Last week was the first part of the interview with Paul Hattaway on the topic of the incredible need for Bibles in China. Here we pick up where we left off.
Q: The Amity Press, which prints Bibles with government permission inside China, report to have printed tens of millions of Bibles in China since its inception. Surely many of these find their way to the house churches too?
A: The numbers of Bibles reportedly produced by Amity Press are impressive. What they fail to mention is that two-thirds of the Bibles they print are for export! Amity Press has become one of the largest commercial printers in the world, and two-thirds of the Bibles they produce are in other languages and are exported out of China. If you have a look at an English NIV Bible, for example, don’t be surprised if it says it was printed in China.
The bottom line is that the Chinese Bibles that do remain in the country are for distribution among the members of the Three-Self churches. The more that 50 million house church Christians struggle to pick up more than a few crumbs that fall from the table of the registered church.
Many house church leaders have shared with us that they consider being deprived of Bibles as another form of persecution.
We are not ashamed to say how privileged we are to serve the illegal and increasingly-neglected house churches of China. We aim, by God’s grace, to provide as many Bibles to our dear brothers and sisters as the Lord grants us the resources to print and deliver.
Q: 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?
A: 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 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 and bow before an idol? Were Peter and John sinning when they defied the 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.
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 so.
Q: Some people say the house churches should get their Bibles via the government churches. Is this possible?
A: Some well-meaning missionaries have told me that official channels in China will provide Bibles to the house churches if we ask. I reply, ‘Great! We need 50,000 Bibles delivered here, and 35,000 delivered there,’ and so on. Immediately my friends’ eyes look down, as they realize they can’t help with so many. If we needed 50 or 100 Bibles it could be arranged, but such a tiny trickle of Scriptures is like trying to put out a raging forest fire with a garden hose!
Even if the house churches were able to access larger quantities of Bibles that have been printed for the registered churches, this might temporarily alleviate some of the needs, but doing this would not add a single Bible to the total number available in China. In a way it would be like taking a bucket of water from one end of a swimming pool and pouring it into the other end.
Q: How can people reading this interview respond?
A: 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.
Part of the problem is lack of support. Quit 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.
The rest of the interview will continue and conclude in parts three and four of this series.
Interview except taken from Asia Harvest newsletter #109, pages 6 and 7. Reproduced with permission.
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