Islam Will Fall

The gospel will accomplish what guns and bombs never will.

Islam will fall. This is not the prediction of a diplomat with an ironclad peace treaty, a general with a superweapon ... or even a hippy in his "herb garden." This is the conviction of Brother Yun, a leader in the “underground” church in China living in exile in Western Europe. I recently had a chance to meet Yun and was humbled by the vision he shares with millions of Chinese Christians.

The Back to Jerusalem Vision, the movement Yun represents, is committed to taking the gospel across Asia to the heart of the Muslim world in order to complete the mandate of the Great Commission. Not willing to wait until the guns of the West convince radical Muslims that democracy and freedom are superior to oppression, many in the Chinese church believe that God has strategically chosen them to embrace a task that has befuddled Western missionaries for centuries.

Yun argues that a religion that offers its sons to die in fiery suicide bomb attacks will only be penetrated by a gospel whose adherents are more willing to die as martyrs at the hands of their persecutors than take up the sword in defense of their faith. Since 1949, when the Cultural Revolution began in China, Christians there have demonstrated their willingness to do so.

“Guns and bombs will not change the Muslim world, but the gospel will,” he explains. “Perhaps thousands of Chinese missionaries will die in the evangelization of the Muslim world.”

Lest you think Yun is merely another ivory-tower pacifist, I would encourage you to read his gripping autobiography, The Heavenly Man, in which he recounts his multiple imprisonments and horrific torture at the hands of the Chinese government. Yun is a man who has tasted violent persecution firsthand (e.g., He's been electrocuted, beaten, had needles jammed under his fingernails ...), and he has also seen miraculous intervention--one time walking out of a maximum security prison in full view of the guards (a la Peter, Acts 12), who looked through him, as if he weren't there.

The Back to Jerusalem vision could be a rude awakening for the Western church, which has sometimes assumed the task of the Great Commission single handedly and relied on its satellite broadcasts, Bible translations and tent crusades to get the job done. We can learn from the radical commitment of our Chinese brothers and sisters as they redefine missiology in the 21st century. .

by Matt Green
from The Ministry Report
October 7, 2006