I Learned to Discern False Christ at Bible Study Meetings

Christian Testimony|I Learned to Discern False Christ at Bible Study Meetings
By Chengshan, America
At present, many brothers and sisters dare not listen to sermons lightly for fear of being deceived by false Christs.

But shutting our doors and keeping to ourselves like this will delay our life progress, and even cause us to miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord and finally be abandoned by Him. Actually, as long as we grasp the principles of differentiating false Christs, we will naturally not be deceived by them. After attending the Bible study meetings, not only did I grasp the principles of differentiating false Christs, but I also got good news

In March, 2018, Sister Li and I went to visit a sister who was weak. When we got to the sister’s home, her niece happened to be there. After the introductions, I learned that her niece, Sister Chen, also believed in the Lord, then we four fellowshiped together. From the conversation, I felt Sister Chen fellowshiped with insight and that there was light in her words. Later, Sister Chen proposed that we should study the Bible together. The rest of us agreed happily. Then we read and fellowshiped about the scriptures about signs of the last days together. Through hearing Sister Chen’s fellowship, I understood: Now, believers in the Lord cling to the world and their faith and love have grown cold; the pastors and elders preach the same old platitudes, scheme against one another, and grow jealous over one another and get into disputes; and so on. These show the desolation in the churches, and are the signs of the last days. Also, the fulfillment of the prophecy of the four blood moons, and the occurrence of all sorts of disasters, these signs of the last days have appeared. I had never thought that now it’s the last days, and the Lord was coming soon! When thinking of these, I was excited. Though before in the church, I heard the pastors explained these scriptures, they didn’t explain them as clearly as the sister did, and I never had such a sense of urgency. I never thought that though at a young age, Sister Chen gave such fresh and lively fellowship. I needed to listen carefully.

Next, Sister Chen integrated the prophecies in the Bible and fellowshiped about the manners of the Lord’s return, the Lord’s coming again to do the work of judgment, and the significance of God’s judgment, etc. I listened to it with relish and came to understand: The reason why we keep sinning constantly is that the sinful nature still exists inside us. Thus, the Lord prophesied that in the last days, He would do a step of judgment work to purify our corrupt disposition thoroughly and save us from our sins. The more I listened to the sister’s fellowship, the more enlightening I felt it was. Though I had listened to sermons in the church for many years, I had never heard such a clear sermon. Later on, Sister Chen played us many dance and song videos, hymn videos and recitation videos, and sketches as well. They were refreshing, and I had never seen such programs before. The hymn videos were much better than those I watched in the church, especially the videos Attachment to God and All the Way in Your Company, the lyrics of which were so good as if they were reading my mind. I was moved after listening to them. Before I knew it, it was already rather late, and we made a date to study the Bible next time. On the way home, being happy in my heart, I crooned hymns praising the Lord and expected the next meeting.

After getting home, when thinking about the fellowship in the meeting, I felt I had gained much and also understood more about many scriptures which I didn’t understand before. Suddenly a thought came to me: Is what Sister Chen preached the way of Eastern Lightning? The pastors have reminded us many times that Eastern Lightning preaches very lofty sermons and that we must not listen. At this time, I was rather worried and an intense battle raged in my heart: If my thought is right, will I go to the meeting next time? But there’s light in Sister Chen’s fellowship indeed, which the pastors don’t have in their preaching; also, what she fellowshiped is based on the Bible and makes me feel pleasure in my spirit. These feelings are true. All these show clearly that her fellowship has the working of the Holy Spirit. This won’t do. I shouldn’t blindly listen to the pastors. If the Lord Jesus has really come back, yet I don’t listen, I will miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord, then won’t I regret for a lifetime? So I decided to attend the following meeting.

In the gathering, I told Sister Chen about my apprehensions: “Now in the church, the pastors often tell us about false Christs deceiving people during the last days and that we shouldn’t listen to sermons lightly, or else we’ll be deceived easily. So, for fear of being deceived, we daren’t listen to any other sermons.’”

Sister Chen said: “In the Bible, Jehovah God said: ‘And lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land’ (Jer 51:46). The Bible also says: ‘For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind’ (2Ti 1:7). From these scriptures we can see that God has given us the heart of power and courage. When God is with us, there is nothing we need to fear, because God is almighty and everything in the world is in His hands. While timidity and fear are from Satan; when we don’t have God in our heart, we’ll feel timid and fearful. Just as King Saul. When he had God in his heart, he had once won every battle; but when he rebelled against God and was deserted by God, he was rather timid in his heart when facing the giant, and even released negativity in the army. While although David was just a shepherd boy with no weapon in his hand, he had a place for God in his heart and believed that no matter how savage the enemy was, still he was under the dominion of God. So, when facing the giant, he wasn’t timid. Timidity and fear are from Satan. If we refuse to listen to the true way for being timid or scared, haven’t we just fallen for Satan’s scheme? We all know that it has been mentioned many times in the Revelation that: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Rev 2:7). This is the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and also is God’s reminder that in the matter of investigating the true way, we should listen, understand, and judge so that we can understand God’s desire. It is also recorded in the Bible that: ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Rom 10:17). From this scripture we can see that hearing and investigating the way are the preconditions for our believing in the true way. If we hadn’t listened to the Lord’s gospel in the beginning, how could we have come before the Lord? Only after listening to and investigating the way that others preach to us can we judge whether it is the true way or not. The sheep of the Lord listen to the Lord’s voice. So, only after listening can we know whether it is the Lord’s voice or not and do we have the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s return. God has our backs and He is our support. Then, is there anything we need to be afraid of?” Sister Chen’s fellowship was quite rational. The Lord is almighty. With the Lord being my support, what did I fear? At this time, I began to feel calmer.

Sister Chen continued to say: “As for the matter of false Christs emerging in the last days to deceive people, let’s see what the Lord Jesus said: ‘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. Behold, I have told you before’ (Mat 24:23-25). When the Lord said this, His intentions are that in the matter of waiting for the Lord’s return, we should be cautious and discriminating. And He has clearly told us the false Christs’ characteristics of showing great signs and wonders in case we are deceived. However, the Lord’s intentions are not that we take the attitude of not listening or seeking for the appearance of false Christs in the last days. The Lord says He will come quickly. If we avoid and refuse all those who preach the gospel of the Lord’s return for fear of being deceived by false Christs, isn’t this closing our doors and waiting alone or not eating for fear of choking? In doing so, how can we welcome the Lord’s return? Actually, it’s easy for us to not be deceived by false Christs. As long as we understand the truth of distinguishing the true Christ from false Christs, we’ll naturally neither be deceived by false Christs nor miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s coming. So, how can we distinguish the false Christs? Next, let’s fellowship about this aspect of truth.”

I thought every word that Sister Chen said was reasonable. Indeed, if we passively defended against whoever said the Lord has returned for fear of being deceived by false Christs, wouldn’t we miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord’s coming? If we could distinguish false Christs, we need not worry about being deceived by them. So when hearing Sister Chen say that she would fellowship the truth of discerning the true Christ from false Christs, I listened more carefully.

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