Prepare for D-day

 

I watched part of the BBC coverage of the 80th anniversary of D-day in Normandy. 

When the Ukraine’s President Zelensky met with the last few veterans and spoke with them you could see something pass between them. The old veterans had once stood where Zelensky and his countrymen now stand, in the heat of battle, against terrible odds, determined and resilient but facing an uncertain future and outcome. The veterans have tasted the victory after a long struggle and great losses; the Ukraine longs for a time of peace after victory which they can commemorate.

Wars are not always won by might or strength of numbers though as the allies can testify to. Two very beautiful miracles in WW11; one was the Dunkirk evacuation where the weather conditions were absolutely perfect (extremely rare for that area) with calm seas to assist the small boats, and total cloud cover which hindered the Luftwaffe from bombing the vessels and forcing them above the clouds where the RAF were waiting for them.

The other was the Battle of Britain; outnumbered 4:1 by German fighters; even with the best aircraft and more motivated pilots the odds were really too much to expect victory. Unless of course there is an unseen factor at play; which there was. Intercession. For the entire duration of the air battle, groups of intercessors prayed day and night for the RAF for some heavenly air cover and they got it!

I recall at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine as the Russian tanks approached Kyiv, many people of different denominations across the globe, as they watched things unfold on the news, were also consistently in prayer to stop their progress and push them back into Belarus. We prayed every night as a family here. And this has always been the key; to seek God’s intervention at key moments from the Old Testament days to our own. Many of Our Lady’s apparitions point us to this. In Fatima we were told to pray to prevent WW11, alas that went unheeded. 

In our day, we see conditions similar to previous times: Russia invading Ukraine and also the Chinese sabre rattling near Taiwan and swamping the West Philippine Sea with uninvited militia vessels. With consistent prayer we can disrupt whatever plans and schemes are being cooked up by evil men and watch as the Lord’s plans are fulfilled. Best to begin now though and not wait until it’s too late!

God’s purpose is revealed

It’s not often that the Lord ‘tips His hand’ and allows us to see things from His perspective and what He has in mind. Perhaps it’s an occasional reward for faithfulness or more likely when an intimate ally is ready to see it, when their heart has been prepared. 

There is a wonderful story about a seminarian Mang Eui-Soon , (not sure of his denomination) from Seoul in South Korea at the beginning of the Korean war that gives an insight into this. He was a man of prayer, barely in his twenties and had a particular fondness for ministering to the sick in the hospital attached to his church. 

The invasion of south Korea was fast; the north Korean army overwhelming the South by sheer weight of numbers and in days many found themselves behind the lines. Mang Eui-Soon and his companions hid and tried to make their way south through the countryside to safety. 

Their journey was not easy; first they were captured by the invading army and tortured for days as suspected spies. After being released they continued their journey only to be captured again and pressed into service carrying munitions and cooking for the North Korean army. They escaped and pushed south where they eventually met with the South Korean and American forces who arrested them and sent them to a Prisoner of War camp assuming they were NK spies. So he was placed with the captured NK soldiers and later their Chinese allies. At first he tried to convince them otherwise (as did many of his south Korean acquaintances outside the prison camp) but then he began to realize in prayer what the purpose was. 

As North Korea and China were both atheist countries, cut off from the world behind the iron curtain, he began to see God’s purpose. As he put it “they are not enemies invading our country with rifles, but sheep that God has driven along” He realized that “God had started the work of salvation on billions of Chinese… we have to sow the seed of the Gospel in their hearts” 

For years then he worked tirelessly in the camp and its hospital to reach out to the NK and Chinese prisoners and brought the Gospel to them, even constructing a church inside the camp. He had to dodge his own release even after the allies sought to set him free so he could remain with those he was evangelizing. Before the end of the war, after which the POW’s were to be repatriated to NK and China, he died in the camp and most attended his funeral. He brought so many to God by his persistence and kindness and then they returned to North Korea and China, no longer combatants but as evangelists, sowing the seed in their home countries where it continues to grow in secret.

Eventually someone would come..

An English missionary to China in the 1900’s, Gladys Aylward, came to understand the real power of the word of God one afternoon, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in northern China. She and her companion, a Chinese doctor were exhausted from walking and knelt down on the grass and prayed, she prayed for food and shelter ,  her companion prayed ‘O God, send us the one you want us to tell about Jesus’ They then broke into songs of praise. At that point a man appeared on the brow of a hill; he was a llama (Buddhist monk). He beckoned them and took them to his monastery way up on top of a mountain.


They were taken to see the abbot and he showed them a scrap of paper, that one of the monks brought back years before from a town where they sold their crops, it read ‘For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (Jn3:16). That was all, but they learned from that short passage that there was a God who loved and they all read and re-read that passage and wanted to know who the God who loved was.


They sent monks out to towns and villages to try and find out. One heard that Jesus had commanded his disciples to ‘go out into the whole world, and proclaim the good news’ The abbot reasoned that if the first passage was true, the second was too and that eventually someone would come and tell them the rest of the story.


Gladys and her companion stayed on for many days and laid out the Gospel story for them. Every night after they finished, there would be a queue outside their rooms of Buddhists wanting to know more...

Renewing the face of the earth

I live in one of the most polluted cities in Asia; but today (still in lockdown) I sit under a cloudless sky with the sun on my face and the only air traffic is a majestic bird of prey (an escapee from the zoo next door) which is encircling our house. Earlier I read this verse from Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told” 

Many atheists in the world are rather alarmed as the structures they trust in, start to break down as a result of the corona virus. 

A similar plague occurred during the cultural revolution in China, centered around a labour camp which housed political prisoners including many Christian evangelists. One evangelist named, Miao Zizhong from Zhejiang had a particularly spectacular rescue from the virus. It killed more than a thousand of the 1300 prisoners in a few days and once he caught it he was examined by the camp doctor and sent to a side room which was filled with corpses awaiting burial in a pit that was still being dug. 

He fell to his knees and prayed for healing. At this point an angel appeared to him and transported him to a dazzlingly white room where the angel breathed into his lungs and he immediately felt relieved and was then returned to the side room. He exited and returned to the doctor who was terrified and thought he was a ghost! No one recovered from this disease. Miao testified that his prayer had been answered and God had healed him. The doctor fell to his knees, saying “your God is true, Jesus is alive, I now believe and ask Jesus to receive me”. 

The current state of flux we find ourselves in, reminds me of a quote from the ‘Vicar of Baghdad,’ an Anglican priest stationed there who said “we only knew that Jesus was all we needed, when he was all we had left”. 

Whatever the circumstances that surround the inception and spread of this latest virus it does present a great opportunity for a change of mindset in how we live generally and in particular, it’s an invitation to return to God... 

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 chronicles 7:14)

Freedom

There is a story told in Poland about Stalin; drinking vodka late at night, thinking about Poland, and mumbling that ‘trying to get Poles to embrace communism was like trying to put a horse’s saddle on a pig’

What is more surprising to me is how anyone managed to export the ideology to the Chinese, to whom it must have seemed equally unnatural. Thousands of years of innovation, faith and dynamism swept aside to make way for the monotony of a godless, humorless autocracy. As a creative, freedom-loving nation, it must have been stifling to have every aspect of life controlled, monitored and restricted in the manner it has been during its short epoch.

During his struggle with the British Empire, Gandhi noted that the small number of colonists cannot control millions of Indians once they decided not to be controlled anymore and his non-violent invitation for the British to leave was ultimately successful.  A handful of hard line Communists are beginning to realize that too, as many of their nation’s one billion souls long to be free again.

No one in China has forgotten the Tiananmen Square massacre; the broken tip of an enormous and growing iceberg of dissent and resistance; and all eyes are now on Hong Kong to see if the people there are ready to stand firm before the vice grips of the mainland regime close in on them and on the very core of what it is to be free. 

Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the return of China to greatness having rid herself of the malaise of Mao’s failed experiment and the streets of Peking (and Hong Kong) may be lit up with the joy of freedom, an inherent gift of God, once again; but not without struggle; not without blood, I suspect.

The Water Prison....a story from China

By Bishop John Tong

People have reason to be afraid of water, as those who have experienced the water prison realise. What is a water prison ? Imagine a small, dark dungeon with a narrow concrete table or altar in the middle of it.

The room is flooded so that only the table is above the water level. The guards take two stubborn prisoners who need to be taught a lesson and put them on the table every morning. The prisoners sit on the concrete, back to back, with no space to move until bedtime.

After 40 days the men should be either crazy or ready to sign any confession, if they have not already fallen into the water and drowned.

A Catholic Priest was put into a water prison. His companion complained and cursed from the first day, but the Priest decided to meditate and make a private retreat.

Before long the non-Christian prisoner became curious as to how his partner could be so serene under such circumstances. He began to ask him questions.

The Priest took the opportunity to explain the Gospel and the teachings of the church to him and eventually the catechumen asked 'There is water here, what is to prevent me from being baptised?'. And so the Priest baptised him, there & then, just as Philip baptised the Ethiopian eunuch in the Acts of the Apostles.

The Non-Christian had at first been afraid of the water around his small table, but not when the Spirit came.

Emporer Xi ....

My favourite line from the God Father (part 3) is:- ‘Power wears out those who don’t have it’ words whispered into Don Lucchesi’s ear seconds before he was assassinated with his own spectacles. Earthly power is an intoxicating and often rather brief illusion; made savage when it’s in the hands of frightened men who cling to it.

As President Xi Jinping has now ascended to China’s throne as dictator for life we can expect trouble. Already China’s Christians are feeling the pressure as he declares war on religion and Christianity in particular. In some areas of the country it’s a soft approach, instructing Christian villagers to replace holy pictures with those of Xi accompanied by financial inducements as his cult of personality spreads. Mostly though, he is following in the footsteps of the old guard earning him the nick-name ‘Xi Zedong’ after his ruthless predecessor. 

With churches initially being forced to remove crosses from their spires now being torn down altogether, it’s starting to look a lot like the cultural revolution all over again. Even state approved churches, once willing collaborators of the communist party, are now finding themselves under scrutiny and their key members even disappear into labour camps and the infamous ‘black prisons’ from which there is no return.

The unofficial churches, already familiar with persecution, are going underground again, back to the catacombs but it will be more difficult this time as the state has made its plans and is employing Hi-Tec means in its latest assault. Facial recognition software (like on Facebook) coupled with massive use of CCTV cameras (even in rural areas) can easily identify those attending churches or meetings and track all movement now. Underground Christians can only meet casually in two’s and three’s. 

Whilst we certainly need to pray for the protection of our brothers and sisters in China and that those destined for Martyrdom will be given the grace to die well, there is great hope too. Since Mao’s time Christians are a 100-million strong. He failed, as did Stalin, Nero, Herod and Ramses and all the others who stood against their God and saviour throughout the ages. 

God never tires, and He holds the lives of dictators in His hands too. Every beat of their hearts has been counted, the day of their departure known and their fate as they too will kneel at his feet to give an account of their lives. It’s President Xi we need to pity the most and pray for, perhaps the inexhaustible and relentless Divine mercy of God can reach him as it did Saul of Tarsus and so many others throughout the ages.

The Wall ... a story from China

A story from the persecuted church in China about a lay missionary 's visit there:

On the second night of his visit, he was awoken in the middle of the night by the noise of people moving around the house. A little scared, he got up out of bed and went to his door. Opening his door he grabbed one of the men living in the house and said to him "what is going on ?" The Chinese man replied "we're going to the wall". He inquired further " What is the wall ?" The Chinese man replied "Come with us and we will show you"

He got dressed and ventured out into the night with this group of people, walking for miles. On the way they were joined by 2 other groups until they numbered about 120 people. They came to a forest and he noticed that some of the men were climbing up the trees. (it turns out that they were look-outs).

They got to a clearing in the forest and there was a small half-built wall from an old derelict building. As they came closer, everyone fell down on their knees before the wall.

Moments later, one man got up and walked towards the wall and reaching forwards removed one brick, behind the brick was reserved the Blessed Sacrament. They adored the Blessed Sacrament for one hour in silent prayer. Then the brick was replaced, the men came down from the trees and they went home.

Two or three times a week they would go to the wall in the middle of the night, risking imprisonment or even their lives, to spend an hour with Jesus, their greatest friend.

God’s Video Screen

When some house church preachers visited one district, a strange occurrence happened. While they spoke, the crowd was able to see images of what the preachers were speaking about at the time. Witnesses said it was as though a slide projector or video was playing in midair, even though the evangelists were employing no such device.

When they spoke about the crucifixion, everyone present – believers and unbelievers alike – saw a gripping image of Jesus hanging on the Cross with His Blood flowing down. When they said, “Jesus was born in a manger” they saw a picture of a manger in front of them. This continued for more than four hours, and was witnessed by more than 1,000 people. Almost everybody repented and dedicated their lives to follow Jesus Christ. They said, “God is real and lives among you. What can we do except thank Him and believe in Him?”

Going the Extra Mile in China and a blind man healed

The house churches in Henan never pray for a change of government, but rather they pray God would save the souls of the lost in China! In fact, many Chinese Christians pray persecution will continue in China, because they are afraid if life becomes easy and their faith does not cost as much, the church will get lazy and fall asleep. They pray their attitude will be one that embraces suffering as a gift from the Lord. With that attitude, they are willing to go the extra mile, and there is nothing evil men or the world can do to them.

Brother Shui lived in Fangcheng County in southern Henan Province. During the Cultural Revolution, Christians were often forced to parade in public wearing large “dunce” hats, made of heavy bamboo. The people came out to mock and abuse the “criminals” who wore them. When the time came for Brother Shui to be paraded in public, the police were unable to find a spare dunce hat for him, so they made him walk without one. This deeply upset him, because he wanted to bear the reproach of the Lord. Each prisoner’s crimes were written on their hat. For Christians they often wrote, “This person believes in Jesus.” This was meant to be a humiliation, but many believers wore the hat as a badge of honor for their Lord. It was a witness to unbelievers, who could clearly see the peace and joy on the faces of the Christians compared to the other criminals. Brother Shui cried out , “O Lord, why did you forget me?” On the second day a dunce hat was found for Brother Shui, which made him so happy. His face shone with joy and tears welled up in his eyes as he paraded through the streets, now he was considered worthy to fully suffer for the Name of the Lord.

After the ceremony Brother Shui asked the police if he could keep the dunce hat and take it home when he was released from the prison, as a reminder of his “crimes.” The police found this request very strange, but they consented! When he returned to his farm, his neighbors were amazed to see Shui tending his cows and sheep while wearing the dunce hat! For him it was a treasured souvenir of when the Lord allowed him to suffer for the Name of Jesus. His neighbors thought he had lost his mind, and that he was a shameless man. They despised him. But Brother Shui was a man who loved Jesus with all his heart. The government was infuriated when they saw Brother Shui embracing what was meant to be his humiliation. They realized they could do nothing to make him change his ways or renounce his Lord.

The world can do nothing to a Christian who has no fear of man.

Brother Shui wholeheartedly served the Lord for the rest of his life until he went to be with Jesus last year, leaving a testimony of courage and faith to many believers.

Bind Man Healed

In 1966, in Nanzhao County (Henan Province), in a small town called Yunyang, one brother also had the experience of wearing a ‘dunce hat’ and being paraded through the streets for the Gospel. This brother was blind and couldn’t see a thing. Everyone knew he had been totally blind for many years. The people came out and beat him on the back and on the front, smearing dirt and rotten things on him, and riled against him. Two guards were placed on either side of him in order to lead him forward. Suddenly this brother began to shout, “Please don’t guide me anymore! I can see! I can see!” God had miraculously opened his eyes right in the midst of his persecution! This brother is still alive today in Nanzhao, and can still see!

Bread for China..

About 30+ years ago, in Henan province in China a teenage boy, later to become a mighty evangelist, knelt by his bedside praying for a bible. He had seen his father healed of cancer a few days before when his mother prayed for his healing in the name of Jesus, and he wanted to know who this Jesus was. In those days in China there were no bibles, during the cultural revolution they had all been burnt and all the missionaries expelled, executed or imprisoned. In his small village no one had ever seen one, although some had seen handwritten passages many years before. He began what was to become a 100 day fast as part of his prayer for a bible. He neither ate nor drank all day and just had a bit of rice in the evening. By the end, almost delirious with hunger he had a vision during his prayers where he saw his bible being delivered to him. As he woke from this vision, there was a knock at the door and two men entered and handed him a red bag with his bible inside.

An old evangelist from another part of China, who had suffered terribly for his faith during the cultural revolution, but had managed to successfully hide his bible by burying it in the ground in a can, also had a dream. He had seen the boy’s house, the village he lived in and the province and the Lord told him to send his bible to this boy. He asked two Christian friends to deliver it to him , the ones who knocked on the door 100 days later.

Healed in Jail Cell

In 1993 Philip, a house church leader in China, was thrown in prison after he and a number of believers were arrested. His ‘welcome’ to prison was a savage beating from the guards. They kicked him viciously with their steel-capped boots, beat him with batons, and tortured him with electric cattle-prods, designed to shock his body with high voltage.

Philip was left unconscious with a broken collarbone, arm, and ribs. The prison authorities then threw his bloody and bruised body into a small cell that already contained 28 prisoners. The cell had just one bed and a bucket, used by all the prisoners as a toilet. The cell leader was a rough man who had already formed a gang inside the prison. No one was allowed to sit on or touch his bed. When Brother Philip’s lifeless body was thrown inside the cell, however, even this hardened criminal had compassion on Philip and lay him down on his bed.

At around 2 a.m., according to the testimony of the other prisoners, a supernatural light or glow appeared over Philip’s body. It shone on him for several hours. The other prisoners were absolutely terrified and backed up against the corner of the cell. They cried for the guards to come and let them out. The guards also saw the supernatural light and were terrified, but they refused to let the prisoners out.

By sunrise, Brother Philip was much better and had regained consciousness. At no time did he actually see the light, but all the other prisoners did. Surprisingly for the serious injuries he had received the previous night, he was feeling much better and his broken collarbone and ribs seemed to be healed. Not surprisingly, the first question the prisoners asked him was “Who are you?” He replied, “It doesn’t matter who I am, but let me tell you about Jesus Christ.” He led all 28 of the prisoners to faith in Christ!

Today Brother Philip continues his ministry and is responsible for hundreds of house churches across China. He is a godly, humble and committed Christian who is willing to die for the Gospel. He receives no income and often goes hungry. Believers sometimes give him love gifts, but most rural Christians in China are so poor that their sacrificial gifts are barely enough for Philip to buy a train or bus ticket to the next town. There are thousands of Gospel-warriors like Philip in China and in the surrounding nations of Asia.

The Wall

(A story from the persecuted church in China by a lay missionary)

“on the second night of his visit, he was awoken in the middle of the night by the noise of people moving around the house. A little scared, he got up out of bed and went to his door. Opening his door he grabbed one of the men living in the house and said to him “what is going on ?” The Chinese man replied “we’re going to the wall”. He inquired further “ What is the wall ?” The Chinese man replied “Come with us and we will show you”

He got dressed and ventured out into the night with this group of people, walking for miles. On the way they were joined by 2 other groups until they numbered about 120 people. They came to a forest and he noticed that some of the male members were climbing up the trees. (it turns out that they were look-outs).

They got to a clearing in the forest and there was a small half-built wall from an old derelict building. As they came closer, everyone fell down on their knees before the wall.

Moments later, one man got up and walked towards the wall and reaching forwards removed one brick, behind the brick was reserved the Blessed Sacrament. They adored the Blessed Sacrament for one hour in silent prayer. Then the brick was replaced, the men came down from the trees and they went home.

Two or three times a week they would go to the wall in the middle of the night, risking imprisonment or even their lives, to spend an hour with Jesus, their greatest friend.”