6. A book in the works
- All proceeds for the persecuted
- Why I wrote the book
1. With a hope to inspire others to stand up for justice, especially evangelical Christians who worship the greatest liberator in Human history, Jesus—the Son of God!
2. With the hope that this message reaches China and that those that oppressed find encouragement and comfort that non Chinese stand with them simply because we are all humans.
3. With the hope of that the proceeds of the book would reach those in suffering under the oppressive hand of the Chinese government.
4. With the hope that my posterity would know that “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12.15)
And that “…man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” (Hebrews 9.27) so make the most of this wonderful life that God graciously gives to us.
And that doing His will is the greatest good.
- A sneak peek!
P R E F A C E
I approach this work with mixed emotion of joy and hope deferred.
The Joy of Pleasing Him
The joy I feel is from a noble task and a good conscience in pursuit of that task—A task given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ. A task I would do all over again should Christ call on me to do so.
In the Exodus 8.1 (Hebrew Torah: Shmot 7.26)
“Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
These words still resonate throughout the ages. Freedom is God’s design and God’s intention for human kind. As a Christian I believe all freedom (not meaning license) finds its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ. It is no wonder that He calls us to raise our voice for freedom and justice when we read the words of the Great Prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,” Isaiah 61.1
Jesus echoed these very words and applied them to himself when he states, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4.21.
If Jesus’ ministry is fundamentally about liberation how could I ignore such a noble calling?—and He who calls also empowers. The results are in His hands but I get to share in the joy of allowing Him to work in me.
Hope Deferred (but not dead)
Ironically I also battle with disappointment. For it appears that the cries for freedom have fallen on deaf ears. Have things got any better? What has become to the five prisoners? Has the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights merely collected dust on the desk of some bureaucrat? Has any progress been made?
These are not easy questions to answer when confronted by a state that shrouds itself in secrecy—and they like it that way.
I take some comfort though, in recalling the demise of the Soviet Union which according to most observers was abrupt and unexpected. I encourage myself with the knowledge that I may have contributed to the creeping demise or the gradual metamorphosis of the Chinese government.
E. Perez Romero, a gadfly
Los Angeles, CA, USA 2009
I N T R O D U C T I O N
In August 2008 China hosted the Olympic Games in Beijing. Over that period, a number of human rights demonstrators protested publicly in Beijing before the eyes of the world’s media. Most of them were short lived and the protesters quickly deported back to their own countries. This is the story of a protest by a Christian Pastor that held the media’s attention for the whole period of the Games.
To catch an overview of what happened and why, the following are extracts from the Press Handout at a Press Conference held in Los Angeles on Wednesday 6th August 2008.
What Happened
Two attention-getting events occurred in hotel rooms in two Beijing hotels on the evening of Tuesday August 5th 2008, solely carried out by Pastor E. Perez Romero of Haceinda Christian Fellowship, La Puente California.
In these events, as a culmination of his Exodus8one project, he sought to bring attention to the plight of people of all faiths in China, as well as highlighting the increasing human rights deficiencies in that country.
He did this by creating artistic murals on the walls of the two hotel rooms. He also made 2 effigies to illustrate those who have been effectively silenced by the authorities of the Peoples Republic of China.
He filmed these events and they are now beginning to appear on U-tube and other similar websites, under his title “IamGadfly”
Having completed the project he has left the area and will remain hidden until the completion of the Olympic Games so as not to disrupt them in any way. After the Games he will surrender himself to the authorities.
Reliable sources in Beijing inform us that local media were able to enter these rooms and confirm that this happened, but that shortly afterwards the rooms were completely cleaned of all signs of his work.
Overview of Exodus8one
It is the purpose of exodus8one to move forward the giant wheel of God’s justice for a religiously persecuted people: Christians and all other peoples of faith. By “other peoples of faith” we mean any and all religions that are persecuted by the Peoples Republic of China. Regardless of our confession of faith we share together the same persecution and are thus joined together by suffering. These include but are not limited to Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhism and Islam.
We believe that people ought to be FREE to speak, FREE to listen, FREE to choose and FREE to practice the spiritual path they want to walk. It is our conviction, as Christians, that in a genuinely FREE marketplace of ideas— Our God reigns!
Stated Goals: Ratify & Release
The ultimate goals of exodus8one are requesting the government of the Peoples Republic of China to:
1. RATIFY the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
and
2. RELEASE five key prisoners being held unjustly, as a sign of good will and intent.
PASTOR EDDIE ROMERO
Pastor Eddie Romero has been the pastor of Hacienda Christian Fellowship for over twenty years. He is married and has three adult children. He has degrees in Pastoral Care and also in Theology (Philosophy).
Since 2001, in addition to his role as the Pastor of HCF, he has been an adjunct professor of Philosophy at Mt. San Antonio Community College, Walnut, California where his teaching focus has been on Philosophy, Religion and Ethics. It has been within this framework that Eddie found he had a predisposition towards Justice and International Affairs.
Back in July 13th 2001 when Eddie saw on TV that the IOC had granted the Olympics to China, he felt first a sense of outrage but which was swiftly overcome by a tremendous sense of peace, and in a split second sensed a vision of this project.
In the weeks and months and years since, he tested and checked that initial ‘call’. In those following years he felt the Lord allowed him to check it by the way opportunities opened up again and again with many different people who seemed to add to his understanding and confirm the call.
He is a man of immense integrity which has led to the implementation of this project. Although he has independently created and brought about this project, the church has been aware of his general intent and has been completely behind him. (Further details go to www.HCFintouch.com)
End of Press release extracts
This is Eddie’s story and as someone listening to him recently commented, “It’s a good story!” But it’s not ‘a story’ in the sense that it is made up; it is the account of the struggles and anguishes of one man, what he did in Beijing and the life he led for the next eighteen days before his surrender, his further demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and his eventual deportation back to America.
This, you will see as you read, is not merely a factual account of what happened; it is also an insight into the mind of the man. It is a story of human weakness and frailty which, at one point, nearly gave up. But is it also a story of a remarkable achievement of a man inspired by his God.
It may also be a unique example of the modern use of technology and the communications revolution that opens up anywhere in the world to the eyes of the rest of the world. It is also the story of a team of people back in Los Angeles, some of whom struggled with sleepless nights as they fought to overcome the difficulties of the fifteen hour time difference between Beijing and Los Angeles, fighting to bring the story home and support one man battling the ideology of a super-nation.
That aspect alone would make this a fascinating story, but there is considerably more. As I have watched Eddie telling this story I have seen young people and old with their mouths open as they were held transfixed as the story unfolded. When young people aged eleven can sit and listen to it with rapt attention for an hour and a half, you know you have a good story. I hope you will agree as you read it.
To understand and catch the sense of all that happened, please do go back over this Introduction and reread the extracts. The information from the first Press Conference in Los Angeles above will act as a skeleton on which the body of this story will gradually appear. Enjoy it, be challenged by it, and may it leave you thinking.
Tony Thomas, Rochford, England, 2009
