Welcoming the Lord is the greatest wish for all who long for His return. By the grace of God, I welcomed His return. My heart is full of gratitude toward Him and scenes of the past appearing in my mind.

The Desolation of the Church

After graduation, I came to work in America. There I was baptized into the faith of the Lord and became a Catholic. In the first several years after that, no matter how tired I was, every Sunday I would go to the church for Mass and focus my attention on listening to the priest’s preaching and feel the Lord’s love with my heart. The church friends were warm-hearted to each other, just like family members coming together.

But later, I gradually found that apart from espousing letters and doctrines and knowledge of history from the Bible, the priest had nothing new to preach. Although I listened to it carefully, I couldn’t get the supply of life or feel the work of the Holy Spirit at all. Moreover, when I had some questions, I dared not to ask the priest, because he always positioned himself high above, only noticing and speaking to those who contributed the most money or had a position. As for the common believers like me, he had no regard, much less answered our questions. The thing that disappointed me most was this. He actually argued with an old church friend who helped preach in the catechumen class. He even cursed the old church friend in front of many church members, so the old church friend had no longer come to our church since then. I saw that outwardly the priest dressed himself elegantly and was well-mannered, but actually he was as hypocritical as the world’s government officials. Therefore, my enthusiastic heart became cold gradually as if it had been doused by a bucket of cold water. What was more, I found that the church was the same as the outside world: Relationships between church friends were based on nothing but mutual interest. They became very kind only when they exploited connections to sell products or do business. Other times they came and went in haste and guarded against each other and were indifferent like people in the outside world. I couldn’t feel the love between each other.

During those years, in the church I learned nothing except some religious rules and rituals. During the sermons, many believers dozed off and later I also became drowsy, somehow. And I didn’t want to go to church gradually, even to the extent of going there once every several months. Because I felt empty and had no support, I became unknowingly addicted to TV series . In order to fill the emptiness within my heart, I was obsessed with them every day and had a decadent life. Even after I got married and had kids, I watched soap operas in my leisure time and even though I went to the church for Mass sometimes, I was sleepy. I felt very confused about this. Until one day in December 2017, I met one of my old classmates in the park. She also believed in the Lord. Thanks to this encounter, my confusion was resolved and I welcomed the Lord.

My Confusion Was Resolved

The weather in December was cold, but that day was a sunny day. With the sun shining on us, we were full of warmth. My classmate and I were invited to her friend’s house to listen to the preaching. The preacher was a brother, who was proficient in the Bible. He integrated some characters recorded in the Bible such as Abraham, Job, Peter, the woman of Samaria, and so on, and fellowshiped their experiences of knowing God. I enjoyed very much listening to it. When we had some questions, he was very patient in giving us an answer, and he wouldn’t stop until we understood. Moreover, what he fellowshiped was enlightening, which made me feel very brightened. I liked the gathering very much for there was no distinction of class. Instead, everyone sat together face-to-face fellowshiping. I felt very free and released with no restraint.

Later, my classmate told my confusion to the brother and asked, “Why is the church the same as the outside world? In church, we doze off during the sermons and can’t feel the Lord’s love and the work of the Holy Spirit at all. Could you tell us your views?”

The brother said, “Thank God! The question you’ve asked is an important one. We all know that we live in the late period of the last days. The Lord Jesus once prophesied, ‘And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.’ (Matthew 24:12). Lawlessness in the world of religion is growing. Religious leaders don’t abide by the Lord’s commandments, but only follow religious ceremonies and ancient traditions, turning churches into places of religious rituals and treating their responsibilities and duties as access to status and income. They appear godly outside but substantively are hypocritical. They don’t at all exalt God or bear witness to God, God’s words, and God’s requirements of man when preaching biblical knowledge, but they only show off and bear witness to themselves. This leads to them deviating from the Lord’s way and bringing believers before themselves. They’ve been loathed and rejected by God. Another reason is that the Lord will perform a new stage of work in the last days and personally come to earth and express the truth to save mankind who was corrupted by Satan. The Bible prophesied, ‘Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them’ (Ezekiel 34:10–11). From these verses, we can see the Lord will personally come to search for, shepherd, and lead His sheep.” Hearing those words “come to earth, express the truth, personally search for and shepherd His sheep,” and his fellowship, I felt the love and care from the Lord and my heart was deeply touched. Unknowingly tears blurred my eyes. A sister was considerate and handed me some tissues with a smile. I took them with a shy smile. Then I listened to his fellowship carefully lest I missed something.

Reunion With the Lord

The brother went on fellowshiping, “The Lord Jesus once said, ‘I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you.’ (John 16:12–13). From these verses we can see when the Lord returns, He will express the truth and tell us the things we do not know. Now the Lord has returned to the flesh, expressed all the truths man requires to be saved and begun the work of judgment beginning with the house of God to purify all who accept His work of the last days. And the work of the Holy Spirit turns to God’s work of the last days. Those who accept God’s work of judgment in the last days will receive the work of the Holy Spirit, and receive the watering and provision of the living water of life, while those who stop in religious place and refuse to accept God’s work of the last days are left in dark desolation. This proves a prophecy in the Bible, ‘I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon: and the piece whereupon I rained not, withered. And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.’ (Amos 4:7–8). Just as the Old Testament recorded that at the end of the Age of Law, the temple that originally shined with the glory of the Lord fell into desolation—it became a place of trade, a den of thieves. This was because the Lord came and performed a new stage of work. Those who accepted the work of the Lord Jesus were accompanied by the work of the Holy Spirit, while those who rejected His work were eliminated by the work of the Holy Spirit.”

I said, “Now the situation of the churches is almost the same as that of the temple at the end of the Age of Law. They have also become a place of trade.” Others all said, “That’s right. They are indeed the same.” The brother nodded and said, “In order to gain the work of the Holy Spirit and watering of the living water of life, we must escape the deception and shackles of pastors and priests in the churches to seek and study the work of God in the last days. Only in this way can we follow the footprints of the Holy Spirit and come out of the spiritual darkness.” Then the brother turned on his computer and read two 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 will suffer 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.” “God has made this group of people the sole focus of His work throughout all the universe. He has sacrificed all His heart’s blood for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why you are the fortunate ones. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, onto you, and He shall make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through this group. Therefore, you are the ones who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more than this, you are the heirs to God’s glory.”

The brother went on fellowshiping, “God has reclaimed all the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the universe and worked on those who follow His work of the last days, in order that they can hear God’s voice and be raptured before His throne to accept the judgment, purification and perfection of His words. After God makes this group of people into overcomers, He will send down great disasters to reward the good and punish the evil. At that time, all those who don’t accept God’s work of judgment in the last days or achieve purification and change will fall into disasters and be punished.” Hearing this, I was very surprised: Is this the truth? The Lord Jesus has truly returned? If we don’t follow God’s work, the outcome will be so severe? It’s so sudden. With a lot of doubts and confusions, I listened attentively.

Afterward, the brother fellowshiped with us about the truths of the origin of the Bible, the mystery of incarnation, the inside story of three stages of work, the meaning of God’s names, and other aspects. His fellowship was well-grounded and very clear. I thought: “The Lord must have returned. Otherwise, how could the brother know so many mysteries?” Thank God! By His grace, I welcomed the Lord.

Satan’s Disturbance

One day, I came over to my sister’s house with my child and then I asked her whether she knew Eastern Lightning. She stared at me keenly, saying, “I’m telling you. Don’t believe in Eastern Lightning.” And then she said a lot of negative things about it. I said in a tone of anger, “Sister, you should find out about everything before speaking. Don’t follow the herd. You haven’t investigated The Church of Almighty God but blindly judge it. Is that right? We Christians should have a heart that reveres God.” She replied angrily, “I’m reminding you for your good, lest you take the wrong path. You can see for yourself on the Internet.” Her words aroused my curiosity. I thought: “Is it really like what she said? I must check it out.” And then I searched on the Internet and saw many rumors. In particular I saw the May 28 Murder Case in a McDonald’s in Zhaoyuan, Shandong. After seeing it, I was very frightened and became a little wavering. I thought to myself: “Is this real? Is the way true or not? What if it is wrong?” However, I recalled the small details of gatherings with the brothers and sisters—everybody was kind and I gained a lot in each meeting. I didn’t want to give up this way. At that moment, there was a fierce battle in my heart. I was afraid of being deceived and taking the wrong way, yet I was also afraid of missing the opportunity to welcome the Lord. Therefore, I called my classmate and told her this matter, wanting to find the brother and figure it out.

The Truth Came Out

During the meeting, the brother played for us two videos: “Jia Chunwang Ordered Siege on The Church of Almighty God. Project 807 Caused the Purported McDonald’s Murder” presented by MingjingLive, and “The Truth Exposed Behind the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case,” which allowed me to have some discernment of the rumors online. Then the brother fellowshiped, “The defendants of the Zhaoyuan case of Shandong clearly stated in court that what the state had been cracking down on was not the ‘Almighty God’ that they believed in and that they never had contact with The Church of Almighty God. They themselves didn’t admit they belonged to The Church of Almighty God, but the CCP judges openly contradicted the fact and ruled that these suspects were the followers of The Church of Almighty God. They brazenly framed and blamed The Church of Almighty God for this case. Wasn’t it twisting fact and framing, defaming The Church of Almighty God on purpose?” “Yes, it was.” We replied in chorus. The brother went on saying, “Then why did the CCP do this? What was its purpose? As we all know, the CCP is an atheist party. Since it gained power, it has been frantically suppressing and banning Christianity, Catholicism and other forms of religion. It has labelled Christianity and Catholicism as evil cults and the Holy Bible as the work of an evil cult, confiscating and destroying innumerable copies of the Bible and arresting countless Christians. Now, Almighty God has become flesh and delivered utterances of millions of words. People in all denominations who love the truth and yearn for light, after reading the words of Almighty God, all confirm God’s words are the truth and that Almighty God is the appearance of the Christ of the Last Days, so they have one after another accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days. In recent years, the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God has spread to many foreign countries and regions. The words of Almighty God are being spread and witnessed by more and more people. The rapid development of The Church of Almighty God has caused the CCP to panic. It fears that after people read God’s words and understand the truth, they will see through its demonic essence and reject it in their heart. Therefore, in order to protect its dictatorial regime and turn China into an atheist state, it framed and blamed The Church of Almighty God for the Shandong Zhaoyuan Case and wanted to build up public opinion for it to ban The Church of Almighty God. From this we can see the CCP is the devil Satan, the enemy of God.”

One sister said, “That’s right. Concealment and deception are impermanent, and dark clouds cannot block the sunlight. Lies are always lies and they will never turn into the truth.” My classmate also said, “Yes. For so many years, the CCP has become increasingly notorious for its deceits and frauds. The cases adjudicated by the CCP’s courts cannot be trusted.” After seeing clearly the true facts, I felt very indignant. The CCP is too evil, too detestable, and it is capable of any low-down tricks. Meanwhile, I realized that I was so foolish and ignorant, and had no discernment that I almost fell into Satan’s scheme. The brother said, “Sister, this isn’t a bad thing. Through these rumors, we can understand some truths and have some discernment of the CCP. This is a harvest. Thanks be to God.”

Rejoicing at the Lord’s Coming

After experiencing the disturbances of the rumors, I had some knowledge of the nature and essence of the CCP resisting and hating God and saw through the CCP’s sinister intentions of creating rumors. I was not deceived by the rumors any longer and returned to God again. From then on, as long as I had time, I would read God’s words and have meetings and fellowship the truth with my brothers and sisters. I was completely sure that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. I no longer felt empty and lonely and I rid myself of that degenerate and decadent life of watching soap operas. I, a lost sheep, finally welcomed the Lord and returned to God’s family. Afterward, I spread the gospel to my husband, and he also returned to God’s family. Now, we have meetings, fellowship God’s words, and fulfill the duty of spreading the gospel together. I enjoy the feeling of peace and joy in my heart that I have never felt before. Thanks be to God!