By Xin Ai, China

When I was little, my parents both believed in God. Out of curiosity, I also read some books of God’s words and learned that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God, and that God governs our fate, life, and death. In 2012, my parents stopped believing, but my grandma still believed, and she would read God’s words with me. In May 2021, I formally accepted God’s work of the last days. When I was busy with work, I’d use my free time to attend gatherings. My dad didn’t object at the time because I was working in the hairdressing industry, earning eight to ten thousand yuan a month. Our relatives and friends all said I was doing well for myself, and my dad was very happy and proud to hear that. Later, through gatherings and reading God’s words, I came to understand that as a created being, I should do my duty to repay God’s love. However, because of my job, I didn’t have time to do my duty. But then I thought about how gathering with my brothers and sisters over the past year had made my heart feel fulfilled and no longer empty like before. So, I wanted to do my duty full-time. Especially when I thought of God’s words: “All manner of disasters will befall, one after another; all countries and places will experience disasters: Plague, famine, flood, drought, and earthquakes are everywhere. These disasters are not just happening in one or two places, nor will they be over within a day or two; rather, they will expand across a greater and greater area, and become more and more severe. During this time, all manner of insect plagues will arise one after another, and the phenomenon of cannibalism will occur everywhere. This is My judgment upon the myriad countries and peoples” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 65). I realized God’s work is drawing to a close. The disasters have been growing more and more severe, especially in the last two years, and only by coming before God can we be saved and survive. As time is running out, I have to urgently pursue the truth and do my duty. When I thought this, I chose to do my duty full time. During that period, I attended gatherings and read God’s words every day, and I felt a joy in my heart I’d never known before. Two months later, I quit my job. When my dad saw I wasn’t working, he was not happy at all. He said, “It’s good that you have a faith, but you can’t just quit your job. You can go back to how it was before, when you worked some of the time and attended gatherings at other times. If you don’t work, what are you going to live on? This is the best time of your life to be pursuing a career. I’m only saying this for your own good. If you don’t listen to me, you’ll regret it one day!” I felt awful after hearing what he said. I’d listened to him in everything my whole life, ever since I was little. How heartbroken would he be if I didn’t listen to him this time? But then I thought about how empty my heart had felt when I was working, and how incredibly fulfilled I felt now that I was doing my duty. I now understood what was meaningful and valuable to pursue in life. Besides, God’s work is coming to an end, so I have to seize the limited time I have to pursue the truth. Gaining the truth and life—that’s what’s most important. With this in mind, I told my dad, “The workplace is full of scheming and infighting. By doing my duty now, I’m walking the right path in life.” But he still tried to stop me from believing in God.

One day, my dad sent me a message: “Don’t disappoint me.” Tears immediately started streaming down my face. I thought to myself, “All these years, my dad has wanted me to stand out above the rest. He’s paid a great price to cultivate me. Now that I’m not working anymore, his hopes are shattered. He must be in so much pain! I’m already grown up, but I’m still making him worry about me. Isn’t that being unfilial? Ever since I was a child, my dad bought me whatever I wanted; he always doted on me. If I don’t work again in the future, I’ll be letting him down after all the effort and expenditure he’s put into me. What will our relatives and friends think of me?” Amid my negativity, I remembered a passage of God’s words, so I looked it up to read. Almighty God says: “Tell Me, from whom does everything to do with people originate? Who bears the greatest burden for human life? (God.) God alone loves people the most. Do people’s parents and relatives really love them? Is the love that they give true love? Can it save people from the influence of Satan? It cannot. People are numb and dull-witted, unable to see through these things, and always say, ‘How does God love me? I don’t feel it. Anyway, my mother and father love me the most. They pay for my studies and make me learn technical skills, so that I can make something of myself when I grow up, be successful, become a star, a celebrity. My parents spend so much money to cultivate me and provide me with an education, scrimping and saving on food. How great a love is that! I can’t ever repay them!’ Do you think that is love? What are the consequences of your parents making you succeed, become a celebrity in the world, have a good job, and assimilate into the world? They endlessly make you pursue success, bring honor to your family, and assimilate into the evil trends of the world, so that in the end you fall into the vortex of sin, suffer perdition and perish, being devoured by Satan. Is that love? That is not loving you, that is harming you, destroying you. Someday, you will sink so low that you will not be able to repent, so low that you will not be able to extricate yourself, and you will descend into hell. Only then will you realize, ‘Oh, parental love is love of the flesh, it is of no advantage in believing in God or obtaining the truth—it is not true love!’ You may not have realized this yet. Some people say, ‘I cannot feel how God loves me. I still feel that my mother loves me the most. She is the closest person in the world to me. There is a song called “Mom Is the Best in the World.” That name matches reality; it is absolutely true!’ Someday, when you really have life entry, and when you have obtained the truth, you will say, ‘My mother is not the one who loves me the most, nor is it my father. God loves me the most. He is my dearest loved one, because He gave me life, and He is always leading me, providing for me, and saving me from the influence of Satan. God alone is the One who can provide life to people, who can lead people, and who has sovereignty over all things.’ Only when you understand the truth and have completely obtained the truth will you be able to appreciate these words deeply” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. To Gain the Truth, One Must Learn Lessons From the People, Events, and Things Nearby). I used to think that all the energy and money my dad poured into cultivating me was love. But after reading God’s words, I understood that what my dad felt for me wasn’t true love. His goal was to get me to throw myself body and soul into pursuing a career, making more money, and standing out above the rest, so that I could win the admiration and envy of our relatives and friends and make him look good. I thought about how when I was working, I could only attend a gathering once a week, and I had no time at all to do my duty. All my time and energy were spent on working and making money, and comparing with my friends and colleagues. My mind was consumed with how to make money, and to make more of it, I schemed against my colleagues and deceived customers. My mind was completely occupied by fame and gain, and my heart grew more and more empty and pained. It was only through God’s love and salvation that I was fortunate enough to accept God’s work of the last days, come to the church, and start to do my duty. I was no longer living in the world’s evil trends, pursuing fame and gain. If I hadn’t been doing my duty, I would still be trapped in the vortex of fame and gain; I would have become more and more wicked, and I would have completely lost my chance to be saved. Realizing this, I resolved in my heart: I absolutely must do my duty properly in the church. I thought of God’s words: “If your parents are of poor humanity, if they constantly hinder you from believing in God and doing your duty, and if they even hate you and curse you because you believe in God, what should you do? What is the truth that you should practice? (Rejection.) At this time, you must reject them. You no longer have any obligation to show filial respect to them. If they believe in God, then they are family, your parents. If they do not believe in God and even resist God, then you are walking different paths. They believe in Satan and worship the devil king, and they walk the path of Satan; they are on a different path from you. You are no longer a family. They regard believers in God as their adversaries and enemies, so you have no more obligation to take care of them and must cut them off completely” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What Is the Truth Reality?). After reading God’s words, I understood that my dad and I were on two different paths: My dad worked hard to make money and pursued fame and gain so that others would look up to him; he was on Satan’s path. As for me, I believed in God and was doing my duty; I was on the path of pursuing the truth and being saved. I had previously been living in my fleshly emotions, thinking I was hurting and disappointing my dad by quitting my job, and was always letting him down. But today, after reading God’s words, I had gained some discernment of my dad. He didn’t believe in God and even tried to stop me from believing. We weren’t on the same path, so I couldn’t look at him from the perspective of a fleshly relative anymore. Once I realized this, I was no longer constrained by my emotions.

In December 2022, I had to leave home because I was very busy with my duty, and I only came back home once a week. One time when I came home, my dad said to me sternly, “When are you going to get a job? If you’re not going to work, then don’t stay here. Go back to our hometown in the countryside!” I started to worry, “If I don’t listen to him, will he really send me back to our hometown? Would I still be able to do my duty then?” After that, I would always sneak out to do my duty. One time, as I was about to leave to do my duty, my dad spotted me. He said harshly, “If you sneak out again, don’t come back. If you do, I’ll break your legs! I’m not bluffing. Just try me!” I was a bit scared, and thought, “If I leave and then come back, will he really break my legs? Should I continue with my duty or not?” I felt very conflicted, wondering, “But if I don’t go, what about my duty? The church’s work is so busy, and not going back in time will delay the work.” I prayed to God and sought. Then I thought of God’s words: “No matter what befalls you, whether it is a test or a trial, or you are being pruned, and no matter how people treat you, you should first set these things aside and come before God in diligent prayer, seeking the truth and adjusting your state. This ought to be resolved first. You should say, ‘No matter how big this matter is, even if the sky itself comes falling down, I must do my duty well. As long as I have breath, I will not give up on my duty.’ So how do you do your duty well? You cannot just go through the motions, or be physically present but let your mind wander—you must focus your heart and mind on your duty” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Life Entry Begins With the Performance of Duty). God’s words gave me faith. No matter what happened, even if my dad really did break my legs, I had to fulfill my responsibility and could not let go of my duty. At that thought, I immediately felt a surge of strength and left home to do my duty. When I went home again later, my dad didn’t hit me, but he still tried to persuade me to go to work. However, I wasn’t constrained by him and continued doing my duty.

In February 2023, I didn’t return home for a month because I was so busy with my duty and the great red dragon was severely persecuting and arresting believers. My dad said angrily, “This time, I’m going to chain you up so you can’t leave!” Ever since I was little, my dad had never spoken to me like that—face flushed, neck bulging with anger. I was terrified. That evening, my younger sister said to me in tears, “Sis, don’t leave. Dad just starts going on and on whenever you’re gone. You don’t even think about Mom and me.” The next day, when I was about to go out to do my duty, my mom stopped me and said, “Just listen to your dad and get a job for now! Why are you so stubborn?” My heart felt very weak. I thought to myself, “Mom and Sis never objected to my faith or my duty before, but now they’re on Dad’s side. If I keep doing my duty, my dad will argue with my mom every day. What if their relationship falls apart and they get a divorce? If I don’t listen to my dad, will I even be able to stay in this home anymore?” I was a bit worried and scared, and thought about getting a job and giving up my duty. But over the past few months of doing my duty, I had felt peace and joy in my heart. Now, all sorts of disasters are descending, and God’s work is drawing to a close. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to receive God’s salvation. So I prayed to God, “Oh God, my heart is weak and in pain. I’m afraid this family will really fall apart, but I don’t want to be constrained. Please give me the faith to stand firm in my testimony.” After that, I looked for God’s words to read. God says: “You must endure all; for Me, you must be ready to forsake everything and follow Me with all your might, and be ready to pay any price. Now is the time that I shall test you: Will you offer your loyalty to Me? Can you loyally follow Me to the end of the road? Be not afraid; with My support, who could ever block this road? Remember this! Remember! Everything contains My good intentions and is under My scrutiny. Can you follow My word in all that you say and do? When the tests of fire come upon you, will you kneel down and call out? Or will you cower, incapable of moving forward?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 10). “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. Do all that you can to place your heart before Me, and I shall comfort you, and bring peace and joy to your heart. Do not care about how you appear to other people; does making Me satisfied not carry more value and weight? Won’t it even more so bring you eternal and lifelong peace and happiness?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 10). God’s words gave me faith. I shouldn’t be afraid of this or that; I had to have faith in God. I couldn’t give up my duty just because I was afraid my family would fall apart. I saw that my emotional attachment to my family was too strong. I hadn’t completely given my heart to God, and I didn’t have the resolve to forsake everything and follow Him. How did I have any loyalty to God? No matter how hard it was, I had to rely on God and bear witness for Him. God holds sovereignty over people’s marriages and fates; everyone has their own fate. What happens with my parents’ marriage and whether this family will fall apart is up to God. How my fate will turn out in the future is also in God’s hands; my dad doesn’t have the final say. I have to hold to my duty and satisfy God. If I listened to my dad and stopped doing my duty, I wouldn’t have to suffer persecution from my family, but that would be betraying God, and that would be eternal pain!

Another day passed. Early in the morning, I was getting ready to go out to do my duty. To my surprise, my dad had gotten up at four or five in the morning to watch me. A little after six, he came into my room and played a video of the CCP’s baseless rumors slandering The Church of Almighty God. I knew the news reports weren’t true, especially since I had come to understand some truths after doing my duty for so long, so I wasn’t influenced by the baseless rumors. Seeing that my attitude hadn’t changed, my dad tried to persuade me, saying, “I’ve been so worried and anxious about you lately. I raised you with my own two hands. I’m only doing this for your own good—would I ever harm you? If you go to work now, I’ll buy you a new phone that costs over ten thousand yuan. When your younger sister is on vacation, I’ll give you money so the two of you can go to Sanya for a trip.” When I heard my dad say this, I felt that if I didn’t listen to him this time, I would really be letting him down. But I also knew that believing in God and doing my duty is the right path in life, and I couldn’t give it up. I was torn. I realized my state was wrong, so I prayed to God in my heart, asking Him to keep my heart from being influenced by my dad’s words. My dad saw I wasn’t saying anything and went back to the living room.

After that, I read the words of God, and realized that my father hindering my faith in God was Satan’s disturbance. Almighty God says: “When people have yet to be saved, their lives are often disturbed, and even controlled, by Satan. In other words, people who have not been saved are prisoners to Satan, they have no freedom, they have not been relinquished by Satan, they are not qualified or entitled to worship God, and they are closely pursued and viciously attacked by Satan. Such people have no happiness to speak of, they have no right to a normal existence to speak of, and much less do they have any dignity to speak of” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II). “God has many means and avenues for testing man, but every one of them requires the ‘cooperation’ of God’s enemy: Satan. This is to say, having given man the weapons with which to do battle with Satan, God hands man over to Satan and allows Satan to ‘test’ man’s stature. If man can break out from Satan’s battle formations, if he can escape Satan’s encirclement and still live, then man will have passed the test. But if man fails to leave Satan’s battle formations, and yields to Satan, then he will not have passed the test. Whatever aspect of man God examines, the criteria for His examination are whether or not man stands firm in his testimony when attacked by Satan, and whether or not he has renounced God and capitulated and surrendered to Satan while ensnared by Satan. It may be said that whether or not man can be saved depends on whether he can overcome and defeat Satan, and whether or not he can gain freedom depends on whether he is able to lift up, on his own, the weapons given to him by God to overcome Satan’s bondage, making Satan completely abandon hope and leave him alone. If Satan abandons hope and relinquishes someone, this means that Satan will never again try to take this person from God, will never again accuse and disturb this person, will never again wantonly torture or attack them; only someone such as this will truly have been gained by God. This is the entire process by which God gains people” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II). After reading the words of God, I understood that I hadn’t completely walked out of Satan’s battle formations yet. Satan was still using my dad to constantly disturb me, force-feeding me the CCP’s fabricated rumors. When it saw I wouldn’t listen, it used family affection and soft words, trying every tactic, both hard and soft, in an attempt to make me betray God. It was so loathsome! I thought of when Job faced Satan’s temptations. All his flocks and herds that had covered the hills were gone, he was covered in sore boils, and his wife urged him to forsake God. But Job said: “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive adversity?” (Job 2:10). When Job faced his trial, he did not forsake God, and he stood firm in his testimony for God. I had to follow Job’s example, overcome Satan by wielding the weapon of God’s words in the midst of its siege, and stand firm in my testimony for God. I prayed to God and made a resolution, asking Him to give me the faith to stand firm in my testimony.

I read a few more passages of God’s words and gained some understanding of myself. Almighty God says: “You must suffer hardship for the truth, you must sacrifice yourself for the truth, you must endure humiliation for the truth, and you must undergo more suffering for the sake of gaining more of the truth. This is what you should do. You must not throw away the truth for the sake of the enjoyment of family harmony, and you must not lose a lifetime of dignity and integrity for the sake of temporary enjoyment. You should pursue all that is beautiful and good, and you should pursue a path in life that is more meaningful. If you lead such a mundane and worldly life, and do not have any goal to pursue, isn’t this wasting your life? What can you gain from such a life? You should forsake all enjoyments of the flesh for the sake of one truth, and should not throw away all truths for the sake of a little enjoyment. People like this have no integrity or dignity; there is no meaning to their existence!” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment). “You have followed Me all these years, yet have never given Me one iota of loyalty. Instead, you have revolved around the people you love and the things you like—so much so that at all times, and wherever you go, you keep them close to your hearts and have never abandoned them. Whenever you are eager or passionate about any one thing that you love, it is while you are following Me, or even while you are listening to My words. Therefore, I say you are using the loyalty that I ask of you to instead be loyal to and cherish your ‘pets.’ Though you may sacrifice a thing or two for Me, it does not represent your all, and does not show that it is Me to whom you are truly loyal” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. To Whom Exactly Are You Loyal?). After reading God’s words, I understood that I had to suffer for the truth and that I shouldn’t cast aside the truth just to enjoy family harmony. For all the time I had believed in God and been doing my duty, I had been cautiously trying to maintain this family, afraid that my relationship with them would break down and I wouldn’t be able to go home. Faced with my dad’s repeated persuasion and threats, I felt very weak inside, and I got caught in a dilemma, hesitant to go out and do my duty again. I saw that I had always been loyal to this family, not to God, and I certainly hadn’t put pursuing the truth first. Because my emotional attachment to my family was so strong, I had fallen into Satan’s temptations several times and nearly betrayed God. Only then did I see that Satan gets people to live in family affections, indulge in the flesh, and ultimately lose their chance to be saved. God’s intention is for us to do our duty as created beings, pursue the truth, live out a true human likeness, and attain salvation. If I listened to my dad and went to work this time just to protect my fleshly interests, I might enjoy family harmony, but I would lose my opportunity to gain the truth. What would that be but emptiness and pain? I had to choose the right path. One morning, my dad suddenly had to go out for something. I took the opportunity to leave and do my duty again.

Two months later, I received a letter from the church saying that my dad had reported me to the police, and had also reported my grandma and the brothers and sisters in our hometown, which led to all of them being arrested. My dad had been using all kinds of methods to frantically persecute and obstruct me from doing my duty. When he saw I wouldn’t listen, he completely turned on me and alerted the police, even turning in my grandma. His essence is that of a devil! Once I saw his essence clearly, I was no longer constrained by my emotions. From that day on, I never went back home. I have been doing my duty full time ever since. Thank God for leading me to make the correct choice!