China Aid Association
(Hua county, Shannxi – April 9, 2011) A house church Christian in central China’s Shaanxi province is in a coma after a brutal beating Friday afternoon by local police wielding electric cattle prods, just one of several alarming cases of mafia-style persecution tactics that ChinaAid sources recently reported.
Pastor Wang Zhanhu of Chinese House Church Alliance was in Hua county, Shaanxi province engaged in evangelism among a few hundred people when local police seized him and subjected him a beating with an electric baton. Wang lost consciousness for about 5 hours and has been hospitalized and ChinaAid calls on Christians to urgently lift him up in prayer.
In coastal Jiangsu province recently, local authorities have threatened a former Three-Self Patriotic Movement church pastor with immediate detention if he accesses the Internet. Pastor Zeng Zhengliang’s house church in Zhong village, Yancheng city, Jianhu county was attacked by the local government and persecuted on Jan. 30. The church had previously been a Three-Self church, but in Nov. 2005, under Pastor Zeng’s leadership, it announced that it was withdrawing from the Three-Self system. It has suffered unrelenting retribution from the authorities ever since. Pastor Zeng now is an important leader of the Chinese House Church Alliance.
Meanwhile, another member of the Chinese House Church Alliance, Pastor Zhang Tieling of Henan province, traveled recently to Beijing only to be kidnapped by local government officials and local police from Houshi village, Fan county and forcibly returned home. Once home, Pastor Zhang, who has been the victim of prolonged persecution at the hands of local authorities, was the victim of more persecution by the local government and police, who tore down the front door of his home twice, then blocked the front door with a pile of barricades. The authorities had previously employed this same tactic, blocking Pastor Zhang’s front door for nearly a half-year. The main culprit has been Shi Shizhong, who was responsible not only for making Pastor Zhang’s front door impassible but also for beating the pastor’s wife, Wu Xiangyun
ChinaAid Association is shocked by this series of mafia-style tactics employed by government officials in their persecution of Christians, and vigorously calls for these perpetrators to be held legally accountable. Against the backdrop of the recent serious political unrest in China, for the government to go even further in sidestepping proper legal procedures and use hooligan and mafia-style tactics to persecute Christians and other social groups can only intensify conflicts between the government and the people, the ultimate result of which will be further social instability. We hope that those in power in China can understand this and stop the persecution of the church and the people. For this we also pray without ceasing.
China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chinaaid.org
