| (Copyright 04-25-2025) by Rebecca Wise (East Bend, North Carolina) |
|---|
| John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. Here are excerpts from the book “Project Pearl” by Brother David. His previous book is “God’s Smuggler to China.” There are so many miracles of God’s divine providence and protection that happen when we trust in God instead of man. Beginning with Mao’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ in China (1966-1976), all Bibles found by authorities were burned, and anyone found with one (or who shared the Gospel) was imprisoned and tortured. Only a few Christians had the foresight to bury their Bibles deep underground, where they would remain for several decades. For many years, thousands of Christians were tortured unspeakably for not denying Christ or betraying fellow believers to the same torture. In 1965, during Mao’s reign of terror, Christians in China were afraid to accept anything that looked like a normal Bible, but in 1971 Brother David and a colleague, Brother Andrew (mentioned below) decided to print Little Red New Testaments for the church in China, so they could read God’s word without arousing suspicion. They were the exact dimensions and outward appearance. In 1972 the first order of 25,000 was shipped to Hong Kong, India, Laos and Thailand. Their network of Christians also smuggled in 50,000 Gospels of John through Laos. By 1973, the ‘underground’ church in China had flourished and grown at least 400% since 1949. In 1974 Brother David learned of a Christian couple, Papa and Mama Kwang, who were connected to hundreds of house churches throughout China. In prison the guards had demanded that Papa acknowledge Mao and denounce Christ, but he refused. Although they put poisonous snakes around his neck, none ever bit him. Mama saw a vision of thousands of Christians working together to build a trench, and water flowed through it across China and into other nations of the world. That vision renewed her faith despite being locked in a tiny, dark, filthy cell for years. (Not sure whether or not this was Mama, but one lady volunteered for ‘hard labor’ by cleaning other prisoners’ cells. She used that opportunity to share the Gospel with many hundreds of people who had never heard of Christ became believers and were given hope). After their release, in 1978, the Kwangs asked Brother David to bring them 1,000 Bibles to distribute. Previously, through the power of prayer and faith, Christians had brought in 50 and 100 at a time in suitcases through airports and also overland through India and Nepal on donkeys. In spring 1979, Brother David asked Papa and Mama Kwang what the believers in China needed most. They replied, “We need 30,000 Bibles right away!” On faith, he had already ordered 30,000 Chinese Bibles from the Hong Kong Bible Society the previous week! (The Kwangs said that 30,000 would meet their immediate needs, but they really needed a million). Brother David replied, “Let’s start with 30,000 for now.” Open Doors mailed 90,000 prayer letters around the world (without any specific details) to pray for Project Rainbow. It came to fruition in October 1979, when 18 teams, including Japanese Christians, smuggled those 30,000 Bibles into Hong Kong. Chinese Christians brought them across the bridge to Shenzhen. Again, through the power of intercessory prayer, not one Bible was confiscated by customs agents (even when they saw and touched the Bibles), and everyone reached a believer in China. Before the 1981 operation to smuggle a million Bibles into China via boat, many Christians around the world were given messages to pray for something called “pearl” even though the project was top secret. From opendoorscanada.com: “On June 18, 1981, Open Doors smuggled one million Bibles onto a beach in China. It was the culmination of a massive effort known as Project Pearl. They were met by Chinese Christians who received the Bibles and distributed them in the country.” AI overview: “Project Pearl was carried out by an international crew of 20, led by Brother David…a delivery of one million Bibles into China…on a [specific] day in June 1981… Logistical Planning: Delivering one million Bibles required careful planning, including coordinating the tugboat and barge, the 20 missionaries involved, and the overall route into China. This…would have involved choosing a day that allowed for the successful execution of the mission. Stealth Operation: The delivery was a secret operation, and choosing a specific day likely meant considering weather conditions, potential security risks, and other factors that might [make] the operation easier to conceal. Window of Opportunity: The delivery might have been timed to coincide with a specific period when the Chinese authorities [were] less likely to detect their activities, or when other events might have diverted their attention. The project leaders asked God for guidance in finding the right tugboat. None were available in Manila or Hong Kong, but in Singapore they found the one they had seen in dreams and visions. (Brother David was booked on Qantas from New Zealand to the Philippines via Australia, but a timely airline strike caused him to reroute through Singapore on Air New Zealand instead). In Singapore, the owner asked for $750,000 for the tugboat, but Brother David negotiated down to $480,000. He and his team paid a $100,000 deposit (thanks to donations from Christians in New Zealand, Australia and Japan). The deposit would be forfeit if the remaining $380,000 wasn’t paid within ten days. They prayed in faith, without mentioning the need to anyone, and exactly enough funds arrived on exactly the tenth day, from Christians in California. (In the mid-1960s, the pastor of that church had at great sacrifice to himself bought David a small $8 leather pocket Bible. David later used that same Bible as a model to help design the Project Pearl Bibles). The team named the tugboat Michael. God also worked miracles in the Philippines so they could build a submersible barge. They named it Gabriella (instead of Gabriel) to avoid alerting the Hong Kong port authorities that Christians would be arriving. Thomas Nelson Publishers of Nashville, Tennessee agreed to print the Bibles on credit and in absolute secrecy. The Bibles were pocket size, leather bound, 629 pages long. Each one cost $1.25 each to print, shrink-wrap and box (90 per box) and shrink-wrap again. From Nashville the Bibles were transported on a fleet of 18-wheelers to San Francisco, California, to be wrapped again for watertightness and buoyancy. When the binding machine broke down near midnight, the teenage volunteers laid their hands on it and prayed. It started working again, continuing until the moment two new binding machines were brought in the next morning. The original plan was to ship the Bibles to the Philippines and then bring them by barge to China. However, a Chinese man warned them that Communist spies already knew about the plan. Instead, they shipped the Bibles directly to Hong Kong. While Project Pearl was being organized, seven blind Chinese Christian ladies traveled by boat from Hong Kong to Shantou, bringing messages typed in Braille between the Kwangs and Brother Joseph (a Chinese Filipino, a crucial outside contact who believers in China could trust). The Chinese authorities never suspected these blind ladies. AI Overview: “…the barge Gabriella was loaded with 232 waterproof, poly-wrapped, one-ton blocks containing one million Chinese Bibles. Each of these blocks had 48 watertight boxes, each containing 90 Bibles.” Another miracle was that although all the wrapped cases of Bibles could never have physically fit onto Gabriella, somehow, they all fit perfectly, and all were successfully loaded at the warehouse in Hong Kong. Next, they headed to the small port of Shantou (formerly Swatow), a small fishing village, perfect for the crew’s training exercises. The Kwang’s son Daniel had recommended the location. They planned to approach the beach with Michael and Gabriella, submerge her, unload the Bibles, and leave. The project was originally planned for April, but Brother Andrew (author of “God’s Smuggler”) called Brother David to warn him of impending danger. He also had several misunderstandings (based on rumors) to clear up. (God instructs us to always reconcile with our brother before bringing our gift to the altar). Without a doubt, God caused the delay, because there would have been disaster on the original date. Also, the postponement enabled the crew to find a more secluded beach, heal a pre-existing lack of unity, and also gave them much-needed additional time to practice their speed, accuracy and teamwork. On the day of the operation, God sent unusually calm weather, so the sea was like glass, and delivery went smoothly. The million Bibles were unloaded from Gabriella in two hours to float in the bay. Chinese believers later testified that they had seen angels on the beach and out in the bay before Michael and Gabriella arrived. Approximately 20,000 Chinese Christians were hiding nearby to help unload the Bibles and then distribute them through a network of believers. They also had fishing boats ready to tow the floating blocks to shore. The team had sent $75,000 into China so their contacts could buy or rent buses and trucks, and paid train and bus fares for hundreds of believers traveling from far away to and from Shantou. The Bibles were eventually distributed to 11 of China’s 23 provinces. By December, Chinese believers requested two million more Bibles. Project Pearl had involved thousands of intercessors. They had been asked to pray to help bring God’s word into China. Many people prayed non-stop for 72 hours during the delivery. Brother David and Brother Andrew had prayed for weeks beforehand. Also, the local authorities, alerted by an unbelieving fisherman, were so busy trying to destroy the 5% of the Bibles they did see that the other 95% they didn’t notice were successfully delivered. Eventually most of the 5% was salvaged from the sea by local fishermen, dried on roofs, and sold to Christians for a few pennies. The Bibles not burnt were thrown into a latrine, but the pages were dried and sprayed with perfume, and treasured, nevertheless. Another miracle was that God provided a great storm just in time for Michael and Gabriella and the crew to escape. They were all terribly seasick, but the storm provided cover, so the Chinese authorities didn’t bother to pursue them. After Project Pearl’s successful completion, anyone suspected of involvement was captured and interrogated by the authorities. Pastor John, an elderly church leader asked to deliver 10,000 Bibles, asked a Christian farmer to hide them under his barn. He was arrested, taken to prison and interrogated, but never denied Christ or revealed names of any fellow Christians. He just closed his eyes and prayed silently. The guards bound his hands behind his back and made him stand on a wooden box with a noose around his neck tied to a beam. For 12 days he stood before the guards and praised God, singing hymns, without food, water or sleep. God gave him strength and courage to hold out. Finally on the 13th day a rainstorm soaked him and the wind shook the box. His swollen legs were numb and gave way. He fell and lost consciousness, but he awoke to see the awestruck guards, giving him water and asking him about the God who had sent a bolt of lightning to cut the rope without harming him. “Please don’t die! We want to know your God! Please, uncle, help us to know your Jesus!” They became Christians from that moment, as well as dozens of other guards and prisoners who heard what happened. Realizing they risked God’s wrath if they continued to persecute John, the authorities released him. Immediately he dug up the 10,000 Bibles and distributed them. Authorities in one town had given another elderly man extra housing and food rations, but he shared them with other Christians, so they were confiscated. While lying in his tiny shack, he watched as a rat chewed threw the wall and left him some nuts and vegetables. Every day for many months (as long as he needed it) the rat brought provisions, and even extra on the days when the man expected a visitor. This was like I Kings 17:2-6, when God instructed ravens to feed Elijah every morning and evening until the Brook Cherith dried up. A young man received one of the Bibles after praying for one for three years. After reading it three times in three weeks, he heard God calling him to preach the gospel in the countryside. He began his ministry in Fujian Province. By 1986 he had become the leader of a house church network with over 400,000 Christians. After Project Pearl, Christians smuggled Bibles into China by millions, then tens of millions, for several more decades. (See Brother David’s book “God’s Smuggler to China” and Brother Andrew’s book “God’s Smuggler” about believers in eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine and other countries. His later book “Secret Believers” is about Muslim background believers]. Because two Bible smugglers had been murdered and several more severely tortured, and because it was not cost effective, Brother David and his associates decided not to smuggle Bibles anymore. Instead, they legally purchased Bibles from Amity Press and distributed them to house churches. From 1992-1994 they ordered 1.1 million more. In 1995 they asked God for five million more. In today’s China, it’s technically not illegal to own a Bible – if it’s the officially sanctioned Three-Self version, printed by Amity Press in limited numbers, strictly controlled, and requiring registration. (Around 2023 the CCP produced a new version of the Bible). The Three-Self Church doesn’t allow children to attend services, even if it claims to. They claim that China has “plenty” of Bibles – to discourage Westerners from sending any. They also claim that China has “freedom of religion” (but only to attend their state-sponsored, compromising, spiritually dead churches). Brother Yun writes in “The Heavenly Man”: “These [Communist] leaders have severely restricted what Three-Self Church pastors and members are allowed to do. Ministry is not allowed without their permission. Evangelism is discouraged. All outreach to children is strictly banned. They even decree that certain parts of the Bible cannot be preached, such as the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. They are not allowed to teach on divine healing, or the deliverance of demons. The entire Book of Revelation is banned! In the house churches we simply couldn’t adhere to such control and interference. We believe that Jesus is the head of his church, not the government. We broke away from the Three-Self Church and took a firm stand against all attempts to bring us under its control. For a while the house churches in China were experiencing division, because various denominations were including their own tracts and books with shipments of Bibles, but the house church leaders eventually realized that the differences between the denominations were not about anything important, so (after being advised to wash one another’s feet) they finally put aside their differences and reestablished unity. Their current mission since 2000 is “Back to Jerusalem,” with the goal of sending out 100,000 missionaries along the three routes of the Silk Road to share the Gospel with many tribes and peoples who have never heard the name of Jesus. They have a website, as does Asia Harvest, which no longer smuggles Bibles in, but prints them within China, in partnership with the house church networks. Other Christians still smuggle in Bibles, which is also commendable, but not as cost-effective, and some have been tortured and martyred. Of course, most of these believers don’t know about the Sabbath and holy days, but God honors their zeal and commitment to what they do know. Either they will survive into the Millennium and lead many others to Christ, or they will awaken in the second resurrection and finally learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Editor’s Note: We do not listen to video links or read print material that is linked to items we print, so we may or may not agree with those links. We only look at print material that is sent to us for print. Laura Lee |
Views: 9