The War for China's Soul

"They treated us like dead dogs," he says. "Some of them scoffed at us as we lay there, saying, 'Where is your God now? Why can't he help you? If you want to go to heaven, we'll help you get there right now.'"

That was how one Chinese Christian described his recent treatment at the hands of authorities in "The War For China's Soul," a fascinating article in TIME magazine. The unnamed witness was a volunteer working on a half-completed church in a suburb of Hangzhou 112 miles southwest of Shanghai. From the article:

Financed by local Christians, the church was to serve a community of 5,000 parishioners. Hundreds of them gathered at the site on the afternoon of July 29, some joining the construction crew building the church. Others, many of them elderly parishioners, sat on plastic chairs surrounding the church, singing hymns. About 2:30 p.m., thousands of uniformed police and plainclothes security officers appeared at the construction site. The police cleared a way through the crowds for a few drill-equipped backhoes, and the authorities then demolished the church.

Witnesses say police bludgeoned people indiscriminately with nightsticks. "They were picking up women--some of them old ladies--by their hair and swinging them around like dolls, then letting them crash to the ground," says a man who watched the clash from across the street."

The reporter contends that treatment like this is happening as a reaction to the spread of Christianity and the formal and informal challenges it creates to the centralized Communist leadership. "Christianity is finally taking root and evolving into a truly Chinese religion," the reporter writes. "Estimates vary, but some experts say Christians make up 5% of China's population, or 65 million believers."

This is one of those articles that will lead you to pray. Many of our Christian brothers and sisters in China face significant challenges to the worship and witness that we take for granted. However, the growing Christian presence in China needs protection not only from persecution but also from heresy. The article reports that, in addition to the spread of traditional Christianity, strange quasi-Christian groups with questionable beliefs are also growing.

I happen to know of one small group of Chinese Christians and their seeking friends who gather in an apartment to sing, pray, and then listen to one of my sermons from our website. You don't need to know any more than that to pray for them, so take a moment to ask God's blessing on them!

UPDATE: Chinese authorities have dismissed the reporter who posted comments on the Internet that formed the basis for the TIME story. Reuters reports:

Zan Aizong, bureau chief of the Zhejiang office of the China Ocean News newspaper, recently converted to Christianity and was baptised in July. He denounced his dismissal as a blow to freedom.

"The authorities are doing whatever they can to crack down on reporters who dare to tell the truth," Zan told Reuters. "They deprived me of my freedom some days ago, and now they are taking away my job."

Earlier this month, Zan said he was detained for a week on charges of "spreading rumors harmful to society" in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, after issuing reports on the Internet, criticizing the demolition of a nearby church.