In case you missed it: Janet Epp Buckingham, “Ban the Mob, Not the Bible: Christians are the victims of hate in some places and the targets of hate speech laws in others. How can believers advocate for nations to address both threats in a consistent, principled way?” Christianity Today (June 6, 2024).

Dony Donev, “Theological Framework Centered on Neo-primitivism” Cup & Cross (October 25, 2025).

Mark D. Bjelland, “Charity Begins with Zoning Reforms” Christianity Today (November/December 2025).

This online article has the subtitle, “Stewarding our neighborhoods is part of Christian hospitality” and appeared in the print issue with the title, “Erasing Red Lines.”

In case you missed it: Hazel Southam, “The Quiet Revival: Gen Z leads rise in church attendance” Bible Society (April 7, 2025).

This report opens with this byline: “Church decline in England and Wales has not only stopped, but the Church is growing, as Gen Z leads an exciting turnaround in church attendance.” 50% growth in church attendance in 6 years? Yes, this is a quiet revival.

In case you missed it: “How adults are rediscovering Christianity through baptism” YouTube (September 30, 2025).

This special report from CBS Mornings about Gen Z men turning to Christianity is introduced: “In her series ‘The State of Spirituality,’ Lisa Ling looks at the rise in adult baptisms after the pandemic. At a time when many are leaving organized religion, some Americans are choosing to deepen their Christian faith.” One PneumaReview.com editor commented, “What is happening is so significant that even the secular press is taking note of it.”

David Livermore, “Which of the Six Global Leadership Types Best Describes You?” DavidLivermore.com (November 6, 2025).

Thought leader in Cultural Intelligence and PneumaReview.com author, David Livermore, introduces this article on global leader archetypes with this: “90 percent of leadership literature is biased toward one kind of leader—decisive, assertive, fast-paced, and individualistic. Yet most of the world prefers a different kind of leadership style.”

Image: Johannes Plenio

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Craig S. Keener, Suffering: Its Meaning for the Spirit-Filled Life (Baker Academic, November 11, 2025).

Craig Keener: Seeing what dominates our culture’s interests reinforced my feeling that the church in the U.S. is largely unprepared for suffering. Although the Bible talks a lot about suffering, sometimes when it strikes people who have heard only messages about blessing, they can feel that God has not treated them as he promised. While we have foretastes of the kingdom today, such as healings, the kingdom isn’t consummated yet. There’s still sickness and suffering and death in this world. Jesus, prophets and apostles also modeled for us how to face suffering.

PneumaReview.com: Suffering can take many forms. What kinds of suffering do you address in your book?

Craig Keener: As you say, suffering comes in many forms; I could therefore illustrate the principles with only some of them. Because persecution features dominantly in the New Testament, and it remains a living reality (even to the point of martyrdom) among Christians in many parts of the world today, that naturally features heavily in the book. But we also suffer from other sources. Some accounts from refugees fleeing other sorts of violence or suffering are heartrending. Most of us have encountered, or know others who have encountered, health or financial challenges for which our theology of healing and blessing do not, sometimes, satisfactorily address. Broken families are among the many other struggles that Christians may face.

PneumaReview.com: All people are susceptible to some forms of suffering. Should Christians expect the possibility of more suffering in their lives because of their faith?

PneumaReview.com: How would you respond to a person who says that suffering is a sign that one has failed God or is out of His will?

Craig Keener: That makes nonsense out of Paul’s lists of sufferings and defies the message of the cross. Granted, some kinds of sufferings are biblically normal for Christians (opposition to our faith) and some are biblically abnormal (punishment for non-Christian behaviors, 1 Pet 4:15). But we have plenty of biblical examples of God-followers who suffered from things from which God often delivers; for example, Elisha died from sickness and Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus.

PneumaReview.com: What teachings or trends in the church today downplay the biblical teaching about suffering?

Craig Keener: I’ve not run into many people who actually teach that Christians will never suffer; but in circles that teach almost exclusively about blessings, some Christians seem to get that idea. I’ve heard some versions of “prosperity teaching” that simply mean that we should trust God to supply our needs for our lives and callings, and I certainly agree with that. But there are also the many versions (what Michael Brown calls “carnal prosperity teaching”) that claim material prosperity as a selfish promise. There are some who insist that everyone with faith will always get healed—although it’s evident that, given enough time, everybody in history, no matter how much faith, without exception, eventually dies.

PneumaReview.com: Do you think ministerial training in the West should place more of an emphasis on the possibility of one suffering for their Christian ministry?

Craig Keener: So many seminary and Bible college graduates go out ready to change the world and are out of ministry after a few years. It would help them to graduate with open eyes. Church people can be mean. We walk with many other church people through their heart-wrenching hardships. We may face opposition from various sources. A church with financial challenges (or even without them) may not pay as much as ministers can get elsewhere (I worked in a restaurant and pastored for free). We also can face discouragement when exaltation does not come as fast as social media sensations might lead us to expect. But faith means not just following God’s call or a heart for ministry when things are going well; it means trusting the God who is trustworthy no matter what.

PneumaReview.com: Please share some things that believers in the persecuted church can teach the church in America.

PneumaReview.com: How can we practically help others when they are suffering?

Craig Keener: It helps us to remember that the sufferings of the present are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us; the struggles of this world are birth pangs (Rom 8:22) from which God will bring forth the perfect world to come. It helps to know that in God’s plan, all things work for good, for us ultimately sharing Christ’s glory and image (8:28-29). But these are things we need to learn before we suffer, because not everybody is in a good place to hear them during their suffering. In all cases, though, we can weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15). Loving people means sharing with them as fellow members of the same body, walking with them, as best as possible, in their pain. In that setting, we can also join them in seeking healing and restoration, and reminding them of the hope that we too find in the face of our brokenness.

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Publisher’s page: https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781540969439_suffering

Further Reading

Craig Keener, “How to Succeed at Suffering: Lessons from the Gospel of Mark” Influence (February 14, 2024)

“Why Do Christians Suffer?” WTC Theology (TheoDisc/YouTube, October 1, 2025)

In case you missed it: Nik Ripken, “Trauma and Tragedy on the Mission Field” NikRipken.com (September 19, 2023).

“In this deeply personal episode, Nik Ripken reflects on his journey through trauma, health crises, and confronting deeply ingrained racism in his life and ministry. From growing up in a broken home to battling malaria on the mission field and dismantling racial prejudice, Nik shares how God has redeemed his struggles, transforming them into opportunities for reconciliation, humility, and Kingdom work.”

Dhimas Anugrah, “Schadenfreude: A Misplaced Joy” Our Daily Bread Ministries.

Dhimas Anugrah, “Freudenfreude: Finding Joy Even When the Good News Isn’t Mine” Our Daily Bread Ministries.

“Should We Bring AI into the Church?: Interview by Bonnie Kristian” ChristianityToday.com (May 28. 2025).

The tagline for this interview is: “A church-tech skeptic talks values with technologists from faith-aligned AI company Gloo.”

Craig Keener, “Video course on Acts” CraigKeener.com (July 9, 2025).

Dr. Craig Keener writes: “Although I have 23 hours of free lectures on Acts on my YouTube channel, a newer, more official course with Seminary Now is launching with much better video graphics, based on my 4-volume Acts commentary.”

Andrew Gabriel, “Tales of my First Visit to a Church of God (Cleveland) Pentecostal Church” AndrewKGabriel.com (March 17, 2025).

“Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi on genocide against Christians in northern Nigeria” CraigKeener.com (July 30, 2025).

“Craig interviews retired Anglican Archbishop Ben Kwashi on his experience and on the massacres of Christians in northern Nigeria. Archbishop Kwashi has long worked for peace, reconciliation, justice, truth and is always centered in the gospel of Christ. He and his wife Gloria have adopted more than seventy children, many of them orphans because of the massacres in the north. Archbishop Kwashi also is current on both the events in the north of Nigeria and their wider global context.”

“Cultural Intelligence vs. Personality: What’s the Difference” Cultural Intelligence Center.

A white paper from the Cultural Intelligence Center. How is personality different from cultural intelligence? CQ is a skillset.

Image: Anastasia Zolotukhina

“Interview with the Author—Michelle Van Loon” Eerdword (August 4, 2025).

Eerdmans Publishing interviews the author of Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials.

In case you missed it: Keith Simon, “When My Sermon Riled Our City: Preaching on sex and gender led to local uproar and national headlines. Here are seven things I learned” Christianity Today (June 25, 2024).

“The Forgotten Etowah Revival” Cup & Cross Ministries (August 20, 2025).

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The Holy Spirit has been making Jesus known in China. Veteran missionary Dennis Balcombe shares what he has seen unfolding during his more than fifty years of ministry in China.

Bible teachers believe that many prophecies will have a double fulfillment. The first fulfillment was in the Biblical days and subsequently the last days before the return of Christ.

A good example are the many prophecies relating to the dispersion and restoration of Israel. This was first fulfilled in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and later the return to Jerusalem and rebuilding of the temple under leaders such as Ezra and Nehemiah.

Then in the end times we see this is the destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews in AD 70, and the restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948.

Directly relating to this was that of Pentecost which was fulfilled in New Testaments days in the Book of Acts and is being fulfilled in our days, which may be the last of the last days.

Acts 2:1, “When the day of Pentecost had fully come” seems to indicate what happened that day in Jerusalem fulfilled all the types and prophecies relating to Pentecost. Then Peter in his sermon by revelation said, “But this is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days …” (Acts 2:16).

The whole prophecy of Joel indicates a world-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in all that was lost being restored and a great spiritual harvest. It would seem that this prophecy relating to a Pentecostal outpouring was fulfilled in many parts of the world in the beginning of the 20th century.

Pentecostal Christians in many nations will tell you how Pentecost came to their nation in the first few years of the 20th century. Americans talk about the Azusa Street Revival in 1906, people living in the U.K. will tell you about the early Welsh revival and the ministry of Spirit-filled men of God like Alexander Boddy, Smith Wigglesworth around 1907 and the powerful revivals that shook the British Isles around that time.

This was the same time of great revivals in Pyongyang, Korea, Ireland and South Africa, and the Khasi Hills in India. But many have not heard that Pentecost also came to China in the beginning of the 20th century.

A former street evangelist who was a part of my home church in Oakland, California, Richard Simpson, told me the testimony of his grandfather, a missionary to China.

Missionary William Wallace Simpson was sent out by the Christian Missionary Church (but no relation to A.B. Simpson) and began his ministry in Lhasa, Tibet in the late 19th century (1892). After many months of travel by land from Shanghai travelling through vast plains, forging rivers and ascending high mountain ranges he reached the outskirts of Lhasa.

To his knowledge, no Christian missionary had entered the city to bring the message of Christ, though other European explorers and travelers had previously reached the city. One of the head lamas had gotten the word that Simpson and his entourage had entered Lhasa to bring the Christian religion.

Thus, this lama stood outside the city and proclaimed that if this missionary so much as dared to enter the city to preach his foreign religion, Simpson would be struck dead by the Tibetan gods.

After prayer and knowing he was being led by the Spirit, missionary Simpson entered the city and began to prepare for ministry in the city. However, before he could do anything, this lama who was opposed to him, for some strange reason suddenly died.

This was one of the first examples of ‘power evangelism’ in China, a term that later became popular under John Wimber of the Vineyard Movement in the second part of the 20th century.

The superstitious people in Lhasa revered him as some god with great power. Of course, he denied that he was a god, but through this preached Christ to them and reportedly made some converts. Later they gave him gifts of many of their precious temple artifacts (not realizing their archeological value), which he took back to the USA and sold to the Museum of Chicago. Through this he was able to finance his missionary work in China for several decades.

A few years later the CMA denomination in America took a stand against speaking in tongues and such Pentecostal gifts. Knowing Simpson’s Church in Beiping was now Pentecostal he was ordered to cease teaching Pentecostal doctrines, tongues, and spiritual gifts, or else they would totally cut off his missionary support.

He wrote back, “I am now the pastor of this church, and they are totally supporting me. I don’t care if you cut off my support, but I will not compromise on my beliefs.”

He remained in China until 1949 when he returned to the USA. His son, William EkvalI Simpson, also was an Assemblies of God missionary. He died at the hands of bandits on the Tibetan-Chinese border in 1932. This testimony was related to me by missionary Simpson’s grandson Richard in the 1970’s.

After the Pentecostal revivals at Azusa Street and in the U.K., many Pentecostal missionaries came to China and preached the Full Gospel message. Significant Pentecostal revivals came to the Scandinavian nations, and many Pentecostal missionaries from Norway, Sweden and Finland travelled to the interior of China bringing the Pentecostal message.

Marie Monson
Image: Wikimedia Commons

One of these Scandinavian missionaries was Marie Monsen (1878-1962). Some considered her the ‘mother of the house church’. But due to her Pentecostal beliefs, she was denounced as a heretic by other evangelical missionaries.

Brother Yun introduced Monsen in his book, The Heavenly Man, as her ministry impacted the churches in Henan where he is from. You can visit her monument today in Bergen, Norway.

Many of these early Pentecostal missionaries were single young women, at great cost and much opposition, spread the Pentecostal message throughout China. Another was Serene Løland, also from Norway, who spent 50 years in China. The last several years of her missionary life was spent in Hong Kong. I was privileged to work with her in Hong Kong in the early 1970s.

Serene was the first Norwegian Methodist missionary to China landing in Fuzhou (then spelled Foo-chow) in 1921. She later worked with the famous Spirit-filled Chinese evangelist, John Sung who is reported to have led over 100,000 to the Lord through his powerful evangelical ministry followed by signs, wonders, and miracles. These converts were not only in China, but many nations throughout SE Asia.

She also spent much time in Shanghai where she helped many leading clergymen to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was during the great charismatic revival in Shanghai around 1948.

At the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Shanghai, more than 50 of the theological students including their president, the famous Chia Yu Ming, came to her meetings and he received the baptism of the Spirit. His writings were the most popular theological books in China, read by far more than Watchman Nee, whose books were only read by members of his church, The Little Flock church.

Sister Løland worked closely with the most renowned men of God during that period: John Sung, Watchman Nee, Wang Ming-tao, Andrew Gih and Markus Cheng. She was at one time a member of Watchman Nee’s congregation and she told me she prayed with him, and he received the Baptism of the Spirit. But Watchman Nee never claimed to be charismatic.

After most missionaries were forced out of China, Sister Løland remained two more years and in March 1951 came to Hong Kong. She was greatly used of the Lord to promote the Pentecostal movement throughout Hong Kong, especially among the Pentecostal Holiness Church. She left HK to return home to Norway in 1972. Her powerful testimony is related in her autobiography, God in China (now out of print).

Many in the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement have become aware of missionary Heidi Baker. She and her team have been greatly used of the Lord to plant thousands of churches in Mozambique, other parts of Africa and other nations.

Heidi and her husband Rolland were a part of my church in Hong Kong for many years and even today we can converse in fluent Cantonese. I converse with Rolland in Putonghua (Mandarin), for he comes from a family of missionaries to the Chinese.

Rolland’s grandfather was the famous H.A. Baker who wrote the book Visions Beyond the Veil (published 1920), and several other books. He ministered in Tibet from 1911-1919, in Yunnan China from 1919-1950 when all missionaries were forced to leave China. Later in 1955 he went to Miaoli County, Taiwan until his death in 1971.

With his wife Josephine, H.A. Baker started a mission for street children living in the village areas in Yunnan Province, called Adullam Rescue Mission. The children, 6-18 years old were uneducated and few had any knowledge of the Bible and Christianity.

But H.A. Baker led them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and they saw a series of visions of angels, Jesus, heaven, and hell, totally confirming the Bible. This was part of a significant Pentecostal revival in that part of China.

Many of these children grew up serving the Lord, and many were later pastors of both house church and official Three-Self Patriotic churches in Yunnan. This amazing book documenting the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these children is available free as a PDF file on the internet.

My close friend and co-worker, Rev. Moses Yu (1920-2010), born and raised in Shandong, was only 12 when this great revival swept NE China. He could personally recount many events in this revival and he was associated with the great men of God during that period – Rev. John Song, Wang Ming-Tao, Andrew Gih, Chia Yu-ming, Watchman Nee, Allan Yuan and others.

He told me that the indigenous Chinese Pentecostal revivals from the late 1920s through to 1949 were powerful and widespread resulting in hundreds of thousands of conversions. However few if any books giving testimonies to these revivals are available in bookstores.

The reason is most of the publishers of books of Chinese church history are evangelicals, and all their associated denominations theologically hold to the cessation theory. This belief which is adhered to by many even today teaches that all supernatural gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues and miraculous healings ended in the 2nd century with the death of the apostles.

Thus Rev. Yu was invited to Hong Kong to conduct a week-long seminar at the Assembly of God Bible Seminary in which he in detail documented the great Pentecostal revivals in indigenous Chinese churches. They can be found today in the Ecclesia Bible Seminary archives.

Space will only allow me to briefly mention a few. Probably the most significant was the Great Shandong Revival which began around 1932 in Shandong Province. The great Korean Pyongyang Revival of 1907 came after years of Western missionaries and Korean pastors associated with the Presbyterian Church seeking the Lord in prayer and fasting.

At a certain time in history, the Holy Spirit moved mightily, and many stood up and openly confessed their sins. Subsequently thousands were baptized in the Holy Spirit with tongues, prophecy, anointed preaching, divine healings, and casting out of demons.

Anyone visiting the house churches and even official churches in Shandong Province today will realize much of the present church leadership are the descendants of this great revival that began in 1932. In fact, this great Pentecostal Revival spread throughout all of NE China.

A Baptist missionary, Mary Crawford published a book, The Shantung Revival in 1933. Again, in as much the manifestations of the Spirit in that revival go against the theological position of the Baptist church, it is not available from the Baptist Press. But the copyright period expired, and the charismatic leader Randy Clark has republished this book which is available today on Amazon.

Directly related to the Shandong Revival, the Jesus Family movement was established in 1921 by Jing Dianying in the rural village of Mazhuang, Taian County of Shandong Province. This was a unique Pentecostal communitarian church.

They lived in Christian communes in which resources were pooled and needs of the poorer in the community were met. In the rural and semi-rural areas, the Jesus Family was formed into small communes of up to a few hundred with the believers working and living together and holding property in common under the direction of the ‘family head.’

There were well over one hundred of these Jesus Family communities by 1949, with a total of several thousand members. All were run entirely by Chinese under the leader Jing Dianying (1890-1957).

The Jesus Family was strongly millenarian, anticipating the imminent return of Christ, and it was very Pentecostal, basing its worship and behavior on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. All the Jesus Family communities were disbanded in 1953, but even today many former adherents or their children are active members and leaders in the Chinese Christian community. In the 1980s, some Jesus Family groups reappeared, but they are technically illegal and subject to persecution by the authorities.

I was privilege to meet many of the leaders of the Jesus Family when China opened in the 1980s and several years ago visited some of the local Shandong house churches whose roots can be traced to the Jesus Family. They would all rehearse testimonies of miracles, healings and gifts of the Spirit that even today are in operation in their local churches.

Another indigenous Pentecostal movement is the True Jesus Church. It was started in 1917 by Paul Wei, Barnabas Zhang and others. It is a powerful Pentecostal Church with many gifts of the Spirit, healings, and miracles. However, they are considered a oneness church because they do not believe in the trinity. They also meet on Saturday as they believe they must keep the Sabbath.

The True Jesus Church is currently one of the largest Christian groups in China and Taiwan, as well as one of the largest independent churches in the world. A few years ago, on a visit to Wuchang, the head leader of the Three-Self church took me to visit one of the True Jesus churches. They had a huge building that could sit several thousand. He told me one-third of all the Christians in the Wuhan area went to churches associated with the True Jesus movement.

He said since they are considered an indigenous Chinese grass-roots movement with no connection with the West, they are not persecuted in the same manner that denominational churches related to the West are persecuted. There are many very large True Jesus congregations in Hong Kong and parts of England.

When I first arrived in Hong Kong in as a missionary called to China in 1969, there was virtually no accurate information about the church in China. The prevalent belief was that Christianity had been basically eliminated from China.

It was common knowledge, though, that all religion had been prohibited during the Cultural Revolution (1967-1976). Even the Three-Self Patriotic Church, which was totally under the control of the Communist Party and preached only liberal theology, was closed. House churches were prohibited, all clergy were sent to labor reform camp or prison, seminaries and Bible Schools were closed, and all Bibles and religious books were destroyed by the Red Guards.

It was assumed by many that the whole nation had become atheistic. As China began to open in 1978, one major ministry printed a tract which simply described the beautiful mountain scenery in Guilin (such as you see depicted in Chinese landscape paintings), and ended with this question, “Is it possible all this somehow occurs through natural processes, or might there perhaps be a Creator?”

One would ask why the Gospel tracts would not be more specific in presenting Christ and the Gospel message. The reason is there was a fear that any religious literature would be confiscated and those distributing it would be arrested. It was thought except for a few older people in the villages, the whole nation was now atheistic.

Liberal churchmen stated, “While the people were relatively poor compared to most in capitalist nations, what they had they shared one with another, the government provided basic educational and medical services, everyone loved greatly Mao and the Communist Party, and most were very happy.”

It was then often stated, “There is no need for Christianity, a Western religion that puts guilt on people and allowed imperialism to take root in China.”

However, within weeks of my first trip to Guangzhou in the spring of 1978, I found all that was totally false. During the past several decades we have been learning about the terrible atrocities, massacres, famines, political infighting, and horrendous persecution of religious believers.

Prostitution then and today was rampant, but prostitutes then sold their bodies to get ration coupons, which were needed to purchase food. We saw this everywhere after China opened in 1978, as even then food could only be purchased with both money and ration coupons. As we begin to travel throughout China, we saw not only prostitutes, but beggars everywhere. Poverty was widespread and in visits to hospitals we saw dirty and rundown buildings with almost none of the equipment or medication that a hospital would need.

I was quickly made aware of one group of believers in a certain district in Guangxi Province of 40,000 believers meeting in multiple house churches but was told they only had one full complete Bible for that many believers.

Due to that report in the first of 1979, we began our Bible ministry to China (called Donkey’s for Jesus) and during the 36 years to 2015 (when Xi Jinping began to take tight control of the nation), countless millions of Bibles were delivered to China from Hong Kong. Most were provided free to house church leaders, and thus during those years I was privileged to travel this vast nation.

Due to the strict control of people’s movements, including that of foreign visitors, it is impossible for anyone to conduct an accurate religious survey. But these estimates are based on the percentage of known Christians in different districts and an analysis of general religious beliefs in the different provinces.

My story: From 1979-1997 I made multiple trips all over China, weekly taught English in Guangzhou leading a few hundred students to Christ and baptizing them in the Guangzhou reservoir, helped to coordinate the Bible ministry in which weekly thousands of Bibles entered China, and travelled all over the nation where I met the Christian leaders in hotel rooms or public parks in the major cities.

Today’s Chinese Version Bible, first published in 1979.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

I had a great desire to visit the rural home churches, especially in Henan (where Hudson Taylor previously worked), but was told it was far too dangerous for a foreigner to visit these house churches. But knowing that our church was a Spirit-filled Pentecostal church, and almost 100% of the Bible couriers and those supporting the ministry were Pentecostals, they desired for me to visit their home church co-workers’ meetings and teach on this subject.

Thus, in early 1988, they arranged for me to go into the rural areas of Henan, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces to teach in co-workers’ meetings. The co-workers would number from 80-800 or more. Meetings would last 3-5 days in one village and then we would go to another village to share.

Usually, I would teach and preach for up to 9 hours a day, but during that time in every session we would pray for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This continued until 1997 when I lost my visa, but when my visa was restored in 2003, I continued this ministry until 2015 when I again lost my visa.

Before we visited China and taught the Pentecostal message, they would experience miracles of healing and supernatural deliverances. But this was due to the prayers of the Christians. Even decades before I entered the rural areas to teach the Pentecostal message, the churches had a habit of gathering early in the morning for prayer, often lasting up to 2 hours.

Space would not allow me to share even a small percentage of what I saw. Just to state that we saw thousands of co-workers filled with the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, and a massive outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Miracles, signs, wonders, and divine healings were seen everywhere we went.

Many told me the main reason people became Christians was due to the testimony of divine healing, deliverance from demonic powers and other such miracles. While the Chinese church is not perfect, mistakes have been made, some false doctrine and teaching emerged during those years, nobody can deny the fact that the Chinese church is like the Church in the Book of Acts. The Gospel is being widely preached with signs following, but as in the 1st century persecution is prevalent.

The last several years there have been a lot of restrictions on Christian ministry in general and many overseas missionaries have been forced to leave China. The government is restricting the evangelism of children and the youth, and Bibles can only be purchased in official church bookstores. Atheistic Marxist education is the norm for all Chinese young people. It would seem the present leadership of China is reversing the ‘open door policy’ of Deng Xiaoping which began in the 1980s.

But we thank the Lord during the few short years that China was opened, thousands of Spirit-filled Christians from overseas entered China to provide Bibles, teaching materials and prayed with countless tens of thousands of Chinese Christians to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the Chinese church has a very good solid foundation based on the Word of God in which the Holy Spirit is honored. I believe despite temporary setbacks, the doors to China are still open in that the Chinese people are very open to Christ and the Holy Spirit. I believe before the return of Christ, perhaps in our generation, this nation of 1.4 billion of Han Chinese and other ethnic groups will be reached with the Full Gospel.

Pastor Dennis Balcombe
Hong Kong

This article is adapted from an earlier version of “Pentecost in China” as it first appeared at ChinaSource.org. Used with permission.

“The Rise of the Pentecostal Fusionists: They’re uniting Spirit-led worship with the riches of historic church tradition, says a leading charismatic bishop” Christianity Today (October 3, 2022).

Pentecostal Theological Seminary (Church of God) professor Dale Coulter interviews Emilio Alvarez, presiding bishop of the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches, about what has often been called the Convergence Movement, the purposeful blending of sacramental liturgy with charismatic worship.

Lazarus Yeghnazar and Lana Silk, “Iran’s Spiritual Awakening” Charisma (October 28, 2022).

“How the Persecuted Church Wants You to Pray: Leaders in six countries explain how Christians can best support and rejoice with fellow believers suffering for their faith” Christianity Today (November 10, 2022).

“The Rise of the Global South: John Lathrop interviews Dr. Elijah Kim” PentecostalPastor YouTube (November 16, 2022).

John Lathrop writes that in this 1 hour video: “I interview Dr. Elijah Kim, the author of The Rise of the Global South: The Decline of Western Christendom and the Rise of Majority World Christianity. In addition to discussing Global Christianity we also talk about the impact that Pentecostalism has had on Global Christianity.” Read Pastor Lathrop’s review of The Rise of the Global South.

Leopoldo Sánchez, “How Irenaeus, Ambrose, and Basil Help Us See the Spirit: When the Holy Spirit seems tough for congregants to grasp, borrow these surprising images from the church fathers” Christianity Today Pastors (Fall 2022).

Andrew K. Gabriel, “How Should non-Trans Christians Respond to Transgender and Queer People?” AndrewKGabriel.com (December 11, 2022).

Pentecostal scholar Andrew Gabriel writes: “In this short video, I share some thoughts on how non-trans Christians should respond to transgender and queer people.”

N.T. Wright, “Should We Cancel Luther and Calvin?: The Reformers believed in burning heretics. Making sense of that grave mistake means looking first at ourselves” Christianity Today (November 14, 2022).

Anglican theologian N.T. Wright introduces this contemporary issue: “Cancel culture knows no bounds, even historical ones. Based on some un-Christlike writings by Protestant reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther—along the lines of burning heretics—there have been some recent discussions about ‘canceling’ these paragons of church history. The debates sound similar to conversations we’ve had about secular historical figures being canceled for owning slaves, for example.”

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Henan is book number five in Paul Hattaway’s series “The China Chronicles.” This series focuses on true accounts of Christianity in China; it is thus a work of history. The author points out that this book is not the same as the one he wrote in 2009 called Henan: The Galilee of China; the text of this current volume contains changes, improvements, and new material not found in the earlier book (page xvii).

In speaking of the history of Henan, Hattaway says that it extends back approximately 3,500 years (page 2). At one time Buddhism was popular (page 2). Perhaps surprisingly, during the course of its history thousands of Jews have lived in Henan (page 3), they have been in the province for 2,000 years (page 9). The population of the province is currently close to 100 million (pages vi, 7) and it has more Christians than any other province in China (page 7). This is not because the church has not suffered persecution, on the contrary, the church there has suffered much (page 7).

The author says that Christianity has been in Henan for more than 1,300 years (page 17). Though it has a large Christian population today, the gospel did not bear much fruit for most of this time, it was not until the 1970s that significant growth took place (page 17). The first to bring the Christian message to the province were Nestorians, they arrived in the AD 600s (page 18). In the late 1500s Jesuit (Catholic) missionaries arrived (page 19). Evangelical missionaries did not arrive in Henan until the late 1800s (page 23).

Henan Province, China. In 2020, total population was estimated at over 99 million people.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

As Hattaway recounts the history of Christianity in this province, the reader will encounter the names of many Christian workers, both men and women. Some of them were missionaries who came to China from other countries and some were national workers. Readers who have some knowledge of missions will recognize names like Jonathan Goforth and Marie Monson. The author gives considerable space to discussing the ministries of Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth (pages 55-70) and Marie Monsen (pages 99-116). Readers who are more familiar with the Chinese church will recognize the names of Brother Yun, Zhang Rongliang, and Peter Xu Yongze.

In addition to individuals the author gives attention to some of the house church movements. These are the churches that are not part of the government approved Three-Self Patriotic church. The networks he writes about are: The Born-Again Movement (pages 155-178), The Nanyang Church (pages 198-217), The China Gospel Fellowship (pages 218-234), and the Fangcheng Church (pages 252-278).

Henan is a very balanced book in that it includes accounts about the hardships of the church in the province and the miracles that have taken place through the ministry of the church there. The church has experienced tremendous growth. One of the factors that has contributed to this growth is the uncompromising commitment of the Chinese believers to stand for Jesus no matter what. The book contains some very notable accounts of people being raised from the dead. An eighteen-year-old girl was raised after having been dead for three days, this took place after hours of worship and prayer (pages 207-208). In another very powerful account a man was raised from the dead. A Chinese believer went to a morgue three days in a row to pray for a dead man, after the third day the man came back to life (pages 213-217). Interestingly enough, the man who prayed for the dead man did not see the miracle happen, he heard about it later (page 216).

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Read an excerpt: Marie Monsen – The Mother of the Chinese House Churches

Asia Harvest’s page about Henan: https://www.asiaharvest.org/henan-inside-chinas-revival-a-new-book-by-paul-hattaway

Tom Doyle was a pastor. About twenty years ago he and his wife, JoAnn, felt a call to be missionaries to the Middle East. They are the founders of Uncharted Ministries (https://unchartedministries.com/). If you go to the website you will see that they have a burden to share the gospel with two groups of people that many feel are difficult to reach, the Jewish people and Muslims. Presenting Jesus to these groups can be especially challenging. The Doyles reach out to them wherever they can. Often this outreach takes place in countries that many western Christians would be afraid to go to. In Women Who Risk, the authors share the stories of women they have met in various countries in the Middle East. Tom has also written other books that deal with the experiences of believers in this part of the world (see pages xvii-xviii in Women Who Risk).

The book begins with a section called “An Unstoppable Force.” One topic addressed in its pages is Satan’s war on women; this has been going on since Genesis 3 (page xx). The authors go on to say that once women come to Jesus, they can become a force to be reckoned with. This is happening in the Muslim world, women are influencing others for Jesus (page xxii). The Doyles call women “the spiritual gatekeepers of their families” (page xix). The chapters that follow demonstrate their influence.

The main body of the book consists of seven chapters. In each chapter the reader is introduced to a Muslim woman somewhere in the Middle East. In some cases the reader will also meet those who helped them in their journey to Jesus. Due to security concerns the names of the Muslim women and some of the details of their stories story have been changed in order to protect them (page xix). When you read their stories you will understand why.

The accounts in this book are quite varied and have different outcomes. In chapter 1 a Muslim woman became a follower of Jesus after being set free from jinns, that is, demons (pages 1-4). She was tormented by them. This woman’s father was a sheikh and he trained imams, Muslim clerics (page 4). A Muslim coworker told her if she wanted help with her problem she should go to a church (page 3). She met a pastor and his wife, they prayed for her, and she was set free from the jinns and became a believer (pages 8-9). Her father died at about the same time and her new found faith earned her the wrath of her mother (pages 9-10, 18-19). However, through a divinely orchestrated series of events this young woman led her mother to the Lord (page 22). You need to read this story, it is truly amazing!

Not all of the stories have as happy an ending as the one I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In chapter 7 the reader will met a Muslim woman who became a believer after seeing Jesus in Mecca at the hajj, which is a major annual gathering for Muslims (pages 165-168). She shared her experience with a longtime friend and it started her friend’s journey toward Jesus. The Christian women encouraged her friend to pray to Jesus, this friend asked Jesus to appear to her in a dream that night, and He did (pages 171-174). The woman who was a believer took her friend to an underground church meeting (pages 176-179). As a result of her dream, the love of the people, and a Scripture passage that she read at the church meeting; her friend became a believer (pages 177-179). When the church met, outsiders were led to believe that the people were gathering to watch a soccer game (pages 175-176). The women enjoyed the meetings. In time the family of the woman who came to Christ first become suspicious that she had become a Christian (pages 183-184). One of her brothers followed her to a meeting of the underground church and joined her in the meeting (pages 184-185). Though the group did not pray or read the Bible while he was present he believed she had converted. The woman was pretty sure that her days were numbered. Because of this, she fled the country in order to escape becoming the victim of an honor killing. So she left her family behind. But she went on to minister to Muslims in another place in the world, the United States (page 191).

The book contains an epilogue which highlights some of the important lessons that can be gleaned from the book. These lessons are: Danger is Temporary, Pray for Miracles and Expect Them, and Prayer is for the Long Haul. The authors also offer some information for those who wish to be more involved in reaching Muslims.

There are some recurring themes in this book. You will find that prior to their conversions some of these women wanted to kill their husbands. When you read their stories you will understand why. They were humiliated. They were verbally and physically abused. Not all Muslims mistreat their wives (page xxi), but in this volume you will meet some who were ill-treated. You will also find the supernatural in this book. There are accounts of Jesus appearing, in dreams and in person, at least one case of divine healing, and there are stories of Jesus bringing food to people in times of need. One very important take away from this book is the resolve that the women have to be faithful to Jesus. They do this even though it is extremely dangerous to be a Christian in their countries. Their examples are truly inspiring. This book demonstrates clearly that God is moving powerfully today among Muslims.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

For a free chapter from Women Who Risk, complete the form available from the publisher: https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/women-who-risk/#freechapters

Dennis Balcombe has been sharing the story of Jesus in China for over 50 years. Read what this veteran missionary has to say about following God’s call, cultural immersion, watching revival unfold, and how you can be part of the work God is doing wherever you are.

PneumaReview.com: You were called to missions while you were young, please tell our readers how old you were and what you did to prepare yourself for ministry in China after you received the call?

Pastor Dennis Balcombe: I was brought up in the Methodist Church, but in the USA this denomination is extremely liberal and I never heard the true Gospel until I went to a Spirit filled Assembly of God church at age 16 (1961). For the first time in my life, I saw and heard many testimonies of miracles and healings.

People in the church spoke in recognizable languages having never studied them (French and Hebrew), and many testified to healing after prayer. I was so impressed, and that night as I was praying I heard the Lord speak to me. I had been praying since I was 3 years old, but only then did I clearly hear His voice.

He called me to go into the ministry and to be a preacher. I argued with the Lord that I would believe and follow Him, but I could not be a preacher: I had planned a career in science, my family of 9 was financially poor, I was extremely introverted and not qualified for public speaking, etc.

But the Lord continued to speak to me almost every night, that I must surrender and go into the ministry. For nearly 3 months, I did not get much sleep, because I would argue with God every night. Then I visited the same church for the second time, and the pastor’s wife who was leading the meeting had a Word of Knowledge.

Though she never met me, she said a young man was in the meeting who had been called to the ministry, and he needed to come forward, repent and get right with the Lord and obey Him. She said she would not lead any more songs, the pastor would not speak, the choir would not sing until that person repented.

I of course knew that was me. I went forward to pray in which I gave my life to the Lord to go into the ministry. In those days, churches really respected the Holy Spirit, and from the time I went forward about 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, the Sunday meeting just became a huge prayer meeting, for many others also came forward to pray.

I began to preach the next day, Monday, sharing my testimony in every class in high school. After five days I led my first convert to the Lord, the saxophone player in the school band that I was a part of. I took him to church on Sunday and he prayed for the Baptism of the Spirit, and people testified that he spoke in several different recognizable languages.

Two weeks later, the Lord revealed to me that I was to go to China, the PRC (we called it Red China in those days). I was doing homework and in the encyclopaedia I saw a picture of a young Chinese boy living in the PRC, and I heard the Lord say, “I want you to take the Gospel to him.” I knew from that second that I would go to China.

The next Sunday I told the pastor’s wife (Marjorie McKay), a highly spiritual woman, that God called me to China and I must go right away, in a few weeks. She told me that the Lord had revealed the same to her when I gave my life to the Lord, but I must first receive training and have experience in practical ministry before I could consider going to China. She said it would be at a future date, but I would not have to wait that long. Only 8 years later, I found myself in Hong Kong as a missionary.

My first ministry experience began right away in weekly street evangelism, weekly door-to-door evangelism and preaching in a skid-row mission in Los Angeles. I was invited to share in the youth group meetings, and got involved in all the ministries of the church.

In 1963, I joined the Assemblies of God Bible School in S. California, then called Southern California College (now called Vanguard University). Several months later, some of the students began to attend special “laying on of hands and ministry of the presbytery” meetings in Long Beach at a church called Bethany Chapel under Pastor David Schoch. He was undoubtedly one of the most powerful prophets in the 2nd half of the 20th century.

This church was part of the Restoration Movement, which was also called Later Rain. They came back with amazing testimonies of the prophetic ministry and I decided to attend. The ‘prophets’ would call people out to the platform, and as they knelt there, 5-8 prophets (mostly pastors of large and successful churches) ministered in prophecy using Words of Knowledge and imparting gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We were amazed, for they prophesied to over a dozen of the students, whom they had never met before. They spoke in great detail of God’s calling on their lives, spoke about their particular personality and area of ministry, and sometimes spoke words of loving rebuke from the Lord.

We could not deny this was genuine, for there was no possible way they could know so much about so many people they had never even met. And many began right away to operate in the gifts imparted. Some would begin to prophecy right away; others who received the gift of healing would then lay hands and heal people right in the meeting.

At that time in order to be more accepted by “good and educated” people, some of the Assembly of God churches in the area played down praying in tongues, over-expressive prayer and worship as they did not want to scare away these “good” people.

This came to the Bible College and that year during a period of time we were told not to pray out loud or in tongues, as the State Education Accreditation Association would be visiting and they did not want to lose their chance of accreditation by “wild religious manifestations.” They did get their accreditation, but perhaps the Holy Spirit lifted off that school. It was set up first in L.A after the Azusa Street Revival and the founding of the Assemblies of God to train pastors and missionaries.

Thus after one year, in 1964, I moved to Long Beach and joined Bethany Chapel. They had a tremendous practical training program, but it was in the evenings and weekends. I got a job as a cook on the local State college. For 4 years, I followed this man of God and sat under the ministry of some of the most powerful apostles and prophets of that age, learning so much through both the classes and the practical outreach ministries.

In 1967, I was drafted into the US army, trained as an infantryman and sent to Vietnam. Though I was trained as infantry, due to my previous secular job as a cook, I was assigned to the mess (kitchen) with the 1st Air Calvary, and only seldom had to do actual patrols or get involved in the fighting.

Pastor David Schoch, who was a well-known prophet, prophesied the Vietnam War would spread to Cambodia and that the USA would pull out in defeat. I determined if the Lord helped me, I would never kill anyone in Vietnam and had great faith God would protect me.

Therefore, I carried no ammunition for my 45-calibre pistol and M-79 grenade launcher. I also encouraged the other soldiers in my unit to never deliberately kill anyone, unless it was for self-defense. I told them we Americans would eventually come back to Vietnam after the war ended to travel and invest, and we would be friends with this nation even after it became Communist. That is what is happening now and I have been back many times doing missionary work.

This prophet also said during my tour in Vietnam the Lord would protect me and “not one hair of my head would be harmed,” for after Vietnam I would eventually go to China as a missionary. I had great faith in that word and experienced “perfect peace that passes all understanding.”

As the Army Chaplain was a liberal theologian that did not believe or preach the Bible, I started my own church for the soldiers, and also did some evangelism to the Vietnamese. I would take the excess food the soldiers did not need, and deliver it to the villagers with Vietnamese Gospel tracts.

During that year, I made a trip to Hong Kong for R&R and the Holy Spirit led a prophet from Australia, Paul Collins, to come and sit beside me during the ferry crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong. This was a miracle, because in 1967, there were 4 million people in Hong Kong and he had no idea where I was or how to contact me, and it was the same for me.

Deng Xiaoping in 1979, with US President Jimmy Carter in the background.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

The situation in Hong Kong looked dire. There were severe riots in Hong Kong, an overspill of the Cultural Revolution in China. It seemed likely China would soon invade Hong Kong. It was so bad that many churches had closed and missionaries and pastors were fleeing.

However, he prophesied that God would protect Hong Kong, the riots would stop, and eventually the doors to China would open and I would be one of the first foreign missionaries to enter China. The Lord through him said I was to come back here as soon as possible after leaving the Army, start a church and prepare for China’s open door.

I was discharged from the Army in April 1968 and I returned to Hong Kong in March 1969. It took me about 7 months to learn enough Chinese to preach, and I started our present church, Revival Christian Church in October 1969. The doors to China opened under Deng Xiaoping’s policy and I was perhaps the first missionary to enter China in the Spring of 1978.

PneumaReview.com: How many churches or individuals supported you when you first set out for China?

Balcombe: My main support was from my home church, Shiloh Church in Oakland. It was a small church of less than 100 when they sent me to Hong Kong, but due to its support of missions and evangelism, it is a now a large church of 3,000. The congregation is mostly African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, while white Caucasians are just a small minority.

The main support came as we began the ministry of taking Bibles to China, called “Donkeys for Jesus” in 1969. For many years we would have several hundred to several thousand ‘couriers’ come to help to deliver Bibles and other solid teaching materials, and we have estimated to have taken in over 10 million such books. Many were pastors and church leaders, and they would take the vision of missions back to their home churches, and often these churches would provide support of our ministry.

In 1997, at the time of the handover of Hong Kong to the PRC, we set up another ministry, Revival Chinese Ministries International, which replaced the old Bible courier ministry of our church, Revival Christian Church.

Now we have offices or representatives in many offices in Asia and other nations, and for the past couple decades have had an effective ministry to people in many nations around the world. One of the responsibilities of the overseas offices is to arrange for speaking engagements for me or our staff to travel and share the China ministry. Another is to arrange local courier teams to come to Hong Kong to deliver Bibles to China.

PneumaReview.com: You have spent about 50 years on the mission field. What are some of the lessons you have learned while serving on the field?

Balcombe: The first and utmost to do mission work is to totally bond with the people you are called to minister to. This means you learn to speak their language fluently, take on their culture and lifestyles, eat the food they eat, and spend as much time as possible with these people.

This was the pattern of Jesus (John 1:14) and the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 9:19-23). Just to make this effort will win you many friends and eventually many converts. You will probably make many mistakes in the language at the beginning, but as long as people see you trying to improve yourself, they will get right behind you. It shows to them that you must really be dedicated to reach them with your Gospel message if you will go to that effort, and is a testimony that there is truth to your religion.

In China missions, most successful former missionaries did that, the most notable being those of the China Inland Mission under Hudson Taylor. Thus, most Chinese churches today can trace their roots to the work of his missionaries. However, few modern missionaries immerse themselves in the culture they are trying to reach, their denomination often providing translators, and they have no motivation to do so. Thus, many are less than effective in their ministry.

Secondly, there is nothing more important than the prayer life of the missionary, and this is of course is directly related to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit where people can pray in the Spirit, often hours a day.

I have yet to see a really successful missionary or local worker who did not have a solid and consistent prayer life to back up their ministry. Some who are not skilled orators or speakers of the local language, are not good administrators and even lack overseas financial support have still been amazingly successful. This can be related to their prayer life.

The third is to delegate. Within months of starting a new work, you must begin to give ministerial authority to others. This will give the young people coming up in the ministry a chance to mature, and the people in the church or ministry will realize this is their church, not that of the foreign missionary. Then the missionary will be free to go to other locations to start new works, set up a Bible School, or start other ministries.

PneumaReview.com: What advice would you give to someone who feels that the Lord has called them to serve in a country other than their homeland?

Balcombe: First, learn all you can about that nation or people group without having to travel to that nation. Most nations have been evangelized to a certain degree, and there are many books and historical documentaries on YouTube and other video or audio formats that can introduce you to that nation and the history of missions in that country.

The Balcombes in April, 1976.

Most nationalities and lingual groups are represented in almost every major city, such as Chinatown, Japantown, the Hispanic part of the city, etc. If possible, visit these areas, meet with the people, especially the churches. Make contacts, make friends, and learn some of the language.

As in my case, write to the missionaries (now you can send emails) on that field to get advice from them about the people, their culture, needs, and advice on how to prepare for future ministry.

If you have the finances, try to make at least one trip to that country to make contact and learn before you go as a full time missionary. Check out language schools, living costs, renting homes, and learn about the state of Christianity in that country.

The most important is to be a part of a local church in your homeland that believes in missions and will send you. See Romans 10:15. Even if they do not have the finances to support you, you will be sent as Paul and Barnabas were in Acts 13. That church will provide you with a spiritual covering.

PneumaReview.com: In addition to preaching salvation in Jesus, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a major emphasis of your ministry. How has the message of Spirit baptism been received in China?

Balcombe: In general, this message has been well received throughout China, in both home and official churches. The only exception is where people have followed the teachings of Reformed Theology as represented by John MacArthur in N. America and Stephen Tong in Asia. It is only in the last 10-20 years that these teachings have begun to infiltrate the Chinese Church, and those leaders who receive this often turn against everything Pentecostal/charismatic.

April 3, 2011.

The key is the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are a result of a Spirit-filled life. As one house church leader expressed to me, “Before you came and taught this to us, we would see many miracles. They were simply the result of prayer, fasting and preaching the Gospel. But now we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, and many of the preachers operate in one or several gifts of the Holy Spirit. Miracles have increased fourfold, but so has persecution.”

Healings and other miracles always cause the church to grow, which always bring persecution against the church.

Persecution leads to more prayer and unity, which results in more people being baptized in the Holy Spirit, which results in more miracles. It is a cycle repeated throughout church history.

PneumaReview.com: Tell us about a significant move of the Holy Spirit you have witnessed in your ministry.

Balcombe: September 1992, I and two Chinese sisters and one Chinese brother from Singapore and Malaysia were teaching 160 house churches in Henan on worship and praise. I preached the first night, but the Lord led me to preach on persecution, and I heard myself saying, “Tomorrow there will be a great persecution but it will result in a great revival.”

They had only carried the casket with me in it a block when they met the police, who demanded they open the casket to check it. But the Christians said, “This man died of HIV AIDS disease.” That was when people thought the HIV virus could be conveyed through the air, and the police told the Christians not to the open the casket.

Henan Province in China.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Singaporeans looked like the other local Chinese, but the police asked their names, and when they heard their accents they knew they were not local people. One of the Singaporean sisters, Eunice, was able to escape.

She said she needed to go to the bathroom, which was a hole in the round by the back wall. There was a bamboo curtain around the ‘toilet’ and once she was inside, she jumped over the wall and ran away. I later caught up with her, and though there was an all-points bulletin by the police looking for us, a local farmer had us dress up like local farmers, and took us out of the area on his bicycle.

The others from Singapore and Malaysia were released after only a month, but 120 of the local Christians were not released until the middle of December of 1992. Of the 160 preachers, 40 were mostly middle aged or older men who had been in prison before and were always very cautious, and when they saw me leave and heard the commotion outside, they took off.

The other 120 were mostly young people, the majority being young women who had not been arrested before, because that local area had seen relative freedom for many years. But then as now, the real qualification for ministry is to have spent time in prison. It proves God really called you.

So these believers were rejoicing that finally they could suffer for the Lord and spend time in prison. Because they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, they used this as an opportunity to preach the Gospel. Many of the other women in prison were murderesses, prostitutes, drug pushers, or addicts.

Through the gifts of the Spirit, these women preached the Gospel, cast out demons and healed hundreds of sick prisoners. During those 4 months, we smuggled Bibles into the prison and they began Bible studies. Even many of the prison guards and prison officials became Christians.

While it resulted in a model prison with almost zero problems with discipline, the head of the prison department in Zhengzhou, Henan, a hard-line Communist, was very upset when he heard his prison had become a church. He instructed these Christians must be released, lest the ‘Christian religious fervor’ spread to other prisons.

This was a time when China was relatively open and free, before the hard-line policies of the past few years. Because no one had signed a confession of committing a crime, and there was no real proof of a crime, they released them in December 1992.

I want back in March 1993 and they showed me a document which listed the numbers of new believers baptized in all the districts in Henan and Anhui Provinces from this Gospel outreach, and it was a total 46,500. That was an amazing miracle.

Then the next year, February 1994, I was arrested in the same general area with 6 other overseas Chinese. We were in prison for less than a week, and our release became a world-wide news item reported by every major news agency.

As a result, I was able to address the USA Congress (House of Representatives), meet the assistant Secretary of State in Washington, and address the House of Lords in the Parliament in the UK. I was interviewed by many news agencies and I spoke on the BBC.

In my interview with the BBC, I spoke in English, Cantonese and Putonghua (Mandarin). The last was officiated by a young Spirit-filled Chinese Christian sister working for the BBC, but sent from Beijing, and she encouraged me to use this time (close to an hour) to preach the Gospel, which I did.

The day after I met with him, the Assistant Secretary of State in Washington, D.C. flew to Beijing where he had a scheduled meeting with the leaders of China. They had not been made aware of this situation, as it was a local matter that local PSB did not want to be made known in Beijing. Their real intention was to get money from me, our group and the local Christians. In addition, they broke the law for they are required to notify the US embassy in 3 days of the arrest of an American, which they did not do.

The Chinese officials in Beijing told the Henan PSB to release the several dozen key house Church leaders which they did. Knowing they would not be arrested again, as this was now a major diplomatic affair, they were very bold in preaching the Gospel.

In a little over 3 months, by June 1994, approximately 120,000 people were added to the churches in Henan and Anhui.

Once again, it was proven persecution leads to revival.

PneumaReview.com: Please share a transformation story of how you have seen God change a family or a community.

Balcombe: This is more the testimony of what God has done through others, not so much through me. One of my first ministries in the USA was working with Teen Challenge under David Wilkerson. At that time, the book The Cross and the Switchblade was very popular.

When I first came to Hong Kong while I was pioneering my first church here, I also worked with another similar ministry that ministered to drug addicts, alcoholics and others addicted to substance abuse.

A well-known Christian missionary from the U.K., Jackie Pullinger, arrived in Hong Kong a few years before I did, and started a ministry called St. Stephen’s Society. She began a ministry in the Kowloon Walled City among drug addicts and saw countless addicts set free from drugs and other addictions. Her powerful story is told in the classic book, Chasing the Dragon. [Editor’s note: see also Missionary David Joannes account in “The City of Darkness.”]

An aerial photo of the Kowloon Walled City taken in 1989.
Image: Ian Lambot / Wikimedia Common

Recently we have seen a proliferation of teachers producing videos and holding conferences that attack the very fundamentals of our Christian faith. They base these claims on supposedly recently discovered ancient manuscripts (which often are simply Gnostic gospels), archaeological or historical documents or higher criticism of Scripture.

Hearing these attacks is often a challenge to my faith because I don’t have the academic or even theological training to refute these teachers. But when I have doubts, I simply look at proof of the power of the Gospel in changed lives.

These testimonies are so common, widespread all over the world with irrefutable proof of the power of the Gospel that this demonstrates beyond a doubt the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. No other religion anywhere can produce the same results.

PneumaReview.com: What are some of the most meaningful ways that pastors and churches back home have helped you keep going even in difficult times?

Balcombe: Hundreds of churches and individual Christians back home in N. America and Europe have stood behind us in our ministry to the Body of Christ in China. This has been primarily in providing financial support and courier teams to provide Bibles and teaching materials for the Chinese church.

Many of these Spirit-filled minsters have sacrificed to travel to Hong Kong and even to enter China to assist in teaching leaders and conducting large conferences in Hong Kong. Many of them, such as Bill Johnson, have had their excellent books translated into Chinese and provided them free to the Chinese Christians.

Dennis Balcombe speaking at the Empowered21 Asia conference in 2017.

Many churches have us on the church prayer list and we provide frequent prayer requests. Any success we may have had is related to their prayers.

While many in the West have recently been spewing out hateful words attacking China, primarily for it’s role in the spread of COVID-19, others have been showing their love for China and its people in prayers and by providing financial support to meet the needs of the church in China and other developing nations.

The United States has been the most powerful world power since the 20th Century, just as the United Kingdom was for hundreds of years before that. It all relates to missions—sending out missionaries, supporting missionaries and supporting churches overseas. The Lord has blessed us so that we might bless others, and when we stop doing that and want to be great and rich at the expense of others, we will in the end loose it all.

PneumaReview.com: What are some of your plans for the future?

Balcombe: Through the disaster of COVID-19, the churches have learned the power using the internet and virtual meetings such as Zoom conferences, Facebook, etc. to conduct meetings, preach the Gospel and minster to people near and far including people who would not be able to attend a church meeting.

Daily we are teaching countless numbers all through China and other nations using on-line conferences and meetings. Whole Bible College courses can be done on-line, and still people can interact with others and develop close relationships.

In China, Hong Kong and most of Asia COVID-19 has almost been defeated and everything is opening up, including church meetings. The church is stronger than before, and now we have a new tool to reach even more people. The church is investing in the equipment and necessary technology to produce high quality teaching and preaching videos whereby every member in the church can receive Bible College training and the Gospel can be widely preached.

Having said that, we will still be planting more churches all over China, focusing on reaching the ethnic minorities that have been neglected in the past.

While we certainly do not believe in Communist ideology, we recognize God has allowed China to have a Communist government, and we will do whatever we can legally to obey the Great Commission. We do not hate the Chinese government, nor do we think they are a threat to world-peace as some American Christians claim.

There have been major political problems in Hong Kong from demonstrations that arose from a proposed extradition law that was withdrawn. But now we have the Hong Kong National Security Law that is even more threatening to basic freedoms.

Thus the USA no longer recognizes Hong Kong as a separate part of China under the ‘one country, two systems’ formula, and says Hong Kong is just another city in China. If that is so, Hong Kong still is and still will be the freest city in China, continuing to be a base from which to evangelize the estimated 1.3 billion people in China who have never heard the Gospel.

There is, of course, a possibility that hardliners will tighten their control of Hong Kong and even try to take back Taiwan. In that case, we will simply become a true underground church movement, as much of the Chinese church of some 100 million already is.

We will not immigrate, not leave under any circumstances for this is our home, our calling and our ministry. Whatever happens there will be a great spiritual harvest of ingathering of many Chinese souls, and we expect to be a part of it.

Pastor Dennis Balcombe
Hong Kong

A press release from Save the Persecuted Christians about the recent U.S. House of Representatives resolution to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

WASHINGTON—Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), which advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of Christians facing heavy persecution worldwide, is lauding the approval of a House resolution last week that recognizes the Armenian genocide. The move, reported Fox News, likely angered Turkey at a time of strained relations with the U.S.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said the resolution “is an important measure to set the record straight on the atrocities suffered by the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.”

“Save the Persecuted Christians applauds the bipartisan vote to pass the resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director for Save the Persecuted Christians. “This resolution has been brought many times before this esteemed body, but out of concern for relations with Turkey, it has too long been deferred. The brutal, mass murder of more than a million Christian Armenians by the Ottoman Empire have finally been officially acknowledged in America. We hope this action brings with it the recognition and remembrance needed to ensure atrocities like this are never repeated.”

The mission of Save the Persecuted Christians is to save lives and save souls by disseminating actionable information about the magnitude of the persecution taking place globally and by mobilizing concerned Americans for the purpose of disincentivizing further attacks on those who follow Jesus.

For believers around the world, Save the Persecuted Christians seeks to bring awareness about targeted Christians through the “The People of the Cross” exhibit, which features images, facts and quotes about the persecution of Christians in multiple countries, such as Turkey, where just .02% are Christian due to brutal persecution—down from 20% in 1902, as well as North Korea, Nigeria, India and China. A majority of the countries highlighted in the banners are high on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List.

This exhibit has been joined by another, “Warfare on Women,” released during the 2019 U.S. Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, which reveals the specific terror-tactic used to demean and degrade female believers to instill fear into the heart of Christian communities. To learn more about hosting a traveling exhibit contact Save the Persecuted Christians, where panels are available to view online.

According to Aid to the Church in Need’s biannual report on Religious Freedom in the World, 327 million Christians experience persecution. According to Open Doors USA World Watch List, 245 million Christians are victims of high to extreme levels of persecution, an increase of 14% over 2018. Open Doors also estimates 1 in 9 of the world’s Christians experience persecution, and that every month 345 Christians are killed, 219 Christians are abducted and imprisoned indefinitely without trial, and 106 churches are demolished.

Open Doors, A non-denominational Christian watch group, identified Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Afghanistan, as the three most dangerous countries for Christian persecution. Another 65 countries are actively killing disciples of Jesus and there is no protection from local authorities. Sharia Law is merciless for non-Muslims. But Islam is not alone. Since May 2014, India’s government has been controlled by a Hindu Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With his approval, intolerance has risen sharply as radical Hinduism has gained greater political strength. In Bastar, Chhattisgarh, during Sunday worship, Hindu fundamentalists, raided a Christian Church, seized the pastor and his wife who was seven-months pregnant, doused them with gasoline and tried to burn them alive.

CC

From Gentle Conquest (May 2019). Used with permission.

Further Reading:
The Open Doors (USA) World Watch List for 2019 estimates that 245 million Christians are victims of high to extreme levels of persecution – attacks that include home expulsion, torture, rape, sex-slavery, murder, and genocide – which is an increase of 14 percent over 2018 (up from 215 million). Open Doors also estimates 1 in 9 of the world’s Christians experience high levels of persecution and that every day 11 Christians are killed.
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/WWL2019_FullBooklet.pdf

Aid to the Church in Need releases a bi-annual report on “Religious Freedom in the World.” For the report released November 2018, see: https://www.churchinneed.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/RFR-2018-Exec-Summary-Web-version.pdf

One source of up-to-date news regarding the persecution of Christians worldwide: ChristianPersecutionNews.com.