We are committed to delivering quality independent Christian journalism you can trust. But it takes a lot of hard work, time, and money to do what we do. CBN News. Skip to main content. Search News Submit. Submit Search. Allow Ads. Homepage World News. Paul Strand. Computer chips allow amazing miniaturization. Like of the Bible. Did you know? Support CBN News. November 12th, Friday 7pm. Thrive Church. Honesdale, PA.
November 13th, Saturday 7pm. Life In Christ Church. Lancaster, PA. November 14th, Sunday 7pm. Ambridge, PA. November 15th, Monday 7pm. Harvest Family church. Cypress, TX. November 18th, Thursday 7pm. El Paso, TX. November 19th, Christian Joy Center. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever. I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. Over the past two years, hundreds of leaders in the Chinese house church movement have faced a similar fate to Pastor Wang.
These black jails are secret facilities outside the legal system, where victims are often tortured mercilessly without any hope of justice. Many house church leaders in China say that President Xi is determined to finish the job that Chairman Mao began, namely the complete eradication of Christianity from the country. Remarkably invasive technology is being deployed, with tens of millions of facial recognition cameras able to identify and track anyone the government deems a threat, including Christians who gather for worship.
While we often hear stories of persecution inside China, there are also numerous reports of miracles and mass conversions. The Church has grown from about 1 million believers at the advent of Communism in to around million today! Numerically, at least, this is the greatest revival in Christian history. Their refusal to register with the Communist authorities, means the house churches are technically illegal, and therefore bear the brunt of the most intense persecution.
On one occasion, I was collected by a Chinese driver in a van with tinted windows and driven several hours into the countryside. I was instructed to sit in the back, to wear a coat with a hood and to keep my head down whenever we approached a roadblock or intersection.
After arriving at our destination, I was given a short time to settle in, before being taken to a meeting room that had been soundproofed with egg cartons affixed to the walls, while triple-glazed windows prevented the sound of singing and preaching from reaching the street outside.
Waiting for me in the meeting room were dozens of house church leaders, many of whom had travelled long distances to be there. With faces brimming with the love and light of Jesus, I was warmly welcomed like a long-lost brother.
Each day started with corporate prayer at 7am and concluded late in the evening, or sometimes, even after midnight, if the Holy Spirit was especially moving. As the guest teacher I was given my own room to sleep in, while the Chinese laid down on mats side by side and head to toe.
When the new day dawned, the routine repeated itself. The Chinese Christians have always impressed me by how well-organised and resourceful they are. In the days of cassette tapes, they had a line-up of machines to record every message.
As technology advanced, the tape recorders were replaced by CD players, and later by smartphones. If the teaching was deemed helpful land anointed by the spirit of God, the recordings were taken to a central location, where mass duplicating machines quickly produced hundreds of copies.
They were distributed far and wide, and recopied until they had made their way throughout the house church networks. Within days, tens of thousands of Chinese believers may have already listened to the message. Every believer would kneel and cry out to God from the depths. In order to fit in, I too would kneel on the cold, hard floors. To be honest, at times I too have had tears in my eyes during those long prayer meetings, though not from compassion, but because I felt close to passing out from the pain in my knees, especially during winter-time when my lower legs went completely numb from kneeling.
When participating in areas that have been touched by powerful heaven-sent revival, I sometimes found my spirit was willing but my flesh was weak Matthew On occasions I think I may have caught a glimpse of what revival meetings were like in the time of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney or Roberts. In my experience, when the Holy Spirit brings true revival to a community it is exhilarating and terrifying, joyful and exhausting, all rolled into one.
Someone once asked me to describe the Chinese revival in a few words. The reality, however, is that the Chinese Church in revival has had to deal with plenty of problems, temptations, trials and weaknesses. These include theological debates between different leaders, and dealing with members who fall into sin, as well as those who cause division, just like in the churches of the New Testament. The biggest weakness in the Chinese Church has been a lack of theological training.
Some have criticised the revival for being a mile wide but only an inch deep.
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