Feeling Sweetness for Standing Witness

Xiaozhao

I was a believer of the Head Covering Church. One day in 2008, Sister Li in my church paid a call on me. She sang a hymn “Follow Closely,” “… The kingdom exercise is led by God; all His people are joyful in heart. …” I felt so good about this song, for it was the most pleasant song I had ever heard. She said to me, “Sister, the Lord Jesus who we have long yearned for has come back and become flesh descending in China to do His work in a hidden way. This fulfills the very prophecies in the Bible, ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6) and ‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame’ (Revelation 16:15) and the Lord God said, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty’ (Revelation 1:8). Sister, we know the Lord Jesus prophesied He would descend in secret to save us. Now the prophecies are totally fulfilled. Today, Almighty God is the coming of the Lord Jesus. He has expressed all the truth of judging and purifying man.” Sister Li also read several pieces of God’s words to me, “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’,” “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation,” and “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life.” I felt that these words are extraordinary, possessing power and authority. I expressed my willingness to seek and investigate carefully. Later, Sister Li often came to my home and read God’s words to me. After a period of seeking and investigation, I was fully convinced that all that Almighty God proclaims is the truth and God’s utterance. Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. So I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days happily.

After accepting the gospel, I wanted to tell the great news to the brothers and sisters in my former church. The first that came to my mind was one intimate old sister. I had not expected that she told her daughter-in-law the news after I informed her. As a result, all the brothers and sisters in the place where I attended meetings knew that I had accepted Almighty God. Later, the leaders in the church Huang XX, Zhang XX and Xu XX went to my home to disturb me. Fortunately, I happened to go out for something that day. My son was at home. So they asked him where I had gone but my son told them he had no idea. I did not pay any attention to it when I went back home and was apprised of their coming by my son. The second day, they three again came to my home but I was absent. They then asked my son whether or not someone had been to our home recently. Looking at their fierce look, my son was unclear about what had happened. He just told them two young people had visited me. They then left. After I returned home and heard the situation, I began to worry that they might carry out schemes behind their back. For the leaders always told us in their sermons, “Don’t be in the least bit lenient toward the people from the Eastern Lightning once you see them. You can never crack down on them too much. We are defending the Lord’s way….” What if Sister Li gets caught by them? Will they beat her? … The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. No, I should inform Sister Li immediately, telling her not to come to me for the time being to avoid being harmed by them. When I arrived at Sister Li’s home, she communicated with me, “Sister Zhao, the One we believe in is the true God, is almighty. Fear not them. Pray more when something comes along and beg God to lead us. He will give us wisdom. Ever since God did His work in the flesh, the antichrists in the religious world have been disturbing and impairing God’s work. Regardless, His work has not been hindered in the least, but has revealed those hypocritical Pharisees, thereby making us have true discernment about the so-called leaders and clearly see whether they are good servants or evil servants. You can go back first. Let’s pray to God together. I believe that God will surely open up a way out for us. It is no need to be afraid of them, for God is our strongest supporter.” I nodded. Still, I went back with an uneasy heart.

Two days later, Huang XX, Zhang XX and Xu XX came to my home for the third time. That night, I was at home alone. They exerted their strength to push the door and found me at home. Looking at them staring with glaring eyes, I was trembling with fear by their battle formation. I therefore prayed silently to God and asked Him to give me strength and confidence and grant me with the words I should speak so that I wouldn’t be disturbed by them. At that time, Xu XX pointed her finger at the tip of my nose, saying fiercely, “Xiaozhao, where have you been these days? We have come several times but couldn’t see you. You seemed rushed off your feet recently. Where have you been today? Go! Come with us now. Put on your cap. Follow us to the church to repent and confess to the Lord.” Before I reacted, they all talked at once, saying that I had followed the Eastern Lightning, that I had believed in heresy and betrayed the Lord, and forced me to hand the books over. I was bombarded with defamation so that I couldn’t get a word in edgeways. I became so anxious that I didn’t know how to offer my prayer to God. All I could do was pray silently to God and ask Him to protect my heart. Gradually my heart settled. I said, “How could the Eastern Lightning be heresy? The Lord Jesus has prophesied, when He comes back, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be’ (Matthew 24:27). Could it be that you dare to deny the words of the Lord Jesus?” Hearing me say this, they became purple with rage, saying blasphemy against God. I spoke to them, “You are leaders with much more knowledge than me. You all know that the Lord Jesus has said, ‘All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men’ (Matthew 12:31). Today I have followed God’s new work. Almighty God is the coming of the Lord Jesus. You blaspheme God so much, and you’ll reap no good fruit.” Upon hearing these words, Huang XX gave a tight slap on her thigh and said to Zhang XX, “Come on! Move on! Find a way to get her to the church. She is terrifying that she actually teaches us with the Bible.” Then My two arms were pulled by Xu XX and Zhang XX separately. They were keeping on blaspheming God while pulling me. I prayed to God in my heart unceasingly, “Almighty God! They are driving me and dragging me to the church. They will definitely force me to blaspheme You. O God, please give me strength. I can’t go with them.” After finishing my prayer, I was much calmer. Moreover, I also saw God’s deeds: Not only was I not budged regardless of how hard they tried but also left them huffing and puffing with exhaustion. Huang XX ground her teeth with anger, saying, “If you don’t repent with us today, you will be chased out tomorrow and abandoned by all the brothers and sisters.” Then they three walked off in a huff.

The second day fell on the meeting time in the religious church. I thought: What about going there for a meeting? What if I am dismissed by the church and abandoned by my brothers and sisters? Thinking of that, I pedaled my bicycle to the meeting place. I fell off my bike before I went far. My hands hit the ground hard and then I had a great fall. I thought: All is over. Are my arms broken in the fall? I stood up and shook my hands, feeling no pain. At this point I had an awakening, and realized that God was preventing me from going to the religious church. I then went back home. Thanks to God’s arrangement. Not long after I arrived home, Sister Li came on purpose to see me because of her concern about me. When I saw she risked dangers of being beaten or scolded or reported to the police by the religious people, I was moved profoundly. Then I told her the full account of the affair. She comforted me and said, “Thanks be to God! This is really God’s protection to you. Also, it is the battle in the spiritual world. Where there is the work of God, there is Satan’s disturbance. Let’s 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). God’s words show us that these kinds of things we encountered involve the battle in the spiritual realm. For instance, when Job was tried, his wife advised him to deny and curse God. It appeared to be interactions between people but actually concerned God’s witness, which is very important to God and Job. When man accepts Almighty God’s work in the last days, Satan doesn’t want him to follow God and walk the right path. Then it uses religious leaders to disturb and threaten man so as to cause him anxious and distracted and to waver back and forth, losing witness before God. In order to stand witness for God, we should first know God’s work, have discernment of how Satan deceives and corrupts man. For Satan is evil. All it does is use some methods and ways or some nice words to deceive man. Its essence is disrupting God’s work and hindering man from investigating the true way. These are Satan’s trick and purpose. Whereas God expresses the truth for man to see through Satan’s schemes, seek the truth and stand testimony. Meanwhile, God cares for man’s childlike stature and He couldn’t bear to see man devoured by Satan. Therefore, He gave you a minor discipline to prevent you from going back to the religious church and doing something disobedient and resistant to God because of being deceived by religious leaders.” Her fellowship gave me more recognition of God’s earnest intentions. God could not bear to see me go back to Satan’s camp and be trodden on by Satan. He allowed me to follow Him steadfastly and accept His salvation. At that point, my eyes were full of tears due to excitement. That was so close! If I were not stopped by God timely, I probably would have fallen under Satan’s grasp. This experience further showed that Almighty God is the true God. I could not offend God and I would stand witness for Him.

Then, she read another passage of God’s words, “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 Almighty God’s words and the sister’s communications, I saw through the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. They usually preached biblical knowledge and theology on the podium and only paid the lip service. However, when the Lord comes to do His new work, they refused to seek and investigate. Moreover, they controlled and persecuted the believers on account of seeking and accepting the true way. They behaved like the Pharisees who persecuted the Lord Jesus at that time, hindered and imprisoned the Jewish people and made them to be in enmity to God for their position and livelihoods, causing man to lose God’s salvation. I was willing to reject them. No matter how they disrupted me, I would always stand by God’s side and stand witness for Him.

Several days later, when they saw me not turning around but keeping on believing in Almighty God, Zhang XX and Huang XX came to my home again to get close to me with emotion. Zhang XX said to me, “It was me that brought you before the Lord. We were intimate sisters. But now you have actually believed in the Eastern Lightning and betrayed the Lord. You are truly without conscience!” I said, “Sister Zhang, the Lord’s return is a great matter and you know the Bible well. You’d better investigate it.” She responded with a long face, “Today, I give you the last chance, but you spread the Eastern Lightning to me in turn. Again, you’d better come and repent to the Lord before it is too late. If you insist on believing in the Eastern Lightning, it will have nothing to do with us when disasters befall you. Don’t blame us for not reminding you then.” Afterward, they pushed me to kneel down to confess to the Lord, and even forced me to say blasphemy against God with them. Seeing that I didn’t listen to them, they blasphemed God again. I said to them, “You are believers in God and are also preachers. You all know that the outcome of the priests, scribes, and Pharisees in Judaism for crucifying the Lord Jesus on the cross. They were cursed by God for condemning and blaspheming God. It is right and proper for man to accept God’s work and follow God to walk on the right path. Nobody has the right to interfere in it. All those who hinder man from accepting the true way are the Pharisees, and their end is obvious.” Upon hearing these, Huang XX jumped to her feet, and bellowed to me, “I know more than you for I have read the Bible for so many years. Look out for yourself.” After saying these words, they left with their tails between their legs. Thank God for giving me confidence and strength and keeping me not violating His will. Later, the church really dismissed me and informed all the brothers and sisters to abandon me. Yet I did not feel sad but very calm for I have followed God’s footsteps and met the coming of the Lord. Every day, I read the words expressed by God and feel sweet beyond compare in my heart. I praise Him aloud at the bottom of my heart. From then on, the religious leaders never came to disturb me. I realize that it is God’s care and keeping. Soon, I begin to perform my duty within my capability in the Church of Almighty God. Every day is fulfilling and happy. All the glory be to Almighty God!

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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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Going Through the Tunnels and Getting Warmed by the Sun I

Going Through the Tunnels and Getting Warmed by the Sun I

Lin Fang

Like hundreds of millions of other Christians, I had been longing desperately for the Lord to come soon to take me to the kingdom of heaven and enjoy the blessings there. One day in November 2006, I finally heard the news of the Lord’s return. Under the guidance of God’s words, the brothers and sisters who spread the gospel patiently communicated with me, so that I recognized at last that the incarnate Almighty God is exactly the returned Lord Jesus and joyfully accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days.

After I accepted the gospel, Sister Yang solemnly fellowshiped with me, “We are now in the last days when God is doing the final stage of work to save man. God does His utmost to save man, while Satan continuously carries out its plots to disturb man and prevent them from coming before God to receive His salvation. So, the battle in the spiritual realm now is very intense. Let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s words.” I took the book and seriously read, “As God works, Satan harasses. In the last days, it will finish its harassment; likewise, God’s work will be finished, and the kind of person God wishes to complete will be completed. God directs people positively; His life is living water, immeasurable and without limits. Satan has corrupted man to a certain degree; in the end, the living water of life will complete man, and it will be impossible for Satan to interfere and carry out its work. Thus, God will completely obtain these people. Satan still refuses to accept this now; it continuously pits itself against God, but God pays it no attention. He has said, I will be victorious over all of Satan’s dark forces and over all dark influences. … God is wiser than it, and His work far exceeds it. Therefore, I previously stated the following: The work that I do is carried out in response to Satan’s ruses. In the end I will reveal My almightiness and Satan’s powerlessness. When God does His work, Satan tails Him from behind, until in the end it is finally destroyed—it will not even know what hit it! It will only realize the truth once it has already been smashed and crushed; at that time it will already have been burned in the lake of fire. Will it not be completely convinced then? For it has no more schemes to employ!” (“You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Sister Yang then said gently, “From Almighty God’s words, we can see that in God’s management work, Satan never spares anyone that God is to save. It uses people, events, and things to interfere with man, so that they may turn away from God, deny God, betray God, and finally lose God’s salvation. However, God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s schemes. God just takes advantage of Satan’s disturbance to let us know His work, His wisdom and omnipotence, and see through Satan’s evil and ugliness. So, no matter what we encounter in the future, we should seek the truth, see through Satan’s schemes, and stand testimony for God! As long as we consider things by standing on the side of God, Satan can do nothing with us.” Hearing the sister’s fellowship, I said with full confidence, “Yeah. We believe in the true God, so I’ll rely on Him and fear nothing. If I am tempted, I will absolutely stand on God’s side.”

Soon after, one day I went home happily after spreading the gospel. As I was coming to the gate, my neighbor rushed to me and, vividly gesturing with his hands, said, “Why do you come back so late? Something big happened! Your son’s friend Xiaoliu came to borrow your pickup, but it wouldn’t start. Then he drove a farm tractor and tried several times in vain to pull the pickup. Xiaohu was also there. Seeing that, he insisted on giving it a try. He put the tractor in fifth gear after sitting on it. As soon as the tractor was started, however, the ring at the end of the steel rope broke unexpectedly. It whizzed back and hit Xiaohu right in the temple, leaving him bleeding all at once…. Now Xiaohu is in the hospital.” Abruptly, my head went blank. I hurried home and prayed, “Oh Almighty God! I don’t understand Your will. Why do I encounter such a thing suddenly? May You enlighten me.” After praying, I recalled the words in the Bible, “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). Then I suddenly thought of the truth regarding the battle in the spiritual realm, about which my sister had fellowshiped with me before, and realized that it was Satan’s temptation and disturbance. Satan wished to use that adversity to make me blame God, stray from God, and give up following Almighty God. That was a battle in the spiritual realm. At that time, I thought of God’s words, “… you are able to stand on the side of God when He does battle with Satan, and you do not turn back to Satan, then you will have achieved the love of God, and you will have stood firm in your testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words gave me great faith. I thought: Satan, I will never fall into your schemes and complain about God however you interfere. I will stand on God’s side and follow Almighty God. After understanding God’s will, I felt much assured.

Nonetheless, Satan did not resign itself to the failure, and still interfered with me through people, events, and things. More than twenty days later, Xiaohu recovered, but he refused to leave the hospital in order to squeeze money out of us. He said, “The pickup is yours, so you should pay the whole cost.” His wife stood up, shouting, “Right! Since the pickup is yours, you should pay the full amount….” Facing their perverse behaviors, I was very angry and got caught up in this matter. In extreme pain and upset, I did not want to communicate with them anymore and walked out of the ward. When I went downstairs, I thought: I am a believer in God. I’m not supposed to get angry like that in the face of problems. I should entrust this matter to God and rely on Him. After I arrived home, I opened the book of God’s word and saw the following, “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. … 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). Looking at God’s words, I remembered that day when I boasted before Sister Yang, “If I am tempted, I will absolutely stand on God’s side.” However, when Satan interfered with me time after time, I did not stand testimony for God. With my heart constantly occupied by that matter and unable to be at peace before God, I did not seek the mind of God, but got entangled in the problems and lived in darkness, falling prey to Satan’s trickery. Only then did I recognize that Satan was truly evil and treacherous. It used that matter to disturb me, and thought of every possible way to let me deny God’s sovereignty, sway between right and wrong, get annoyed, and live in pain and darkness. I should not be tricked by Satan anymore. I was willing to rely on God and put that matter in God’s hands. Whether Xiaohu would leave the hospital and how much I had to pay at last were subject to God’s orchestration. Whatever the result, I would obey it. To my surprise, I saw God’s wondrous deeds the next day. God aroused a young man to criticize Xiaohu, “I’m really disdainful of people like you who bully good men and even want to squeeze money out of them. If I were in this situation, I would give you not a single penny.” The other patients in the ward also muttered, “Yeah. He got on the tractor himself, but asked others to pay for him. He was so unreasonable.” “Exactly. The person who borrowed the pickup should pay part of the expense. The owner isn’t obliged to pay the full amount.” Mutely, Xiaohu bent his head. Three days later, he left the hospital.

That experience allowed me to see Satan’s evil and baseness. It took advantage of people, events, and things to interfere with me, and attempted to make me complain about God and live in suffering and sorrow due the loss of money. Finally, I also saw God’s authority of mobilizing and ruling over all things when I was willing to rely on Him and stand on His side by faith. Just as the word of God says, “I will maneuver all things to serve Me. Even more I am to manifest My great power, for everyone to see that in the entire universe nothing is not in our hand, no man is not serving us, and no matter is not accomplished for our sake” (“The One Hundred and Nineteenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The more I read God’s words, the more confidence I had in God. I only wished to experience God’s work more and overcome Satan’s temptation by relying on God in future environments.

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