After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, What Was the Meaning of His Appearance to Man?

By Cheng Hang

In the Bible, it is recorded: “And as they thus spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see Me have. And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said to them, Have you here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them” (Luke 24:36–43). Whenever I read these verses, I feel envious of Peter, John and the others. While Jesus was performing His work in Judea, He was always with His disciples day and night and, after He was resurrected, He took care of them just as He had before, and He appeared to them, expounded on the scriptures to them and gave them teachings. Peter and the others were fortunate to have been chosen by the Lord to be His disciples and they were able to hear the teachings of the Lord Jesus with their very own ears—they were so blessed! Afterward, I read God’s words, and I came to understand that the Lord Jesus’ will was actually behind His appearance to man after His resurrection, and that this deed encapsulated God’s almightiness and wisdom even more. I truly came to see that the Lord Jesus’ appearance to man after His resurrection really was so meaningful!

Giving Credence to Rumors Means Losing God’s Salvation of the Last Days

Many brothers and sisters are unable to take heed whenever they hear someone talking about Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, and don’t dare accept what is preached because they have been spooked by the sensationalized rumors fabricated within religious circles. They may hear someone say: “Those who believe in Almighty God are really something—you’ll be taken in as soon as you have contact with them. There are many true believers from every denomination who are good sheep and even bellwethers of good caliber, but they are being stolen by believers in Almighty God….” Or some have said: “The believers in Almighty God are really enthusiastic about spreading the gospel. If they convert a believer they receive a prize of 2,000 RMB, if they convert a church leader they can get 10,000 to 20,000 RMB….” And still others have said: “They don’t maintain good boundaries between men and women—they are all very promiscuous….” Some have even said: “Eastern Lightning is a criminal underworld organization. If you get involved with them, you’ll never escape. If you try, they’ll gouge out your eyes and cut off your ears, or they’ll break your legs….” and so on, and so forth. It is rumors like these that stop some brothers and sisters who are not clear on the facts from seeking and studying Almighty God’s work of the last days. Brothers and sisters who believe the rumors, have you earnestly considered or investigated whether there is any basis for these things, and if they are in line with the facts? Have you ever thought about what sort of dire consequences there will be if you blindly believe all the rumors you hear and miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s arrival? For now, we will first have a simple fellowship on these rumors so that our brothers and sisters can clearly see their substance, and have clear discernment regarding who is really spreading them, what the motivations are behind their fabrication, and what goal they want to achieve.

What’s the Origin of Eastern Lightning?

We are now in the last days, the prophecies of the Lord’s return have basically been fulfilled, and thousands upon thousands of pious believers are fervently hoping for the Lord Jesus’ return. At the same time, however, Eastern Lightning has openly given testimony that the Lord Jesus has already returned—that is, Almighty God, the incarnation of the last days—and that He has already done His work of judgment beginning with God’s house. The emergence of Eastern Lightning has shaken the whole religious world as well as all those who sincerely believe in God and thirst for the truth. Through seeking and investigating the words and work of Almighty God, many people confirm that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus, and one after another they come before Almighty God. This has thrown pastors and elders of the religious world as well as the CCP government into a panic; they collude together to suppress and outlaw Eastern Lightning, fabricating many rumors and savagely condemning and vilifying Eastern Lightning as heresy. They do all they can to obstruct and harass sincere believers who want to seek and investigate the appearance and work of Almighty God in the last days. The historical tragedy of the Jewish religious world allying itself with the Roman government to cruelly oppress the Lord Jesus is being played out again. Opinions vary as to whether or not Eastern Lightning is the return of the Lord Jesus, and whether or not it is God’s work; some people follow along with the pastors and elders of the religious world in their denial and condemnation, but there are also some who believe Eastern Lightning is related to the Lord Jesus’ prophecy in the Bible that says, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27), and that it is connected to the coming of the Son of man in the last days. So what really is the origin of Eastern Lightning? Is it God’s work, and what kind of mysteries does it hold?

Why Does Eastern Lightning Surge Forward With Unstoppable Progress?

The Lord Jesus said, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). Since Eastern Lightning—Almighty God, Christ of the last days—appeared in China to perform His work, His kingdom gospel has spread across the whole of mainland China in just more than ten years. Now, it has spread to many western countries and regions, and it has shaken the various denominations to their core and sent ripples throughout the entire world. However, the most perplexing question for the leaders of the religious world is: Why is it that, although the pastors and elders in the religious world have done their utmost to resist, defame and condemn Eastern Lightning, stifle their churches and even gone so far as to collude with the CCP government to arrest and persecute the Christians in The Church of Almighty God, those believers from various denominations who have good humanity and who truly believe in the Lord accept and follow Almighty God one after another? Why is it that, though faced with the frantic resistance and persecution by the two arms of Satan’s forces—the CCP government and the religious world—not only has Eastern Lightning not been broken or worn down, but on the contrary it has continued to flourish and go from strength to strength, like shoots growing after rain, and has surged inexorably and irresistibly onward?

Lifting the Veil: The Truth About the Evil Chinese Communist Party’s Show Trial

On August 21, 2014, the public trial for the May 28 Zhaoyuan Murder Case was held in Yantai, Shandong. In an article published on the Internet about the case, “Zhaoyuan Murder Case Defendants Confess in Court: I am God,” news.qq.com presented a relatively objective, thorough, and detailed report of the defendants’ confessions. But in the CCTV News 1+1 report titled “Almighty God, How Is He ‘God’?”, they passed off fraudulent information as real information, insisting that the psychotic perpetrators from the Zhaoyuan Murder Case were members of the Church of Almighty God. Using this false information, the CCP fabricated a public scandal to justify their thorough suppression of the Church of Almighty God and other underground churches, while also diverting the people’s hatred toward the Church of Almighty God and away from their crisis of faith in the CCP. These sinister motives are truly horrifying. If the CCP can hold a public trial for the homicide case committed by psychotic people，then why won’t it conduct a fair public trial for the June 4 Incident in 1989, in which thousands of innocent students were slaughtered? Over the years, the CCP has conducted all kinds of campaigns, resulting in countless deaths. Why won’t the CCP hold fair public trials? The Chinese people are all waiting for the CCP to hold fair public trials for these stacks of homicide cases, to finally give all the victims and their families an explanation. Why does the CCP refuse to uphold justice and conduct a fair public trial? There are sufficient facts to prove that the CCP had a hidden agenda in holding a public trial for the psychotic perpetrators. It had an ulterior motive! And so this article seeks to uncover the CCP’s malicious intent behind the high-profile public trial of the Zhaoyuan homicide, to clear the names of all those who have been slandered, and give the public a chance to know the true nature of the CCP.

Why Does the CCP So Frantically Suppress and Cruelly Persecute the Church of Almighty God?

On May 28, 2014, the CCP utilized a group of psychotic people to meticulously fabricate the “Shandong Zhaoyuan Murder Case,” and used every large media outlet to wantonly spread propaganda and gain influence, framing and placing the blame on the Church of Almighty God, and publicly declaring it as an “evil cult organization.” They went even as far as to shout wildly: “If the battle is not finished, the troops will not be withdrawn!” Immediately following, the CCP’s Central Leading Group on Dealing With Heretical Religions (The 610 Office) convened a video and phone conference call of the whole country on June 16 to launch the special operation of the “Hundred Days Battle” to quell the Church of Almighty God within the scope of the whole country, regarding the issue of the suppression of the Church of Almighty God as a political mission of “utmost urgency, arduous labor and great importance.” Soon after that, they labeled the Church of Almighty God as an “evil cult organization” and added it to the legal regulations, and sent down a document to every province and city, to attack the Church of Almighty God with a heavy fist. They adopted the tyrannical policies of “lock up one group, kill one group.” The central authorities also transferred tens of millions in funding to offer rewards to units and individuals of outstanding performance as well as the masses for informing on members. They mobilized the masses to inform on and expose Christians of the Church of Almighty God, and induced the populace to rise up in a “people’s war” to lay siege to the Church of Almighty God and religious churches. In August, the evil party of the CCP, with absolute audacity and complete lack of scruple, initiated large-scale mobilization of armed police and regular troops to carry out total seizure, encirclement, and annihilation of Christians of the Church of Almighty God and other household churches.

Someone said, “The Bible was inspired by God. It is absolutely not tainted by man’s will and is entirely the word of God. All the words in the Bible are multi-faceted and foreshadowing, the Bible is absolutely authoritative, there is no other book that can compare, and everyone must admit that the Bible is inerrant. Anyone who says the Bible is tainted by man’s will or contains errors is attacking and denying the Bible, and all such people shall be cursed.”

Response: Many people believe that the Bible was inspired by God, that everything recorded in the Bible is the word of God, completely untainted by man’s will and that the Bible is absolutely authoritative. They even treat the Bible the same as they treat God. They think that anyone who says the Bible is tainted by man’s will is attacking and denying the Bible, and shall be cursed. Does this view conform to the truth? Does it have any basis in God’s words? Jehovah God never gave such testimony about the Bible, and neither did the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has never given such testimony about the Bible either. Everyone who knows the Bible knows that the Bible was not written by God Himself, but within it are the records of ancient prophets, disciples and apostles about the work God had done, as well as the personal experiences of disciples and apostles and the epistles that they wrote to the churches of that time, and there are also some prophecies about God’s final work. It is a book collected and compiled by later generations that records the historical facts of the work of God, and it was put together by people. Even though it contains details of the work and utterances of Jehovah and Jesus at the time, the Bible was not personally documented by Jehovah and Jesus, and the words were not all personally uttered by Jehovah and Jesus. So how can people say that all the words in the Bible are God’s words and are completely untainted by man’s will, and that the Bible is completely accurate and without errors? Almighty God’s words explain all of this clearly: “Today, people believe the Bible is God, and that God is the Bible. So, too, do they believe that all the words of the Bible were the only words God spoke, and that they were all said by God. Those who believe in God even think that although all of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament were written by people, they were all given by inspiration of God, and a record of the utterances of the Holy Spirit. This is the erroneous interpretation of people, and it does not completely accord with the facts. In fact, apart from the books of prophecy, most of the Old Testament is historical record. Some of the epistles of the New Testament come from people’s experiences, and some come from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit; the Pauline epistles, for example, arose from the work of a man, they were all the result of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, and they were written for the churches, were words of exhortation and encouragement for the brothers and sisters of the churches. They were not words spoken by the Holy Spirit—Paul could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and neither was he a prophet, much less did he see visions that John beheld. His epistles were written for the churches of Ephesus, Philadelphia, Galatia, and other churches. And thus, the Pauline epistles of the New Testament are epistles that Paul wrote for the churches, and not inspirations from the Holy Spirit, nor are they the direct utterances of the Holy Spirit. … All he said that was edifying and positive to people was right, but it did not represent the utterances of the Holy Spirit, and he could not represent God. It is an egregious understanding, and a tremendous blasphemy, for people to treat the records of a man’s experiences and a man’s epistles as the words spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches! … His identity was merely that of a working apostle, and he was merely an apostle who was sent by God; he was not a prophet, nor a foreteller. So to him, his own work and the lives of the brothers and sisters were of the utmost importance. Thus, he could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit. His words were not the words of the Holy Spirit, much less could they be said to be the words of God, for Paul was nothing more than a creature of God, and was certainly not the incarnation of God” (“Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).