Fresh Start Devotionals

Faithfulness Pastor Mark (Yu Chao) watched his father die for his faith during China’s Cultural Revolution. The Red Guard arrested his father for preaching the gospel and beat him within an inch of his life. The guards made Mark and his son watch as they tortured him, breaking several of his bones, and covering him in his own blood. At a cemetery, they had a mock trial where they accused Mark’s Dad of being an “enemy of the state,” but gave him the opportunity to live if he would recant his faith. “We offer you this precious chance for life,” they said. “Choose wisely.” Mark’s father responded, “You can cut my head off and you can spill my blood, but I will never forsake Jesus Christ! He has been faithful to me and has blessed me for many years and nothing you do can ever make me renounce my loving Friend and Savior!” The guards rushed him and beat him to death to the dismay of the crowd. Looking back on the event, Mark said, “Because of the example of my father, who was willing to endure to the very end, great fruit has resulted. In Shandong province today I, his son, still follow Christ, as do my own son and my grandson. Three generations have followed the Lord, and we hope many more generations to come will, also!” Joshua 24:15 NIV “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).