Chinese Woman Went to Heaven and Returned - Testimony

 

A Chinese woman of Shan Tung Province, North China went to heaven and returned. This experience occurred in connection with the missionary activities of Miss Louisa Vaughan and is related in her book of remarkable miracles, "Answered or Unanswered", pages 42-46, from which we quote:

  "In the year of 1904, I held a meeting of several day's duration in the city of Wang Kia Kwan Dswang. My audience consisted of the most "stupid and ignorant" of Chinese women. Some of them were converts, but most of them came to hear the Gospel for the first time. Among these last was a Mrs. Jang, who seemed, if possible, a little more "stupid" than the rest. She was one of our number, not because of any interest she felt in Bible truth, but because her husband, formerly a Confucian scholar, had accepted the Savior and wished her to know something of the fundamental principles of Christianity. Her two little children, who were always with her, consumed much of her time and strength. There were some twenty others in the class to be taught, and I had little chance to give individual attention. The prospect of her learning enough truth to be converted was not encouraging.

"My one method of work, however, was prayer with complete reliance upon the power of God through the Holy Spirit to fulfill His promise in John 14 :13,14: 'And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it'. In the course of these meetings the Father was glorified in the conversion of Mrs. Jang; for after four days of simple instruction she returned to her home a new creature in Christ Jesus.

"About six months later, when I was holding services in a neighboring village, Mrs. Jang appeared again. This time she brought three children and the family dog. (She had given away the chickens.) Again she stayed four days, absorbed as much truth as she could under the trying circumstances, and again returned home.

"Soon after, she contracted tuberculosis and suffered intensely for a year. Her physical pain was only a part of her distress. Her family realized that a great change had taken place in her life, but they would not accept her testimony. They were especially bitter because she unbound her feet. Disregarding such a time-honored custom was a serious disgrace to them. They tortured her in all sorts of little meanness's. She would be refused a drink when she was too ill to get it for herself, and she was frequently told that she was to be buried with her feet bare. A modest Chinese woman has only her face and hands uncovered, even in death.

Visions of Other Parts of the Heavenly City

 "In the midst of all her pain and trials Mrs. Jang maintained a bright clear testimony. She grieved only because her dear ones would not receive the message of life that so thrilled and comforted her own soul.

"The dreadful disease had about done its work, when I again found myself in her vicinity. The pastor of the church in which I was speaking came to tell me of her year of suffering.

" 'Miss Vaughan', he said, 'the only prayer she has offered for herself during all these months is that she may see your face again.'

The Body in Death Chamber

 "Needless to say I went to her immediately. I was received with a welcome of such apparently boundless affection that I felt I had never before known what love was. A few days passed. It was evident that it was God's will to take Mrs. Jang home, and we who loved her ceased to pray for her recovery. We asked only that God would give her great peace in going, and lift from her heart the burden of grief that it carried because her testimony had not been received by those nearest her.

"I made what I supposed was my last visit to her. 'We will never see our friend on earth again', I said to my class. 'She is very near the heavenly home, and can not possibly live through the night.'

"Early the next morning her father called upon me. 'Your daughter is now at rest and in the Savior's presence,' I said.

"He smiled. 'Oh, no, no!' he said excitedly. 'The Lord has performed a wonderful miracle. She is alive again.

"Then he explained. Mrs. Jang had died at three o'clock the afternoon before, and her family, in accordance with Chinese custom, had immediately prepared her body for burial. At about sunset they heard a noise in the death chamber. They supposed that the children or pigs or chickens (they have equal freedom in the houses of the poor) had gotten into the room. But when they opened the door they could scarcely believe their eyes. Mrs. Jang sat erect on the kang. She had removed her grave clothes and put on those she had been wearing before her death!

"I never taught Revelation in China and nothing had ever been told Mrs. Jang of the glories of Heaven as described in that book. She had instruction for only eight days in her life.

 Visions of Other Parts of the Heavenly City

 Mrs. Jang Inside the Golden City

 "This is her story as she related it to me: 'I remember seeing all the family around me crying. Then the Lord Jesus came into my room and took me by the hand and said, 'Come with me!' In a short time we were before a gate of pearl. It was the gate of Heaven. Angels opened it and we went in. I saw many beautiful houses all of pretty colors. I walked beside the Lord on the golden streets. Miss Vaughan, I was so glad you had told me to unbind my feet; I would have been so ashamed to walk beside my Savior with little feet.

"Then we went on and I saw thousands of angels in a circle, singing and playing lovely music. In the midst was the throne of glory. The Heavenly Father sat upon it, and when I saw Him I was afraid. I hardly dared to lift my eyes'.

" 'You have come', He said.

" 'Yes, Lord.'

" 'You may go back for a while, but you must return to me here on the twelfth of the month'.

Sent Back to Earth

 " 'Miss Vaughan, here I am, and now they'll have to accept my testimony, for I have walked on the golden streets and I've seen the Father. They'll have to believe me now.'

"Did her relatives and neighbors believe her?

"People flocked in from miles around to hear the wonderful story. She spoke as an eyewitness and they could not reject her testimony. God's mighty power was upon it, and hundreds were converted. Even today, missionaries in that vicinity find an eager reception for the Gospel message because that is the 'Jesus doctrine' believed by Mrs. Jang who went to heaven and came back again to tell what she saw.

"The days passed until the twelfth of the following month. When that day came the family tried to convince Mrs. Jang that she had reckoned the date incorrectly, but her eager heart was not to be deceived. Late in the afternoon she asked her mother for her grave clothes. Under strong protest they were folded and put on the bed. At sunset while the family were at their evening meal in an adjoining room, she dressed herself quietly in her burial garments then lay down, and her beautiful soul went back to her God".

It can be seen that the testimony of this simple eye witness of heaven's glories is in accord with the word of God, and the present day visions of heaven given his children through the Holy Spirit.

 Visions of Other Parts of the Heavenly City

 This woman had never heard of the Heavenly City nor its golden street. There is no natural explanation for her accurate description of the New Jerusalem in heaven, its "pearly gate", its "beautiful houses of pretty colors", "the golden street", "thousands of angels singing and playing lovely music", "the throne of glory", and "the King of Glory". There is most simple explanation to the child of the Lord—while Mrs. Jang's body lay a corpse in the death chamber from three o'clock to sunset her spirit was enjoying the bliss of the celestial city, where is "the throne of glory" and "The King of Glory."

The testimony of this ignorant Chinese woman, as believed by her friends and community, is the testimony to be believed by all of the children of men, that there is a golden city in the heaven far above the stars, the city eternal where "thousands of angels sing and play music" around the throne of God and where the King walks the golden streets with his humblest child amidst the glories of the city of glory, the crown of the universe, the pyramidal capstone of all God's creation.

This is the abiding city, the golden city that is eternal, the city whose builder and Maker is God, the heavenly Jerusalem that is now the home of the redeemed in the third heaven and will some day be the glory center of the New Earth when God makes all things new.