time to go to the church nearby occasionally. However, I felt that I could not gain anything at every gathering. The pastor always gave us some repeated sermons or showed himself off simply. So not only did I not find the way to solve sinning, but also I became more and more negative. With the lapse of time, I didn’t want to attend meetings any more, and just read the Bible at home. It lasted until September 2016, when I had a sudden desire in my heart that I could see the sisters in the church. If only I could find a church in which I could enjoy listening to sermons!

Two weeks later, a stranger, Sister Liang suddenly came to my laundry, saying to me: “Sister, I heard that you are a believer in the Lord. I’m a Christian, too. We can have meetings together and talk about our experiences with each other.” The moment I heard what she said, I agreed to her at once happily and thanked God repeatedly in my heart, feeling God is too wondrous. During that time, I was expecting to see sisters. Unexpectedly, two weeks later, a sister came to see me. The sister told me it was due to the Lord’s love and arrangement that she could come to see me. Hearing her words, I felt very warm in my heart. Then she told me about her understanding and knowledge about biblical verses. I felt what she said was fresh and sounded wonderful and she was a true believer in the Lord. So I thought I must treasure the opportunity and fellowship with her more. But after a while, I heard her saying: “It is the third stage of work of God that reveals the mysteries in the Bible.” After hearing her words, my heart didn’t calm down any more and I thought of what the pastor said: “Only believers of the Eastern Lightning testify to people about the third stage of work of God. They have already deviated from the Lord’s way.” So I refuted her immediately: “What you believe is quite different from what we believe. I can’t, without facts, say randomly your belief is not right. I have been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, so I can’t betray Him and believe in other ways.” I refused her politely.

The next day, Sister Liang came again. As she helped me with my work, she told me she would fellowship with me after the work was finished. I rejected her in my heart and made an excuse: “You go first. If I’m free, I’ll call you.” But the sister patiently asked me to sit down to listen, saying: “The Lord Jesus has already returned. He has done a stage of new work, the third stage of work of saving man thoroughly. …” Before she finished it, I brushed her off by all kinds of excuses.

Two days later, she along with another sister (Sister Liu) came again and helped me with my work as usual. When I was free, Sister Liang said to me: “Aunt, as you have been believing in God for so many years, you’d better listen to God’s voice. Don’t miss the opportunity of accepting the Lord’s second coming.” I recalled that the sister had come several times before, but I always found some excuses to put off. However, she didn’t get angry but waited for me patiently until my work was finished and then fellowshiped with me. I thought: “In order to preach God’s gospel, they have spent so much effort and price, and fellowshiped with me time and time again. They just want me to listen to Almighty God’s word. Am I not willing to spare any time for them?” So I asked the sisters: “Why do you have so great patience to preach the gospel to me?” Sister Liu said: “This is all due to God’s will of saving man. God wishes more true believers to come to accept His salvation in the last days, for it is the last stage of work that He does.” Then Sister Liu testified to me about her experiences where God has saved her. Hearing her fellowship, my heart was touched. I thought: The sister had served as a teacher, run a factory in the past. All of her status, her education and her understanding are better than mine. But she could be conquered by the work of Almighty God. Moreover, her experiences sounded true and moving. It seemed there is truth to be sought in the way they preach. My heart calmed down little by little. Sister Liang said to me: “Aunt, I heard you say last time you were afraid that you are betraying the Lord if you accept Almighty God. Let’s fellowship this issue together.” I agreed. She said: “Actually, that we accept the work of Almighty God in the last days doesn’t mean that we betray the Lord Jesus but keep up with the Lord Jesus’ new work. Almighty God says: ‘This incarnation is God’s second incarnation, which follows upon Jesus’ work. Of course, this incarnation does not occur independently; it is the third stage of work after the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. Every time God initiates a new stage of work, there must always be a new beginning and it must always bring a new age. So too are there corresponding changes in the disposition of God, in the manner of His working, in the location of His work, and in His name’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ second coming. He became flesh for the second time and has expressed millions of words and done the work of judgment beginning with God’s family upon the foundation of the work in the Age of Grace. Just as the Lord Jesus incarnate did the redemptive work upon the foundation of the work in the Age of Law. As ages are developing, the work of God has always been rising higher increasingly. Today, the work of judgment that Almighty God does is a stage of work of purifying and perfecting man thoroughly and is the last stage of work in God’s six-thousand-year management work. This just fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ word in John 12: 47-48: ‘And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.’ Therefore, we have to let go of our notions quickly to accept the work of judgment that Almighty God does so as to cast away the filth and corruption within us, become a man who is purified and perfected by God and be saved by Him in the end. …” Listening to her fellowship, I felt what she said was quite right. But I was not quite sure, so I didn’t promise her to accept Almighty God’s work at once.

Deeply Touched by a Little Comprehension

After the two sisters left, a sister in Jehovah’s Witnesses, who I knew before, came and talked about the Bible with me. It was strange that when my grandson who was only one and a half years old saw her, he did not stop crying. While as soon as the two sisters in the Church of Almighty God arrived, he acted pretty quietly, loved them very much, and liked watching the videos of the Church. Such things happened five or six times. I found it amazing for I have known the sister in Jehovah’s Witnesses for three years, but the sisters in the Church of Almighty God came to my home merely several times. Why did my grandson behave completely differently? Did the child have feelings in his spirit? Was Almighty God who Sister Liang believes in really the Lord’s second coming? I remembered they once said the work that Almighty God does can purify man. How can He purify man? When they come to see me next time, I will ask them about it.

Making Sure It Is the True Way after Listening Carefully

When the two sisters came again, I asked them about the question. Regarding my question, they read me two passages of Almighty God’s words: “The work done by God during this age is chiefly the provision of the words for the life of man; the exposure of man’s nature essence and corrupt disposition; and the elimination of religious notions, feudal thinking, outdated thinking, and the knowledge and culture of man. These things must all be cleansed through being exposed by God’s words. In the last days, God uses words, not signs and wonders, to make man perfect. He uses His words to expose man, to judge man, to chastise man, and to make man perfect” (“Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “By what means is God’s perfection of man accomplished? It is accomplished by means of His righteous disposition. God’s disposition primarily consists of righteousness, wrath, majesty, judgment, and curse, and He perfects man primarily by means of His judgment. … Although He speaks harshly and relentlessly, He reveals all that is within man, revealing through these stern words that which is substantive within man, yet through such judgment, He gives man a profound knowledge of the substance of the flesh, and thus man submits before God. The flesh of man is of sin and of Satan, it is disobedient, and it is the object of God’s chastisement. Thus, in order to allow man to know himself, the words of God’s judgment must befall him and there must be employed every kind of refinement; only then can God’s work be effective” (“Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I heard the words of Almighty God, I felt very shocked in my heart, thinking the words contain authority and power. Except for God, nobody can speak out such words with powerfulness. At that moment, Sister Liu fellowshiped: “Since we mankind were corrupted by Satan, all kinds of corrupt satanic dispositions have become our life, which is the sinful nature just as we say. Controlled by the sinful nature, we can’t help committing sins. Although the Lord Jesus was nailed on the cross personally and redeemed mankind, man who lived under the law only wasn’t condemned by the law any more. But the root of man’s sinning wasn’t solved at all, thus, man can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. So in the last days, God has expressed all the truths to judge and chastise man, and revealed all of our corrupt nature so as to make us have an understanding and distinguish the negative things which are from Satan. Meanwhile, God has told us the reality of the positive things. When we practice according to His demands, our corrupt satanic dispositions can be solved gradually. By doing so, the effect of our purification will be achieved.” Through reading God’s words and listening to the fellowship, I gradually know that it is Satan that corrupted man, making man lose the likeness of human beings, live in sin, often disobey God, and have no awareness after resisting God. Almighty God uses words to reveal and judge our sins, making us know our nature of Satan and finally hate Satan, rebel against our satanic nature, and be purified by Him. I also realize that the reason why I could not get along well with my landlord and lived in the situation: sinning in the day and confessing in the evening, is that our sinful nature hasn’t been cast off. And we will not be saved at all if we believe in God like that. We can be saved and perfected only by experiencing the judgment work of God in the last days. Although I cannot understand God’s words completely, I have seen the way and hope to be purified and to be saved from such fellowship.

Gradually, I began to expect to listen to the fellowship of the two sisters. Whenever they came, I would finish the work in my laundry in advance, so that I could calm down and fellowship with them altogether. Afterward, we fellowshiped a variety of truths such as the inner truth of God’s three stages of work, the mysteries of the incarnation, the Holy Spirit’s work and Satan’s work and so on. The more we fellowshiped, the more clearly I understood. I knew many truths that I did not understand before and made certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ return. What’s more, I knew firmly that the word of judgment and chastisement of Almighty God can indeed save man and perfect man.

Counting God’s Graces, I Was Remorseful and Guilty

Recalling the scenes where I cast the sisters preaching the gospel outside time and time again, I felt ashamed and guilty. Meanwhile, I also experienced that I would never comprehend fully the effort and price that God had expended on me. It is God’s mercy that brought me before Him. Now I am fond of watching the videos made by the Church of Almighty God. Every time I watch them, I will ponder the words that Almighty God has expressed carefully, and feel moved in my heart. I thank Almighty God sincerely for giving me this opportunity to be saved. I will follow Almighty God resolutely to the very end!

Extended Reading:

I Have Walked on the Path to Purification (II)