God Has Done Something Remarkable: An Interview with Paul Hattaway

The largest revival in Christian history: PneumaReview.com speaks with Bible smuggler and missionary to Asia, Paul Hattaway, about his ministry and new autobiography, An Asian Harvest.

 

PneumaReview.com: You are the founder of a ministry called Asia Harvest. What prompted you to start this ministry and what types of work does Asia Harvest do?

Paul Hattaway: Our primary goal is to equip Asian believers to reach the remaining unreached people groups in their countries. Basically wherever there are tribes and people groups left who haven’t heard the Gospel, we want to help them be saved and walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. We currently support more than 1,500 evangelists working among over 800 people groups.

Asia Harvest is a link between Christians around the world and believers in Asia, especially in “closed” countries where the Gospel is not welcome. By God’s power, however, we have found no doors are closed unless He closes them! The way we help get the job done is through various strategic projects including Bible printing (now in 93 different languages throughout Asia), supporting frontline evangelists among the unreached, and various other initiatives.

 

PneumaReview.com: How long have you been involved in this ministry? Where did you serve and what did you see God doing there?

Paul Hattaway: October 2017 marks 30 years since I met the Lord, and just six months after my conversion He called me to serve Him in China, so it has been a while. I went on a 6-week trip to carry Bibles to China but the Lord had a surprise in store and it was the start of a 30-year involvement!

Over the years our ministry Asia Harvest has expanded and now includes work in over a dozen Asian countries. We are privileged to serve in are China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and others.

 

PneumaReview.com: Shortly after you became a Christian you became “a donkey for Jesus.” Where did expression this expression come from?

Paul Hattaway: Being a ‘donkey for Jesus’ was a term created in the 1980s to describe the many Christians who travelled to Hong Kong to carry Bibles across the border to the spiritually-starving Christians in Mainland China. It was a great honor to be a donkey for the Lord this way and it was the start of my service in the kingdom of God. Several other ministry leaders we know also had their start this way.

Although things have changed since the 1980s, our call and passion to provide God’s Word to believers in China has remained the same, and last year we passed the milestone of ten million Chinese Bibles printed and distributed for the Church in China. As our Bibles are only for believers in the (illegal) house church movements, the project has carried a great risk, but over the years God has supernaturally protected us and enabled us to keep going in the face of much pressure. We wrote a newsletter celebrating reaching that goal and called it “Ten Million Miracles” because each Bible has been a miracle. All glory to the Lord Jesus!

 

PneumaReview.com: You are probably best known for writing the book The Heavenly Man, about Brother Yun. What are some of the other books that you have written?

Paul Hattaway: Other books I’ve been blessed to write include a number of large, full-color prayer books like Operation China and Peoples of the Buddhist World, several books relating to the Church in China, and the remarkable revival the Holy Spirit has brought including Back to Jerusalem, Living Water and others.

I am currently working on a massive series of about 18 books called ‘The China Chronicles’. It is a region-by-region account of all the amazing things God has done to reach China. The books will draw on hundreds of personal interviews with church leaders gathered over the past 25 years. Much of the material has never been shared in public before. I have found that while most Christians around the world are aware that God has done something remarkable in China, few people understand the “how” and “why” the largest revival in Christian history has come about.

The first book in The China Chronicles series is due to be released early 2018, and the plan is to publish a new one every six months until the series is complete. By then I’m confident interested readers will have a much greater understanding and appreciation of all the Lord Jesus has done to reach the world’s most populated country!

 

PneumaReview.com: There are a number of ministries that supply Bibles to China. Do the combined efforts of these various organizations fill the need for Bibles in China?

Paul Hattaway: Actually if you are talking about providing Bibles for the 70-80 million house church believers in China you will find things have changed dramatically in the past five or ten years. There and now very few ministries involved in providing the Scriptures to the Chinese house churches. Many ministries have been shut down by the Chinese government through threats and intimidation, arrests of distributors inside China and so on. Just in the past year several small but effective ministries that were based in Hong Kong and providing Bibles into China have been closed down or forced out.

The need for Bibles therefore remains acute in China, especially for new believers in rural areas of the country, which is where the revival continues to burn brightest. While in the big cities it’s possible for believers to access Bibles on their smart phones, in the countryside 99% of believers still desperately want and need paper Bibles. Thankfully, due to the diligence of our Chinese co-workers, we are able to print and deliver complete Chinese Bibles for just $1.80 each.

 

PneumaReview.com: From your book, An Asian Harvest, it is clear that you have significant experience with the underground church in China. In your experience would you say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as described by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, are evident in the underground church?

Paul Hattaway: Not only are all the gifts of the Spirit evident among the house churches in China, but over the years I have been blessed to hear of so many extraordinary miracles in China that it could be said that every miracle in the Bible takes place at least once somewhere in China each year. These even include miracles like the multiplication of food, and I have personally interviewed three people who have seen dead people raised to life through prayer, including one man who had died. All these testimonies, which have been attested to by numerous witnesses, will be in the new series of books coming out next year.

Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit outlined in 1 Corinthians 12, all of these are on display in the Chinese house churches, in different ways and in varying degrees of emphasis. Without the gifts and power of the Living God, nothing of the revival in China would have taken place. It has been a sovereign miracle of the Lord, not merely the work of men and women. He has poured out His Spirit upon broken and humble (and repentant) vessels, and the result has been over 100 million people turning to Jesus and having their lives mightily transformed. When it’s all said and done, no man will be able to claim credit for anything in the Chinese revival. Everyone will see and acknowledge it has been a supernatural move of God.

I also would like to add that the revival in China, although it contains weaknesses like all revivals in history, is fundamentally not the same as many moves of the Holy Spirit claimed to be occurring in other parts of the world in recent decades. All genuine revivals in history are marked by true repentance and an abandoning of sin, a deep fear of God as His terrible presence descends on entire communities, and a pursuit of holiness and hunger for God’s Word. Any “revival” without these factors present is not a genuine move of God.

 

PneumaReview.com: For those who are interested in learning more about the ministry of Asia Harvest where can they get further information?

Paul Hattaway: Thanks for the opportunity to share with you. People can learn about the work of Asia Harvest or sign up to receive our free newsletters, learn more about our books and other resources by visiting our website: www.asiaharvest.org 

We can always be contacted by email at: office@asiaharvest.org