Page 9 - Voice of the Persecuted Christians - Oct-Dec 2022 - 120

pursuing a policy of ‘sinicisation’ – forcing Christians to make their faith compatible with communist ideology.
‘There was a time when the state church was allowed to function and generally only the unregistered house churches were targeted by the authorities but now Xi makes no distinction,’ said Bob.
‘He is only interested in total loyalty
to the CCP and to himself so under Xi the state’s Three Self Patriotic (TSP) churches have been shut down in the name of sinicisation, which at least has meant the TSP congregations have joined the house church movement! As a church leader if you are only 70 to 80 per cent loyal, then you are done for. Churches were closed during the Covid lockdown regime, so now you need a legitimate reason to re-open and unless you match the criteria of the CCP for clergy you will be removed from your position.’
In order to re-open, churches are required to install face-recognition cameras from the pulpit to the four corners of the church building. This is so that no one under the age of 18, party members, CCP youth members, civil servants or military personnel attends.
Churches that incorporate these stringent measures and are allowed to open then have to demonstrate their total loyalty, eg, their teaching must be completely compatible with communist ideology.
Bob said: ‘The CCP must be praised. Portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi are displayed on the pulpit either side of the cross. Communist party anthems have to be sung before the doxology can be said. It is just like the nazification of Germany in the 1930s when churches were forced to praise “the great leader”.’
Unsurprisingly interaction with foreigners, unless explicitly approved at provincial level, can result in accusations of ‘subversion of state power’.
‘Several Christians have been jailed for legally travelling to Kuala Lumpur for a Bible conference where an Indonesian was the key speaker two years ago. The charge was made
9
SKY’S THE LIMIT
I’ve just finished interviewing Christian lawyer Chen Jiangang and we move outside to take some photos in the afternoon Texan sun. It’s topping 100 degrees and we don’t want to stay out too long but just as we are about to take his picture Chen stretches out his arms and lifts them up to the blue skies in thanks to God for his freedom.
It’s hard to appreciate just how much it means for someone who has spent so much time under constant surveillance, never knowing when the police will stop you and take you in for questioning for no justifiable reason.
‘The communist party has ruined China. Even the sky is a terrible colour because of their policy that has led to pollution,’ he declares.
You realise it is the perfect metaphor for the way the Chinese Communist Party is poisoning the nation and its people. Even the air is toxic.
But thank God that that’s not the end of the story for China,
or the church in this communist nation. The worse the persecution, it seems, the more people are turning in faith to Christ. If current trends continue, says ChinaAid, by the end of the decade China will become ‘the largest Christian country’!
That’s a staggering thought. If that proves accurate then it puts in a whole new light the quote often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte and generally viewed in terms of economic and military might: ‘Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world’. Just think what a China awakened to the truth of the gospel could do!
Tom Hardie
© 2022 Release International
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