I Stand With Christ: The Courageous Life of a Chinese Christian by Zhang Rongliang & Eugene Bach

Author:Zhang Rongliang & Eugene Bach [Rongliang, Zhang]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Whitaker House
Published: 2015-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

Early days: Zhang Rongliang with his son.

Teaching in a secret, hand-dug cave in Henan Province where thousands of Chinese pastors were trained.

Four giants of the faith in China’s house church(from left):

Brother Yun, Enoch Wang, Peter Xu, and Zhang Rongliang

Preaching at a conference.

Zhang pictured during his most recent prison term.

Zhang in Fangcheng.

15

“The Lord Hears the Prisoners’ Groans”

No heat and a lack of warm clothes made for a very difficult winter at Xihua Labor Camp. But winter came and went, and soon the summer of 1977 arrived. I was thankful that the Lord had kept me alive. I was getting used to life at the camp, although it was not becoming any easier.

I needed a private place where I could be alone with God, where I could study and meditate on the Word without being interrupted or caught by the guards, so I asked the Lord to provide it. As ridiculous as it sounds given my situation, I wanted a place where I could sing hymns without anyone else hearing me.

One night, I had a dream in which a policeman came and took me just outside a room that was full of pigs. I couldn’t go inside the room because the door was locked, and although the policeman motioned for me to go in, I didn’t have the key to unlock the door. In the dream, I desperately wanted to go in, but it was impossible without the key. I kept looking down at my hand, but it was always empty.

It had been such a powerful dream that it was still vivid in my mind when I woke up. I kept thinking about how there was nothing I could do because I didn’t have a key. Suddenly, this thought came to me: I can’t open the door because I don’t have a key. Prayer is the key. If I want to open that door, I need to pray.

I rolled over onto my knees and began to pray before the Lord for a room by myself. “Lord, please forgive me. I have not been on my knees in front of You like this for three and a half years! I cry out to You and ask You to forgive my ignorance. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and allow me to have a private place where I can pray and commune with You. I want nothing more, Father.”

Later that evening, Brother Liu, one of the believers who lived in town, snuck into camp to visit me after everyone was sound asleep. “Zhang,” he said, “the Lord spoke to me today and told me that tomorrow you will be living out with the pigs. The Lord told me that your prayer will be answered, but you are to keep it a secret until the hour in which it comes to pass. Do not share these words with anyone else.”

I could not believe my ears! I was experiencing firsthand that profound truth in God’s Word that says that the Lord “hear[s] the groans of the prisoners” (Psalm 102:20).

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