Persecution In China

It was in January 1994 that the Chinese authorities introduced the infamous 'Decree No.145', an attempt to bring all Christian groups within the close supervision of the Religious Affairs Bureau. The Decree continues to be an instrument of oppression for Bible loving Christians whose conscience forbids acquiescence in the Bureau's rules for the regulation of church gatherings and activities.

The official objective is to have all church groups registered as members of the 'Three-Self Patriotic Movement', generally referred to as the TSPM. Membership requires that a church should be self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating; stipulations which are obviously intended to exclude any input from foreign sources, such as missionaries, financial aid or literature, including Bibles.

It is forbidden to give religious instruction to young people, the hope being that as the older generation passes on there will be no one to continue religious activities. One young Chinese person recently wrote:

'... the official church here does not allow us to participate in any kind of activity. I want to become a Christian, but I don't know how to begin'.

Many Christian leaders find these conditions unacceptable. They react like the apostles, who when threatened by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem said, 'Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard' (Acts 4:19,20). As in those early days of persecution for the sake of the Name, God has remarkably worked through the sufferings of believers who are faithful to His Word. In some areas of China the number of believers has multiplied to such an extent that the authorities have difficulty in trying to administer 'Decree No.145'.

From time to time there appears to be a concentrated attack on a particular area where many house groups have avoided registration. This was experienced by house groups in Shanghai last autumn. A large-scale coordinated campaign targeted various churches. These were raided while services were in progress; all present were photographed and had to give their names and addresses; leaders were detailed for questioning. Further harassment followed when police visited people's homes in search of Bibles and literature. Despite all this trauma the movement has continued to grow in Shanghai. With admirable perseverance and courage, the believers have now arranged to meet in numerous smaller groups which are not so easily identified.

For some Christians, refusal to register their group has meant interrogation, imprisonment and official attempts at 're-education' through hard labour in a prison camp. Some of them have greatly glorified God in their acceptance of His purpose through their sufferings, and their witness has been blessed within the labour camps to the salvation of criminals among whom they were serving their prison sentence. To Paul and Silas God gave 'songs in the night', and the Philippian jailer was saved 'with all his house' (Acts 16:25,34). In modern China the power of the gospel is still being experienced behind prison bars, the message impressed on sin-hardened hearts by the life and testimony of Christians who are prisoners of conscience for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

It seems remarkable that to the atheistic regime in China the existence

of a few million believers in Christ should assume such a high profile. Considering that the total population of the country exceeds five billion, one would have thought that twenty-five million Christians would be of relatively small consequence, and easily contained. The Chinese government is of course obsessed with the notion that all its subjects should be uniformly committed to atheistic communism. They will recognize the challenge to atheism of the Christian faith. Perhaps also they are concerned that despite persecution the number of Christians is growing so rapidly in the house church movement. From a scriptural viewpoint it becomes clear that the god of this age is unwilling to let any of his captives go free.

To those of us favoured with religious freedom, a reminder of the sufferings of fellow-members of the Body through persecution is always salutary. It should increase our thankfulness, and stir us to prayer for persecuted believers in China and elsewhere. Privileged with audience before the eternal Throne, let us faithfully be His remembrancers on their behalf (Is. 62:6,7).

unknown | Sept 1996
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