It was bizarre move.

But Bitter Winter, an organization monitoring Christian persecution in China, reported on November 1, 2018 approximately 30 Chinese officials entered a church service in the Dongcun city in Henan province and demanded the congregation remove the first of the Ten commandments that the church had displayed on its wall.

The commandment in question is of course:

³ “You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 NIV)

The officials were working with the United Front Work Department and were there to inspect the church.  According to Bitter Winter, one of the officials went to the front of the church and actually removed the first commandment leaving just nine.

When a member of the church protested stating this was distorting the Bible, the official stated:

“[China’s president] Xi Jinping opposes this statement. Who dares not to cooperate? If anyone disagrees they are fighting against the country. This is a national policy. You should have a clear understanding of the situation. Don’t go against the government.”

It is a strange situation when a national leader would be threatened by such a commandment, but under its new president, Xi Jingping, China has taken a radical shift back into communism. Many report that signs displaying the hammer and sickle are now popping up around the country.

And similar to what happened under communist leader Mao Zedong, who started China’s cultural revolution that resulted in 70 million deaths, China is again setting up re-indoctrination camps.

In 2010, China started loosening its Communistic controls and the country experienced a period of unprecedented prosperity. But this is starting to wane and it seems the government is concerned it may result in a growing discontent among its one billion citizens.

Though its doubtful Jingping considers himself a god, it is obviously he is an insecure tyrant threatened by anyone who would look to anything else other than the government as their final authority.

In fact, the government is setting up a “social credit” system where people are awarded points based on how well they fall in line with Communist principles. You get bonus points, for example, if you belong to the Communist Party.

The government intends on monitoring social media sites and actual behaviour through both an extensive and intrusive camera system and even people reporting on you. You will lose points if you attend church, buy video games and even have the wrong friends on social media or even if someone reports you smoking on a train.

If your score is low it could prevent you from using trains or even flying as happened to journalist Lui Hui last year. In an interview with the British newspaper, The Independent, Hui said because of his low score:

“I can’t buy property. My child can’t go to private school. You feel you’re being controlled by the list all the time.”

According to an article in The Guardian, others are suggesting China may eventually impose this social credit system on international companies wanting to do business in China. In other words, it could conceivably monitor their behavior in the US and award or subtract points accordingly.

Sources:

• In China, Moses delivers only nine commandments: Bitter Winter
• Chinese officials erase first of 10 Commandments: Open Doors USA
• China to ban citizens with bad ‘social credit’ rating from taking flights or using trains for up to a year: Independent
• China’s social credit system ‘could interfere in other nations’ sovereignty: The Guardian