As is well known, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seized power through lies and violence, and it relies on lies and violence to maintain its power. The CCP’s rule is nothing but lies, violence, and murder. The CCP propagates atheism, regarding religion as the spiritual opium of the people. Christians preach the gospel and witness for God to carry out God’s will, but the CCP condemns such righteous deeds as abandoning and breaking up their families, and arrests and imprisons Christians on various false charges. In mainland China, Christians from various house churches, particularly from CAG, suffer brutal oppression and persecution for the sake of their religious belief, some of whom were left disabled or died. Many Christians have gone into exile and were rendered homeless with their families scattered. Countless Christian families have been thus broken! In this episode, we have invited Professor Massimo Introvigne, an Italian scholar of new religious movements, founder and managing director of Center for Studies on New Religions, to talk about why the CCP oppresses and persecutes The Church of Almighty God, whether the CCP’s accusations against The Church of Almighty God are true, and who is the main culprit behind the breakdown of Christian families, and so on. The truth will be uncovered, and the CCP’s cruel and evil essence against God that wins fame through deceiving the public and fights against justice will be exposed. Please stay tuned! 🤲💖🙏⛈⛈⛈🌈
I was born into an impoverished rural family that was backward in their thinking. I was vain from a young age and my desire for status was particularly strong. Over time, through the social influence and a traditional education, I took all sorts of Satan’s rules for survival into my heart. All kinds of fallacies nurtured my desire for reputation and status, such as building a beautiful homeland with your own two hands, fame will make you immortal, people need face like a tree needs its bark, getting ahead and being on top, one should bring honor to his ancestors, etc. These gradually became my life and made me firmly believe that as long as we are living in this world, we have to work to be seen highly by others. No matter what crowd we are with we must have status, we should be the most outstanding one. Only through living this way can we have integrity and dignity. Only living a life this way has value. In order to achieve my dream, I studied very diligently in elementary school; through storms and sickness, I never missed class. Day by day, I finally made it to middle school that way. When I saw that I was getting closer and closer to my dream I didn’t dare slack off. I frequently told myself that I had to persevere, that I had to present myself well to my teachers and classmates. However, just then, something unexpected happened. There was a scandal about our head teacher and the principal of the school that caused an uproar. All the teachers and students knew about it. One day in class, that teacher asked us if we had heard about it and all the other students said “No.” I was the only one who honestly replied “I heard.” From that time on, that teacher saw me as a thorn in her side and would frequently find excuses to make things difficult for me, to crack down on me. My classmates started to keep their distance from me and exclude me. They made fun of me and humiliated me. Finally, I was no longer able to tolerate that kind of torment and I dropped out of school. That was how my dream of getting ahead and being on top was crushed. Thinking of my future days with my face to the earth and back to the sky, I felt an inexpressible sadness and melancholy. I thought: Can it be that my life will be passed so unremarkably? No status, no prestige, no future. What’s the point of living like this? I really wasn’t willing to accept that fact at that time but I was helpless to change my circumstances. Just as I was living in pain and hopelessness that I wasn’t able to extricate myself from, Almighty God saved me and reignited the hope in my heart that had been extinguished. From then I began a whole new life.
It was March 1999, and from a fortuitous opportunity I heard the gospel of the last days of Almighty God. I learned that God incarnate had come to earth and He Himself was speaking to and leading mankind to save us from the domain of Satan, to allow us to cast off our lives of being in pain, of being fallen, to live in a new heaven and earth. And from the patient and painstaking fellowship from my brothers and sisters, I heard many truths that I had never heard of before, such as: God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mystery of God becoming flesh, that corrupt people need the salvation of God incarnate, what kind of sense creations should possess, how to worship the Lord of all creation, how to live out your proper humanity, what truly is a human life…. I was profoundly drawn in by these truths and they made me firmly believe that this was the work of the true God. That day my brothers and sisters also sang a song of life experience, “Thinking of the Bitter Past and the Sweetness of the Present, I love God Even More”: “Oh practical God! I beg You to hear my story. I cry when I think of the past; my heart was dark and without light; my life was without hope, I could not speak of the suffering in my life, I could only helplessly pass the days. How could it not cause my heart misery? Oh practical God! Listen to me, thinking of the past, my heart is in pain. It was Satan the devil harming me, making me corrupt and fallen. Your words illuminated me and led me out of the darkness. Oh true God! Oh true God! I love You from within my heart.” This lit up my soul which had long been in darkness like a ray of light, and I could not help but burst into tears. Many years of repression, injustices, and sadness seemed to suddenly be released. My heart felt much lighter. Aside from this excitement, I was even more grateful to God for selecting me from among millions of people, allowing my tired, sad soul to find a warm haven. From then my life changed radically. I was no longer disconsolate and dispirited, but I put my whole mind to reading the word of God, going to meetings, and fellowship on the truth. Every day was full and happy. Later I was lifted up by God and began to perform the duty of preaching the gospel. Because I was quite enthusiastic and positive as well as the fact that I was of a certain caliber, after a period of time my work was really bearing fruit. I gained the praise of my evangelical team leader, and the brothers and sisters in the church also looked up to me. They would always come ask me about things they didn’t understand about preaching the gospel. Without realizing it I started to become a little self-satisfied, and I thought: I have so quickly gained in the church the reputation and status I hoped for in the world for so many years. My “hero” side has finally found its place! Seeing my accomplishments I felt very fulfilled and I worked even harder to fulfill my duty. No matter how great of a difficulty I faced, I would do my utmost to overcome it. No matter what the church arranged for me to do, I willingly obeyed and did my best to complete it. At times the church leader dealt with me and pruned aspects of me because I hadn’t performed my duty well. No matter how upset I was, on the surface I wouldn’t make excuses for myself. Although I suffered quite a bit during this period of time, as long as I had status among my brothers and sisters and was looked up to by them, I felt that it was very much worth paying this price. But God can see into every part of people. In order to transform my erroneous views on human life and values, in order to cleanse the impurities in my belief in God and performing my duty, God carried out judgment and chastisement as well as trials and refinement on me.
We feel sad for their sufferings and also admire their faith and testimony, and are encouraged and resolved to head to righteousness and follow God to the end. At the same time, we detest and reject those devils who persecute them. Let's pay attention to their suffering and pass the positive energy!
In Recent years, the situation of the religious freedom in China has been worsening. More and more Christians have been forced to flee to other countries to seek political asylum because of being unable to bear the CCP government’s persecution. As the true facts of their persecution by the CCP are gradually being known by the world, some international human rights organizations start to give them attention and appeal for their status. From April 6 to 7, 2018, an annual meeting of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) was held at Gustav-Stresemann-Institut in Bonn, Germany.The theme of this annual meeting was “Focusing on the humanitarian situation and religious freedom in the Middle East.” Some human rights activists, religious figures and representatives of persecuted Christians were invited to participate in this meeting. During the meeting, some speakers discussed the situation of the religious persecution in China. The Church of Almighty God (CAG) Christians, as invited guests, also gave speeches, and introduced the main measures the CCP has applied to cruelly suppress and persecute the CAG, which aroused the attention of some participants.
My name is Zhao Xia. I was born to an ordinary family. Due to the influence of dictums like “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,” and “As a tree lives for its bark, a man lives for his face,” reputation and face became particularly important to me. Everything I did was to earn other people’s praise, compliments, and admiration. After getting married, the goals I set for myself were: I will live a wealthier life than others; I must not let anyone say negative things about how I treat the elderly or about my behavior and conduct; and I will make sure my child gets into a famous university and has good prospects, so as to add more luster to my face. Therefore, I never quarreled with my in-laws. Sometimes, when they said harsh things to me, I would feel so aggrieved that I’d hide and cry rather than give them attitude. When I saw others buy clothes for their parents during Chinese New Year and other holidays, I would immediately go buy some for my mother-in-law, and it would be of the best quality too. When relatives came to visit, I would help buy food and cook. Even when it was a little tough or tiring I would still be completely willing. Afraid I would be less well off than others, I left my baby daughter behind a month after giving birth to her and went straight back to work. As a result, my daughter suffered from malnutrition and became only skin and bones because she couldn’t drink my breast milk. Her situation improved only after 100 nutritional injections, while I was so tired that I had a sore back every day. Though it was difficult and tiring, I endured the hardship and gave tirelessly for the sake of earning a good reputation. In just a few short years, I became a famous daughter-in-law in the village, and my family became wealthy and envied by people around us. As a result, my in-laws, neighbors, relatives and friends were all full of praise for me. In the face of praise and compliments from those around me, my vanity was greatly satisfied. I felt my hardships over the last few years were not in vain, and I was very flattered inside. However, my serene life was interrupted after my brother-in-law got married. His wife always spoke to me sarcastically, saying that I had ulterior motives in treating our mother-in-law well because I just wanted her assets. She always said that our mother-in-law was biased since she gave us more things than she gave them, and we often argued as a result of this. I felt very aggrieved and wanted to argue with her in public to protest my innocence, but it would ruin the good image I had built up in people’s hearts. Hence, I would force myself to hold back, and when I could bear it no longer I would have a big cry in private. Afterward, the sister-in-law pushed her luck by occupying the land distributed to my side of the family, which made me shake from anger and not eat or drink for days. I even wanted to fight it out with her. However, thinking that it would make me lose face, damage my reputation, and make those around me look down to me, I swallowed it all up, but inside I felt so suppressed that I was in torment. I looked sad and sighed all day, feeling like it was too painful and tiring to live and not knowing when there would be an end to such a life.
Man’s end really is God’s beginning. Right when I was in pain and feeling helpless, Almighty Godreached out His hands of salvation toward me. One day, my neighbor asked me: “Do you believe in the existence of God?” I answered: “Who doesn’t? I believe God exists.” She then said that the God she believes in is the one and only true God who created the universe and all things, and that in the beginning, mankind lived in God’s blessings because they worshiped God, but after they were corrupted by Satan, they no longer worshiped God and thus lived under God’s curse and in pain. Almighty God of the last days came to bestow upon people the truth and save them from the abyss of misery. In addition, she also communicated her own experience of believing in God. After listening to her communication, I felt I had found my closest confidant, and could not help but tell of all the pain in my heart. Afterward, she read a passage of God’s word to me: “When you are weary and when you begin to feel the desolation of this world, do not be perplexed, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival any time. He is watching by your side, waiting for you to turn back. He is waiting for the day your memory suddenly recovers: becoming conscious of the fact that you came from God, somehow and somewhere once lost, falling unconscious on the roadside, and then, unknowingly having a ‘father.’ You further realize that the Almighty has been watching there, awaiting your return all along” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words flowed into my heart like a warm current, consoling my painful and sad heart, and I could not stop my tears from falling. In that moment, I felt like a wandering child in suffering who had suddenly returned to the embrace of her mother. There was an unspeakable excitement and emotion in my heart. I kept thanking God, for He took me to His house and cared for me when I had nowhere else to go. I shall follow God with my heart and soul! Since then, I read God’s words, prayed to God, and sang hymns to praise God every day, which made me feel especially relaxed in my heart. Through attending meetings, I saw that brothers and sisters were much like a big family, even though they are not related by blood. Their interactions were simple and open, full of understanding, tolerance, and patience, and without jealousy, conflict and scheming or pretension and duplicity. They did not bully the poor while loving the rich, and were all able to treat everyone with sincerity and equality. My heart would feel especially free when we sang hymns praising God together. I hence fell in love with this loving and warm, fair and joyous church life. I became convinced that Almighty God is the one true God and made up my mind that I would follow Him to the very end.
Only by emptying ourselves, can we gain God's guidance and leadership.
God does nothing meaningless. Though some things don't match our conceptions, there is God's good intention. Just these things can show whether we truly listen to God's word, and whether we have true obedience of God.
Zheng Muen is a co-worker at a Chinese Christian church in the United States. He has believed in the Lord for many years, and has worked for the Lord with unwavering enthusiasm. One day, his aunt witnessed to him that the Lord Jesus has returned and expressed the truth, and that He is performing the judgment and cleansing work of the last days. Hearing this news, Zheng Muen was very excited. Through reading Almighty God's words and watching the movies and videos of The Church of Almighty God, Zheng Muen confirmed from his heart that the words of Almighty God are the truth, and that Almighty God is quite possibly the second coming of Lord Jesus. Therefore, he and several brothers and sisters began investigating God's work of the last days. Unexpectedly, when Pastor Ma of his church learned this, he tried to disrupt and hinder Zheng Muen over and over. In order to make Zheng Muen give up examining the true way, Pastor Ma let him watch videos that the Chinese Communist government used to discredit and condemn Eastern Lightning. Zheng Muen was puzzled and couldn't understand why religious pastors and elders condemn Almighty God when it's clear that Almighty God's words are the truth and the voice of God, and why they not only do not seek and investigate the true way themselves but block other believers from accepting it. Why is this? … Afraid of being deceived and taking the wrong path, and at the same time afraid of missing the opportunity to be raptured at the Lord's return, Zheng Muen felt conflicted and confused. Just at that time, Pastor Ma sent him some negative propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party and the religious world. After reading it, Zheng Muen became doubtful. He believed the pastor's words and gave up investigating the true way. Later on, the witnesses of The Church of Almighty God fellowshiped about the truth with him, which allowed Zheng Muen to understand that the fundamental principle of investigating the true way is to see whether it possesses the truth and whether what is expressed is the voice of God. Only the appearance and work of Christ can express many truths, because no corrupt humans can express the truth. This is a manifold fact. If one does not pay attention to hearing the voice of God and only rely on their imagination to wait for the Lord Jesus to descend on a cloud, they will never be able to welcome God's appearance. Zheng Muen finally understood the mystery of the wise virgins hearing the voice of God that the Lord Jesus spoke of. He no longer believed the lies and fallacies of the Chinese Communist government and the religious world, and broke away from the control and bondage of the religious pastor. Zheng Muen deeply felt that it's not simple to investigate the true way, and that if one cannot discern things and does not seek the truth, they will never hear the voice of God or be brought before God's throne, and they will only die ensnared in Satan's net, which will fulfill these words in the Bible: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hos 4:6), and "Fools die for want of wisdom" (Pro 10:21).
I was born to a poor peasant family. I have been sensible since childhood, in that I never fought with other kids and obeyed my parents, which made me a typical “good girl” in the eyes of adults. Other parents were all very envious of my parents, saying that they were lucky to have such a good daughter. And just like this, I grew up every day listening to compliments from the people around me. When I was in the elementary school, my academic record was especially good, and I was always first place in exams. One time, I received full marks in an essay contest held by my town, winning honor for my school. The headmaster not only awarded me a prize and certificate, but also complimented me in front of the entire school and called upon the students to learn from me. I suddenly became the “celebrity” of the school, and my classmates even nicknamed me “ever-victorious general.” The compliments from my teachers, the envy of my classmates, and the doting of my parents gave me a sense of superiority in my heart, and I really enjoyed the feeling of being admired by everyone. Accordingly, I firmly believed that the greatest joy in life was the admiration of others, and that the feeling of happiness came from the praise of others. I secretly told myself: No matter how difficult and exhausting it is, I must become someone with fame and status, and never be looked down upon by others. From then on, dictums such as “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies” and “Men should always strive to be better than their contemporaries” became my life mottos.
However, when I was 13 years old, my father fell seriously ill and was admitted to the hospital, which placed our already poor family under serious debt. When I saw my father moaning in pain from illness and my mother exhausting herself for the sake of our livelihoods, I felt so bad that I wished I would grow up quickly so I could share their sorrow and pain. So I made the painful decision to drop out of school, thinking: Even if I do not go to school, I cannot perform worse than others. I will be a strong and successful woman when I grow up, and then I will still be able to live a great life! Due to my academic excellence, I was kind of a “little celebrity” in my neighborhood. Therefore, when news of me dropping out of school spread, the villagers all started talking about it, saying: “This girl is so foolish! Dropping out of school will destroy her future!” and “No one will respect people without an education. She will suffer from hardship and poverty all her life!” As someone used to receiving compliments since childhood, the dreary feeling that “The fallen phoenix is inferior to the chicken” suddenly came over me. I was afraid to go out, afraid to meet people, afraid of the feeling of being looked down on. To avoid such pain, I barely stepped foot outside my home for two entire years, and I was taciturn all the time. At the same time, my desire of becoming a strong and successful woman grew even stronger, so after another two years, I went out to start working. I worked in a lot of jobs, but I would give up shortly each time because I felt the job was either too tiring and stressful, or the salary was too low, or the boss was not nice. After having failed over and over again, I became thoroughly discouraged and felt that my dream of becoming a strong and successful woman had gotten so very far away from reality.
In 2005, I had the privilege of accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days. Since then, my lifestyle and even my entire life have completely changed. I saw in the word of God: “The fate of man is controlled by the hands of God. You are incapable of controlling yourself: Despite always rushing and busying about for himself, man remains incapable of controlling himself. If you could know your own prospects, if you could control your own fate, would you still be a creature?” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s powerful words deeply touched my heart, making me understand that everyone’s fate is in His hands and not at all controlled by people themselves, and that no matter what time it is, people cannot escape God’s sovereignty and plans, and should be obedient under the authority of God. This is the only way people will have a good fate. What kind of family I was born into, how cultured I am, whether my life is poor or rich—all of these things are predetermined by God. It is not something my mind or abilities can change. I was determined to become a strong and successful woman with all my heart and soul, but despite enduring hardship and suffering, I didn’t even have a stable job. This forces me to admit that what I want is not always achievable through hard work, and must still depend on whether it is allowed by God, and whether the path I walk has been predestined by God. If not, then no matter what price I pay, it will have been in vain. After understanding God’s will, I was no longer frustrated by my experiences, and I no longer cared about what other people said. Instead, I became determined to believe in God and pursue the truth properly, and live a meaningful life. After that, I persisted in reading God’s words every day, and prayed, sang hymns, and attended meetings with sisters and brothers. Due to my relatively fast comprehension of the truth and my passionate pursuit, I won the appreciation of the sister who was watering me, which made me feel all flattered inside. After entering the church, I heard church leaders say I should be a focus of their cultivation, which made me more difficult to restrain the glee in my heart and even gave me an extra spring in my step. So I told myself: I must pursue with all my heart and soul! I cannot let the church leaders down. Even if it is just for my good reputation, I should work hard so I can win back here the fame and status that had eluded me in the outside world. At the time, I did not care about God’s will at all. The only thing on my mind was fame, fortune, and status right in front of me, like dazzling halos constantly waving at me.
💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫 In a vast cosmic sky filled with stars, planets collide, and a series of complex processes give birth to new planets…. Countless celestial bodies in the cosmos all work in harmony—who directs them? The Christian musical documentary—The One Who Holds Sovereignty Over Everything—will soon reveal the true facts!
When I was three years old my father passed away. At that time my mother had just given birth to my younger brother, and my grandmother, owing to superstition, said that it was my mother and younger brother that caused my father’s death. For lack of a better option mother had to take my younger brother to her father’s house to live, so from the start of my earliest memories I was living together with my grandpa and grandma. Although my grandpa and grandma treated me well I still felt lonely and really wanted to be together with my mom and little brother. I hoped for the same kind of motherly love that other kids received. Really, what I was asking for wasn’t much, all I wanted was a true family, a mother who loved me dearly, who I could share my true feelings with. But even this small ask turned into an extravagant hope. I was only able to see my mother on the weekends. Whenever I got into trouble at school mom was never there by side either, I was like a small patch of grass by the side of the road, nobody showed any interest in me. Over time I became very self-abased, I held everything back in my heart and didn’t take initiative to interact with others. When I was sixteen there were some people in my village who were going abroad for work, and the idea tempted me. I thought to myself: My family conditions aren’t very good, if I were to go abroad then I could earn my own living, and even give some of my earnings to my family. That way I could help my family live a little better.
