By Li Zhi, China

One evening in April this year, a leader told me, suddenly, that an elder pastor, over fifty years in the faith, wanted to investigate God’s work of the last days—it was Pastor Cao, of Caojia Village. I was to go to him and bear witness. The leader told me Pastor Cao had preached in many countries, that he had not renounced God even when imprisoned for his faith by the CCP, and that he truly believes in the Lord. When I heard all this, I recalled many pastors and elders I’d met while spreading the gospel. The majority clung to the words of the Bible and to religious notions. It was hard for them to recognize God’s voice or accept the truth. And they valued their status and income so deeply. Some heard the words of Almighty God and acknowledged they were the truth, yet did not accept Almighty God. Would this old pastor really be able to accept the truth? Or would he stubbornly cling to his religious notions like the others? I was also quite nervous—I’d been on another duty for a few years, and hadn’t spread the gospel in some time. Now I suddenly had to face this old pastor, full of biblical knowledge and religious notions. If I didn’t fellowship clearly on the truth and failed to resolve his religious notions, wouldn’t I have failed in my duty? Then I thought of God’s words: “People’s faith is required when something cannot be seen by the naked eye, and your faith is required when you cannot let go of your own notions. When you do not have clarity about God’s work, what is required of you is to have faith and to take a firm stance and stand witness” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement). “The Holy Spirit works by this principle: Through people’s cooperation, through them actively praying, searching and coming closer to God, results can be achieved and they can be enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. It is not the case that the Holy Spirit acts unilaterally, or that man acts unilaterally. Both are indispensable, and the more that people cooperate, and the more they pursue the attainment of the standards of God’s requirements, the greater the work of the Holy Spirit” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How to Know Reality). It’s true. Meeting this potential gospel recipient was God’s arrangement. Though I’d failed in sharing the gospel with pastors and elders before, I couldn’t just label them all as unable to accept God’s work of the last days. I had to have faith in God, and really pay a price by cooperating. God’s sheep hear His voice—so long as he yearned for truth, and was willing to investigate the true way, it was my duty to testify God’s work of the last days to him. If there was even a glimmer of hope, I couldn’t give up. My responsibility was to rely on God and fellowship with love and patience—then I’d have no debts or regrets. These thoughts finally gave me faith.

When I saw Pastor Cao, I asked for his thoughts on the Lord’s return. He told me solemnly, “More than twenty years ago, some people preached the gospel to me several times. They testified that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, expressing truth and doing the work of judgment in the last days. They said the Bible recorded God’s previous words and work—now the Lord Jesus had returned, and He had expressed new words, and that only by reading the new words of Almighty God and truly accepting them could I understand the truth and be saved by God. Hearing that, I couldn’t accept it—Paul said very clearly, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’ (2 Timothy 3:16). This meant the Bible is the word of God, the Christian canon, which could not be denied. Heaven and earth will pass away; God’s words will remain. So believers at all times must read the Bible, and adhere to it. I was convinced they were wrong and didn’t want any more of their fellowship.” I said to him: “Pastor Cao, I can understand why you think that. Most in the religious world decide all the words in the Bible are God’s words based on what Paul said. But does this statement really line up with the facts?” Pastor Cao then replied, “Of course it does.” I told him, “On whether the Bible is entirely the word of God, the precise answer was provided long ago by the words of Almighty God. Perhaps we could read those words now?” He looked solemn, and hesitated before nodding: “Since we’re here, we might as well.” So, we shared Almighty God’s words with him.

Almighty God says, “Today, people believe the Bible is God, and that God is the Bible. So, too, do they believe that all the words of the Bible were the only words God spoke, and that they were all said by God. Those who believe in God even think that, although all of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament were written by people, they were all given by inspiration of God, and a record of the utterances of the Holy Spirit. This is the erroneous comprehension of man, and it does not completely accord with the facts. In fact, apart from the books of prophecy, most of the Old Testament is a historical record. Some of the epistles of the New Testament come from people’s experiences, and some come from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit; the Pauline epistles, for example, arose from the work of a man, they were all the result of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment, and they were written for the churches, and were words of exhortation and encouragement for the brothers and sisters of the churches. They were not words spoken by the Holy Spirit—Paul could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and neither was he a prophet, much less did he see the visions that John beheld. His epistles were written for the churches of Ephesus, Philadelphia, Galatia, and other churches. And thus, the Pauline epistles of the New Testament are epistles that Paul wrote for the churches, and not inspirations from the Holy Spirit, nor are they the direct utterances of the Holy Spirit. They are merely words of exhortation, comfort, and encouragement that he wrote for the churches during the course of his work. So, too, are they a record of much of Paul’s work at the time. They were written for all who are brothers and sisters in the Lord, so that the brothers and sisters of the churches at that time would follow his advice and abide by the way of repentance of the Lord Jesus” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (3)). “Not everything in the Bible is a record of the words personally spoken by God. The Bible simply documents the previous two stages of God’s work, of which one part is a record of the foretelling of the prophets, and one part is the experiences and knowledge written by people used by God throughout the ages. Human experiences are tainted with human opinions and knowledge, and this is something which is unavoidable. In many of the books of the Bible are human notions, human biases, and humans’ absurd comprehension. Of course, most of the words are the result of the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and they are correct understandings—yet it still cannot be said that they are entirely accurate expressions of the truth. Their views on certain things are nothing more than knowledge derived from personal experience, or the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. The foretelling of the prophets was personally instructed by God: The prophecies of the like of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel came from the direct instruction of the Holy Spirit; these people were seers, they had received the Spirit of prophecy, and they were all prophets of the Old Testament. During the Age of Law, these people, who had received the inspirations of Jehovah, spoke many prophecies, which were directly instructed by Jehovah” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (3)).

While we read God’s words, Pastor Cao listened intently, nodding from time to time. After that, I fellowshiped: “Almighty God’s words are very clear—the Bible simply documents the previous two stages of God’s work. Besides the words of Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus, and God’s words communicated by the prophets, the rest is historical record and human experience. The Bible contains not only the words of God, but also those of man, and Satan. We must distinguish between these, and not mix them up. It’s like how the Old Testament records the prophecies of prophets like Isaiah, Elijah, or Ezekiel. Before their words, it always says something like ‘Thus saith Jehovah,’ or ‘Jehovah spake unto’—proving they were conveying God’s words directly. The epistles, however, are human experience, a human record. Letters to the churches, like Paul’s, were his own experience and understanding. When brothers and sisters back then received Paul’s letters, they’d say ‘A letter from Paul has come.’ They’d never say ‘God’s words have arrived,’ right? So the epistles cannot be said to be the words of God. To take the words of man and Satan in the Bible, and claim them as the words of God, isn’t this a blasphemy? That means, this belief that ‘The Bible is entirely inspired by God, and is entirely God’s words’ is fundamentally incorrect.”

When I finished, he was stunned. He told me excitedly, “I remember my theology teacher telling me that everything in the Bible is wholly inspired by God, and is God’s word. That’s what we’ve been saying all these years. Could Paul have been wrong about that?” Hearing him ask this, my heart skipped a beat. I’d just seen him nodding along, and thought that he understood, but he hadn’t understood at all. Was Pastor Cao just like those other religious leaders, unable to understand God’s words? But then I thought, “This old pastor has clung to religious notions for decades—can he put them aside so easily? I have to fellowship patiently.” Next, I said: “Let’s not worry about whether Paul was right or wrong for now. Let’s get down to facts. Pastor Cao, you must know how the Bible was composed. How many years after the Lord did Paul write 2 Timothy?” Without hesitation, he said it was more than sixty years later. “And how many years after the Lord was the New Testament composed?” He said it was more than three hundred years later. So I said, “Now let’s think—when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, did the New Testament exist?” Startled, he said, “No.” I continued: “If not, then do Paul’s words, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God,’ include the New Testament?” His eyes widened, and he said, “I understand. Paul’s words couldn’t have included the New Testament. Thank the Lord! How did I not think of it before? In all these years of faith, we’ve always believed that ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is His words,’ and have preached about this everywhere. We never questioned the truth of this statement. Through this fellowship, I now understand—the Bible is not entirely God’s word and my decades-old notion must be rectified. Thank God!” Seeing Pastor Cao’s notion resolved, I felt more confident preaching the gospel to him.

So I fellowshiped with him: “God has become flesh to do His judgment work in the last days, expressing millions of words of truth—unlocking not only the Bible’s mysteries, but also all the mysteries of His 6,000-year management plan, like the mysteries of the three stages of His work, of His names, and of His incarnation. Almighty God has also revealed the truth of man’s corruption by Satan, man’s satanic nature of resistance to God and various satanic dispositions, and has pointed the way for us to escape from sin and be saved by Him. These truths expressed by Almighty God are the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, the way of eternal life given to mankind by God in the last days, and the only way to be saved and enter God’s kingdom.” He accepted it, but still had notions about God becoming flesh in the last days as female. He said to me: “Sister, I can now accept Almighty God’s work of judgment and cleansing, but how can you testify that the Lord Jesus has become flesh as a woman? The last time He came, He was a man—and the Bible often speaks of Him as the ‘Son’—so He would have to be male, when He returns. How could He be female? It’s inconceivable to me. Could you give me some fellowship on this?” I said, “For thousands of years, all believers have thought that since the Lord Jesus came as a man, He would surely return as a man, certainly not as a woman. And yet, Almighty God has become flesh as a woman in the last days—many struggle to accept this. But we must understand the more notions people have about something, the more truth there is to be found. In the Bible, when the Lord Jesus’ return is prophesied, it always mentions ‘the Son of man,’ ‘the coming of the Son of man,’ ‘the Son of man came,’ and ‘the Son of man in His day.’ What does this ‘Son of man’ mean? When this is mentioned, it means a person born of a human, and having normal humanity—no matter whether they’re male or female. So why did the Lord Jesus repeatedly emphasize this phrase, ‘Son of man’? He was telling us that in the last days, God would return incarnate, as the Son of man, to manifest and work. But the Lord never said whether the Son of man in the last days would be male or female. So how can people make this decision? We all know Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 27: ‘So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.’ Here we can see in the beginning God created man and woman in His image. If we determine God as male, then how can we explain God also creating woman in His own image? So we cannot delimit God on the basis of our own notions or imaginings.” Then, I read Pastor Cao some passages of Almighty God’s words.

Almighty God says, “Each stage of work done by God has its own practical significance. Back then, when Jesus came, He came in male form, and when God comes this time, His form is female. From this, you can see that God’s creation of both men and women can be of use in His work, and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit comes, He can take on any flesh He pleases, and that flesh can represent Him; whether male or female, it can represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh. If Jesus had appeared as a female when He came, in other words, if an infant girl, and not a boy, had been conceived by the Holy Spirit, that stage of work would have been completed all the same. If that had been the case, then the present stage of work would have to be completed by a male instead, but the work would be completed all the same. The work done in each stage has its significance; neither stage of work is repeated, nor does it conflict with the other” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation). “In gender, one is male and the other female, so completing the significance of God’s incarnation, and dispelling man’s notions of God: God can become both male and female, and in essence, the incarnate God is genderless. He made both man and woman, and to Him, there is no division of gender” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God). “If God came into the flesh only as a male, people would define Him as male, as the God of men, and would never believe Him to be the God of women. Men would then hold that God is of the same gender as men, that God is the head of men—but what then of women? This is unfair; is it not preferential treatment? If this were the case, then all those whom God saved would be men like Him, and not one woman would be saved. When God created mankind, He created Adam and He created Eve. He did not only create Adam, but made both male and female in His image. God is not only the God of men—He is also the God of women” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)).

I continued to fellowship: “We all know in the beginning God created man and woman in His image. So, naturally, God can become flesh as a man, but also as a woman. If God became incarnate twice as a man, then humans may delimit Him, and believe that He can only become flesh as a male, not as a female—that He is only the God of men, not the God of women—isn’t this a great misunderstanding of Him? This would mean eternal discrimination against women. It would be truly unfair to women. God is righteous. So He first became incarnate as a male, and in the last days, as a female. This is very significant. It shows perfectly God’s righteous disposition, and that He treats men and women equally. This has completed the meaning of His creation of man and woman. In fact, it doesn’t matter if God incarnates as a male or a female. As long as this person can express truth, and do the work of saving mankind, they can represent God, and are the incarnate God Himself. In the last days, Almighty God has come. He is expressing all the truths that purify and save man, doing His work of judgment in the last days, ushering in the Age of Kingdom, and ending the Age of Grace. This proves conclusively that Almighty God is the incarnate God, and is the Lord Jesus returned.”

At that point, Pastor Cao told me quite seriously, “Sister, everything you’ve said is reasonable and I can’t refute it. But there’s still something I can’t quite figure out. In Genesis 3:16, God says, ‘And your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.’ And 1 Corinthians 11:3 says, ‘And the head of the woman is the man.’ From these texts we can see that woman is the source of corruption, and is subject to man’s rule. So how could the Lord return as a woman?” Hearing Pastor Cao’s words, I thought: “I’ve read so many of God’s words to you, and fellowshiped with you so much, yet still you are delimiting God as male and cannot accept the fact of His incarnation as female. It seems you can’t put aside your notions so easily.” But then I thought: “His notions are due to deviations in his understanding of scripture. If he understands the truth, these notions will be eliminated.” I said to him, “Pastor Cao, Almighty God has spoken on this matter very clearly. Let’s take a look at what He says.”

Almighty God says, “In times past, when it was said that man was woman’s head, this was directed at Adam and Eve, who had been beguiled by the serpent—not at man and woman as they had been created by Jehovah in the beginning. Of course, a woman must obey and love her husband, and a husband must learn to feed and support his family. These are the laws and decrees set forth by Jehovah that humankind must abide by in their lives on earth. Jehovah said to woman, ‘Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.’ He spoke thus only so that humankind (that is, both man and woman) might live normal lives under the dominion of Jehovah, and so that the lives of humankind might have a structure, and not fall out of their proper order. Therefore, Jehovah made appropriate rules for how man and woman should act, though this was only in regard to all the created beings living on the earth, and bore no relation to God’s incarnate flesh. How could God be the same as His created beings? His words were directed only toward the humankind of His creation; it was in order for humankind to live normal lives that He established rules for man and woman. In the beginning, when Jehovah created humankind, He made two kinds of human being, both male and female; and so there is the division of male and female in His incarnate fleshes. He did not decide His work based on the words He spoke to Adam and Eve. The two times He has become flesh have been determined entirely according to His thinking at the time He first created humankind; that is, He has completed the work of His two incarnations based on the male and the female before they were corrupted. … When Jehovah twice became flesh, the gender of His flesh was related to the male and the female who had not been beguiled by the serpent; it was in accordance with the male and the female who had not been beguiled by the serpent that He twice became flesh. Do not think that the maleness of Jesus was the same as that of Adam, who was beguiled by the serpent. The two are completely unrelated, they are males of two different natures. Surely it cannot be that the maleness of Jesus proves He is the head of all women but not of all men? Is He not the King of all the Jews (including both men and women)? He is God Himself, not just the head of woman but the head of man as well. He is the Lord of all creatures and the head of all creatures. How could you determine the maleness of Jesus to be the symbol of the head of woman? Would this not be blasphemy? Jesus is a male who has not been corrupted. He is God; He is Christ; He is the Lord. How could He be a male like Adam who was corrupted? Jesus is the flesh worn by the most holy Spirit of God. How could you say He is a God who possesses the maleness of Adam? In that case, would not all of God’s work have been wrong? Would Jehovah have incorporated within Jesus the maleness of Adam who was beguiled by the serpent? Is not the incarnation of the present time another instance of the work of God incarnate, who is different in gender from Jesus but like Him in nature? Do you still dare say that God incarnate could not be female, because woman was the first to be beguiled by the serpent? Do you still dare say that, as woman is the most unclean and the source of the corruption of humankind, God could not possibly become flesh as a female? Do you dare to persist in saying that ‘woman shall always obey man and may never manifest or directly represent God’?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation).

I continued: “From Almighty God’s words we can see when God said to woman, ‘And your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you,’ this was His requirement and restraint for corrupt humanity, so that corrupt humanity could live under Jehovah God’s dominion in an orderly manner. This requirement has nothing whatsoever to do with God incarnate. It’s just like in the Old Testament, when Jehovah God commanded man to keep the Sabbath. This was what God asked of man—man couldn’t ask this of the Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath’ (Mark 2:27–28). So, although the Bible says, ‘And your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you’ (Genesis 3:16), ‘And the head of the woman is the man’ (1 Corinthians 11:3), these things have nothing at all to do with God incarnate. No matter if God incarnates as male or female, it is always the flesh worn by His Spirit, and it is always God Himself. If man uses these words to delimit God as male, unable to become female, and denies God incarnate in the last days, isn’t this putting God incarnate in the same category as corrupt man? Isn’t this blasphemy against God?” Having listened to me, the pastor was stunned. He said quite gravely, “Sister, since the Lord has come in the flesh, He would have to be human born, and have a gender. I just can’t immediately accept that He has incarnated as female this time. I need to pray and ask the Lord to enlighten me.” When the pastor said this, I was a little anxious, and puzzled. I’d fellowshiped so much—why could he still not put his notions aside? What on earth was going on? Could he not understand God’s word? Is he not one of God’s sheep? Should I continue talking with him? What lessons should I learn from this? In my heart, I prayed to God.

After that, I recalled God’s words: “In spreading the gospel, you must fulfill your responsibility and deal earnestly with everyone to whom you spread it. God saves people to the greatest extent possible, and you must be mindful of God’s will, you must not carelessly pass over anyone who is seeking and considering the true way. … Some people considering the true way are capable of understanding and are of great caliber, but are arrogant and self-righteous, adhering tightly to religious notions, so the truth should be fellowshiped to them to help solve this. You should only give up if they do not accept the truth no matter how you fellowship with them, for you will have done all you can and ought to do” (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). God’s words quieted my anxious heart. God requires us to be loving and patient with potential gospel recipients. No matter if they accept the gospel in the end, we’ll have done all that we possibly can. I realized that I hadn’t yet done all that I ought to when sharing the gospel with Pastor Cao. I hadn’t met God’s requirements. Seeing him clinging to the Bible, still unable to change his mind, I thought he’d never receive the truth. He’d had notions about God’s female incarnation and hadn’t immediately understood my fellowship, so I’d lost patience again. I bore prejudice toward Pastor Cao, thinking pastors couldn’t easily recognize the voice of God. Once he had a notion that couldn’t be overcome I’d delimited him, even wanting to give up on him. I thought of how God has made painstaking efforts to save corrupt mankind, and how He has expressed so many words to nourish us. To help us understand the truth, He fellowships with us, explaining each truth inside and out. He speaks in stories and metaphors, and from all angles, to provide sufficient detail and clarity. I saw that God’s love for humanity and what He has expended for us is so great that it cannot be put into words. But in my duty to spread the gospel, I’d shied away from difficulty and wanted to give up on Pastor Cao. Where was my loving heart? How could I perform my duty like this? Though Pastor Cao hadn’t come around right away, I couldn’t be impatient. I had to treat him with love, and if he didn’t understand, I had to spend more time in fellowship, pray to and rely on God, and ask Him to enlighten the pastor.

Thinking on this, I continued to fellowship with Pastor Cao. “When we believe in Almighty God, we believe in the truth that He has expressed. No matter whether God’s incarnation is male or female, so long as He expresses truth, and can purify and save mankind, He is God Himself, and we must believe in and accept Him. Almighty God has been working for over thirty years, expressing millions of words. He’s expressed all the truths that will rid mankind of sin and bring us to God’s salvation. Many who yearned for God to appear, from all religions and denominations, have recognized God’s voice in the words of Almighty God and turned to Him. These people are all the wise virgins. They experienced the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, saw the truth of their own corruption, felt regret, and despised themselves. Realizing that God’s righteous disposition does not tolerate offense, they came to fear God, truly repented, and their corrupt dispositions gradually changed. Almighty God has made a group of overcomers before the disasters—they are the first fruits prophesied in Revelation. Almighty God’s words and the testimonies of God’s chosen people in triumph over Satan were posted online long ago, testifying to all mankind that the Savior has returned. More and more people from all nations are now investigating the true way. Almighty God’s work of the last days ends God’s six-thousand-year management plan of saving mankind, completely saving us from Satan’s domain. Everything accomplished by the work of Almighty God proves conclusively that Almighty God is the incarnate God, that is, the returned Lord Jesus. This means that determining if Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, can’t be done based on gender alone. Can He express the truth and do the work of saving mankind? This is the key.” At this point, Pastor Cao said solemnly: “Sister, I can understand your fellowship. If someone can express the truth and carry out the work of salvation, then no matter whether male or female, they are God incarnate. Now, my heart has been brightened!”

After that, Pastor Cao read a lot more of Almighty God’s words, his notions were resolved, and he accepted God’s work of the last days.

Through this experience in sharing the gospel, I saw that God’s work is all done by God Himself. Whether it’s a pastor, or an elder, no matter their biblical knowledge, theological learning, or religious notions, they are all powerless before the truth. So long as they can understand God’s words, are somewhat receptive, and willing to seek the truth, they can all find answers in God’s words, and will be conquered by them in the end. When I shared the gospel with Pastor Cao, I thought it would be difficult for pastors and elders to accept the truth, so I was prejudiced against Pastor Cao. While sharing the gospel with him, seeing that he was clinging to notions, I’d determined that he couldn’t understand God’s voice, and nearly gave up on him. Thankfully, God’s words guided me and I was able to understand myself and finish my duty.

Later, I read a passage of God’s words that clarified how to deal with potential gospel recipients who have notions. “If a person considering the true way repeatedly asks a question, how should you respond? You should not mind taking the time and trouble to answer them, and should find a way to fellowship clearly about their question, until they understand and do not ask it again. You will then have fulfilled your responsibility, and your heart will be free of guilt. Most importantly, you will be free of guilt toward God in this matter, because this duty, this responsibility, was entrusted to you by God. When everything you do is done before God, done facing God, when everything is done according to God’s word, according to the principle of the truth, then your practice will be entirely in accord with the truth, and with God’s requirements. In this way, all that you do and say will be of benefit to people, and they will approve of and easily accept this” (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). From God’s words, I understood that no matter their problems or religious notions, if those investigating the true way have good humanity, yearn for the truth, and can understand God’s words, then we shouldn’t be prejudiced or arbitrarily delimit them, let alone give up on them. Instead, we should practice God’s words, “You should not mind taking the time and trouble to answer them, and should find a way to fellowship clearly about their question,” fellowshiping the truth that we understand to them as best we can until our conscience is clear. This is also my responsibility as a created being. In the future, no matter the potential gospel recipients I encounter, if they have good humanity and understand God’s words, I’m willing to do my best to fellowship the truth and bear witness for God, so that those who sincerely yearn for God’s appearance may return to Him as soon as possible, and welcome the Lord’s return. Thank God!