Coronavirus hasn’t slowed the persecution of Christians in China

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Pastor Foley

The Coronavirus is not the only new challenge facing Chinese Christians this winter. A new and stricter set of regulations governing churches went into effect in February. And these new regulations are likely to challenge Chinese Christians long after the Coronavirus outbreak is controlled.

Because the news from China is all about the Coronavirus, people may think that persecution of Chinese Christians by the government is somehow “on hold”. But the virus has given authorities new excuses and ways to crack down. For example, in Korea many churches switched from live worship services to live streaming of services online, due to the Coronavirus, whereas in China, churches went from live services to no services, as a government crackdown on live streaming of religious services continues.

But the live streaming ban is only a small part of the renewed Chinese government crackdown on churches that is happening even during the Coronavirus outbreak. In November 2019 the State Administration of Religious Affairs released Order 13, the “Administrative Measures for Religious Groups” which went into effect February 1. Article 17 of that Order states: “Religious organizations must spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as national laws, regulations, rules to religious personnel and religious citizens, educating religious personnel and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, supporting the socialist system, adhering to and following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Chinese churches continue to show boldness and resilience despite the wave of crackdowns that began in February 2018. In September 2018, 439 Chinese pastors signed a declaration of faith written by Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church explaining why they could not involve themselves and their churches in the government’s political wishes but instead must only focus on preaching the gospel.

Many of the document’s signers, including Pastor Wang Yi, are now imprisoned or have paid a high price through persecution. That is why we translated this document into Korean, Chinese, Russian, and English and posted it at www.chinadeclaration.com. We have been calling on Christians in Korea and around the world to add their own names to those of the 439 Chinese pastors who originally signed it. In this way we can stand with them, make sure they are not cut off from the worldwide body of Christ, and show the Chinese government that the global church is continuing to support our brothers and sisters in China.

So far 3,561 people have signed the online petition since we first posted it last summer. Our goal is to reach 4,390 signatures—10 signatures of support on behalf of each Chinese pastor who originally signed the document. Then Dr. Foley and I will deliver the petition to the Chinese Embassy in Seoul in April, as the Lord permits.

You don’t need to worry that your information will be given to the Chinese government. When we deliver the petition, we include only the first name of each signee, along with the date and confirmation that we have verified its validity. It is a safe, powerful, and effective way to stand with Chinese Christians and churches, not only during the Coronavirus, but as long as the ‘plague’ of Communist Party persecution continues for them.

You can read and sign the petition at www.chinadeclaration.com.

Posted in China | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How did the author of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs respond to the Coronavirus of his time?

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Pastor Foley

John Foxe never liked being called a martyrologist (he regarded his work as church history), but the author of Acts and Monuments of the Christian Church, popularly called Foxe’s “Book of Martyrs”, turned to the martyrs as exemplars when in 1563 he wrote a pamphlet to encourage and comfort Londoners caught in the grip of plague:

And thus being armed with the power and strength of Christ, pass through this storm, be it never so rough and sharp to the flesh, having before your eyes so many examples of good men which passed the same way before you: the Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs of Christ, who in their extremities passed through greater torments, some racked, some torn to pieces, some sawed asunder, some stoned to death, some hanged by one member, some by another, some broiled upon coals, some burned with flaming fire; which they notwithstanding abode with patience. But especially casting up your mind and beholding the death of Christ, learn thereby to die and not to fear death, not to murmur against God. For if he did abide a smarting passion, and that in his middle and best age: think yourself not better than he.

Just as with his “Book of Martyrs” (the first English edition of which was published that same year), Foxe urged Londoners not to fear “bodily death” as the plague bore down on them:

For what is the estate and condition of all men but mere mortality; that is to say, not so soon born to this world as dead to God. And what does it change then when a dead man dies, who is dead already before he begins to die; whether to die sooner or later: as all men be who are born of Adam. For where Christ says in the gospel, let the dead go bury the dead: what does he mean but that we should understand thereby no difference between those who are dead and those who are still alive?

It was hardly abstract theology–Foxe knew of no such thing in any of his writings, and in this case, he wrote not only as a theologian and pastor but also as a parent whose own daughter died in the plague the year he wrote. It makes the conclusion of his pamphlet, entitled “A Prayer to be Said Over Children” in time of plague, all the more personal:

And forasmuch as the pains of the same poor child seem grievous and vehement, we beseech thee to mitigate the vehemency thereof, that by the relieving of it, we also may be comforted, dealing with it according as it shall seem good to thy divine wisdom, whether by death to call it or by life to restore it, so that whether it goes, or tarries, it may be thine, and at last with thine elect be made partaker of that blessed resurrection, when thou shalt appear.

The plagues change, but the God who comforts us in the midst of them does not.

The John Foxe quotes (adapted to modern English by me) come from his 1567 pamphlet entitled A Brief Exhortation, fruitfull and meete to be read in this heavy tyme of Gods visitation in London, to suche as be Sicke, where the Ministers do lacke, or otherwise cannot be present to comfort them, as cited in Warren W. Wooden’s masterful book, John Foxe (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983), pp. 89-90.

Posted in Healing and Comforting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Coronavirus shows the world what is in us

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Pastor Foley

The church has always had an interesting history concerning plagues and viruses.

It is not a history of self-preservation.

As I wrote in my book, The Whole Life Offering:

 

Hospitals owe their origin to the plethora of plagues and epidemics that struck the ancient world with alarming regularity and force. Observes author Rob Moll, “When an epidemic struck in the ancient world, pagan city officials offered gifts to the gods but nothing for their suffering citizens. Even in healthy times, those who had no one to care for them, or whose care placed too great a burden on the family, were left out to die.”

The early church responded not only out of compassion, adds Moll citing Christian medical history professor Gary Ferngren, but out of a worshipful recognition that every cast-out body bore the Imagio Dei—the image of God. The church sought to restore that image to vitality through the practice of the Works of Mercy, first in private homes and then, as the tide of desperation and disease swamped the ancient world, in “hospitals” designed for comprehensive care. If restoration proved impossible, Christians provided comfort and burial at the cost of their own health, safety, and finances.

When the plague of Cyprian struck in 250 and lasted for years, this volunteer corps became the only organization in Roman cities that cared for the dying and buried the dead. Ironically, as the church dramatically increased its care, the Roman government began persecuting the church more heavily.

Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote, according to Ferngren, “that presbyters, deacons, and laymen took charge of the treatment of the sick, ignoring the danger to their own lives.”

Even in times of plague and virus, our bodies remain our main tool for ministry. Sending things like masks and donations to Coronavirus-infected areas in China is good. Regarding Chinese people, wherever we may encounter them, as bearers of the image of God rather than possible bearers of the Coronavirus, is better.

We ought never to be careless in any kind of ministry. But knowingly giving up our comfort and safety in the service of the Lord should never be regarded as synonymous with carelessness. Real ministry is by definition always lethal to our own self-preservation; we find our lives only through losing them. Whether entering quarantined areas or extending friendship and basic care to individuals outcasted by suspicion of disease, Christians have a history of paying the ultimate personal cost to serve the other in love. This is what has prompted others for two millennia to ask, “What love is this?”

In the end, no mask can mask what is in our hearts. When the Lord Jesus is in our hearts, we will always unmask ourselves in ways the world can’t fathom. I wear a mask when I travel, but I must always be careful not to pull it up over my eyes. To do so would be to court a far greater infection that ends in a far worse death.

Posted in Healing and Comforting | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments