Christian Reflection

A Christian’s Story: Does Money Make You Happy?

Many people struggle bitterly in pursuit of money and take making money as their goal of happiness. But does money make you happy? This Christian’s story will touch your heart. Read now.

Inspiration From Life: One Man Realizes the True Meaning of Wealth

Everybody dreams of leading a life of material wealth, and I am no exception. I was once someone who worked tirelessly to have an affluent life. However, once I had obtained such a life, I found myself living in torture, feeling sick and empty inside.

Avoiding the Lure of Money Brings a Happy Life

In this society, money talks, and everyone looks to money. Lots of people have become slaves to money—for the sake of earning money they’ve lost their health and even lives. Could the pursuit of money really be the value in living?

A Christian’s Testimony: I Got the Way to Shake off the Shackles of Money

By Bong, Philippines I wanted to be rich. I was born into a peasant family in the Philippines. I had a big family and we led a poor life when I was young. I remembered when I was in high school, once I was not allowed to take the exam because my family had no money to pay for the exam fee. My mother begged the school to give me a chance, but they refused. It was not until my mother gave them an IOU that they agreed. That thing had a great impact on me. I was very indignant that without money one could do nothing in this money-centered society. At that time, I made up my mind to be a rich man in the future. I sacrificed my health in exchange for money. After graduating from high school, I attended a vocational school to learn car repairs. In school, I studied hard. While other students were all out playing, I was still studying mechanical skills. At night, while others were asleep, I was still immersed in my studies. After graduation, I came to Manila to seek a job. But because I didn’t graduate from a famous university or have any connections, I failed to find any job. At last, I had to work in my uncle’s car repair factory. In order to earn more money, apart from repairing cars, I also helped my uncle manage his finances and take stock. I worked from dawn to dusk every day; sometimes when others went home after work, I was still working overtime to take an account of stock. After I got married, I had three children. In order not to let my children live the same poor life as I did, I worked harder than before. During the day, I worked in the garage; after work, I drove my electric tricycle to transport passengers till two o’clock in the morning. Thus I could only sleep for three or four hours every day. Although I got four days off every month, I still didn’t take a rest but went to earn extra money. Through a period of struggle, I finally bought a house and a car. However, unexpectedly I got hypertension due to staying up and overworking for a long time, which plunged me into despair. I thought: “Without good health, I can’t earn more money; thus, my wish to be rich will be shattered.” The doctor suggested that I should cooperate with treatment and not exert myself. After that, while cooperating with the treatment, I still worked hard to earn money day and night. Only when I felt very uncomfortable did I take a rest at home. But seeing that I made less money than before after rest, I felt reluctant and unhappy, so I often endured pains to earn money as a driver. Consequently, my disease got so serious that I had no choice but to stay at home to rest, relying on medicine to maintain my health. God’s salvation came upon me. In June 2017, Pastor Jayce and his wife came to visit me. They told me that the Lord Jesus has come back and launched a new work. And Pastor Jayce fellowshiped with me, “The Lord Jesus was nailed on the cross for us to forgive our sins, but He didn’t eradicate the root of sins within us. Thus, we are still living in a state of sinning and confessing. In answer to the needs of us corrupt mankind, the Lord returned in the last days and has carried out a stage of the work of judging and purifying man with the word on the basis of the redemptive work. …” I was greatly touched by his fellowship. I had believed in the Lord for many years, but I still pursued a luxurious life and didn’t attend meetings regularly, bound by sins all along. At this thought, I truly felt the root of sins is still in me. The more I listened, the more I felt that Brother Jayce’s fellowship came from God, so I decided to investigate the gospel. Later on, he testified to me that the return of the Lord Jesus in the last days is Almighty God, and fellowshiped with me about the truths of the incarnation and the three stages of God’s work of saving mankind. Through the fellowship about these truths, I became completely certain that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. Then my wife and I readily accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. I went astray again. After accepting Almighty God’s work of the last days, I could keep gathering at the beginning, but a period of time later, I felt it would impede my making money if I often attended meetings. I thought: “Making money is most important, so it’s enough that my wife attends meetings. I should spend more time on work.” Afterward, I didn’t go to assemblies anymore. My wife and my brothers and sisters fellowshiped with me many times, but I didn’t listen to them at all and insisted on making money. After that, I put most of my time into making money: During the day, I worked in the factory; at night, I earned extra money as a driver. I kept rushing around in this way for several months. During that period, my car was always breaking down, but I didn’t pray to God or retreat into the spirit to reflect upon myself. One day in December 2017, when I was about to run my car, I found its engine didn’t work, which would take me much time to repair, so I could only go home. I was thinking inwardly on the way: “Ever since I didn’t attend meetings, my heart has strayed farther and farther from God. What I think about every day is how to make more money and all I pursue is nothing but material things.” I saw through the root of my suffering. After arriving home,…

My Joys and Sorrows After Achieving Success

By Ziyi, Italy When I was in elementary school, every summer or winter vacation my cousins would come home in their cars, bringing back various presents. All the relatives, friends and neighbors would come over and our house would be full of people. Seeing how they all cast admiring gazes at my cousins, I felt very envious. At that time, I made a resolution to myself: “I must strive hard to achieve something in the future so that I can be outstanding like my cousins. I want to bring honor and glory to my ancestors, and lead an aristocratic lifestyle.” After working hard, I achieved modest success. After graduating from technical school, I was very lucky to find a job as an office clerk in a foreign company. In the beginning, I was secretly happy with myself: “No matter what, I now work in an office, so no one can deny that I’m a white-collar worker.” But I didn’t expect that because I had a low position and poor qualifications everyone else could boss me around in the office. My self-esteem was severely damaged, but my ambition was stimulated. I resolved to make other people look at me with new eyes through my own efforts. Therefore, I worked harder and spent all my spare time learning the company procedures and all about the products, and generally gaining professional proficiency. Every day, I worked from dawn to dusk, and I hardly took time off all year round. In five years, I practically went nowhere but the dormitory, canteen and office. Finally, my years of hard work paid off: I was promoted from ordinary office clerk to salesperson, then manufacturing manager, then purchasing supervisor, then imports and exports supervisor, and in the end I became an executive in the company and was admired and looked up to by others. Those who once despised me nodded and bowed in front of me. Such an achievement made me feel glorious and proud. But as I came into contact with more and more people, I saw that there were a great number of successful people who were richer and more powerful than me. Thus, my sense of satisfaction gradually faded. I thought: “Although I have gained a high position and the support and admiration of my colleagues, I’m still working for other people. As they say: ‘You have to be crazy to be highly successful.’ I’m still young; why don’t I start a business by myself? As the old saying goes: ‘People struggle to go upward, but water flows downward.’ I shouldn’t be content with my current situation, but should seek to progress.” Several years of work experience had given me enough faith and courage, so I quit the high-paying job as an executive to start my own business. Later on, I opened a store selling cosmetics of a famous brand. To fulfill the high performance targets I set for my company every month, I had to work out various marketing plans besides managing the store. No matter how many customers there were during the day, I always stayed in the store all the time and didn’t go home until very late at night. I had no holidays of my own. Sometimes I felt very tired, but at the thought of the success that was just around the corner, I would exert myself again and keep persisting. After a few years, I achieved a fair amount of success and made some money. Then I expanded my store, and bought a car and a house. All my relatives, classmates and neighbors around me cast gazes of admiration at me, and my parents were also proud of me. Sudden diseases left me in unbearable pain. Just when I was tirelessly busy with my business and enjoying a sense of achievement, I started to have some health problems. I often felt faint and had numbness in my hands. After having an examination in the hospital, I was surprised to learn that I actually had cervical spondylosis and periarthritis. The doctor said to me in a serious voice: “These diseases cannot be eradicated. The treatment can only help you relieve your pain. You must take good care of yourself, take more rest and avoid overworking. Otherwise, your diseases will get worse and worse. Though these diseasesaren’t deadly, they will influence your quality of life if they get serious. You are still young, so you must pay more attention to your health. If yourcondition goes on like this, you might get muscular atrophy, or even quadriplegia.” The doctor’s words made me think of those people I knew who suffered from cervical spondylosis or lumbar diseases. Both their work and quality of life were negatively influenced; some of them even seemed to be half- paralyzed and could do nothing. Thinking of all this, I felt very disheartened. I had never expected that I, who was barely 30, could get diseases which occur mainly among people in their 50s or 60s. When I was driving home, I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my face. Thinking back on all those years, I felt I was like a wound clock that ticked round and round and couldn’t stop. In the following days, I went to the hospital for treatment every few days. I tried all kinds of treatments to treat my cervical spondylosis and periarthritis, such as physical therapy, massage, cupping, acupuncture, traction and small needle-scalpel therapy. These treatments cost me a lot of money, but were of no help to me. On the contrary, they left a shadow on my mind: The sound of the acupuncture needles going in kept echoing in my head. Every time I went into the hospital, my heart would start pounding; when I thought of the pain brought by traction and acupuncture, my legs felt weak. Many times I thought: “I’ve built up my career and gained money and reputation through hard work, but my health is now ruined. I spent nearly half of my…

Appreciating God’s Love From the Miraculous Efficacy of Houttuynia Cordata

By Guan Liang In my childhood, whenever I got a feverish cold, my mother would pull up a handful of houttuynia cordata on the ridges between the fields and decoct it for me. Not long after I drank the decoction despite its pungent smell, I would feel much better. At that time, I knew nothing about houttuynia cordata except that it could be used to alleviate fever and that the fishy taste it left in my mouth would linger there for a long time. In the evening I could still taste the decoction of it which I drank in the morning. For this reason, I had little liking for it. It was after I saw another wonderful efficacy of houttuynia cordata that I didn’t so dislike it. I remember that time my mother accidentally cut her hand while she was harvesting rice and the wound was bleeding. She picked several leaves from the houttuynia cordata, rubbed them, and pressed them onto the cut expertly. Soon the bleeding stopped and after dressing the wound, she continued with her work. Only when I saw this did I know that houttuynia cordata’s heart-shaped leaves could actually stanch bleeding and reduce swelling. And this has remained in my memory ever since. Over thirty years had passed. In the fall of 2016, I moved to a small town. A friend of mine, seeing me have a bad cough, gave me a packet of houttuynia cordata and told me that it was a natural remedy, which could bring many benefits but no harm to people, and that I could drink water infused with it in normal times. But when I thought of how houttuynia cordata tasted, I didn’t feel like trying it. Therefore, I put it aside and ignored it. In the spring of 2017, I accidentally saw that on an area of three or four square meters next to my yard, there grew some plants with heart-shaped leaves, looking kind of like houttuynia cordata. I picked a leaf from them and smelled it to see if it was really houttuynia cordata. The minute I smelled it, I was hit by a strong smell, which was exactly the same as that of the houttuynia cordata in my hometown. At that moment, for some unknown reason, I suddenly felt the smell so intimate and comfortable. This aroused my interest in houttuynia cordata, and I searched the Internet for information about it. I learned that it’s a natural antibiotic, able to reduce inflammation and destroy bacteria, and that it’s also an ingredient of a great many medicines. These findings made me look at the little houttuynia cordata with new eyes. Afterward, once when I was flicking through an old medical book, I stumbled upon a passage of words about houttuynia cordata: “It has the effects of clearing heat and dissipating carbuncle. … It is anti-bacterial and possesses strong inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus. Its decoction with 0.0025 wt% concentration still can inhibit the growth of bacteria. It’s utilized for the treatment of pulmonary abscess and lobar pneumonia. As for those who have a fever and cough with stinking and thick sputum, the mix of houttuynia cordata and bellflower will help them eliminate phlegm. …” When I saw these effects of houttuynia cordata, I was thrilled, because I had been afflicted with pneumonia since my childhood. I frequently coughed up purulent sputum and there were several times when I even coughed up blood. Later, after an examination, I was diagnosed with lobar pneumonia. For the sake of having my disease cured, I had tried many medicines, medicinal paste, and got quite a few injections, which cost me a lot of money, but none of them worked. In late July of 2017, I suffered an attack of pneumonia again. It lasted for days and caused me to lose over 5kg of weight. The disease really brought me an awful lot of trouble. So when I learned about the use of houttuynia cordata, I thought: “It is so healthful and could help inhibit the growth of bacteria and my friend also recommended it. So, though the bout has passed and I’m not feeling anything wrong with me now, it is still a good idea to daily drink the infusion of it.” And that’s what I did. After a few days, I achieved very good results: I clearly found myself more energetic than before, and the feeling that there was always sputum in my throat was gone. More surprisingly, before, my gums would bleed almost every time I brushed my teeth, but now, that actually never happened again. Since then, I persevered in drinking the infusion of houttuynia cordata every day, and the disease I had suffered from for years was nearly cured. When I experienced these miraculous effects of houttuynia cordata, I shared it with the friends around me and they benefited a lot from houttuynia cordata as well. I never imagined that this little plant had actually so many uses. It was really amazing! Thus I developed a liking for houttuynia cordata from then on. One day, I saw the following words in a book: “Among all things, God created some plants, animals, and all sorts of grasses that are particularly of use for taking care of injuries or treating illnesses in humans. … For instance, if you get a fever, catch a cold, suffer an injury from physical work, a stomach ailment from eating the wrong thing, or develop certain diseases due to living habits or emotional issues, such as vascular diseases, psychological conditions or diseases of the internal organs—there are corresponding plants to cure all of these. There are plants that improve blood circulation to remove stagnation, relieve pain, stanch bleeding, provide anesthesia, help people recover normal skin, eliminate blood stasis in the body, and eliminate toxins from the body. In short, they can all be used in daily life. They are of use to people and have been prepared by God for the human body in…

The Marvelous Relationship Between the Varnish Tree and the Cork Tree

By Chen Xin Every time I thought of my hometown, what first came to me was the mountain chain behind my house. On it there was a verdant wood, trees and hedgerows, and all sorts of strange rocks, and the intoxicating perfumes that all kinds of trees shed. This wood was my only paradise of childhood. However, my family always exhorted me not to play in the varnish trees woods behind our house. I was very confused about it and curiously asked my mother why. As I asked her again and again, she told me the reasons. It turned out that the resin of the varnish tree can be used in making lacquer, which can be used to paint the furniture and coffin, and is water-proof, durable and expensive. What’s more, the seed of varnish trees can produce edible oil. Though the rate of producing oil is low, the oil made from it can prevent stomach cancer. Therefore, it is worth much and also brings our life a lot of help and benefits. Even so, people very rarely dare approach varnish trees, because the delicate fragrance they give out is allergizing and can cause skin rashes, making people unbearable itching all over. In serious cases, the skin would be inflamed, red and swollen. Even though after injections and medication, the rash won’t clear up until several days later. The wonderful thing is that there is also a kind of stunted tree, cork tree, on the mountain. When someone has a skin allergy, as long as he bathes himself with the water in which he boils its branches, he will recover. In this way he can achieve a faster result than by taking medicine. Because people will feel very uncomfortable once they have this kind of rash, many of them don’t dare approach this woods of varnish trees. It seems that the varnish tree is mentioned with horror. This is the reason that parents don’t allow their children to play in the woods of varnish trees. I remembered when I was young, my parents often told me I should not touch or approach varnish trees, because this kind of trees could cause the skin break into rash and make people very uncomfortable. Even injections and taking medicine wouldn’t work. I asked them in confusion, “Is that really so serious?” Seeing me obstinate, my parents urged me again and again. At that time, I only listened to these words doubtingly and forgot them soon. Soon, someone asked my grandfather to make a few catties of lacquer for him to paint a coffin. Led along by my curiosity, I secretly followed my grandfather into the wood of varnish trees. I was wondering whether severe skin rashes could occur with contact with the raw sap, and even more I wanted to see how my grandfather tapped varnish trees. Soon, he found me and nervously urged me to go back quickly. I shook my head stubbornly and rolled up my sleeves to show him that I didn’t have any rash. Seeing me like this, he shook his head helplessly and went to do his own work. He made T-shaped gashes in the branches of varnish trees and then the milky juice flowed out, and when it flowed into his bucket, it turned black. Regardless, he didn’t allow me to approach the varnish trees. When I came back home with him, seeing my body was no eruption, I was secretly very pleased and said to my mother, “I don’t fear the varnish tree. Look, I don’t have a skin allergy.” However, not long after I went to bed, I began to itch all over, which made me so uncomfortable that I cried. Then flashing a light, my father had to go behind our house at midnight to break some branches of cork tree and boiled them. After I bathed myself with the water that he boiled them with, I didn’t itch gradually. However, there were still many red spots and some scratches on my body; my face puffed up, to the extent that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. After the rash disappeared, I discussed with my friends, “What kind of tree’s function is more powerful?” Some of them said, “The varnish tree’s function is more powerful. People all dare approach it.” The others said, “I feel it should be the cork tree. It can cure the rashes caused by the varnish tree.” There were more people that agreed on the first opinion, including me. We felt, “Varnish trees are large and tall, covered with rich leaves. The seed of them can not only be sold, but can produce edible oil. The sap within them can be used in making lacquer to paint the furniture. Therefore, the varnish tree’s function is more powerful.” Some others said, “Though the cork tree is small and short, its function is more powerful than the varnish tree’s. If we have rashes caused by the varnish tree, only when we use the water that we boil the branches of the cork tree with to bathe ourselves, will we get better faster. So the cork tree’s function is more powerful.” In the end, none could bring the others around. I still thought in my heart that the varnish tree’s function was more powerful because it not only brought us a lot of help and benefits, but terrified many people. I also heard a story from my grandfather: Before liberation, when bandits came into the village to rob the villagers, the villagers hid themselves in the wood of varnish trees with their grain and things of value. They wore hats made of branches of cork tree to prevent the skin rashes, but the bandits didn’t dare come in for fear they would have rashes. After the bandits left, the villagers got out and came back home in safety. In the turbulent years, this wood of varnish trees silently kept people safe in this way. After I told this story to my friends,…