China is a Communist country and strictly enforces atheism, but buried in their history and integrated into their culture are stories of the Bible that the government cannot hide.
In this exclusive video, we unpack some of the most shocking ways that every Chinese has learned about the God of the Bible, but is simply unaware of it.
Today, China is experiencing one of the world’s largest revivals. Could this be due, at least in part, to the mounting evidence that the forgotten God of ancient China, Shangdi, and the God of the Bible are the same? Could God have planted testimonies in the ancient Chinese language that would forever give witness to the Chinese people? Is it possible that the Lord of the Earth paved a way thousands of years ago for the Chinese to discover him today?
For most of the Western World, darkness came over Ukraine on February 24, 2022. For Ukraine however, this darkness has been hovering since 2014, when three large chunks of territory were taken by Russia. We have many friends in one of those areas who lost everything then. Many of them built a new life elsewhere in Ukraine or abroad.
Dima, a friend who had moved to Mariupol, has just lost everything again. His pregnant wife Polina took their son to Portugal while Dima stayed in Ukraine to bring people to safety from Lviv in the west, to Mariupol, east of Ukraine.
Let me tell you about Oxana. Oxana brought her children to safety in Moldova first, then later to Poland. She works around the clock to get vulnerable people to safety and has evacuated at least 20 complete orphanages, many of these children have disabilities. Pavlo, her husband, is drafted into the army. Oxana and her team go back and forth into Ukraine [daily]. The border is absolute chaos, but by breaching this chaos daily, they are surely penetrating the darkness with amazing light and life for thousands.
The complete article contains pictures and more stories of “God’s absolute miraculous workings through so many people.”
I’m an amazing kayaker. In my mind, that is. In the physical realm, not so much! I once picked up a beautiful, hand-made wooden kayak at a garage sale. The first time I tried it out, I managed to balance and very gently paddle it… on a pond. For my second effort, I took it to a way-back cove in our local reservoir. I had managed to gain a semblance of control amid the slight lake ripples when a nearby DWAB (dad with a boat), decided to pack up the family beach picnic and roar out of the cove full throttle.
As I hopelessly watched the tsunami roll my way, I remembered with distress a snake I’d seen swim by—and realized I hadn’t seen it get to the edge. After dumping into the water, I slowly headed to the shore, one arm swimming, the other holding onto the upturned boat. Only then did I muse, “Maybe kayaking is not for me.”
What about you? What do you wish you were better at? On the other hand, what is one thing you do better than the average person? These are fun and universal questions to kick around. I ask them today because I want to share how Jesus met Peter in the midst of what he could do and what he was going to get really good at doing.
Who’s The Better Fisherman?
Luke records for us in chapter five that Jesus was teaching the crowd God’s Word. Oh, how I wish that phrase was in blue, underlined, and linked to a full transcript of the talk!
Whatever he was saying must have been pretty good, because the crowd kept closing in until Jesus asked Peter if he could hop up on his boat. Peter agreed, but it turned out Jesus was starting an epic version of “if you give a mouse a cookie!”
Jesus finished his teaching and asked Peter to row out a bit and let down the nets. Torn between knowing how (and when) to fish and thinking Jesus was pretty cool and maybe not wanting to wash the nets again, Peter obliges.
The resulting catch began to break the nets, even threatened to sink the boats. Ponder this for a minute: Did Jesus cause the fish to gather in Peter’s nets? Or did he create fish that hadn’t been there just moments before? And if so, when they landed on dining tables the next evening, were they not the best-tasting fish anyone in Capernaum had ever had?
Peter, for his part, read the room, dropped to Jesus’s knees, and begged him to depart, explaining, “I am a sinful man.” Peter realized this wasn’t a matter of trying a little harder, maybe losing a few pounds and he’d measure up. No, Jesus had just double-trumped him at the very thing he was good at! Jesus was on a whole other level. Best to face the music honestly.
Seeing Jesus in action should naturally make us wonder how far we fall. It’s scary to feel afresh how amazing Jesus is and then realize what a train wreck we may be. I believe we need this occasionally, but the weight can be devastating. May we move quickly from “amazing Jesus” to “I’m a train wreck” to the realization that Jesus lifts our face, our eyes, to his and says, “You are forgiven. I choose you.”
And he does choose us, like he chose Peter, “Don’t be afraid. You’re going to be a fisher of men.”
(Parenthetically, good thing Peter’s job was fishing and not selling cars or working as a short-order cook!)
But sharing our faith can be hard, confusing, frustrating, and fraught with guilt and shame. Here’s something that has encouraged and energized me lately:
Mark Mittelberg, author, academic, and partner-in-crime with Lee Stroebel, writes about five styles of contagious faith. He says when we think about sharing our faith, we feel most natural in one of these five approaches.
Truth Telling: Someone with this style is more direct and hard-hitting. They might like knocking on doors of strangers or walking up to people and doing surveys in the shopping mall or meeting new people that just moved in. This type of person is bold about getting to the point, talking about spiritual matters, and so forth.
Reason Giving: Someone with this style tends to share evidence and answer questions. They may help with more of the cognitive side, the intellectual side, of Christianity and help people realize Christianity is true and it makes sense. Some people can open the doors and build friendships; others answer questions.
Story Sharing: This person likes to tell their testimony and share their story. They talk about their experience with Christ in a way that can influence and affect the experience of the other person.
Selfless Serving: This person helps others and makes a difference in people’s lives in tangible ways. That helps open doors to also share about the love and truth of Christ.
Friendship Building: This approach is seen in someone who’s more relational and connects with people in natural ways, but through those relationships then begins to share their faith.
Which of these styles most resonates with you? Definitely friendship-building and story-sharing for me. Hearing that Jesus wants me to share him in ways that emanate from who I am is freeing for me and makes me want to give it a fresh go. I don’t anticipate bringing in nets full of people like Peter did (3,000 in one day!), but I want to do my part. There’s a lot of pain and fear swirling around these days. Jesus would like to replace that with abundant life.
After almost 20 years of writing Practical Mobilization columns, I’m going to take a six-month hiatus. Our intrepid publisher, Marti Wade, will make sure you get a monthly dose of great content. She’s the best.
To help us to stay in touch, please click this link to get my super short weekly email about loving Muslims. I’d be honored if you do so and I think you might find it practically helpful and maybe a little funny.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to take the 12-lesson Encountering the World of Islam course, this is it. To celebrate their 30th anniversary, our friends at EWI are offering their online course for just $99 (regularly $249). This only applies to the summer online class, but that’s just around the corner: May 2 to July 31. Join us in celebrating EWI and inviting others to participate!
Myanmar: Military Destroys 47 Churches in Predominantly Christian States
Niger: God at Work Among Fulani and Tuareg Tribes
Ukraine: A Kidnapped Missionary Is in Grave Danger
El Salvador: How a Missionary Used Bitcoin to Transform a Town
Russia: Witches Gather to Cast Spells in Putin’s Enemies
Greetings, readers!
Want to let you know our website has been down for a week after the web hosting bill went astray. We’re working on getting the site, with posts going back a few decades, back online. Meanwhile, you can find recent articles through the Mailchimp archives or send us a note.
Here are a few things you might find useful but that didn’t quite fit in the collection of news stories below.
Myanmar’s military has destroyed at least 47 churches and more than a dozen affiliated buildings in its attacks in the predominantly Christian states of Chin and Kayah since it staged a coup last February, human rights groups have said.
About 35 churches and 15 buildings associated with churches were destroyed in Chin State and about 12 churches were destroyed in Kayah State (formerly known as Karenni) between February 2021 and January 2022, The Irrawaddy reported, citing the Chin Human Rights Organization and the Karenni Human Rights Group.
Christians are a majority in Chin State, which borders India, and make up a substantial part of the population of Kayah State, which borders Thailand. Christians in conflict zones, including these two states, are ethnic minorities who live in the various conflict zones across the country’s borders.
Formerly known as Burma, the Southeast Asian country is home to the world’s longest civil war, which began in 1948.
In Niger, God is working among the Fulani and Tuareg tribes, predominantly Muslim groups.
Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “There are converts, people who are following Christ, out of those tribes that are then literally going village to village. They are sharing the gospel and finding great fertile soil for the seeds of the gospel that are being planted.”
Nettleton says we need to remember this when we hear about attacks against Christians by these groups. “Don’t fail to remember that God is at work among the Fulani. I’ve seen some amazing pictures of Fulani in their full tribal regalia, with their headcovers, being baptized into the kingdom of God.”
These groups have often been used as pawns by outside political forces who want to promote radical Islam. Other attacks stem from the differing needs of farmers and herdsmen or different tribal disputes.
Praise God for the work he is doing among the Fulani and the Tuareg. Nettleton says, “The book of Revelation promises people of every tribe and tongue and nation will worship Jesus. We’re seeing that happen in our day, so we celebrate the work of God.”
Editor’s Note: What a joy to read news like this! Years ago I picked up a bunch of books at the Dollar Store for 25 cents each, including one that helped my Sunday school class learn about the Taureg and pray for them. Check out One Night by Cristina Kessler.
On February 25, Russian tanks rolled into her Ukrainian village, Orlovsky, in the Donetsk region, abducting Valentina Naumovich, 61, a trusted missionary affiliated with Far Reaching Ministries and CBN’s Orphan’s Promise.
Eyewitnesses saw the soldiers throw a black bag over her head as they abducted her. “A woman who knew Valentina reportedly betrayed her to the Russian troops when they arrived in town, telling them that Valentina was helping the Ukrainians,” according to CBN.
Valentina had been helping with the distribution of food to people hiding in bomb shelters, as well as Ukrainian soldiers.
“She was the keeper of the village, the main philanthropist, who knew about the pain and need of every resident, and every adult, respectively, knew her… She gave love and light. She distributed food and bread to the hungry, and preached the gospel to the desperate,” according to a spokesperson affiliated with Far Reaching Ministries.
See the full story with photos. Evidently, Valentina was able to make a phone call two weeks after she was captured but we have not found a more recent update. Another report said she had been serving as an aid worker in this region for eight years. Please pray.
A few years ago, a missionary decided to do a small and seemingly inconsequential experiment in El Zonte, a beach town in El Salvador. The plan was to get the community to adopt Bitcoin so that they wouldn’t have to rely so much on the cash economy. What he started would change the country in a remarkably short amount of time.
Until recently, El Salvador was known for two things: murder and fleeing immigrants. Known to many as the murder capital of the world, the endemic gang violence meant that it became the most dangerous country in the world that was not at war.
Like many developing countries, El Salvador was dependent on foreign aid. Specifically, the International Monetary Fund, or the IMF. The IMF is an organization that gives loans to countries as they need them. This is usually in dollars, and like all fiat currency, is created for the sake of the borrower.
In 2019, a missionary living in El Salvador for several years decided to try something different. Mike Peterson started working with the community of El Zonte to adopt Bitcoin. He introduced Bitcoin to El Zonte so that residents could have more convenience, privacy, and security for their money. They got banking services without the need for a bank and the benefits versus cash were obvious. There’s no need to physically hand over cash and the transaction can be done via phone, which most Salvadorans have.
The results were fantastic for all involved. There is, for instance, a mortgage program by a Christian charity in El Salvador that uses Bitcoin for payment services. This is a far more efficient system than cash. [And] how could anyone build up a credit score if transactions are all done in cash?
A more subtle change is the ability for people in El Zonte to save. The ability to be your own bank and the ability to save without fear of theft made all the difference. Kids started thinking about the future and education and living for the long term. Gang membership went down. Kids stopped dropping out of school.
