Video Captures Destruction of Church in China

It's no secret that China's government restricts Christians who worship outside the official centers. Over the years, Christian World News has aired reports of house churches closed and pastors arrested.

Now there is startling video evidence of Chinese military police actually destroying a house church with a bulldozer.

Nearly 15 years have passed since the Chinese crackdown at Tianamen Square. The images were replayed countless times on international television-they are forever burned into our memories.

But now, there is more shocking video from China. Fortunately, no one was killed in this incident, but it's a glimpse of a scene rarely viewed by the public inside or outside of China.

A daring photographer covertly captured the destruction of an unregistered church building, the Ao Du Sha Church, at Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou City, in China's Zhejiang Province.

It's been more than six months since a bulldozer leveled the church building, last June 26th, but these images were only recently received in the West.

Tom White, Executive Director of Voice of the Martyrs, said, "We have never received film of actual destruction taking place of Chinese churches, in the 36-years of our ministry. This church was founded by the China Inland Mission over 70-years ago. It had 1,500 members who were singing, [still] faithful to the Lord, who fasted for three days before the bulldozers came."

Dozens of officials with the Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus were joined by Land Management and People's Court personnel. They were reportedly surprised when they arrived at the church, just after 3:30 in the morning only to discover 300 believers inside kneeling in prayer. According to VOM, electricity was shut off to the church and officials returned four hours later accompanied by 200 military policemen.

Some sobbing Christians were dragged from the church and placed in a van for transport to the police station. Just before 9 o'clock, a bulldozer moved in to force the collapse of a kitchen wall at the front of the building. The total destruction of the church was completed in less than an hour.

According to VOM, at least 125 unregistered church buildings have been destroyed throughout China since last summer.

Tian Samuel Yun was imprisoned in China more than seven years for preaching the Gospel without government approval. He is the author of the book, "Heavenly Man."

Yun says the bulldozing of churches in the Provinces is counter to Chinese national law.

He said, "Even this general law proclaims that there is religious freedom. But at the local level, in different parts, there are other laws that are undermining the main law of the nation."

Because nearly 90 percent of Chinese Christians refuse to register their churches with the government, they are often labeled as subversives, counter-revolutionaries or members of an evil cult. Yun says nothing could be further from the truth.

Yun explained, "While members of these meeting places [that were] destroyed, they are really filled with love for their government, love for their nation and they are really good people. They are not criminals in any way."

Why won't the vast majority of China's 80-million believers join the State-controlled, Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) 'church'?

Pastor Peter Xu, of the Born Again Movement has been imprisoned five times for allegedly illegal church activity. He says while many Born Again believers have joined the TSP movement, even officials in the Religious Affairs Bureau admit that the TSPM is not a church.

Xu said, "We have to, first of all, understand that Jesus Christ is not the Lord and the Head of the Three Self Patriotic Movement. That movement is a political force for the party and their lord is the Communist party."

Even so, a crackdown continues against the leaders of the unregistered house churches.

Among those recently arrested is 47-year-old house church historian, Zhang Yi-nan.

Zhang is currently serving a three-year sentence of re-education through labor for attempting to subvert the national government. Among the evidence used against him were words in a prayer-journal advocating spiritual warfare to fight atheism. More recently, Peter Xu's sister Deborah was arrested on January 24th because of her evangelistic activities. Xu said, "We don't know where she is-nobody. We don't know where she is locked in. Her health is very weak."

Xu is asking that Christians worldwide pray for his sister Deborah and other Christians who have been arrested for the sake of the Gospel.

Chinese house church leaders say they expect more arrests in the days ahead. That's because hard-liners won out in a debate at a national religious working conference in Beijing recently. Hardliners were critical of a new DVD, called "The Cross."

The DVD is a look at the growth of the house church movement in China, but the hard-liners say it's subversive and undermines national religious policy. They've called for all copies of the DVD in China to be confiscated and the house church leaders depicted in the video to be detained for questioning.

Yun says Christians in China are determined to share their faith with non-believers despite the cost.

He added, "All those who are committed to follow after Jesus, they have to be ready to pay a high price for their commitment to their calling. Pray for the church, that the church will be even more bold. And, even if there are mighty waters flowing over us, the Lord remains as the King and the Ruler."

In the old section of Guangzhou, where land is at a premium and the living density is extraordinary, there is a little stone church just down the street from a major Bank of China office. The doors are blown off, the roof is half gone, the windows black in mute testimony to a long quenched fire. THe entire lot is surrounded by a hastily erected chain link fence, and it looks like no one has set foot inside that fence in ten years.

I wish I had the guts to photograph it then. I was warned to ignore it, I could get in trouble by being too curious or if I were reported taking pictures. I should have risked it.

It was one of the saddest little buildings I have ever seen.

They do this as policy

The whitewash of how the Chinese government treats people is unbelievable.

There are many other threads on such things here from over the years.

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