Eastern Lightning | Gospel Questions & Answers

We have seen online many speeches by the Chinese Communist government and the religious world that malign, slander, attack and discredit the Church of Almighty God (such as the “5.28” incident in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province). We also know that the CCP is best at telling lies and falsehoods and skewing facts to deceive the people, as well as being best at maligning, attacking and judging those nations it is hostile to, so any word the CCP says must absolutely not be believed. But many of the things said by religious pastors and elders are the same as the things the CCP says, so exactly how should we discern the slanderous, discrediting words that come from the CCP and the religious world?

Unable to stop God's work

Answer:

Why are Satan’s evil forces attacking God’s work in such a way, judging God’s work so? Why are the evil forces of the great red dragon frenziedly attacking and condemning God, and oppressing the church of God?

Why do all evil forces belonging to Satan, including the antichrist communities within the religious circle, condemn Almighty God? That is because Satan knows that its end is near, that God has already secured His kingdom and has arrived, and that Satan shall immediately perish if it does not engage in a decisive battle with God. Have you grasped this fact? (Yes.) Once they have heard the frenzied condemnations from the Chinese Communist Party government, many confused people decide that this is not the true way; once they have seen the widespread condemnation from the pastors and elders of the religious circle, they decide that this is not the true way. In what ways are these people confused? Are they able to see through the dark and evil essence of the world? The Bible said, “And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (Jhn 1:5). Do they truly understand these words? “The whole world lies in wickedness” (1Jn 5:19). Can they comprehend the true meaning of these words? They are unable to see through anything. They think that if it should be the true way, if God has arrived, then the Chinese government should be welcoming it, the religious circle should be welcoming it, and that would make it the true way. What kind of logic is this? Is this not the Satan’s logic? (Yes, it is.) When some people study the work of God, they first look at whether the world welcomes and agrees with the Church of Almighty God, the Eastern Lightning, whether the religious circle welcomes and agrees with it. “If the world welcomes it, and especially, if the CCP government declares that it is the true way, only then can we believe in it. If all the pastors and elders from the religious circle declare that this is the true way, that this is the return of the Lord Jesus, only then can we accept it.” Are there many confused people like this? (Yes, there are.) Some people, just as they are going to spend for God, the great red dragon, Satan, comes to test them: “The Church of Almighty God kidnaps people. If you believe in Almighty God, then you won’t be able to leave, otherwise they would gouge out your eyes, cut off your ears, and break your legs.” Tell me, if this is truly the case, how many people in this world would already have their eyes gouged out and their ears cut off? Have you seen one such case? (No.) Tell me, of all the people who have spent for God, have you seen any one of them who has been kidnapped, who was forced to spend for God because they would not be able to return otherwise? If they were truly kidnapped, would their work and their preaching be effective? (No.) Once someone with a clear head ponders this matter, they would come to the conclusion: “This is the case, this is a rumor made up by the CCP, this is a lie told by the CCP. The devil Satan is really good at spreading rumors, how come I didn’t see the truth?” Some people do not believe these words, while others do. Some people, just when they want to spend for God, they hear that “The Church of Almighty God kidnaps people. If you get kidnapped by them, do not have any hope that you can come back. Even if you should come back, at the very least, you will have your eyes gouged out, your ears cut off.” Once they hear this, they no longer dare to spend for God. “I cannot dedicate myself. This is dangerous, I might lose my life!” and they leave. Do these people have the ability to understand? (No.) Some people also say: “I see that the words of Almighty God are the words of God, they are the voice of God. I have basically determined that the words of Almighty God are true, but what is this organization, the Church of Almighty God? I still have not thoroughly studied this. I have no understanding of the Church of Almighty God. Are they actually capable of kidnapping people? If they should kidnap me, are they capable of gouging out my eyes and cutting off my ears?” This is where they get confused. They say: “I cannot go. If they should gouge out my eyes and cut off my ears, then I would become disabled for the rest of my life. I still have a question mark hanging over the Church of Almighty God, I do not understand it; regarding the utterances of God, I have basically determined them to be true, that they are the voice of God, that they have the truth.” They are very careful in their examination, doing so in two steps: First they examine the words of Almighty God, and see if they are the words of God. If they have accepted that these are truly the words of God, then they further examine if the Church of Almighty God is a real church. If the Church of Almighty God should be a criminal organization, while the words of Almighty God are real, doesn’t that still spell trouble for them? Is this possible? (No.) If this should be the case, then the Church of Almighty God is not a real church, but a criminal organization. Then who is preaching and bearing witness to God’s words? Who is bearing witness for Almighty God? If things are as they imagined, that the Church of Almighty God that is preaching God’s words and bearing witness for Almighty God is an organization of men, who are not of God, then isn’t the work of Almighty God just a sham? How could God allow people from a criminal organization, an organization of man, to exalt Him and bear witness for Him? Is this not a humiliation of God? Can God humiliate Himself? (No.) Some people are unable to see through this matter. They have acknowledged the words of God, yet they are unable to see clearly what type of a church the Church of Almighty God is, and they do not dare to believe in it. People from the Church of Almighty God say: “Can we meet and talk with you? Let us fellowship.” “No, I am busy at the moment, I do not have time,” while they are thinking: “I do not want to come into contact with you. What am I going to do if the people from your church should kidnap me after I come into contact with you?” These people cannot come close to compare with those saints who have martyred themselves for the Lord through the ages. When the Lord Jesus sent them to preach, it was as if throwing lambs into the midst of wolves, and those people dared to martyr themselves for the Lord. Now these people view the Church of Almighty God as a criminal organization. They have become timid and afraid. Is God disappointed by this? People are of little belief and they listen to the devil Satan, this is a tragedy of man.

Adam and Eve were quite happy in the Garden of Eden, obeying God and hearing God’s voice, but what caused them to sin in the end? After God had spoken to them, Satan came, said a few words to tempt them, and they were tricked, they blundered. After their blunder, they were cut off from God, God no longer spoke to them, God hid His face from them. Is this not a tragedy of man? (Yes, it is.) After listening to the words of Almighty God, many said, “Oh, this is truly the voice of God, this is really the truth. These words are so practical, there were not so many words uttered during the stage of the Lord Jesus.” All at once, it was as if they have once again returned to the embrace of God, and they felt blissful and content. Who would have thought that the Satan’s temptation should come at this very moment: “Have you heard of the Eastern Lightning? It is a criminal organization, it is a cult. If you do not believe in the gospel that they preach, they will gouge out your eyes and cut off your ears. They are terrible! Therefore, if you should come into contact with the Eastern Lightning, you must be careful, and you must never fall for their trickery.” And with this temptation from Satan, these men have been trapped. They are transfixed, and they no longer dare to spend for God. This is called “being clever your entire life, but ruined by a moment of foolishness.” Is there one person in all of Taiwan who has his eyes gouged out and his ears cut off? (No.) There is not a single case in all of Taiwan. There is also not a single case of anyone with eyes gouged out and ears cut off in all of Mainland China. If there should be even one such case, would the CCP relent? It would have employed all the media to make announcements to the entire world, even zealously publicize such incidents for days. Not even one such case can be found. The CCP is all-pervasive, yet those tempted by Satan do not know the true identity of the CCP, they are unable to see through all the sins that the CCP has committed, all the evil deeds that it has done. There is not one single grain of truth in all the things that the media of the CCP has ever said, yet these people are unable to see through this. You say that it is not easy to know God, because God is Spirit, because God is mysterious; but to know the CCP, to know Satan, this should be something that man is capable of, is this not?

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 130

Some people ask why the CCP government has labelled the Eastern Lightning as a cult.

As we all know, the CCP is an atheist party. It resists God and hates the truth more than any other. It has determined all churches and groups that believe in the true God as evil cults and has openly declared that the Bible is an evil cult book. This is a recognized fact. How could we be unaware of this? Besides, haven’t we suffered enough persecution for believing in the Lord Jesus over all these years? Have there not been enough preachers and Christians persecuted to death and imprisoned by them? How can we still listen to the rumors of the CCP government? When it comes to differentiating between cults and good religions, it can’t be differentiated by however some political party or person wants to differentiate it, and moreover it cannot be determined by some country or its national constitution. A good religion is regarded as a positive thing of benefit to mankind. Cults are regarded as negative things that corrupt mankind. If we want to determine whether a church is a good religion or an evil cult, it should be based on whether it is a positive or negative thing. Churches that come from God and are formed from God’s work are good religions. All those that come from Satan and the work of evil spirits are regarded as evil cults. The CCP government is regarded as a satanic regime that most resists God and hates the truth. The CCP is the true evil cult. It doesn’t have the right to comment on belief in God, and moreover is not qualified to condemn any group or church with religious beliefs.

Some people follow the CCP in condemning the Eastern Lightning as a cult because the CCP government persecutes the Eastern Lightning more fiercely than any other denomination. Does this viewpoint accord with the truth? The CCP satanic regime’s crackdown of the Eastern Lightning is most severe, most outrageous. This is enough to show that the CCP is most afraid of truth and despises God the most. Over these years, Chinese house churches and underground churches have continued to be condemned, persecuted and hunted by the CCP regime. Are we to deny that the Lord Jesus is the true God and true way because of this? We have believed in God for many years. Can we not see through this? The CCP has always twisted the truth and inverted right and wrong. This is the substance of Satan the devil. Can we still not differentiate between a good religion and an evil cult? All churches that believe in the true God are good religions. All those that believe in false gods, evil spirits, or Satan the devil are all evil cults. All those that advocate God-denying, God-resisting heresies such as atheism and evolution are all evil cults. Now, the Eastern Lightning is what is being most furiously condemned and cracked down on by the CCP. The whole world can see this very clearly. If we really can distinguish, we can be certain what is the true way from seeing what the satanic regime most opposes and loathes. The CCP most loathes the truth and most fears people accepting the truth. That is why it is so furiously resisting God. In the last days, only Almighty God is expressing truths to save mankind, only Almighty God is doing the work of saving and cleansing mankind. Is this not a fact? This way, we can see why the CCP most loathes the Church of Almighty God and most resists God. All those awaiting the Lord’s appearance should open their eyes and see just who is performing judgment work in the last days!

from Answers to Screenplay Questions

How can we solve the problem of man always having conceptions about God? This can be solved through pursuit of the truth. For example, some people claim I have embezzled the church’s funds, that I stole it and ran away, but does that sound correct to you? (No.) I would not steal the church’s money and run. Offerings to God are for me to manage and to allocate; how can you call this taking it and running away? That is not what it is. It is my responsibility to allocate this money and I have the authority to do so. So, such a claim is wrong. Some say I have escaped from China and run abroad. This is not so. I carried out my work in mainland China for over ten years. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that God would send me abroad. I thought that as long as God was doing His work in China, I would carry out my duty in China. I never thought of leaving. But this is where God led me; it was His instruction. At the time I had reservations, “I am on a wanted list. If You make me leave the country, then at customs won’t I be trapped? Isn’t this asking for trouble? If anything goes wrong, then surely I will be caught!” But I didn’t say these things. I said to myself, “Obey. Leave!” As a result, at customs, despite the danger, I was not caught. Would you call this running away? This was the Holy Spirit’s guidance, it was God’s instruction. So, once again the rumors spread by the Chinese Communist Party are wrong. They say I was being hunted down so I ran. This does not adhere to the truth. I never considered going abroad. It was God’s instruction to do so. He sent me. I took the risk and obeyed, albeit reluctantly, and so He led me through customs safely. At the time, what did I think about this? “If I make it through customs, then it is because God leads me through. If I do not make it through, then God has handed me over to Satan.” I accepted this. I obeyed!

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 138

The CCP, the great red dragon, says: “The Church of Almighty God will ask people to leave behind everything in order to follow God.” I ask, in Christianity, had the Lord Jesus not demanded such things from men? Have not the saints through the ages been doing so? These witnessing have all been performed long ago, why do you not condemn those people? Why do you condemn the Church of Almighty God? Had the Lord Jesus not said such words? Have not the saints through the ages turned their backs on marriage, their family, the world, in the name of God, to follow God, to preach the Lord Jesus, and to bear witness for the Lord Jesus? Have they not? There have been too many of them. Which law from which country has condemned this as a crime? Has this been condemned as a crime? The Chinese Communist Party says, “The Church of Almighty God breaks up families.” Is this fair? Is this the reality? To follow God, to pursue the truth, to give yourself for righteousness, people willingly decide to do such things. Has the family of God forced anyone? Isn’t this the work of the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace? (Yes, it is.) What did the Lord Jesus say? “Whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple” (Luk 14:33). Did the Lord say these words? (Yes, He did.) The Lord Jesus called on the twelve disciples Himself, and said, “Come you after me” (Mak 1:17). He also said, “Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mak 16:15). Are you saying that the Lord Jesus had been wrong in saying so? This is recorded in the Bible. All of the religious communities, and all the saints through the ages have acted in such a way, why do you not dare to condemn them? Why do you come here and vilify the Church of Almighty God by saying that it breaks up families? Is this not a pack of lies told by Satan? (Yes, it is.) You are following God, yet you are unable to see through this. You do not know how to tell the difference between true and false, to tell black from white.

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life, Volume 130

Is it easy for man to gain the truth? If you see that someone cannot make sense of something that happens to them, this is because they do not possess the truth. If someone is able to make sense of whatever happens to them, if nothing affects them in their following and worship of God, then they possess the truth. If you are passive, have notions, doubt God, or betray God when a little thing happens to you, then you do not possess the truth. You will not be able to make sense of anything that happens to you, for you are blind and have no knowledge of God! Those that do not know God have too many troubles, right? Those that do not know God are difficult to deal with, right? Are people who have no knowledge of God able to follow God until the end? That would not be easy! People who have no knowledge of God can resist God, deny God, or betray God at any time. They are one hundred percent in danger of betraying God! Are you now in any danger of betraying God? All of you are in danger of this. You must treat everything in a principled way, it is no simple matter to understand and have knowledge of God. If you do not understand God, if you have no knowledge of God, then it will be easy for you to believe in the lies of Satan. What do we call those who believe whatever the great red dragon says, or whatever those in the religious community say? Fools! Where do these words come from? These words come from the mouth of the devil, and yet you still believe in them. Aren’t you foolish? You have fallen into Satan’s trap; Satan has successfully deceived you. You do not believe in the word of God, do not believe in the holiness and righteousness of God, do not believe that God is the truth, but you believe in the words of Satan; this is what we call being blind! Is it not God who you believe in? If you believe that Satan’s words are true, are possible, and are believable, then who is it that you actually believe in, God or Satan? You cannot say for sure, can you? Is it okay to say that you nominally believe in God, but in reality what you believe in the most in your heart is still Satan? (Yes, it is.) Do you all believe that the words of truth can be uttered from the mouth of Satan? (No, we don’t.) So, what words can we use to explain this fact? (“A filthy mouth cannot utter decent language.”) Yes! This saying will do. When you really understand what this saying means, you will know that the words of truth will never be able to be uttered from the mouth of Satan. There are some people who only understand doctrines, but doctrine is of no use here, for as soon as Satan says something they will still believe it: “Hey! That could be true!” Then they’re doomed! “A filthy mouth cannot utter decent language.” You have to believe these words. The words of truth will never be able to be uttered from the mouth of Satan. Everything that Satan utters are always lies, rumors, distortions; it will always accuse, fabricate, defame, and slander positive things! Do you believe this to be true? (Yes.) If many people slander, spread rumors about, and falsely accuse the Church of Almighty God, what will you do about this? Can you see that these are all absolutely lies, can you ignore everything they say and renounce it in your hearts? You should renounce these things. Regardless of what is said, you need to be clear who says it. If they are words spoken from the mouth of God, they are the truth. If they are words spoken by the man used by the Holy Spirit, they are believable. If they are words spoken by a nonbeliever, by religious people, or by the great red dragon, then they are not believable. You should completely reject them, do not accept them. Even if they seem to be true, they are still words that distort facts, and words of defamation and false accusation. How do you all feel about the “Zhaoyuan incident”? (It was a setup.) This was the great red dragon trying to frame, defame and entrap the Church of Almighty God. Those people simply did not believe in Almighty God. Some among them were partnered with the false Christ, they believed in the false Christ and they opposed the house of God purposely. Those people stood in opposition to the house of God. They struggled with God for believers and belonged to evil spirits. Now how could they be considered members of the Church of Almighty God? They simply were not members of the Church of Almighty God, none in the house of God would admit them. Do you understand why I am fellowshiping about this here today? Whether someone actually has true knowledge and understanding of God, this determines everything. If you just understand some basic doctrines, that will be of no use, it does not represent that you have true knowledge of God. Only if you have true knowledge and understanding of God will you not fall for Satan’s tricks. Only then will you be able to abandon all the lies that Satan tells. Only then will you be able to triumph over Satan’s temptations. That’s mainly what I mean. Do you understand? (We understand.) These words that I have fellowshiped today, will they benefit you? (Yes.) This is the reality, do not be under the impression that these words have no use in your entry into life, they are useful, they are what you are lacking.

from “Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word ‘God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III’ (I)” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (XI)