THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH MOVEMENT
IN CHINA
By
Paul Wong
This article is on the latest September-October 2000 issue of
the Sabbath Sentinel
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 than the 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. "
Except 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 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, 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 were forthcoming. 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 of hands.
After staying there for two weeks he did not receive the baptism of the
Holy Spirit so he came 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 serious illness that no doctor or medicine could heal
him. He went to the Apostolic
Faith Mission and through prayer and laying 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.
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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 non-denominational. 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.
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