Chinese Christians
August 18, 2008 by DH
Filed under Mormon Asia
The Savior commanded the apostles: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) I have always been intrigued (again one of those interesting but not necessarily essential things) by the spread of the gospel as taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. I have always wondered when some of the countries that are closed to proselytizing, and seemingly Christianity, would open their doors to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Among others, countries like: China, India, Cuba, North Korea, and large parts of the Middle East and Africa, etc. Despite minimal past and current unofficial work, the church is not officially recognized nor is there official missionary work allowed in these countries. Despite these obstacles the gospel must go to all peoples and lands.
I once read a quote along the lines of “90% (or some high percentage) of Mormons live in the regions that represent 10% (or some very small percentage) of the world’s population.” (Can anyone help me out on this quote?) Imagine what will happen when the other 90% of the people on Earth begin to hear the message of The Restoration! All my thoughts on this topic were recently sparked when I saw a documentary entitled Jesus in China. There were also a couple of articles that I read about it that are here. (Credit to Rusty Lindquist at Ongofu who posted about this topic. I simply couldn’t resist repeating it albeit in my own way.) Needless to say I was blown away having assumed that there were NO Christians in China due to the current government. I found it even more interesting that they have to pray and worship in secret like some peoples in the BOM. The conclusion I drew from this (other than my great surprise that there are so many estimated Chinese Christians!) is that God works in mysterious ways. These countries may not officially be opened to the gospel yet but assuredly our Father in Heaven is preparing these lands and people for their opportunity to hear the glad tidings of joy by God’s authorized servants. We don’t know when these countries will open nor is it worthwhile to even speculate but God does know and that is all that matters. The quote by Joseph Smith in The Wentworth Letter comes to mind:
I know in our area there have been a number of baptisms of people with Chinese heritage. In addition we have an elder serving here who is actually from mainland China. The church is in Hong Kong, has Chinese branches in bigger cities like New York and small branches of the church in countries where LDS diplomats or servicemen are stationed but that the church is not officially established in. I am curious what are your experiences with people that have accepted the gospel that are from countries where the church is not officially established? I hope the discussion does not lead to speculation nor the sensational but rather testimony building experiences that show God loves all people and that this work will someday truly fill the whole earth.
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
Great post. As a matter of fact, based on that, and the reply I got from Lin Hao on my post about him (the little boy leading the chinese team in the olympics), I have decided to launch a Chinese arm of my blog. I figure if one post can reach all the way to China to the very person about whom I’m talking, then I can start teaching the gospel now, online, in China. Having learned Mandarin on my mission (in Sydney Australia), I’m uniquely enabled to do this. The only problem is that I only learned to speak, not read and write, so I’ve begun the enthusiastic study of Chinese characters and intend to launch the first Chinese Mormon blog in February of next year.
Anyway, thanks for covering this important topic!
Rusty,
http://www.rustysblog.com – Ongofu.