1943 - No Ga & Chepell

1943

Huangyuan, Qinghai

No Ga.

One of the more intrepid and fearless Christians to ever walk on China’s soil was the Assemblies of God missionary Victor Plymire. Through decades of danger the American toiled away in one of the most remote corners of the earth, faithfully proclaiming the gospel to Tibetan nomads from his base at Tangar (now Huangyuan) in Qinghai Province. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he buried his wife Grace and little son John on a lonely mountain after they both suddenly died from smallpox in 1927. Inwardly devastated, Plymire refused to bow to the devil’s attacks and continued to obey the call that God had placed on his life.

One of Plymire’s earliest Tibetan converts was a young man named No Ga, who had accompanied Plymire on one of his trans-Tibet evangelistic expeditions, where dozens of yaks laden down with thousands of Tibetan gospel booklets made their way across vast, sparsely-populated regions. So zealous was Plymire to see Christ known to his beloved Tibetans that on more than one occasion he released ‘gospel yaks’ into the wilderness in the hope Tibetans would capture the beasts and read the gospel booklets stuffed in their side bags.

No Ga said he first believed in God because of the strange and unusual incidents that transpired during the long trek. He

“recounted time after time when he sensed that God had intervened and averted disaster. To him this was a clear indication that the missionary’s God was the true God. After prayer, on that memorable evening, No Ga testified that he knew Christ had come into his life. And from that moment—until his martyrdom 12 years later—he was a living testimony to the transforming power of Christ.”[1]

The most remarkable incident of God’s intervention came when No Ga, his brother Ka Zong, and Plymire were sentenced to death by a chief in an extremely remote part of Tibet. At the very moment the executioner’s sword was being placed on their necks a messenger burst in with a letter from the Dalai Lama granting permission for the trio to proceed. A few seconds later three heads would have been severed from their bodies.[2]

Many were the critics of Plymire’s evangelistic strategy, yet his ministry produced fruit that few or none of his critics had ever experienced. In 1929 he baptized four Tibetan converts, and in March 1930, 24 more new Christians had their names recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Tibetan Christians meeting together at Huangyuan in the 1940s.

In a culture steeped in secret magical arts and demonism, strong opposition to Christians was to be expected. When No Ga’s family heard about his conversion to Christianity they were infuriated, but none of their threats of violence moved him. Another new Tibetan Christian was a man named Chepell. Just after his conversion he excitedly returned home to share his new faith, only to be murdered by his own friends and family members.[3]

For No Ga, the trigger point for the violence against him occurred when the elders of his village constructed a shrine atop a mountain overlooking the village, in order to propitiate a protective spirit. No Ga explained that he was a Christian and his beliefs did not allow him to assist with the project. The elders were furious, claiming No Ga’s decision had angered the gods and that they would not be held responsible for whatever might befall him. No Ga’s own brother-in-law threatened to kill him if he would not participate in the building of the shrine. No Ga replied, “I am not afraid. I know Jesus will be with me.”[4] Several days later No Ga became sick with a cold. His brother-in-law left the village and was seen in a fur trapper’s supply store buying a packet of animal poison. That evening

“he called on No Ga and pretended to sympathize with him about his cold. Going out to the kitchen he prepared a bowl of hot tea. Stealthfully he drew the packet from the fold of his garment and emptied the contents into the tea. Then he brought the deadly liquid to No Ga. The unsuspecting man thanked his brother-in-law and drank every drop.

In a few moments faithful No Ga lay still in death. He had paid the supreme price for his faith in Christ. Were human eyes capable of beholding the invisible, they might have seen the soul of No Ga, the Tibetan Christian, taking its flight upward past the hills and above the snow-enshrouded mountains. Now, beyond all suffering and danger, he stood in the presence of the One he loved more than life itself. And he could stand there unashamed, for he had been faithful unto death.”[5]

Wracked with guilt, No Ga’s brother-in-law came to Victor Plymire’s home and confessed to what he had done. Although he eased his conscience by confessing his murder, the man refused to soften his heart and accept Christ. A short time later he was afflicted with severe pain. On the gruesome night of his death,

“Those standing about the dying man claim that they heard demons pounding on the window. Mysterious voices called out of the darkness: ‘We have come to take you to hell!’ With a wild scream the wretched man, now in the very clutches of Satan, went out into everlasting darkness.”[6]

1. Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 149-150.
2. To read the account of this remarkable incident see Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 97-109.
3. Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 219.
4. Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 192.
5. Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 192-193.
6. Plymire, High Adventure in Tibet, 197.