Tuesday, November 14, 2017

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

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

Bai Xue
One day in April, 1999, an elderly sister of our local Three-Self church brought two young brothers to my house, and they preached God’s work of the last days to me, who was thirsty and hungry in the spirit at that time. Through seeking and investigating for over a month, I was certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. I was very happy that the Lord Jesus whom I had longed for every day had really come back. I thought, “I must tell this good news to those brothers and sisters who are still waiting for the Lord to return.” But little had I expected that when I, full of faith, went everywhere preaching the gospel, news of my accepting God’s work of the last days reached the pastors and elders of the Three-Self church. Then Satan’s temptations and attacks came upon me one after another …
My Former Co-worker Huang Tried to Deceive Me Using the Words of the Lord Jesus
Early one morning, my former co-worker Huang in the Three-Self church came to my house angrily. I thought, “I have been on good terms with her; today I must tell her the news that God has come back.” So I said to her with a smile, “Auntie! I haven’t seen you for so long. Today I will tell you some very good news…” But she interrupted me in a harsh tone, with her finger pointing at me, “Have you converted to the ‘Eastern Lightning’? Don’t you know that there will appear false Christs in the last days? It is written, ‘Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’ (Matthew 24:23-24). Why didn’t you guard against them? How could you have been deceived by them? Your doing so is betraying the Lord. During these years, you have undergone so many sufferings in building up the church, preaching the gospel, and sustaining the brothers and sisters for the Lord; haven’t you undergone all those sufferings in vain? When the Lord comes back, you will be forsaken by Him.” Upon hearing that, I immediately remembered the words that the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God had said when fellowshipping about these verses. So I said with great calmness, “Do you know the intended meaning of these words of the Lord? The Lord said them in order to tell us that we should be cautious and have discernment when waiting for His coming, and not to forbid us to seek His return because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days. If we treat every message telling us that the Lord has come as a false one without seeking the truth or making any investigation, how can we possibly meet the returned Lord? Through reading the words of Almighty God these days I have realized that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. My following Almighty God is keeping up with the new work of God rather than betraying the Lord….” At my words, she left in a huff.
Afterward, she came to my house almost every two days. Every time she came, she spoke some blasphemies and words to disturb me, but I had a firm faith and remained unwavering whatever she said. Besides, I became ever more disgusted with her. Finally I told her, “Don’t come again. No matter what you say, I will not listen to you.” My uncompromising attitude enraged her, and after that she never came again.
The Leaders of the Local Three-Self Church Tried to Entice Me to Leave God by Offering to Install the Aluminum Alloy Doors and Windows
A few days later, when I was doing my housework, five people, the leadership of the Three-Self church, came to my house. At the sight of them, I became nervous in my heart, and I thought, “When Sister Huang came alone, she was so rude and unreasonable. Now several people come together; how will they treat me? Can I withstand it?” The more I thought, the more afraid I felt. My heart thumped, and I immediately prayed in my heart, “O God! May You keep my heart and give me the words I should say so that I can stand fast and will not betray You when Satan disturbs me.” At that moment, these words of Almighty God occurred to me: “Be not afraid; Almighty God of hosts must be with you. He will be your support and your shield” (“The Twenty-sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words gave me faith and strength. “Yes, God is my support; I should be afraid of nothing.” I calmed down, not so nervous or afraid. After taking a few breaths, I said with a smile, “Please come in and have a seat.” I had thought that they would be rude and unreasonable like Sister Huang, but unexpectedly, a sister said to me with a smile, “Sister, we heard that you have accepted the ‘Eastern Lightning.’ We are all worried about you. We are to blame for that, because we have not cared for you much before. We come to see you today, and we wish you to turn back quickly. Besides, we want to see what your family lacks so that the church can help you.” With that they inspected my house. Then a sister in charge of the affairs of the Three-Self church took my hands and said, “Sister, your family is really in need. You see, the doors and windows are in so bad a condition that your rooms must be very cold in winter. They really should be replaced! Besides, you have elderly parents, and they have to suffer cold. If you are willing to come back to our church and believe in the Lord firmly, we will have the doors and windows of your house replaced with aluminum alloy ones without any charge, as we have brothers and sisters from every walk of life. What do you think about it?” At the time, another sister who was also in charge of the affairs of the Three-Self church patted me on the shoulder and said, “Right! Sister, you have had a good faith in the Lord! You have built up a church for the Lord. Don’t worry. Our church will not leave you uncared-for. From now on, when your family has any difficulty, just tell us, and we will help you.” At their words, my heart was warmed up, and I thought, “It’s true that the doors and windows should be replaced, but we have been in straits for money and can’t afford the expense, so that our parents are cold with us. They say that if we lack anything, just tell them. And they also promise to replace our doors and windows without any charge. What a good thing! If I agree to go back to the Three-Self church, I will not need to spend money to replace the doors and windows.” But then I thought, “That is not right! Today God has carried out His new work. If I go back there, will I not lag behind God’s work?” At that moment, the story of the rich man in the Bible who received good things in his lifetime but went to hell after his death came to my mind. So I thought, “Right! If I am forsaken by God, I can never buy back such an opportunity no matter how much I pay. But the doors and windows indeed should be replaced. What should I do?” Then I suddenly remembered a passage of God’s word that Sister Yang of the Church of Almighty God had read 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” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). So I realized: Behind what is happening now is Satan’s wager with God. It is up to me whether I choose to betray God or stand firm in my testimony to God. Every word of Almighty God is truly the truth. Through His words He has not only revealed the mysteries of God’s management of mankind, but also disclosed the corrupt nature within man and shown man the way to be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven. If I abandon the true way for the sake of the aluminum alloy doors and windows, my belief in God will be in vain. I must see through the scheme of Satan. Nothing is more important than to gain life. Then I immediately prayed in my heart, “O God! They are trying to pull me back to the Three-Self church with petty favors. I know this is Satan’s scheme. May You watch over me and keep me from betraying You. Amen!” After the prayer, I said to them decidedly, “Thank you for your kindness. We don’t need you to have our doors and windows replaced. We ourselves can have them replaced. You can go now!” Though my attitude was very firm, they were still all smiles, and said, “You don’t need to spend any money. Don’t be in a hurry to reply. Think it over again.” With these words they went away.
Although I knew that was Satan’s scheme, I kept thinking about it at night. After I lay down, I began to consider it, tossing in my sleep, “If I go back to the Three-Self church and believe in the Lord there, the brothers and sisters there will support me, and the church will have our doors and windows replaced, but I will be forsaken by the Lord. Oh! …”
The next day, Sister Yang of the Church of Almighty God came. She found a passage of God’s word in light of my state: The building of the kingdom is aimed directly at the spiritual realm. In other words, the battle of the spiritual realm is made plain directly among all My people, and from this can be seen that all people are always warring, not just in the church, but even more in the time of the kingdom, and that although man is in the flesh, the spiritual realm is revealed directly, and man engages with the life of the spiritual realm. … In My plan, Satan has ever snapped at the heels of every step, and, as the foil of My wisdom, has always tried to find ways and means to disrupt My original plan” (“The Eighth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After reading these words, she fellowshiped, From God’s words we see clearly that this is a battle of the spiritual realm, in which Satan has tried its utmost to disrupt and disturb God’s work of saving man. Because you are a new believer and have yet to lay the foundation, Satan has tried to disturb and attack you time and again in order for you to betray God. When its scheme failed, it tried another. It wanted to use those material things to tempt you and harm you. Such an action is actually a kiss of death. You should never be fooled by it. In Satan’s performance, we can see it is base and shameless in substance. We should see through its scheme and stand firm in our testimony to God. After hearing her fellowship, I thought, “What a near thing that was! When Satan disturbed me with a hard tactic last time, I saw through it. So it used a soft one this time. It used both hard and soft tactics against me! I was almost fooled by it. I must be careful from now on lest I be trapped by it.”

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