Settling a Divorce Dispute

By Lu Xi, Japan

In 2015, a friend of mine got me to start believing in Almighty God. After accepting Almighty God’s work in the last days, I eagerly read the word of God, and through the word of God I came to understand many mysteries of the truth that I had previously not known: like that God’s work of saving mankind is divided into three stages, and how God carries out His work in every stage, and the connection between the three stages of work, and what it means to become flesh, and why God must become flesh, and so on. This made me even more certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus.
Since I had the guidance of God’s words, I no longer passed the time by watching TV like I had done in the past, and my husband said to me: “Your faith in God has gotten you reading, and that’s better than watching Korean soap operas every day. It really makes me happy!” Although my husband didn’t go to assemblies, he always believed there was a God since his mother believed in the Lord, and so he also supported my faith in God. Ordinarily, whenever I’d receive some sort of enlightenment from God’s word I would also share it with my husband, and he also felt that it was good to believe in God. Later on, my husband got curious as to why I was always mentioning “Almighty God” when it was the Lord Jesus who his mother believed in, and so he went online to find out about The Church of Almighty God, but unexpectedly what he saw was that the Internet was full of rumors, false testimony and blasphemy against Almighty God. He was greatly poisoned by this and started to oppose my faith in Almighty God. Since I had read the word of Almighty God and listened to the fellowships and testimonies of brothers and sisters, I was already certain in my heart that Almighty God was the only true God, and I knew that those words online were rumors and lies meant to deceive people. But my husband was deceived by the rumors and failed to understand the actual facts, so no matter how I tried to urge him, and give him testimony on God’s work in the last days, he would never listen to it.

After a period of time, with the help of my close friend Sister Yinghe, who repeatedly gave my husband fellowships and testimonies, my husband finally reluctantly agreed to inspect God’s work in the last days. However, my husband was influenced by his mother and was relatively conservative about the Bible, so in order to solve this problem of his, Sister Yinghe recommended that I watch the evangelical movie Disclose the Mystery About the Bible together with my husband, but I didn’t make him watch Disclose the Mystery About the Bible, rather I wanted to act on my own initiative and make my husband watch the movie Break Through the Snare, which exposes how the CCP and the antichrists of the religious world resist God’s work. Right after my husband watched a part of the film, he said: “The CCP is an atheistic government, and China is an atheistic country that has always persecuted religious beliefs. The Church of Almighty God has been cracked down on by the CCP government, but an arm can never wrestle down a leg, so what could be done if we returned to China and got arrested? Also, they say so many things online, and I don’t know how to tell what is true and what is false, so I think it’s best if you don’t believe in Almighty God.” I urged my husband to finish watching the film and then make his decision, but he was not willing to continue watching it. He saw that I insisted on my faith, and one time he came directly at me in anger, saying: “If you insist on believing then believe, if you want to get arrested then get arrested, but if you do get arrested, don’t say that I’m your husband! Do you know that right now I’m under a lot of pressure? If I don’t believe then I fear that this is the true God, but if I believe, there are so many things said online, and I’d be in danger of being arrested, so then who should I listen to in the end?” Witnessing my husband being bound by online rumors to the point where he felt extremely miserable, I realized that the rumors and false testimony made up by the CCP did harm people a great deal: Not only did it obstruct people from accepting the true way, but it also ruined relationships between family members. It seems that these people who make up rumors and provide false testimony are the brood of Satan the devil, pure and simple!

One day, when my husband came home from work and saw that I was in a meeting, his face immediately drooped sadly, and he slammed the door and left. When dinner time came around and I saw that my husband still had not returned I couldn’t help but start to worry. He finally returned home at eight o’clock but he was still holding on to his anger. I had planned to fix a meal for him, but he said to me coldly: “I don’t need you to take care of me! Since you’re not listening to me and want to keep on believing in God then from now on you don’t have to worry so much about me. From now on in this house I’ll just be responsible for our living expenses, as far as whatever I do outside of this house, it has nothing to do with you! Even if I do anything that would let down this family, you still don’t need to concern yourself with it!” Hearing my husband speak in this way made me feel more and more uncomfortable the more I thought about it. That night I tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep, and in my mind I constantly prayed to God: “Oh God! My husband has been deceived by rumors and is trying to persecute my faith in You, and now he’s saying such heartless things. Oh God, what should I do? Please show me the way! I do not want to part from You.” The next morning, I suddenly recalled some words of God that we had fellowshiped about in a meeting: “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. … When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony” (“Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The enlightenment of God’s word made me come to some sort of realization: “During this time I have always been fixing my gaze on my husband, and feeling that there are so many fake products and false things in the world today, that everywhere is brimming with lies and deception, especially with all the lies and false statements coming from the CCP media, that so long as anyone with a little brains thinks about it for a second then they will realize that these words online attacking, judging and condemning Almighty God are all lies and nonsense, and that they shouldn’t be deceived and confused by them, but my husband unfortunately believed the rumors he heard online, and I really felt like he shouldn’t have believed them. Now I should not search for external causes, this is God trying me, He is using this to test whether or not my faith in Him is true, to see whether or not I am able to hold on to the true way while being attacked by Satan, and whether or not I can bear testimony to God while in the midst of this trial.” As I realized God’s will, the haze that had enveloped my thoughts dispersed, and I felt much more clearheaded.

The next day while we were eating breakfast, my husband was still not speaking to me, but since I had the guidance of God’s words, I was not as worried or scared as I was the day before, and I said to him calmly: “Through practicing my faith in God I have never done anything to let this family down, so if you want to do something to let this family down, then that’s just because you are willing to be a degenerate, not because of my faith in God.” Hearing me say this, my husband’s mood calmed down, and he said: “Don’t you think I said those things because you would not listen to me and always insisted on believing in God?” Afterward my husband didn’t say anything else, and our dispute went away. Thanks be to God! It was God’s words that gave me the strength to triumph over Satan’s temptations!

But a good thing doesn’t last forever. A month later my husband was once again looking at rumors online. One day when he came home from work he saw that I was sitting by the computer, and he started to yell at me: “I see that you’ve gone mad! I’ve decided that either you need to stop believing at once or we need to get a divorce. I’ve also thought about the issue of our two kids, you can take both of them, but I’m guessing you won’t be able to stay in Japan, so take our children back to Shanghai! I’ll give you our apartment in Shanghai, and each month I’ll also give you 100,000 yen in child support. And if you don’t want the children then that’s fine too, whatever you choose! I’ve even asked about how to handle the divorce, so long as we go to the ward office and both sign a divorce agreement then it’ll be fine, so just tell me where you stand!” After I heard him finish saying these things, my heart was thumping and I felt like my head was abuzz, I just sat there unable to say anything, I even forgot to pray to God. All I could think about was: “If we got divorced, what would we do with the children? If I raised them, I didn’t have the means to take care of them financially! If I didn’t raise them, then it would be such a pity if they didn’t have a mother! And then there were my parents, friends and other relatives, how would they judge me? Being abroad was originally such a great thing, but if we got divorced then how could my parents continue to hold their heads up high in front of others….” I didn’t give my husband an answer. I just told him that I had to think about it. I went to my room and started to cry bitterly. The more I thought about what my life would be like after the divorce the more pain I felt. I didn’t sleep at all that night, and my tears soaked my pillowcase. The next day, my husband left to go to work without saying a word, so I finally came before God to pray. I asked Him to give me more strength so that I could triumph over my feeble flesh. As I was living in suffering, not knowing what to do, I told some brothers and sisters about what had happened. They all encouraged and consoled me, saying that this was one of Satan’s temptations that I was going through, and they had me learn how to rely on God and told me that I should not lose my faith, or misinterpret God. They also discussed with me the experiences and testimony of other brothers and sisters, and fellowshiped about how God is the One who saves mankind, that Satan alone afflicts us, makes us suffer and destroys our relationships with other people. And they also read to me a passage from the word of Almighty God: “When people have yet to be saved, their lives are often interfered with, and even controlled by, Satan. In other words, people who have not been saved are prisoners to Satan, they have no freedom, they have not been relinquished by Satan, they are not qualified or entitled to worship God, and they are closely pursued and viciously attacked by Satan. Such people have no happiness to speak of, they have no right to a normal existence to speak of, and moreover they have no dignity to speak of. Only if you stand up and do battle with Satan, using your faith in God and obedience to, and fear of God as the weapons with which to fight a life-and-death battle with Satan, such that you fully defeat Satan and cause it to turn tail and become cowardly whenever it sees you, so that it completely abandons its attacks and accusations against you—only then will you be saved and become free” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s word made me realize that when I wasn’t practicing my faith in God then I was completely living under the domain of Satan, that I was a slave and plaything of Satan, and after professing faith in God, I had come out of Satan’s camp and returned before the presence of God, and betrayed Satan, but it was unwilling to be defeated, so it used my husband to attack my weak points, it used the divorce to coerce me and make me betray God and return to its domain. This truly was the trickery of Satan. I worried about what to do with the children after the divorce, how the people from my hometown would regard me, how my parents could hold their heads up in the presence of their neighbors, but these and other thoughts all came from Satan disturbing me, and if I was controlled by these thoughts then I would be controlled by Satan, which would eventually cause me to be far from God, even deny God, and once again return to Satan’s camp. My faith in God and my worship of the Creator are completely positive things, it is heaven’s law and earth’s principle and no man has the right to interfere with it, yet Satan tries to think up every possible method to control me, and force me to betray God. Satan truly is so despicable and so hateful! In this moment, I knew that I lacked the faith to face Satan’s temptations, but I was willing to rely on God and rely on the guidance of God’s word as I walked down the path in front of me, and I was determined to stand by God’s side, bearing witness to God and never compromising to Satan. As I thought about this, my restless heart finally found some sure footing, and there wasn’t so much suffering in my heart.

Later on, some brothers and sisters again shared with me God’s words: “Without God’s permission, it is difficult for Satan to touch even a drop of water or grain of sand upon the land; without God’s permission, Satan is not even free to move the ants about upon the land—let alone mankind, who was created by God. In the eyes of God, Satan is inferior to the lilies on the mountain, to the birds flying in the air, to the fish in the sea, and to the maggots on the earth. Its role among all things is to serve all things, and work for mankind, and serve God’s work and His plan of management. Regardless of how malicious its nature, and how evil its substance, the only thing it can do is to dutifully abide by its function: being of service to God, and providing a counterpoint to God. Such is the essence and position of Satan. Its substance is unconnected to life, unconnected to power, unconnected to authority; it is merely a plaything in God’s hands, just a machine in service to God!” (“God Himself, the Unique I” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s word I came to realize that God’s authority is supreme, God controls the heavens and earth and all things, and everything of ours is in the hands of God. My marriage and my family are also in God’s hands, without God’s permission there is nothing that Satan can do. Whether I got divorced or not was all under the sovereignty and predestination of God, it was not my husband who had the final say, so I was willing to submit to the sovereignty and designs of God. I thought about this: “Of the nonbelievers who get divorces, some do it for money, some do it because their partners have affairs, and some do it because their relationship just falls apart…. Today my husband wants to divorce me because I choose to believe in God and walk down the correct path of life, pursue the truth and live out a meaningful life. This is honorable, not dishonorable!” At this time I thought about the words of God: “Faith is like a single log bridge, those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to sacrifice themselves can pass over without worry. If man has timid and fearful thoughts, they are being fooled by Satan. It fears that we will cross the bridge of faith to enter into God. Satan devises every way possible to send us its thoughts, we should always pray that the light of God will shine on us, and we must always rely on God to purify us from Satan’s poison. We shall always be practicing in our spirits to come close to God. We shall let God have dominion over our whole being” (“The Sixth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words once again gave me faith and strength, and they also gave me a path to follow, as well as the courage to face my husband. I said to myself: “That’s right, the only thing I can do is throw caution to the wind. Regardless of however difficult my future path may be, it is not wrong of me to walk the path of believing in God!”

That night, after my husband returned home, I told him plain and simple: “You want me to not believe in Almighty God, but for me that is impossible, so if you want to get a divorce then we’ll do it your way!” My husband was a little dumbstruck after hearing this, and with no other option he said: “I see that I cannot control you! They say so many things online, if I don’t take care of you, then if someday something happened to you I would be responsible, but now I’m using this divorce to threaten you, and still you are not renouncing your faith in God. If something happens to you because of your faith in God and your mom knows it, don’t put the blame on me.” After that, my husband no longer concerned himself with my faith in God, and miraculously our relationship recovered and he no longer talked with me about getting a divorce. In this way, our divorce dispute that had been caused by the rumors of the CCP was settled.

Later on, there was one time when my younger daughter and I both caught colds. At that time, it was raining lightly, but my older daughter needed to go to practice, so I had no choice but to drag my exhausted body along with my younger daughter to accompany my older daughter. After my husband learned about what happened, he said: “You worked hard today. Lu Xi, I’ve noticed a change in you recently, you’ve been loving the children more and working harder.” Hearing my husband say these words made me want to give thanks to Almighty God because I knew that it was Almighty God’s words that changed me. I have God’s words to serve as my foundation, I have direction in my life, I know what normal humanity is and what a corrupt disposition is, and that only by conducting oneself according to the word of God can one be able to live out normal humanity. As a result, I no longer get angry at my children randomly, and I no longer live just to enjoy life. Slowly, I came to discover that my husband had also changed. In the past he always felt that he was always right, but now when he is handling affairs he will sometimes seek my opinion, and he even practices conducting himself as an honest man in accordance with God’s requirements. He has even given his friends testimony of God’s authority and sovereignty. Seeing these things made my heart feel full of thanks: Oh God, You are truly almighty, Your words are our life force, no matter how aggressive or furious Satan’s forces are, so long as we have Your words to guide us then we will be able to triumph over all of Satan’s temptations, and live peacefully under Your care and guardianship.

Thanks be to God for arranging all of this for me, and for letting me experience His word and understand many truths. Through experiencing these kinds of circumstances, I have seen that Satan truly is despicable, and that it thinks up every possible method to make people leave God and become its plunder for it to devour. At the same time, I have also seen that God controls all things and arranges everything, and that without God’s permission, no matter how much more frantic Satan gets, it will be of no use, it will not be able to do anything, it will not be able to accomplish anything, it won’t even be able to move a single strand of our hair. So long as we have faith, and rely on God’s word to live, then we will be able to overcome Satan’s dark influence, stand witness to God and enable God to gain glory! The facts also prove that the rumors and false testimony online are untenable, facts and time will prove everything, in the end these rumors will go down in history as an eternal smear, just like “Atheism,” “Darwin’s theory of evolution” and “Communism,” and they will become a mark of eternal shame for the CCP. God’s sheep will listen to God’s voice, no matter how great Satan’s obstruction, those who sincerely believe in God and love the truth must be able to discard the deception and binding of rumors and come before God and be gained by God, because this is something that God wants to accomplish. No satanic forces will be able to obstruct it! All glory be to Almighty God!