[While in solitary confinement, in a metal shipping container,] "I had a routine: I would wake and pray, read and study my [smuggled] Bible, then write songs and write to prisoners, then exercise."

"Prison is a living death, and more than that, it is a death of dignity, hopes, and dreams."

[While being interrogated, I said,] 'I am always looking for opportunities to talk about my faith,' I replied, 'and to spread the news about Jesus. I am not ashamed of the gospel, and I will talk to anyone and to everyone. Jesus does not just want me to tell the prisoners about him, He wants me to tell the guards too. Even if the president were to visit the prison, I would tell him about the gospel.' They looked furious, so I continued, 'I am not afraid of you. You can do what you want to my body, you cannot touch my soul. You cannot even kill me unless it is God's will that I should die.'

- H. Berhane with E. Newrick, in Song of the Nightingale.

"Baptism in China has special significance, for it is viewed as the definitive declaration of one's faith.  In a country where some people are persecuted for being Christians -- sometimes by family members, sometimes by government officials -- it is a moment marked with meaning.  It signifies one's willingness to identify with Christ, even in the face of suffering and death."

L. Wesley, "Meditation #36: One Small Step", in "Stories from China: Fried Rice for the Soul"

"Our designation of 'Christian' is of divine appointment, whether it comes from the versatile wit of Antioch or from the reverent respect of the Gentile; to live worthily of the name of Christian is to suffer persecution.  To suffer because of meekness is an exalting, refining and God-glorifying suffering.  And mark this and mark it well -- to 'suffer as a Christian' is a shameful thing in the eyes of the societies of this world."

"To 'suffer as a Christian' is to suffer because there is an essential difference between you and the world which rouses the contempt of the world, and the disgust and hatred of the spirit that is in the world."

--- Oswald Chambers, "Christian Disciplines" ---

"Suffering 'according to the will of God' -- to be in 'the will of God' is not a matter of intellectual discernment, but a state of the heart. To a sanctified soul the will of God is its implicit life, as natural as breathing. ... But a sanctified heart is the expression of the will of God.'"

--- Oswald Chambers, "Christian Disciplines" ---