Uncle Liang (pseudonym), a Heilongjiang Province man of nearly 70, still has a strong build. Aside from his job, he actively serves in the church, passionately testifying that the Lord is his savior in several life-or-death situations. His belief in the Lord started with his unemployment.
Unemployment
Uncle Liang said that when he was young, he taught himself musical instruments and later became a music teacher. He did an excellent job, but the school unfairly placed him on the layoff list.
After his joblessness, Liang thought of his cousin, who had a better job, so he wrote a letter asking her to help him find a job. After a long wait, he finally received a reply, but surprisingly, there was no mention of work, only an "introduction" to Jesus. At that time, he had no idea about believing in Jesus.
Gospel to his home
Later, locals began to believe in the Lord, and several female believers came to Liang’s home to preach the gospel to his wife. At first, they didn’t accept Jesus, but rather an idea: “Men have souls, which will go up to heaven if they believe Jesus, or down to hell if not.”
As there was no refusal from the Liang couple, those female believers came over every now and then. Aunt Liang had a dream one night that many people in white coats were going up in the air and making a smooth entrance into a door. She, however, was stopped and sank weightlessly. She awoke crying because she remembered going to heaven in the gospel and believing she would go to hell. Aunt Liang decided to believe in Jesus after that.
Uncle Liang could play the accordion and would accompany the congregation during hymn singing. The Lord also captured Uncle Liang’s heart through the praise of hymns. Soon, with the help of the church elders, Uncle Liang and his wife removed the idolatry they had worshiped before, changing their home into a meeting point.
Conversion of the extended family
Uncle Liang later learned that his cousin’s mother was a Christian who had long been devoted to the Lord and had been praying for his family for several years.
Before following Christ, Liang’s family used to worship idolatry but lived a cat-and-dog life with non-stop disputes among many siblings and sisters-in-law. The conversion of this extended family, comprising over 20 members, brought peace to their quarrels.
Escape from death
Once at his father-in-law's home, Uncle Liang got into a car accident on the way back from an outing with three brothers-in-law. Despite one of the brothers-in-law, who usually drove very steadily, forgetting to slow down when passing a bridge, the car hit the guardrail and fell under the bridge.
The bridge was six and a half meters above the water. Only the brother-in-law who was driving managed to jump onto the bridge, while the other three, including Uncle Liang, remained in the car as it fell off. In that terrifying moment, Uncle Liang thought he would not survive and could only call out to Jesus in his heart. Amazingly, they were all alive and could still move. Despite some broken parts, they somehow managed to drive the car out of the ditch!
After escaping from death, a thought occurred to Uncle Liang: "You have to bear witness for me." So he told his brothers-in-law, "Today you all piggybacked on my luck because I believe in Jesus, who saved us." The brother-in-law who fell with Liang heard what he said and responded, "There is a God!" After this accident, the relatives of their father-in-law's family, who despised the belief in Jesus, no longer denied the existence of God. Upon returning to his home and church, Uncle Liang began to witness the Lord's protection of him.
- Translated by Poppy Chan
