A few days ago I mentioned that a ministry team got held up in China because they were trying to bring bibles into China illegally. Today there is a follow up story at the BillingsGazette.com website. Here's a few snips...
CODY - A Wyoming man said he never meant to break the law by bringing hundreds of Bibles into China, and that he is not sure what he will do next after customs officials confiscated the books at an airport.
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Klein said he was later told by American embassy officials that he had broken the law and would not be able to bring the Bibles into the country.
"They eventually gave us one Bible each, and said we could pick up the others on our way back out of China," he said.
The Bibles were annotated editions used by pastors for study, Klein said, adding that similar Bibles sold on the black market in China for prices up to the equivalent of six months' salary. He said thousands of pastors in China were waiting for such Bibles.
According to Klein, there are 130 million Christians in China, and 75 million of them lack Bibles. His group distributes free Bibles and offers food and humanitarian aid to poor communities in 20 countries.
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"We feel like what we endured was very minimal compared to what our Chinese brothers and sisters go through every day for the gospel," he said Klein said the trip was not necessarily timed to coincide with the Olympics taking place this week in Beijing, but that it did show what he said was religious persecution in China, despite government denials. Klein said Bibles cannot be taken home by Chinese worshippers, but must stay in state-sanctioned churches.
I like that Klein understands the right perspective on what Christian persecution is, and that he understands that what he experienced was really a horrible inconvenience. He does understand however, that some Chinese Christians are going to jail for their faith.
