“Some, including children, did not eat anything. Some were not released until 2:00 a.m. Tired children slept on ice-cold tables and floors. Others were not released until 6:00 a.m.”
Earlier this month, a raid resulted in 44 members of the Early Rain Covenant Church being arrested, including 11 children.
“The youngest to be detained and taken to the police station was a little more than two months old. Tang Chunliang and his wife were hit in the face by a plainclothes police officer at the police station.”
“Christianity preaches peace, and the basic dignity and worth of all human beings, while communism seeks total control and prizes obedience to the state that leaves no room for God.”
According to Gary Bauer, former presidential candidate and evangelical leader, this is the main reason for communist China’s crackdown on Christianity.
And the persecution in China only continues to get worse.
The response that China’s president, Xi Jinping, and his communist regime have had to the growth of Christianity has set the whole world on edge. To now be detaining children in the process is something that, sadly, doesn’t seem to come as a great surprise.
In fact, China has a 5-year plan to control Christianity, and they have already begun to put it into effect. Their plan includes surveillance that monitors everything that Christians in China do. Pastors are told what they are allowed to preach and teachings are changed to reflect the government’s socialist values.
The government is also planning to forcibly incorporate Buddhist and Confucian teachings into a new false form of Christianity in order to maintain the complete control that they wish to have over all of the Chinese people.
Since Xi Jinping began his intense persecution of his country’s Christian people, many Christians in China have chosen to worship in underground house churches to avoid control and surveillance.
However, this has caused China’s government regime to take on a more horrific form of persecution.
There have been raids, church burnings, property seizing, arrests, and Bible confiscation in great numbers. There has even been a ban on online Bible sales.
And since the raid on the Early Rain Covenant Church? Well, it seems some of those who were put in administrative detention have begun to disappear. This leaves family and friends searching for answers.
So where could these people be?
Well, many Christians in China have even been forced to live in internment camps where they are “re-educated” to be able to live in an acceptable manner for their communist government.
They try to force Christians to renounce their faith.
But there are worse things happening to the Christians in these camps than just “re-education.”
Due to years of the Chinese one-child policy and its result in the tragedy of sex-selection abortion, there are many more men than women.
Therefore, many men are single and desperate for a mate. Now the Chinese government has told men that, as a reward for joining the communist party, they can go to these internment camps and pick out a Christian woman to be their wives. The Christian women are told they will be released if they agree to marry a non-Christian Chinese man.
This is yet another way that they are trying to stem the growth of China’s Christian population.
Yet, despite all of this persecution, the Christian population in China continues to grow. Jesus has put a light in China that cannot be put out. Seeing their brothers and sisters hurt for the Faith that they know to be true has only strengthened the Faith of the Christians in China.
As is often the case, persecution has had the opposite effect in China than the government has wanted. But China’s communist regime will not give up on their plans for the future of China’s Christians.
As a result, we should not give up on our brothers and sisters living under persecution in China.
We must always keep them in our prayers and do what we can to help them.
Many have given their lives to help the Christians in China, but even if you can’t do that, there are things that you can do.
You can visit https://www.persecution.com/china2018/?_source_code=EM1901CN1 to donate to send Bibles to China and to send monetary support to the efforts there.
You can also visit https://www.chinaaid.org/ and donate to help expose the persecution in China.
Thank you for your concern over the Christians living in China.
May we always pray for peace, Faith, and change for the better in their lives and in their country.
