By Meng’ai
That year, when my family was building a house, there happened an accident which caused two people to be killed and two people to be injured. The sudden disaster made me unbearable and the high compensation also worsened the situation of us who were short of money. When I was at my hardest time and needed help most, my neighbor spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me and told me the story of the Lord Jesus’ crucifixion. I was deeply touched by the Lord’s love and I felt that only the Lord is my only reliance. To return the Lord’s love, I actively attended the gatherings and spread the gospel.
Two months later, one night, my husband earnestly advised me, “Meng’ai, Almighty God is indeed the Lord Jesus’ return, and they are the same God. These days, through reading the words that Almighty God expressed, I understand many truths that I didn’t know before, such as concerning God’s name, three stages of God’s work, God’s incarnation etc. The word of Almighty God is very clear, and you can have a listen.” Hearing my husband’s words, I was stunned. I thought: How could he accept Almighty God’s work in the last days so fast? So I angrily said, “In this case, we each go our own way. You don’t need to say this to me. Anyhow I must keep the Lord’s name.” My husband again said hurriedly, “You will know when you seek. Believing in the way comes from hearing of the way. If you don’t listen, you will not believe. Now there are some people preaching Lord’s return. If you don’t listen, how can you welcome the Lord Jesus’ return? …” I simply couldn’t listen to him. Waving my hand, I stiffly said, “Enough! Regardless, I must keep the Lord’s name. Don’t mention it to me anymore.” Feeling helplessly, my husband shook his head. Afterward, when my husband again witnessed Almighty God’s work of the last days, I avoided listening to him. Later, my husband asked an old sister to testify to the Lord’s return to me many times, but I held on to my notions and closed my heart, refusing her in the same words.
In this way, while my husband was gathering in our room with the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God, I was sitting outside reading the Bible. Every time seeing that they fellowshiped in full swing, I was somewhat envious and a sense of loss arose spontaneously. I thought: How can each of them be so zealous? When we attended gatherings in our church, the preachers had nothing to preach that the brothers and sisters couldn’t receive any supply but all chatted. Could it be that The Church of Almighty God has the work of the Holy Spirit? But they testify that the Lord has changed a new name, how is it possible? Thinking over and over, I believed that no matter what, I must keep the Lord’s name and never betray the Lord. But I then had a second thought: Over a month has passed, there is no one in the church telling me to get together. What happened? So, I read the Bible at home every day, waiting for the brothers and sisters to inform me when to have a meeting. However, time passed day by day. Still no one came to inform me.
One day, two months later, I ran into Sister Wang who I hadn’t seen for a long time. Being surprised and happy, I quickly went to her and said, “Why does our church not inform us about when to gather?” Sister Wang said with hesitation, “We are all gathering. Er … Well, tell you the truth, you are isolated from the church.” The news was like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, and it took a while for me to find myself that not until after a while did I find myself. I asked in a hurry, “You said what? Why?” Sister Wang said, “Our church has a regulation: As long as one person believes in Almighty God, the others in his family must be isolated. The leader especially told us that we cannot contact with you, for fear that you come to our church to steal sheep.” Hearing this, I said angrily, “Is there this stipulation in the Bible? How can they treat me like this? It’s true that my husband believed in Almighty God, but I don’t betray the Lord nor do I accept Almighty God’s work in the last days. Now my spirit is withered and cannot receive supply. However, they not only don’t come to fellowship about the Lord’s will with me, but instead stand aside and separate me from gathering. My situation is serious, but they don’t help me; don’t they hit me when I’m down? Is this what a person who believes in the Lord should do? Are their behaviors after the Lord’s will? The Lord Jesus said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37–39). The Lord taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Their treating me like this is not in line with the Lord’s teaching!” With saying, I shed tears in spite of myself. Sister Wang said hopelessly, “Let’s pray to the Lord! The Lord will give you a way out.”
On my way home, I thought: How can the leader treat me like this? I once declared my stand in front of him many times, but, unexpectedly, he still isolates me. How should I walk my future path? In the midst of pain, I silently called on the Lord: Lord! You are my only Savior, only God. May You guide me in my future path. At this time, when I, depressed extremely, just entered the gate, I heard a burst of pleasant song. It turned out that my husband and the brothers and sisters were gathering and singing. At this moment, I unavoidably envied them. How I yearned to lead a church life like this! I thought that since my husband believed in Almighty God, his mental outlook had a great change. Especially when he fellowshiped the Bible, I felt his words were very insightful. What’s more, the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God are very kind. No matter how I treated them, they always helped me sincerely. Sometimes when they saw that we were busy doing the farm work, they shook back their sleeves and helped us without another word. At this time, I suddenly thought of the words in the Bible: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23). Love can only come from God. Could it be that Almighty God really is the Lord Jesus’ return?
At this time, I sat outside the room silently and wanted to listen to what the lyrics that they were singing were. Unintentionally, I heard the names of the Jehovah and the Lord Jesus were mentioned in the lyrics. I thought: What exactly is the song saying? Why is the name of the Lord Jesus mentioned? I must listen carefully. Then I heard the lyrics: “Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent God’s Spirit, these names only denote the different ages in God’s management plan, and do not represent Him in His entirety. The names by which people on earth call God cannot articulate His entire disposition and all that He is. They are merely different names by which God is called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, God’s name shall change again. He shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah, but shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name He shall bring the entire age to an end.
God was once known as Jehovah. He was also called the Messiah, and people once called Him Jesus the Savior because they loved and respected Him. But today God is not the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past—He is the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. He is the God Himself that rises up at the ends of the earth, replete with His entire disposition, and full of authority, honor and glory” (“The Significance of God’s Name” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). I was touched by the song. The words are of authority and power. Could it be that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus’ return? My heart was twisting: Maybe I should put my thoughts aside and ask my husband after the gathering.
At supper, I saw my husband eating heartily and wanted to ask him, but my words died on my lips, and I couldn’t say anything. I thought: He and that old sister communicated with me time after time, but I rejected them all and even spoke some embarrassing words to them. If I ask him of my own accord, how will he think of me? Will he laugh at me? If so, where can I hide my face? Thinking of these, my mouth, which was slightly ajar, closed again. However, that song was so beautiful that I really wanted to listen to it one more time. Looking at my husband again who was eating, I thought: Why does he not communicate with me today? If he speaks first, I will take the thread. Suddenly, my husband looked up at me and seemed to have read my mind, asking: “Is there something on your mind?” I hided my secret delight and immediately answered: “Yes! I overheard that song you sang this afternoon. It sounds good. Can you let me listen once again?” After hearing my words, my husband happily said, “Ok! Wait, I’ll bring you it.” He instantly laid down the chopsticks, went into the room and took out his MP3 player. This moment, I was deeply impressed: He didn’t treat me like the way I thought. My heart was finally released. Soon after, my husband played the hymn of God’s word “The Significance of God’s Name” for me. We couldn’t help listening several times over. Then I said: “It’s really a beautiful song. But there is a point I don’t understand. The Bible very clearly records ‘for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ and ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.’ Yet here it says that God’s name will still change, and no longer be called Jehovah, or Jesus, but be called Almighty God. How is that?” Then my husband fellowshiped, “In regard to God’s name, before I also considered that God’s name could only be Jesus and never change. Through Almighty God’s words and the fellowships of the brothers and sisters, I came to realize this aspect of the truth. In fact, there are bases in the Bible about this as well. Please bring me the Bible.” As I got the Bible, I thought: “Is there any basis in the Bible? I often read the Bible but I don’t see it, and the leader of the church has never communicated that God’s name will change, either.” After I handed the Bible to my husband, he skillfully turned to the Old Testament and read: “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). “This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:15). And then he turned to the New Testament and read: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). After reading, he fellowshiped: “The Scriptures say that apart from Jehovah God, there is no Savior, and the name of Jehovah God is into eternity. The New Testament is also written ‘for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ and that the Lord Jesus is the only Savior. So, is Jehovah or Jesus the only name of God?” I turned over and read these verses of scripture, and thought: “It’s right! How did I miss them before? The Bible indeed says that beside Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus, there is no Savior. Then which is God’s eternal name?” My husband told me: “Let’s see the prophecy in the Revelation. Revelation 3:12 states: ‘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.’ It is prophesied here that God will have a new name in the last days. How could you explain it? Since it’s a new name, how could it still be ‘Jesus’? If God’s name is still ‘Jesus,’ then can it be a new name?” I shook my head lightly. My husband looked at me and went on, “Actually, it is not that God’s name never changes. Instead, God can take different names in accordance with the needs of His work. Here what it says ‘never change’ means that God’s substance, God’s disposition and what God has and is never change. About this aspect, Almighty God’s words make it very clear. Let’s take a look at Almighty God’s words.” Then my husband took out the book The Word Appears in the Flesh and read: “Some say that the name of God does not change, so why then did the name of Jehovah become Jesus? It was prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, so why then did a man by the name of Jesus come? Why did the name of God change? Was not such work carried out long ago? Cannot God this day do a new work? The work of yesterday can be altered, and the work of Jesus can follow on from that of Jehovah. Cannot then the work of Jesus be succeeded by another work? If the name of Jehovah can be changed to Jesus, then cannot the name of Jesus also be changed? This is not unusual, and people think so[a] only due to their simple-mindedness. God will always be God. Regardless of the changes to His work and His name, His disposition and wisdom remain forever unchanged. If you believe that God can only be called by the name of Jesus, then you know too little” (“How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?”). “Could the name of Jesus, ‘God with us,’ represent God’s disposition in its entirety? Could it fully articulate God? If man says that God can only be called Jesus, and may not have any other name because God cannot change His disposition, then such words are blasphemy! Do you believe that the name Jesus, God with us, can represent God in His entirety? God can be called many names, but among these many names, there is not one which can encapsulate all that God has, there is not one which can fully represent God. And so God has many names, but these many names cannot fully articulate God’s disposition, for God’s disposition is too rich, and extends beyond the knowledge of man. … And so, for man, God has many names, yet He has no one name, and that is because God’s being is too bountiful, and the language of man is too inadequate. One particular word or name is powerless to represent God in His entirety. So can God take one fixed name? God is so great and holy, so why do you not permit Him to change His name in each new age? As such, in each age that God personally does His own work, He uses a name that befits the age to encapsulate the work that He does. He uses this particular name, one that possesses the significance of the age, to represent His disposition in that age. God uses the language of man to express His own disposition. … You should know that God originally had no name. He only took on one, or two, or many names because He had work to do and had to manage mankind. Whatever name He is called by, isn’t it freely chosen by Him? Does He need you, a creature, to decide it? The name by which God is called is according to what man can apprehend and the language of man, but this name cannot be encapsulated by man. You can only say that there is a God in heaven, that He is called God, that He is God Himself with great power, too wise, too exalted, too wondrous, too mysterious, too almighty, and you can say no more; that is all you know. In this way, can the name of Jesus alone represent God Himself? When the last days come, although it is still God who does His work, His name has to change, for it is a different age” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)”). He fellowshiped: “From Almighty God’s words we can know: Originally, God didn’t have a name. Just because He had to do work and manage mankind, He took a name. Moreover, He used the name to change the age, to represent His work of that age and His main disposition expressed in that age. No matter how God’s work and name change, God’s essence will never change. That is to say, the words ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ refer to God’s inherent essence and disposition but not His name.” After hearing his words, I said in surprise: “Almighty God’s words have made it so clear! God is Creator, the Ruler of all things in the universe. How can only one name represent Him in His entirety? Our created beings indeed can’t use a name to define God. Regardless of which name God uses to do His work, His essence and what He is never change.” My husband continued: “Actually, in accordance with His work principles, God changes His name in each age to represent the disposition He expresses and the work He intends to do in that age. It is just as how the name of ‘Jehovah’ was God’s name when God led the Israelites out of Egypt and also He worked during the Age of Law. The name of ‘Jehovah’ originally means the God who can show mercy on man, curse man, and also set forth laws to lead man’s life. It means the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. When it came to the later period of the Age of Law, man was corrupted deeper and deeper by Satan. They not only didn’t keep the law but also made improper sacrifices on the altar, which brought them the danger that was executed by the law. However, God couldn’t bear mankind fell into that situation; He was personally incarnated and performed His work of the Age of Grace to save mankind. He took the name of Jesus, expressed the disposition of mercy and love, and bestowed the abundant grace upon those who followed Him. At last, He was nailed to the cross for the whole human beings, became all mankind’s sin offering and accomplished the work of the Age of Grace. The name of ‘Jesus’ represents the work that God did in the Age of Grace. Its original meaning is the God who is full of mercy and love, and redeems man. But although our sins were forgiven, the sinful nature still has taken root inside us and makes us more and more corrupted, to the extent that it has exceeded the corruption of men in the time of Noah. To thoroughly save mankind from the sin, God initiated the Age of Kingdom and began a new work—the work of chastising, judging, purifying and perfecting—expressing the disposition of righteousness, majesty and wrath. He will judge and chastise the whole human beings’ corruption and unrighteousness with such a disposition, to make the mankind recover their original image. Due to the change of the age, God’s name also has to change and He is no longer called ‘Jesus’ but is called ‘Almighty God’ according to the work He performs and the disposition He expresses. It is with this name that He concludes the work of His entire 6000-year management plan. This fulfills the words in the Book of Revelation: ‘And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints’(Revelation 15:3), ‘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 omnipotent reigns’(Revelation 19:6), and also fulfills Revelation 1:8, 4:8, 11:7, etc. However, regardless of what name God takes, God’s substance won’t change. Jehovah, Jesus and Almighty God are all one and the same, and they are just the different names God takes in different ages.” Just then, I suddenly realized and said: “The word of Almighty God says clearly about the truth of God’s name. Although in each age God’s name and work changed, God’s essence never changes and the work is still to be done by God Himself. In the past, I always thought the Lord Jesus’ name would never change so that I rejected to receive the Almighty God who took a new name, and said that who believed in Almighty God believed in another God. These knowledge of mine is really too erroneous. Thinking of how I treated the return of the Lord Jesus in such a way, isn’t it being exactly the same as the Pharisees of the time who resisted the Lord Jesus? When God used a new name to change the age and did work to save them, they held the conception that ‘God’s name could only be the Messiah according to the prophecy, couldn’t be ‘Jesus,’ and whoever named Jesus was not God. So they rejected and condemned Jesus and nailed this kind Savior to the cross. In the end, they committed a heinous crime and lost the God’s salvation forever. If I continue to insist on my own notion and reject to accept God’s new name, wouldn’t I repeat the Pharisees’ mistake?” My husband nodded and said, “Right! God’s essence is unchanging. As for those who truly believe in Him, He is salvation and love forever. As long as we seek in the mystery revealed by God and in the truth expressed by God humbly and sincerely, we can see that Almighty God is the same Jehovah who once led mankind’s lives on earth, and even more the same Lord Jesus who once redeemed us. In addition, He is the One that we have been longing for.” I agreed and said: “Yes! Today, I just realized that ‘Jesus’ and ‘Almighty God’ are the different names that God took in the different ages. Almighty God is indeed the returned Lord Jesus!” Afterward, my husband also communicated with me about many truths of God’s name. God’s word resolved my notions thoroughly and made me confirm that Almighty God is indeed the returned Lord Jesus. At that moment, I felt both moved and regretful and my tears streamed down my face unceasingly. The past scenes recurred to my mind’s eye like movies: brothers and sisters’ preaching the gospel to me time after time, my husband’s advice for me, the rejection of the religious leader, and the guidance of the song…. Of all these details are full of God’s painstaking effort and price. It turned out that God is always by my side, but I was blind and didn’t know God so that I lost the good opportunities to accept God’s new work time after time. Now, my numb soul is finally awakened and I have recognized that Almighty God is my Lord and He is my God. Thanks be to God!
Recommendation:Eastern Lightning
No comments:
Post a Comment