Prince's Resurrection

The path of grace from drug dealer to preacher

Part 1 The Abyss of Drug Dealers

I grew up in a traditional but violent family. As the eldest grandson, and with a lot of cleverness as a child, we shoulder the responsibility of our generation to "win face" for the family and the elders. When I was only fifteen years old, I started to embarrass many elders; a third-year junior high school student Within two months, he voluntarily left school and became a middle school dropout.

When I was a child, I had a wish to be a hero. At that time, I thought that becoming the "boss" would fulfill my "heroic" dream.

Fall accelerated

From then on, I went out hoping that people would know that I was a gangster brother, and that was what I wore, said, acted, and got tattoos for. At the age of sixteen, he worked as a tapper and an errand boy in a casino. Not long after, he was charged with assault for murder and spent his seventeenth birthday in a juvenile detention center. Being imprisoned for committing such a crime, I thought that my wings in the underworld were hardened and I could fly far. In fact, that was the beginning of the accelerated degeneration of my dark life.

At the age of nineteen, he learned how to sell drugs before he could take them, and then fell into the trap of drug addiction. Once drug addiction breaks out, there is no principle or humanity at all in how one behaves and behaves. Any principle is like a domino effect, falling all the way. Looking back on those miserable years, even I feel ashamed and can only describe it as "heavy sin".

self-destruction cliff

One day, I suddenly realized that my life was like a walking corpse, dressed like a beast. I struggled in pain, but just like the famous saying describing human nature in Romans 7:18:"It's up to me to decide to do good, but it's not up to me to do it."; I know what is good, but I still pick on the bad.

I was only in my early twenties and was in the army. I thought life was meaningless. In fact, I hated and was afraid of committing suicide, but from then on, the idea of "self-destruction" took over my mind. Soon, I broke four glass windows in the company commander's room with my hands and banged my head against the glass window in the army. There are large pieces of glass in the training unit; it seems that whenever I can't think of something, I will get into conflicts with others, and even turn into serious violence; except for a few fights and troubles, the more serious one is in a closed room in the military, leading more than 20 people A group of soldiers who violated regulations went on a hunger strike and started a riot...

Behind every incident, strictly speaking, it is related to drug abuse. I tried hard to quit drugs, but I couldn't get rid of the shackles of drug addiction. I tried again and again, and I changed again and again. I spent every day in a state of confusion, so I laughed at myself: Other people's success comes from "having a long-term ambition", but I did it for Drug addiction is repeated and failed, but "always determined".

Sin vortex

Many relatives, friends, and elders who cared about me tried hard to persuade me, but they were indifferent. The silent tears of my mother and girlfriend could not influence me. I still stubbornly believed that I could be "excellent" in the underworld.

Being able to successfully retire from the military surprised many people. I was forced to give up my drug addiction because I was in solitary confinement for a long time. I thought that after getting rid of my drug addiction, I would be able to "spread my wings as an eagle" in the underworld and have a "promising future". When I was discharged from the army, I first went to the south and followed the underworld boss. Next to me, I shuttle between black and white, and my days are always spent in corruption.

He soon returned to a gang in the north, dealing with some drug dealer friends, embracing drugs, and injecting morphine. Less than a year after leaving the army, he was arrested and imprisoned for drug abuse and robbery (later charged with "damage"), and it was at this time that he was hung up He got labeled as a "smoking and drug offender" and started his second sentence in prison.

Even though I was in prison, I still had frequent accidents. I was immediately sent to a violation room in both prisons. During my more than two years and four months in prison, the prison chief always regarded me as a troublesome person...

▲On December 18, 1990, Chen Zhengxiu (front row, second from right) took a photo with inmates and Pastor Huang Mingzhen (front row, first from left) at the Taipei Detention Center before being baptized in shackles.

Part 2 The Resurrection of the Prince

During this period, I had the opportunity to come into contact with the gospel of Christ. Someone came to care about me and became a Christian just like me now. Although I didn't deliberately reject them in action, I regarded them as "junk" in my heart. Until one day a pastor said something:

"You should be able to see that I have real peace and joy. I have been here for more than ten years and I can't even pretend it. Do you want to know why I have peace and joy? It's because I have love in my heart! This Love comes from heaven, and this love is Jesus Christ..."

These words caused a ripple in my dead lake heart.

See life before death

After I was released from prison, I couldn't live without the temptation of fame and fortune, so I accepted the illegal job that my friends arranged for me before I was released from prison, joined an underground bank (loan shark company), and became a small shareholder; my life became more and more extravagant and emptier. With nothing to rely on in my mind, I felt a strong sense of emptiness, which made me choose the familiar morphine to anesthetize myself and escape reality.

Several times, I cried secretly after injecting drugs. I could not face the self-blame of my conscience after I woke up. I felt that my life was so miserable, so I had the idea of over-injection. I was "rescued" and woken up by a friend after being in coma for a few hours. Although my body was saved, it could not save my tired and sad mind.

It had only been a year and a half since I was released from prison, and I was on the train to prison due to several concurrent cases. This was the third time I was sentenced to prison. I was twenty-five years old that year. Not long after I entered the detention center, a syringe was found in the cell (my urine also tested positive for drug reactions). As a result, a "case within a case" broke out and I was sentenced to an additional three years in prison. Imprisonment and shackles for more than six months. When I was sent to a solitary cell with serious violations of the rules, I lay on the cold floor. I regretted it so much that I thought my life was ruined and I would never be able to turn around again. I tried to end my life several times.

However, after I violated the rules and was assigned a new unit, a miracle happened. I didn’t even dare to think that Director General Huang Mingzhen, who I had corresponded with before, appeared in front of me again to talk to me. The next week he took out a letter he wrote to me two years ago. It was a letter written because of me. He actually kept the letter that was returned after he was released from prison for nearly two years! I was so moved that I began to attend the gospel meetings he led at the Taipei Detention Center.

▲ Chen Zhengxiu had a profound understanding at the sacred moment of his baptism: "I have been crucified with Christ, and now it is no longer me who lives, but Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:20)

Reborn in shackles

At first, I couldn't believe it at all. Firstly, I thought that "Jesus" was a foreigner's belief. Secondly, I thought that He probably wouldn't save a sinful person like me, so I was naturally repulsed. However, I still envy that their lives are so different from mine—they have inner peace, are so joyful, so real, and even full of eternal hope for life. Slowly, I went from rejection to doubt, and from doubt to deep thought.

On December 18, 1990, I was baptized as a Christian in Taipei Detention Center with my feet shackled. After I believed in the Lord, I was in prison:

． I have been reading the Bible for a year and a half and still don’t understand it well (I may be stupid, but God loves me).
． Break away from the gang and dine alone.
． No longer take the initiative to write letters to relatives and friends seeking financial assistance.
． He plucked up the courage to lay hands on his fellow prisoners and pray, but was scolded by the Three-Character Sutra.
． My friend in prison avoided seeing me (for fear that I would preach the gospel to him).
． I wrote a lot of correspondence courses and daily spiritual food classes (although I didn’t know much about the truth).
． I transferred to another class and completed my junior high school supplementary schoolwork.
． I brought many classmates to the gospel gathering.
． All the letters to my father were thrown away and torn up (but I continued to write them).
． Losing freedom brings more time for reflection and reading.
． I encountered challenges, but learned more about how to behave in the world.

Because I have lived in the underworld and prison for a long time, my character has been distorted and my personality is very complicated, but God used His word to reshape me. When God helped me move from complexity back to "simplicity," He still retained the sensitivity and observation that he had given me in the past, allowing me to enjoy more spiritual freedom and satisfaction than others in this unfree place.

One day, I read an article sent by a church friend. It was a sermon by the dean of a certain seminary. The title was: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." After reading it, a strong thought arose in my mind:

"Lord, can a person as bad and stupid as me be your worker...?"

▲The transformation from drug dealer to preacher is the mercy and grace given to Chen Zhengxiu by God. The picture shows his graduation photo from Daosheng Theological Seminary in Taipei.

Prince of God, Soldier of Christ

October 27, 1994 was the day I was released from prison for the third time. This time I served a total of more than four years and five months. On the day I was released from prison, I said goodbye to my superiors and friends one by one. Usually people who are released from prison do not say "goodbye", but I have a simple belief in my heart, that is, I firmly believe that one day I will bring God's love and blessings with me. , and then return to prison to preach the gospel of God! After I was released from prison:

● On October 28, 1994, the day after he was released from prison, he went to find a church (Kaohsiung Fuchang Presbyterian Church) on his own.
● From November 1994 to April 1995, he worked odd jobs at the construction site and guarded the workhouse (actively participated in various church gatherings).
● From March to September 1995, I attended classes and received training at the "Discipleship Training School" of the International Youth Mission.
● From September 1995 to June 1997, he served as a teaching assistant after attending the "Bible Study School" of the Youth Mission Group.
● On June 28, 1997, he and Sister Liu Xueni held a wedding thanksgiving service at Linsen South Road Chapel.
● In September 1997, he was admitted to Taipei Daosheng Theological Seminary with a high school equivalent degree.
● Graduated from the seminary in June 2001 with a bachelor's degree.
● Officially became a preacher of the church in July 2001 (serving the Christian Lanya Chapel in Taipei).
● In May 2004, he was awarded the Yoshimitsu Award for "Outstanding Rehabilitated Person".
● In September 2004, he was officially sent as a missionary to Hualien by the Christian Local Church. At that time, he served as:
*Preaching in the Hualien Detention Center.
＊The pastor of the Rehabilitation Fellowship Faith Hope Love Youth Academy.
*Lecturer at the Rehabilitation Theological Seminary affiliated with the Rehabilitation Fellowship.
● Since September 2006, he has devoted himself full-time to the ministry of three prisons in Hualien County.

It has been almost seventeen years since I was baptized and received God’s forgiveness and salvation, and obtained the status of God’s prince. Looking back, I am still filled with gratitude for this. After I was released from prison, I did not return to the underworld. Of course, I never took drugs or committed crimes. I also gave up many bad habits such as smoking, drinking, and gambling. Especially in the past few years, I have returned to different prisons many times (including the places where I served my sentence in the past), and I have also given lectures in many schools, military units and other places. The topics of my lectures are often "Robbers Become Preachers" and "No Drugs, Love" , "Broken Sweet", etc.

If it were not for the power of God, how could this "Resurrection of the Prince" come true? !

——————————
Laihong in prison

Recently, I often receive letters of thanks from prisons. The person who wrote the following letter was in prison in his early twenties (I was serving time in the same workshop as me, and I introduced him to the faith). Less than a year and a half after he was released from prison, he was convicted of drug trafficking. He was sentenced to prison for taking drugs and is now an "old" prisoner in his thirties. Because his sentence was very long, he completed high school supplementary schooling in prison, got in touch with his faith again, and just applied for the joint admissions examination of the university, which he successfully passed. After I forwarded a meager "love fund", he wrote this letter:

Brother Zhengxiu:

I received the money order from you that day, and I didn’t know what happened until I read the letter.

I was touched by the concern and encouragement from the brothers and sisters, but I knew the meaning behind it even more. Because they lived in the love of the Lord, they were willing to care for others selflessly. Frankly speaking, I am not as pious as others can vouch for. My faith still needs to be accumulated a little bit, and the actions of brothers and sisters are a good testimony to me. That intention has nothing to do with the number. Please thank them for me.

I wonder if you have seen the movie "Spread the Love". It is a very thought-provoking and good movie. A helps B, and hopes that B can help C, D, and E wherever he can, and then C, D, and E will each help three more people, and so on. In the end, society will become more peaceful. What I want to say is that when I feel the care of brothers and sisters, I become more willing to care for others. This is a virtuous circle.

When I was writing my weekly diary that day, I wrote in the learning experience column with enlightenment:

“Although I cannot determine the length of life, I can determine the depth and breadth;

Although I can't control the weather, I can change my mood;

Although I cannot predict tomorrow, I can make the best use of today;

Although I can't succeed in everything, I can try my best in everything. "

On this tortuous road of life, I have been stumbling along the way. I only realized this when I was thirty years old. It may be a little late in the eyes of others, but I am lucky - it is better late than never.

Sincerely, my brother Zheming