What’s happening in China right now should concern every freedom-loving American. A Christian pastor named Mingri “Ezra” Jin, along with 22 other church leaders, has been thrown into prison by the Chinese Communist Party. Their crime? Preaching the Gospel and refusing to bow to the Communist regime.
These pastors are part of what’s called the Zion Church, one of the largest underground Christian networks in China. They don’t follow the state-run churches, which are tightly controlled by the Chinese government. Instead, they preach the Bible as it is. And for that, they’re being hunted down, handcuffed, and locked away like criminals.
This wasn’t some random arrest. According to Jin’s daughter, Grace, this was a coordinated operation. The Chinese government rounded up pastors from all over the country — cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou — and hauled them to one detention center in Guangxi, down in southern China. That’s over a thousand miles away from where many of these pastors live, which tells you how serious the regime is about wiping out real Christianity.
Grace says the pastors have been put in prison uniforms and shackled. They’re not allowed to see their families. They can’t even talk to lawyers. Some of them, like Pastor Jin, have medical needs — he’s diabetic — and even then, the authorities won’t let their loved ones deliver medicine or Bibles.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about breaking the law. Their supposed “crime” is sharing their faith online without government approval. But we all know what’s really going on. China wants total control. It wants to replace God with the Communist Party. And any faith that doesn’t fit into their propaganda is seen as a threat.
This kind of persecution isn’t new in Communist countries. I’ve seen it in places where liberty is crushed and religion is treated like a disease. But what’s different now is the scale and coordination. This is a full-blown crackdown. Grace believes this is just the beginning — a wave of persecution that’s coming for every Christian in China who refuses to bow.
Pastor Jin’s story is especially powerful. He first came to Christianity after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 — when the Chinese government turned its own guns on students protesting for freedom. That moment broke his trust in the regime. He found healing and purpose in Christ. For years, he tried working within China’s state-sanctioned churches. But eventually, he saw what they really were — tools of the Communist Party. They banned him from preaching about Jesus’ return. They wanted him to use the pulpit to promote communism, not the Gospel.
So he walked away and started Zion Church. He trained in the United States, learned solid theology, and returned to shepherd his people. But the government didn’t take that lightly. In 2018, they shut down his church, froze its assets, and began harassing him. He’s been detained before — taken to hotels and interrogated. But this time, it’s different. Grace believes they’re going to try to make an example out of him.
Thankfully, some leaders here in the U.S. are paying attention. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for the immediate release of Pastor Jin and the others. He rightly pointed out that the CCP is hostile to people of faith — especially those who worship outside the Party’s control. Rubio’s message has already been blocked in China. That’s how afraid they are of the truth getting out.
China has nearly 100 million Christians. That’s more than the number of Communist Party members. And that’s why they fear Christianity. It offers something the CCP can’t — real hope, real freedom, and a higher power than any government.
Let this be a wake-up call. What’s happening in China could happen anywhere when governments are given too much power and people give up their rights. Freedom of religion is a pillar of liberty. And if we don’t stand up for it — here and abroad — we risk losing it everywhere.
We stand with Pastor Jin. We stand with all believers fighting for their right to worship freely. And we won’t stay silent.
