1900 - Wang Zhishen

June 1900

Wang Zhishen

Beijing

Wang Zhishen was a senior student at Beijing’s Methodist University when the new century arrived. One of the best students in his class, he was polite, courteous, and always seemed to have a clear sense of direction. Wang had become a committed Christian a few months earlier when the Holy Spirit convicted him at a revival meeting. After some of his friends found Wang was a Christian they ridiculed him, but he was unperturbed. God had touched his life so deeply that he could not be swayed by their opposition.

Just a few days before the outbreak of Boxer violence the term ended and Wang returned the 200 miles (324 km) to his home. His friends warned him to go into hiding, but he would not desert his family. He was captured by the Boxers,

“…and offered the choice of recantation or death. To make it easier for him to deny his Master it was proposed by the village elders that some of his friends be allowed to worship the idols in his stead, in which case they could secure his release. ‘No,’ said he; ‘I will neither burn incense to idols myself nor allow any one to do it for me; not to mention the fact that it would be denying my Lord, I should never dare to look my teachers in the face again.”[I]

Wang’s persecutors stood there stunned, not knowing what to do next. Wang Zhishen began to exhort them to repent of their sins and accept Christ before a fate worse than death overtook them. The Boxers commanded him to be quiet, but he refused. To silence him, “they finally cut off his lips, then his tongue, and then cut him up limb from limb till he expired. Perhaps no case of greater bravery and greater suffering is known.”[II]

Wang Zhishen had only followed Christ a short time, yet his courageous witness impacted many lives.