在华宣教士包德宁牧师发声明澄清被捕传闻

著名在华宣教士包德宁牧师（Rev. Dennis Balcombe)被河南南阳市当局拘禁的消息引起很多人的关注。今日，包牧师透过他设立的复兴华人国际事工脸书发表声明，澄清所谓的"被捕"传闻，希望事态平息。

包牧师在声明中交待了事情的大致经过。包牧师回忆说，4月20日早上，他与当地约70位基督徒在位于南阳市近郊的酒店会议室一起聚会。

聚会不久，有当地的宗教部及公安部门执法人员进入检查聚会性质及参与聚会者身份。他们表示因包牧师是外地人及聚会人数超过30人之规定，需要向当局申请。另外又因邪教东方闪电在大陆活动频繁，所以当局必须对任何宗教性活动加以监管。

由于宗教局认定包牧师是"违规传道"，故将其须扣留24小时，期间进行几个小时的问话。包牧师表示，问话内容只属于法制及宗教事务上之交流，而且双方态度友善。

到了第二天早上，宗教局把护照及一切财务归还给包牧师，并按照包牧师的要求帮其换到其它酒店下榻。此外，一起被审查的当地肢体及两位香港姊妹也于当天被释放，其后两天包牧师亦可与当地基督徒自由会面。

包牧师还指出，当南阳宗教局得知包牧师的身份后，向他表示欢迎日后再返大陆，也欢迎他到官方的教会教导圣经。

最后，包牧师感谢大家的关心和代祷。他总结说，"虽然这次不是一个预期和快乐的经历。但与中国的宗教局有了正面和友善的交流，虽然中国的宗教政策还未完全开放，但总算是向前行了一步。"

以下是包牧师声明的英文内容：

Revised Statement from Pastor Dennis Balcombe

I want to thank everyone for their prayers for us. After a day of speaking with authoritiesin my hotel room, I was allowed to leave with no restrictions placed on me. All the Chinese Christians including the two sisters from Hong Kong who travelled with me are free and safe.

The incident happened on April 20 and the local authorities were probably investigating if the meeting was a cult gathering, as someone had called to report to the police that there was a religious meeting in which foreigners were present. There were only 70 local Chinese in the meeting, but with the recent activities of Eastern Lightning and other cults they wanted to check out the meeting.

The meeting was organized by a local Prayer Mountain ministry located in Nanyang, Henan Province. On the way to the meeting from the Zhengzhou airport, the organizer told us the meeting was safe as they had cleared it with the local authorities. He said recently other Western ministers have ministered to this group with no problems. The meeting was held in a function room of a hotel in Nanyang, and we stayed in the same hotel.

The main purpose of my teaching was to equip the Christians to hold to solid Biblical truths, and to come again evil cults, especially the Eastern Lightning cult. Several weeks ago four of these women cult preachers masquerading as house church Christians from Shenyang came to my office in Hong Kong to ‘convert’ me. I soon exposed their true nature, and as I was taking photos of them (which I eventually gave to the Chinese PSB), they physically attacked me. Just last week the PSB officers visited us in Hong Kong and gave us a DVD and information on how to prevent this cult infiltrating Christian fellowships.

We were invited to speak to authorities in my hotel room in which people from various departmentsdiscussed various issues with me.They all said I was a good pastor and preacher (they listen to my sermons on the internet) and our church and the churches we associate with in China are good ‘orthodox Pentecostal churches’. However we had broken the regulations on religion by conducting a Christian meeting of over 30 people not first registering with the RAB.

After one day we went to another hotel in the city on our own. My passport was returned and they told me I was welcomed to come back any time and could preach in Three-Self churches or even house churches, but should notify them before I came for religious activities in Henan.

I plan to take them up on this offer in the near future. Another reason for my visit was to gather information from Chinese Christians for a new book I am writing. In this book I want to document the great revival that has taken place in China resulting in perhaps over 100 million believers. I will especially focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in healing the sick, and empowering people to boldly preach the Gospel.

In 1994 I was detained with six others in Fangcheng County, which is administered by Nanyang. Given that this was nearly 20 years ago, and knowing the greater degree of religious freedoms in other parts of China, I was surprised this would happen to us. However in my discussion with the PSB officials, one of them admitted that Henan still was not as open and free as other parts of China. They also admitted there was a huge Christian population in this part of S. Henan.

Nanyang has over 10 million in population and is very famous in Chinese history, especially in the Han Dynasty. Every Chinese in China is well familiar with the history of Zhuge Liang (181-234), chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdom period, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Cao Cao. After our release from 24 hour detention in our hotel, with other local Christians we visited some historical sites. We also prayed with our Chinese brothers and sisters that they would continue to stand strong as they face pressure from authorities and dangers from cult activities, especially the evil ‘Eastern Lightning’ cult.

Paul Hattaway who wrote “Heavenly Man” also wrote a very informative book on Henan, “Henan - The Galilee of China”. Many of the China Inland Missionaries (now called OMF) under Hudson Taylor worked in Henan, especially in the Nanyang area. This is also where we did much of our ministry in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It is estimated that as many as 15% of the people of Henan (population about 95 million) are followers of Jesus Christ.

Though this experience was not at all enjoyable, it was a blessing and honor to in the same place where so many missionaries and Chinese preachers labored and gave their lives for the salvation of the Chinese people. Seeing the reaction of the believers I recalled what happened in the Book of Acts after the first major persecution. “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41)

Thanks so much for your prayers for and support of the ministry in China.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013