10. The Lord's Word Shines

When I was put into custody, there was one question always in my heart: "Why do those who love the Lord suffer and are arrested, but the wicked swagger about and are prosperous and in power?" On the 28th day, that cadre fetched me for interrogation again. God used him to test me. He said: "The amount of gold which you said you buried in the ground is different from what your mother said. If you did not tell the truth, do not think you could get released." In addition, he asked people to wait there for me to finish the report. I went back to the jail and thought how I could tell him the truth that originally my mother had given me three bottles of gold. Neither would my mother tell them there had been three bottles of gold. She had taken one bottle to use, so when I dug there were only two bottles of gold. If I said that there had been three bottles, they would force my mother to hand in that bottle of gold. My mother would be forced to die. It was a time of persecution called "San Fan Wu Fan." It was a big storm when many were forced to commit suicide. Therefore, I wrote as before and said that I buried two bottles of gold. When I finished writing, it was almost dark. I knelt down to pray and asked the Lord to bless me so that I could pass this time. There was no peace because there was falsehood in the report. How could the Lord bless me? Hurriedly I prayed to the Lord: "O Lord! Indeed, I had no choice! How could I put my mother to death?" Then one verse of Scripture came to me: "Anyone who does not hate his father and mother cannot be my disciple." So I obeyed and dedicated my mother to the altar. I rewrote it as follows: "Originally I buried three bottles." As I wrote this down, the Holy Spirit reminded me: "You must specify that the bottle was a 'very small' one." I thought: "No matter what I say, they will doubt it and claim that I do have it. How can they believe when I say it was very small?" The Holy Spirit made me clearly feel: "The Lord will make them believe." I finished it as soon as possible and gave it to the one who was waiting for it. Then I knelt down to pray: "O Lord! I will never be able to go out. My report will not match with my mother's confession." I thought that no matter what, my mother would not admit that originally there had been three bottles. I will be in jail all my life to keep company with the Lord and to intercede! At that moment, I was filled with the Spirit of joy. The next morning when I was having close fellowship with the Lord, I heard the warden yelling my name. I thought: "Oh, no!" However, the warden asked me to come out and told me: "Go home!" I was pleasantly surprised. The warden told me to carry my own stuff, and he helped me to carry the bedding. He took me out from the custody to the Department of Public Security. He asked me on the way: "Isn't Jesus the One Who delivered you? Don't you pray to him on your knees every midnight?" He was joking, but I answered sincerely: "Yes." Just when I could see from afar that there was a pedicab at the door of the Department of Public Security, a man walked toward the warden and told him: "Take her back quickly. It is not done yet." The warden immediately took me back to the same jailer and locked the iron gate. I was like a bird that had been locked in the cage for many days. Finally it could fly out, but it was locked in the cage again. After this short deliverance, I felt it was harder to endure than before. What was wrong? I became so agitated that I could neither eat nor sleep for the whole night. I got up early in the morning, rolled up my bedding, and waited for them to let me out. Nothing happened for the whole day. I had a hard time getting through that night. The next morning was the 30th day that I had been in the custody. Though I was terribly upset, I managed with an effort to pray a simple prayer. I asked the Lord to calm down my heart so that I could read the Bible. God is the Almighty and loving Father who indeed listens to our prayers. Although I was in such a bad mood, He led me into a realm of reading the Bible in the Spirit. I turned to Isaiah 40. As I opened the Bible, every word and every sentence unfolded and gave light to me. Previously when I read the books of prophets, it seemed there was a veil covering my heart, and I did not understand what they were talking about. Now it was as if the Lord talked to me face to face. He comforted me repeatedly: "Fear not." He told me great and unsearchable things about the future and made me see the great revival after God's children were refined. He who repents of his sins during the refinement, who trembles at the Lord's word, will be made into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. A worker of the time will be put in an important position by God. As for those who forget God's holy mountain, who spread a table for fortune -- who forget God's temple to follow the trend of the world and forsake the Lord for themselves, will be eliminated.

I finished reading the book of Isaiah from chapter 40 to 66 without a break. It was as if I had tasted the best of meats, and I was overflowing with joy. A beautiful song welled out from the Spirit to the tune of "Father Will Watch Over You."

"You do great things no one can fathom, and wonder uncountable;

You have ordered the Red Sea to be divided; the Jordan River flew back;

O Lord, my heart rest, rest all times and rest forever;

Let it flood, you still are enthroned as King."

Just as I finished singing this song, I heard the warden call me. He brought my mother to the door of my cell. She had come to take me home. She looked at her daughter sitting in the jail, and her eyes turned red. Yet she did not know what a great blessing I had obtained in this custody. Later I learned that the day before yesterday, she had hired a pedicab to fetch me. Because she did not complete the document of guarantor, I was detained in the jail. There is a time for everything, and in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Who knew that on the very last day, I would gain such great comfort from the Lord? In the past, I read from the hymn composed by Dr. John Sung, the Lord's servant, about "Great revival in great tribulation." The Lord's servant, Uncle Chang, also said that the great revival in the future would be the work of the Holy Spirit, the living water. It would be one country by one country, one city by one city, one island by one island, and one tribe by one tribe to return to the Lord. Later in Beijing, there were two sisters of the House of God who were poured out with the Holy Spirit when they were praying at the watchtower. They saw a great revival, a grand scene of the good soldiers of Heaven march off, one group after another, to preach the gospel. Then they sang songs in the Spirit. However, all of this was passed to me indirectly. It was received by others from God and passed on to me. The experience on that day enabled me to perceive directly from God's word that this great revival would definitely come. Thanks to the Lord! Sufferings forced me to be closer to the Lord and made me taste the sweetness of the hidden manna.