By Qiuyue, China

I water newcomers in the church. One night in September 2008, I was waiting as usual for a couple, Yu Hui and Xin Ming, to come to my house for a gathering. They had just accepted God’s work of the last days. Almost an hour passed without them arriving, and I was beginning to feel anxious and uneasy, thinking, “Ever since this young couple accepted God’s new work, they’ve always been really active for every gathering. They’ve always arrived on time and rarely been late. What’s going on tonight? It’s already well into the night, and there’s still no sign of them. No, I can’t wait any longer! I need to go and see what’s going on.” I hurried to my room, put the book of God’s words into my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and headed out. At that very moment, they came in, looking troubled and distressed. They took their books of God’s words from their bags and placed them on the coffee table. They then sat on the couch with their heads down, not saying a word, occasionally looking out the window, as if they wanted to leave. I was startled and thought, “They must have had some kind of difficulty!” I silently prayed to God, asking Him to guide me in fellowshipping on and resolving their problems. While pouring tea, I asked, “Xin Ming, Yu Hui, is everything ok at home? Or have you had any notions about God’s work? No matter what difficulties we encounter, as long as we come before God and seek the truth, any problem can be solved. Let’s open our hearts and talk.”

After a while, Xin Ming looked up and hesitantly said, “Sister, I truly don’t understand: Is the Almighty God we believe in a person or God?” Yu Hui then said, “Sister, to be honest with you, the day before yesterday, Xin Ming and I were reading Almighty God’s words at home, when Elder Zhang from our church came by. He asked us to look at a report on the website open on his phone. The report was about how the CCP and religious leaders said that The Church of Almighty God believed in an ordinary person. The report said a lot of other things too. After reading it, I was stunned and felt really troubled. I couldn’t eat or sleep, and I didn’t sleep a wink for two nights. The words ‘an ordinary person’ kept echoing through my mind, and I worried that it’d be wrong if we really were believing in a person. In that case, wouldn’t we have wasted over ten years believing in the Lord Jesus? How could we enter the kingdom of heaven then? But then I thought, during the years I believed in Jesus, I often heard pastors and elders explain the Bible, but my spirit felt withered and dark. I was even too indifferent to go to gatherings. But ever since I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, I felt that reading God’s words has nourished my heart and really benefited our lives. Xin Ming and I have had peace and joy in our hearts lately. But now, after what Elder Zhang said, I don’t know what to do. Sister, tell me, who exactly is the Almighty God we believe in? Is He Christ, or an ordinary person?”

I hurriedly fellowshipped, “Xin Ming, Yu Hui, we might fear that the Almighty God we believe in is a person, but let’s think about this for a moment: Wasn’t the Lord Jesus also an ordinary person in appearance? Why were we able to believe in the Lord Jesus for over ten years? Why did Peter, John, and the Samaritan woman believe that this ordinary person, the Lord Jesus, was Christ? Have you thought about these questions?”

Xin Ming blinked for a moment and said, “Why do we believe? I really haven’t thought about those questions. I just thought Jesus was the Lord, Christ, and that we should believe.”

I said, “Although we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we didn’t understand the essence of Christ. That’s why today, although we follow Almighty God, we don’t know how to discern when someone says we believe in an ordinary person. To be honest, when I first accepted Almighty God’s work, I had similar thoughts, and I was also confused about this issue. Later, a sister read a few passages from Almighty God’s words and fellowshipped the truth on this topic. Only then did I understand that the Almighty God we believe in is Christ of the last days.” As I spoke, I hurriedly opened the book of God’s words and said, “Let’s read a couple of passages from God’s words. Almighty God says: ‘The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is the incarnation of the Spirit, rather than being fleshly. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of Christ Is Submission to the Will of the Heavenly Father). ‘The ‘incarnation’ is God’s appearance in the flesh; God works among created mankind in the image of the flesh. So, as He is God’s incarnation, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this is the most basic prerequisite. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, that God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God). God’s words disclose the truths and mysteries that humanity has not understood for thousands of years. What is incarnation? What is Christ? Christ is God incarnate, and is God’s Spirit coming to earth to become a flesh-and-blood person, appearing and working in the flesh. On the surface, God incarnate appears as an extremely normal, ordinary person, but He has the Spirit of God dwelling within Him and the essence of divinity. Just like when the Lord Jesus incarnated to do His work, He also appeared as an ordinary person and went through the normal process of human growth. He had parents, brothers, and sisters, and at the time, people called Him Jesus of Nazareth, son of the carpenter Joseph. These were manifestations of the Lord Jesus’ normal humanity. On the outside, the Lord Jesus was just an ordinary Jew, but He had the essence of divinity. He could express the truth and bestow the way of repentance on man. He could perform the work of redemption, forgiving people’s sins, and express God’s loving and merciful disposition. He could perform signs and wonders such as healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, and feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. The words and work of the Lord Jesus, the dispositions He expressed, and the authority He demonstrated were things that no one could attain or possess. These things were revelations of the Lord Jesus’ divine essence. Therefore, the Lord Jesus was Christ, also known as the Son of man. The Lord Jesus was God incarnate, and this is a universally accepted fact in the religious world. If an entity only has divinity without normal humanity, then this entity would be the invisible and untouchable Holy Spirit and could not be called Christ. But if a person only had humanity without divinity, then this person would not be God incarnate. Just like us ordinary people, we are all of flesh, and we have all been corrupted by Satan. We only have humanity. Even Daniel, Isaiah, and other ancient saints and prophets had only humanity. They were merely members of corrupted humanity and did not possess the divinity of Christ. Therefore, Christ’s divine essence is unique and something no one else possesses.”

Yu Hui blinked thoughtfully. After thinking for a while, she said, “If Almighty God had not disclosed these mysteries, none of us would have understood it. Even the pastors and elders of the religious world don’t understand this. They often preach that Christ is the King, the Anointed One. David was the king of Israel and also the anointed one, but why could he not be called Christ? These pastors and elders can’t explain this clearly. Now I understand. David only had humanity and didn’t possess the essence of divinity, so he couldn’t be called Christ. But the Lord Jesus had both normal humanity and complete divinity, so He could be called Christ. Just like we often sing, ‘Christ, Christ, Jesus Christ, the bedrock of the church …’” Yu Hui gently tapped her hands to the rhythm as she sang.

Seeing them both start to speak and fellowship, my nervous heart slowly relaxed. I smiled and said, “That’s right. When we understand what Christ is, we are also clear about why the Lord Jesus is called Christ and the Son of man. Now, do you remember that several places in the Bible prophesy the Lord’s return as the ‘coming of the Son of man’?”

They replied, “Yes, we do!” In one breath, Xin Ming recited, “Luke 17:24 says: ‘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.’”

I then fellowshipped, “When we speak of the ‘Son of man,’ it means God’s Spirit has come to earth and become human, born of a normal human, with parents and a family. Outwardly, He is just an ordinary person. In the last days, God has incarnated again as the Son of man, who is Almighty God. Outwardly, Almighty God is just an ordinary Son of man, but He is the embodiment of God’s Spirit. He is God Himself. Almighty God has expressed all the truth to purify and save humanity, and He has performed the work of judgment and chastisement in the last days to completely resolve the sinful nature of people, to save them from Satan’s corruption and harm, and finally, to bring them into God’s kingdom. The truth expressed by Almighty God and the work He has done has resolved all the confusion and difficulties faced by believers of the Lord in the Age of Grace, and these truths are things no one else could express. Whether He is God incarnate is not based on human acknowledgment, much less is it based on the baseless rumors and fallacies from the CCP or religious leaders. Instead, it is determined by the work God does and His essence. In investigating the true way, to judge whether He is God incarnate, we can’t just look at His outward appearance and ignore His essence. Let’s read a passage of God’s words. Almighty God says: ‘It is not difficult to inquire into such a thing, but it requires each of us to know this one truth: He who is God incarnate shall possess the essence of God, and He who is God incarnate shall possess the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He intends to do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon him, and point the way for him. Flesh that does not have the essence of God is decidedly not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. If man intends to inquire into whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, then he must corroborate this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, to corroborate whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, one must discriminate on the basis of His essence. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key lies in His essence (His work, His utterances, His disposition, and many other aspects), rather than external appearance’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). God’s words are very clear. For us to measure whether He is God incarnate, the main things that we can use to discern this are His words, His work, and the disposition He expresses. These are the only ways for us to know Christ. Christ appears ordinary and normal, but we can recognize whether He is God or not from His work and words. Just like the Lord Jesus. He seemed like an ordinary person, but He was able to end the Age of Law, usher in the Age of Grace, and be crucified to redeem humanity. The Lord Jesus spoke with authority and power. With one word, He made Lazarus rise from the dead, and fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. The words and work of the Lord Jesus, as well as the authority He displayed, were enough to prove His identity and status. He was no ordinary person, but Christ! But the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees at that time did not seek to investigate the work of the Lord Jesus, but based on what they saw, they judged the Lord Jesus to be just a man, saying, ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?’ ‘Isn’t this just Jesus from Nazareth?’ ‘Don’t we know His parents?’ They seized on every opportunity they could to condemn the Lord Jesus. Believers didn’t focus on discernment, and like reeds swaying in the wind, they followed the Pharisees in condemning the Lord Jesus. In the end, the Pharisees joined with the Roman government to crucify Him. In AD 70, they suffered God’s curse and punishment. Israel was destroyed, and the Israelites fled to foreign lands for two thousand years. This was the tragic outcome of resisting and condemning Jesus Christ. Though the Lord Jesus was full of lovingkindness and mercy, God also possesses righteousness and majesty, and His disposition does not tolerate offense. The Lord Jesus was God incarnate, and His work and words were the expressions of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees didn’t accept the truth expressed by Jesus Christ, and even wantonly fabricated rumors about the Lord Jesus, judged and condemned Him. This meant they were rejecting the truth and rejecting Christ, and this was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not forgiven in this life or the next world! The Lord Jesus said: ‘All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men’ (Matthew 12:31).”

After listening, Xin Ming angrily said, “Those Pharisees were so hateful! They didn’t even recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, yet they condemned Him and fabricated rumors. All their years of reading the Old Testament were in vain!” Yu Hui glanced at Xin Ming and said, “You can’t say it like that. If we’d been born back then, we might have condemned the Lord Jesus just as they did. We can’t say for sure!”

I continued, “That’s right. The mistakes of the past should serve as warnings for future generations! In the last days, the Lord Jesus has incarnated again as the Son of man to speak and work on earth. This Son of man is Almighty God. Facing the work of Almighty God, shouldn’t we be careful and prudent, seek and investigate with a God-fearing heart, and not judge solely based on appearances? Let’s read a few scriptures. John 16:12–13 says: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.’ Revelation 2:7 says: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ Also, ‘He that rejects Me, and accepts not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:48). From these scriptures, we can see that the Lord Jesus prophesied that He would speak many things when He returns, and that He would express the truth and carry out the work of judgment. So, tell me, have these prophecies now been fulfilled?” “They have,” they both answered in unison.

I picked up my copy of The Word Appears in the Flesh and said, “This book, The Word Appears in the Flesh, is the scroll opened by the Lamb. It is the word spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches. These truths are the words of God supplying human life, and they are the eternal way of truth. Through reading the words of Almighty God, we see that Almighty God not only discloses the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan of salvation, but also discloses the mystery of the incarnation, the relationship between the Bible and God, and the outcomes and destinations of all kinds of people. God also judges and exposes the sinful nature of humanity’s resistance to God, and the truth about humanity’s corruption by Satan and their various corrupt dispositions. He also shows people the path to escape from sin, and at the same time, God reveals to humanity His righteous, majestic, and wrathful disposition that is unoffendable. The words and work of Almighty God completely fulfill the prophecies of the Bible. Let’s think about this: If Almighty God were just an ordinary person, how could He disclose the inside truth of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace? How could He unveil the mystery of God’s management work to save humanity? How could He express God’s righteous disposition and His almightiness and wisdom? If Almighty God were just an ordinary person, how could He usher in the Age of Kingdom and end the Age of Grace, bringing those who were forgiven of their sins and followed the Lord Jesus into a new age, and commencing the work of judgment beginning from God’s house? Which great person or famous figure could achieve such words and work? Which pastor or elder could say such words? Absolutely none of them! Now, let’s think: Who, besides God, could complete God’s six-thousand-year management plan? Who else could express the truth to judge people, cleanse them, and save them from sin? Who else could determine the outcomes of all kinds of people? Nobody. Only the incarnate Almighty God can do this work and has such authority! Since only Christ of the last days, Almighty God, can do this work, then, is Almighty God a person or God?”

Yu Hui and Xin Ming answered together, “He is God!” Yu Hui’s tense expression relaxed, and a smile bloomed on her face. She said excitedly, “How wonderful! Almighty God has come to carry out the work of judgment beginning from God’s house and has expressed so many words. This is all the work of God. If He were just an ordinary person, how could He have achieved this?”

I was really excited and said with a smile, “It’s really great that you can comprehend it this way! Let’s read a passage from the words of Almighty God, and our hearts will be even clearer. Almighty God says: ‘This time around, God comes to do work not in a spiritual body, but in a very ordinary one. Moreover, it is the body of God’s second incarnation, and it is also the body through which God returns to the flesh. It is a very ordinary flesh. Looking at Him, you cannot see anything that makes Him stand out from others, but you can gain from Him previously unheard-of truths. Just this insignificant flesh is the embodiment of all God’s words of truth, the bearer of God’s work in the last days, and the expression by which man understands God’s whole disposition. Do you not desire greatly to see the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to understand the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to see the destination of mankind? He will tell you all these secrets—secrets that no man has ever been able to tell you—and He will also tell you the truths that you do not understand. He is your gate to the kingdom, and your guide into the new age. This ordinary flesh holds many mysteries unfathomable to man. His deeds are inscrutable to you, but the entire goal of the work He does is sufficient to enable you to see that He is not, as people believe, a simple flesh, because He represents God’s intentions in the last days, and God’s care for mankind in the last days. Though you cannot hear His words seeming to shake the heavens and earth, though you cannot see His eyes as a flame of fire, and though you cannot receive the discipline of His iron rod, nevertheless you can hear from His words that God is being wrathful and know that God is showing mercy to mankind, and see the righteous disposition of God and His wisdom, and, even more so, appreciate God’s solicitude for all mankind. The work of God in the last days is to allow man to see on earth the God in heaven living among men, and to enable man to know, submit to, fear, and love God. This is why He has returned to the flesh for a second time. Though what man sees this day is a God that is the same as man, a God with a nose and two eyes, and an unremarkable God, in the end, God will show you that if this man did not exist, the heavens and earth would undergo a tremendous change; if this man did not exist, the heavens would grow dim, the earth would be plunged into chaos, and all mankind would live amid famine and plagues. He will show you that if God incarnate did not come to save you in the last days, then God would have long ago destroyed all mankind in hell; if this flesh did not exist, then you would forever be arch-sinners, and you would be corpses evermore. You should know that if this flesh did not exist, all mankind would face an ineluctable calamity and find it impossible to escape the even more severe punishment that God metes out to mankind in the last days. Had this ordinary flesh not been born, you would all be in a state where you beg for life without being able to live and pray for death without being able to die; if this flesh did not exist, then you would not be able to gain the truth and come before the throne of God today, but rather, you would be punished by God because of your grievous sins. Did you know that were it not for the return of God to the flesh, none would have a chance at salvation; and were it not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ago put an end to the age of old? This being so, are you still able to reject the second incarnation of God? Since you can derive so many benefits from this ordinary man, why would you not gladly accept Him?’ (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Did You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men). Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, and this is an absolute fact. If Christ didn’t express the truth, and we didn’t hear God’s voice, only judging Him by appearances, then it would be very difficult for us to recognize Him. On the outside, Almighty God is an ordinary man, but He is God incarnate in the last days. He has expressed many truths and is working to save all of humanity. The CCP government and the leaders from the religious world, however, judge that Almighty God is an ordinary person. This is completely a fallacy. Let’s think about this. The CCP is atheistic and follows Marx’s Satanism. It is hostile to God and constantly arrests and persecutes Christians. This is a universally recognized fact. Can we believe what they say?”

Xin Ming clenched his fist and slammed it on the coffee table, saying in frustration, “The CCP government is atheistic, and it resists God. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we suffered its suppression and persecution. How could I have believed its baseless rumors?”

I responded to Xin Ming by saying, “Since the CCP’s founding, it has always been persecuting Christians, and it has labeled Christianity as a cult, and the Bible as a cult book. It has been arresting Christians all over, torturing, condemning, and sentencing them, causing many families to be torn apart and people to die. Now that Almighty God has come to work to save man, the CCP is even more furious and sees God as an enemy. It searches everywhere for copies of The Word Appears in the Flesh, confiscating and destroying them when found. When brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God gather to fellowship about God’s words, preach the gospel, and bear witness to God, the CCP uses all the power of the nation to suppress and arrest them, spreading baseless rumors and defamation about the Church throughout the internet, vainly attempting to eradicate God’s church. Such an evil atheistic party that is hostile to God doesn’t even know what Christ is or what the incarnation is. It has no qualification to comment on matters of faith, and yet it recklessly claims that The Church of Almighty God believes in a person. Is this not purely spreading baseless rumors and blasphemy? Those religious leaders, when they see God’s appearance and work, instead of leading the believers to seek the truth and welcome the Lord, actually join with the CCP in condemning Almighty God! When they see swathes of believers going to investigate Eastern Lightning, and that more and more people are accepting it, they are afraid of losing their positions and livelihoods, so they do all they can to obstruct and restrict believers from investigating the true way, desperately sealing off churches and spreading baseless rumors and defamation about The Church of Almighty God, causing many who don’t understand the truth to become too afraid to investigate Eastern Lightning after hearing their baseless rumors and devilish words, and to miss out on the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s coming. How are the actions of these religious pastors and elders any different from those of the Pharisees who resisted the Lord Jesus?”

Yu Hui and Xin Ming nodded in agreement. Yu Hui said, “By reading God’s words and listening to your fellowship, I finally understand that while God works to save people, Satan corrupts people. When Almighty God has come to express the truth and work to save humanity, Satan becomes frantic, and desperately fabricates lies to bring about disruption and destruction. How insidious and evil it is! Thanks to God’s guidance, we stayed and gained understanding. Without this, Xin Ming and I would have believed the baseless rumors and devilish words spread by the CCP and the religious pastors and elders, and we would have lost the courage to keep believing. We almost lost God’s salvation. What a close call!” Yu Hui hurriedly picked up the book of The Word Appears in the Flesh from the table, and held it tightly to her chest. Realization suddenly dawned on Xin Ming as well, and he said, “From now on, we mustn’t believe the baseless rumors and fallacies spread by the CCP and the pastors and elders from the religious world. They are of no benefit to our lives. Instead, we should spend more time reading Almighty God’s words and come to gatherings more often to fellowship, and gradually we will understand God’s new work.”

My eyes began to tear up, and I said excitedly, “You’ve understood the truth about God’s incarnation, and you’ve broken through the misleading of the CCP’s and religious world’s baseless rumors and fallacies, and returned to God. Truly, this is God’s grace! No matter how the CCP and the religious world try to spread baseless rumors, discredit, and vilify Almighty God’s work, those who truly believe in God can still recognize God’s voice and return to His presence. Those false believers believe the baseless rumors and devilish words of the CCP and the religious world, and they are unwilling to seek or investigate the work and words of Almighty God. Thus they are captured by the beast and marked with the beast’s mark. They are just like chaff blown away by the wind and burned by unquenchable fire. In this way, the wheat and tares are separated. God is so almighty and wise!”

After our gathering ended, Xin Ming and Yu Hui carefully packed up their books of God’s words, slung their bags over their shoulders, and happily walked away. I stood by the window, watching them disappear into the distance, and couldn’t help but sigh, “Thanks be to Almighty God!”