China keeps persecution hidden from sight
China continues to persecute Christians but is a little
better at hiding it these days.International
Christian Concern suggests that one way China hides the persecution of
the Church is by tightening controls over the press, but spokesman Ryan Morgan
tells OneNewsNow that in larger cities they typically do not attack the house
church as often. They are now much more subtle in their approach.
“They apply pressure by going to the landlord that runs the
building, for instance, and telling him to terminate the lease of the church,”
he explains. “Or they'll invite the pastor over for tea and, you know,
encourage the pastor - and I say that with irony to join one of the
government-controlled churches.”
However, most pastors refuse. According to Morgan, when one
gets out of the major cities, the situation changes.
“Christians are still ending up in large numbers in what
they would call 're-education' through labor camps,” he says. “They will be
arrested for a year, two, three years at a time without any trial and forced to
do labor eight to twelve hours a day, and some of these Christians have been
arrested multiple times because they continue to worship at house churches
despite their imprisonment.”
Morgan admits he is not surprised by any of it because in
2010 China began providing more funds to police its internal population than on
its already huge military establishment.
- See more at:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/persecution/2013/07/17/china-keeps-persecution-hidden-from-sight#.UgAn02Sjc5Q
