I Have Seen Clearly the Truth II

The sister nodded with a smile, “God allows Satan to tempt us, because this makes us see clearly Satan’s evil and cruel substance. That way we will be able to hate it and reject it from the bottom of our hearts and stand firm in our testimony to God. Actually, God has power to protect us. But if God did not permit Satan to tempt us and just directly brought us into the kingdom, then Satan wouldn’t be convinced. God’s work is to fully defeat Satan and convince it beyond the shadow of a doubt. So we need to see clearly the truth and penetrate Satan’s sinister motives. This impinges on the important matter of our salvation. We must pray more and depend on God and make up our mind to follow Him so that Satan will be left utterly humiliated and defeated.

I said, “Your fellowship makes me completely understand that it is actually a spiritual struggle. It turns out to be Satan’s disturbance that these things which are not to my liking come upon my family. I thought that I had taken the wrong path, so I wanted to stop my faith, nearly falling into Satan’s trap. It really is too dangerous. Satan wants to disrupt me with these bad things in order to have me betray God and lose the chance for salvation and suffer destruction together with it. Satan is too detestable. I will pray more and read God’s words more often, and put my husband and my children in God’s hands.”

The sister continued, “Right. We need to see through the tricks of Satan. For the substance of Satan is evil, it doesn’t want man to worship God, and it has been continually destroying man’s relationship with God. Therefore, we need to understand the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of Satan, so that we will have discernment in our future experiences, no longer falling into Satan’s trap. Let’s read more of Almighty God’s words, ‘The work of the Holy Spirit is proactive guidance, and positive enlightenment, it is not allowing people to be passive, bringing them solace, giving them faith, and resolve, and enabling them to pursue being made perfect by God. When the Holy Spirit works, people are able to actively enter; they are not passive or forced, but are proactive. When the Holy Spirit works, people are glad and willing, and they are willing to obey, and happy to humble themselves, and even though they are pained and fragile inside, they have the resolve to cooperate, they suffer gladly, they are able to obey, and they are untainted by human will, untainted by the thinking of man, and are certainly untainted by human desires and motivations. When people experience the work of the Holy Spirit, they are especially holy inside. Those who are possessed of the work of the Holy Spirit live out the love of God, the love of their brothers and sisters, and delight in the things that delight God, and loathe the things that God loathes. People who are touched by the work of the Holy Spirit have normal humanity, and they are possessed of humanity and constantly pursue the truth. When the Holy Spirit works within people, their circumstances become better and better, and their humanity becomes more and more normal, and though some of their cooperation may be foolish, their motivations are right, their entry is positive, they do not try to interrupt, and there is no malevolence within them. The work of the Holy Spirit is normal and real, the Holy Spirit works in man according to the rules of the normal life of man, and He enlightens and guides in people according to the actual pursuit of normal people. When the Holy Spirit works in people, He guides and enlightens them according to the needs of normal people, He provides for them based on their needs, and He positively guides and enlightens them based upon what they lack, and upon their deficiencies; when the Holy Spirit works, this work is in consonance with the rules of the normal life of man, and it is only in real life that people are able to see the work of the Holy Spirit’ (“The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Satan” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

From God’s words, we can see that God does His work based on the needs of mankind and the rules of the normal life of man, and that He does not force man. According to the needs of people, God guides, enlightens, and provides them in accordance with what they lack and with their deficiencies. When the Holy Spirit works, people can positively and actively cooperate with God. They are willing to read God’s words, sing, pray, and praise God, and assemble and commune His words together with brothers and sisters. They will have ever greater faith in God and ever higher aspirations to pursue the truth and the change in life disposition. They won’t doubt or complain against God in all circumstances. For instance, when they encounter things and don’t know how to practice, they can have a path to travel through prayer and reading God’s words. Thus, their hearts will brighten more and more and all the sorrows and worries will dissolve away. Although sometimes people are weak when they don’t understand the things cropping up, they will obey God’s work once they have understood His will, and will discover the loveliness of God through their experiences. When the Holy Spirit works in people, they are willing to satisfy God and practice according to God’s words. The more they satisfy God, the more God blesses them and the more their spirits are enlightened. Then they can possess discernment about many things. The work of the Holy Spirit on people allows them to be at peace and steadfast and experience enjoyment in their spirits.

However, the work of Satan causes people to be negative and in retreat. Almighty God says, ‘At the interference from Satan, you lose the love and loyalty toward God within you, you are stripped of a normal relationship with God, you do not pursue the truth, or the improvement of yourself, you regress, and become passive, you accommodate yourself, you give free rein to the spread of sin, and are not hateful of sin; furthermore, the interference of Satan makes you dissolute, it causes God’s touch to disappear within you, and makes you complain about God and oppose Him, leading you to question God, and there is even the risk of you leaving God. All this is of the work of Satan’ (“The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Work of Satan” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From these words of God we can understand that at the interference from Satan, people will lose their faith in God and their love toward Him. They are unwilling to read God’s words, to pray, much less to have contact with brothers and sisters, and they are not happy with anyone. They even misunderstand and complain against God when something happens to them, and sometimes think of no longer believing in God and of betraying Him. They think nothing of committing sins, sinking into spiritual darkness without the feeling of being touched.As long as we understand this aspect of the truth, we can have a grasp on whether our own state is normal or abnormal. So in the face of Satan’s interference, we will be able to have discernment, rebel against Satan and establish a normal relationship with God, gradually walking the path toward salvation. In this way, God’s work to save us won’t be made void.”

After her fellowship, I felt I had the direction and faith. I came to know the differences between the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of Satan. God is the One who saves man while Satan is the one who slaughters and swallows man. From this time on, I could no longer be fooled by Satan to wound God’s heart. I would believe in God and follow Him properly. I would pray more and read His words more in the future.

After I thought this, a phone call from my younger son in the following day delivered the message that he had recovered from his illness. I felt very pleased and thought it was so wonderful. When I made up my mind to follow God, my son’s stomach sickness just passed. This made me further ascertain that Almighty God is the one true God who I could depend on and worship. My eyes blindfolded by Satan were opened and I gained the discernment of these things that happened to me. It was not that I took the wrong path; rather, it was Satan’s cunning scheme, a battle in the spiritual realm. Thank God for enlightening my spiritual eyes with His words and allowing me to see the facts. In the days that followed, I regularly led the life of the church and read God’s words, and was frequently touched and encouraged by His words. Also, God continually used His words to lead and guide me. When I had conflict with my husband, I no longer kicked up a fuss about trivial matters. Instead I discussed things with him with a calm heart. My husband thought that I had been an altered person. So he began to look at Almighty God’s words and accept His work afterward. Now our family lives in perfect harmony, no more strife-torn or warring, and is immersed in joy.

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Breaking Out of the Cocoon I

Fangfang

My whole family believed in the Lord in the Head Covering Church. I was an ordinary believer, and my father was a junior leader. In February 2004, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, and then I took Sister Zhang of the Church of Almighty God to preach the kingdom gospel to my youngest sister. I had planned to preach it to my father after I equipped myself with enough words of God. But unexpectedly, he soon learned that I had accepted the kingdom gospel, and started to disturb me frantically.

One late afternoon, my father rushed to my house and said to me angrily, “I never expected that you would believe in the Eastern Lightning. You’ve taken the wrong way. … Go to the church quickly and repent before the leader, and ask the Lord Jesus to forgive your sin.” I said, “Dad, I’m not on the wrong way. I have read many of Almighty God’s words and recognized they are truly God’s voice. Almighty God is exactly the returned Lord Jesus. The Age of Grace has passed. Now is the Age of Kingdom, and God has come to do new work. Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes’ (Revelation 14:4)? I have kept pace with the Lord’s footsteps….” Whatever I said, however, my father just wouldn’t listen. He insisted on me going to the leader to explain myself, and my husband stood beside him stoking the tension. I thought to myself, “It seems that my father won’t be satisfied until I go to the church.” I prayed in my heart, asking God to protect me. Then my husband drove me together with my father to a meeting place on his instructions. About sixty or seventy people were there, including my youngest sister, who was brought there by her mother-in-law. A senior leader came to my sister and me, spoke many blasphemies against Almighty God and slandered His Church. His words, so horrible, hit me like a ton of bricks and sent a chill down my spine. I got confused and thought, “I haven’t attended meetings for a few years, and I’m certainly ill-informed. Since the leader is a servant of the Lord who shepherds the church, he is unlikely to cheat us. Have I really been deceived?” Finally, my father and my sister’s mother-in-law forced my sister and me to close our eyes and asked the leader to pray for the Lord Jesus to forgive our sin. While the leader was praying, my sister and I didn’t pray and remained silent. …

After I returned home that evening, I considered the words of the leader and recalled the days of my contact with Sister Zhang, who was not at all like what the leader said. I also turned over the words of Almighty God in my mind, feeling that they indeed couldn’t be spoken by man. The positive and negative thoughts kept recurring to me, and I tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. When I got up next morning, I felt dazed and distressed. I didn’t feel like eating breakfast and had no heart to do anything. Owing to my poor sleep the night before, I got into bed after lunch, and my youngest sister came when I had just lain down. She said, “We’ve been deceived. We are believing in a wrong way. So just back out.” I said, “I have read through The Scroll Opened by the Lamb several times. The word of Almighty God is indeed God’s voice, and Almighty God is really the Lord Jesus we’ve been yearning for. I don’t think we are on the wrong path.” Then my sister left as she couldn’t persuade me. I thought, “It is absolutely true that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. But what explains those things the leader said about the Eastern Lightning?” While I was thinking of this, my husband told me that my father called and asked me to go to meet him at once. I knew he would interfere with me again, so I didn’t want to go, but my husband pushed me into his car forcefully. When I got to my parents’ home, I found my youngest sister and her mother-in-law were also there. Upon seeing me, my father said sulkily, “… Yesterday evening the leader prayed to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin, but you haven’t confessed and repented for your own. Today you are invited here to pray and fully repent before the Lord and promise Him that you will no longer believe in Almighty God. Only in this way will the Lord forgive your sin.” I thought to myself, “I’ve kept up with God’s work by accepting Almighty God. What sin have I committed?” I refused to pray and repent. Then my father, my sister’s mother-in-law, and my mother all jumped at me. They also exaggerated those dreadful rumors about the Eastern Lightning and slandered and blasphemed Almighty God. My head was already groggy due to the poor sleep in the night, and their threats left it even more so. I felt tired out, and gradually didn’t know my own mind. I thought, “It seems that if I don’t make a prayer of repentance, they simply won’t give over. Their continuous disturbance is just killing me. Oh! I’d better continue to believe in the Lord Jesus lest I suffer this.” When they saw I still didn’t pray, they assailed me again and even forced my sister and me to close our eyes and pray and repent. Facing their aggressive behavior, I couldn’t restrain my tears any longer. I closed my eyes and prayed to the Lord Jesus in tears, “O Lord Jesus! I know Almighty God is You who have come back, but now I don’t dare to believe in Almighty God. I beg You to pardon me and forgive my sin …” I choked and couldn’t go on. After the prayer, I suddenly felt so weak that I didn’t have any strength or faith within. I said to my sister, “Before I prayed, I still had some strength, but after the prayer, I felt all my strength was gone abruptly, as if the Holy Spirit forsook me. Actually, Almighty God is our longed-for Lord Jesus. We shouldn’t have prayed and repented; that is betraying God.”

Although I had prayed the prayer of repentance, in my heart the struggle never stopped. I thought, “I have read so many words from Almighty God, and I am certain they are the utterances of God and that the Lord Jesus has truly come back. If I reject Almighty God, I will not only miss the salvation but even be condemned by the Lord. But if I insist on believing in Almighty God, the leader and my parents won’t let me go, and I won’t have a peaceful life.” I was also afraid that the rumors my parents and the leader spread about the Eastern Lightning were true. I was terribly upset and in a quandary about what to do, and my head ringing. I really couldn’t bear it and my nerves were almost in shreds. I said to myself, “I might as well return the book of God’s word and the hymn book to Sister Zhang when she comes next time, and then I will be free from such pain and trouble.”

A few days later, Sister Zhang came to water me at my shop. I was nervous, dreading that my husband would see her and tell it to my father. I poured out to her all that had happened to me during those few days, and then quickly took out the book of God’s word and the hymn book from under the goods and gave them to her, saying, “Sister, the disturbance of my parents and husband and the rumors they spread about the Eastern Lightning have torn my hair out and overwhelmed me. It’s better for me to continue my belief in the Lord Jesus. Take away the books, please.” Sister Zhang said to me earnestly, “Sister, each time God carries out His work, the religious leaders use rumors to deceive and control God’s chosen people and oppose God’s work. At that time when the Lord Jesus worked, the Jewish chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees used the rumors to deceive people. They said that the Lord Jesus drove out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, and was a glutton and drunkard. After the Lord Jesus was resurrected, they bought off the soldiers and asked them to spread the word that His body had been stolen by His disciples. Their very purpose was to prevent the Jews from coming before the Lord Jesus. Similarly, today the religious leaders purposely use the rumors to deceive and control people, prevent the believers from receiving God’s salvation, and disturb and impair God’s work. Your parents and husband disturbed you because of the rumors spread by the leader, and they are victims too….” I knew what Sister Zhang said was all true, but I hung back and didn’t dare to keep the books in case my father kicked up turmoil at my home. Seeing me in a dilemma, Sister Zhang gave me a phone number and said, “All right, sister, I’ll take the books away and keep them for you. When you want to read them, call me, and I will bring them back to you right away.” I agreed and walked her to the door. Then my husband came bowling over and pointed at Sister Zhang shouting, “Go away quickly with the books. Never come again, or I won’t be easy on you!” Sister Zhang left with the books reluctantly. Looking at her receding figure, I felt an inexplicable poignancy.

I had imagined that after I returned the books, I could resume my former peaceful life since my father wouldn’t come to disturb me. But, on the contrary, I felt a nameless emptiness inside and didn’t have a clue how to deal with things properly. God’s words and the hymns recurred to me now and then, and the leader’s words and the scenes of my father and others disturbing and besieging me also often flashed in my mind. I struggled in agony, as if I had fallen into an abyss and were unable to climb out of it no matter how hard I tried. I was in a daze all day, my head almost splitting. I had no appetite, slept badly and couldn’t bear the mental stress, so that I wasted away. In agony, I thought of praying. I knelt down and called out to God, “The only true God who created the heavens and earth and all things, I’m suffering terribly in my heart and feel perplexed now. I know Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus, but my stature is too small, and I am timid and fearful at the thought of my father and others’ disturbance and siege. O God, I am at a crossroads, not knowing what course to take. I ask You to guide and lead me….” During prayer, I unknowingly thought of God’s words: “Do not fear this or that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers there are, you should be stable before Me and not be hindered by anything, letting My will be carried out smoothly. … Remove your fear. I am your rear guard, so who can block the way? Remember! Remember!” (“The Tenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words of God gave me strength. “That’s right! With God as my rear guard, what do I have to fear? Since I am certain that this is the true way, I should not be restrained by anyone; I should break through the forces of darkness and follow God unflinchingly.” Thinking of this, I immediately took out Sister Zhang’s phone number from the drawer and called her. She agreed to bring the books to me at a certain place.

After I got the books back, I read God’s words and sang hymns with avidity when my husband was out. The more I read, the more I felt gratified, and the more I sang, the more I felt joyful. I was very happy. My former faith returned to me, and my distress disappeared completely. Three months later, Sister Zhang took me to the meetings of the Church of Almighty God.

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Breaking Through Encirclements II

Then my wife let the two sisters know that Brother Guan had come and spoken something. Sister Zhang asked me what I thought when I came face-to-face with this matter. Then I told her my weakness in my heart and my understanding a moment ago. She smiled and said, “Thanks be to God! Your understanding is pure. This is God’s guidance to you.” My wife said in disbelief, “Given that we don’t take the wrong way, why did Brother Guan say that? He is a great leader who has believed in the Lord for many years.” I looked at her and said, “Oh, he just wanted us to return to the former church.” Sister Zhang said to us with a smile, “All that we see today is their external appearance. But we haven’t seen through their nature and essence. The Lord Jesus once said, ‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in’ (Matthew 23:13). And ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness’ (Matthew 23:27). Externally, the Pharisees served God with loyalty. However, when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, their nature in resisting God was revealed. They wildly opposed and condemned the work of the Lord Jesus, releasing various fallacies to deceive the Jewish people, and using many sorts of methods to hinder people from seeking and investigating the true way. Their intent and purpose was to ban God’s work and appropriate God’s chosen people forever. Let’s take a look at what are the differences between religious leaders nowadays and them.” Then she asked me to read some text of Almighty God’s word, “Those who read the Bible in grand churches recite the Bible every day, yet not one understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one is able to know God; moreover, not one is in accord with the heart of God. They are all worthless, vile men, each standing on high to teach God. Though they brandish the name of God, they willfully oppose Him. Though they label themselves believers of God, they are ones who eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such men are devils who devour the soul of man, demons who purposefully disturb those who try to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks that impede the path of those who seek God. Though they are of ‘robust flesh,’ how are their followers to know that they are antichrists who lead man in opposition to God? How are they to know that they are living devils who specially seek souls to devour?” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I came to understand in my heart that the reason these leaders persistently disturbed and obstructed our belief in Almighty God was because they were antichrists in nature who opposed God. God wishes to save us today, but they did everything they could to drag us into hell. If their substance had not been revealed by God’s words, I had nearly been cheated by them. At that time, my wife said in surprise, “It turns out they came to harm us. Well, they won’t stop until they drag man to hell. From today forward, I won’t believe in their words.”

Then Sister Mu read another passage of God’s words for us, “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). Sister Zhang fellowshiped, “From God’s words, we see that when anything crops up, externally it appears to be the deeds of men. In fact, Satan is making a bet with God behind the scenes. For instance, when Satan tempted Job, although his wife advised him to curse Jehovah God, he penetrated Satan’s deception and stood witness for God by his confidence in Him. Moreover, he reprimanded his wife that she was a foolish woman. Through Job’s experience, we should know that, for each man that God looks upon with favor and wants to save, Satan will test and disturb him frenziedly, as well as attack him by all sorts of methods so as to cause him to forsake and betray God, losing the chance of salvation finally.”

Sister Mu also fellowshiped, “Right. Satan used these leaders to attack and threaten you over and over again, that was meant to cause you to deny God and betray Him and forsake the true way, which is exactly Satan’s plot. We must see clearly the battle in the spiritual realm.” After hearing the two sisters’ communication, I thought it over and said, “Actually, Satan is making a wager with God. Satan attacked our weakness through the words of these leaders with the intention of letting us forsake the true way and leave God out of timidness. Satan is too insidious.” My wife added, “Satan is purely evil! If it were not for God’s words and your fellowship, how could we know it is Satan’s trick?” I said happily, “Since we have learned about it, we should break through Satan’s encirclement by depending on God, stand witness for Him and take practical action to shame Satan.” Sister Zhang was also pleased to say, “Brother, sister, shall we get together to communicate about God’s words more in the future? It is only through this way that we can equip ourselves with more truths and be confident in God’s work in the last days soon.” I responded, “Great. How much better it would be if you could come to communicate with us every day.” Sister Mu said with smile, “Then this is it.”

One morning several days later, when I got up and went to the window, I found everything outside covered in heavy snow, and could not help rubbing my hands. Then I put on my lambskin hat and cotton gloves, went straight to the courtyard, and began to sweep the snow to the gate. After the snow removal, I walked into the room, lighted the coal stove and made the fire burn up, while my wife was cleaning our home. Just at that moment, my brother-in-law came with his wife. His wife said impatiently as soon as she got indoors, “How could you behave like that? Leader Wang and Co-worker Guan have spoken so much to you; why did you not listen to them? Today they especially asked us to come and advise you against believing in the Eastern Lightning. This shows that they take care of our life.” Hearing her words, I firmly said, “If they were really responsible for our life, they should lead us to investigate the work of Almighty God and meet the return of the Lord.” My wife then said frankly, “How could they possibly do us a good turn? They only fear that we won’t listen to them after believing in Almighty God.” Upon hearing this, the wife of my brother-in-law said in an irritable voice, “What makes you say so? Actually, they simply ask you to return to the church, nothing else. Just take my advice. With our relationship, never will I harm you.” My brother-in-law added, “Think about how we treated you these years. Don’t you cherish our kinship just for believing in Almighty God? Do you know how much we have given to you? Do you have the heart to separate yourselves from us now? Does your conscience allow you to do so?” After hearing what they said, I felt awful sorry, thinking: The couple indeed helped us a lot. They must be particularly bitter right now. What would I do? Anyway, they will absolutely not make me give up the true way, for I’m sure that Almighty God is the coming of the Lord Jesus. But how will they see me if I insist on believing in Almighty God? Will they say I am ungrateful? At that point, there was a seesaw battle in my heart, making me feel miserable. I silently prayed for God to give me a way out. Suddenly, one of God’s phrases came across my mind, “Everything that happens to people is when God needs them to stand firm in their testimony to Him” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Then I thought back to the communications of Sister Zhang and Sister Mu a few days ago. Whenever we are faced with something, it bears a relationship to the spiritual battle, that is, Satan is making a bet with God and we should stand firm in our testimony to God. Thinking about this, my heart suddenly brightened. I said, “Brother, sister, I understand you are doing for our good. Just for this reason, I even more need to tell you that Almighty God is the very return of the Lord Jesus. Only when we keep pace with the work of Almighty God in the last days can we be saved by God. How about I read a passage of God’s words for you? You will know whether it is the utterance from the return of the Lord Jesus.” Then I took up the book of God’s words to read, but my sister-in-law suddenly got to her feet, saying gruffly, “We come here to persuade you. You don’t turn back but preach the gospel to us. We won’t listen to you.” With this said, she left in anger holding her husband’s hand.

Behind them, I went out to close the door. Then I walked to the courtyard and saw the sky had cleared up. With the beautiful sunlight shining on the pines outside the courtyard, the snow on the trees began to melt. The pines seemed to have just undergone a baptism, looking exceptionally green tall and straight in sharp relief against the snow-covered ground. I felt very glad in my heart and knew it was God’s word that led me to break through the encirclement and stand firm in my testimony. I give thanks to Almighty God! All the glory goes to Him!

The End.

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Going Through the Tunnels and Getting Warmed by the Sun II

Going Through the Tunnels and Getting Warmed by the Sun II

A month later, Satan’s test befell me once again. One day, my daughter who just got married came to my home. She fainted suddenly in the gateway, and my neighbor helped her into the house. In the evening, when I returned from spreading the gospel and saw my daughter sick, I thought it was a normal cold so I didn’t take it seriously. It was not expected that my daughter suddenly started to shake all over in the middle of the night. I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do. I held her tightly in my arms, and after a while, she felt a little better. The next morning, my daughter said to me, “Mom, you can go to perform your duty. Don’t worry about me. I’m okay.” I prayed to God silently in my heart, “Oh God! All things are controlled by Your hands. Today I will give my daughter to You.” Then I said to my daughter, “Xiaojing, you should pray to God and depend on God more. God is our strongest supporter.” With that, I went out for my duty. I had not imagined that when I went home two days later, my daughter was already in the hospital. I hurried to the hospital, only to see her lying unconscious in bed. My daughter-in-law said to me sadly, “Mom, Xiaojing’s condition has gotten worse since you left. The doctor did some tests, and said she had a brain bleed and needed brain surgery. However, both you and her husband were absent over the past two days and nobody could sign the consent form for her, so she has missed the best time for surgery. I heard the doctor tell Xiaojing’s mother-in-law that her condition could not be cured, and that she would be a vegetable even if she woke up.” Upon hearing this, I burst into tears. When I went to consult an expert holding out a faint hope, he shook his head. “We’ve used all the medicines we could think of and done everything,” he said. “The best outcome for her is to wake up as a vegetable.” Hearing the expert’s words, I felt as if the sky were falling, living in immense suffering. Later, my son-in-law, seeing my daughter that sick, not only did not care if she would die, but even inhumanely asked me for the customary bride-price he paid when marrying. That day, my home seemed so distant from the hospital. I walked on the way, lost and fallen, as if walking through a wisp of a dark tunnel, unable to see any light ahead of me. After arriving home, I opened the book of God’s word feebly, and saw these words, “On earth, all manner of evil spirits are endlessly on the prowl for a place to rest, are ceaselessly searching for the corpses of men to eat up. My people! You must remain inside My care and protection. Never behave dissolutely! Never behave recklessly! Rather, offer up your loyalty in My house, and only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning” (“The Tenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“When sufferings come upon you, you do not care for your flesh or complain against God; when God hides from you, you have faith to follow Him and your former love does not change or disappear; no matter what God does, you submit to His orchestration and would rather curse your own flesh than complain against Him; and when trials come upon you, you would rather bear pain to give up what you love and weep bitterly than not satisfy Him. This is a true love and a true faith” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Looking at God’s words, reflecting upon the matters I encountered recently, I truly saw that Satan was despicable and vicious. For the purpose of devouring my soul, it constantly interfered with and attacked me, so that I lived in the pain of blackmail, fearful of the loss of my money, and strayed from God and had no mind to read God’s words. This time it even used my beloved daughter to test me, in an attempt to cause me to deny and betray God due to her unexpected disease, hence losing God’s salvation in the last days. This was Satan’s cunning trick. It’s like when Satan tempted Job, behind which was actually a battle: Satan wished to get Job to renounce and deny God in the tests, while Job did not blame God from start to finish but extolled God’s name, bringing complete shame upon Satan and causing it to flee so that it never dared to tempt him again, and bearing bright and resounding witness to God. The environments coming upon me were exactly the same. Satan just tried to use the sudden circumstances to make me blame, deny, and betray God, whereas God took advantage of them to test my faith and loyalty toward Him. Though my flesh was weak, I should see through Satan’s trickery and stand on God’s side. Since God said that only with loyalty could I mount a countercharge against the devil’s cunning, I vowed to put my daughter in God’s hands for man’s life and death rests in His hands. Thinking of this, I fell to my knees, weeping bitterly and praying to God, “Oh Almighty God! Man’s fate is controlled by Your hands. I’m willing to entrust my daughter to You. If You predestined me not to lose my daughter, she will not die even if she has one breath left. If my daughter really becomes a vegetable as the doctor said, I will never blame You, and I will still follow You.”

Late at night, I sat at my daughter’s bedside, drifting off to sleep unknowingly. In stupor I heard my daughter call me, “Mom, mom, I want to drink water.” Hearing her call, I sprang to my feet with a start. I wiped my eyes and looked closely: My daughter’s hands are moving, and her eyes open. I was so excited that for a moment I was at a loss for words. I just kept saying, “Oh God! Oh God! …” The other patients in the ward also marveled, “Oh, what a miracle! How come she just got better in an instant?” Grinning with delight, I saw that it was God who truly presides over man’s fate, who saved my daughter, and that His deeds were so wonderful! Three days later, my daughter recovered miraculously, just like a normal person. This made me see even more that the battle in the spiritual realm was so fierce and that Satan was so evil and contemptible. God chose me with an intention to save me, whereas Satan interfered with me time and again with various tricks. It attacked me by taking advantage of my daughter and attempted to make me blame, doubt, misunderstand God due to her life-threatening condition, and thus deny and betray God. God permitting these temptations to befall me was to make me understand the truth concerning the battle in the spiritual realm, and be able to discern Satan’s schemes and see clearly its evil and ugly substance, thereby breaking free from its trickery and affliction, living freely and unrestrained in God’s presence. At the same time, God allowed me to know His wisdom and omnipotence through such practical environments. In retrospect, when my daughter was first hospitalized, God protected her from brain surgery. All these circumstances seemed not good things, but they actually made me recognize that man’s fate is controlled by God’s hands and that everything God arranges for man is good.

The word of God says, “My work in these three ages differs according to the nature of each age, but at each stage it accords with man’s needs—or rather, it varies according to the tricks that Satan employs in My war against it. The purpose of My work is to defeat Satan, to make manifest My wisdom and omnipotence, to expose all Satan’s tricks and thereby to save all of humanity, which lives under its domain. It is to show My wisdom and omnipotence while at the same time revealing the hideousness of Satan. Moreover, it is to teach My creations to discriminate between good and evil, to recognize that I am the Ruler of all things, to see clearly that Satan is humanity’s foe, the lowest of the low, the evil one, and to make the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood, holiness and filth, greatness and baseness, as clear as day. This way, ignorant humanity may bear witness to Me that it is not I who corrupt humanity, and only I—the Creator—can save humanity, can bestow upon them things for enjoyment; and they may come to know that I am the Ruler of all things and Satan is merely one of My creations, which later turned against Me” (“The Truth Concerning the Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, I understand God’s will all the more and realize that all that God does is salvation to man. Thinking back on the repeated trials, I’ve gained a great deal despite some sufferings: In experiences I saw that although Satan constantly used the people, events, and things to disturb me and tried to cause me to deny and betray God, God had been enlightening and guiding me at my side, so that I was able to become strong in negativity and weakness, see through Satan’s plots every step of the way, and see the wonders of God’s work. After these experiences, I feel even more that there is nothing fearful about Satan’s disturbance and affliction because God is with me and He leads me personally to overcome the temptations of Satan. Now I feel more certain about Almighty God’s work in the last days, and know that man, as a creature, should worship God whether he incurs blessings or adversities. I am resolved to follow Almighty God to the end.

The End.

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