In 1979, I believed in Jesus. On the path of belief in God, I was always in the forefront. Whenever I heard that there was a meeting somewhere, I went to attend it actively. I also frequently ran to different places to spread the Lord Jesus’ gospel. I made a resolution before God: “Whatever tribulations I encounter, even if I have to climb a mountain of swords or cross a sea of flames, I will walk in this path ordained by God persistently.” Because of my pursuit, I soon became a preacher of great renown in the Old Local Church.

I first heard the rumor about “Eastern Lightning” in 1997. The rumor said that it was a rising “cult,” which mainly preached to and snatched the believers in Jesus, that one would be taken captive by it if he wasn’t careful enough, and that many people in other denominations around us had already been deceived. At that time, I gave it no importance. I thought to myself, “The path we are walking is ordained by God. Its foundation is so solid. What accomplishments can a ‘cult’ have? It can’t do anything to us at all. As time goes by, it will naturally wane and perish of itself. There’s absolutely nothing to be nervous about!”

However, in the winter of 1998, I heard that a couple in our denomination accepted “Eastern Lightning.” I was greatly shocked at that. “This ‘heresy’ is too aggressive. We haven’t offended you, yet you’ve come here to steal our ‘sheep.’ It won’t do. I have to get back the ‘lost sheep.’ I must be responsible for this couple’s life.” So, I went to the couple’s home by bus with a co-worker. As soon as I stepped into the room, I took the initiative and said, “‘Eastern Lightning’ is a heresy. What it preaches goes against the Bible and doesn’t conform to the truth. It’s a real ‘false christ.’ Why do you believe in it?” That brother greeted us excitedly and said to me urgently, “The Lord Jesus has really returned.” “Nonsense! When Jesus returns, our bodies will be transformed in a flash. But now we are still the same as before. This is enough to prove that God hasn’t returned. You have believed in God for so many years and are also in charge of the meeting places, yet you don’t even have such discernment. Do you know how to believe in God or not? You don’t walk the way ordained by God but insist on walking the way of ‘evil.’ When it comes to the time when God judges you, I’ll see where you can escape,” the co-worker and I taught him harshly. The brother pondered for a short while and said, “You are right.” Seeing that he “woke up” a bit, I immediately seized the chance and said, “Hand the book they gave to you over to the church quickly lest you fall deeper and deeper.” So the brother took out the book. Just when he was about to hand it to me, his wife snatched the book back all at once and said, “This is God’s word. It can’t be given to others casually.” Immediately, I sprang to my feet, stared at her with my eyes opening wide, and was about to get angry at her. However, seeing that my co-worker stayed calm and fearing that others would laugh at my losing the propriety of a “saint,” I only cursed in my heart, “You are such a foolish and stubborn woman. You don’t even know how to read the easiest word. What do you know about it? If it hadn’t been for my kindness to you, the church would have long since expelled you, and you wouldn’t have a chance to be saved at all. What an ignorant woman!” I held back my anger and said, “If you don’t hand it over to the church, then return it to them quickly. You’d better stop contacting the people of ‘Eastern Lightning’ as soon as possible lest you bring trouble to the church.” After I said that, I left with the co-worker in a huff. Later, I learned that they still joined “Eastern Lightning.”

One month later, at a co-worker meeting, my leader and the co-workers all asked me to give a sermon on how to discern a heresy and how to guard against the attack of “Eastern Lightning.” I felt very proud of myself. “It seems that they all think very highly of me.” So, I prepared the sermon that very night. The next day, I strode onto the platform and wantonly preached, “With regard to the fallacy of ‘Eastern Lightning,’ we should have more discernment. They preach that the Lord has come the second time. That’s not possible at all. The second coming of the Lord is not a matter that one can speak irresponsibly and casually. There must be absolute evidence. The evidence is that when the Lord comes the second time, our bodies are sure to be transformed and the dead be resurrected and come out of the tombs. No matter how good their preaching is, without the fulfillment of this evidence, they are all erroneous. And they also preach that the Lord has been incarnated the second time and has come to China. That’s sheer nonsense and doesn’t have any biblical basis. All these facts are enough to show that what they preach is ‘a cult, a heresy.’ …” The co-workers took my words as the truth and were all engrossed in taking notes. They also talked with each other from time to time, “Really good preaching. Just by this evidence, we’ll never go wrong.” Seeing that, I seized the opportunity and added, “Although the momentum of ‘Eastern Lightning’ is great for the moment, it can only deceive those who don’t have any foundation. This is not surprising. It will get nowhere. It’s only on a small scale and will fall down sooner or later. As long as we have discernment, it won’t sway us at all. Don’t pay any attention to it. That’s no big deal and doesn’t matter to us!” My words further strengthened the co-workers’ stand to be hostile to “Eastern Lightning” and also won a satisfactory smile from my leader. I thought to myself gladly, “God really loves me. He has made my preaching so effective. I really haven’t run the roads for so many years in vain. I certainly have the manner of Paul of those days.”

At a co-worker meeting in the summer of 1999, my leader gave every co-worker a book called The Utterance of the Spirit and said, “This is the book of ‘Eastern Lightning.’ I’ve read it. Its content is sheer nonsense. It’s absolutely a ‘cult.’ After you go back home, change the words ‘the Spirit’ on the cover to the words ‘the Evil Spirit’ and heighten your vigilance lest you be deceived.” I thought to myself, “Since the leader has read it, there’s no need for me to read it again.” As soon as I got home, I changed the words “the Spirit” to the words “the Evil Spirit” laboriously stroke by stroke. And I felt quite happy: “This book can be kept to save those brothers and sisters who are ‘deceived.’ I’ll see whether this ‘cult’ still dares to be aggressive or not.”

Before long, a co-worker in our church came into contact with some people of the Stream of Recovery when in other places and brought back many life-study messages written by Witness Lee. After I read those books, I felt that the way of Witness Lee could better supply people and was what the spiritual men needed. So, I wanted to directly “integrate” with the Stream of Recovery. But our leader and many of the co-workers opposed me strongly, and they even sided with the government, saying that the Stream of Recovery was against the government. For that, the leader and the co-workers quarreled with and yelled at each other so fiercely that their faces flamed with anger. From then on, the church sank into chaos from within. So, several co-workers and I led a small number of brothers and sisters and joined the Stream of Recovery resolutely. Through our untiring efforts, in less than one year, the number of the brothers and sisters in our area who had joined the Stream of Recovery increased from the original several dozen to almost two hundred. I felt extremely excited in my heart, “This is really the God-ordained way. I’ve taken the right way. I’ll be gained by God sooner or later.”

To accomplish the plan of “conquering the entire ‘Christian World’ in 30 years” put forward by Brother Lee, I went to Lanzhou City at the end of March 2001 to spread the gospel widely. I had never expected that this trip made me really step onto the path of returning to God’s family.

At a host home in Lanzhou, I happened to meet a brother from our denomination. Once we started to fellowship, we couldn’t help carrying it on for several days. We talked very congenially and even regretted that we hadn’t met earlier. However, on the fifth day, the brother said unexpectedly that the Lord had come the second time and had done a new work. Immediately, scenes of our fellowshipping together from morning to night these days appeared before my eyes. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “How could the people of ‘Eastern Lightning’ who only do things on a small scale as I heard before conjure up such a high way today? The enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road! But I have long since wanted to measure myself against the people of ‘Eastern Lightning’ and have never got any opportunity. Since I have met you today, I’ll see how you preach. Humph! I’m not afraid. I must find some flaws in your preaching to score you off so that you have to leave in dejection.”