President Bush Visited Officially Staged Church Service; House Church Pastor Hua Huiqi Arrested and Escaped from Police Custody
Posted Aug 10 2008China Aid Association, Inc.
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(Beijing Church Reporter: Zhang Lujia. August 10.) Today, President Bush visited TSPM’s Kuanjie Church established by the government and attended a service. As a result of this, Brother Hua Huiqi, renowned Christian social activist in Beijing, was arrested once again by the Chinese police.
At about 6 a.m. this morning Beijing time, brother Hua Huiqi and his 51-year-old brother Hua Huilin were illegally arrested by the Chinese police on their way to Kuanjie Church. The two brothers were detained in the courtyard of Hong Kong New World Development Limited Company in the vicinity of Chongwen Gate of Beijing. At about noon, Hua Huiqi took an opportunity and fled. He is now at large. Over 10 years ago, Hua Huiqi was baptized at Kuanjie Church. Later, he began to worship in house churches. As the Olympic Games were scheduled to be held in Beijing, Hua Huiqi’s movement came under the surveillance of the Chinese police in the past few months. As a result, Brother Hua and his family had to go back to Kuanjie Church to attend the services. As President Bush was to visit Kuanjie Church, Brother Hua Huiqi was prohibited by the police to go there for services. However, Brother Hua thinks the police’s ban does not have a legal basis and is totally unreasonable. So he decided to refuse to obey. This morning, Brother Hua Huiqi successfully got rid of the police placed on his surveillance and met with his brother Hua Huilin. Then, they rode bikes and were bound for Kuanjie Church. At a place about 1.5 kilometers from the church, they were arrested by the police.Ingenious arrangements are being made at TSPM’s Kuanjie Church established by the government to welcome the visit of US President Bush on August 10.High-ranking officials from the Public Security Bureau, Bureau of Security, Bureau of Religion and TSPM/China Christian Council met at Kuanjie Church established by the government and there, they made ingenious arrangements for the visit of US President Bush on August 10. They won’t give the ordinary believers of the church a chance to meet President Bush or overseas media. They will also drive the ordinary believers out of the church before and after President Bush’s visit. Informed sources have disclosed that a red slip of procedure for the worship ceremony is a mark for their identification. The red slips have been distributed before noon today. Most people President Bush and the overseas media will meet in the church are security people, political workers and people trained by them to pose as believers. An old believer who was baptized at Kuanjie Church nearly 20 years ago complained: “Whether you are a believer or not, no one is allowed to enter the church. When President Bush comes tomorrow, where can we do our Sunday service?” Another believer who lives nearby Kuanjie Church joked: “President Bush is coming to preach the Gospel to those who don’t believe in the Lord (referring to those police officers and officials). We are already believers, so we certainly don’t have to come here tomorrow.”
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August 11th, 2008 at 9:36 am
[…] - Original: President Bush Visited Officially Staged Church Service; House Church Pastor Hua Huiqi Arrested and … […]
August 12th, 2008 at 3:39 am
[…] government is not letting the Olympics, or the presence of President Bush get in the way of their ongoing persecution of the Chinese church. This morning, Brother Hua Huiqi successfully got rid of the police placed on […]
August 12th, 2008 at 9:56 am
So, where does our President George Bush stand on this? He is a man who professes to be a devote Christian, but who grew up privileged in a free society, so has never had to take personal risk to follow his “beliefs”. The Chinese house church Christians risk persecution, arrest, beatings, and worse every day of their lives to follow Christ. Will President Bush stand up and be counted or has the China government correctly assumed that he will not make waves over any issues. Working in the background is a valid approach for political issues. However, this is core to a person’s belief and it is time for him to stand with his Chinese Christian brothers and condemn the Chinese security police and the Central Government for failing to live allow Chinese people to practice what is guaranteed to them in the words of that country’s constitution and to meet the commitments they made for liberalization and additional freedom in order to be granted the privilege to host the Olympics.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Maybe you could explain to me why Bob Fu left China instead of staying behind and martyring himself like the underground Christians whom he celebrates. If I read Fu’s bio correctly, he didn’t hesitate to leave. And now, safe and sound in the US, he celebrates Christian activists who have the courage to do what he didn’t. If he thinks Hua Huiqi is such a great man, why doesn’t he go back to China and emulate him?
August 13th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Jeremiah -perhaps Bob Fu was led by the Lord to leave China so as to speak out to the world without restriction regarding the abuses of the PRC.
/ For the sake of argument, say he did leave out of mortal fear: Is that so un-human? Is that not all the more reason to honor those that do what he might not have had the courage/strength to do at the time? Would he be obeying and serving God by returning to China or is God’s will that he stay in the US?
August 13th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
JamminredheadEd: I’m in no position to judge God’s will. All I know is that Bob Fu is encouraging others to do what he didn’t have the courage to do on his own. I’d be inclined to take him more seriously if he was willing to go back to China and serve as a witness and an example. Instead, he’s living in comparative luxury, in the US, off donations from an organization that depends on making the situation in China look as bad as possible. That, my friend, is called a hypocrite. And don’t think the folks in Washington don’t know it. Fu is a fraud.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Jeremiah - How many times have you served the Lord in a closed counrty? How many times have you attended a house church meeting (in secret) in China? How many times have you brough Christian materials into a closed country? I’ll bet the answer is zero times. You speak of what you do not know my brother. I have done this many times. Bob’s work is sincere and it shines a light on the darkness in China. Before you ask someone else to do the work you should consider it yourself…unless you are really a PSB officer who has another agenda?
August 13th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Missionary - Greetings from Suzhou, where I buy Bibles from the registered Church, and bring them to my friends, some of whom are underground, some of whom are registered, and some of whom have yet to find our Lord and Savior. Nobody gives me any trouble, and nobody gives my Bible-receiving friends any trouble. Of course, if it got out to your donors that the vast majority of China’s Christians - underground and registered - were living unmolested by the authorities, your donations - and Bob Fu’s living - would dry up. PSB officer? Nice try … just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean that they’re a tool of the communists. That might make for effective fundraising, but it sure don’t make for the truth. Let me know when Bob is ready to come back and martyr himself in the same way that he encourages others.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Did the President of the United States of America (President Bush) know about these goings on before the events or after or not at all?