Being Able to Distinguish the True Christ From False Christs, I Welcomed the Returned Lord

 On the next day, I went to Sister Wang’s house by bike (because the day before it was Sister Wang who brought the two sisters of The Church of Almighty God to my original church). She told me that the two sisters of The Church of Almighty God had left and that when they came again, she would bring them to my house. On the third day, Sister Wang came to my home with a sister who believed in Almighty God. I happily let them in. After we’d greeted each other, I fellowshiped with them the enlightenment I had gained. The sister of The Church of Almighty God said happily, “Thank God! God won’t omit anyone who truly believes in Him. As long as we seek sincerely, we can see the Lord’s face.”

Then I said, “In Matthew 24:23–24 it says, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ The Lord said that false Christs would appear in the last days. We, in the past, held on to these two verses and didn’t accept anyone who spread the news of the Lord’s return. But the Lord also asked us to be awake and wait for His return. If I refuse to listen to all people who spread the gospel of the Lord’s return, then I will very easily shut the Lord out! Now I really am in quite a dilemma and don’t know how to choose.”

Hearing me say this, the sister said in fellowship, “Many people don’t understand the intention of the Lord in speaking these words, and they receive them erroneously, thinking that any testimony about the Lord’s return is false. Therefore, the moment they hear someone saying that the Lord has returned, they condemn and reject them. How can they welcome the Lord’s return? The Lord told us that in the last days false Christs would appear. In fact, His intention in speaking these words is that we learn how to differentiate false Christs. At the same time, He told us about the practices of false Christs. Let’s read the Lord’s words again carefully, ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ From this, we can see that the most distinct characteristic of false Christs is using miracles and wonders to deceive people.” After listening to the sister’s fellowship, I suddenly realized, “So the Lord didn’t say these words to ask us to close our doors but to tell us about the practices of false Christs. However, I didn’t understand the Lord’s intentions, but thought that any testimony about the Lord’s return was false and always refused to accept it. I was really so ignorant.”

The sister went on to say, “Why do false Christs use the signs and wonders to deceive people? Let us look at two passages from the word of Almighty God and we will understand. God says, ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, cast out demons, heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work.’ ‘The God of today does not display signs and wonders, nor does He heal the sick and cast out demons. When Jesus came, the work He did represented one part of God, but this time God has come to do the stage of work that is due, for God does not repeat the same work; He is the God that is always new and never old, and so all that you see today is the words and work of the practical God.’

“We can see from God’s words that the essence of false Christs is that of evil spirits. They can’t express the truth, and much less can they usher in a new age. All they can do is follow on the heels of God to imitate God’s old work, performing some signs and wonders to pretend to be God to deceive those muddle-headed people without discernment. Though they can perform some signs and wonders, because they do not have the authority of God at all, there’s no way they can perform such miracles as calming the storm, bringing the dead back to life, and feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. So, anyone who says that they are the Lord returned and who displays signs and wonders and heals the sick and casts out demons, these people are definitely false Christs deceiving people. According to this principle, we can easily discern which people are false Christs.”

She continued talking, “God is always new and never old. Every time God comes to work He ushers in a new age and concludes the old age. God’s work is never repeated, and God always does newer and higher work according to the needs of corrupt mankind. For example, Jehovah God worked in the temple in the Age of Law, but when the Lord Jesus came, He neither entered the temple nor kept the Sabbath. And instead, He did many new works, such as helping people by healing the sick and casting out demons, performing many signs and miracles, getting people to confess their sins and repent, and being crucified to redeem mankind. These works were never done in the Age of Law. In the same way, because the Lord Jesus’ work of performing miracles and wonders and redeeming humanity through crucifixion has already been accomplished, God won’t do it again. In the last days God has once again become flesh, has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and has brought to an end the Age of Grace. He is expressing words to do the work of judgment and chastisement to thoroughly purify mankind’s sinful nature. These works fulfill the prophecies in the Bible, ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1 Peter 4:17). ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7). Though every stage of God’s work is different, each stage of His work is built on the work of the last stage. For instance, the Lord Jesus’ work of redeeming mankind and absolving mankind’s sins was built on the foundation of the work of the Age of Law. Likewise, the work of judgment from God in the last days is built on the foundation of the work of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, God will thoroughly cleanse mankind whose sins have already been forgiven, and then bring people whose sins have been purified into His kingdom.”

Only after hearing the sister’s fellowship did I come to some understanding that God’s work is never repeated. The Lord Jesus has redeemed mankind, and so when He returns He won’t do the work of performing miracles and wonders. However, Satan and evil spirits can only imitate the work God has already done in the past, performing miracles and wonders to deceive us. The Lord Jesus said these words in order to tell us to distinguish and guard against these false Christs. All of this was something I had never heard of in the past in my belief in the Lord. What the sister fellowshiped was really fresh and new, and I gained great provision.

Afterward, the sister continued speaking, “We have known how to distinguish false Christs. But when the Lord Jesus comes, how should we recognize Him as Christ? The words of Almighty God give us the path to do so. Almighty God says, ‘To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: 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.’ ‘God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. The real Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself.’”

Then she fellowshiped this with me, “From God’s words, we realize that when distinguishing the true Christ from false Christs, we need to distinguish from the essence, and ascertain the true Christ from their work and words. Christ is God incarnate. Even though, externally, Christ looks like a normal person, He is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh, possesses God’s essence, and has both normal humanity and complete divinity. He can do the work of God Himself, can end an old age and begin a new age, and can express the truth, God’s disposition and what God has and is. Just like when the Lord Jesus came to carry out work, He concluded the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace, He expressed His disposition of love and mercy, He preached the way of repentance, and He performed miracles and wonders, cured illness, and cast out demons. These were all works of a divine nature and could only be done by God incarnate. Almighty God has come in the last days, and in the same way, He has ended the Age of Grace and ushered in the Age of Kingdom. He is carrying out the work of judging and purifying mankind on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, and opening up all the mysteries, such as the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan to save mankind, why God has carried out three stages of the work to save mankind, how God does His work of judgment in the last days to save mankind, the meaning of God’s names, the mystery of the incarnation, and so on. At the same time, He is also expressing the righteous and majestic disposition of God to judge our sins and injustice, providing us with the path that shows us how to rid ourselves of sin and be cleansed. After reading Almighty God’s words, all the people who have hearts and spirits can feel that His words hold authority and power, and are not words we human beings are capable of uttering. Moreover, among those who accept the work of the last days of Almighty God, the ones that have truly experienced the judgment and chastisement of God’s words gain some knowledge of their satanic corrupt nature, such as arrogance and self-importance, crookedness and cunning, selfishness and baseness, and so on. After experiencing God’s work of the last days, they reveal less and less satanic corrupt disposition, and their life dispositions have changed to various degrees. If they follow God till the very end, they will surely be changed and purified by God, ultimately reach accord with Christ, and become people who possess the truth and humanity. This is the effect of the works of a divine nature done by the incarnate God. However, false Christs do not possess the truth whatsoever, cannot express the truth, and can’t open up mysteries or do the work of judging and purifying mankind. They are evil and filthy, so how can they be qualified to judge people’s sins? This is why they can only perform some signs and wonders and release fallacies which appear true but which are actually false in order to deceive people.”

After listening to Almighty God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, my heart felt greatly stirred. Yes, I thought, Christ has the essence of God, He is the Spirit of God clothed in the flesh, and He can do divine work, express the truth, and bestow life upon mankind. On the contrary, false Christs are evil spirits, and they are filthy and corrupt. They don’t have truth at all, and cannot do the work of judging people, but can only perform some miracles and wonders to deceive people. It seems that when discerning whether it is the returned Lord Jesus, the main thing is still to assess from His work and words. I silently thanked God. It was thanks to God’s guidance that I came to hear the fellowship. If I had listened to the senior leader and refused to investigate, I would have lost the extremely rare opportunity to attain salvation. When I thought of this, I said happily, “Sister, I’ve gained so much today. I’ve understood the principles of differentiating the true Christ from false Christs, and known how false Christs deceive people and how to recognize Christ from God’s work and words. Thank God! It is Almighty God’s words that help me develop discernment. In the past, I had errors in understanding these verses, and thus blindly guarded against false Christs, and the result is that the Lord Jesus has already come back but I didn’t know to welcome or investigate, nor did I pay attention to hearing God’s voice. I was really so absurd. Now there are still many brothers and sisters who don’t dare to seek or investigate the true way because they don’t understand how to differentiate the true Christ from false Christs. I must be quick to fellowship about the truth to them, so that they can no longer be restrained by their conceptions, and then can come before Almighty God, accept His salvation, and keep up with the pace of the Holy Spirit’s work as soon as possible.” Hearing this, the sister said happily, “Great. Let’s rely on Almighty God to bring them before Him.” Looking at each other, both of us smiled.

After a period of time, some brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God and I brought three sisters from my original denomination before Almighty God. We had gatherings together to read Almighty God’s words, and we understood many truths. Spiritually we enjoyed the release that we had never experienced before. We were thankful that we’d welcomed the Lord’s return in the last days. All the glory be to Almighty God!