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September - October 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
The Seventh Day Sabbath Movement in China
by Paul Wong
The Chang-An Monument
It was in the year 1625; the Jesuits had infiltrated the fabric
of the Chinese cultured classes, when a sensational discovery
was made. A large monument stone inscribed with nineteen hundred
Chinese characters, and fifty Syrian words, was unearthed just
outside the walls of Chang-An, the ancient capital of the Tang
Dynasty. The news of this discovery caused a bustle of
excitement in the ancient metropolitan city, and thousands were
anxious to know what information about their cultural heritage
was hidden in the writing.
The Jesuits, who were regarded as the teachers and scholars,
were immediately summoned to decipher the inscriptions. To the
astonishment of these haughty priests, there before their eyes,
was a description of the prestigious position, and vast extent
of the seventh-day Sabbath-keeping Christian Church of the East
of a millennia before!
The ancient Chinese characters were inscribed in 781 AD, at the
command of Emperor Tae-Tsung, to honor the arrival of an
Assyrian missionary and his companions to the capitol in the
year 635 AD from Ta Tsin, or Judea. The stone revealed beliefs
and practices of the primitive Christian church, which were
unrelated and out of harmony with the Roman Catholic beliefs.
One of the passages reads: "On the Seventh Day we
offer sacrifices after having purified our hearts, and received
absolution from our sins. This religion, so perfect and so
excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by
its brilliant precepts."
In a state of shock, the Jesuits, and the Mandarins, a class of
scholarly religious Chinese rulers, worked to alter the Chinese
characters to reflect the Catholic doctrines, for if the
expectant population were to learn what the stone really said,
it would greatly damage their beliefs in the Catholic doctrines,
and diminish the influence of the Mandarins.
But something very different from what was expected
resulted. Today, after carefully comparing the known facts of
history with an examination of the historical and doctrinal
facts written on the stone, a fraud is obvious.
The Chang-An Monument, or the "speaking stone," as it is called,
is considered to be as important a find as the Rosetta
Stone, for it had the inscriptions in more than one
language. The truth was preserved because the Jesuits were not
able to read the inscription that was in Syrian.
"From the reading of the stone today, an irrefutable fact of
history quickly becomes obvious-that ancient Sabbath-keeping
Christianity had been very prominent and extensive throughout
the Orient as late as the eighth and ninth centuries." Excerpt
from Our Sabbath Heritage by James
Arrabito. (Web Site: http://www.tagnet.org/llt/jimart.htm)
The Taiping Christians
In the year 1837 a brilliant 24 year old Chinese schoolteacher
named Hong Xiuquan saw an extraordinary vision when he was
recuperating from an illness. This vision was recorded by
Theodore Hamberg, a missionary of the Basel Evangelical Society
to China (a Swiss institution). In the vision Hong was seemingly
transported to the presence of a Great Sovereign Ruler. There he
was confronted by an old woman who said to him, "You dirty man,
why have you kept company with those people and defiled
yourself? I must now wash you clean." In the vision Hong was
taken to a river and washed in the water. After this he was
conducted into a large building where his heart and other inward
parts were removed and replaced by new ones! Then he was given a
sword, a seal, and to eat, fruit that he found sweet to his
palate. Upon awakening, he was astounded at the vision, but
could not determine its meaning. When Hong fully regained his
health, he began to reform his conduct as best he knew.
He continued with his teaching profession for several years and
gave no thought of his vision. Then one day his cousin Le
searched through his bookcase and noted a set of books entitled
Good Words for Exhorting the Age. In the
books were many chapters, texts, sermons and essays on the Holy
Bible. Hong had read the books many years previously but when he
read them one more time he was amazed to find that the
description of the texts gave him the partial explanation of his
vision. He learned about the heavenly Father is the Great
Sovereign Ruler in his vision and that Jesus was sent as the
Savior. He read that he needed to repent of his sins and be
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:38) From
the Bible he then understood the meaning of being washed by the
water in the river and of having his heart and inward parts
renewed. Hong and his cousin Le then baptized one another. They
prayed to God, promised not to worship evil spirits and to cast
away idols. Hong returned to south-central China where he
preached the Lord Jesus Christ and baptized nearly 2,000 souls.
They had formed "the congregations of the worshipers of God" and
later became known as the "Taiping" Christians. Continuous study
of the Bible convinced Hong that his people should not smoke
tobacco or opium, a drug that the British were selling to the
Chinese. They refrained from intoxicating drinks.
The Taipings also learned from the Bible that they should
observe the Sabbath. It is amazing that although Monday is
called Day One and Saturday is called Day Six by the Chinese,
yet the Taipings were able to recognize Saturday as the correct
Seventh Day Sabbath. Lin-Le wrote in his book,Ti-Ping
Tien-Kwoh
"Converts must kneel down in God's presence, and ask Him to
forgive their sins. Following baptism they must continue daily
to supplicate Divine favor, and the Holy Spirit's assistance to
renew their hearts. They must say grace at every meal, observe
the seventh day Sabbath and obey God's commandments, especially
avoiding idolatry. They may then be accounted worthy to be
called the children of God." (from Lin-le's book, page
315).
"The Taiping Christians were asked why they observed the seventh
day Sabbath. They replied that it was, first, because the Bible
taught it, and second, because their ancestors observed it as a
day of worship." - A Critical History of the
Sabbath and Sunday.
Due to their resolute stand for biblical truths, the Taipings
were confronted by opposition on every side. The Manchurian
dynasty regarded them as rebels and fought against them. In
abolishing idols, the Taipings naturally destroyed the images of
Mary and the saints as well as those of the Buddhists. The
Jesuits became angry at them. They persuaded the French forces
in China to support the ruling Manchus to crush them. Next, the
British and American missionaries were jealous of the Taipings
because barely 1,500 Chinese people had joined them whereas
millions had joined the Taipings. The missionaries began a
deliberate campaign against the Taipings. They accused them of
rejecting the Bible, of denying Jesus Christ, and of
slaughtering innocent victims. British commercial agents
interested in selling opium to the Chinese, became concerned by
the loss of revenue. There was an open military conflict between
the Manchus and the Taipings. Hong sought help and assistance
from foreign countries but, unfortunately, none came. In sorrow,
he withdrew from all contact with foreigners, but continued to
study the Bible with the faithful. Because of foreign intrigue,
larger and superior Manchu army and religious persecution, most
of these faithful Chinese Seventh Day Sabbath keepers, including
Hong Xiuquan, perished in their struggle. Information from The Dramatic Story of Chinese Sabbath Keepers
by Herman L. Hoeh.
Sabbath Movement in the True Jesus Church
The Sabbath Movement within the True Jesus Church is connected
with the Pentecostal Movement. In September 1909, Lin-Shen
Chang, a Presbyterian deacon in Shandong, went to the Apostolic
Faith Mission in Shanghai to study the Bible and prayed for the
baptism of the Holy Spirit through the "laying-on" of
hands. After staying there for two weeks he did not receive the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, so he went home and continued with
his quest for another two months. On the morning of December 21,
1909, he was baptized with the Holy Spirit and spoke with
tongues. God also revealed to him the importance of observing
the Seventh Day Sabbath. He discussed the observance of the
Sabbath with Pastor Henderson, an American missionary from the
Apostolic Faith Mission. In July 1916, Pastor Henderson also
began to observe the Sabbath. Later Pastor Henderson joined the
Assembly of God and reverted to worship on Sunday.
Paul Wei was originally a member of the London Mission in
Beijing. He had a serious illness that no doctor or medicine
could heal. He went to the Apostolic Faith Mission. Through
prayer and laying-on of hands he was healed. One day, while he
was praying at home, he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit
and spoke with tongues. He sold his fabric store and started a
house church. The Holy Spirit impressed upon him to fast for 39
days. While fasting Paul Wei received the revelation of the
baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ with head bowed in the living
water. He began to preach using the name "International Reformed
Jesus True Church". In 1917, the Holy Spirit inspired the name
to be changed to the True Jesus Church. The word "True"
represents God; Jesus is the mediator between God and man. The
church is subject to Jesus and God.
In the Spring of 1918, Lin-Shen Chang went to the True Jesus
Church in Tiensin to meet Paul Wei. Among other subjects they
discussed the observance of the Seventh Day Sabbath. Paul Wei
agreed to keep the Sabbath and from that time onwards the
Seventh Day Sabbath became one of the cardinal tenets of faith
in the True Jesus Church.
Paul Wong is a minister of the True Jesus Church in
Houston. His ministry, ARK International, also serves as an
architectural service company in Houston, Texas. The ARK Forum
on the Internet is international and nondenominational. Web
Site:
http://www.geocities.com/ark_pw. E-mail: ark@pdq.net. Readers wishing to
contact ARK International may write to: P.O. Box 19707,
Houston, Texas, 77224-9707, U.S.A.
TSS
September - October 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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