Seeing Through the Rumors, I Gained Liberation

By A Yan, Hong Kong

One day in May of 2017, after school, my son and I went to the park, where I came across three sisters. In contact with them, I found them very kind and I enjoyed talking with them. Then we arranged to meet in the park every day to talk about our difficulties and problems in life together. Besides, they also preached gospel to me. When I met difficulties in life, they read God’s words to me and helped me solve them with God’s words. Half a month later, I became more and more interested in belief in God. And through their fellowship, I came to know this: The heavens and earth and all things didn’t come into being naturally but were created by God. Having created all things, God also presides over all things and provides for them. Besides, all things and matters as well as the fate of man are controlled in God’s hands. Because God is the only Creator and the only true God. Later, through reading God’s words, I gradually gained some knowledge of God, and felt that God showed special grace to me, so that I could be lucky enough to hear His voice, to enjoy the supply of the living water of life from God. Thank God for God really loves me! So, I began to attend meetings with sisters.

During one meeting, Sister Heng read a passage of God’s word: “Regardless of whether one becomes angry in the sight of others or behind their backs, everyone has a different intention and purpose. Perhaps they are building up their prestige, or maybe they are defending their own interests, maintaining their image or keeping face. Some exercise restraint in their anger, while others are more rash and flare up with rage whenever they wish without the least bit of restraint. In short, man’s anger derives from his corrupt disposition. No matter what its purpose, it is of the flesh and of nature; it has nothing to do with justice or injustice because nothing in man’s nature and substance corresponds to the truth. Therefore, corrupt humanity’s temper and God’s wrath should not be mentioned in the same breath” (“God Himself, the Unique II”). After she finished the reading, I understood: This passage of God’s word reveals our corrupt disposition, allowing me to see that our humans’ anger comes from our flesh and our naturalness, and reveals our corrupt disposition. Thinking back on when my son was disobedient and naughty and was poor in his studies, I would lose my temper to teach him, venting all my dissatisfaction on him. It was not until I read God’s words that I realized my arrogance and haughtiness, and realized what I manifested was not normal humanity but was satanic corrupt disposition. So, I made a resolution secretly to seek the truth, to practice God’s words, to pursue the transformation of my disposition, and to live like a real man. After that, when my son did something not to my liking and I wanted to rage, I would come before God to pray and would read God’s words to resolve my corrupt disposition. Gradually, my mood got better and my relationship with God got more normal. I could treat my son according to God’s requirements, rather than teach him standing as a parent.

One day, I wanted to read God’s words on the Internet, so I searched the website of Almighty God on my cellphone, only to see much negative information directed toward the Church of Almighty God online. Out of curiosity, I clicked on and opened these links only to find they were all rumors about or negative propaganda slandering the Church of Almighty God. Some said that the Almighty God we believed in was a man; some said the Church of Almighty God cheated people of their money. … Seeing these, I was sad and confused at the same time. I thought: It’s impossible that the Church of Almighty God cheats people of their money. The sisters having meetings with me are all dignified and decent and are true believers in God. In addition, ever since I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, the family of God has given me several books of God’s word without charging a penny. God’s words say: “What I want is not human conceptions or human thoughts, even less do I want your money or your possessions. What I want is your heart, understand? This is My will, and even more it is what I want to obtain” (“The Sixty-first Utterance”). As a matter of fact, every brother and sister who truly believes in God and who likes truth can enjoy the living water of life bestowed by God on us for free. God doesn’t ask a penny of us at all, because God only hopes that we can treasure His words and gain the life He gave to us. I didn’t believe these online words from my heart.

While this perplexity was ended, another doubt remained in my mind: The Internet says that the Almighty God we believe in is a man. Then is Almighty God the incarnate God? I kept asking myself this question in my mind and was perplexed again … Being upset, I came to pray before God: “Oh, God! I saw many negative opinions about the Church of Almighty God on the Internet just now. And I can’t differentiate whether they are true or false. I believe there is a God, but they say we believe in a person. Oh, God! You know I’m ignorant and without wisdom, and that my stature is too small. Please help me ease the doubt in my heart. Amen!” After the prayer, I still felt bad in the heart, as if a stone were put on it. For that whole afternoon, I didn’t want to read God’s words, much less listen to hymns; I could only pray to God within me again and again for the guidance of God.

On the following day, I prayed to God seeking for the same thing. Except for praying, I didn’t want to do anything. I only stared blankly on the sofa till that afternoon, and then when I opened a book of God’s word, I saw God’s words say: “You have to know how to differentiate God’s work from the work of man. What can you see from the work of man? There are a lot of elements of man’s experience in the work of man; what man expresses is what he is. God’s own work also expresses what He is, but what He is is different from what man is” (“God’s Work and Man’s Work”). After reading them, I remembered that sisters once fellowshiped with me: God’s work expresses what God has and is while man expresses what man is. God’s words can reveal man’s corrupt nature and man’s nature and substance of resisting God. In the judgment of God’s words, we see the truth that we have been corrupted by Satan. And meanwhile, we see God’s righteous and unoffendable disposition, as well as God’s mercy and love for man. God detests our corrupt satanic disposition and also does His utmost to save us; this is the revelation of God’s disposition and of what God has and is. Whereas man’s work is only in concert with God’s work; man’s fellowship is his experience and knowledge of God’s words. Man only performs his own duty, because man is not truth and cannot express truth. Looking back to when I hadn’t believed in God, I often lost my temper with my son. After I believed in God, I read God’s words and could know my corruption; when I did according to God’s requirements, my corrupt disposition could be changed. All of this is the result of God’s words because only God’s words have such power. If they are man’s words, they can’t make man know themselves, let alone change them. At this moment, the sadness in my heart lessened a lot. So, when I went to attend the meeting the next day, I told my sisters the doubt and question in my heart.

In the meeting, a sister fellowshiped with me about the truth of incarnation. She read a passage of God’s words to me first: “The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God”). And then she fellowshiped: “From God’s words we can know that incarnation means God’s Spirit is realized in the flesh, the flesh that has normal humanity and normal human thinking. He becomes an ordinary man to work and speak among man. This flesh has normal humanity and also complete divinity. Although He is ordinary and normal in appearance, He can undertake the work of God, He can express the voice of God, and can lead and save man. This is just because He has complete divinity.”

Then, the sister found another passage of God’s words for me: “He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining[a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance” (Preface). She communicated: “If we want to know Christ, we must investigate His work and words. We must see whether His expression is God’s voice, whether His words are the revelation of God’s disposition and of God’s being and possessions. For example: The way the Lord Jesus preached, the mystery of the kingdom of heaven He revealed, and the requirements He made of man, are all truth, and God’s voice, as well as the revelation of God’s life disposition and what God has and is. The miracles the Lord Jesus displayed — healing the sick and casting out demons, calming the wind and sea, feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, and so on — are the manifestation of God’s authority and power. Those truth-seekers Peter and John recognized the Lord Jesus as the Messiah from His work and words, so they followed Him and received His salvation. However, although having listened to the Lord Jesus’ sermons and seen the miracles the Lord Jesus performed, the Pharisees of Judaism only saw Him as an ordinary man. They frantically resisted and willfully condemned the Lord Jesus, and nailed Him to the cross, thus committing a heinous crime. Nowadays, the incarnate Almighty God has expressed all the truths for the salvation of corrupt mankind, and done the work of judgment beginning at the house of God in the last days. Not only does He judge and expose the satanic nature of corrupt mankind and the truth of their corruption, He has also revealed all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan of saving mankind, showed mankind the way of getting rid of sins and being saved, and revealed to mankind God’s inherent righteous disposition and God’s being and possessions. Almighty God’s work and words completely reveal the identity and essence of God Himself. Today, all the people following Almighty God have heard God’s voice from His work and words; they have returned before the throne of God and accepted God’s purification and perfection. If we measure and condemn Christ by our own notions and imaginations, it’s easy for us to treat Christ as an ordinary man, and far too easy to resist and condemn Him. So, to judge whether Christ is the incarnate God, it’s not based on His external appearance, but on His work and words.”

Through this fellowship, I had more faith in God: I’m sure that the incarnate Almighty God is the true God, and I’m certain that following Almighty God is not believing in a man. God is the truth, the way and the life, so only the incarnate God can express words to expose man’s corrupt substance, can change man’s disposition, and can open up all the mysteries. At this moment, the doubt in my heart is completely dispelled. Thank Almighty God! All the authority and glory be to the almighty and only true God. Amen!

Footnotes:

a. The original text reads “as for.”