Answer:

Our welcoming of the Lord’s return ought to be based on the prophecies of the Lord Jesus—that would be most correct. Whose words are you referencing? The words of the Lord, or the words of man? “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” was spoken by Paul; neither the Lord Jesus nor the Holy Spirit ever uttered such words. Does Paul speak for the Lord Jesus? Can his words represent the words of God? Only God knows the mystery of how the Lord shall raise up the believers into the heavenly kingdom during the last days. If us corrupt humans have the gall to blindly interpret and conclude such things, then there is a serious problem. Paul was not Christ, he was but a corrupt human being. What he said had no basis in the words of God, and so there is no doubt that it brimmed with the taints and imaginings of man. Thus, the words of Paul are not the truth, and they cannot serve as any kind of basis; the only correct way to welcome the Lord’s arrival is to act according to the words of God in the Bible.

Let us take a look at what the Lord Jesus said: “Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10). The Lord Jesus is clearly telling us that the kingdom of God is on earth, not in the sky, and God’s will shall be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Let us now look at Revelation 21:2–3: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” And in Revelation 11:15 it says: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” The mention of “the tabernacle of God is with men,” “new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,” and “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ” in these prophecies sufficiently proves that the kingdom of God is made on earth. He will live with man on earth, and the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdom of Christ, for ever and ever. According to our notions and imaginings, the kingdom of God is in heaven, and when the Lord comes, He shall raise us up into heaven. If that were so, how then would the words of God be fulfilled? In reality, the final achievement of God’s management plan for the salvation of mankind is the creation of God’s kingdom on earth. Christ of the last days, Almighty God, does the work of judging and cleansing man in order to create a group of overcomers on earth; these overcomers, who are saved and completed by God, are those who practice the words of God and follow the way of God on earth—they are the people of God’s kingdom. When these overcomers are made complete, God’s will shall be done on earth, after which Christ’s kingdom shall be realized on earth, and God shall be fully glorified. The prophecies of the Book of Revelation are what God ultimately wishes to achieve—can you really not see this fact?

There may be some who ask, if the kingdom is on earth, why did the Lord Jesus say, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2–3)? The Lord Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection to prepare a place for us, so reason dictates that this place should also be in heaven—how are these words to be understood? It is fair to say that no one can fathom the prophecies of the Lord. We only understand what the Lord Jesus’ words are really referring to after accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days and seeing the facts of His work’s fulfillment. The Lord preparing a place for us refers to God becoming flesh to speak and work on earth in the last days. So, too, did He predetermine that we would be born during the last days, and when He appears and performs His work we are raised before God’s throne to accept the judgment and cleansing of God’s words, and be made into overcomers before the arrival of the disasters. The process of the Lord coming to receive us is the process of cleansing and perfecting us. We eat, drink, and enjoy the words of God, we experience the work of God, and we attend the feast with God—is this not us meeting with the Lord? When the day arrives that God’s work comes to an end, and we are cleansed and perfected, we shall be brought into God’s kingdom. At that time, the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdom of Christ, Christ shall reign in the kingdom, and we shall be the people of God who worship Him in His kingdom. Does this not fulfill the words of the Lord, “where I am, there you may be also”? God’s kingdom is built on earth, God has decreed that we shall live on earth. Does our insistence that we go up into heaven not run contrary to the work and will of God?

So just what does it mean to be caught up? This was unclear to most people. Only when Almighty God came was this mystery of being caught up revealed to us, saying: “‘Being caught up’ does not mean being taken from a low place to a high place, as people might imagine; that is a huge misconception. ‘Being caught up’ refers to My predestining and then selecting. It is directed at all those I have predestined and chosen. All those who are caught up are people who have gained the status of firstborn sons or sons, or who are God’s people. This is most incompatible with people’s notions. Those who will have a share in My house in the future are all ones who have been caught up before Me. This is absolutely true, never-changing, and irrefutable. It is a counterattack against Satan. Anyone I predestined shall be caught up before Me” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 104). Almighty God unambiguously states that “being caught up” is not as we imagine—it does not mean that we are raised up from the ground and lifted into the clouds to meet with the Lord, much less does it mean that we are raised up into heaven. Instead, it refers to us hearing the voice of God and following God, accepting and obeying His work of the last days, and following the footsteps of the Lamb when God is incarnated during the last days to speak, appear, and work. This is the true meaning of being raised before God’s throne. All who are able to recognize the voice of God, and who can, amid the words of Almighty God, discover and accept the truth and turn to Almighty God, are the wise virgins, they are all the “gold, silver and precious stones” who were “stolen” by the Lord and returned to God’s house. These people are all able to understand and accept the truth, and understand the voice of God, and they are those who are truly raised before God. Since Almighty God embarked upon the work of the last days, more and more people who truly yearn for the appearance of God have recognized the voice of God in the words of Almighty God. Each has accepted God’s work of judgment of the last days, been brought face-to-face with God before His throne, accepted the watering and nourishment of God’s words, possesses true knowledge of God, has been cleansed of their corrupt dispositions, and lives out the reality of God’s words. These people have already been made into overcomers before the disasters, they have become the first fruits who are gained by God. Those who cling to their own notions and imaginings, who foolishly wait for the Lord to come and lift them up into heaven, and who refuse to accept God’s work of judgment of the last days—they are the foolish virgins, they shall be forsaken by God, and are bound to be plunged into disaster, weeping bitterly and gnashing their teeth. This is a fact.

2. Before, the pastors often preached that when the Lord comes, we would be caught up into heaven before the disasters, but now we see every kind of major disaster befalling the earth and we have not been caught up. The pastors say that our not having been caught up means the Lord has not yet returned, that the Lord will appear to us amid the disasters, and we will be caught up into heaven during the disasters. I don’t understand: Are we to be caught up before the disasters, or during them?

Answer:

On the question of believers’ being caught up when the Lord comes, many pastors and Bible expositors have determined that the Lord will come and believers will be caught up before the disasters arrive. Yet today, the great disasters have arrived and the people of the religious world have not been caught up; this has confused many people, and on this matter the religious pastors say, “That we have not been caught up before the disasters shows that the Lord has not come before the disasters. We assert that the Lord will surely appear to us during the disasters, so we will wait to be caught up during the disasters.” This is the most common argument in religion. Are such views correct? Do they have a basis in God’s words? Could it be that, because the people of the religious world have not been caught up before the disasters, and have not seen the Lord descending upon a white cloud, this then proves that the Lord has not come? When the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work, the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism did not recognize Him, and denied His appearance and work; they did not welcome the Messiah, so they said that He had not yet come. Are these religious pastors not making the same mistake as the Pharisees all those years ago? Do they not misinterpret the Bible when they determine, on a whim, when the Lord shall come based upon one or two verses of Scripture? Today, since the disasters have already arrived, the Lord has indeed not come openly upon a white cloud—this is fact. Yet we have seen that in the East, there are those who testify to the appearance and work of Almighty God, who bear witness to and spread all of the truths expressed by Almighty God, and that, like a great light, they have rapidly spread from the East all across the West, provoking the vehement repression and persecution of the CCP regime, and sending shockwaves throughout the world. Is there really no one in the religious world who can see this fact? This precisely fulfills the prophecy of the Lord Jesus: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27).

That the Lord appears and performs His work before the disasters is beyond doubt. In the Book of Revelation, it says, “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things said He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens; I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come on all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:7–12). These words have all been fulfilled. During the last days, the church in Philadelphia is the church that is caught up before the disasters, and all who are caught up are those who return before God because they have read many of Almighty God’s utterances and heard the voice of God. This fulfills these words of God: “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). “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” (Revelation 3:20). These people who accept Almighty God eat and drink the words of God every day, and sit at the wedding feast of the Lamb. All those who love and pursue the truth have experienced the judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement of God, and they have been made into overcomers—they are the wise virgins who welcome the Lord. Those who refuse to accept Almighty God, meanwhile, are the foolish virgins; they do not recognize the voice of God, they have squandered their chance to welcome the coming of the Lord, and so they are abandoned and plunged into the disasters. But after the great disasters have begun to rain down, some people hear the voice of God amid the disasters, they behold the testimony to the appearance and work of Almighty God, and they accept Almighty God. Today, many religious people are investigating the work of Almighty God, they recognize that the words of Almighty God are the voice of God, and more and more people are accepting Almighty God. These people are those who are caught up during the disasters.