Fierce the Conflict

Norman Cliff has written a fascinating book on persecution of Christians in China titled, Fierce the Conflict. In one chapter that deals with the famous Watchman Nee, Cliff recounts how Nee in 1950 returned to China from the safety of Hong Kong for he believed that God wanted him back in the country to preach and witness.

"Nee was aware that he, together with many other Christians, would soon be suffering for their faith. And so he wrote a hymn based on Galatians 6:17 (I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ) in which Christ is saying":

Why have you no marks?
I was persecuted and hung alone on the Tree,
Surrounded with coldness, cruelty and pride.
I was hurt by rod, spear and nails,
Why have you no marks?

Two years later Nee was arrested, sentenced and imprisoned for fifteen years.

We believers in comfortable places like Canada and the USA for the most part have very few marks, indeed most have none at all. Just maybe the absence of marks is proof of a lack of bold witness...just maybe the lack of bold witness is why there is so little growth in His church? Where do marks come from? What do they look like? Should part of our praying be directed to the acquisiton of some marks?

Royal