Chinese Christians Arrested at Easter Service

This is the type of news that would get the atheist unions happy.  Here's the news clip below:


Up to 30 members of a Chinese evangelical church were arrested on Sunday (local time) for trying to hold an Easter service in defiance of the officially atheist government, a member of the clergy said.

A large number of police began to gather early on Sunday in the Zhongguancun area of Beijing, where the Shouwang Church had said it would hold an outdoor service to mark the holiest day of the Christian calendar.

"Between 20 and 30 followers were taken away by police," senior pastor Jin Tianming said from his home, where he is under house arrest. He said there were several police officers on duty outside the building.

He added that the members of the congregation who had been arrested had been taken to different police stations and that none had so far been released.

Jin had said before the service that the church considered Easter an important occasion and would stick to its decision to hold a service.

"This is our uncompromising position and a matter of faith. If they arrest our followers, this is the price we are willing to pay," he had said.

Police declined to comment on the arrests.

The defiant stance of the Shouwang Church, one of Beijing's biggest unofficial Christian groups, comes amid a severe crackdown on government critics that has seen scores of people detained, disappeared or facing charges.

Authorities evicted Shouwang from its previous place of worship, a rented office space, in November and blocked the congregation of about 1,000 people from entering new premises purchased with church funds, Jin said.

China's officially atheist government has long frowned on religion and imposes controls on faith by requiring groups to register for government approval to gather, despite an official policy stipulating religious freedom.

Shouwang, which means "to keep watch", was established in 1993 and has sought government registration since 2006, Jin said, but has been repeatedly refused.

On April 10, nearly 170 church followers were rounded up by police after trying to hold a Sunday outdoor worship service in western Beijing's Haidian university district. Nearly 50 were detained a week later.

Most followers were released after up to 24 hours in custody.

The US government has repeatedly criticised China's overall rights crackdown, while the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an autonomous government board, this week condemned the actions against Shouwang.

- AFP

Scriptural relevance to the article:

Looking at it, the words of Jesus are just as clear as ever and no matter how many times they try to disprove Him, they are only fulfilling His words without knowing it like how Julian the Apostate's actions only proved the Bible right.  Matthew 24:9 predicts that Christians will be persecuted as a sign of the end times. John 15:18-19 says that the Christian is not of the world and that the world hates them if they were of the world, the world would accept them but they are not of the world, it hated Jesus before it hated His followers.  James 4:4 says that friendship with the world means to be an enemy of God, however since Christians have been reconciled to God in Romans 5:10, therefore the Christian has become a friend of God and an enemy of the world.  1 Corinthians 2:14 says that the unsaved man thinks the things of the Holy Spirit are foolishness unto him.  

However here's what the Bible advises to those persecuted.  Matthew 5:11 says that whosoever is persecuted for the sake of the righteousness of God is blessed and great is their reward in Heaven.  1 Peter 4:10 has Peter writing that if any man suffer as a Christian, be not ashamed but rather GLORIFY God.  The Apostle Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 4:9-11 that no matter how great the persecution yet the cause of Christ will always go on- it's by His grace that a Christian will endure persecution and deaths will only result to more converts.