China is experiencing the world’s largest revival today. Several thousand Chinese come to Christ every day. Many feel that these revivals are happening in contrast to their background of being Buddhists, Animists, Taoists, or Confucianists. Still, a closer look shows that China has been following the God of the Bible since the beginning of their history, more than 5,000 years ago. Are these current revivals a sign that the people of China are returning to their true roots?
The truth came down from Noah and his family. Some modern Chinese Christian scholars or theologians suggest a connection to Shem, citing possible linguistic or cultural links between ancient Semitic and Chinese civilisations (e.g., similarities in ancient writing systems or flood narratives). Others favour Japheth, based on the broader geographic spread of his descendants.
As China’s Christian Persecution Rages, Is Biblical Faith in Decline or Thriving in the Shadows?
David Curry, CEO of Global Christian Relief, an organization that helps Christians under duress around the globe, believes the church in China based on our methodology, is somewhere around 120 million,” Curry said, though definitive numbers are difficult to determine. If true, this would mean some estimates are off by almost 100 million people. One of the challenges, Curry said, is using self-identifying religious data inside a country that openly punishes Christianity and those who choose to publicly align with the faith. “They have self-identifying as one of the factors which make the number incredibly low,” he said. “Historically, the Chinese church has been underground.” While the church came above ground in recent decades, the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping has created roadblocks and problems, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) increasingly cracking down on the faithful. The government looks down upon those who attend church regularly, and children cannot be legally aligned with any faith tradition. “[President Xi has] become more like a dictator,” he said. “It’s gone back underground, because of the increased restrictions. So, to be self-identified as a Christian means to put yourself in the crosshairs of a lot of government surveillance and other things, because Christian behaviour is punished in their social score system, and they have a very sophisticated way of monitoring this.”
In this photo taken Sunday, June 3, 2018, the demolished house church is seen in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province. Under President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, believers are seeing their freedoms shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival. Experts and activists say that as he consolidates his power, Xi is waging the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
As CBN News has reported, the CCP is reportedly also attempting to rewrite the Bible in its own image, with officials in one area also testing out a new app demanding citizens pre-register before attending religious services. “When you ask people if they’re Christian, they’re not likely to just raise their hand, wave, and jump up and down, and say, ‘Yeah, count me in your survey,’ because they know what it means,” Curry said. Despite these challenges, Curry believes Christianity is, in all reality, increasing in China, with a healthy underground church continuing to grow. “It’s under pressure … but the church of China is growing,” he said. “I think it’s healthy, despite a lot of the headwinds it’s facing right now.”
Curry said Chinese Christians could help believers in the West who are “in a mode of retreat” amid the cultural changes that have suddenly made those heralding biblical values persona non grata. “We’re in a defensive position,” he said. “And I think we need to look at the Chinese church and the church that’s under persecution in general as perhaps a model of how a church can grow in difficult times.”
We are fast approaching the Biblical prophesied last seven years before Jesus returns to Earth, to rescue the Saints and to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world. Persecution/Tribulation of Christians is prophesied to increase during the time the Antichrist will rule the world. Jesus has told us in advance so we will be prepared for the suffering knowing our redemption is close at hand.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14
“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28
The end times church will be faced with this question (face persecution of flee) more and more as Christians experience the coming prophesied tribulation in the last seven years before Jesus returns first to rapture His church and to pour out His wrath on a lawless, unrepentant world.
In this photo taken Sunday, June 3, 2018, the demolished house church is seen in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province. Under President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, believers are seeing their freedoms shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival. Experts and activists say that as he consolidates his power, Xi is waging the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Three years ago, 62 members of China’s Shenzhen Reformed Holy Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, fled to South Korea to escape persecution from the Communist government. They requested political asylum in South Korea but were denied. The church is now in Thailand, where members hope to gain refugee status, and eventually resettle in the United States. Until then, they face many challenges, including possible arrest by Thailand immigration police and being sent back to China.
The Mayflower Church believes that they are like the Israelites in Exodus who God brought out of Egypt. As well, if you study the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul fled persecution. Most Christian churches in the Western world would support the course of action taken by the Mayflower Church, however, many of the Chinese house church Christians have a self-identity of being “patriotic martyrs”. They are willing to suffer and be martyred for their faith. So when a group decides to leave persecution and martyrdom, that creates some tension in what has become a cultural and religious identity of the entire house church Protestant movement in China.
Regardless, it was encouraging to learn what Pastor Pan said in response to this contradictory view, “While church members still face restrictions and potential deportation, we enjoy the freedom we have to worship. I struggle with many uncertainties in my heart like most of my congregation. But we find strength every time we experience how God has been faithfully providing for our daily needs and how He is constantly protecting us from the evil men who want to harm us. “Whether we go live in the US or are taken back to China, we will regard this experience as listening to God’s call and continuing to be a vibrant testimony of His goodness and faithfulness.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping believes in the absolute power of the Party and wants his government to exert control over every aspect of Chinese life. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has severely cracked down on human rights, religious freedom and freedom of expression. Christians in China are experiencing some of the worst persecution in decades.
The recent arrest of a prominent church pastor underscores the level of persecution against Christians. Authorities in the city of Chengdu, in China’s southwest, recently arrested pastor Wang Yi, along with his wife and 100 members of his Church. Authorities shut down the church and charged pastor Wang with “inciting subversion of state power.”
Wang’s church, like scores of other congregations, is outside government control as part of China’s burgeoning so-called underground or house church movement. Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs, says this movement has touched every corner of China. “All across China, there are house churches, or what they call ‘family churches’ and the reason the Communist government is so worried is because there are far more Christians in China than there are members of the Communist Party,” Nettleton said.
In recent months, Beijing has waged a brutal and widespread crackdown to stop the growth of these unregistered churches. “This crackdown is a direct response to the fear of the Communist Party leaders who see the church growing faster than the party is,” Nettleton said. Fenggang Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, says what started several years ago as a small campaign against unregistered churches has turned into all-out war. “The campaign started first in Zhejiang province from 2014 to 2016,” Yang said. “Now, it is a nationwide campaign.” Now authorities routinely target houses of worship, destroy crosses, burn Bibles and arrest pastors.
Foreseeing his arrest, pastor Wang wrote a letter with instructions that it should be published if he went missing for more than 48 hours. In it, Wang vowed to use non-violent methods to stand against Chinese laws he believed were against the Bible and God.
“My saviour Christ also requires me to joyfully bear all costs for disobeying wicked laws,” Wang wrote.
Wang continued “I am filled with anger at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime, at their wickedness in depriving people of the freedoms of religion and of conscience. As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that are contrary to God’s word. Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family, the authorities are capable of doing all of these things,” Wang warned. “However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith; no one can make me change my life.”
The church needs to prepare for the coming tribulation which we know will escalate as we approach and move into the last seven years before Jesus returns to rule and reign in the Millennium. Jesus refers to great tribulation in the last half of 70th week of Daniel and prior to the Rapture of the church at the trumpet blast at the seventh seal and before God’s wrath is poured out with the trumpet and bowl judgements. Time is wonderfully short before Jesus return, but we need to be bold and courageous and open to the Holy Spirits lead to pray for and evangelise the lost.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 