Posted on 01/02/2020 10:14:48 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Trump administration has condemned the imprisonment of Wang Yi, pastor of one of China's best-known unregistered house churches, calling it another example of “Beijing's intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups.”
Wang, founder of the 5,000-member Early Rain Covenant Church in China's southwestern city of Chengdu, was among dozens of the church's members and leaders detained by police in December 2018, most of whom were subsequently released.
On Monday, the pastor was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power, part of Beijing's crackdown on unregistered religious groups.
"We are alarmed that Pastor Wang Yi ... was tried in secret and sentenced to nine years in prison in connection to his peaceful advocacy for religious freedom. We call for his immediate and unconditional release. U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
"This is yet another example of Beijing's intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups," the statement added. "We continue to call on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and promises made in its own constitution to promote religious freedom for all."
On Twitter, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for Wang’s release: “I am alarmed that Pastor Wang Yi, leader of Chengdu’s Early Rain house church, was tried in secret and sentenced to nine years in prison on trumped-up charges. Beijing must release him and end its intensifying repression of Christians and members of all other religious groups.”
China has seen an uptick in religious persecution under the administration of President Xi Jinping who took office six years ago. In recent years, the government has demolished crosses, cracked down on house churches, arrested pastors, and put officially-recognized churches under tighter control.
Chinese law requires that places of worship register and submit to government oversight, but some have declined to register, and are thus deemed illegal. These churches are known as "house" or "underground" churches.
Wang had openly criticized Xi and refused to comply with Chinese government requirements to register with China’s Religious Affairs Bureau. In 2006, he traveled to Washington to meet with then-President George W. Bush, asking for his support in their fight for religious freedom.
Ahead of his arrest, Wang published a letter condemning the “evil” Communist Party for its continued persecution of Christians.
He expressed hope that God would use him to “tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.”
“Regardless of what crime the government charges me with, whatever filth they fling at me, as long as this charge is related to my faith, my writings, my comments, and my teachings, it is merely a lie and temptation of demons,” he wrote in the letter titled “My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience.” “I categorically deny it. I will serve my sentence, but I will not serve the law. I will be executed, but I will not plead guilty.”
Another leader at the church, Qin Defu, was sentenced to four years in prison for “illegal business operations” in November.
Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for China Studies, told Time magazine that the imprisonment of Wang and other religious leaders indicates China feels threatened by the spread of Christianity.
“Even in official churches, CCTV cameras and other surveillance equipment are installed in every church so that the state knows what the pastor or the priest might be talking about in their sermons,” Lam said.
There are about 116 million Protestant Christians in mainland China in 2020, compared to an estimated 90 million members in the Communist Party.
Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International, told Time magazine that Wang’s sentence might be a warning to other leaders of underground churches.
“The government wants to force all churches to register with the officially-sanctioned church so that they can be completely under government control,” he said.
China ranks as the 27th worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s World Watch List. Open Doors has expressed concern that the religious affairs in China now “lies with the Communist Party.”
We stand in agreement with Your mighty Promise. In JESUS Name we pray. AMEN.
I feel the same outrage about Assange and Manning, but it’s not the Chinese who imprisoned them.
I feel for Christians, the world over, that face all forms of persecution. However, China is a sovereign nation of one and a half billion people and we should not be immersing our selves in their internal affairs, in my opinion.
You are correct.
India has the same amount of people. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are of the same racial stock as the Indians only they are Muslims. However, in India Christianity ISN'T outlawed, persecuted or condemned nor is there much wholesale animosity towards them as there is in China.
Thank you for posting. I heard about Pastor Yi’s story back in December of 2018. The LORD has put it on my heart to pray for this pastor and his church and family for over a year now. I have prayed for him continuously.
This is a couple minutes from one of his sermons before he was arrested. It is just awesome!
“May every street know the name of Jesus”
Pray for our brother placed in captivity for preaching the gospel and preaching to those lost souls whose empty belief is Communism.
“If Xi Jinping does not repent he will perish!”
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Pastor+Wang+Yi+sermon+youtube&view=detail&mid=5CF18E4071F07DAB06CB5CF18E4071F07DAB06CB&FORM=VIRE
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Acts 4:17-19(NKJV):
“But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”
So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.”
Acts 26:24-29 (NKJV):
Agrippa Parries Paul’s Challenge
“Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!”
But he said, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.”
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”
And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.””
AMEN!
BTTT!
Gee, if only the Pope knew about this. /s
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