Chinese police and other communist officials raided a house in Chengdu, China on Thursday where children of Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) were being homeschooled.
Education bureau administrators, national security officials, police officers, and urban management agents surrounded the home early that morning, then searched the place while children were playing together, ERCC said in a Facebook post.
“The police are now raiding the home. There are a large number of police officers outside and inside of brother Liang Huali and Sister Shu Qiong’s home, and they are currently removing brother Liang’s personal belongings. Please pray!” the church wrote.
Over the past few years, China’s communist regime has ramped up its extreme measures to crack down on religious groups in China.
Members of ERCC continue to face persecution from the country’s communist party.
CBN News previously reported that Pastor Wang Yi, who led the church, was taken into custody in Dec. 2018 after his home was raided and ransacked by police.
The prominent pastor was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.”
China’s President Xi Jinping has ordered that all religions must “Sinicize” to ensure they are loyal to the officially atheistic party.
Also, ERCC Elder QinDefu was sentenced in Nov. 2019 to four years in prison by a court in Chengdu. He was charged with “illegal business operations” for having books for the church.
Last year, hundreds of crosses were removed from church buildings in just one province over a period of four months.
Anhui province authorities removed at least 250 crosses from buildings owned by the approved Three-Self churches in Lu’an, Ma’anshan, Huaibei, and other cities in the eastern part of the province during a period from January to April.
“As crosses are being removed throughout the country, those who refuse to cooperate will be accused of opposing the Communist Party,” said one Christian. “We are pressured to give up our faith, but we will persevere.”
And in May, a government official in the eastern province of Shandong barged into the home of a Christian and posted portraits of Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong and current President Xi Jinping, then said, “These are the greatest gods. If you want to worship somebody, they are the ones.”
China is ranked 17th on Open Doors’ 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.
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