Remember those in chains...

Sarah – that’s not her real name – is a Chinese follower of Jesus. I heard her story a few days back when Vic Mitchell came to talk to our youth group about the persecuted church. Sarah was an editor of an underground Christian newspaper that surreptitiously circulated to persecuted believers in her home nation. The words she published encouraged her brothers and sisters to remain strong in their faith.

One night, government operatives broke into her home and kidnapped her, taking her to a secret location where she was offered freedom if she would sign a statement refuting her faith and indicting her friends. She refused to put her hand to the document and suffered for her choice. She was burned with cigarettes. She was tortured and beaten. She wondered if she should sign and be done with it. She prayed for strength to resist the temptation and God answered in an interesting way.

Sarah was forced to walk all night long with heavy leg irons around her ankles. The rough metal of the cuffs cut into her skin and she began to bleed profusely, leaving a trail of blood on the cement floor of her prison. She looked at the crimson streaks on the floor and remembered Jesus’ death. Surely, she thought, he left a trail of blood when he walked to the cross. This idea gave her the strength to endure not only that night, but the many nights of torture and forced labor that followed. She held joy in her heart as she made thousands of Christmas lights to be sent to America.

This Christmas as you celebrate with your family around your sparkling tree, remember your Chinese brothers and sisters. Pray that they would have the strength to remain strong in the face of fearful circumstances. Thank God for his provision of a Savior for them and for you.

(Click on the picture at the beginning of this post to download a wallpaper picture that will remind you of your persecuted brothers. To download other images in various resolutions from Voice of the Martyrs, click here.)