(Were the 8 imprisoned church leaders released by the Chinese government to impress President Bush who was visiting China so that he would believe that the Chinese were now promoting religious freedom?)
Saturday, November 19, 2005EIGHT IMPRISONED CHINESE CHURCH LEADERS RELEASED; KIDNAPPED PASTOR SENT TO UNKNOWN LOCATION IN HENAN PROVINCE
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST MinistriesMIDLAND, TX (ANS) -- Following a news release from China Aid Association (CAA) that eight Chinese house church leaders in Henan Province had at 12pm on November 3 been arrested and imprisoned, comes news from the Midland, Texas, group that the Chinese authority released all of them at about 6am on Saturday, November 19.
None of the confiscated church property was returned. Among the eight released, Pastor Huang Hailiang (aged 40) and Pastor Wei Lin (20s) who according to China Aid Association “were tortured with their legs wounded by the interrogators on November 3.”
According to a CAA reporter on the field, all of the released are in good spirit with a thankful heart to God and to those who are praying and helping for their release.
"They feel very happy and honored because they are the blessed who are persecuted for the righteousness," said one of their church leaders interviewed by Rev. Bob Fu, the President of China Aid Association.
Meanwhile, CAA learned the kidnapped house church leader, Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, was sent from Beijing and is now detained in an unknown location in Sheqi County, Henan Province at about 8pm, November 19.
According to a reliable source, the action to remove pastor Zhang from Beijing is to prevent him from having any meeting with the visiting US President George W Bush. President Bush has arrived Beijing on November 19 for a 40 hours state visit. He is expected to send a strong message to Chinese Communist leaders for advancing religious freedom in China.
China Aid Association, established in 2002, is a non-profit Christian organization with a mission to explore the truth, to tell the truth and to preserve the truth on the issue of religious freedom in China, particularly focusing on the fate of the unofficial church.