China (MNN) — Christian persecution in China is the worst it’s been in 40 years, according to Dr. Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid.
Dr. Fu spoke about this issue recently on The Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s podcast, Closer to the Fire.
“Without any exaggeration, the persecution against the Christians and other religious minorities has really reached the worst level we have not seen in 40 years since the Cultural Revolution…. For the first time, we have seen the Communist Party is cracking down on the Church across the board; literally declared a war against Christianity.”
(Photo courtesy of Note Thanun/Unsplash)
He says Chinese censorship efforts especially target Christian youth.
“For the first time, millions of Chinese children were forced to sign a form – these are Christian children – to renounce their faith in public.”
Communist leaders also continue to remove crosses from church buildings. “Even the government-sanctioned churches have been targeted for persecution,” says Fu. “Those pastors who refuse to voluntarily destroy, remove, and demolish their crosses have been facing huge risks of persecution.”
Furthermore, Chinese Christians know their every move is increasingly watched as China embraces digitalized social monitoring.
Fu says, “The government-sanctioned churches, every church pulpit and the four corners of the church have to install face recognition cameras so that they can monitor the congregation – whether there’s any children, there’s any youth under 18 years old, any Communist Party member, any Communist Youth League member, any civil servant, or any police or military service member. These are all forbidden to even enter into the church building.”
We may not know what God is doing in China. But we can pray for Chinese believers to be steadfast in their faith.
Please also pray for the growth of the Chinese Church despite persecution, that faithful disciples would multiply and that the true Word of the Gospel would be known!
Header photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.
