Gospel Testimonies

Listen! Who Is This Who Speaks?

By Zhou Li, China

As a church preacher, nothing is more painful than spiritual impoverishment and having nothing to preach. I felt helpless seeing fewer and fewer brothers and sisters coming to meetings, and I came before the Lord many times to pray earnestly and ask the Lord to strengthen brothers and sisters' faith. But the desolation of the church did not improve at all and even I lived in weakness and negativity ...

I was working at home one day when Brother Wang and Brother Lin suddenly appeared, and I happily let them in. After exchanging pleasantries, Brother Wang said, "Sister Zhou, how is your spirit doing at present?" I sighed and said, "Don't mention it. I am weak in spirit now and I have nothing to preach in my sermons! Brothers and sisters are all negative and weak too. There is hardly anyone in the church." Brother Lin asked, "Sister Zhou, do you know why you have nothing to preach about in sermons and why there is hardly anyone in the church?" As soon as he had spoken, I thought: This is exactly what I want to know. Could they really know why? I hurriedly asked, "Why?" Brother Wang said, "Because the Lord has already returned. He has incarnated for the second time and is uttering His words and performing new work. Many brothers and sisters have already accepted God's work in the Age of Kingdom and live within the stream of the Holy Spirit's current work. Their conditions are getting better and better. Those who have not kept pace with God's new work have lost the Holy Spirit's work, and thus they have no words to preach and are negative and weak. We must make haste to keep up with God's footsteps!" Hearing this, I suddenly remembered the words of my senior co-worker: "If someone says that God has come to do new work and that He has uttered new words, then that is deviating from the Bible, and deviating from the Bible is not believing in the Lord; it is apostasy." Thinking of this, I very seriously said: "Do senior co-workers not often tell us that to deviate from the Bible is to not believe in the Lord? You should all know this, that deviating from the Bible is deviating from the Lord's way. How dare you try to preach this way to me!" I angrily stood up as I said this. Brother Lin said, "Sister Zhou, don't get worked up. We know that you sincerely believe in God and are zealous, and that is why we are telling you about God's new work. We have believed in the Lord for so many years. Have we not always looked forward to the Lord's return? Now the Lord has returned and is performing the judgment work of the last days. This is great news. We must seek and investigate diligently and not miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord!" Without waiting for Brother Lin to finish, I put up my hand and loudly interrupted him, "Stop, stop, stop! Don't say anymore. I will not believe in that which deviates from the Bible. You do not abide by the Lord's way, but I must." They saw that I really was not listening and so had no choice but to leave. Later, they came back a few more times, but I just ignored them.

Later on, Brother Wang and Brother Lin came to my house with two sisters to preach the gospel to me. That day, I was picking beans at home while my husband was outside working. He saw them coming and let them into the house. As soon as I saw them, my heart began to race: Why had they come back again and brought two reinforcements with them? The four of them came into the house and said hello to me and then began to fellowship with my husband. I felt even more anxious and thought to myself: "What they are preaching deviates from the Bible so I have to watch my husband and not let him take in anything!" I wanted to drive them away, but I was worried that my husband would get upset with me. All I could do was stay silent, although I didn't take in a word they said. But my husband listened and nodded his head and could not stop himself from saying, "Yeah! That's right! Yes! That's how it is. You explain it so well!" Seeing my husband so won over, I suddenly felt furious and pointed at my husband and snapped: "What is right? How much have you read the Bible? How long have you believed in God? Have you prayed to the Lord? You say, 'Right, right, right,' but how much do you understand?" With me making such a racket, the room suddenly fell silent and they all looked at each other. My husband hastily said to me, "Don't shout. Listen first. It's good for us. If you do not listen, how can you know whether it's right or wrong?" Seeing that I couldn't stop him from listening to them, I angrily pushed the beans back and forth with both hands, deliberately making loud noises, and thought, "Let you listen? I won't let you hear anything. I'll put an end to this!" But making loud noises with the beans did not stop my husband from listening to their fellowship. On the contrary, he talked and laughed with the four of them and their fellowship was most harmonious. After a while, my husband said to me happily: "Oh, Li! The Lord has really returned. The words of this book are the personal utterances of God! It's so great! Li, go and cook something for us." I gave him a look and did not respond. Later, Brother Lin left some tapes, a book of hymns and a copy of The Word Appears in the Flesh with my husband and then left. I just couldn't take it anymore and I said to my husband, "How many times have senior co-workers told us that to believe in God we cannot deviate from the Bible, and that deviating from the Bible is not believing in God. Have you forgotten? Why can't you take a stand on this issue?" My husband said without hesitation: "What they are saying is not deviating from the Bible but higher and deeper than the Bible. Moreover, God's new work that they are spreading fulfills the word of the Lord and the prophecies of the Book of Revelation. After listening to their fellowship, I understand and am clear about many of the things in the Bible that I did not understand before. The gospel of Almighty God that they testify is the true way. Open your eyes and look. There are only a few people left in our church. The church has become desolate. Yet you still do not give up on the words of senior co-workers. Isn't this too foolish? You'd better hurry and look into this." Hearing him say this, I angrily said, "What do you know? To deviate from the Bible is to betray the Lord. If you do not abide by the Bible, I will!"