6 The Nation-shocking Fire in Ji County, Tianjin City
by Chen Yao
(from Tianjin city, Beijing District)
The Church of Almighty God | Picture
Laide Shopping Mall is the largest shopping mall in the county town of Ji County. June 30, 2012, was a Saturday, and the Mall was doing a sales promotion, so there were many customers. A little past 3 p.m., a fire suddenly broke out in the Mall. Fearing that customers might not pay or might steal merchandise during the chaos, the boss had the doors (coiling doors) on the first floor closed and forced the customers to the second and the third floor. Unexpectedly, the fire became fiercer and fiercer. Eventually it became uncontrollable.
All the power in the Mall went off, and the elevators from the first floor to the fourth floor stopped working. The doors on the first floor were shut and couldn’t be opened. As a result, the whole Mall was full of billowing smoke and towering flames, and big flames leapt from each window. Thick smoke covered the county town and people several hundred meters away felt choked…. At that time, many people trapped on the third floor and above chose to jump off to escape, yet some fell to their death on the spot, which was horrible to watch!
The fire department isn’t far from the Mall. It takes only ten minutes to walk there. But the fire engines didn’t arrive until 25 minutes after the call for help was made, which led to some delays in rescue. The firemen raised the scaling ladder up to the third floor. But by the time the seventh or eighth man was rescued, the ladder already became burning hot. The people couldn’t escape by ladder, and they fell from it and died on the spot. Besides, many more people trapped inside waved their hands desperately at the window shouting for help, but after a while no hand was seen waving….
The fire lasted from 3:30 p.m. to past 9 p.m., and about over 300 people were burned to death inside it (the exact figure is still under investigation now, but the government announced that only 10 people died). Some people called their family just past 3 p.m., but when their family called back at 5 p.m., no one answered the phone. A family of seven went shopping there and the whole family died in the fire…. There were many other scenes too tragic to describe.
The moment the fire started, the news of this tragedy was swiftly put on the web. Immediately, the “Fire at Laide Shopping Mall” shocked Ji County and shocked the whole nation. People of Ji County suffered from nervous fears and lived in a horrible atmosphere, and many people rushed about looking for their relatives.
Although the fire brought terror and harm to the common people, many brothers and sisters who believe in Almighty God received an extremely great salvation and keeping from God and saw God’s wonderful deeds when the fire happened. Sister Gao and her mother are new believers who accepted God’s work of the last days in June, 2012. When the fire occurred, they saw God’s deeds and became more certain about God’s new work. The elderly sister is 73 years old this year. As her legs are stiff, she walks with a cane, but she seldom falls over. On June 29, she suddenly fell down on level ground. Her bones didn’t break, but her legs swelled badly, and she couldn’t take care of herself. So Sister Gao had to attend to her bedside. On Saturday (the day when the fire broke out), a young sister called Sister Gao, saying that she liked a pair of trousers at Laide Shopping Mall and wanted Sister Gao to accompany her to buy it. Sister Gao said, “My mother can’t take care of herself now, so I have to look after her. You just go and enjoy yourself!” Before, when this friend asked Sister Gao for help, she never refused. But this time because her mother needed care, she had to refuse her friend.
When hearing Laide Shopping Mall had a fire, Sister Gao realized that she was kept by God unknowingly. God stopped her from going there through her mother’s illness. If she went to the Mall with her friend at that time, she would surely be burned to death too. God kept her alive in His special way. God is really so wonderful! Still more unexpectedly, on the evening of the day after the fire, Sister Gao’s mother could get up and move. Later, through fellowship, the elderly sister also understood God’s good purpose and said, “Though I suffered a little physical pain, God saved my daughter through my illness. Thank Almighty God!”
Sister Gao also said that the friend who asked her to go to Laide Shopping Mall that day received God’s wonderful keeping too. (She also believes in Almighty God, but didn’t pursue hard as Sister Gao did.) When she saw that Sister Gao wouldn’t go, she called her husband, asking him to accompany her to the Mall to buy the pair of trousers she liked. At around 2:30 p.m., her husband got home and hurried her to go. But at that time she was suddenly in no hurry, and said to her husband, “Wait for a while.” At 3 p.m., her husband hurried her again, but she still said, “Wait for a while.” The third time her husband hurried her, she drove to the Mall with him. When they got halfway, they saw heavy smoke rising from the direction of Laide. By asking, they knew that the Mall was on fire. Then, the sister couldn’t help saying excitedly, “Thank God for keeping me!” At the same time, she realized her delays before that were out of God’s sovereignty, not her real intention.
God’s power is everywhere, and His wisdom is unfathomable to man. Although we often forget God, He has been caring for and keeping us day and night, and has never left our side. As long as we believe in Him, when disasters befall, He will use various ways to deliver us from the suffering of the disasters. On the day of the fire, many brothers and sisters saw God’s deeds: A sister was shopping in the Mall. She happened to receive a call, and was called away to do something else. When she got out of the Mall, the fire broke out. Another sister was going downstairs to the Mall for shopping. Suddenly she had a stomachache and had to go back upstairs. As a result, she didn’t go to the Mall and escaped the accident…. It can be seen that in disasters only God is our real shelter and strong tower. For God says, “I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests. Without Me, mankind will immediately become stagnant. Without Me, mankind will suffer catastrophe and be trod upon by all manner of ghosts…. The disaster is brought down by Me and of course orchestrated by Me. If you cannot work for good in My presence, then you will not escape suffering the disaster.”
A fire wakes us up somewhat: Even if one is very rich, has a high status, can enjoy the luxury of modern city life, or is respected and admired by others, he is fragile in face of disasters. In the fire, of those who couldn’t endure the burning fire and jumped off the building and fell to death and those who desperately shouted for help through the window yet lost their lives in despair, some had wealth and status, some had beautiful appearance and clothes, and some had the company of their family. But at the moment when flames shot high and their lives were at stake, nothing they owned could help them escape from being devoured by the fire. As God’s words say, “Those living outside My word, fleeing the suffering of trial, are they not drifting through the world? They are akin to autumn leaves fluttering here and there with no place to rest, much less My word of consolation. Although My chastisement and refinement follow them not, are they not the beggars, floating around, that wander the streets outside the kingdom of heaven? Is the world really your place of rest?”
Dear brothers and sisters, the fire is God’s warning and reminding to us, and is also God’s salvation of love for us. May we all understand God’s kind intention from it, spend more time and efforts in pursuing the truth, and walk the path of life led by God. Only in this way can we receive God’s promises and blessings. At the same time, may God move our spirits so that in the time when disasters frequently happen, we can save more souls to comfort God’s sorrowful and anxious heart.
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| The Church of Almighty God | Picture |
Laide Shopping Mall is the largest shopping mall in the county town of Ji County. June 30, 2012, was a Saturday, and the Mall was doing a sales promotion, so there were many customers. A little past 3 p.m., a fire suddenly broke out in the Mall. Fearing that customers might not pay or might steal merchandise during the chaos, the boss had the doors (coiling doors) on the first floor closed and forced the customers to the second and the third floor. Unexpectedly, the fire became fiercer and fiercer. Eventually it became uncontrollable.
All the power in the Mall went off, and the elevators from the first floor to the fourth floor stopped working. The doors on the first floor were shut and couldn’t be opened. As a result, the whole Mall was full of billowing smoke and towering flames, and big flames leapt from each window. Thick smoke covered the county town and people several hundred meters away felt choked…. At that time, many people trapped on the third floor and above chose to jump off to escape, yet some fell to their death on the spot, which was horrible to watch!
The fire department isn’t far from the Mall. It takes only ten minutes to walk there. But the fire engines didn’t arrive until 25 minutes after the call for help was made, which led to some delays in rescue. The firemen raised the scaling ladder up to the third floor. But by the time the seventh or eighth man was rescued, the ladder already became burning hot. The people couldn’t escape by ladder, and they fell from it and died on the spot. Besides, many more people trapped inside waved their hands desperately at the window shouting for help, but after a while no hand was seen waving….
The fire lasted from 3:30 p.m. to past 9 p.m., and about over 300 people were burned to death inside it (the exact figure is still under investigation now, but the government announced that only 10 people died). Some people called their family just past 3 p.m., but when their family called back at 5 p.m., no one answered the phone. A family of seven went shopping there and the whole family died in the fire…. There were many other scenes too tragic to describe.
The moment the fire started, the news of this tragedy was swiftly put on the web. Immediately, the “Fire at Laide Shopping Mall” shocked Ji County and shocked the whole nation. People of Ji County suffered from nervous fears and lived in a horrible atmosphere, and many people rushed about looking for their relatives.
Although the fire brought terror and harm to the common people, many brothers and sisters who believe in Almighty God received an extremely great salvation and keeping from God and saw God’s wonderful deeds when the fire happened. Sister Gao and her mother are new believers who accepted God’s work of the last days in June, 2012. When the fire occurred, they saw God’s deeds and became more certain about God’s new work. The elderly sister is 73 years old this year. As her legs are stiff, she walks with a cane, but she seldom falls over. On June 29, she suddenly fell down on level ground. Her bones didn’t break, but her legs swelled badly, and she couldn’t take care of herself. So Sister Gao had to attend to her bedside. On Saturday (the day when the fire broke out), a young sister called Sister Gao, saying that she liked a pair of trousers at Laide Shopping Mall and wanted Sister Gao to accompany her to buy it. Sister Gao said, “My mother can’t take care of herself now, so I have to look after her. You just go and enjoy yourself!” Before, when this friend asked Sister Gao for help, she never refused. But this time because her mother needed care, she had to refuse her friend.
When hearing Laide Shopping Mall had a fire, Sister Gao realized that she was kept by God unknowingly. God stopped her from going there through her mother’s illness. If she went to the Mall with her friend at that time, she would surely be burned to death too. God kept her alive in His special way. God is really so wonderful! Still more unexpectedly, on the evening of the day after the fire, Sister Gao’s mother could get up and move. Later, through fellowship, the elderly sister also understood God’s good purpose and said, “Though I suffered a little physical pain, God saved my daughter through my illness. Thank Almighty God!”
Sister Gao also said that the friend who asked her to go to Laide Shopping Mall that day received God’s wonderful keeping too. (She also believes in Almighty God, but didn’t pursue hard as Sister Gao did.) When she saw that Sister Gao wouldn’t go, she called her husband, asking him to accompany her to the Mall to buy the pair of trousers she liked. At around 2:30 p.m., her husband got home and hurried her to go. But at that time she was suddenly in no hurry, and said to her husband, “Wait for a while.” At 3 p.m., her husband hurried her again, but she still said, “Wait for a while.” The third time her husband hurried her, she drove to the Mall with him. When they got halfway, they saw heavy smoke rising from the direction of Laide. By asking, they knew that the Mall was on fire. Then, the sister couldn’t help saying excitedly, “Thank God for keeping me!” At the same time, she realized her delays before that were out of God’s sovereignty, not her real intention.
God’s power is everywhere, and His wisdom is unfathomable to man. Although we often forget God, He has been caring for and keeping us day and night, and has never left our side. As long as we believe in Him, when disasters befall, He will use various ways to deliver us from the suffering of the disasters. On the day of the fire, many brothers and sisters saw God’s deeds: A sister was shopping in the Mall. She happened to receive a call, and was called away to do something else. When she got out of the Mall, the fire broke out. Another sister was going downstairs to the Mall for shopping. Suddenly she had a stomachache and had to go back upstairs. As a result, she didn’t go to the Mall and escaped the accident…. It can be seen that in disasters only God is our real shelter and strong tower. For God says, “I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests. Without Me, mankind will immediately become stagnant. Without Me, mankind will suffer catastrophe and be trod upon by all manner of ghosts…. The disaster is brought down by Me and of course orchestrated by Me. If you cannot work for good in My presence, then you will not escape suffering the disaster.”
A fire wakes us up somewhat: Even if one is very rich, has a high status, can enjoy the luxury of modern city life, or is respected and admired by others, he is fragile in face of disasters. In the fire, of those who couldn’t endure the burning fire and jumped off the building and fell to death and those who desperately shouted for help through the window yet lost their lives in despair, some had wealth and status, some had beautiful appearance and clothes, and some had the company of their family. But at the moment when flames shot high and their lives were at stake, nothing they owned could help them escape from being devoured by the fire. As God’s words say, “Those living outside My word, fleeing the suffering of trial, are they not drifting through the world? They are akin to autumn leaves fluttering here and there with no place to rest, much less My word of consolation. Although My chastisement and refinement follow them not, are they not the beggars, floating around, that wander the streets outside the kingdom of heaven? Is the world really your place of rest?”
Dear brothers and sisters, the fire is God’s warning and reminding to us, and is also God’s salvation of love for us. May we all understand God’s kind intention from it, spend more time and efforts in pursuing the truth, and walk the path of life led by God. Only in this way can we receive God’s promises and blessings. At the same time, may God move our spirits so that in the time when disasters frequently happen, we can save more souls to comfort God’s sorrowful and anxious heart.
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