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Critical Moments

Xiaoxue

In 2009, after I sought, investigated, and read Almighty God’s words, I recognized that Almighty God is the only true God who created the heavens, the earth and all things, the appearing of the Savior of the last days. So, I accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days. Through meetings and God’s words, I saw that the words expressed by Almighty God are the truths for man to be saved. So, I set my determination secretly: I’ll believe in God seriously and pursue the truth and follow God all my life.

One day, I found that the small hip of my daughter was crammed full of blisters which were as big as fingernails. The sight of them pierced my heart. My baby cried every day and even didn’t take milk at all. At that moment, she was only one year old. When I saw her not eat or drink but only cry, my heart was broken. My husband and I took her to the hospital without losing time. After the examination, the doctor told me nervously, “Your baby has suffered from contagious hand, foot and mouth disease and she must be isolated immediately. Otherwise, you adults will be infected soon. Hurry up! Send her to the isolation room at once. Leave your phone number to me and wait for my call. If I call you, come and take her. If I don’t call, it shows that she will have passed away. Now this sort of contagious virus is very severe. Recently, a few people have died from it.” While speaking, he was rubbing his hands hard with disinfectant. His words, like a bolt from the blue, made me collapse right then, with my whole body paralyzed and my heart thumping. A TV report flashed through my mind: Adults and kids died from this disease in these few days. So, I was in anguish. I had come a long way to bring her up and it left me sick all over. I never would have thought in a million years that such a great matter would crop up. I had a second thought: There must be something wrong. Since I believe in God, I should have been kept by God. How come such a matter has befallen me? How has it come upon me? I crumpled on the chair in the hospital’s corridor, shedding tears unconsciously. I kept crying out to God, asking Him to enlighten and guide me. At that point, I thought of the truths communicated by the sister in these past few days when my baby began to get sick. …

At that time, she fellowshiped, “After Satan’s corruption of us, we have been living under Satan’s domain and are manipulated and controlled by Satan. We have rebelled against Satan and turned to God after accepting God’s work but Satan can’t bring itself to quit. So, it figures out every possible way to disturb and afflict us, allowing us and our family encounter illness or meet something unfortunate or lose money, with a view to having us misunderstand, complain against, deny, and betray God and then return to its influence to be controlled and corrupted by it. This is the same as Job encountered trials and sufferings. Just because Satan accused Job and made a wager with God, Job came face-to-face with the misfortunes. In illness and misfortunes, Job uttered praises to God, stood witness and shamed Satan, being approved by God and becoming the exemplar and model of our imitation. We should believe that God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s scheme. His intention is to try His chosen people through Satan’s rendering service and to perfect our faith in Him by Satan’s disturbance and destruction. So, we should see clearly that this is a spiritual war. As long as we have faith, we’ll be able to stand testimony for God, for everything is in God’s hand.” I remembered that back then, we read a passage of God’s words, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). While pondering God’s words, I was thinking: Yes. It is true. Everything is not without reason. Actually, Satan makes troubles behind the scenes. Job stood firm in his testimony for God. I should learn from him. God is looking at me, at the same time, Satan is also looking at me. At this crucial moment, I can’t fall prey to Satan or let its plot succeed. I must stand witness for God. Then, I made a silent prayer: O God! Satan is too evil. Through my baby’s illness, Satan wants me to deny and betray You. I can’t be cheated by it. I wish to stand witness for You. Today, my baby’s life is in Your hand. I’ll obey Your orchestration and arrangement. After prayer, I calmed down gradually.

Considering the examination of one hospital alone may not be reliable, my husband and I went to another hospital with our baby. On the way, I prayed unceasingly. The examination there indicated that she didn’t have that complication. I seemed to see a turn for the better. In my heart, I knew this was God’s love which made me know relying on God was important. My baby didn’t stop crying. Moreover, she hadn’t taken any food and drink for days, but many blood tests were done on her. Seeing that, involuntarily I felt as if my heart was twisted. Her disease couldn’t be cured for a moment. Could she go through it without taking anything? As I cried, I prayed in my heart, “O God! Now my baby hasn’t eaten or drunk and has to take the blood tests. So, my heart is in torment. May You protect my heart! O God! Satan wants to cause me to become negative and weak and complain against You and deny and betray You because of my baby’s disease. O God! I can’t let its scheme succeed. I’ll stand witness to put Satan to shame.”

We sat on the chair in the second hospital’s corridor, waiting for the results of another several examinations. Gradually, my baby stopped crying. At that time, some words of God occurred to me, which we read when the sister had a meeting with me. Almighty God says, “Because of God incarnate, Satan makes every attempt to accuse and wants to attack God by doing so. However, God does not retreat on that account, and He just speaks among man and works among man, letting man know Him through the incarnate flesh. But Satan becomes desperate, and it puts a lot of efforts on His people, trying to make them become passive, draw back, and even get lost” (“The Interpretation of the Thirteenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At this thought, I really hated Satan. In order to have me deny and depart from God, Satan puts a lot of efforts on me. It wants me to complain against God for not keeping my family peaceful, to become negative, draw back and leave God. I won’t listen to it. Man’s life is in God’s hand and isn’t decided by Satan. If I complain about God, won’t I fall into Satan’s trickery? Satan is too crafty. Without God’s timely enlightenment, I would have been trapped by Satan. At that time, I wasn’t that afraid and felt my heart brighten up. I prayed silently, “O Almighty God! My baby’s disease is in Your hand. Regardless of how Satan disturbs, I won’t complain against You. No matter what, I can’t let Satan’s trick prevail. I fall far short of Job’s testimony, though. O God, may You lead me and help me! No matter what the examination results will be, I’ll obey Your sovereignty and arrangement and rebel against Satan to stand witness for You.” For a while, the results came out. The doctor said, “Although the baby has no complication and it doesn’t cause other illnesses temporarily, she has to receive isolated treatment.” At that juncture, my husband disagreed with leaving my baby alone in the hospital. Afterward, we took her to a third hospital. After the blood test, the doctor said in an unhurried manner, “It’s not serious. Have an intravenous drip and then take anti-virus injections in your local clinic. Then, it’ll be cured.” Hearing his words, I was so pleased that I didn’t know what to say but kept thanking God. I knew that God is almighty and that it’s God’s great love coming upon me. When Satan’s plot failed to materialize, I saw God’s protection and knew that no matter what sort of misfortune took place, we needed to depend on God to stand witness for Him and that no matter what happened, we should see things from a spiritual perspective and couldn’t leave loopholes for Satan to exploit.

We went back home happily. I knelt before God and offered my thanks and praises to God from the bottom of my heart. Thank God for enlightening me to penetrate Satan’s deceptions in this spiritual war. In critical moments, it was God who secretly guided us to several hospitals step by step and illuminated me in the prayers to understand His intention, not uttering complaints against Him and standing witness for Him. Later, it was only through one week of little injections that my baby’s disease was completely cured. Thanks be to God! All the glory goes to Almighty God!

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Escaping Satan’s Sieges by God’s Word

Kuozhan

I was once a leader of a Three-Self church. Seeing the pastors and elders scrambled for fame and gain, I was very disappointed with them and my faith and love gradually grew cold. Later, Almighty God’s work of the last days was preached to me. Through a period of investigation, I felt the work and guidance of the Holy Spirit and recovered the faith and love I had at the start. I was fully convinced of Almighty God’s work of the last days, and began to read His words hungrily and have meetings with my brothers and sisters in the Church of Almighty God. However, just then, I unexpectedly encountered the disturbances and sieges of the leaders and fellow believers in the Three-Self Church. In my bewilderment and confusion, it was Almighty God’s words that led me to overcome the temptations and disturbances of Satan, made me see clearly Satan’s ugly face and evil nature, and strengthened my faith in following Him to the very end.

One day, it was raining a bit. Pastor Huang and Sister Song, a leader of another Three-Self church, came to my house. I thought, “They have never come to visit me; for what do they both come today? Did they hear of my acceptance of Almighty God? They have been rejecting God’s work of the last days and sealing off the churches. Do they come to persuade me? It seems that they are well prepared. I must be very careful not to fall into their trap.” After they entered the room, Song queried, “Brother, we heard that you’ve accepted the Eastern Lightning. Is it true?” I thought to myself, “Sure enough they come for that. How did she know that? My wife told them? Well, it seems that I can’t hold out on them.” So I said, “Yes. Someone gave me a book, and I have read it. I think the words in it completely accord with facts, and what’s more, they carry authority and cannot be spoken by any man. I believe they are God’s utterances.” They exchanged knowing looks at each other, and then Song said solemnly, “Brother, you have believed in the Lord for many years; aren’t you confused? Aren’t the words of the Lord all in the Bible? There are no words of the Lord outside the Bible. You read their book; doesn’t it mean that you have departed from the Bible and abandoned the Lord’s way?” I looked at them and said confidently, “It says in John 21:25, ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.’ And John 16:12-13 says, ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.’ From these verses, we can see that there are God’s words outside the Bible; or else the Lord Jesus wouldn’t have said that the Spirit of truth would tell people many things when He came. Doesn’t that prove there are God’s words outside the Bible? You say there are no God’s words outside the Bible; how do you explain about the little scroll prophesied in Revelation? Aren’t you denying the prophecy by saying that? To tell the truth, I also thought that way in the past as you do. But after I read the words of Almighty God, I knew that The Word Appears in the Flesh is God’s utterance in the last days and is the scroll to be opened by the Lamb prophesied in the Bible. I hope you make an investigation and don’t miss the opportunity to be saved by God.” Hearing that, they stood up abruptly, and Song said in anger, “We only believe in the Lord Jesus! The Lord Jesus is our only Savior! And we won’t accept whoever is not called the Lord Jesus!” Pastor Huang also said angrily, “We came to persuade you for your good, but you’re simply irredeemable! I urge you to look out for yourself.” With that they went away in a huff. Looking at their receding figures, I felt sick at heart. “They have believed in God for years, but they don’t seek or investigate God’s work of the last days; instead, they try hard to disturb the believers and stop them from accepting God’s new work. They believe in God but do not know God; they are so pitiable.”

During the days that followed, the pastors, elders, preachers, co-workers, and believers in the Three-Self church came to persuade me time after time. They said, “Brother, please come back. We all miss you. If you come back, we will line up to welcome you….” After hearing these words repeatedly, I began to waver. I remembered my years of belief in the Lord in the Three-Self church; every tree and bush and every inch there were so familiar to me. I became kind of weak within. Just when I hesitated, a hymn of God’s word that I often sang rang in my ears: “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation, condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for the truth; only in this way will you benefit. …” (“You Should Be Someone Who Accepts the Truth” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). I sang it repeatedly in my heart. I pondered the lyrics, thinking, “What God has expressed today is the truth, and God’s work is all the more brought by the incarnate God Himself. If I don’t accept the returned Lord Jesus, won’t I be condemned? This is just as when the Lord Jesus came and did His work; the Pharisees held on to their conceptions and refused to accept Jesus’ gospel and finally was condemned by God. If today I yield to the persuasion of the people in the Three-Self church, won’t I be condemned like the earliest Pharisees? Besides, I have enjoyed the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church of Almighty God. In the past, when I was in the Three-Self church, I didn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit at all. The pastors and elders had jealous disputes with one another and schemed against one another, and their preaching couldn’t supply the believers with life. The believers became cold in their faith and love. Now I am fortunate to keep up with God’s new work and receive the truth that can provide me with life; won’t I ruin myself if I go back? If they really take responsibility for my life, why did they not come to sustain or supply me when I was passive, but come and try hard to prevent me from walking the right path when I accepted God’s new work? The Lord Jesus said: ‘No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:62). I shouldn’t turn back. All that came upon me these days is a spiritual battle of life and death. I must see through Satan’s cunning schemes and not waver. I should have a firm faith and rely on God’s words to overcome Satan’s sieges and follow God to the end.”

One day soon after, Mr. Sun came to my house on his motor tricycle. Upon entering my room, he said to me excitedly, “Brother, I have some good news for you. The director of the Religious Affairs Bureau told me that he wanted to talk to you. He asked you to go back to the church and continue to serve as the leader, and he promised to pay you a salary. He personally told me that. Once you agree and call him, it is done. Where would you find such a good opportunity?” At his words, I said to myself, “Today the director sent him to persuade me; it shows that he thinks highly of me. He remembers me and asks me to go back to work as the leader with salary; this will bring me both fame and gain. If I agree, I’ll have a guaranteed livelihood and be financially secure in my old age. That is what I have been expecting these years.” But then I thought, “If I go back to the Three-Self church, won’t I resume a life of struggling for fame and gain? Won’t I suffer the exclusion of the pastors and elders once again? Have I not suffered that enough? Besides, if I go back, it means that I have rejected God’s name and work and have given up the true way for the sake of fame and gain.” So I said to Sun, “I have retired from that position; I won’t go back. Thanks for your kindness.” He said anxiously, “Think it over again. Do not miss such a good opportunity. I’ll come in several days.” After Sun left, I was troubled: One way is to continue to follow Almighty God and endure the rejection of the religious people, the exclusion of the world, and the persecution of the government…. The other way is to have fame and gain and position as well as an assured life in my later years. What should I choose? Just then Sun returned. At the sight of my hesitation, he said loudly to me, “You can’t miss such a good opportunity!” I hovered. Then the words in a hymn occurred to me: “That which you are enjoying today is the very thing which is ruining your future, whereas the pain you are suffering today is the very thing that is protecting you. You must be clearly aware of that so as to keep away from the hook of temptation and to avoid entering the dense fog that blocks out the sun. When the dense fog clears off, you will find yourself in the judgment of the great day” (“Enjoying Fleshly Comforts Will Ruin Your Future” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). God’s enlightenment made me realize that the material enjoyments I pursued would only ruin my life and cause me to end up being completely eliminated by God. At the time, I thought, “Why didn’t the Pharisees accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus? Wasn’t it because of their pursuit of fame and gain, position, and the enjoyments of the flesh that they rejected the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus and were cursed by God in the end? Satan’s scheme is really sinister! If I take a wrong path today, I will surely be eliminated by God. It is so horrible!” Then I refused Sun on the excuse of my old age and poor health.

Afterward, I read these words of God: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At the moment, I understood more clearly: The disturbances that have come upon me are all spiritual battles, and they are Satan’s accusations against me and also the sinister means Satan uses to plunder me. Its purpose is to try every way to make me reject the true way and deny God’s work and thus live under its domain again. I thought, “All that have happened to me during this period of time, whether Song’s disturbance, time after time of persuasion of the clerics and fellow believers in the church, or the director’s enticement of benefit, are actually despicable means Satan uses to deceive me. Satan is so hateful. It has been eyeing me greedily and trying every possible means to make me stray away from God and betray God and return to its camp.” The disclosure and guidance of God’s words enabled me to see through Satan’s schemes. I was resolved to stand testimony and firmly follow God to the end no matter what contemptible means they would use to disturb me in the future. So when Sun came and tried to persuade me again, I declined. From then on, they no longer came to interfere with me. I knew God had triumphed and that Satan had failed in humiliation. Thank God for leading me out of the sieges of Satan step by step. All the glory be to Almighty God!

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Cease of Divorce Crisis

Luxi    Japan

In 2015, a friend preached the gospel of Almighty God to me and I accepted it. After I knew Almighty God’s work of salvation in the last days, I read His words eagerly. My husband said to me, “It’s better for you to believe in God and read books than watch South Korean dramas every day. I’m happy about it.” As my mother-in-law was a believer in the Lord, my husband believed that there exists God and supported me to believe in God despite his not attending meetings. When I received enlightenment from God’s words, I shared it with him and he thought that belief in God was good. Afterward, he noticed that I always mentioned Almighty God whereas his mother believed in the Lord Jesus. Out of curiosity, he surfed on the internet to see what kind of church the Church of Almighty God was. Unexpectedly, he was deceived and lost direction by the overwhelming online rumors, false testimonies and words of blasphemy against Almighty God. And he began to oppose my belief in Him. But, after reading the words Almighty God expressed and listening to brothers and sisters’ fellowship and testimony, I was convinced that Almighty God is the only true God while those online words are lies and deceptions. Nevertheless, regardless of how I testified about God’s work to my husband and exhorted him, he didn’t hear anything.

A period of time later, through the exhortation and testimony of my good friend Sister Yinghe and I for many times, my husband unwillingly agreed to investigate Almighty God’s work in the last days. Nonetheless, influenced by his mother, he held on to the Bible. To reverse his notions, Sister Yinghe advised me to watch the gospel movie “Disclose the Mystery About the Bible” with him. But I didn’t adopt her suggestion yet decided by myself to watch the movie “Break Through the Snare” with him, which disclosed the CCP and the religious antichrists’ resistance against God’s work. After watching only a part of the movie, he said, “The Church of Almighty God is attacked by the Chinese government. Might makes right. What if we are arrested after going back to Mainland China? You’d better not believe. Moreover, there’s so much disapproval on the internet. What you believe in may not be right.” I tried to persuade him to watch the whole movie, but he rebuffed it. Finding that I insisted on my belief, he got angry with me directly one day, saying, “Believe in it if you have to. But don’t tell others I’m your husband if you are arrested. I don’t want to get implicated! You put me under great pressure. If I don’t believe in the gospel, what if He is the true God? If I believe in Him, I’ll be in danger of being arrested. Besides, there’re so many negative statements on the internet. To whom should I listen?” Seeing that he toiled in suffering and despair by the online rumors, I felt that those online rumors and false testimonies were really harmful. They not only hindered man from accepting the true way, but broke up families. It seems that those who fabricated rumors and made false testimonies are purely the devil’s satanic horde. Thank God for giving me the capability to discern and keeping me from being scammed by Satan.

One day, my husband came back from work. At the sight of me having a meeting, his face clouded at once and he slammed the door and went out with anger. After the supper time, he still didn’t come back and I couldn’t help but worry about him. At 8 p.m. he finally came back but was foaming with rage. I went to cook for him, but he said coldly, “Mind your own business! Since you don’t listen to me and continue your belief in God, stay out of my business from now on. I’ll only be responsible for the family’s living expenses. What I do outside has nothing to do with you. It’s none of your business that even I do something harmful to this family.” The more I thought about his words, the more distressed I felt. I couldn’t fall asleep that night. I prayed to God unceasingly, “O God! What should I do about this? May You lead me! I don’t want to leave You.” The next morning, God’s words fellowshiped in the meeting suddenly occurred to me, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle. … When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Originally, I fixated my eyes on my husband. I had thought that there are too many false matters in this world and that lies and deceptions fill everywhere. For the sake of their interests and for their own purposes, man judges and attacks others and even creates rumors to frame them and makes false testimonies to harm them. As long as those who have a good mind engage in brief reflection, they will know those online words attacking, judging and condemning Almighty God are all false and they will not be deceived. However, my husband believed in them without further thought and took them as the fact and was blinded by them. I thought it should not have been that way. But now God’s words change my viewpoint. I understand that God’s trial has come upon me, that God wants to see whether my faith in Him is true through this matter, and that He wants me to bear witness for Him in this trial. At that point, I thought of the biblical verses on divorce, and I became confident and knew how to face him.

At breakfast, my husband didn’t speak anything, with a straight face. However, I felt God’s presence and didn’t worry or fear as I did in the former night. I said to him calmly, “In believing in God, I don’t do anything shameful to our family. If you intend to do something that hurts our family, it is created by you degrading yourself but not by my belief in God. The Bible says that man can’t commit adultery. God’s words also allow us to know that it’s ordained by God that two people can become a couple. But if one side has an affair, the other side can choose divorce. One who has such an infidelity not only will go to hell, but will be punished.” My words softened his tone and he said, “I said those words because you don’t take my advice and insist on your belief.” Later, my husband didn’t say anything about it. This storm receded almost as quickly as it had come. Thanks be to God! It was God’s words that gave me the courage to overcome Satan’s temptation.

Nonetheless, the tranquility was illusory. One month later, my husband saw the online rumors again. One day when he came back from work, seeing me sit in front of the computer, he scolded, “I think you’re mad. After consideration, I had a solution: Either you stop your belief immediately, or we divorce. I’ve also thought about the two children. You can have their custody. But I guess it’s difficult for you to stay in Japan. So, you can go back to Shanghai with them. I’ll give the flat in Shanghai and monthly maintenance of 100,000 yen to you. If you don’t want the children, it’s OK. You can choose freely. I’ve also consulted the procedure of divorce. We just need to sign the divorce paper in City Office. Tell me your choice.”I couldn’t answer him immediately and forgot prayer as well. I only thought about what would happen after the divorce: If my children stay with me, they’ll be happy, but I don’t have enough money to raise them. If they don’t follow me, they’ll be very pitiable. What’s more, how will my parents and relatives and friends think of me? It’s glamorous to live abroad. But, if I divorce, my parents will lose face. I told him that I needed consideration. But I didn’t know how to do. Going into the room, I bawled my eyes out. I stayed awake through the night and my tears wetted the pillowcase. In the following day, my husband went to work without any word. I prayed to God for the strength to face him. When I lived in pain and was at a loss what to do, I told this matter to brothers and sisters. They encouraged and comforted me, saying that Satan’s temptation had come upon me. They asked me to learn to rely on God and not to lose faith or misunderstand God. They shared the testimonies of experiences of other brothers and sisters and said that God is a God who saves man and that He doesn’t break up man’s family or want man to divorce, and that only Satan gives man distress and destroys man’s relations. They read a passage of Almighty God’s words for me, “When people have yet to be saved, their lives are often interfered with, and even controlled by, Satan. In other words, people who have not been saved are prisoners to Satan, they have no freedom, they have not been relinquished by Satan, they are not qualified or entitled to worship God, and they are closely pursued and viciously attacked by Satan. Such people have no happiness to speak of, they have no right to a normal existence to speak of, and moreover they have no dignity to speak of. Only if you stand up and do battle with Satan, using your faith in God and obedience to, and fear of God as the weapons with which to fight a life-and-death battle with Satan, such that you fully defeat Satan and cause it to turn tail and become cowardly whenever it sees you, so that it completely abandons its attacks and accusations against you—only then will you be saved and become free” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words made me understand that before I believed in God, I completely lived under Satan’s domain and I was Satan’s toy and slave, and that after I believed in God, I came before God from Satan’s camp. This means a betrayal of Satan. So, Satan is unwilling to admit defeat and uses my husband to attack and threaten me so as to make me give up my belief. I worry that after divorce, my children will be affected, people in my hometown will think ill of me, my parents will be looked down upon by the neighbors. All these thoughts are from Satan. If I am controlled by them, I will be controlled by Satan, eventually staying away from God, even denying Him, and going back to Satan’s camp. Satan is too contemptible and hateful. It is positive, right and proper for me to believe in God and worship the Creator. No one has the right to intervene. But Satan wants to control me. I know I lack enough confidence but I am willing to depend on God’s words to take the way ahead and not to yield to Satan. At the thought of that, my uneasy heart finally calmed down.

Later, brothers and sisters shared another passage of God’s words with me, “Without God’s permission, it is difficult for Satan to touch even a drop of water or grain of sand upon the land; without God’s permission, Satan is not even free to move the ants about upon the land—let alone mankind, who was created by God. In the eyes of God, Satan is inferior to the lilies on the mountain, to the birds flying in the air, to the fish in the sea, and to the maggots on the earth. Its role among all things is to serve all things, and work for mankind, and serve God’s work and His plan of management. Regardless of how malicious its nature, and how evil its substance, the only thing it can do is to dutifully abide by its function: being of service to God, and providing a counterpoint to God. Such is the essence and position of Satan. Its substance is unconnected to life, unconnected to power, unconnected to authority; it is merely a plaything in God’s hands, just a machine in service to God!” (“God Himself, the Unique I” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, I understood that God is the One who possesses the supreme authority, that God controls all things among the heavens and the earth, and that everything of man is in God’s hand. Man’s marriage and family rests in God’s palm. Without God’s permission, Satan can do nothing. Whether I get divorced or not is ruled and predestined by God rather than decided by my husband. I want to obey God’s sovereignty and arrangement. Some unbelievers divorce due to money, some due to an affair, and some due to a rupture of affections. If I get divorced because I choose to believe in God, pursue the truth, and pursue to live out a meaningful life, this is an honor, not a shame. At that time, I thought of God’s words, “Faith is a single-plank bridge: Whoever fears death will have a hard time crossing it, and whoever gives up their life will cross it securely. When man has the thought of timidity and fear, it is the fooling of Satan. It fears that we might pass the bridge of faith into God. Satan always tries every possible means to give you thoughts. Beseech God to illuminate and enlighten us at any time, rely on God to cleanse the satanic poisons within us at any time, and exercise to draw near to God in spirit at any time, letting God rule over and occupy our whole being” (“The Sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words granted me strength and faith, so that I had the courage to face my husband. Yes. I should hold nothing back. No matter how the future way is, it is right for me to take the way of believing in God.

At night when my husband came back, I told him in a simple and direct way, “It’s impossible for me not to believe in Almighty God. If you want to divorce, do as you like.” He was somewhat dumbfounded, saying helplessly, “It seems that I don’t have any control over you. There’re so many opposing views on the internet, so if I don’t handle you and something happens to you one day, I’ll have to take the responsibility. But now I use the divorce to threaten you yet you don’t abandon your belief. If you get into troubles on account of your belief and your mother knows it, don’t shift the blame to me.” From then on, my husband washed his hands of my belief. Miraculously, our relations were restored and he never mentioned the divorce.

Later, once my small daughter and I both caught cold. It was raining. But, my big daughter needed to take practices outside. So, I had to pull my tired body to accompany her with my little daughter. When my husband came back and knew the situation, he said, “Luxi, you did a lot of work. I find that you’ve changed. You love the children all the more and become very diligent.” Hearing his words, I deeply knew that it is Almighty God who changed me. I have God’s words as the basis and have the direction of life, so I no longer get angry with my children casually or only live for enjoyment. Gradually, I found that my husband also changed. Before, he always thought he was right. Now when he deals with some matters, he will ask me for advice and practice being an honest person according to God’s requirements I have told him. And he even testifies about God’s authority and sovereignty to his friends.

Thank God for orchestrating all this to me, so that I have experienced God’s words and understood many truths. I have seen that Satan is very contemptible, doing everything possible to cause man to leave God and become its plunder and be devoured by it, while God rules over all things and orchestrates everything. Without God’s permission, Satan can do nothing and even can’t touch a single hair of ours. As long as we have faith and believe in God’s words and live by God’s words, we can break through Satan’s influence of darkness, stand the testimony for God and let God gain the glory. I have also seen that the online rumors and false testimonies will never stand. Time will prove everything and the fact will show everything. God’s sheep hear God’s voice. Regardless of how great Satan’s hindrance is, they will surely come before God in the end. This can’t be hindered by any force of Satan. May all the glory go to Almighty God!

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God’s Words Rescued Me From Satan’s Sieges I

They Tried to Entice Me to Go Back to the Three-Self Church by Offering to Build a House for Me

I thought I could believe in Almighty God without disturbance after that. But unexpectedly, they came again a few days later, and they even brought Sister Gu, a real estate developer, along with them. When I saw Sister Gu get out of the car and walk in style toward my house, I was astounded, “They bring Sister Gu along with them. What high prestige she usually enjoys! I never expected that she would come to my house.” At the thought, I quickly went out to welcome her. When she met me, she caught me by the hand and said with a smile, “Sister, I come to see you. Sister, where does your husband work? How much money can he get a day?” I told her the truth. Little had I imagined that after hearing what I said, she looked at me with a pitying eye, saying, “Golly! He only gets that little a day. It’s not even adequate to support the family, let alone to build a house.” I blushed at her words, thinking, “We earn so little money, which is nothing in her eyes. What a disgrace!” Then she continued, “Sister, if you can come back to the church to believe in God properly and help to manage the church, the church will provide whatever your family lacks. And I’ll find a good job for your husband; the pay will be much higher than his present wages. Besides, I will use some leftover building materials to build a house for you for free.”

I was surprised and amazed to hear what she said. I thought, “Even some leftover building materials of hers can be used to build a house, while I have got in debt for the purchase of this small house, not to mention having the money to build a big one. I have been dreaming of living in a bright spacious house, but I supposed there was scarcely a hope that we would build a big one in my life. Unexpectedly, such a good thing happens to me today!” At that moment, the big house seemed to be standing before my eyes with my family living in it. I was hesitant and really wanted to promise them to go back. “This is really a stroke of luck. How can I refuse such a good offer! But if I accept it, I will be a betrayer of God!” My heart was pained so much at the thought, and there was a fierce battle in it. I, helpless, could only pray in my heart, “O God! They offer me such great benefits today, and I want very much to agree to go back to the Three-Self church and attend meetings there. But I know that their promise to build a house for me and find a good job for my husband is Satan’s scheme and that their purpose is for me to leave You. However, I almost cannot overcome it. At the thought of the house, I feel so weak within. O God! What should I do? May You guide me!” After the prayer, the devil’s temptation of the Lord Jesus recorded in the Bible came to my mind: “Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus to him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:8-10). The words of the Lord Jesus allowed me to have discernment of Satan’s scheme. I thought, “They all know my family is poor, so they try various means to entice me to abandon the true way. This shows that Satan is really full of cunning tricks, and I cannot be fooled by it.” I just sat there silent, constantly praying in my heart and asking God to keep me. Seeing me hesitant, another sister urged me tenderly, “Sister, this is God’s love! Other people are unworthy to receive this offer even if they ask for it. Only you are qualified, because you have built up a church here for the Lord and managed it so well. You are a person well pleasing to the Lord, and you have rendered great service in His eyes. Be sure to seize this good opportunity! Think it over. The door of the church is opened to you all the time, and we welcome you back anytime. We’ll go now.”

After they left, the more I thought about that, the more I felt distressed. “Even if all the members of my family work, we will not be able to build a big house in our lifetime. Now as long as I go back to the Three-Self church, we can live in a big house without spending a cent. This is indeed a hard-to-come-by opportunity! But I cannot betray God! Hadn’t I believed in God for the sake of waiting for the Lord’s return? If I forsake God for the sake of the house, won’t I be finished?” The more I thought about this, the more distressed and troubled my heart was. I wished I could both get the house and be saved if I went back to the Three-Self church. In the few days that followed, I kept thinking about the matter, whether when I walked or was seated. Whenever I looked at the old house, I was distressed and felt that every part of it was offensive to the eye—the bricks had become dark, the rooms were dim, and the ground was low. The more I looked at it, the more I felt suffocated. I sighed all day long, and couldn’t fall asleep at night, just thinking about the things that had happened in that period. “Oh! Believing in God is too hard!” In weakness, I prayed to God, “O God! I know this is a battle of the spiritual realm in which Satan uses material benefits to entice me, but I have no power to overcome sin. Please guide me! …”

Just when I was hesitating at the crossroads, not knowing which way to choose, Sister Yang came again. After I told her what had happened to me, she said, “Sister, God says: ‘My word is the truth, the life, and the way, is a sharp double-edged sword, and can defeat Satan’ (‘The Twelfth Utterance’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Faced with Satan’s attack, we can only overcome it by coming before God and relying on God’s words. God’s word says: ‘Because of God’s incarnation, Satan makes every attempt to accuse and wants to attack God by doing so. However, God does not retreat on that account, and He just speaks among men and works among men, letting men know Him through His incarnate flesh. But Satan becomes irritated, and it also puts in a lot of efforts on God’s people, trying to make them become passive, draw back, and even get lost’ (‘The Interpretation of the Thirteenth Utterance’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). ‘When you are tempted, you should say: “My heart belongs to God, and God has already gained me. I cannot satisfy you—I must devote my all to satisfying God.” The more you satisfy God, the more God blesses you, and the greater the strength of your love for God; so, too, will you have faith and resolve, and will feel that nothing is more worthy or significant than a life spent loving God’ (‘Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh). This is another temptation from Satan. Satan tries to hinder you from keeping up with the new work of God through the people around you. The work God does this time is the work of concluding the age. Now is the time to decide man’s life and death and his fate and end. One’s success or failure hinges on his choice. If we miss the opportunity, we will regret for a lifetime. Satan also knows that God’s work is drawing to an end. Now it is conducting desperate struggles, exerting itself to the utmost to disturb God’s work. It knows that we have a greedy nature, so it uses some material benefits to disturb us. As we only have a superficial understanding of the truth, we may keep our faith in God when faced with small benefits, but we can hardly overcome it when faced with great ones. If we follow Satan, our life will be ruined. God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s schemes. God makes our faith perfect through Satan’s sieges. If we have true faith in God, we will be able to give up the interests of our flesh to follow God. Although our flesh is weak, when we understand that we will have the hope of being saved if we keep up with God’s new work and that we will live out a life of meaning if we love God, we will be able to overcome the temptation of any material benefits and declare to Satan that we are determined to forsake it, and Satan will naturally draw back.”

Through reading God’s words and hearing Sister Yang’s fellowship, I had the true discernment of the spiritual battle and the schemes of Satan. I thought, “It is really not easy for God to save man! When God saves man, Satan tries to entrap man, and it persistently fights with God for man. Satan wants to pull me into hell through those religious leaders, so it has tried different tactics to disturb me. Outwardly, they were for my interests, but in truth, they tried to entice me to forsake God. Satan is so sinister and malicious. If its sinister intention had not been exposed through the words of God, I wouldn’t have known it!” When I thought of this, it gave me the chills. “If God had not used the sister to water me time and again, I might have been deceived by Satan. That was a near thing! This time I have really gained some insight and discernment. From now on, I will read God’s words seriously and equip myself with the truths of all aspects to bear testimony to God.”

They Tried to Coerce Me Into Betraying God With the Arrest of the CCP

Because I didn’t reject them last time though I didn’t accept their offer, they came to my house again several days later. Upon entering the room, a man who was in charge of the Three-Self church asked me with a smile, “Sister, have you thought it through these days?” I thought, “Do you still want to entice me to go back to your church? I will not be fooled by you this time.” So I straightened up and said, “I have decided that I will follow Almighty God to the end. Since God has come to carry out the new work, I cannot lag behind it. You don’t need to come to persuade me anymore; I have discernment myself. Don’t come again. As for the house, there is no need for you to worry about it.” At my words, he turned hostile all at once. Staring at me, he said ferociously, “I tell you, now the government is trying to arrest the believers in Almighty God everywhere. If the arrested ones don’t come clean, they can beat them to death with impunity. And I also warn you, if you dare to go to our church preaching the gospel again, I will call the police to arrest you!” At the sight of his ferocious look, I felt somewhat afraid, and I thought, “Is that so serious? What if I am arrested by the CCP and beaten to death?” But immediately I realized that there was Satan’s scheme in it and that Satan was trying to use my weakness, the fear of death, to attack me. At the thought, I prayed to God in my heart and asked Him to guide me to overcome Satan’s temptation. Then the words of the Lord Jesus occurred to me: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). And these words of Almighty God also occurred to me: “Man’s life originates from God, the existence of the heaven is because of God, and the existence of the earth stems from the power of God’s life. No object possessed of vitality can transcend the sovereignty of God, and no thing with vigor can break away from the ambit of God’s authority. In this way, regardless of who they are, everyone must submit under the dominion of God, everyone must live under God’s command, and no one can escape from His control” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of the Lord Jesus and Almighty God made me strong in the spirit immediately. “Right! What shall I fear? No matter how ferocious the CCP, it can only kill my body but cannot kill my soul, for man’s life is controlled by the hands of God and the CCP has no right to decide anyone’s life or death. Whether I will be arrested for believing in God or not is also in the hands of God. I cannot bow to Satan. This is the time God tests me and also the time Satan is making a bet with God. I will stand firm in my testimony to God, and will never compromise with Satan!” When I thought of this, I held myself upright and said to them with justice and severity, “The life and death of each person are determined by God. Don’t threaten me with the arrest of the government; I am not afraid of that. No matter what you say, I will still believe in Almighty God and preach the gospel to my brothers and sisters, for that is my duty. No matter what I encounter in the future, it was predestined by God, and I am ready and willing to accept it. If you are not afraid of becoming Judas, the betrayer of the Lord, just go and report!” At my such words, all of them were dumbfounded with anger, and they left in dejection. After that, they never came again. I saw the power of God’s word. God’s word is truly a sharp sword and can defeat Satan!

Later, I devoted myself heart and soul to the gospel preaching. I am grateful to God for saving me. If God had not moved the sister to come again and again to fellowship about His words with me, when faced with Satan’s such frenzied disturbances, I couldn’t have overcome it. May all the glory be to Almighty God!

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