OPINION:
China is one of the most diabolical nations on the planet, with the Chinese Communist Party using technology and the horrors of communistic chaos to crack down on Bible-believers.
The nation is 17th on Open Doors’ World Watch List, an annual ranking of the most dangerous nations to be a Christian. The report details persecution and the horrors inflicted on believers within China’s borders.
Communism is naturally a driving factor in the unimaginable nightmare impacting Christians there.
“The Chinese authorities want all of their citizens to follow their Communist ideologies,” The World Watch List explains. “Efforts to control churches (and other religious groups) are an attempt to align religious doctrine with Communist ideology.”
Christianity — and religion more generally — is ultimately seen as a threat to the government and power structures inside China, with churches being forced to register with officials. Houses of worship are, thus, tightly controlled and overseen by the government.
The absence of religious freedom and overt hostility have forced many churches to meet underground. This dangerous but courageous decision allows believers to preach an unfettered gospel and exercise true Christian faith, though it comes at a cost.
“These churches face raids, fines, arrests, imprisonments and the confiscation of materials,” The World Watch List states.
Faith leaders are often explicitly targeted. Chinese pastor Ezra Jin is one such preacher who was arrested alongside others in October and remains incarcerated after being charged with “illegally using information networks.”
The U.S. government was quick to rebuke the arrests, passing a bipartisan resolution condemning the CCP for the detainments and calling for the faith leaders’ release. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also issued a statement stating the same.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” it read.
Mr. Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, recently discussed her father’s plight and defiantly proclaimed that “God will not abandon” her family.
Speaking at the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit, Ms. Drexel noted that her father was among 28 faith leaders from Zion Church who were taken into custody Oct. 10, in a move that has been widely rebuked across the globe, The Christian Post reported.
Ms. Drexel’s words addressing the matter were truly stirring.
“To understand why my father is in prison, you must understand that China under Chairman Xi Jinping has embarked on a systematic campaign to achieve total state control over religious life through what the government calls sinicization of religion,” she said. “It included removing crosses and replacing them with portraits of Xi Jinping, replacing hymns with revolutionary party songs, rewriting sermons to align with socialist core values, installing facial recognition cameras inside the sanctuary and shutting down or even leveling churches.”
Ms. Drexel said Zion Church fell into the Chinese government’s crosshairs in 2018 after refusing to install facial recognition cameras. As a result, the church building was seized and her father wasn’t permitted to leave China.
Rather than buckle under the pressure, the church came up with a hybrid model to continue worship online and offline, Ms. Drexel said. And with COVID-19 creating a global crisis that forced many worshippers online, Zion Church’s influence only expanded.
This, of course, further complicated the situation for Mr. Jin and others, who reportedly face horrific conditions in prison such as sleep deprivation and harsh interrogations. Yet, despite not seeing her father in person for seven years after she and her mother moved to the U.S. during an earlier Chinese crackdown, Ms. Drexel is resolute that hope remains.
“As a Christian, I believe that we are asked to take courage and to speak truth that the God who created Heaven and earth will stand by our side,” she said, according to The Christian Post. “As a Christian, I also believe in miracles. I draw strength in knowing that my God is a good God and that even these bleakest moments might be used to serve a greater purpose.”
Tragically, Ms. Drexel said the distance and now incarceration at the hands of the CCP has had a dire effect on her family.
“He was not there at my wedding to walk me down the aisle, and he has never met his grandchildren,” she said of her father.
Mr. Jin himself released a letter in October encouraging Christians to continue pushing forward, despite his detention.
“Don’t worry about me,” he courageously wrote. “I find great comfort in being able to endure this little suffering for the gospel.”
This is just one of the many stories about what happens to Christians and faith leaders simply trying to live out their faith in China. We must all double down in prayer while also pressing U.S. leaders to continue the fight for liberty before more fall prey to such evils.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell also is the author of four books.
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