I come from a poor family in the countryside.
I would see my parents busy each day from dawn until dusk,
but our family never had enough to eat or wear.
I often felt sad.
To lighten my parents' load, I did farm work while also studying.
At school, I often heard the teacher say:
"One's destiny is in their own hands."
"You can create a pleasant homeland with your own hands."
I kept these words in mind and resolved to myself:
"I have to study hard and put every effort into changing my destiny,
and live the life of a rich man."
The hard work paid off.
After I graduated,
I found a well-paying job in foreign trade.
I fulfilled my dream to live in the city,
and I also had my own family.
To achieve my ideal of being a cut above the rest
and so that my wife and child could lead a happy life,
I threw myself into my work tirelessly.
After a few years, my family's life gradually improved,
but I was far from satisfied.
Whenever I saw some friends making large sums of money doing business,
and some were buying mansions and driving luxury cars,
I was jealous, upset.
I thought to myself:
"I'm a university graduate, every bit as capable as them.
I should have the same as them.
I can be just as competent as they are."
And so I came up with the idea of going into business.
Just after the Spring Festival in 2010,
I resigned from my well-paid foreign trade job
and went, full of confidence, to another large city
to open an import-export trading company.
When I had just set up the company,
I received some export business,
and that boosted my confidence even more.
I was busy every day making phone calls and contacting clients on the Internet,
and the company's business gradually grew.
But the good times didn't last for long.
About a year after the company started,
I was notified by the Tax Office
that they wanted to inspect the company's books.
Due to inexperience,
I hadn't prepared the foreign trade documents
and other materials related to bank transactions.
The Tax Office ordered us to straighten out our documents and accounts.
During that period I rushed to the Tax Office every day,
and I was running back and forth for nearly a month.
It took quite some time to scrape through the investigation.
In the days that followed,
because of a lack of management,
fewer and fewer clients came to the company,
and our trade dropped over time.
In order to expand distribution channels and improve business income,
the company undertook large-scale Internet promotion.
I went on business trips first to Guangdong,
then Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang,
and other places in search of clients.
In the end, all my work was for nothing.
This made me particularly disappointed and distressed,
but I was unwilling to be defeated like this.
I thought that as long as I put more effort into it,
I could certainly turn the situation around.
I racked my brain every day for a way to improve the company's business.
I was constantly running around in search of new clients
while at the same time getting in touch with old ones.
But having exerted myself to the limit,
after struggling for two years,
the company still showed no improvement.
Faced with the situation that the company had just about come to a standstill,
I was disheartened and in mental anguish.
In order to relieve my anxiety and stress,
I often went out drinking and singing with some friends.
When I was drunk, I would fall into a deep slumber.
But when I woke up,
not only had my anxiety not been relieved in the slightest,
but it would have gotten even worse.
I often thought:
"My abilities and efforts are no less than those of others.
Why is it that I've used so much effort
but still can't accomplish my wishes and change my destiny?"
My mental distress was acute,
and it was followed by anxiety, sleeplessness, and unease.
At that time my wife had just begun to believe in God.
When she saw the misery I was living in,
she tried to help and preached the gospel to me.
But all I could think about was my work,
so I simply turned a deaf ear to my wife's advice.
In the end the company really couldn't be saved,
and all I could do was transfer it over.
After this first attempt failed,
I felt defeated for quite a while.
But I was still unwilling to give up.
I thought,
"Others don't succeed the first time they start a company.
If you fail, you can just start over.
Besides, I have a wealth of knowledge and experience
in foreign trade and electronic commerce.
As long as I make an effort and am persistent,
one day I will succeed."
With this thought in mind,
I rekindled my hopes and decided to make a comeback.
Then,
I found someone who specialized in creating websites
to help me build an independent web commerce website.
I sold tattooing equipment and wigs on the Internet.
Once again I threw myself into my work as if there were no day or night,
trying to achieve my own ideals.
But after working nonstop for about two years,
the virtual shop I created failed too.
Faced with this chain of blows, I completely fell apart.
My mind flooded with grief, distress, and despair.
I couldn't help asking myself:
"Why is it that I've put all my effort into this and I cannot achieve my aspirations?
Why does this happen?"
I thought that I was just unlucky,
and it was too painful to live in this world.
Both my body and mind were just worn out.
I was full of despair.
In July of 2016,
my wife went to work in the United States.
Two months later, I went as well with our daughter.
Mommy.
Lele, Mommy's really missed you. (I really missed you too!)
Were you waiting long?
No, not long, let's go home.
Because I had suffered so many setbacks and failures,
I was unhappy all day long.
My wife saw the misery I was in and once again advised me,
preaching the gospel of Almighty God to me.
Chen Zhi,
all these years you've devoted heart and soul to business.
And I know you've suffered a lot and you've paid a great price.
You wanted to keep yourself above the rest,
so things could be better for me and our child.
I totally understand your dreams.
But as the sayings go, "Man proposes, God disposes,"
"Heaven's plans outdo our own,"
and "Man's fate is Heaven's alone."
The fate of our lives has long been arranged by God.
Whether or not something can succeed cannot be decided by ourselves.
I've believed in God for years, and I read a lot of His words,
so I understand a few truths that made me realize some things about human life.
Mankind is created by God;
God is the Master of our destiny.
God has arranged our lives for each one of us even before we're born.
Whether we're poor or wealthy, it's been predetermined.
Humans can't be in charge of destiny or change it.
Whatever kind of family we're born into,
how much we're able to study,
whatever kind of work we do,
how much property we can own,
this is all ordained by God.
Chen Zhi, from what you've gone through,
you should know this even better than I do.
We can't resist our destiny anymore.
If we want to live in peace, free from anxiety,
then we must come before God,
accept God's rule, and obey God's arrangements.
Our lives are more blessed when God is watching over us.
When my wife had said such things in the past,
I always felt a point of view like "Man's fate is determined by Heaven" was negative,
and I didn't accept it at all.
But today as I listened, I felt that it was quite reasonable.
Reflecting on these last few years,
in order to achieve my life's goal of being above the rest
I constantly exhausted every effort and worked all I could.
Yet the result was a succession of failures.
It seems that man's destiny really can't be controlled by him.
Could it be that God really is in charge of each person's destiny?
My wife later saw that I was willing to learn the true way,
so she contacted the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God
to come to fellowship with me.
Thank God.
It really is by the grace of God that Chen Zhi wants to seek the truth.
Yes, thanks be to God!
If it were not for Almighty God's salvation, I wouldn't be who I am today.
Have a cup of coffee.
You can chat while you drink.
We will, thank you!
Go ahead.
Okay.
Look, these past years,
to be better than the rest and to achieve my life's goals,
I worked myself to the bone.
I started a company back home and ran a virtual store,
both of which failed.
Each time it was just such a bitter blow.
Since then I've calmed down and thought a lot.
I've seen that in this world, doesn't matter if you're rich or poor,
if you succeed or if you fail,
you are never free of suffering.
That is true.
Brother Wang, (Yes?)
why does life have to be so tiring, so painful?
I can definitely understand how you feel.
Truth is every person finds many setbacks throughout life
and has many painful experiences.
But we need to know what's the source behind all this suffering.
This is the part that I would like to understand.
Well, that's good! Let's talk about it together.
In the beginning, Adam and Eve created by God lived in the Garden of Eden,
and God was with them.
They followed God's word, obeyed all His arrangements,
and lived under His care and protection.
There was no pain or sorrow, and there was no death.
But then Adam and Eve were seduced by Satan.
They believed Satan's lies and betrayed God,
they no longer obeyed God or revered God.
As a result,
they lost God's care and protection and fell under Satan's domain;
Satan brought them misery.
As each generation that followed was corrupted even more by Satan,
people forgot about God, He was no longer in their hearts.
They lived according to Satan's logic and philosophy.
They wanted money, fame, and status,
indulging in the pleasures of sin.
And so, men's lives became more painful and hollow.
They sank into Satan's net, unable to pull themselves out.
They were severely afflicted by Satan until they died.
Regarding the origins of mankind's life of pain,
Almighty God has spoken clearly.
If we read some passages of Almighty God's words, you'll understand.
Let's go into the living room. (Okay.)
How about we watch a video that recites God's words?
Okay. (Alright.)
Would you like to watch this video together?
Of course. Alright!
Here you go.
Right!
Amen.
God's words explain how Satan has corrupted mankind
and what the source of mankind's pain really is.
For thousands of years,
Satan has used atheism, materialism, theory of evolution, and other kinds of heresies
to deceive, influence, and corrupt mankind.
The satanic logic has been planted deep into the hearts of mankind
by those tyrants, great and famous men over the ages,
becoming our main principles.
Exactly!
For example,
"This world is devoid of God, and there's never been a Savior,"
"Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,"
"One's destiny is in his own hand,"
"Knowledge can change your fate,"
and "There is boundless joy in struggling against Heaven, earth, and men,"
"Man can conquer nature,"
"The people create history," and so on.
These wrong viewpoints deny God, resist God, and also betray God.
They are opposed to the truth of God's words.
They completely oppose to the fact that God is the Creator and the Master of all things.
They all go against the trend of history and against Heaven.
These heretical fallacies all belong to Satan's poison and logic
and have been planted into the souls of man.
They have made man become incredibly arrogant,
completely lawless, disobedient,
selfish and despicable, wicked and greedy.
In order to gain fame and stand over others,
men are against each other,
fighting and snatching, cheating each other,
even going so far as battling with each other.
They do all kinds of despicable things.
Yes, it's the morals of today!
That's true. It sure is.
Man in no way conforms to God's will;
he does not obey God's arrangements.
He doesn't want to accept the truth or live according to God's word.
Men all want to rely on themselves to change their own destiny,
and the result is that when men face setbacks and failure,
and their ambitions and desires are not satisfied,
then they start to complain that God is unfair.
That's true.
Some people earn a lot of money and hold high positions,
they amuse themselves, and all their desires of the flesh are satisfied.
They do everything to their heart's content.
But as for their souls,
they are more hollow and miserable,
and so they start to seek out all kinds of stimulation,
such as taking drugs, gambling,
and yet the result is that they've become even more hollow.
Ultimately, they opt to end their own lives.
This is what it all comes down to. (Yes.)
Mankind, in spite of itself, is corrupted and afflicted by Satan this way,
living a life that indulged in sin.
Yet they do not seek the truth, the light, or accept God's salvation.
This is the truth of mankind far removed from God,
betraying God, and deeply corrupted by Satan.
So that's how it is.
Yes.
Although mankind has been corrupted by Satan and has betrayed God,
God cannot bear to see His creation afflicted and swallowed up by Satan.
That's very true.
For thousands of years,
God has been consistently working to redeem and to save mankind.
In the last days God has returned among men as God incarnate.
On the basis of His redemption work,
He is uttering truth and judging mankind
so as to thoroughly save mankind from Satan's domain,
to allow them to be obtained by God,
and finally to annihilate Satan
and end the painful life that mankind has suffered for so long.
Now that we've accepted God's work and we read God's word,
we obey God's judgment and chastisement and gradually understand some truths.
We finally know God's disposition of righteousness,
and we have reverence and obedience for God.
We now see through the evil of Satan's logic as well as its heretical fallacies,
and we see the fact of how deeply corrupted mankind is. (Right.)
We despise Satan and the red dragon even more.
At the same time we sense how lovely God is and the vastness of His salvation.
Therefore, we set our minds to seek the truth and to fulfill our duty,
to show loyalty to God through all trials and hardships,
to repay God's love. (Exactly.)
This is the achieved result after experiencing God's work in the last days.
Yes, it really is! (Yes.)
The greatest reward in experiencing that
is to understand many truths and to have true knowledge of God.
For this reason, we can see through to how Satan has corrupted and deceived man,
and we can distinguish all of Satan's heresies.
We can tell which are the positive things that come from God,
and which are the negative things that come from Satan.
Yes.
In this way, we can know how to obey God and also how to forsake Satan.
That's the type of mankind that is obtained by God.
Satan has no way of corrupting a mankind like that again. (Yeah.)
Is this not receiving the greatest salvation from God?
Thanks be to God!
Having heard the word of God from the brothers and sisters,
I've benefited a great deal.
My heart has been enlightened.
I know how Satan has corrupted mankind.
Through heretical fallacies disseminated by various kinds of famous and great men,
Satan deceives and corrupts people.
That really is a fact.
It's only today that I've been able to see clearly
that the points of view that I've upheld for many years,
such as "Everyone for himself and the devil take the hindmost,"
"One's destiny is in his own hand,"
"Only knowledge can change destiny,"
"You need to rise above the pack," and so on,
are just Satan's fallacies deceiving people.
I've taken Satan's demonic words to be rules for living, tenets of existence.
The result is that I've taken the path of resisting God without knowing it,
and I've brought myself much misery.
Now I understand all this pain is because I distanced myself from God
and didn't obey God's word.
Instead, I believed demonic words from Satan
and brought this on myself.
It now seems that if I don't accept Almighty God's work of the last days,
I really cannot be saved.
God's work of the last days is extremely practical.
Without judgment or chastisement,
man's satanic disposition and the heretical fallacies within man
really cannot be purified.
If these things that Satan has planted deep within us are not resolved,
then we cannot be saved,
and we are not qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Today I understand all these things.
Thanks be to God!
You know,
"One's destiny is in his own hand,"
and "Man can create a pleasant homeland with his own hands,"
are very popular sayings.
They want to acquire more knowledge, abilities, and skills,
and make their own efforts to change their destiny.
Yes.
Do you think it's possible that these people can change their own destiny? (No way.)
Who is actually in control of man's destiny after all?
In fact, before I believed in God,
"Man's destiny is in his own hands" was my personal motto.
I believed that I could do anything based on my own ability.
After I graduated, I gave up an opportunity to teach at the school,
and I started a construction company with some classmates.
But after a couple of years,
the Asian financial crisis happened,
so it went bankrupt,
and I got no return for all the money I had invested.
But I didn't give up.
I got a loan from the bank to open a chicken hatchery,
but I didn't anticipate the bird flu would come along.
The epidemic was worse in the region where I was,
and all the chickens had to be buried alive.
I invested hundreds of thousands with no return.
I had no more tears left to cry;
I just didn't want to go on living anymore.
I often complained about how unfair my fate was
and why I had such bad luck.
I did everything for my work, I made precise plans,
but those were still the results I got.
I couldn't understand it.
It is only when I believed in Almighty God
and understood the truths of God's word
that I knew that whatever we can do in this life, how much wealth we can acquire,
has nothing to do with how much we try,
and it depends on God's ruling and predestination.
Oh, yes. Amen!
It is just like Zhuge Liang once said:
"Man proposes, God disposes."
It doesn't matter how much you think about it or how meticulously you plan,
if God doesn't approve it,
it's all futile, completely pointless. (Right!)
It was only after so many things I understood
"One's destiny is in his own hand"
are completely Satan's demonic words to deceive people.
They are not true at all.
Absolutely not. That's right!
Man cannot control his own destiny;
man's destiny is completely in the hands of the Creator!
Oh, yes! It's true. That is exactly right.
Let's look at some passages of Almighty God's word. (Sounds good. Okay.)
I'll read a passage.
Alright!
Amen!
Thanks be to God!
The words of Almighty God are very clear and practical.
God is the Lord of creation.
He created all things in heaven and earth and rules over them.
He's in charge of all things.
Everything, regardless of whether they have a life or not,
whether it's the visible material world or the invisible spiritual world,
they are all under God's orchestration. (Amen!)
This is God's authority and how God rules over all things.
No created thing can exceed that authority. (Amen!)
Since mankind was created as such a small insignificant being in God's hands,
how can it control its own destiny and avoid God's rule and arrangement?
That's true. Yes. True.
We might as well look at the people around us.
Many people think of ideas and look for ways to get rich,
time and again they try their hand at all kinds of business,
and yet time and time again they fail.
Some people even go bankrupt and fail to achieve their goals.
That does happen. (Yes. Yeah.)
Some people want to become officials,
they think of ways and schemes to make connections.
They adopt all sorts of methods to buy a position.
Once they get it,
in order to recover what they lost, they begin to take bribes,
so their political opponents end up capitalizing on their mistakes,
and they get reported, imprisoned, and discredited.
Right. Yes.
More and more CCP officials have committed suicide
or have been murdered due to internal power struggles,
which is nothing new.
There have been countless occurrences.
The official circles are getting worse.
There really are many things like that.
Another example:
Chinese people want to keep their family going with a male heir.
Most couples want to have a son,
but many end up giving birth to a girl, or even have several girls.
It really is like that. (Yes.)
Some people adopt medical means to have a son,
and they really give birth to a child, but the child dies young.
Haven't we seen many cases like that?
Oh yes, there are many cases like that. (That's right. That's true, isn't it?)
Many people want to live a long life and try to preserve their health.
In ancient times,
emperors invited sorcerers to make pills of immortality for an ageless life.
But did they escape the laws of being born, growing old, and dying?
No, they did not.
And so, whatever illness man contracts at whatever age,
however long he lives,
life has its place, and so does death.
No one can escape the fate of mankind.
What you say is absolutely true!
What can we see from these facts we've learned?
We may plot our own future in our minds,
and we can work to the limit of human ability,
but whether we're able to achieve our aspirations in the end,
this is not something you can decide or over which you have control.
Yes! That's really true!
The sayings go, "Heaven's plans supersede our own,"
and "Man's fate is determined by Heaven."
This depends on God's rule and predestination!
Yes. This is true.
Whatever God bestows on us is whatever we can obtain.
However much He bestows on us is how much we can obtain.
If God bestows nothing on us,
however much we fight it, it is all in vain in the end.
Yeah. That's right.
That's true.
Which leads us to see something clearly:
Regardless of your ability, intelligence or willpower,
none of these things will ever be able to change your destiny.
Yes, yes.
Therefore, those who experienced these turns of events summed them up in proverbs,
such as: "Man proposes, God disposes,"
"Planting is for man, harvesting is for Heaven,"
and "If you are meant to have something, you'll get it,
but if not, don't wish for it."
Yeah.
And then there is a saying that we often hear from older people:
"Such is life!"
That's right!
This is sufficient to prove that
only God rules and is in charge of mankind's destiny.
No one can escape from Heaven's arrangement, can they?
She's right. God is in charge. Amen.
If we can see this fact,
and we can know God's authority and sovereignty,
then we can put aside our own ambitions and desires,
no longer rely on our own ability and resist destiny. (You're absolutely right.)
Besides, we can obey God's sovereignty and arrangement,
living according to God's demands, relying on God's word,
obeying and worshiping God.
This way we can be rid of the bonds of Satan,
divorce ourselves from the painful days
when we relied on our own two hands to create a life,
and we'll walk onto the right path of life,
obtaining God's guidance and blessings.
Thanks be to God! Excellent!
So, let's read another passage of God's words. (Yeah. Good.)
This fellowship really makes me feel good.
Can I read it, now? (Of course!)
What Almighty God says is so practical!
Now I understand that God is in charge and rules mankind's destiny.
Even if man has enough ability,
he cannot change his own destiny.
I think back on how I was educated in atheism from an early age.
Satan's heretical fallacies have long been planted in my heart.
I believed these demonic words:
"One's destiny is in his own hand,"
"Knowledge can change your fate,"
and "Man can create a pleasant homeland with his own hands."
I had never heard the word of God,
and I had not the slightest idea that God rules mankind's destiny.
I firmly believed that with effort you can achieve anything.
As long as I tried hard,
I would achieve my goals and change my destiny.
I believed that I had a good mind, I was educated,
I was of good character, I was no less than other people.
So I worked hard in every possible way to make my goals happen.
Although I planned well and had high ambitions,
looking back at my history of starting projects for so many years,
I suffered bitter defeats and I could not achieve what I wanted.
Even when I hit the wall, I didn't turn back,
and as soon as I had the chance, I would go into work again.
In the end, after rushing back and forth,
putting all my abilities and skills to their best use,
I still did not obtain what I wanted,
and only then did I have no alternative but to call it quits.
But all along I hadn't understood
why I had worked so hard and been unable to accomplish my objectives.
Today, the words of Almighty God have revealed the root of this problem
and made me see the mystery of human life.
I am sincerely convinced!
I recognize now that only the word of God is the truth, the way, and the life,
and I am determined to properly seek the truth,
to discard Satan's heretical fallacies,
to live according to the word of God,
to offer up my whole life to God,
to obey God's sovereignty and arrangements,
to strive to become a person who obeys and who worships God.
In the days that followed, I often read God's word,
and I gathered together in fellowship with brothers and sisters on the word of God,
accepting the judgment and cleansing of God's words.
I had greater knowledge over time of my own corruption.
I also had some true knowledge of God's sovereignty.
I felt incomparable joy, release, and freedom in my heart.
I sincerely thank God!
God has led me away from confusion and pain,
and my heart has support, peace, and bliss.
The only meaningful life is to walk the road led by God and arranged by God.
Once I believed in God,
although I understood a few truths,
my experience was still too shallow,
and God's words did not become my life.
Those demonic heretical fallacies were still rooted in my heart,
and, against my will, I was controlled by them.
When I went out to look for work,
I mindlessly relied on my education, experience, and qualifications,
and thought to myself:
"With my credentials and work experience,
even if I can't find a white-collar job that will make others jealous,
it should still be easy to find an ordinary job."
After a few days,
I found a warehouse assistant job in a supermarket.
I did my very best at work,
but because I had not done such physical work before,
after working for one day, I was so tired that my back ached,
both legs were numb, and I could barely stand.
I only worked for one day before the boss fired me because I wasn't strong enough.
But I was not discouraged.
In the following days, I was busy every day looking for work,
going to interviews everywhere.
However, I was always rejected for all kinds of reasons.
Either they said that I lacked experience,
or sent me home to wait for further contact.
Or if I found work, again for any reason,
I would only work for a few days and then they wouldn't need me anymore.
Several months passed,
and I had not the slightest prospect of work.
I was particularly anxious and impatient.
I thought to myself:
"It's so easy for others to find a job, why is it so hard for me?
I have a good education and some work experience,
why am I always being rejected?"
When I felt helpless, I even started to get angry,
blaming God for not opening up a path for me.
Oh yes. Awesome.
Yes.
Brother Chen,
I noticed you're in a pretty bad mood.
You're in some trouble, aren't you?
Right. We can talk about any problems you're having. (Oh, yes! Yeah.)
For a while now,
I've been hitting my head against the wall looking for work.
Recently this has been worrying me.
I can't understand it.
I'm educated, I have work experience;
how is it that I can't find a suitable job?
And at the moment,
I really don't understand what God's will is.
I don't know what to make of it.
Brother Chen,
whomever we meet each day, whatever we face,
these are all under God's arrangement,
they all have God's permission and God's good will.
I recall that God has said:
Yes.
Regardless of whether we encounter good or bad things,
we can't look for external reasons.
We should calm down and seek the truth
to see what God requires of us from within.
We should try to figure out why God has arranged this for us,
what God's will is,
and how to comply with God's will.
Also, regarding looking for work, we should pray to God
and see what kind of work does not interfere with our belief.
And another thing,
when we find a job is also in God's hands.
We need to learn to wait, obey,
and have faith that God's arrangements are what's best for us.
Yeah!
Brother, let's read some passages of God's word to seek out God's will.
Thanks be to God!
Please turn to page 13.
Amen!
Brother, now you read a passage.
Oh, okay.
Amen!
Oh, God's word is so practical!
Yes, it is. Indeed.
Let's read another passage of God's word.
Sounds good. Let's.
Amen!
The more we read, the more enlightened we are! (Right. Oh, yes.)
Having read this,
do we not have the impression that God's rule of mankind's life has such great meaning?
Yes, God works very well.
In fact, God's work on every man has great meaning.
God's word is the truth. (Amen!)
He reveals perfectly the true state of affairs of the life of mankind.
If we look at each of our lives, aren't they like this?
Yeah, sure.
Some people's families are poor when they're young,
but in their middle age they are well-off.
Some people come from a prosperous family,
but in their later years their wealth has declined.
Yes!
Some people have successful careers in their youth,
but by middle age they are unemployed.
That's just the way our lives go.
Sometimes we are poor, and sometimes we are rich.
Sometimes we are blessed, and sometimes bad things happen.
There are twists and turns, bumps in the road.
It really is "Life will have its ups and downs." (Oh, yes. Yeah.)
We've all had quite a bit of experience in this in fact.
Yeah, it really is like that. That's been my experience.
Thanks be to God!
Now that we've seen that God's word is reality,
we know that it's the truth.
Yes. It is truth. Of course.
The destiny of man's life fluctuates,
we all have deep knowledge of this.
Yes. It's true.
But why God defines what happens in the way He does,
or why He allows people to have many setbacks and what it all means,
is difficult for us to understand.
Yes!
We have undergone several years of God's judgment work in the last days,
and we finally got the answers from God's words. (That's right.)
After mankind was corrupted,
it became arrogant and conceited, full of ambition and desires,
believing that: "One's destiny is in his own hand,"
and "Knowledge can change your fate."
Added to that, people acquire a lot of knowledge and skills
and believe that they certainly can carve out a career for themselves
relying on their own hard work.
In particular, ambitious and arrogant young people who have just graduated,
they all want to fight nature,
to make a name for themselves, to be above others.
Yes.
If someone says
"God rules mankind's destiny, so man should worship and believe in God,"
not only do people not listen, they ridicule them. (That's right. Exactly.)
Haven't we all come across things like that?
Yes.
What you say is true.
I was so stupid and ignorant before I knew this.
Yes, we're all like that.
But when someone tries to succeed in society for a while
and after they hit many walls, suffer many setbacks,
and experience a succession of failures,
then many people come to their senses,
and they feel that in a way man's destiny is predetermined by God,
and that no one can escape their fate. (Oh, yes!)
There is a saying:
"After the age of fifty, a man knows what Heaven has ordained."
It really is like this. (Yes, indeed!)
God's arrangements for each person don't conform to man's notions.
God topples the arrogant and raises up the humble.
Eventually, God allows everyone to clearly see
that Heaven determines the fate of man.
Amen. Yeah.
Many bright people who love the truth have begun to seek the true way,
to receive God's salvation, and to stand before the Creator.
Is this not the result achieved by a rule for life that God arranges for man
as "Every life will have its ups and downs"? (Oh, yes!)
We should all have some experience and understanding of these things. (Right.)
Now we ought to understand that God rules man's life
and makes mankind experience the rules of ups and downs.
In this process God causes us to reflect:
After all, who is in control of man's fate?
What are the positive things that come from God and
what are the negative things that come from Satan?
Who is it that saves mankind, and who corrupts mankind?
So we come to know God's sovereignty and authority,
and to clearly see Satan's evil.
Absolutely.
We can abandon evil and follow goodness to our origins and the Creator,
to the right path guided by God.
Amen! Thanks be to God! Right!
God is wonderful, right? (Right!)
Now we can see that God rules all of our lives,
and it is very meaningful for us to experience ups and downs.
This is God leading us to reject Satan and return to God,
it is God's salvation of us and His most sincere love.
Amen! Thanks be to God!
God truly does everything in His power to save us.
Thanks be to God! (Thank God.)
Through reading God's word and fellowshiping with the brothers and sisters,
my heart has been enlightened.
Whenever I hit the wall looking for work,
I should have sought and understood the truth.
Although I believed in God,
I didn't sincerely obey the fact that God rules and has power over everything.
I thought that I had not been destined to make a big career for myself,
but it shouldn't be a problem to find an ordinary job.
So, in looking for work I didn't seek or pray to God,
and I even thought that the matter of looking for work had nothing to do with God,
and that I could resolve it entirely by myself.
In fact, I was still following the old road of
"One's destiny is in one's own hands,"
and "Knowledge can change your fate."
I still believed in Satan's philosophy and laws.
God could not bear to see me continue to be afflicted and fooled by Satan.
In order to guide me to the right path,
God made me experience some failures and setbacks,
forcing me to come before God, reflect on myself,
and see clearly what I relied on to live.
In this way, I could abandon Satan's heretical fallacies,
accept and obey God's rule from my heart,
and live relying upon the word of God.
I could no longer distance myself from God,
I could no longer assert my independence,
and I could rely on God to live each day,
walking along the right way of life.
Now I understand
that the setbacks and failures I encountered
were God saving me from the affliction of Satan.
God really has done everything in His power to save me.
After I understood God's will,
we offered thanks and praise to God.
I also entrusted God with my job search, and decided:
"Whether or not I am able to find suitable work,
I wish to obey God's sovereignty and arrangement."
The wonderful thing is that,
that afternoon after our gathering, as I was casually browsing on the Internet,
I inadvertently saw an ad for a salesperson.
With the attitude of "let's see what happens,"
I went for an interview.
Against my expectations, the boss was delighted to sign me on.
After I had worked for a while,
I felt that this was a very suitable job, as well as pretty easy,
and it didn't interfere with my belief in God and attending gatherings.
Once again I felt God's wonderful arrangements
and God's almightiness and sovereignty.
That which God has arranged for me is the most appropriate,
and it is the best!
When I think back on the road I have walked,
I understand profoundly
that relying on man's abilities to fight fate
only brings sorrow, pain, and Satan's affliction.
But God has taken pity on me.
At a time when I was most confused and miserable,
God led me before Him,
supporting me and guiding me with His words.
He released the shackles that controlled my soul
and freed me from the bonds of Satan,
making me no longer believe Satan's heretical fallacies,
such as "Knowledge can change your fate,"
and "One's destiny is in his own hands."
I saw very clearly that God rules the destiny of mankind.
When I no longer relied on Satan's philosophy to live,
no longer battled with destiny,
learned to obey God's sovereignty and arrangements,
learned to live by the word of God,
I felt unprecedented release, stability, and peace in my heart.
Having the opportunity because of failures and setbacks in my career
to come before God and receive God's salvation,
to know the Creator,
this truly is God's enormous grace and salvation of me.
In the following days,
I prayed to God whenever something came up.
I sought the truth from the word of God,
and I sought the ways of practice.
I would always find a path in whatever I did,
and I was particularly relaxed,
my heart felt stable and supported.
In my experience,
I have felt that God's love for man is so great and so real!
In order to repay God's love,
I've undertaken my duties in the Church to the best of my abilities,
and I have resolved to entrust my whole life to God,
to seek and obtain the truth,
to become a person who obeys and worships God,
and to live a life of meaning!