In one village in southeastern Fujian near the Guangdong border, Chinese believers told a remarkable story of God’s provision and power. An elderly brother had believed in the Lord for many years when the Communists took control of the area in 1949. The Blessed Old Man, as other believers affectionately dubbed him, came from an impoverished family and had never learned to read or write properly. Despite these simple impediments, after he received the Lord Jesus he proved to be a powerful evangelist, leading hundreds of people to faith in Christ throughout the district.
Hatching a plan to give Christianity a black eye and to show the supremacy of Marxism, the government decided to make an example of the old preacher by giving him the best house in the village and a generous supply of food. They also appointed him chairman of the village’s Communist committee, thinking that when he abandoned his religion they would display him as a shining example of the goodness of Communism and the futility of Christianity.
The Blessed Old Man, however, belonged to Jesus Christ. Instead of being seduced by the Communists,
…he used the large house he had been provided to hold house church meetings and distributed the food he was given to those believers in need. After some time, the government saw that their plan was badly backfiring, so they issued an ultimatum to the “chairman”. He had to choose between his faith and the new lifestyle and status he had been afforded by the authorities. Although he knew that he would return to a life of extreme poverty and hardship, the old brother did not hesitate for a moment. “ I choose Jesus!” he boldly declared.
The enraged officials threw him out of the house. He had nowhere to go, but another believer provided him with a small room on the side of a shack. China at the time was suffering terribly from Mao’s disastrous economic experiments, and millions of people were starving to death. Although the old man now had somewhere to stay, there was no food available to eat. All the meager crops were taken by the government, and the other Christians were too poor to help him.
For some days the old man wasted away in his tiny room, with no food passing his lips. He grew weak and ill and knew that his life would soon be snuffed out. Then one morning he awoke to find a hole in the bottom of the wall. He didn’t know what had caused it and repaired the damage. A few hours later he found another hole and started to wonder if these strange occurrences were from the Lord. While he was still pondering it, a large rat came through the hole with some food in its mouth. After entering the room, the rat dropped the food on the floor and then left. A short time later it returned and did the same again. A small collection of nuts and vegetables lay on the dirt floor!
Each morning the rat paid a visit to the elderly brother. In response to his commitment, God had saved the old man from starvation by instructing a rat to feed him! The miraculous provisions continued for several months. On some days the rat brought more food than usual. Those were the days when the old man was expecting a visitor!
Excerpt from Fujian – The Blessed Province – The China Chronicles, Paul Hattaway, Asia Harvest (Langham Global Library), p. 245-246
God says “I will not, I will not cease to uphold or sustain thee; I will not, I will not, I will not forsake someone in a state of defeat or helplessness in the midst of hostile circumstances.” (Expanded Greek Translation of Hebrew 13:5 by Dr. Kenneth Wuest.)
Be encouraged Saints… regardless of your circumstances. God sees you, is in you, and has not forsaken you.
“God works in the lives of his people using two agents, his Holy Spirit and his Word. He controls his Holy Spirit, but we are responsible to appropriate his Word in our lives.”
The apostle Paul described it as follows:
“…work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure….” Philippians 2:12-13
We are to “work out our salvation” which means to bring our salvation by grace through faith to it’s ultimate conclusion, to become more like Christ and less like the devil.
How are we to do that? We are to cooperate with God’s Spirit “who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
And how do we cooperate? Paul says in Philippians 2: 16 “holding fast the word of life.” We read His words recorded in the Bible and we hold fast to them and let the Holy Spirit use them to change us.
As one brother said “As we read our Bible, it is reading us.”
We should approach reading the Bible with awe because it will reveal “us” in ways we never thought possible. Not only sins like unforgiveness, pride, arrogance, perverse morals but also the staggering truths of who we are in Christ and all the marvelous things God has done in us and for us and is going to do in the future for His children.
In closing, I benefited from the following reality check on my relationship with God. I recommend it to you.
If you want to know what your attitude toward God is, check what your attitude to His Word is; that is your attitude toward God.
You do not love God more than you love His Word.
You do not obey God more than you obey His Word.
You do not have room for God in your life than you have room for His Word in your life.
If you want to find out how much God means to you, see how much His Word means to you.
If you want revival and spiritual growth in your life, prayerfully read your Bible, obey it’s truths and let the Holy Spirit do His work in you.
When we are reading our Bible and cooperating with the Holy Spirit, ALL of God’s creative power is working in us…His Word and His Spirit. The same creative agents that created the world.
“Pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross, follow your Lord. The masses are always wrong. In every generation the number of the righteous is small. Be sure you are among them.”
-A.W. Tozer (April 21, 1897 -May 12, 1963; American Christian pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor)
Source: The Berean Call – (be sure and check out their free mobile phone app.)
What would you do if you had no access to Scripture? Most Americans have multiple Bibles at home, dozens of translations at our fingertips, and devotional apps on every device. Yet for believers living in hostile areas and restricted nations, a single torn page of the New Testament is a treasure worth suffering for.
For many Christians around the world, owning a Bible is illegal. It can cost a believer their freedom or even their life. Yet, in the darkest prison cells and most hostile corners of the world, the Word of God remains the most desired possession.
During 25+ years serving at The Voice of the Martyrs, I’ve had the honor to meet with persecuted Christians living and serving in the most dangerous and difficult places to follow Christ. Often, they share their inspiring testimonies.
Recently I came across five powerful stories about what having access to Scripture meant to imprisoned Christians.
1. Brother Joe
Brother Joe, a former prisoner in North Africa, received a smuggled portion of the Bible — just Psalms and part of the Gospel of John. For him, those verses were life itself.
“I would cry over the words,” he said. “Not because I was sad, but because it was like Jesus Himself was sitting in my cell with me.”
Even as Brother Joe endured torture, he began copying verses by hand to share with other prisoners. The guards tried to stop him, but the Word kept spreading. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “The word of our God shall stand forever.”
2. Helen Berhane
Helen Berhane, an Eritrean gospel singer who was imprisoned in a metal shipping container for over two years, had no Bible at all — but she had memorized verses before her arrest.
“The Word became my song, my food, my comfort,” she shared. “I had no book, but I had Him.”
Even today, years later, those memorized verses continue to sustain her.
3. Aaron
Aaron, a front-line worker, told me about a woman jailed for leading Bible studies in China, where the underground church is heavily persecuted. Fellow inmates, recalling verses they had memorized, pieced together entire chapters from memory. When a contraband Bible finally arrived, they tore it apart — not to destroy it, but to share it.
“In that cell,” Aaron said, “the Bible wasn’t just a book — it was their breath.”
4. Ali
Perhaps the most startling transformation came in the life of Ali, a former jihadist who encountered the Gospel of Luke in prison. The Bible turned his world upside down.
“I had studied violence all my life,” he said. “Then I met Jesus in a jail cell in the pages of that book. That Bible broke me.”
Ali found, for the first time, a God who loves His enemies and sent His Son to die for them.
The Bible is more than print on paper — it’s living and active. The Word of God has the power to sustain people’s faith under the most intense persecution. For the millions of Christians in hostile nations, a Bible is not just a comfort. It is what carries them through their torture and suffering.
5. Iranian prisoner
Hormoz Shariat, the founder of Iran Alive Ministries known as “the Billy Graham of Iran,” shared how one Iranian prisoner risked his life to possess a single page of Scripture. That page became a spark. He memorized it and passed it to another inmate, who did the same.
“They shared one torn page like it was gold,” Shariat said. “It was enough to bring light into total darkness.”
In Iran, where printing or importing Farsi Bibles is illegal, believers face prison or death for sharing God’s Word. And yet, they do it anyway. The hunger for the Bible is so deep that even a fragment — one Psalm, one parable — is worth everything.
Every April, VOM focuses on getting Bibles to persecuted Christians. This year, our ministry has identified 458,000 Christians, by name, who are waiting for a Bible in hostile areas and restricted nations.
Through front-line workers, the ministry is positioned to deliver these Bibles directly into the hands of those who need them most. Imagine being the reason a believer in prison experiences the presence of Christ in their darkest hour!
There are many lessons to learn from others who have suffered for their faith. The stories here are just a small example of the power of God’s Word to bring hope and strength to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Maybe our first lesson is not to take for granted what others are risking everything to hold.
Todd Nettleton is Vice President for Message at The Voice of the Martyrs and host of The Voice of the Martyrs Radio. He is the author of When Faith Is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines with Persecuted Christians.
READER NOTE: Voice of The Martyrs charges $10 per Bible per their donation page. Asia Harvest charges $3 to print and deliver a Bible per their donation page. Asia Harvest and the underground church in China estimate that for every Bible given to a believer in China, at least one other individual comes to Christ. Not a bad $3 investment in the Kingdom of God!
Asia Harvest’s ministry is limited to Asia. They print Bibles in 163 different Asian languages. Our family has supported this effort for about three years.
Voice of the Martyrs ministry is worldwide evidently.
May you do your part to spread His Word in this dark world.
“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
From time to time, we receive very sensitive reports from our partners in Asia. We often refrain from sharing such stories to protect the safety of our partners, while striving to create a balanced newsletters that don’t overly burden our readers and leave them with broken hearts.
Sadly, many of the stories include suffering and reflect some of the worst depravity of mankind.
While we love to encourage readers with stories of revival and Gospel breakthroughs, to only share those would be unbalanced. Asia is also a place of intense spiritual darkness, and sometimes things that are difficult to read are necessary to share so that believers around the world can know how to pray.
Now take a moment to consider William Booth’s quote cited above. Have you ever considered what it might actually look like to run a rescue shop just outside the boundary of hell? What we are about to share with you in this newsletter is the result of believers doing just that in Myanmar today.
Last year, we were excited to receive a call from one of our dearest ministry partners on the field in Asia. He is seeing God move powerfully among hungry hearts, with thousands of people having been added to the family of God.
However, what he shared that day caused our hearts to grieve and tears to fill our eyes. …the Lord is saving countless beautiful children in Myanmar. Yet Satan does not let any genuine move of God go unchallenged, and the story we are about to share is both gripping and heavy. Please read it through to the end, as there is a message of hope at its conclusion.
THE FOLLOWING TRUE STORY IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Eva (not her real name) was just 11 years old when a great darkness visited the slum she calls home…
It happened on a sunny day, just like any other. The streets were buzzing with life as schoolchildren were on holiday and were making the most of their young lives in the impoverished neighborhood.
“Following me for some free candy!” one child shouted to groups of playing children. Eva’s belly growled at the thought of eating something sweet. She frequently felt hunger pangs at home due to a lack of food, so she welcomed the invitation and hurried over along with the other children for some free candy.
Eva had noticed that some of her friends as well as others had disappeared from time to time, never to return. This made many in her village aware of the dangers around them and suspicious of strangers. But the young boy leading them to get candy was a familiar face in the neighborhood, and his parents met the group of children along the way, putting Eva’s heart at ease.
As the group walked quite a distance from the village, the boy’s parents excitedly told them about a free medical clinic that would be distributing candy along with a free vaccine for each child. Coming from destitute families who can’t afford the most basic medical procedures without becoming enslaved by debt to violent gang lenders, the children considered the offer of medical help one less cost for their parent to worry about.
Finally, beyond earshot of the village, the group of now 20 children, along with a pregnant mother, entered the local graveyard. It seemed like an odd place for candy and vaccines to be distributed, but sure enough, there was a table set up with medical instruments operated by staff dressed in white lab coats.
The children formed a line and quickly, one by one, received an injection in the arm, followed by a piece of candy. While they were all enjoying their candy, Eva noticed something very odd beginning to happen to each one of them.
A strange fog clouded their judgement and made them dizzy.
And then it happened.
The pregnant mother was suddenly murdered right in front of the children by these criminals dressed as doctors and nurses. With no concern for the sanctity of human life, they proceeded to slash open the deceased mother’s stomach, pulling her precious unborn child from her womb.
Terror of the worst kind gripped every child. Drugged beyond the point of being able to resist and now threatened with death themselves if they did not cooperate, the children were herded into the backs of open-bed trucks and driven through their village to a nearby fishing pier, where they were placed on boats.
Eva inwardly screamed for help, but no words made it to her lips because of the drug-induced state she was in. It was at that horrifying moment that she remembered the words she had heard at a Christian meeting she had attended since she gave her life to Jesus. It was there that she first learned that Jesus cares for everyone and can save people when they call upon His name.
“Jesus!” she cried out in Burmese. It was all she was capable of saying.
The boat that took the children across the river docked on the far side, and each child was whisked through the fish market and hurriedly pushed into cars that drove them away. Eva watched with crippling fear as she was pushed closer to one of the cars, its door opening for her as she approached.
Then, out of nowhere, two very tall white, angelic beings appeared! They released her from the arms of her captors, brought her back to the pier, and put her on a boat returning to her village on the other side of the river. Eva made it safely home and has been slowly recovering from the trauma, but sadly, none of the 19 other children have returned to their families since that day.
Most children who disappear in Myanmar under these circumstances do not live to tell their stories. Asia Harvest has since learned from our partners in the slums that the 19 children were most likely sent to various hospitals, where they were sedated before surgeons removed all their organs, killing them in the process. The murder of the pregnant mother and the nature of the diabolical events of that day confirm these children were victims of human organ harvesting. Key organs, such as livers, kidneys, hearts, and lungs, are sold for transplant in wealthier countries.
Ongoing civil war in Myanmar has torn the country apart and resulted in the breakdown of society and the failure of the justice system. As a result, the police do nothing to assist victims, creating an environment in which such monstrous evil can thrive.
While the Church in Myanmar lacks the human ability to get judicial help against these threats, God’s children there have learned that the Lord Jesus is the true source of their rescue. The Scriptures have become very real in their lives, such as Psalm 20:7: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
Perhaps God moving so mightily in Myanmar today –the likes of which have never been seen before among the Buddhist majority — is Heaven’s response to the cries of desperate believers who lack an army of chariots and human forces to rescue them. With no such resources outside of Christ, they have been discovering the blessing that this “last resort” was all along their only lasting hope.
Through this profound discovery, God’s revival fires are burning ever brighter amidst Myanmar’s darkest hours.
Please pray for Eva to completely heal from the deep trauma she endured and for the 19 families who now live with the painful void of their children having been so brutally snatched from them.
Every day our coworkers help precious children like Eva, and multitudes of young children and teenagers have been rescued who would have otherwise been trafficked by gangs in sex work, drug dealing, and many other types of modern-day slavery. By the power of the Holy Spirit, thousands of at-risk families have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Not only have many vulnerable individuals come to Christ and been radically transformed, but many traffickers and gang members have also repented and surrendered their lives to the Lord Jesus!
Last year, Asia Harvest leaders visited the very slum where this diabolical incident occurred, and we even crossed on the same boats that took the kidnapped children across the river. We have personally witnessed the powerful work the Holy Spirit is doing in those poor communities, and we can declare with great conviction that Jesus IS the answer and the only hope for Myanmar and the world.
The End.
Thank you for taking time to read this article. Please pray for the people and Christians of Myanmar. Please visit Asia Harvest if you wish to learn more about how to help their work through The Children’ Fund or Bibles for Asia ($3 each) fund. While seeking an Asia ministry we could trust, we were directed to Asia Harvest by a close friend who worked as an underground missionary in communist China for many years. We give monthly to their work.
It is amazing what you learn reading church history. For example:
In the 1500s, the city of Geneva Switzerland was the first city in Switzerland to go all in on the Protestant Reformation. The council of Two Hundred suspended certain Roman Catholic practices and then… “The monasteries were next invaded; and there were some startling revelations of frauds by which the people had been so long and so grossly deluded, and the vast superstition upheld.”
“Many of the secret machinations and impostures are too vile to be transferred to our pages; but one, which is more amusing than revolting, we may quote. A number of strange lights, or small flames of fire, would sometimes be seen moving about the churchyard at night, to the utter amazement of the people. What could they be ? was the question. “These”, answered the priest, gravely, “are souls from purgatory. They have come to excite on their behalf the compassion of their living relatives. Will fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, not freely give of their money for prayers and masses that we may not have to return to the place of torment ? was their pitiful cry.”
“The effect of this imposture was another golden harvest to the priest. But what were these livid lights and blue flames really? They were simply a number of crabs with little bits of candles stuck on their backs, the heat of which may have propelled their movements. The enlightened public, indignant at having been so long deceived, relieved the crabs of their fiery burdens, and threw them back into the cool waters of the lake.”
Source: Andrew Miller, Miller’s Church History (PICKERING & INGLIS LTD, London, 1976), p. 908. (Miller is quoting historians Waddington, vol. iii., p.275 and Wylie, vol. ii. p. 273)
What brought about these amazing changes in the Geneva citizens? They started listening to preachers who preached the whole truth from the Bible, particularly the New Testament, and, thanks to the newfangled printing press, they were able to read the Scriptures for themselves without the gloss of the priest.
Divine Light from the Scriptures banished the ignorance and superstition that had held these people in fear and gross darkness. They began to walk in the Light and the doctrine of purgatory, plus many others, was exposed as a lie and just a money-making tool of the Roman Catholic Church.
Have you seen the divine Light that comes from reading the Holy Scriptures ? Or are you still looking at the strange lights in the graveyard and listening to the priest?
Happy New Year to all. May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be your Guide in 2025.
Listen to the account Lord Jesus told of two different men who died. One went to paradise where he was greeted by Abraham and the person who had rejected the truth that God had given Moses, died and went to the place where he was tormented in flames.
Notice the wicked man’s desire for someone to evangelize his brothers:
‘Then I beg you, Father (Abraham), that you send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ (Luke 16:27-28)
This man, now that he had left his earthly life where all that mattered was how he satisfied “Self” with his riches, now was concerned about “warning” his five brothers about coming to this place of torment.
Right now, the five brothers are being tormented in the flames with this man because the account goes on to tell us that the five brothers rejected Moses and the Prophets and what they said about how to be saved in the Old Testament. They have been there for around 2000 years, and they will be there until the Great White Throne Judgement of Revelation 20: 11-15. Then they will be cast into the lake of fire with the Antichrist, satan and death where they will stay FOREVER AND FOREVER.
The rich man waited too long to become an evangelist!
Dear Christian, have you warned anyone about this place or are you “waiting”?
Two things are coming that no man can stop: death and hell. Hell for those who reject the salvation found only in Jesus Christ. Let us put aside our busyness, our apathy, and our fear of rejection so we can be obedient and warn our neighbors, friends and others about this horrible place.
EVERYONE deserves a chance to hear.
Share the marvelous Light that brought you out of darkness with those who still sit in darkness. Darkness of unbelief and man’s religion!
Take the basket off your Light – Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
A new study suggests that the mental health crisis in the United States may be more closely related to a lack of a biblical worldview than to commonly cited causes like chemical imbalances.
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released the study Tuesday, attributing the rise in mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and fear, to what researcher George Barna calls “worldview deficiencies” rather than “psychological or chemical imbalances.”
The findings are based on interviews conducted in January with 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18 or older, with a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
The report highlighted mental health struggles among younger generations, noting that 56% of Generation Z and 49% of millennials regularly experience anxiety, fear or depression. Generation Z refers to the youngest group of American adults, while millennials are defined as those born between 1984 and 2002. In total, one in three adults from these generations has at least one diagnosable mental disorder.
Barna sees a direct correlation between mental health challenges and the lack of a biblical worldview, which the Cultural Research Center defines as “a means of experiencing, interpreting, and responding to reality in light of biblical perspectives.” The CRC evaluates an individual’s biblical worldview based on their answers to a series of belief-related questions.
Only 1% of Generation Z and 2% of millennials possess a biblical worldview, according to Barna. He commented that it is “not uncommon to find a young adult who trusts feelings more than facts, sees no inherent value to life, believes in Karma, and rejects the existence of the biblical God.”
“Add to this a lack of any sense of purpose or meaning, and the idea that truth is subjective,” Barna explained. “This common set of components results in a lifestyle that is inconsistent, chaotic, frustrating, and lacking hope. Anxiety, depression, and fear are virtually inescapable in such a life.”
Barna highlighted several beliefs he considers contributors to mental unrest among young people. Seven out of ten individuals under 40 said their life lacks a clear purpose, while four out of five who reject God reported frequent experiences of fear and anxiety.
“The lifestyle that results from these common worldview components is one of chaos and fear,” Barna said. “However, embracing a biblical worldview offers a sense of purpose, security, and peace that can alleviate many of these mental health challenges.”
Barna also pointed to syncretism — described as a “blend of conflicting beliefs drawn from various worldviews” — as the dominant worldview among young Americans, adding that it’s “not surprising that anxiety, depression and fear are rampant among young adults who adopt syncretism.”
“Without a solid foundation of truth, their lives become inconsistent and chaotic,” he said, emphasizing that “the biblical worldview, by contrast, provides a framework that fosters emotional stability.”
Barna acknowledged that some situations do require conventional mental health treatments, such as counseling, prescription drugs or physical therapy, but he said that other mental health struggles may stem from “worldview components that trigger and sustain the condition.”
“If people instead embraced the core tenets of the biblical worldview, their lives would not be perfect,” Barna concluded, “but they would avoid many of the emotional and psychological pitfalls we’re seeing today.”
The report also examined the mental health of individuals whose beliefs directly conflict with the biblical worldview. Among those disengaged from both political involvement and Christian faith, 82% reported frequent experiences of anxiety, depression and fear, compared to 67% of respondents who were more engaged.
Incidents of fear, anxiety and depression were higher (46%) among those who believe gifted mediums can communicate with the spirits of the dead, compared to 34% of those who do not share this belief.
Similarly, 40% of respondents who consider “Mother Earth or the Universe” as an important guide reported mental health challenges, compared to 25% who did not. Among individuals classified as “consistently liberal” on social and political issues, 38% experienced frequent anxiety, depression or fear, while only 22% of those who did not identify as consistently liberal reported the same challenges.
“He sends his command throughout the earth; His word runs swiftly.” Psalm 147:5 CSB
Spurgeon said “If God’s word runs very swiftly, then it can even overtake those who run away from it. Not only can the Lord come quickly to those who seek Him, but He can overtake those who hasten away from him.”
Lord, let your word overtake our prodigals, our rebels, our lost but loved ones.
David, when he composed Psalms 23, knew this. Looking at life from the standpoint of a sheep, he wrote “He [the Good Shepherd] leads me beside quiet waters.” In other words, he alone knows where the still, quiet, deep, clean, pure water is to be found that can satisfy His sheep and keep them fit.
Generally speaking, water for the sheep came from three main sources: dew on the grass, deep wells, or springs and streams.
Most people are not aware that sheep can go for months on end, especially if the weather is not too hot, without actually drinking, if there is heavy dew on the grass each morning. Sheep, by habit, rise just before dawn and start to feed. Or if there is bright moonlight they will graze at night. The early hours are when the vegetation is drenched would dew, and sheep can keep fit on the amount of water taken in with their forage when they graze just before and after dawn.
Of course, dew is a clear, clean, pure source of water. And there is no more resplendent picture of still waters than the silver droplets of dew hanging heavy on leaves and grass at break of day.
The good shepherd, the diligent manager, makes sure that his sheep can be out and grazing on this dew-drenched vegetation. If necessary, it will mean he himself has to rise early to be out with his flock. On the home ranch or afield he will see to it that his sheep benefit from this early grazing.
In the Christian life it is a more than passing significance to observe that those who are often the most serene, most confident, and able to cope with life’s complexities are those who rise early each day to feed on God’s Word. It is in the quiet, early hours of the morning that they are led beside the quiet, still waters where they imbibe the very life of Christ for the day. This is much more than mere figure of speech. It is practical reality. The biographies of the great men and women of God repeatedly point out how the secret of the success in their spiritual life was attributed to the quiet time of each morning. There, alone, still, waiting for the Masters voice, one is led gently to the place where, as the old hymn puts it, “The still dews of His Spirit can be dropped into my life and soul.”
One comes away from these hours of meditation, reflection, and communion with Christ refreshed in mind and spirit. The thirst is slaked and the heart is quietly satisfied.
In my mind’s eye I can see my flock again. The gentleness, stillness, and softness of early morning always found my sheep knee-deep in dew- drenched grass. There they fed heavily and contentedly. As the sun rose and the heat burned the dew drops from the leaves, the flock would retire to find shade. There, fully satisfied and happily refreshed, they would lie down to rest and ruminate through the day. Nothing pleased me more.
I am confident this is the same reaction in my Master’s heart and mind when I meet the day in the same way. He loves to see me contented, quiet, at rest, and relaxed. He delights to know my soul and spirit have been refreshed and satisfied.
But the irony of life, and tragic truth for most Christians, is that this is not so. They often try, instead, to satisfy their thirst by pursuing almost every other sort of substitute. For their minds and intellects they will pursue knowledge, science, academic careers, vociferous reading, or off-beat companions. But they are always left panting and dissatisfied.
Some of my friends have been among the most learned and highly respected scientists and professors in the country. Yet about them there is often a strange yearning, and unsatisfied thirst which all their learning, all their knowledge, all their achievements have not satisfied
To appease the craving of their souls and emotions, men and women will turn to the arts, to culture, to music, to literary forms, trying to find fulfillment.
And again, so often, these are amongst the most jaded and dejected of people.
Amongst my acquaintances are some outstanding authors and artists. Yet it is significant that to many of them life is a mockery. They have tried drinking deeply from the wells of the world only to turn away unsatisfied — unquenched in their soul’s thirst. There are those who, to quench this thirst in their parched lives, have attempted to find refreshment in all sorts of physical pursuits and activities.
They try travel. Or they participate feverishly in sports. They attempt adventures of all sorts or indulge in social activities. They take up hobbies or engage in community efforts. But when all is said and everything has been done, they find themselves facing the same haunting, hollow, empty, unfilled thirst within.
The ancient prophet Jeremiah put it very bluntly when he declared, “My people… have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
It is a compelling picture. It is an accurate portrayal of broken lives – shattered hopes – of barren souls that are dried up and parched and full of the dust of despair.
Among young people, especially the “beat” generation, the recourse to drugs, to alcohol, to sexual adventure in a mad desire to assuage their thirst is classic proof that such sordid indulgences are no substitute for the Spirit of the living God. These poor people are broken cisterns. Their lives are a misery. I have yet to talk to a truly happy “hippie”. Their faces show the desperation within.
And amid all this chaos of a confused, sick society, Christ comes quietly as of old and invites us to come to Him. He invites us to follow Him. He invites us to put our confidence in Him. For He it is who best knows how we can be satisfied. He knows that the human heart, the human personality, the human soul with this amazing capacity for God can never be satisfied with a substitute. Only the Spirit and life of Christ Himself will satisfy the thirsting soul.
From: W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 (Zondervan, 1970) p.61-64. Great book and I heartily recommend it to our readers. Carl
Bryan Loritts provides a great challenge to build relationships that last in his new book Enduring Friendships: Sticking Together in an Age of Unfriending. The book uses Paul’s New Testament letter to Philemon as a backdrop for thinking deeply about friendship. And it does challenge us to think deeply about our relationships. Onesimus, the slave to Philemon, who likely stole and then ran away from his servitude, making him deserving of severe consequences if not death. Philemon, the enslaver, and partner in the gospel with Paul. Paul, the missionary, who led both of these men to Christ and now pleads with them to do hard things for their relationship and for the glory of God.
He wants Onesimus to repent and go back and face his offended enslaver.
He wants Philemon to repent and receive Onesimus, not as a slave who stole from him, but as a brother who merits his embrace and partnership.
Paul himself wants to pay whatever is owed to Philemon. “Put it on my account.”
We don’t know “the rest of the story”, but can imagine that repentance was had, forgiveness was extended, and God was glorified, because Onesimus is later counted as a Bishop in the early church.
This book reminds us that relationships are hard but worth fighting for. And enduring relationships are costly and take courage to pursue through the messiness of life. What a mess the book of Philemon offers up. But what a beautiful picture of grace and forgiveness if Paul’s formula is lived out. The offender repents, the offended forgives, and the beauty of reconciliation is witnessed by all.
I wish I could say I didn’t have any tangled messes of relationships in my 49 years, but I can’t. I wish I could say that I’ve always done the right and hard thing for the sake of reconciliation. In ministry, the slights received often make us callous toward deep relationships and make it easier just to let people walk away or not make the journey back to the one we offended. People come and go. Sometimes close relationships are resisted because we begin to expect slights, disrespect, betrayal, and eventual departure. Enduring Friendships reminds us that relationships are worth it.
The key to it all of course is Jesus. He empowers us to forgive, to receive grace, and to repent. And he did the hardest thing of all so that we could experience reconciliation by offering up his own body on the cross.
Some great thinking and maturing to be stirred up by Bryan Loritts’ new book. Grab a copy.
Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:
Soul-level friendship often feels like a full-time job with periods of bad compensation.
The problem is relationships are drama, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Whose life is not made up of mountaintops and deep valleys? If we’re not up for drama, we are not ready for relationships.
A Christian who does not forgive is a contradiction in terms.
There is no lasting friendship without grace.
If you want to have sustained friendships over the course of your life, you must accept that you will at various points be Onesimus and Philemon – offender and offended.
When we fail to allow for nuance and complication, we set the table for short-lived friendships that never resurrect from the graveyard of offense and betrayal.
The journey of friendship is fraught with unavoidable hurt because those involved are marred by sin.
Gossip is saying something behind a person’s back we would never say to a person’s face. Flattery is saying something to a person’s face we would never say behind their back.
Pride is the #1 killer of friendship. Humility is the prime nourisher of healthy relationships.
When we are at death’s door and inevitably stare into the rearview mirror of our lives, we will not take joy in our acts of retribution.
An ungracious Christian is an oxymoron.
Nothing illumines our witness and stands more in contradistinction to our world than when we fight to remain at the table of friendship with people who we have wronged and who have wronged us.
About Lane Corley
I am – Follower of Jesus Christ – Husband to the beautiful and patient Heather Corley – Father of three. – Church Planter/Church Planting Catalyst for Send Network – When I can, I’m reading, raised bed gardening, and on mission with my church. – Hoping to be helpful.
“The word that is used in the original language for salvation covers the entire work of God on behalf of the human soul. I am sure that not one of us, not even the one who has spent the most time in the study of the word of God, can fully comprehend the height and the depth of the vast subject of salvation. The depth is our need, the height is the provision that God has made. Salvation begins when the sinner recognizes the fact that he is less perfect than God and therefore under condemnation.
In order to make this very practical, I shall appeal to you directly concerning your own salvation. God comes to you today, just as you are. There is nothing that you have to do in order to draw his attention to you. You do not have to make yourself better in order for him to start his work. There is an old hymn that puts it well:
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
God comes to you whatever your background of education or the lack of it. He comes to you with your prejudices, however they may have been formed. He comes to you with the declaration that you are in a position that is desperate without His help, but he tells you that He is ready to furnish the help you need. Unfortunately, there are those who turn away from Him because they live in a world where illusions are so plentiful. A man is in vigorous health, making good money, and relatively happy. It is easy to think that since you are getting along so well in your progress through the world that you are also getting along well in your progress towards God. The fact is that you are lying in the embrace of death and do not realize your need.
A Chinese evangelist was once preaching on the street in a town in China. He spoke of the weight of sin and a heckler called out to ask how much that weight was. Fifty pounds? One hundred pounds? The evangelist answered: if you have a corpse lying in his coffin, will he feel a one hundred pound weight on his chest any more than a fifty pound weight? So the weight of sin is upon the human soul, and it is only when the Holy Spirit makes us conscious of need that we can feel the weight of sin and turn to the Saviour who is able to lift it.
If you fancy that you have an ability that can help you, you have never understood your own inability or the magnitude of the task which is demanded of you. A man might be the world’s champion Olympic swimmer, but if he were suddenly thrown overboard in the midst of the ocean, the distance to the shore would be totally beyond his powers. And God declares that you are overboard in the sea of sin and that estranges you from him. No breast-stroke of emotion can bring you to the shore. You must recognize your lost position and submit yourself to his sovereign grace. God commands men everywhere to repent. And repentance does not mean an emotional state of being sorry for your sins. It is derived from a Greek expression for the military command of “right about face”. You have been facing yourself, trusting in your own ability while Christ has been behind you, despised and rejected by you. You must about face. You must despise and reject your own efforts for salvation and realize that God has done all the work through the Saviour and that He requires you to put your trust in him.”
For God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Quote from Donald Grey Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin (Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids), pp. 169-171
Question: Jesus said, “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14). I’ve heard thousands of prayers that were offered, in reliance upon that promise, “in the name of Jesus” or even “in the mighty name of Jesus,” sincere prayers from simple people that were never answered. Wouldn’t these many unanswered prayers offered “in the name of Jesus” prove that Christ doesn’t or can’t keep His word?
Response: “In the name of Jesus” is not a magic formula like “Open Sesame,” which merely had to be spoken once in order for the secret door to the thieves’ treasure to swing wide open. Merely repeating the words “in the name of Jesus” doesn’t make it so. For a prayer to be truly “in the name of Jesus,” it must be as He would express it if He were praying. It must be for the furtherance of His interests and to His glory. His name must be stamped on the character and engraved on the heart and life of the one praying “in His name.”
Many years ago I managed the affairs of a multimillionaire. In order to do so, I had been given the authority to act in His name. Powers of attorney giving me the right to sign his name and to conduct business in his name were registered in various counties and states. There was nothing on the face of the documents that would prevent me from making out a check for a million dollars, signing his name to it, and depositing it in my own bank account. Had I done so, however, he could have recovered from me in a court of equity.
Though the documents didn’t state it explicitly, it was understood that I had the power to use another person’s name only for his good and in his best interests, not my own. And so it is with our Lord. There are no restrictions stated in His promise that he will do whatever we ask in His name. It is understood, however, that to pray in His name is to ask as He would ask for His interests and glory.
Tragically, all too many Christians imagine that “in the name of Jesus” are magic words that, if added to a prayer, no matter how self-seeking, will enable a person to get from God whatever he or she desires. When the desired response doesn’t come from God there is often great confusion as to why earnest prayers aren’t answered, and even at times resentment against Christ for not keeping what is perceived to be His promise. James explained it well:
Ye ask [in prayer] and receive not because ye ask amiss, [not to God’s glory, but] that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3).
“If you want to be distracted, look around; if you want to be disgusted, look within; if you want to be delighted, look at Him.”
If we want to be distracted from our fruit bearing produced by our reverence for God, all we have to do is look around at the world and the seemingly hopelessness and futility of it all. We will soon find ourselves depressed and hopeless, distracted and overcome in spirit and soul by the world.
If we start to focus on our lack of fruit bearing and the sin that so easily besets us, we will be disgusted by what we see within ourself. We surely have sinned and come short of the glory of God…as born-again believers. We find ourselves still carrying on our back the corpse of the “old self”, our crucified sinful nature (Romans 6:5-7 & 7: 15-25). Truly disgusting.
But, if we focus on our Savior and Deliverer Jesus Christ and all He accomplished for us through His death and resurrection and His continued intercession for us, there is bright, living hope and assurance and Holy Spirit power for living a Christian life that is pleasing to Him.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17: 9
Many years ago, in the early days of radio, an incident took place which I may well recount as a crystallization of the aims and purposes I had before me in undertaking this task: the exposition of the epistle to the Romans. In a certain city in central Pennsylvania, listeners were attempting to get my program from a distant station that was broadcasting on a wavelength so near to that of another station that the two programs sometimes became confused. From New York a certain minister was preaching his sermon at the same time that my Bible study was going forth. Friends told me that a woman who was trying to unscramble the two broadcast said, “If I hear a voice talking about the dignity of human personality, I know that I have the New York station. If the voice says that a man must be born again, I know that I have Dr. Barnhouse from Philadelphia.”
Within that exaggeration there is a profound truth, and within that truth there is the expression of the ministry which I seek to exercise. I am convinced that the ministry which seeks to exalt mankind can, in the end, do no good for mankind. On the contrary, the ministry which will reach the truths of man’s complete ruin in sin and God’s perfect remedy in Christ, can best reach the heart of the need of the human race and can bring the only remedy that can heal the heart which God has declared to be humanly incurable.
Quotation from: Donald Gray Barnhouse, Man’s Ruin– Romans 1: 1-32 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1952) p. 1
Iranian Christians attend the New Year mass at the Saint Targmanchats Armenian Church in Tehran on Jan. 1, 2023. | Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
(Dear Reader please pray for our brother and sisters in Iran. Carl)
As the underground Church continues to grow in Muslim-majority Iran, Bible translators are putting their lives on the line to bring the Gospel into the local dialects so that their friends and neighbors can have access to the written word of God for the first time.
Through the work of the translation agency unfoldingWord, Christians in Iran and across the globe have been able to translate the Gospel themselves into more native languages.
The Christian Post interviewed a representative from unfoldingWord, Evan Thompson, who preferred to use a fake name or pseudonym for his safety.
“There are 1.45 billion people in the world who speak about 5,500 languages that do not have the whole Bible in their heart languages. … The Church has expanded exponentially in the last 20 years. And what these folks have learned is that you can lead someone to Christ, but if they don’t have a church, they don’t survive on their own,” Thompson said.
“You can start a church, but if that church doesn’t have the Bible in its heart language, it will typically only last one generation. Iran, for example, has churches operating underground. And there are thousands of underground churches in many other parts of the world,” he added.
UnfoldingWord, a nonprofit organization that has been around for roughly seven years, “works with Church leaders around the world who are seeking to establish their churches in sound doctrine, but lack access to Bible translations in the languages their people speak.”
A day in the life of Iranian Bible translators
The Christian Post heard from two Iranian women risking their lives to help translate unfoldingWord’s Open Bible story resources from Farsi into other Iranian dialects for evangelizing.
Both women Bible translators have chosen not to give their real names for this article to protect their identities and maintain their safety.
The first woman, using the name Miriam, said she gave her heart to Christ after coming to the realization that she is “God’s child and daughter.”
Miriam is part of a people group in Iran that is made up of millions of natives. She says she is often treated as a second-class citizen because of how those from other people groups view her status in her people group.
Miriam’s life could be in danger if the Iranian government finds out that she follows Jesus in the Islamic Republic, which Open Doors ranks as the eighth-most hostile country for Christians.
“God is my Father. I feel deeply honored to be part of this work of bringing God’s Word to my people,” Miriam said.
Despite having children and knowing that her life is at risk for believing in Jesus, Miriam said she will not stop working to translate the Gospel into her heart language.
“I cannot even imagine leaving this work unfinished. I must complete this work and see the result. I want to see my beloved ones experience salvation in Christ. This is my dream; that my people can talk about God and speak His name freely without any hesitation; without any fear they can talk about God,” she said.
Miriam was introduced to Christianity through a friend in college who gave her a Farsi New Testament. She had to read the Bible alone and in secret, an act that left her without much of a clear understanding of the Christian faith.
After college, Miriam married into a strict Muslim family. But, no matter how hard she tried to adapt to the strict religious practices of Islam, she could not find God as a Muslim.
Miriam said she didn’t give her life entirely to Jesus until after she heard about Transform, an online class offered in Iran that covered the basic teachings of Christianity.
She watched the classes secretly through various digital platforms. And during one of the class sessions, she gave her life to Christ.
Following her conversion, Miriam’s husband caught her one day watching the Transform Iran pastor on television.
Miriam could no longer hold back the truth about her faith from her husband.
“By the grace of God, he did not get angry. He said, ‘I know you are a serious-minded woman, and if this is important to you, it’s OK,'” Miriam recalled.
Miriam’s husband began watching the class with her, and several months later, he also gave his life to Christ.
Before her husband’s conversion, the Transform Iran pastor asked her if she would get involved in Bible translation because of her expertise in her heart language.
Miriam accepted the offer even if that meant risking her life to help translate the Bible into more Iranian tongues.
“We are not allowed to study our heart languages in Iranian public schools. This is a limitation for our people. I have this language specialty and experience, this expertise so that I can help my own people. People like my mother can read this book,” Miriam said.
“I have a Bible in Farsi, and I can read it. But I cannot understand the more complicated concepts in it because Farsi is not my heart language. I couldn’t establish a relationship with the Bible in Farsi. I’m very fluent in Farsi. I studied hard and had great teachers. Still, I cannot establish a relationship with the Bible in Farsi,” she continued.
“How about other people who don’t have my educational advantages? My family and friends? Having the Gospel in my heart language makes it much easier to talk to my family about Jesus. They can understand and accept Him easily.”
‘Jesus fed me’
Another Iranian Bible translator who is using the pseudonym Stella accepted Jesus into her heart after her husband died of cancer.
Following her husband’s death, Stella was left alone to care for her young son. During that time, she relied on the peace of God as her only hope.
“God has helped me. The Name of Jesus Christ was in my life. I didn’t need anybody. Jesus fed me, put clothes on me and gave me peace,” she said.
Stella learned more about God through a Bible translated into Farsi. At first, she thought Christianity was a religion. But, now she understands that Christianity is a relationship.
“When I was a new believer, I was thinking that, ‘OK, I’m going to just switch religions.’ But, when I got to know the Holy Spirit, I understood that this is a relationship, not religion,” Stella said.
Stella is currently working on a Bible translation in her heart language. Her sister-in-law became a Christian thanks to her work translating the Bible. Stella worked for five years alongside her family as they helped her review the translation of the Bible, and now she works as part of a larger Bible translating group.
“I love my mother language. I’m telling the poetry; I write the context. I write the sentence. I record it. … I know all of this is God’s work for us. God wants us to do this. … I am thinking about my mom, my father, my childhood. And everyone that doesn’t have it right now. I really want to bring God to my town and my people,” she said.
A dire need for Bible translations
Before unfoldingWord was launched, traditional Bible translation agencies across the globe have done “marvelous work” and continue to do so, Thompson noted.
However, he said the number of Western Bible translators that Bible translation agencies can send overseas is dropping, and the demand for Bible translation is increasing rapidly.
“The group that founded unfoldingWord developed a way to address this problem. We call it church-centric Bible translation. … It’s Bible translation incorporated into the life of the Church as part of its discipleship,” Thompson noted.
“Most of those unreached people have neighbors who know Christ, and they’re taking the Gospel to them. And what unfoldingWord does is we equip the Church in every people group with a goal of translating the Bible in every language.”
To help local churches translate the Bible, unfoldingWord provides people groups with open-source software and open-licensed biblical content that’s breaking the copyright barriers to source texts.
The organization also has comprehensive translation guides to answer difficult Bible translation questions. The organization offers essential doctrinal education to protect the theological integrity of the translations.
“unfoldingWord provides training for indigenous Bible translation teams over Zoom and sometimes in neutral locations,” Thompson said.
The training locations are kept secret to protect participants in certain countries where practicing Christianity is not accepted.
“Our training allows for indigenous Bible translation teams to be able to use best practices when they are translating the Bible for themselves. One of the ways that I like to say it is: ‘We don’t make Bible translations. We help develop Bible translators.’ Because that’s what the Church really needs all over the world.”
Issues bringing translations to Iran
Thompson said unfoldingWord has aided Iranian natives who have translated the Bible into dozens of native languages.
However, he said there are some unfortunate limitations to the organization’s ability to aid translators in Iran. He cited strict government policies prohibiting Iranians from studying their heart languages or their native tongues in public schools.
“All of these oppressive countries, like Sudan, like Iran, and some others we could name, are trying to Islamasize their whole population. And one of the ways that they do that is by forcing them to speak this one national language, and it’s causing their heart languages to die out,” Thompson said.
In Iran, the government recognizes Farsi as the national language. However, many natives speak other Iranian dialects more fluently.
“It’s very much like anybody that comes to America from someplace else, and we put them in American schools to learn English. Unless their family makes it a point to keep their native languages … alive in their families, by the second or third generation, the kids can’t speak their native language anymore,” Thompson said.
The few responsible for the many
Miriam believes God has blessed her with a huge responsibility to help translate the Bible into more Iranian languages.
“This is not just a scientific book. This is God’s Word. I felt some tension. I was scared that I would not do the work well enough, but I’m very happy to make it available so that my people can establish a relationship with the Bible. That’s why I got involved with this Bible translation project,” she said.
When asked if she can imagine the day when the Bible is completed in even more Iranian languages, Miriam said it will take many years, and she doesn’t know if she’ll live long enough to see the project’s conclusion.
“I want my children to experience the result of my work so that they can know Jesus through their heart language. I never thought this project would grow like this. But I’ve learned that it’s not just about me,” Miriam said.
“I need this team that has been pulled together. For safety, we have many people working on this project secretly. There may be several Christians in one Iranian family, but they cannot share their faith with each other openly,” she continued.
“We need more people who can speak my heart language to continue working on this project. … I want to ask for prayer … to recruit people into the project who know our language well.”
“Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever.” C.S. Lewis
While the government is not God—a truth they tend to forget from time to time—their burgeoning relationship with the companies developing artificial intelligence serves as a helpful parable for understanding a key component of our relationship with the Lord.
Scripture is clear that when our sin takes us outside of God’s will, there will be consequences (Galatians 6:7). And though that cost may be delayed at times, it doesn’t go away. As such, it is much better to work with God than to wait for him to correct us when we go off the right path. That doesn’t mean the Lord can’t redeem our mistakes, but it’s still far better to have never committed them in the first place.
C. S. Lewis described this principle well when he said of God, “Whatever you do, He will make good of it. But not the good He had prepared for you if you had obeyed Him. That is lost forever.”
As Christians, we must not make the mistake of giving up the good that God has prepared for us simply because it’s not what appeals to us in the moment. The Lord wants to direct our path because he alone knows what is ultimately best for us and for his kingdom. But he also loves us enough to give us the freedom to make that choice for ourselves.
So which path will you choose?
Will you take the road that seems best to you, deciding that it’s worth the risk of God “bringing down the hammer” to correct you in the future? Or will you let the Lord lead and submit to his will as you partner with him in advancing his kingdom?
Put that way, the choice should be simple. And, ultimately, it is. But it’s also one that all of us get wrong from time to time when we lose sight of what is really at stake.
So take some time now to pray and ask God if there are any ways that you have strayed from his will. If the Holy Spirit brings any to mind, repent and commit to whatever steps are required to correct those mistakes.
And don’t wait to do so. Every day spent outside of his will is filled with moments and opportunities you can’t get back.
Let’s make sure we don’t miss them today.
Source: Ryan Denison, PhD,Is “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy” AI Possible? Biden Issues Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence. November 3, 2023, Denison Forum.
Today, over 3,000 people groups have no missionary presence and likely have no access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The lack of accurate knowledge about God’s saving grace is not limited to just these distant groups. You and I are surrounded by THE LOST every day regardless of what nation we live in.
Fellow Christian, what are you doing to fulfill the Lord’s commandment to:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…” (Matthew 28: 18-20)
(Dear Reader: This ministry was recommended to us by a friend who served in Communist China for years and it is worthy of your support. May God bless you and the church in China. Carl)
This newsletter shares insights into the current situation in China, both politically and for the Body of Christ. In addition to our standard newsletter, we want to share links to articles and videos that give further context into some of the claims we have made.
For those who are serious about learning more of the situation in China today, please click on this link to go to a page with a list of links to extra resources on the situation in China.
Please note we have selected just a few of the most interesting and helpful pages out of hundreds that are available online. Pages from other websites should open in separate windows on your browser.
President Xi Jinping and His Role in the World
“How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant? They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting. They crush your people, Lord; they oppress your inheritance….
Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge? The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.” – Psalm 94:3-5, 10-11
OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS many people from around the world have asked us to help them understand what’s going on in China.
Many Christians are shocked, because for years all they heard was how revival was bringing millions of Chinese into God’s kingdom.
Suddenly, all news from the Church in China stopped in its tracks, as a new Emperor, Xi Jinping, caused the Body of Christ to adopt a defensive posture.
Who is this man who has “purged” (i.e., killed or imprisoned) hundreds of thousands of people, and who has created such a stench across Asia that 20 neighboring countries — from Central Asia to India and the Philippines — now have disputes with China.
Let’s take a closer look at this man who has so enlarged the Chinese military and covert influence that a World War seems inevitable if things continue on their present trajectory.
We deliberately used the term “Emperor” to describe Xi Jinping. While technically he is the atheistic head of the Chinese Communist Party, for thousands of years China was ruled by Emperors whose authority was absolute.
There were no elections, debates, or protests against emperors. Any perceived hesitancy to obey an emperor’s edict was met with swift and severe punishment. In there paranoia, many Chinese emperors killed millions of their subjects to consolidate their power.
Although emperors have not officially ruled China since 1912, in reality Communist leaders like Mao and Xi have been emperors in all but name. It is important to understand that Chinese emperors were never viewed merely as leaders of China.
You may know that the Chinese name for their country, Zhong Guo, means “Middle Kingdom.” The belief that their country is the center of the world is deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of every Chinese generation.
Emperors are believed to have a “Mandate of Heaven,” by which they receive the authority to rule. This philosophy, which dates back 2,500 years, assumes that because there is only one heaven, there can only be one emperor and one state with legitimacy in the whole world.
Over the years we have frequently met Chinese from all walks of life who are glad and proud that China is now throwing its weight around in the world. From taxi drivers in Singapore to businessmen in San Francisco, countless Chinese believe that now is the time for China to rise up and seize its destiny as world leader—economically, culturally, and militarily. It
is not so much a desire as a statement of fact. Even among Chinese Christians we have met few who would ever dare to openly criticize Xi Jinping or his decisions. After all, he is the emperor, appointed by heaven itself. Opponents are seen as evildoers and are mercilessly crushed. Just ask people in Hong Kong how life has changed since Xi came to power.
The Mandate of Heaven philosophy spread to many parts of East Asia in the centuries before Christ. It explains why countries like North Korea have been unable to throw off its heavy yoke of rule by the Kim family for so long, Japanese emperors were also seen as heaven- sent leaders who were invincible because of the Mandate of Heaven. The Japanese belief of invincibility abruptly ended when two atomic bombs fell on Japan in 1945.
In 2016, we began to report that a major shift was happening in China, and the new dynamic would change the way Christians function in China, while the country itself would become a huge threat to democracies.
China decided it was time to throw off its “Century of humiliation” at the hands of foreign powers and take its rightful place as leader of the world, with Xi Jinping on the throne.
A Prediction…
WE DO NOT BELIEVE THE RISE OF CHINA will lead to world domination.
“Emperor” Xi’s harsh authoritarian rule, as he has consolidated absolute power in China and made enemies all around Asia and the world, has not been working out too well.
The economy in China is in tatters (far worse than reports in Western media), and a growing number of Chinese are beginning to quietly question if their leader is taking the country on a path that will end well for them.
Many nations now see China as the number one threat to global security and Xi’s aggressive stance has brought about the formation of military alliances to counter his plans.
It has been said that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Strongmen like Xi Jinping believe they operate with impunity, as it is their birthright. Above all else, the thing they desire most is regime survival.
For that reason, Xi constantly purges his leaders, isolating himself more and more while at the same time changing the constitution to guarantee he will never be replaced. Emperors of China were never changed. They ruled for life.
Do we think that Xi and the Chinese Communist Party will reach their goals of world domination?
No, for the following SEVEN REASONS:
1 GOD HAS THE FINAL SAY.
We believe it is not a coincidence that as soon as China launched its campaign to systematically destroy Christianity in 2016-17, their economy began to disintegrate. Ultimately, the battle for the 1.4 billion souls of China is what is at stake.
The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased a pure bride numbering over 100 million believers in China. They are the apple of His eye, and He will not stand by and let His precious inheritance be decimated.
2 THE DEMOGRAPHICS FOR CHINA ARE A NIGHTMARE.
With a rapidly ageing population and a lack of young people of tax-paying age to pay for Xi’s military expansion, things are likely to stagnate and deteriorate in China.
Some economists estimate that China needs 400 million more people of working age to keep its economy going forward and fund their military aspirations, but they have “sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)
The Communist Party’s one-child policy, accompanied by hundreds of millions of forced abortions, has wiped out a generation of Chinese. The very people they need to pay for their plans don’t exist. They were sacrificed on the altar of the Communist Party death cult.
3 THE POPULATION OF CHINA IS ALREADY IN RAPID DECLINE
with some provinces shrinking by millions of people each year. Some experts calculate that by the end of this century the population of China may be half of what it is now. Two years ago, it was hardly noticed when the government lowered the national population by 121 million from previous inflated figures.
An increasing number of young people in China today have no desire to have children, which are considered an economic inconvenience. That unnatural instinct has been suppressed by generations of Marxist propaganda that work and money—not faith in God and a loving family—are the keys to happiness.
4 STRETCHED TO BREAKING POINT.
Xi’s reign has been greatly helped by his access to technology that previous rulers like Mao Zedong could never have dreamed of.
A friend who recently returned from his first visit to China in several years was shocked at the changes he experienced. He said:
“Everywhere I experienced anti-foreign sentiment from unfriendly people, and I saw many people paying for things with their faces. By allowing their faces to be scanned, payments are deducted directly from their accounts. No phone or bank card is needed, and cash is practically unheard of.”
With more than 400 million facial recognition cameras watching and evaluating their every move, and Xi demanding complete obedience to the Marxist-socialist agenda, many people feel stretched to breaking point and are increasingly fed up with the system.
5 XI HAS TRIED TO REPLACE GOD WITH A CULT OF HIMSELF.
He wants to be all-seeing, all- knowing, and all-powerful. He has erected giant billboards and posters of his face (like the one on the cover of this newsletter) and he demands unwavering devotion and commitment to his cause. In tens of thousands of churches across China, crosses and Scripture verses have been forcibly removed and replaced with posters of Xi and Mao, or with Chinese flags.
The Chinese Communist Party always claims there is no God, while setting themselves up as gods who must be obeyed and worshipped at all times.
Interestingly, in churches where posters of the Ten Commandments were displayed, instead of the authorities removing them they just scratched out the first commandment that says: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
They didn’t object to any of the other nine commandments, but only the first one upset them. Why? Because like Satan, they desire to fill the role of God in people’s lives.
6 A GENERAL MALAISE HAS COME UPON THE YOUTH OF CHINA.
After studying hard all their lives, tens of millions of university graduates can’t find any work at all, and a new expression, tang ping, or “lying down flat” swept over many Chinese young people.
Countless millions have lost the desire to excel, and they now see life as meaningless.
More recently, during Xi’s harsh Covid restrictions, tang ping has been replaced by a new catch-phrase: bai lan, meaning “let it rot.” These developments refer to a voluntary retreat from pursuing goals and will expediate decay in Chinese society and the economy.
7 XI JINPING SEEMS TO HAVE A PERSONAL HATRED FOR CHRISTIANITY.
After systematically expelling almost all foreign Christians from China over the past 6 or 7 years, a widespread persecution has afflicted God’s people in every part of the nation, but especially in the border provinces.
The Communist Party has even been working on a new Bible, removing passages they don’t like, and replacing them with socialist teachings.
One proposed change is the story of the woman at the well. The Communist Party didn’t like that she was forgiven, so they are reportedly changing it.
So instead of Jesus telling her, “Go and sin no more,” the new Communist Bible has Jesus picking up a stone and stoning her to death! Let’s see if God will allow such blatant blasphemy and corruption of His holy Word to go unpunished.
Psalm 119: 38 