By Yangyang
In 2012, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. In May, 2016, I assumed the responsibility of handling general affairs in our church. In order to make it convenient for brothers and sisters’ pick-up and delivery, I rented a 30-square-meter space in the urban streets and ran a lingerie business. There were more than one hundred storefronts in this street, and all of them were makeshift houses.
At 5:00 p.m., May 13, I closed my shop and went home. At about 9:00 p.m., I heard a whistling from the fire engines. I didn’t think much about it, but turned on my MP5 player and listened to fellowship, sitting on the bed. Around 11:00 p.m., when I was listening suddenly there was a hurried knocking on the door. My heart churned at once: “It is so late. Who is knocking?” In my panic, I turned off my MP5 player and put it aside in a safe place, quickly threw on my clothes, and got to open the door, only to find my elder sister-in-law standing at the door. She said nervously, “Do you know your shop is on fire?” “What? It is on fire?” I replied in astonishment. She then asked me, “Are there any valuables in the shop?” Hearing this, my heart suddenly chilled with disappointment. For I remembered that many things of the church hadn’t been taken away and were still in my shop. It was my duty to keep the church things. If they were burned, then it would be totally due to my negligence in my duty! I said to her sadly, “Yes.” After hearing my words, she immediately turned away and ran toward the fire site. And I ran behind her, very nervous in heart, I prayed to God repeatedly, “God! May You protect the church things from being damaged.”
I had a hard time running to the site, and found it was swarming with people, fire engines and police cars were in the way. The policemen blocked the road with ribbons and didn’t allow anyone to enter the site. Not until then did I know that over one hundred stores had been burning for two hours. The embers were still fuming with thick smoke. At that time, I heard an old lady beside me complain, “Two fire engines have come, but neither carried water with them. They just have made a fruitless trip!” After hearing her words, I said angrily, “Didn’t these fire trucks come to fight the fire? What’s the point of them coming without water in them?” Some people around me also said with indignation, “Exactly right! What’s the use of these firefighters? Since they didn’t bring water in the trucks, they just stood there watching the fire burning.” Seeing their goods burned up by the big fire, some businessmen sank to the ground wailing bitterly. Seeing this, I began to develop a great hatred for the Chinese Communist Party government, for they simply didn’t take the property of ordinary people seriously. At that time, I thought the church things were still in my shop, and how badly they were burned was unknown to me. So I quickly climbed over the railings by the roadside, and tried to go to the site and have a look. But I carelessly got a long cut in the leg by the railings. At that moment, I just rushed toward my shopfront, totally ignoring the pain. Some other people also followed me, trying to have a look at their own stores, but we were all stopped by the police.
Seeing this scene, I felt as if a knife stabbed into my heart. I thought, “The fire is so big that the things in my shop must have been burned up. I haven’t taken good care of the church things. How could I give account to God?” While I was sad and in pain, the thought came to me, “There are church letters and the list of brothers and sisters’ names among the church things in my store. And if those things hadn’t been burned up and were discovered by the CCP police, it would bring danger to the brothers and sisters in our region, and all of them might be arrested by the CCP government. So, I must think of a way to get into my shop and take out those things ahead of the police.” Yet seeing the entrance was being closely guarded by those policemen, I sweated all over with worry. So I prayed to God in my heart silently, “O God! I don’t know what to do now. I want to take out those things, but the police don’t allow me to enter my shop. What should I do? O God! May You help me. No matter what the result is, I am willing to submit to Your arrangement.”
After praying, I suddenly remembered that there were stairs on the second floor of the building opposite to these simple houses. So I ran there hurriedly, intending to climb up the stairs and jump over the wall to get into the site, and take out those things. When arriving at the second floor, I saw dozens of people were there. They comforted me, “No need to watch. Those rooms have been burned out. At that time, the houses burned like a volcano, and burned very quickly. So whatever is inside would all have been burned up by the big fire. It’s of no use getting into your shop to have a look. The stairs were also destroyed by the fire. When I saw this scene, I felt rather sad and miserable. I prayed to God silently, “O God! Those things must have been burned up. It is because I haven’t treated my duty seriously. If I bring hidden danger to our church because of my transgressions, I’m willing to accept Your discipline, and moreover, I will submit to Your sovereignty and arrangement.” At this time, my elder brother came upstairs. He said to me, “I have a flashlight. Let’s go to the site and check it out.” So saying, he shone the flashlight around the site. By the light, I saw that the whole site had been turned into a mess and those houses had been burned down. Someone beside me said, “Stop looking at it! They all have been burned up.” While watching, I suddenly found a row of white things there. And after seeing them carefully, I found they were the row of buildings where my store was housed. And I saw that both the row of buildings in front of and behind ours were burned. I really didn’t dare to believe my eyes. How come the fire went around and avoided our row of houses? How miraculous it is! I said loudly in an agitated tone, “The row of buildings where my shop is located was not burned.” Then people around me talked in confusion, “How come that row of houses were not burned? The fire was so big that all houses must have been burned, no matter what kind they are of.” And one businessman said, “Ah, you were not on the spot at that moment. The fire grew so out of control as if oil was poured on it. At that time, when I saw the fierce fire was several rooms distant from my shop, I lost no time to salvage the goods from my shop. And the first time when I took out them and then turned my head, I found my shop was already burned out. It took only two minutes to burn out a row of nine shops.” My elder brother, with a flash light in hand, checked it out again, and said in a high voice happily, “It is real. That house was not burned.” When the surrounding crowds were still feeling confused, I pointed to my store and said in agitation, “Look! That house is still there in good condition.” At the sight of this, they exclaimed, “It is unbelievable that there should be unburned houses in such a big fire. The fire burned so miraculously. It just burned out the rows of buildings both front and back of theirs, leaving exactly the middle one unburned. It is really strange…”
I was so excited to see all of this, tears gushing from my eyes. I prayed to God silently in my heart, “O God! I’ve got it. Through this matter, You showed me Your authority and Your love. Your deeds are too wondrous. From now on, I will perform my duty faithfully and repay Your love!” And at that moment it occurred to me the words of “The Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life”, “When the earthquake occurs, the disaster won’t come down upon us. Never mind even if we are in the center of the earthquake, because we can gain God’s wondrous protection. Just as the Bible said, ‘A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.’ So, from this, we can see God’s omnipotence. This is the truth.”
As the police didn’t allow me to enter my shop, I had to go back home. And it was already 1:00 a.m. when I reached home. I knelt on the ground and prayed to God, “O God! It is because of Your protection that my shop was not burned. I have seen Your wondrous deeds. O God! I want to take out the church things from my shop, but I don’t want to bring hidden danger to my brothers and sisters. I hope You could lead me.” I stayed up all night, turning over how to take out those things from my shop. Then I went to the site at 5:00 a.m. again. But the police were closely guarding the site. I had to figure out a way to get into my shop with wisdom. When I was thinking about it, a policeman saw me walking toward the site, he said to me seriously, “Don’t get in. Everything inside has been burned out.” I said, “My shop was not burned out, and there is much money in it, so I want to go to get them.” The policeman said stiffly, “Even if there is much money there, you still can’t go in.” At the moment, a man who was responsible for street management said to the policeman, “If anything occurs, leave it to me. Let her go in.” I saw that God was making a way out for me through this person, and my heart was full of gratitude for God. Then I rushed toward my shop. I saw the white doors of this row of shopfronts had been burned brown by the fire, and were too out of shape to open, except the door of my shop, which was still white. That was because the outer sheet of tin of the front houses was warped and curled up, and it happened to protect my door. So, my door didn’t get burned at all. I opened the door, and saw that all kinds of lingerie on the shelves were in good condition, and the church things were not damaged at all; while other people’s goods were either damaged or burned up by the fire. At this moment, I thanked God in my heart repeatedly. Then I put the church things into my bag rapidly. Afraid that the police would search my bag, I hastened to the counter and put RMB 4,000 yuan above the church things to serve as a disguise. Afterward, the policeman also followed me into my shop, he said, “You should be grateful that your shop didn’t get burned.” I said firmly, “You are right. I am the lucky one. This is because of the protection of the Old Man in the Sky.”
At that period of time, the unbelievers always discussed about me whenever they met each other, saying that my house was not burned in that big fire, and that I was protected by the Old Man in the Sky. When I heard these words, I thanked God for protecting me even more. I will perform my duty faithfully to repay God’s love!
God said, “How do you know the authority of God? Is there a range to God’s authority? Is there a time limit? Can it be said to be a certain height, or a certain length? Can it be said to be a certain size or strength? Can it be measured by the dimensions of man? The authority of God does not flicker on and off, does not come and go, and there is no one who can measure just how great His authority is. … Each display of His authority is the perfect demonstration of the words from His mouth, which is demonstrated to all things, and to mankind. Furthermore, everything accomplished by His authority is exquisite beyond compare, and utterly flawless” (“God Himself, the Unique I” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “If mankind wishes to have a good fate, if a country wishes to have a good fate, then man must bow down to God in worship, repent and confess before God, or else the fate and destination of man will be an unavoidable catastrophe” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The incarnate Almighty God is the only true God who created the heavens and earth and all things, and controls and governs the universe. He is the appearance of the Creator, the Old Man in the Sky who descended to the mortal world, and is also the reappearance of the Redeemer! Through this experience of the fire, I have seen that God’s authority is everywhere, and that God will appear to those who sincerely believe in God, lively and vividly, regardless of whatever environment they are in, or whatever disasters befall them, they will always be protected by God! I have appreciated that only if we humans come to God and bow down before God and worship Him can we receive the care and protection of God, and have a good fate!
