A Wonderful Reunion With the Lord: I Find the Way to Be Free From Sin（Part 2)
A Wonderful Reunion With the Lord: I Find the Way to Be Free From Sin（Part 2)
Sister Lucy then went on with her fellowship, saying, “Almighty God’s words speak very clearly. The Lord Jesus was crucified and performed the work of redeeming humankind. He forgave us our sins and made it so that we were no longer subject to the condemnation and punishment of the Law. God no longer regarded us as sinners, either, and we can now pray to God and call on God directly, and we can enjoy God’s abundant grace. But the work performed by the Lord Jesus was just the work of redeeming humankind and was not the work of judging and purifying humankind that God performs in the last days. What the Lord Jesus absolved us of was just our sins, and He did not absolve us of our sinful nature — we are still filled with all manner of satanic dispositions, such as being arrogant and conceited, selfish and contemptible, crooked and deceitful, greedy and wicked, and we often cannot help but commit sin and resist God. In life, for example, even though we may be able to show a little tolerance, patience or forgiveness to others, and can compassionately do some things to help other people, this is just temporary good behavior. The moment someone does something which infringes upon our own interests, we judge them and chide them, and we expose our hot-bloodedness. What’s more, we appear on the outside to rush about and work for the Lord, and to give alms and donations, but inside us, however, we are filled with defilements and thoughts of making deals with God, and we do all these things in order to receive rewards and blessings from God and to share in the bliss of heaven; we don’t do these things because we genuinely love the Lord. The Lord is holy, and when we always live in sin, always confessing and then sinning again, then we are simply not fit to enter into God’s kingdom.
“The Lord Jesus knows our actual situation and has returned in the flesh in the last days to express His words and to perform the work of judgment beginning in God’s house. He does this to utterly uproot the cause of humankind’s sins and then lead those who have been purified into His kingdom. This precisely fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecies: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come’ (John 16:12–13). ‘And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day’ (John 12:47–48).”
Through the revelations of God’s words and Sister Lucy’s fellowship, I came to understand that our belief in the Lord meant only that our sins were forgiven, but that within us there still remained our satanic nature and satanic dispositions, and these things were the root cause of our sins. Only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days will we be able to cast off our corrupt dispositions, attain purification, and be fit to enter into God’s kingdom.
I then sought with the sisters the answer to how Almighty God judges, purifies and changes people in the last days. The sisters first read to me two passages of God’s words: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the essence of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “God has many means of perfecting man. He employs all manner of environments to deal with the corrupt disposition of man, and uses various things to lay man bare; in one regard He deals with man, in another He lays man bare, and in another He reveals man, digging out and revealing the ‘mysteries’ in the depths of man’s heart, and showing man his nature by revealing many of his states. God perfects man through many methods — through revelation, dealing, refinement, and chastisement — so that man may know that God is practical” (“Only Those Who Focus on Practice Can Be Perfected” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Sister Xiling then gave fellowship, saying, “God works in the last days to judge and purify us corrupt human beings, and to do this He uses all aspects of the truth to judge and expose our satanic nature and satanic dispositions which are the things that make us rebel against and resist God. He reveals His holy and righteous disposition which brooks no offense to enable us to see clearly the truth of our own corruption by Satan, to know God’s holy essence and righteous disposition, and so that there may arise within us a God-fearing heart. When we encounter issues in our lives, we begin to forsake our flesh and put God’s words into practice. By training and practicing in this way, little by little, we begin to remove ourselves from the shackles and bonds of sin, we attain purification and we receive the salvation of God. When we work together with others, for example, we always consider our own views to be correct and we don’t accept any difference in opinion from anyone else. We just keep on giving reasons why we are correct until other people end up feeling constrained and they no longer dare to make a suggestion. Through the revelations and judgment of God’s words, we see that we live by Satan’s axiom of logic of ‘I am my own lord throughout heaven and earth,’ and our disposition becomes incredibly arrogant and self-important, and we don’t listen to anyone. We always regard our own ideas to be the absolute truth and then we make others follow and submit to us; we have not a bit of a God-fearing heart, and much less do we have any sense of reason. We human beings should magnify God as the greatest, as the most high, but instead we always magnify ourselves as the greatest and we always think ourselves to be amazing people. By doing this, are we not trying to make others worship us as though we were God? And are we not promoting Satan and shaming God? When we come to this realization, we cannot help but feel deeply afraid, we perceive God’s disposition which brooks no offense, and we become willing to confess and repent our sins to God. When we make a conscious effort to forsake our arrogant disposition, we begin to downplay ourselves a lot more. Then, as long as a suggestion accords with the truth, we become able to accept it no matter who makes it, and we are able to get along with other people much more harmoniously.”
When I heard the sister give fellowship in this way, I couldn’t help but nod in agreement. I thought about how very arrogant and self-important I was, and whenever an issue arose, I could never help but reveal my corruption. It looked as though we ourselves are incapable of changing these corrupt dispositions, and that they can only be changed by undergoing God’s judgment and chastisement!
Sister Xiling then went on with her fellowship: “Furthermore, we give things up and expend ourselves, we suffer and we pay a price, and so we consider ourselves to be people who love God and who are qualified to enter into heaven and share in the bliss. But when we are struck by a serious illness or our lives become mired in adversity, we begin to complain to God, so much so that we become dispirited, we slack off, and refuse to do anything more for God. When the facts are revealed to us, we see that our love for God is false and deceptive. Satan’s axiom of logic, ‘Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost’ has already become our life and it has made us become incredibly selfish and self-interested. Whatever we do, we do it for the sake of our own fleshly interests, and even our worship of God — the most heavenly of decrees — is filled with our own motives and defilements, and we are completely devoid of conscience and reason. We then feel judged and reproved, and we feel remorse for our conduct. We no longer wish to make deals with God, but instead wish only to fulfill the duty of a created being with a God-loving heart. Through experiencing God judging and chastising us in this way, we truly come to see that, unless our satanic dispositions are uprooted, we are able to engage in rebelliousness and defiance toward God at any time and in any place. At the same time, we come to have some true understanding of God’s righteous disposition, and we see that God hates it when we live by the poisons of Satan, and that God blesses and takes delight in those who pursue the truth and who put His words into practice. We comprehend that the truths God expresses are His judgment and chastisement of humankind and that, even more than this, they are a purification of humankind, and there then arises within us a God-fearing heart. When we encounter issues thereafter, we focus on seeking the truth and practicing the truth, we obey God, and gradually we begin to live out a true human likeness.”
From the sisters’ fellowships on God’s words, I saw that the work of judgment God performs in the last days is the work of purifying and changing humankind. If we do not accept this stage of God’s work, then we human beings will be incapable of ever being free from the shackles and bonds of sin, and we will never attain true freedom and release. I also saw that my idea, that “as long as I pray and read the Bible lots, dedicate myself and expend myself for the Lord more, and stick it out till the very end, then I will be raised up into heaven” was so incredibly preposterous! We still possess many satanic corrupt dispositions, and unless we undergo God’s work of judgment in the last days and attain purification and change, then we will definitely not be fit to enter heaven!
From then on, I read Almighty God’s words every day, and I often reflected on and came to know my own corruption in the light of God’s words. Through the revelations of God’s words, I came to recognize that my frequent outbursts of temper were the expressions of my arrogant disposition, and that I was promoting Satan and shaming God. I no longer wished to live by this kind of corrupt disposition, and I became resolved to forsake my satanic dispositions, practice the truth and satisfy God. Afterward, whenever I saw someone in my family behaving in a way I didn’t like and I was about to get angry, I would consciously forsake myself and patiently have a conversation with them. I no longer constrained my nephew and niece like I used to, but instead allowed them a certain amount of freedom, and whenever I saw them do something wrong, I would calmly and gently help them to see the right thing to do. I was no longer always losing my temper with my husband, either. Sometimes, when I saw my husband chiding the children, I would speak with him patiently, and tell him that getting angry and hot-blooded were the expressions of a satanic arrogant disposition, that Christians had to live in the likeness of a true human being, and that we had to show the children love and understanding. My relationship with my family also became closer when they saw how I had changed. My husband said to my nephew, “How come your aunt has become so soft and gentle? I just can’t believe it!” My nephew replied, “Since auntie started believing in Almighty God, she’s like a whole different person. It’s unbelievable!” When I heard this, I felt so glad and happy, and I offered up my genuine thanks to Almighty God! It was Almighty God who had saved me from the tribulations of sinning and confessing, and it was He who had shown me the way to be free of sin and enabled me to live in the light!
Later on, together with my brothers and sisters in the church, I bore testimony to my family of God’s kingdom gospel and my whole family accepted it gladly. Thanks be to God for showing my family such kindness! Amen!
Source From: Eastern Lightning
