The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven(2)

2. Why is the world so dark and wicked? With mankind being at the height of corruption, should it be destroyed?

The Answer from God’s Word:

Man lost his God-fearing heart after being corrupted by Satan and lost the function that one of God’s creatures should have, becoming an enemy disobedient to God. Man lived under Satan’s domain and followed Satan’s orders; thus, God had no way to work among His creatures, and was all the more unable to win fear from His creatures. Man was created by God, and ought to worship God, but man actually turned his back to God and worshiped Satan. Satan became the idol in man’s heart. Thus God lost His standing in man’s heart, which is to say that He lost the meaning of His creation of man….

from “God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Light Is Warm When Passing Through the Tunnel

Wang Yuping, China

Just like all the other brothers and sisters who thirst for the return of the Lord Jesus, I too continuously long for our Lord eagerly to return to receive us into the kingdom of heaven soon so that we can enjoy its blessings. One day in November of 2006 I finally heard the news of the Lord’s return. Through reading the words expressed by Almighty God and through the fellowshiping about and bearing witness to God’s work in the last days from my brothers and sisters, I finally recognized that Almighty God incarnate is the returned Lord Jesus. Thereupon, I willingly accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days.

In a meeting, Sister Yang told me in a very serious tone: “Right now there are many brothers and sisters who, after accepting God’s work in the last days, come across some of Satan’s disturbances and temptations. Some are deceived by the lies of the CCP, some meet with the disturbances and threats of pastors and elders, some are coerced or obstructed by their families, and family members of some suffer ailments or calamities. These are tricks by Satan trying to obstruct us from returning to God. We all already understand that the work of Almighty God’s judgment starts from God’s house, and this is God’s final stage of work in saving mankind. He is doing everything He can to save man, and Satan is constantly practicing its tricks and disturbances on us in order to obstruct us from coming before God and receiving His salvation. Right now the fight that is being waged in the spiritual world is becoming more and more intense, so we urgently need to be equipped with the truth and master discernment in order to not be deceived whenever Satan’s tricks befall us and to stand witness to God. Now, let’s read a passage from the word of Almighty God.” So, I took the book of God’s word and carefully read the following passage: “As God works, Satan harasses. In the last days, it will finish its harassment; likewise, God’s work will be finished, and the kind of person God wishes to complete will be completed. God directs people positively; His life is living water, immeasurable and without limits. Satan has corrupted man to a certain degree; in the end, the living water of life will complete man, and it will be impossible for Satan to interfere and carry out its work. Thus, God will completely obtain these people. Satan still refuses to accept this now; it continuously pits itself against God, but God pays it no attention. He has said, I will be victorious over all of Satan’s dark forces and over all dark influences. … God is wiser than it, and His work far exceeds it. Therefore, I previously stated the following: The work that I do is carried out in response to Satan’s ruses. In the end I will reveal My almightiness and Satan’s powerlessness. When God does His work, Satan tails Him from behind, until in the end it is finally destroyed—it will not even know what hit it! It will only realize the truth once it has already been smashed and crushed; at that time it will already have been burned in the lake of fire. Will it not be completely convinced then? For it has no more schemes to employ!” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Yang gently said to me: “Through the word of God we can see that in God’s management work Satan is following closely behind each step of God’s work. God is in front carrying out the work of saving man, and Satan is in the back, disturbing and destroying it. It is constantly vying for man with God, and this is especially true during God’s final stage of work in completely saving man. At this time Satan is even more so doing everything in its power, exploiting all kinds of people and things to disturb us and obstruct us from accepting and obeying the work of God. It is Satan’s despicable goal to distance man from God and make man deny God and betray God, thereby losing God’s salvation. But God’s wisdom is carried out in response to Satan’s trickery. He uses Satan’s disturbance to bring us to an understanding of His work and His wisdom and almightiness, and also to allow us to see clearly Satan’s wickedness and ugliness. So, no matter what happens in the future, we all must pray to God and rely on God and seek the truth, and we must see through Satan’s trickery so that we can stand witness to God. It’s just like the trials that Job went through. He stood witness to God, causing Satan to retreat in humiliation….” After hearing Sister Yang tell me this, I responded with complete faith: “Yes, we believe in the true God. If we depend upon God then we have nothing to fear; if I come across Satan’s temptation, I will certainly stand on the side of God.”

Testimony of a Christian: How She Overcame the Temptation to Have an Affair (Part 1)

By Xiyue, Henan Province

      One evening, Jingru was tidying her place.

“Ring, ring.” The phone began to ring. She answered it and a strange yet familiar voice sounded in her ear: “Hello! It’s Wang Wei. You’re home!”

      “Wang Wei?” Jingru was somewhat astonished: Why was he calling her now after so many years?

      “Yes … I’m home. What’s up?” asked Jingru in surprise.

      “Long time no see. I’d like to take you for a ride. I’m on my way to your place and will arrive soon. Wait outside your door for me!” said Wang Wei.

      After she’d hung up, Jingru’s heart began to race, and her thoughts immediately returned to those days at school …

     Jingru had not only grown to be pretty, but she also got good grades, and many boys in the school, including Wang Wei, pursued her. In order to get himself into Jingru’s world, Wang Wei employed all kinds of ways to get closer to her, like passing messages, writing letters and giving her presents to express his feelings for her. But Jingru was an obedient, sensible girl, and she didn’t want her studies to be affected or to disappoint her parent’s expectations of her because of some emotional distraction, and so she always adopted an indifferent attitude in the face of Wang Wei’s persistent pursuit. But Wang Wei didn’t give up just because Jingru gave him the cold shoulder, and several years later Wang Wei was still pursuing her just as he’d always done. His persistence began ever so slightly to move Jingru’s heart, but she was only slightly moved. Later, a few female classmates began to appear around Wang Wei, and they would follow him around all day long. Jingru’s tranquil heart began to surge, and she thought she could use this circumstance to test Wang Wei for a semester; if he remained unmoved by these girls and kept pursuing her, then she would relent to his pursuit …

Why God Worked in the Flesh in the Age of Grace

　　If God does not become flesh, He remains the Spirit both invisible and intangible to man. Man is a creature of flesh, and man and God belong to two different worlds and are different in nature. The Spirit of God is incompatible with man of flesh, and no relations can be established between them; moreover, man cannot become a spirit. As such, the Spirit of God must become one of the creatures and do His original work. God can both ascend to the highest place and humble Himself by becoming a man of creation, doing work and living among man, but man cannot ascend to the highest place and become a spirit and much less can he descend to the lowest place. Therefore, God must become flesh to carry out His work. … Only the flesh of God incarnate could redeem man through His crucifixion, whereas it was not possible for the Spirit of God to be crucified as a sin offering for man. God could directly become flesh to serve as a sin offering for man, but man could not directly ascend to heaven to take the sin offering that God had prepared for them. As such, God must journey to and fro between heaven and earth, rather than letting man ascend to heaven to take this salvation, for man had fallen and could not ascend to heaven, much less obtain the sin offering. Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to come among men and personally do the work that simply could not be accomplished by man.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

　　The first stage of God’s work was the leadership of man. It was the start of the battle with Satan, but this battle had yet to officially begin. The official war with Satan began with the first incarnation of God, and it has continued right up until today. The first instance of this war was when God incarnate was nailed to the cross. The crucifixion of God incarnate defeated Satan, and it was the first successful stage in the war. When God incarnate begins to directly work the life of man, this is the official start of the work of regaining man, and because this is the work of changing man’s old disposition, it is the work of doing battle with Satan. The stage of work done by Jehovah in the beginning was merely the leadership of man’s life on earth. It was the beginning of God’s work, and although it had yet to involve any battle, or any major work, it laid the foundation for the work of the battle to come. Later, the second stage of work during the Age of Grace involved changing man’s old disposition, which means that God Himself wrought the life of man. This had to be personally done by God: It required that God personally become flesh, and if He had not become flesh, no one else could have replaced Him in this stage of work, for it represented the work of fighting directly against Satan. If man had done this work on God’s behalf, when man stood before Satan, Satan would not have submitted and it would have been impossible to defeat it. It had to be God incarnate who came to defeat it, for the substance of God incarnate is still God, He is still the life of man, and He is still the Creator; whatever happens, His identity and substance will not change. And so, He put on the flesh and did the work to cause the complete submission of Satan.

from “Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The God Almighty Is My Lord, My God | Christian Song "Our God Reigns as King"

How beautiful! His feet are on the Mount of Olives.

Listen, we watchmen are singing loud together, for God has returned to Zion.

We’ve seen the desolation of Jerusalem!

Now we sing of joy for God’s comforts, and His salvation of Jerusalem.

Before all nations, God shows His holy arm, He appears as He truly is. 

People on the earth, all see God’s salvation.  

Your great love has held us fast, 

Your sacred word pierces us through and through.

Almighty God! Thanks be to You, praise unto You!

Father everlasting, Prince of Peace, our God reigns as King over all!

God's Utterance "God's Work, God's Disposition, and God Himself I" (Part Three)

Harvest after watching:

Noah had a God-revering heart which could be seen on the matter of building an ark. He followed what God commanded and never asked for reasons nor the deadline before fulfilling God’s commission. From God’s word, we know that God treasures people like this. He hopes us can live with God’s words, obey God, love God, and become a genuine person in God’s eye finally. I’d like to share a God’s word recital video with you.

God's words in this video are from the book "Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh".

The content of this video:

B. Noah

1. God Intends to Destroy the World With a Flood, Instructs Noah to Build an Ark     

2. God’s Blessing to Noah After the Flood

Almighty God says, "In Noah’s heart and his consciousness, God’s existence was absolute and without doubt, and thus his obedience toward God was unadulterated and could stand the test. His heart was pure and open toward God. He didn’t need too much knowledge of doctrines to convince himself to follow every word of God, nor did he need a lot of facts to prove God’s existence, so that he could accept what God entrusted and be capable of doing whatever God let him do. This is the essential difference between Noah and the people of today, and is also precisely the true definition of what a perfect man is in God’s eyes. What God wants is people like Noah. He is the type of person God praises, and also precisely the kind of person God blesses. Have you received any enlightenment from this? People look at people from the outside, while what God looks at is people’s hearts and their essence."

The Sighing of the Almighty

My impression:

After I have a busy day, I miss God's love through listening a song silently. God is always by our side, caring and protecting us. It's just because we don't draw our heart near to God that we feel God is far away.Here I share with you a song. Let's together praise God. Amen. 

Ah … ah …

I

The Almighty looks around

at the mankind deeply afflicted.

He hears the wailing

of those who suffer,

sees the shamelessness

of those afflicted,

and feels the dread and helplessness

of the mankind who's lost salvation.

They reject His care,

walk their own path,

and avoid the searching of His eyes.

They'd rather taste

all the pains of the deep sea,

along with the enemy.

They'd rather taste

all the pains of the deep sea,

along with the enemy.

The sighing of the Almighty

can no more be heard by any one.

The hands of the Almighty

no longer want to touch,

His hands no longer want to touch

this miserable mankind.

Ah … ah …

Brilliant Variety Shows of The Church of Almighty God—True Presentations of Christians' Experiences

AlmightyGod says, "The kingdom is expanding in humanity’s midst, it is forming in humanity’s midst, it is standing up in humanity’s midst; there is no force that can destroy My kingdom. Of My people who are in the kingdom of today, which of you is not a human being among human beings? Which of you lies outside the human condition? When My new starting point is announced to the multitude, how will humanity react? You have seen with your own eyes the state of mankind; surely you do not still harbor hopes of enduring forever in this world? I am now walking abroad in the midst of My people, I live in the midst of My people. Today, those who bear genuine love toward Me, people like these are blessed; blessed are those who submit to Me, they will surely stay in My kingdom; blessed are those who know Me, they will surely wield power in My kingdom; blessed are those who seek after Me, they will surely escape from Satan’s bonds and enjoy blessing in Me; blessed are those who are able to forsake themselves, they will surely enter into My possession, and inherit My kingdom’s bounty. Those who run around for My sake I will commemorate, those who go to expense for My sake I will joyfully embrace, those who make offering to Me I will give enjoyments. Those who find enjoyment in My words I will bless; they will surely be the pillars that hold up the ridgepole in My kingdom, they will surely have matchless bounty in My house, and no one can compare with them." 

In March 2018, The Church of Almighty God’s website and YouTube channel rolled out a special series called “Church Life—Variety Show Series,” that includes short sketches, crosstalk, scene plays, songs and dance performances etc., and in which Christians present their understanding, attainment, and all kinds of testimonies of their experiences of God’s work in the last days using various different art forms. In this program, we interview the actors as well as Christian viewers of the shows and, through sharing their experiences, the audience can understand how Christians in The Church of Almighty God experience God’s work of the last days, and can also follow closely the salvation of the last days brought by the return of the Lord Jesus—Almighty God.

Praise and Worship Song | "God's Deeds Fill the Vast Expanse of the Universe"

Impression after watching:   🎵🎧🐑🐐🐑

I saw the substance of God is love and God’s grace is with us all the time. God's word has authority and power, can purify the corrupt disposition of man. Praise and thanks be to God!

1. God looks down upon all things from on high, and dominates all things from on high. At the same time, God has sent His salvation over the earth. God is watching from His secret place all the time, man’s every move, everything they say and do. God knows man like the palm of His hand. The secret place is God’s abode, the firmament is the bed He lies on. Satan’s force cannot reach unto God, for He is full of majesty, righteousness, and judgment.

Christian English Movie "Salvation" | What Is Being Saved? What Is True Salvation?

Harvest after watching:    💖👂🌈🐑🐐🐑

　　The word of God says, “The first incarnation was to redeem man from sin through the flesh of Jesus, that is, He saved man from the cross, but the corrupt satanic disposition still remained within man. The second incarnation is no longer to serve as a sin offering but to fully save those who were redeemed from sin. This is done so that those forgiven can be delivered from their sins and be fully made clean, and attain a change in disposition, thereby breaking free of Satan’s influence of darkness and returning before the throne of God. Only in this way can man be fully sanctified. … The second incarnation is sufficient to get rid of the sins of man and fully purify man. Hence, the second incarnation will bring to a close all the work of God in the flesh and complete the significance of God’s incarnation” (from “The Word Appears in the Flesh”).

　　Because of the love of God, He came to save us for the first time He incarnated. Although we are not of sin, our corrupted disposition is still inside and we are living in the state of sinning during the day and confessing our sin at night. It is important to us that God becomes flesh again and expresses truth to do the work of judgement! He lets us experience God’s work, being cleansed and saved from Satan’s bind to enter the kingdom of God. Thank God! Amen!

　　What is salvation? Those who believe in the Lord Jesus think that if they sincerely pray to the Lord, confess their sins, and repent, their sins will be forgiven, and they will be granted salvation, and when the Lord comes, they will be directly raised into the kingdom of heaven. But is salvation really that simple?

I Have Found True Happiness (Audio Article)

　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.

　I met my husband through a mutual acquaintance. I disliked him because he was quite short, but my father and mother looked favorably upon him. They said that he had a good heart and he would treat me well. I saw that my husband treated people very sincerely and he seemed like someone who would treat his family well. I thought, “It’s fine that he is a little short. As long as he treats me well, it is fine.” As a result, I agreed to the wedding and in 1989, we got married. After we got married, my husband treated me very tenderly and he took care of me very well. I also cared for him intently and thought about him in all matters. After our two daughters were born, in order to allow my husband to be at ease at work, I stayed at home and took care of the family. Afterward, the two children went outside the village for schooling. I rented a place in order to accompany them while they studied. As long as I could handle a certain matter, I would not trouble my husband about it. Even though sometimes, it was difficult and I was a bit tired, our relationship as husband and wife was filled with mutual love, care and consideration and we lived a peaceful life. I felt that my life was very blessed.

How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work (Part Four)

Understand God’s Attitude and Drop All Misconceptions of God

This God that you currently believe in, have you ever thought about what kind of God He is? When He sees an evil person doing evil things, does He despise it? (He despises it.) When He sees the mistakes of ignorant people, what is His attitude? (Sadness.) When He sees people stealing His offerings, what is His attitude? (He despises them.) This is all very clear, right? When He sees someone being careless in their belief in God, and in no way seeking after the truth, what is God’s attitude? You’re not totally clear on this one, right? Carelessness is an attitude that isn’t a sin, and it isn’t offending God. People believe that it shouldn’t be considered a blunder. Then what do you think God’s attitude is? (He’s unwilling to respond to it.) Unwilling to respond to it—what attitude is this? It’s that God looks down on these people, scorns these people! God deals with these people by giving them the cold shoulder. His approach is to set them aside, not engaging in any work on them, including enlightenment, illumination, chastening, or discipline. This type of person just does not count in God’s work. What is God’s attitude toward people who aggravate His disposition, and offend His administrative decrees? Extreme loathing! God is extremely enraged by people who are unrepentant about aggravating His disposition! “Enraged” is just a feeling, a mood; it can’t represent a clear attitude. But this feeling, this mood, will bring about an outcome for this person: It will fill God with extreme loathing! What is the consequence of this extreme loathing? It’s that God will set this person aside, and not respond to them for the time being. He will wait for them to be sorted out during the retribution. What does this imply? Does this person still have an outcome? God never intended to give this type of person an outcome! So is it not then normal that God currently doesn’t respond to this type of person? (Yes.) How should this type of person prepare now? They should prepare to take on the negative consequences caused by their behavior, and the evil they’ve done. This is God’s response to this kind of person. So I now clearly say to this type of person: Do not hold on to delusions anymore, and don’t engage in wishful thinking anymore. God will not be tolerant of people indefinitely; He will not endure their trespasses or disobedience indefinitely. Some people will say: “I’ve also seen a few people like this. When they pray they are especially touched by God, and they weep bitterly. Usually they’re also very happy; they seem to have God’s presence, and God’s guidance.” Don’t say that nonsense! Weeping bitterly is not necessarily being touched by God or having God’s presence, let alone God’s guidance. If people anger God, will God still guide them? Generally speaking, when God has determined to eliminate someone, to abandon them, that person already doesn’t have an outcome. It doesn’t matter how complacent they feel about themselves when they pray, and how much confidence they have in God in their heart; this is already unimportant. The important thing is that God doesn’t need this kind of confidence, that God has already spurned this person. How to deal with them afterward is also unimportant. What is important is that in the moment this person angers God, their outcome is already established. If God has determined to not save this type of person, then they will be left behind to be punished. This is God’s attitude.

God's untterance | How to Know God’s Disposition and the Result of His Work (Part Three)

How God Establishes Man’s Outcome and the Standard by Which He Establishes Man’s Outcome

Before you have any of your own views or conclusions, you should first understand God’s attitude toward you, what God is thinking, and then decide whether or not your own thinking is correct. God has never used units of time to establish a person’s outcome, and He has never used the amount of suffering endured by someone to establish their outcome. Then what does God use as a standard for establishing man’s outcome? Using time units to establish a person’s outcome—this is what most conforms to people’s conceptions. And there are also those individuals who you often see, those who at one point devoted a lot, spent a lot, paid a lot, suffered a lot. These are ones who, in your views, can be saved by God. All that these people show, all that they live out, is precisely mankind’s conception of the standard by which God establishes the outcome of man. Regardless of what you believe, I won’t list out these examples one by one. In short, so long as it isn’t the standard of God’s own thinking, then it comes from man’s imagination, and it’s all man’s conception. What’s the consequence of blindly insisting on your own conception and imagination? Obviously, the consequence can only be God spurning you. This is because you always flaunt your qualifications before God, compete with God, and dispute with God, and you do not try to truly comprehend God’s thinking, nor do you try to comprehend God’s intentions and God’s attitude toward humanity. Proceeding like this is honoring yourself above all, not honoring God. You believe in yourself; you don’t believe in God. God doesn’t want this type of person, and God won’t save this type of person. If you can let go of this kind of viewpoint, and then rectify these incorrect viewpoints of the past; if you could proceed according to God’s demands; start practicing the way of fearing God and shunning evil from this point forward; manage to honor God as great in all things; don’t use your own personal fancies, viewpoints, or beliefs to define yourself, define God. And instead, you seek out God’s intentions in all respects, you achieve a realization and understanding of God’s attitude toward humanity, and you use God’s standard to satisfy God—that would be wonderful! This would mean you are about to embark on the way of fearing God and shunning evil.

Since God doesn’t use how people think this way or that way, their ideas and viewpoints, as a standard to establish the outcome of man, then what kind of standard does He use? God uses trials to establish the outcome of man. There are two standards for using trials to establish man’s outcome: The first is the number of trials that people undergo, and the second is the people’s result in these trials. It is these two indicators that establish man’s outcome. Now we will elaborate on these two standards.

The Testimony of a Christian | God’s Love Is Most Real

Wenzhong, Beijing

🌈🐑🐐🐑 August 11, 2012 🌈🐑🐐🐑

　On the night of July 21, 2012, we had a huge flood here, which seldom happens. I would like to tell everyone who thirsts for God what I actually experienced and saw then.

　On the day my husband and I took care of the fodder yard for my sister. In the night heavy rain kept on pouring down, and we went to sleep very early. At 3:45 a.m. my brother-in-law called saying: “They’re going to open the reservoir! Everything is going to be flooded! We have to get up fast!” On hearing this I was shocked, and all I knew to cry out to God in my heart was the words, “Oh God! Oh God!” I only knew I had to protect the electric scooter, and the MP5 player and TF card used for listening to hymns and sermons. In great anxiety I went to the store room to push the electric scooter out, and I drove off wanting to go home to check on my books of the words of God and also as I was worried about my mother-in-law and my children. I drove up to the highway, but because I couldn’t see in the heavy rain I hit a piece of asphalt that had been washed down in the torrent, and the scooter and I rolled into the waters. In my heart I was praying, “Oh God, it is Your righteousness, if I am washed away today. Spare me, and I will do my duty in earnest from now on!” At this point one of my shoes had been washed away, so I decided to take highway. But when I went ahead and looked, I was stunned; it turned out that the side of the road was fenced off, and I couldn’t get through. I stumbled into the waters again and my other shoe was washed away. The waters had risen now up to my thighs, and I had no choice but to go back for the third time, all the time praying in my heart. At this moment a family of three emerged from one of the other pig farms, and I gave thanks to God from my heart. I joined them and was preparing to take the highway again, when my husband turned up. He used a drill shank to open up a hole in the wire mesh and I was first to leap through barefoot and got up onto the highway. To the south was a bend in the river flowing north, and to the north the main road was streaming with water running south, so we were caught in the middle with our only choice being to take the highway.

The Testimony of a Christian | In the Middle of a Disaster I Saw God’s Protection

Zhang Min, Beijing

August 6, 2012

　On July 21, 2012, it started to rain heavily in the morning. By the afternoon when I was supposed to go to a meeting, I saw the rain was so heavy that I didn’t want to go. But it was just once a week, if I didn’t go I’d have no way to do my church work. Whatever there was going on outside, I still had to fellowship with them. When I thought of that, I hurried myself to the meeting. After four o’clock that afternoon, the brother of the meeting place ran back home, saying: “You’re still holding meeting, get yourselves home, there’s a whole lot of water coming down out there.” I went out and looked and there was a lot of water coming down, the river was swollen and running very high. I’d never seen so much water, I had no way to get home. (My place was half a li outside this village.) I was very anxious. There was nothing I could do, I had to go back to the meeting place, because the place was high up, and safer. After a while I heard a clamor of voices outside. I went out to look, and it was the adults and children of my village coming their way with ropes and poles. I rushed to ask how my house was doing, and someone told me it hadn’t been washed away, but the waters were high outside of the wall of the yard. I thought to myself: All things are in God’s hands. Even if the house is washed away, there is the good purpose of God in it.

　At dawn the next day, I went back home with the other villagers. Walking into the village we all stared, dumbfounded. The rainwaters had left a swath of chaos across the whole village, we simply couldn’t believe our eyes. But the thing that surprised me most was this. There were only eighteen houses in our village, only four houses were in the lowest part, and mine was the most dangerous one. If the waters in the gullies flowed down they would all collect behind my house, and could wash the house away at any time. I’d never have imagined that the flood waters would go right by the house, and I was even more stunned when I walked into the yard. The sand and mud coming down from the yard of the house above went from a ditch outside the yard wall to the house in front of mine, so my house was safe and sound. Although there was a little dam-wall piled up behind my house, the rocks there were very small, but they hadn’t been washed away by the flood. In contrast, the houses that people would usually have thought were solid and safe had their courtyard walls washed away, or got smothered with sand, and some were full of water. Out of eighteen households only five didn’t meet with disaster, the others were all misshapen from the damage. When I saw this scene, my heart raced. I didn’t know how to express my emotions. But after my excitement, I started to loathe the way I always wounded God’s heart before, rebelling against and resisting God so much. I was really unworthy of this kindness, this protection, that God gave me.

The Testimony of a Christian | God Protected Our Family Through a Disaster

Wang Lan, Beijing

August 6, 2012

　　On July 21, 2012, the biggest flood in sixty years ripped through our village. The disaster fell from heaven, the floodwater mixed mud and stones and ravaged the whole village. Most of the houses were destroyed by the water and the mudslides.

　　After five o’clock that afternoon, the rain was coming down very heavily. There were floodwaters and big stones coming down from above our house, and the floodwaters were huge in front and behind our house. They washed away my daughter’s chicken run with thousands of chickens, they washed away the pig pens, and the pigs too. The water was about to rush over our home. We had a 94 year old and a ten-month-old baby. We were frantic. As I was carrying the 94 year old and the baby up into the higher building, water was starting to come into the lower one. The rain kept coming down. The water rose up toward the higher building as we watched. I was beside myself. I quickly called the village cadre, he said I should run up the mountain, and that they were also having a hard enough time getting themselves out, it was every man for himself. In my panic, I thought of God’s words, “The disaster is brought down by Me and of course orchestrated by Me” (“You Ought to Do Enough Good Deeds to Prepare for Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Believing in God means relying on God, you can’t rely on people, so I stood in the doorway crying and called out a loud plea to God: “Oh God, save us! Oh God, save us!” The whole family got down on our knees and prayed: “Oh God, if we die in this disaster it is by Your righteousness, because we are too rebellious. If we escape this disaster it is by Your grace. We will begin again, and will be considerate of Your will, do our duties and spread the gospel.” It got dark and we didn’t dare go out. The whole family sat together sharing with each other God’s grasp of the fate of all humanity, how if God has a person die, there’s nowhere a person can go to hide, they will not pass out of God’s hands, and we were not afraid of death.

The Testimony of a Christian | The Fire That Shocked the Nation in Ji County, Tianjin City

Chen Yao, Tianjin

　The Laide building was one of Ji County’s biggest shopping centers. June 30, 2012 was a Saturday, and Laide was holding a promotion, so there were huge numbers of customers. Some time after 3:00 that afternoon, the building suddenly caught fire. The boss, afraid that in the chaos customers would take things or not pay, closed and shuttered the main entrance on level one, and drove customers to the second and third floors. What hadn’t been anticipated was that the fire grew fiercer and fiercer, eventually becoming completely uncontrollable. The electricity across the whole building went out. From the first floor to the fourth, the lifts were out of order, and the closed entrance on the first floor couldn’t be opened. Black smoke rolled through the whole building, sparks flew up into the air. Huge flames leapt from every window, the smoke covered the county, the air was choking for people several hundred meters away. At the time many of the people trapped above the third floor chose to flee by jumping from the building, and some died where they fell, a horrible sight.

Christian Song | "Corrupt Mankind Needs the Salvation of God Incarnate"

God became flesh 'cause the object of His work

is not the spirit of Satan, nor anything not, not of flesh, but man.

Man’s flesh was corrupted by Satan and so became the object of God’s work.

The place of God’s salvation is man, is man.

Man is a mortal being, only flesh and blood,

and God alone can save him.

God must take on man’s flesh, and all that man is,

in order to do His work, to achieve the best result.

God must take on flesh, because man is flesh, who cannot overcome sin.

God must take on flesh, because man is flesh,

who cannot free himself from the bondage of the flesh.

Satan has corrupted the flesh of man,

who is deeply harmed and who’s blinded.

And the reason God comes, the reason He comes in flesh

is because man is the object of His salvation,

and Satan disturbs God’s work by using the flesh, the flesh of man, of man.

God battles Satan by conquering man, yet saves man at the same time.

In this way God Himself must become incarnate,

in order to do His work, in order to do His work.

Satan has corrupted flesh,

it’s indwelt man’s flesh and God has to defeat him.

To battle with Satan and save man,

God must come to earth and become flesh. It’s a real work.

The Testimony of a Christian | Judgment Is Light

🎶💎 🎀 Zhao Xia    Shandong Province 🎶💎 🎀

　　My name is Zhao Xia. I was born to an ordinary family. Due to the influence of dictums like “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,” and “As a tree lives for its bark, a man lives for his face,” reputation and face became particularly important to me. Everything I did was to earn other people’s praise, compliments, and admiration. After getting married, the goals I set for myself were: I will live a wealthier life than others; I must not let anyone say negative things about how I treat the elderly or about my behavior and conduct; and I will make sure my child gets into a famous university and has good prospects, so as to add more luster to my face. Therefore, I never quarreled with my in-laws. Sometimes, when they said harsh things to me, I would feel so aggrieved that I’d hide and cry rather than give them attitude. When I saw others buy clothes for their parents during Chinese New Year and other holidays, I would immediately go buy some for my mother-in-law, and it would be of the best quality too. When relatives came to visit, I would help buy food and cook. Even when it was a little tough or tiring I would still be completely willing. Afraid I would be less well off than others, I left my baby daughter behind a month after giving birth to her and went straight back to work. As a result, my daughter suffered from malnutrition and became only skin and bones because she couldn’t drink my breast milk. Her situation improved only after 100 nutritional injections, while I was so tired that I had a sore back every day. Though it was difficult and tiring, I endured the hardship and gave tirelessly for the sake of earning a good reputation. In just a few short years, I became a famous daughter-in-law in the village, and my family became wealthy and envied by people around us. As a result, my in-laws, neighbors, relatives and friends were all full of praise for me. In the face of praise and compliments from those around me, my vanity was greatly satisfied. I felt my hardships over the last few years were not in vain, and I was very flattered inside. However, my serene life was interrupted after my brother-in-law got married. His wife always spoke to me sarcastically, saying that I had ulterior motives in treating our mother-in-law well because I just wanted her assets. She always said that our mother-in-law was biased since she gave us more things than she gave them, and we often argued as a result of this. I felt very aggrieved and wanted to argue with her in public to protest my innocence, but it would ruin the good image I had built up in people’s hearts. Hence, I would force myself to hold back, and when I could bear it no longer I would have a big cry in private. Afterward, the sister-in-law pushed her luck by occupying the land distributed to my side of the family, which made me shake from anger and not eat or drink for days. I even wanted to fight it out with her. However, thinking that it would make me lose face, damage my reputation, and make those around me look down to me, I swallowed it all up, but inside I felt so suppressed that I was in torment. I looked sad and sighed all day, feeling like it was too painful and tiring to live and not knowing when there would be an end to such a life.

　　Man’s end really is God’s beginning. Right when I was in pain and feeling helpless, Almighty God reached out His hands of salvation toward me. One day, my neighbor asked me: “Do you believe in the existence of God?” I answered: “Who doesn’t? I believe God exists.” She then said that the God she believes in is the one and only true God who created the universe and all things, and that in the beginning, mankind lived in God’s blessings because they worshiped God, but after they were corrupted by Satan, they no longer worshiped God and thus lived under God’s curse and in pain. Almighty God of the last days came to bestow upon people the truth and save them from the abyss of misery. In addition, she also communicated her own experience of believing in God. After listening to her communication, I felt I had found my closest confidant, and could not help but tell of all the pain in my heart. Afterward, she read a passage of God’s word to me: “When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time. He is watching by your side, waiting for you to turn back. He is waiting for the day your memory suddenly recovers: becoming conscious of the fact that you came from God, somehow and somewhere once lost, falling unconscious on the roadside, and then, unknowingly having a ‘father.’ You further realize that the Almighty has been watching there, awaiting your return all along” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words flowed into my heart like a warm current, consoling my painful and sad heart, and I could not stop my tears from falling. In that moment, I felt like a wandering child in suffering who had suddenly returned to the embrace of her mother. There was an unspeakable excitement and emotion in my heart. I kept thanking God, for He took me to His house and cared for me when I had nowhere else to go. I shall follow God with my heart and soul! Since then, I read God’s words, prayed to God, and sang hymns to praise God every day, which made me feel especially relaxed in my heart. Through attending meetings, I saw that brothers and sisters were much like a big family, even though they are not related by blood. Their interactions were simple and open, full of understanding, tolerance, and patience, and without jealousy, conflict and scheming or pretension and duplicity. They did not bully the poor while loving the rich, and were all able to treat everyone with sincerity and equality. My heart would feel especially free when we sang hymns praising God together. I hence fell in love with this loving and warm, fair and joyous church life. I became convinced that Almighty God is the one true God and made up my mind that I would follow Him to the very end.

The Testimony of a Christian｜The Transformation of a Fallen Man

✨🎉✨🎉✨Tong Xin    Fujian Province✨🎉✨🎉✨

　I was born in the countryside. I came from a line of humble farmers and on top of that our family was few in number, so we were often bullied. When I was 13 years old, there was a child beaten by someone from outside of our village. The villagers falsely accused my father of instigating it and they said they were going to search our house and confiscate our property, take away our pigs and even beat my father. There was also a time when another villager took our fishing net and kept it as his own. When my father went to get it back, the villager actually hit my father, relying on his own power and influence. My father had to just eat humble pie as he knew that he had neither money nor power. My mother told my brothers and me that we must fight for ourselves in the future, and never live a life of oppression like this. Being young and detesting the injustice in society, I was determined that in the future I would stand out from the crowd and earn their respect, and never be oppressed. So I studied very hard, but I wasn’t smart enough and I couldn’t get into any universities, so I chose to pursue development in the army and joined easily by going through connections.