Paul Wei

Paul Wei (魏保羅 Pinyin: Wèi Bǎoluó, 1877–1919), previously known as Wèi Ēnbō (魏恩波), was born in Hebei province, China. He was a farmer from a poor family background and had very little education. In 1902 he migrated to Beijing where he later became a prosperous silk and merchandise dealer.

By his own accounts, he was previously a "quarrelsome man" with a bad temper. Once, he ended up in a street fight and was rescued by a member of the London Missionary Society (LMS) congregation in China. He then joined the LMS church in Ciqikou, Beijing (磁器口). In 1912, he was plagued with a lingering illness and left the congregation. Later on, after researching the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he became one of their members.

In 1916, he fell seriously ill with tuberculosis, none of the doctors' prescribed medicines were able to cure him. During that autumn, Paul encountered an Elder from the Apostolic Faith Mission named Xin Shengmin (新聖民) laid hands on him, his dreadful illness was miraculously cured and so he became a member of their church. All thus must have taken place between about 1912 and 1916. A good guess is in the fall of 1916. Under the guidance of Berntsen (an American missionary), Paul's feet were washed and he was deeply moved. These events made a deep impression on him later in life.

One day while he was praying at a church in Beijing, Paul received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and started experiencing glossolalia.

By his own detailed account, in March 1917, he claimed that he heard the voice of God speaking clearly to him, directing him to receive the same kind of baptism Jesus had received, which was a "face-down" baptism by immersion. Then he claimed to received further direct revelations, along with the direct sightings of Moses, Elijah, and others, calling him to be a warrior for the True God, to defeat satan and his forces, and to "correct" (更正) the mistaken path of all the world's churches. Militant terms of warfare run through Wei's description of his commission.

He received the power to undertake these tasks after a thirty-nine day fast, which he was also told to carry out. He took the name Paul, as well. There is no claim in his own later account, written in early 1919, of his receiving at this point (1917) a revelation on Sabbath worship By May 1917 Paul Wei was preaching his new doctrines in and around Beijing, with stress on the power of the Holy Spirit, miracles, the imminent return of Christ, and the need for the correct (i.e. face-down) water baptism. His target was the Christian churches.

He went directly to the churches at worship times, challenged the pastors by calling them false teachers of false churches, and called on the parishioners to join him. Some did, but at the same time Wei was variously vilified, chased away, beaten, cursed, and twice even jailed. When undergoing abuse, he would publicly pray for his critics - although when in jail he had the wits to claim his rights under the freedom of worship clause of the new constitution. He did not use the name True Jesus Church, but the "Universal Correction Church" (更正萬國教). Thus we see here a dramatic call by a prophet-like Wei, himself directly commissioned by God, to purify and restore to pristine truth all of China's Christian churches. The rough estimate of the number of Paul Wei's followers before 1918 is probably fewer than two hundred.

During 1918, the movement took more precise doctrinal shape. The key place was Tianjin, where Paul Wei first met Zhang Lingsheng of Weixian, Shandong, who was already a Pentecostal of many years' standing. They seemed to have hit it off well together and thwe two of them apparently put together the doctrinal foundations of a new church. The name of the church became the two former church names combined, the "Universal Correction Church of the True Jesus Church" (萬國更正教真耶穌教會), soon shortened to the latter, or True Jesus Church (Traditional Chinese: 真 耶 穌 教 會). Paul wei's strategy of evangelism was challenging the mission churches. Several articles in the first few issues of the "Universal Correction Church newspaper" directly attacked foreign-run churches, and foreign pastors, as "big sinners" or "big deceivers," headed for Hell if they did not repent and recognize the 'truth'. One article, entitled "The Cry of the Angel of the East" specifically said that the bloodletting of World War I in Europe showed that European Christianity was on the wrong track

On May 18, 1918, Paul went to the Apostolic Faith Mission and visited pastor Berntsen. He described to him the revelations he claimed to have received from the Holy Spirit and tried unsuccessfully to persuade Berntsen to accept the 'proper' baptism with head facing downwards. On May 30 Paul successfully convinced Wang Deshun (王德顺) - the former London Missionary Society member who had led Paul Wei to join the LMS - and he became a member of the TJC after receiving baptism. The two of them later became very good co-workers. By June 23, three churches had been established in Northern China. On November 20, Paul wrote a letter to the Director of the Police Office Bureau for the registration of the name "True Jesus Church".