I am Wang Xinlan, born in a Catholic family which believed in the Lord generation after generation. Since my childhood, I, influenced by my elders, had been practicing fasting, reciting prayers, making confessions, and taking communion regardless of winter or summer. As I had never failed to practice all this, I always regarded myself as faithful to the Lord Jesus. However, it had never occurred to me that when the Lord Jesus returned in the flesh, I resisted, abused, and blasphemed him by every possible means…. Looking back over the scenes of yesterday, I feel bitterly regretful.

In 1999, I went to Zalantun for a retreat, where the priest told us, “Now, there are a band of people who preach ‘Eastern Lightning.’ They especially target good believers in the Lord. Once you are deceived into joining them, you will not be able to withdraw. They say that the Lord has come, and even as a female. I’ve made a careful investigation and found out that they are ‘heretics’ sent by the ‘devil.’ Whoever accepts what they preach will no longer take communion, make confessions, or recite prayers. Without any doubt, this is a ‘cult.’ And their book contains a magic potion. Once you read it, you will become dopey and have to accept it in spite of yourself, for the spirit in it will have controlled you. So you must be very careful. We have believed in the Lord for years. If we are deceived into joining them, we’ll be finished….” Here the priest began to weep. Everyone present was moved by his “sincerity,” and resolved to never accept the sect of “Lightning,” never forsake the Lord. At that moment, I also felt very touched and thought to myself, “For what does the priest do this? He remains unmarried all his life. Doesn’t he do all this for our good? Simply for the priest’s sake, I will not accept it.”

From that day on, I had a bitter hatred for the “Eastern Lightning” and volunteered to guard the churches without pay. Whichever church I went to, I wantonly spread the rumors about the “Eastern Lightning” and exhorted every brother and sister, saying, “The ‘Eastern Lightning’ does great harm to people. Never accept it! Our priest is so worried about our church that he has wept….” Wherever I met a Catholic, I spared no trouble to repeat those things to him. In order to achieve my ends, I went further and further, speaking exaggeratedly many “facts” that I made out of thin air to show my loyalty to the Lord.

In the summer of 2003, I went to my eldest daughter’s home in Longjiang County for a visit, where I heard that some Catholics had been converted to the “Eastern Lightning” and that a few of them had even left home to perform their duties. I hurried to their homes, intending to persuade them to turn back, but none of them was in. Then I exaggerated the case and said many unpleasant words against them to their relatives. And I also went to other Catholics and frightened them with these words: “‘Eastern Lightning’ does great harm to people. If you accept it, your family will be broken up, for they abandon their families and children….” I even hypocritically assumed an expression of concern and worry over them. Melted by my “love,” some who wanted to investigate it did not dare to seek but returned its books.

In October 2003, my son accepted Almighty God’s end-time new work when I was away from home. As soon as I got back, my daughter-in-law told me that my son had accepted the “Eastern Lightning,” and that he read its book and listened to its songs every day. I almost exploded with anger at this, thinking, “Those people of the ‘Eastern Lightning’ are really ‘something.’ I’ve been busy stopping and defending against it outside, while they have even preached it to my family.” I said to my daughter-in-law, “Find the book and tapes. Destroy them before he comes back, so they won’t harm people anymore.” After she found them, I unhesitatingly tore up the book, threw it into the fire, destroyed the tape in the cassettes and gave them to my grandchildren to play with as toys. But since I burned the book, I had had an inexplicable fear and an unsettled feeling in my heart. I always felt myself wronged and nobody pleasing to the eye; I seemed to have a lot to say and yet could get nothing out, very uneasy within. Even so, I still did not wake up to reality. Later, a sister, formerly of our church, came to preach God’s new work to me. I abused her fiercely, “What a nerve! You deceived my son while I was away. Now, you even come to deceive me. I tell you, better give up trying to convert me. There’s no chance for you!” However, the sister still wanted to preach it to me, so I got into a temper and said, “Will you go or not? If you don’t, I’ll call the police to arrest you.” “Sister,” she said in tears, “Please investigate!” Regardless of her earnest request, I pushed and shoved her out of the door.