Testify God

The word “Christ” appears in the New Testament, and the men who followed the Lord Jesus called Him Christ. What is the meaning of Christ? Why is the Lord Jesus called Christ?

As Christians, every one of us wants to be blessed by God. Then, how should we act to receive God’s blessings? Perhaps, we can gain inspiration from the deeds of Noah and Abraham.

Based on 1 Thessalonians 4:17, some people believe that when the Lord returns, His believers will be raptured into the air to meet Him. But is this really the case? Read to learn more.

We always experience repeated spiritual battles and encounter all kinds of Satan’s temptations on the path to the kingdom of heaven. Especially when facing constraints on our belief, how will we be able to stand witness through this spiritual warfare and have a path to follow in the face of these temptations?

In this noisy and materialistic society, competition is everywhere. We are generally not content with the status quo, which causes our needs to arise and our desires to grow. Some people look very ordinary, but they dream that they can be as beautiful as Snow White and become the focus of public attention, and thus they boldly enter the beauty clinic. However, they are disfigured after plastic surgery. As a result, the pain will be with them all their lives. Some are born in a poor family, but they hope that they can become rich and live a life where they are above others. Therefore, they try every way to strive for that all their lives. But finally, they are mentally and physically exhausted and suffer the torture of illness in return, and at the same time, happiness is rather distant from them. Some have been very unfortunate in their official career, but they wish that they can be successful. They contemplate how to achieve a high rank all day, thus flattering and toadying up to those in charge and even doing illegal things. … In short, we are struggling all our lives to realize our own ideals, but many times we end up empty-handed and our lives pass quickly. We constantly strive hard to realize these ideals and are still unwilling to stop even if we have paid a terrible price. Such is the case with later generations. What is the real reason for this? God’s word cuts to the point and reveals the source of this issue, “Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn. This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s life. What is the cause of this pain? Is it because of God’s sovereignty, or because a person was born unlucky? Obviously neither is true. At bottom, it is because of the paths people take, the ways people choose to live their lives” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Pondering God’s word, I realize that all kinds of pains we have suffered in pursuit of our personal interests are not caused by our being born unlucky, but by our holding on to the mistaken viewpoints and having extravagant desires. Our pursuit and paying a price are in order to tower above others to satisfy our ambitions and desires. We always think that we will live out a life with true value and meaning if we can stand out from the crowd and become someone to be looked up to. On the contrary, if we can’t fulfill this and we are looked down on and left out in the cold, we’ll think it meaningless and degraded to live like this. So, each of us has taken fame and gain as the goal of our pursuit and thus strives to become an outstanding and special talent as well as to turn ourselves extraordinary and superior. No matter what we do, we always work hard to achieve this goal. In fact, everything God has planned for us is the best, and can also meet our needs, but we always have too many insatiable demands, dissatisfied with our current situations. We want to surpass others in life and work to become the best and brightest who is admired by all. If we can’t achieve our goals, we will feel great pain and suffering in our hearts. Clearly, if we do not recognize God’s sovereignty and arrangements but want to rely on our own thinking to alter our fate to satisfy our desires, in the end we will definitely fail. The only way for us to live freely is to turn back to God, place ourselves in God’s hands, and allow God to rule over and arrange everything for us. Just as God’s word says, “So no matter how far you have walked in life, no matter how old you are now, no matter how long the rest of your journey is, first you must recognize God’s authority and take it seriously, accept the fact that God is your unique Master. Attaining clear, accurate knowledge and understanding of these truths regarding God’s sovereignty over human fate is a mandatory lesson for everyone, is the key to knowing human life and attaining the truth, is the life and basic lesson of knowing God that everyone faces each day, and which no one can evade. If one of you wishes to take shortcuts to reach this goal, then I say to you, that is impossible! If you want to escape God’s sovereignty, that is even more impossible! God is man’s only Lord, God is the only Master of human fate, and so it is impossible for man to dictate his own fate, impossible for him to surpass it. No matter how great one’s abilities, one cannot influence, much less orchestrate, arrange, control, or change the fates of others. Only the unique God Himself dictates all things for man, for only He possesses the unique authority that holds sovereignty over human fate; and so only the Creator is man’s unique Master” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). God’s word points out the only way for us to get rid of these pains. That is to recognize God’s sovereignty and predestination, change our mistaken viewpoints, put aside the extravagant desires in our hearts, and accept God as our sole Master. Only in this way can we live in joy and peace, freely and happily! In truth, when each of us comes into this world, our life destiny has already been arranged by God. God has long ago preordained everything for us, which includes the families we are born…

During the time Peter spent with Jesus, he saw many lovable characteristics in Jesus, many aspects worthy of emulation, and many aspects which supplied him. Although Peter saw the being of God in Jesus in many ways, and saw many lovable qualities, he did not know Jesus at first. Peter began following Jesus when he was 20 years old, and he continued to follow Him for six years. During that time, he never came to know Jesus; Peter was willing to follow Jesus purely out of admiration for Him. When Jesus first called to him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, He asked: “Simon Barjona, will you follow Me?” Peter said: “I must follow he who is sent by the heavenly Father. I must acknowledge he who is chosen by the Holy Spirit. I will follow You.” At the time, Peter had already heard of a man named Jesus—the greatest of the prophets and God’s beloved Son—and Peter had been constantly hoping to find Him and hoping for a chance to see Him (because that is how he was being led by the Holy Spirit). Although Peter had never seen Him and had only heard rumors about Him, gradually a yearning and adoration for Jesus grew in his heart, and he often yearned to one day look upon Jesus. And how did Jesus call upon Peter? He too had heard of a man called Peter, yet it was not the Holy Spirit who instructed Him: “Go to the Sea of Galilee, where there is one called Simon Barjona.” Jesus had heard someone say that there was one called Simon Barjona, and that people had heard his sermon, that he too preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and that the people who heard him were all moved to tears. After hearing this, Jesus followed that person to the Sea of Galilee; when Peter accepted Jesus’ call, he followed Him. During his time following Jesus, Peter formed many opinions of Him and always judged Him from his own perspective. Although Peter had a certain degree of understanding of the Spirit, his understanding was somewhat unclear, which is why he said: “I must follow he who is sent by the heavenly Father. I must acknowledge he who is chosen by the Holy Spirit.” He did not understand the things Jesus did and lacked clarity about them. After following Him for some time, Peter grew interested in what He did and said, and in Jesus Himself. He came to feel that Jesus inspired both affection and respect; he liked to associate with Him and stay beside Him, and listening to Jesus’ words rendered him supply and aid. During the time he followed Jesus, Peter observed and took to heart everything about His life: His actions, words, movements, and expressions. He gained a deep understanding that Jesus was not like ordinary men. Although His human appearance was exceedingly normal, He was full of love, compassion, and tolerance for man. Everything He did or said was of great aid to others, and Peter saw and gained things he had never before seen nor possessed from Jesus. He saw that although Jesus had neither a grand stature nor any unusual humanity, He had a truly extraordinary and uncommon air about Him. Although Peter couldn’t fully explain it, he could see that Jesus acted differently from everyone else, for the things He did were very different from that of normal men. From his time in contact with Jesus, Peter also saw that His character was different from that of an ordinary man. He always acted steadily and never with haste, never exaggerated nor underplayed a subject, and He conducted His life in a way that revealed a character which was both normal and admirable. In conversation, Jesus spoke plainly and with grace, communicating always in a cheerful yet serene manner—and yet never did He lose His dignity while carrying out His work. Peter saw that Jesus was sometimes taciturn, while other times He spoke incessantly. Sometimes He was so happy that He appeared like a frisking and frolicking dove, and other times He was so sad that He did not talk at all, appearing laden with grief as though He were a worn and weary mother. At times He was filled with anger like a brave soldier charging off to kill an enemy or, on some occasions, He even resembled a roaring lion. Sometimes He laughed; other times He prayed and wept. No matter how Jesus acted, Peter grew to have boundless love and respect for Him. Jesus’ laughter filled him with happiness, His sorrow plunged him into grief, His anger frightened him, while His mercy, forgiveness, and the strict demands He made of people made him come to truly love Jesus and develop a true reverence and longing for Him. Of course, it was not until after Peter had lived alongside Jesus for a number of years that he gradually came to realize all of this. Peter was a particularly sensible man, born with natural intelligence, yet he did many foolish things when following Jesus. At the very start, he had some notions about Jesus. He asked: “People say You are a prophet, so when You were eight years old and started to understand things, did You know You were God? Did You know You were conceived by the Holy Spirit?” Jesus replied: “No, I didn’t. Don’t I seem just like a normal person to you? I am the same as anyone else. The person the Father sends is a normal person, not an extraordinary one. And, though the work I do represents My heavenly Father, My image, the person that I am, and this fleshly body cannot fully represent My heavenly Father—only one part of Him. Although I came from the Spirit, I am still a normal person, and My Father sent Me to this earth as a normal person, not an extraordinary one.” Only when Peter heard this did he…