118: Irresistible God: Beyond Fortune Telling, Jade

Hear Jade’s testimony of growing up behind the Iron Curtain and during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. She shares how communist atheism, along with Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional folk beliefs, shaped her view of suffering, healing, and the supernatural. These influences eventually led her into fortune-telling and divination. 

Yet even in that spiritual darkness, the faithful witness of Chinese believers began to bring light into her life.

The story takes a pivotal turn when her husband is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Through grief, doubt, and the timely influence of Christian colleagues, they begin to explore faith and ultimately choose baptism. 

Follow Jade’s journey from the transactional spirituality of her upbringing to a personal relationship with God, where she discovers hope, comfort, and the assurance of being chosen and loved.

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Transcript

Welcome And Jade’s Story Begins

Announcer 0:02

Welcome to 180, transforming testimonies from next door to across the globe. Be amazed at how God works to bring people to Himself. Share today's 180 with a friend. It might be the best news they hear today.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

We went to a very famous temple to pray to Buddha. When we step out of that temple, I remember in the front of that temple there was a stand to you can do fortune-telling sticks. So I picked one. It was the best stick. It says, whatever you wish, it will come true.

Margaret Ereneta 0:48

We've searched high and low to be able to share a 180 with you from someone behind the red curtain. And we're so excited to bring you the 180 of Jade. You'll learn so much from her story, how she was surrounded by communism, Buddhism, Taoism, and folk religion. And how God used the sad death of her husband to slowly and gently bring Jade to himself. We'll even get a glimpse of workplace evangelists who were God's vessels to Jade in a place you would never expect. This is Margaret Ironetta. Welcome to Jade's 180.

Folk Religion And Ancestor Rituals

SPEAKER_01 1:33

I was born in a small village in east part of China, right after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Economic development stopped for those 10 years. A lot of internal political struggles. Asian temples got destroyed. And in terms of like our traditional beliefs, they gradually came back in people's living. I have no idea about God or Jesus Christ. In my childhood, I have some congenital diseases when I was born. So for the first seven to eight years, I remember when my parents got desperate. I spent half of my time either in hospital or seeking other alternative medical resources. They will go to Buddhist temple and even have a small ceremony in my home, try to pray for their blessing from the Buddha. When we have ceremonies to worship our ancestors, my parents will also like pray for me. They will kneel down before the table. So ask for the blessing from my ancestors.

Margaret Ereneta 3:06

Jade is going to explain what she means by folk belief here, which includes ancestral worship, spirits, and a broad collection of local beliefs, which in China have roots in Taoism and Buddhism. She's going to give us examples that reflect these other religions too. Such a helpful peek into the life and culture of someone without Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Another is a folk belief that was very popular because, as I said, I was born in a small village. So in the rural area of China, a lot of people believe in these folk beliefs. So when my grandpa passed away when I was eight, we had a tradition that after three weeks, after people passed away, the children of that person need to find a person who can be an intermediary between this physical world and the spiritual world. And that person will speak to the dead, speak to the spirits of the dead, and even invite the dead people to come upon them so they can talk with their children. So when my grandpa passed away, my mother and my aunt uncles went to this person, and she said, Oh, I was feeling miserable in the hell. I need you guys to burn me more paper money. I need this. You need to take care of that as well. So yeah, my mom and my aunts and uncles, they just did what that person said. It's sort of like tradition in my culture. The faith background I grew up with was very fragmented and compartmentalized. It's not that consistent. Sometimes you think people like don't believe in anything, but when their parents passed away or when their relatives passed away, they will go to these kind of people and ask for any supernatural revelation and know what they need to do.

Margaret Ereneta 5:09

Now Jade goes on to explain her version of Buddhism, which is the practice of emptying the self to stop suffering. Jade explains it being transactional. And check out the show notes for more information on these religions.

Buddhism’s Mercy And Transactional Vows

SPEAKER_01 5:24

When we like had any struggles in life, we'll pray to Buddha, ask for deliverance of the suffering and disease. In China, the most popular Buddha for ordinary people, a lot of times it's not the original Buddha, it's more we call Guan Yin, it's a godness of mercy. And there were so many sufferings in China. So we want deliverance, we want mercy. So when we want to be delivered out of that pain, we'll go to Guang. But usually it's a sort of a little bit transactional because when we pray for deliverance, when we pray for healing, sometimes we say, okay, if you make it happen, I will donate money to the temple, I will make more offering. And if you really got well, you have to do that. Otherwise, it's a curse. So the temple is very popular in China.

Margaret Ereneta 6:29

Now we go on to Taoism. It focuses on harmony with the universe and balance, like you've heard of the yin and the yang, with a focus on wellness, including traditional Chinese medicine. Also, energy medicine, it's so popular today. This is directly rooted to Taoism.

Taoism, Healing Practices, And Longevity

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Taoism is a, you know, it's a it's a domestic religion in China. Like Buddhism, it's more imported from India. Taism was invented in China. It's more domestic religion. Taism originally is a practice to keep you healthy, like Tai Chi and a lot of physical exercise were like their roots were in Toism. Toism basically believed that the heaven, the earth, and the human beings, they can achieve unity through some physical exercise or through other ways. The ultimate motivation for Toyism practice is to live forever. And the way of doing that is through physical exercise and taking medication. Physical exercise is tai qi. Tai qi is a very good way to keep you healthy. The medication is uh in Chinese way called Tang Yao, which means it's a some miraculous medication. It's made by minerals with some mercury inside.

Margaret Ereneta 7:58

Jade told me these miraculous medicine pills are anything but metals like mercury, lead, or zinc blended in a furnace with herbs. And people adjust these herbs for purification or self-control. The original goal of these was to become gods, actually. But the more modern thought is to live forever. She said that the emperors would actually hire Taoist monks to make these for them, which is so odd because many of these metals are toxic. Jane then shares how modified Taoism was used in her community growing up.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

So the Toism, a lot of times, my childhood was used to deliver the evil spirits. Like they believe there are stronger spirits. They can invite to drive away these inferior evil spirits. So the monks, the toys monks, they will use some colorful papers to write some spells on it, and then use these spells to sometimes burn it, sometimes use sword, and to use these spells to invite spirits of higher seniority to drive away these low sort of inferior spirits. And they believe all these inferior spirits are causing people sick. That's basically their practice. When people, especially when they got sick and they are about to die, a lot of families will invite the monks, like Buddhist monks, come to home to pray for them, or other toys monks come home to drive away the evil spirits to help them recover.

Margaret Ereneta 9:40

Now Jade talks about the practice of divination, how in junior high they would rate different outcomes on bamboo sticks, and whatever one fell would be God's answer. It makes me think of Hosea 4 when the Hebrews were led astray by their wooden idols, where they would answer to a stick of wood, it says. And then Jade explains the pen fairy, which is similar to the creepy Ouija board.

Divination, Pen Fairy, And The I Ching

SPEAKER_01 10:04

I always believe there is something uh supernatural. So in middle school, it's very popular for kids at that time to practice divination. I will make some like bamboo sticks with some fortune-telling messages, stick on the bamboo stick, and then try to use some way to pick out one of them. Another very popular activity at that time, we were told that there's some fairy or ghosts that are willing to come to answer our questions. One is that we call it pen fairy or actual pen ghost. And like two people sitting opposite to each other, we hold a pen in the middle, and the pen, we just randomly using that pen to draw circles and invite the pen ghost or pen spirit to come to us. And then you will see that pen start to move by itself. And when we know that pen ghost came, we can ask that ghost spirit questions, and that ghost will answer us what we want to know. I never practiced this myself, but I know some of my classmates practiced this pen spirit thing. I just thought it was a little bit too spooky for me.

Margaret Ereneta 11:32

Jade goes on to share some more practices of divination, which are eerie, but also often would come true. Don't be deceived with these evil practices coming true. Listen to Doreen Virtue's 180 because she talks about this phenomenon and we'll link that.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

And but I did a lot of fortune telling with their cars, with bamboo sticks, and uh a lot of times it worked. And yeah, sometimes even using cards, their predictivity uh was quite high at actually at that time. And in Tourism, there was a famous book. It's each. People in China believe that book is about how the world runs and how every person's destiny will be. So even today, people in China use that to predict like what is going to happen, big events in nations worldwide, in everybody's lives. Yeah, very toysome, very, very Chinese, I must say. That book is very, very influential in Chinese culture. A lot of people still use that right now.

Margaret Ereneta 13:00

Next, Jade shares her view of Christianity at this time.

Christianity Viewed As Myth

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Well, I had a book, I don't know who gave to me. Very weird. How can people read that? Anyway, it's a Bible story book. So I read that. That was one of the books I read before bedtime. But to me, at that time, it's just a storybook. And I read that together with like ancient Greek stories. I don't see there's any difference between that. And so that continued until I think when I was in college, there's a seminary beside my university. I still remember during one Christmas Eve I went to the seminary. I know there were people celebrating Christmas, and some seminary students came, approached me, tried to preach gospels to me. And I was so, I was very sarcastic and critical about Christianity, and asked a seminary student a lot of questions. At that time, in my opinion, Christianity was very illogical and a lot of things doesn't make sense. And so I wasn't trying to seek for clarity or anything. I just uh make fun of their faith. My my approach or my attitude was more from the challenging confrontational perspective. I feel they are uh a little bit too stupid to believe in this. Before I met God, before I became a Christian, as I mentioned that after the Cultural Revolution, people became so practical, the whole nation became so practical and so materialistic from a certain perspective. We believe in success, we believe in self-reliance. And so that was sort of my theme in the first part of my life.

Margaret Ereneta 15:07

This theme continues into Jade's marriage. She talks about infertility and a common Chinese practice to falsely deal with it. Just reiterating, don't believe things that might seem to come true.

Infertility, Temple Vows, And A “Yes” Stick

SPEAKER_01 15:21

When we have suffering or some things we cannot solve by ourselves, we will go to temple and pray to Buddha or Guan Ying. I remember when my husband and I got married, we wanted to have babies, but we couldn't. I couldn't get pregnant. So we went to a very famous temple to pray to Buddha about that. And when we stepped out of that temple, I remember in the front of that temple there was a stand to you can do fortune-telling sticks. So I picked one, it was the best stick. It says, whatever you wish, it will come true. And soon after I went to that temple, I got pregnant. And we even went back to that temple and donated some money because yeah, you need to honor your promise to Buddha, otherwise it will be a curse. So after I became Christian and understand a little bit more about spirituality, I came to realize the spiritual world is very real. Even though like I prayed to that temple, and sometimes it's even more scary, it really became real. I didn't even know who was I praying to, what spirit I was praying to. I was ignorant at that time. But both me and my husband, we were hardworking, diligent, and successful professionals in financial industries. My husband was about to be promoted to the partnership in his firm and one of the most prestigious financial organizations in China. And he got diagnosed with uh terminal cancer. And it was like everything we pursued collapsed. Before that, we pursued uh prosperity.

Margaret Ereneta 17:28

Even though Jade pursued prosperity, you'll find a lot of Christians in her actual workplace who aren't afraid to share their faith. Just reminding you, this is a communist country. And even at work, where jobs could be at stake, people are sharing many times in Jade's story, with the first one being this next part of her story. Remarkable. Are you sharing your faith at your workplace?

Terminal Diagnosis And Workplace Witness

SPEAKER_01 17:54

But at that moment, I still have a faint idea of the supernatural things. I told my husband, you really need to believe in something. But I will go with whatever you choose. I'm okay with everything. And our boss was a Christian, and he knew what happened to my husband, and so he talked with my husband, me, and also invited other Christians to my home to preach gospels to us. So when I asked my husband that question, he said that uh I want to choose Christianity. I asked him why do you want to choose Christianity? He said, because I don't want to have this kind of life, I don't want to relive this life again. I want to go to heaven. And I think for my husband, he thought his life was so miserable. He didn't want to live through that pain again. So he wanted to end all this and just go to eternity. Yeah, I think that's a reason why he chose Christianity over other faith. After my husband decided to follow Jesus, and after my husband decided to accept Christianity, both of us got baptized in our boss's house at the same day, I was very reluctant. So because I told my husband whatever he chose, I would go with him. I didn't have a lot of idea about Christianity at that time. So when the pastor baptized me, she asked me questions, right? Why do you believe in Jesus Christ? I didn't have time to think it over, and I didn't have energy or whatever to think it over. It's more like, okay, let's do it right now.

Margaret Ereneta 20:08

And more tag along. Even with this reluctant tag along faith that Jade refers to, you will see God move. It's encouraging to see God honor even the smallest steps of faith. And maybe even the faithful prayers of all those Christian colleagues.

Reluctant Baptism And Rapid Loss

Wrestling With Suffering And Trusting God

Return To Church Through Colleagues

SPEAKER_01 20:26

One month and a half after we got baptized, my husband passed away. And I remember the pastor came to my house. He gave me a book called Why Me, explaining the relationship between Christianity and suffering. Because it looked like I didn't have a very solid foundation. And I came to God in the middle of my suffering. So, but even after we got baptized, my husband didn't get healed. On the contrary, he passed away very quickly. I don't know what happened, but I remember there were two scriptures held me through that phase, helped me through that grieving stage. I don't know why these two verses just held me through that stage. One is Luke 9:62, it's basically to say, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. I always constantly remind by this verse, just to move forward, move forward, continue walking, continue walking. And another verse is Roman 8 28. I say that all things God works for the good of those who love him. But for me at that time, I kind of knew in my heart that all things God. Works together, it will eventually work out together. But there is God's will behind this, even though I was still it's an infant stage of my faith. So these two verses just help me through that. So after about three years of my grieving stage, I begin to reflect on Christianity a little bit more. And I will start to think, okay, I need to really make a decision about Christianity, whether I'm going to believe in God or not. Because I don't want to believe in something. Just I used to comfort myself. I need I want to believe something real. So I talked with a lot of pastors and tried to understand more about God's will and suffering, why this happened, why suffering happened, why God is good and allows so many sufferings to happen in this world. And I got some answers. I read a lot of books written by Christian apologetics, but I had to say that I always feel that it's still not enough. The evidence is good, but it's not that sufficient. So one day I remember I attended a workshop. So he said that, you know, there's a gap between the highest level the human mind can comprehend and God's will. There will always be a gap. He referred me to Psalm 73 to understand more about that gap. So I came back and I read Psalm 73. I say that, basically I say that, oh, I saw that good people suffer and evil people prosper in this world. How can you make sense about that? And in Psalm 73, say, oh, when I enter into your sanctuary, oh I know God, you are the only God because you are a just God and you will have the ultimate judgment. Yeah. So I think when I read Psalm 73, I cried a lot. I came to realize no matter how many books I read, there will be a gap between my comprehension and God's will. And I decided to submit that gap to God. And I decided to acknowledge my human limitedness. And that was a I think was a start of my journey with God. Yeah. I think my spiritual journey is a step-by-step. So like I got baptized first, and then biblical teaching helped me. And then I was confronted by this leap of faith. And I decided to submit to God and acknowledge my human limitedness. And next step of my journey was to commit to the church.

Margaret Ereneta 25:46

Jade clarifies the role the church had already played in her life. And she goes back to an earlier work small group before she goes all in with church. Another amazing story to picture: a prominent financial institution in a communist country having a work Bible group. So cool.

Encounter With The Holy Spirit

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Initially, after my grieving period, I went back to church prompt by a co-worker, actually, a Christian co-worker in my company. Because my faith was very weak at that stage. I had a lot of excuses, uh not going to the church. And so one day one Christian colleague came to me, and that was before I decided to submit to God about my limitedness, actually. So I was working in one of their uh leading financial conglomerates in China, and I didn't tell anyone I was a Christian. And one day my boss came to me and gave me a Bible and the devotion book. And I told him, Oh, I am a Christian already. He was trying to preach the gospel to me. And I told him, Oh, I'm already a Christian. I got baptized. He said, Oh, do you have a church? I said, Oh, I don't have a regular church now. He said, Oh, then you I invite you to go to our Bible group in our company. And I went to that Bible study group, and it's all colleagues from different subsidiaries of our group. One sister in our Bible study group actually introduced me, knowing that I didn't have a regular church. She introduced to my pastor, and then I went to my church and stayed there for about nine years.

Margaret Ereneta 27:46

Next, we will hear about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit entered Jade's life once she said yes to Jesus, but with such a slow and intellectual pace toward faith, sometimes we've seen this kind of experience on the show to help the new believer know that their faith is real. Listen to Imam's show to see another example of this.

From Transaction To Relationship

SPEAKER_01 28:06

You know, I'm a very intellectualized person. Yeah, I'm a very intellectualized person. And so initially I came to God by reading a lot of books, even though I submitted God my human limitedness. I still use a lot of my brain. So after some time, I became committed to my church. We had a pastor from the United States come to visit us. My pastor told me that we will have a pray meeting tomorrow. So I had no idea of Holy Spirit and how Holy Spirit works. The only thing I knew is that I need to pray about it. So I prayed, say, okay, I'm open to everything. I had no idea what might happen. I have no preassumptions at all because I have never seen it. And so next day in that pre-meeting, the pastor was praying for us. I had no idea what he was talking about. But when he was praying for us, I I just feel that there was something happening to my hands. I feel it's almost like um some electricity was passing, moving on my palms, and I got so confused, and I I didn't know what happened. And so when the pastor finished the prayers, I approached to him, said, Pastor, I had this happening. I don't know what happened. Could you could you tell me? Do you know what's happening? He said that, oh, God is giving you the gift of healing. I said, What? I was still trying to use my brain. I didn't understand. And he said that, oh, go pray for that brother. He had this pain for one month. You just go pray for him. I said, What? What are you talking about? I was very hesitant. And another sister, she said that, okay, uh, I'm willing to pray for him. I kind of feel okay, since she's already going there to pray, I might go as well. So I joined her to pray for that brother. So that it happened. So after a very short pray, my hand wasn't even touching that brother. And he said that he felt like there's a warmth in his body, and he got healed. And when I was praying, I just felt the electricity in my hands became stronger and stronger. And so, yeah, that brother, he was a very rational and intellectual person as well. So both of us. It was a new day for both of us. So, oh my goodness, the scripture is true. That happened. What was it's written in the scripture can really happen in our lives. After that, I just praised God and I told God, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. That's what I felt at that time as well. Yeah, I kind of feel, oh, my mind sort of knew you, but now I really knew you. Transformational point for me, knowing that it's not something in my brain. It's actually very real. It's touchable. God is touchable, He can be reached, He can be touched, and He's so real in our lives.

Margaret Ereneta 32:05

For the last question, we go full circle when I asked Jane to compare the impersonal gods and divination in her culture of Taoism, Buddhism, and folk belief with the God of the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

I kind of feel that the spirits in no matter it's Buddha or Toism or in our folk belief, is that there's it's something to be feared. And it's not something you can get close to. You will not think of developing a relationship with that spirit. It's more like something you try to make a transaction with. But God I know, God I believe in. He's both a father and my best friend. And yeah, he is merciful, holy, but also disciplines me. It's my perception of God is God's love and mercy. God is himself is irresistible. He chose me. He chose me. It's not about who I am, how good I am. He chose me, he led me through this journey. Yeah, with his irresistible love and mercy that I live on every day.

Margaret Ereneta 33:32

Thanks for listening to today's show. This is the last episode of season four, but great news. Now you have time to bench all the other shows before we bring you season five, and share with a friend it might be the best news they hear today.

Announcer 33:59

180 is brought to you by One Way Ministries. Exalt Christ, advance his gospel.