Written on 2 May 2025.

Global Evangelism Under Threat: India and China Escalate Legal Persecution

In recent months, a disturbing rise in anti-Christian legal measures targeting evangelism has been observed, particularly in India and China. These developments are prompting many to ask whether we are approaching the prophesied Great Tribulation, as described in the Bible.

India Proposes Death Penalty for Evangelism

On March 8, 2025, Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, India, announced his intention to amend the state’s anti-conversion law to include capital punishment for so-called "forced" or "fraudulent" religious conversions. Evangelism, particularly toward women, could now be prosecuted as a capital offense under the proposed amendment.

India’s current legislation, the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (2021), already criminalizes conversions carried out through "misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, or fraudulent means." The proposed changes would further intensify these provisions and raise serious concerns among Christians, who warn that the ambiguous term "forced" could be misused to punish peaceful gospel preaching.

John Dayal, a Catholic columnist and social activist, condemned the proposal, stating:

"The Christian community, and civil society too, must challenge anti-conversion laws in India as a travesty to human rights and a fraud on the constitution of democratic India."

China Tightens Evangelism Restrictions

As of May 1, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has enacted new legal restrictions that severely curtail evangelistic activities, especially those carried out by foreign missionaries. The new measures include:

Prohibiting foreign missionaries from preaching or holding religious meetings without prior state approval.
Barring foreign clergy from ministering to Chinese nationals unless officially invited by the government.
Restricting foreign-led religious gatherings exclusively to foreign participants.
Outlawing the founding of religious schools, the production or distribution of religious materials, and the recruitment of Chinese citizens for religious purposes.

These measures are part of a broader effort known as "Sinicization," which aims to align all religious practices with socialist values and the ideology of the CCP. Evangelism is increasingly cast as a threat to national unity and state authority.

Evangelism Targeted Worldwide

Both India and China appear to be advancing legal frameworks that criminalize public declarations of Christian faith. In India, where Christians represent just 2% of a population that is over 80% Hindu, believers face disproportionate violence and legal scrutiny. In China, religious practice is already tightly controlled, and these new laws effectively eliminate any remaining avenues for foreign-led evangelism.

These troubling trends echo biblical warnings:

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." – Matthew 24:9 (KJV)

Christians are increasingly treated as criminals for fulfilling what Scripture commands: to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). This pattern of persecution, censorship, and societal hostility points to a growing global resistance to biblical truth.

Drawing Closer to the Tribulation?

Many believers interpret these rising hostilities as signs that we are nearing the Great Tribulation. The criminalization of evangelism, the marginalization of Christians, and the increasing dominance of state ideologies over faith-based convictions appear consistent with biblical prophecies found in Revelation and elsewhere.

The Bible offers assurance that the gospel will continue to be proclaimed:

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." – Matthew 24:14 (KJV)

Even as governments attempt to suppress evangelism, they cannot thwart God's plan for the spread of the gospel and the return of Jesus Christ.

A Call to Watch and Stand

Now more than ever, Christians are called to stand firm in the faith, remaining sober and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8). As the world becomes increasingly hostile to the gospel, believers must remember that their true citizenship is in a heavenly kingdom. Whether facing legal opposition, social ostracization, or even physical persecution, the urgency to proclaim the gospel grows stronger.

Let us not be silent, but bold in faith, knowing that no law can silence the truth of Jesus Christ.