Through their blows, the persecutors and the persecuted came to know one another. This is an important gain for both of us, as we continue to walk through persecution. This is what it means when we Chinese say: “Out of blows, knowledge grows!”
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Honorable judge and public prosecutors: the law seeks justice, and you are representatives of that law. I implore you: fear God, look to the starry heavens, fulfill your divine vocation, and render a just judgment.
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I was not surprised to be arrested. Many of the Lord’s churches had already been targeted; many preachers had already been arrested. But surely everyone can see this criminal case is actually religious oppression. This is clearly religious persecution against Jesus’s church…If this is not persecution, what is it?
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The fact that I can preserve my faith in the Lord is an opportunity to bear witness to the eternal life of the Lord. I can keep serving the Lord, and for doing that, I face persecution, even being imprisoned, being sentenced and going through many other things. These marks of humiliation are still opportunities to testify to the eternal life, to manifest the eternal life.
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As Chinese Christians, God has called us to take up the cross and suffer the injustice of these fabricated charges in order to renew China in Christ. We are called to suffer in this way in order to renew this drought-stricken land of Shanxi Province, the region where we grow and live. We suffer in this way in order to renew the knowledge of God in the hearts of those in power, including those who make these arrests. We suffer in this way in order to renew their knowledge of God’s kingdom, of eternal life in Jesus Christ, and of the people in this kingdom who belong to God.
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To my surprise I have discovered that the Boxer Rebellion is present in China today, and that it has evolved to be more and more sophisticated. The seeds cast by missionaries of the gospel of sacrificial love have taken only shallow root in the hard soil of Shanxi Province—both in the traditional past and the modern present…During the pandemic in 2020, our local church in Shanxi seized the moment to commemorate missionaries who served in our province. We did this lest we forget our foundation, and miss the redoubling move of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of scarcity and powerlessness, the brothers and sisters of this land were thirsting for revival. Sure enough, our century-spanning spiritual fellowship with those missionaries healed many wounds at once.
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At the end of 2013, my 13-year-old went through a period of struggle as his growth stagnated. A joyful and active child, as we sent our son to school, he gradually became silent and reticent. This was our sorrow to bear and our child’s suffering to endure. Behind it all, a hidden horror lurked…Then, we realized: we could try home education. This was a new way God had showed us, a way out: “Let us preserve our child’s faith, character, life, and his motivation to study.”…Perhaps our story is what led to Brother Zhu Shuhao’s arrest today. Not only did he understand, approve, and support us, but he also convinced his wife to start homeschooling their own children.
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Throughout this experience, I have pleaded our case with police officers, officials, and even my fellow inmates. To them, our words do not count; our voices are not important enough to be heard; and even our proclamation of God's word is nothing but a lie. Christ, on the cross, was long ago presumed guilty by the world. All those who do not believe in Christ participated in this crime with their prejudices. Who can understand that the innocent was condemned in order that we, the guilty, might be forgiven and justified by faith?
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Now I have come out of it and had the opportunity to measure the power of darkness with my own personal experience, I am thankful and convinced by the Lord that the power of hell cannot prevail over the keys of the kingdom of heaven. This is my greatest take-away from my time in prison, and a message I purposely bring to you.
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The next morning there was a big debate. "If you are not a cult, why did they arrest you?" When you go inside, the hardest thing is not that the police say you have a problem, but that the prisoners also think you have a problem. The hardest thing is not that the people in power don't understand you, but that average citizens also think the same about you. This debate is necessary for a basic reason. If they identify you as a cult, the testimony of faith has failed. Christians willingly follow the Lord even if they are imprisoned and arrested; but what is more difficult and important is to present the testimony of the gospel and to ignite the fuel of the gospel. After the debate, people did not think of me as a cult member anymore. They called me a missionary, and later they called me "father," according to their understanding.
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