Revival and rapid church growth have characterised China’s churches since the 1990s. About 130 million Chinese are Christians, most of whom worship within the house church movement. Millions of others worship with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), which, as the only legal church, is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite continual pressure and oppression from the communist government, house church leaders refuse to compromise the gospel by joining the TSPM. Additionally, hundreds of churches have been forced to close, and pastors and church members have been arrested or detained. It is illegal to disciple anyone under the age of 18.
Miss Shu is a Sunday school teacher. Every Sunday, she leads a Bible study for approximately 30 children between the ages of six and eighteen. She uses the Children’s Bible Stories book to teach Bible lessons. This book contains 56 Bible stories, from the creation of Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, to the Birth of Jesus and the crucifixion. Miss Shu says that the children can all feel the love of God, the warmth of the church, and the peace of Christian life that the Bible teaches.
Miss Shu shared the following testimony with us.
One day, a child approached me after Sunday school with several questions.
“Dear Miss Shu, today you talked about mankind being created by God, but the teachers at school said that we humans were changed from monkeys. The teacher also said that there is no God and that we should believe in evolution.
“The schoolteacher also said that those of us who believe in Jesus are superstitious, and those who believe in other religions are also superstitious. The school textbook also says that religion is backward and anti-revolutionary. And that educated school students should believe in atheism and not in religion.
“Most of the students in my class are non-religious, and I don’t want to be different from others.”
It was then that I realised that no matter how much Bible education we give our children in our homes and churches, once they enter the communist party-controlled education system, the atheistic school materials and teachers can, very easily, negate their Christian education. The greatest difficulty we encounter is not that the children are disobedient or that the parents do not cooperate with the Bible teachers, but from the atheism, evolution, and negative religious theories that the children learn at school.
In China, whether on the radio, television or in school, all the propaganda promotes atheism as the highest, the most scientific, and the most correct ideology and that all religions are backward and reactionary. Moreover, in the eyes of the officials, Christianity is seen as a tool of the West to invade Communist China, and those who believe in Christianity have been victimised by Western ideas.
However, I could do nothing more than pray, then explain the Bible to the children and tell them the truth. But I knew I also needed to have information that systematically teaches the errors of atheism and helps people realise the absurdity of communism. When children know which theories are wrong, they will be able to understand that the Bible is the truth.
Earlier this year, our pastor gave us a copy of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand’s book, The Answer to Moscow’s Bible, the Chinese Translation, is subtitled Anatomy of an Atheistic Fallacy. I stayed up all night reading this book. This book explains the ins and outs of atheism very plainly and makes it clear that the Bible is the only truth.
Later, I asked for 30 more copies of this book from my pastor and shared them with my Sunday school colleagues. Since then, we have used this book as part of our Sunday School programme.
The book does help, especially with teenagers who are open to thinking and questioning. They begin to question the atheism and evolution they are taught in school and become brave enough to ask the schoolteachers about their doubts. These children are able to have faith in the Bible because, of course, God’s Word is not afraid to be questioned, and the truth can be tested.
We have since learned what kind of hardship and persecution the author of this book, Pastor Wurmbrand, went through. We came to understand the origin of the writing of this book. We would like to say that the absurd events that took place in the Soviet Union 60 years ago are still taking place among us today.
We also thank VOM, who introduced us to this valuable book. We pray that this book will be widely circulated [in China] so that it can help more people who are confused by atheism.
VOM Australia funds several literature projects through our valuable partners in China.
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