Eastern Lightning | I Have Come Home

Eastern Lightning | I Have Come Home

By Chu Keen Pong, Malaysia

I have believed in the Lord for more than ten years and served in the church for two years, then left the church to go abroad for work. I have been to many places including Singapore and have earned a lot of money, but in this existence in modern society, where the strong prey on the weak, and where people compete with and scheme against each other, where each person tries to outdo the other in treachery, I have faced innumerable complex interpersonal relations and was always on my guard against others. They were also on their guard against me, and this gave me the feeling the whole time in the depths of my heart that I couldn’t find any stable ground to stand on. This way of life made me feel exhausted in body and spirit. The only thing that offered me any consolation was the diary I carried with me in which I kept some pages of scriptures I had excerpted.
Sometimes I would read them and they would fill in the emptiness in my spirit. Even though I hadn’t gone to a church gathering in many years, since last year I just had one thing in mind: to find a church in which I could serve the Lord in earnest. After that, I took advantage of some free time to go to large and small churches in Malaysia but I always went there happy and left feeling discouraged. I always felt I was lacking something inside, but I could never figure out exactly what it was. In this contradictory state, I went to another extreme, just playing video games online and watching movies, sometimes playing all night or watching one movie after another. My work and sleep schedule were a mess. When I first started doing this I was somewhat conscious that the Lord was displeased with me, but I gradually became numb. It was just at that time that I lost my cell phone. At the time, I complained inwardly about it. My cell phone was lost, and with it a lot of data was gone, and I had no way to log in to Facebook…. On the surface, this was a bad thing, but I never expected that it would be a turning point for my life. It was just like the Chinese proverb, “An old man loses his horse, but who knows what good fortune will come?”

At the beginning of 2017, I bought a new cell phone. One day in late February, after logging into Facebook, I accidentally clicked on the timeline of an English-language profile and saw the posts that contained verses of Scripture. I also saw that the posts contained some verses that were not from the Bible, yet these words encouraged me a lot and my heart was attracted to these words. In the following several days, I paid close attention to this Facebook account, and even spent some time looking up terms. Finally, I finished reading the post on the account that I was interested in. After I had read it all, I knew that the main content of this post was an explanation of the passage of Scripture in which the Lord Jesus says: “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 7:21). After reading it, I felt that this was quite a unique explanation, and that it was full of inspiration and light. Because I hadn’t yet added that person as a friend, I wasn’t able to see more posts on their timeline. What I was able to see on their timeline, however, was that this Facebook friend was from South Korea and was a sister named Susan. I sent her a friend request, but she might not have been online at the time and didn’t immediately accept my request. After two days, I added another Chinese-speaking friend named Qi Fei. She was also a Christian from South Korea. After hearing her talk about some of her experiences in believing in God, I thought her sharing was good. I had no idea that Susan was a friend of Sister Qi Fei’s, and we then added each other as friends. By reading their Facebook posts and through our occasional chats, I felt that they understood a lot about believing in God.

After a while of talking about the Bible with them as well as discussing some of the things that were going on in our lives, I thought that they had a special way of helping me fix some of the worries in my life and that there was a lot of reason and insight in what they said. From my own experience, they were different from other people. I felt more inwardly stable and tranquil through being in contact with them, and even though I didn’t know them very well, their simplicity and honesty made me start to think of them as intimate friends without realizing it. I wanted to share my feelings with them. Gradually, I started to make some changes in how I lived my life.

About a week later, on the evening of March 11, I got on Facebook and saw Susan was online. I first chatted with her about some work-related things, then I told her about my desire to find a church to serve and said that I wanted to hear her suggestions about it. Sister Susan said that everything is arranged and ruled by God, and that I should pray frequently to God and seek His guidance. Everything has a time appointed by God, and we should all learn to wait and be obedient. After that, she spoke about the current situation in many of the churches: The preachers have nothing to preach, some churches don’t have anyone attending gatherings, and even if there are a lot of people going to a gathering, they are all just talking about how to make money, promoting businesses to each other, and other things that have nothing to do with believing in God. She said that these things are actually demonstrations that the church no longer has the work of the Holy Spirit and that it has gone desolate. After hearing her say all this, I had the same impression. Before, when I had been serving the church, co-workers there were scrambling for fame and wealth, fighting and scheming with each other, slandering each other, and trying to seize some area of control. There were even cases of them being promiscuous. Seeing these scenes one after the other, I felt depressed and indignant. At the time, I asked the priest and some co-workers what I should think of all these things, but they couldn’t explain it. Never would I have thought that this problem that had been vexing me for so long would be solved by Sister Susan. In my heart, I felt a happiness that I couldn’t express.

We also explored the topic of all the various disasters and wars that were happening at the time, and judging by the signs of disasters all around and of imminent wars, the biblical omens of the Lord’s second coming were basically all fulfilled, and the Lord would soon come. That reminded me of a believer I had met at noon online who said that the Lord had returned in 1991, about which I was very doubtful. I couldn’t help asking Susan about this. Susan asked me what I thought about it, and I said: “There’s no way. When the Lord returns He will descend upon a cloud and will be seen by everyone. But we haven’t seen the Lord descending on a cloud, so how could anyone think the Lord has already returned?”

Susan responded, “Brother, you’re someone who is very well read in the Bible. If you examine the words of the Bible closely, I’m sure you will find your answer. Actually, there are many ways to talk about the prophecy of the Lord’s second coming. The prophecy, as it is described in the Bible, is mainly divided into two kinds: One is as you just described, prophesying that the Lord will descend on a cloud and be known to everyone, and all will be able to see Him. Another prophesies the Lord’s hidden advent, which only a certain group of people will be aware of. It is just as the Lord Jesus said: ‘Behold, I come as a thief’ (Rev 16:15). ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Mat 25:6). ‘As a thief’ and ‘at midnight there was a cry made’ mean it will be silent and motionless, unknown to anyone. The heavens will not sound and the earth will not shake, and it is not something apparent to all people. There is only a small group of people able to hear the Lord’s voice who can meet Him. This is the prophecy of the Lord’s hidden advent. If we cling only to the prophecy of the Lord descending openly on a cloud, and we neglect the prophecy of the hidden advent, then is that correct? This way, would we not mistake the voice of the Lord, and miss our opportunity to welcome the Lord and be raised up into the heavenly kingdom?”

I was stumped by Susan’s question. I read these two passages over and over again, and thought: “Could there be a contradiction in the Bible? No no no! How could it be? But in fact, the Bible did have two different prophecies about the manner of the Lord’s return! How could this be explained?” In my confusion, I let her go on fellowshiping. Susan said: “From the perspective of the Bible’s prophecies, there are two ways in which the second coming of the Lord may occur. One is the hidden advent, and one is an appearance that is made known. In the last days, God will become incarnate among the people as the Son of man, and on the outside Christ will appear just to be an ordinary, common man just as the Lord Jesus became incarnate. He will have normal humanity, and will eat, dress, live, and act just as an ordinary person. He will live among the people, and so this is considered ‘hidden’ from our perspective because no one will see that He is God, nor will anyone know His real identity. Once the Son of man begins to work and speak, the people who are able to hear God’s voice will see the expression of God’s disposition through the words and work of the Son of man. They will see God’s might and authority and will recognize that the Lord has come. This shall fulfill the Lord Jesus’ prophecy: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (Jhn 10:27). Those who are unable to distinguish the voice of God are sure to treat the incarnate God as an ordinary person based on His outer appearance. They will deny and reject, and even resist, accuse, and blaspheme against Christ of the last days. Just as when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, in appearance He was an ordinary and common Son of man. Therefore, most people denied, resisted, and accused Him, and only a small group of people recognized through His words and work that the Lord Jesus was the incarnate Christ. They recognized that He was God manifest and followed the Lord Jesus and they attained His salvation.” After hearing what the sister fellowshiped, I thought it made a lot of sense because all of it was true. It was exactly like this when the Lord Jesus came to perform His work. But when I thought about it again, it says in Revelation that when the Lord returns He will descend on a cloud and it will be made known to all, and the elders and preachers all preached this. With this in mind, I resolutely asked Susan: “The Lord Jesus Himself said that His second coming would be upon a cloud. How could it be an incarnation? How can you deny those words of the Bible?” Sister Susan said: “You just need to investigate the Bible clearly and you will discover that there are many places that clearly prophesy that the Lord will return incarnate.” In light of what Sister Susan said, I found some passages of Scripture and began to read: “Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luk 12:40). “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. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luk 17:24–25).

After I finished reading the scriptural passages, Sister Susan said: “All these prophecies mention the ‘arrival of the Son of man.’ The ‘Son of man’ refers to a person born to a human and with normal humanity. If He manifested in a spiritual body, then He could not be referred to as the Son of man, just as Jehovah is the Spirit and cannot be called the Son of man. People have also seen angels, which are spiritual beings and so cannot be called the Son of man either. All who have a human form but who are spiritual beings cannot be called the Son of man. The incarnate Lord Jesus is called the Son of man and the Christ because He was the fleshly incarnation of God’s Spirit and the realization of the Spirit in the flesh. He became an ordinary, common man, and lived among mankind. The Lord Jesus was the Son of man and God’s incarnation, so when the Lord Jesus said He will return again as the Son of man, He meant that He will come again in a physical body as the Son of man, and not in spiritual form. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus said He will come again, He meant that He will return in the form of an incarnation. Furthermore, the Bible says: ‘But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.’ This further proves that when the Lord comes again it will be in the manner of the incarnation. Think about it: If the Lord appeared to us at His return in a spiritual body rather than the incarnation, He wouldn’t suffer as much, much less be rejected by this generation. Who would dare reject the Spirit of God? Who would be able to cause the Spirit to suffer? Therefore, isn’t it obvious whether the Lord will return incarnate or come in a spiritual body?”

I was astonished at reading the words “Son of man.” I had thought in the past about the question of the “Son of man,” but it had never been clear to me. What Sister Susan explained completely resolved all my doubts, and I was overwhelmed with emotion when I heard it. Because it had gotten late, we said goodbye and logged off. I was excited that night, and didn’t go to sleep until it was very late. I thought about how I had believed in the Lord for so many years, but had never heard anyone fellowship so well. I was stunned, and there was a kind of blissful clarity in my heart that I could not put into words.

The next day, March 12, I felt a kind of indistinct hope and ineffable excitement. This was because I had mostly discussed the “Son of man” with Susan the night before, and had talked about the “incarnation” as well. Even though I could draw a connection between the ‘Son of man’ and the ‘incarnation,’ and could know in theory that the Lord Jesus is none other than the incarnate Christ, I still wanted to know the answers to questions such as what the incarnation truly is, what Christ is, on what basis one could say with certainty that God has become incarnate, and so on. But since Susan and I both had work during the day and were only free in the evening, I just hoped that time would move a bit more quickly.

Finally, it was evening and we got online. After logging on, the first question I asked Sister Susan was about the incarnation. She sent me some passages from the word of Almighty God, and said she wanted me to read over them. Then I read: “The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself” (“The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining[a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). After I had finished reading, I felt that these words explained very clearly the mystery of the incarnation, especially how they defined Christ: “The incarnate God is called Christ.” This definition was so clear, simple, and eloquent! Even though I had believed in the Lord for more than a decade, I knew only that Jesus was the Christ, but I had never understood such aspects of the mystery of the truth as why we say that Jesus is the Christ. Through the passages that the sister had sent to me, I learned that the incarnate God is actually what we call Christ, and Christ is He in whom God became incarnate. I pondered these words very carefully, and the more I pondered them, the clearer they became in my heart …

After that, Sister Susan told me that these were the words of Almighty God, said that God’s word is the truth, and that it is only God Himself who is able to express the truth. When the sister mentioned the words “Almighty God,” I stared blankly for a moment, even though it didn’t come as a complete surprise since I had previously guessed that she might belong to The Church of Almighty God. I had read some rumors online about this church. Because I thought of myself only as a Christian, and that it was my duty to revere God in my heart, I did not want to come to any conclusions lightly before understanding the truth of the matter. This was to avoid committing any offense against God. Besides, I had been thinking these last few days: Sister Susan and I had spoken together quite a few times, and even though I could not see who I was talking to, the truth she fellowshiped to me was still able to solve my problems. Through our discussions and by reading her posts on her timeline, I thought that she and Qi Fei were both sincere, warm, and good people. What they fellowshiped provided me with much edification and benefit. It was said once in the Bible: Know the tree from its fruit; good trees produce good fruit, while bad trees produce bad fruit. So, through my contact with Sisters Susan and Qi Fei, I slowly let go of the doubts and apprehension in my heart and allowed Susan to go on fellowshiping.

Sister Susan said: “Since God becomes incarnate, He shall have the expressions of God, which is that He shall speak. God incarnate of the last days has come mainly to express the truth to judge, cleanse, and save people. All those who hear the voice of the returned Lord, and who can seek and accept it, are the wise virgins going to a banquet together with the Lord, and this has fulfilled the prophecy spoken by the Lord Jesus: ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Mat 25:6). The wise virgins hear the voice of God and go out to meet Him. Unwittingly, they are raised up before God’s throne to meet face-to-face with the Lord and to accept God’s judgment and cleansing in the last days. In the judgment of the word of God, their corrupt dispositions are able to transform and be purified, and they are made overcomers by God before the disasters. At present, Almighty God is at the stage when He is hidden in doing His work of saving and perfecting people. When a group of overcomers are made, God’s hidden work in His incarnate flesh will come to an end, and the disasters will befall the world. God will begin to reward the good and punish the evil, and then will make Himself known to all countries and peoples of the world. At that time, the prophecy of the Lord’s universally known descent will be fulfilled, which says: ‘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’ (Rev 1:7). One could say reasonably that when people see the Lord descending on a cloud, making Himself manifest to all people, people would go wild with joy. But the scripture says that all kindreds of the earth shall wail. Why is this? It is because when God manifests Himself publicly, God’s hidden work of salvation in His incarnate flesh will already have ended and God will begin the work of rewarding the good and punishing the evil. At that time, all who reject the hidden work of God will completely lose their chance to attain salvation, and those who pierce Him, being those who resist and condemn Almighty God, Christ of the last days, will see that the Almighty God whom they have resisted and condemned is none other than the Lord Jesus returned. How could they not then beat themselves and weep and gnash their teeth? This is the context of the words ‘all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.’”

When I heard what the sister fellowshiped, the feeling I had had of contentment and excitement returned. I had originally not understood these passages when I had been a member of my old church, but had only understood them in their literal sense, thinking that the Lord’s return would be upon a cloud and known to all. Now, I finally understood that God comes first at the hidden advent to do a stage of the work of judging and saving man. When a group of overcomers are made, only then will He openly manifest Himself to all nations and peoples of the world. If it were as we had thought, that when the Lord returns He will be upon a cloud known openly to all, making Himself seen by everyone, then when that day arrives we would go straight to hell because God’s work of saving mankind would have already ended. Thanks to the Lord’s guidance, in the brief time that Sister Susan had been fellowshiping to me, I understood much.

After that, the sister asked me if I wanted to accept Almighty God as my Savior. The first time she asked me, I did not answer, and when she asked again, an indescribable feeling of excitement burst forth within me, and my eyes became wet with tears. Earnestly, I answered: “I will!” When I said these words, I felt like I had been a vagabond wandering out in the wilderness for a long time who had finally returned to his warm home. I was extremely happy and steadfast in my heart.

After I had accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days, I posted some of Sister Susan’s articles. Soon after that, five or six Facebook friends sent me messages telling me to “wake up” and sent me some websites which were full of attacks, accusations, and defamation of The Church of Almighty God. I knew that this was the disruption of Satan, and did not let it bother me. The next day, a pastor came online. After chatting with me for a little while, he asked me, “Do you really believe in Almighty God? Why is it that you want to believe in Almighty God?” I was so mad when I heard this, and asked him: “The sheep of God listen to the voice of God. I have recognized from the word of Almighty God that everything expressed by Almighty God is the truth, and is the voice of God, so why should I not believe in Almighty God? Why?” He might not have thought that I would ask him something like this and did not answer for a while. I asked him again, “Pastor, have you investigated the work of Almighty God in the last days? Have you read the word of Almighty God? As a pastor, how can you refuse to seek and investigate, but just come to whatever conclusions and accusations you want?” I didn’t expect that he would start stammering and stumbling for an answer, and he suddenly logged off. When I saw the pastor in this state of distress, I was incredibly happy and felt a satisfaction as if I had one of victory over Satan. Actually, all that I had done was make use of some of the questions that I was used to discussing with Sisters Susan and Qi Fei, and said something from what I had learned from the word of Almighty God, but I had never expected this grand pastor to be stumped by my question. This little bit of experience gave me a lot of confidence. Thanks be to God!

Before I knew it, over five months had gone by. By attending gatherings and reading the word of God, I understood what the incarnation is, what kind of people may enter the kingdom of heaven, and other aspects of the truth. Throughout this time, I was harassed by the rumors the pastors and elders spread about me. At times I was negative and weak because I could not discern the trickery of Satan, but God was always by my side. I continued to read the word of God with the sisters, who patiently fellowshiped the truth to me and allowed me to distinguish the elders’ and pastors’ satanic nature of hostility to the truth and resistance to God. I also began to have some discernment toward their despicable intent to do their utmost to prevent believers from seeking and investigating the true way. No longer would I be led astray or controlled by them, and I was finally able to break through the dark influence of Satan. I was able to be raised up before God’s throne. All this was a grace and blessing for me from God. Thanks be to Almighty God! I am able to turn to God, which has long since been predestined by God. I will rely on God to move forward steadfastly! When I return to the house of God, the first song I learned was the hymn called “Walking on the Right Path of Human Life”: “I see that everything I have comes from God—it is all God’s grace. I follow Christ and pursue truth and life; I’m walking on the right path of life. …” Now, I preach the gospel and bear witness to God with my brothers and sisters in the church, and I want to do my utmost in my duty, to return God’s love!

Footnotes:

a. The original text reads “as for.”