House Church Leaders Shaken By Cult Kidnappings

On June 19, the China Gospel Fellowship declared that 34 of its evangelists mysteriously kidnapped two months earlier by a shadowy cult called Eastern Lightning (EL) were safely back with their families, ending one of the most bizarre events in Chinese house church history.

“This incident has shaken us to the core,” said one of the leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) in Hong Kong in May. “The kidnappings were so well planned, the enemy so clever, that it is quite clear that the fight against cults will have to be conducted at a much higher level of vigilance than before.”

According to sources in the CGF, the incident began in fall 2001 when a young woman joined a house church in Tanghe, Henan province. She showed all the outward characteristics of deep piety, and it was through her an invitation was issued to 34 evangelists and teachers to come to various locations on April 16, 2002, and allegedly receive teaching from representatives of the Haggai Institute of Singapore, a well-known missions training college.

The invitation was completely bogus, however. The leaders arrived at their various points and were transported in twos to houses in remote locations. At first, they did not suspect abduction. Their mobile phones were taken away as “a security precaution,” but after a day or two they began to suspect something was terribly wrong.

According to one source, “The leaders were subjected to concentrated teaching by Chinese men that began to sound very strange. They realized these were not teachers from the Haggai Institute, and pretty much by the second day all realized they had fallen into the clutches of the Eastern Lightning cult.”

Also known as Lightning from the East, this group believes that Jesus has returned to China in the form of a woman, Mrs. Deng, and that orthodox forms of Christianity have been superceded and must be repudiated. The CGF estimates the cult has over a million members in 20 provinces.

The cult is known for its coercive and violent tactics in winning converts and punishing those who leave. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the China Gospel Fellowship—an umbrella term for a number of large Henan- and Anhui-based house church movements—set up prayer teams in each region affected and reported the disappearances to the police.

Some of the CGF leaders were able to escape and others were gradually released, sometimes with police intervention. Families of the kidnapped evangelists gathered in Beijing and continued to pressure the authorities until all were released. By June 19, the CGF released a statement on their web site (www.chinaforjesus.com) saying all 34 were finally accounted for and that “the EL conspiracy to undermine and destroy the church has ended in utter failure.”

They did add, however, that a few of the kidnapped evangelists were “not doing well because of the drugs given to them.”

The ramifications of the kidnappings have rippled out to all sections of the house churches. One leader in Wenzhou said, “It has made me much more wary of people suddenly joining the church. It puts a lot of questions in your mind like, are they genuine?”

The good news, according to three house church leaders in Shanghai, is that “the attack on the house churches was effectively repulsed. The CGF displayed great unity, coolness and organization in the midst of this crisis.”

—Alex Buchan

Christian Bookstores Open

A new Christian bookstore opened in Shanghai Apr. 1. Run by a young Christian entrepreneur, it is one of a handful of public Christian bookstores now operating in China.

This is a Christian bookstore unlike any overseas. At first glance it looks very similar, with its modern decor and rows of paperbacks and Christian giftware. But closer inspection reveals that not one Bible is for sale. In fact, the owner of another Christian bookstore in a northern Chinese city was recently fined about $1,200 for illegally selling Bibles.

The Shanghai manager explained that it is now possible to obtain permission to open “specialty” bookstores from the municipal government, and he proudly showed his new certificate. However, only books with an ISBN number are allowed to be sold. The ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is a 10-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally.

Christian books (including Bibles) published officially by the China Christian Council and the Amity Press are only given a provincial imprint and therefore are not permitted to be sold openly to the public.

Across China there are a few hundred large official state churches in cities that operate book tables or small book rooms. These are usually open only on Sundays to churchgoers and are not open to the general public. The range and number of titles in state-church book rooms are still very limited. The 2002 catalogue for the China Christian Council lists only 88 book titles (excluding Bibles and hymnbooks).

In sharp distinction, these new retail outlets are open to the public and represent a pioneering breakthrough. At least five stores are now open in major cities. Most opened during the last few months. The one in Shanghai attracts about 50 customers and browsers every day, of whom more than half are non-Christians. Knowledge of the existence of the shop is passed by word of mouth.

The owner does not expect to make a profit in the near future. It is expensive to stock the shop with Christian titles. Across China, many secular publishers for reasons of profit are publishing the occasional Christian book. These range from erudite academic books on the theology of Thomas Aquinas or Luther to Bible dictionaries and even illustrated Bible storybooks.

—Xu Mei

Church Appointees Signal Government’s Intention to Maintain Strict Control

At the end of May, China’s state-controlled Protestant church held its national conference in Beijing. New leaders were appointed for both the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and the China Christian Council (CCC), known in China as the lianghui—the “two organizations.” Both are firmly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although nominally independent as “people’s organizations,” both are supervised by the Religious Affairs Bureau and the CCP’s United Front Work Department.

Rev. Cao Shengjie, who was born in 1931 and has been assistant general secretary of the CCC since 1980, was appointed president of the CCC. Mrs. Cao has a poor reputation among many older Chinese Christians. She belongs to the generation of church leaders who in the 1950s collaborated with the Party and today are dubbed by many Chinese Christians as laosanzi—”old Three Self.”

Writing in the TSPM magazine Tianfeng in September 2000, Cao stated: “Over the past 50 years, the Chinese church in its theological reflections has not been concerned for such doctrinal abstractions such as ‘the Trinity’ or ‘the Two Natures of Christ.’” She continued in the same article to attack evangelical theology and Wang Ming Dao, China’s most noted evangelical preacher in the 20th century. She also strongly attacked overseas ministries, condemning their efforts to “evangelize China” as the work of “hostile forces.”

She concluded: “We will never support the ‘evangelization of China.’ Because if we do not pay attention to the welfare of the Chinese people but go about ‘preaching the gospel’ on a great scale, we will not only politically fall into the camp of enemy forces but we will harm the church itself.…Is our theology actually compatible with socialism or with the demands of overseas hostile forces?”

It is not surprising that some evangelical pastors working within the TSPM and CCC are now stating that the “theological construction” campaign pushed by Cao and other top TSPM leaders to make all Christian theology “compatible with socialism” is a dangerous heresy.

—Xu Mei

Southwest China Officials Close Minority Churches

A letter written by a Christian living in Zhaotong in the southwest province of Yunnan details recent persecution by local government officials and police.

Zhaotong is a remote area of northeastern Yunnan. According to reliable reports, there are about 150,000 Protestant Christians there, mainly belonging to the Miao minority tribal group. They are the faithful successors to the original converts of Methodist missionaries who preached the gospel about a century ago.

The letter, dated Apr. 4, 2002, states:

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In November 2001, the pastors, elders and deacons of 16 churches here were severely attacked by the police. The reason was that in November 1999, two of the local church pastors reported a case of corruption in which the township head, the police and local government secretary, had killed a farmer’s sheep worth 150 RMB. They were criticized and received political re-education, so thereafter they hated religion.

On November 9, 2001, the Christian leaders were notified by village government security officials to go to the township government office to attend a legal studies class. Presiding over that day’s conference were the heads of the Public Security Bureau, Wu and Long, the township head, Lu, and other leaders from legal, governmental, United front and Religious Affairs departments.

At that day’s meeting, township head Lu announced that the Christian organization headed by [name was withheld] was dissolved. They gave as their reason that “religious bodies which have not been permitted by the government are illegal religious organizations.” They also said that Hong Kong and Taiwan Christian radio stations were overseas and gave out propaganda stating the church set up by the Three Self Patriotic Movement was wrong, so listening to them was to accept control by foreign forces. They also said that Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau are overseas, so the local police confiscated all the Bibles, hymnbooks, and Christian books sent to us by Christian radio stations.

They detained Mr. Gu, a local Christian, for 15 days. But I have decided with two other fellow workers to set up a small gospel team to preach the gospel to the minority peoples. Please pray for our Christian church here in Yunnan.

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The letter reveals the narrowness of local Communist officials who close churches and confiscate Christian literature. In this case, they appear to treat Hong Kong and Macau as if they were not part of China and even ban listening to Christian radio stations. But it also shows the spirit of Chinese Christians who are determined, even under persecution, to continue to engage in vigorous evangelism.

—Xu Mei