As soon as I returned home the next day, I turned on my computer, contacted a sister from The Church of Almighty God, and questioned her, “Do you still love your mother? Have you abandoned your family? I’ve always thought that The Church of Almighty God is the best and most righteous church. So I joined it without any hesitation. But if you are really like what the rumors say, then you are quite despicable. Now, I don’t know whom I should believe. You must give me an explanation.” After hearing what I said, the sister said an earnest prayer, and then communicated this with me patiently, “Brother, you’ve always thought that The Church of Almighty God is the best and most righteous church. This was confirmed from within your heart after you read the truths expressed by Almighty God.
Since you’ve been in contact with the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God for a period of time, if they were really like what the rumors say, why didn’t your heart tell you? Why do you negate your past knowledge just because of some rumors and hearsay? Who is responsible for your present feelings? All that comes from God makes our hearts quiet, while all that comes from Satan makes us restless, uneasy, unclear and indistinct about visions, unable to stand our ground, and even suspicious of God. If we selectively listen to and believe those rumors instead of quieting our hearts before God to seek the truth, then we’ll be easily disturbed by Satan.” What the sister said dumbfounded me for a moment. Then I thought, “That’s right! All that from comes God makes our hearts quiet.
In the course of my investigations, what God’s words and the brothers and sisters’ fellowships brought me was steadiness and enjoyment, while the negative information I saw online only brought me unease and doubts. Could it be that I’ve really been disturbed by the rumors and fallen for Satan’s tricks?” So, I immediately prayed to God in my heart and asked Him to quiet my heart. At that time, the sister fellowshiped this with me, “For every believer in God, it is the law of heaven and earth to preach the gospel and bear witness for God. So the stuff online that we don’t want our families because of believing in God is pure rumor and fallacy. All of us know the Lord Jesus’ teachings in the Bible: ‘Hethat loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:37). ‘So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:33). From the Lord Jesus’ words we can see that God requires us to love Him above all else, including our husbands or wives. Let’s think back to the past: To spread the gospel and witness God, all the apostles and disciples throughout the ages cast aside their families and gave up jobs, and some of them were even martyred for God. Can we say that they didn’t want their families or that their faith was wrong? Noah sold all of his property to make the ark, preached the gospel for one hundred and twenty years, and never stopped preaching in spite of being ridiculed and despised by people. Peter was another example: He left his parents and sacrificed his youth to follow the Lord Jesus to preach everywhere. These people all acted according to God’s requirements and will. What they did were good deeds and righteous actions, and they are the examples we should follow. No one blames or judges them for not wanting their families. From their experiences, we can see that everyone who expends themselves for God can stand up and cooperate with Him precisely because they have heard God’s voice and known His will. We also have human weaknesses and don’t want to be insulted by others; if it hadn’t been for God’s words and love conquering us, could we have put aside the pleasures of the flesh and forsaken our own families? It’s from God’s words and work that we know God loves mankind so much and that He is eager for everyone to be saved by Him. So in order to let everyone know this good news and be able to welcome the return of the Lord Jesus in the last days, we have the responsibility and obligation to testify to more people about God’s work. If we only cared about our own families and satisfied our own interests, how could God’s gospel be expanded? The Lord Jesus once said, ‘Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15). Preaching the gospel is God’s requirement for us as well as our moral imperative. So, if you say that our forsaking our families and careers to spread the gospel means that we don’t want our families and that our faith is wrong, isn’t this a gross distortion of facts? We should learn to discern those rumors and cunning schemes that come from Satan and must never arbitrarily judge God’s work.”
After hearing the sister’s fellowship, I felt very ashamed. It’s not only everyone’s responsibility but also the Lord Jesus’ requirement for us to preach the gospel and bear witness for God. What’s more, all the saints throughout the ages forsook many things for God’s work; these brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God, who have given up their families and jobs to preach the gospel, are also practicing the Lord’s words. After hearing God’s words and knowing God’s intention of saving mankind, they willingly abandoned everything and endure persecution and humiliation to spread the gospel of God’s work and bring more people before God. This is after God’s heart and is the most righteous thing. Don’t those who slander them undoubtedly come from Satan? Look at those people in my former church: They not only don’t sacrifice anything, but covet the comforts of the flesh instead and always ask God to keep their families safe and careers prosperous. They just care about their own interests without any consideration for God’s will. Do such people have any conscience or rationality at all?
Through the sister’s fellowship, I gained discrimination of what constitutes Satan’s rumors and also understood God’s will in His working to save mankind. After the meeting, I came before Almighty God, gave a prayer of repentance, and begged God to forgive my ignorance. At night, lying on the bed, I kept thinking about one question: “The words of Almighty God are all the truth, which can be confirmed when one reads them. Pastor Zhang has believed in the Lord for a lifetime and is supposed to understand the truth, but why does he fail to recognize that Almighty God’s word is the truth, and even spreads rumors and condemns The Church of Almighty God?”
At the gathering the next day, I spoke about my confusion, “Now, I can be sure that the various kinds of negative messages are all baseless rumors. In the course of my investigations, I have been able to feel that Almighty God’s words are all the truth. But the thing I do not understand is why the pastors — who all graduated from seminaries, have believed in God for a long time, know the Bible very well, and appear very pious — fail to recognize God’s voice when reading Almighty God’s words, and even condemn and resist Him?” After hearing my words, a sister communicated this with me, “Although they have been to seminary school and know the Bible well, it doesn’t mean they have hearts that fear God, nor that they are those who know God and understand the truth. Almighty God is now doing the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, and has expressed several million words to cleanse and save mankind. Hundreds of videos of witnessing produced by The Church of Almighty God have already been published online, for people from all nations and all lands to seek and investigate. This has shaken the whole religious community. Brothers and sisters from all denominations and sects who love the truth, all recognize after reading the words of Almighty God that this is precisely the voice of God and the truth. One after another they have accepted the gospel of God’s kingdom. We also can confirm that this is God’s voice after reading Almighty God’s words. However, when the pastors and elders in the religious community see Almighty God’s words, some of them don’t seek or investigate; some even spread rumors, publicly condemn, deny, resist, and blaspheme God after reading Almighty God’s words. What is the problem here? In regard to this question, let’s first take a look at a passage of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says, ‘Any who do not understand the purpose of God’s work are those who stand against God, and even more so are those who are aware of the purpose of God’s work yet do not seek to satisfy God. 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?’
“From the words of Almighty God we can see that even though someone might have believed in God for years and knows the Bible very well, it doesn’t mean that he or she understands the truth and knows God. When the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He revealed many deeds. According to conventional notions, the chief priests, scribes and elders — who were familiar with the Scripture, proficient in the law, and rendered pious service to Jehovah — should have been able to recognize the Messiah’s voice and that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. And they should have persuaded the believers to accept the Lord Jesus’ new work. But the facts are exactly the opposite of that: After the chief priests and scribes heard the Lord Jesus’ words and saw the miracles performed by Him, they had no intention to seek and accept but instead conjured up all kinds of accusations against the Lord Jesus and resisted and slandered the Lord Jesus’ work. Why was this? According to what is recorded in the Bible, we know that the preaching and work of the Lord Jesus at that time shook up the whole Jewish state. Many people were witnessing the name of the Lord Jesus, and then more and more people followed Him. Those chief priests, scribes and Pharisees knew clearly in their hearts that if the Lord Jesus continued what He was doing, then all Jewish believers would soon be following the Lord Jesus and Judaism would come to an end. Therefore, to protect the survival of Judaism, to protect the sanctity of the Bible, and actually also to protect their status and livelihoods, they did all they could to make up rumors about, condemn and frame the Lord Jesus. In the end they even colluded with the Roman government to nail the Lord Jesus to the cross. Similarly, today’s religious pastors and elders see that the words expressed by Almighty God are all the truth and carry authority and power. If these words are spread to all those in the religious community who love the truth, they will all acknowledge that this is the word of God and the voice of God and thus will return before Almighty God. Therefore, the pastors and elders are extremely afraid of believers reading Almighty God’s words and hearing God’s voice. They’re even more afraid that believers will all follow Almighty God, as this will make them lose their status and livelihoods. As a result, they especially despise Almighty God and furiously make up rumors about, judge, resist and condemn Almighty God, doing all they can to disrupt and block believers from investigating the true way. This is a fact that all discerning people can see clearly. It shows that the root of the religious pastors’ and elders’ resistance to and condemnation of Almighty God is the same as that of Jewish Pharisees’ resistance to the Lord Jesus. Although they all know the Bible very well and have believed in God for years, they have a nature that is fed up with and despises the truth. They are all like the genuinely hypocritical Pharisees. They are all antichrists!”
Hearing her fellowship, I suddenly became enlightened: It turns out that in substance the pastors and elders are the same as that of the Pharisees! Although they all know the Bible well and often expound it, essentially they hate the truth and God; they seem very spiritual, but in substance they are hypocritical. In order to stop believers from accepting Almighty God’s work, they actually fabricate rumors, slander and blaspheme Almighty God. Is there any fear of God in their hearts? I finally understood that when discerning between people, we shouldn’t just judge them by external appearances but should look at their hearts and essence.
That night, I turned on my computer and found to my surprise that I had been expelled from my former church by the pastor there. I thought: Pastor Zhang must have told the pastor about my investigating Almighty God’s work in the last days. I never expected that they were afraid of the believers accepting Almighty God’s work in the last days to the extent that they would rather expel me than allow me to contact the brothers and sisters again. They are so treacherous and so malicious! Based on this, I clearly saw their true face.
Thank God for His guidance. Now I have real discernment regarding the pastors and elders, and can quiet my heart before God. Thinking back on the road I had walked, I found that though I had undergone delusion and disruption, my heart was awakened by God bit by bit. Afterward, through continuously reading God’s words, and frequently gathering and fellowshiping His words with my brothers and sisters, I broke away from the bondage of my obsession with online games almost without realizing it and now had the likeness of a Christian who lives an ever more orderly life. All the glory be to God!
Source from: find the shepherd.
