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Friday, August 06, 2004 |
Chinese Religious Movement is Questioned
Many believers say the “Three Grades of Servant” movement is a cult
by Xu Mei
NANJING, China, August 6 (Compass) -- Mr. Xu Shuangfu, leader of the controversial Three Grades of Servant (TGS) movement in China, was arrested along with 90 other co-workers and followers in April 2004. Some overseas reports immediately tagged the TGS movement as an orthodox Christian house church network, suffering persecution from Communist authorities. However, the evidence emerging since the arrest suggests otherwise.
According to sources familiar with the movement, the TGS was founded in the late 1980s in the largely rural province of Anhui. By the year 2000, it claimed a nationwide membership of over one million followers, with large numbers of disciples in Anhui, Sichuan and northeast China.
Xu Shuangfu, the founder of TGS, is aged somewhere in his sixties, although with his long beard he looks considerably older. He is also known as Xu Shengguang, a name which means “holy light.” The long hair and beard are more akin to traditional Daoist ideas of a divine sage than to Christianity.
Sources say Xu travels from place to place in the utmost secrecy. Wherever he stays overnight becomes a “Holy of Holies,” forbidden to ordinary sect-members. TGS evangelists sleep in “the Holy Place,” while ordinary believers hold their meetings in the so-called “Outer Court”.
Through these arrangements, Xu clearly claims divine status. The God of Israel in the Old Testament allowed only the high priest to approach Him (though only once a year) in the innermost sanctuary of the Jewish temple.
The cult also claims to be the only true church. According to Xu’s teachings, salvation can be gained only through membership in the TGS.
Xu uses Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25 as the basis for the church to be divided into “three grades of servants.” Those in the highest grade are known as apostles. Xu has appointed himself as the “Great Servant,” and disobeying his commands is seen as disobedience to God himself.
Xu also claims absolute power as the only mediator between God and man. Believers are told not to confess their sins to God directly, but to Xu, thereby replacing Jesus Christ with a human deity.
TGS has a ruthless system of control over its followers. Again according to sources who prefer not to be identified, those who disobey Xu are beaten and those who dare to leave the cult may risk death. Xu and his sister have amassed much wealth from their followers through this tight system of control and allegiance.
There is no doubt that the Chinese government has on occasion wrongly labeled certain house-church movements as dangerous sects or cults. But there is also no doubt that such cults do exist in China.
TGS seems to be a case in point; both the unofficial house churches and the official ‘Three Self’ church in China have condemned the movement as a cult.
Copyright 2004 Compass Direct
9:48:19 PM 
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CHINESE CHURCH LEADERS IMPRISONED FOR "LEAKING STATE SECRETS"
But Beijing demands better police treatment of Christians
By: Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) -- A Chinese court sentenced officials of China's rapidly growing independent house church movement to up to three years in prison Friday, August 6, on charges of leaking "state secrets" to overseas organizations, human rights watchers said.
In a statement to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the China Aid Association (CAA) reported that the Intermediate Peoples Court of Hangzhou city in Zhejiang found Xu Yonghai, Liu Fenggang and Zhang Shengqi "guilty of passing on information to an overseas magazine" about a court case involving another house church member.
'House churches' are called that way because their believers often meet secretly in homes as they have no access to official buildings because Communist authorities refuse to recognize them as the "official church."
Liu received three years for passing on information about the destruction of unofficial churches outside Hangzhou in a crackdown last year, AP quoted CAA as saying. Xu received two years and Zhang one year, the group said. The prison terms were less severe than expected, as CAA had warned the Christians under Chinese Criminal Law, could face up to ten years or even life in prison if convicted.
CRACKDOWN
The men reportedly attempted to publicize last year's crackdown of hundreds of ministers and worshippers who human rights watchers say were detained in sweeps by police, while dozens of churches were destroyed. Similar attacks have continued this year, human rights groups say. Recently hundreds of Evangelical believers were detained, and Christians have been tortured and even killed, according to church officials and human rights watchdogs.
Despite harassment, fines and the possibility of prison, millions of Protestants and Catholics continue to attend unauthorized assemblies, including in private homes. Chinese officials have denied violating religious freedoms, saying detained activists are criminals who violated Chinese law and threatened national security, AP reported Friday, August 6.
Analysts say China stages such crackdowns to enforce its insistence that Christians worship only in government-controlled churches. However following international pressure, Chinese authorities said police officers will be held accountable and could be fired and prosecuted for the death of people detained in prison or under interrogation, news reports claimed Friday August 6.
SUICIDES
The new “Regulation on Continuing Interrogation” was announced Thursday, August 5, on the website of the Ministry of Public Security and aims at “protecting the legal rights of detainees” and also applies for suicides, reported AsiaNews, a well informed internet news portal.
News about the decision came after an appeal made by the family of Wang Dawei, a government bureaucrat who died under custody. Torture and violence against Christian and political prisoners are very common in China, human rights groups say. Earlier this year Beijing postponed a scheduled visit by a U.N. representative investigating the allegations of torture, saying it needed more time for preparations.
AsiaNews said Song Mengqing, a lawyer based in Henan province, called the new regulation “a step forward." "To limit the power of the powerful institution is a protection of civil rights, ” the lawyer said, but he cautioned it is unclear how the regulations would be implemented. A Chinese priest told AsiaNews that "many regulations...are not upheld. Free the imprisoned bishops and then there will be time for talk.”
NOT FORGOTTEN
Catholics have not forgotten the Bishop of Baoding (Hebei), Joseph Fan Xueyan, whom many would like to see canonized as a new martyr of China. In 1992, after months of detention, he was returned dead by police: his body was closed in a plastic bag and showed evident signs of torture, AsiaNews reported.
Among Protestants, evangelical groups such as the Church of South China, who have suffered torture on various occasions and whose founder, Gong Shengliang, is still in prison. Several evangelical Christians are known to have been tortured to death this year, including a church teacher as well as a woman who distributed bibles, ASSIST News Service monitored.
2:38:20 PM
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THREE KEY CHURCH LAEDERS WAIT VERDICT IN CHINA
Dozens of Christians Released, group says
By: Stefan J. Bos
Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) -- A Chinese court is due to deliver a verdict to three well known representatives of China's rapidly growing house church movement on charges of providing intelligence to overseas organizations, while nearly one hundred other Christians have been released, human rights watchers said Thursday August 5.
The Intermediate Peoples Court of Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province was expected to deliver its verdict Friday, August 6, to Liu Fenggang, Xu Yonghai and Zhang Shengqi, almost 10 months after their detention, China Aid Association (CAA) said. (Pictured: Chinese Security Forces. Source: CSW)
One of them, Mr. Liu, reportedly wrote articles on the government's actions on the destruction of the house church buildings in several areas of Zhejiang province in 2003. CAA quoted sources as saying that prosecutors accused the three Christians of leaking information about a court case which happened in Anshan city, Liaoning province to an overseas magazine in 2000.
The organization said that under Chinese Criminal Law, these Christians could face up to ten years or even life in prison if convicted.
"These charges are simply baseless and absurd,¡¨ said CAA President Bob Fu in a statement seen by ASSIST News Service (ANS). "First of all...the Chicago-based Christian Life Quarterly magazine is a well -known world recognized evangelical Chinese Christian magazine. Second to report a court case open to the public doesn't involve any national intelligence at all. Thirdly, if reporting the truth like this is regarded as "national secret" people will inevitably wonder how much more such secrets haven't been revealed under the tight secret system in China," he added.
CHRISTIANS RELEASED
The news came amid reports that all but eight of one hundred Christian leaders arrested on July 12 by security forces were released, said the Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM), quoting CAA sources. "The release was surprising, since thirty had already been shaved in preparation for labor camps. The group leader expresses deep gratitude to those who worked to help secure the release," said VOM, which investigates the plight of persecuted believers.
CAA added that Christian Deborah Xu is again under house arrest, after going missing for several. She was told to not leave her residence without permission from the Department of State Security, human rights watchers say. Christians are also reportedly persecuted elsewhere in China, where human rights groups recently reported on a "secret directive" given by Communist authorities to crack down on active churches.
VOM said that one of those suffering is Pastor Gong Shengliang, the founder of the South China Church, who was arrested in 2001 and is currently not allowed to have private meetings with his family, which has expressed concern about his health. "According to VOM sources, Gong's sister was able to visit him on July 14 (but) unlike other prisoners is not allowed face-to-face visits and is under constant observation by two guards."
SISTER CONCERNED
"According to his sister, his health is still problematic, but his spirits are better and he expresses his thanks to all who care about him and the South China Church," VOM said in a newsletter. Gong is presently serving life in prison, VOM said. It also asked its supporters "to pray" for an elderly leader of the South China Church, Chen Jingmao, who it said had both his legs broken by guards for leading 50 inmates to Christ.
"Recently, his family traveled hundreds of miles to the labor camp at Sichuan only to be thrown out because Chen had complained about his mistreatment and expressed fear for his life." Thousands of Christians and political dissidents are believed to be imprisoned across China, where the government has expressed concern about the growing number of Christians.
The country is said to experience the world's largest church growth. Chinese officials have denied human rights abuses, saying police forces only crack down on "dangerous sects."
Read more on these and other news stories on news agency BosNewsLife at website http://www.bosnewslife.com
10:10:21 AM
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© 2004 Radio Free China
Last Update: 9/1/2004; 12:49:50 PM
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