By Congxin
I was born in a poor family which is in a remote mountain village. To bring my two brothers and me up, my parents were heavily in debt, thus my neighbors all looked down on us. After dropping out at the age of fourteen, I worked from dawn to night as a construction laborer as well as a handyman from place to place. Nevertheless, my income was barely able to make ends meet. I was extremely anxious and didn’t know when I could pay off the debts in this way, let alone live a good life. When I could find no way out, in June of 2002, my elder brother who was far away in Guangdong called me and told me that it would be easier to make money with him there by sending the gas. Thus, I came to Guangdong in hopes.
What we sent was the bottled gas. We could make seven yuan per bottle delivered and were able to earn more than two thousand yuan per month. Comparing with eight hundred yuan per month earned as a handyman in the construction site, I felt quite satisfied. One day, I saw accidently one of my counterparts who lived next door pouring the gas from a big bottle into a small empty one via high-pressure tube. Feeling puzzled, I asked him what he was doing, and he talked to me in a low voice, “Just pour respectively fraction of gas equally out of two or three big bottles to fill a small one. And the big bottles can still sell as full ones. As long as customers don’t require to weigh them, nobody will know. In this way, we can gain more money every day. Many people of our kind all do this. You and your brother always send whole bottles of gas, and how can you earn much money? If you do like me, I can assure you that you will double or triple your income.” Hearing what he said, I thought it inconceivable, but in the meantime, I was somewhat tempted by it. I had a sudden realization that we could do business in this way. We could indeed make money rapidly by this means, but … it’s really against conscience and morality. What’s more, if it’s discovered by the regulator, we will be punished; if customers find out, they won’t buy our gas anymore. Wouldn’t the losses outweigh the gains? I told him my concern, but he said confidently, “Don’t worry! Few people will weigh the gas. As long as you give adequate gas to those who haggle over every ounce and have scales, it will be fine.” Hearing his words, even if I felt it was immoral, I thought, “Although I used to work very hard to make money, I still couldn’t get rid of poverty or become better off. It is indeed rare to have such a good way to gain money rapidly. As the saying goes, ‘If a horse isn’t given hay in the evening, it won’t become stout; a person without ill-gotten wealth can’t become rich.’ It is money that counts. Just do it! I will clean up my act by the time I pay off the debts, buy a house and live a good life.” Thus, driven by profits, I started to steal the gas. In the beginning, I dared not pour too much but to pour respectively one kilogram of gas out of four big bottles to fill a small bottle. I was always on tenterhooks when I delivered the gas, out of concerns of being discovered by customers. Later, as it went unnoticed, I gradually set aside worries and began to gain more money through stealing the gas boldly.Once, when I stole the gas, it leaked so much that I ventilated the room by opening the door. My neighbor happened to be cooking. The leak gas met open flame, with a bang, the room was filled up with flames. The neighbor was spooked, threw down the spatula and ran outside. Before I reacted, my eyebrows and hair were already charred, besides, lips and arms were also burned in different degrees. Fortunately, the big fire lasted only several seconds before I put it out using a wet towel in a hurry. Thinking back what had happened at that time, my heart was still fluttering with fear, and was shaking like a leaf. I thought to myself: How dangerous it was! I almost lost my life! It’s not easy to make money by this means! It’s better to stop stealing the gas from now on. Nonetheless, after being cured and ran the business normally just for a time, I began to take risks stealing the gas again thereupon, for I earned less in a normal way. Before long, because of improper operation, a new colleague caused an explosion in the process of stealing the gas, which left a hole in the roof. Moreover, his body was severely burned, which needed over a hundred thousand yuan to cure. This incident touched me once again: Is it worthwhile to lose life for illegitimate profit? Should I continue doing that? I began to hesitate. Nevertheless, nobody around me stopped on account of the incident. Then I consoled myself in my heart constantly: As long as I am more careful, I will be fine. In order to make money, I continued to push my luck to steal the gas. As time went by, I became increasingly bold, and thereby stole more and more gas. In the beginning, I stole gas from four big bottles to fill a small one, but later I stole gas from one or two big bottles to fill a small one. The most I had ever stolen was to get 11kg of gas from a bottle with net weight 14.5kg of gas. Over time, some clients began to complain, “Why was the gas used up so quickly? Did you give short weight?” Hearing this, I quibbled immediately, “Did you forget to turn off the gas and caused gas leak so that the gas ran out so quickly?” When I phoned it in, my customers had to take everything I said with a pinch of salt, but have nothing to say.Afterward, besides stealing the gas, I also followed my colleagues’ example to substitute semi-new bottles for regular customers’ new bottles, then resold the new ones to new customers to pocket the difference. In this way, I made more and more money and then bought house and car, living a better material life. However, whenever I quieted my heart and thought of the ill-gotten wealth I got in these years, I always had a sense of inexplicable emptiness and fear. As the saying goes, “Gods mill grinds slow but sure.” The consequences of selling my soul to the devil would come home to roost one day. However, attracted by outsize profits, I couldn’t control myself even though I wanted to stop …In July of 2011, I accepted the kingdom gospel of God from my friend. Through God’s words and brothers and sisters’ fellowships, I have known something of my wrong actions of stealing gas. God’s words say, “Man’s corrupt disposition stems from his being poisoned and trampled upon by Satan, from the egregious harm that Satan has inflicted upon his thinking, morality, insight, and sense. …Before he was corrupted by Satan, man naturally followed God and obeyed His words. He was naturally of sound sense and conscience, and of normal humanity. After being corrupted by Satan, his original sense, conscience, and humanity grew dull and were impaired by Satan. …” (“To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God”). After reading God’s word, I reflected upon these years when I did business: I had inexperience of life originally and could earnestly do things in good conscience at first. However, influenced by the surroundings and driven by the interests, I learned to stop at nothing to gain money afterward, such as substituting insufficiency for sufficiency, replacing new one with old one covertly, and telling lies as usual. Besides, I regarded the fallacy that “a person without ill-gotten wealth can’t become rich” as a rule for survival. For the sake of build my fortune, I became deceitful and selfish, and even cheated my good friends. When others scolded me, I deemed shamelessly that doing business by fair means or foul was the unspoken rule. Everyone acted in this way, and there was nothing wrong. Not until read God’s word did I come to my senses: Corrupted by Satan, man’s conscience and reason have become deplorably numb. Harming others to benefit themselves isn’t regarded as evil or disgrace at all. Faced with the enticement of the interests, many people stop at nothing to gain benefits. Little does man realize that when he sinks into evil and is unable to extricate himself from it, these wicked behaviors have long since been extremely loathed by God.Though I had realized that the means of my doing business was disgusted by God, I plunged into a dilemma, for I could only gain one-thirds profit if I stopped stealing gas, which was barely to pay my basic living expenses. What if there would be something wrong with health and life in the future, but I hadn’t enough money for emergencies? Upon reflection, I found a happy medium: I won’t cheat brothers and sisters as well as familiar friends, nor give them short weight, but cheat others. I even thought that although I could not totally practice according to God’s word, God would be considerate of my difficulties and wouldn’t blame me. When I was against my conscience to continue following Satan to do evil, I found myself overwhelmed with a moral pang. In the past, I could find reasons to cover up my behavior of cheating customers, but afterward, every time whenever I cheated others, I felt that God was watching me, like a son of disobedience stealing things to his parents’ face. Especially I still prayed to God and read His words while I was two-faced, did I have face to consider myself a believer in God? Wouldn’t I bring shame to God?
When I was in great entanglement and agony, a sister surnamed Chen asked me seriously in a meeting, “Brother, I was told that you still gave customers short weight of the gas. Are your deeds in accord with the heart of God?” Helplessly, I said, “What I have done is indeed against God’s will, but I really have no other choice. If I don’t do that, it will be tough on me.” Sister Chen continued, “I can understand you. However, we should know that God rules over all things. God will arrange everything properly so long as we practice the truth. Will God allow a man who pursues and practices the truth to starve to death? Now that we believe in God, we are supposed to entrust everything to God, practice being honest persons before God and accept God’s observation in all things.” Then she read God’s words for me, “Look at all that you do and see if it can be brought before God. If you cannot bring all that you do before God, this shows that you are an evildoer. Can evildoers be perfected? All that you do, every action, every intent, and every reaction must be brought before God. …The process of accepting God’s observation is the process of purification. The more you accept God’s observation, the more you are purified, and the more you are in accord with God’s will, so that you will not hear the call of debauchery and dissipation, and your heart will live in His presence. The more you accept His observation, the more ashamed Satan is and the more you are able to forsake the flesh. So, the acceptance of God’s observation is a path people must practice” (“God Perfects Those After His Own Heart”). “Through eating and drinking the words of God, practice in accordance with God’s requirements, put your viewpoints right, and do not do things that resist God…; do not do shameful things. Be just and honorable when doing all things and make them presentable before God” (“How Is Your Relationship With God”). After reading God’s words, she continued her fellowship, “From God’s words, we can see God’s requirements for man. As a believer in God, only when we speak or do everything aboveboard and make them presentable before God to accept God’s observation, can we be in accordance with His will. Brother, you are a believer in God now, but you still steal the gas even when you clearly know that it’s against God’s will. That is to say, you are doing things that you know are wrong. What you do is bringing shame to God! You’d better repent to God and practice the truth of being an honest person before it is too late. I believe that God will be compassionate toward those who truly repent.”
Hearing sister’s fellowship, I understood that although I believe in God, there were no place for God and no fear of God in my heart. Moreover, I never accepted God’s observation. Instead, I still did things which were in my favour, bearing no likeness to man. What I had done all resist, dishonor God, and were detested by God. At that time, I was very upset. Facing brothers and sisters, I felt myself losing face completely. But I knew clearly that the fellowship of the sister was God’s arrangement. God doesn’t give up saving me due to my disobedience. Instead, He hopes that I can repent after understanding the truth and then start afresh through practicing the truth. At this point, I also remembered what the Lord Jesus once said, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?” (Matthew 6:26). “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” (Matthew 6:31). Right! God rules over all things. Aren’t people’s health and life subject to God’s sovereignty? In thinking about this, I made up my mind to practice the truth of being an honest man, to accept God’s observation and not to commit unconscionable acts to hurt His heart when doing business from then on. Afterward, I no longer used underhand means as I did before, such as stealing gas and exchanging bottles. I abandoned all cheating actions. From then on, I felt much more relaxed and assured.
Sometimes, when I met colleagues on the way to deliver gas, I couldn’t help thinking: Although I lined my pockets with money from cheating others just like them before, my name was mud and I hung my head in shame because of harming others to benefit myself, no matter where I went. But as now, I practice the truth of being an honest person according to God’s requirements. Although I make less money, I am walking the correct path and doing correct things. Every time when customers ask me whether the gas is adequate, I feel no longer guilty. I can finally thump my chest virtuously and say to my customers, “Absolutely! You can weigh it. I will charge nothing if it’s not adequate.” And I also often hear customers’ sayings such as, “Your gas is really durable!” “Your gas is more durable than others’, and I will introduce my friends to buy yours.” Hearing these words, I was quite happy, tasting the sweetness of practicing the truth. After a time, on account of my honest service, the number of my customers was increasingly growing. Those who stopped buying my gas because I gave short weight also contacted me again. My income didn’t decrease but instead became more and more considerable. Moreover, every penny I earn now makes me assured and at peace in the heart. I know clearly that all the results are achieved by God’s words. I have truly seen in my experience that God’s word is the truth, and His blessings will accompany us as long as we practice the truth!
Later, I read these words of God, “‘Money makes the mare go’ is the philosophy of Satan and it prevails among every human society. You could say that it is a trend because it has been imparted to everyone and is now affixed in their heart. People went from not accepting this saying to growing used to it so that when they came into contact with real life, they gradually gave tacit approval to it, acknowledged its existence and finally, they gave it their own seal of approval. … Don’t you feel that you couldn’t survive one day in this world without any money, that even one day would just be impossible? (Yes.) People’s status is based on how much money they have as is their respectability. 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? Don’t many people see getting money as being worth any cost? Don’t many people sacrifice their dignity and integrity in the pursuit of more money? … Isn’t this a loss for people? (Yes.) Isn’t Satan sinister to use this method and this saying to corrupt man to such a degree? Isn’t this a malicious trick? As you progress from objecting to this popular saying to finally accepting it as truth, your heart falls completely under Satan’s grasp, and therefore you unwittingly come to live by it” (“God Himself, the Unique V”). How real the revelation of God’s word is! Satan twists our values and outlooks on life using such lies as the saying of “Money makes the mare go”, making us worship money and see money as life itself. Looking upon these days, there are so many people who stop at nothing to gain money and do all kinds of wicked behavior to swindle others just for gaining money. I was also once involved in the wicked social trends, and thereafter became more and more selfish, greedy, despicable, and unworthy in order to make money. Even though I had realized that I was committing sins and resisting God, however, because of no fear of God in the heart, I didn’t accept God’s observation. Rather, I pushed my luck to follow the path leading by Satan. If it were not for God’s words to awaken my numb and hard heart, I would not extricate myself from Satan’s poisons to live a free and released life. Now I have truly seen through that those prevailing ways of survival and philosophies of life are all the negative things instilled by Satan. People live based on these things, they will only become more and more corrupt, evil and fallen, just like beasts. God requires that people should be honest as well as accept God’s scrutiny in both saying and doing. Only when people practice God’s word, can we restore the conscience and sense that a normal human should possess and live out the likeness of a true man, thus being an upright person in the heavens and earth created by God. From it we can see that God’s substance is holiness, beauty and goodness. Everything from God is the truth, which is the most helpful and beneficial to us.
Having experienced God’s work, I also truly realized that it is God who presides over the fate of mankind. Everything man needs is provided by God rather than gained by his own hands. If we come before God, accept God’s salvation, and live by God’s words, we will live under His care and protection. Then, we can not only go on living but also receive peace and joy in the heart, thus living out a meaningful life.
The End.
