By Kemu, South Korea

“I’m telling you one more time—don’t keep talking to me about that God stuff, and you’re not allowed to have anything to do with those believers in God anymore. If I see that you’ve been in touch with them again, I’ll smash your phone to pieces!”

“Why? Why are you standing in the way of my faith?” my wife asked, her face full of confusion.

“Why? It’s for your own good and the good of our family. Don’t you know that the CCP government is seriously cracking down on and suppressing The Church of Almighty God? Don’t you know about the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case in 2014? It says online that Zhang Lidong, the main offender in the case, was a member of The Church of Almighty God. If you get together with those people, you’ll just be putting yourself into extreme danger!”

She responded resolutely, “Zhang Lidong and those others weren’t with The Church of Almighty God—you just can’t believe those things they say online. I’ve been in contact with brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God for two or three months and what I’ve seen is that they’re all upstanding people who are kind and sincere toward others. They help each other out whenever anyone has a problem, and it’s not like what they say online at all.”

I was incensed and remained unconvinced. “Go online and see for yourself, then you’ll know whether I’m right or not.”

My wife then led me over to a seat and said, “You’re the sort of person who thinks things through. You have to approach this reasonably and speak according to the facts—you can’t just listen to one side of the story! Every major media outlet in China is just a mouthpiece for the CCP government; they’re just tools for the government to deceive the people. What kind of credibility do their reports have? Don’t you remember the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989? The students in Tiananmen Square were protesting against corruption and advocating for democratic freedoms, but the CCP government found some unknown people and had them disguise themselves as students and infiltrate the students’ ranks, then had them start to hit, smash, rob, burn, and overturn military vehicles. Those people created a lot of chaos, and then the CCP government framed the students with their crimes. After that, the CCP government used media like TV and radio to flood the airwaves with their reports, slandering the student movement as a counterrevolutionary riot, and then launched a bloody crackdown on them, which resulted in at least several thousand students shot dead or crushed by tanks. Anyone who knows about the history of the CCP government knows that it has always struck out against righteousness, and that it simply doesn’t tolerate the existence of any groups or individuals that have different political views or opinions. In order to achieve a dictatorship, the CCP government has always attacked and condemned those groups or people, even going so far as to suppress them or ban them entirely. Every time the CCP government has violently suppressed a religious faith, a movement for democratic rights, or ethnic minority protests, it first starts by fabricating false cases, and then it creates a huge public outcry to stir up the people, and then it violently suppresses them. That’s a fact. The May 28 Zhaoyuan Case was the CCP government framing The Church of Almighty God—it carefully concocted yet another false case.”

I couldn’t refute what she had said at all, and thought to myself, “She’s known some of the family members of victims of the Tiananmen Square protests and knows the inside story. Everything she said is true. But still, even if that Zhaoyuan incident has nothing to do with The Church of Almighty God, I’ve never been in contact with their members and I don’t know what sort of church it is. We live in such a troubled world now—what if she gets conned?” So, I told her again that she wasn’t allowed to have contact with anyone from The Church of Almighty God. As I left, I slammed the door, leaving her there in tears.

It was a particularly dark night with no moonlight and no stars. I felt really awful as I walked along the road. I thought of our ten years of marriage—from our first meeting, to falling in love, to getting married, we had been through a lot, but no matter what we faced we had always talked things through and supported each other. We’d never had any huge fights. Yet, I had just really laid into her for her faith—I felt I really shouldn’t have treated her that way. But then again, it said online that The Church of Almighty God was no good, so by not letting her practice her faith I was doing her a favor. Why couldn’t she understand me? At that moment I felt incredibly tired and upset. I got out my phone and a wonderful photo of our happy family flashed in front of my eyes—our daughter’s sweet smile momentarily dispelled my fatigue. I thought of how I was the backbone of the family and that preventing my wife from practicing her faith was for her own protection and was for the good of our family, so I decided that I had to stick to my guns.

Over the period of time that followed, I was afraid of damaging my wife’s feelings for me and thus didn’t dare start any major conflicts, so I just told her not to talk to me about anything to do with God. Even though we seemed to get along normally on the surface, there was already a chasm opening up between us.

One day, just as I had walked in the door after getting off my morning work shift, I heard the sound of cheerful music wafting out from the bedroom along with bursts of happy laughter from my wife and daughter. Curiously, I thought, “Hm? I haven’t heard such a joyful sound at home in so long. Ever since my wife came to South Korea, she’s never really gotten used to the environment here because of the different lifestyle, language and culture. In particular, she left behind her elderly mother and a job that she loved, and she doesn’t have any relatives or friends by her side—she often sits alone and cries. I’ve seen her looking pained and upset but have never known how to comfort her, so what kind of song could be bringing her so much happiness now?” I very quietly opened the door and saw a dance and song video produced by The Church of Almighty God The True Love of God being displayed on the computer screen. Six young women were joyfully dancing and singing with such feeling, but it was their faces brimming with such joyful smiles in particular which instantly pulled at my heart. I was full of curiosity, thinking, “What sort of church is this, and what kind of group is this? Why is it that their songs and dances are so infectious and so soothing? If they really were bad people, how could they have such kind, genuine smiles?”

Seeing me, my daughter said happily, “Dad, isn’t this a nice song? Mom and I really like it. Sing and dance with us!” I picked her up in an embrace and kissed her little face, then said indulgently, “Sweetheart, I like energetic, powerful songs and dances.” She swayed her head and thought for a moment. “Dad, you like tap dancing, right? Mom, put on that video with the really great dancing for him.” I couldn’t bear to interrupt her and figured that I’d watch it for just a little bit even if it was from The Church of Almighty God—these days this kind of harmonious atmosphere was hard to come by in our home. Holding my daughter, I sat next to my wife and started watching. The dance and song video God Has Brought His Glory to the East was powerful and energetic with a delightful rhythm. In a tap dancing style, they danced with such heroic vigor; I’ve always loved singing and dancing, so I was really drawn in. Seeing how engaged I was, my wife said excitedly, “These songs and dances have all been arranged and recorded by brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God. None of them are professionals.” I couldn’t help but seriously reflect on this. “How could people without professional training dance so incredibly well?” I thought. Smiling, she said, “It’s amazing, isn’t it! Without God’s own work and guidance, would non-professionals be able to dance like that? You’d be even more astonished if you saw the films that they’ve made. The Church of Almighty God has the work of the Holy Spirit—it has God’s blessing. That’s why their songs, dances and films are so well made, and on top of that, all the truths communicated in their films benefit people a lot. All that negative propaganda online is just the CCP government spreading lies about The Church of Almighty God. They’re not at all true. The reason the CCP government spreads these lies is so that everyone will become hostile to The Church of Almighty God and won’t dare to look into God’s work of the last days, and thereby lose God’s salvation.”

Hearing what she said and seeing the glowing look on her face, I became even more curious. I thought about how, since she had started believing in Almighty God, she had recovered from her depression from feeling homesick and missing her mom. I also saw that she had become more patient with our daughter and no longer lost her temper; she had also started to take care of me incredibly well. Could it really be that Almighty God had changed my wife? Was The Church of Almighty God really as great as she said? As I thought through all of this, my heart felt tied up in knots—I didn’t know if I should let her continue practicing her faith. After a bout of internal struggle, I decided to go to The Church of Almighty God and check it out for myself. If it wasn’t like what it said online, then I wouldn’t stand in her way anymore.

Over the weekend when I was free from work, I approached my wife and told her that I wanted to go have a look at The Church of Almighty God—she was both surprised and pleased. Once we got there the brothers and sisters received us warmly, and I felt from their expressions, actions, and how they interacted with others that they were kind and sincere. My nervousness and guardedness gradually eased. Then, a sister told everyone excitedly, “Brothers and sisters, the musical, Xiaozhen’s Story won an international award!” I asked out of curiosity, “Can I watch it?” They all voiced their agreement in unison and started playing the musical. Xiaozhen’s ups and downs in the story really touched my heart and I thought of how I myself was another Xiaozhen. I drifted through society when I was younger because of a family misfortune, suffering all sorts of bullying and humiliation just to get by and being given the cold shoulder. And now I was striving and working hard to make a living and had gone through all sorts of things, sweet and bitter. I had suffered a lot through ups and downs over the years, and I felt tired and sad, but I always acted strong in front of my wife and friends. Who could have known the pain in my heart? Toward the end of the musical this song was sung: “… The Almighty has mercy on these people who have suffered deeply; at the same time, He is fed up with these people who lack consciousness, as He has had to wait too long for an answer from humanity. He wishes to seek, to seek your heart and your spirit, to bring you water and food and to awaken you, that you may no longer be thirsty and hungry. When you are weary and when you begin to feel something of the bleak desolation of this world, do not be lost, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival at any time …” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs, God Is Seeking Your Heart and Your Spirit). Every line of the song warmed my lost, suffering soul, and every note sung felt like a mother stretching out her hands to her long-lost child. What I felt was the call of love—I was incredibly moved. I couldn’t stop the tears flowing down my face as the musical ended. It was the first time I had ever cried in front of so many people and I felt a bit embarrassed, so I quickly and quietly turned my head to wipe away the tears. I exclaimed sincerely, “That’s such a wonderful musical!” I then gave Xiaozhen’s Story a round of applause.

My wife looked at me and said to me happily and with great emotion, “That your heart has been stirred by Xiaozhen’s Story was because God has moved you! I know that the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case had an impact on you and that you’ve had a lot of misunderstandings about Almighty God’s work of the last days. I also know that you’re concerned for my safety and the safety of our daughter, so today let’s look and see what really happened with that case.”