Hurry! Hurry!
"O Lord Jesus, You've loved me,
redeemed me, saved me out of my sin …"
Hurry! Hurry!
Stop howling! Stop!
Hurry!
What law are we breaking if we believe in God?
Shut up! Take them all away!
What reason do you have for arresting us believers?
Hurry!
Get in!
Without the legal paperwork, you arrest us;
you are breaking the law while being in charge of its enforcement! (Shut up!)
Dammit, shut your mouth!
Mommy, Mommy … (Get out!)
Let's go!
Mommy! (Go!)
Mommy!
Mommy! …
Sister …
It's so late, why has the pastor still not come?
Oh dear, with weather like this, who knows if he'll come? (Hey! Hey!)
Something has happened! Something has happened!
Something happened? What happened?
Last night at around midnight,
just as I was getting ready for bed, I heard something like a dog bark.
I looked out the window, and guess what I saw? (What was it?)
The next-door neighbors who believe in the Eastern Lightning were arrested and taken away by the police.
Oh! It was so frightening, as scary as bandits coming into the village!
I saw it, too.
I had just gotten to my front door,
and I saw a bunch of armed police surrounding the home of Zhang Ming.
Oh, it was Zhang Ming's home?
The armed police burst in with their guns, searching the home and arresting the people.
My heavens, it looked like they were arresting a most-wanted criminal.
And even armed police were dispatched?! (Yes.)
They did have guns.
In China, with the Communist Party in power,
it's very difficult to believe in God.
Ever since the CCP took control, they have persecuted believers.
During the time of the Cultural Revolution alone,
many Christians were persecuted to death.
True. If we had not been forced to by the CCP,
we wouldn't have left our house churches and joined the Three-Self Church.
Yes, that's true!
I know a number of house-church people who were arrested and put in jail.
The CCP has been ruthless in their arrest of believers in the Eastern Lightning.
They've been persecuted worst of all.
It's true.
I hear there are even rewards for informers. (Rewards for informers?)
Yes.
It is true that a lot of the people from this Eastern Lightning Church have been arrested.
It's safest to believe in the Lord in the Three-Self Church.
That is true. We can't believe in the Lord in a house church,
especially in the Eastern Lightning.
That's too dangerous. (That's right.)
Hey, I have heard that the Central Committee
has sent out numerous secret documents whose focus is striking the Eastern Lightning.
Their slogan is "We won't put down our arms until they're eliminated!"
It looks like the CCP is set upon banning the Eastern Lightning.
Well, what I don't understand is,
why the Chinese government arrests and persecutes
the Eastern Lightning believers in particular. (Yes, why?)
Hey, don't you know that?
During these past few years,
people in the Eastern Lightning have been spreading the gospel,
and they bear witness that the Lord Jesus has returned
as none other than Almighty God,
doing the work of judgment of the last days.
Many good sheep of various denominations have heard the words issued by Almighty God,
and firmly believe that it truly is the voice of God,
and have become followers of Almighty God.
Haven't you seen more and more people accepting the Eastern Lightning?
Yes. That's true.
The Eastern Lighting Church has developed so quickly,
can you say that the Chinese Communist government wouldn't panic?
Yes. Indeed.
If the Eastern Lightning goes on spreading like this
and goes on bearing witness,
then a lot of people will believe in Almighty God,
and maybe most people of various denominations will accept Almighty God,
and many non-believers will accept Almighty God.
Can you say that the Chinese Communist government would not be afraid?
Couldn't they take the Eastern Lightning as the key target for their crackdown?
Sister Zhao speaks the truth.
As a teacher she is experienced and knowledgeable,
and she is able to see to the heart of things.
You are far too kind.
Isn't it a good thing that there are more people who believe in God?
Does the CCP need to be so worried? (Yes.)
Perhaps you are not seeing it clearly.
What kind of political party is the CCP? (What political party is it?)
It's an atheist political party.
What does it fear most?
That the common people believe in God.
I know that's right. Right.
Think about it.
If all of the common people believed in God,
who would believe in the Communist Party?
Yes.
Hearing you all talk like this, it seems that's really the truth.
Hey, how are you able to understand these matters so clearly?
I have read some of the words of Almighty God,
so I'm able to understand certain things.
Are you saying that you've accepted the Eastern Lightning?
I have observed and studied the Eastern Lightning,
but … but I have not dared to accept it.
I guess that you would not dare accept the Eastern Lightning.
The school would have to dismiss you.
Right. And not only would you be dismissed,
you might be arrested and put in jail some day!
Yeah.
To tell the truth,
I really admire those who believe in the Eastern Lightning.
They are able to spread the gospel
and bear witness for God under all circumstances.
No matter how many have been put in jail,
they go spreading the gospel all the time.
Yes.
On this point, we have no way to compare with them.
Indeed.
What is there to admire?
As I see it, these Eastern Lightning people are fools.
Isn't it fine to earnestly practice their faith in secret? (Yes!)
They are always out spreading the gospel.
Can the CCP not arrest them? (Exactly!)
It won't be too late if they just wait until the Communist Party falls from power,
and then spread the gospel.
As of now,
the witnessing from the Eastern Lightning has shaken all of mainland China,
and they met with frenzied arrests and persecution by the CCP government,
implicating all of the house churches.
Even Three-Self churches are in trouble,
and some churches have already been sealed up or demolished by the CCP.
In my opinion,
our Three-Self churches will not have a peaceful time of it,
all due to the trouble stirred up by the Eastern Lightning.
The Eastern Lightning people are to blame.
If not for them spreading the gospel and bearing God's witness as they do,
the CCP would not have ramped up the attacks on religious beliefs, (Right!)
and we would not need to be so cautious in our belief in the Lord.
We have believed in the Lord in the Three-Self Church these years without effort,
meeting no hardship or annoyance,
and when the Lord returns one day,
we will be brought into the kingdom of heaven anyway.
Yes, indeed!
It was alright until now, in openly spreading the gospel,
they have shattered our fond dream of faith in the Lord.
That's right.
All we were doing in believing in the Lord is trying to get some peace and safety. (Yes.)
The CCP arrests Christians so frantically.
Yet the Eastern Lightning people
spread the gospel and bear witness for God all the time.
Wouldn't you say that they are running right into the muzzle of a gun?
That's right!
Sister Chen, we can't speak this way.
Back then, to bear witness for Him,
the followers of the Lord Jesus were met with arrests and persecution.
Many people sacrificed their lives.
That was suffering for righteousness, which is good deeds.
Yes, those were righteous deeds.
Now,
those Eastern Lightning people,
despite arrests and persecution by the CCP,
dare to openly spread the gospel that the Lord has returned.
This is courage. This is confidence.
Yes.
Upon seeing them bear witness, how do I feel?
Two words, "I'm ashamed!"
Yes.
Some people say that the Eastern Lightning has implicated us
and brought us trouble.
What would the Lord think if He heard these words?
Brother Li,
is this not speaking on behalf of the Eastern Lightning people? (Yes.)
Whoa, Brother Li,
can we conclude that you've accepted the Eastern Lightning?
What?
If I had accepted it,
I would've joined the Eastern Lightning Church.
Then would I still be here?
I'm in the process of studying the Eastern Lightning.
What? You are studying and observing the Eastern Lightning?
Returning to the topic, I feel what Brother Li says is right.
Though we all believe in God,
the Eastern Lightning people abandon everything,
put the cross on their backs, and follow God.
They are living out the words of the Lord Jesus,
and give no thought to their own lives to follow the Lamb.
But us? None of us has done that!
Yes.
I don't like what you are saying.
With the CCP government persecuting religious belief so ruthlessly,
how many will dare to risk their lives to follow the Lord?
That's right!
Not only have we not done it,
even the pastors and elders have not done it. (True. Yes.)
And yet those Eastern Lightning people have done it.
Waves of them move bravely forward in teaching about the Lord and bearing His witness.
They've spread the gospel of Almighty God all over China proper.
They are the ones who earn God's praise.
Hey, Brother Zheng, from the tone of your voice,
have you accepted the Eastern Lightning?
Have you?
Oh, how could I dare to?
That wife of mine,
when she heard I was studying the Eastern Lightning, she complained non-stop.
If I really joined, who knows what a ruckus she would kick up!
She is afraid that if I believed in the Eastern Lightning, I would be put in jail.
To tell you the truth, that is my worry, too.
Nonetheless, I believe that the Eastern Lightning is the true way.
I prayed to the Lord.
When the time and circumstances permit, I will certainly accept it.
You make it seem so easy.
If the CCP weren't arresting people for it, I would accept it, too. (That's right!)
I'm thinking,
we practice our faith in the Three-Self because we fear the CCP.
Wouldn't you say that this is dragging out a shameful existence,
trying to get off easy?
If this is how it is,
can we go on thinking that the Lord will come and take us into the heavenly kingdom?
I feel that it is quite unlikely.
Our belief in the Lord within the Three-Self is bringing shame to Him.
Shaming the Lord?
How can you say this? (Yes.)
How?
Think about it.
We all believe in God,
how is it that the Eastern Lightning people are so confident,
and we have no confidence?
Why do they dare to bear witness for God, and we do not?
Those people dare to accept the Eastern Lightning,
why, then, do none of us have courage and confidence?
It's not as simple as it seems. (Right.)
It really is this way.
Only after I studied the Eastern Lightning did I learn
that they are eating and drinking the actual words of God.
The Holy Spirit is at work. That's the main difference.
We don't have the confidence or bear witness like they do in the Eastern Lightning,
but in our faith,
we must bring glory to the Lord in all that we do. (That's right.)
If we are thrown in jail and our families broken, is that still a family? (Hardly!)
Then unbelievers would laugh at us.
This would not bring glory to the Lord.
Precisely.
If you ask me, we ought to practice our faith in the Three-Self Church.
At least we won't be arrested and put in prison.
If we believed in the Eastern Lightning, got arrested and put in jail,
not to mention all the hardships,
we could be tortured to death by the CCP; it's not worth it!
Right. Shouldn't we seek peace and safety in our faith in the Lord? (Amen!)
The Lord Jesus is loving and merciful.
He knows that we are of small stature and forgives our weakness.
When the Lord comes,
He certainly will receive us into the kingdom of heaven.
And so, we should believe the Lord's promise. (Amen!)
Yes. It should be the case.
It seems to me there are some things you haven't understood clearly.
In our faith in the Lord in the Three-Self,
we must have correct self-assessment.
Would you say that the Three-Self Church is a church at all?
Do you even have to ask this?
If it is not a church, what else could it be?
Do you know why the CCP does not persecute people in the Three-Self churches?
But why? Why?
The Three-Self Church is controlled by the CCP satanic regime.
Everything is supervised under the United Front Work Department.
It's hard to say whether the Lord would recognize the Three-Self Church as a church at all.
How could He not?
Aren't all who call on the Lord's name recognized? (Right.)
Was the Three-Self Church set up by the disciples dispatched by the Lord?
Not in the least!
The Three-Self Church was set up by the CCP.
How could the Lord recognize a church that was set up by Satan?
It was set up by Satan?!
The Three-Self Church was created by Satan?!
I have never heard that before.
As the CCP sees it,
people like us who surrender to Satan and join the Three-Self
don't truly believe in God.
The CCP is basically not watching us at all.
The ones who the CCP most admire are the Eastern Lightning people,
because the CCP government most fears a church in which the Holy Spirit is at work,
a church that has truth and bears God's witness.
We, in the Three-Self Church, are not persecuted,
yet the Three-Self Church is full of secularism,
following world trends, without the work of the Holy Spirit.
Can we who believe in the Lord here get into the heavenly kingdom?
Right, speaking pure truth, talking of Revelation
is not allowed in the Three-Self Church.
How is it possible to attain truth and life in this way? (Yes.)
Honestly, a person like me, I understand everything.
It's just that I don't have the courage to accept the work of the last days of Almighty God.
So how could I be raptured into the kingdom of heaven!
As soon as I think of these things,
I often pray to the Lord, confessing my sins, asking His mercy.
In the Three-Self, we believe in the Lord, not in the Communist Party.
As long as we hold onto the name of the Lord and endure to the end,
He won't abandon us.
This is how I see it, too.
Does it matter where one practices his faith?
Why make it so complicated? (Right!)
Sister Lyu, I used to think the way you do.
Later, I read what the Lord Jesus said in the Bible:
Amen!
I began to ponder, getting into the kingdom of heaven is conditional.
More is needed to get into the kingdom of heaven
than holding onto the Lord's name and having places to gather.
We hide in the Three-Self Church,
not daring to bear witness for the Lord.
Would you say that this is doing God's will?
Would we be qualified to be taken into the heavenly kingdom when the Lord comes?
Having said this much, I have a few sentences to add.
It is not at all simple to be brought into the kingdom of heaven.
That's right.
While studying the Eastern Lightning,
I was able to see a few things more clearly.
Now is the time for welcoming the arrival of the Lord.
If we can't hear the voice of the Lord,
or follow God's footsteps and attend the wedding feast of the Lamb,
we won't get into the kingdom of heaven.
Peter once said,
There is a deep mystery to this.
Deep mystery?
What deep mystery?
Judgment beginning with God's house refers to the work done
when the Lord returns to express truth and to judge and purify people.
Those people who hear God's voice, who come before God's throne
will first go through judgment and be purified.
These people who follow the Lamb
will certainly suffer hardships and be rejected.
Yes.
This is the fulfillment of text from Revelation:
These verses of scripture say that only those in the Lamb's book of life
will have a place in the kingdom of heaven.
The people in the Church of Almighty God who endure the persecution by the CCP
and are able to resolutely follow and bear witness for Christ,
I feel that they must be the ones who emerge from the great tribulation.
Only they are the overcomers whom God wishes to make,
and the ones who have a place in the Lamb's book of life.
They are qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.
We, in the Three-Self, drag out a shameful existence,
not bearing any witness.
We keep the name of the Lord Jesus, but we don't follow Christ.
Yet we expect the Lord to receive us into the kingdom of heaven.
This is like getting married in dreams—a wishful thinking!
Hearing you talk like this, are you saying that
all those who believe in the Lord within the Three-Self Church
are cowardly people?
Yes!
We also recognize the name of the Lord,
we pray, and we read the Bible.
Then why would you say we are a cowardly people? (Right.)
Yes, we truly believe in the Lord.
Our joining the Three-Self has the words of Paul in the Bible as its foundation,
Could the Lord condemn us as cowardly people?
We must understand what it means to be cowardly.
It cannot be explained literally, and rules can't be applied carelessly.
Is there a basis for this in the Bible?
As I remember,
there is a phrase in Revelation that refers to cowardly people.
I will read it aloud for you.
Oh, good!
The words of the Lord say clearly
that cowardly people will not get into the kingdom of heaven,
but will descend into the lake of fire and suffer eternal punishment.
Then what really is a cowardly person?
I still don't really know.
Hey, Brother Li, perhaps you can explain it more.
Yes, please talk about it some more.
I'll talk a bit about my own understanding.
Good.
Cowardly people are like this:
First, they don't publicly dare to acknowledge the name of the Lord,
and they don't dare to follow the Lord.
This certainly is cowardly.
Yes.
Second, they don't dare to spread the gospel and bear God's witness.
They fear being put in jail.
Right. This is a coward.
Third, according to the Lord:
When the Lord returns,
He will suffer persecution and be forsaken by the generation.
True.
If we fear persecution
and are not daring to accept Christ of the last days,
and not daring to follow the Lord,
if we only acknowledge Him within our own hearts,
what significance does it have?
I believe that anyone who fits these descriptions is a cowardly person.
Brother Li's discussion is really detailed.
Presenting this way is really enlightening. (Yes.)
Is a cowardly person like this following the will of God?
No, he's not.
Does a cowardly person have glorious witness?
No, indeed!
And can a cowardly person enter into the kingdom of heaven?
They certainly cannot.
So it appears that most of us who believe in the Lord in the Three-Self Church
are cowardly people. (Right.)
Brother Li,
you say that a coward does not dare recognize the name of the Lord in front of others.
I endorse this.
But to say that a person who does not accept the Eastern Lightning is a cowardly person,
I cannot accept this. (I say Amen to what Brother Zhang just said.)
Brother Zhang, the Lord Jesus says plainly in the Bible:
What I gather is this:
This refers to us not acknowledging the Lord in front of others,
it mainly refers to how we do not acknowledge the Lord's return in the last days
for fear of persecution.
Many people in religious circles now know
that the Eastern Lightning has truth and is the true way,
that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.
Because the CCP persecutes the Eastern Lightning, they dare not accept it.
Isn't that not daring to acknowledge the Lord in front of others? (Yes.)
Isn't such a person a cowardly person?
That is how it is.
I see it clearly.
If we want to get into the kingdom of heaven, we must risk our lives.
Didn't the Lord Jesus say that
"For whoever will save his life shall lose it:
and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25)?
Amen!
Though we are not persecuted
as we believe in the Lord within the Three-Self,
we will not be able to welcome the Lord
and ultimately will not get into the kingdom of heaven.
Is this not fetching water with an empty basket?
Yes, this is practicing faith in vain.
It certainly is.
Having brought this up,
our belief in the Lord in the Three-Self will not get us into the kingdom of heaven.
In China, to believe in Christ and follow the Lamb really is to be persecuted!
Cowardly people certainly will not get into the kingdom of heaven.
How should we face up to this situation?
If we wait until the CCP falls from power and then follow the Lamb,
we will have missed the chance to attend the banquet and be perfected.
If we value our lives too highly, we'll not only lose our life,
but will miss the blessing of going to the kingdom of heaven.
That's right.
To get into the kingdom of heaven,
we must risk our life and follow the Lord. (Amen!)
This possibly is the meaning of bearing the cross to follow the Lord.
And how do the Eastern Lightning people follow God?
I wonder too …