在華宣教士包德寧牧師發聲明澄清被捕傳聞

著名在華宣教士包德寧牧師（Rev. Dennis Balcombe)被河南南陽市當局拘禁的消息引起很多人的關注。今日，包牧師透過他設立的復興華人國際事工臉書發表聲明，澄清所謂的「被捕」傳聞，希望事態平息。

包牧師在聲明中交待了事情的大致經過。包牧師回憶説，4月20日早上，他與當地約70位基督徒在位於南陽市近郊的酒店會議室一起聚會。

聚會不久，有當地的宗教部及公安部門執法人員進入檢查聚會性質及參與聚會者身份。他們表示因包牧師是外地人及聚會人數超過30人之規定，需要向當局申請。另外又因邪教東方閃電在大陸活動頻繁，所以當局必須對任何宗教性活動加以監管。

由於宗教局認定包牧師是「違規傳道」，故將其須扣留24小時，期間進行幾個小時的問話。包牧師表示，問話內容只屬於法制及宗教事務上之交流，而且雙方態度友善。

到了第二天早上，宗教局把護照及一切財務歸還給包牧師，並按照包牧師的要求幫其換到其它酒店下榻。此外，一起被審查的當地肢體及兩位香港姊妹也於當天被釋放，其後兩天包牧師亦可與當地基督徒自由會面。

包牧師還指出，當南陽宗教局得知包牧師的身份後，向他表示歡迎日後再返大陸，也歡迎他到官方的教會教導聖經。

最後，包牧師感謝大家的關心和代禱。他總結説，「雖然這次不是一個預期和快樂的經歷。但與中國的宗教局有了正面和友善的交流，雖然中國的宗教政策還未完全開放，但總算是向前行了一步。」

以下是包牧師聲明的英文內容：

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