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Serving God | Testimony of Returning to God: My Debate With Pastor Jin, a “Spiritual Father”
In the eleven years my husband and I have been believers, we always attended gatherings at Pastor Jin’s church. He’s really well versed in the Bible and is quite well known in our area. In Bible studies he always explained things very systematically and I would go to him every time there was an issue I didn’t understand, and he’d resolve it using passages from the Bible. Every holiday I would take some fruit to pay a visit to him and he was always really warm with our entire family. He would always pray for us when something cropped up in our family and he was always very loving with the other believers, as well. I felt that Pastor Jin was genuinely serving the Lord so I looked up to him; I adored him. I felt that he was our spiritual father.
Then, I had the good fortune of hearing Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, and after a period of time of reading Almighty God’s words and hearing brothers’ and sisters’ fellowship, I came to understand all sorts of truths: the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan to save mankind, the purpose of His three stages of work, the mysteries of God incarnating and doing work, how Satan corrupts people, how God judges and cleanses people through His words, as well as how God sorts people according to their kind and reveals every type of person’s destination and outcome, plus how to seek to attain full salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven. I saw how Almighty God’s words open up all the mysteries of the Bible, allowing me to understand truths I had never understood in all my years of faith. I became certain within my heart that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. I accepted God’s work of the last days and also brought my two children before God; I began running my business while also performing my duty as well as I could.
Once I was watching a gospel film on The Church of Almighty God website, and there was a pastor in it who wouldn’t accept Almighty God’s work of the last days and even used all sorts of tactics to crazily disrupt and hinder other believers from seeking and accepting it. I didn’t really dare to believe it because I felt that pastors were all people who devoutly served the Lord and always told members of their congregations to be watchful in their prayers to make sure they didn’t miss their chance at being raptured. If they heard that the Lord Jesus had returned wouldn’t they accept it joyfully? Why would they stand in the way? But not long after that, the plot of the movie played out in my own life….
The Start of the Debate: Seeing the Pastor Scorn the Lord’s Return
That day I was working at our fruit stand and listening to hymns of God’s words. Pastor Jin came by, smiled and greeted me, and then right away asked me why I had joined The Church of Almighty God. He said some things condemning it and advised me to go back to our former church. Hearing this angered me a bit, and I thought “You haven’t even looked into Almighty God’s work of the last days and you don’t understand the church, so how can you just condemn it like that?” But then I thought, “Pastor Jin probably hasn’t heard Almighty God’s words so he doesn’t know that it’s the true way. But he does understand a lot about the Bible and has served the Lord for many years and has always been awaiting the Lord’s coming. If he hears that the Lord Jesus has returned and has expressed truths to fully save mankind, he’d certainly happily accept it, right? If Pastor Jin accepted God’s work of the last days he could lead the other brothers and sisters in the church to accept it as well.” At this thought, I wanted to share the gospel with Pastor Jin, but because of my own limited understanding, I was afraid my fellowship wouldn’t be clear. I prayed to God within my heart, asking for His guidance. I then asked him, “Pastor Jin, how do you think the Lord will return and take us into the kingdom of heaven?”
Utterly confident, he replied, “Isn’t it clearly stated 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). So, when the Lord returns He’ll descend on a cloud in great glory for all mankind to see….”
I quickly responded, “Pastor Jin, when investigating the Lord Jesus’ return we can’t just base it on one Bible verse. In fact, the Bible doesn’t just prophesy Him returning on a cloud; there are also a lot of prophecies about Him coming in secret, like ‘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) and ‘Behold, I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15). These two verses very clearly prophesy that the Lord will return like a thief, which refers to Him coming in secret, so He wouldn’t let us know. So will the Lord’s coming be a secret, or will He openly come down on a cloud? On the outside, it looks like these passages are contradictory but the reality is that they aren’t. That’s because the Lord is trustworthy and His words cannot fail to come true. Since it was prophesied it absolutely has to come to be, so we can be certain that the Lord’s return will occur in two stages. First He’ll come in secret, and then He’ll appear openly. He has already become flesh and has been secretly working among mankind; He is Christ of the last days, Almighty God. Almighty God has already done the work of judgment beginning with the house of God and has uttered millions of words to purify and save mankind. He is separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and He is going to complete a group of overcomers before the great disaster. Once God’s secret work has been completed He’ll begin to rain down great disasters, rewarding good and punishing evil in accordance with every person’s deeds. He will then appear to all peoples on a cloud. At that time, everyone who has resisted, condemned, and refused to accept God’s work of the last days will fall into disaster, weeping and gnashing their teeth. This will fulfill this prophecy in Revelation 1:7: ‘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.’ But the people who recognized God’s voice from Almighty God’s words, returned before His throne, accepted His work of judgment in the last days and were cleansed will remain and will enter into God’s kingdom. It’s evident that the Lord Jesus’ period of time of working in secret is the time that God saves mankind, and by the time He openly appears it will be too late to accept His work. That will be the time of punishment! Pastor Jin, I didn’t understand any of this until I read Almighty God’s words. Only God can express the truth and unveil mysteries; Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. You really should look into Almighty God’s work of the last days.”
After I had finished, Pastor Jin said disdainfully, “You’re trying to debate with me with your level of Bible knowledge? Haven’t I been the one to teach you everything you know about the Bible?”
Seeing that attitude from him, I felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over me. I thought, “Is this the same Pastor Jin I’ve known all these years? I always thought of him as a very humble person. He was always telling us that we had to be the wise virgins and watchfully await the Lord’s coming. Now that he’s heard that the Lord has returned, why wouldn’t he seek it at all, but have such a scornful attitude?” I couldn’t really make sense of it, but I still wanted to advise him to look into it, so I responded, “Pastor Jin, God’s wisdom surpasses all and we as humans cannot fathom it. How can we just arbitrarily delimit how the Lord should come and work? We all know that the Pharisees knew the Scripture like the backs of their hands, but when the Lord Jesus came to work, not only did they not recognize Him as the Lord but they didn’t even seek or investigate His new work. Instead, they arrogantly clung to the letter of the Scripture and delimited the Lord Jesus’ work and words based on their own notions and imaginings. Ultimately, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross and were punished by God. Pastor Jin, do you really think that knowing a lot about the Bible is the same as knowing God? We should learn a lesson from the Pharisees, and seek and investigate God’s work of the last days with an open mind. That’s the only way we can welcome the Lord’s appearance!”
Pastor Jin was at a loss for a response to that, so he just said bitterly, “Since you’ve been an enthusiastic seeker over your years of belief in the Lord, I’ll be praying for you. You have to get out of that church as soon as possible!” He then left in a huff.
After he was gone I thought about his attitude about the Lord’s coming and felt that he didn’t remotely seem like someone who was eagerly awaiting His return. But then I thought of how he had served the Lord for many years and had expended so much in his work for the Lord—wasn’t that out of hope for the Lord’s return? Maybe it was because I wasn’t adequately equipped with the truth and my fellowship wasn’t clear enough. I figured that when he came by again I’d do my best to talk with him about God’s work of the last days.
Another Debate: The Pastor Threatens Me With Expulsion so I’d Give Up the True Way
Hardly a few days went by and Pastor Jin came back to the fruit stand. I was really excited at first, thinking that he had been looking through the Bible and had gained understanding of the Lord’s return. But to my surprise, he said smugly, “Deacon Li, the Bible says, ‘You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). This verse is very clear. The Lord Jesus went up into heaven on a white cloud, and when He returns He will certainly be on a white cloud as well.” Seeing that Pastor Jin was still so certain that the Lord would return on a cloud in the last days, I felt a little confused and thought, “Last time we talked about how the Bible also prophesies that He’ll come in secret. I thought that Pastor Jin would go back and engage in seeking, so why does he still think this?” Pastor Jin was going on and on about how the Lord should come on a cloud as if he were bound and determined to convince me of it, and I felt a bit of concern. “Although I’m totally certain that Almighty God’s work is the true way, I don’t understand enough the truth yet and he’s been a believer and a pastor for many years. He knows so much about the Bible. What if I don’t have enough discernment and I’m led astray by all those absurdities?”
I quickly made a silent prayer to God and asked for His guidance so that I wouldn’t be deceived by the fallacies Pastor Jin was spouting. I then thought of a passage of God’s words that brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God had read for me: “Man believes that, following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand. Man conceives that similarly, Jesus shall descend, again upon a white cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He returned to heaven), among those who have desperately yearned for Him for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of the Jews. After appearing to man, He shall bestow food upon them, and cause living water to gush forth for them, and shall live among man, full of grace and love, living and real. And so on. Yet Jesus the Savior did not do this; He did the opposite of what man conceived. He did not arrive among those who had yearned for His return, and did not appear to all men while riding upon the white cloud. He has already arrived, but man does not know Him, and remains ignorant of His arrival. Man is only aimlessly awaiting Him, unaware that He has already descended upon a ‘white cloud’ (the cloud which is His Spirit, His words, and His entire disposition and all that He is), and is now among a group of overcomers that He will make during the last days” (“The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words clearly tell us that the “white cloud” is God’s Spirit, God’s words, and God’s disposition and all that He has and is. It’s not something physical at all. While God is working in secret we won’t see the Lord Jesus returning on a white cloud; it’s only after God’s secret work is completed that we’ll see that. This passage of God’s words is really clear; since I thought Pastor Jin would surely understand if he heard them, I read it out to him. Surprisingly, the moment I finished, before I could say another word, Pastor Jin pulled a long face and said with scorn, “The Bible is crystal clear on the issue of how the Lord will return. Why read another book? I’ve served the Lord as a pastor for many years—you really think you understand more than I do? Besides, if what you believe in were really the true way, why would leaders across the entire religious world condemn it? I urge you to turn back right away. At first I thought I could get Deacon Pu (my husband) to urge you to come back to our church—I never imagined you’d be so stubborn. If you insist on continuing to believe in Almighty God’s words, you can’t blame me for taking the necessary action. I’ll make a report in the church that you are believing in a heresy and I’ll have you expelled from the church. I’ll make sure everyone steers clear of you and casts you aside.”
Hearing this left me stunned. I thought, “I’ve been a member of that church for more than a decade and the brothers and sisters there feel like my own family. Now that I’ve welcomed the Lord Jesus’ return, I wanted to share the gospel of the last days with you so that you could accept it and lead them into the fold as well. However, not only did you not seek or accept it, but turned the truth on its head and falsely claimed that my belief is heretical, wanting to kick me out of the church. That’s not how someone who’s been serving the Lord for all these years should behave.” I then thought of how my husband had yelled at me a few days earlier, “Pastor Jin said in church that anyone who believes in Almighty God will be expelled from the church. Aren’t you afraid of being kicked out if you keep believing in this? What will we do if the other brothers and sisters won’t have anything to do with us anymore? Some of them have already found out and they won’t even acknowledge us when they walk by the fruit stand. From now on you can’t go to The Church of Almighty God!” With all these facts laid out clearly before me, I finally realized that Pastor Jin was stopping believers from investigating God’s work of the last days by using threats of expulsion. It was so despicable, so sinister. I used to always think that he had served the Lord for all these years, that he was humble, and had love in his heart for other believers. But it turned out, he was a fake; he was deceiving others. Then that film popped into my mind—those pastors and elders of religious circles were pretending to be humble and pious in front of believers, but behind all that they were using all sorts of tactics, all sorts of methods to keep them from investigating and accepting God’s work of the last days. Seeing that Pastor Jin’s behavior was exactly the same as the pastors in that film, I felt a sense of revulsion and the high esteem I had held him in came crashing down in an instant. At that moment, I just continued to do my business and no longer paid him any mind. Seeing I was no longer paying attention to him, he slunk off.
Source from: Eastern Lightning | Testimony of Returning to God: My Debate With Pastor Jin, a “Spiritual Father”
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