I’m Yang Laidi, sixty-two years old this year. In 1985, because my husband had health problems, our family believed in the Lord. At the meetings, the preacher always said to us: “The Bible says: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Romans 10:10). Therefore, as long as we believe in our hearts and confess in our mouths and don’t deny the Lord’s name at any time, then we will be saved.” I always bore in mind the word, thinking as long as I upheld it, I was sure I could be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven.
In the twinkling of an eye, it was in 2003. The church was getting more and more desolate, the preacher always gave us the old sermons, brothers and sisters could not get the supply of life, so that many of them went to work away from home. Seeing this situation, my confidence became weaker and weaker. As well as driven by life, my husband and I went to another place to run a snack bar. One day in September, a female customer about forty years old (Xiaolian) came for breakfast. During our chatting, I knew that she was a believer, too. I felt very happy in my heart due to meet a believer in such a strange place. Unluckily, it happened that the restaurant was crowded with customers at that time. After a few words, she went away. Before she left, she gave me a small recorder and told me to listen to it when I was free, which was helpful to my spiritual life. As I had nothing to do in the evening, I turned on the recorder and heard someone reciting: “‘The Savior’ Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” Hearing that, I felt startled. Does “the Savior” not refer to the Lord Jesus? Does “return” mean the Lord Jesus’ coming back? I listened carefully again, and heard that “When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth”. I felt startled again: “Isn’t Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” the world has been turned upside down? Won’t God destroy the world? Has the Lord come back? What on earth is the matter?
Two days later, Sister Xiaolian came again. After sitting down, she said to me: “Elder sister, today I come here to tell you a piece of good news. The Lord Jesus has already come back. He has done a stage of work of judging, chastising and purifying man. The recital records are the words expressed by the Lord after He has come back.” I said surprisingly: “What? Has the Lord returned? Has He done a stage of work of judging, chastising and purifying man?” I can’t figure it out. The Bible says clearly: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Romans 10:10). So long as we believe in our hearts and confess in our mouths and we don’t deny the Lord’s name at any time, won’t we be saved? When the Lord has returned, can’t we enter the kingdom of heaven? If God does a stage of work of judgment and chastisement, then won’t the prophecy fail?” Xiaolian explained it to me patiently: “Elder sister, ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation,’ it means people will not be condemned by the Law, for they believed in the Lord Jesus. That is to say, so long as people accept the cross salvation of the Lord Jesus, God will not remember the transgressions of man, which can be considered to be saved. But that the Lord Jesus has forgiven man’s sin doesn’t represent that people can enter the kingdom of heaven. Elder sister, do you remember the Lord Jesus once said: ‘Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21). This shows us that the condition of entering the kingdom of heaven is as long as we do the will of the Father can we enter. It’s not that those only believe in their hearts and confess in their mouths can enter the kingdom of heaven. Among believers in the Lord, there are true believers and false ones. The true believers can do the will of the Father, while the false ones only believe orally, call the Lord Jesus’ name externally, but never practice the Lord’s word. Such people like this are evildoers in the eyes of the Lord, they can’t enter the kingdom of heaven at all.” Hearing Xiaolian’s fellowship, I felt it’s reasonable. The standard by which man judges man entering the kingdom is totally different from the standard of God’s. Since we believe in God, we should practice the Lord’s word. It is impossible to enter the kingdom for those who only believe in hearts and confess in mouths. But why does God have to do the work of judgment, chastisement and purification in the last days?
In view of my problem, Xiaolian fellowshipped with me again: “Although we accepted the salvation of the Lord Jesus and our sins were forgiven by the Lord, our sinful nature still remains within us. We still lead the fallen life of sinning in the day and confessing in the evening, and can’t break free from the bondage of sins. The Bible says, ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). God is Holy. He doesn’t allow the impure to enter His kingdom. In order to solve the problem of our committing sins, God does a stage of work of judgment and chastisement in the last days. His intention is to purify our sinful nature and make us be cleansed to enter the kingdom of heaven. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s word.” At that moment, Xiaolian took out a book of God’s word from her bag, reading: “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then she fellowshipped: “God speaks very clearly in His word. Although our sins are forgiven, we haven’t changed a bit. So we are still the sinners and always sinning as before and we haven’t attained sanctity. Almighty God has come. He wishes to save us from the sins, make us be cleansed and be taken to the kingdom of heaven, so that we can directly inherit God’s inheritance” Hearing God’s word and Xiaolian’s fellowship, I couldn’t help thinking in my heart: Does this book really comprise God’s word? The Lord’s second coming is a great event for believers! I have to investigate it carefully. So I asked her to leave the book for me.
After she left, as soon as I was free, I opened the book to read. The more I read it, the more I felt pleased. Before long, my husband and I went home for the New Year. After returning home, I couldn’t wait to tell the great news of the Lord Jesus’ returning to my aunt who was also a believer of the Lord. After she heard my fellowship, she said in surprise: “Have you believed in the Eastern Lighting? Now only the believers of the Eastern Lighting are spreading that the Lord has come back. I don’t believe it. We can enter the kingdom of heaven as long as we confess that the Lord Jesus is our Savior. Don’t listen to others arbitrarily, in case that you are deceived.” I advised her, saying: “I have read the book of the Eastern Lighting, in which there are many words of judging and exposing man. They are accordant with the facts and in which there are also many practical ways. You can make a decision after investigating it.” But she said self-confidently: “I have no need to do so. I have believed in the Lord for many years and read the Bible a lot. Why haven’t I seen the Lord says He will come to do His judgment work in the last days? There is no biblical basis at all.” Hearing her words, I plunged into conflict, and in great turmoil, thinking: Today we still live in the fallen life of sinning in the day and confessing in the evening and we can’t extricate ourselves from it, so that we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. It is absolutely right that we need God to judge and cleanse us indeed. But why isn’t my aunt unwilling to investigate? Even more, she said the judgment work of God had no biblical basis. Are there any prophecies in the Bible on earth? At this moment, my heart was in turmoil and I didn’t know who was right and who was wrong …
After I went back home, I prayed to God: “O God! I don’t know what to do next. I am very afraid right now. In case that the ‘Eastern Lighting’ is Your return, but I don’t accept and close You outside the door, I am doing evil. If this way isn’t right, but I accept, I will offend You as well. O God! May You lead me.” After prayer, I opened the book and saw a passage of Almighty God’s word, saying: “Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons were already planted within him. After thousands of years of Satan’s corruption, man already has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than redemption, where man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before being worthy to serve God. Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words are completely accordant with the fact. We have been corrupted by Satan and are committing sins day after day. If we escape from being purified by God, no one can come before God. The words are right. But they have no biblical basis. Anyhow, I can’t decide it blindly. I have to go back to ask Xiaolian for it.
After the New Year, I, together with my husband went back to our restaurant, and I prayed to God: “O God! Now I’m not sure whether the way is true or false. If the way is from You, may You touch Xiaolian to come here soon so that I can ask her about it.” In the next morning, I heard someone knocking at our roller shutter. When I opened the door, Ah, it was Xiaolian. I felt a frisson of surprise in my heart, thinking: God indeed heard my prayer. Hardly had she sat down when I asked her hurriedly: “You said that God does His work judging and purifying man. I feel it is right, but is there any biblical basis? I’m not quite sure. I’d like You to fellowship it with me once again.” She said with a smile: “Elder sister, of course, there is biblical basis. In the Bible there are more than two hundred verses predict that God will do His judgment work in the last days. The most obvious verses are a few such as: in John 5:22 God says: ‘For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son….’ In John 5:27: ‘And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.’ In John 12:48: ‘He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.’ These verses show us very plainly. The judgment work isn’t done by ‘the Father,’ God’s spirit, but is entrusted to ‘the Son,’ the incarnate Son of man. However, the Lord Jesus just does His salvation work in the flesh but not the judgment work. Until in the last days when the Lord has come again, He will do His judgment work through His sermons. Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ second coming. The work He has done is the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. The words in this book are the personal utterances of Almighty God, and are the words of judging and chastising man. Therefore, the judgment work of Almighty God has done in the last days just has fulfilled the prophecies that the Lord Jesus said. Let’s read Almighty God’s word.
God says: ‘In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God’ (‘Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister, through expressing the truths Almighty God judges and discloses mankind’s substance and true fact deeply corrupted by Satan, exposes the root of committing sins and resisting God and thoroughly reveal the essence of corrupt mankind. When experiencing the judgment of God’s word, we saw that we were deeply corrupted by Satan, so we all have many corrupt dispositions such as arrogant and haughty, crooked and deceitful, evil and greedy. Compared with the facts and God’s word, we were completely convinced of God’s judgment work, and began to hate ourselves, fell before God repenting and confessing sins to God and made up our mind to pursue the truths and change ourselves, in the end, we could get rid of our sinful natures and live as a human being and compatible with God.”
Hearing her fellowship, I utterly convinced and confessed: We really need God to do a stage of work of judgment and chastisement, or not, we will live in a cycle of sinning in the day and confessing in the evening, and never break free from the bondage of sin. God’s judging work in the last days is the greatest salvation for mankind. So I accepted Almighty God’s judgment work. Later, through brothers and sisters’ watering for a period, I understood the truths of God incarnate and three stages of God’s work, which made me confident completely Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ return and finally, and lay the foundation in the God’s work of the last days. I didn’t hold the viewpoint that only believing in heart and confessing in mouth can enter the kingdom of heaven, while I began to accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, pursue the truths and try my best to achieve a change in my disposition soon. Only those who have changed their disposition can enter the kingdom of heaven.
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