Holding Fast to the Letters of the Bible, I Became a Pharisee of the Present Age
Xu Weixin
Dalian City, Liaoning Province
I was once a leader in the Pentecostal Church in Dalian Development Zone. On September 30, 2002, I accepted Almighty God’s new work of the last days. It was God’s great love that had saved me. Otherwise I would still be running on the path of resisting God and not repent. Thank Almighty God for His salvation to me, which made me have a fresh start and step on a new journey in life.
In 1997, our family believed in the Lord Jesus (The Great Light Church) due to my mother’s sickness. My mother got healed miraculously after that. Thereafter, encouraged by the love of the Lord, we went here and there preaching the gospel, giving witness to the wonderful deeds of the Lord Jesus. It gave a good result. And I, out of fervent pursuit, was chosen as a church deacon later and began to go around the churches preaching and shepherding.
I. Having Listened to the Rumors and Believed the Lies, I Blindly Resisted God;
For “Guarding the Church” and “Defending the Way,” I Shut Out the Lord.
Wang Haijun
Shenyang City, Liaoning Province
I am Wang Haijun, formerly a preacher in the “Justification by Faith Church.” Like other brothers and sisters, I believed in God for the purpose of going to heaven and gaining eternal life, and I served God for the purpose of gaining the crown of righteousness. While I was earnestly expecting the Lord to return to reward me, I actually shut the door on the Lord and became one who resisted God, because I was foolish and ignorant and believed the rumors.
In 1999, a copy of the material called The Inside Story of the Eastern Lightning was circulated from some other church to our church. It said that “the Eastern Lightning” was a cult and a heresy, that their book contained a magic drug, and that once one read it, he would be bewitched. It said that those people had evil spirits in them, and that once one listened to their fellowship, he would be deceived into joining them. It also said that “the Eastern Lightning” was an underworld organization, that if one joined it, he couldn’t withdraw, and that those who had withdrawn either had their legs broken or their noses cut off. I swallowed everything in that material without thinking and publicized it wildly. Besides, I established in the church the rules to guard against “the Lightning”: No one is allowed to have contact with “the Eastern Lightning,” or listen to their fellowship, or read their books. If any outside believer comes, bring him to the church, and no one is allowed to receive him privately. Any violator must offer a sincere prayer of repentance. He will be disciplined or excommunicated according to how deeply he has been “poisoned.” The outside believers can only listen and not preach.
Song Ruiming was a pastor of a certain churchin South Korea. Over many years of his belief in the Lord, he had been pursuing fervently, spending and working for the Lord, waiting for the Lord to come and rapture him to the kingdom of heaven. However, in recent years, what laid before him was the increasingly desolate church that lost the work of the Holy Spirit: The preachers had nothing new to talk about, and believers were all weak and passive. At the crucial point of welcoming the Lord’s return, the religious world was subject to such a fierce famine. Song Ruiming felt confused and lost for this situation. Right at that time, a repatriated missionary who had ever evangelized in China told him something about a rising church in China—the Eastern Lightning: The Eastern Lightning is testifying that the Lord Jesus has come back and that He is Almighty God, and they are frenziedly condemned and resisted by the CCP government and the religious world.
Under a starry, quiet and peaceful night sky, a group of Christians earnestly awaiting the return of the Savior sing and dance to cheerful music. When they hear the joyful news “God has returned” and “God has uttered new words”, they are surprised and excited. They think: “God has returned? He has already appeared?!” With curiosity and uncertainty, one after another, they step into the journey of seeking God’s new words. In their arduous seeking, some people are questioning while others simply accept it. Some people look on without comment, while others make suggestions and search for answers in the Bible—they look but in the end it is fruitless…. Just when they become discouraged, a witness brings them a copy of the Bible of the Age of Kingdom, and they are deeply attracted to the words in the book. What kind of book is this really? Have they actually found the new words that God has uttered in that book? Have they welcomed the appearance of God?
Every Nation Worships The Practical God
God says, “Did you not desire greatly to see the God in heaven? Did you not desire greatly to understand the God in heaven? Did you not desire greatly to see the destination of mankind? He will tell you all these secrets that no man has been able to tell you, and He will even tell you of the truths that you do not understand. He is your gate into the kingdom, and your guide into the new age” (The Word Appears in the Flesh).
The Church of Almighty God | A Confession from Christian
A Confession
Yang Xiaohui
Jiyuan City, Henan Province
I—a great sinner guilty beyond forgiveness!
Before God I have committed monstrous sins. I resisted the Almighty God’s end-time work by every possible means all along. I even condemned and blasphemed God’s flesh, burned up the book of the Almighty God’s word, and beat, abused, and insulted the brothers and sisters many times who preached God’s new work. However, the Almighty God, who is full of mercy and love, did not put me to death but stretched out his hand of salvation and gave me the opportunity to be saved. Today, facing God’s grace of salvation, I am in floods of tears and overwhelmed with sorrow and regret….
I am Yang Xiaohui, formerly a co-worker of the Praise Church. In 1996, when I was studying in Wen County, the leader told us, “Now false christs and deceivers run rampant. A cult called ‘the Eastern Lightning’ is preaching everywhere that God has returned in the flesh as a female. They deny the Bible and say that God has done the new work and spoken the new word, and that new word is the opened little scroll. They also say that only the little scroll can sanctify man. What they preach victimizes people deeply. Once you listen to their preaching or read their book, you will be deceived. At some place, the whole church which consists of seventy to eighty believers has been deceived into joining them. Moreover, they pay special attention to deceiving leaders. They can receive 500 yuan whenever they convert one person. If you want to back out after accepting what they preach, they will cut off your ears, gouge out your eyes, or beat you up with sticks. So, everyone must guard the gate of our church carefully. Don’t receive anyone who is not sent by our church.” At these words, I was so frightened that my hair stood on end. I felt that “the Eastern Lightning” was too terrible, and at the same time, I had resistance in my heart: “It’s nonsense that the little scroll can sanctify man. If one does not hold on to the Bible, he cannot become holy even if he eats the little scroll!” From then on, I had an irreconcilable hatred for “the Eastern Lightning” and began my evil deeds of resisting God.
Cheng Huize is a co-worker at a house church in China. She has believed in the Lord for many years, and has worked for the Lord with unwavering enthusiasm. She takes on a lot of responsibilities for the church, and she has compassion for her brothers and sisters. As her church grew more and more desolate with each passing day, the wickedness in her church were more and more frequent. The pastor energetically proposed that the church should start a factory, and led the followers down the path to wealth, and also enticed them to join the Three-Self Church so they could rely on help from the Chinese government. This caused a fierce debate to unfold. The pastor stubbornly acted in his own individual interests and did not hesitate to divide the church, leading the believers down the wrong path. Cheng Huize and a few others held fast to the way of the Lord, and fiercely opposed the church becoming a factory and joining the Three-Self Church. Although the elders at the church expressed that they were opposed to this, they only did so to protect their own status and livelihood.
God’s Discipline Made Me Examine Myself; God’s Word Conquered Me
Zhang Congxian
Fuyang City, Anhui Province
I was formerly a leader in the Born Again Church. Since 1997, the believers in the Almighty God had been constantly preaching the gospel to me, no matter whether it was windy or rainy, extremely hot or bitterly cold, daytime or nighttime. However, I always retorted upon them, saying, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ you preach is a female Christ. Don’t deceive me. Moreover, you cannot deceive me. I have searched the whole Bible. It never says that God will be incarnated the second time, much less as a female Christ. You say that God has been incarnated the second time. It is a deceitful lie and is purely a heresy, a cult! Believers in God should take the Bible as the standard. Anything apart from the Bible is not to be believed. Even if you come ten thousand times, I absolutely will not accept!” And I often used Alarm Bell (a handbook printed by our Born Again Church specially for blaspheming and resisting the Almighty God’s end-time work) to seal the churches and said to the brothers and sisters many times, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy, a cult. Take strict precautions against it! None of you can receive them or dispute with them, because you cannot match them in dispute. Even less should you listen to them. Once you listen, you will be deceived, and once you go in, you cannot get out. They even cut off others’ noses, gouge out others’ eyes, and commit sexual immorality. They are the ones who drag people into hell and into the lake of fire. … Only our Born Again Church is the true way. The Lord has promised us that once saved always saved, and he will definitely come and take us to heaven. We absolutely cannot accept ‘the Eastern Lightning’!” In this way, I condemned and resisted the Almighty God’s end-time work all along.
The Name : Every Nation Worships the Practical God
Genres : Musical Drama
Subtitle : Chinese、English
Storyline : Under a starry, quiet and peaceful night sky, a group of Christians earnestly awaiting the return of the Savior sing and dance to cheerful music. When they hear the joyful news “God has returned” and “God has uttered new words”, they are surprised and excited. They think: “God has returned? He has already appeared?!” With curiosity and uncertainty, one after another, they step into the journey of seeking God’s new words. In their arduous seeking, some people are questioning while others simply accept it. Some people look on without comment, while others make suggestions and search for answers in the Bible—they look but in the end it is fruitless…. Just when they become discouraged, a witness brings them a copy of the Bible of the Age of Kingdom, and they are deeply attracted to the words in the book. What kind of book is this really? Have they actually found the new words that God has uttered in that book? Have they welcomed the appearance of God?
One time, the Chinese Communist government captured many Christians of the Church of Almighty God from a particular location late at night. This matter caused a huge commotion locally. It triggered discussions amongst the members of the Three-Self Church. Some people believed that the Eastern Lightning has suffered the Chinese Communist government's cruel suppression and persecution. It is too dangerous to believe in the Eastern Lightning, and it is safest to believe in the Three-Self Church. They will not suffer hardships and they will be able to enter the heavenly kingdom. Other people believed that the Eastern Lightning is indeed the true way, but the persecution and arrest it faces is too severe. If they were to believe, they thought that it is better to believe in secret. Once the Chinese Communist government topples, they can believe openly in Almighty God. Some people had investigated the Eastern Lightning and yet, they believed that the Eastern Lightning spreads the gospel and bears witness to the Lord with no regard to life or death and that they are praised by God. They thought that the people who hide inside the Three-Self Church are cowardly people who drift through life without purpose and that they are not worthy to enter into the heavenly kingdom. … After this heated discussion, was everyone able to know what kind of people are praised by the Lord and whether the fearful can enter into the heavenly kingdom?
From in The Cowardly Cannot Enter the Kingdom of Heaven | "The Three-Self Church Is My Umbrella"
Testimonies of Returning to God | That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1)
Tian Ying
I used to be a believer in the Three-Self Church in China. When I first started participating in gatherings, the pastors would often say to us: “Brothers and sisters, it is recorded in the Bible that: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10). We’ve been justified due to our faith. Since we believe in Jesus, we have been saved. If we believed in any other, then we wouldn’t have been saved….” I held on to these words of the pastors. As a result, I ardently pursued and actively attended gatherings as I waited for the Lord to come and let me into the kingdom of heaven. Later on, as unlawful deeds kept occurring in the church, it made me feel fed up with the gatherings there. Among the pastors they were divided and partitioned, each trying to establish themselves at the top of the faction and set up independent kingdoms. The sermons from the pastors needed to obey the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The UFWD didn’t allow them to discuss the Book of Revelation out of fear that it would disturb popular sentiment, so the pastors didn’t preach it. The pastors would often preach about donation, saying that the more one donated then the more blessings they would receive from God…. So when I saw that these were the circumstances in the church I felt quite bewildered: Why did the church change into this current form? Do the pastors not believe in the Lord? Why do they not follow the Lord’s word? Why do they not have a heart of reverence for the Lord? From that point on I no longer wanted to go to gatherings at the Three-Self Church, for I felt that they did not truly believe in God, that they were false shepherds who acted in the name of believing in God in order to obtain the hard-earned money from brothers and sisters.
The Confession of a Person Who Frenziedly Resisted Almighty God
Zhao Tingting
Xuchang City, Henan Province
A baseless rumor spread that “the people of the ‘Eastern Lightning’ cut off others’ ears or gouge out their eyes.” After hearing it, I, who was foolish and ignorant and without any discernment, began to act as a daring vanguard of resisting God with the Bible in my hand. However, in the years of competing with the “Eastern Lightning,” I not only didn’t hinder the surging waves of Almighty God’s work from advancing, but I exposed my ugly face in God’s light thoroughly and suffered punishment from God. Recalling the past events, I’m really extremely ashamed.
Almighty God’s Chastening Woke Up the Disobedient Me
Zhao Kaiyang
Zhumadian City, Henan Province
I started to believe in the Lord in the “Three-Self sect” in 1986. In 1990, I turned to the local church, the “Praise Church,” and became a leader. In June of 1999, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. When I think back to my past, I am terribly ashamed of myself. Because I was blind, ignorant, and didn’t know God, I committed a mortal sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. But fortunately, Almighty God chastened and disciplined me in a timely manner, so that I woke up and returned before His throne.
I was formerly a steward of the “Tambourines Playing and Dancing Church.” I began to lead a vagrant life at the age of 17, and by the age of 19, I had learned many fighting skills. In 1994, I got tuberculosis, and my wife deserted me, leaving me the child who was less than three years old. I sank into an utter despair, and attempted several times to commit suicide but was rescued. When I lost courage and came to a dead end, the Lord accepted me as His follower.
Cheng Huize is a co-worker at a house church in China. She has believed in the Lord for many years, and has worked for the Lord with unwavering enthusiasm. She takes on a lot of responsibilities for the church, and she has compassion for her brothers and sisters. As her church grew more and more desolate with each passing day, the wickedness in her church were more and more frequent. The pastor energetically proposed that the church should start a factory, and led the followers down the path to wealth, and also enticed them to join the Three-Self Church so they could rely on help from the Chinese Communist government. This caused a fierce debate to unfold. The pastor stubbornly acted in his own individual interests and did not hesitate to divide the church, leading the believers down the wrong path. Cheng Huize and a few others held fast to the way of the Lord, and fiercely opposed the church becoming a factory and joining the Three-Self Church.
Cheng Huize is a co-worker at a house church in China. She has believed in the Lord for many years, and has worked for the Lord with unwavering enthusiasm. She takes on a lot of responsibilities for the church, and she has compassion for her brothers and sisters. As her church grew more and more desolate with each passing day, the wickedness in her church were more and more frequent. The pastor energetically proposed that the church should start a factory, and led the followers down the path to wealth, and also enticed them to join the Three-Self Church so they could rely on help from the Chinese government. This caused a fierce debate to unfold. The pastor stubbornly acted in his own individual interests and did not hesitate to divide the church, leading the believers down the wrong path. Cheng Huize and a few others held fast to the way of the Lord, and fiercely opposed the church becoming a factory and joining the Three-Self Church. Although the elders at the church expressed that they were opposed to this, they only did so to protect their own status and livelihood. Even though the pastor and elders were all harboring secrets in their hearts, locked in constant strife for their own fame and profit, fighting out of envy, when they saw that most of the good sheep and leading sheep in the church had investigated the Eastern Lightning and turned to Almighty God one by one, they joined together with the Chinese government and fought to repress the Eastern Lightning, blocking the believers from coming to study the Eastern Lightning, urging the followers to report them to the police. They set an example by reporting and arresting the brothers and sisters preaching the kingdom gospel.
Zhong Xin is a preacher at a house church in Mainland China. He has believed in the Lord for many years, and has been suffering capture and persecution of the CCP. He hates the CCP deeply and has already seen clearly that the CCP is a satanic regime treating God as its enemy. In recent years, he has seen that the Chinese Communist government and the religious world have persisted in wildly condemning, capturing, and persecuting the Church of the Eastern Lightning. But the Eastern Lightning not only survives, but also continues to thrive and grow.
The Church of Almighty God | How a Son of Disobedience Was Conquered by the Almighty God
How a Son of Disobedience Was Conquered by the Almighty God
Sun Yongping
Datong City, Shanxi Province
I am Sun Yongping, formerly a co-worker of a house church. Because I was single, without family burdens, and was willing to pursue to make progress, the church paid special attention to training me. So I often had chances to work and study in other places. In recent years, every time I went to work out of town, I came back loaded with rumors about “the Eastern Lightning.” Unconsciously, I was deeply poisoned. Especially after I read a book called Refute the Cult the Eastern Lightning, I was more encouraged to resist the Almighty God. Without verification or investigation, I had a strong aversion and hostility to this “way” that I knew nothing about. So, I joined others in rebuking and refuting “the Eastern Lightning,” and even mobilized all the brothers and sisters to curse “the Eastern Lightning” in their daily prayers. Meanwhile, I also heard the rumors say, “The means of ‘the Eastern Lightning’ is extremely cruel. If you do not accept what they preach, they will use violence on you, such as gouging out your eyes, cutting off your nose, or cutting off your ears. Besides, they will seduce you with beauty or buy you off with money. And as long as you accept their ‘way,’ they will give you whatever you lack. …” Soon those rumors were spread everywhere. The entire religious world accepted them to be true. And I felt more hatred, hostility, and fear toward this “way.” All day long I lived in dread, fearing that I might “lose my footing” and fall into the “trap” of “the Eastern Lightning.”
My name is Liu Feng. I had been a deacon of a branch of the True JesusChurch.
It is Almighty God’s great grace and mercy that I can have today. According to my past doings, I didn’t deserve God’s salvation but only His curse. I condemned and blasphemed God’s new work of the last days, and shadowed and spied on its preachers, attempting to stop the spreading of Almighty God’s gospel and put all those preachers to death. However, God didn’t treat me according to my evils but saved me to the utmost. So that, I, who had bitterly struggled in evils, returned to God’s family at last.
Christ of the last days has been doing His work in mainland China for over 20 years, work which has shaken the various religious sects to their core. The most perplexing question for the religious community during this time has been: Most pastors and elders in the religious community have done their utmost to judge and attack the Eastern Lightning through various means such as spreading rumors about and defaming the Eastern Lightning. Furthermore, they have even sealed off their churches and even gone so far as colluding with the CCP government to arrest and persecute the Christians in the Church of Almighty God. But while under the frantic condemnation, resistance, and persecution by the CCP government and the religious world acting as two arms of Satan’s forces, why are there more and more believers from various denominations and sects accepting and following Almighty God? Why is it those who have good humanity and used to have sincere belief in the Lord are willing to follow Almighty God to the very end?
