Read these articles of spiritual warfare to learn about these Christians’ true experiences of relying on God to overcome Satan’s temptations and bear witness.
“Mom, you are not to believe in God anymore. Just look at what it says online!”
“You mustn’t believe what the Chinese government says. They are all just rumors and falsehoods …”
“Even the news reports these things, and you still want to believe in it?”
Whenever I remember that time a few years ago, when I believed the CCP’s rumors and tried to stop my mom believing in God, when I was guarded against the brothers and sisters and tried to sound them out, I feel extreme remorse. At the same time, I’m filled with gratitude for God’s love that never left me, as it was this love that enabled me to see through the rumors and return before God. As I think about it now, every scene of those past events plays over in my mind …
Mother and Daughter, Yet Strangers to Each Other
When I was eight years old, my father became ill and died, and my mother and I had to stick together and depend on one another. My mom was in a lot of pain back then and always looked sad. She also had to work every day, all day long, and she never spoke to me about anything. She never cared much about my life or my studies, and when she was in a bad mood, she would frequently lose her temper with me. I therefore felt aversion toward my own mother, and I never wanted to tell her about any difficulty I encountered. Over time, our exchanges became less and less frequent and, although we lived under the same roof, we became like the closest of strangers, and I felt lonelier and lonelier …
Deceived by Rumors, I Try to Stop My Mom Believing in God
One day in November 2012, two people came to our home, and they spoke to my mom about faith in God. Afterward, my mom would read the book The Scroll Opened by the Lamb every evening after she got home from work. Curious, I asked her, “Mom, what book have you been reading lately?” She smiled and said, “These are the words expressed by Almighty God. Every word is the truth. Here, take a look.” I thought that I’d read enough books over recent years while at school, so I refused.
But when I saw how earnestly my mom was reading this book, I began to worry that she might be getting duped, and so I went online and looked for relevant information. When I opened a webpage and saw a news headline that read “People Become Abnormal After Believing in God,” my heart began to thump, and I felt very afraid. I immediately told my mom not to believe in God anymore. She didn’t listen to me, however, but instead continued to read the book The Scroll Opened by the Lamb, and so I told her about what it said in the news. After reading the news report online, my mom was unconcerned, and said, “The news is all fabricated by the Chinese government, and it doesn’t report the facts at all.” I said to her anxiously, “All the news say the same thing, and you still believe in God?” My mom said nothing but just walked silently back to her room.
From that time on, whenever I saw her pick up that book, I would rush over and tell her not to read it. She didn’t listen to me, however, but said to me patiently, “I know you’re worried that I’m being duped, but throughout this time and through my contact with the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God, I’ve seen that they’re just not like what the CCP says at all. When we gather together, we just fellowship about the truth and we talk about our experiences and knowledge of God’s words. We don’t do anything wrong.” Hearing her say this, I thought to myself: “The Chinese government puts propaganda online saying that people become abnormal after they start believing in God, but I haven’t seen my mom behave abnormally at all since she started believing in God. Could what the Chinese government says be false? I’d better look into this.” Afterward, I kept my eyes on how my mom acted, and I discovered that she was no longer sad like she had been before. She smiled more often, and even when she was in a bad mood, she only lost her temper with me very seldomly. She also started to confide in me often, she cared about my life and my problems, and she would fellowship God’s words with me to guide me on how to resolve those problems. Also, whenever anything happened that made her happy or frustrated, she would talk to me about it. Seeing how my mom had changed, I thought: “After reading Almighty God’s words, my mom hasn’t become abnormal like the CCP says. Instead, her spirits are improving all the time, she is always concerned about me, and we are getting along better and better.” From the bottom of my heart, I felt that the book she’d been reading was a good one. I still hadn’t met anyone from The Church of Almighty God, however, and so I thought it would be best if I stayed on my guard.
Facts Counter the Rumors, and I Gradually Come to Have Discernment
Later, several sisters from the church came to our home to have a meeting with my mom. When they saw me, they all smiled and said hello. But the moment I saw them, I thought of the rumors I’d read online, and so I just gave them the impression that I was ignoring them, but really, I secretly watched their every move. When I watched them at their meeting, they all talked about the events or problems they’d recently encountered, and then they fellowshiped God’s words to resolve these problems. As I listened, I was puzzled, and thought: “I’ve never been this frank and open with my good friends, and I’m even less willing to talk about anything embarrassing that happens to me. These sisters, however, are able to be so frank and open with each other. They also help each other out and they don’t disparage each other. My mom is chatting so happily with them, and it’s been so long since I’ve seen her this happy. I get the sense that what they’re bringing to my mom, and to our home, is happiness, and they are not bad people. So then why are there such horrible reports online? I’m really at a loss …”
Two days later, two of the sisters invited me to attend their meeting, and I felt a little hesitant. “Just go meet with them,” I thought. But then I thought of the CCP’s rumors, and I became afraid. If I didn’t meet with them, however, I’d still feel a little uneasy. And so I quietly sat down to one side and listened to them sing hymns and fellowship God’s words, and they ended their meeting in an atmosphere of joy. I really enjoyed meeting with them like this.
By spending time with them, I came to feel more and more that these sisters were good people. The elderly ones were kind and amiable and the younger ones were so sincere. Meeting with them and being in contact with them made me feel happy and liberated. Over time, my attitude toward them slowly improved, and I would often attend meetings with them. When I thought of how I had been toward them before, I felt indebted to them. I apologized to them, but they didn’t blame me. Instead, they showed me understanding and forgiveness, and they encouraged me to read more of God’s words and attend more meetings. I was very moved.
By Sounding Out a Sister, I See the Truth of the Matter
The CCP’s rumors, however, were deeply rooted in my heart. Whenever I thought of the Chinese government’s news reports that said people who believed in Almighty God forced others to believe in God, I would begin to worry: “Will the sisters be like it says online and try to force me to believe in God? I’ll pretend that I don’t believe in God to see whether they try to force me or not.” And so, I deliberately said to a sister that I didn’t believe in God. After hearing me say this, the sister was concerned and asked me whether I was experiencing any difficulties, and she asked me to tell her about them so that we could resolve them together. I didn’t say much, so finally the sister said, “You’ve made your decision, and we won’t force you. You’ll always be welcome at our meetings in the future, if you would like to attend.”
I didn’t attend meetings for a whole month, and the sisters didn’t call on me. I thought to myself: “They’re not like what the Chinese government says. They haven’t tried to force me to believe in God at all—everything the CCP says is false.” I thought of the happy times I’d spent with the sisters and I really wanted to attend meetings with them again. Later on, when I was confiding in Sister Wang, I told her all about my thoughts and concerns, and she read God’s words to me: “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. You should check, monitor, and remind each other of this matter; no one may violate it.”
Sister Wang said, “God requires us to strictly adhere to His administrative decrees. We’re not allowed to drag people kicking and screaming into the church, for this is God’s administrative decree. We also preach the gospel in accordance with the administrative decrees and principles expressed by God, and we only preach to those with good humanity and who believe in God. If someone does not wish to believe, then we respect their choice and will never try to force them.” After listening to God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, the doubts and suspicions I’d harbored in my heart were finally dispelled: So The Church of Almighty God has this system of administrative decrees! Those who study their way have the right to choose freely, and the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God have never forced anyone to believe in God. I also thought about how my mom had been since she started believing in God; she’d become much more broad-minded, she’d become caring and considerate toward me, and she’d begun to get along well with relatives and neighbors alike. The sisters also treated us all like one family, and they often came to help mom with her work. There was no scheming or guarding against each other among the sisters. I now saw clearly that the opinions put about by the CCP were just outright lies intended to dupe people, and I would no longer be deceived by them.
I therefore began to attend meetings, and my brothers and sisters would often inquire whether there was anything I was having difficulty with or felt confused about. After I told them about the problems I’d been having at work, they gathered some of God’s words together and gave me fellowship on how I should get through this situation. My problem was then resolved, and my heart felt liberated. Over time, I gradually relaxed my guard until I was no longer guarded at all. I became certain about Almighty God’s work of the last days, and I began to live a normal church life.
I Understand the CCP’s Purpose in Fabricating Rumors
At a meeting, I asked a sister’s opinion on the CCP’s rumors, and asked why it wanted to make up such rumors about our church. The sister read a passage of God’s words, “Satan builds its reputation through deceiving people, and often establishes itself as a vanguard and role model of righteousness. Under false pretenses of safeguarding righteousness, it harms people, devours their souls, and uses all sorts of means to benumb, deceive and incite man. Its goal is to make man approve of and go along with its evil conduct, to make man join it in opposing God’s authority and sovereignty. However, when one sees through its schemes and plots and sees through to its vile features, and when one 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 alongside it, then Satan changes its previously saintly features and tears off its false mask to reveal its true face, which is evil, vicious, ugly and savage. It would love nothing more than to exterminate all those who refuse to follow it and who oppose its evil forces. At this point Satan can no longer assume a trustworthy, gentlemanly appearance; instead, its true ugly and devilish features are revealed under sheep’s clothing.”
By reading God’s words and listening to the sister’s fellowship, I finally realized that the Chinese government is atheist and, ever since it came to power, it had labeled Christianity as an evil cult, labeled the Bible as the book of an evil cult, and it had frantically suppressed and arrested Christians. On the outside, it propagandizes freedom of religion, but this is actually just done to deceive ordinary people. It hates the truth and hates God most of all and fears people believing in God, because when people understand the truth, they then come to have discernment of the CCP, and they reject it. Therefore, in order to stop people from believing in God, achieve its evil goal of ruling over and controlling people forever, and of turning China into an atheist zone, the CCP uses various media such as the internet, TV and newspapers to discredit and fabricate rumors about The Church of Almighty God, and it wantonly slanders God’s work. Without the truth, people have no discernment, and they thus become prone to being deceived by the CCP’s rumors, and they dare not study or accept God’s work of the last days. They therefore lose their chance to attain God’s final salvation. Through the revelations of God’s words and through my contact with the brothers and sisters, I finally came to see that everything the CCP said was rumors and lies, and yet I’d still naively believed that the government couldn’t possibly deceive the people, and that everything it did was for our protection. Faced with the facts, however, I finally saw through to the CCP’s reactionary essence of its resistance and opposition to God. We human beings were created by God, and to believe in God and worship God is an immutable law of heaven and earth. And yet the Chinese government makes up all manner of rumors to deceive us and to stop us from believing in God in the vain hope that we will become its accomplices and join it in resisting God, so that we will be destroyed by God in the end—the CCP really is so hateful! Just then, I thought once again about how I had been deceived by the CCP’s rumors and had tried to stop my mom from believing in God. I wouldn’t let her read God’s words, and I had doubted, been guarded against and tried to sound out my sisters. I felt so ashamed of my own rebelliousness, and I regretted having done things which resisted God.
Later, I read God’s words, “The Almighty has mercy on these people who have suffered deeply; at the same time, He is fed up with these people who lack consciousness, as He has had to wait too long for an answer from humanity. He wishes to seek, to seek your heart and your spirit, to bring you water and food and to awaken you, that you may no longer be thirsty and hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel something of the bleak desolation of this world, do not be lost, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival at any time. He is keeping watch by your side, waiting for you to turn back around. He is waiting for the day you suddenly recover your memory: when you realize that you came from God, that, at some unknown time you lost your direction, at some unknown time you lost consciousness on the road, and at some unknown time acquired a ‘father’; when you realize, furthermore, that the Almighty has always been keeping watch, waiting there a very, very long time for your return.” After I’d read this passage of God’s words, I perceived God’s love and the painstaking efforts He goes to to save man. I had been so profoundly duped before by rumors and had done things which resisted God. And yet God had taken mercy on my foolishness and ignorance and had not concerned Himself with my transgressions. Instead, He had arranged brothers and sisters to go to great trouble to fellowship God’s words with me, which had enabled me to see the truth of the matter and see through to the malicious intent behind the Chinese government’s rumor-mongering. Otherwise, I would never have been able to escape from the fog of rumors, to discern clearly between right and wrong and differentiate clearly between true and false, and I would have ended up losing God’s salvation of the last days. God’s love really is so great.
In my experience, I saw that, although the Chinese government fabricates all sorts of rumors to discredit The Church of Almighty God and it frantically oppresses its members, it has not only failed to suppress God’s work but, conversely, more and more people are seeing the CCP’s God-resisting essence. They are also seeing that every word expressed by God is the truth, that they can indeed save man, and they are returning before God one after another. God truly is so almighty and wise! From this, I saw that the CCP is something God uses to render a service, and which God uses as a foil—the wisdom of God will forever be exercised based on the deceitful schemes of Satan!
Source From: Find the shepherd