What Is the Meaning of Christmas, and Are You Truly Worshiping the Lord Jesus?

By Siyuan

The Origins of Christmas

Every year, as Christmas approaches, shops on the street arrange a dazzling display of Christmas presents, with Santa Claus and Christmas trees, and so on. Festooned in trees and on buildings there are many-colored lights, and whole cities are decorated with lanterns and colored hangings, and everywhere there is joy and excitement. To Christianity, Christmas is a very special holiday, and several months before Christmas, many churches will begin to busy themselves preparing everything necessary for the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Day, the churches are filled, and brothers and sisters get involved in the celebrations, eating Christmas dinner, putting on performances and worshiping the Lord Jesus, and so on. Everyone’s face is flushed with happiness. However, when we get together in joyous gatherings to celebrate the Lord Jesus’ birth, do we understand the meaning of Christmas? Perhaps brothers and sisters will say, “The Lord Jesus was nailed upon the cross to redeem all mankind, and so as to remember and celebrate the Lord Jesus’ birth, Christians established Christmas. Though the specific day on which the Lord Jesus was born is not recorded in the Bible, Christmas gradually became a universal holiday in the wake of the expansion of Jesus Christ’s gospel.” We may have known this, but do we know God’s love and His will for us that was actually hidden behind the birth of the Lord Jesus? And how should we approach Christmas in a way that is after the Lord’s heart?

Why Is the Religious World Always Frantically Resisting and Condemning God’s New Work? | Brushing Away the Fog to See the True Light | Eastern Lightning

Religious World Frantically Resisting and Condemning God’s New Work

Why Is the Religious World Always Frantically Resisting and Condemning God’s New Work?

The two times that God has become flesh to walk the earth and carry out the work of saving man He has been met with the utmost resistance, condemnation and frantic persecution from leaders in the religious world, a fact that has puzzled and even shocked people: Why is it that every time God unfolds a stage of new work He is always met with this kind of treatment? Why is it that those who most frantically and aggressively resist God are the religious leaders who read the Bible over and over again and who have served God for many years? Why is it that those religious leaders that people see as being the most devout, the most faithful and the most obedient to God are actually unable to be compatible with God, and instead are always acting perverse and being enemies of God?

After Listening with My Heart, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return | Eastern Lightning

Thank Almighty God’s salvation

After Listening with My Heart, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return

August 18, 2017     Max, United States

In 1994, I was born in the United States. My parents are both Chinese. My mother was the classic example of a successful career woman. She is able to think for herself and is very competent. I love my mother very much. When I was in Grade 2, my parents brought me back to China to study so that I would be able to learn Chinese. It was also at that time that I started to get acquainted with the Lord Jesus. I remember one day in 2004, after I got home from school, there was a guest at our house. My mother introduced her and told me that she was a pastor from the United States. I was very happy because that was when I found out that my mother had believed in the Lord Jesus for some time. Before, she did not believe.

Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus |Ironclad Proofs of God’s Words Conquering Denominations’ and Sects’ Leaders

The Church of Almighty God |Almighty God is the Return Jesus

Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus

Wang Yang

Guichi City, Anhui Province

I was formerly a leader of the Justification by Faith Church in the city of Guichi. Before I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, I, like all brothers and sisters, had been eagerly expecting the Lord Jesus’ coming again. But because of the constant “warnings” from the senior leader above and the biblical verse that there will surely appear many false Christs in the last days, I became one who resisted and condemned God’s work of the last days. Thinking of these, I feel very guilty. Now, I will tell brothers and sisters my personal experience, hoping that brothers and sisters will learn a lesson from it and come back to God’s family soon.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven | The Return of a Prodigal Son

Ruth, United States

I was born in a small town in southern China, and starting from my paternal great-grandmother’s generation, our family has believed in the Lord. Stories from the Bible, hymns of worship and ecclesiastical music in the church accompanied me as I passed through the happy days of my childhood. As I started getting older, pressure grew in my studies, and in my heart I started to slowly grow distant from the Lord. However, the Lord never left me, whenever I would call out for Him, He would help me. The grace and holy name of the Lord Jesus are rooted deep within my heart. I remember in the year I took the college entrance exam that no one thought I’d be able to test into a good college, and this included my teachers. Amidst all these setbacks I nearly gave up all hope, and I too thought that I certainly would not be able to test into the college I wanted to get into. But I inadvertently recalled a phrase I heard in the church in my childhood: “When people have reached their limit, that’s when God begins,” and in a flash it was as if I’d been enlightened: That’s right, my extremity is God’s opportunity, the Lord’s abilities are the greatest, I believe that as long as I sincerely rely on the Lord then He will certainly help me. Thereupon, I often prayed to the Lord Jesus: “Oh Lord, please help me, if I’m able to test into the college of my dreams without a hitch then starting from today I promise I will never shun You, and I will accept You as my only Savior in this life.” At the same time, I also paid a price that a normal person would be unable to imagine, during my entire senior year of high school, besides when I was eating and sleeping, I was practicing the piano. I was basically keeping up 10 to 12 hours of practice a day. I didn’t know where this strength was coming from that was supporting me, but I thought that it must be the Lord listening to my prayers and secretly helping me, and in my heart I gave more thanks to the Lord. In the end, I was awarded with my long-cherished wish by testing into one of the top music academies in the country, and as a result I believed firmly that the Lord Jesus was my only Savior. In my fourth year of college I didn’t know what path I should take after graduating, so I called on the Lord Jesus and asked the Lord to show me the way and set up a path for me to take. In 2004, shortly after America had gone through the 9/11 terrorist attack, when almost all visas for entry into America were frozen, I was relying on a music CD that I had recorded professionally for myself, and to my surprise I received a full-ride scholarship to a university in America. On top of that, I got a student visa without a hitch and went to America to pursue my studies. After experiencing these two events—testing into college and going abroad—I saw that the Lord had helped me to achieve goals that I would not have been able to achieve by relying solely on myself, and I was of even firmer conviction that the Lord Jesus is the true God and that He is my Savior, and I need to properly practice my faith in the Lord and follow the Lord.

How Should We Welcome the Return of Jesus?

How Should We Welcome the Return of Jesus?

I have been expecting the return of the Lord Jesus since I believed in Him. I believe that every true believer in the Lord longs for His return and even more hopes to hear His words. Then, how should we welcome the return of Jesus?

Questions and Answers on the Inside Story of the Bible

Question 1: I have studied the Bible for more than 20 years. I can be certain that there is no word of God outside of the Bible. All of God’s word is in the Bible. Anything that violates or goes beyond the Bible is heresy and fallacy!

Answer: “There is no word of God outside of the Bible, anything that goes beyond the Bible is heresy,” people who understand the Bible all know the process through which the Bible was formed. Because of the disputes and omissions of the editors at the time, a part of God’s word conveyed by prophets was not recorded in the Old Testament. This is an openly accepted fact. So how can you say that God's work and word don’t exist outside of the Bible?

The Church of Almighty God | The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven | Saved in a Different Way

By Huang Lin, China

I used to be an ordinary believer in the Pentecostal Church, and ever since I started believing in the Lord I never once missed a meeting. In particular, it was now the time of the last days and the prophecies in the Bible about the Lord’s return had basically been fulfilled. The Lord would soon return, and so I attended meetings even more enthusiastically, eagerly looking forward to His return, lest I miss my chance to meet with the Lord.

How Was I Conquered by the Word of God | Only Almighty God’s Word Can Save Me

Almighty God Saved Me

 Only Almighty God’s Word Can Save Me

Xiao Lian

Xuancheng City, Anhui Province

Since I believed in Jesus, I had often read the Bible and memorized its verses, and the Bible had become my faithful companion. I held the view that God could only be found in the Bible, God would never work beyond the Bible, and whoever departed from the Bible was not a believer in God. So, for fifteen years, I took the Bible as the treasure, and I even put it at the head of my bed when I slept at night, which in my view meant that God would be with me. However, I had never expected that when God’s work of the last days came upon me, I resisted and condemned it with the Bible for six years, and actually became a Pharisee of the present age.

I remembered that one day in 1996, a sister came to preach Almighty God’s gospel of the last days to me. But before she finished her words, I said, “It’s false. Who doesn’t read the Bible as a believer in God? Go away! I won’t believe in anything apart from the Bible.” With that, I pushed her out of the door. Later, many more people came to preach the gospel of the last days to me, but I held fast to the Bible and drove all of them away without seeking or investigating.

Testimonies of Returning to God | That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1)

 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 Church of Almighty God | A Different Kind of Love

A Different Kind of Love

Chengxin, Brazil

By a chance opportunity in 2011, I came to Brazil from China. When I had just arrived, my eyes were overflowing with fresh and new experiences, curiosity, and I had a beautiful feeling about the future. But after a short time, this fresh and new feeling was quickly replaced by the loneliness and pain of finding myself in a far-off foreign land. Every day I went back home all alone, ate by myself, looking at the walls around me every day without anyone even to talk to, and I felt especially lonely in my heart, often crying all alone.When I felt the most pain and helpless, the Lord Jesus brought me into a gathering by means of a friend. Through reading the word of the Lord, singing hymns, and praying in gatherings, my lonely heart received the consolation of the Lord.

The Origin of the Eastern Lightning’s Prosperity | Brushing Away the Fog to See the True Light

The Origin of the Eastern Lightning’s Prosperity

The Origin of the Eastern Lightning’s Prosperity

Each and every time the Eastern Lightning is mentioned, many brothers and sisters in the Lord feel perplexed: Why is it that as the religious community as a whole becomes increasingly desolate and degenerate, as each denomination becomes increasingly guarded and conservative in condemning and banishing the Eastern Lightning, not only is the Eastern Lightning not becoming desolate and ebbing, but surging like unstoppable billows, sweeping across mainland China? Now that it has even expanded beyond China’s borders to foreign countries and regions, as it is being accepted by more and more people worldwide?

Eastern Lightning |The Church of Almighty God |Question 1: The Lord Jesus has already returned and has a new name. He is Almighty God....

The Church of Almighty God| Almighty God's Word

IV Questions and Answers About How to Identify the Voice of God

Question 1: The Lord Jesus has already returned and has a new name. He is Almighty God. The Word Appears in the Flesh expressed by Almighty God is the voice of the bridegroom. Yet many brothers and sisters are still unable to discern the voice of God. Today we have invited the preachers from the Church of Almighty God to fellowship with us about how to identify the voice of God. So we’ll know how to ascertain that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.

Eastern Lightning | I Am Following the Footsteps of the Lamb

I Am Following the Footsteps of the Lamb

Shen Ai, Singapore

When I was 18 years old my mother got ill, and so she started believing in the Lord Jesus. At the time, I knew the Lord Jesus’ name but didn’t understand anything about faith in the Lord. It was quite a coincidence that I later went to work for a company where most of the employees were Christians. Through interacting with them, I saw how they treated people with love and patience, and I came to believe that Christians were a pretty good bunch of people.

The Church of Almighty God | The Lord Has Appeared in the East

The Lord Has Appeared in the East

Qiu Zhen, China

One day, my sister phoned me and said that she was back from the north and that she had something important to tell me. She asked me to come over right away. I had a feeling about what might have happened and went to my sister’s house after the phone call. As soon as I entered and saw that my sister was reading a book, I felt relieved. My sister saw that I had arrived, suddenly stood up and said: “Sister! This time in the north I got some good news: The Lord Jesus has returned!”

Song About Jesus | "Emulate the Lord Jesus" | Jesus Christ Is My Beloved

Introduction

Song About Jesus | "Emulate the Lord Jesus" | Jesus Christ Is My Beloved

I

Jesus completed God’s mission,

the redemption work of all man

by giving His cares to God’s will,

without selfish purpose or plans.

At the center He placed God’s plan.

To heavenly Father He prayed,

seeking heavenly Father’s will.

He would seek and He’d always pray.

If like Jesus you give all your cares to God

and turn your back to flesh,

God will trust you with vital tasks

to enable you to serve Him.

How I Nearly Became a Foolish Virgin

How I Nearly Became a Foolish Virgin

Li Fang, China

In the fall of 2002, Sister Zhao from my denomination, the Church of Truth, brought her niece, Sister Wang, to my home to tell me some great news that the Lord has come back. After a few days of reading the words of Almighty God and listening to the sister’s detailed fellowship, I understood that from the creation of the world until now God has performed three stages of work in order to save mankind. Other truths that I also came to know were God’s adoption of a different name during each stage of the work, the significance of God’s name for each age, and the mystery of God’s incarnation, etc. These truths really allowed me to open my eyes wide and see my fill. I said to myself: “It all sounds crystal clear, and Almighty God very probably is the returned Lord Jesus so I’d better make sure I grasp this chance and read more of Almighty God’s words.” Before leaving, Sister Wang left some books of God’s words for me. Whenever I had time during the day, I read God’s words. The more I read the more I loved reading them and the more I felt that they were the words of God. After three days I became anxious. I thought: “My son, who is also a believer, and many brothers and sisters in our church still don’t know this great news about the return of the Lord. I’d better hurry up and tell them.”

The Lord Jesus Christ Is Come | The Voice of God | Christian Movie Trailer "Knocking at the Door"

Introduction

The Lord Jesus Christ Is Come | The Voice of God | Christian Movie Trailer "Knocking at the Door"

Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus prophesied, "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him" (Matthew 25:6). "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20).

Eastern Lightning | The Tabernacle of God Is With Men

The Tabernacle of God Is With Men

Editors’ Note: Many brothers and sisters long for the day when they can be raised up into heaven and can meet the Lord, and this is the greatest dream of everyone who believes in the Lord. But it is prophesied in Revelation: “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them….” This passage of scripture says that the kingdom of God will come on earth, so will we go up to heaven in the future, or will we be reunited with the Lord on earth? We trust you would all like to know the answer to this question. Today, we recommend a sister’s experiences for you to read, and we believe that, when you have finished reading it, you will all reap the harvest.

The Consequence and the Outcome of Rejecting God’s Work of Judgment in the Last Days

All people who have experienced God’s last days work can clearly see that only when deeply corrupted mankind experiences God’s judgment and chastisement will they be able to attain true knowledge of God’s righteous disposition, and obtain changes in life disposition. Only in this way can mankind follow the will of the heavenly Father, exert all their effort for the utmost expansion of the kingdom gospel, and have a share in the adversities, kingdom and patience of Christ. Only in this way can mankind be eligible to enter the kingdom of heaven. The backwardness and corruption of all those believers in the Lord Jesus who have not accepted God’s judgment and chastisement of the last days and remain in the Age of Grace are mainly expressed in the following ten aspects: