By Marcelita, the Philippines

When it comes to getting into the kingdom of heaven, many people think, “Since we have faith in the Lord and our sins have been forgiven, when the Lord comes He’ll rapture us straight into His kingdom.” Then there are those who believe that only the holy can see the Lord, thinking, “We still can’t help sinning constantly—we haven’t cast off the fetters of sin, so can we truly get into the kingdom of heaven?” To this question, some may say, “In spite of our sinfulness, the Lord Jesus is our eternal sin offering, so He will forgive us as long as we confess our sins to Him. He won’t see us as sinful then, and we’ll be able to enter His kingdom.” But I don’t think this way, because the Bible says: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26). This proves that the sin offering is finite. Those who know of the true way and yet still sin will not receive God’s salvation. So just how are we supposed to enter into the kingdom of heaven? I could never figure this out—it wasn’t until I read Almighty God’s words that I found the path of purification and entry into God’s kingdom.

I was born into a Christian household, and attended services with my parents from a young age. I also actively participated in the church’s activities. As an adult, I expended myself for the Lord even more zealously. Sometimes I’d accompany the pastor to hold out-of-town prayer meetings. But despite all my enthusiasm, I wasn’t getting any satisfaction from the services. The pastor’s sermons were always on the same old things. There was no new enlightenment. And personally, I often wasn’t able to live by the Lord’s teachings. I was always caught up in a cycle of sinning and confessing. For example, when I saw that my mom gave my siblings presents or money but rarely gave me anything, I’d become jealous and angry and complain about her. In my service for the church, whenever the pastor gave me tasks, I’d think that he must be favoring me and looking kindly upon me. I’d be filled with pride and even look down on the other co-workers. The Scriptures say: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). But I was still filled with jealousy, hatred, and condescension. I couldn’t get along well with my family, much less love others as myself and achieve harmony with all men. The Lord is holy; could someone like me really receive His commendation and get into His kingdom? I was really confused, so I sought help from the pastor and other church members. But the pastor just said, “As believers, our sins have been forgiven. The Lord Jesus’ sin offering is effective forever. So for all our sins committed in the past and in the future, as long as we pray and confess to the Lord, He’ll forgive us unconditionally. Then the Lord will see us as without sin and we’ll be allowed into His kingdom. We must have faith in the Lord.” Yet hearing the pastor’s words didn’t resolve my confusion. The Lord forgives our sins, but why does the Bible also say, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26)? This proves that the Lord won’t forgive our sins unconditionally forever. I hadn’t gained any clarity, and could only console myself by thinking: The Lord’s love is boundless and infinite, so maybe the pastor is right. As long as I continue to pray and confess, the Lord won’t hold those sins against me, and when He comes He’ll rapture me into the kingdom of heaven. After that, I just kept reading the Bible and attending services, hoping that I’d get into the Lord’s kingdom when He came.

I later met two sisters online. We often chatted, encouraging and motivating each other in our faith and sharing our thoughts. One day, one of them asked me, “What is your greatest hope as a believer?” Without the slightest hesitation, I said, “Getting into God’s kingdom, of course!” Then she asked, “So do you know what kind of people can get into God’s kingdom?” When she said that, I thought to myself, “This is exactly what I’ve been confused about. The pastor and church members all say that by believing in the Lord and by being baptized in His name, our sins are forgiven and we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Does her question mean she has a different opinion?” Then she said, “I used to think that in our faith, as long as we accept the Lord’s name, and pray and confess in His name, then the Lord will forgive our sins. Then, when He comes, He’ll rapture us into the kingdom of heaven. But later I realized that even though our sins are forgiven by believing in the Lord, we’re still prone to sinning and resisting Him. For instance: the Lord requires that we love others as ourselves, practice forbearance, and be salt and light to glorify Him, but we’re always getting caught up in arguments over petty little things. We blame the Lord and betray Him in the face of disasters and trials. We only work and expend ourselves to receive blessings and enter His kingdom. This is trying to make a transaction with the Lord. Living this way isn’t remotely in accord with the Lord’s intention. The Scriptures clearly state: ‘You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy’ (Leviticus 11:45). ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever’ (John 8:34–35). God is holy and righteous, and the kingdom of heaven is under His rule. It’s a holy land. God will not allow the filthy to sully His holy land. Those who are always sinning, resisting, and rebelling against the Lord are still servants to sin, and absolutely cannot get into God’s kingdom.” Having listened to the sister’s fellowship I said, “You’re right. In our faith, we often lie and sin and can’t free ourselves from sin. I’ve experienced this quite profoundly. It’s always really confused me. Can we really enter God’s kingdom like this? I’ve sought out the advice of my pastor and other church members, but I never got a satisfactory answer. Through your fellowship, I’m finally gaining some understanding. Those who are always sinning and haven’t been purified can’t enter into God’s kingdom. But I still don’t understand, why do we keep sinning when, as believers, the Lord has forgiven us?”

In response to my question, the sister read a few passages of Almighty God’s words: “For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of mankind sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition. … It is not easy for man to become aware of his sins; he has no way of recognizing his own deeply rooted nature, and he must rely on judgment by the word in order to achieve this result. Only thus can man gradually be changed from this point onward” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)). “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). Having read the word of God, she then shared fellowship with me: “During the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption, not the work of mankind’s purification and transformation. We all know that late in the Old Testament Age of Law, people were in danger of execution for not abiding by the law. Then God personally became flesh and was crucified as a sin offering for mankind, redeeming man of his sins. So long as people confessed and repented to the Lord, their sins could be forgiven, and they could enjoy the abundant grace, peace and happiness bestowed by the Lord. This forgiveness of sins refers to no longer being put to death under the law. It doesn’t mean that man is free of sin, still less does it mean that man will never sin again. Our sins are forgiven through our faith, but our sinful nature is still deeply rooted within us. We’re full of satanic dispositions like arrogance, deceit, and evil. For example, we even go against our own conscience, lying and cheating, to protect our own interests. If people don’t act the way we want them to, we get angry and reproach them. We compete for status and seek profit, we’re jealous and quarrelsome. We also pursue evil worldly trends and savor the enjoyments of the flesh. And so on. We know that sinning isn’t in keeping with the Lord’s intention and we often come before the Lord to repent and confess, but then we just keep sinning. All of this is the result of our satanic nature. If we don’t resolve the root of our sinful nature, then our sins will be like weeds cut at the stalk, growing right back from the root. Therefore, God in the last days is carrying out the work of judgment, thoroughly resolving our sinful nature, cleansing and transforming our corrupt dispositions, so that we no longer sin or resist God. This is the only way to be worthy of the kingdom of heaven.”

After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I understood that forgiveness of sins just means the Lord Jesus has forgiven our sins, not that we aren’t sinful. Nor does it mean that the Lord will pardon our sins without limit, like my pastor had claimed. The sister’s fellowship was so practical, and completely in line with the Bible: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26). What the pastor said used to leave me so confused. The Lord is holy. Will He really take us into His kingdom even though we sin all the time? I couldn’t figure it out, so I just trusted what the pastor said and kept studying the Bible, praying and confessing, and hoping that when the Lord came He wouldn’t look at our sins but take us straight into His kingdom. Thinking back now, that was a truly far-fetched notion. The sister had said that the Lord would perform the work of judgment to purify man at His return, so I rushed to ask her exactly how God will perform this work. She patiently replied, “The Bible contains many prophecies about this. For instance: ‘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). ‘He that rejects Me, and accepts not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:48). These verses show that God will express the truth to judge and purify mankind in the last days. The Lord Jesus has now returned as the incarnate Almighty God of the last days. He expresses the truth and does the work of judgment starting with the house of God to resolve man’s sinful nature and satanic dispositions, and ultimately deliver mankind from Satan’s influence.” Then she showed me videos of readings of God’s words. Almighty God says: “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 submit to 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 and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure 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 intentions 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). “By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt essence within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as through refinement, man can purge away his corruption and be made pure” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)).

The sister fellowshiped with me after the videos: “In the last days, Almighty God mainly uses the truth to judge and reveal corrupt mankind’s satanic nature and the various satanic dispositions that resist and sin against Him. At the same time, He also makes clear all the truths that we should practice in our faith—for example, how to create a normal relationship with God, how to live out normal humanity, how to love and submit to God, how to believe in and serve God in line with His intentions, and more. Through the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, we can see how deeply we’ve been corrupted by Satan, and how we are replete with satanic dispositions like arrogance, deceit, and evil. We don’t live out the slightest semblance of humanity, but are embodiments of Satan and unworthy to live before God. We can also know God’s righteous disposition that brooks no offense, start to hate and despise ourselves and repent to God. Then our corrupt dispositions can gradually be transformed, and we will have some fear of God, and submission to Him.” After that, she went on to share some of her experience. She said that previously in her faith in the Lord, she’d thought that since she had expended herself, given up a lot, experienced hardships and paid a price for the Lord, she loved the Lord most and was better than other people. She’d use this as capital and look down on others, thinking that she was most fit to be crowned and rewarded. After receiving Almighty God’s work in the last days, she read God’s words judging and exposing mankind. She saw the following passage: “It would be best for you to dedicate more effort to the truth of knowing the self. Why have you not found favor with God? Why is your disposition abominable to Him? Why does your speech arouse His loathing? As soon as you have demonstrated a bit of loyalty, you sing your own praises, and you demand a reward for a small contribution; you look down upon others when you have shown a modicum of submission, and become contemptuous of God upon accomplishing some petty task. … Knowing full well that you believe in God, you nevertheless cannot be compatible with God. Knowing full well that you are utterly without merit, you persist in boasting all the same. Do you not feel your sense has deteriorated to the point that you no longer have self-control?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God). She had been anguished and ashamed after reading this. She had realized then that her consistently self-aggrandizing and condescending attitude to others, her belief that she was worthy of being crowned, was entirely due to her arrogant satanic nature. She realized that her expending was not to submit to God, but was instead done to receive blessings and make a transaction with God. She came to understand her arrogant, satanic disposition, as well as the impurity of her faith. She saw she was full of satanic dispositions and yet still shamelessly and unreasonably expected to be blessed and gain entry to the kingdom of heaven. She came to hate and despise herself, and no longer thought she was any better than anyone else. She didn’t dare brag about her love for God or demand that He give her rewards and crown her. Instead, she was aware she should accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words in good faith, seek to cast off her corrupt disposition, and do her best to fulfill her duty as a created being. After hearing her fellowship, I had a better understanding of how God performs His work of judgment in the last days. I thought her experiential testimony was very practical and very helpful for me. I thought about how I was just the same—the pastor had favored me and entrusted me with tasks, so I’d believed myself to be better than my brothers and sisters and looked down on them. At home, I’d always thought everyone’s lives should revolve around me. That was my own arrogant disposition. I figured I could also be purified and transformed through God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days. We chatted until it was late that night, and I gained a lot of spiritual sustenance and satisfaction.

Later on, I did an extensive reading of Almighty God’s words and found that not only do God’s words unveil the truth behind mankind’s corruption and the mysteries of God’s work, but also detail how to cast off corrupt dispositions, how to live a meaningful life, and many other aspects of the truth. I realized that Almighty God’s words are the truth and the voice of God. I became absolutely certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus and formally accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days. I look back on those years believing in the Lord while living in sin and being powerless to extract myself from its clutches—I was so confused about how to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now I’ve finally found the path to purification and the kingdom of heaven! Thanks be to Almighty God!