New Evidence of God Influencing Chinese Civilization

(BGU) The history of Western civilization often focuses on the influence of Judaism and Christianity. Would it surprise us to learn:

• Many ancient Chinese written characters have their origins in the stories of Genesis?

• The Chinese emperors started sacrificing an unblemished calf to the "God above the emperor" around 1500 BC and continued to do so each winter solstice until the 1920's?

• No images or idols were ever allowed to depict the "God above the emperor", who was considered to be holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, and forgiving?

• Many of the earliest Chinese Emperors understood this yearly sacrifice was a priestly duty to atone for the sins of their people?

• Huge altar complexes were created in the emperor's cities for this yearly sacrifice, including the last one called 'the Altar of Heaven,' located in Beijing in a complex even larger than the Forbidden City?

Chinese businessman Chan Kei Thong wrote a book now available in the US called Faith of Our Fathers: God in Ancient China, which tracks the influence of Christianity in Chinese culture. Amazingly, Chan Kei has found quotes by Confucius acknowledging the importance of the yearly atonement sacrifice. Chan Kei also found clear astrological records confirming a convergence of three bright stars in the east in the spring of 5BC (estimated date of Jesus' birth) and a solar eclipse around AD31 (estimated date of Jesus' crucifixion). Ancient Chinese astrologers amazingly connected these occurrences to God initiating an atonement sacrifice.

In addition to the evidence of God's work in the earliest formation of Chinese civilization presented in Chan Kei's book, other historians have found evidences of later influences that have impacted modern China:

• Records indicate that Christianity arrived in China in AD 635 with Nestorian missionaries and heavily influenced the emperor's court over the next 300 years;

• A 'Buddhist' pagoda built in the 8th century AD has a nativity relief on the 2nd floor, and upon further investigation, it was discovered that it was originally a Christian church;

• The father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, was a Christian, converted by his wife whose sister married and also converted the founder of Taiwan to Christianity.

When God calls us to mission either in our community or across the world, we can assume that He has already preceded us in ways that would confound our imaginations. Too often we have such a need to get our plans and strategies recognized by people, whom we are convinced desperately need them, that we fail to listen carefully to how God has already prepared more powerful plans and strategies in their hearts and lives.

It is not surprising that studying the influence of Judaism and Christianity in Chinese history has not been a priority in the last century among Chinese government historians. What is maybe more surprising is that those of us in the West failed to discover earlier that we were not bringing something new to Chinese culture, but rather awakening and revealing what God had put there long before many of our own cultures existed.

Chan Kei's book is available through Campus Crusade for Christ. It is an inspiring read demonstrating that when Jesus called us to witness to the outermost reaches of the world after his resurrection, God had already been preparing the ground in various cultures of the world for thousands of years. It is a pungent reminder to listen for where God has preceded us in our work, family, church, community and mission in the world before we impose our own plans and strategies.