If You Think Your Life Is Difficult...
Dear Gentle Reader,
I accidentally taped a radio program last week that carried a stunning interview with George Chen, a leader in China's church, telling about his experiences in a labor camp during the cultural revolution. Hope you find it of interest.
It was 1952 when I started to be an evangelist in Communist China. The Revolution was occurring in 1949. The first few years the Church was not being radically persecuted by the authorities. But gradually, gradually, the authorities did not like the Church, they did not like the way the Church grew too fast, and they tried their best to reform the Church, the so-called Reformation.
Their intention was to try to extinguish, eliminate the Christian faith from the nation. So I give you some instances. In 1949 when the Communists came to power in China, I was living in Shanghai, the biggest city in China.
At that time there were over 200 big churches in Shanghai with large buildings, not including the house churches. There were almost 250 big churches, but in 1958 there were only 8 churches left. The rest were all closed by the authorities.
By 1966 when the Cultural Revolution occurred, all the churches were closed. No more church, no more religion inside China. So gradually, they launched the Reformation, which became persecution to the church, to the Christians.
I became an evangelist in 1952, and I went to the villages to preach the gospel, to meet the people, and then the people came to Jesus Christ. And I started to plant churches. The first churches were founded in 1953-1954, and I was first arrested because I built the church with the Christians. Only one month, and then I was released with the warning. They threatened me to be no longer involved in the church ministry.
But I continued to evangelize, to preach the gospel. The second time in 1954 I was once again arrested. And then the third time I was arrested in 1960, and then they did not release. They put me in prison altogether 18 years, from 1960 to 1978. All the reason was because I was a church leader in China.
And you know, the situation in China was hard, it was desperate during that time. And people wondered how I could survive for 18 years in a Communist labor camp. The first few years I was detained in a prison in Shanghai. Because there was insufficient food, I suffered hunger. Every night I couldn’t stand up because I had no strength to stand up when I moved in the prison ward, I had kneel down in order to crawl. But I did not die.
So in 1964, after 3 ½ years they transferred me from the prison ward in Shanghai to the central part of China, to a labor camp. In the labor camp I had to work in the fields. And also, because they knew about my background. In the labor camps most of prisoners were still free to do a job. It was to empty, to dig out the human waste. And became the authorities knew my background—my background was that I came from a relatively well-to-do family, my father owned a factory at that time—and they knew I was well educated. And you know the Communists at that time hated all the intellectuals, especially the sons born to well-to-do families. And also they knew I was a pastor, a religious leader, and they were atheists. But they hated all those religious leaders. So, knowing that I was the cultured son of a well-to-do family and a Christian leader, they enjoyed putting me to work in the cesspool. They thought it was the best place to torture me, to punish me—as they put it, to re-educate me.
And you know, in the labor camp there were many cesspools—all the human waste collected from the entire camp. And every pool was at least two meters wide and two meters long, and deeper than two meters. And when you work in the cesspool to empty it, because it was so deep, you could not reach to the bottom of the pit. So first of all, you had to walk into this disease-ridden mess. And all the prisoners in the labor camp were afraid to do this job. Because there was a virus, and once you were infected, there was no way you could get healed at that time. Because they were afraid, the authorities enjoyed putting me to work there.
Because they didn’t know that in those years I enjoyed working in the cesspools. The cesspools were very deep. I had to walk into it to dig it out. When I scooped off each successive layer of the human waste, I had to smell the most maddening stench that permeated the air. I was surrounded by that stench, by foul air, those human wastes—but I enjoyed working in the cesspools.
The reason I enjoyed the cesspools was that I enjoyed the solitude. In the labor camps prisoners were under severe surveillance. No one could be alone. 24 hours a day each day the policemen—the soldiers--by shift they watched us, and no one prisoner could be alone. Twenty-four hours a day we worked together, we ate together, we slept together, all the time we had to stick together.
But when I worked in the cesspool, the prisoners tried to avoid me and stay away as far as they could. So I was alone in the cesspool at that day, at that time. So I could pray to the Lord as loud as I needed. And also, at the same time, the same day, I could recite as loud as I could, all the scriptures I still remembered, and that encouraged me and supported me. So that is the reason I enjoyed the work in the cesspool, because I enjoyed the solitude.
That was the only place in the labor camp where I could praise God loudly, I could pray to the Lord loudly. I could recite all the scriptures loudly, and no one would come close enough to protest about me.
And at the same day, the same time, I could also sing all the hymns I still remembered. And one of the hymns that was my favorite was an old one called "In the Garden." I do not know if you remember that hymn. It goes, "I come to the garden alone, when the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the son of God discloses. And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we shared as we tarried there, none other has ever known."
None other has ever known such joy, such sweetness as when I worked in the cesspools. Again and again, I met the Lord’s presence, and I heard Lord tell me I was his own. When I was in the labor camp, I was in the human waste but in the sweetness of the Lord’s presence.
--------------------------
Christmas in the United States has drifted so far away from the worship of Jesus Christ, that it's sometimes good to remind ourselves that there may be a price to be paid for our faith. Given George Chen's options, would we just obey the government?
I accidentally taped a radio program last week that carried a stunning interview with George Chen, a leader in China's church, telling about his experiences in a labor camp during the cultural revolution. Hope you find it of interest.
It was 1952 when I started to be an evangelist in Communist China. The Revolution was occurring in 1949. The first few years the Church was not being radically persecuted by the authorities. But gradually, gradually, the authorities did not like the Church, they did not like the way the Church grew too fast, and they tried their best to reform the Church, the so-called Reformation.
Their intention was to try to extinguish, eliminate the Christian faith from the nation. So I give you some instances. In 1949 when the Communists came to power in China, I was living in Shanghai, the biggest city in China.
At that time there were over 200 big churches in Shanghai with large buildings, not including the house churches. There were almost 250 big churches, but in 1958 there were only 8 churches left. The rest were all closed by the authorities.
By 1966 when the Cultural Revolution occurred, all the churches were closed. No more church, no more religion inside China. So gradually, they launched the Reformation, which became persecution to the church, to the Christians.
I became an evangelist in 1952, and I went to the villages to preach the gospel, to meet the people, and then the people came to Jesus Christ. And I started to plant churches. The first churches were founded in 1953-1954, and I was first arrested because I built the church with the Christians. Only one month, and then I was released with the warning. They threatened me to be no longer involved in the church ministry.
But I continued to evangelize, to preach the gospel. The second time in 1954 I was once again arrested. And then the third time I was arrested in 1960, and then they did not release. They put me in prison altogether 18 years, from 1960 to 1978. All the reason was because I was a church leader in China.
And you know, the situation in China was hard, it was desperate during that time. And people wondered how I could survive for 18 years in a Communist labor camp. The first few years I was detained in a prison in Shanghai. Because there was insufficient food, I suffered hunger. Every night I couldn’t stand up because I had no strength to stand up when I moved in the prison ward, I had kneel down in order to crawl. But I did not die.
So in 1964, after 3 ½ years they transferred me from the prison ward in Shanghai to the central part of China, to a labor camp. In the labor camp I had to work in the fields. And also, because they knew about my background. In the labor camps most of prisoners were still free to do a job. It was to empty, to dig out the human waste. And became the authorities knew my background—my background was that I came from a relatively well-to-do family, my father owned a factory at that time—and they knew I was well educated. And you know the Communists at that time hated all the intellectuals, especially the sons born to well-to-do families. And also they knew I was a pastor, a religious leader, and they were atheists. But they hated all those religious leaders. So, knowing that I was the cultured son of a well-to-do family and a Christian leader, they enjoyed putting me to work in the cesspool. They thought it was the best place to torture me, to punish me—as they put it, to re-educate me.
And you know, in the labor camp there were many cesspools—all the human waste collected from the entire camp. And every pool was at least two meters wide and two meters long, and deeper than two meters. And when you work in the cesspool to empty it, because it was so deep, you could not reach to the bottom of the pit. So first of all, you had to walk into this disease-ridden mess. And all the prisoners in the labor camp were afraid to do this job. Because there was a virus, and once you were infected, there was no way you could get healed at that time. Because they were afraid, the authorities enjoyed putting me to work there.
Because they didn’t know that in those years I enjoyed working in the cesspools. The cesspools were very deep. I had to walk into it to dig it out. When I scooped off each successive layer of the human waste, I had to smell the most maddening stench that permeated the air. I was surrounded by that stench, by foul air, those human wastes—but I enjoyed working in the cesspools.
The reason I enjoyed the cesspools was that I enjoyed the solitude. In the labor camps prisoners were under severe surveillance. No one could be alone. 24 hours a day each day the policemen—the soldiers--by shift they watched us, and no one prisoner could be alone. Twenty-four hours a day we worked together, we ate together, we slept together, all the time we had to stick together.
But when I worked in the cesspool, the prisoners tried to avoid me and stay away as far as they could. So I was alone in the cesspool at that day, at that time. So I could pray to the Lord as loud as I needed. And also, at the same time, the same day, I could recite as loud as I could, all the scriptures I still remembered, and that encouraged me and supported me. So that is the reason I enjoyed the work in the cesspool, because I enjoyed the solitude.
That was the only place in the labor camp where I could praise God loudly, I could pray to the Lord loudly. I could recite all the scriptures loudly, and no one would come close enough to protest about me.
And at the same day, the same time, I could also sing all the hymns I still remembered. And one of the hymns that was my favorite was an old one called "In the Garden." I do not know if you remember that hymn. It goes, "I come to the garden alone, when the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the son of God discloses. And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we shared as we tarried there, none other has ever known."
None other has ever known such joy, such sweetness as when I worked in the cesspools. Again and again, I met the Lord’s presence, and I heard Lord tell me I was his own. When I was in the labor camp, I was in the human waste but in the sweetness of the Lord’s presence.
--------------------------
Christmas in the United States has drifted so far away from the worship of Jesus Christ, that it's sometimes good to remind ourselves that there may be a price to be paid for our faith. Given George Chen's options, would we just obey the government?
posted by Patty G. | 8:03 PM
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