A large Protestant church in the city known as “China’s Jerusalem” was demolished on April 28th on the orders of local leaders. Sanjiang church, in the eastern city of Wenzhou, took six years and 30m yuan ($4.8m) to put up, but officials said it had violated building codes. Local Christians gathered at the church but were unable to stop the demolition. Unregistered “house churches” have long been the target of government crackdowns, but Sanjiang was part of the officially approved church.

Chairman’s Report July 17th 2014

On Capitol Hill

Religious Freedom Rally This week I spoke at two related events in Washington, DC. Each year I am invited, along with many members of Congress, to speak at a gathering on the lawn of the Capitol Building facing the Mall and the Washington Monument. The organizers of this rally are from the Falun Gong and are attempting to call attention to the brutal treatment of members of their group by the Chinese Communist Party, which sees that group as a threat.

The Falun Gong is not related to any known world faith and most Christian leaders would refer to it as a cult because of its characteristics. I do not speak at the event in support of the Falun Gong, but rather to help bring attention to the general lack of religious freedom, which has become worse under China’s new president.  Below are my remarks at the rally:

China today is a society that at the same time has vast amounts of personal freedom in some areas, but total repression of individual expression in others. While an entrepreneur can start up a business in virtually any area of the nation and in almost any industry, permission to open a place of worship or to expand an existing place of worship is nearly impossible without state control. In many instances construction of churches is banned or there is actual destruction of places of worship such as the large Protestant mega-church in Zhejiang. Eighteen churches have been destroyed in China so far this year, most recently one in Ningbo.

In 2013 I traveled for nearly a month in China on business and conducting some research. Virtually everyone in China has a smart phone and communications, and because of the size of the population, it is virtually impossible for the government to monitor them all. Many of those I spoke with were openly critical of the Communist Party of China, particularly its past. My translators and those I interviewed had no kind words to say about the Cultural Revolution or the Great Leap Forward, often referring to these periods as a disaster for the nation. There were not many kind words for the practices of current party leaders either.

I spoke with many, including university professors, who were critical of the lack of religious freedom. I was surprised by the openness of their opposition to repression of non-state churches and to such policies as the one child laws.

A large Protestant church in the city known as “China’s Jerusalem” was demolished on April 28th on the orders of local leaders. Sanjiang church, in the eastern city of Wenzhou, took six years and 30m yuan ($4.8m) to put up, but officials said it had violated building codes. Local Christians gathered at the church but were unable to stop the demolition. Unregistered “house churches” have long been the target of government crackdowns, but Sanjiang was part of the officially approved church.

A large Protestant church in the city known as “China’s Jerusalem” was demolished on April 28th on the orders of local leaders. Sanjiang church, in the eastern city of Wenzhou, took six years and 30m yuan ($4.8m) to put up, but officials said it had violated building codes. Local Christians gathered at the church but were unable to stop the demolition. Unregistered “house churches” have long been the target of government crackdowns, but Sanjiang was part of the officially approved church.

HOWEVER … when I brought up the subject of the repression of the Falun Gong, I was met with silence. The other subject no one wanted to speak about was organ harvesting. Most professed to know nothing about the practice of organ harvesting from prisoners in China, despite vast availability of stories on the Internet. These two subjects – which all those I spoke with refused to discuss — are very much related. So closely related are they that in the U. S. Congress, House Resolution H. Res. 281 on the forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and others in China, is cosponsored by 176 congressmen including 90 Republicans and 86 Democrats so far.

There are at least 10,000 organ transplants per year in China, and former Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu admitted publicly that more than 90 percent of transplant organs are extracted from executed prisoners in China.

It is a fact that members of the Falun Gong who have committed no crime other than participating in their faith have been imprisoned and executed for their organs simply because they were a tissue match for someone (often a wealthy Westerner) who was willing to pay for their organs. In the name of righteousness and for the sake of human dignity this must stop. The world should be outraged.

Faced with violent jihad from Islamic extremists in the western regions of China, the government responds with the repression of a peaceful religious movement. No member of the Falun Gong has participated in mass murders or bombings, as have members of the Turkistan Islamic Party. Yet the repression of the Falun Gong exceeds that of radical Islamist groups, as if the Communist Party of China admits that it fears a peaceful religion more than violent  secessionists.

The Communist Party of China is spending more time and effort on the suppression of unregistered Christian churches and the Falun Gong than on the suppression of groups promoting the violent jihad that has brought death to innocent people in several places in China, including Tiananmen Square.

Today we send a clear message to the Communist Party of China:  Defend your nation against enemies that are real, rather than destroying churches and jailing the defenseless and the peace-loving simply because of their faith.

You may note that I tied in the vicious Islamic revolt in western China that has brought terrorist acts to the heart of Beijing. The fact that China is fighting the same terrorists funded from Pakistan that we are fighting in Afghanistan, shows that their efforts to repress Christians and other peaceful groups in the rest of the nation are misguided and a waste of resources.

It is very important to note that some of the churches that have been destroyed since China’s new president, Xi Jinping, took over in 2013 are “official” churches that have in fact registered with the government. The huge Sanjiang mega-church which was destroyed in April was a registered church which used the official “Patriotic Bible.” It is believed that under the previous president, Hu Jintao, churches were not targeted to the degree they are now because his sister was a Christian.  There is no evidence he had a sister who was a Christian, other than word of mouth among Chinese Christians. In any case, now under President Xi the situation is worse.

International

Saudi Sponsored Terror This week I also spoke at a conference centered on the evils of the Saudi Arabian royal family. My good friend Dr. Ali H. Alyami who heads the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (CDHR) held a conference titled: “Jihadi Surge, Saudi Arabia and Perilous Western Delusions.” As my topic I chose Saudi financed elimination of Christians in the Middle East.  Most of my address was based on a column I had written earlier this month which appeared at WND.COM and several other media outlets.

I hesitated to publish the entire column here because I had sent a copy to numerous supporters; however, the comments have been so positive I am presenting the column below. It  appeared under the title: The Real Reason America Won’t Bomb the ISIS.

Buried about 2,000 words deep in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Iraqi Losses Spur U.S. to Rethink Syria,” the hard truth is told. We cannot help the Iraqi government fight off the Sunni terrorists ISIS (ISIL) because it would offend the totalitarian Saudi royal family. The Journal comment makes clear why there can be no U.S. airstrikes:

“One of the biggest risks is the possibility that U.S. airstrikes against Sunni militants could be viewed across the region as an attempt by America to tip the balance of power in favor of Shiite forces. That could imperil U.S. relations with key Middle East power brokers, including Saudi Arabia.”

Numerous voices in news commentaries, including hawkish conservatives, are warning that bombing the Sunni forces of the ISIS could backfire. And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says that possible airstrikes against the ISIS Sunni army in Iraq could be ineffective and backfire:

“The Sunni extremists of (ISIS) are trying to show that the governments in Baghdad, Iran and the United States are working together to support atrocities against Sunnis,” Ban said. “This would help them mobilize support from the Sunni majority that does not share the extremists’ agenda. It is essential that the government of Iraq and its supporters do everything possible to avoid falling into this trap.”

Even the pro-Saudi conservative war hawk Washington Times admitted in a front page story on June 25th that the core of the issue is Saudi support for Sunni rebels:

“What makes ISIL even more dangerous is its ability to raise, and steal, money. Wealthy Sunni sheiks in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar have funneled money to ISIL to help it bring down the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is an Alawite, an offshoot of Shia Islam. Mr. Assad aligns himself with Shiite-dominated Iran, and its proxy in Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah.

Oil-rich, Sunni-dominated Gulf states consider the Shiite-led regimes a threat.”

The Obama Administration finds itself in the unique position of supporting the Sunni uprising in Syria at the behest of the Saudi royals, while at the same time fighting some of the same Sunni “rebels” in Iraq. In fact there is clear evidence that in 2012 the CIA was still training ISIS “rebels” at a secret camp in Jordan to fight the secular government in Syria.

More than three years ago the totalitarian royal dictators of Saudi Arabia put up an initial $2 billion dollars to overthrow the secular government of Syria before one shot was fired or one demonstration was held in Homs.

The Barack Obama Administration was well aware that arms were flowing into Syria for the purpose of a Sunni revolt against the secular Assad government that did not allow Christians to be forced into Sharia courts. Since that time the Saudis have paid in billions more and the royal Sunni dictator of Qatar has also tossed in a few billion more.

Unlike the ISIS, the Free Syrian Army is a well-paid force, something that the Obama Administration does not want to admit. By early 2014 it is estimated that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait, the United States, European nations and independent terror groups have invested over $50 billion to topple the only Arab government in the world that guarantees religious freedom and protects Christians from persecution.

Seeing an organized and well-armed Syria as a threat and a backer of Hezbollah, the Israeli government of Netanyahu gave its blessing to the Saudi financed Sunni revolt in Syria and even supported it with air strikes against Syrian military sites. Now those “rebels” are a direct border threat to both Israel and Saudi Arabia.

During her rule in the State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled around the world in 2012 announcing that “Assad’s days are numbered,” right before the Saudi financed “Damascus volcano” supported by the CIA took place in July, 2012. The Obama regime had bought the Saudi propaganda whole cloth, being persuaded that the people of Syria hated Assad, and that it would only take a few thousand Saudi supported mercenaries with AK-47’s to march toward Damascus, and all the people would side with them. Either the CIA was blind to reality, or they flat out lied to President Obama. The reality turned out to be much like the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion planned against Cuba by the CIA in 1961. The majority of people in Syria supported the secular Assad government, and there was no support for the Sunni rebels (Saudi mercenaries) except among hard core radicals who demanded a Sharia state similar to the one that exists in Saudi Arabia.

Now, Western powers are at a crossroads. The Sunni rebels once supported by Europe and the United States have taken nearly half of Iraq. The leaders of the ISIS boastfully threaten to conquer Israel and attack targets in Europe and the United States. The confused and hapless leaders of Europe and America are frozen in fear of offending the despotic murderous royals of Saudi Arabia, and do nothing to stop the tide of Sunni killers as their armies enlarge with recruits from all over the world.

What is the solution? There is only one real solution to the problems of the Middle East. Instead of being the proxy warriors for the Saudi royals the West needs to take control of Saudi Arabia and declare the oil fields the property of the citizens of that nation. Members of the Saudi royal family should have their ill-gotten wealth stripped from them worldwide and face the ICC for their crimes. Once the Saudi center of Islamic evil in the world is gone, Western nations will be free to deal with Islamic terror elsewhere. This will also eliminate the distribution of Saudi textbooks filled with racial and religious hatred and preaching death to democracy in Islamic schools and mosques throughout the West. That alone will bring the recruiting of terrorists to a virtual halt.

The time has come for Western leaders to say “no more puppet strings” and turn against their Saudi masters. There is a better way to get Saudi oil than acting as the henchmen for the despots of Saudi Arabia –just take it.

The very odd financial reports from our government

I read the Wall Street Journal every day that it is published. It is actually delivered to my home and it is the main paper I read every day. The Wall Street Journal has the largest subscriber base of any newspaper in the United States. I do not read it because I am an investor, but rather because it is one of the few newspapers left that has a worldwide staff that does on-the-ground reporting. The Journal has real reporters in the Middle East. Many people do not realize that probably less than 25% of the Journal is financial news.

By reading the Journal I can also understand the economic conservatives that I must deal with in Washington. While I am pushing congressmen and Senators to punish Saudi Arabia for supporting terror, the economic conservatives want more business with the evil royal family of that Islamic hell hole. I want to learn how they make their big bucks off the Saudi royals.

I also pay attention to numbers as I read and keep them in mind moving from story to story. The June employment numbers just did not make sense to me. The number of full time employees dropped but the government reported an increase of 288,000 total jobs. That didnot work in my mind.

Then in the Monday edition (July 14, 2014) of the Journal, I read a column by Mortimer Zuckerman that explained my frustration with the numbers. According to Zuckerman, who examined the numbers from the government closely, part-time jobs increased by over 800,000 but full time jobs dropped by 523,000 just in June! The net increase of 288,000 jobs were all part time.

It is clear that just in one month over half a million people lost full time jobs and were either replaced by part time employees or were forced themselves to take part-time jobs. But the economy is hot, hot, hot with all the funds flowing into it from the government. The stock market just keeps rising as the government lends billions of dollars to banks each month at nearly a zero interest rate. Much of that money winds up being gambled in a sky rocketing stock market.

I have seen a lot of financial bubbles in my more than six decades, including the dot com bubble, the energy bubble, the housing bubble, etc. … all of which were caused by the government pumping out money into one area of the economy or the other. I believe today we are probably inside the mother of all financial bubbles caused by government lending and giveways. How else can the economy grow while millions of people each year are being moved from full time to part time jobs?

Where is the spending money coming from for people to shop at Walmart and Target? The answer of course is much of that money is coming from government handouts of borrowed money, because the tax revenue does not cover the cost.

The God given economic process of supply and demand that controls prices and consumption is being overridden to buy votes. In the end this human attempt to create a financial utopia with borrowed money will end in chaos. This nation needs our prayers.

William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition, 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #900, Washington, DC 20004 * (202)

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