(ETH) – A new report is revealing that Bibles have been confiscated in China as crackdowns continue against Christianity. The Bible was said to be removed as the result of an ongoing campaign to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications,”. Chinese government officials have begun seizing unlicensed religious material, which includes Bibles.
The report indicated that police raided a house church meeting in Lichuan county, confiscating anything they deemed to be “pirated.” which was several boxes of Bibles, hymn books, and other “religious literature” that was found inside the church. Even more terrifying, is the report that Chinese officials also logged the personal information of all the congregation members that were present during the operation. Even state-sanctioned churches are not exempt from being investigated according to the shocking report. According to Bitter Winter:
“On December 20, about ten officials from the Lichuan county’s United Front Work Department and police officers raided a Three-Self church to look for “pirated Bibles.” A preacher there told them that all the Bibles had been printed by the Amity Printing Company in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, which is approved by the Two National Christian Councils. Regardless, the officials confiscated 30 Bibles they found in the church.”
A preacher from another Three-Self church in the county also reported that government employees warned him that any Bibles that are not approved by the Two National Christian Councils would be confiscated as “pirated publication.” “If our Bibles are taken away, we have no more. We are thinking of asking our congregation members to hide them in the mountains,” the preacher told Bitter Winter.
