In 1995, the work of testifying to the kingdom gospel of Almighty God formally began in Mainland China. Through our gratitude to God and with a love that was true, we testified to the appearance and work of Almighty God to the brothers and sisters in various denominations. Little did we expect to suffer extreme resistance and slander from their leaders. We could only come before Almighty God to pray earnestly, beseeching God to work in person. From 1997 onward, we beheld the Holy Spirit work on a great scale. There was a rapid increase in the members of churches in various locations. At the same time, many signs and wonders occurred, and many people in various denominations returned to Almighty God as a result of receiving God’s revelations or seeing these signs and wonders. If the Holy Spirit had not worked, what could man do? This made us realize: Although we understood some truths, we could not testify to Almighty God through our human strength alone. After these people from various denominations accepted Almighty God, they gradually became certain of Almighty God in their hearts through eating and drinking and enjoying the word of Almighty God, and after a period of time, there was produced in them genuine faith and obedience. People from every denomination were thus lifted before the throne, and no longer expected to “meet the Lord in the sky” as they had imagined.
A lot of people don’t understand why, since Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus in the last days, the Lord Jesus is called Almighty God when He comes to do the work of judgment in the last days. Why doesn’t He carry on being called the Lord Jesus? In fact, God has a new name each time He does a stage of His work. This new name is taken by God Himself as befits the work—it is not something that people call Him as they please. The name God takes in each stage of work has its basis in the Bible. The name of the returned Lord Jesus of the last days was long ago prophesied in the Bible. Isaiah said, “And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name” (Isa 62:2). In the Book of Revelation, it was also said that “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write on him my new name” (Rev 3:7, 12). “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8). “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns” (Rev 19:6). The name of Almighty God of the Age of Kingdom is the complete fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation. The name that God takes in each era has profound significance and is intimately connected to God’s work during that age. Almighty God revealed the mysteries relating to this when He said, “In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still do the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? In this way, God must be called by a different name in a different age, must use the name to change the age and represent the age, for no one name can fully represent God Himself. And each name can only represent God’s disposition during a certain age and needs only to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age. Regardless of whether it is the age of Jehovah, or the age of Jesus, each age is represented by a name” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
During the last days, God has been incarnated in China to work, and has expressed millions of words, conquering and saving a group of people with His word and ushering in the new age of judgment beginning with the house of God. Today, the spreading of God’s work during the last days has reached its climax in Mainland China. Most of the people in the Catholic Church and all Christian denominations and sects who pursue the truth have returned before God’s throne. The incarnate God has accomplished the work of “the Son of man’s secret coming” prophesied in the Bible, and will soon appear publicly to every nation and place in the world. All people in every nation and place who thirst for God’s appearance will look upon God’s public appearance. No force can hinder or destroy God’s kingdom, and anyone who resists God will be punished by God’s wrath, just as it is said in God’s words: “My kingdom is forming over the whole universe, and My throne is seizing the hearts of trillions of people. With the angels’ assistance, My great accomplishment will soon be brought to successful completion. All the masses of My sons and My people, anxiously await My return, anticipating My reuniting with them, never to be separated again. How could all the populace of My kingdom not run around in celebration with each other over My being together with them? Could this be a costless reunion? I am honorable in the eyes of everyone, I am proclaimed in everyone’s words. When I return, I will conquer all enemy forces even more. The time has come! I want to put My work in motion, I want to reign supreme among man! I am returning! I am leaving! This is what everyone is anticipating, what they are hoping for. I want to let everyone see the arrival of My day and joyfully welcome the coming of My day!” “All those that I love will surely live for eternity, and all those who stand against Me will surely be chastised by Me for eternity. For I am a jealous God, I will not lightly spare men for all that they have done. I will watch over the whole earth, and, appearing in the East of the world with righteousness, majesty, wrath, and chastisement, I will reveal Myself to the myriad hosts of humanity!”
Each and every time the Eastern Lightning is mentioned, many brothers and sisters in the Lord feel perplexed: Why is it that as the religious community as a whole becomes increasingly desolate and degenerate, as each denomination becomes increasingly guarded and conservative in condemning and banishing the Eastern Lightning, not only is the Eastern Lightning not becoming desolate and ebbing, but surging like unstoppable billows, sweeping across mainland China? Now that it has even expanded beyond China’s borders to foreign countries and regions, as it is being accepted by more and more people worldwide? Faced with this fact, the religious people are thoroughly puzzled, while in fact the reason is quite simple: What each religious sect calls the Eastern Lightning is the returned Savior Jesus of the last days, riding down from the heavens upon a “white cloud”; it is God Himself who has returned to flesh and is real and actual! What Almighty God Christ of the last days brings is the judgment work that changes man’s disposition and cleanses him, so that mankind may achieve salvation and be perfected. Almighty God issues forth with all the truths that cleanse, save, and perfect mankind. For this reason, even if every religious sect in the entire world resists, attacks, persecutes, blasphemes, or condemns God incarnate of the last days or His work, there is no one and no force that can ever obstruct or suppress what He wishes to achieve. God’s authority, power, and His almightiness and wisdom are unsurpassable by any force of Satan.
