In this excerpt from Leaving Buddha, Eugene Bach introduces us to the amazing story of Tenzin Lahkpa, a Buddhist monk who had a powerful encounter with Jesus the Messiah.

Tenzin Lahkpa and Eugene Bach, Leaving Buddha: A Tibetan Monk’s Encounter with the Living God (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2019), 206 pages, ISBN 9781641231022.
Read the review by John Lathrop.

When I began to write this book, my relationship with Tenzin Lahkpa (a pseudonym) was completely new. I met him at a lunch meeting in August 2017 in western China, where our Back to Jerusalem missionary team was discussing a project to reach out to the Tibetan people. One of the pastors brought along Tenzin, a former Buddhist monk, who shared his personal testimony at the table.

When I heard Tenzin’s story, I was speechless. I was so moved and inspired by his experiences that I knew right away this was a story that needed to be shared with others.

Tenzin is not the first Buddhist monk I have met who has come to Christ (although I believe the number is relatively few), but he is the first to allow me to share his amazing story. Every time I sat down at my computer to write his personal account, I trembled with fear, knowing that it was a special project—one I did not feel qualified for due to the challenges and intricacies involved.

The first challenge was to obtain a full version of his story. I had asked Tenzin to write down his experiences so that I could translate them and make his life story available to others—but what I received was a very humble, two-page biography! Additional information came during subse­quent interviews where Tenzin felt embarrassed and extremely reluctant to talk about himself. As a Buddhist monk, he had been instructed for years to remove any sign of self-identity in an effort to obtain enlightenment. Talking about his own story and focusing on himself was the exact oppo­site of what he had been taught to do. Furthermore, like many Christians living in Tibet today, Tenzin does not see himself as anything special. He is simple and unassuming. If you were to meet him on the street, you would most likely not think twice about him.

The second challenge was that I was convinced my level of facility in the Chinese and Tibetan languages was not high enough to adequately translate Tenzin’s experiences. Thus, this book was written from a series of interviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 by five of my close colleagues and translated from Amdo Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese and eventually to English.

Third, in October 2017, a political development greatly hindered the interview process and the challenge of verifying an accurate translation of Tenzin’s story. The Chinese Communist Party came together in Beijing and passed new oppressive religious laws that came into effect on February 1, 2018. Thus, the interviews with Tenzin were carried out illegally and in secret during some of the most intense crackdowns on Christianity in China in more than a decade.

Fourth, even after scouring the material and running it by Tenzin and the translators, I still felt certain there were things I had missed or did not understand that were important. I also thought there are things I might have misunderstood or translated incorrectly. However, I have checked and double-checked the facts and events in this story to the best of my ability.

PneumaReview.com speaks with Eugene Bach, a spokesman and leader of the Chinese mission movement, Back to Jerusalem, about their vision and the amazing things they have seen God do as they carry the good news to the world’s most restrictive places.

Please tell our readers where and when the Back to Jerusalem Movement began.

The Back to Jerusalem vision is a call to the church in China to take the Good News to the unreached nations between China and Jerusalem. It was independently birthed over 90 years ago in two separate locations in China – Shandong Province with the Jesus Family and then later on with the Northwest Spiritual Movement and the Back to Jerusalem Evangelistic Band from central Henan Province.

What is the vision of the Back to Jerusalem Movement?

Quite simply, The Back to Jerusalem vision is nothing more than the Great Commission given by Jesus in Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-19. The Back to Jerusalem vision is the commission given to the church in China to join the efforts of the global Body of Christ to evangelize the lands between the walls – the restricted nations between the Great Wall of China and the Western Wall of Jerusalem.

The vision is bigger than a ministry. There is a ministry called Back to Jerusalem, but it does not own the vision.

The vision is bigger than any denomination. There are many denominations involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision – from conservative Amish to charismatic Apostolics – but the vision does not belong to any denomination.

The vision is bigger than any personality. There are several well-known believers involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision, but not one of them owns it. It is not a personality driven vision.

Eugene Bach with Pastor Zhang Rongliang

The majority of the Chinese involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision today come from very simple uneducated agrarian backgrounds. They reject titles and only refer to themselves as brothers and sisters. Even the most senior pastors in the traditional underground house churches with millions of believers, who have embraced the BTJ vision, only wear the simple title of brother or sister.

What types of ministries does Back to Jerusalem support? In addition to Bibles, what other resources do you supply?

With more than 2,000 active Chinese Back to Jerusalem missionaries working in the land between the walls, it can only be said that we actively support a smorgasbord of activities that cause trouble in nations that are currently closed to the Gospel. Those activities range from missionary training, mission exposure, missionary support, ministry equipping, and platform creation through business, disaster relief, humanitarian aid, or education.

Other resources include emergency aid during disaster relief efforts, business training and investment, alternative energy units, and a variety of electronic communication tools.