The Lord Jesus Is My Savior | God's Word "The True Story Behind Work in the Age of Redemption"

 

The Lord Jesus Is My Savior | God's Word "The True Story Behind Work in the Age of Redemption" 

 Introduction:
 Almighty God says, "Jesus represents all the work of the Age of Grace; He was incarnated and crucified, and inaugurated the Age of Grace. He was crucified in order to complete the redemptive work, to end the Age of Law and begin the Age of Grace … The work of Jesus represents only the Age of Grace; it does not represent the Age of Law and is no substitute for the work of the last days. This is the essence of Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, the second age of mankind—the Age of Redemption."

10. I Was Saved by Almighty God

10. I Was Saved by Almighty God

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

—The Story of How I, Once an Opponent of Almighty God, Accepted Him

Li Mingguang
Zhoukou City, Henan Province

    I was formerly a worker of the Hua Xuehe sect. On December 2, 1998, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. Only then did I come to know that God’s work is always progressing forward, understand the inside truth and the effects of God’s work in the Age of Law. And I also knew that in the Age of Grace, God was incarnated to be the Son of man, and He was crucified as the sin offering and redeemed the whole mankind. And furthermore, I knew that in the last days, on the foundation of the first two stages of His work, God has opened up a new age—the Age of the Word. And through His word, God exposes and judges men and will completely conquer men in the end, so that they will obey His word, submit to Him, and be of the same mind with Him, and become His manifestation on earth, the evidence of His defeating Satan, and the group of people who can bear testimony to His deeds. This group of people are the 144,000 overcomers mentioned in Revelation.

6 Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

6 Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

—The Story of a Person Who Fiercely Resisted Almighty God’s Work of the Last Days

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Zheng Yongshen
Funan County, Anhui Province

I was a co-worker of the Stream of Recovery. On December 8, 1998, a brother of our church came to me to preach the work of Almighty God of the last days. He gave me a book of Almighty God’s word and asked me to read it. I was very angry and rebuked him, “We only believe in the Lord Jesus; why did you convert to the faith of another god?” Running my eyes over more than one page of the book, I laid it aside, because I thought the words were plain and simple, and too shallow. The brother said to me earnestly, “Better finish reading it, and you will know it is truly the word personally spoken by God.” “I don’t think so. Now that you insist it is God’s own word, you get a pen and a notebook, put them on the table, and ask God to speak!” I said rudely. And then I murmured to myself angrily, “You believers in Almighty God have stolen many of our lambs, and now you also want to draw me in. No way!” Then I went to the church, and called some other co-workers together and discussed how to guard against the “Eastern Lightning,” trying to work out ways to fight back against it. After that, we went to every meeting place spreading these slanderous and blasphemous words: “You mustn’t believe in the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ It is a false Christ, a false prophet, who tries to deceive people in the disguise of the Lord. What we believe in is the truth. Don’t listen to their messages. Those people are the disturbers of the church. It is a test of whether we have foundation. If your foundation is built on sand, you will be taken away by them; if you have foundation, you will be able to stand no matter how they disturb.” And I also started rumors among the believers, “The sect of Almighty God is a mafia, and they have guns. Once you join them, you can’t withdraw. If you want to, they will gouge out your eyes, cut off your nose or ears, or break your legs. And they are promiscuous.” In order to preserve my position and fame and prevent the brothers and sisters from receiving the truth, I fabricated horrible lies to seal off the church and used the biblical verses out of context to condemn God’s work of the last days. As a result, many who had no discernment and didn’t know the truth were too frightened to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. These are the evils I have done.

5. God’s Discipline Made Me Examine Myself; God’s Word Conquered Me——The Church of Almighty God

5. God’s Discipline Made Me Examine Myself; God’s Word Conquered Me

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Zhang Congxian

Fuyang City, Anhui Province

I was formerly a leader in the Born Again Church. Since 1997, the believers in the Almighty God had been constantly preaching the gospel to me, no matter whether it was windy or rainy, extremely hot or bitterly cold, daytime or nighttime. However, I always retorted upon them, saying, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ you preach is a female Christ. Don’t deceive me. Moreover, you cannot deceive me. I have searched the whole Bible. It never says that God will be incarnated the second time, much less as a female Christ. You say that God has been incarnated the second time. It is a deceitful lie and is purely a heresy, a cult! Believers in God should take the Bible as the standard. Anything apart from the Bible is not to be believed. Even if you come ten thousand times, I absolutely will not accept!” And I often used Alarm Bell (a handbook printed by our Born Again Church specially for blaspheming and resisting the Almighty God’s end-time work) to seal the churches and said to the brothers and sisters many times, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy, a cult. Take strict precautions against it! None of you can receive them or dispute with them, because you cannot match them in dispute. Even less should you listen to them. Once you listen, you will be deceived, and once you go in, you cannot get out. They even cut off others’ noses, gouge out others’ eyes, and commit sexual immorality. They are the ones who drag people into hell and into the lake of fire. … Only our Born Again Church is the true way. The Lord has promised us that once saved always saved, and he will definitely come and take us to heaven. We absolutely cannot accept ‘the Eastern Lightning’!” In this way, I condemned and resisted the Almighty God’s end-time work all along.

2 Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus——The Church of Almighty God

2 Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Wang Yang

Guichi City, Anhui Province

I was formerly a leader of the Justification by Faith Church in the city of Guichi. Before I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, I, like all brothers and sisters, had been eagerly expecting the Lord Jesus’ coming again. But because of the constant “warnings” from the senior leader above and the biblical verse that there will surely appear many false Christs in the last days, I became one who resisted and condemned God’s work of the last days. Thinking of these, I feel very guilty. Now, I will tell brothers and sisters my personal experience, hoping that brothers and sisters will learn a lesson from it and come back to God’s family soon.

Is God Greater or Is the Bible Greater? A Talk About the Relationship Between God and the Bible——Almighty God's Word

Ⅰ Is God Greater or Is the Bible Greater? A Talk About the Relationship Between God and the Bible

Almighty God's Word

1 For many years, people’s traditional means of belief (that of Christianity, one of the world’s three major religions) has been to read the Bible; departure from the Bible is not the belief in the Lord, departure from the Bible is an evil cult, and heresy, and even when people read other books, the foundation of these books must be the explanation of the Bible. Which is to say, if you say you believe in the Lord, then you must read the Bible, you must eat and drink the Bible, and outside the Bible you must not worship any book that does not involve the Bible. If you do, then you are betraying God. From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible. In this way, people worship the Bible as if it were God, as if it were their lifeblood and losing it would be the same as losing their life. People see the Bible as being as high as God, and there are even those who see it as higher than God. If people are without the work of the Holy Spirit, if they cannot feel God, they can carry on living—but as soon as they lose the Bible, or lose the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, then it is as if they have lost their life. And so, as soon as people believe in the Lord they begin reading the Bible, and memorizing the Bible, and the more of the Bible they are able to memorize, the more this proves that they love the Lord and are of great faith. Those who have read the Bible and can speak of it to others are all good brothers and sisters. For all these years, people’s faith and loyalty to the Lord has been measured according to the extent of their understanding of the Bible. Most people simply don’t understand why they should believe in God, nor how to believe in God, and do nothing but search blindly for clues to decipher the chapters of the Bible. They have never pursued the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit; all along, they have done nothing but desperately study and investigate the Bible, and no one has ever found newer work of the Holy Spirit outside of the Bible, no one has ever departed from the Bible, nor have they ever dared to depart from the Bible. People have studied the Bible for all these years, they have come up with so many explanations, and put in so much work; they also have many differences of opinion about the Bible, which they debate endlessly, such that over two thousand different denominations have been formed today. They all want to find some special explanations, or more profound mysteries in the Bible, they want to explore it, and to find in it the background to Jehovah’s work in Israel, or the background to Jesus’ work in Judea, or more mysteries that no one else knows. People’s approach to the Bible is one of obsession and faith, and no one can be completely clear about the inside story or substance of the Bible. Thus, the result is that today, people still have an indescribable sense of magicalness when it comes to the Bible; even more than that, they are obsessed with it, and have faith in it. Today, everyone wants to find the prophecies of the work of the last days in the Bible, they want to discover what work God does during the last days, and what omens there are for the last days. In this way, their worship of the Bible becomes more fervent, and the closer it gets to the last days, the more credence they give to the prophecies of the Bible, particularly those about the last days. With such blind belief in the Bible, with such trust in the Bible, they have no desire to seek the work of the Holy Spirit. In people’s conceptions, they think that only the Bible can bring the work of the Holy Spirit; only in the Bible can they find the footsteps of God; only in the Bible are hidden the mysteries of God’s work; only the Bible—not other books or people—can clarify everything of God and the entirety of His work; the Bible can bring the work of heaven to earth; and the Bible can both begin and conclude the ages. With these conceptions, people have no inclination to search for the work of the Holy Spirit. So, regardless of how much of a help the Bible was to people in the past, it has become an obstacle to God’s latest work. Without the Bible, people can search for the footsteps of God elsewhere, yet today, His footsteps have been “contained” by the Bible, and extending His latest work has become double difficult, and an uphill struggle. This is all because of the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, as well as the various prophecies of the Bible. The Bible has become an idol in people’s minds, it has become a puzzle in their brains, and they are simply incapable of believing that God can work exclusive of the Bible, they are incapable of believing that people can find God outside of the Bible, much less are they able to believe that God could depart from the Bible during the final work and start anew. This is unthinkable to people; they can’t believe it, and neither can they imagine it. The Bible has become a great obstacle to people’s acceptance of God’s new work, and has made it difficult to broaden this new work.

The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation——Almighty God's Word

The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus arrived and appeared as a female, in other words, if an infant girl, not a boy, was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If so, this stage of work would have to be completed instead by a male and the work would then be completed all the same. The work done in both stages is significant; no work is repeated or conflicts with each other. At the time of His work, Jesus was called the only Son, which indicates the male gender. Then why is the only Son not mentioned in this stage? This is because the needs of the work have necessitated a change to the gender different from that of Jesus. With God there is no distinction of gender.

12 How do God’s three stages of work deepen stage by stage and cause man to be saved?

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

The answer from God’s word:

“The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. The work of creating the world was the work of producing the whole of mankind. It was not the work of saving mankind, and bears no relation to the work of saving mankind, for when the world was created mankind had not been corrupted by Satan, and so there was no need to carry out the work of mankind’s salvation. The work of saving mankind only began once mankind had been corrupted, and so the work of managing mankind also only began once mankind had been corrupted.”

from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word

In the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to usher in a new age, to change the means of His work, and to do the work for the entire age. This is the principle by which God works in the Age of Word. He became flesh to speak from different perspectives, enabling man to truly see God, who is the Word appearing in the flesh, and His wisdom and wonder. Such work is done to better achieve the goals of conquering man, perfecting man, and eliminating man. This is the true meaning of using the word to work in the Age of Word. Through the word, man comes to know the work of God, the disposition of God, the essence of man, and what man ought to enter into. Through the word, all the work God wishes to do in the Age of Word is accomplished. Through the word, man is revealed, eliminated, and tried. Man has seen the word, heard the word, and become aware of the existence of the word. As a result, man believes in the existence of God; man believes the almightiness and wisdom of God, as well as God’s heart of love for man and His desire to save man. Though the word “word” is simple and ordinary, the word from the mouth of God become flesh shakes the entire universe; His word transforms the heart of man, the notions and the old disposition of man, and the old appearance of the entire world. Through the ages, only the God of this day works in such a manner, and only He speaks and saves man thus. Thereafter, man lives under the guidance of the word, shepherded and supplied by the word; they live in the world of the word, live within the curses and blessings of God’s word, and even more live under the judgment and chastisement of the word. These words and this work are all for the sake of man’s salvation, achieving God’s will, and changing the original appearance of the world of old creation. God created the world with the word, leads men throughout the universe with the word, conquers and saves them with the word. Finally, He shall use the word to bring the entire world of old to an end. Only then is the management plan wholly complete. Throughout the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to do His work and achieve the results of His work; He does not work wonders or perform miracles; He merely does His work through the word. Because of the word, man is nourished and supplied; because of the word, man gains knowledge and true experience. Man in the Age of Word has truly received exceptional blessings. Man suffers no pain of the flesh and simply enjoys the bountiful supply of the word of God; they need not seek or journey forth, and at ease they see the appearance of God, hear Him speak personally, receive His supply, and see Him personally do His work. Man in ages past was unable to enjoy such things, and these are blessings that they could never receive.

Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

God became flesh because the object of His work is not the spirit of Satan, or any incorporeal thing, but man, who is of the flesh and has been corrupted by Satan. It is precisely because the flesh of man has been corrupted that God has made fleshly man the object of His work; moreover, because man is the object of corruption, He has made man the only object of His work throughout all the stages of His salvation work. Man is a mortal being, is of flesh and blood, and God is the only One who can save man. In this way, God must become a flesh that possesses the same attributes as man in order to do His work, so that His work might achieve better effects. God must become flesh to do His work precisely because man is of the flesh, and incapable of overcoming sin or divesting himself of the flesh. Though the substance and identity of God incarnate differ greatly from the substance and identity of man, yet His appearance is identical to that of man, He has the appearance of a normal person, and leads the life of a normal person, and those who see Him can discern no difference to a normal person. This normal appearance and normal humanity are sufficient for Him to do His divine work in normal humanity. His flesh allows Him to do His work in normal humanity, and helps Him do His work among man, and His normal humanity, moreover, helps Him carry out the work of salvation among man. Although His normal humanity has caused much tumult among man, such tumult has not impacted the normal effects of His work. In short, the work of His normal flesh is of supreme benefit to man. Though most people do not accept His normal humanity, His work can still be effective, and these effects are achieved thanks to His normal humanity. Of this there is no doubt. From His work in the flesh, man gains ten times or dozens of times more things than the conceptions that exist among man about His normal humanity, and such conceptions shall all ultimately be swallowed by His work. And the effect that His work has achieved, which is to say, the knowledge that man has toward Him, far outnumbers man’s conceptions about Him. There is no way to imagine or measure the work He does in the flesh, for His flesh is unlike that of any fleshly man; although the outer shell is identical, the substance is not the same. His flesh produces many conceptions among man about God, yet His flesh can also allow man to acquire much knowledge, and can even conquer any man possessed of a similar outer shell. For He is not merely a man, but is God with the outer shell of a man, and none can completely fathom or understand Him. An invisible and intangible God is loved and welcomed by all. If God is just a Spirit that is invisible to man, it is so easy for man to believe in God. Man can give free rein to his imagination, can choose whatever image he likes as God’s image to please himself and make himself feel happy. In this way, man may do whatever is most pleasing to his own God, and that which this God is most willing to do, without any scruples. What’s more, man believes that no one is more loyal and devout than he toward God, and that all others are Gentile dogs, and disloyal to God. It can be said that this is what is sought by those whose belief in God is vague and based on doctrine; what they seek is all much the same, with little variation. It is merely that the images of God in their imaginations are different, yet their substance is actually the same.

Knowing God’s Work Today

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

To know God’s work in these times is, for the most part, to know God incarnate of the last days, what His principal ministry is, and what He has come to do on earth. I have previously mentioned in My words that God has come to earth (during the last days) to set an exemplar before departing. How does God set this exemplar? By speaking words, by working and speaking throughout the land. This is God’s work during the last days; He only speaks, so that the earth becomes a world of words, so that every person is provided for and enlightened by His words, and so that man’s spirit is awakened and he is clear about the visions. During the last days, God incarnate has come to earth chiefly in order to speak words. When Jesus came, He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and accomplished the work of redemption of the crucifixion. He brought an end to the Age of Law, and abolished all the old things. The arrival of Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace. The arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in his conceptions, man believes that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the conceptions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Using His actual words and actual work, He moves across all lands, and the work He does among man is exceptionally real and normal, such that man comes to know the reality of God, and the vague God loses his place in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

The picture is from The Church of Almighty God

Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

The work of managing mankind is divided into three stages, which means that the work of saving mankind is divided into three stages. These three stages do not include the work of creating the world, but are rather the three stages of the work of the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. The work of creating the world was the work of producing the whole of mankind. It was not the work of saving mankind, and bears no relation to the work of saving mankind, for when the world was created mankind had not been corrupted by Satan, and so there was no need to carry out the work of mankind’s salvation. The work of saving mankind only began once mankind had been corrupted, and so the work of managing mankind also only began once mankind had been corrupted. In other words, God’s management of man began as a result of the work of saving mankind, and did not arise from the work of creating the world. There could be no work of managing mankind without the corrupt disposition of mankind, and so the work of managing mankind includes three parts, rather than four stages, or four ages. Only this is the correct way to refer to God’s management of mankind. When the final age comes to a close, the work of managing mankind will have come to a complete end. The conclusion of the work of management means that the work of saving all mankind has been completely finished, and that mankind has reached his journey’s end. Without the work of saving all mankind, the work of managing mankind would not exist, nor would there be the three stages of work. It was precisely because of mankind’s depravity, and because mankind was in such urgent need of salvation, that Jehovah concluded the creation of the world and began the work of the Age of Law. Only then did the work of managing mankind begin, which means that only then did the work of saving mankind begin. “Managing mankind” does not mean guiding the life of newly-created mankind on earth (which is to say, a mankind that had yet to be corrupted). Rather, it is the salvation of a mankind that has been corrupted by Satan, which is to say, it is the changing of this corrupt mankind. This is the meaning of managing mankind. The work of saving mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and so the work of managing mankind does not include the work of creating the world, and only includes three stages of work that are separate from the world’s creation. To understand the work of managing mankind, it is necessary to be aware of the history of the three stages of work—this is what everyone must be aware of in order to be saved. As creatures of God, you should recognize that man was created by God, and should recognize the source of mankind’s corruption, and, moreover, should recognize the process of man’s salvation. If you only know how to act according to doctrine in order to gain God’s favor, but have no inkling of how God saves mankind, or of the source of mankind’s corruption, then this is what you lack as a creature of God. You should not only be satisfied with understanding those truths that can be put into practice, while remaining ignorant of the wider scope of God’s management work—if this is the case, then you are too dogmatic. The three stages of work are the inside story of God’s management of man, the advent of the gospel of the entire universe, the greatest mystery among all mankind, and are also the foundation of spreading the gospel. If you only focus on understanding simple truths that relate to your life, and know nothing of this, the greatest of all mysteries and visions, then is your life not akin to a defective product, good for nothing except being looked at?