China Persecution Watchdog Group Accepts Palau Apology
An advocacy group for China’s persecuted Christians accepted the apology of evangelist Luis Palau on Thursday for remarks he made during his recent trip to China regarding the house church.
In the Nov. 28 statement to which the Midland, Texas-based China Aid Association referred to on Thursday, Palau responded to concerns over his recent trip to China, including an apology.
“I regret some of the remarks I made to a 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,” said Palau in the statement released by the Luis Palau Association on Monday.
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“It has always been one of my goals to help and protect God’s people, not create problems for them,” the evangelist continued. “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.”
Palau, whose Nov. 15-21 trip to China marked his fifth, is one of the most respected evangelists in the Spanish-speaking world as well as internationally, sharing the Gospel to an estimated 20 million people in 70 nations throughout the world. During a Nov. 19 press conference in Beijing, Palau urged Chinese House Churches to register with the Chinese Communist government to “receive greater freedom and blessing from the government,” resulting in heavy criticisms and a call for the statement’s retraction by Chinese house church leaders and persecution watchdog groups.
“Thank you, Mr. Palau, for your years of faithful service to the King,” Todd Nettleton, director of news service for the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), had wrote on his VOM Persecution Blog after the evangelist’s comments were brought to his attention. “Please honor our suffering brothers and sisters in China by retracting your call for all Christians in China to register with the Communist government. Coming under control of an atheistic government is not the answer to Christian persecution in China.”
In response to Palau’s apology, the China Aid Association (CAA) accepted his regrets and encouraged the evangelist to continue to push for evangelism and religious freedom in the country, pointing out that Palau preached freely because he was within government approved evangelism areas.
“CAA welcomes Mr. Palau's statement apologizing for his remarks on Nov. 19 in Beijing urging unregistered churches in China to register with the Chinese government,” the Chinese persecution group wrote in the Dec. 1 released statement. “While we understand Mr. Palau's desire to preach the Gospel in China, we wish Mr. Palau could have pointed out the context, location, how, and where the Chinese government allowed him to preach. They are all within the government sanctioned church buildings. We encourage Mr. Palau to continue to push for evangelism in China with true freedom like he has been doing in the USA and other free countries.”
In the conclusion of his statement, Palau said he continues to appeal to Christians around the globe to especially pray for China, and that it would “deeply pain” him if any of his 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.”
