THE CHURCH SHOULD NOT FEAR PERSECUTION

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China is experiencing the world’s largest revival today. Several thousand Chinese come to Christ every day. Many feel that these revivals are happening in contrast to their background of being Buddhists, Animists, Taoists, or Confucianists. Still, a closer look shows that China has been following the God of the Bible since the beginning of their history, more than 5,000 years ago. Are these current revivals a sign that the people of China are returning to their true roots?

The truth came down from Noah and his family. Some modern Chinese Christian scholars or theologians suggest a connection to Shem, citing possible linguistic or cultural links between ancient Semitic and Chinese civilisations (e.g., similarities in ancient writing systems or flood narratives). Others favour Japheth, based on the broader geographic spread of his descendants.

CHINA CLOSES THE DOOR ON FOREIGN MISSIONARIES

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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced last week that, starting May 1, 2025, foreign missionaries will be prohibited from sharing their faith, preaching, and establishing religious organisations.

As reported by International Christian Concern, “Chinese state media claimed that the newly revised rules promote national security — a common justification for CCP persecution of religion — and help to protect ‘normal religious activities,’ referring to activities run under strict government oversight as part of state-run religious institutions.”

The restrictions apply to all religions and prohibit “non-Chinese citizens residing in the country from establishing religious organizations, preaching without authorization, founding religious schools, producing or selling religious books, accepting religious donations, or recruiting Chinese citizens as religious followers.” They further stipulate that any foreign clergy entering China may only preach if invited to by a state-run religious organization, and that all content must not “interfere with China’s religious affairs” and must be pre-approved.

This latest crackdown on independent religious groups is part of a larger pattern of religious persecution under Xi’s regime. China’s state-run media outlet the Global Times recently boasted, “China’s public security authorities intensified efforts to dismantle cult organizations in 2024. They have worked to curb the growth and spread of cult organizations, mitigating potential threats to national political security and maintaining social stability.”

Xi’s campaign against religious freedom largely began in 2016 when he declared that he wanted to “Sinicize” all religion in China. This effort has led to the CCP officially recognising only a handful of religions and triggered the rise of state-run institutions like the protestant Three Self Church and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. In response, the underground “house church” movement of believers who wish to worship free from government oversight has grown significantly — but so has the government crackdown on the movement. Church raids by police have become commonplace.

This is just another of the end times signs. The Bible tells us that China (kings from the East) will be involved in the last great battle of Armageddon when Jesus returns to rescue and restore Israel.

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.” Revelation 16:12-14

FACE PERSECUTION OR FLEE?

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The end times church will be faced with this question (face persecution of flee) more and more as Christians experience the coming prophesied tribulation in the last seven years before Jesus returns first to rapture His church and to pour out His wrath on a lawless, unrepentant world.

In this photo taken Sunday, June 3, 2018, the demolished house church is seen in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province. Under President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, believers are seeing their freedoms shrink dramatically even as the country undergoes a religious revival. Experts and activists say that as he consolidates his power, Xi is waging the most severe systematic suppression of Christianity in the country since religious freedom was written into the Chinese constitution in 1982. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Three years ago, 62 members of China’s Shenzhen Reformed Holy Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, fled to South Korea to escape persecution from the Communist government. They requested political asylum in South Korea but were denied. The church is now in Thailand, where members hope to gain refugee status, and eventually resettle in the United States. Until then, they face many challenges, including possible arrest by Thailand immigration police and being sent back to China.

The Mayflower Church believes that they are like the Israelites in Exodus who God brought out of Egypt. As well, if you study the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul fled persecution. Most Christian churches in the Western world would support the course of action taken by the Mayflower Church, however, many of the Chinese house church Christians have a self-identity of being “patriotic martyrs”. They are willing to suffer and be martyred for their faith. So when a group decides to leave persecution and martyrdom, that creates some tension in what has become a cultural and religious identity of the entire house church Protestant movement in China.

Regardless, it was encouraging to learn what Pastor Pan said in response to this contradictory view, “While church members still face restrictions and potential deportation, we enjoy the freedom we have to worship. I struggle with many uncertainties in my heart like most of my congregation. But we find strength every time we experience how God has been faithfully providing for our daily needs and how He is constantly protecting us from the evil men who want to harm us. “Whether we go live in the US or are taken back to China, we will regard this experience as listening to God’s call and continuing to be a vibrant testimony of His goodness and faithfulness.”

CHINA’S INTENSIFIED PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

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We’ve previously heard declarations for unregistered churches to come into line with the official state church. In practice, this has meant, “Conform or at least shut up.” Enforcement was random and highly dependent on the will of the local party cadre. The understood agreement between local authorities and church leaders was this: “Don’t make us lose face and we’ll leave you alone.”

That’s not the current situation. The plan itself is more specific and comprehensive in scope. Since the government announced its intention to Sinicize religion, we’ve seen leaders implement the policies with far more breadth and aggression. In other words, there has been much more “follow-through” than in previous years.

Cameras have been installed in churches. Arrests have increased. A curriculum to “re-train” pastors has been written. Even the biggest churches have not been able to avoid conflict. Authorities also have plans to re-translate the Bible to suit their purposes.

As various outlets have reported, the government in Guangzhou is now ready to pay people to snitch on people who are engaged in religious activities deemed illegal (e.g., house churches, theological training, etc.). The government has even cooperated with other South Asian countries in order to track the activities of Christians who have ties to the Mainland.

While the government has always been sensitive about foreigners interacting with minority groups, it has taken more extensive measures in the past year. In Kunming, for instance, leaders have expelled or pressured out a substantial number (perhaps most) of the missionaries in the area, including entire organizations.

The rhetoric has changed a bit as well. Specifically, official propaganda is much more “anti-Western” than in previous campaigns. Sinicization is portrayed as a struggle against the oppression and imperialism of Western powers, especially the United States.

In a recent speech, Xu Xiaohong, Chairman of the Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, stated,

In modern times, Christianity was introduced to China on a large scale along with colonial aggression by Western powers. It was called “foreign religion.” The churches anywhere in our country were merely the result of Western missions and “Christianity in China.” Many believers lack national consciousness, so people say: “One more Christian is one less Chinese.” The occurrence of many teaching plans, especially the “Boxer Movement” and the “non-Christian movement”, prompted the church to create a “self-reliance movement.”

Sinicization is the brainchild of China’s highest political authorities. Given the fact that President Xi is no longer restricted by term limits, we have little reason to expect pressure to let up when he leaves office. He will be around long enough to see the process through.

What we are seeing in China and the rest of the world is the prophesied escalating “end times” tribulation being carried out by people controlled by Satan and his minions. Christians should not be taken by surprise as Jesus warned us beforehand. More importantly, we need to be obedient to his command to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to the whole world. Jesus is coming back and He and the Saints will rule and reign on this earth for 1000 years.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14

The Millennial Kingdom is a transition period when God fulfills the covenants He made with Abraham and David. God promised a descendant of David, Jesus will rule the nations from a restored Jerusalem.

“And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for His treasured possession, as He has promised you, and that you are to keep all His commandments, and that He will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that He has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as He promised.” Deuteronomy 26:18-19

ALARMING EVIDENCE OF THE APOSTATE LAST DAYS CHURCH

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What is unfolding is almost beyond belief but it further supports the thesis that Pope Francis is the prophesied False Prophet of Revelation.

Pope Francis is finalising a deal that could legitimise the most genocidal ideology in modern history. It elevates the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a religious authority over millions of Chinese. It violates core Christian principles that sustain the free world. It renders millions of Chinese vulnerable to state persecution.

In March, the Vatican will recognise the Communist Party as a spiritual authority with the power to appoint bishops. The idea is controversial, as The Australian has been reporting over the past few weeks. The accord will reverse decades of Vatican resistance to communism. It will give the Chinese state power over church leadership.

For many years, the CCP has been frustrated by Christians including Catholics who refuse to worship the gods of the red state: Marx, Lenin and Mao. Underground churches have developed in Christians’ homes where they defend the vital separation of church and state by resisting the communist bible and its politically correct, false Christ. Many believe these Christians, loyal to Christ’s teaching, are being led like lambs to the slaughter by the Vatican’s deal with the communist state.

Pew Research estimates that by 2030, China’s Christian population of 70 million would grow to between 250 million and 300 million. If the forecasts prove accurate, China will soon overtake the US as the most populous Christian country.

Image result for picture of Crosses being destroyed on Chinese churches

The CCP response to the Christian renaissance is to crack down on the Christians over which it has no control, the House Church Movement, even to demolishing buildings and removing crosses from buildings. The party is rattled. It is desperate to revive belief in the dead faith of communism by cracking down on spiritual rivals.

President Xi Jinping has instructed CCP cadres to be “unyielding Marxist atheists”. The Global Times reported Wang Zuoan, director of the state administration for religious affairs, warning CCP cadres to be “firm Marxist atheists, obey party rules and stick to the party’s faith”.

If Pope Francis recognises the tyrannical regime as legitimate, it will surrender Catholic spiritual authority to communism. It will be a realisation of Hegel’s totalitarian dictum: “the state is God on earth”. By contrast, Christ’s teaching provides for the limited state, which is a bulwark against totalitarianism. On the separation of church and state, Christ said: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: and to God, the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).

The most publicised opposition to the coming Vatican-communist accord was issued by Chinese cardinal Joseph Zen. He warned the pact was a blessing for a communist-ruled church. Its true effect will be to validate a corrupt system of state-governed religion and empower the persecution of Christians in underground churches who reject it. He believes the Vatican is selling out the Catholic Church in China.

Pope Francis, long rumoured to be a darling of the socialist cause, is closely associated with men schooled in liberation theology. In general terms, liberation theology combines revolutionary socialism with selected Christian teachings on poverty. South American priests led the ideological charge by joining Marxist revolutionary movements and appropriating Christ for the cause.

Concerns about growing Marxist influence on Vatican thought mounted earlier this month after Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Social Science, said China was the best example of a Catholic society. Sorondo said the communist state had a “positive national conscience” and praised it for “best implementing the social doctrine of the church”.

Gathering in China to embrace JESUS and HIS KINGDOM

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In these last days God has prepared the Chinese Church through their faithfulness and humility under persecution to lead the Church in this part of our end time journey. The Chinese Church has acknowledged God’s call to take the Gospel to the Nations on the three silk roads back to Jerusalem (Back to Jerusalem, Called to Complete the Great Commission by Three Chinese Church Leaders published UK 2003). Their freedom from fear of death, their humility and complete abandonment to the will of God is allowing the Lord to speedily bring them into unity with one another and alignment with His headship.

In His wisdom, God has positioned the Chinese in the natural realm, geographically close to India and the Arab Nations and to have favour among the Arabs as well as respect among the Jews. So the Chinese are able to go where the Western Church cannot. They are able to stretch their arms wide to embrace not only the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac, but also the Western Church, bringing the whole Body together into one family.

Hopefully this video will give you a glimpse of the passion the Chinese have for our Lord.

http://youtu.be/oxLv5rL2zLk

Extract from article by David Demian “The Road From Asia to Jerusalem”