• ABOUT
  • ADVERTISE
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • WORK
Monday, January 18, 2021
Shanghaiist
8 °c
Shanghai
7 ° Sat
6 ° Sun
6 ° Mon
5 ° Tue
5 ° Wed
9 ° Thu
  • NEWS

    The “world’s tallest swing” is now open in Chongqing and it looks absolutely terrifying

    Kid falls from second story while imitating Kobe Bryant’s fadeaway

    Guy wearing police uniform for “safety” pulled over by highway cops

    Dalian to test 190,000 residents after 3 new confirmed cases are reported

    One-legged Chinese baller inspires others with his hard work and three-point shot

    Chinese courier company caught using mannequins as security inspectors

    China opens another world’s longest glass-bottomed bridge in Guangdong province

    3-year-old girl and her grandma beaten with shovel in horrific “revenge” attack

    Workers spotted burning documents as US orders China to close its Houston consulate

    LOOK: Massive landslide blocks river in Hubei province

    IKEA to open new downtown location in Shanghai this week

    Hunan bus drivers block road to pass bag of betel nuts across opposite lanes

    Jilin driver delayed by 20 minutes by wild Siberian tiger relaxing on the road

    6-year-old boy drowns to death during first swimming lesson at public pool

    Neighbor smoothly catches toddler falling from 5th floor

    Dude spotted chillaxing on self-made raft on river in Chongqing during flood season

    Shanghai dude gets part of ear bitten off while stopping drunk guy from assaulting woman

    Woman mysteriously disappears from home in Hangzhou, leaving behind no trace

    Two women get stuck in elevator at home for 4 days, drink their own urine to stay alive

    Urumqi goes on lockdown as fears rise of a new coronavirus outbreak in Xinjiang

  • L!FE
  • FOOD
  • GALLERY
  • VIDEO

    WATCH: Colorized footage of life in Beijing a century ago

    Hunan high school turns gym into cafeteria to keep students separated

    Kung fu school reopens teaching students how to swing bricks from their balls

    Dancing aunties and uncles return to Wuhan sidewalks

    Xi Jinping actually made a joke!

    Shanghai dad builds Death Stranding like safety pod to protect baby from coronavirus

    Tag along on food tour of Lanzhou, the hometown of hand-pulled noodles

    Man smashes bus window, jumps out after being stuck in traffic for 20 minutes

    Scooter driver somehow survives being squashed by massive panes of glass

    How students at a Xuzhou primary school have taken jump rope to the next level

    How this Chinese martial arts master “jumps on water”

    Bringing your date to your studio apartment of great shame

    Male designer loses 25 kg, goes viral modeling women’s clothing

    Take a look inside Taiwan’s “most luxurious university dormitories”

    Racers take the stairs in 119-floor vertical marathon up the Shanghai Tower

    Meet China’s captivating “roly-poly girl” who defies gravity with a smile

    Awful Chinese propaganda rappers take on Hong Kong protests, sample Trump

    Trying the food at a Chinese Muslim wedding in Kaifeng

    What it’s like visiting home after living in China

    Watch this Chinese teen jump rope 228 times in just 30 seconds

  • TICKETS
    • FAQ
  • ★ BE A PATRON
    • ★ DONATE
No Result
View All Result
Shanghaiist
No Result
View All Result
Shanghaiist
No Result
View All Result

Evangelist Luis Palau and anti-gay Democrat Rev. James Meeks save 500 Chinese souls in Hangzhou

by Kenneth Tan
May 5, 2018
in News

The times they are a-changing! Guess where we found all these pictures of Evangelist Luis Palau’s much talked about Gospel rally in Hangzhou? On the website of the “United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee”!
But that’s not where it ends! We learnt from a press release dispatched by the Luis Palau Association that taking the pulpit along with Dr Luis Palau at the rally was a man named Rev James Meeks. This was truly curious to us because the event was, as far as we understand, the very first evangelistic rally featuring a foreign preacher. Also, the name James Meeks had not appeared the last time we heard about this rally. So why would the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) suddenly allow not one, but two foreign preachers to take the pulpit at the first gospel rally of its kind?


Just who is this Rev James Meeks? As it turns out, he is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, the pastor of the 24,000-strong Salem Baptist Church and the chairman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. He has also been named by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the “10 leading black religious voices in the anti-gay movement”, “a key member of Chicago’s ‘Gatekeepers’ network, an interracial group of evangelical ministers who strive to erase the division between church and state” and “a stalwart anti-gay activist” who has used his position to campaign against an Illinois LGBT non-discrimination bill.
Wow. Did SARA run background checks on this guy at all? Concerned Chinese citizens should write in to them asking if it is now their policy to allow foreign politicians to preach their religion on Chinese territory — especially those that seek to erase the division between church and state.
The evangelistic rally originally aimed to attract 20,000 people, but eventually drew in only 14,000 people over two nights (because of “cold, damp weather” and the “aftereffects of a massive sandstorm” in Beijing, says the press release!). One of the highlights of the event was a performance led by the 52-voice Salem Baptist Church choir which was supposedly the first time an African-American choir had ever performed at the church. The event climaxed with over 500 people responding to Palau’s invitation to “pray a sinners’ prayer and to become followers of Jesus Christ”. Each of these new converts was given a free Bible and an eight-week course on the Christian faith followed by an “opportunity to be baptised”.
Luis Palau is quoted in the press release as saying:

“I have been coming to China now for 10 years and I’m encouraged by the spiritual growth. Many distinguished Bible teachers and pastors are emerging. They are open about their faith, very courageous and forward-looking with great dreams for China…. Christianity is no longer viewed as a foreign religion in China… The Chinese by the millions are saying Jesus Christ is for China and China is for Jesus Christ.”

One decade of schmoozing with the right Chinese Communist Party officials sure can open a few doors for you (find out all the very important people he’s met on this trip here). Maybe some day, Luis Palau will fulfill his dream of preaching in an open-air stadium here — and if not him, then maybe someone else will.

Share this:

  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Print
Shanghaiist

© 2005-2018 Shanghaiist - China in bite-sized portions!

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Be a Patron
  • Join the Community
  • List Your Event
  • Be a Venue Partner
  • Submit a Gallery
  • Work with us
  • Privacy & Terms
  • Contact

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
  • L!FE
  • FOOD
  • GALLERY
  • VIDEO
  • TICKETS
    • FAQ
  • ★ BE A PATRON
    • ★ DONATE

© 2005-2018 Shanghaiist - China in bite-sized portions!