Pastors are expected to hail the CCP and the President, and conclude with “Long live the great, glorious and correct Chinese Communist Party!”
by Zhang Chunhua
On July 8, 2021, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, i.e., the government-controlled Protestant Church, and China Christian Council, which supervises education in the Three-Self churches, held a national conference. It was chaired by Xu Xiaohong, chairman of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, and by Wu Wei, chairman of the China Christian Council. The theme of the conference was “Learning and Implementing the Spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Speech of July 1.”
July 1 was the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Xi Jinping pronounced a defiant speech, celebrating the Marxist roots and nature of the CCP, and threatening the West and Taiwan.
At the conference, participants were told that pastors in the Three-Self churches are expected to make Xi Jinping’s July 1 speech a main object of study for themselves and for the devotees participating in Bible study groups, and preach it in their sermons. Those who would fail to do so would prove that their churches are not “sinicized,” which is a necessary condition to be allowed to survive.
Pastors and Three-Self church bureaucrats also received some practical guidance on what parts of Xi Jinping’s “historical” speech should be emphasized. Addressing the conference, Chairman Wu Wei of China Christian Council, asked the pastors to insist on the fact that “the Chinese Communist Party has never changed its original intention to put the people first, establish an extensive patriotic united front, unite the citizens’ hearts, gather strength, and continue to explore and innovate.” Pastors should lead Christians in “thanking God for putting us in this great era” and “continuing to learn the spirit of General Secretary Xi’s speech.”
Three-Self’s leader Xu Xiaohong offered a model sermon based on the July 1, speech, developing nine points
1. The CCP and President Xi Jinping have realized the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
2. Christians should frequently repeat two slogans: “Long live the great, glorious and correct Chinese Communist Party! Long live the great, glorious and heroic Chinese people!”
3. The roots and blood of the CCP are in the people. It is the people’s own party.
4. The CCP has completed the “four great achievements”: a Socialist revolution and the construction of a Socialist society under Chairman Mao, a Socialist reform under Deng Xiaoping, and a Socialism with Chinese characteristics under Xi Jinping.
5. Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has brought to a great and harmonious developments the “five civilizations”: material, political, spiritual, social, and economical.
6. The CCP has brought to the world the “six common values” of humankind: peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom.
7. Christians should trust the CCP, as it has more than 70 years of experience in successfully governing the country. “The 70-year history of the founding of the People’s Republic of China has fully proved that without the Communist Party, there would be no New China, and without the Communist Party, there would be no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
8. Christians should join the CCP in telling foreign hostile powers that “the era when the Chinese nation was slaughtered and bullied is gone forever!”
9. Christians should support the leaders of the CCP since “only Socialism can save China.” “For one hundred years, the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people to write the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation.” “History and the people have chosen the Chinese Communist Party. The leadership of the CCP is the most essential feature of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, the greatest advantage of the Socialist system with Chinese characteristics, the fundamental lifeblood of the Party and the country, and the interests and destiny of the people of all ethnic groups across the country. The Communist Party of China has always represented the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. It has no special interests of its own. It has never represented the interests of any interest group, any powerful group, or any privileged class. Any attempt to separate and antagonize the Chinese Communist Party from the Chinese people will never succeed! More than 95 million Chinese Communists would not agree! More than 1.4 billion Chinese people would not agree!”
Coming soon to a Christian Three-Self church near you.
