Guest Author - Diana Pederson
C. Hope FinchBaugh. Across the China Sky. Bethany House. 2006.
FinchBaugh has written an important novel based on facts. She likes to write about the persecuted church in countries around the world. This story tells of a village with several house churches, none of which are registered with the Chinese government. These churches can be shut down by the government at any time. The attendees are constantly on alert when strangers enter their churches. They never know when the stranger is a true seeker of the truth or a government spy.
Mei Lin and Chen Liko are the main characters. Liko is a church pastor. He hopes Lin will agree to marry him. The novel begins by describing daily life in their rural village. Mei Lin is preparing to go to Shanghai for the summer to assist in a non-sanctioned Christian orphanage. You’ll learn something of what the person running this orphanage goes through to obtain enough funds to purchase even their minimal needs.
Back in her home village, Jade appears, claiming to be a fellow believer. She obviously tries to get close to Liko. Eventually, she brings “good news” to the small house church. She has arranged with someone she knows to take a group of house church leaders to a famous Christian institute to provide “Bible” training for the pastors. Needless to say, they are eager to take this opportunity.
One of their leaders, a woman, feels warned in dreams that this isn’t what it seems to be. The group begins their trip to the institute. However, due to the Chinese police being on the lookout for Christian church leaders, they are taken to individual rural houses instead. There they are told that the teachers will give lessons to small groups.
In the beginning, everything seems okay. However, one leader still feels a sense of wariness she can’t quite explain. She does believe that the group shouldn’t be divided. As the lessons continue, the teachers begin teaching doctrine not based on scripture. Eventually, they begin insisting that Jesus as returned to China as a woman. They also serve a tea that makes the men more likely to be seduced by the “Christian teachers”.
They face horrible torture for not being willing to accept the teachings of the “Eastern Lightening”, taken from Matthew 24:27 which states: “For as lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [KJV].” This group kidnaps Christian leaders and then tries to force them to join the cult. The remainder of the book tells how they try to escape the group.
The story is based on the author’s interview with a church leader in China in 2002. He tells the author that this group is seeking to infiltrate the entire Christian movement in China. He warns that it is also present in the Chinese churches in the United States today. Their goal is to convert all the Chinese churches and then to infiltrate and convert the rest of the Christian churches in the United States.
Recommendation
Although this book is a novel, it is based on true events. Every Christian church leader in the United States today needs to read it be aware of what this cult intends to do. I genuinely fear that many of our lukewarm churches won’t be able to withstand the temptations put in front of Christian leaders by this group. They will crumble with the sexual favors and financial rewards given those who convert.
Buy this book, read it, and begin passing it through your church leadership. TO be forewarned is to be prepared! The book concludes by providing an outline for dealing with this particular cult. I believe the same information could be generalized to many other cult groups today.
NOTE: I define a cult as a group that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. Clearly, putting any other leader ahead of Christ is a sign that the truth isn’t being taught.
