Calming, Refining, Sifting

 

Returning to Da Ma Zhan to Suffer with God’s People

On April 23, 1950, I began to hold church services in my home in Guangzhou. Later, I moved to Jie Fang Bei. In October, situations arose affecting our meeting place in Jie Fang Bei. Meanwhile the ground floor tenants at 35 Da Ma Zhan moved, so we decided to return to Da Ma Zhan to hold church services. We did not want our name to have any association with a denomination. The name “Christian Assembly” was not acceptable to us so we settled for the name “Da Ma Zhan Gospel Meeting Place” which is still being used today.

The reason the Da Ma Zhan tenants moved was they feared the building was haunted. However, ever since we have been holding our church services, no evil spirits have dared to surface.

Our space was insufficient. My uncle told me, “You have to pray that God will send away the tenants in the back of the building. (That section had been given to my uncle by my grandfather.) Then I will be able to offer up the entire property to God.” Not long after that, all those tenants moved out.

We used the entire ground floor as well as the newly remodeled front and back sections of the second floor for services. We reserved only the rooms in the back section of the first floor for our own residence. (On occasions, even these rooms have been used for worship.)

At the end of 1950, I preached in Hong Kong for the last time. Soon after my return to Guangzhou, a seminary in Hong Kong (Assembly of God Seminary on Cheung Chau) offered me a teaching position. However, deeply convinced of God’s call for me to share the Gospel in Guangzhou, I turned down the offer with Hebrews 11:25, “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.” Later, they extended another offer. Though I realized that my stay in Guanzhou would land me in prison sooner or later, I was determined to remain there as a preacher, for I knew God had called me to do so!

After earnest prayers and ten signs of confirmation, Li Suiling (originally, her name was Li Shengxian) and I were married on July 4, 1951 at Guang Da Tang. The following year, we had a son who lived only thirty-three hours. Our daughter Hannah was born on March 6, 1953. Our son Enoch was born on December 26, 1954.

Becoming a Dangerous Element in Guangzhou for the Sake of the Truth.

While escorting my cousin Lin Yaoji back to school at the beginning of 1953, I took the opportunity to meet Wang Mingdao, a well known minister. I had always admired his unwavering spirit of holding firm to the Truth during the Sino-Japanese War (World War II). I had already introduced myself through a steady correspondence with him.

After we met, he said to me, “I am a dangerous element in Beijing and you are a dangerous one in Guangzhou; now that you are here, it’s double danger!” We shared two enjoyable weeks and even took a picture together. (This picture was later used as evidence of my collaboration with Wang Mingdao.) He bought a platform ticket and saw me off at the train station. He also said, “In recent years, I seldom see anyone off at a train station, because so many have given up their faith!” As the train moved away, I could still see him waving his white handkerchief in the far distance.

First Imprisonment During the Root Out Counter-revolutionaries Movement.

The Anti-Hu Feng Campaign launched in the first half of 1955 developed into the Root Out Counter-revolutionaries Movement. The situation became volatile. News of Wang Ming-dao’s arrest came on August 8, 1955. Everyone prepared for the worst. We packed small bundles of clothes, a towel, toothbrush and other personal items preparing for possible imprisonment.

After our service ended on September 14, 1955, at around ten o’clock, more than ten people suddenly entered, ordered us to sit down and not say a word. They led Wang Guoxian, Zhang Yao-sheng and me into separate rooms for questioning. Finally, all the church leaders except Fu Rongguang and Huang Huanjue were handcuffed, arrested and carried off, taking along their packed clothing.

I was taken to the first detention center in Huanghua Road, accused of being a counter-revolutionary. I was interrogated throughout the night. The Guang-zhou Nan Fang Daily headline read: “Counter-revolutionary Group Headed by Lin Xiangao, Wang Guoxian, and Zhang Yaosheng Unmasked in a Guang-zhou Christian Church.”

Three-Self leaders called a public accusation meeting against the “Da Ma Zhan Counter-revolutionary Group” on September 27, 1955. Those who came forward to accuse us were not from the church congregation. When the elderly Sister Li was forced forward, she calmly said, “In the past, I knew nothing of the saving mercy of Christ. Pastor Lin helped me…” Of course, the guards abruptly led her away.

Unable to find any counter-revolutionary evidence against me, they played a tape recording to accuse me. This recording was a skillfully edited version of a statement I had been manipulated into reading. At the reading I had been told that this was just a statement of the issues being considered for their superior’s information. Despite my protest at that time that this was false, they blandly reassured me that such a statement was not a formal hearing or legal proceeding. I never would have believed that such a report could have been recorded as “evidence!”

On December 18, I was transferred to a second detention center on Cangbian Road. I saw my parishioners in the yard. Since we were not permitted any conversation, I gestured heavenward to Wang Guoxian, and Zhang Yaosheng. They nodded in response.

We were transferred back to the first detention site on May 22. In October, the cadre gave me an edition of Tian Feng. In it was a self-criticism by Wang Mingdao. I was very saddened. However, I took the opportunity to copy down all the Bible verses quoted in the article. This gave my fellow inmate Liang Shudong the chance to read some Bible verses. He was later baptized at Da Ma Zhan.

On January 28, 1957, we were released. The verdict was not guilty. We returned to our ministries at Da Ma Zhan, preaching freely.

Second Imprisonment During the Three Self Patriotic Movement.

Later in the same year, conditions spiraled downward. I was served notice to attend a nine-day Christian conference in the latter part of February of 1958. One hundred church leaders from twenty-four denominations were in attendance.

I discovered only after I got there that it was put together by the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The conference used various twists and turns of alleged truth to persuade us to join forces with them. Under the circumstances I was deceived into thinking that by joining we would be guaranteed the freedom to preach and teach the truth. I agreed to return to my congregation to convince my staff of the benefits of such a membership.

Thanks be to God! I was branded as the third of nine Right-wing Christians in Guangzhou by Nan Fang Daily on March 12, 1957. After ten o’clock on the evening of May 30 of the same year, I was arrested for a second time. (Right-wing individuals usually were not arrested except for a violation of the law.) I finally came to see through the deception.

I was again taken to the first detention center on Huanghua Road. After a brief interrogation, I was transferred to a second detention center on Cangbian Road. Because I anticipated a death sentence or lifetime imprisonment, I remained unruffled. I even reviewed vocabulary in my Greek dictionary which I had brought with me.

God Preserved My Life Through Twenty Years of Incarceration.

On November 20, 1958, I received my sentence of a twenty year prison term and the loss of all political rights for five years upon my release. I was found guilty of being “counter-revolutionary, pro-imperialist, anti-Russian and a pawn of Wang Mingdao.” My appeal three days later was of no use.

I was sent to the Number 2 Prison in Shao Guan Li on January 25, 1959. Later I was ordered to the tea plantation to do heavy labor hauling dirt. My energy was limited. Oftentimes I could not complete my task. I did not know how I could survive twenty years. However, I knew at least it would be pleasing to the Lord that I suffer for Him and die in this prison.

Two months later, I was transferred to the “Old and Disabled” group. The work was much less arduous than before. Later, because of good conduct, I was assigned to maintain attendance records and even became a small group leader at one time. In September, I was permitted considerable freedom: as a barber for Old and Disabled inmates. My hair-cutting training when I was a student at Hong Kong’s Alliance Bible Seminary was finally put to good use.

On January 1963, while I was cutting hair for a former preacher of the Xinghua Baptist Church, Wang Yonghao, I found out that he had a small New Testament. I borrowed it in order to copy it by hand. I was caught in the act.

As a result the authorities transferred me to an intensive training team consisting of the “rotten” ones from various areas. Since I did not have to labor there, I could review Scripture which I had memorized. I had never understood why I had memorized all the Pauline epistles and a number of Psalms while I had been attending Alliance Bible Seminary. Now I knew the reason then was for my imprisonment now!

After that, I was transferred to the Xiyu coal mines in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Due to my limited physical abilities I had various job transfers. Finally I was assigned to the less strenuous but dangerous responsibility of a coupler. My job was to couple loads of ore. This job required much finger agility or else I could lose my fingers. I remained in that assignment for fifteen years coupling over two million cars of ore. Thanks be to God, I still have my ten fingers!

At the end of 1969, I was standing beside a pole counting the empty cars when an engine smashed into the empty cars and overturned them. One of the empty cars crashed into the pole and hit my neck. At that moment the engine stopped. If the engine had moved forward another half an inch it would have ended my life, as my back was against a wall of coal with no way of escape. Thanks be to God, I was unharmed and unhurt. I was able to breathe normally. I did not understand why God spared my life. I dared not imagine ever being able to get out of prison to serve Him.

One day in 1970, I was standing in front of a coal car waiting for the engine to approach me for coupling. The driver was speeding and had to brake the engine suddenly. I was pinned between the coal car and the engine. There were engines on my left side and a row of coal cars on the right. Praise God, once again I was unharmed. An eyewitness said, “Lucky!” I said, “No, it was my God!”

Another time, I was standing between the “empty car” and the “loaded car” tracks talking to a fellow inmate. An oncoming engine pushed some empty cars toward us. Suddenly I fell down between two cars. For sure I thought that I would at least lose my legs even if I could survive this. Thanks be to God, I did a somersault and landed on the other side of the tracks. The fellow inmate thought I had died. I said, “I did not die, I am fine!” I had not known how to do somersaults. If you ask me to do it again, I would not dare to test God. God sent an angel to deliver me safely to the other side.

God has protected me all along. Though I came close to losing my life so many times, miraculously I was unscathed. He preserved my life again and again to let me know that my life is wholly in His hands for His service. I will serve Him willingly to the point of dying for Him.

God Steadied Me During the Criticism Movement.

In 1974, at the height of the Anti-Confucius and Anti-Lin Biao Campaigns, the cadre asked me to write a criticism on Christianity. Back in my room, I prayed for God to supply me with the words to say. I was psychologically prepared to receive a sentence of lifetime imprisonment. God indeed listened to my prayer. I wrote an article that stated: “Whether from England, America, or any place in the world, there are some people… who use Christianity to serve their own political ends. Not only is this form of Christianity unwelcome by all, but even we true believers disapprove of it.”

I did not criticize Christianity nor Christ, but attacked only the false Christians, false prophets and the Social Gospel. My leader was satisfied with my criticism. My prison sentence was not lengthened nor was it reduced. God once again guarded my faith and kept my steps secure.

After that, I had several miraculous escapes from death, one after another. These testified of God’s mighty hand of protection. He let me suffer much for Christ and learn how to praise and worship Him in the midst of trials so that I could be of better service to Him.

End of Incarceration and Return to Guangzhou.

My twenty year prison term ended on May 29, 1978. I was transferred to the “Imminent Discharge” group awaiting job assignment. One day, I saw four people moving a dead body. It was the young coupler who had replaced me. He had only been coupling for two or three months and was much more agile than I. He died and I was still living. What could I say other than to praise God?

During this waiting period, the cadre kept informing me that I would not be returning to Guangzhou. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed” (Rom. 4:18a). On the morning of June 14, I was summoned to the headquarters where I received notice of permission to return to Guangzhou. At that time I felt like Jacob hearing that Joseph was still alive (Gen. 45:26-28).

When I got home, I learned that my mother had had cardiac and lung diseases since her middle age. God had sustained her life to give me reason for permission to return to Guangzhou. Eleven months after my return, she passed on to be with the Lord at the age of 78.

Resuming Da Ma Zhan Ministry as an Unashamed Workman.

I started teaching English in my house when I first got home. The majority of students were believers. Gradually I led house church services and baptized others. I resumed writing the booklets, Spiritual Collections. My first book written after my prison release was Once Saved, Always Saved. On May 8, 1979, the book was published. I wrote several books after that as well as several hymns with music and lyrics. These hymns, together with those I wrote prior to and during my incarceration, numbered over thirty.

Da Ma Zhan resumed services in September 1979. At first, only four to five people came. Soon the attendance went up drastically. We had to cover the porch to create more space for our service. As early as February 1981, we were using the third floor as the sanctuary. We used the public address system to broadcast the message to the second floor.

Later on because I had not finished my five-year probation, I had no freedom to minister to a congregation. We temporarily stopped our meeting for half a year. However, during this half a year we renovated our run down building. It was simply God’s divine engineering.

Up to that point, already forty-three groups of believers had been baptized. They numbered 1364 people (July 6, 1980-October 4, 1988). Each Sunday service had an average of over three hundred attenders. Furthermore, there were quite a number of overseas Christians who visited and fellowshipped with us.

In addition, the American President Ronald Reagan sent a delegate to present me with a pen, a Bible and a picture of himself. The support from overseas believers has been a tremendous encouragement and came most certainly from the hand of God.

From August to December 1988, the Public Security Bureau summoned me for questioning six times. They asked me to register officially and join the TSPM. But I stated that I would act according to the Bible’s teachings, and we neither belong to any denomination nor are part of any association. I also said that we strive to please God and be workmen who do not need to be ashamed, correctly handling the Word of Truth.

Do Not Be Afraid of What You Are About to Suffer, Be Faithful Even to the Point of Death.

Although I have experienced some affliction, I am still far short of God’s expectations. I have always prayed for the Lord to keep me from backsliding. Wang Mingdao said to me in Guangzhou in 1982, “Nowadays a lot of people are not defeated by Satan but rather are overcome by fears.” That is true. I admonish believers not to be discouraged or defeated because of afflictions.

Do not love the world because of materialism and for its pleasures. I also hope that the overseas believers will not become lukewarm in their faith because of their affluence, but that they will be ready to suffer. “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). The God who has helped you since the beginning will sustain you and guard you until the day you see the Lord.

Addendum: An Account of the Arrest of Lin Xiangao

1. The Search (Thursday, February 22, 1990). At 11:30 p.m., the service and fellowship ended and everyone left. Shortly after the final two overseas believers had left, four people came up to the third floor. (They had spoken to me about registering before.) After talking for a few minutes, one of them called down for the other Public Security Bureau Agents. Then about sixty people stormed up to the sanctuary. The other three agents then left.

The leader took out a search warrant for me to sign. Another asked me to unlock all cabinet doors. When no key was available, they just pried open the doors. Three people used a video camera to take pictures. They took away all Christian books, pamphlets, Bibles from overseas, thousands of mimeographed Spiritual Collections booklets, and over three thousand mimeographed hymnals. Other items taken were ten tape recorders, the closed-circuit television system, new and old amplifiers, seven microphones, several thousand used and new cassette tapes, an electric organ, an electric generator, a mimeograph machine, a copier, an entire set of loud speakers, telephones (later returned), all our cash which included over ten thousand yuan, several thousand Hong Kong dollars and several thousand worth of money orders (later they returned my personal portion of the money), the pen, Bible and picture from Ronald Reagan, and the pen and Bible from Billy Graham. This was a ransack.

2. Interrogation at the Detention Center (Friday, February 23, 1990). The search lasted until 4:00 a.m. on the February 23. Then they took out an arrest warrant for me to sign. After signing the paper they asked me to pack a towel, toothbrush and some clothes. I was then driven to the waiting room on Huang-hua Road. My interrogation lasted twenty-one hours with only one fifteen minute break. I sat on the chair with my head against the wall. It was a bit chilly and I could not sleep, but I did not have a headache. I did not sleep at all during the twenty-five hour long search and interrogation.

3. The Long Anticipated Day. They claimed that since we were not registered, we were in violation of the Guanzhou Province regulation (No. 40, Guanzhou 33 Rules). Thus Da Ma Zhan Gospel Meeting Place was to be banned.

“We have never demonstrated and I urge the believers not to go on demonstrations. You do not need to be concerned about us,” I argued.

“We are concerned about you not for the issue of demonstrations but for your non-compliance with rules and regulations,” they said.

“This is ‘saving face’ by picking on the petty stuff when you miss the more important things.” I said, “The rules do not say that there are to be no house churches. Articles in the January 27, 1983, People’s Daily and Document #19 both said that house churches are legal. In the September 14, 1989, People’s Daily, Wang Zhen stated that ‘The policy guaranteeing religious freedom remains unchanged.'”

“The January 21, 1990, People’s Daily asserted, ‘In certain places religion was attacked under the guise of a crackdown on sexual immortality and the six evils. We have to rectify and condemn this.’ The January 25, 1990, People’s Daily said, ‘ Do not search and arrest wrongly. Do not force people either to believe or recant any position.'”

“We do not demonstrate. Ding Guangxun supported the student movement. Yet, when Xiong Zhenpei died recently (the National Vice Chairman of TSPM and the Chairman of Guangzhou TSPM), Ding Guangxun appeared as the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Vice Chairman.”

“Ding re-examined his previous ideology well,” they said.

I replied, “We do not need to re-examine our beliefs. We do not demonstrate. Even Nanjing Seminary participated in a demonstration and they did not get into trouble. We on the other hand have been banned from holding meetings. We are not anti-government and do not protest. For a long time, the government never gave us any trouble. Who would have thought that things would turn out this way? However, I have long anticipated this day.”

“Why won’t you cooperate with TSPM? You should not say that you are true and they are false,” they demanded.

“Not all of them are false, but there are some true ones and some false ones. We just do not want to be mixed up with the true and false,” I responded. Then I added, “To register is to be under two organizations: TSPM and the China Christian Council (CCC). This is in actuality asking us to join the TSPM. The Constitution does not include such a rule. Guangzhou was the only province beginning in 1988 to bother with the issue of ‘Registration.’ Why don’t you focus on improving public security instead of targeting religion?”

“Everything has already been well taken care of,” they retorted.

“This is really a ‘fatigue session,'” I remarked. They did not say anything. Sometimes they kept questioning me but I would not answer. The record keeper wrote, “silence.”

“When the TSPM was first established, people were asked to join of their own free will,” I said. “Nowhere in history has there been a “Three-Self” Organization,” I remarked.

4. Outsider’s Noninterference with Our Autonomy. They felt that we were dependent financially on the foreign churches and so had violated the Three-Self principle. They assumed that without any outside support, Da Ma Zhan could not maintain its operation.

I explained, “We have never received any consistent support from foreign or Hong Kong churches. When a visitor attends our service, he may give an offering. This is the same with the TSPM churches. TSPM even requests funds from foreigners.”

“We have about one thousand people in our services every Sunday and thus are able to support ourselves. We do not even charge for labor when we are asked by outsiders to tape messages for distribution to others. This is because we engage in anything that will benefit the Gospel ministry. This does not mean that outsiders are involved or interfering in our affairs. We simply are offering help.”

“You have foreigners preaching,” they commented.

“I preach in our services. When an outsider shares words of greeting, encouragement and testimony, that is called fellowship,” I explained.

“Why are they bringing Bibles and books?” they asked.

“The Bibles from overseas are the same as ours. The Cultural Revolution wiped ours out. Preachers and believers need spiritual books. These readings are the inheritance of thousands of years. With these reading materials we can guard against cults.”

“Why use the term ‘infiltrate?’ It is called an ‘exchange’ when we use foreign books about technology, literature, and English.” I explained.

I also added, “These gifts of tape recorders, speakers, etc. were all for the purpose of our Gospel ministry. They never intend to interfere with our autonomous government.”

5. Testifying for the Faith. They questioned, “Is there really a God? Did Jesus really rise from the dead?”

“Truly there is a God. Christ did rise from the dead. That is our Gospel,” I affirmed and I proceeded to tell them the Gospel. I shared with them the testimonies of my diphtheria and my father.

They said, “Maybe you don’t really believe Jesus was raised from the dead. Some pastors say, ‘Jesus’ resurrection is not necessarily literally true.'”

I explained, “Before when I said that the TSPM had both truths and falsehoods, you told me not to claim that I was true and they were false. Now you testify that there are false teachings in the TSPM.”

“If I had not believed in Jesus’ resurrection, I would have forsaken this ‘un-resurrected’ Christ when I was arrested or even before my first arrest. Yet I was arrested again and again and I never wavered in my belief; but I continued to preach about the resurrected Christ. That was because this is true. We believe and are saved and we will go to heaven in the future.”

“Death is like snuffing out one’s light. You might as well have a good last few years of life. You believe in God. Last night when we took you, what happened to God?” they sneered.

“God permitted it,” I said.

“What do you mean by, ‘He permitted it’? If I had not taken you, would you have come?” they scoffed.

I replied, “God did not will it that way.”

They gave me about three Chinese ounces of rice to eat. I said, “Two ounces is enough.” Then I prayed. They urged me to eat but I insisted, ” I pray first.”

One of them said, “Fine.”

6. Signing Documents. Finally, they asked me to sign an agreement to: (1) comply with the local government in banning Da Ma Zhan for worship services; (2) not to continue engaging in activities harmful to the government and people. (I wrote “not to” instead of “not to continue”); and (3) come to the headquarters whenever summoned.

Although it appeared that my activities would not be restricted, it was no different from putting me under “house arrest.” “You want to ban the worship services. I personally will never stop holding services. I can only give lip service to the agreement,” I said.

They asked me to write a self-criticism. I refused and said, “I did not commit any crime, only non-compliance with some regulations.”

7. Upon Returning Home (Saturday, February 24, 1990). At 1:40 a.m., they drove me home. They warned me to be careful with what I would say to the reporters. I said I would not add or delete anything. I was detained for a total of twenty-one hours. When I returned home, I found it a total mess with cigarette butts all over the place. I stayed up until past two o’clock. The next day, quite a few people came to visit. The first visitor was Zhu Quan. By noon, we finally had cleaned up the place.

Thanks be to God, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).

We do not blame anyone. God ordained today before creation. We should praise and worship!

A number of people came but we did not hold a service. Some people prayed outside and some wept.

This trial is one of “calming, refining and sifting.” Satan intended to sift us like wheat, but God sifted out the weeds.

“Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets” (Luke 6:22-23).

-Lin Xiangao is a house church leader in China. He is presently shepherding in Guangzhou. This article is from Christian Life Quarterly, September, 1998, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 28-32.