"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord" (Proverbs 21:30-31).

In our last newsletter we "celebrated" the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party in China by looking back at some of their diabolical achievements. Throughout a century of death and destruction, the Lord Jesus Christ has shone ever brighter, resulting in more than 100 million people gladly surrendering their lives to Him. Jesus truly has been the Hero of the Century in China!

Sometimes at Asia Harvest we may become so focused on our work in Asia that we forget that many of the things we take for granted are astonishing to believers elsewhere. For example, someone recently emailed us, asking, "Are you guys aware that in China some Christian websites have been blocked by the government?" We smiled, because the Asia Harvest website has been blacklisted in China since 1998!

Indeed, it's not just in China that we struggle to communicate our vision. Some people have commented on our "weak" social media presence. To give you a glimpse into our regular struggles, in recent years many of our facebook posts have been blocked by facebook, who deem them too politically incorrect; some of our videos have been removed from Youtube for the same reason; and when we uploaded a free e-book on the inspirational things God is doing in China, Amazon labelled it "offensive content" and closed our account! Sometimes it feels like we are in a swimming race with weights tied to our arms and legs, but the Lord helps us and continues to open doors that no man can shut.

Our call from God includes the need to straddle the line between the Church in Asia and around the world. Sometimes we find that what is important to persecuted Christians in Asia may not be a priority to believers elsewhere, and vice versa. Priorities often appear to be polar opposites, which is perhaps why for decades places like China have been experiencing the greatest revival in Christian history, while in much of the Western world the Church is struggling to stay afloat.

As an example, some Western Christian publications have run what they consider to be shocking stories of how the Chinese Communist Party has removed the crosses from thousands of church buildings throughout China in recent years

Our dear friend Brother Yun, whose testimony you may have read in The Heavenly Man, was visiting Canada a few years ago when a group of pastors and mission leaders asked him to comment on the removal of crosses in China. Thinking he would express alarm at such a ghastly act, many in the room were totally shocked when Brother Yun replied:

"I am very happy that so many crosses have been torn down! The cross was never meant to be fixed to the roof of a building. Instead, the Lord Jesus called us to carry the cross on our shoulders and in our hearts. I completely agree with the government's decision to pull down all the crosses!'

Yun's response perfectly encapsulated the difference between biblical and institutional Christianity; between those who have experienced true revival and those who are focused on temporal rather than eternal things.

The strongman Chinese President Xi Jinping and the other leaders of China can never understand why the number of believers has increased by millions while they have been busy removing crosses from church buildings. 

Because they are God-hating atheists, China's leaders are spiritually blind and unless they repent, they will never understand that the Holy Spirit of Jesus dwells in the hearts of His followers. The Apostle Paul explained: "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Although as believers we might suffer setbacks and be called to endure harsh persecution, ultimately the Body of Christ is unconquerable, for we serve a Lord and Master who said: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him" (Luke 12:4-5).

During the Roman Empire, when a Christian was being martyred, his persecutors mockingly asked, "What is your Carpenter doing now?" Calmly, without a trace of fear on his face, the believer replied: "He is constructing a coffin for your empire."

Next week we delve deeper into the spiritual roots of Communism, and we will also thank the Living God, for recently Asia Harvest passed the milestone of printing and delivering 15 million full Chinese Bibles to the house churches of China!

Each one has been a miracle of God's grace and protective power, and as long as He continues to hold the door open, we will do everything we can to provide God's Word to His people, thus helping to fan the flames of the greatest revival in Christian history.