When difficulties arise in the world, it’s tempting to worry about how God’s work will advance. But through your faithful prayers and gifts, the work in the massive country of China is accelerating.
Ministry Report
Because of government restrictions to our websites, our team was pressed to relocate them and create backup sites. After doing this, praise the Lord, the web traffic doubled over the past four months—from 81,124 visits to 167,896. Thank you for cooperating with God in guiding people to truth! (Feel free to visit these sites at: qimiaozhenxiang.com, m.qimiaozhenxiang.com, and amazingfacts.org/chinese-resources.)
God sent us another blessing in disguise. With the pandemic shutting down businesses around the world, Amazing Facts’ Bible School in China has grown. Enrollments last summer were at 5,816, but at the end of April, we are now at 9,557 enrollments. The stay-at-home orders have given people more time to search for answers to the problems happening in our world.
Along with a growing Bible School, Amazing Facts’ social media presence, which you helped create, has shot up! One of the public sites was closed, but the private site went from 8,000 to 14,668 followers. Since we have to move cautiously in our work in this country, we didn’t advertise this private social media site, yet the Holy Spirit led people to find it. God’s work does not slow down when the world is in a crisis!
Testimonies of Changed Lives
Here are just a few stories of people you’ve touched through your support of Amazing Facts China. (Names are changed to protect them.)
Sister Ji writes:
I have believed in Jesus for 15 years. I used to attend a Sunday church near my home. About seven or eight years ago, I became careless and my religious experience went cold. I did many wrong things. Then in 2015, through a very painful experience, I began to really trust Jesus and I regained my faith. Praise the Lord!
Last year, I joined a Christian bookstore WeChat group. One brother posted a video by “Qimiaozhenxiang” [Chinese Amazing Facts]. I clicked on it and was shocked. In the video, Pastor Doug explained why Saturday is the Sabbath. I had been wondering about this for a long time. When Pastor Doug said that we should keep the Sabbath and worship on Saturday, I was startled and confused.
I began to look up the Scriptures presented in the video and saw that the Bible teaches that the Sabbath is on Saturday. I became convinced that Saturday was the Sabbath and that it is the day to go to church and worship God!
So I contacted the Amazing Facts WeChat worker and told him that all the Christian churches that I knew worshiped on Sunday. I asked him if he could help me find a church that keeps the Sabbath. He sent me the address and phone number of the local Sabbath-keeping church. I quickly got in touch with the church and started attending the Sabbath meetings.
Before, I was baptized by sprinkling, but now I am preparing for baptism by immersion later this year. Since last year, I have been watching the videos from Qimiaozhenxiang website. I watch a video every night, and I often share it with my friends. Thank you for your work!”
Brother Li:
Brother Li is a Christian from Wenzhou. He has a fast-paced life and a stressful job that led to depression. He contacted us seeking help and guidance for his situation. Our Internet evangelist prayed with and for him and sent him some material that one of our staff (with medical training and experience in working with depression) had prepared on depression recovery. After just two months of following the steps prescribed in the information, his depression was cured. He thanks God for his healing and thanks to Qimiaozhenxiang for the wonderful information provided.
Brother Zhang:
Zhang wrote, “I have watched your videos, and they teach that we should worship on Saturday. If this is the correct day, why do so many of my brethren worship on Sunday?”
Through one-on-one communication and materials that our Internet evangelist provided Zhang, he came to understand the seventh-day Sabbath. He then decided to tell his church leaders. He said, “I was surprised to find out that they already knew what the Bible taught. But they said we need to follow tradition.”
Even though the nearest Sabbath-keeping church is too far for Zhang to attend, like many Chinese brothers and sisters, he faithfully keeps it at home. Our Internet evangelist also continues to encourage and answer Zhang’s questions. He recently told us, “I’ve been reading the book The Great Controversy that you recommended. Thank God for leading me, and thank you, Qimiaozhenxiang!”
Sister Li:
She writes, “I have believed in Jesus for more than thirty years. I’ve been to many places and listened to many preachers. I also studied the Bible every day, but I still couldn’t understand Daniel and Revelation and had many questions. Also, I wanted to share the Bible with my brothers and sisters. I always wanted to learn more, but I wondered where I could find good study materials.
My husband asked me, “Why do you want to know so much? Isn’t it good enough just to know that you can be saved?” But I said to him, “The Bible was given by God, and it is His will that we understand it.”
My sister sent me some online videos about the mark of the beast and the secret rapture. I spent several months studying it, but I still couldn’t figure it out. All the while, I prayed and asked God to help me understand truth.
Thank God, while surfing the Internet, I found Pastor Doug’s sermons. When I was in school, I could never understand the importance of my history class. But in one of Pastor Doug’s sermons, he compared the Bible with history and answered many of my questions! It made my spiritual eyes light up. From these videos, I began to understand the 2,300-day prophecy, the 144,000, the remnant church, the Sabbath truth, and much more!
I registered for the Qimiaozhenxiang online Bible course and completed two courses and received a certificate of completion.
My family lives in a village in Anhui. My sister built a small place of worship so that my parents would believe in Jesus. In the beginning, only four people came to our meetings, but now about 20 people regularly come—and during the Spring Festival, there are about 30!
Only seven people can read [in her sister’s group], so they registered for the online Bible School. But the rest are not able to study online. So I bought a projector and share pastor Doug’s video sermons with them. We meet every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. We watch one of Pastor Doug’s videos every time, unless there’s no electricity. [As of April 2020, these 20 church members decided to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Praise God!]
Thank you, Qimiaozhenxiang, for the wonderful Bible study materials that we can use when we can’t watch videos. Please pray for me. I am ready and willing to set up a Sabbath-keeping church here and let the Lord lead!
Update on Sichuan Province Work--
Three Sabbath-keeping groups are currently worshiping in an unspecified region in Sichuan Province. Through your gifts, we were able to quickly send a pastor to strengthen the members there and also train them in evangelism.
Here is an update from the pastor:
“A couple of Sunday-keepers related to one of the leaders of our group were opposed to our teachings, but they just recently accepted the truth and were converted! Now they are keeping the Sabbath and living peacefully with our
brethren.
“A husband, an unbeliever, of one of our sisters also opposed the Bible truth. Because he lives in his mother’s home, and it is used as one of the meeting places, he finally yielded to his wife’s and mother’s love and kindness and
is now faithfully attending each Sabbath. He has changed a lot.
“There have also been several others who have recently joined and accepted God’s last-day message due to the influence and witness of these church members.”