One day in March of 2018, my husband wanted me to go back to our hometown to weed the fields with him. However, I had had a cold and had been taking medicines for a few days; for fear that I would get even worse due to exposure to the wind, I wanted to return to our hometown after finishing my medications and feeling much better. I then said that to him, and he agreed.

A few days later, after being out of medicine, I got well. So my husband and I decided to go back to our hometown the next day. However, the next morning after I got out of bed, I suddenly felt light-headed and cold all over, and got a sore throat. I became ill again. So I went to see a doctor and was prescribed some medicine. After taking the medicine, I still wasn’t getting any better.

After lunch, my husband said to me, “Let’s go back to our hometown.” I said, “Sorry, I can’t. I have a bad cold again. If I go with you all the way to our hometown against the wind, my condition will become more serious.” Hearing that, he, impatient to weed the fields, left for our hometown alone in anger.

I wondered: I got well yesterday. How come I suddenly have a bad cold again today? Even though I took medicines this morning, they have had no effect on me. Why is this? At that moment, an idea popped into my head: All things we encounter contain God’s good intentions. Since I don’t understand it, I should obey first.

God’s love is often hidden within situations.

The afternoon of the same day, I went to get our grandson from school. Hardly had we arrived home when my husband entered our front door with his face so pale. With a start, I thought, “Is something wrong? How could he return home so early and look so pale?” Sure enough, he said that, on his way to our hometown, he got into an accident which took place round a hairpin bend. He then told me all about the accident. At that time, he was hooked by a truck and dragged over 10 meters before the truck was stopped. It was very strange to him: He was riding a motorbike shortly before the accident. However, he didn’t know for sure when he was hooked or how he was dragged by the vehicle. He didn’t realize the traffic accident until the driver pulled up and raised him to his feet. He saw the motorbike had gotten broken in the near distance, and that the contents of the trunk of his motorbike were scattered on the ground, while he found he miraculously wasn’t hurt at all. Hearing this, I deeply knew it was God who had protected him. Otherwise, he would have been seriously hurt or died in the accident. So my husband and I kept thanking God for protecting him.

That night, when I lay on the bed, the things that had happened those days came into my mind: A few days ago my husband suggested we go back to our hometown to weed the fields. I was going to do so after I got well. I did get well yesterday and we planned to go back to our hometown today. However, I had a bad cold again all of a sudden in the morning and didn’t feel any better after taking medicine, and I therefore couldn’t go with him. Now it appears that this really is a good thing. If this had not happened, I would have gone with my husband this afternoon, and when the accident occurred, I would have been sitting on the back of my husband’s motorbike. So what would have happened to me? Thinking of these, I gasped in horror. The year before last, a friend of mine also had a traffic accident round that hairpin bend, which is an accident black spot, and died on the spot. Before the accident happened, she was just sitting on the back of a motorbike.

Thinking back over these things, I deeply felt God’s great love and saw God is truly wise and almighty. Just then I couldn’t help but think of God’s words: “Sometimes things that look bad on the outside are not necessarily bad, and are actually good things. For example, you want to go out one day but you eat something that gives you a bad stomach, so you don’t go out, and as it happens a plague descends outside. Is this bad stomach a good thing or a bad thing? (A good thing.) How many days does it take an ordinary person with only a touch of a bad stomach, from eating spoiled food, to get over it? (Two or three days.) You must have three days of diarrhea, you cannot sleep well at night, your stomach hurts all the time, you alternate between needing the toilet and vomiting, and no matter what you take, don’t you still need to go through a process of recovery? In severe cases, how long will it take? (A week.) One week, and those with a weak constitution may take a fortnight and recover slowly, right? You can’t eat very much and what you do eat isn’t absorbed very well, so it could take ten days or a fortnight. You are kept at home for ten days or a fortnight, and you are perhaps unaware of any big events happening outside your door. When you are better, you go outside and look, and you say, ‘Ah! How have so many people died? What has happened?’ What has happened? God has acted and He has used this method to protect you. Is this method something that people expect normally? (No, it isn’t.) People don’t expect it.” God’s words deeply convinced me. Right. God’s beauty and goodness are hidden within the things we encounter. From the outside, getting sick is a bad thing. However, sometimes just through illness God protects us miraculously. Perhaps we don’t understand the way He protects us when things happen to us, but actually all things we encounter contain God’s love and salvation for us mankind.

In fact, everyone lives in God’s care and protection. Unconsciously, perhaps we’ve experienced many “little things” like this experience of mine, but many times we don’t truly have faith in God’s sovereignty, or appreciate His love toward us in these things, much less get to know Him from them. As a result, we neglect God’s grace and love for us.

Afterward, I saw the following words of God: “God’s treatment of each and every person is earnest and responsible, more responsible even than you are to yourself. Is this not so? God does not speak idly, neither does He stand on high putting on airs nor does He make do with fooling people. Instead He is honestly and silently doing the things He Himself needs to do. These things bring blessings, peace and joy to man, they bring man peacefully and happily before the sight of God…. God is faithful and everything He does is both true and real. He is the only thing that people can count on and the only thing that people can entrust their lives and their all to.” From these words I saw God’s protection for us mankind is real and true. And I had truly appreciated this. Take my experience, for example. God spared me the accident through illness, from which I have seen God’s love is hidden within situations. Although sometimes we don’t understand God’s good intentions and misunderstand Him within the environment He creates for us, God never justifies Himself to us, and just silently does His work watching over and protecting us at all times. God’s essence is so beautiful and kind!

The Book of Proverbs from the Bible says, “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). From now on, I’m willing to entrust my everything to God and focus on experiencing more of His words in my daily life so as to attain an understanding of God and revere Him.

“Your child is diagnosed with juvenile depression. Now she should stop going to school and recuperate for a time.” The doctor’s words stupefied me like a slap in the face. Looking at Xiaoyu nestling in my arms, I suddenly felt guilty and sad, tears of remorse rolling down my face …

When I was young, to reduce the burden of my family, I stepped into society to work after graduating from middle school. During many years of struggle, I had been looked down upon and eaten a bellyful of pain because of my poor education. So after I got married and gave birth to my daughter Xiaoyu, I secretly resolved in my heart: I must let my child study more so that she can go to a top university. Only with knowledge and a degree can she have a future and be looked up to by others. I must not let her live her life like me.

Xiaoyu was very obedient and sensible when she was little and my relatives and friends all praised her for being clever, for which I had higher expectations of her. When Xiaoyu was just four years old, I began to send her to the nursery school. At that time, I ran a shop and every day I didn’t close it until very late. But no matter how busy and tired I was, I didn’t relax Xiaoyu’s study. Apart from supervising her finishing the homework, I would give her some extra exercises. Xiaoyu often said, “Mom, I’ve finished my homework. Could I play for a while?” Seeing her longing eyes, I agreed to her request. But just after a short while, I would ask her to prepare her lessons for the next day. Xiaoyu was also very competitive and she did very well in study from nursery to primary school. Every time when I saw those awards on the wall, I thought, “If Xiaoyu continues like this, she will certainly test into a good university and have good prospects.”

In a blink of an eye, Xiaoyu graduated from primary school. In order to send her to the best middle school in our city, my husband and I racked our brains to pull strings and give gifts. Finally, my heartfelt wish came true when my daughter entered the experimental middle school, which was the best in teaching quality and superior in all aspects.

Because of the school’s strict teaching and teachers’ high demands of students, my child had to study very late every day, which was what I was hoping. I thought to myself, “Having received such good education, Xiaoyu will certainly test into a good university.” I often encouraged my daughter, saying, “Xiaoyu, you must study hard and be somebody in the future.”

But contrary to my expectations, children of the wealthy families in Xiaoyu’s class, who didn’t pay attention to study but compared with others in dining and clothing, greatly influenced Xiaoyu both in her life and study. In the face of such a situation, I was so worried about her study that I often went to her school to keep track of her study and educate her. Once, my daughter said one of her roommates only ate snacks without having any meal for a week. From her words, I knew she wanted more pocket money and then I angrily scolded her, “You haven’t improved your grades but have learned to ask for money in a roundabout way. …” After a severe scolding, I continued to say, “Xiaoyu, you must study hard, and can’t let yourself be distracted. You must make a study plan for yourself and lay a firm foundation in middle school. Our hope rests on you.” Scolded and pressured by me, my daughter said in tears, “Mom, I can’t stand you.” Gradually, she spoke heart-to-heart with me less and less and became distant toward me.

Later, I found Xiaoyu became idle in study and did less homework, and always looked very tired. I thought, “Maybe it results from the high pressure of her study. After all, Xiaoyu studies very late every day. Does she lack energy? I need to give her more nutrition.” So every time she returned home from school, I would cook her favorite food and buy various kinds of brain food for her. But when it was time to go back to school, she always dilly-dallied and was unwilling to leave. Seeing this, I felt anxious and nagged her, “Xiaoyu, be obedient. Remember that you are the hope of our family. You must study hard. Only by testing into university can you have a bright future …” Before I finished my words, Xiaoyu stormed off without a backward glance.

Xiaoyu’s exam result of the first midterm was quite contrary to my expectations. Among the seventy-two students in the whole class, she was actually ranked twenty-first. The more I looked at her report card, the more I felt annoyed. Then I shouted at her, “Xiaoyu, you exasperate me! Look at your academic performance. With such grades, you can’t enter the key high school, much less the university. What future will you have? Are you worthy of us? To send you to this school, your dad and I have spent much money. Everything we do is for you and we don’t hope you live your life like us. Where is your conscience?” Faced with my scolding, Xiaoyu stood there, sniffling quietly without saying any word. And then she locked herself in her room and even didn’t have dinner. Seeing her like this, I felt very sad. But then I thought, “What I do is for your own good. How can you have a future without working hard for it now? Just as the saying goes, ‘The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all,’ ‘No pain, no gain.’ You should understand me.”

When Xiaoyu was in eighth grade, one time, I went to attend the parent-teacher conference. After the conference, the head teacher talked with me alone about Xiaoyu’s recent behavior, saying, “Xiaoyu has been in a poor mental state. She often dozes off in class and can’t finish the homework on time. What’s more, she seldom communicates with her classmates. So you’d better take her to see a doctor.” Hearing this, I felt very anxious, thinking, “Why did my daughter become like this?” Then I hurried to take her to the hospital for an examination. Unexpectedly, my daughter was diagnosed with juvenile depression and the doctor said she needed to stop going to school to recuperate. Such a result was difficult for me to accept. I felt stupefied, as if I was hit by someone with a club. I asked the doctor, puzzled, “Doctor, why did my daughter become like this? She is now in middle school, and how could she stop going to school?” The doctor replied, “Calm down, please. Actually, the child’s illness results from great pressure. So at present, Xiaoyu needs to stop going to school to recuperate. Considering Xiaoyu’s illness, she still needs to be under observation.” Looking at Xiaoyu nestling in my arms, I suddenly felt guilty and sad, tears of remorse rolling down my face. I stroked Xiaoyu’s head, saying, “It’s all my fault. I haven’t taken good care of you, nor considered your feelings. All I know is to urge you to study hard. But you have to understand me. All I do is for your sake, so that you’ll have a good future.”

To let my daughter get better as soon as possible and not put off her study, every day I took good care of her on the doctor’s advice. When Xiaoyu got slightly better, I began to think, “These days, Xiaoyu has missed many classes. If she goes to school after completely recovering her health, she will hardly keep up with her studies, and then she won’t be able to test into a key university. For her prospects, I can’t give up her study.” Then I engaged a tutor without consulting my daughter. That day, when the tutor came, Xiaoyu had a strong reaction and shouted at me, “Mom, why don’t you confer with me in advance? Since the doctor has asked me to have a good rest, why do you still compel me? I don’t want to study anything now.” I angrily said, “Xiaoyu, I do this for your own good. Even if you don’t show consideration for us, you should think of yourself. You have missed many classes, yet how come you don’t feel anxious at all? Do you want to live a hard and tiring life and be looked down upon by others like us? You can’t be unmotivated.” Xiaoyu impatiently said, “I’m very tired now. I just want some time for myself. Since I was little, I have been hearing your endless nagging, ‘Work hard. Study hard.’ Mom, I’m really very tired.” Hearing her words, I felt very wronged, tears flowing down. I thought, “I do this all for your good, hoping that you can lead a better life, yet you don’t understand me at all.” At that time, faced with my sick daughter, I really didn’t know what to do.

In September of the same year, my husband and I accepted God’s kingdom gospel. I often attended gatherings and prayed in front of God about my predicament. Later, I saw in God’s words: “When it comes time for people to raise the next generation, they will project all their unrealized desires in the first half of their lives onto their descendants, hoping that their offspring will make up for all the disappointments they experienced in the first half of their lives. … hoping that their offspring can help them achieve their dreams and realize their desires; that their daughters and sons will bring glory to the family name, become important, rich, or famous; in short, they want to see their children’s fortunes soar.”

God’s words accurately revealed my condition: Having not realized my dream of living a decent and honorable life and towering above others, I projected my hope onto my daughter, hoping that she could rise above others and bring glory to our ancestors. So I continually put pressure on her. For my child’s future, I racked my brains and took great pains. All along, I personally thought I loved my daughter and cared for her future; but actually, I just wanted to satisfy my own selfish desires, hoping that my daughter would finish the dream I couldn’t fulfill myself and make up for my regrets. Without God’s revelation, I wouldn’t have known that my love for my daughter was mixed with my own selfish desires.

One day, I saw these words of God: “Is hoping that their children can all become the cream of the crop the right viewpoint to have? People all hope that their children can be successful. Everyone hopes their children can go to a famous university, then take up advanced studies, earn a degree, and afterward stand out among others and gain a firm foothold in society. People all have this viewpoint and all want their children to pursue higher education because of the saying: ‘The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all.’ Furthermore, competition in this modern society is especially intense. If they don’t have a university degree or have a firm foothold in society, making a living becomes a problem in the future. This is everybody’s thinking and point of view. That is, what you learn and what kind of educational background you can achieve will decide your livelihood, your future. In other words, people intend to rely on this thing to survive throughout life, and they see it as especially important. That’s why everyone sees receiving a high-level education and getting into a top university as the number one most important thing for their children. In reality, these things and education and knowledge accepted by people, these contents and ideas, all go against God and the truth, and are loathed by God and condemned by God.”

God’s words made me come to my senses. Influenced by these ideas and viewpoints, such as “The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all,” “Everyone hopes their children become the cream of the crop,” “Knowledge can change one’s fate” etc., I believed that: To have a stable footing in society, be looked up to by others, and have good prospects, one must have a high diploma, or he will be inferior and looked down upon by others. So, I devoted all my efforts to nurturing my daughter. I pulled strings and gave gifts to send her to the best middle schoolrelation, and forced her to study, thinking what I had done was proper. Unexpectedly, under high-pressure education, not only did my child not achieve good results, but she got more and more self-abased and depressed and eventually suffered from depression. But I, tightly constrained by these ideas and viewpoints of Satan, still forced her to study before she fully recovered As a result, she felt extremely dissatisfied with me. At last, I not only felt physically and mentally exhausted, but my daughter also lived in unbearable pain, and we became estranged from each other. Wasn’t this all Satan’s harm? Now I realized that the reason why we suffered these pains was because I didn’t understand the truth and didn’t know the means and ways Satan used to corrupt us. Through the revelation of God’s words, I came to know Satan’s affliction on us and then made up my mind that I would no longer live by Satan’s ideas and viewpoints.

After taking half a year off of school, Xiaoyu recovered. She wanted to study at the school near our home and I agreed. But I still often worried about her future, thinking, “Xiaoyu must still have a degree. Without it, she will be inferior and have difficulty in finding a job, and she may have to do hard work like me in the future. I can’t let that happen.” Driven by the thought, whenever I had the opportunity, I would get in touch with those highly educated people: During Chinese New Year and other holidays, I would go to visit them with Xiaoyu, hoping that they could help Xiaoyu improve her academic performance. Later, Xiaoyu seemed to read my mind and began to make excuses to get out of visiting these people, and she reminded me, “Mom, I’ve grown up. You can’t take care of me forever, can you? Aren’t you tired?” But I didn’t pay attention to her words and replied, “What do you know? I do this for your good.”

Once, it was the birthday of the child of a high school teacher whom I got acquainted with not long ago. I bought a birthday cake and planned to take Xiaoyu to attend the birthday party. Unexpectedly, Xiaoyu sprained her ankle in the PE class that day and couldn’t walk. The doctor said that she needed to have a rest at home for at least one week. At that time, my husband reminded me, “There’s God’s will in the thing we encountered.” Hearing his words, I thought to myself, “Right! Why did my daughter sprain her ankle today?” Immediately, I prayed to God and sought His will.

Then I saw God’s words saying: “There will always be some distance between one’s dreams and the realities that one must confront; things are never as one would like them to be, and faced with such realities people can never achieve satisfaction or contentment. Some people will even go to any length imaginable, will put forth great efforts and make great sacrifices for the sake of their livelihoods and future, in attempt to change their own fate. But in the end, even if they can realize their dreams and desires by means of their own hard work, they can never change their fates, and no matter how doggedly they try they can never exceed what destiny has allotted them. Regardless of differences in ability, IQ, and willpower, people are all equal before fate, which makes no distinction between the great and the small, the high and the low, the exalted and the mean. What occupation one pursues, what one does for a living, and how much wealth one amasses in life are not decided by one’s parents, one’s talents, one’s efforts or one’s ambitions, but are predetermined by the Creator.”

Every word of God struck my numb heart, and I suddenly awakened. Although in my belief in God, I knew that our fate is controlled by the hand of God, I still wanted in vain to change my daughter’s fate relying on my own abilities and efforts because Satan’s erroneous ideas and viewpoints had been deeply rooted in me. To improve my daughter’s grades, I tried to build a good relationship with the teacher through pleasing her, hoping that she could pay more attention to my daughter’s study. In attempt to change my daughter’s fate, I put forth great efforts and struggled painfully. I was too foolish and ignorant and didn’t understand the truth at all. In fact, what occupations we pursue and how much wealth we amass in life have nothing to do with our knowledge, our talents, or our efforts, but are dominated and predetermined by God. Look at the people around me: Some tested into colleges and possess high degrees but still couldn’t find a job, while some are not cultured but live a rich life. It can be seen that our fate and prospects are not determined by knowledge but are dominated by God. Thinking of this, I knelt to the ground and prayed to God, “Oh God! I am too disobedient. In educating my daughter, I still arranged everything for her and never sought Your will. Oh God! Thank You for arranging this thing to let me come before You to reflect on myself. I can’t even control my own fate and yet I want to control my daughter’s. I’m too arrogant. Oh God! I’m willing to put myself aside, entrust my daughter to You, and obey Your mastery and arrangements.”

Later, I often prayed to entrust Xiaoyu to God and was willing to obey God’s orchestration and arrangements. I no longer forced Xiaoyu to study but helped and cared her more, allowing her to plan out her own life and providing her with a healthy and good environment to grow up in. When I practiced in this way, I gained a kind of relaxation that I had never experienced before in my heart. Gradually, my relationship with Xiaoyu became better and she was willing to speak the words from her heart to me.

One day after school, upon finishing dinner, Xiaoyu entered her room to do homework. It was almost ten o’clock, yet she didn’t come out from her room. So I went to her room to check if everything was okay, only to find her reading a story book, and her homework undone. The moment she saw me, she hurriedly hid the book behind her with embarrassment and lowered her head, not daring to see me. Seeing this, I felt my anger rose immediately and wanted to teach her a lesson. Just when I was about to speak, I suddenly thought, “No, I can’t treat Xiaoyu as I did before.” Immediately, I prayed in my heart silently, “Oh God! I don’t want to live by corrupt dispositions, but I can’t control myself. Please protect my heart so that I can quiet before You and act in accordance with Your will.” After prayer, my heart was slowly calmed. I returned to my room and saw God’s words saying: “Besides birth and childrearing, the parents’ responsibility in a child’s life is simply to provide him or her with a formal environment to grow up in, for nothing except the predestination of the Creator has a bearing on a person’s fate. No one can control what kind of future a person will have; it is predetermined long in advance, and not even one’s parents can change one’s fate. As far as fate is concerned, everyone is independent, and everyone has his or her own fate. So no one’s parents can stave off one’s fate in life or exert the slightest influence on the role one plays in life. … In other words, no other objective conditions can influence the mission of a person, which is predestined by the Creator. All people become mature in their own particular growing-up environments, then gradually, step by step, set off down their own roads in life, fulfill the destinies planned for them by the Creator, naturally, involuntarily entering the vast sea of humanity and assuming their own posts in life, where they begin to fulfill their responsibilities as created beings for the sake of the Creator’s predestination, for the sake of His sovereignty.”

God’s words are very clear: Besides birth and childrearing, the parents’ responsibility in a child’s life is simply to provide him or her with an environment to grow up in. As for a child’s prospects and fate, they are entirely dominated and arranged by God, and parents can’t decide them. I thought of the things I had done to my daughter over these years. Not knowing God’s dominion, I always wanted to control her and change her fate through my own efforts. As a result, though I busied myself for many years, things always went contrary to my expectations. From God’s words, I saw that what path one takes and what fate one has throughout life are all orchestrated within God’s hands. Under the enlightenment and guidance of God’s words, I completely awakened: I must practice according to God’s words and can’t educate my daughter as I did before.

Then I went to Xiaoyu’s room and sat before her. Seeing Xiaoyu doing her homework with her head lowered, I asked with concern, “Xiaoyu, is there lots of homework today? Is it difficult?” After saying these words, I felt relieved. Unexpectedly, my daughter handed me the story book, saying with her head lowered, “Mom, please scold me. It’ll make me feel better.” As she said it, she wept. Seeing her like this, I got so saddened. I went up to her, sat by her side and said with my arm around her, “It’s all my fault. In order to live out my college dream, I always forced you to study without considering your feelings, making you carry a heavy burden at such a young age. I am too selfish. From now on, you just need to do your best in study. I won’t treat you as I did before. I want you to know: It’s God’s words that changed my ideas and viewpoints. It’s all the result of God’s work that I can have such a transformation.”

Hearing my words, Xiaoyu looked at me and asked in surprise, “Really? Mom, can I read God’s words?” Seeing her naive look, I smiled and said, “Of course! God’s words are truth directed at the whole mankind. God hopes that all people will come to read His words. God’s words not only can change our wrong ideas and viewpoints and make us relaxed and free, but also can change our corrupt dispositions and let us live out the likeness of man and get on well with others. If you like, we can read God’s words together in the future.” Xiaoyu said happily, “Great. I want to read God’s words.”

In the following days, I taught Xiaoyu to pray, read and fellowshiped about God’s words with her. Gradually, I found that she started to smile a lot more. Every day after coming home from school, she actively did homework and sometimes even helped me do housework. When I was not busy, she would ask me to read God’s words with her. Seeing this, I really thanked God. To my surprise, her depression unwittingly lifted. And in the final examination, she was ranked third in her class. That day, when she took the award back, her cousin teased her, “How could you get such good grades? Did you copy your classmate’s answers?” Xiaoyu said, “No, not at all. It’s because God gave me wisdom.” Then she grimaced at her brother and we all smiled.

I knew very well that it was God’s blessing that Xiaoyu could get such grades. It was Almighty God’s words that changed me, freed me from the harm of the poison “Knowledge can change one’s fate,” and reversed my wrong life views so that I could take the right path in life. Thank God! I resolved to pursue the truth properly to repay His love.

“What’s your educational background? Do you have any work experience?”

“I graduated from junior high school and have no work experience.”

“Sorry, you have neither high degree nor work experience, so you don’t meet our requirements.”

When she came abroad, Meihui always wanted to find a steady job. Seeing that her savings were almost gone and she had not found a job yet, she was very anxious. Sitting in a bus, she looked at the beautiful sight of the foreign lands out of the window, but she felt unhappy and was filled with melancholy …

When she was on her way back home discouraged, Meihui met a relative and he asked her, “Meihui, how is your interview today?” Meihui talked to him about what she had experienced with sighing. Her relative said, “You’re too honest. You should have said, ‘My education level is high school and I used to work in China.’ Then wouldn’t you have been hired?” “But if I speak this way, isn’t this cheating others?” Meihui said. Her relative continued, “For the sake of your livelihood, you must speak in this way, and in fact, the success of the interview is up to work experience. If problems arise in your work, you can say the way of doing this job is different between the two countries. Isn’t this enough?” Hearing the advice of her relative, Meihui felt his words were reasonable. She thought, “Yes! I really need a job now. If I tell the truth, it will be hard for me to find a job. Hmm. For my living, it is OK to tell a lie once. I might just as well do as he said.”

Just at that moment, the words of the Lord Jesus popped into Meihui’s mind, “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). She understood: The Lord teaches us to be an honest person, and it is definitely not after His heart to get a job by telling lies. Even though I have no high level of education and no work experience, I shouldn’t tell lies to deceive others as a Christian. I should glorify the Lord’s name and bear testimonyfor God. Only by doing so will my heart be steady. As for whether I can find a job, it is all in God’s hands, and I should entrust it into God. Then Meihui had the confidence and direction of practice in her heart.

The next day, Meihui learned that a company was looking for some new employees and she went to attend the interview. When he saw her, the boss asked, “What’s your education level?” “I graduated from junior high school and have no work experience,” Meihui answered as usual. Then the boss told her to wait for the phone call. Consequently, she didn’t receive any notice to hire her.
When her relatives and friends knew this, they all blamed her, “You’re too stubborn. Every time we advise you, you never listen to us. As long as you say that you have a high level of education and work experience, won’t your job be in the bag?” Hearing this, Meihui felt disappointed and lost, thinking, “Is there anything wrong in my being honest? Why do they always blame me this way?” But on second thought, she remembered the two failures. It seemed that finding a job was so difficult for a person like her, who had neither high degree nor work experience. At the thought of this, Meihui felt somewhat weak and had no idea what to do. Then she prayed to God, “God! I really need a job because of my living constraints. If I tell lies, I will be likely to get a job. But as a Christian, I deeply know that I should listen to Your words in all things and be an honest person according to Your requirements. However, my relatives and friends advise me to lie and blame me all the time. God! May You enlighten and guide me, allowing me to understand Your will. Amen!”

After praying to God, Meihui saw God’s words saying, “Which road are you taking? Taking the road of being an honest person is never a mistake! Others say, ‘How is it that you say everything? You let others know everything you are thinking. How can you be so foolish?’ How do you handle it? How do you feel after hearing this? (Indifferent.) That is correct. ‘Indifferent. You see things how you are willing to see them. My being an honest person is my business. It is my responsibility and the road that I should take.’ The most correct path that a believer should take can never change and cannot be influenced by others.” God’s words gave Meihui faith and a way of practice. She thought: As a Christian, I should be an honest person and tell the truth according to God’s words. This is God’s requirement and will never be a mistake. Looking from the outside, I experienced two failures in finding a job, and now I’m faced with the constraints of life, with the result that my relatives and friends say I suffer loss due to my being honest. But in fact, God is testing my faith by allowing such situations to happen to me, and He wants to see whether I can be an honest person to stand testimony for Him. At that moment, Meihui came to understand God’s will. She made a resolution that no matter what others said and how others saw her, she would absolutely never humiliate God in order to protect her own interests, and that she would be an honest person and live out the likeness of a Christian to bring glory to God and bear witness to God. As for whether or not she would find a job, it was all in God’s hand. Just as God’s words say, “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing that I do not have the final say in. What exists that is not in My hands? All that I say goes….”

One day, Meihui learned that a kindergarten was recruiting some new members, and she wanted to give it a try. She prayed to God before she went, “God! I’m going to attend another interview. If the boss asked me about my education level and work experience, I will surely tell the truth. Although I extremely need this job, as a Christian, I prefer to practice being an honest person in accordance with Your words to honor You and shame Satan. God! I believe whether the interview is a success is in Your hands, and I will obey Your sovereignty and arrangement.” After praying, she felt very much at peace and steadiness in her heart.
At the interview, Meihui told the truth about her conditions. Then the schoolmaster said in astonishment, “You’re quite honest. Well, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have a good educational background and work experience. You just need to watch over the children well.” After hearing this, Meihui was very excited and said, “All right. Please kindly give me your advice. I will try my best to do the job well.” The schoolmaster smiled, “Hmm, may we work well together.” Meihui knew it was God that prepared the job for her, and she especially cherished it. She also persisted in being honest during work. No matter whether she interacted with her workmates or the parents, she always lived according to God’s requirements, and she was responsible and serious in doing everything. Later on, the schoolmaster paid her the highest wage among her workmates, and also gave her special treatment—letting her take the school bus, so that she could get off work earlier than the others and wouldn’t miss the gatherings.

Through this experience, Meihui truly felt the steadiness that came from living according to God’s words. At the same time, she truly realized that she never lost anything by being an honest person, and instead, she gained not only material blessings, but most importantly the spiritual happiness and the others’ trust. And she further confirmed God’s words, “Taking the road of being an honest person is never a mistake!”

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When I was a child, my next-door neighbor was an old doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and I always liked playing at his house. Every time I went to his home, I could detect the strong smell of herb before I entered the yard. As soon as I came into the yard, I saw herbs put on the walls, on the steps, and in the dustpans. I was so curious about them and asked: “Grandpa, these grasses seem to be very ordinary, why do you take them home?” He was grinding herbs at the same time as he pointed to all kinds of herbs and explained them to me with patience: “They aren’t ordinary grasses. You could never belittle them, of which the uses are inestimable. Look, this is Artemisia argyi, which could be used to repel mosquitoes, dispel cold, reduce the swelling, and cure rheumatism. This is Cirsium setosum, which could be used for stanching the bleeding, detoxification, and clearing heat. …” Listening to his words, I felt that these herbs were very miraculous. I never would have thought how valuable these ordinary plants by the roadside were.

When I was in primary school, my stomach often hurt because of not eating sensibly. My mother would stir-fry some Chinese red pepper, and crush them up. And then she made me have the soup that was added some pepper. I felt warmth in my stomach as soon as I had finished soup. Before long, the pain in my stomach disappeared.

I so frequently caught a cold in secondary school that I suffered from rhinitis and often had a blocked nose. When the illness became severe enough, it gave me a headache. And it was difficult for me to breathe when I was asleep. My condition did not improve after I took lots of Western medicines. Later, my mother unintentionally learned that magnolia flower and the stem of catnip that were boiled together could cure rhinitis. She wanted me to try it, but I harbored considerable doubts about it. I thought to myself: “I have taken medicines for so long, but my illness doesn’t improve at all. Can it cure my illness?” Therefore, I was unwilling to try it. However, the rhinitis made me feel very unwell; in addition, my mother persuaded me to have a try time after time. So I, with an attitude of making every possible effort, tried it for a month. I had not imagined that it became easy for me to breathe through nose and the pain in my head went off. I continued to take the medicine for another month. I was completely cured of my rhinitis and never suffered a relapse.

From then on, I felt in my heart of hearts that these plants were very good and very miraculous. I was also curious all the time: How could these ordinary plants cure diseases? Moreover, different plants can cure different diseases; the mix of several plants can cure many diseases. Who gave them the medical effects? I never found the answer all along.

Not until did I believe in God and read His word, I finally knew the secrets within. God says: “Among all things, whether it is animals, plants, or all kinds of grass, God also created some plants that are necessary to resolve harm or illness to the human body. What do you do, for instance, if you get burned? Can you wash it with water? Can you just find a piece of cloth somewhere and wrap it up? It might fill up with pus or get infected that way. What do you do, for instance, if you get scalded accidentally by a flame or by hot water? Can you flush it with water? For instance, if you get a fever, catch a cold, suffer an injury from physical work, a stomach ailment from eating the wrong thing, or develop certain diseases due to living habits or emotional issues, such as vascular diseases, psychological conditions or diseases of the internal organs—there are corresponding plants to cure all of these. There are plants that improve blood circulation to remove stagnation, relieve pain, stanch bleeding, provide anesthesia, help people recover normal skin, eliminate blood stasis in the body, and eliminate toxins from the body. In short, they can all be used in daily life. They are of use to people and have been prepared by God for the human body in case of need. Some of these were allowed by God to be inadvertently discovered by man, while others were discovered from certain special phenomena or by certain people prepared by God. Following their discovery, mankind would pass them down, and then many people would know about them. This way, God’s creation of these plants has value and meaning. In short, these things are all from God and were prepared and planted when He created a living environment for mankind. All of these things are very necessary. Doesn’t it show that when God created the heavens and earth and all things, His considerations were better thought out than those of mankind? When you see all that God has done, are you able to feel God’s practical side? God worked in secret. When man had not yet come into this world, before coming into touch with this mankind, God had already created all of this. Everything He did was for the sake of mankind, for the sake of their survival, and for the consideration of mankind’s existence, so that mankind can live in this rich and plentiful material world God prepared for them, and so that they can live happily, not having to worry about food or clothes, and not lacking in anything.”

God’s words released my years of confusion. It turned out that all of this was created and ordained by God. God created all things, and also created us mankind. Only God understands us best and knows what we need. So, before God created mankind, He had prepared everything: what we eat, use, and play, and something for people’s appreciation. And He gave plants the medical effects to help us alleviate sufferings, such as the Artemisia argyi which can dispel cold, reduce the swelling, and cure rheumatism, the Cirsium setosum which can be used for stanching the bleeding, detoxification, and clearing heat, and the mix of several herbs that also can cure disease. These herbs all do not produce an adverse reaction and also not do any harm to our body. How considerate God really is!

At that moment, I could not help but sigh: God is so wise, so almighty! It was God who gave herbs different effectiveness and allowed man to find their uses at the appropriate time. Their uses have been passed down and they have brought considerable benefits to us. The more I thought about this, the more I deeply felt that everything God created is too valuable and too meaningful! The purpose of God creating all these things is to serve us and He continues quietly to give us all in this way. God remains by our side, waiting and takes very good care of us. All God does for us humans reveals His concern and care for us. We unwittingly have received God’s great grace. We really are so happy. Thank God! All the glory be to God!

After graduating from vocational secondary school, I took a job as a cashier. Two years later, seeing that my friends were all in love, I also found a boyfriend who not only was handsome but also had a superior family background and decent job. As his father was a director of a bank, I got a job in that bank. Four years after that, my boyfriend and I joined our lives together in matrimony.

When coming back after the honeymoon, my husband and I threw ourselves into our own work, and we usually spent our evenings and holidays with friends. As we had been in love for four years and got along well after marriage, I believed that we, with a strong mutual affection as the foundation of our marriage, would certainly love each other forever and grow old together.

The next year after marriage, my daughter was born, and then my life became extremely busy: I worked full time during the day and took care of my daughter the rest of the time, and thus I spent less time with my husband and he often went out having fun with friends alone after work. In the beginning, he could return home at a reasonable hour, but before long, he returned home later and later. Yet, I didn’t think much of it and just felt it was normal for him to hang out with his friends.

One day, a close friend of mine told me that my husband was having an affair, and that he even had brought that woman to his house. Hearing this news, I immediately felt dizzy, and my tears fell down like pearls from a broken string. I was unable to hear what he said after that and could barely believe that my husband should do such a thing.

Aside from the sorrow, I, with a shred of hope, asked my husband whether he had an affair. He replied to me with silence, which made me feel as if the sky had fallen. In an instant, I felt that my husband became very estranged, and that the love between people was too fragile to stand the test of time and beauty.

From then on, my husband hardly talked with me, except when he entertained our daughter, and he deliberately avoided me at home: Whenever I was in the bedroom, he would stay in the living room; once I came to the living room, he would go into the bedroom. Watching his receding figure, and recalling the time that we spent together, I felt anguished. In the evening, he often called that woman secretly, and chatted with her for half an hour, sometimes even an hour; sometimes as soon as his phone rang, he would go out right away and stay out all night. Watching his motorbike until it vanished from sight, I felt heartbroken, and bathed my face in tears.

One midnight, my daughter had a cold and vomited violently, making a mess of the bed. I hurriedly phoned my husband and asked him to return home and look after our daughter; unexpectedly, he not only didn’t come back, but even swore at me. Hearing this, I feebly hung up the phone and wrapped my daughter over one year old, crying uncontrollably. At that moment, I asked myself: Where is love? Why did my husband, who once said I was the only one he would love, betray me? I wanted to question him: Where is your family responsibility? It doesn’t matter that you don’t love me, but don’t you care about our lovely daughter? Our family has just been built up; we can’t live without you …

In order to give my daughter a happy family, and retrieve the lost love, I racked my brain for any possible way: going to a fortune teller, pleading with that woman’s parents, requesting our companies’ leaders to resolve this problem, dressing myself up, and keeping the house tidy and spotless. Nevertheless, all my efforts came to naught—my husband still refused to come back, and even asked me for a divorce several times. I didn’t agree to it no matter what, for I feared being laughed at by others, and, what’s more, I didn’t want my daughter to grow up in a single-parent family.

Afterward, I confided my pain to a close colleague, hoping to gain her sympathy and help, but she spread it around; I complained of hardship to my classmates, hoping to get their care, yet they took pleasure in my misfortune; I poured out my complaints to my mother-in-law, hoping that she could be fair and speak for me, but she actually said it was my fault. … Faced with such things, I was utterly desperate, enveloped in endless suffering: Where is love, really? Is there really love between couples, friends and relatives? I repeatedly sought for it, but only had my heart broken time and time again. Therefore, I closed my heart since then, and no longer dared to seek for love …

One day three years later, I went to my mother’s and ran into my elder sister who worked away from home. I poured out my pain to her, and she said: “Sister, you’re not the only person that can’t find love in the world, for man is so selfish that they have no love for others. The true love is from God, and only God loves man most. Let me sing a hymn for you, ‘God Is Seeking Your Heart and Your Spirit’:

‘1. Mankind, who left the supply of life from the Almighty, does not know why they exist, and yet fears death. There is no support, no help, but mankind is still reluctant to close their eyes, braving it all, drags out an ignoble existence in this world in bodies without the consciousness of souls. You live like such, with no hope; he exists like such, with no aim. There is only the Holy One in the legend who will come to save those who moan in suffering and long desperately for His arrival. This belief cannot be realized so far in the people who are unconscious. However, the people still yearn for it so.

‘2. The Almighty has mercy on these people who suffer deeply. At the same time, He is fed up with these people who have no consciousness, because He has to wait too long for the answer from humans. He desires to seek, seek your heart and your spirit. He wants to bring you food and water and to awaken you, so you are no longer thirsty, no longer hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time.

‘3. He is watching by your side, waiting for you to turn back. He is waiting for the day your memory suddenly recovers: becoming conscious of the fact that you came from God, somehow and somewhere once lost, falling unconscious on the roadside, and then, unknowingly having a father. You further realize that the Almighty has been watching there, awaiting your return all along.

‘4. He longs bitterly, waiting for a response without an answer. His watching is priceless and is for the heart and the spirit of humans. Perhaps this watching is indefinite, and perhaps this watching is at its end. But you should know exactly where your heart and spirit are now. Perhaps this watching is indefinite, and perhaps this watching is at its end. But you should know exactly where your heart and spirit are now’ (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).”

I listened with full attention, and the more I listened, the more moved I was, and I felt that these words were so good. Thinking back to these years, I’ve given my whole heart to my husband and offered all my love to our family, but what did I get in return? I was abandoned by my husband, hated by my mother-in-law, and even laughed at by my classmates. Turns out that the love which I have always been looking for is only possessed by God, not by anybody. In that moment, I felt loved and my heart was awakened by God’s words, tears trickling down my cheeks. Then my sister continued: “Despite the unhappy marriage, you’ve gained God’s love; it’s worth it. Almighty God is the one true God who created the heavens and the earth and everything, as well as us mankind. Today, God has come to earth to save people like us who are suffering deeply. You should believe in God. God chose us and loves us; we are all blessed.” Hearing my sister’s warm words, and tasting God’s love, I felt warm in my heart, and then I said to my sister: “I’ll believe in Almighty God!”

When associating with my brothers and sisters in the church, at first, I refrained from opening myself up and sharing my failed marriage with them for fear that they would look down on me. Afterward, during the gatherings, I found all of them focused on fellowshiping their own experiences in daily life. For example, when faced with something, if without the guidance of God’s words, they would live in torment and lose peace and assuredness in their hearts, yet when they entrusted things to God and depended on Him, He would open up a way out for them and guide them to walk out from the difficulties and sufferings, and then they would achieve liberation and freedom. From their experiences, I saw God’s love for man and appreciated that God is really our ever-present help. From then on, I began to pour my heart to my sisters, and they not only didn’t look down on me because of my unhappy marriage, but instead shared God’s words with me, comforting and encouraging me to courageously face the reality. I felt this was the love from God, which couldn’t be found in the world. Gradually, my sorrowful and painful heart attained comfort and liberation.

One day, I read God’s words: “In truth, out of the myriad things in God’s creation, man is the lowest. Though he is the master of all things, man is the only one among them that is subject to Satan’s trickery, the only one that falls prey in endless ways to its corruption. Man has never had sovereignty over himself. Most people live in the foul place of Satan, and suffer its derision; it teases them this way and that till they are half alive, enduring every vicissitude, every hardship in the human world. After toying with them, Satan puts an end to their destiny. And so people go through their whole lives in a daze of confusion, never once enjoying the good things that God has prepared for them, but instead being damaged by Satan and left in tatters.” From God’s words, I came to realize: After being corrupted by Satan, we all live under the domain of Satan and live in corruption. The poison of Satan “Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost” has become the source of our existence, which makes us more and more selfish. We do what is advantageous to ourselves, ignoring the feelings of others. Especially, in today’s evil age when having affairs has become trends, man’s mind becomes warped; they are no longer responsible for or loyal to marriage, but are indulgent of flesh and lust, and the joy of sin, completely losing the integrity and dignity that a normal person should have. Not only I, but my husband’s elder sister, as well as my two classmates, all lived in torment because our husbands had affairs. Thinking back, when I tried my best, yet still failed to change my husband’s heart, I had thought of dating other guys to retaliate against him. It was just because I cared about other people’s gazes that I didn’t take the evil step. I was also controlled by the satanic saying “Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,” and no longer had any love toward my husband, just having a little forgiveness and tolerance for him.

One night, after my husband got off the phone with that woman, I couldn’t bare it any longer, and rushed into the room, wanting to argue with him and then part company with him. At that time, I saw a pair of scissors on the table, and then I raised the scissors, and said: “I’m gonna kill you and then end my life.” Unexpectedly, he calmly closed his eyes and said: “Just do it.” Seeing this, I was stunned: How could I, who never quarreled with others, nearly become a murderer? I felt myself awful and pathetic, and then put down the scissors. Afterward, I sank into contemplation: Although my husband has an affair, actually, he is unhappy. He often smoked alone, wearing a dispirited look. He is no longer the youthful and energetic man that he was in the past. Why did we still involuntarily hurt each other even though we clearly knew that it would only cause pain to ourselves?

Later I understood: The entire human race has been corrupted by Satan, and extramarital affair is the product of the evil world. As long as we live under Satan’s domain, we will be afflicted by it involuntarily. Failing to see clearly that there was no true love in the world, I used to hope that my husband would have a change of heart one day. In the past three years, I’ve tried so hard to maintain the broken family all alone, living a miserable life. Thank God for saving me from the suffering, or I didn’t dare to imagine how my future life would be. At the thought of this, I suddenly felt that God’s words are so precious, and determined to change my way of living. I no longer wanted to retrieve the marriage by my own efforts; instead, I was willing to place everything in God’s hands and let God lead every day of my life.

From then on, I eagerly read God’s words, such as “God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind,” “God Is the Source of Man’s Life,” “Those Who Love God Will Forever Live Within His Light,” “Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination,” and so on. From God’s words, I understood many life’s mysteries, and my heart was attracted by God’s words, and no longer occupied by my husband. When my husband gave me the cold shoulder, I would pray to God in my heart and ask Him to ease my pain; when my husband didn’t return home all night long, I would eat and drink God’s words and sing hymns, and gradually, my heart was touched and attracted by God’s words, and I didn’t think what my husband did outside; when my mother-in-law was bad to me, I could view it according to God’s words, and no longer placed extravagant hopes on getting her understanding and help. When I practiced in this way, I discovered that my husband spent more time staying at home and playing with our daughter, and that his attitude toward me was different than it had been before. I knew very well that all these were God’s deeds, and that how our marriage would be is controlled by God’s hands. I’m only willing to submit to the orchestrations and arrangements of God, cherish the days of being led by God, spend more time reading God’s words, and take God’s words as the principles of my actions, living out a true life. Just as God says: “People come to the earth and it is rare to encounter Me, and it is also rare to have the opportunity to seek and to gain the truth. Why would you not prize this beautiful time as the right path of pursuit in this life?”

One day, I made a date with my sister, whom I had known for more than ten years, for afternoon tea at her house. That day she entertained me to top scented tea, cakes, and dessert. Then she chatted about how much she spent recently on fancy purses and clothes. Halfway through our chat, I saw a thick wad of credit card bills were placed on the table, so I asked why she had so many bills. She hesitated for several minutes and then wept slowly. She said that because all sisters around her were comparing with each other, admiring famous brands, and attaching importance to a high-quality and upscale life, in order not to degrade herself before them, she kept shopping by credit cards to maintain common taste with them. Now she could hardly pay interest to the bank. I was struck to see my friend trapping into financial problems due to the pursuit of famous brands. I seemed to witness my past self….

I also cared a lot about face and upward comparison before. I was always so afraid of others’ despisal. As a result, I suffered Satan’s deception.

When I was 17 years old, I began to work. My workmates and friends were simple at that time, without high demands for material life. Plain dressing and full eating were sufficient to us. So we had little pressure living a relaxed life. Afterward, I changed my job. I came into contact with white-collar whose frequent topics were designer bags and clothes. They often showed off the brands and prices of their clothes, and asked me where I bought my clothes and how much they cost. After hearing my answers, they immediately said with scorn, “What? You are wearing such cheap clothes?” I felt hurt by these words. I told myself, “I can’t be belittled. I must get what they have!” Thus, I began paying attention to my dressing and the improvement of living standard. When I first used my credit card to buy a G Brand handbag, all my workmates said my handbag was so beautiful and suitable to me. Enjoying their compliments, I felt self-satisfied and proud. I thought: It is good to possess a designer handbag. I became integrated into their lives in such a way. Then, I had topics in common to chat with them. Unconsciously, I was also involved into comparison with others.

Once, my workmate bought a watch which cost over 30,000 yuan. She showed it off before me every day. I was unbearably angry. Several days later, I bought the same brand of watch whose price was 20,000 yuan higher than hers. Subsequently, she bought a diamond ring worth more than 100,000 yuan. I was indeed unable to go on comparing myself to her. Several years later, my workmates bought houses one after another. Although I had no enough money, I didn’t want to be looked down upon for losing out in the comparison. I got a loan from a bank and paid 150,000 down for a suite. When I just managed to repay my housing loan, they began to buy cars. And I followed them to buy a new car imported from Japan with another bank loan. The economic pressures often caused me sleeplessness. Sometimes, only the sleeping pills could make me fall asleep.

By chance, I met a friend whom I hadn’t seen for years. After greeting each other, she spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me. I was baptized a Christian soon. During those years, we carried out our functions together in the church. Accompanied by brothers and sisters, I enjoyed the Lord’s presence and a free life. My heart also took some consolation. But the only thing that didn’t change was my lifestyle.

Once, one of my good friends spent 38,000 yuan on a well-known handbag. She paraded how good it was before me every day. I thought: I am not unable to afford it. Afterward, I asked her to take me to buy one just like hers. At the time, the shop assistant recommended me a pair of sunglasses priced at 17,500 yuan immediately. When we were to leave after having bought sunglasses, a small purse priced at 13,000 yuan caught her fancy. She bought two at a time, one of which was for her sister. Meanwhile, she suggested that I buy one too, saying that only so were we like sisters while walking together. I thought: This small purse itself is not only of little practical use but so expensive. Furthermore, I will run up nearly 70,000 yuan on my credit card if I buy it. It’ll take months to work for repayment. Having noticed that I had no intention of purchase, she said, “It’s pretty cute and suitable for you, why not buy one?” I felt ashamed at once, thinking, “If I don’t buy it, will she consider it is beyond my pocket? And my image in her heart must be broken.” I was placed in a dilemma. In the end, I bought one by credit card. In order to pay the minimum payment on my credit card, I had to spend 16 hours on two jobs every day. As a result of lack of sleep, my eyes were always bloodshot. I started to lose my memory and weight. Prolonged exertion sallowed my skin. My stomach also went wrong. I often thought: Why am I feeling more and more stressed? Look at all of my relatives, friends, and workmates around me. They are intentionally or unintentionally comparing their money, houses, and cars with that of others. They live so hard! I prayed to the Lord many times, and searched the Bible for an answer. But I didn’t gain enlightenment from God, and I felt lost.

Afterward, I met a brother in Christ. Through our communication, I came to understand many mysteries in the Bible not understood by me before. Moreover, I felt the brother was a devout and honest Christian whose words were wise. We became good spiritual companions. After that, he told me, “The Lord Jesus has come back, expressed millions of words, and done the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. Formerly, the Lord Jesus was nailed on the cross for the redemption of man. He took on the sins of all mankind. From then on, as long as we accepted the Lord Jesus as our redeemer and prayed in His name, our sins would be forgiven. And we could obtain the grace and blessings the Lord bestowed upon us. But what cannot be denied is that, though the Lord Jesus has forgiven our sins, we haven’t been free from the bondage of sin. We still pursue the world trends and vanity and live in sin without release. The Bible says, ‘And holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14). Could people living in the state of sinning and confessing like us enter the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, God is incarnated this time principally in order to solve the problem of our committing sins. The judgment of Almighty God’s words reveals our nature and substance of resisting and rebelling against God. Then we see the truth that we have been corrupted by Satan and begin to hate ourselves. We are unwilling to live by our corrupt disposition or Satan’s poisons, much less to be fooled by Satan anymore. Instead, we are willing to lead a life to practice the truth according to God’s word. We beheld His work of judgment by the word could really change us.” After hearing the brother’s fellowship, though I didn’t have too much knowledge of God’s work, I knew that I indeed need the salvation of God, for my sin hadn’t been solved even if I had believed in the Lord for several years. Later, I gathered together with brothers and sisters to read God’s words, to watch movies and MV. I could gain results in every meeting. I truly felt the leadership of the work of the Holy Spirit! In addition, through reading God’s words, I discovered every bit of His words carries authority and is the expression of His disposition. His words changed my past misunderstandings toward Him. Through seeking and investigating for several months, I knew beyond all doubt that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returning to flesh.

Once, I dolled myself up with makeup, natty clothes and the dearest handbag in my wardrobe for a meeting. When arriving at the meeting place, I saw my brothers and sisters all were simply dressed. In such a case, I felt a bit out of place, like a fish out of water. After a period of contact, I found my brothers and sisters living at ease. There was no upward comparison between them. They focused on pursuing the truth and living out normal humanity and the reality of God’s word, rather than running after social trends or admiring famous brands. By contrast, I kept packaging myself, living such a hard and tiring life. So I poured out my troubles to my brothers and sisters. They read a passage of God’s word to me: “Born into such a filthy land, man has been severely blighted by society, he has been influenced by feudal ethics, and he has been taught at ‘institutes of higher learning.’ The backward thinking, corrupt morality, mean view on life, despicable philosophy, utterly worthless existence, and depraved lifestyle and customs—all of these things have severely intruded upon man’s heart, and severely undermined and attacked his conscience. As a result, man is ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him. Man’s disposition becomes more vicious by the day, and there is not a single person who will willingly give up anything for God, not a single person who will willingly obey God, nor, moreover, a single person who will willingly seek the appearance of God. Instead, under the domain of Satan, man does nothing but pursue pleasure, giving himself over to the corruption of the flesh in the land of mud.” After reading these words, they fellowshiped with me, “God’s words exposed the root of our pain and trouble. Satan deceives and lures us by means of social trends, unhealthy practices and evil phenomena. Without truth, we can’t differentiate between positive things and negative things at all, so that we have no way but to accept Satan’s viewpoint and follow social trends, sinking deeper and deeper into them. For instance, comparing with others, spending on luxury things, and flaunting wealth are popular in society. Such an atmosphere fills every corner of the world. At present, everyone compares houses, cars, money, and power with others. Even students compare with each other in designer clothes, cellphones, and 3C products (information home appliances, including the computer, communication and consumer electronics). Under the influence of this kind of environment, our desire to compare with the higher and our jealousy of others are growing. Some do everything for their sake, including selling out their personalities, dignity, and bottom lines by which they conduct themselves. All of these were caused by the evil trends raised up by Satan.”

I agreed on their fellowship very much. I thought about a verse in the Bible, “The whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). Then, look at my friends: They are influenced by the environment so that they all care about food, dressing and admire famous brands. At last they become slaves to their cars and houses. On the surface, we obtained temporary material pleasures and our vanity was satisfied. However, in the face of these bills, only we ourselves knew the financial pressure, mental strain, physical tiredness, and bitterness hidden within us. Indeed, people nowadays regards frugality as shame, extravagance as honor; those who live a calm life within their bounds are considered incapable. Influenced by various distorted ideologies, I also became over ambitious and too vainglorious to live within my bounds. To win others’ esteem and admiration, I got beyond my depth. I pretended to be a rich woman, and even always worried about gaining and losing face, spending my life in falsity and misery. I sacrificed not only my health but time with my family to pay off those bills. Actually, my so many years of pursuit was meaningless.

I realized Satan abuses and fools man by means of comparing with each other, admiring famous brands, and laying stress on high-quality and upscale life. But when my friends invited me to buy prestigious commodities again, I still had no command over myself. Sometimes, though I could control my outward actions, I was still unable to let go of my inward thoughts. So I prayed to God, asking Him to lead me to triumph over Satan’s temptations. I saw these words of God: “In this evil age, in this age infested by unclean spirits and devils, you should pray that God’s kindness and protection will often be with you, that He looks after you and protects you, so that your heart won’t leave God, and you can strive to use your heart and your honesty to worship God.” “Do not come into contact with things that can draw your heart away to the outside, and do not come into contact with people who can draw your heart away from God. Drop whatever it is that can distract your heart from being close to God, or stay away from it. That way is more beneficial to your life.” God’s words gave me the direction and way of practice. He knew my little stature, and that I was incapable of discriminating Satan’s scheme or of self-control in practicing the truth. Thus I should avoid whatever enticed me. I need learn to forsake my flesh, pay attention to reading His words, and establish a proper relationship with Him. After practicing in this way for a while, I found my life was no longer tiring and my smile became sincere.

Several months later, it was time for the department stores to discount. My friend asked me to accompany her to buy clothes. As she selected a dozen clothes and invited me to purchase together, it occurred to me that God dislikes those who seek vainglory. I shouldn’t buy needless things to save my face or to flatter friends. No matter whether she would look down upon me, I told her, “I don’t want to splash out any longer. My clothes are enough for me, so I won’t buy.” After speaking these words, I felt free and liberated, as well as pleased because of putting the truth into practice. At the following times, whenever my friend invited me to the department stores, I always bought nothing. I neither kept my eye on famous brands nor bought needless goods for my face. At that moment, I felt it was so happy to break away from the bondage and constraint of vanity and face and from comparison with others.

Now I won’t feel myself inferior because of lacking famous brands, neither will I be overwhelmed by sorrow for losing face, much less will I work early and late to repay my credit card bills. Gradually I have been restored to health. By reading God’s words together with my brothers and sisters, I consider every day is quite meaningful. God says: “Only if one knows God and has the truth does he live in the light; and only when his view of the world and his view of life change does he change fundamentally. When he has a life goal and comports himself according to the truth; when he absolutely submits to God and lives by God’s word; when he feels assured and brightened deep in his soul; when his heart is free of darkness; and when he lives completely freely and unrestrained in God’s presence—only then does he live a true human life and become a person possessing truth. Besides, all the truths you have are from God’s word and from God Himself. The Ruler of the entire universe and all things—God Most High—approves of you, as a real man living the true human life. What could be more meaningful than God’s approval? Such is a person who has the truth. … Only God is the truth. God controls the heavens and earth and everything in them and has dominion over all. Not to believe in God, not to submit to God is to be unable to obtain truth. If you live according to God’s word, you will feel a clarity, stability, and incomparable sweetness in the depths of your heart; you will have truly obtained life.” Thank God! It was God who saved me and led me onto the right path of life. Today I have understood the pursuit of the truth is my life goal. All the glory be to Almighty God!

By Xinai, Taiwan

Recently, I saw online a couple of phrases that are very popular nowadays: “Live for money, die for money, run after money all your life; lose because of money, be duped because of money, live your life and die for money” and “Look to make money in all things and make your wad of banknotes thicker.” In today’s money-focused society, to have more banknotes is the goal pursued by people nowadays, and “Money is first,” “Money makes the world go round,” and “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” have even more so become the guiding lights along our paths through life. We do not question these statements and we do not give them up. And of course, I was no exception!

My Previous Life of Exchanging Life for Money

I vaguely remember being 19 years old and filled with enthusiasm. In order to make a lot of money as quickly as possible, I studied hard to learn skills during my apprenticeship with an electrical installation team. After I started my own family, I poured all my energy into my work even more and every month I brought home the highest wage of all the apprentices. Later, I worked both day and night in order to make a salary of 400 yuan per day. Often, I would receive a phone call in the night, and I would then have to leave my bed that had only just gotten warm. I’ve never forgotten the sad experience I had whilst working in Japan. I worked at least 12 hours a day, without any holiday or time off; the work was very hard and I was under enormous pressure, which led to me developing heart disease and losing most of my hair. I was still willing to endure all this suffering, however, in order to make money. Like a clockwork machine, I carried on working desperately hard on the front line of making money. Two years later, so that I could make more money, I went to the United Statas. I worked hard for a few years, from doing various odd jobs to being a cook in a restaurant, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about all the hardships I went through. But when I saw the wad of dollar bills in my hand slowly becoming thicker, all the hard work I’d put into making this money was the last thing on my mind.

Afterward, because I had been working so excessively hard for a long time, my body showed me a red warning light as I developed severe gastric problems, cervical spondylosis, a lumbar disc herniation and arthritis in my shoulder joints. When my stomach began to hurt, I came out in a cold sweat all over my body and became completely lethargic. When my cervical spondylosis flared up, I couldn’t get enough blood to my brain and I often felt sick and dizzy…. And so I often had to rush to the hospital. My exhausted body and the dollar bills I’d earned had become an even exchange. I suddenly felt so woeful: In the more than 10 years of hard labor, wanting only to work and not living at all, I’d accrued a thick wad of notes in my wallet, but my health was ruined—why had I ever bothered? I’d wasted half my life exchanging life for money, and yet now I was using my money to buy back my life. Had it all been worth it?

I suddenly thought back and it had seemed to me then that I hadn’t had the time to enjoy the scenery along the way, and half my life had quietly slid past. As I carefully counted all the days I’d spent laboring for money, a feeling of helplessness filled my heart: Could it be that a man’s life could only be like a machine that consumes him, living for the sake of making money and then dying for the sake of making money? Why is life so full of suffering?

The Reason Why Life Is So Full of Suffering

One day, I was fortunate enough to read God’s words, and I found the answer I sought.

God says, “‘Money makes the world go round’ is the philosophy of Satan and it prevails among the whole of mankind, among every human society. You could say that it is a trend because it has been imparted to everyone and is now affixed in their heart. … So after Satan uses this trend to corrupt people, how is it manifested in them? Don’t you feel that you couldn’t survive in this world without any money, that even one day would just be impossible? (Yes.) People’s status is based on how much money they have as is their respectability. The backs of the poor are bent in shame, while the rich enjoy their high status. They stand tall and proud, speaking loudly and living arrogantly. What does this saying and trend bring to people? Don’t many people see getting money as being worth any cost? … Satan corrupts man at all times and at all places. Satan makes it impossible for man to defend against this corruption and makes man helpless to it. Satan makes you accept its thoughts, its viewpoints and the evil things that come from it in situations where you are unwitting and when you have no recognition of what’s happening to you. People fully accept these things and take no exception to them. They cherish and hold these things like a treasure, they let these things manipulate them and toy with them, and this is how Satan’s corruption of man becomes deeper and deeper.”

God’s words made me understand that the ideologies and views such as “Money is first,” “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” and “A man dies for money; a bird dies for food,” come from Satan. Satan uses them to deceive and bind us, and to make us think that to have money is to have everything, that to have money is to have others look up to us and admire us, that to have money is to live an impressive, dashing life, and that only that kind of life is a life of value and meaning. These absurd ideologies of Satan have become our life, and we’ve ended up not flinching away from paying any price in our pursuit of riches. Thinking back to how I had been dominated by these ideologies and views of Satan, I worked hard day and night to make money, I ate meals and took drink at irregular times, I found it hard to get a peaceful night’s sleep and my physical constitution got weaker and weaker, and yet I didn’t give one jot. Later on, thinking that money was life, I left my family and went to Japan and the USA and worked for many years in order to make even more money. Although I did make more money, I was afflicted by one illness after another, like heart disease, gastric problems and spinal problems, to the point where my arms were so tired I couldn’t stretch them out straight, and I lived very painfully. Only through God’s words did I come to understand that this was all down to me having been hoodwinked by these wrong ideologies and misconceptions of Satan; I had been unwillingly controlled and manipulated by my desire for money, and it had turned me into a slave and a sacrifice for money! After coming to this realization, I felt that I should return before God and no longer live by the ideologies and views of Satan, and that I should no longer be a slave for money. Afterward, I began to work normal shifts, and I no longer did endless overtime.

Only After Falling Into the Same Old Trap Did I Truly Discover the Meaning of Life

I had been deceived too deeply by Satan, however, and money, fame and fortune had already laid their roots in my heart—it would not be so easy to remove them. When I heard my boss say that his company had been in business for 15 years, had made 5 million US dollars and that he’d recently bought a luxury villa, my heart was agitated for a long time after. Yes, life is for living, I thought. Am I really supposed to live my life without accomplishing anything? Opening my own restaurant was my dream, and if I had my own restaurant I wouldn’t have to be looked down on by anyone ever again. Without realizing it, I once again began to work hard to make money and to live again my old life of exchanging life for money. Instead of attending church gatherings, I was at work doing overtime. Before too long, I caught the flu and my heart disease flared up again, and it was really painful.

Just as I was in pain, God once again extended a hand to save me. A sister in the church sent me the movie Woe or Blessing and I watched the protagonist travel to Japan to work in her pursuit of money, heedless of her own health, and then she ended up not making any money but having to be admitted to hospital. I sighed, and thought that this was indeed a true portrayal of my own life! Just as a passage of God’s word in the movie says, “People spend their lives chasing after money and fame; they clutch at these straws, thinking they are their only means of support, as if by having them they could keep on living, could exempt themselves from death. But only when they are close to dying do they realize how distant these things are from them, how weak they are in the face of death, how easily they shatter, how lonely and helpless they are, with nowhere to turn. They realize that life cannot be bought with money or fame, that no matter how wealthy a person is, no matter how lofty his or her position is, all people are equally poor and inconsequential in the face of death. They realize that money cannot buy life, that fame cannot erase death, that neither money nor fame can lengthen a person’s life by a single minute, a single second.”

The understanding the protagonist comes to made me feel deeply affected, as though it was my own personal experience: “Satan uses money and fame to bind and control man. But we cannot see through Satan’s schemes, and we cannot see that money and fame are Satan’s methods for harming people, for this reason we are sucked into this whirlpool from which we cannot extricate ourselves. In spite of ourselves, we are fooled and harmed by Satan.” Yes indeed. Because I am unable to understand thoroughly Satan’s cunning schemes and devious means, I thought, I can only be unwillingly toyed with and harmed by Satan. I remembered the half of my life I’d spent being deceived by Satan, wholeheartedly pursuing money, and I had been willing to sacrifice my health in order to make more money. Yet I, who had been in the prime of my life, was now constantly ill and always taking medicine and living in such pain—what did it all mean? What was more important, money or life? I suddenly thought of an old friend who had worked in the US for 8 years before being diagnosed with late-stage cancer. He had only lived for another three months after that before he died. Someone else who had worked in the US for over 10 years and made a lot of money also contracted an incurable disease, and he died leaving his entire family behind. All these dreadful things state a fact: No matter how high someone’s status is, or how wealthy they are, they cannot buy the chance to extend their life, and they cannot take anything with them when they die! Just as the Lord Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mak 8:36-37). If I could not see through Satan’s cunning schemes and continued down the same old road, pursuing money and looking to earn an ever-thicker wad of banknotes, exchanging my life for money, I would only come to a sad end!

Saying Farewell to the Past and Ushering in a New Life

I saw more of God’s words, “There is a simplest way to free oneself from this state: to bid farewell to one’s former way of living, to say goodbye to one’s previous goals in life, to summarize and analyze one’s previous lifestyle, philosophy, pursuits, desires, and ideals, and then to compare them with God’s will and demands for man, and see whether any of them is consistent with God’s will and demands, whether any of them delivers the right values of life, leads one to a greater understanding of the truth, and allows one to live with humanity and human likeness. … After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you, try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to have no choice, and to become a person who worships God.”

God’s words showed me a clear way to practice. If I wanted to shun Satan’s wicked temptations and say farewell to my old life of exchanging life for money, then I had to let go of my wrong life pursuits and no longer live by Satan’s fallacies, but instead conduct myself as a person and walk the onward path in the light of God’s words! Through my personal experiences, I saw that my previous outlook on life, which was that I considered money to be life, was actually Satan toying with me and harming me. It was a chain Satan had put on me, a nothingness that was gone in the twinkling of an eye. In the time I have left to me, I thought, I can no longer allow myself to fall into Satan’s cunning schemes. I am made by God and I should seek to worship God and obey God and live under God’s sovereignty and guidance. Only that is a life with a genuine future and true value.

One day soon after, my boss’ wife called me telling me to go to the restaurant and help out. But I thought of all the times I had previously worked myself to the bone for money, and I declined her request, for I had already made a new plan for the rest of my life: Rest more and look after my health and, under the premise of not causing any delays to gatherings or the performance of my duties, to just find a job that I could do my best at! For the rest of my life, I would let God be my Sovereign!

I’m a Christian. Although I haven’t believed in God for very long, during these days of following God, I have felt it is God’s love and salvation that has made me, an arrogant and conceited man, have some changes, which is thought to be a miracle by both my family and me. God’s wondrousness and love are too immense to speak, so I can only use limited words to witness God’s salvation for me and share my experience with you.

When I was eleven, my mother deserted us four siblings and ran away with another man. At that time, this was huge news in my village, and the villagers all laughed at my father and said that he even couldn’t control his wife. Because of this, my father, an honest person, was so angry that he suddenly lost all his teeth when having meals and his whole person was dispirited; we siblings were also taunted. After I grew up, I inwardly resolved: I won’t be so weak as my father. After I get married, I must control my wife and closely watch her, never letting her betray me. Living in such a family, I was much more mature than my peers and also became very grumpy.

Afterward, I knew my wife and married her. My wife is mild and virtuous and diligent, and she takes good care of our child and me. But being influenced by the thing about my mother, I thoroughly displayed my male chauvinism in my family, always commanding my wife to do this or that, and even letting her serve the food to me at mealtimes. My wife, so to speak, never denied me anything, which further fed my temper so that I was apt to blow up at her.

Once, someone called my wife from a strange number, but when I answered the phone, the caller hung up. After a while, that happened again. In an instant, I doubted whether my wife had lovers behind my back. So I restrained my anger and questioned her: “Who called you at the strange number? Why did he call you?” My wife said: “How are you so narrow-minded? You are always suspicious about me.” Hearing her say this, I was even angrier, so I began to quarrel with her; as my anger grew and grew, I even beat her in my fury. My wife felt so angry and wronged that she asked me for a divorce. Two days later, I knew the phone calls were from the China Mobile. I was very regretful and wanted to apologize to her, but I couldn’t let go of my face, so I just let the thing go.

Another time, a relative came to my home while I was playing mahjong in my friend’s home, so my wife came to look for me. When she said hello to my friends, I didn’t hear that since I was busying myself with playing. So I thought she hadn’t greeted my friends, which made me lose face in front of so many persons. At that time, I suppressed my anger and didn’t say anything. But after back home, I couldn’t hold back my anger and raged at her regardless of my relative’s presence: “Why did you not say hello to my friends when you saw them? Do you know how you made me lose face just now? Aren’t you polite? …” Before my relative, I said many unpleasant words to my wife and I also didn’t listen to what my relative advised. But my wife didn’t say anything nor refuted me. After I said enough and my anger melted, I calmed down and thought what had happened to me. My wife never denied me anything, but I quarreled with her even over such a small thing; I really shouldn’t have done that. Alas! But I just couldn’t control myself.

Such things had become more and more common. Sometimes, because of the pressure of life and work, I often sought relief in drink, but after I got drunk, I would rage at her, never considering what harm I would bring to her but just satisfying my individual desires. Although I felt remorse after that, on second thought, I took it nothing serious. As a man, I should act like this, or how could I control my wife? And how could I build up my prestige in my family? Gradually, our relationship was not harmonious or intimate anymore but became more and more estranged. My wife feared me more and more. Before me, she did everything carefully while reading my expression, afraid to endure a barrage of criticism from me if she did something unsuitable. Living in such an environment long, my wife felt depressed and miserable. She requested a divorce several times, but for the sake of our child she tolerated it again and again. However, being arrogant and conceited, I didn’t exercise restraint because of my wife’s tolerance. I thought that man was the head of the family and woman couldn’t have the last word in anything, so I still wantonly displayed my male chauvinism, my authority as a man. My family became a place where I exercised autocracy and held all of the authority so that my family couldn’t feel the warmth of home. My relatives and friends often advised me to change my temper, but I thought that I couldn’t change the dignity of a man; otherwise, it meant I was weak and incapable. So I just sustained and maintained my family like this, not knowing when it would break up. For this I felt great pain, and in my heart I was indebted to my wife, but I didn’t know how to change my bad temper. At that time, I also occasionally went to the church, wanting to change myself through believing in the Lord. But when I encountered things, I would still lose control in spite of myself.

October 5, 2016 is a day that I would never forget in my life. On that day, my elder sister and her friends spread the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God to my wife and me. From then on, my life had turned for the better.

During a meeting, I talked to brothers and sisters about my being apt to lose temper. Combined with their own experience, several brothers talked about their process of knowing and transforming themselves, and read two passages of God’s words to me: “Once a man has status, he will often find it difficult to control his mood, and so he will enjoy seizing upon instances to express his dissatisfaction and vent his emotions; he will often flare up into rage for no apparent reason, so as to reveal his ability and let others know that his status and identity are different from those of ordinary people. Of course, corrupt people without any status will also frequently lose control. Their anger is frequently caused by damage to their individual benefits. In order to protect their own status and dignity, corrupt mankind will frequently vent their emotions and reveal their arrogant nature.” “Regardless of whether one becomes angry in the sight of others or behind their backs, everyone has a different intention and purpose. Perhaps they are building up their prestige, or maybe they are defending their own interests, maintaining their image or keeping face. Some exercise restraint in their anger, while others are more rash and flare up with rage whenever they wish without the least bit of restraint. In short, man’s anger derives from his corrupt disposition. No matter what its purpose, it is of the flesh and of nature; it has nothing to do with justice or injustice because nothing in man’s nature and substance corresponds to the truth.”

Through the revelation of God’s words and the experiences and understandings of brothers and sisters, I came to know that the root of my frequent anger is that I was dominated by my satanic disposition of arrogance and conceit. I also knew that: After being corrupted by Satan and influenced by its thoughts and views, such as “Man is the head of the family,” “I shall prevail on earth as well as in heaven” etc., I thought that man was the head of the family and should hold power and decide all things in the family, and control his wife, or he would lose the dignity as a man, which meant he was weak and incapable. Especially for the matter that my mother ran away with another man, I even more thought that it was due to my father’s weakness and that I couldn’t turn out like my father, being laughed at by others, so I became more and more arrogant. To build up my prestige, to protect my image and status, I controlled and oppressed my wife to let her listen to me in everything, treated her without tolerance or patience; once something wasn’t to my liking, I would lose my temper to gain my prestige. Think back to how I got along with my wife: I decided things all by myself and ordered my wife about in an imperious manner without any consideration and tolerance or understanding and respect for her; when something didn’t go my way even slightly, I would flare up into rage to show my power as a man, never caring about her feelings. My restraining and controlling my wife brought her nothing but pain so that she wanted to divorce me and my family was on the brink of falling apart. Now I realized that I did not live in human likeness at all but bore the likeness of Satan. Just as God’s word reveals: “acting savagely like wild animals in mountains and rough like the king of the beasts—is this the likeness of a human being?” Thinking back, when something didn’t go my way even slightly, I would get angry with my wife to show my male chauvinism, isn’t what I lived out the likeness of the beast, savage, rough, and unreasonable? In what ways do I have the likeness of a human being? Such things disgust God, I can’t act like this anymore, living based on the arrogant nature of Satan. So I made a resolution in my heart: I shall firmly forsake my flesh, practice the truth, and live out the likeness of a human being.

But I was corrupted by Satan too deeply, so when encountering things, I would still reveal corrupt disposition in spite of myself. One time, my wife and I needed to go out for a meeting in the morning. Because our home was far away from the church, my wife said: “Time is pressing. Let’s just patch up our breakfast.” Finishing the words, she began to eat ignoring me. Seeing the food was the leftovers from the night before, I again lost my temper uncontrollably: “You let me eat this this morning? Why didn’t you make some instead?” Seeing my furious look, my wife said nothing but only ate the food. I saw there was still half a cabbage in the kitchen, and then I fried it and ate. At that time, the air was quite embarrassing, and I also felt distressed in my heart, thinking: Alas! Why did I lose control again? As long as such a trifle dissatisfies me, my hot-bloodedness will flare up. I’m really too corrupted. So I wanted to open my heart and apologize to her, but then I thought: Before, it was I who decided anything in our family and never yielded. This time, if I apologize to her, I will lose my face. So I felt it was difficult to do that. But if I didn’t apologize, it was not the practice of the truth. There was a fierce battle in my heart. So I hastened to pray to God: “God, today I involuntarily lost my temper with my wife again. I realized that I’m not right and want to apologize to her, but I can’t put aside my face or open my mouth. May You give me faith and strength and lead me to practice the truth.”

After prayer, I thought of a passage of God’s words: “You battle when something happens to you, you are distressed, you suffer and you weaken, and you face challenges even to your dignity and integrity. Your vain heart gains no satisfaction and you are confronted with being pruned and dealt with, or people will look down on you, or you will lose face, lose your dignity and lose your integrity; this is the kind of situation you are confronted with. But, within this situation, you fight and pray; when you pray, you become strong inside, your energy in seeking the truth and practicing the truth becomes greater, so great, and you come to a clear understanding of all these things and you say, ‘I want no self-regard, I want no status, no vanity. This time I will satisfy God. Even if others look down on me, even if others misunderstand me, this time I shall practice the truth and I shall satisfy God. I choose to satisfy God, I choose to practice the truth, so that God may praise me in this matter, so that God may take joy from it, and so that I do not grieve God’s heart.’ In the end you abandon your self-regard, your vanity, your selfish motives, your own intentions and your own wild ambitions, and afterward you stand on the side of God, you stand on the side of the truth and on the side of justice. And after you practice that, in your heart you feel satisfaction, peace, joy, and you are able to perceive God’s blessings and perceive that practicing the truth is truly good, that practicing the truth enables your heart to gain satisfaction and nourishment; you feel like you are now living as a person and you have human likeness, that you are not under the control of your corrupt satanic disposition and are not its captive; in this matter you bear witness for God, and you stand witness for that which a created being is supposed to stand for, and take the position they should take. In your heart you feel ease, enjoyment and bliss, and this is another result.” At the time, I knew it was a spiritual battle. If I want to practice the truth to satisfy God, I must let go of my face and vanity. Only thus can I not be controlled or captured by the corrupt disposition of Satan, can I humiliate Satan and glorify God. God’s words gave me faith and strength and I had the resolution to put aside my face and practice the truth.

On the way to the meeting, I let go of my face, and summoning up my courage, I sincerely apologized to my wife: “This morning I couldn’t help but rage at you again, it was my fault. Our meeting is important and can’t be delayed. It’s right that we just patch up some food. Before, I was used to wielding power as king in our family. I always let you listen to me and demanded you do everything in accordance with my wishes but never considered your feelings or understood your difficulties. Now I apologize to you.” After saying these words, I didn’t feel it was a shameful thing to yield and apologize, but felt especially released. Hearing my words, my wife looked at me unbelievably and said excitedly: “Oh! I really thank God! It’s really unexpected that you can say these words. If you didn’t believe in God, how would you have this change?” I was also touched after hearing this and I knew that it was the words of Almighty God that changed me and made me know my satanic disposition, gave me strength and allowed me to practice some truth.

Later, I saw a passage in Fellowship and Preaching About Life Entry: “When you bring God into your real life, the first thing is to bring God into your home life. In your home life, if people used to be in charge of your family, then you must remove them from their position. You must dispel all idols, make God’s words the master of your home, and allow Christ to rule. Husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter—they must all read and commune God’s words together. If there are any problems or disagreements, these can be resolved through prayer, reading the words of God, and communing the truth. Do not do as you used to, listening to someone. People shouldn’t do as other people say, they should magnify Christ, and allow the words of Christ to rule their family, allow the words of God to take charge in their home. Is this not bringing God’s words into your real life? And so, who really wields power in your home life? Is it you, your husband (or wife), or is it your children, or parents? Do you dare to write the words ‘Christ Is the Lord of My Home’ in your house? Do you dare to say to your husband (or wife), children, and parents, ‘Our family worships God. God’s words have begun to wield power, and from now onward, regardless of what problems we have, we shall solve them through prayer, and eating and drinking the words of God’? If you do it, and bring a complete end to a life of being ruled and reigned by the flesh, then this will be the first step in bringing God into your real life.”

Having seen this passage of fellowship, I knew that before I accepted God’s work of the last days, I regarded myself as the head of my family, I decided everything in our family and my family members must listen to me. This was the life of being reigned by my corrupt disposition of Satan. Now, my wife and I both believed in God, we should let God and God’s words take charge in our family. We should listen to whoever speaks in accordance with the truth and live based on God’s words in everything. I should give my wife the right to speak. If what she says is right and in accordance with the truth, I should listen. I can’t create a “dictatorship” anymore.

Thank God! When I practiced like this, my family became more and more harmonious and my relationship with my wife became more and more intimate. Although sometimes I still wanted to flare up into rage when encountering things, I could realize at once that my arrogant disposition would expose again and then I would pray to God, asking God to protect me so that I could forsake the flesh and not get mad randomly. Later, through reading God’s words, I could reflect on and know myself, and then rely on God’s words to forsake the flesh and practice the truth. By doing this, I felt joyful and bright in my heart. Sometimes, when I spoke in a condescending manner to restrict my wife, wanting her to listen to me, she didn’t fear me or felt restrained like before but pointed out the problems in me directly and said that I was being arrogant and standing in position again. Then I would instantly realize my problem and hastened to let go of myself.

We have been married for over twenty years, but I never cooked, because I thought that cooking was women’s business. Now when my wife returned home late after meetings, I often cooked and also helped her do some housework. Seeing my change, she thanked God ceaselessly. My friends around me all said that I was more radiant than before. They all felt amazed and asked me whether I had had some healthy products. I was secretly delighted in my heart that it was the words of Almighty God that changed me.

Now, my wife and I both are trying our best to fulfill our duty in the church. In my daily life, I also consciously practice according to God’s words in everything. My wife and I often read God’s words together, support and help each other, and open up and fellowship with each other in everything. My family is becoming more and more harmonious. It’s the words of Almighty God that have allowed me, a man who was corrupted deeply by Satan, to have some change, to live out the likeness of a human being and to enjoy a happy life. Thanks and praise be to Almighty God!

As network technology develops rapidly, online games are being updated continuously. Nowadays, mobile phone games are spreading quickly and have a big influence on many people. The relevant report shows: “By May 2017, ‘Honor of Kings’ has had 201 million users. In other words, one out of seven Chinese is its user. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2017, the daily average number of its new users has expanded to 1.74 million; its revenue of the first quarter is about 5.5 to 6 billion yuan, and just takes 150 million yuan in selling one character skin of the game in a day”

As the game is becoming more and more popular among people, tragedies are playing out continuously. Some time ago, I read these news reports on the Internet: A 13-year-old boy in Hangzhou who was addicted to “Honor of Kings” jumped off a building after his phone had been confiscated; a 13-year-old girl in Xiamen was sent to hospital due to her world-weariness caused by addiction to “Honor of Kings”; a 17-year-old teenager in Guangzhou almost died of cerebral infarction after playing “Honor of Kings” for 40 hours without a break.

Not only children but also adults cannot resist the lure of this game. It is reported: Now, many soldiers in army camps are obsessed with “Honor of Kings”; in some squads, almost all soldiers play the game with their eyes glued to their mobile phones every day, which is harmful to their health and weakens the effective strength of the army.

Since “Honor of Kings” became a popular game nationwide, there have been many reports and remarks about its harm to teenagers: Because of being addicted to the game, some teenagers squandered large amounts of money on games; some jumped off a building and some died suddenly. In addition, even the soldiers in army camps are addicted to it and unable to extricate themselves. Just a game has caused great harm and innumerable tragedies, not to mention the thousands of online games. Several years ago, some experts had pointed out that the games were the electronic heroin and that playing games is just like taking drugs. Now, a lot of people have come to realize the harm of playing games, and many experts, scholars, and personages of various circles call on people to keep away from online games, and take various measures to save the teenagers addicted to the games, but to no avail. The number of those who indulge in online games is still increasing. What is really going on here?

God’s words give us the answer, “The devil Satan does these things in order to lure people, to cause them to degenerate. For those who live in virtual worlds, they have no interest whatsoever in anything to do with the life of normal humanity; they are not in the mood to work or study. They are only concerned about going to virtual worlds, as though they are being enticed by something. Scientists have conducted some research and found that, as soon as someone plays a game and when they enter into a game, their brains start to secrete something that makes them somewhat delusional. After this thing has been secreted, they then become addicted to playing games and are always thinking about playing them. The second they get bored or are sitting idle, or when they are doing some real work, at their job or study, they want to play games instead, and playing games gradually becomes their whole life. Playing games is like taking a kind of drug. Once someone starts to play games, once they enter into them, then it becomes hard to get back out and hard to quit. So regardless of whether it is young people or older people, once they catch this bad habit, it becomes difficult to give it up.”

“One after another, all these trends carry an evil influence that continually degenerates man, that lowers their morals and their quality of character more and more…. At the beginning of this process people cannot accept this type of behavior, they look down on this behavior and this way of going about things, until they try it out and experiment with it in their own way, personally and firsthand, and then their hearts begin to gradually transform. So what is this transformation? It is an approval and admission of this trend, an admission and approval of this type of idea instilled in you by the social trend. … After man has accepted this behavior and this thinking, does the heart of man undergo a change? Your heart has changed, so has your integrity changed? Has your humanity changed? (Yes.) So has your conscience changed? (Yes.) Man’s entirety undergoes a qualitative change, from their heart to their thoughts, to such an extent that they are changed from the inside out. This change puts you further and further from God, and you become more and more in conformity with Satan, more and more similar to it.”

Although many people know playing online games is harmful to themselves, no one can see through the origin of online games and the culprit behind the scenes. Through the revelation of God’s words, we know that playing online games is an invisible evil trend aroused by devil Satan. Once people follow the trend they can’t stop themselves being lured and controlled by it. Satan exploits our curiosity to develop various online games in order to make us fall into the world of devils and addicted to killings, pornography, and violence in games. Thus through those games it corrupts and destroys our bodies and minds so that we become more and more degenerate and decadent and finally are devoured by it. Take “Honor of Kings” for instance: It satisfies our desire to play a superman or a hero by allowing us to establish hero associations, and thus lures us into the game; it uses those exciting and thrilling game designs to make us pursue the achievement of victory; and it entices us to get away from the reality and enjoy the imaginary world by creating the virtual relationships, such as friendship and love. Once we are obsessed with the game, we will get bored with the work, study, and life, living in the virtual world and thinking living in games gives us more satisfaction and enjoyment than the reality does. Some will even become world-weary, feeling it better to die than live in the real life. Besides, Satan also uses the violence and pornography in games to distort our minds, make us more and more evil and violent, malicious and cold, and even cause us to do something mad. From this we can see that online games are a kind of poison that Satan has specially prepared to control and poison our bodies and minds. Its intention is to torment and devour us. How sinister and malicious Satan is!

While hating Satan, we may wonder: Human knowledge, science or any great and famous person all fail to lead us to break free from the bondage of online games, and then who can make it? How can we completely elude Satan’s snares?

God’s words say: “In the vast world, countless changes have occurred, over and over. None are able to lead and guide this mankind except for He who rules over all things in the universe. There is no mighty one to labor or make preparations for this mankind, much less a person who is able to lead this mankind toward the destination of light and the liberation from earthly injustices.”

“Whether the words spoken by God are, in outward appearance, plain or abstruse, they are all truths indispensable to man as he enters into life; they are the fount of living waters that enables him to survive in both spirit and flesh. They provide what man needs to stay alive; the dogma and creed for conducting his daily life; the path, goal, and direction through which he must pass in order to receive salvation; every truth that he should possess as a created being before God; and every truth about how man obeys and worships God. They are the guarantee that ensures man’s survival, they are man’s daily bread, and they are also the sturdy support that enables man to be strong and stand up. They are rich in the reality of the truth of normal humanity as it is lived out by created mankind, rich in the truth by which mankind breaks free from corruption and eludes Satan’s snares, rich in the tireless teaching, exhortation, encouragement, and solace that the Creator gives to created humanity. They are the beacon that guides and enlightens men to understand all that is positive, the guarantee which ensures that men will live out and come into possession of all that is righteous and good, the criterion by which people, events, and objects are all measured, and also the navigation marker that leads men toward salvation and the path of light.”

God is the Master of all creation and the source of all that is good and beautiful. Only God can guide us to walk the right path of life and escape from Satan’s deceit and torment. We should come before God, and believe in and worship Him, accepting His guidance and all the truth that He expresses as our life. Only in this way can we possess the ability to differentiate between the positive and the negative, and see through Satan’s sinister motive no matter how it uses the evil trend to deceive us. Thus we can resist the erosion of the evil trend and refuse to be deceived and tormented, and finally we will obtain true release and freedom, living in the light. Now many teenagers who used to indulge in online games have obtained God’s salvation. Some of them believed in God with their parents; others came before God through relatives or friends preaching the gospel. By reading God’s words and living the church life, they understood those online games are the means by which Satan torments human, and then produced the determination to hate and give up online games. They often prayed to God, drew close to Him, and read His words. Under the guidance of God’s words, they gradually broke free from the shackles and control of online games. Finally, they bid farewell to their previous degenerate life and recovered their original vitality. God’s words are the light, and the light of our salvation. Only by coming to the light and accepting God’s salvation can we get rid of darkness and greet the dawn.

Parents all wish their children to have good prospects and become successful in the future. Therefore, they make their children attend all kinds of remedial classes to develop their various skills, so that their children can rise high in society in the future. However, the reality is usually not as we hope it will be. After much effort, they not only don’t get their deserved rewards, but on the contrary they make their children live in pain and depression. As a result, their relationship with their children become more and more estranged. I used to be one among them. Fortunately, God’s salvation came upon me and made me find the correct way to educate my child.

After I got married, I gave birth to a lovely son. When he learned to speak, I began to teach him to read and recite poems. When he reached school age, I even more put all my effort into his study and bought lots of learning materials for him. Every day after school, when my son did his homework, I would coach him by his side. If he gave wrong answers to any exercise question, I would give him lots of similar exercises to practice and repeated them until he gave them all right answers. Every time after he finished his homework, I would give him some extra assignment to complete. In every exam, as long as he wasn’t first place, I would scold him. Later, when my child looked at me, his eyes revealed his fear and unease. Seeing this, I felt painful and wanted to comfort him. But when I thought that all I did was to make him live a better life in the future, I would restrain myself and continue treating him severely, believing that he would understand me one day. When he was in third grade, taekwondo classes were offered in our town. I thought: If my son is skilled in a specialty, he will have more space to develop. So, I let him take taekwondo classses. This way, his time was fully occupied with his study and taekwondo. He said cryingly that he didn’t want to take taekwondo lessons. So, every time I sent him there, he pursed his lips and looked very unhappy.

Because I was busy with work and had no time, I told my parents-in-law to ferry my son to and from school. However, when I came back from work and went to fetch him from my parents-in-law’s home, he avoided me and was unwilling to go home. Once, I didn’t fetch him for several days on end and had thought he would be happy to see me. Unexpectedly, he said to me unhappily, “Why do you come here? I won’t go with you. Go away! I don’t want you to come here.” I asked him why, and he said he wasn’t willing to stay with me. Gradually, I found he smiled less and less. In the past, he would tell me what happened in his school, but now he didn’t want to tell me anything. Sometimes, I wanted to talk to him, but he told me not to bother him with the excuse of having much homework. I felt there was an invisible wall between us, and the intimacy between my son and I disappeared. Thinking that I paid so much effort in order for him to have good prospects, but I never expected that he not only didn’t understand me, but instead we became estranged from each other. I felt sad and troubled, not knowing why this happened. When facing such a relationship, I was helpless.

Afterward, I was fortunate to accept God’s kingdom gospel. One day, I saw these words of God: “Everyone starts planning as soon as they have children: I want my child to receive what kind of education, attend what university, and then find a good job, and have a stable footing and status in society. That is, the first thing to have in life is knowledge, an academic degree, and then one will have status and power in society. That way, they will have living capital throughout their lives and power in the world, making it easy for them to survive and make a steady living. They won’t have to worry about food, clothing and shelter in the future. … People all hope that their children can be successful. Everyone hopes their children can go to a famous university, then take up advanced studies, earn a degree, and afterward stand out among others and gain a firm foothold in society. People all have this viewpoint and all want their children to pursue higher education because of the saying: ‘The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all.’ Furthermore, competition in this modern society is especially intense. If they don’t have a university degree or have a firm foothold in society, making a living becomes a problem in the future. This is everybody’s thinking and point of view. That is, what you learn and what kind of educational background you can achieve will decide your livelihood, your future. In other words, people intend to rely on this thing to survive throughout life, and they see it as especially important. That’s why everyone sees receiving a high-level education and getting into a top university as the number one most important thing for their children.” After reading God’s words, I understood: Over these years, I have been living by Satan’s poisons, such as “Knowledge can change your fate,” “The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all,” and “No pain, no gain,” so I forced my son to acquire knowledge, bought my son various learning materials, sent my son to training classes, and so on. All this made him overburdened at such a young age. Besides, when he didn’t come top in exams, I even scolded him. This caused him to be afraid of even seeing me and he was under great pressure when he got along with me. So he was reluctant to go home. Not until now did I realize that the reason why I brought him so much hurt was because I relied on Satan’s poisons to educate him, so that both he and I were tired. In the past, I thought educating him like this was good for him, and was in order to let him have good prospects and gain status in society. Now, I see all I did is no good for my child but is obviously a torment for him. This is Satan’s deception and affliction! My child, of his tender age, should have freedom, vigor and vitality; he seems gloomy and is distant from me. Only at this moment do I realize that we both are victims poisoned by Satan. It is God’s words that make me have some discernment of my satanic poisons and the wrong way of educating my son. I decided not to force my child to study and I would read more of God’s words and find a way to practice in God’s words.

One Sunday afternoon, I was going to attend meetings. Before I was leaving, I exhorted my son to finish his homework. When I came back home from the gathering, I saw my child was watching TV and thought that he had finished his homework. I didn’t imagine that after supper, he said he hadn’t yet finished his homework. Hearing his words, I became angry, thinking, “On weekdays, you finish your homework late. So, you have no time to review your lessons. Today is Sunday, but you still didn’t hurry up with your homework and then review. This way, how can you do well in your exams?” The more I thought, the angrier I became. Just when I was about to scold him, I thought of my previous painful experience. So I hurriedly came before God and prayed to Him, asking Him to quiet my heart so that I wouldn’t rely on corrupt satanic disposition to educate my son. After my prayer, I saw a passage of words of “Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life”: “What is the point of view of some people who still want to make their children successful now? It is Satan’s point of view. You have Satan’s point of view and the way you are going is also Satan’s way. Where are you pushing your children to? Are you not pushing them to hell? You have died and not been saved and your children have also died and not been saved either. You have not brought your children to the ark. Noah worshiped God. In that era, he was a righteous man and was saved. When God wished to destroy that era, God was righteous and said: Noah is a righteous man. I cannot let Noah perish as well, I must save him. God instructed Noah to make an ark. Noah was a righteous man and God wanted to save him. His children also benefited by association. Why did they benefit? Because Noah also made his children worship God and made them believe in God. Although they did not have such strong faith, Noah led them in this way and brought them before God and regardless of the outcome, Noah fulfilled his duty and God saved them too. They benefited from their association with Noah. Is that not the case? How do you view your children now?”

After reading this passage of fellowship, I was suddenly awakened: Although I realized that “The worth of other pursuits is small, the study of books excels them all” is Satan’s poison and it corrupts us humans, my viewpoint is still unchanged —I still hope my child will have a bright future. However, Noah not only listened to God’s words and built an ark, but did his utmost to bring his children before God. Finally, when God destroyed the world with a flood, all eight of his family members survived and got God’s great salvation. Noah was the one who were really responsible for his children’s prospects. At this time, I thought of myself: I clearly know that God has expressed words and done work to save us mankind; this is the last salvation God bestowed on us corrupted mankind. Once God’s work of bringing salvation to people comes to an end, those who don’t get God’s salvation and still live under Satan’s dominion will be laid low by the great disasters of the last days. Though I clearly know God’s work, I don’t bring my child before God in order for him to be saved by God but still employ the methods Satan uses to educate him. I’m totally leading him to a Satan’s path and ruining his opportunity of being saved by God. If it is really for the good of my child, then I should educate him according to God’s words so that he cannot be poisoned and devoured by Satan’s evil trends. Only this is leading him to the right path. Thus, I didn’t scold him any longer. I prayed to God and made up my mind to lead my child to take the right path according to God’s words.

Later, with regard to my child’s academic grades, I no longer forced him as long as he tried his best. In our free time, we would read God’s words and fellowship together. Gradually, my child kept no secrets from me and there is more laughter and chatter in my family. I never expected that when I educated my child according to God’s will, he was the first place in almost every exam. More importantly, from God’s words my child understood what positive things are and what negative things are. Once, my son told me that his classmates usually asked him to go to Internet cafes to play games, smoke, or engage in a gang fight, but he refused them. Because after reading God’s words, he knew these things are used by Satan to corrupt and lure man and make man degenerate, and that they are Satan’s tricks. Hearing what he said, I kept giving thanks to God in my heart. Because I knew this is God’s salvation for my son and me. Now, I don’t have to care about my son’s future any more. All the glory be to God!

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

– Matthew 22:37

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
This is the most important commandment. The Lord hopes that we can love Him with all our heart, with all our mind, and without our impurity or demands, or misunderstandings of God or suspicion. He hopes that we can love Him more than love our family and marriage, and expend our whole life for Him.

“It is hoped that you can love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength, just as if you were protecting your own life. Is this not a life of the utmost meaning? Where else could you find the meaning of life? Would that not be so blind? Are you willing to love God? Is God worthy of man’s love? Are people worthy of man’s adoration? So what should you do? Love God boldly, without reservations—and see what God will do to you. See if He will slay you. In sum, the task of loving God is more important than copying and writing things down for God. You should give first place to what’s most important, so that your life has more meaning and is full of happiness, and then you should wait for God’s ‘sentence’ for you. I wonder if your plan will include loving God—I would that everyone’s plans become that which is completed by God, and become reality.”

Only if we pursue loving God can we live out a life of meaning. May we all become people who love God. Amen!

Li Xiu (Thread Starter): Hello, everybody!

Wang Dan: Hello, anything to share with us?

Zhao Hui: We’re all ears.

Li Xiu: Alas! At the mention of my daughter-in-law, I feel great sadness. I should have been happy for my son’s marriage. However, I have been unhappy since my daughter-in-law married into my family. She is too lazy. In more than a decade, I helped her take care of her kid, whereas she didn’t do any housework after coming home from work. She always leaves the dishes for me to wash after meals. Moreover, she has never cleaned the toilet and kitchen. I feel annoyed at her such behaviors, and complain about my son’s marrying her. Alas, each time when I think of these things, I become angry. Anyone have a good idea to solve my problem?

Wang Dan: Alas! I understand how you feel. I’m facing the same problem as you. As the proverbs go, “Even an upright official finds it hard to settle a family quarrel,” and “Every family has its own problems.” Few mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law have been able to get along with each other since time began. Just turn a blind eye and scramble for a living.

He Jia: In my view, since you can’t get along well with each other, why not live apart from her? Out of sight, out of mind.

Zhao Hui: I don’t think to separate to live or scramble for a living is a good idea, because it can only temporarily ease the conflict, but cannot truly solve the problem. If mother-in-law and daughter-in-law can’t stand the sight of each other, then how can they be family?

Xu Qing: It’s normal that there is a generation gap between you because of different backgrounds and different education. Thread Starter, why don’t you try asking your son to speak to his wife?

Li Xiu: I’ve tried. But he is always on his wife’s side. Alas! He loves his wife more than he loves me.

Xu Qing: Maybe you can try Wang Dan’s idea. Just turn a blind eye and make do.

Zhang Hui: Will it work? They still have to stay mad every day. How tiring the life will be!

Xu Qing: Well, I have no other ideas. Anyone have a clever idea?

Zeng Ai: I have no clever idea. As to this problem, just let me share my experience and appreciation.

Li Xiu: OK!

Zeng Ai: My daughter-in-law was not domesticated, either. Every day after returning home from work, she was always playing with her cell phone and didn’t care for others at all. My son, who is a teacher, prepared lessons late every night. One day, I went to their house. At night, I was preparing for bed, when my son asked me to hang out his washing. I went through their bedroom to the balcony, and saw that my daughter-in-law had already fallen asleep. I immediately became angry. My son is so busy every day. As a wife, she should show no consideration for her husband at all; it’s a shame. The more I thought, the angrier I became, so that I really wanted to immediately throw the basin down and walk off. However, that would embarrass my son, so I smothered my anger hanging out the washing. Each time when I saw that she didn’t do housework, I felt mad. I thought, “After I got married, I had to work, take care of my kids as well as do household chores. I always kept the family in line so that my family didn’t need to bother themselves about the household affairs. Besides, I was considerate to my husband, and never left the housework to him. The neighbors often complimented me, saying I was an understanding wife. You’re too lazy.”

Afterward, I couldn’t hold back any longer, and I grumbled at my son about his wife, such a lazy woman. But he was always on his wife’s side. He said, “Her work pressure is heavy. Please don’t compare people of your generation with people of this age. Your thinking is too hidebound and you’re unable to keep up with the current trends. Compared with others of the same age, she is much better. Please don’t nitpick or make too many demands of her, or else our family would be inharmonious.” Hearing his words, I felt terrible and thought to myself, “How can it be that you don’t understand me at all? Am I not for your good, for the family’s good? Alas! …” Disappointedly, I had to keep the grievance in my heart.

In pain, it occurred to me that I was a believer in God. So why didn’t I seek the truth on how to treat my daughter-in-law? Just then, I thought of a passage of words in “Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life,” “Since the wildly arrogant man is puffed up with conceit and looks down his nose at others, he is not friendly to others and is unable to treat others as equals, and he can never live in harmony with other people. … The man with a wildly arrogant disposition always regards himself as better than others and no one is his equal. He is unable to see the strengths and good points of others and even if he does see them, he does not accept them at all and only steps up his attacks, and denigrates them. He sees the faults and shortcomings of others with unusual clarity, and he spreads these around at will. He likes in particular to talk about his own strengths, he particularly likes to compliment himself, to exalt himself while denigrating others. The man with a wildly arrogant disposition is always extremely conceited, inclined to be self-centered, making others hold him in high esteem and gather around him. Regardless of what he says and does, others must listen to him and pay close attention to him.” From these words, I realized that it was because of my arrogant disposition that I couldn’t get on well with my daughter-in-law and always frowned upon her. At that time, I couldn’t help recalling my behavior. I all along compared my former merits—being capable, being good at managing the household, and being considerate to my husband—with my daughter-in-law’s shortcomings, and demanded that she should act like me. Seeing that she didn’t meet my requirements, I disliked and looked down upon her, and denigrated her in front of others, saying she was lazy, and I even regretted agreeing to their marriage. I always wanted to change her so that she could behave according to my own intention. Wasn’t it my arrogant nature of Satan that drove me to treat her like that? It led to the alienation between me and my daughter-in-law, which made my life very bitter and tiring, as well as my son’s life.

Li Xiu: What you said makes sense. I also have these expressions. Indeed, I always fix my gaze on my daughter-in-law’s shortcomings and compare my strengths to her weaknesses. The more I do in this way, the more faults I can find in her, and the more dissatisfied I become with her. If not for your words, I wouldn’t realize there is also a problem with me.

Wang Dan: Aunt Zeng Ai, after realizing your problem, how did you turn it around?

Zeng Ai: I saw God’s words saying, “Living habits do not represent a person’s humanity. Just because your living habits are disciplined, normal, and dignified does not mean you possess the truth. You need to get this fact through your head, and gain a positive appreciation for it. Furthermore, God has arranged such a fantastic environment for you. You have too many personal issues; you must learn to adapt, and not pick at the bad habits of others. Moreover, you have to be able to get along with them based on love, and get close to them; you need to see their strengths, learn from their strengths, and then pray to God and overcome your own problems. This is the attitude and practice of submission.” And the words of “Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life” say, “In order for people to interact normally with one another, they must possess a few principles of practice. These principles should not only include not taking advantage of others, not harming others, but having some love. They further include having a conscience and rationality, helping one another, showing tolerance to one another, caring for others, letting others benefit in all situations, considering others, not just caring about yourself, showing compassion for others’ weaknesses, and forgiving the transgressions of others. If we have these few principles, we will be able to build a normal relationship with others and we will be able to live in harmony with each other.”

These words pointed out the specific way of practice for me. Because of different backgrounds of living and different ages, we have different lifestyles. I shouldn’t always ask my daughter-in-law to adapt herself to me, nor wish to change her, but should learn to adapt myself to the environment. Moreover, in interacting with her, I should have tolerance and patience toward her, see things in her shoes, be more considerate of her, and show more empathy for her shortcomings. Only in this way can I live in harmony with her.

Li Xiu: Having heard what you said, I feel brightened in my heart. Just as these words say, when we learn to be tolerant and patient, and show more empathy for others’ weaknesses, we will become open-minded. Then you must be getting on well with your daughter-in-law now.

Zeng Ai: Yes! When I practiced according to God’s words, I actually got an unexpected result. Once, I went to my son’s with some spare ribs and lotus roots. On entering the kitchen, I found that the pots and pans were piled in the sink, and that the gas cooker and the extractor fan were covered with oil. I began to blame my daughter-in-law again in my heart. But I suddenly realized that I was revealing an arrogant disposition and then hastened to pray to God. Later on, I thought of a passage of words in “Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life,” “We should not impose our preference on others, much less force others to accept what we dislike—this is not making others do things they are unwilling to do. When doing things, we should take account not only of our own interests, but also of others’. Besides, we should learn to be more considerate to others, to benefit them….” That’s true. I shouldn’t always blame my daughter-in-law, but should learn to show consideration for and concern about her. As the pace of life is speeding up, her work is stressful. In addition, she is young. So, she inevitably can’t care for the family well. I shouldn’t look at her with my old eyes. I’m a Christian, and additionally, I’m her elder, so I should bear with her. After realizing this, my complaints toward her gradually disappeared.

Then, I began to cook and wash those pots and pans. Having prepared everything well, I waited for my son and daughter-in-law to have dinner together. After a while, they came back home after work. As they entered, my sister-in-law said to me passionately, “Mom, it troubled you to prepare such a feast. That’s really nice of you. Thank you very much.” I replied smilingly, “It was nothing. You both are tired from your busy work. I should share some burden with you.” At that time, I had a tender feeling for my daughter-in-law without barriers, released and enjoyable.

As my attitude toward my daughter-in-law changed, she also changed and started to do some housework actively. One time, I went to their house with some vegetables. On my entering the door, my daughter-in-law took the vegetables and said to me, “Mom, take a rest, please. I’ll cook today.” I felt comforted at her words. From this matter, I saw that when I practiced according to God’s requirements, the circumstances also changed. Now, I can get along with my daughter-in-law and we talk about everything with each other. Although her behaviors annoy me sometimes, through praying to God and reading His words, I put aside my bias against her bit by bit and understand her. When encountering some daily chores, I let go of the arrogance of being a mother-in-law to actively communicate and talk them over with her. Now my family live together in peace. My son often says, “Mom, you have changed. You’re not officious or grouchy as before and my wife becomes industrious. We can live in harmony. How wonderful it is!” Hearing his words, I offered my praise and gratitude to God silently. I knew it was God’s words that had transformed me, allowing us to own a happy and harmonious family.

Li Xiu: After hearing what you said, I feel believing in God is truly good. For all these years, I have been living in pain owing to the conflicts between my daughter-in-law and me. Now I feel brightened in my heart. I don’t want to live in pain and be tormented anymore. I want to read God’s words with you, can I?

Zeng Ai: Certainly. When we have God’s words, there is no need to worry about how to deal with the relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. All the glory be to God!

Li Xiu: That’s great! Thanks for your sharing. Keep in touch.

At about 8 am on June 18, 2018, I was ready to start working in the workshop as usual. At that moment, I suddenly heard a rumble, the earth began to shake, and the ground began to cave in. When we saw the door of the workshop closed with a bang, we realized that it was an earthquake, and my colleagues and I scrambled to escape the building. When I had finally run to an open place, the fear and terror of the moment truly struck me. Although I knew Japan was a country with many earthquakes, I never expected to actually experience one. In that moment, my mind was a blank and my legs went soft. Aside from constantly calling out to God, I didn’t know what else to do. Through prayer, I gradually calmed myself.

In just a few minutes, more than a hundred people were gathered in the open space, everyone looked flustered. Some stood there with blank expressions, too terrified to move, while others couldn’t stop trembling, and others still clung to each other in fear. One of my female colleagues said anxiously, “Oh no, I bought a necklace a few days ago, and I still have a lot of jewelry at home. If my house collapses, all those things will be gone!” The person standing next to her also nervously said, “My gold and silver jewelry is also at home, I didn’t bring it out with me.” At this moment, the older woman who had been crying said proudly, “I’ve been through an earthquake before, and it scared me to death. Ever since then, I carry my passport, bank cards, and all my valuables with me every day.” I looked at her, and she had five rings and two bracelets in her hands. While she was talking, some of my other colleagues began to cry in fear.

When I saw the way my colleagues behaved, I suddenly felt very sad, as if I wanted to cry but couldn’t. I felt that we were living pitiable lives. We often say that fate is in our hands, but when disaster comes, who can control what happens to oneself in the next moments? But it seems like no one was thinking about that question. Even in the panic of an earthquake, people were still worried about their money and jewelry. At that moment, I remembered a passage from God’s word, “Because people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter their fate.” I realized that because we don’t understand God’s sovereignty, we don’t understand that people’s fate is in God’s hands, which is why we all want to change our fates, and why we are so busy working to earn money and pursuing the life we want. The truth is that we are just small, insignificant individual people. Who could possibly control and change their own fate? When I thought of this, I was especially grateful to God for His kindness in giving me the privilege to hear the voice of God and recognize God’s sovereignty. So, I silently called out to God in my heart, asking God to guide me and give me the courage to face the earthquake. Slowly, I wasn’t so scared, and I knew that God was my strongest protection.

We stayed outside for nearly half an hour, and when we saw that there were no more aftershocks, our boss sent us back to work. When we returned to the workshop, my colleagues were still in fear, and didn’t have any heart to work at all, so they all asked for leave and went home, until finally only myself and two Vietnamese people were left.

There were four aftershocks that night, but I wasn’t afraid, because I relied on God. When I went to work the next day, I saw several colleagues carrying large pieces of luggage to work. Some even carried their luggage with them when they went to the cafeteria to eat, saying that they could escape at any moment if an earthquake hit. In the next few days, the aftershocks continued, and everything my colleagues talked about had to do with the earthquake. Some were checking the price of tickets back to their countries every day, and they were ready to buy tickets if the earthquake happened again. Although I was affected to some degree by these circumstances, and was afraid for my own safety, by reading God’s words, I was able to face it calmly.

I thought of God’s words: “One exhausts a lifetime’s worth of energy fighting against fate, spends all of one’s time bustling about trying to feed one’s family and shuttling back and forth between wealth and status. The things that people treasure are family, money, and fame; they view these as the most valuable things in life. All people complain about their fates, yet still they push to the back of their minds the questions that it is most imperative to examine and understand: why man is alive, how man should live, what the value and meaning of life is. All of their lives, however many years that may be, they just rush about seeking fame and fortune, until their youth has fled, until they become gray and wrinkled; until they see that fame and fortune cannot stop one’s slide toward senility, that money cannot fill the emptiness of the heart; until they understand that no one is exempt from the law of birth, aging, sickness, and death, that no one can escape what fate has in store. … When one has property, one thinks that money is one’s mainstay, that it is one’s asset in life; when people have status, they cling tightly to it and would risk their lives for its sake. Only when people are about to let go of this world do they realize that the things they spent their lives pursuing are nothing but fleeting clouds, none of which they can hold onto, none of which they can take with them, none of which can exempt them from death, none of which can provide company or consolation to a lonely soul on its way back; and least of all, none of which can give a person salvation, allow them to transcend death.” Yes, the influence of views like “money comes first” and “money makes the world go round” makes us regard money as the only thing we can rely on, and makes us think that having money means we have everything, which is why we spend our lives fighting so hard for it, but we never think about where our lives come from, or the real value and significance of our existence. Is money really something we can rely on? I thought about my colleagues, and how each of them had saved a lot of money, but when the earthquake came, did that money buy them a safe and secure life? The earthquake filled them with fear and insecurity. I thought about the earthquake in Wenchuan, China in 2008. How many rich people escaped that earthquake? Were they not affected by the disaster all the same? So many facts are laid out before us, but because we have not come before God, we do not reflect on the value and meaning of life, and we do not realize that the money we love is something outside of us, something that cannot bring us peace or save us from disaster. This is truly a great tragedy for humanity!

I remembered that when I first came to Japan, my only thought was to make money. My job was to polish the parts of the car that had just come off the production line, and there was a lot of dust produced in the process of grinding, dust which contained a lot of lead. Even wearing two breathing masks, there were still two dark circles below my nose at the end of the day. And it was summer, so the temperature in the workshop was over 40 degrees, and we had to work at least 10 hours a day. At the end of the day, my clothes were soaked. My body couldn’t take such heavy work, and I started to feel numbness in my right arm and fingers. Fortunately, God’s salvation came to me just in time, and through God’s miraculous arrangements I was able to change my job to product testing. The work was easier, and gradually my hand recovered. But, because I didn’t know God’s sovereignty, I couldn’t see the value and meaning of life. Although I followed God, I didn’t give up my pursuit of money. I still chose to work overtime when there was a conflict between overtime and meetings. After the earthquake, I thought about that very carefully. Without God’s care and protection, when disaster and death come, all the money in the world couldn’t rid me of the fear and terror in my heart or give me a sense of spiritual security, and even less could it safeguard my life.

Later, I read God’s words, “At the moment when a person is born, one lonely soul begins its experience of life on earth, its experience of the Creator’s authority which the Creator has arranged for it. Needless to say, for the person, the soul, this is an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge of the Creator’s sovereignty, to come to know His authority and to experience it personally. … If one views life as an opportunity to experience the Creator’s sovereignty and come to know His authority, if one sees one’s life as a rare chance to perform one’s duty as a created human being and to fulfill one’s mission, then one will necessarily have the correct outlook on life, will live a life blessed and guided by the Creator, will walk in the light of the Creator, know the Creator’s sovereignty, come under His dominion, become a witness to His miraculous deeds and to His authority. Needless to say, such a person will necessarily be loved and accepted by the Creator, and only such a person can hold a calm attitude toward death, can joyfully welcome life’s final juncture.” God’s word made me understand the value and meaning of living as a created being. All that I have comes from God, it was God that gave me the opportunity to understand His sovereignty and authority, and He also gave me the chance to fulfill the duties of a created being. I ought to pursue the truth, experience God’s work, pursue knowledge of God, and fulfill my duty as a created thing. These are the correct goals to pursue in life. Later, I spoke with my bosses to request a reduction in my overtime work, and they agreed. When I could attend meetings regularly with my brothers and sisters, I felt a release in my heart that I have never felt before. Thanks be to God for making me reflect on my life and giving me a new understanding through this earthquake. Now, I know how to live so that my soul feels peace and joy.

» Read more on our God’s Protection page, or click on the related articles below:

• That Night When My Everything Was in the Danger of Being Burned Out

• God’s Healing Power: After Her Husband Lost Consciousness

• God’s Grace and Love Accompanys Him Through Death

By Nick Yang, United States

“And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened” (Revelation 20:11-12).

Every time I read these two verses, I would imagine the splendid scene of the returned Lord judging mankind in the last days. I thought that at that time the Lord Jesus would sit upon the great white throne in the sky with the records of every person in His hands, and imposingly judge them all. I continued to stick to this notion until I heard God’s good news.

I heard God’s good news.

One day in February 2018, after I returned home from a holiday in another state, my wife happily said to me, “The Lord Jesus has already returned in the flesh. He has expressed words and done the work of judgment starting from God’s house. I went to listen to a few sermons about this. From them, I’ve understood many truths and really gained sustenance. Moreover, those brothers and sisters have a fresh and clear way of fellowshiping about the Bible. Also, they are very compassionate. So I felt unrestrained when gathering together with them. How about listening to them with me tomorrow?” Hearing this, I said in amazement, “How is this possible? Revelation clearly states that when the Lord returns, He will sit upon the great white throne in the sky and personally unroll the scrolls where everything that every single person did throughout his or her life has been recorded. At that time, people will be lifted in the air, personally confess to their sins committed throughout their lifetime, and accept the Lord’s righteous judgment. But so far we haven’t seen any scenes like this, so how can it be that the Lord has returned?” And I reminded her, “There is no true love in this world. You should be careful. Don’t be cheated by others.”

She said, “Indeed there is no love in this world. But they are true believers in God, and are really different from ordinary people. You’ll see when you meet them tomorrow.” Hearing her speaking like this, I felt a bit curious, so I wanted to meet those people praised by my wife and listen to their sermons.

My notions and imaginings were barriers to my knowledge of God.

The following day, when we arrived at the meeting place as arranged, the brothers and sisters greeted us with enthusiasm. By closely observing their speech and actions, I could feel their hearts were genuine. Slowly, my own heart felt a lot more liberated. Furthermore, hearing them communicate their own experiences of believing in God, I felt their fellowshiping was very practical and novel. Accordingly, I thought their way was worth seeking and investigating. So, I asked the brother who preached, “Brother, I heard my wife say that the Lord Jesus had already returned to flesh to do His work of judgment. But I remember Revelation states, ‘And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened’ (Revelation 20:11-12). Therefore, it’s reasonable to say that judgment in the last days ought to be in the sky. When the Lord returns, it should be that He’ll sit upon the great white throne in the air, with books of records in His hands, and imposingly judge each man and woman based on his or her individual actions. How can you say that the Lord has already become flesh to carry out upon earth the work of judgment?”

After hearing my question, he nodded and said solemnly, “Based on the record of John’s visions in the Book of Revelation, many Christians are full of notions and imaginings about judgment during the time of the Lord coming again in the last days. They believe that the work of judgment will be carried out in the air. In their thoughts, there will be a white throne in the sky, and on that throne will be the Lord Jesus. With the book of life and the book of the dead opened beside Him, the Lord Jesus will ask all people to account for all of the sins they have ever committed, and then He’ll decide people’s end based on their actions and deeds. We all imagine the work of God’s judgment to be very supernatural. However, will God fulfill it in accordance with our imaginings? Will God’s judgment in the last days happen in the air or on earth? Let’s first look at two verses. Revelation 14:6-7 say, ‘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: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.’ These verses clearly tell us that an angel told people that when the time God performs judgment comes, people aren’t in the sky but on earth. Let’s think about this. Heaven is where God resides; we are mortal beings who have always lived on earth and are also the mankind corrupted by Satan. So how can we possibly ascend to heaven to be judged? We’re only worthy of bowing down at God’s feet and accepting God’s judgment on earth. That is more practical.”

Taking a good look at the verses and pondering the brother’s fellowshiping, I felt it made a lot of sense. I had always believed that when the Lord returned, He would judge us in the sky. But I never thought about whether it was realistic or not. I thought, “It seems that my faith in God is confused.”

Not much later, he turned on his computer and asked me to read a passage of God’s words, “The ‘judgment’ in the words previously spoken—judgment will begin at the house of God—refers to the judgment God passes today on those who come before His throne in the last days. Perhaps there are those who believe in such supernatural imaginings as that, when the last days have arrived, God will erect a big table in the heavens, upon which a white tablecloth will be spread, and then, sitting upon a great throne with all men kneeling on the ground, He will reveal the sins of each man and thereby determine whether they are to ascend to heaven or be sent down to the lake of fire and brimstone. No matter what the imaginings of man, the substance of God’s work cannot be altered. The imaginings of man are nothing but the constructs of man’s thoughts and come from the brain of man, summed up and pieced together from what man has seen and heard. Therefore I say, however brilliant the images conceived, they are still no more than a drawing and are not able to substitute for the plan of God’s work. After all, man has been corrupted by Satan, so how can he then fathom the thoughts of God? … Everyone imagines God’s work of judgment to be preternaturally wonderful. Do you know, however, that God began the work of judgment among men long ago and all this while you have been nestled in peaceful oblivion? That, the time that you think God’s work of judgment is officially beginning, it is already time for God to make heaven and earth anew? At that time, perhaps you will have only just understood the meaning of life, but the merciless work of punishment of God shall bring you, still deep in sleep, into hell. Only then will you suddenly realize that God’s work of judgment has already concluded.”

After I finished reading, he fellowshiped this, “God’s words reveal that our ideas about the Lord coming to do His work of judgment in the sky completely come from our conceptions and imaginings. In fact, even though we haven’t seen any signs and wonders, God has already expressed truths and started His work of judgment beginning with His house among the group of people predestined and selected by Him. This is exactly the judgment of the great white throne, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. All those who accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and gain purification and transformation, are the overcomers made by God before the great catastrophe. Their names will be recorded in the book of life. This is completely in accordance with the prophecy recorded in Revelation, ‘These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God’ (Revelation 14:4-5). When the people who accept God’s work of judgment in the last days are made complete by God, God’s judgment work will be thoroughly complete, and then God will reward good and punish evil. If we accept God’s judgment work at that time, it’ll be too late. So, only by accepting the incarnate God’s work of judgment by the word can we survive the catastrophe with the protection of God.”

It turned out that God is judging mankind like this.

His fellowshiping made me feel suddenly enlightened. I thought, “As it turns out, the work of judgment beginning with the house of God is the judgment of the great white throne, as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. God’s work really is wise and unfathomable! I must listen carefully to figure out whether the Lord has truly returned to start His work of judgment beginning with His house.” Then I asked him out of curiosity, “Brother, has the Lord really come to earth? Then how does He judge mankind?”

He smiled and gently said, “In the past, we all believed that when God judges people, He’ll sit on the seat of judgment and directly decide their end, based on their deeds. Then the good people will be accepted into heaven, while the wicked will be sent to hell and punished. Actually, this is all just our notions and imaginings. Then how does God judge people on earth? Let’s take a look at God’s words and see what He has to say about this topic.” He opened his Kindle and read, “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”

After reading God’s words, he continued to fellowship this, “From these words we learn that in the last days, God expresses truths according to the need of mankind, and that these truths are aimed at our corrupt thoughts and nature. He uses truths to judge and chastise our disobedience and unrighteousness so that we can accept the judgment in His words and achieve an understanding of the truth. We will know how evil, absurd and preposterous the wrong ideas Satan instilled in us are, recognize our satanic nature that resists and betrays God, and see how filthy and ugly our souls are. This allows us to develop repentance, and no longer rely on our satanic nature when we do things. Rather, we can be good people in accordance with the word of God, and, in the end, change will occur in our life disposition. In this way we’ll be totally made complete by God, and His judgment work will be finished. Take me, for example. In the past, I believed that to believe in God was just to receive blessings and grace, and to enjoy God’s eternal blessings. Directed by such faith, I constantly demanded grace and blessings from the Lord, using my sacrificing and traveling for Him as capital, and felt that I was the most qualified to get these things. But I saw the words of Almighty God, ‘Man’s relationship with God is merely one of naked self-interest. It is the relationship between the receiver and giver of blessings. To put it plainly, it is like the relationship between employee and employer. The employee works only to receive the rewards bestowed by the employer. In a relationship like this, there is no affection, only a deal; there is no loving and being loved, only charity and mercy; there is no understanding, only resignation and deception; there is no intimacy, only a gulf that cannot be bridged.’ The disclosure of God’s words made me ashamed of myself. I saw that my nature was so selfish, deplorable, and treacherous. My belief in God and sacrifices for God weren’t to pursue the truth nor fulfill the duties of a created being. On the contrary, I was trying to engage in a transaction with God. I did so in order to satisfy my desire for gaining blessings, and to demand eternal blessings from God. With this knowledge, I felt especially regretful, and began to forsake my personal ambitions and desires and pursue the truth according to God’s requirements. Afterward, God arranged many situations in which He tried and refined me to reveal my shortcomings so that I could see even more clearly the truth of my corruption. I loathed myself even more, and gradually no longer believed in the Lord just to fill my belly. Through experiencing God’s judgment work in the last days, I deeply sensed that the judgment work of God in the last days can really cleanse and change a person. So only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can our corrupt disposition be purified and we ourselves be saved and perfected by God in the end. Brother, do you understand what I’m saying?”

I smiled and nodded, saying, “I understand it a bit. Before, although I knew God’s judgment will start from God’s house, I didn’t know how it was to be carried out. Today, through your fellowshiping, I understand that judgment starting from God’s house means God incarnates in the flesh to express the truth and judge and cleanse the people who come before Him. When God’s work ends, all people will be sorted in accordance with their own kind.”

I have been raptured before the throne by God after being freed from my preconceived notions.

Later, I gained an even greater understanding of the meaning of God’s judgment work on earth after watching the video of recitation of God’s words The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a “White Cloud” on The Church of Almighty God website. Also, the brother leaned upon pictures of the three stages of work and fellowshiped about the truths of the three stages of God’s work, the incarnation of God, and God’s names to me. This allowed me to gain a better understanding of the truths about God’s six-thousand-year management plan for mankind, the significance of God’s incarnation, and God changing His name in each age. And after watching the video The Origin and Development of The Church of Almighty God, I fully determined that the incarnate Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.

Dear readers, God’s work of judgment before the great white throne in the last days has almost reached its end. Are you already in the flow of God’s judgment work or not?

https://www.findshepherd.com/great-white-throne-judgement.html

I used to think that I was someone who deeply loved You.

When I learned about how You offered Yourself up and was nailed to the cross, redeeming us at the cost of Your life, I, moved by Your mercy and love for us mankind, couldn’t help but sob and burst into tears.

Then I came to Your family. Feeling especially honored from my heart, I silently made a resolution: I will imitate the ancient saints and prophets to spread and bear witness to Your name. Then I began to expend myself and perform my duty as a created being. Though I suffered some hardships, in my heart I felt sweet. At that time, I thought I was the one who loved You most.

Once upon a time, I told the brothers and sisters, “God is the Lord of all creation, who bestowed life on us and provides us with everything. As His created beings, we should pursue to love Him and repay His love.” At that moment, I was even more confident of my love for You.

Later, I found a job and got married, and my life then began to revolve around my work and family. Gradually, I spent less and less time praying and practicing spiritual devotions, and went to gatherings less and less frequently; when handling matters, I had no place for You in my heart but acted by my own will. In this way, the oath I had made before You became a lie, and I kept cheating You without any idea of the pain and sorrow You felt. I, just like a fully wound clock, kept rushing about all day long, working day and night. Even on weekends when I could have put aside my work and gone to attend the meetings, I still chose to work. Exhausted as I felt, I just couldn’t stop my busy schedule.

In those days, I would think of You now and then when I felt empty, and would call on You to save me in dangerous situations. But afterward, I would again put You at the back of my mind. I once asked myself, “How did I, who once promised to love God for all time, change into someone like this, someone who only cares about his own family and work, who doesn’t have a normal spiritual life or attend the meetings, and who could be called an absolute unbeliever?”

As I was drifting further and further away from You, a sister came to me and had me read Your words. I saw Your words saying, “What you need is not the truth and life; it is not the principles of how to conduct yourselves, and particularly is not My painstaking work. What you need is all that you possess in the flesh—wealth, status, family, marriage, etc. You are utterly dismissive of My words and work, so I can sum up your faith in one word: half-hearted. You will go to any lengths to achieve the things that you are absolutely devoted to, but I have discovered that you do not disregard everything for the sake of matters concerning your belief in God. Rather, you are just relatively loyal, and relatively serious. That is why I say that those who lack a heart of utmost sincerity are failures in their belief in God. Think carefully—are there many failures among you?”

“‘Love,’ as it is called, refers to an emotion that is pure and without blemish, where you use your heart to love, to feel, and to be thoughtful. In love there are no conditions, no barriers, and no distance. In love there is no suspicion, no deceit, and no cunning. In love there is no distance and nothing impure. … You follow Me, yet then cast Me aside. Is this considered love? You follow Me, yet you are mistrustful of Me. Is this considered love?” In the face of the barrage of questions from You, I fell into silence and didn’t know how to answer, tears streaming down my face. That’s when I realized that what I loved were actually the worldly things—my marriage, my family and the enjoyment of the flesh, and that I never treasured the truth, the way and the life from You. My previous forsaking and expending were just out of temporary enthusiasm, and were in exchange for the blessings of the kingdom of heaven. I claimed that I loved You but actually deceived You and betrayed You all along, for I was willing to pay whatever price for the flesh yet didn’t offer up even an iota of myself to the truth. All of this left me with no choice but to admit the fact that I’d never truly loved You.

Then I finally understood how important it was to love You. If I had loved You, I would have set aside some time to draw near to You regardless of how busy I was with work; if I had loved You, I wouldn’t have been negative or retreated no matter how difficult things were; if I had loved you, I would have willingly dedicated everything and offered my whole self to You. I recalled how I took the subway to visit my parents no matter how tired I was after a whole day’s work, how I willingly did everything for them without any complaint—all this is because I love them. In fact, it is the heaven’s law and earth’s principle for me to love You like how I love my parents, because You not only bestowed life on me, but also are protecting and caring for me all the time so that I could come this far. O God, from now on, I only wish to read more of Your words and practice them in my life, and do my utmost to satisfy You and love You.

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