13. Destruction in the Blink of an Eye

—Qingping Township in Sichuan Province disappeared twice because of its defiance of Almighty God’s gospel of the last days

Jing Wei, Sichuan Province

During the great earthquake that occurred on May 12, 2008, a town vanished entirely: That was Qingping Township in the Mianzhu municipal area in Sichuan Province. Because of the government’s information blackout, this is not something that many people know about.

Qingping Township was located north-west of the hard-hit area of Hanwang Town in the Mianzhu municipal area. Before the earthquake struck, situated deep in the mountains, it was a place of clean air, clear waters and blue skies, and the mountains abounded with kiwi fruit and gingko fruit. God bestowed this abundance on the people and provided them with all they needed to live; yet the people living there did not know God, and even more they were unaware that they should be grateful to God—they had only a lust for riches. Owing to this town being situated deep in the mountains, the scenery was incredibly beautiful and the air was fresh and pleasant. In summer, there was no need to use air conditioning; it was a natural oxygen bar, and even more so it was a place for leisure and relaxation. The mountain people set up rural home stays one by one and put great effort into developing the tourism industry there. It also became a place of recreation and entertainment for all levels of government officials. Many officials desired to take up government posts in Qingping Township, and many provincial-level leaders were frequent visitors to the town. As everyone knows, wherever government officials go, they fuel the economic growth of the area’s hotels, karaoke bars, health spas, foot massage spas and hair salons. So although Qingping Township was deep in the mountains, it was by no means a backward place, and it was nevertheless a place of feasting and revelry, flashing neon lights and nightly music and singing; Communist Party officials turned this Heaven-sent place of beauty into a modern-day Sodom.

My Daughter at Death’s Door: I Witness a Miracle by Praying to God

By Wang Yue, China

God’s Words Comfort Me After My Daughter Is Involved in a Sudden Car Accident

It was gone 11 a.m. on the morning of October 8, 2011 and I was just preparing lunch at home, when suddenly the phone rang. As soon as I answered it, the person calling said anxiously, “Your Lanlan has been in a car accident and they’re trying to save her at the county hospital. You’d best get here as soon as you can!” Hearing this, I felt a loud buzzing in my head, and before I’d said anything, the other person hung up. After I’d put the phone down, I just stood there for a while, thinking: “My daughter went out on her bicycle this morning to run some errands. How could she have been in a car accident? It’s just a prank call, isn’t it? But their tone didn’t sound like they were trying to trick me….” I didn’t have time to think any more, so I stopped what I was doing and left the house. I hurriedly waved down a cab and rushed to the county hospital. I was so worried as I sat in the cab that I clenched my fists tightly together, and I just kept looking out the window.

I Am Following the Footsteps of the Lamb

                                                 

Shen Ai, Singapore

When I was 18 years old my mother got ill, and so she started believing in the Lord Jesus. At the time, I knew the Lord Jesus’ name but didn’t understand anything about faith in the Lord. It was quite a coincidence that I later went to work for a company where most of the employees were Christians. Through interacting with them, I saw how they treated people with love and patience, and I came to believe that Christians were a pretty good bunch of people.

That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1)

By Tian Ying, China

I used to be a believer in the Three-Self Church in China. When I first started participating in gatherings, the pastors would often say to us: “Brothers and sisters, it is recorded in the Bible that: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10).

Spiritual Awakening of a “White Angel” (Part 1)

Miaoxiao

Introduction

I am a retired obstetrics and gynecology attending physician. Most of my life was spent in an overworked void. I racked my brains to pursue status, fame and fortune and was unscrupulous in my efforts to make money, busy rushing around for several decades. I even betrayed my own conscience and personality and lost my humanity and rationality, living without any meaning. Until one day when I read the word of Almighty God and saw the truth that I had been corrupted by Satan I gradually had a spiritual awakening….

Shaking Off the Shackles of the Spirit

Wu Wen Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

I was a weak person with a sensitive character. When I didn’t believe in God, I would frequently feel down and distressed from things that came up in life.

Uncovering the Mystery of “Judgment”

By En Hui, Malaysia

My name is En Hui and I’m 46 years old. I live in Malaysia, and I have been a believer in the Lord for 27 years. In October 2015, I moved to another city to take up a job. My new colleagues were all big fans of Facebook, which they used for chatting, finding new friends, and posting images. Seeing that I didn’t have a Facebook account they set one up for me, and I gradually learned how to go online and use it.

After Listening With My Heart, I Have Welcomed the Lord’s Return (Audio Essay)

                                                 

  Max, United States

In 1994, I was born in the United States. My parents are both Chinese. My mother was the classic example of a successful career woman. She is able to think for herself and is very competent. I love my mother very much. When I was in Grade 2, my parents brought me back to China to study so that I would be able to learn Chinese. It was also at that time that I started to get acquainted with the Lord Jesus.

God’s Love Guided Me Through the Trial of Illness

By Yiming, Hubei Province

I Rejoice to Be Reunited With the Lord

I’m 78 this year and I have always suffered from headaches and diabetes.

Almighty God Rescued Me from the Desperate Situations

Wang Cheng    Hebei Province

When I believed in Jesus, I was persecuted by the CCP government. It often obstructed and suppressed me on the “charge” of “believing in Jesus,” and asked the village cadres to go to my home at intervals to investigate me on believing in God.

I Found a Life More Meaningful Than Making Money I Found a Life More Meaningful Than Making Money (Audio Essay)

Lately a saying on the internet has been popular, “Without money, how will you support your family ties, solidify your love, and connect with your friends? With your words? Forget it! People are too busy for that!” In a society turned entirely to money, everything is dominated by such pragmatic considerations, everything material and immaterial are tokens that can be exchanged for money, and the number of bills in your pocket decide your value and status. If you have much money, others will scramble to serve and flatter you, but having no money makes others look down on you and make friends and relatives avoid you. As the saying goes “In time of prosperity, friends will be plenty; in time of adversity, not one amongst twenty.” More and more people use money to evaluate everything, believing that only being wealthy can express their individual value and allow them to live a superior life, so many people become slaves to money, willing to sacrifice everything to get more money, even their lives, health, and personal dignity. Once, I didn’t know what was the most meaningful life, so working to make money became my goal, until the day a serious illness brought sudden understanding, made me realize the dark actor behind money, and helped me find a more meaningful life than making money.

The Ordeal in the Devil’s Den Made Me Taste God’s Love More Deeply

Fenyong    Shanxi Province

From my childhood, I lived under my parents’ best care, but in my heart I often felt lonely without reliance, and there was always an unexplainable distress binding me, which I couldn’t get free from. I often asked myself, “Why does man live? How on earth should man live?” But I never got the answer. In 1999, I fortunately accepted Almighty God’s end-time work. From then on, under the feeding and supplying of God’s word, my lonely heart received comfort and I always had a feeling of returning home, feeling very peaceful and secure. Only then did I know what happiness is. Later, I read God’s words, “The world in mankind’s heart where there is no God’s position is dark, hopeless, and empty. … God’s place and God’s life cannot be replaced by any man. What mankind needs is not only a just society where they have enough to fill their stomach and everyone is equal and free. What they need is God’s salvation and God’s life supply for them.” (from “God Is Sovereign over the Destiny of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Then, I knew that what a living man needs is not eating well, dressing well, or enjoying well, but is God’s salvation and God’s supply to man’s life. Only thus can the emptiness in man’s heart be solved. I finally got the answer to the question I had been puzzled about for a long time: God is feeding every living being among all things. Man should live by relying on God and also live for God, and such a life is meaningful, because man’s life originates from God and God is the only redemption to man, the only hope for man, and even more the reliance for the existence of man. As I read more and more of God’s word, I understood some truths gradually. Later, I performed duty in the church and often had meetings and fellowshipped with the brothers and sisters. I lived fully every day. However, a sudden arrest by the police broke my tranquil life, pushing me into the devil’s den….

For What Do You Believe in God?

by Liu Yan

I have believed in the Lord for so many years. However, when someone asked me, “For what purpose do youbelieve in God?” For a moment, I didn’t know exactly what to answer. About this question, I had ever asked my brothers and sisters in the Lord. They gave me various answers. Some said, “Believing in God is to be a good person and live as a real man”; some said, “To receive God’s protection and fleshly peace, and avoid disaster”; some said, “My belief in God is just for being saved. And also, I can receive a hundredfold in the present age and eternal life in the age to come. God’s blessings are countless”; some said, “For my sicknesses to be healed”; some said, “In order to gain temporary comfort”; some said, “For a good destination and an eternal life.” … In a word, each of us has our own viewpoint of belief in God. Then, do such viewpoints conform to the Lord’s will? Are our viewpoints of pursuit right?

Experiencing the Tribulations, I Was Accompanied by God’s Love

Wang Yu    Henan Province

My name is Wang Yu. I’m 76 years old. In 1978, I believed in the Lord Jesus because of illness. I received much grace during my believing. Because of that, I was very zealous in working for the Lord, giving messages and preaching the gospel everywhere and also hosting the brothers and sisters. Very soon, the believers in our church increased to over 2000. Then, the persecution of the CCP government also came. In order to stop me from believing in God and preaching the gospel, the policemen searched my house many times. Each time, they would take away anything that was worth some money and could be moved at my home, and they even unscrewed the light bulbs and took them away. Moreover, I was arrested and imprisoned by the Public Security Bureau a dozen times. In 1996, I accepted Almighty God’s end-time work. Two years later, I experienced more frenzied arrest and persecution of the CCP government. Although having undergone a great many afflictions, I felt God’s salvation and love for me.

Rise Up in the Dark Oppression

Mo Zhijian    Guangdong Province

I was born in a poor remote mountain village. People there burned incense and worshiped Buddha for generations. Temples were everywhere, and each household burned incense. No one believed in God. In 1995, my wife and I believed in the Lord Jesus in another place. After returning home, we began to preach the gospel. Later, the number of the believers gradually increased to over one hundred. Because more and more people believed in God, the local government was alarmed. One day in 1997, the police asked me to go to the local police station. The director of the County Public Security Bureau, the director of the County Bureau for State Security, the director of the County Administration of Religious Affairs, the chief of the local police station, and some policemen had already been waiting there. The director of the County Public Security Bureau questioned me, “Why do you believe in God? Who do you get in touch with? Where do you get the Bibles? Why don’t you go to the church to have meetings?” I answered, “The constitution stipulates explicitly that the citizens enjoy freedom of belief. Why don’t you allow us to believe in God freely?” The director of the County Administration of Religious Affairs said, “There is a scope for the freedom of religious belief. It’s just like a bird in a cage. Although its wings and feet are not bound, it can only move around in the cage.” Hearing his fallacy, I was very indignant. I said angrily, “Then the government is deceiving the common people!” Hearing my word, they knew they were in the wrong, so they had nothing to say and could only let me go home. At that time I had no knowledge of the CCP government’s substance of persecuting people in believing in God. In 1999, I accepted Almighty God’s end-time work. Only through reading God’s word and experiencing the crueler persecution of the CCP government did I see clearly that it is exactly the embodiment of satan the evil spirit and is God’s enemy. It is just as the Bible says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world.” (Revelation 12:9)

Let Go of Ideal, and Obey God’s Sovereignty and Arrangements

We each harbor our own ideals: Some want to be scientists; some want to be doctors; some want to be singers; some want to be stars and celebrities, and so on. With a passion, everyone has his lofty aspirations. Ideals seem to become fulcrum in our lives. We, with ideals, labor and pay the price. However, after experiencing vicissitudes, we find that these ideals are fine, but the truth hurts. For the majority of us who struggle for ideals, ideals are only wonderful dreams that we can never achieve.

Do You Possess the “Immunity” Needed to Defeat Temptation? (Audio Essay)

One day, I came across a story. This story mainly told about a mouse that came out of its hole and found that people had intentionally placed a piece of meat in a mousetrap in order to lure it in. The mouse knew that if it touched that piece of meat, then it would be killed by the trap, so it initially thought to refuse the lure, and that it would absolutely not touch that piece of meat. But when the smell of the meat reached its nose, it just couldn’t overcome the temptation, and against its own will it crept closer and closer to the trap. In the end, it couldn’t resist the enticement, and so when it went to eat the piece of meat, it was killed by the trap.

How do we feel after reading this short story? Don’t we laugh at the stupidity of the mouse, while at the same time feel sorry for it being so greedy? And maybe we will also think that if the mouse’s willpower had been just that little bit stronger, then it wouldn’t have been lured in and killed! But who ever thought that mice lose their lives because they can’t overcome the traps laid by people? That is, because the mouse doesn’t possess the strength to conquer temptation, how could it then escape its fatal doom?

The Lord Jesus said that He will return, and what will be the manner of His return?

The Answer from God’s Word:

For several thousand years, man has longed to be able to witness the arrival of the Savior. Man has longed to behold Jesus the Savior on a white cloud as He descends, in person, among those who have pined and yearned for Him for thousands of years. Man has longed for the Savior to return and be reunited with the people, that is, for Jesus the Savior to come back to the people from whom He has been apart for thousands of years. And man hopes that He will once again carry out the work of redemption that He did among the Jews, will be compassionate and loving toward man, will forgive the sins of man, bear the sins of man, and even bear all of man’s transgressions and deliver man from sin. They long for Jesus the Savior to be the same as before—a Savior who is lovable, amiable and venerable, who is never wrathful toward man, and who never reproaches man. This Savior forgives and bears all of man’s sins, and even dies upon the cross for man once more. Since Jesus departed, the disciples who followed Him, and all of the saints who were saved thanks to His name, have been desperately pining for Him and awaiting Him. All those who were saved by the grace of Jesus Christ during the Age of Grace have been longing for that joyful day during the last days, when Jesus the Savior arrives on a white cloud and appears among man. Of course, this is also the collective wish of all those who accept the name of Jesus the Savior today. Throughout the universe, all those who know of the salvation of Jesus the Savior have been desperately yearning for the sudden arrival of Jesus Christ, to fulfill the words of Jesus when on earth: “I shall arrive just as I departed.” Man believes that, following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand. Similarly, man conceives that Jesus shall descend, again upon a white cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He returned to heaven), among those who have desperately yearned for Him for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of the Jews.

God Led Me to Overcome the Devil’s Affliction

Wang Hua    Henan Province

My daughter and I are the Christians of the Church of Almighty God. In following God, we two were arrested together and sentenced to hard labor by the CCP government. I was sentenced to three years and my daughter was sentenced to one year. Although I underwent the brutal and inhuman persecution and affliction of the CCP government, every time I was in despair and danger, it was Almighty God’s word that gave me the courage and power to live on and led me to go through the cruel tortures and the three-year hellish prison life victoriously. In that tribulation, I saw the love and salvation of Almighty God and tasted the authority and power of God’s word, and made a firm resolution to unswervingly follow God to walk the right way of human life….

Experiencing the Cruel Persecution, I Believe in God More Firmly

My name is Zhao Rui. By God’s grace, our whole family followed the Lord Jesus in 1993. In 1996, I, sixteen years old, was attracted by the Lord Jesus’ love and began to work and preach. However, before long, I saw the bitterly disappointing scenes: The co-workers fought overtly and covertly, pushed others aside, and contended for power and interest. The Lord’s teaching of “loving one another” seemed to have long been forgotten. The church life brought no enjoyment at all. Many brothers and sisters were passive and weak and stopped attending meetings. Facing the desolate miserable condition of the church, I was distressed and helpless. On the evening of the Chinese New Year’s Eve in 1998, I fell down to the ground and wept out my grief to God, “O Lord, where are you? When will you come back? Without your leading, how shall I walk the future way?” I thanked God that he heard my prayer. In July, 1999, under God’s wonderful manipulation and arrangement, I heard the end-time gospel of Almighty God, the returned Lord Jesus. Through living the church life, I tasted the enjoyment brought by the working of the Holy Spirit. The brothers and sisters gathered together to have meetings, and the past religious life was gone. Everyone spoke freely, fellowshipping about the light from the Holy Spirit’s revelation and talking about how they experienced God’s word and how they relied on God to solve their corruptions and be purified. Moreover, the living out of the brothers and sisters was very godly and decent. If anyone had a defect or expressed a corruption, others would forbear with and forgive and help them with love. Nobody would belittle or look down upon anyone who had a difficulty, and we would fellowship about the truth to help solve it together. That was exactly the church life I had always wanted to have and the true way I had sought for years! I, who had been lost for many years, had finally come back to God again! I made a resolution to God, “I’m willing to bring before God those innocent souls that are still living in darkness, so that they can also live under the leading and blessing of the Holy Spirit’s working and receive the watering of the living water of life from God. This is my bounden duty as a created being and is the most meaningful and worthy life.” So, I joined in performing duty.