Previous on this blog, we posted a series (8/23/11 and 8/30/11)of
articles that consisted of an interview with Paul Hattaway, director of Asia
Harvest. This is a follow-up interview with Hattaway on the same topic. A
second part to this interview will be posted shortly.
GOA has had the privilege of working with Asia
Harvest to produce thousands of Bibles all across China. We ask you to come
beside us and help us as we continue to work with various mission
organizations, including Asia Harvest, to print thousands of pieces of gospel
literature throughout Asia. By the grace of God, we have been able to raise and
send over thirteen thousand dollars to the mission field in the last two years.
Last
year we spoke about the emergency need for Bibles in China. How has been the
progress of the project over the past year?
Paul
Hattaway: We praise God that many people
responded with prayer and generous support, and we have experienced a sharp
increase in the number of Bibles printed and distributed in the house churches.
In 2011 we were privileged to provide just under 1.6
million Chinese Bibles, which works out to one Bible printed every 20 seconds.
A single snowflake is fragile and easily brushed
aside. But if enough snowflakes join together they can become strong enough to
stop a large truck in its tracks!
Similarly, the strength of the Bible project is in
the fact that many of normal Christians have heard about the
need, and have
sensed the Lord wanted them to help.
The overwhelming majority of people who give to this
project are not wealthy. The average donation we receive is in the $20 to $50
range. Added together, the result has been a very powerful force for the
kingdom of God!
You
mentioned how Bibles are like bread to starving Christians in China. Is that
analogy accurate? Are the believers really starving?
Hattaway:
How healthy would your Christian walk be if you were a new believer and had no
way of reading God’s Word for yourself?
I think it is often hard for people in other
countries to comprehend the value of a Bible in China. Whereas in nations where
Bibles are plentiful, [where] they often sit unread on people’s shelves, in
China the Word of God is like the pearl of great price Jesus spoke of (Matt.
13:44-45).
Let me remind you that these are fellow Christians
who need God’s Word. They are our family members, millions of them, who have
heard the Good News about Jesus and responded to it by repenting of their sins
and believing. Tragically, their faith often stagnates because of a lack of
understanding, due to their inability to get a Bible.
It is clear to me and those I work with that one
main way China tries to stop the spread of the house churches is to deliberately
starve them from access to Bibles. The hope is that the house churches will
stop spreading the faith, and will gradually decay and crumble. It is a kind of
spiritual genocide against the house churches of China.
‘Spiritual
genocide’ is a strong phrase to use. Can you explain what you mean?
Hattaway:
The
dictionary defines “genocide” as “the
deliberate and systemic extermination of national, racial, political or
cultural group.”
From the time Communism first appeared, it has been
a priority of governments to crush religion, especially Christianity. The
founder of this godless ideology, Karl Marx, stated, “Religion is the sigh of
the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of
soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
As most people how, there are two main kinds of
churches in China today: those approved by the government, and churches that
refuse to register or come under government control. These latter congregations
are commonly referred to as ‘house churches’ or ‘underground churches’. Every
Bible we print and deliver is to a house church Christian.
I believe China long ago realized they could not
totally destroy Christianity, although they tried hard to do so in the 1960s
and 70s. Today, the strategy is more one of containment. They don’t mind too
much if Christians agree to meet in approved church buildings which they can
exert an element of control over. Indeed, they have even agreed to print a
limited number of Bibles for such ‘patriotic’ Christians who attend these
churches.
What China loathes is the kind of vibrant
Christianity which refuses to be contained within the four walls of a church
building. Such faith scares the government, because it spread quickly like
wildfire, transforming lives and making millions of people willing to live and
die for a new Master, Jesus Christ!
We do not have anything against Christians who meet
in government approved churches―indeed, God is moving powerfully in many of
them. We supply Bibles to the house churches simply because they have far less
opportunity to access God’s Word that those who attend a government church.
Most of the areas where our Bibles are distributed are extremely poor farming
areas in remote provinces like Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Qinghai.
Another way they achieve this goal is to spread
clever propaganda throughout the Christian world, telling them, among other
things, that Bibles are plentiful in China today. They may be if you attend a
government church, but if you are a rural house Christian, it seems you are
looked down upon and treated like a second-class Christians, not only by the
government but sadly, even by some other members of the Body of Christ.
What
is the best way to try to convince Christians around the world about the
reality of the need for Bibles in China, and hopefully wake some of them up
from the misinformation they have been [taught]?
Hattaway:
All we can do is tell the truth, pray, and let the Holy Spirit convince people
of the reality of what we and others are saying about the desperate need for
Bibles in China.
To be honest, I find it a very strange battle, and
much of what we argue against is completely irrational thinking. Let me give
you an example of what I mean.
What would you say if a Christian leader from your
home town went to Africa for a couple of weeks, visited a few churches and
major cities, and then returned home to energetically conduct media interviews
and tell everyone: “There are no hungry children in Africa! I have been there
in person, and I can tell you the stories you have heard for years are all
false. Everywhere I went there was plenty of food, and all the children
appeared well-nourished and happy.”
You would (hopefully) realize such a man was totally
deceived, and his extremely limited experience did not qualify him to form any
worthwhile judgments on Africa. Decades of evidence has shown that there are
millions of starving children in Africa, that corruption and the interference
of wicked men diverts food from reaching them, all while drought continues to
devastate vast regions.
Well, dear friends, is these any real difference
between this and what happens in China today?
Numerous Christian leaders, some of them would
famous names, have flown into China for a few weeks, been taken around by
officials from the government church, and returned home absolutely convinced
that they know the truth about China! “Everywhere I went the Christians had
Bibles” they confidently declare. “I even visited Amity Press, where millions
of Bibles are produced each year.”
Don’t listen to people speaking on the subject of
Bibles in China unless they have traveled far from the modern cities, to the
poor farming communities where the majority of house churches are based. If
they are willing to leave their hotel in Beijing and catch a series of rough
trains and buses for two days into northeast Inner Mongolia, they will find
tens of thousands of new believers with absolutely no way of obtaining Bibles.
I feel scared for those Christian leaders who become
active propaganda tools for China. Most are completely unaware that they are
contributing to the spiritual starvation of millions of God’s children. The sad
thing is that most of these men are genuine believers, and the last thing they
would ever want to do is harm other Christians, yet this is exactly what is
taking place.
Over the years, a number of house church leaders
have wept openly before me. They simply can’t understand how Christians around
the world are so easily deceived. They view their famine of Bibles as a form of
persecution. They are used to persecution, but not at the hands of fellow believers.
Some
Christians might be upset at what you have said. What would you say them?
Hattaway:
It is not my job to say or write things that make people feel ‘happy’ and
comfortable. The role of every Christian should be to tell the truth, in love.
My primary concern is for the tens of millions of Christians
starving in China without Bibles. We continue to be flooded with letters from
senior house church leaders throughout China, begging for hundreds of thousands
of Bibles to be sent urgently for new believers in their churches. They are
afraid the harvest will spoil, and they know of no other place to access Bibles
in the kind of quantities they need. We have not told you these things in some
kind of bid to manipulate you for our own benefit. It is the Christians in
China who benefit from this project. We use the funds we receive so that the
maximum numbers of Bibles are produced, for the cheapest possible price. That
is why we print and deliver Bibles for just $1.80 each. It is a project that
operates on a shoe-string budget, with all the fat already cut out!
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