Disturbing reports coming out of China reveal that President Xi Jingping has implemented an economic crackdown on the country’s poorest and most marginalized people — Christians.
A wide range of news reports have uncovered what may be the most despicable pay-for-play scheme ever created. China’s Communist Party Chairman Xi Jingping has mandated that impoverished Christians and churches take down symbols of Jesus Christ and the cross and replace them with his likeness. The penalty for not adhering to this obvious idolatry is a threat to withhold government resources.
Under the Communist regime, subjects rely on the government for everything from clothing to shelter to even the ability to purchase food.
Despite the ongoing efforts to enforce atheism, Christians have stood firm with their faith. The Asian superpower now enjoys a growing population of more than 100 million believers. Unfortunately, upwards of 1 million Christians reside in the impoverished Yugan county region alone. They have been widely viewed as a threat to state-sponsored secularism.
To stem the groundswell of believers, the atheist government uses propaganda to convince members of China’s Christian population that strong ties exist between their poverty and Faith. The brainwashing tactics often go on to claim that only Pres. Xi and not Jesus Christ can help pull them out of the gutter and help restore nutritional and health needs.
China utilizes what has been called a “poverty-relief fund” to assist its most vulnerable citizens when they suffer economic setbacks. The government recently made it abundantly clear those that do not strike down Christian images and replace them with large posters of Pres. Xi will be cut off from these life-supporting resources. The brutal attempts to coerce people of Faith amounts to an official worship the Communist leader or starve policy.
Anti-Christian Policy Takes Force
In October, China’s national Congress saw the power of Pres. Xi grow. He took full control as the authoritative head of China’s Communist Party, and pushed through fierce policies to thwart the spread of Christianity. Unauthorized places of worship have emerged throughout the country, and the swelling Christian ranks have been met with a variety of persecution methods. Economic sanctions appear to have the greatest coercive force.
Reports have surfaced that approximately 1,000 Xi portraits have been circulated in impoverished villages. The head of the Huangjinbu people’s congress, Qi Yan, has been pushing the pay-to-play swap of these posters. He simultaneously has control of the poverty relief fund in Yugan county and admits the campaign targets Christian families first and foremost.
“Many poor households have plunged into poverty because of illness in the family. Some resorted to believing in Jesus to cure their illness. But we tried to tell them that getting ill is a physical thing and that people who can really help them are the Communist Party and General Secretary Xi,” he reportedly told the South China Morning Post. “Many rural people are ignorant. They think God is their savior.”
The news report indicates that more than 600 Christian symbols have been removed, and more than 450 images of Xi have been put in their place. Many of the images of Jesus and the cross were displayed inside the private homes of the poor Chinese citizens.
Comply or Go Hungry
Many villagers in the Yugan region have expressed a sense of oppression over the dictatorial withholding of food and resources. One resident went on the record stating that residents feel compelled to follow the government’s edict.
“Some families put up gospel couplets on their front doors during the Lunar New Year, some also hang paintings of the cross. But they’ve all been torn down,” the resident who called himself Liu said, noting that many believers did not do so voluntarily. “They all have their belief and, of course, they didn’t want to take them down. But there is no way out. If they don’t agree to do so, they won’t be given their quota from the poverty-relief fund.”
Qi, the official responsible for shorting residents their poverty relief resources, disagreed.
“We only asked them to take down (religious) posters in the center of the home,” he reportedly said. “They can still hang them in other rooms. We won’t interfere with that. What we require is for them not to forget about the party’s kindness at the center of their living rooms.”
The message to Christians across China has been heard loud and clear: either turn your back on Jesus Christ, or go hungry.
~ Conservative Zone
