Volume 46 - No. 39
September 29, 2016
By Friedrich Gomez
It is the most widely-read book on Earth, yet no individual person or religious group completely fathoms all its mysteries. For anyone or any religious faith to claim total and perfect knowledge of this ancient and holy book, would – most assuredly – be quickly criticized by the world’s foremost Bible scholars, theologians, and leading experts, everywhere.
MYSTERIOUS POWER. This one, single embodiment of ancient prophecy and historicity was once banned in China, allowing Chairman Mao Tse-Tung’s “Little Red Book” (aka “Quotations from Chairman Mao”) to be the most widely-read book in all of China – but only by default. Mao Tse-Tung’s “Little Red Book” vs. the Christian Bible was hardly a legitimate horse race in terms of popularity, especially when the opponent’s best steed was left locked in the barn, as Chairman Mao had arranged when he locked down the so-called Good Book by declaring it illegal. Additionally, Mao’s Little Red Book was not an option – it was a requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry at all times. That was the law. China’s widespread ban on the Bible was lifted decades ago, and then sporadically popped up again, confusing even Chinese residents, themselves, if ownership of a Christian Bible was legal or not.
In 2008, China officially banned the Bible (again), this time it was prohibited at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which stirred worldwide controversy and disappointment, especially from Christians. Adding insult to injury to the world of Christianity, the Islamic religion’s Qur’an was not banned – only the Christian book, encompassing both the Old and New Testaments.
Despite these sporadic set-backs and disadvantages in the world’s most populated country of China, the shocking emergence of Bible sales continued to skyrocket (even in Mainland China), making it officially the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book in world history, with printed estimates of well over 5-billion copies, according to the most reliable of sources.
On Monday, December 17, 2007, Time magazine officially reported a most shocking revelation. China’s newest bestseller is: the Bible. Despite the on-again-off-again controversial banning of the Old and The Paper - 760.747.7119
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New Testament, the world’s most heavily-populated nation (numbering over 1.4 billion Chinese) still wished to own one! Why?
This is an intoxicating testimonial to the Bible’s popularity, considering the historical disadvantages in a Communist nation, cultural suppressions, illegality, non-awareness of its very existence, various bans, and vehement competition from far older, more established religious faiths within Mainland China. Considering all of the setbacks and negatives above, the emergence of the Bible’s popularity in China is, well, nothing short of miraculous!
Just last year, in April of 2015, the Obituaries Memorials Area Services Page 12
Associated Press wire services picked up on a story from the largest circulated Chinese newspaper, China Daily, which is published in the People’s Republic of China in three languages: Chinese, English, and French. This most widely-read Chinese newspaper -- which is run by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China -- made a most unexpected worldwide splash with a long-held admission, now made public. The officially atheistic Communist-run China Daily could suppress the truth no longer: the world’s largest printer of Bibles is now based in East China and, according to the Communist newspaper’s own report, “Although it faces challenges, the company aims to maintain production by embracing the modern world.”
The initial Communist Party idea of keeping the Christian Bible out of the hands of its citizenry proved to have a shelf-life. It was only a matter of time when the lid suppressing Biblical Scripture -- finally blew off in China!
As sensational as these events were to outsiders, the struggle within was far more remarkable. “In the 1980s, many believers in China could not afford a Bible, or they had nowhere to purchase one,” reports Chang Wei, of China Daily newspaper. “Later, some people even had to copy the book word by word from their smartphones. The content of the Bible was far more important than the slow, tortuous method of retrieving it.” Apparently, that’s how much the Chinese people were curious about it. They wanted to read it. Discover it.
The Power of a Book! Continued on Page 2