Chinese
House Church Leader's Testimony: A story of Imprisonment, Torture… but also a
story of faith and hope. |
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Probably
80 percent of the house church leaders in |
|
I
was born in a Christian family in |
In
1949 the new |
In
1952-1954 the Three Self Patriotic Movement was established in |
The
government chased out all the foreign missionaries. Communism closed the door
and they attacked the men and women of God in |
Just
like Satan comes and wants to destroy, the |
From
there, people looked for God. During that time only two to five people could
gather together. They just met together in small groups and that became their
meeting place. It looked like a spark of fire and it spread all over. At that
time Satan scared us and did all kinds of things to try and stop us, but the
revival grew. Today in |
In
this process, many people have carried a cross and been imprisoned, and Jesus
Christ carried the cross. The cross helped us confess our sin. The Lord put
us in a situation like in Hebrews chapter 11. To carry our cross -- and we
have to carry our cross -- we have to walk side by side with Jesus. Because
of that the presence of the Lord is with us and gives us strength. We have
desperate faith to follow Jesus Christ. That allows the light of Jesus to
live within us. |
I
have been imprisoned several times. Every day I prayed, “Lord, before I
experience today, you have already walked through it. You have gone ahead of
me to experience what I am going to walk through. You know what will happen
in my day, and you will take full responsibility.” |
First,
when they arrest you, they try to convince you to give up your faith. And
when you surrender to them they will offer you an office in a position such
as community member or a position in the Three Self church. If you do not
deny your faith and surrender to them, then they will attack you. First they
put you into a small place, isolate you, and they
let you starve to convince you. |
The
first prison I was in was the size of this room (150 sq. feet) and there were
40 prisoners there. A small square for each prisoner. When we crossed one
another it was very close, and when we slept, we couldn’t stretch out our
legs. When you wanted a drink there was no water. And because I was a
Christian, they appointed me to distribute water to everyone. But everyday we
only had a cup of water, and this water was for you to brush your teeth, wash
your face and drink. And even do your laundry with that cup of water! Because
of that we did no laundry and we had bugs in our clothes. We only had two
small bowls of noodles every day and a small piece of bread. It was a very
small piece. If it was a special day or festival, they would give you a
bigger bowl of noodles. |
Every
day they gave you work. The work was making Christmas lights. We had to install
those light ports every day -- seven thousand. Inside the light bulb you have
two small lines. You hook them together and you have to use your teeth to
bite and then seal it. If you could not finish your goal, they beat you up.
When you finished, you had to bow down. Then they used that big long stick
and hit your hip. |
There
was no barber, so you had long hair and a long beard. One of the prisoners
was a Uighur, a minority from northwestern |
They
would interrogate you and asked you questions. If you don’t answer them, or
if your answer was not according to what they wanted you to answer, they
would punish you. |
I
said, “I have nothing to say, because the Holy Spirit did not give me a word
to share with you.” |
And
they said, “How can you say words like this? You’re against me?” So they
bound me. But afterwards they said, “No, we will not bind you. We have found
another kind of punishment.” They had a gate. They cuffed my hands in the
back and then to the gate. When they opened the gate my body hanged in the
air; my feet could not touch the ground for almost four hours. |
During
these four hours I prayed to the Lord and the Lord gave me feelings. I felt the
Lord crucify Himself on the cross to carry our sins. This is a reality. He is
the Son of God. He paid the price for us and He allowed me to take part in
His suffering. At that time in my conscience I told myself, “I love You,
truly I love You,” because He allowed me to experience His suffering. It is
really only a little suffering I experienced because the Lord will not give
us more than what we can carry. |
Another
officer came to see me. My hand was swollen. He touched my hand and said,
“Why don’t you just say a few words that make them happy? Why do you have to
suffer?” |
I
had no strength to talk and I heard a loud voice from far away that said, “Beat him up!” Then I felt just like when Jesus was
on the cross. He said, “Forgive them because they don’t know what they are
doing.” |
They
don’t know what they are doing. If they knew the faith we have, the Lord we
have, they wouldn’t do that. Actually, I feel I owe them the gospel, because
they don’t know Christ. I am indebted to them because they don’t know our
Lord. |
After
a few hours they came to see me. They didn’t say any words,
they just released me from the handcuffs. They brought me to another room. I
sat at a table with the officer -- face to face. He had a paper and pencil and
he said, “Talk!” How can I say anything? Then he said, “Thank you,” and
closed his book and walked away. He never questioned me again, and they
sentenced me to three years in the labor camp. Actually it was over three
years when they released me. |
When
I was in the barber shop in the prison, the guy who cut my hair -- a spy --
said, “We already have four people sentenced to death. You are one of them,
we will execute you.” They put me in a place, and outside my room there was
some clean water, so every day I did my laundry and I washed and took a bath.
Every time I heard an engine noise, I put on my clothes because I knew they
were coming to execute me. I was ready. Every day I make this preparation.
When they wanted to execute someone, they would have some police in uniforms
with white gloves and handcuffs. They took out those prisoners, who never
came back. |
One
day the uniformed police came with their white gloves, opened the gate and
came into our room. They called my name. I thought, “This is the time of the
Lord.” So I got up and followed them out the gate. There were two gates. I
can see the outer gate. Eight police were with me. I walked with the police
to the room of the prison chief. |
They
told me to squat on a rock. One soldier said it was his first time to execute
a prisoner. At the right side of the execution ground was a meeting room and
the officers were holding a meeting. I talked to a prisoner and he said, “No
weapon can hurt me. I am with supernatural power.” After he said this, they
executed him. Just shot him in the head. Blood everywhere! |
One
of the officers said to me, “What do you want to say?” The days they executed
prisoners they have a loudspeaker. People came to watch the executions. He
said, “Well, this group is waiting for you. What do want to say, you have to
say it now.” I said, “I have nothing to say.” |
I
felt very sorry for him. I felt I owed him the gospel. But because I have no
word to say, he came from his chair and grabbed my wrist. Then he put his hand
on my heart to see if it was still beating. He was very angry because he
assumed I was going be very scared. Then he sat down. I experienced death.
Every day we go through death to allow the death of Christ to live in our
life. After a couple of times of this kind of imprisonment and death threats,
they finally said, “This man’s a real Christian.” Thank you, Lord! |
May
the Lord use you (Open Doors) to cooperate with the house churches of |
To
obey God’s word is to submit to Matthew 8 and to bring the gospel to the ends
of the world. To bring the gospel in |
This
kingdom belongs to the Lord and the Lord will reign forever. Until that time the
Lord will dry our tears. He will allow us to stay in front of the throne of
God and receive his glory. The suffering that we have is only temporary. In
the future we will see forever glory. |
Romans
12:1 is a Scripture to encourage the |
In
1995 many leaders from the house churches in |
From
outside, the door of |
|
OPEN
DOORS |
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Call
949-752-6600 or go to its |
PO Box 27001, Santa Ana, CA 92799. |
Currently
working in 60 countries with 23 international offices and over 300 staff worldwide,
Open Doors with Brother Andrew delivers Bibles and other study materials,
provides literacy training and pastoral training and advocates on behalf of
those who are persecuted for their faith in Christ Jesus. |
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From:
http://www.crossroad.to/ |