One day in 2012, there came an auntie and a young girl in my shop. At their words, I felt that they didn’t seem to come to buy things, so I was on my guard against them and looked them up and down.
I saw that the auntie was simply and neatly dressed, spoke with a smile, and looked benign and friendly, and that the young girl was properly and neatly dressed and looked modest. Being aware of my vigilance against them, the young girl said to me with a smile, “I’m Xiaolian and I sell tea leaves in the tea market….” Knowing that they also did business and seeing that they were not like bad people, I relaxed my vigilance and talked with them about the knack of doing business. And we had a most agreeable chat. Several days later, they came again. Through the conversation, I learned that they both were believers in God. They fellowshiped with me about God’s creation and God’s sovereignty as well as the stories in the Bible. I listened with great interest. Before they left, they gave me a book The Scroll Opened by the Lamb and told me to read it when I had time. They also said that all the words in this book are God’s words and reading more of them will benefit me.
I curiously opened this book after they left and saw a passage of words from “God Is the Source of Man’s Life”: “From the moment you come crying into this world, you begin to perform your duty. You assume your role in the plan of God and in the ordination of God. You begin the journey of life. Whatever your background and whatever the journey ahead of you, none can escape the orchestration and arrangement that Heaven has in store, and none are in control of their destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work. … 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.” After reading this passage of words, I couldn’t help sighing with emotion: Who can speak out these words with such a great power? Concerning one’s birth, the role that one plays, the destiny of one’s life, one’s life cycles…, isn’t it that only God can control all of these? …
“What are you doing?” Sister Wang, a meddlesome woman in the opposite shop, interrupted my thoughts, “Who are those two people talking with you just now? I never saw them. Are they saleswomen?” I told her how I knew them. Unexpectedly, she immediately stood up at my words, opened her eyes wide, and said to me in a dramatic tone with a serious look, “Don’t believe others so easily! Several days ago, I saw the man who opened a shop by the roadside drove away two women who preached to him the gospel of Almighty God. …” She also told me some rumors on the Internet. At her words, my heart sank: Almighty God is truly mentioned in the book I read just now. Are Xiaolian and the auntie really believers in Almighty God? But they don’t look like bad people. I hesitated. I shouldn’t fully believe Sister Wang’s words, nor should I ignore them. At this thought, I decided not to contact Xiaolian and the auntie anymore. When they came to my shop again, I avoided meeting them.
One morning, I saw from far away that Xiaolian and the auntie and Sister Yang, the cashier of my shop, were talking and laughing. I thought: Are they preaching the gospel to Sister Yang? I really should remind her. Then, I asked Sister Yang with a “good” intention after they left, “Do you know those two people? Were they asking you to believe in Almighty God? Do you know what is said on the Internet?” I thought that she would ask me about the details because of my words. But unexpectedly, she said to me, “I know that. I have read their book and heard their preachings. I feel that Almighty God’s word can solve real problems and is very helpful to me. Let’s go and listen when you have time. Don’t listen to other people’s nonsense. Don’t believe what you heard without your own judgment. Do you believe it when someone tells you the coal is white?” I hurried to say, “I see what is said on the Internet—” Before I finished my words, she said, “You believe the words on the Internet? Are there not enough various rumors as well as false and fraudulent massages on it? Do you forget the video of an unjust case we watched some time ago?” Her words reminded me of that video: A man was framed and sentenced to sixteen years. After he was released from prison, he uploaded a video about his injustices onto the Internet, wanting to make the truth of the fact known to all. However, the video was deleted soon. At that time, I was indignant at it, feeling that the online news and messages were not believable at all. How could I completely believe the negative words on the Internet against the Church of Almighty God without investigating? I did really have no mind of my own. Then which one should I believe now, Sister Wang, Sister Yang, the Internet, or me?
In the afternoon, I saw the book The Scroll Opened by the Lamb when I opened the cabinet. Thinking that the words I read last time were full of power, I was attracted to read it again. I opened it and happened to see the following passage of words: “Perhaps, having heard the way of truth and read the word of life, you believe that only one in 10,000 of these words are in line with your convictions and the Bible, and then you should continue to seek in that 10,000th of these words. I still advise you to be humble, to not be over-confident, and to not exalt yourself too highly. With your heart holding such meager reverence for God, you will gain greater light. If you carefully examine and repeatedly contemplate these words, you shall understand whether or not they are the truth, and whether or not they are life. … Think about it! Do not be rash and impetuous, and do not treat belief in God as a game. Think for the sake of your destination, for the sake of your prospects, for the sake of your life, and do not play around with yourself. Can you accept these words?” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth”). After reading these words, I seemed to understand a bit. I’ll know whether the way is true or false after I investigate it by myself.
The image originated from the internet source
The next day, Sister Yang asked me to the Church of Almighty God to investigate. When we arrived at the host home, there sat six or seven people. I carefully guarded against them and looked them up and down in secret. I found that they were of different ages and from different walks of life. Although they didn’t know each other before, they gathered together because of believing in God. They freely talked about faith in God, as if bosom friends laid their hearts bare to each other. Seeing this agreeable picture, I thought: These people’s living out is not at all terrifying as what the Internet says. Compared to the present society, it is a pure land here. Unknowingly, I integrated myself into them without vigilance and listened to their fellowships carefully.
I heard them read God’s words: “There is an enormous secret in your heart. You never know it there because you have been living in a world without light shining. Your heart and your spirit have been taken away by the evil one. Your eyes are covered by darkness; you cannot see the sun in the sky, nor the twinkling star in the night. Your ears are clogged with deceptive words and you hear not the thunderous voice of Jehovah, nor the sound of the rushing waters from the throne. You have lost everything that should have belonged to you and everything that the Almighty bestowed upon you. You have entered an endless sea of bitterness, with no strength of a rescue, no hope of survival, left only to struggle and to bustle about…. From that moment, you are doomed to be afflicted by the evil one, kept far away from the blessings of the Almighty, out of reach of the provisions of the Almighty, and you embark on a road of no return. A million calls can hardly rouse your heart and your spirit. You sleep deeply in the hands of the evil one, who has lured you into the boundless realm, with no direction, with no road signs” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Hearing this passage of God’s words, I was overcome with emotion. Almighty God’s words are talking to me. It was God’s salvation coming to me when Xiaolian and the auntie preached to me the gospel. I had known that I come from God and should come back to God’s house to hear His voice and receive His salvation. But I believed the rumors and regarded Xiaolian and the auntie as bad people wanting to harm me. How many times did I see them worry about me but I remained untouched and avoided them; how many times when they finally met me and wanted to help me in hope did I drive them away hard-heartedly. God says, ‘Your eyes are covered by darkness,’ ‘Your ears are clogged with deceptive words.’ Wasn’t this exactly my state? I had been confounded by Satan’s lies, and didn’t know to cherish everything from God. Although I read Almighty God’s words and felt that they carried great power and authority and couldn’t be spoken by any man, I didn’t seek or investigate Almighty God’s work carefully. If God had not woken me up through Sister Yang’s words, I was afraid that I would still firmly believe the rumors on the Internet and be unwilling to seek and investigate Almighty God’s work, and finally lose the chance to come before God.
In the following days, I began to attend their church life. Gradually, as I contacted more and more brothers and sisters, I found that no one was like what the Internet said. Through their fellowships, I found that most of them once feared as I did because of various negative rumors against Almighty God and the Church of Almighty God created by the CCP government and religious world on the Internet. It was Almighty God’s words that encouraged brothers and sisters to patiently preach the gospel to them and fellowship with them about God’s will over and over again. Thus, they finally understood: The brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God can pay such price not because they have any purposes or they are good, but because of God’s love and God’s salvation. They are deeply moved by God’s words: “Have you ever thought how grieved and anxious God’s heart is? How can He bear to see the innocent mankind He created with His own hands suffering such torment? After all, mankind are the unfortunates that have been poisoned. Though they have survived to this day, who would have thought that they have long been poisoned by the evil one? Have you forgotten that you are one of the victims? Out of your love for God, are you not willing to strive to save those who have survived? Are you not willing to use all your effort to repay the God who loves mankind like His own flesh and blood?” So, they can preach the gospel to those who truly believe in God and are bitterly longing for the Lord Jesus to come again despite rumors and slanders existing here and there. After knowing the truth of the fact, they came before God and investigated God’s work on their own initiative. Through the guidance of God’s word, they were finally certain that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus and then accepted Him.
The experiences of the brothers and sisters deeply touched me and also removed my vigilance against Almighty God, so I began to open my heart to investigate His work. A period of time later, under the leading of Almighty God’s word, I understood: The devil’s scheme behind the rumors is to prevent people investigating Almighty God’s work and receiving His salvation, so that people will be destroyed by God because of resisting God and doing evil with it. Knowing Satan’s malice, I was no longer deceived by the rumors and the fear in my heart also disappeared like the mist lifting. As I read more and more of God’s words and communicated with the brothers and sisters in the meetings, I was completely certain that Almighty God is the only true God who created the heavens and the earth and all things. Then I formally became a Christian of the Church of Almighty God and tried my best to perform my duty as a created being. Thanks for Almighty God’s salvation to me! All the glory be to Almighty God!
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