My name is Liu Xiangyang. I was formerly a deacon in the Great Light Church, and my family did hosting. As I received much grace from following the Lord, I pursued him zealously and was active in preaching the gospel and doing the work.

In 2001, without knowing why, I became very weak in my spirit, always feeling down, and I could not do the work well though I tried. The condition of the brothers and sisters in our meeting places got worse and worse. They gave fewer and fewer testimonies to their healing sick people through prayer in preaching the gospel. When they themselves fell ill, they did not get better though they prayed to the Lord for healing. They became passive and weak, and some even stopped coming to the meeting places and turned to the world to earn money. Seeing this condition, I was so anxious that I knelt down before the Lord and prayed earnestly, “O Lord, please revive our churches and give us faith and strength. Please move the hearts of those brothers and sisters who have left the churches and call them back. …” I often prayed like this but the condition of the brothers and sisters did not turn any better. One day in December 2001, a co-worker said to me, “Now, there has appeared a sect called ‘Eastern Lightning.’ They have a book, which contains a magic potion. Once you hear the words in it, you will became dopey and follow them. They are purely ‘heretics’ and gangsters. We must be watchful lest we be deceived, as many believers in our Church have been snatched away by them….” I took him at his word and assured him right away, “Count on me. In my working district, no ‘sheep’ will be stolen by them.” Then I hastened to every meeting place and exaggeratedly told the brothers and sisters the co-worker’s words. And I warned them again and again, “When strangers come to your home, be cautious. If they are the preachers of ‘Eastern Lightning,’ refuse them flatly. Don’t receive them. We must hold on to the way we have received.” At the same time, I was on my guard constantly and warned myself to be careful not to be deceived.

One day in June 2002, a sister I knew came to preach Almighty God’s end-time gospel to me. As I had had resistance to it, I refused to accept it and treated her in a very unkind manner, but she still fellowshipped with me patiently. Then my wife went out and called in the co-worker Wang X. As soon as Wang X entered the room, she raged at the sister, “What’s brought you here? … Get out! You’re not welcome here.” I also bawled at her, “Go away! Never come again!” Thus, the sister was rudely driven away by us.

One day in November 2002, my brother-in-law (the husband of my wife’s younger sister) brought a brother to my home. I felt very unhappy about it, but I still received them for fear of hurting my brother-in-law’s feelings. After being with that brother for a while, I found that he was sober and decent in his manners and was very kind and friendly, in no way like a bad man. So, I began to fellowship with him freely. He explained to me in detail the three stages of the work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan, that is, the work of the Age of the Law, the work of the Age of the Grace, and the work of the Age of the Kingdom. I was very impressed by his fellowship, through which I understood many biblical mysteries and received much supply in my spirit. I could not help feeling overjoyed. And the brother continued, “God’s work always progresses forward. When God starts a new work, the old work ends. Then, he requires his believers to accept his new work and practice according to his new requirements. If they accept and obey it, it means that they have kept up with the Lamb’s footsteps, and God will bless them so that they will receive the working of the Holy Spirit as well as God’s care and keeping. If they don’t, they will lose God’s presence and salvation and be loathed by him. It is like the Pharisees of that time. They were denounced by the Lord Jesus with seven woes because they obstinately kept the law and did not accept his work but condemned and resisted him instead. Today, God has done a work of removing the root of man’s sin on the basis of the redemptive work, and he has withdrawn all of the Spirit’s work from the entire universe and done it on the group of people who follow Almighty God. So now all the churches that have not kept up with the pace of God’s working have lost the working of the Holy Spirit and turned desolate. The believers become weak and backsliding; when they get sick, they receive no healing though they pray to the Lord, and some even suffer relapses….” His words suddenly woke me up. “No wonder however hard we pray, our churches are not revived, the brothers and sisters give fewer and fewer testimonies to their healing sick people through prayer in preaching the gospel, and when they themselves become ill, they get no better though they pray to the Lord for healing. Actually, God has done a new work.” Thinking of that, I asked the brother, “Does God no longer heal the sick and drive out demons after he starts a new work?” “No,” he replied. “Actually Jesus has already told us at Matthew 24:24: ‘For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.’ This verse tells us that in the last days false christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders, and it also hints to us that in the end time the true Christ will no longer perform signs, because the principle of God’s working is that he does the work in an ever-new and never-old way and that he does not repeat his work. So, if a person who can perform signs comes and claims to be Christ, then this is a counterfeit of an evil spirit. God is the God of wisdom. He does not continue the work of healing the sick and driving out demons in the end time for two purposes. First, he wants us to have discernment so that we will not be deceived by false christs; second, he wants us to know him and the principle of his working.” With that, he took out a book of God’s word and read: “This is because in the Age of the Grace, although the demons in people were driven out through the laying on of hands and praying, the corrupt nature within them still existed. People’s sicknesses were healed and their sins were forgiven, but God had not done any work on people so that they could get rid of their corrupt satanic nature within. They were only redeemed by faith and were forgiven of their sins by faith, but their innate nature of committing sins was not removed and still existed within them. People’s sins are forgiven through God’s being incarnated, but this does not mean that people have no sins within. They can be forgiven of their sins through the sin offering after they commit them, but they have no way to solve such things as how they can keep from committing sins, how they can completely get rid of their sinful nature, and how they can have their sinful nature transformed to some extent. People’s sins have been forgiven because of God’s work of crucifixion, but they are still living in their old corrupt satanic nature. Thus, it is necessary to completely save them from their corrupt satanic nature, so that their sinful nature can be completely gotten rid of and will not worsen anymore and so that they all can gain the transformation of their nature. So, it is necessary to cause people to understand the way to grow in life, the way of life, and the way to have their nature transformed, and cause them all to practice according to that way, so that they can be transformed in their nature gradually, live in the shining of the light, do everything according to God’s intention, get rid of their corrupt satanic nature, break free from satan’s power and influence of darkness, and come out of sin completely. Only then will people have gained full salvation.” “People have the notion that God must always perform signs and wonders, heal the sick, and drive out demons, and that he must always work like Jesus. God will by no means work that way this time. If in the end time, God still performed signs and wonders, drove out demons, and healed the sick, doing exactly the same things as Jesus did, then he would be repeating his work and Jesus’ work would be meaningless and worthless. So God does one stage of his work in one age. Every time after God finishes a stage of his work, evil spirits will immediately imitate it. After satan imitates God’s work, God does his work in another way. After God finishes a stage of his work, evil spirits will imitate it. You should be clear about this. Why does God do a different work from Jesus’ today? Why does God not perform signs and wonders, drive out demons, or heal the sick today? If Jesus had done the same work as that of the Age of the Law, could he have been the God of the Age of the Grace? Could he have accomplished the work of crucifixion? If Jesus had entered the temple and kept the Sabbath as people did in the Age of the Law, no one would have persecuted him but all would have supported him. Then could he have been crucified? Could he have accomplished the redemptive work? If God still performed signs and wonders as Jesus did when he is incarnated in the end time, what meaning would it have? Only if God does another part of his work in the end time, which represents one part of his management plan, can people have a deeper knowledge of him and can his management plan be accomplished.” Through these words of Almighty God, I came to understand that God is an ever-new and never-old God, and that he does one stage of the work in each age and does not repeat any stage of the work. If God continued to heal the sick and drive out demons in the last days, then his work could not progress forward but would stop at the Age of the Grace. The work of healing the sick and driving out demons can only free people from their illnesses and from demon-possession but cannot transform them and make them holy. So, God does a new work in the last days, expressing the way of life to purify people thoroughly. Only by his doing so can people become holy and enter his kingdom. Besides, God’s doing so can reveal false christs, lest people be deceived by them and thus ruin themselves. God’s work is so wise and wonderful! At this time, I suddenly remembered that our Great Light Church laid special stress on healing the sick and driving out demons, and that the founder of our Church could perform signs and wonders and claimed to be the returned Jesus. Measuring it against the words of God, I woke up as if from a dream. “Actually, the one I have believed in and followed all along is a false christ. …” Although I had had all this knowledge and felt Almighty God’s words were clear and powerful, which sounded like God’s word, nevertheless when I thought of those terrible rumors about “Eastern Lightning,” I felt myself in a dilemma. On the one hand, I was afraid that I might be deceived, in case those rumors were true; on the other hand, I could not afford to believe that the one I had believed in all these years was a false christ…. Before the brother left, he advised me, “God’s work is about to end. This book is God’s newest expression. Please keep it and make an investigation!” With mixed feelings, I accepted the book of God’s word and decided to make an investigation first.