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Showing posts with label Christian Current Affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Current Affairs. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Christianity in China
Christianity in China
"Ironically," says Fu, "church history shows that the more the political persecution, the more believers there will be. This is the case in the Roman Empire, and also with China."
By Lauren Green
Published January 20, 2011 | FoxNews.com
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/20/christianity-china/#ixzz1BbLI751c
While religion in China may not be a big topic for discussion during President Hu Jintao's meeting with President Obama this week, many experts say that an explosive growth in Christianity may be transforming the officially atheist regime.
According to China Aid, a Texas-based human rights group, the number of Christians in China has increased 100-fold since 1949. Current estimates range from 80 million to 130 million active members. And one startling estimate from a Chinese Christian businessman has that number doubling or even tripling in the next generation.
Christianity could become one of the macro forces shaping Chinese culture, say experts like Dr. David Aikman, author of "Jesus in Beijing."
"If the Chinese become Christianized ... which doesn't mean you have a majority of people who are Christians, but it means about 25 to 30 percent of people in positions of influence, in politics, in culture, in the media. If you have that component of a major power that accepts Christianity enthusiastically as a guide to life, that is going to change the world view of the leaders of China."
Others argue that even if the more generous estimate of 130 Christians is true, it's still a drop in the bucket in a population of more than a billion people.
But Dr. Luis Palau, who has preached in China, says Christians are among the country's most cohesive groups.
"They all preach the same gospel. There are no liberals or conservative branches ... they all believe the same."
Supporters say even estimating 80 million Christians in China, a conservative figure, still has them outnumbering the membership of the Communist Party, which at last check, in June 2010, was 78 million, according to the ChinaDaily.com.
What's the origin of this faith explosion?
China Aid's Bob Fu says Christianity experienced a growth spurt after the Tiananmen Square conflict. Six of the 30 student leaders who were arrested converted to Christianity.
"Ironically," says Fu, "church history shows that the more the political persecution, the more believers there will be. This is the case in the Roman Empire, and also with China."
But Chan-Kei Thong, a businessman who lived and worked in China for 30 years, said Chairman Mao Zedong, Communist China's founder, may have unwittingly paved the way.
"What Chairman Mao did that the emperors did not do, he brought in a form of pseudo monotheism, a pseudo person to worship ... himself ... as a personal god. "The Christian God fits into that."
The Chinese government is not exactly overjoyed at the prospect of Christianity's growth. Officially, the government says there are 28.6 million Christians. That's because it only counts churches that are registered with the government.
Despite China’s recent easing of hostilities toward Christians, Beijing has had a harsh and violent history with the growing religious community. Beijing’s often brutal crackdown -- including roundups, blacklisting and jailing -- drove thousands of followers underground, spurring on the house church network.
While some of those followers have since registered with the government, Beijing continues to crack down on unregistered house churches.
But as many as 60 percent of Chinese Christians attend unregistered house churches, Palau says.
Palau, who says he is on good terms with the government, added that some party members acknowledge in the neighborhood of 120 million active Christians.
Others see a government fear of Christianity's traditionally anti-Communist power as a factor -- and along with it a growing concern over China's human rights record.
What Fu sees in Hu's visit is a rare juncture in this changing philosophical climate, to press China harder on those issues.
"I think this is an historical opportunity for President Obama to really represent the free world's universal values. ... "It will be a huge mistake for Mr. Obama to put human rights at the bottom of the agenda."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/20/christianity-china/#ixzz1BbLE98s6
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Franklin Graham: Christians Will Lose the Power to Pray Outside Church Walls ‘Maybe in My Lifetime’
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/65337
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
赌鬼变天使 - 林万兴弟兄
Singapore will soon be transformed into an entertainment hub with the opening of Resorts World Sentosa and later LVS Marina Bay Sands. One of the main highlights are the casino. Since we all know what are the problems going to haunt Singapore after allowing casino to open, our leaders still decided to give the green light for this enormous project so for the sake of Singapore "future". It is like injecting poison (I did not mean 以毒攻毒) into your body and then looking for medicine to cure/minimize the side effects. Here's a timely semon by 林万兴 who was once a “赌王”:
从偏门到社工 (华)
Hope this will help people who are addicted to gambling.
*Quite tired. Will try to edit my sentences and add my content if I'm free....
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
One generation is all they need
One day we will all happily be implanted with microchips, and our every move will be monitored. The technology exists; the only barrier is society's resistance to the loss of privacy. An expert on surveillance and society lays out how corporations and gove
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Jacelyn Tay supernatural way of being converted to Christian
She also went to Paya Lebar Methodist Church to share her testimony. Below is the testimony she shared in CHC.
Jacelyn Tay's testimony in PDF (IMPACT magazine) - Link 1
Jacelyn Tay's testimony in PDF (IMPACT magazine) - Link 2
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Monday, March 16, 2009
CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years
Israel will fall in 20 years? How accurate is this report (see below)? We shall see. Anyway, it is prophesied Israel will face worldwide persecution which result in invasion during the end times (great tribulation period). It is only then Israel will finally recognize Jesus as their Messiah ...
CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years
Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:44:41 GMT
 International lawyer Franklin Lamb |
The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."
The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.
"There is over 500,000 Israelis with American passports and more than 300,000 living in the area of just California," International lawyer Franklin Lamb said in an interview with Press TV on Friday, adding that those who do not have American or western passport, have already applied for them.
"So I think the handwriting at least among the public in Israel is on the wall...[which] suggests history will reject the colonial enterprise sooner or later," Lamb stressed.
He said CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an 'Israeli land' would happen 'way sooner' than later.
The study further predicts the return of over one and a half million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births whereas a rise in the Palestinian population.
Lamb said given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza strip in particular, the American public -- which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv's measures in the last 25 years -- may 'not take it anymore'.
Some members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee have been informed of the report.
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Friday, March 13, 2009
鄭秀文正式洗禮 成為基督教徒 - Sammi Cheng officially baptised and becomes a Christian
Happen to come across this video. Was surprise to know..
Sammi Cheng's testimony
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Friday, January 23, 2009
Molecular Manufacturing will change the world
Overview: Molecular manufacturing (MM) means the ability to build devices, machines, and eventually whole products with every atom in its specified place. Today the theories for using mechanical chemistry to directly fabricate nanoscale structures are well-developed and awaiting progress in enabling technologies. Assuming all this theory works—and no one has established a problem with it yet—exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing appears to be inevitable. It might become a reality by 2010 to 2015, more plausibly will by 2015 to 2020, and almost certainly will by 2020 to 2025. When it arrives, it will come quickly. MM can be built into a self-contained, personal factory (PN) that makes cheap products efficiently at molecular scale. The time from the first fabricator to a flood of powerful and complex products may be less than a year. The potential benefits of such a technology are immense. Unfortunately, the risks are also immense.
Click here to read more.
Just some thoughts
I believe the future will be frightening. The world will going to have a "global" leader, with "global" currency; "global" religious system, "global" financial system, "global'" order... etc etc ... Many people will hate Christians, ban christian teachings .. etc.. Many things are already happening but all these are just the beginning of the end. I strongly believe Jesus Christ is coming "real soon". But it is difficult to say how soon - whether during my times or the future generation times. (I do not know how long the window of grace will be open.) Biblical prophecies are slowly unfolding as I watch the world news and how events are occuring. I am convince a new world order will definitely emerge. It is just a matter of time. Fear not if you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ. Let those who choose not to believe continue to scoff lor. The future ahead is not going to be as easy for Christians as before.
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Thursday, January 01, 2009
Going rate to kill pastor: $250
WorldNetDaily
Going rate to kill pastor: $250
Rewards offered for murdering Christians, destroying homes, churches
Posted: November 20, 2008
11:30 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
WorldNetDaily
Hindu extremist groups are offering money, food and alcohol to anyone who murders Christians and destroys their homes.
The violence is nothing new in Orissa, India, where India's Communist Party estimates that more than 500 Christians have been killed by Hindu mobs in Orissa since late August, 12 times more than official government claims of only 40 homicides.
But now the stakes are even higher – and pastors have a bounty on their heads.
Faiz Rahman, chairman of Good News India, said Hindu militants are targeting Christian leaders, the Christian Post reported.
"The going price to kill a pastor is $250," he said.
Rahman, a head of several orphanages in Orissa State, said he's helped 25 pastors to leave refugee camps, but 250 Christian leaders are still in shelters.
"All of the pastors are high value targets," Rahman told the UK-based Release International. "We've got to get them out of the refugee camps."
An All-India Christian Council spokesman said, "People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties. They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. They are given petrol and kerosene."
(Story continues below)
One official said he personally authorized "cremation of more than 200 bodies" found in jungles after Christians were blamed for the death of Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 24. They continue to be persecuted even though Maoists openly admitted to murdering Saraswati.
Thousands of homes and churches have been destroyed, and an estimated 50,000 Christians have been forced to flee the violence. Mission Network News estimates 5,000 Christian homes have been burned and 200 churches ruined. According to the Christian Post, 30,000 people remain in government-operated refugee camps. Tens of thousands are living in forests – many seriously wounded.
Father Manoj, based at the archbishop’s office in Bhubaneshwar, said Christians remain in hiding.
"They are too scared to go home. They know that if they return to their villages they will be forced to convert to Hinduism."
Religious rights group Barnabus Fund told the group Hindu militants "forced" Christians in Orissa to "convert" to Hinduism by threatening them with rape if they refused.
Neighbors reportedly gang-raped a Hindu woman after her Christian uncle refused to renounce his faith, according to reports.
Another Christian woman named Jaspina was told by neighbors, "If you go on being Christian, we will burn your house and your children in front of you." She and her family were forced to eat cow excrement to "purify" themselves of Christianity.
Other Christians were doused with gasoline and told to participate in conversion ceremonies or be lit on fire.
This week, Hindu extremists said they have set a deadline for the capture of Saraswati's murderers. If the killers are not caught by Dec. 15, they promised to begin a massacre on Dec. 25, Christmas day.
According to the latest report, Orissa's Catholic bishops wrote an ominous letter to the state's chief minister. It read, "This conflict is a calculated and pre-planned master plan to wipe out Christianity from Kandhamal in order to realize the hidden agenda … of establishing a Hindu nation."
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Something to think about..
Happen to come across this comment...
Hmmm.... something to think about..
Only a Christian nation would have allowed this atheist a choice to not believe. Not even atheist nations give you a choice. You have to believe what they want you to believe. So the fact that he is able to freely protest proves to me that we live in a free Christian nation. History proves that there is no freedom without God. If only the atheist would learn this.
Below is a good enough answer to those who wants to know... Happen to come across this comment too..
I have to agree with Jack Kelly's commentary on the holiday season. It was and is originally a pagan holiday season. Let's let them have it back and begin to celebrate Jesus' birth at the time that he was most probably born, which is around Rosh Hoshana. The Romans are the reason we celebrate Christ's birth at this time in their attempt to combine the old Roman pagan gods and Christianity. The same goes for the Resurection and Easter. Ever wondered what bunnies and eggs have to do with the Resurection of our Lord and Savior? It comes from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of fertility. Lets celebrate Resurection Sunday when it supposed to be celebrated, the Sunday following Passover. Let the pagans have their rituals, lets celebrate our Christian Holy days when they should be celebrated. The atheist is right about this, these are not historically Christian holidays/festivals. I know this is probably not a popular view. I've never been able to really wrap my arms around Christmas for this reason, not since I was a kid. As for Santa Clause, again I have to agree with Mr. Kelly. Lets stop lying to our kids about where blessings come from, and exhalt our Lord to them instead, give Him the glory for all blessings. Kids, ultimately, don't care one whit where the presents come from, as long as they come. Just my 2 cents.
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Children are born believers in God, academic claims
Children are born believers in God, academic claims
Children are "born believers" in God and do not simply acquire religious beliefs through indoctrination, according to an academic.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:36PM GMT 24 Nov 2008
Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.
"The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God."
In a lecture to be given at the University of Cambridge's Faraday Institute on Tuesday, Dr Barrett will cite psychological experiments carried out on children that he says show they instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose.
In one study, six and seven-year-olds who were asked why the first bird existed replied "to make nice music" and "because it makes the world look nice".
Another experiment on 12-month-old babies suggested that they were surprised by a film in which a rolling ball apparently created a neat stack of blocks from a disordered heap.
Dr Barrett said there is evidence that even by the age of four, children understand that although some objects are made by humans, the natural world is different.
He added that this means children are more likely to believe in creationism rather than evolution, despite what they may be told by parents or teachers.
Dr Barrett claimed anthropologists have found that in some cultures children believe in God even when religious teachings are withheld from them.
"Children's normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe."
Children are "born believers" in God and do not simply acquire religious beliefs through indoctrination, according to an academic.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:36PM GMT 24 Nov 2008
Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.
"The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God."
In a lecture to be given at the University of Cambridge's Faraday Institute on Tuesday, Dr Barrett will cite psychological experiments carried out on children that he says show they instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose.
In one study, six and seven-year-olds who were asked why the first bird existed replied "to make nice music" and "because it makes the world look nice".
Another experiment on 12-month-old babies suggested that they were surprised by a film in which a rolling ball apparently created a neat stack of blocks from a disordered heap.
Dr Barrett said there is evidence that even by the age of four, children understand that although some objects are made by humans, the natural world is different.
He added that this means children are more likely to believe in creationism rather than evolution, despite what they may be told by parents or teachers.
Dr Barrett claimed anthropologists have found that in some cultures children believe in God even when religious teachings are withheld from them.
"Children's normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human minds; relatively difficult to believe."
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Back to Jerusalem movement / 传回耶路撒冷运动
The Back To Jerusalem movement (Chinese:传回耶路撒冷运动) is a Christian evangelistic campaign begun in China by Chinese believers to send missionaries to all of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim peoples who live "between" China and Jerusalem. This movement was founded during the 1920s, however government restrictions and persecution forced the movement to go underground for decades.
Since 2003, the most vocal international proponent of "Back to Jerusalem" has been the exiled Chinese house church leader Liu Zhenying a.k.a. "(Brother Yun)". But many Christian leaders in China, such as Samuel Lamb have distanced themselves from Yun and his foreign-funded movement, which they believe has been largely discredited. Yun intends for "Back to Jerusalem" to evangelize fifty-one countries by sending a minimum of 100,000 missionaries along the Silk Road, an ancient trade route that winds from China to the Mediterranean Sea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_To_Jerusalem
"
The most audacious even dream of carrying the gospel beyond the borders of China, along the old Silk Road into the Muslim world, in a campaign known as "Back to Jerusalem". As [Time correspondent David] Aikman explains in Jesus in Beijing, some Chinese evangelicals and Pentecostals believe that the basic movement of the gospel for the last 2,000 years has been westward: from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Europe, from Europe to America, and from America to China. Now, they believe, it's their turn to complete the loop by carrying the gospel to Muslim lands, eventually arriving in Jerusalem. Once that happens, they believe, the gospel will have been preached to the entire world.
"
Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia
By Spengler
Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter's veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history. [1] If you read a single news article about China this year, make sure it is this one.
I suspect that even the most enthusiastic accounts err on the downside, and that Christianity will have become a Sino-centric
religion two generations from now. China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East.
China, devoured by hunger so many times in its history, now feels a spiritual hunger beneath the neon exterior of its suddenly great cities. Four hundred million Chinese on the prosperous coast have moved from poverty to affluence in a single generation, and 10 million to 15 million new migrants come from the countryside each year, the greatest movement of people in history. Despite a government stance that hovers somewhere between discouragement and persecution, more than 100 million of them have embraced a faith that regards this life as mere preparation for the next world. Given the immense effort the Chinese have devoted to achieving a tolerable life in the present world, this may seem anomalous. On the contrary: it is the great migration of peoples that prepares the ground for Christianity, just as it did during the barbarian invasions of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Last month's murder of reverend Bae Hyung-kyu, the leader of the missionaries still held hostage by Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan, drew world attention to the work of South Korean Christians, who make up nearly 30% of that nation's population and send more evangelists to the world than any country except the United States. This is only a first tremor of the earthquake to come, as Chinese Christians turn their attention outward. Years ago I speculated that if Mecca ever is razed, it will be by an African army marching north; now the greatest danger to Islam is the prospect of a Chinese army marching west.
People do not live in a spiritual vacuum; where a spiritual vacuum exists, as in western Europe and the former Soviet Empire, people simply die, or fail to breed. In the traditional world, people see themselves as part of nature, unchangeable and constant, and worship their surroundings, their ancestors and themselves. When war or economics tear people away from their roots in traditional life, what once appeared constant now is shown to be ephemeral. Christianity is the great liquidator of traditional society, calling individuals out of their tribes and nations to join the ekklesia, which transcends race and nation. In China, communism leveled traditional society, and erased the great Confucian idea of society as an extension of the loyalties and responsibility of families. Children informing on their parents during the Cultural Revolution put paid to that.
Now the great migrations throw into the urban melting pot a half-dozen language groups who once lived isolated from one another. Not for more than a thousand years have so many people in the same place had such good reason to view as ephemeral all that they long considered to be fixed, and to ask themselves: "What is the purpose of my life?"
The World Christian Database offers by far the largest estimate of the number of Chinese Christians at 111 million, of whom 90% are Protestant, mostly Pentecostals. Other estimates are considerably lower, but no matter; what counts is the growth rate. This uniquely American denomination, which claims the inspiration to speak in tongues like Jesus' own disciples and to prophesy, is the world's fastest-growing religious movement. In contrast to Catholicism, which has a very long historic presence in China but whose growth has been slow, charismatic Protestantism has found its natural element in an atmosphere of official suppression. Barred from churches, Chinese began worshipping in homes, and five major "house church" movements and countless smaller ones now minister to as many as 100 million Christians. [2] This quasi-underground movement may now exceed in adherents the 75 million members of the Chinese Communist Party; in a generation it will be the most powerful force in the country.
While the Catholic Church has worked patiently for independence from the Chinese government, which sponsors a "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" with government-appointed bishops, the evangelicals have no infrastructure to suppress and no hierarchy to protect. In contrast to Catholic caution, John Allen observes, "Most Pentecostals would obviously welcome being arrested less frequently, but in general they are not waiting for legal or political reform before carrying out aggressive evangelization programs."
Allen adds:
Where traditional society remains entrenched in China's most backward regions, Islam also is expanding. At the edge of the Gobi Desert and on China's western border with Central Asia, Islam claims perhaps 30 million adherents. If Christianity is the liquidator of traditional society, I have argued in the past, Islam is its defender against the encroachments of leveling imperial expansion. But Islam in China remains the religion of the economic losers, whose geographic remoteness isolates them from the economic transformation on the coasts. Christianity, by contrast, has burgeoned among the new middle class in China's cities, where the greatest wealth and productivity are concentrated. Islam has a thousand-year presence in China and has grown by natural increase rather than conversion; evangelical Protestantism had almost no adherents in China a generation ago.
China's Protestants evangelized at the risk of liberty and sometimes life, and possess a sort of fervor not seen in Christian ranks for centuries. Their pastors have been beaten and jailed, and they have had to create their own institutions through the "house church" movement. Two years ago I warned that China would have to wait for democracy. [3] I wrote:
Notes
1. The uphill journey of Catholicism in China, August 2, 2007, National Catholic Reporter.
2. See Luke Wesley, "Is the Chinese Church predominantly Pentecostal?" in American Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:2 (2004).
3. China must wait for democracy, Asia Times Online, September 27, 2005.
Relevant links:
http://gointl.org/?q=gointl/magazine/56/node/708
http://www.mbherald.com/44/02/books-2.en.html
http://www.amazon.com/Back-Jerusalem-Called-Complete-Commission/dp/book-citations/1903689031
By Spengler
Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter's veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history. [1] If you read a single news article about China this year, make sure it is this one.
I suspect that even the most enthusiastic accounts err on the downside, and that Christianity will have become a Sino-centric
religion two generations from now. China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East.
China, devoured by hunger so many times in its history, now feels a spiritual hunger beneath the neon exterior of its suddenly great cities. Four hundred million Chinese on the prosperous coast have moved from poverty to affluence in a single generation, and 10 million to 15 million new migrants come from the countryside each year, the greatest movement of people in history. Despite a government stance that hovers somewhere between discouragement and persecution, more than 100 million of them have embraced a faith that regards this life as mere preparation for the next world. Given the immense effort the Chinese have devoted to achieving a tolerable life in the present world, this may seem anomalous. On the contrary: it is the great migration of peoples that prepares the ground for Christianity, just as it did during the barbarian invasions of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Last month's murder of reverend Bae Hyung-kyu, the leader of the missionaries still held hostage by Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan, drew world attention to the work of South Korean Christians, who make up nearly 30% of that nation's population and send more evangelists to the world than any country except the United States. This is only a first tremor of the earthquake to come, as Chinese Christians turn their attention outward. Years ago I speculated that if Mecca ever is razed, it will be by an African army marching north; now the greatest danger to Islam is the prospect of a Chinese army marching west.
People do not live in a spiritual vacuum; where a spiritual vacuum exists, as in western Europe and the former Soviet Empire, people simply die, or fail to breed. In the traditional world, people see themselves as part of nature, unchangeable and constant, and worship their surroundings, their ancestors and themselves. When war or economics tear people away from their roots in traditional life, what once appeared constant now is shown to be ephemeral. Christianity is the great liquidator of traditional society, calling individuals out of their tribes and nations to join the ekklesia, which transcends race and nation. In China, communism leveled traditional society, and erased the great Confucian idea of society as an extension of the loyalties and responsibility of families. Children informing on their parents during the Cultural Revolution put paid to that.
Now the great migrations throw into the urban melting pot a half-dozen language groups who once lived isolated from one another. Not for more than a thousand years have so many people in the same place had such good reason to view as ephemeral all that they long considered to be fixed, and to ask themselves: "What is the purpose of my life?"
The World Christian Database offers by far the largest estimate of the number of Chinese Christians at 111 million, of whom 90% are Protestant, mostly Pentecostals. Other estimates are considerably lower, but no matter; what counts is the growth rate. This uniquely American denomination, which claims the inspiration to speak in tongues like Jesus' own disciples and to prophesy, is the world's fastest-growing religious movement. In contrast to Catholicism, which has a very long historic presence in China but whose growth has been slow, charismatic Protestantism has found its natural element in an atmosphere of official suppression. Barred from churches, Chinese began worshipping in homes, and five major "house church" movements and countless smaller ones now minister to as many as 100 million Christians. [2] This quasi-underground movement may now exceed in adherents the 75 million members of the Chinese Communist Party; in a generation it will be the most powerful force in the country.
While the Catholic Church has worked patiently for independence from the Chinese government, which sponsors a "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association" with government-appointed bishops, the evangelicals have no infrastructure to suppress and no hierarchy to protect. In contrast to Catholic caution, John Allen observes, "Most Pentecostals would obviously welcome being arrested less frequently, but in general they are not waiting for legal or political reform before carrying out aggressive evangelization programs."
Allen adds:
The most audacious even dream of carrying the gospel beyond the borders of China, along the old Silk Road into the Muslim world, in a campaign known as "Back to Jerusalem". As [Time correspondent David] Aikman explains in Jesus in Beijing, some Chinese evangelicals and Pentecostals believe that the basic movement of the gospel for the last 2,000 years has been westward: from Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Europe, from Europe to America, and from America to China. Now, they believe, it's their turn to complete the loop by carrying the gospel to Muslim lands, eventually arriving in Jerusalem. Once that happens, they believe, the gospel will have been preached to the entire world.Aikman reports that two Protestant seminaries secretly are training missionaries for deployment in Muslim countries.
Where traditional society remains entrenched in China's most backward regions, Islam also is expanding. At the edge of the Gobi Desert and on China's western border with Central Asia, Islam claims perhaps 30 million adherents. If Christianity is the liquidator of traditional society, I have argued in the past, Islam is its defender against the encroachments of leveling imperial expansion. But Islam in China remains the religion of the economic losers, whose geographic remoteness isolates them from the economic transformation on the coasts. Christianity, by contrast, has burgeoned among the new middle class in China's cities, where the greatest wealth and productivity are concentrated. Islam has a thousand-year presence in China and has grown by natural increase rather than conversion; evangelical Protestantism had almost no adherents in China a generation ago.
China's Protestants evangelized at the risk of liberty and sometimes life, and possess a sort of fervor not seen in Christian ranks for centuries. Their pastors have been beaten and jailed, and they have had to create their own institutions through the "house church" movement. Two years ago I warned that China would have to wait for democracy. [3] I wrote:
For a people to govern itself, it first must want to govern itself and want to do so with a passion. It also must know how to do so. Democracy requires an act of faith, or rather a whole set of acts of faith. The individual citizen must believe that a representative sitting far away in the capital will listen to his views, and know how to band together with other citizens to make their views known. That is why so-called civil society, the capillary network of associations that manage the ordinary affairs of life, is so essential to democracy. Americans elect their local school boards, create volunteer fire brigades and raise and spend tax dollars at the local level to provide parks or sewers.China's network of house churches may turn out to be the leaven of democracy, like the radical Puritans of England who became the Congregationalists of New England. Freedom of worship is the first precondition for democracy, for it makes possible freedom of conscience. The fearless evangelists at the grassroots of China will, in the fullness of time, do more to bring US-style democracy to the world than all the nation-building bluster of President George W Bush and his advisers.
Notes
1. The uphill journey of Catholicism in China, August 2, 2007, National Catholic Reporter.
2. See Luke Wesley, "Is the Chinese Church predominantly Pentecostal?" in American Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7:2 (2004).
3. China must wait for democracy, Asia Times Online, September 27, 2005.
Relevant links:
http://gointl.org/?q=gointl/magazine/56/node/708
http://www.mbherald.com/44/02/books-2.en.html
http://www.amazon.com/Back-Jerusalem-Called-Complete-Commission/dp/book-citations/1903689031
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Friday, October 10, 2008
AFA is ending its boycott of McDonald's
(click link above)
The American Family Association (AFA) is ending its boycott of McDonald's.
Mississippi-based AFA called for the boycott in May after the fast food giant joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. McDonald's has notified the pro-homosexual organization that McDonald's vice president Richard Ellis resigned from the board of directors of NGLCC and his seat on the board will not be replaced.
In a press release on Thursday morning, AFA reports that in an email from McDonald's to its franchise owners the company stated its policy is "to not be involved in political and social issues."
Randy Sharp is director of special projects with AFA. He says McDonald's has pledged to remain neutral in the culture war surrounding homosexual marriage.
"The franchise owners understood very early that this was an issue that McDonald's did not need to be involved in from a corporate level, and [that] they needed to stick with serving good food products in a convenient way, at a good price."
McDonald's officials also said the company has no plans to renew its membership in the NGLCC when it expires in December.
Others can learn
AFA president Tim Wildmon says it's encouraging that the world's largest global foodservice retailer has pledged to remain neutral in the culture war. He says other corporations can learn from McDonald's decision to not be involved in political or social issues.
"That's been our appeal to these corporations," he explains. "...[J]ust stay neutral [and] don't give money to organizations that are going to fight against traditional values. And we try to tell folks [that] many of [their] customers are traditional values folks, and don't offend them by supporting gay and lesbian activist groups."
AFA founder and chairman Donald E. Wildmon states that his pro-family organization "appreciate[s] the decision by McDonald's to no longer support political activity by homosexual activist organizations."
Related link:
http://jnwkthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/07/mcdonalds-usa-support-homosexuality.html
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Thursday, October 09, 2008
Something to think about: The upcoming US election
Something to think about...
A reprint of a letter mailed out by the American Family Association:
A reprint of a letter mailed out by the American Family Association:
The upcoming election is the most critical election in the history of our nation. The very future of our nation’s foundation is at stake. Every person will be affected. If the liberals win, then our foundation will no longer be based on the traditional Judeo-Christian morality. It will gradually but assuredly be based on an ever shifting, ever moving foundation. If the liberals win, the damage can’t be stopped with elections two, four or forty years from now. America will forever be changed. We will keep seeing a gradual and growing hostility toward people of faith, especially Christians. The morals of our nation will continue to decline. Our children and grandchildren will pay the price.
In case you may think I’m a “the sky is falling” type of person, you should know: When it comes to predictions, I am a very reserved person. But not on this one. I cannot overstate the damage a liberal victory will do to our country. The upcoming election is the most important in the history of our nation. Yes, if the liberals win you will lose some of your religious freedoms and free speech rights. Churches and pastors will not be exempt. You will not be allowed to say certain things about a particular group. Every item of the homosexual agenda will be approved. All the laws protecting the unborn will be wiped away.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of the Nov. 4 election. That is why I urge you to vote and encourage your family members, friends, Sunday School class and church members to vote. America’s future – the future of your children and grandchildren – is at stake.
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon,
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association
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Monday, August 11, 2008
The 10th planet and the end times event
Happen to come across this video about the new finding of the 10th planet Eris (or 2003 UB313 or Nibiru or Planet X) and the correlation with the end times event according to the Book of Revelation and the Book of Matthew (if I'm not wrong). Quite interesting but not too sure how true it is. Watch it with a pinch of salt bah ...
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Monday, July 14, 2008
Mcdonald's USA support homosexuality
Oh God, Mcdonald's USA is supporting homosexuality and AFA is urging people to boycott Mcdonald's. For more information, click here: http://www.boycottmcdonalds.com/. The world is indeed coming to devastation soon. I fear it may be in my times. Will it?
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Sunday, July 06, 2008
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