Amen!
Almighty God's words showed me that
the Bible is just a record of God's words and work
in the Ages of Law and Grace,
but not of His words and work in the last days.
Yes.
If we just cling to the Bible
and don't seek what the Holy Spirit says to the churches in the last days,
we won't be able to keep up with the Lamb and welcome the Lord's return.
That's right.
This truth is crucial to us being able to welcome the Lord in His second coming.
For sure.
I would like to share my experience with all of you now.
Great.
One day in January of 2018
I met Sister Xie and Sister Chen while browsing the internet
and they had such unique insights to share on the Bible.
Their fellowships were so practical and filled with light.
They told me the causes of the churches' desolation,
how to be a wise virgin and welcome the Lord,
why the Pharisees resisted the Lord Jesus,
the work God will do in the last days as prophesied in Revelation, and more.
They fellowshiped with me over several days
and I understood more than I had in over 10 years of listening to my pastor.
It all felt so fresh and new, and I wondered in amazement:
How could they gain so much light from the Bible and be so insightful?
I started taking part in their gatherings to learn more truths and mysteries
and get to know the Lord more deeply.
At one of these gatherings,
Sister Xie told me happily, "Hey, I have some great news for you!"
What was the news?
"The Lord has returned
and is doing the work of judgment in the last days."
I was thrilled to hear this, but even so I found it a little hard to believe,
so I asked, "Is it true?"
Sister Chen said, "Yes, it's true.
The Lord has returned as Almighty God.
He's uttering words and doing the work of judgment."
And then I suddenly thought
of a post I'd seen on Facebook that said Eastern Lightning
is testifying that the Lord's returned to speak and do His judgment work,
and that what they preach goes beyond the Bible.
I was suddenly uncertain and on my guard, and quickly asked Sister Chen,
"Do you two actually believe in Eastern Lightning?"
She answered frankly and said "Yes."
So I got a bit flustered
and thought how the pastor and elders
said that all of God's words are in the Bible,
our faith must be based on the Bible, and departing from it is heresy.
What these sisters were preaching went beyond the Bible.
Hadn't they strayed from the Lord's way?
So then I said,
"What you preach is different from what our pastor and elders preach.
I'm afraid I can't meet with you anymore."
I then abruptly disconnected.
But the news of the Lord's return kept my mind buzzing for a long time.
I thought of how enlightening and how very practical
the sisters' fellowships had been.
I had understood so much about the mysteries in the Bible
and also more about God's will.
I then wondered: "Could Eastern Lightning come from God?
If I don't listen and fail to welcome the Lord,
it will be too late for regret."
- Yeah, that's right. - That's true.
But when I thought of what the clergy had said,
I worried that I might be led astray.
My heart felt like it was being pulled in two very different directions.
Of course. I can feel you.
So I just prayed in earnest to the Lord in my heart,
asking Him to guide me to make the right choice.
I was supposed to have
another discussion with the sisters online the very next morning.
Thinking about how loving and patient they always were with me,
I thought it would be very rude of me not to let them know
I wouldn't be attending.
That's right.
Well, I went online as usual,
and once we were connected, I said,
"Your fellowships have been so enlightening
and what you've read to me is very practical.
But you're saying the Lord Jesus has returned
and is doing new work and expressing new words.
This goes beyond the Bible and strays from the Lord's way.
Pastors and elders say God's words and work are all within the Bible.
So how could there be new words from God outside the Bible?"
Sister Xie then patiently said,
"Pastors and elders say, 'God's words and work are within the Bible
and cannot be found anywhere else but the Bible itself.'
But does this view accord with the facts and with God's words?
Did the Lord Jesus ever say this? Did the Holy Spirit say this?"
No.
"If it's not based on God's words or on the truth,
then this view is just one of man's notions and doesn't hold."
- Yes. - Of course.
"Those versed in the Bible know that
because those who compiled and made record of the Old Testament
left some passages out,
some of Jehovah God's words conveyed by the prophets
were not recorded in the Old Testament.
Ezra's prophecies, for example, were not included in the Bible,
and this is a well-known fact."
It really is.
"While the Lord Jesus worked,
He didn't just speak the few words
that are recorded and found in Four Gospels that are in the Bible.
It's just as what the Gospel of John says,
"If we abide by the pastors' and elders' views,
wouldn't we be denying and condemning those missing passages from God
that weren't recorded in the Bible?"
Yeah.
"Also, the Lord Jesus clearly foretold:
"It's also prophesied in Revelation:
Then there's the scroll to be opened by the Lamb
and the peals of seven thunders.
These words tell us that when the Lord returns,
He'll speak more utterances,
and these utterances can't be recorded in the Bible in advance."
That's right.
"If God's words can only be found in the Bible,
how will these prophecies be fulfilled?"
Yes!
- Yes, that's so right. - Right.
"God is the Creator, the spring of ever-flowing living waters,
how could He have only spoken these limited words recorded in the Bible?"
Amen!
"The clergy said that 'God's work and words are all in the Bible
and can't be found anywhere else, but the Bible,'
but doesn't this deny and condemn
the work and words of the returned Lord Jesus?"
- It does. - Yeah.
After listening to her fellowship,
I thought, "Yes, the Lord prophesied He would return and speak,
and those words would have to be beyond what's in the Bible."
But the thought of departing from the Bible troubled me,
and I thought,
"Pastors and elders always say that departing from the Bible is heresy.
What if I go astray in my faith?
I've believed in the Lord for so long and have always read the Bible.
Christians all over the world base their faith on the Bible.
The Bible is the pillar of our faith.
How can we depart from it and believe in the Lord?"
I fell silent at this thought.
Seeing I was silent, Sister Chen didn't continue the fellowship.
After that,
she sent me a clip called Does God Work According to the Bible?
from a movie named: Come Out of the Bible,
and asked me to watch it.
I opened up the link to it
and watched the main character Wang Yue fellowshiping with a pastor.
It drew me in right away.
She said, "You just said God wouldn't do His salvation work outside of the Bible,
and anything that goes beyond the Bible is heresy.
So I have a question for you.
Tell me which one came first, the Bible or God's work?
God created all things in the beginning.
He flooded the world and burned Sodom and Gomorrah.
Did the Old Testament already exist when God did those things?"
No. It didn't.
"Also, did the New Testament exist when the Lord Jesus came?"
No.
That's right.
"Both the Old and New Testaments
were compiled based on people's records of God's work which He had finished.
God doesn't work according to the Bible
and He's not limited by it.
He works according to His own management plan and also the needs of mankind."
Amen!
"We can't then limit God's work to what's written in the Bible
or use the Bible to delimit God's work,
because God has the power to do His own work."
That's right.
And then my heart brightened at Sister Wang's fellowship.
- Amen! - Thanks be to God!
I thought, "The New Testament didn't exist when the Lord Jesus came to work,
and the Old Testament didn't exist when God created all things and issued the laws."
- That's true. - That's so true.
"This is undeniable!"
- Yes. - Yeah.
I thought, "How had I not thought of this before?"
The fellowship in the video went on:
"If we say anything that goes beyond the Bible is heresy,
aren't we condemning all of God's words and work throughout history?
When the Lord Jesus worked, He didn't do it according to the Old Testament.
He preached the way of repentance, healed the sick, cast out demons,
and forgave people seventy times seven times—
none of this was in the Old Testament."
That's right.
"The Pharisees, chief priests and scribes
used these things against the Lord and condemned His work as heresy.
They believed in God yet defied Him."
The sister then read two passages of Almighty God's words.
Let's read them together.
Great.
Amen!
Sister Wang went on with her fellowship:
"The Bible is just a record of the two stages of God's work
in the Ages of Law and Grace.
It's a testimony of the two stages of God's work in which He guided
and redeemed mankind after creating all things and making mankind.
It cannot represent God's entire work to save mankind."
Right.
"God's work is moving ever onward.
God begins a new age and does new work in the last days.
He gives more truths to man that allow us to be free of sin once and for all,
so we can be cleansed, saved, and enter His kingdom."
- Yes. - Amen!
"So God doesn't guide man based on His old work recorded in the Bible,
and He wouldn't repeat work He's already done.
God is the Lord of both creation and the Bible.
He has the power to go beyond the Bible
and to do new work according to His management plan."
Amen!
"That's why
'God's words and work are all in the Bible
and to depart from the Bible is heresy'
is an untenable claim
which simply delimits and blasphemes God.
Anyone who says this doesn't know God's work whatsoever
and is resisting God."
Right. No one can ever fathom the work of God.
Yes.
Yes, we can't delimit God to what we find in the Bible.
So true.
The sister then continued saying,
"God works only according to His plan,
Jesus preached the way of repentance, he cast out demons and healed the sick,
He didn't keep the Sabbath and taught people to always forgive—
didn't this all go beyond what's in the Old Testament?
He even broke the laws of the Old Testament,
but wasn't this still God's work?"
It was.
I'd had faith in the Lord for so long
and had always believed and clung to what the clergy said,
that "God's words and work are all in the Bible
and to depart from the Bible is heresy."
Hadn't I been condemning God's work?
Yes.
Now I see how foolish and confused I was! How blind I was.
Whenever I had time after that,
I watched gospel movies and videos
produced by The Church of Almighty God on YouTube.
One day, I got online and I clicked on a movie clip called
What Is the Relationship Between God and the Bible?
God's words in that clip moved me deeply.
Let's watch it now.
Great.
Amen!
After watching this clip, I realized
that knowing the Bible inside and out
isn't the same as truly knowing or obeying God.
Right.
The Jewish Pharisees for example,
were great at expounding the Scriptures,
yet they had the Lord Jesus crucified.
This shows that understanding the Bible doesn't mean you understand God,
and just because someone adheres to the Bible
doesn't mean they follow the Lord's way.
Yes.
That's right.
I realized that although I'd read the Bible for years and knew a bit about it,
I didn't really know the Lord at all.
I'd wrongly believed the Bible could represent the Lord,
that faith in the Bible was faith in Him,
and adhering to the Bible was adhering to the Lord's way.
When Sister Xie testified that God was doing the work of the last days,
I didn't dare look into it.
And later, after reading Almighty God's words,
I still found it hard to accept
simply because they are not recorded in the Bible.
Despite knowing in my heart
that His words are the truth and the voice of God.
I'd worshiped and clung to the Bible and refused
to accept God's new utterances and work.
How was I any different from those Pharisees who'd resisted the Lord?
Indeed.
This thought truly scared me.
I thought, "I must let go of my notions,
I must read more of Almighty God's words."
Thanks be to God!
At the next gathering,
I told the sisters about what I'd gained and understood
from watching those gospel movies.
They were overjoyed, and read a passage of God's words to me.
Let's read it together.
Okay.
Thanks be to God!
Sister Xie then shared fellowship, saying,
"In the last days,
Almighty God begins the Age of Kingdom and ends the Age of Grace.
He expresses the truth and does the work of judgment beginning with God's house
to cleanse and save mankind once and for all."
Yes.
Amen!
"Almighty God has spoken millions of words.
Most can be found in The Word Appears in the Flesh—
the Bible of the Age of Kingdom.
He's uncovered important mysteries in the Bible
such as the wise virgins welcoming the Lord,
what being raptured is,
the overcomers being made before the disasters,
the mysteries of God's management work,
the inside story of His three stages of work,
the relationships between the three stages of work, and their outcomes,
the mysteries of the incarnation and judgment in the last days,
the truth about the Bible, and more.
Almighty God also reveals His righteous, majestic disposition
that tolerates no offense.
He exposes and judges the truth of mankind's corruption by Satan,
dissects the root cause of why people disobey and resist God,
and tells us what His will and requirements for mankind are.
True, that's right.
These include what true faith in God is,
what it means to obey God, fear God and bear witness for God,
how to practice the truth and be honest,
how to live out a meaningful life, and more.
Yes.
Almighty God's words are plentiful and contain everything we might ever need.
These truths are the way of eternal life God gives to man in the last days.
Exactly.
They can cleanse and change us, and they can free us from the binds of sin,
fully save us and lead us into God's kingdom."
- Amen! - Thanks be to God!
The sister's fellowship made everything crystal clear.
Almighty God expresses so many truths,
He truly is the eternal fountain of living waters!
Right!
I knew in my heart that Almighty God's words are the voice of God
and that He is the Lord Jesus returned.
Amen!
I'd believed in God all those years but never really knew Him,
I believed what the pastor and elders said.
I'd limited God's utterances and work to the Bible
and refused to accept God's kingdom gospel.
God still didn't abandon me,
but used the sisters to preach the gospel repeatedly to me.
Yes.
I've been so fortunate to hear God's voice and welcome the Lord's return,
and enjoy the sustenance of the living waters which flow from the throne.
This is God's grace for me.
Indeed.
I'm so grateful to Almighty God!
Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to Almighty God!
- Thanks be to God! - I learned a lot today.