Freedom From Fear

By Jinghong Cai

“We, therefore, believe in the inherent dignity of every human being””dignity that no earthly power can take away. And central to that dignity is freedom of religion””the right of every person to practice their faith how they choose, to change their faith if they choose, or to practice no faith at all, and to do this free from persecution and fear.”   “”President Obama

On February 6, 2014, President Obama made a remarkable speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. He highlighted freedom of religion as the right of every person to practice their faith free from persecution and fear. It is only fitting that the president spelled out freedom from fear as an integral part of religious freedom, because fear is the method of choice totalitarian governments use to deprive people of their freedoms.

I used to be a victim of this fear””and to an extent, I still am””but by the grace of God, I came to this country and am beginning to conquer my fear. As President Obama remarked, “No nation on Earth does more to stand up for the freedom of religion around the world than the United States of America.” I broke through my fright. I was baptized into the Christian faith, and now I can stand for and share my beliefs, as Jesus commanded his disciples, “Be My witnesses . . . even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8)1.

“Fear involves punishment” (1 John 4:18).

Controlling people through fear has been a key strategy of China”s rulers for centuries, from the emperors” era to today”s Communist regime. Because of fear, many Chinese Christians feel compelled to conceal their faith, which has caused the Chinese government to “underestimate” the power of Christian faith.

Yet the rapid growth of Christianity in China has deeply troubled the Chinese government and made the Communist Party leaders nervous, to say the least. It is estimated the city of Shanghai is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of underground churches, and there may be up to 67 million Protestants in China, many of whom attend the underground church. These estimates place China among the top 10 nations in terms of Christian population . . . and the numbers keep growing.2

The Chinese government perceives the growth of Christianity as a threat to its rule, and so it has multiplied its efforts to suppress the expansion of the underground church in a “systematic and intense” way. “In the past year, more than 1,000 unregistered Protestant Christians were detained and sentenced, according to China Aid, a nonprofit human-rights organization based in the United States.”3

The moniker “underground church” is, in fact, ironic. As Anna Orso from Penn State University states, “Chinese Christians, who shun the state-supported church, gather in smaller settings and without fear of government influence on what”s being preached.” They do, however, experience a different fear, namely, being an “unregistered” or nonsanctioned Christian. It means they are illegal Christians who risk losing their jobs or being arrested by the government.

This insightful observation may help explain the false impression that the persecution of Christians in China today is less brutal than in the past. Over the last 20 years, Christians in China have gathered in small groups in homes, hotels, and other inconspicuous venues to practice in secrecy, for fear of government retribution. Clearly, it is not that the government has mitigated the persecution, but, rather, multiplied its actions to instill fear in people by brutally punishing Christians who refuse to join the official churches.

Most Chinese shun Christians and other religious believers because they have witnessed the persecution of people who associate with them. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as well as other Christian organizations (such as China Aid Association and International Christian Concern), many Chinese who organized or joined “house-based churches” or “underground churches” have been either forced to participate in political “reeducation” (actually brainwashing), physically and psychologically harassed, interned in mental hospitals, arrested, sent to labor camps, or have died in suspicious circumstances usually reported as suicide or heart attacks. 

One of my high school classmates, who once was a promising young journalist with the People”s Daily, died mysteriously after he was baptized in the U.S. and returned to China.4 

In a better-known case involving Pastor Zhang, a Christian minister who was arrested in China”s Henan Province, fellow Christians and lawyers who defended him were physically attacked by “thugs” (townspeople secretly employed by the local police). Zhang was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison in what Chinese authorities characterized as a land dispute.5

These are not isolated incidents. Search online any day, every day, and you will find news about Christians in China behind bars.

 

“Do not fear their intimidation” (1 Peter 3:14).

Fear makes people hide their Christian faith. Fear also compels the Communist Party to persecute Christians. Yet, a true Christian has the courage bestowed by God to conquer fear. In China, I used to hide my faith because I was afraid of losing my job and being sent to jail. It pains me to admit I still hide my faith from my parents, brother, and my son in China, because I am afraid that my ailing, elderly parents might not survive the harassment from the police, my brother might lose his job, and my son might be expelled from school. At least, if they can honestly claim they don”t know about my faith, they”ll have “plausible deniability” . . . or so I try to convince myself.

But God doesn”t want his children to live in fear, because his “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). In 1986, I got my first Bible, a bilingual copy I obtained through a visit to the office of Three-Self Patriotic Christian Association in Beijing. In 1995, I took a big chance and snuck out to church with my students on Christmas morning, because I wanted them to know why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. From 1994 to 2007, I secretly introduced my students to the Bible and invited them to read some important chapters.

 

“I fear no evil, for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

Fear was part of my life in China. I grew up in an atmosphere where parents threatened their children by telling them “the police are coming to arrest you.”Â 

Whenever I traveled abroad as a tourist, Chinese government authorities warned me not to speak to any Falun Gong member or other human rights activist. When I worked as a volunteer during the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, I was among those ordered to parrot a ready-made answer written by the government when foreigners asked questions about Tibet, Taiwan, and other human rights issues. 

When I left China, the party secretary of the university where I taught told me I would never again be employed, even if I received my degree in the U.S. 

Now, living and studying in the United States, I”m still afraid, but by the grace of God and the beauty of democracy, I am conquering my fear. At last, I feel I can worship and witness my faith freely.

Some people claim Christians are not persecuted in China. How, then, can they explain why Protestants can attend only the officially registered Three-Self Church, an institution tightly controlled by the Communist Party in everything””from what is preached to who is allowed to preach? Furthermore, why do millions of Chinese Christians risk their lives to embrace underground churches rather than openly and safely go to the church the government has sanctioned?

It is because Chinese Christians desire the truth: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).

True Christians would never compromise their faith to worship both the Communist Party and Jesus Christ. “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).

Fear is insidious; fear is real, but “a man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man” (Leonard Ravenhill).

________

1Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.

2Anna Orso, “”˜Underground” Christians shun China”s official church,” The Seattle Times, July 6, 2013; accessed at seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021335345_chinachurchesxml.html.

3Ibid.

4Jinghong Cai, “The Mysterious Death of a Christian in China”; accessed at www.chinaaid.org/2014/01/guest-post-mysterious-death-of.html.

5More information is available at www.chinaaid.org/2014/07/icc-chinese-pastor-shaojie-zhang.html.

 

Jinghong Cai is a Chinese student pursuing a PhD degree at a U.S. university. As a Christian, she sees it as her responsibility to denounce the plight of her fellow Christians in her native China. Find her blog at http://jhcai613.wix.com/ruthsjourney.