John and Betty Stam were graduates of Moody Bible Institute. They sailed for
China as missionaries during a difficult time for missionaries. (They were
actually married in China, Betty preceding John to the mission field by one
year.) They knew the risks involved. The China Inland Mission was specifically
recruiting laborers to work in dangerous Communist infested areas. But both of
them had been inspired by a poem written after Southern Presbyterian missionary
Jack Vinson was martyred in 1931. Vinson had showed no fear of death to his
Chinese captors, telling them, "Kill me, if you wish. I will go straight to
God." The calmness he showed inspired his colleague E. H. Hamilton to write this
poem:
Afraid? Of What?
To feel the spirit's glad release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of life to cease?
Afraid-of that?
Afraid? Of What?
Afraid to see the Saviour's face,
To hear His welcome, and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid-of that?
Afraid? Of What?
A flash, a crash, a pierced heart;
Darkness, light, O Heaven's art!
A wound of His a counterpart! Afraid-of that?
Afraid? Of What?
To do by death what life could not
Baptize with blood a stony plot,
Till souls shall blossom from the spot?
Afraid-of that?
With courage and faith, John had challenged the graduating class at Moody in
1932:
"Shall we beat a retreat, and turn back from our high calling in Christ Jesus;
or dare we advance at God's command in face of the impossible? Let us remind
ourselves that the Great Commission was never qualified by clauses calling for
advance only if funds were plentiful and no hardship or self-denial involved. On
the contrary, we are told to expect tribulation and even persecution, but with
it victory in Christ."1
The day of reckoning came for John and Betty Stain. (One recent book, obviously
based on John Stain's words to his class at Moody, calls it, "Victory Day for
the Stains." What a concept!) They were captured by Communists (their little
baby, Priscilla, was miraculously spared), then painfully bound, stripped down
to their underwear, and kept under guard for the night. The next morning, they
were paraded down the street while being mocked and ridiculed, after which they
were beheaded-baptizing with blood a stony plot, till souls have blossomed from
that spot. They were not afraid of that!
As word got out about their martyrdom, the impact was dramatic, both in terms of
new missionary volunteers, new student prayer meetings, and large monetary
donations to the work in China. A missionary with the China Inland Mission wrote
to Betty's parents: "A life which had the longest span of years might not have
been able to accomplish one-hundredth of the work for Christ which they have
done in a day." That is the power of martyrdom! Jesus said, "I tell you the
truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24). One short act
of obedience to death gave many others eternal life!
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. 239-241.
1 With permission from James C. and Marti Hefley. By Their Blood: Christian
Martyrs of the Twentieth Century, 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, 1996, p. 57-58.
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