Why Can We Only Welcome the Lord by Listening for the Voice of God?
Right now, all believers are longing for the Lord Jesus to come on a cloud, because disasters are becoming more serious and plagues of all...
It has been 30 whole years since Christ of the last days, Almighty God, appeared and began working and expressing truths in 1991. He has expressed The Word Appears in the Flesh, millions of His words, which are all online, shining from East to West like a great light, rocking the entire world. Many people from all denominations who love the truth have seen that Almighty God’s words are all the truth, the Holy Spirit speaking to the churches. Hearing the voice of God, they have eagerly accepted Almighty God. They’ve been lifted up before God’s throne and are attending the Lamb’s wedding feast, eating and drinking God’s current words daily, enjoying the sustenance of the living waters. Their hearts are more and more enlightened and they’ve learned many truths. They have God’s personal guidance and shepherding. Their corrupt dispositions are being cleansed and changed through God’s judgment and they have beautiful testimonies. They’ve been made overcomers before the disasters by God, becoming the first fruits, gaining God’s approval and blessings. Today, The Church of Almighty God is springing up in countries all over the world like the first sprouts after a spring rain, and God’s chosen people are putting their all into spreading God’s kingdom gospel, bearing witness to Almighty God’s name. More and more people from all countries, all regions, and all denominations are accepting God’s last days’ work. This kingdom gospel is spreading and expanding with unstoppable force and momentum, entirely fulfilling the biblical prophecies: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it” (Isaiah 2:2). “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). However, though many believers have read Almighty God’s words and are convinced, and acknowledge they are all the truth, since Almighty God looks like a regular person and is not the Lord Jesus coming on a cloud, they don’t dare accept Him. Some cling to the literal words of the Bible, taking the verse “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8) to mean that the Lord Jesus’ name will never change. Seeing Almighty God isn’t called Jesus, and the Bible never mentions the name “Almighty God,” they won’t accept Him. They say that if they did accept Him, and only read Almighty God’s words and not the Bible, and stopped praying in Jesus’ name, that would be a clear betrayal of the Lord Jesus. After all those years of faith in the Lord, enjoying so many of His graces, they couldn’t possibly betray Him. This is their reasoning, and they also condemn those who believe in Almighty God as traitors of the Lord Jesus, as apostates. This has kept many from investigating the true way, and they may acknowledge Almighty God’s words are the truth and God’s voice, but they still don’t dare accept Him. As a result, they are succumbing to the disasters in their lives. This really is sad, foolish, and ignorant. This fulfills something else in the Bible: “Fools die for want of wisdom” (Proverbs 10:21). “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). So is accepting Almighty God actually betraying the Lord Jesus, or not? Let’s fellowship a bit on this.
Many people think that accepting Almighty God is a betrayal of the Lord. What’s the best way to approach this issue? We can’t just go by the fact that Their names are different, but we have to figure out if They’re one Spirit, if it’s the same God at work. In the Age of Law, it was Jehovah God working, and it was the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace. We can see here that God’s name did change, that He was no longer called Jehovah, but instead Jesus. But could you say that the Lord Jesus was a different God than Jehovah? Could you say that believing in the Lord Jesus was betraying Jehovah God? Absolutely not. But most people of Judaism refused to accept the Lord Jesus, saying that would be betraying Jehovah, and they even helped to get Him crucified. Why was that? It was because they didn’t realize that the Lord Jesus was the Spirit of Jehovah God appearing and working in the flesh. His name was different, but the Lord Jesus and Jehovah were one Spirit, one God. There’s a wonderful story recorded in the Bible of Philip saying to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us” (John 14:8). Jesus responded, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? he that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works” (John 14:9–10). The Lord Jesus’ words were very clear. He and Jehovah were one God, and His Spirit was Jehovah’s Spirit. The Lord Jesus was the appearance of Jehovah God, the one true God. And so, believing in the Lord Jesus wasn’t betraying Jehovah God, but submitting to Jehovah. It was in line with God’s will. If you cling to one name in your faith and to the literal words of the Bible without understanding the Spirit and His work, you are likely to go astray and resist God. Then you are prone to betraying God, the consequences of which are unthinkable. When the Lord appeared and worked, people of Judaism rejected Him. Wasn’t that betraying Jehovah God? The essence of their action is betrayal, which is why the Israelites were cursed by God. Also, long before the Lord Jesus’ appearance and work, there was a biblical prophecy about Him, saying, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (Matthew 1:23). But when He did come, He wasn’t called Emmanuel—He was called Jesus. The Pharisees of Judaism rigidly adhered to the literal Scripture, and because God’s new name didn’t match up, they did their utmost to deny and condemn the Lord. No matter how much authority and power the Lord Jesus’ teachings contained, they refused to accept them, and ultimately had Him nailed to the cross, committing a heinous sin, damned and punished by God. This is a really thought-provoking lesson! So as far as welcoming the Lord goes, should we rigidly adhere to the literal Scripture, and only the name of Jesus? Doing that makes it all too easy to end up resisting and condemning God. This is something that many believers don’t have insight into, so they hold tight to the literal words in the Bible and Jesus’ name, and when investigating the true way, keep asking, “Is there any biblical basis for the name Almighty God? If the name of Almighty God isn’t in the Bible, I can’t accept Him.” If you say that you won’t accept Him unless Almighty God’s name is in the Bible, then why do you believe in the Lord Jesus, since His name isn’t in the Old Testament? Isn’t that contradictory? Clearly, plenty of people don’t truly understand the Bible, but blindly cling to literal Scripture and rules. They don’t pray, seek the truth from God’s words or confirmation from the Holy Spirit, and this will ultimately do them in. In fact, there are biblical prophecies about God appearing and working in the last days, named Almighty God. “And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name” (Isaiah 62:2). “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:12). “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). “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” (Revelation 11:17). “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6). You can also check Revelation 4:8, and 16:7, and more. These passages of Scripture prophesied God would have a new name in the last days, “the Almighty,” that is, Almighty God. We can see that God appears and works in the last days under the name Almighty God, and God planned this long ago. All those who accept Almighty God have heard the Lord’s voice and recognized Almighty God as the Lord Jesus returned. They’ve welcomed the Lord, been taken up before His throne, and are attending the Lamb’s wedding feast. They are the true believers, the ones with proper faith. They have finally welcomed and gained the Lord. Those who fail to welcome the Lord will find their faith lost and gone. They will lose the Lord. Those who adhere to the name of Jesus don’t recognize the Lord’s voice when He comes. They don’t recognize Almighty God as the Lord Jesus’ Spirit appearing and working. Without accepting the Lord Jesus’ return, they believe in the Lord without recognizing Him. That is resisting the Lord, and they are the ones who are truly betraying the Lord Jesus. What is a betrayal of the Lord? It is believing in Him without recognizing Him! It’s all clearer now, right?
So why does God’s name keep changing? Why does He adopt a new name for each age? A mystery of the truth is within this. Let’s take a look at Almighty God’s words to shed some light on this. Almighty God says, “Each time God comes to earth, He changes His name, His gender, His image, and His work; He does not repeat His work. He is a God who is always new and never old. When He came before, He was called Jesus; can He still be called Jesus this time when He comes again? When He came before, He was male; can He be male again this time? His work when He came during the Age of Grace was to be nailed to the cross; when He comes again, can He still redeem mankind from sin? Can He be nailed to the cross again? Would that not be to repeat His work? Did you not know that God is always new and never old? There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and His essence. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His essence 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.
God is always God, and He will never become Satan; Satan is always Satan, and it will never become God. God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. As for His work, however, it is always progressing in a forward direction, always going deeper, for He is always new and never old. In every age God assumes a new name, in every age He does new work, and in every age He allows His creations to see His new will and new disposition. If, in a new age, people fail to see the expression of God’s new disposition, would they not nail Him to the cross forever? And by doing so, would they not define God?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)).
“‘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 by which the people of Israel called the God whom they worshiped. ‘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. Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent My Spirit, these names only denote the different ages of My management plan, and do not represent Me in My entirety. The names by which people on earth call Me cannot articulate My entire disposition and all that I am. They are merely different names by which I am called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, My name shall change again. I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah—I shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end. 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”).
Almighty God’s words very clearly explain the names God uses for His work in each age and the mysteries of the truth surrounding His names. God’s name changes along with the age and the work He’s doing. Each of His names is representative of the work He’s doing in that age. But no matter how God’s name or work may change, His essence never changes—God is always God. God worked in the name of Jehovah in the Age of Law, issuing the law and leading mankind’s lives on earth, teaching people what sin is and how to worship Jehovah God. In the Age of Grace, God’s Spirit was clothed in flesh as the Son of man. He expressed truths and did the work of redemption under the name of Jesus. Ultimately, He was crucified and became mankind’s sin offering, redeeming us of our sins. Now in the last days, God has incarnated again and is doing the last days’ work of judgment under the name Almighty God, expressing truths to judge and cleanse mankind, fully saving us from sin, saving us from Satan’s forces and putting an end to this dark and evil old world. He will lead man into a beautiful destination. This is how God’s 6,000-year management plan to save mankind will be completely fulfilled. The facts of God’s work show us that the three names of Jehovah, Jesus, and Almighty God each represent one of the three different stages of God’s work to save mankind. On the outside, it looks like God’s name and His work are changing, but God’s essence doesn’t change. God’s disposition and what He has and is never change. He remains the one God, leading, redeeming, and thoroughly cleansing and saving mankind. When we look at Jehovah God’s words in the Old Testament from the Age of Law, the Lord Jesus’ words in the Age of Grace, and now Almighty God’s words in the Age of Kingdom, we can see these truths come entirely from one Spirit and are the same Spirit’s utterances, because God’s utterances in different ages all contain His love and His righteous disposition. What God has and is lies within them. God’s love, God’s disposition, and what He has and is all make up the essence of the one true God, the possessions and being of the one true God. In the Age of Grace, hearing the Lord Jesus speak was just like hearing the voice of Jehovah God. When we listen to the words of Almighty God, it’s just as if the Lord Jesus is personally speaking to us, and Jehovah God speaking to us. This entirely proves that God’s three stages of work are carried out by one God. God’s name changes, but His essence, what He has and is, and the righteous disposition He expresses are the same, without the slightest change. All of Almighty God’s work today follows on from the Lord Jesus’ work. It is a stage of work on the foundation of the work of redemption that is deeper and more elevated— the work to fully cleanse and save humanity. Almighty God has expressed an abundance of truths, not only revealing mysteries of the Bible, but also unveiling all the mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan to save mankind, such as God’s aims in His management work, how God uses His three stages of work to save man, the mysteries of the incarnations, how God judges, cleanses and fully saves mankind, how every type of person’s outcome and destination are determined, how Christ’s kingdom is realized on earth, and more. God also reveals the truth of man’s corruption by Satan, He judges and exposes man’s satanic, anti-God nature. He also explains every aspect of the truths that mankind should put into practice, giving us practical paths to cast off our corruption and change our dispositions. The truths Almighty God expresses are all of the truths man needs to be cleansed and attain full salvation, and completely fulfill the Lord Jesus’ prophecy: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12–13). Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days fully cleanses and saves mankind and brings all of the people God has predetermined to save before Him to be cleansed through judgment and chastisement. He has already completed a group of overcomers before the disasters. Now the great disasters have begun, and God has started to reward good and punish evil. All those who are of Satan, who resist God, will be destroyed, while those who are purified through God’s judgment will be protected and kept by God through the disasters. After the disasters, Christ’s kingdom will appear on earth, realizing all these prophecies from Revelation: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). “Alleluia: for the Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:3–4). Almighty God has expressed so many truths, and achieved such great work. This proves that He is God’s Spirit in the flesh, appearing to work as the Son of man. He is not called Jesus, and is not in the image of the Jewish Lord Jesus, but Almighty God’s Spirit is that of the Lord Jesus—He is the Lord Jesus returned. Almighty God, the Lord Jesus, and Jehovah are all one God. Once you properly understand this, you can’t possibly claim that believing in Almighty God is a betrayal of the Lord Jesus, because welcoming Almighty God is welcoming the Lord, following the footsteps of the Lamb, and being lifted up before God! Many in the religious world are still clinging to the literal Scripture, to the Lord Jesus’ name, waiting for Him to come down on a cloud, refusing to seek and investigate Almighty God’s last days’ work. No matter how many truths He expresses, they refuse to acknowledge this comes from God’s Spirit, that this is the Lord Jesus’ Spirit appearing and working. They even condemn and reject Almighty God, who brings us the truth. Aren’t they making the same mistake the Pharisees made? They think this is devotion to the Lord Jesus, but the Lord condemned them as evildoers. The Lord Jesus said, “Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name have cast out devils, and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22–23). And so, the Lord will eliminate them.
Let’s take a look at more of Almighty God’s words to wrap up. “Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path by which man gains life, and it is the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life nor gain the perpetual way of life. This is because all they have is turbid water which has been clung to for thousands of years instead of the water of life that flows from the throne. Those who are not supplied with the water of life will forever remain corpses, playthings of Satan, and sons of hell. How, then, can they behold God? If you only try to hold on to the past, only try to keep things as they are by standing still, and do not try to change the status quo and discard history, then will you not always be against God? The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit passively awaiting destruction, clinging to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old? And how can the words of your yellowed books carry you across into a new age? How can they lead you to seek the steps of God’s work? And how can they take you up to heaven? What you hold in your hands are letters that can provide but temporary solace, not truths that are capable of giving life. The scriptures you read can only enrich your tongue and are not words of philosophy that can help you know human life, much less the paths that can lead you to perfection. Does this discrepancy not give you cause for reflection? Does it not make you realize the mysteries contained within? Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own? Without the coming of God, can you take yourself into heaven to enjoy family happiness with God? Are you still dreaming now? I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming and look at who is working now—look to see who is now carrying out the work of saving man during the last days. If you do not, you shall never gain the truth, and shall never gain life” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life).
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