What is the rapture before the disaster? What is an overcomer who is made before the disaster?

February 22, 2021

Relevant Words of God:

“Being caught up” is not being taken from a low place to a high place as people imagine. This is a huge mistake. Being caught up is referring to My predestining and selecting. It is targeted at all those I have predestined and chosen. Those who have gained the status of firstborn son, the status of sons, or people, are all those who have been caught up. This is most incompatible with people’s notions. Those who have a share in My house in the future are all people who have been caught up before Me. This is absolutely true, never-changing, and cannot be refuted by anybody. This is the counterattack against Satan. Anyone I predestined shall be caught up before Me.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 104

The church of Philadelphia has taken shape, which is entirely due to the grace and mercy of God. Love for God arises in the hearts of the myriad saints, who do not waver on their spiritual journey. They hold fast to their 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, it is as immovable as the mountains! And it shall never change!

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Today You have made complete all churches—the church of Philadelphia—and thus fulfilled Your 6,000-year management plan. The saints can humbly submit themselves before You, connected in spirit and following along in love, joined to the source of the fountain. The living water of life runs without cease, washing away and purging all the mud and filthy water in the church, once again purifying Your temple. We have come to know 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 sake of the church. Ever quiet before You, we must heed the work of the Holy Spirit, lest Your will be obstructed in us. Among the saints there is mutual love, and the strengths of some will compensate for the failings of others. They are able to walk in the spirit at all times, enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. They put the truth into practice immediately upon understanding it. They keep pace with the new light, and follow God’s footsteps.

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Actively cooperate with God, coordinate in service and become one, fulfill Almighty God’s intentions, hasten to become a holy spiritual body, trample over Satan, and put an end to Satan’s fate. The church of Philadelphia has been raptured into God’s presence and is made manifest in His glory.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 2

When God comes, people should enjoy His majesty and His wrath, but no matter how harsh His words are, He comes to save and perfect mankind. As creatures, people should fulfill the duties that they ought to, and stand witness for God in the midst of refinement. In every trial they should uphold the witness that they should bear, and bear a resounding witness for God. This is an overcomer. No matter how God refines you, you remain full of confidence and never lose confidence in God. You do what man should do. This is what God requires of man, and man’s heart should be able to fully return to Him and turn toward Him at every single moment. This is an overcomer. Those who God refers to as overcomers are those who are still able to stand witness, maintain their confidence, and their devotion to God when under the influence of Satan and under siege by Satan, that is, when within the forces of darkness. If you are still able to maintain a heart of purity and your genuine love for God no matter what, you stand witness in front of God, and this is what God refers to as being an overcomer.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Maintain Your Devotion to God

As believers in God, each of you should appreciate how you have truly gained the utmost exaltation and salvation by receiving the work of God in the last days and the work of His plan that He does in you today. God has made this group of people the sole focus of His work throughout all the universe. He has sacrificed all His heart’s blood for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why I say you are the fortunate ones. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, onto you, and He shall make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through this group. Therefore, you are the ones who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more than this, you are the heirs to God’s glory. Perhaps you all remember these words: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” You have all heard these words before, yet none of you understood their true meaning. Today, you are profoundly aware of their true significance. These words shall be fulfilled by God during the last days, and they shall be fulfilled in those who have been brutally persecuted by the great red dragon in the land where it lies coiled. The great red dragon persecutes God and is the enemy of God, and so, in this land, those who believe in God are thus subjected to humiliation and oppression, and God’s words are fulfilled in you, this group of people, as a result. Because it is embarked upon in a land that opposes God, all of God’s work faces tremendous obstacles, and accomplishing many of His words takes time; thus, people are refined as a result of God’s words, which is also part of suffering. It is tremendously difficult for God to carry out His work in the land of the great red dragon—but it is through this difficulty that God does one stage of His work, making manifest His wisdom and His wondrous deeds, and using this opportunity to make this group of people complete. It is through people’s suffering, through their caliber, and through all the satanic dispositions of the people of this filthy land that God does His work of purification and conquest, so that, from this, He may gain glory, and so that He may gain those who will bear witness to His deeds. Such is the entire significance of all the sacrifices that God has made for this group of people.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?

Man will be fully made complete in the Age of Kingdom. After the work of conquest, man will be subjected to refinement and tribulation. Those who can overcome and stand testimony during this tribulation are the ones who will ultimately be made complete; they are the overcomers. During this tribulation, man is required to accept this refinement, and this refinement is the last instance of God’s work. It is the last time that man will be refined prior to the conclusion of all the work of God’s management, and all those who follow God must accept this final test, must accept this last refinement. Those who are beset by tribulation are without the work of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of God, but those who have been truly conquered and truly seek after God will ultimately stand fast; they are the ones who are possessed of humanity, and who truly love God. No matter what God does, these victorious ones will not be bereft of the visions, and will still put the truth into practice without failing in their testimony. They are the ones who will finally emerge from the great tribulation.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

I have previously said that a group of overcomers are gained from the East, overcomers who come from amid the great tribulation. What is meant by these words? They mean that these people who have been gained only truly obeyed after undergoing judgment and chastisement, and dealing and pruning, and all kinds of refinement. The belief of these people is not vague and abstract, but real. They have not seen any signs and wonders, or any miracles; they do not speak of abstruse letters and doctrines, or profound insights; instead they have reality, and the words of God, and a true knowledge of the reality of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All Is Achieved by the Word of God

Sermon and Fellowship Excerpts for Reference:

Those that God will save are brought back in batches. The first group are those from mainland China; the second group are those who are overseas. Those that are overseas are now beginning to turn toward God. The third group are those that, after the great disasters befall, will come to their senses and return before God in the midst of the disasters. Those that will be raptured and return before God prior to the disasters are many. Right now, the work of being raptured before the great disasters is quickly coming to an end. What does “quickly coming to an end” refer to? Why would I say this? It’s because the great disasters are arriving soon. If the great disasters arrive in two years, those that return to God over these two years will also be considered as part of the group that is raptured before the disasters. As for those that do not return to God during these two years, other people spread the gospel to them and bear witness to Almighty God’s work in the last days, yet they flatly deny, “This is wrong, no way! I won’t believe anything I haven’t seen myself.” No matter what others may say, they still refuse to accept it. God will place these people right in the middle of the disasters. He will use the disasters to refine and punish them, so that they are weeping and gnashing their teeth at the center of the disasters, within the darkness.

—Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life

“Why do you believe in Almighty God; what is the meaning in believing in Almighty God?” This is very important to understand. Some people ponder: “I originally believed in the Lord Jesus. Now I have heard such a crystal clear testimony of the Bible’s truth from the evangelists of The Church of Almighty God. In particular, I have heard Almighty God’s utterances, which are all truth and I can hear they are God’s voice. It has exactly fulfilled what is written in Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Rev 2:7). After hearing all of Almighty God’s utterances, I have confirmed one thing: The Lord Jesus has returned, and He is Almighty God.” We believers in Almighty God belong to the group of people raptured by the Lord. This has exactly fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ prophecies in the Bible: “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Mat 25:6), and “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev 16:15). Since the Lord’s prophecies have been fulfilled, we are now having supper with the Lord. In the Bible, the Lord Jesus called it “the marriage supper of the Lamb.” What is the meaning of “the marriage supper of the Lamb”? Why is it called “the marriage supper of the Lamb”? “The Lamb” is Christ, and the marriage of the Lamb means that Christ comes to make complete a group of people. He will make His sheep, those who were predestined by Him into overcomers before the disaster, therefore this is called “attending the supper.” “Marriage” is to acquire, and after that we become a family. Therefore, some interpretations of this scripture refer to Christ as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. This is called a marriage, and it is acquiring something. Speaking of acquiring, this relates to God’s work of judgment and chastisement in the last days, which is the work of judgment starting from the house of God. Undergoing this work means first being conquered by God, and after that being cleansed, perfected, gained and made complete; the work of judgment starting from the house of God is such a work. After people have undergone God’s work in the last days and have become compatible with Christ, the work of judgment starting from the house of God thus comes to an end. Once it has been completed, the group of people made complete are the group of overcomers who have been made before the disaster. What is the position of the overcomers in the kingdom of God? They are the pillars of the kingdom of Christ. These overcomers made by God before the disasters will become the pillars of the kingdom of Christ. Don’t you think it is a tremendous blessing? This is a tremendous blessing.

—Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life