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| Bob Fu Speaking at the 2020 Saints Peter and Paul Conference (Photo and video: China Aid) |
To help the audience “see” one of the many mean-spirited, torture tactics officers used, Fu reenacted one routine “exercise” prisoners had to practice each morning. He explained that holding both arms straight ahead, palms down while sitting in a chair, prisoners also had to extend their legs out for 8–10 hours. If someone moved and failed to maintain this exhausting, painful position, guards beat him.
In a second-degree, excruciating exercise, known as “bearing the sword,” guards ordered prisoners to hold their hands pointed down with palms together behind their backs. Then the officers demanded that prisoners twist their hands to point upward. At times, the torturers added a chain and attached one… two… or three bricks to make the “exercise” even more harrowing. Sometimes, they would attach a stake between the prisoner’s hands. With prisoners’ hand positioned in front, guards could use this bar to lift the prisoner off his feet and leave him hanging in the air.
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| Fu reenacting “Bearing the Sword” torture exercise. (Photo: China Aid) |
Using a third, even harsher exercise, known as “little chick eating rice,” officers shackled a crouching prisoner’s hands, clasped together in front with palms facing each other, to their ankles. A prisoner had to struggle to balance himself enough to bring food to his mouth with his contorted hands. Fellow inmates often guarded victims during punishment exercises. On one hand, guards promised inmates benefits. On the other hand, officers threatened to punish fellow inmates if they showed mercy to the victim.
Only God can do that.
When we do what we can do, God blesses our efforts. To support persecuted and imprisoned Christians in China as well as encourage other brothers and sisters suffering in our world, we can:
- pray for them,
- write letters to as well as for them, and
- speak up for them.
During this time in the midst of “real” Christian persecution throughout our world, God calls us to listen. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:1).
