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I keep feeling the need (or guilt) to post here or at least keep reminding you that I am regularly posting on my other blog. Limited time and energy right now has restricted me to only post at my Voices Carry pro-life blog. I’m not giving up here, I promise, I won’t let too many days go by without something interesting here.
Of course we are all praying about Hurricane Gustav hitting New Orleans today. I have posted a substantial article on where God may be in all of this. I welcome feedback on that. If you want to send money to help, send it to my friend Pastor Dino Rizzo at Healing Place Church. You may recall he and Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge were major players after Katrina. We’ll see how it goes, we may send a work team too.
Lifelight was this past weekend here in Sioux Falls - billed as the nation’s largest Christian music festival. I only went for a couple hours Saturday. I did post last night on a couple of the extremist abortion supporters who crashed the Lifelight Festival. Pardon the title but the article is even more shocking… eat a queer fetus for Jesus.
These are a just few of the headlines that caught my attention today and my discussion starters.
One heart, one widow connect suicides of 2 men (I don’t think the woman is the common denominator. I’ve seen suicides flow generationally, in siblings, etc. I would love to hear from our deliverance ministry people/friends on this one… the spirit of death staying with a transplanted heart???)
Bible Courses Allowed, Not Mandatory for Schools (Some of you know that I have been on this for a couple of years and have said this may be the next matter I take up in our city and state. I welcome your involvement.
Vladimir Putin saves TV crew from tiger (I’m looking at Putin and the Tiger through a prophetic, symbolic lens. Interesting.)
‘Founders’ prayer violated Constitution as they wrote it’?? (Thank God for my friends at the Alliance Defense Fund.)
CNN poll shows no post convention bump for Obama (No comment.)
Grab a box of kleenex and then follow this link to a special page we just put up on our church website - it’s about a girl we are desperately trying to help in China.
While not wanting to fuel any debate with those in the seat of scoffers, I’m devoting a few additional posts on the Florida Healing Outpouring to explain why I’m not thwarted in my belief that “this is mostly God” even by reports of things like angel appearances and other Christian mystic experiences (post on this to follow) and even the matter of Todd Bentley’s violent methods. What follows is an transcription from my final point in my message Sunday where I spoke from Matthew 11:12. You can check out my earlier posts on the revival here and here. I appreciated Peter Kirk’s post yesterday on this topic of violence and the Kingdom of God so you’ll want to check that out. Peter is from Essex, UK. I especially appreciate him drawing in this quote from C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian.
Aslan pounced. Have you ever seen a very young kitten being carried in the mother cat’s mouth? It was like that. The Dwarf, hunched up in a little, miserable ball, hung from Aslan’s mouth. The Lion gave him one shake and all his armour rattled like a tinker’s pack and then - hey-presto - the Dwarf flew up in the air. He was as safe as if he had been in bed, though he did not feel so. As he came down the huge velvety paws caught him as gently as a mother’s arms and set him (right way up, too) on the ground.
Expect the new wine to come forcefully.
This will really stretch your old wineskin… Matthew 11:12 brings us to key point of controversy regarding Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Outpouring. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” 99% of the church has no understanding of this verse. We gravitate toward the nice verses at the end of the chapter… come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest. But verse 12 is every bit inspired as verse 28 and verse 12 says the Kingdom of heaven is forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it. A literal rendering read “the violent take it by force.”
Many church people are rejecting the Florida Outpouring because Todd Bentley is so violent. We’ve all seen him body slam people on stage and knee people in the stomach. And he talks openly about this – he said one time the glory of God wasn’t evident in a meeting and he asked God about it and God said, “It’s because you haven’t kicked that woman in the face.” He said, “What? You want me to kick that 80 year old woman in the face.” God said, “Yes, with your work boot.” And so Todd kicked the woman in the face and just as his boot got to her nose she fell back under the power of God and God’s glory visited that meeting.
You can understand how this kind of thing is causing many to be offended and reject everything about this guy. Surely a loving God wouldn’t tell a guy to kick an 80 year old woman in the face! Are you sure? He told Abraham to sacrifice his son. “Do this Abraham – no wait, don’t… I just wanted to see if you would.” Are we sure the God who shakes nations with earthquakes is always safe and soft?
We all know God doesn’t need us to kick people in the face for them to be healed and Bentley says its not the point - the point is his obedience. Maybe Bentley operates at a great level of power because he is radically obedient. Maybe many in the church are walking in the lowest levels of God’s power in their lives because we won’t even obey a simple prompt from the Holy Spirit to give a bigger offering next week.
The Bible talks about those who have a form of godliness but deny the power. The word power is the word “dunamis” – dynamite, explosive power or force. Those who walk in this power seeing signs and wonders are often forceful, aggressive and walk in a holy violence. Part of the problem is most evangelicals have no knowledge of church history or what is happening in terms of deliverance ministry in the church globally. Nothing Bentley is doing is any different than what is normal many churches in Africa. I’ve been there a couple times… they aren’t driving foul spirits away in Africa by saying “shoo.” African Christians get in the devils face. They are kind/gentle. From what I’ve seen, Bentley is tender with children and it’s indisputable that he’s and his ministry are kind to the poor – he weeps when he talks about intimacy with Jesus. But facing a sickness or a devil, at times he comes out swinging – mostly though with strong words.
Seventy-five years ago Smith Wigglesworth was having mass revival meetings here and all over the world. Wigglesworth is one of the American revival heroes. He considered every type of sickness a work of the enemy – sometimes when he’d identify the part of the body that was hurting he’s punch the person in that part of the body. He’d grab the tongue of a stutterer and some people got upset that he was hitting the sick. He’d reply, “I don’t hit people, I hit the devil and people just get in the way.” Through his ministry people regained their hearing and sight, new limbs were created, cancerous growths disappeared and demons fled. Twenty-three people were raised from the dead at the hands of Smith Wigglesworth.
He once took a corpse out of the coffin and threw it up against the wall. The people were shocked until they saw that the deceased had sprung back to life. I’m not saying you need to rubber stamp this kind of violence, I’m saying we need to be careful to pounce on things like this so quickly as not being from God. I’m saying “the kingdom of God comes by force and forceful men lay hold of it.” The Kingdom of God is not the kingdom of the cushioned pew.
My own testimony is that I was healed when a minister hit me. I was healed of debilitating migraines in 2001 when a guy from Texas came to Church at the Gate for a prayer conference. He hit me on the forehead with the heel of his hand and said, “spirit of infirmity, be gone!” My hair would hurt when I’d have a migraine, and my wife will tell you, touching me was a no-no. So this guy hit me in the head and I haven’t had a migraine since. I don’t recommend that methodology to our prayer team people, but folks, God is God and he does what he wants.
The context of this verse in Matthew 11 on the violence of the Kingdom of God is Jesus talking with John the Baptist’s followers about John. Jesus asked them, “who did you go out in the desert to see, a man in soft clothing?” Is anyone else tired of the soft-clothing preachers who have words but don’t have any works to offer – who have “words” but the sick aren’t healed and the demons aren’t cast out? They ought to put signs out front – DUNAMIS-FREE ZONE, IT’S SAFE HERE – DEMONS WELCOME.
A couple verses later is Matthew 11:16-17. These verses are a bit perplexing. Jesus says; “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” In other words, yours is a generation that is immature in the things of God. You are out there in the world thinking like children and this verse is about expectations and particularly how God isn’t doing what they set up for him to do. Is your church a church that dances to God’s tune or a church that tries to get God to dance to ours. I believe this to be the key issue each of us need to sort out– will we dance to God’s song, or wait til it’s over and try to get him to dance to ours?
God is not coming as we expect. He never limits himself to our expectations. He will not conform himself to our likeness, or liking. I heard Mike Bickle say once that “people are very comfortable with the Jesus in white, but not the Jesus in red.” The red is regarding the blood splattered on his garments when he returns to make war against the kings of the earth and violently remove everything that hinders love. As we near the end of the age, we can expect a great increase in the violent clash between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. Maybe next week I’ll preach the John 2:15 verse which talk about Jesus making a whip… 
Would the Jesus you worship really make a whip?
UPDATED - Thanks to Andrew for commenting on this post and pointing us to this verse… 1 Kings 20:35f “Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to another BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, “Please STRIKE me.” But the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, “Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” And as soon as he had departed from him a lion found him and killed him. Then he found another man and said, “Please strike me.” And the man struck him, wounding him.”
Apparently, God does tell people to hit people.
We are getting ready at the Hickey household to send our kids to Kansas City. I’m really wishing I could go - a few uninterrupted weeks in the prayer room would do me good - and, even after being away for 18 years, in a sense, it’s still home. Thomas went down last summer to STI (now called ATC… what’s with the fixation with acronyms at IHOP-KC?). ATC stands for Awakening Teen Camp but I still slip and call it STI (which, last summer, stood for Summer Teen Intensive). Now the kids correct me when I say STI… “Dad?! Hello?! STI stands for sexually transmitted infections and that’s why its ATC this year.” Anyhoo, his sister is going this summer as well for this annual two-week summer intensive for high school students. But the big thing we are gearing up for here is sending Caleb in 60 days to start a four year program in Apostolic Preaching under Allen Hood at FSM in KC. (See what I mean about the acronyms?)
Here is an 11 minute taste of Allen Hood preaching at the OneThing conference. You will see why I’m excited to get Caleb to FSM. And, for what its worth, this clip alone nullifies all the smack talk against IHOP-KC. This is indeed a strategic equipping center for the Kingdom of God. Any who’ve said they preach another gospel are simply bearing false witness (one of the Ten Commandments by the way). The evangelical seminaries I went to didn’t preach this message with this boldness.
Thanks to Zack Hensley for finding this on YouTube. The video is a bit odd as the images really don’t relate to the message but it’s better than audio only.
Leadership Journal is perhaps THE journal of journals for non-charismatic evangelical church leaders. It has its roots in Billy Graham and Christianity Today. It’s contributors are THE who’s who in the evangelical world - Willow Creek, Saddleback, etc. This was the camp that produced me, and then spit me back out when I started pointing out the Bible lists more apostles than just the Twelve.
You can imagine my delight to flip through my latest copy of Leadership Journal (Spring ‘08 - it’s not online yet) to discover the issue has two feature articles saying what I’ve been saying for a dozen years (and what the New Testament has been saying for 2000 years.) Apostles exist today!!!
Really, this is nothing new. Ephesians 4:11-13 explicitly says apostles are vital to the church, and will continue to be, “UNTIL we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
For those who didn’t know there was any debate here, believe me, there is. In 2004, I wrote a book about these things (Obtainable Destiny, Creation House Press). At that time, the book was not welcome in evangelicalism. (The book is a commentary of sorts on 1, 2 Timothy and Titus which I decided to dub… the “Apostolic Epistles” instead of what we are all taught they were… “the Pastoral Epistles.”) My point was these guys were not sent out (apostolos) to be pastors and “hold people’s hands” for 30 years. They were apostles-in-training. My evangelical colleagues were okay calling me a church “planter” or a home “missionary”, but as I tried to point out, neither of those terms are found in the Bible. And to be clear, I wasn’t asking or interested to have a title attached to my name - it was about the recognition and release of the gift and its operation in the church.
I’ve come to believe the adversary doesn’t sweat much when 100 pastors is a state operate in their gifting. But the devil freaks out when 100 apostles are released in a region. Getting over our apprehensiveness with this gifting and its operation today will get us over a major hurdle in advancing the Kingdom of God in our regions.
My D. Min. studies, yes under my good friend Dr. C. Peter Wagner, led me to the conclusion that the closest thing to a church planter in the New Testament wasn’t a “pastor.” Pastors take care of sheep already in the fold. Evangelists win the lost but then they leave town. Only the apostle goes forth to establish lasting Kingdom outposts where they weren’t previously. Apostles are the pioneers, the church planters.
Suggesting such however, even just five years ago, you would have thought I was advocating we add a fourth person to the Trinity! I know there are wacko’s out there claiming to be apostles who are not. But even there, the fact that there are false apostles means there are real ones. In five more years, this will all be a non-issue and we can get on with the work of God and stop picking at each other. Here’s a quick summary of these two Leadership Journal articles:
ARTICLE #1 - Note the title/subtitle…THREE OVERLOOKED LEADERSHIP ROLES: We’re familiar with pastors and teachers, but todays world needs a leadership team that includes three biblical but forgotten functions. Here are some highlights…
If we take the five categories of church leadership from Ephesians 4:11, [we are] training leaders to be teachers and pastors for established congregations, but where [are] the evangelists, the prophets and the apostles to lead the mission of the gospel into the world… this divorce of apostles, prophets and evangelists from pastors and teachers has been disastrous for the local church and has damaged the cause of Christ and his mission.”
There is a great chart called the “Fantastic Five Diagram” which is old-school five-fold ministry stuff from the charismatic camp.
ARTICLE #2 - title/subtitle… APOSTLES TODAY? Rediscovering the gift that leaves churches and well-connected pastors in its wake. Apostles leave new churches in their wake!!! That’s it! I love the first sentence…
We all know about the apostles named Peter, Paul and John, but have you ever heard of Andronicus or Junia? Some are surprised to discover that the New Testament identifies more apostles than the twelve…
You get the idea. Evangelicals are just now discovering apostles do exist today. And, I’m thrilled! Maybe we can all work together again. And just maybe, the self-appointed, unaccountable heresy hunters will come under conviction and realize these verses are in the Bible after all.
The Global School of Supernatural Ministry got underway here at Church at the Gate this afternoon. Things are off to a very strong start. Several had personal prayer appointments with the team prior to the first meetings. The first session covered some of the basics of prophetic ministry and the protocol there. Session two focused on the Kingdom of God in the marketplace - meaning… teams of three or four were equipped and sent out into the community (Mall, Walmart, where-ever God led) to pray for people. I’ve heard some great stories already from that time.
Tonight, worship was powerful which opened a great door for a great word on the life of David. The message was that God took one whose identity was a lowly shepherd boy and gave him a new identity and a new name. And, that God is taking us out of the miry clay and saying we are royalty - appointed and annointed to do Kingdom works. Our identity isn’t sickness, defeat, etc. Satan is trying to kill our identity in God. But, we must walk out into our new identity as stewards of the Kingdom and everything around us is affected by the Kingdom in us. We ended with prophetic ministry and praying for healing.
If you are in the area and can make it to the session tomorrow night (7 P.M.) I promise you’ll be blessed. If you attended today and God spoke to you, challenged you, or touched your life in any way, USE THE COMMENT LINK TO SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY WITH THE REST OF US.
A month or so ago Brenda David submitted a guest post here on the plight of Chinese girls like Xia Fen - you can read her story here and how she jumped several stories to escape the sex trade and ended up in a wheelchair.
This is a follow up to her story written by one of her doctors.
With the prayer and support from many friends, Xia Fen is beginning her new life leading to independence and dignity. On March 8th, my friend Dr. L.R. came from [location] to bring Xia Fen for her rehab therapy there…. Dr. L.R. got to know Xia Fen’s situation through our newsletter and immediately offered to help her. He decided to bring Xia Fen to [location] for a FREE rehab therapy. He believes that it would be the first step for her independent living… We went together to the village where Xia Fen is living with her sister’s family. In the small shabby room, we saw Xia Fen in her bed. It seems that she was still in the shock of the incident and in deep sorrow though she was eager a new life. The miserable life deprive of her dreams as many young girls have. After a brief check-up and evaluation, Dr. L.R. was confident that Xia Fen could have a much better life after the therapy and some trainings following it…. From the pictures I got recently, I know Xia Fen is doing well in [location]. Dr. L.R. gave her a better wheelchair to meet her need, and help her start a systemic rehab therapy plan. Xia Fen is having new friends there and smiles coming back to her face. With the love and help of so many people, she is not only rehabilitating physically, but psychologically and even spiritually, for she really could see some HOPE for her broken life now.
Keep praying!
China is still on my mind. Last night some Colorado Springs friends invited us to bring a team (from the River) to join a YWAM team to China this summer. A trip there is inevitable in my estimation - I’m praying about when. Adopting an unwanted girl from there is very strong on our hearts.
The eyes of the world right now are on China as they stumble along to prepare to host the world for this summer’s Olympic games in Beijing. As expected, they find themselves in a massive uphill PR game trying to show the world that they are not what we all know they are… the planets principle violators of basic human rights. Personally, I’m glad the games are being held there and that every media outlet in the world will focus on the realities there. The more “light” we can shine on “darkness” the better.
Here’s what we can expect… China will continue to suppress any and all who try to leak the real truth out to the world. They are already talking about not allowing live television broadcasts of the Olympic games - seeking to portray China as “unified and prosperous“, of course they want to filter out non-favorable coverage that says otherwise. Good luck. They are tripping before the games even begin - killing 140 Tibetan protestors is hard to hide. Now athletes are refusing to go there because the pollution is so bad. Calls to boycott the summer Olympics in Beijing are coming in daily. Expect more bloodshed and for all this to crescendo this August.
THIS JUST IN: A “weather manipulation team” in China will manipulate the clouds to keep the rain away from the open air stadiums in Beijing during the Olympics. Amazing the extent they will go to keep anything from raining on their parade. The man in the picture above is aiming at the heavens… literally. Move over God, this fellow is a Chinese rainmaker….
Organizers of the 2008 Summer Olympics said Wednesday that they will take control over the most unpredictable element of all — the weather. Training with the Olympics in mind, the meteorologists have been practicing their “rain mitigation” techniques since 2006. They have had a couple of dry runs, so to speak. The Chinese have been tinkering with the weather since the late 1950s, trying to bring rains to the desert terrain of the northern provinces. The bureau of weather modification was established in the 1980s and is now believed to be the largest in the world. It has a reserve army of 37,000 people… 30 aircraft, 4,000 rocket launchers and 7,000 antiaircraft guns, said Wang Guohe, director of weather modification for the Chinese Academy of Meteorology.
So, how do we pray for China? Pray that God will use this season under the international spotlight to bring more light to the dark places and the dark practices of Communist China. Regarding the rainy weather issue, I’m still not sure whether we should pray God gives them the drought they want this August (and far beyond until the government cries out to Him) or if we should pray it rains and rains and rains and rains and rains.
The Beijing Tourism Administration website says that “(a)ny printed material, film, tapes that are ‘detrimental to China’s politics, economy, culture and ethics’” are forbidden, and adds that, “Each travel(ler) is recommended to take no more than one Bible into China.” Despite China’s claim that it allows religious freedom, the truth is that this “freedom” is tightly controlled through government-registered churches. Bibles are officially printed in China, but in quantities too small for the growing Chinese church.
This from the Bibles Unbound website:
According to recently-released Chinese house church leader Cai Zhuohua, he was not allowed to read his Bible during his time in prison and was forced to make soccer balls for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for 10 to 12 hours a day. Cai Zhuohua had been in jail since 2004 for “illegal business practices.” What were these illegal practices? He was distributing Christian literature, including Bibles, and giving them away without a government permit.
A few days ago I modeled how you can reach China and win the lost with your computer. Here’s how to do it through your mailbox. Right now, there is a list with the addresses of 30,390 members China’s underground church who are requesting a Bible.
The hunger for the Word of God in China is awesome. And yet, 9 out of 10 of the Christians in the US reading this own multiple Bibles and yet haven’t opened one since Sunday. Hmm.
GUEST POST: I asked a friend who is presently in China to contribute a story or testimony from the underground church there. What follows is a transcription of a testimony from a 32 year old woman from Chengdu, China. It’s not safe to post her real name so for here we’ll call her “Mei Ying.”
Jesus Showed Me He Loved Me
I had to buy some air tickets for a friend and she introduced me to a Lawai woman (Lawai is what Chinese call foreign people). This woman was from America and was working in China. She was so kind and smiled at me. I thought “This woman is very happy and kind.” She asked for my mobile telephone number and after that day she called me many times to say hello and ask how I was. One day she called me and asked “Mei Ying, are you busy? I want to speak to you today…
“She invited me to her home and it was a very hot day. We went up on the rooftop to drink some tea and she started to tell me about Jesus and how He loved me. How He died on the cross for my sin and now was alive and wanted to come into my heart. I had never in my life heard such things! I had no words to say. Then suddenly, even though it was a very hot day, I felt a whoosh! a cool and powerful wind came from nowhere and moved my heart! Nothing in my life felt this powerful - I honestly feel at this time I have no other choice but to accept Jesus in my heart as he showed me He was alive and the only true God by this powerful wind!
When I receive Jesus my friend the American woman cried so much and hugged me! I felt like she was my big sister and was so very happy! Today I love Jesus every day! I know that He loves me and will never abandon me. He is so real to me. He has given me so many things - so much hope for the future! I will always be grateful for the American woman that first showed me such kindness, treating me with so much love. Before even I knew Jesus I realized that this woman was different from all the other people I had met.
Jesus showed me He loved me through this woman. If she had not told me about His love I would still be alone in my life. Now I will never be alone because I know my Father!!! Love my Father so much!
DID YOU KNOW…
1. Estimates vary, but somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 people a day in China convert to Christianity!!!!!!! Read the rest of this entry »
GUEST POST: Steven M. Collins
Big thanks to CATG’r Steve Collins for this special contribution to my mini-blog series on China. Steve lives here in Sioux Falls with his wife and family, has written five books on Israel, and is one of our life group leaders. Check out his website for more on his books and his blog.
PROPHECIES FOR THE “TWO CHINAS”
Increasingly, there are two different aspects to China. There is the old-line Communist Party leadership and all the parts of organized Chinese society which are dominated by the Communist Party. This includes the government, the military, industrial and commercial leaders, the banking industry and all parts of “official” China. There is also a new emerging part of China which is embracing Christianity and the western value systems which flow from Christian beliefs. Indeed, the Christian part of China is growing rapidly by all reports. What will the future hold for these two separate Chinas? Read the rest of this entry »
It’s about five degrees outside and it’s been snowing all day. Feeling a bit cooped up. Yet, rather than waste the last couple hours of the evening away watching FoxNews, I decided to make some new friends in China. Yep, for the last two hours I’ve been on Skype in dialog with several precious Chinese people. The subject: Jesus. I prayed with two people to accept the Lord Jesus and hope to keep in touch with them.
In the comfort of my chair, it was like I had three Chinese people “in my living room” talking with me about our Jesus. There were key times when I asked my family to pray. At different times my kids were looking over my shoulder telling me things I should say. Everyone went to bed tonight with China on their mind. China is on God’s mind.
I’m going to paste an ongoing conversation below with one gal named Xia. As you can see she is very anxious about not having employment and had some big questions about God. Join me in praying Jesus continues to reveal himself to her…
[7:54:28 PM] StevenHickey says: Xia, Greetings from the USA!
[7:55:01 PM] xia says: greetings from china
[7:55:17 PM] StevenHickey says: How are you doing today?
[7:55:50 PM] xia says: i am fine
[7:56:09 PM] StevenHickey says: What time of the day is it there?
[7:56:27 PM] xia says: 9:56
[7:56:57 PM] StevenHickey says: In the morning or at night? It’s 7:56 PM here
[7:57:03 PM] xia says: am
[7:57:19 PM] StevenHickey says: Are you busy at work?
[7:57:30 PM] xia says: no jobless
[7:57:40 PM] StevenHickey says: Student?
[7:59:15 PM] xia says: just lost job
[7:59:33 PM] xia says: no
[8:00:09 PM] StevenHickey says: Are you happy with your life?
[8:00:36 PM] xia says: no Read the rest of this entry »
GUEST BLOG POST:
I’ve asked CATG’r Brenda David to share the testimony of a young Chinese girl she and Phil are helping through the Luke Society. Phil is the international ministry coordinator of the Luke Society which offices here in Sioux Falls. Brenda is the Luke’s Society’s prayer coordinator. The Luke Society is an interdenominational organization of Christian health and business professionals dedicated to medical missions. They support indigenous Christian health professionals who have a vision to reach their own people. My comments resume after the pictures below. SH
CHINA DOLL BROKEN BY THE SEX TRADE
Xia Fen is a 21 year old girl in Anshan, China, who was raised by her grandparents since she was five. She was a bright and diligent student with big dreams but sadly had to give up her education because of her family’s poverty. Her grandfather died leaving her with a grandmother too old and feeble to care for her. At 21, it was her now her turn to take care of the family. She decided in Aug. 2007 to go to Hai Chen, a larger city nearby, to find a job. She soon met a “kind” young man, seemingly out of nowhere, who approached her and who began courting her. He was full of charm and promised her the world. He assured her he’d help her find a good-paying job in another city. She was naive and believed him and went with him to Gai Zhou. And there her new “job” began.
She was taken to a hotel and locked in the room. Just like all the other stories you’ve heard, Xia was abused over and over again and until she was “broken.” Then she was forced to provide sexual service to the hotel clients. She screamed, cried, struggled and resisted….but to no avail. She was devastated with the reality that she had been kidnapped and was no a prisoner. After days of staring at the hotel window, she decided it was her only escape. She finally got up the nerve and jumped out of the window which was several stories from the ground. Four hours later, she was found unconscious and taken to a hospital. It was too late for surgery to repair her spinal cord. She had no money, no insurance, and no hope….and now no use of her legs. She had escaped the sex trade, but sacrificed her legs to do it. She had to find a way to survive. She went to live with her sister – also struggling in poverty - who could only provide the her barest of necessities.
A friend who helps provide wheelchairs contacted Luke Society’s Dr. Xu Zhang who went to visit her. His heart broke for her as he found her teary-eyed in a cold and bare room - depressed and dependant on others for everything. Dr. Xu, himself a Chinese surgeon turned China’s version of Joni Earekson Tada, made sure she was examined again by orthopedic specialists, but they were told it’s just too late. She would have to learn to live with her condition. She was provided a wheelchair through Dr. Xu’s Bethesda Rehabilitation Clinic along with a copy of Joni Eareckson Tada’s book. Xu and his team are committed to help her gain some independence and meaning in her life. She’s beginning to smile again. And she’s discovered she has a talent for embroidery which she hopes will bring her some income. She doesn’t want to be a burden on others.
Pray for Xia’s salvation, and that God will heal her heart and help her find purpose in living. ………No that’s way too small….pray for a miracle of early-church apostolic proportions. We’ve been promised the lame will walk and the blind will see and the deaf will hear. This beautiful China doll has been broken in every way. Let her walk again, God! Xia is one of my intercessory assignments. I feel a responsibility in praying her into wholeness. Will you lift up a prayer for her? BD
SH: In countries like China where girls are not wanted and have been aborted, abused, abandoned now for decades, we are seeing the emerging epidemic of the global sex trafficking. Wait, I thought Planned Parenthood was on the side of women?? No!! They are THE leading organization worldwide exploiting and exterminating women. In a 1997 report, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 50 million Chinese women were “missing” from the current female population. According to euthanasia.com, the lopsided male-female ratio in China caused by sex-selection abortions is worsening, pushed up to 120 men for every 100 women. Pre-birth sex selection and female infanticide in China has resulted in a population distortion and imbalance leaving 111 million men in China - more than three times the population of Canada - who will not be able to find a wife.
I yanked this paragraph from a Concerned Women of America article; “China is a major destination country for sex trafficking because of the shortage of marriageable women there. Pakistan and Afghanistan have significant numbers of sex-selection abortions, but the problem is not yet having the impact that it is having in China and India. In addition to sex trafficking, there is a rise in bride trafficking — Korean men, for instance, are finding brides in Vietnam.” Women are trafficked from North Korea, Burma and Vietnam and sold to the highest bidder.
Granted some girl babies have been adopted internationally, but it’s estimated that a million or so “orphaned” girls are consigned to state institutions so abysmal that one documentary film referred to them as “dying rooms”.
Imagine a woman getting beaten by her husband just moments after she gives birth to a girl, being thrown out in the cold and told not to come home with the baby. She abandons the infant girl at a police station and it goes to an orphanage. This happens in shocking numbers in China today. Our silence creates a veil over this thing and we become complicit in it. Will there be silence even now in the comment link above?
China has always seemed unreachable to me. Even as a kid, try as I might, I couldn’t dig my way there. The closest I could get was Chinese food (which, by the way, I love). When I was first wrestling with God’s call on my life to “go into all the world” with the gospel, China never seemed like an option. I knew I wasn’t smart enough to learn the language. I could picture myself learning Spanish or even an African tongue but even looking at the characters of the Chinese alphabet made me panic.
Besides, it’s supposedly a “closed” country. Gray-haired missionaries to China like famed David Adeney used to come to our church and talk about how the missionaries were kicked out in 1949. China is Communist with a capital “C” as in cruel or cold or closed. I knew enough about Bible prophecy to know this nation would rise up against the children of God in a vicious way at the end of the age. So, basically, there has always been this big wall between me and China.
The wall is coming down. I don’t have to learn the language - the largest English speaking country in the world in five years will be China. Raise your hand if you think God is up to something there. There’s more; I don’t need a shovel to reach China from here, just a computer. More on this later.
For now, want some homework on this topic? Start here… a few years ago 150 people in our church all read the story of Brother Yun together. His book is called “The Heavenly Man.” Read it if you haven’t already. Then, learn something about the Chinese Back to Jerusalem movement. Check out the website and be sure to watch the video.
This week the plan is to put the nation of China before you. Particularly, what it’s like for Christians there. My hope is that the testimony of the church there will shake us out of complacency here. Join me in making China the focus of our intercession this week.
Somethings up. For several months now China has come up repeatedly before me - people in our church with dreams about China or Chinese people at CATG, opportunities to adopt in China, heart-rending stories about abortion and abandoned Chinese girl babies, met a guy whose been there five times this past year. I’ve recently been challenged again by China’s role in end time prophecy - every time China is in the news - financial news/weather news - I automatically perk up and I don’t know why. Then, last week, I got an invitation to go there in June - not planning to go right now. But somethings up.
All afternoon I’ve been watching TheCall/Orlando on GOD TV. On the stage right now are the seasoned leaders who for the last 30-40 years have led THE major Christian mission movements globally today - YWAM, Campus Crusade, Wycliffe, Teen Mania, etc., etc. These are the noble “sent ones” (apostolos) who have been leading movements to take the gospel to every corner of the earth. 163 denominational and organizational presidents, leaders and CEOs along with some 550 key Christian leaders and experts have convened in Orlando, Florida for the past four days. The sole purpose of the 4-day consultation is to plan, strategize and partner for the completion of the great commission. Check out Call2All for the website.
What’s happening right now on the stage is these key leaders are joining hearts with the leaders of the global prayer movements of the earth. We are seeing the marriage of end-time mission and end-time prayer. They’ve divided the world up into 4000 zones to concentrate on evangelism and church planting and are commissioning Lou Engle and Mike Bickle and other prayer leaders to raise up Houses of Prayer in each of these 4000 zones of the earth to undergird and go before this effort with 24/7 fasting and prayer. It’s Zinzendorf all over again!
Personally, I’m deeply deeply moved to see these two major end-time movements come together. Hearing these evangelical leaders bless the apostolic and prophetic prayer movement and use terms like “apostolic” chokes me up because some of us have been crucified for talking in these very misunderstood scriptural terms that they now use so freely on this stage. Is the era of animosity over calling apostolic work “apostolic” over? Has the era of prophetic missions dawned? Hell has got to be freaking out right now. The house of prayer is again the sending forth Kingdom representatives. Jack Hayford said it’s a prophetic moment in history. I wish I was there.
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