God’s Word Led Her to See Through Religious Leaders’ Substance（Part-2）
I encountered another disturbance from the leaders and co-workers of my former denomination.
When it was time for the meeting, over ten sisters and brothers came to my home. However, before we started the meeting, six leaders and co-workers of my former denomination came again by motorcycles with sullen scowls and they were all on their high horses. After my previous experience, I knew they came to disturb us.
But I couldn’t help but feel a little timid and afraid, thinking, “Who knows how they will threaten me today?” I worried that I couldn’t deal with them for I understood too little of the truth. Then I hurriedly prayed to the Lord in my heart, “O Lord, today when facing these co-workers, I am a little constrained. I don’t know how to handle them. Please protect my heart so that I can stand the witness.” After my prayer, gradually I began to feel more grounded. I greeted them calmly, “What are you doing here?” One of them started to insincerely advise me, “We heard that you have led the sisters and brothers to accept Eastern Lightning. You are fervent in your belief, but I never thought that you would leave the Lord’s way so quickly. We come to advise and encourage you with love. You come back soon. We want the best for you….”
They continued saying many other words. Then they took out the Bible and said to me, “In the Bible, it is written, ‘This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). ‘Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him’ (Revelation 1:7). The Lord left upon a white cloud and He will surely arrive upon a white cloud when He returns. Then how can we say the Lord has already returned?” Seeing just how aggressively they were behaving, I called on the Lord silently in my heart, begging Him to protect my heart and lead me to stand witness. Thinking of what the sisters fellowshiped to me before, I said to them, “There are many prophecies in the Bible about the return of the Lord Jesus. In waiting for the Lord to return, we can’t only hold onto the prophecy that the Lord will descend on a cloud. The Bible also prophesied that the Lord will come as a thief, such as ‘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). In fact, there is no contradiction between these prophecies predicting the Lord’s return. They completely prophesy the ways the Lord returns. That’s to say, the Lord will first come as a thief and descend secretly to do His work, and will appear to all of humanity in public atop clouds after He has completed His work. So when it comes to receiving the returned Lord Jesus, we can’t define the ways the Lord returns based on our own imagination and conceptions. I urge you all to listen carefully. Look into it first and don’t blindly convict Almighty God.”
At that moment, some sisters and brothers whispered, “These leaders are expecting the Lord’s return every day. However, when the Lord has returned now, they don’t listen or accept His return; moreover, they hinder and disturb us from keeping up with God’s new work.” “They neither seek nor allow us to investigate. What kind of intentions are they harboring?” Seeing that I was unmoved, the leaders said to me intimidatingly, “You’ve taken the wrong path and led so many people to the same wrong path. You’re a great sinner and will be punished by the Lord for your sin. It isn’t too late for you to repent to the Lord earnestly now….” Then, they found some other passages of scripture and gave me them to read. Although they continued propagating some fallacies, I didn’t feel troubled. I knew God was leading me all along.
I said to them, “Almighty God is the embodiment of the Spirit of truth and all He expresses is truth. He has revealed to us all the mysteries of the truth, such as the purpose of God’s management work, how Satan corrupts mankind, how God saves mankind, how God determines the outcome for people, what mankind’s destination is, and so on. It fulfills the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘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 16:13). Only God can do this type of work. I recall that the scripture also says: ‘Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert’ (Isaiah 43:19). Now God has done new work, but you neither listen nor read, much less investigate. How can you know whether or not Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus?” After hearing what I said, they had no reply to that and looked somewhat embarrassed. A leader said, pointing at me, “You’re irredeemable.” They looked at each other, saying, “This way is too lofty. As long as people listen, it’s so easy for them to get sucked into it and they can’t be pulled back even by nine oxen.” Hearing what they said and seeing their battered image, I thanked God from the bottom of my heart. I saw the authority of God’s word and knew God’s work cannot be stopped. Just like this, they disturbed me for one day. Because of God’s protection, I wasn’t deceived by them and stood witness. Seeing me still persist in my faith, they said to my unbelieving husband, “If someone from other areas comes, don’t receive him.” However, my husband said, “Aren’t you all the believers of God? Why are you right but they are wrong?” Having seen my husband not hear them, they also mentioned some slanders against God’s work to block the sisters and brothers who preached God’s work of the last days from coming to my home. They didn’t leave until it was nearly dark.
Just like this, these leaders and co-workers took turns to come almost every day. One day, unexpectedly, there were eighteen leaders and co-workers coming to my home. Facing their constant disturbance, I was under a lot of stress and blows and my life was also troubled. From then on, every time my husband saw I attended gatherings, he would beat and scold me. I became terribly upset as if my heart were broken. Then I could not help but be a little weak and negative and was caught in a dilemma. I thought: It’s not easy to welcome the return of the Lord. If I give up, I’ll miss this opportunity. However, if I continue to persist in my faith, it is so hard that I don’t know how to proceed. In my misery, I called out to God earnestly, “O Lord! Ordinarily, the preachers admired by us held forth on interpreting the Bible for us on the podium. They told us that the Lord would soon come and that we should be the wise virgins waiting for and welcoming His return. Now I’ve welcomed the return of the Lord, but they, almost every day, come to my home to disturb me and block me from accepting it. What is going on? Why would they do this?”
Under the guidance of God’s word, I have seen through the essence of the leaders of my former denomination.
One evening, I went to a sister’s home and happened to meet the two sisters from The Church of Almighty God. Then I told them about my situation and difficulty in tears. Seeing me become a little negative, they comforted me and one of them read two passages of God’s word to me: “You should know that it is the last days now. The devil Satan, like a roaring lion, walks about, searching for people to devour.” “Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block the road? Remember this! Remember! Everything that occurs is by My good intention and all is under My observation. Can your every word and action follow My word? When the trials of fire come upon you, will you kneel and call out? Or will you cower, unable to move forward? You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for My sake, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold.”
Then she said, “From the words of God we can see: Now the last days have arrived, the devil Satan is searching for people everywhere to devour like a roaring lion. Today God has come to carry out the work of saving man during the last days. It is the time when His six-thousand-year battle with Satan is about to be concluded. Having seen so many sisters and brothers all accept God’s work in the last days, Satan is having a conniption. Thus, it does its utmost to use the leaders of your former denomination to disrupt and hinder us. Its purpose is to bear us away from God’s hands in order to make us lose God’s final salvation. This is Satan’s treacherous intention! We must see through its schemes. The more Satan disturbs us like this, the more we have to stand testimony to God and shame Satan.” After listening to what the sister fellowshiped and to the word of God, I thought: Yes! Since this is the true way, I will have God’s support, so I have nothing to fear and also can’t be tied down and controlled by them. I must rely upon God in order to no longer fall for Satan’s temptations and to stand firm.
Finally, the other sister found another passage of God’s word and fellowshiped to me so that I could distinguish the religious leaders’ essence of opposing God. God’s word says: “Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of ‘robust flesh,’ how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?”
The sister fellowshiped, “From the words of God we can see: Although these religious leaders have believed in God for years and know the Bible very well, when it comes to the return of the Lord, they not only not seek God’s will or lead believers to investigate God’s work, but instead resist and condemn God’s work in the last days based on the letters of the Bible and their own conceptions and imaginings and try to stop the believers from examining the true way. They have been revealed as evil servants and antichrists by God’s work of the last days. It is quite similar to the Jewish leaders. When the Lord Jesus came to do His work, the true appearance of the Jewish leaders who resisted God and hated truth was revealed. The Lord Jesus once condemned the Pharisees: ‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in’ (Matthew 23:13). Today those leaders of in the religion who condemn God’s work and prevent believers from accepting the true way are the same in nature as the scribes and Pharisees revealed by God’s words. Not only do they not accept God’s work in the last days, but they prevent us from accepting it. This further proves that they are none other than the wicked servants, antichrists and Pharisees who have been exposed during God’s work of the last days. Furthermore, we must be able to clearly see that the reason why they resist the work of God in the last days and disturb and hinder us from accepting it is that they see that, more and more believers follow Almighty God and then no one will follow them, so their positions and livelihoods will be at risk. Therefore, to protect their positions and meal-tickets, they try every possible means to prevent us from accepting God’s salvation in the last days. It’s fair to say, their behavior is exactly the same as that of the Pharisees, the ones that hindered the Jewish people from following the Lord Jesus. We must see this clearly and be able to discern this!” Through God’s word and the sisters’ patient communion, I finally felt at ease. I said excitedly, “Thank God! Through your fellowship, I understand: Their intent and purpose of coming to disturb us time after time is to cage us believers. They are stumbling blocks to our entering God’s kingdom! They are just so despicable. From now on, no matter how hard it is to walk on the road and how the leaders and co-workers of my former denomination deceive and disturb me, I’ll no longer give in to Satan and will resolutely follow God to the end.”
I overcame Satan and stood witness.
Later on, although the leaders and co-workers of my former denomination came ceaselessly, I was restrained no longer. Seeing me not listen to them, they announced my accepting Eastern Lightning into a small brochure, printed lots of copies and distributed them to the sisters and brothers to make them all reject me and not receive me. My husband had some discernment of them after he saw their contemptible behavior. Gradually, he didn’t beat or scold me. When I read God’s words or attended any meetings, I was no longer controlled by him. Through over 40 days of the intense spiritual battle, I could see the wickedness and despicableness of Satan. In order to force me to abandon the true way, time and time again, Satan frantically besieged me and disturbed and obstructed me from accepting God’s work in the last days. This was truly an intense battle. Although I felt that I was exhausted physically and mentally as if my heart were broken, and wanted to compromise with Satan, it was when I was besieged by Satan again and again that God sent the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God to fellowship about God’s words with me. So that I no longer doubted but become certain about the true way, and gradually, I had faith in God again. Otherwise I couldn’t have stepped up at all. In the fierce, spiritual war like this, I acquired much discernment. I saw these so-called leaders of my former denomination were not people who loved the truth and thirsted for God’s appearance at all. Without such a revelation from God, I never would have known their true God-resisting faces. Thank God for saving me so that I broke away from the bonds and control of the leaders of my former denomination, and leading me to see through Satan’s tricks, so that I could stand firm on the true way. Thank God! All the glory be to the only true God! Amen!
Source from: find the shepherd
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