Thursday, December 13, 2007
Persecution Continues In China
Thanks and praise to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
www.asianews.it
12/11/2007 12:26
CHINA
About 270 Christian leaders are arrested in Shandong for reading Bible together
The underground Protestant clergymen had gathered in Linyi’s Hedeng district where police, coming from 12 different towns, arrested them. About 150 are still in prison. A secret campaign to “normalise” underground Protestant Churches is still underway.
Linyi (AsiaNews) – Police in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong have arrested 270 Protestant pastors from house Churches for taking part in an “illegal religious gathering” in the district of Hedeng near the city of Linyi. At present about 150 Christians are still in a state prison, this according to a US-based NGO, the China Aid Association (CAA), which lobbies for freedom of worship in China.
The arrests took place last Friday at around 1.30 pm local time. The Protestant clergymen had met to study the Bible when about 50 policemen from 12 different towns stormed the meeting place, blindfolded and handcuffed them two-by-two, and then taken them to a local police station for questioning.
The full story HERE
Also from Family Research Council
Religious Persecution: Made in China
As China works to better its image as host of next year's Olympic Games, their latest political crisis does little to help their cause. This weekend, reports have confirmed that Chinese officials stormed into the town of Shadong and violently arrested 270 Christian pastors for holding an illegal Bible meeting. As of this morning, 150 of the men were still in police custody. An eyewitness at the meeting said the raid was quick and brutal. Allegedly, 50 policemen "stormed the meeting place, blindfolded and handcuffed [the pastors] two-by-two," then hauled them off to headquarters for "questioning." While 120 were fined with "an interrogation tax" and released, dozens of others await their fate under a regime with a history of vicious religious persecution and zero tolerance for the underground church movement, now estimated at over 10 million members. Several local and international groups are monitoring the situation--which could have sweeping repercussions for the massive PR campaign underway to legitimize next year's Olympic hosts. Obviously, the detention of these pastors illustrates China's insincerity in moving toward a culture of religious tolerance. While the regime tries to project itself as progressive, the reality is that China has no intention of abiding by international law or abandoning its hostility to Western religious ideals. China's pastors offer the nation hope not a threat. FRC is calling on the State Department to intervene, issuing a letter today in hopes that Secretary Condoleezza Rice and the U.S. Ambassador can broker the pastors' quick release.2 Corinthians Chapter 4
1: Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2: But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3: But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9: Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10: Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11: For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12: So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13: We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14: Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15: For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16: For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
1: Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2: But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3: But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5: For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9: Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10: Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11: For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12: So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13: We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14: Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15: For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16: For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Labels: CHINA, persecuted, persecuted church
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