"The City Will be Overthrown" (1) - The Religious World Has Degenerated Into the City of Babylon

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If we join the Three-Self Church, we align with the government. (Right.)
Despite what you think,
joining the Three-Self Church and running this factory …
It's official.
Pastor Huang could be so treacherous. I'm no match.
Mr. Huang, (Yes, sir?)
… with the Eastern Lightning …
Captain Wei, don't worry. With the Eastern Lightning, I know what I need to do.
We must report anyone who preaches about the Eastern Lightning.
The church will reward them.
If the Eastern Lightning really is the return of the Lord Jesus,
and we really are resisting and condemning God,
I'll accept responsibility for all of it.
… not judge you.
Elder Gu,
as of now, Pastor Huang has everyone
who supports running a factory and joining the Three-Self Church.
He really is deceitful.
And now, more people support him.
Fewer and fewer people support us.
I never thought Pastor Huang could be so treacherous.
I'm no match.
We must think of a plan!
If the rest of them all go to his side,
who will we lead?
How will we make a living?
Our status and our meal tickets will be gone!
We must think of something. (Yeah.)
Not to worry. Sit.
Everyone left opposes joining the Three-Self Church.
Some of them have been persecuted by the CCP.
Those people won't side with Huang.
This divide is growing more and more prominent.
Huang won't take those people,
but lately,
there have been some people who've been stolen by the Eastern Lightning.
Every day they go to the website of the Church of Almighty God.
What?
Some don't even come to meetings anymore.
If we don't put a stop to this,
these people will join the Eastern Lightning themselves.
We don't even know how many are studying the Eastern Lightning in secret!
But the CCP has blocked their website!
So how can they see it?
It … it's impossible! (Yeah.)
It's simple.
Anyone who knows computers can use privacy tools to access.
I tried it myself. It's a really good website.
Look!
There's all these books, hymns, videos, movies, musicals, so much.
They contain the words of Almighty God and testimonies of His work.
The debates in their movies, I must admit, are particularly good.
They commune the truth clearly.
Lots of people have seen this.
Seems people in all different countries are studying the Eastern Lightning.
If it continues,
all the quality people will turn to the Eastern Lightning.
The CCP's restrictions, arrests, and suppressions aren't effective.
Seems the Eastern Lightning has the truth.
No wonder they believe so faithfully.
It's a problem!
You see, all these quality people see Almighty God's words,
hear His witnesses, and believe in the Eastern Lightning.
If they all go and look at the website of the Church of Almighty God,
won't they believe in the Eastern Lightning sooner?
I think we need to get this under control.
Control?
We can't stop people from seeing this, their website.
The government can't even accomplish that much.
Before, when the Eastern Lightning's people came to our church,
we didn't just drive them away, no, we called the cops.
We confiscated all the Eastern Lightning books believers read.
Now they keep seeing the Church of Almighty God's website.
The fact that the CCP can't stop them is thought-provoking.
Recently, I've been wondering how the Eastern Lightning spreads so fast.
If this came from men, organized by men,
the CCP would've crushed it long ago.
But what we're seeing now is really surprising.
The Church of Almighty God is still around
and is expanding throughout the world.
The word of Almighty God seems powerful.
I'm thinking, just maybe the Eastern Lightning does come from God's work?
If this really is God's work,
then we can't stop it, no matter what we do.
I've thought about the Eastern Lightning for a long time.
At first, I condemned the Eastern Lightning because of rumors from the CCP.
Back then, I believed these rumors.
Then, I saw many religious pastors condemn the Eastern Lightning.
I thought that the Eastern Lightning wasn't the true way.
So, I thought it was okay to resist and condemn it.
But later, I saw how the Eastern Lightning continued to thrive
despite being suppressed by the CCP.
I was curious,
so I secretly read Almighty God's words and saw their videos.
I was surprised.
The words I read from Almighty God have power and authority.
They speak to people's hearts.
It's convincing.
It's no wonder that after reading them,
so many people accept it as the voice of God.
Then, I got a little scared.
What if Almighty God really is the Lord Jesus' return?
We've already resisted Almighty God so many times,
we'd definitely be cursed by God!
Honestly, I'm a little worried the Eastern Lightning is the true way.
If that's the case, we're done for.
Yeah.
I hope the Eastern Lightning's not the true way,
and that Almighty God isn't the Lord Jesus' return.
That way, we won't be condemned.
We're just trying to be loyal to the Lord and protect our church. (Amen!)
With the Eastern Lightning, it's nothing personal.
If we're resisting God, we're not doing it on purpose.
No way could we be condemned.
The Lord will have mercy on us.
Right.
We're just protecting our church; we don't have a choice.
And we don't know the Eastern Lightning is the Lord Jesus' return.
God won't condemn those who are ignorant!
Also, the Lord Jesus never said He would be Almighty God.
Therefore, we probably won't be cursed for condemning the Eastern Lightning.
Let's not dwell. Our top priority is protecting the church.
If we stop people seeing the website of the Church of Almighty God,
they'll just become curious.
That's not what we want.
Besides, the CCP blocked it.
They can't get on so easily.
Right now, we must find a way to seal our church
and stop believers from going to Huang,
from contacting the Eastern Lightning people.
We must make it clear
that if anyone finds the Eastern Lightning's people, just call the police.
This is just being loyal to the Lord and protecting our church.
Anyone who believes in the Eastern Lightning will be expelled.
For right now, that's all we can do.
Captain Wei,
thank you for helping our factory.
Here, a token of thanks.
Mr. Huang, (Yes, sir?)
you've worked with the government and cooperated.
You've done well. (Thank you, sir.)
We want to train you.
Ah. I thank you all very much.
To tell you the truth,
why do you think the government arrests Christians
and controls underground churches—
many don't understand.
The truth is we arrest Christians and commit assault on religion
because we want to wipe out all churches
and make China a godless land.
This will ensure the CCP stays in power forever.
That's our true objective.
Though our constitution grants religious freedom,
that's a front, a false promise.
The country's policy is to destroy all faith.
So you must cooperate.
You must get close to the government. (Yes, yes.)
It's in your best interests. (Yes.)
China is the CCP's domain.
Opponents of the Communist Party will face the consequences.
Those who practice their faith underground must be captured and imprisoned.
The government's ultimate goal is to destroy all religions.
Mr. Huang, (Yes, Captain Wei?)
you're a smart man.
Can't you understand this?
Yes. Of course I can.
Good choice.
Getting close to the government, joining the Three-Self Church.
Yes.
We can guarantee your protection.
Captain, I've wanted to join the Three-Self Church,
accept the government's policy,
love our country and church.
We must love our country before church.
No country, no church.
Captain, let me assure you.
I'll always be on the side of the party.
The Communist Party is the only one that can lead the Chinese.
Personally, I owe it everything.
I want to follow the Communist Party!
If you support and protect me,
I'll do anything you might need.
And with religion,
if there's anything you need, just let me know.
I'll take care of it. I promise.
Good.
Mr. Huang, (Captain?)
the government sent another set of urgent messages
regarding the Eastern Lightning recently.
They all demanded regions launch campaigns
to crack down on the Church of Almighty God.
With the Eastern Lightning people,
we'll imprison some, we'll kill some,
pull out the pillars,
and stamp this church out completely.
Mr. Huang, (Yes?)
cooperate with the government!
Of course.
It's all up to you.
Suppressing the Eastern Lightning, I fully agree.
The Eastern Lightning is growing too fast.
If it's not controlled, soon the religious will all obey Almighty God.
It's a threat to the Party, to your control.
Suppressing it is right. It's what needs to be done.
Mr. Huang, (Sir?)
do as you will with the Eastern Lightning,
and if your factory runs into any kind of trouble,
I will do whatever I can to help you.
You can rely on us.
I guarantee it.
Captain Wei, don't worry.
With the Eastern Lightning,
I know what I need to do.
Thank you.
Hey, everyone, eat up, eat up!
Thank the Lord.
This is the Lord's grace.
Have as much as you like.
Brother Qian, been a while!
Pastor Huang,
work has been busy, but I wouldn't miss an event like this.
Thank the Lord for our feast today.
Help yourself. Anything you like.
Don't be shy!
Pastor Huang, what other events will the church have?
Everyone wants to know about it. (Yeah!)
Captain Wei said next month,
we'll visit the Revolutionary History Museum to learn about the martyrs.
Nice!
Afterward, we'll go on a picnic!
All right!
All right, eat up, everyone! Eat up!
Delicious!
Pastor Huang, joining the Three-Self Church was the right idea. (Yeah.)
This is the Lord's grace.
We believers in the Lord should obey the authorities.
We're part of the Three-Self Church but we're still reading the Bible, right?
We are! Right!
It doesn't affect our faith,
and the government protects us.
That's religious freedom!
Amen. It's true. I agree.
We enjoy the government's protection,
and our hearts are at ease.
We don't need to pray for the Lord's protection every night.
The way I see it,
this is all the Lord's grace, right? (Yes.)
Wouldn't refusing the Lord's grace just be stupid?
Yeah. Of course.
Those who don't join the Three-Self Church have no common sense. (That's right.)
Isn't this just the path the Lord opened for us? (Yes! I agree.)
They live every day in fear,
and insist on preaching underground, (Exactly.)
as if they're special ops.
What's the point?
Those people really are dumb.
Eat, eat, eat!
Pastor Huang has the right idea! (Yeah!)
It's safe to believe in the Lord.
And my son has a job now.
Everything's great. (Right.)
Now we'll be protected. (That's right.)
This is God's blessing. (Of course. Yes.)
Thank the Lord and the Three-Self Church. (Yeah.)
Our factory proves this: We're in accordance with the Bible.
Yes.
The path we've chosen is fit for the Lord's will. (Amen! Thank the Lord!)
And now, with the support of the government,
I believe that our factory will definitely thrive. (Of course!)
Isn't this the Lord's blessing? (Yeah!)
Right. Thank the Lord.
And our factory's products are selling well!
Wow, that's great! Great. Thank the Lord! It's the Lord's grace.
Yeah. Thanks be to the Lord.
Everyone, to keep improving our factory, (Yes. Yeah.)
I hope you'll all think of new methods, (Yeah.)
keep networking, and work hard. (Right. We should work hard.)
This way, we will continue to bring in a profit! (Yeah!)
Then all your benefits will increase as well!
Brothers and sisters, I promise,
anyone who finds us new customers who buy in bulk
will get a per unit commission!
And we'll share our profits with you!
Thanks be to God. Thank the Lord.
Great. I hope we can all work together on this.
Pastor Huang has great ideas.
Pastors from the Three-Self Church are here? (Seems serious.)
Pastor Huang, let's begin.
Good.
Co-workers, we await the Lord's return to take us to His kingdom.
Why hasn't the Lord arrived yet?
Why is the Eastern Lightning here instead?
I don't understand what's happening here.
I see many good sheep from many churches
have been stolen by the Eastern Lightning.
They disappeared from the church.
It's as if they were raptured.
Raptured?
Though we try to resist the Eastern Lightning,
many seekers of truth among us go study the Eastern Lightning.
It seems some have an interest in the Eastern Lightning.
I think they have read the books of Almighty God's word secretly,
or they've seen the Eastern Lightning's website and looked at their videos.
If we can't find a solution,
we could lose all good sheep as they'll go to the Eastern Lightning. (Yeah.)
This issue is very serious. (Yes, we must figure this out.)
Therefore, in a spiritual war like this,
we must work together.
We must be one with the Lord to protect our sheep.
Amen!
Otherwise, we have no way to give account to the Lord. (Yes.)
Pastor Huang and Elder Gu never got along,
but now they're cooperating to resist the Eastern Lightning. If all our sheep are stolen, we can't give account to the Lord.
We've already tried many ways to protect our sheep,
but we can't control the church.
Some are still studying the Eastern Lightning in secret.
If we try and solve this problem at the root,
we must emphasize that everything in the Bible is inspired by God. (Amen!)
The Bible's words are all God's words.
Amen!
Belief in the Lord is belief in the Bible.
Leaving the Bible is undoubtedly, betraying the Lord. (Amen!)
We must join together to convince the faithful of the authority of the Bible.
To keep our believers, this is our only way.
Yeah. It's a good plan.
Elder Gu has good ideas.
Or else, when they read the words of Almighty God,
they won't want to read the Bible.
Tell me why people want to believe in the Eastern Lightning.
Why do they?
Because teachings of the Eastern Lightning are profound and great.
Profound and great?
If we too can interpret the Bible clearly, won't our believers stay?
Elder Gu knows the Bible. (Yeah.)
We lost to the Eastern Lightning
because we didn't explain the Bible well enough.
I think we should spend more time interpreting the Bible,
so our sheep can know it at its core.
That's how we'll protect our sheep.
We won't have to fear them stealing our sheep.
Do you all agree?
Yes, certainly.
Communicating alone won't work.
Co-workers, Elder Gu is correct.
Along with interpreting the Bible,
we need other methods as well.
What other methods?
We'll need to use some tricks. (Tricks?)
We can't control it without tricks.
What kind of tricks?
The government's cracking down on the Eastern Lightning.
They've mobilized the citizens to report anyone in the Eastern Lightning.
It's a great opportunity. (Yeah.)
An opportunity. This is great.
Aren't the Eastern Lightning's people already stealing our sheep?
Let's report them to the police!
What?
No matter how many people try to steal sheep,
let's report them all.
We'll see if they dare come around here again.
Well, what do you think?
Good, we definitely should.
This way, we can protect our church.
From now on, we must report anyone who preaches about the Eastern Lightning.
The church will reward them.
A reward?
This is the best way to restrict the Eastern Lightning.
Pastor Huang's ideas are great! (Yeah, it's efficient!)
Right!
How can we condone this idea? (Yeah!)
We're protecting the flock. (It's resisting the Lord.)
If everyone spreading the Eastern Lightning gets thrown in jail,
will our sheep be stolen anymore?
No, they won't.
Do we have your support? (Yes!)
Thank the Lord.
From now on, all churches should do this.
Having other believers arrested? Is that fit for the Lord's will?
I don't think it's right.
The Eastern Lightning are bearing witness to the Lord's return.
If we report them, aren't we selling out the Lord and our friends?
Yeah. Different denominations believe in the Lord. (Right.)
But we can't call them our enemies. (You're right.)
Are we the only ones loved by the Lord?
This is clearly wrong.
You can't say that. (Yeah.)
The pastors and elders only want to protect the church and flock.
There's no choice!
If the Eastern Lightning people steal our flock,
we should have them arrested. (Right.)
What's wrong with that?
We shouldn't follow the pastors and elders.
Pastor Huang, we don't know if the Eastern Lightning is the true way,
but I know that they're true believers of the Lord.
The CCP has persecuted them harshly, but they're still standing.
They still bear witness to the Lord.
I think that they're good people, they're stronger than us.
You know, they really are!
Think about this:
If we had encountered this kind of suppression, we couldn't handle it.
And now, the CCP suppresses
especially those churches that practice the Eastern Lightning.
Do you still think reporting those in the Eastern Lightning
is in line with the Lord's will?
No, it's not in line!
How can you encourage our brothers and sisters to do evil things like this?
Is that the Christian way?
You know, I don't think the Lord Jesus would condone that.
She's right. It's going too far.
Yeah.
If we go to extremes like this, the Lord will condemn us.
Sure, we should maintain our church,
so we can debate with them and also listen to them. (Yeah.)
But we can't call the police on them!
Yeah, it's definitely wrong. We can't do that.
Everyone, calm down.
I completely agree with Pastor Huang's suggestion
to report those who preach the Eastern Lightning. (Me too.)
These past few years, the Eastern Lightning has developed quickly.
The good sheep in the church are being stolen.
Yes.
As pastors and elders, can we just ignore this? (No!)
The Lord has given us this flock of sheep.
We have a responsibility to protect them.
Amen!
Without extreme measures, how will we maintain the church?
We're doing this to guard the true way and protect our sheep. (Amen!)
We're being loyal to the Lord.
How could doing this be offending the Lord?
Elder Gu is right.
Reporting those in the Eastern Lightning is just guarding our true way.
How can you call it selling out? (Right.)
Those who dare steal our sheep should be reported.
Nothing wrong with that!
Elder Gu, I just don't agree with you.
I don't know if the Eastern Lightning is the true way.
But I know all denominations believe in the Lord.
We should love all of them. (Yeah. Yes.)
The Lord Jesus told us,
Amen!
Regardless of whether the Eastern Lightning's people
give us the testimony of the Lord or steal our sheep,
we should treat them with love.
Yeah!
If they show us correct testimony, we should accept it.
If their testimony is wrong, then we can reject it.
But we should not report them and have them arrested.
No matter the reason, this just shouldn't be done.
It doesn't accord with the Lord's will.
Yes. I agree.
The Pharisees didn't accept or acknowledge the Lord. That was their choice.
But, they crucified the Lord on the cross.
No one can assume that sin.
Yes. Indeed.
Today, if we call the police on the Eastern Lightning people,
I think that would be evil,
and we'll be punished for it!
Can you really not understand?
Brother Lin, we're only resisting the Eastern Lightning
to protect our sheep and our church.
Indeed.
We're loyal to the Lord.
We're not on par with Judas who sold out the Lord and his friends.
Those are two different things.
As long as we're trying to protect our sheep
from being stolen by the Eastern Lightning,
nothing we do is too much! (Amen.)
Some call me Judas,
but even if I am Judas, it's worth it to protect the church!
He really is a living Judas!
Co-workers, settle down.
If the Eastern Lightning really is the return of the Lord Jesus,
and we really are resisting and condemning God,
I'll accept responsibility for all of it.
How dare he say that?
Isn't it the same as what the chief priests said
when they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross?
If the Lord comes to do His judgment,
let Him judge us pastors and elders, not judge you.
Ah! The cross has fallen!
This is not a good omen. (Yeah. Is this the wrath of God?)
Did we offend God's disposition?
Oh no! This is a bad omen.
Did the pastors and elders offend God? (Yes!)
This has never happened before.
We must have offended God's disposition.
Could it be the Eastern Lightning's the true way?
It seems opposing the Eastern Lightning is resisting the Lord!
Yes. We must repent to the Lord immediately!
Sister Cheng, (Yes?)
how was the meeting today?
I've been watching what the pastors and elders do.
They left the Lord's way a long time ago.
The church has lost the work of the Holy Spirit.
It's now a place of religion.
If we continue to stay in this church,
we'll be forsaken by the Lord.
I think you're right.
Xiulan, (Yes?)
we can't keep following the pastors and elders in resisting the Lord.
We must find a church that has the work of the Holy Spirit.
Sister Cheng,
only the Eastern Lightning testifies the Lord has returned,
and He is Almighty God who has started His work of judgment.
Good sheep and head sheep from many denominations
have all accepted the Eastern Lightning.
The Eastern Lightning must have the work of the Holy Spirit.
We should search for and study the Eastern Lightning!
Ah! Thank the Lord! I was thinking the exact same thing!
Really? That's so great!
Hey, let's go online to see their website.
Sounds good. Let's go. (Yeah!)