My Faith Waned When I Couldn’t Find a Church With the Holy Spirit’s Work
I was baptized and became a Christian in 1990, and from then on I was consistent in my enthusiastic service for the church. For the first few years the gospel was thriving in our church; brothers and sisters were bursting with faith, had love for each other, and had great enjoyment in gatherings. Everyone was incredibly enthusiastic and we could feel the presence of the Lord. But over time I realized that the church had become more and more desolate; the pastors were always preaching about the same old stuff and there was never any new enlightenment; the sermons couldn’t resolve brothers’ and sisters’ practical difficulties. They would frequently exalt themselves, talking about how they had given up so much and expended themselves for the Lord, fully dedicating themselves in their work for the Lord. A lot of brothers and sisters adulated them and looked up to them. Plus, there were often a lot of conflicts between church members over petty little things—when together, if they weren’t judging each other, they were just engaging in chit-chat. Our team leader would often vie with other districts over the gospel team’s number of conversions in order to please the church founder and would even have believers take on fake names to bolster the number of baptisms performed. This turned the church into a battlefield in a struggle for name and gain. In that kind of church I couldn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit at all. My heart was full of emptiness and helplessness, and my spiritual hunger and thirst became practically unbearable. This is why I got the idea to go out and look for a church with the Holy Spirit’s work.
Some time later a deacon I knew gave me a booklet and an audio tape from a church in another area that had a great deal of content that was totally new for me. I really felt that that church appeared to have the work of the Holy Spirit, so I left the church I had been attending. But before long I realized that in their gatherings they never talked about the words of the Lord Jesus, but instead focused on explaining biblical prophecies and looking into deep, profound mysteries. All that did was satisfy passing curiosity for me, but it couldn’t provide me with sustenance in life, so I decided to leave that church behind, too. I found another church after that but all their fellowship in gatherings was about books written by spiritual personages and the Bible was just used as a reference book. I felt that really wasn’t in line with the Lord’s will, plus their sermons never filled my soul. I completely lost my direction and lost faith in the Lord—I was living in a tepid state. I would then ask myself if I was wheat or a tare every time I thought of the Lord Jesus saying, “And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather you together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13:30). I knew that if I continued to be so remiss in my faith I would never gain the Lord’s approval, so wasn’t I a tare? The more I thought about it the more negative I felt—I became really upset. All I knew to do was keep praying and pleading with the Lord, asking Him to lead me to find a true church with the work of the Holy Spirit.
A Gathering With Fellowship That Contains Light, Maybe Their Church Has the Holy Spirit’s Work?
In August 2018 a friend learned that I was looking for a church with the work of the Holy Spirit and said she had been to such a church where the brothers and sisters integrated the Bible with their fellowship in a way that was enlightening and illuminating. They fellowshiped very clearly on the Lord’s will and their path of practice when encountering issues. This sister asked me if I wanted to go check it out—I agreed right away.
My friend arranged to have Brother Zhongcheng share fellowship with me the following day. When our conversation got to the topic of the Lord Jesus returning in the last days, he asked me if I had ever thought about how I should welcome the Lord’s second coming. I said I hadn’t and asked him to share his fellowship. Brother Zhongcheng read some prophecies from Scripture for me. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). He then shared this fellowship: “In fact, the Lord Jesus long ago shared with us the way to welcoming the Lord through these prophecies. When the Lord returns in the last days He will utter more words to the churches—He will knock on the doors of our hearts with His words. If we do long for the Lord’s coming we should pay close attention to heeding God’s voice; we should be able to recognize His voice from His words and accept and submit to this. This way we’ll be able to welcome the Lord’s return and attend the banquet with Him. Just like the Lord Jesus’ disciples like Peter, John, and Matthew—they heard the Lord Jesus’ sermons and saw that His words contained power and authority; they recognized God’s voice within that and determined that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah they had been awaiting. And so, they followed the Lord and gained the watering and sustenance of God’s waters of life; they enjoyed the guidance of the Holy Spirit’s work. The Lord Jesus also prophesied, ‘He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:48). ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come’ (Revelation 14:7). We can see from this that when God comes in the last days He’s going to do the work of judgment beginning with the house of God; He’ll utter words, judging and cleansing all those who follow Him. We are now in the last days and the prophecies of the Lord’s second coming have basically all been fulfilled. As long as we are wise virgins, actively seeking and investigating when we hear someone bear witness that the Lord has returned, spoken, and done the work of judgment, if we can confirm that it is God’s voice and an expression of the truth, we should accept and obey it. That’s the only way we’ll be able to keep up with God’s new work and obtain the work of the Holy Spirit.”
Brother Zhongcheng’s fellowship, integrating Bible prophecies with practical examples was very well-founded; it was both novel and surprising for me. After believing in the Lord for most of my life, that was the first time I had heard such enlightening fellowship. I thought, “Their church might have the Holy Spirit’s work. I should really look into it.” When I was about to leave Brother Zhongcheng gave me a book, God’s Sheep Hear the Voice of God, and told me I should read and ponder what it says.
This Church With the Holy Spirit’s Work Is Worth Investigating
After getting home I eagerly opened the book, and what I saw in the table of contents immediately caught my eye—I saw written there “The Appearance of God Has Ushered in a New Age,” “You Must Know the Truths of God’s Names,” “You Must Know the Truths About the Three Stages of God’s Work,” “You Must Know the Truths About the Incarnation of God,” “Several Forms of Differentiation That You Should Possess in Your Belief in God,” and so on. They were all truths about how we should know God and His work. Most of the spiritual books I had read before were all about the experiences and understandings of spiritual personages and hardly ever had anything teaching people to know God and His work or how to gain discernment. I felt this book, God’s Sheep Hear the Voice of God, was really wonderful. I eagerly read on. I saw this passage in it: “All those who are within the stream of the Holy Spirit are possessed of the presence and discipline of the Holy Spirit, and those who are not within the stream of the Holy Spirit are under the command of Satan, and without any of the work of the Holy Spirit. People who are in the stream of the Holy Spirit are those who accept the new work of God, the ones who cooperate in the new work of God. … Those who accept the new work of the Holy Spirit, will live within the stream of the Holy Spirit, receive the care and protection of the Holy Spirit. Those who are willing to put the truth into practice are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and those who are unwilling to put the truth into practice are disciplined by the Holy Spirit, and may even be punished. Regardless of what kind of person they are, provided that they are within the stream of the Holy Spirit, God will take responsibility for all those who accept His new work for the sake of His name. Those who glorify His name and are willing to put His words into practice will receive His blessings; those who disobey Him and do not put His words into practice will receive His punishment. … Not so for the people who do not accept the new work: They are outside the stream of the Holy Spirit, and the discipline and reproach of the Holy Spirit do not apply to them. All day, these people live within the flesh, they live within their minds, and all that they do is according to the doctrine produced by the analysis and research of their own brains. It is not the requirements of the Holy Spirit’s new work, much less is it cooperation with God. Those who do not accept the new work of God are bereft of the presence of God, and, moreover, devoid of the blessings and protection of God. Most of their words and actions hold to the past requirements of the Holy Spirit’s work; they are doctrine, not truth. Such doctrine and regulation are sufficient to prove that the only thing that brings them together is religion; they are not the chosen ones, or the objects of God’s work. The assembly of all those among them can only be called a grand congress of religion, and cannot be called a church. This is an unalterable fact” (“God’s Work and Man’s Practice” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Pondering these words I had a bit of an understanding that only those who accept God’s new work can live within the stream of the Holy Spirit, have the Holy Spirit’s accompaniment and work, and only when people like that gather together can it be called a church. Within that kind of church people who put the truth into practice are able to gain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and they have God’s care and protection, while those who don’t put the truth into practice only receive the Holy Spirit’s discipline and punishment. However, those who do not accept God’s new work exist outside of the stream of the Holy Spirit and thus do not have God with them, and they particularly don’t have the Holy Spirit’s discipline. No wonder I hadn’t been able to feel the Holy Spirit’s work no matter what church I went to, and the pastors and elders weren’t subjected to the Holy Spirit’s discipline no matter how much they engaged in intrigue and cheated the Lord. It was because God has done new work and they had not kept up with God’s footsteps and were no longer within the stream of the Holy Spirit. That’s why they couldn’t gain God’s discipline. In addition, this passage talked about how because people who don’t accept God’s new work don’t have the work of the Holy Spirit, everything they do depends on human intellectual analysis and research. Their heads are full of doctrines, not truths, so that’s why it can’t be called a church, but just a religion. I thought of how the pastors and elders had nothing to preach about, but just exhaustively talked about the same biblical doctrines to exhort people, but it was completely lacking in light and couldn’t resolve our practical difficulties at all. Plus the pastors would even have believers be baptized under fake names to pad their numbers. Those kinds of actions weren’t from God at all, but were things they thought of themselves. Brothers and sisters also rarely had fellowship on the Lord’s will when they were together, but just chatted about worldly things. How could the Lord approve of that sort of church? Apparently our church really had become just a religious venue.
Reading further, I saw this passage from sermons and fellowship: “For there is nothing of the work of the Holy Spirit in religious venues, and they are places which disgust God, which are loathed by God, and are condemned and cursed by Him. God has never recognized religion, much less has He ever praised it, and from the time of the Lord Jesus the religious community has been condemned by God. Thus, when you believe in God you must find places that contain the work of the Holy Spirit; only these are true churches, and only in true churches will you be able to hear the voice of God, and discover the footprints of the work of God. Such is the means by which God is sought” (“Results That Can Be Achieved Through a Genuine Understanding of the Truth” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life).
Reading this passage of fellowship further clarified for me that a religious venue is a place abandoned by God, and when He comes He will not appear and work in those places. I knew I had to find a church that truly has the work of the Holy Spirit in order to hear God’s voice and welcome the Lord’s second coming. I felt that these are such wonderful words—reading them was enjoyable and brightened my heart, so I continued on. Through reading this book, God’s Sheep Hear the Voice of God, I gained some understanding of all sorts of mysteries of the truth such as why God was called Jehovah in the Age of Law and Jesus in the Age of Grace, and the fruit borne by His work both ages. Those were things I had never heard before in the religious community—I saw that the Holy Spirit really is working in that church and it would be very worthwhile for me to go look into it. I lost no time getting in touch with my friend and asking her to go to that church with me to have a look.
Investigating The Church of Almighty God Opened My Eyes
A few days later Brother Zhongcheng invited me to the church and only then did I know that it was called The Church of Almighty God. He read many of Almighty God’s words for me and showed me the church’s website, which has videos of recitations of Almighty God’s words, choral videos, all sorts of videos of singing and dancing, gospel films, crosstalks, short sketches, and testimonies of personal experiences written by brothers and sisters—all these works bear witness to God. It really opened my eyes. Brother Zhongcheng also said that branches of The Church of Almighty God are being established in many countries all over the world and that Almighty God’s words have been translated into more than 20 languages so that those who hunger for God’s appearance from all over the world can get onto their site to seek and investigate. Seeing all this content, I felt that without God’s guidance there’s no way they could have produced so many great works bearing witness to God. I became even more certain that this church does have the Holy Spirit’s work and I really gave thanks to the Lord for guiding me to meet brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God. Brother Zhongcheng then said to me happily, “Sister, the Lord Jesus has already returned. He is the incarnate Almighty God and has expressed all truths in the last days to purify and fully save mankind. He’s done the step of work of judgment beginning with the house of God, bringing the Age of Grace to a close and beginning the Age of Kingdom. His words have unveiled all mysteries of the truth, such as mysteries of His six-thousand-year management plan and His three stages of work, the inside story and the essence of the Bible, how God will completely save humanity from Satan’s grasp, people’s destination and outcome after being fully saved and perfected, the beauty of the kingdom, and so on. Only if we keep up with the footsteps of the Lamb and read God’s current utterances can our starved souls be fed and watered, and can we gradually grow in our lives.”
Hearing that the Lord has already returned left me stunned, and I asked excitedly, “Really? The Lord has really returned?” Brother Zhongcheng responded joyfully, “He has—the Lord has returned!” In that moment my joy was immense. Even in my dreams I had never imagined that I’d be able to welcome the Lord’s return in my lifetime; I resolved to carefully read Almighty God’s words and spend time looking at The Church of Almighty God’s website.
Watching a Film and Understanding the Root of Churches’ Desolation
I later watched a gospel film on their website called Dawn Light. It contained fellowship on the truth that really drew me in. Sister Song Huizhen in the film had this fellowship: “The religious world has lost the Holy Spirit’s work, and is desolate, and the biggest reason is that its leaders don’t follow the Lord’s word or obey the Lord’s commandments. They’ve strayed from the Lord’s way, and so have been eliminated and abandoned by the Lord. Just like in the Age of Law, when the Jewish leaders did not obey Jehovah’s law or have hearts that revered God. They abided by human traditions and discarded God’s commandments, and completely departed from God’s way, so the temple became a desolate nest of thieves. Today, the pastors and elders of the religious world only preach biblical knowledge and theological doctrines. They are obsessed with religious rituals, yet never lead others in the practice or experience of the Lord’s word, and they never obey the Lord’s words and commandments, instead only following the traditions and doctrines of man. They have entirely departed from the way of the Lord, so today God has rejected and cursed them. This is the main reason the religious world has lost the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold’ (Matthew 24:12). But it is also because God has new work. God’s work has shifted. The Lord Jesus has returned, and on the basis of the work of redemption, He also does the work of judgment starting with God’s house, ushers in the Age of Kingdom, and concludes the Age of Grace. The focus of the Holy Spirit’s work has shifted to God’s work of judgment in the last days. Those who accept God’s new work will be nourished with the water of life that flows from the throne, and will receive the Holy Spirit’s work. But those who stop in religion and refuse to accept the work of Almighty God will lose the work of the Holy Spirit, and be lost in darkness. It’s just like late in the Age of Law, when the Lord Jesus began the work of redemption outside the temple that ushered in the Age of Grace. God’s work had shifted, it was no longer in the temple, and so the temple became desolate.”
Seeing that helped me understand why the religious world has become more and more desolate; aside from failing to keep up with God’s new work, another primary reason is that the pastors and elders do not adhere to the way of the Lord. They don’t lead people to practice and experience the Lord’s words or share fellowship on His will, but instead constantly show off so that people will adulate and look up to them. They’re not bringing believers before God, but instead bringing them before themselves. This is entirely a departure from the Lord’s way and as a result, the Lord has cast them aside. I compared to the behavior of pastors and elders that I had encountered: I had seen that though they served the Lord they were not considerate of His will, but instead struggled for name and gain in the church, elevating and bearing witness to themselves. In gatherings they seldomly talked about the Lord’s words in the Bible, but instead just focused on theological doctrines or the experiences and understandings of spiritual personages. How could serving God that way gain the Lord’s approval? As I thought through this I felt that Sister Song’s fellowship in the movie was simply wonderful.
God’s Will Is Within the Desolation of the Churches
As I continued watching, I saw Sister Song read a few passages of God’s words. “God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “All of God’s work in the entire universe has focused on this group of people. He has devoted all His efforts to you and sacrificed all for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why I say, you are the fortunate. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, to you, in order to make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through you group of people. Therefore, you are those who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more the heirs of God’s glory” (“Is the Work of God So Simple as Man Imagines?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “I regard the universe in its entirety and see that[a] it is an opportune time for My work, so I hurry back and forth, doing My new work upon man. … I shall work upon the entire universe and I shall perform great work, revealing all My glory and all My deeds to man in the last days. I shall show My glorious countenance in its fullness to those who have waited many years for Me, to those who have longed for Me to come upon a white cloud, to Israel that has longed for Me to appear once again, and to all mankind who persecute Me, so that all will know that I have long ago taken away My glory and brought it to the East, so that it is no longer in Judea. For the last days have already come!” (“The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Gospel of the Kingdom Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Sister Wang Yun, another character in the film, went on to share this fellowship: “God has made the religious world desolate, which actually is part of God’s plan, and demonstrates God’s wisdom and almightiness. The hunger in religion makes those who truly believe in God and love the truth leave religion, seek the footsteps of God’s work, seek the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, and seek the appearance of God’s work. That way, all those who hear the voice of God and accept and obey Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days are the wise virgins, and will be raised up before God’s throne. These people will eat at the feast of the Lamb, and will be nourished with the water of life that flows from the throne. Their original confidence and love will return. All will learn to ponder over God’s word, practice God’s word, and experience God’s word, become those who understand truth, and gain entry into reality. When people understand truth and truly know God, they can revere and obey God, and thereby obtain new life from God! It’s just as God says: ‘All of God’s work in the entire universe has focused on this group of people.’ God wants to bring all those who truly believe in God and love the truth before Him and make them those after God’s heart, those who He truly gains, while those religious organizations and people who don’t accept Almighty God’s work will lose the work of the Holy Spirit. They will all be rejected and eliminated by God, and finally destroyed, without question! That way, from the church, all the wheat is separated from the tares, the good servants from the evil, and the true believers from the false. This is God’s wisdom and almightiness!”
Hearing Almighty God’s words and the sisters’ fellowship brightened my heart. I realized that God is using the desolation of the religious world to push those who truly believe in God and long for His appearance out of religious venues to seek God’s new work, while also exposing those who do not hear God’s voice and refuse to investigate His work of the last days. This fulfills the prophecies that in the last days, the Lord Jesus will do the work of separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and the wise virgins from the foolish virgins. God really is so wise and so practical! I give thanks that God didn’t abandon me, but led me to come before Him and hear His voice, allowing me to gain the watering and sustenance of God’s living waters. I am truly so blessed! I couldn’t hold back my thanks and praises offered up to God.
With the Sustenance of the Living Waters My Soul Is No Longer Thirsty
With The Church of Almighty God, we read Almighty God’s words in every gathering. Through fellowship from brothers and sisters I’ve started to understand many aspects of the truth such as the purpose and significance of God’s three stages of work, how God judges and cleanses people in the last days, and how He determines people’s outcomes. Through Almighty God’s authoritative words I genuinely experienced that God really and truly has come among us and opened up His last stage of the work of salvation. I verified within my heart that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. With the watering and sustenance of God’s words I came to understand truths I hadn’t understood over many years of believing in the Lord, and now when I encounter issues I have a path of practice. My soul is no longer thirsty. I have truly experienced that only God’s words are spiritual bread for our lives, and only they can provide us with the truth and point us onto the path. Just as Almighty God’s words say, “The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I give thanks to God for bringing me into His house, allowing me to gain the watering and sustenance of His words, and to savor the peace and joy of having God with me!
Source From: Gospel of The Descent of The Kingdom
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