Tuesday, November 18, 2008

China setting new standards for religious freedom...

This story from ChinaAid.org tells the story of Zhu Baoguo, a house church pastor in China. He was arrested in mid-October for the crime of being a leader of an "evil cult," namely Christianity. On October 30 he was sentenced to 1 year of "re-education through labor."

This is obviously wrong, but it doesn't look like the Chinese government is going to stop persecuting Christians anytime soon.

How can Christians affect what's going on over there? I see a few ways:
  • Pray! Pray for Pastor Zhu, who is going to be away from his friends and family for a while. He also has a heart condition, which makes matters worse. Pray for God's protection and comfort for him and his family.
  • Pray! Pray for the leaders of the Chinese government. The most powerful force for change in the world is still God's saving work in a person's heart. We are one revival away from seeing the end of persecution in China.
  • Inform U.S. government leaders that this is an important issue to you. We hold massive amounts of power over the Chinese if we choose to use it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our politicians are more concerned with pocketing money from those who do business with China than they are with how Chinese Christians are treated. Maybe those politicians need to know how we feel.
  • Remember that all that cheap stuff we buy from China comes with a heavy price, including the blood and freedom of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Keep that in mind while your doing that Christmas shopping...

2 comments:

Michelle said...

These are excellent points and ideas....We should never underestimate the power of prayer in these situations. It's hard sometimes because you can't really see the outcome but it's important to remember those living in countries where Christians are persecuted....

alan said...

Prayer is poewerful.
Walmart is the # 1 purveyor of products from China. If all Christians stopped buying anything from Walmart for 6 months it would cripple the Chinese economy, and our own.