China on fire

Ten thousand Chinese become Christians every single day Asia Times online reported earlier this month. Protestant numbers might vary from this a bit as the study was released by a Catholic reporter. Still.

The world of our grandparents is no more. Islam is taking over Europe. Western culture is no longer primarily "Christian" as was true a century ago. But Asia....!

China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East. Read the rest.

Journey - Part Three

For as long as I can remember I knew I wanted to be either a mommy or a missionary--or both! I dreamed of the day I could finally travel to the Third World countries to work with the orphans, the lepers, the displaced and hungry. An African hut sounded great--bring on the adventure!

As the years passed I set foot in Morocco, China, and Syria. I planned to learn Arabic, buy my food fresh in the market everyday and wear the salwar I bought in a Chicago Pakistani neighborhood. My lifelong yearning to see Israel came to fruition last year. Yet with the fulfillment of one dream came the final death of another.

One thing I neglected to mention above about my time in Morocco, China, and the Middle East was how sick I became. Every trip started well. Sometime in the first third of the visit I would begin to get sick. In every case I became so miserably ill that I could barely sleep or eat--I just wanted to go home...or die. Some of my most vivid memories of all those countries revolve around the sleepless nights spent on the floor of the bathroom. Or counting the minutes until the bus would stop and I could lie down.

Long before Israel Dad had gently broached the idea that I might not be strong enough for the kind of rigorous life I desired. But stubbornness is an inherited trait. I can do it! Let me try. Not until the third day of our trip, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee did I finally give in and understand. I can't do this. And I was devastated.

There I was, in the place I wanted to be more than anywhere else on earth--with the people I most wanted to be with--exploring ancient ruins and digs, climbing mountains and visiting kibbutzim and I could barely eat or walk. Why, God? Why can't I do it? I'm trying so hard. Sometime during that trip--probably the same morning I was sitting in the hotel chair at 3 am trying to eat crackers while counting how many days I had to survive before going home--I gave up. And a burden rolled off my shoulders I had not realized was even present.

My dad taught me that I am not less of a person because I am fragile. "Use the gifts and talents God has given you," he says. I clearly do not have the gifts of an iron stomach and stalwart immune system. I do possess a love of the written word and burden to encourage and "love on" young ladies. My heartbeat is for ministry--which can even be done cross-culturally without leaving the Midwest thanks to our new global society. I could stop trying to force myself to be something other than what God made me to be.

Recently a friend posed a profound question. "Does God give us dreams and desires only to tell us no? Are they tests? Or am I not enough in tune with God if I am feeling this disappointment?"

Is it just me or does it appear that the further one journeys the more questions one finds?

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body (1 Cor. 12:14-20).

Perhaps my part in the Body is not as adventurous or physical or even noticeable. I did not choose my part--God did. Believe me, my choice of dreams, thorns, and experiences would have been far different. Praise God that He is sovereign and we are under the shadow of His wings.

to be continued...

The follow-up to "Daughter of China"

A while back I reviewed C. Hope Flinchbaugh's Daughter of China for the YLCF bookshelf. When I saw that she was releasing a new title on the persecuted Chinese church called Across the China Sky, I got my hands on it as quickly as possible.

This fictional book follows the relationship of a young engaged Chinese couple, Mei Lin and Liko, who struggle to keep their love alive while being separated. While Mei Lin serves in an orphanage for the summer, Liko is kidnapped by the dangerous Eastern Lightning cult, who attempt to brainwash, seduce, and coerce him into accepting false beliefs.

Though the characters first appeared in Daughter of China, this sequel can also be read independent of the first novel. The story is no fanciful imaginative tale either; Flinchbaugh went to China during her research to talk with pastors who had been held captive by the Eastern Lightning cult. Across the China Sky would be less uncomfortable if it were not so true-to-life. Unfortunately, it sheds light on reality for countless believers in East Asia.

Finding families for orphans

I first heard about Holt International at a concert in January. Back in 1955 after the Korean war, a couple with six children from Oregon petitioned for an act of Congress to allow them to adopt 8 orphans from Korea. Thus began Holt International, which has now placed over 60,000 orphans into loving families all over the world.

Not everyone can adopt a child, but one thing I can do as a single girl is provide the financial support for an orphan to receive food and medical care while waiting to be adopted. They have the opportunity to be in a loving home environment (foster families) until they are adopted. One of my close friends from Korea was placed by Holt years ago...when I learned this it made their work all the more real--it has changed lives of loved ones.

My little boy is Yue Ling from China. He turned 2 on May 3rd and he is so precious! He does not like dogs, is able to walk on his own now, and has the cutest little nose I've ever seen! I may not meet him on this earth, but for now he is mine to pray for and support. I thank God He has given me this opportunity to help "one of the least of these."

View the children waiting for a sponsor.

Picture: This little boy from East Asia is still waiting for a sponsor and then adoption. You can see him in the Holt photolisting by clicking on the link above.

Two things

My mom recommended the following great movie on China. I have not seen it yet but am looking forward to doing so when I return to the States. As always, use discernment, but if you have any interest in China and its many unwanted orphans, you will want to look into seeing A Home Beyond the Sun.

I spent the weekend with my Okinawa family at Okuma resort with our church. Our service this morning was held on the beach followed by a baptism in the East China Sea. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Last night on the beach as I stood looking up at the stars, I was overwhelmed by the vast transcendence of our mighty God--and yet His infinitely tender love for us, His children.

I can attest to this

When I was in Beijing the air was so full of smog it was sometimes difficult to breathe. We drove by where the 2008 Olympic Village is supposed to be...how are they going to get it in a liveable condition in time?

This article on the problem shows others have realized cleaning up China may not be feasible in time.

Chinese babies sold on ebay

The BBC reported on an investigation going on regarding kidnapped babies being sold on China's version of ebay. Because of China's one-child policy in much of the nation, many families who want more children have done so illegally or by paying the hefty fine required.

Bring Me Hope!

Grab the box of Klenex and visit Bring Me Hope to watch their eye-opening video on China's orphans. This organization, run by a Christian family, hosts summer camps for orphans as well as adoptions. You can also request a DVD by mail to share with your friends and family.

On the same vein, I wanted to recommend this sweet book for children, "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes," which prompted my sister to want to adopt from China.

Did you know...

When we had company tonight my Dad was sharing some things about China and various other fields that are either rapidly closing or opening to the gospel. I realized that some of you might be interested to hear a little about one of my favorite countries.

Many believe China will be the next Christian nation--though my dad is not certain of that occurring while still under Communist government. No matter, there are more Christians there than anywhere else in the world, and the number of people coming to Christ everyday is in the tens of thousands. Not that we can estimate exactly--most of it is in the underground churches.

China's churches are vibrant and growing because of many factors, but one of these is that the discipleship process forces growth and rapid reproduction. When a person is being taught by an older believer, not only must they embrace the truth and obey it, they must then teach it to someone else before they will be taught the next part from their mentor. So one person is never just getting fed--they must also be discipling others and those people must be teaching others...and on and on and on. This has resulted in an explosion of church growth all across the nation.

China's underground church leadership has a vision of sending 100,000 missionaries west from China toward Jerusalem to evangelize Central Asia and the Middle East. This movement is gaining momentum with each year that passes. And with 52 unreached people groups in their path, amazing things are beginning to happen.

Keep your eye on China. ;)

Follow-up on Russia...

After my last post about China and Russia I received contact from a girl who just returned from Russia. I appreciated her perspective. I do not discredit my source for the information that Russia was closed, but I also wanted to show her side of things.

She wrote: My family just returned home on Wed. with our 2 Russian children which we officially adopted last week, so I wanted to encourage you with the fact that Russia has not closed adoptions yet. There is word that they may very, very soon, but right now they have not. Also, the Russian people are not at all open to American adoptions. Most believe that Americans simply adopt to harvest the children's organs. This has been "confirmed" in their minds by the adopted child killed in S. Carolina (I think) recently and a woman in one of their gov. minstries who is very opposed to adoption.

Too real to be just a dream....

I had a dream last night. Enough for me to wake up with an aching heart. It was so real.

I was back in China...*deep breath* We were working and I stumbled the wrong way and found myself in a horrible place...the room was full of dirty beds and cribs and every inch of space was taken. Little babies, newborns, some nearly a year old, stuffed three and four to a crib, neglected, ignored, filthy, hungry. It was horrific. Then someone grabbed me...I could not be there.

Then I was outside with a friend trying to reach a certain place in time...there were five babies left in a trash heap. I was crying...we picked one up and he was still alive...but the next did not move. Wake up.... Then we were trying to bring the abandoned ones home with us. They would not let us. I kept pleading...wanting to sign the paperwork... and I just cried. Why? Why would they let their own people die, starve, or rot in filthy institutions instead of let them be adopted by people who so desperately love them?

There was more...not sure at the legality of this part of my dream but somehow I was smuggling three babies back to America and made it. I remember very clearly holding one in my arms while Carson took another, and feeding them milk bit by bit. And then I woke up...exhautsed.

I never could have come up with that dream on my own. It was like a punch in the stomach. Yet parts of it are true. From a friend I know that conditions exist like that for the orphans across China. More than we could ever imagine. And we tried to visit an orphanage when we were there but high authorities would not let us. That was tough--and if I ever go back I am going to get to one if it is the last thing I do. :)

And China is one of the most difficult countries to adopt children from. I do not want to be cynical, but I am afraid I may not get my opportunity. The couple must be at least 30 years old, and that is 9 years from now. With the state of relations between China and America, especially with China and Russia being in alliance against us, it would not surprise me if China followed Russia in refusing to allow America to adopt anymore. Russia did this just a few months ago, and it created an uproar. Even the Russian people were furious, saying their children would die when loving families wanted to take them.

Perhaps God will yet answer that desire in my heart to have Chinese babies of my very own.

How could anyone not want a baby?

A must-read in every way!

Daughter of China

Anyone who regularly reads our blog knows of my deep passion for the Chinese people and their church. Fiction that accurately portrays life for believers in the Far East is rare, but next to Safely Home, Daughter of China by C. Hope Flinchbaugh is my favorite. In many ways, I was able to relate more to Daughter of China because the heroine is just my age--and experiencing so many of the same feelings. Mei Lin is just an ordinary girl until she finds herself running from the police, imprisoned, and finds all her hopes and dreams crushed.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?sku=WW27319&event=AFF&p=1011666

This book maybe fiction but it is similar to countless stories of real life young Christian ladies who are in China today. I met some of them when I was there last year, and can never forget their faces or their stories. 19 and 20 years old, unable to go home because of the police, spending their lives underground and ministering to their fellow believers however possible...it is a life we cannot possibly imagine in the West. Any book that draws us a little nearer and forces us to ask ourselves how *we* would respond if facing similar trials, is a book I will applaud.

If you do not want your heart to break for the reality of life in China, both for believers and for all the precious orphans, do not read this book. The best fiction mirrors truth, and this book shows so clearly what I have seen with my own eyes to be true--the living conditions, the persecution, the vibrant faith--that it is unforgettable.

To understand the heartbeat of the Chinese church you must read this book.
- Tom White, Director, The Voice of the Martrys

YLCF Bookshelf Favorite

This is not a book for those of you who wish to remain comfortable

Ever since I taught English in China I have had a pervading interest in all things related to that amazing land in the Far East. I read all I could on its culture and history, tried to learn some Mandarin, and when I saw this new book by Nelson Current, I knew I had to read it.

Now I only hope that those who govern our country will also read this book—they need to! China: The Gathering Threat was written by the late Constantine Menges, who was a national security expert who advised President Reagan and the CIA. His book discloses that the major threat to America’s safety is not in the Middle East, in terrorism and Islam, but in the Far East—in China and Russia. This massive 550 page tome is no easy read—I haven’t finished it yet but I’m going to make an effort—but it is worth every minute spent. The more I read the more I feel so ignorant and uninformed. Why isn’t this stuff more widely known? How can we get the word out?

This isn’t a book written on media hype—in fact it may not get much coverage because it is disclosing things people are not going to be comfortable with. I am very interested to see how the media reacts. And if we will hear any comments from the PRC about the publicity.

In a nutshell: America’s safety and security are gravely imperiled by an increasingly militaristic and hostile People’s Republic of China. Communist leadership in Beijing has been developing a strategic alliance with Russia that could severely jeopardize American national security.

Yes, I knew that China has threatened war if we interfere with their conflict with Taiwan. Yes I know that they are still Communist in far more than name—despite their attempts to appear democratic and Western. I’ve been there and I see how they treat their people. Despite the upper classes’ never-ending urge to be like America, there is no love lost between us.

Did you know China has stolen American nuclear weapons designs? That they control more than $200 billion of our national debt? And the billions upon billions of dollars of products we import from China—you do know that most of that is produced by slave labor, right? You didn’t know that? I’ve seen it. It’s not getting better. People are not having better lives as Western living creeps in. And look at this quote Menges cites:

War with the United States is inevitable…the Chinese armed forces must control the initiative…we must make sure that we would win this modern high tech war that the mighty bloc headed by the U.S. Hegemonists may launch to interfere with our affairs. General Chi Hoatian, minister of defense, People’s Republic of China, 1999

Then again: Hegemonism and power politics (by the US) remain the main threats to world peace and stability. This was in a paper on National Defense China published in 1998.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a book more well-documented in every detail it presents. There are no loopholes, no room for someone to say Menges doesn’t know what he is talking about. I’m beginning to feel that it is the rest of us—those of us who yes have been to China and think we understand the situation in some small way—we are the ones who don’t know what we’re talking about.

Let’s not get caught thinking our American ways are best, and that America is the country to lead in the future. Mandarin, not English, is the language spoken by the most people in the world, with Spanish close behind. English is not going to be the language of choice in the future. China, look to China. That is where things are building to a climax—though what the next months and years hold is known only by God. So let’s be alert and informed, shall we?

YLCF Bookshelf Favorite

On Chinese brides...

This article is very disturbing, especially since I have been to China and seen these things. In many many areas girls are unwanted. One of my close friends there is only alive because her parents were extremely wealthy and so were able to afford to keep her alive as a second child--the government would have forced an abortion otherwise.

Don't forget to pray for China.

I think Gretchen and I are both too busy to blog much. :)

China babies...

"Singer Steven Curtis Chapman and wife Mary Beth recently brought hom to Franklin, Tenn., their newly adopted daughter, 14-month-old Maria Sue Chapman. She is the couple's third daughter adopted from China and their sixth child. Steven bonded with Maria, a "special needs" child because of a potential heart condition, while visiting an orphanage and foster homes for children in China." -From Christian Retailing magazine

China

In sheer numbers, China is the world's worst persecutor of Christians. More Christians are currently in Chinese prisons than in all other countries' prisons combined. Communist Party leaders continue their attempts to control all aspects of the lives of Chinese people. In spite of government efforts, the church continues to grow.

Mr. Zhang Yi-nan was arrested the morning of September 26, 2003, along with Mr. Xiao Bi-guang, another house church leader who was released after 15 days of Administrative Detention. Zhang's wife Ding Guizhen, a nurse, was removed from her post in the operating room and taken to their home, where Public Security Bureau officers confiscated documents and a computer. Zhang has been charged with "subverting the Chinese government and socialist order." The authorities apparently used his personal prayer journal against him.
(from www.prisoneralert.com)

Orphans in China

I am finishing a book recommended to me by the team I going to East Asia with, and made the mistake of trying to read the rest while I ate a quick breakfast this morning. Mom had warned me that the end was very difficult but I still was not prepared to just start crying at how horrible the truth is. I still feel sick to my stomach.

The problem with this book, "Daughter of China" by C. Hope Flinchbaugh, is that you can't shrug it aside. It's not history that you read but cannot change--it's reality that is happening right now. And as I read this I realize that this is the situation right now in China, and I am going to be going there. There is no avoiding the confrontation with this tragic reality. That's what is hard to deal with. What am I do to? What can I do? I can't just sit and do nothing.

The author has a website that offers more information. I encourage you to read this book and be challenged. As Dr. Clive Calver, president of World Relief said, "If you want to feel comfortable, leave this book well alone!"

The future of Christianity does not lie in the Western hemisphere...

If you are looking for a phenomenal read on modern Christianity in China, David Aikman's "Jesus in Beijing" is the one-stop choice that will transform your view of East Asia. This book is not only one of the best sources of information on the subject, but it is current, concise, and clear. It's a very enjoyable way to learn; Aikman's personal experiences will cement the facts in your mind and your heart will be involved despite your attempts to remain unbiased. This is a powerful book.
A quote from an endorsement:

Few doubt that China will play a critical global role in world politics and economic development in the twenty-first century. As David Aikman shows in his powerful and inspiring book, events in China will also be critical to world religious affairs, and specifically the fate of Christianity.

"Resurrection Power in China" by Tom White

The latest (April 2004) issue of Voice of the Martyrs' magazine has an excellent article on persecution in China by VOM director Tom White. A quote:

Perhaps you want to know why the Christian population in China has grown a hundredfold since 1949? You have to press the olives to get the oil. THe majority of our house-church pastors have been imprisoned or killed [some sickening stories of the horrors pastors have been going through]...we have thousands of these examples of persecution.
Tom White closed with Philippians 3:10.

Church Destruction in China

Voice of the Martyrs released a special report last week that in China there has been churches being destroyed, including many historic sites.

There has been a new crackdown on unregistered churches that were built before the Chinese Christian Manifesto of 1950...Believers who have attempted to peacefully protest the destruction have been dragged off. Some have been severely beaten...this video footage was recorded at great risk as evidence of the persecution facing unregistered believers in China.

Also check out Prisoner Alert, a new website of VOM to pray for and petition for the release of Christians in prison in countries such as China, Pakistan, and Eritrea.