Dear Xiaoxi,
Yesterday I learned from Brother Liu that the church in our hometown had become more desolate now. And I heard that in order to revive the church, you often fasted and prayed, and even ate nothing for twenty days with the result that you fainted from hunger. Learning of this, I am very anxious, and I really want to have a good talk with you right away. But there is something to do in the church, so I have to ask Brother Liu to take you this letter first.
Xiaoxi, the desolation in the church is a widespread situation throughout the religious world nowadays. Moreover, the signs of the Lord’s return have already basically been fulfilled. So we must not sit around waiting for the Lord’s coming. We should go to find a church with the Holy Spirit’s work and follow the footsteps of the Lamb. I remembered we often fellowshiped about the topic of the Lord’s return together before. When it came to the location where the Lord would appear when He returned, we studied Zechariah 14:4: “And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in the middle thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” Through this verse, we thought it prophesied that when the Lord returned, He would most certainly be on the Mount of Olives in Judea and appear to those who were attentively waiting for Him. So these years we have been focusing on Israel. Especially, after the four blood moons appeared, we paid more attention to it, for we couldn’t wait to get the news of the Lord’s return. At that time, some people preached to us that the Lord Jesus had already come back, appearing and working in China. And they advised us to seek and investigate as quickly as possible for fear of missing the opportunity to welcome the return of the Lord. However, we thought: What they preached is not in accordance with the prophecies of the Bible, and that since God’s previous two stages of work were both carried out in Israel, the place where believers for generations lives, how can He appear and work in China? What’s more, through history, China is the country where people burn incense, worship Buddha and evil spirits, and Christians are persecuted most severely. It is the most backward country, the one most unwilling to believe in God. So God will not possibly appear to work in China. Therefore at the time, we refused it and went on staying in the church, waiting for the Lord to appear on the Mount of Olives in Judea someday.
After coming here, I met Brother Zhao. What he said changed my point of view. He fellowshiped, “It is said in the Bible, ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?’ (Romans 11:33-34). The wisdom of God is unfathomable to man. We cannot analyze God’s work according to our own mind. Moreover, God never discusses the work He will do with us human in advance, but directly does the work He needs to do, and then we will know Him from His work and follow Him. Similarly, as to the Lord’s return in the last days, we shouldn’t define His appearance in our own conceptions in advance, either. We should seek more and pray more to the Lord. Only in this way can we purely understand the prophecies of the Lord, and welcome His coming.”
Hearing Brother Zhao’s words, I thought of the Pharisees of the past. Seeing that the Lord Jesus was neither called the Messiah nor born in the royal palace, they opposed and condemned the Lord Jesus in accordance with the letters of the prophecies and their conceptions and imaginations. In the end, they nailed Him to the cross, which provoked God’s disposition, and then they fell under God’s wrath. In the last days, regarding the prophecies of the return of the Lord, if we hold on to our conceptions and imaginations, unconsciously, we will also take the Pharisees’ path of resisting the Lord. That will be dangerous. Only then did I realize that if we kept waiting like that, we could never welcome the Lord. So I began to put aside my own notions, and often prayed to the Lord to seek His guidance.
I thank the Lord for hearing my prayer. Afterward, I found some verses. Malachi 1:11: “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles … said the LORD of hosts.” And the Isaiah records: “Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet” (Isaiah 41:2-3). Matthew 24:27: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” From “the Gentiles,” “raising up the righteous man from the east,” and “the lightning comes out of the east” mentioned in these scriptures, we can see that the location where the Lord returns to work is in the east, and the Gentiles. And China is right situated in the East of the world. It, an atheist country, has never worshiped God and has been persecuting Christians throughout history. Chinese people was once called “gentile dogs” by some Christian countries. China is just the classic example of Gentile country. After studying these verses, I found that actually, there are records in the Bible prophesying that in the last days God will appear and work in China. What we thought before is wrong and it really originates from our conceptions and imaginations.
In order to get a clearer understanding of the problem, I sought out Brother Zhao to fellowship with. At that time, Brother Zhao fellowshiped a lot with me, which made my heart brighten. What impressed me most are these two passages of words read by him. Now I copy them to show you.
“He led the Israelites and was born in Judea, and He is also born in a Gentile land. Is not all His work for the whole of the mankind that He created? Does He love Israelites a hundred fold and loathe Gentiles a thousand fold? Is that not your notion? … If you still maintain that God is the God of Israelites only, and still maintain that the house of David in Israel is the origin of God’s birth and that no nation other than Israel is qualified to ‘produce’ God, and even less is any Gentile family able to personally receive Jehovah’s work—if you still think this way, then does that not make you an obstinate holdout? … You also have never thought about how God could personally descend in a Gentile land. He ought to descend on Mount Sinai or the Mount of Olives and appear to Israelites. Are not Gentiles (that is, people outside of Israel) all objects of His loathing? How could He personally work among them? All these are the deep-rooted notions that you have developed over many years. The purpose of conquering you today is to smash these notions of yours. You thereby have seen God personally appearing among you—not on Mount Sinai or on the Mount of Olives, but among people whom He has never led in the past” (“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (3)”).
“I will make all people know that I am not only the God of the Israelites, but also the God of all the nations of the Gentiles, even those that I have cursed. I will let all people see that I am the God of all creation. This is My greatest work, the purpose of My work plan for the last days, and the only work to be fulfilled in the last days” (“The Work of Spreading the Gospel Is Also the Work of Saving Man”).
After I finished reading them, I suddenly realized: Right! God is not only the God of Israelites, but also the God of all mankind! The entire world is created by Him. He has the right to appear and work in any country, not subject to the bondage of any regulation, for He is not the private property of any country or nation. However, when we saw that God’s previous two stages of work were carried out in Israel, we formed notions within us that when the Lord returns, He will only appear in Israel, and won’t appear and work in the Gentile nations. Weren’t we like the Pharisees at that time who clung to the letters in the Scriptures and resisted the Lord Jesus? It can be seen that such notion is our misunderstanding and definition about God. If we hold on to it, how can we be approved by the Lord? In fact, the matter that the Lord has returned and become flesh to appear and work in China contains His wisdom and wondrousness. If He returned and continued to descend into Judea to work, we would always delimit God within Israel, maintaining that God only is the God of Israelites. God’s wisdom is really unfathomable to us.
Having lived in our notions before, when we heard that the Lord had appeared in China, we didn’t investigate and only waited for God to appear on the Mount of the Olives in Israel. It is too absurd! Now the religious world is desolate and the disasters become more and more severe. So we can’t continue to hold on to our conceptions and imaginations to wait for God’s appearance. We should break through the conceptions of our nationality to look for the footsteps and appearance of the Lord. Only in this way can the problem of the desolation of the church be solved. During this time, I am investigating God’s appearance and work in China, finding that their preaching indeed has the truth, which is capable of solving our problems and difficulties and also tell us very clearly about the reason why the churches have become desolate. Their preaching indeed can provide for our life needs.
Xiaoxi, I hope you can also let go of your notions, immediately take the initiative to seek and investigate the work of God’s appearance in the last days, and lead the brothers and sisters of the church out of the desolation soon. I look forward to hearing your good news!
Sincerely yours,
Li Yu
