Chapters Five through Nine Summary and Analysis

Yun continues to work with the church and is arrested at age seventeen for his role in spreading the gospel. His father dies in 1977 and Yun feels the loss deeply. In 1978, believers are baptized by cutting holes in the frozen river in the middle of the night when police aren't likely to be patrolling. Then leaders from several religions are invited to participate in a summit for the Three-Self Church, which some believe is a step toward religious freedom, but Yun sees it as a way for the government to control believers while promoting specific political causes.

Yun describes recurring persecution. On one occasion he is in a meeting with one hundred-twenty other people but grows tired and goes into the cornfield to sleep. He's found but isn't arrested because the authorities can't prove he'd...