Pastor Wang Yi

As reported earlier on this blog we have been prayerfully following the tragic story of Pastor Wang Yi and his Early Rain Covenant Church as it unfolded during the last year.

On December 9, 2018, the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, was raided by authorities, forcibly shut down, and nearly 100 members of the congregation were arrested. Dozens of members of his “underground church” disappeared.

The church leader, pastor Wang Yi, was detained and accused of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operation” by a court in southwest China’s Chengdu. According to an announcement on an official court website this week Wang had been “convicted” in an open trial by a court in the city, where Early Rain Covenant Church had been based.

The charge of “inciting subversion” is often used against dissidents as a way to silence criticism of the government and the Communist Party. China’s officially atheist government is wary of any organized movements outside its own control, including religious ones.

Shortly before being detained, Wang wrote a post on his church’s Facebook page criticizing the Chinese government for repressing Christians in the country, saying “the Party can flourish for a while, but it cannot last forever. The Party can kill my body, but it cannot kill my soul.”

Apparently, Wang Yi’s influence in China’s house churches “scared” the CCP. He was among the initiators of the joint statement by pastors denouncing the “persecution” of house churches in China.

Arrested members of the Early Rain Covenant Church were “tortured” to extract information from them and make them falsely “testify” against pastor Wang Yi, providing “evidence” that he “colluded with foreigners to incite subversion of state power.”

Some were reportedly “drugged” with unknown substances. While they were in a state of “mental” confusion, the police extracted false testimony from them and recorded “videos” to use as evidence.

The fabricated evidence has now been used. Pastor Wang Yi was tried on December 26 before the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court and the decision was announced on December 30. The Court was surrounded by armed police and both “relatives” of the Pastor and Early Rain Church members were “prevented” from entering.

Pastor Wang Yi has been sentenced to a term of “nine” years in jail, suspension of political rights for “three” years, and confiscation of his “personal” assets, for both “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal trade.” The second accusation refers to the fact that Early Rain Covenant Church “printed and sold” religious books.

The decision confirms that, after the New Regulation on Religious Affairs came into force in 2018, there is a systematic program aimed at “cracking” down on house churches. They are no longer tolerated as part of a Gray Market in the system of Chinese religion. Either they join the government-controlled “Three-Self Church”, or they are suppressed.

This is Xi Jinping’s China. As Pastor Wang Yi said himself, the persecution of Christians under Xi Jinping is “the most horrendous evil in Chinese society.”

Christians in the country are split between “unofficial house” or “underground” churches like the Early Rain Covenant Church, and state-sanctioned churches where Communist Party songs also feature in the order of service. Catholics are similarly divided between unofficial churches led by bishops recognized by the Vatican and those who follow official CCP prelates.

Patrick Poon, a Hong Kong-based researcher with “Amnesty International”, said Wang’s sentence will “have a chilling effect on other house churches in China. The message is very clear, you will be the next Wang Yi if you don’t register and follow the Communist Party’s line on religion.”

Wang’s church was among a number of prominent “underground” churches shut down by the Chinese government in 2018 as part of a crackdown on religion, especially on followers of Islam and Christianity.

Beijing-based Zion Church, one of China’s largest “underground” Protestant churches, was banned by city authorities in September 2018 for operating without a license after dozens of officials stormed its premises. Earlier that year, unauthorized versions of the Bible were pulled from Chinese online retailers.