Sari @sarikorpi@dingdash.com

How is it possible they can keep him in jail without any real reason? I know these things happen in countries like China etc with persecution of Christians, but in America..?

https://youtu.be/3IQg7jjkMpM

I didn't realize he made also English subtitles to the video, wherefore it's possible to change the subtitles to English on Youtube!

So here's the musicvideo again, the song is called "narrow road".

https://youtu.be/X69eaKBd5jY

Here's a musicvideo for all German speaking (+ all Finnish speaking as the subtitles are in Finnish 😁).
This song is made by my husband's sisters husband.

https://youtu.be/X69eaKBd5jY

Christ endured the cross "for the joy set before him". (Hebr. 12:2)

So I'm making the conclusion that a deep understanding of what this joy REALLY means might help to endure persecution, even torturing, as Christ did.

Help me Lord to understand deeply the joy I have in You and in what's still in front of me! But also to grasp that if I fear You above all, then I don't need to fear anything else in this world. Amen.

A beautiful thing that happened when Zhang didn't give up his faith was that a muslim got saved! Zhang was constantly being tortured and it was so horrible that he just prayed and asked God to take his life. But then a muslim, who also was imprisoned, had watched how Zhang was being tortured and because he saw the peace and the power that surrounded Zhang through the torturing, he got convinced that Zhangs God is the real God! And so Zhang was able to lead him to Christ. Praise God!

I've been reading a great book called "I stand with Christ" by Zhang Rongliang and Eugene Bach. We bought it this summer in a small village in the middle of the forest, where a youth camp was held.

The most shocking thing for me in the book was how persecution led true believers to deny their faith in Christ and to uncover the names of their brothers and sisters. Zhang talks in the book about how only the true believers, who weren't able to keep their faith in secret (because Christ's light shined through them) were the onlyone's who were put in prison. The lukewarms never even got that far. But out of these 30 believers only 4 came out of prison without having denied Christ! The persecution was so heavy. I'm thinking, how was it possible for these 4 to remain in their faith when the others didn't?? Is there something we as believers can and should do today so that when persecution comes, we would be those who stands with Christ? 🙏

When the police tried to get Zhang to deny Christ, he explains in the book that:

"What they had not understood, was that to give up and deny Christ would be much worse than any earthly prison or imaginable pain. What they didn't know was that the time of my suffering is limited, but the honour to be with my Lord is eternal."
(my own translation).

I think what kept Zhang from denying Christ was both the fear of the Lord and the fact that Christ was his everything, he had lost his life to live fully for God. And he knew this life is not everything, he knew he has the eternity with God in front of him. ❤

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Luk. 12: 4-9