This Is How I Welcomed the Lord

Xiyue, Japan

    When I was six years old my mother believed in the Lord Jesus, and she would often bring me to church gatherings. I slowly became aware of the fact that man was created by God, that if we are in trouble we should pray to God and rely on God, and that we should thank God for everything. My mother told me: “God loves people, so long as we pray to God and entrust Him with what’s on our mind and truly rely on Him, then He will solve our problems and bestow us with bountiful grace. As long as we truly believe in the Lord then He will come in the future to receive us into the kingdom of heaven!”

What are the wise virgins? What are the foolish virgins?

Relevant Words of God:

    In the past, people have made predictions of “five wise virgins, five foolish virgins”; although the prediction is not accurate, it is not entirely wrong, so I can give you some explanation. Five wise virgins and five foolish virgins certainly do not both represent the number of people, nor do they represent one type of people respectively. Five wise virgins mean the number of people, five foolish virgins represent one type of people, but these two things are not the firstborn sons, they represent creation.

Question 17: You bear witness that Almighty God is God of the last days appearing and working, and you say that your belief in Almighty God is seeking truth, and walking the correct path of life. From what I know, however, many of the people who believe in Almighty God are like those missionaries of Jesus, who for the purpose of spreading the gospel and bearing God's witness, did not hesitate to abandon family and career, and gave body and soul for God. Among them there are many young people who don't get married, all doing their duty in following Christ of the last days. What I am saying is all true, isn't it? Perhaps you are not aware that, because of you leaving family and work to spread the gospel and bear God’s witness, there are ever greater numbers of people who believe in God. If the whole human race turned toward God, who would still believe in the Communist Party, and follow the Communist Party? Precisely because of this, the government suppresses and arrests you. Can there be anything wrong with this? Mainly it is because you believe in God in this way that so many people have been arrested and sentenced to jail, and that so many people have to leave home and flee. So many husbands and wives have divorced, and so many children have no parents to love them. There are so many elders who have no one to care for them. By believing in God this way, you have caused your families to suffer such hardship. What are you trying to achieve? Could it be that this is the very correct path for human life of which you talk? Our traditional Chinese culture attaches most importance to filial piety. The saying goes: “Of all virtues filial piety is most important.” Confucius said: “While your parents are alive, don't travel far away.” Showing respect to parents is the foundation of human conduct. Believing in God, and following God the way that you do, unable to care for even the parents who gave you life and nurtured you, how can this be considered a correct path for human life? I often hear people say that believers are all good people. This is not false. But all of you believe in God, worship God, and venerate God as great. This has caused the Communist Party to burn with anger, and to be full of hatred. You do your duty to spread the gospel, yet you can’t even take care of your own families. How can this be considered good conduct? What do you say, could it be that even this does not show that you have taken a wrong path in belief in God? By spreading the gospel and bearing God’s witness in this way, aren’t you destroying the harmony and stability of society? I plead with you to not persist in error. You should return to society as soon as possible, reunite with your families, live normal lives, and take care of your families well. You should do your duties as children and as parents. Only this is the foundation for human conduct; only this is the most practical.

Answer: You repeat over and over again that we have gone the wrong way by leaving our families and careers to believe in God and do our duty to spread the gospel. What you say is wrong. As an atheist, can you explain clearly what the right course for human life really is? Can you see through to the origin of the darkness and evil in the world? Can you see why the human race lives in sin, and why it struggles in sin? Can it be that greed for enjoyment of sinful pleasures is happiness? Now God incarnate has come to save the human race from sin, and has led the human race into the light, leading them into a wonderful destination. This is great and wonderful news for a corrupt human race! We are all human beings who have been corrupted by Satan We all should accept the work of God, and accept all the truths that God expresses. Only in this way can we attain purity, receive salvation, and gain a wonderful destination. Only this is the right, proper, and correct path of human life. How can you say that this is going the wrong path? According to your point of view, the disciples of the Lord Jesus who left their homes and work to follow and bear witness for the Lord, can it be that they were going the wrong path? Those missionaries of the West who left their dear ones and native land to travel far across the sea to China devoted their life's energy to preaching and bearing witness for the salvation of the Lord Jesus, some of them even losing their lives for it, are you saying that they were ruthless? They were carrying out God’s will in order to help people attain God’s salvation. What they did were benevolent actions; it was the most righteous of all human causes, completely in keeping with God's will. The Lord Jesus said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luk 14:26). “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me” (Mat 10:38). Over the past two thousand years, countless Christians have left their families and work to comply with God's wishes, to spread God's gospel and bear God's witness. It is precisely their unrepentant efforts that has caused the salvation of the Lord Jesus to spread to all corners of the earth. Today the Lord Jesus has returned as Almighty God, and expresses truth to do the last-days judgment work to purify and save the human race. The Christians of The Church of Almighty God, in order to help more people have a chance to hear the words of God, to accept God's last-days purification and salvation, and to enter into the wonderful destination that God has prepared for the human race, have left behind their families and work, and do all they can to preach and bear witness for the appearance and work of Savior Christ of the last days. Could this be wrong? This is completely in accord with the Bible, and in accord with God's requirements!

Question 6: You communicate the Bible is the Bible, God is God. I understand that the Bible cannot represent God at all. But just what is the relationship between the Bible and God? I still don’t get it.

Answer: The Lord Jesus has explained this question very clearly. John 5:39-40: “Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.” The Lord Jesus explained the relationship between the Bible and God very clearly. The Bible is a testimony of God. The Bible itself does not have eternal life and cannot bestow life on man. Only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Therefore, only by accepting and following Christ and obeying the words and work of God of the last days, can we gain the truth and eternal life. Let’s take another look at how there are still many people in religious circles who still maintain that “Believing in the Lord is believing in the Bible, departing from the Bible means not believing in the Lord.” They even think that as long as they stick to the Bible they can be brought up into the kingdom of heaven. Isn’t this viewpoint too absurd? Actually, the Bible is just a history book, a record documenting God’s work. If people don’t understand this and keep holding on to the Bible, then let me ask: Can the Bible replace God’s work of the last days? Can the Bible replace Christ in expressing the truth? Can one really gain the truth and life by studying and sticking to the Bible? If people stubbornly hold on to the Scriptures like the Pharisees, does it prove that they follow and obey God? If people only hold on to the Bible but don’t accept or obey the work of Christ in the last days, then how can they gain the truth and life, achieve salvation, be perfected, and enter God’s kingdom? Let’s read a few more passages of Almighty God’s words and we’ll understand this aspect of the truth even more clearly! 

Question 4: You have testified that the incarnate Almighty God has expressed millions of words and performed His work of judgment beginning from the house of God. This clearly exceeds the Bible. The pastors and leaders used to often tell us that all of God’s word and work is in the Bible. There is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. The salvation work of the Lord Jesus has already been completed. The Lord’s return in the last days will be to take believers directly up into the kingdom of heaven. So all along, we’ve believed that belief in the Lord must be based on the Bible. As long as we stick to the Bible we will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive eternal life. Moving away from the Bible is leaving the Lord’s way. It’s resisting Him and betraying Him. What could be wrong with that?

Answer: In religion, all those who believe in the Lord think that all of God’s word and work is contained in the Bible. God’s salvation in the Bible is complete, and there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. Belief in the Lord is to be based on the Bible and sticking to the Bible. As long as we don’t leave the Bible, when the Lord comes we will be taken up into the kingdom of heaven. Such a viewpoint might conform with people’s notions and imaginations, but is it based on the words of the Lord Jesus? Can you guarantee it conforms with the truth? The Lord Jesus has never said that God’s word and work are all recorded in the Bible, that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. This is true. People who understand the Bible all know that the Bible was put together by mankind many years after God’s work. God’s work came first, and then the Bible. In other words, every time God completed a stage of His work, those who experienced God’s work would record down God’s word and work from that time, and these records were compiled by people into the Bible. When we think about it, how could the work God has not yet done be compiled into the Bible in advance? God’s judgment work of the last days, in particular, could not possibly have been recorded in the Bible. The New and Old Testaments have been part of the Bible for nearly 2000 years. Almighty God has only just started His judgment work of the last days. Therefore, the word and work of God in the last days could not possibly have been recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago. Isn’t that a fact? In the last days, Almighty God has performed the work of judgment beginning from the house of God, expressing several million words. These words are all truths that purify and save mankind, and are the way to eternal life brought by Christ of the last days. They have already been compiled into the Bible of the Age of Kingdom. This is the book, “The Word Appears in the Flesh.” Though the truths expressed by Almighty God were not recorded in the Bible in advance, they have completely fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ prophecies. “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth …” (Jhn 16:12-13). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches” (Rev 2:17). The truth expressed by Almighty God has completely verified that Almighty God is the embodiment of the Spirit of truth. He is the incarnate God. All words expressed by Almighty God, that is, the expressions of the Spirit of truth in the last days, are words from the Holy Spirit to the churches. Do we dare say these are not the words of God? Do we still dare deny this? If we see the reality of God’s speaking and working in the last days, would we still say all of God’s words are recorded in the Bible and that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible? We don’t understand the inside story of how the Bible was formed. We don’t know the fact that the Bible was formed only after God completed each stage of His work, and yet we arbitrarily conclude and determine that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. Aren’t we quite arbitrary and absurd? If we do not understand how the Bible was formed and its inside story, it can be very easy to deviate on the path to believing in God. In fact, during the two stages of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, all of the words expressed by God were not completely recorded in the Bible. For instance, in the Age of Law, there were some prophets whose prophecies were not recorded in the Bible. In the Age of Grace, there were even more words spoken by the Lord Jesus. But the words recorded in the Bible are too limited. Just think. The Lord Jesus preached on earth for three-and-a-half years. How many words would He have spoken each day? How many words would He have spoken each sermon? There were way too many sermons and words spoken by the Lord Jesus in those three-and-a-half years. There is no way anyone would be able to calculate it. Just as John the Apostle said: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (Jhn 21:25). Let’s now look at the Four New Testament Gospels. The words of the Lord Jesus recorded in these are too limited! It’s only the tip of the iceberg! If the Lord Jesus had only said those few words in the Four Gospels during those three-and-a-half years, how would He have been able to conquer the people who followed Him at the time? How would the work of the Lord Jesus have been able to shake up all of Judea? Therefore, it is certain that the words of God recorded in the Bible contain only a very limited portion, certainly not all the words spoken by God during His work. This is a fact nobody can deny! We all know that God is the Lord of creation, the source of mankind’s life, the wellspring of living water that never runs dry. God’s richness is inexhaustible in supply and always available for use, whereas the Bible is merely a record of the first two stages of God’s work. The amount of God’s word that is recorded is far too limited. It’s like a drop in the sea of God’s life. How could we delimit God’s word and work to just the Bible? It’s as though God could only say those limited words in the Bible. Isn’t this delimiting, belittling and blaspheming God? Therefore, to delimit all of God’s word and work to the Bible and to think that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible is a major mistake!

Do Those Who Believe in Almighty God Preach the Gospel for Money?

By Wang Li, China

Since I was small, I believed in Jesus along with my parents. After I got married, I went with my husband to Shanghai where we opened a factory. In 1991, we set up a meeting place in our factory and, at that time, more than 30 people attended meetings there. Everyone would sing hymns, pray and read the Bible together. The brothers and sisters all showed each other love, supported each other, and we all felt great enjoyment at our gatherings. Preachers from my home town came twice a year to give us sermons, and we gained sustenance from these visits. By 1997, the church was gradually becoming desolate and no one got any enjoyment from our meetings anymore. The preachers were not preaching any new light, and a few of them were vying amongst each other for power and profit, and they had begun to attack each other, and no one listened to anyone else. Disputes also began to break out among the brothers and sisters. Because their spirits were not being provided for, the faith of some of the brothers and sisters began to cool, and some even turned away and stopped believing in God, and in the end only between 10 and 20 of us were left. After 2000 in particular, the situation at our meeting place just got worse and worse. The preachers only ever said the same stale old words, the sermons were tedious, and brothers and sisters became even more dispirited and weak, with nowhere to turn to. My mind was also becoming occupied by more and more things, and my faith was nowhere near as strong as it had been. On October 1st, 2001, a brother came to my home and preached to me Almighty God’s gospel of the last days. He spoke to me for two whole days, talking about things from the Age of Law to the Age of Grace, and from the Age of Grace to the Age of Kingdom, and using a great many prophecies from the Bible and the facts of their fulfillment to clarify that God had indeed become flesh and had now come to perform His work of judgment beginning in God’s house. He also told me that God will save man utterly from the domain of Satan and will lead man into their beautiful destination. I had never before heard such a good sermon, and it did me a lot of good. It was as though a bright light had been lit in my heart. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that Jesus the Savior, whom I had longed for day and night, could really have returned already, and I had no way to express the joy I felt.

Question 2: Paul made it very clear in (2Ti 3:16) “the entire Bible is inspired by God”, so that all words in the Bible are God's words, and that the Bible represents God, We are going by Paul's words. How can this be wrong?

Answer: Many people in religious circles believe that the Bible is inspired by God. They believe what Paul said about this. But no one investigates whether Paul had any basis for this statement. They have such a view all because they worship Paul too much and have too much blind faith in Paul. Has anyone considered whether Paul’s statement conforms with God’s word? Is it supported by the words of the Lord Jesus? Are there words of the Holy Spirit as proof? People use Paul’s words to blindly conclude that the Bible is entirely inspired by God. Does this conform with the Lord’s word, conform with the truth? If this statement by Paul is corroborated by the words of the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then we should accept and obey that, which is completely in line with the Lord’s intentions. But we all know very clearly that Paul used to resist God and oppose the Lord Jesus. It’s a recognized fact that he was the ringleader of the opposition against the Lord Jesus’ work. Even though the Lord Jesus chose Paul as an apostle to spread the gospel, Paul is still a created creature. Therefore, his words are undoubtedly all the words of a man. The Lord Jesus is God, while all of the Lord Jesus’ apostles and disciples are men. The apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus cannot be compared to the Lord Jesus Himself. If they are not supported by the words of the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then no matter what man says, we cannot accept them blindly. Otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. Thinking back to the time when the Pharisees resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus, many people rejected the Lord Jesus because they followed the Pharisees. They were eliminated and condemned precisely because they resisted the Lord Jesus. Have we not absorbed these lessons? Actually, in the Bible, only the words of Jehovah God, the words spoken by the Lord Jesus, the words of the Holy Spirit, the words of God conveyed by the prophets, and the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, are God’s word. Apart from that, it’s all the records and letters of man. These all count as testimonies of God’s work and have a need to be recorded in the Bible, but we must not treat man’s words as the word of God. Man’s words are man’s words, and only God’s words are truly the word of God. If we insist that the words of man and Satan in the Bible are the word of God, then that’s slandering and blaspheming God! Therefore, the saying that “All scripture is inspired by God and is all the word of God”, does not conform with the facts.