Learning to Discern in the Spiritual Battle
Afterward, the pastor also said, “Eastern Lightning witnesses that the Lord Jesus has returned in the flesh. This is impossible. It is plainly said in the Bible, ‘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’ (Revelation 1:7). Therefore, the Lord must come back on a cloud in the last days.” After hearing his words, I thought of what we appreciated and knew about this verse when Brother Zheng fellowshiped with me. Hence, I said to them, “It’s unsuitable for us to define God’s work merely by the literal meaning of the verse. As a matter of fact, there are many places that mention the coming of the Son of man. For example, ‘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’ (Luke 17:24). ‘I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15). The verses all mention the coming of the Son of man. Since the Son of man is mentioned, then it must be referring to the incarnate Christ.” Pastor Li cut in and said, “The Son of man refers to the Lord Jesus.” I said, “If this refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, then how can this word ‘But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ (Luke 17:25), still be said, after the Lord Jesus already became flesh and finished His work of redemption? As can be seen, this refers to God incarnate for the second time in the last days. If the returned Lord in the last days appears not in the form of becoming flesh but in His spiritual body, it goes without saying He won’t suffer a lot, let alone be rejected of this generation.” After that, regardless of how I fellowshiped with them, they didn’t listen to me or examine the true way, but still held onto the surface meaning of the Bible.
At this time, I clearly knew in my heart that they are absolutely not those who sincerely yearn for the returned Lord. I thought of a passage of God’s words, “Look at the leaders of every denomination and sect. They are all arrogant and self-right, and they interpret the Bible out of context and according to their own imagination. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they were incapable of preaching anything, would those people follow them?” (“Only the Pursuit of the Truth Is the True Belief in God”). Everything that God’s words reveal is true. In many parts of the Bible it is predicted the Son of man arrives and that the Lord will come like a thief. The pastor and elders all have graduated from seminary, mastered the Bible, and worked for the Lord for many years. However, they can’t read the true meaning of the prophecies in the Bible. It can be seen that while believing in the Lord, they pay attention only to studying the surface meaning of the Bible and to equipping themselves with theological theories in order to show them off, so that people will worship them. On account of that, having learned the Bible by heart, and preached and worked for many years, they not only don’t have the slightest understanding of God, but delimit God by adhering to religious concept when the Lord Jesus turns back. They are indeed people who blindly lead.
At last, seeing I didn’t give in, Pastor Li, before the co-workers, said in an indignant way, “I announce a decision on behalf of the church. From now on, you are stopped all of your service in the church. Calm down at home and consider this carefully.” At that moment, I felt my heart wrenching, and could not stop my tears from falling. That I was sad was not because they had cancelled my service, but because though I had gotten on with Pastor Li for so long and on the surface, he seemed to be very godly and tried his best to work for the Lord, yet they should besiege and abandon me just for my examination of the true way. They preached to believers, telling them to watch and await the coming of the Lord all along. Nowadays, the Lord has returned in the flesh. They don’t seek out or look into God’s end-time work. On the contrary, they obstruct and condemn the people examining the true way. Having experienced this scene, I couldn’t help thinking of what the Lord Jesus said to condemn the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). Look back to the Pharisees of that time. They often explained the Bible to the believers in the synagogues, prayed before people, and convicted others using the rules of the Bible. From the outside, they observed the Bible and were very pious. However, they gave heed only to engaging in religious rituals and observing religious rules instead of putting God’s words into practice and keeping the commandments of God. Their actions and deeds ran in opposite direction to God’s will and requirements. This is the essence of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and resistance of God. Let’s see the pastors and elders of today again. They put blind faith in the Bible, worship and exalt it; they only focus on sorts of religious rituals and on attending regular services, morning watch, breaking bread, partaking of Holy Communion, and so on; they lay stress only on preaching humility, patience, devoutness and love, to believers. Yet actually they don’t love or obey God, nor do they have a heart that reveres God at all. When they work and preach, they attach importance only to clinging to and expounding on the biblical knowledge and theological theories. When it comes to how to practice and experience the word of the Lord, how to observe the Lord’s commandments and His requirements, and so forth, they don’t seek or explore, nor do they lead people to practice and observe them. They work for the purpose of showing off and building up themselves, allowing people to look up to and worship them.
Stepping Over Stumbling Blocks and Following Almighty God
Later on, I was aware that the sister, who accepted the end-time work of Almighty God together with me, had also suffered the siege from the pastor and co-workers, and been expelled from the church. The pastor and elders also sealed off the church entirely, and investigated the believers, who attended meetings during the recent two years in the church, to see whether they are from Eastern Lightning. Moreover, now every Sunday afternoon, the pastor preached against Eastern Lightning in the church. At the news, I felt enraged. There are still some brothers and sisters in the church who have true belief in the Lord and bitterly long for His return. However, they are all, for the moment, bound and controlled by these hypocritical pastors and elders and have no chance to examine the true way at all. I was seized by anxiety in thinking of this. And I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words, “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). When the Lord Jesus came to work and preach, the Pharisees knew clearly that the words of the Lord Jesus have authority and power. They not only failed to seek or investigate them, but instead attacked and slandered the Lord Jesus with an ill intention, saying that He relied on the prince of the devils to cast out demons, so that they committed the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and seriously offended God’s disposition. The Pharisees not only blasphemed and condemned the Lord Jesus themselves, but incited and deluded believers to resist and condemn Him, making believers lose the Lord’s salvation and turn into their funerary objects and victims. Now the practices of the pastors and elders are the same as those of the Pharisees at that time. When people spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ return, they seal off the church to block the believers from examining the true way. Isn’t this the manifestation of such people who close the kingdom of heaven against men, and who neither enter themselves, nor let others enter? However, the most difficult point for me to comprehend is that the pastors and elders know plainly the fact that the Pharisees resisted the Lord Jesus, but why do they still take the path of the Pharisees? Why do they so frantically resist and convict God’s new work?
Afterward, I saw God’s words, “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?” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God”). Through reading God’s words as well as according to my personal experience, I penetrated the true face of the pastors and elders in the religious circle. They are exactly the stumbling blocks—antichrists who wave the banner of faith in God to oppose God and to stop others from believing in God. Nominally, they nourish brothers and sisters in the church. In fact, they don’t care about the believers’ growth in life. The faith and love of the believers have grown cold, and simultaneously, they are negative and weak. In this case, the pastors and elders don’t lead the believers to seek the truth or go to discover a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit, but rather they keep the believers under their close control. Especially when Almighty God expresses the truth to provide people with life, they don’t investigate or accept it, but use every possible means to oppose and condemn the true way, and hinder the believers from investigating the true way instead. They don’t allow them to contact people from the Church of Almighty God or read Almighty God’s words. For the sake of their own status and livelihood, they even make rumors, slander and condemn God’s work in the final age everywhere. Do all the actions and deeds of the pastors and elders not oppose God? Are they not the evil servants or modern-day Pharisees spoken by the Lord Jesus? They block the believers from accepting God’s salvation of the last days as possible as they can. They are to pull us toward hell and to make us miss the chance of God’s end-time salvation. As can be seen, they are the devils devouring the soul of man and wolves in sheepskin. After I saw through the truth-hating, God-opposing nature and essence of the pastor and elders, I hated and rejected them from the bottom of my heart, being no longer constrained by them.
Right now, though I have been cancelled all the services in the original church, I perform my duty in the Church of Almighty God. Through frequent gatherings with my brothers and sisters and doing my duty, I feel I live a more valuable and meaningful life. Thank God. I finally stepped over the tumbling stones on the road of the kingdom of heaven and came into God’s presence. In the process of my following God, I will satisfy God and comfort His heart to the uttermost. All the glory be to Almighty God! Amen!
The End.
Source from: Find the shepherd
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