Scriptures in China: The Word Within And Without

According to a news article, apparently the ministry Vision Beyond Borders had about 300 Bibles confiscated by customs at the airport in Kunming. It appears that the organization was hoping to distribute the Bibles to those of this city in China.

According to the China Daily, here, Amity Printing factory (located in Nanjing, Jiangsu) is ‘China's biggest Bible producer, [and] has made over 5 million Bibles for Chinese churches in the past two years and exported about 5 million copies in roughly 75 languages.’ This agency claimed to have printed 30,000 copies of the New Testament (one picture shows English Standard Version) to distributed free during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Though, according to this report, China controls the printing of the Bible and only allows them to be used in government authorized churches and the larger hotels which accommodate tourists.

Just at a glance, this does cause one to ponder why such the fuss. If indeed, China has authorized the freely giving out of 30,000 copies of the Word within their country, why would they deny the entry of a mere 300 more copies of the Word for the same purpose? Version perhaps?

According to Vision Beyond Borders’ website, they acknowledge:

In China and other countries closed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Bible has been valued over life in some instances. Knowing they need God’s Word in order to be spiritually free, people endure imprisonment, beatings, and loss of life to keep God’s word alive in their country. Hundreds of people may share the same Bible, spending countless hours hand copying it.

It appears that Klein is no stranger to the spiritual warfare surrounding the spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through the written Scripture since he has been involved in missions for over twenty years according to the website testimony, and his Vision Beyond Borders’ ministry began in 1994 (though originally under the name Asian Vision).

I am not here to promoted Patrick Klein, for I do not personally know him or his ministry, but I am happy to hear that such a ministry exist in the reaching the world with the precious gospel of Jesus Christ. I am also happy to hear that even inside China, there is being Bibles produced and distributed. Even if they are not as freely and available as we would like, every copy of the Word opens the door to unfathomable potential that can be used by the Holy Spirit inside of China.

May we be mindful of the spiritual battles that constantly take place in the material realm, putting our faith in Christ, obeying the moving of the Holy Spirit, trusting God will have His will and way in all matters. Though it sometimes seems the evil one may have his way over us, be of good cheer, for we know our great King has overcome him at Calvary. True, our lives and ministries are not empty of set backs, but may we press on finding hope in Christ and not in ourselves, knowing that souls in this world need the message of the Savior.

So, whether it is the printed Word within China, or the Word printed from without China making its way in, may the Spirit of God grant it safe passage to the hearts of those who desperately need Christ.