We welcome you to FEA, where we are overcoming through the power of the Word. May God bless you richly today.
China’s communist government is warning elderly Christians that they will lose basic benefits if they do not stop practicing their Christian faith. These benefits include housing, food, clothing and medical care. Bitter Winter, an online magazine about religious liberty and human rights in China, recently made the report. A woman in her sixties, was receiving a monthly subsidy 250 RMB (about $35) from the government since 2018, the year her husband died. She was told by government authorities that unless she removed images of Jesus from her home, her benefits would be discontinued. “Because the Communist Party feeds you,” they told the woman, “you must only believe in it, not God.” Shortly thereafter, the pension was canceled because she refused to remove the symbols.
Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said that it is heartbreaking and outrageous that widows and other elderly persons are being forced to renounce their faith in God in order to receive assistance. For many, they may need these funds to survive. She further emphasized that It is a pathetic act of cowardice to force desperate widows to choose between their survival and their God. The widow, who refused to renounce her faith potentially in the face of abject poverty, is heroic. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, bring love and compassion to widows, along with a monthly stipend of $25.
Bitter Winter noted that just weeks ago, officials in Fuzhou forced an 80-year-old Christian women to cover up a cross image in her home, again threatening her subsistence allowance. Authorities also have begun an intensive campaign of “return” inspections “to make sure that people don’t resume practicing their faith. In one case, government bureaucrats threatened a believer in a nursing home, who has been paralyzed for eight years. They threatened to drive him out of the residence if he continued his belief in God.
“The officials said that I am supposed to believe in the Communist Party since it feeds me, or else all my social benefits would be canceled,” he said. “I won’t give up my faith no matter how the government pursues me. If it cancels my benefits, I will meet God earlier.”
Let us remember to pray specially for our elderly brethren in China. It is not easy for them, but God is able to give them the necessary grace to sustain them. He said, “And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” (Isa. 46:40). Amen!
SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK
- BOARD MEETING
- Today, 6:00 p.m.
- LUNCH HOUR HOTLINE/PRAYER & FASTING
- Wednesday, 12:00 noon – Lunch Hour Hotline
- 5:30 p.m. – Prayer for our Nation and the Global Church
- HOUR-OF-POWER PRAYER SESSION
- Saturday, 7:00 – 8:00 a.m.
- NEXT SUNDAY
- Worship & Ministry, 9:00 a.m.
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- Worship & Ministry, 9:00 a.m.
Psalm 24:1-5
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
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MEDIA MINISTRY
World Overcomers: WSTA 1340 AM station: Sundays at 8:30 a.m. & Tuesdays at 6:00 a.m. WGOD 97.9 FM station: 1st & 2nd Sundays each month at 4:30 p.m.Website: http://www.wom.vi & Email: info@fea.vi On our Website you will find: Live Streaming, free copies of our audio message & radio broadcast.
THE YEAR OF GOD’S GLORY