Farmer freed from fear of death
He doesn’t stop to sit down the entire evening. Unlike most East Asian men, Jia Liang* plays the role of perfect host, making sure guests never see the bottom of porcelain bowls full of rice and fish stew.
Traditionally in East Asia, women fill the role of host.
But tonight under a star-studded sky, Liang hosts the family and friends who’ve helped plant his terraced rice fields. Most are believers and attend Liang’s house church, but not all.
Liang is a calm and unassuming house church leader, but two years ago, that wasn’t the case. He was a tormented and fearful worshipper of ancestors and idols.
“I found Christ in a very difficult situation,” Liang says. “I was ill.”
Liang says his fear of death crippled him to the point of feeling like he was dying. His fear manifested itself in physical illness. Most days, he couldn’t muster the strength to get out of bed.
Jiu Wang,* one of Liang’s Christian neighbors, encouraged Liang to follow Christ and told him God had the power to free him from his fear. She told him evil spirits were the cause of his fear.
“If I follow Christ, what will be family members say about me?” Liang asked. His entire family worshipped idols.
A witch doctor gave Liang 30 bags of medicine to cure his fear, and he decided to try that before trying God.
The medicine didn’t work, and Liang’s wife invited Wang to their home.
It was raining when Wang arrived.
“I prayed to God and asked him to make it stop raining,” Wang says. She told Liang God would heal him.
“Do you have faith?” she asked Liang.
Liang decided to believe in Christ. The rain soon stopped, and Liang was healed of his fear.
“Because I believe in Christ, I will have eternal hope,” Liang says. “I will not have any fear of death because He is the eternal, living God.”
Fourteen of his family members and close friends chose to follow Christ after they saw how the Lord set Liang free from his fear of death.
Liang shoulders a heavy load for a 29-year-old. Because he came to faith first, he is looked to as the leader of their house church. He balances leading this church with raising a family and farming the rice, soybeans, yams and coffee that sustain his extended family.
Liang receives spiritual guidance from a believer in a nearby village, but the rest of his Biblical knowledge comes from raw reading of the Bible.
Because I believe in Christ, I will have eternal hope. I will not have any fear of death because He is the eternal, living God.Jia Liang,* East Asian Christian
He and the other believers share their burdens and help each other in the fields and in their faith. The homes that sparsely dot this valley are not easily reached or found by visitors. The isolation means community members depend heavily on each other for everything from help in the fields to prayer.
During the church’s weekly time of worship, the believers, now around 20 in number, pray for rain for the crops, for families who babies were miscarried and for neighbors and family members to accept God’s truth. They sing their thanks for God’s faithfulness in answering their prayers.
“Right now we are still in the infant stage,” Liang says. “So basically, we study the Bible together and share and encourage one another and pray for one another.”
Connecting:
Discover the contrasting lifestyles and religions of East Asia. Learn how you can connect and make a difference.
Recently Liang shared with his house church a dream he had of a voice telling him, “Go share the Gospel.”
He hopes and prays for a revival to sweep through the homes of the 200 to 300 people scattered throughout the mountain range as men and women hear and accept the truth about Jesus.
He doesn’t know how revival will come other than for church members to pass on Bible stories as they farm and share meals with their neighbors.
Right now, he said, the believers know how to tell about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. They’re learning new Bible stories and how to share them with non-believers.
Their times of learning must come after long days of planting rice, picking coffee beans and feeding chickens and hogs.
When they do share the Bible stories with their neighbors, the villagers’ fear of spirits and the desire to appease ancestors keep many from accepting the Good News.
These believers know exactly what will conquer that fear. They’ve seen faith in Christ cure Liang’s fear and change their own lives, but they also need your prayers to overcome the difficulties of sharing their new hope with their neighbors.
*Name changed
Liang asks for your prayers:
- Pray for the Truth to echo throughout the mountain range.
- Pray for boldness for the believers as they share in the rice fields and courtyards of their unbelieving neighbors.
- Pray for wisdom and understanding as the believers grow in their faith.
- Pray for unity among believers.
This is wonderful. I will praise the father with you.