The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). We believers in the Lord follow Him because we recognize that He is the true God from His words. For example, Peter, Nathanael, and Matthew didn’t know the Lord Jesus before they met Him, but they followed Him after they heard the Lord’s voice. Later, they also recognized from the Lord Jesus’ word and work that He is the promised Messiah. The Bible says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). It can be seen that if we can recognize God’s voice, we will be able to welcome the Lord.

The signs of the Jesus return have appeared, The Lord has secretly arrived long ago. Have you welcomed the Lord?

Reunion with God | I Hear the Voice of God and Experience a Wonderful Reunion With the Lord (Part 1)

The Bible Is the Basis of My Faith

I was born into a Catholic family. Although many of us in the local area followed God, many still smoked, drank alcohol, and worshiped idols, and there were even some in our church congregation who committed adultery. I knew nothing about the Bible back then, and when I saw the church leaders and my fellow believers living in such a way, I blindly followed suit and smoke and drank as well. One day in 2011, several brothers who believed in the Lord Jesus came to our village to preach the gospel. While I listened to their sermon, my heart was stirred by several passages from the Bible: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Although I wasn’t entirely clear what the Lord Jesus meant when He said these things, I knew that God possessed the truth, that He could bestow life upon us, and that if we believed in God then we had to listen to His words, for only by doing this would God be pleased. Only then did I begin to reflect, and I thought: “I believe in God and yet I’m living a life of smoking and drinking, and this makes me no different from those who don’t believe in God. This doesn’t accord with the truth. As a believer who follows God, I should stop living this degenerate life, and instead I must focus on living according to God’s words, seek to know God and gain the truth.” I then began to focus on reading the Bible, and I began to attend meetings with the preacher brothers to study.

While I was studying the Bible, I read the Ten Commandments and saw that they clearly stipulate that we are not to worship idols, and yet we Catholic believers go against God’s requirement and worship all manner of idols, doing exactly what God hates. I then thought about how the priests and church leaders never preached to us about how to keep the Lord’s way, but instead led us to do things which violated the commandments. I felt that by believing in God here in this church, I would simply not be able to gain the truth, and so I decided to leave the Catholic church and become a Christian. I was overjoyed, and I thought: “If I don’t read the Bible then I won’t understand God’s will. It looks as though reading the Bible and acting in accord with God’s requirements in the Bible are so important! From now on, I must read the Bible more and adhere to the Bible, for only by doing that will I come to know God and obtain both truth and life, and be commended by God.”

Later on, at a meeting, a preacher brother said very emphatically, “‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness’ (2 Timothy 3:16). God’s words are all recorded within the Bible and there are no words of God beyond those that are in the Bible. Departing from the Bible is heresy and we must absolutely adhere to the Bible. Only the Bible can give us life!” Hearing this, I became even more certain of the importance of the Bible. From that day on, I yearned to read the Bible and commit sections to memory even more, and I listened eagerly to the pastor’s expounding on the Bible. Whenever I saw the people around me browsing webpages online, I would think: “You’re all looking at things which are useless, and which belong to the world. You really are wasting your life and your time. I mustn’t be like you, but must spend all my time reading the Bible, for only by doing that will I attain eternal life.” I also often told the brothers and sisters I was with not to deviate from the Bible, that only by focusing more on reading the Bible would they be able to know God, and that only by making the Bible the basis of their faith would they be able to receive life. At that time, our faith was very great; we preached the gospel together and established a Christian church in the local area.

My Spirit Becomes Parched and I Feel Lost and in Pain

In 2018, I found that the church was no longer anything like it had been before. The sermons given by the pastor were dry and lifeless, without any light whatsoever. He just harped on about the same old Bible verses and historical stories of spiritual persons, and his sermons had nothing at all to do with our real lives or our spiritual lives, nor was I gaining anything from reading the Bible. My spirit felt weak, I was losing my faith in God, and I no longer yearned for the Bible. I felt very confused: “What’s going on?” I thought. “Why can’t I stay devoted to God?”

In my search for new insights and understanding, I began to search online and to listen to sermons from pastors from all over the world. After listening to a few sermons, however, I found that they also just talked about the same old things, without any new light whatsoever. I felt crushed, and all I could do was pray and seek guidance from God.

The True Light Is Revealed to Me in a Movie

One day, while I was searching for videos on YouTube, I noticed a gospel movie entitled Disclose the Mystery About the Bible. The name of the movie caught my eye and I thought that I would surely gain something new here. So, I hurriedly clicked on the link and began to watch the movie. When I watched it the first time, I felt very confused. The movie said that there were words and work of God that were not in the Bible, but that flew directly in the face of the pastor’s teachings, didn’t it? And yet when the gospel preachers in the movie gave fellowship, they listed many facts and their argument was reasonable and well-grounded. It all sounded brand new to me, so I decided to watch it again. I saw the brothers and sisters in the movie get into a debate over the view that “We must base our faith in the Lord on the Bible, all of God’s words are within the Bible, there are no words of God beyond those that are in the Bible, and to go beyond the Bible is heresy.” Some of the brothers and sisters agreed with this view, while others believed that there existed words of God which were not in the Bible. I couldn’t help but wonder: “Are there really any words of God that are not in the Bible? The pastor had always said, ‘God’s words are all in the Bible, to go beyond the Bible is heresy, and we must base our faith in the Lord on the Bible.’ So what on earth is the truth here?” With this confusion in my mind, I continued to watch the movie.

Brother Shen from The Church of Almighty God fellowshiped this, “Brothers and sisters, all those who are familiar with the Bible know that in the compilation of the Bible, because of the compilers’ disagreement and omission, some of God’s words conveyed through the prophets were not included in the Old Testament. This is an acknowledged fact. How can you say that outside the Bible there are no God’s work and word? Aren’t those omitted prophecies of the prophets God’s words? The Lord Jesus said more words than those in the New Testament. John 21:25 says, ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.’ This proves that not all the Lord Jesus’ work and word are recorded in the New Testament. So, the saying that outside the Bible there are no God’s work and word doesn’t accord with the fact. Brothers and sisters, we should also know both the Old and New Testament came into being from man’s record after God finished one stage of His work. At first, the Bible only had the Old Testament. All the Lord Jesus’ work and word went beyond the Old Testament. If according to ‘any belief beyond the Bible is a heresy,’ won’t we condemn the Lord Jesus? Brothers and sisters, from these facts we can see the saying ‘outside the Bible there are no God’s work and word and any belief beyond the Bible is a heresy’ is groundless.”

Then Brother Guo read a passage of Almighty God’s words, “During the time of Jesus, Jesus led the Jews and all those who followed Him according to the Holy Spirit’s work in Him at the time. He didn’t take the Bible as the basis of what He did, but spoke according to His work; He paid no heed to what the Bible said, nor did He search in the Bible for a path to lead His followers. Right from when He began to work, He spread the way of repentance—a word of which there was absolutely no mention in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Not only did He not act according to the Bible, but He also led a new path, and did new work. Never did He refer to the Bible when He preached. During the Age of Law, no one had ever been able to perform His miracles of healing the sick and casting out demons. So, too, were His work, His teachings, and the authority and power of His words beyond any man during the Age of Law. Jesus simply did His newer work, and even though many people condemned Him using the Bible—and even used the Old Testament to crucify Him—His work surpassed the Old Testament; if this were not so, why did people nail Him to the cross? Was it not because it said nothing in the Old Testament of His teaching, and His ability to heal the sick and cast out demons? … To people, it appeared as if His work had no basis, and there was much of it that was at odds with the records of the Old Testament. Is this not folly? Does doctrine need to be applied to the work of God? And must it be according to the foretellings of prophets? After all, which is greater: God or the Bible? Why must God’s work be according to the Bible? Could it be that God has no right to exceed the Bible? Can God not depart from the Bible and do other work? Why did Jesus and His disciples not keep the Sabbath? If He were to keep the Sabbath and practice according to the commandments of the Old Testament, why did Jesus not keep the Sabbath after He came, but instead washed feet, covered head, broke bread, and drank wine? Isn’t this all absent from the commandments of the Old Testament? If Jesus honored the Old Testament, why did He defy these doctrines? You should know which came first, God or the Bible! Being the Lord of the Sabbath, could He not also be the Lord of the Bible?” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Brother Shen continued with his fellowship, saying, “Over so many years, we all thought that any belief apart from the Bible was heresy. Today, after reading Almighty God’s word, we know: God never works according to the Bible or works by consulting the Bible, much less does He look for paths in the Bible to lead His followers. Rather, He’ll bestow to man a newer way and do a newer work. God is the Ruler of all things. He is not only the Lord of the Sabbath but the Lord of the Bible. God is entitled to do His own work. He can do a new work according to mankind’s need. So, ‘outside the Bible, there are no God’s word and work, and any belief apart from the Bible is heresy,’ this saying is untenable.”

I then heard Brother Guo give fellowship, saying: “What the Bible records is limited. The Old Testament only records the work of Jehovah, and the New Testament only records the work of the Lord Jesus. The Bible only prophesies God’s end-time work. However, it doesn’t record the details, because in the end time God does the work of judgment, which is a new work outside the Bible. God is the expresser of truth, the Ruler of the universe and all things. His richness is unfailing and inexhaustible, and no created being can fathom Him. So, the contents of the Bible alone can’t make clear all God’s deeds. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s word. Almighty God says, ‘The things that are recorded in the Bible are limited; they cannot represent the work of God in its entirety. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether, in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. However, man values them as treasures, even verifying the work of today against them. They even believe that all the work Jesus did in His life amounted only to so much, as if God were only capable of doing this much and nothing further. Is this not absurd?’ (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).”

Brother Guo continued, “We all read the Bible in the past, but we weren’t clear about the inside story of the Bible. Today, Almighty God’s word has disclosed it. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s word. Almighty God says, ‘No one knows the reality of the Bible: that it is nothing more than a historical record of God’s work, and a testament to the previous two stages of God’s work, and offers you no understanding of the aims of God’s work. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it documents the two stages of God’s work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament chronicles the history of Israel and Jehovah’s work from the time of creation until the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul; are they not historical records? Bringing up the things of the past today makes them history, and no matter how true or real they might be, they are still history—and history cannot address the present. For God does not look back on history! And so, if you only understand the Bible, and understand nothing of the work God intends to do today, and if you believe in God but do not seek the work of the Holy Spirit, then you do not understand what it means to seek God. If you read the Bible in order to study the history of Israel, to research the history of God’s creation of all the heavens and earth, then you do not believe in God. But today, since you believe in God, and pursue life, since you pursue the knowledge of God, and do not pursue dead letters and doctrines, or an understanding of history, you must seek God’s will of today, and must look for the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work. If you were an archeologist you could read the Bible—but you are not, you are one of those who believe in God, and you’d best seek God’s will of today’ (“Concerning the Bible (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).”

Then Brother Shen fellowshiped: “From Almighty God’s words, we see that the Bible is only a historical record of God’s former works. It can’t save man. The Bible can never be compared with God. God is the spring of living water of life. His word and utterance flow unceasingly. However, what the Bible records is very limited. This is a fact that no one can deny. God is an ever-new and never-old God. In each age, He does a new work and expresses new words. Like in the Age of the Grace, the Lord Jesus did a new work and expressed new words. But the Jewish priests and Pharisees held on to the Old Testament. They not only rejected and condemned the Lord Jesus, but even nailed Him on the cross, committing a monstrous sin. Today, the end-time Christ, Almighty God, expresses all the truths, which are not recorded in the Bible at all. Since there is no record, the Bible can’t substitute for God’s end-time work and all His words. Brothers and sisters, we can no longer hold on to the Bible. We should seek God’s present will and search for the Holy Spirit’s working. Only this is after God’s heart.”

After watching this in the movie, I felt very much in agreement with their fellowship. When the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, He certainly didn’t just say what is recorded in the New Testament, for God is the Creator, and His bounty is endless and inexhaustible. What’s more, God doesn’t base His work in the Bible, and it was only after God had finished His work that man then recorded His work and set it down in the Bible. If God came to perform a new work, it would surely not be recorded in the Bible already. God must surely go beyond the Bible to perform His work, just like the Lord Jesus’ words and work went beyond the Old Testament. Therefore, it seemed as though the view that the pastor had taught us, that “God’s words are all within the Bible, there are no words of God beyond those that are in the Bible and to depart from the Bible is heresy” is wrong, and it does indeed delimit God. My heart felt greatly illuminated just then, and what moved me most were the words they read which had explained the mysteries in the Bible so clearly. From the bottom of my heart, I was certain that no human being could possibly have spoken these words, that they were surely the utterances of God, and that only God could reveal these mysteries. Thinking this, I carried on watching with even greater interest.

To be continue…

Source From: Eastern Lightning