Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Rom 13:1

“When we obey the rules and laws of a nation, even though they may restrict or forbid proselytizing, God will open an even greater opportunity for the gospel than if we break the laws of the land.”

The above quote is from a recently returned tentmaker from the northern Asia region. Officials are aggressively trying to stop Christian expatriates from proselytizing and even spending time with locals outside of work hours.

So how does one bring light into the darkness under such conditions?

Dr. Ian Malcolm of Jurassic Park fame said: “Life always finds a way.”

Apparently, God always finds a way when we remain obedient to his Word. Even with officials in classrooms monitoring what was being said and taught by the teacher, the Holy Spirit was at work. Much prayer preceded each day’s teaching, praying for the students and officials by name.

The monitoring officials were rotated every two weeks to keep them from being influenced by a foreign teacher.

Then God stepped in.

For some unknown reason the rotations stopped which meant the same official stayed in the class permanently. He eventually started asking questions that were clearly not permissible which encouraged the students to do the same. This led to more and more open questions about the teachers understanding of God.

After some months of earning the respect of local people and even some authorities, a Bible study group was born right in the classroom. Since Bibles are not permitted in this country, creative methods were used to get the Word into the student’s hands.

The door remains wide open for committed, intentional Christian expatriate teachers to bring the Gospel to this least-reached nation. A government-imposed spiritual vacuum is crying for something to fill this void. Let it be Jesus.

By Ari Rocklin