9 A Brief Talk on “What Having Reality Is”

Si’en Fuxin City, Liaoning Province

Many times God has required us to be a person who has reality. Then, what are the manifestations of “having reality”? Some leaders or workers think that they have reality because they have meetings with the brothers and sisters every day fellowshipping about the truth and have resolved many of their passive states and many difficulties in the church. Some of the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel think that they have reality because they can speak about the three stages of God’s works quite clearly and have caused many people to accept God’s new work. Some brothers and sisters think that they have reality in the truth of living out humanity because they pay much attention to their living out of humanity before the religious people or when they newly arrive at a host home and have received favorable comments and praise from them. Other brothers and sisters think that they have reality because they have written several acceptable sermons or communication articles on the experience of life. And still other brothers and sisters think that they have reality because they have never committed any serious transgressions or have never outwardly done anything that obviously offends God or resists God, and besides, the brothers and sisters also have a good opinion of them.

8 Remove the Place for Man from Our Heart and Let It Be Occupied by God

Bai Jie Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province

At present, in many of us there exists a state of looking up to man and adoring our leaders. For example, we exert ourselves and are conscientious in performing our duties, because we do not want our leaders to worry about us, because we want our leaders to receive fewer dealings, or because we want to win honor for our leaders. No matter what we do, we do it for our leaders, for our leaders’ good. When staying with our leaders, we carefully watch their every act and move and imitate them. When we fall into a bad state or encounter a difficulty, instead of coming before God to seek the truth, we immediately think of our leaders and feel that if our leaders can come and fellowship with us, our problem will certainly be resolved; we rely on man far more than on God. And what is even worse, some brothers and sisters wish they could be with the leader X when disaster comes, for they think that he will be able to help them whenever they become passive in the disaster and thus they will certainly be able to stand the testimony. … All these manifestations show that in us there exists a state of looking up to man and adoring man.

7 On How to Achieve Results in Reading God’s Word

Lu Ming Nanyang City, Henan Province

When God is incarnated in the end time, he does the work of the word, and through the word, he conquers man, perfects man, and gains man. If we want to be saved and gained by God, the most fundamental thing is to read God’s word. However, now most brothers and sisters are still unable to achieve the due results in reading God’s word, so they are slow in life entering in. Although they have believed in God for several years, they have not understood much truth, even less gained the transformation of their life disposition. Then, how can we achieve results in reading God’s word?

6 We Should Know the Significance of God’s Raising Up the Man Used by the Holy Spirit

He Yi Zhuanghe City, Liaoning Province

In “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Keep” it is stipulated: “In the work or the church affairs, apart from obeying God, you should take orders from the man used by the Holy Spirit in everything and should not disobey any of them but should obey them absolutely. Do not analyze whether they are right or wrong. Whether they are right or wrong has nothing to do with you. You should just obey them absolutely.” However, many people do not understand why God requires us to absolutely obey the man used by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, some of them do not value at all the work of the man used by the Holy Spirit, always thinking that the man used by the Holy Spirit is after all a man and not God, so the work he does is not likely in complete accordance with God’s will and is not necessarily one hundred percent reliable and correct. With such a thought, some are simply unwilling to read the fellowships and preachings of the man used by the Holy Spirit, thinking that they would rather read more of God’s word than “The Fellowship of the Man” if they have time. Others, even though they read “The Fellowship of the Man,” simply skim over it, making no attempt to understand the truth or God’s will from it. And still others only know that no matter whether the word of God fits their notions, they should accept and obey it and should not pass judgment on it recklessly. But as to the fellowship of the man used by the Holy Spirit, if they find in it anything that does not fit their notions, they cannot accept it, and they dare to judge and criticize it at will, saying, “How could the man used by the Holy Spirit speak like this? How could he use some popular sayings, such as, ‘to see whether it is a horse or mule, just let it have a race,’ ‘Pig fights against a demon—can do nothing,’ and so on?” And when any work arrangement does not fit their notions, they have doubts for fear that it may be from man’s will. For example, on the stipulations about expelling and purging people, many of them had this thought: “God’s will is to save man to the utmost. Could these stipulations about expelling people be in accordance with God’s will?” Also when the work arrangement required that people be classified into different groups for meetings, they again had a thought: “If this is carried out, won’t those who do not pursue fall? Isn’t it devoid of love? Could this be God’s will? Isn’t it likely to be a method thought up by the man used by the Holy Spirit?” We have such attitudes toward and opinions about the work of the man used by the Holy Spirit mainly because of three reasons: the first is that we do not understand the substance of the work of the man used by the Holy Spirit, the second is that we do not understand why God raises up the man used by the Holy Spirit, and the third is that we do not know the nature and the consequences of not accepting the work of the man used by the Holy Spirit.

5 We Should Truly Accept the Chastisement and Judgment of God’s word

Danchun Luoyang City, Henan Province

We all know that what God does in the end time is the work of chastising and judging by the word, and that only if one truly accepts the chastisement and judgment of God’s word can he gain the transformation of his disposition and be saved by God. Then, what does it mean to truly accept the chastisement and judgment of God’s word? Some people think: Now I have no notions about God’s word. Whatever God’s word says is right, and I have no opinions about it; whatever God says I acknowledge. This means that I have accepted the chastisement and judgment of God’s word. Some think: Now I can know in God’s word that I am arrogant, crafty, and devoid of conscience and sense, and that I have been too deeply corrupted by satan. This means that I have accepted the chastisement and judgment of God’s word. Still some think: I can know in God’s word what kind of people God likes, what kind of people God hates, what kind of people God perfects, and what kind of people God eliminates. This means that I have accepted the chastisement and judgment of God’s word. Actually, these are only our own imagined standards and are not in accordance with the truth.

4 It Is Most Crucial to Pursue the Truth While Believing in God

Kang Rong Anqing City, Anhui Province

Now, brothers and sisters generally have such states: Those who lead the church only care to go around the church without being idle; those who preach the gospel only pay attention to gaining people; those who do general affairs only busy themselves with doing them properly; those who do hosting only think of hosting the brothers and sisters properly; those who cannot perform duties just keep attending meetings regularly without leaving God’s family. In short, those who perform duties only desire to get things done, and those who cannot perform duties are content merely with attending meetings; none pays attention to eating and drinking God’s word, to pursuing the truth, and to their personal life entering in. People all think in their notions that pursuing the truth is not important, and that as long as they perform their duty properly and do not leave God’s family, they can be saved and left.

3 One Cannot Step Onto Peter’s Path Only by Willing to Take It

Yang Jing Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province

After Almighty God revealed to men the outcomes of Peter and Paul, a lot of people thought in their heart: I must take the way of Peter and never take the way of Paul. And they believed that as long as they were willing in their heart to take the way of Peter they could step onto it. Therefore, many of them took the good aspect of what they did as the sign of their having stepped onto the way of Peter. For example, some people thought that their having followed Almighty God and gained some knowledge of themselves meant they had stepped onto the way of Peter. Some thought that their having practiced some truths meant they had stepped onto the way of Peter. Some thought that their having some good behavior outwardly and often calling upon God in imitation of Peter’s prayers meant they had stepped onto the way of Peter. Others thought that their reading God’s word every day and being able to speak a little knowledge of it and know themselves in light of it meant they had stepped onto the way of Peter. Still others thought that, because they shed tears whenever God’s love was talked about, they had had love for God and had stepped onto the way of Peter. Furthermore, there were those who thought that as long as they ate and drank God’s word diligently at home without working or running around outside, they were walking the way of Peter. Up to today, however, no real manifestations of Peter’s pursuing the truth and life can be seen in us. What we live out is still our oldness and our naturalness. Then, how can we say that we are walking the way of Peter? Actually, truly stepping onto the way of Peter is not as simple and easy as we have imagined and thought.

2 Why We Should Pay Attention to Knowing Ourselves

Gan’en Luoyang City, Henan Province

In the course of our believing in God, many of us brothers and sisters pay attention only to working and performing duties, and very few of us pay attention to knowing ourselves. Many times when we fellowship in a meeting about the topic concerning knowing ourselves, some brothers and sisters have questions and resistance in their heart: Since we believe in God, we just believe in God. If I am assigned to do hosting, I will do hosting; if I am assigned to preach the gospel, I will preach the gospel. I will do whatever I am assigned to do and practice in whatever way I am required to practice. I submit to the arrangements of God’s family and also perform my duty. Isn’t it good enough if I do not make mistakes in performing my duty? Why always fellowship about knowing ourselves? What is knowing myself to do with my believing in God? Can I do well in believing in God if I know myself? Even some leaders also think: The work arrangements have stated the principles of all aspects of the work very clearly. Isn’t it good enough if we do not work against the work arrangements but carry out the work according to the requirements in them without changing them? Why must we know ourselves?

1 How to Pursue to Be an Honest Person

Miaoxiao Anyang City, Henan Province

In the past, when reading in God’s word that we were required to be an honest person, many brothers and sisters thought that it was not hard to be an honest person and that as long as one told the truth without cheating others in everything, he was an honest person. Most people did not meditate or seek whether they had lived up to the standards of an honest person, and even less did they pay attention to entering into being an honest person. Thus, the matter of practicing being an honest person was shelved. Recently, through the man’s fellowship “The Four Indices People Have to Grasp in Pursuing the Truth to Gain the Transformation of Their Disposition,” we have clearly realized the importance and crucialness of being an honest person, knowing that being an honest person is the prerequisite and the foundation for the transformation of our disposition and is the start of pursuing the transformation of our disposition. Because God likes honest people and loathes crafty people, only if we begin by practicing and entering into being an honest person will we be able to establish a normal relationship with God, and will we easily communicate with God and receive the working of the Holy Spirit. If we have no entering in in being an honest person, we cannot have transformation of our disposition, even less can we be saved and perfected by God.

Returning to Life From the Brink of Death

By Yang Mei, China

In 2007 I suddenly fell ill with chronic renal failure. On being told the news, my Christian mother and sister-in-law, and some Catholic friends all came to visit me to preach the gospel to me. They all told me that I only had to go to God and my illness would be cured. But I didn’t believe in God at all. I thought that illness could only be cured through scientific medical treatment, and that any disease that couldn’t be cured by science was incurable. After all, was there any power on earth greater than the power of science? Faith in God was just a form of psychological crutch, and I was an upstanding state school teacher, a person who was educated and cultured, so there was no way I’d start believing in God. So I turned them down and started looking around for medical treatment. Within a few years I’d been to virtually every large hospital in my home county and throughout the province, but my condition didn’t improve. In fact, it was getting worse, but I stubbornly clung to my own way of looking at the situation and insisted that science could change anything and that curing illness was just a question of finding the right process.

Back From the Brink

By Zhao Guangming

At the beginning of the 1980s, I was in my 30s and was working for an architectural design company. I considered myself to be young and fit, treated people with loyalty and respect, and did my work responsibly. My architect skills were also top-notch, and I was sure that I was going places in the company and that once my career really took off I would be living like a prince. This was my goal and so I stayed with the company and worked hard for many years. But despite my impeccable caliber, in both character and professional skills, my efforts never seemed to be recognized by the company, which is something I never understood. The top salary grade in our company was grade 6, but my salary never got above grade 3. I watched a number of colleagues, who had neither my skills nor my time served in the company, get pay raises, but it never happened to me. I was puzzled and resentful about why they got raises and I didn’t. Finally, one of the colleagues who I got along with quite well gave me a tip: “In this company, the most important thing is to butter up the manager by giving him gifts at Chinese New Year and other festivals.” On hearing this, I finally understood the real reason why I had been overlooked by the company, and the injustice of it made me furious. But although I hated those ass kissers in the company, and had even less time for the colleagues who did little work but still got ahead by using underhand methods, I needed to firm up my standing and so I had to adapt to these unwritten rules. So the next time Chinese New Year came along I “expressed my heartfelt good wishes” to the manager and was immediately promoted to team leader.

I Have Come Home

By Chu Keen Pong, Malaysia

I have believed in the Lord for more than ten years and served in the church for two years, then left the church to go abroad for work. I have been to many places including Singapore and have earned a lot of money, but in this existence in modern society, where the strong prey on the weak, and where people compete with and scheme against each other, where each person tries to outdo the other in treachery, I have faced innumerable complex interpersonal relations and was always on my guard against others. They were also on their guard against me, and this gave me the feeling the whole time in the depths of my heart that I couldn’t find any stable ground to stand on. This way of life made me feel exhausted in body and spirit. The only thing that offered me any consolation was the diary I carried with me in which I kept some pages of scriptures I had excerpted. Sometimes I would read them and they would fill in the emptiness in my spirit. Even though I hadn’t gone to a church gathering in many years, since last year I just had one thing in mind: to find a church in which I could serve the Lord in earnest. After that, I took advantage of some free time to go to large and small churches in Malaysia but I always went there happy and left feeling discouraged. I always felt I was lacking something inside, but I could never figure out exactly what it was. In this contradictory state, I went to another extreme, just playing video games online and watching movies, sometimes playing all night or watching one movie after another. My work and sleep schedule were a mess. When I first started doing this I was somewhat conscious that the Lord was displeased with me, but I gradually became numb. It was just at that time that I lost my cell phone. At the time, I complained inwardly about it. My cell phone was lost, and with it a lot of data was gone, and I had no way to log in to Facebook…. On the surface, this was a bad thing, but I never expected that it would be a turning point for my life. It was just like the Chinese proverb, “An old man loses his horse, but who knows what good fortune will come?”

The Storm of Divorce Quelled

By Lu Xi, Japan

In 2015, a friend of mine got me to start believing in Almighty God. After receiving Almighty God’s work of the last days, I hungrily devoured the word of God, and through it came to understand many mysteries of the truth that I had not known before, such as: God’s work of saving mankind is divided into three stages, how God carries out His work in every stage, the connection between the three stages of work, what the incarnation is, and why God must become flesh. This made me even more certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. Since I had the guidance of God’s words, I no longer passed the time by watching TV like I had in the past, and my husband said to me: “Your faith in God has got you reading, that’s better than watching Korean soap operas every day. It really makes me happy.” Although my husband didn’t go to assemblies, he had always believed there was a God since his mother was a believer—he also supported my faith in God. Ordinarily, whenever I’d gain some sort of enlightenment from God’s word I would share it with my husband, and he also approved of having faith. Later on, my husband got curious as to why I was always mentioning “Almighty God” when it was the Lord Jesus that his mother believed in, and so he went online to find out about The Church of Almighty God. But unexpectedly, what he saw was that the Internet was rife with rumors, false testimony and blasphemy against Almighty God. He was deeply poisoned by this and started to oppose my faith in Almighty God. Since I had read the word of Almighty God and heard the fellowship and testimonies of brothers and sisters, I was already certain in my heart that Almighty God is the one true God, and I knew that those things online were just rumors and lies meant to deceive people. However, my husband was taken in by the rumors and failed to understand the reality of the situation, no matter how I tried to persuade him and give him testimony on God’s work in the last days, he wouldn’t listen.

The Storm Caused at Home by the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case

Enhui, China

I’m an ordinary country woman, and I would often be weighed down by the strenuous burdens of the household. Because of this, my temperament became quite violent, and my husband and I were always at each other’s throats day in and day out. Our lives simply couldn’t go on like that. Whenever I was suffering, I would yell, “Heavens! Please save me!” In 2013, the work of Almighty God in the last days chanced upon me. Through reading the word of God and attending gatherings with brothers and sisters, I became certain that Almighty God had been the God whom I had cried out to in my suffering, and then gladly accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days.

Coming Home

By Muyi, South Korea

“God’s love overflowing is freely given to man, God’s love is around him. Man, innocent and pure, without a care to tie him down, lives in bliss in the eyes of God. … If you are a person of conscience and with humanity, you will feel warm, being cared for and loved, you will feel blessed with happiness” (“How Important God’s Love for Man Is” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Every time I start to sing this hymn of the word of God, it’s hard to keep down the emotions stirring inside me. That is because I was once far astray from God and went against Him. I was like a lost sheep, unable to find the road home, and it was God’s steadfast love that led me to return home. In what follows, I wish to share my experience of returning to God’s house with both those brothers and sisters who are part of the Lord as well as those friends who have not yet turned to God.

I Have Come to Know How to Distinguish Between the True Christ and False Christs

Chuanyang, United States

In 2010, the winter in the United States made me feel very cold. In addition to the bitter cold from the combination of wind and snow, what was even more serious was that my heart had been invaded and attacked by a “cold wave.” For those of us in the interior decorating business, winter is the hardest time of the year, because once winter starts there is very little work. We even face losing our jobs. This year was my first year in the United States, I was fresh off the boat, and I felt that everything was unfamiliar to me. Renting an apartment, finding a job, nothing was easy, and my days were full of hardships. It got to the point to where I was borrowing money to rent an apartment. Being faced with this kind of predicament put me in a bout of sadness, and I felt like the days were really hard to bear. At night I faced the ice-cold wall, with so much pain in me that all I wanted to do was cry. One day, as I walked around listlessly in my state of sadness someone who was spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus handed out a card to me, and said: “The Lord Jesus loves you, brother, come to our church and listen to the Lord’s gospel!” I thought to myself: I guess there’s nothing I have to do right now, so there’s no harm in me going to listen to this, I might as well, it’s something to do. So like that, I stepped into the church. I heard the pastor read aloud the Lord Jesus saying: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jhn 3:16). When I heard this sentence I felt deeply moved by the Lord’s love. I cannot clearly explain the kind of feeling it was, but I could feel that the Lord’s love was real, and that it surpassed the love of the entire secular world. My grief-laden heart felt greatly consoled. As a result, I decided to dedicate myself to putting trust in the Lord Jesus. Afterward I started enthusiastically participating in meetings every Sunday, and because of my enthusiastic pursuit I quickly became a co-worker in the church.

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.

I Have Found a True Home

By Yang Yang, United States

When I was three years old, my father passed away. At that time, my mother had just given birth to my younger brother, and my grandma, owing to superstition, said that it was my mother and younger brother who had caused my father’s death. For lack of a better option, mom had to take my younger brother to her father’s house to live, so from the start of my earliest memories I was living together with my grandpa and grandma. Although my grandpa and grandma treated me well, I still felt lonely and really wanted to be together with my mom and little brother. I longed for the same kind of motherly love that other kids received. Really, what I was asking for wasn’t much—all I wanted was a true family, a mother who loved me dearly, who could share her true feelings with me. But even this small ask turned into an extravagant hope, as I was only able to see my mom on the weekends. Whenever I had trouble at school, mom was never there by my side either; I was like a small patch of grass by the side of the road that nobody showed any interest in. Over time, I became very self-abased, I held everything back in my heart and was unable to take the initiative to interact with others. When I was 16, some people in my village went abroad for work, and the idea tempted me. I thought to myself: My situation at home isn’t very good. If I were to go abroad, then I could earn my own living, and even give some of my earnings to my family. That way I could help my family live a little better.

After Listening With My Heart, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return (Audio Essay)

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. Every Chinese New Year, she would burn incense and worship Buddha. However, after my mother started to believe in the Lord Jesus, I no longer had to smell the whiff of burnt Joss paper and incense. That day, the American pastor told me a story about the Lord Jesus. Soon after, I was brought to the bathroom and before I could react, “plop,” the pastor had dunked my head into the bathtub and after a moment, pulled my head out. All I heard was my mother and the pastor telling me, “Welcome to the embrace of the Lord Jesus. We are all lost sheep.” In this way, I started a new life journey before I knew it. However, because the Lord was with me, my heart was very happy. Afterward, each Sunday, I would go to church to worship and listen to the pastor talk about Bible stories and read from the scriptures. I was very happy all along. My heart was steadfast and I felt that believing in the Lord Jesus was truly a good thing.

I Found the True Light – second coming of Jesus

I was born in a Catholic family. Since I was little, I attended Mass at church with my grandparents. Due to the influence of my environment and my belief in God, I learned to chant many different scriptures and practice various rituals.