“The darkness is over the earth; the devils are extremely ferocious.

God does the work with great difficulty, and suffers all humiliations.

Men have been corrupted so deeply, becoming the hostile force.

What Jesus suffered, has recurred today.

They believe in God yet do not know God, and crucify God again.

They are even more ferocious and vicious, than they were before.

Although there are many believers in God, few of them know God.

As we try to testify about God in the whole mainland, we find it so hard.

When we try to testify about God to others, we ourselves meet troubles instead.

With swords and bludgeons, they drive us out of their houses.

With tears in our eyes, we are heartbroken with grief.

We walk the way of the cross with difficulty, shedding tears and blood.

They all worship idols, and the evil slaves are entrapping them.

They believe in God in name, but are controlled by the evil slaves.

Where are those who love God? Where are those who seek God?

When God calls and knocks at the door, they hastily shut it tighter.

Men are desperately wicked, which has been revealed from these facts.

May God have mercy, and sympathy on those who love him.

God’s heart is so grieved, but who cares for his heart?

He does such a great work, but no one understands him.”

Whenever I sing this plaintive hymn, I can’t help shedding floods of tears. The recollection of many heartrending memories makes me feel painful and regretful beyond expression. It was this hymn that had touched me and aroused my conscience and made me come before Almighty God.

I was formerly a mid-level co-worker of the Great Praise Church. In 1994, I believed in Jesus because of the unrest in my family. One day in early summer of 1999, a sister whom I knew brought to my home a sister from the northeast. After a brief introduction, that sister said to me directly, “God has come through being incarnated the second time and has done a new work!” Hearing that, I was greatly surprised. Out of curiosity, I wanted to hear what all that was about. So, I asked her to tell me more about it. The sister took out the Bible and showed me several verses prophesying that God wanted to do a new work in the end time: Hebrews 9:28: “…so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him”; 1 Peter 1:5: “…who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”; Matthew 25:31-33: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left”; Job 19:25: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth”; Matthew 13:47-50: “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”; and 1 Timothy 3:16: “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.”

The sister explained these verses very clearly, and never had I heard such clear and fresh messages. I had read these verses many times before, but why hadn’t I found from them that God wanted to do a new work and would do it through being incarnated? At the end, she took out a book, Judgment Begins From the House of God, found two passages from it, and suggested me to read them first in my spare time. At that time, I was very curious to know more and even more wanted to see what was actually written in the book, so I kept it gladly. However, before I had understood the meaning of these two passages, the leader of our denomination came to me in a great rage and asked me accusingly, “I heard that the woman from the northeast said many things to you and also gave you a book. Is it true?” His loud shout confused me. I looked at him and said, “Yes. Her exposition was quite good, even fresher and clearer than that by seminarians. As to the book, I have only read a few lines from the middle of it and haven’t fully understood them yet.” He said more angrily, “You have been deceived, do you know that? She is a preacher of ‘Eastern Lightning.’ Fortunately, you haven’t understood them. Give me the book! You can’t read it any more! If you do, you will be finished if that spirit gets into you, and even the seminarians can’t save you.” At his words, I skeptically gave the book to him. Seeing me like this, he said, “Don’t you believe me? Can I deceive you? You’d better make a good confession before the Lord. You don’t know how terrifying those people of ‘Eastern Lightning’ are. Before you accept their messages, they will give you money if you don’t have money, a car if you don’t have a car, and a wife if you don’t have a wife. But after you are deceived into joining them, you will be controlled by them and have to do whatever they tell you to do. Otherwise, they will hack off your limbs, cut off your tongue, or gouge out your eyes. You won’t be able to withdraw even when you want to. They also have killers. You have to be careful.” After the leader left, a sister came. She advised me “earnestly and sincerely,” “If those who preach ‘Eastern Lightning’ come, don’t allow them to say anything, don’t give them even a drop of cold water to drink, and much less allow them to sit down to preach. Just give them one word—‘Scram’!” The leader’s and the sister’s “heartfelt words” and the thought that I had almost been “deceived” made me feel very angry, and I began to gnash my teeth at that sister from the northeast. Then I began to wantonly resist and blaspheme the work of Almighty God in the church. And I even, by my imaginations, said exaggeratedly that “Eastern Lightning” was an underworld organization, that its people committed adultery, had no slightest humanity, had no emotions, and were cold-hearted like killers, and that no one could escape from them once he came into contact with them. The lies that I made exaggeratedly terrified the brothers and sisters, and they all believed them to be true. But I still hadn’t vented my hatred. Relying on my little education, I began to comment critically on God’s word from which I had only read a few lines but not understood. I belittled God’s word, saying, “It’s too common, not as unfathomable as the words in the Bible….” Just in that way, I, a shallow and ignorant person, had been frenziedly resisting God for months.

One day in early August, a medical team came to our village to offer us a free check-up. I also went for it because my limbs often felt numb. Through the examination, my vessels were found filled with small blood clots and they had become even thicker and harder than those of an old man of eighty. When I heard this, I was greatly confused. “I’m only twenty-nine. How can this happen?” I felt that the doctors and the people around me all looked at me strangely as if I had done something evil and thus received my retribution. I felt awkward all over and was so distressed that I really wanted to have a good cry. I knew that I could only pray to God when encountering such a big matter. So, I got the medicine, hurried back home, and immediately knelt down before God and prayed, “O Lord, how come I have got such an illness? Please heal me. I will work for you diligently.” After I took the medicine for three days, I did not get better but got worse. So, I went to the hospital for treatment. I had just got home from the hospital when my heartbeat suddenly doubled, and after a while, it slowed down. It sped up one minute and slowed down the next, beating irregularly. My body was curved into a ball, my tongue stiffened, and I couldn’t speak…. I survived only after the emergency treatment by the doctors. In face of such a sudden illness, I still didn’t wake up but “worked” even harder and intensified my effort to bind the brothers and sisters. One year later, my illness got even worse, and even my blood turned black. However, I still did not wake up and was unenlightened all along as if my heart had become calloused. And I continued to “work” hard for the sake of being healed as soon as possible.