In 1988, I believed in the Lord Jesus and attended the worship services of the Three-Self sect. Three years later, I joined a house church which held on to “justification through faith,” and then became a leader in this denomination. After having a position, I got acquainted with many upper-class religious people. In 1997, I was recommended by my co-workers to attend the biggest nationwide “training course in studying the original text of the Bible” in Guangzhou City, organized by the house churches. In 1998, I went to Shenzhen Theological Seminary to take up advanced studies, during which I came into contact with some famous people of various denominations all over the country as well as some pastors and elders from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and U.S.. Under the influence of these upper-class people, I “mastered and equipped myself with a lot of skills.” With an eloquent tongue and rich biblical knowledge, I showed off everywhere, considered myself to be a venerable elder, and had no regard for others at all. At that time, when I heard some people preach that the Lord had returned, I particularly looked down on them and regarded them as the most ignorant ones who had been deceived by satan and gone astray because of not understanding the Bible. Later, a co-worker told me, “Those who preach ‘Eastern Lightning’ are very powerful now. Once you come into contact with them, you will be deceived. Many co-workers and even the senior co-workers who have believed in the Lord for decades have been snatched by them. They tempt brothers and sisters with money, beauty, or other means. Whoever does not accept what they preach will be beaten up and even become disabled. Those brothers and sisters who love the Lord with a sincere heart are all on their blacklist. I am afraid that there is no escape for you either!” After saying that, he gave me the booklets that resisted Almighty God to read, such as Curfew,Guard the True Way, and so on. After I read these booklets, I hated Eastern Lightning even more and did more evil conducts of resisting Almighty God.

I remember that as early as 1994, a sister said to me, “Brother Li, I hear that the Lord has returned….” “Nonsense! Who said that? It’s a sheer heresy! What do you know? You do not have any discernment but blindly spread whatever you heard from others! Have you seen the Lord? Do not believe those lies. They are all what the false christ has come to deceive people with! Confess to the Lord right now and ask him to forgive you! Do not get in touch with those people from now on. It’s too dangerous!” I condemned it thoughtlessly before the sister finished her words.

By 1995, I resisted even more fiercely. I not only made it a rule in the church that no one should receive those who preached that the Lord had come, but also closed the church to outsiders by saying, “There is a sect called ‘Eastern Lightning.’ It is a heresy. It is a false christ coming to deceive people. Never believe it. They have a book called The Lightning Coming From the East. That book contains poison, and whoever reads it will be deceived. Never read it. Anything apart from the Bible is false. We absolutely cannot believe it!” Just when I was desperately resisting Almighty God, my wife suddenly got sick and died. Although I was punished by God, I still did not wake up to reality. On the contrary, I thought it was a trial from God. How shameless I was!

In 1998, I was going to Shenzhen for advanced studies, so I entrusted the church to other co-workers. Before I left, I told them repeatedly, “You must strictly guard against ‘Eastern Lightning’ intruding into our church. Do not receive any stranger! …” Later, I brought Curfew nd some other booklets which resisted Almighty God from other places and distributed them to the brothers and sisters. And I also fabricated rumors: “The contents of these books are the facts the brothers and sisters who love the Lord got through infiltrating into ‘Eastern Lightning’ at the risk of their lives. You should give much publicity to them after reading them!” By 1999, I became even more unbridled and spread the rumor in the church: “‘Eastern Lightning’ is a false christ through and through. They do not acknowledge the salvation of the Lord Jesus’ cross and say that the Bible is outdated.” I also said, “The people of ‘Eastern Lightning’ will receive 300 yuan if they convert an ordinary believer and 2,000 yuan a co-worker. These people have all been given a special training. If one is an unmarried brother, they will seduce him with beauty. You are no match for them. You’d better stay away from them. Never listen to them if by any chance you come across them. Otherwise, you will be deceived into joining them….” Thus, because of my blindness and ignorance, I regarded the followers of Almighty God as enemies and troublemakers. Whenever they came to preach the gospel to me, I either drove them away or avoided them.