Struggle and Surrender

Abstract After the Communist victory, other Christian groups began to join the Assembly Hall en masse. At the start of the Korean War, Nee also led the Assembly Hall into demonstrations of support for the new regime. Still, the Chinese Communist Party increased demands for ideological conformity and began mass movements where members of religious organizations denounced one another. Under pressure, Nee discussed his new position on the relationship between Christianity and politics. He now recognized that even spiritual people could harbor political biases. Nevertheless, he and other Assembly Hall leaders were still jailed as part of a larger political movement—Shanghai Catholic leaders were similarly treated. While in prison, Nee’s Normal Christian Life became an international bestseller. Nee himself practiced submission to authority, refusing to recant his Christianity, even when promised freedom, but otherwise obeying prison rules. Before dying, he wrote a short declaration of faith.