By Pierre, USA

I was born into a Christian family and, as a child, I went to church services with my parents. I didn’t know why, but as time went on, I began to feel a constant emptiness in my heart; I didn’t know what to say to the Lord when I prayed and I wasn’t feeling enlightened when I read the Bible. I felt very far from the Lord, and I felt a great pain. Later, I often looked for pastors’ sermons to listen to and I also watched a lot of movies about how to establish faith. I also did my best to stop doing things that didn’t accord with the Lord’s requirements, but my heart still felt empty.

One day, my wife and I watched a Christian movie on YouTube called Yearning that really moved us. As the movie started, the main character was writing down his own experiences and realizations, and he said, “Two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus promised His followers, ‘Behold, I come quickly’ (Revelation 22:7).” This line from the Bible drew us in immediately. The prophecies in Revelation were all mysteries, and here the main character was talking about this section of the book’s prophecies. What would he say next? We kept watching with growing curiosity. The main character in the movie is then arrested by the CCP for believing in God. While in prison, he meets Brother Zhao Zhiming, who believes in Almighty God. Zhiming finds a chance to slip him a piece of paper. On it is written: “Do not be discouraged, do not be weak, and I will make things clear for you. The road to the kingdom is not so smooth; nothing is that simple! You want blessings to come to you easily, do you not? Today, everyone will have bitter trials to face. Without such trials, the loving heart you have for Me will not grow stronger and you will not have true love for Me. Even if these trials consist merely of minor circumstances, everyone must pass through them; it’s just that the difficulty of the trials will vary from one person to another. … Those who share in My bitterness will certainly share in My sweetness. That is My promise and My blessing to you” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 41). “During these last days you must bear testimony to God. No matter how great your suffering, you should walk until the very end, and even at your last breath, still you must be faithful to God and at the mercy of God; only this is truly loving God, and only this is the strong and resounding testimony” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God). The main character is so moved after he reads these two passages. He is greatly comforted, and he finds his faith and strength. My wife and I were astonished by these two passages as well. How were these words so authoritative, so powerful, and so touching? It was as though God was speaking directly to us, telling us what we should do. Though I’d seen from these words how walking the path of believing in God would entail suffering hardships, I felt a sense of sweetness arise deep within me, and hearing these words gave me faith and strength. I thought, “Where on earth did these words come from? Could they have come from God? Could it be that the Lord really has returned? But when the Lord comes, He should come down on a cloud, and we haven’t yet seen any sign of Him coming down on a cloud.” Although at the time I felt a little confused, I really enjoyed these words, and I turned to my wife and said, “These words are amazing! I’ve never heard words with such power before.” I then paused the movie, picked up a notebook, and copied these words down. As I wrote, I read them over again: “Do not be discouraged, do not be weak, and I will make things clear for you. The road to the kingdom is not so smooth; nothing is that simple!” “The road to the kingdom”? I thought, “Only God Himself could know what the road to the kingdom is. These words are talking about the road to the kingdom, and they couldn’t have been spoken by just any ordinary person—this is a matter only God could know about!” I kept on reading: “Today, everyone will have bitter trials to face. Without such trials, the loving heart you have for Me will not grow stronger and you will not have true love for Me. Even if these trials consist merely of minor circumstances, everyone must pass through them; it’s just that the difficulty of the trials will vary from one person to another. … Those who share in My bitterness will certainly share in My sweetness. That is My promise and My blessing to you.” The tone of these words gave me a sense that they’d been spoken by someone who administered all things, who was directly confiding in us with absolute sincerity that walking the path of faith is not all smooth sailing, and that each and every person must experience differing amounts of pain and hardship, but this is to perfect our love and faith. This is God’s love for us. I suddenly saw the light. I’d always believed before that having faith in God meant that everything had to go well and smoothly in life, and that this was God’s blessing. I believed that if we met with disaster or calamity like the nonbelievers did, then that was a bad thing, and that meant God was punishing us. It was like how in 2010, I lost everything I owned in an earthquake. Back then, I felt that God had not watched over or protected me, which upset me a lot, and I lived in a state of misunderstanding God. Now, reading these words, my view on such difficult situations changed. At the same time, I also came to understand that I had to obey, pray to God, and seek to understand God’s deeds when hardship and trials came my way, and that by doing this I would not become weak and negative. I kept thinking about the words: “Those who share in My bitterness will certainly share in My sweetness. That is My promise and My blessing to you.” The words “will certainly,” “promise,” and “blessing” revealed the Speaker’s authority and power. He asks things of us, but He also makes us promises, and moreover, He has the power to fulfill these promises. These words shook my heart, and I wondered how the tone of these words could be so similar to the tone the Lord Jesus used. Like when the Lord said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6); and “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25); “Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). All these words contain God’s requirements of us and promises to us, and they embody the identity and status of God. When we hear them, we are able to feel the authority and power of God’s words. When we saw that the words in this movie were just like this, my wife and I both felt as though they’d come from God, and as if they were the voice of God. At the time, I was excited, but also confused: These words weren’t from the Bible, so where on earth had they come from? We continued watching the movie. In the movie, Zhiming told the main character while they were working that the Lord Jesus had returned, and that He had become flesh and come down in secret to perform the work of judging and cleansing man in the last days. At this point, my wife and I were somewhat confused, because we’d always believed that the Lord Jesus would one day come back down on a cloud. But then in the movie Zhiming said, “We are only waiting for the Lord’s return based on the prophecies of His descent upon a cloud, but we have overlooked other prophecies about the Lord’s return. This is a grave mistake! Many parts of the Bible contain prophecies about the Lord’s return. For example, the Lord’s prophecies: ‘Behold, I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15). ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). There is also Revelation 3:20, ‘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.’ And Luke 17:24–25, ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ These prophecies mention the Lord returning as a thief, and the coming of the Son of man; they mention that He speaks to people while knocking at the door, and so on. This shows that when it comes to the Lord’s return, besides His public descent upon a cloud, He will also come down in a secret way. If we believe the Lord will only return by descending upon a cloud, then the prophecies of Him coming in secret could not be fulfilled. There are many prophecies in the Bible about the Lord’s return in the last days. If we cast aside the other prophecies, and delimit the way the Lord will return as Him descending on a white cloud just based on one or two parts of the Bible, we are likely to miss the chance to welcome His return, and liable to be abandoned by Him.” At this, my wife and I immediately took out our Bible and checked these verses word by word. As we did so, I thought, “These verses really do speak of the Lord returning in secret, so it looks as though the Lord coming down on clouds is not the only way in which He returns. This has really opened my eyes.”

My wife and I carried on watching the movie. Zhiming went on with his fellowship, saying, “The Bible prophesied that ‘I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15), and, ‘At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). ‘But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ (Luke 17:25). The appearance and work of Almighty God have fulfilled these prophecies. From the outside, He looks just like a regular person. He speaks from within normal humanity. Who could imagine that He is the appearance of the Lord? This completely fulfills the prophecy ‘I come as a thief.’ Those who preach the gospel bear witness to Almighty God’s words all those who seek God’s appearance, and they patiently fellowship on His words. This is the Lord knocking at the door! Since Almighty God’s appearance and work, He has been continually subjected to the brutal hunts and persecution of the CCP, and He has suffered the mad resistance, condemnation, and rejection of the religious world. There have even been many evil spirits and demons who have openly attacked, condemned, and blasphemed Almighty God online. This completely fulfills this prophecy spoken by the Lord: ‘But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ If the Lord had descended publicly on a cloud with great glory like people imagine, then the tares, goats, evil servants, and antichrists would definitely have fallen down in worship to accept Almighty God. How would they be revealed then? Almighty God has come and expressed all the truths that purify and save mankind, and He is doing the work of judgment in the last days. His sheep listen to His voice, and wise virgins from every denomination hear the words Almighty God has expressed and know them to be the truth, and to be God’s voice, and they have all turned toward Almighty God. This is the rapture. These people have been raptured up in front of God’s throne, and accept judgment and chastisement before Christ’s seat. They are first to be purified, made into overcomers by God, and they become the first fruits. This completely fulfills this prophecy from Revelation 14:4–5, ‘These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie; they are without blemish.’ After God descends in secret and makes this group of overcomers, His great work will be complete. After that, He will publicly descend on a cloud and appear to all nations and all peoples. That will fulfill Revelation 1:7, ‘Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.’ This will be the scene of God publicly descending on a cloud, and all eyes will be able to see Him. Those who resisted and condemned Almighty God will also be able to see Him descending on a cloud, which is why ‘all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.’ God works in stages and to a plan; the prophecies of the Lord’s return have now been largely fulfilled, so all that is left is for the prophecies of God coming down openly with clouds to be fulfilled after the disasters.” Seeing that Zhiming’s fellowship was reasonable and based on facts, I knew in my heart that the Lord has indeed returned, that He has become flesh and has come among man in secret. My wife and I realized how foolish we’d been to have always clung to the idea of the Lord descending on clouds, but at the same time, we rejoiced for having been able to hear the great news of the Lord’s coming in secret. I couldn’t help but think, “It’s no wonder these words feel so authoritative and powerful, and sound as though they are God’s voice. As it turns out, they are indeed words spoken by God Himself!” Filled with excitement, we kept on watching the movie. Almighty God says: “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. That will be the time of the end of God’s management plan and it will be when God rewards the good and punishes the evil. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that ‘The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false christ’ shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way and life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud. They are too stubborn, too confident in themselves, too arrogant. How could such degenerates be rewarded by Jesus? The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who submits to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. By the Time You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus, God Will Have Made Heaven and Earth Anew). As I heard these words, I wondered whether the term “so-called saint” referred to those who don’t accept God’s work when He comes in secret, and who just wait for the Lord Jesus to come down on a cloud. All these years, almost the whole religious world has been waiting for the Lord to come down on the clouds. But these words clearly state that if we blindly cling to the idea of the Lord Jesus coming down on the clouds and refuse to accept the fact that God has already come among man in secret, then we will end up being punished by God, as by that time God’s work in the last days of judging, cleansing, and completely saving man will be over. The tone of these words is stern, they carry God’s unoffendable disposition, they are filled with authority and power, and they fill us with fear and dread. At the same time, these words serve as both a reminder and an exhortation to us, in the hope that we might become people who seek and accept the truth, and not blindly delimit God’s work or deny the fact that the Lord has returned. My wife and I were drawn in by this movie and watched it several times over. Almighty God’s words truly shook us to our cores. Our feeling of excitement lasted for days.

One day, I called my wife on my way to work, and the more we talked about it, the more we felt that these words must be God’s words. Excitedly, she said to me, “We just have to get a hold of this book!” We were so eager to find out what we should do next and how we should welcome the Lord, so when I got home from work that day, we searched online for “The Church of Almighty God” and found their official website. Once there, we saw the book The Word Appears in the Flesh. First, we read in the Preface Almighty God saying: “‘Belief in God’ means believing that there is a God; this is the simplest concept as regards believing in God. What’s more, believing that there is a God is not the same as truly believing in God; rather, it is a kind of simple faith with strong religious overtones. True faith in God means the following: On the basis of the belief that God holds sovereignty over all things, one experiences His words and His work, purges one’s corrupt disposition, satisfies the intentions of God, and comes to know God. Only a journey of this kind may be called ‘faith in God.’ Yet people often see belief in God as a simple and frivolous matter. People who believe in God in this way have lost what it means to believe in God, and though they may continue to believe until the very end, they shall never gain God’s approval, because they tread upon the wrong path” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God). I couldn’t help but think how great these words were, and I knew that they really were the truth. These words completely changed my previous conceptions about faith in God. Before, I knew only that we had to read the Bible a lot, pray a lot, and listen to sermons a lot, and we believed in God only to be blessed and graced. I had no idea that true faith in God means to experience God’s words and work on the foundation of the belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. These words explained the true meaning of faith in God so profoundly and meticulously, and gave such a clear way forward. I became even more convinced that these words had come from God and that they were God’s voice, as only God could speak on the truth and the true meaning of faith in God so clearly.

We kept reading, and saw that Almighty God says: “God and man cannot be spoken of on equal terms. His essence and His work are most unfathomable and incomprehensible to man. If God does not personally do His work and speak His words in the world of man, then man would never be able to understand the intentions of God. And so, even those who have devoted their entire lives to God would not be able to receive His approval. If God does not set to work, then however well man does, it will all be for naught, because God’s thoughts will always be higher than the thoughts of man, and God’s wisdom is beyond man’s comprehension. And so I say that those who claim to ‘fully understand’ God and His work are an inept lot; they are all overweening and ignorant. Man should not define the work of God; moreover, man cannot define the work of God. … Since we believe that there is a God, and since we wish to satisfy Him and to see Him, we should seek the way of truth, and should look for a way to be compatible with God. We should not stand in stiff-necked opposition to Him. What good could possibly come of such actions?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). After reading this passage, we realized that we are all just created beings, forever insignificant. God, on the other hand, will forever be God. His words and work contain so many mysteries that we cannot fathom. We should adopt a humble and seeking attitude toward His work, we cannot arbitrarily jump to conclusions. We then read more of Almighty God’s words that said: “You may have opened this book for the purpose of research, or with the intention of accepting; whatever your attitude, I hope that you will read it to the end, and will not put it aside easily” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). Reading this, I felt just how cordial these words were, as though God were speaking directly to us, leading us on to seek His words and work. I decided to keep on reading this book and to get in touch with The Church of Almighty God.

We sent a message using the chat function on The Church of Almighty God’s website, and the brothers and sisters from the Church got back to us quickly. After that, we often read Almighty God’s words with the brothers and sisters online, with each of us sharing our experiences and understanding. As I read more and more of Almighty God’s words, I came to know many truths, such as how God performs the work of judgment in the last days, the difference between being saved and attaining full salvation, what being raptured means, what kind of person can enter the kingdom of heaven, and the mystery of the incarnation. The word of Almighty God says: “When Jesus came into the world of man, He ushered in the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and with this incarnation He ended the Age of Grace and ushered in the Age of Kingdom. All those who are able to accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and will moreover become able to personally accept the guidance of God. 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). “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover in a continuous thread the entire gamut of God’s management, and they are all the work of one Spirit. Since the creation of the world, God has always been at work managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are unmistakably the work of one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages stand in opposition to God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). After reading Almighty God’s words, I came to understand that the Lord Jesus only performed the work of redeeming mankind, and not the work of judging, cleansing, and fully saving man in the last days. Although our faith in the Lord means that our sins are absolved, our sinful nature is not expunged, and that is why we still often commit sins and are unable to break free of their fetters. Upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, Almighty God expresses the truth and performs the work of judgment in the last days to cleanse and save man once and for all. Almighty God and the Lord Jesus are one God, who takes on different names in different ages. Only by experiencing Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days can our corrupt dispositions be cleansed and can we be fit to enter God’s kingdom. This information is truly crucial for us to know! Almighty God’s words revealed to us these mysteries concerning God’s work, and we were shaken to our cores. Truly, these are the words and voice of God! Because only God can reveal the mysteries of God’s work, only God can end the old age and launch a new one. No person can do this.

We also saw that Almighty God has expressed many truths related to practice, such as the principles of faith, principles of being an honest person, principles of submission to God, and principles of truly loving God. These are truly enriching, and entirely fulfilling the Lord Jesus’ words: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). We became totally convinced that Almighty God is indeed the Lord Jesus returned, that Almighty God’s words are the expressions of God, and that they are the scroll prophesied in Revelation. By reading Almighty God’s words, we came to understand many truths we’d never understood before, and by praying to Almighty God and reading His words, the problems we encountered in our daily lives were all resolved. We truly began to live a life face-to-face with God, we are so blessed! I learned that it is truly important to hear God’s voice when it comes to welcoming the Lord!