Letter from Friends in China

Dear Dennis, (Letter from Friends in China)

Hi! Our warmest greetings to you, we’re asking the Lord to send many, many blessings from above to you! We hope you had a very inspiring and meaningful Easter time.

We are so very thankful for the special friendship that God has given us with you, and we pray daily for you, so please send us any prayer requests that you would like us to pray for.

Our visas have been approved! God is so good! One miracle that happened is that the tuition fee for my Chinese school was the same than last year, even though the manager told me that the prices would rise, praise the Lord! We’d appreciate your prayers that our passports will be returned to us before April 9, as we have a short work trip on April 10, thank you so much!

As we mentioned in our news last month, we had a one-week trip in the end of January to have some rest after our busy Christmas time, in a beautiful mountain area in our province, but it ended up being also an exciting time of witnessing as well. On the way going, the young university student sitting next to Brad on the plane turned out to be so interested about the Lord, he had many questions about the Bible. When Brad offered to pray with him to receive the Lord, he was so eager to do so! What a good way to start our trip! Our destination was a small, quiet Naxi minority village called Baisha, literally translated as White Sands. This village is located close to one of the most popular touristic cities in China, called Lijiang, which is an ancient city with wooden houses and canals, and very charming, but it’s very crowded with tourists, so that’s why we chose this quiet village.

During the daytime we rested, and also took long bike rides to enjoy the beautiful mountains, we brought picnic lunches and listened to worship songs and Bible teachings as we stopped by the roadside to eat our lunch! We met different Chinese young people travelling by bike like us, and gave out many Gospel tracts that way and also to people from the local area that we met and talked to during the day, in all we gave out about 45 tracts during our trip.

During the evenings, when we went out to have dinner, we had many interesting witnessing experiences. The people we met were usually in their mid-30s and came from other provinces in search of an alternative life style, after being burned out by the competitive, materialistic society, and were trying out life in a quiet village surrounded by beautiful nature, eating natural foods, etc. Many of them previously had had good jobs and had achieved some success, but became disappointed and dissatisfied with their lives. So they came to Baisha to open small shops, little hotels, or restaurants etc. in this small village. We identified with them very much, as we felt very much like them before meeting Jesus.

The first night, as we were walking around the narrow cobblestone streets, we came cross this cute coffee shop where the young owner invited us to join her birthday party, so friendly! The 4 of them were having a yak meat and vegetable BBQ, all organic food! It was an interesting crowd and again we can see the brokenness of Chinese families. One girl we witnessed to in depth, grew up without her mother, who had left her when she was young as she wanted to be free to party, etc. Another young man had had a successful job in Microsoft but then came and opened a youth hostel in the village. The coffee shop owner had been a journalist, and her boyfriend had worked before in the pharmacy industry.

The second night after dinner, we went to try to find the youth hostel owner, he wasn’t there, but we took the opportunity to witness in depth to his hotel partner. We also witnessed deeply to a Chinese traveler in his mid 30’s, who had been travelling continuously for 10 years! Also we talked about the Lord to a young student who was in her last year of medical school who was there for a holiday. None of them were quite ready to receive the Lord, but we left them with tracts and much food for thought!

On the third night, when we went back to witness to the first coffee shop owner, who was busy, but we met E. and her husband there, and they invited us to the opening party of a new guest house. There we got to know more dear E., She and her young American husband had opened a small restaurant. Brad witnessed to her husband while I talked with E. She was so hungry for God and had many questions about other religions and also about the Bible, she had read some of it before but couldn’t understand it. We were able to answer many of her questions and though we were in the middle of this party, she eagerly opened her heart to Jesus and prayed a salvation prayer with her whole heart. For a long time, she just closed her eyes and experienced His love in a deep way, it was so beautiful to see her enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

The people we met in this village were an educated, intellectual type of people, many of them spoke good English, and were a bit more challenging to reach because although we could see they were empty inside, they were not quite ready yet to give their lives to Jesus, as they were trying to live their supposed “dream lives” in this quiet village. But we are sure the “seeds” of God’s Word that were planted in them will come back one day, and we would love to go back and witness more to them, to help them find the real source of life purpose, by meeting the One Who created us all!

As we were returning from this trip, we found out that one of our close longtime Chinese friends, J., who had immigrated to another country 5 years ago, was visiting his family in the north of the country.

Since he couldn’t come to our city, because of a problem with his foot, we decided to quickly travel to the north to visit him and his family! Even though we have stayed in close contact with him during this time, still it was a joy to see him after 5 years! We had a wonderful time of sharing the Bible with him and his wife and daughter during the 4 days we were with them.

J. has a very interesting personal testimony of how he came to Jesus! He had done something unethical at his company and was “hiding” from the police. He had gotten a Bible, and had read some of it, and realizing his error he cried out to God, saying, “God if you are real, please help me!”. When finally the company owner and the police found him, the company owner, Y., who happened to be a friend of ours, saw the Bible, and decided to forgive him and not to press charges. Y. brought J. over to our home, where he received the Lord. J. faithfully studied the Bible with us for about 3 years while we lived in that city. He had a tremendous transformation after he started studying the Bible with us, and was always on fire to witness to others, his family and clients. He is now in his 2nd year of a Seminary School, and is considering becoming a pastor, God bless him!

After returning from this trip, another long-time friend came over to our city and stayed 2 weeks with us. She brought along her niece, who also received the Lord with us and almost every day, we were able to study the Bible together, what a blessing! We spent the Chinese New Year together! After the Chinese New Year break, we restarted our Bible studies and outreach.

Last week, we met W., a young man in his 30’s, with a failed marriage and business, he was very broken and had many questions about the Bible and life. After spending 3 hours getting to know him, he was also willing to give his heart to Jesus, so we have started another weekly Bible study with him.

We had 3 Easter events last week, which is such an excellent opportunity for witnessing to new friends. We prepared a program with excerpts from the Gospel of John movie with the Easter story, plus an interesting short documentary in Chinese about the Shroud of Turin, which some of them had heard about, and this little documentary about it helped to strengthen their faith. Some of our friends brought their friends, and 3 of them prayed with us to receive the Lord, after they saw how much He loves them and has done for them at Easter, praise the Lord!

We do appreciate so much your friendship, support and prayers for our work here. Lately we have been hearing news of things tightening up, and more restrictions being put on religion, so we’d be thankful for your prayers for protection and continued open doors here. At the same time, we feel that people are so ripe for the Gospel and even though economically China is becoming more prosperous, the need of the Gospel is so evident at all levels of this society, with so much brokenness, and social and family problems, and we know that only Christ has the answer for all their needs!

Thank you for helping us to reach the harvest!

Much love, thanks, appreciation and prayers,  Your Missionaries in China

Dennis Edwards: Are you interested in supporting them in their mission to the Chinese people. Let me know.

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Syrian Showdown: Trump vs. the Generals

By Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate, April 6, 2018

With ISIS on the run in Syria, President Trump this week declared that he intends to make good on his promise to bring the troops home.

“I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home,” said the president. We’ve gotten “nothing out of the $7 trillion (spent) in the Middle East in the last 17 years. … So, it’s time.”

Not so fast, Mr. President.

For even as Trump was speaking he was being contradicted by his Centcom commander Gen. Joseph Votel. “A lot of good progress has been made” in Syria, Votel conceded, “but the hard part … is in front of us.”

Moreover, added Votel, when we defeat ISIS, we must stabilize Syria and see to its reconstruction.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had been even more specific:

“It is crucial to our national defense to maintain a military and diplomatic presence in Syria, to help bring an end to that conflict, as they chart a course to achieve a new political future.”

But has not Syria’s “political future” already been charted?

Bashar Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, has won his seven-year civil war. He has retaken the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. He now controls most of the country that we and the Kurds do not.

According to The Washington Post, Defense Secretary James Mattis is also not on board with Trump and “has repeatedly said … that U.S. troops would be staying in Syria for the foreseeable future to guarantee stability and political resolution to the civil war.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who fears a “Shiite corridor” from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut, also opposes Trump. “If you take those (U.S.) troops out from east Syria,” the prince told Time, “you will lose that checkpoint … American troops should stay (in Syria) at least for the mid-term, if not the long-term.”

Bibi Netanyahu also wants us to stay in Syria.
Wednesday, Trump acceded to his generals. He agreed to leave our troops in Syria until ISIS is finished. However, as the 2,000 U.S. troops there are not now engaging ISIS–many of our Kurd allies are going back north to defend border towns threatened by Turkey–this could take a while.

Yet a showdown is coming. And, stated starkly, the divide is this:

Trump sees al-Qaida and ISIS as the real enemy and is prepared to pull all U.S. forces out of Syria as soon as the caliphate is eradicated. And if Assad is in power then, backed by Russia and Iran, so be it.

Trump does not see an Assad-ruled Syria, which has existed since the Nixon presidency, as a great threat to the United States. He is unwilling to spill more American blood to overturn the outcome of a war that Syria, Iran and Russia have already won. Nor is he prepared to foot the bill for the reconstruction of Syria, or for any long-term occupation of that quadrant of Syria that we and our allies now hold.

Once ISIS is defeated, Trump wants out of the war and out of Syria.

The Israelis, Saudis and most of our foreign policy elite, however, vehemently disagree. They want the U.S. to hold onto that slice of Syria east of the Euphrates that we now occupy, and to use the leverage of our troops on Syrian soil to effect the removal of President Assad and the expulsion of the Iranians.

The War Party does not concede Syria is lost. It sees the real battle as dead ahead. It is eager to confront and, if need be, fight Syrians, Iranians and Shiite militias should they cross to the east bank of the Euphrates, as they did weeks ago, when U.S. artillery and air power slaughtered them in the hundreds, Russians included.

If U.S. troops do remain in Syria, the probability is high that Trump, like Presidents Bush and Obama before him, will be ensnared indefinitely in the Forever War of the Middle East.

President Erdogan of Turkey, who has seized Afrin from the Syrian Kurds, is threatening to move on Manbij, where Kurdish troops are backed by U.S. troops. If Erdogan does not back away from his threat, NATO allies could start shooting at one another.

As the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria are both uninvited and unwelcome, a triumphant Assad is likely soon to demand that we remove them from his country.

Will we defy President Assad then, with the possibility U.S. planes and troops could be engaging Syrians, Russians, Iranians and Shiite militias, in a country where we have no right to be?

Trump is being denounced as an isolationist. But what gains have we reaped from 17 years of Middle East wars–from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen–to justify all the blood shed and the treasure lost?

And how has our rival China suffered from not having fought in any of these wars?

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U.K. Lab Says It Doesn’t Know Nerve Agent’s ‘Precise Source,’ Drawing Russian Retort

Colin Dwyer, NPR, April 3, 2018

Scientists at a U.K. government laboratory have not verified the source of the substance used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, according to the lab’s chief executive.

“We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was a military-grade nerve agent. We have not verified the precise source,” Gary Aitkenhead of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory told British broadcaster Sky News on Tuesday. “But we provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions they’ve come to.”

Aitkenhead added that while his lab–better known as Porton Down after its secretive site in southern England–has been tasked with examining the chemical, “it’s not our job to then see where it was actually manufactured.” He only went so far as to note that the sample they studied is “probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.”

Still, his reticence to confirm a specific source appears to undercut an account offered by Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who spoke to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle amid the international dispute brewing over the attack. On March 20–the same day the U.K. formally expelled 23 Russian diplomats for the Kremlin’s alleged role in the Skripals’ poisoning–Johnson told DW that researchers at the laboratory “were absolutely categorical” about the evidence.

“I mean, I asked the guy myself,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘There is no doubt.’ “

Opposition lawmakers in the U.K. quickly pointed out the discrepancy, including Labour MP Chris Williamson, who tweeted that Johnson had “just lied to justify our country’s foreign policy.”

But perhaps the more vehement response came from Russian officials, who have denied the allegations that the Kremlin was involved in the attack. They quickly pounced on Aitkenhead’s comments, pointing to them as proof of what they have maintained all along–that the British claims, and those of their Western allies, are fabrications “part of a large-scale political provocation.”

“We understood from the very start that UK Government statements on the nerve agent having been produced in Russia were a bluff. Now this has been confirmed by the head of the secret lab,” the Russian Embassy in the U.K. said in a statement Tuesday. “This only proves that all political declarations on the Russian origin of the crime are nothing but assumptions not stemming from objective facts or the course of the investigation.”

The Embassy also implied Porton Down was the actual source of the chemical: “Mr Aitkenhead is not denying that the lab had developed or keeps stocks of the agent they call ‘novichok’, although, of course, he would not admit it.”

Dennis Edwards: Great Britain had talked about leaving the Euro-zone and making bilateral agreements with Russia. However, the death of the former Russian spies is heating up the relationship between the two countries. It is again pushing Great Britain into a anti-Russian position. Similarly, Trump ran on a ballot of working with the Russians for international peace and not antagonizing them as Clinton was intent on doing. However, the whole "Russian Card" about the election has made it impossible for Trump to follow through on his promise to work with Russia for better international relations. 

Who is actually behind the killings of the spies, we don't know. What we do know is that it causing more tension between the two great international powers. If the USA and Russia were able to work together they might be able to solve the problems in the Middle East. However, the fact that they are divided seems to benefit the interests of Israel more then either the USA or Russia. If Russia and USA were united they could help impose on Israel a mandate for peace. Divided makes that possibility an impossibility. Could Mossad agents, or ones acting under their command, be responsible for the killing of the Russian spies to help keep these nations antagonistic towards one another when working together would obviously be beneficial for the whole world? 

Bible prophecy confirms that a powerful world leader will impose on Israel a pact called the Holy Covenant for a seven year period. Will that covenant force the Israelis and the Palestinians into a peace agreement that no USA President or other international figure has been able to accomplish during the last 70 years, though many tried? Was the killing of the former Russian spy a means to foment discord between the super powers and thus enable Israel to continue her policy of extermination of the Palestinian people and the hope of some Israelis for "Greater Israel"? We don't know. But we do know the Covenant is prophesied and that the Antichrist will impose it. Keep attentive to the situation in the Middles East. It's where Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

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Martin Luther King Jr.: How they set him up to be killed - Part I

Dennis Edwards

We used to be able to view alternative theories or opinions on the events of the past and present. Thomas Jefferson forcefully wrote, "For God's sake, let us hear both sides if we choose!" But it seems that the "Ministry of Truth" must dictate to us the options that can be believed. Any opinion that questions the "Standard and Accepted" narrative must be silenced. Little by little the powers that be must silence the opinions that they don't control and which contradict the story line they feed the public.

Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, General George Patton, James Forrestal and others have had their lives quenched  because their influence became too great for the forces that be to let them continue. The Deep State or Hidden Elite carefully had them removed before they thwarted the plans of the Illuminati. Jesus said the greatest sign of the end would be "deception." Could we possibly be deceived? The powers behind the scenes are beginning to tighten their grip on the alternative possibilities as they begin to push forward to the ultimate plan for global government. May God help us!

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