I was formerly a mid-level leader of the Stream of Recovery. Since I was called in the Lord in 1985, I had been in the stream of the Lord’s recovery. I always believed that the Bible was a book of life, in which every word was breathed by God, and that God’s good and kind intention for mankind over six thousand years had been fully revealed to us in it. So, I regarded the Bible as my lifeblood and very much adored Brother Lee who had brought us the “higher vision.” I always believed that God had already unlocked all the mysteries in the sixty-six books of the Bible through Brother Lee and that all the mysteries and the essence of the Bible had already been revealed to us, such as when the antichrists would make the covenant, when the temple would be rebuilt, when the Lord would return, where and when the Lord would take us up, and so on. So we only needed to attend meetings, be obedient, and wait to be taken up to reign and rule when the revelations were fulfilled. Therefore, I paid much attention to reading Brother Lee’s messages. I also shepherded the brothers and sisters in the area where I ministered according to the methods of Brother Lee. Honestly speaking, at that time, I only wished that I could be full of the words from the messages of Brother Lee either when I preached or when I fellowshipped, for Brother Lee once said that he was the Lord’s recorder and that we should all become his recorders. It could be said that the brothers and sisters under me and I worshipped Brother Lee’s messages as we worshipped God. We read his messages at usual times, shared his messages at the meetings, and waited for God’s return in a well-ordered way according to his messages. I condemned anything different from the “vision revealed” by Brother Lee as a “heresy” and would not accept it at all.

At the end of the fall of 1994, a brother came to preach Almighty God’s end-time work to me, saying that the seven seals had been broken. I immediately contradicted him with the scriptures and drove him away without giving him any chance to explain. In 1996, two former co-workers of mine came to visit me and fellowshipped with me about Almighty God’s end-time work. As I found that what they fellowshipped did not tally with Brother Lee’s exposition of the Bible, I judged subjectively that they had been “deceived” and joined the “heresy.” So I simply drove them away. After that, I felt utterly repugnant and resistant to the people who came to preach the end-time gospel. I closed the churches everywhere to outsiders, not allowing the brothers and sisters under me to get in touch with those who preached the end-time gospel. And I said, “Those people are sheer antichrists, the deceitful false prophets, a kind of people to be cursed by God, and the grasshoppers in late autumn whose days are numbered….” During that period of time, people continually came to preach the end-time gospel to me, but I refused them all.

That continued until March 5, 2002. On that morning, a brother of our denomination, who had accepted Almighty God, called me and invited me to his home. I was reluctant to go there, but as he invited me many times, I felt embarrassed to turn him down. I thought to myself, “I’m just going to meet a friend. I won’t be afraid if he talks about the end-time work. I have Bible knowledge, and I am clear about the vision. Why not go?” When I arrived there, I saw another brother with him. I gave that brother a glance and thought scornfully, “Is this what you call the master-hand? What is such a person able to preach?” The brother said to me smilingly, “Brother, let’s have a fellowship. We can fellowship about what we know.” I thought to myself, “Don’t you just want to talk about the three-stage work? What else can you say? You will only repeat those few words you have been specially trained to preach. The same old story, I’ve heard too much of it! Today, I will stump you with hard questions and put you on the spot!” So, I said, “Today when we fellowship, we shall interpret whatever verse in the Bible according to its proper meaning. If we depart from the Bible, then there is no need to fellowship. We shall fellowship in the way that I ask questions and you answer them.” “OK! Let’s do what you say,” replied the brother readily.

So, I said loudly, “Can you tell me what ‘Lightning’ means? You have to find this word from the Bible. I’ll believe in your god if your answer convinces me.” The brother smiled. He opened the Bible, turned to Zechariah 10:1, and read, “Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah will make lightnings….” At this, my heart skipped a beat. “Oh, my! He answers so quickly and correctly. This is far beyond my expectation.” Seeing that my complexion changed suddenly, he said with a smile, “Brother, this one scripture does not prove anything. Let’s keep seeking. The Lord really has profound mystery. As long as we seek with a humble heart, he will unlock his mysteries to us.” Then, he opened the Bible and found out many other verses: Psalms 97:4, 18:13-14; Zechariah 9:14; Matthew 24:27; Luke 17:24; Revelation 4:5…. Only then did I find that I, who had regarded myself as being “endowed with great talents” and “rich in knowledge,” was actually so superficial and ignorant. So I dropped myself and listened to the brother’s fellowship with a seeking heart. Inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit, I felt as if awakening from a dream. “Actually, the one I have been resisting for so many years is not a human but the Savior Jesus whom I have been earnestly expecting for a long time. Almighty God is precisely the returned Jesus!” I really hated myself for being so blind and foolish that I believed in God yet did not know God. I echoed what others said, neither investigating nor seeking, and I showed myself off with the very little Bible knowledge that I had. I thought that I had known everything after reading and wearing out several Bibles and did not seek God’s intention. I was really so arrogant and ignorant.