by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Authorities in China used technology to trace and harass members of the Shenzhen Trinity Gospel Harvest Church after they carried out Easter baptisms in the sea by Shenzhen city earlier this month, the Christian Post reports.
Speaking to China Aid, Pastor Mao Zhibin of Shenzhen Trinity Gospel Harvest Church said that he and six members of the house church had traveled to the beach in Shenzhen to quietly carry out a number of baptisms on April 16, CP reports. Having conducted the baptisms, the group then sat down to lunch at the location: they thought they had been participating in a private, discrete event that disturbed no one.
However, it transpired that a person connected with the church posted photos of the event on We Chat - and this was picked up on by the authorities. Shortly after the photos were posted, several police officers arrived at the beach together with the local deputy mayor, and confronted the group. The authorities then checked the Christians’ identity cards and scanned their faces, CP reports.
“The technology used by the government surpasses traditional authoritarian reign and should be called super authoritarianism…big data artificial intelligence algorithms can be called The Matrix 1.0, which is a hyper-totalitarianism far exceeding the traditional totalitarian rule technology," Pastor Mao said.
“However, I also believe that God still reigns over all. We just need to trust in Him, walk humbly with God,” Pastor Mao added.
As the Chinese ruling communist party seeks to suppress Christianity in the country, China ranks 17th on the US Open Doors Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.