He Fled Communist China. He Was Fired in America.

My friend Da Yu left communist China for the USA twenty years ago. Last week, his American employer gave him one hour to delete his comment on a friend’s social media post or lose his job.

Da was an atheist when he first moved to Cincinnati for college. And he was excited to get away from the suffocating regime of communist China.

When he arrived here, it wasn’t long before he encountered a group of Christians who shared the gospel with him. God opened his heart to the truth of the gospel and he believed.

As his faith grew, Da became a strong Christian leader and committed evangelist. Now, many years later, he leads a small group at my church and organizes regular evangelistic outreaches for college students.

Da is a kind, smart, and godly Christian man. And he’s among the most committed members of our church. He’s an ordinary Christian who believes the Bible and has a spine. He and his wife have two young children, and she is eight months pregnant with their third.

That’s all background for what I’m about to say.

Last week, he called me out of the blue because he was faced with a difficult decision. One of his friends had just become a Christian and posted on LinkedIn about her baptism (see screenshots).

She wasn’t accustomed to making Linked In posts about Jesus, feeling as though it might be unprofessional. She wondered openly if she should keep her posts secular. But she was excited about her new life in Christ and wanted to share it.

That’s when Da chimed in with a comment on her post that there is no such thing as a purely neutral, “secular” culture. He pointed out that many companies are promoting cultural sins such as homosexuality, transgenderism, and fornication during pride month. If companies can promote those morally regressive “values,” then certainly this woman should not be embarrassed to talk about her Christian faith in public. He was simply encouraging her to be bold for Christ.

WIthin minutes, he got a message from HR. He was called to a meeting with the HR rep and the CEO where he was told he needed to take his comment on her post down immediately. Feeling put on the spot, he said he’d needed to think it over first. He asked, “what if I do not take it down?”

They said, “you have one hour to take it down or lose your job.” So he took a walk outside to gather his thoughts and pray. He spoke to his wife about it, and she told him the man she married was a man of courage, and she would stand by him. He also sought counsel from some men in our church.

Finally, he made his decision. He would not take his comment down. So they fired him. Right there, on the spot. No sooner had the call ended that his laptop was locked and he was unable to access it at all.

This whole episode is tragically ironic, given the fact that he’d moved here from China to get away from these sorts of draconian practices. But that’s the way it is with the LGBTQ regime. If you do not comply and bow the knee to their gods you will be severely punished.

In short, a good man was fired from his job for refusing to cave. He took a stand and paid a price for it. His former employers didn’t care that he’s a responsible, hard working man with a family to provide for. They didn’t care that his wife is eight months pregnant.

None of that matters. Their ideology is everything. They will crush anyone who opposes it.

I asked Da’s permission to tell his story, promising to keep him anonymous. But he responded, “Actually I think using my real name maybe better. A story becomes a lot more real with a name. I want to take a stand for it and encourage others.”

Da took a stand. You can too.