To Seek and Investigate Is of the Utmost Importance!

Gao Tai

In 1997, because of my frequently quarreling with my husband and mother-in-law, I believed in the Lord Jesus after the persuasion of my neighbors. When I read about the Lord Jesus’ requiring man to love his enemies and forgive others seventy times seven times, I was deeply moved. Gradually, I no longer quarreled with my husband about family trifles, nor was I upset or sad when he or his mother was bad to me. And reading the Bible become part of my daily routine. One day, I saw the Lord’s promise in the Bible, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). I then resolved in my heart: I must follow the Lord properly, so that when He comes again, He will take me to the heavenly home, where there will be no grief and tears forever. Thinking of it, my confidence even more increased.

In 2002, just as I was yearning for the Lord Jesus to take me to the heavenly home, one day, in the meeting, the preacher Chen XX said, “There appears a denomination called the Eastern Lightning now. They preach that the Lord Jesus has come back and become flesh on earth to do a new stage of work. It is absolutely impossible! As we all know, the Lord will directly take us to heaven when He comes back. But now, many zealous believers in the churches have been drawn away by the Eastern Lightning followers. After hearing their preaching, they wouldn’t get out. So, our church sets a rule that whoever sees the Eastern Lightning followers come to preach the gospel should refuse them and never listen to their preaching!” Hearing these words, I was quite frightened, and thought to myself: I must be always careful and cautious not to be dragged away by the Eastern Lightning followers.

Before long, a neighbor came to preach the gospel to me, saying the Lord Jesus has come back. I became alert at once: Is this the Eastern Lightning that our preacher mentioned to us? I can’t easily listen to what he preaches lest I should be deceived. Later, another neighbor came to my house to preach the gospel of Almighty God to my husband. But for the sake of saving face, I didn’t show him the door, and just thought: Whatever he preaches, never will I listen to him. I only believe in the Lord Jesus and will keep waiting for Him to take me to the heavenly home. Afterward, the neighbor gave my husband a book. Since then, he read it hungrily every day, seeming to be fascinated by it. And he finished reading it after only a few days. Then the neighbor gave him another thicker book, and my husband continued to read it voraciously. At the sight of this, I was very puzzled and often thought: What kind of book is it? How can it be so attractive? Never has my husband read a book so carefully.

Out of curiosity, I couldn’t help asking my husband to let me have a look at the book, wanting to know what it talked about. And he gave me the book very happily. I started to read it from beginning, and then I saw the words saying, “The Philadelphia church has taken shape, and this has been entirely due to the grace and mercy of God. The saints have brought forth their love for God and never wavered from their spiritual path. Be firm in the belief that the one true God has become flesh, that He is the Head of the universe who commands all things—this is confirmed by the Holy Spirit and is ironclad proof! It can never change! … Today You have made complete all churches—the Philadelphia church—which is the realization of Your 6,000-year management plan. The saints can now humbly be obedient in front of You; they are connected to each other in spirit and accompany each other in love. They are connected to the source of the fountain. The living water of life runs ceaselessly and it washes away and purges all the filth and sludge in the church, once again purifying Your temple. We have known the practical true God, walked within His words, recognized our own functions and duties, and done everything that we can to expend ourselves for the church. We should take every moment to be quiet in front of You and heed the work of the Holy Spirit so that Your will is not blocked in us. Among saints there is mutual love, and the strengths of some will compensate for the failings of others. Walk in the spirit at every moment and gain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit; understand the truth and put it into practice immediately; keep up with new light and follow God’s footsteps” (“The Second Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). My heart was strongly shocked by these words. I felt they carried authority and might and were full of tenderness as well. “The Philadelphia church? Am I wrong? Isn’t the Philadelphia church also mentioned in the Bible?” Then I checked it carefully again and found it was really the Philadelphia church. Immediately, I opened the Bible to make a comparison between them. And I saw the words in the Bible, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things said he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens; I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name” (Revelation 3:7-8). Looking at these verses, I thought, “Actually, the words in this book have something in common with those in Revelation. All believers in the Lord Jesus know that the words in Revelation are prophecies and no one dares to explain them at will. Only God Himself can reveal them. Can it be that God has really come back?” At that point, I felt the book was not an ordinary book and I need to read it carefully. And from then on, I was also attracted by it.

I compared the book with the Bible over and over again; in one moment I read it, and at the next moment I read the Bible. Then I noticed the words in that book, “But it was from Israel that I departed and from there arrived in the East. Only when the light of the East gradually turns white will the darkness across the earth begin to turn to light, and only then will man find that I have long ago gone from Israel and am rising anew in the East. I once descended into Israel and later departed from it. As such, I cannot once again be born there, for My work leads all of the universe and the lightning flashes from the East to the West. This is the reason I have descended in the East and brought Canaan to the people of the East. … I will let all who are in search see the light again and see the glory I had in Israel; I will let them see that I have long ago come down upon a white cloud among men, and see the countless clouds of white and clusters of fruit, and moreover, Jehovah God of Israel. I will let them see the Master of the Jews, the longed-for Messiah, and the full appearance of Me who have been persecuted by kings throughout the ages. I will do the work of the entire universe and perform great work, revealing all My glory and all My deeds to man in the last days. I shall show My full countenance of glory to those who have awaited Me for many years, to those who have longed for Me to come upon a white cloud, to Israel that has longed for Me to once again appear, and to all mankind who persecute Me, so that all will know that I have long ago taken away My glory and brought it to the East. It is not in Judea, for the last days have already come!” (“The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Kingdom Gospel Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then I look up the relevant verses in the Bible. The Bible says, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). Reading this, I couldn’t help rejoicing: “Don’t the words in the book exactly fulfill the prophecy of the Lord Jesus? No wonder the preachers don’t allow us to listen to the sermons of the Eastern Lightning followers and fear that we can’t get out once having listened to their sermons. The reason is that the words in the book are too attractive. What I have read from that book, such as the mystery about the Bible, the witness of the Holy Spirit, God’s three stages of work, God’s name, the mystery of incarnation and many other things, are those that I have never seen in the Bible and have never heard. Isn’t it wrong that the preachers forbid us to listen to the sermons of the Eastern Lightning followers? The words in the book are very likely to be God’s utterances.” So I went on reading it with a seeking heart. Meanwhile, I kept praying to the Lord in my heart, “Oh, Lord! Now I can’t be entirely sure whether these words are Your utterances. I would that You continue to guide me to understand the meaning within these words. I wish to seek Your will. If they are truly Your words, I am willing to accept, obey and follow You.”

A few days later, the preacher of our church came to my house abruptly and told me, “Now, there is a denomination called the Eastern Lightning, and its followers are stealing sheep everywhere. We should never contact those people. We have believed in the Lord for so many years, and the Lord is coming soon to take us to the heavenly home, so we can’t miss the chance!” I refuted her, “Have you ever listened to their sermons? Have you read their books? You are always saying how bad the Eastern Lightning is, but I find what their books reveal are all the mysteries of the Bible, and they don’t deviate from the Lord’s way. It is very possible that the Eastern Lightning is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Otherwise, who can reveal the prophecy in Revelation?” Before I could finish my words, she interrupted angrily: “I’m here for your own good, in case you are deceived. How very ungrateful you are!” So saying, she left in a rage.

After the preacher’s leaving, her words continued to float through my mind: “The Lord is coming soon to take us to the heavenly home, so we can’t miss the chance!” I thought: What she said is right. For when the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, He said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). It is obviously the Lord Jesus has ascended to heaven, so He should also take us to heaven. If the Lord Jesus has really come back now, why are we still on earth? What is this all about? I got confused. At the time, the sisters of the Church of Almighty God happened to come to see me, so I told them my doubts. One sister then read a passage of God’s words to me, “When God and man enter into rest together, it will mean that humanity has been saved and that Satan has been destroyed, that God’s work among man has finished entirely. God will no longer continue to work among man, and man will no longer live under Satan’s domain. Therefore, God will no longer be busy, and man will no longer rush about; God and man will enter into rest simultaneously. God will return to His original position, and each person will return to his or her respective place. These are the destinations that God and man will respectively reside in after the end of God’s entire management. God has God’s destination, and man has man’s destination. While resting, God will continue to guide all of humanity in their lives upon earth. While in God’s light, man will worship the one true God in heaven. God will no longer live among humanity, and man will also be unable to live with God in God’s destination. God and man cannot live within the same realm; rather, both have their own respective manners of living. God is the One who guides all of humanity, while all of humanity is the crystallization of God’s management work. It is humanity who is led; in regard to essence, humanity is not similar to God. To rest means to return to one’s original place. … Man’s place of rest is on earth, and God’s place of rest is in heaven. While man rests, he will worship God and also live upon earth, and while God rests, He will lead the remaining portion of humanity; He will lead them from heaven, not from earth. God will still be the Spirit, while man will still be flesh. God and man both have their different respective manners of resting” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

The words of Almighty God resolved the confusion in my heart. Turned out that God and man have different places of rest, and God’s place of rest is in heaven while man’s place of rest is on earth. It was not like what we imagined, that God would take us to live in heaven. At that moment, I remembered that it was on earth but not in heaven that God created man, so we humans would live on earth ultimately. These words were right!

Then the sister combined these words of God to fellowship, which made me understand more: In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and personally led them to live on earth before they were corrupted. But later, man’s ancestors sinned after listening to the enticements of Satan, and thus they lost the wonderful time together with God. Because of the corruption of us humans, God started His six-thousand-year management plan, so as to completely save us from Satan’s domain, through the three stages of work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. Eventually, mankind will be saved and Satan will be destroyed. At that time, those who have been saved by God will have been restored to the original likeness of His first created humans, and will have also found the root of his beginning. After that, God will return to the spiritual realm and lead man on earth from heaven, while those who have been saved on earth will worship God in heaven. God will return to His place of rest, and we humans will enter our place of rest. God’s words made it so clear and transparent! I felt what He said were so real. Meanwhile, I also understood: We won’t be raised up to heaven when the Lord Jesus returns. But instead, we will be chosen by Almighty God to accept His work of judging and purifying man, so that we can break away from our corrupt satanic disposition and receive God’s salvation at last. From the words of Almighty God, I got to know the mysteries that no one could disclose throughout the ages. At that moment, I became more certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus.

I really thank Almighty God for His leading and guidance for me, which makes me witness His appearance and follow the present work of Him during my lifetime. I also deeply appreciate that as long as we have a heart that seeks and investigates, we will witness God’s appearance and hear His utterances, as the Lord Jesus once said, “For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:8).