A video shared by the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness documented the moment when the crane removed the red cross from the church rooftop.
Posted on 03/21/2020 8:11:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Chinese communist government continued its campaign against Christianity during the country's coronavirus outbreak by destroying crosses and demolishing a church while people were on lockdown.
On March 13, a church in Guoyang County, Anhui Province saw its cross removed by authorities. A video shared by the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness documented the moment when the crane removed the red cross from the church's rooftop.
A Christian with the surname Chen told persecution watchdog group China Aid that this church usually has 40 churchgoers attending its services. Authorities used the lockdown as an opportunity to remove the church's cross.
Bob Fu from China Aid also shared a video showing the demolished Xiangbaishu Church in Yixing city, Jiangsu province on March 11.
“Religious persecution continues even in the midst of #WuhanVirus,” Fu captioned the video. “Xiangbaishu Church in Yixing city, Jiangsu province was destroyed by #CCP govt. Cross is our Glory.”
Another church in Huaishang district of the city of Bengbu, Anhui province also had its cross removed at the beginning of March, according to International Christian Concern. Ms. Yao, a local Christian, said the removal was led by the head of the local United Front Department, a Communist Party organ employed to govern religious affairs.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, most of the churches across the country, both underground or state-approved, are able to meet online as of now.
However, in China’s Shandong province, two state-run Christian organizations, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council released a statement ordering all online preaching be ceased and churches that gather in secret be rooted out, reports China Aid.
In addition, it posits officials should “guide” Christians “in other ways, with the caveat of not gathering together!”
For the past 20 years, China has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom violations.
Under President Xi Jinping, the government has destroyed numerous churches and removed their steeples and crosses, reflecting the Communist Party's concerns about the growing number of Christians in the country.
More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom worship in unregistered, or “illegal” underground churches.
China is ranked as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to persecution of Christians on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List. In addition to Christians, the communist government continues to persecute and monitor members of various religious minorities, including the detention of over 1 million Uighur and other Muslims in western China over the last three years. In 2018, the government banned the online sale of Bibles.
Recently, Fu warned that over the last two years, Xi’s “war on religion” has reached its “worst” in 40 years. He accused the president of turning faith into a “tool for the indoctrination of Communist ideology.”
For example, all religious leaders must pledge to obey the Communist Party’s ideology in their pulpit before they can be allowed to practice their religion, Fu said. Additionally, millions of Chinese Christian children have been forced to renounce their faith by signing a Communist Party prepared document.
“Clearly the aim is to exterminate any independent faiths,” he said, referencing not only the Christian faith, but the faith of Muslims, Buddhists, and others.
“This is a very, very serious signal,” he said.
Fu encouraged the international community to “pay attention to the truth” and “spread true information about faith communities and persecution” on social media.
He also stressed that faith communities must unite and speak with “one voice and for each other.”
“That is a powerful message,” Fu said.
The Church is not a building. It is composed of redeemed people washed by The Blood of Jesus Christ.. “ where 2 or 3 are gathered in My Name, there I am in the midst of thee.”.
This is the repressive communist regime that has found favor with the communist pope.
The nature of Chinese Communism reveals itself again. Nothing has changed since Mao got the whole thing going. Xi just executed another Great Leap Backwards.
RE: This is the repressive communist regime that has found favor with the communist pope.
The Pope can’t even appoint his priests and Bishops without Beijing’s approval.
This is much like Tibet’s Dalai Lama. China has her own “approved” Dalai Lama as opposed to the real Dalai Lama.
China is a dreadful country.
Agreed.
“...This is the repressive communist regime that has found favor with the communist pope....”
Not only the pope, but with the domestic communist democrat party and their Monica Media as well. They’ve all bought into and are allied with this communist regime.
The Left EVERYWHERE Wants to do THIS.
The good news is the Real Church grows in those times.
You said it, Trish.
After Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and Magi..the first two individuals to behold the baby Jesus were Anna and Simeon. Who spent their days and nights praying and fasting at THE TEMPLE. There’s just something about being in the temple that GOD acknowledges.
I keep hearing the ‘church is not a building’ thing usually as justification for shutting down churches in the spirit of fear. Come Easter what are churches to do? Bunker down? God takes our physical gatherings and physical acts of worship and PHYSICAL temples very seriously. We are to be as a city on a hill. Yes there are times which call for hiding as God accomplishes his plans and unleashes His wrath...
Butn perhaps a mass gathering of penitent Christians crying out loud to God for mercy and singing His praises before the watching world is precisely what he wants! 500 people witnessed the physical resurrection of Christ. Today such a gathering in America may be considered in violation of shutdown orders and all such churches oblige.
I also notice that Catholics have a different response to Protestants. Because most Protestants do not center their worship on the sacramental, physical act of Communion. For Protestants, the sermon is the thing. And sure you don’t need to be ‘physically’ present to listen to a sermon (you can do it online.)
May the fleas of a thousand camels....
Thanks, miss m! It’s great to see you!
Same to you.
I’m saying that in China the Christians there may not have an official building but they can still meet in groups and worship.
Even their online interactions are subject to persecution.
You're right, of course. But, so many Protestants seem content to have the do-nothing faith:
--no daily prayers: The Officium lectionis, or Office of Readings, (formerly Matins) – major hour
I Lauds or Morning Prayer – major hour
Daytime Prayer – minor hour or hours, one or more of:
II Terce or Midmorning Prayer before Noon
III Sext or Midday Prayer
IV None or Afternoon or Midafternoon Prayer
V Vespers or Evening Prayer – major hour
VI Compline or Night Prayer – minor hour
--no rules beyond what they choose to believe and follow of the ten commandments,
--no punishment for bad behavior, NO Purgatory (!!), ONLY Heaven or hell
--no sacraments,
--no priests, no bishops, no Pope,
--no Lent,
--no fasting,
--no abstinence
--no rosary,
--no missals,
--no Mass, etc.
They even disregard the TEN COMMANDMENTS about
*Keeping holy the Lord's Day
**Marriage-divorce-remarriage-and so on
***Even Holy Orders allows FEMALE ministers, married, with children.
?How can a male Vicar be a good Shepard to his flock, a good husband AND a good father to his children?
??How can a female Vicar be a good Shepherdess to her flock, a good wife AND a good mother to her children?
There simply aren't enough hours in the day.
From the Protestant view there seems to be LESS and LESS left of what Jesus left to us via His Apostles.
--It seems to be just a "do-it-yourself" relationship with God. They are LEADERLESS on this earth and have only the local preacher, male or female, married or not, to teach them the Word of God.
--The Protestant Reformation seemed to have created even more division with all the different denominations, all believing that THEIR brand of Protestantism is better.
--Criticizing the Pope, bishops, priests and everything Catholic seems to be FAR more important than rejoicing in their own brand of Protestantism.
**Why isn't their a "Protestant Catechism" to outline and explain their faith?
**Why do they keep SOME Catholic things, like the "Lord's Prayer" and dismiss other prayers like the "Hail Mary"?
***Why do some insist that Catholics worship Mary?
Yet, why do they follow the same LITURGICAL calendar set by the Catholics and celebrate some of the VERY SAME holy days we do?
Their view of Christianity seems to generally be a mish-mash of individual and personal beliefs some connected and some not connected with the Ten Commandments, which, as written, ARE NOT all of the Commandment.
Protestants have even CHANGED some of the ORIGINAL Bible, the Word of God, given to their prophets, both Old and New Testament.
The Protestant Bible LEFT OUT the Book of Macabees!
Google
The Maccabee books are also from the Jewish Bible. The story of Hanukah actually comes from the Talmud, not the Bible. The Book of Maccabees does not have the story of the Miracle of the Lights.
The Book of Maccabees (BoM) is rather different from the other books of the Bible. Rabbis and Priests are not singled out, good or bad. The Book of Maccabees doesn’t have any miracles or prophesy’s. Gentiles fight alongside Jews. The Philistines are Good Guys, fighting against the corrupt Greek general who was ripping everybody off. The Jews persecute the poor Philistines after the revolution-
There was ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, APOSTOLIC Church for 1,500 years before the excommunicated-for -heresy Roman Catholic priest, FATHER MARTIN LUTHER decided to change the Bible and interpret it HIS way, not the way of the prophets, but his own earthly, excommunicated way.
It's my belief that Father Luther meant well, was a good man and would be APPALLED and DEEPLY TROUBLED at what his heresy created.
Since Jesus had to leave His Work to ordinary people, it only stands to reason that all those people couldn't be perfect. Some people seem to believe that priests have to be super-human and never sin. That is impossible and Jesus knew that when He created His Catholic Church and ordained that His priesthood be male- like Him. That's why the Catholic Church ordains only men, keeping the model Jesus left us.
God created LUCIFER and knew that he would turn into SATAN but He still created him.
Jesus chose Judas Iscariot as one of His Apostles and knew that he would betray Him for 30 pieces of silver. Yet Jesus still chose him.
Precaution is not fear.
Would you want someone to come to church with the flu?
What you don't know is who has this mess.
You're willing to gamble with the overall health of the members of your congregation.
*****
Butn perhaps a mass gathering of penitent Christians crying out loud to God for mercy and singing His praises before the watching world is precisely what he wants!
And those voices can be raised up to Him via skype calls, individual prayers, etc. He certainly hears the prayer of the individual and values that prayer just as the prayers of 50 people or 500 people.
*****
I also notice that Catholics have a different response to Protestants. Because most Protestants do not center their worship on the sacramental, physical act of Communion. For Protestants, the sermon is the thing. And sure you don’t need to be ‘physically’ present to listen to a sermon (you can do it online.)
Could the Lord's Supper be conducted at home?
There's no Biblical reason why it couldn't.
In the early ekklesia church was conducted in the homes of the believers.
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