Mar 27, 2018
Seeing the angry and ashamed way they left, I thought to myself: The words expressed by Almighty God are all the truth, but you still don’t investigate or accept them, and still block us from accepting them, aren’t you just the blind leading the blind that the Lord Jesus talked about? I was reminded of the Lord Jesus’ words: “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” (Mat 23:13). The word of Almighty God also says: “Look at the leaders of every denomination and sect. They are all arrogant and self-right, and they interpret the Bible out of context and according to their own imagination. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they were incapable of preaching anything, would those people follow them? They do, after all, possess some learning, and can speak a little of doctrine, or know how to win over others and how to use some artifices, through which they have brought people before themselves and have deceived them. Nominally, those people believe in God—but in reality they follow their leaders” (“Only the Pursuit of the Truth Is the True Belief” in Records of Christ’s Talks). The pastors and elders repeat over and over that they look forward to the return of the Lord Jesus, but when the Lord really has come back, they don’t seek the truth and don’t investigate it. They even distort the facts and deliberately misrepresent the truth in making accusations against the new work of God. This goes as far as to prevent believers from accepting it. They nominally believe in God, and all day they work at preaching, but in reality they are resisting God. This kind of fact that God has exhibited today has made me able to see their true faces, and to see that their substance is the same as that of the Pharisees who at the time made accusations against the Lord Jesus, and that they are all antichrists who hate the truth and make God their enemy. It is the word of Almighty God that allows me to always discriminate and never again to be deceived by the pastors and elders. If I hadn’t read the word of Almighty God, I might be just like my mother-in-law, blindly resisting God alongside them and making accusations against God’s work in the last days. Thinking of this, I thank Almighty God from my heart for saving and taking pity on me. It was God who gave me more courage and wisdom and allowed me to use the word of Almighty God to fight back against their fallacies and heresies. Later, they came back several times, but I already had distinguished who they were, and I wasn’t disturbed by them at all. Every time, I would use the words of Almighty God to refute their fallacies. They saw that I was fixed in my intention to believe in Almighty God, and they failed to disturb me, so they stopped coming.
But Satan had not stopped besieging me, and my mother-in-law was all along forbidding me from believing in Almighty God, and indeed her resistance became more and more serious. She kept a close eye on me every day, and when I just went out for a while, she would call to see where I was. Every day I lived under the gaze of my mother-in-law, my spirit was stretched taut, and I felt especially under pressure and in pain.
One time, I had just returned home from spreading the gospel, and my mother-in-law came to block me. She cried and attacked me, and wouldn’t let me believe in Almighty God. When she saw I wasn’t listening to her, she wept with one hand on her knee and hit herself in the breast with the other hand, and said to me: “Why don’t you listen to me? Just let me stop worrying!” Seeing my mother-in-law weeping, I felt a wave of pain come over my heart, and unwittingly had a moment of weakness. I suddenly became aware that my state was wrong, and quickly came into the presence of God to pray: “God! I ask of You to preserve my heart from straying from You. I had a moment of weakness because of my mother-in-law disturbing me, and I want God to help me, to open up the way for me. I want to stand witness for God’s sake in these circumstances.” When the time came for a gathering, I told the sisters about my own difficulties. The sisters read to me some passages from the word of God: “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). “You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me; do not be obstructed by anything, so that My will can be carried out. … Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block the road? Remember this! Remember!” “You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for the sake of Me, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart” (“The Tenth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). After finishing reading the word of God, the sisters fellowshiped to me, saying: As for the things that we are faced with today, when you look at them on the outside, it might seem that it is our family compelling us, but it’s actually a battle in the spiritual realm. God comes to save us, but Satan thinks up every possible way to block us from coming into the presence of God. It uses people, events, and objects around us to harass us, or uses our weaknesses (like our emotions and reputation) to control us. It makes our spirits sink down, and the goal of Satan in disturbing us like this is to make us grow distant from and betray God, and to lose the salvation of God in the last days. So if we want to see through Satan’s schemes, we must see things on the basis of God’s word, and come ever more often to pray in the presence of God. We must ask God to lead us to stand witness, and make Satan be ashamed…. Hearing what the sisters fellowshiped, I pondered God’s word, and felt as if God was speaking to me face to face. God’s word comforted me, and gave me more faith and strength. No longer would I suffer the control of the dark influence of Satan. I had the faith to stand witness to God. At that time, I thought again of Job when he was being tested. He would rather curse the day of his birth without complaining to and abandoning God in order to stand witness to God. Finally, God appeared to Job and granted him great blessing. The things we are faced with today are allowed by God, and are all the arrangements and sovereignty of God. Through these things, God allows us to always discriminate, and at the same time to inspect our faith in God. Even more than that, it is to purify our love. Understanding God’s will, I wouldn’t ever be negative or complain to God again. I wanted to stand up and cooperate with God, and even if my pain increased I would stand witness to God and comfort God’s heart. When I thought this, my heart no longer felt any pressure or anguish, but instead felt that I had a limitless share of energy.
Not long after that, I was faced again with Satan’s temptations. By relying on God’s word I stood witness, and in fact saw the miraculous ways in which God works. One day, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law came and said to me: “You have misplaced your faith, and have moved away from the name of the Lord Jesus. …” At that time, I was at peace in the presence of God, and cried out to God to preserve my heart and thought of God’s word: “From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover the entire breadth of God’s management, and are all the work of one Spirit. From when He created the world, God has always been managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are surely carried out by one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages oppose God. Now, you must understand that all the work from the first stage until today is the work of one God, the work of one Spirit, of which there is no doubt” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Afterward, I said serenely: “I have not misplaced my faith, nor did I betray the Lord. Almighty God I believe in today is the one true God who created heaven, earth, and everything therein, and is the returned Lord Jesus. Almighty God has laid bare the mysteries of the six-thousand-year management plan, and has told us that God’s work of saving mankind is in three stages. The content, means, and place of each stage of work are different, and God’s name is not the same in each one, but God’s substance does not change and is still God Himself. God’s name has changed, and that depends on the needs of God’s work. God uses His name to change the age, uses a name to divide the ages, and the name of every age represents an age. But the three stages of work are all done by one and the same God, and this is certain and without doubt.” As soon as my words had been spoken, my mother-in-law pulled a long face and threatened me, saying: “If you really want to believe in Almighty God, then there’s no way we can accept you. Figure it out yourself!” I wasn’t afraid at all, because I believed that everything was being ruled and orchestrated by God’s hands. Very calmly, I said, “Mom, Mary, all these years you’ve known what kind of person I am, and since I married into your family, I’ve done my duty all along. Now, because I believe in Almighty God and walk on the right path, there’s no way you’ll accept me. So I have nothing to say, because I can look into my heart without shame. Mom, don’t call me to stop me from believing in Almighty God anymore, and don’t call the pastor and preacher to come to my house. There is freedom of belief in America, so you have no right to stop me from believing in God. One more thing, no matter whether you let me believe or not, I am determined to be with Almighty God, and this is something that will never change.” I never thought that when I was standing witness to God, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law wouldn’t cut themselves off from me. It was as if they had forgotten that I believed in Almighty God, and they never tried to stop me again. My life went back to being at peace like it had been before. Almighty God’s word says: “The heart and spirit of man are held in the hand of God, and all the life of man is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From this practical experience, I knew even more that Almighty God is the one true God. Man’s heart and spirit are all within the control and sovereignty of Almighty God. My faith in God was even greater.
After experiencing these things, I learned from practical experience the authority and power of Almighty God, and I saw God’s almightiness and wisdom as well as His miraculous deeds. Although many things that befall us do not conform to our notions, they are all permitted by God, and God’s beautiful intention is in them. When the temptations of Satan that are permitted by God befall me, they cause me to discriminate Satan’s sinister motives and ugly appearance. They have perfected my faith and loyalty. I have seen that as long as I rely on God’s word in what I do, want to satisfy God’s requirements, and do not follow fleshly emotions in my action, then God will open up the way for me and lead me triumph over Satan’s temptations to stand witness to God. In the course of this, although I have been faced with many difficulties and suffered many hardships, and have also at times been negative and weak, I still see that God is a helper for people at all times. What God finally grants people is knowledge of the truth and of God, and tranquility, joy, steadfastness, and sweetness of spirit. Such gain, enjoyment, happiness, and blessing cannot be expressed in words.
Thanks and praise be to Almighty God! It is God’s word that has led me step by step to triumph over Satan’s temptations, and in fact I have triumphed over them. I have established my will: My motive is to repay God’s love, to spread the gospel and bear witness to God, and to let those people who live like me under the dark influence of Satan all be able as early as possible to catch up with Almighty God’s work in the last days and to obtain the work and leading of the Holy Spirit, and to be like me, and face to face to enjoy the living water of life that God supplies and to obtain true blessing and happiness.
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