By Anjing
From an early age, I often heard adults say, “Money makes the world go round.” Unconsciously, these words became the motto with which I lived by. I always held the belief that so long as I had money in my life, I could own everything and lead an honorable and admirable life. So, I busily rushed about making money, and even paid a terrible price for it. Finally, it was God’s guidance that helped me break away from Satan’s snare and bid farewell to the life of desperately earning money.
Overworking in a Brickyard
After getting married, for the sake of realizing my desires, I decided to go out with my husband to look for a job, regardless of what it was, as long as it offered a high salary. When we learned that the pay in the brickyard was good, we chose to work there, even though the job was tiring and dirty. Before long, I was pregnant. However, in order to live a better life, I continued overworking rather than resting at home. Exhausted as I was after a day’s work, I thought it was worth it, for I believed that I could save an large amount of money quickly so long as I went on working for several years. Subsequently, as my abdomen got bigger and bigger, I couldn’t bend down. Despite this, I still didn’t want to give up working. Seeing my condition, the factory director said to me, “Is your family in desperate need of money? How can you still work like this?” It became clear that even the factory director wanted me to rest at home. However, those days, my first, second and third priorities in life was money. As a result, I continued slaving away for it.
Paying a Great Price in Breaking Heads off Shrimps and Shelling Chestnuts
After giving birth to my child, I had to care for him at home every day and I was unable to go out to earn money. This made me extremely worried. Finally, the day that my child was old enough, I entrusted him to my mother-in-law and immediately went out to earn money. Every day, I broke heads off shrimps from dawn to dusk. Sometimes, the heads of the shrimps made my fingertips bleed, but I continued working despite the pain. Every time I finished breaking off a handful of heads from shrimps, my fingers would bleed. Seeing this, my colleagues all said I valued money above my own life. I ignored their words, thinking inside: When you see that I earn more than you, you will envy me. One winter, I shelled chestnuts at home for my boss. Some chestnuts’ shells were so hard that I could not remove them with my hands. For these chestnuts, I had to try other methods. To finish my work in time, I often gnawed the shells off with my teeth. Unexpectedly, as I kept gnawing chestnuts for a long time, my teeth became abraded. At that time, an old sister in my village came to spread the gospel to me several times, but all I did was reject it. Though I knew it was a good thing to believe in God, I had no inclination to do so for fear that it would interfere with my work.
My Worry: My Pursuit of Making Money Was Repaid With Erosive Gastritis
Afterward, a factory for processing chilies was set up near our home. I went there to apply for a job. Due to the long work hours, I ate meals irregularly and often suffered hunger. As a result, after a period of time, I developed erosive gastritis. Before meals, my stomach ache. However, after meals, the pain became more intense. For fear that the treatment would hinder me from earning money, I simply took some medicine and continued working. Finally, the doctor told me that my illness would become more serious and that I had to undergo an operation. However, I was dazzled by money, thinking: “So long as I don’t collapse, I must continue working. How could I give up such a good chance to make money?” Subsequently, my illness became so serious that the medicine had no effect on it. For the next few days, I was completely unable to eat. Yet, even so, I still couldn’t bear to stop working. Our living conditions had improved a lot thanks to the work of my husband and I. We were able to buy a house and a car. Seeing this, my neighbors all admired us. However, I was still not content. I wanted to earn even more money. I kept on working until an accident befell me.
A Misfortune: My Left Hand Was Broken by a Machine
During that time, seeing how quickly I worked , my boss assigned me to packaging. Although this job was dangerous, I still accepted it for the purpose of making more money. However, a few days later, while working, I accidentally put my left hand into the machine. Immediately, my hand was broken. There was only a piece of skin that connected my hand to my arm and blood started gushing everywhere. The pain was so unbearable that I sweated profusely. My boss quickly sent me to the hospital. During my stay there, I cried every day. I felt miserable and helpless. When I couldn’t fall asleep because of the pain, I often thought: “During these years, I’ve been running myself into the ground to make money. The end result is that I have suffered a lot and developed many illnesses. Now, my hand is fractured. If I can’t make money any more in the future, how am I supposed to live?” Thankfully, due to a timely operation, I did not lose my hand. However, I had to have a good rest and couldn’t work. I returned home in pain.
A Blessing in Disguise: Coming Before God
After I returned from the hospital, my cousin heard about what had happened to me. She came to visit me along with a sister from her church and they spread the gospel to me. When I told them about my experiences all these years, the sister said, “Most people regard the words ‘Money makes the world go round’ as a maxim. They think that money means everything and can improve their living standards and allow them to gain others’ respect and admiration. Thus, they will do anything for it. Though some people gain wealth after spending lots of energy and time, they lose their health. Some people even take and offer bribes and commit crimes to lead an aristocratic lifestyle. Although they fulfil their dreams, they are put into prison in the end. This brings great harm to their families and society. God’s words say, ‘The fate of man is controlled by the hands of God. You are incapable of controlling yourself: Despite man always rushing and busying himself on his own behalf, he remains incapable of controlling himself. If you could know your own prospects, if you could control your own fate, would you still be a created being?’ God’s words tell us clearly that every person’s destiny is controlled by God. How much wealth we possess in our life, whether we are poor or rich, and what kind of fate we have are all predestined and arranged by God. If we always fight against destiny with our own abilities rather than obey God’s predestination and arrangement, it will bring us nothing but endless suffering.” After hearing God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I felt they were right and true. In particular, the words “Despite man always rushing and busying himself on his own behalf, he remains incapable of controlling himself” deeply touched my heart. I couldn’t help thinking: “I used to believe that money meant everything. So, during these years, I spared no effort to earn money without fear of suffering. Finally, I bought a house and a car and seemed to live with dignity and comfort. However in reality, my life was not better than others’. I became disease-ridden and nearly lost my left hand.” After thinking of this, I became aware that living like this was very tiring and painful. Therefore, I gladly accepted God’s kingdom gospel of the last days.
Through the Revelation of God’s Words, I Saw Through the Worldly Trends
While resting at home, I started my church life, attending church meetings with my brothers and sisters to communicate God’s words. I no longer busily rushed about for money all day long. After a period of time, both the sickness in my stomach and the wounds on my hand got much better. However, just as a common saying goes, “Once on shore, one prays no more,” I desired to go out to earn money. I started thinking about all the money I could earn if I worked for an entire year. I yearned to go back out to work. At a church meeting, I told a sister about my thoughts. In response, she read a passage of God’s words to me, “‘Money makes the mare go’ is a philosophy of Satan, and it prevails among the whole of mankind, in every human society. You could say that it is a trend because it has been instilled in the heart of every single person. From the very beginning, people did not accept this saying, but then they gave it tacit acceptance when they came into contact with real life, and began to feel that these words were in fact true. Is this not a process of Satan corrupting man? Perhaps people do not understand this saying to the same degree, but everyone has different degrees of interpretation and acknowledgment of this saying based on things that have happened around them and on their own personal experiences. Is that not the case? Regardless of how much experience someone has with this saying, what is the negative effect that it can have on someone’s heart? Something is revealed through the human disposition of the people in this world, including each and every one of you. How is this thing that is revealed to be interpreted? It is the worship of money. Is it hard to remove this from someone’s heart? It is very hard! It seems that Satan’s corruption of man is deep indeed! So after Satan uses this trend to corrupt people, how is it manifested in them? Do you feel that you could not survive in this world without any money, that even one day without money would be impossible? People’s status is based on how much money they have, as is the respect they command. The backs of the poor are bent in shame, while the rich enjoy their high status. They stand tall and proud, speaking loudly and living arrogantly. What does this saying and trend bring to people? Is it not true that many people make any sacrifice in the pursuit of money?”
After reading God’s words, the sister fellowshiped to me, “No one prevents you from earning money. God’s will is to let us see through how Satan corrupts and harms us so that we can shake off its control and bonds. Through the revelation of God’s words, we can see that Satan corrupts us with the viewpoint— “Money makes the world go round.” Driven by it, we’re willing to endure any suffering and pay any price to earn more money. Some people even opt to reject medical treatment that they require for the sake of earning more money. As a result, their disease becomes increasingly serious and finally they lose their life. Just like the boss of a real estate company nearby, he used to spend all day earning money. Due to his extreme work ethic, he became seriously ill. In the end, he left this world, taking nothing along with him. Though he earned so much money, it couldn’t save his life. It can be seen that the thoughts and viewpoints Satan has instilled in us are all fallacies and tricks that Satan uses to corrupt and devour us.”
I was moved by God’s words and the sister’s communication. I thought: “Am I not like this? To make more money, even though my gastric disease was very serious, I still worked day and night. To finish shelling chestnuts in time, I did that work with my teeth and ended up hurting them. Afterward, while working, I had my hand broken. But even such a great lesson didn’t awake me, and I still saw money as life itself. Since I believed in God, through attending church meetings and fellowshiping God’s words with my brothers and sisters, I’ve felt so relaxed, happy, liberated and free. I had never experienced this before. Now I see more clearly the pursuit of money and others’ admiration as society’s evil trend, not the right path of life. In the past, when immersing myself in this evil trend, I led a hard and painful life. If God hadn’t moved the sister to preach the gospel to me so that I could see through how Satan corrupts man, I would still be harmed by Satan. I no longer want to live in this way. Instead, I’m willing to seek the truth to satisfy God and perform the duty of a created being. This is the right path of life.”
God’s Words Guided Me Away From Satan’s Temptation
When I was determined to fulfill my duty to repay God’s love, Satan’s temptation befell me again. One afternoon, a neighbor came to my house and asked me to iron clothes in a clothing factory nearby. After hearing this, I was somewhat tempted, thinking: “If I do this job, I can accumulate much money after a year. However, I will not have any time to attend church meetings or perform my duty if the workload there is too heavy. In that case, won’t I simply be returning to my previous life?” As I was struggling with this dilemma, one day I saw the following passage from God’s words during my spiritual devotions, “On earth, all manner of evil spirits are forever on the prowl for a place to rest, and are endlessly searching for human corpses that can be consumed. My people! You must remain within My care and protection. Never be dissolute! Never behave recklessly! You should offer up your loyalty in My house, and only with loyalty can you mount a countercharge against the devil’s trickery. Under no circumstances should you behave as you did in the past, doing one thing in front of Me and another behind My back; if you act this way, then you are already beyond redemption. Have I not uttered more than enough words such as these? It is precisely because humanity’s old nature is incorrigible that I have had to give people repeated reminders. Do not get bored! All that I say is for the sake of ensuring your destiny!” “Therefore, who on this earth loves you the most? You do not love yourself, you do not care about your own fate, you do not know to cherish your own life, and you do not know how precious it is. Only God loves mankind the most. People might have not observed this, thinking that they love themselves. Actually, what love do people have for themselves? Only God’s love is true love; you will gradually experience what true love is.”
After reading God’s words, I felt afraid. I realized: “I can’t stray away from God and I should repay God’s love with loyalty. Only by frequently reading God’s words and attending church meetings can I understand the truth and recognize Satan’s temptation and deception so that I will never return under its domain.” I thought back to how in order to earn money and live with dignity I underwent so much suffering and hardship. In retrospect, I realized that I really didn’t love myself, nor did I cherish my own life. God couldn’t bear to see me die of Satan’s trickery, so He saved me with His incredible tolerance and love. When I didn’t understand the truth, God sent the sister to water me. Due to the watering and guidance of His words, I was able to completely see Satan’s evil and ugliness. I broke through its snare and enjoyed the happiness of God’s presence. At that moment, I truly felt that only God’s love for mankind is most real. When I had a little knowledge of God’s love, I was more willing to give up clinging to wealth, pursue the truth properly to worship God and obey His sovereignty and arrangements so as not to hurt or disappoint Him.
Walking the Right Path of Life and Saying Goodbye to the Days of Desperately Making Money
From then on, I always actively attended church meetings. To my surprise, when I didn’t risk my life for money, under God’s care and protection, my gastric disease which I had been suffering from for a long time gradually healed without treatment. Before long, I began to perform the duty of preaching the gospel and I felt much more relaxed. Seeing how I changed, my neighbours all said amazedly, “In the past, you lost no time in making money. Now, you’re not as busy as before. But you look better. Your gastric disease has healed and you have even gained a little weight. You’ve really changed a lot.” After hearing their words, I knew it was God’s words that changed me so that I walked the right path of life. I was no longer influenced by Satan to desperately make money. In my experience, I saw only God’s words carry authority and power, and that only God’s words are the truth. It was God’s words that led me onto the right path of life and let me live out a meaningful and valuable life.
