Cease of Divorce Crisis

Luxi    Japan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Letters I

Letters I

Su Xing

One day in 1999, my pastor said to me after a gathering, “Su Xing, here is a letter for you.” I took a look and found it was from a church that I established in Shandong Province. On my way home with that letter, I thought to myself: The letter is thick. Are they facing some difficulties?

After I went home, I could not wait to open the letter.It read, “Sister Su, peace to you in the Lord! We’re writing to tell you a piece of fantastic news: Our Savior Jesus, for whom we’ve been yearning night and day, has returned! He has returned to flesh in China and done a stage of work to purify man with the word, bringing an end to the Age of Grace and ushering in the Age of Kingdom…. We hope that you can accept God’s new work, follow His footprints, and never miss the opportunity for God to save you….” Seeing this, I thought: It’s over. So they didn’t encounter any problem, but accepted the Eastern Lightning. I was eager to know who on earth wrote it. When I turned to the last page, however, I found that all the brothers and sisters of this church had signed their names, though it was written by Brother Meng alone. I was left dumbfounded. They were so far away, and I could not go there for the moment. What should I do? In tears, I prayed to the Lord, “Oh Lord! These brothers and sisters have believed in You for a short time. They have not taken root. May you keep them….”

Then, I wrote the first rebuttal letter after studying the Bible. I wrote, “Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ I exhort you to be cautious and prudent. Paul said, ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel to you than that you have received, let him be accursed’ (Galatians 1:6-9). Brothers and sisters, I took painstaking efforts to bring you before the Lord, yet you actually betrayed Him so quickly. Your statures are too small. You cannot easily believe others! You must listen to me, for what I preached to you is the true way. The Lord Jesus Christ is our only Savior, so you must hold on to His name forever….” After I finished the letter of eight pages, I felt grounded, thinking: I’ve written all I should write, studied all the verses I should study, and exhorted all I should exhort. I’m sure that they will realize they’ve taken the wrong way after reading the letter, and apologize to me in their reply. Then I mailed the letter with full confidence.

Half a month later, I got the reply. The brothers and sisters said, “… Sister Su, we cannot keep silent about what we see and what we hear, for what we believe in is exactly the return of the Lord Jesus, we are holding to the true path and going forward, and we have kept up with the Lord’s footsteps instead of betraying Him. ‘I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ’ (Galatians 1:6-7). These are Paul’s words, which have a background. The ‘another gospel’ in Paul’s words refers to the Pharisees asking man to keep Jehovah’s laws at that time, not the work of judgment beginning at God’s house done in the last days when the Lord Jesus returns to flesh. Today, the Lord coming to do this stage of work just fulfills the prophecy in the Book of Revelation, ‘And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come …’ (Revelation 14:6-7). ‘The everlasting gospel’ in Revelation refers to the work of judgment beginning with the house of God done by the second coming of the Lord Jesus. When Paul wrote that letter to the Galatian churches, there was not the Book of Revelation, let alone people who preached the kingdom gospel of God. Therefore, the ‘another gospel’ mentioned by Paul cannot possibly refer to the work of judgment beginning at God’s house that the Lord comes to do in the last days. The salvation in the last days not only fulfills the prophecy in Revelation, but has already been revealed to the Lord Jesus’ disciples by the Holy Spirit. Just as Peter said, ‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:5). Sister Su, are we not longing for the Lord’s return as we believe in the Lord? Now the Lord has really come back. We should be the ones who seek humbly, and never be like the Pharisees who measured God’s new work with their biblical knowledge, defined God’s work by their notions and imaginations, and at last nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross, being cursed by God. Does the lesson of the Pharisees not deserve our reflection? Moreover, Sister Su, we cannot listen to you just because you preached the gospel to us, for what we believe in is God. Peter and the other apostles once said, ‘… We ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29). Sister Su, if we listen to you rather than God, do you think it is reasonable? You may think it over since you have believed in the Lord for so many years….”

I was rendered speechless by those words, but not won over. I hurried to take out the Reference Bible and turned to the introduction to the Book of Galatians. After reading it carefully, I was surprised, thinking: What they said is true! Why did I never notice that this verse had such a background? No wonder they were not convinced. On second thought, however, even if that was really the case, it could not prove that their preaching about the Lord’s return was true. I then read the letter through once again, getting more and more angry. I thought: You have known much more biblical verses in such a short period. That really surprises me. How dare you talk back to me with such severe words, and even say I am like the Pharisees? I hate most the Pharisees. I’ve believed in the Lord for so many years, working hard and laboring night and day for the believers. Don’t you know that? The more I thought about it, the more awful I felt. I thought to myself: No. How can I be taken down by these new believers? I’ve read the Bible so many times, and I refuse to believe that I’m unable to refute you.

So, I lifted my pen and wrote the second letter, saying, “Brothers and sisters, peace to you in the Lord! I feel so uncomfortable seeing your reply. I was not to have you listen to me, nor believe in me. You just have no understanding of my heart. I’m afraid that you have no discernment and thus turn away from the way of the Lord Jesus. For the Lord Jesus said, ‘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). Paul also said, ‘Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means …’ (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). Dear brothers and sisters, I beseech you in the name of the Lord Jesus: There will be terrible times in the last days. We should memorize the Lord’s words. Do not believe any news preaching the Lord’s coming. Now various sects are springing up, so you should be very vigilant to avoid taking the wrong path and offending the Lord.”

Half a month later, they replied to me again, saying, “Sister Su, the verses you found for us are not wrong, but we should be clear about the true meaning of those words of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus told us clearly: When He comes in the last days, there shall arise false Christs who perform signs and wonders to deceive man. He urged us to have discernment, but He did not say that any news preaching His coming would be false. In terms of how to distinguish the true Christ from false Christs, we copy a passage of Almighty God’s words for you, hoping that you can read it carefully. Almighty God says, ‘If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, and can cast out demons, and heal, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are the coming of Jesus, then this would be the counterfeit of evil spirits, and their imitation of Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work’ (“Knowing God’s Work Today” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words have made it very clear that God’s work is always new and never old without any repetition, while false Christs possessed by evil spirits can only imitate the work of the Lord Jesus, such as healing and casting out demons, displaying signs and wonders. Nonetheless, however evil spirits falsely pretend, they cannot do the work of God Himself for their absence of God’s substance. Furthermore, we should not blindly deny the Lord’s return just because of the appearance of false Christs in the last days….”

Seeing those words from Almighty God they quoted, I just had no mind to read carefully or ponder, for what I cared about was whether they could turn to the Lord after seeing the verses I found for them. We went back and forth to debate, but I did not manage to persuade them; instead, they refuted me through and through. I immediately prayed to the Lord, and then laid the Bible and all spiritual books on my bed, flipping unceasingly with a view to finding evidence that could take them down. At that moment, the room was silent except for the sound of pages turning.

Unknowingly, it was night. I was tired out and sighed deeply: It does take a lot to reply to them. Then I picked up my pen and wrote the third letter to them, “Brother and sisters, having read your letter, I think you are no longer the original lovely lambs. You not only deviated from the Lord’s way, but even refused to listen to me and refuted me like that. I think what you have done has hurt the Lord’s heart. I’m grieved, too. May the Lord Jesus move you, so that you can turn around soon by perusing this letter. Amen!”

Another half month passed. I got their reply. To my disappointment, they did not turn around after my exhortation out of love, but responded in a severer tone, “Sister Su, it is true that you preached the gospel to us. We also remember how you have suffered for the Lord. However, we even more give our thanks to the Lord, for it was God who found us, the lost lambs, through you. We believe that you are only a servant in charge of watching over the flock, while the Lord Jesus is our real shepherd. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. … My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ (John 10:14-16, 27-28). God entrusts His sheep to every one who works for Him, and their duty is only to keep watch on the flock. When God comes, they are supposed to return the flock to God. Sister Su, we all know the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in the Bible, which was given by the Lord Jesus. In order to seize on the inheritance of the householder, those wicked farmers beat the servants who went to receive the fruits, and even killed the son of the householder when he was sent to them. What would the householder do to those farmers when he returned? We can absolutely not act as the wicked servants. Now God has come back, so we should give His sheep to Him. This is the sense we ought to have. You should ponder it through….”

This letter left me astounded indeed. I thought: How come they’ve understood so much in such a short time? It’s been just two years since I established this church in Shandong Province. When I left the church, they were still at the infant stage. I didn’t expect that a few months after their acceptance of the Eastern Lightning, their speech would become so forceful, nor that the biblical verses they found to refute me could be so appropriate that I just had no words to counter. At this point, I felt particularly disappointed, with a sense that these brothers and sisters were steadfast in following the Eastern Lightning. They seemed to have written me off since they did not turn around despite my exhortation out of love. I realized I was unable to have them turn back. Feeling weak and limp all over, I wrote the fourth letter in helplessness, “Have it your own way. The Bible says that what is of God will increase while what is of man will decrease, which has been acknowledged throughout the ages…. Do not write to me anymore. May you hold on to your faith and love in Jesus Christ.”

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A Lost Man Has Returned

A Lost Man Has Returned

Xieli    United States

In order to live a life of the greatest of the great, I came to U.S. to make my way. Although I suffered a lot over years, gradually I started up a company and possessed a car and a house, living an ideal “happy” life. Meanwhile, I made some friends. In the leisure time, we ate and drank and had fun together and we got along with each other well. I thought I had a group of buddies and close friends but it turned out that they were all fair-weather friends. They were unctuously, either adulating me or flattering me, without an honest word. In sorrow and distress, I even couldn’t find one to whom I could confide. Not only that, they sought every means to plot against me and cheat me out of my money. A friend swindled the money out of me by telling a lie that his mother in Mainland China was seriously ill and then vanished without a trace. A man who was from the same region with me falsely claiming to have an investment project tricked me out of my money. Even my intimate girlfriend also betrayed me and cheated me out of my hard-earned money which took me years to save up. The fickleness of the world made me disheartened and lose the faith in life, with empty, distressed and helpless feeling. Afterward, I often ate and drank and pursued pleasure to fill the emptiness in my heart. But the temporary comfort couldn’t solve my spiritual suffering.

In autumn of 2015, I met my wife by chance who had accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days. So, she began to preach the kingdom gospel to me. I said to her, “I’m too busy to believe in God. If you’re willing to believe, just do it. It’s enough for me to believe that there’s a God in my heart.” I held such a view until one day half a year later when my wife asked me to watch the video of the Church of Almighty God The Days of Noah Have Come with her. The pictures in the video shocked me. I saw that man is very small before the disaster and that the fleshly enjoyments and fame and position man pursues are worthless and are empty in the end. In this video, I saw Almighty God’s words, “However, I must tell you that in the time of Noah, men had been eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage to such a point that it was unbearable for God to witness, so He sent down a great flood to destroy mankind and left behind only Noah’s family of eight and all kinds of birds and beasts. In the last days, however, those kept by God are all those who have been loyal to Him until the end” (“Do You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Then look upon the present age: Such righteous men as Noah, who could worship God and shun evil, have ceased to exist. Yet God is still gracious toward this mankind, and absolves mankind during this final era. God seeks those who long for Him to appear. He seeks those who are able to hear His words, those who have not forgotten His commission and offer up their heart and body to Him. He seeks those who are as obedient as babes before Him, and do not resist Him” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I felt God’s urgent desire to save mankind in God’s words. I thought about the present age. No one loves positive things and thirsts for God’s coming. Man brims with selfishness, arrogance, deception and so on; man schemes against and outwits each other for fame and gain, desires lust and violates morals and ethics…. They are indeed more corrupt than people in Noah’s days. But God doesn’t destroy man directly because of their evil and corruption yet send down various disasters to warn them and gives them the opportunities to turn to Him. Actually, God is so tolerant and kind. I pondered God’s words and thought of the fact that the world is becoming more and more corrupt and evil and disasters are getting greater and greater. When God hurls forth His rage upon this evil mankind, position and money can’t save me. Only if I come before God will I be saved. Thinking of that, I seemed to wake up from the dream. If I lose the opportunity to be saved by God for the temporary fleshly enjoyments, won’t it be a pity? So, in May of 2016, I started to believe in Almighty God and attend meetings.

Not long after I believed in God, I happened to see the online rumors. Those words condemning and blaspheming Almighty God shocked me all at once: asking man to offer money, not observing the boundaries between men and women, etc.. As those words appeared to be precise, I couldn’t discern fact and fiction and fell into puzzlement and confusion. The enthusiasm to believe in God well was dampened by the rumors at once. At that time, I accidentally heard my mother-in-law telling my wife that she would offer money on the phone, which made me believe in the online rumors. Later, I tried to stop my mother-in-law from offering money, lest she be deceived. At the same time, I exhorted my wife not to continue her belief, for fear that she would be cheated. But, she didn’t listen to me but said to me firmly, “The fact is not as the rumors say. What you saw on the internet are rumors and false testimonies. …” She fellowshiped with me about God’s words but I couldn’t hear anything she said. Later, brothers and sisters came to my home but I wasn’t inclined to conversation with them. Those days, I lived in darkness and was on edge, fearing that my wife and her mother would be cheated, not eating well or sleeping soundly. One day, at the sight of my distress, my wife fellowshiped with me about God’s words again. She showed me some of Almighty God’s words, “What I desire is not man’s conceptions and thoughts, much less your money and belongings, but your heart. Do you understand? This is My will, and even more what I set out to gain” (“The Sixty-first Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Immediately after that, she made me read some words in the Management Principles for the Church Life, “The Church doesn’t allow anyone to call on believers to give offerings by a special sermon about offerings or by any other reasons” (The Principles to Establish the Church and the Management Principles for the Church Life in Annals of the Fellowship and Arrangements of the Work of the Church (I)). She continued, “Believers in the Church all practice strictly according to the principles. Since I followed Almighty God, the Church has never required us to offer money. Not only that, the Church even delivers a variety of books and CDs to every true believer in God for free. Today, my mother wants to aid those brothers and sisters in difficulty with some money. It’s out of her willingness and no one forced her. Moreover, helping people in need is a good deed. Is there anything to be criticized?”

Almighty God’s words and my wife’s fellowship made me suddenly think of the fellowship given by a sister: The Church of Almighty God doesn’t accept the offerings of the new believers. Whoever attempts to give offerings must pray for several times to make sure that it is truly voluntary and he will never regret it. Only those believers are allowed to offer money. The Church will absolutely not accept the unwilling offerings. Thinking of that, my heart was relieved somewhat, but my doubt hadn’t been fully dispelled. As I frowned, my wife knew what I thought and said, “Don’t believe in those rumors. In order to disturb and destroy God’s work of saving man, Satan can speak any kind of lies and give any kind of false testimonies…. God is a holy God and He loathes man’s evil most. Those with bad reputation and those not observing boundaries between men and women in the world will not be admitted into the Church. If believers commit adultery to shame God’s name, they will be cast into hell. God’s words have made it plain.” Then, she opened the book of God’s word and read those words, “Because of the pealing of seven thunders, many people kneel down to beg for mercy and forgiveness. However, it is not the Age of Grace but the time of wrath. I will not spare or forgive anyone who does evil (one committing adultery, one being not clean in money, one not keeping boundaries between men and women, one disrupting and destroying My management, one not understanding the spirit, one being occupied by an evil spirit, etc. other than God’s chosen people). I will cast them all into Hades and they will perish forever” (“The Ninety-fourth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words with majesty and wrath awed me. I felt that God’s righteous, holy disposition which does not allow man’s offense and that God extremely hates those who commit adultery. At that point, some of my misgivings were removed naturally. Then, my wife fellowshiped, “In the Age of Law, God revealed His majestic and wrathful disposition to man. If man committed adultery at that time, they would be stoned to death. As God intends to destroy and end this evil and licentious age in the last days, He reveals His righteous and holy disposition to man and all the filth and evil will be burnt by His wrath. Before God sends down disasters to destroy this age, He uses His word to show His intention, what kind of people He likes, what kind of people He loathes, what kind of people will be destroyed, and what kind of people will remain. Today, God calls those who can be saved into His family and uses His word to judge and purify them. Meanwhile, in light of man’s corrupt disposition, He issues the administrative decrees for them to cling to. As for two members of the opposite sex working together, there’s a strict regulation in the administrative decrees.” Then, she opened the book of God’s word and read, “Man has corrupt disposition and, moreover, he is possessed of emotions. As such, it is absolutely prohibited for two members of the opposite sex to work together when serving God. Any who are discovered doing so will be expelled, without exception—and no one is exempt” (“The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After my wife finished those words, I thought of the matter happened one day in the spring of 2016. It was before my formal investigation on Almighty God’s work in the last days. I drove to another state with my wife and a sister. On the midway, my wife got off the car due to something and the sister followed her off the car. At that time, the wind was blowing and it was freezing cold. The sister stood outside the car, stomping constantly to warm herself. I asked her to get into the car but she said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter. I want to stand outside for a while.” A long time later, my wife came back and only then did the sister get into the car with her. Seeing her shiver with cold, my wife said, “It’s so cold outside. Why did you not stay in the car?” She answered, “There’s an administrative decree in our Church that two members of the opposite sex are prohibited to work together. This is God’s requirement for all His chosen people. We should observe it strictly.” Her words deeply moved me, with the feeling that this group of people were different from worldly people. Thinking of that, I couldn’t help but pat my head. In retrospect, since I engaged with the brothers and sisters in the Church of Almighty God, I had seen that they kept boundaries between men and women, spoke in a dignified and decent way, and dealt with people with a strong sense of propriety. Those rumors betray themselves before the fact. At that moment, I felt ashamed. Actually, the online rumors were all fabricated slanders and blasphemies which were careless and out of nothing. But I even harbored doubts about Almighty God and His Church on account of them. I believed in them blindly and listened to hearsay. I was really muddle-headed! My wife continued her fellowship, “This is God’s protection to man that He issued such an administrative decree. As God knows that mankind is corrupted by Satan too deeply and has no ability to overcome sins, He uses it to constrain man and makes them avoid many temptations. This is God’s love.” I nodded involuntarily. In that way, the shackles in my heart were opened and I was released from doubt, distress and depression.

So, I started to attend meetings again. When I think about this experience, I have palpitations. These rumors are really harmful. Once man is swayed by them, they will be in distress and darkness. What makes me feel very puzzled about is that: Why are these rumors on the Church of Almighty God put on the website since it is so good? Thus, in a meeting, I opened my heart to my brothers and sisters and told them my thought to seek the truth. They had me watch the gospel movie shot by the Church Break Through the Snare. It resolved all my doubts. What’s more, I had a clearer understanding after the fellowship by my brothers and sisters. It’s Satan’s constant ploy to use rumors to disturb and destroy God’s work. When the Lord Jesus worked, to control God’s people forever, the Jewish religious leaders—the chief priests, scribes and Pharisees crafted many rumors about the Lord Jesus. They blasphemed and framed the Lord Jesus, by saying that He drove out demons by the prince of the devils and that He perverted the nation and forbade to give tribute to Caesar. They gave a false testimony that His body was stolen by His disciples and He was not resurrected, and so on. If there had been the internet, I think those religious leaders would upload the rumors and false testimonies about the Lord Jesus to the internet to judge, attack, condemn and blaspheme Him. Rumor is the great hindrance to man’s acceptance of the true way. Deceived by the rumors, the Israelites didn’t acknowledge that the Lord Jesus is Messiah and thus lost God’s salvation. Today, in the Age of Kingdom, Almighty God comes to do the work of judging and purifying man with the word. The Chinese government and the religious pastors and elders acted as Satan’s tools. For the purpose of caging and controlling man, they unrestrainedly created rumors and gave false testimonies on the Church of Almighty God to smear it. Satan is too evil and contemptible!

Following that, my brothers and sisters read God’s words for me, “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” (“The Tenth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Satan is constantly devouring the knowledge that men hold of Me in their hearts, and constantly, with teeth bared and claws unsheathed, engaged in the last throes of its death struggle. Do you wish to be captured by its deceitful stratagems at this moment? Do you wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to cut off your own life?” (“The Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words tell us the truth of the spiritual war. It turns out that these rumors are Satan’s schemes to devour man. If man believes in those rumors, they will eventually lose the opportunity to be saved by God and will perish and be destroyed with Satan. Thank God for His leadership. The Church’s gospel movie and my brothers and sisters’ fellowship and help caused me to see Satan’s evilness and contemptibleness more clearly. Then, I was enlightened and was at ease within. I set up my mind to follow Almighty God and walk the way to salvation. After following Almighty God, I get the true freedom and release. As I experience more, I see that there’s plenty of love and help among brothers and sisters, and that everyone pursues to be an honest person according to Almighty God’s requirements and doesn’t need to worry or fear that they will be fixed, cheated, and harmed. I have felt the true happiness in the Church of Almighty God, which is the life I have always desired.

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