By Lyu Mei
I worked at a company opened by my younger sister. After I accepted God’s work of the last days, my younger sister and the rest of my family were very supportive. At meetings, I often heard my brothers and sisters fellowship that after we begin believing in God, Satan is not content to let us turn to God, so it thinks of ways to trick us to stop us from following God. At the beginning, I had absolutely no awareness of Satan’s temptations, but just when I began to confidently follow God, Satan’s temptations came to me …
Rumors Give Rise to Confusion
On that day, I was reading God’s word when my younger sister came to talk to me. I noticed that her usually smiling, happy face was furious as she walked toward me. She said gravely, “Stop believing in God. The God you believe in is banned by the government. They’ll arrest you!” The CCP is an atheist political party opposed to people believing in God, and it has always arrested and persecuted Christians. That was nothing new to me. What surprised me was that my younger sister was initially supportive of my belief in God. Why did she suddenly say this? I asked her the reason. In a serious tone, she said to me, “I read online that the ‘May 28 Zhaoyuan Case’ is related to The Church of Almighty God, so I advise you not to believe anymore.” Her words left me at a loss: How could that case have anything to do with The Church of Almighty God? Could she have made a mistake? I quickly replied, “That’s impossible. Believers in God are always kind, upright people. How could they do something like that?” My younger sister glanced at me, then said, “Don’t believe me? Watch TV and you’ll know!” When she finished, she left.That night, I turned on the television, and I was confused after I watched the news. How could something like this happen? I went over and over the issue in my mind, but I couldn’t calm myself, so I went before God and prayed, “God, today I saw news about the ‘May 28 Zhaoyuan Case,’ and I don’t understand the matter, but I also don’t wish to sin with my words, so I ask for illumination and guidance to understand the truth of this issue….” After I prayed, I felt calmer. I thought of how, in all my contact with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God. All they had fellowshiped with me was God’s words, how to be an honest person, and the understanding they had gained as they experienced God’s work. I felt that they were all upright, kind, peaceful people, not at all like the people described on television. I couldn’t understand at all why the news would report something like I saw, and I didn’t know what was going on.
The Truth Relieves My Doubts
At a meeting the next day, I talked about my confusion, after which a sister told me, “Sister Lyu, when you are faced with rumors, being able to approach them with an attitude of seeking the truth rather than blindly believing them is very commendable. If we don’t understand the truth behind things, it’s easy for us to be deceived by CCP rumors, and thereby fall into Satan’s schemes and lose God’s salvation in the last days. First let’s fellowship on the principles of how The Church of Almighty God preaches the gospel.” Then the sister read to me a passage of sermons, “One, only preach to people with good humanity who truly believe there is a God and are willing to seek the true way in their hearts. Two, regardless of a person’s line of work, their level of education, or their sex or age, they can be preached to as long as they have good humanity and can accept the truth. … Never preach to people with extremely bad humanity, who have poor reputations, are considered capable of doing all kinds of bad things, or are regarded as wicked people.”
After reading that, she fellowshiped with me, “The Church of Almighty God only preaches the gospel to people with good humanity who truly believe there is a God, who are willing to seek the true way in their hearts, and who can accept the truth, and never preaches to evildoers or those of bad humanity. Murderers of vicious humanity like those in the Zhaoyuan case are evildoers we would never preach to. The church would never accept them, and they are not in any way members of The Church of Almighty God. And in ‘The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom,’ Almighty God clearly stipulates that, ‘Kin who are not of the faith (your children, your husband or wife, your sisters or your parents, and so on) should not be forced into the church. God’s household is not short of members, and there is no need to make up its numbers with people who have no use. All those who do not believe gladly must not be led into the church. This decree is directed at all people. In this matter you should check, monitor and remind each other, and no one may violate it. … If trouble is brought upon the church due to the invasion of demons, then you yourself will be expelled or will have restrictions placed upon you. In short, everyone has a responsibility toward this matter, but you should also not be reckless, or use it to settle personal scores.’ God’s words clearly tell us that God saves those of good humanity, who sincerely love God and the truth, and that all those who do not believe gladly, even kin, must not be led into the church. This is a principle that every Christian must obey, and is one of the Age of Kingdom’s administrative decrees. Anyone who violates this decree and brings evildoers into the church will themselves be expelled from the church. Furthermore, the church never forces anyone to accept the gospel, and would never do anything like was said to occur in the Zhaoyuan Case, beating someone to death because they refuse to believe. This is clearly a rumor fabricated by the CCP government to libel and harm The Church of Almighty God. It’s an attempt to deceive people who don’t know the truth, and to make us doubt, betray, and resist God, live under its control, and ultimately to make us be destroyed by God alongside it. The CCP’s intentions truly are sinister, it wildly resists God and makes itself an enemy of God, and it is a demon that swallows people’s souls! As the word of God states, ‘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.’
“We all know that the CCP is a revolutionary party, which means it practices one-party dictatorship, and if you don’t listen to it, it kills you. Just like in the ‘1989 June 4th student movement,’ when university students marched against corruption and to promote fairness, transparency, and the protection of human rights. Who could have known that to suppress and eradicate these university students, the CCP would hire thugs and criminals to mix in with the university students to intentionally fabricate incidents, commit violent acts, and provoke the army to create conflicts, as well as use media like CCTV to blanket the airwaves with reports framing them as ‘student rioters.’ The CCP’s evil intention was to use illusions and lies to blind the eyes of Chinese people, so that the CCP can justify suppressing and eradicating these university students and continue its dictatorship. Today, God has come incarnate to do His work on earth and bring all those who belong to God back into His house, but the atheist CCP government fears that if we follow God, no one will obey it, so to eliminate The Church of Almighty God and consolidate its one-party dictatorship in China, it uses many despicable means to monitor, arrest, and persecute believers in God. The May 28 Zhaoyuan Case was carefully crafted by the CCP to eliminate The Church of Almighty God. It uses the incident to confuse the masses and fabricate a base of public support for its comprehensive suppression and crackdowns on The Church of Almighty God.”After hearing her fellowship, I understood that the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case was a trick and a trap deliberately fabricated by the CCP to frame and harm The Church of Almighty God. Its purpose is to make people doubt and shun God. The CCP is truly evil. After I understood the true facts, I had some discernment of the CCP’s conspiracies and tricks, and came to hate it more. At the same time, I was relieved, and decided to make it clear to my sister tomorrow that our church is definitely not like the rumors she saw on the news.
A Raging Spiritual Battle
The next morning, I went to my younger sister’s office. I said, “The CCP is atheist, and doesn’t allow people to believe in God or worship God, so you shouldn’t believe their lies. This is the CCP’s conspiracy and trick….” No matter what I said, she wouldn’t listen, and instead she threatened me, “You can choose one of two things right now. If you stop believing in God, you can continue to work here. If you decide to believe, then you can go believe in your God somewhere else. Think about it.” When she finished, she grabbed her bag and left. As I watched my younger sister leave, I stood stunned for a long time, and I was very upset. I thought, “Our relationship has always been very good, and I’ve worked hard for her to manage work sites for so many years. I’ve never made a single mistake. Today, because I believe in God, she turns on me and cruelly tells me to leave. This is completely heartless. What should I do now?” I wondered, if I left my younger sister’s company, would others say that I did something so shameful that my younger sister fired me for it? If my husband and children found out, they would definitely ask me to stop believing in God. But I knew in my heart that people were created by God, and that believing in God and worshiping God was right and natural, so how could I give these things up? Faced with obstruction from my younger sister, I really didn’t know what to do. The more I thought about it, the more depressed I became. I felt that believing in God is very hard …
Just when I was feeling negative and weak, one of my sisters fellowshiped to me, “This is Satan’s temptation, and a spiritual battle. Let’s read two passages of God’s word, and you’ll understand more clearly. God says, ‘In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle.’ ‘You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me; do not be obstructed by anything…. You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for My sake, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart.’”
She continued, saying, “Sister Lyu, we can see from God’s words that when God saves a person, Satan is not content to stand by. It uses all kinds of people, matters, things, and environments around us to disrupt and hinder us from following God. On the outside this appears to be done or arranged by people, but actually it’s a battle in the spiritual realm. If we don’t understand the truth and see these matters clearly, we will become passive and weak, doubt God, deny God, and even betray God. What you are experiencing now, in truth, is Satan using the disturbances of your family as a bet with God. It wants to force you to give up your faith to keep your work and maintain your relationship with your family. This kind of environment is allowed by God, because God wants to test whether or not we truly believe in Him, and whether or not we can be on the side of God. If you give up your faith because of your sister’s obstruction, isn’t this letting Satan’s conspiracy succeed and losing your testimony? God’s word points out a path for us. When Satan’s temptations come, if we refuse to submit to any of its forces, go before God and pray, sincerely rely on God, and trust that God is our backing, God will lead us so that we can stand witness.”
After hearing her fellowship, I understood that behind my younger sister’s threat to fire me was a spiritual battle. Satan intended to use my family’s obstruction as temptation, use my weak point to disturb me, and force me to give up my belief in God and betray God, Satan is truly shameless and despicable! At the same time, this is also God’s test for me to see if I genuinely believed in Him, whether I would protect my work and stop believing to maintain my relationship with my family. I realized I was already certain that believing in God was the true way, and I also knew it was natural and right, so how could I give up my faith to protect my personal interests? Wouldn’t that be unconscionable? When I thought about that, I knew I had to stand witness, and not submit to Satan.
Seeing God’s Miraculous Works
One day, as I was eating, my brother suddenly asked me, “Do you still believe in God?” I nodded. He then asked, “What if our younger sister doesn’t let you work at the company anymore? What will you do?” I didn’t know how to answer him in the moment, and I hesitated, thinking, “If she doesn’t let me work there, I won’t have a job, and my family will blame me. So what will I do?” When I thought that, I suddenly realized that I was in the wrong state. I remembered a sister’s fellowship from the meeting, that when things happen to us, we can’t stand on Satan’s side, instead we need to stand on God’s side and not deny God. At that moment, although I was very depressed, I felt that God was watching me and waiting for my reply. So, I found my courage and said, “If she won’t let me work here, then so be it. I will still believe in God!” After saying that, I felt especially at ease, and my heart wasn’t as burdened and anxious as before.
Two days later, my younger sister asked me what I had decided. I said, “If you really don’t want me to work here, fine, but I won’t stop believing in God.” She furrowed her brow for a moment, then smiled and said, “If you’re so determined to believe in God, I won’t stop you. Do whatever you want.” After that, she never said anything about firing me again. In this, I saw God’s miraculous works. All matters and things are in God’s hands, the living and inanimate, the moving and unmoving, all are orchestrated by God. In the past my worries about whether my sister would fire me made me heavy with anxiety, but when I truly risked everything, Satan withdrew, and my sister didn’t say anything further. Just as God’s word says, “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, and his whole life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. This is the way in which God presides over all things.”
The experience gave me a little understanding of how God rules over all things, and His omnipotent wisdom, and also gave me some discernment of Satan’s tricks. I personally experienced that belief in God is not smooth sailing. God used Satan’s temptations and disturbances to give me an understanding of God’s work, which allowed me to more confidently follow God. I also experienced that when Satan’s temptations come, as long as I earnestly pray to God, God’s words will guide me to see through Satan’s tricks and witness God’s miraculous works. Thanks be to God, no matter what temptations come, I will rely on God, stand on God’s side, stand witness, and humiliate Satan.
Source: Daily Devotionals
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