November 18, 2016,
it was a beautiful day, a Friday,
a day full of hope—one worth remembering.
I was in a whole new place.
The air was cleaner, and I had never felt so carefree.
Oh, I forgot to introduce myself.
My name is Chen Xi.
I'm a Christian from mainland China.
This was my first day overseas,
when I finally escaped persecution by the CCP government.
I was finally free to worship God.
It was God's grace and blessing.
Hey, our sister is here!
Hi, sister.
Here, give me your bag! (Thank you!)
Come on in. (I'll take this.)
Chen Xi, You made it! (Hi, sister.)
Come. We mostly work in here. (Chen Xi, welcome!)
Hi! (Sister, welcome!)
Everything I saw that day filled me with gratitude to God.
I finally had the chance to come overseas,
to freely gather and fellowship on God's words with my brothers and sisters.
We could perform our duty and bear witness to God's salvation of the last days,
give what little we had to spread God's gospel of the kingdom,
and let more people in other countries hear God's voice.
It was so exciting to think about!
After a while,
I saw my brothers' and sisters' fellowship on God's words
really had enlightenment and light.
They shared their understanding of putting God's words into practice.
They could read English really well, and their pronunciation was great.
I really admired this about them.
In fact, I felt that I was lacking compared to them,
but I didn't want to fall behind,
so I quietly encouraged myself.
I thought: As long as I doubled my efforts, one day I'd surpass them,
and then, they'd admire me.
I would get up early every morning, before sunrise,
to read God's words, write in my devotional journal,
and study English vocabulary.
After my sisters would go to bed, I'd stay up late into the night.
Three months went by in the blink of an eye.
Even though I worked hard and made some progress,
I was still lacking in my duties, compared to my brothers and sisters.
When speaking English,
I would always express myself in the wrong way,
and my brothers and sisters would help correct me.
When discussing work, most of my suggestions were useless.
I thought about how I wasn't performing my duty well
and how my brothers and sisters had to guide me.
I was so embarrassed.
I had this frustration and pain that I couldn't put words to.
But the more this happened, I knew I couldn't give up.
The day would come when I'd stand out and gain their recognition.
This is Chen Xi. And this is sister Jingxin. (Hi!)
Hello. (Hello.)
Not long after, the leader arranged for me to work with a new sister.
I saw that she wasn't familiar with this kind of duty,
and her English wasn't as good as mine.
I could secretly rejoice:
I no longer felt like the worst one there.
Later, when the sister encountered difficulties in her duty and asked me for help,
I always held something back and didn't want to share too much in fellowship.
I was afraid she'd progress faster than me.
There were times when I saw she wasn't bearing any fruit in her duty
and she felt negative.
I knew I should help her out of love,
but I was afraid if she were successful, it wouldn't make me look as good.
So I was indifferent toward her.
But I didn't expect that
when she encountered difficulties, she sought the truth,
so when she found gaps in her knowledge,
she would learn from the other brothers and sisters.
After a couple months,
she gradually got the hang of the principles of performing her duty,
her English improved really quickly,
and her duty was bearing fruit.
That made me really scared.
If things kept up like that,
I was worried I'd be the weakest link in the group again.
It's understandable if I'm not as good as my brothers and sisters
who have been doing this for longer,
but she just got here.
What if she turns out better than me?
How can I hold my head up?
What will my brothers and sisters think of me?
I constantly lived in this state of struggle for name and gain.
I couldn't get out of it.
My mind was racing.
Spiritually, I was in darkness and pain.
I suffered every day.
I thought back to when I was doing my duty in my hometown.
When I discussed work with my brothers and sisters,
they generally agreed with my opinions,
and church leaders thought highly of me.
But now, I was falling behind in everything.
I didn't measure up to the others in any way.
It was embarrassing.
The more I thought about it, the more upset and wronged I felt.
Sometimes I would just hide in the bathroom and cry.
I felt like living that way was so painful and frustrating.
I even considered leaving and no longer performing that duty.
But when I had those thoughts, it made me feel even worse,
like my heart was breaking.
I couldn't walk away from my duty and betray God!
I remembered that I had made a vow to God
that I would expend myself for Him to repay His love,
but when I encountered setback and failure,
I wanted to give up on my duty.
Wasn't that cheating and betraying God?
But if I continued to perform my duty there and constantly live in pain,
I really wouldn't be able to take it any longer.
What could I do?
Oh God, I'm in pain,
but I don't want to give up my duty and betray You.
I want to obey Your rule and arrangements,
but I don't know what lessons to learn.
God! I beg You to enlighten and lead me to understand Your will.
Pondering God's words, they cut straight to the heart.
They revealed my exact true state.
Wasn't I one of those people pursuing fame and status?
It occurred to me that since I was young,
I had been poisoned by and steeped in the satanic philosophies
of standing out from the crowd and honoring my ancestors,
only seeking my own success.
I had always admired and adored the people with fame and status,
believing that only if people gain status, are looked up to, and are above others
do their lives have value and meaning.
When I was in school,
I studied and worked hard to become a leader among my peers.
When I started working,
I worked hard to stand out from my colleagues and be above them.
Looking back on the path I'd taken all those years,
I saw that, no matter what, I was only struggling for my own fame.
Name and status had thoroughly bound and controlled me,
becoming my belief, my goal that I relied on.
And even though I'd believed in and followed God for a few years,
since I had not gained the truth and did not have a true understanding of God,
my perspectives and values had not yet changed.
My life disposition hadn't changed at all, either.
In my heart,
I still couldn't let go of the idea of name and status, of my destiny.
Even when I was performing my duty, I thought of my own status constantly.
I always wanted to get ahead,
to have others look up to me.
When I saw that everyone around me was more capable,
when I couldn't show off and my desire for status was unfulfilled,
I became pessimistic and disappointed, weak and negative,
and lived in pain.
I even had thoughts of walking away from my duty and betraying God,
feeling my life lacked meaning.
My own status had become my shackles,
and it was ruling and controlling me.
It made me unable to seek the truth or practice the truth.
I didn't have true reverence or obedience for God,
nor did I have a heart of love for Him.
How could God approve of me performing my duty like that?
Reflecting on myself made me see clearly:
I had not been living out the truth in my faith;
I was still living in satanic philosophies.
How could I gain the truth with that kind of faith,
or gain a change in life disposition?
I was wrong in pursuing that goal and direction.
It was contrary to God's requirements for mankind.
Believing in God that way could not gain God's praise.
God's words say this:
From God's words,
I saw that when He determines a person's destination and outcome,
He doesn't look at their status, their qualifications,
how much work they've completed,
or how they've suffered for their faith.
He looks at whether they pursue the truth during the time they follow God,
and if they've had a change in their life disposition.
That's the key.
When I compared my own path to God's words,
I was ashamed.
I decided:
From then on, I would give up on status and name,
and pursue the truth and a change in disposition.
No matter my status or how others might see me,
I would be willing to obey God's design and arrangements
and fulfill my duty to satisfy God.
After undergoing this judgment and chastisement,
when working with my brothers and sisters,
I consciously focused on pursuing the truth and doing my own duty.
Whenever I started to feel like I wanted personal gain or benefit,
I prayed to God and asked Him to look upon me,
to give me faith and strength to forsake these wrong desires.
After doing this for a while, I experienced some changes.
But because I was so corrupted by Satan,
the desire for fame and status was already my mortal weakness.
I couldn't change after just one or two times of judgment.
God set up environments to expose me, judge me,
and transform me so that He could purify me.
Hi, welcome! (Hi. Hi!)
Six months later two sisters joined our group,
and they were really capable.
Our leader arranged for them to give guidance to the other brothers and sisters.
Every time I saw people listening to those sisters' fellowship,
earnestly taking notes,
I felt so much envy.
I thought:
They're able to lead others.
Why don't I have that ability?
My work is mostly menial tasks that don't require much skill.
I'm just doing odd jobs.
Before I knew it, I had developed jealousy toward them.
One morning when they were going out to perform their duty,
I watched them get ready to leave,
and I felt really uneasy.
I thought: "We perform our duty together,
and if you don't let me go that's fine,
but you could at least talk to me.
Just a word here or there would be okay.
You two don't think much of me.
You don't seem to see me at all."
The more I thought about it, the more upset I became.
Unknowingly, I was struggling for fame all over again.
I couldn't reach God when I prayed, and I didn't have energy in work.
I couldn't interact with my brothers and sisters normally.
I started to feel resentful.
I would get a chip on my shoulder over the smallest things.
Even if they asked me to do something trivial like close a window,
it made me angry.
I wasn't at ease. I wanted to ask them:
Are you more capable than me?
Oh, if that's so, you think you can boss me around?
Chen Xi …
Sometimes when they asked me something
I would pretend I hadn't heard them and wouldn't respond.
And sometimes when I would respond, it wasn't nicely.
Even though I knew I was falling back into the web of name and status
and fooled by Satan,
I didn't have the strength to grow past this corrupt disposition.
In the midst of darkness and pain, I prayed to God.
Oh God,
I know You detest the pursuit of name and status,
but I can't control it.
I'm so weak right now, and I'm really suffering.
God, I really want to let go of this,
and no longer be controlled by Satan.
God, please save me.
The next day, when the church leaders asked us
if we were facing any difficulties,
I opened up about my own problems.
Chen Xi just told us
how she's bound by name and status and is suffering. (Yeah.)
You know, this isn't only her issue.
Each of us will frequently reveal this corrupt disposition performing our duty.
That's the truth.
It's our greatest barrier in pursuing the truth in our duty.
So how do we resolve this problem?
First, we must see its essence and the dangers of pursuing these things.
Let's watch a video about God's words on these problems.
Okay. Yes. Thanks be to God.
Amen. Thanks be to God. Wow, that's really great.
Thank God. That was the whole video.
God's words have revealed to us
the essence of mankind pursuing fame and status.
Of course. They have.
It lets us clearly see
that fame and status are shackles Satan puts on mankind,
and that fame and status are a poison Satan puts in people's souls.
Yeah.
Think back to when we were young and learned of atheism and materialism.
Even in school,
teachers encouraged us to study the ideas of famous or great people,
such as "We should strive to make a name for ourselves"
and "Strive to be better than others."
What else is there?
"In order to succeed, you must suffer."
I heard "Man moves toward higher places."
We've heard them all.
The government would build up and publicize successful people as heroes,
hoping we would learn from them and imitate them.
We embraced this way of satanic education,
meaning since then, name and status took root in our souls.
Yeah. That's right.
We wanted to stand out and be better than others,
and we tried to make a happy life from our own knowledge and abilities.
That's right. Indeed.
This has led to people stopping at nothing in pursuing fame,
even leading to murder, and all other types of sin.
Satan has indoctrinated man with the idea of fame,
and it has deceived and corrupted mankind.
Have you all experienced this?
Yeah. Of course. I have. Yeah, she's right.
Actually, aspirations aren't bad.
However, you must have the right ideals and follow the right path.
Pursuing fame and status is always wrong.
Right. Of course.
Satan uses many ways to indoctrinate people
with its laws of thinking and survival,
enticing people to seek fame and gain.
This is so that they will serve Satan.
The moment they fall into this web, they begin to sin,
greedily enjoying its joys and utterly unable to escape it.
Then they no longer seek and rely upon God;
what's more, they deny His existence.
They only pursue fame and fortune,
and can't help but devote themselves to Satan.
The consequence is they become firmly controlled by Satan.
The pursuit of both fame and status is a heavy shackle that Satan has put onto mankind;
it's one of Satan's many tricks to corrupt people.
These satanic thoughts and logic
are entirely contrary to God's will in creating mankind,
and they are completely opposed to God's words and the truth.
They're all heresies and fallacies that deny, resist, and betray God.
Indeed.
The facts reveal
mankind's pursuit of fame and status comes from Satan's deception,
and hidden within are Satan's trickery and evil intentions!
Definitely trickery. It's true.
Seems like it's all Satan's trickery! Yup.
Brothers and sisters,
in order to cast off the bonds of fame and status,
we must first look at some things.
What are the consequences and dangers of Satan using fame and status to deceive people?
When we pursue these things, what kind of path is it?
Is it in line with God's will?
We can only leave fame and status behind
if we have discernment and can see through it.
Yeah. That's right.
We all clearly see
ever since man was corrupted by Satan,
everyone has struggled for fame.
They act badly and fight,
just for the sake of their name, for status. (Right.)
They'll stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
Friends will even sell each other out.
Fathers and sons will murder each other for a throne.
The list of these goes on.
Yes. It's true. It is.
People would do anything for fame and fortune.
It's scary, right?
These facts show that people have been so corrupted by Satan,
they worship power and status, and all have satanic desires.
Isn't this the nature of Satan?
It is. Yes, it is.
This satanic nature causes people to doggedly pursue fame and status,
to throw everything else away,
and even to reject the truth and become an enemy to God.
As the gospel of kingdom enlarged,
we have all observed this fact:
When many religious pastors and elders heard of Almighty God's appearance and work,
they failed to seek the truth;
they failed to hear God's voice and to investigate the true way.
Furthermore, in order to protect their own names and status,
they condemned the work of God with impunity.
They spread the Chinese Communist demons' rumors and lies
and even snatched away God's sheep as if they were their own sheep.
They resist God's appearance and work
and are enemies of Christ of the last days.
They are antichrists revealed by God's work in the last days!
Indeed. It's true. Yeah, that's right.
Could God count such an enemy as one without sin?
Can they be raptured into the kingdom of heaven?
No. They can't!
Could they possibly not be enemies of the truth and of God in the kingdom of heaven?
No. They can't.
Why do people seek fame and status, even valuing them above all else?
People's satanic nature and disposition.
That's true.
The more they pursue these things,
the more arrogant, evil, and perverse they become.
They lose their humanity and all reason.
They struggle with God over His chosen people,
directly attacking and blaspheming God and becoming His enemy.
Just as in God's words:
We now should all grasp that fame and status
are evil means for Satan to corrupt and harm people,
and to swallow them up.
Satan uses them to lure people onto the path of death and of hell.
All who pursue fame and status will in time become antichrists
and be exposed and cast out.
Yeah.
If those of us who believe in God don't pursue the truth
and fail to see the essence of fame and status,
and stubbornly cling to them,
it is equivalent to giving up on our chance at salvation
and throwing ourselves into the fires of hell.
Isn't this just so blind and foolish?
Yes, it is. Of course it is.
After listening to God's words and my sisters' fellowship,
I started to clearly see the essence of fame and status.
They are entrapments Satan uses to deceive and corrupt people;
they are shackles Satan places on people to bind and control them.
In their pursuit of these things,
people become increasingly arrogant
and find it difficult to accept the truth.
They will do all kinds of evil and resist God to vie for power and status.
In the end they will be punished and destroyed for this.
It's clear that those who pursue and adore status are demons of Satan!
I realized that in my few years of belief in God,
I hadn't diligently pursued the truth or faithfully performed my duty.
Instead, I single-mindedly pursued status
and constantly competed with brothers and sisters.
When I prevailed over them I was happy,
and when I couldn't match up I was negative.
When I saw that someone was rising,
I became jealous and couldn't accept it.
I would become biased against them and create conflict.
I would torture myself to the point that I was completely depleted and in great pain.
In my faith I had not pursued the truth.
I hadn't applied myself to practicing God's words and experiencing them.
I had just pursued fame and status.
Isn't this one of Satan's afflictions?
Wasn't I taking the antichrist's path of believing in God while also resisting Him?
Now I really regret it.
Why didn't I pursue the truth?
Why did I instead cling to status?
This not only evokes disgust and hatred in God,
but led me to make many transgressions as well.
On top of holding myself back,
I impacted other people's growth in life.
I really am possessed by this!
If I were to never pursue the truth or do my work honestly,
I would certainly be corrupted, harmed, and swallowed whole by Satan!
This is how pitiful those who don't understand the truth are!
Thank God!
Because of your fellowship, I can now see this clearly.
Satan uses fortune and fame to corrupt people, (It's true.)
to have people pursue these things,
stray from God, rebel against and resist God, and be destroyed by Him.
This kind of pursuit is terribly dangerous!
That's right. True.
So how can this problem be resolved?
Thanks to God!
As for how to resolve pursuing fame and status and cast off Satan's influence,
we not only need to see
that they are negative things that Satan uses to corrupt man,
that they truly resist God and must be removed from our hearts,
we also must seek the truth from God's words,
discover His requirements of us,
how we should go about being in line with God's will,
and what path we should take in our faith to be saved and perfected.
Let's read some of God's words!
Okay! Yeah.
Amen.
Thanks to God!
Chen Xi, would you like to read?
Yes, thank you.
Amen. (Thank God!)
In God's words, the meaning of His work of judgment
and the path we should take to be successful in our faith
are clearly set out for us.
We can see this is God's love.
Thank God!
Having experienced years of God's work, we've seen:
He speaks truth and performs judgment in the last days,
to reveal and judge the satanic nature of corrupt mankind's resistance to God,
and through this have us know His righteous and holy disposition,
which doesn't tolerate mankind's offenses.
It's to purify mankind's corrupt disposition and remove Satan's poisons,
so we may all love and revere and obey God.
This is His will, and it's the aim of His work.
We have all learned through experience
that God loves those people who pursue the truth.
So what of those who are saved?
They pursue the truth as well. (Yes!)
When we pursue the truth and accept God's judgment and chastisement,
we'll gain the Holy Spirit's work,
we'll understand the truth.
In time our corrupt dispositions will be purified,
and we'll have continual growth in our lives.
On the other hand,
when people pursue status instead of pursuing truth,
it's hard to gain the Holy Spirit's work,
then their satanic dispositions can't be changed.
If people stubbornly pursue status and are unrepentant in their antichrist path,
they will end up being eliminated.
Yes.
We've seen quite a few of these people who fail in their faith, haven't we? (Yeah.)
What can we see from all of this?
We can see that God's disposition is righteous and holy.
We can see who God loves and who it is He hates,
who He saves and who He eliminates.
It's clear that
pursuing the truth and choosing the right path in our faith is critical.
It determines if we succeed or fail in our faith in God!
That's right. That's so true.
Thanks be to God. We must be vigilant in pursuing truth. Yeah, I think that's really true.
Thank God!
Because of what's been unveiled in God's words,
we all better understand Paul's path of failure and Peter's path of success
within their faith.
That's right.
As for Paul's faith,
he didn't seek truth or accept God's judgment and chastisement.
He focused on attaining fame and having people adore him.
In the letters he wrote,
he always emphasized how much he had suffered,
how much work he had performed,
and how much of a price he had paid.
He even declared that he was no less than the other apostles.
True.
Even though Paul was adored and followed by quite a few people,
since he didn't pursue the truth,
in the end, his arrogant and satanic nature was exposed.
He bore witness, comparing himself to Christ,
and attempted to take the Lord Jesus' place in people's hearts.
As a result,
for two thousand years, many believers adored him and so followed him.
Thus, he led people onto the wrong path of resisting God.
This was a direct offense to God's disposition.
Peter, however, pursued truth;
he accepted God's chastisement and refinement, trials and judgment.
He gave no thought to his relative status or to how people regarded him.
He focused on seeking the truth, resolving his corruption,
on whether his life disposition had changed,
on whether he had a true understanding of God and pure love.
Because of his pursuit, Peter was perfected by God.
He became the person who best understood God,
gaining God's blessings and God's approval.
The facts clearly show
we must seek truth and accept God's judgment and chastisement in our faith.
It's Peter's path of pursuing the truth;
that is the sole way to cast off the influence of Satan,
gain God's salvation, and be perfected.
Amen!
This fellowship has been so good, right? (It is.)
After listening to God's words and my sisters' fellowship,
I understood God's will and His requirements.
I had a path of practice for casting off the bonds of fame and status.
On my path, I must accept the judgment and chastisement of God's words.
This is the only way to know my satanic nature of being inclined to seek status,
and to perceive the truth of my own corruption.
Only then can I choose the right path of pursuing the truth,
enter into the right track of belief, and be saved by God!
God's will became more clear to me after I read His words.
God is the Lord of creation,
and I am nothing but one tiny creature.
In God's eyes I am less than a speck of dust,
and I have been deeply corrupted by Satan and am full of satanic dispositions.
I have a nature of resisting God,
and what I live out is nothing but Satan's demonic disposition.
I am arrogant, deceitful, selfish,
and I don't have any semblance of a true human being.
How could I be worthy of being looked up to or admired by others?
God is the Lord of creation,
and only He is worthy of mankind's admiration and worship.
I used to be so blind, so ignorant.
I didn't know myself at all, and I certainly did not know God.
I possessed no human conscience or reason.
From God's words, I also understood
that all people are creatures within God's hands;
no one is better or worse, more or less precious.
God has given each person a different mission,
so He has given each of us a unique caliber.
The caliber and stature that I possess is pre-ordained by God.
What role I play in performing my duty,
what I can offer, is also pre-ordained by God.
God's only requirement is that we know our place and do our duty well,
that we diligently pursue the truth and a change in disposition to be saved by God.
Then, God's will is satisfied.
After recognizing all of this,
I experienced God's kind intentions, and I was able to understand God.
God arranged for me to perform my duty in this kind of environment
because it was what I required for growth in my life.
It was the best way for Him to purify and transform me.
Genuine gratitude and praise for God just naturally sprung up in my heart:
Oh God!
Encountering this environment was what You specifically arranged
so I could be purified and transformed.
It was salvation for me.
God, I give thanks to You!
I am willing to go along with Your designs and arrangements,
to be steadfast in my duty and meet Your will!
Compared to others, my competency in my work is greatly lacking,
but I'm not suffering the way I was before,
because I know that my abilities in work are not what's important.
What is important is that I'm able to follow God's designs and arrangements
and put my all into performing the duty that I should perform,
as well as seeking the truth and putting it into practice in my day-to-day life
and living according to God's words.
This is truly all I should pursue.
Now I focus on following God's designs and arrangements,
on honestly performing my duty,
and on seeking the truth.
When I discover in myself a corrupt disposition of pursuing status
while performing my duty,
I read relevant words from God and reflect on myself, and know myself.
I purposely open up to my brothers and sisters and show myself.
I seek out my more experienced brothers and sisters for fellowship
to learn what experiences they've had,
and to learn how they've changed.
When I see my sisters going out to perform their duty,
I pray for them,
I ask God to enlighten and guide them.
At home, aside from performing my duty,
I also do my best to take care of the household chores to lighten their load,
so that they can have more time and energy to focus on their duty.
When I put this into practice,
I feel a kind of ease and peace, a kind of calm freedom I'd never felt before.
Performing my duty this way is wonderful!
Through experiencing God's work,
I have truly felt how real God's salvation for me is,
and I have felt how deeply sincere His heart is.
No matter what kind of environment God sets up for me,
I am quite willing to accept and obey it,
to diligently feel, experience, and understand God's love,
so that I can better know God
and live a life with value and significance.
Being able to undergo this kind of transformation
is entirely due to the judgment and chastisement of God's words.
It has been Almighty God leading me onto the right path in life!
Thanks be to Almighty God!