Chinese authorities continue to persecute churches, burn Bibles

Chinese authorities continue to persecute Christians by going after their churches.

According to China Aid (an NGO focused on religious freedom), Henan authorities are tearing down crosses and shutting down house churches.

So far, at least eight house churches have been closed in the Jinshui District of Zhengzhou. However, local Christians say it could more as it has become hard to estimate the number of closed churches.

Meanwhile, more crosses are being torn down from Chinese churches. Crosses have been ripped down from churches in Nanyang, Yuzhou, and Anpeng, Nanyang.

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Things have gone from bad to worse since China's new Regulations on Religious Affairs were enforced in February 2018.

Since then, crosses have been removed, churches have been destroyed, Bibles have been burnt and Christians have been arrested. Churches have also been forced to display the Chinese flag, pictures of Mao Zedong and current Chinese President Xi Jinping instead of Jesus Christ.

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Reacting to the situation, the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness issued a statement showing their displeasure with the terrible treatment of Christians at the hands of the Henan authorities.

China Aid reports that a pastor penned a letter crying out against the oppression of Chinese Christians.

After visiting some churches, Pastor Shen Xianfeng issued an open letter on August 30, 2018 writing: "These days, I visited many persecuted churches in the cities of Xinyang, Tongbai, Tanghe, and Nanyang in Henan Province. All these churches were assaulted seriously; they [the government] has utilized any [government] department they could utilize with any methods/tricks they could adopt."

"All kinds of official forces, from public security, armed police units, high ranking officers or low-rank ones from the levels of province, county, and village all came out to threaten, to detain, to tear down, and to seal house churches' doors and to hit, break, and rob, [using] all kinds of means to repeat what happened during "the Cultural Revolution." What they did was totally not based on the law, and it was improper and unreasonable. They acted in direct opposition to righteous and moral principles…."

China is currently 43 on the Open Door 2018 World Watch List.