(The United Kingdom) Release International commemorated the Day of the Christian Martyr with a major event in Eastbourne, UK, featuring speakers from Nigeria, China and Korea. They have invited Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, to speak about the religious persecution taking place in China.
Release International
According to Church tradition, the day of remembrance of the martyrdoms of the Apostles Peter and Paul is June 29th. Throughout the weekend, Christians around the world commemorate the legacy of those who laid down their lives for the sharing of the Gospel.
Release International was founded in 1968. They are a Christian ministry organization that works through local church partners in approximately 30 countries around the world to help persecuted Christians in prayerful, pastoral and practical ways.
Persecution in Nigeria
Pastor Mark Mukan from Nigeria described the escalating persecution in his country. He stated that the EYN Brethren Church in Nigeria has faced the most severe persecution and attacks. More than 8,350 church members have been killed, and 700,000 people have been displaced. Three hundred of their churches have been burned and destroyed.
Pastor Mark Mukan showed great gratitude towards Release International for their work in support of the people of Nigeria, saying: “You have stood by us, and you have provided training for us. You have to come to us to be with us in times of trauma.”
Bob Fu
ChinaAid association has been a longstanding partner of Release International. They invited founder and president of ChinaAid, Rev. Dr. Bob Fu to speak at this event. He described the persecution in China as “a war against the cross.”
A Cross Declared the Enemy
“They have declared the wooden cross on church roofs the enemy of the state. The government orders for them to be torn down or destroyed.” He continued, saying that the Communist Party had ordered churches to tear down the crosses outside their buildings, “or the Communist Party would send in bulldozers.”
He said they demolish thousands of crosses this way, and they were all on government-sanctioned churches. The underground churches have no buildings on which to display a cross.
In effect, they only allow official churches to display the crosses inside the building where they are not visible to Chinese passersby.
Rev. Dr. Bob Fu added: “They sentence brothers and sisters who dare to resist even by organizing prayer for between eight and twelve years of imprisonment. This is spiritual warfare.”
Religious Inspectors
Rev. Dr. Bob Fu says the job of the religious inspectors is to go around the church searching for any symbols that are not compatible with chairman Xi Jinping’s ideology, as well as anything not compatible with socialism and communism.
The government now requires all government-sanctioned churches to display two portraits, one on each side, of Communist dictator Chairman Mao and of current dictator Xi Jinping.
Removing a Commandment
Communist officials insisted that the first commandment be removed in a church that was displaying the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The Communist Party and its leaders want Christians not to worship our God but the leaders of the Communist Party.
Removing the Bible
“And the communist party also launched a war against the world of the Lord. They ordered Google, Apple company and all e-commerce companies to voluntarily remove any and all Bible and Bible related apps from their Apple Store in China……. And they arrested those brothers and sisters who distribute bibles secretly, one by one.”
“The word of the Lord scares the Communist Party very much, of course. Even the ability for Christians to live a godly life in Christ Jesus is offensive to them.”
Forbidden Religion
Rev. Fu also described the Cultural Revolution. The Communist Party declared that religion would no longer be allowed to exist. They burned truckloads of Bibles in the Central square of Shanghai and declared Christians would belong forever to the Historical Museum of China.
The Battle Continues
He described it as a spiritual battle. The number of Chinese Christians has grown from less than one million during the rule of the Chinese Communist Party to fifty million today. “I can’t give you an exact number (at this moment), but with this spiritual battle, even despite the war against the cross, the war against God’s word, against the godly life in Christ Jesus, the revival continues.”
According to data from Purdue University, the number of Christians in China today has grown from barely one million when the Communists took power to at least 100 million.
Rev. Fu added, “Some say there are 130 million Christians in China – almost ten percent of the population. So don’t be discouraged! May the Lord continue to bless his persecuted church.”
Dr. Eric Foley of Voice of the Martyrs Korea said that in his 20 years of service, God has called many in his organization to give their lives for the gospel.
The Church on the Offensive
He said: “It is the church that is on the offensive, not the world. The Bible teaches us that on the cross, Jesus Christ broke the power of sin and death and put to shame all principalities and powers. And He vested all power and authority in His hands when he was raised from the dead And so he commissioned the Church to go forward to share his word.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai of ChinaAid Association)
