By Zhuanyi, China

Almighty God says, “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. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage in the work of salvation. It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man arrives at being gained by God, and it is through the use of the word to refine, judge, and disclose that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and individual aspirations within man’s heart are completely revealed” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)). “To work now on the descendants of Moab is to save those who have fallen into the greatest darkness. Although they were cursed, God is willing to gain glory from them, for they were at first all people whose hearts lacked God; only making those without God in their hearts obey and love Him is true conquest, and the fruit of such work is the most valuable and the most convincing. Only this is gaining glory—this is the glory that God wants to gain in the last days. Although these people are of low position, that they are now able to gain such great salvation is truly an elevation by God. This work is very meaningful, and it is through judgment that He gains these people. It is not His intention to punish these people, but to save them. If, during the last days, He were still doing the work of conquest in Israel, it would be worthless; even if it bore fruit, it would not have value or any great significance, and He would not be able to gain all glory” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab). Reading these words from God makes me think of my trial as a descendant of Moab.

I remember in 1993, Almighty God expressed “The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (2)” and “The Essence and Identity of Man.” He revealed that in China, God’s chosen people are all descendants of Moab. I read these words of God at the time: “The descendants of Moab are the lowliest of all the world’s people. Some people ask, ‘Are not Ham’s descendants the lowliest of all?’ The progeny of the great red dragon and the descendants of Ham are of different representative significance, and the descendants of Ham are a different matter: Regardless of how they are cursed, they are still the descendants of Noah; the origins of Moab, meanwhile, were not pure: Moab came from fornication, and in this lies the difference” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (2)). “Those whom I save are humans whom I predestined long ago and have been redeemed by Me, whereas you are poor souls that have been placed amid humanity as exceptions to the rule. You ought to know that you do not belong to the house of David or Jacob, but to that of Moab, the members of which are of a tribe of Gentiles. For I did not establish a covenant with you, but only did work, spoke among you, and led you. My blood was not shed for you; I was merely carrying out My work in your midst for the sake of My testimony. Did you not know this?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Essence and Identity of Man). I was so taken aback. I wondered, “Are we descendants of Moab? Is this true? Moab was born of Lot and his daughter. He was a product of debauchery, not of pure origins, so how could we be his descendants? In my faith in the Lord, they used to say we were descendants of Israelites, that we were of the house of Jacob. Why, then, would God say we are descendants of Moab?” I really couldn’t accept this, but then I thought, “All of God’s words are the truth and He only reveals facts. It can’t be wrong! Why am I Moab’s descendant, and why was I born in China?” I thought that as one of the first to experience God’s judgment and chastisement, being among the first for God’s work of judgment and cleansing in the last days, and as someone who would be made into an overcomer, a model believer before the disasters, my status had to be greater than God’s chosen in any other country. But to my surprise, I was a descendant of Moab, and on top of being cursed by God, I was a product of debauchery. I was the lowest, the most debased of all of humanity. What would unbelievers think of me if they found out about that? What would my unbelieving family members say? I’d given up my home and my career for my faith, suffering and expending myself, but ultimately I was just a descendant of Moab. It was such a humiliating and shameful thing. I felt I had to suffer in silence. Over that period of time, the moment I thought about being a descendant of Moab, a product of debauchery, I was incredibly ashamed and couldn’t bear to show my face. I stayed at home for days at a time, not eating or sleeping, and didn’t have the heart to do anything around the house at all. Within my heart, I was just constantly complaining, “How could I be one of Moab’s descendants? How could my heritage and status be so lowly?” I was like someone who had grown up in a wealthy family, incredibly proud, thinking I was highborn, but then one day learning out of the blue that I’d been scooped up from the dregs, and didn’t belong to that lineage at all. I felt an inner turmoil of sorrow, helplessness, and dejection and I just couldn’t accept this fact. I was full of dissatisfaction, negativity, and misunderstandings. I thought that as a descendant of Moab, I was cursed, and God would never save me. The more I thought about it, the more wronged I felt. It was like there was an enormous weight pressing down on my chest, and I could hardly breathe. I’d go steal away to cry alone in the bathroom. Everyone was suffering at the time. Some people cried whenever it was mentioned.

Just as we were suffering in this torment, Almighty God issued His words “The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab,” revealing our states and telling us what His will was. I read these words from God: “In the beginning, when I gave you the position of God’s people, you jumped up and down, with greater joy than any others. Yet as soon as I said you are the descendants of Moab, how were you? You all fell apart! Where is your stature? Your concept of position is too strong! … What kind of suffering have you endured that you feel so wronged? You think once God has tortured you to a certain degree, He will be happy, as if He came intending to condemn you, and after condemning and destroying you, His work will be done. Is that what I have said? Do you not think so because of your blindness? Is it that you yourselves do not strive to do well, or that I condemn you by design? I have never done that—that is something you thought up yourselves. That has never at all been how I work, nor do I have that intention. If I truly wanted to destroy you, would I need to undergo such hardship? If I truly wanted to destroy you, would I need to speak with you so earnestly? My will is this: When I have saved you, that will be when I can rest. The lowlier a person is, the more they are the object of My salvation. The more proactively you are able to enter in, the happier I will be. The more you fall apart, the more upset I am. You want always to strut up and assume the throne—I tell you, that is not the path of saving you from filth. A fantasy of sitting on the throne cannot perfect you; that is not realistic” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab). I felt so guilty when I read this. I thought about how before, when God said we’d become the people of the kingdom and that we would be made into overcomers, into models, I became arrogant and didn’t know who I was, believing that since I was one of the first to accept God’s judgment and chastisement and among the first to be perfected, I must have higher status than God’s chosen people from any other country. I was so full of myself, so pleased with myself. When God revealed us as the descendants of Moab, I saw I was of lowly birth and status, and that I was cursed by God. I thought God would never save me, so I fell into negativity and couldn’t snap out of it. I realized my desire for status was much too strong, and my stature was really lacking. In fact, even though God exposed us as Moab’s descendants, He never said He wouldn’t save us. After all, He became flesh in the great red dragon’s country, and expressed truths to judge, chastise, water, and provide for us so that we, the most filthy, corrupt people, could have a chance to be saved by God. God’s kind intentions are behind it all! But I didn’t understand God’s will. I thought that as a descendant of Moab, someone as filthy and lowly as me would be most hated and loathed by God, that there was no way He’d save me. I misunderstood and complained, becoming negative and resistant to God. I was so unreasonable! Shortly after that, I read these words of God: “Even ignoring that you are the descendants of Moab, is your nature or your birthplace of the highest sort? Even ignoring that you are his descendants, are not all of you descendants of Moab, through and through? Can the truth of facts be changed? Does exposing your nature now misrepresent the truth of facts? Look at your servility, your lives, and your characters—do you not know that you are the lowliest of the low among mankind? What do you have to brag about? Look at your position in society. Are you not at its lowest level? Do you think I have misspoken? Abraham offered up Isaac—what have you offered up? Job offered up everything—what have you offered up? So many people have given their lives, laid down their heads, shed their blood in order to seek the true way. Have you paid that price? By comparison, you are not at all qualified to enjoy such great grace. Does it wrong you to say today that you are the descendants of Moab? Do not regard yourselves too highly. You have nothing to brag about. Such great salvation, such great grace is given to you freely. You have sacrificed nothing, yet you enjoy grace freely. Do you not feel ashamed?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab). Each and every one of God’s questions knocked at the door to my heart. I was so embarrassed, so abashed! I thought of the saints through the ages—they were devoted and obedient to God, and never blamed Him when undergoing great trials. They stood witness for God and gained His approval and blessings. Abraham obeyed God’s commands, offering up Isaac, his most beloved son, to God. He didn’t negotiate any conditions or try to argue with God, but just absolutely obeyed. And when Job went through a great trial, losing all of his family possessions and all his children, his body covered with boils, he still praised God, saying, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). But I was born in the great red dragon’s country, educated in atheism, evolution, and materialism from a young age. I never knew there was a God, much less knew how to worship Him. My faith was just to get God’s grace and blessings, so that later I could get into the kingdom of heaven and have a good destination. When faced with a trial, having no status and not getting any blessings, I just misunderstood and complained, getting negative and opposing God. I wasn’t truly obedient, and I wasn’t treating Him as God. Through those years of faith, I’d been enjoying the sustenance of God’s words freely, and the step-by-step guidance of God’s work. Not only was I not doing my duty well to repay His love, but all I gave Him in return was misunderstanding and complaints, rebelliousness and resistance. What kind of believer was I? Even so, I’d come to think of myself as the apple of God’s eye, as someone important to Him, and I thought I’d have higher status than God’s chosen from any other country, that I’d be most qualified for God’s rewards and blessings. I was so arrogant that I didn’t know what was what. I had no self-awareness at all! If God hadn’t revealed my filthy, lowly origin, I would still think I was from one of the 12 tribes of Jacob, that I was a child of Israel, a descendant of David. I really knew no shame! Now I knew my identity and status, so I kept a lower profile. I was not as insolent as I had been before. I also gained some reason before God. This was God’s salvation for me! I shouldn’t harbor any extravagant demands of God, and even if I wouldn’t have a good outcome or destination in the end, I would still submit to what God arranges and praise His righteousness.

Later on, I read more of Almighty God’s words and understood more of the significance of God working in the descendants of Moab. I saw that this is what God’s words say. “To work now on the descendants of Moab is to save those who have fallen into the greatest darkness. Although they were cursed, God is willing to gain glory from them, for they were at first all people whose hearts lacked God; only making those without God in their hearts obey and love Him is true conquest, and the fruit of such work is the most valuable and the most convincing. Only this is gaining glory—this is the glory that God wants to gain in the last days. Although these people are of low position, that they are now able to gain such great salvation is truly an elevation by God. This work is very meaningful, and it is through judgment that He gains these people. It is not His intention to punish these people, but to save them. If, during the last days, He were still doing the work of conquest in Israel, it would be worthless; even if it bore fruit, it would not have value or any great significance, and He would not be able to gain all glory. … Working today on you, the descendants of Moab, is not meant to humiliate you, but to reveal the significance of the work. For you, it is a great elevation. If a person has reason and insight, they will say: ‘I am a descendant of Moab, truly unworthy of receiving today such great elevation by God, or such great blessings. In all I do and say, and according to my status and worth, I am not at all worthy of such great blessings from God. The Israelites have great love for God, and the grace they enjoy is bestowed on them by Him, but their status is much higher than ours. Abraham was very devoted to Jehovah, and Peter was very devoted to Jesus—their devotion was a hundred times greater than ours. Based on our actions, we are absolutely unworthy of enjoying God’s grace’” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab). “The descendants of Moab were cursed, and they were born in this backward country; without a doubt, of all the people under the influence of darkness, the descendants of Moab have the lowest status. Because these people have heretofore been of the lowest status, the work done upon them is best able to shatter human notions, and is also most beneficial to the whole of God’s six-thousand-year management plan. Doing such work among these people is the best way of shattering human notions, and with this God launches an era; with this He shatters all human notions; with this He ends the work of the entire Age of Grace. His first work was carried out in Judea, within the bounds of Israel; among the Gentile nations, He did not do any work to launch the new era. The final stage of work is not only carried out among the Gentiles, but even more so among those who have been cursed. This one point is the evidence most capable of humiliating Satan, and thus, God ‘becomes’ the God of all creation in the universe, the Lord of all things, the object of worship for everything with life” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God Is the Lord of All Creation). I used to have the notion that God had predetermined who He’d save, that they were His chosen people, so since Chinese people were Moab’s descendants, since we were the lowest of the low, the ones who recognized God least and resisted God most, and we were cursed and rejected by God, He definitely wouldn’t save us. But that’s not what God did at all. He didn’t abandon us because we’re lowly, and He didn’t give up on saving us because we’re filthy and corrupt. Instead, He personally became flesh, bearing enormous humiliation and suffering to come among us, the descendants of Moab, to work, judging, chastising, testing, and refining us time and time again with His words. It was all done to purify and save us. How great God’s love is! It’s just like the Lord Jesus eating at the same table as sinners. The filthier and lowlier we are, the more we see how great God’s love and salvation are. In the end, God will fully save us, the most deeply corrupted, the filthiest and lowliest people, from Satan’s dark forces so we can bear glorious testimony for Him. This is what will most shame Satan. This is the meaning of God’s work in the descendants of Moab! Also, God’s work in the descendants of Moab in the last days has destroyed all of our notions, allowing us to see that not only is He the God of the Israelites, but He’s also the God of all created beings. He doesn’t look at what we’re born into, what country or ethnicity we belong to, whether we’re Israelites or descendants of Moab, and whether we’re blessed or cursed by God. As long as we’re created beings, and as long as we pursue the truth and submit to God’s work, we can be saved by God. God is fair and righteous with every single created being, and everyone has the chance to be saved by Him. The more I pondered God’s words, the more I felt the great significance of God’s work in the descendants of Moab, and how real God’s love and salvation for corrupt humanity are. But unfortunately, my caliber is so lacking and my understanding of God’s work is limited. I can just share a bit of my feelings and understanding, but I can’t give good testimony. I really owe God so much.

Thinking back on it now, going through the trial of being a descendant of Moab, though I suffered a bit at the time, I came to know my own identity and worth. I gained a little understanding of God’s work to save mankind and His righteous disposition, and I haven’t been so arrogant and self-satisfied since then. I came to feel how lowly and corrupt I am, that I’m not worthy of His love and salvation, and I don’t dare make any demands of Him again. No matter how God treats me or what He arranges, I’m willing to accept it and submit. I just want to honestly accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and seek a change in my life disposition. Even as a descendant of Moab, I still have to pursue the truth and stand witness for God. It’s just as the hymn goes, “We are not the Israelites, but the forsaken descendants of Moab, we are not Peter, whose caliber we are incapable of, nor Job, and we can’t even compare to Paul’s resolve to suffer for God and dedicate himself to God, and we are so backward, and thus, we are unqualified to enjoy God’s blessings. God has still lifted us up today; so we must satisfy God, and although we are of insufficient caliber or qualifications, we are willing to satisfy God—we have this resolve. We are the descendants of Moab, and we were cursed. This was decreed by God, and we are incapable of changing it, but our living out and our knowledge can change, and we are resolved to satisfy God” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs, The Resolve That the Descendants of Moab Should Have).