Chinese Crackdown

As we approach Nov 5th, many shops are selling fireworks including, I imagine, "Chinese Crackers". However, for Christians who live in China, the reality has more to do with Chinese Crackdowns, as the following report from Release International shows.

Beijing pastor ‘Bike’ Zhang Mingxuan’s brief respite from harassment has ended abruptly: he has been arrested, his house church has been shut down and his son brutally attacked.

After months of systematic persecution around the Beijing Olympics, Pastor Bike was allowed to return to Beijing in late-September, after an ‘enforced vacation’ in Hebei province, and worship with his house church in peace.

But this respite was short-lived. On October 16, Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials raided Pastor Bike’s home and beat his oldest son, Zhang Jian, with iron bars for 25 minutes. Officers then threw the family – and all their furniture – out of their rented flat.

When Zhang Jian’s mother Xie Fenglan called an ambulance, the receptionist told her she was not allowed to dispatch an ambulance for Zhang Jian because he was a relative of Pastor Bike. Zhang Jian, whose right eye may have been blinded in the attack, has discharged himself from hospital, despite needing surgery, because he fears for his safety. On October 22, Pastor Bike rang his son to say he had been detained – but was not allowed to say where. His wife and sister are now being held at a PSB-run hotel in Beijing.

Police have also sealed the door of Pastor Bike’s church and blocked it with two truckloads of rubbish. Its electricity supply has also been cut – and all this despite assurances from the PSB last month that he was free to worship. Pastor Bike is president of the Chinese House Church Alliance.
(Source: China Aid)

• Ask God to heal Zhang Jian physically – and fill him with His peace.

• Pray that influential members of the Public Security Bureau will again look favourably on Pastor Bike and his family – and leave them to worship in peace.