Tag: Discerning Satan’s Schemes

The Lies of Communism Account of the CCP’s Brainwashing Review | CCP Tortures Christians Mentally

juliettremblayLeave a comment

Hello. Greetings, everyone! Welcome to this edition of Movie Reviews. The movie that we recommend for you today is The Lies of Communism: Account of the CCP’s Brainwashing. Here’s the background of the story: Chinese Communist Party has set up many brainwashing classes all over China, in which they forcibly conduct communist ideological reform upon Christians. Though there is a difference of only one word between the title of this movie and “The Manifesto of Communism,” the word “manifesto” replaced with the word “lies,” not only is the meaning very different, but a great deal of suspense is created for the audience. Why is it said that the communism as promoted by the Communist Party is “lies”? What story does the movie tell? Rather than talk about it further, let’s watch the film.

Recommended:

English Christian Movie | “The Lies of Communism: Account of the CCP’s Brainwashing” | Revealing the Truth (Mandarin Dubbed / Full Movie)

 

Advertisement

Best Christian Movie | Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China “A Youth of Bloody Tears”

juliettremblayLeave a comment

Best Christian Movie | Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China “A Youth of Bloody Tears” (English Dubbed)

    Since it came to power in mainland China in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has been relentless in its persecution of religious faith. It has frantically arrested and murdered Christians, expelled and abused missionaries operating in China, confiscated and destroyed countless copies of the Bible, sealed up and demolished church buildings, and vainly attempted to eradicate all house churches. This documentary tells the true story of the persecution suffered at the hands of the CCP by the family of Chinese Christian Lin Haochen. Lin Haochen followed in his father’s footsteps and believed in the Lord, and as a result, as a child witnessed his village cadres often come to his home to threaten and frighten his parents into abandoning their faith and efforts to spread the gospel. After Lin Haochen’s family accepted God’s work of the last days, they were persecuted and arrested even more fervently by the CCP government. Lin Haochen’s mother passed away from illness as she fled arrest, and Lin Haochen, his father, and his older brother were forced to flee home, and found it nearly impossible to return. What was once a happy, beautiful family was dismembered and scattered by the CCP’s persecution …

Recommended:

More Christian Testimonies Articles: A Youth Without Regret

Persecution and Suffering Made Me Love God Even More

juliettremblayLeave a comment

the-persecution-and-tribulation-made-me-love-god-more-3.jpg

Testimony of Faith: Persecution and Suffering Made Me Love God Even More

    My name is Liu Zhen. I am 78 years old, and I am just an ordinary Christian in The Church of Almighty God. I am grateful to Almighty God for choosing me, an elderly woman from a rural village who is unremarkable in the eyes of the world. After I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, every day I prayed to God, listened to recitations of God’s word, and went to meetings and fellowshiped with my brothers and sisters, and gradually, I began to understand some truths and to have a clear comprehension about certain things. I felt filled with joy, and I lived with a happiness I’d never previously experienced. Because I am old and I find walking difficult, I was unable to leave home to attend church meetings, so out of concern for me, my brothers and sisters held the meetings in my home. They never missed a meeting due to winter cold or summer heat, and wind, rain, and snow never stopped them from coming to visit and care for me, just an old woman as I am. Especially when we read God’s word, if there was anything I didn’t understand, they would always patiently fellowship with me about it, and never ignore me or look down on me. I was deeply moved by this, because if it were not for God’s love, who would have shown such patience and affection for me? In my interactions with my brothers and sisters, I saw that they were very different from laypeople. What they lived out were tolerance and love, and they were able to open up their hearts and treat each other with sincerity, without any barriers or distance between them. They were as close as a family, and this made me feel even more certain about Almighty God’s work. As I came to understand more truths, I realized that I should fulfill my duty as a created being, so I told the church I wanted to take up duties. Because my age prevented me from performing most duties, however, the church assigned me to hosting duties at my home. I accepted, grateful to God for assigning me a duty based on my capabilities. And so, I got along with my brothers and sisters very well, and I felt a great sense of relief in both body and mind. Some illnesses I had been suffering from also began to get better, and so I was even more grateful to Almighty God for His grace and mercy.

    However, the good times didn’t last long, because my brothers and sisters in the village and I were reported by an evildoer. My brothers and sisters were all arrested by the police, and they ordered the village Party secretary to bring me to the police station. Once I got there, the police asked me, “How did you come to believe in God? Why do you believe in God?” I said, “Believing in God is an unalterable principle. By reading God’s word every day, we can understand many truths, be good people according to God’s word, and walk the right path in life. Believers in God don’t beat or curse others, and we always abide by the law, so what’s wrong with believing in God? Why are you arresting us?” The officer looked at me contemptuously and asked harshly, “Who preached the gospel to you? Does anyone else in your family believe?” I said I was the only one in my family who believed. They saw that they wouldn’t get any information from me, so they released me the same day. After I left, I wondered why the police had released me so easily. It was only once I arrived back home that I learned that, when my family found out that I’d been taken to the police station, they had used their connections and paid 3,000 yuan to the police to release me. But the police were still sowing discord between my family and me, as they’d asked my family to prevent me from believing in God. My daughter-in-law fought with my son about this and threatened to kill herself by drinking pesticide if I continued to believe in God. That was when I realized that the CCP police were rotten to the core. I had a perfectly peaceful family, and yet now they’d stirred things up so much that we were all at each other’s throats! I believed in the one true God who created all things in heaven and on earth, and today, Almighty God has come to save us by asking us to understand the truth, live out a human likeness, speak and act in ways which accord with our conscience and what is right, and not do things that go against our humanity or morality. All I did was stay at home and read God’s word, hold meetings, and fulfill my duty, but the CCP police actually framed me and charged me with “disturbing public order.” They were blatantly distorting the facts, deliberately twisting the truth, arbitrarily accusing people of false crimes! Satan is truly despicable. It was nothing but bald-faced slander and malicious libel. The police had learned from the informant that I hosted meetings with my brothers and sisters at my house, so they didn’t stop bothering me after that. Soon after, they brought me in to the police station to question me, and threatened me by saying, “Tell us the names of your church leaders and the people you host at meetings. If you don’t tell us, we’ll put you in prison!” Sternly yet righteously, I answered, “I don’t know anything! I have nothing to say to you!” The police were furious beyond words, but because God protected me, they didn’t dare lay a finger on me.

    After the police released me, they continued their surveillance of me, vainly hoping to use me as bait to catch a “bigger fish.” I feared implicating my brothers and sisters, so I no longer dared stay in contact with them, and thereafter I fell out of church life. Without church life, my heart felt empty and without refuge, and I gradually became estranged from God. I spent each day living in panic and dread, deeply afraid the police would come to take me away again. In the past, I had spent each day listening to God’s word and Sermons and Fellowship, but now that was impossible, because if they saw me praying or I even mentioned the word “God,” I would get an earful of complaint from my family. My daughter-in-law spoke coldly to me all the time because I had been fined by the police, and my husband and son scolded me at every turn. The family that once supported my belief in Almighty God now opposed and persecuted me however they could. This made me feel very sad, my spirit felt very oppressed, and I lived in a darkness and pain I had never felt before. Because I had no recitations of God’s word to listen to and was unable to fellowship with my brothers and sisters, my spirit felt incredibly parched. Every night I tossed and turned in bed and couldn’t sleep, and I often missed the happy times I’d spent at meetings with my brothers and sisters. At times like these, I hated the CCP government. It had caused all of this misery, it had caused me to lose the rights of a created being to freely believe in and worship God, it had caused me to lose my church life, stopped me from fellowshiping on God’s word with my brothers and sisters, and stopped me from performing my duties. In my misery, I could only silently pray to God: “O God! I live in darkness, I feel like my spirit has become parched, and I want to live the church life with my brothers and sisters. O God! I beg You to open a path for me!”

    I went before God and continued to call out to Him in this manner, and God truly heard my prayers, as He arranged for my brothers and sisters to visit me. One of my sisters knew that I often went to the cotton field to pick cotton, so she secretly went there to see me, and we set a time to hold meetings there. Each time we met, I was out in the field picking cotton early, and while everyone else was eating lunch, I squatted down with my sister in the field to read God’s word. Seeing my sister was like seeing a long-lost relative. I couldn’t stop the tears of happiness from flowing. I told her about the injustice and misery I had endured, as well as my family’s misunderstandings. She comforted me while God’s words watered me, and she fellowshiped on God’s will with me, and gradually, my state began to improve. This was how the CCP government persecution made it so that I could only hold meetings squatting in a cotton field. One day, we read a passage of God’s word: “There is not one person among you who is protected by the law—you are, instead, punished by the law. Even more problematic is that people do not understand you: Be it your relatives, your parents, your friends, or your colleagues, none of them understand you. When you are ‘abandoned’ by God, it is impossible for you to continue living on earth, but even so, people cannot bear to be away from God, which is the significance of God’s conquest of people, and is the glory of God. … Blessings cannot be obtained in a day or two; they must be earned through great sacrifice. Which is to say, you must possess a love that has undergone refinement, you must possess great faith, and you must have the many truths that God requires you to attain; what is more, you must turn toward justice, without being cowed or evasive, and must have a constant and unabating love for God. You must have resolve, changes must occur in your life disposition, your corruption must be healed, you must accept all of God’s orchestrations without complaint, and you must be obedient even unto death. This is what you ought to attain, this is the final aim of God’s work, and it is what God asks of this group of people” (“Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s word made me understand that my current suffering was something I ought to endure. China is a country ruled by atheism where believers in God are persecuted and shamed, but this suffering was temporary and limited, and it was carefully arranged by God to perfect my faith and obedience to Him, so that I could better receive God’s promise and blessings in the future. I now had no other desires, because having God was enough. At the same time, I saw that the laws formulated by the CCP government are simply tricks to deceive people. To the outside world it claims to support religious freedom, but in reality, believers in God don’t even have the right to read God’s word or hold meetings. It simply doesn’t tolerate the existence of believers in God, and it doesn’t allow people to follow God or walk the right path in life. Just as Almighty God’s words say: “Religious freedom? The legitimate rights and interests of citizens? They are all tricks for covering up sin!” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The heaven and earth created by God are vast, but in China believers in God don’t even have a toehold. Anyone who believes in God suffers the CCP government’s arrest and persecution and has their freedom restricted. The CCP government wants nothing more than to kill off every believer in God and transform China into a godless nation. It is so corrupt, evil, and reactionary. It truly is irreconcilable with God, an enemy of God that cannot abide His existence!

    And so, I continued to meet with my sister secretly in the cotton field. But time passed, and soon it would be winter. The leaves of the cotton plants withered and fell, and the cotton field no longer provided any cover for us to hold meetings, so I once again found myself without brothers and sisters with whom to fellowship on God’s word. At first, I was able to keep God’s word and maintain a normal relationship with God, but without the provision and watering of God’s word, my spirit became more and more barren and dry, and before long, I again fell into darkness. I felt that I had descended from heaven into hell, and I was in such misery that death would have been preferable. My family believed the police’s lies, so they kept watch over me every day, and threatened me with beatings if I continued to believe in Almighty God. At home, I didn’t dare to pray. I could only pray hiding under my blankets at night or when no one else was at home, and I passed every day in this manner. Besides enduring the recriminations of my family, I also had to endure the rumors and gossip of the villagers. Facing all this, I felt especially miserable, spiritually I felt weak and helpless, and I was in low spirits every day. I felt that, after losing the church life, being unable to read God’s word, and not being able to see my brothers and sisters, simply being alive was misery, that it had lost all its joy. I thought of how in the past, when I felt miserable and weak, God’s words always comforted me, my brothers and sisters patiently supported me, and after I’d understood God’s will, I would immediately feel at ease and liberated, and my spirits would rise again. But now, because of police persecution and surveillance, I had lost the right to read God’s word, and I couldn’t even see my brothers and sisters. Every day was a long, bitter struggle, and seeing the way I lived without feeling alive, as if I were dead, and considering how full of life I had been in the past when I’d lived in God’s presence in the church, I felt anguished and miserable. And when I thought of how my family had been fooled and deceived by the CCP government, how they didn’t understand me, and how they’d gone along with the CCP government in restricting my freedom, I felt even more heartbroken. But just when I was feeling like I had nowhere to turn, I prayed continually to God and begged Him to open a path for me: “O God! Now, I can’t read Your word, nor can I live the church life, and this life is too much for me to bear. O God! My family has been deceived by the CCP government and tries with all their strength to prevent me from believing in You. Please, help me, allow me to testify to Your deeds, and stop them from being deceived and used by Satan any longer. O God! I wish to entrust my family to You, and I ask that You show me a way out.”

    Thanks be to God, He genuinely heard my prayers. Some time later, I suddenly passed out in front of my bed one evening. My husband was frightened out of his wits and didn’t know what to do, so my son quickly called emergency services. When the first hospital that responded heard the patient was an old woman who was seriously sick, they refused to accept me. My son called another hospital’s emergency line, and the doctor said I didn’t stand much chance of regaining consciousness, that there was no point in doing anything to save me, and that my family should prepare for the worst. But my son refused to give up, and begged them until they had no option but to relent and bring me to the hospital. However, even after emergency rescue procedures, I remained unconscious. There was nothing the doctors could do, and my family was certain I wouldn’t survive. Yet for God, nothing is impossible, because this was when a miracle happened! After being in a severe coma for 18 hours, I slowly regained consciousness. Everyone present was stunned. When I opened my eyes and saw the doctors, I thought I was looking at angels. I asked them where I was, one of them told me I was in the hospital, and as they hurriedly checked my vitals, they kept muttering, “It’s really a miracle….” Before long, I sat up, and I felt very hungry. The nurse fed me, and after I finished eating, I felt full of energy and strength. I knew that this was one of Almighty God’s miraculous deeds, that God had heard my prayers and opened a way forward for me. As I sat on the bed I couldn’t help but sing in praise of God. The surprised doctor couldn’t help but ask, “Ma’am, who is this God that you believe in?” I said, “I believe in the one true God who created all things in heaven and on earth—Almighty God!” The doctor responded by looking at me in shock, and my family looked surprised and delighted as they watched me singing. After I got out of the hospital, I went home, and one by one my neighbors came to see me, saying, “It’s amazing! The doctors all said there was no hope for you, but you actually woke up. It’s a miracle!” I testified to God to them, saying that this was due to God’s great power, that God had saved me, that without God I would be dead now, and that it was God who had given me a second chance at life. I told them all of humankind was created by God, that life is given to us by God, that God administers and rules over our lives, and that people cannot turn away from God’s guidance, because to turn away from God means death. After experiencing this, my family no longer opposed my belief in God, and God also granted me an unexpected blessing—my husband also accepted God’s current stage of work. After that, my husband often went to meetings with me to fellowship, and I felt incredibly happy, at peace, and secure. I then spent every day living in joy, because I had truly seen God’s almightiness and wisdom, and I thanked and praised God from the bottom of my heart!

    Through my experience, I genuinely came to appreciate that no matter what God does to a person, He does it out of love. Behind His permitting Satan to persecute me lay God’s good intentions. The CCP government wanted to use my arrest and persecution to make me shun God and betray God, but it had no idea that God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s tricks. The CCP government’s oppression not only failed to make me shun God or betray God, but instead it allowed me to clearly see the CCP government’s evil essence of resisting God and acting against Heaven, and further solidified my certainty that Almighty God’s word is the truth, the way, and the life! It also allowed me to see God’s great power and miraculous deeds, thereby strengthening my love and loyalty for God. Just as Almighty God’s word says: “In My plan, Satan has ever snapped at the heels of every step, and, as the foil of My wisdom, has always tried to find ways and means to disrupt My original plan. But could I succumb to its deceitful schemes? All in heaven and on earth serves Me—could the deceitful schemes of Satan be any different? This is precisely the intersection of My wisdom, it is precisely that which is wondrous about My deeds, and it is the principle by which My entire management plan is carried out” (“Chapter 8” of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The more the CCP government wildly resists God and persecutes God’s chosen people, the more we are able to discern and forsake it, and the more we can understand the truth and know God’s wisdom and miraculous deeds. Our faith in following God also grows, and we become more able to produce resounding testimony for God. Through experiencing the CCP government’s persecution, I saw clearly that, in God’s work, Satan simply acts as a foil, and is a serving object for God, and I also came to know more clearly God’s earnest desire to save humankind. In the future, no matter what difficulties or obstacles I face, I wish to fulfill my duties to the best of my abilities and do my part to meet God’s will.

More Christian Testimonies Articles: God’s Love Was With Me in the Devil’s Dark Prison

From Suffering Is Emitted the Fragrance of Love

juliettremblayLeave a comment

The Church of Almighty God, Eastern Lightning, Testimony of Faith,

Testimony of Faith: From Suffering Is Emitted the Fragrance of Love

    I’m an ordinary country woman and, because of the feudalistic idea of only valuing male children, I was unable to raise my head in front of others for shame of having borne no son. Just when I was suffering the most, I was chosen by the Lord Jesus and, two years later, I accepted the salvation of Almighty God. Moreover, I understood much truth from within the words of Almighty God and my spirit obtained true release. However, while I was performing my duty to repay God’s love, I was twice arrested by the CCP government and I suffered brutal torture and torment at the hands of the CCP’s pawns. Just when I was on the verge of death, the words of Almighty God continually guided me and inspired me and allowed me to stand witness in the midst of Satan’s cruel harm, thereby strengthening my determination to follow God and love God for all my life.

    Around 5 p.m. one afternoon, in May 2003, I was on my way to perform my duty when suddenly the village Party secretary rode up on a motorbike and blocked my path. He barked orders at me, saying: “Stop! What are you doing? Come with me!” I was taken by surprise, and I realized that I had been followed. I immediately thought of the pager, the church’s cash receipts and other things I had in my bag and that, once these things were in his hands, it would bring about great loss for the church’s work. So I ran as fast as I could, hoping to find an opportunity to throw away the things in my bag, but I didn’t get very far before he caught me. Not long after, a black car drove up and out of it sprang five or six ferocious-looking policemen who surrounded me at once. They laughed maliciously and said: “This time we’ve really got you, the leader. Still think you can run away? Dream on!” Then they forcefully twisted my hands behind my back, put me in the police car and took me to the local police station.

    When I got to the police station, the evil police shoved me into a small, dark, foul-smelling room, and they began to bellow fiercely at me: “Come clean! What’s your name? Where are you from? What are you doing here? Speak up!” My heart was thumping, seeing their threatening manner, and I feared that the things in my bag would fall into their hands, and I was also afraid that they would torture me cruelly. While all this was happening, I cried desperately to God: “Oh Almighty God, today it is by Your permission that I have fallen into the hands of devils. No matter what they do to me, I desire only to stand by You. I pray for the wisdom and the faith to stand witness.” Just at that moment, I thought of God’s words: “You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me…. Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block the road?” (“Chapter 10” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Yes indeed, God is unique. He administers all things and rules sovereign over everything, so aren’t these few evil policemen even more part of the arrangements of God? With God’s presence and support, what more was there to fear? God’s words gave me faith and my entire body became filled with strength, never again to fear Satan. But at that time, I was still concerned about the things in my bag, and my heart constantly cried out to God for protection. I thanked God for hearing my prayer—this gang of evil policemen merely interrogated me and did not search my bag. When the time came for them to change shifts, they all left the room, and I hurriedly took the accounting receipts and faith materials that were in my bag and threw them out the window. Then I broke the pager on the floor and tossed it into the trash can, and only then could I breathe a sigh of relief. I’d only just finished doing this when the new shift of evil policemen entered the room. They gave me a fierce look, then they hastily went through my bag, but found nothing. I saw with my own eyes God’s almightiness and sovereignty, and my faith was greatly increased. Because they had come up empty-handed, the evil policemen questioned me furiously, asking who exactly I had contact with, who the upper-level leaders were, and so on. I was afraid I would let something slip and fall into their trap, so I said nothing at all. Seeing this, five or six evil policemen came at me all at once in a fit of beating and kicking, cursing me as they did so, saying: “If you don’t tell us, we’ll beat you to death!” I was beaten so hard I was curled up into a ball, rolling back and forth on the ground. One evil policeman then violently pulled me by the hair and threatened me fiercely: “You’re still really damn stubborn. You won’t speak? We have our ways, so you’ll see how we sort you out tonight!” I knew God was with me, and so I faced the coming interrogation and torture with a calm heart.

    It was after 8 p.m. that night when two evil policemen handcuffed me and escorted me to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Upon entering the interrogation room, an evil policeman in his forties began to play the good cop, trying to entice and persuade me: “You’re young, and you’re pretty. What’s all this about believing in God? Cooperate with our work. So long as you tell us who the upper-level leaders are, I’ll get someone to take you home straight away. I can help you with any difficulty you may have. Why suffer here? …” Because of God’s protection, I knew that this was Satan’s cunning ploy, and I paid no attention to him no matter what he said. The evil policeman saw that his ploy hadn’t worked, so he immediately showed his true colors. He seized me by the hair and pressed me against the floor, cruelly kicking my head until I became dizzy and felt the whole place spinning. With that he stomped on my head and said very ferociously: “Not speaking? I’m going to pull out all the stops to torture you today, and you’ll wish you’d never been born. Will you tell us what we want to know?” Seeing that I still said nothing, he called in several more evil policemen who dragged me to my feet and began to slap my face over and over, until my face hurt so much it felt like it was burning with fire. But no matter how they beat me, I continually and silently prayed to God, gritted my teeth and said not one word. Seeing that I was still not surrendering, they dragged me to another room, spluttering with rage. An evil policeman picked up a taser and laughed maliciously at me, saying: “Doesn’t matter that you’re being stubborn. We have our ways! Let’s see which will hold out the longest—you or our taser!” Then he jabbed me with it ruthlessly. In an instant, my whole body was shocked by an enormous electrical current and I convulsed involuntarily. It was as though countless insects were biting my body, and I couldn’t help but emit spasmodic, shrill cries. Without waiting for me to catch my breath, another evil policeman took up a stack of thick magazines and began pounding them on my head with all his strength, and then, he wrenched me by the hair and cruelly slammed my head against the wall. Everything went black and I fell to the floor. The evil policemen bellowed at me, “Pretending to be dead!” Then they dragged me up from the floor and ordered me to kneel, but I was so weak that I could only kneel for a few moments before collapsing to the floor again. At that point, I really felt like I couldn’t hold on any longer, I couldn’t help feeling weak, and I thought: “These devils are truly so brutal, and I really will die today in their hands….” In pain and helplessness, I prayed to God in absolute earnest, asking God to guide me, and for the strength to defeat Satan. Just then, God’s words flashed in my mind: “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things and He is guiding us on the whole earth. We shall often be close to Him…. If you have but one breath, God will not let you die” (“Chapter 6” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words made me understand that God held my life in His hands and that, so long as God didn’t give His permission, then these devils wouldn’t dare take my life. I thought of how I had followed God so far, how God had protected me all the way along, how I had enjoyed God’s love so much and so greatly, and I thought of how the situation now unfolding was God’s way of testing my loyalty and my love, and that it was an opportunity for me to repay God’s love. The devils were torturing me in this way with the contemptible aim of getting me to betray God; but I would be unyielding and determined. Even if they tortured me to death, I would still not surrender to Satan. There was no way I would be a Judas just so I could drag out an ignoble existence. I wouldn’t let Satan’s plot succeed—I had to stand witness for God and allow God’s heart to be comforted! God’s words lent me inexhaustible strength; I forgot the pain that wracked my whole body, and I then had the faith and the courage to carry on fighting these devils.

    Then, to extract a confession out of me, the evil police began taking turns guarding me and preventing me from sleeping and pressing me with questions over and over: “Who are the upper-level leaders in your church? Where do they live? Who else is a member? …” Seeing me stay silent, every now and then they would grab me by the hair and kick me. I had only to close my eyes and they would beat and kick me and use the toe caps on their leather shoes to stomp on and grind my knuckles with all their might. A piercing pain caused me unspeakable suffering, and I just kept screaming. They punted me around like a football. … As dawn approached, I’d been tortured to the point that my body was covered in countless bruises and I was in unbearable pain. Thinking of how I’d never before suffered such hardships, and thinking of the damage and torment I was suffering now at the hands of the CCP’s evil police because of my belief in God, I was suddenly overcome with a wave of weakness and grief. At that point, all was dark inside me, and my fear grew and grew, not knowing what kinds of cruel torture they had in store for me next. As I lay in pain, I prayed silently to God: “Oh, Almighty God, I ask You to enlighten me and lead me to understand Your will in my plight, so that I may not lose my testimony.” As I prayed, I thought of a hymn of God’s words: “You must suffer hardship for the truth, you must give yourself to the truth, you must endure humiliation for the truth, and to gain more of the truth you must undergo more suffering. This is what you should do. … You should pursue all that is beautiful and good, and should pursue a path in life that is more meaningful. … You should forsake all enjoyments of the flesh for the sake of one truth, and should not throw away all truths for the sake of a little enjoyment” (“You Should Forsake All for the Truth” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). God’s words awakened my heart and made me understand that the pain of persecution I was suffering now for my belief in God was of the utmost value and of the utmost significance. I understood that God was using this environment of suffering to show me clearly Satan’s essence that is in enmity to God, so that I would be able to forsake it utterly and thereby turn my heart back to God and achieve a true love for God. God has already endured all pain in order to save me, so shouldn’t a corrupt human such as I suffer even more for the sake of gaining the truth and in order to attain a true change in my life disposition? I thought, “This suffering is something I should endure in my pursuit to obtain salvation, and I need this kind of plight to temper me and edify me; this is what my life needs and I desire to accept God’s great love. Today, I suffer alongside Christ and I share both in Christ’s kingdom and in His tribulations—this is entirely by the elevation of God, it is God’s greatest love and blessing to me, and I should be happy.” Thinking this, my heart felt so comforted, and I ceased to believe that encountering such an environment was something painful, but on the contrary I felt that God had bestowed a special blessing upon me. I silently offered up a prayer to God: “Oh, Almighty God! I give thanks to You for enlightening me so that I understand Your will. No matter how Satan torments me, I absolutely will not compromise or surrender to it. Whether I live or die, I wish to submit to Your orchestrations, devote myself entirely to You, and love You until I die!” The evil police tortured me for two nights and a day and got nothing from me at all. In the end, all they could say was that I had already been “Godized,” and I was sent to the detention house.

    As soon as I got to the cell at the detention house, the head of the cell block, having been incited by the evil police, began threatening me: “Come on, confess or you’re in for it!” Seeing that I was not going to yield, she colluded with the other prisoners to punish me in every way possible: They gave me nothing to eat, gave me no hot water, they made me sleep on the freezing cement floor every night, and made me do the dirty and exhausting work. If I didn’t finish it I had to put in overtime, and if I didn’t do it well enough I was verbally abused and made to stand as a punishment…. Every day I had to face being ridiculed, humiliated, discriminated, beaten and verbally abused by the other prisoners. What’s more, my money had been confiscated by the evil police so, without a penny to my name, I couldn’t even buy toiletries and other daily necessities. I had no idea when these days would end and inside I felt so sorrowful, so lonely and so in pain, wishing always to get out of that demonic place as soon as I could. But the more I wanted to get out of that environment, the darker and more distressed my heart became, and tears fell unconsciously from my eyes. In my helplessness, I could only tell God again and again of my pain, hoping earnestly for God to lead me once again and make me able to obey His orchestrations and arrangements. God is my help and my support at all times, and once again He led me to think of this passage of His words: “No matter how God works or what kind of environment you are in, if you are able to pursue life, seek to have God’s work carried out within you, and pursue the truth, and if you have an understanding of God’s actions and are able to act according to the truth, then this is your genuine faith and this shows that you have not lost hope in God. Only if you are still able to pursue the truth through refinement, you are able to truly love God and do not develop doubts of Him, if no matter what He does you still practice the truth to satisfy Him and you are able to deeply seek out His will and be considerate of His will, then this means you have true faith in God. Before, when God said that you would reign as a king, you loved Him, and when He openly showed Himself to you, you pursued Him. But now God is hidden, you cannot see Him, and troubles have come upon you. At this time, do you lose hope in God? So at all times you must pursue life and seek to satisfy God’s will. This is called genuine faith, and it is the truest and most beautiful kind of love” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words were like a loving mother soothing a distressed child, and they gave me great comfort and encouragement. I felt that God was right beside me watching over me and expecting me to be able to maintain my true faith in God before Satan, thereby gaining the ability to love and satisfy God and stand witness for God in the midst of painful environments and when beset by the forces of darkness—this is the most powerful testimony that puts Satan to shame. Though I was caught in this devils’ lair, God’s love was always with me. When I suffered cruel torture and torment and I felt weak, and when I endured Satan’s attacks and felt pained and distressed, I could always see God’s provision for my life, I could feel the consolation of God’s love, and I could see the hand of God opening the way out for me. I thought to myself, “God is always by my side, looking out for me and accompanying me. God’s love for me is so profound; how could I ever disappoint His will? I ought not to pander to my flesh and even less should I try to flee the environments God arranges for me. I ought to recall the faith I had before, devote my true love to God and bear witness for God before Satan.” Thinking these things, the pain in my heart dissolved, and I resolved to love and satisfy God even if I had to suffer all agonies. I couldn’t help but sing a church hymn: “I am a person with heart and spirit, so why can’t I love God? God is my support, what is there to fear? I pledge my life to fight with Satan till the end. God lifts us up, we should leave everything behind and fight to bear witness for Christ. God will carry out His will on earth. I’ll prepare my love and loyalty and devote them all to God. I will joyfully welcome God’s return when He descends in glory, and meet with Him again when the kingdom of Christ is realized” (“The Kingdom” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). When I strengthened my faith and desired to satisfy God, I once again experienced God’s tender love for me. God arranged for a correctional officer to give me many items for my daily use. My heart was so moved and I thanked God from the bottom of my heart. After 40 days, the evil police saw they had no way of getting anything from me, so they forced charges on me for being a “xie jiao member,” and asked my family to pay several thousand yuan before releasing me.

    I thought I would have my freedom back once I got home, but the CCP police never let up monitoring me and they still restricted my personal freedom. They forbade me from leaving my house, ordered me to always be available to them, and dispatched someone to monitor me. They even threatened my family almost every few days, warning them to keep a close eye on me. From the outside, it seemed as though I had been released, but in reality I had been placed under house arrest by the evil police. I therefore didn’t dare to make contact with my brothers and sisters in the church, nor could I perform my duty, and my heart felt so oppressed and pained. The thing that made me even more indignant was that the evil police were deluding people in my village with their evil lies, telling them that my belief in God had driven me mad, that I wasn’t right in the head and that I was capable of anything…. In the face of such despicable rumor-mongering and slander, I couldn’t help but be consumed with anger. I thought to myself, “I can’t be controlled by those devils in this way, and I should struggle to free myself from their demonic clutches and repay God’s love.” And so, in order to elude monitoring by the evil police, I had no choice but to leave home and go perform my duty.

    Three years passed in the blink of an eye. I thought the CCP police wouldn’t be monitoring me any longer, so I returned home to perform my duty. However, it came as a bolt out of the blue when, early one morning in August 2006, before I’d even been home for more than a few days, the evil police came to pay me a visit. That morning, a voice hollering woke me with a start from sleep: “Hurry up and open the door, or else we’ll break it down!” My husband had only just opened the door when seven or eight evil policemen swept in like bandits and, without any explanation, got hold of me and hauled me to their car. Because God was protecting me, I felt no fear. I just prayed and prayed: “Oh, Almighty God! Today I have fallen once again into the hands of these devils. May You protect my heart, give me strength, and may I once again bear witness for You.” Once we got to the police station, the evil police forcibly took my photo and my fingerprints. They then took up a list of names and began to press me with questions: “Do you know these people? Who are your associates?” Seeing the familiar names of some of my sisters on the list, I responded composedly: “I don’t know them, and I have no associates!” No sooner had I finished speaking than one of them roared at me, “You disappeared for several years, so where were you? You do have associates. Do you still believe in Almighty God? Come clean.” The evil policeman’s words made me at once both sad and resentful, and I couldn’t suppress my anger. I thought, “That which I believe in today is the one true God who made the heavens and earth and all things. That which I pursue is the truth, the path I walk is the right path in life, and all these things are bright and just. And yet these devils, so utterly devoid of conscience, keep pursuing and abusing me, restricting my personal freedom, forcing me out of my own home, separating me from my own flesh and blood and trying to force me to betray God. What’s wrong with believing in God and seeking to be a good person? Why won’t they allow me to follow Almighty God and walk the right path in life? The gang of devils that make up the CCP government are really so reactionary and godless; they are irreconcilable enemies to God and even more so they are enemies with whom I cannot co-exist.” In my sadness and resentment, I couldn’t help but bring Almighty God’s words to mind: “These lackeys! They repay kindness with hate, they have long since disdained God, they abuse God, they are savage in the extreme, they have not the slightest regard for God, they plunder and pillage, they have lost all conscience, and have not a trace of kindness…. Their meddling has left all beneath heaven in a state of darkness and chaos! Religious freedom? The legitimate rights and interests of citizens? They are all tricks for covering up sin! … Thousands of years of hate are concentrated in the heart, millennia of sinfulness are inscribed upon the heart—how could this not inspire loathing? Avenge God, completely snuff out His enemy, do not allow it to run rampant any longer, and do not permit it to kick up as much trouble as it wishes anymore! Now is the time: Man has long since gathered all his strength, he has devoted all his efforts, paid every price, for this, to tear off the hideous face of this demon and allow people, who have been blinded, and have endured every manner of suffering and hardship, to rise up from their pain and turn their backs on this evil old devil” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From these words of God I understood His will, and there arose in me a bitter hatred of these devils. God created the heavens and earth and all things and He raises mankind; mankind enjoys God’s abundant bounty, and believing in God and worshiping God has always been right and proper. And yet the CCP government does everything it can to brutally repress those who believe in Almighty God; it hunts them wildly, imprisons them illegally, tortures and torments them cruelly, detains them in labor camps and insults and mocks them, hoping in vain to exterminate all those who believe in God and to abolish God’s work to save man in the last days—it really is wicked and despicable in the extreme! Over these years, if it hadn’t been for Almighty God protecting me and caring for me, I would have long ago been cruelly put to death by Satan the devil. In the face of this spiritual battle of life and death, I made the resolution to stand up for the truth and still love God even though I suffer extreme pain. I pledge my life to stand witness for God!

    Seeing me glaring at them without saying a word, the evil police raged at me in exasperation: “You won’t talk, eh? Wait until our bosses come to interrogate you themselves, and we’ll see if your mouth stays shut!” Hearing that the chiefs of the evil police were going to interrogate me themselves, I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Then I thought of how, in the midst of all this adversity, I had truly experienced God’s sovereignty over all and His administering of all things, and of how God’s words have a unique authority and a powerful vitality. Having realized this, there immediately arose within me the faith and courage to prevail over Satan’s forces of darkness. Though these evil policemen are extremely cruel and merciless, they are just paper tigers—they look strong on the outside but inside they are weak—and they also are manipulated by the hands of the Creator. In my heart, I made the following resolution to God: “Oh, God, no matter how the devils torment me, I ask only that You steady my faith, strengthen my heart that loves You, and let me become Your victorious testimony even at the cost of my own life.” It must have been after 10 a.m. when there came two men calling themselves deputy directors of the Public Security Bureau. They looked at me without saying a word, then one of them seized me by the hair and pressed me with the question: “Do you still believe in Almighty God?” Seeing that I stayed silent, the other evil police chief roared savagely: “If you don’t talk, we’re gonna put you through hell today!” As he said this, barking like a wild beast, he grabbed hold of my hair and threw me to the ground, and I fell so hard that I was unable to get up again. They then dragged me by the hair and beat and kicked me, shouting as they beat me: “Will you talk?” All at once, my face burned with pain and my scalp hurt unbearably like it had been torn apart. These two beasts in human clothing looked from the outside like respectable gentlemen, but underneath they were as savage and ruthless as wild animals. They made me see even more clearly that this evil political party—the CCP—is the embodiment of Satan, and its pawns are a gang of wicked demons and evil spirits! They will ultimately meet with God’s curses! These two bosses of the evil police saw that I was not willing to surrender to their despotic power, so, in a seemingly maniacal rage, they grabbed hold of my hair and began to press me against the ground, both using their feet to wantonly kick and stomp on me. Then they dragged me up and fiercely stomped on the backs of my legs, kicking me down hard so I fell kneeling to the ground, and they said savagely: “Kneel and don’t move! You can stand up when you come clean. If you won’t talk, then don’t even think about it!” If I moved even slightly, they would violently pull my hair and beat and kick me. I knelt for three or four hours, during which time I was beaten countless times by them because I couldn’t hold myself up. In the end, I collapsed in a daze to the ground, and they scolded me for pretending to be dead while relentlessly and violently pulling my hair so that my scalp felt as if it were being torn from my head. At that moment, it was as if my entire body had fallen to pieces—I couldn’t move a muscle and I was in unbearable pain. I felt like my heart would stop beating at any moment. I kept calling on God to give me strength, and God’s words of exhortation and encouragement drifted into my mind: “Peter was able to love God unto death. When he died—when he was put on the cross—he still loved God; he did not think of his own prospects or pursue glorious hopes or extravagant thoughts, and he sought only to love God and to obey all of God’s arrangements. Such is the standard you must achieve before you can be considered to have borne testimony, before you become someone who has been made perfect after having been conquered” (“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words gave me faith and strength. I thought to myself, “Yes! Peter was nailed upside down on the cross for God and he was still able to love God greatly even when his flesh was in unendurable pain. He overcame the flesh, defeated Satan, and only this kind of testimony is resounding and capable of comforting God’s heart. I want to imitate Peter, that God may be glorified in me. Though my flesh is in extreme pain, it is still much less than what Peter went through being nailed upside down on the cross. Satan wishes to make me betray God by torturing my flesh, but God uses this opportunity to perfect my true love for Him. Today, I absolutely will not surrender to Satan and allow its plot to succeed! I want to live for the love of God!” All at once, I was no longer in any fear of dying; I became determined to give myself up to God entirely and I swore on my life that I would be loyal to God! Thereupon, I prayed to God: “Oh, Almighty God, I am a created being who worships You and obeys You as I should. I give You my life, and whether I live or die, I believe in You and love You!” I instantly felt a great easing of the pain in my body, and my entire body and mind had a feeling of lightening and release. At this time, I couldn’t help but hum in my heart a church hymn: “Today I accept God’s judgment and purification, tomorrow I’ll receive His blessings. I’m willing to give my youth and offer up my life to see the day of God’s glory. Oh, God’s love has enchanted my heart. He works and expresses the truth, bestowing new life upon me. I’m willing to drink from the bitter cup and suffer to gain the truth. I will endure humiliation without complaint, I wish to spend my life repaying God’s kindness” (“I Wish to See the Day of God’s Glory” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). The evil police bosses were completely exhausted from inflicting suffering on me, and they stood there not saying anything for a long time. In the end, at a loss at what to do, they snapped angrily at me: “You just wait!” Then they left. The other evil police stood around discussing together: “This woman’s so tough, no one can do anything with her. She’s tougher than Liu Hulan….” At that point, I was stirred so much that I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing. God was victorious! If it hadn’t been for the words of Almighty God providing for me over and over, and if it hadn’t been for God sustaining me in secret, I would simply not have been able to stand firm. All glory and praise to Almighty God! In the end, the evil police locked me up in the detention house.

    In the detention house, the evil police still weren’t willing to let it go, and they questioned me once every few days. Every time they questioned me, they made me sit in the interrogation room before a window with metal bars across it, and the moment they felt dissatisfied with my response, they would reach across and violently thrash my face or grab my hair and slam my head against the bars. Seeing that they still got nowhere, they became frenzied with rage. In the end, they realized that being hard on me was no use, so they switched to soft tactics and tried to entice and persuade me, saying: “Your kids and your husband are all waiting for you at home! And your husband pleaded with us on your behalf. Talk to us and you will soon be back and reunited with them.” These false words disgusted me and made me hate them so much that I asked in my heart for God to curse them. I despised this gang of base and shameless evil police. I made a resolve: “No matter what hand they play, I am not going to move an inch! In this life, no one can shake my determination to follow Almighty God!” In the end, the evil police had played all their cards, and so they kept me locked up for 40 days, fined me 2,000 yuan and then released me.

    Throughout my experiences, all along the way, I have come to a deep realization that it is entirely through God’s wondrous deeds and almighty power that someone like me—an ordinary country woman, who formerly had no insight or courage—can overcome several bouts of being tortured to confess and cruelly tormented and harmed by the CCP police, can see clearly the reactionary essence of the CCP government that stubbornly opposes God and wildly harms God’s chosen people, and can perceive how it deceives the public to endorse its own reputation and conceals its evil ways. In my practical experience, I have really come to appreciate that the authority and power of God’s words are so very great, that the vitality that God bestows on man is infinite and that it can defeat all the evil forces of Satan! In suffering, I perceived that it was God’s love that comforted and encouraged me, and it kept me from losing my way. No matter where I may be or what kind of circumstances I find myself in, God is always watching over me, and His love is with me always. It is my honor to be able to follow this practical, true God. That I was able to experience this kind of persecution and adversity to get a taste of God’s wondrousness, His wisdom and His almightiness is even more so my good fortune. From this day on, may I do my utmost to pursue the truth and achieve a true knowledge of God, love God till the end, and be unswerving in my loyalty!

Recommended:

God Is My Strength – God’s Love Was With Me in the Devil’s Dark Prison

 

A Youth Without Regret

juliettremblayLeave a comment

the-youth-with-no-regrets
Christian Testimony: A Youth Without Regret

    “‘Love’ refers to an emotion that is pure and without blemish, where you use your heart to love, to feel, and to be thoughtful. In love there are no conditions, no barriers, and no distance. In love there is no suspicion, no deceit, and no cunning. In love there is no distance and nothing impure” (“Pure Love Without Blemish” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). This hymn of God’s words was once my companion as I lived through an interminable and painful seven years and four months of life in prison. Though the CCP government deprived me of the best years of my youth, I gained from Almighty God the truth that is most precious and most real. Therefore I have no regrets whatsoever!
In 1996, I accepted Almighty God’s salvation of the last days. Through reading God’s words, attending meetings and fellowshiping, I came to firmly believe that everything God says is the truth, and the highest of all life’s aphorisms, and that it is entirely at odds with any theories or knowledge of this wicked world. The thing that made me even happier was that I could simply be open with my brothers and sisters in the church, I could speak my mind freely and I didn’t have to be wary or engage in deception like when I came into contact with people in the outside world. I felt a happiness and joy I had never felt before, and I came to love this big family. But it wasn’t long before I heard that faith in God was persecuted in China and that Christians often being arrested and persecuted was a common occurrence. I was greatly puzzled by this because the words of Almighty God are all so that people worship God, walk the right path in life, and so that people conduct themselves with honesty. If everyone believed in Almighty God, the world would know such peace. I really didn’t understand: Believing in God is the most righteous undertaking. Why does the CCP government want to persecute and oppose those who

    After that, I began performing a duty in the church that involved delivering books of God’s words. I knew that doing this duty in such a God-defying country was extremely dangerous and that every moment carried the possibility of being arrested, but I knew even more strongly that expending myself for God and performing my duties as a created being was my vocation, and that it was my incumbent responsibility. Just when I had every faith in performing my duty, a day came in September 2003 when I was apprehended by the city’s National Security Bureau whilst on my way to deliver some books of God’s words to my brothers and sisters.

   At the National Security Bureau, I was scared, and I didn’t know how to face the repeated interrogations of the CCP police, so I called out urgently to God in my heart: “Oh, Almighty God. I ask that You give me wisdom, bestow on me the words I should say, and keep me from betraying You. I ask that You give me faith and strength, and no matter how the CCP persecutes me, I will stand firm and bear witness for You.” During that time, I called out to God every day and I didn’t dare to leave God even for a second in my heart. I praised God for looking after me and protecting me; every time they interrogated me, I was hiccupping constantly and I wasn’t able to speak at all. Seeing God’s wondrous deeds, I became fiercely single-minded: I am ready to risk it all! They can take my head, take my life, but today it is absolutely impossible for them to get me to betray God! When my resolution was set and I felt I would rather give my life than be a Judas and betray God, I felt really thankful to God for opening up the way forward for me. Every time I was interrogated, God protected me and got me through the ordeal safely. Though I said nothing to them at all, in the end, the CCP government still imposed on me the charge of “using a xie jiao organization to destroy the application of law” to sentence me to nine years. Because of God’s protection, when I heard the court ruling I didn’t feel distressed, nor did I fear the people in the court. Instead, I had nothing but contempt for them. They were on high pronouncing their judgments, and I was down below saying in a small voice: “This is proof of the CCP government’s defiance of God!” Afterward, public security officers came specially to investigate my attitude, and I said to them very calmly: “What’s nine years? When the time comes for me to be released I’ll still be a member of The Church of Almighty God, and if you don’t believe me, you just wait and see! But remember, this case is on your hands!” My attitude surprised them a great deal, and they gave me the thumbs up and said: “We’ve got to hand it to you! We admire you! You’re tougher than Jiang Zhuyun! Let’s meet up when you come out, and we’ll buy you dinner.” At that point, I felt God was glorified, and so I was gratified. When I was sentenced that year, I was only just 31 years old.

    Chinese prisons are hells on earth. The endless prison life allowed me to see very clearly the cruel and inhuman face of Satan, as well as its demonic essence that opposes God. China’s police do not follow the rule of law; they follow the rule of evil. In prison, the guards don’t make life hard for people themselves, but instead they encourage the prisoners to use violence to keep other prisoners in check. The prison guards also use all manner of ways to restrict people’s thinking. For example, anyone who goes into prison has to wear the exact same prisoner’s uniform issued by the CCP government, and each person has to wear a special serial number; they have to get their hair cut in the style the government requires, wear the shoes the government allows them to wear, take government-prescribed routes and walk at the government-prescribed pace. No matter the time of year, in wind or rain or on hot days or in freezing weather, prisoners must do as they command and are not able to choose anything for themselves. Every day they required us to assemble together at least 15 times to number off and sing the praises of the CCP government at least five times; and then there were the political tasks, such as making us learn the prison laws and the constitution with a big exam every six months, the aim of which was to brainwash us. They also gave us exams on prison rules and discipline whenever they wanted. The prison guards not only subjected the prisoners to mental torture, but they also devastated our bodies with utter inhumanity: We had to do over 10 hours of hard labor every single day, and what’s more they would crowd several hundred prisoners into a small, narrow factory building to work. Because there were so many people and so little space, and everywhere there was the loud noise of machines, no matter how healthy someone was when they entered prison, after they’d been there a while their body would suffer serious harm. Behind me was a big machine used for punching eyelets into shoes. It punched eyelets continuously every day, making an unbearable booming noise. After a few years, my hearing became seriously damaged, and it still hasn’t recovered even now. The thing that harmed people even more was the large amount of dust and pollutants in the factory building, and many people became afflicted with tuberculosis and pharyngitis. Also, because we had to sit working for such a long time without being able to move, most people ended up with severe hemorrhoids. The CCP government turns prisoners into money-making machines, without any regard for whether they live or die, making people work every day from early morning until late at night. I was so exhausted all the time, and I felt very run-down. Not only this, but we also had to give our answers to all manner of spot-check examinations in the prison that could come at any time, plus weekly political tasks, manual labor and public tasks and so on. Therefore, I spent every day in a state of high mental anxiety, with nerves stretched to breaking point at all times for fear that I might slip up slightly and not keep up with every task, and then have to suffer the punishments of the prison guards. In that kind of environment, it was really not easy to get through even one day safe and well.
When I had only just begun my prison sentence, I couldn’t stand this kind of cruel ravaging within the prison, and all the different kinds of high-intensity labor pressure and the ideological pressure made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. Add to that coming into contact with all kinds of other prisoners and having to endure the physical and verbal abuse and insults of the prison guards and head prisoners. I was often tormented to desperation and I fell into despair many times. In particular, whenever I would think of the incredibly long prison term of nine years, I would feel such desolation and helplessness. I don’t know how many times I cried, and I even thought of death as a way to free me from this kind of suffering. Whenever I felt myself falling into extreme sorrow and I felt that I couldn’t go on any longer, I would urgently pray and call on God, and God’s words would enlighten and guide me: “You can’t die yet. You must clench your fists and resolutely continue to live; you must live a life for God. When people have truth within them then they have this resolve and never again desire to die; when death threatens you, you will say, ‘O God, I am unwilling to die; I still do not know You. I still have not repaid Your love. I must die only after coming to know You well.’ … If you do not understand God’s intention, and merely ruminate on your suffering, then the more you think about it, the more distressed you feel, and then you will be in trouble and begin to suffer the torment of death. If you understand truth, you will say, ‘I have not yet obtained truth. I must properly expend myself for God. I must bear good witness of God. I must repay God’s love. After that, it doesn’t matter how I die. Then I will have lived a satisfactory life. Regardless of who else is dying, I will not die now; I must tenaciously continue to live’” (“Only by Pursuing the Truth Can You Obtain Changes in Your Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks). God’s words shone like a light as soft and gentle as a mother, pacifying my lonely heart, and they were like a father’s warm hands, wiping the tears from my face. At once, a breath of warmth and a breath of strength surged through my heart. I understood that though my flesh must suffer pain in this dark prison, yet it was not God’s will that I should seek death; if I couldn’t bear witness for God then I would become a joke of Satan. If after nine years I could walk out of this demonic prison, then that would be my testimony. God’s words gave me the courage to live on and I became secretly resolved in my heart: No matter how many difficulties lie ahead, I shall live on. I shall live bravely, live strongly, and I absolutely will bear witness for God and satisfy Him.

    Being overburdened with work year in year out, month in month out, my body became weaker each day, and sitting in the factory building for a long time made me sweat abnormally and profusely. When my hemorrhoids were very bad, they would start bleeding at any moment, and I would often feel dizzy due to severe anemia. It wasn’t an easy thing, however, to get treatment in prison. When they were in a good mood, the prison guards would give me some cheap medicines. But when they were in a bad mood they would say I was trying to shirk my work by feigning illness, so all I could do was to endure the afflictions of illness and swallow my tears. I would be overworked all day long, and I would drag my exhausted body back to my cell and want to have a rest. But I didn’t even have the right to a good night’s sleep. Either the prison guards would wake me up in the middle of the night to go do something, or they would make loud noises to wake me up. They would often play games with me to the point where I was all in a muddled trance and in unspeakable misery. Moreover, I had to endure the prison guards’ inhuman treatment. I used to sleep on the ground or in corridors like a refugee, or even next to the toilet. The clothes I washed could not be air dried, but were dried by the body warmth that came from being crowded together with the other prisoners. Washing clothes in winter was especially a most upsetting thing, and many people got arthritis from wearing damp clothes for long periods. In this prison, no matter how healthy someone was, it didn’t take long before they became slow-witted, run-down or wracked with ailments. We often ate out-of-season, withered old leaves that shops didn’t want anymore, and if we wanted to eat something better, we had to buy the expensive food in the prison. In prison, although the guards made us study the law, there was no law in that place; the prison guards were the law. They had only to see someone they didn’t like and they would come up with any old reason to deal with them, and even physically punish them for no reason at all. Even more hateful was that they classified those who believed in Almighty God as political prisoners, saying that we were worse criminals than murderers or arsonists. They were therefore especially hostile to me, treated me most harshly and tormented me most viciously. All these many kinds of evil deeds are ironclad proof that the CCP is perverse, godless and is in opposition to God! Enduring the cruel torment of the prison guards, my heart was often filled with righteous indignation and it felt such sadness and resentment: Exactly which law has been violated by our belief in God and our worship of God? Exactly what crime have we committed by following God and walking the right path in life? People are created beings in God’s hands and believing in God and worshiping God is an unquestionable truth. What reason does the CCP government have to flagrantly obstruct us and do all it can to cruelly oppress us? It’s plain that it is perverse and godless, opposing God in all things. It labels those who believe in Almighty God as reactionaries and it severely oppresses and ravages them, trying to catch and exterminate all who follow Almighty God. Isn’t this confusing right and wrong, and being utterly reactionary? They oppose Heaven so wildly and set themselves against God, that in the end they must meet with God’s righteous punishment! For there must be judgment wherever there is corruption, and there must be chastisement wherever there is evil—these are the heavenly rules and principles as preordained by God, and no one can escape them. The CCP government is guilty of the most heinous crimes, and there can be no escape from being destroyed by God. Just as God said: “God has long since loathed this dark society to His very bones. He gnashes His teeth, desperate to plant His feet upon this wicked, heinous old serpent, so that it may never rise again, and will never again abuse man; He will not excuse its actions in the past, He will not tolerate its deceit of man, He will settle the score for every one of its sins throughout the ages; God will not be in the least bit lenient toward this ringleader of all evil,[1] He will utterly destroy it” (“Work and Entry (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

    In this demonic prison, I was no better than a stray dog in the eyes of the evil police. Not only did they abuse me physically and verbally, but they would often root through my bed and scatter my personal belongings all over the place. Also, whenever some kind of social unrest happened in the outside world, the people in the prison who were in charge of political matters would come for me and question me about my views on what had happened, and if my answer didn’t please them, they would constantly rebuke me for following the way of belief in God. Whenever I had to face this kind of questioning, my heart would leap into my throat, not knowing what kind of scheme they were planning against me this time. My heart was always urgently praying and calling out to God for Him to help me and lead me through these difficult times. Day after day, year after year, all the various kinds of maltreatment, exploitation and oppression were a torment beyond words: Every day being overburdened with labor tasks, the monotonous political tasks and the afflictions of illness, plus the long-term mental oppression, brought me almost to the edge of collapse. In particular, there was a time when I saw a middle-aged woman prisoner hang herself from her cell window in the middle of the night because she couldn’t bear any longer the inhuman tortures of the evil police, and a time when an elderly woman prisoner died in prison because she wasn’t treated for an illness quickly enough, and at these times I would once again fall into suffocating hopelessness. Again, I would conceive the idea of death as a way to end my troubles and I felt that death was the best way to be free. I knew, however, that it would be a betrayal of God, and I just couldn’t do it. All I could do was endure all this pain and obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements. But when I thought of my interminable sentence, and of how gaining freedom was so far away in the indefinite future, I felt indescribable pain and despair, and I felt that I really couldn’t go on any longer; I really didn’t know how long I could keep myself going. So many times, all I could do was to get under the bed sheets and sob secretly in the dead of night, praying to Almighty God and confiding to Him all my heart’s troubles. When I was in the most pain and felt the most helpless, I thought of God’s words: “You, especially, have all suffered persecution and experienced difficulty in returning home; you suffer, and also have thoughts of death and an unwillingness to live. These are weaknesses of the flesh. … You do not know what God is doing today. God has to allow your flesh to suffer in order to transform your disposition. Even though your flesh suffers, you have God’s word and you have God’s blessing. You cannot die even if you want to: Can you resign yourself to not knowing God and not obtaining truth if you die? Now, mainly, it is just that people have not yet obtained truth, and they do not have life. Now people are in the midst of the process of seeking salvation, so they must suffer some during this period. Today everyone throughout the world is tried: God is still suffering—is it right that you do not suffer?” (“Only by Pursuing the Truth Can You Obtain Changes in Your Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks). God’s words soothed my sad heart and enabled me to understand the meaning of suffering. God now performs the work to change man’s disposition; I am still corrupt and there are many of Satan’s poisons within me, so how could I attain change and purification without suffering? This pain is something I’m supposed to suffer, and is something I must endure. When I thought of these things, I felt no pain, but on the contrary, I felt that my ability to endure this persecution and to endure being imprisoned for my belief in God, and that I could suffer in the pursuit of salvation was something most valuable and most meaningful—this pain I was suffering was so worthwhile! Without being aware of it, my heart turned from grief and became joyful, and I felt an irresistible urge to sing a hymn in my heart, called “We Are Fortunate to Meet With God’s Coming”: “We are fortunate to meet with God’s coming, we hear His voice. We are fortunate to meet with God’s coming, we attend the feast of the Lamb. We know the incarnate Almighty God, we see His wondrous deeds. We understand the mystery of human life, Almighty God’s words are the most precious. … Who can be more blessed? Who can be more fortunate? God bestows the truth and life upon us, we must live for God. We must live for God. We must live for God. We obtain the truth and testify to God to repay God’s love” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). I sang this hymn in my heart over and over. The more I sang the more encouraged my heart became, and the more I sang, the stronger and more enjoyment I felt, and I couldn’t help but swear an oath before God: “Oh, Almighty God, I give thanks to You for Your solace and encouragement, and for making me have the faith and the courage to live on. You make me feel that You really are the Lord of my life, the strength of my life. Though I have fallen into this nest of devils, I am not alone, for You are always with me as I live through these dark days, giving me faith and the strength to live on time and time again. Oh God, supposing I can one day leave this place and am able to live free, I will still do my duty. I will no longer cause You grief, nor will I make any plans for myself. Oh God, no matter how painful or difficult the days ahead may be, I wish to depend on You and live on with strength!”

    While in prison, I often thought back to the days I spent with my brothers and sisters—what a great time that was! Everyone was happy and laughing. There were disputes too, but it all became a beautiful memory for me. Every time I thought back to how I used to be slipshod with my duties, I felt such guilt and so indebted; thinking of how I got into disputes with my brothers and sisters because of my arrogant disposition, I felt extremely sad and remorseful. At times like these, I would be in floods of tears, and I would sing a hymn secretly in my heart: “I’ve believed in God for many years but have never done my duty well, I feel such deep regret in my heart. I’ve enjoyed so much of God’s love, but have never given anything back. God has given me so many opportunities to practice, but I approached them all in a slipshod manner, and instead single-mindedly sought status, fame and fortune and made plans for my future destiny. Filled with extravagant desires, I truly knew no shame and have wasted so much good time. … I am so remorseful—why didn’t I accept God’s judgment and chastisement when I read His words? I don’t know if my repentance has come too late, I am so remorseful. I don’t know if God will give me another chance, I am so remorseful” (“I Am So Remorseful” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). In the midst of this pain and self-reproach, I would often pray in my heart to God: “Oh God! I really owe You so much. If You will allow it, I wish to seek to love You and, after I get out of prison, I wish still to do my duty. I wish to start over and make up for my previous debts.” During my days in prison, I really missed the brothers and sisters that I grew so close to and I really wanted to see them. Yet here I was in captivity in this demonic prison, so this desire was nothing more than a fanciful wish. Yet I would often see my brothers and sisters in my dreams, dreaming that we were together reading God’s words and fellowshiping the truth, so happy, so joyful …

    When the Wenchuan earthquake happened in 2008, the prison in which we were being detained was also shaken, and I was the very last one to evacuate the scene. The aftershocks continued for days, and both prisoners and guards were all terrified and in a state of alarm all day long. But in my heart, I felt exceedingly calm and sure, for I knew that this was the fulfillment of God’s words and it was the fire of God’s wrath that had befallen and punished those who resisted God on earth. That earthquake was the biggest for a hundred years, and during that time God’s words were always protecting my heart. I believed that life and death were in God’s hands and, no matter what God did, I would always be willing to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements. The only thing that made me sad, however, was that if I died I would no longer have a chance to do my duty for the Creator, no longer have a chance to repay God’s love and would no longer be able to see my brothers and sisters. My worrying was unnecessary, however. God was always with me, giving me the greatest protection, enabling me to escape death during the big earthquake and to live on safe and sound!

    In January 2011, I obtained early release, and my slavish life in prison was finally brought to an end. Having obtained my freedom, my heart felt incredibly excited: “I can go back to the church again! I can be with my brothers and sisters again!” I was so excited, there was really no way I could put it into words. What I hadn’t anticipated was that, after I returned home, my daughter did not recognize me, and both relatives and friends looked askance at me, hid themselves away from me and would have nothing to do with me. No one around me understood me, and they couldn’t accept me. Although at this time I was no longer being subjected to the maltreatment and torment of prison, yet being given the cold shoulder, ridiculed and rejected was even harder to bear; I became weak. I couldn’t help but recall the past to mind: I had only just turned 31 the year I was sent to prison, and when I came out of prison I was already 39. I spent eight winters and seven summers in prison. So many times, when I felt alone and helpless, God orchestrated people, events and things to help me; so many times, when I was in pain and despair, God used His words to comfort me; so many times, when I wanted to die, God gave me strength and made me have the courage to live on. During those endless, painful years, it was God who led me step by step through the valley of death and enabled me to live on tenaciously. And here I was facing this bit of suffering and becoming distressed and weak, causing God to grieve—I really was a mean person, weak and useless and so ungrateful! Thinking of this, I condemned myself greatly, and I couldn’t help but think of the oath I swore to God back in prison: “Supposing I can one day leave this place and am able to live free, I will still do my duty. I will no longer cause You grief, nor will I make any plans for myself.” Thinking of this oath and remembering the time when I swore this oath to God, tears blurred my vision, and I slowly began to sing a hymn: “I myself am willing to seek after You and to follow You. Now even if You want to abandon me, I will still follow You. Whether You want me or not, I will still love You, and in the end, I must gain You. I offer up my heart to You, and no matter what You do, I will follow You for my entire life. No matter what, I must love You and I must gain You; I will not rest until I have gained You” (“I Am Determined to Love God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).
After spending some time in spiritual devotions and making adjustments, under God’s enlightenment and guidance I very quickly left my negativity behind and threw myself once again into doing my duty.

    Although I spent the best years of my youth in prison, during those seven years and four months I was able to suffer for my belief in God and I have absolutely no regrets. Because I came to understand some truth and I experienced God’s love, I feel that enduring this pain had meaning and value, that this was God’s exceptional exaltation of me and kindness to me, and God’s special favor to me. Even though friends and relatives don’t understand me and my daughter doesn’t recognize me, yet nothing and no one can break my relationship with God; not even death can keep me from Him.

    “Pure Love Without Blemish” was the hymn I most loved to sing in prison, and today I want to devote my purest love to God through taking practical action!

More Christian Testimonies Articles: The Life Force That Can Never Be Extinguished