The persecution of Christians in China unfolds as a sombre testament to a world drifting from God's truth, a stark reminder that the hour grows late and a "great reckoning" looms, a theme of the blog today. From a Christian perspective, rooted in the conviction that Christ's light shines brightest amidst darkness, the trials faced by believers under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are not merely political but spiritual—a clash between the Kingdom of God and communist forces seeking to dethrone Him. As crosses are torn from church steeples and pastors languish in cells, the faithful endure, their suffering echoing the early martyrs who clung to faith against empires. Yet this persecution, intensifying under Xi Jinping's iron grip, signals a deeper crisis, a society unmoored from righteousness and hurtling toward divine judgment. The story of China's Christians is one of pain, resilience, and unyielding hope, a call to the global Church to awaken before the final day arrives.
Christianity's roots in China stretch back to the 7th century, when Nestorian missionaries brought the Gospel during the Tang Dynasty. Periods of tolerance under enlightened rulers gave way to bans, like Emperor Wuzong's 845 decree against foreign faiths. The faith flickered through the centuries, revived by Mongol openness, only to face Ming suppression. By the 19th century, Jesuit and Protestant missionaries planted schools and hospitals, sowing seeds that grew despite local resistance and violent spasms like the Boxer Rebellion. When Mao Zedong's Communists seized power in 1949, Christianity was branded a tool of imperialism, its followers driven underground. The Cultural Revolution unleashed a tempest of destruction—churches razed, Bibles burned, believers tortured or killed. Yet, in secret house churches, Christians memorised Scripture, their whispered prayers defying the state's atheist creed. As Hebrews 11:38 honours those "of whom the world was not worthy," so these believers, hidden in homes and caves, kept the flame alive.
The post-Mao era under Deng Xiaoping offered a deceptive dawn. Churches reopened under the state's watchful eye, governed by the Three-Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants and the Catholic Patriotic Association, both leashed to CCP dogma. Many Christians, wary of compromise, flocked to unregistered house churches, where faith flourished free of state sermons. By the 2000s, estimates placed China's Christian population at 60 to 100 million, a miracle born of persecution's crucible. These were years of cautious growth, with secret seminaries training pastors and rural converts swelling congregations. Yet the state's shadow never lifted—clergy faced surveillance, and teaching children about Christ remained forbidden. Believers knew freedom was fragile, a truth Jesus foretold in John 16:2: "They will put you out of the synagogues."
Under Xi Jinping, that fragility has shattered. Since the mid-2010s, Xi's policy of Sinicisation demands that faith bend to Chinese socialism. Crosses are replaced with portraits of Xi; Bible stories are rewritten to glorify the state. The 2018 Religious Affairs Regulations outlawed unregistered churches, sparking a campaign of raids and demolitions. Pastors like Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church, sentenced to nine years for preaching truth, embody the cost of defiance. Catholic bishops loyal to the Vatican vanish into detention, despite a 2018 Vatican-China deal meant to ease tensions—a pact many underground Catholics see as betrayal. House churches, once tolerated if discreet, now face brutal sweeps. Worshippers are beaten, hymnals confiscated, and believers forced to sing patriotic anthems. The state's reach extends to children, barred from Sunday schools and indoctrinated with atheism in classrooms. As Psalm 10:4 laments, "In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him," so the CCP exalts itself above God.
Technology amplifies this oppression. Facial recognition tracks churchgoers; AI scans sermons for dissent. The so-called "social credit" system punishes believers with lost jobs or barred education, pressuring them to renounce faith. Online Bible apps are banned, digital worship censored. Yet the faithful adapt, using encrypted messages to share Scripture, their courage mirroring Acts 4:20: "We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Ethnic minority Christians, like the Lisu in Yunnan or Kyrgyz in Xinjiang, face double persecution, detained in re-education camps alongside Uyghurs, their faith deemed a threat to cultural purity. Converts from Islam or Buddhism endure family rejection and state violence, their choice of Christ branded treason. The CCP's fear is palpable—Christianity's growth, potentially rivalling the Party's 92 million members, challenges its claim to ultimate loyalty.
The human toll is heart-wrenching. Families fracture under surveillance's weight; parents worship in whispers, fearing informants. Pastors endure torture, their families harassed to break their resolve. Yet, like the early Church under Rome, persecution purifies. Underground seminaries thrive, training leaders in secrecy. Conversions persist, even among Party members, drawn to Christ's love amidst Marxist sterility. Believers find joy in suffering, as James 1:2 urges: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds." Stories emerge of prisoners singing hymns in cells, of villagers sharing smuggled Bibles. The global Church, though limited by China's censorship, prays fervently, some smuggling aid to sustain these brothers and sisters. Their resilience testifies to Matthew 16:18: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
This persecution is no mere policy—it is spiritual warfare, a sign of the "great reckoning" drawing near. The CCP's defiance, exalting man above God, mirrors the pride of Babylon in Revelation 18, doomed to fall. Romans 13:1 warns that authorities exist by God's allowance, yet China's rulers mock His sovereignty, inviting judgment. The hour grows late as the state tightens its grip, not just on Christians but on truth itself. Globalism's collapse, cultural decay, and moral inversion elsewhere echo this rebellion, signalling a world ripening for God's harvest. For believers, China's trials are a call to action—to pray, advocate, and stand boldly. Hebrews 13:3 urges, "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them." Silence is not an option when sisters and brothers suffer.
And hope endures. The Chinese Church, forged in fire, shines as a beacon. Each arrest sows seeds of faith; each closed church births ten hidden ones. Christ's promise in Revelation 21:4—He will wipe away every tear—sustains believers through the darkest nights. The reckoning looms, not just as judgment but as vindication, when every knee will bow to the King. The hour is late, and the shadows deepen, but the faithful know their Saviour reigns. As they sing in secret, pray in chains, and love amidst hate, they herald a truth the CCP cannot silence. Communism, a godless religion, will fall before Christianity!
https://michaeltsnyder.substack.com/p/have-you-heard-about-the-absolutely
"For more than a billion people living in China, freedom of religion does not exist. So those that do wish to worship as they please must do it in secret, and if they are discovered the consequences can be extremely severe. This week, China is in the news because it is suddenly engaged in a massive trade war with the United States. But most of the time, people living in the western world don't pay much attention to what is really going on inside China, and so very few actually know about the absolutely horrifying things that are being done to Christians by the communist Chinese government.
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Bottom of FormIf you are a Christian that does not live in China, I would recommend avoiding the country for the foreseeable future, because practicing your faith in China could get you arrested. New regulations that just went into effect totally ban foreigners "from preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval"…
New regulations released this week by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) impose severe restrictions on missionary activity in the country, according to Chinese state media and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party.
The regulations, which take effect May 1, prohibit foreigners from preaching, sharing their faith, or establishing religious organizations without official government approval.
Justifying these regulations, Chinese state media claimed that the newly revised rules promote national security—a common justification for CCP persecution of religion—and help to protect "normal religious activities," referring to activities run under strict government oversight as part of state-run religious institutions.
This is just the latest attempt to crack down on "unauthorized" religious activity in China.
The Chinese government openly admits that it "intensified efforts to dismantle cult organizations in 2024"…
Earlier this year, the Chinese government issued a report boasting about the increased persecution of independent religious groups in 2024.
"China's public security authorities intensified efforts to dismantle cult organizations in 2024," reported the Global Times, a state-run media outlet. "They have worked to curb the growth and spread of cult organizations, mitigating potential threats to national political security and maintaining social stability."
To the Chinese, any religious organization that is not controlled by the government is considered to be a "cult".
If you consider yourself to be a Christian in China, you are only legally permitted to attend certain types of state-controlled churches…
The protestant Three Self Church and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association are prominent examples of these state-run institutions. They work to promote CCP propaganda and the personality cult surrounding country President Xi Jinping through songs, sermons, and community events.
Independent house churches, which operate outside the state-sponsored system, are often raided, and their members are arrested on charges of working against the interests of the state.
It has been estimated that there are more than 100 million Christians in China, and independent house churches are extremely popular.
But when a house church is discovered, the leaders are often arrested and taken to secret interrogation facilities…
Authorities in China are detaining Christians in secretive, mobile "transformation" facilities to make them renounce their faith, RFA has learned.
A member of a Christian "house church" in the southwestern province of Sichuan who asked to be identified by a pseudonym Li Yuese said he was held in a facility run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United Front Work Department, working in tandem with the state security police, for 10 months after a raid on his church in 2018.
"It was a mobile facility, that could just set up in some basement somewhere," Li said. "It was staffed by people from several different government departments."
Li claims that he was beaten, abused and tortured in a very small windowless room for almost 10 months…
Li said he was held in a windowless room for nearly 10 months, during which time he was beaten, verbally abused and "mentally tortured" by staff, eventually resorting to self-harm by throwing himself against a wall.
His account is chillingly similar to those of former inmates of "transformation" camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Ultimately, Li is one of the fortunate ones.
Many Christians that are grabbed by authorities are never seen again.
Chinese officials are hoping to eventually make religion of as little importance as possible in China.
One of the ways that they hope to achieve this is by banning all children from participating in religious activities…
Children under 18 are constitutionally prohibited from having any formal religious affiliation in China. There is also a ban on religious education, including Sunday schools, religious summer camps and other forms of youth religious groups. Schools focus on promoting non-religion and atheism, and many children join CCP-affiliated youth groups, where they must pledge commitment to atheism.
Do you understand what this means?
Every child in China is prohibited by law from setting foot in a church.
That is evil on a level that I don't even have the words to describe.
We need to understand who we are dealing with.
As they continue to grow in power, the Chinese would love to start imposing their "values" on the entire globe.
Meanwhile, persecution of Christians continues to intensify in areas of the world that are heavily Islamic.
In fact, in some cases it can literally be a death sentence for a Muslim to become a Christian…
A mother of six children was stabbed to death by her Muslim husband in Uganda after she attended her first church service, sources said.
Nasiimu Mirembe, whose children range in age from 3 to 18, had put her faith in Christ on March 21 after hearing the Gospel from a friend in eastern Uganda's Busembatya town council. She was 41.
She and her friend were on their way to a church service on March 23 when a Muslim neighbor, Awudu Mbulalina, greeted them 218 yards (200 meters) from the worship site and continued on, said the friend, whose name is being withheld for security reasons.
This sort of thing happens all the time in Islamic nations, but we hardly ever hear about it.
Of course things are becoming a lot more uncomfortable for Christians in many western nations as well.
For example, Christians in New South Wales, Australia can now be hit with fines of up to $100,000 simply for praying for a gay or lesbian friend…
Christians in Sydney and throughout the rest of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, could now face five years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 for offering counseling to or praying for "LGBTQA" individuals, even if they say their same-sex attraction or gender confusion is unwanted.
On April 4, legislation known as the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024 became law, raising alarm among Christians who by merely explaining the Good News of Jesus' power to heal, the immutable definition of marriage, or timeless truths about the complementarity of man and woman, risk being punished as criminals in NSW.
As such, this is a major step toward criminalizing Christianity and the fullness of the Gospel message in "the land down under."
Jesus warned us that those that decide to follow Him will be hated.
And we are certainly witnessing that all over the world right now.
But the persecution that is coming in the years ahead will be even worse."