06 December 2009

BACK TO JERUSALEM




As the book roll has dually noted I have been reading Back to Jerusalem for some time. Actually months. This is not a fault of the book being a long slow read (not that a slow read is necessarily a fault), but rather that it was interesting enough that I made time to read it during harvest.

It was given to us by a dear friend of ours and former pastor, T.A. Beachy.

Here is a quote from the back of the book which can also be found on their website.

Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission - Three Chinese Church Leaders with Paul Hattaway

Napoleon once said: "When China is moved it will change the face of the globe." Today those words are becoming a reality through the powerful spiritual vision of the Chinese church to send missionaries across China's borders to complete the Great Commission, even in this generation. Here three Chinese Christians, who together have spent more than 40 years in prison for the Gospel, explain the history and present-day reality of the Back to Jerusalem movement.

"Who could ever have believed that after 50 years of Communism and terrible persecution, the church in China would have grown so mightily that China might become one of the foremost missionary-sending countries in the 21st century? This remarkable book shows this vision in our day" - Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World

So, the Church in China. Why should I care, why should I read this book. For one it was recommended and given to me by T. A. and that was a good reason in itself. However, it took me a while to get to it. But, I think it was at the right time. There are parts of this book that will grip you, jump your heart rate if you care for missions at all, or even the great move of God to gather for himself a people.

The general concept of this book is how the church in China is uniting to complete the great commission from China to Jerusalem. What is left are some of the hardest places to reach physically, and spiritually. Many of the places, make that most of the places left don't want Christians there preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. The vision started before communism started in China and the church went underground, westerners were thrown out for the most part, and massive persecution started on Chinese Christians.

This book includes many dramatic stories from Christians in China and the persecution they have underwent, and how God has moved among them. It is about 135 pages long and is about half stories about a few of the leaders and how the movement started, and the other half is a mixture of strategy, answering questions about the movement, and a discussion about Biblical Christianity.

To give you just a taste:
Talking about the training their missionaries receive-

1. How to reach across cultural and other barriers.....
2. How to reach specific groups......
3. How to suffer and die for the Lord.....
4. How to witness for the Lord. We teach how to witness for the Lord under any circumstance, on trains or buses or even in the back or a police van on the way to execution.
5. How to escape. We know that sometimes the Lord sends us to prison to witness for him, but we also believe that the devil sometimes wants us imprisoned to stop the ministry God has called us to do. We teach the missionaries special skills such as how to free themselves from handcuffs with in 30 seconds and how to jump from second-story windows without injuring themselves.

This is not a 'normal' seminary or Bible college! Should you ever visit us, you may see people with their hands tied behind their backs leaping from second-story windows. We are serious about fulfilling our destiny in God. Nothing less is required if we are to break down the walls that keep Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists from knowing the sweet presence of Jesus.

Read the book. I highly recommend it. And thanks T. A. for giving it to us!!

1 comment:

  1. YESSSSSSSSSSSS. The long-awaited review of this book. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

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