The authorities in China have told poor Christians that they will have to replace images of Christ and crosses with communists or lose their benefits.
“They Must Obey The Communist Party For The Money They Receive”
The religious liberty site Bitter Winter reported that in April, authorities in a town administered by Linfen, a city in China’s northern Shanxi province, called a meeting for all the officials under its jurisdiction to start cracking down on Christians. They were to raid their homes, and replace any crosses, images of Christ, or other religious imagery, with portraits of Mao Zedong, or the current Chinese premier Xi Jingping.
Anyone who resisted the order would have their welfare payments stopped – a crucial lifeline for those Christians living in poverty in China.
“Impoverished religious households can’t receive money from the state for nothing – they must obey the Communist Party for the money they receive,” an official told one believer after tearing down a calendar with an image of Jesus and replacing it with Mao Zedong.
“All impoverished households in the town were told to display Mao Zedong images,” a preacher told Bitter Winter after receiving a visit himself. “The government is trying to eliminate our belief and wants to become God instead of Jesus.”
RELATED: Study Finds Hostility Against Christians Rising Globally
China Is An Oppressive, Communist State – We Must Not Forget This
It’s not limited to Shanxi province either, but is seemingly endemic across the country. An official from a village administered by Heze city in China’s eastern Shandong province posted images of Xi Jingping and Mao Zedong after storming into one Christian’s house.
“These are the greatest Gods. If you want to worship somebody, they are the ones,” the official said as he put them up.
In April, A Christian woman from Henan province whose husband died in 2016, had her welfare payments stopped after refusing to sign a statement renouncing her faith and destroy all Christian images in her home.
There are so many more examples of this happening all across China right now, but you won’t hear a peep about this from the mainstream media, because the oppression of Christians is not news that they want you to hear about, as it does not fit their narrative. Do not forget that.