Bob Moore-radio ministry to China

A recent conversation with Bob Moore of Goshen, Ind. lead to a discussion about his job as an engineer and avid interest in setting up radio stations around the country and the world.
Moore spoke passionately about the ways that the word of God and the Good News about Jesus Christ has spread even in the face of intense political power to quash it. Moore’s tales included a look back to 70 years ago to China and Mao Tse Tung’s rise in power. Mao prohibited any form of religion. He took over and destroyed worship centers. Across the nation, government officials  confiscated religious writings and books. For the Christians it meant the end of church facilities and bonfires destroying hundreds of Bibles in the public square. Mao and his followers strove to stamp out organized religion in the nation.
Christians quietly stepped back. The church went underground as the cultural revolution swept across the land killing believers and exiling some into the isolated corners of the nation.
According to Moore, the deported believers received the humble task of delivering the mail in areas that had not been touched during the decades when missionaries from other countries came to China.
Stripped of their former lives, jobs and churches, believers carried their love of Jesus along with the mail. They wanted to tell others about how He paid the debt for all sin. Mao may have cut down the tree of belief, but he scattered its seeds far and wide.
With their government assigned jobs, the mailmen introduced many to Christ.
In the years prior to the advent of Mao Tse Tung, The Far East Broadcasting Co. worked to establish a Christian radio station in China. They knew where they wanted to build and began working on details, but one thing after another interfered with those plans.
While circumstances kept the Christians from fulfilling that goal before Communism took over the country (and what would have been the station), God knew what would happen. The closed doors in China became open doors in Manila, Philipines. With hearty approval, they quickly established and built a Chinese radio station. As the station neared completion, the FEBC looked for programming and found no pastors to preach. They knew they had a mission to fulfill. Circumstances said the station had to be there so what could they do?
The founders decided they would have the Bible read over the radio all day, every day. Next they had to chose which of the many Chinese dialects they should use on air. They decided on Mandarin. Cut off from communication from happenings in China, the founders had not heard that Mao dictated that as the mandatory language for the whole country. Across the vast land of China, all business and education would be done in Mandarin.
Without knowledge of the government mandate, the founders had chosen the one dialect everyone would know and understand.
So all day, every day, slowly and distinctly, individuals read the Bible over the radio. In China where the Bibles had been methodically removed and destroyed, believers turned on their radios and heard the Bible read aloud every day. Quickly many not only listened but did so with with a pen and paper in hand to faithfully copy down the words. The government continued to allow Bibles to be sold in book stores, but monitored anyone who purchased one. The copied Bible could not be tracked. All purchase records showed only ordinary notebooks and pens going into the shopping carts.
Thus, in these two ways the word of God continued to spread across a country where one of the harshest leaders in modern times tried and failed to stamp out the message of Jesus Christ.