Xiyue, Japan
Later on, when I met with brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God I looked to them for answers to these two questions. Sister Huixin fellowshiped to me: “God created mankind, He gave us the air we breathe, and He gave us life. In order to allow us to live an even better existence, He gave us everything. We are breathing air created by God, enjoying sunshine and rain given to us by God and eating meals with all kinds of fruits and vegetables given to us by God. We are creatures, it is proper and right to believe in God and worship God. It’s just like children being obedient to their parents. We should not emphasize conditions or try to make deals, nor should we demand God’s grace and blessing. No matter whether we receive blessings or misfortune we should always believe in God and worship God. This is how it was with Job, it was because of his faith that he received blessings, but it was also because of his faith that he came across trials and calamities, but he was always able to praise God, so Job’s faith attained the praise of God.” Through this sister’s fellowship I finally came to some understanding of how man was created by God, how believing in God is proper and right, how it’s just like children being obedient to their parents, how we shouldn’t emphasize conditions, and how no matter whether or not God blesses us, we should always believe in God and worship God. Thinking about these things, I said to the sister: “I’m willing to set aside my conceptions to examine Almighty God’s word and work.” Sister Guo replied: “Thanks be to God! As long as we thirst to seek in our hearts, God will enlighten and guide us, allowing us to see His appearance in the word of God. On The Church of Almighty God’s website you can read more of the word of God and there are also gospel videos and music videos….” As she was saying this she opened the Gospel of the Descent of Kingdom web page and had me look at the content on The Church of Almighty God’s website. I was pleasantly surprised: Wow! There were so many videos and movies! They even had collections of the word of God and hymn videos of God’s word, and testimony articles of brothers and sisters…. It really was abundant, a feast for the eyes. I didn’t know where to start. As I was browsing the web page, one movie — Awakening From the Dream — really caught my attention, and its content really was great. This film remains fresh in my memory to this day. The main character, holding on to her childhood dream of entering the kingdom of heaven through her faith in the Lord, followed the Lord, working for the Lord, spending and sacrificing for Him, but when the Lord returned to express the truth and carry out the work of judgment in the last days, she held on to her convictions and did not accept God’s new work, holding on to her dream of being raptured into the kingdom of heaven. Through fellowships about the truth by sisters from The Church of Almighty God, she came to understand the mystery behind being raptured into the kingdom of heaven, and recognized that she herself was a Pharisee, that she believed in the Lord but did not welcome Him or submit to Him, and that she even resisted His arrival. Through the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, she set aside her convictions and truly turned to God to repent, shedding tears of indebtedness and guilt. This film is so real! I thought about my own experience, how I also had a childhood dream of the kingdom of heaven, and how I had imagined that one day I would wear pure white robes, grow a pair of wings and be able to fly anywhere I wanted to…. For the sake of this dream there have been so many Christians who have looked forward to the day when the Lord will come to rapture them into the kingdom of heaven, but none of them realized that this was just the dream of man, and not the actual situation of God coming to rapture us into the kingdom of heaven, because to actually be raptured means to accept God’s work in the last days and come to God!
In this film there is a scene where Sister Yang says: “Let’s read some words from Almighty God, ‘At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin’ (‘The Vision of God’s Work (2)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘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. … Though man has been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it is only considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with man’s transgressions. However, when man lives in the flesh and he has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing the corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sin and forgiveness. The majority of men sin in the day only to confess in the evening. As such, even if the sin offering is forever effective for man, it would not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has corrupt disposition’ (‘The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words of God really explain it quite clearly with no doubt. They’re so easy to understand! In the Age of Grace, Lord Jesus only did redemptive work. Man’s sins were forgiven. They were justified and saved by faith. But Lord Jesus never said that man could enter His kingdom this way. That’s because Lord Jesus had forgiven man’s sins, but not mankind’s satanic nature. Arrogance and deceit, selfishness, and evil, all these corruptions still exist within us today. And these are much deeper and more stubborn than sins. If our satanic nature of opposing God and our corruption remain unresolved, we could still commit sins not of our own volition, even worse, sins than simply violating the laws of God. We ask: Why did the Pharisees condemn the Lord Jesus and stand against Him, even nail Him to the cross? This proves to us that with man’s satanic nature, they can still disobey God, sin, and betray Him.”
Through listening to this passage from the video, I came to understand that accepting the Lord Jesus’ salvation only absolves us of our sins, it does not enable us to escape from our sinful nature, and this is the reason why once we have faith in the Lord, even if we often confess our sins and repent, we still frequently commit sins. This is because God’s work in the Age of Grace only absolved man of his sins and saved man by his faith, but there is still not a path for how to escape from our sins and be cleansed, it is still necessary for God to carry out a stage of work to eliminate our sins, only then will we be able to completely escape from the binds of our sins and be cleansed and attain salvation. I thought about myself and how if I hadn’t read Almighty God’s words of judgment and chastisement and seen God reveal man’s erroneous viewpoints on faith in God, then I wouldn’t have recognized that my intention and viewpoint to believe in God just to receive blessings were mistaken, I wouldn’t have been able to see my own corruption, I wouldn’t have recognized that my way of pursuit was an expression of my selfishness and despicableness, and I would have kept on thinking that it was okay to seek grace and blessings through faith in the Lord. In addition, although I believed in the Lord, I still followed the trends of the world, I still coveted wealth and sought to eat, drink and have fun, I still scrambled for reputation and fortune and plotted against others, I was still living in sin, unable to free myself, and I only came to some sort of understanding of these corruptions through the judgment and revelations of Almighty God’s words. I feel that God’s carrying out the work of judgment and chastisement by the word in the last days is absolutely essential, and that it really can cleanse people and save people! How else could people like me who are filthy and corrupt be qualified to enter into the kingdom of heaven?
Thanks be to God! Never in my dreams did I think when I came to Japan to find work that I would actually be welcoming the return of our Savior and witnessing the appearance of God. I started to eagerly read Almighty God’s words, actively take part in church life, and gather together with brothers and sisters to fellowship about the word of God. Whenever I had time I watched gospel movies, choir videos, music videos and other videos from The Church of Almighty God. Thanks be to God for His guidance, for I am understanding more and more truths, and my spirit is enjoying peace and stability. Nowadays I am no longer living with worries nor am I in pain, and I certainly do not have suicidal thoughts. It was the word of God that strengthened my faith and allowed me to see a bright and beautiful future. I am ready to pursue the truth along with my brothers and sisters, and to seek out how to best fulfill the duties of a creature in order to repay God’s love, for only by living in this way can I have a truly meaningful life!
Source From: I Finally Welcomed the Lord
