When Zhang Yage was a child, her grandmother always said that opposite things coexisted, such as light and darkness, the Holy Spirit and evil spirits, orthodoxy and heresy, and Christianity and cults. Feeling that what her grandmother said had nothing to do with her, Zhang thought it was just fine if she could just do her duties well, attend church, read the Bible and pray.
Later, just like her grandmother, Zhang also became a pastor. When studying in the seminary, she began to know of the heretical cults in the history of the Church.
After graduation, she went to serve in a small chapel in a remote town. But life in a big city sometimes was overwhelming, so it would be better to move to the countryside. The same could apply to the Church where a church worker could concentrate on telling God’s words, being far away from the first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
It was a church with only 100 people or so, but when Zhang first arrived, there were merely about 30 believers. The increase of believers was a result of her doing the visitation ministry on foot and by praying to God through sleepless nights.
Zhang was very familiar with each member of her congregation, even their families. She even helped a female believer as her maternity matron, because her family based in the northwest was too far away to support her. She also tutored the children of some believers with writing calligraphy, Chinese, math, English, and even swimming. If anyone did not attend church on Sunday, the visitation group leader would immediately inform Zhang and call them.
She thought that their church was like a formidable fortress that would scare the enemies away.
Yet, during a training session, a pastor serving in the oldest church in the provincial capital discussed their church experience of "fighting wolves". There were 7,000 believers in this church which the Almighty God cult was drooling over and constantly sent over their members undercover, who pretended to be very spiritual, often with the Bible in hand, trying to communicate with believers. They even became rampant standing at the door of the church to distribute their flyers directly to believers who came out after gathering. The church tried to call the police, but they ran away, continuing the siege the next week.
The cult poached the followers openly, which triggered the setup of 40 wolf fighting teams by a group of angry volunteers to specifically fight against these wolves who tried to trick members of the congregation.
After returning from the training, Zhang immediately informed believers in the church, asking if they had encountered any of these cult members.
That night, two female believers told her that someone had approached them without success.
The first was a female believer surnamed Chen, a native of Jinggangshan City, Jiangxi Province, who opened a hair salon on the street not far from the church. Once, a woman introduced herself to Chen during the Sunday worship and showed lots of interest in establishing a friendship. Knowing that Chen managed a hair salon, she then went to her shop every night after work to babysit her child so that Chen could focus on her work.
A few days later, this woman started brainwashing Chen, stating that times were changing, so that our knowledge and extent of mind should also change. She said when she was little, there were only black and white TV sets, later there were color TV. As a child, she used films for photography, but nowadays it was digital. Therefore, human beings should also evolve. At first, God created Adam, then Eve who made human beings perfect. In this way, after Jesus completed his work on earth, he was retired, returning to heaven to enjoy himself. However, we couldn’t live without a god, for which God sent another goddess for us. Now our faith is perfect...
Chen responded to her, saying: "I think there must be something wrong with your previous church. Instead of going there, you should just stay in our church."
That woman was very angry, asking, "Did you lie to me by saying that you didn't even finish elementary school?"
Chen said, "It was true that I only completed the second grade of elementary school. I would gain nothing from lying to you. Our pastor is afraid that we will be deceived so she often reminds us during worship services. You must have been tricked by your previous preacher, so please not contact them anymore in the future."
It was possible that person was not a senior cult member. Not being able to convince Chen in this way, she gave Chen a book called "Praise of the Kingdom", saying that since Chen didn't have time for reading, she could sing with this book when she had time. Seeing that Chen refused to accept the book decisively, that woman had to leave in a hurry. But she came again the next day, holding another book "Questions and Answers on the Testimony of the Gospel of the Kingdom", which was also rejected by Chen in the end. When leaving, she said in a tantrum that she would come again until Chen accepted new beliefs.
The next morning, Chen contacted an old male Christian friend who lived close to her shop. He was temporarily outside for the preaching ministry, but agreed to help onsite once receiving Chen’s DM if that person came again in the evening.
The woman showed up again in the evening with another book which looked very beautiful. As soon as she came in, she said, "Look, what we worship is the true God. In the future we will go to Heaven which is prettier than the picture in this book." Chen sent a message to her friend after pretending to go to the toilet. Coming over very soon, the male Christian asked the woman to leave immediately, warning her not to harass Chen anymore in the future. Unfortunately, she reacted very aggressively, saying that as long as Chen opened her salon, she would come in to chat with her at any time, and even the police wouldn’t be able to help.
Right at this time, two policemen walked in. She suddenly showed a frustrated look. It turned out that this male Christian discussed with his wife after Chen called in the morning. The couple decided that the husband was to go directly to Chen’s shop, whilst his wife went to the police station for help. If that woman could be persuaded to quit, he would just calmly let her go. If not, they would count on the police intervention. After that, the harasser never showed up again.
The second believer surnamed Liu was a feisty and lively lady, and a native of Hunan Province. A female approached Liu trying to chat with her after a worship service. She asked for Liu’s address for her to visit the next day. Thinking she was a Christian, Liu bought fruits and snacks to receive her.
After exchanging pleasantries, the woman was very straightforward, asking Liu if she thought she had been saved. Liu answered that of course she had been saved.
The woman said, “What is the proof of your salvation?” Liu replied, “The proof of salvation is that Jesus Christ shed his blood and laid down his life for me.”
That person said that the time of Jesus was over, and the proof of future salvation did not rely on Him. She continued to say: "I will take you to another place for a gathering, which will show you the proof of your salvation. I tell you: the end of the world is coming soon and God will judge us in China. You are so lucky to meet me that you can join the last batch to go straight to heaven in the future."
After Liu refused her invitation, the woman suddenly yelled at her, "You old woman, go to hell! You won't take the road to heaven shown to you..."
Liu, who had not lost her temper for ten years since she turned to Jesus, immediately took out the broom behind the door and hit her, shouting, "Get out! I will beat you whenever you come to my place." Thus, that woman never appeared again in Liu's church.
Recalling the church experiences over the years, Zhang once again reminded herself how to do the ministry. First, she would keep preaching the basic essentials of Christianity, and less on the testimony of heaven and earth. Second, she would visit diligently with no fear of hard work. It had been reported many times that some elderly people had been dead at home for six to twelve months before they were found. Similarly, the church might not be aware that the flock had been tricked by wolves from cults without frequent visitation. Third, believers should watch out and help each other. Take Chen as an example, being a gentle person who ran a business, she couldn’t swing a broom to kick people out like Liu, then Satan could find his stronghold in her.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
