By An Xia, China

In May 2011, my mom preached God’s gospel of the last days to me. After reading God’s words, I came to know that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God, that humanity was also made by God, and that it is perfectly natural and justified for people to believe in and worship God. After investigating for a while, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. Because the CCP arrests and persecutes believers in God, my dad, grandpa, and grandma, fearing they’d be implicated, had always opposed and persecuted my mom for her faith, so I didn’t dare let my family know about my own belief in God.

At the end of 2012, I was arrested for preaching the gospel; I was 19 at the time. Even though the police didn’t find any evidence of my faith, they still illegally detained me for 32 hours. It was only after my family pulled some strings that I was released. My grandpa and uncle came to pick me up. On the way, my uncle said, “It took a lot of effort for your grandpa and grandma to raise you, and they still have to worry about you all the time even at this age. As soon as your grandma heard you’d been arrested, she was so anxious she couldn’t sleep.” Looking at my grandpa’s white hair, I felt a sour ache in my heart. When I got home, I saw my grandma and my aunts sitting in the courtyard. My grandma pointed a trembling finger at me and said, “Tell me, have you been following your mom in believing in God?” My aunt said mockingly, “Can’t you give us a break and stop worrying us? The police came right to your door. Even if you’re not embarrassed, I’m embarrassed for you! Now you’ve brought shame on the whole family. How could you be so inconsiderate of us?” My grandma said in a trembling voice, “This time, your aunt and uncle had to pull strings to get you out. Otherwise, the police would have sent you to prison. You can’t believe in God anymore!” My aunts also said some things that blasphemed and condemned God. Listening to them scold me, I felt like I’d done something terribly wrong and couldn’t meet their eyes. I also felt so wronged. Believing in God is clearly a good thing, but they were scolding me as if I’d committed some terrible crime. I prayed to God incessantly, asking Him to protect my heart. Then I thought of God’s words: “As members of the human race and devout Christians, it is the responsibility and obligation of us all to offer up our minds and bodies for the fulfillment of God’s commission, for our entire being came from God, and it exists thanks to the sovereignty of God. If our minds and bodies are not dedicated to God’s commission and the just cause of mankind, then our souls will feel ashamed before those who were martyred for God’s commission, and much more ashamed before God, who has provided us with everything” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Appendix 2: God Holds Sovereignty Over the Fate of All Mankind). I thought to myself, “That’s right, my life comes from God. Preaching the gospel and testifying about God’s words to more people so they can accept God’s salvation—this is the most just of all things! But because I’ve been arrested for my faith and caused concern and trouble for my family, I felt like I’d brought them worry and shame, as if I’d done something wrong. I wasn’t distinguishing right from wrong at all! Believing in God and preaching the gospel is the most just thing to do. I have to have my own convictions when it comes to faith.” When I thought this, I was no longer constrained.

A few days later, the CCP began spreading baseless rumors and fallacies on TV, across major media outlets, and online to slander The Church of Almighty God, and they started arresting Christians from the Church on a massive scale. After hearing these baseless rumors, my family began to monitor me. They called me frequently to check on my whereabouts and often tried to talk me out of my belief. My grandpa said, “Do you know how many of those arrested this time have been sentenced? Some have gotten over ten years, and it even affects their families—the elderly lose their subsidies and the children can’t go to school. What’s so good about believing in God? They’ll arrest and sentence you no matter how old you are. Just north of here, someone your age was sentenced to three years. We all thought murder was the worst crime and carried the heaviest sentence, but the sentences for believing in God are harsher than for murder!” Later, whenever I went to my grandpa’s house, he would tell me from time to time, “You can’t believe in God, you hear? Haven’t you seen on TV? They say when someone believes in Almighty God, three generations of their family will suffer for it. The jobs of your aunts and uncles will all be affected, and it will cause trouble for your younger brother and sister when they try to get into university. How could they not resent you? I’m telling you this for your own good!” I remember my aunt once told me, “You have no idea how difficult you were to take care of as a child. You got sick several times and almost died. It was your grandma who never left your side, caring for you day and night. She poured her heart and soul into you. You had severe anemia back then and there was no blood in the blood bank. It was your grandpa who gave you a blood transfusion. Now that you’re grown up, are you still going to cause them worry?” I felt a sour ache in my heart. It was my grandpa and grandma who had raised me; they cared for me and made sacrifices for me. Now I was grown, and yet I was still causing them to worry. I felt so lacking in conscience. Another time I went home, my grandpa said to me, “‘Your body was given to you by your parents.’ Even if you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about your family. If you get arrested one day for your faith and have to suffer in prison, how could we not be heartbroken and upset?” Hearing him say that, I was overwhelmed by a surge of mixed emotions. I felt like I was giving them so much to worry about and being so inconsiderate of their feelings, as if all their efforts in raising me had been for nothing. I felt very weak, so I prayed to God, “Oh God, the more my family worries about me, the more I feel I owe them. I know believing in You is good, but my heart is still in so much pain. Please, lead me!” After praying, I thought of these words of God: “God created this world and brought man, a living being unto which He bestowed life, into it. In turn, man came to have parents and kin, and was no longer alone. Ever since man first laid eyes on this material world, he was destined to exist within the ordination of God. It is the breath of life from God that supports each and every living being throughout growth into adulthood. During this process, no one feels that man exists and grows up under the care of God; rather, they believe that man grows up under the grace of parental upbringing, and that it is his own life instinct that drives his growth. This is because man knows not who bestowed his life, or from whence it came, much less the way in which the instinct of life creates miracles. He knows only that food is the basis on which his life continues, that perseverance is the source of his life’s existence, and that the beliefs in his mind are the capital upon which his survival depends. Of God’s grace and provision, man is utterly oblivious, and it is in this way that he fritters away the life bestowed upon him by God…. Not a single person, whom God watches over day and night, takes the initiative to worship Him. God just does the work on man, for whom there are no expectations, as He has planned. He does so in the hope that one day, man will awaken from his dream and suddenly realize the value and meaning of life, the price God paid for all that He has given him, and the eagerness with which God desperately yearns for man to turn back to Him” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God Is the Source of Man’s Life). From God’s words, I realized that my life comes from God. Although my grandpa and grandma raised me, it was God who was always watching over and protecting me behind the scenes. Once when I was little, I accidentally ate rat poison. My family took me to three hospitals, but none of them would treat me; they just told my family to prepare for my funeral. My grandpa was a doctor, but even he was helpless. Finally, one hospital reluctantly agreed to try to save me, and after they gave me emergency treatment, I miraculously survived. Another time, I had an acute intestinal obstruction. The doctor advised against massaging it, saying it would only make the obstruction tighter. I was on the verge of needing surgery, but my grandma massaged my stomach and actually managed to work the blockage out. The reason I’m alive and well today is entirely due to God’s wondrous protection. I should be grateful for God’s salvation, instead of attributing it all to my grandparents. Once I understood this, I no longer felt indebted to them. A month later, I learned that the church needed people to cooperate in the gospel work, so I quit my job and threw myself into it.

On the afternoon of October 22, 2013, I was reported by an evil person while in a gathering and was arrested again. I was detained for 15 days and fined one thousand yuan. My dad came to pick me up. On the way home, his face was grim, and he was completely silent. The more silent he was, the more scared I became; it felt like the calm before the storm. I prayed in my heart, “God, I don’t know what I’m about to face. Please protect me. No matter how my family attacks me, I must stand firm in my testimony for You!” After we arrived at my grandparents’ house, my dad yelled at me, “The police told me—the one you believe in is just a person! You’ve all been deceived, yet you’re still so obsessed!” I was furious to hear him say that, so I retorted, “You used to believe in the Lord Jesus. Wasn’t He also a human on the outside? But He had a divine essence and could do God’s work.” My dad pointed at me and said, “Obsessed! Totally obsessed! The police said you’re an organization …” I cut him off, asking, “What is an organization? An organization is created by people; it’s a group that trades for its own purposes and interests. The Church of Almighty God came into being through God’s work. We just get together to read God’s words, worship God, talk about knowing ourselves, and fellowship on God’s intentions. It has nothing to do with an organization. Calling God’s church an organization is just confusing the concepts. That’s what a muddleheaded person would say. A smart person would investigate it for themselves and not just blindly listen to this nonsense.” But to my surprise, my grandpa also pointed at me and said, “Look around this village! Is there anyone else like you? Believing in God at such a young age! You’ve completely shamed us!” My grandma and uncle chimed in, scolding me too. My dad demanded, “You seem to know quite a lot. How long have you believed for? Where are your gatherings?” I had thought my family would be worried sick about me after I’d been locked up for half a month, but the scene before me made my heart grow cold. How had my once-loving relatives become like this? The house felt as icy-cold as a prison. Just for my belief in God, my own family was isolating and ganging up on me. No one understood me, and no one cared how I felt. I felt the path of faith was just too hard, and I became incredibly negative and weak. My dad, ashamed of me, locked me in my room every day. When the people in the village found out I’d been arrested for my faith, some of them would stand outside our house to mock and gossip. Some mischievous kids even shouted, “Is the believer at home? The police are here!” One evening, my dad started scolding me again, saying the whole family couldn’t show their faces in public because of me. Afterward, he just sat in the room, smoking in sullen silence. A little while later, I heard his stifled sobs. I had never heard my dad cry in my entire life, and hearing him cry made me cry too. I thought, “My faith has brought such a negative impact on my family. My grandpa and grandma are already so old, and they still have to worry about me. Plus, this is the second time I’ve been arrested. If I keep persisting in my belief and I get arrested again, how could my family possibly bear it? Maybe I should just give up my faith, get a job and just focus on earning money, and at least put their minds at ease.” The thought brought me terrible pain, and I prayed, “God, I want to believe in You, but my family won’t stop persecuting and hindering me, and I feel so weak. God, please, lead me!” After praying, I read God’s words: “You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony. Though they may seem unimportant from the outside, when these things happen they show whether or not you love God. If you do, you will be able to stand firm in your testimony to Him, and if you have not put the love of Him into practice, this shows you are not someone who puts the truth into practice, that you are without the truth, and without life, that you are chaff!” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God). Pondering God’s words, I understood that these things had come upon me with God’s permission. It was His test of me, to see whether I would hold fast to my faith and stand firm in my testimony, or compromise with Satan. In the face of my family’s attacks and the neighbors’ gossip, and especially when I heard my dad cry, I had blamed my faith for bringing mockery upon my family and causing them to worry on my account. I then thought about giving up on my faith—wasn’t that compromising with Satan? If my family was truly concerned about me believing the wrong thing, they should have helped me look into it and investigate whether what I believed was the true way. But they just attacked me indiscriminately. The truth was, they were just afraid my faith would implicate them and harm their own interests. I hadn’t seen through their motives and was deceived by their so-called concern for me. I almost fell for Satan’s trick and betrayed God—it was so dangerous! No matter how my family persecuted me in the future, I had to stand firm in my testimony for God and not surrender to my family’s attacks.

On November 14, 2013, my dad forcibly took me to where he worked and put me under house arrest. When he went to work, he would lock me in the house with two locks. I tried every way I could think of to escape, but nothing worked. One day, my dad came back, sat on the edge of the bed, and scolded me, “Look at you! So young and already arrested twice! Aren’t you ashamed?” I said, “As a believer in God, I just read God’s words. I haven’t done anything wrong. What is there to be ashamed of?” I never imagined he would get so angry next. He jumped up, grabbed me by the neck, and started slapping my face over and over, shouting, “You want to believe? I’ll beat that belief out of you!” My nose was bleeding profusely, but he wouldn’t stop until a neighbor knocked on the door. He glared at me and snarled, “If you keep believing, I’ll keep hitting you! I’ll beat you into submission!” My nose wouldn’t stop bleeding at the time. As I watched the trash can fill with bloody tissues, an immense pain filled my heart. “My own father is being this brutal just because I believe in God. How could this be my father? He is a devil!” I lay face down on the bed and cried bitterly for a long time, feeling that believing in God was just too hard. I thought, “If I keep believing, will this persecution never end? Maybe I should just tell him I’ve given up my faith. I could find a job here and believe in secret. Then he’d stop hitting me.” I prayed to God, “God, please enlighten and guide me so I can understand Your intentions.”

Three days later, I found an old cell phone, took out a memory card with God’s words that I had hidden, and put it in. I turned the phone on and read God’s words: “While undergoing trials, it is normal for people to be weak, or to have negativity within them, or to lack clarity on God’s intentions or the path of practice. But overall, you must have faith in God’s work, and, like Job, not deny God. Although Job was weak and cursed the day of his own birth, he did not deny that all things that people possess after they’re born are bestowed by Jehovah, and that Jehovah is also the One to take them away. No matter what trials he was put through, he maintained this belief. … What does faith refer to? Faith is the genuine belief and the sincere heart that humans should possess when they cannot see or touch something, when God’s work does not align with human notions, or when it is beyond human reach. This is the faith that I speak of. People are in need of faith during times of suffering and during times of refinement, and when they have faith, they then face refinement—refinement and faith cannot be separated. If, no matter how God works, and no matter your environment, you are able to pursue life and seek the truth, pursue knowledge of God’s work, and seek to know His deeds, and you are able to act according to the truth, this is having true faith, and it proves that you have not lost faith in God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement). “No matter what your actual stature is, you must first possess both this resolve to suffer and this true faith, and you must also have the resolve to rebel against the flesh. You should be willing to personally suffer and to experience losses to your personal interests in order to satisfy God’s intentions. You must also be capable of feeling regret about yourself in your heart: In the past, you were unable to satisfy God, and now, you can regret yourself. You must not be lacking in any of these regards—it is through these things that God will perfect you. If you cannot meet these criteria, then you cannot be perfected” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement). “Have you ever accepted the blessings that were prepared for you? Have you ever pursued the promises that were made for you? You shall, under the guidance of My light, break through the stranglehold of the forces of darkness. You shall not, in the midst of darkness, lose the guidance of the light. You shall be the masters of all things. You shall be overcomers before Satan. You shall, at the downfall of the country of the great red dragon, stand amid the myriad people as proof of My victory. You shall stand firm and unwavering in the land of Sinim. Through the sufferings you endure, you will inherit My blessings, and you shall radiate My light of glory within the entire universe” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 19). I read these passages over and over again. I thought about Job. During his trials, he lost all his wealth and his children, his body was covered in sore boils, and he was even attacked by his wife and friends. But Job never denied God’s name. Instead, he submitted to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, praised the name of Jehovah, and stood firm in his testimony in the midst of his trials, shaming Satan. All I’d endured was being confined and beaten by my dad—just a little physical suffering—and I had already felt that believing in God was too hard and painful, and even thought of giving up my faith. Wasn’t this betraying God and bowing down to Satan? My faith in God was so small! Actively attending gatherings and doing my duty in a comfortable environment didn’t mean I had true faith. True faith is being able to follow God even when suffering in adverse environments. My dad had brought me to this unknown place, cut me off from my brothers and sisters, and beaten me—all with God’s permission. God was using this to perfect my faith and my resolve to suffer. This was His blessing! When I understood God’s intentions, I prayed, asking God to lead me so that I could stand firm in my testimony. During the twenty-some days my dad held me captive, I would read God’s words whenever he left for work. My heart grew closer and closer to God, and I no longer felt I was suffering.

A little over twenty days later, the police from my hometown came and took me back to the detention center. At the end of May 2014, the CCP charged me with “using a xie jiao organization to undermine law enforcement” and sentenced me to three years in prison, suspended for four years on probation. My family had to pay the police over a hundred thousand yuan to secure my release. During my probation, I had to report to the local judicial office every week and be contactable at all times. If they couldn’t contact me, I’d get a warning; three missed calls, and I’d be sent straight back to prison. Although I had been released, I had no personal freedom whatsoever. My uncle had used his job as a guarantee for my release, and my family persecuted me even more severely after that. I had to report my every move to them. Once, I was out for just over three hours and had 14 missed calls from my aunt. At night, if I went to bed a little early, my grandma would come in to check if I was praying and wouldn’t even let me close the door when I slept. She even followed me to my aunt’s shop when I went to work there. Facing this around-the-clock surveillance, I felt incredibly weak and had no idea how to cope. I often prayed, asking God to open up a way for me. One day, on my way to the judicial office, I ran into a sister. She told me that the brothers and sisters were all praying for me and that I should pray more, and God would guide me. Her words moved me deeply. She also secretly slipped me an MP5 player and a memory card with videos of God’s words on it. Afterward, I read God’s words: “You must possess My courage within you, and you must have principles when it comes to facing nonbelieving relatives. For My sake, however, you also must not yield to any dark forces. You must rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way, and not allow any of Satan’s conspiracies to succeed” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 10). From God’s words, I understood that He was using this environment to build my courage and faith, to help me see Satan’s wickedness clearly so I wouldn’t succumb to its influence but could use wisdom to defeat it. They could control my body, but they couldn’t control my heart. They watched me constantly to stop me from praying, but I could still ponder God’s words in my heart and quiet myself before God to draw near to Him. Gradually, my heart was no longer despondent.

On one occasion, I told my family I wanted to take a self-study exam and moved back to my former home to live alone. That was how I finally escaped their surveillance. Because I had been arrested three times for my faith, the people in my village kept their distance from me. Sometimes, if a group was talking on the street, they would scatter the moment I walked past. Others would stare at me from afar as if I were some kind of freak, whispering and pointing behind my back. My family, ashamed of me, wouldn’t walk with me in public. I felt like a complete outcast, rejected by everyone, and I felt deeply wronged. Many times I cried out in my heart, “All I’m doing is believing in and worshiping God, pursuing being a person with a conscience and reason. What have I done wrong? Why don’t I have even basic human rights? Why must I endure rejection from my family and discrimination from my neighbors?” I felt incredibly repressed and pained. During that time, I often prayed and sought how I should experience this environment.

Later, I read God’s words and was greatly encouraged. I came to know how to experience it. Almighty God says: “God’s thirty-three and a half years on earth in the flesh was an extremely painful thing in itself, and no one could understand Him. … The primary suffering He endures is living together with a humanity corrupt to the extreme, enduring ridicule, insult, judgment, and condemnation from all kinds of people as well as being pursued by evil demons and rejection and hostility from the religious world, creating wounds in the soul which no one could make up for. It is a painful thing. He saves corrupt humanity with immense patience, He loves people despite His wounds, and this is deeply painful work. Humanity’s vicious resistance, condemnation and slander, false accusations, persecution, and their pursuit and killing makes God’s flesh do this work at a great risk to Himself. Who could understand Him as He suffers these pains, and who could comfort Him?” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. The Essence of Christ Is Love). I thought of the Lord Jesus, persecuted by the government from the moment of His birth. When He began His work, He was ridiculed, condemned, and blasphemed, and ultimately nailed to the cross by the Pharisees and the Roman government. In the last days, Almighty God has come to work and save humanity, and He too is condemned and wanted by the CCP government. God suffers so much to save us, yet no one shows consideration for Him or understands Him. How must His heart feel? I also thought of Noah. God called him to build the ark. He poured his own possessions into building it while also conveying Jehovah God’s intention, telling people to get on board. His actions were met with ridicule, but Noah didn’t become weak or complain as a result of this. He remained steadfast in following God’s will. But here I was becoming so negative and miserable just from facing a little discrimination and ridicule for following God. I was so fragile. I was nothing compared to Noah! I also remembered what the Lord Jesus said: “Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13–14). The Lord Jesus said long ago that there are two paths a person can take. One leads through the wide gate, the path of pursuing the world, seeking visible benefits like fleshly enjoyment, fame, gain, and money; many people walk this path. The other leads through the narrow gate, the path of believing in and following God. This is a path of suffering, where you will encounter mockery, ridicule, and even slander and verbal abuse, facing one obstacle after another. Very few people are able to embark on this path. I cared far too much about face, reputation, and status; these were all burdens on my path of faith. I knew I had to let go of all this and hold fast to true faith in God to keep going and ultimately gain life. Besides, getting the approval of these nonbelievers is completely meaningless and without value. In my faith, I should pursue gaining the truth and being valued by God. No matter how others see me, I must persist in believing in God and following Him. Thinking of this, I was no longer constrained.

Later, I found out that my dad and grandma had gone to my workplace behind my back more than once to check if I was showing up for work as usual. I felt I had no privacy or human rights at all. Once, I read God’s words and gained some discernment about my family. Almighty God says: “People who possess good consciences but do not accept the true way are demons; their essence is one of resistance to God. Those who do not accept the true way are those who resist God, and even if such people endure many hardships, they will still be destroyed. All those who are unwilling to forsake the world, who cannot bear to part with their parents, and who cannot bear to rid themselves of their own enjoyments of the flesh are rebellious against God, and all will be objects of destruction. Anyone who does not believe in God incarnate is a demon and, moreover, will be destroyed. Those who have faith but do not practice the truth, those who do not believe in God incarnate, and those who do not at all believe in God’s existence will also be objects of destruction. All those who will be allowed to remain are people who have undergone the suffering of refinement and stood firm; these are people who have truly endured trials. Anyone who does not recognize God is an enemy; that is, anyone who does not recognize God incarnate—whether or not they are inside or outside this stream—is an antichrist! Who is Satan, who are demons, and who are God’s enemies if not resisters who do not believe in God?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together). Reading God’s words made me think of my family members who obstructed my faith. My mom had testified to them about Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, but not a single one sought or investigated it. The moment my faith affected their interests, they used all sorts of methods to persecute me and hinder my belief in God, scolding me under the guise of “doing what’s best for me.” They put me under house arrest and beat me to force me to betray God, and to that day, they still followed and monitored me. I saw that their nature essence is one that hates and resists God. I thought of Job, who was attacked by his wife during his trials. He didn’t fall for it or become negative; instead, he rebuked her as a foolish woman. Job had principles in how he treated his family and held fast to his faith. I had to follow his example, reject my family members who resisted God, and draw a clear line between me and them.

One time, the police called me, but I didn’t hear it. A few days later, my grandpa came to me and said, “Why didn’t you answer the police’s call? Don’t forget to answer your phone!” I felt a surge of resentment. Later, I read a passage of God’s words and gained some discernment of the CCP’s God-resisting wicked essence. Almighty God says: “For thousands of years this has been the land of filth. It is unbearably dirty, misery abounds, ghosts run rampant everywhere, tricking and deceiving, making groundless accusations, being ruthless and vicious, trampling this ghost town and leaving it littered with dead bodies; the stench of decay covers the land and pervades the air, and it is heavily guarded. Who can see the world beyond the skies? The devil tightly trusses all of man’s body, it veils both his eyes, and seals his lips firmly shut. The king of devils has rampaged for several thousand years, right up until today, when it still keeps a close watch on the ghost town, as if it were an impenetrable palace of demons; this pack of watchdogs, meanwhile, stare with glaring eyes, deeply fearful that God will catch them unawares and wipe them all out, leaving them without a place of peace and happiness. How could the people of a ghost town such as this ever have seen God? Could they ever have enjoyed the dearness and loveliness of God? Could they ever understand the matters of the human world? Who of them can understand God’s eager intentions? Small wonder, then, that God incarnate remains completely hidden: In a dark society such as this, where the demons are merciless and inhumane, how could the king of devils, who kills people without batting an eye, tolerate the existence of a God who is lovely, kind, and also holy? How could it applaud and cheer the arrival of God? These lackeys! They repay kindness with hate, they began treating God as an enemy long ago, they abuse God, they are savage in the extreme, they have not the slightest regard for God, they assail and plunder, they have lost all conscience, they go against all conscience, and they tempt the innocent into a coma. Forefathers of the ancient? Beloved leaders? They all oppose God! Their meddling has left all beneath heaven in a state of darkness and chaos! Religious freedom? The legitimate rights and interests of citizens? They are all tricks for covering up evil!” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Work and Entry (8)). From God’s words, I saw even more clearly the CCP’s demonic essence, which is hostile to God. On the surface, it waves the banner of religious freedom, but in reality, it twists right and wrong and spreads all kinds of heresies and fallacies to mislead ignorant people into siding with it to attack and resist God, and persecute Christians. It aims to make everyone join it in resisting God and heading for destruction. The CCP is a devil on earth, an enemy of God; it is utterly despicable and wicked! In just three years of faith, I had been arrested three times. Even after my release, I had no personal freedom. The CCP used the threat of the jobs and benefits of three generations of my family members being affected to incite my family to obstruct my faith. For their own interests, my family blindly persecuted me, condemned and blasphemed God, and constantly tracked and monitored me. The villagers also shunned me and discriminated against me because I’d been arrested. All of this was the result of the CCP’s persecution. The CCP used every means to obstruct my faith, but it never imagined that its performance would not only help me gain discernment of its God-resisting essence but also of my family’s nature essence. It only made my faith to follow God stronger. The CCP could control my body, but it couldn’t control my heart. I will not give up my faith or my duty.

At the end of May 2015, I took the opportunity of seeing my sister off to her new job to finally leave home and do my duty. The moment I stepped out of the house, I felt as if I had broken free from shackles; my body and soul were completely free. Without God’s words giving me faith and enlightening me to understand the truth, I could never have overcome my family’s relentless attacks. It was God who led me to break free from the shackles of my “family,” giving me the opportunity to finally do my duty. Thank God!