Palau apologizes for his remarks on unregistered churches in China

China Aid Association
(Midland, Texas—Dec 1,2005)CAA welcomes Mr. Palau’s apology for his remark that unregistered churches in China should register. While we understand Mr. Palau’s desire to preach the Gospel in China, we wish Mr. Palau could have elaborated on the fact that the Chinese government allowed him to preach only within the government sanctioned church buildings. We encourage Mr. Palau to continue to push for true freedom to evangelize in China as he has been doing in the USA and other free countries.
Issued by CAA on December 1, 2005
The Full Text from Mr. Palau’s Association:
Portland, Oregon, Monday, November 28, 2005 —  Evangelist Luis Palau issued the following statement today in response to concerns over his recent trip to China.
“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.
“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.”
http://www.palau.org/lpea/downloads/PalauChinaResponse.pdf