On our way to the airport, the red light came on, our car was overheating and I had to pull off the road. What now, will we ever get to China? After comparing notes with Dan, we realized that we had faced many challenges to get to China this time. It took two or three efforts to get things accomplished. It is not my intention to glorify the hurtles but to exalt the Christ of Calvary who showed us the way and how to jump over them. Nor is it my intention to glorify myself or staff in what we endured in this mission. The privilege of this call cancels all hardships.

I turned my engine off to let it cool and Nancy and I began to pray. It was 6:00 am and we were on our way for a cup of coffee and some doughnuts with my youngest daughter and her husband before heading to the airport. After about 10 minutes, the Holy Spirit told me to start the car and turn on the air conditioning. What this did was to engage one of the radiator fans and it kept the car cool enough to drive, and we sang a song of praise.

We can only imagine the hurtles that these leaders in China had to over come to attend this gathering, besides the 42 hour train ride two of them had to endure.

I want to thank you all for your prayers especially the gifted prayer warriors that intercede for this mission on a regular basis. We are in spiritual warfare as we are directed by the Lord to assist His suffering church in China. The enemy does not want them helped and encouraged in any way. This mission can expect more attacks in the future but always turning to the Lord to make good out of them all.

I shared some of the hurtles with the leaders that came to see us and told them that we need to pray for each other to overcome the attempts of the enemy. The Lord is joining the Free Church with the Persecuted Church by praying for each other.

FIRST MONTH OF TEACHING BEHIND US

Dan, Jeff and our two interpreters Howard and John S. finished their first month of teaching at the training center (t/c) in the Northeast. There are six months to go. The second month of teaching will be in November and the third in April 04. At the end of November there will be 30 students graduating. They will be well equipped by the Word of God to face whatever the future holes for them.

We filmed all sixty teachings so that we can make them available to other t/c’s and others as the Lord leads. I know that Dan in his 66 years has never worked so hard and been so happy to do it. These students will be well equipped to face the future whatever that holds for them.

Early on he went through a bout with heat stroke and recovered and is grateful for all the prayer covering they had.

These students came to learn of Jesus with all their personal hardships and with the inevitable persecution facing them in the future. With sensitivity to their needs, our staff assisted them by counseling each one and through prayer and tears victory came. Dan also gave a mini marriage seminar to the married couples.

With your offering, we supplied 50 Chinese/English Bibles for each student. I will continue to do this with every t/c we become involved in. We buy them in China, in small numbers as not to create suspicion. This effort in no way lessens the other missions that smuggle Bibles into China. The need is great. Also, I purchased an English as a second language workbook and mailed it to Jeff to prepare for November classes. We will supply every student with one of these to meet the need of their desire to learn English.

The leaders are very happy with our mission because we make no demands on them for our service. Dan and I are both house church Christians so we have no kingdoms to build and no churches to add to a denomination. As we observe what the Holy Spirit is doing at this t/c, I am encouraged to look at it as a proto type to expand as the Lord provides opportunity, staff and funds. Before our eyes we see scripture being fulfilled, "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry… that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…"

The marriage seminar offered a rare opportunity for leaders to come with their wives to escape the common pressure of living as a Christian, while being condemned by their government as illegal. One couple said that this is the first time they have been away from home together in 8 years.

We then sponsored a banquet meal for all those that attended. Our wives flew back to the US with Dan and my co-worker Hou and I prepared to head into the interior of China for the third phase of our summer trip.

A CLOSE CALL

We were almost through the first morning session when we were told that the Public Security Bureau (PSB is like our FBI) had entered the building for an inspection. We did not know if this was routine or if they were looking for us. After prayer, we quietly left two by two. We returned and continued the seminar that afternoon. Later on we were told they were back. This time we felt we could continue and ignored the situation. Just in case we were discovered we did prepare ourselves with a plan that was a legitimate secular reason for the gathering.

The next morning all the staff that came from the US changed our hotel just to make sure the tip did not come from there. We took two different taxis so that we could not be traced to our new hotel.

Every time this mission has gone to China, we have encountered some kind of close call. The Lord has been faithful to put a hedge around us and again we know your prayers contributed to this.

A CENTRAL OFFICE THAT IS NO MORE

The third purpose of our trip was to encourage the church in Region #6. The PBS discovered the central office and confiscated all of its documents and funds. It found the list of leaders and arrested and tortured more than 20 leaders and sent them to prison. As many of you know from our SOS prayer alerts we have been praying over 2 two years for them. Now we were to find out what was left of this church.

Until this time, the local police had been sympathetic to this church because of all the good they continued to do for the community when disasters struck. This is a network of 9 areas with about 1,000 churches in each area, which spread into 4 provinces. Its members were above 270,000. A central office was established to service these churches. It was made up of 12 leaders of which Titus was the head. He was arrested over two years ago in another province, which brought in the PSB. He is still in prison and only family can see him for ten minutes at a time.

This central office then ceased to exist and each church now takes care of itself as is more consistent with early church government of no church being larger than its city. I met many of these leaders and my interviews are below.

INTERVIEWING TORTURED CHRISTIANS

What I am about to tell you are truly incredible stories of the Lord’s faithfulness to those tortured and imprisoned. I had to ask them to pick Christian names or I would never remember them. Deborah is CJ’s main contact for this area and she arranged for all the leaders to meet us. There are 5 leaders still in prison and 22 have now served their time and been released. We saw 4 leaders in our motel room and then traveled far by car to see the other 4. I greeted the leaders (John, Rejoice, Miriam and Silas) with affectionate hugs and strong pats on the back. They may forget me but they won’t forget the hugs.

At 4:00 am, John was awakened by the police and pressured to register with the government church. He refused and when they left he then drove to other areas and told the Christians not to gather. They later arrested him and twice they emptied his house of all the furniture. The police had all their pictures on the wall at police headquarters.

Rejoice is a big guy about 6’ 4". When the police caught him, they confiscated everything in the home. The police bring trucks to haul everything away. They even took their food and crops. He recalls; the police used a 2-foot long bamboo rod striking him on the side of his face continually. The bamboo rod shattered and his face was not bruised or swollen. While in prison, they rejoice because the Lord’s presence was with them and their future home in heaven became important and not the one here on earth.

Peter said that the police drugged him and interrogated him for 4 days and 3 nights straight. During this process, his spirit was very clear even though his physical consciousness was blurred. They put the electric baton in his mouth, the back of his neck and on the bottom of his feet. He only told them that he was a believer. He knew God had a purpose for this torture and he prayed hard and ran toward the goal. What you just read is a profound statement and that is why I put it in bold print. Lord help us to do the same.

Even in the midst of suffering, the Christians stood firm in their faith in Jesus. The police persecutors wanted to find out how they could stand firm. One police persecutor told a woman in the police station (not knowing that she was an underground Christian) why is the electric baton not working on Christians?

The local churches are being restored now in the midst of the persecution. The persecution they just went through really made them better Christians. When the Christians leave prison they share the testimonies and miracles they were a part of and continue to serve the Lord faithfully. They say to the Free Church "indeed we really see the power of prayer and the love of Christ. We thank God for your prayers (Free Church) and we ask God to remember your prayers. "Without your prayers of intercession we don’t live" said one leader.

The church grew so fast the only place they could not evangelize was the prison so this persecution allowed them to reach the prisoners. They really got close to God through all this suffering. "For the name of Jesus, we will stand and not fail." With quiet times in prison, they were intimate with the Lord. Other prisoners could not understand why the Christians were put in prison for no crime. All respected them and the warden made them cell leaders and those cells became top models. The warden told them he trusts them fully without a doubt. New prisoners were told, "you have now come to your new home."

Next, we left our hotel and traveled for about 2 hours into a very poor region. The leaders and their wives greeted us and fed us a good meal. They were Caleb, Elijah, Elisha and Joseph. Caleb was a model prisoner and the warden eventually made him the chef and the head of his cell. They asked the warden if they could have a Christmas party and he agreed. Every one was happy and they passed out cookies as a gift. One prisoner was released and came back to tell them he had become a Christian.

When Elisha focused on the Lord, things worked out. When he focused on other things they would not work out. At first, Elisha was in fear when he entered prison. He met another brother and they prayed together and things changed. By prison standards, he was tortured way beyond normal. They used 3 electric batons at once on him. He was knocked down from the shock and they put the probe on his head so long that it burned his scalp. The church prayed for him. He became the best production worker and the prison officials apologized for torturing him so bad. They said they would make up for the bad treatment. The warden treated him very well, and the other prisoners asked if he bribed the warden. He was released 24 days early.

Every new member of the church now has to be screened to make sure they are not a spy, Three Self-Church member or Eastern Lightning Cult person.

Joseph told us of this Christian woman that was arrested, abused and imprisoned. She started to witness and win other prisoners to the Lord. The warden became very angry with her. Many came to the Lord. One day, she received from the converted prisoners some very special food that came from their families that had visited. She took this special food and gave it to the warden. He was so moved that he granted her special light duties and did not interfere with her witnessing to the prisoners. When she was about to be released the prisoners asked the warden if they could have a going away party with a cake for this Christian lady. He granted them permission, and perhaps this is the only such party ever given in a Chinese prison.

Well, I had not seen the whole picture of what the Lord is doing in China until this trip. Many leaders that I had not met before came to the marriage seminar. As I inquired about their churches, they shared with me all the training centers (t/c’s) they had started. One network is working in 27 areas and have 27 t/c’s, another 5 t/c’s another 4 t/c’s and so on.

One t/c offers a 10-day course, another a 21-day course, two offers a 1-year course and one offers a 3-year course. Most lack teachers and funds to support them. Most teachers have families and need to earn a living as well as exercise their gift of teaching. For the most part, the church in China is young and now has a large appetite for learning about their Lord. The Holy Spirit has encouraged leaders to start training centers to more formally meet this need. This is quite a challenge to look for a secure location to start them. At this point in time, they cannot open enough training centers to fill the need for all that want to attend.

Our mission has been expanded by the Lord to become involved in starting training centers and equipping them with good teaching. On our 2000 China trip, we witnessed a farm training center in the Northwest and the Lord planted that in my heart. As many of you know, we are looking to plant training centers on large farms that can offer security to their students and become near self-supporting. This is a fairly slow process that takes patience and much prayer.

We were told a van would pick us up at 7:30 pm. They gave us the license number and said the driver would take us to a location where the leader Joseph would meet us. Joseph and his wife Dorcas arrived on a motorcycle. They quickly entered the van and away we went in the dark to visit one of their t/c’s. Because I am Caucasian, they must take special care that I am not seen. Even going through the toll booth, I had to slink down in my seat, and Dorcas from the rear seat gently put her arms over my head. My co-worker Hou has no such problems.

We met the teacher, administrator and another leader at this training center. We were served apples and bananas as they explained the work they did for the Lord. They have 4 t/c’s altogether. Thirty Christians are selected for 10 days of teaching each month. I noticed how proud they were to serve the body this way. I also noticed that this was a very poor area. The administrator had the biggest smile and was full of the love of Jesus. His clothes were tattered and I looked down and noticed that he wore what were once white Ked low sneakers and they had no shoelaces. Oh, how I wanted to give him money for new shoes. I was constrained because I would have hurt his feelings by noticing his poverty. They took us upstairs to see the t/c. It was the upper room of a house. It was sparse but functional. The benches were long with a front to rest paper on for taking notes.

Below the t/c was where the church gathered. It was the large room of a house. The benches were 2 x 6 planks with legs attached. I could visualize them all gathered there singing and praising the Lord with tears streaming down their faces. There was a brother’s house on each side of them, which was their protection. I left them with a sizeable offering from you to help them with the t/c.

I could not believe it when he told me his name. "Pure Heart" he said, "like in Matthew 5 the beatitudes." She loved him so much but without realizing it she became an over bearing wife and was destroying their marriage. She always feared that she would end up married to a blind man or a lame man. He would not fight back (he was true to his name) and they were both very unhappy. The Holy Spirit revealed the problem and victory came to them. Pure Heart made a special effort to be at our hotel when we left. I will never forget the big smile on his face, waving good-by to us as the van took us to the airport.

He ministers to 1,000 churches with 24 full time co-workers. They have 4 t/c’s with a total of 100 students. It cost $18 per month per student. Fifteen missionaries have been sent out to the minorities. The missionaries fill their backpacks and are sent out with only the Lord to lead them. They receive $1.00 a day to live on.

They are also trying to support an old folks home of 30 saints. There are times when there is no food. They have to pray for the Lord’s mercy. We were there just in time to share the Lord’s love with them by leaving a sizeable offering for an emergency food fund.

Matthew is the leader we receive information from for our SOS Prayer Alerts in region #4. Matthew is a big brother and looks like an ancient emperor. I like to call him my personal Chinese Emperor. He and his wife Mary were the recipients of one of your offerings a few years ago when they were on the run. In the past, they lost all of their household belongings twice to the police. This year this family of three has had to relocate four times. We could see the stress on Mary when in tears she told us about this. She said, "we don’t mind to suffer for Jesus but please, pray that we don’t have to move so often."

Matthew told us that last year; five of those that had received your offering gave them up to St. John when he became ill. It was not long after that; the Lord took him home to suffer no more. If you recall, we paid to have St. John’s biography printed. I brought a copy back to the US to see if I can get it translated into English. St John was released from prison after serving about 20 years. They released him on a lie saying that he recanted his Christianity. St. John would not leave the prison area because he said; "the lie did not set him free." A special note in his book tells how he strongly encouraged Watchman Nee not to cooperate with the Communist government in any way during the time of the Red Guard.

Matthew was reluctant to tell us how many were in prison. It is the Chinese way not to appear to brag even about a terrible thing. Hou convinced him that we were the ones asking about how many there were, so he could tell us. He told us there were sixty Christians in prison, one martyred family and ten injured when they jumped out of windows etc. to escape from the police. Their body of believers has been especially hit hard recently by the police. We gave him offerings for all of these families that were suffering.

We anoint with oil and pray for all the leaders we interview. Both Matthew and Mary knelt down next to each other between the two beds in their hotel room. I knelt in front of them and anointed them. Before I prayed they both started to weep. As I put my hands on their heads, they leaned forward and put their faces on my chest. I cried too as I felt the strain of their suffering. Nancy had determined to buy a doll for their daughter Kindness, it will be sent to China soon.

The gift is Johnny and his wife Sara, our printer and VCD maker. He runs a couple of other businesses and employs many Christians. He has a big barrel laugh and in no time he will have his audience laughing. He is also an evangelist. Soon after our gathering, he was heading to an area close to North Korea for meetings. He bought a palm VCD player so that I could see a meeting he helped to sponsor. It was an outdoor meeting at a undisclosed location where 1,000 underground house church Christians gathered to worship, praise the Lord and listen to some teaching. Oh, how they worship their Lord Jesus with tears streaming down their faces. The Lord delights in those that worship Him in Truth and in Spirit.

Johnny is now in the process of making all of Dan’s teachings into VCD’s. Your offerings are also funding 2,000 more copies of the 3 VCD’s that expose the Eastern Lightning Cult. This is a most evil cult, which will drug leaders to brainwash them into joining them. They say that Jesus has already come back again in the form of a Chinese woman. This cult is easy to refute but the China Church is large and needs the Biblical evidence against it.

This is the cult that was after Johnny when I first met him because he was making the VCD that exposed them. He was in fear for his family as the cult was watching his apartment. They could kidnap his wife and small son. They had banged on his door while they were inside the apartment. He knows they stole some money of his. That first evening I met him, I anointed him and prayed. I checked with him the next day and he had a peace from the Lord. They have moved and are in a new apartment but he always has to be careful about who is following him.

He also wants to print another 10,000 copies of my book "Back To The Beginning". We did a test run of 5,000 copies and I was wondering how the church there liked it. When I visited a training center the leaders there read it and are very pleased with it. My book has not been published in English but you can find it on our web site. Through research, I explain how the early church left the Lord’s design in the 4^th century. Today, most of Christianity has accepted as normal the traditional church, which follows many of the Old Testament traditions. The book affirms the house church that we find in China, and in a Biblical way that has not been presented to them before.

They came from the poorest region. I was working on getting someone to come from this region for quite some time. I just knew the Lord wanted me to meet someone from there. I was asked would I take 2 brothers instead of a married couple? Yes, of course, I replied. I will never forget these two brothers. As it was explained to me, they belong to a group of 7 leaders, 4 men and 3 older sisters. The three women are very conservative in spending any money because it is so scarce. I was told that they were against sending anyone to us because it would cost so much. The four men rarely do anything without a unified vote, but this time they used their 4 votes to send Jason and Joshua.

They have peace in their region because the old leader of the Three Self Church has demanded the Underground House Churches be left alone. Lord bless this old Christian.

They may be poor but they are working hard for our Lord Jesus. They have started 27 t/c’s among 3,000 churches. It cost them $12 per student per month. There are 15 teachers to services these t/c’s and they are paid only $12 each per month; it is all they can afford. This puts a big hurt on these teachers because they cannot go home at least once a month because of the cost to do so. I asked how much it would cost to get these men home at least once every month to provide for their families. I knew the Lord wanted me to help these teachers. Your gift has now supplied enough for these teachers to meet their needs for the next 6 months.

They also have 200 churches in a remote area and cannot afford to send someone to disciple them. So I asked what would it take to send them a missionary for 1 year to disciple them? Your gift has now supplied these 200 churches with a missionary.

I told Jason & Joshua to give those 3 sisters a hug for me and tell them Jon Dee loves them. They invited me to come and visit them. Lord willing, I told them, I will do it soon.

On our last day after the marriage seminar, we went shopping together for some things to bring back home. We rented a van and it was full. On the way, the traffic was terrible and the driver cut into the other lane and ran into the car on his side. A policeman was right there and saw the whole thing. While the driver was being fined, the inside of the van became hot and Jason pulled out his fan and started fanning us to keep us cool.

This was the first time we met this couple. They are leaders of 1,200 churches with 5 t/c’s. The course is 3 years long and it takes $18 to support one student per month. We supplied them with a much-needed copier for all their paper needs. They were grateful for your love gift.

SUMMARY

I have briefly described to you our recent trip into China and our service to them on your behalf. I hope I have given you enough detail and insight to come close to a virtual tour. We are now planning our next visit. Dan and his co-worker Jeff and two interpreters will be leaving at the end of October for a 30-day mission. This is their second of six missions to this training center. Please pray for the Lord to supply all their needs.

We are impressed beyond words with the Lord’s army in China. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." "God is faithful and will not suffer you to be temped above that ye are able." As the persecution continues, the testimonies of the saints continue to increase the church. Knowing that you are behind them in prayer is an encouragement and special gift to them. As time rolls on and I touch more leaders, know too that they are praying for us.

I speak to new subscriber and ask that you do not email this report to people you don’t know. We are a small mission, and because of the nature of our work with the Underground Church, we do not advertise. It expands only by word of mouth. We are all volunteers and do this work from a love for the Lord. If you want to join the Free Church that gives to the Lord’s suffering church, ask the Lord about your involvement. It is Jesus to whom we are all accountable. All of your offerings go to China just like the offerings of the Early Church went to Jerusalem.

Lord willing, I would like to make one more trip into China before year-end. Your continued prayers for the staff in the USA and China are appreciated. May God bless you-all that have prayed and supported this mission. Until next time.

Living in His design, and loving it,

Jon Dee

The words of the Lord as found in 2 Chronicles 15.

PS. I know many of you would like to come with me to China. My deepest desire for you is that I could take you to see your brothers and sisters to touch them with your love and to be touched. But the presence of foreigners compromises the security of the believers there. But someday, in heaven, they will seek you out to say thank you for your love and your caring at the time of their greatest need.