Gospel Testimonies

Breaking Free From the Rumor Trap

By Xiaoyun, China

I used to be a female army officer. One day in 1999, a Korean pastor preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me. Because of my earnest pursuit, I soon became the focus of the pastor's training and his primary assistant. In the summer of 2000, the pastor came to Yunnan on a short summer missionary trip with more than a dozen college students from the Korean Gospel Church. Unexpectedly, this alarmed the CCP government. We were arrested whilst having a meeting at the pastor's home and then brought to Yunnan Province Public Security Department for questioning. The Korean university students were deported that same night and the Korean pastor was also expelled from the country. The church suffered persecution by the CCP government, and many believers became afraid and did not dare believe. A proportion of believers were also forced to go to the Three-Self Church, and this was how the church was broken up by the CCP government. I was the main co-worker in the church and the persecution by the CCP government this time also caused me to lose my job.

In March 2005, I heard Almighty God's kingdom gospel. When I learned that the Lord Jesus had returned, I was so excited that tears of joy filled my eyes and I felt so indescribably grateful. I just wanted to bring my brothers and sisters before God as soon as I could. Under God's guidance, one by one the brothers and sisters accepted God's last days' work. But unexpectedly, one of the church's most talented co-workers, after hearing the testimony of the last days' work of Almighty God, declared: "This doctrine sounds right, but we need to ask the pastor first and see what he says." Soon after, the pastor gave me a call and said, "It is very disorderly outside now. You have not believed in God for long and your stature is small. Whatever you do, do not carelessly listen to sermons from outside the church, and then you won't go astray. We can only accept the shepherding of this church. Do not listen to the ways preached by other churches." After listening, I said calmly, "Through this period of time studying Almighty God's last days' work, I have found that everything they preach conforms to the Bible, has the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit and it is the true way." My pastor said, "No matter how well they preach, we must understand that only the Lord Jesus is the true God. We must not leave the Lord!" I said firmly, "I have not left the Lord, but am following the footsteps of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus has already returned. It is only right that we should welcome the Lord just like the wise virgins." The pastor said harshly, "How could the Korean Gospel Church not know that the Lord has returned?" I said, "This is not something that can be explained in a few words." The pastor asserted eloquently, "What they believe in is Eastern Lightning, which was the target of the CCP government's crackdown. It's explained very clearly on the Internet. Go online, and you will see. You have to go online to check it out...." After putting down the phone, my heart could not calm down for a long time. The pastor's words kept ringing in my ears. I particularly wanted to know exactly what was being said online.

In order to find out, I quickly ran to an Internet cafe. The moment I opened websites, I was dumbfounded. On the websites there was a lot of the CCP government's blasphemy and condemnation of God, as well as slander and blasphemy from religious figures of authority. I had some doubts: Almighty God's words cannot be spoken by just anybody. They are the expression of the Spirit of truth. This is a fact recognized by many people from many different denominations who sincerely believe in the Lord and yearn for the truth. But why do the websites start rumors to make people deny Almighty God? There are also many famous pastors who also condemn and blaspheme God along with the CCP government. What is going on here? Seeing all this negative propaganda, I felt a flurry of indecision. After that, I saw an attack on the man used by the Holy Spirit online. My heart once again dropped. Did I really believe in a man? As I continued to browse through the information on the Internet, I became more flustered and felt very bewildered and perplexed so that, in the end, I had no idea how I left the Internet cafe.