CHINA – Pastors in China Prepare to Lose Their Lives for Preaching the Gospel, Defying Communist Crackdown

The Christian Post | Sept. 22, 2018

(SCREENSHOT: YOUTUBE/ITV NEWS)Police officers monitor a church service in China in this footage posted on March 22, 2018.

In the face of an ongoing Communist crackdown, pastors in China have vowed to continue preaching the Gospel, even if it costs them their lives.

Aaron Ma, a representative of Open Doors’ Ministry in China, told The Christian Post in an email on Thursday that the watchdog group has so far heard of one case of Bible burning in the country.

“In this case, the authority confiscated belongings of the churches (including Bibles) and burnt them all,” Ma said.

The incident, where Communist Party officials burned Bibles and crosses in Henan, was captured on video and shared online earlier this month by activists, including ChinaAid President Bob Fu, whose group monitors the persecution of believers in China.

Concern has also risen over instances where state officials have been forcing some Christians to sign papers rejecting their faith.

Ma relayed information from local Chinese pastors who revealed that the people pressured to sign such papers are secondary school students.

“They are tempted [and] threatened not to admit their Christian faith in order to avoid trouble. Their Christian faith is being challenged and tested,” the Open Doors representative explained.

As for how much weight such renunciation papers carry, and whether the believers who sign them are indeed considered to have left Christianity, he said:

“Whether they would leave the Christian faith would depend on how their pastors, and brothers and sisters in churches guide and encourage them to re-build their faith.”

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