Persecution Increases In China As New Campaign Against Christianity, The War Against Christianity

China launches new campaign against Christianity

Amid an ongoing surge in Christianity that developed as communism created a spiritual vacuum in people’s lives, China has launched a new crackdown, including rules introduced last month that further restrict the activities of unregistered house churches, according to a new report.

Christians in China have been repressed ever since the People’s Republic was created in 1949, with the government’s control of churches and imposition of the Communist Party’s atheistic values.

The state’s oppressive control prompted the rise of an underground house-church movement that, combined with the growth of registered churches, will make China’s Christian population the world’s largest by 2030, according to the new report by the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Tens of millions of Chinese now identify as Christians and the number has grown rapidly, posing challenges for a government that is officially atheist and wary of threats to its power,” the report says.

The growth in Christianity became noticeable shortly after the long-repressive nation was reopened to the outside world amid the reforms instituted by Deng Xiaoping after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976.

“A surge in Christian adherents can be traced from the period beginning in the early 1980s,” the report says.

The government tries to control religion by officially recognizing several faiths, including Christianity, appointing clerics and restricting activities through its State Administration for Religious Affairs.

“To register as a state-sanctioned Christian organization, religious leaders must receive training to ‘adapt’ doctrine and CCP thinking,” the report says.

A 2010 Pew Research Center report estimated that 35 million of China’s 58 million Protestants belonged to independent house churches.

Purdue University sociologist Fenggang Yang estimates there are between 93 million and 115 million Protestants in China. But other Christian organizations estimate an even higher number.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and others forecast China could have 160 million Christians by 2025 and 257 million by 2032.

With a flood of evidence that Protestantism has become a dynamic part of China’s religious landscape, the report explains, the government, fearful of the loss of control, has increased the repression.

“Over the past twenty-five years, China ranked tenth as a country where it is most difficult and dangerous to practice Christianity, according to Open Doors, a U.S.-based Christian non-profit that tracks the persecution of Christians worldwide. Repression campaigns ebb and flow. While traditionally house and underground churches faced the brunt of persecution, under Xi’s leadership state-sanctioned churches have been targeted as well. Recent repression efforts target both house and state-sanctioned churches through the harassment and detention of Christian believers, blocking entry to sites of worship, interrupting gatherings, dismantling crosses, demolishing churches, or disbanding congregations,” the report says.

“For example, party officials in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang’s city of Wenzhou, known for its large Christian population, have ordered the removal of hundreds of crosses and demolition of dozens of churches that allegedly violated construction regulations, though several had received prior approval from local officials

Moreover, Zhejiang province party officials announced that the party would enforce a ban on religious belief among party members to prevent the ‘penetration of Western hostile forces.’ Other provinces with large Christian populations, including Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, have undergone similar crackdowns on Christian gatherings and activities.”

CFR says that while religious leaders and practitioners “may have no intention of undermining the party, the very perception of a threat by party leaders sets the stage for possible confrontation between churches and the state.”

Among the reactions from the government has been the imposition of new religious regulations, announced last month, that are “intended to boost national security and protect against the spread of extremism and foreign infiltration,” CRF reports.

The rules include explicit bans on unregistered groups teaching about religion and increased oversight on religious gatherings and financing.

The rules specify, for example, that the state, “in accordance with the law, protects normal religious activities, actively guides religion to fit in with socialist society, and safeguards the lawful rights and interests of religious groups, religious schools, religious activity sites and religious citizens.”

They require churches to “practice the core socialist values” and ban them from creating “contradictions and conflicts.” And they require churches to assist “the people’s governments in the implementation of laws.”

The report finds that at the top level, Beijing “has signaled attempts to inject party influence into Christian ideology.”






The War Against Christianity



Christianity is in a fight for its life. The world is kicking Christian principles and beliefs to the curb. Momentum against the Christian faith is accelerating at breakneck speed.

Tolerance laws are catching Christians off-guard. In Arizona, a lady was sued because she would not photograph a Gay Wedding! So far, the courts have backed up her adversaries. In Oregon, a couple had to close their bakery because they refused to make a wedding cake to honor a gay wedding! They too were sued, and the 9th circuit has so far upheld their adversaries. By the way, the 9th circuit so far is the most over-turned appeals court in the land. The Supreme Court thus far has not ruled on these. There are bakers in other states that make it known they have Christian values and are being attacked because of this. The activists can go to other secular bakers, but choose to intimidate and harass the Christians.

Right here in Texas, a liberal judge from San Antonio has ruled the state’s same-sex restriction is unlawful. He has had to put his ruling on hold until proper appeal can be made to the 5th circuit (which is fairly conservative) and probably the Supreme Court. Again, no final ruling has come down.

Christian events are being challenged everywhere. In Athens, Texas, a group from way up north challenged a Nativity that has been on the square just about from the time Athens was formed. So far, the Nativity has been allowed to be used, however a new ruling has been put in place that if other religions want to put up a symbal of their faith, they are permitted to do so. In other words, if a satanic group wants to put up a display for satan, they must be allowed to do so.

Schools are being banned from having Christmas parties, but instead are allowed Winter Parties. One has banned the colors green and red from its party. University students are allowed to hold wiccen parties or classes on Islam, but Bible Studies are not allowed. They are having to take their studies off campus and into private homes. Some cities are making laws against this by saying it’s against Zoning regulations

Our own military is targeting Christians. Chaplin’s are told they cannot pray in Jesus name and Christian groups are being targeted as religious extremists and domestic hate groups. Even the Billy Graham ministry in North Carolina went through an extreme audit by the IRS.

Some churches are changing their by-laws to allow same-sex unions. As a pastor, I will gladly perform a ceremony between a man and a woman, but never for a same-sex couple. What we’re witnessing is not so much a war on Christianity as it is a total rebellion against God. 

Jesus told His followers: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. (John 15:18)

This is one reason I stand so strong on trying to bring l the message of Jesus. Never in my lifetime did I believe I would see what is happening right now. However, I have put my faith in the Father, and am not about to change now. I believe He is getting ready to take His faithful away from all this and let the sin-filled world play out its last 7 years. I will not be ignorant enough to set a date and time on this event other than to say God put it into His word (Thessalonians and Corinthians) and He has never been wrong.

All we have to do is be ready when it does happen.