The Church of Almighty God | Rise Up in the Dark Oppression | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

Rise Up in the Dark Oppression

Mo Zhijian    Guangdong Province

I was born in a poor remote mountain village. People there burned incense and worshiped Buddha for generations. Temples were everywhere, and each household burned incense. No one believed in God. In 1995, my wife and I believed in the Lord Jesus in another place. After returning home, we began to preach the gospel. Later, the number of the believers gradually increased to over one hundred. Because more and more people believed in God, the local government was alarmed. One day in 1997, the police asked me to go to the local police station. The director of the County Public Security Bureau, the director of the County Bureau for State Security, the director of the County Administration of Religious Affairs, the chief of the local police station, and some policemen had already been waiting there. The director of the County Public Security Bureau questioned me, “Why do you believe in God? Who do you get in touch with? Where do you get the Bibles? Why don’t you go to the church to have meetings?” I answered, “The constitution stipulates explicitly that the citizens enjoy freedom of belief. Why don’t you allow us to believe in God freely?” The director of the County Administration of Religious Affairs said, “There is a scope for the freedom of religious belief. It’s just like a bird in a cage. Although its wings and feet are not bound, it can only move around in the cage.” Hearing his fallacy, I was very indignant. I said angrily, “Then the government is deceiving the common people!” Hearing my word, they knew they were in the wrong, so they had nothing to say and could only let me go home. At that time I had no knowledge of the CCP government’s substance of persecuting people in believing in God. In 1999, I accepted Almighty God’s end-time work. Only through reading God’s word and experiencing the crueler persecution of the CCP government did I see clearly that it is exactly the embodiment of satan the evil spirit and is God’s enemy. It is just as the Bible says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world.” (Revelation 12:9)

At past 5 a.m. of June 28, 2002, several brothers and sisters and I were about to have a meeting. Suddenly we heard “bam bam bam” from the door. We hurriedly hid the books of God’s word and then opened the door. Unexpectedly, a dozen or so policemen rushed in as soon as the door was opened. With electric batons and guns in hands, they shoved us together, ordering us all to squat down with our hands holding our heads. After they got us under control, they, like the bandits entering a village, rummaged through every corner of each room, throwing our sheets and clothes all over the floor. I had only seen the scene of the underworld thugs and bandits robbing on TV, but never had I expected that the “people’s police” were the same as the bandits on TV. At that time, I was very afraid, fearing that they might search out the books of God’s word, so I kept praying to God in my heart, asking God to care for and keep us. After praying, I saw God’s wonderful deed. They ransacked the whole house and searched out all of our belongings and confiscated them, but they didn’t find the books of God’s word. I deeply knew that it was God’s almightiness and keeping. Knowing that God was with us, I had more faith in God. After that, they took us to the police station. In the evening, they transferred us to the detention jail. Three days later, each of us was fined 300 yuan and then we were set free. Seeing that the CCP government was so arbitrary and unreasonable, robbed by force, and deprived people of their freedom of belief, I was full of indignation and thought of these words of God, “The filthy land of thousands of years is so sordid that it is unbearable to the eye and miserable states are everywhere. Ghosts run amuck everywhere, swindle and bluff, make groundless accusations, and strike vicious blows mercilessly, so that this fortress of demons is trodden so severely that corpses are everywhere and the rotten smell fills the air over the whole land, and it is heavily guarded. Who can see the world outside the sky? … The freedom of religious belief, the legal rights and interests of citizens, and whatever are all the tricks to cover up its crimes!” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) In China, this fortress of demons, China’s ruling party frenziedly persecutes God and arrests and persecutes the followers of God under the cover of “everyone enjoys freedom of belief and freedom of human rights,” not allowing us to believe in God and walk the right way of human life. And it even wishes to catch all of us at one swoop. We don’t act against the law or do anything wrong. We just preach the gospel to people so that they can come to know and worship God and break away from the dark and miserable life, but the CCP police arrest, detain, and fine us. However, to those vicious ones who prostitute or whore, murder or commit arson, swindle or bluff, they pay no heed and let them go scot-free. In the face of the facts, I saw that the CCP government is a group of devils that resist God, blind people, and deceive people, and is exactly God’s enemy.

On November 28 of the same year, several brothers and sisters and I were preaching the gospel to a denominational leader. Because of a wicked person’s report, a dozen or so policemen surrounded the building where we stayed and then they broke in. With guns and electric batons in hands, they shouted, “Nobody move! Hands up!” Then they searched us, taking away more than 5000 yuan and the things we had on us, and ordered us to squat down facing the wall with our hands holding our heads. Two young sisters were kind of afraid, so I said to them, “We’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t be afraid of them!” I had barely finished the words when several evil policemen came up to punch and kick me. Then and there I was beaten to the ground. They tore all the rooms apart, turning the house into a mess. They were more savage and ferocious than bandits who enter a village and pillage. A sister didn’t come out of the room. An evil policeman rushed in and forcefully pulled her out. Another one saw that the sister was beautiful, so he molested her, feeling her all over. The sister was unable to resist and could only cry loudly. Luckily, the landlord arrived in time and stopped him, so that the sister escaped the disaster. Then, I saw clearly that the words such as “the people’s police work for the people, and ask the police for help if in trouble” and “the police is the guard of the people” are all lies. These evil policemen were sheerly a gang of ruffians and hoodlums! Afterward, they forced us into the car and took us to the police station. There, they handcuffed us in the corridor for two days and nights, giving us nothing to eat or drink. I could only pray to God unceasingly in my heart, asking God to guide us and give us faith and strength so that we could stand testimony in such circumstance. Later, when a brother was interrogated, because of being dissatisfied with his answers, several evil policemen pressed him down on the floor, and one of them forcibly stuck dog poop into his mouth. The brother was severely shocked mentally. Seeing that miserable scene, I felt heartbroken, and anger spontaneously arose. How I wished to rush forward and fight against them! But God’s words guided me within, “I have some sympathy for the brothers and sisters who live in this filthy place with me, so I have hatred for the great red dragon. … We all are its victims, so I hate its guts, wishing to destroy it right away. But on the second thought, doing so is to no avail, and will only bring trouble to God. Therefore, still that word—to make a firm resolve to carry out God’s will—to love God … live out a meaningful and bright and brilliant life. … Are you willing to do so? Are you one who has such a resolution?” (from “The Way… (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words calmed me down. Pondering God’s words, I understood God’s will. God hates this gang of devils to the extreme and wishes to destroy them all right away. But in order to complete the end-time work and perfect us, God needs to use satan as a serving object. Through its persecution, God makes us have discernment, so that we can completely see through the ugly face and the devilish substance of the CCP government, and thus reject it and thoroughly break with it, and fully turn a genuine heart to God. For the purpose that his work can achieve better results, God has been enduring being crazily hunted by the CCP in power. Isn’t it nothing for me, a created being, to suffer this for being saved? God’s revelation gave me faith and strength. I’ll imitate Christ, resolving to carry out God’s will—pursuing to love God! At that time, I only hoped that God would guide and keep us so that we could stand testimony for God in satan’s persecution and counterattack satan’s scheme with the reality of loving God, putting it to shame and defeating it.

On the third evening, the evil policemen transferred us to the County Public Security Bureau and interrogated us that very night. A deputy director first coaxed me, “Speak it out. Your wife, kids, and parents need your care. Tell us and you can go home!” Hearing these, I was kind of shaky, thinking: If I say something unimportant and get out, I won’t have to suffer here. Then God’s words suddenly warned me, “To those who were not faithful to me in the least in the tribulation, I will show no more mercy, because my mercy only goes so far. Moreover, I do not like anyone who has ever betrayed me, much less like to associate with a person who sells out the interests of his friends, which is my disposition, no matter who he is.” (from “You Should Prepare Enough Good Deeds for the Sake of Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) In God’s majestic words, I seemed to see that he was watching me and waiting for my answer. Then I forsook the thought at once and said solemnly with justice, “Since I’ve come here, I haven’t expected to get out!” The evil policemen saw that the soft tactic didn’t work, so they showed their true devil face. The deputy director lifted a bucket of swill above my head, wanting to pour it. I said to him, “You’re interrogating me by tortures.” After hearing it, he suddenly stopped and put down the bucket. Another evil policeman stomped savagely on my big toe with his heel and ground it with force. The fierce pain swept over me. I couldn’t help crying out, and my clothes were soaked with sweat. But the evil policeman kept stomping and grinding heavily while gnashing his teeth, and he didn’t stop until my big toenail fell off. At that time, my foot was already bloody. In anguish, I called on God in my heart desperately, asking him to keep my heart, so that I wouldn’t yield to satan and could stand testimony for him. The devils were far more ferocious than that. I saw that when a brother was back from interrogation, he had been tormented within an inch of his life. Wounded all over, he was dying. The evil policemen were afraid that he might die, so they had to release him. Afterward, they transferred a brother, a sister, and me to the Municipal SWAT team to be interrogated.

After we were taken there, the evil policemen forced us to strip naked, handcuffed and fettered us, and had us jump three rounds in the yard to humiliate us. Then, they put us into separate cells. The prisoners there were all murderers, looking ferocious. The evil policemen told them to torture me. Because of God’s keeping, they not only didn’t bully me, but they took care of me instead. Four days later, the evil policemen forced me to betray God and sell out the brothers and sisters. I refused, so they dragged a brother and me to the yard, handcuffed and fettered us, covered our heads with black bags, and hung us to a big tree in the middle of the yard. Moreover, with viciousness they put many ants in the tree. The ants continuously crawled all over our bodies and bit us wildly. Being gnawed by the ants, I felt as if I were being pierced by countless arrows, which was really worse than death. I could only cry to God desperately, asking him to keep my heart and my spirit and give me the will and strength to endure the suffering, so that I wouldn’t do things of betraying him. At that time, God’s words came into my mind, “…for my glory to manifest throughout the expanse, everyone should undergo the last ‘suffering’ for me. Do you understand my will? This is my last requirement for people. In other words, I hope everyone can bear a strong and resounding testimony for me before the great red dragon, offer up yourselves for me for the last time, and meet my requirement for the last time. Can you really achieve this? In the past you could not satisfy my heart; can you ‘break with convention’ at the last time?” (from “The Thirty-fourth Piece of Word” of God’s Utterance to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words made me full of strength within. In order to save us, God has been hunted by the CCP government in every possible way, having no place to lay his head and no place to stay. Today I can suffer with Christ, and this is God’s love for me, much more God’s uplifting of me. As long as God can gain glory, I’m perfectly willing even if I’ll have to die. Like that, I spent every miserable second by relying on God’s words. I was hung to the tree for two days and nights. On the third day, I really couldn’t bear anymore. It was early winter and was raining. I only wore a thin layer of clothing and was hung to the tree with bare feet, and I had not eaten or drunk anything. The mixed feelings of cold and hunger and unbearable pain caused me to feel extremely miserable. The only thing I could do was to pray desperately, for the fear that I couldn’t stand the torment due to the weakness of the flesh and would become a Judas and betray God. In pain, I thought of the apostle Stephen in the Age of the Grace. Because of preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus, he was stoned to death. Before his last breath, he asked God to receive his soul. So I prayed to God, “God, the function of my flesh is too little. Now I really cannot bear the suffering. May you take my soul as well. I would rather die than betray you.” After the prayer, an unexpected miracle happened. My soul went out of my body. I went to a vast grassland. Green grass was everywhere and cattle and sheep were all over the field. I was especially happy and couldn’t help praising God aloud, “Praise Almighty God aloud. All things in heaven and on earth praise you, praise you. Let all praise you. Let all your angels praise you. Let all your hosts praise you. The universe and the expanse praise you—Almighty God! The shining stars praise you. The heavens and the earth and the waters praise you, praise you. Let all praise you. Let the mountains and hills praise Almighty God. Let the waves and billows praise you. Praise you—Almighty God, in the highest place! Praise Almighty God in the Most Holy Place. Praise you, praise you with tambourines and dances. Praise you aloud! Praise Almighty God with musical instruments and the sounding of trumpet. Let all the holy people in Zion praise you. Let all the peoples praise you—Almighty God! Praise you aloud, Almighty God! The loud peals of thunder praise you, praise you. Praise you aloud! The mighty expanse praises Almighty God. Let everything that has breath praise you. The singing of praising shakes the ends of the earth. Praise God!” (from “Praise Almighty God Aloud” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) I was completely immersed in that incomparable joy and living in a free realm. The pain of being hung to the tree and the hunger and cold and the painful feeling of being gnawed by numerous ants totally disappeared. When I woke up, it was the third night. The evil policemen took me down from the tree. Hung for three days, I not only wasn’t dead, but I was spirited instead. That was really God’s almightiness and wonderful keeping! I thanked and praised God from my heart.

On the fourth day, the evil policemen interrogated me again, forcing me to sell out the brothers and sisters and acknowledge what I believed in was a cult, trying to make me betray God and forsake the true way. Inspired by God, I thought of God’s words, “When you are experiencing trials, whether you are weak or are passive within, or whether you do not understand God’s will or are not very clear about the ways of practice, it is normal. But in any case you should have faith in God’s work and not deny God as Job did not.” (from “All Those to Be Perfected Have to Undergo Refining” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words gave me the courage to practice the truth and testify God. No matter what, I couldn’t do things of resisting God or blaspheming God. So I said justly, “I believe in Almighty God, who is the only true God ruling over all things! I’m not a cultist. You are confusing right and wrong and framing me!” Hearing these, an evil policeman flew into a rage. He took a bench and struck me frantically, seemingly wishing to beat me to death. I spit out blood and collapsed on the floor and fainted. Seeing that, they poured cold water to sober me, and then dragged me up and beat me again. Beaten by the devils in such a brutal and inhuman way, I became purple-black in my chest and back and was seriously injured internally. A week later, I pissed blood, and my right kidney was seriously damaged. (Even now it often hurts.) A month later, the evil policemen didn’t find any evidence. So they forged a document and forced me to sign on it. Then they put me in the city detention house. Three months later, on the charge of “disrupting the society and the enforcement of the law,” they put me into one year of hard labor. In the labor camp, I lived an inhuman life. I never had a full meal, but had to labor for more than ten hours every day. The prison guards often bullied and insulted me, either beating me with the electric baton or locking me up in a small dark room. If not for God’s care and keeping, I would have long been tormented to death by that gang of devils. On November 7, 2003, I was released and finally got out of that hell on earth.

After undergoing the cruel persecution, I finally saw clearly that the slogans proclaimed by the CCP government such as “the Communist Party is great, glorious and correct” and “in China everyone enjoys freedom of belief” are actually the tricks to deceive the world to build up its fame and fool the people. I hate bitterly this old devil from my heart. It speaks every fine word but does every evil thing. In order to abolish God’s end-time work and make China a region without God, it tries every possible means to hunt and torture believers in God. The means are cruel to the utmost and heinous! In retrospect, I was endlessly interrogated by severe tortures and cruelly tormented and fainted several times. Without God’s keeping, I would have long been devoured by the devils. When I was most weak, Almighty God’s words constantly encouraged me, “Have you ever accepted the blessings for you? Have you ever pursued the promises to you? You will surely break through the suppression of the forces of darkness under the guidance of my light, will surely not lose the guidance of the light in darkness, will surely be the master among all things, will surely be overcomers before satan, and will surely stand among all men and be the proof of my overcoming when the country of the great red dragon collapses. In the land of Sinim you will surely be strong and unwavering, and you will inherit the blessings from me because of the sufferings you undergo and will surely shine forth my glory in the entire universe.” (from “The Nineteenth Piece of Word” of God’s Utterance to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words were my solid support! And I received the revelation and guidance of God’s words in agony and weakness, so that I could pass through that darkest and lengthy period. Though I was arrested and persecuted by the CCP government several times and suffered ruthless damage and torment in the flesh, I understood many truths I hadn’t understood before, saw clearly the Chinese government’s devilish substance of being reactionary and evil, tasted Almighty God’s true love for me, and experienced God’s almightiness and wisdom and wonderful deeds, which even more stirred up my heart to pursue to love God and satisfy God. Now, I’m still performing my duty in the church as before, following God and walking the right way of human life, and pursuing the truth and pursuing to live out a meaningful life.

Source: The Church of Almighty God | Rise Up in the Dark Oppression | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

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The Church of Almighty God | God’s Word Is My Real Life | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

God’s Word Is My Real Life

Xu Zhigang    Tianjin City

In the past, I was deeply influenced by Chinese traditional concepts and regarded purchasing property for my children as my life goal. Therefore, I devoted myself to studying car repairing technique and opened up a garage. The business was doing very well. At that time, I thought that man’s destiny was in his own hand. When my wife’s elder sister preached the gospel of Jesus to me, I refused and mocked at her. However, good times didn’t last long. The profits of my garage decreased day by day. No matter how hard I tried, it was in vain. As a result, I was tormented so much that I was exhausted physically and mentally and felt extremely miserable. Every day I sought solace in drink. Once, due to my distraction, I had an accident when driving. The car was badly smashed, but I survived miraculously.

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The Church of Almighty God | The Fourth Utterance | The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Fourth Utterance

All of My people who serve before Me should think back on the past: Was your love for Me tainted by impurity? Was your loyalty to Me pure and wholehearted? Was your knowledge of Me true? How much of a place did I hold within your hearts? Did I fill their entirety? How much did My words accomplish within you? Don’t take Me for a fool! These things are perfectly clear to Me! Today, as the voice of My salvation is uttered forth, has there been some increase in your love for Me? Has part of your loyalty to Me become pure? Has your knowledge of Me deepened? Did the praise of the past lay a solid foundation for your knowledge today? How much of your inside is occupied by My Spirit? How much of a place does My image hold within you? Have My utterances struck you at your Achilles’ heel? Do you truly feel that you have nowhere to hide your shame? Do you truly believe that you are unqualified to be My people? If you are completely oblivious to the questions above, then this shows that you are fishing in murky waters, that you are only there to make up the numbers, and at the time preordained by Me, you will surely be eliminated and cast into the bottomless pit for a second time. These are My words of warning, and any who take them lightly will be struck by My judgment, and, at the appointed time, will be assailed by disaster. Is this not so? Do I still need to provide examples to illustrate this? Must I speak more plainly to provide a benchmark for you? From the time of creation until today, many people have disobeyed My words and thus been cast out and eliminated from My stream of recovery; ultimately, their bodies perish and their spirits are cast into Hades, and even today they are still subjected to grievous punishment. Many people have followed My words, but they have gone against My enlightenment and illumination, and have thus been kicked aside by Me, falling under the domain of Satan and becoming those who oppose Me. (Today all those who directly oppose Me obey only the superficialities of My words, and disobey the substance of My words.) There have been many, too, who have merely listened to the words I spoke yesterday, who have held on to the junk of the past and not treasured the produce of the present day. These people have not only been taken captive by Satan, but have become eternal sinners and become My enemies, and they directly oppose Me. Such people are the objects of My judgment at the height of My wrath, and today they are still blind, still within the dark dungeons (which is to say, such people are rotten, benumbed corpses that are controlled by Satan; because their eyes have been veiled by Me, I say that they are blind). It would be well to provide an example for your reference, so that you can learn from it:

At the mention of Paul, you will think of his history, and of some of the stories about him that are inaccurate and out of line with reality. He was taught by his parents from a young age, and received My life, and as a result of My predestination he was possessed of the caliber that I require. At the age of 19, he read various books about life; thus I do not need to go into detail about how, because of his caliber, and because of My enlightenment and illumination, he could not only speak with some insight about spiritual matters, but was also able to grasp My intentions. Of course, this does not exclude the combination of internal and external factors. Nevertheless, his one imperfection was that, because of his talents, he would often be glib and boastful. As a result, due to his disobedience, part of which directly represented the archangel, when I became flesh for the first time, he made every effort to defy Me. He was one of those who do not know My words, and My place in his heart had already vanished. Such people directly oppose My divinity, and are struck down by Me, and only bow down and confess their sins at the very end. Hence, after I had utilized his strong points—which is to say, after he had worked for Me for a period of time—he once more fell into his old ways, and although he did not disobey My words directly, he disobeyed My inner guidance and enlightenment, and thus all that he had done in the past was futile; in other words, the crown of glory he spoke of had become empty words, a product of his own imagination, for even today he is still subjected to My judgment amid My bonds.

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The Church of Almighty God | The Third Utterance | The Word Appears in the Flesh

The Third Utterance

Since you are called My people, things are not as they used to be; you should listen to and obey the utterances of My Spirit, closely follow My work, and may not separate My Spirit and My flesh, for We are inherently one, and are not apart. Whosoever divides the Spirit and the man, cherishing either the man or the Spirit, shall suffer loss, and will only be able to drink from their own bitter cup—and that’s all there is to say. Only those who are able to look upon the Spirit and the man as an inseparable whole shall have an ample knowledge of Me, and only then can changes gradually occur in the life contained within them. So that the next step of My work may proceed smoothly and without hindrance, I employ the refinement of words to test all those who are in My house, using the method of working to test those who follow Me. Under these circumstances, it is fair to say that they all lose hope; as people, there is not one among them whose conditions are not negative and passive, as if their entire space has changed. Some people rail against Heaven and earth; some, in their despair, still bite the bullet and accept the test of My words; some look to the skies and sigh deeply, tears filling their eyes, as if distraught by the untimely demise of a newborn infant; some even feel there is shame in living thus, and pray for God to take them away soon; some spend all day in a daze, as if they’ve just been seriously ill and have yet to come to their senses; some, after complaining, quietly leave; and some still praise Me from their own place, yet are still a little negative. Today, when all has been revealed, I need speak no more of the past; of greater importance is that you should still be capable of the utmost loyalty from the place I give you today, so that all you do meets My approval, and all you say is the product of My enlightenment and illumination, and ultimately what you live out is My image, is completely the manifestation of Me.

My words are released and expressed at any time or place, and so, too, should you know yourselves before Me at all times. For today is, after all, unlike what came before, and you can no longer accomplish whatever you wish. Instead, you must, under the guidance of My words, be capable of subduing your body, you must use My words as a mainstay, and must not act recklessly. All the paths to real practice for the church can be found in My words. Those who do not act according to My words directly offend My Spirit, and I shall destroy them. Since things have come as far as today, you need not feel too aggrieved and regretful about your deeds and actions of the past. My magnanimity is as boundless as the seas and the sky—could it be that the extent of man’s actions and knowledge of Me is not as familiar to Me as the back of My own hand? Who among man is not in My hands? Do you think I know nothing of how great your stature is, do you believe Me totally ignorant of this? That is impossible! Thus, when all people are at their most despairing, when they can wait no longer and wish to start anew, when they want to ask Me what is going on, when some indulge in dissipation and some want to revolt, when some are still loyally doing service, I begin the second part of the era of judgment: purifying and judging My people. Which is to say, I officially begin to train My people, allowing you to not only bear beautiful testimony to Me, but, moreover, to achieve beautiful victory in battle for Me from the seat of My people.

At all times, My people must be on guard against the cunning schemes of Satan, protecting the gate of My house for Me, able to support each other and provide to each other, which will stop you falling into Satan’s trap, at which time it will be too late for regrets. Why am I training you with such urgency? Why do I tell you the facts of the spiritual world? Why do I remind and exhort you time and time again? Have you ever given this any thought? Have you ever figured it out? Thus, you not only need to be able to become seasoned based upon the foundation of the past, but, moreover, to expel the impurities within you under the guidance of the words of today, allowing each of My words to take root and blossom within your spirits, and more importantly, to bear more fruit. That’s because what I ask for is not bright, lush flowers, but bounteous fruit—fruit, what’s more, that does not go bad. Do you understand the true meaning of My words? Although the flowers in a greenhouse are as innumerable as the stars, and draw all the tourists, once they have wilted, they become as tattered as the deceitful schemes of Satan, and no one shows any interest in them. But for those who have been buffeted by the winds and scorched by the sun and bear testimony to Me, although these flowers are not pretty, once they have withered there comes fruit, for this is My requirement. When I speak these words, how much do you understand? Once the flowers have wilted and borne fruit, and once all of this fruit can be provided for My enjoyment, I shall conclude all of My work on earth, and shall begin enjoying the crystallization of My wisdom!

February 22, 1992

From: The Church of Almighty God | The Third Utterance | The Word Appears in the Flesh

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The Church of Almighty God | God’s Love Strengthened My Heart | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

God’s Love Strengthened My Heart

Xiao Li    Liaoning Province

I had a harmonious family. My husband cared for and looked after me and our son was sensible and obedient, and moreover, our family was well-off. By rights, I should be very happy, but the fact was not so. No matter how good my husband and son were to me, and no matter how well-off my family was, it couldn’t make me happy. That was because I had lung disease, arthritis, and serious insomnia. I couldn’t sleep the whole night, my brain was lack of blood supply, and my limbs were weak. I felt very distressed but was unable to be free from them. The pressure in my business and the tortures of the illnesses caused me to suffer unspeakably. Those illnesses even more made me feel extremely miserable. To get free from those sufferings, I tried many ways, but in vain.

In March, 1999, a friend of mine preached Almighty God’s end-time gospel to me. Through reading God’s word every day and having meetings and fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters constantly, I understood many truths and knew many mysteries that I had never heard, and I was certain that Almighty God is indeed the returned Jesus, so I was very excited. Every day, I read God’s word thirstily. I also attended the church life, and often had meetings, prayed, and sang hymns and danced to praise God with the brothers and sisters. My heart was full of peace and joy, and my mental outlook got better and better. Unknowingly, I recovered from my diseases little by little. I often offered my thanks and praises to God for that, really hoping that all people would come to enjoy God’s love and salvation. Not long afterward, the church assigned me to take charge of the gospel work, and I threw myself into it with full enthusiasm. However, I had never expected that….

On the evening of December 15, 2012, four sisters and I were discussing matters of preaching the gospel in a host home, when suddenly there were hurried footsteps from outside. Our hearts immediately flew into our mouths. We simultaneously thought: Is it the policemen coming? Many brothers and sisters were already arrested and put in prison by the police before because of preaching the gospel. So, we hurried to hide the books of God’s word and other related items. But before we had finished, we heard the door kicked open with a bang. Seven or eight undercover cops broke in and shouted at us, “Nobody move! Hands up! …” Without showing any credentials, they forcibly searched us and took away my ID card and a receipt of the Church’s money for seventy thousand yuan. Seeing the receipt, they became excited immediately. They pushed and dragged us into a police car and took us to the police station. At the station, the vicious policemen carefully searched us all over again and confiscated all our mobile phones. At that time, they considered a sister and me the church leaders. So, they transferred us to the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Public Security Bureau that very night.

There, the policemen interrogated us separately. They handcuffed my hands to an iron chair. A vicious policeman shouted harshly at me, “What is the seventy thousand yuan for? Who sent the money? Where is it now? Who are your church leaders?” At that moment, I kept praying in my heart, “God, the vicious policemen force me to sell out the church leaders and tell them about the Church’s money. I mustn’t be a Judas to betray you. God, I’m willing to commit myself into your hand. May you give me faith, courage, and wisdom. No matter how the vicious policemen interrogate me by torture, I’m willing to stand testimony for you.” Then, I said to them resolutely, “I don’t know!” Hearing it, a vicious policeman, in exasperation, picked up a slipper and hit my face and head violently. While hitting me, he said ferociously, “How dare you not confess! How dare you believe in Almighty God! I’ll see whether you’ll believe or not.” My face was painfully hot and soon became swollen. My head became swollen and painful too. To force me to speak out the whereabouts of the money, four or five vicious policemen took turns beating me. One kicked my legs. One gripped me by the hair, shaking and tearing violently back and forth. One slapped my face. Blood streamed from my mouth. After wiping off the blood, they continued to beat me. They also wildly poked my body with electric batons. As they beat me, they demanded, “Speak up or not? Speak up!” Seeing that I still said nothing, they jabbed my private parts and my chest with the electric baton. I ached half dead. My heart beat violently, and I could hardly breathe. I just huddled trembling, feeling as if death was approaching me step by step. Though I clenched my teeth and didn’t utter a sound, I was very weak in my heart and felt that I could barely hold on, fearing that the vicious policemen’s cruel torture would come upon me once again. In agony, I prayed to God unceasingly, “God! Although I have the will to satisfy you, my flesh is weak and feeble. May you give me strength so that I can stand testimony.” Then I thought of the scene of the Lord Jesus being cruelly beaten by the soldiers before he was crucified: His muscles were ruptured, he was badly mangled and had wounds all over…. But he didn’t say a word. God is holy and innocent. However, for the sake of redeeming mankind, he endured all kinds of humiliations and sufferings and was willing to be crucified. God could sacrifice his life for saving corrupt mankind. So I should also suffer for repaying God’s love. Under the encouragement of God’s love, I had courage in my heart and made a resolution before God, “God, the sufferings you underwent I should also undergo. The bitter cup you drank I should also drink. I’ll give up my life to stand testimony for you.”

Several minutes later, I fainted with pain. When I woke up, I found someone was pouring cold water on my face. I was already drenched through and shivered with cold. Seeing that I woke up, that gang of beasts said venomously to me, “How dare you be tight-lipped! We can fix you to death here and no one will know it!” I didn’t respond to them. Then a vicious policeman forcefully stuck the sunflower seed shells they had cracked into my fingernails. The pain was so unbearable that my fingers trembled incessantly. Then they sprayed water on my face and poured water down my neck. All my muscles contracted because of the icy cold water, and I felt painful to the extreme. That night, I prayed to God ceaselessly for fear that I couldn’t live if I left God. God was with me all the time and his words constantly encouraged me, “When man gives up his life completely, nothing is difficult. …” (from “The Interpretation of the Thirty-sixth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Just hold your head up! Do not be afraid. With me, your father, backing you up…. As long as you ask and pray more before me, I will bestow to you all the faith. Those in power look ferocious in appearance, but do not be afraid. That is because you have little faith. As long as your faith rises, nothing will be difficult.” (from “The Seventy-fifth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words gave me boundless strength. Yes! God rules over all things. All matters and all things are in his hand. Even if the devils torture my flesh to death, my soul is in God’s hand. With God as my reliance, I was no longer afraid of satan, much less was I willing to be a betrayer because of caring for my flesh and for an ignoble existence. So, I prayed to God and made a resolution, “God! Although the devils torture my flesh, I’m willing to satisfy you and commit my whole being into your hand. Even if I have to die, I’ll stand testimony and never yield to satan!” Under the leading of God’s words, I had greater and greater faith. Although the devils afflicted and tortured my flesh and my endurance had already reached its limit, I felt less pain with the support of God’s words.

The next morning, the vicious policemen continued to interrogate me and threatened me, “If you don’t say it today, we’ll hand you over to the SWAT team. There are various kinds of torture devices waiting for you there….” Hearing that they would hand me over to the SWAT team, I instinctively felt afraid in my heart: The SWAT team must be even fiercer than they are. If they really use various torture devices on me, can I get out alive? Just when I was in panic, God’s words resounded in my ears, “What are the overcomers? The good soldiers of Christ should be brave, get strong in spirit by relying on me, strive to be valiant warriors, and fight satan to the death.” (from “The Twelfth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words calmed down my panic-stricken heart quickly. I realized that it was a war in the spiritual realm and it was the time God asked me to bear testimony. With God as my rear guard, no matter what malicious means the devils may use, I’ll rely on God and be a good soldier of Christ, and fight satan to the death and never yield to it.

In the afternoon, two policemen in charge of the religious affairs from the Municipal Public Security Bureau came to interrogate me, asking, “Who are your church leaders?” I said, “I don’t know.” Seeing that I didn’t tell, they adopted hard and soft means. One of them punched my shoulder hard. The other tried to talk me into believing his fallacies that deny God, “The heavens and the earth and all things came into being naturally. Man has to be realistic. Believing in God can’t help you resolve your problems in life. You still have to resolve them by your own efforts. We can find jobs for you and your son….” I drew near to God in my heart the whole time, and I thought of these words of God, “You must watch and wait at any moment, and be before me more. See through all kinds of intrigues and schemes of satan, know the spirit and people, and know how to discern various kinds of people, matters, and things. …” (from “The Seventeenth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words inspired me in a timely manner and made me see through satan’s schemes. The vicious policemen attempted to deceive me with fallacies and buy me off with petty favors. I could by no means be deceived by satan, much less betray God and be a Judas. Due to God’s revelation, I saw through the vicious policemen’s sinister intentions. After that, no matter what soft and hard means they tried, I didn’t respond to them. In the evening, I heard that some other people would come to interrogate me, and they mentioned that I had a previous conviction. Then, I was at a loss, not knowing what would happen at night and how I should deal with it. I could only call to God in my heart for his leading so that I wouldn’t betray God no matter what persecution or affliction came upon me. After a while, when I went to the washroom, I suddenly had a heart attack, which hadn’t occurred for years. Feeling that my heart beat faster and a fit of dizziness came over me, I fell to the ground. Hearing the sound, the vicious policemen hurriedly gathered around me. I heard someone say venomously, “Take her to the crematorium and be done with her.” Later, being afraid that I would die, they called an ambulance and sent me to the city hospital for an examination. There, I was diagnosed with chronic myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease. Unable to interrogate me anymore, they put me into the detention house. Seeing the hopeless look of the vicious policemen, I was very happy in my heart, for God made a way out for me and I could be free from the interrogation for the time being. Having escaped that affliction, I saw God’s deeds, and I uttered thanks and praises to God from my heart!

In the ten-plus days that followed, I thought that they wouldn’t give up before getting the whereabouts of the Church’s money from me. So I prayed to God every day, asking God to keep my mouth and my heart so that I could stand on God’s side in any case and would never betray God or forsake the true way. One day, after I prayed, God inspired me to think of this hymn of God’s word, “No matter what God requires, just exert all your strength. I wish you to be faithful to God the last time, to be faithful to God the last time in his presence. As long as you can see God reveal a gratified smile on the throne, even if it is just the time of your death, you should, should give laughter and reveal a smile when you close your eyes. You should perform your last duty for God in your remaining days. You should perform your last duty for God in your remaining days. In the past Peter was crucified upside down for God, while you should satisfy God in the end and exhaust all your energies for God. … No matter what God requires, just exert all your strength. I wish you to be faithful to God the last time in his presence, to be faithful to God the last time, to be faithful to God the last time.” (from “A Created Being Should Submit to God’s Manipulation” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) I sang and pondered it in my heart over and over again. In God’s words, I understood God’s requirement and expectation of me. In the heavens and the earth there are so many living beings living under God’s sovereignty, and among mankind there are so many people following God, yet there are very few who can truly bear testimony for God before satan. Today, I have the honor to encounter such an environment, which is truly God’s exceptional uplifting and a special favor to me. God says, “In the past Peter was crucified upside down for God, while you should satisfy God in the end and exhaust all your energies for God. …” (from “The Interpretation of Forty-first Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) These words especially encouraged me greatly. I couldn’t help praying to God, “Almighty God! In the past Peter could be crucified upside down for you and bore testimony of loving God for you before satan. Today, I’m arrested by the CCP in power. There is your good purpose in it. Although my stature is too small and I can’t match Peter, it’s my honor that I can have the opportunity to bear testimony for you. I’m willing to commit my life to you and bear testimony for you with my death so that you can gain some comfort from me.”

On the morning of December 30, the policemen from the Municipal Public Security Bureau came to interrogate me. Right after I entered the interrogation room, a vicious policeman asked me to take off my cotton jacket and pants and said to me, “Your younger sister and your son are also arrested now. You are a nest of believers in God. We’ve been to your husband’s work unit and known that you began to believe in Almighty God in 2008….” His words hit my vitals and disturbed my mind. I had never expected that they would also arrest my son and my younger sister. Driven by family affection, I began to worry about them. Unknowingly, I felt far from God in my heart. I kept thinking, “Will they be beaten? Can my son endure it?” Just then, God’s words guided me within, “How many sufferings each person should undergo and how long a way he should walk have been predestined by God. No one can help anyone else. …” (from “Way… (6)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s word led me out of family affection in time and made me realize that everyone’s way of believing in God is ordained by God and everyone should bear testimony for God before satan. If they can stand testimony for God before satan, isn’t it their blessing? Thinking of that, I was no longer worried about them and was willing to commit them to God and let God rule over and arrange them. Right then, a vicious policeman mentioned a few sisters’ names and asked me whether I knew them. I said no. He jumped to his feet and dragged me to the iron chair beside the window in exasperation and handcuffed me. Then he thrust the window open and let the cold wind blow against me. He also poured cold water on me and shouted obscenities at me at the same time. After that, he hit my face with the sole of a slipper dozens of times. I saw stars, my ears buzzed, and blood streamed from the corners of my mouth.

In the evening, several vicious policemen put me into a coldest room. Its windows were all covered with ice. They forcibly stripped my clothes, making me sit on the iron chair beside the window with nothing on, and handcuffed my hands to the back of the chair, so that I couldn’t move at all. A vicious policeman said coldly and viciously, “There is no gender difference in our interrogations….” While saying that, he pulled the window open. The biting cold wind blew on me, cutting like a knife, and I trembled all over. I said shakily, “I have postpartum tetany. I can’t be frozen like this.” He said venomously, “This specially cures your postpartum tetany. I’ll let you have rheumatism, diabetes, and nephrosis at the same time. No doctor will be able to cure your diseases!” After these words, he had someone bring a basin of cold water and forcibly pressed my feet into it to soak them and ordered, “Don’t spill any water from the basin!” Then he poured cold water on my back and fanned me from behind with a paperboard. The temperature then was more than 20 degrees below zero. Chilled by the biting cold water, I instinctively pulled my feet out of the basin. A policeman immediately seized my legs and pressed my feet into the water, not allowing me to pull them out. I huddled myself up from the cold, trembling incessantly. It seemed that my blood had congealed with cold. Seeing that, they were extremely happy. While laughing viciously, they said sarcastically, “The beat of your ‘dancing’ is not bad!” Facing those bestial devils, I hated them bitterly within and couldn’t help thinking of those demons in hell that take delight in afflicting man and take man’s sufferings as enjoyment on TV. They have neither feeling nor humanity but only cruelty and affliction. These vicious policemen had no difference with the demons in hell at all and they went even beyond them. In order to force me to turn in the Church’s money, they slapped me in the face countless times that day and night. When my face became swollen, they reduced the swelling with ice and then continued slapping me. If it were not for God’s keeping, I would have long died. Seeing that I still didn’t confess, they jabbed my thighs and private parts many times with an electric baton. Every time I got shocked, my whole body convulsed and twisted in pain. As I was handcuffed to the iron chair, I couldn’t even dodge and could only be beaten, trampled, and humiliated by them as they wished. The painful feeling was beyond description. However, they laughed wildly. More hatefully, a young vicious policeman came up to me and gripped my nipple with a pair of chopsticks and squeezed hard. It was so painful that I kept screaming. And they placed a frozen bottle of water between my inner thighs and poured mustard water into my nose. Immediately my nasal cavities were burning and the pungency instantly rushed to my brain so that I dared not breathe. A vicious policeman took a deep draw on his cigarette and blew the smoke into my nostrils, which made me cough incessantly. Before I got my breath back, another one placed a wooden stool upside down and inserted my legs into it so that the soles of my feet were off the ground. Then, he brought an iron stick and beat the arches of my feet heavily dozens of times each. My feet ached as if they were broken and the pain pierced me so much that I kept screaming. Only after a while, the arches of my feet became red and swelled up badly. The vicious policemen kept torturing me so that my heart beat violently. I felt I was going to die. Then they had me take heart medicine. Just when I got my breath back, they continued to beat me. While beating me, they threatened, “If you don’t tell, today we will freeze and beat you to death. Anyway, no one will know it. If you don’t tell today, we’ll keep you company for three or five days. Let’s see who can hold to the end. We’ll have your husband and child come to see what you are like now. If you still refuse to tell, we’ll have your husband and your son dismissed from work.” They also dug at and mocked me, “Don’t you believe in God? Why doesn’t your God come to save you? Your God doesn’t work.” Facing this gang of ferocious beasts, I hated them bitterly within. I couldn’t bear the cruel torture of these devils and beasts, much less their slander against God. So, I called to God earnestly in my heart, asking God to keep me and give me faith, strength, and the will to suffer so that I could stand firm. At that time, God’s words rang in my ears, “…in the last days, you should bear testimony for God. No matter how great the sufferings, you should walk to the end. Even if you have just one breath left, you should be faithful to God and submit to God’s manipulation. This is truly loving God, and this is a strong and resounding testimony.” (from “Only After Experiencing Painful Trials Will One Know that God Is Lovely” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Yes! God’s intention is for me to bear testimony for him before satan. I should endure all sufferings and humiliations for satisfying God. Even if I have only one breath left, I’ll be faithful to God. Only this is a strong and resounding testimony and can shame the old devil. Under the guidance of God’s words, I had faith and courage in my heart and was willing to break through the influence of darkness and satisfy God once even if I should die. I also remembered this hymn of life experience, “I will offer the sweetest to God, and leave the bitterest to myself; I will firmly stand God’s testimony, and never again yield to satan. Ah! Head can be cut off and blood can be shed, but the backbone of God’s people cannot be bent; God’s charge is on my mind. I resolve to shame the old satan. Let tears shed in my heart; I’d rather endure great humiliations than cause God’s heart to be worried.” (from “I Wish to See the Day God Gains Glory” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) Yes! I shouldn’t care for my own flesh. As long as I can shame satan and comfort God’s heart, I’m willing to offer up my life to God. After I made a firm resolution, no matter how the devils tortured me or carried out schemes, I always relied on God in my heart. God’s word also inspired and guided me within, giving me faith and strength so that I overcame the weakness of my flesh. Then, the vicious policemen continued to freeze me. They rubbed my body with ice. I shook with cold as if in an icehouse. My teeth chattered and I was black and blue all over. By a little past 2 a.m., I had been tortured so much that I felt worse than death. Unknowingly, I became weak in my heart again, not knowing when such sufferings would come to an end. I could only keep crying to God within, “God! My flesh is too weak. I can hardly endure it. May you save me.” I thanked God that he heard my prayer. Just when I could hardly hold on, the vicious policemen stopped interrogating me because they couldn’t get a result.

At past 2 p.m. on December 31, the vicious policemen dragged me back to the cell. At that time, I was wounded all over. My hands became so swollen like steamed buns, and they were black. My face became so swollen that it was one third larger than before, and it was blue. It was hard to the touch, without any feeling. There were many scorched parts on my private parts, which were wounded by the electric shock. At that time, there were over twenty people in the cell. Seeing that I was tortured by the devils like that, they all shed tears. Some prisoners even dared not look at me. A young Party member said, “I’ll withdraw from the Party as soon as I get out of here.” A corporate executive asked me, “Which police station is the guy who beat you from? What’s his name? Tell me. I’ll post him on the foreign websites after I get out. They claim that China is humanized, but where is the humanity? It’s simply bestialized!” My experience stirred the anger of many prisoners. They said angrily, “We have never expected that the Communist Party would be so cruel that it laid such violent hands on you. Isn’t it a good thing to believe in Heaven? Then people will commit no crime. Don’t they claim that they allow freedom of belief? There isn’t any freedom of belief at all! In China, you’ll have everything if you have power and money. The real criminals are all outside the jail, and no one dares to arrest them. The criminals on death row can be released after they give money to the officials. No fairness and justice can be found in this country….” Then, I couldn’t help thinking of these words of God, “Now is the time. People have long readied all their strength to consecrate all the effort and all the price to this, tearing up the ugly face of this devil, and causing those who are blinded and suffer hardships and afflictions to rise up from the miseries and rebel against this old devil!” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Do you truly hate the great red dragon? Do you really hate it from the heart? Why do I ask you like this many times? Why do I repeat such questions again and again? How is the image of the great red dragon in your heart? Has it truly been removed? Do you truly not regard it as ‘father’? Everyone should see my intention from my questions. It is not to arouse people’s indignation, to let them revolt, or to let them ‘find a way out themselves,’ but to let all people be released from its bondage.” (from “The Twenty-eighth Piece of Word” of God’s Utterance to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words comforted me greatly. I had never expected that the CCP government’s devilish essence of being cruel and malicious would be exposed through the cruel tortures I underwent, so that even unbelievers saw its true face and all rose up to hate and rebel against this old devil. At the same time the reality of the truth of God’s word was set off. It was really God’s wisdom and almightiness. In the past, I regarded the CCP as the red sun and people’s great savior. Through the CCP government’s inhuman persecution and affliction, I have completely changed my knowledge of it. I have truly seen that it is exactly an evil spirit which treats human life as straw, afflicts God’s people, acts against Heaven, and commits monstrous crimes, and it is the devil incarnate and the devil that resists God! God is the Creator, and men are created beings. It is right and proper for men to believe in God and worship God. However, the CCP government trumps up charges and frenziedly hunts and afflicts the believers in God, only wishing to capture all believers in God in one net. It has completely revealed its devilish face of hating God and being hostile to God. By its contrast on the negative side, I have seen more clearly God’s substance of beauty and good and love. Incarnated twice, God has undergone all kinds of persecutions and tribulations and the hunting of the devils. But God has been silently enduring all the blows and sufferings and doing the work to save man. God really loves man so much. Now I really regret that I didn’t do my best to pursue the truth and perform my duty properly to repay God’s love before. If one day I can get out alive, I’ll perform my duty more faithfully and let God gain my heart.

Later, the vicious policemen interrogated me another four times. As they couldn’t get any result, they imposed on me a charge of “disturbing the social order,” and I would be released upon bail pending trial for one year on payment of 5000 yuan. On January 22, 2013, after my family paid the bail, I was released. At home, when I saw ice on the window, my heart would beat faster. Besides, my eyesight became obviously worse and my rheumatism got more serious. I also got a problem with my kidney and always felt cold all over. My heart often palpitated, and my hands often got numb. The skin peeled off my face. My inner thighs often ached unbearably, and I was even woken up by pain from sleep. All these are the evidences of the devils’ afflicting me.

Inhumanly persecuted by the CCP government, I underwent all kinds of tortures in the flesh, but I have had a closer relationship with God and have gained a more practical knowledge of God’s wisdom and almightiness and God’s love and salvation. My will to follow Almighty God has also become resolute. I have made a resolution that I’ll follow God all my life and pursue to be one who loves God. For in the CCP government’s cruel persecution, I have personally experienced God’s love and care and keeping. If it hadn’t been God’s word leading me step by step and giving me faith and strength, I couldn’t have overcome those savage afflictions and tortures at all. After experiencing this special environment, I have seen clearly the CCP government is exactly satan the devil that resists God and is hostile to God. In order to turn China into a region without God and achieve its purpose of ruling the whole world, it actually does its utmost to banish God’s coming by every possible means and frenziedly hunts and persecutes the followers of God, attempting to capture them in one net and kill them all, and thus abolish God’s work. The CCP government is really too vicious! It is indeed the devil and beast that devours people and the dark force that pushes reactionary policies, acts against Heaven, fights justice, and advocates evil. In China, there are so many villains who do all kinds of evil things and bully and oppress the kind people, but it turns a blind eye to them and even lets them be in power and enforce the law. As for those hoodlums and gangsters who do prostitution and whoring and gambling and drug trafficking, it wallows in the mire with them to seek pleasures, and even acts as their protective umbrella. However, it simply treats those who follow God and walk the right way of human life as enemies and frenziedly hunts and cruelly persecutes them. As a result, many believers in God have a broken family, are separated from their spouses and children, are unable to go back home, and have no fixed residence and live a wandering life outside all year round; so many people, because of believing in God, undergo the brutal and inhuman tortures, and some are even maimed or beaten to death…. It can be seen that the CCP government is indeed satan the devil that destroys humanity and slaughters mankind. Its crimes will never escape God’s righteous punishment, for Almighty God has said, “The ‘den’ of the devils will surely be demolished by God. You stand on God’s side and are people who belong to God. You do not belong to this slavery kingdom. God has long since harbored a bitter hatred for this dark society and gnashed his teeth in anger. He only wishes to tread his feet on this old ancient serpent guilty of heinous crimes, making it never rise again, not allowing it to harm people any more, not tolerating its past, and not allowing it to deceive people any more. Its crimes throughout the generations will be dealt with one by one. God will never let off this arch-criminal and will exterminate it thoroughly.” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s righteousness is worthy of praise, satan’s kingdom will surely be destroyed and abolished by God, God’s kingdom will surely be established on earth, and God’s glory will surely fill the universe and expanse!

Source: The Church of Almighty God | God’s Love Strengthened My Heart | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

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The Church of Almighty God | God’s Word Led Me to Overcome the Suppression of the Force of Darkness | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

God’s Word Led Me to Overcome the Suppression of the Force of Darkness

Qiu Zhen    Zhejiang Province

I believed in Jesus from childhood with my mother. In the days of my following the Lord Jesus, I was often moved by the Lord’s love, feeling that the Lord Jesus loved us so much that he was crucified and shed his last drop of blood for the sake of redeeming us…. At that time, the brothers and sisters all loved and sustained one another. We enjoyed the Lord’s love, but at the same time, we were persecuted and suppressed by the CCP government. The police labeled our house churches as having “illegal meetings.” They often raided our meeting places and ordered that we couldn’t have meetings unless we got the relevant license approved by the government. Otherwise, we would be arrested to be fined or sentenced. Once, my mother and another five or six brothers and sisters were arrested and interrogated by the police for a whole day. In the end, the police released them after confirming through investigation that they were all ordinary believers. From then on, in order to escape the government’s raids, we had to have meetings secretly. Even so, our faith wasn’t diminished. But later, I found that I got less and less enjoyment in the meetings. The preachers and believers formed cliques and intrigued against one another. Many believers grew cold in faith and loved the world and money, and they only cared about making money but were unwilling to attend meetings. The several believers who came to have meetings and listen to messages chatted to one another or dozed off. Seeing that the church became desolate day by day and the believers were scattered and went away, I was very sad but couldn’t do anything. In the second half of 1998, one of my relatives preached to me the end-time gospel of Almighty God, the returned Jesus. After hearing it, I was so excited that I shed tears for meeting with the Lord in my life. Since then, I eagerly read God’s word every day and understood many truths and mysteries from that. My thirsty heart received the watering and supply which I had never received before. Moreover, from God’s word, I knew the reason why the church was desolate. I read these words of God, “God’s work in all the other places will stop, and all people will be forced to search for the true way. It will be like the case of Joseph. Everyone went to him for things to eat and bowed down to him, because he had food to eat. In order to escape the disaster of starvation, all people will have to seek the true way. The entire religious world will suffer a severe famine. Only the God of today is the spring of living water and has the ever-flowing spring for people to enjoy. All people will turn to him.” (from “The Millennial Kingdom Has Come” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) So God has already done a new work, no longer working in the churches of the Age of the Grace. Only if we keep up with God’s new work can we have the leading of the Holy Spirit and the abundant supply of life. If one fails to keep up with the pace of God’s working, he won’t have the working of the Holy Spirit. Naturally his faith and love grow cold, and he is insensible even when committing sins and doing evil. It’s just like in the later phase of the Age of the Law. When the Lord Jesus started the new work, there was no working of the Holy Spirit in the temple where people worshiped God, and the temple naturally fell into darkness and became a place of buying and selling. Knowing the truths and mysteries we had never heard before and enjoying the pleasure brought by the Holy Spirit’s greatly working, my husband and I were both immersed in the happiness and joy of meeting with the Lord again. We often learned to sing hymns, danced to praise God, and had meetings fellowshipping about God’s word with the brothers and sisters. We became fresh and lively in spirit, as if seeing the beautiful scene of everyone being glad and joyful when the kingdom is realized. Unexpectedly, just when we followed God to walk the right way of human life with full confidence, the CCP government persecuted us cruelly….

On October 28, 2002, several sisters and I were having a meeting. During that time, one sister and I went out to do something. I hadn’t yet walked far when I heard the sister behind me say, “Why do you arrest me?” Before I was aware of what had happened, an undercover policeman came up and grabbed me, saying, “Go to the police station with me!” Immediately, I was forced into a police car. The car drove up to the police station. On getting off the car, I saw that the six sisters with whom I had the meeting were all arrested and taken there. Later, the evil policemen ordered us to strip ourselves naked to be searched one by one. After searching out two beepers from me, they firmly believed that I was a church leader and listed me as the prime one to be interrogated. One evil policeman shouted at me, “When did you begin to believe? Who preached to you? Whom have you ever met? What are you in charge of in the church?” Facing the policemen’s aggressive interrogation, I was very nervous. I didn’t know how to respond, so I could only pray to God silently, asking him to keep me from betraying him. After the prayer, I gradually calmed down and chose to keep silent. Seeing that, the policeman punched my head violently in exasperation. Instantly, I felt senseless and my ears buzzed. Then, they brought a sister over and asked us to identify each other. Seeing that we didn’t listen to them, the evil policemen flew into a rage and ordered me to take off my winter shoes and stand barefoot on the cold cement floor, and then they had me stand with my back pressing against the wall. When I didn’t stand straight enough, they would kick me hard. At that time, it was already late autumn. The temperature dropped abruptly and it was raining lightly. I shivered with cold all over, with my teeth chattering unceasingly. The evil policemen paced up and down aside, threatening me while pounding the table, “We’ve long shadowed you. Today we have enough means to make you speak up. If you don’t say, we’ll freeze you to death, starve you to death, or beat you to death! We’ll see how long you can hold on!” Hearing those words, I was somewhat afraid. So I called to God, “O God! I don’t want to be a Judas and betray you. May you keep me and give me courage and faith to fight against satan, so that I can stand testimony.” After praying, I remembered God’s words, “His disposition is a symbol of authority, a symbol of all justice, a symbol of all beauty and good, and even more a symbol of being unable to be overpowered or attacked by any hostile force or darkness and a symbol of being unable to be offended (and of not tolerating being offended) by any created being.” (from “It’s Very Important to Know God’s Disposition” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Yes, God has authority and power. His disposition can’t be overpowered by any hostile force or darkness. No matter how ferocious the CCP lackeys are, they’re in God’s hand. As long as I rely on God and cooperate with him, I can surely overcome them. With the clear guidance of God’s words, I had faith and courage immediately and didn’t feel so cold. After having me stand for over three hours, the evil policemen put me into a police car and took me to the detention house.

On the second afternoon in the detention house, an evil policeman and an evil policewoman came to interrogate me. They called my name in the dialect of my hometown, trying to cotton up to me. The man claimed himself to be chief of the Religion Section of the Public Security Bureau and said to me, “The men from the police station have got some information about you. Actually your case is nothing serious. We specially come to get you home. You’ll be all right after you say it clearly in our local place.” I didn’t know what they got up in their sleeve, but after hearing him say so, I somewhat felt that I was lucky, “Anyway, the policemen from my hometown are good. Maybe they’ll release me if they fail to get any result from the interrogation.” Out of my expectation, on the way to my hometown, the evil policemen exposed their ferocious features, forcing me to hand over the key of my house to them. I realized that they would go to my house to make a search. When I thought that there were many books of God’s word and the name list of the brothers and sisters of the church in my home, I urgently prayed to God, “O Almighty God! May you keep the books of God’s word in my home from falling into satan’s hand….” I refused to give them the key. Then the evil policemen drove to my apartment building. After locking me in the car, they dashed straight upstairs. I sat in the car and kept praying to God, feeling that every second was a suffering. After a very long time, the evil policemen came down and said angrily, “Why are you so stupid? You don’t have any book at home but still work so hard for them.” When I heard that, my anxious heart was finally put at ease and I thanked God from my heart for his keeping. Later I learned that the evil policemen didn’t find the books of God’s word in my home and only took away my over four thousand yuan in cash, a cell phone, and all my photos and my family’s. My younger sister happened to be at my home that day. After the evil policemen left, she immediately transferred all the books of God’s word and materials about believing in God in my home to the church. When the evil policemen went to make another search the following day, they still returned empty-handed.

That evening, the evil policemen took me to the local police station and repeatedly interrogated me about the previous questions. Seeing that I kept silent all the time, they asked a pastor of the Three-Self church to come to persuade me. The pastor said, “If you don’t go to the Three-Self church, the way you believe in is a false one.” I ignored her and just prayed inwardly, asking God to keep my heart. Afterward, she went further and further and began to slander and blaspheme God wantonly. I was so indignant that I refuted her, “Pastor, you condemn Almighty God as false at will, but doesn’t Revelation clearly record ‘which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty’? (Revelation 1:8) You condemn him at will. Aren’t you afraid of offending the Holy Spirit? The Lord Jesus said, ‘…whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.’ (Matthew 12:32) Aren’t you afraid?” On hearing that, the pastor had nothing to say and went away with embarrassment. I thanked God in my heart for leading me to overcome that hurdle. Seeing that the trick didn’t work, the evil policemen asked me to write some words. I didn’t know what their intention was, so I prayed to God silently. Under God’s revelation, I realized that it was satan’s scheme. Then I refused them, saying that I couldn’t write. Later, from the two evil policemen’s conversation, I learned that they asked me to write in order to check my handwriting and verify whether those notebooks searched out from the meeting place were mine, attempting to convict me by that. It made me see that the gang of policemen are all running dogs and lackeys which the CCP trains and that in substance they’re all demons and evil spirits that hate the truth and persecute the believers in God! In order to persecute the believers in God, they rack their brains and try every possible means. They’re really too sinister and crafty, and loathsome and hateful! After seeing clearly the evil policemen’s ugly face of persecuting God, I made a resolution inwardly, “I’ll never bow down to satan!”

The interrogation lasted until around midnight. Failing to get any information from me, the chief of the Religion Section suddenly roared like a mad beast, “Damn you! I should have been off duty at 11 o’clock. You make me stay here with you till now. If I don’t let you suffer, you won’t know how high the sky is or how great the earth is!” With the words, he pulled my right hand on the table and held it forcefully, and then took a thick stick about five or six centimeters in diameter and struck my wrist hard. When the stick fell the first time, the large vein in my wrist bulged and the muscles around it swelled. I screamed from the pain and instinctively tried to withdraw my hand, but he held it tightly. While beating me, he roared, “How dare you not write! How dare you not tell! I’ll beat you until you can never write!” He stopped after he beat me for five or six minutes. At that moment, my hand was so swollen that it looked like a steamed bun. When he loosened his grip, I immediately withdrew my hand and kept it behind my back. However, that evil policeman moved around behind me and seized my hands and hit them wildly. As he beat me, he said, “You do things for your God with these hands, don’t you? I’ll break them or disable them. I’ll see how you can do things with them. I’ll see if the believers in Almighty God will still want you!” Hearing the words, I bitterly hated that gang of evil policemen. They run counter to right principles and go against Heaven, only allowing people to be the CCP’s slaves and work themselves to the bone for the CCP, but not allowing them to believe in God and worship the Creator. Now, in order to force me to betray God, they don’t hesitate to torture me cruelly. They are really a gang of beasts and devils in human clothing! They are too evil and reactionary! That evil policeman violently beat me three times in succession. As a result, my arms became purple-black, and my wrists and the backs of my hands were so swollen that I felt unbearably painful as if they were going to burst. When I was in agony, a hymn of God’s word rang in my ears, “In the last days, I should bear testimony for God. No matter how difficult, I must do my best to live, and no matter how great the sufferings, I should walk to the end. Even if I have just one breath left, I should be faithful to God. This is, this is truly loving God, and this is a strong and resounding testimony. Oh … loving God and satisfying God is the most worthy and meaningful life, and loving God and satisfying God is most meaningful.” (from “It’s God’s Grace to Receive God’s Judgment and Chastisement” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) God’s words moved my heart, “Right! To save us, God has been working hard day and night and caring for and accompanying us until today. He has given me endless love and mercy. Now when satan forces me to betray God and sell out the brothers and sisters, how God wishes me to bear a strong and resounding testimony for him! How can I disappoint and grieve God?” At the thought of that, I held back my tears and told myself to be strong and not to be timid or cowardly. The CCP government’s persecuting and afflicting me today isn’t directed at my flesh. It does so because it hates God. I’ll stand on God’s side resolutely and put satan to shame. I sang the song again and again in my heart, and grew strong in spirit gradually. After I was beaten up, the evil policemen didn’t allow me to close my eyes all night long. Once seeing that I narrowed my eyes, they roared at me or kicked me hard. However, moved by God’s love, I didn’t yield to them.

The next day, the chief of the Religion Section came to interrogate me again. Seeing that I still didn’t speak, he took a stick and lashed my thighs violently. After a few lashes, my legs swelled all over, and I felt my trousers became tight. Another evil policeman mocked me aside, “Since the God you believe in is so good, why doesn’t he come to help you when we torture you? …” He also said many words of slandering and blaspheming God. I felt painful and indignant, and responded to them in my heart, “You group of devils, God will repay you according to your words and deeds! Now is just the time when God grasps the facts of your doing evil.” I remembered God’s words, “The hatred of the ages is kept in heart; the evil of all ages is borne in heart. How could this not arouse people’s hatred? Avenge God, and exterminate this enemy of God thoroughly. How dare it be rampant, and how dare it kick and run amuck frantically! Now is the time. People have long readied all their strength to consecrate all the effort and all the price to this, tearing up the ugly face of this devil, and causing those who are blinded and suffer hardships and afflictions to rise up from the miseries and rebel against this old devil!” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) From God’s words, I felt God’s anxious heart and earnest calling and understood that satan is the object that is doomed to be destroyed by God. Now God allows it to afflict me for the time being, and he just lets me see clearly its substance through this and thereby have true love and hatred, so that I can rebel against it completely and turn my heart to God. So I should bear testimony for God to shame satan. After understanding God’s will, I had a great strength within and had the will to pledge my life to be faithful to God and rebel against the old satan. Although I suffered a succession of cruel tortures and felt weak all over and my legs ached unbearably (later I found my legs were black and blue, and one muscle in my right leg is atrophied even till now), by the strength God gave me I still didn’t say anything. In the end, the chief could only leave in exasperation.

On the third day, the evil policemen questioned me and beat me up again. They didn’t stop until they got tired from beating and cursing me. Later, a policewoman came over and said with affected care, “Before, a believer in Almighty God said nothing after being arrested. As a result, he was sentenced to ten years. You say nothing. What’s the good for you? You’ll waste ten years here. When you get out, your God won’t want you. It’ll be too late for you to regret….” She also said many words of coaxing me, but I kept praying silently, asking God to keep my heart, so that I wouldn’t fall into satan’s scheme. In prayer, a hymn of God’s word appeared in my mind, “I pursue God and follow God out of my own willingness. Now even if God deserts me, I will still follow him. No matter whether God wants me, I will still pursue to love God. I am resolute to gain God in the end, dedicating my lifetime energies to God. May God’s will be accomplished. May my heart be offered up to God. No matter what God does, I will follow him all my life and never give up until I gain him.” (from “I Will Never Give Up Until I Gain God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) Yes! My believing in God and following God today is out of my own willingness. No matter whether God wants me, I’ll still follow God! God’s words made me become clear in my heart and mind. I realized this: Satan tries to play me off against God by every possible means, just attempting to make me become passive and deny God and betray God as a Judas in the end. Now, only if I hold on to my faith in God and my faithfulness to God can satan be defeated, and thus I can become the evidence of overcoming satan. Whether I’ll be imprisoned or not and what my outcome will be are both in God’s hand. No matter how God arranges and manipulates my life, I’ll make no choice. I deeply believe all that God does is for saving me. Although I’ll lose my fleshly enjoyment because of being imprisoned, what I get is a clear conscience. Moreover, it’s my honor to be imprisoned for God. On the contrary, if I betray God because of seeking after fleshly ease, I’ll lose my integrity and dignity, and my conscience will be troubled forever. Thus, I made a resolution in my heart, “Even if I’m imprisoned for life, I’ll be faithful to the end and offer up my truest love to God, putting satan to shame and defeating it thoroughly!” Through both soft and hard tactics, the evil policemen interrogated and tortured me for three days and nights, but they didn’t get any clue from my mouth. Having no choice, they had to put me, who was wounded all over, into the detention house and maliciously said, “We’ll interrogate you again after you recover a little!”

Five days later, the evil policemen came to interrogate me again. That time, they carried out “wheel combat” on me. They ordered me to sit on an icy iron chair, handcuffed my right hand backward to it, and put an iron bar before my chest, making my feet suspended off the floor, so that my whole body couldn’t move at all. Not long afterward, my hands and feet became numb. One of the evil policemen shouted at me, “None of those who have been handcuffed onto this chair haven’t confessed honestly. If you don’t speak within one day, you’ll be cuffed for two days. If you don’t speak within two days, you’ll be cuffed for three days! … My requirement for you isn’t high. As long as you tell me who your church leader is, it’ll be fine.” I thanked God for giving me strength. I only held on to one thought all along: Never betray! They interrogated me again and again and didn’t give me anything to eat or water to drink and even didn’t allow me to go to the washroom. During the night, in order to keep me from sleeping, they handcuffed one of my hands to the iron chair and forced me to stand by the chair for interrogation. I was tired and hungry and numb all over, so I couldn’t stand at all but could only lean against the iron chair. However, when I just leaned close to the chair or felt sleepy, they would sway or lash with long bamboo chopsticks wildly before my eyes and didn’t allow me to close my eyes for the whole night. Just like that, after two days, I was weak and limp all over. I didn’t know how long they would torture me and was very afraid that I was unable to hold on and thus betrayed God as a Judas. Then I kept calling to God, “God! My flesh is too weak and my stature is too small. May you keep me so that I won’t be a Judas.” Just when I was urgently calling to God, an evil policeman took out a book of God’s word and read, “To those who were not faithful to me in the least in the tribulation, I will show no more mercy, because my mercy only goes so far. Moreover, I do not like anyone who has ever betrayed me, much less like to associate with a person who sells out the interests of his friends, which is my disposition, no matter who he is. I want to tell you: Anyone who has broken my heart cannot possibly be forgiven by me the second time, and anyone who is faithful to me will remain in my heart forever.” (from “You Should Prepare Enough Good Deeds for the Sake of Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) I was brightened in my heart: Isn’t God pointing out the way to me? I saw that God was really full of expectation and concern for me. To keep me to stand firm, God used the evil policeman to read God’s words for me in the devil’s den, explicitly telling me that he likes and blesses those who are faithful to him in the tribulation and detests and rejects the base ones who betray him. While facing God’s love and mercy, how could I fail God’s heart? After the evil policeman finished reading, he asked me, “Does your God require you to do so? To say nothing?” I didn’t answer him. Unexpectedly, he thought I didn’t hear it, so he read it several times and asked me several times. I saw that God is so wise and almighty. The more the evil policeman read it, the more every word of God was engraved in my heart. Then I had a firmer faith: No matter how the devils interrogate me by tortures, I won’t be a Judas!

On the third day, the evil policemen intentionally took me upstairs and downstairs to interrogate me so as to exhaust my strength. I was tortured by them so much that I felt weak all over and my legs were limp. It was very difficult for me to lift up my legs while going upstairs. However, because of the faith and strength that God’s words gave me, I still refused to say anything. The interrogation lasted until night, but the evil policemen couldn’t get anything from me. Then they threatened me, “Even if you don’t say, we can sentence you all the same and fix you to death!” After hearing that, I was kind of scared in my heart, “How will they torture me? I’ve been worn out and can hardly hold on….” I called to God, “O God! May you help me. I’m afraid that I can’t stand it. May you keep and lead me, so that I can know how to cooperate with you.” After the prayer, I had strength within, no longer feeling so painful. Just like that, when I was in the most painful and difficult situation, it was the prayer that gave me strength and faith, so that I could pull through it.

On the early morning of the fourth day, failing to get any result from the three-day interrogation, the evil policemen removed my handcuffs angrily. They pushed me to the floor and ordered me to kneel down on the floor, not allowing me to stand up. Then I just knelt on the floor and prayed to God silently, “O God! I know that it is you who have kept me to overcome these several days of interrogation and torture. Facing your love and mercy, I don’t know how to thank you with words. God! Although I don’t know how the evil policemen will torture me next, I’ll never betray you or sell out the brothers and sisters in any case. May you continue to give me faith and strength and keep me so that I can stand firm.” With the prayer, I had a powerful strength in my heart. I felt clearly that I was under the care of God’s love and that no matter how the devils tormented me, God would surely lead me to overcome. After quite a long time, one evil policeman probably had guessed that I was praying to God, so he roared at me and cursed me exasperatedly. And then he rolled up a pile of newspapers into a tube and struck me in the temple fiercely. Darkness came over my eyes and I fell to the floor and passed out. They poured cold water to sober me and I faintly heard an evil policeman threaten, “If you still don’t confess, I’ll beat you to death or beat you disabled for life! Even though I beat you to death, no one will know it anyway. Your brothers and sisters dare not come here.” I also heard another one say, “Just forget it. If we continue to beat her like that, she’ll die. She’s incorrigible and we can’t get anything from her.” After hearing that, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat relieved and knew that God sympathized with my weakness and made a way out for me again. The evil policemen weren’t resigned to being defeated just like that, so they brought my unbelieving younger sister and my son over and asked them to persuade me. My sister saw my black eye corners and bruised and swollen hands from the beating. She didn’t persuade me as the evil policemen wished, but instead she said to me in tears, “Sister, I don’t believe that you have done anything bad. You should be strong.” Seeing that, one evil policeman turned to my son, saying, “You urge your mom and ask her to cooperate with our work. Then she can go home earlier to take care of you.” My son gave me a look and ignored them. When leaving, he suddenly said to me, “Mom! Don’t worry about me. Take good care of yourself. I can take care of myself.” Seeing that my son was so sensible and reasonable, I was so moved that I couldn’t say anything but just nodded my head vigorously and watched him leave with tears in my eyes. It made me experience God’s love and care for me again, because during those days, I was most concerned about my son. I feared that he wouldn’t know how to live without me by his side and even more feared that as he was so young, he would be instigated and brainwashed by the evil policemen and hate my believing in God. I hadn’t expected that he wasn’t deceived by their lies at all but instead comforted me. I saw that God is really so almighty! Man’s heart and man’s spirit are indeed in God’s manipulation. It is just as God’s words say, “Man’s heart and man’s spirit are under God’s control, and man’s entire living is in God’s eyes. No matter whether you believe all these, nevertheless, anything, living or dead, will move, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is the way God rules over all things.” (from “God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) After my sister and son left, the evil policemen threatened me again, “If you still don’t say, believe it or not, we’ll torture you several more days and nights. Even if you don’t say, we can still sentence you to three to five years….” After experiencing God’s many deeds, I was full of faith in God. So I said firmly, “At worst I’ll die in your hands! You can only torture my flesh but can’t shake my heart. Even if my flesh dies, my soul is still in God’s hand.” Seeing that, the evil policemen had to end the interrogation and sent me back to the cell. Seeing satan’s discomfiture of being thoroughly defeated, I was very happy in my heart. I truly knew that only God is the almighty Ruler and man’s life and death are both controlled in God’s hand. Although I didn’t eat or drink for several days and nights and my body was greatly afflicted, God’s love accompanied me all the time and God’s words gave me faith and strength constantly, so that I tenaciously overcame satan’s “wheel” interrogations. It made me truly experience that God’s life power is so transcendent and great and the strength God gives to man is infinite and isn’t restricted by the flesh.

Several days later, the CCP government sentenced me to three years of hard labor on the charge of “disturbing the social order,” and then sent me to a labor camp. There, I lived an inhuman life and worked without stopping from morning till night every day. Because my hands became disabled from beating, in the first half year the muscles of the backs of my hands were very tight and I had no strength even to wash clothes. Whenever it was overcast or rainy, my arms would become sore and swollen because the blood vessels were blocked. Even so, the prison guards still forced me to finish an excessive workload every day. If I couldn’t finish it, my sentence would be extended. Moreover, they strictly watched and controlled us believers in God, and we were watched even when we ate, took a shower, or went to the washroom…. The physical illness and the excessive work and the mental tortures made me feel unspeakably miserable. I felt that three years of prison life were too long and I could hardly stay there any longer, so I thought of death several times. In extreme anguish, I prayed to God, “O God, you know my flesh is too weak. I’m feeling bitter now and I really can’t endure it and even want to die. May you inspire and lead me and give me a strong will, so that I can have faith to go on….” God showed grace to me and made me remember a hymn of God’s word, “God is incarnated this time to do the work he has not finished, to judge and end this age, to save men from the sea of misery, to thoroughly conquer them, and to transform their life disposition. For mankind to break free from the afflicting and pitch-dark force of darkness and for the sake of the work of mankind ah, God has had so many sleepless nights ah. He comes to the lowest place from the highest place and lives in hell on earth and spends days with men ah. He never complains about the miserableness of the world ah, and never makes exacting demands of men, but endures great humiliation doing his own work. For the whole mankind to enjoy rest earlier, he endures humiliation and swallows injustice to come to earth, personally coming into the tiger’s den to save mankind. So many times he faced the stars, and so many times he worked day and night. He endures great sufferings and endures men’s attacking and ‘breaking.’ God comes to the filthy place and silently endures men’s tortures….” (from “The Practical God Is Saving Men in Obscurity” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) While I was pondering these words, my heart was encouraged and moved by God’s love. To save us, a group of deeply corrupted men, God humbles himself to the lowest place from the highest place and takes a great risk to work in China, the fortress of demons. He has undergone all kinds of humiliations and sufferings, and persecutions and tribulations. However, God has been silently expending for mankind without any complaint or regret. God has done so many works just to gain a group of people who can care for his will and stand with justice unswervingly. Now I encounter this environment, and through it God wants to temper my will and perfect my faith in him and my obedience to him and make me understand and enter into the truth. If I can’t even endure this little suffering in prison right now, won’t I disappoint God’s thoughtful kind intention too much? Furthermore, under God’s leading I overcame so many cruel tortures before, and God has long let me experience his wonderful deeds. Shouldn’t I have firmer faith and go on to bear a good testimony for God now? Thinking of that, I became strong again and resolved to pull myself together and imitate Christ. No matter how hard and difficult, I’ll walk on tenaciously. Later, whenever I felt the life in the labor camp was painful, I would sing that song. Every time, God’s words gave me infinite faith and strength and encouraged me to continue to walk forward. At that time, many other sisters were imprisoned in the labor camp. Relying on the wisdom God gave to us, once we had the opportunity, we would pass slips of paper on which were written some words of God or fellowship with each other to sustain and encourage each other. Although we were imprisoned in the devil’s den of the CCP government and locked inside the high walls isolated from the world, because of that, we even more cherished every word of God and even more treasured the revelation God bestowed to every one of us. Thus, our hearts became closer….

On October 29, 2005, I was finally released after serving the sentence. However, though I had gotten out of the prison, I didn’t regain freedom. The police had people spy on my movements all the time and ordered me to report to the police station every month. Although I was in my own home, I felt as if being put in an invisible prison and had to be continually on the alert against the CCP’s informers’ appearing. Even if I read God’s word at home, I had to be very cautious, fearing that the policemen would suddenly break in. Moreover, for that reason, I couldn’t meet the brothers and sisters or live the church life. I was particularly tormented in my heart, feeling each day passed like a year. Later, I really couldn’t endure such a life without the church or the brothers and sisters, so I went to work in another place. Thus, I got in touch with the church there and lived the church life again.

After experiencing the CCP government’s persecution, I saw clearly its evil image of being hypocritical and deceiving the world to win reputation. I became certain that it’s just a group of devils that blaspheme Heaven and are hostile to God and that it’s indeed the embodiment of satan and reincarnation of the devil. I hated it bitterly in my heart and swore to be irreconcilable with it. Moreover, in the tribulation, I truly tasted God’s almightiness and sovereignty and wonderful deeds, experienced the authority and power of God’s word, and more truly felt God’s love and great salvation. In times of danger, God accompanied me all the time, inspired and enlightened me through his word, gave me faith and strength, and led me to overcome the cruel tortures time and again and pass through three long years of dark life in the devil’s prison. Facing God’s great salvation, I’m full of gratitude and have greater faith. I’ve made a firm resolution, “No matter how great the storm I’ll undergo in the future, I’ll rely on the guidance and leading of God’s word to break away from all the influence of darkness and follow God to the end unswervingly!”

Source: The Church of Almighty God | God’s Word Led Me to Overcome the Suppression of the Force of Darkness | The Overcomers’ Testimonies

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