In the shadowed underbelly of Xi Jinping's "harmonious" China, where crosses are shaved from rooftops and Bibles branded contraband, the hammer falls harder than ever. Just weeks after a nationwide blitz on October 9, 2025, that snared nearly 30 leaders of the Beijing Zion Church, authorities have now formally arrested 18 pastors and co-workers, charging them with "illegally using information networks"—a catch-all pretext carrying up to three years in the gulag. Bob Fu, the exiled firebrand president of ChinaAid, doesn't mince words: This is a "shocking milestone" in the CCP's "full-scale war against Christianity," a chilling escalation that turns shepherds into political prisoners and flocks into fugitives. As global believers from 45 nations rally with petitions and prayers, the world watches a regime that fears faith more than fallout.
The October Onslaught: Zion's Nationwide Nightmare Begins
It started like a thunderclap on October 9: Coordinated raids across seven provinces — Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong, Guangxi, Hainan — swept up over 30 Zion affiliates, including founder Pastor Mingri "Ezra" Jin, 56, yanked from his Beihai home in handcuffs. Zion, born from Jin's Tiananmen-forged conversion in 1989, isn't some fringe cell — it's a nondenominational powerhouse serving 5,000-10,000 souls in 40+ cities, streaming devotions to 10,000 daily via Zoom and apps that outpaced the pandemic. Raids hit homes, karaoke bars, and restaurants doubling as worship spots; one female pastor ripped from her newborn, another elder's family barred from fleeing.
By October 11, the tally: 22 detained in the largest urban house church purge in 40 years, per Sen. Ted Cruz's bipartisan Senate resolution. The State Department's October 12 rebuke called it "hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference," demanding releases. Human Rights Watch echoed: "Free the dozens detained for affiliation." But Beijing's retort? "Foreign meddling," as foreign ministry hacks dismissed faith as a "Western ploy."
Zion's sin? Independence. Post-2018 shutdown of its Beijing HQ, it thrived underground — adapting to zero-COVID lockdowns with online surges, refusing "Sinicization" (CCP-speak for rewriting Scripture with socialist footnotes). New September 2025 regs banned "unauthorised online preaching" and "foreign collusion," nailing Zion for its global streams and U.S. ties. As interim pastor Sean Long told NPR: "We're not anti-CCP; we love our people. But persecution can't destroy the church."
November's Noose: Formal Charges Seal the Fate of 18 Souls
Fast-forward to November 18-19: After a "37-day golden period" of detention without charges, Beihai's procuratorate greenlit arrests for 18 Zion stalwarts, including Jin, on "illegal information networks" raps — code for sharing sermons without Party seal. Trials loom, with three-year bids; five were freed in October, four more on bail by November 10, but the core 18 rot in Beihai cells.
Fu's fury: "By turning pastors into prisoners, the CCP warns every independent church: Submit or shatter." Human toll? Jin's American-born kids — U.S. citizens — trapped in China, schoolless and homeless, echoing the regime's hostage playbook. Grace Jin Drexel, Jin's daughter, pleads to Trump: "Appeal to Xi — free my dad." Over 150 Zionites grilled; the flock scatters, but faith flickers on.
This caps a brutal year: Shanxi's Golden Lampstand Church saw cofounder Wang Xiaoguang get 9 years for "fraud" in 2025; July raids hit Zion outposts anew. Open Doors tallies 96 million Chinese Christians — half underground — facing "extreme" persecution, up from prior years.
The Broader Blitz: Xi's "Sinicized" Gospel and Global Echoes
Zion's no outlier, it's exhibit A in Xi's crusade to "Sinicize" faith, folding churches into CCP fiefdoms where Xi trumps Jesus. House churches, 44 million strong, defy the Three-Self Patriotic Movement's puppet strings, drawing digital dragnet fire. CSW's Scot Bower: "Echoes 1980s horrors, but with AI surveillance." Fu's testimony to the Congressional-Executive Commission: "Fraud" charges launder tithes into crimes; Zoom studies as "illegal influence."
Global pushback swells: Cruz's resolution (passed October 2025) demands Jin's release, backed by Rubio, Capito, Grassley, Scott. November 10-11's IDOP China: 24-hour prayer vigil from Taiwan to Toronto, co-hosted by VOM Korea and diaspora dens. 500+ leaders from 45 countries petition: "Religious freedom strengthens nations." Latin America's Lausanne reps, like Daniel Bianchi, amplify: "From peripheral to prayer priority." HRW, ICC, BBC: "New wave emerging — nervous CCP eyes organised faith."
The Stakes: A Faith That Fears No Fortress
Fu's clarion: "Xi's war on God he'll never win — prayer isn't crime." Zion's Long: "Persecution prunes, but doesn't kill." As trials near, the call echoes: Release the 18. Fund ChinaAid's docs, legal lifelines, asylum arcs. Trump-Xi talks? Drexel's hope: "Leverage for liberty." Believers, pray on — history's martyrs mock tyrants. The CCP chains bodies, but souls are free!
https://cbn.com/news/world/shocking-milestone-ccps-full-scale-war-against-christianity-china