"An Abduction in the Night"

Dear fellow coworkers for the persecuted faithful,

Thursday, August 10, Hong Kong: Christian activist Howard Lam was walking down the street when he heard someone calling his name. As he turned though, he was suddenly dragged into a van while someone covered his face with a wet rag. He lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself on a remote beach with men shouting at him in Mandarin.

“We know you are a Christian,” they yelled. “But don’t you know you should ‘love your country before you love your faith?’” They started pushing staples into his legs in cross shapes, drawing blood.

Brother Lam is a devoted Christian. Before this incident, he was accepted to study for his PhD in theology at an American university this fall. The only thing to explain it is security agents sent to torture him by the Chinese Communist regime. As a Christian activist, he has been vocally calling for justice in China especially after the Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Liu Xiaobo’s sudden death in prison. He knows this torture is the price of his faith in Christ.

We all need to prepare to pay a price for standing up for the right thing. The cruel crosses stapled into brother Lam’s flesh remind us that truth comes with a vivid mark for that price. To his torturers, it is a sign of shame and a death threat for his “disloyalty” to the Chinese regime’s state. But to billions of Christians it is a mark of glory and resurrected life. Apostle Paul reminds us we bear the mark of the cross of Christ so that we can remember our identity and first loyalty.

On one hand, God’s church is facing the worst persecution possible since the Cultural Revolution. Yet we have every reason to believe our God will bring China a revival to worship the Lamb instead of “worshiping the Dragon.”

Your coworker for the persecuted faithful,

 

Bob Fu