I was surfing around the net today and ran across the account of a 34 year-old Chinese woman named Liu Xianzhi. She is a member of the South China Church.
The account of her torture at the hands of Chinese police below is horrific.
Another account describes the beating that 72 year-old Chinese house church leader Chen Jingmao received. While imprisoned he led 50 fellow inmates to Christ, and for his efforts had both of his legs broken and now must be carried by fellow inmates to use the toilet and to eat. A 72 year-old man.
What's interesting and telling is that a 72 year-old man combined with a love of Christ poses a serious threat to the communist regime in China. The Chinese are smart and have probably learned from the likes of the FORMER Soviet Union that the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is, without a doubt, a more serious threat than nuclear weapons or military might to their abusive power.
Most disturbing to me is that American consumerism and materialism are the fuel line that feeds this beast which preys upon our brothers and sisters in Christ. Sitting here at my desk I picked up several items in front of me. One is a small radio that Marci wears when she is working out - the other is a small light that clips onto a book for reading at night. Both of these products, sitting right in front of me, are stamped MADE IN CHINA. Many of the components in my computer that allow me to write this are also produced in the cowardly and vicious communist Chinese nation.
Money that we earned through our labor has been handed over to the Chinese and has assisted them in their efforts to persecute the church of Jesus Christ. It needn't be so. We hear daily about the loss of manufacturing jobs in America, especially here in Michigan. It is simply beyond me why we can't manufacture any item currently bought from this beast right here in the USA. Our trade deficits with China are massive and increase each quarter.
It is the money of Americans like us that allows this wretched regime to continue in its sickening efforts. Not only are we perpetuating the persecution of other believers, we are helping - through our uninhibitied lust for more and more "things" - to build a military giant that will one day soon dwarf what we possess. To think that this military giant will be friendly towards the United States in its disposition is naive. A system that tortures women and 72 year-old men is not likely to be satisfied with simply having a mighty military machine. It will and must someday use that force for evil in the world.
There are many things at work here and simple economics are not the whole story by any means. I personally believe that it is a judgment from God upon America that so many high-paying jobs have up and vanished like a fart in the wind, and there seems to be no will in the halls of Congress or in the corporate boardroom to end the hemorrhaging any time soon. While Joel Osteen preaches his prosperity, feel-good gospel to tens of thousands down in Houston each week, real Christians - the Chinese Church - gather in secret to worship God, constantly in fear of being caught by the authorities and imprisoned for the purposes of "re-education through labor".
What's frightening is the judgment that I believe is going on is not primarily directed at the American unbeliever, but at those like me who call themselves Christians. 2 Chronicles 7:14 states that,
"If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
We need to let the sufferings of our family members in China spur us on to a complete examination of our lives. We need to repent of our worldliness and lax attitudes towards the things of God and seek His face with seriousness and solemnity. Our own brothers and sisters in the faith are being placed into a furnace that powers the American Dream. We've built a hybrid engine of materialism and consumerism that runs on the souls of men, women and children, and most of us are happy as hell to remain oblivious to both their plight and our shame.
As well as being posted on my weblog, this will be sent to the Chinese ambassador to the United States, as well as to my representatives in Congress.
May you be disturbed in your spirit regarding these things - deeply disturbed.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Stevens, Jr.
cc:
Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Honorable Senator Carl Levin
269 Russell Office Building
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510-2202
Honorable Senator Debbie Stabenow
133 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Honorable Congressman Peter Hoekstra
2234 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Biography and Excerpts of Liu Xianzhi and Her Speech
http://www.chinaaid.org
Female, 33, Tianmen City Hubei Province, South China Church member. Arrested and sentenced three years re-education through labor as "illegal evangelist" in 1996 in Shayang Labor Camp, Hubei Province.
Arrested on May 27, 2001. First trial on December 25, 2001, charged with "organizing and using evil cult organization to obstruct the implementation of the law," received a two-year sentence.
Second trial on Oct. 10, the charge was dismissed and Liu Xianzhi was proclaimed innocent by the Jingmen City Intermediate Court but was immediately taken away by the Jingmen police to Shayang Labor Camp to be re-educated through labor.
Released on February 1, 2004
Fled from China to the US on January 7, 2005
I was taken to Zhongxiang Police Training Center. 6 or 7 male policemen started to question me in their dormitory. One asked me, "Do you know why we arrest you?" I said, "Because I believe in Jesus." He slapped my face when he heard this. He said, "Do you know what age we are in today? And you still believe in Jesus?" I didn't answer him back.
I was put in shackles and the policemen ordered me to walk before them in the room. The shackles were heavy; after a little while I had to slow down, but they wouldn't let me. They pushed me from this side to the other side while laughing at me. I was so exhausted and ended up laying on the ground. The shackles also cut deeply into my flesh, and my ankle began to bleed. You can see the scar here. They also picked me up by my hair, so the weight of my whole body was held up by my hair. I could hardly breathe, then they put me down, but kept on pressuring me to confess I had sexual relationship with Pastor Gong. When I told them I didn't have any improper relationship with him, they pulled my hair again, later I lost consciousness.
When I refused to read the confession that they had prepared for me beforehand, they threatened me by saying, "Now, I can beat you to death, and pull you out and bury you somewhere, that even your family wouldn't know where you are. Now your South China Church is in our hands, including your pastor. He was also arrested!"
When I told them I had no sexual relationship with Pastor Gong at all, they used an electrical rod to beat me, on my head, my breast, and my buttock. I was knocked to the floor, then they pulled me up and tore my clothes open. They even pulled my bra, and I cried.
Issued by China Aid Association, Inc. February 7, 2005