Eastern Lightning | CenSAMM Symposium The Millennium: A Mystery No More

CenSAMM Symposium The Millennium: A Mystery No More

  

From June 28-29, 2018, at the Panacea Museum Gardens in Bedford, UK, the Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (CenSAMM) held a symposium about apocalyptic literature, the final disaster, and the Millennium. The event was attended by such renowned religious experts and scholars as Christopher Rowland, Dean Ireland’s Emeritus Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford, Massimo Introvigne, Managing Director of CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions in Italy, and Matthew Askey, a priest serving at Southwell Minster Cathedra in Nottinghamshire. During the symposium, Professor Introvigne gave a lecture entitled “Filming the Age of Kingdom”. Partly based on The Church of Almighty God musical Human Beings Have Regained the Sanctity They Once Possessed, this stimulating and refreshing lecture provided a clear interpretation of the appearance of the Millennial Kingdom (the Millennium).

Who Lets Him Walk Easily Out of the Wilderness Into Canaan

Who Lets Him Walk Easily Out of the Wilderness Into Canaan

Cheng Yi

One evening, I was very happy I saw Brother Liu log onto Skype. I remembered that Brother Liu had believed in the Lord for many years and that in the past he was always doing service work in the church. But in the past few years the church had grown increasingly desolate and the faith of the brothers and sisters had chilled. He was passive and feeble, just busying himself with his engineering projects, and concerned only with his physical self. He had not come to church for a long time. It was something rare to come across him that day, so we quickly started chatting …

 Who Lets Him Walk Easily Out of the Wilderness Into Canaan

On the First Day, the Day and Night of Mankind Are Born and Stand Fast Thanks to the Authority of God

On the First Day, the Day and Night of Mankind Are Born and Stand Fast Thanks to the Authority of God

The Church of Almighty God  Picture

Let us look at the first passage: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen 1:3-5). This passage describes God’s first act at the beginning of creation, and the first day that God passed in which there was an evening and a morning. But it was an extraordinary day: God began to prepare the light for all things, and, furthermore, divided the light from the darkness. On this day, God began to speak, and His words and authority existed side-by-side. His authority began to show forth among all things, and His power spread among all things as a result of His words. From this day onward, all things were formed and stood fast because of the words of God, the authority of God, and the power of God, and they began to function thanks to the words of God, the authority of God, and the power of God. When God said the words “Let there be light,” so there was light. God did not embark upon any enterprise; the light had appeared as a result of His words. This was the light that God called day, and which man still depends on for his existence today. By God’s command, its substance and value have never changed, and it has never disappeared. Its existence shows forth the authority and power of God, and proclaims the existence of the Creator, and it confirms, over and over, the identity and status of the Creator. It is not intangible, or illusory, but is a real light that can be seen by man. From that time onward, in this empty world in which “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep,” there was produced the first material thing. This thing came from the words of the mouth of God, and appeared in the first act of the creation of all things because of the authority and utterances of God. Soon after, God ordered the light and the darkness to separate…. Everything changed and was completed because of the words of God…. God called this light “Day,” and the darkness He called “Night.” From that time, the first evening and the first morning were produced in the world God intended to create, and God said that this was the first day. This day was the first day of the Creator’s creation of all things, and was the beginning of the creation of all things, and was the first time that the authority and power of the Creator had been shown forth in this world that He had created.

Is There Any Biblical Basis for the Statement “Once Saved, Always Saved”

By Yang Xin, Shandong Province

The sun sank into the west, and the last light of the sinking sun spread across the world as I walked back home after a meeting, thinking of what the pastor had said: “Once saved, then we are always saved, for the Bible says, ‘That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Romans 10:9-10). As we believe in the Lord Jesus, as long as we believe in our hearts and acknowledge Him with our mouths, then we are saved, and if we are saved once then we are always saved. As long as we keep working and expending ourselves for the Lord and endure till the very end, then when the Lord returns, we will immediately be raptured up into the kingdom of heaven!” I gave an Amen to the pastor’s words: “Yes! The Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross so that we could be redeemed, so as long as we call upon the Lord’s name, confess our sins and repent to the Lord, then our sins will be absolved and we will be saved by His grace—once saved, always saved, and afterward we will surely be raptured up into the kingdom of heaven.” Over the years of my belief in the Lord, I had always firmly believed that this view was correct, and never once doubted it.

Eastern Lightning | Farewell to Those Days of Wrestling With Fate

Farewell to Those Days of Wrestling With Fate 

Yixin

 Farewell to Those Days of Wrestling With Fate

       A rustic village fallen behind, my parents exhausted from their work, a life in financial straits … these gloomy memories were branded on to my young mind, they were my first impression of “fate.” After I started attending school, the first time I heard my teacher say that “You control your fate in your own hands,” I kept these words firmly in my mind. I believed that although I could not change the fact that I was born into poverty, I could still change my own fate through hard work. As a result, I exerted my full strength to wrestle with my “fate,” and gain a slice of heaven to call my own.

Eastern Lightning | Resolving the “Cold War” Makes My Life Even Happier!

Eastern Lightning  | Resolving the “Cold War” Makes My Life Even Happier!

Tian Yu

When I got married, my family advised me that “All lay loads on the willing horse,” that after marriage, I must be in charge so that I’m not taken advantage of, so that my life will be fulfilled and happy. So, after marriage, I always wanted to be in charge and that whatever I said would go. In the beginning, my husband would consult me for all matters big and small in our home. But as time went on, he would often not consult with me, but do things according to his will. Because of this, I felt rather unhappy. I felt that my husband didn’t take me seriously. I thought, “If things continue like this, I wouldn’t have a place to stand on in this family.” In order that I could be in charge, I would often sulk and ignore my husband until he softened and said nice things to me, and things only ended when I was satisfied.

Eastern Lightning | The Loss and Gain of Gatherings

The Loss and Gain of Gatherings

Guozi, USA

 The Loss and Gain of Gatherings

My name is Guozi, and I’m a high school student studying abroad in the USA. I was born in a Christian family, and my mother accepted the work of Almighty God in the last days when I was one year old. I remember when I was very young that my mother would always say to me: “God created heavens, earth, and everything that exists. We humans were also created by God, and God loves us more than anything. Whenever something happens to you, remember to pray to Almighty God, and He will watch over and protect you.” So when I was very young I learned that God exists, and when anything happened to me and I prayed to God, I experienced God’s protection for me. But truly having knowledge of God and God’s work was something I gradually gained in the course of attending gatherings and fellowshiping about the truth together with brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God and practicing entering into the word of God …