In Chains: Christian Persecution - 2019, Issue 1

INCIDENTS
Although the incident happened in
December, media outlets started reporting in
early January about the government
removing the Yirst commandment from
churches. This is the commandment
forbidding worship of any god other than
Yahweh. What made this quite unusual was
that the church was a “Three-Self Church.”
That means that the government of China
approved this church. In China, it is illegal to
be part of a church that is not registered.
However, if the church is registered, it is also
heavily regulated by the government. This
makes many believers congregate illegally in
house churches. Despite the objection of the
church members, the government team took
down the Yirst commandment, sending a
clear message: “The Chinese government
and the Communist party come before God.”
At the same time this news was breaking,
another incident that happened in December
was becoming complicated. On December 9,
about 100 members of Early Rain Covenant
Church were taken into custody. Authorities
entered homes and removed people by force.
One woman, pregnant, was forced from her
bed and interrogated. Due to the
complications that ensured after this, she
lost her baby January 9th.
to the police station for interrogation. They
were verbally abused, did not have access to
food or drink and were subjected to cold
temperatures. One member was held this
way for 48 hours before the police gave up.
A few days later, over 100 SWAT ofYicers
stormed a hotel conference room being used
by 150 Christians for a meal. “Many” people
were sent to the emergency room. The
SWAT team took pictures and blocked
mobile services to the hotel, essentially
blocking any information going out.
The same week, a kindergarten school,
founded by Xunsiding Church, was
demolished. Despite being in litigation with
the government over whether the school was
allowed to engage in education due to their
religious beliefs, the government sent police
out to restrain parents/children/teachers
and demolish the school.
Many may think that an interrogation could
not possible lead to a miscarriage. Those
people would be wrong. First, a woman can
lose her baby due to the stress of that type of
situation. However, in China it is likely much
worse than that. Interrogation is often used
to mean the person was abducted,
questioned, possibly assaulted, and possibly
tortured.
The second week of January, 36 students
were arrested while gathering at a
restaurant for an “Introduction to
Christianity” class. They conYiscated all the
cell phone and IDs then took all 36 students