Early Rain Forcibly Closed, Pastor Jailed
Looking Back at the Arrest of Pastor Wang Yi and the Attack on His Church
Today is the 6th Anniversary of the attack and forcible closure of Early Rain Church in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, and the arrest of Pastor Wang Yi. Last week I shared Wang Yi’s family newsletter that was published just 12 days before his arrest on December 9, 2018.
This week I am sharing (also via podcast) a few updates that were published by unnamed Early Rain members in the immediate aftermath of the attack and arrest of the church leadership.
These updates were sent out to church members, then shared abroad and translated for the global church. They are representative (not exhaustive) and, as one of the writers mentions, there was no guarantee that the next update would ever come. Arrests were ongoing at the original time of publishing. (Note: I have included a few explanatory comments as footnotes.)
Early Rain First Urgent Prayer Update (12/9/18)
"According to the command of Scripture, today is the Lord’s Day, a day to worship God. The metal gate below the building where the church is was locked, and every entrance had many plainclothes police officers and SWAT team officers preventing people from entering the church. They took away some of the brothers and sisters.1
Normal gatherings at the homes of brothers and sisters are being greatly disrupted. Authorities are sending unidentified men to stand guard outside the buildings and residential areas where these homes are located. Even so, brothers and sisters are still holding fast to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible to not stop meeting together. They are still bravely preaching His Truth and meeting together in various forms to study the Bible and to comprehend God’s Word.
We offer up thanksgiving to God. As his church is under great assault, he is reviving multitudes of His faithful children.
Lord, today we worship you in police cars. We worship you in police stations. We worship you in detention centers. We worship you in prisons. And we worship you in homes. We have no other goal except to worship you alone. We ride in buses heading to police stations as though riding down the road to Zion.2 For you tell us, Lord, that you are looking for worshipers who worship you in spirit and in truth. May you be pleased with our worship. We have nothing to offer you but our hearts. We offer them up sincerely to you now.
Wherever I am,
Whatever I meet,
I will follow your will forever.
Early Rain Urgent Prayer Update #8 (12/11/18)
All of the church plants have either been officially banned or their possessions confiscated. We do not know how long they will continue arresting people, and we do not know if there will be another prayer update because there is no privacy here. They are using violent means and methods to arrest and threaten meek and loving Christians. We are like sheep that have entered a pack of wolves.
They want to completely eradicate Early Rain Covenant Church from this country, but the will of God is to stamp this church even more firmly onto this country and to engrave it even deeper into their hearts. The Lord’s Church is the only community that will endure forever.3 Today, may we who bear the weight of eternal life meet head-on all of the hardships, evils, and tears of this world. This is the good intention of the Lord. This is the lot that has fallen in our laps. May the Lord fill our cups to overflowing!
Early Rain Urgent Prayer Update #10 (12/12/18)
May the Lord give us love for souls. These law enforcement officers greatly need the gospel of Christ. They have greatly sinned against God. We need to pray for them, for we were once like them.
May the Lord himself speak words of comfort to us, for he has given his life for us. We suffer with those brothers and sisters who suffer as though imprisoned with them. May God make peace like a river flow through our hearts…
Please strengthen your resolve, brothers and sisters. Experience in the midst of every kind of tribulation and danger the filling of the Holy Spirit and the renewal of your lives.
Early Rain Urgent Prayer Update #11 (12/12/18)
Lord, you have given great glory to your servants and children. You have allowed them to suffer with you, and you have made them faithful unto death. Lord Jesus Christ, when you were hung on that tree you were charged with “incitement to subvert the state.”4 Only you can subvert this world that confounds truth and falsehood. The ruler of this world has already been judged.
Your Kingdom has come. Your rule is forever. You forever govern your people with love and truth and give them peace that surpasses all understanding. Subvert us with your truth. Let us proclaim your truth to this nation. For we have no other weapons except the weapons of prayer and the Bible. We have no other hope except your passion and resurrection.
Christ is Lord. Grace is King.
Bear the cross. Keep the faith.
This tells me that some brothers and sisters still attempted to enter the church in spite of the large numbers of police and SWAT team officers blocking their way. And some were not only denied entry, but detained. My guess is that these were most likely the faithful (fearless) older church members
This seems to be a poetic way to say that they were driven off to police stations and detention centers “singing all the way”, praising and worshiping corporately as if they were on their way up to Jerusalem.
This sounds very similar to a line from Wang Yi’s “Declaration of Faithful Disobedience” which was released by the church on December 11, 2019 (at his prior request) 48 hours after his arrest: “On earth, there has only ever been a thousand-year church. There has never been a thousand-year government. There is only eternal faith. There is no eternal [earthly] power.”
This was the official charge given to Wang Yi by his prosecutors. As I once heard Paul Washer say, persecutors are not going to give their victims the blessing of calling them “Lovers of God” or “Preachers of the Gospel”. They are going to find something (anything) else to accuse them of and attempt to shame them. Sort of like what was done to Jesus.