Saturday, January 23, 2021

The Tragic Murder of Missionary John Birch (Pt. 1)

Missionary John Birch in China (c. 1940)
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.

His 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

But few people know about the man John Birch (1918-1945) after whom the organization is 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 difficult language rather easily and he became fluent in both speaking and writing Mandarin Chinese, able to imitate the local tonal dialects with precision.

A young John Birch telling the Christmas Story
John Birch served as a model Christian missionary to the Chinese people. He dressed like the Chinese people, ate rice and the local Chinese cuisine. He easily made friendships with Chinese families as he shared the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Chinese 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, it was missionary John Birch that guided Jimmy Doolittle and the Doolittle Raiders out of China (a story I will tell in Part II). Upon Jimmy Doolittle's recommendation, General Clairee Chennault made missionary John Birch a lieutenant in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of America's Central Intelligence Agency.

John Birch decorated by Gen. Claire Chennault
John Birch's fluent Mandarin, his knowledge of the land and people, and his ability to get close to the Japanese without being identified as an American made John Birch the perfect spy for Allied forces. From 1942 to 1945, John Birch saved countless lives through his dangerous intelligence work for the American government, all the while continuing his missionary work. John Birch would be posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Meritt. 

After World War Two ended on August 14, 1945, John Birch recognized the dangers facing the Republic of China. Communist revolutionaries, desiring to overthrow the Republic of China in order to turn China into a Marxist country like the Soviet Union, attacked their Chinese brothers and the Republic of China.

John Birch knew the fate of Chinese people was at stake.  The 

The Communist Emblem
Communist Party of China (CPC) led

by Mao Zedong sought to destroy the Republic of China (ROC), led by Chiang Kai-Shek through riots, destruction, murder, and mayhem. 

On Saturday, August 25, 1945, just ten days after the conclusion of World War II, the Chinese communists murdered John Birch in cold blood - a story I will tell in detail in Part II.

Even worse, the United States government covered up John Birch's murder for five years. In one of the blackest stains on American foreign policy, the American government covered up John Birch's murder by the communists, pulled its military and financial support from Chiang Kai-Shek and the Republic of China, allowing the country of China to fall to the communists.

Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalist Party for the Republic of China withdrew from the mainland after

Taiwan - The Republic of China (ROC)
their defeat to a Chinese island. There, Chiang Ka Shek and the republicans established The Republic of China (1949), what Americans call Taiwan. For over seven decades now, the government of Communist China (CPC) has threatened to invade Taiwan, even if it brings about a World War. 

The common purpose of socialism/communism/Marxism is a unified, one-world government where control of the masses for the "collective" good is orchestrated through social conformity and a Big Brother mentality (e.g. "you can only do what the government allows you to do.") 

John Birch's death has been called “the first casualty in the Third World War between Communists and the ever-shrinking Free World.”

Burial Site of John Birch in Soochow, China

Every American should know about the missionary John Birch. Every lover of liberty should respect the John Birch Society's objective. The three-fold goal of the JBS is: 

  1. Less government. 
  2. More individual responsibility.
  3. By God's grace - a better world.

Robert Welch (1899-1985) founded the John Birch Society on the cold Monday evening of December 9, 1958, in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Welch,  who was fifty-nine years old at the time, had three decades earlier become wealthy from his candy empire that began with his invention of a caramel-bar-on-a-stick that he called Sugar Daddy.

Welch invited eleven other well-known American businessmen from around the United States to join him in Indianapolis. These twelve men became the founding members of the John Birch Society. Among them were Harry Lynde Bradley, co-founder of the Allen Bradley Company and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; Fred C. Koch, founder of Koch Industries; and Robert Waring Stoddard, President of Wyman-Gordon, a major industrial enterprise. 

Five years earlier (1954), Welch had written a book entitled The Life of John Birch: In the Story of One American Boy, the Ordeal of His Age. The candy maker was no dummy. Welch began reading at age two, tackled algebra at age six, read all nine volumes of John Clark Ridpath’s formidable History of the World at age seven, and entered the University of North Carolina at age 12, graduating at 16. He was a true “Renaissance Man,” a world traveler, conversant in several languages, and an avid lifelong student of history, language, philosophy, economics, mathematics, science, geography, chess, poetry, classical literature, politics, and other subjects.

But it was the American Baptist missionary to China, John Birch, that captured the mind and heart of Robert Welch. 


At an age when most people are enjoying their retirement, Robert Welch decided to forego a life of leisure and create an organization (The John Birch Society) to promote what Welch believed to be ideals of Americanism in order to battle the overwhelming wave of communism he saw taking over numerous countries. He had already seen communism’s prominent influence in America throughout his lifetime.

Fast-forward to 2021. On Presidential Inauguration Day, it was my privilege to have lunch with Marty
(L to R) Marty, Wade, John, Clark
Ohlson, the President of the John Birch Society, Clark Curry, the Chairman of the Board for the national Board of Directors for the John Birch Society, and John Dwyer, the historian par excellence for Oklahoma

All three are friends of mine. They're sharp, successful businessmen, who cherish the principles of less government, more individual responsibility, and by God's grace, a better world. 

Fred Trump, the father of former President Donald Trump was a member of the John Birch Society, and Fred ingrained into his son the principles of liberty, responsibility, and government accountability. 

It's no wonder Donald Trump had so much opposition.

National socialism, Marxism, and/or communism  have the following three-fold objective:
  1. A powerful, expansive, and all-controlling government.
  2. Minimal individual responsibility and collective (social) responsibility.
  3. A utopian world by the government's control of the masses with no need for God.
Missionary John Birch saw the dangers of communism in China and throughout the world. He is an example to me of a person who is primarily interested in the Kingdom of Christ but was willing to lay his life on the line to ensure a country remained free.

John Birch died, tragically murdered by the communists, but the message he conveys lives on.

More to come.  

34 comments:

RB Kuter said...

I sure would like to have been a fly on the wall at that luncheon on Inauguration Day!

Wonder if you plan to share some of what was said at that table?

Thank you a lot for this post. I believe you hit the nail on the head, again.

Christiane said...

I was able to get some historical context concerning JBS from this:


https://uh-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10657/2644/HUNTINGTON-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf?sequence=1

RB Kuter said...

I don't know if that dissertation provides "historical context" but does portray the view of those opponents of the Birch Society and portrays it as being a group of paranoid, extreme, Protestant, conservatives. Shows a background of being against Catholic politicians too. I suppose it does serve to form a more balanced portrayal of things.

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

Thanks for the link. It explains why our father never liked the john Birch Society.

Christiane said...

Mr. Kuter and REX RAY,

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that dissertation. I suggest, as always, that you both consult various sources to either confirm or challenge the contents of that dissertation. I'm trying now to locate some commentary from the original time that the JBS was first formed. So I'm still looking. WADE has promised a Part II in time, so that may help a great deal to see if maybe there have been some 'evolution' in the formation of the JBS over time. I look forward to reading what WADE shares with us.

Christiane said...

Mr. Kuter,
Catholics are not exempt from political extremism, as some of the worst have been Catholic by their own statement of faith.

The infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy was Catholic. There were few who rose to his level of political abuse and certainly being 'Protestant' or 'Catholic' by self-report doesn't seem to matter in so far as ANY religion can fall into fundamentalist extremism. Your comment about fairness on that point is noted and I agree with it.

Mr. Kuter, it is hard to understand the JBS outside of the context of the times when it was formed, so the dissertation does at least open some of that up for examination, but I wouldn't 'stop there' as other sources offer other viewpoints. Always better to widen our sources of information in my opinion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy#Early_life_and_education

Rex Ray said...

Wade,

On your 1-9-21 Post, I believe Scott Shaver went too far in criticizing CHRISTIANE with his 7 comments.

Rex Ray said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rex Ray said...

Wade,

The FBI Knew Ahead of Time and Did Nothing About the Capitol Insurrection: Report (yahoo.com)

“The Washington Post reports that the day before the insurrection took place, an FBI office in Virginia “issued an explicit internal warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and ‘war’,” directly contradicting the word of Steven D’ Antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, who claimed there was no intelligence to indicate pro-Trump supporters planned to do harm.”

Rex Ray said...

Wade,

Teen says he feels 'guilty' for calling the FBI about his Capitol 'rioter' dad | Daily Mail Online

“Images from that day show Reffitt wearing a helmet with a camera fastened to the front of it. He's also seen in the images wearing a blue jacket and what appears to be a bulletproof vest.
FBI agents found an AR-15 rifle and a pistol during their search of Reffitt's home, according to the affidavit. The court document states that Reffitt´s wife told agents he is a member of the anti-government Three Percenters movement.” They live in Wylie, Texas.

Rex Ray said...

Oath Keepers and Three %ers Part of Growing Anti-Government Movement (adl.org)
“The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted…

In 2009, the Oath Keepers held their first national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. About one hundred people reportedly attended the event. At the conference, a member of the group's board claimed that they had 2,000 dues-paying members…led by Stewart Rhodes, a Nevada lawyer, the Oath Keepers encourage members of the military and law enforcement to pledge not to follow certain hypothetical "orders" from the federal government.

These "orders," including one "to put American citizens in detention camps," and another "to disarm the American people," echo longstanding conspiracy theories embraced by anti-government extremists, who claim that the U.S. government is creating a police state.”

Christiane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

WOW, you’re 15-page link really was enlightening! The second paragraph states: “…right-wing conspiracy theory groups like the anticommunist John Birch Society and armed groups promoting anti-Semitic and White supremacist themes. For them the 1990s militia movement was the “armed wing” of the Patriot movement. “The tragedies at Ruby Ridge and Waco became rallying cries for the movement. …bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.”

One of the men arrested at the Capital was from Savoy, Texas (6 miles from here.) He’d left his guns in his truck.

What’s crazy is “Trump is to blame!” It’s a wonder he’s not blamed for fire-ants.

Christiane said...

Sorry, REX RAY

I took the link down because I wanted to get more verification on some of the topics it covered (more homework for me).

apparently, 'paranoia' (fearfulness) seems to be at the root of so much of the extremism and conspiracy theories,
which is a shame, because there are a lot of fearful people out there already.

Are you going to watch the Senate trial this time in February? I intend to. I've already put two and two together and it is obvious that Trump is still intimidating to many who might want to hold him to account but do not dare for being 'primaried' or some such retribution. My opinion, yes. It's not the old Republican Party any more, no. My brother, a Republican, calls it 'the Trump Cult'. He wants his party back which was conservative and honorable. He says he is now an 'Independent'.

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

Your link made me feel good because it felt like we were on the same side.

There’s a law that says a private citizen cannot be impeached. Since Trump is in that category now, he can’t be impeached. But knowing how crooked some people are, they’ll try to get around that.

The reason why it’s so important for Democrats to have Trump impeached twice is because Trump wouldn’t be allowed to run for President again.

If that happens, the ‘swamp’ has drowned Trump.

Christiane said...

"The reason why it’s so important for Democrats to have Trump impeached twice is because Trump wouldn’t be allowed to run for President again."

Exactly right, REX RAY

and when you watch the trial, you will find out WHY

As for the Constitution, it provides for this possibility:
"In sum, the Constitution’s text and structure, history, and precedent make clear that Congress’s impeachment power permits it to impeach, try, convict, and disqualify former officers, including former presidents. The Senate may take up the House’s article of impeachment against former President Donald J. Trump, conduct a trial, convict him, and disqualify him from holding a future office of the United States."
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000177-2646-de27-a5f7-3fe714ac0000

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

A lady wrote this in The Leader newspaper today:

“Trump was not a Democrat or a Republican; he was an American business man. Not a man who could be pushed around. He did his best for his Country. He managed to negotiate foreign policies to our advantage. He made them pay their fair share, putting money back into American businesses and brought those businesses back home which gave America its best economy in many years.

He did make America great again. The New Regime couldn’t run him so they got rid of him, any way they could. This new left-wing president will open the borders and try to change the good Trump has done.

I believe we’ll see in the next four years, our Country turning into a socialistic society where they will control everything. There are a lot of people who feel the way I do, and in four years, we’ll vote him out.

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

I don’t understand the fairness of being impeached twice works that would prevent Trump running for President again.

Let’s say a man is charged with murder, but found innocent. (by the Senate).
Again, he is charged with another murder, but found innocent. (By the senate.)
So, he’s hung. Duh

https://www.politico.com/video/2019/09/24/trumps-full-un-speech-at-the-2019-united-nations-general-assembly-video-068862

The link above is a speech given to the United Nations by Trump.

It reminds me of “The day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA”

Christiane said...

Good Morning, REX RAY

This will make you smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1-SyywQM-g

Christiane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christiane said...

another resource that helps understand the position(s) of the John Birch Society, this:
and PAGE 60 gives some info on anti-democratic feelings:

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9125&context=etd

I learnt a lot from this article and I noted that the historical reference to the French diplomat de Tocqueville (page 61) offered an interesting point in this way:
"2 Even though de Tocqueville himself was suspicious of American -democracy and doubted it would work, he nevertheless, did report that the Americans believed themselves champions of democracy and equality."
(footnote 2, p.61)

Did the JBS try to re-write or re-frame what deTocqueville had observed about democracy as a feature of American history in real time? Did the JBS hope for an 'authoritarian' gov't. instead?

?

(more research needed by me) :)

Christiane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

If you think JBS may have overlooked democracy, how do you feel about Biden is going to stop global warming by running vehicles on electricity produced by windmills? Our car engines will be replaced by batteries.

That’d mean we’d pay to have our engines removed and replaced with batteries.

That’d probably start a ‘black-market’ for gasoline at $10/gallon.

Rex Ray said...

That Global Warming is a lot of ‘hot air’.

Biden should abide by; If it ‘ain’t broke’, don’t fix it!

Christiane said...

times are changing, REX RAY

what are your thoughts on that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Qanon lady?

Rex Ray said...

Can you imagine how many batteries it’d take to run an 18-wheeler?

It’d take half its space to hold the batteries.

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

I never heard of Marjorie Greene, but I asked Google. I like the mask she wears that says, “Trump Won”.

So, Biden says ‘The United states is to stop producing gasoline.’

In America there are over 5,000 public airports, and over 14,000 private airports.

I guess the Air Force will stop flying their 5,000 plus airplanes. Every pilot will be given a Biden-Superman cape, strap a machinegun to their backs, flap their arms like a buzzard, and fly into the ‘blue yonder’.

In the Andy Griffith Show, I believe Don Knotts describes Biden best with his favorite cut-down: “He’s nut”.

Rex Ray said...

He’s a nut.

Christiane said...

from the position of 'ethics', an exploration of 'the common good', and the difficulties involved - an interesting read (along some of the thoughts of St. Thomas Aquinas)

https://www.scu.edu/mcae/publications/iie/v5n1/common.html

Scott Shaver said...

Christianne: Another charade, another misspent fortune in wasted tax dollars, by democrats who are certifiably nuts.

Scott Shaver said...

Christianne: Hard to hold a legitimate trial without a legitimate judge.

Where is SCOTUS?

RB Kuter said...

Amazing how our rights to representation in government have been stolen by the totalitarian regime in power in the US.

We Georgians have been denied representation by our duly elected Congressional representative Greene whose rights to represent us were stolen by the "regime" this week.

This follows the apparently rigged election where hidden boxes of ballots were pulled from beneath tables and counted after all observers were ordered out of the room in Atlanta which was video recorded but no action was ever taken to prosecute the criminal activity.

Now efforts to eliminate candidates opposing "the Regime" from even running are taking place through a bogus "Impeachment" process to impeach someone who isn't even in office for the sole purpose of disqualifying him from running for office.

This all taking place as "the Regime" also pursues the escalation of massive mail-in balloting which is the very best method for a corrupt and invalid election process with no credible accountability or validating the authenticity of those sending in ballots being "citizens" or even "alive".

China? Russia? North Korea? Iran? Pakistan? No, friends, the United States of America.

Rex Ray said...

RB Kuter,

PREACH ON, BROTHER, PREACH ON!

Unknown said...

Today the enemy of the USA & great ally of the globalist banking clique new world order crowd as I like to call what the John Birch Society calls the Great Conspiracy is Maoist Peoples Republic of China's Chinese Communist Party government which has been subsidized and allowed to perpetuate itself into a behemoth economic monster while the Leninist USSR was allowed to die on its own weight of Marxist economic failure! In fact Maoist CCP is the model government of the Globalist New World Order Clique GNWOC's as I like to call them and was instrumental in the election fraud that overthrew Pres. Trump's re-election in 2020! I believe that this is because the Slavic Russians were just too traditional in their cultural appreciation, Slavic oriented, traditional-European and considered unreliable and too parochially nationalistic by the GNWOCs!
I SALUTE THE JBS "NEW AMERICAN" MAGAZINE FOR THEIR ARTICLES AS I SALUTE THE AUTHOR HERE FOR HIS ARTICLE OVERVIEW EXCEPT NOT STRESSING THE MILITARY RANK OF CAPT JOHN BIRCH WHOSE MURDER BY OUR FALSE MAOIST CCP ALLIES AGAINST JAPAN AFTER THE USA HAD USED NUKES AGAINST JAPAN WAS AMPLE WARNING AS WAS THE MURDER OF U.S. CITIZENS DESCRIBED HERE: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/betty-and-john-stam-martyred-11630759.html TO THE FUTURE SEC OF STATE GEORGE C MARSHALL OF WHAT THE MAOIST CCP WAS LIKE! Suffice to say I agree with Sen Joseph McCarthy & his assistant Roy Cohn's conclusion about Marshall described here: https://theamericanmercury.org/2010/07/americas-retreat-from-victory/!
I think we Republicans need to own Hiroshima & Nagasaki use of nukes as criminally/inhumanly unnecessary as https://apjjf.org/2021/20/Kuzmarov-Peace.html points out, expose the policies of the Roosevelt/Truman Administration that overthrew and wrongly executed for his anti-communist nationalism, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Konoe-Fumimaro as the cause of Hideki Tojo, WWI Ally-Japan's joining the AXIS & Pearl Harbor in light of reality and truth! if the USA had encouraged Nationalist China to come to terms with Japan TO DESTROY MAO TSE TUNG the way it did Chang Kai Shek's impossible coalition with the Maoist CCP both the Pacific front of WWII THAT WAS DETRIMENTAL TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE & fall of eastern Europe to Stalin as well as rise of the Maoist PRC government that we have controlling China today wouldn't be the situation!