By Yang Chen
At the end of 2009, I accepted God’s work of the last days. Although I knew believing in God is a good thing, I believed “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing.” I thought people could not live in the world without money. I was always busy making money, and rarely read God’s words. My participation in the church life was off and on. It was not until I experienced a terrifying fire that I changed my point of view.
I am the director in the kitchen of a hotel and one of the shareholders of it. At about 8 pm on August 14th, 2011 of Chinese traditional calendar, I was in the hotel lobby discussing the work with my colleagues. Suddenly, I saw the kitchen staff ran out of the hotel in panic and shouted: “The kitchen is on fire! Move! Everyone, quickly run! Hurry!” Seeing this, there was no time for me to think. I ran back into the kitchen and was shocked by the scene in front of me: The whole kitchen was filled with heavy smoke. The tongues of flames were raging. From time to time the noise of the wires crackling could be heard. Before I came to myself, I heard someone shouting at me: “Run! There are three liquefied gas tanks!” My heart was more anxious: What am I supposed to do? I saw there was a gas tank close to the point of the fire. If it could not be taken out in time and exploded, I could not afford the loss even with bankruptcy! If an accident happened because of the explosion, causing heavy casualties, I would even have the risk of going to jail! My life would be done completely! Thinking of this, I was distraught. But I could not consider so much. Quickly I took a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. But who knew the fire extinguisher could not be used when opened. I gnashed my teeth in anger. This society nowadays was too evil! People just went against their conscience to make money. The expensive fire extinguisher bought from the fire station could not work at the crucial moment. This was totally a rip-off! It was a critical situation. Without much thought, I quickly put on the workwear, covered my nose with a wet towel and put another one on my head and bent into the kitchen. I first removed the pipe of the gas tank near the fire and wanted to carry the tank out on my shoulders. However, since the kitchen lines were being burnt, the wires sparked from time to time and the smoke was pungent, I couldn’t breathe well. Helplessly, I could only drag the gas tank with one hand moving on the ground with difficulty. After just moving less than five meters, I was out of breath already. I feared that pulling the tank could cause a big explosion, and was concerned that the kitchen wires might have a short circuit. Besides, there was water on the ground, which could conduct electricity. But what scared me the most was that the entire kitchen was flooded with flames and the other two tanks could also explode at any time. The fire had already spread to the roof and could not be controlled. I was limp out of fear, feeling death approaching me step by step. At that moment, how I longed for someone to help me, someone who could save me. But in such a big fire, who would risk their lives to save me? At this point, I didn’t have any strength to struggle. Time passed in seconds, and the kitchen was completely ruined by the fire. While the fire was getting fiercer and fiercer, I was extremely frightened, and my breath was fainter and fainter. I thought I was finished, completely finished. It seemed that I could never walk out of the kitchen and see tomorrow’s sun. Just when I was in desperation, I suddenly remembered I believed in God. At that moment, I felt like I had grabbed a life-saving straw, and quickly and eagerly called out to God in my heart: “God, God, please help me! Save me! I used to chase after money. I did not truly believe in You. I really do not deserve to come to You. Now I’m in a fire and extremely scared, but I believe You are the almighty God, and that everything is in Your hands. Whether the three gas tanks will explode or not is in Your hands. I completely commit my life to You. No matter if I live or die, it is all Your righteousness. I will obey without any complaints.” After that prayer, I felt not so much panic. I tried to pull the gas tank and move forward slowly. All of a sudden I felt a power supporting me. My body had strength again. When I moved to the door of the kitchen, I could never expect that a dozen staff actually came to the kitchen with extinguishers to put out the fire. In front of this scene, my heart was full of gratitude. Thank God for listening to my prayer. He let me see His miraculous salvation at the moment of life and death!
After the fire was extinguished, the staff said: “Oh my! You’re a lucky man! If any of the gas tanks had exploded, you’d have died. You are truly blessed by the heavens!” I was so grateful to God in my heart, knowing that it was due to God’s compassion and His keeping that I survived this fire. At this moment, a passage of God’s words appeared in my mind: “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”). It is true! God is the Sovereign of all things in the universe. Every and all things, living or dead, are under God’s orchestration, and everyone’s thoughts are in God’s hand. When I fell into despair and truly prayed to and relied on God, God gave me strength, and arranged for the staff to rescue me and put out the fire in time, giving me the chance to survive and letting me realize God’s faithfulness and His almightiness and sovereignty.
Though I accepted God’s work in the last days, I always followed the evil trend of society and lived by Satan’s absurd theory of “Money is not everything, but without it, you can do nothing.” Carried away by this thought, I saw money as my goal of life. Step by step I turned away from God, betrayed God, and almost lost my life! Even if I earned lots of money, it seemed so hollow in the face of death, without even the slightest meaning! At this moment I saw the sinister intention and ugly face of Satan. At the same time, I saw that I was corrupted too deeply by Satan and was too pitiful. I was so disobedient and corrupt, but God did not treat me by my transgressions. When my life was hanging by a thread, He arranged for people to save me. I really did not deserve to be saved by God. Facing the true love of God, I especially felt regret in my heart, and was full of gratitude to God!
Having experienced this fire, I was completely awakened: Money will come and go, which only brings temporary enjoyment to our flesh. Apart from this, it can neither bring us a good fate nor save our life. It only makes us more and more degenerate, getting farther and farther away from God and going onto a path of no return. As Lord Jesus said: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
Thank God for reversing my erroneous point of view. Now I live contently with clothing and food, and have begun to take an active part in the church life. I have been doing my duty in the church as a creature, and I have felt an unprecedented release and freedom in my heart. I would like to pursue the truth and live a meaningful life.
Thank God for His salvation!
