Dong Mei
Henan Province
Henan Province
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| Bearing Testimony to God | Eastern Lightning |
I’m an ordinary person. In common life, like many people who thirsted for light, I had tried many ways to seek the true meaning of human life, so that my life could be meaningful, but in the end all that was in vain. Ever since I fortunately accepted Almighty God’s end-time work, my life had a wonderful change and began to become colorful. I understood that only God is the real supplier of man’s heart and life, and that only God’s word is the true meaning of human life. I was thankful that I had finally found the right way of human life. However, once in performing duty, I was illegally arrested by the CCP, and I suffered its inhuman tortures. Thus, I had a deeply ingrained life experience in my life journey….
It was one day in December 2011. At around 7 a.m., I was checking the church belongings with the other church leader. Over ten cops suddenly broke in. An evil cop rushed to us and roared, “Freeze!” At that sight, my head buzzed. I thought, “That’s bad! The church will suffer a great loss of property.” Then, the evil cops searched us like robbing bandits and began to rummage through every room. After a short time, the whole house was turned into a complete mess. In the end, they searched out some church belongings, three bank cards, some deposit receipts, a computer, some cell phones, and so on, and confiscated them all. After that, they took the four of us to the police station.
In the afternoon, the evil cops arrested another three sisters and took them there and locked the seven of us in a room. They didn’t allow us to speak or sleep at night. Seeing that several sisters were locked there, and thinking that the church suffered such a great loss of money, I was in a terrible stew then. I could only urgently pray to God, “O God! Encountering such an environment, I don’t know what to do. May you keep my heart quiet.” After the prayer, I thought of God’s words, “Do not be afraid. Such things happen in the church out of my permission. Stand up and speak for me. You should believe that all matters and all things are out of the permission of the throne and there is my will in them. …” (from “The Forty-first Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “Do you know that all the surrounding circumstances are permitted by me and arranged by me? See this clearly. Satisfy my heart in the circumstances that I have given you.” (from “The Twenty-sixth Piece of Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words calmed down my panic-stricken heart. I realized that today I encountered such an environment out of God’s permission, and that it was the time God asked me to bear testimony for him. After understanding God’s will, I prayed to God, “O God! I’m willing to obey your manipulation and arrangement and stand testimony for you. But I’m small in stature. May you give me faith and strength and keep me so that I can stand firm.”
The next morning, they interrogated us separately. The evil cop interrogating me said smugly, “I know you’re a church leader, because we’ve monitored you for five months….” Hearing his detailed description about the whole course of monitoring me, I drew in my breath, thinking, “In order to arrest us, the evil cops really made a great effort. Since they’ve known that I’m a church leader, they surely won’t let me off this time.” I immediately made a resolution before God, “I’d rather die than betray God and become a Judas.” Failing to get a result from the interrogation, they assigned their men to watch me, not allowing me to sleep.
When they interrogated me on the third day, the head of the evil cops turned on the computer and let me look at the materials of blaspheming God. Seeing me unaffected, he began to question me about the Church’s money. I turned my head aside and gave no response to him. He was so angry that he hurled abuses and threatened me fiercely, saying, “It doesn’t matter even if you tell nothing. We can imprison you indefinitely and torture you at any time!” Late at night, the evil cops began to torture me. They pulled one of my hands backward over my shoulder and the other backward behind my waist, and stomped on my back and forcefully pulled them together and handcuffed them. I screamed loudly from the pain, feeling as if the bones and flesh of my shoulders would be torn apart. I could only half kneel with my head against the floor and dared not move at all. I thought that my screams would soften their heart a little. But out of my expectation, they instead stuffed a cup under the handcuffs on my back, making my pain more acute. I felt as if the bones of my upper body were broken, and it was so painful that I dared not breathe and cold sweat kept flowing down my face. Just when I felt unbearably painful, an evil cop seized the opportunity to say, “As long as you speak one name, we’ll release you right away.” At that time, I called to God to keep my heart. Then I thought of a hymn of life experience, “God incarnate suffers, how much more should I, a corrupt man! If I yield to the influence of darkness, how can I face God? … I’d rather undergo all kinds of sufferings to heal his broken heart. …” (from “Waiting for the Good News from God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs) The hymn gave me strength, “Yes! The incarnated God has endured so many sufferings for saving us; how much more should I, a person most deeply corrupted by satan! If I yield to satan because of being unable to stand the pain, how can I face God again?” Thinking of that, I had strength in my heart and became strong. The evil cops tortured me for about an hour. When they unlocked my handcuffs, I felt limp all over and collapsed to the floor. They roared at me, “If you still don’t tell us, we’ll continue to handcuff you behind your back!” I took a glance at them and gave no response. I bitterly hated this gang of evil cops in my heart! Then, an evil cop came up to handcuff me behind my back. Thinking of the tearing pain just now, I prayed to God unceasingly in my heart. Unexpectedly, when the evil cop pulled my hands backward, he couldn’t pull them anyway. And I didn’t feel much pain in my hands. He was sweating tired but still failed, so he said angrily, “You have so much strength!” I knew that God was caring for me and gave me strength. Thank God!
I had a hard time holding on till dawn. Thinking back to the scene of the evil cops torturing me, I still had a lingering fear. Additionally, the evil cops also threatened me that if I didn’t tell them, they would take me to a deep mountain forest to shoot me, and that in the future when they arrested the brothers and sisters, they would say that I had betrayed the church, thereby ruining my reputation and making the brothers and sisters hate and reject me. Thinking of all that, I felt forlorn and helpless and couldn’t help becoming timid and weak. I thought, “I’d better just die. That way, I won’t become a Judas and betray God, and I won’t be rejected by the brothers and sisters either. Moreover, I will be spared the sufferings of being physically tortured.” So when the evil cops watching me weren’t paying attention, I quickly slammed my head against the wall with all my strength. As a result, I only knocked myself dizzy, but I didn’t die. Then, in a timely manner, God’s words inspired me within, “…in the last days, you should bear testimony for God. No matter how great the sufferings, you should walk to the end. Even if you have just one breath left, you should be faithful to God and submit to God’s manipulation. This is truly loving God, and this is a strong and resounding testimony.” (from “Only After Experiencing Painful Trials Will One Know that God Is Lovely” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) “When others misunderstand you, you can pray to God, ‘God! I do not wish that others would tolerate me, nor do I wish that others would forgive me. I only wish that I could love you in my heart, feel steady in my heart, and have peace in my conscience. I do not wish that others would compliment me or think highly of me. I only pursue to satisfy you from my heart. …’” (from “Only Through Experiencing Refining Will One Have a True Love” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words dispelled the haze in my heart, “Yes! God wants those who have the will, who can bear testimony for him before satan, and who can hold on to the end and submit to his manipulation no matter what great sufferings they undergo. Moreover, God searches man’s heart and mind. If the evil cops frame me, even if the brothers and sisters really misunderstand and reject me because of not knowing the fact, I believe there is God’s good purpose and that God is testing my faith and love and I should pursue to satisfy God.” After seeing through the devil’s scheme, I suddenly felt very ashamed. I saw that my faith in God was too little. Suffering only a little, I couldn’t stand my ground and wanted to die to escape and break free from God’s manipulation. Once man stays away from God, he’ll live in darkness. The purpose of the evil cops saying threatening words was to make me betray God. If not for God’s keeping, I would have fallen into their scheme. Pondering God’s words, I was brightened in my heart. I no longer thought about dying. I would try my best to live and bear testimony for God with my practical living out to shame satan.
The two evil cops watching me asked why I ran into the wall. I said that some cops beat me. One of them said to me smilingly, “We focus mainly on educating you. Trust me. From now on, I won’t let them beat you anymore.” Hearing his comforting words, I thought, “These two people are not bad. They have been kind to me since I was arrested until now.” So I relaxed my vigilance. Just then, God’s words came to my mind, “My people should guard against satan’s schemes all the time, and guard the gate of my house for me … lest you fall into its trap, when it is too late to regret.” (from “The Third Piece of Word” of God’s Utterance to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words reminded me in a timely manner, so that I realized that the devils were full of wiles and I should guard against them all the time. Unexpectedly, they showed their true colors very soon. One of them began to speak words of slandering God, while the other sat beside me, patting my thigh and ogling at me, and tried to draw information about the Church’s money out of me. When he saw that I dozed off at night, he felt my breasts wildly. Seeing that they showed their true face, I was indignant. Only then did I see that those so-called “people’s police” were purely some hoodlums and tyrants! They actually did such base and sordid things! So, I could only pray to God urgently, asking God to keep me from their affliction.
In the several days that followed, the evil cops not only questioned me about the things of the church, but took turns watching me, not allowing me to sleep. Later, when the two evil cops interrogating me saw that I always kept silent, they became exasperated. One of them began to beat me fiercely, slapping both sides of my face countless times. My face turned from painful to swollen and finally numb, without any feeling. Failing to get anything from me, one night, the head of the evil cops roared at me, “You’re too tight-lipped! You test my fucking patience! I don’t believe I can’t subdue you. I’ve seen many people tougher than you. If we aren’t really harsh on you, you won’t be fucking subdued!” At his command, several evil cops began to “serve me with severe tortures.” The interrogation room at night was ghastly and horrible. I felt as if I were in hell. They ordered me to squat on the floor and moved my handcuffed hands from my knees to my feet. And then, they put a stick between the bends of my arms and the bends of my legs, so that my whole body was curled up. They lifted up both ends of the stick and put them on two desks, hanging me with my head downward and my whole body in the air. The moment I was hung up, I felt dizzy and had difficulty in breathing, feeling as if I would suffocate. As I was hung upside down in the air, my entire weight was focused on my wrists. At the beginning, to keep the teeth of the handcuffs from sticking into my wrists, I crossed my hands tightly and curled myself up, and tried hard to keep such a posture. Gradually I was exhausted. My hands slipped from my ankles to my knees, and the teeth of the handcuffs stuck deep into my flesh, making me feel a heart-piercing pain. After I was hung for about half an hour, I felt that all my blood seemed to rush to my head, and that my head and eyes gradually became swollen and painful as if they would burst. There were gashes on my wrists, and my hands were swollen like bread. I felt that I was dying, so I cried desperately, “I can’t stand it! Put me down!” An evil cop said fiercely, “No one can save you but you yourself. As long as you speak one name, we’ll release you.” In the end, seeing that I was really dying, they put me down. After giving me a dose of glucose, they continued to question me. Weak and limp, I collapsed to the floor and ignored them with my eyes tightly closed. Unexpectedly, those evil cops again hung me up. At that time, my hands no longer had the strength to cross tightly, so I could only let the teeth of the handcuffs stick deep into my wrists. The teeth tore the flesh of my wrists. At that moment, I screamed heartrendingly from the pain. I no longer had the strength to struggle, and only had a very faint breath. Time seemed to have stopped at that moment. I felt as if I was lingering on the verge of death. I thought that I might really die that time, so I wanted to pour out my heart to God before my life ended, “O God! Now when I really face death, I’m still afraid. However, even if I die tonight, I’ll still praise your righteousness. O God! In my short life journey, I thank you for selecting me from this evil world and bringing me to your family, so that instead of wandering on the wrong path, I have been living in your warm bosom. O God! I’ve enjoyed so much of your love. But at this moment, when my life is about to end, I find that I haven’t treasured your love. Many times I grieved and disappointed you. Like an ignorant child, I only knew to enjoy the mother’s love, but never thought about repaying it. When I’m losing my life, I know I should treasure it, and I regret that I’ve wasted so much precious time. At this time, what I feel most regretful is that I haven’t done anything for you and I’ve been too indebted to you. If I can get out alive, I’ll surely try my best to perform duty and make up for my indebtedness to you. At this moment, I only wish you to give me strength, so that I’ll no longer fear death and can face it strongly….” Tears rolled down my forehead drop by drop. The night was terrifyingly quiet. Only the clock ticking could be heard, as if it were recording the countdown to my life. Just then, a miraculous thing happened. I felt as if the sunshine was warming me, and gradually I no longer felt the pain from my body. God’s words resounded in my mind, “From the time you came crying into this world, you began to perform your duty, playing your role for the sake of God’s plan and God’s ordination and beginning your life journey. No matter what your background is and no matter what your journey ahead will be, in any case, no man can escape from the manipulation and arrangement of Heaven, and no man can control his own destiny, because only the One, who rules over all things, can do such a work.” (from “God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) Yes! God is the source of my life, and God rules over my destiny. So I should commit myself into God’s hand and submit to God’s manipulation. Pondering God’s words, I felt so joyful and peaceful in my heart, as if lying in God’s warm bosom. Unknowingly I fell asleep. Fearing that I might die, the evil cops put me down and hastily gave me glucose and water. In that experience of my brush with death, I saw God’s wonderful deed.
The next day, the evil cops repeatedly hung me the whole night, questioning me about the whereabouts of the Church’s money on the receipts they confiscated. I kept silent the whole time. But they were still unwilling to give up. To get the Church’s money, they used various base means to torture me. Then, God’s words resounded in my heart, “The hatred of the ages is kept in heart; the evil of all ages is borne in heart. How could this not arouse people’s hatred? Avenge God, and exterminate this enemy of God thoroughly. How dare it be rampant, and how dare it kick and run amuck frantically! Now is the time. People have long readied all their strength to consecrate all the effort and all the price to this, tearing up the ugly face of this devil, and causing those who are blinded and suffer hardships and afflictions to rise up from the miseries and rebel against this old devil!” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words gave me great faith and strength: I’ll fight against satan to the death, and even if I have to die, I’ll stand testimony for God. Under the encouragement of God’s words, I forgot my pain unconsciously. Just like that, every time they hung me, it was God’s words that encouraged me and gave me power. So the more they hung me, the more clearly I saw their devilish substance, and the more it stirred up my will to stand testimony to satisfy God. Finally, they were all exhausted and remarked, “An ordinary person can’t stand it if hung like this for half an hour. She has been hung for such a long time but she’s still all right. She’s really tough!” Hearing those words, I was extremely excited. I thought, “With God as my rear guard, you can’t destroy me.” During the nine days and nights in the police station, they not only cruelly tortured me, but didn’t allow me to sleep. Once I closed my eyes and dozed off, they would strike the desk violently with a stick, or order me to stand up and run, or shout at me loudly, attempting to exhaust me and make me break down. Nine days later, seeing that they failed to achieve their purpose, the evil cops still didn’t give up. Then, they took me to a hotel, moved my handcuffed hands from my knees to my feet, and then put a stick between the bends of my arms and the bends of my legs, making me sit curled on the floor. In the several days that followed, they kept me sitting on the floor in such a posture. Thus the teeth of the handcuffs stuck into my flesh. My hands and wrists became dark purple and swollen, and my hips were too painful to touch, as if sitting on needles. One day, seeing that the interrogation never had any results, a head of the evil cops exasperatedly walked to me and slapped my face violently, causing two of my teeth to become loose.
In the end, two chiefs from the Provincial Public Security Bureau came. As soon as they came in, they unlocked my handcuffs, helped me sit on the sofa, and poured me a cup of water and said hypocritically, “You’ve suffered these days. They were just acting on instructions. Please don’t take those things to heart….” Seeing those evil cops’ hypocrisy, I gnashed my teeth with hatred. Then, they tried to persuade me with the words in the Bible, showed me the false evidences on the computer, and said many words of condemning and blaspheming God. I was boiling with anger and really wanted to argue with them. But I knew doing that could only cause them to blaspheme God more frenziedly. At that moment, I truly felt God incarnate has endured so great sufferings and that God has suffered so many humiliations for saving man, and I even more saw that the devil is hateful and base. I swore in my heart, “I’ll thoroughly break with satan and be faithful to God forever!” Later, no matter how they enticed me, I just kept silent. Seeing that their persuasion was futile, the two chiefs had to leave angrily.
During the ten days and nights in the hotel, they had me handcuffed the whole time, making me squat on the floor hugging my legs. In retrospect, since I was arrested, from the police station to the hotel, in the nineteen days and nights, except for a nap I had because of the keeping of God’s love, the evil cops never allowed me to sleep. As long as I closed my eyes, they would use various means such as, striking the desk violently, kicking me hard, shouting at me loudly, and ordering me to run. Every time I was frightened, my heart trembled suddenly, and I was under great mental tension. Additionally, the evil cops tortured me constantly. Finally, I was completely worn out, and my whole body was swollen and uncomfortable. And I had double vision. I knew people in front of me were speaking, but their voice sounded like it came from the distant horizon. Moreover, my reaction became very slow. In such a situation, I actually went through it. It was completely God’s great power! Just as God’s words say, “He causes men to be born again and causes men to live tenaciously in their respective roles. By his power and by his never-quenching life force, men have lived for generation after generation, while the power of God’s life has been supporting among them consistently. … God’s life force can vanquish all power and even more surpass all power. His life is perpetual, and his power is transcendent. No created being and no hostile force can overpower his life force.” (from “Only the Last Christ Can Bestow to Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) I uttered my heart-felt thanks and praises to God from my heart, “O God! You rule over all things! Your deeds are immeasurable! Only you are almighty. You’re the never-quenching life force, and you’re the spring of living water of my life. In this special environment, I’ve seen your unique power and authority!” In the end, failing to get anything from me, the evil cops sent me to the detention house.
On the way there, two cops said to me, “You’re really something! Even if in the detention house, you people are good ones. There’re various people such as drug traffickers, murderers, prostitutes there. When you get there and have a look, you’ll know it.” I asked them, “Since you know that we are good people, why do you still arrest us? Doesn’t the state proclaim freedom of belief?” They said, “The CCP cheats you by claiming that. We live off the CCP, so we have to work for it. We have no animosity against you. We arrest you just because you believe in God.” Hearing their words and recalling all that I experienced, I couldn’t help thinking of God’s words, “The freedom of religious belief, the legal rights and interests of citizens, and whatever are all the tricks to cover up its crimes!” (from “Work and Entering In (8)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words are penetrating and helped me see clearly in my experience the CCP government’s true face of deceiving the public to win credit. Outwardly it carries the banner of freedom of belief, but secretly it arrests, suppresses, and afflicts believers in God and seizes and loots the Church’s money everywhere, which thoroughly exposes its devilish substance of being guilty of the most heinous crimes.
During those days in the detention house, I was once weak and distressed. But God’s words always encouraged me, giving me faith and strength, so I understood that though satan deprived me of my physical freedom, the affliction built me up. It made me learn to rely on God in the devils’ cruel tortures, understand the true meaning of many truths, and see the preciousness of the truth, and it caused me to have a stronger will and power to pursue the truth. I was willing to obey and experience all that God arranged for me. So when I worked in the detention house, I sang hymns and silently thought about God’s love, feeling that my heart was close to God, and no longer felt that the days were miserable and unbearable.
During that period, the evil cops interrogated me several more times. I thanked God for leading me to overcome the evil cops’ cruel tortures time after time. Later, the evil cops took out all the money on my three bank cards. Seeing that the Church’s money was taken away by the evil cops, I felt as if a knife were being twisted in my heart. I bitterly hated this group of greedy and evil devils from my heart, and even more hoped that Christ’s kingdom would descend sooner. Finally, without any evidence, they sentenced me to one year and three months of hard labor on the charge of “disturbing the social order.”
Having experienced the CCP government’s cruel persecution, I truly experienced God’s love and salvation for me, tasted God’s almightiness, sovereignty, and wonderful deeds, saw the authority and power of God’s word, and even more had true hatred for satan. In those days of my being persecuted, it was God’s words that had been accompanying me through those unbearable days and nights. God’s words made me see through satan’s scheme and became my timely keeping; God’s words made me become strong and courageous and overcome the cruel tortures time and again; God’s words gave me faith and strength, so I had the courage to fight against satan…. Thank God! Almighty God is the truth, the way, and the life! I’ll follow Almighty God to the end!
From in "The Overcomers’ Testimonies" | Eastern Lightning
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