Penetrating Satan’s Deceptions in Trials
Ji Ying
I had never dreamed that I could meet the return of the Lord Jesus during my lifetime, which made me feel immeasurable joy. However, some time after I accepted God’s work of the last days, I was suddenly diagnosed as having prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc. My husband suffered a car accident abruptly. Though there was no bone injury, he could not walk temporarily and needed a week of rest before going to work. After that, my four-year-old son caught a cold all of a sudden, wheezing out of breath. Whenever I saw my child fighting for breath, it really tugged at my heartstrings. I thought: How could those mishaps come upon me in succession? Normally, after accepting God’s work of the last days, I should have remained inside God’s care and protection and such misadventures shouldn’t have come upon me. But why do they happen? Although Sister Yang in the Church of Almighty God communicated with me about God’s words, urging me not to misunderstand God’s intentions, yet I just could not listen to her for I got caught up in diseases. I began to wonder whether Almighty God is really the return of the Lord Jesus. Later, my son got over his cold, but his symptom of gasping for breath still remained, even developed persistent asthma. We spent our days going one doctor visit to the next but my son failed to improve. My heart was in so much pain. I thought: Will my son go on gasping for breath? At that point, my mother-in-law said to me, “A doctor concluded that the kid has a heart attack. I’m afraid he will have difficulty to look for a spouse.” My heart sank after I heard this. I recalled that when I lived in my grandma’s home in my childhood, a woman next door had asthma, wheezed out of breath, and looked aged before turning 40. What’s more, she even was not able to work at all. “Could it be that my son will suffer the same fate? Will he struggle against disease for his whole life?” When I saw his contemporaries growing up healthily while my son suffering illness painfully, I felt tortured inside, not knowing how to get through the rest of our life. I thought of that I did not listen attentively when Sister Yang came to communicate with me last time, but at that moment, I hoped so much she could drop in and communicate with me again to resolve my actual difficulties.
God does observe the depths of man’s heart. He is acquainted with man’s inside needs. Sister Yang came to see me very soon. I let all my sufferings out to her. She said to me in a very calm way, “Sister, we need to penetrate all the deceitful schemes of Satan to avoid being tricked by it. Satan sees that we have accepted God’s work of the last days and gotten the chance for salvation, so it becomes desperate and tries all the ways and means to stop us from worshiping God. Therefore, when illness or other misfortunes suddenly befall us, all of these are Satan’s disturbance. Satan uses these things to play on man, makes man misunderstand God and doubt Him, and then deny God and go back to its camp, losing the opportunity of God’s salvation. This is Satan’s despicable objective.” After saying this, Sister Yang read two passages of God’s words.
Almighty God 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). “God works, God cares for a person, looks upon a person, and Satan dogs His every step. Whoever God favors, Satan also watches, trailing along behind. If God wants this person, Satan would do everything in its power to obstruct God, using various evil ways to tempt, harass and wreck the work God does in order to achieve its hidden objective. What is its objective? It does not want God to have anyone; it wants all those that God wants, to possess them, control them, to take charge of them so they worship it, so they commit evil acts alongside it. Is this not Satan’s sinister motive? … Satan is at war with God, trailing along behind Him. Its objective is to demolish all the work God wants to do, to possess and control those whom God wants, to completely extinguish those whom God wants. If they are not extinguished, then they come to Satan’s possession to be used by it—this is its objective” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).
After reading God’s words, Sister Yang continued her fellowship, “Through the revelations of God’s word, we have seen clearly Satan’s evil nature. By the illness, it disturbs our belief in God in order to make us turn away from God, losing God’s care and protection. For those whom God wishes to save, Satan does its utmost to disturb, sows dissension in their relationship with God, schemes to make them misunderstand, complain about, and betray God, and in the end it could devour them. As the Bible recorded, Job was righteous and he feared God. He was a perfect man in God’s eyes. Satan hates people that could fear God and shun evil. So it attacked Job, deprived him of his property and children, and caused sore boils all over his body, to devastate Job in that way and to strike down Job’s faith and loyalty to God with a vain attempt. However, Job stood firm in his testimony in this spiritual war. He not only didn’t complain about God, but on the contrary, he praised God from his heart, saying, “the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” So we encountered the trial of sickness, which is a matter in the spiritual realm. If God did not tell us the reality of the spiritual realm, we wouldn’t know what bad things Satan is doing in the spiritual world, nor would we know God’s work. The spiritual battle is becoming more and more intense. If we don’t understand God’s will, nor do we read more of God’s words, we will be likely to fall prey to Satan’s trickery. Thus, we should read and fellowship God’s words more to know His work and His will. Then we shall face that which befell us calmly, obey the work of God, stand the testimony for God and shame Satan.”
Sister Yang’s fellowship made me suddenly see the light. It turned out that all manner of misfortune I met with was Satan’s affliction. It was due to Satan’s harassment, which made me become doubtful toward God, even become rebellious against God, and thus lose my chance for salvation. Thanks to God’s protection. Through sister’s timely fellowship with me about God’s words, I understood God’s intention and came out of my negativity. I prayed to God, “Almighty God, I thank and praise You! Your words allow me to understand the reality of the battle in the spiritual world. I will no longer misunderstand or complain about You. I believe that everything rests in Your palm. Whether or not my son would have disease sequela is also within Your grasp. No matter what the outcome, I will devote myself to following You and stand testimony for You! Amen!”
At dusk a couple of days later, my son and his little friends were playing in full swing outside. About five or six minutes after he returned home, my mother-in-law said in surprise when she held his small hands, “Why is he so feverish?” When I heard this, I took his temperature immediately. He had indeed gotten a fever, but he neither cried nor made any trouble, just as if nothing happened. I realized right away that was again the scheme of Satan. Satan was disturbing my heart so as to let me misunderstand God. After thinking of that, I proclaimed to Satan in my heart, “Stand back, Satan! I won’t fall prey to your trickery this time to misunderstand God. Whether my son can recover is controlled by the hand of God, so is his life.” At that time, my heart was at peace. Later, my son went to bed with his grandma.
After my prayer, though I was not all that panic-stricken, I still had my own demands on God, unwilling to see my kid suffering illness or something unpeaceful befalling my family. I realized something wrong with my condition, so I opened The Scroll Opened by the Lamb. I saw God’s words, “Are you content to live under the influence of Satan, with peace and joy, and a little fleshly comfort? Are you not the lowliest of all people? None are more foolish than those who have beheld salvation but do not pursue to gain it: They are people who gorge themselves on the flesh and enjoy Satan. You hope that your faith in God will not entail any challenges or tribulations, or the slightest hardship. You always pursue those things that are worthless, and you attach no value to life, instead putting your own extravagant thoughts before the truth. You are so worthless!” (“The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words made me feel ashamed. I was reminded of my pursuit of receiving grace and blessings when I followed the Lord Jesus. After I had followed God’s new work, I still pursued to gain grace instead of the truth of life or the purification of my corrupt disposition. Wasn’t I the most foolish person who God has exposed? In the last days, God becomes flesh again to do the work of judging and purifying man, causing man to seek the truth and gain the truth when things befall him, so that man can submit to God and bear testimony to God in all circumstances. This is the ultimate fruit of God’s work. Yet despite believing in God I only sought to gain grace and blessings, did not focus on pursuing the truth to achieve a change in my life disposition. This faith of seeking bread to satisfy hunger undoubtedly cannot gain God’s approval. At that time, God arranged some circumstances for my family. And the revelation of His words helped me not only to see through Satan’s evil face of carrying out plots to devour man but also to know my erroneous view of pursuit in believing in God. This is really God’s love and salvation to me. After understanding God’s intention, I prayed to God, “Almighty God! I offer thanks and praise to You! Thanks to Your salvation to me and Your timely reminder that prevents me from falling prey to Satan’s trickery. From this point on, regardless of whether my child gets well or not, or what difficulties befall my family, I will rely on You, no longer follow the thoughts sent by Satan to misunderstand or complain about You. Instead, I will seek and pursue the truth in order to live out a life of value and meaning. Amen!” After I prayed, I felt much more at ease. A while later, my mother-in-law knocked my door and said to me with a thrill, “The kid’s fever has gone!” I was deeply aware that it was God’s care and protection. Otherwise it was impossible for my son’s fever to quickly come and quickly go. This was really God’s wondrous deeds. Everything is in the hands of God.
When I was willing to reverse my perspective on belief in God and developed my true faith in God, I saw God’s wonderful deeds. Before long, I realized my son’s asthma had gone unknowingly. When I took him to a hospital for a check, the doctor said, “The kid’s heart and lung are in good nick. There is nothing wrong with him.” Not only that, I also recovered from prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc by one therapy so that I could perform my duty and do work normally. Whereas one of my colleagues who suffered from the same illness as I had did not recover though his illness was less serious than mine and we received treatment from the same doctor. What’s more, he even underwent an operation. But he couldn’t manage to work now. His wife asked me how I recovered once she saw me. Though I told her I recovered naturally, I knew well that was because of God’s deeds and His wonderful protection. Almighty God is truly an almighty doctor！
Through this special experience, I realize that in experiencing God’s work of salvation, man is all along accompanied by Satan’s temptation, attack and disturbance. Which is to say, the spiritual battle is very fierce. Satan is like roaring lion prowling around, searching for man to eat up. Only when we pray to God, rely on Him, read more of God’s words to understand the truth, can we defeat Satan and gain God’s salvation in the last days. Thank God for making me perfect by the trials, causing me to lay the foundation in the true way and allowing me to have more confidence to follow Him. All the glory goes to Almighty God!
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