In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus promises much to those who follow his counsel: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.” Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who fled house arrest and spent six days in the United States Embassy in Beijing, was promised a new life by Chinese authorities if he left U.S. protection. Now that he has done so, however, he says he fears for the safety of his family and wishes to leave the country.

Chen departed the embassy’s confines Wednesday for a nearby hospital for treatment of a leg injury suffered in his escape, and at first all appeared to be well with the deal, designed to clear up the matter before strategic and economic meetings opened Thursday between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and their Chinese counterparts—and portray the U.S. as standing firm in its defense of human rights. Clinton spoke to Chen on the phone when he left the embassy and, in a statement, welcomed the resettlement agreement as one that "reflected his choices and our values."

But just as the disciples in Jerusalem expressed their fear of Saul, the reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us, a shaken Chen told reporters from his hospital room that he now fears for his family and wants the U.S. to help them leave China. He said he’d been coerced into leaving the embassy and that Chinese authorities warned he would not be reunited with his family and that his wife would be beaten if he stayed at the embassy any longer.

American officials maintain that Chen insisted on remaining in China and that he left the embassy voluntarily after they negotiated the best deal possible with the Chinese government. Skeptics doubt the Chinese will respect whatever agreement they may have made and point out the U.S. is not in much of a position to see that it is honored over the long term.

Sources: Articles by Frida Ghitis for CNN, David Martin for CBS News, and the Associated Press