By Matthew, France

I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days over two years ago. To be honest, I’ve gained more than I did in the ten years or so I spent as a believer within the religious community.

My name is Matthew, and I was born into a family of Catholics in Lyon, France. I had a traditional Catholic upbringing of being baptized, attending Mass, receiving the laying on of hands, and going on the pilgrimage. After growing up, I realized that the Catholic priests always preached the same old doctrines without any new content. It was a cold atmosphere and lots of believers’ faith had dampened. I felt that this place was devoid of the work of the Holy Spirit, and that I could not gain life there. This was discouraging for me. I longed to find a church with the work of the Holy Spirit where I could feel the Lord’s presence. I decided to leave Catholicism to find this kind of church. I ended up in Geneva after that, where I went to university and joined a local Christian evangelical church. But I found that the pastor just preached some biblical words and doctrines, shouted some slogans, and talked about spiritual gifts and theological theories that were divorced from reality. There wasn’t anything that moved me or helped me get to know the Lord. Another thing I noticed that shocked me even more was the idol worshiping. The head pastor’s portrait was up next to the pulpit and whenever a newcomer joined the church, the local pastor would have them salute the portrait of the head pastor. The pastor would send believers his own Scripture interpretations every single day and the brothers and sisters would treat them like their daily bread, as if they were reading God’s words. They even practiced them as if they were God’s own words. This made me really uncomfortable. It didn’t seem right to me. I could see that the Lord wasn’t in that church, and so I left that church as well. I asked myself, “Where is the Lord, really?” I felt really spiritually empty and I wondered if the Lord had cast me aside. From then on, I read the Bible on my own at home. I read the third chapter of Revelation a lot, and the part that talks about the church in Philadelphia left a particularly deep impression on me. “Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come on all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out” (Revelation 3:10–12). These verses really made me happy because they were brimming with mystery and promises. I saw that the Lord clearly says that there will be one church that the Lord approves of, which is the church in Philadelphia. I felt like the Lord was saying, “I’m in this church.” That brought up a question for me: Where is this church? Reading on, I saw this: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). I was so excited to read that the Lord clearly stated He would knock at the door. I wondered how exactly He’d knock and if that meant He would return soon. That was incredibly enlightening for me, and drove my desire to keep seeking.

On the evening of May 1, 2018, I prayed to God with all my heart and soul again, “Oh God, please enlighten me. I know You’re coming soon. Please let me understand Your intention.” The next day, I went to work like always. I went to the banks of Lake Geneva for my lunch break and sat on a bench. Then I noticed someone in the distance, so I walked right up to him with the intention of sharing the gospel with him. To my surprise, he said to me, “Brother, do you know? The Lord has returned and has expressed millions of words.” I was shocked when I heard this and wondered, “Why would this brother say that? Has the Lord really returned?” As we continued our fellowship, questions sprung up one after another in my mind, “Has the Lord returned? How has the Lord returned?” He gave me the address for The Church of Almighty God’s website and said, “You can look into it more here.”

I opened up the website of The Church of Almighty God as soon as I was back in the office. The very first thing I saw was “Christ of the Last Days Has Appeared in China.” This news shocked me, and what was even more surprising was that there were all sorts of books on the website, including two that really made an impression on me: The Word Appears in the Flesh and Utterances of Christ of the Last Days. I really wanted to understand what this was, so I clicked on the first book The Word Appears in the Flesh and read a passage: “All of My people who serve before Me should think back on the past: Was your love for Me tainted by impurity? Was your loyalty to Me pure and wholehearted? Was your knowledge of Me true? How much of a place did I hold within your hearts? Did I fill your hearts entirely? How much did My words accomplish within you? Do not try to fool Me! These things are perfectly clear to Me! Today, as the voice of My salvation is uttered forth, has there been some increase in your love for Me? Has part of your loyalty to Me become pure? Has your knowledge of Me deepened? Did praise offered in the past lay a solid foundation for your knowledge today? How much of you is occupied by My Spirit? How much of a place does My image hold within you? Have My utterances hit home within you? Do you truly feel that you have nowhere to hide your shame? Do you truly believe that you are unqualified to be My people? If you are completely oblivious to the questions above, then this shows that you are fishing in murky waters, that you are only present to make up the numbers, and at the time preordained by Me, you will surely be eliminated and knocked into the bottomless pit for a second time. These are My words of warning, and any who take them lightly will be struck by My judgment, and, at the appointed time, will meet with disaster. Is this not so?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 4). These words felt so authoritative to me, as if God Himself were speaking to me face-to-face, asking me, “Do you have true love for Me? Is your submission to Me genuine?” I felt a little uneasy because I served God just to complete a task, not because of love. In my prayers, I was constantly demanding things from the Lord, saying, “Oh God, I want this kind of car, I want this kind of house, I want that kind of job, I want this kind of wife….” I realized that this was all unreasonable. Even worse, if the Lord didn’t satisfy my extravagant desires, I’d blame Him. I was utterly ashamed in the face of this exposure, to the point of wanting to find a place to hide, like a child hiding from being scolded by his parents for bad behavior. But I was also really happy, because I felt like God was speaking to me face-to-face. I felt this was God’s voice, because only God can see into human hearts. These words were exposing me for what I really was, leaving me speechless. I couldn’t help but keep reading. I read quite a few passages of God’s words. I remember one passage among them that really left an impression on me. Almighty God says: “I look down upon all things from on high, and exercise dominion over all things from on high. In the same way, I have put in place My salvation upon the earth. There is never a moment when I am not watching, from My secret place, humans’ every move and everything they say and do. Humans are to Me open books: I see and know them one and all. The secret place is My abode, and the entire vault of heaven is the bed on which I lie. Satan’s forces cannot reach Me, for I am overflowing with majesty, righteousness, and judgment” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 5). I felt like these words were full of the authority of God. Who aside from God can see into our hearts? Who aside from God can directly speak to us with such power and authority? God created mankind and only God can see the things we bury deep within our hearts. I felt certain that these were words from God and I felt so excited. It was a feeling I’d never had before. I read a lot that day and went back home three hours later than usual. I felt that these words were truly special. On the way home, I was saying over and over, “God, I truly thank You! I’ve recognized Your voice and I know You’ve returned. I’ve witnessed Your authority. May all glory be to You!” I was so excited. I thought back on my prayer to God from the night before, asking Him to help me understand His intention regarding His return. I realized God had heard and answered my prayer. It was something so truly incredible! But at the same time, I was also filled with questions, like: How has the Lord come? What work is He doing? To get these questions answered, I got in touch with the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God.

They then told me that the Lord has become flesh as the Son of man, and that He’s come in secret. They told me that He’s expressed truths and is doing new work, namely, the judgment of the last days beginning with the house of God prophesied in the Bible, to fully cleanse and save mankind. They also shared fellowship with me that was really enlightening on some Bible verses like Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief.” There was also Matthew 24:44, “Be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.” The “Son of man” clearly doesn’t refer to God’s Spirit or His spiritual body, but to a being born of man that possesses normal humanity and the essence of God. That’s just like the Lord Jesus two thousand years ago. He looked like a regular person, but He was God in essence. After that, they also fellowshipped on Revelation 3:20, which mentions the Lord knocking at the door. I learned that “knocking” refers to the Lord expressing new words in the last days to knock on the doors of people’s hearts. When true believers hear the Lord’s words, they are able to recognize them as the voice of God, and they are the wise virgins who are taken up before God and who welcome the Lord’s return. This also fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecy: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

I was struck. I thought about how this is the second time God’s come to work on earth in the flesh and it’s just when I’m alive in the world, breathing the same air, and He looks just like any regular person. I was amazed, this was incredible! Because I’d always thought God should be up in the sky, and I’d never imagined that in the last days, God would come to earth in the flesh to speak and work. Then the brothers and sisters read a couple of passages of God’s words to me on God’s incarnation: “The ‘incarnation’ is God’s appearance in the flesh; God works among created mankind in the image of the flesh. So for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this is the most basic prerequisite. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, that God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God). “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is the incarnation of the Spirit, rather than being fleshly. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The essence of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His essence is that of God Himself; this essence will not disrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of Christ Is Submission to the Will of the Heavenly Father). From these passages of God’s words, I saw that God incarnate is God’s Spirit taking on the flesh and coming to earth to speak and work in order to save mankind. Christ looks like a regular person on the surface, eating, dressing, living and sleeping like anyone, but He has divine essence. He can speak to all of humanity in the identity and position of God and He can express truths that no human ever could. He can do the work of God Himself and accomplish the will of God. On the outside we can’t tell that He’s God, but when we hear His voice, we find that His words are not of this world. He can elucidate truths and mysteries no one has ever seen or heard. He can reveal mankind’s innermost corruption. What He expresses is what God Himself expresses. That’s why we believe that He is God. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to work back then, He looked like a normal person from the outside, but He was capable of being the sin offering for all of mankind to absolve our sins. He could give us peace and joy, and an abundance of grace. No one other than Him could do this kind of work because people are just people, and don’t possess God’s essence.

The brothers and sisters also fellowshipped that Almighty God is just like the Lord Jesus. He looks like a regular person on the outside, but His essence is of God. He is doing the work of judgment beginning with God’s house, expressing all truths that cleanse and save mankind, and unlocking mysteries no human could ever unlock. Especially things like the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mysteries of God’s three stages of work, how Satan corrupts people, how God saves mankind step-by-step, who is going to be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven, who will be eliminated and punished, and also His exposure of people’s satanic nature—no one but God could express these truths. No human could do that. This proves that Almighty God has divine essence, and that He’s Christ of the last days. Hearing all this helped me understand some truths of the incarnation, and I saw that Christ has both normal humanity and divine essence. Some of my vague imaginings and notions about God were cleared up. God incarnate can be seen and touched, and He can speak with people face-to-face. Thinking of God becoming flesh in the last days and personally coming to earth to express words to save all of humanity was really exciting and touching for me. But when I heard that God has incarnated a second time to do the work of judgment, I felt a little apprehensive, and a little scared. Because I was still living in sin, I wondered if I would be condemned and punished when the Lord returned to judge mankind. However, after fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters, I learned that God’s work of judgment isn’t to condemn and punish us, but to cleanse and save us. In fact, the Lord Jesus only did one part of the work of salvation. He just absolved our sins. But our sinful natures still exist. Although we may expend ourselves for God and ostensibly do some good things, our nature is full of satanic dispositions like arrogance, deceitfulness, and intransigence. We’re often jealous of others and everything we do is for ourselves. We’re incredibly selfish. We’re entirely controlled and bound by our satanic dispositions, and we have no idea how to escape the bonds of sin. This is a fact that we can see every single day. God said: “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). This verse clearly shows that we’re not worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven. That’s why God does the work of judgment to cleanse and save us in the last days, so we can be fully freed from the bonds of sin and become people who fear and submit to God, who no longer sin and resist God. That’s the goal of God’s work of judgment, fulfilling the Lord Jesus’ prophecies: “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

We then read another couple of passages. God’s words say: “Though Jesus came among man and did much work, He only completed the work of redeeming all mankind and served as man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, after man was forgiven of his sins, God returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). “Christ of the last days uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should submit to God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced about God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the intentions of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the essence of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth). Then a brother fellowshipped, “In the last days, Almighty God expresses truths to judge and cleanse mankind. God’s words expose and judge our satanic nature, as well as the truth of our corruption, and He resolves our corrupt dispositions and sinful natures through trials and refinement so we clearly see how deeply Satan has corrupted mankind, and see the arrogance, crookedness, and deceitfulness in our nature. What’s most saddening is that though we may believe in God and expend ourselves for Him, and ostensibly do some good things, these things are not done out of love for or submission to God, they are done to be blessed and rewarded, and are only done to make transactions with God. The moment God’s work doesn’t accord with our thoughts and notions, we deny and reject God, just like the Pharisees did. We blame God in the face of trials and adversity. All this shows that we’re still living with corrupt satanic dispositions, and that we still belong to Satan. How could that kind of person get into the kingdom of heaven? It is the judgment and exposure in God’s words that make us see the truth of our corruption, that we’re incapable of following God’s will, and that none of our deeds or actions satisfies Him. We’re then filled with remorse, repent to God, and become willing to conduct ourselves and do things in accordance with God’s words. By undergoing God’s judgment and chastisement, we see that God’s disposition isn’t only made up of love and mercy, but there’s also righteousness, majesty, wrath, and damnation. We start to have a bit of a God-fearing heart and become able to consciously rebel against the flesh and practice God’s words. We develop some submission to God and our life disposition starts to change. Then we truly experience that God’s judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement are His greatest salvation and greatest love for us.”

Hearing this from the brother, I could sense how profoundly meaningful God’s work of judgment in the last days is. Without experiencing God’s judgment of the last days, we can never understand the truth of our corruption or gain true repentance. Just like me, I was praying and confessing to the Lord every day, then I’d still commit the same sins again. I was entirely controlled by my corrupt nature, and in a state like that, how could I possibly get into the kingdom of heaven and gain God’s approval? Before, I always thought that as long as I appeared to behave well, God would approve of me. But I realized now that God wants the satanic things within us to change. That was when I realized how important the work of judgment is for us, that without this stage of work, no one could be saved. God expresses the truth and does the work of judgment in the last days to cleanse our corrupt dispositions so we can be compatible with God and get into His kingdom. God’s love is so genuine and so real!

By reading Almighty God’s words, I became entirely certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. He is Christ of the last days. There is no shadow of a doubt. From then on, I participated in church life, fellowshipped with the brothers and sisters every day, and learned to know God. I didn’t believe in the vague God of my imagination like I used to, but in the practical God in the flesh, who walks and works among mankind, who can express the truth at any time and any place. I’ve heard the voice of God, enjoyed the abundant watering and sustenance of His words, and tasted the work of the Holy Spirit. I have truly come to the Lord’s side. Thank Almighty God for His salvation!