Speaking Persecution: Christians should leave fear and death behind

Hello everyone. I’d like to thank the Philadelphia Liberty Bell Tribune for their invitation. I am grateful also to Father Thomas for permitting us to tell of the Chinese people’s deep sufferings here in God’s temple. Today I have the opportunity to brief you on mainland China’s brutal persecution on Christians (including Catholics), and to share some revelations God has given me. A Christian, a child of God, should not only spread the gospel, but also act justly, have compassion, and fearlessly stand up and speak and appeal on behalf of those who have been trampled over and tyrannized. I imagine that there are many Christians here today, many who still don’t know God and, and of course, also those who are sent from the Chinese Communist Party to collect information. I welcome you, too, because I sincerely hope that your souls can be saved! The reason we are gathering here today is that the sense of justice and goodness that God has placed in our hearts still hasn’t been totally swallowed up by that evil political party. It’s not hard to imagine how much this party wants to annihilate us! However, this isn’t China. Even though they want to exterminate us, they can’t, so are reduced to surreptitious activities like using secret agents to threaten or assassinate. How sad! We thought we would have both spiritual and physical freedom once we got to America, but most people’s spirits are still under the dark shadow of the Party.

Here, I would like to pass on God’s words to our compatriots who are controlled by darkness: do not be afraid! God tells us not to fear that which can kill only the body and not the soul. Last month my coworker Professor Shao and I were almost murdered by an automobile near my house, but we can still speak here with you today totally unharmed. This demonstrates that while God is present, evildoers cannot touch us. Murder not only couldn’t stop us from telling the truth, but actually strengthened our trust in God and our confidence in witnessing for Him! Even though we are physically destroyed, we will still fear nothing! This is what it means to walk out of death. If we leave this world having completed our earthly mission, more Christians will stand up.

Since we enjoy spiritual and physical freedoms here, we should cherish them, savor them and exercise them fully. 

Today I want to discuss religious persecution from a few angles. I will firstly talk about the origin of persecution – Jesus. Jesus said you should keep in mind that before the world hated you, it hated him. “I am telling you these things so that you will not go astray.” (John 15:18-19, 16:1-3) The first person to undergo religious persecution in New Testament times was Jesus. Christians must truly “know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” (Philippians 3:10) The torture of the cross, the cruelty of the soldiers and the sin reflected in people’s indifference has been talked about for almost two thousand years already. Now, times have evidently changed, as talking about religious persecution has become “meddling in politics”! In fact, the instant Christians agree to join the Three-Self Patriotic (Party’s) Church, they will have no trouble at all. According to authoritative Western journalists, the Chinese Communist Party’s church is legal because its faith is “orthodox” (their souls have clearly been bought off by money – how tragic). If the hundred million house church Christians joined the Three Self, China could be called a “Christian” country under the great leadership of the Party. Wouldn’t this then be another human miracle created by the Communist Party, following a soaring economy? The question is, why are so many Christians reluctant to join the Three Self? The answer is very simple - because they know the Three Self is a tool of the Party, a fake church used to control the Christians, befuddle the world opinion, and deceive the people! It is a special organ of the United Front to oppose God under God’s name. The leaders of the Three Self are all the Party’s cadres of various ranks. On the surface they seem to believe in God, but they actually believe in the Party, and that the Party is above God. Since this has come to light, the true Christians have preferred to die rather than join a church controlled by the Devil. It is precisely because their faith is firm that ruthless persecution has befallen upon them. Here I will show you a few real cases. Professor Shao, please turn the projector on.

(Photos of torture, such as Christians being butchered by the Chinese Communist Party, their organs being harvested and sold while still alive to pay off a ‘fine’ to the nation.)

Seeing these gory pictures, I would like to ask the Party’s secret forces to ponder why these Christians would be willing to suffer such cruel persecution. I bet you can’t imagine why. So stupid, seeking neither fame nor gain; suffering such torture just for a faith, dying in the prime of life. Actually, they’re not more stupid than you at all, because they have already passed from death into life. When you die, you won’t even really be able to die, but will descend into hell. When they die, they enter into the eternal life and their suffering becomes a thing of the past; “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning …” (Revelation 21:1-5)

Think back to when Jesus was crucified. The disciples all fled, and their faith came back only after Jesus’ resurrection; they gave up their lives for the Lord in quick succession because of this. If they still had feared death, this would mean they have not truly believed. What was so scary about the suffering of the flesh and the threat of death? What was so valuable? I just want to remind you, don’t think that you can live well and ask for reward from the Party tomorrow. How sure are you that you will even live to see tomorrow? Can you really not see that judgment will follow all those who do evil? Scripture says that misfortune pursues the sinner but the righteous are rewarded. (Proverbs 13:21) “No man has power over his spirit to retain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.” (Ecclesiastes 8:8) Everyone will die and face judgment. Can you escape judgment? Can you hide from God’s burning wrath? I urge you to repent. Give up evil and take up good, for this is the only means of survival. God doesn’t care how bad you are, but only whether you repent. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” These are Jesus’ words. (Luke 5:32)

In Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution, it is written “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China have freedom of religious belief.” The government also declares“Registration is not required for Christian believers holding religious activities in accordance with religious custom  in their own homes such as praying and reading the Bible with friends and family (Chinese Christians call this “home gatherings”[jiating juhui]).”However, “in order to guard the public interest and the sanctity of the law and to better protect citizens’ right to freedom of religious belief and normal religious activities, Chinese judicial organs’ meting out of punishment for violations of the law has nothing to do with religious belief; no-one is punished in China because they believe in religion.”It sounds splendid, simply undisputable. But what is the actual situation? The Bible tells us that the “kindest acts” of the wicked are still cruel. (Proverbs 12:10)

In order to ascertain the fact, the “Committee for the Investigation on  Persecution of Religion in China” has undertaken unprecedented investigative work. Beginning in 2000, over 20,000 Christians interviewed and surveyed over 560,000 house church Christians in countless villages, 207 cities of various sizes and 22 provinces in China. (Since many people were afraid to talk or did not talk, the following must be considered conservative figures that are incomplete and lower than the actual number of people persecuted.) The statistics compiled reveal that since China’s reform and opening up, among the estimated 60 to over 100 million house church Christians, at least 2.7 million people have been arbitrarily arrested (i.e. one in every 22 people), 440,000 have been sentenced to reform through labour, 750 have been officially listed as wanted, 200,000 have gone missing or been forced to flee their homes, over 10,000 have died due to physical persecution, over 20,000 have been left handicapped as a result of torture, 130,000 have had their homes under surveillance, 1.12 million have been fined extortionately (the smallest fine was 50 cents, the largest over 800,000 yuan equal to ~$100,000). And all house church Christians live in constant fear and have to meet as if they were thieves. What does this show? It shows that this world is becoming more and more evil, and provides us with a vision of the end times. Although humans’conscience and justice have been being defeated over and over by the international politics of power and money, God will deliver the final judgment.

It is worth mentioning that in 1949 there were not even a million Christians in China. In over half a century of bloody repression under the Chinese Communist Party, this number has dramatically increased to over 100 million. This rate of growth is rarely seen anywhere in the world. The Party’s enemies usually die off as they are killed, yet the number of those who trust in God increases as they are killed and arrested. In addition, there is no apparent benefit, only suffering and death. What is the reason for this? It’s the spirit of God moving in the hearts of the Chinese people – one fifth of humanity – to save our souls.

Faith is not a kind of superstition, but wisdom; it is the Christians’ unlimited reverence to the invisible God by surpassing the visible world, and their perceiving and understanding the power of the spiritual world. There are the Holy Spirit and the evil spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God and of Jesus; the evil spirit is the spirit of the devil Satan, and of the great red dragon. “The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole word astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. … They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” This is recorded in Revelations Chapter 12. In Genesis Chapter 3, Satan is still a mere serpent; his power is limited and he must rely on his cunning to entice people. After this he gradually becomes a powerful red dragon, upon which he rebels and openly confronts God.

Red symbolizes the red dragon killing people like flies, and the red regime of blood flowing like a river. Take a look at the world – who claims to be a dragon? Who says their flag was dyed red with blood? Who is the most cunning and has spread lies to mislead everyone for decades? The Bible was written a couple of thousand years ago. Surely it doesn’t “have an axe to grind”, and doesn’t mean to be so hard on all the red dragon’s  spokesmen? What revelation can we receive from such accurate Biblical prophecies? That is the red dragon that madly persecutes God’s children will be thrown into an abyss (Revelation 20). Therefore, don’t be afraid of it, then, let alone its accomplices who have been tainted by its evil influence, whether they are acting violently in China or are lying low abroad.

From a superficial perspective, religious persecution is the Party viewing believers as not being “obedient” enough; from a spiritual perspective, it is an earthly reflection of a spiritual war, an inevitable consequence of evil forces opposing God’s way. In the final analysis it is a spiritual battle; its directors are invisible – the Holy Spirit who leads people, and the evil spirit who controls people. People are just actors on this earthly stage, and as such are often not in control of themselves. However, if people think it through and don’t care about leaving this stage of life on which the curtain will eventually fall, they can be set free, unafraid; because death not only cannot intimidate them, but can actually complete their testimony.

The progress of material civilization actually has made people more and more covetous and corrupted, and then further made them look down on justice and sneer at conscience, indicating they would not only be bankrupt in the most basic humanity, but also lose the possibility of salvation, because this goes totally against God’s will. When people bow down to their interests and God sees evil powers becoming increasingly rampant, Satan treating his children with increasing cruelty, and people becoming more and more indifferent, God will permit some disasters in order to warn humanity! People will see disasters fall from the heavens with unstoppable force; strange and unpreventable diseases will follow. All hope and security, elaborate plans, perfect schemes, extreme efforts, extraordinary achievements will vanish in the blink of an eye, and blow away in smoke; humankind must be made to see the consequences of sin so that they will turn back.

This will also make us realize the insignificance, finiteness and total incapacity of humankind; we are totally incapable of predicting or controlling our own fate, and can only repent. If we leave things to chance, refuse to repent, and our greedy behavior violates God’s laws, and then it will happen just as verse 12 in the final chapter of Revelation: “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” I urge those who have sold out their conscience to their own interests and aid and abet evildoers to not just consider the present; if people’s thoughts are different to those of evildoers then their behavior will also be different and the outcome will be different. Look before you leap and consider the consequences. When you’re looking up at the ceiling in the dead of night, think carefully about the true meaning of life; God’s will cannot be disobeyed.

            Should us Chinese who live in the free world help our compatriots who have suffered persecution, whether for to religious faith or protecting basic human rights? And as Christians, how should we deal with evildoers’ cruel persecution of our brothers and sisters in the Lord? Jesus said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) How can those who “have their minds set on doing something” be identified as Jesus’ disciples? Because where there is intention there is action, people can identify Jesus’ disciples from their actions quite easily. It is worth asking by way of admonishment how many of Jesus’ disciples have been identified from their loving actions towards the persecuted Chinese Christians who have been persecuted by the red dragon for a long time.

Judgment day is near! When he spoke of signs of the second coming, Jesus clearly mentioned tsunamis; he said people would be thrown into panic and scared out of their wits by the sound of the waves in the sea. “… When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near … Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:25-28; 36)

If a person truly believes in Jesus, he will be truly unafraid! To be unafraid is to live beyond the devil’s power; to be afraid is to live in the hand of the devil - in eternal terror, unable to leave death behind. I am sure no-one wants to live in the clutches of evil. Although we have fortunately left the geographical area controlled by the evil forces, that evil persists in threatening and intimidating us Chinese in our dreams; this is indeed a spiritual warfare. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)

True Christians must join in this spiritual battle, go bravely and look after those brothers and sisters who are being abused, and stand up and put a stop to the red dragon who defies both human and divine laws and commits all kinds of evils. We must use this most peaceful method to curb religious persecution and show the devil how Jesus’ disciples throughout the world  love one another. To love your neighbor as yourself is to make other’s business your own. Besides, if people aren’t God’s vessels, they will surely become tools of the devil; because you are either one or the other.

 “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”(Jude 20-21)

Li Shixiong

Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China

April 30, 2005