A Pastor’s Spiritual Confession

Christopher    the Philippines

My name is Christopher. I’m a pastor of a house church in the Philippines. I was fortunate to turn to the Lord through baptism in 1987. Then in 1996, I became a pastor of my local church. At that time, in addition to working in many places in the Philippines, I preached overseas, such as Hong Kong and Malaysia. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I felt an unfailing strength all over to work for the Lord.

You have testified that the words expressed by Almighty God in the book The Word Appears in the Flesh are God’s own utterance, are the scroll opened by the Lamb prophesied in Revelation, and are the words the Spirit says to the churches. So, what proofs can you provide that those words are God’s words? What’s your basis?

Relevant Bible Verses:

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: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. (Jhn 16:12-13)

What Is Christ? What Is the Difference Between Christ and the Anointed One?

By Xiaojuan

I trust all of us are familiar with the word “Christ”. In the Bible, it has been recorded, “He said to them, But whom say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15–17). Many people see these verses and say without thinking, “Christ is the incarnate Lord Jesus” or “Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God”, and others say, “Christ is the Son of man” “Christ means the anointed one.” But faced with these claims, some people are puzzled: The prophets, kings, and priests of the Old Testament, were all anointed, so are they also Christs? Just what is Christ?

We have determined that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Then may we ask, can those religious believers who died before Almighty God does the judgment work of the last days be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life?

Relevant Words of God:

Mankind’s existence is predicated upon the incarnation of soul in turn. In other words, each person gains a human life of the flesh upon the incarnation of their soul. After a person’s body is born, that life continues until the greatest limit of the flesh, that is, the final moment when the soul leaves its shell. This process repeats again and again with a person’s soul coming and going, and coming and going, thus maintaining the existence of all mankind. The life of flesh is also the life of man’s soul, and man’s soul supports the existence of man’s flesh. That is to say, each person’s life comes from their soul; it is not their flesh that originally had life. Therefore, man’s nature comes from their soul, not from their flesh.

from “A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Heart Voice of a Preacher: I Have Found the Way to Get Rid of Sin

By Chuandao, South Korea

The church became desolate and my faith grew cold.

When I was in high school, I suddenly got tuberculosis. Tortured by the disease, I was miserable and helpless, and felt so close to death. In 1980, I started to believe in the Lord in a church near my home. Through reading the Bible, I came to know that it was God who created the heavens and earth and all things. Afterward, I persisted in attending meetings in the church and reading the Bible.

Later, I attended the theology classes held by the church. To my surprise, not long after that, the lung disease that had tortured me for years healed without treatment. I gave true thanks and praise to the Lord from the bottom of my heart. After that, my faith of expending for the Lord became greater, and I wrote a lot of testimony articles about how I was saved and called upon by the Lord. In 1994, I quit my job, and donated all my retirement pay and savings to the church. After a year of training, I formally became a preacher. Since then, I had been energetically preaching, working, and sustaining the church. Such situation lasted for four years.

Reflection for Today: Does a Church Appearing Fervent Mean That It Has the Work of the Holy Spirit?

Hello brothers and sisters of Spiritual Q&A,

Several months ago, I witnessed the pastors in our church vying with each other for the sake of fame and gain and jockeying for position, so much so that they even verbally attacked and disparaged each other during sermons. Their sermons were not enjoyable to listen to, and our spirits went unnourished. Furthermore, there was widespread cooling of the faith of brothers and sisters; they pursued wealth, they coveted physical pleasures and they followed worldly trends, giving all their attention to eating, drinking and having fun. Most of the time, some brothers and sisters simply did not attend gatherings, but instead only came when a disaster occurred in their lives or when there was some important holiday … Faced with this situation in our church, I left to look for a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. I searched in many places, however, and discovered that most churches were just the same, and I began to lose hope. I recently found a church, however, which often put on shows and held events, and it even had pastors come from overseas to give sermons. The atmosphere in this church was very warm and enthusiastic, and many people attended each gathering. Looking at this church that was so ardent and at the brothers and sisters who attended gatherings so enthusiastically, I thought this must be a church that had the work of the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t long, however, before I discovered that, although the church appeared ardent, the sermons preached by the pastors were unable to provide benefits for the lives of brothers and sisters and were unable to satisfy our spirits. The singing and dancing that went on only had the effect of changing the atmosphere in the church—while it was going on, we all felt very energetic, but as soon as we sat down to listen to a pastor give a sermon, we would begin to doze off. Moreover, brothers and sisters were always trying to outdo each other with donations and prayers. Whoever donated a lot was considered to be someone who loved the Lord, and whoever prayed for a long time and said nice words in their prayers was considered to be a spiritual person…. In this kind of church, the brothers and sisters not only had no honesty or humility but, on the contrary, their vanity just got stronger and stronger and they became more and more hypocritical. They focused on expressing themselves and showing off in front of others and were exceedingly self-righteous and arrogant. Whenever they encountered an issue, they just dealt with it however they wanted, and they didn’t listen to anyone else—they were just not keeping to the Lord’s teachings at all. Faced with this kind of situation in the church, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could such a church that appears to be so fervent from the outside have the work of the Holy Spirit? This question has always perplexed me, so I’d like to ask if you could answer it for me.

How to Welcome the Lord’s Return to Be After God’s Will

Gao Huimin:

Hello, brothers and sisters! Acts 1:11 says: “You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.” The Lord left on a white cloud after His resurrection, and so He will return on a white cloud. Holding fast to this viewpoint, I’ve been on constant lookout for the Lord’s descent on a cloud. However, some time ago, I heard from my classmate that the Lord has returned, and that He has become flesh and come down to the earth as the Son of man to do His work and speak. I can’t see through this matter clearly. It’s true that the prophecies of the Lord’s second coming have basically been fulfilled. But I still haven’t seen the Lord coming with a cloud to take us. I feel confused: Am I right to await the Lord’s coming on a cloud? I’d like to discuss this with you and hope you can give me some help.

Grasping the 4 Key Elements, You Will Serve God’s Will

As servants of the Lord, we all want to satisfy Him, but most of the time we have no path to practice and have no idea how to serve the Lord’s will to become a confidant of Him. This article “Grasping the Four Key Elements, You Will Serve God’s Will” will show us the way.

Firstly, we must possess a God-loving heart, be able to be considerate toward the Lord’s will, be of one mind with the Lord in all things, and work hard to be the Lord’s intimate.

There is no way of eternal life within the Bible; if man holds to the Bible and worships it, then they will not obtain eternal life.

Bible Verses for Reference:

“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” (Jhn 5:39-40).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (Jhn 14:6).

Relevant Words of God:

The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life.

from “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Catholic Faith: I Finally Understand the Meaning of Names of God

By Jingwei, Japan

In the Age of Law, God took the name Yahweh; in the Age of Grace, He took the name Jesus, and the Book of Revelation prophesied that God would have yet another new name. Why does God change names? I nearly shut the door on the Lord Jesus’ return because I didn’t understand this aspect of the truth. But in the end, after a period of seeking and investigating, I finally understood the mysteries behind God’s name and welcomed the return of the Lord Jesus.

Harboring Notions, Shutting the Door on God

In September 2017, a friend of mine invited a Brother Yang to share a sermon with us. That day, I went to the appointed place ahead of time, and after everyone exchanged greetings, we began our Bible study.

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.

Is Obeying Those in Power the Same as Obeying God?

President Yuan (President of the Legal Education School): Xiao Jiang, I see that you are very pious in believing in God. I admire you. I would like to know more about the matter of believing in God. So I have specially invited Pastor Feng here. Pastor Feng has believed in the Lord since childhood, studied theology, and worked as pastor for more than 20 years. You are both believers of God who share a common language. You can explore it together to see which is the correct and viable path to believe in God.

Pastor Feng (A Three-Self pastor): Sister Jiang, President Yuan said that you are quite persistent in the way you believe in God, I can see it. You have endured the government’s arrest, persecution and torture for adhering to your faith, and you haven’t denied God. I admire you for this, but I also feel sorry for you. What’s the point in going through these sufferings? The Bible says, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Romans 13:1-2). Having believed in the Lord for many years, you should understand the meaning of this statement. The Bible was inspired by God after all. I believe that we believers of the Lord should obey those in office and power. I don’t know how you receive it.

The Significance of Obeying God

Which Aspects Are Included in Obeying God

Obeying God includes several aspects. The first aspect, which is the most important, is to obey the work of God. Obeying the work of God includes eating and drinking and enjoying the entire word of God, especially the words of judgment and chastisement, the words of pruning and dealing, and the words that reveal mankind’s corrupt essence. These are the most important, but there are also various kinds of words of trials and refinements, such as the trial of “service-doers” and the trial of death. There are also words of particular judgments of God, words that have the quality of God’s chastisements and the quality of refining people, all of which are words that can cause men to undergo refinements.

How to Know Oneself

The Fruits That Come of Knowing Oneself

Salvation is what we are after today, the salvation by God. And those who seek it must know themselves. It is necessary to know what fruits one must ultimately attain in order to live up to God’s standards. This is an absolute must. So what are the spiritual fruits one must achieve to finally measure up to God’s expectations? Only when man realizes that he is the son of hell will God finally be satisfied—His word is very clear about this fact. Much of it reveals to us that man is the descendant of Satan, and when God judges and chastises us He says that we are indeed children of the great red dragon, and that we are the offspring of Satan. From this we can see the benchmark we need to meet in order to know ourselves. Beyond that, we see from the word of God the deep corruption of mankind on account of Satan.

How to Eat and Drink the Words of God to Achieve Good Results

How to Eat and Drink and Experience the Words of God

Today we are communicating about how to eat and drink the words of God. First we need to be clear on the significance of eating and drinking the words of God. Our belief in God is mainly a pursuit of the truth, and only by pursuing the truth are we able to be saved. Pursuing the truth involves the issue of eating and drinking the words of God, because only God’s word is the truth, and all the truth that God expresses is concealed within God’s words.

There are some people who go by the Lord Jesus’ word: “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jhn 16:8). They believe that after the Lord Jesus rose to heaven and on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended and worked on men. It should be God’s work of judgment. Then what exactly are the differences between the work of judgment in the last days done by Almighty God and the work of the Lord Jesus?

Answer:

Since you acknowledge that what the Lord Jesus did was redemptive work, and He brought to us the way of repentance, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” then what is the basis for you to determine that the Holy Spirit did the work of judgment of the last days when He came at Pentecost? You merely based on what the Lord Jesus said, “For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (Jhn 16:7-8), and dared to determine that the Holy Spirit had come to do the work of judgment in the last days.

Do You Know the 4 Key Elements of Christian Prayer?

By Yang Yang, China

Brothers and sisters, we all know that praying to God is the most direct way for Christians to communicate with God. This is why, aside from morning and evening prayers, we pray at many other times such as when reading the Bible, when in gatherings, observing the Sabbath, or when we encounter difficulties. But are our prayers in line with the Lord’s will and will He lend us an ear? This is something that is important for every brother and sister to understand; otherwise, no matter how many times we pray or for how long, these prayers will not gain God’s approval. In fact, the Lord Jesus gave us these answers long ago. Let’s seek together on this aspect of the truth!

Why Did God Work Through the Spirit in the Age of Law?

The initial work of the three stages of God’s work was done directly by the Spirit, and not by the flesh. The final work of the three stages of God’s work, however, is done by the incarnate God, and not directly by the Spirit. The work of redemption of the intermediary stage was also done by God in the flesh. Throughout the entire management work, the most important work is man’s salvation from the influence of Satan.

I Enjoyed a Rich Banquet

June 25 and 26 were unforgettable days. Our Zhejiang region experienced a huge event, with most region leaders and workers seized by the great red dragon. Only a few of us escaped unscathed and, our hearts full of gratitude, we made a secret oath to God: to cooperate well with the work to follow. Subsequently we started the hectic work of dealing with the aftermath. And after almost a month, the arrangements were approaching completion. That month was a hot one, and while we suffered physically our hearts were content, as our work proceeded smoothly right under the nose of the great red dragon. When the work was complete I unwittingly found myself in a state of self-satisfaction, thinking how clever I was to have arranged the work so well. What a capable worker I was! And it was at this time that God visited His chastisement and judgment upon me …

Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?

Hello brothers and sisters of Spiritual Q&A,

All over the whole world, the believers in Jesus have been divided into many denominations. In mainland China alone, there is the Justification by Faith, the Charismatic Church, the Shouters, the Great Praise Church, the Three Grades of Servants Church, the True Jesus Church, and so on. I can’t understand it. Since we all believe in the Lord Jesus and read the same Bible, why do so many denominations appear? Can we gain the Lord’s approval by believing in the Lord this way?