In the winter of 1993, my mother died. This misfortune deprived me of the opportunity to continue my education. Lost and sad, I went to join a Christian meeting near my campus and became a believer in Jesus. There, I tasted the care and love I had never tasted before and found the direction of my life. So, I began to read the Bible and attend meetings in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Due to my zealous pursuit, I was soon selected as a leader and later became a full-time paid worker. From then on, I began to run around preaching the gospel and shepherding and sustaining the churches along with several senior workers. And we joined in union with all the other Seventh-day Adventist churches in China. And I became a co-worker in the Union of the Seventh-day Adventists who was in charge of the work in the three northeast provinces. Having gained fame, position, and money, I was filled with a sense of achievement, and I resolved to consecrate myself to the Lord and was ready to spread my wings on the spiritual path.

On the New Year’s Day of 2001, I went to Liaoyang City to attend a revival meeting. A brother gave the message, and I was a listener. That made me very uncomfortable, because over those years, I had been the one who gave the message wherever I went and the focus of attention. But that time I was a listener, so I really felt bad about it. Hence, I went out of the meeting every twenty minutes and went in ten minutes later, for several times. When I listened to the brother, I cast a disdainful glance at him from time to time, but every time I saw that he was gentle and kind as if he did not at all notice my disdain for him and was fellowshipping with patience. Although I walked in and out and only heard parts of his fellowship, I could tell his fellowship was very practical and scriptural. He fellowshipped about the formation of the Bible and the differences between prophecies and their fulfillment. He also fellowshipped about such things as these: That God’s work is beyond man’s imagination; that man’s knowledge of God can only progress with God’s work. I had never heard such things, and his message was the deepest of all those I had heard in so many co-worker meetings and revival meetings that I had ever attended. For that reason, I somewhat dropped my “airs” and quieted my heart to listen to him. He said, “God is an ever-new and never-old God, and he does not repeat his work. His work always progresses forward. Once his new work starts, his old work ends. In the Old Testament, Jehovah issued the law through Moses, led people to live, and taught them how to worship God. When Jesus came to do the work, the work of the Holy Spirit changed. Those who kept up with the pace of God’s working and came out of the law to accept the redemptive work of Jesus received the working of the Holy Spirit, received Jesus’ salvation, and had God’s care and keeping. Those who stubbornly kept the law and went on offering sacrifices in the temple no longer had the working of the Holy Spirit and lost God’s care and keeping. And the temple became a ‘den of robbers’ where people sold cattle, sheep, and doves and exchanged money. Now the end time has come. Churches everywhere become desolate; people’s love grows cold; they all become passive and weak and fall into a state of committing and confessing sins repeatedly, and they receive no discipline even when they live in sins. …”

Hearing that, I felt the brother’s preaching so good and so practical. With a few words, he pointed out the general situation of the churches in the end time, and those words made me unconsciously lose myself in thought. “Yes, this is the present condition of our churches. In recent years, we have devoted ourselves to the reform of our churches, earnestly practicing what we preached. We have done our best to visit, help, and sustain the rural churches, and organized co-worker meetings, revival meetings, and Bible study classes. We have even invited some teachers from the south to run training courses, and found some experienced persons from the north to help us with shepherding our churches. However, the condition of the churches has not improved but worsened further. When we had meetings on the Sabbath day, many believers slept in the meetings, and the preachers preached about nothing but those basic truths and the Ellen G. White’s writing over and over again. When we prayed for a demon-possessed person in the name of Jesus, we could not drive out the demons no matter how hard we tried, and he even smashed some belongings of the church in the meeting. The preachers raised envy and strife among themselves, fought for their pay, sought for fleshly enjoyment, and picked and chose meeting places to preach in. We had hoped that all other sects and denominations would be integrated into our Seventh-day Adventist Church. However, not only had other denominations not returned to ours, but on the contrary, our Seventh-day Adventist Church had been divided into several groups, each with its own turf and its own administration. These things that happened in our churches made me disheartened, and the resolution I had made at first to consecrate myself to the Lord disappeared without a trace. So, I got married in the fall of 1997. From then on, I became even weaker, unable to rise again. It was only for my monthly salary of 600 yuan that I dragged myself to preach perfunctorily, but I could do nothing about the desolation of the churches nor find the cause of it. Now, seeing the state and mental outlook of this brother before me and listening to his fellowship, I really feel inferior to him in comparison.” As I thought of this, the brother continued, “Why has this occurred in the churches of today? It is because God has done a new work and the Holy Spirit no longer upholds the redemptive work of the Age of the Grace. This stage of the work is the work of judgment beginning with the family of God prophesied in the Bible. God has come and expressed the new word to thoroughly purify people, and this word is precisely the little scroll prophesied in Revelation. …” As he said this, he took out a book. Only then did I realize that what he preached was the “Eastern Lightning” resisted by all sects and denominations at present. So, I stood up nervously and wanted to leave there. The brother said mildly, “Brother, the Lord has come. Such great news has come to you; why do you want to leave?” I said to him irritably, “I must be responsible for the souls of over 1,000 believers in my church!” The brother said earnestly, “If you really feel responsible for those many souls, it is even more necessary to make a careful investigation. Only by doing so will you not let down the brothers and sisters!” At his words, I was speechless. “Yes, the church takes care of all my living expenses, and even my whole family lives by the brothers and sisters. Today, confronted with the news spread by them that God has come, I ought to find out whether it is true or false; otherwise, won’t I let them down? But the rumors say that those from ‘Eastern Lightning’ will ‘gouge out people’s eyes, cut off their noses….’ It is really horrible.” The brother seemed to have read my mind, and he said, “Brother, no matter what rumors you have heard before, I hope you can calm down and make an investigation. It won’t be too late for you to leave if you don’t think it’s the true way after investigating it. If you don’t investigate it, you will regret later!” I quieted my heart and recalled the scenes of these days when I stayed with them. “They are better than me in character and conduct. They have sense, insight, and courtesy; they behave properly in their fellowship and daily living and keep a very clear distance from the opposite sex; they have spiritual devotions every day, and what has even more made me admire them is that their prayers are earnest and moving and that their praises are soul-stirring and with true reverence for God. Their living out confirms that they truly have the working of the Holy Spirit and are devout Christians. And my years of service also tell me that their behavior is not a pretense but a natural expression of their inner life. Considering their living out, they are the best believers in God I have ever met. In them, I have seen God’s glory and God’s testimony. They are by no means people of an underworld organization who will gouge out people’s eyes and cut off their noses.” So, I decided to stay and make an investigation.