By Jin Yu, South Korea
In 2005, I believed in the Lord Jesus with my husband. We read the Bible, attended meetings and prayed together. Whatever happened to us, we would consult the Lord’s words to solve it and practice according to His teachings. We enjoyed the joy of being with the Lord every day. Besides, our hearts were peaceful and secure, and we lived very happily. We also confidently expected that someday we would be able to welcome the return of the Lord and be taken back to the heavenly home.
Living in Sin, I Felt Confused
But later, lawlessness grew ever more rampant in our church and I was also gradually incapable of holding on the teachings of the Lord. At that time, my sister was often reviled and even hit by her husband after he got drunk. Therefore, I developed a hatred for my brother-in-law and didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I was disgusted at my brother too. This was because he always asked me to help him in life. In the beginning it was okay for me to do that; later on, I found it difficult to help him all the time. Thus, I was angry at my brother’s worthlessness and no longer willing to help him. I knew that hating others and losing my temper were sins, and were at odds with the will of the Lord. However, even if I entreated the Lord and confessed my sins every time, afterward I was still unable to control myself. I used to feel distress because I lived in the vicious cycle of committing and then confessing my sins. For this reason, I also asked pastors how to solve this problem many times. They always said to me, “The Lord Jesus has already forgiven our sins, and He doesn’t see us as sinners anymore. When He returns we will be taken into the kingdom of heaven.” But God’s words say: “Be you holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Consequently, I began to worry: The Lord is holy, while I often live in sin and can’t break free of the bonds and control of sin. Going on in this way, can I gain the Lord’s approval? Can I enter the kingdom of heaven when He comes?
In 2015, I came to South Korea with my husband. Besides paying tithes, we dedicated money for thanking and for building every month. Because we donated over one million KRW every month, the pastors, elders and deacons all valued us. They always greeted us with smiles, while they gave the cold shoulder to those believers who donated much less money. Seeing that pastors and elders disdained for the poor and fawned over the rich and couldn’t treat people fairly, and that their actions were the same as the worldly people, I felt fed up with them. I thought they couldn’t keep the Lord’s teachings and lived in sin, so how could they lead us to cast off sins? Can we behold the Lord when He returns? I was extremely disappointed and puzzled. I could do nothing but pray to the Lord and ask Him to have mercy on me and to lead me.
My Husband Brought Back the Good News
The Lord is faithful. He listened to my prayers. One day in February 2018, after returning home from work, my husband was in high spirits and said to me happily, “The Lord Jesus has come back.” I felt astounded, so I asked him, “Really? How did you know? Where did you hear about this?” He replied, “I have been to The Church of Almighty God to investigate it. When I first heard the brothers and sisters there say that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus of the last days, and that He was incarnated to express His words and to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, my heart was filled with confusion. Then they read a passage of Almighty God’s words to me: ‘Perhaps, having heard the way of truth and read the word of life, you believe that only one in 10,000 of these words are in line with your convictions and the Bible, and then you should continue to seek in that 10,000th of these words. I still advise you to be humble, to not be over-confident, and to not exalt yourself too highly. With your heart holding such meager reverence for God, you will gain greater light. If you carefully examine and repeatedly contemplate these words, you shall understand whether or not they are the truth, and whether or not they are life.’ I came to realize this: When studying the true way, one must first hold a heart of humble seeking. Only in this way can I obtain God’s guidance. Moreover, after returning home, I kept recalling what they fellowshipped. I thought it was all in accordance with the Bible and very reasonable. When I went there to listen to their message a second time, they asked me to see a number of movies produced by The Church of Almighty God. What they fellowshipped in the films were the questions that had puzzled us for a long time, such as what is the root of our keep sinning, what is the way of resolving sins, what path should be followed in man’s belief in God, the difference between following God and following people, etc. All these aspects of the truth are made very clear. Besides, there are various kinds of videos, such as dancing and singing, short sketch, comic crosstalk, and stage performance, and so on. Through these many kinds of artistic performances, they show a variety of testimonies and the knowledge and harvest that they gain from experiencing Almighty God’s work of the last days. …” I was attracted by the words of my husband and thought, “Could it be true that the Lord Jesus has returned?” Next, he showed me the film “Stinging Memories” from The Church of Almighty God. Then I managed to quiet my heart, and saw it while at the same time praying to the Lord.
A Gospel Movie Resolved My Doubts
In the movie, Brother Wang said, “The Lord Jesus did forgive our sins. But it doesn’t mean we don’t have sins, or we’ve broken free from the shackles of sin and become holy. The Lord Jesus has forgiven our sins. But what does the ‘sins’ mean here? We all know things like fornication and theft, which are against the law, the commandments, and God’s word, all are sins. All things that resist God, condemn God, and judge God are also sins, not to mention blasphemy against God, which is an unforgivable sin! In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus made Himself the sin offering for mankind. Only if men pray, confess, and repent to the Lord could they not be condemned or put to death. In other words, God no longer took them as sinners. And due to His forgiveness of their sins, mankind could pray to the Lord directly and enjoy His grace. This is the real meaning of ‘sins are forgiven.’ Although men’s sins are forgiven because of the sin offering of the Lord Jesus, it doesn’t mean that they will no longer sin or resist God. This is because their sinful nature still remains, and they can still resist, betray, and make enemy with God. How could such people be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven? Just like Almighty God’s words say, ‘A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus — you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance’
To be continue…
Source from: find the shepherd.
