This book is available from our online bookstore and is discounted on our bulk books page.
Zhejiang - The Jerusalem of China - Book 3 of 'The China Chronicles' by Paul Hattaway
In this newsletter we are glad to announce the third book in our series on the mighty revival that has swept China during the past 50 years. The China Chronicles are proving to be a great encouragement to many people, and are enriching the spiritual lives of those who read them.
We have been entrusted, through hundreds of hours of interviews with church leaders throughout China, with many testimonies that have never been shared in public. It has been a great privilege to record the marvelous acts of the Holy Spirit, as God's kingdom has taken root and flourished in the world's most populated country.
The Zhejiang (pronounced ‘Zhe-jahng') book contains many inspirational testimonies. We have selected just one story to share with you in this newsletter. It is of a little-known Chinese evangelist nicknamed Lame Huang....
The remainder of this newsletter contains an excerpt from ‘ZHEJIANG: The Jerusalem of China'. It shares the testimony of an evangelist, called Lame Huang, and how God used him to reach thousands of people. To order a copy of the book, please see the enclosed form or visit our website (www.asiaharvest.org) for details.
Alternatively, if you send a donation to any Asia Harvest project, please indicate that you would like a complimentary copy of book and we will gladly send you one.
Lame Huang
On April 15, 1981, an elderly man of God named Huang Detang was lowered into a grave in Xiangshan County near Ningbo City. Huang had never been an ordained pastor, but had lived out his faith as an uneducated farmer. The surrounding communities had such respect for Huang that more than 400 people paid their final respects at his funeral, even though it had not been advertised.
Huang first believed the gospel when he was in his forties. Years later, he developed painful boils on his feet which caused him great agony and prevented him from working. Locals gave him the nickname, ‘Lame Huang.'
In his desperation, Huang cried out to Jesus for healing. A short time later he received a vivid dream, in which the Lord told him: "You must truly believe in Me, and I will heal you. You must witness for Me."
In his dream, Huang thanked Jesus for the help he would receive and promised that once he could walk again he would share the gospel widely. Huang said the Lord told him: "A verbal promise is not enough. You must write a contract of indenture by which you offer yourself up as My servant."
Huang had only a primary school education and didn't know what a contract of indenture was or how to write one. He again cried out for God's mercy and help, and received another dream, in which the Lord showed him how to word the contract. Huang composed the following document:
"I, Huang Detang, sign this indenture by which I offer myself up forever.
Because of my own uselessness, I have boils on my feet. They are very painful and I have nowhere to turn. I can only ask my gracious Savior, my Lord Jesus, to be merciful to me, a great sinner.
I now receive the precious Blood of the Lord as the ransom price which has redeemed me from death to life, and I know that the Lord will heal my feet, take my soul to the heavenly kingdom forever, and I will become a child of God with honor and glory.
Because I have nothing to repay the grace of God, I will most gladly dedicate my body and soul to Him. After my dedication, I am totally at the disposal of the Lord. No matter where I am sent, I will go.
Whether it is to the east, south, west or north, whether it is climbing mountains or crossing seas, cold or hot, whether I am hungry or thirsty, or if I suffer want and persecution, I will follow the Lord to the end and not be disheartened. No one in my family or among relatives and friends will be able to pose any obstacles or cause me to go back on my promise.
This indenture is the common wish of both parties and neither of them raises any objection. I sign it as evidence of my willingness.
Huang Detang."
A short time after signing his unique contract with God, the boils on Huang's feet disappeared and he was able to walk freely again.
Over the years, each of the points in Huang's solemn contract was sorely tested, as God took Huang at his word and stretched his faith by sending him on dangerous adventures that resulted in thousands of people hearing the gospel. From the 1950s to the 1970s he ministered during the darkest days of Communist persecution, and was arrested and tortured by the authorities on several occasions.
Huang's ministry was characterized by many instances of God prompting him to do things that made no rational sense, but with his indenture in mind, Huang obeyed the guidance of the Holy Spirit and remained true to his pledge, even when it resulted in great personal hardship.
On one occasion when Huang was preaching he heard the inner voice of the Spirit of God tell him, "Love the one in the last row!"
That night he was unable to sleep, and at dawn he met with the pastor and enquired who the person was had been sitting on the last row of the church. Huang was taken to a tiny shack, where he saw a bedridden man with only a tattered blanket on his bed and dirt covering every inch of the room. The man's limbs were pale, and only when Huang saw the man in the light did he realize he was a leper.
Brother Huang asked the man how many years he had believed in Jesus, but he just shook his head to indicate he was not a Christian. He asked the leper why he had gone to the church service the previous night, and he replied that he had received a dream instructing him to go to the meeting because Jesus wanted to save him. On the day of the meeting he was able to get out of bed for the first time in months, and a neighbor helped him to the church.
Huang Detang didn't know how he could help the man's dire situation, as he was impoverished himself. Then the Lord told him, "Take off your jacket and give it to him." Huang was afraid. His padded jacket was the only one he owned. It kept him warm as he walked through the mountains in winter, and he slept in it while on his preaching journeys. "Surely not, Lord. I have great need of it," Huang argued.
The Holy Spirit said to him: "‘If you do not give it to him, what you preach is like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If you don't have love, what use is it? If you don't have love, you are not serving Me.'
Huang had to obey in tears, but as soon as he had given his jacket away he felt immensely relieved. He was without a jacket for many years and yet not once did he suffer frostbite.
Sometimes the demands that God placed on Huang were too difficult for other Christians to cope with, and they refused to be involved. For example, once the Lord directed him to share the gospel and demonstrate God's love to a dishevelled prostitute, who was near death from syphilis. Huang shared the gospel and provided her with food and clothing. The ladies in the local church, however, did not want to stoop so low as to help such a wretched person, but due to God's love demonstrated by Huang, the woman died a short time later as a follower of Jesus.
Huang continued witnessing for his Lord right up to his death in 1981, at the age of 96. Few people outside his home region in Zhejiang have ever heard of ‘Lame Huang,' but in heaven he is known as the man who kept his contract with God.
The great need of Christians in Zhejiang continues to be Bibles. Believers in rural areas have struggled to access God's Word for many years, and the large number of new Christians has seen the demand far outstrip the supply. The need for our China Bible Fund is greater than ever, with an increasing number of believers unable to access Bibles due to government restrictions and persecution.
With your prayers and support, Asia Harvest has provided more than 690,000 Bibles to house church believers in Zhejiang over the years, and we will continue to do so as long as the door remains open. Please pray for the Church in Zhejiang!
