"I was sickened—but not surprised—to learn that last week, the Chinese Communist Party launched its largest crackdown on the Protestant 'house church' movement in decades, rounding up dozens of faithful Christian pastors and members of Beijing Zion Church merely for practicing their faith. Those arrested include Pastor Ezra Mingri Jin, who had been cruelly 'exit banned' and kept from his family, who are U.S. citizens, since 2018.
"Xi Jinping clearly will not tolerate worship of anyone other than himself. He sees Chinese Christians as a threat to his rule—precisely because of Christianity’s fundamental commitment to a transcendent God in whose Likeness we are all created.
"The CCP cannot silence the witness of these brave men and women from Zion Church. We must stand with them and with their families against the totalitarianism of the CCP, which remains the greatest threat to religious freedom in the world today.
"My wife and I are praying for Pastor Jin, for the faithful of Zion Church held unjustly in Chinese detention, and for their families—as well as an end to Xi Jinping’s unconscionable and unrelenting war on religion."
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