Posted by
voiceoftruth on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:43:05 AM
When China begins to look the other way and allow the pulling down of their registered state churches, you know that complete repression of any religious expression (even "state approved") is not far behind. What really got my attention in an article just released by China Aid was the fact that corrupt land & real estate developers were the driving force behind the recent unauthorized tearing down of a Three-Self Patriotic Movement Church.
Remember a couple years ago, when our US government passed laws and gave local municipalities the the right to "procure" private property in order to meet their needs (municipal land grabs)? http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/24/scotus.property/
Quoted from CNN: "In a victory for cities, a divided Supreme Court concluded Thursday that local governments have the authority to seize private land and turn the property over to private developers for economic development"
Consider the growing repression of Christian religious expression here in the US, our governments move to gain more and more control over our lives and remove existing rights, then consider this incident from a few days ago in China. Do the math, is this a sign of things soon to come here in the US?.
China Aid reported on December 22, 2008
Registered Church in Jiangsu Province Demolished, Christians Beaten
http://chinaaid.org/
"JIANGSU – The morning of December 17, 2008, police officers, together with nearly a thousand unidentified people, led by government officials from Yancheng city, Jiangsu province and real estate developers, forcibly demolished the Chengnan Christian Church of Tinghu District. The destruction of this registered church came less than 24 hours after the church won a court case protecting their building against the same individuals who attacked it. The mob took away property belonging to the church and beat more than10 Christians. Contacts report that the destruction was the result of government officials and powerful businessmen working in collusion to obtain the coveted church property by force."