China’s Back to Jerusalem missions succeed where Westerners fear to tread

From godreports.com

By Exjani Rojas —

ISIS operatives killed two Chinese missionaries in Balochistan’s capital in Pakistan in broad daylight. The mother of one of the missionaries publicly forgave the killers and speculated their deaths would spark revival.

“I believe these two will be like seeds to bring greater revival,” she said, per translation on Back to Jerusaelm podcast. “I pray that God would forgive the sin and evil of ISIS because they know not what they do. These two children are now gone; I trust they will inspire the church in China to be united for the sake of the Gospel and that the fires or revival will spread from China to the nations.”

Mom’s words show why Chinese missionaries will succeed in the Muslim Corridor where Western missionaries have failed. Their movement — called Back to Jerusalem because it traces the spread of Christianity from China back to its origin — is the greatest unreported phenomenon of the world.

The Chinese figure they can in the so-called 10/40 window — the most unevangelized region of the world between latitudes 10 and 40 — slip in easier, exist more successfully and evangelize more off radar than a Westerner (who stands out and draws resentments).

The Chinese missionary movement is also called “Between the Walls” — from the Great Wall of China to the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem. They want to mobilize 100,000 missionaries for the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and animists who dominate in the region.

The Back to the Jerusalem missionary movement dates back to the 1920s, to early Chinese Christian groups such as the Jesus Family in Shandong Province, who preached across villages in China. It got a resurgence out of China’s underground church in the 1980s.

‘The church was filled with the Holy Spirit,’ a pastor recalls

“In 1988 in Henan, the church was filled with the Holy Spirit, and people starting sharing the Gospel,” a leader says in Chinese on a Back to Jerusalem documentary. “I would say 2010 was the second great filling. We started sending missionaries. Why are so many workers going overseas now? It was the work of the Holy Spirit, sending them to specific nations.”

Pastor Shen XiaoMing presides over 10M Chinese Christians in the China Gospel Fellowship. He says the taking up of the call to send missionaries into Muslim lands began with the youth.

“The Holy Spirit was working in China’s house church. Especially the youth, we experienced God’s call to reach the whole world,” XiaoMing says in Chinese. “We started praying for nations.”

Youths began studying the languages of the Muslim countries. The mission set up a training center in the Philippines. Doors began opening, young people got passports and visas, they began going to places where it was dangerous to preach the Gospel — and they were mentally and emotionally ready for it because of the persecution the Chinese church has faced for decades from the communist government.

They went to Cambodia, where they evangelized the land once decimated by Pol Pot’s Killing Fields genocide ot 2M+.

“We go inside the Buddhist temples and preach the Gospel,” a missionary says, per translation. “We love to teach the children and tell them Jesus loves them. Often, the first, second or third time, they reject us, saying ‘Why do you come here to our village to change our religion? I have been a Buddhist since youth.’”

Breakthrough comes with the miraculous healings. In a village of 600, many got healed; people see the genuine power of God and convert, the missionary says.

“There was an older woman who had a serious disease,” he says. “We prayed for her and asked if she felt better. She shook her head. Later when we were leaving, she stopped the car and told us, ‘I have been healed. Praise God!’”

They went to India, where they lifted spirits of the Indian church

“We were really encouraged to hear how God moved in China,” said and Indian pastor whose identity was obscured. “The Chinese pastors and believers had to go through extreme persecution, being jailed. In spite of all this, the Chinese church grew. That really encouraged the church (in India) to share the Gospel more joyfully.”

In India, revival is spreading in villages. Like Cambodia, supernatural healing is a gamechanger, he says.

Back to Jerusalem podcaster Eugene Bach says that when Chinese missionaries join Indian locals in spreading of the gospel, you have the teaming up of the Land of the Dragon and the Land of the Elephant.

They went to Iraq under ISIS and ministered to Kurdish and Yazidi refugees running from terrorists who sold off women and girls as sex slaves and killed men and boys who did not convert, brainwash and become militants.

Chinese missionaries in Iraq, with faces obscured, minister to refugee children

Bach documents the landing of three Chinese missionaries in Kurdish region of Iraq sometime in 2013-14 when ISIS erupted on the international scene, taking over much of Syria and Iraq. While taking care of refugees and bringing joy to children who had lost their parents, they present the gospel.

Back to Jerusalem podcaster Eugene Bach says that when Chinese missionaries join Indian locals in spreading of the gospel, you have the teaming up of the Land of the Dragon and the Land of the Elephant.

They went to Iraq under ISIS and ministered to Kurdish and Yazidi refugees running from terrorists who sold off women and girls as sex slaves and killed men and boys who did not convert, brainwash and become militants.

Bach documents the landing of three Chinese missionaries in Kurdish region of Iraq sometime in 2013-14 when ISIS erupted on the international scene, taking over much of Syria and Iraq. While taking care of refugees and bringing joy to children who had lost their parents, they present the gospel.

Martyr For The Faith: John Chau

From “Voice of the Martyrs”

As a teenager, John Chau sensed God calling him to take the gospel to the people of North Sentinel Island. For nine years, he prepared himself to go to the island, live among the people, learn their language and share Christ with them.

John knew the risks. He knew the Sentinelese had been violent toward visitors before, but he also knew God had called him to go.

“I believe that the measure of success in the kingdom of God is obedience,” John said shortly before his death. “I want my life to reflect obedience to Christ and to live in obedience to him. I think that Jesus is worth it. He’s worth everything.”

On Nov. 15, 2018, John went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the first time. On Nov. 16, 2018, he went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the final time.

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, before boarding a fishing boat and heading toward North Sentinelese Island, John wrote this prayer in his journal: “Thank you, Father, for using me, for shaping me and molding me to be Your ambassador. … Holy Spirit, please open the hearts of the tribe to receive me and by receiving me, to receive You. May Your kingdom, Your rule and reign come now to North Sentinel Island. My life is in Your hands, O Father, so into Your hands I commit my spirit.”

The next morning before dawn, John went ashore and buried two cases of supplies for his stay on the island. Later that morning, he kayaked along the shore, hoping to show his good intentions by delivering fish and other gifts to the islanders. “My name is John,” he called out. “I love you, and Jesus loves you.”

The first islanders to appear carried their bows with unstrung arrows. Later, when they strung arrows in their bows, John paddled out of range and back to the boat. He approached again that afternoon, delivering more gifts and getting close to an islander before a young Sentinelese launched an arrow that lodged firmly in the waterproof Bible he was carrying.

On his second contact attempt, John got out of his kayak, hoping to appear less threatening. But when islanders, one with a bamboo knife, got between him and the kayak, he had to leave it behind — with his U.S. passport inside — and swim back to the boat. After that eventful day, he poured out his heart in the pages of his journal, which the fishermen later delivered to Christian friends.

The plan now is to rest and sleep on the boat and in the morning to drop me off by the cache and then I walk along the beach toward the same hut I’ve been giving gifts to. It’s weird — actually, no, it’s natural:

I’m scared.

There, I said it. Also frustrated and uncertain — is it worth me going on foot to meet them? Now they have attached me to the gifts … Lord yet you will be close. If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be it. I think I could be more useful alive though, but to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens. I DON’T WANT TO DIE! Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don’t think so — I’m stuck here anyway without a passport and having been off the grid. I still could make it back to the US somehow as it almost seems like certain death to stay here. Yet there is evidenced change in just two encounters in a single day. Will try again tomorrow.

John’s journal also includes sociological and linguistic notes; he tried to learn as much as he could from each encounter with the Sentinelese. Later that evening, John added another entry.

Watching the sunset and it’s beautiful — crying a bit … wondering if it’ll be the last sunset I see before being in the place where the sun never sets. Tearing up a little.

God, I don’t want to die. WHO WILL TAKE MY PLACE IF I DO? … Why did a little kid have to shoot me today? His high pitched voice still lingers in my head. Father, forgive them if they succeed.

Lord strengthen me as I need Your strength and protection and guidance and all that You give and are. Whoever comes after me to take my place, whether it’s after tomorrow or another time, please give them a double anointing and bless them mightily.

On Nov. 16, 2018, John went ashore on North Sentinel Island for the last time. When the fishermen returned the next day, according to the police report, they saw “a dead person being buried at the shore which from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances appeared to be the body of John Allen Chau.”

Nothing is known about what happened between John’s arrival on the beach and his death. The young man who would later be ridiculed as a “colonizer” had approached the Sentinelese without a weapon — even after being shot at — clearly willing to give up his own life. John’s body was never recovered; he had requested that if killed, his body be left on the island.

Following his death, a storm of vitriol was unleashed on John, his family and, at times, anyone who would dare to think of sharing the gospel with another human being. The fishermen who took John to the island were arrested, as were other Christians who had spoken with John in the Andaman Islands.

Many news reports and opinion pieces implied that John had been foolish to contact a people group known to be violent toward outsiders. What they didn’t know was that John had prepared for years to reach the Sentinelese with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The end of John’s life on earth should not be viewed as the end of the whole story; we know how that story ends. In one of John’s last journal entries, he wrote, “The eternal lives of this tribe are at hand, and I can’t wait to see them around the throne of God worshiping in their own language, as Revelation 7:9–10 states.”

Perhaps in eternity, we will see John standing among the Sentinelese gathered around the throne, crying out in a loud voice with them, “Salvation belongs to our God!”

Two thousand Iranians turning to Jesus every day

From God Reports

By Charles Gardner —

underground church Iran

The Bible Society, which operates around the globe, reports that more than 2,000 Iranians are turning to Jesus every single day! One 92-year-old believer, whenever she’s on a bus, pulls out a small book and asks her neighbour to help her read the tiny font.

In fact, she is secretly getting strangers to read the gospels. Every time she does it, the person sitting next to her ends up taking a New Testament home.

This is brave work in a land where leaving Islam is potentially punishable by death. But the Iranian revival is good news for Israel – and the Jews! For these dear people have been taught by their government and mullahs that Israel is their archenemy.

But now that they have opened their lives to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, they find they are also growing to love the Jewish people, longing and praying for a restoration of the peace that the two nations once enjoyed.

This is profoundly good news for those who have eyes to see the bigger picture. For the strict Islamic state of Iran, whose rulers want to wipe out the Jewish people just as Hitler did and who are chief sponsors of monstrous terrorist groups like Hamas, is now the focus of a Christian revival where some two million people have discovered that Jesus, the Jew, is the Savior of the world.

As the mosques shut down in great numbers, passionate Christians are filling the vacuum, though of necessity staying ‘underground’ for now, out of sight of the religious police.

The Islamic foundations are crumbling for the chief sponsors of terrorism, a fact graphically prophesied by the psalmist thousands of years ago when he wrote of them: “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more. With one mind they plot together, forming an alliance against you.” (Psalm 83:4f)

Among the enemies named are ‘Ishmaelites’ and people from Philistia (Gaza) and Tyre (Lebanon), with Assyria (covering parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) joining them. Does this ring any bells?

Yet the psalmist (Asaph) is not vindictive. He calls on the Lord to bring shame on them so that they will know “that you alone are the Most High over all the earth”. And we are hearing that many in the Muslim/Arab world, even in the strictest of regimes, are indeed discovering the truth of Yeshua.

In the UK too, where Jews feel increasingly threatened and pro-Palestinian marchers are allowed to call for Israel’s demise on the streets of our cities, there is a revival of Christianity, which gives us hope.

After conducting a thorough survey, the Bible Society reports a remarkable fourfold increase in young men aged 18-24 attending church over the last six years.

Amid rumours that Donald Trump is about to announce recognition of a Palestinian State (albeit without Hamas), here in the UK we are hearing reports of a recruiting campaign for Islam within the National Health Service. And even Conservative MPs and peers are making previously unheard-of calls for recognition of ‘Palestine’.

A British TV program has just been rightly lauded for exposing a shocking miscarriage of justice against a host of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of theft, false accounting and fraud when in fact it was due to a faulty computer system.

But I also believe the monumental miscarriage of justice of modern times has been the grossly misleading narrative – through media, parliament and elsewhere – of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Restored to their ancient land through internationally recognized treaties, not to mention God’s law – their ultimate title deed – they are constantly subjected to a host of lies and propaganda accusing them of stealing what is their own property.

It’s important that we see the big picture of the unfolding spiritual warfare taking place. When Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to spread the gospel (as recorded in Luke 10:19,21), he told them he had given them authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.

And he was full of joy through the Holy Spirit because God had hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to babes.

It is not the proud and arrogant who will inherit the earth, but the meek and humble. And the latter will also be granted a clear-sighted vision of what is really happening amidst the turmoil of these terrible times which are surely preparing the way for our Lord Yeshua’s return.

As the darkness deepens around the world, especially in the Middle East, the light of Christ is shining ever brighter. It must be tempting for Israelis to feel greatly perplexed.

The psalmist assures us: “Do not fret because of those who are evil… for like the grass they will wither… A little while, and the wicked will be no more… but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.” (Psalm 37:1f, 10f)

The North Sentinel Islands Retain Their Deadly Reputation

North Sentinel Island lies between Thailand and India. It has the reputation of being the most isolated territory on the planet by reason of the inhabitants killing anyone who lands on the island.

From Christianity Today:

85361

US Missionary Killed by ‘World’s Most Isolated’ Tribe.

A 27-year-old American missionary was killed on a remote island off the coast of India, where he attempted to share the gospel with the most isolated tribe in the world.

All Nations, a Christian missions agency based in the US, confirmed that John Allen Chau travelled to North Sentinel Island after years of study and training to evangelise its small indigenous population, who remain almost entirely untouched by modern civilisation.

According to news reports based on Chau’s journal entries, the Oral Roberts University graduate shouted, “My name is John, and I love you and Jesus loves you,” to Sentinelese tribesmen armed with bows and arrows. He fled to a fishing boat when they shot at him during his initial visit, with one arrow piercing his Bible.

The young missionary did not survive a follow-up trip on November 17.

“You guys might think I’m crazy in all this but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people,” the native of Washington state wrote the day before in a letter to his parents obtained by the Daily Mail. “Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.”

Indian police have not retrieved the young missionary’s body and, since contact with the indigenous tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is prohibited, cannot prosecute his murderers.

The Sentinelese were known to refuse outside contact and attack anyone who stepped on their island.

Some have declared Chau a martyr and compared him to Jim Elliot, who was famously killed at age 28 while attempting to evangelise an isolated indigenous group in Ecuador.

“John was a gracious and sensitive ambassador of Jesus Christ who wanted others to know of God’s great love for them,” said Mary Ho, international executive leader of All Nations, which says it trains and supports 150 missionaries in 31 countries, including India.

“As we grieve for our friend, and pray for all those who mourn his death, we also know that he would want us to pray for those who may have been responsible for his death.”

This was Chau’s third visit to the Andaman and Nicobar island chain. Its police chief called his recent trip “misplaced adventure,” but his family and friends insist that he knowingly violated protocol to enter the dangerous territory for the sake of sharing the gospel.

According to All Nations, Chau joined their organisation last year, after serving on mission in Iraq, Kurdistan, and South Africa. The agency described him as “a seasoned traveller who was well-versed in cross-cultural issues.”

His family posted a tribute on Instagram, saying they forgive those responsible for killing Chau and requesting that charges be dropped against the fishermen accused of endangering his life by helping transport him to North Sentinel Island.

The Joshua Project, a ministry dedicated to tracking unreached ethnic groups, reports that little is known about the Sentinelese due to their isolation and hostility, but asks supporters to “Pray that the Indian Government will allow Christians to earn the trust of the Sentinelese people, and that they will be permitted to live among them.”