Pastor Imprisoned In China.

China: Early Rain Church leader sentenced to four years in prison over Gospel tracts.                                                                                             

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter

Early Rain Covenant Church elder Qin Defu was sentenced to four years in prison for "illegal business operations," relating to 20,000 Christian books the church used 

An elder with Early Rain Covenant Church in China has been charged with "illegal business operations" for having books for the church and sentenced to four years in prison.

According to persecution watchdog ChinaAid, Qin Defu was sentenced to prison due to his involvement with 20,000 Christian books used by the 5,000-member church.

The four-year prison sentence handed down November 29 was a “contradiction to a promise given” to Defu’s family, in which authorities guaranteed if the church leader accepted a state-appointed attorney, he would be released.

"Police reneged their earlier promise to his family that if they accepted a government-appointed attorney, they would 'go through the formalities then release him,’” Early Rain Covenant Church Pastor Wang Yi's lawyer's said, according to a Facebook post from a group affiliated with the church. 

“At brother Qin's trial, we learned that the charge of 'illegal business operations' only concerned 20,000 books for the church's own use (most of these were small gospel tracts like ‘The Good News You Don't Want to Hear'), and Pastor Wang Yi actively took most of the responsibility for this in his testimony. Based on this, I estimate that Pastor Wang Yi will be sentenced to no less than 10 years in prison." CP.