By Kemu, South Korea
After Seeing the Truth I No Longer Stand in the Way of My Wife’s Faith
The brothers and sisters then played a video for me, The Truth Exposed Behind the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case. It revealed several major suspicious aspects of the case and then dissected them layer by layer. I was really engrossed in it and did my own analysis of the case along with the video to ferret out the truth, and the furrow in my brow gradually relaxed as the video went on. As I saw layer after layer of the lies exposed I let out a long breath. I realized that the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case was single-handedly concocted by the CCP to stifle religious beliefs and eradicate The Church of Almighty God. The offenders in the case, Zhang Lidong, Zhang Fan and others, denied with their own mouths that they were members of The Church of Almighty God, and said that they were completely unaffiliated with the church. But the CCP completely disregarded the suspects’ testimonies and flagrantly went against the facts, insisting that was done by people with The Church of Almighty God. What was even more outlandish was that even without a court trial or verdict, the CCP didn’t wait to publicly, definitively plant the case on The Church of Almighty God through TV and Internet media, and that was all to create a public uproar to suppress it and wipe it out. The CCP framed the church and created that kind of false case so that it could start madly suppressing and arresting Christians with the church without a hitch. It’s just like how they suppressed the June 4 students’ movement in 1989—the CCP first fabricated rumors to portray the students’ patriotic movement as revolutionary violence, and then they started carrying out arrests and murdering people. Faced with the facts, I finally saw with complete clarity that the CCP’s tactic for eradicating any dissenters has been to first fabricate rumors and distort the facts, then frame them, and then violently suppress them. Turning the truth on its head and distorting reality and framing The Church of Almighty God so that the people, who don’t know the truth, are taken in by their lies and will misunderstand the church is detestable! But something I still didn’t understand was that the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God are upright people who are nothing like they say online, so why would the CCP so madly persecute the church and go to great pains to plant that murder case on The Church of Almighty God, and arrest its members? What was really going on?
I shared this confusion of mine and a sister responded, “Let’s first read a passage from God’s words. ‘Satan wins its fame through deceiving the public. It often establishes itself as a vanguard and role model of righteousness. Under the banner of safeguarding righteousness, it harms man, devours their souls, and uses all sorts of means to benumb, deceive and incite man. Its goal is to make man approve of and follow along with its evil conduct, to make man join it in opposing God’s authority and sovereignty. However, when one grows wise to its schemes, plotting and vile features and does not wish to continue to be trampled upon and fooled by it or to continue slaving away for it, or to be punished and destroyed together with it, Satan changes its previously saintly features and tears off its false mask to reveal its true evil, vicious, ugly and savage face. It would love nothing more than to exterminate all those who refuse to follow it and those who oppose its evil forces. … The reason why Satan is exasperated and furious is thus: Its unspeakable schemes have been exposed; its plots are not easily gotten away with; its wild ambition and desire to replace God and act as God have been struck and blocked; its goal of controlling all of humanity has now come to nothing and can never be achieved’” (“God Himself, the Unique II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
After reading God’s words, she shared this fellowship: “God’s words expose the root of Satan opposing God and harming mankind. If we compare this with the CCP’s actions in opposition to God and its persecution of Christians, we can clearly see that it is the embodiment of Satan, the devil, and it is the satanic regime that most hates the truth and resists God. The CCP absolutely will not allow people to have faith and take the right path in its efforts to establish China as a zone of atheism—it wants to eradicate all religious beliefs. This is particularly true in the last days—Almighty God incarnate has appeared and is working in China, expressing truths to bring light to mankind. People from all denominations who genuinely believe in God and love the truth can read Almighty God’s words and see that they are the truth, and they are accepting His work of the last days one after another. Many people have understood the truth from reading God’s words and have learned how to discern between good and evil, thus clearly seeing the CCP’s evil essence and becoming willing to reject it. They are seeking the truth and taking the right path in life. Seeing that more and more people are gaining faith in God and following Him, the CCP’s eyes are burning with rage. They vainly hope to drag people back into their camp so they can continue to be the CCP’s slaves, to be trampled upon by them. To this end, the CCP madly persecutes and suppresses The Church of Almighty God, not only fabricating lies to frame and slander it, but also employing all sorts of despicable tactics. They’ve issued confidential documents many times to mobilize huge numbers of armed police and armed forces to madly arrest and persecute Christians with The Church of Almighty God on a national scale in a deluded attempt to stop the spread of God’s gospel work and completely eliminate The Church of Almighty God. Particularly for the last few years, all sorts of the church’s gospel films and videos have been uploaded to the Internet one after another and God’s gospel of the kingdom has been spreading across the globe like wildfire. The CCP has a guilty conscience, knowing that since coming to power, it has committed countless murders and done all manner of evil; its blood debt from persecuting Christians is heavy. It’s afraid that people all over the world will accept God’s work, understand the truth, clearly see its evil countenance and then reject it, which would then leave it without any footing in the world. Then its wild ambitions to control all of humanity and to act as a god would be shattered. This is why the CCP’s persecution of The Church of Almighty God has escalated, and why it meticulously crafted the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case in order to frame the church, attempting to rile up and confuse those who don’t know the truth so that they hate God and The Church of Almighty God, and do evil along with the Chinese Communist Party. We can see from this that the CCP is running counter to right principles and going against Heaven; it detests God and hates the truth. It’s an enemy of God—it’s a demon that opposes God. However, God is almighty and His wisdom is carried out based on Satan’s trickery. The CCP’s ugly countenance is exposed to the light through its mad opposition and oppression, and God’s chosen people can see its evil, reactionary nature even more clearly. They gain discernment over its despicable and evil nature, their will to follow God becomes even firmer, and they’d rather give up their very lives than stop following God. This shows that no matter how savage the CCP is, it cannot stop people from following God, and it particularly cannot stop God’s work.”
After hearing Almighty God’s words and this sister’s fellowship, I understood that the CCP persecutes The Church of Almighty God because its essence is that of hating the truth and being an enemy to God. It wants to control the people, to have people firmly in its grasp, but the truths expressed by Almighty God go deep into people’s hearts. The CCP certainly wouldn’t be willing for the people to all go with God, so it does everything it can to fabricate rumors and concoct false cases, fostering public outrage in order to persecute The Church of Almighty God. That’s how the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case came about. My doubts about The Church of Almighty God were dispelled once I had understood the truth. However, I still had a concern: Since the CCP is so oppressive of the church, would my wife be safe?
The brothers and sisters then played a film for me, The Lies of Communism. There was a passage of God’s words in it that really touched my heart. “We trust that no country or power can stand in the way of what God wishes to achieve. Those that obstruct God’s work, resist the word of God, disturb and impair the plan of God shall ultimately be punished by God. He who defies the work of God shall be sent to hell; any country that defies the work of God shall be destroyed; any nation that rises up to oppose the work of God shall be wiped from this earth, and shall cease to exist” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I could feel God’s authority and majesty from these words of His. None of Satan’s evil forces and no people can possibly hinder God’s work. Although those in the CCP are racking their brains to slander and condemn The Church of Almighty God, even diabolically arresting and persecuting its brothers and sisters, they still persist in believing in and following God, and the gospel films, choral works, and dance and song videos they produce are constantly being released online, totally unhindered. This truly showed me that God is so almighty and no force can possibly stop His work. With my wife believing in God, He is her backup force, so there’s nothing for me to worry about. After understanding all of that the worries and misgivings in my heart all disappeared. Smiling, I said to my wife, “It’s right for you to believe in Almighty God. I was so blind before—I mistakenly believed what I had heard and caused you to suffer so much. It was so wrong of me. From now on, I’ll fully support you in your faith.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she said with emotion, “It’s thanks to God that you’ve been able to see through the CCP’s lies and come out from the fog of confusion. This is God’s guidance and leadership!”
From that point on I started occasionally watching videos made by The Church of Almighty God with my wife, and I heard her talk about her faith. However, I still felt that faith in God was a simplistic kind of belief, and it was fine to believe in God in my heart, but I still had to keep earning a living for the family so that we could have a good life. But later after undergoing a bout of ill health I gained a completely new understanding of having belief in God.
Experiencing Illness Brings Me Before God
Around dusk one evening as our family was having dinner I started to experience terrible stomach pains with huge drops of sweat running down my face. My wife quickly got me to the hospital where I was diagnosed with a burst appendix. It was a critical situation that required immediate surgery. I felt a sense of helplessness and fear that I’d never had before—if I didn’t make it, how would my wife and young daughter get by in a foreign country? Who would be there for them? Seeing what I was thinking, my wife held my hand and said, “I know what you’re worried about. God is almighty, and all things are in His hands. He has final say over whether the surgery is successful, too. We have to lean on God and no matter what comes from the surgery, we can’t blame God, but must submit to His rule and arrangements.” I nodded after hearing what she had to say. Once the door to the operating room had closed, I closed my eyes and prayed to God. “Almighty God! I’m terrified. Please give me faith so that I’m no longer afraid. I’m willing to lean on You.” I felt less afraid after praying, and an excerpt of God’s words from a film occurred to me: “Everything man has—peace and joy, blessings and personal safety—is in fact all under God’s control, and He guides and decides the fate of every individual” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). It’s true. God is almighty and my life is in His hands. I knew that the success of my surgery that day depended on God’s rule and arrangements, so by handing everything over to God, there was nothing for me to worry about. God’s words gave me faith; my uneasy heart was calmed and I was no longer so concerned about the surgery possibly failing. I gradually lost consciousness under the effect of the anesthetic. When I came to, the doctor told me that the surgery had been a success and I knew that it was God’s protection. I offered up my praise and thanks to God over and over.
Later, I saw these words from God: “The first thing one must understand, when one sets foot on this earth, is where human beings come from, why people are alive, who dictates human fate, who provides for and has sovereignty over human existence. These are the true assets in life, the essential basis for human survival, not learning how to provide for one’s family or how to achieve fame and wealth, not learning how to stand out from the crowd or how to live a more affluent life, much less learning how to excel and to compete successfully against others. Though the various survival skills that people spend their lives mastering can offer an abundance of material comforts, they never bring one’s heart true peace and consolation, but instead make people constantly lose their direction, have difficulty controlling themselves, miss every opportunity to learn the meaning of life; and they create an undercurrent of trouble about how to properly face death. In this way, people’s lives are ruined. The Creator treats everyone fairly, giving everyone a lifetime’s worth of opportunities to experience and know His sovereignty, yet it is only when death draws near, when the specter of death hangs over one, that one begins to see the light—and then it is too late” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
My heart brightened after reading God’s words and I understood that living on this earth isn’t just so we can lead mediocre lives to feed our families and be prosperous, or to be envied and looked up to by others, seeking name and profit. We are created beings and only by believing in and worshiping God, seeking and understanding the truth, achieving knowledge of God, clearly understanding that God rules over all things in our lives and that our fates are in His hands can we truly obey His rule and arrangements. That’s the only way we can conduct ourselves and be people according to His words, and that is the only way to live with meaning and value; it’s the only way to not live this life in vain. I thought back on how I had felt before that faith in God was a simplistic sort of belief, and that earning money for my family was what I should do with my life. I didn’t wake up until I had that life-threatening illness. No matter how much money we earn or how high our status is, when we fall ill those things can’t alleviate our suffering or the fear and helplessness deep in our hearts. On the brink of death, money, fame, and benefit can’t possible get our lives back or give us more time. I give thanks to God—it was He who gave me faith and strength through His words when I was faced with illness and felt so afraid and helpless. He gave me something to lean on so that I could calmly face everything that was to come. It was particularly His care and protection that allowed me to get through surgery without a hitch. Through that experience I really, truly felt that God is both real and alive, that He can be our help and support at any time, and He is also our strong backup force. What we as humans should pursue over our lives is faith, worshiping God, plus understanding and submitting to God’s rule. That is all that we need for our souls, and that is the only meaningful life that we should pursue. That experience also changed my mistaken impression that faith in God was a simplistic kind of belief and I resolved to practice my faith alongside my wife, to read God’s words, and take the path of seeking the truth and knowing God.
Brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God heard that I had fallen ill, so they came to visit me in the hospital. When they learned that I wouldn’t be able to work for some time and our family wouldn’t have any source of income, they helped me apply for a hardship grant plus get most of my medical expenses covered. In such a cold, indifferent society, the sincere helpfulness of the brothers and sisters really allowed me to experience the warmth of family. Over a period of time of interacting with them, I’ve seen that they are all deeply kind people who rely on God’s words in their interactions, are sincere, upright and dignified in their words and actions, and live out the humanity that Christians ought to. They’re entirely different from the people I work with—there are hardly any people like them left in the world. I feel that the words of Almighty God really can change people and guide us onto the right path. Also, this church is full of love; it brings people a sense of warmth.
I think of the past when I was blinded by the CCP’s lies and refused over and over again to seek or investigate God’s work of the last days, and even stood in the way of my wife’s faith, but God didn’t give up on my salvation. He allowed me to see through the CCP’s lies and clearly see the sinister truth behind them through the words of God and the videos the brothers and sisters shared with me. When I was concerned about the outcome of my surgery and was living in fear, God’s words enlightened and guided me, giving me faith and strength, correcting my mistaken viewpoints. When I couldn’t work after surgery, God helped and supported me through the brothers and sisters. I experienced God’s love and mercy for me as well as the authority and preciousness of His words—I have very happily accepted God’s work of the last days. Now I frequently attend gatherings with my wife and read God’s words. My heart feels full and joyous! I give thanks for God’s salvation for me！
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