bible-society-said-demand-for-bibles-is-growing-in-chinaQuestion: What do you say to those Christians who say we must obey the laws of the land, and the laws of China right now say you can not print Bibles except through the Amity Press?
brother Paul: I agree that we should always obey the laws of governments and those in authority, as long as those laws do not go against the higher law of God. Jesus commanded us to go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all of mankind.
About 60 countries in the world today do not allow missionaries and are hostile to the message of Christ. Should we obey the laws of the land and forget about the hundreds of millions of people who live in those countries? Should we let them go to hell without hearing about Jesus?
Was Daniel misguided when he refused to obey the law of the land to bow before an idol? Were Peter and John sinning when they defied orders to stop telling people about Jesus? Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we can not help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).
I suspect many Christians today use the “obey the laws of the land” verse as a self-righteous excuse for doing nothing.
Jesus commanded us to feed those who are hungry, and in China today there are multitudes of His children spiritually starving because of a lack of God’s Word.
We look forward to a day when Bibles are freely available to all people in China—including house church Christians. In the meantime, we continue to print as many Bibles as God grants us the ability to do.
Question: How can people reading this interview respond?
brother Paul: On behalf of the Christians in China, I would firstly ask you to pray. The structure is already in place to supply many millions more Bibles to the house churches than are currently being provided. Please pray that the most basic need every Christian has—access to God’s Word—would not be hindered.
There is no point us trying to persuade people to get involved with this need by mere human strength or reasoning. Please ask the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s heart on this matter, so that more people and churches might respond to this need from a position of understanding and because they see a God-given opportunity to make a strategic difference in the lives of many.
Part of the problem is a lack of support. Quite simply, the more funds come in, the more Bibles we can print and deliver for $1.80 each.
Amid all the talk of millions of Bibles needed, let’s remember that each individual person is precious to God. These Bibles go to real believers, young and old, who have been saved by the grace of God, and who desire to know more of the Lord Jesus. For this reason, every single Bible is precious and life-changing. Every donation to this project is important and strategic, whatever the amount. Please also consider sharing the need for Bibles in China with your Christian friends and relatives.
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1I wonder what the leaders and members of that one congregation would say if we met with them and asked them to abandon their plans? Instead, they could remain in their existing building and use the spare money to provide more than 22 million Bibles to the Christians in China, who in turn would lead 40, 50, or 60 million lost souls into the kingdom of God.
The above example is just one congregation, in one medium-size city, in one state of America.
There are countless other examples of far more lavish expenditure on things God has little interest in. It is by no means just an American problem either. One church in Singapore has recently raised $400 million to construct their new church building!
All of this must look very strange in heaven, the dwelling place of our God who “is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands” (Acts 17:24).
So after sharing this perspective, let me ask you this rhetorical question: is $61 million really a lot of money for the whole Body of Christ to provide so that all believers in China will have a Bible?
Could it be that the main reason the Gospel has yet to impact thousands of people groups in the world after 2,000 years is because Christians have their priorities all messed up?
I am reminded of a church in Australia who stopped supporting all of their missionaries, and instead used the money to pay for a 20-minute fireworks display. I’m sure it was an amazing show, but what does God think of such things? I could continue with many similar examples but they wouldn’t be very edifying!
Please pray our Heavenly Father would break through the spiritual blindness. Pray the Holy Spirit would reveal God’s broken heart about those in China and elsewhere who are without access to His Word.
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ASIA HARVEST LOGOYou can donate at Asia Harvest and for $1.80 have a bible in the hands of an underground chinese house church believer.
http://asiaharvest.org/china-bible-fund/
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“Christianity was birthed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and will only continue as we have this empowering from above. God is always looking for the willing vessels that will trust Him afresh for the impossible.” from: Principles for the gathering of Believers under the Headship of Jesus Christ.Since 2012, a growing group of believers in North America started to warn of coming persecution to western countries. This message was shared in a variety of ways. One of the responses to this was to compile a book taking principles from underground Churches around the world of how they thrived under pressure and persecution. The volume, Principles for the Gathering of Believers, had in a short time over 50,000 downloads in ebook format and much interest was shown. Some new house churches started through this and other existing groups were encouraged.