Reap With Songs of Joy

I am writing to you from Washington, D.C., after finishing testifying before both the House and the Senate in less than one week.  Both hearings focused on religious freedom in China. 

 

Friends, the persecution in China has been escalating everyday, and the whole world is on alert. On Oct. 1, in one township out of Xinyang County, Henan province, all except three of the government sanctioned churches were forced to shut down. ChinaAid has received credible information showing the CCP security agents and officials closing ALL of the house churches in the same town. This degree of persecution has not been seen since the beginning of Chairman Mao’s brutal “Cultural Revolution.” 

 

I have been asking what this means to the Church in China. Here is what the Lord told me: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy” (Psalms 126:5). 

 

A week ago, I was informed that the Chinese government was seeking to make all students renounce their faith by asking every student to reveal their faith in a survey. In Pingyang No. 2 High School, 200 students revealed themselves as Christians. Then their teachers started talking to them one by one and intimidating them that they could face serious consequences if they continue to claim their faith. After the first round, only 80 students still confessed their Christian identity. They were then met with more harassment and threats of expulsion from school by security agents. After another time of being asked, only one 13 year-old boy still committed to confess the name of Christ. Wow! I am not condemning the 199 Christian boys and girls who refused to acknowledge Jesus name when they faced multiple rounds of threats against them. However, I am reminded that even 1 out of 200 whom God has chosen to be faithful to the end with “tears,” God certainly will ensure the great reap of joy for his Church. Just like how God in his providence revived his church in China after the first “Cultural Revolution” in 1966-1976, let’s pray for the persecuted and expect an even bigger joyful revival ahead. 

 

Thank you for continuing to partner with ChinaAid.

 

Your humble coworker,

Bob Fu