Authorities in Henan Province’s Luoning county ordered a government-approved Three-Self church to remove one commandment from the venerable Decalogue or Ten Commandments, thus transforming it into the “Nine Commandments.”
According to members of the church, on November 1, about 30 officials from the central “patrol inspection team” for religious supervision and from the Luoyang city and Luoning county United Front Work Department, arrived at the church in Dongcun village to conduct an inspection. An official inspected the church thoroughly, stopped in front of the pulpit, and pointed to one of the Ten Commandments displayed on the wall. “This must be removed,” he said. After saying that, the government officials immediately wiped off the Commandment. The Commandment states, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
