Country of the Day: China

China, as many of you know, is a country in East Asia, near Mongolia and Japan, among others. It's population of 1,330,141,295 ranks it as the largest nation, by way of population, in the world. It is also the fourth largest country, by way of land mass. China possesses one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

They do have a bit of an issue with disease: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, Japanese encephalitis, dengue fever, hantaviral hemorrhagic fever, and H5N1 avian influenza are all currently issues. However, their healthcare is growing, and these diseases are more of the result of having over a billion people in one country than anything.

China's biggest problem, though, is its Communist government, and their stance on Christianity. As a Communist nation, they, by default, have an atheistic philosophy towards religion. Due to pressure from other nations, and in order to advance it's trading abilities, the Chinese government has established a state-approved church.

This state-approved church can only teach certain things from the New Testament, and therefore doesn't teach the full truth of Christ. That's why there are still underground churches in China: people need to know the whole truth of the Gospel, not just a part that the Chinese government allows.

This restriction of the faith is why only between 4-6% of the country is religious at all, with the most gracious numbers saying that 4% of China is Christian. That leaves a minimum of 1,276,935,643 lost people in China. Allow me to spell it out: one billion, two-hundred and seventy-six million, nine hundred and thirty-five thousand, six hundred and forty-three lost souls in China alone . If you are a believer reading this and that doesn't break your heart... I'm not sure what can.

Father, I struggle even to come up with words to describe the pain on my heart when I see that number of people up there that are lost. Over one billion. Lord, my mind cannot even comprehend that amount, its just so enormous. God, we just pray, beg, for your light to be brought to the leaders of China, and to the rest of the people of China. They are an atheist nation, God. So many lost people. So many souls. Please, God, please. Please protect the underground churches, and help them spread your Word throughout that country. Please, we beg. In Christ's name, amen.