Persecution in China & Contact Bob Phu | Interview w/David Witt (Episode 14)

this is at risk radio welcome again to atrisk radio at risk radio is a show where we talk about leaders inside the church at risk my name is Mark Stafford and I'm here with David Whit and David Whit is the CEO of s International H David you're telling me about a contact you have a man named Bob Fu tell me who Bob fu is yeah Bob Fu has been a friend for over 20 years and uh I'm met him during voice of the Martyr days and he's just a I would call him a mighty worker for the Lord especially in China he was in tenan Square during the tenan Square massacre that many remember uh they estimate over 10,000 Chinese were killed when the government came in and um you know he was idealistic uh young man then uh and really hoping for Renewal and more freedom in China and then that event along with many Chinese just disillusion the Young Generation so that sent him on a search he ultimately found Christ uh came active in his faith and then he and his wife were put in prison for their faith in China they were interrogated uh he ultimately had to escape in 1996 out of China came to the United States and started the organization China a to Aid the persecuted underground Church in China um and so he is incredibly effective acve in and a leader truly for that Nation uh for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the blessing ultimately of of China um and so he's uh he's facing a situation now uh that he's uh is directly getting persecuted right here in Midland Texas uh for his stance and for uh you know revealing the human rights abuses against China and so what happened then Mark is uh he was interesting twist here on October um the first week of October he was at the prayer event in Washington DC and praying fervently uh for the church uh in China for God's blessing in China and to bring freedoms well uh that was the beginning also in that day was demonstrators start showing up at his home property and his office accusing him of being a communist spy a fake pastor of all kinds of horrible things they're using a social media platform that a billionaire owns uh that's a Chinese American and um and they started again slandering him well as even some have been trespassed they were able to arrest them they found out these were Chinese uh immigrants have come to the United States they're being paid to uh protest against them $500 a day and their accommodations amazing yeah and um and and then on the social media he uh was actually they were calling for him to be killed U so threatening his life his whole family so he had to go into hiding his safe house uh the uh FBI and some agencies got involved been helping with him but because of freedom of speech assembly of course there's nothing ultimately the government can do uh and now they're having to sell their offices and leave and relocate to undisclosed uh location um so Mark you know this is profound to me that I think it was worth for us talking about atrisk radio and leadership uh on the show today uh what does that really mean to us an American how we truly are a global family and you know what happens in China happen is affecting us today um in the United States um and so one of the you know leadership principles that I really wanted to bring out today uh that I really have seen from Bob is just again his cander and his love for the Lord um his his peace his Focus that the issue is about the people I mean he's even speaking up for the Muslims over you know a million Muslims uh weager people in China who have been concentration camps are systematically being um put to death we now have you know some evidence that that China has uh wants to uh eliminate one-third of them a genocide of the Wagers because they see them as um favorable towards the United States um and they see that as a threat in China so there's just many issues here so again Bob doesn't just stand stand up for persecuted Church uh persecute Christians but for all believers who are persecuted and he recently just told me this last week he said you know was interesting um you know he he understood why he was persecuted in China and human rights abuse there but when he came to the United States he never expected that he would be persecuted in the United States specifically of course by the Chinese government because there's reasons to see this as coming directly from the Chinese government and um and he said I just let my guard down he said I really fell asleep in some ways and realized I got to keep my guard up at all times and as and it was a reminder that we're strangers in the world and this is what of course the word talks about yeah it's incredible to think about persecution on our own Shores uh we've talked before about how the how America is just catching up with the rest of the world uh you know that we've had a couple of hundred years of relative um Peace for believers here in America but that's not what people experience a lot of other places I may even venture to say most other places throughout history uh the Christian church has been persecuted so when we come back we'll unpack the story a little bit more about Bob Fu about persecution that we're seeing right now in America especially as it's being funded by the Chinese government and how that might uh unpack over the next few years uh come back and we'll talk more about this can you imagine trying trying to disciple a church with only one Bible this is Mark Stafford from at risk radio and our contacts in Venezuela are telling us incredible stories about people coming to know Jesus all the while pastors are missing Bibles for their people after receiving a Bible from our ministry one man said with tears in his eyes no one has ever given me such a beautiful gift at risk radio and our partnership with s International is working to bring 2 million Bibles into Venezuela for more information about how you can help go to atrisk radio.com welcome back to atrisk radio I'm online with David wit David Whit is the CEO of s International we've been talking about Bob Fu now Bob fu is the director of China Aid and he's been facing persecution in of all places Midland Texas uh he was sent um to the United States I I guess it's not too strong to say he was exiled from China to the United States for some of his work that he was doing with the Christian Church there and um so as he fled he came to Texas and now the Chinese government is sending people hiring people to protest outside of his house and spreading false information about who he is and what he's trying to do with his organization uh China Aid uh China Aid is helping the underground Church raising funds and awareness and uh giving support to the underground church and of course that's that's something that China doesn't want to see happen so let me ask you this David because what is on my mind there's a hundred conspiracy theories out there right now um and it's hard to know what is real and what is false so how do we know that that a claim like China wants to bring about genocide towards religious people uh and that they're trying to bring about Marxism how how do we know that that kind of information is real news and it isn't just something being blown up out of proportion yeah that's great Mark it's always so hard to sort through all the news and so it's important that we go to all sides of the argument and I would um encourage people to Google because it's a huge um subject um actually the you United Nations has done a lot of work on this uh research uh the military has actually identified 28 the last I heard um concentration camps and with journalists actually going in to the main state where the Wagers are I read one journalistic article that talked about some of these tals are you know almost vacant they're they've arrested so many and every family has somebody who's been arrested and and um just for security reasons I can't go into details but I even know some people who have been arrested so it's on a massive level now we don't know the exact numbers of course because China is very secretive uh but you know things are are leaking out and just recently now more and more Chinese because they see the human rights abuse going on are leaking out more information about really what's going on so it really is an issue that it needs our prayers I mean it's a it's a it's a spiritual problem it's a spiritual solution why are people outraged about this um it it seems like if there's uh religious persecution on that on that scale in a place like China and you know to where they're rounding them up like World War II style that people would be you know absolutely livid why why isn't there more information out there about these kind of things happening well I think it is it's a b you know uh China you know controls all the the media it controls all the sources and so they keep these things hidden and you know the United States there's a there's a lot of problems going on around the world there's other problems that are distracting from the issue that's going on in China there are a lot of people that are really working on this problem and people could certainly Google those the news and get a lot more information but I think as we talking about even leadership for us and you know you're talking about being strangers in this world uh it's all corruption and we we have to go back to I think as we begin to think like leaders act like leaders we uh if we remember that we are not of this Kingdom this is not our citizenship I mean you know we're we're Disciples of Christ first we're Americans second and that's the threat to the Chinese government Marxism they want Supreme and ultimate uh allegiance to the Communist go government China there but when you know Chinese become Believers they're Believers first and then second they're you're good Chinese citizens and they're trying to bring blessing and love to to China and and so you know I think we can we can really get outraged about this because this is corruption this is Babylon you know we see that pattern in in scripture of Babylon is the oppressor um religiously and physically uh it puts people in slavery uh you know the those concentration camps I just got this news that the majority of much of of the material coming out of even mask right now and so and things being made are in the state where the Wagers are most at where the concentration camps are so it's forced labor camps is what's going on there now as Believers we can make a difference and it starts with prayer and I'm just asking people to really start praying for uh Bob Fu and start praying for China and the underground Church there and to really make a difference uh to stand up against the oppression uh of the people while you're talking I I looked up this verse this is in uh Ephesians Ephesians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 2 says uh because of Christ even though we might feel like strangers and Aliens because of being part of a in his case a country that is against the gospel in our case we're in a culture that is now postchristian and moving towards uh more and more persecution of Christians Paul gives us these words it says so then because of Christ as a context you're no longer strangers and Aliens but you are fellow fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ Jesus himself being the Cornerstone in whom the whole structur is being joined together grows into a holy Temple in the Lord and then it goes on to say that we're also being built together as a dwelling place for God by the spirit and I think that's the encouragement we have that even if we find ourselves as strangers in this world we are friends with God we're citizens of an eternal Kingdom we're kingdom-minded people that even if we're facing persecution now even we're facing even inconveniences which is sometimes all the more persecution looks like for you and me obviously different for uh you know for Bob Fu who now is having to relocate his offices and having to do things differently but still whether it's on the level of of inconvenience or the level of having to uproot your lives this isn't our this isn't our world This Isn't Our Kingdom our kingdom is in a in a higher place a more holy place an eternal Place amen and I think as we think as Kingdom Minded citizens then we can be active and so I think the message we need to send to the world to certainly China is solidarity we're unified in Christ to talking about that we're a holy Temple it's amazing how we're we're one in Christ as a holy Temple um if people want to get to know God they get to know us as people and so I think that's why the prayer is important and then second if people want to write Bob Fu um his wife an encouraging note they can write U to our email address uh the contact page right on risk radio or contact ATP of mar.com and if anybody wants to give I mean there been a lot of there's a lot of legal fees and they're trying to uh really get things back to normal for this so it's caused a lot of stress and ultimately anything supported to China Aid goes to serving the persecuted Believers in China so people could designate that um through uh s so International and everything designate is always 100% will go to China Aid if they want to help during this time with Bob Fu um so hopefully Bob's going to uh inspiration to all of us St certainly has for me well I I just saw that you were putting out a an email that's uh the title of the book is God's double agent And the tagline the true story of a Chinese Christian Fight For Freedom this is Bob Fu's book it's available over at your bookstore and so Spirit of mar.com you can get through through at risk radio.com so either way uh if you want to grab this book that those donations help uh with some of these uh FEA are involved and they help the persecuted Church any donations uh given towards you know uh with Bob Fu uh we want to give that book to them and it will go to China a I talked to Bob Pooh today actually about that we want to support him so he donated those books to us and we're going to be able to give those to anybody who wants to donate towards us that's incredible so 100% of the funds go right to China Aid and to what Bob fu is doing that's that's fantastic so hey we got to wrap up but to be kept up to date about what God's doing all over the world uh in the church at risk you want to go to at risk radio sign up for the newsletter I'm Mark Stafford and this is Ben risk radio you've been listening to atrisk radio for more go to atrisk radio.com atrisk radi is a production of s International [Music]