By Li Ke, China

Almighty God says: “The biggest problem with man is that he thinks of nothing but his fate and prospects and idolizes these things. Man pursues God for the sake of his fate and prospects; he does not worship God because of his love for Him. And so, in the conquest of man, man’s selfishness, greed and the things that most obstruct his worship of God must all be pruned and thereby eliminated. In doing so, the effects of man’s conquest will be achieved. As a result, in the first stages of the conquest of man it is necessary to purge the wild ambitions and most fatal weaknesses of man, and, through this, to reveal man’s God-loving heart and change his knowledge of human life, his view of God, and the meaning of his existence. In this way, man’s God-loving heart is cleansed, which is to say, man’s heart is conquered” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination). Reading this passage of God’s words, I’m reminded of an experience of being arrested that I went through. It made me truly realize just how practical God’s words are. If a person wants to let go of their considerations for their future and destiny, and be able to submit to and love God, they must experience the judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement of God in the last days.

At the end of 2012, I was arrested by the CCP police while preaching the gospel. During the police’s repeated interrogations and attempts to force a confession, it was God’s words that guided me to stand firm in my testimony without becoming a Judas. The police didn’t get the information about the church they wanted, and in the end, they sentenced me to three and a half years in prison on the charge of “undermining the enforcement of the law.” Although I had prepared myself for imprisonment after being arrested, my heart was still in turmoil when I read the verdict. I silently counted up the days in my head, “Three and a half years—that’s more than a thousand days and nights! How can I get through this?” I was really worried when I heard a former prisoner say, “It’s really dark in prison, and if the work isn’t finished or done well, you’ll get beaten. The frail die inside, and there, when someone dies, it’s like a dog dying—the prison guards don’t care at all.” I was a bit scared, thinking to myself, “In the months I spent in the detention house, my stomach illness worsened and had developed into stomach bleeding. Every time I go to the bathroom, blood clots come out. My legs and feet have become somewhat swollen too. With my body like this, will I be able to come out alive after all these years in that inhumane prison? If I die in prison, won’t I miss the day when God’s kingdom is realized?” Thinking about these things, I couldn’t help but worry about my future, and I had some misunderstanding toward God in my heart: Was God using this situation to reveal and eliminate me? Though I knew I shouldn’t misunderstand God, and that the situation He arranged was what I needed, for several days, my heart was in turmoil, and I couldn’t sleep at night. In my pain, I cried out to God again and again, “God, I know it’s wrong to misunderstand You, but I’m so weak right now. Please give me faith and strength to experience the situation ahead.” After praying, I remembered a verse from the Old Testament, where Jehovah God spoke to Joshua: “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be you dismayed: for Jehovah your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). I also thought of what Almighty God says: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing in which I do not have the final say. Is there anything that is not in My hands?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 1). God is sovereign over and controls everything, so even in the CCP’s prison, isn’t my fate still in God’s hands? Thinking of this, I felt a sense of liberation in my heart.

One day in October 2013, I was sent to prison to serve my sentence. In Chinese prisons, prisoners are just free tools that they can use to make money. Prisoners work 16 to 17 hours a day, and sometimes the time for rush work is even longer; those who fail to complete their tasks are physically punished. My job at the time was to do small ironing. I had to hold an iron in the same position for over ten hours a day, and I had to move quickly. Because the prison operated like an assembly line, if one person was slow, it affected the speed of the whole production line, and if anyone caused delays, they were punished. My two fingers could no longer straighten from gripping the iron tightly for so long, and I’d have to force them to straighten out. As they say, “The fingers are connected to the heart,” and sometimes the pain in my hand got so bad that I couldn’t sleep at night. The overwhelming workload, along with my stomach bleeding that hadn’t fully healed yet, left my body extremely weak, and within three months in prison, I started feeling back pain, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Just thinking about the long sentence ahead, I feared that if things carried on like this, I would become disabled even if I didn’t die. If I became disabled, life after prison would become a problem, so how would I do my duties? If I couldn’t do my duty, wouldn’t I no longer have a chance to be saved? I desperately wished for God to punish the great red dragon soon, because if the great red dragon fell, I wouldn’t have to suffer these hardships. During that time, I paid a lot of attention to news from the outside, and when new prisoners arrived, I would try to find out how things were outside, asking about whether there were any catastrophes or upheavals happening. But day after day, things on the outside remained calm, and I felt somewhat dejected. Why wasn’t God punishing the great red dragon? If I stayed in prison like this for too long, I’d become crippled even if I didn’t die! Thinking of these things, my heart was filled with darkness and despondency. In my torment, I prayed to God, “God, just thinking about my hand becoming disabled makes me so despondent, and I keep worrying that if I become disabled, I’ll have no way out in life. I also worry that I won’t be able to do my duties and that I’ll therefore be unable to be saved. God, please guide me out of this wrong state.”

One day during yard time, I saw that the mountains in the distance, once yellow and barren, had turned green without me noticing. As I looked at the flowers and grasses on the mountains, a few of God’s words flashed through my mind: “The flowers and grasses stretch across the slopes, but the lilies add luster to My glory on earth before the arrival of spring—can man achieve such things? Could he testify to Me on earth prior to My return? Could he dedicate himself for the sake of My name in the country of the great red dragon?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 34). I pondered these words of God over and over, thinking about how flowers and grasses, though ordinary and plain, don’t demand anything from the Creator. Whether they experience freezing winters or blazing summers, they still grow and bloom year after year according to the laws God has set for them, adding beauty to the earth created by God, and bearing witness to the wonder of God’s deeds. God says: “The flowers and grasses stretch across the slopes, but the lilies add luster to My glory on earth before the arrival of spring.” I clearly understood that God was using these words to guide me out of my despondency, and I felt both moved and ashamed. Like the flowers and grasses, I am but a tiny created being, but I was constantly demanding that God act according to my wishes, and when God didn’t fulfill my demands and didn’t punish the great red dragon, my heart drifted away from Him. I was truly lacking in reason! When God does His work, He has His own plan, and God knows the right time to destroy the great red dragon. I should let God orchestrate all things. Moreover, whether I would become disabled, whether I would survive, and whether I’d be able to do my duties, were all in God’s hands. My worries were unnecessary. Thinking about these things, my heart became more at peace.

Later, I happened to see a book called The Faith of Famous People from another prisoner, which contained narratives of many well-known missionaries, both Chinese and foreign, such as Hudson Taylor, Robert Morrison, Wang Mingdao, Watchman Nee, and others. I never expected to find such a book in the tightly controlled CCP prison, so I eagerly borrowed it to read. I was greatly encouraged by the beautiful testimonies of the saints throughout the ages in the book, and I thought of God’s words: “What I now bestow upon you surpasses Moses and eclipses David, so likewise I ask that your testimony surpass Moses and that your words be greater than David. I give you a hundredfold—so I likewise ask you to repay Me in kind. You must know I am the One who bestows life unto mankind, and it is you who receive life from Me and must bear witness for Me. This is your duty which I send down upon you and which you ought to do for Me. … You understand more of My mysteries in heaven than Isaiah and John; you know more of My loveliness and venerableness than all the saints of ages past. What you have received is not merely My truth, My way, and My life, but a vision and revelation greater than that of John. You understand many more mysteries, and have also looked upon My true countenance; you have accepted more of My judgment and know more of My righteous disposition. And so, though you were born in the last days, your understanding is that of the former and the past, and you have also experienced the things of today, and this was all personally done by Me. What I ask of you is not excessive, for I have given you so much, and you have seen much in Me. Thus, I ask you to bear witness for Me to the saints of ages past, and this is My heart’s only desire” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. What Do You Know of Faith?). I thought about the saints of past generations. They didn’t enjoy the watering and provision of so many of God’s words that I’d come to enjoy, but they gave their lives to bear witness to the salvation of the Lord Jesus. Some were stoned to death, some were torn apart by horses, some were sawed to death, and others were crucified upside down, but they all bore a beautiful and resounding testimony for God. I had come to enjoy the provision of so many of Almighty God’s words, so I should bear a beautiful and resounding testimony for God just like the saints of past generations did to shame Satan. This is also God’s expectation for us who have accepted His work of the last days. Thinking about this, I gained the resolve to follow the example of the saints of past generations. I became willing to rebel against my flesh and lay down my unreasonable demands of God, to place my future and destiny in God’s hands, and to put myself at the mercy of His orchestrations and arrangements. Even if I truly were to become disabled, I would still follow God to the end. Moreover, even if I were truly tortured to death in prison by the CCP, this would be persecution for the sake of righteousness. This is a glorious thing, and I should not be sad. Instead, I should rely on God to stand firm in my testimony. In the days that followed, I consciously pondered the words of God that I could remember, I sang the hymns I’d learned, and I also entrusted my difficulties to God, looking to Him. Gradually, my state improved.

I thought that through this experience, I’d been able to set aside thoughts of my future and destiny, but a new situation coming upon me revealed me and made it clear to me that doing so wouldn’t be that simple. In the winter of 2014, because of my frailty and the extremely poor conditions in the prison, where I had to wash my hair and bathe with cold tap water even in the harsh winter, I almost always had a cold and a runny nose. Over time, the capillaries in my nose ruptured from frequently blowing my nose. At first, I just had intermittent, small amounts of bleeding, but the bleeding became more severe as time went on, until eventually, on several occasions, my nose bled continuously, like water running from a tap. The guards saw that I was bleeding too much and feared that I might die in the workshop, so they sent me to the prison hospital. However, the medical conditions in the prison hospital were very poor, and the doctor just gave me an IV and didn’t take any measures to stop the bleeding. He also placed a plastic bucket in front of me, and coldly said, “If you’re going to bleed, bleed into the bucket. Don’t go making a mess on the floor by bleeding all over it.” After saying that, he just turned and left. My nosebleeds kept coming and going, so I used tissues to plug my nostrils and stop the bleeding. But with my nostrils blocked, blood started pouring from my mouth. From the excessive bleeding, I could feel the heat slowly leaving my body. Blood continued to flow intermittently from my nose, and before long, I’d used up a whole pack of tissues. I was completely drained of strength, and all I could do was just let the blood flow from my mouth and nose onto my clothes. Before long, there was a large red stain on my chest, and I began feeling colder and colder. I could only weakly lean against the cold wall, and I felt like the seconds were ticking down to the end of my life. Staring at the ceiling, I thought to myself, “If this goes on, it won’t be long before I bleed to death. If I die like this here in prison, no one will ever know. I’ll never see my brothers and sisters again, much less witness the day of God’s glory.” I also thought about how, after finding God, I had given up my career and left my home because of the CCP hunting me, and about how I had constantly been doing my duty in the church. I never expected that I’d end up dying in prison instead of receiving blessings. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt, and my heart became filled with desolation. In my pain, I silently prayed to God, “God, what I’m facing contains Your intention, but my stature is too small, and seeing that I am about to die, my heart is filled with pain and despair. God, please give me faith and strength, so that through You I may be steadfast.” After praying, I thought of what Job said during his trials: “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). When Satan’s temptation came upon Job, he lost all his possessions and children, and his whole body became covered in sore boils. These things would be unbearable blows for anyone, but Job had a God-fearing heart. He did not complain against God, nor did he sin with his mouth, but instead, he accepted it from God, believing that all his wealth and children were given to him by God, and while it seemed like the plundering of robbers, this had been allowed by God. Therefore, Job submitted to God’s taking from him and willingly returned everything he had to God, still praising God’s holy name. Amidst Satan’s temptations, Job’s faith, submission, and fear of God allowed him to stand firm in his testimony for God and shame Satan, and he received God’s approval and blessing. Pondering Job’s testimony, I realized that everything I have, including my life, has been given by God, that it is only right for God to take it back, and that I should submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. But when faced with death, I found myself in pain and despair, and my heart was unwilling. I saw that I had no submission toward God, and that my faith was truly pitiful. Realizing this, I prayed to God, “God, I am willing to place my life in Your hands. Whether I live or die, I am willing to submit to Your sovereignty and arrangements.” After praying, my heart became much more at peace, and I felt that God was my strong and powerful reliance. Unexpectedly, when I completely entrusted my life and death to God, I saw His deeds, and God raised up a prisoner I didn’t know to go find the director of the prison hospital, saying I was the director’s fellow townsman, asking him to help me. In truth, I’m not from the same town as the director. After the director came over and saw that I was covered in blood, he quickly said, “Don’t worry, I’ll have someone take you to the city hospital for a blood transfusion and emergency treatment.” But after the prison guards took me to the city hospital, to save costs, only a hemostasis surgery was performed on me, and I didn’t receive a blood transfusion. I thought that, as I had lost so much blood, the guards would surely arrange for me to rest for a few days. But unexpectedly, as soon as I got off the operating table, the guards sent me straight back to work in the workshop. I felt dizzy and lightheaded, and the world was spinning around me. In my heart, I hated the CCP’s contempt for human life even more. I was walking the right path in life by believing in God and preaching the gospel, yet I was suffering such brutality from the CCP! Aside from hatred, my heart was filled with sadness, and I thought, “It seems that I’m really going to die in prison this time, and that I’ll never see the day when God’s kingdom is realized.” I realized that my state was wrong, and thinking back over previous experiences, I knew that this illness was God testing me. I was willing to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and to seek His intention. Later, when I submitted, I saw God’s deeds again. A prison guard from my hometown heard about my situation and put in a good word with the workshop leader, getting him to let me rest for a few days, and I finally recovered. I saw God’s almightiness and sovereignty and gained some more faith in Him, and I understood that whether I live or die is up to God. No matter how wicked the great red dragon is or how it tries to kill me, without God’s permission, no one can take my life.

I thought about how on all these occasions when I’d faced these situations, I’d been concerned about my future and destiny, always worrying that if I died, I wouldn’t be able to be saved, and I realized that the situations God set up weren’t just to show me the wickedness of the CCP, but also to make me understand my own corrupt disposition. I thought of God’s words: “In their belief in God, what people seek is to obtain blessings for the future; this is their goal in their faith. All people have this intent and hope, but the corruption in their nature must be resolved through trials and refinement. In whichever aspects you are not purified and reveal corruption, these are the aspects in which you must be refined—this is God’s arrangement. God creates an environment for you, forcing you to be refined there so that you can know your own corruption. Ultimately, you reach a point at which you would rather die in order to give up your intents and desires and to submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). Pondering God’s words and comparing them to my own experiences, I realized that only through refinement can a person see clearly their true stature and have understanding of their corruption. Before, I’d always thought that forsaking my family and career to do my duty, facing the arrest and persecution of the great red dragon and not betraying God, made me a sincere believer. But in this situation, I finally saw that I was believing in God just for a good future and destination, and that I didn’t sincerely want to satisfy God. So once I saw that I couldn’t gain blessings, I became negative and pained. When I first learned about my three-and-a-half-year sentence, I thought about how severe my stomach bleeding was and how weak my body was, and I feared that I would die in prison and never see the day the kingdom is realized. Because of this, I was so tormented that I couldn’t sleep, and I even misunderstood that God was using this situation to eliminate me. After entering prison, due to the overwhelming labor, I couldn’t straighten my fingers, and I worried that if I became disabled, I’d have no way out in life. I also worried that I wouldn’t be able to do my duty and therefore not be able to be saved, so I longed for God to destroy the great red dragon as soon as possible and lived in a state of despondency. Later, due to my unceasing nosebleeds, I feared I might die and felt pained and miserable, even regretting leaving home to do my duty. It was only then that I saw that in keeping my faith and doing my duty, I wasn’t practicing the truth or submitting to God at all, nor was I trying to repay God’s love. Instead, I was using the performance of my duty to try and bargain for God’s grace and blessings and to try and obtain a good outcome and destination. Though I was masquerading under the pretense of expending myself for God, in essence, I was trying to satisfy my own desire to be blessed. By doing my duty this way, I was trying to bargain with God, and I was trying to use and deceive Him. In what way did I have any conscience or reason? If it hadn’t been for God using the persecution of the great red dragon to reveal and refine me, I would have kept believing in God and doing my duty with the intention of being blessed. Eventually, I’d have ended up like Paul, who took his expenditures and sacrifices as capital to demand grace from God, saying shamelessly, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Believing this way to the very end, I’d have been unable to gain the truth and be saved, and I’d have just ended up bringing ruin upon myself. I finally understood God’s painstaking intention—He was using this kind of situation to refine me and cleanse me of my corruption and impurities. I truly felt that although God’s actions didn’t align with my will, they were all love and salvation for me. At the same time, I also felt God’s mercy and protection for me. When I received the verdict and was worried I wouldn’t leave the prison alive, it was God who enlightened and guided me through His words and gave me faith to experience the harsh environment of prison. When I worried about being disabled and not being able to survive, God guided me through the flowers and grasses, and through the deeds of saints from past generations in the book, encouraging me to have the resolve to keep moving forward. When I was bleeding uncontrollably and was at risk of death, God raised up an unfamiliar prisoner who went to the director, and I was rescued and survived. I often thought of the words in “The Sighing of the Almighty” where God says: “He is keeping watch by your side” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God). I deeply felt that in times of crisis, God alone is my reliance, and my only refuge! I thought about how, over all these years of believing in God, I had never given my true heart to Him. I had been trying to make a deal with God in doing just a little bit of my duties, but God didn’t treat me according to my rebellion, and in times of trouble, when I called on God, He was still with me. He also led and guided me through His words, raising up various people, events, and things to help me. At that moment, regret and self-blame surged in my heart, and I silently prayed to God, “God, I haven’t pursued the truth properly, and I’ve only been paying a price for my future and destiny. If I can survive and leave, I will definitely pursue the truth properly and not let Your salvation of me go to waste. Even if I don’t have a good destination, I will still do my duty well and repay Your love!”

Having gone through this experience, I came to better understand the significance of God using the great red dragon to render service. If I hadn’t personally experienced the persecution of the great red dragon, I wouldn’t have seen its demonic essence so clearly, nor would my faith in and submission to God have increased, and I wouldn’t have gained a true understanding of my corrupt disposition. I truly experienced that God’s work of saving people is so practical and so wise! I also came to understand that the great red dragon resists God and harms God’s chosen people in such a frenzied way, and God has long wanted to destroy it, but because we, this group of people, are not yet made complete, God still needs to use it to render service. Once it has finished doing so, its end will come.

On November 9, 2015, I was released after serving my sentence. Two guards escorted me to the prison gate, and one of the guards asked me, “Will you still believe in God after you leave? If you do, you’ll just end up here again!” I firmly said, “Believing in God is my freedom!” The two guards looked at me in surprise and then just shook their heads. Just over ten days after I was released, my brothers and sisters contacted me, and I rejoined the ranks of those propagating the gospel of the kingdom.

Later, I thought, “Why do I feel so miserable and distressed when things involve my future and destiny, even to the point where I argue with God, and become unable to truly submit to His orchestrations and arrangements? What is really controlling me?” During my devotionals, I read God’s words: “Until people have experienced God’s work and understood the truth, it is Satan’s nature that takes charge and dominates them from within. What, specifically, does that nature entail? For example, why are you selfish? Why do you protect your own position? Why do you have such strong feelings? Why do you enjoy those unrighteous things? Why do you like those evils? What is the basis for your fondness for such things? Where do these things come from? Why are you so happy to accept them? By now, you have all come to understand that the main reason behind all these things is that Satan’s poison is within man. So what is Satan’s poison? How can it be expressed? For example, if you ask, ‘How should people live? What should people live for?’ people will answer, ‘Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.’ This single phrase expresses the very root of the problem. Satan’s philosophy and logic have become people’s lives. No matter what people pursue, they do so for themselves—and so they live only for themselves. ‘Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost’—this is the life philosophy of man, and it also represents human nature. These words have already become the nature of corrupt mankind and they are the true portrait of corrupt mankind’s satanic nature. This satanic nature has already become the basis for corrupt mankind’s existence. For several thousand years, corrupt mankind has lived by this venom of Satan, right up to the present day” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Walk the Path of Peter). After reading this passage of God’s words, I understood that my always being concerned about my future and destiny in my faith and duties wasn’t a simple revelation of a corrupt disposition, but mainly because I had a satanic nature within me. I lived by the satanic philosophies of “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost” and “Never lift a finger without a reward,” and in everything I did, I followed principles of self-interest. I was truly selfish and despicable. I’d given up everything to do my duties, but in reality, I was seeking personal gains, and trying to make an exchange to gain the blessing of entering the kingdom of heaven. I remember when someone first preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to me. I heard that believing in the Lord would bring grace and blessings, and that my soul would be saved and go to heaven after death. So, I believed in the Lord. After accepting God’s work of the last days, I learned that God would thoroughly cleanse and save people and bring them into the next age, and so I was excited beyond measure. In order to receive future blessings, I resolutely gave up my family and career, and chose to do my duties full-time. After believing in Almighty God for more than a year, I was arrested for preaching the gospel. After being released on bail, the police restricted my movement and forbade me from leaving the local area, demanding that I be available at any time, or else I’d be thrown in prison. However, I still chose to do my duties elsewhere, because I thought that by doing so, I could be remembered by God and receive His blessings. But when I was arrested again, given a three-and-a-half-year sentence, and faced with becoming disabled or dying in prison, I felt that my hopes of receiving blessings had been dashed, and so I was filled with pain and desolation, and I even regretted going elsewhere to do my duties. I thought that after I paid such a price, God shouldn’t let me die, and that He should let me have a good destination. I realized that living by these satanic poisons made me deeply selfish, only ever out for my own gain. I had no fear of or submission to God. As a created being, it is my unshirkable responsibility to believe in God and do my duties, and yet all my thoughts and desires were for my own sake. I wanted to use my duties as a chance to try and bargain with God and realize my dream of being blessed. This was truly selfish and despicable of me! I thought about how God has become flesh twice to save humanity, encountering rejection and slander from the world, and enduring misunderstanding, complaints, and even exploitation from those who believe in God. Yet God has never demanded anything from people, much less has He asked anyone to repay Him. He only expresses the truth to water and provide for people, and silently waits for their return. God’s love is truly selfless! I thought about how many of God’s words I had eaten and drunk, and how much I had received from God, yet I never thought about repaying God’s love by doing my duties properly. I only focused on making God give me a good destination, and when I didn’t receive this, I became negative and pained, and even regretted the price I’d paid. I felt a deep sense of self-reproach and guilt, and I hated myself for being so lacking in conscience and humanity!

Under God’s guidance, I then thought of a passage of God’s words: “You are a created being—you should of course worship God and pursue a life of meaning. If you do not worship God but live within your filthy flesh, then are you not just a beast in human attire? Since you are a human being, you should expend yourself for God and endure all suffering! You should gladly and assuredly accept the little suffering you are subjected to today and live a meaningful life, like Job and Peter. … You are people who pursue the right path, those who seek improvement. You are people who rise up in the nation of the great red dragon, those whom God calls righteous. Is that not the most meaningful life?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Practice (2)). God’s words gave me the direction in moving forward. I understood that as a created being, I should pursue the truth, worship God, fulfill the function of a created being, and live out a meaningful life. This is the right path in life! I resolved that I’d no longer try to make deals with God, and that I’d stand in the position of a created being, do my duty well and seek to love and satisfy God.

I’ve now been out of prison for nine years, and whenever I recall this experience of mine in prison, I feel a strong mix of emotions. If I hadn’t experienced this situation, I’d not have come to realize how immature in stature I was, or how little faith I had in God, much less would I have understood my selfish and despicable corrupt disposition, and my mistaken pursuits. At the same time, I also understood that God was using the great red dragon to render service, doing so to reveal me and cleanse my satanic disposition, thereby transforming my fallacious views on pursuing blessings in my faith, and making me let go of my many concerns about my future and destiny. These are things that I couldn’t have gained in a comfortable environment. Now, the CCP’s arrests of believers are becoming ever more severe, and I often hear about brothers and sisters being arrested and sentenced, and even about some being beaten to death. Sometimes I’ll think about how I’m getting older and about how my health isn’t as good as it used to be. I’ve already been arrested twice, and if I am arrested again, I’ll be sure to receive a heavy sentence. It’s highly likely that I’d die in prison and be unable to see the day when the kingdom is realized. But when I think about the guidance and deeds of God that I’ve experienced, my heart feels much more calm and at ease. I think of a church hymn I often sing which encouraged me greatly, “Following Christ, I Will Never Turn Back, Even Unto Death”: “Satan, the great red dragon, madly oppresses and arrests God’s chosen people. Those who follow Christ risk their lives to do their duties. Someday I may be arrested and persecuted for testifying to God. In my heart, I understand clearly that this is persecution for the sake of righteousness. Perhaps my life will vanish like a fleeting firework. In this life, to follow and testify to Christ fills my heart with pride. Even if I cannot see the unprecedented spectacle of the kingdom’s expansion, I will have no regrets or complaints, and will offer my best wishes. Even if I cannot see the day the kingdom is realized, today, being able to bear witness to humiliate Satan is enough for me” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). I know that the road ahead is filled with many hardships and obstacles, but no matter what trials and tribulations I will experience, or whether I will have a good future or destination, I will submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, fulfill my duty, and seek to live out these lyrics of this song in my daily life.