God's voice | Interpretation of the Sixth Utterance

The Church of Almighty God | God's voice | Interpretation of the Sixth Utterance

Humanity is struck dumb at God’s utterances as they realize that God has worked a great deed in the realm of the spirit, something of which man is incapable and that only God Himself can accomplish. For this reason, God once again puts forward words of leniency to humankind. When people’s hearts are filled with contradictions, wondering: “God is a God without mercy or love, but rather a God dedicated to striking down humanity; so why should He show us clemency? Could it be that God has once again shifted into a method?” at the moment this notion, this thought takes shape inside their minds, they struggle against it with all their might. Nevertheless, after God’s work has progressed for another length of time, the Holy Spirit has undertaken a great working within the church, and every single human being has set to work to perform his function, then at that time all humanity has entered upon this method of God’s. This is because no one can see any imperfection in what God says and does, and as for what God will actually do next, no one can know or even guess at it. As God has said with His own mouth: “Of all the people living under heaven, is there anyone who is not within the palm of My hand? Is there anyone who does not act according to My direction?” But I offer you a bit of advice: In matters that you do not completely understand, do not, anyone of you, either speak or act. What I have just said is not to squelch your enthusiasm, but to encourage you to follow God’s direction in your actions. On no account should you, because of what I said about “imperfections,” lose heart or fall into doubt: My purpose is chiefly to remind you to pay attention to God’s words. When God says: “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive. You should aim for the state in which you see My Spirit and My fleshly self, My words and My fleshly self, as one indivisible whole, so that all of humanity will be able to satisfy Me in My presence,” reading these words, humanity is, once again, dumbstruck. What they saw yesterday was a word of warning, was an instance of God’s clemency, but today the talk has turned suddenly to matters within the spirit—what in the world does this mean? Why does God keep changing His manner of speaking? And why is all this to be regarded as one indivisible whole? Could it be that God’s words lack reality? Ruminating upon these words, one realizes this: When God’s Spirit and flesh are separate, then that flesh is a physical body with the attributes of a physical body, in other words, what people call a walking corpse. The incarnate flesh originates in the Spirit: He is the incarnation of the Spirit, that is, the Word become flesh. In other words, God Himself lives within the flesh. From this one can see wherein lies the grave mistake of trying to separate the Spirit from the man. For this reason, even though He is called “man,” He does not belong to the human race, and has no human attributes: This is the man in which God clothes Himself, this is the man that God approves. Within the words is embodied God’s Spirit, and the words of God are directly revealed in the flesh. This makes it all the more clear that God lives in the flesh and is a more practical God, from which it is proven that God exists, thus bringing to an end the age of humanity’s rebellion against God. Then, having instructed humanity about the path leading to knowledge of God, God changes the subject again, and takes up another aspect of the problem.

God's word | Interpretation of the Fifth Utterance

The Church of Almighty God | God's word | Interpretation of the Fifth Utterance

When God makes demands of humanity that are difficult for them to explain, and when His words strike directly into the human heart and people offer up their sincere hearts for Him to enjoy, then God gives people the chance to ponder, make a resolution, and seek out a path for practice. In this way, all those who are His people will once again, with fists clenched in determination, offer their whole being up to God. Some, perhaps, might draw up a plan and set up a daily schedule, as they prepare to stir themselves and get to work, dedicating their portion of energy to God’s plan of management, in order to bring glory upon this plan and speed up its conclusion. And, just as people are caught up in this psychological state, holding these things closely in their minds as they go about their chores, as they talk, and as they work, God, quickly following up on this, begins to speak again: “When My Spirit gives voice, it expresses the whole of My disposition. Are you clear on this?” The more determined a human being is, the more desperately he will yearn to grasp God’s will and the more earnestly he will yearn for God to make demands of him; and so God will give people what they want, taking advantage of this opportunity to impart His words, long held in readiness, to the innermost recesses of their being. Although these words may seem a bit harsh or gruff, to humanity they are sweet beyond compare. Straight away, the heart blossoms with joy, as if humanity were in heaven, or had been transported to another realm, a veritable paradise of the imagination, where the affairs of the outside world no longer impinge upon humanity. In order that people will not, as they were in the habit of doing in the past, speak from the outside and act from the outside, and so fail to lay down proper roots: in order to circumvent this eventuality, when what people desire in their hearts has been achieved, and moreover when they prepare to go to work with passionate enthusiasm, God still adapts His way of speaking to their psychological state, and, summarily and without holding back, confutes all the ardor and religious ceremony within their hearts. As God has said: “Have you truly seen the importance that lies herein?” Whether before or after a human being sets his resolve upon something, he does not put great importance upon knowing God in His actions or in His words, but rather keeps on pondering the question: “What can I do for God? That’s the key issue!” This is why God says: “And you have the nerve to call yourselves My people to My face—you have no sense of shame, still less any reason!” As soon as God has spoken these words, people immediately come to their realization, and as though sustaining an electric shock, they hasten to withdraw their hands into the safety of their bosoms, fearful of provoking God’s wrath a second time. In addition to this, God has also said: “Sooner or later, people like this will be expelled from My house. Don’t you come the old soldier with Me, thinking that you have stood for My testimony!” Hearing words like these, people are even more afraid, as they would be if they had sighted a lion. They know full well in their hearts. They are, on the one hand, concerned not to be eaten by the lion while on the other feeling at a loss where to escape. At this moment, the plan inside the human heart vanishes without a trace, utterly and completely. Through God’s words, I feel as if I can see every single aspect of humanity’s shamefulness: Drooping head and hangdog demeanor, like a candidate who’s failed the college entrance exam, his lofty ideals, happy family, bright future, and so on and so forth, all turned—along with the Four Modernizations by the Year 2000—into empty talk, creating an imaginary scenario in a science fiction film. This is to exchange passive for active elements, making people, in the midst of their passivity, stand up in the place God has assigned them. Exceptionally important is the fact that human beings are deeply afraid of losing this appellation, and so they cling for dear life to their own badges of office, fearful that someone might wrest them away. When humanity is in this frame of mind, God does not worry that they will become passive, and so He accordingly changes His words of judgment to words of interrogation. Not only does He give people a chance to catch their breath, but He also gives them a chance to take the aspirations they have had before now and sort them out for future reference: What is unsuitable can be modified. This is because God has not yet begun His work—this is a piece of good fortune in the midst of great misfortune—and, moreover, does not condemn them. So let me continue to give Him all my devotion!

The Testimony of a Christian | I Have Found True Happiness

The Church of Almighty God | The Church of Almighty God | I Have Found True Happiness

Zhang Hua, Cambodia

I was born into an ordinary farming family. Even though my family was not wealthy, my father and mother loved each other and treated me very well. Our family life was quite abundant and blessed. After I grew up, I told myself: I must find a husband that will treat me well and I must establish a blissful and happy family. This is what is most important. I do not seek riches, I only need to have a loving relationship with my husband and a peaceful family life.

God's untterance | Interpretation of the Third Utterance

The Church of Almighty God | God's untterance | Interpretation of the Third Utterance

Today is no longer the Age of Grace, nor the age of mercy, but the Age of Kingdom in which the people of God are revealed, the age in which God does things directly through divinity. Thus, in this passage of God’s words, God leads all those who accept His words into the spiritual realm. In the opening paragraph, He makes these preparations in advance, and if one possesses the knowledge of God’s words, they will follow the vine to get the melon, and shall directly grasp what God wishes to achieve in His people. Before, people were tested through the title “service-doers,” and today, after they have been subjected to the trial, their training officially begins. In addition, people must have a greater knowledge of God’s work based on the foundation of the words of the past, and must look upon the words and the person, and the Spirit and the person, as one inseparable whole—as one mouth, one heart, one action, and one source. This requirement is the highest requirement that God has made of man since the creation. From this can be seen that God wishes to expend part of His efforts on His people, that He wishes to display some signs and wonders in them, and, more importantly, that He wishes to make all people obey the entirety of God’s work and words. In one regard, God Himself upholds His testimony, and in another, He has made requirements of His people, and has directly issued forth God’s administrative decrees to the masses: Thus, since you are called My people, things are not as they used to be; you should listen to and obey the utterances of My Spirit, closely follow My work, and may not separate My Spirit and My flesh, for We are inherently one, and are not apart. In this, to prevent people from neglecting God incarnate, there is once again an emphasis on “for We are inherently one, and are not apart”; because such neglect is man’s failing, this is once more listed in God’s administrative decrees. Next, God informs people of the consequences of offending God’s administrative decrees, without hiding anything, by saying, “they shall suffer loss, and will only be able to drink from their own bitter cup.” Because man is weak, after hearing these words he can’t help but become more wary of God in his heart, for the “bitter cup” is enough to make people ponder a while. People have many interpretations of this “bitter cup” of which God speaks: being judged by words or expelled from the kingdom, or being isolated for a period of time, or having one’s flesh corrupted by Satan and possessed by evil spirits, or being forsaken by the Spirit of God, or having one’s flesh terminated and consigned to Hades. These interpretations are what can be achieved by people’s brains, and so in their imagination, people are incapable of going beyond them. But God’s thoughts are unlike those of man; that is to say, the “bitter cup” does not refer to any of the above, but to the extent of people’s knowledge of God after receiving God’s dealing. To put this more clearly, when someone arbitrarily separates the Spirit of God and His words, or separates the words and the person, or the Spirit and the flesh with which He clothes Himself, this person is not only incapable of knowing God in God’s words, but is also a little suspicious of God—after which they become blinded at every turn. It is not as people imagine that they are directly cut off; rather, they gradually fall into God’s chastisement—which is to say, they descend into great catastrophes, and no one can be compatible with them, as if they have been possessed by evil spirits, and as if they’re a headless fly, butting against things wherever they go. Despite this, they are still incapable of leaving. In their hearts, things are indescribably hard, as if there is unspeakable suffering in their hearts—yet they cannot open their mouths, and they spend all day in a trance, unable to feel God. It is under these circumstances that God’s administrative decrees threaten them, so that they do not dare to leave the church despite having no enjoyment—this is what’s called an “internal and external attack,” and is terribly hard for people to endure. What has been said here is different from people’s conceptions—and that is because, under those circumstances, they still know to seek God, and this happens when God turns His back on them, and what’s more important is that, just like an unbeliever, they are totally incapable of feeling God. God does not save such people directly; when their bitter cup is emptied out, that is the time when their last day has arrived. But at this moment, they still seek God’s will, wishing to enjoy just a little bit more—but this time is different from the past, unless there are special circumstances.

God's voice | Interpretation of the First Utterance

the Church of Almighty God | God's voice | Interpretation of the First Utterance

Just as God said, “None can grasp the root of My words, or the purpose behind them.” If it weren’t for the guidance of the Spirit of God, if it weren’t for the advent of His words, all would perish under His chastisement. Why does God test man for so long? And for as long as five months? This is the focal point of our fellowship as well as a central point in God’s wisdom. We can assume this: Were it not for this trial, and without God attacking, killing, and hacking away at the corrupt humanity, if the building of the church continued until today, then what would that accomplish? So in the first line of His speech, God gets straight to the point and explains the desired effect of these months’ work, and it is painfully accurate! It goes to show the wisdom of God’s deeds over this period of time: teaching the people to learn submission and sincere dedication through the trial, as well as how to better understand God through painful refinement. The more despair people experience, the more they are able to understand themselves. And to tell the truth, the more painful refinement they face, the more they can understand their own corruption, and in doing so they even learn that they are not worthy of being a service-doer for God, and rendering this kind of service is being elevated by Him. And so once this is achieved, once man has depleted himself, God utters the words of mercy, not hidden but in plain sight. It is clear that after several months, God’s new[a] approach of work starts today; this is plain for all to see. In the past, God often said “it is not easy to earn the right to be called My people,” so as He has fulfilled these words in the people who are referred to as service-doers, all may see God can be trusted without any error. All of what God says will come true to varying degrees, and His words are not in the least bit empty.

God's will | On the Life of Peter

The Church of Almighty God | God's will | On the Life of Peter

    Peter was God’s role model for humanity, a luminary who was known to all. Why was someone so unremarkable raised up as an exemplar by God and extolled by successive generations? It goes without saying that this is inseparable from his expression of love for God and resolve to love God. As for how Peter’s heart of love for God was manifested, and what his life’s experiences were actually like, we must return to the Age of Grace to look again at the customs of the time and observe the Peter of that age.

The Testimony of a Christian | Almighty God Led Me Onto the Path of Obtaining Cleansing

Almighty God Led Me Onto the Path of Obtaining Cleansing | The Testimony of a Christian

Gangqiang, USA

　In 2007, due to a lot of pressure in my life, I came to Singapore by myself to work to make a living. All year round, the climate in Singapore is very hot, so every day I would sweat profusely when I was working. It was so rough that I suffered an unspeakable amount, and on top of that it was an unfamiliar life without any relatives or friends, so I thought it to be boring and tedious. One day in August, I received a gospel leaflet on my way home from work which read: “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1Pe 5:10). Seeing these words gave me a warm feeling in my heart. Then a brother brought me to the church, and the brothers and sisters welcomed me cordially and served me delicious food. I had worked the better part of a year since leaving home, and the warmth of family and delicious home cooked food was something that I hadn’t enjoyed in such a long time. Since I was lonely and drifting aimlessly, hot tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and in that moment I had the feeling that I was back home. From then, the church was a place I need to go every Sunday.

God's word | You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Eastern lightning | God's word | You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

The entirety of the work over the 6,000 years has gradually changed along with the times. The shifts in this work have occurred according to the entire world’s circumstances. God’s management work has only gradually transformed according to the developmental trends of humanity as a whole; it was not already planned at the beginning of creation. Before the world was created, or right after it was created, Jehovah had not yet planned the first stage of work, that of law; the second stage of work, that of grace; or the third stage of work, that of conquering, in which He would first work among a group of people—some of the descendants of Moab, and from this He would conquer the entire universe. He did not speak these words after creating the world; He did not speak these words after Moab, let alone before Lot. All of His work was done spontaneously. This is exactly how His entire six-thousand-year management work has developed; by no means had He written out such a plan as Summary Chart for Humanity’s Development before creating the world. In God’s work, He directly expresses what He is; He does not rack His brains to formulate a plan. Of course, many prophets have spoken many prophecies, but it still cannot be said that God’s work has always been one of precise plan-making; the prophecies were made according to God’s actual work. All of His work is the most actual work. He carries out His work according to the development of the times, and He carries out His most actual work according to the changes of things. For Him, carrying out work is akin to administering medicine to an illness; He observes while doing His work; He works according to His observations. In every stage of His work, He is capable of expressing His ample wisdom and expressing His ample ability; He reveals His ample wisdom and ample authority according to the work of that particular age and allows any of those people brought back by Him during those ages to see His entire disposition. He supplies people’s needs and carries out the work He should do according to the work that must be done in each age; He supplies people’s needs according to the degree to which Satan has corrupted them. It was this way when Jehovah initially created Adam and Eve in order to allow them to manifest God upon the earth and to have God’s witnesses among the creation, but Eve sinned after being tempted by the snake; Adam did the same, and together in the garden they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And thus, Jehovah had additional work to perform among them. He saw their nakedness and covered their bodies with clothing made from animal hides. Following this, He said unto Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake … till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust shall you return.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” From then on He banished them from the Garden of Eden and made them live outside the garden, as modern man now does upon the earth. When God created man in the very beginning, He did not plan to let man be tempted by the snake after he had been created and then curse man and the snake. He did not actually have this kind of plan; it was simply the development of things that gave Him new work among His creation. After Jehovah carried out this work among Adam and Eve upon the earth, humanity continued to develop for several thousand years, until “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. … But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” At this time Jehovah had more new work, for the humanity He created had become too sinful after being tempted by the snake. Given these circumstances, Jehovah selected Noah’s family from among these people and spared them, and carried out His work of destroying the world with a flood. Humanity has continued to develop in this manner to this very day, becoming increasingly corrupt, and when humanity’s development reaches its peak, it will also be humanity’s end. From the very beginning to the end of the world, the inside truth of His work has always been this way. It is the same as how man will be classed according to their kind; far from each and every person being predestined to the category they belong to at the very beginning, people are gradually categorized only after undergoing a process of development. In the end, anyone who cannot be saved entirely will be returned to his or her ancestors. None of God’s work among humanity was already prepared at the creation of the world; rather, it was the development of things that allowed God to perform His work step by step more realistically and practically among humanity. This is just like how Jehovah God did not create the snake in order to tempt the woman. It was not His specific plan, nor was it something that He had intentionally predestined; one could say that this was unexpected. It was thus because of this that Jehovah expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and vowed to never again create man. But God’s wisdom is only discovered by people upon this foundation, just like the point that I mentioned earlier: “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots.” No matter how corrupt humanity grew or how the snake tempted them, Jehovah still had His wisdom; therefore, He has been engaged in new work ever since He created the world, and none of the steps of this work have ever repeated. Satan has continuously carried out plots; humanity has been continuously corrupted by Satan, and Jehovah God has also continuously carried out His wise work. He has never failed, and He has never ceased His work from the creation of the world through now. After humanity was corrupted by Satan, He continuously worked among people to defeat His enemy who corrupts humanity. This battle will continue from the beginning until the world’s end. In doing all this work, He has not only allowed humanity, who has been corrupted by Satan, to receive His great salvation, but also allowed them to see His wisdom, almightiness and authority, and in the end He will let humanity see His righteous disposition—punishing the wicked and rewarding the good. He has battled Satan to this very day and has never been defeated, for He is a wise God, and His wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots. And so He not only makes everything in heaven submit to His authority; He also makes everything upon earth rest below His footstool, and not last of all, He makes those evildoers who invade and harass humanity fall within His chastisement. All the results of the work are brought about because of His wisdom. He had never revealed His wisdom before the existence of humanity, for He had no enemies in heaven, upon earth, or in the entire universe, and there were no dark forces that invaded anything among nature. After the archangel betrayed Him, He created humanity upon the earth, and it was because of humanity that He formally began His millennia-long war with Satan, the archangel, a war that grows more heated with every successive stage. His almightiness and wisdom are present in each of these stages. Only at this time can everything in heaven and earth see God’s wisdom, almightiness, and particularly God’s realness. He still carries out His work in this same realistic manner today; in addition, as He carries out His work He also reveals His wisdom and almightiness; He allows you to see the inside truth of each stage of work, to see exactly how to explain God’s almightiness, and particularly exactly how to explain God’s realness.

God's will | Chapter 19. The Meaning of God’s Experiencing the Pain of the World

The Church of Almighty God | God's will | Chapter 19. The Meaning of God’s Experiencing the Pain of the World

God is incarnated to suffer on man’s behalf, and in so doing will bring about the wonderful destination that will follow for mankind. That stage of work completed by Jesus was only His becoming the likeness of sinful flesh and being crucified, His serving as a sin offering and redeeming all mankind, and this laid a foundation for mankind’s future entry into their wonderful destination. He took man’s sins upon Himself and became the likeness of sinful flesh and was crucified; He was crucified on behalf of all mankind, after which all of mankind was redeemed. He used His crucifixion and His precious blood to redeem mankind. His precious blood served as a sin offering, meaning that it served as a testimony that man may be without sin and may finally come before God: It was a counter move in the war against Satan. Now in this stage, God is to complete His work and bring the old age to a close. He will bring those of mankind who are left into their wonderful destination. So God has once again become flesh and, as well as conquering man, He has come to endure some suffering on man’s behalf so that their suffering will in the end be taken from them. All of man’s suffering will be removed from them by means of this testimony, this deed, which is God bearing witness for Himself and using this testimony and this bearing witness to defeat Satan, humiliate the devil, and bring about mankind’s wonderful destination. Some people say: “The work of the incarnation is still done by God Himself. It isn’t this flesh that does it, it is done under the control of the Spirit within.” Is it correct to say this? It is not correct. It has been said before that God incarnate’s work of conquest is done in normal humanity, that what you can see is normal humanity, when actually it is God Himself that is doing the work, and that the work this flesh does is being done by God Himself. This is how it was explained and fellowshiped. People often think that this flesh is just a tool or a shell. If God within Him speaks or controls Him, then this flesh speaks or acts, and doesn’t do anything without God’s control. If He is controlled to say something then He says something, otherwise He remains silent. Is this the situation? No, it isn’t. The most powerful explanation now is this: One aspect of God becoming flesh this time is that He has come to do the work of conquest and to bring this age to its end; another aspect is that the flesh’s experiencing the pain of the world is God Himself coming to experience the pain of the world—God’s flesh and God Himself are as one. This flesh is not a tool as people think Him to be, nor is He just a shell; neither is He a physical thing that can be controlled, as people think. This flesh is the embodiment of God Himself. People actually understand it too simply. If it is just fellowshiped in that way, then people will easily separate the flesh from the Spirit. Now people should understand another aspect: God incarnate has come to experience the pain of the world; all the tribulations and illnesses the incarnation suffers are things that He shouldn’t suffer. Some people think that, since He is an ordinary and normal flesh, then this suffering is unavoidable. They think: “People will have a headache and slight fever, and He will also have this. This is something that cannot be avoided, as He is an ordinary and normal flesh. He is not transcendent. He is an ordinary person and He should suffer whatever people suffer. He must feel heat as people do and be bitten by the cold, as people are; He must catch colds as people do….” If you think this, then you are only seeing the ordinariness and normality of the flesh. This normal flesh is just like man with no difference at all. In actual fact, all that He suffers has meaning. People will normally become ill, or suffer something else, and this is that which people ought to suffer. Corrupted people should suffer this way, and this is a normal law. Why does God incarnate endure this suffering? Should Jesus have been crucified? Jesus was a righteous man. According to the laws of that time and all the things He did, He shouldn’t have been crucified. So why was He? He was crucified so that all mankind could be redeemed. Has all the pain and all the persecution that the current incarnation has gone through happened by chance? Or has God arranged it all on purpose? It is neither that God has arranged it on purpose, nor has it happened by chance. It is that it has developed in accordance with normal laws. Why do I say this? It is because God has placed Himself in amongst man so that He can do His work freely. In the doing of His work He is just like man and suffers the same as man. If He were to arrange some pain intentionally, then He would suffer for a few days, but ordinarily He would not be distressed. That is to say that God does His work—His experiencing the pain of the world is not arranged on purpose, even less is it suffered unconsciously. It is that He has come to experience the pain of the world, to place Himself among man, to put Himself in the midst of man and endure the same pain as they do, to be treated equally, and not to be excepted from anything. Just as you have suffered persecution, does Christ not also suffer persecution? As you are hunted and pursued, is Christ not also hunted and pursued? People are afflicted by illnesses, so is His suffering then lessened? He is not excepted. Is this matter easy to understand? There are also some who think that God should endure this pain as He came to work in the nation of the great red dragon. Isn’t this also wrong? To God, there is no argument surrounding whether He should or shouldn’t suffer any pain; God said that He wished to experience the pain of the world and that, at the same time as suffering this pain, He would suffer it on man’s behalf. Then He would bring mankind into their wonderful destination, and Satan would be utterly convinced. To God, it is necessary for Him to endure this suffering. If He didn’t wish to suffer in this stage, if He just wanted to comprehend the pain of man and nothing more, then He could use a few people to do this in His stead. He could use a few apostles or the ones used by the Holy Spirit to take His place and report back to Him on their pain. Or He could use some special people to bear witness, cause them to endure the worst pain in the world and, if they could endure it, they could then bear this witness and Satan would be utterly convinced, and a future where mankind suffers no more would be brought about. Could God do this? Yes, He could do this. But the work of God Himself can only be done by Him. Though man could bear witness well, their witness would not resound with Satan, and it would say: “Now that You have become flesh, why do You not experience the pain of the world Yourself? …” That is to say, if God didn’t do this work Himself, then that kind of witness would not have sufficient power. The work of God must be done by He Himself; this is the only practical way. It can also be seen from this stage of God’s work that everything God does has meaning, that all the pain that is endured by the incarnation has meaning. You can see that nothing God does is done at random or at will, and that God doesn’t do anything that is of no use. The incarnation has come to do His work and to experience the pain of the world. It matters that God does this work, and it is very essential, both for mankind and for mankind’s future destination. It is all for the salvation of man, for the obtaining of man—these deeds are done and this effort is expended for man’s wonderful destination.

The Testimony of a Christian | I Found the True Light

The Church of Almighty God | The Testimony of a Christian | I Found the True Light

　I was born in a Catholic family. Since I was little, I attended Mass at church with my grandparents. Due to the influence of my environment and my belief in God, I learned to chant many different scriptures and practice various rituals.

　In 2009, I arrived in Japan to study. One time, in a fellow student’s dorm room, I met by chance a Christian small group leader who had come to spread the gospel. I thought: Protestants and Catholics believe in the same God. They both believe in the Lord Jesus. As a result, I accepted the small group leader’s invitation to join him at the church. After listening to the pastors preach and hearing some brothers and sisters talk about the Bible, I had some understanding about the Lord Jesus’ life. This caused me to have more faith in the Lord. However, after a few months, the pastors and the preachers asked us to donate tithe every week. Also, each week, we were to hand out pamphlets to spread the gospel. Sometimes, we were so tired that we would snooze during Sunday service. We no longer had a normal routine in our life. At that time, some of us were both working and studying. Not only did we have to make money to pay for our studies, but we also needed money for our everyday expenses. Our lives were already quite difficult, but they still wanted us to give them our money and our energy. We were under a lot of stress and pain. Gradually, I discovered that the pastors and the preachers were not truly people that served the Lord. Normally, since they were those who shepherded the church, they should have been helping us grow in our spiritual lives. However, they did not care about our lives. They did not think at all about our practical problems. Instead, they wanted our energy and our money. Everything they did was to help expand their church and consolidate their status and their influence. At this time, we felt like we had been deceived. Consequently, a few of my brothers and I left the church.

God's will | Chapter 18. The Second Aspect of Significance of the Incarnation

The Church of Almighty God | God's will | Chapter 18. The Second Aspect of Significance of the Incarnation

What is the reason for the ordinariness and normality of God incarnate? Is it just so He is able to work? Is it just to prove that He is Christ? What significance does His usual ordinariness and normality have? Some people say that God incarnate must surely be of an ordinary and normal flesh. Does it mean only this? If He is Christ, then He must surely be of an ordinary and normal flesh, so does this not delimit God? If He must surely be of an ordinary and normal flesh, what is meant by “surely be”? Some people say that it is to express the words of God, so that man can easily come into contact with Him. Is it just for this reason? Previously, people all thought this. Now we are talking about the essence of Christ. Christ’s essence is entirely God Himself. This is His essence, but everything He does has meaning. A specially-appointed flesh, a flesh with a specially-appointed appearance, a specially-appointed family, a specially-appointed living environment—these things that God does all have meaning. Some people ask: “How is it that I cannot see the great significance behind God’s wearing of this ordinary and normal flesh? Is it not just an outer shell? Once God has finished His work, won’t this outer shell just be useless?” In people’s imaginations and in their awareness, they think that the outer shell of this ordinary and normal flesh has no great use, that it has no great use in God’s work or in His management plan and that it is merely to complete this stage of work. People believe that it is just so they can easily come into contact with Him and hear His words, they are able to see and feel Him, and nothing more. This is what people used to understand the significance of the incarnation to be. In actual fact, during the work of the ordinary and normal flesh and during the time of the incarnation, besides undertaking the work that He Himself should do, He also undertakes another work. The aspect of work that this flesh also undertakes is something that no one has yet considered. What aspect of work is this? Apart from doing the work of God Himself, He comes to experience the suffering of the world. This is something that people did not previously realize. Before, people thought: “God incarnate always suffers from illness. What does He suffer this for?” Some people say that this is God’s humility and hiddenness, that God loves man, that God suffers this to save man…. They explain it in this muddleheaded way. But if God incarnate did not allow Himself to suffer, could He achieve it? He could, couldn’t He? Some people say: “In the Age of Grace we need only pray to God to cure any illness as soon as it arose, so how could it be that God incarnate is always afflicted by illness? How could He then always be ill? How could His body then never be well?” Has this matter not always been a riddle for man? Although people say that God suffers, that God loves them, some still think: “During the Age of Grace, we need only rely on prayer to cure illness. We never took medicine, never had any medicine in our homes, didn’t know where the hospital was and we need only pray to cure even our cancer. So why has God incarnate not attained as much grace as man?” Is this not a riddle? This is a knot in the heart of man, but people don’t treat it seriously enough and just explain it simply, saying that God loves man, that God suffers for mankind. Until now, people have not understood this correctly. To experience the suffering of the world is a responsibility of God incarnate. But what purpose does experiencing the suffering of the world serve? This is yet another issue. God comes to experience the suffering of the world and this is something that the Spirit absolutely cannot achieve. Only God incarnate who is of an ordinary, normal, and complete flesh and who becomes entirely human, can completely experience the suffering of the world. If the Spirit was to do this work, then He would be absolutely unable to experience any suffering. He could see and He could comprehend, but He could not experience anything. Are seeing, comprehending and experiencing all one and the same? No, they are not. Previously, God said: “I know the emptiness of the world and I know the hardships that exist in the life of mankind. I have walked here and there in the world and seen extreme wretchedness. I have seen the hardships, the wretchedness and the emptiness of life in the world.” But whether or not He has experienced it, this is something else entirely. You see a family that struggles to get by, for example. You see this and you have some understanding, but have you experienced their situation for yourself? Have you felt their difficulties, their suffering and had these feelings or had this experience? No. This is because seeing and experiencing are two different things. It can be said that this work, this thing, must surely be done by God incarnate. In this respect, the Spirit can in no way achieve it. So, this is another aspect of significance of the incarnation: He comes to experience the suffering of the world and to experience the suffering that man endures. So what suffering do I mean? Difficulties in the life of mankind, misfortunes in the family, man’s deceptions, abandonment and persecution, as well as some afflictions of illness in one’s own body—these are the sufferings of the world. The afflictions of illness, the attacks of surrounding people, matters and things, misfortunes in the family, people abandoning each other, people’s blasphemy, slander, resistance, rebellion, insults and misunderstandings…. To God incarnate this is all a kind of attack, and it is also a kind of attack to those people who endure them. Whether it be a great person, or a high-caliber person, or someone with a broad mind, this suffering, these things, are all a kind of attack as far as man is concerned. God undergoes the persecution of the world, with nowhere to rest His head, no place to stay, and no confidant…. All these things are painful. Besides this, He also experiences the misfortunes that befall the family. He does not need to reach the zenith of suffering, but He experiences it all. Some previously wondered: “In the work of God incarnate, can’t God remove these illnesses? To allow Him to do His work with ease, and to not allow people to rebel against or resist Him—could He not do these things? If He punished people, then they wouldn’t dare resist Him. Or to not allow any illness as, if someone has an illness they need only pray for it to be cured, so why does God still suffer illness?” This is so He can experience the suffering of the world. From the flesh He takes as an incarnation He does not remove these adversities or the affliction of illnesses, nor does He remove the abandonment of the world. He just naturally grows and works in this difficult environment. In this way He can experience the suffering of the world. If none of these things existed, He would not be able to taste this suffering. If these illnesses were kept from Him, or if He could not get any illness that afflicts normal people…, wouldn’t His suffering then be less? Could it be achieved, for Him to not suffer any headache, nor feel tired after using His brain too much, whereas other people suffer from headaches after using their brains too much? Yes, it could be achieved; but this time it is done differently. During the stage of Jesus’ work, He could go for 40 days and nights without food or water and not feel hungry. This time, hunger is felt if one meal is missed. Some people say: “Is God not almighty? I see that God is not almighty. He cannot even do such a small thing as this. From what He says, He is God; so how can He not achieve these things?” It is not that He cannot achieve them, but rather He does not do them in that way. The purpose of His incarnation is not to do the things people think God can do. He experiences the suffering of the world and there is significance in His doing this. Then there are those who ask: “What use is there, God, in Your experiencing the suffering of the world? Can You suffer in man’s place? Are people not still suffering right now?” Nothing God does is done randomly. He doesn’t leave once He has suffered the suffering of the world, once He has looked and seen how the world is. Instead He comes to thoroughly complete all the work that His incarnation must do. Some people think that God may just be too used to enjoying a life of ease and comfort, that He just wants to suffer a little, that He lives in bliss and doesn’t know the taste of suffering, so He just wants to know the taste of suffering…. This is all in people’s imaginations. Experiencing now the suffering of the world is something that can only be done during the time of the incarnation. If the work of God incarnate was done and done thoroughly, the next work would have begun and the matter of experiencing the suffering of the world would be no more. So for what reason exactly is experiencing the suffering of the world done? Does anyone know? It has been prophesied that man shall have no tears, no weeping, and no suffering and that there will be no illness in the world. God incarnate is now experiencing this suffering and when He has finished He will bring mankind to the beautiful destination, and all the suffering of before will be no more. Why will it be no more? It is because the incarnate God Himself will have already experienced all this suffering and He will have removed this suffering from mankind. It is for this purpose that it is done. God incarnate experiences the suffering of the world in order to better prepare mankind’s future destination, to make it more beautiful, more perfect. This is the most important aspect of the incarnation, and is one aspect of the work of the incarnation. There is yet another issue here. In becoming flesh and experiencing this suffering, God will afterward remove this suffering from mankind. But if there were no incarnation and no experiencing, could this suffering not still be removed? Could it be removed? Yes, it could still be removed. In being crucified, Jesus became the likeness of a sinner. He was a righteous man who became the likeness of sinful flesh and made Himself a sin offering, thus redeeming the whole of mankind and delivering them from out of Satan’s grasp. This was the purpose and significance of Jesus being crucified: the redemption of mankind, redeeming mankind through His precious blood, that mankind from then on would have no more sin. Now God experiences this suffering, which means that He experiences it all in mankind’s place. God’s suffering this pain means that mankind afterward need never suffer it again. You cannot forget these words: Every stage of work that God does is done at war with Satan and every stage of work is related in some way to this war with Satan. In the previous stage of work, it wouldn’t have been acceptable for one word to have been spoken that would have removed all mankind’s sins and redeemed them, for it is without any facts and without producing any proof. With one word spoken by God mankind would have been without sin—this was achievable. But Satan would not have been convinced. It would have said: “You have suffered nothing nor have You paid any price. With one word mankind’s sins are no more. This is unacceptable, as mankind was created by You.” Now, all the saved people are to be brought to the beautiful destination and brought into the next age. Mankind is no longer to suffer, no longer to be afflicted by illness. But on what basis is there to be no more affliction of illness? On what basis is there to be no more suffering in the world? Being human, people should undergo this suffering. So, God incarnate this time also does something most significant, and that is to take the place of mankind and suffer all its pain—this experience is to suffer in mankind’s place. Some people say: “Now that God suffers in place of mankind, why then do we still suffer?” Are you not now experiencing the work of God? You have not yet been entirely perfected, you have not yet entered completely into the following age and your disposition is still corrupt. God’s work has not yet reached its apotheosis and is still in the process of being done. So people mustn’t complain about their suffering; God incarnate still suffers, let alone man. Does this matter not have great significance? God incarnate has not come to do a few bits of work and then leave. But rather people’s understanding is too shallow, believing that God incarnate has come to do the work of God Himself, that this flesh has just come to express the word of God and work on God’s behalf. There are some who even think that this flesh is just an outer form, but this is completely mistaken, and is simple blasphemy against the incarnate God. The work of the flesh is the work of God Himself, and He becoming flesh to experience this suffering is God becoming human to experience this suffering. If it were as people say, it would be the outer form of God’s flesh that has come to experience, and God would be inside not suffering anything; would they be correct? Does God suffer? He suffers as the flesh suffers. For what reason did God at one time have the desire to forgo this suffering, and forgo this distress? You have seen that when Jesus was to be crucified, He prayed: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” He desired this because, just as His flesh suffered, He Himself also suffered inside the flesh. If you say that it is only the outer shell of the flesh that suffers, that God in His divinity suffers not at all, suffering no torment, then this is wrong. If you understand it in this way then this proves that you have not seen the aspect of God’s essence. Why is it said that God is now materialized inside a flesh? He could come and go whenever He wants, but He does not do that. He has become human to undergo this suffering, in actuality, in reality, so that people can see and feel it as it happens. Also He can feel the suffering He undergoes, experience it for Himself. Not once does His flesh feel any aspect of suffering or torment that His Spirit does not feel—His flesh and Spirit are as one in feeling and enduring suffering. Is this easy to understand? It isn’t easy. Because all man can see is a flesh after all, and they cannot see that the Spirit suffers even as the flesh suffers. Do you believe that when someone suffers, their soul also suffers? Why do we say that we feel such-and-such deep in our heart? It is because man and spirit are one. The spirit and flesh of every person are one and the same; they suffer alike and feel joy alike. There is not one person who, when suffering real pain, feels it only in their heart but not in their flesh; nor is there anyone who would say that their external flesh suffers not at all when their heart is at its peak of suffering. The things in the heart that arouse feelings or pain, or that can be experienced—these things the flesh can also feel. This ordinary and normal flesh is Christ come to do His work—to experience the suffering of the world—in order to undertake all man’s pain. Once all this suffering has been endured, the same work need not be done in the next stage of work. Instead, mankind can be brought to the beautiful destination. Because He has suffered this pain in place of man, He is therefore qualified to bring man to the beautiful destination—this is His plan. Some absurd people say: “If He has experienced all this suffering, why haven’t I seen it? It hasn’t all been completely endured. All kinds of suffering should be endured, and at the very least He should suffer crucifixion.” It has been endured before and need not be suffered again. Besides, people mustn’t say things like that. God incarnate has suffered much during these years. Absurd people are prone to this way of thinking. Within the scope of suffering that can be endured by God incarnate, basically all the suffering in the world can befall Him. As for suffering that is too great, for the suffering that just one man in a thousand can endure, God need not suffer it as this suffering has already been represented. God can experience the suffering such as illness and the torment of hardships, and this proves that He is no different from normal people, that there is no distinguishing Him from people, that there is no separation between Him and people, and that He suffers just as people do. When people suffer, does He not also suffer with them? When people are ill, so is He, and this suffering He has tasted. God has not separated His own flesh from the flesh of man, but instead He suffers just as people do. The suffering of the incarnate God this time is not like the time before when He had to taste death on the cross. It is not necessary as death has already been tasted. It is only to experience suffering and undertake the suffering of man.

How do the three stages of God’s work gradually deepen for people to be saved and perfected?

How do the three stages of God’s work gradually deepen for people to be saved and perfected? | The Church of Almighty God

　Relevant Words of God:

　The entire management of God is divided into three stages, and in each stage, fitting requirements are made of man. Furthermore, as the ages pass and progress, God’s requirements of all mankind become ever higher. Thus, step-by-step, this work of God’s management reaches its climax, until man beholds the fact of the “appearance of the Word in the flesh,” and in this way the requirements of man become even higher, and requirements of man to bear testimony become even higher. … In the past, man was required to comply with the law and the commandments, and was required to be patient and humble. Today, man is required to obey all of God’s arrangements and possess a supreme love of God, and is ultimately required to still love God amid the tribulation. These three stages are requirements that God makes of man, step-by-step, throughout His entire management. Each stage of God’s work goes deeper than the last, and in each stage the requirements of man are more profound than the last, and in this way, God’s entire management gradually takes shape. It is precisely because the requirements of man are ever higher that man’s disposition comes ever closer to the standards required by God, and it is only then that the whole of mankind gradually departs from the influence of Satan until, when God’s work comes to a complete end, the whole of mankind will have been saved from the influence of Satan.

from “God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Testimony of a Christian | From Almighty God’s Word, I Have Found My Life Direction

From Almighty God’s Word, I Have Found My Life Direction | The Church of Almighty God 

Novo, Philippines

My name is Novo, I am a Filipino. Since I was little, I believed in God with my mother. I went to church with my brothers and sisters to listen to sermons. Even though I had believed in the Lord for many years, I felt that I was like an unbeliever. Within my heart, I would think about how to earn more money and live a better life all day long. Furthermore, I would frequently go out and drink with friends. Once I had extra money, I would go out and gamble. Even though I knew that what I was doing was bad and I would frequently pray to God saying that I would change these bad habits of mine, I basically never put it into practice. In this way, I became increasingly degenerated. I did not pray sincerely to God. Each week, I would only pray a few simple prayers in a perfunctory way. Sometimes, I felt very desperate because I knew that when the Lord returned, He would judge everybody’s actions. He would then decide whether each person would go to heaven or go to hell. I felt that I was a degenerate and that God would not forgive me. Afterward, I married and had kids. All I thought about was my wife and my children. When it came to my faith, I pushed it to the back of my mind. In order to provide a better future for my children and to achieve my desires to become rich, I decided to leave the country to find work. As a result, I came to Taiwan. Even after I found work, I still had not changed my past lifestyle. During my leisure time, I would still go out to drink and sing with my colleagues. I was living the life of an unbeliever.

　In 2011, I worked as a welder in a factory in Taiwan. One day in 2012, a colleague in Taiwan asked me if I was a Catholic. I replied that I was. Afterward, she invited me for Mass at her church. Then, one Sunday morning, at dawn, she came to the factory to pick us up and brought us to her friend’s house. There, I met Brother Joseph. He asked me, “Brother, do you expect the second coming of the Lord Jesus?” I said that I did. Joseph asked me again, “Do you know what work the Lord Jesus will do when He returns?” I replied, “He will sit upon a white throne and judge mankind and divide people into different groups. Afterward, God will decide, based on each man’s conducts and deeds, whether he will go to heaven or hell.” Brother Joseph continued to ask me, “If we told you that the Lord Jesus has already come and is doing the work of judgment, would you believe?” I was quite surprised when I heard him say this. I thought: Has the Lord Jesus already returned? How is this possible? Wouldn’t He judge us if He has already returned? I haven’t seen the judgment before the great white throne! However, I did not directly ask him these questions because I felt that God’s judgment is a mystery and God’s wisdom is unfathomable to man. My viewpoints may not be right. I felt it would be better for me to listen to their viewpoints first. As a result, I replied, “This is something that I do not yet dare confirm. Please continue to speak.” Afterward, Brother Joseph and others showed me many passages from the Bible that talked about the judgment work that He would do once He returned. Two verses from this selection are as follows: “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” (Jhn 12:48). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). After I saw these predictions, I focused my attention on what these brothers and sisters had to say. I believed that what they had shared with me was the truth because I knew that the Bible had recorded the work of God.

　

The Testimony of a Christian | The Tranquility of Victory and the Calm of Defeat —Obeying God Is Best

The Church of Almighty God | The Testimony of a Christian | The Tranquility of Victory and the Calm of Defeat —Obeying God Is Best

Ma Na, USA

　During a person’s life, facing success and failure is unavoidable. There are many people who are happy when they have success, and who are frustrated and pained when they face failure. There are even many people who stake all their efforts in wanting to reach a point at which all their hopes are fulfilled, but things are often not how people would like them to be. Because of this, many people think that this life is not as they want it to be. Previously, I also always relied on my own ability in the work I did, and all that I got from that was the pain of failure. But afterward, through experiencing some things, my perspective had a bit of a transformation: Tranquility in success, and calmness in failure—obeying the sovereignty and arrangements of God is the best, and one can also be liberated and free in life that way.

　

Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously!

The Church of Almighty God | Competing in This Way, I Benefit Tremendously!

Ma Xin

　Note: Since the writer’s husband was not engaged in honest work, she believed in God in order to gain blessings. Not long after she started believing in God, first, her daughter became sick and then afterward, her husband was faced with dismissal by his boss and started suffering a condition in his legs. Through God’s words, the author recognized that her perspective of believing in God in order to gain blessings was not in accordance with God’s intentions. In this way, Satan had captured the author by attacking this weak and fatal point. Satan harmed, deceived and coerced the author into doubting, denying and betraying God. Once the author understood God’s intentions and saw through Satan’s schemes, she let go of her own perspective of gaining blessings twice in the midst of Satan’s temptations. She was willing to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements and saw God’s miraculous achievements and salvation.

Knowing the Purpose and Significance of Each of the Three Stages of God’s Work.

The Church of Almighty God｜Knowing the Purpose and Significance of Each of the Three Stages of God’s Work.

　(1) The aim and significance of God’s work in the Age of Law

　Relevant Words of God:

　The work that Jehovah did in the Israelites established among humanity God’s earthly place of origin, His sacred place where He was present. He confined His work to the Israelite people. At first, He did not work outside of Israel; instead, He chose a people He found suitable in order to restrict the scope of His work. Israel is the place where God created Adam and Eve, and out of the dust of that place Jehovah made man; it is the base of His work on earth. The Israelites, who are the descendants of Noah and of Adam, were the foundation of Jehovah’s work on earth.

The Principles of Eating and Drinking God’s Word in Congregation

The Church of Almighty God | The Principles of Eating and Drinking God’s Word in Congregation

1. One must eat and drink God’s word strictly according to the principles as stipulated by the work arrangements from the above in order to keep apace with the Holy Spirit’s work.

2. One must eat and drink God’s word in combination with the existing problems of the church and the actual situations of the majority of God’s chosen people, with emphasis on solving the problems with the truth.

3. Conduct eating and drinking of God’s word with piety. Be quiet before God, pray and ponder on God’s word earnestly so as to receive the Holy Spirit’s work and understand the truth.

4. The purpose of congregating to eat and drink God’s word is to understand the truth, resolve problems and enter into the reality of the truth. It must not devolve into religious rituals and ceremonial procedures.