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Pastor Wang Yi led a morning prayer meeting before police arrested him.
(Photo: Early Rain Covenant Church)
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(Chengdu, Sichuan Province—01 September 2021) On August 29, Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) shared two poems on their Church’s telegram channel that Pastor Wang Yi wrote while in detention, awaiting the court’s verdict. He wrote the poem “To my Wife” on December 26, 2019, the birthday of his wife Jiang Rong, to express how he felt, how much he missed his wife.
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Wang Yi, his wife Jiang Rong, and their son Wang Shuya.
(Photo: Early Rain Covenant Church)
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An elder of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church who analyzed Pastor Wang’s poems said:
We can tell from the poems that the government officials deceived Pastor Wang. They made him believe his wife was still living safely and freely at their home. In reality, CCP authorities also arrested his wife Jiang Rong, and put her under 6-month house arrest. After that, they released her on bail, pending trial for one year. After the bail period, authorities placed her under strict monitoring. Even today, Mrs. Jiang has no freedom. Officials do not allow her to have any connection with Brothers and Sisters of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church.
After the CCP’s December 9, 2018, Church crackdown, authorities did not allow Pastor Wang Yi’s wife Jiang Rong, nor his son Wang Shuya, nor his parents to communicate with Brothers and Sisters of Chengdu ERCC. Each time national security agents found out Pastor Wang or his family contacted fellow Brothers and Sisters, CCP officials threatened them and implemented stricter controls. Although CCP authorities released Pastor Wag Yi’s parents from the 24-hour monitoring several months ago, they have kept Mrs. Jiang under 24-hour monitoring.
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Pastor Wang Yi with his parents before police arrested him.
(Photo: Early Rain Covenant Church)
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Most days in Spring, Summer, and Fall in Chengdu, sunset usually occurs at 8 pm. Before Pastor Wang Yi’s arrest, he and his wife promised to pray together as a family at 8 pm every day.
Holding our hands and looking at each other with love.
I hold your hands and look at you with tears in my eyes. Whatever happens, our love in Christ remains solid.
But it will be years before I meet with you again at the aspen and willow trees lined shoreside.
When Pastor Wang wrote the poem, although he did not yet know how long his sentence would be, he knew it would be years. He used beautiful “aspen and willow tree lined shoreside” to contrast the sadness of lovers forced to separate from each other.
The Bible reader by the “ten-thousand-mile” bridge.
Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong lived in Guojiahuating Community, near a bridge called “ten-thousand-mile” bridge. To the Bible reader by the “ten-thousand-mile,” his wife, Pastor Wang encourages, “When I’m not at home, keep reading the Bible and strengthening your faith. Only God is your comfort.”
Ask Jesus, “What is love?” He decided to give his life to the people He loves
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
No good definition for the love on earth exists, because the love on earth ends when life ends. Jesus’s eternal love, however, reveals true love. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He decided to die for the people He loves. That true love serves as the prototype of all love on earth.
Who will bring the Good News to the Garden of Jushuang?
Pastor Wang used the Garden of Jushuang, a small garden near Guojiahuating Community, to indicate Jiang Rong’s residence. Who will share the Good News with her? Who will bring her comfort?
I do not believe that mandarin ducks’ love lasts forever.
People use mandarin ducks to depict beautiful romantic love because people believe mandarin ducks stay together their whole lives, and remain faithful to each other. Nevertheless, even if mandarin ducks stay together all their lives, sin still binds them, and their love ends at the end of their lives.
Only the love in Christ comes with freedom. Even if we will not be able to be with each other, we can still think of each other and be in love with each other. Our love lasts forever on earth and in heaven. No one can take it away.
Pastor Wang Yi’s poem, “Missing my Parents,” also expresses his heart’s feelings.
Missing my Parents
~ December 28, 2019
I saw my father and mother in my dream,
But when I awakened, I had forgotten my dream.
I pray that the Holy Spirit breathes the breath of life into my parents,
When they wipe their tears when walking beside the sea of glass.
According to the ERCC elder, in Pastor Wang’s poem, “Missing my Parents,” he expresses his deepest wish, that his parents will accept Jesus as their Savior, and one day reunite with him in Heaven. He desires to see God wipe away his parents’ tears in front of His throne.
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Pastor Wang Yi’s parents.
(Photo: ChinaAid resource)
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Pastor Wang Yi and Wang Shuya, his son.
(Photo: ChinaAid resource)
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Since police arrested Pastor Wang on December 9, 2018, as officers blocked information about him, the outside world knows little about his situation in prison. Two years and eight months have passed, but only one photo, three poems, and words he shared on January 9, 2020, have been released. Pastor Wang’s words:
If someone attacks me, I will be meek as a lamb. But if someone attacks the Church, I will be brave as a lion. I remain silent if something happens out of God’s will. I have criticized the authorities before. It was not out of hatred, but out of love. When I make comments on authorities, nobody believes there is no hatred. But when I was arrested, I submitted myself to the authorities. That’s when people knew it was true, that I criticized the authorities out of love.
ChinaAid Media Team
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