I Unexpectedly Welcomed the Lord’s Return by Watching Gospel Films (PART 2)
Christian Testimony | I Unexpectedly Welcomed the Lord’s Return by Watching Gospel Films (PART 2)
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Finding the Answer
I continued watching the movie, only to see Sister Wang fellowship, “As for the issue we’ve discussed today, please allow us to read some of Almighty God’s words together. ‘No one knows the reality of the Bible: that it is nothing more than a historical record of God’s work, and a testament to the previous two stages of God’s work, and offers you no understanding of the aims of God’s work. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it documents the two stages of God’s work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament chronicles the history of Israel and Jehovah’s work from the time of creation until the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul; are they not historical records?’ (‘Concerning the Bible (4)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“‘The Bible is a historical book, and if you had eaten and drunk the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—if you had put into practice what was required in the time of the Old Testament during the Age of Grace—Jesus would have rejected you, and condemned you; if you had applied the Old Testament to the work of Jesus, you would have been a Pharisee. … During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. So, too, were His work, His teachings, and the authority and power of His words beyond any man during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? His work was in order to lead a new path, it was not to deliberately pick a fight against the Bible, or to deliberately dispense with the Old Testament. He simply came to perform His ministry, to bring the new work to those who yearned for and sought Him. He didn’t come to explain the Old Testament or uphold its work. His work was not in order to allow the Age of Law to continue developing, for His work gave no consideration to whether it had the Bible as its base; Jesus simply came to do the work that He ought to do. … After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible!’” (‘Concerning the Bible (1)’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Sister Wang then gave fellowship, saying, “Through God’s words, we have understood that for many years, we have all conflated God with the Bible. We have all thought that all believers in God must believe in the Bible, and all those who depart from the Bible cannot be called believers, that it is heresy. The truth is that the Bible only encompasses a true record of God’s first two stages of work. That is, the Bible is a true testimony of God’s two stages of work of guiding and redeeming mankind after He created heaven and earth and all things, and mankind. It does not represent all of God’s work for saving mankind. The words of God that are recorded in the Bible are too limited! They are just a tiny fraction of the expression of His life disposition, and they do not represent all of it! God’s work is not based on the Bible, and it does not refer to the Bible, and He particularly does not find His way from within the Bible to lead His followers. God’s work is always moving forward. He opens up a new age, and He does new work. That is, He indicates a new path for mankind, bestows even higher truths upon us, and allows us to gain greater salvation from Him! That is why He will not lead mankind based on His old work. He will not work based on the Bible because He is not merely the Lord of the Sabbath, but He is also the Lord of the Bible! He fully has the right to step outside the bounds of the Bible and to do new work according to His own plan and the current needs of mankind! God’s work in the new age and His work in the old ages recorded in the Bible couldn’t possibly be the same. So saying that ‘Departing from the Bible is heresy’ does not stand at all!”
After watching this, I was ashamed. I thought, “Yes. God’s work came first and then the Bible. The Bible is only a testimony of God’s two previous stages of work. This fellowship conforms to the facts. In the Age of Grace, the work the Lord Jesus did was different from the work Jehovah God did during the time of the Old Testament. Isn’t this telling us that God is the Lord of creation, and has every right to go beyond the Bible to perform His work? Why hadn’t this simple question ever occurred to me before? Now it seems that the notion ‘departing from the Bible is heresy’ does not hold up. I’m so foolish and ignorant! In the past, I blindly listened to the words of pastors and elders, I foolishly followed along without discernment. I also blindly clung to my own notions, I delimited God to the Bible, and replaced God with the Bible. As a result, I almost lost the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s return and very nearly became a modern-day Pharisee that resists God. Thank God for not abandoning me, and for allowing me to understand this aspect of the truth, so that I was able to cast aside my mistaken views.”
Following God’s Footsteps, Obtaining the Supply of the Living Water of Life
One day, I was watching the movie Come Out of the Bible, and the fellowship of Sister Wang in the movie drew me in. “There’s no eternal life in the Bible. Even though this doesn’t accord with our own notions, this is a fact that cannot be denied because when the Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees long ago, He warned people: ‘Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me, that you might have life’ (John 5:39–40). The Lord Jesus clearly indicated that there is no eternal life in the Bible, and if people want to gain eternal life by relying on the Bible, that is wrong! The Bible just bears witness to God, but if people want to gain the truth and life in their belief in God, just relying on the Bible is not enough. Gaining the truth, and gaining life must come from Christ!”
After hearing this fellowship, I was totally convinced. I thought, “It turns out that the Lord Jesus has told us long ago that the Bible does not contain eternal life, it is only a testimony of God. It can’t give human beings eternal life. Only God is the truth, the way, and the life, and only God can give us eternal life. Why did I not gain illumination when I read the Bible in the past?”
I continued to watch and saw a preacher say, “Let’s look at another passage from Almighty God’s words! ‘Since there is a higher way, why study that low, outdated way? Since there are newer utterances, and newer work, why live amid old historical records? The new utterances can provide for you, which proves that this is the new work; the old records can’t sate you, or satisfy your current needs, which proves that they are history, and not the work of the here and now. The highest way is the newest work, and with the new work, no matter how high the way of the past, it is still the history of people’s reflections, and no matter its value as reference, it is still the old way. Even though it is recorded in the ‘holy book,’ the old way is history; even though there is no record of it in the ‘holy book,’ the new way is of the here and now. This way can save you, and this way can change you, for this is the work of the Holy Spirit’” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Then, she fellowshiped, “Although God’s work in the last days was only prophesied in the Bible, and there were no actual records of it, it is based on mankind’s actual needs and it is work that is deepened and made loftier based on the foundation of the Bible. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, although He didn’t work according to the Old Testament, He did work according to mankind’s requirements and God’s own plan. He completed a stage of the work of redemption on the foundation of the work of the law, that is, He completed a new, loftier stage of work on the foundation of the Old Testament. In that stage of work, He didn’t revoke the old law, but perfected it. Likewise, in the last days today, God is doing another stage of newer, loftier work on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption based on mankind’s needs, based on God’s management plan, uttering so many words that can purify and save mankind. He is also revealing all the mysteries of God’s management plan. These are things that God never said in the Age of Law or in the Age of Grace. They are also the scroll, the seven seals that God is opening up in the last days.
“This fulfills the prophecy in the Book of Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7). It is also written in Revelation 5:1–5: ‘And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.’ These prophecies only existed after the Lord Jesus had completed His work. It goes without saying that these prophecies are certainly the things that God is going to achieve, as well as the work of salvation that God is going to do in the last days. Now, God has become flesh and has come to utter words. He has done a stage of the work of judgment and purification, and has uttered many words that can allow people to be saved. These words are not in the Bible, but are words that are outside of the Bible. These enriching words of life are the way of life God has bestowed upon mankind in the last days, and they are the only path for man’s salvation. If we refuse to accept them, we will never be able to be truly watered by the living water of God’s life, and we will never be able to gain the truth or life from God.”
Having watched the movie to this point, I understood that if one wants to gain life, they have to come out of the Bible and follow God’s footsteps. Only then can one gain full salvation from God. I also understood that God’s work always progresses forward. In the Age of Law, Jehovah God issued laws to guide mankind’s life on earth, teaching man how to worship God; in the Age of Grace, God personally incarnated, and on the basis of the work of the law, He did a stage of redemptive work; in the last days, Almighty God is doing the work of judgment, it is a newer and loftier work built on the foundation of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Word Appears in the Flesh that Almighty God has expressed, does not deny the Bible, rather, it is the way of eternal life that God bestows upon man in the last days. Now, The Church of Almighty God is testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned, only if I keep up with God’s new work can I obtain the supply of the living water of life. If I cling to the Bible and am not able to keep up with God’s new work, I will be ravished by famine and ultimately eliminated by God.
Immediately, I contacted brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God, and began living life in the church. Thinking back to the past, because I was deceived by the mistaken viewpoints the pastors and elders had instilled in me, I delimited God’s words and work to the Bible, thinking that departing from the Bible is heresy. When I heard brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God testify that the Lord Jesus has returned, not only did I not investigate, I even blindly heeded the words of the pastors and elders, clung to my notions, refused to accept God’s work and became a person that believes in God while opposing Him. How foolish and blind I was! It was God’s guidance that allowed me to hear His voice through watching The Church of Almighty God’s movies and allowed me to understand the truth, put aside my notions, and welcome the Lord’s appearance. This is all God’s grace and blessings. Thanks be to God for showing me mercy and saving me! Amen!
Source From: The Church of Almighty God