The Tragic Murder of John Birch, Pt. 1
A Christian missionary in China was the first casualty of WW III.
This is the first of a three-part series on the extraordinary life and tragic murder of an American Baptist missionary to China named John Birch. I originally published this on my old blog in 2021, but I consider it one of my most important posts.
Americans need to understand why China will be invading Taiwan.
Missionary John Birch’s cold-blooded murder by Chinese communists on Saturday, August 25, 1945, should serve as a warning to all Americans who believe in liberty, individual responsibility, and government accountability.
Many have heard of the John Birch Society.
However, few people know about the man John Birch (1918-1945), after whom the organization was named.
John Birch, the son of missionary parents to India, would spend his school years in Georgia. God called him to be a missionary at the age of eleven. A superb student, Birch graduated from Mercer University with top academic honors at age twenty. At twenty-two, John Birch took a ship to Shanghai, where he studied Chinese at a prestigious language academy. John picked up the problematic language rather quickly and became fluent in speaking and writing Mandarin Chinese, able to imitate the local tonal dialects precisely.
John Birch served as a model Christian missionary to the Chinese people. He dressed like the Chinese people and ate rice and the local Chinese cuisine. He quickly made friendships with Chinese families as he shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with the people of northwest China. John refused to marry a British missionary woman with whom he fell in love because he felt having a wife would deter him from his mission in China.
When World War II began, John didn't abandon his missionary post. Japan had already invaded China in 1937, so when World War II broke out for the United States in 1941, the Republic of China was our ally, but the Empire of Japan was our enemy. John Birch continued his missionary efforts among the Chinese, moving away from the coastal areas to avoid the Japanese occupying troops.
By God's providence, missionary John Birch guided Jimmy Doolittle and the Doolittle Raiders out of China