Source: Voice of the Martyrs, June 13, 2017
In May, several men split into three small groups to cross into mainland China. With bags stuffed with Bibles, they timed their entries 20 minutes apart to increase their odds of getting copies of God’s Word into the communist country.
The final group and a member of the second group, however, were stopped by customs officials in Shenzhen, one of China’s largest cities, while on their way to Guangzhou. The men were detained for 10 hours and, after being questioned by 50 officials, were banned from the country for three years.
The men, plus another Bible smuggler not tied to their organization who happened to be crossing into China at the same time, were interrogated for six hours. Officials confiscated everyone’s Bibles and other Christian materials.
“These books are forbidden in China,” one official said, pointing to the Bibles. “They are foreign-published.”
Since opening in 1987, China’s only government-approved Bible printer, Amity Printing Company, has printed more than 115 million Bibles. However, the majority of these Bibles are for export. The relative few that remain in country are sold by China’s official Three-Self Patriotic Movement churches. Even so, Amity alone cannot meet the Chinese citizens’ demand for the Bible, as Bibles wear out and as new people become believers.