Author foresees China becoming Christianized

He found out that Chinese Christians “have an astonishing sense of call to the Muslim world and the Arab world.”

“It is really striking. Americans do not stand the chance of being credible missionaries.

“Chinese Christians believe they are called to complete the last phase of the Great Commission. This involves evangelizing all of the nations and ethnic groups between China and Israel. This corresponds to the concept of the ‘10/40 Window,’ a concept of which Chinese Christians are aware.

(World evangelism identifies an area of Africa and Asia from 10 degrees latitude north of the equator to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator as containing 55 of the world’s least- evangelized countries, with 97 percent of their populations living within the 10/40 Window.)

“Chinese Christians are overwhelmingly evangelical and pro-Israel. They are also very removed from the intense sentiments of the Middle East.”

There is still persecution of Christians in China.

“In some of the inland areas, local officials are much harder on Christians,” he said. “The Communists know that almost nobody in China believes in communism. But if you have an alternative belief system, then even that likelihood goes down. The capitalists don’t care about Communists as long as they allow free enterprise to take place. Christians think much more deeply than others about corruption.”

“However,” Mr. Aikman added, “in the coastal areas, officials are much more hands-off. Christians are seen as contributors to the economy.” There is “a pragmatic realization” by the government officials, he added, that Christians work very hard and pay taxes.

“Many foreigners come to teach English and they share the Gospel. Yes, it is safe. The Chinese know what they are doing. The reason they put up with it is that Christian foreign teachers are of much better value than others. So while they are surreptitiously spreading the Gospel, there is a trade-off.”

Although China’s Communist rulers hope to reap the social and economic benefits of Christianity without losing power, the Chinese dragon, he said, just might be tamed by the Christian lamb.