By An xin, Myanmar

I accepted Almighty God’s last days’ work in 2019 and a few months later I began spreading the gospel. I was very happy to be able to fulfill my duty. Later on, I became preoccupied with family issues and took on less of a burden in my gospel work. I thought there was plenty of time and I could take it slow, so I split time between looking for work and spreading the gospel. But I had only been working there for twenty days when Covid hit. It spread very quickly and Wa State began to go on lockdown. Stores and companies were closed and roads sealed off. I became a bit anxious when this happened; I thought I had plenty of time and could take it slow, so I had no sense of urgency in spreading the gospel. But the disasters were intensifying and there were so many that still hadn’t heard God’s voice, I saw that I hadn’t fulfilled my responsibility and felt indebted to God. Later on, I saw this passage of God’s words: “Now, what is your responsibility? It is to bring them out of the Age of Grace and into the new age. Can you fulfill God’s commission by just praying to God and calling on His name? Is it enough to just preach a few words of God? It definitely isn’t. This requires all of you to have a burden to take up this commission of spreading the gospel, to broadly disseminate God’s words, to spread God’s words in various ways, and to proclaim and expand the gospel of the kingdom. What does it mean to expand? It means to convey God’s words to those who haven’t accepted God’s work in the last days, to let more people know that God is doing new work, and then to testify about God’s words to them, to use your experiences to testify about God’s work, and bring them also into the new age—this way they will enter into the new age just like you. God’s will is clear. It is not only for you who have heard His words, accepted them, and followed Him, to enter into the new age, but He will lead all of humanity into this new age. This is God’s will, and it is a truth that every person now following God should understand. God is not leading a group of people, a small faction, or a small ethnic group into the new age; rather, He intends to lead all of humanity into the new age. How can this goal be achieved? (By widely spreading the gospel.) Indeed, it must be achieved by spreading the gospel widely, using various methods and avenues to widely convey the gospel. Speaking about spreading the gospel widely is easy, but how should it specifically be done? (It requires human cooperation.) Exactly, this requires human cooperation” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item One). Through reading God’s words, I realized that God is working to save not just a small group of people, or just one particular country, rather, He works to save mankind and guide all of humanity into a new era; this is God’s will. There were still so many that hadn’t heard God’s voice and attained God’s salvation, they still lived in sin, in Satan’s corruption and torment. They were in need of those of us who had accepted God’s new work to spread the kingdom gospel to them, and give them the chance to hear God’s gospel and receive His salvation. This was our collective mission. The disasters were intensifying and the pandemic was spreading. If I didn’t take spreading the gospel seriously, always believing there was plenty of time, pandering to my flesh and not paying a price in spreading the gospel, it would only get more difficult to spread the gospel as the disasters intensified. No one had spread the gospel yet to people in my hometown, and if the disasters kept intensifying, they might not be able to come before God. I had to stop pandering to my flesh, I had to be mindful of God’s will and fulfill my duty, so I made a resolution before God to spread the gospel in my hometown. In 2021, I returned to my hometown and spread the gospel to a few friends and acquaintances. After they accepted God’s last day’s work, I fellowshiped with them on preparing good deeds and asked them to bring their relatives and friends to listen to God’s words. They were all more than willing. Just like that, we began spreading the gospel to more and more people and eventually established a church. I was so happy. It was during that time I realized what it meant to fulfill my duty diligently and responsibly. I felt the Holy Spirit’s guidance and was even more willing to spread the gospel. I was especially encouraged whenever I saw newcomers showing enthusiasm and desire to attend gatherings.

One day, Yanni and I were holding a gathering at a place but no one arrived at the scheduled time, so I had Yanni go look for them. When she returned, she told me: “The newcomer Ima’s husband just returned from Mongmao and he’s been claiming our gospel is false. He also said that the government is arresting gospel workers and believers will also be arrested. He said he went to work in a village and there was someone there secretly spreading the gospel without the knowledge of the local pastor, the village head or the village tract leader. If they were spreading something good, why did they need to keep it secret? He said people should think twice before listening to avoid being deceived. They all got so scared that they didn’t dare attend gatherings.” I felt a bit dejected: The newcomers were doing great before and enthusiastically attending gatherings, but after the rumors, they stopped attending. How could we go on spreading the gospel then? I didn’t know how to proceed. So, I prayed to God. Later on, my supervisor, Isa, fellowshiped with us: “Wherever God’s work is being done, Satan will come to disrupt it. Faced with this problem, let’s seek God’s will together.” Then, she sent us a passage of God’s words: “No matter what matters arise, you must always learn your lesson and develop discernment; you can’t let them slip away for nothing, nor can you miss any opportunity to learn your lesson and develop discernment. Since it is the case that something has happened, we must not approach it with a negative, blameful attitude; instead, we should face it with a positive attitude. How is that done? By seeking the truth to resolve the problem. All people have corrupt dispositions, and there is a distinction between good and evil people in humanity, so how could problems not arise when people gather? What should your attitude be, given that God has laid out this environment for you, that He has shown you such people, events, and things as occur around you? Thank God for laying these various problems out before you. He is giving you a chance to train and learn, and to enter the truth reality” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (20)). Through eating and drinking God’s words, I came to understand His will. God’s good intention was present in this situation, it was meant to make us seek the truth and gain in discernment. The newcomers used to be so enthusiastic, they’d come for gatherings both day and night, but now they were scared by the rumors they heard and stopped attending. Seeing that God was saving people, Satan began disrupting and destroying with all its power, using rumors to deceive and hoodwink people, making them grow distant from God and lose their chance at salvation. Satan is so evil and despicable! I knew before that the spiritual battle is intense, but I hadn’t experienced it for myself and I hadn’t seen through Satan’s evil intentions, so I was blindsided and overwhelmed by this situation and didn’t understand why it would be happening. I had been spreading the gospel to them so they could hear God’s voice and attain God’s salvation. This was a good thing. Why would they spread these rumors? I was also reproachful toward the person that had spread the rumor and the situation that resulted from the rumor. After reading God’s words I realized that I shouldn’t be negative and reproachful when there were problems, but should have an attitude of submission. God had given me a chance to practice, and I had to learn from this situation. I had to seek the truth in this hardship and seek out the newcomers to fellowship God’s words, so that they could gain discernment of Satan’s lies and not be deceived. Once I had realized this, I was ready to proceed.

After that, Yanni and I sought out the newcomers one by one. If we could get them in groups, we’d fellowship with them together, but when we couldn’t, we’d fellowship with them individually. One time, when we were fellowshiping with a group, a pastor came along as well. The pastor had listened to sermons in the past but hadn’t come since hearing the rumors. This time, he was just coming to take his wife from the gathering. When he arrived, I went right over to greet him. The pastor opened up his Bible and said: “In Matthew Chapter 24, Verses 23–24 it says false Christs will appear to deceive people in the last days. There are so many people spreading gospel now, but we don’t know who is preaching the true way and who is preaching the false one, we’re afraid of being fooled and so we don’t dare attend gatherings.” I replied to him saying: “Welcoming the Lord’s coming is a big deal, we should investigate for ourselves regardless of what others say. Like if there were a really tasty apple, but other people told you it tasted bad, so you decided not to try it, wouldn’t that be foolish? It’s the same with seeking and investigating the true way. If you don’t seek and investigate yourself and just go on what others say, you might miss your chance to welcome the Lord and be forever regretful. If you want to find out if Almighty God’s work is the true way and if it’s the work of God incarnate, you must read the words that Almighty God has expressed to see if they are God’s words and expressions of the truth.” I read them this passage of God’s words. “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. If man scrutinizes only His external appearance, and as a result overlooks His essence, this shows that man is benighted and ignorant” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). After reading the passage, I fellowshiped with them that the best way to identify God incarnate is to confirm that He can express the truth, do God’s work and bring people the truth, the life and the way. If one cannot express the truth, they are not God incarnate, they are not Christ. Christ is God’s Spirit embodied in flesh, He has divine essence. Only Christ can express the truth and do the work of salvation, no one can replace Him. The Lord Jesus, for instance, performed the work of redemption, bore the sins of all mankind, expressed the way of repentance and performed many miracles, including giving sight to the blind, allowing the lame to walk and raising the dead, all of which made God’s authority manifest. Besides God, who could express the truth and bring the dead to life? Who could perform the work of redemption? Who else had that level of authority? No one! Through the Lord Jesus’ words and work we recognize that He is Christ, God Himself. Almighty God has expressed many truths, performed the work of judgment in the last days, and concluded the Age of Grace and established the Age of Kingdom. Almighty God has unveiled the mystery of God’s management work of mankind, judged and exposed the source of man’s sin and resistance to God, and given mankind a path to purification and salvation, which will eventually lead them to a wonderful destination. No one else could express these words or perform this work, only God Himself could do this kind of work. From this we can confirm that Almighty God is Christ of the last days, He is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, God is always new and never old and does not do the same work twice. Almighty God performs the work of judgment in the last days on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption. He has not repeated the work of healing the sick and driving out demons performed in the Age of Grace. As for false Christs, they do not have God’s essence and are incapable of expressing the truth, they can only copy God’s past deeds and perform some basic miracles to deceive people. If someone appeared that was able to perform miracles and they said they were the Lord Jesus returned, they would certainly be a fraud, a false Christ trying to fool people. So, we shouldn’t avoid investigating God’s work just because there are false Christs in the last days. If we do not read God’s words and investigate His work, how will we hear God’s voice? God is saving those that sincerely believe in Him. If we miss out on welcoming the Lord’s coming, we will be forever regretful. After hearing my fellowship, they said: “I understand. God has undertaken a new work, He is no longer healing the sick and driving out demons like in the Age of Grace. If someone can perform miracles but cannot express the truth, they are a false Christ.” We also fellowshiped on God’s three stages of work, the meaning of God’s incarnation and the meaning of His name. The pastor saw that what we said had a biblical basis, and he acknowledged that we were reading God’s words, that God had come to do a new stage of work.

Later on, a newcomer asked, “Since it is God’s work, why don’t we publicly preach it? I first read two passages of Scripture: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Then I fellowshiped this: This world is so evil, all of mankind lives under Satan’s power. They detest the truth and light and prefer evil and darkness. As God has incarnated to perform His work and save mankind, humanity has not only not accepted Him, they’ve resisted and rejected Him. Satanic regimes and the antichrist forces of the religious world particularly despise God’s coming. In order to maintain their power and ensure their status and prosperity, they forbid people from believing in God or listening to His words, they also persecute and arrest those that believe in God and spread the gospel, they even wish to thoroughly outlaw God’s work. This is just like when the Lord Jesus performed His work. Herod heard that the newborn Lord Jesus was the King of the Jews and wanted Him dead, so he ordered that all male infants under the age of two be killed. And the Pharisees of the religious world worried that people would all believe in the Lord Jesus and listen to His words, that people would stop following them, so they resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus. So, in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did not publicly preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven in the synagogues. He gave sermons to His disciples on mountains and fishing boats. This was done to avoid the disturbance and temptation of satanic demons, which was advantageous for His work. And the Lord Jesus also said to His disciples: “But when they persecute you in this city, flee you into another” (Matthew 10:23). As Almighty God has expressed truth to save mankind in the last days, He has also been persecuted and condemned by satanic regimes and the antichrist forces of the religious world. If we spread the gospel publicly, we would run up against serious impediments. Almighty God says, “At that time when Jesus worked in Judea, He did so openly, but now, I work and speak among you in secret. The unbelievers are completely unaware of it. My work among you is closed to those on the outside. These words, these chastisements and judgments, are known only to you and no others. All of this work is carried out in your midst and unveiled only to you; none among the unbelievers knows of this, for the time has not yet come. These people here are near to being made complete after enduring chastisements, but those on the outside know nothing of this. This work is much too hidden! To them, God become flesh is hidden, but to those in this stream, one can say that He is open. Although in God all is open, all is revealed, and all is set free, this is only true for those who believe in Him; as far as the rest, the unbelievers, are concerned, nothing is made known. The work that is currently being done among you and in China is strictly closed off, in order to keep them from knowing. Should they become aware of this work, then all they would do is condemn it and subject it to persecution. They would not believe in it. To work in the nation of the great red dragon, this most backward of places, is no easy task. If this work were to be put out into the open, it would be impossible to continue. This stage of work simply cannot be carried out in this place. If this work were to be carried out in the open, how could they allow it to go forward? Would this not put the work under even greater risk? If this work were not concealed, but rather carried out as in the time of Jesus, when He spectacularly healed the sick and cast out demons, then would it not have long ago been ‘seized upon’ by the devils? Would they be able to tolerate the existence of God? If I were to now enter into the synagogues to preach and lecture man, then would I not have long ago been dashed to pieces? And if this had happened, how could My work have continued to be carried out? The reason that no signs and wonders are openly manifested at all is for the sake of concealment. So, to unbelievers, My work cannot be seen, known, or discovered. If this stage of work were to be done in the same manner as that of Jesus in the Age of Grace, it could not be so steady as it now is. So, to work secretly in this way is of benefit to you and to the work as a whole” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (2)). God’s words are quite clear. For those that accept the true way and follow God, the details of the last day’s work are entirely open, no aspect of it is hidden. But it is not open to unbelievers and those that resist God. Particularly in areas where God is being persecuted, the gospel cannot be spread publicly. For instance, nowadays when certain governments hear people are practicing faith and spreading the gospel, they order their arrest and persecution. Also, the religious world spreads rumors and lies and stops people from seeking and investigating the true way. If we were to spread the gospel publicly, the work would be impeded. Also, one should not investigate the true way based upon whether or not it’s preached publicly, but rather based on whether it has the truth and is God’s voice. Only this is the right way. They gained discernment of the rumors, understood the importance of accepting the true way, and were willing to continue listening to sermons. After hearing my fellowship, the pastor also acknowledged the words we read had the truth and were God’s voice. After that he didn’t cause any disruption and would come to gatherings when he had time. I was so thankful for God’s guidance.

But the rumors didn’t cease. Ima stopped coming to gatherings and began causing disruptions with her husband. She started going around claiming that the gospel we preached came from China, that our gospel workers had killed many people, that we traveled all around the world deceiving people with our gospel, and had now come to Myanmar to do the same, so people should refrain from listening. Some of the newcomers didn’t believe her, they knew we were good people and weren’t deceiving them. She also claimed that we would pretend to be kind to them at first, but would gradually ask for money, and that if they didn’t have any, we would take their children, and if they didn’t attend gatherings, we would kill them. At the time, I was enraged and I just couldn’t fathom why they’d spread such rumors. But I was also a little bit frightened. I was coming from outside the village, and the newcomers didn’t know me that well. If someone was deceived by the rumors and thought I might act as Ima claimed, would they report me? Ima and her husband told everyone they met that I was a murderer and tried to get my host to kick me out. One night when I went out to spread the gospel and water newcomers, my host, who believed what Ima said, locked me out of the house while I was out. The villagers all also became afraid of me, wouldn’t come to gatherings and wanted to kick me out. I was terribly upset. I had come to spread the gospel of God’s last day’s salvation so that they too could attain God’s saving grace, and in turn they’d spread rumors, slandered me and said I was a murderer. Everyone was afraid of me and wanted me to leave. If I didn’t leave, I could be arrested. I was really frightened. If I were arrested and put in jail, would I be given a long sentence? What would my family think if they found out? What a total loss of face that would be! I was so afraid of being arrested and humiliated that I couldn’t sleep at night. I didn’t know how to deal with this situation, so I prayed to God, asking Him to guide me through. The next day, when my supervisor heard what was happening, she sent me a passage of God’s words: “While spreading the gospel, one will often encounter such ridicule, mockery, sneers, and slander, or even find themselves in dangerous situations. Some brothers and sisters, for instance, are denounced or abducted by evil people, and the police are called on others, who are handed over to the government. Some may be arrested and jailed, while others may even be beaten to death. These are all things that happen. But now that we know about these things, should we change our attitude toward the work of spreading the gospel? (No.) Spreading the gospel is everyone’s duty and obligation. At any time, regardless of what we hear, or what we see, or what kind of treatment we encounter, we must always uphold this responsibility of spreading the gospel. Under no circumstances can we give up on this duty because of negativity or weakness. The duty to spread the gospel is not smooth sailing, but fraught with danger. When you spread the gospel, you will not face angels, or aliens, or robots. You will face only evil and corrupt humanity, living demons, beasts—they are all humans surviving in this evil space, this evil world, who have been deeply corrupted by Satan, and resist God. Therefore, in the process of spreading the gospel, there are certainly all sorts of dangers, to say nothing of petty slander, sneers, and misunderstandings, which are common occurrences. If you truly regard spreading the gospel as a responsibility, as an obligation, and as your duty, then you will be able to regard these things correctly and even handle them correctly. You will not give up on your responsibility and your obligation, nor will you deviate from your original intention to spread the gospel and testify to God because of these things, and you will never put this responsibility aside, for this is your duty. How should this duty be understood? It is the value and primary obligation of human life. Spreading the good news of God’s work in the last days and the gospel of God’s work is the value of human life” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Spreading the Gospel Is the Duty to Which All Believers Are Honor-Bound). Through God’s words I realized that when we spread the gospel, we are facing evil people who have been corrupted by Satan, as well as all manner of condemnation and attacks from antichrists, evildoers and unbelievers. We may be jeered, slandered and insulted, reported and arrested, and our very lives might be under threat. Those that spread the rumor that I was a murderer and did evil deeds were just trying to tarnish my reputation and stop me from spreading the gospel. They wanted to use rumors and libel to bring me down, so that I wouldn’t dare spread the gospel and bear testimony to God. This was Satan’s treacherous plot. If I left the village and stopped spreading the gospel and watering newcomers, I would be falling for Satan’s plot and would become its laughingstock. With the newcomers scared to come to gatherings and read God’s word for fear of being reported or arrested, I knew they needed watering even more so that they could understand the truth, see through Satan’s treacherous plot and not live in fear. But because I had been locked outside, I felt wronged and was even more worried that I’d be arrested and humiliated, so I wanted to quit and go home. I hadn’t taken spreading the gospel as my responsibility and obligation. I hadn’t fulfilled my responsibility at all. Faced with this undesirable situation, I didn’t seek God’s will or consider the newcomers, and just wanted to abandon my duty. I didn’t have the slightest sense of responsibility! The more difficult a situation is and the more that Satan’s dark forces attack and disturb them, those that truly heed God’s will will feel even more obliged to stand up, fellowship the truth, refute and expose Satan’s lies and fallacies, maintain the work of God’s house and humiliate Satan. Only this comforts God’s heart and is true fulfillment of duty. My responsibility and duty was to spread God’s gospel and bear witness to the Creator. This was a very meaningful task and was God’s urgent intention. Having realized all this, I gained the confidence to continue my work. No matter how Satan disturbed us or how the newcomers treated me, I would stay and continue spreading the gospel and watering newcomers.

After that, we sought out the newcomers. They kept saying to us: “We want to gather too, but we’re scared of being deceived and even more afraid Ima’s husband will call the police to have us arrested.” Isa fellowshiped with them saying: “We all know that the Lord Jesus was God, so why was it that people said He was spreading heresy at the time? Who was it that said this? It was the pastors and elders of the religious world. They saw how their disciples had all begun following the Lord Jesus and they panicked. They worried that if everyone put their faith in the Lord Jesus, then no one would come to hear their sermons and no one would adore them. So, they started spreading rumors and forbidding people from following Him. In the Bible, we can see that some accused Him of heresy, while others said He cast out demons by the prince of the devils. When the Lord Jesus was resurrected after being crucified, they bribed the soldiers guarding the tomb and made them say that the Lord Jesus’ disciples had stolen His corpse from the tomb and He hadn’t actually been resurrected. Were they not spreading rumors? The Lord Jesus had clearly been resurrected, but they just wouldn’t accept it. There were so many rumors spread at that time, and it was all done to prevent people from believing in the Lord Jesus. Now, given they condemned the Lord Jesus as heretical, why should we believe in Him?” The newcomers all replied: “Because the Lord Jesus is God, the Redeemer.” Isa continued, saying: “God incarnated and came to perform His work and save mankind. The devil couldn’t bear to see God gain more people, so it spread rumors about Him and worked with the government to persecute His disciples and prevent them from following God. However, those that sincerely followed God were not deterred. One of the Lord Jesus’ disciples was dragged by horses to death, one was crucified upside down and some were put in jail. Yet, they still believed in and followed the Lord. Were God’s true believers not revealed through this persecution and hardship? Those unbelievers who just ‘ate of the loaves and were filled’ believed the rumors or didn’t dare believe in God for fear of being arrested or persecuted. Such people are like weeds. God’s work exposes them and they are cast out. Ultimately they will all descend to hell along with those who made up the rumors.” She then read a passage of God’s words: “In the nation of the great red dragon, I have carried out a stage of work unfathomable to human beings, causing them to sway in the wind, after which many quietly drift away with the blowing of the wind. Truly, this is the ‘threshing floor’ I am about to clear; it is what I yearn for and it is also My plan. For many wicked ones have crept in while I am at work, but I am in no hurry to drive them away. Rather, I shall disperse them when the time is right. Only after that shall I be the fountain of life, allowing those who truly love Me to receive from Me the fruit of the fig tree and the fragrance of the lily. In the land where Satan sojourns, the land of dust, there remains no pure gold, only sand, and so, meeting with these circumstances, I do such a stage of work. You should know that what I gain is pure, refined gold, not sand. How can the wicked remain in My house? How can I allow foxes to be parasites in My paradise?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Gospel of the Kingdom Shall Spread Throughout the Universe). After reading God’s words, Isa continued, saying: “Why does God allow such rumors to exist? He uses such situations to test people, to see if their faith is sincere or fraudulent. True believers in God all listen to His words, and in difficult situations they still display sincere faith and follow God. As for false believers, they believe the rumormongers and don’t dare follow God due to fear and timidity. Ultimately, they are captured by Satan and lose their chance at salvation.” Some of the newcomers said: “These rumormongers are always trying to deceive us with their hearsay, they are so evil! Why should we still listen to what they say? We won’t anymore.” Some also said: “We won’t listen to Ima and her husband anymore, we will listen to God’s words!” I was so thankful to God when I heard the newcomers say these things! No matter how savage Satan became and what evil plots or rumors it used, it was powerless to stop God’s work. After that, I continued spreading the gospel. One time, when I went with a newcomer to speak with a potential gospel recipient, the potential recipient brought along seven or eight others to listen and they were all quite enthusiastic. I testified to them how the Lord Jesus had already returned, expressed many truths and was doing the work of judgment in the last days. After that, I testified to them of how God performs three stages of work to save mankind. After listening, all of them were willing to investigate, and some said they were so happy to be hearing God’s words. I encouraged them to bring their friends and family to listen to our sermons, and they were all more than willing. After a few more days of fellowship, another group of people accepted God’s new work. Going forward, we continually spread the gospel and a total of sixty-four people from the village ended up accepting God’s last day’s work.

Looking back on that experience of spreading the gospel, it wasn’t smooth sailing—we encountered a lot of dangerous situations, we were persecuted and could have been arrested, and were also subject to slander and insults, but God was just using Satan’s disturbance to perfect my faith and allow me to recognize my corruption and deficiencies. Through this experience, I now have even more confidence to spread the gospel!