Consider the example of Chang Ta Pao, an illiterate Chinese peasant who became a
leader in the Red Guard, the brutal youth army that rose up in response to Mao's
teachings. Chang's story is told by Niu-Niu, a victim of Mao's Cultural
Revolution. She was only a child of four when, in front of her eyes, her parents
were brutally beaten and taken away. Their beautiful house was trashed and their
possessions destroyed. Young Niu-Niu, her sister, Mimi, and their father's
parents were relocated to a vacated hovel in another part of town, where their
grandparents were subjected to humiliating labor and frequent beatings. Their
crime? They had been rich and educated, part of the bourgeois society and
therefore branded as criminals and enemies.
Much of the brutal treatment was dished out by Chang. He was involved in the
attack on Niu-Niu's family, and he was responsible for much of the ongoing
torment endured by her grandparents. Niu-Niu described what happened one day at
a community gathering when she was just five years old. The memories remained
vivid in her mind through the years:
It was a beautiful day. Everyone stood dressed in his or her best, solemnly
waiting for the ceremony to begin. Finally, after a long delay, they all turned
their heads to a man who was slowly mounting the steps to the platform.
"That's Chang Ta Pao," murmured my grandmother. He wore an army cap, a handsome
white shirt, khaki pants, and was holding something wrapped in red paper. Slowly
he approached Mao's portrait and prostrated himself in front of it several times
before he turned to the audience.
"Comrades! Today I am going to do something special to prove that my heart
belongs to Mao. Comrades! Before the Liberation, I was miserable. It's Mao and
the Communist Party that saved me. Yet even then the criminals and capitalists
continued to harass me.... With the Cultural Revolution, Mao saved me for the
second time. All that I have today, Mao gave me. That's why I swear before
Heaven that I will give every drop of my blood for Mao...." Short of breath, he
was unable to continue, his eyes welling with tears. He was really crying! 1
The young revolutionary unwrapped his package, revealing a large pin of Mao;
then he opened his shirt, bared his chest, and, to the shock of the onlooking
crowd, stuck the pin directly into his flesh, resulting in his hospitalization.
What pathetic, misguided devotion! Yet the story doesn't end there.
At a public meeting one day, he proudly announced that out of his love for
Chairman Mao, he had named his newborn son Mao Zedong. This was an utterly
unthinkable act in that culture (it was considered an insult to the honor of an
emperor or supreme leader), and he was immediately denounced and disgraced for
his foolish and ignorant zeal, being branded a criminal and consigned to hard
labor for his "crimes." Now he performed meaningless acts of labor, harnessed
like an animal and harassed like an enemy. And he felt he deserved the
treatment! After all, he had disgraced his beloved Mao. His death was even more
tragic than his life:
Chang Ta Pao died a little while later. Like other gawkers, I went to see his
body in the shack where his family had been "relocated" just as ours had been. I
was still very young and horrified by the spectacle. The dead man was on his
knees, his head on his chest. He had pierced his torso with another medallion of
Mao. A piece of paper on his thigh read, "Forgive me, Mao: "A fragment of his
bloody tongue was sticking to the paper. He had slit his wrists with a kitchen
knife and cut off his guilty tongue." 1
Yes, just as he had pledged, this deluded revolutionary gave his blood for Mao.
Such was his dedication to the cause. And what a perverse, destructive cause it
was! (He also left behind his little baby boy and his young wife, who quickly
lost her mind.) Mao meant everything to Chang Ta Pao. Dare I ask what Jesus
means to us? Dare I ask how important His cause is to us? Can we, in truth and
integrity, give less (not in terms of self-mutilation or self-destruction or
suicidal or violent acts-perish the thought!but in terms of healthy devotion,
joyful sacrifice, and loving service) for the cause of Jesus?
Our society is deteriorating all around us and something is terribly wrong. Why?
It is because we, the people of God, the army of the Lord Jesus, the messengers
of liberation, the ambassadors of reconciliation, we have been sidetracked by
the love of this world and distracted by the cares of this world. We have not
changed this generation; this generation has changed us!
Rather than seasoning the world like salt and brightening the world like light,
we now smell and taste like the world, and its darkness is snuffing out our
lamps. Rather than setting captives free by the power of Jesus' blood, we
ourselves are being ensnared and enslaved, making a mockery of that sacred
blood. Rather than making disciples of sinners and teaching them the ways of
God, we are being discipled by them, learning their ways, imitating their
lifestyles, and conforming to their standards.
Really now, in the last 40 years, whose standards have changed more-those of the
Church or those of the society? Who is looking like whom? A 1997 survey
conducted by George Barna used 152 different items to compare the Church and the
world. He found virtually no difference between the two. We need a revolution!
Excerpt taken from Michael L. Brown's book, entitled Revolution in the Church,
published by Baker Books and available through ICN Ministries
www.icnministries.org , p. 68-71
1. With permission from Niu-Niu,No Tears for Mao: Growing Up in the Cultural
Revolution. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1995), p, 20, 22-23.
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