Christian Daily
By Christian Deguit
■ In light of the increasing persecution by the Chinese government to Christians who are standing up for their faith, ‘Charlotte Hornets’ basketball player, Jeremy Lin asked for fans to pray for “global Christian revival.”
In a recent prayer request email written by the 27-year-old Lin and reported by Charisma News, he states, “Please pray for global Christian revival. Specific areas that I feel God has put on my heart are Asian-Americans in the U.S. who are lukewarm in their faith, the billions in China who don’t know Christ and Taiwan/Hong Kong. I obviously care about many other places, but these are very near and dear to my heart!”
Just last February, a court in China sentenced a pastor and his wife to more than 10 years each in prison due to their resistance in removing their crosses. In addition their son was also detained.
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| Charlotte Hornets guard Jeremy Lin goes up to the basket during the 2015 NBA Global Games against Los Angeles Clippers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, October 11, 2015. Reuters/Stringer |
According to the New York Times, Pastor Bao Guohua and his wife Xing Wenxiang were convicted to 14 years and 12 years respectively on claims that the couple “had embezzled hundreds of thousands of yuan in church funds and “conducted illegal business.”
Despite these claims by the government it is still evident that there is increased persecution of Chinese churces in recent months. According to China Aid, the religious persecution of Chinese Christians rose by 300 percent since 2013. Victims included 17,884 believers of which 1,592 were church leaders.
In addition, state-run media are also labelling these churches as ‘cult’ organizations.
Furthermore, China Aid also indicates that some of the acts in the persecution campaign of the Chinese government include forced demolition of churches and crosses and detention or imprisonment of pastors and church members on criminal charges, just like what happened to the aforementioned Christian couple. This forces the churches into bankruptcy enabling the government to confiscate church property and impose ridiculous fines.
China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chinaaid.org