Explosive Christianity in China

The Souls of China

If you are looking for a book about religion in  China after Mao, you probably couldn't do better than the one by Ian Johnson. But let me spare you from wading through 450 pages!

Most of the book needn't be read, for it is about different false religions in that land. The worthwhile chapters are the first and last along with all the chapters about the Early Rain Church in the 16 million city of Chengdu, where Wang Yi is pastor.

The Revival of All Religion

This book makes a good case for the general religious nature of mankind. The communists could not rid their people of the God-given natural religious impulse of mankind. Idols to every god is how the Athenians expressed this nature.

Mankind is incurably religious.

So it was inevitable that when Mao clamped down on religion it would merely go underground, and when this was impossible, that the Communist Party would seek to adapt its attiude to religion to take into account this fact. Document 19 expressed their new but still controlled attitude towards religion.

After the death of Mao in 1974 the nation went into crisis. Their god had died. As they became richer they realised that their unhappiness was not tied to their poverty:

“We thought we were unhappy because we were poor. But now a lot of us aren’t poor any more, and yet we are still unhappy. We realize there something missing and that’s a spiritual life.”

And so they began to seek for answers:

“..hundreds of millions of Chinese are consumed with doubt about their society and turning to religion and faith for answers that they do not find in the radically secular world constructed around them. They wonder what more there is to life than materialism and what makes a good life..”

So that now, Johnson says,

“It is hardly an exaggeration to say China is undergoing a spiritual revival similar to the Great Awakening in the United States in the 19^th C.”

The result has been a dramatic increase in all religious activity, but especially a turn to the true and living God.

More people are Christians than belong to the Communist party and the rate of growth of evangelical Christianity is around 7% per year!

Reflections

My sad  guess is that this book (2017) probably contributed to the arrest and imprisonment of pastor Wang Yi in late 2019. The author, who does not appear to be a believer, just writes - as journalists think they must - all the truth without any idea of its consequences. So many details about Wang Yi and the Early Rain church should have been left out. Why the members of that church trusted a secular journalist is also strange.

Jesus, especially in Mark's Gospel, continually kept good news out of the public eye so that he did not bring forward his arrest and death.

We learn so much about the white-washing of history by the communists. One of the truths that led Wang Yi to Christ was the way missionaries to China had done such good and been responsible for many of their best institutions. All of this he had to find out for himself!

We learn how Wang Yi is able to use the massive positive influence of Christianity on China as a major tool in his evangelistic outreach.

We learn that faithfulness to the Gospel will result in persecution. Wnag Yi and his wife were imprisoned. His wife has been released but he has been given a nine-year sentence and his 13 year old son has to live under surveillance.

We learn above all else that Christ will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against him or his kingdom.

So let us double our efforts at reaching out to the lost and pray that the Lord will grant to us a harvest of disciples.

Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days Move Monday 27th July 2020!

Please note that all Manor Park Church's Daily Devotionals have moved to the site below, from Monday 27th July 2020. Click on the icon below to take you there.

We hope and pray that you continue to enjoy them there.

In due time the audio will be available at the bottom of each page, but that may take a while to get started. Please be patient!

Roy will continue blogging at this site......

Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [131] Shine Like Stars

Shine like stars

 The song for this week is ‘Stars’ by Slugs and Bugs. You can listen to it here. We now listen to a lot of Slugs and Bugs in our house and in the car as Isaac loves the songs and often as he is playing with toys he will be singing one of their songs. The really great this about their songs is that they sing scripture, so the songs become great ways of learning Bible verses. They simply take verses from the Bible and sing them to a (often!) catchy tune and we’ve found that they stick in your head for hours.

This song is taken from Philippians 2:14-16 which says:

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life.

 Those few verses certainly pack a punch and are full with challenges as to how we live our lives as Christians.

 No grumbling or arguing

Living with two toddlers I can certainly say this isn’t easy for them! But if we are honest with ourselves, it’s definitely a challenge to us adults as well. Since I decided to write a devotion on this song, I have realised just how much I grumble about things. Some things in life are a real joy and pleasure to do but others are simply hard work. The nice things are easy to do with a good attitude, but this verse is telling us that we also need to do the harder things without grumbling or complaining.

So, how do we combat this? Well, we look to Jesus who for our sake endured the most agonising death to win our freedom. And he didn’t moan, complain or grumble along the way. In contrast to what Christ did, the things we moan about are miniscule. Let’s look to his example!

We also combat it by remembering the purpose for not grumbling or arguing. The purpose is so that we are blameless and pure. It’s a way in which we can be distinct from the world around us and, in so doing, model Jesus to the world. As we show the joy we have through faith in Jesus by not moaning and grumbling we show the difference knowing God makes in our daily life – that our hearts have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

Without fault

Wow, that is a high calling! The world around us is a long way from the world as God designed it. Our Western culture is trampling on God’s good and perfect order and design. It is not difficult to stand out for God in our modern culture, but it is certainly hard and will require sacrifice, boldness and a love of God’s truth.

To live faultless lives, we need to first know how God designed and wants us to live which means we need to spend time in God’s word. We then need to spend hours on our knees asking God to give us the strength to resist temptation, fight evil desires and live for him. Then we need to get some close Christian brothers or sisters who we can be open and honest with so that we can support each other in our walk with Jesus to live a blameless and pure life.

With all that said, we need to remember we are still sinners and will mess up. And when we do, we need to pick ourselves up, ask God for forgiveness and continue to seek to follow God. A phrase a pastor I know loves is, ‘Never stop restarting’. When we mess up and sin the devil loves to pile on the guilt and stop us from coming to God but the very thing we need to do is come straight back to God, ask for forgiveness and for the strength to resist next time.

 Shine like stars

What is the purpose of all of this? To show Jesus to the world around us. Have you ever been out on a clear night and looked up into the sky and been mesmerised but all the stars? It’s amazing, isn’t it, how those little lights are so bright against the black background. That is what we should be like in this world. In a world that is dark and full of evil, as followers of Christ we are to be like bright shining stars bringing the light of Jesus into the darkness. The Christians who have the biggest evangelistic impact are the ones who not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk. Often before we can have the opportunity to speak the gospel to people, we need to have earnt the right by living out the gospel first.

Prayer for today

Heavenly Father,

We come to you today and ask that you will renew our joy found through faith in you. We thank you for Jesus, that He willingly went to the cross for us whilst we were still sinners. May the joy of knowing you and the hope we have be expressed in our daily lives. We ask that through the power of your Spirit at work is us you will strengthen us to resist the temptations and desires of this world, to resist the desire to argue or grumble and instead to live a pure and blameless life that displays you to the world.

We pray all this so that you may be glorified through us. Thank you that we can be called children of God.

We pray all this in Jesus’ name,

Amen

                                      Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [130] Memorable Verses

When I were a Lad

When I was a boy, growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, my missionary dad would drive us to school each day and back in our ancient green jalopy Jeep.

On the way there and on the way back my father trained his six children into two spiritual disciplines. First we learnt Christian songs off by heart. These were generally simpler chorus types such as:

I met Jesus at the cross roads,
Where the two ways meet;
Satan too was standing there,
And he said 'Come this way,
Lots  and lots of pleasures I can give to you this day.'
But I said 'No!  there's Jesus here,
Just  see what He offers me:
Down here my sins forgiven,
Up there, a home in heaven;'
Praise  God that's the way for me. (listen HERE)

Then we learnt Bible verses off by heart. Lots and lots of Bible verses! All in the good 'ole King James Version.

The logic of my dad was two-fold. First, let's not waste precious time. Second, and more importantly, let's fill our minds with godly wholesome thoughts, for what we think is what we are and what we shall become.

Over the next few weeks we plan to meditate on some of the great memorable verses of Scripture. Why don't you learn them off by heart each day? But to start us off let's meditate on the lost discipline of Bible memorization.

The Blessings of Bible Memorization

There are many reasons to memorise passages of the Bible. Here are four.

Jesus memorised the Bible. We know that because when Satan tempted him in the desert, without a scroll in his back pocket or a Bible App he was able to quote Scripture from memory and send the tempter away, tail between legs.

Scripture itself encourages us to memorise Scripture. The Lord says to Joshua - and to all would-be-wise believers - "Do not let this Book of the law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)

Memorising Scripture purifies the mind. We all know how our minds can wander off in directions that are not helpful. Paul encourages us like this, "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

Memorising Scripture  keeps us from sin. Here is our memory verse for today, Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Memorising Scripture equips us for the spiritual battle we all face every day, from the flesh, the world and especially from the Evil One.

The Practise of Memorization

One way to memorise a Bible verse is to break it down into smaller chunks and to repeat the first chunk until it is remembered, and then memorise the second part and repeat the first two parts together, and so on, adding new parts until the whole is remembered.

A second way is to place the verse on one side of a card and the reference on the other and on some days repeat the verse from just the reference ("John 3:16") and on other days remember the reference from the verse.

If you have never learnt Scripture off by heart, it's never too late to start and benefit from having Scripture in mind and heart. If you are a parent what a wonderful way to use and spend your car journeys.

Psalm 119:11, encourages us to hide God's word in our hearts. The mind is where memorization will store it. Prayerful meditation will store it deeper within our hearts, from which it will become, by the Holy Spirit, the spring of life.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

A lovely simple song, based on Psalm 119:11, to teach the kids in the car, or to sing while doing the dishes.

Thy Word have I hid in my heart
That I might not sin against thee;
That I might not sin, that I might not sin,
Thy word have I hid in my heart.

You can sing along HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our loving and forgiving Father in heaven,

We thank you for these summer days and for every material blessing that comes from your hands. For homes and food, drink and warm beds to sleep on we thank you.

We thank you for your Holy Word. We thank you that while heaven and earth will pass away, your Word, the Word of Christ, will never pass away.

Help us to treasure it by memorising it and more than that, by storing it up in our hearts, that it would become, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the wellspring of our lives.

We ask these things in Jesus Name,

Amen

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash