Spiritual Genocide in China

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!