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China Raids Churches for 'Illegal' Bibles, Threatens Fines up to $1,400
Christian Headlines ^

Posted on 02/15/2020 11:56:37 AM PST by TigerClaws

Government officials within China have confiscated Bibles from churches in recent months and threatened fines as part of an intensified crackdown on Christianity and an effort to eradicate “illegal publications,” according to a new report.

The campaign has targeted illegal underground churches as well as legal Three-Self churches, which are registered with the government.

“If our Bibles are taken away, we have no more,” a pastor of a Three-Self church in Jiangxi province told Bitter Winter, the watchdog behind the report. “We are thinking of asking our congregation members to hide them in the mountains.”

In December, around 10 government officials raided a different Three-Self church in Jiangxi in search of “pirated Bibles” either not printed in the country or printed at illegal printers, Bitter Winter reported. The pastor told them the church owned only legal Bibles printed within the country, but the officials nevertheless seized 30 Bibles.

According to the persecution watchdog, similar raids have taken place “all over the country” as part of a nationwide campaign to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications.”

Government officials raided an underground church in Jiangxi province and seized multiple boxes of Bibles, hymn books and other literature. They also wrote down the IDs of church members and threatened to arrest them if they met again, Bitter Winter said.

In some locations, church members have stopped bringing their Bibles to church out of concern they will be taken. Such is the case at a Three-Self Seventh-day Adventist Church, where over 100 “pirated” Bibles were taken during a December raid.

“According to a church co-worker, believers don’t bring their Bibles to the church anymore, fearing the government might take them away,” Bitter Winter reported. “They read from the sacred text at home after each service, according to chapter numbers the preacher gives them during sermons.”

A Three-Self pastor in Zhejiang province said the local Religious Affairs Bureau has threatened fines ranging from $430 to $1,400 (USD) for churches caught with illegal Bibles.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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They're still persecuting Christians instead of worrying about COVID-19?
1 posted on 02/15/2020 11:56:37 AM PST by TigerClaws
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To: TigerClaws

I read one time a drug smuggler from China gave his life to Christ. Talking to his pastor, he asked what he could do for Christ. His pastor said that God had given him a talent for smuggling. So he smuggled in Bibles for the Chinese people.


2 posted on 02/15/2020 12:04:04 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (If gun ownership by private citizens scares DemocRats, the 2nd Amendment is doing its job.)
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To: TigerClaws

China probably is upset at Christian missionaries in their country, while China does not send Buddhist missionaries to any Christian majority country.


3 posted on 02/15/2020 12:06:43 PM PST by entropy12 (You are either for free enterprise or want gov't to interfere with corporate issues.)
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To: TigerClaws

They think the virus can be defeated.

The truth of God merely shows how puny the CCP is, and that scares them beyond imagination.


4 posted on 02/15/2020 12:08:46 PM PST by datura
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To: TigerClaws

My brother smuggled Bibles into China in the 80s. They would take them to a house where the pages would be torn out and each underground church would be given a page. They then traded pages back and forth.


5 posted on 02/15/2020 12:17:05 PM PST by bray (Pray for President Trump)
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To: bray

They would take them to a house where the pages would be torn out and each underground church would be given a page. They then traded pages back and forth.”

Incredible story. We have no idea how good we have it with our freedom.

A good example of what could happen if the totalitarian left would take power here.


6 posted on 02/15/2020 12:22:00 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Leave me alone, I have no incriminating evidence on the Clintons)
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To: TigerClaws

The Bible is on line now for all to see

The communist have not been around long and Have always been afraid of Christ !!!

Christ crushes communists !!!because Christ teaches freedom of the soul !!!

Communist teach slavery to the state and no God or higher than state m

They lose every time. Look at the former Soviet union now


7 posted on 02/15/2020 12:22:03 PM PST by Truthoverpower (The guv mint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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To: TigerClaws

The Democrat Party would love to outlaw Bibles.


8 posted on 02/15/2020 12:26:11 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: bray

The Chinese Christians also memorize chapters and speak them to the church, that way their bibles can’t be taken.


9 posted on 02/15/2020 12:26:36 PM PST by Ponyexpress9790
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That Godless country ain’t doing so well now. A warning for the future of America.


10 posted on 02/15/2020 12:32:54 PM PST by proust (Justice delayed is injustice.)
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To: TigerClaws

The Christian Bible is the Word of God as spoken to the Old Testament prophets, the words spoken by the son of God, Jesus, whose words were recalled by the apostles and those who were instructed by others who knew the apostles. The Bible is God’s word and His instructions on how we should worship, live and behave.

The CCP authorized bible is a corruption of the Bible. It touts communism which is a godless political construct and therefore is a false and evil book.


11 posted on 02/15/2020 1:08:45 PM PST by RicocheT (Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: TigerClaws

Ask the Romans how that worked our for them.


12 posted on 02/15/2020 1:32:00 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Wonderful story. Here’s another Bible smuggling story from the 80s.

Open Doors sponsored ‘Project Pearl’, an operation to smuggle 1,000,000 Bibles into China. They put them on an ocean-going barge that was customized. When they pulled near the shore, they flooded the barge so the plastic-wrapped bundles of Bibles floated off into the arms of Chinese Christians risking their lives to disperse them. They successfully gathered and distributed all 1,000,000.

I don’t blame you if you check this out by searching the internet. It’s unbelievable. ‘Project Pearl’, after the ‘pearl of great price’.


13 posted on 02/15/2020 1:34:38 PM PST by Forgiven_Sinner (Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all things will be given to you.)
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To: TigerClaws
They're still persecuting Christians instead of worrying about COVID-19?

The article only mentions an event in December. Since the virus is only about a month old, we have yet to hear if the persecution has been suspended for health reasons.

14 posted on 02/15/2020 1:36:47 PM PST by aimhigh (THIS is His commandment . . . . 1 John 3:23)
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To: aimhigh

May God have mercy on their souls. It didn’t work out too well for the Egyptians when they mocked God and tortured His people.


15 posted on 02/15/2020 1:58:19 PM PST by TigerClaws
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To: TigerClaws

“...confiscated Bibles from churches .... crackdown on Christianity and an effort to eradicate “illegal publications,”

After 3500 years still the most hated book ever printed.

Antiochus Epiphanes sent his troops to destroy the Jews and especially their bible. What was in the book that shook him up? It’s just myths and fables isn’t it?

Three hundred years later the Caesars sent the Legions of Rome to destroy the Jews, Christians and especially that book of myths and fables! What was in that book of myths and fables that shook the Caesars so bad?

Three hundred years later out of Arabia came the Moslems demanding you accept THEIR KORAN or die! They destroyed the Bible every chance they got. This fight is still going on today and bibles are still forbidden in Arabia.

So it has been for the last 1500 years, and it still goes on.

What is in it that frightens them so much! Read and find out, WHILE YOU CAN!


16 posted on 02/15/2020 3:21:54 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: TigerClaws

The Bible is about a 2 MB download. It could be on an app and encrypted.


17 posted on 02/15/2020 9:07:55 PM PST by Nateman ( Unless the left is screaming you are doing it wrong.)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

In America we’ve had freedom from the beginning.. We will NEVER allow it to be taken away. At least no one of my generation would.


18 posted on 02/16/2020 5:25:23 AM PST by DivineMomentsOfTruth ("There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." -GW)
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To: TigerClaws

Wondering the same.

Maybe the two issues go hand in hand.


19 posted on 02/16/2020 5:27:54 AM PST by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.cuase)
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To: DivineMomentsOfTruth

we’ve been allowing our freedom to be taken away one small piece at a time...
prayer at school and school sporting events has been under attack for years...
certain bakers have been under attack for years...
religious symbols honoring fallen soldiers have been under attack for years...
public display of the nativity and religious symbols during Christmas have been under attack for years...

feel free to add to this list and maybe consider what your plans of action are to put an end to the persecution besides denying it’s not happening here...


20 posted on 02/16/2020 5:55:08 AM PST by heavy metal (your reward will be in heaven not on your paycheck...)
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