Subtle Evidences of Christianity

Before coming over to China we were told to be very careful with what we texted and emailed because the government could screen and flag any Christian jargon we used.  This and a few other things we heard from different people made me a little nervous when it came to the government squashing any mission efforts that I or any of the others Friends of China people might attempt.

But little did I know, there are some funny little Christian themes, ideas, and even jargon being used throughout Beijing....some that the gov't obviously knows about, and others that I don't think any average Chinese person knows about.

For example, this huge Christmas tree outside the very large, gov't-approved Christian church one subway stop away from our apartment is very obvious:

As are the Christmas decorations that have popped up in every Starbucks:

(side note: At first I thought the "Let's Merry" t-shirt worn by every Starbucks employee was some good Chinglish, but after seeing that all of the other English in Starbucks was perfect, I decided to give the multi-billion dollar company the benefit of the doubt.)

However, some things I've seen are a little more subtle, like this decoration Heather and I saw at a coffee shop back in October (we're pretty sure they didn't realize it was only meant to be a Christmas decoration):

There are also some ads near the subway for a website (I think a deal-finding site) called "The Gate," where they always have some sort of picture with this angel on it, and sometimes with the angel standing beside the Heavenly Gates:

And sometimes there are things that go almost completely unnoticed by the average Beijinger, like this notebook I saw one of my students using in class:

The student had no idea what "Gospel" meant.

So, as you can see, God has planted a little bit of imagery and jargon here in China.  

Some might say it's all just a coincidence and simply a result of the influence of the American culture.

Others might say that God is using the American culture to set the foundation for something pretty amazing to (continue to) happen in a country thirsty for the Truth.

You can judge for yourself, I guess.