Grace Jin Drexel

Praying for the Criminal Cases Against China’s House Churches “Arise, O God, plead your own cause; remember how the foolish man reviles you all day long.” (Psalm 74:22) 1/2 It is hard to read Psalm 74 without thinking of the criminal cases facing China’s house churches today. The psalmist sees the sanctuary destroyed, the enemy acting freely in God’s dwelling place, and God’s people put to shame. He does not treat all this as merely human misfortune, nor does he pray only for his own deliverance from suffering. He cries out to God because what has been trampled is not only human dignity but also the name of God. Psalm 74 is a prayer offered from among the ruins. Again and again the psalmist asks: O God, why have you cast us off? How long will the enemy revile your name? They have destroyed the places of worship and burned the sanctuary, as if God had lost his power and could no longer save. Yet the psalmist does not conclude that God has failed. He turns to God’s works of old and remembers the Lord who created heaven and earth and rules over all things. The present reality may seem dark, but God’s sovereignty has not vanished because of it. Today, as pastors, preachers, believers, and co-workers in China’s house churches face criminal prosecution for gathering, giving, evangelizing, and other church activities, we too need to think again: what is truly at stake in these cases? When ordinary religious life is placed under criminal charges, when churches are accused of fraud, illegal business operations, or other crimes, and when pastors and believers must explain their faith under the pressure of interrogation, detention, and trial, we cannot regard this simply as the personal experience of a few individuals. If the God people worship, the faith they hold, and the worship they offer according to conscience are treated as grounds for criminal guilt, then what is being challenged is not only the believers’ freedom but also God’s sovereignty in the human heart. Of course, prayer does not mean refusing to face the facts, nor does it mean that cases involving churches need no examination of their specific circumstances. What we pray for is that faith not be arbitrarily stigmatized, that criminal charges not be used to suppress normal worship, and that human conscience not be forced to surrender its ultimate loyalty to power. Every accusation should be able to withstand the test of facts, evidence, and justice. The most striking part of Psalm 74 is the psalmist’s final plea: “Arise, O God, plead your own cause.” He does not ask to become the final judge himself, nor does he claim he can overturn everything by his own strength. He brings God’s name, the plight of the suffering people, and the enemy’s reviling together before God. What does this mean for the house churches today? We pray for those who are detained, for the pastors and co-workers who have lost their freedom, for the families living under pressure, and for the defense lawyers doing their utmost to protect the rights of the accused. But our prayers should not stop at asking God to grant someone an early release. Even more, we ask God himself to reveal the truth, so that distorted facts may be set right, unjust accusations may be scrutinized, and voices silenced by fear may be able to speak again. We also ask God to keep the church from turning on itself in suspicion because of outside pressure, from rushing to condemn someone simply because they have been accused, and from forgetting the foundation of the faith when pastors are humiliated. Human weakness must be faced honestly, but human weakness cannot become an excuse for trampling justice. Believers need to encourage one another, but they must not let fear replace love and truth. Lord, arise and plead the cause of your own name.