A global persecution watchdog has recently revealed the Chinese Communist Party's alleged efforts to rewrite the Bible to a version where Jesus reportedly calls Himself a "sinner."
The Voice of the Martyrs Spokesman Todd Nettleton revealed in an interview with CBN News that the Chinese government is distorting the Scripture through the lens of Communism. He said the Chinese Communist Party announced this communist translation, which will integrate the principles of Buddhism, as well as Confucian thought, last 2019.
"This is a project that the Chinese Communist Party announced in 2019. At the time, they said it would be about a 10-year process...to release a new translation of the Bible. This new translation...would really support the Communist Party," Nettleton said.
The CCP started shutting down Bible Apps last year following a censorship of the Christian-backed social media accounts like WeChat.
China's move was supported by Big Tech giant Apple who has removed the Bible and Quran in its app offerings for China. Specifically, the Apple Store has removed Olive Tree's Bible App and Quran Majeed. China alleged the apps were in violation of their laws to use religious materials and texts.
This is on top of efforts to wipe out physical Bibles from the country's bookstores and other areas. The Chinese government even forced the well-known Sha Mian Tang Church's bookstore to display Xi Jinping's book, "The Governance of China" and Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book," instead of the Bible.
These attempts to replace Christianity with Communism is in line with the "Sinicization" the CCP continuously enforces. "Sinicization" has led to hundreds of cases of persecution against Christians in China, so much so that there are churches operating underground, including among Catholics.
More than three million Christians have been affected so far because of this "Sinicization" policy as of 2020.
In the interview, CBN News highlighted the "shocking" reality of the CCP rewriting the Bible to make it more "Chinese" according to the communist government. Nettleton raised that the issue is really a matter of "control."
"The issue for the Chinese Communist Party is control. It is always about control. They see the Gospel, they see the Christian message as something that would take control away from the Communist Party," Nettleton explained.
"If you wake up every morning and say, 'How do I glorify God today? How can I serve Jesus today?' They see that as a direct threat to their control. So they have really encroached on the church," he added.
Nettleton elaborated that the CCP really "have a long history of this" since their own version of the Christian church has always "tried to co-opt Christianity and used it" for their purposes.
Nettleton cited how the Chinese government replaced Jesus Christ's photo with Xi's in churches, as well as, removed Christian hymns at the beginning of church service and replaced with "good Communist Party anthems."
"This new socialist translation of the Bible is just another step for the Chinese Communist Party as they try to control the church and really co-opt Christianity as a means of controlling the people and serving their party's interest," Nettleton stressed.
