House Church Talk - Re: Thought For August 23rd

[Robert L. Moseley]

  Thought For August 23rd
   

       A high-ranking officer serving the Communist party under Mao Tse-Tung, entered a village targeted for takeover.  Normally the officer observed to identify the leadership, then executed them under false pretenses and seized control.  The officer saw a man pushing a wheelbarrow filled with manure to the field and stopped him.  "Who is the mayor of this village", the officer asked?  The man replied, "I am the mayor.  May I help you?"  The officer snapped back, "You're not the mayor.  Mayors don't push manure to the fields."  The mayor calmly replied, "Well, they do here, because we are Christians and in Christianity, the leaders serve those who follow them."  What a novel approach in contrast to the performance of contemporary Western leadership!

       The officer was so shocked, that he dismissed the guard with him, telling them he was going to stay and observe before taking any action.  The Communist Party believed many of the villagers were Christians, and that was the primary purpose of the takeover, but this village seemed very prosperous in the midst of poverty in the area.  The officer learned the spiritual life in that village started when Watchman Nee shared the gospel there and salvation came to all the villagers, and the Lord blessed them.  This entire scenario was curious to the officer, and he began to ask questions, which led to his salvation.  Following his new-birth, he felt called to share the gospel with Mao Tse-Tung.

       Mao didn't receive the officer's evangelistic witness well, and the officer found himself in prison.  The prison administration pressed him to renounce Christ and again confess that Mao was god, but the officer refused.  His refusal infuriated Mao, who decided to make him an example, because he was the highest-ranking officer in Mao's army to defect until that time.

       Mao first threatened to execute his wife and children unless he renounced Christ and confessed that Mao was god.  The officer refused and Mao carried out his threat.  The officer had to watch his wife and children's execution.  Then Mao brought in the officer's nearest relatives under the same threat.  The officer still refused to renounce Christ and watched as his parents, wife's parents and all his near family was executed.  Mao then followed the same strategy with the officer's extended family and friends, and still the officer refused to renounce Christ.  Mao then ordered him into prison.  The Communists cast him naked into a 6' x 6' concrete cell with no bed, and only a hole in the corner to relieve himself.  The orders required the guards to beat him daily and only feed him soup once a day.

       The officer survived the beatings, malnutrition and exposure to the cold of winter, and over the course of twenty years, thinks he led approximately ninety percent of the guards to Christ.  The guards began to bring him pieces of the Scripture, which he memorized.  Following Mao's downfall, the officer was released and he headed out across China as an itinerate preacher.

       An American involved in exporting into China, as allowed to bring and distribute Bibles, and on a business trip, encountered the itinerate preacher.  The two got acquainted and the American businessman invited the preacher to America to help raise funds for Bible distribution in China.  After having toured the United States, the preacher was asked what impressed him most about America.  The preacher replied, "What you can do without God.  I could be a wealthy man in China if I just collected the trash in any American city and took it back home to sell.  In most of the churches I've spoken, they just don't worship the same God I do.  Your god is a god of convenience!"

       What a stinging retort.  In closing, I would ask if your god is for your convenience, or do you serve the True and Living God of the Bible, as did the Chinese itinerate preacher.  No one I know has had their faith tested, as did he, but I would ask if your beliefs were challenged as were his, could you stand the test?

   

  Hope you have/had a good and Godly day.

   

  Shalom,

  Ken

   

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