"Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels," Wang Yi, pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, wrote. "Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ."
The pastor was whisked away by authorities last weekend along with approximately 100 members of the underground church.
Sensing an arrest was coming, he penned a letter --- it's entitled "My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience" ---with instructions to publish it if he was detained more than 48 hours.
"I am filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime," he wrote. "(But) I am joyfully willing to submit myself to their enforcement of the law as though submitting to the discipline and training of the Lord."
Dr. Richard Land of Southern Evangelical Seminary says one word comes to mind when he reads the letter: humility.
"I would hope," observes Land, "that I would have the faith to respond as he has responded if I were faced with the government cultural monolith that he's faced with in China."
China, a totalitarian state run by the Communist Party, is infamous for cracking down on Christianity, which it views as a rival to nationalist loyalty.
The pastor's letter makes it clear that is the case.
"In China," says Land, "there's only one reason to be a Christian: that's because you've had a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ and He's transformed your life."