Eastern Lightning | Have Firm Love for God in Heavy Persecution and Adversity（1)

By Gao Min, China

Editor’s Note: She was born into a Christian family, and her family were Christians through seven generations. Her eldest grandfather and sixth aunt were both pious preachers who were respected by the local people; her whole family enjoyed the peace and joy from the Lord. But soon after, the Chinese government began to persecute religious beliefs and her families weren’t spared the suffering. Under such harsh environments, however, they still maintained their faith and love of the Lord. …

In 1957, the government carried out a census, by which they calculated the number of believers in the Lord and thereafter started an unprecedented persecution of house churches. From then on, nightmares began encroaching into our family. In order to flee persecution by the government, our families were scattered around other areas to hide, and only my aunt was left to watch the local church. On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the weather was chilly. The policemen took my aunt away and locked her up in a small dark room. Seven or eight policemen rushed forward and stripped her naked, wielding rods to beat her till she fainted, and then they poured cold water to sober her. In this way, they tortured my aunt for seven days and nights, not giving her any food to eat. My aunt repeatedly prayed to the Lord in her heart, asking Jesus to grant her more faith and strength. When she thought of the word in the Bible, “And I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame” (Zephaniah 3:19), she felt it was valuable and meaningful to be humiliated for the Lord in that way. So she swore on her lifethat she wouldn’t betray the Lord. In the process of her being beaten up, the policemen lashed out at her, “You believe in the foreigners’ God. This is betraying the Chinese Communist Party!” My aunt said in stern righteousness, “Men were created by God. God is the Lord of all mankind. It’s heaven’s law and earth’s principle to believe in the Lord and worship Him. All mankind should believe in the Lord. Don’t you believe the existence of the Heaven?” My aunt’s words made the policemen hate her more, so they started to torture her more crazily. Relying on the word of the Lord Jesus “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mat 10:28), my aunt had more faith and strength and she would rather die from the cruel torment than abandon her faith in the Lord. Without any other option, they released my aunt. As she was tortured so severely that she couldn’t walk, the village officials asked several persons to carry her home with a big basket. After returning home, my aunt still persisted in reading the Bible and praying to the Lord. A period of time later, she was restored to health. Thank the Lord! It was really the Lord Jesus’ protection that made my aunt survive through the distressing seven days and nights.

After a while, my aunt and her brothers and sisters built a church and began gathering in the local area. Just when they were immersed in the joy of praising the Lord, the Chinese government’s evil hands stretched out for the church again—pulling down the church. Seeing the church was to be destroyed, brothers and sisters protested against it but were taken away by the Chinese government. They were paraded through the streets, wearing big signs round their necks. Soon afterward, the church was reduced to rubble. Having no place to have meetings, the brothers and sisters had to sing the hymns, pray to the Lord and worship Him secretly at home.

The government destroying the church was just a beginning. During the Cultural Revolution, it was escalating the persecution of religious belief. My grandfather was first dragged out to be paraded through the streets and publicly criticized. The Red Guards put on him an eighty-centimeter-tall white paper cap with the word “A True Christian,” and hung on his chest a sign with the word “Christian.” And then they twisted his arms backward and tweaked his ears, pushing him forward and asking loudly, “So and so, do you still believe in the Lord Jesus?” Every time they asked, my grandfather answered firmly, “Yes, I still believe in the Lord! I’m a person. How can I not believe?” The minute they heard my grandfather saying “I still believe in the Lord,” they hit and kicked him. Also, they constantly slapped him on the face, hitting and saying, “You believe in the foreign religion and betray the Party. I’ll have you believe! I’ll have you believe! China is the CCP’s world. Opposing against it will definitely end up miserable!” And then they exerted all their strength to twist my grandfather’s arms. My grandfather clenched his teeth to fight the pain and prayed repeatedly, asking the Lord to give him strength that he could pledge his life to persist in his belief. In his prayer, he remembered the word of the Lord Jesus, “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it” (Mat 10:38–39). The Lord’s word gave my grandfather faith and strength and made him overcome the brutal persecution of the Chinese government.

Next, it was my eldest uncle who suffered persecution. Due to belief in the Lord Jesus, he was often persecuted and publicly criticized by the Chinese government. One day, when he was publicly criticized, a Red Guard held a bar viciously and said to him, “I’ll see whether you, a Christian, can stand being struck one hundred times.” And so, by turns the four Red Guards furiously beat my uncle on the back with a five–centimeter thick bar and counted while beating. At that time my uncle desperately prayed to the Lord in his heart and asked the Lord to give him more faith and strength. In his prayer, he recalled the scene where the Lord Jesus was whipped by the soldiers, and also the word of the Lord Jesus, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Mat 5:10–12). From the word of the Lord Jesus, my uncle received comfort and came to understand that it was a blessed and glorious thing to be able to suffer hardships like this for the sake of the Lord; and that only sharing in the suffering of the Lord would be sharing in the kingdom of God. It was the Lord’s word that gave him faith and strength. Miraculously, when my uncle was beaten up, he felt as if there was a quilt on his back, so he didn’t feel too painful. It was just that when he was hit the last time, he could not bear the pain and then fainted. Later, he came to realize that it was the Lord who had spared him the pain when he was hit ninety-nine times—if it were not for the Lord’s protection, my uncle would be long ago beaten up to death.

To be continued

Source The Internet

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