By Mingbian
In recent years, Eastern Lightning has been openly testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned as the incarnate Almighty God in the last days. Almighty God has expressed millions of words and
is performing the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. The appearance of Eastern Lightning has shaken the entire religious world, and many who have longed for God to appear have
heard Almighty God’s utterances and recognized them to be the voice of God. They have become certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned and, one after another, have come before
Almighty God. The appearance of Eastern Lightning has fulfilled this Bible verse: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). The “lightning” is the truth, the word of God; “comes out of the east” means that the truth has come out of China, and “shines even
to the west” means that it has reached the West; “the coming of the Son of man” refers to God incarnate appearing and working in the East—in China—and finally expanding His work into the
West. These words have now been fulfilled. However, because they believe the CCP’s lies and the pastors’ and elders’ condemnations of The Church of Almighty God, many brothers and sisters do not dare investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days.
They wonder, if Eastern Lightning were the true way and the appearance and work of God, why would the Chinese government and church pastors and elders condemn it? Is Eastern Lightning truly
the appearance and work of the returned Lord Jesus? We’ll focus on this topic in the following fellowship.
The True Way Has Suffered Persecution Since Antiquity
The Lord Jesus once said, “This is an evil generation” (Luke 11:29). “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved”
(John 3:19–20). With a surgeon’s precision, the Lord Jesus exposes the wickedness and darkness of this world, showing that all mankind lives under the domain of Satan and is
unable to tolerate the existence of God. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus personally became flesh and came to work on the earth in order to redeem mankind, and He was nailed to
the cross by the Jewish religious leaders in collusion with the Roman authorities. It is clear that mankind had become so corrupt and wicked that they openly denied and resisted
God. Now Almighty God has come in the last days and has expressed all the truths that enable man to attain full salvation, but He has also suffered frenzied condemnation and
defiance at the hands of the religious world and the Chinese government, and has been rejected of this generation. This exactly fulfills these words from the Lord Jesus:
“For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day. But first must He
suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24–25). The Chinese government is an atheistic government, its very essence is in opposition to God, and
so its condemnation of The Church of Almighty God is no strange thing. However, the pastors and elders of today’s religious world are all awaiting the Lord’s return, so why then
do they not seek or investigate the appearance and work of Almighty God, but instead frantically resist and condemn Him? This merits careful consideration. In fact, there are many
pastors and elders who have seen the authority and power in Almighty God’s words and work. However, when they see so many people who have been longing for God to appear recognize
from Almighty God’s words that He is indeed the Lord Jesus returned, and then come before Almighty God one after another, these pastors and elders of the religious world become
fearful that believers will all follow Almighty God, and then no one will follow or idolize them any longer. In order to maintain their own positions and livelihoods, they pretend
to “guard the true way and protect the flock” while wantonly condemning the appearance and work of Almighty God, and standing in the way of believers investigating the true way.
We can see from the fact that the appearance and work of both God’s incarnations have been condemned by the religious world that it has become so dark and evil that it goes so far
as to set itself against God. Therefore, it is inevitable that God will be condemned and persecuted by the forces of Satan when He comes into this wicked world to perform His
work. So when we investigate the true way, what attitude should we adopt when faced with the condemnation and defiance of the leaders of the religious world? If we think about
Peter, John, and the other disciples in those early days, they did not blindly believe the religious leaders’ lies condemning the Lord Jesus, but instead they humbly sought to
listen to the Lord’s voice. When they recognized the Lord Jesus’ words to be the truth, to be the voice of God, they were able to let go of their notions and follow the Lord,
ultimately receiving the Lord’s salvation. It is just as the Lord Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to
you” (Matthew 7:7). If we wish to know whether Eastern Lightning is the true way, then we ought to look into Almighty God’s work and read the words expressed by Almighty
God. This is the only way to get to the truth of the matter. If we believe blindly in what the pastors and elders say, then we will be likely to follow the footsteps of the
ordinary Jewish people in the days of Jesus, going along with the Pharisees, resisting and rejecting the Lord Jesus, missing the chance to investigate the true way and forever
unable to welcome the return of the Lord.
How Can We Be Sure That Eastern Lightning Is the True Way?
How then can we be sure that Eastern Lightning is the true way? Let’s read the words of Almighty God. Almighty
God says, “What is the most basic principle in seeking the true way? You have to look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit in this way, whether or not these words are
the expression of the truth, who is testified of, and what it can bring you. Distinguishing between the true way and the false way requires several aspects of basic knowledge, the most
fundamental of which is to tell whether or not the work of the Holy Spirit is present therein. For the substance of people’s belief in God is the belief in the Spirit of God, and even their
belief in God incarnate is because this flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, which means that such belief is still belief in the Spirit. There are differences between the Spirit and the
flesh, but because this flesh comes from the Spirit, and is the Word become flesh, thus what man believes in is still the inherent substance of God. So, in distinguishing whether or not it is the
true way, above all you must look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit, after which you must look at whether or not there is truth in this way. This truth is the life
disposition of normal humanity, which is to say, it is that which was required of mankind when God created mankind in the beginning, which is, normal humanity in its entirety (including human
sense, insight, wisdom, and the basic knowledge of being man). That is, you need to look at whether or not this way can take people into a life of normal humanity, whether or not the truth that
is spoken of is required according to the reality of normal humanity, whether or not this truth is practical and real, and whether or not it is most timely. If there is truth, then it is able to
take people into normal and real experiences; people, furthermore, become ever more normal, their human sense becomes ever more complete, their life in the flesh and the spiritual life become
ever more orderly, and their emotions become ever more normal. This is the second principle. There is one other principle, which is whether or not people have an increasing knowledge of God, and
whether or not experiencing such work and truth can inspire a love of God in them and bring them ever closer to God. In this it can be measured whether or not it is the true way” (“Only
Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words state very clearly that there are three main principles to distinguishing between the true way and
the false way. First, see whether the way has the work of the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit, and even though God works in the flesh, His essence remains that of His Spirit, therefore God’s work must
go hand in hand with the work of the Holy Spirit. Second, see whether the way has the truth. We all know that only God’s word is the truth; the truth can become our very life, it is the principle
that governs our behavior, our conduct, and our worship of God, and it can allow us to recover proper humanity. Third, see whether the way can enable people to have an ever-increasing knowledge
of God. Because God’s work is done by God Himself, because everything He reveals is what He has and is, and because every time God appears and works to save man He tells man His will and what He
requires; the more we read God’s words and the more we experience His work, the greater our faith in God becomes and the more our knowledge of God grows. When the Lord Jesus came to do His work,
for example, He bestowed abundant grace upon man, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He brought the way of repentance to humanity. He taught man to confess and repent, to love his
neighbors as he loves himself, to bear his cross, to be patient and tolerant, to forgive others seventy times seven times, to love God with all his heart and mind, and so on. These teachings from
the Lord Jesus were words no human being could have uttered. Before the Lord Jesus came and expressed the truth, those who lived under the law knew only how to live; they had no understanding of
the truths concerning how to love and forgive others. But by following the Lord and practicing His teachings, they saw that the Lord Jesus’ word was the truth and that it could show the people of
that time the path of practice. The people also came to understand through the Lord Jesus’ work that God’s disposition is replete with mercy and lovingkindness, and they became willing to turn to
the Lord. Despite the fact that the Lord Jesus’ work of that time was constantly met with condemnation, defiance, and persecution at the hands of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, the
number of the Lord Jesus’ followers grew ever greater. Ultimately, these religious leaders colluded with the Roman authorities to crucify the Lord Jesus, believing that by doing so, they would
abolish the Lord Jesus’ work. Those who sincerely believed in God, however, saw from His work and words that His work came from God, and so they followed Him with hearts overflowing with faith
and spread the Lord’s gospel, no matter how the Roman authorities and the religious world of that time persecuted them. The Lord Jesus’ gospel has now come to the farthest reaches of the universe
and every corner of the world, and no force can stop it. We can see from the fruit of the Lord Jesus’ words and work that His work came from God and that it is the true way. Similarly, if we want
to confirm if Almighty God’s work is the true way or not, we can see whether the truth is expressed in Almighty God’s work, whether it has the work of the Holy Spirit, and whether it allows
people greater knowledge of God. Almighty God has come in the last days, and on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He has expressed all the truths that enable man to attain
purification and complete salvation; He performs the step of work to judge and cleanse man, and He saves us from a life of suffering in the cycle of sinning and confessing. Almighty God says,
“God’s work in the present incarnation is to express His disposition primarily through chastisement and judgment. Building on this foundation, He brings more truth to man and points out
to him more ways of practice, thereby achieving His objective of conquering man and saving him from his own corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of
Kingdom” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). “By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within his
own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. 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” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words tell us
of such truths as the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mystery of God’s incarnations, mankind’s future outcome and destination, the meaning of being raptured, how to
discern the true Christ from false Christs, the truth of mankind’s corruption by Satan, how to cast off the shackles of sin, and how to fear God and shun evil. All these truths have been
expressed by God based on our needs, they are truths higher than those in the Age of Grace. Not only do they tell us the mysteries of His management work, but they also expose our satanic
dispositions, such as arrogance, maliciousness, selfishness, deceitfulness, and fiendishness. By undergoing the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, we see how God detests the corruption of
man, we perceive God’s righteous and holy disposition that brooks no offense, and a God-fearing heart arises within us. We then no longer dare to lightly commit sins and resist God, we become
willing to forsake our flesh and practice the truth, and we gradually begin to live out some semblance of humanity. We also come to truly appreciate that, without the judgment and chastisement of
God, we would never be able to know the satanic dispositions which lie rooted deep within us; we could only be like those in religion, eternally trapped in the cycle of sinning and confessing.
Even if we believed in God until the very end, we still couldn’t attain full salvation from God. By experiencing God’s work of judgment in the last days, we see that God’s disposition is not only
merciful and loving, but even more so, it is righteous and majestic, and tolerates no offense. Regardless of whether God’s disposition is merciful and loving or righteous and majestic, it always
contains God’s great salvation for man. In addition, if it is God’s work or the true way, it possesses the work of the Holy Spirit and is upheld by the Holy Spirit, and no enemy force can stand
in the way of God’s work. Since Almighty God appeared and began to work in China in 1991, the Chinese government and the religious world have never stopped resisting and persecuting The Church of
Almighty God. Yet, the gospel of God’s kingdom has not been hindered in any way by these enemy forces, and over the short span of time of twenty-odd years, it has spread throughout the entire
Chinese mainland as well as to many other nations around the world. The book of Almighty God’s words, The Word Appears in the Flesh, has long been available online and has been translated into
over twenty languages, openly being preached and testified to all mankind. Movies, dance performances, sketches and comic dialogs which all bear witness to God’s work in the last days, as well as
experiential testimonies of brothers and sisters who have undergone the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and experienced the cleansing and transformation of their corrupt dispositions,
have all been published online. Many true believers who long for God to appear have heard the voice of God and watched these experiential testimonies—light has entered their lives. They have
become certain that the words expressed by Almighty God are the Holy Spirit’s utterances to the churches, and that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus, that Eastern lightning is the true
way. One after another, they have come under the name of Almighty God. CAG churches have now been established in many countries worldwide, and this entirely fulfills this prophecy of the Lord
Jesus: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). Brothers and sisters, from the
fruit of Almighty God’s work in the last days, we can be certain that Eastern Lightning has the work of the Holy Spirit and the expression of truth, and by experiencing God’s work, our knowledge
of God will continue to grow. Eastern Lightning is the true way, the appearance and work of the Lord Jesus returned. Whether or not we will be able to follow the footsteps of the Lamb and be
blessed by God will depend on our individual choices. Almighty God says, “The work of God surges onward like a mighty wave. No one can detain
Him, and no one can halt His march. Only those who listen carefully to His words, and who seek and thirst for Him, can follow His footsteps and receive His promise. Those who do not shall be
subjected to overwhelming disaster and well-deserved punishment” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You must not blindly condemn the
words expressed by God because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days, and you must not be someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit because you fear deception. Would that
not be a great pity? If, after much examination, you still believe that these words are not the truth, are not the way, and are not the expression of God, then you shall ultimately be punished,
and you shall be without blessings. If you cannot accept such truth spoken so plainly and so clearly, then are you not unfit for God’s salvation? Are you not someone who is not blessed enough to
return before the throne of God? Think about it! Do not be rash and impetuous, and do not treat belief in God as a game. Think for the sake of your destination, for the sake of your prospects,
for the sake of your life, and do not play yourself. Can you accept these words?” (“By the Time You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus, God Will Have Made Heaven and Earth Anew” in The
Word Appears in the Flesh).
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