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Educated evil was always the worst.
“Hate speech leads to hate crime. Saying homosexuality is wrong makes you an accomplice whenever someone beats up a homosexual. That’s how it works.”
“The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed during war.”
‘Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend’s forehead.’”
‘Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.’”
“I wish you were as quick to believe Yesu’s truth as you are the Party’s propaganda.”
‘If you give God everything you have, he will provide everything you need.’
‘He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.’”
“Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well.”’”
Yesu, maker of men and God of providence, had different plans.
When men know they cannot hope in a country, in a political belief, or in themselves, they become free to hope in God.”
“He referred to a market economy in contrast to state-controlled. But to me it means if one form of dictatorship does not work, then try a more subtle one, disguised as freedom. As long as the Party controls the people—catches the mice—that is all that matters.”
Christianity stirred the thirst for freedom, and those who fear God do not fear the government as they want us to.
You can only disbelieve in God so long before a society is corrupt. America is an example, is it not?”
‘Capitalism says you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Communism says you scratch my back or I’ll break yours.’
‘The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.’
You do not yet understand—some promises made in one world cannot be fulfilled until the next.”
Are we not the clay and God the potter? When he refuses to conform to our wills, do we discard him? If you are looking for a religion centered around yourself, Ben, I must agree that Christianity is a poor choice.”
Is it God you have rejected? Or have you turned from a false god created in your own image?”
“I do not speak for God. I only repeat what he has said. There is a difference.
“You mentioned arrogance. Is not the real arrogance to disbelieve the Scriptures and trust in yourself?” “I refuse to believe in a God who sends men to hell.” “And do you think your refusal to believe will convince God to change his nature? He is who he is no matter what you think of him. Despite what Americans believe, the universe is not a democracy. Truth is not determined by the majority. As for hell, if you were as just and holy as God is, you would understand that all men deserve hell. It is no puzzle that men should go to hell. What is a puzzle is that men should go to heaven.”
“He killed his only Son
Nope. Bad theology. God did not kill his son. WE killed his son. He willingly gave up his life and put it into our hands. God allowing it doesn’t equate to God causing it.
“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
“The Greek word for fish is ichthus,” Quan said. “The early Christians used it as an acrostic—in English you would say it stood for ‘Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.’ Each Greek letter stands for one of those words. When their faith was illegal in Rome, they drew this symbol on the ground with a stick to identify themselves. When other Christians saw it, they would draw it too. That way they knew they were brothers and sisters. Some of us use the sign. It also reminds us of the fish Yesu created for the multitudes and the fish he cooked and served and ate after his resurrection.”
“This is why we served you fish on my grandmother’s plate the first night. The plate and fish remind us of Yesu, who served himself up on the cross, then three days later served fish to his disciples. We wish to serve Yesu to our family and neighbors. The symbol also links us to our persecuted brothers and sisters two thousand years ago. But the most important thing is not the symbol, but Shengjing itself.”
‘To guess is cheap. To guess wrong is expensive.’
“A carrier of precious cargo. I have been doing this thirty years. It is my calling.”
“An obedient man is free when in prison,” Quan said. “A disobedient man is imprisoned when free.”
It is easy for me to love a man who does not trust Yesu. But it is not so easy for me to trust this man.”
“Why?” “Because every man trusts someone. If he does not trust Yesu, he trusts other men or he trusts himself. Neither is trustworthy. Not in China. Not in America.”
We must make sure first we are his followers before we seek assurance. The enemy seeks to accuse us that we are not what we are. But just as surely, he seeks to assure us we are what we are not.”
A man takes risks only for what he feels deeply about. If someone attends church without risk, he brings no passion.”
To come near is not yet to arrive.’’
‘Church leader who does not believe in God is like barefoot shoe salesman.’
Sometimes those in the most significant positions of religious leadership are the greatest enemies of Christ and the church.
“Buddhism calls for dependence on one’s heart or inner nature. But Shengjing says the heart is deceitful and wicked. It says there is a way that seems right to a man, but that way ends in death. People cannot find truth on their own, but only by revelation of God. Shengjing is that revelation. Religions do not reveal God’s truth; they hide it.”
“It was even more overtly demonic than before. But several times I have seen things that were oppressive. Always I can sense the darkness. The Tibetans are in bondage to the Lamaistic monks. Years ago 40 percent of Tibetan men had become monks. The population had to feed all of them plus take care of all the women who were left unmarried. While the clergy was in control, the population was kept in poverty and ignorance. The people still live in fear of their gods. Their spiritual bondage is deepened by chants, rituals, sacrifices. Demonic possession is an accepted part of their lives.”
But perhaps you will remember not to be deceived by a smiling face and wise words.
“It is alright, Ben Fielding. It is hard for free people to learn to think like the enslaved.”
Those who follow Yesu willingly take risks that those who oppose us will not. They believe in luck or chance. We believe in a God of providence. That is our advantage—we trust God to protect us. But if he gives us tuberculosis, then good, we will serve him with tuberculosis.”
Quan looked at Lin Shan, then stared at the floor. When he looked back up, he said, “I do not tell my God to do anything. He is the one who tells. He is the Master; I am but the servant. Li Quan is not a healer. I have seen healings; I have laid hands on the sick with others in my church. I am not a pastor, except when our pastor is . . . absent. I am not a seminary graduate. I am a lowly locksmith’s assistant. But this much I know—my God, Yesu Jidu, has the power to heal, and should he will it, he can heal without difficulty. I do not know his desire. But I will ask him to heal Lin Bo.”
“But we do not feel too bad when a Bible is taken. It is because people are so hungry for God. When bread is taken by the starving, it is no surprise and no tragedy.”
Never believe a man who says God no longer does miracles, Ben. But never believe a man who says God must do a miracle the way a man wants him to. God is God.”
“A path is made by people walking the ground.
Even a bad father can leave an inheritance. Only a good father can leave a heritage.”
“The innkeeper had no room, but it did not thwart God’s plan. Who is Ben Fielding to have no room for God? Shall the dog decide whether there is room in the house for the Master? Shall the cricket decide whether there is room in the forest for the Lion?”
‘Real gold fears no fire.’
“Who were the Boxers?” “Beware—you have asked a history major. Alright. The Opium Wars left China humiliated and helpless before Western imperialists. Our rulers wanted to rid China of all foreigners. The empress dowager claimed the spirits were angry because of the foreign religion—Christianity—and the disloyalty of Chinese Christians who did not pay temple taxes or worship ancestors. There were mystics who looked back to China’s golden days and believed that martial arts—Chinese boxing—could ward off Western bullets. Under the influence of drugs and under the spell of Mogui, young peasant
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“I have always wanted to write a book on the Boxer martyrs and dedicate it to my great-grandparents. That will never be, I fear. But I do not regret my research. Did you know that whole families were beheaded? A seventeen-year-old had his body cut into pieces and parts nailed to a wall in Tangshan. One missionary in Shanxi Province was stoned, stripped, and run over with a cart until her spine was broken. A teacher at the Zunhua Girls School, Hebei Province, was shot, stabbed, sliced, and burned to death. Over three hundred Christians were beheaded in the northeastern provinces. Others were
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He say, ‘I am sorry; there are no Bibles left.’ She say, ‘I know—I am asking to have the box, for it is holy—it once contained the Words of God.’ We kept our most valuable possessions, including family photographs, in that box. Ming will do same.”
