By Patricia, South Korea

In September 2017, I met a Filipina Christian online, named Teresa. She said she wasn’t getting anything from church services, and she saw more and more other believers following secular trends. Her church was feeling desolate to her, and she wanted to find one with the work of the Holy Spirit. She also said she wanted to read more of God’s words, know Him, and live a new life. Seeing her spiritual longing, I wanted to share the gospel with her so she could hear God’s voice and accept God’s work of the last days. One time I asked her what she wanted from her faith. She said, “I want to go to God’s kingdom and be with Him forever, but I’m a sinner, and I’m not worthy of His kingdom.” I told her that we have to understand the standards for God’s kingdom if we want to get in, and asked if she wanted to learn about this aspect of the truth. She said really excitedly, “Absolutely!” I saw she was a true believer who wanted to look into it, so I was eager to share testimony on God’s work of the last days. But it was time for her to go to work, so we had to wrap up our chat for the day.

Later, she got really busy with her job, working from early morning to late at night, and after work she was exhausted and needed to rest. On top of that, she had to spend what little time she had off each week going to church services, so there wasn’t much of a chance for us to chat. She was at work pretty much every time I contacted her, so we really didn’t have time to talk. I started feeling discouraged after a while. I was thinking that we had to communicate online since we weren’t in the same country, so if she didn’t have time to log on, how could I share God’s work of the last days with her? I started to think that my hands were tied, so I should forget about it. Maybe someone else would share the gospel with her. Just as I was about to give up, I remembered something God said: “Are you aware of the burden on your shoulders, your commission, and your responsibility? Where is your sense of historic mission? How will you adequately serve as a master in the next age? Do you have a strong sense of masterhood? How would you explain the master of all things? Is it really the master of all living creatures and of all physical things in the world? What plans do you have for the progress of the next phase of the work? How many people are waiting for you to be their shepherd? Is your task a heavy one? They are poor, pitiable, blind, and at a loss, wailing in the darkness—where is the way? How they yearn for the light, like a shooting star, to suddenly descend and dispel the forces of darkness that have oppressed man for so many years. Who can know the full extent to which they anxiously hope, and how they pine, day and night, for this? Even on a day when the light flashes past, these deeply suffering people remain imprisoned in a dark dungeon without hope of release; when will they weep no longer? Terrible is the misfortune of these fragile spirits who have never been granted rest, and long have they been kept bound in this state by merciless bonds and frozen history. And who has heard the sound of their wailing? Who has looked upon their miserable state? Has it ever occurred to you how grieved and anxious God’s heart is? How can He bear to see innocent mankind, whom He created with His own hands, suffering such torment? Human beings, after all, are the victims who have been poisoned. And although man has survived to this day, who would have known that mankind has long been poisoned by the evil one? Have you forgotten that you are one of the victims? Are you not willing to strive, out of your love for God, to save these survivors? Are you not willing to devote all of your energy to repaying God, who loves mankind like His own flesh and blood?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How Should You Attend to Your Future Mission?). Giving some thought to God’s words, I felt really bad. I hadn’t done everything possible to share the gospel with her, and I hadn’t even told her that the Lord Jesus has already returned. She had heartfelt faith in the Lord and longed to understand His will, but she was in spiritual darkness, without sustenance. If I gave up on her just when she really needed help, when would she hear God’s voice? Now that disasters are growing, if I didn’t bear witness to God’s work of the last days right away, she could miss out on salvation. I felt even worse at that thought, and prayed to God, “God, I know all is possible with You. I want to do everything in my power to share the gospel with Sister Teresa. Please guide me.” After praying, it suddenly occurred to me that she was short on time, but I could set up a time in advance for us to pray together. So I asked her about it and she agreed right away. We set up a time for 5-something in the morning every day. I was really busy with my duty at the time, and I was working late every night. I was thinking I’d hardly get any sleep if I had to get up that early. But I told myself that if I worried about my physical comfort, it would delay Teresa coming before God. I felt guilty about that. I remembered that God said “The flesh belongs to Satan. Within it are extravagant desires, it thinks only for itself, it wants to enjoy comfort and revel in leisure, wallowing in sloth and idleness, and having satisfied it to a certain point you will ultimately be eaten up by it” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God). I knew that satisfying the flesh meant satisfying Satan. I’d fail to give testimony and to do my duty, and lose my chance to bear witness to God’s work of the last days. I said a prayer, ready to turn my back on the flesh. Even if I had to pay more of a price, I needed to share the gospel with her. We started meeting for early morning prayer, and when I said a really sincere prayer for her, hoping she would have more time for us to fellowship on God’s words, she said to me very seriously, “I can feel how genuine you are. Thank you for your prayer. I’m really moved.” Hearing her say this was heartwarming, and I saw that people can really feel it when someone is being genuine. I silently resolved to God that I would be sure to share testimony of God’s work of the last days with her. So I suggested to her that we make some time to fellowship together. She agreed, and managed to squeeze in a daily 30-minute fellowship, and mentioned again that she wanted to know how to get into God’s kingdom.

We talked about that in our fellowship the very next day. I said, “Every believer wants to enter the kingdom of heaven, so what do we need to do? We have to listen to the Lord. The Lord Jesus said: ‘Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21). The Lord was very clear. The key to getting into the kingdom of heaven is to do God’s will. What does that mean? To put it simply, doing God’s will is putting the Lord’s words into practice and following His commandments. It means casting off sin and putting God’s words into practice, and loving and submitting to God from the heart. People who are always lying, sinning, resisting God, and going against His requirements aren’t doing His will, so are they worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven?” She said, “No. We’re constantly lying, sinning with our words, and more believers are following worldly trends, chasing after money. We don’t genuinely worship God and even pastors are no exception. How can we get into the kingdom of heaven that way?” I responded, “Yes. We’ve been redeemed by the Lord Jesus and our sins are forgiven, but we keep lying and sinning. We sin by day, confess by night. The Bible says: ‘Without holiness no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). We aren’t holy now, and we aren’t worthy of God’s kingdom this way. But everyone wants to be saved and get into His kingdom. So how does God make this happen for us? The Bible says: ‘So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin to salvation’ (Hebrews 9:28). The Lord comes again in the last days to save us, to fully free us from the bonds of sin, to make us people who submit to God and do His will, so we’re fully saved and can enter His kingdom.” She was really excited to hear this, and said, “I’d love to stop sinning. So how does God save us from sin?” I sent her a few verses of Scripture: “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” (Revelation 5:1–2). “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof” (Revelation 5:5). I said, “The Lord said that He would use the truth to sanctify humanity, and Revelation and the Book of Daniel both say that a sealed book will be opened in the last days. This book refers to the new words uttered by God in the last days, and this is the truth that will sanctify mankind. Only God Himself can unseal the book and express the truth to save mankind. The Lord utters many truths to purify and change us, to save us from sin when He comes in the last days. The Book of Revelation also says a number of times ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation Chapters 2, 3). God will speak to the churches in the last days. We just have to listen for His voice. We can’t welcome the Lord unless we hear His voice, and this is our only chance to be purified and saved by God, to be worthy of His kingdom.”

At this point in the fellowship, Teresa asked me, “Why would the Lord need to utter new words in the last days? I’ve read the Bible my whole life and it’s given me faith and taught me a lot, teaching me tolerance, patience, and forgiveness. I feel like the Bible is enough, and our pastor always says that all God’s words are in the Bible, that nothing outside of that is the word of God.” I could see that Teresa had some notions about the Lord speaking in the last days, that she wasn’t accepting it, so I didn’t directly refute what she’d said. I shared my own experience with her. I said, “I used to think the same thing. I thought that everything the Lord said was in the Bible, and there weren’t any new words from God outside of that. But later, I heard a brother mention something the Lord Jesus said that made me see it differently. The Lord Jesus said: ‘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). The Lord Jesus was very clear about that. He said He had a lot more things to share, but people lacked stature and couldn’t bear it then. He would speak more in the last days to guide people to understand and enter into all truths, so we can be freed from the bonds of sin and fully saved. Imagine a small child. When he’s young and his mom is teaching him to talk and walk, would she tell him to make a good living so he can take care of Mom and Dad? Of course not. He’d be too young to understand that, so at that age, his parents will just tell him things he can understand. Then when he grows up and learns more, they’ll tell him more about life, like how to find a job and have a family. That’s just like the Lord Jesus doing the work of redemption in the Age of Grace based on what His management plan and people required, expressing the way of repentance, teaching people to be humble and tolerant, to take up a cross, to forgive others seventy times seven. But there were other things the Lord Jesus didn’t tell people—all the truths to purify and save mankind. He saved these for when the Lord comes in the last days, and this is the sealed book that was prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Over these 2,000 years, no one read that book, because it wasn’t opened until the Lord came back in the last days. Do you think it would be possible for what’s written in that book to be in the Bible?” She said earnestly, “It couldn’t be in the Bible.” I shared fellowship on this with her a few more times until she said she understood it.

I thought Sister Teresa’s notions had been resolved, but the next day when I brought up the Lord speaking new words in the last days again, she said that all of the Lord’s words for the last days should be in the Bible. At first I thought I’d heard wrong, but after confirming with her, I was so disappointed and discouraged. I thought that it was really hard to set up a time with her in the first place, and now she still didn’t understand even after I explained it several times. Was she going to be able to understand this? I didn’t say anything, but I started to think about beating a retreat. But then I realized that it wasn’t that she hadn’t taken anything from our fellowship. Putting someone into a box so easily wasn’t in line with God’s will. Then I suddenly remembered this from God’s words: “If God has entrusted to you the duty of spreading the gospel, you should accept God’s commission, deferentially and obediently. You should endeavor to treat every person who is investigating the true way with love and patience, and you should be able to bear hardship and toil. Be diligent in taking responsibility for sharing the gospel; provide clear fellowship about the truth, so that you may give account of it to God. This is the attitude with which one should perform their duty” (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). “If a person investigating 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” (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). I felt ashamed of myself when I thought about what God requires. I’d only fellowshiped a few times, but I didn’t want to keep trying because she hadn’t let go of her notions yet. I wasn’t being loving. I had a lot of notions when I first became a believer, too, but brothers and sisters fellowshiped with me over and over, and prayed for me before I let go of those notions, and came before God to accept His salvation. This was because of God’s love and tolerance. So why wasn’t I able to patiently fellowship with her when I was sharing the gospel? At this point, I prayed to God, “Oh God, if she is one of Your sheep, please guide me. I’ll do everything I can to cooperate with You.” After praying, I thought about how the Bible had been Teresa’s foundation of faith all those years. It was understandable that she couldn’t entirely accept it right away when she heard that God’s new words for the last days aren’t in the Bible. I figured I could talk to her about it from a different perspective. After that, I shared a couple passages of God’s words with her: “God Himself is life, and the truth, and His life and truth coexist. Those who are incapable of gaining the truth shall never gain life. Without the guidance, support, and provision of the truth, you shall only gain words, doctrines, and, above all, death. God’s life is ever-present, and His truth and life coexist. If you cannot find the source of truth, then you will not gain the nourishment of life; if you cannot gain the provision of life, then you will surely have no truth, and so apart from imaginations and notions, the entirety of your body shall be nothing but your flesh—your stench-ridden flesh. Know that the words of books do not count as life, the records of history cannot be worshiped as the truth, and the regulations of the past cannot serve as an account of words presently spoken by God. Only that which is expressed by God when He comes to earth and lives among man is the truth, life, God’s will, and His current way of working” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life). “The fact I wish to explain here is this: What God is and has is eternally inexhaustible and infinite. God is the source of life and all things; He cannot be fathomed by any created being. Lastly, I must continue to remind everybody: Do not delimit God in books, in words, or in His past utterances ever again. There is only one word to describe the characteristic of God’s work: new. He does not like to take old paths or repeat His work; moreover, He does not want people to worship Him by delimiting Him within a certain scope. This is God’s disposition” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Afterword). After that, I fellowshiped with her, “God is the Creator, and His wisdom is infinite. God can always express more truths based on His work plan and mankind’s needs. How could He be limited to what it says in the Bible? Isn’t that confining God to what the Bible contains?” Then I told her that Chinese fable about a frog at the bottom of a well. I said, “There was a frog that lived at the bottom of a well, and could only see the sky through the well’s opening, so it thought the sky was just as big as that opening. Then one day so much rain fell from a big storm that it could jump out of the well. It saw the limitless expanse of the sky, that it was actually so much bigger than the well’s opening. It realized it just had failed to see the whole sky because it was at the bottom of the well.” I said I’d felt that way too, and that my understanding of God had been really shallow. God is so great, and we are so small. God is abundant! His words are like the living waters, eternally flowing and limitless. We can never know what He has and is with our own reasoning. How could we possibly delimit God? The Lord Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). God is the fount of life. I asked her if God could express more truths than what’s in the Bible, things even higher than that, everything people need in the last days. She said, “Of course He can.” I could see that her notions were starting to give way, her heart was opening up. I sent her that same verse: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). I told her that what the Spirit says to the churches is precisely what the Lord Jesus says when He returns in the last days. And the Bible has a record of what God talked about and did in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. That was all recorded by human beings and then compiled into one book after God had done that work. When I asked if the new words expressed by the Lord Jesus when He returns could be in the Bible beforehand, she smiled and said, “Now I understand. The Lord’s words when He returns aren’t in the Bible, and God can utter words outside of the Bible.” She was really deeply moved, and said that people don’t understand God well enough. She wanted to read more of God’s words and understand Him more.

I was thrilled, and so grateful for God’s guidance, to see Teresa acknowledge that the Lord will return and speak again. So I asked her, “Since the Lord will return and speak more, what medium do you think He will use for His utterances?” She said, “Through the Spirit.” I told her that’s what I used to think too, but I investigated the Scripture with brothers and sisters and saw that it says: “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24–25); “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Luke 17:26); “Be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Matthew 24:44). I said, “These verses all mention that the Lord will return as ‘the Son of man.’ The Son of man means He is born of man and has normal humanity. He wouldn’t be called that if He were in spiritual form. Jehovah God was in spiritual form, so He wasn’t called the Son of man. That means the Lord returns in the flesh in the last days. If He came in a resurrected spiritual body, coming on a cloud and appearing openly to all people, everyone would prostrate themselves, trembling in fear, and no one would dare reject Him. Then how would the Lord’s words ‘first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ be fulfilled?” It looked like Teresa was pondering something, so I went on to ask her, “When the Lord appears and works in the last days, why would He decide to come in the flesh and not as a Spirit?” She shook her head. I said, “People can’t see or touch God in spiritual form. If a spiritual body suddenly appeared and spoke, how would you feel?” She said, “Scared.” I responded, “Yes, people would be afraid and confused. Does God want everyone to feel scared when He’s speaking to us? Definitely not. And corrupt humanity is too tainted; we’re not worthy of seeing God’s Spirit. Seeing God’s Spirit would just kill us. That’s why it’s so important for us, corrupt humanity, for God to come in the flesh in the last days to express truths for our salvation.” After that I read a couple more passages of God’s words for her: “God’s saving of man is not done directly using the method of the Spirit and the identity of the Spirit, for His Spirit can neither be touched nor seen by man, neither can man draw near. If He tried to save man directly using the perspective of the Spirit, man would be unable to receive His salvation. If God did not put on the outward form of a created man, there would be no way for man to receive this salvation. For man has no way of approaching Him, much as no one was able to go near the cloud of Jehovah. Only by becoming a created human being, that is, only by putting His word into the body of flesh that He is about to become, can He personally work the word into all who follow Him. Only then can man personally see and hear His word, and moreover enter into possession of His word, and by this means come to be fully saved. If God did not become flesh, no one of flesh and blood would be able to receive such great salvation, nor would a single person be saved. If the Spirit of God worked directly in the midst of mankind, all humanity would be struck down, or else, with no way of coming into touch with God, they would be completely carried away captive by Satan” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)). “This was the advantage of God becoming flesh: He could take advantage of mankind’s knowledge and use human language to speak to people, and to express His will. He explained or ‘translated’ to man His profound, divine language that people struggled to understand in human language, in a human way. This helped people understand His will and know what He wanted to do. He could also have conversations with people from the human perspective, using human language, and communicate with people in a way they understood. He could even speak and work using human language and knowledge so that people could feel God’s kindness and closeness, so that they could see His heart” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III). After reading God’s words, I continued my fellowship: “God decided to come in the flesh, and live a real life among us so He could be closer to us, and provide us with the truth to save us. It’s just like parents with their child. Would a parent want their child to be afraid every time he sees them? Of course not. Parents would never want their child to be afraid, to hide whenever he sees them, so what about God? If God just spoke from the heavens, we would be afraid and pull away from Him. God doesn’t want us to pull away, to feel He’s hard to be close to, so the Lord’s return in the last days is just like when the Lord Jesus appeared and worked. He came in the flesh, as a regular, normal Son of man, eating and speaking with His disciples, and always helping resolve their problems and confusions. Seeing the true living God really living among man helps us feel much closer to God. We want to draw closer to Him, to lean on Him. God incarnate can interact with us without any distance, and He can use our own language to express the truth, to sustain and nourish us. He can use examples and analogies so we can understand His will better, and then it’s easier for us to understand and enter into the truth. God’s love for us is so practical, so real! By becoming flesh, God tolerates enormous humiliation and suffering to speak and work for us to understand the truth, be freed from sin, and fully saved. This is His salvation for corrupt humanity.” At this point, Teresa was moved to tears. She said, “I get it now. The Lord is returning in incarnate form in the last days. I want God to come among us in the flesh, too. God has paid such a great price for our salvation. We’re not worthy of it….” I was really touched to see how moved Teresa was, and I remembered something God said: “Are you able to communicate the disposition expressed by God in each age in a concrete way, with language that suitably conveys the significance of the age? Are you, who experience God’s work of the last days, able to describe God’s righteous disposition in detail? Can you testify about God’s disposition clearly and accurately? How will you pass on what you have seen and experienced to those pitiable, poor, and devout religious believers who hunger and thirst for righteousness and are waiting for you to shepherd them?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How Should You Attend to Your Future Mission?). “To bear witness to God’s work, you must rely on your experience, knowledge, and the price you have paid. Only thus can you satisfy His will” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement). When I was sharing the gospel before that, often I was just sharing theories with people and I’d never thought about whether I had a genuine understanding of God, whether I could share testimony from my real, personal experiences. This experience showed me that sharing the gospel isn’t just talking to other people, but it’s a chance for me to know God better. I could feel God’s love through my fellowship with Teresa, too. If He hadn’t come to work and speak in the flesh, there’s no way we could understand the truth or have our corrupt dispositions cleansed. We’d just end up destroyed in the disasters. The more I thought about it, the more I felt how great and how real God’s love for us is.

After our fellowship, Teresa said, “Today’s fellowship is all completely new to me. I’ve really gained so much from this.” I was thrilled to hear her say this, and I told her, “The Lord Jesus has already returned as Almighty God incarnate. Almighty God has expressed new words and is doing the judgment work of the last days to fully cleanse and save mankind. This fulfills biblical prophecies, including ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1 Peter 4:17), and ‘The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son’ (John 5:22).” Teresa was really excited to hear that the Lord has already returned, but she was confused, too. She asked me, “The Lord Jesus already forgave our sins when He was crucified. Why would the Lord need to return and do the work of judgment to save man in the last days?” I read her two passages of Almighty God’s words to address her question: “You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but you have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. You, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are therefore incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity). “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). After reading God’s words, I said, “The Lord Jesus did redeem us. What did this redemption achieve? We were redeemed of our sins so we’re no longer punished for violating the law. This is what the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption accomplished. Our sins are forgiven through our faith in the Lord, but we still can’t help but lie and sin all the time. We live in the vicious cycle of sinning by day, confessing by night, never able to escape the shackles of sin. Why is this? It’s because we haven’t gotten rid of our sinful nature. This sinful nature is like a malignant tumor deep inside of us. If it’s not removed, we can be forgiven a thousand times, ten thousand times, but we’ll never be freed from sin or be worthy of the kingdom of heaven. This is why the Lord needs to return, express truths, and do the work of judgment. That judgment work is to resolve our sinful natures so that we can be completely free of the shackles of sin, and be purified and completely saved.”

Teresa was really happy to hear this and said urgently, “Can you tell me about the judgment work? How does God carry out this judgment to save us from sin?” I read her a passage of God’s words: “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). After reading this, I said, “In the last days, God performs His judgment with words to expose mankind’s satanic nature of resisting God. It reveals all our expressions of our satanic disposition and resistance to God so we learn the truth of how deeply Satan has corrupted us while also seeing God’s holy, righteous disposition. By being judged, chastised, pruned and dealt with by God’s words, we see all of the satanic dispositions we reveal, like being arrogant and deceitful. We may be able to make sacrifices for God, but when something happens that we don’t like, like getting sick or facing disaster, we misunderstand and blame God. Only then do we see that we still have an anti-God nature, and even though we make sacrifices for God, it’s just for blessings and rewards, and to get into the kingdom of heaven. We’re doing a deal with God. We don’t have true devotion or submission to God, much less true love. Through the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and what’s revealed by the things that happen to us, we see the truth of our corruption and come to hate it. We also experience God’s holy, righteous disposition that will tolerate no offense and we have a heart that fears and obeys God. This is the only way we can see how deeply Satan has corrupted us. Without God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days, we’d never be able to see the truth of our corruption or be freed of it. We’d especially never have love or obedience for God. Just like someone who is sick, if they don’t know something is wrong with them, they won’t go get treatment or know what treatment they need, so they won’t get better. But if they go to the doctor, the doctor can tell them what’s wrong, what’s causing it, and how to treat it, and they’ll get better if they follow the doctor’s advice. So God judges mankind with His words in the last days to resolve our sinful nature and satanic dispositions. We have to accept that judgment and chastisement of His words to be freed from sin, get rid of our corrupt, satanic dispositions, be saved by God, and get into the kingdom of heaven.” At that point, Teresa said, “I understand now. The work of judgment is God cleansing and saving us. I want to escape this life of sinning and confessing, so I need to accept God’s judgment and cleansing.” We watched a few gospel movies together after that and then read a lot of Almighty God’s words. Teresa told me excitedly, “These words have such authority and power. They’re earth-shaking. This is the voice of God! Almighty God really is the Lord Jesus returned. He’s the Lord come back to purify and save us!” Then she asked me urgently, “How can I get a copy of Almighty God’s words? Where can I fellowship with other believers in person?” I said I could introduce her to local church members and sent her the online version of The Word Appears in the Flesh. She was really excited—her eyes got really big, and she said she wanted to get the book and read Almighty God’s words as soon as possible. Seeing how exhilarated she was to welcome the Lord, I was really grateful for God’s enlightenment and guidance that allowed Teresa to hear God’s voice and come into His house.

Two or three days later, she told me that she’d told her closest friend the news that the Lord has already returned, who warned her against believing it. Her pastor had also been calling her and threatening her, saying she would get kicked out of the church if she kept her faith in Almighty God. She said, “I’m certain that Almighty God is Christ of the last days because His words are the truth, and only Christ can express the truth. He is the Lord Jesus returned. I won’t be affected by my friend, and the pastor can’t stop me.” She also said, “I’ve been looking for a real church for years, but I’ve always been disappointed. None of them are nurturing, and more and more members are following worldly trends. I was feeling helpless. I’m so grateful to God. I’d never dreamed that I would hear God’s voice and welcome the Lord. I’ve finally found God’s church.” She was really emotional and I could see tears in her eyes—she looked so hopeful. I was incredibly moved. I saw that when one of God’s sheep hears His voice, they will follow Him and keep their faith no matter how Satan interferes. But thinking about how I’d been discouraged and wanted to give up when I hit a roadblock, and I was ready to write her off, nearly giving up on sharing testimony with her on God’s work of the last days, I was full of regret and guilt. I also saw how only God really loves us and cares for us, because when I was about to give up, God’s words enlightened and guided me just in time, so I could see my rebelliousness and understand the urgency of God’s will to save man. Then I could change bit by bit and fulfill my duty.

This was also a profound experience for me that sharing the gospel is using my own experience and understanding of God’s work and words to bear witness to God, to bring people who long for the Lord’s return before God. Nothing is more meaningful. I also felt God’s urgent will, and His hope that more true believers will come before Him and receive His salvation. There are so many people from every denomination struggling with the agony of living in darkness, longing for God to appear. God is full of sorrow, and He’s anxious for them. So I felt even more that sharing the gospel is my responsibility. I swore to God that no matter what roadblocks I encounter, I’ll lean on Him and fulfill my duty and responsibility in sharing the gospel. I’ll share testimony based on my true understanding of God and bring His sheep before Him, so that they can receive His salvation in the last days very soon.