Died in Prison, Guilty of Only Loving His Savior

“I will not allow it,” Chinese pastor Wang Min-tao said to the Japanese soldiers. “I will not hang that picture of the emperor in my church.”

    Several years later the Communists demanded that Pastor Wang hang a picture of their leader, Chairman Mao, in his sanctuary.

    “I do not even have a picture of Jesus in my church,” the pastor said. “I refused to hang a picture of the Japanese emperor, and I refuse to hang one of Mao.”

    Wang was arrested in 1955, and for two years he was subjected to severe torture and brainwashing. Driven nearly insane by the torture, he finally signed a “confession” outlining all his “crimes” against the People’s Republic. With the confession, Pastor Wang secured his release from prison.

    But outside the prison he had no peace. He told himself, “I am Judas. I am like Peter when he denied Christ.” Finally, he went back to the Chinese police.

    “I renounce my confession,” he told them. “Do with me as you will.”

    The guards were not satisfied to merely imprison Wang again. So they put his wife in as well. In a letter from the prison, he wrote, “Do not be anxious about me; I am of more value than many sparrows.”
    Wang Min-tao died in prison, guilty of only loving his Savior.

Who wouldn’t want to be brave like Peter, impulsively striking those who came to arrest Jesus Christ? Yet, who isn’t also weak like Peter, denying Christ in almost the same instance under the threat of opposition? God does not chide us for our humanity. He accepts our weakness and works with us until we are strong again. Just as God restored Peter and other believers like Wang Min-tao to a position of faith, he can restore our stout courage again as well. Have you suffered from the memory of a missed opportunity to stand up for Christ? Ask God to restore you today. He will begin to prepare you even now for your next opportunity to stand strong.