A Testimony to the Righteousness of Cathaysian Christians

At night when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, darkness covered the whole land of Israel. Dim lights in the surroundings twinkled like vague images of sorrow, while evil and conspiracy were compassing the fellowship in the garden, together with violence and swords. Desperate and unconsciousness were mixed up together, human beings looked like ruthless and primitive animals, their shadows flashed in a hurry, and then hid in the silence.
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death,” he said.
Why had he come to this world?
Why did people leave him, instead of trying to protect him?
Why did his servants disdain him, instead of trying to exalt him?
Why did the faith and courage of the people disappear, instead of being strengthened because of him?
Why did they take fear and cowardice as weapons, and attacked him after they had isolated him?
He didn’t know, and he had sorrow. But he did know because that’s what the Father told him to do.
At night when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, he who once said “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God”, fall asleep, together with his fellows, fell asleep, because their eyes were heavy. The Mountain of Olives shined under the starry sky, its figure reflected upon the city of Jerusalem. People were in chaotic dreams, while the reality was in tranquility.
“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” He said.
And he added,
“Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
He didn’t want, and he had sorrow. But he did want because that’s what the Father told him to do.
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and the scribes and be killed.”
He was born to be put to death. By whom? By his own people, his people made by him but rebelled against him. He came down from Heaven, made himself incarnated as flesh. An image of God, a projection of the righteous Judge and Creator, appeared himself as a man, foretold his sufferings and death. Though he knew that, he would finish his life as a life towards his death.
To show himself the selfishness and cowardice of his faithless and rebellious people.
Jesus Christ is himself a judgment by God; he is a manifesto of God’s negation of the world, a total negation of his people. Such a good one came upon the ground! He did everything righteous and performed so many signs! Even though, his people put him to death.
They feared him, they feared righteous and miracle, they feared hope and true heart. They used laws to render their hardened hearts, pretended to be merciful, but they deny what is really happening and expect that the God who they worshiped could give them what they want in vain. They said, “God could do everything we want,” and, “If we broke the law, we would be punished, and we would gain nothing at the end.” But they only say those things to other people, accuse them, to show their own “perfection” and superiority.
They were such wicked people, who pretended to be righteous; They were such coward people, who pretended to be brave. They were such hypocritical people, who pretended to be faithful; and they were such ruthless people, who pretended to be merciful.
Jesus Christ was so sorrowful when he saw all those things; though he had known them in advance, he would not admit them. “Remove this cup from me,” he said, for it was a bitter wine, a wine symbolized death and caused death, which was full of that world; a fear and darkness that everyone could not defend it and keep stable, even Jesus. But for him, it was not because of fear, but even he himself didn’t want to admit such a hideous condition. His love of his people led him to feel a strong deploring about their total surrender before the shadow of death.
How great death seemed to be! — it’s a darkness that covered all land, mountains and rivers, sky and earth; All the fear comes from death, and all the anxiety comes from death; All panic, meanness, deprivation, abandonment, betrayal, and chaos… come from the image of death. How could Jesus understand that with his people? How could Jesus believe that he was himself denied by his people, just because the power of fear was so strong, that had put all his people into an abyss? How could Jesus know what his people felt, when they could not see and hence could not believe that there are other parts of this world outside the visible horizon and commit themselves to the scenario of death, and how could Jesus feel the desperate of his people when they could not see any hope and hence could not keep any faith, but use all things that he had told them merely as worshipping idols and did not have faith in his authority?
Instead of believing the authority of their God, they believed the authority of their death. Instead of letting their faith make God as their shield, they put the idol of God in front of him. Under the mask of faith, they hesitated to do anything because they feared losses and always dream to handle all things perfectly by men’s hands. Their faith in his righteousness was thrown away, because they had lost the faith in the authority of him — but gained faith in the authority of death.
The only thing that they were thinking about was how to avoid punishment; for they really feared everything. Thus, they used fear to drive each other, they used greed to control each other; because, at the end of everything, they would no more respect even the law, but would only manipulate the authority of punishment. When they had the total fear, even a little “misdoing” of one of their fellows could cause severe accusation, for the people seemed to be “sinless” blamed those “sinners” to keep themselves away from their “sin”. The “sinned”, even had broken only one little clause of the law, would be considered as an HIV patient, or a “rightist” and “counterrevolutionary” in Red China. They would be punished, criticized, and prosecuted. No matter how the person really was, he would be a man that had already died, a “social-corpse”.
Judgments seemed to be no longer made by God, but by men.
Things became totally hideous. Under the mask of faith, there were merely discrimination and prosecution.
Prophets were beaten and slaughtered, for they saw nothing and killed the people who taught them the way to see, in the name of the Law of God. In fact, it was not because that they could not see, but because they did not want to see; when they ignored that unrighteousness and accused those who did righteously but seemed to break the law, all things in their hearts were fear and greed.
Those who were not yet been prosecuted felt themselves lucky, tried their best to avoid accusations; Those who were already been prosecuted felt despair, for those who dared to say something for him would also be accused. Thus, those people chosen by God had become wicked because of their diverting to a self-surrender.
Thus, even Jesus, the incarnation of the Holy Spirit himself came upon the earth, they still lacked courage to admit his authority — which they know in their instinct but was concealed by their fear.
“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” He said.
“Yet not what I will, but what you will.” He added.
For the Heavenly Father knew, that was the reality, and that was the thing that must be admitted, and because of that Jesus must be put to death, by the hands of his coward therefore rebellious people themselves, to show them their appearance by the death of Jesus Christ himself.
In a darkened dream under the shadow of death, faithless men lost their strength, which was granted by God to their ancestors; for they had lost the authority of the righteous God, since they didn’t believe in his sovereignty, and God hates them.
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
And honor me with their lips;
While their hearts are far from me,
And their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
- Isaiah 29:13–14
Thus, Israel, the first church of God after the covenant made by their ancestors, became itself a Goliath in the time of Jesus.
It had many Pharisees and scribes and teachers of the law. It was “a man of war from his youth”; It said to Jesus, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
Yeah, I am so great and strong, how can you deal against me? I have so many intellectuals who can interpret the scriptures arbitrarily, how can you speak over me? When Jesus saved a man on Sabbath, they accused him; when Jesus reclined with “sinners”, they accused him; when Jesus said “Zacchaeus, hurry and came down, for I must stay at your house today,” they grumbled as if they were not “sinners”.
But Jesus had proved by his terrifying death, that all of them, were sinners. All things that they were not going to admit at all, were proved by this death — a negation made by God, as he always knows and judges what is happening in the current time.
— — — —
The very same thing is now happening in modern Chinese churches.
Looking around ourselves, we are always terrified by what we have continually observed.
The churches of God on the land called the People’s Republic of China, are not doing what they ought to do right now.
Those righteous are laughed, while the evil are always concealing the sufferings.
Those in tribulations are hidden, while the flighty are always rendering their happiness.
Those enslaved are ignored, while the merciless are always justifying their distress.
Those faithful are isolated, while the apostate are always accusing their mistakes.
The resistance against evil is slandered, while the real evil is harbored under everyone’s eyes, for they pretend not to see them to justify themselves, lest they meet the test which may be difficult for them.
The anger against evil is slandered, while the victims are persuaded to accept all unrighteousness in vain, for if they do not accept, they will also be threatened to go into hell because of their “sin of blood”.
The righteous deeds are accused, while the real pain is described ridiculously as wealth, for according to the Gospel, those who suffer and bear the sufferings unconditionally will be in heaven after their painful death under the feet of unrighteous.
The most unfaithful are declared to be faithful, while the people who have real mercy are declared to be unclean, for according to the Gospel, God will punish those who know him and even though break his law — that is, boldly speak out their voice against unrighteousness.
Those self-justifying churches always say that they are Christians, but eventually, they become Pharisees. They are always dividing the things of this world and the spiritual things, but eventually, they have created their wicked Goliath upon this world, the world under God, which should be the world of lambs lead by his servants.
Those churches are claiming that Jesus had paid a ransom for everyone in the world, and everyone is beloved by God — even a wicked one. They cannot admit the reality, that even they themselves are wicked. For, when they open their eyes, they will lose every illusion and then lose everything.
Trying to keep their very existence, they are actually doing everything evil. Trying to achieve their survival lack of principle, they are no more loved by God — and even they themselves know that. To deny that and wipe that fact out of their mind, so that they can continue to maintain their status and avoid any loss, they begin to explain the Holy Bible arbitrarily to avoid any real test that may show their real nature.
“When someone does evil, we have to be kind to him, though we feel uncomfortable — because, only when you forgive the evil doings, you can then be saved and attend heaven.” Do they mean, that all the evil should be tolerated? In the name of “kindness”, but in fact, cowardice?
“The God in the Old Testament was a righteous God, but in the New Testament, he is a loving God.” Do they mean, that all unrighteousness could be ignored in their sight? In the name of “forgiving”, but in fact, conniving?
“Jesus had said, ‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword.’ So, you cannot kill anyone and do not resist before anyone who is going to harm you.” Do they mean, that Jesus was telling Peter that not to resist, instead of foretelling the perishment of those who do the evil, the Pharisees?
What does “rebellion against God” means? That means, they don’t believe that God is the Holy One — that means, they don’t admit that they themselves are unholy. They forget that even the churches of Jesus Christ, are made up with men of sin, are unholy under God, and that fact could never be changed. When performing holy rituals, they forget that men of sin could never be holy. The only possibility is an admission to the Holy One, instead of making themselves “holy”.
They are not encouraged enough to admit that there must be death for all unholy things — and they are too coward to accept and face their inevitable death. In hesitation, they’ve deceived themselves. After making a factual denial to the Holy One, they converted themselves into those they are pretending to accuse, usurp the name of God to judge and punish all those people who are encouraged to debunk their hypocritical veil.
“For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
who say to the seers, “Do not see”,
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right”;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
- Isaiah 30: 9–11
When they see evil, they try to explain it into kindness. When they see unrighteousness, they try to explain it into God’s love.
When they see unjust things, they try to render it and justify it with scriptures; and when they see things that must be dealt with, they say some pretty words and then disappeared, leaving and at the same time chanting “Jesus loves us”.
When there appear some churches who boldly speak out their voice towards righteousness, they grumble, “Without those churches, Christianity in China may not be so severely punished by our country.”
Oh, can they themselves not see, that they are on the verge of the punishment by God, who are claimed by them as their foundation of “faith”, if not a fairy tale, in their real mind?
When their will is not fulfilled by God, they begin to perform their faith and try to deceive God. But is God the one who is deceived? No, they are even not going to convince themselves that God could be deceived. The actual objects of their deceiving are those who are watching their ridiculous and pathetic performance. Some of them get lost and believed, but most of them will shake their heads and leave.
The result was but,
“So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere.
Look how the whole world has gone after him!’”
- John 12:19
They become the people who are worshipping Baal, use self-harming to render their faithfulness. When Baal, in the name of Jesus Christ makes no answer to them, they “cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.”
Thus, they are competing for the posture before fake tests. Not to deceive God, but to deceive people. They have made Christianity a worshipping to Baal, and the Holy Bible a book of Baal.
And as it was said,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.
For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”
- Matthew 23:13
— — — — —
And the most serious fact is now appearing. Not only do they escape from responsibilities that Jesus our Lord has distributed to them, but also do they join the unrighteous and wicked ambitions of human beings. To maintain their status and fulfill their pathetic illusion, they compromised so much that they are even doing the things and helping the things that are forbidden to do. To console the desolation in their barren hearts, they are even worshipping other idols outside the Holy One.
They are making themselves no different from those who are lost and should be led by the responsibilities that they were told to take. When their positions became stable, they are even becoming more wicked than those who don’t worship the Holy Name of God — they are sons of hell.
The ambition to construct a “powerful China”, a worshipping to the creation instead of the Creator, is now entrusted by those who call themselves Christians. Oh, even worse — when they think of their identity, they do not admit Jesus Christ as their only Head, do not worship God as their only god.
They say they are at first Chinese, then Christians. They say that their Head is at first Xi Jinping, then Jesus Christ. They say that their hope is at first on China, then on the authority of God — secretly, they believe the power of man instead of the power of God; by the power of man, in their illusion, by the wisdom of their communist leaders, all things could be solved, and God was willing to be their “assistant”.
Jesus Christ is made by them a money tree and was made no difference from their other idols. When they want something, they prayed to him for their wealth and enjoyment. In fact, they never pray with their whole heart that his righteousness could be done — for they should firstly ignore something, and that makes their heart fall apart and become fake. Ignoring the people who are now being tortured and raped in concentration camps in Xinjiang and those who are now suffering tribulations under those wicked policemen in Hong Kong, they accuse the victims, and at the same time pray for their “leader with power and wisdom”, that their unholy ambition could be done, and their vain glory could be gained.
Have they forgotten that there is only one ambition that is proper for them to pursue — the righteousness of God?
Have they forgotten that there is only one authority that is proper for them to give hope on — the authority of God?
Have they forgotten that God is the living God, the jealous God, the God that hates those who worship two gods simultaneously?
They will not admit, but they are doing the same thing which the German Christians had done before, during the critical times between 1933 and 1945. Both are going to fulfill the illusion made by men instead of God, and both are putting their worshipping idols together with the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ.


They are seeking the protection of Pharaoh, because they don’t believe in the authority of God anymore. The thing that they believe is merely power, the power seems to be able to make them far away from loss and humiliation. They have given up their own dignity based upon the faith in Jesus Christ, in Holy Trinity, but started to seek for vainglory and illusory protection under the illusory authority and sovereignty of man.
German Christians stood with the Nazis to seek their security, and Chinese Christians are now standing with China to beg their survival.
But as it was said,
“‘Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the LORD,
‘who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.’”
- Isaiah 30: 1–3
Thus, those chosen people become those who don’t have the qualification to be chosen; thus, those churches become those which don’t have the qualification to be called churches. They call themselves churches, is itself a blasphemy of Jesus Christ.
When the world was full of those apostates under the mask of believers, no one would no more believe in anything — and the world seems to be so dark, so freezing and hopeless, that every light would be put out, and every warm would be cooled down.
And, according to them, the only proper thing is to accept the reality and submit to evil and the will to power; because, the most important thing for them is, that God seems not to have any authority at all.
But is that true?
— — — — —
At night when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the image of the world froze as a still sculpture. Though it was in April, the gloomy sky was harder than ice. The world seemed to be so shallow, that there was nothing at all outside its visible sight; The world seemed to be so deep, that nobody could be sure that what they are looking at, the dark and silent scene of Jerusalem, was the only and the whole picture of the world in which they live.
“O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.”
Jesus, who was in that garden, who was not known by the world, seemed to be in despair, got up, and went alone on his way to death.
“It’s enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
But was he really in despair?
His disciples seemed to be so.
Such an incredible man, that I recognized him as Son of Man when I met him for the first time, and such an incredible experience, that there were so many wonders in it… ended, and all things that my instinct had told me, that this man is who I was determined to pursue, was arrested, without resistance, without hope. I was wrong, everything of mine was wrong.
Was I too naïve to live in this world? Was I too easy to be convinced by such a thing? But by my own eyes, I have seen so many marvelous wonders, by my own ears I have heard so many marvelous words! How can I deny this power, the authority that I felt in him, even if I know that all things are thrown into hell now? Except him, what kind of things I still have now? Am I going to go back to the life before I met him, though I’ve already given up all things I have for the sake of him?
Was I deceived, that Jesus, whom I called Christ, the Son of Man, was merely a psycho? That everything I had trusted before with my full heart was a lie? That everything I saw with authority, was in fact without authority? That everything, even when I was walking on the surface of the lake with him, even the “O you of little faith” that he said to me, was in a dream, marvelous, but not true — therefore, without any sense?
Then, what is the sense? Is fear with sense? Or is death with sense? Is the world that in my sight makes up the whole world of sense, and death itself, is its terrifying border?
Then, is that true, that every one of us, was thrown into the center of the world when we were born, and we strive to keep away from the approaching border, and when we gave up, we would die, when we died, we would give up?
But how terrifying are those, that the final arrival of that border is totally inevitable, that there’s no possibility at all outside that border?
Then, what is the sense?
“The world outside of death had cooled down,
become dim, then dark,
and we became a people without hope.”
Peter was then in that vacuum of hope. Before, when he was still in hope and happiness, he promised to protect Jesus for the sake of his life, by his sword. But after Jesus disappeared from his life, he denied him three times. When the cock crowed a second time, he broke down and wept, painfully. Not because of his regret, but because his emptiness of heart which he could not accept but had to accept.
Everything had passed away. The only existence was the freezing present time, hard to believe, but had to believe.
But he still remembered that Jesus had told him something about his fate.
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders ad the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Oh, forget it. Do you really believe that this man — the man that you had witnessed his inability before evil and fear, to which you had gotten used before, really had the authority that he had claimed? He was away, and the only thing that you have is doubt, with pain. Taken by fear, you can do nothing but flee, flee from everyone’s eyes. You felt ashamed because you had even believed in a psycho; you felt ashamed, because you had even trusted which only psychos trust. You could even not admit that you were one of his disciples; you felt painful, but what could you do instead of that?
The fact that you had seen, seemed to prove that the righteousness and mercy that you had trusted, are always beaten and will be beaten forever by those who are wicked and powerful. The only thing that you could do, seemed to be the submission to the evil, and be eviler than them to get rid of them. The more power you have gained, the more secure you are — but can you escape from death? How can you escape from death then? How can you avoid touching the inevitable border of the visible world, in which you believe, that throws everyone into the vacancy of darkness constantly? And how can you escape from the fear of death, to make yourself “a real lord of yourself”?
So many things are in the minds of this hopeless group of people, who got totally lost within the terrible days after Jesus’ arrest. It seemed that his words had all become falsehoods, yet they could not admit. They were in one of the heaviest tribulations ever existed in history, standing between the gates of the eternal heaven and the eternal hell.
“Why were we waken up
when everyone was still asleep,
even we could not discern
that being awake itself was not an illusion?”
But Jesus Christ was not in despair on his way. Even everyone did not believe him anymore, he knew, and his Father knew, that he would rise again after three days.
And after three days, he rose again.
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
- Mark 16: 5–7
Yes, he rose again.
And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
- Mark 16:8
They witnessed the Crucifixion, and they witnessed how Jesus was mocked and insulted by those wicked soldiers, even those who were also on crosses, were laughing at him teasingly. He had been a man, and he became a corpse, and was buried. Everyone witnessed that. He seemed to be so powerless, that he could not fight back any humiliation on him.
The church of Israel, full of wicked people, seemed to win at the end and wiped out their powerless enemy. Though his disciples had anger with that, they were incapable to fight back, because their faith had shaken and collapsed. They hid in dark rooms, they fled to other cities. Their minds were full of panic, and their hearts were full of despair.
But Jesus rose again. He didn’t even fight against the evil; he manifested his grand authority so barely, that he had even won over death! Do you still think that death is the most unknown and terrifying thing? Jesus had broken this border, he showed what his authority really means. The hope that had already left could even be gained again, and even death could be beaten by him!
Could you even believe, that the thing you have been pursuing secretly since your discovery of it, the thing that you treasure it more precious than your own life, the thing whose dimness and powerlessness you have already known but yet have not really given up, the thing that you are always pretending to deny before others but yet haven’t made your final denial in your hearts, only because you consider that thing to be more important than everything else, and may even seriously ponder that when you have to choose between your life and that; the thing that always seems to be prosecuted by everyone and never wins, though it seems that it could also not been truly defeated… is the thing that with the real authority, with the real power over everything else! The thing that you have secretly sought for between the gaps of fear and you have witnessed to be tortured to death, is not a poor lamb, but actually, the Lord of the whole world, the absolute existence over everything else!
How ridiculous is the helplessness brought by fear! How laughable is the evilness brought by the blind following before those who seem to have power! And we, in front of the Resurrection, have to such an extent, discovered that, because of our arrogance that considers the visible and comprehensible world as the whole world, such serious torturing by such a ridiculous fear we have suffered!
The actual hope and happiness that have generated in the hearts of those most ordinary people are truly the reflection of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Since then, because of the faith in the hope that Jesus had delivered, weak people became strong, and fearful people became full of courage.
The salvation by Jesus Christ, is, in fact, salvation to the righteousness in our own hearts. To our own hearts, he delivered the faith that we have hoped to have faith in it, to our own spirit he confirmed the holiness of our new-gained faith.

Two thousand years after Resurrection, two thousand years after his first church was built, we can see his churches declining, and have even become false churches: under his name but blinded by the mist of evil. From the faith in righteousness, they converted themselves to the following of temporary power, from the stable rock they converted themselves to the varying illusions.
But has the authority that he had manifested really disappeared?
Has the power of men, which we are seeing and being forced to obey every day, so powerful and glorious that could even usurp the authority of the unknown God, the God who represents all our wishes and yearnings that are hidden under the bottom of our hearts?
Has the claim of men, which is rendered so splendid and magnificent, that could even cover the glory of the unknown God, the God who promises to witness all our courage, yet we are still stepping back cowardly, saying some harmless words, or even dare not to say at all?
No, not at all! The “Thousand-years Empires”, claimed by men, always collapsed in just a few years. At the ridiculous ending of those farces, arrogant men always seemed like rats, in panic and embarrassment, ashamed to admit their rebellious doings, and flee away without any pretty posture.
No matter how severely they were intimidating, some righteous Christians never give up their faith. They spoke boldly, for they refused to replace the glory of God with the illusion of men.
In the critical year of 1934, in Barmen, they said:
“We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, apart from this ministry, could and were permitted to give itself, or allow to be given to it, special leaders vested with ruling powers.”
And in the critical year of 2018, in Chengdu, they said:
“We believe that Christian educators should stay vigilant to every means of rule by the government, including promise, guidance, rewarding, threatening or any other means. And then we believe that the children of a Christian should not be thrown by their parents or church to the government or any other educator against God so recklessly and cruelly.”
In the critical year of 1934, in Barmen, they said:
“We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the state, thus itself becoming an organ of the state.”
And in the critical year of 2018, in Chengdu, they said:
“But, the will of God is higher than the will of men. We thank God for his special protection for Chinese underground churches, leaves not less than 7,000 people for his churches, who haven’t kneeled before Baal, and haven’t kissed with Baal. Today, the constrain has come again. However, we see that the spiritual descendants of those underground churches, relying on the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, are gaining their strength among common weaknesses.”
In the critical year of 1934, in Barmen, they said:
“We reject the false doctrine, as though the church in human arrogance could place the word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans.”
And in the critical year of 2018, in Chengdu, they said:
“We recognize Christ as the only Head of the church. According to the teaching of the Holy Bible and the freedom of our righteous heart, we are determined to commit ourselves to the true church of Jesus Christ our Lord, and we do not recognize, or accept, or join any religious organizations established by the secular government.”
“We hold on the word, which was declared by Apostles’ Creed, that “I believe in the holy catholic Church”, and are willing to obey the church leaders who are set by God among us, to weep and have joy with the servants of God, to be One within Christ, to go onto the way of heaven together.”
There are churches who still believe in God’s authority. There are churches who are still willing to glorify God’s name; There are churches, who have suffered the cost of not obeying the savage dictatorship, and knowing that they are going to suffer more, are still proud of their firm attitudes!
Why do they say that they are “gaining their strength among common weaknesses”?
For as it was said,
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
- Romans 5: 3–5
Human beings feel light and warm from the fire, while beasts are hiding in darkness because of their fear; human beings go approaching the fire and feel rejoice, while beasts flee away from that because of their cowardice –cowardice that could not escape from death, but send them to death.
And since they are encouraged enough to face genuine problems, instead of rendering wood as gold, or rendering evil as love, they are encouraged enough not to forget who they are, what they are doing, and for what they live.
They are not Chinese Christians, for they are not in that illusory dream of human power; for they have held on themselves so that they are not to be on that way leads to vanishment; for they take the responsibilities that God had told them, instead of concealing their consuls before God. The dream, the way, and the wish to conceal, are together called by one name: “Chinese Nation”, or “Chinese Revival”.
They are not Chinese Christians. In our time, we would like to call them “Cathaysian Christians”.
Because we do not build our dignity on vainglory, rather on the rock we are stepping on and the faith we are holding on.
— — — —
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
- Revelation 19:4–8
Nowadays, all of us, are facing a serious test, in which the righteous are tortured and slandered, and the evil is flattered and exalted.
The world around us is up-side-down. The kind are excluded in rage but actually among fear, the wicked are extolled in praising but actually among hatred.
The Goliath, who is showing off his wealth to conceal his weakness, convinced those faithless people who believe only in the current situation, or the situation they are willing to believe, to flee from danger like beasts flee from the fire.
The cowardice under the mask of pacifism, has made Christianity from a religion of saints and knights to a religion full of toadies and deserters.
When God calls us to speak boldly against evil, we are fearing of the consequences that could happen on us; when God calls us to fight against unrighteousness with valor, we are fearing of the oppression by the strong and wicked enemies. We are stepping back and back, having more and more illusion and fantasy for the compromise or even the protection by the evil; and we have invented an ideology, that “judgment will be made by God, so you are not granted with the right to fight back against evil.”
But have you ever understood what Jesus had said?
“My kingdom is not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world,
my servants would have been fighting,
that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.
But my kingdom is not from the world.”
- John 18:36
When are you claiming that you are one of his people because you read his words every day and night, and with a name of Christian you go forth and afterward, are you really brave enough to fight for him?
Or, just as the people who put him to death, are all with a vague hope but full of hesitation and obeying to the unrighteous violence?
When you are saying about “All sins are forgiven”, are you really thinking of that, that you should forgive all the sins of all the people?
When you are saying about “Put your sword back into its place”, are you really thinking of that, that you should be peaceful even before terrible threatening by unrighteousness?
And when you are saying about “Do not resist the one who is evil”, are you really thinking of that, that when you do the easiest thing — to give up resistance before evil, you can be saved and get into the gate of Heaven, being exalted as well as Jesus, and despise those who fought hard with evil doings with all their courage and wisdom, because your way of consulting things are closer according what Jesus had said and done?
In fact, you are not serving and pursuing the road of Jesus. Instead, you are imitating Jesus, in a wicked and rebellious way.
When you are claiming that you are not judging others, you lie, for you have already put yourself on a higher position than those who are suffering the same, or even more tribulations than you. In fact, you despise them, and you pretend to be kind to them. In that process, you have almost committed every sin that you are denying.
When you are accusing the churches now in Hong Kong, who support the resistance actively, that they are openly supporting violence so that they have broken the principle of non-violence of Christianity, and when you are accusing the churches now in Taiwan, who speak boldly for their righteous opposition against Chinese penetration, that they are openly speaking about politics so that they have broken the principle of the submission to the kings, what are you really showing off? Only your pathetic soul under your rage.
Your dream of being saved is a fairy tale full of illusory wickedness. You hypocrites! You are using the poor tricks of men to usurp the authority of God. And in which way, are you believing that you could even deceive God?
“Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
You turn things upside down!
- Isaiah 29: 15
And thus, you shall feel ashamed and find yourself ridiculous.
When are you saying about accusing those who committed sin according to the Bible, instead of think for them at their position, you have misunderstood, or you choose to misunderstand the word: “All sins are forgiven”.
Yeah, if all sins had been forgiven by Jesus himself, why do you have the right to accuse someone who fights against the unrighteous oppressor to commit the “sin of blood”? At the same time, when you are “forgiving” but actually conniving the evil, refusing to fight for Jesus to prove that you are one of his people, how hypocritical you are!
He has liberated us from the Law, and he does not expect us to make the Bible again become a law.
“But now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive,
so that we serve in the new way of spirit
and not in the old way of the written code.”
- Romans 7:6
The only path to salvation is faith.
“That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it,
that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness
did not succeed in reaching that law.
Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith,
but as if it were based on works.”
- Romans 9:30–32
When the Holy One let his son descended on this world as flesh, the light of Heaven had descended on this world through his words and deeds. Because of the cruelness and numbness of this people, he was put to death, and through that he has declared the inerasable sins of men.
This world is totally made up of sins, and the elimination of sins, even in one person, is not a possibility. Our bodies are full of sins, and our souls are full of sins.
As it was said,
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them,
because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man,
for he himself knew what was in man.
- John 2:24–25
However, God made Jesus in a flesh, which was of this world, of sin and not holy; however, he manifested his complete faith in his Heavenly Father through his full life towards his death made by sinners.
Sins could neither be wiped out, nor been forgiven; but eventually, Jesus rose up after three days! God has forgiven the sin of his flesh, which was made up of this sinful world, only because of his faith, the faith that marveled every person who had seen him, the faith that made Peter said “You are the Son of Man” without hesitation after he met him, and the faith that made even Pilate and his soldiers didn’t believe his death after his death — was firstly denied by men, then glorified by God!
And suddenly we see, that though our sins could not be wiped out, the sinned could be saved due to their faith; and because of that we have seen, that though there are sins everywhere in the whole world, faith is the only thing that has been granted a divinity.
Our sins are forgiven by him, only because of the possibility of faith, we may have after the forgiveness due to his faith by God. We have seen the light, and then we have the hope; Not because our sins do not exist anymore or they should not exist anymore, but because he established our belief in our faith that was established because of him.
So the reconciliation between human beings and God, was only because of Jesus; and only because of Jesus, our faith in his righteousness is confirmed to be valid to be a connection between the visible world and the Kingdom of Heaven, and our faith can be the only holy thing we may see in this world. And only through our faith, our sins will be forgiven.
Then, how could the people imitate Jesus? And how could the sinned people, who have no way to their salvation except their faith, to find another cunning way, to perform before everyone else and then could say, “I’ve not sinned”?
Then, how could the people who ignore the tyranny and accuse the people who are fighting against it, who put the name of God in front of him as an excuse, to justify themselves as the “faithful”, to gain the help of God’s sovereignty as their shield?
And how could those hypocritical people despise those who proved their faith in tough tests, in dangerous fights, with their utmost courage and utmost belief in the righteousness, which is proclaimed by the Holy Spirit that is with them?
Woe to you, you who are with unclean spirits and yet making your loving masks!
In this tough test that we are facing, you have already chosen your side, and you will see your collapse according to your coward choice, as it was written:
“Because you despise this word
and trust in oppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
- Isaiah 12:14
Thus, we know, that since it’s impossible for us to lead a life without sin, the only choice of us, is to lead a life, in which we admit our impossibility to remove our sin, yet still love the righteousness of God.
— — — — —
We, as Cathaysian Christians, do not our dignity on any name that is flattered by men, rather on the rock we are stepping on and the faith we are holding on, for we consider faith the only way to our salvation and the only right thing that is possible for us to grasp.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, recognize Jesus Christ our only Head, and God our only god. Every idol that someone forces us to worship, shall be smashed into pieces.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, use this name “Cathay” to describe the hometowns we live in, instead of the name “China” as a political notion, a name of power and violence by men, which we despise and don’t recognize.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, deny ourselves as Chinese because of its wicked implication of falsehood, deceit, and oppression, and of a vainglory full of hatred and yet is rendered as “harmony”.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, in order to fight against the name of power and violence, “China”, we build our own nations in our hometowns, in the name of the righteousness of God, to take care of his people, recognize the political and cultural rights of the churches of Jesus Christ, and justify themselves upon the righteousness they protect.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, believe that we can use any means that are not against the common belief in God’s righteousness and the words of Jesus Christ, to fight against the wicked that are trying to harm us, and the tyrants that are trying to oppress us.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, submit to the legitimated governors, but will not recognize the authority of authoritarian tyrants. We have the right and the responsibility that is granted by our faith, to resist against those who want us to shut up or compel us to obey.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, recognize neither the government-controlled religious organizations nor the government-related religious personnel, for we consider them as people who do not believe in faith but believe in works.
We, as Cathaysian Christians, believe that God in which we trust has the authority to restore the old to the new, make the weak become with strength, and let us not to put despising sights to each other, but regard each other, who are with the righteousness, as true brethren. No one of us could be abandoned beneath anyone, and no one of us could be exalted over anyone.
When we see those people who practice the righteousness but not under the name of Jesus Christ, we respect them highly and support their doings, for we know, that faith is not rendered by mouth, but practiced by hands.
The Holy One only exists in the intervals of time; no name except him can be our changeless standard. He exists among us, among our mutual understanding, and when we pray to him, we don’t pray in vain — that is, we don’t pray for things that are not connected to his righteousness.
The coming time would be a crisis for those who have not yet prepared, but it would be a blessing after the tough test for those who are faithful.
And the new East Asia would be a world that fears God’s authority and sovereignty over it.
As it was written,
“Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!”
Author:
Joanna von Basuria
