Government officials in China are constantly suppressing Christianity by raiding worship services and stopping Christians from reading the Holy Bible.
As per the country's law, after registering with the government, churches should either join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association or Three-Self Patriotic Movement if they are Protestant.
Millions of Christians in China choose to join illegal or unregistered house churches as the government-run churches impose severe restrictions.
In Shandong province, a house church was attacked by a group of local officials in October. They told the Christians that there are not allowed to gather in house churches or read the Bible.
"According to orders from the central government, the Bible is banned. You're designated as a target of the campaign to 'clean up gang crime and eliminate evil,'" officials told the church members.
In another similar incident in Yunnan province, local officials raided a church gathering and confiscated 100 religious books published in other countries. According to them, owning such books was not in accordance with the Chinese laws.
One of the house church members from Yunnan said, "The government persecutes us because it fears that the church's growing membership and rapid development would be unfavorable to them. These officials are acting like devils."
In another raid in the same province in August, the officials ordered the members of the house church to join a Three-Self congregation, which was thousands of miles away. Having no other choice, the churchgoers signed a document that prohibits them from holding religious gatherings.
In recent months, churches under the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and Three-Self Patriotic Movement have encountered severe restrictions. The communist officials replaced Ten Commandments displays with portraits of Chinese leaders, ordered the removal of crosses and edited sermons.
The country's law even restricts the conversion of minors.
