Christian Testimony: Having Longed for the Lord for 40 Years, She Finally Met Him
By Li’na, Australia
I had longed for the Lord’s arrival upon a white cloud since I was little.
I was born in a Christian family in Malaysia. Since I could remember, I had begun to go to church with my mother. I often heard my family and the pastors say that we who believed in the Lord were the most blessed and that in the future the Lord would descend on a white cloud to rapture us into the kingdom of heaven to enjoy eternal blessings. So, in order to enter the heavenly kingdom, I had always obeyed the teachings of the Lord: I was humble and patient in all things, didn’t assault, curse or seek to gain small advantages over others, and I spread the Lord’s gospel and often gave to the poor brothers and sisters.
Afterward, I went to Australia to work. Over two years passed, I hadn’t found a Chinese church. So, I could only pray to God and read the Bible at home and occasionally looked at some denominational websites. Not attending church meetings for a long time made me very weak in spirit, so I was eager to attend meetings. For this, I often prayed to the Lord and asked Him to prepare it for me.
At the end of 2017, I got to know Sister Nian’en on Facebook. Her timeline was all about belief in God, which was beneficial to me. Then I began to communicate with her. When she knew that I had not attended meetings for two years, she cared about me and told me that her cousin, Brother Liu, was a preacher and suggested I listen to his preaching on the internet. I agreed right away.
After listening to sermons on the internet, I understood the true meaning of Eastern Lightning.
In January, 2018, I started to attend church meetings on the internet. Brother Liu’s preaching was very practical and I could gain so much every time I listened to his preaching. Over a month later, Brother Liu said that the Lord would become flesh and do the work of judgment when He returned. Just then, I felt very surprised and thought, “In many verses of the Bible, it is clearly written that the Lord will arrive upon a white cloud. But why did Brother Liu say that the Lord will become flesh when He returns? Our pastors have never said that before.” Then I got online and searched a little, and learned that only those who believe in Eastern Lightning preach that the Lord has been incarnated as the Son of man again. So I asked Sister Nian’en in private whether her cousin believed in Eastern Lightning. She fellowshiped with me, “The return of the Lord is an important thing. We should seek and investigate to figure it out. If we blindly refuse to listen, we’ll then miss God’s salvation. We should imitate the wise virgins, and focus on hearing the voice of God. That is in accordance with God’s will.” Hearing that, I felt it made sense but I still had some scruples. I thought, “I’ve believed in the Lord and been longing for the Lord’s return for 40 years. Once I believe in something incorrect, then won’t I have waited in vain?” Thus, I sent a message to the preacher from my previous church and asked him about Eastern Lightning. At my words, he immediately demanded of me not to attend meetings on the internet with brothers and sisters of Eastern Lightning. With that, I didn’t dare to contact Brother Liu anymore. So, I found an excuse and stopped my online meetings. As a result, my spirit was withered again. One unbearable month passed by in this condition. One day, a thought hit me, “I have known the preacher from my previous church for many years and he has known my current situation, but why does he not care about and support me? He hasn’t made any contact with me up to now. On the contrary, Brother Liu has only known me for just over a month, but he cares about my belief in God. It seems that Brother Liu has genuine love. Love can only come from God. Can it be that Brother Liu was sent by the Lord?” I thought it over and over again, and felt I should take investigating the Lord’s return on the internet seriously and that I couldn’t just talk it over with others. Then I prayed to the Lord, “O, my Lord. If Brother Liu is the preacher dispatched by You, may You guide and lead me, and prepare me another chance to contact him.” One day after that prayer, Sister Nian’en sent me a message to invite me to attend a meeting on the internet. I thought this was from God, so I agreed.
When we communicated again on the internet, Brother Liu said frankly that he was from The Church of Almighty God, which was Eastern Lightning I spoke of. Seeing his sincerity, I felt remorse and confessed that I had found an excuse not to attend meetings and deceived them. Brother Liu didn’t blame me but fellowshiped with me, “Many brothers and sisters in the religious world don’t know what Eastern Lightning means. Next, let’s talk about its meaning. The Lord Jesus prophesied, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be’ (Matthew 24:27). ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day’ (Luke 17:24). As we all know, the east of the world refers to China. Almighty God appears and works in China to express all the truths that cleanse and save mankind, like the great light shining out of the East. This is the origin of ‘Eastern Lightning.’ However, the pastors and elders in the religious world, facing the truths expressed by Almighty God, not only do not seek or investigate, but fanatically condemn and blaspheme against Eastern Lightning. Also, they report the brothers and sisters who believe in Almighty God and even collude with the atheistic CCP government to capture them. Nevertheless, the pace of God’s work is unstoppable. In only twenty years, Almighty God’s work of the last days has already spread throughout China and is by now a household name. Nowadays, the words expressed by Almighty God are already available online for all to see so that people from countries and territories around the world may seek and search. Almighty God’s work of the last days is just like a bolt of lightning shining out of the East into the West. This completely fulfills the Lord Jesus’ prophecy, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west.’ Wise virgins all over the world who truly believe in God and can hear God’s voice have been returning to God’s family, one after another, so that it takes on a gratifying scene where all people are streaming to God’s holy mountain. This is all the effect of the work of the Holy Spirit. From this we can see that Eastern Lightning refers to the work of God in the last days.”
From the brother’s fellowshiping, I understood the true meaning of Eastern Lightning. I felt so happy and continued discussing the topic relating to God’s return with him….
Will the Lord come upon a cloud or as a thief?
I said, “Concerning the Lord’s return, it is written in the Bible, ‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Matthew 24:30). ‘Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him’ (Revelation 1:7). According to these verses, I think that the Lord will descend on a cloud when He returns.”
The brother said, “Sister, we all know that there are many prophecies in the Bible about the Lord’s return. You’ve only found some verses. Next, let’s read other verses, ‘Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come on you’ (Revelation 3:3). ‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame’ (Revelation 16:15). ‘But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…’ (2 Peter 3:10). These verses say that the Lord will come as a thief. And there are some other verses saying that the Lord will come upon a cloud. Do you think they are at odds with each other?”
I read these verses carefully, thinking, “It turns out that in the Bible, not only are there the prophecies that the Lord will descend on a cloud, but there are the prophecies that the Lord will come as a thief. How come I’ve never noticed these verses before?” But I was too embarrassed to say I didn’t understand, so I said, “No, I don’t. ‘Come as a thief’ means that no one knows the days of the Lord’s coming.”
The brother said, “I had the same view as yours before. Afterward, I encountered the brothers and sisters who believed in Almighty God. Through their fellowshiping with me, I came to know that the Lord’s return is in two different ways: secret arrival and public arrival. ‘Come as a thief’ means that God will be incarnated and arrive in secret, and express words to do the work of judgment starting from the house of God. Through this, God will make complete a group of overcomers and then He will publicly descend upon the clouds to reward the good and punish the wicked. We can further clarify this issue by reading a passage of Almighty God’s words. Almighty God says, ‘I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs, and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the belief that ‘The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false Christ’ shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life. And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns upon a white cloud. They are too stubborn, too confident in themselves, too arrogant. How could such degenerates be rewarded by Jesus?’ Almighty God’s words make it very clear: When the Lord publicly descends upon the clouds, some people will go down to hell to be punished. Because when the Lord came hidden as the Son of man, they not only didn’t accept but condemned, resisted and rejected God. God arriving secretly is to save mankind, while when He publicly descends upon the clouds, He will reward the good and punish the wicked. So, those who don’t believe in Almighty God until they see the Lord publicly descending will be eliminated by God in the end. Sister, after we finish communicating, what are your thoughts?”
