The Experience of Growth of a Christian Born in the 1990s(part-2)

The Experience of Growth of a Christian Born in the 1990s(part-2)

I’m so grateful to our Lord for taking pity on me and listening to my pleas. After about 2 months, one of the brothers came to my home. At the time, I was the only one at home, and out of politeness I sat with him for a while, chatting about this and that. But during our chat the brother bore witness to Almighty God’s work of the last days for me. He said that the Lord Jesus has already returned and is called Almighty God, and that He is already expressing truths to do His work of judgment starting with God’s house in the last days. The brother also said that Almighty God is going to save mankind, which has been deeply corrupted and harmed by Satan, from its sins, free mankind from Satan’s influence and take us into His kingdom, thus ending this evil age. The more I listened, the more extraordinary and stranger it seemed. I had believed in the Lord Jesus for all these years but had never heard any of this. In particular, the parts where the brother dissected the various evil phenomena now prevalent in society, schools, and religious circles and revealed their substance and true situation were all issues that I had long puzzled over. I ended up fellowshiping about all of the things that I’d seen and heard over many years with the brother. I expressed my bemusement over why schools—that were supposed to be places of innocent learning—had become dens of lies, and why churches—that were supposed to be holy places—had become dens of fakery and in-fighting. Moreover, I wanted to be an honest person, as the Lord Jesus demanded, but it was just a pipe dream, as every day my life was lived from behind a mask. With regard to my puzzlement, the brother read some passages of God’s words to me: “Satan corrupts people through the education and influence of the national governments and the famous and great. Their lies and nonsense have become man’s life and nature. ‘Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost’ is a well-known satanic saying that has been instilled into everyone and become the human life. There are some other words of life philosophy that are also like this” (“How to Know Man’s Nature” in Records of Christ’s Talks). “Cruel, brutal mankind! The conniving and intrigue, the jostling with each other, the scramble for reputation and fortune, the mutual slaughter—when will it ever end? God has spoken hundreds of thousands of words, yet no one has come to their senses. They act for the sake of their families, and sons and daughters, for their careers, prospects, status, vanity, and money, for the sake of clothes, for food and the flesh—whose actions are truly for the sake of God? Even among those whose actions are for the sake of God, there are but few who know God. How many do not act for the sake of their own interests? How many do not oppress and discriminate against others for the sake of maintaining their own status? Thus, God has been forcibly condemned to death innumerable times, countless barbaric judges have condemned God and once more nailed Him to the cross. How many can be called righteous because they truly act for the sake of God?” (“The Wicked Must Be Punished” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Why do people engage in such deceit? To achieve their own aims, and to achieve the objectives they desire. And so they adopt certain methods, which shows that they are not upstanding, and that they are not honest. At such times, people’s insidiousness and cunning is revealed, or else their maliciousness and ignobility. With these things, you feel that it is especially hard to be honest; without them, you would feel that being honest is easy. The greatest obstacles to being honest are people’s insidiousness, their deceitfulness, their maliciousness, and their ignoble motivations” (“To Be Honest, You Should Lay Yourself Open to Others” in Records of Christ’s Talks). 

The Experience of Growth of a Christian Born in the 1990s（part-1）

Wei Chen, Fujian Province

I’m a Christian who was born in the 1990s. I was once a student in one of those famous schools that all parents want their kids to study at and will go to extreme lengths to get them in. In China, they are known as key schools, and I studied in one for 10 years. In China, parents have very high expectations of such schools, and rack their brains for ways to improve their children’s chances of going to these high-quality places of learning. They think that their kids will thus gain a first-class education that will put them head and shoulders above the rest and bring glory to their family and ancestors. In order to get me into a key school, my mother pulled out all the stops to develop relationships with the right people and also spent a considerable sum of money. But the schools run by the C.C.P. have already lost all their purity of purpose and have become dens of lies and falsehoods. The teachers and staff—who should have been upstanding models of fairness, humanity and morality—have become treacherous, cunning and immoral hypocrites who are cultivating batch after batch of similarly hypocritical students, the so-called “pillars of the nation.”

Uncovering the Mystery of “Judgment”(part-2)

By En Hui, Malaysia

I used the chat room on The Church of Almighty God’s web site to leave a message telling them that I was interested in learning more about “judgment.” Someone answered me very quickly, and introduced two sisters from The Church of Almighty God who interacted with me: Liu Hui and Li Mei. In my exchanges with them, I discovered that these two sisters were open and honest and very straightforward, which made me willing to have heart-to-heart chats with them. I said to them: “I really think that The Church of Almighty God’s web sites are very good. There are all sorts of spiritual books, hymns of praise, music videos, gospel movies, recitations of God’s words, etc. There really is a lot of content, but I just don’t understand what is meant by God’s judgment. I just read ‘Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth’ which seems to say that God’s work of judgment has already begun and that the idea of judgment in heaven is just a product of human imagination. This is quite different from my usual understanding of judgment. Are you able to share your knowledge of this topic with me?”

Uncovering the Mystery of “Judgment”（part-1）

By En Hui, Malaysia

My name is En Hui and I’m 46 years old. I live in Malaysia, and I have been a believer in the Lord for 27 years. In October 2015, I moved to another city to take up a job. My new colleagues were all big fans of Facebook, which they used for chatting, finding new friends, and posting images. Seeing that I didn’t have a Facebook account they set one up for me, and I gradually learned how to go online and use it. Sometimes I would see the postings of some brothers and sisters in the Lord and I’d share them and “like” them. Sometimes I’d post things that praised the Lord or share the Lord’s grace with some of my good friends. Every day I felt that there was fulfillment in my life.

One day in February 2016 when I was browsing one of my good friend’s Facebook page I saw this posting: “We discussed the issue of judgment today in our group. We all said different things but, for the most part, agreed what it means. Someone said: ‘I don’t understand and I don’t dare say any old nonsense because it’s something that God will do in the future and we shouldn’t try and blindly guess.’ Someone else said: ‘Psalm 75:2 says “When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.” Everything that every single person does is being recorded by God, so when the Lord Jesus returns to judge all humans He will reveal our deeds to all as though playing a movie. So we should always be righteous and never do evil in order to avoid God’s judgment of being cast into hell.’ Someone else said: ‘It says in the Bible: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev 20:11–12). From the text we can see that when the Lord Jesus returns in the last days He will set up a giant desk in the sky and will sit behind it. He will then unroll a scroll on it, and, with all of mankind kneeling on the ground, call out the name of every individual and judge each of them one-by-one according to the deeds they have done. Good people will be taken up to the kingdom of heaven by the Lord, while the wicked will be cast into hell.’”

“Dream” (feat. Natalie Bergman, Ryan Merchant, Keenan O’Meara & Tal Altman)

“Dream” (feat. Natalie Bergman, Ryan Merchant, Keenan O’Meara & Tal Altman)

In this animation video for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, four animals facing extinction tell their stories through the famous song of “I Dreamed a Dream”. Whale, Pelican, Rhino and Seal in the video are pushed to end their beautiful and peaceful life, living in a human hell where they would be killed at any second.

There Is a Way to Resolve the Generation Gap(part-2)

When educating our children, we often hear parents saying: “I am your mother (I am your father), so you should listen to me. I’m doing all this for you.” Very often, it’s this kind of power control which increasingly alienates us from our children and even sours the relationship. In fact, this kind of control is not as per God’s will and is the manifestation of our arrogance. All of us are created by God, yet God is humble and hidden. He never suppresses us in his capacity as God. He does not force us to listen to His words or to act according to the truth. Nor has He said how He will treat us if we do not act according to His words. Rather, He gives us the space to choose freely. This is God’s attitude and manner toward us, created humanity. We are created beings just like our children and our status is equal. What right do we have to demand that our children listen to us and do as we demand? If we always take the position of the parent and control children with power then this is a manifestation of our arrogance, conceit and lack of reason. Children actually resent this about parents the most. If we can resolve this problem, we can get along with our children properly. How can this problem be resolved? God’s words say: “Treat your children, treat those in your own family the same as you would an ordinary brother or sister. Although you have a responsibility, a fleshly relationship, nevertheless the position and perspective you should have is the same as with friends or ordinary brothers and sisters. That is, you can’t control, you can’t restrain your children, and always try to keep in command and have complete control over them. Let them make mistakes, let them say the wrong things, let them do childish and immature things, do stupid things. No matter what happens, sit down and calmly talk with them, communicate and seek. Don’t you think this attitude is good? Isn’t it right? So, what is being let go here? (Position and pride.) It is the letting go of the position and status of a parent, the airs of a parent, and all of the responsibility one thinks they should assume, everything that one thinks they should be doing as a parent; instead, it’s enough that one does the best they can in terms of their responsibility as an ordinary brother or sister” (“What Should One Possess, at the Very Least, to Have Normal Humanity” in Records of Christ’s Talks).

There Is a Way to Resolve the Generation Gap(part-1)

Brothers and sisters,

Good day!

Recently my relationship with my son has been particularly strained. As he has grown older, the generation gap between us has got deeper and deeper. My son is now in junior high school and I am worried that he will play games online and put off studying. I am also worried about him experiencing puppy love and learning bad ways and so I often watch him. To prevent him picking up bad habits, I check whether there is anything bad on his cell phone. Unexpectedly, he was particularly angry and disgusted after he found out and even asked why I controlled him. My son’s words made me extremely sad. I am his mother. If I do not care for him who will? Isn’t my so-doing for his own good? How come he cannot understand me. He has not spoken to me for several days because of this. I feel so distressed that I can only pray to the Lord. But no matter how much I pray I cannot feel the Lord’s presence. Now I do not know what to do. A sister told me that brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God often help her overcome difficulties, so I am sending you this letter in the hope that you can help me.

In Your Experience, How Much Practical Understanding Do You Have of God’s Salvation?（part-2）

Once I had come to this realization, I felt so much stronger than I had before, and when I encountered matters that touched upon my self-regard and status, I wasn’t as frail, and I could face them somewhat correctly. But my satanic nature of pursuing status had been deeply rooted within me and it had become my life. It wasn’t something that could be utterly resolved by undergoing a few instances of judgment, chastisement, trials and refinement. In order to better purify and change me, God continued to arrange situations in which He could judge, chastise, try and refine me.

In Your Experience, How Much Practical Understanding Do You Have of God’s Salvation?（part-1）

Nannan

Since I was small, I had always had a strong desire to be better than others. No matter what group of people I was in, I always sought to be the best. While I was still at school, though I had an average mind and my grades weren’t outstanding, I studied very hard so that I wouldn’t fall behind the other students. Teachers praised me for my desire to make progress, and relatives also praised me for being such a diligent student and taking my studies so seriously. I would often feel proud of myself for receiving their praise and getting favorable comments from them, and I considered myself top of my age group. After I’d accepted God’s work in the last days, I came to understand some truths by reading God’s words and living the church life, and I saw that, no matter what disposition God expresses, whether it be mercy, lovingkindness or righteous judgment and chastisement, they are all God’s true love for man. My heart was moved and inspired by God’s love, and I felt that the only right path in life was to believe in God and seek to be perfected by God. I therefore made a resolution to pursue the truth in earnest, to give up everything and expend myself for God to repay His love. But because my deeply-rooted corrupt disposition and satanic nature had not yet been resolved, I still sought to distinguish myself and to make others look highly upon me when performing my duties. I remember one time when I was given the choice of two duties, and without any hesitation whatsoever I chose the duty that I thought would cause others to look highly upon me. Once I’d started this duty, a sense of superiority arose in my heart, so much so that I looked down on other brothers and sisters, thinking that they were only doing common duties, whereas I was performing an important duty, and that I was a person of talent in God’s family.

The Transformation of an Only Child(part-3)

Last winter I saw one of the young brothers (a 19-year old only child) rent a house by himself so that he could repair mp5 devices for free for the brothers and sisters. He also often went to help look after the poorer brothers and sisters. I heard one of the sisters say that he too was once a spoiled “little prince” who often spent many hours at a time in cyber cafes and wouldn’t go home, causing his parents to worry about him a lot. But then his mother found faith in God, and converted him, too. He then started going to youth meetings at the church and became a totally different person: One who listened to others, knew how to act, and started to love positive things.

The Transformation of an Only Child(part-2)

—Only Almighty God Can Save the Degenerate Youth of Today

Bian Hua, Yunnan Province

Although on the surface it appeared that my abnormal humanity had improved a little this certainly didn’t mean that my life disposition had changed. God wanted to transform me, to cleanse me, and so continuously arranged situations to refine me. Because my parents had spoilt me over such a long period of time I’d become especially willful and arrogant, and if anyone didn’t agree with me I would fly into a rage. Later on, God put me in other practical situations in order to resolve my corruption. At that time, I was put with over 20 brothers and sisters to complete a big task together, and there were times when living together or fulfilling our duties together that some friction or quarrels occurred. At first, I always took offence and sometimes even stormed off by myself to sulk. I’d think: “Why are they being so unreasonable? I’m clearly in the right, so why won’t they listen to me?” There was one day when one of the sisters came to me and said: “You’ve got a flaw in your character: You don’t respect other people. When others disagree with you, you walk off in a huff and even slam doors!” I stared at her dumbfounded, all the while burning with the injustice of it as I thought: “When did I ever slam doors?!” After standing my ground for a while I decided to put on a show of reluctantly accepting the criticism, but in my mind I was muttering to myself: “No, it’s all of you who are wrong but you blame me…” Because of my constantly revealing my arrogance and self-righteousness, and holding to my opinions, God prodded the brothers and sisters into dealing with me. It was like I couldn’t get on with anybody. At the time, I was very upset and that’s when I remembered God’s words about how a poor relationship with the people around you means you have a poor relationship with God.

So I calmed myself down and began to reflect on my actions. I read these words of God’s: “What is the transformation of disposition? You must be a lover of truth, accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word as you experience His work, and experience all kinds of suffering and refining, through which you are purified of the satanic poisons within you. This is the transformation in disposition” (“How to Know Man’s Nature” in Records of Christ’s Talks). 

The Transformation of an Only Child（part-1）

—Only Almighty God Can Save the Degenerate Youth of Today

Bian Hua, Yunnan Province

I started following Almighty God when I was 19 years old: As soon as I left school I joined The Church of Almighty God. I had had very little to do with society, and didn’t really know much about what was going on in it. But I did know that I totally represented one of the special characteristics of Chinese society in that I was a selfish only child.

As a result of my parents having to be subject to the Chinese government’s policy of population control, I was in the first batch of “achievements.” After I was born, everybody in my family started treating me with the care and protection deserving of a rare and precious treasure. My mother told me that in my first year I often had a fever and so my father would hold me in his arms and walk around the bedroom all night to stop me from crying. As my parents both had jobs, and so didn’t have the time to look after me, I was sent to kindergarten before the age of 2. My grandma was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to adjust, and so would often stand outside the kindergarten to see if I was crying or not, which made her often late for work. Once when the weather was very cold my mother stayed up all night knitting a warm sweater for me to wear the next day. In school my grades were always good, and having me as a high achiever was gratifying to my parents’ and grandparents’ vanity of longing to see their children succeed, giving them more reason to treat me like a precious pearl. During my school years, the first thing my father would do when he got home from work was to massage my hands to prevent them from getting tired from doing homework. In the summer when I got home after school, my mother would always get a bowl of peeled, frozen, sugary tomatoes from the fridge for me to eat. I remember one time when my parents found a teacher to teach me the pipa, a kind of Chinese lute. But after practicing some finger movements for a couple of days I got tired of it and told my parents that I wasn’t going to learn it, so my parents reluctantly conformed with my wishes. Every weekend I would go to my grandma’s house and she would always put some money in my pocket. If I told her I didn’t want it, she’d say: “Free lunch, why not? Take it. I’ll give you money as long as you come every week.” She always used to stuff my mouth with tasty treats too, and I’d eat so much that I’d get stomach ache. Thinking back on this now, I can see that Chinese parents don’t have truths and that’s why they don’t know how to educate their kids. So what did I turn into from being smothered with all this affection? I turned into a selfish, temperamental, fragile kid who had no willpower or purpose in life. I was like an invalid who sits in bed every day holding out their hand to take whatever is given and opening their mouth when it’s time to be fed, but never caring a jot for anyone else. I was totally unforgiving toward my parents, and I never accepted anyone else’s opinions. If my parents said something critical about me I’d retort with 10 times as much.

Worship Song "God's Deeds Fill the Vast Expanse of the Universe" | Praise the Return of the Lord

1. God looks down upon all things from on high, and dominates all things from on high. At the same time, God has sent His salvation over the earth. God is watching from His secret place all the time, man’s every move, everything they say and do. God knows man like the palm of His hand. The secret place is God’s abode, the firmament is the bed He lies on. Satan’s force cannot reach unto God, for He is full of majesty, righteousness, and judgment.

2. God has trodden all things with His feet, He stretches out His gaze over the universe. And God has walked among men, has tasted the sweetness and bitterness, all flavors of the human world; but men, they never truly recognized God, nor did they notice God as He walked abroad. Because God was silent, and performed no supernatural deeds, thus, no one ever truly saw Him. Things are not now as they once were: God is going to do things that, throughout the ages, the world has never seen, God is going to speak words that, throughout the ages, men have never heard, because He asks that all humanity come to know God in the flesh.

from “The Fifth Utterance” and “The Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh.

Praise and Worship Music "The One Who Holds Sovereignty Over Everything" (Christian Musical Documentary)

Christian Life | How to Appropriately Deal With Other People?

Christian Life | How to Appropriately Deal With Other People?

Sep 25, 2018

Siyuan

One day, Brother Chen in the church came to me. He said he wanted to practice spreading the gospel in his spare time and offer some of his strength to the gospel work. Due to my past interactions with Brother Chen, I knew that he had a very arrogant disposition. I had some prejudices and biases against him. Furthermore, I thought that those that spread the gospel must have a certain level of knowledge of the Bible. They must be able to communicate the truth clearly and be able to answer the questions of the gospel targets. I felt that he did not possess these qualities, and so I did not agree to it.

Only God’s Love Is Real（part-1）

Xiaodong Sichuan Province

God said, “The Chinese nation which has been corrupted for thousands of years has continued on until today. All sorts of viruses continue to expand and are spreading everywhere like the plague; just looking at people’s relationships is enough to see how many viruses are in people. It’s extremely difficult for God to develop His work in such a tightly closed and virus-infected area. People’s personalities, habits, the way they do things, everything they express in their lives and their interpersonal relationships are all broken beyond belief …” (“The Path … (6)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The revelation in God’s words made me see how Satan’s corruption makes all relationships between people abnormal, because all are based on Satan’s philosophy of life, without containing even a shred of truth. Without God’s salvation, my eyes would still be covered and my emotions entrapped, but experiencing the work of God made me understand the essence of what it means to “help one another” and showed me the truth of friendship, love, and familial affection. I saw that only God’s words are the truth, and that only by living by God’s words could we escape the influence of Satan, and that only by comporting oneself according to the truth could one live out a meaningful life.

Christian Variety Show | Testimony of the Faith of a Christian "Escaping the Cage" (2018 Crosstalk)

Christian Variety Show | Testimony of the Faith of a Christian "Escaping the Cage" (2018 Crosstalk)

Introduction

Christian Variety Show | Testimony of the Faith of a Christian "Escaping the Cage" (2018 Crosstalk)

The crosstalk Escaping the Cage tells the story of how Christian Xiaolan was persecuted and locked in her home for a month by her Communist Party official father, where she was unable to take part in church life, and her experience of escaping her home and running away. A once-happy family was split apart, a daughter left her mother, and her father held a deep grudge against her. Who was the chief architect? And who gave Xiaolan faith and strength, and led her to escape her cage and walk the correct path in life?

Recommendation：If Eastern Lightning is the true way, then what is the basis of your confirmation? We believe in the Lord Jesus because He redeemed us, but what do you use to verify that Eastern Lightning is the true way?