I was once an ordinary employee in a private enterprise. Though I wasn’t worried about food and clothes, the fast-paced life, shuttling back and forth between home and company every day, made me feel extremely empty and tedious. Besides, the present society is too dark. I was dismissed just because I couldn’t fawn over our leaders and was too guileless while working. In the face of these unfair treatment, I felt frustrated and lost the courage to live on. However, when I fell to the lowest point in my life, fortunately, I welcomed the dawn, which illuminated the direction of my life.

By chance, a friend preached Almighty God’s work of the last days to me, making me, the one who had never known God before, feel especially surprised. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I began reading God’s words, living the church life, singing and dancing to praise God together with brothers and sisters. I saw each of them was so simple and plain, and they were equal without the distinction of high and low when getting along with each other. Feeling so relaxed and released, and being at peace and enjoyable in my heart, I was deeply affected by such a new world. However, because I had believed in God for only a short time, and didn’t have the ability to discern Satan’s trickery, when facing people, matters, things and environment God orchestrated, I showed a pathetic look without truth …

One night, after performing my duty, I arrived home happily. Seeing that I came back, my mother-in-law passed me her phone and said coldly: “Read it!” Watching her expression, I murmured within: What is it that makes her so serious? Then, I took her phone curiously. When I scrolled down the screen, suddenly, I saw a negative public report against The Church of Almighty God. I knew China, an atheistic country, only advocated atheism and had been cracking down us believers in God severely all the time. I had listened to the fellowships of brothers and sisters: The CCP government has spread numerous words to attack and blaspheme Almighty God on the Internet. The negative propaganda is not in accordance with the truth, nor is it on the basis of the facts. Then I thought: If I don’t read them, how can I know what they talk about? We always say the CCP government has fabricated a lot of rumors about The Church of Almighty God, but what on earth do the rumors say? I’d better read them and then I can gain some discernment! So, driven by curiosity, I tapped that link. I sat on the sofa, and read that report word for word, in which there were many fallacies and heresies. At first, I could discern what they said was false the moment I read several of them. But when I read one line of the last page, all of a sudden, I was confused and my mood plummeted to an all-time low, I collapsed on the sofa without moving for a long time. It read clearly on the webpage: “The people in The Church of Almighty God worships a man as God, all believers obey His words and treat Him as God and believe in Him.” I was confused by these words. I asked myself over and over again: Was my belief really wrong? Do I believe in a man, not God? How could it be possible? … But I couldn’t make it clear whether I believed in a man or in God. So I stood up, gave the phone to my mother-in-law without saying a word and went back to my bedroom. On that night, I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, and my mind was filled with the words about believing in a man. No matter how I forsook my flesh and forced myself not to think about it, it was useless. How should I determine that Almighty God I believe in is the incarnate God Himself? The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became. Is my faith wrong? And I thought: How could it be possible? When attending meetings with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God, I see they live out godly. For the sake of satisfying God, they can suffer bitterness and pay costs, and they perform their duties with the utmost confidence. If it weren’t the work of the true God, how could they run about willingly? How could they have such great love for man? I could not figure it out anyway and was in a great quandary. I felt as if time went especially slowly, and I only longed for daybreak, so that I could find the brothers and sisters who understood the truth and let them have a fellowship with me.

The next day, I went for sister Shi at the break of dawn. Another two sisters were just there. Sister Shi saw my face looked extremely bad and concernedly asked my condition. Then I told her my experience of last night and said: “My previous visions all disappeared just because of seeing those words, and I don’t know how to distinguish them. We often fellowship: In the Age of Kingdom, God carries out His work by becoming flesh. Since He is a normal man, how can we ascertain that Almighty God is the true incarnate God?” Then she answered me with a smile: “No wonder you look so bad, you are poisoned by the negative propaganda on the internet. So how can we determine that Almighty God we believe in is the incarnate God Himself? Let’s look at the work of the Lord Jesus first. When the Lord Jesus became flesh and came to do the work of redemption, none of us could tell that He was God Himself from His external appearance. We only saw that He was the son of a poor carpenter and was from Nazareth. Then why could nobody recognize that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah? This was because people of that time only saw the humanity of the incarnate God, but didn’t see His divinity. However, when the Lord Jesus began to do the redemptive work formally, His divinity was fully revealed. He preached the way of repentance everywhere, healed and cast out demons, and performed lots of signs and wonders, resurrected and appeared to people who followed Him three days after the crucifixion, which couldn’t be done by anyone, and is a true revelation of His divine substance. Almighty God says: ‘The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood; He is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself’ (“The Essence of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father”). God’s words are so clear. The flesh that God wears on earth is a normal man from His external appearance, but the substance of the flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit, and is the combination of both complete divinity and normal humanity. His normal humanity only sustains His work in the flesh. With this normal humanity, Christ is able to have a normal humanity life on earth. If He did not have normal humanity but only had divinity, then He couldn’t be said to be the incarnation. However, we humans only have normal humanity but no divinity. So, the substance of Christ and us humans cannot be spoken of as equals. Today, God becomes flesh again and carries out the work in the last days. In the same way, He also wears a normal flesh. There is no difference in external appearance, but this normal flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit and that is God Himself.”

On hearing these words, I became calm and said: “Yes, Christ has not only normal humanity but also divine substance, so Christ is the incarnate God Himself. I can understand this now. Then How should I determine that Almighty God is the incarnate God Himself?”

Sister Shi answered: “Let’s see how God’s words say about that. Almighty God says: ‘It is not difficult to inquire into such a thing, but it requires each of us to know this one truth: He who is God incarnate shall possess the essence of God, and He who is God incarnate shall possess the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He intends to do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon him, and point the way for him. Flesh that does not have the essence of God is decidedly not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. If man intends to inquire into whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, then he must corroborate this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, to corroborate whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, one must discriminate on the basis of His essence. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key lies in His essence (His work, His utterances, His disposition, and many other aspects), rather than external appearance. If man scrutinizes only His external appearance, and as a result overlooks His essence, this shows that man is benighted and ignorant’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words tell us that only through the words and work of the incarnate God can we know that He is God Himself. No matter how normal and ordinary God’s normal humanity is, all the truths He expresses and His divinity entirely represent God. For example, when the Lord Jesus came to the earth and carried out the work, His disciple, Simon Peter, said: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life’ (John 6:68). From this we can see that Peter followed the Lord Jesus was not because of His external appearance, but because of knowing that the Lord Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life from His words and work. And then he recognized that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. For another example, when the Samaritan woman met the Lord Jesus, she only thought Him an ordinary Jew. Just because the words the Lord said later, ‘For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly’ (John 4:18), the Samaritan woman began to know that the Lord Jesus is the coming Messiah, for she knew God observes the depths of man’s heart and only He knows man’s innermost secrets. We saw the Samaritan woman knew that the Lord Jesus is God also by His words. God’s words are the truth, the way, and the life; God’s words are the direct utterances from God’s divinity and represent God Himself. Therefore, the utterances of God are the only way of knowing God for us. Today, in the last days, what Almighty God carries out is the work of expressing words to supply our life. If we want to determine whether Almighty God is the incarnate God Himself, we should put in a lot of efforts on God’s words to see whether God’s words are the utterances of the truth, or whether they can be our life. This is the imperative thing!”

Listening to God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I nodded involuntarily and thought: Yes, the truth can only come from God, and none of us possesses the truth. If He is God’s incarnate flesh, He surely could express truths and show us the way. Judging by appearances isn’t in accordance with the truth. God’s flesh only sustains His work, and if we always judge whether He is God’s incarnate flesh by His appearance, we will be too silly! I should still center more efforts on God’s words to determine whether the utterances of Almighty God are the truths, whether He is the incarnate God Himself! So I said to sister: “Your fellowship sounds reasonable. We should measure whether He is God’s incarnate flesh from His words, not from His appearance. The work that the Lord Jesus came to do in His age was an obvious example! But I still have another question: How can I determine that Almighty God’s words are the truths expressed by the incarnate God? Please share more in detail!”

Sister Shi nodded and said with a smile: “It is necessary to fellowship about this question. Only when we are able to recognize God’s voice can we be certain about God that we believe in. We will not be deceived by various heresies and fallacies from Satan any more. Then how should we recognize the voice of God? Let’s look at what God says about it. Almighty God says: ‘The words of God incarnate open up a new age, guide all of mankind, reveal mysteries, and show man the direction he is to take in the new age. The enlightenment obtained by man is but simple instructions for practice or knowledge. It cannot guide all of mankind into a new age or reveal the mysteries of God Himself. When all is said and done, God is God, and man is man. God has the essence of God, and man has the essence of man. If man views the words spoken by God as simple enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, and takes the words of the apostles and prophets as words personally spoken by God, that would be man’s mistake’ (“Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh”). ‘He is well aware of the substance of man and can reveal all kinds of practices pertaining to all kinds of people. He is even better at revealing the corrupt dispositions and the rebellious behavior of humans. He does not live among worldly people, but He is aware of the nature of mortals and all the corruptions of worldly people’ (“God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, we can see it clearly: The words of God incarnate can initiate a new age, show us the direction ahead in a new age, reveal the mysteries unknown to us, reveal our corrupt nature, and moreover, bestow eternal life upon us. All of these are unattainable by us humans. So the words spoken by us can’t start a new age or reveal mysteries and our corruption. We humans’ words, no matter how profound, are only a little experience and knowledge of us. The experience and knowledge are also in the scope of God’s work, which are obtained from God’s work and aren’t what we have and are. These are several features that we must master to determine the utterances of God incarnate. For example, when the Lord Jesus officially did His work, He began to preach the way of repentance. Although John also preached then: ‘Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ He didn’t conclude the Age of Law or bring the Age of Grace because he only did the work of paving the way for the Lord Jesus in advance. As the Lord Jesus preached: ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ He concluded the work of the Age of Law and started the work of the Age of Grace accordingly. Later, the Lord Jesus worked, spoke and taught people of that time to confess and repent, to love enemies, to love your neighbor as yourself, to be humble and patient, and asked them to cover head, to be baptized, to break bread and to drink wine. People of that age followed the Lord Jesus to enter into a new age unwittingly and started new practices. As a creature, nobody could make it. Only God incarnate can bring us the new practice. Almighty God says: ‘There could only be a new age when Jesus came to do new work, to launch a new age, to break through the work previously done in Israel, and to conduct His work not in accordance with the work done by Jehovah in Israel, or with His old rules, or in conformity to any regulations, but rather to do the new work that He should do. God Himself comes to launch the age, and God Himself comes to bring the age to an end. Man is incapable of doing the work of beginning the age and concluding the age. If Jesus did not bring the work of Jehovah to an end after He came, then that would be proof that He was merely a man and incapable of representing God. Precisely because Jesus came and concluded the work of Jehovah, continued the work of Jehovah and, moreover, carried out His own work, a new work, it proves that this was a new age, and that Jesus was God Himself’ (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The expression of God’s words can change the entire old age, and the whole of mankind will progress forward accordingly. It is the authority and power of God’s words. Today, in the last days, because we have been corrupted more and more deeply by Satan, mere confession and repentance are not able to solve our corrupt nature. That is to say, the root of sin within man is still ingrained. So God incarnate comes to earth for the second time to express several millions of words, and He begins the Age of Kingdom and ends the Age of Grace. God won’t only let us confess and repent or walk the path of the cross, but shows us a more practical way to change our disposition. Then the whole of mankind will keep pace with God’s work with one step forward. Just as Almighty God’s word says: ‘In the Age of Kingdom, God uses words to usher in the new age, to change the means by which He works, and to do the work of the entire age. This is the principle by which God works in the Age of Word’ (“The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path by which man gains life, and it is the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God’ (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words expressed by God are the truth, the way and the life, and are the practical needs of us. As long as we accept these truths, we will have a path to walk. Almighty God has expressed all aspects of the truth in the last days. For example, what true faith in God is, how to pursue to love God, what Peter’s road is and what Paul’s road is, how to become an honest man, how to fulfill one’s duty as a creature, how to walk on the road of revering God and shunning evil. In the aspect of knowing God, the truths are also very rich: How to know the righteousness of God, the holy substance of God and the authority of God, and how to know God is the source of life for all things. The truths of all aspects are rich and they are the sustenance and tonics of our spiritual life. If we equip ourselves with these words of God, they will become a guideline for our conduct and behavior, and so we can live out the likeness of a true man God requires. Just as when I believed in the Lord Jesus: God didn’t express many truths about how to pursue the truth to be saved in the Age of Grace. Even though there were some, the truths were not sufficiently specific and were not detailed. Thus I only knew that I should read the Bible more, run around more and spend more. I thought that doing these things was believing in God and I would be approved by God. However, the more I sought like this, the darker my spirit grew. I felt sluggish and hopeless, and finally I lost the work of the Holy Spirit. Later, I was lucky to accept the work of Almighty God in the last days. From the words of God, I knew my previous deviation in believing in God and found the exact way of practice in truly believing in God. We must first believe that God holds sovereignty over all things. Upon this basis, we experience God’s work in the people and things God has arranged for us in daily life and practice the words of God, then we will be able to understand the truth and get our corrupt disposition changed, and eventually get to know Him. Only by believing in God like this can we be approved by God.”

img class="size-full wp-image-1746 aligncenter" src="https://www.testifygod.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Seeing-Through-Rumors-According-to-the-Truth-II-1.jpg" alt="salvation, gospel,Testimonies" width="640" height="360" />

Another sister said: “The work of God Himself is known by God himself. Only He can say it clearly. Just as Deuteronomy 29:29 says, ‘The secret things belong to Jehovah our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever.’ Almighty God’s arrival brings all the truths and reveals all the mysteries. So it is completely proved that Almighty God is just the incarnate God Himself.”

I pondered sisters’ fellowships, recalling my path of believing in God: Since I accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days, I have found my true life under the guidance of Almighty God’s words. God asks us to be an honest man and a man with normal humanity. Although I live with my parents-in-law, I have always been practicing this truth according to God’s requirements during our interactions. I consider their feelings and try to live out the likeness of a true Christian in real life. As a result, we seldom come into conflict. It is Almighty God’s words that bring me a way to practice. These words are most needed by us corrupt humans. Haven’t I enjoyed some of it? How can I think that I believe in a man? Thinking of this, I said to sisters: “These fellowships make me really understand much and convince me beyond the shadow of a doubt. Eventually I determine that Almighty God is a true God whom I should worship. Because only He can express so many truths, any high-caliber person or great person isn’t able to express them. Almighty God’s words have completely solved my problem. Now I have seen it clearly that those words are all heresies and fallacies, which can only deceive those people who don’t know the truth. As long as we seek to understand the truth, those heresies and fallacies will collapse by themselves. Satan is really a paper tiger, which can be broken at the slightest touch!”

Sister Shi said happily: “Right! Satan’s sinister intention of spreading rumors is to deceive us and to make us leave God and lose the opportunity of being saved and go to hell with it. But the words of Almighty God can defeat all the heresies and fallacies. No matter how many tricks Satan has, it can’t withstand the slightest blow before God. When faced with problems, we will solve them only by seeking the truth. If we only look at the appearance of Christ and don’t seek the truth to know His substance, then we will condemn God incarnate by our conceptions and imaginations and become the chief of sinners to resist God finally, completely losing God’s salvation of the last days. So when we are caught in some difficulties in future, we must seek the truth together to see through Satan’s tricks and stand testimony. In our daily life, we should also concentrate our efforts on the words of God. The more truths we understand, the deeper knowledge of God we have. We will make certain that this insignificant flesh is the embodiment of God in heaven and He is the one true God worthy of being worshipped by all mankind!”

With the book of God’s words in my hand, I nodded excitedly, feeling warm in my heart. Although I was deceived by Satan’s rumors, I have greater faith in God by fellowshipping about the truths. I am willing to focus on God’s words and follow Almighty God firmly!