Can anyone beat God?  Maybe Religious regulations in China?  Or is this another case of “The more you tighten your grip …?”, as in the Princess Leia quote from Starwars Episode IV: A New Hope?  

Part of the goal of the Chinese government is to water down Christianity to the point where it retains so little of Jesus’ teachings that it means nothing in terms of salvation.  In essence, they are trying to put the Chinese people into the scenario of the Church in Laodicea from Revelation. 

Things seems hopeless for them – both the people in the ancient church and the Chinese people today.  And yet, Jesus promises the right to sit with Him on His throne to those who overcome in the Church in Laodicea.  Since this is prophecy, the same promise should be outstanding to the Chinese Christians.

And so, this attempt at oppression seems tailor-made for a “new hope” for the people in China.  And even though they may start off with a watered-down Chinese Christianity, Jesus says that anyone who really tries to reach Him will succeed.  

A reason for hope in spite of new religious regulations in China

Here’s why I say that:

To the Church in Laodicea

Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

The Chinese people who fall pray to these regulations and are members of the state-run Three Self Church definitely fit into the neither cold not hot description.  No matter how much they might want to know Jesus, they won’t learn the truth about Him at a Three Self Church.  No matter how much they may actually think they know – they really don’t.  They need to lean from the real Christian Church – one of the underground churches in China.

Rev 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

We see the image of Jesus knocking.  Those who really want to know Him will hear that, open the door, and they will know Him.  And it doesn’t matter what the government does.  God will not be kept from those who want to know Him.

Rev 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Finally, here’s the promise we look at earlier.  And what a promise.  Such a reward for overcoming the efforts of the Three Self Church and the atheist government behind it.

How the Chinese Christian Church can be seen as a modern-day Church in Laodicea

So we can look at the new religious regulations in China as the Chinese government redefining Christianity.  In this series, we’ll look at the current Religious Affairs Regulations in China – which went into law in 2005.  We’ll also look at the proposed replacement Religious Affairs Regulations – 2016.  The 2016 version was met with many complaints.  As a result, the Chinese government had a one year review of the proposed regulations, and has just passed the final version – Religious Affairs Regulations 2017.  The approved version will take effect in February, 2018.

We’ll compare all three sets of regulations, and see whether the opening sentence of Article 2 is actually true. 

Citizens have the freedom of religious belief.

Or is it merely a talking point that makes China appear to have religious freedom?

Given the opening paragraph of Article 4, I think we’ll see the answer to that question is quite clear –

What will be in this series on religious regulations in China?

There are nine Chapters in the new document containing religious regulations in China.  We’ll take a look at them, one at a time.  Here are the chapter titles, to give you an idea of what’s coming in this series.

Along the way, we’ll compare each article in every chapter with previous iterations of the Religious Affairs Regulations document.  As mentioned, we’ll look at the 2005 version that’s being replaced.  We’ll compare that with the proposed 2016 document, to see what’s been added / removed / changed.  Then, we’ll see how the Chinese government reacted to the complaints about the 2016 proposed document by comparing the proposals to the final version – Religious Affairs Regulations 2017.

Focus on Christianity

Even though the religious affairs regulations cover all religions in China, this particular series will focus on Christianity.  That will be preparation for an up-coming series on the Three Self Church, which is China’s Communist Party controlled version of Christianity.

Some of the rules that govern Three Self Churches are:  ¹⁾http://www.billionbibles.org/china/three-self-church.html

•  The Communist Party is the head of the church in China (Three Self churches report to the Three Self Patriotic Movement, which reports to the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party).
•  The Communist Party has the final decision on who can preach and what can be preached.
•  Preaching about resurrection and the second coming of Jesus is forbidden.
•  Preaching against religions that deny the deity of Jesus is forbidden.

This article is the first in a series on religious affairs regulations in China.

You can see the “big picture” view of what governments can do to the religious concept of salvation in Religion and Government – their impact on our salvation

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