3 prayer items from Asia Harvest, 11 September 2003 http://www.asiaharvest.org

Last week we sent out an email about the mass arrest of 170 house church Christians in Nanyang County, China. We have since received more information for your prayerful consideration, as well as two more new items…..

ITEM #1 The mass arrest in Nanyang took place on Thursday, August 28th as believers gathered for a meeting. The Christians come from a church group that used to be alligned to the larger Fangcheng house church network, until it left the Fangcheng “mother church” in 2001. News of this arrest first came from some of the senior leaders who managed to escape through a window after the police surrounded the building they were meeting in. One leader who escaped has already spent many years in prison and has been hunted by the authorities for years. If caught, he would surely have faced a lengthy prison sentence.

The 14 house church leaders detained at the time of our last report are still being held in the local police station holding cell. Judging by the normal pattern of arrests in China, this usually means they are awaiting sentencing from the authorities. Please continue to pray for them and their families! We hope to have more information after this weekend. Any more news will NOT be sent out by email report, but instead will be posted on our website: http://www.asiaharvest.org under the “News Update Alert” link.

ITEM #2 Today we have also learned the disturbing news of the arrest of another key house church leader, in an incident completely separate from the above incident in Nanyang. Shen Yiping, one of the leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (believed to number several million believers throughout China), was arrested last week as he took the train from Guangzhou (Canton) in southern China back to his home in Henan Province. Shen was one of those CGF leaders kidnapped by the E astern Lightning cult last year (see http://www.asiaharvest.org/archives.htm if you would like further information about this).

Shen Yiping faces a harsh prison sentence, as he has already been to prison many times for the sake of the Gospel. He was released from his most recent imprisonment only about two years ago. Please pray for him, his family, and the flock he shepherds at this important time.

ITEM #3 The website http://chinaforjesus.com today announced the destruction of a church building in Wenzhou City, Zhenjiang Province. “At around 8 AM, September 10, about 40 or 50 people from the PSB and the local Agrarian Bureau suddenly came to a church building which was located in Li Ao Town, Ou Hai District, Wen Zhou city…. The sudden attack on September 10 began by them gas-cutting the iron pillars of the building. The attack was found by one brother who then came up to stop them. They dragged him away along on the floor till his shirt was torn and his back was bleeding. Some other sisters went up to stop them, but three of them were arrested. They are now all sentenced to 5-7 days detention. After they gas-cut the iron pillars and the layer of iron covering over the walls, they hit the walls with huge hammers until the whole building was torn down. The kitchen and prayer room at the back of the building were completely ruined. The meeting hall, however, was not all down, with its roof still hanging up there, ready to fall in at any moment.”

Comment: Earlier this year house church leaders in China told us they knew a major strike was about to commence against them, in a bid to eradicate them once and for all. Inside sources told the leaders a systematic nationwide plan was being hatched to take out the entire house church leadership. This plan seems to have been suspended when the SARS epidemic broke out. These three incidents, and many others like them in recent weeks, show this plan is now being implemented. For the past 3 years we at Asia Harvest have passed on finances to the families of imprisoned and persecuted pastors in China through our “Living Martyrs fund”. These gifts have been received with much thankfulness from Christians across China. If you are interested in this project, you can read more on our website under the “Special Projects” link.

From our experiences, we believe if the arrested brothers and sisters could speak to Christians around the world about their present situation they would simply ask for prayer. They appreciate when Christian organizations and individuals take an interest in them, but they are blessed the most when they sense Jesus with them during their trials, in response to the fervent prayers of concerned believers. When they are aware of the Lord’s presence, they can endure the most horrible trials through the grace of God. The persecution ceases to be just a plot to destroy them, and becomes part of God’s will for their lives. Many a house church leader has entered prison thinking their ministry has been stopped, only to discover many open doors of opportunity to glorify the Lord. We have many testimonies of dozens, and even hundreds of prisoners coming to faith in Jesus Christ as the result of the witness of faithful Christians imprisoned because of their testimony.

Our God does not make mistakes!

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