At the cusp of the storm, a giant of a generation

Recalling Uncle Wang Mingdao

Editor's note: Mr. Wang Mingdao is a giant in the history of the Chinese church. To understand the first half of his life, you can read his autobiography "Fifty Years"; to understand the second half of his life, you can read "Another Forty Years" written by Wang Changxin; to understand a brief history of his life, you can read this grace article Excellent work written by Brother Yu. I am afraid that only Brother Enyu and Brother Bian Yunbo (the author of "Dedicated to the Unknown Preacher") who have personally experienced Mr. Wang's teachings are still alive in the world. Therefore, this article is also a precious historical material of the Chinese church. May you and I be inspired by Mr. Wang’s faithful service to the Lord and actively participate in the great mission of expanding the kingdom of God and spreading the gospel.

Uncle Wang Wang Mingdao

At the Shijia Hutong Synagogue in Beijing, he did not want people to call him pastor and could only call him sir. Elders or peers called him by his first name, while young people called him uncle or uncle. My father is older than him, so I call him "Uncle Wang" - Mr. Wang Mingdao.

Uncle Wang and my father are close friends. Although they didn't see each other much in the world, spiritually, they were inseparable. Especially during the Anti-Japanese War and the occupation of Japan, they all had the experience of refusing to compromise, adhering to the truth, and fighting bravely against the Japanese enemies and puppets. Therefore, they often exchanged letters, prayed for each other, and encouraged each other during the most difficult period. When he received the news that my father had been killed by the enemy and puppets and was martyred for the Lord, he rushed south overnight, regardless of the distance of thousands of miles, to rush to my hometown to attend and preside over my father's funeral. Before his burial, he preached an important message with the theme "The death of His saints is extremely precious in the eyes of the Lord." The more than 4,000 mourners were greatly inspired.

Uncle Wang went to the church in my hometown of Qingdao many times to lead revival meetings, but the one that impressed me most was the meeting in Beijing. When I was in high school in Beijing and applying for college, I went to Shijia Hutong Synagogue for two days of gatherings almost every Saturday. I ate spiritual food, stayed overnight upstairs in the small synagogue, and went back to school on Sunday night. Thank God, I have many opportunities to hear and hear teachings. I remember that it was the time when the struggle against Uncle Wang's refusal to join the "North China Christian Group" created by the Japanese and puppets was at its most intense. He prayed, meditated, and thought before God. I saw him wearing his nightgown, pacing back and forth between the dining room and the bedroom, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly singing hymns that he personally translated, such as "Please, Lord, lead me away from my errands," and "My Savior leads me all the way." . During the Lord’s Day gatherings, we preached more messages such as “Be strong and courageous” and “Strengthen your hearts.” When the battle was finally won, he was extremely happy, but Aunt Wang Liu Jingwen repeatedly reminded him: "This is not your ability. If the faithful God did not help you, what courage and wisdom would you have?" At the beginning? , Uncle Wang seemed a little disapproving, but then he loudly cheered and praised the faithful God.

Iron Pillar Wins Long Sword

Wang Shu was born in 1900. His father was a minor official in the Qing Dynasty and lived in Dongjiaomin Lane, Beijing. At that time, during the Boxer Rebellion, people who had contact with foreigners were wanted to be killed. His father was timid and hanged himself when he heard the news. Uncle Wang came to the world later, so he never met his father. His mother named him "Tie Zi", also known as "Iron Egg" or "Iron Pillar", for fear that her posthumous son would be lost. Therefore, Uncle Wang believed that he also inherited the timid gene, so he often encouraged himself with the Lord’s words and reminded himself at all times.

I remember once I gave a sermon on the Lord’s Day with the title “This day I have made you a strong city, a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze” (Jeremiah 1:18). I don’t know how many brothers and sisters were moved and inspired. When a Japanese officer armed with a long sword came to him aggressively and ordered him to join the "North China Christian Regiment" under Japanese military control, he bravely refused. When the Japanese army notified him to go for another interview, he packed his clothes and prepared to go to jail. The head of the Japanese secret service couldn't help but give him a thumbs up and praised him for being "very good." Therefore, he no longer forced his church to join the "North China Christian Group". ”. He returned safely to Shijia Hutong Hall and praised God loudly with his brothers and sisters.

Uncle Wang is a man who completely sacrifices himself on the altar and does his best to work for the Lord. He often writes at his desk all day long, or paces back and forth in his room thinking. He publishes "Spiritual Food Quarterly" regularly and on time, and is very hands-on in writing, proofreading, translating, reviewing and publishing. Whenever the quarterly magazine is released, it is extremely busy. We often help sort and bandage it, and he or Mr. Shi Tianmin personally delivers the mail. In that era when people were greedy for the world, pursuing fame and wealth, and the fields of life were deserted everywhere, "Spiritual Food Quarterly" became the food of life for Christians across the country (including overseas Chinese). (The articles are all collected in "Wang Mingdao Library".)

Thousands of mountains and rivers, burning for the Lord

He often went out to preach. When he was away, his colleagues Shi Tianmin and Xu Hongdao were in charge of the podium of the Shijia Hutong Synagogue. Pastor Yang Shaotang also often came to preach. After he came back, he was personally in charge of the pulpit every Sunday, delivering a series of messages that closely followed the times, often becoming a revival meeting lasting more than ten days. One year, revival meetings were held for 18 consecutive days. The synagogue, which could accommodate four to five hundred people, was packed with congregants every day. Everyone listened eagerly to God's words and received great encouragement and help.

I once calculated based on his autobiography that from 1925 to 1948, a period of 23 years, he traveled north and south to 24 provinces across the country, leading meetings in other places for a total of 110 months. In 2,650 days, he preached 5,300 times; During the eight years, he was away from home preaching for more than six months every year. The most frequent year was 1935, when he was away for more than eight months. In 205 days, he preached 410 times. At that time, transportation was backward, there were no airplanes, and there were not even enough railways or roads, so traveling was extremely difficult. Sometimes you have to ride a horse or a donkey, sometimes you have to sit in a sedan chair, or you have to be carried across a river, and more often you have to walk, sweating and sweating for the Lord’s gospel, and being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. In 1936, he presided over a national preacher's retreat in Lushan, Jiangxi Province. He went there sick, with a fever of over 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit and was too weak to get out of bed. But he asked people to carry him into the synagogue, where he preached to the congregation while lying down. He continued to preach for seven days, and finally he was carried down the mountain. His strength and devotion to the Lord became an example to all the Lord’s servants.

Uncle Wang takes the message he preaches very seriously, and often warns himself to be strict with himself, to be lenient towards others, and to "think of others in everything, and seek to glorify the name of the Lord everywhere." He treats biblical truths meticulously, practices them personally, and strictly abides by God's laws. Discourse. When he was young and moved to devote his life to serving the Lord, he recited the Lord's words over and over again. When the Bible talks about the truth of baptism, he discovered that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the Lord Jesus came up from the water himself; when Philip the evangelist baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, Also baptized in water. After repeatedly reading Romans Chapter 6 about the truth of death, burial, and resurrection with the Lord through baptism, he and Shi Tianmin, even though it was the first day of the twelfth lunar month in the cold winter in the north, they broke open the ice in the river and entered the water to receive the baptism. Dip. He said: "We must make our beliefs and lives completely consistent with the truth in the Bible, without subtracting anything or adding anything." He greatly admired Wesley's ability to stick to the truth and dare to break through the shackles of tradition. Returning to the spirit and actions of the Bible; he also praised John the Baptist for being selfless and fearless, adhering to the truth, loyal to God's commission, and daring to rebuke sin. He understood that this was also his mission of the times.

Choose to go to jail

In 1955, he was arrested late one night because he refused to associate with unbelievers and refused to participate in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Because the thing happened suddenly and without any mental preparation, he became weak on his own: thinking that his dearest old mother had no one to take care of him, his soul could not bear the stimulation and pressure, and he was eager to think out and regain his freedom, so he surrendered and admitted that he It was wrong to oppose joining the Three-Self movement, so he and his wife were released.

Although his body was set free, his soul was greatly rebuked by God. At that time, I happened to accompany my mother to Beijing for medical treatment and went to his home at No. 8 Ganyu Hutong to visit him. I remember that we sat at one end of the long table with Aunt Wang and Liu Jingwen, and he sat at the other end. Aunt Wang criticized his mistakes unceremoniously in front of us. He blushed and said nothing, and finally said: "I They care about the old flesh and only think about how to get out early, but they do not pray well and become strong by the Holy Spirit.”

That day my mother gave him some words of encouragement and left. Two months later, I heard that the couple took their clothes to the police station, admitted that what he had said in the past was a lie, and asked to be re-incarcerated. He was sentenced to 20 years of forced labor, and his wife Liu Jingwen was sentenced to 15 years.

I remember that in the autumn of 1979, my brother and sister-in-law came back to China to visit us. At that time, only a few major cities in China allowed overseas tourists to travel. I accompanied them to the relevant departments to apply for entry visas. They told me that I was going to Yangquan, Shanxi. I felt suddenly. My sister-in-law told me in my ear that Uncle Wang was doing a labor camp there and wanted to visit him. At that time, Yangquan was originally a small county that was not included in the open list, but unexpectedly it was approved. They went to the labor camp and asked to see Mr. Wang, but the labor camp refused to agree, saying it was a decision made by superiors. My brother and sister-in-law asked them confidently: "Mr. Wang Mingdao is a world-famous preacher. Thousands of us overseas Christians care about him and pray for him. What law did he break? What is your basis for this?" According to the law, he has been imprisoned in forced labor for more than 20 years? Please tell us so that we can have an explanation to overseas Christians." They agreed to ask Beijing for instructions.

cheated out of jail

In early 1980, Aunt Wang came from Shanghai to our home in Nanjing to visit my mother and stayed there for nearly a month. They had a lot of fellowship and told each other about God’s grace. One day, her son Wang Tianduo suddenly came to my house and said that there was a telegram from the Shanxi Labor Camp, informing his family to pick up his father from prison. So Tianduo went north to Yangquan to pick up his father, and Aunt Wang returned to Shanghai to wait for Uncle Wang to return home for a reunion. We all happily waited for the good news. But a few days later, Aunt Wang wrote to say that because the labor camp refused to explain the crime for which he had been imprisoned for more than 20 years, Uncle Wang was determined not to come out without any explanation, so Tianduo came back alone.

Later, after Uncle Wang was released from prison, I went to Shanghai to visit him. He told me that he had been tricked out of prison. It turned out that Uncle Wang insisted on explaining the reason for his detention and refused to send any more telegrams to ask his family to pick him up. One day, the management of the labor camp ordered him to clean an empty room outside the prison gate. After he cleaned it, the guard refused to let him go back, threw his luggage out of the prison, and told him that the room was his temporary residence. . He knew he had been deceived and lived there with no food stamps to buy food, no heater to keep him warm, and no one to ask questions. Being forced to do nothing, he had no choice but to send a telegram asking his son to come back and take him back to Shanghai. He said: "I have failed and been weak, but the Holy Spirit enlightened me, chastised me, and made me know myself. During the more than 20 years in the labor camp, although there were many temptations and trials, I prevailed by relying on the Lord. In the past, I relied on I was as timid as a mouse, but now I am as bold as a lion in the Lord. Although I have failed, I am Peter, not Judas.”

In August 1989, my wife and I came to the United States together and passed through Shanghai. That day happened to be his birthday. At that time, both he and Aunt Wang were completely blind due to cataracts. The brothers and sisters congratulated him on his 90th birthday, and we also went to the party. After dinner, Aunt Wang played the piano with her eyes closed, and Uncle Wang led us to sing many hymns with his eyes closed, which he personally compiled in "Christian Hymns". Then, with the theme "Be bold and strengthen your hearts," he recounted his experience of God's love and guidance, and used a touching story "Mother's Love" to illustrate God's love for us. Although he is blind, his spiritual eyes are bright, and when he preaches messages, his ideas are still clear, his words are coherent, and he is full of enthusiasm for loving and serving the Lord. Finally, he sang four verses of "Onward Christian Soldiers" solo in English, and ended the unforgettable gathering with sincere prayers.

Imitate Uncle Wang

The above are some of my memories of Mr. Wang Mingdao, a servant of God. Many elderly people of the same generation have now passed away one after another. As far as I know, Bian Yunbo and I are probably the only people who have personally experienced Uncle Wang's teachings still alive. We are all sighing. The beautiful footsteps of God’s servants should really be left behind to become an inspiration and example for future generations. As Paul said: “When you received the faith with the joy of the Holy Spirit in great tribulation, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, so that... you became an example to all those who believe in the Lord.” (Thessalonians) Thessalonians 1:6-7) Today’s young Christians should really understand the deeds of the Lord’s important servants in the past, so that they can be more inspired and cultivated. Brother Bian and I discussed recording some fragments of memories before we met the Lord to provide and supplement some information on the modern history of the Chinese church for future generations. May the Lord bless all members who are willing to follow in the wonderful footsteps of the saints who came before us and fight the good fight.

Author profile Enyu, an old Christian, now lives in the United States.