I thought that I could return to the ordinary life I lived in the past. I didn’t expect that Mr. Zhang would try to tempt me with benefits after his attempts to tempt me with lust failed….
One day before Spring Festival, Mr. Zhang suddenly sent a text message asking me to his office. I knew Mr. Zhang was the only person who worked on the second floor, and I hesitated, thought to myself, “If I don’t go, this is going against an order from my boss, but I don’t know what will happen if I go….” I was a little timid and afraid, and quickly prayed to God to ask for wisdom and cleverness so that I could overcome Satan’s temptations. Then I went to Mr. Zhang’s office. I deliberately kept distance between us, but Mr. Zhang smiled and said, “Look at how scared you are! I didn’t call you up for anything serious.” He took a shopping card from his pocket and handed it to me, saying, “This is a bonus for you to thank you for your contributions to the company over the past year.” I was surprised when I heard this. What did I contribute to the company by pouring tea? Why was there a reward for that? Was this another one of Mr. Zhang’s tricks? So, I turned down Mr. Zhang’s “good intentions” and said to him, “I was only doing my job, and I get my salary every month, so I can’t take this card.” Mr. Zhang insisted on trying to stuff the card into my pocket, and as he tried to force me to accept, I realized he was doing this intentionally to get close to me, so I quickly said, “Thank you, sir, but if there’s nothing else, I should get back to work.” I didn’t wait for him to reply and quickly ran out. After I left, I let out a long sigh of relief and thanked God for keeping me safe. After that, I sent the shopping card back to Mr. Zhang. He saw that I refused his “good intentions,” and didn’t bother me for more than a month. I thank God from the bottom of my heart for giving me wisdom and once again helping me overcome the temptation of Satan.
I assumed Mr. Zhang would give up after that. I was surprised to find an even bigger temptation quietly approaching….
One day, I was busy at the bar as usual when Mr. Zhang suddenly appeared in front of me. He said that he came to inspect my work and solemnly said to me, “I am very optimistic about your ability to work, and I’ve always valued you. I’d like you to be a secretary at our real estate company. I don’t have any other intentions, I just want to give you a better learning environment. That’s as much as I can help you, so you should consider it.” And then he left. After hearing him, my heart began to fill with doubt, “Should I go or not? If I do, I know he has bad intentions, what if he tries to do something to me again? If I lose my grasp and let myself be tempted by Satan, the consequences are really unimaginable. If I don’t go, it’s a pity to lose such a good opportunity. The real estate company pays much higher wages than the sales department, and it offers good benefits, as well as vacations on weekends and holidays, as well as the opportunity to travel in a plane. The work I do now is unskilled labor. It’s exhausting, doesn’t pay well, and doesn’t teach me any skills. No matter how hard I work, I’ll never become someone important….” So, my heart was moved a little by the temptation of huge benefits.
Later, Mr. Zhang called me to arrange a meeting to talk about working at his company, and I agreed. After we met, Mr. Zhang said to me, “I look forward to you working as a secretary at my real estate company. I think you are very diligent, and if you work and study hard, you have a good future ahead of you. You’ll never be anyone important if you’re pouring tea for people in the sales department, so I hope you’ll challenge yourself more.” Mr. Zhang’s invitation and the thought of the good benefits at the real estate company were like a violent attack of hard candy mortars, and bit by bit, the line of defenses in my heart collapsed. Mr. Zhang continued, saying proudly that his company sold more than 20 houses in a week. The volume of his company’s business attracted me, and I began to imagine the good life I would enjoy after I started working there…. We talked as we walked in the park, and at that moment, Mr. Zhang suddenly leaned close to me. I instinctively ducked back, and suddenly I awakened from my beautiful fantasy. Mr. Zhang smiled and said, “Look at how scared you are! I was afraid you would fall, so I was trying to catch you.” I said carefully, “I’m fine, I won’t fall.” Mr. Zhang said, “You’re very intelligent, and the work you’re doing right now is beneath you. Your destiny is in your own hands, so you should use the time while you’re young to work hard!” After hearing his words, I was very opposed, in fact disgusted, because God said, “The fate of man is controlled by the hands of God. You are incapable of controlling yourself: Despite always rushing and busying about for himself, man remains incapable of controlling himself” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God created mankind, and man’s fate and future are determined by God, yet he insists mankind’s fate is in his own hands. Isn’t this an absurd and evil theory? And the thought of his behavior just now made me loathe him. It turned out that he was using the offer of a job and the chance to learn as an excuse to get close to me and scheme against me. At that moment I hated myself for allowing my judgment to be clouded by interest and for nearly falling into Satan’s trap. So, I quickly made an excuse and went home.
When I got home, I was angry with myself, because I knew that God’s words reveal the evil essence of Satan’s temptations, so why was I still fooled? In my confusion I came before God and prayed. Afterward, I saw this passage of God’s word, “Every word Satan says as well as its motives, its intentions and the way it speaks—they are all adulterated. What is the main feature of its way of speaking? It uses equivocation to seduce you without letting you see it, nor does it allow you to discern what its objective is; it lets you take the bait” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The fifth is deception and paralysis. ‘Deception and paralysis’ is that Satan makes up some sweet-sounding statements and ideas that are in concert with people’s conceptions to make it seem as though it is taking people’s flesh into consideration or thinking about their lives and futures, when actually it is just to fool you. It then paralyzes you so that you do not know what is right and what is wrong, so that you are unwittingly tricked and thereby come under its control” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “People think that once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on them to enjoy high status and great wealth, and to enjoy life. Once they have fame and gain, they can then capitalize on them in their pleasure-seeking and unscrupulous enjoyment of the flesh. People willingly, albeit unknowingly, take their bodies, minds, all that they have, their futures and their destinies and hand them all over to Satan in order to attain the fame and gain they desire. People actually do this without ever a moment’s hesitation, ever ignorant of the need to recover it all. Can people still have any control over themselves once they take refuge in Satan and become loyal to it in this way? Certainly not. They are completely and utterly controlled by Satan. They have also completely and utterly sunk down into a quagmire and are unable to free themselves. Once someone is mired in fame and gain, they no longer seek that which is bright, that which is righteous or those things that are beautiful and good. This is because the seductive power that fame and gain have over people is too great, and they become things for people to pursue throughout their lives and even for all eternity without end. Is this not true? … So Satan uses fame and gain to control man’s thoughts until all they can think of is fame and gain. They struggle for fame and gain, suffer hardships for fame and gain, endure humiliation for fame and gain, sacrifice everything they have for fame and gain, and they will make any judgment or decision for fame and gain” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From the revelations in God’s word, I realized that the reason why I was tricked by Satan is that Satan seized upon my greatest frailty, my weakness, to attack me. Satan knew that I pursued fame and benefit, that I was walking the evil path of people corrupted by Satan, and that I pursued an exceptional life, which is why when Mr. Zhang asked me to go to his company to be a secretary and said things that accorded with my fleshly desires, I was tempted. I thought of my own interests and fantasized about the high-paying job, the high-quality life I would enjoy, and how others would look at me. I didn’t know that Satan was using this method to lure me into its trap. Once I accepted the job, Mr. Zhang would have a better chance to get close to me and take advantage of me, and if I couldn’t control the situation, I would only sink deeper and deeper in the quagmire of sin and finally do things that dishonored God’s name, made me Satan’s laughingstock, and would lose the chance of gaining God’s salvation. This is Satan’s evil purpose in corrupting people. Although from the outside it appeared that Mr. Zhang was concerned about my future prospects, the truth is that Satan wanted to tempt me into sin using fame and benefits. Satan was trying to tempt me and ensnare me in its trap. I was driven by fame and fortune, unable to see through Satan’s sinister intentions and despicable purposes, and was tempted so badly by Satan’s sugar-coated lies that I couldn’t see where I was going, and was being led exactly where Satan wanted me. Thanks to God’s timely guidance and protection, I understand the truth, saw Satan’s sinister intentions, and overcome Satan’s temptations. Otherwise, I definitely would have fallen into its trap for me, become its prey, and been swallowed by it.
Later, I read another passage of Almighty God’s word, “Because the essence of God is holy, that means that only through God can you walk the bright, right road through life; only through God can you know the meaning of life, only through God can you live out a real life, possess the truth, know the truth, and only through God can you obtain life from the truth. Only God Himself can help you shun evil and deliver you from the harm and control of Satan. Besides God, no one and nothing can save you from the sea of suffering so that you suffer no longer: This is determined by the essence of God. Only God Himself saves you so selflessly, only God is ultimately responsible for your future, for your destiny and for your life, and He arranges all things for you. This is something that nothing created or non-created can achieve. Because nothing created or non-created possesses an essence of God such as this, no person or thing has the ability to save you or to lead you. This is the importance of God’s essence to man” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s word warmed and touched me, and I felt God’s selfless love and careful protection of mankind. As I read God’s word and contemplated God’s love, tears streamed down my face. I recalled how Satan had tempted me time and again with its tricks, and because I lacked the truth and couldn’t discern good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and positive and negative things, I had no discernment at all when Mr. Zhang spoke words that accorded with my fleshly notions, and Satan nearly succeeded in tempting me. It was God’s word that exposed Satan’s tricks to me just in time, allowed me to see clearly Satan’s ugly face and sinister intentions, and also learn the ways and methods by which Satan corrupts man. It was God’s word that guided me step by step to overcome Satan’s enticements and temptations, escape from the influence of Satan, receive God’s protection, and avoid being trampled upon and swallowed by Satan. At the same time, I felt remorse, because although I believed in God, my heart was far from God, and I was always thinking and planning for my fleshly interests. I was possessed by fame and fortune, and couldn’t give my heart over to God, which gave Satan a chance. What I pursued was truly worthless! Through this experience, I genuinely realized the preciousness of God’s word and God’s practical love for man. I saw that only God could allow me to live out the likeness of a man, only God’s word could allow me to discern Satan’s ugliness, that the truth is a powerful weapon for people to see through Satan’s tricks, and that without understanding of the truth, people can only fall into Satan’s traps, where they are cruelly harmed and trampled upon, and that it was only God who was working silently to save me, foolish and ignorant as I was. Once I tasted God’s love and protection for me, I no longer suffered pain and struggled. I decided to draw a clear line with Mr. Zhang and end the back and forth with him. So, I refused Mr. Zhang’s invitation. When I let go of this, my heart felt extremely secure, happy, and free.
Later, I saw that the girls who followed Mr. Zhang, for the pursuit of fame and fortune, of enjoying a high-quality life, sold out their own bodies, character, and dignity. They came whenever Mr. Zhang called and followed him every day to various entertainment venues, bars, KTV’s, nightclubs, golf courses, and more. Although they were temporarily satisfied in material terms, their bodies and minds suffered endless pain and torment. They often went out to late-night meetings with Mr. Zhang, and every time they drank themselves into a stupor. After the driver sent them back home, they vomited greatly. They were unspeakably miserable … When I saw the tragic experiences these girls went through, I thanked God for His care and protection of me from the bottom of my heart, and for preventing me from being sucked into the quagmire and abused, trampled upon, and harmed by Satan. In this evil, corrupt world, I can’t imagine how many people live in sin every day, toying with fleshly desires, finding lovers and mistresses, and seeking fun and entertainment everywhere. When the fun is over, it’s still impossible to escape our inner void and pain. I can’t imagine how many people indulge in lust, leading to families being torn apart, or even murder after becoming trapped in love triangles. I can’t imagine how many people live in pain and torment from sexually transmitted diseases gained through promiscuity. Indulging in lust is an evil, negative thing. It is a means by which Satan corrupts people. Those ensnared in it are only walking the path to destruction and will not come to a good end. When I realized this, I truly understood God’s love and salvation for me.
One day, Mr. Zhang said that he was going to buy our bar and operate it under his company name, which would mean I worked under him, and that the temptations I faced would be even larger. Luckily, there was an urgent matter in my hometown I had to go back to deal with. I knew God was opening the way for me, so I resigned and removed myself entirely from the temptation of Satan. Mr. Zhang realized that his temptations for me had failed again and again, so with nothing left to do, he finally gave up. Soon after, Mr. Zhang called me and said to me very sentimentally, “You are very smart. I’ve always felt that there’s some kind of powerful energy within you that supports you, as if you were entirely unspoiled and pure….” After he finished, I silently thanked God in my heart, because that powerful energy within me comes from God. It’s the strength of God’s word! Thanks be to God for Your care and protection! It was God’s salvation that helped me escape temptation in the workplace and allowed me to avoid being confused, abused, or trampled upon by Satan in this hedonistic world. I understand better now that only God’s word can give people wisdom and discernment and allow them to see through the various tricks of Satan. From now on, in my experiences, I wish only to measure all the people, things, and matters around me by the truth in God’s word, practice according to God’s word in all things, fear God and stay far away from evil.
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