A Debate Between a Christian and a CCP Official: What Really Is a Cult?

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Zheng Yi: A Chinese Christian. During his work in America, he investigated The Church of Almighty God online and accepted Almighty God's work in the last days. Three years later, he returned to China, and passed on the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God to his sister, Zheng Rui.

How Should Christianity Be Understood?

Zheng Weiguo (Minister of a municipal United Front Work Department): I have been working for the United Front for many years, and I have studied various religious beliefs. Christianity, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are all orthodox religions that believe in Jesus. But your belief in Almighty God is so different. According to CCP documents, The Church of Almighty God does not belong to Christianity at all. You are preaching the gospel to various sects under the banner of Christianity that don’t recognize you as a Christian denomination. So I will never allow you to believe in Almighty God. You can only believe in Christianity if you want. The government’s persecution will be lighter this way. If you get arrested and incarcerated for believing in Almighty God, your life will be in danger. The CCP has already seen that all those who believe in Almighty God are invariably followers of Christ in the last days who are Christ’s disciples and apostles. What the CCP fears most is the proclamations and testimonies of the book The Word Appears in the Flesh expressed by Christ in the last days, as well as this die-hard group that follows Christ in the last days. We have studied the history of Christianity. What Judaism and the Roman Empire feared most were the disciples and apostles of Jesus. So when these people were captured, they were executed by different methods of capital punishments. Today, if measures are not taken to suppress and completely ban this group of people who follow Christ of the last days, in less than a few years, they will subsume the entire religious community. At present, several main Christian factions in China have already been subsumed by The Church of Almighty God. The CCP is very clear about this. Had the CCP not fabricated some public opinions and contrived the Zhaoyuan Case, perhaps the day will come when the religious community of the world would be subsumed by The Church of Almighty God. Once The Church of Almighty God subsumes the entire religious community, it will be very unfavorable to the rule of the CCP. Therefore, the Central Committee made a strong determination to deploy all available forces to thoroughly ban The Church of Almighty God in a short period. You need to know, the emergence of Eastern Lightning not only took China by storm, it also made a big splash in the world. Since you made such a big move, how can the CCP not frantically launch a wholesale suppression and arrest campaign against you? If you must believe in God, you can only believe in Christianity. You are absolutely forbidden to believe in Almighty God. The Church of Almighty God does not belong to Christianity, don’t you know that?

Some people say, “The second coming of the Lord Jesus will be in the form of His Spirit, and cannot possibly be in the flesh.”

Response: Some people say, “The second coming of the Lord Jesus will be in the form of His Spirit, and cannot possibly be in the flesh.” Does this kind of statement stand? Is it based on the Lord’s words? People who understand the Bible all know that the Spirit does not come or not come. The Spirit is formless and amorphous and cannot be seen or touched; He is filled with all things in the universe. He is big in that He is filled with all things in the universe. He is small in that He is in the heart of every person who truly believes in Him. There is a lot of Him in that He exists in the heart of every person who truly believes in Him. There is very little of Him in that there is only one. It is just as the Bible says: “There is … one Spirit…. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph 4:4, 6). The Lord Jesus also said: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them” (Mat 18:20). Therefore, as long as we genuinely believe in God and are intimate with God, the Holy Spirit will be with us anyway. Accordingly, the Spirit does not come or not come. In references to the second coming of Jesus, Jesus being the Son of man and Christ, this means He must surely come in a form that we can see and touch.

What Is the Disposition God Expresses in the Age of Kingdom?

Classic Words of God:

Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent My Spirit, these names only denote the different ages in My management plan, and do not represent Me in My entirety. The names by which people on earth call Me cannot articulate My entire disposition and all that I am. They are merely different names by which I am called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, My name shall change again. I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah, but shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end. I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior because they loved and respected Me. But today I am not the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past—I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up at the ends of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor and glory. People have never engaged with Me, have never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man during the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the flaming fire, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind, and I was once the sin offering for man, but in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that burn all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. Such is My work of the last days. I took this name and am possessed of this disposition so that all people may see that I am a righteous God, and am the burning sun, and the flaming fire. It is so that all may worship Me, the only true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and am not just the Redeemer—I am the God of all creatures throughout heavens and earth and seas.

from “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

How Do the Three Stages of God’s Work Gradually Deepen for People to Be Saved and Perfected?

Classic Words of God:

The work of God’s management began at the creation of the world, and man is at the core of this work. God’s creation of all things, it can be said, is for the sake of man. Because the work of His management stretches over thousands of years, and is not carried out in the space of mere minutes or seconds, or a blink of an eye, or over one or two years, He had to create more things necessary for the survival of man, such as the sun, moon, all sorts of living creatures, and food and a living environment for mankind. This was the start of God’s management.

One Must Know That Only God’s Three Stages of Work Are His Complete Work for Saving Mankind

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God’s discourse on His three stages of work is fully adequate for us to clearly see that it is built up stage by stage, and each stage is closely linked to the next. Each and every stage of work is very practical and reasonable, and it is only these three stages of work that are the complete work of saving mankind, and God’s three stages of work are His management plan for saving mankind. That is why only understanding the three stages is truly understanding God’s work, and only in that way is it possible to fully understand God’s righteous disposition and His essence. Thus, we must have clear knowledge and understanding of the essence and significance of every stage of God’s work, and only then can we truly recognize that only the three stages of God’s work are the complete work of saving mankind. In every stage of God’s work all of us can clearly see how He has been victorious in the war against Satan’s evil forces. Mankind has been deeply corrupted by Satan, and in every stage of His work there have been many people who have taken on the role of Satan, demon, doing their utmost to interrupt and disturb His work, and they have also confused, roped in, controlled, and made use of God’s chosen people, attempting to destroy the work of God. However, God is the almighty, wise God, and He has always made use of Satan’s trickery as a service to achieve His work of redeeming and saving mankind. In His work in the Age of Grace, He used Satan to do service and through the betrayal of Judas and getting the Lord Jesus nailed to the cross, He completed His work of redemption. In the Age of Kingdom, through the disruption, sabotage, and confusion brought by antichrists, false leaders, and all sorts of evil spirits, He trains His chosen people and perfects them to understand the truth, be able to discern Satan, hate evil, turn their backs on the great red dragon, and enter into the reality of His words. Finally, He makes complete His chosen people and brings them into the kingdom. Understanding the three stages of God’s work of saving mankind is so meaningful. Not only can we see where God’s omnipotence and wisdom lie, but even more, we can understand His disposition and what He has and is that are revealed in every stage of His work. This way the fruits of our truly understanding God can be borne. The reality is, the process of undergoing God’s three stages of work is the process of understanding God, and it is also the process of people’s viewpoints and life dispositions undergoing gradual change to achieve salvation the last days will they be truly saved and completely gained by God, so that they no longer sin and resist God. This is because the satanic dispositions of corrupt humanity have been changed and they have genuine understanding of God. They no longer define and resist God based on human notions and imagination, and no matter how God leads them and how He designs and arranges things, they will be able to be obedient in front of Him with a heart of reverence. Only these are people who are truly in line with God’s will, and who can gain His blessings. Only those who truly gain God’s salvation are able to enter into the rest bestowed by God and truly obtain their final destination. There is no doubt about this.

The Age of Law: The Content and Result of God’s Work

Relevant Words of God:

After the creation of mankind in the beginning, it was the Israelites who served as the basis of work, and the whole of Israel was the base of Jehovah’s work on earth. The work of Jehovah was to directly lead and shepherd man through setting forth the laws so that man could live a normal life and worship Jehovah in a normal manner on earth. God in the Age of Law was One who could neither be seen nor touched by man. He was merely leading men first corrupted by Satan, and He was there to instruct and shepherd these men, so the words He spoke were only of statutes, ordinances, and common knowledge of living life as a man, and not at all of truths that supply the life of man. The Israelites under His leadership were not those deeply corrupted by Satan. His work of law was only the very first stage in the work of salvation, the very beginning of the work of salvation, and had practically nothing to do with the changes in the life disposition of man.

from “The Difference Between the Ministry of the Incarnate God and the Duty of Man” in The Word Appears in the Flesh