Rev. Fr. Jonathan Liu was born to a Christian Chinese family whose faith was strong despite the conflicting teachings of the religion and the communist nature of China. He recalled how even his mother's great-grandfather believed in Jesus at the time of the Qing Dynasty, the final imperial dynasty in China.
According to the Christian Post, Rev. Liu was baptized in a Three-Self church, a religious institution that was vetted by the Chinese Communist Party, in Shanghai back in August 1990. He then entered the ministry but soon found out how deep the clutches of CCP was in the Chinese Christian faith.
Rev. Liu explained that when Christians in China worship in an "official church" or those approved by the CCP, "you generally don't feel much pressure, but the official church will always follow the party."
He said that pastors often "sing praises for the CCP's policies in his sermons, intentionally or not." This results in an "unsatisfactory" faith experience for the religious.
Rev. Liu experienced this firsthand, which is why he sought Christianity without political propaganda by learning about God on his own, through the Bible. He also attended "family meetings," private gatherings of Christians who would study the Bible and worship without the oversight of the CCP. But he soon learned that such actions had repercussions.
When applying for seminary at East China Theological Seminary, Rev. Liu was rejected by the Shanghai Christian Council. The Shanghai-based school is managed by the official Three-Self Church. He then decided to travel to Ningbo, Zhejiang, which is home to a strong Christian community, where he studied theology and served in a local church.
Back in Shanghai, the household registration police regularly monitored his home because they were suspicious about his religious activity. His neighbors reported to him that he was often looked for by investigators.
Rev. Liu continued to serve the Three-Self churches for 14 years before leaving in 2004. He had also served underground house churches in Shanghai, Anhui province, Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province. After spending half of 2008 in Shanghai with a small church of about 20 people, he decided to move to the U.S. part time.
It was in 2014 when Shanghai police came knocking on his door to check household registration. He initially thought that it was regular "routine business" but the pastor soon found out that he had been blacklisted by the CCP and had been under watch by officials. Even when purchasing books in China to be sent to the U.S., his parcels were being intercepted, with the shipping company claiming that they were prohibited books.
Rev. Liu later found out that the reason why his books were intercepted by customs was because he was on the government's "blacklist," which meant that he was "strictly monitored." When President Xi Jinping launched a campaign to demolish the crosses of Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in 2014, Rev. Liu raised awareness by posting photos on Chinese social media. This attracted even more attention from Chinese officials, which then forced him to flee to the U.S. permanently.
Away from the surveilling eyes of the CCP, Rev. Liu called upon Western Christians to "be vigilant and not be fooled by the United Front of China's official church."
Meanwhile, as part of the campaign to fight Christian persecution in China, more than 21,000 people from 144 countries have responded to the call from The Voice of the Martyrs' to pray for Chinese Christians who are being persecuted by the CCP, Fox 5 Vegas reported.
Readers are urged to join the prayer for persecuted Christians in China at PrayForChina2022.com.
