Once I spoke in the West and a Christian told me, "I've been praying for years that the Communist government in China will collapse, so Christians can live in freedom." This is not what we pray! We never pray against our government or call down curses on them. Instead we have learned tat God is in control of both our own lives and the government we live under....Don't pray for the persection to stop! We shouldn't pray for a lighter load to carry, but a stronger back to endure! Then the wold will see that God is with us, empowering us to live in a way that reflects his love and power.
This is true freedom!
-Brother Yun, pastor in China under Communism
wow. just, wow.
About Me
- Sara without an H
- In my Father's house are many dwelling places, if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and recieve you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4 comments:
it's from a book called The Heavenly Man. you should read it, it's pretty much amazing.
Yeah I went to China once and the big thing that no one realizes about china is that there is no real persecution in China. Churches are public and its perfectly legal to worship in any form that you want in China, my mother prayed with another member of our church in front of an armed guard, we had 250 bibles printed LEGALLY in China, had them shipped LEGALLY to us and distributed them LEGALLY. The Church in China is alive and is trying to reach the rest of it with such vigor its amazing.
Be careful though sara there is a book out there that has caused quite a controversy with a pastor writing about his 'persecution' I forget what its called but when i talked to a pastor in China about it he said that 'its simply not true'
well, it's probably the book I read. It is legal in china now, and they've grown more open, but what this pastor was talking about was totally opposite.
Granted, he was also talking about the past fifty years, and really, religion under strict communism like Mao--yeah, Christianity didn't do so hot. The cultural revolution, great leap forward, all of that stuff had elements that targeted house churches. There were public churches all along, but they weren't real. They operated under government supervision, and never really reached the full extent of Jesus (if that made any sense at all).
and, not to downgrade your story, but the police aren't going to come up and start beating an american tourist. but like I said, the story isn't about right now, it's about the past ffty years or so.
In a country of 1.3 billion, there is truth in all the varying shades of gray between white and black. Just like we've seen evil and corruption in some police forces in the US and great care and commitment in others ~ the way citizens are treated can vary widely.
The book Ryan is talking about, is the same one to which Sara refers ~ The Heavenly Man. A gentleman, chinese scholar, and pastor that I know well has interviewed the writer and the words 'simply not true' were his summary of the book and author after personally spending time with him.
My sense is that it might be much like James Frey and a Million Little Pieces ~ there were probably events in China that pointed toward things written, but the book (i.e., the author's personal experiences) is not fact.
Unfortunately, persecution sells and generates donations :(
But beyond all that ~ I love the quote ~ it is our backs that need to be strengthened, not our burden's lightened :~)
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