This is a must-read.

In the first half of the book, Nik tells his story of working with a huge relief effort in Somaliland, and shares many heart-wrenching stories of the people who survived the horrors there.  He comes away from that experience with an overwhelming need to heal from his own personal tragedy of the loss of a son, and also to heal from seeing all that human suffering, and not seeing people come to faith in Christ.  He agonizes at his own limitations in sharing the truth of Jesus, and at his doubts that Jesus is enough in the worst situations of life.

As I read this first half of the book, I almost put the book down and decided not to finish it.  The stories were real and painful, but there was no talk of sharing Christ, or seeing people come to faith, and I wondered if the book was going to be worth the read.

So if you pick up this book, and have that same thought in the first half, the best advice I can give you is to KEEP READING!!!

In the second half of the book Nik is back home in the states, and takes on the project of interviewing, all over the globe, Christians who have gone through intense persecution for their faith.   He is seeking answers – Why were you willing to go through persecution?  How did you do it?  What did you learn?  How do you avoid persecution? Was it worth it?

The stories are true –  from Russia, to China, to the 10-40 Muslim window, people tell their stories of being in love with Jesus, and unwilling to step back from their faith in Him, no matter what the cost.

If you live in America, you will be beat up by the time you finish this book.   You will ask yourself whether or not you are ready to live your life flat-out for “The Insanity of God”.

Watchman Nee died in the summer of 1972, after spending 20 years in Chinese prisons for his faith.  In that same summer, the summer of 1972, I was pregnant with my 3rd child, and Ken and I were struggling to plant a church in Morris, Illinois.  I knew nothing then of Watchman Nee.  But now, having read his life story, I am privileged to understand that, in some very small way, I am a co-worker with him, and I am looking forward to sitting down comfortably with him someday soon – and talking of the wonders of Jesus Christ and the privilege of serving Him.

This book today is out of print, first published in 1978.  I had read bits and pieces of it over the years – I’m not sure when I bought it – but I never actually sat down and read the whole thing until just this last couple of weeks.  I can’t tell you what it has done to my joy and confidence in the Lord.  The timing has been perfect for me because of the increasing evidence in our city, our country and in our world that persecution for Christians is just around the corner.

Watchman Nee was a preacher, a Bible-teacher, a Christian leader, a Pastor, a church-planter – a simple Chinese man with an all-consuming desire to serve Jesus Christ with his whole life.

At the end of his life, in a Chinese prison, he knew a very sweet truth:  “He was not, after all, in the hands of unscrupulous men, but of God….At some point, early in his life, Watchman had learned the lesson of “brokenness” whereby the Christian, being once touched by God as to his own strength, and permanently crippled there, (as was Jacob at Jabbok), discovers in that experience the ever new strength of God.  When he is weak, then, in God he is strong.”   – Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide, p 298.