43. I Was the Worst of Sinners Who Hindered the “Lambs” from Listening to God’s Voice
Wang Xiangling
Shenyang City, Liaoning Province
Picture of The Church of Almighty God |
I was formerly a leader of the Church of Truth, responsible for the work of shepherding 19 churches in Shenyang City and all the churches in the two counties of Faku and Kangping (about 1,000 believers). In the spring of 1997, in our Church of Truth in Shenyang City happened a thing which caused quite a stir: Two co-workers accepted “the Eastern Lightning.” Hence, the upper leader immediately held a co-worker meeting, at which he said, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is a ‘cult’ and a ‘heresy.’ It’s a ‘false christ’ coming to deceive people. None of you should accept it. …” After the meeting, the leader also distributed to us many booklets such as Resist the Lightning Coming from the East, Curfew, and so on. This meeting affected me very deeply, and I believed the leader’s words and the contents of the booklets without a shadow of doubt. These made me feel like confronting a formidable enemy, and I made a resolution to myself that I must stand on the true way of the Lord Jesus and must guard the flock properly. So, I spread to every church the rumors in the booklets, such as, “‘The Eastern Lightning’ is an underworld organization. If you don’t accept [what they preach to you], they will break your arms or legs,” and so on. I also organized the co-workers to search the Bible and find “strong evidence” to resist the Almighty God’s work. I said, “When God comes again, he cannot possibly be in China, much less be a female. Don’t ever be deceived lest you believe in God in vain. …” And I even fabricated rumors to deliberately heighten the believers’ feeling of fear. On a hot summer day, a sister braved the scorching heat and came to our church to preach the Almighty God’s new work. She said, “God has come to do a new work. Brothers and sisters, make an investigation!” On hearing that, we all came up to contradict her directly and spoke many words of condemnation, resistance, and blasphemy. The sister said sincerely, “Brothers and sisters, we should not repeat the tragedy of the Pharisees!” “What tragedy? Tell us about it!” I said scornfully in a teasing tone. The sister said in tears, “When Jesus came to do the redemptive work, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law did not accept it and even condemned and slandered Jesus, saying that he drove out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Thus, Jesus condemned them with seven woes. Today when God comes to do the work of the word, people do not acknowledge it and even say that he is a false christ to deceive people and is an evil spirit…” Hearing this, I cut her short angrily, “What do you know? How dare you talk nonsense here to deceive people! Go away now! Don’t come again.” After I drove her away, I told the brothers and sisters repeatedly, “They are all deceivers. If they come again, drive them out. If they don’t leave, just beat them. Never be soft on them!”