30/07/2022
šā¤ļøHi, i am Ella and glad you read this post, hope it helps you,š https://www.hearthymn.com/a-proper-relationship-with-god.html?source=auen_xz180&num=5088793
ššIn 2007, I got chronic renal failure all of a sudden. Upon learning this, my mother and sister-in-law who were believers in the Lord, as well as some of my Catholic friends all came to preach the gospel to me. They told me that as long as I turned to God, I would be healed of my sickness. But I didnāt believe there was a God at all. Rather, in my view, we should rely on science to cure our illnesses, and those diseases that couldnāt be cured through science must be incurable, for nothing in the world was more powerful than science; God was merely a legend that man imagined, and believing in God was no more than a spiritual sustenance of man. How could I, a dignified teacher who is knowledgeable and educated, possibly believe in God? Thereupon, I refused all of them, and set about seeing doctors and seeking remedies everywhere. In a few years, I had nearly visited all the major county hospitals and provincial hospitals, yet my condition not only didnāt improve but became more serious. Even so, I still stubbornly held on to my view point that science would change all of this, and that it was because the treatment took a process.
In 2010, a sister from the Church of Almighty God came to preach Godās kingdom gospel to me, saying that God had come into the world of man to save mankind. Due to the setbacks and failures I had suffered in the course of seeking for healing over those years, I wasnāt that hard as before, and thus accepted the book the sister gave me. Nevertheless, inside I was still not willing to accept the gospel, nor did I believe that the words in this book were really expressed by God. I merely held that science could change my fate, and still placed my hope on drugs. Later, though I took more medicine than food every day, there wasnāt the slightest improvement in my condition. For nearly a year, regardless of how many times the sister had come to my home, I still refused to place my faith in God.
Since I took medicine all the year round, one day, my eyes suddenly got blurred and my legs became numb. I couldnāt see clearly or walk. Soon afterward, I was diagnosed with drug poisoning. At first I was hospitalized in the county hospital for a week, and then I transferred to a military hospital in Beijing and received treatment there for a month. And after that, I transferred to a well-known traditional Chinese medical hospital in Beijing and underwent a TCM treatment there for two months, but it was all to no avail. My physician-in-charge invited the retired chief of the Department of Neurology to treat me, yet my illness still didnāt improve in the least. At this time, my future daughter-in-law told me that there was a very famous doctor specializing in rare illness in Yunnan Province. So I hurried to Yunnan in my wheelchair. However, after receiving nearly a month of treatment, not only did my condition not improve, but my kidney problem got even worse due to the side-effects of the drugs I had taken for curing my eyes and legs. In pain and helplessness, I could not but go back home. After that, in order to save my kidney, I gave up the treatment for my eyes and legs, and no longer saw doctors or sought remedies.
At that time, I sank to the depths of despair. For I had completely pinned my hope for recovery on science, only to find science was so insignificant and powerless. Since my hope was dashed, I fell to my lowest point and was completely overwhelmed within, at a loss about how to walk the path that lied ahead. Amid the misery and confusion, I frequently thought: Why am I suffering from so many illnesses? And why are my illnesses incurable? I have sought for healing through my own effort, yet in the end my illness hasnāt improved but become aggravated. Is science really incapable of saving me? Can it be that there is really a God in the world? Is manās destiny really controlled by His hands? I felt very puzzled about this. Later, I lived in the midst of agony every day. Once I thought of myself as a disabled person, I would shed tears secretly, feeling that I shouldnāt be a burden on my family anymore, for I had involved them in too much trouble. I had thought of committing su***de several times, yet feared death. I merely lived from day to day, waiting for the coming of death.
One day, my husband saw the book of Godās word that the sister had left to me. He then opened it and happened to see the title āDo You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men,ā and it immediately caught his attention. So he began to read it, āThe work of God is something that you cannot comprehend. If you can neither fully grasp whether your choice is correct, nor can you know whether the work of God can succeed, then why not try your luck and see whether this ordinary man may be of great help to you, and whether God has indeed done great work?ā (āDid You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Menā in The Word Appears in the Flesh). My heart was touched by these words. The words āthen why not try your luckā kept lingering in my mind, lighting up my numb heart like a ray of twilight. And I began to see the hope of living. Then I eagerly asked my husband to read two more pieces of Godās words to me, both of which were the truth about God using words to judge and chastise man as well as change manās life disposition. Though I had never heard of these words and was unable to grasp the meaning of them, I felt these words were different from the messages preached by those believers in the Lord Jesus. For the believers in the Lord preached mostly about how to gain Godās grace, and told me that my sickness would be healed once I believed in God, which made me rather doubtful about that. On the contrary, Almighty Godās words didnāt say that people would be healed once they believed in Him. I felt Almighty Godās words were quite practical, and the more I listened, the more I became interested.
Godās Salvation Resurrects Me From the Dead
From then on, every day I would ask my husband to read me Godās words. I learned from the book that the religious people believe in God without knowing Him and even resist Godās words, and that they sin in the day only to confess in the evening. These words had even more convinced me. For my mother and my sisters-in-law all believed in the Lord, and their living out was exactly the same as what Godās words revealedācommitting sins and confessing them. At that time, I had an awakening in spirit: Can it be that this is really Godās voice? Who else except God can know the situation of the religious world? The unbelievers donāt know this, let alone the famous or great men, and even the religious people themselves do not know that they are the ones who believe in God yet resist Him. At the thought of this, I even more felt that these words couldnāt be spoken by man, and that they might really be expressed by God incarnated in the human world.
When I had such feelings, the sister, who had ever preached the kingdom gospel to me, came to me with another sister after hearing that I had been discharged from hospital. Not until then did I have awareness in my conscience. I thought to myself: The sisters not only donāt shun me, a disabled person, but again come to preach the gospel to me, which canāt be attained by any ordinary man. If it were others, they would have long ago ignored me. This matter allowed me to clearly recognize that such kind of love must come from God, for we human had no such love at all. And it was not until then that I had a deep-felt understanding of the saying, āA friend in need is a friend indeed.ā My family didnāt abandon me as they had no other choice, but the sister, a person who had nothing to do with me, insisted on preaching the gospel to me unconditionally for over a year without any schemes. She paid such high price on a disabled person like me; what great confidence and patience! I was moved by such kind of love of God, and no longer had reason to refuse the gospel of God. Thus both my husband and I accepted Godās work in the last days.
In June, 2011, my husband and I began to live the church life formally. Since I couldnāt see the words clearly, at the gatherings brothers and sisters read Godās word to me, and at ordinary times I either let my husband read Godās word to me or listened to hymns by myself. Later, I found the root of my illness and suffering in two hymns of Godās word. One of them says: āAfter Satan had corrupted them, man then became more and more degenerate, the illnesses of man were deepened, their suffering became more and more severe, and man felt more and more the emptiness, the tragedy and the inability to go on living of the world. Man felt less and less hope. This suffering was brought on man by Satanā (āGod Endured All Sufferings to Bring About the Wonderful Destination for Mankindā in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). And the other says: āSo it is still possible for you to have illnesses, troubles and to feel suicidal, also feeling the desolation of the world, or that life has no meaning. That is to say, this suffering is still under Satanās masteryāthis is a fatal weakness of man. This is a fatal weakness of manā (āThe Meaning of Godās Suffering on Manās Behalfā in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Godā words were absolutely true. The torment of illness really caused me to feel worse than death and almost lose the courage to live. But at that time I didnāt quite understand why God said that all the sickness and suffering were the torments of Satan. It was only by reading Godās words later that I gradually understood these truths and felt my heart brightened more and more.
One afternoon, my husband read me Godās words as usual, and I heard Godās word says, āSince mankindās contrivance of the social sciences, the mind of man has become occupied by science and knowledge. Science and knowledge then have become tools for the ruling of mankind, and there is no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God has sunk ever lower in the heart of man. Without God in his heart, manās inner world is dark, hopeless and empty. ā¦ Science, knowledge, freedom, democracy, leisure, comfort: these bring man only a temporary consolation. Even with these things, man will inevitably sin and bemoan the injustices of society. These things cannot restrain manās craving and desire to explore. This is because man was made by God and the senseless sacrifices and explorations of man can only lead to more distress and can only cause man to exist in a constant state of fear, not knowing how to face the future of mankind or how to face the path that lies ahead. Man will even come to fear science and knowledge, and fear even more the feeling of emptinessā (āGod Presides Over the Fate of All Mankindā in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Hearing these Godās words, I finally understood why God said that all the illness and suffering of man come from Satan. It is because Satan has corrupted man through knowledge and science. It has instilled into man these fallacies such as āMan evolves from apes,ā āThere has never been a savior,ā āKnowledge can change oneās fate,ā āManās fate is controlled by his own hands,ā āScience can save man,ā āMan can conquer nature,ā and so on. All of these have first occupied the hearts of people, so that they all blindly worship knowledge and science, and attempt to change their fates through knowledge and solve all problems through science. As a result, men are fooled by Satan and become playthings under its command; they deny everything from God, keeping away from Godās care and protection for them. And Iām precisely one of the millions of victims. When I fell ill, I just relied on science to treat my illness. God couldnāt bear to see me continue to be deceived and harmed by Satan, so He aroused brothers and sisters to preach the gospel to me time after time. However, my heart had been blinded by Satanās lies, so that I didnāt believe the existence of God, much less did I believe that the fate of man was controlled by God. Instead, I just blindly believed in and esteemed science, and pushed away Godās salvation time after time. I had thought that those specialists of the famous hospitals, the advanced science and technology, and the high-class medical equipment could cure me of my illness, yet in the end, I hadnāt been healed but instead held up by illness. To save my life, I had no choice but to give up the treatment. Science had brought me nothing but irreparable harm, and Satan just used science to shove me into the abyss of death step by step. But in the meantime, God maneuvered my husband to read me His word so as to awaken my hardened heart, allowing me, who was on the brink of death, to receive His salvation eventually.
Since then, my husband read Godās word to me every day. One day, I heard Godās word says: āGod created this world, He created this mankind and, moreover, He was the architect of ancient Greek culture and human civilization. Only God consoles this mankind, and only God cares for this mankind night and day. Human development and progress are inseparable from the sovereignty of God, and the history and future of mankind are inextricable from the designs of God. ā¦ If mankind wishes to have a good fate, if a country wishes to have a good fate, then man must bow down to God in worship, repent and confess before God, or else the fate and destination of man will be an unavoidable catastropheā (āGod Presides Over the Fate of All Mankindā in The Word Appears in the Flesh). These words made me realize: God is the source of manās life, and the fate of man rests in Godās hands. Only when man comes before God, follows God and worships Him, can he have a good fate; yet if he betrays, resists, or rejects God, goes over to the side of Satan, he will bring himself nothing but endless disaster and suffering. After understanding Godās will, I was willing to prostrate myself before God and confess my sins and repent just like the people of Nineveh recorded in the Bible, and I was also willing to accept Godās leadership and provision for me, and be a person who follows and worships God. So, I offered to fulfill the duty of hosting the brothers and sisters. Later, when I stayed with my brothers and sisters, none of them ever looked down upon me or belittled me for my disability, but rather, they offered me great support and help. I felt deep within my soul: Such sincerity and love will never be educated by knowledge or science, only Almighty Godās word can change people, and only Almighty God can make complete such a group of people.
After a period of time, seeing my illness still hadnāt improved, I began to make demands on God, hoping that He could heal my illness. Then my sisters communicated with me, āGod is the Creator, and we are created beings. So we should always submit to the orchestration and arrangement of God regardless of how He treats us; and it is irrational of us to make demands on God. Whatās more, healing sickness, casting out demons, and performing miracles are the work God did in the Age of Grace; now it is the Age of Kingdom, and Godās work is principally to use the word to accomplish all, use the word to cleanse people and change the corrupt disposition of people, so as to make them be obedient and loyal to God as well as know and love God, and at last bring such a group of people into the next age. God wants people to have spontaneous love and obedience to Him due to their knowledge of Him, rather than to believe in and follow Him because of their gratitude for His healing their sickness. Just as Godās word says: āPeople believe that when God saves man, He does so by moving them with His blessings and grace, so that they can give their hearts to God. That is to say, His touching man is His saving them. This sort of salvation is done by striking a deal. Only when God grants them a hundredfold will man come to submit before Godās name and strive to do well for Him and bring Him glory. This is not what God intends for mankind. God has come to work on earth in order to save corrupt mankind; there is no falsehood in this. If there were, He would certainly not have come to do His work in person. In the past, His means of salvation involved showing the utmost love and compassion, such that He gave His all to Satan in exchange for the whole of mankind. The present is nothing like the past: The salvation bestowed upon you today occurs at the time of the last days, during the classification of each according to kind; the means of your salvation is not love or compassion, but chastisement and judgment, in order that man may be more thoroughly savedā (āYou Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand Godās Will to Bring Salvation to Manā in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Therefore, we ought to forsake the intention of gaining blessings within us. And as long as we read and practice more of Godās words, accept the judgment, chastisement, trial, refinement, pruning and dealing of Godās words, and attain changes in our corrupt disposition, Godās blessings will naturally come upon us.ā
Through the sistersā fellowship, I came to understand: If man merely enjoys the grace of God, his satanic disposition wonāt be transformed; and only by accepting Godās work of judgment and chastisement in the last days, can man get rid of his satanic corrupt disposition, regain the conscience and sense of man as created by God, and ultimately receive Godās salvation. As for those who believe in the Lord but donāt accept Godās work in the last days, although they have received an abundance of grace from God, they still constantly live in the condition of sinning and confessing. It is just because their corrupt disposition hasnāt been purified, and their running to and fro and spending for God is all for the purpose of gaining Godās blessings and grace, and is making deals with God. Consequently they are unworthy of being taken to the wonderful destination by God. After understanding Godās will, I no longer wanted God to heal me of my illness, but made up my mind: Regardless of whether I can get better or not, I will always believe in God and worship Him, and fulfill the duty of a creature to satisfy Godās will. When I practiced in this way, I felt particularly free and liberated. I was no longer bound or constrained by my illness, nor did I fear death that much. I only wished to give myself up to God entirely and submit to His sovereignty and arrangement.
Since then, I frequently read Godās word, fellowshiped about the truth, and sang hymns to praise God together with my brothers and sisters. I felt much more enriched within, and my suffering was also relieved a lot. More marvelously, the numbness in my legs began to pass off unknowingly, and gradually I could leave my bed and walk by myself, and later I completely cast aside my wheelchair. What made me more surprised was that one day I suddenly could see clearly the characters in the book of Godās word. I could hardly believe it, but the miracle just happened to me. My feeling of joy was beyond description, and I could not help but continuously offer thankful prayers to God in my heart. When I told my husband excitedly about this, he was moved to tears, repeatedly saying: āThank God! Thank God!ā I had just had a little bit of obedience to God, but God bestowed such great blessings upon me. This made me deeply appreciate that although God doesnāt display signs and wonders in His work of the last days, the authority of Godās words far exceeds that of signs and wonders. God really is almighty and loves mankind!
Once, my husband ran into the doctor who had ever treated my disease in the county hospital, and the doctor asked him how the treatment for my kidney disease was going and whether I was on dialysis. My husband replied: āShe hasnāt undergone dialysis, but now her condition has improved. Moreover, she is able to walk and can see now.ā āItās really a miracle!ā said the doctor in surprise, āI thought she has already been on dialysis.ā
Now Iām living a normal life. All my relatives, friends, and neighbors said to me in surprise: āItās surprising that you have recovered so quickly, and you look no different from a normal person in mental outlook.ā Hearing this, my heart was overflowing with gratitude for God. Many times I prayed to God, āO God, Iāll never forget Your love and salvation for me. Even if I cannot do anything for You, I will follow You and worship You for my whole life, and repay Your love through my practical actions.ā Although I havenāt fully recovered from my illness, I know I have been too deeply corrupted by Satan and still have lots of corrupt dispositions, which need to be changed through more judgment and chastisement of God. As for me, such an extremely corrupted person, who once didnāt acknowledge the existence of God and rejected Godās salvation time and again, God not only didnāt remember my transgressions, but also saved me to the greatest extent possible. I indeed have received Godās great mercy, and feel Iām really unworthy of His grace. This unforgettable experience has allowed me to see: Science and knowledge cannot save mankind, but will only bring them endless distress, fear, and death; only God, who created the heavens and earth and all things and rules over all things, can be the life of man and provide all that man needs. God is the only foundation of manās existence, and is the only salvation and hope of mankind; only if mankind worships God can they have a good fate. Iām grateful to God for rescuing me from the brink of death, and even more for saving me, a dying person who was most deeply deceived by Satan, from the dark hell, and allowing me to know the Creator and walk on the bright and right path of life. All the glory be to Almighty God!
