Through the sister’s fellowship, I understood: The reason why I maintained my own view “In the Bible, there is eternal life,” and refused to accept all the words expressed by God in the last days is because I equated the Bible with God and placed the Bible above all else, even above God, so that I used the Bible to replace God’s present work. In addition, I also realized: In the past, my faith was not in God, but in the Bible. So, what I worshiped and exalted was the Bible, which had become my “Lord” and “God.” I really was too foolish in believing in God.
Seeing I had gained some understanding, the brothers and sisters let me read a passage of God’s words, “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life, and will never be able to gain the perpetual way of life. … The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old? And how can the words of youryellowed books carry you across into a new age? How can they lead you to seek the steps of God’s work? And how can they take you up to heaven? What you hold in your hands is the letters that can provide but temporary solace, not the truths that are capable of giving life. The scriptures you read are that which can only enrich your tongue, not words of wisdom that can help you know human life, much less the ways that can lead you to perfection. Does this discrepancy not give you cause for reflection? Does it not allow you to understand the mysteries contained within? Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own? Without the coming of God, can you take yourself into heaven to enjoy family happiness with God? Are you still dreaming now? I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming, and look at who is working now, at who is now carrying out the work of saving man during the last days. If you do not, you shall never gain the truth, and shall never gain life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). After I read God’s words, Sister Jiang fellowshiped a lot. From God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I understood another reason why I believed that I would gain the eternal life as long as I held on to the Bible was because I had no knowledge of the inside story of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament of the Bible is a record of God’s work in the Age of Law. During this age, God asked people to keep the laws and commandments, and the result of God’s work was to make people know what sin was. Meanwhile, by the laws and commandments, God led mankind to have a normal life on the earth and learn to serve and worship Him. However, God doing so was not for the purpose of solving the problem of man’s sins so as to change his life. The New Testament is a record of God’s work in the Age of Grace. God mainly expressed the truth about man’s redemption, asking people to confess their sins and repent to the Lord, to be patient, humble and forgiving to others, to love enemies, and so on. These were the ways for man to repent. After believing in the Lord Jesus, we can have some changes in our behaviors, such as not fighting, swearing, stealing, or robbing, etc. Nevertheless, our sinful nature still exists within us, so that we often sin and judge, disobey and resist God. The result of sin is death. So the problem of our sinful nature must be solved, with the result that we can cast off our sins and corrupt disposition. When we thoroughly get cleansed and transformed without committing sins and resisting God and have God’s words as our life, then we gain eternal life. The way of eternal life means the way being able to bestow us life. Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has expressed all of the truth to judge and cleanse man. These truths can become our life, and have our life disposition transformed completely. Therefore, eternal life is given to us by Christ of the last days. Holding on to the Bible just means holding on to God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, namely, holding on to history and lifeless letters. Like this, we cannot keep up with God’s footsteps; instead, we are divorced from His present work. If we only hold fast on to the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, then we can only gain the truth of confessing our sins and repenting from the Bible. Because in the Bible we can never find the truth about how to change our life disposition and separate from our satanic disposition, which is expressed by Christ of the last days. As a result, we cannot gain eternal life.
After understanding this, I was refreshed, and felt much more brightened within. However, I suddenly thought of the following words of the Lord Jesus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him” (John 3:36). At the moment, I felt confused again. It seemed that by believing in the Lord Jesus we still could get eternal life. I consulted brothers and sisters on my doubt. Sister Liu fellowshiped, “The Lord Jesus spoke these words to let us know He is able to bestow man eternal life and rise man from the dead. The resurrection of Lazarus is a practical illustration. The Lord Jesus had His intention in speaking and doing like this: He allowed man to know He has the unique authority of God, and that He is entirely God Himself and the manifestation of the only true God at work, who created the heavens and earth and all things. Thus man could obey, follow Him, and gain His redemption. The Lord Jesus has the authority to give man eternal life. This is without question. But He just did the work of redeeming mankind, and didn’t grant the way of eternal life during the Age of Grace. As the work of expressing the truth and bestowing upon man the way of eternal life will be done when He comes again in the last days. Just as the Lord Jesus prophesied, ‘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’ (John 16:12-13). Almighty God is the flesh worn by the Spirit of truth, the body in which the Spirit of the Lord Jesus returns. Almighty God brings the truth for us to be purified and saved. His words are the way of enabling us to cast away our satanic disposition and commit no more sins. This is the way of eternal life. When we understand and gain the truth through Almighty God’s words, so that we can escape from the influence of Satan, be fully purified by Him, and no longer disobey or resist Him but truly obey Him, then we can be saved. This means gaining eternal life. When the Lord Jesus said, ‘He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life’, these words refer to believing in Christ. That is, we should accept the work and words of Christ, the incarnate Son of man. The way of eternal life is given to man by Christ in the last days, who is God incarnate again. If we believe in the Bible but don’t believe in Christ in the flesh, that is, if we believe in some vague and unseen God up in heaven, then we cannot gain eternal life. Just as Almighty God says, ‘Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that the people who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be despised by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, which none may bypass. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You must not just think of gaining blessings without receiving the truth, or accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God’ (‘Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life’).”
After I listened to God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, my doubt was answered thoroughly. I felt enlightened, as if I stepped into the sun. At the same time, I even more tasted God’s great love and salvation to me. If God hadn’t sent the brothers and sisters to fellowship with me patiently again and again, and hadn’t disciplined or reminded me, I still would have insisted on my own notions and imagination, losing the chance to seek for eternal life. But for Almighty God’s disclosure of the mysteries in the Bible, I would have not known the fact that there is no eternal life in the Bible even though believing in God in religion for a lifetime, but rather would have put too much blind faith in the Bible, adored it, idolized it, and treated it as God to worship, without knowing how long I would have been foolish. So many times did I not want to hear the brothers and sisters’ fellowship because of my arrogant and conceited nature, so that I repeatedly missed the opportunities to follow Almighty God and gain life. It could be seen that I really was blind and ignorant. I wasted so much precious time, as well as delayed so many lives of my brothers and sisters. I really was a sinner. However, God didn’t treat me according to my transgressions, but chastened and led me with His loving hand to awaken me. I am willing to make a full confession and accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. And I also would like to cooperate and bear witness to God’s kingdom gospel to bring my brothers and sisters truly believing in God and loving the truth before God, so that we can pursue the truth and gain life together. I will comfort God’s heart and repay His love this way.
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