April 2017 Persecution Magazine (3 of 4)

WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG
APRIL 2017
PERSECU ION
China’s
Christians
In the midst of a
crackdown on China’s
Christians, ICC
examines the lives of
Christians in China
PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

Profile
Imprisoned for Christ:
ICC Working to Free Prisoners of Faith
An illustration of
Andrew Brunson
that ran on
christianpost.com
“Remember those
who are in prison, as
though in prison with
them, and those who
are mistreated, since
you also are in the
body.”
- Hebrews 13:3 ESV
By Nate Lance & Isaac Six
Imagine that you are suddenly arrested for a crime that you
didn’t commit. Before you know it, you’re being shoved
into a cold, dark prison cell packed with drug addicts,
thieves, and murderers. You are thousands of miles away
from friends and family and no one lets you make a phone
call. They say you’ve committed crimes against the state,
but you know that the real reason you’ve just been imprisoned
overseas is because you followed faithfully after
Christ.
This scenario was the reality for two imprisoned Christian
leaders. Andrew Brunson, an American pastor in Turkey, and Petr
Jasek, a Czech national and Christian aid worker in Sudan, were both
recently imprisoned abroad for their work. For months, ICC’s advocacy
team has been hard at work raising the cases of both of these Christians
with high-level US government officials, doing our absolute best to
secure their release.
Petr Jasek
Sudan has a long-standing and well known preference for imprisoning
political opponents and Christians. Their latest crackdown on
Christians included the arrest of Petr Jasek and two Sudanese men,
2 PERSECU ION.org
APRIL 2017
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

“In December, ICC initiated a multi-faith letter signed
by over 40 like-minded religious freedom and faithbased
organizations to the president of Sudan...”
Reverend Hassan Abduraheem and Mr. Abdumonem
Abdumawla in 2016.
The Sudanese government has laughably tried to
frame these Christian workers with providing aid to
rebel groups, committing crimes against the state,
and a myriad of other charges. After over a year in a
Sudanese jail, the government sentenced Jasek to 20
years in prison on January 29, 2017. The two Sudanese
Christians each received 12-year sentences.
These charges are undoubtedly politically and religiously
motivated. Since the separation of South Sudan
from Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist
government have intensified their persecution of religious
minorities. It is clear that Jasek and the others were
imprisoned because of their beliefs and for their aid to
Christian communities, not because they have any connections
to the false charges levied at them by Sudan’s
“kangaroo court.”
In December, ICC initiated a multi-faith letter signed
by over 40 like-minded religious freedom and faithbased
organizations to the president of Sudan, requesting
Jasek’s freedom and reminding the president of
his country’s past commitments to upholding basic
religious freedom.
Petr Jasek was released after 445 days of imprisonment
and returned home. His two Sudanese co-workers,
Pastor Abduraheem and Mr. Abdumawla, remain
imprisoned to serve their 12-year sentences.
Andrew Brunson
In October 2016, Andrew Brunson and his wife were
called into a local Turkish police station for questioning.
They expected to discuss their application for residence
visas. Instead, police accused them of being involved
in a terrorist organization and arrested them. Brunson’s
wife, Norine, was released within a week, but Brunson
remains in a Turkish prison.
Since the coming to power of President Erdogan in
Turkey in 2003, the Turkish government has become
increasingly hostile to Christians and others in Turkey.
A failed attempt to overthrow the government in August
2016, only made matters worse. Unfortunately, it seems
that Andrew Brunson, who has been serving the people
of Turkey for over 20 years, has been targeted as a result.
After his arrest, Brunson was barred from legal representation
or even a visit from US embassy officials,
a clear violation of Brunson’s rights. To make matters
worse, his eyeglasses and Bible were taken from him,
and for a time, his wife was not allowed to visit him.
After engagement with a number of congressional offic-
PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
Above: Petr Jasek with a boy in a community in Sudan where he did aid work
until his arrest and 20-year sentence.
Below: Andrew Brunson, an evangelical pastor, with wife Norine, ministered
in Turkey for 23 years before he was arrested Oct. 7, 2016.
3

“For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise
his own people who are prisoners.” - Psalm 69:33 ESV
Above: Khartoum is Sudan’s modern capitol and second largest city, home to over five million people. Petr Jasek and two Sudanese
associates were imprisoned in a detention center in Khartoum. Flickr creative commons photo by user Christopher Michel.
Above: Petr Jasek and an associate in
Sudan.
Above: A protest held on behalf of Jasek
calling for his immediate release by Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir.
Above: The entrance to Al Huda Prison
in Khartoum where Petr was held until
his release after 445 days. Two of Jasek’s
Sudanese associates remain imprisoned.
4 PERSECU ION.org
APRIL 2017
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

es, the US Commission on International
Religious Freedom, and the US State
Department regarding this case, there
have been some improvements. Brunson
now has his glasses, Bible, and his wife
is sometimes allowed visits. US embassy
staff has also visited him and we know that
Andrew’s imprisonment has been raised at
very high levels by the US government.
In addition, as this article was going
to print, a US congressional letter initiated
and promoted by ICC on behalf
of Brunson had just been completed.
At time of writing, 31 senators and 35
representatives had signed the letter to
President Erdogan, calling for Brunson’s
quick release. President Trump’s staff
have also been briefed on the case. Our
hope and prayer is that overwhelming
congressional and public attention
will encourage President Erdogan and
Turkey’s government to release Brunson
and return him to his family. Brunson’s
daughter, Jacqueline, is engaged, but has
delayed her wedding until the day her
father can walk her down the aisle.
We ask that you pray for these prisoners,
their families, and their loved
ones, but also pray that the leaders of
Turkey and Sudan would release them.
Proverbs 21:1 tells us, “The king’s heart
is a stream of water in the hand of the
Lord; he turns it wherever he will”
(ESV). Please pray that He would shape
the hearts of those in power in Sudan
and Turkey so they may set these men
free and truly begin to embrace religious
freedom in their country.
Above: Izmir is Turkey’s third most populated metropolis and home to the
Brunsons. Andrew remains in prison near Izmir.
Above: Andrew and Norine Brunson have lived in Turkey for the past 23 years.
Right: Norine Brunson stands below Izmir’s
Harmandanli Detention Centre, where her
husband has been held since October 20,
2016. World Watch Monitor photo.
PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
5

BELIEVERS
IN CHINA
ICC examines China’s fear of religion and
how it affects Christians every day.
By Amy Penn
6 PERSECU ION.org
APRIL 2017
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
Sheshan Basilica
The Basilica is a
prominent church in
Shanghai, China. Flickr
Creative Commons image
by user Maxime Guilbot.
Religion frightens the
Marxist leaders of
China. It is a force that
unifies people outside
of state control and
looms as a potential
threat to their mafialike
wielding of power.
They have reason
to fear. Not from
Christianity, but rather from the populace as
they seem to be trapped. If they give away
too much freedom, many of them would
spend years in prison for human rights abuses,
embezzlement, and murder as the Chinese
State is one of the most murderous governments
in history.
While most Christians have some awareness
of the macro-level issue of Chinese
persecution of the Church, we rarely have the
opportunity to hear from individuals about
their day-to-day experiences as Christians
living in China. ICC recently had a chance
to speak with the wives of two imprisoned
Christians and human rights activists. They
explained the broader context of Chinese
persecution and also shared their personal
experiences with persecution on a daily basis.
Sinicization of Christianity
Historically, persecution in China has demonstrated
an ebb and flow trend. During
Mao’s reign, for example, Christians were
horribly persecuted. Later, as China tried to
modernize under Deng, persecution decreased
in a way that allowed church growth. In fact,
until 2008, there was moderate freedom to
worship.
While in the big picture, the Chinese government
has become less repressive, they are
being led presently by a belligerent hardliner.
They are in a crackdown phase and intolerant
of human rights lawyers, as well as churches
and their crosses in the public eye.
Any institution that can rally large numbers
of people is naturally understood as a threat.
China only wants one thing to unite its people
– state ideology.
In 2015, China Aid reported that there
was an 11 percent increase in persecution
cases from 2014 and 709 percent increase
from 2008.
State officials have tried to control the
Church while maintaining a semblance of religious
freedom with state-approved churches
called the Three Self Patriotic Movement
(TSPM). TSPM churches must submit sermons
for approval from government authorities.
Their services can be, and often are,
monitored by the religion department of the
Chinese government.
7

Feature Article
TSPM ministers must be approved by the
state and are often individuals indoctrinated
with pro-government ideology. The Chinese
government is slyly attempting to balance out
international expectations of religious freedom
with the security of a controlled, prostate,
religious experience for its religious
citizens. They call this “sinicization” – the
creation of Chinese-centric doctrines, ideologies,
and beliefs.
Two Witnesses
Being a Christian in China can be dangerous
but, what does it look like at the individual
level? What does it really mean to be a
Christian in China?
Jiang Tianyong is both a Christian and
human rights activist. He is also missing.
His wife, Jin, fears that the government has
detained him and is torturing him in prison
somewhere. On November 21, 2016, Jiang
was traveling to Beijing to meet a friend.
He entered the train station, texted his friend
that he was boarding, but he never arrived at
Beijing. Nobody knows where he is or what
has happened to him.
Unfortunately, this fear of detainment is not
new. Jin told us how the government continually
detained, beat, and harassed her husband
because of his faith and activism. State officials
even disbarred him from practicing law
because of his human rights work and faith.
When life in China became too dangerous,
Jiang sent Jin and his daughter to the US. Jin
recalled how government agents followed her
while she went to the grocery store or how
authorities locked her out of her own home,
gluing the door shut so she couldn’t get in. They
tracked her as she tried to go about her daily life.
When prominent foreign visitors came to
China, Jin remembered the mandatory house
arrests and how her husband would conveniently
disappear for the duration of the visit.
Today, she continues to wait for word on
her husband. Is he alive? Is he detained? Is he
being tortured? Is he eating? Is he sleeping?
Since she and her daughter left in 2013,
Jin knows that her husband has furthered the
Gospel and helped many others underground.
Such work comes at a cost, however. “He
live[d] as if he [was] homeless. He has had to
move almost daily. And there is no normalcy
in his eating habits. He is always running and
escaping from the police.”
The state saw Jiang as a threat to the government
and Chinese culture because he dared
rally around an ideology and belief other than
the Chinese state. Now he’s missing. The
consequences of following Christ in China are
severe as ever.
Tang and his wife, Wang, also know what
it’s like to be persecuted for their faith. Before
he became a Christian and a human rights
activist, Tang studied chemistry. After reading
“Stream in the Desert,” he became a Christian
and soon, “his faith strengthened his pursuit
for justice…The Bible [became] the foundation
of his faith and pursuit.”
Swallowed
In 2014, the government tried to silence
Tang. They charged him with subversion
and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Government officials now allow Wang to visit
her husband once a month, but she cannot be
alone with him. Five or six guards supervise
their short meetings and can end visitation
rights if anything ‘inappropriate’ is said.
Wang related how government authorities
deny Tang the right to have a Bible in prison
and how he lives under horrific conditions.
“[The] condition in prison is terrible- no matter
it is food, environment or medical resource.
Twenty, 30-ish people are packed in one dark
cell. There’s no real outdoor exercises whatsoever
but only staying in a room with a sunroof.
Prisoners that live under these conditions suffer
greatly and can die from infection or suffer
mental consequences.” Tang’s faith didn’t just
get him in trouble; Wang suffers too. She has
been harassed, tracked, and detained for five
months. She even lost her job. Wang cannot
rely on anyone or anything but God.
Jiang and Tang are just two caught in the
middle of the Chinese government’s attempt
to silence faith and justice. Even if the government
releases them, neither will ever be the
same. Li Chunfu never was.
Ruined
In 2015, Chinese authorities arrested and
detained over 300 human rights lawyers. The
authorities held some for extensive periods,
among which was Li. After 18 months of
detention, the government released Li on bail.
No one will ever know what happened to him
during the year and a half of detention and his
family could never have prepared for what
they saw when he came home.
Emaciated and exhausted, Li was very frail
and seemed to have aged years. But even more
alarming was his mental state. Once released,
Li rejected his wife’s embrace. When she
would make phone calls, he would cry out for
her to put the phone down, accusing her of
conspiring with the government against him.
His family and other activists believe that Li
is suffering from some degree of schizophrenia
from torture and extensive mental stress.
Unfortunately, we may never know for sure
since the Chinese government refuses to give
insight to Li’s condition.
ICC works to get Bibles into
the hands of hungry believers
throughout Southeast Asia.
Jiang, Tang, and Li are faces of Chinese
persecution. They live out their lives in the
shadows, hiding from further incarceration
and ill will. Religious freedom does not exist
in China. Human rights activists and Christian
leaders live in a constant state of fear or as
prey waiting to be devoured. Their futures
are unsure, their families are unsafe, but their
determination for the Gospel and justice is
unfaltering.
Up Next
China’s future is hardly looking up. New
and developing legislation is making it harder
for Christians to live out their faith freely. For
example, in China it is illegal to be involved
in a cult or participate in cult activities.
Unfortunately, the definition of a ‘cult’ is
highly subjective and government officials can
accuse anyone of participation in such activi-
8 PERSECU ION.org
APRIL 2017
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

ICC’s Interview with
Jiang Tianyong
On November 21, 2016 in China’s
Hunan Province, Jiang Tianyong was
on his way to meet the family of an
imprisoned human rights activist. As
a human rights activist and Christian,
Jiang felt compelled to assist this family
in any possible way. After entering a
train station, Jiang texted his friend that
he was boarding a train to Beijing. He
never made it.
On December 9, 2016 Jiang’s wife, Jin,
told ICC about her husband’s life as a
Christian in China. “In the past three
years…my husband has not had a normal
living condition. He lives as if he is
homeless. He has had to move almost
daily. And there is no normalcy in his
eating habits. He is always running and
escaping from the police.”
Heroically and yet tragically, Jiang had
the chance to leave all his struggles
behind in 2013 and escape to the US
with his family, but he chose to stay
behind and help his country.
“He felt like he could do more to help
those who are vulnerable and need
legal defense.” Jin told ICC.
ties so long as it proves beneficial.
While China does not generally consider
Christianity to be a cult, government officials
will often use charges of cult activity
against individuals. Often, Christians do not
understand what a cult actually is or how their
actions fall into this category. Recent legislation
has further empowered government officials
to utilize the cult accusation status. ‘Cult’
members accused of proselytizing government
officials, children, or foreign groups can now
be imprisoned under the new law.
With many Chinese churches and pastors
working with foreign mission offices, this new
change will prove exceptionally problematic
and dangerous.
Further legislative changes include amendments
requiring that religious work “be
[involved with] politics…be politically clearheaded…be
strict in discipline and…dare
PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
to be responsible.” In other words, religion
must be politically correct and sinicized. It
is unclear how Chinese officials will judge
churches to be politically clearheaded and
responsible, although registration with China’s
state church is likely.
‘Unprecedented suppression’ is expected
in China under the new political and legislative
climate. The combination of legal
changes, increased arrests and church closures,
and the change in cult status legislation
creates new and more severe challenges
for the Chinese Church.
Despite all of this, Christian aid organizations
are estimating that China will have the
largest Christian population in the world by
2030. To a certain degree, it matters not what
the Chinese government does; the Church is
sure to flourish even under, or because of, the
harshest of persecution.
ICC’s Interview with
Chris Smith
“I am a strong believer. I believe in the
importance of working with Evangelicals
and across the spectrum of Christianity
and other faiths.” Rep. Chris Smith said
in an interview with ICC.
Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey
has worked closely with ICC in order to
promote human rights and religious
freedom across the globe. Whether it’s
Chinese human rights violations or the
brutalities of ISIS, Congressman Smith
not only feels the burden of the suffering
people around the world, but also
works to rectify these mistreatments.
As a testament to his conviction, Smith
regularly travels to persecuted countries,
meeting with Christian families to
hear firsthand accounts of their struggle,
and looking for more opportunities
to provide assistance State-side.
9

You Can Help Today!
PERSECU ION.org
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN
SEND DONATIONS TO:
ICC
PO BOX 8056
SILVER SPRING, MD 20907
OR ONLINE AT
WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG
OR BY PHONE
800-ICC-5441
GIVING TO ICC VIA
YOUR WILL
Provide now for a future gift to ICC
by including a bequest provision in
your will or revocable trust. If you
would like more information on giving
to ICC in this way, please give
us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441.
A group of Christian
women learn sewing
techniques as part of
a clothing factory that
ICC set up in Egypt
to provide sustainable
income for their families.
© Copyright 2017 ICC, Washington, D.C., USA.
All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce all
or part of this publication is granted provided
attribution is given to ICC as the source.
International Christian Concern (ICC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) (all donations tax-deductible).
ICC makes every effort to honor donor wishes in regards to gifts. Occasionally, situations
arise where a project is no longer viable. ICC will then redirect those donated funds to the
fund most similar to the donor’s original wishes. ICC uses 7.5 percent of each restricted
donation to carry out the mission of its segregated funds.
facebook.com/persecuted
@persecutionnews