Evangelist regrets China-freedom remarks

PORTLAND, Ore. (BP)--Evangelist Luis Palau released a six-paragraph statement, dated Nov. 28, expressing a measure of regret over comments he made about religious freedom in China during a mid-November trip to the communist giant.During the China visit, Palau was invited by President Bush to join in worship at a registered church in Beijing.Among the comments challenging Palau’s remarks in China, Zhang Mingxuan was quoted by Fu as stating: "It's rather ironical that while Rev. Palau was propagating that Chinese pastors today won't get arrested unless breaking the law, but barely two weeks ago (on November 8) a Beijing house church pastor Cai Zhuohua was sentenced to three years simply because of printing bibles [sic] and other Christian literatures." Fu described Mingxuan as having been “arrested many times for his faith” and stated that he was “kidnapped in Beijing Train Station by the Chinese security agents one day before Rev. Palau's press conference.”“We demand Rev. Palau to retract his irresponsible remarks which deeply hurt the feelings of hundreds of house church prisoners and their families," Mingxuan said.

"I regret some of the remarks I made to a Christian Post reporter during my recent trip to China. It's not my role as an evangelist to suggest that churches in China should register. My role is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ."My prayer and desire remains the same--that working together with all believers in the Lord Jesus we can see total religious freedom in China and open doors to publicly proclaim the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I love China. I love the Chinese people. I have been praying for China since I was sixteen years old. Those prayers have intensified in recent years as I constantly and continually encourage Christians worldwide to pray for China."It has always been one of my goals to help and protect God's people, not create problems for them. I've lived in countries where Christians endured hardship for their faith and I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for brothers and sisters who have suffered for being faithful and dedicated followers of Jesus Christ."I have been permitted to preach in China now for over five years and have seen hundreds come to faith in Jesus Christ. This has been one of the greatest joys of my more than 50 years of ministry. I pray these trips are symbolic of changes taking place in China and that these changes lead to greater religious freedom. "I was surprised, but honored when asked by President George W. Bush last weekend to join him at a Chinese-language worship service in Beijing. It is evident that Mr. Bush sees religious freedom as a very important issue concerning China-US relations as he has repeatedly expressed in public."I continue to appeal to Christians around the globe to especially pray for China. It would deeply pain me if any of my comments would provoke any kind of trouble for God's saints in the Peoples Republic of China. And I pray our sovereign Lord would not allow it."