By Jack, Canada

Almighty God says, “In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the sake of the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still be doing the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? This being so, God must be called by a different name in a different age, and He must use the name to change the age and to represent the age. For no one name can fully represent God Himself, and each name is able only to represent the temporal aspect of God’s disposition in a given age; all it needs to do is to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). God’s words show us that each name He takes in an age has meaning. Each name represents one age, one stage of work. God’s names change as His work requires, but no matter how His names may change, His disposition and essence are immutable. God is always God. I used to cling to the literal Bible. Stuck in my notions, I thought the Lord Jesus’ name could never change. Then I saw a movie and learned the mysteries of God’s names, and let go of my notions to follow the Lamb’s footsteps.

I was born into a Christian family, and from when I was little my family told me that the Lord Jesus was the one true God, He was our Savior, and I could only get into the heavenly kingdom by praying in His name. When I grew up I went to divinity school, and our pastor would often tell us, “Jesus Christ is our Savior. His name will never change. That’s because it says in the Bible ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ (Hebrews 13:8). So we have to uphold the name of the Lord Jesus at all times and we’ll certainly be raptured when He comes.” These words even further solidified my faith in the Lord and I expended myself enthusiastically so that when the Lord came I’d be taken up into the kingdom.

I started to shepherd local believers after graduating from divinity school in April 2015. But attendance at services was pathetically low, the church manager saw that offerings were falling and couldn’t even cover expenses, so he started making loans to believers. When they couldn’t repay them with interest, the financial officer would pick fights with them and then they really didn’t want to attend services.

In an effort to revitalize the church I started spreading the gospel to the local people. I made home visits to believers and organized gatherings for them. I would also fast and pray two or three times a week, asking the Lord to guide me to progress in my work. But no matter how hard I worked, church attendance was still low. Seeing the church in such a desolate state my heart felt weak and my faith diminished more and more. I then redoubled my efforts in prayer, Scripture reading, and fasting, plus I downloaded and watched some religious films, but I still couldn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit. I still felt spiritually empty and in darkness. In my pain, I cried out to the Lord: “Oh Lord! The Bible says that as long as we ask in Your name, You will give it to us. The church is more and more desolate. I’ve been praying in Your name so why can’t I feel Your presence? Lord, where are You?” Thankfully, God heard my prayer.

One day in February 2016 I found a movie on YouTube called Disclose the Mystery About the Bible. It explained the mystery behind the Bible so clearly. Watching it gave me a new understanding of the Bible and it really lit up my heart. But what I wondered was where those words had come from. They weren’t in the Bible! I later downloaded the video and watched it several more times, and the more I watched it the more I liked it. The fellowship was totally in line with the Bible. I found out that it had been created by Eastern Lightning, so I kept searching for Eastern Lightning films and stumbled across a film called God’s Name Has Changed?! The title really drew me in so I downloaded and watched it right away. About halfway through it said that when God comes in the last days He won’t be called Jesus but will have a new name. This was quite a shock to me. I thought, “That can’t be true! The Bible very clearly states ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ (Hebrews 13:8). How could God’s name change? For the last two millennia every believer has been praying and working in the name of the Lord Jesus. That has never changed. How could Eastern Lightning say that God’s name has changed?”

Then I heard this fellowship from Sister Yang in the film: “The Bible says ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ (Hebrews 13:8). This means that God’s disposition and His essence are eternal and unchanging. It doesn’t mean that His name won’t ever change.” She also read a passage of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says, “There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and His substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. If you say that the work of God is unchanging, then would He be able to finish His six-thousand-year management plan? You only know that God is forever unchanging, but do you know that God is always new and never old? If the work of God is unchanging, then could He have led mankind all the way to the present day? If God is immutable, then why is it that He has already done the work of two ages? … And so, the words ‘God is always new and never old’ refer to His work, and the words ‘God is immutable’ refer to what God inherently has and is. Regardless, you cannot make the work of six thousand years hinge upon a single point, or circumscribe it with dead words. Such is the stupidity of man. God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work cannot linger in any one age. Jehovah, for example, cannot always stand for the name of God; God can also do His work under the name of Jesus. This is a sign that God’s work is always progressing in a forward direction” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). Then Sister Yang said: “In the course of God’s work to save mankind, He does different work and takes different names in different ages. But God’s essence never changes. God will always be God. That is to say, no matter if God’s name is Jehovah or Jesus, His essence is the same. It’s always the same God working. The Jewish Pharisees didn’t know that God’s name would change as His work changed from one age to the next. They thought that only Jehovah was their God, their Savior. For generations they clung to the belief that ‘Only Jehovah is God; there is no savior but Jehovah.’ So when God did His work of redemption in the name of Jesus, they madly condemned and resisted Him and ultimately crucified Him. They committed a heinous crime and were punished by God. No one can fathom God’s wisdom, and no one can delimit God. In the last days, if we deny God’s essence or the work done by the one God because He’s changed His work and name, that’s absurd and ignorant! The name God takes in each age carries meaning and is a great salvation for man.”

At this point in the film I realized that God’s name can change, and that “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” in the Bible refers to God’s unchanging essence and disposition, but it doesn’t mean that God’s name and work will never change. God’s name changes as His work requires. I’d been understanding things from just the literal meaning of the Bible, thinking God’s name would never change—I saw that was just my imagination! The Pharisees insisted that Jehovah was their God and that the name Jehovah would never change. That’s why they believed that anyone who wasn’t called Messiah wasn’t God when the Lord Jesus came to work. They also wantonly resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus, ultimately losing out on His salvation. I realized I had to put my own views aside and seriously listen to the fellowship in the film so that I didn’t oppose the Lord just like the Pharisees because of my own imaginings.

Then the main character brought up another question: “Then what is the significance of God’s name in each age?” I thought to myself, “This is a great question, and I don’t know either. They just shared fellowship that there’s meaning in God’s new name for each age and it’s all salvation for mankind, so what really is the significance of God’s names?” One of the evangelists, Sister Feng, read some of God’s words. “‘Jehovah’ is the name that I took during My work in Israel, and it means the God of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) who can take pity on man, curse man, and guide the life of man; the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. ‘Jesus’ is Emmanuel, which means the sin offering that is full of love, full of compassion, and which redeems man. He did the work of the Age of Grace, and He represents the Age of Grace, and can only represent one part of the work of the management plan. … The name of Jesus came into existence to allow the people of the Age of Grace to be reborn and saved, and is a particular name for the redemption of the whole of mankind. Thus, the name Jesus represents the work of redemption, and denotes the Age of Grace. The name Jehovah is a particular name for the people of Israel who lived under the law. In each age and each stage of work, My name is not baseless, but holds representative significance: Each name represents one age. ‘Jehovah’ represents the Age of Law, and is the honorific for the God worshiped by the people of Israel. ‘Jesus’ represents the Age of Grace, and is the name of the God of all those who were redeemed during the Age of Grace. If man still longs for the arrival of Jesus the Savior during the last days, and still expects Him to arrive in the image He bore in Judea, then the entire six-thousand-year management plan would have stopped in the Age of Redemption, and could not have progressed any further. The last days, furthermore, would never arrive, and the age would never be brought to an end. This is because Jesus the Savior is only for the redemption and salvation of mankind. I took the name of Jesus only for the sake of all the sinners in the Age of Grace, but it is not the name by which I shall bring the whole of mankind to an end” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a “White Cloud”).

Sister Feng then fellowshiped, “In the Age of Law, God’s name was Jehovah. That represented the dispositions of majesty, wrath, damnation and mercy that He expressed to the people of that age. God started His work in the Age of Law with the name of Jehovah. He issued laws and commandments and led mankind in their lives on earth. He demanded they strictly obey the law and learn to worship and exalt Him. God’s blessings and grace would follow whoever followed the law while those who broke the law would be stoned to death or burned by heavenly fire. So the Israelites under the law kept it faithfully and honored Jehovah’s name as sacred, and lived thousands of years under Jehovah’s guidance. By the end of the Age of Law, people had become increasingly corrupt and sinful and couldn’t obey the law. Everyone was in constant danger of punishment for breaking it. That’s why God began the stage of the work of redemption under the name Jesus. He ended the Age of Law and began the Age of Grace. In the Age of Grace, Jesus expressed the dispositions of love and mercy. He bestowed boundless grace upon man, and was ultimately crucified to redeem man from Satan. After that, man began to pray in Jesus’ name, to worship Jesus’ name as sacred, and to enjoy God’s forgiveness and boundless grace. We can see from God’s previous two stages of work that the name God takes in each age holds particular significance. They represent the work and the disposition God expresses in that age. In the Age of Grace, if the Lord had been called Jehovah when He came, rather than Jesus, then God’s work would have stopped with the Age of Law. Corrupt mankind never would have gained God’s redemption, but would have ended up condemned and punished for violating the law. Similarly, if the Lord still had the name Jesus in the last days, then corrupt mankind would only receive forgiveness for their sins. They would never achieve purification and get into God’s kingdom. This is because mankind’s sins have been forgiven through the Lord Jesus’ redemption, but their sinful nature remains. They constantly sin and oppose God and have not been fully gained by God. That’s why God incarnates again in the last days and does a new step of work to judge and cleanse mankind on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work—to fully save man from sin. He’s begun the Age of Kingdom and ended the Age of Grace. God’s work has moved forward and the age has changed. His work is different. His name has changed accordingly.”

At this point, I thought, “So when God takes on a new name in each age there’s meaning behind it. Each name represents an age. Jehovah, the name God adopted in the Age of Law, represented God’s dispositions of majesty, wrath, damnation, and mercy. Jesus, the name He took on in the Age of Grace, represented His merciful and loving dispositions. In the last days, God comes to do the work of purification and full salvation of mankind. When God’s work changes, His name also changes. I never imagined there were so many mysteries within God’s names.” My interest was just growing, so I kept on watching the video.

After that, Sister Feng fellowshiped that God’s name in the last days is Almighty God and referenced Revelation 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Plus Revelation 11:16–17 says: “And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.” There are lots of other prophecies in Revelation such as 4:8, 16:7, and 19:6 that say God’s new name in the last days will be “the Almighty,” which is also Almighty God.

I flipped through my Bible for confirmation while listening, and as it turned out, the name “the Almighty” is in all of them. Shocked, I thought, “So God’s name in the last days was clearly mentioned in the Bible long ago, and in Revelation four living creatures kept praising God day and night, saying ‘Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come’ (Revelation 4:8). They were praising the name of Almighty God! The name ‘the Almighty’ is mentioned in lots of other places. The name ‘Almighty God’ in the last days is completely in line with the prophecies in Revelation! I’ve believed in the Lord all these years and have read so much Scripture—how could I have missed these mysteries?”

I kept watching and saw a character spreading the gospel say this: “God is a wise God, and every single thing He does has great significance. The name Almighty God fully represents His work and the disposition He expresses in the last days. Without God personally unveiling these mysteries to us, we wouldn’t understand them no matter how many years we spent reading the Bible.” Then she read a passage of Almighty God’s words, “I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior with love and esteem. Today, however, I am no longer the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past; I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up from the end of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor, and glory. People have never engaged with Me, never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man in the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the blazing flame, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, and that I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind. And all shall see that I was once the sin offering for man, but that in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that incinerate all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. This is My work in the last days. I took this name and am possessed of this disposition so that all people may see that I am a righteous God, the burning sun, the blazing flame, and so that all may worship Me, the one true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and I am not just the Redeemer; I am the God of all creatures throughout the heavens and the earth and the seas” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a “White Cloud”).

Then she fellowshiped, “In the last days, God does His work of judgment of the Age of Kingdom under the name Almighty God. He expresses the truth to expose man’s satanic nature of sinning and resisting God, and to judge our disobedience and unrighteousness so that we may know our nature and our essence through these words, see the truth of how deeply we’ve been corrupted by Satan, understand the root of our corruption, and know God’s righteous, unoffendable disposition. He also points the way for us to change our dispositions so we can abandon evil, pursue the truth, change our dispositions and be saved by God. God has come to judge and purify mankind, to divide us according to our kind, and reward good and punish evil, to fully save corrupt mankind from sin and complete God’s 6,000-year management plan. God has appeared in the last days with His righteous, majestic, wrathful disposition which will not tolerate offense. He has openly displayed His inherent disposition, and what He has and is to everyone. He has come to judge and chastise all of mankind’s corruption and unrighteousness, to fully save us from sin and restore the original likeness of man. He wants everyone to see that He not only created all things, but He also rules over all things. He wasn’t just mankind’s sin offering, but He’s also able to perfect, transform, and purify us. He is the First, and the Last. No one can fathom His wondrousness or His deeds. That’s why the name Almighty God is most fitting in the last days. Anyone who prays to this name and reads His words can gain the guidance and work of the Holy Spirit, and enjoy God’s rich sustenance and watering for life. The religious world is facing desolation now. People’s faith is cooling, they’re weak and long for secular things, preachers have run dry, and people aren’t moved in prayer. On top of that, more and more people are succumbing to worldly temptations. They haven’t kept up with the Lamb and can’t gain sustenance of the living waters. They fall into darkness and lose their way.”

Seeing this was very exciting for me—Almighty God’s words really are so authoritative, especially this: “There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words.” These words are filled with God’s majesty and righteousness. No one but God could possibly say something so replete with authority and majesty. I knew this is God’s voice, that the Lord Jesus truly has returned! I’d given so much in my service and house calls so believers would listen to the Lord and attend services. I even fasted and prayed two or three times a week, but the church wasn’t revived at all. Even my own faith was fading and I couldn’t sense the Lord by my side. Now I know God is doing a new stage of work to judge and purify mankind under the name of Almighty God. We believers in the Lord weren’t keeping up with God’s new work. We didn’t get God’s present words’ sustenance or the Spirit’s guidance. We fell into darkness. Only by accepting Almighty God’s salvation of the last days and praying in His name and reading His words can we gain the Holy Spirit’s guidance and work.

They read another passage of Almighty God’s words at the end of the movie, “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover in a continuous thread the entire gamut of God’s management, and they are all the work of one Spirit. Since the creation of the world, God has always been at work managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are unmistakably the work of one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages stand in opposition to God. Now, it behooves you to understand that all the work from the first stage until today is the work of one God, the work of one Spirit. Of this there can be no doubt” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). Then I understood even more that Jehovah, Jesus, and Almighty God are all one God. God has a different name and does different work in each age, but He always works based on people’s needs. Only God is capable of opening up these mysteries and I knew in my heart that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. Accepting the name of Almighty God is not betraying the Lord Jesus, but it’s keeping up with the footsteps of the Lamb. Just as Revelation says, “These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:4).

I got in touch with brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God. Through gathering and fellowshiping with them I understood some truths and lots of puzzles I had in my faith have been resolved. I’ve received a lot of spiritual sustenance. I really feel I’ve been taken up before the throne and attended the Lamb’s feast. I truly give thanks to Almighty God.