Carrying Out the Great Commission

A compilation

Audio length: 9:22
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I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus—who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom—to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not.—2 Timothy 4:1–21

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When Jesus told his followers to “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone,” that small band of poor, Middle Eastern disciples were overwhelmed. Were they supposed to walk or ride slow animals? That’s all they had for transportation, and there were no ocean-crossing ships, so there were real physical barriers to going to the whole world.

Today we have airplanes, ships, trains, buses, and automobiles. It’s a small world after all, and it’s shrinking daily. You can fly across the ocean in a matter of hours and be home the next day if you need to be. The opportunities for normal, everyday Christians to become involved in short-term international missions are now literally limitless. Every corner of the world is available to you—just ask the travel industry. We have no excuse not to spread the Good News.

Now, with the Internet, the world has gotten even smaller. In addition to phones and faxes, any believer with Internet access can personally communicate with people in virtually every country on earth. The whole world is at your fingertips! Even many remote villages get email, so you can now carry on “e-vangelistic” conversations with people on the other side of the world, without even leaving your home! It has never been easier in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world. The great barriers are no longer distance, cost, or transportation … The Great Commission is your commission, and doing your part is the secret to living a life ofsignificance.—Rick Warren2

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What [God] needs is better organs to reveal Himself through, richer, truer, holier lives to show His love through, more finely organized personalities for His grace to break through into the world. He cannot do His work without us. He cannot preach without our lips, comfort without our help, heal without our hands, carry the truth without our feet, remove the shadow without our faith and effort. The invisible works through the visible; the unseen and eternal operates through little instruments like us!—Rufus M. Jones

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As Christians we face the task of delivering the good news, the Gospel, God’s message of love and salvation, to the world of today. In order to do so in a relatable fashion, it’s important to understand the fundamental changes that have occurred in society, affecting many people’s worldview, values, and perception of Christianity. Recognizing that these changes run deep and bring with them fears and insecurities, as well as skepticism, can help us to better convey the message in a manner that relates to those we are commissioned to reach.

We know that the Gospel is a message for today’s world, but finding the manner to reach those who have not yet been attracted to the message, or who have been put off by it for one reason or another, is an ever-increasing challenge. The modern world has changed incredibly and rapidly within the past thirty years, and it continues to do so. Secularism has heavily permeated spheres of thought and influence with values that promote self-interest and materialism, as well as other values that are incompatible with and ultimately undermine Christian and traditional values.

That’s why the “you” factor is so vital. You embody the message. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, dwells within you. Who you are, how you live, the love you show, the kindness, the compassion and concern, all reflect God’s Spirit which lives within you. The Holy Spirit gives the call to the individual’s heart, but that call is often heard through your example. They get interested because they see your light and feel your warmth; that brings about the desire to hear what you have to say and the trust needed to accept and believe what you tell them. One of our challenges as Christians today is to live in a manner that allows the Holy Spirit to so reflect through us that people will be attracted and intrigued by the light that they see in us. Then, in coming closer to the warmth of that light, they will connect with the one who is the light of the world and who will give them the light of life.—Peter Amsterdam

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[The] Gospel is never heard in a vacuum or in isolation—it is always heard against the background of the cultural milieu in which one lives.—William Lane Craig

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True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement.—Pope John Paul II

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The believer is the only book in which God himself writes his New Testament.—William Dell

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In a post-Christian, skeptical age, love on display is the most convincing apologetic.—J. D. Greer

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Even though you don’t see the results of your witness right away, in some way you’re getting results. He’s promised that His Word will not return unto Him void; it will accomplish His purpose.3 You will not see some of the results until you get to heaven because you don’t always know the results of the seeds you plant in someone’s heart, if, how or when they will take root. Perhaps the person you have witnessed to will eventually find the Lord due to something that you said, or your witness will have worked in their heart to cause them to be more open and receptive when some other Christian witnesses to them.

We can’t always expect to be the sowers and the reapers, because the Lord said that some sow and some water, but God gives the increase.4 Sometimes we enter into other men’s labors and sometimes others enter into ours. Sometimes we lead people to the Lord who have been a long time in preparation, people who perhaps for their whole lifetime have been going through things where the Lord was bringing them gradually to the point where they would be willing to yield their lives to Him; and we come along at that point and we invite them to receive Jesus, and they do. We are just brought by the Lord at that time in their life after they have gone through a long period of preparation, and we’re able to reap all that has been sown and watered by others.

Sometimes we enter the scene somewhere else in the growing process. We may come in at the beginning, as the sowers, where we plant the initial seed. Or who knows, maybe we’re coming in somewhere in the middle and we’re watering the seed that was planted in their heart by someone else. We’re answering another of their questions, and we’re showing them a little more of Jesus’ love, and that will continue to work in their heart, even if they don’t immediately manifest how much it meant to them. We may never see them again, but the Word and the love we showed works in their heart, and the Lord uses it as one more step in bringing that person to Him. Their eventual salvation will partly be a result of our faithfulness to show them His love and tell them His message.—Maria Fontaine

Published on Anchor November 2014. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.



1 The Living Bible.
2 The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 298–299.
3 Isaiah 55:11.
4 See 1 Corinthians 3:6.

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Is Church Attendance Really the Way to Serve God? or "Israel Has Forsaken Its Maker And Builds Temples!"

By Dennis Edwards --

I just recently did a ten day walk to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. My daughter and I walked the 190 kilometers from our front door to the great Cathedral made in honor of Saint James the Apostle. Tradition has it that two of James’ disciples brought his body to Spain after he had been killed by Herod in Jerusalem during one of the early persecutions of the new Christian sect.

Supposedly Saint James’ tomb had been lost, but later, it was found by a man who saw stars (meteors?) falling from heaven onto a field. The name “Santiago” means “Saint James” and “Compostela” means “field of stars.” The man informed the Bishop and an expedition was made to search the field. They discovered the old remains of three people. Somehow, the Bishop realized the bones were none other than Santiago and his two disciples. The King of Northern Spain also put his signature to the project and the idea to build a cathedral was soon in the making. Santiago de Compostela soon became a place of pilgrimage and thousands travelled to her doors seeking forgiveness of sins, healing and other answers to prayer.

My daughter and I had a beautiful ten days of walking through forests and fields, along rivers, through quaint villages on our way to Santiago. The beautiful scenery lifted our hearts and minds to the Lord in praise and thanksgiving for the wonderful world He has given us. However, on our arrival to Santiago the spirit changed as we entered the city. Now we were approached by pretty young woman inviting us to shop or eat in their local. The streets were packed with busy shoppers. The restaurants were full. Beggars were on every street corner, even arguing over who could beg at the entrance to the great Cathedral. I was reminded of the Book of Revelation and the “filthy city Babylon.”

When we saw it, the great Cathedral towered over the other buildings. Was this building the climax of our journey? As I entered, the scriptures came flooding into my mind. Stephen the first Christian martyr cried out, “Howbeit the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands; Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? Have not my hand made all these things?”[1]This proclamation so infuriated the Temple worshipping, rule keeping, attendance minded Jews who refused to obey the word of the Lord, that they straightway stoned Stephen to death, as the future Apostle Paul –Saul, looked on with approval.

Later Paul himself while witnessing near the famous Greek temples recalled Stephen’s words and said something similar, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; and has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,…; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being.”[2]

Jesus himself was not impressed with the temple buildings in Jerusalem. Reading from the New Testament we find the following: “And as Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.”[3] Of course Jesus knew the Romans would come and destroy the temple in the soon future. But even in the Old Testament we find God’s disgust with his people over their temple worship. In Hosea we read, “For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples.”[4]

In Jeremiah we again see how the people trust in their building and temple attendance rather than in their obedience to God’s word. “The word of that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word and say;…Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. …Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?...And now, because ye have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers,… And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren,… Therefore pray not for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.”[5]

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and destroy Jerusalem and the temple because of Judah’s disobedience to the word of the Lord. The people would not hearken to the voice of the Lord through his prophets. They thought their temple worship and church attendance would save them. But in the end they suffered the ultimate penalty for their rebellion against God.

Jesus in the New Testament when talking to the woman at the well made a startling comment showing that God was not interested in temple worship. “Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when ye shall neither in this mountain (where the Samarians had their temple), nor yet at Jerusalem (where the Jews had their temple), worship the Father. …But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”[6] God wants our lives to be in loving obedience to him. He wants our thoughts and actions to be guided by his loving spirit. He wants us to love him, not just with words, but in deed and in truth,[7] with all our heart, with all soul, and with all our mind.[8]

But church buildings and temples are big business. The people are persuaded that they show their dedication to God by their buildings to his name. They build massive edifications that at times cost generations to complete. Their up keep is immense. But today many lay empty. In England we find them sold for discotheques, warehouses, homes, shop or museums. They may at one time have been a witness of man’s belief in God, but today in some countries they are a witness to man’s unbelief. So much money invested in those building which could have been spent in helping the poor, in training good Christian teachers and missionaries, in broadcasting the Gospel on radio, television, in music, movies and the printed page for old and young alike, all in helping mankind to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Man and his building, he prides himself in the works of his own hands rather than in obeying God and giving to the poor and living humbly. When I see the great building built by some Christian denomination it saddens me, knowing that money could have been used in a more fruitful way. But the false shepherds glory in their buildings as if they will last forever and as if they are laying up treasures in heaven by building them. Lord, deliver us from the worship of buildings and the religions that are built around them, whatever they may be. The greatest travesty is that the religion gets built around church or temple attendance and not on obedience to God and his word.

Today’s modern worship has its own building for today’s modern day gods: football stadiums and shopping malls are some of the new temples of worship where the devout go to worship their gods and offer their sacrifices, the money they have worked so hard to earn. These are the new temples of Mammon to the gods of materialism and the worship of man.

Where and how are you worshipping? Do you feel satisfied that God is with you because of your faithful church attendance and keeping of religious rules, but have not the love of God within you to love your wife, child, son-in-law, neighbor or workmate? Are you worshipping God in spirit and in truth by the way you live your life in accordance to his law of love, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, if you were in the same given situation? Is love the mandate by which you govern and shepherd those in your sphere of influence? If not, call upon Jesus. He has promised to forgive you and to fill you with his spirit to make you capable of even loving the unlovable. Call upon him today. He’s only a call away. You won’t be disappointed.

Footnotes:

[1] Acts 7:48-50
[2] Acts 17: 24-28
[3] Matthew 24:1.2
[4] Hosea 8:14
[5] Jeremiah 7:1-16
[6] John 4:21-24
[7] 1John 3:18
[8] Matthew 22:37

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Criado de Maneira Singular

http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/criado-de-maneira-singular/
Uma compilação

O Senhor vai ao nosso encontro onde estivermos e trata cada um de maneira diferente. Não acho que Ele ensine a mesma lição da mesma maneira a duas pessoas. Trata cada um de uma forma diferente. Nem todo o mundo compreende as coisas na primeira vez ou até na segunda vez, mas o Senhor tem bastante paciência e continua a nos ensinar sem Se importar com a nossa lentidão.

Ele vê o bem e as possibilidades onde não conseguimos encontrá-los. Quando nós mesmos somos incapazes, entendemos que existe a possibilidade das outras pessoas também serem assim. Na verdade, sabemos que elas são e temos compaixão — pelo menos deveríamos — e nos colocamos no lugar delas. Compreende que se as coisas são difíceis para nós e se travarmos esse tipo de batalhas, então o mesmo deve acontecer com outras pessoas.

Estou chegando ao ponto em que consigo aceitar e não ser intransigente pelo fato de eu não ser tudo o que gostaria de ser. Se fosse o contrário, eu seria uma pessoa completamente diferente, nem sequer seria eu! É óbvio que essa não seria a vontade do Senhor, porque não foi assim que Ele me criou. Minha nossa, se eu fosse como gostaria de ser, seria bem diferente! Teria uma memória de elefante, não adiaria minha tarefas, seria linda, articulada, e adoraria escrever.

Todo o mundo tem uma lista de como gostaria de ser, mas estou começando a entender que o Senhor tem um propósito na maneira como me criou. Ele não errou. É bom entendermos isso, principalmente se achamos que não temos talentos, ou não somos tão dotados como achamos que deveríamos ser, pois a Sua Palavra promete que Sua força se aperfeiçoa na nossa fraqueza.[1]

Em minha opinião, se achamos que não temos grandes dons e talentos, deveríamos aceitar, ficar encorajados e não sentirmos que “puxa, o Senhor poderia me usar muito mais se eu fosse assim ou assado!”. É natural ter esse tipo de pensamento e todos querem ser diferentes e melhores em algumas coisas. Mas obviamente o Senhor sabe o que está fazendo e Ele não está errando. Ao criá-lo um pouco menos talentoso do que você gostaria, Ele tem condições de brilhar mais através de você. Afinal das contas, estamos aqui para exaltarmos o Senhor e darmos a Ele toda a glória.

Agradeça a Deus pelos seus pontos fortes e pelos pontos fracos. Em certo sentido, seus pontos fracos podem ser os fortes. E para outras pessoas, os pontos aparentemente fortes podem, na verdade, se provarem fraquezas. Mas essa deficiência pode ser superada com a ajuda do Senhor e utilizada de uma maneira ainda mais grandiosa, para a glória de Deus. —Maria Fontaine


Um tesouro inegável

Temos a tendência de nos considerarmos comuns, como a maioria, ou medianos. Quando vemos os extraordinários dons e talentos de outras pessoas e nos comparamos a elas, achamos que somos comuns. Mas, para Deus, cada um é excepcional, inigualável e incomparável.

Como somos especialmente criados por Deus, somos incomparáveis. … Cada um de nós é um tesouro. Isso é inegável. Somos singulares e amados de forma singular pelo nosso Pai celestial. E, por meio do sacrifício do Seu filho imaculado, Jesus, nosso Senhor, somos um estimado membros da Família de Deus, destinados a passar a eternidade com Ele no Céu. Jesus Cristo morreu pela igreja e ama cada um como se este fosse o único neste planeta.—Autor anônimo[2]


Empoderamento

Visualizamos nossa comunidade de fé como um ambiente de empoderamento, que inspire os membros e os imbua de confiança para realizar seus sonhos e planos para Deus, cumprir a Sua vontade para suas vidas qualquer que seja o caminho ou carreira; para crescer na fé cristã, nas suas crenças, discipulado ou serviço missionário e não verem limites quando se trata de encontrar meios eficazes de levar o Evangelho aos que precisam.

A meta é que nossa comunidade de fé estenda a mão de amizade e camaradagem a todos que desejem trabalhar conosco e aprender as verdades espirituais com as quais fomos ricamente abençoados.

Prevemos um fortalecimento de ânimos e mais esperança conforme partilharmos de uma cultura que desenhe um círculo de amor que inclua as pessoas, reconheça, inspire e cultive o seu potencial, alimente espiritualmente e encoraje a fé, visão e determinação dos nossos companheiros de luta.

A força espiritual da nossa igreja no geral, se vamos ser conhecidos como “discípulos de Jesus” por causa do amor que temos pelos outros, depende de cada um de nós, de nossas escolhas e compromisso.

Se continuarmos praticando nossas crenças, dedicando-nos ao Senhor e buscando a vocação da Grande Incumbência — independentemente da maneira como isso acontece em nossas vidas — e incluirmos os outros que querem fazer o mesmo; se cada um tomar decisões motivado pelo amor de Jesus e pela vontade de Deus para nossas vidas; se estivermos compromissados a seguir nossos princípios guias e aplicá-los a nossas vidas e trabalho, então existe uma grande chance de alcançarmos o sucesso na nossa missão.

Vamos ter de lutar e batalhar com persistência e vai demorar um tempo para realizarmos nossos sonhos. Mas acreditamos que se fizermos todo o possível e contarmos com Deus para nos guiar e apoiar, alcançaremos o progresso e crescimento que buscamos enquanto comunidade de fé orientada para a missão, um grupo caloroso, relevante, progressista, moderno, que acompanha as mudanças dos tempos sem esmaecer no compromisso de levar ao mundo algo que todos sempre precisaram, em qualquer país, cultura e era — o amor e a verdade de Jesus.

Quando a fé da pessoa está bem fundamentada e ela está convencida no seu íntimo que aquilo é a verdade, consegue tomar maiores decisões que vão glorificar o Senhor. A fé pessoal mais forte também tornará a pessoa um pilar para os outros crentes na nossa comunidade de fé. — Peter Amsterdam


Formado por um propósito

[Deus] o formou, moldou para um propósito e espera que use ao máximo o que lhe foi dado. Ele não quer que você se preocupe ou cobice qualidades que não possui. Pelo contrário, quer que se concentre em usar os talentos que lhe deu.

Você pode se sentir como um peixe fora d’água quando tenta servir a Deus de maneira que foge ao desígnio dEle. É frustrante, os resultados são limitados e se torna uma perda de tempo, talento e energia. A melhor maneira de usar a sua vida é servindo a Deus de uma maneira fora do molde, mas para isso é preciso antes descobrir qual a sua forma, o seu molde, aceitar e desfrutar. Só então poderá desenvolver o seu potencial ao máximo…

Deus sabe o que é melhor para você, portanto, você deveria aceitar graciosamente a maneira como Ele o criou. A Bíblia diz: “Quem és tu, ó homem, para questionares a Deus? Acaso aquilo que é criado pode interpelar seu criador dizendo: ‘Por que me fizeste assim?’” O oleiro certamente pode dar a forma que achar melhor ao vaso! A sua forma foi determinada por Deus, para cumprir o Seu propósito, portanto você não deveria ficar ressentido ou rejeitar isso. Em vez de tentar criar um novo molde para ser igual à outra pessoa, aproveite e desfrute da forma como Deus o criou.

Assim como cada corredor corre em uma raia específica, nós, individualmente, devemos “correr com paciência a carreira que Deus propôs especificamente para nós”.—Rick Warren[3]

Publicado no Âncora em outubro 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.


[1] 2 Coríntios 12:9.

[2] Every Day with Jesus (Worthy Publishing, 2011).

[3] The Purpose-Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).

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Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

A compilation
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/fearfully-and-wonderfully-made/

Audio length: 8:50
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I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.—Psalm 139:141

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This verse is nestled inside a psalm that is full of great meaning and doctrine. The psalmist is talking about the omnipresence and omniscience of God. How that we cannot flee from God’s seeing eye nor experience anything that He is not aware of. … These verses give the assurance that God is with you regardless of what you are experiencing in life at the moment. At times when you feel like God is far from you, this great psalm brings comfort as a reminder that He is ever present and aware of your problems and needs.

[In verse 14 of Psalm 139 David] praises God because God created the psalmist, as well as each one of us, in a wonderful way. God made us the way we are and for a specific purpose. When we understand that, then we can have peace that whatever ailments or perceived problems we have in life are there because God ordained them.—David Peach

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A recent book from the publishers of Time magazine catalogs the world in photos. Page after page, up close and from great distances, the camera unveils beauty, marvel, mystery. From the intricate industry of the beehive, to the playful spouts of Beluga whales, to the salmon fishing of the grizzly bear ... everywhere we look, wonders await. They abound.

Do you realize that every morning one of the world's great wonders stares back at you from your mirror? The Bible tells us we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” What better start to your day than to reflect on the miracle o you—compliments of the Creator of the Universe.—Howard Butt, Jr.

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You are special! You are part of a magnificent, vast, overall plan. You can’t see that plan, but I can. You can’t see how beautifully you fit in with the overall panorama of life and the balance of the universe, but I can. Someday you will see it too, and you will marvel together with Me at how wonderfully everything came together.

You are unique. There has never been a person like you, nor will there ever be another just like you. That’s one of the things I like most about you. Resist the temptation to look at yourself negatively or to focus on what you think are your shortcomings, weaknesses, inabilities, your less-than-perfect body or personality or whatever. You are fulfilling the purpose for which you were created. I love you just the way you are, and I love you as though you were the only person in the world.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy

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God wove you. Like a tapestry, each of us is a complex creature.2 All of our parts work together; each with a different job to do and all depending on the other parts.3 God works with the skill that confounds man. We recall the first creation which began it all.4When God formed that initial human pair, He skillfully added mechanisms which would operate on the basis of natural law so that they would be able to re-create themselves. The Psalmist correctly identifies God as the Master Worker who is the source of our origin.

This should elicit praise and thanksgiving from our hearts.5 We are “fearfully” (awe) and “wonderfully” (to distinguish) made. Each of us [is] unique in many ways, but also similar in many; each an original masterpiece of the Creator. Don't deny this aspect of your identity (too many have done so). God can use your special abilities6; He has a purpose for you!—Jon W. Quinn

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Psalm 139:14 makes the well-known statement, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” … What does it mean?

First, these words are a clear statement about the amazing capabilities of the human body God has created. Our bodies are made of billions of cells and a myriad of parts that can only be adequately explained by a loving and wise Creator and Designer.7

Second, this verse gives an indication of our value from God's perspective. He designed us. Much care is involved in the creation of each human being. As the verses immediately following say, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”8

Third, this verse reveals the inestimable worth of all human life. A direct application of this verse is the protection of life at all levels, from the womb to the final breath of a person’s life. This is why Christians care deeply about the protection of life in the womb,9caring for those mistreated or undervalued by others in society,10 and for the elderly and those with terminal illnesses. As 1 John 4:19 shares, “We love because he first loved us.”
Fourth, God’s qualities of having all power (omnipotence) and all knowledge (omniscience) are revealed in this verse. God asked Job, “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?”11 It’s a rhetorical question; the answer is, of course, God. No one else can take the credit for creating every person. No one else knows each person at the most intimate level. The same God who created the universe12also knows the number of hairs on our head.13

Finally, in this verse we find yet another reason to worship the Lord Almighty. He has created us in such wisdom, power, and love, and the only proper response is to honor Him and glorify His name. As the Psalms note elsewhere, “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.”14—Compelling Truth website15

Published on Anchor November 2014. Read by Debra Lee.

Footnotes:
1 NIV.
2 See Exodus 26:36.
3See 1 Corinthians 12:14–18.
4 See Genesis 2:7, 22; 1:27.
5 See Psalm 139:14.
6 See Psalm 139:16.
7 See Genesis 1:26–27.
8 Psalm 139:15–16.
9 See Psalm 139:13.
10 See Proverbs 31:8–9.
11 Job 38:36.
12 See Genesis 1:1.
13 See Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7.
14 Psalm 86:8–10.
15 www.compellingtruth.org.

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Dominoes

By Mark McMillion
http://markmcmillion.com/dominoes/#comment-113554
Posted on November 9, 2014


Have you ever seen a picture of dominoes falling? One domino after the other hits the one next to it and hundreds or even thousands of dominoes fall simultaneously. It’s always had a meaning for me. Sadly, not always a good one.

The Bible says, “One sinner destroys much good” ( Ecclesiastes 9:18). We all have influence. “No man lives to himself and no man dies to himself” (Romans 14:7). That’s just the way things are for the vast majority of humanity. That’s why our influence on others is so important. “He that walks with wise men shall be wise. But the companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).

Maybe I should look at it more positively. I came to the Lord during the Jesus Movement of the early 70’s. So many were affecting others and it was a wave and movement towards the Lord, like dominoes falling forward, nudging each other towards Him by the thousands and even millions.

But, sadly, I’ve seen it go the other way. Friends and loved ones who’ve been pushed in a time of weakness, confusion or temptation to abandon the ways of the Lord and to give themselves over to the dark side, the ways of the world and the ways of unbelief. It’s heart-breaking, truly.


It’s heartbreaking to see your friends forsake the paths of light to follow the worldly in the ways of spiritual darkness.

“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” (Psalm 78:9). If you’re a Christian, perhaps you know how it’s heartbreaking to see your friends forsake the paths of light to follow the worldly in the ways of spiritual darkness. Maybe that’s why Solomon said, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (Proverbs 1:10). Or Moses wrote in the Law, “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil.” (Exodus 23:2)

That’s how it is. We all have influence. And there are seldom any neutrals. We’re either pulling others up to our level or dragging them down to ours. That’s why Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me and he that gathers not with Me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). It’s just that simple and that real, even though many would say it’s not.

We all have influence. We are all looking at each other. We are all making decisions. Will I buck the tide and stand up for what I know to be true, even if I have to do it alone and without my friends? That’s very, very tough for almost everyone.

Of course that’s what Jesus Himself did. “All forsook Him and fled.” (Mark 14:50) Even His 12 disciples, even the ones He taught and loved the most turned away from Him at His darkest hours. It seems it was the same for Paul. “All they that be in Asia have turned away from me”, he wrote in his final epistle. (II Timothy 1:15)

So, dominoes. Influence. Being dragged down by folks you want to be friends with. Or standing against the flow and the tide when it’s going the wrong way.


I was taught to stand up for my beliefs, even if I was alone, even before I became a Christian.

I’m thankful I was brought up by parents who taught me that even if we were in a minority in those days because we didn’t hate African Americans, it was still the right thing to do and that hatred and prejudice were very wrong. I was taught to stand up for my beliefs, even if I was alone, even before I became a Christian.

One person, walking in love, walking in truth, walking in the light of God can have an incredible impact. Like I wrote in the article “Is There Not a Cause?”, that’s how the future king of Israel was when he was still virtually a child. David’s dauntless answer to his brothers’ taunts has always ringed so loud to me, “Is there not a cause?” (I Samuel 17:29)

Would to God that today there would be more who would stand their ground, look the darkened mob in the face and cheerfully stand up for the Lord and His ways.

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“My Grace Is Sufficient!”

By D. Brandt Berg

Audio length: 5:29
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Yielding our lives to the Lord may not always seem like an easy thing to do, to be able to sincerely pray in each time of decision-making, “Not my will, but Thy will be done!” But remember, Jesus promised that He would make His will easy. He said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”1

He promises that His yoke will never be too hard, nor will His burden be too heavy. So if you take it from the Lord, and do His will, it’s not going to be too hard or too heavy. And if you can’t do anything else, just believe it by faith because Jesus said so—even when itseems as if it’s too hard and too heavy.

God has promised that He will never place a load on your shoulders that’s more than you’re able to carry. He says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: For God is faithful, who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”2

He’ll never allow you to face more than you’re able to bear. So if you find yourself facing a tough time of testing and a tough trial, ask Him to help you to take it, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.3

So if you ever think the tests, trials, and battles are more than you can bear, and you just can’t make it—they’re more difficult than you have strength for, they’re greater than you are—remember, the Lord is greater than they are! So take them to Him! Draw close to Jesus and get desperate with Him and lean on Him.

Give me a task too big,
Too hard for human hands;
Then shall I come at length
To lean on Thee;
And leaning, find my strength.4

When the burden and the load seem too heavy for you, remember the story of the little boy who was trying very hard to lift a heavy piece of furniture. His father came into the room, and noting his son’s struggle with it, asked him, “Are you using all your strength?” “Yes, of course I am,” the boy impatiently exclaimed. “Oh, no, you’re not,” the father answered. “You haven’t asked me to help you!”

When you’re weak, then you can be strong, because His strength can come in and be manifested in your weakness.—If you’ll lean on Him! He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”5 I’ve known many times that when I was weakest in the flesh, I was strongest in the spirit, because I just had to completely throw myself on the Lord. You don’t know how you’re going to make it, but He can make it for you. God knows you’ll never make it on your own. But if you’ll just yield and surrender to Him, then His power can work through you. “For it is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”6

So, Lord, we just ask that Your will be done in each of our lives, to get out of each life what You want, and to put into each life what You want, that we may do Your will to bring many, many more lives into Your kingdom for Your glory. You told us that You can only use broken people, so that we’re only dust and we’re nothing, and then You can remold us and use us in the way that You best see fit.

Jesus, we want to be willing and yielded, because You can only fill empty vessels that hunger and thirst for the water of life and Your Spirit.7 So please help us to be as empty vessels, hungering and thirsting for Your righteousness, willing to receive whatever You have for us, to become whatever You want us to be, Lord, whatever it is. Help us all, Jesus!

Please keep us all close to You and in Your will, submitting to You in every area, in Jesus’ name, amen!

Are you letting the Lord lead your life? Are you ready for anything? Anything God wants to do? You are if you’re willing!—If you sincerely want to please and follow Jesus and be what He wants you to be. God bless you and help you to yield to Jesus and go God’s way. Amen.

Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.
Yielded completely to Jesus the Lord,
Every step of life’s pilgrim way.
Just to be clay in the Potter’s hands,
Just to obey what His will commands.
Only to be what He wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.8

Compiled from the writings of D. Brandt Berg, originally published in April 1987. Adapted and republished October 2014. Read by Jon Marc.



1 Matthew 11:28–30.
2 1 Corinthians 10:13.
3 2 Timothy 2:3.
4 W. H. Fowler.
5 2 Corinthians 12:9.
6 Philippians 2:13.
7 Matthew 5:6.
8 Adapted from “Every Moment of Every Day,” by Norman J. Clayton (1903–1992).

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Vida mais Ampla

J. R. Miller

“Alargue o lugar de sua tenda, estenda bem as cortinas de sua tenda, não o impeça; estique suas cordas, firme suas estacas!” — Isaías 54:2

Metade das nossas possibilidades nos passa despercebida. Tomamos posse de uma fração muito pequena de nossa herança. Limitamo-nos a ficar na superfície de colinas de ouro! Vivemos em pequenos bangalôs no vale, enquanto existem palácios esplêndidos que nos esperam nos montes.

Não deveríamos jamais nos contentar com uma vida limitada. Fomos criados para viver na amplidão e com plenitude. Roubamos Deus não alcançamos o nosso melhor. Alguns entendem que o ideal cristão para a vida é estreito e limitado. Dizem que é sufocante e que não oferece espaço, por exemplo, para o desenvolvimento intelectual ou físico, que não reconhece as artes, a música, as ciências, ou as muitas fases da atividade humana, mas apresenta apenas o lado moral da consciência, a obediência às leis celestes, as conquistas e realizações espirituais.

A resposta é que, se por um lado o cristianismo não trata especificamente do intelecto nem convoca os homens às nobres conquistas no mundo das artes, descobertas, invenções, pesquisas, ou na cultura da beleza, por outro, inclui tudo que vai acrescentar à plenitude e totalidade da vida e do caráter. O cristianismo exclui apenas o que é pecaminoso: desrespeito à lei, a impureza, o egoísmo e a falta de generosidade, elementos que não engrandecem nem enriquecem a vida, mas a limitam e diminuem. Inclui “tudo o que é verdadeiro, tudo o que é honesto, tudo o que é bom e o que é puro, tudo o que é amável, tudo o que é de boa fama”. Você acha isso uma vida limitada?

A fé cristã não determina limite algum à vida, exceto quando se trata do que poderia macular, manchar ou poluir o caráter. Os orientais usam técnicas para restringir o crescimento das árvores. O mundo também está cheio de pessoas que tiveram o crescimento estancado, versões anãs do que Deus as criou para ser. A vocação do cristão é a plenitude, alcançar o seu melhor e se ampliar ao máximo. ...O cristianismo busca o desenvolvimento total de cada poder e capacidade do ser. Jesus Cristo, nosso exemplo, deseja que nos tornemos adultos. Nós, enquanto líderes, professores e seguidores de Cristo, devemos ser influências para o enriquecimento e ampliação de vidas. ... A melhor maneira de darmos provas de que somos amigos melhores é ser para as pessoas essa influência, pela qual suas vidas se tornam mais plenas, verdadeiras, amorosas e prestativas. ...

Muitas são as pessoas que vivem em apenas um cômodo, por assim dizer. Poderiam estar em uma casa ampla e espaçosa, com cômodos para a mente, para o coração, para o paladar, para a imaginação, para os sentimentos e para as sensações. Mas vivem no porão e deixam esses outros lugares no andar superior sem uso!

Conta-se a história de um nobre escocês que, ao tomar posse de suas propriedades, começou a providenciar moradias melhores para a população, que vivia amontoada em chalés de um cômodo. Construiu casas bonitas e confortáveis para as pessoas, mas, pouco a pouco, cada família voltou a viver da maneira antiga, em um cômodo, deixando o resto da casa vazio.

Não sabiam viver em um espaço mais amplo e melhor. A experiência ensinou a esse filantropo que as pessoas não podiam se beneficiar de nada que recebessem de fora. Para serem ajudadas de verdade, o recurso teria de vir de dentro, de suas mentes e corações.

Horace Bushnell é autor do epigrama: “A alma da melhora é a melhora da alma”. Não é preciso uma casa melhor para a pessoa, mas uma pessoa melhor para a casa! A pessoa não se torna melhor ao receber dinheiro, móveis de qualidade, quadros de valor, tapeçaria sofisticada, automóveis caros, mas ao adquirir conhecimento, sabedoria, bons princípios, força de caráter e quando aprende a amar. ...

Algumas vidas são estreitas por causa das circunstâncias. Não podemos dizer que a pobreza econômica produza esse efeito, pois muitos dos que vivem em casas pequenas, com pouco conforto e sem luxos têm uma vida grande e livre, com uma alegria enorme como o céu. Por outro lado, existem as que possuem tudo que se poderia desejar em termos físicos, mas têm vidas limitadas e estreitas.

Para alguns, a própria vida se tornou um fardo tão pesado que parecem estar prestes a ficar pelo caminho. Oram por boa saúde, mas ficam doentes e isso aumenta as despesas e o sofrimento. Seu trabalho é árduo, vivem em constante desconforto, suas relações pessoais são desagradáveis e não têm esperança de que a vida possa melhorar. De manhã, quando acordam, o primeiro pensamento é sobre o fardo que precisam, mais uma vez, pegar e carregar, com uma insatisfação que dura há tanto tempo que se converteu em desânimo. Mas a mensagem é “ALARGUE o lugar da sua tenda”. Independentemente de quão inúmeras ou grandes sejam as razões para o falta ânimo, o cristão não deve deixar a amargura entrar em seu coração e impedi-lo de ver o azul do céu e as estrelas reluzentes.

Se observarmos a vida de Cristo com a perspectiva terrena, nenhuma outra vida poderia ser tão estreita e limitada! Pense em quem Ele era: Filho de Deus, sem pecado, santo, amoroso, generoso e infinitamente gentil. Depois pense na vida que teve aqui na terra, o ódio implacável que suportou, a amarga inimizade que o perseguia, a rejeição do amor que enfrentava a cada passo. Pense no aparente fracasso de Sua missão, na traição e na morte que sofreu. No entanto, Ele nunca desanimou nem cedeu ao rancor.

Como Ele superou as limitações? O segredo foi o amor. O mundo O odiava, mas Ele perseverou no amor. Os Seus O rejeitaram, não O receberam, mas Ele não deixou de amá-los. O amor O impediu de se amargurar com as limitações. É isso que pode salvar alguém da influência das limitações nas circunstâncias mais angustiantes. Alargue a sua tenda! Abra espaço para Cristo e para o seu próximo. Ao abrir espaço, conseguirá alargar a sua tenda.

Uma mulher muito amargurada devido a um longo período de enfermidade e injustiça acabou tornando-se cativa da prisão do desânimo. E então, devido à morte de um parente, uma criancinha órfã foi colocada à sua porta. Em um primeiro momento ela abriu a porta relutante, sem muito carinho pela criança. Mas depois que a aceitou, Cristo entrou com ela em sua casa, que log deixou de ser sombria e começou a brilhar. As limitações foram aos poucos superadas e a vida se alargando. Outras necessidades humanas surgiram e foram atendidas. Ao abençoar alguém, a mulher abençoou a si mesma. Hoje, não existe um lar mais feliz do que o dela. Se estiver desanimado, procure alegrar a vida de uma pessoa solitária e a sua própria vida será iluminada.

Algumas vidas se tornam limitadas por falta de oportunidade. Algumas pessoas não têm as mesmas oportunidades que outras. Talvez lhes falte capacitação física para firmar o seu lugar na jornada da vida, ou tenham falhado nos negócios depois de muitos anos de trabalho árduo e lhes falte coragem para recomeçar. Talvez estejam sofrendo como resultado de insensatez ou pecado e não tenham condições de alçar voo como antes. Existem pessoas em todas as comunidades que, por algum motivo, não têm a mesma chance de fazer algo da sua vida. Mas, apesar das restrições impostas a alguém preso em um ambiente limitador, como em uma pequena tenda, o evangelho de Cristo traz uma mensagem de esperança e alegria. Ele clama: “ALARGUE o lugar da sua tenda, estenda bem as cortinas de sua tenda, não o impeça; estique suas cordas, firme suas estacas!”

Existe o perigo de excesso de contentamento. Vemos como muros intransponíveis certos obstáculos e restrições que Deus permitiu com o único propósito de nos inspirar a coragem. As dificuldades não existem para impedir nossos esforços, mas nos provocar a dar o nosso melhor. Desistimos com muita facilidade. Achamos que não podemos fazer certas coisas e que estamos nos submetendo à vontade de Deus quando não buscamos a superação, quando na verdade isso é apenas uma demonstração de indolência. Supomos que nossas limitações fazem parte do plano de Deus para nós e que devemos apenas aceitá-las e fazer o que der.

Em alguns casos, isso é verdade. Existem barreiras intransponíveis. Contudo, na maioria das vezes, Deus quer nos ver conquistar a vitória sobre nossas limitações. Seu chamado é: “Alargue o lugar da sua tenda!”…

A vida não deve jamais deixar de crescer. Devemos estar no nosso auge nos nossos últimos anos de vida. Devemos sempre alargar nossa tenda até nossas cortinas se esticarem aos lugares ilimitados da imortalidade!

Capítulo 1 de The Wider Life, J. R. Miller, 1908. O livro completo, em inglês está disponível em: http://articles.ochristian.com/book17208.shtml.
Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.

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The rise of Christianity in China

Jamil Anderlini in Beijing, Financial Times, November 7, 2014

As he stood in the hot sun and watched a dozen earth movers smash through the walls of the Sanjiang church, Mr Dai felt a great sadness and also fear—for himself and for the future of his fellow Christians. “There were so many police blocking the road and surrounding mountains. They had cut off power to the whole area and blacked out mobile phone coverage and they were trying to stop anybody coming near,” he says.

By pretending to be part of the demolition crew, Dai managed to get through the outer cordon of riot police and huddle with a small group of believers on a hillside watching the massive building collapse under the onslaught. “Words can’t express how traumatic it was,” says the devout Christian, who had travelled from another parish to join members of the congregation trying to protect the church. “I just kept thinking of Jesus’s words—’They know not what they do’—they don’t realise it but they will surely be judged by God.”

The demolition of this towering Protestant cathedral on the outskirts of the coastal Chinese city of Wenzhou on April 28 2014 marked the spectacular launch of a government campaign to curtail the fastest-growing religion in nominally atheist China. There are now about 100 million Christians in the world’s most populous nation, eclipsing the 86.7 million-strong membership of the ruling Communist party. According to western intellectual tradition, modernity is supposed to bring secularisation but in modern Communist China it has been accompanied by an extraordinary rise of religions formerly banned as “opiates of the masses”.

Perhaps most surprising, given its status as a “foreign” religion and its close association with an earlier era of gunboats and imperialism, Christianity (particularly the Protestant variety) has been the big winner in the competition for Chinese souls. If it continues to spread at its current pace, the country is very likely to be home to the world’s largest Christian population within the next 15 years. For China’s authoritarian leaders, who despise and fear any force not under their direct control, this seemingly unstoppable trend is very disturbing.

The demolition of the Sanjiang church in Wenzhou marked the start of a state campaign to rein in the rise of Christianity. This has included harassment, detentions, removing crosses and destroying churches in Wenzhou and throughout Zhejiang Province.

“By 2030, China will almost certainly have more Christians than any other country and the Communist party is very alarmed,” says Fenggang Yang, director of the centre on religion and Chinese society at Purdue University. “Chinese officials often cite the experience of Poland, where they believe the Catholic Church helped destroy communism and, although the two situations are not really comparable, the party still sees Christianity as a very serious threat that it needs to suppress.”

The government demolition in April went ahead despite protests by thousands of local Christians who camped out for weeks in the shadow of the Sanjiang church. Built over six years at a cost of about Rmb30m (£3.1m), the building resembled a Mormon tabernacle topped with a giant red cross. It was destroyed in less than a day. Since then, several more churches have been knocked down and prominent crosses on as many as 300 others throughout Wenzhou and the surrounding Zhejiang Province have been removed by the authorities, sometimes following violent confrontations with parishioners. Hundreds of people have been detained for short periods and some remain in custody, accused under ambiguous crimes more often used to punish political dissidents.

The Wenzhou and Zhejiang governments have publicly claimed the demolitions and cross removals were nothing but enforcement of zoning rules and building codes. But according to dozens of interviews with worshippers, religious scholars, analysts and local officials and documents seen by the Financial Times, it is clear the destruction of the Sanjiang church was the beginning of a concerted year-long campaign to rein in Christianity in the province.

Known throughout China as the “Jerusalem of the east” because of its huge Christian population, Wenzhou is an obvious target for a government concerned about the spread of this “subversive” religion. Until recently, one of the most striking things about the city was the abundance of giant ornate cathedrals and huge neon-lit crosses dotted around town and the surrounding countryside. Local church groups estimate at least 10 per cent of Wenzhou’s population—more than 1.2 million people—attends a Protestant congregation regularly. Just as in the rest of China, the Catholic population is much smaller but still numbers in the hundreds of thousands. They have also been subject to forced cross removals, harassment, increased surveillance and detentions for “illegal” worship this year.

Freedom of religion is technically guaranteed under China’s constitution but, in practice, all religious organisations must be approved by the government and their activities are strictly regulated and monitored. The first thing overseas visitors notice about officially sanctioned churches in China are the police security cameras conspicuously located inside to keep watch on preachers and their congregations while they worship. Chinese Catholics are only permitted to attend churches controlled by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which answers directly to the Communist party and does not recognise the Pope or maintain ties with the Vatican. Protestants in China are supposed to only attend churches run by the official “Three Self Patriotic Movement,” a “post-denominational” Protestant equivalent.

The government claims China only has around 23 million Protestants and Catholics but even the officials responsible for compiling and publishing these figures acknowledge this is a ludicrous underestimate, concocted mostly for political reasons. Not only are there far more than 23 million worshipping at official “legal” congregations but China also has tens of millions more believers attending underground “house churches” not recognised or approved by the state. These tens of thousands of underground congregations (both Catholic and Protestant but mostly Protestant), while technically illegal, are often tolerated by local officials and sometimes even allowed to operate openly as long as they are not explicitly “political”.

Many of China’s more charismatic underground churches are also strongly millenarian and actually feed off state persecution and martyrdom, welcoming repression as proof of their religious sacrifice. This often makes government crackdowns ineffective or even self-defeating. Zhejiang Province, and particularly the city of Wenzhou, had until recently been regarded as a shining example of the government’s tolerant attitude towards the flourishing underground churches.

“For a long time Wenzhou was a moderate and tolerant place for us and people from Wenzhou are famous for spreading Christianity all over the country,” says the pastor of an underground Wenzhou church with more than 8,000 members. He asked that his identity be kept secret because the authorities have warned he will go to prison if he speaks to the international press. “Until recently, there was a huge amount of trust and co-operation between us and the government and the house congregations were always much larger than those in the official [government-sanctioned] churches.”

The middle-aged preacher and two of his younger male followers have agreed to meet with the Financial Times late at night in a safe house in a tiny backstreet on the far outskirts of Wenzhou. The walls in the small, brightly lit, fourth floor walk-up apartment are covered in pictures of church charity projects, hymn sheets and religious icons.

The two younger church members sit nervously shelling and eating sunflower seeds and take turns to jump up and listen at the door every time they hear footsteps outside. The pastor himself drives a new sedan and looks just like an ordinary Chinese businessman but his strongly accented Mandarin has the cadence and intensity of someone accustomed to giving rousing sermons.

He explains how the Protestant God was introduced to Wenzhou by a one-legged “Scottish peasant” missionary called George Stott, who arrived in 1867 and stayed for 23 years. His work was continued by William Edward Soothill, an English Methodist missionary who arrived in China in 1882 and lived in Wenzhou for 29 years. Soothill was the author of an acclaimed translation of The Analects of Confucius and on his return to England in 1920 he was named professor of Chinese at Oxford university.

The growing number of the Wenzhou faithful endured campaigns of repression by successive governments and anti-foreign movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but faced their biggest trials after the atheist Communists came to power in 1949. In 1958, Zhejiang Province and Wenzhou were singled out as a testing ground for the elimination of all religion, a campaign that reached a crescendo during the bloody and chaotic Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976. Local Christian groups say even during that tumultuous decade, when the “Three Self” official church was given the task of wiping out Protestantism, the number of faithful in the underground churches in Wenzhou increased ten-fold. Many in Wenzhou worry the current campaign to pull down crosses and demolish churches is a revival of the 1950s policy, with Zhejiang once again being used as a trial run for a much larger programme of religious repression.

The man directly responsible for the current campaign is Zhejiang Provincial Communist party boss Xia Baolong, who is said to enjoy close ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to local officials and several people who claim to have knowledge of the matter, Xia is a Buddhist and was personally offended by the prominence of giant churches and crosses springing up across the province. But several experts on China’s religious policies say such a large-scale and co-ordinated campaign would never be allowed to happen without the explicit approval of the central authorities in Beijing.

That conclusion is supported by the fact the demolished Sanjiang church was not built by “illegal” underground worshippers but by an approved branch of the government’s official Three Self Patriotic Movement. “It’s quite clear this campaign represents the beginning of a major policy shift toward religion at the national level, with Zhejiang and Wenzhou chosen as an experiment to see what the domestic and international response will be,” says Bob Fu, a former dissident preacher and founder of ChinaAid, a Texas-based Christian NGO devoted to fighting for religious freedom in China. “There have been thousands of believers detained across the country in the last year and I think in its scale and brutality we have not seen a worse campaign against Christianity since the Cultural Revolution.”

Despite multiple attempts by the Financial Times over several months to speak with Chinese religious authorities at the central and provincial levels, no official would agree to a formal interview or provide clarification on current policies.

So what has prompted this “pilot project” to rein in the rising influence of Christianity in China? The Zhejiang campaign comes in the context of a much broader policy of repression, which has seen scores of moderate intellectuals and critics detained and a harsh crackdown on all forms of dissent since President Xi Jinping came to power two years ago. Some analysts point to Xi’s prominent promotion of “Chinese” religions and traditions such as Buddhism and Confucianism and say the current anti-Christian campaign is related to his mistrust of the west and perhaps even a secret belief in Buddhism. Xi served for five years as Zhejiang party secretary in his last major job before he was elevated into the top ranks of China’s leadership and this makes it even less likely the campaign there could happen without his approval.

Beijing’s intention is not to suppress Christianity or religion altogether—an impossible task even if it was the goal—but to slow its very rapid rise and bring it more under control. Apart from the speed of growth, the party is very concerned about the type of person being converted. In the 1980s, as the government removed restrictions on religion and the country saw a revival in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Christians were overwhelmingly poor, rural, uneducated, female and elderly. In the late 1980s, eight out of 10 Chinese Christians lived in poor rural areas.

These days, most conversions happen in the burgeoning cities and new believers are increasingly well educated, influential and demanding when it comes to their personal freedom and individual rights. These are the very same middle-class constituents the party has relied on for support in the past three decades, since it abandoned utopian communism and the cult of personality centred on Mao Zedong. In the early 1980s, the party made a wrenching change, from trying to wipe out religion and ancient culture to telling its people “to get rich is glorious”. Today, after decades of rampant consumerism and rapidly rising inequality, even China’s top leaders lament the cynicism, materialism and lack of idealism or ethics in modern Chinese society.

In its attempts to fill this moral vacuum, the party under Xi Jinping has reached for old methods and symbols, stirring up nationalist hatred against past invaders such as Japan and Britain and recycling familiar propaganda from the 1960s. Ordinary citizens are once again bombarded with images of communist saints such as the tireless oil worker “Iron man” Wang Jinxi or Lei Feng, the model soldier who washed his comrades’ socks in secret. But for an increasingly sophisticated and worldly urban middle class, these efforts to instil “traditional” values only highlight how hollow and bankrupt the official ideology of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” has become. For many, these images draw attention to the contradictions of a nominally communist system struggling to provide even basic social services and dominated at the top by a tiny, autocratic political elite accumulating enormous personal wealth.

Chu Yanqing is a pastor at the Zhongyuan house church, which started in a hotel on the outskirts of Beijing in 2004. The church’s two dozen members are mostly political activists who face constant surveillance and harassment from the authorities. Chu was a student demonstrator in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement that ended in a massacre. The experience left him traumatised and deeply disillusioned and contributed to his eventual conversion to Protestantism in 2003. He and his small Protestant cell are exactly the type of well-organised Christian political activists the Communist party fears most.

He eloquently describes the disintegration in Chinese society that has helped bring about what he calls the current golden age for Christianity in China. “China has become much richer and most people now have enough food to eat and clothes to wear but there is no nourishment of the spirit; now our physical needs are met we want freedom of speech, human rights and cultural and spiritual nourishment, which is what Christianity provides,” Chu says. “In fact, the only force that can rival the Communist party’s power is Christianity and Christianity is the only hope for China.”

Christianity first reached China in the 7th century AD, brought by Nestorian Eastern Syriac believers. Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in the 13th century and in the early 1300s there was even briefly a Franciscan archbishop in Peking. But most Chinese people and even most Chinese Catholics believe the faith formally arrived in the “celestial empire” in 1601 with the permanent mission established by the Chinese-speaking Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci.

For more than 100 years, Jesuit priests were tolerated by the emperors and even welcomed at the imperial court for the western technology and artistic knowledge they shared with their hosts. But following a series of papal edicts banning many Chinese customs in the late 18th century, the Qing emperors outlawed Christianity and introduced death penalties for anyone caught proselytising in China.

The man who founded Chinese Protestantism, British missionary Robert Morrison, arrived in China in 1807 and began learning Chinese and translating the Bible at a time when both acts were punishable by death. Morrison’s other job as a translator for the British East India Company would prove emblematic of the close association between Christianity and the humiliations imposed on China in the opium wars and other foreign incursions. In many of the “unequal treaties” that ceded territory such as Hong Kong to victorious western powers, explicit clauses were included to guarantee missionary’s access to Chinese souls. Even with this help, Protestant missionaries were not particularly successful. After 27 years of missionary work in China, Morrison could take credit for just 25 converts and, even by 1900, after nearly a century of efforts by thousands of missionaries, the number of Chinese Protestants was barely 100,000.

When the Communists won their revolution in 1949 there were about 800,000 Protestants, compared with some three million Catholics in a country of 540 million people. In 2010, the Pew Research Center estimated there were about nine million Catholics and more than 58 million Protestants in China. Using a conservative annual growth rate of 10 per cent, Professor Yang and others estimate the total number of Christians in China is now about 100 million. While Catholic numbers are rising much more slowly, Protestant congregations, particularly “illegal” house churches, have exploded across the country and Protestantism is growing even faster than Buddhism, the dominant religion in China.

Benoît Vermander is a Jesuit scholar in the great tradition of Matteo Ricci who teaches as a tenured professor in the school of philosophy at Fudan University in Shanghai. He talks like an economist as he discusses China’s “market of meanings” and the reasons why Protestant churches have been so successful at meeting religious demand in this market.

“Protestantism to a large extent is the new popular religion of China; it appeals to Chinese traditions of ritual and community but it also allows people to feel international, like they are members of a global community,” he says. “Catholicism is based much more on clerical power so believers feel less responsible for the growth of the community, whereas Protestantism is more entrepreneurial, it provides more freedom and power to the faithful and church groups can be started by anyone.” Unlike underground Catholic groups, which need to establish secret ties with the Vatican, Protestants are able to start their own church with just a copy of the Bible and a couple of other people, a concept that fits neatly with the rise of Chinese civil society and empowerment of the individual.

Wang Yilin is a fourth-generation Catholic who looks and acts much older than his 16 years and whose father is a Communist party member. Although none of his friends or schoolmates are believers, he says they all think his Catholic faith is very cool and exotic. In a disorderly society filled with intense pressure, Catholicism “makes my life more ordered, it gives me rules and allows me to cultivate self-control,” he says after attending mass alone at an ornate 100-year-old Catholic cathedral in central Beijing on a recent Sunday afternoon.

Just 10 minutes’ drive away, at the oldest surviving Protestant church in Beijing, 20-year-old designer Han Chuang describes how he reconnected with his peasant grandmother’s Protestant faith after moving to the Chinese capital a year ago. “When I was small I got very sick and very nearly died but my grandmother prayed very hard and I survived—my grandmother and mother are peasant farmers and they believe it was a miracle, that Christianity brings good fortune, health and success in business,” Han says. “I started going to church when I moved to Beijing and I feel like it provides a moral foundation in a messy and corrupt modern society and helps cultivate a sense of self-respect.” Both Han and Wang say they feel Catholicism is stricter and more serious than Protestantism, which is more popular and tends to attract younger people who don’t necessarily have a family history of Christian faith. This flexibility of Protestantism also leaves a lot of room for individual interpretation.

Back in Wenzhou, a fully grown orchard has been transplanted on to the spot where the Sanjiang church stood less than six months ago. A middle-aged woman picking her way through the fruit trees points to a few scattered bricks sticking out of the mud: “It was a really big building and you could see the cross on the top from miles away. I heard it made the officials angry and so they knocked it down and got rid of the evidence.” The demolition angered even non-believers in the area, who saw it as local bureaucrats trampling the law on the whim of the provincial party boss.

For Christians in the region and people familiar with the government’s religious policies, it is clear this campaign is bigger than that—a pilot programme of religious repression that could very well be replicated elsewhere if it is deemed a success in Zhejiang.

But even if Beijing does expand its struggle against Christianity to the whole country, the very most it could hope for is to slightly delay the moment when China will become the world’s largest Christian nation. “The current suppression and the campaign of demolishing churches, pulling down crosses and throwing people in prison won’t significantly slow the growth in believers,” Professor Yang from Purdue University says. “If anything, it actually adds fuel to the fire of Christian revival in China.”

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