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By Asia Harvest 15 Mar, 2024
A woman worshipping at the feet of a massive (108-meter or 354-feet high) statue of the goddess Guanyin in Hainan.
By Asia Harvest 22 Jan, 2024
At the beginning of 2024, we give thanks for the opportunity to once again serve the Lord Jesus Christ in Asia. We greatly appreciate the prayers, encouragement and support of those Christians around the world who have been led by the Holy Spirit to join hands with us. Together, we are helping many who have never heard the Gospel become aware of the incredible salvation the Son of God has won for them.
By Asia Harvest 21 Nov, 2023
Over the years, after many church leaders and believers have read our reports about revival in China and other parts of Asia they have asked us to share the “secret” to how they too can experience “real New Testament Christianity.” Invariably, when we delve further, we find that what they mean by New Testament Christianity is the record in the early chapters of Acts, like the passage quoted above. While such experiences are tremendously exhilarating, are they the sum total of New Testament Christianity?
By Asia Harvest 03 Nov, 2023
Earlier this year we shared about a wonderful revival that is currently transforming many communities in the country of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Although the Gospel has been in Myanmar for two centuries, most Christian growth has occurred among ethnic minority groups such as the Karen, Chin, Kachin and Lisu. The majority Burmese (numbering 35 million people) have remained firmly entrenched in their Buddhist beliefs. With society falling apart in Myanmar, recently multitudes of desperate Burmese have been finding truth and peace in Jesus Christ and His Word. Just one church movement we work closely with has grown from 2,000 to 7,000 believers this year, as the Holy Spirit has powerfully reached into the poorest communities. Many of those who have experienced God’s salvation for the first time are from the lowest rungs of society – prostitutes, drug addicts, gang members, and those who have become deeply disillusioned with life. This year we have provided 80,000 full Burmese Bibles to help fuel the revival and establish new believers in the faith. Now we are printing another 80,000 through our Asia Bible Fund . Each Bible costs $3.00 each to print and deliver, and we invite you to partner with us in this crucial work, so that the Name of Jesus Christ will be glorified among all Burmese people. Please also pray for the revival currently underway in Myanmar.
By Asia Harvest 16 Oct, 2023
Thousands of people in Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square paying homage to a gigantic portrait of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
By Asia Harvest 25 Sep, 2023
Above: Examples of the digital Chinese books we are giving away. 
By Asia Harvest 29 Aug, 2023
“Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 )
By Asia Harvest 30 Jul, 2023
Annie Skau Berntsen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1911. Her early years offered no hints that she would one day be a powerful witness for Christ in China and a scourge to the Communists. In her teens she was a leader of a Karl Marx youth club, and she later decided to become a nurse. It was at nursing school that Annie first heard the gospel and discovered that she could have a personal, life-changing relationship with the Living God. The would-be Marxist changed course and became a dedicated Christian. In 1937 the China Inland Mission offered a course on tropical diseases, and Annie signed up. While there, she contracted the “mission bug” from the staff and students, and a year later she was sent to China, where she began a 13-year association with Shaanxi Province, which only ended when she and the other missionaries were forced to leave China in 1951. For most of her time in Shaanxi, Skau was based at Shangxian (now Shanzhou District) in the province’s southeast. She was loved and accepted from the moment she arrived, causing her to say of the local Christians: “They were bound together by hardships and persecution, and they took me in as one of their own.” [1] For the next decade Annie Skau and her co-workers offered sterling service to the people of Shangxian. She helped treat thousands of sick and injured people and was eager to share the gospel with everyone she encountered. The locals nicknamed Annie ‘the giant woman,’ as she was much larger in stature than Chinese women. She did not take offense at the name, and over time it became clear that she was a spiritual giant who was never flustered by trials. She was forced to flee the area when the Japanese army invaded in 1943, but throughout the ordeal she remained a calm, consistent witness for Christ, with a loving smile adorning her face. Confronting the Rain god Annie liked to spend time walking through the mountains surrounding the city, often accompanied by her Chinese friend Yu Chen. One afternoon they encountered a procession of villagers carrying idols, as firecrackers were let off and drummers banged out a deafening beat. Drought was afflicting the area, and the procession was to honor and placate the rain god. As Annie watched from under the brim of her straw hat, two idol bearers came straight to her, angrily shouting at her to take off her hat, as the superstitious villagers believed the deities were infuriated if someone’s head was covered during a drought. Annie refused to submit to their idols by taking off her hat, so a group of men pulled the poles from their idols and marched toward her, threatening to beat her to death. “I can’t take my hat off to your gods. My God is Jesus,” Annie courageously told them. When they replied, “We don’t know anything about your God,” the Norwegian firebrand declared: “If you want to be worthy of His love, stop this procession…and turn your attention to the true God, and you will have rain tonight.” [2] Stunned by her boldness, the procession dispersed, and Annie continued on her way. When she told a church elder what had happened, he was deeply concerned, and said if a person predicts rain and it remains dry, they would be judged to be evil and would be put to death. At eleven o’clock that night the sky was still cloudless, and the local Christians were anxious that their beloved missionary doctor had overstepped the mark and would pay with her life. Annie remained calm, however, and her face was covered with a broad smile, as though she knew something the others were not aware of. As the clock counted down to midnight, the elder entered the mission house and excitedly declared: “The rain has started to fall! God is good.” Abundant Supplies During the latter part of the Second World War, Annie had asked God to provide much needed equipment and medicine to the mission. The Lord answered with an unexpected windfall. When Hitler positioned 350,000 troops in Annie’s homeland of Norway, neighboring Denmark assumed the Nazis would never leave without a fierce battle, so they donated a huge amount of medicine to Norway in expectation of mass casualties. When Germany lost the war, however, their forces withdrew from Norway, leaving tons of spare supplies, much of which was donated to foreign missionaries to aid their work. The medical clinic in Shaanxi was one grateful recipient. God used this provision to extend Annie Skau’s work. At a time when many missionaries were leaving China, Annie’s services were much sought after, and it was said she was the last remaining qualified doctor among two million Chinese people in south-central Shaanxi Province. Not everyone was appreciative of her work, however. When a young civil servant named John Ma heard that Annie was still in Shaanxi and her ministry was thriving, he flew into a rage and went to a meeting she was conducting with a large rock in his hand, intending to smash it into her head when he had a chance. As Ma pondered his violent plan, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and he walked to the front of the church and told Annie that he wanted to give his life to Christ and become His disciple. When his workmates discovered that John Ma had become a Christian, they beat him severely, but even as they were pummelling him with their fists, the new believer prayed for their salvation. This caused the men to feel ashamed, and they too asked to become Christians. Old Grandmother’s Prayers During these years of fruitful service, when most other missionaries had been evacuated from Shaanxi, Annie Skau owed much of her success to the friendship and intercession of ‘Old Grandmother’—a precious Christian woman in her late seventies who had been the first convert to Jesus Christ in the town decades earlier. She loved Annie deeply, and called her “Little Girl,” in contrast to the common nickname ‘the giant woman’ that others called her. Old Grandmother had a special gift of intercessory prayer, and she rose at four o’clock each morning to lead a group of women who cried out to God in a little chapel near the medical clinic. Each patient was fervently prayed for, and as a result Annie and the Chinese evangelists often encountered little resistance when they shared the gospel. Hundreds of people subsequently found new life in Christ during those years of reaping. They also saw numerous miracles in response to fervent prayer. One sick woman with a malignant tumor on her tongue was told by Annie that there was nothing she could do to save her life, but Old Grandmother took the matter to the Lord in prayer, and a few months later Annie was perplexed why a woman in a church meeting was sticking her tongue out at her. She then recognized it was the “hopeless case” she had sent home to die. The woman had been completely healed and her tongue looked perfectly healthy. On another occasion a wounded soldier was carried into the clinic. He was in terrible condition, having been shot and then thrown off a cliff. Compassionate locals rescued the unconscious man and carried him ten miles to the city. As Annie knelt beside the man and exhorted him, “Put your faith in the Lord Jesus and He will save you,” Old Grandmother was storming God’s throne in prayer for him. Annie needed to perform surgery quickly on the dying soldier, but no operating table was available, so she had the door of the clinic removed from its hinges and used it to perform the surgery. It took four intense hours to remove the bullet from his chest. A faint pulse was detected, and the man opened his eyes and declared: “The Lord Jesus has saved me!” Days later after he had recovered his strength, the soldier explained what happened when he was on the cusp between life and death: “Three times I heard voices coming to me from a great distance, telling me that the Lord would save me.” After receiving a thorough grounding in the Bible, the man returned to his home village as a zealous evangelist, eager to share the good news about Jesus with his friends and relatives. Because of the chaos in society and a lack of food, packs of wolves began entering the towns of Shaanxi, where they attacked and killed many children and frail adults. On one occasion the wolves entered a house and bit a baby’s face. When the baby was brought to Annie, “The wounds were already crawling with maggots, and the prognosis was wholly negative. She picked up the baby and carried it to Old Grandmother’s bed. While Annie bathed and treated the terrible wounds, Old Grandmother prayed and fed the baby. In two weeks the wounds were healed. The healing of the beautiful baby was the work of God.” [3] A Worthy Servant of God In December 1948, a dozen missionaries from Annie’s area were ordered to evacuate to Chengdu in Sichuan Province, as violence and instability engulfed Shaanxi. Annie went on the six-day journey and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with fellow missionaries, most of whom decided it was time to wind up their careers in China and return home. It was assumed that Annie would return to Norway, but as she prayed about it, she had a sense that the Lord wanted her to remain in Shaanxi and continue her work. She wrote: “More and more it seemed to me that God was guiding me to stay, but then I wondered if this was just my own choice, rather than what He wanted. One thing I knew for certain: I would obey His will, whatever it was.” [4] The final decision to stay was confirmed when Annie met with the Chinese church leaders in Shangxian. Throughout China the general view was that the presence of foreign missionaries had brought persecution to local Christians. Annie mentioned these concerns, but the church leaders replied: “If you leave us now, when we have so much need of you, then you aren’t worthy to be called a servant of God.” [5] The matter was settled. Annie and the church leaders formed a prayer circle right there in the mission compound, and together they promised to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus unto death. Annie Skau recalled the powerful moment: “We thought we were going to receive a martyr’s glorious crown quite soon, and we rejoiced in the thought. We started to memorize portions of the Scriptures, with each of us choosing different parts. My heart was overflowing with joy, for at last I knew that I was acting in accordance with God’s will. In knowing that, I experienced a perfect peace I had never felt so fully before.” [6] In June 1949, the Nationalist government abandoned the area. On the final Sunday before the Communist army marched in to fill the void, the little church was filled to overflowing. Many believers wept openly for Annie, convinced she would be killed by the soldiers. The courageous Norwegian missionary felt no fear, however, and she enthusiastically led the singing. Life had been difficult enough for Christians in Shangxian, but the danger escalated exponentially when the Communists took control. Annie was an eyewitness of the depravity and brutality exhibited by Mao’s forces. Almost 20 years after being forced to leave China, her voice still quivered as she recalled the horrific scenes: “The Communists…tacked up a public notice, listing the names of all the people they had shot. Do you know that all those poor victims had to dig their own graves and kneel beside them? The Communists killed everyone at once—and hurled their bodies into the graves. So many died! So many times we heard the iron tires on the cobblestones and saw the death roll posted in the villages and towns. I knelt and prayed for all those poor, helpless human beings—and every time, I had to face the awful fact that I could do nothing to save their lives. No one in China knew what would happen from one second to the next. I knew I could be killed at any minute, yet I was happy in my faith; it was like an island of peace in a maelstrom of hatred and destruction.” [7] Nothing but Good Despite the violence, Annie felt no bitterness toward the Communist soldiers, who were mostly exhausted and hungry young men. She refused to take sides in the conflict and treated all who needed help. Her selfless actions caused a quandary for the Communist leaders. Some wanted to kill Annie, but others felt ashamed because her service for the people was greater than their own, and the community held her in the highest regard. Finally, the day came when ‘the giant woman’ was ordered to go to the town’s market, where a stage had been erected. The Communists’ patience had run out, and she was to be “struggled against” in a public trial. The leaders of the meeting called on the large crowd to make accusations against the beloved missionary. After a long period of silence, “Not one person came forward with the anticipated denunciations. The whole carefully rehearsed performance appeared to have bogged down, leaving the members of the court embarrassed, frustrated, and angry. Finally, the chairman of the court spoke out in great irritation: ‘Is there not one word about the evil this missionary has done?’ Absolute silence followed. The lack of response was acutely painful to the court, and there was not another voice heard until some young people at the rear of the crowd ventured to speak out. Their words were not those the court had been waiting for: ‘She has never done anything but good!’” [8] Prison The 1950s dawned, with China now fully under Communist control, yet Annie Skau remained in Shaanxi, still faithfully fulfilling the call God had given her. The persecution of Christians greatly intensified, and many Chinese believers were arrested or simply vanished from their homes. Annie was told that two Christian brothers were being held hostage in prison at Shangnan, about 40 miles (65 km) away. Without hesitation, she rode her bicycle to Shangnan and appealed for their release. When the prison guards refused to let them go, she offered to take their place in the cell. After some discussion they agreed to her proposal, and Annie was locked in a tiny cell just long enough for her to lay down in. Thinking the middle-aged Westerner would beg for her release, the guards were surprised when they heard her singing joyous songs all night. When asked what she was doing, Annie replied: “I must praise God. It is the happiest night of my life.” Not knowing what charges to bring against the woman of God, the Communists invented a ludicrous accusation, blaming her for polluting the river when she had conducted baptisms! Upon reflection, the charge didn’t seem serious enough to the accusers, so they charged her of going around the countryside and setting fire to 11 villages. When Annie was told the new charge, “It struck her so funny hat she doubled over with laughter, and the young official made no real effort to conceal his own amusement.”[9] Realizing the foolishness of their actions, they released Annie and she returned home. The Final Stretch As almost all missionaries had been expelled from Shaanxi, many mission stations were abandoned throughout the province. Annie was asked to take over the empty properties, and remarkably the simple woman from Norway, who once wanted to be a Marxist, found herself with 40 mission stations under her control, in the Marxist heartland of China. She carried on serving the people, but increasingly distressing reports reached her of Chinese pastors and church members being arrested and tortured in prison. After much prayer, Annie felt the time for her departure from China was near. She had done all she could for God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but the nighttime was about to come when no one could work. Before leaving, she attended one memorable prayer meeting in the town of Danfeng, attended by more than 400 Christians. She was asked to speak, and she shared on Daniel in the lion’s den, which was an apt message for the gathered believers who were about to face their own dangerous trials. On July 15, 1950, Annie Skau was rearrested and charged with being a spy. She was sent to a lice-infested prison, where despite the miserable conditions and frequent interrogation sessions, she was allowed to keep her Bible. She read it every day, gaining strength from the Spirit of God. For months she endured persecution, but with Christmas approaching, she completely ran out of money. Not only was she unable to buy food, but Annie was worried that if they expelled her from the country, she would have no ability to pay for her travel. Then a letter arrived from missionaries in Shanghai, saying they had sold some of the medical supplies Annie had left in storage, and funds were available for her needs. Instead of spending the money on herself, however, she bought toys to give to the children as Christmas presents. Finally, in early 1951, Annie Skau knew her service in China was complete. She left her beloved Shaanxi with her head held high, after 13 years of witnessing God’s grace and power. After a time back in her homeland, Annie again felt the call of God to go to East Asia, and in 1953 she began ministering in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, where she had daily contact with hundreds of desperate people who had fled across the border from Communist China. Two years later she founded the Hope of Heaven rehabilitation center in the British colony, and thousands of needy Chinese were blessed by her work.
By Asia Harvest 22 Jun, 2023
In this issue, we want to go deeper into this fascinating ancient history, for it reveals how the great Chinese civilization has interacted with God throughout history, leading to the greatest revival in Christian history during the past 50 years. Just how God shaped Chinese history to conform to His Will largely remains a mystery. Some things are inexplicable and are best grasped by simply trusting that throughout the centuries the Creator “did not leave Himself without witness” among the Chinese and other peoples of the world.
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