Chinese pastor, wife slain at church served by Lottie Moon

That headline is from the Florida Baptist Witness, a magazine serving Southern Baptists in Florida. I had to read it, I couldn't quite believe it. But sure enough, on August 31, a man came into the church office and killed the 80+ year old pastor and his wife. From the FBW: "Pastor Qin Jia Ye and his wife Hong En He, both in their 80s, were killed in the church’s office on Wednesday."
Back to the killer in a second. But a little about Chinese Christianity.

This church, Penglai Christian Church, was closed for almost 50 years but reopened in 1988 with 20 members. That was the year before the Tienanmen Square Massacre. China had been loosening their grip on their citizens a little, but of course Communists can loosen up too much or the people get their way and over throw it.

For a number of years after reopening, the church reported over 300 baptisms a year. Today the membership is approximately 3600. They built a new sanctuary with the help of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga. And they have welcomed numerous Christian and Baptist groups who have come to China and wanted to see where Lottie Moon worked and served and won many to Christ.
Lottie died in 1912, before the Communist revolution really took hold. Eric Liddell (The Flying Scotsman of Chariots of Fire) served in china during the growth of the communist party but was imprisoned by the Japanese, who had occupied China, in 1943.
Watchman Nee and thousands of others were imprisoned by the Chinese Communist government, tortured, brainwashed and many were never released.
After the Tienanmen Massacre of 1989 there were several years of great revival with thousand of people saved in China and the exponential growth of house churches. By 1994 the Communists, in league with Satan, began to crack down on churches of all kinds. Still imprisoning Christian pastors and workers. Still torturing and brainwashing. But, the church goes on like the army that it is.
Not an army of sword and cannon, but of faith and grace and truth. And daily there are added to the Lord those who would be saved.

Who killed Pastor Qin Jia Ye and his wife Hong En He? They have arrested a 40 year old man who was a former member of the church. He was arrested within an hour and authorities say he entered the church with an axe and struck them both.
He has not been convicted, I have no knowledge of whatever evidence they have against him and no reason to doubt them...except of course that the government has harassed, killed, and tortured, Christians for over 60 years.

Who killed them? I don't know, but I know this. The great early church father Tertullian once said, "The Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church." This does not mean that even though martyrdom happens God can overcome it. No, it means much more than that.

Read the paragraph below from http://www.reformationtheology.com/2006/05/the_blood_of_the_martyrs.php

[Tertullian's,] “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” has a depth of insight too often lost on believers today. We have no trouble thinking of persecution and martyrdom as a great obstacle to the spread of the gospel which will not, however, be successful in hindering Church growth. ...But to say that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church is an altogether different concept. If martyrdom is an obstacle to the growth of the Church, then the Church might advance just as well, even better, without it. But if the blood of the martyrs truly is the seed of the Church, then without it, the Church does not grow. Without martyrdom, the Church would never have taken root in the world of Tertullian. Without martyrdom, the Church would not have spread to the Auca Indians in South America, or to China or Burma or the islands of the South Seas. The blood of the martyrs is a necessary means for the worldwide application of Christ’s great redemptive accomplishment. This is the full force of Tertullian’s insight...

I think Pastor Qin Jia Ye is a martyr for his Savior. He died in service to the Lord. Let's pray that thousands more come to Christ as a result of His graduation to Heaven!

Love you guys, and may God help me to be ready to be a martyr for Him. Its ONLY when I think of How Much He has forgiven me, that I realise how much I owe Him and love Him.

Clark