The Lord Jesus warned us, “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.” (Matthew 24:23-24) By these words, the Lord meant to tell us to be cautious and have discernment in the matter of waiting for his coming, rather than ask us not to seek Christ because false christs would appear in the end time. If we evade or refuse God’s end-time gospel for fear of being deceived, then how will we welcome the Lord Jesus’ coming again?
To avoid the deception of false christs, we have to learn how to discern between the true Christ and the false christs. Since he who is Christ has Christ’s substance and false christs don’t have Christ’s substance, as long as we grasp the truths about discerning the true Christ and the false christs, we will recognize the false christs no matter how they pose as Christ. Then how should we discern the true Christ and the false christs?
Almighty God tells us, “Since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he has God’s substance; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he has God’s expression. Since God is incarnated, he will bring the work he wants to do; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he will express what God is; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he can bring man the truth, bestow to man the life, and show man the way. If a flesh does not have God’s substance, he is certainly not the incarnated God. This is beyond doubt. If people want to investigate whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, they have to ascertain that from the disposition and the word he expresses. That is to say, to ascertain whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh or whether a way is the true way, people must discern that from his substance. So, whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh mainly depends on his substance (his work, word, disposition, and more other aspects), not on his appearance. If people overlook his substance because of investigating his appearance, that is their foolishness and ignorance.” “God incarnate is called Christ. So, it is not at all too much to call the Christ who can bestow the truth to man God. This is because he has God’s substance, and he has God’s disposition and working wisdom, which are beyond man’s reach. Only those who cannot do God’s work but claim to be Christ are counterfeits. Christ is not only God’s manifestation on earth, but a special flesh in which God carries out his work on earth and accomplishes his work among men. This flesh cannot be substituted by anyone but is a flesh who is adequate to undertake God’s work on earth, who can express God’s disposition, who is adequate to represent God, and who can supply man with life. Those who pretend to be Christ will fall sooner or later, because they, though claiming to be Christ, do not at all possess Christ’s substance. So, I say that being true or false cannot be decided by man, but it is answered by God Godself and is decided by God Godself.” “Those other than Christ who claim to be Christ do not have Christ’s attributes at all. By making a comparison with the arrogant and self-exalting disposition of the false christs, you will know what kind of flesh is Christ. The more a person is a false christ, the more he will exhibit himself, and the more he will perform signs and wonders to deceive people. He who is a false christ does not have God’s attributes, and he who is Christ does not have any element of a false christ. God is incarnated only for the purpose of completing his work in the flesh and not just for people to see him. He lets his work prove his identity and lets his manifestation prove his substance. His substance is not spoken about without a basis, and his identity is not usurped by himself but is determined by his work and his substance. … Christ’s work and Christ’s expression determine his substance. He can carry out the commission on his shoulders with a true heart, he can worship the God in heaven with a true heart, and he can seek the will of God the Father with a true heart. All these are determined by his substance. All his natural manifestation is also determined by his substance. The reason why it is called natural manifestation is that what he expresses is not imitation, not the result of man’s education, not the result of years of man’s training, not something acquired by himself, and not something he adorns himself with, but something he originally has. People may deny his work, deny his expression, deny his humanity, and deny all his life in his normal humanity, but no one can deny that he worships the God in heaven with a true heart, no one can deny that he comes to accomplish the will of the heavenly Father, and no one can deny his earnest heart to seek God the Father. Although his appearance is not pleasing to the eye, although his speaking is not in an extraordinary manner, and although his work is not so earth-shaking or heaven-shaking as people imagine, nevertheless he is indeed the Christ who fulfills the will of the heavenly Father with a true heart and who completely obeys the heavenly Father and obeys even unto death, because his substance is Christ’s substance. This is a fact that is hard for anyone to believe but that indeed exists. After Christ has fulfilled all his ministry, people will be able to see from his work that his disposition and his being represent the disposition and the being of the God in heaven. At that time, considering all the work he has done, people will be able to ascertain that he is the ‘flesh’ that the ‘Word’ becomes and not a flesh that is the same as a fleshly man.” “Some men were possessed by evil spirits and kept shouting, ‘I am God!’ But they could not stand in the end, because they represented wrongly and what they represented was satan. The Holy Spirit paid no attention to them. However high you speak and however loud you shout, you are still a created being and are of satan. I never shout, ‘I am God. I am God’s beloved Son!’ But what I do is God’s work. Do I need to shout? There is no need to be exalted. God Godself does his own work, and he does not need man to give him a position or a respectful title. His work represents his identity and position. … You cannot bring a new way, and you cannot represent the Spirit, cannot express the work of the Spirit or express the word of the Spirit, cannot do the work of God Godself or do what the Spirit does, and cannot express God’s wisdom, wonderfulness, or unfathomableness, or any of God’s disposition by which he chastises man, so no matter how you claim to be God, it is useless, and you only have the name but do not have the substance. When God Godself comes, no one knows him, but he continues to do his work and does the work on behalf of the Spirit. It is all right whether you call him a man, call him God, call him Lord or Christ, or call her a sister, but the work he does is the work of the Spirit and represents the work of God Godself. He does not care what man calls him. Could it determine his work? No matter what you call him, speaking from God’s side, he is the incarnated flesh of God’s Spirit, represents the Spirit, and is approved by the Spirit. You cannot bring the way of the new age and cannot end the old age, open a new age, or do a new work, so you cannot be called God!” “If now there appears a man who can perform signs and wonders, drive out demons, heal the sick, and perform many miracles and he claims to be Jesus who has come, it is the counterfeit of an evil spirit and is done by an evil spirit in imitation of Jesus. Remember one point! God does not repeat his work. The stage of Jesus’ work has been accomplished, and God will never do that stage of work again. What God does simply does not fit man’s notions. For example, it was prophesied in the Old Testament that Messiah would come, but Jesus came. If another Messiah had come, it would have been wrong. Jesus has come once; if ‘Jesus’ came again this time, it would be wrong. One age, one name, and each name is typical of its age. In people’s notions, God should always perform signs and wonders, should always heal the sick and drive out demons, and should always be like Jesus. This time God will by no means do so. If in the end time God still performed signs and wonders and drove out demons and healed the sick, doing exactly the same as Jesus did, then God’s work would be repeated, and Jesus’ work would be meaningless and worthless. So God does one stage of work in one age. Every time after God does a stage of work, evil spirits will imitate it immediately. After satan follows in the wake of God, God will work in another way. After God finishes a stage of work, evil spirits will imitate it. You should be clear about this.” (from The Word Appearsin the Flesh)
From Almighty God’s words we know that to discern between the true Christ and the falsechrists, we must discern from their substance, that is, discern from their work, word, disposition, and more other aspects. Firstly, we should know that he who is Christ can open a new age andend the old age, bring a new work, and show man new ways of practice. At that time, the Lord Jesus ended the Age of the Law and brought the Age of the Grace; he did the redemptive work on the basis of the Age of the Law, bringing people the new practices, such as asking people to confess and repent of their sins, to forgive others, to love one another, and so on. Today, Almighty God has come, and he has ended the Age of the Grace, brought the Age of the Kingdom, and done a stage of conquering and perfecting work on the basis of the redemptive work. This stage of work is to bestow to people the truth, the way, and the life by judging themwith his word, making them understand the way of growing in life and the pathway of havingtheir disposition transformed, so that they can cast off their corrupt satanic disposition and live out the likeness of a real man. This stage of work has pointed out to people the new ways ofpractice and brought them into a higher state. But false christs cannot open a new age or do a new work. They can only imitate God’s work in the wake of God after God has finished it. Take the example of the false christs who claim to be God. As they don’t possess Christ’s substance, they cannot express the truth or point out to people the way of having their dispositiontransformed but can merely imitate the works Jesus did, performing some signs and doing some miracles to deceive people. Secondly, Christ is the holy flesh God’s Spirit is clothed with. He has no filthiness and corruption, has no element of arrogance and conceit, and never exalts himself or shows off, but is humble and hidden, works among men in obscurity, and never publicizes that he is God. False christs, however, are the fleshes evil spirits are clothed with. They are filthy, evil, licentious, and arrogant, and they exalt themselves everywhere and shamelessly testify themselves to be Christ. Thirdly, Christ can expose mankind’s corruption and judge theirdisobedience and can expose the corrupt nature that people themselves cannot discover, so that they can know the substance of their nature and thus can be transformed in their disposition and be purified by God. The false christs, however, are ones deeply corrupted by satan, and all that they express is the corrupt satanic disposition of being arrogant and conceited and being evil and base. They can only corrupt, deceive, and harm people. How can they expose and judge man? Fourthly, Christ can unlock all the mysteries, can open the scroll and break the seven seals, can fully explain the work of God’s entire management plan, and can fully explain the things of the past, the present, and the future, because he is the First and the Last. False christs, however, cannot speak any truth but can only speak some imitative wordsand specious words to deceive people. Besides, Christ’s work is ever new and never old, and he never repeats his work. For example, when Jesus Christ came in the Age of the Grace, he didn’t do the work of the law that Jehovah had done, but did the new work of redeeming mankind. When Almighty God comes in the Age of the Kingdom, he doesn’t do the works of healing the sick, driving out demons, or being crucified which Jesus did, but does the conquering and perfecting work through expressing his word. The false christs, however, can only imitate the oldworks that Jesus Christ did, such as healing the sick and driving out demons, performing signs, and so on. This is why the Bible 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.” (Matthew 24:23-24) Apparently, the Lord Jesus said those words at that time in order that the end-time people would guard against those false christs and false prophets who would perform great signs and miracles to deceive the elect, and would have discernment in distinguishing false christs. At the same time, he also made people know that when God came again, he would no longer do the work that Jesus did, for God is ever new and never old. Brothers and sisters, won’t it be too foolish of us if we cannot receive the Lord Jesus’ words properly but use these verses toreject Jesus’ coming again and reject God’s new work?
Through the fellowship above, we can gain some understanding of the distinctions between the true Christ and the false christs and know how to discern them. Hence, there is no need for us to wait, hesitate, or doubt anymore. If we adopt a policy of exclusion instead of seeking the Lord’s footsteps for fear of being deceived or shut the door on the Christ who has already come for fear of the false christs, then what can we gain even if we believe in God to the end? So, we should drop the misgiving that “in case it should be wrong” and seek and investigate God’s end-time work practically. As long as we thirst for the truth and truly seek God’s appearing, we will know God’s substance from his practical word and work, and make certain that Almighty God is the incarnated God Godself and is the end-time Christ. Almighty God says, “Investigate carefully and ponder repeatedly, and you will understand whether these words are the truth and the life. Some people may blindly condemn them after reading only a few of them, saying, ‘These are nothing but some inspiration of the Holy Spirit,’ or ‘This is a false christ coming to deceive people.’ Those who can say such words are simply too ignorant! You know too little about God’s work and God’s wisdom. I advise you to start all over again! You should not blindly condemn the words expressed by God because there will be false christs appearing in the end time, and should not be ones who blaspheme the Holy Spirit for fear of being deceived. Won’t that be too regrettable?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)
Brothers and sisters, since we have grasped the principles of discerning the true Christ and the false christs, why do we still hesitate? What do we still worry about? Clear our spiritual eyes. Almighty God, the incarnated Christ, is exactly the returned Jesus, whom we have been expecting. Only he can bestow to man the way of eternal life. Almighty God says, “What the end-time Christ brings is life and is the perpetual and eternal way of truth. Such truth is the pathway for man to receive life and the only pathway for man to know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life supplied by the end-time Christ, then you can never receive Jesus’ approval and will never be qualified to step into the gate of the kingdom of heaven….” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Dear brothers and sisters, now Christ is knocking at the door, waiting for us to open it. If we miss this opportunity, we will regret all our lives!
The
Church of Almighty God came into being because of the work of the
returned Lord Jesus—the end-time Christ, “Almighty
God”—in China, and it isn't established by any person. Christ
is the truth, the way, and the life. After reading God’s
expression, you will see that God has appeared.
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