DAWN Fridayfax 1995 #39

News from China

What's happening in China?

"The fire of the gospel is burning in this village, and following heavy persecution, every single person has become a Christian."

This is a quite typical report from the many we have received about the revival happening in large parts of China. We're dedicating this Friday Fax to this revival.

Possibly 134 million Christians in China already?

Chinese Christians told us that the government reported a figure of 67 million Christians last year, a large jump from the previously acknowledged 6-10 million. Insiders say that this means that the real number is at least twice as high. According to that calculation, 134 million would be possible, with which China would become the country with the largest number of evangelical Christians in the world. Chinese Christians warn strongly against accepting reports from the Amity Foundation and the state-controlled "Three-Self Church".

The latest reports show that the foundations for strategic evangelisation in China's 2,700 largest towns and districts are already being laid. They say that in some areas there are already "churches in every village and believers in every family."

Doubling through the "month of evangelism"

Some house-church leaders report:

"Up until now, few people were interested in the evangelistic open-air meetings. That has changed: when we go on the street with our tambourines and other instruments, they drop everything in order to take part. Many shout while we preach 'We have never heard of such good news in our country before. Why didn't anyone tell us before?' They forget everything and listen for hours."
"God's time for China has come. The things which we are now experiencing are greater than we ever dreamed. For example, 120,000 people were saved in the month of evangelism in Henan Province. In the evangelism month, we expect each believer to lead at least one other to Christ. Of course, some lead more than one to Christ. The number of Christians regularly doubles in that month. In Xinyang District, the number of believers increased from 1,000 to 10,000 in one month. That is God's own work, and he confirms our witnessing with signs and wonders. We would be incapable without these miracles. We have far too few Bibles and are too weak to train all the new believers."

Judgement and grace

"Three sisters went into the Xinyue District (Henan). 7 days later, 1,100 people had repented and been saved. It was as if the sisters had fire in their hands. Everyone on whom they laid hands and prayed felt a burning sensation and God did great deeds through them. In the dozens of years previously, missionaries had worked without any such results. As the three sisters evangelised, a non-believer came up and cursed them continuously. After they had paid no attention to him for some time, other non-believers came and asked them why they had ignored and even shown compassion for the man. As soon as they asked this, the man fell to the ground and died. That caused great awe in the people who witnessed the judgement, and many repented and accepted Jesus."

Every knee will bow

"During a crusade in the Zhoukou District, a man came forward and started beating the preacher with a stick and cursing him. The relatively newly-saved preacher prayed 'Lord, you have to answer my prayer now, or I'm going home.' Then he said 'In Jesus' name I bind you' - his attacker immediately fell down and remained kneeling. He was unable to move. Soon, five of his relatives came and tried unsuccessfully to lift him up. The young preacher said 'If I don't pray for him, then the only way you can remove him is to bring a car to collect him, because he is bound.' Then the entire crowd shouted 'Please let him free! Please let him free!' The preacher said 'Get up in Jesus' name!' The man immediately stood up and was free. Many in the village believed in Jesus because of this wonder, and there were many like it in Zhoukou."

Heavenly TV

"As our brothers preached the gospel in one district, something like a video or slide projector illustrated their words. As they spoke about the crucifixion, everyone could see the Lord hanging on the cross. For example, as soon as the preacher said 'Jesus was born in a manger', the whole crowd could see a manger in front of them. That went on for 4 hours, with over 1,000 eye-witnesses. Almost everyone there repented and believed in the Lord. They all said 'God is real and lives among you. What can we do except thank him and believe in him?'"

Sources: Various

This Web version of the DAWN Fridayfax is maintained by the Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) as a service to the Christian church. Please visit our web pages which feature the e-zine Streetpaper and its special Revival section.