In My Time of Suffering, I Met the Real God
In 2007, family circumstances forced me to come to South Korea to work. Life was hard then, and my husband often went out drinking with female friends, so we quarreled practically every day. I was physically exhausted then, and felt that life was unbearably hard. One day in September 2014, a sister bore witness to Almighty God’s work of the last days for me, and after reading God’s words and fellowshiping with the brothers and sisters, I was able to verify that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus.
Later on, I told my husband the truth that I’d learned, and he was very surprised and said: “Oh darling, you’ve been going to a very special church! You’ve only been a few times and already you understand more than me, and I’ve believed in the Lord for dozens of years.” Not long after, I asked a sister from The Church of Almighty God to come to our home to bear witness to Almighty God’s work of the last days for my husband. She mentioned Almighty God, and at the time my husband didn’t say anything, but as soon as she left his reaction was extremely negative. After that, a spiritual battle began …
The First Battle: I Fought Against Online Rumors With the Facts
My husband pointed at our computer and said: “Look at all this negative news about The Church of Almighty God. You shouldn’t believe in their stuff.”
I replied: “You can’t believe online news in China. There are many distortions of the truth. I don’t believe any of those online reports.”
My husband got angry and said: “You see, the religious community doesn’t recognize The Church of Almighty God either. I’m telling you to stop believing in it!”
My faith was a little bit shaken by this, and I thought: “If the online stuff is true, should I keep on investigating? But if the Lord has really come back and overlooks me, then what will I do? His return is a chance in a million years! No, I must personally go and investigate The Church of Almighty God.”
At a later date, I took 2 of my friends to The Church of Almighty God. In the church I noticed just how modest and upstanding the brothers and sisters all looked, and during the meeting they shared their experiences of returning to God and their knowledge and understanding of God’s words. It all seemed very real, and I was really moved. After that, the brothers and sisters played some videos produced by The Church of Almighty God for us and in them we saw their work of witnessing for God which told us how to seek knowledge of God, seek dispositional transformation, and live in the likeness of a true human being in order to honor God. What we saw was all positive, and was nothing like what the online rumors described. If the online rumors were true, then how would The Church of Almighty God be able to spread the gospel to so many nations around the world and attract so many believers to investigate? After my visit to the church, I was able to let go of the concerns I’d had and decided to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. But when my husband saw that I was adamant about my faith, he told the pastor in our church about my visit to The Church of Almighty God. And so another spiritual battle began soon after …
The Second Battle: The Pastor and Preacher Harassed Me but God Helped Me Stand Firm
One day, the pastor and a sister from my original church came to my home. The pastor took out a big piece of paper and showed it to me. On it was a long list of house churches, including The Church of Almighty God.
The pastor said: “Sister, you should know that these house churches are all being severely persecuted by the CCP. They’ve all been deemed to be heretical, especially The Church of Almighty God, which is the one church that the government of China is attacking particularly forcefully. And no other Christian denominations recognize The Church of Almighty God either. You haven’t read much of the Bible and your stature is small, so why didn’t you tell us that you’ve been in contact with The Church of Almighty God?”
I replied: “The Chinese Communists have always been opposed to God. They don’t admit the existence of God and condemn both Catholicism and Christianity. How can we accept the CCP’s viewpoint when it comes to judging how good or bad another church is? And we can’t assess whether Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus according to how this is accepted by the various Christian denominations. Although the pastors and elders of various denominations know the Bible well, that doesn’t mean that they know God. It’s like when the Lord Jesus appeared to do His work and was nailed to the cross by the scribes, chief priests and Pharisees.”
The pastor didn’t try to refute my argument that day but after that he came to my home and also harassed me on the phone almost every few days. My determination was unavoidably shaken by all this and the pastor’s constant urging, and I also felt that I wasn’t giving him face, so for a week I didn’t go to The Church of Almighty God. But then I thought of a passage in the Bible: “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24-25). The appearance and work of Almighty God are condemned by the CCP and the religious community, which is fulfilling the verse in the Bible, “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” The condemnation of the CCP and the religious community is a denial of Almighty God’s work, and that is wrong. I can’t allow myself to blindly listen to the pastor. So I started going to The Church of Almighty God again.
When my husband found out that I’d been to The Church of Almighty God again, he brought another preacher to our home to urge me again not to go.
The preacher said: “I’ve heard that you believe in Almighty God. You don’t understand the Bible very well and don’t have much stature. We’ve been coming here to convince you to change your mind for your own good. The work of Almighty God is not in line with the Bible, and anything that strays too far away from what is in the Bible is heresy. You should first read the Bible more.”
I replied: “When the Lord Jesus first started to do His work it wasn’t in accordance with the Old Testament. According to your way of thinking, the work of the Lord Jesus should be condemned.”
The preacher said: “So how do you know for sure that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus?”
I said, “The Bible says, ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Romans 10:17). Why did the Jews eventually start to believe in the Lord Jesus? Because they recognized the voice of God in what the Lord Jesus was teaching, and so they started to follow Him. I’ve also read a lot of Almighty God’s words and have seen that Almighty God’s utterances are all truths that can lead me away from sin and help me know how to seek in order to achieve salvation. That’s why I’m certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. You lot haven’t read Almighty God’s words and haven’t investigated Almighty God’s work, so what gives you the right to pass judgment so casually?”
The preacher said in a flustered voice: “Who would have thought that after believing in Almighty God for just a few days you’d be ready to argue with me. OK, that’s fine. Since you’re dead set on believing in Almighty God then I’m not going to say more. But we won’t let you back into our church to steal sheep….”
I replied: “All sheep belong to God, and God’s sheep listen to God’s voice. Whoever is selected by God can never be hindered by another human being!” The preacher had no answer to that and left with a hateful look on his face.
Seeing how angry the preacher had gotten I was a little bit surprised. Was it really necessary for him to get so angry just because I now believe in Almighty God? I couldn’t help considering if the pastor and preacher really had my interests at heart. If they were really taking responsibility for the spiritual lives of the brothers and sisters and leading the congregation then on hearing the news that the Lord has returned they ought to have led the brothers and sisters to investigate immediately! However, since hearing the news their attitude has been one of enmity. And they’ve also been lapping up all the rumors spread online by the CCP and have been willfully criticizing God’s work in our church to prevent the brothers and sisters from investigating the true way. Where’s the reverence for God in their hearts? All this reminded me of when the Lord Jesus first began His work and how the scribes, chief priests and Pharisees, in order to protect their own livelihoods, invented countless schemes to prevent believers from following the Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Even though they’ve heard about the Lord’s coming, the pastor and preacher haven’t the slightest interest in investigating it and even tried to prevent me from spreading the gospel among the brothers and sisters. Weren’t their methods just like those of the Pharisees? When I realized all this, it showed I had acquired some discernment about the real intentions of the pastor and preacher, and it stimulated me even more to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days.
Later, when the preacher saw that he couldn’t persuade me, he started to interfere in my relationship with my husband, telling him that he should rein me in. The pastor often came to our home, too, to harass me. During that period, my husband always listened to what the pastor and preacher were telling him and, as a result, we quarreled every day. My life was totally messed up by them all, and I was under tremendous pressure, which left me feeling irritated. The spiritual battle was about to enter the next phase …
The Third Battle: I Weakened After My Husband Threatened Me With Divorce
One day, my husband said to me angrily: “Do you want this family or do you want Almighty God? If you keep on believing in Almighty God then we’ll be getting divorced!”
I thought: “Our child is still small so I have no way of earning money. If he divorces me then how will I get by in the future? Should believing in Almighty God really be such a trial? If I have to carry on arguing with my husband because of my faith, then there’s no future for us.” When I thought of this, I couldn’t help noticing that my determination was no longer so firm.
My husband then gave me a solemn pledge: “If you stop believing in Almighty God I will quit smoking and drinking and will start to listen to you. Whatever you want me to do I will do….”
I thought: “In the past he never gave up smoking and drinking, no matter what I said. If I submit and he gives them up then that surely will be great for us. And then the pastor won’t come around and harass me and we won’t squabble every day. But if I abandon my faith in Almighty God because of this, then how will I live with my conscience?” After a struggle with myself, I came to a compromise: I decided to not go to The Church of Almighty God for the time being and would wait to see how the situation developed.
When my husband saw that I was no longer going to The Church of Almighty God he started taking me to all the different churches in our denomination. But every time I got to one of the churches and listened to the pastor preaching the same old stuff I became nostalgic about the times I spent at The Church of Almighty God gatherings, and how I gained some illumination every time and how comforted my spirit was.
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