By Mathieu, France

I accepted Almighty God’s last-days work over two years ago. To be honest, I’ve gained more than I did in over a decade as a Christian. I don’t believe in the vague God of my imagination like I used to, but the practical God in the flesh, who walks and works among mankind, who can express the truth at any time and any place. I’ve heard the voice of God and have enjoyed the sustenance of His words. I’ve truly come to the Lord’s side.

My name is Mathieu, and I was born into a family of Catholics in Lyon, France. I had a traditional Catholic childhood. I was baptized, I attended Mass, there was the laying on of hands, and I went on the Lourdes pilgrimage. After growing up, I realized that the Catholic priests were always preaching the same old doctrines without anything different. I felt like it was a cold, lifeless atmosphere and it seemed like lots of other believers’ faith had dampened. This was discouraging for me. I longed to find a church with the work of the Holy Spirit where I could feel the Lord’s presence. I decided to go outside of the Catholic church to find another one. I ended up in Geneva after that, where I went to university and joined a local Christian evangelical church. But I found that the pastor just preached literal doctrines, shouted some slogans, and talked about theology and spiritual gifts divorced from reality. There wasn’t anything that moved me or helped me get to know the Lord. Another thing I noticed was the idol worshiping. I noticed that the head pastor’s portrait was up next to the pulpit and whenever a newcomer joined the church, the local pastor would have them salute the portrait of the head pastor. That pastor would send believers his own Scripture interpretations every day and brothers and sisters would treat them like their daily bread, as if they were reading God’s words. They practiced them as if they were God’s own words. This made me really uncomfortable. It didn’t seem right to me. I could see that the Lord wasn’t in that church, that it really didn’t have the Lord. I asked myself, “Where is the Lord, really?” That was what I was really looking for. I left that church as well after that. I felt really spiritually empty at that point and I wondered if the Lord had cast me aside.

From then on, I read the Bible on my own at home. I read the third chapter of Revelation a lot, and the part that talks about the church in Philadelphia left a particularly deep impression on me. “Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come on all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out” (Revelation 3:10–12). These verses were thrilling and really impactful for me. It was brimming with mystery and promises. I saw that the Lord said very clearly that there will be one church that the Lord approves of, which is the church in Philadelphia. It started feeling like the Lord was telling me, “I’m in this church.” That brought up a question for me: Where is this church? Reading on, I saw this: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). I was so excited when I read that the Lord clearly stated that He would knock at the door. I wondered how He’d knock and if that meant the Lord would return soon. That was incredibly enlightening for me, and drove my desire to keep seeking. On May 1, 2018, right after I’d gone through a dark time, I prayed to God with all my heart and soul again. I really wanted to understand everything I’d never understood before. I said, “Oh God, please enlighten me. I know You’re coming soon. Please let me understand Your will.” I went to bed after praying.

The next day, I went to work like always. I went to Lake Geneva for my lunch break and sat on a bench and came before God in prayer. Then I realized someone else was there, so I walked right up and shared the gospel with him. He interjected, saying, “Brother, do you know? The Lord has returned and expressed millions of words.” I was stunned when I heard this and wondered, “Why would this brother say that? Has the Lord really returned?” I was astonished. As we continued our fellowship, one question after another sprung up for me: Has the Lord returned? How? As we were wrapping up our fellowship, he gave me the address for The Church of Almighty God’s website and said, “You can look into it more here.”

I opened up that site as soon as I was back in the office. I remember that the very first thing I saw was “Christ of the Last Days Has Appeared in China.” I hadn’t realized that. I was really surprised to see it. What was even more surprising was that there were all sorts of books, including two that really made an impression on me: The Word Appears in the Flesh and Utterances of Christ of the Last Days. I really wanted to know about it, so I clicked on The Word Appears in the Flesh and saw a passage. It really leaves an indelible impression. “All of My people who serve before Me should think back on the past: Was your love for Me tainted by impurity? Was your loyalty to Me pure and wholehearted? Was your knowledge of Me true? How much of a place did I hold within your hearts? Did I fill your hearts entirely? How much did My words accomplish within you? Do not take Me for a fool! These things are perfectly clear to Me! Today, as the voice of My salvation is uttered forth, has there been some increase in your love for Me? Has part of your loyalty to Me become pure? Has your knowledge of Me deepened? Did praise offered in the past lay a solid foundation for your knowledge today? How much of you is occupied by My Spirit? How much of a place does My image hold within you? Have My utterances hit home within you? Do you truly feel that you have nowhere to hide your shame? Do you truly believe that you are unqualified to be My people? If you are completely oblivious to the questions above, then this shows that you are fishing in murky waters, that you are only present to make up the numbers, and at the time preordained by Me, you will surely be eliminated and cast into the bottomless pit for a second time. These are My words of warning, and any who take them lightly will be struck by My judgment, and, at the appointed time, will meet with disaster. Is this not so?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 4). These words seemed so authoritative to me, as if God Himself were speaking to me face-to-face. It felt like God was asking me: Do you have true love for Me? Is your submission to Me genuine? I felt a little uneasy at the time because, to be honest, I could see that I served God like it was a task, not from a place of love. There was a more pressing issue in my prayers. I was constantly demanding things from the Lord, saying, “Oh God, I want a car, I want this kind of house, I want that kind of job, I want this kind of wife, and that kind of salary.” I realized that was all unreasonable. Even worse, if the Lord didn’t fulfill my extravagant desires, I’d rebel against and blame Him. I was so ashamed about this and even wanted to find a place to hide because I’d been so exposed. Then I had this feeling, like I was a child facing his parents who were scolding him for bad behavior. It was intriguing for me, and I felt really happy because I felt like God was speaking to me face-to-face. I felt this was God’s voice, because only God can see into human hearts. This left me with a deep impression. I was left speechless, without any excuses. I also felt certain that it was the voice of God, so I kept reading. I read quite a bit. I felt that God was speaking to me with power and authority. I just couldn’t tear myself away from it.

I remember one passage that really left an impression on me. “I look down upon all things from on high, and exercise dominion over all things from on high. In the same way, I have put in place My salvation upon the earth. There is never a moment when I am not watching, from My secret place, humans’ every move and everything they say and do. Humans are to Me open books: I see and know them one and all. The secret place is My abode, and the entire vault of heaven is the bed on which I lie. Satan’s forces cannot reach Me, for I am overflowing with majesty, righteousness, and judgment” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 5). I felt like these words were full of the authority of God. Who aside from God could see into our hearts? Who aside from God could directly speak to us with such power and authority? God created mankind and only God can see the things we hide deep in our hearts. I felt certain that these were words from God and I felt so excited. It was a feeling I’d never had before. I remember reading a lot that day and going back home three hours late. It was really special, and a really unparalleled moment. On the way home, I was saying over and over, “God, I truly thank You! I’ve heard Your voice and I know You’ve returned. I’ve witnessed Your authority. May all glory be to You!” I really was so thrilled, so excited. I was reminded of my prayer the night before. I remembered praying to God and asking Him to help me understand His will in His return. At that moment I realized God had heard my prayer. Even more amazing, He had answered my prayer. It was something so incredible, so impressive! But I was also filled with questions, like: Since the Lord has come, how has He come? What work is He doing? I had all these unanswered questions so I got in touch with brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God.

They told me that the Lord has become flesh as the Son of man, that He’s come in secret. He’s Almighty God, and He’s expressed truths and is doing new work. It’s the judgment of the last days beginning with the house of God prophesied in the Bible that’s to fully cleanse and save mankind. I was completely stunned. They shared fellowship with me that was really enlightening on some Bible verses like Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief.” There was also Luke 12:40, “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not.” I saw that these verses say that the Lord will become flesh and come in secret as the Son of man. The “Son of man” clearly doesn’t refer to a spirit or a spiritual body, but being born of man and having normal humanity and the essence of God. That’s just like the Lord Jesus two thousand years ago. He looked like a regular person, but He was God in essence. After that, we fellowshiped on Revelation 3:20, which mentions the Lord knocking at the door. I learned that “knocking” refers to the Lord expressing new words in the last days to knock on the doors of people’s hearts. When true believers hear the Lord’s words they recognize them as the voice of God, and they are the wise virgins being taken up before God and welcoming the Lord’s return. This also fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecy: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). I thought it was incredible. I thought about how this is the second time God’s come to work on earth in the flesh and it’s just when I’m alive in the world, breathing the same air, and He looks just like any regular person. I thought it was incredible! I’d always thought God should be up in the sky. I’d never imagined that in the last days, God would come in the flesh on earth to speak and do new work.

Then Sister Lisa and Brother David read a couple of passages of God’s words to me on God’s incarnations. “The ‘incarnation’ is God’s appearance in the flesh; God works among created mankind in the image of the flesh. So for God to be incarnated, 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). “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 not of flesh and blood; He is the incarnation of the Spirit. 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. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The essence of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His essence is that of God Himself” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father). After I read these passages of God’s words, I saw that God incarnate is God’s Spirit taking on the flesh and coming to earth to speak and work to save mankind. Christ looks like a regular person on the surface, eating, dressing, sleeping like anyone, but He has a divine essence. He can speak to all of humanity as God Himself and He can express truths that no human ever could. He can do the work of God Himself and carry out the will of God. On the outside, Christ is just like anybody else and we can’t tell that He’s God. But when we hear Him speak, we can tell that His words don’t come from this world. He can elucidate truths and mysteries no one has ever seen or heard. He can reveal our innermost corruption. What He expresses is what God Himself expresses. That’s how we see that He is God. That’s the way the Lord Jesus was back then. He looked like a normal person from the outside, but He was capable of being the sin offering for all of mankind, to absolve our sins. He could give us peace and joy, and an abundance of grace. No one other than Him could do this work because people are just people, and don’t possess God’s essence. The brothers and sisters also fellowshiped that Almighty God is just like the Lord Jesus. He looks like a regular person, but His essence is of God, because He can do the work of judgment beginning with God’s house, express all truths that cleanse and save mankind, and unlock mysteries no human could ever unlock. Especially things like truths about God’s management plan, how Satan corrupts people, and His revelation of people’s satanic nature—no one but God could express these truths. No human could do that. This proves that Almighty God has a divine essence, that He’s Christ of the last days.

Hearing all this helped me understand some truths of the incarnation and I saw that Christ has both normal humanity and a divine essence. Some of my vague imaginations and notions about God were cleared up. This was really freeing for me. God incarnate can be seen and touched and He can speak with people face-to-face. Thinking of God becoming flesh in the last days, personally expressing words to save all of humanity was really exciting, really moving for me. But when I heard that God’s incarnated a second time to do the work of judgment, I felt a little apprehensive, a little scared. because I was living in sin. I wondered if I would be condemned and punished in the Lord’s judgment. That’s why I was worried. But after having fellowship with brothers and sisters, I learned that the work of judgment isn’t to condemn and punish us, but it’s to cleanse and save us. It’s a practical salvation. In fact, the Lord Jesus just did one part of the work of salvation. He just forgave our sins. But the root of our sinfulness hasn’t been eradicated. Although those of us who are believers may expend ourselves for God and do some good things, our nature is full of satanic dispositions like arrogance, deceitfulness, and hardness. We’re jealous of people who outdo us and everything we do in our lives is for ourselves. We’re incredibly selfish. We’re entirely controlled and reined in by our satanic dispositions and we have no idea how to escape the bonds of sin. This is a fact, and it’s something we can see every single day. That made me think of a Bible verse: God said, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). This verse clearly shows us that we’re not worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven yet because not one of us is holy. That’s why Christ of the last days, Almighty God, does the work of judgment to cleanse and save us in the last days, so we can be fully freed from the bonds of sin and become people who fear and submit to God, who no longer sin and resist God. That’s the goal of this work. This fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecies: “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

After explaining that, they read a couple of passages that explain the work of judgment really clearly. God’s words say, “Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, now that man has been forgiven of his sins, God has returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). “Christ of the last days uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced about God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the essence of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth). Then Brother Leo said that in the last days, Almighty God expresses truths to judge and cleanse mankind and His words reveal a lot of mysteries and truths like mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan, His three stages of work, how Satan corrupts mankind and how God saves us, who can be saved and enter the kingdom, and who will be punished and eliminated, the outcomes and destinations of each type of person, and more. Almighty God also reveals and judges our satanic nature and the truth of our corruption. He resolves our corruption and sinful nature through trials and refinement so we clearly see how deeply Satan has corrupted us, so we see the arrogance, crookedness and deceit in our nature, and we see our relationship with God, which is so saddening. We may believe in God and expend ourselves for Him, and do some good things, but we’re just doing that to be blessed and rewarded. We’re making a trade with God. It’s not out of love or submission for God. The moment God’s work doesn’t accord with our thoughts and notions, we deny and reject God, just like the Pharisees did. Even knowing full well that Almighty God’s words are the voice of God, that they come from God, we are still held back by religious leaders and we reject the true way. We blame God in the face of trials and adversity and we live entirely within our corrupt dispositions. This shows that we’re still living under Satan’s power, that we completely belong to Satan. How could that kind of person get into the kingdom of heaven? The judgment and revelations in God’s words make us see our own true state, see the truth of our corruption, that we’re incapable of following God’s will and satisfying Him. Then we’re filled with regret and become willing to repent before God. By undergoing God’s judgment and chastisement, we see that God’s disposition isn’t only made up of love and mercy, but there’s also righteousness, majesty, wrath, and damnation. We start to fear God and consciously forsake the flesh and practice God’s words. We develop some obedience to God and our life disposition starts to change. Then we truly experience that God’s judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement are His greatest salvation and greatest love for us.

Hearing this from Brother Leo, I could sense how profound God’s work of judgment in the last days is. Without experiencing God’s judgment of the last days, we’d never understand the truth of our corruption or be able to come before God with true repentance. As for me, I was praying and confessing to the Lord every day, then I’d go out and commit the same sins again. I repented but never changed, and I was constantly living in sin. I saw that I was entirely controlled by my corrupt nature, and in a state like that, how could I possibly get into heaven and gain God’s approval? That would be impossible. I thought that as long as I appeared to behave well, God would approve of me. But I realized that external changes aren’t what matter. What matters is changing on the inside. That was when I realized how important the work of judgment is for us, that without that stage of work, no one could be saved. That’s why God expresses the truth and does the work of judgment in the last days. It’s to cleanse our corrupt dispositions so we can be compatible with God and get into His kingdom. God’s love is so genuine, so practical!

By reading Almighty God’s words every day, I became entirely certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. He is Christ of the last days. There’s no shadow of a doubt. From then on, by participating in church life every day and fellowshiping with brothers and sisters, I’ve learned to know God and I bask in the rich watering and sustenance of God’s words. I don’t believe in the vague God of my imagination like I used to, but the practical God in the flesh, who walks and works among mankind, who can express the truth at any time and any place. I’ve heard the voice of God and have enjoyed the sustenance of His words. I’ve tasted the work of the Holy Spirit. This is what every Christian dreams of. I have truly come to the Lord’s side and I give thanks to Almighty God’s salvation for me! This is an incredible blessing for me!