The Word of God Guides Me Through the Snares

By Tian’na, Hong Kong

As I go through the passage of God’s words, “Do You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men,” I cannot help but recall my experience two years ago of breaking free from the binds of rumors and returning before God.

My family and I all live in Hong Kong. My father-in-law and brother-in-law (my husband’s younger brother) all believe in the Lord Jesus. My brother-in-law is a pastor in a church, so brothers and sisters from the church often come to our home to visit. They pray together and sing hymns of praise to the Lord. In December 2014, a friend of mine told me that she also believed in the Lord…. Influenced by my family and friends, I was also somewhat interested in matters to do with believing in the Lord. One day not long afterward, I met Sister Peipei from the church. She was easy going and friendly. When she learned that my family and friends all believed in the Lord, she was very happy and invited me to visit her home and introduced me to Sister Chen Hui. Over the course of several meetings, Sister Chen told me the truth about God’s creation and domination of all things, as well as the origin of Satan, etcetera. I was deeply fascinated by these words and felt extremely happy. I really liked to listen to her share her experience and knowledge of believing in God and really wanted to share this happiness with others. One day, I could not contain myself and so told my family my opinions about wanting to believe in God. The news quickly spread to my brother-in-law and he called and asked why I suddenly believed in God. He also said, “There is a church called Eastern Lightning, and they are testifying everywhere that the Lord Jesus has already returned and have stolen many good sheep from every faction. Don’t make contact with them arbitrarily….” Afterward he questioned me again and again as to whether the evangelist had given me a book and repeatedly told me to be especially careful about believing in God. My brother-in-law’s words kept going around in my head until I felt distraught. On the one hand, my brother-in-law opposed me finding a different church. On the other hand, I really enjoyed what Sister Chen said about believing in God. I was in such a dilemma and did not know whether or not to continue making contact with Sister Chen.

So I started to look online for some sermons by pastors to listen to. I saw a lot of information online about Eastern Lightning, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I just wanted to know which teachings were preached about well. I listened to lots of teachings to compare and in the end, I still thought that Sister Chen’s teachings were good because their sermons spoke more about witnessing God and gave me a better understanding of God. After thinking about it, I decided to continue listening to Sister Chen’s fellowship. In the days that followed, the sister told me the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Abraham sacrificing Isaac, the Lord Jesus being crucified for mankind, the experience of Peter, The Lazarus’ Resurrection Glorifying God, and so on. These wonderful biblical stories deeply fascinated me and made me even more aware of the work that God has done. After each meeting ended, I could not wait to wait for the next one.

A month later, during a meeting, Sister Chen read several Bible verses and a passage of Almighty God’s words to me. In the Bible it says: “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat 24:37–39). Almighty God says, “Look back to the time of Noah’s ark: Mankind was deeply corrupt, had strayed from the blessing of God, was no longer cared for by God, and had lost the promises of God. They lived in darkness, without the light of God. Thus they became licentious by nature, abandoned themselves to hideous depravity. Such men could no longer receive the promise of God; they were unfit to witness the face of God, nor to hear the voice of God, for they had abandoned God, had cast aside all that He had bestowed upon them, and had forgotten the teachings of God. Their heart strayed farther and farther from God, and as it did, they became depraved beyond all reason and humanity, and became increasingly evil. Thus they came ever closer to death, and fell under the wrath and punishment of God. Only Noah worshiped God and shunned evil, and so he was able to hear the voice of God, and hear the instructions of God. He built the ark according to the instructions of God’s word, and assembled all manner of living creatures. And in this way, once everything had been prepared, God unleashed His destruction upon the world. Only Noah and the seven members of his family survived the destruction, for Noah worshiped Jehovah and shunned evil. Then look upon the present age: Such righteous men as Noah, who could worship God and shun evil, have ceased to exist. Yet God is still gracious toward this mankind, and absolves mankind during this final era. God seeks those who long for Him to appear. He seeks those who are able to hear His words, those who have not forgotten His commission and offer up their heart and body to Him. He seeks those who are as obedient as babes before Him, and do not resist Him” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Chen said in her fellowship: “The people of Noah’s days feasted and took wives, were promiscuous and immoral and did not listen to the word of God or worship God. Instead, they worshiped idols and were extremely sinful. In order to save the people of that time, God called on Noah to build the ark and delivered the sermon of the flood destroying the world. But even if Noah had preached for more than one hundred years, no one would believe God’s words and no one repented to God. So God used a great flood to destroy the people of that age. The people of the last days are even more corrupt than the people in the time of Noah. The whole of society is morally bankrupt and getting worse and worse by the day. The divorce rate remains high and crime is commonplace. Pornography, gambling and drugs have eroded people’s souls. People are increasingly crafty, greedy, evil, mean and selfish. They do not try to be conscientious or honest good people, but only place importance on eating, drinking, having fun and power-sex deals. People are fed up of the truth and uphold evil. Their enjoyment in corruption and sin has long since reached a level whereby they should be destroyed by God. These signs indicate that the last days have come. Now the Lord Jesus has returned and the second incarnation has occurred and lives amongst the people and has uttered all of the truths on purification and salvation of the people to completely save us, such deeply corrupt mankind that we are. God’s love and compassion for the people is so great! …” I felt very excited hearing the sister say these words and thought to myself: We are all deeply evil people and should have been destroyed by God long ago. It is only thanks to God’s mercy that we are fortunate to come to God’s family and see the words that God has uttered and have the chance to know God. How great this blessing is! I enthusiastically thanked God for guiding me and for making me keep up with God’s last days’ work and have the opportunity for salvation. Before leaving, the sister gave me a book of God’s words. Holding the book, I was moved to tears, and determined to follow God well …

One day I opened my computer and saw a website with the name Eastern Lightning. Out of curiosity, I opened the website and saw the negative propaganda about Eastern Lightning from the CCP and the religious community. When I realized that Eastern Lightning mentioned on the website was the last days’ work of Almighty God that Sister Chen had preached to me, I was dumbstruck and felt very flustered: Could it be that I had believed wrongly? What should I do? However, I remembered how every time I made contact with Sister Chen and the others, they were all very loving toward me and were not at all like it said on the Internet! Thinking back again to when I first began to read the word of God and was touched by God’s love, these words had authority and power. Were they not God’s expression, God’s voice? So I took out the word of God to read, but I couldn’t feel how I had been moved originally. God had hidden Himself from me and all I could see was white paper and black words. The images that flashed through my mind were all of the negative news on the Internet. I was at my wits’ end. I kept wondering: “To believe or not believe? Was Eastern Lightning God’s work? What if Eastern Lightning is the true God who has come? If I do not believe then will I not lose the opportunity to know God and be saved? But if it is fake and I blindly follow, then will I not have been deluded? Should I continue to investigate? …” These questions kept bothering me and made me have no mood for work. I really wanted to discuss it with my family and to ask them for advice but I remembered when in the beginning my brother-in-law kept exhorting me to be careful and to not go and find a church outside. If I had really believed wrongly, wouldn’t they be even more reproachful toward me? So I dismissed the idea of discussing it with my family, although my frame of mind had hit rock bottom and I felt so much pain in my heart and didn’t know what to do. I felt worlds away from the joy and ease I had felt a few days ago when fellowshiping with the sisters.

At times of frustration, I tried to pray to God and to seek, to entrust God with all of the difficulties and insecurities in my heart and to pray for God’s enlightenment. After praying, I suddenly thought of something that Sister Chen had once told me: When the Lord Jesus was born, because King Herod, at that time, was afraid of losing his position, he gave the order for all boys in the whole city under the age of two to be killed. When the Lord Jesus preached, the leaders of Judaism frenziedly took a stand against and condemned Him because they feared that the followers would follow the Lord Jesus and that they would lose their status. They knew that no one can perform the miracles that the Lord Jesus did, but they deliberately spurned Him to cast out demons through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. They also said that the Lord Jesus had blasphemed. In the end they crucified the Lord Jesus with the Roman government. Today’s evil acts of frenzied condemnation of Almighty God by the CCP government and the religious community are exactly the same as those of the Roman government and the leaders of Judaism in the Age of Grace against the Lord Jesus. Since ancient times the truth has been persecuted! Every time God comes to do work, He will encounter persecution by the religious community and governing powers. However, no one can stop God’s work. In the end, the Lord Jesus still completed the work of crucifixion and the salvation of mankind and the gospel of the Lord Jesus still spread to the whole world. Today the Chinese government and the religious community have fabricated so many rumors online that condemn Almighty God and the work of Almighty God, yet Almighty God’s gospel of the kingdom has still spread rapidly. If this was not God’s work, would it not have been suppressed by the Chinese government long ago? I also remembered that each time I had met with the two sisters, they both treated me very sincerely and their fellowship also exalted God and testified God and never talked about worldly things or about things that were of no benefit to people’s lives. It was all positive guidance and help for me. Without me noticing, my doubts dispelled somewhat, so I prayed again to God with a seeking heart: “God! If it really is You who has come back, I am willing for You to guide me to know Your work and to guide me to return before You….” God sure enough heard my prayer.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I opened the book of God’s words, The Word Appears in the Flesh, and saw the passage, “Do You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men,” in which Almighty God said, “You should know that without the existence of this flesh, all mankind would face an inevitable calamity and find it difficult to escape God’s more severe punishment of mankind in the last days. Without the birth of this ordinary flesh, you would all be in a state where neither life nor death will come no matter how you seek it; without the existence of this flesh, then this day you would not be able to receive the truth and come before the throne of God. Rather, you would be punished by God because of your grievous sins. Do you know? If not for the return of God to the flesh, none would have a chance at salvation; and if not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ago ended the age of old. As such, can you still reject the second incarnation of God? Since you can so greatly profit from this ordinary man, then why would you not accept Him readily? The work of God is that which you cannot comprehend. If you can neither grasp whether your decision is correct nor know whether the work of God can succeed, then why not try your luck and see whether this ordinary man is of great help to you, and whether God has done great work.” Thanks be to God! After reading God’s words, I felt much calmer. The word of God is right! Since I do not know God’s work and cannot understand those things on the Internet, why don’t I try my luck and continue to observe and study in depth and then make a conclusion? If it really is the appearance and work of God, then if I reject it, is that not a rejection of God? Would that not be a matter of lifelong regret? So I decided to go and see Sister Chen the next day and to continue to seek and investigate.

After seeing Sister Chen, I told her about my experience over the past few days and asked Sister Chen what Eastern Lightning actually was. Sister read two passages of God’s words to me. Almighty God said: “When all people take heed, when all things are renewed and revived, when every person submits to God without qualms, and is willing to shoulder the heavy responsibility of God’s burden—this is when the eastern lightning issues forth, illuminating all from the East to the West, terrifying all of earth with the arrival of this light; and at this moment, God once again begins His new life. … Which is to say, in the world’s East, from when testimony to God Himself begins, to when He begins to work, to when divinity begins to wield sovereign power across the earth—this is the glowing shaft of the eastern lightning, which has ever shone out to the whole universe. When the countries on earth become the kingdom of Christ is when the whole universe is illuminated. Now is the time when the eastern lightning issues forth: God incarnate begins to work, and, furthermore, speaks directly in divinity. It can be said that when God begins to speak on earth is when the eastern lightning comes forth. More precisely, when living water flows from the throne—when the utterances from the throne begin—is precisely when the utterances of the seven Spirits formally begin” (“Interpretation of the Twelfth Utterance” in the Word Appears in the Flesh). “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 discover that I have long ago gone from Israel and am rising anew in the East. Having once descended into Israel and later departed from it, I cannot again be born into Israel, because My work leads all of the universe and, what is more, the lightning flashes straight from East to West. For this reason I have descended in the East and brought Canaan to the people of the East. I wish to bring people from all over the earth to the land of Canaan, and so I continue to issue forth utterances in the land of Canaan to control the entire universe. At this time, there is no light in all the earth apart from Canaan, and all men are imperiled by hunger and cold. I gave My glory to Israel and then took it away, and afterward I brought the Israelites to the East, and all of humanity to the East. I have brought them all to the light so that they may be reunited with it, and be in association with it, and no longer have to search for it. I shall let all who are searching see the light again and see the glory I had in Israel; I shall let them see that I have long ago come down upon a white cloud into the midst of mankind, let them see the countless clouds of white and fruits in their abundant clusters, and, what is more, let them see Jehovah God of Israel. I shall let them look upon 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 shall work upon the entire universe and I shall perform great work, revealing all My glory and all My deeds to man in the last days. I shall show My glorious countenance in its fullness to those who have waited many years for Me, to those who have longed for Me to come upon a white cloud, to Israel that has longed for Me to appear once again, 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, so that it is no longer in Judea. For the last days have already come!” (“The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Gospel of the Kingdom Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

In fellowship, Sister Chen said: “From God’s words we can see that God’s last days’ work and word is the lightning that comes out of the East. ‘Lightning’ refers to light and light refers to God’s words; that is, God’s last days’ return is His incarnation into the Son of man. He appears and works first in the east of the world—China, uttering words and making a group of overcomers. Then God’s last days’ gospel rapidly spreads to the West, so that all of the people around the world can receive God’s last days’ salvation. This is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:27: ‘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.’ In addition, God’s last days’ working time is short and fast, just like lightning. In just over two decades, God’s gospel of the kingdom has already spread throughout the entirety of mainland China and is extending to all countries around the world. Eastern Lightning is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Almighty God is the Son of man who appears before man in the last days, as prophesied of in the Bible, and carries out new work in the last days. All those who do not accept God’s last days’ work will be eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit.” When I heard this, I realized that it turns out that Eastern Lightning refers to God’s work, God Himself, and is God’s appearance in the last days! God first appeared and did work in the atheistic political power China and first conquered and perfected a group of people into overcomers in China and then extended this to the West and even the whole world, so that God’s chosen people from all nations and all places can all receive God’s last days’ work and attain God’s purification and salvation, fully realizing God’s six-thousand-year management plan. Is this not the manifestation of the wisdom of God? If these mysteries were not revealed by God Himself, I would never have understood!

Sister Chen continued on with her fellowship by saying: “However, faced with the appearance and work of God, not only did the leaders of all factions not seek and investigate, but they frenziedly condemned, resisted and blasphemed God, publicly spread disparaging rumors about The Church of Almighty God and in partnership with the atheistic CCP government, frenziedly coerced, arrested and persecuted those who followed Almighty God in an attempt to obstruct Almighty God’s gospel of the kingdom from spreading, shut down God’s last days’ work and stop believers from returning to Almighty God. Just like the Roman government and Jewish leaders who resisted, condemned and crucified the Lord Jesus, they are all satanic devils who hate the truth, hate God, and are enemies to God! They know that the words uttered by Almighty God are all the truth and that they have authority and power. Once these words are spread throughout mankind, all those who love the truth and thirst for God to appear shall return to Almighty God and worship Almighty God and in this way, no one will follow them again. Therefore, when God was once again incarnated to work and save people, the CCP atheist government and the religious community’s antichrist forces tried desperately to block and destruct God’s work. They used all sorts of despicable means and methods to bind and deceive people and to stop them from seeking and examining the truth. Just as you have doubts about the work of God after you have seen the rumors on the Internet, Satan’s purpose is to make us all doubt God. It wants us to deny and betray God and to lose God’s salvation and return under its domain, to achieve its evil goal of permanently controlling and harming people. As God’s words reveal: ‘God works, God cares for a person, looks upon a person, and Satan dogs His every step. Whoever God favors, Satan also watches, trailing along behind. If God wants this person, Satan would do everything in its power to obstruct God, using various evil ways to tempt, harass and wreck the work God does in order to achieve its hidden objective. What is its objective? It does not want God to have anyone; it wants all those that God wants, to occupy them, control them, to take charge of them so they worship it, so they commit evil acts alongside it. Is this not Satan’s sinister motive?’ (‘God Himself, the Unique IV’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). We should perceive Satan’s tactics according to God’s words and see Satan’s evil essence of being enemy of God and stopping people from returning to God and its sinister intention of wanting to possess and devour people, so that we do not miss the opportunity to be saved by God.” Through reading God’s words and listening to the sister’s fellowship, I truly understood that all the rumors on the website come from Satan. They are the snares and traps that Satan has set to obstruct people from examining the truth and returning to God. If I do not distinguish them then I will be taken captive by Satan. Through the sister’s fellowship, I have a true understanding of Eastern Lightning that is God’s manifestation and work, and I have distinguished the despicable means that the satanic forces of the CCP and religious community deploy in attacking God and have also realized the fact that the truth has been driven out since ancient times. Unexpectedly, Satan’s disturbance has made me more aware of God’s work and also able to actually distinguish and reject Satan. God’s wisdom is indeed established on Satan’s tactics. Thanks be to God!

After returning home, I started watching The Church of Almighty God’s videos. I watched one to ten choir group videos in succession and also watched part of the word of God recitation and Gospel movie series. What these videos and movies conveyed was all the truth and what they all testified was the appearance of God and His last days’ work. I saw God’s genuineness and loveliness through these videos and gained some knowledge of God’s righteous disposition. Seeing that the words Almighty God utters are all the truth and that they really can change, cleanse and save people let me find the road to the kingdom of heaven and have hope of salvation. Later, my brother-in-law knew that I had accepted Almighty God’s last days’ work and came to disturb me many times and even gathered some people in the church to disturb me. He also said a lot of negative opinions from the Internet to confuse me and to make me give up believing in Almighty God. But I had already completely determined that the work of Almighty God was true and those rumors had no effect on me. Looking back, it really was God’s guidance that made me understand some of the truths and step by step I broke free from the shackles and binds of the rumors and established down roots in the truth. Thanks be to God for my salvation and preservation and for guiding me back to the house of God. May all glory be attributed to Almighty God!