In the Face of Persecution, What Will I Do? (Part IV)
Pastor Wang Yi Shares His Pre-Arrest Resolutions (11-14)
The original article was first posted on Wang Yi’s personal blog in October 2018. I will be working through these 14 “Resolutions” in five installments both here on the China Call Substack (with less commentary) and on the China Compass Podcast (with more commentary). Please continue to earnestly pray for Wang Yi and the other brothers and sisters in Chengdu.
Begin with Part I, Part II, and Part III if you missed those in previous weeks. You can also read Pastor Wang Yi’s Introduction to these Resolutions.
11. Persist in sharing the gospel
Whether in the police station, detention center, prison, or any other detention facility, I will share the gospel once I am in contact with any person. Secular government and laws have no right to deprive anyone of the opportunity to listen to the gospel, nor do they have the right to deprive a pastor the freedom to preach the gospel to others. Only the gospel of Christ can truly reform a sinner. I will do my utmost in my detention to practice the gospel commission, unless the police torture me brutally to the point of crushing my health and spirit.
— I wish I had had this determination when I was arrested, interrogated, and deported in 2018 (Unbeaten.vip), but my focus was on protecting my teammates to the detriment of any other purpose.
12. Refusal to accept government designated defense lawyer
Only the lawyer appointed by me or my wife can represent me in my administrative or criminal case. Under no circumstances, will I accept a defense lawyer designated by the government.
— This is just common sense. Chinese government defense lawyers are not free to defend their clients in any meaningful sense.
13. Refusal to appear on TV or contact official media
As long as my personal freedom is not restored and I have not met my family and my brothers and sisters, I will not accept interviews and filming arranged by the prison authorities, official media, or any other domestic media; I will not record any video either under police control or anywhere outside the interrogation room to avoid being distorted and edited as my guilty plea on TV, unless the police torture me brutally to the point of crushing my health and spirit.
— Again, this seems like common sense. He doesn’t want to give the authorities any opportunity to “fake” a confession or edit a video in such as a way as to distort his case and actual words/desires.
14. Demand of public trial
If I am prosecuted for matters of faith and the church, I will demand the court for a public trial of my case. If the court does not follow due process and does not hold a public hearing, and does not allow my wife, my family, brothers and sisters, friends, and the media to be present and observe the trial, I will physically disobey such a court hearing. Because a court that has a secret trial is no longer one that the Bible commands me to obey. I will refuse to appear in court and to submit to any command of the judge; I will respond with no speech and no defense to all unlawful trials of the church and faith except for when I share the gospel.
— Very uncooperative is Wang Yi. At least that’s what some would say. But the point remains that as long as he is free enough to respond to their questions and go where he is told, then he is also free enough to refuse to talk and refuse to walk. They will have to physically move him to the courtroom, etc. I am curious to know if he followed through with this final resolution, because I am fairly confident he was NOT granted a public trial as he wished.
Final Petitions of the Prisoner
May the Lord bless me with so much reverent fear for him to the point where I am not afraid of any power that does not fear him.
May the Lord grant me peaceful resistance, positive perseverance and joyful disobedience in all matters of conscience, faith and the church, and in everything that relates to the flesh, and damage to external rights, may he grant me the power of patience and silence.
May the Lord remove the potential in this process to lash out in hate and resentment. May he have mercy on me and support me in my weakness when I am in isolation.
May the Lord help me so that from the day of my detention I will pray every day for all those in power related to my case, as well as officials in the police force, national security, the prosecutor’s office, the court and other government agencies.
May the Lord choose among them repentant and believing children and have mercy on their lowly souls.
May the Lord lead at least one of them to faith through this process, and give my heart great joy and comfort.
I also ask the Lord Jesus to remove the burden and concerns for my wife, family, the church, and everything else during my detention, so that I will entrust everything to the Lord, be faithful only to the Lord, and focus on practicing these fourteen resolutions as my longings for and service to my family, as shepherding and teaching my congregation, and as fulfilling my responsibility to the kingdom of God.