Rolf arrived home safely December 29th. He was tired after a long flight and after having to get up at 3am to make his flight to connect in Beijing for his flight home. Sherri is happy to have him back for a while…because he does plan to return to China the end of March. He has already applied for his new visa and will be picking it up next week.
Before leaving China Rolf had a very interesting experience! He was able to go to an underground church with one of his leaders that attends there. It is a large church of 8000 members that meet in three different locations. His leader introduced and is teaching in Sunday school classes the “Faith or Fiction” curriculum in a very modified version. This has opened the eyes of many to what it really means to have a relationship and to follow Jesus. The pastor told Rolf one of the things they are desperately lacking is discipleship materials.
He also said that starting from April 2018, the Chinese government banned the sale of Bibles and other religious materials that are not sanctioned by the regime and started closing down stores that sell them. Since then, people of faith can purchase religious texts only from state-run organizations, while censorship measures are tightened on religious texts as part of the nationwide campaign to “eradicate illegal publications.” Pray they don’t lose total access to the Bible.
From another source we have learned China’s totalitarian government has put into effect new rules on December 30th that will place virtually all aspects of religious life under the control of the Communist Party. These rules go into force on February 1st and come as part of the growing crackdown on religion. Under the new rules, all religious organizations will be required to obey and promote Communist Party values and China’s President Xi Jinping. Churches will be expected to “spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party” and indoctrinate all “religious staff and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Even many government-registered Three-Self churches are undergoing a fiery trial. Video cameras with facial-recognition technology have been placed behind pulpits, facing the congregation, and on the walls above church entrances. Scripture postings have been forcibly removed from the walls of many churches and replaced with portraits of President Xi or the national flag.
Open Doors reports China has risen four spots on the 2020 World Watch list and the persecution level is listed as “Very High.”
PRAY for our dear Brothers and Sisters in China that they don’t lose hope and remain strong.
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Cor. 4:1-2 (NIV)
China - in His image 