One main document: the Bible

"While we do not know why God allowed the Communist Revolution to occur, we can describe some of the surprising results for the Western mission to China and Reformed faith in China. One consequence, for example, is that it purged China of theologically liberal Western missionaries. Since then, many orthodox evangelical missionaries have returned to China, but relatively few theological liberals have. However tragic the expulsion of orthodox men and women from China was, the very real danger posed to the church in China by Western liberal theology was checked. Likewise, however much we may mourn the destruction of much good Christian literature and the theological famine the Communist Revolution produced, it also rid the country of most of the harmful Christian literature as well, leaving the Chinese church with one main document: the Bible. From my perspective, this appears to be a significant reason the church in China as a whole, even the state sanctioned Three Self Church, has remained far more theologically conservative than the church in the West."¹

I'm in the process of finishing China's Reforming Churches with a review forthcoming this week, Lord willing. But I wanted to share the above quote which jumped off the page. Readily available, sound theological resources are great blessings which we should not take for granted. But something is wrong if I turn to them more than the Bible or consider them as having the final word on faith and practice. It never hurts to be reminded that the one main document I need above all the rest is God's Word.

China's Reforming Churches - History of Western Presbyterian and Reformed Mission by Michael M, Bruce P. Baugus editor, Reformation Heritage Books, 2014, pp. 56-57. (emphasis mine)