I Stand With Christ Review.
This is a book review of I Stand With Christ – The Courageous Life of a Chinese Christian by Zhang Rongliang with Eugene Bach. It is published by Whitaker House comprising of 32 chapters and 239 pages.
According to the Back to Jerusalem website:
Zhang Rongliang has been one of the most influential and outspoken house church leaders in the Chinese house church movement. He is the top leader of one of the largest house church networks, with an estimated 10 million members. Throughout the years, he has been a charismatic figure in a largely secretive movement. Because of his boldness, he has given interviews for several books on the growth of Christianity in China and was featured in the “Cross” video, he has been a target of the authorities for many years. He has traveled to the US, Australia and several other nations, attending and speaking at missions conferences. He has worked with several foreign organizations to spread the gospel inside of China. Pastor Zhang has sent many missionaries and evangelist to unreached parts of China and to foreign countries as part of the Back to Jerusalem vision…keep reading
You can also read the 2012 transcript of a brief interview with him at Voice of the Martyrs.
As co-author of I Stand With Christ, Eugene Bach notes, the book is the final result of the collaboration of numerous people coming together to tell Zhang’s important story. It’s notable that so many Chinese Underground Church leaders have endorsed Zhang’s story. I particularly appreciated Brother Yun’s humble words in the Foreword of the book:
Thanks to our God who chooses us. We do not have a thing to boast about. We are full of weaknesses, shortcomings, failures and offenses. Pastor Zhang and I have our weaknesses, but we are serving God before the angels of heaven. It is only because of the blood of Jesus that we are able to play our part. It is our responsibility to witness His faithful message of power and righteousness.
The book is a first-person page-turning, raw warts and all account of Zhang’s life. It begins with his conversion and follows him as he joins the Communist Party becoming a leader under Mao’s regime. What were his thoughts and how did he justify this apparent paradox? I found this fascinating and I suspect many Westerners will too.
Zhang’s fall from grace in the Communist Party’s eyes is a testament to his faith and heavenly mindedness. You cannot serve two masters and he chose the Lord. What follows is heart-wrenching from his perspective, and soul-searching from mine. How would I react to years of beatings and torture, hatred and imprisonment?
This book is the story of someone who lived a sacrificial life and who was willing to give up everything because of his love for Christ. Zhang is someone who often didn’t want to leave prison knowing there were people inside who needed saving. But it isn’t just Zhang’s story – it is also about other faithful Christians who helped him along the way. Christian friends even led his “amazing” yet unsaved wife to faith through their caring for her while he was in prison all those years. I liked that.
Towards the end of the book we find Communist Party oppression easing somewhat, yet taking new forms. The devil never rests – he just changes strategy according to circumstances. Zhang talks about the new challenges of leadership personalities, statements of faith and unification for the Chinese Underground Church. Here, again, he is quick to admit his faults and praise the mediating efforts of Brother Yun and Brother Ren.
This is another one of those important books that all Western Christians should read. It should help shake us out of our apathy.
Purchase Zhang Rongliang’s I Stand With Christ !
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I Stand With Christ: The Courageous Life of a Chinese Christian
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