Prelude
(Narration)
In China, the story of the “Cross” once seemed as strange and far away as the other side of the universe. But today its message is here, right in our midst.
1900，during the Boxer Rebellion, 188 western missionaries, and 20,000 Chinese Christians were killed.
In the following fifty years, more western missionaries came to China. They established 13 universities, over 6,000 elementary schools and high schools, and more than 900 hospitals. The number of Chinese Christians grew to 700,000.
The Chinese Communist Party believed this success was the result of imperialist cultural invasion. They expelled all western missionaries, forced Chinese missionaries to renounce their religion, and mandated a secular education for all Chinese.
Fifty more years have passed and today there are approximately 70 million Christians in China, an increase of 100 fold!
Narration:
In the last 20 years, China has become a giant dragon soaring across the sky. This dragon cares for nothing but its own achievement. The startling material growth of the nation is mirrored only by the steep decline of morality and personal values.
However, the whole country, from its leaders to its citizens, is ignoring its hollow moral core.
（Episode 1 The Spring of Life）
(Subtitle: To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -- Revelation 21: 6)
Testimony
Li Mindan/Guangzhou:
In a single night at a casino in Burma, I lost twenty years of savings. I was greatly depressed when I went back to Guangzhou, my hometown. To ease my pain, my friends took me to the nightclubs. I thought I’d found relief, but this kind of relief didn’t last long. When I came back to reality, I was in even deeper pain. That’s when I sought out God. I browsed through all the bookstores for a copy of the Bible, but I didn’t find any. One day, while having dinner with a friend, I told him I wanted to know about the Bible and Christianity. He told me he knew a Christian and made a phone call for me that night. The next day, I met with this Christian. He knelt down and prayed for me to accept Jesus. I quit smoking, drinking, marijuana, and popping Ecstasy pills. Quitting these habits was such a hard struggle, but inside me I felt a source of strength that was helping me all the way. My belief has greatly changed my life. There was a time when I really wanted to get back all the money, the cars, and the houses I’d lost. But now I’m a changed man. I still work hard, but that’s not everything in my life. I go walking with my wife after dinner, and I spend time with my family. Studying the scriptures has become the greatest joy in my life. My family has completely changed their opinion of me.
Mrs. Li:
He has changed so much. He loves me and cares about me more than ever. We’re so grateful that he has made so many good friends at church. Our family is truly blessed. I feel great.
Zhang Zemin / Da-Chin (While preaching on the streets):
Jesus said: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:11).
Sister / Da-Chin:
You have no idea how he was before. He was one of those so-called “gangsters”; robbing, street fighting, and doing the worst things you can imagine. If a farm had plump chickens, he and his gang would steal them at night. They’d break the necks of the chickens and eat them when they got home.
Zhang Zemin / Da-Chin
If I saw a young girl I wanted, I would go straight to her mother to threaten her.
Sister / Da-Chin:
He was always cursing. He never talked without swearing or picking a fight with somebody. He could never pass a young girl without feeling her up.
Sister / Da-Chin: Only God’s power could change such a man. Shouldn’t we be thankful to God?
Zhang Zemin / Da-Chin (While preaching on the streets):
I believe in Jesus Christ, and today I’d like to introduce the Lord to you.
Narration:
People in China know very little about Christianity. Many think of it as nothing more than a superstitious belief, or an unwelcome import from western culture, or a social force. In reality, the birth of Christ has only one purpose: it is to redeem his people from sin. Today, the Gospel is cleansing and purifying all the sins in the hearts of the Chinese people, like a clear spring of living water.
Testimony
Li Ru-Chin / Guangdong:
I was a big time gangster. I owned a casino, and I was a loan shark. Later, I became addicted to drugs and lost every penny I had. I tried to quit about twenty times but I just couldn’t. One day, my mother said to me, “Son, believe in Jesus.” Kind of passively, I said, “Okay, Mom. I’ll try.” She took my hand and started praying, “Jesus, my Lord, I thank you. Now my son has agreed to follow you. I have brought him before you. Please help me. I will give my life to you if you save him.” I was deeply touched by her prayer, so I said: “All right, I’d like to repent all my sins.” In about half hour, I fell asleep. When I got up the next morning, I felt a new strength inside me. I’d no idea where this strength had come from. Several years have gone by, and since that day I’ve never gambled. I still don’t know where that strength came from. It had to have come from Christ.
Li Ru-Chin / Guangdong:
While I was having dinner one day with some of the former police chiefs, I told them I needed to pray before eating. I told them how Christ had saved me. One of them said, “It took that long? If you’d been saved earlier, we wouldn’t have had all this chaos in our country. Why don’t you bring your old buddies to Jesus? Please help them. I’ll support you.” I said, “ Praise the Lord. Why don’t you join us?”
Wang Qian / Xiamen:
I don’t remember what we were looking up in the Bible at the time. All I remember was they asked me if I had any questions. I said, “I don’t know how to love.” It was true. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t loved when I tried so hard to love others. I was having trouble with my boyfriend. I was heart-broken, so I started going out with anybody who asked me. Yet, I never felt loved. There were two Christian girls in my dorm. They asked me if I would accept the Lord. I agreed to try, and they said, “Let’s learn about the love of God together.”
Narration:
Historically, the concept of repentance has never been part of China’s belief system. It’s a completely revolutionary, spiritual experience for Chinese people when they discover that we are all sinners and we have all fallen short of God’s Glory. What a miraculous change for a Chinese man or woman to finally admit they are sinners and need forgiveness and baptism from God.
(Chapter 1: Sin)
Testimony
Chef:
I used to be a drunk. After I became a Christian, I quit smoking and drinking altogether. Sometimes when I fight with my wife, I feel like swearing, but somehow the curses just won’t come out of my mouth anymore.
Sister:
The last time we fought, I lay in bed for two days and nights without eating or drinking water. I thought to myself: I might as well try to believe in Jesus. If it works, we’ll spend the rest of our lives together. If not, I’ll either divorce him or kill myself. It has been six years since we became Christians. Now we get along pretty well.
Brother:
A Christian doesn’t swear, fight, steal, or rob. You can’t live a good life without faith in God.
Narration:
The amazing thing is that no matter who you are, whether you’re a farmer, an intellectual, you are from a broken family, or live in the underbelly of society, you can live a new life once you come to Jesus.
Testimony
Ya Xi:
Sometimes I felt discouraged when I prayed about him. He didn’t seem to change at all. In fact, I felt he was getting worse and worse.
Zhu Yi:
Paul confessed to being a great sinner. I felt that I was, too. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera mentioned that there are two kinds of men. One finds the virtues of all women in one woman, the other finds the virtues of one woman in all women.” I chose to be the latter. I fell into a deeper and deeper trap. I was a big sinner. Not only was I destroying the life of my faithful wife, but also I was deceiving myself, numbing my own conscience. But I still couldn’t get out of the trap. I thought I could deal with all the affairs I was having at the same time, but it was really exhausting. Later on I thought divorce might be a shortcut, a better way out. I kept screaming for a divorce, but I knew I didn’t have the guts to do it.
Ya Xi:
I had to endure all kinds of verbal abuse from him, but God gave me the strength of patience, the kind of patience I never had before I became a believer. When my husband attacked me, I just found a quiet corner and prayed. I asked God’s help to change him.
Zhu Yi:
Before she found faith in Jesus, she always assumed that I was lying, even when I wasn’t. After she became a Christian, she became very trusting. All I had to tell her was I needed to go out, and she’d say “All right.” Gradually, I stopped lying to her because I didn’t want to be unworthy of her trust.
Ya Xi:
After I converted, I found peace within myself. There’s nothing worth getting angry over.
Zhu Yi:
Sometimes I purposely tried to provoke a fight. But to my surprise, instead of fighting with me, she would go into the kitchen or the bathroom to pray. I said to myself, “This is impossible. This girl doesn’t have strength like that.”
Ya Xi:
When he got angry, I kept quiet. I prayed and asked the Lord to calm him down. To my surprise, I saw the flame of his anger dimming, little by little. Poof! Then it died. I heard him sigh and then come over to comfort me. Ah! How grateful I was to the Lord! This was God’s work. He was right there.
Zhu Yi:
When she prayed for me she was often in tears. One day God told her, “Restrain your eyes from tears, he will return from the land of the enemy...” (Jer 31:16)
Ya Xi:
April 10th, 1998. It was our wedding anniversary.
Zhu Yi:
That evening she had a church gathering. I offered to drop her off, because Beijing was dangerous at night. I thought I’d wait outside till the meeting was over and then I’d escort her home. But I was brought inside immediately and seated at the very front. When we got home, I told my wife that I’d like to pray, but didn’t know how. She took me to the bathroom, and we knelt down. She asked me to repent, so I did. She told me she’d never seen me crying out loud like that before.
Ya Xi:
It was the first time I saw him cry and repent. At first, he was sobbing. Later, he started crying out loud.
Zhu Yi:
I felt the sky had turned into a huge book in front of my eyes. After I repented for a sin recorded on a particular page, that page would be turned to the next one. I remembered things I’d long forgotten. It was miraculous! If I hadn’t decided to follow Jesus Christ at that time, I might have ended up dead.
Ya Xi:
I didn’t realize what a new life we’d received until we both accepted God. We are so grateful to the Lord.
Zhu Yi:
Really. Now we have very good communication. She understands me, I understand her. We have become one, as God says. God is with us. It feels so good to come close to God together as husband and wife. I feel that she’s not hard to talk to and she needs my love so much. And I feel that, with her as the only woman to love in my life, I am complete. One time I told her that I felt like we were falling in love all over again. God is full of wonder. He brought love into our home, and saved us from the hands of Satan. Our life has gone back to the state of Eden. There’s no deception. In the past, I hid my cell phone and beeper because I didn’t want her to find out about all my love affairs. But now I can leave her my cell phone and beeper if I’m not available. I ask her to help me answer the calls and take care of my stuff. She has become my personal secretary, and I’ve become hers, too. There are no secrets between us. We have become one, physically and spiritually.
Narration:
We may never understand why Christ’s death on the cross has such tremendous power to revive our souls and our lives. But throughout history, this miracle has kept on happening -- and the Chinese people in the 21st century are no exception.
Testimony
Zhang Dongsheng:
We didn’t talk about divorce, but we were separated. Our marriage was in danger.
Mrs. Zhang:
When I was working in Shen-Zheng, my job made me feels very important. We were on the verge of divorce, and my family life felt meaningless.
Zhang’s daughter:
I felt that my parents were only together out of convenience. I didn’t see why we should stay together as a family.
Zhang:
My wife decided to convert only after she saw the change in.
Mrs. Zhang:
He asked me to go home and see the changes. I replied, “What belief? You smoke and drink. You don’t know how to love anyone. You’re a lazy slob, and you never help around the house.”
Zhang’s daughter:
I prayed for my parents, and the year I graduated, my parents finally got back together.
Mrs. Zhang:
He has never treated me so well. Not since the day we got married. When I was young, I wasn’t ugly. Actually, I was quite a pretty girl. But even back then, I wasn’t able to change him. Now I’m old, and he’s so nice to me.
Zhang’s daughter:
Five years ago we had three cars, and now we have three bicycles instead. But I’ve no desire to go back to the life we had before. Although we only have bicycles, our life has completely changed.
Mrs. Zhang:
I was always the one who made tea for my husband. But now when I wake up from my afternoon nap, a cup of Oo-Long tea is always there. It’s my favorite tea, and my husband makes it especially for me. If it weren’t for God’s power, this never would have happened.
(Chorus)
He is the source of love and life
His work and miracles have prevailed
Let’s stay close and love each another
Come! Let’s praise Him forever
Glory to the Lord
Testimony
Orphan from Si-Chuan:
I didn’t know whether this love comes from Jesus or from somebody else, but they really love me. It’s a fact, an unchangeable fact.
(Chapter 2: Love)
Narration:
This orphan had spent most of his life wandering the streets. In 1999, he was adopted by a house-church in Cheng Du, and later became a preacher.
Testimony
Si-Chuan Orphan:
I left home when I was twelve and lived on the streets for four years. During that time, I got involved in tons of street fights. I have a lot of scars from those days. One day I was stabbed in the back. I lost a lot of blood and had to be taken to the hospital.
Narration:
The church set up orphanages to adopt these homeless children who spent most of their lives wandering aimlessly through the streets and train stations.
Testimony
A teacher at an orphanage:
These children had been living on the streets when we found them. They had picked up lots of bad habits. We loved them with the pure love only Christ can give, and we taught them God’s word.
Director of the orphanage:
I see immediate changes in mischievous children soon after they join our big family. It’s God’s love that changes and renews the lives of these children.
(Chorus: Psalm 96:1-3)
Sing to the Lord a new song;
Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Testimony:
Orphan One:
I’m from Inner Mongolia. My parents abandoned me because I was blind.
Orphan Two:
After my parents were jailed, I was home alone. So I started to wander the streets.
Orphan Three:
I ran away from home because my parents beat me.
Orphan Four:
I felt that my mother hated me after my father died, so I took twenty yuan and left home. Auntie Zhang found me and brought me here.
Orphan Five:
My father died from an overdose of drugs. My mother ran off with somebody and remarried. She told everybody that I wasn’t her son.
Orphan Six:
My father sold my brothers, and he wanted to sell me, too. He beat me. So I left home and picked pockets on the trains, in the streets and just about everywhere I went.
Director:
He was mute and deaf. At first, he was always hitting the other children here. Later on, he stopped hitting and started to help others.
Director:
How old are you? Say “ Four.” (Note: the director is helping the orphan to talk, the orphan has a speech impediment)
Orphan Seven:
Four.
Director:
Where are you from?
Director:
Where are your parents?
Director:
Auntie Gao and two other sisters found him when he was just a baby.
Si-Shuan Orphan:
I’d always felt inferior and had no respect for myself. But after I saw the selfless love of the teachers at the orphanage, I learned to love others. It’s all because of the love of Jesus.
(Singing of a blind child)
To open the people’s eyes to see God
We have walked through gales and storms
We wish to walk all over the world
To plant the seeds of love
Narration:
These sisters receive no wages for their work, and they never have a vacation, They do this with no accolades or recognition from society. In fact, they have to do all this secretly because it is a service of the house- churches, which are illegal.
Testimony
A teacher at the orphanage:
But I know the love of God is here. When I love others, I learn the greatness of love. Love is devotion and sacrifice. Love is sacred.
Narration:
In a world of selfishness, these faithful followers of Christ are willing to follow the example of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Testimony
Li Min Dan:
Nowadays, what’s missing in China is love, the universal love that comes from our Lord, Jesus. Once we accept God’s love, it will grow in everyone’s heart, and flow out continually like a living spring.
Mrs. Zhang:
God’s love has brought peace into families. If more people believe in God, peace will spread out from family units into the whole of society.
Yu Jie:
Today humanity is the main problem of Chinese society. I think Chinese have lost the ability to love. This is very sad and dreadful.
Narration:
China’s intellectuals have begun to discuss and pursue the love of Christ in their own unique way.
Testimony
Yu Jie: Many considered me a harsh critic of our society. However, this is only one part of me. There’s another part closer to my true self, such as love, pity, and compassion. Those qualities come from my understanding and study of the Bible and Christianity.
President Bush's remarks at Tsinghua University: 95% of Americans say they believe in God, and I am one of them.
Testimony:
Ren Bu Mei:
When President Bush talked about 9-11 in his speech during his visit to China, he had tears in his eyes. The host of the meeting and also the students who were there should have expressed concern and compassion about the catastrophe. I’m sad to say that no questions or remarks were made. I believe they simply didn’t feel the pain, because they don’t have God’s love in their hearts. They can’t feel others’ pain as their own. All they cared about was the possible armed conflict between China and Taiwan.
President Bush's remarks at Tsinghua University: Freedom of religion is not something to be feared but to be welcomed, because faith gives us a moral core and teaches us to hold ourselves to high standards, to love and to serve others.
Testimony:
Wang Yong Sheng:
It’s important for an artist to spread God’s love. Otherwise his or her artwork will have no significance despite the apparent aesthetic value. A good artist should bring a healthy and positive energy to his society.
Narration:
Wang Yongsheng, a well-known artist in China, once was falling deeper and deeper into a life of sin.
Testimony
Wang Yong Sheng:
I used to change girlfriends as often as I changed clothes. Friends and fellow artists around me were all in similar situations. A lot of them were successful artists but failures when it came to family.
(Clips from “China’s Confession”: This is a land without forgiveness and unselfish love. Success is the only measure of accomplishment. Conspiracy is defined as wisdom, and warfare is glorified. )
(Song in the Cultural Revolution)
Let’s have a new triumph in the Cultural Revolution
Beat him down with all our might
Down with Chinese Nikita Khrushchev
Crush him hard! Crush him under our feet!
Testimony
Wang Yong Sheng:
After watching “China’s Confession”, I finally realized what the Chinese people need. I also realized that my ignorance of love was pretty normal given the circumstances I grew up in. I didn’t have too much difficulty in becoming a Christian. After I watched “China’s Confession”, I read some books by Liu Xiao Feng. A missionary came to my house and talked to me for a while. I’ve been a Christian for only one year. I’m still an infant really, but I pray every day. I also pray for my friends, and look forward to meetings on Sunday. Most people in our group are artists. The group is called “Artists’ Fellowship”. Every week, we get together and talk with each other. I feel at home, very comfortable. It’s really nice.
Sister (hosting a gathering):
Today, the love of God has brought us here.
Yang Tao:
There’s a song I can’t sing well. How can I sing it well if it doesn’t have God’s love in it? It won’t have any power of spiritual awakening.
Yang Tao:
I used to own a bar. I got drunk every day, and I also used drugs for a while. I was numb about everything. Then I read in the Bible, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Pro 4:23).” I was deeply moved. I knew that I’d lost touch with my heart. Right about then, I met my wife in Beijing. In order to date her, I ended up in church because that’s where she was.
Ya Ya:
I was the only Christian in my class, and I started to spread the gospel among my classmates. Many of them also became Christians. Our attitude towards learning and working made a good impression on our teachers.
Dancer One:
I was awarded the Best Dancer award in the national dancing contest. While I was waiting for my turn, I was praying quietly. I might have appeared odd to everybody else, but I didn’t care.
Dancer Two: My attitude is different from before. Though the trials and difficulties are still there, I feel joy all the time.
Dancer Three:
The thought of God often brings tears to my eyes. They aren’t tears of pain, but tears of joy and peace.
Dancer Four:
I think the world is cold, except for the love of God.
Ya Ya:
I feel that God is holding my hand and walking with me, even in the dark. I never feel lost.
(The dancers are saying the Lord’s prayer)
…and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Mat 6:13)
Xie Yu Qing (a ballet teacher):
I played Mahjong every Friday and Saturday night. We stayed up all night playing. Sometimes there were so many people the entire three floors of my house would be full. I lost ninety thousand yuan in six months. One day, a sister brought me to church. I’d never felt so good before. That night I opened up and told them everything about me. I felt as if I was talking with my family. I wish I’d met God earlier (sobbing….). Words are not enough to express how deeply my heart was touched.
(Mrs. Yuan Zheng singing)
Today I pray for you
My beloved China
May my sincere prayer
Bloom thousands of lilies
All over the fields
All over the hills
This is my beloved China
Tesimony:
Yuan Zheng (A famous singer):
Many brothers and sisters often ask me how I became a Christian. In fact, God has been guiding me all the time. It came naturally. I didn’t experience many ups-and-downs, or go through much suffering.
Yuan Zheng (A famous singer):
I’m in a profession where fame and wealth are the top priorities, not to mention all kinds of dirty tricks and sins. Thank God for choosing me, bringing me to a clean place, and allowing me to be in contact with decent people. Of course, our thoughts are not always clean. Even now, I’m still troubled by distracting thoughts.
Lu Li Ping (a famous actress):
I’m sometimes weak, and self-centered. I don’t follow God’s word all the time. I have a strong personality. But I know I‘m still a child of God. It’s not that you don’t leave Him; it’s He who doesn’t leave you. He’s always there to help me get back on my feet when I trip and fall.
Lu Li Ping: Nothing should be new for a forty-year-old because I have experienced so much in life. But for me, somehow everything is always fresh. I wonder why I’m like this, why I’m so easily moved? When I need passion in my acting, the passion comes out fully. Before I act, I usually pray. It’s because of God’s love that my heart is touched so easily.
Sister (talking about her husband):
For more than six months, he would go to church every Sunday and argue about whether God existed.
(Chapter 3: Spirit)
Testimony:
Brother:
I realized faith was a move I had to make on my own. It’s like a person who hears from others that an apple tastes good. If he keeps on analyzing its composition without taking a bite, he or she will never know the true taste of an apple. So I told myself, “Just believe it!”
Gao Yan De:
I went to one of the best high schools in China, Nan Kai High School in Tien Jing. After that, I went to one of the top universities in China, Qing Hua University. Because of my academic success, I was really bigheaded. I loved to ask tough or unusual questions. It’s called reasoning, but really it’s sophistry. One thing that greatly influenced my decision to become a Christian was my first prayer. Before I opened my mouth, I felt very uncomfortable. Once I started, somehow I calmed down right away. My “questions” didn’t bother me any more. They weren’t resolved. But I stopped thinking about them. I became a very happy person. My wife and I joined the gospel meetings around the same time, and we accepted the Lord at the same time too. Every night we study the scriptures together. We take turns reading them aloud, and then pray together.
A physics professor from Xiamen University:
Physics is an experimental science. I felt I had to meet God before I could believe in him. One day, a sister told me, “Actually, you may try praying to God when you have problems.” So I did this a few times, and God did listen.
Narration:
Since the May 4th Movement of 1911, reason and science have had supreme status among Chinese intellectuals. What kinds of questions do Christian scholars think about?
Testimony
Gao Yan De:
Everybody knows one plus one equals two. It’s a self-evident truth. No mathematician would try to prove it. It’s the premise on which other mathematical theorems are based. When I first got to know God, like many others, I constantly tried to prove God’s existence. Now I know what I did was meaningless. God’s existence is not something that can be proved by human reasoning.
Professor at Xiamen University:
As physicists, we try to synthesize asymmetrical molecules for medical and scientific purposes. Our achievements are minute compared with God’s creation. The more one works in scientific fields, the more awe one has of the Creator’s wisdom.
Narration:
Many Chinese intellectuals are presently studying Christian philosophy and belief. However, the essence of faith is not theory, but a way of new life. God is not found through reasoning, but in spirit and truth.
Testimony
Sister:
Why do we live? Do we really disappear after we die? I felt very troubled when I thought about life and death. So I went to worship Buddha to find an answer, but nothing ever happened. One day, I felt compelled to visit the local church. It wasn’t Sunday. It was Tuesday. The door was locked, but they allowed me to go inside and stay for a while. While sitting there, somehow I felt very moved. Not knowing why, I started to cry. I sat there alone, and cried for about an hour.
Brother:
A Christian couple visited us and took us to church. During the church meeting, my sister and I both cried uncontrollably. Tears were streaming down our cheeks. We didn’t know why we were so moved. It was like suddenly we saw light. It shone through our hearts.
Narration:
As a seedling craves water and sunshine in order to thrive, so does the soul long for the pure love of Christ in order to flourish.
(Interviews outside a church at Christmas, people are waiting in line to enter the church)
Interviewer:
Why are you here to celebrate Christmas?
Girl:
Because I want to receive peace. And Christmas blessings.
Girl:
Because I’m waiting for Christ. I have to see Him today.
Interviewer:
Are you sure you’ll see Him when you go in?
Girl:
Absolutely, as long as you believe in Him.
Young lady:
I think Christianity is a religion of peace, a symbol of peace. It’s beautiful. Don’t we all long for peace? I come here often to pray for world peace.
Young man:
I wouldn’t be this good if I wasn’t Christian. If everybody becomes Christian, our country will definitely be much better off.
Narration:
The churches in Beijing are overwhelmed with people not only on Christmas Eve, but each and every Sunday throughout the year.
Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China more than fifty years ago, the size of the Christian population in Beijing has grown from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. However, the number of chapels has diminished from sixty-six to six.
Chinese people educated under the ideology of materialism may be confused by the spiritual thirst they are feeling. Their souls are longing for a spiritual awakening.
Testimony
Chen Xiu Fan:
I felt something was missing at the bottom of my heart, even though I was working at a preschool. In people’s eyes, it was a very good place to work. When I first worked there, Ms. Chen, one of my co-workers, told me that my previous job at the chicken farm was actually a better choice. It was easier to deal with chickens than with people. After a while, I realized I might have chosen the wrong place to work, because I really didn’t know how to play politics. I made good money, but I felt exhausted. I told my husband that I wanted to find a place to cry out loud. He loves to tease me. He said to me jokingly, “You must be sorry you married me.” I told him I didn’t know why I felt so upset. I cried hard that night. The next day, I went to Ms. Chen who told me about the Gospel. I started to cry as soon as I saw her. At first she thought I had a fight with my husband. I told her I just felt terribly depressed. She said: “I think it’s time for you to go to church.” So I went to church with her. The first gospel song I learned was, “It’s Jesus who drove away the darkness in my heart. It’s Jesus who drove away the cold and sadness in my heart. From now on, I won’t ask myself bitterly why I am walking on such a rough path….” Wow, who wrote this song? How come it was speaking right to me? I’m not a good singer, and I go off key all the time. But that night I sang loudly. Ms. Chen pulled the corner of my shirt and whispered to me, “ Not so loud, or everyone will sing off key.”
Liu Xiao Feng:
The core message of Christianity is personal salvation. The key point is that your attitude towards life will completely change. You live in this world and you might have all kinds of limitations imposed on you, but your spirit and salvation exist beyond this world.
Narration:
Liu Xao Feng, a contemporary noted scholar, has persistently sought the truth of faith.
Testimony:
Liu Xiaofeng:
I lectured in Zhong Shan University last month. A student stood up at the end of my lecture and said, “You are Christian. That makes you not Chinese. If you were Chinese, you wouldn’t believe in Christianity. It’s part of the western culture.” Well, accepting Christianity helps me solve questions of being human. And as I’ve mentioned many times, the questions of being human are above those of being Chinese.
Zhang Rong Liang:
Before the Liberation of China, it was believed that if one more Chinese became a Christian, there’d be one fewer “real” Chinese. In other words, You were like a westerner. However, now people believe that if one more Chinese becomes Christian, then one more Chinese is saved. In fact, there is one more “real” Chinese because he or she no longer smokes, gambles, uses drugs, commits crimes, or disturbs our society.
(Chapter 4: Righteousness )
Zhu Yi:
Before I became a Christian, nobody had ever talked to me about joining the Communist party. But the third day after I became a Christian, the party secretary of our local branch came to ask me to consider joining the party. I told him I was a Christian. He said, “Well, Christians aren’t bad at all. There are several elderly Christians working for me. They’re all very nice people.” I thanked the Lord in my heart.
Brother from He-Bei:
The manager of the company came to talk to me one day, “I hear you believe in God. But remember you’re a Communist party member.” I said to him, “The party has treated me well. But I’ve been receiving blessings of peace and joy since I believed in Jesus. The party is good, but the Lord is better. I have no choice but to follow him.” When he saw nothing would change my mind, he asked me to resign from the party. For me, this was great because now I don’t have to go to the party meetings or pay member fees. I can use all my time after work to worship our Lord with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
(Chorus)
Clap your hands
Play your instruments
Shout and sing
The bright songs resound to the skies
Each and every day
Testimony
Accountant:
I’d been an accountant in my company for two years. Then one day, my company decided to start two book keeping records – one accurate for inner use and one altered to fool the public. I struggled with myself all night, and then I asked the Lord, “Let me keep this job to the end of this month.” But the Lord told me, “ You should stop doing it the moment you know it’s wrong.” When I went to work the next Monday, the first thing I did was to go straight to my manager. I told him I couldn’t do it. My company then asked me to resign, but I didn’t because the Lord didn’t tell me to. My company didn’t lay me off though. They transferred me to the maintenance department.
An Elderly woman:
I believe God is very powerful; otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to transform the lives of my son and his wife. Their life used to be like… ah, it’s hard to describe, anyway, let’s just say it was a trashy low life. It was a life I absolutely hated to see. Now they’ve completely changed. They have become so wonderful! How can I not thank God? I have been to church four. My son always asks me to go with him. He loves me.
Brother:
In spring, they couldn’t find anyone who wanted to plant trees for the city. They’d tried different government departments, but nobody wanted to do it. Then there was a Christian who gathered hundreds of brothers and sisters in no time at all. They grabbed their shovels and planted all the trees in a blink of an eye. While the local government chief was making a speech to praise them, the brothers told him, “You should thank the Lord.” So the chief thanked the Lord.
Shen Xien Feng:
The managers of the Labor Camps were very happy when Christians were brought in. They would say: Great! Now we’ve got some prisoners who can be put in charge. Because Christians were the most trust worthy, they were often assigned jobs such as keepers of personal belongings, supervisors of other prisoners, or group managers, or any jobs that required trust. The prison managers were sometimes very sad to see the Christians leave, because they were such good people.
Lao Ging:
Seven leaders in my Labor Camp came to see me the day I was released. They held my hands and said, “ Lao Ging, we wish you could stay for three more years. We don’t want to see you go.” Then they told me to continue my faith after my release.
Ding-Hei:
Four of our Camp leaders became Christians. We lived together and talked a lot. Before I was released, they told me, “If this were a better place, we would keep you here. We really don’t want to let you go.”
Brother:
The prison managers realized that the Christians were really good people. We were nicknamed “free prisoners” because we were put in charge of the vegetable garden and distributed the produce to the managers.
Brother Ji Tai:
The police officers went so far as to tell us that if everyone became Christian, then they’d have nothing to do. To spread the gospel not only saves a person’s soul, but also brings blessings to the entire society. It changes society.
(Chorus)
A voice urges me: be brave and move on
The Holy Spirit is guiding my way
You fill my heart with joy and content
Testimony:
Feng Kai:
I found all of my new employees at church. I have six hundred employees. They all attend Sunday services. So every Sunday, there are always more than six hundred members in our four chapels. We have prayer time every morning and evening. We also have Bible study groups.
Feng Kai’s wife:
Our Corporation, Hua-Xia-Ren Group of Shen Yang City, is mainly in the restaurant business, but we also own some sea water fish farms, and schools. For each business we have a choir of twenty people. We sing gospel songs to our customers and bring blessings to their lives. They like those songs.
(Canaan Hymnal #1 Bring with you your happiness )
Bring your honesty
Bring your heart
Enter the wonderful sanctuary
Feng Kai’s wife:
Each business of ours has a prayer box for customers. They write down their problems and put them in the box. Every week we open the box and pray for them.
Feng Kai:
We used to rely on our famous hospitality to be the main attraction of our business. Now we rely on Jesus Christ. Some customers didn’t know who Jesus was. After they met the Lord here, they started to go to church. What makes me happy is to see our customers at church. Some other customers suggested we hire call girls and hook up Karaoke machines at our restaurants, but I told them “No way!” I felt very proud one day when one of our customers called home from our restaurant, and all he had to say to his wife was, “I’m at Hua-Xia Ethnic Village, and I‘ll be home late.” Just one simple sentence, but I was very touched. He probably used to give a lot of excuses to his wife. But when he called from my restaurant, no explanations needed and no questions asked. I felt this was a symbol of trust.
Feng Kai’s wife:
A lot of us cried when we saw the news of flood on TV. Although most of us come from the northeast and have no family ties in the south, we still felt the pain. We got together and prayed. Our employees donated one hundred thirty-five thousand yuan that night.
Chef:
The Lord loves me and he commands us to love one another. I feel the love and warmth among people here. I no longer care how much money I make or how hard I work. I truly enjoy working here.
(Chorus)
Lord, it’s good to know you
In each and every second
In your loving arms
Feng Kai:
We have parent meetings every year, mainly to let them see what kind of life their children are living. After they see the changes in their children they also want to know God. After they go back home, they start going to their local church. We began as a small private business in 1993. It’s God’s miracle that we’ve grown to be so huge and successful. Everyday our restaurant is overwhelmed. Many people have asked me, “How do you get this many people to come every day?” I said, “I believe in God.”
(Chorus)
Christ is our only light
Testimony:
Feng Kai:
I don’t think of it like I’m running a business, it’s more like I’m in the business of loving God. It is inevitable that we meet problems or disputes with our customers. But the first thing our employees do is pray. In tears, they pray before God. I also kneel before God and pray every day, and so do my employees.
Prayer of an employee:
Lord, we’d like you to use our young lives in your service. Amen.
Feng Kai:
I used to ask the Lord for wealth. And now I only ask for one thing: please use me as your tool. It will be the greatest blessing in my life.
(Canaan Hymns #574 The stream of life)
The stream of life
The stream of joy
Flow tenderly into my heart
The stream of life
The stream of joy
Flow tenderly into my heart
I want to sing a song
A song from heaven
The dark clouds above
The sorrow in my heart
They all disappear
I want to sing a song
A song from heaven
The dark clouds above
The sorrow in my heart
They all disappear
(End)
Episode 2
The Seeds of Blood
Prelude
(Narration)
In China, the story of the “Cross” once seemed as strange and far away as the other side of the universe. But today its message is here, right in our midst.
1900，during the Boxer Rebellion, 188 western missionaries, and 20,000 Chinese Christians were killed.
In the following fifty years, more western missionaries came to China. They established 13 universities, over 6,000 elementary schools and high schools, and more than 900 hospitals. The number of Chinese Christians grew to 700,000.
The Chinese Communist Party believed this success was the result of imperialist cultural invasion. They expelled all western missionaries, forced Chinese missionaries to renounce their religion, and mandated a secular education for all Chinese.
Fifty more years have passed and today there are approximately 70 million Christians in China, an increase of 100 fold!
(Title sequence: The Cross – Jesus In China)
(Narration)
Three missionary leaders were born around the time the blood of Christian martyrs was shed in the Boxer Rebellion, Mingdao Wang, John Sung, and Watchman Nee.
(Narration)
Mingdao Wang was born in Beijing in 1900. At age twenty he began his work as an evangelist. At twenty-seven, he established Spiritual Food Quarterly. In 1955 he was imprisoned for refusing to renounce his faith. While in prison, weakened by intense interrogation and torture, he was forced to sign a statement renouncing his faith. After his release, Mingdao Wang could not find inner peace. He gave himself up to the authorities and went back to jail with his wife, this time for life. Twenty years later, in 1977, Mrs. Wang was released. Mingdao Wang would rather die than accept his release. But two years later the government tricked him into leaving.
Mingdao Wang: “Although I live in darkness, The Lord is my light. I want to endure His wrath because I offended Him.”
(Narration) Mingdao Wang and his wife passed away in 1991 and 1992.
(Narration)
John Sung was born in 1901. In 1926, he studied in America and received his Ph.D. in chemistry, and then went to the Union Theological Seminary of New York. The president of the seminary thought Song was crazy. He was locked up for 193 days. In the asylum, Song read the Bible forty times. Later, on his way back to China, Song threw a golden key into the Pacific Ocean; it was the symbol of his Ph.D. In the following seventeen years, John Sung, known as Crazy Song, spread the gospel like wildfire across China and Southeast Asia. In 1944, when he was 43 years old, Song passed away.
(Narration)
Watchman Nee was born in 1902. From the time he was twenty-eight, he wrote a great deal in both Chinese and English. In Shanghai, he established a church known as the Local Small-Group church, and soon this form of church spread across the country. In 1952, he was convicted of counterrevolutionary activities and was imprisoned in Baimaoling Jail. He died suddenly in 1972, just before the end of his prison term.
(Narration)
All these men, who were born around the Boxer Rebellion, later became the founders of Chinese Christian churches.
(Narration)
During the late Twentieth century, no matter how fiercely the storms of persecution raged, Christianity could no longer be uprooted from China as it was in the Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Instead, the Faith flourished -- it had grown too strong to be suppressed.
(Narration)
From Matteo Ricci, Robert Morrison, and Hudson Taylor, to the Boxer martyrs of 1900, the seeds planted by the life and blood of thousands of western missionaries finally had sent down deep roots into this harsh and ancient land.
(Narration)
The Chinese Communist Party Members who took control of Mainland China in 1949 were die-hard atheists. Although the constitution acknowledges freedom of religion, the Communist Party’s covert goal is to limit, transform and eventually eliminate religions.
(Narration)
From 1949 to 1953, at least several thousand Christians were killed. Tens of thousands were imprisoned.
(Narration)
While these horrors were happening, Premier Zhou Enlai invited Wu Yaozong to a number of meetings. They launched The Three-Self Patriotic Movement. It urged Christians to join the government-controlled Three-Self church, which advocated self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. Its aim was to put Christians under the complete control of the Communist Party.
Allen Yuan: I was imprisoned because I refused to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Yang Xinfei: I love my country very much. My students are the best pianists in China. Some even went abroad to perform and they were well received everywhere. I didn’t break any laws, but the government wanted to denounce me anyway. The real reason was that I spread the Gospel and refused to join the Three-Self church.
Moses Xie: I was a good friend of Wu Yaozong, the leader of the Three-Self movement, but I was surprised when he asked me to be part of the leadership. I refused, even though I knew my refusal would lead me to prison and labor camp. I considered all the consequences. Sure enough, on the evening of May 28, 1956, people from the police and public security came to take me away.
Samuel Lamb: On September 14, 1955, I was sent to prison for the first time. Sixteen months I spent there. In 1958, I was sentenced to twenty years. I wasn’t released until 1978.
Joseph Li: The first time I was sent to jail was in 1960. The main charge was my refusal to join the Three-Self movement.
(Narration)
Why would these evangelists rather be imprisoned than join the government-controlled Three-Self church?
Allen Yuan: We believe that Jesus is the head of the church, not any person or organization. Politics and religion should be separate. When you try to integrate them, the church deteriorates, and can become a political tool.
(Narration) They also had serious questions about the faith of Wu Yaozong and other leaders of the Three-Self churches.
Moses Xie: One day, during a dinner conversation, I asked Wu Yaozong what he thought about the miracles performed by Jesus. He said he had rejected those long ago.
Allen Yuan: Wu Yaozong and Ding Guangxun, they both belonged to a faction, which we called the “Nonbelievers’ group”. We refused to join them because we felt they did not have faith.
(Narration)
Within ten years, almost all the evangelists who refused to join the Three-Self church were imprisoned or put into labor camps. Madame Yang Xinfei was one of them. She graduated from the Shanghai Music Academy in 1957, and was twenty-seven when arrested. She spent twenty years in jail. The night she was arrested, her father was very ill.
Yang Xinfei: My Dad was already in bed. I went to say goodbye to him. I also asked for my Mother. We always pray before leaving home. There was one policeman standing guard beside her and another one beside me. My mother prayed to the Lord, begging him to take care of me: “Have mercy on my daughter, let her leave peacefully and bring her back safe and sound. May the Lord be with her” Then I left home and went to the labor camp.
(Narration)
During this harsh winter of faith, the land was frozen and bleak—but the wheat did not die. Underneath the ice and snow, seeds were struggling to take root, waiting for spring to come.
Allen Yuan: I was in jail for twenty-one years and eight months in Heilongjiang Province near the former Soviet Union. It was extremely cold there and a lot of people died. But, you know, all those years I never got sick. Not only did I survive, I wasn’t sick a single day. So I know God still has work for me to do.
Yang Xinfei: The hardest part was that all the women criminals were locked up in one room and it was too noisy to sleep. I also need to pray every day, or I can’t sleep. So I waited until they all fell asleep and I crept out of bed and knelt and prayed to God. Every night was like this until I left the labor camp.
Allen Yuan: I had to pull the blankets over my head and pray. There was no Bible, but a hymn stayed with me. You know the one? “The Old Rugged Cross”
So
I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
I sang it over and over to keep my spirits up
(Narration) The path of the cross was paved with humiliation and suffering. For those who chose to walk this path, every step was taken with blood and tears.
Moses Xie: I was in jail for twenty-three years. If they’d told me it would last twenty-three years, I don’t think I’d have made it. When they held a public meeting to criticize and denounce me, they asked: “Do you still believe in God? Do you still believe in Jesus?” They pulled my hair and my ears. They punched me, knocked me to the ground and kicked me. They jerked my handcuffs and asked: “Do you believe? Do you still believe?” The handcuffs had made deep gouges in my flesh, which had started to fester. They hauled me like this, back and forth, back and forth. But I prayed to the Lord: “I have followed you as far as I can. Surely you are not glorified when they denounce and torture me each day. I am your servant and your child. Are you glorified in Heaven when I am suffering like this?” In prayer I entrusted my whole family to the Lord, and then I was ready to kill myself. But how could I do it with handcuffs on? When the two guards went for lunch, I jumped onto the bed and unscrewed the light bulb. I planned to kill myself with an electric shock. But the electricity wasn’t strong enough. Later, people told me it was because I had handcuffs on. The handcuffs diverted the electricity and saved me. While I was in the middle of doing this, people from outside noticed and shouted, Moses Xie wants to kill himself!” The government officials called me out and lectured me: “You want to threaten the government! You want to make the government look bad by killing yourself?” At night, I confessed to God. I said, “Heavenly Father, I have fallen short of your glory. I have made it through twelve years of labor camp, and endured a lot of suffering. Why couldn’t I rely on you till the very end? I am not worthy of your glory. Please forgive me, oh Lord.” Then I heard the Lord speak to me: “Dear child, my grace is sufficient for you. Dear child, my grace is sufficient for you.” And a third time, he spoke so very gently, “My grace is sufficient for you.” The Lord comforted me and by his grace, I survived.
(Narration)
While thousands of Christians suffered in prison for the sake of the cross, the storm outside the jails grew even stronger. After 1958, the government closed down many churches in the name of unifying them. Of the sixty-six churches in Beijing, only four remained open. In Shanghai, 8 of 204 were left open. And in Guangzhou, only one of the original fifty-two was left. All of a sudden, it seemed that the Chinese church was withering.
(Narration)
In 1966, when the Cultural Revolution started, the Chinese Christian church faced extermination: priests were denounced, churches were destroyed, believers’ homes were confiscated, and Bibles were burned. Even the Three-Self churches did not escape. Madame Jiang Qing, Chairmen Mao’s wife, claimed that Chinese Christianity was finished and belonged in the History Museum.
Xu Yongze: Everywhere you went, there were Red Guards; everywhere you went, there were armed radicals; everywhere they interrogated you. Many faithful believers shed tears in secret, while they waited and waited for light to come.
Zhang Yupei: I remember clearly, on June 16, 1966, the largest poster they put out read: “Down with the imperialist running dog, missionary Zhang Yupei.” I said, “I cannot change my belief in Jesus.” They replied: “You stubborn idiot. Go see your God!” All the students came to the meeting to criticize and denounce me. From then on, they locked me in the cowshed.
A brother from Wenzhou: I remember watching a Christian standing on a platform. They denounced him and called him a ringleader of superstitious people. There was an elderly sister in our area. And when she got on the platform, she called out: “Believe in Jesus. Do not fear death!”
Uncle Feng: I was convicted of counterrevolutionary activities because of my faith in Jesus. I was forced to parade through the streets. They often held public meetings to denounce me. My whole family suffered the same thing, just because they were related to me.
Zhang Rongliang: Many churches were shut down. Missionaries were arrested or forced to wear tall dunce hats, their hands were painted black, and they were forced to parade through the streets. Church life was destroyed completely.
(Narration)
At the same time, an idol landed on God’s altar. When Mao Zedong stood overlooking Tian