Christian Skit "Gathering in a Cowshed" | It's So Hard for Christians in China to Believe in God

Christian Skit "Gathering in a Cowshed" | It's So Hard for Christians in China to Believe in God

Currently, the atheist CCP government's persecution of Christians is increasing by the day. Believers are facing restrictions on practicing their faith at every turn; they can't even find a place to gather in peace. Left with no other choice, Liu Xiumin can only host a gathering with her brothers and sisters in her cowshed. But while they are gathering, village cadres come one after another to look around, making various excuses, and then even bring the CCP police in…. Will Liu Xiumin and her brothers and sisters be able to successfully hold their gathering? Will they be discovered? Will they be arrested? This short sketch Gathering in a Cowshed reveals for you how Christians in China manage to persist in their faith under the persecution of the CCP government. Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God was created because of the appearance and work of Almighty God, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, Christ of the last days. It is made up of all those who accept Almighty God's work in the last days and are conquered and saved by His words. It was entirely founded by Almighty God personally and is led by Him as the Shepherd. It was definitely not created by a person. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. God's sheep hear God's voice. As long as you read the words of Almighty God, you will see God has appeared.

Going Astray and Finding the Way

Xiaobing    Xuanzhou City, Anhui Province

“That which you are enjoying today is the very thing which is ruining your future, whereas the pain you are suffering today is the very thing that is protecting you. You must be clearly aware of that so as to keep away from the hook of temptation and to avoid entering the dense fog that blocks out the sun.” Every time I sing this song of God’s word “Enjoying Fleshly Comforts Will Ruin Your Future,” I think of time after time when I tested and betrayed God, and I feel both endless remorse and incredible gratitude.

In 1997, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, and before long I had enthusiastically thrown myself into the work of spreading the gospel and had set my determination that in front of God, I would expend myself for Him without constraints in order to satisfy His heart. But as God’s work changed, when God’s work was not in line with my own conceptions and my desires were not fulfilled, my “devotion” to God then disappeared without a trace and my nature of betraying God was fully exposed.

There was one day in 1999 when I was returning home after a trip to carry out my duty, and I ran into an old classmate who I hadn’t seen in years. I saw his suit and tie, his cellphone—head to toe, he looked very well-off. I was incredibly envious; by contrast, I looked so shabby. A few days later, something my grandmother said once again hit that sore spot: “You’re not working and earning money now—aren’t you holding yourself back? Who would think anything of you without money? Look at your classmate, going out and earning so much money, buying all sorts of things … but what about you? You have nothing!” Suddenly, I envisioned that particular air my classmate had. I felt miserable and really wanted to crawl into a little hole! Then my grandmother said: “The hanging scroll factory your uncle runs happens to need people and he wanted you to work there.” I blurted out: “Okay! I’ll go!” That night, I lay awake tossing and turning, racked by these thoughts: Am I really going to earn money? What if I fall into temptation and can’t extricate myself? But because of my own vanity and the enticement of money as well as an actual predicament, I began to doubt God’s words. I thought: It can’t be that earning a little money will make it hard for me to extricate myself. … After a struggle, I was still unable to resist the temptation of money, so I comforted myself with this: “It doesn’t matter; after I’ve earned a little money and changed the situation, I’ll definitely put everything into fulfilling my duty. I won’t be like worldly people who can never get enough money.” So, the next day I went to the hanging scroll factory.

When I first started, I was working and leading the life of the church. I frequently reminded myself: I cannot turn my back on God! But I gradually sank lower and began to feel bored with eating and drinking the word of God. I didn’t want to see my brothers and sisters. Even though at every gathering I said that money was not as important as life, as soon as I went back to the factory, I became very busy without thinking about it. Sometimes I even numbed myself by working constantly so that I was too preoccupied to think of the extraordinary, once-in-a-millennium calamity that God has prepared. It was thus that I came to prefer leading an empty life like worldly people and was unwilling to seek the true beautiful life in God’s words.

Later, at a gathering, I felt a sudden pain in my stomach as if I had been hit by a hammer. I really couldn’t bear it, and I went into the bedroom to lie down. But it didn’t stop—I was rolling around on the bed in pain. When my brothers and sisters saw what was happening, they rushed to take me to the hospital, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. My brothers and sisters advised me to look into myself, but not only did I not reflect on myself, but I believed even more that it wasn’t okay to not have money. I thought: “What if one day I get seriously ill, and I die because I don’t have money for treatment?” For that reason, I started to resent that my monthly salary at the hanging scroll factory was only 400 yuan and decided to go back home and throw myself into my career. So I borrowed 6,000 yuan and started a hanging scroll factory. But in order to avoid the calamity of the last days, I held on to my money in one hand and the truth in the other, letting go of neither. Who would have known that six months later, not only had I not made any money, but with interest I owed over 10,000 yuan. I lost my reason then, and complained to God: “Oh God, You won’t bless me with making money, but You shouldn’t let me lose money! Why would I have the will to follow You when You do this? Even if I am wrong, You should be understanding of my weaknesses! …” At that moment, I was dazzled by money and God didn’t have even the smallest place in my heart; I didn’t realize at all that God’s righteous disposition was upon me. I remained unrepentant; I actually betrayed God again, leaving the church to go learn to be a hairstylist. I immersed myself in sin and forgot about God entirely.

That was until one day when I was riding my bicycle to go meet my father. I got to the top of a rise, and suddenly a mean dog ran from the side of the road, lunging at me ferociously. I rode as hard as I could, flying down the slope, but the dog was still close behind, baring its teeth and barking. I was so frightened I was trembling from head to toe. I was in a cold sweat and lifted both of my feet up high. With a thud, I came tumbling off the bike onto the road, which was covered in sharp rocks. I rolled and rolled into the ditch next to the road, then finally stopped. I couldn’t move my legs, my hands were numb, and I was in a panic. I thought: What if this makes me disabled? What if something terrible is to happen? I endured the pain and lay in the ditch, hoping my father would return home soon. Finally, my father came back and, seeing me looking so beat up, asked me what had happened. Not knowing if I should laugh or cry, I said: “I was scared by the dog!” “Strange! The dog doesn’t bite anyone else, why would it bite you?” In the end, my father made a Herculean effort and finally got me out of the ditch and onto the bicycle, and pushed me home. Lying in bed, I could not help but think of my father’s words again: “Strange! The dog doesn’t bite anyone else, why would it bite you?” Suddenly, I saw the light and thanked God! I thought: This fall has rolled me into an awakening! If I had rolled to my death today after falling or had been bitten by the dog and died, then no matter how much money I have earned, what use would it be? The more I thought about it, the more scared I was, and all of a sudden, I thought of God’s words: “Is the world really your place of rest? Could you really attain a smile of relief from the world through your avoidance of My chastisement? … I advise you: better to sincerely spend half your life for Me than your whole life in mediocrity and busywork for the flesh, enduring all the suffering a man could hardly bear. What purpose would it serve to treasure yourself so much as to flee from My chastisement? What purpose would it serve to hide yourself from My momentary chastisement only to reap an eternity of embarrassment, an eternity of chastisement? I will not, in fact, bend anyone to My will. If a man is really willing to submit to all My plans, I would not treat him poorly. But I require that all people believe in Me …” (“What a Real Man Means” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Maybe you have complained in the past, but no matter how much you have complained God does not remember that about you. Today has come and there is no reason to look into yesterday’s matters” (“Genuine Love for God Is Spontaneous” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At that time, a feeling of gratitude welled up in my heart. Mankind’s lives are all in God’s hands, and it is Almighty God that has given me life. But at that point how could I have the nerve to return to the church! I was full of regret and hated that I had been possessed to betray God. Not only could I not bear witness for God in the environment He had created for me, but I had also tried to reason with God and complained, and I had followed my flesh into evil-doing with Satan. When I thought of myself testing God’s disposition, disregarding His existence, His searching eyes upon mankind, and His discipline, and time after time that I had brazenly, shamelessly tried to reason with God, I couldn’t help but shed tears of remorse. In spite of the pain, I knelt on the bed and prayed to God: “Almighty God! I am too rebellious. I believed in You but doubted You, believed in You but distanced myself from You. I simply did not treat You as God; I really should be damned! Based on my actions today, I should have been bitten to death by that dog. Because You do not allow one person to serve two Lords, and You particularly do not allow someone to believe in You but not keep You in their heart. Only today did I see that without You I am so pathetic. I was living in filth but did not feel disgust, and didn’t feel that I was being fooled by Satan. Oh God! I am willing to give myself up to You entirely. I beg You to have mercy on me again, to protect my heart, to allow my heart to return to You. After my injuries have healed, I will leave the hair salon and throw myself into the work of the gospel to fulfill the duty of a creation, to repay Your love, to comfort Your heart, and to no longer preoccupy myself for money or rush about for the sake of the flesh.”

I thank the love of Almighty God; He used chastisement and judgment to save me once again from sin, to allow me to find my way back from going astray, to pursue a life with meaning, with value. The love of Almighty God truly is broad and profound; it leaves me unable to describe it with words. I am willing to set this determination in front of God: Starting from today, I will no longer turn my back on God; I will follow Him closely until the end to repay the God that loves mankind as His own flesh and blood!

The “Rural” Mom Meets the “Urban” Daughter-in-Law

Liu Jie, Hunan

Different Viewpoints, Constant Conflicts

I am a typical housewife, a good wife and a loving mother, I take good care of my husband and children, I’m hardworking and thrifty in running my household, and I’ve never recklessly spent my money. But something unimaginable happened to me. My son married a fashionable girl who really loved to have fun and dress up and follow the trends of the world. She pursued and purchased whatever was popular in the world, she threw away money by the handful, and however much she made each month was however much she spent. Since there was such a huge difference in our ways of thinking and living, my daughter-in-law and I often would be at loggerheads, we got into angry arguments, and our problems continued to get more and more intense.

One day I saw my daughter-in-law come in carrying a bag, so I hurried over to ask her what she had bought, and how much money she had spent. She lit up and said: “I bought a dress, it wasn’t expensive, just 400-something yuan.” When I heard this, I got extremely angry: How could she be so relaxed, she was acting like she was someone with a lot of money. When I buy a dress, it’s less than 100 yuan, and I wear it for several years. However, the clothes she bought were expensive, and once they became outdated she’d stop wearing them, while her wardrobe got stuffed full of clothes; the more I thought about it the angrier I got, and it started to wear on my face. When my daughter-in-law saw that I wasn’t happy, it wiped the smile off of her face, she turned around and walked into her bedroom, and I heard the sound of the door slamming shut.

Advice Unheeded, Distance Widening

Later on, whenever I saw her get back from shopping, I would scold her: “Lili, look at our family, we are not very well-off, soon your child will be grown up, and then there will be lots of things we will need to spend money on, so we cannot keep on spending money so recklessly. If we have clothes and shoes that fit, then that’s good enough; we can’t continue throwing away money like this. You need to consider your future.” But my daughter-in-law responded by saying she and my son knew how to live their lives and said that I needn’t worry too much about it. Seeing that she didn’t understand where I was coming from made me feel full of resentment toward her, and we would often get into disagreements over these things. Later on, when she returned from another one of her shopping trips, she avoided me, taking advantage of me not paying attention. She stepped quietly into her room and didn’t come out until after she had hidden her things away. After I found this out I got very upset, but I knew that it would be of no use to speak of it, all I could do was turn a blind eye and put up with it. But as time went on I really couldn’t bear it, and I would often whine to my son. It was difficult for my son, who was wedged in between us, and one day he unexpectedly asked me: “Ma, when Lili goes shopping she doesn’t ask you for money, so why do you mind so much?” Seeing that my son was also on her side I felt especially hurt and saddened inside. I got so angry that I ignored them for several days. But afterward my daughter-in-law carried on as if nothing ever happened, which made me even angrier.

With the Word of God Leading the Way, I Found the Root of the Problem

One day, when my son told my daughter-in-law that they were going to go to his coworker’s house to eat, she went to her room to put on makeup, and after an hour went by she still hadn’t come downstairs. Seeing her like this, I came up and angrily lectured her: “Every time you put on makeup for so long, it really is a waste of time! I’ve never worn makeup in my entire life, and I’ve managed to get by, and I don’t look any uglier than other people, I just go with my natural look.” When my daughter-in-law heard me say this she started fighting with me, and I got so angry that I wanted to immediately leave the house and live on my own, away from her. I thought to myself: “What I can’t see can’t hurt me.” But I looked at my son and granddaughter and knew that I couldn’t be so heartless, so I was forced to abandon this plan. But the resentment I held in my heart for my daughter-in-law grew deeper and deeper, and we would often get in fights over small things. We were not keeping a peaceful home.

Living in this kind of a quarrelsome household made me feel very tired and bitter, so I thought that as a believer in God, I was revealing my corrupt disposition in quarreling with my daughter-in-law like this all day long and that it didn’t conform to the will of God. In my suffering all I could do was pray to God: “Oh God! I know that I shouldn’t argue over trivial matters with my daughter-in-law, but I just can’t help it. Oh God! I’m asking You to enlighten me, please get me to understand how to treat my daughter-in-law in a way that conforms to Your will, I am willing to practice the truth in order to satisfy You.” After praying to God, I opened up the word of God, and read where God says: “What do social trends include? (Style of clothing and makeup.) This is something people often come into contact with. Clothing style, fashion, and trends, this is a small aspect” (“God Himself, the Unique V” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “For man who is not of sound body and mind, who never knows what is truth, who cannot tell the difference between positive and negative things, these kinds of trends one after another make them all willingly accept these trends, the life view, the life philosophies and values that come from Satan. They accept what Satan tells them on how to approach life and the way to live that Satan ‘bestows’ on them. They have not the strength, neither do they have the ability, much less the awareness to resist” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through the revelation of the word of God I finally understood this: The trend of the world is a means for Satan to corrupt man. Satan takes advantage of social trends to control us and dupe us, it teaches us all kinds of erroneous viewpoints such as, “The love for attractiveness is native to humans,” “Clothes make the man, a saddle makes the horse,” and “Seize the day for pleasure, for life is short.” Once these mistaken viewpoints enter into our minds, we believe that: our lives ought to be about pursuing beauty and paying attention to how we dress, and this is natural and normal. How you dress is a symbol that proves your status and worth; if you wear pretty and fashionable things and put makeup on to make yourself pretty, then you will not be outcast by society, then you will be valued by others; if not, you will be disparaged and looked down upon by others. Because of this mistaken viewpoint we unwittingly get swept up and carry on in evil trends. Looking at society today, it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, everyone keeps up with the latest fashion and chases current trends, everyone wants to wear extravagant clothing and pretty themselves up with makeup, whoever is on the front-line at a given time is who is chased after by everyone, and no one believes that this is a negative thing stemming from Satan; on the contrary, they are under the impression that pursuing these things is reasonable and as it should be. My daughter-in-law doesn’t believe in God, she does not understand the truth, she doesn’t have discernment, so how can she not be affected by living her life under these kinds of circumstances? She has a love of beauty, she loves to dress up, and she loves to waste her money because she is affected, influenced and corrupted by Satan’s evil trends. To be spurred on by these kinds of evil trends makes her especially vain, she is always comparing herself to others, and she believes that the clothes and makeup she wears is her bargaining chip for raising her self-worth. Really, my daughter-in-law is without the freedom to act independently. By coming to understand these things I came to find the root of the problem, and I felt that everything had suddenly become clear.

Afterward, I came before God and pray: “Oh God! I am willing to let go of my prejudices toward my daughter-in-law. May You guide me so that I can put myself aside and do and view things in accordance with Your word.” From then on, whenever I saw my daughter-in-law spent money recklessly on shopping and it made me feel bad, I would pray to God and seek God’s protection so that my heart might be at peace in His presence. Slowly but surely, I didn’t have as much hate in my heart for my daughter-in-law, and through the word of God I became aware: We are all a part of the corrupt human race, we all live under the domain of Satan and are duped by Satan, we all live involuntarily on the basis of our corrupt dispositions. My daughter-in-law is also a victim of these evil trends, I should not resent her, and I certainly shouldn’t treat her on the basis of Satan’s corrupt disposition. Satan is the main culprit of all of these things, Satan is more detestable than anything else.

I carried on in this way for a period of time, thinking that I had already set aside my prejudices toward my daughter-in-law, but since I did not have true knowledge of my corrupt nature, since my life disposition had not changed, when I came across things that weren’t in line with my desires, my corrupt disposition was once again revealed.

The Word of God Led Me to Self-Awareness

One month, after my daughter-in-law spent all the money she had to spend, we didn’t even have money to pay our social insurance. After I discovered this, I was filled with so much rage that I really wanted to immediately kick my daughter-in-law out. Just when I wanted to get angry at her, I suddenly realized that I was again living in a wrongful state, so I hurriedly calmed myself down and prayed to God, seeking His protection over me, so that I would be able to not treat my daughter-in-law according to my flesh.

When I opened up the book of the word of God, I read where it says: “Don’t be self-righteous; … If you regard others as less than you then you are self-righteous, self-conceited and are of benefit to no one” (Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning). The judgment and chastisement of the word of God made me recognize that I had always disliked my daughter-in-law because none of her actions conformed to my expectations, she did not meet the standard of what I thought a daughter-in-law should be. I am a frugal housekeeper, and I demanded that my daughter-in-law be the same, to be a good wife and loving mother. When I saw that she was not only not diligent and thrifty, but that she spent her money recklessly, I despised her and thought that she didn’t understand things and that she just threw away her money. In addition, I also wanted my daughter-in-law to obey me in anything I asked of her and live according to my lifestyle. Whenever my daughter-in-law did not do what I asked I got angry, criticized her and gave her dirty looks. But in this moment I finally saw that I had been completely controlled by the satanic nature of “putting oneself above all else,” always wanting to hide the truth from the masses and having the final say. All that exuded from me was an arrogant and self-righteous corrupt disposition, and it was of benefit to no one. “What’s more, my daughter-in-law and I are from different generations, we are not affected and influenced by society in the same way, but I’m always using my own standards to ask things of her; is this not being arrogant and conceited? Am I not being a controlling person? I thought about how supreme God is, how He even appeared in the flesh to hide with humility and obscurity among us to carry out the work of saving man, how God has never used His position to suppress people, and hasn’t forced people to put His word into practice, how all along He’s only expressed the truth to supply man, and used His love to move man and make man repent. But whenever we rebel against and resist God, even though He uses His word to expose and judge us, at the same time He is patiently guiding us, supporting us and providing for us, and with great patience and tolerance He waits for us to turn back to Him. God is so humble and so good! However, I, who am so deeply corrupted, behave so arrogantly and without reason, I always force my daughter-in-law to listen to me in my position as the mother-in-law, and all that I live out is corrupt disposition.” The more I thought about this, the more ashamed I felt. I saw that I had been so deeply corrupted by Satan, that when I was confronted with things I couldn’t quiet my heart in God’s presence. My naturalness was very strong, and I had too many personal wishes, and many times I had lost witness. I really was not fit to live in the presence of God.

Christian Sketch "Police Plots" | How Much Do You Know About the CCP's Persecution of Christians

In order to eliminate religious beliefs, the atheist CCP government frequently adopts measures for surveilling Christians such as conducting stakeouts and tailing them in an attempt to make a clean sweep of them.

Christian Crosstalk "A Plan to Go 'Fishing'" | True Story Behind the Release of Christians

Christian Crosstalk "A Plan to Go 'Fishing'" | True Story Behind the Release of Christians

Zhou Zhiyong is a Christian who was arrested by the CCP police for sharing the gospel. After half a month of brutal torture when their interrogation yielded no results,