three Chinese Christians who disappeared last month after being arrested for their influential role in China’s growing house church movement.
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), which supports the persecuted church, said it had learned from a reliable source that two men, Xiao Bi-guang and Zhang Yi-nan "are currently incarcerated at the Detention Center of Lushan County in Henan Province."
Zhang’s wife, Ding Guizhen, arrested two days after her husband, is also being held at the facility, VOM said in a statement send to BosNewsLife.
The VOM source, which was not identified for apparent security reasons, said local officials were not permitted to question the prisoners. Their case is being directed from the provincial Public Security Bureau (PSB) headquarters and the Bureau of State Security, "the Chinese equivalent of the CIA," VOM said.
‘BIG FISH’
"It is clear the Chinese government believes these are ‘big fish’ in the house- church movement," explained Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Director of News Services. "The orders on this case are coming direct from Beijing and the national PSB leadership."
Xiao’s wife, Gou Qinghui, has received no official notification of her husband’s arrest or location, although Chinese law says family members are to be notified within 24 hours after an arrest, VOM said, quoting the source.
"She was informed by VOM contacts of her husband’s whereabouts. She is seeking to hire lawyers to request a formal inquiry into the case, and plans to travel to Henan province soon to attempt to see her husband."
FASTING
Zhang Yi-nan reportedly has been fasting and praying since his arrest on September 26, and VOM quoted "Chinese sources" as saying he is "spiritually very strong." He is a writer and house- church historian who is believed to have had a great influence across the Chinese church.
VOM has urged Christians to send letters or call the Chinese authorities to protest the detentions. Human rights workers stress these are not isolated cases in a country where thousands of Christians are believed to be in prisons and labor camps because of their faith.
Yet, despite their difficulties, persecuted Chinese Christians continue to preach the Gospel, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported earlier this year. Underground church members reportedly include a former guard, who previously beat Christian prisoners before becoming a Christian herself.
SLAVE?
"At that time, I thought, everyone is Chinese, so how can they want to believe in a Western religion and be a slave of the West?," she recalled in a VOA TV interview. "I treated these Christians badly and also beat them…Afterward, however, I slowly accepted them and took the initiative to talk with them…More than a year later, I myself became a believer."
Hers was one of eleven interviews that described the physical, financial and social pressures Christians face in China not to practice their religion.
Jiaqi Yan, a Chinese scholar and commentator who fled China in 1989 told VOA, that "there is considerable room for expansion of Christianity and other religious beliefs in China in the 21st century." He said religion seems "to fill the vacuum due to the failure of the communist regime and the people’s need for spiritual support."
With one in every five people living in China, the country has seen the fastest church growth in the world, according to Operation World, a respected study book on countries and their prayer needs.
