The Church of Almighty God | Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life

Zheng Yongshen

Funan County, Anhui Province

    I was a co-worker of the Stream of Recovery. On December 8, 1998, a brother of our church came to me to preach the work of Almighty God of the last days. He gave me a book of Almighty God’s word and asked me to read it. I was very angry and rebuked him, “We only believe in the LordJesus; why did you convert to the faith of another god?” Running my eyes over more than one page of the book, I laid it aside, because I thought the words were plain and simple, and too shallow. The brother said to me earnestly, “Better finish reading it, and you will know it is truly the word personally spoken by God.” “I don’t think so. Now that you insist it is God’s own word, you get a pen and a notebook, put them on the table, and ask God to speak!” I said rudely. And then I murmured to myself angrily, “You believers in Almighty God have stolen many of our lambs, and now you also want to draw me in. No way!” Then I went to the church, and called some other co-workers together and discussed how to guard against the “Eastern Lightning,” trying to work out ways to fight back against it.
After that, we went to every meeting place spreading these slanderous and blasphemous words: “You mustn’t believe in the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ It is a false Christ, a false prophet, who tries to deceive people in the disguise of the Lord. What we believe in is the truth. Don’t listen to their messages. Those people are the disturbers of the church. It is a test of whether we have foundation. If your foundation is built on sand, you will be taken away by them; if you have foundation, you will be able to stand no matter how they disturb.” And I also started rumors among the believers, “The sect of Almighty God is a mafia, and they have guns. Once you join them, you can’t withdraw. If you want to, they will gouge out your eyes, cut off your nose or ears, or break your legs. And they are promiscuous.” In order to preserve my position and fame and prevent the brothers and sisters from receiving the truth, I fabricated horrible lies to seal off the church and used the biblical verses out of context to condemn God’s work of the last days. As a result, many who had no discernment and didn’t know the truth were too frightened to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. These are the evils I have done.

    One day in February 2000, my younger sister came to my house, and she preached Almighty God’s gospel of the last days to me. I said to her, “Don’t come again if you preach it. I’ve heard it a few times. I won’t believe in it whatever you say.” But she kept talking about how God does the reaping, choosing, and judging work when He has come this time. No matter what she said, I couldn’t take it in. Since then, my sister often came to preach the gospel to me, and meanwhile, she helped me do any work. Even so, my marble heart was not moved. Several times she left in tears because of my stiff resistance to the gospel. Each time after she left, I still did evil as before—desperately blaspheming and slandering Almighty God’s work and sealing off the church, for fear that all the believers might accept Almighty God and I would become a “general without an army.”

    One day in September 2000, my sister came again. She invited me to her home to listen to the gospel of the last days, because some preachers were there, but I brushed her off. She said to me, “Why do you believe in God, brother? People often say, ‘With the truth on your side, you can go anywhere; without it, you can’t take a step.’ Since you believe in the true God, why don’t you dare to fellowship with others?” My believing wife also said, “Why don’t you go to meet them? Are you afraid of losing face?” I was annoyed by her words and said, “Afraid of losing face? I’ll go!” So I left with my sister in a fit of pique. Arriving there, I saw seven people were present, and they were waiting for me. We immediately started to fellowship. When a brother said that God came to do the work of the word this time, I got furious and asked, “Where is the word God has personally spoken?” The brother took out a book entitled “Utterances of Christ” and said that it was God’s personal word. “You all preach the same. The book is plainly written by a man, but you say that it is God’s word. I don’t believe!” I said angrily. With that, I charged out of the door in exasperation. After I returned from there, I sealed off the church more fiercely, for I was certain that what I believe in was the most true God. I went to the meeting places everywhere preaching, “What those people believe in is the antichrist, the one written in the Bible who ‘sits in the temple of God and shows himself that he is God.’ …. What we believe in is the truth. As long as we stand firm, we will be overcomers and pillars. When the coming of the kingdom of the Lord Christ is declared, we will enter the kingdom.” I ran around sealing off the church for the sake of preserving my position, just like what Jesus said in the Bible: “… for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew: 23:13).

    On December 9 of 2000, my sister came to my home again. She warned me not to speak without fear, not to blaspheme God, or I would be punished by God. I didn’t believe her words at all, and even retorted arrogantly, “Don’t try to frighten me. I’ve never feared anything.” But several days later, I really received God’s discipline. On the afternoon of December 16, I went to preach with a co-worker, and after speaking only two sentences in the meeting, I lost my voice. Seeing that, the co-worker gave me a glass of water, and I drank it. But after I said two sentences, I lost my voice again. This happened three times. Shaking my head, I had to stop preaching for a rest.

    On the morning of February 6, 2001, a brother in my village, who had been a co-worker of mine, came to my home and talked with me about belief in God. While we were talking, my sister came again. She begged me to go to listen to the messages about Almighty God’s work. The brother also urged me to go, and he wanted to accompany me. I said, “We can’t go. Being weak doesn’t matter, but we mustn’t go astray.” But he said, “Since we joined the Stream of Recovery, we have heard that Brother Li talked about the oneness and the building up, but why have the churches not been united into one by now but instead divided? There must be something wrong. And Brother Li said that the ‘corporate new man’ would appear before 2000. Now is already 2001, but why has it not appeared yet? The ‘corporate new man’ is sure to have appeared, but we don’t know where it is. We should seek! Let’s go hear their messages. If it is a true way, we accept it, and if it isn’t, that’ll do us no harm, and we’ll just take it as a visit to the relative….” After much of his persuasion, I agreed to go listen to their fellowship. When we got there, we saw several brothers were waiting for us. One brother asked me how long I had believed in God and what was the condition of our church. I said, “I’ve believed for five years. Our church life is not normal.” The brother continued to ask, “What do you think is the root of the desolation of the church?” I gave no reply. Then he began to fellowship from Genesis to Revelation. He fellowshiped, “God’s work is always new and never old, and does not repeat, and it doesn’t conform to men’s notions. God can open up a new age and bring the old age to an end…. The key feature of God’s work is ‘new’ and ‘wondrous,’ and if one keeps up with God’s work, he will ‘live,’ or he will ‘die.’ For example, in the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus came, He spoke new words and did new work. Those disciples kept up with the steps of God’s work. They accepted the words and work of the Lord Jesus and received God’s new supply and blessings. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, however, failed to follow the steps of God’s work. They held on to the Old Testament and used the letters of the prophecies in it to resist and condemn the Lord Jesus and even crucified the Lord Jesus. They committed a heinous sin and received God’s punishment and curse in the end. This shows that as a believer in God, one should closely follow the footsteps of the Lamb, and wherever He went, he should follow Him closely. If one cannot give up his old notions or keep pace with God’s work, he will only end up being eliminated by God.”

    The brother also fellowshiped about the causes of the Pharisees refusing to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Christ and resisting Him: 1. The Old Testament made no record of the genealogy of Jesus. If there had been a detailed genealogy of Jesus in it, people wouldn’t have resisted Him. 2. The Old Testament prophesied that a virgin should conceive, and bear a son, and should call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). However, people saw that Jesus had both parents and brothers and sisters, and moreover, His name was not called Immanuel, which were not in agreement with the prophecy. 3. The prophecy said that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah5: 2), but people saw that Jesus preached as a Nazarene, which didn’t correspond with the prophesy either. 4. What Jesus did was completely different from the work that Jehovah did in the age of the Old Testament. He didn’t enter the temple, nor did He keep the Law, not observing the Sabbath and other things. People thought that Jesus destroyed the Law and opposed Jehovah. Moreover, He even claimed Himself to be the Son of God. So the Pharisees nailed Jesus to the cross for the sake of safeguarding the Law and the work of Jehovah. 5. The Old Testament prophesied that there would come One who would be ruler over Israel (Micah 5: 2), and the government should be on His shoulder (Isaiah 9: 6). But actually a very ordinary “Nazarene” came. The chief priests, elders, scribes, and Pharisees all despised Him and all people sneered at Him (Matthew 27:29-44). The brother then asked me, “If the Pharisees had known that Jesus was the Messiah who would come, would they have resisted Him?” “Of course not!” I said quickly. “Right,” he said. “The Pharisees and scribes rejected Jesus and crucified Him simply because they didn’t recognize that Jesus was Christ and because what Jesus did was completely different from the Old Testament. Today we are all expecting the Lord Jesus to come. Will He still be called Jesus when He returns in the last days? Will people be able to recognize Him?” I replied, “It’s hard to say.” Then he continued, “The Lord has already come. He has become flesh and started new work. He is female this time.” Hearing this, I changed color, and my head buzzed instantly. I cried, “It is possible that the Lord has already come, but it is absolutely impossible that He has become flesh and is female!” These two things were most unacceptable to me, so I didn’t like to listen anymore, and I got up and wanted to leave. The brother who came with me stopped me, saying, “Since you agree with most of what he has said, let’s hear him out and see how he will explain the other questions, so that we may gain more insight….” I sat down reluctantly and prayed in my heart, “Lord, please help me and give me discernment so that I won’t be deceived.” However, I couldn’t take in anything. The brother asked me some questions, and I didn’t answer him. Seeing this, he suggested, “Let’s stop talking about that. Shall we talk about the Bible?” I nodded and said, “OK.” So he showed me several verses which predicted the coming of the Lord: Luke 17:24-25, 17:26-30, Revelation 1:12-16, Hebrews 9:28, Revelation 11:15, and Revelation 14:1-4, 17:14. The brother said, “These verses mention the ‘Son of man,’ ‘Christ,’ and the ‘Lamb.’ Then, what actually is the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb? Both Jehovah and Jesus are God Himself. Why is Jesus called the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb but Jehovah is not?” I really didn’t know the answer. I had believed several years but I had never thought about this question. However, for the sake of my vanity and face, I was ashamed to say I didn’t know the answer. So I said, “You can fellowship about it.” The brother said, “The ‘Son of man,’ ‘Christ,’ and the ‘Lamb,’ all are the names by which God incarnate is called. The Lord Jesus was called Christ because He was the holy flesh donned by the Spirit of God. He had both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. Only the One who has the two qualities can be called Christ. Jehovah was the Spirit, and He at times appeared in the spiritual body. But He had only complete divinity and didn’t have normal humanity. So Jehovah could not be called Christ, the Son of man, or the Lamb. The Bible predicts that when the Lord comes the second time, He will be called the Son of man, Christ, or the Lamb. Doesn’t it mean that God will come in the flesh? If the Spirit or the spiritual body comes, can He be called those names?” Hearing these words, I suddenly saw the light: It turns out that the Lord will become flesh when He comes the second time! All at once I felt much relieved and was willing to seek. The brother went on saying, “Luke 17: 24-25 says, ‘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.’ Doesn’t it also mean that the Lord will become flesh when He comes the second time? If the Spirit or the spiritual body comes, could He suffer or be rejected by people? Besides, the Bible says that false Christs will appear to deceive people in the last days (Matthew 24:3-5). We all know that false Christs must be men. If the Lord came not in the flesh but in the spiritual body, could the false Christs imitate Him or impersonate Him? Could they deceive people? Why did Jesus say there would be false Christs in the last days? Wasn’t He giving a hint to His disciples that He would become flesh when He came again? What do you think of it, brother?” Thank God! Through the brother’s fellowship, I finally understood the truth of this aspect. Then I asked, “How come I have never thought of that before?” The brother said, “You didn’t think of that because you have defined God and refused to seek. Didn’t Jesus say that ‘Seek, and you shall find,’ and that ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ and ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness’? How could one, who doesn’t seek, humble himself, or hunger and thirst for righteousness, receive the enlightenment and guidance from the Lord?” Hearing these words, I felt ashamed of myself and regretted my blind condemnation of God’s new work without seeking it because of my stubbornness and arrogance.

Afterward, through reading God’s word, I realized: Whether God chooses to do the work through the means of the Spirit or God incarnate is according to the need of His work, the need of mankind, and the extent of Satan’s corruption of man. This is like a doctor treating a patient’s illness. What methods and medicine the doctor will use must be in accordance with the need of the patient. The doctor cannot treat the patient as he likes. In the Age of Law, because men had been shallowly corrupted, God worked through the means of the Spirit, and He only asked them to keep the law and be conscious of sin. But as the times developed, men’s corruption has become deeper, and moreover, they have no power to overcome sin. If God still works by the means of the Spirit, the work wouldn’t achieve a desirable effect on them. Therefore, in the last days, God came in the flesh again, and He eats and lives together with men. He gives men accurate words and specific guidance, supplying them according to their needs. Only in this way can they be saved from the influence of Satan step by step, so that they will live in the light and live under God’s care and keeping. It is just as what Almighty God says: “This time, God comes to do work not in a spiritual body but in a very ordinary one. … In Him, you cannot see anything that is different from others, but you can receive from Him the truths you have never heard before. This insignificant flesh is the embodiment of all the words of truth from God, that which undertakes God’s work in the last days…. He is your gate into the kingdom, and your guide into the new age.” “Though what man sees this day is a God that is the same as man, a God with a nose and two eyes, and an unremarkable God, in the end God will show you that without the existence of this man, the heaven and earth will undergo a tremendous change; without the existence of this man, the heaven will grow dim, the earth will become chaos, and all mankind will live in famine and plagues. He will show you that without the salvation of God incarnate in the last days, then God would have long ago destroyed all mankind in hell; without the existence of this flesh, then you would forever be chief of sinners and corpses evermore. You should know that without the existence of this flesh, all mankind would face an inevitable calamity and find it difficult to escape God’s more severe punishment of mankind in the last days. Without the birth of this ordinary flesh, you would all be in a state where neither life nor death will come no matter how you seek it; without the existence of this flesh, then this day you would not be able to receive the truth and come before the throne of God. Rather, you would be punished by God because of your grievous sins. Do you know? If not for the return of God to the flesh, none would have a chance at salvation; and if not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ago ended the age of old. As such, can you still reject the second incarnation of God? Since you can so greatly profit from this ordinary man, then why would you not accept Him readily?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Through God’s words and the brother’s fellowship, I came to understand that corrupt men are in great need of the salvation of God incarnate. My notion about God’s incarnation was completely resolved. But I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that the God incarnate is female. So the brother read me the biblical verse in Genesis 1:27, which says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” And he also read me these words of Almighty God: “Each stage of work done by God has a real significance. When Jesus arrived, He was male, and this time He is female. From this, you can see that God created both male and female for His work and with Him there is no distinction of gender. When His Spirit arrives, He can take on any flesh at will and the flesh represents Him. Be it male or female, both represent God as long as it is His incarnate flesh.” “If in this stage He did not become flesh to personally do work for man to witness, man would forever hold on to the notion that God is only male, not female.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) The brother fellowshiped, “We cannot understand a prophecy until it is fulfilled and God explains it. If God doesn’t interpret, we can’t understand it even though it is fulfilled. For God says: ‘In the eyes of God, man is smaller than an ant, so how can man fathom God’s work?’ (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) God is so great, so wondrous and unfathomable, and no believer in God can deny that. Since God can be incarnated as male, can’t He become female? So, as a believer in God, we should pray and seek more before God when we don’t understand, and shouldn’t jump to conclusions. This is what a true believer in God should do.”

     After two days’ fellowship, I finally understood the questions that had baffled me and gave up my former notions. Only then did I realize that all that I had done before were deeds that resist and rebel against God. If God had treated me according to my evil doings, I should have long been cursed by God. I am sincerely grateful to Almighty God for giving me a second life, which left me a chance to receive God’s salvation of the last days. The above is the story of how I fiercely resisted Almighty God’s work of the last days. I hope that none of the brothers and sisters who have not accepted Almighty God’s gospel of the last days will resist God and reject His salvation while expecting Him to come like me. Because the word of Almighty God says: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)

    When I finished writing this testimony, my face was covered with tears. I remembered the scenes of the past, when I rebelled against and resisted Almighty God and when my sister left my home in tears. I thought: How hard Almighty God carries out the work on the earth and how much humiliation He has suffered for saving man. Although I fabricated rumors, spoke blasphemous and slanderous words against Him, and sealed off the church, Almighty God didn’t abandon me or repay me according to my sins of resistance against Him; rather, He did all He could to save me, sending people to preach the gospel to me again and again, and finally brought me before Him and gave me an opportunity to repent and start anew. At that time, I couldn’t help crying to God, “O Almighty God! I was too rebellious and I grieved You. I feel deeply indebted to You…. In the rest of my life, I will devote myself to testifying Your wonderful deeds!”

  Source: The Church of Almighty God |  Almighty God Gave Me a Second Life