Persecution Testimonies

By Chen Chen Monday, December 5, 2016, Cloudy Today, I was released from jail. I’m overwhelmed with emotion. I’ve just spent four years in “hell on earth” and could still survive. This was entirely due to God’s protection and guidance. At about 3 p.m., I was brought back to my village by some local officials, including the director of the local Bureau of Justice office, an officer at the police station, the village committee secretary, and the township public security officer. They took me to the local Bureau of Justice office first and then to the police station; at the same time, they took samples of my hair, blood, and handwriting and also took fingerprints and photographs. The police officer, who took charge of me, said to me, “You must stay within the county. If you go outside, you must report to us; otherwise, we’ll arrest you if we find you leave without permission. And one more thing—you must come and report every month.” Hearing this, I was indignant, and thought: “Just because I believe in God you arrested me and gave me a four-year sentence; you deprived me of my freedom and subjected me to inhumane torture and torment. I narrowly escaped death and finally got out of jail, and you start to control and restrict my personal freedom again even before I get home. Isn’t this putting me in a jail without walls? You’re too hateful.” Monday, December 12, 2016, Sunny I’ve been back for a week. Although life at home is much better than in prison, I can’t go out to attend meetings or see the brothers and sisters because of the CCP’s restrictions. At 4 o’clock this afternoon, the head of the police station came to talk to me. He asked me, “You were imprisoned for several years. Have you realized that you were wrong in your belief?” I hesitated for a moment, and my heart was at war: “If I tell the truth, will he send me straight to jail again? No, I must break through these dark forces. No matter what, I’ll stand on God’s side and never make concessions to Satan.” Then, I replied firmly, “My belief in God is not wrong.” He gave me an icy stare and said, “Then you will be under our supervision for five years. If you behave well, we’ll relax control over you after two years.” I realized that this was Satan’s temptation. They wanted to induce me to give up my faith in order to get rid of their supervision sooner. Undoubtedly, they wanted me to deny and betray God. How sinister and cunning they are! I prayed to God silently: “O God, the CCP is crafty, and is doing its utmost to entice me to betray You. I implore You to keep my heart so that I won’t yield to them for the sake of my own interests.” Sunday, December 18, 2016, Sunny In the morning, I secured the door and read God’s words at home. Suddenly there was a pounding noise on the door. I was stunned, and hurried to hide my book of God’s words. Then, calming myself first, I opened the door. It was the township public security officer coming to talk to me. He said, “Don’t believe in God anymore. What is God anyway? If you want to believe in anything, believe in the CCP.” His words grated on my ears and I said, “It’s my freedom to believe in God. You have no right to restrict me.” He angrily said, “Then you can only believe at home. No gatherings. And you must cooperate with us: If someone comes to preach the gospel or asks you to attend meetings, call me and report it right away.” Hearing this, I felt resentful, and thought: “It’s a self-evident truth that we created beings should believe in God and worship God. You not only prevent me from believing in God, but also want to force me to report others, trying to make me become a Judas to sell out my brothers and sisters. How crafty and malicious you are. I’ll never be deceived by you.” Saturday, January 28, 2017, Foggy Today is New Year’s Day. I’m so happy that my son is coming back. It has been four years since the last time we saw each other. I decided to cook something delicious for him as part of our family reunion dinner. After lunch, I began to make preparations, humming hymns of God’s words happily. Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door. My husband opened it and found the head of the police station and three other policemen standing there. They’d come to harass us even on New Year’s Day. It was as if we were being haunted by ghosts; my good mood was spoiled. The head said to us, tongue in cheek, “We’ve come to implement the communiqué from the central government (the “family-like ethnic bonding” campaign). All people who have religious beliefs are who we should bond with. From now on, we are relatives. What plans do you have for the year ahead? If you have any difficulties in your household, just tell us.” Hearing this, I was very astonished. I thought: “We have neither money nor influence, and we have been abandoned by society because of believing in God. How come you, as a government official, care about my family and say you are our relative? There must be one of Satan’s schemes in it. I can’t let my guard down.” I kept praying to God in my heart, begging Him to protect me. Then, without our permission, they forcibly took photos of us. Before they left, they said they would come to “visit” us often in future. After they left, I thought: “How crafty the CCP is! With this excuse, they can justifiably come to our home. And I will have less freedom. Just because my husband and I believe in God, both of us were imprisoned for…

“Call your wife here to sign a guarantee that she will never again believe in God. As long as she does so, your son can get into the military school.” Li Lin’s husband repeated the words of the chief of police and anxiously waited for Li Lin’s reply.

My name is Liu Ying. I am a 22-year-old Christian. In my childhood, as my mother often went out to spread the gospel and bear witness to God, she was well-known in the local  area. My family, therefore, became a target of focused monitoring and attacking of the CCP, and I grew up under the persecution of the CCP government. The CCP Police Broke Into Our House and Threatened Us When being pregnant with me, my mother started believing in the Lord Jesus. When I was six, my whole family accepted God’s work in the last days. Under the guidance of my parents, I learned to pray to God and knew lots of stories in the Bible, and I often sang hymns to praise God with my parents, growing up happily. But unexpectedly, my happy life was soon destroyed by the CCP. On a winter’s day in 2003, my father and I were learning the hymn of God’s words when the rural cadre and three policemen suddenly rushed into our yard. On breaking through the door, the police started to look around and then ransacked our house wildly. One of them questioned my father with a face full of rage, “Someone reported that your wife believes in God. Where is she? Get her back immediately!” Then he caught sight of the hymnbook. My father immediately came forward to protect it, but several policemen rushed forward and took it away from my father’s arms. I was stunned by this scene, standing in the corner of the wall motionlessly. I stared at them, astonished. I thought, “How come these policemen snatch our stuff and want to arrest mom every time they come?” I was so scared that I called upon God in my heart. At this time, my father said angrily, “What are you doing? How could you just break into my house and ransack it wildly? Is there any rule of law here?” The police ignored my father’s questions and spoke to him fiercely, “Get your wife back, and don’t let me hear about her believing in God again! Otherwise, I’ll immediately put her into prison!” Then they left in anger. No sooner had they left than my mother came back home. I cried out to my mother, telling her what had just happened, and she caressed my hair, saying, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t cry. Isn’t mom safe and sound? But I have to leave and hide for a period of time.” On hearing these words, I couldn’t stop tears from falling down my face. I grabbed my mother’s hand, begging her, “Don’t go, mom! If we make it clear to the police that believing in God is a good thing, they will not arrest you. Mom, please don’t go, okay?” “You’re still too young to understand these things,” my mother spoke to me with tenderness. “When I’m not at home, you must rely on God more and do as your father says. I’ll come back after a while.” Afterward, my mother left alone. Looking at her receding figure, I thought of the police’s remarks before they left. Then I had some understanding about what my mother had told me before that the CCP police arrested the believers of God, and I clearly saw that the policemen were actually bad guys. The Police’s Visiting Brought Criticisms on Us After that, the police called at our house from time to time, which made our life change radically. To escape from the CCP’s arrest, my mother could only sneak into home under the cover of night and leave before dawn. So the time we spent together was quite little. Without my mother’s company, I learned to do the housework which my peers couldn’t do at a very young age, such as doing the laundry and cooking. Without my mother by my side, other children in the village were unwilling to play with me, and the adults also ridiculed me, saying, “Your mother left home for big money.” “Your mother has abandoned you.” After hearing their gossip, I was grieved to the utmost, and cried out in my heart, “It’s not true. It’s not that my mother doesn’t care about us; it’s not that my mother has abandoned me. It’s because the CCP police want to arrest my mother that she cannot live with us often. It’s the police’s fault, not my mother’s.” When I was a little older, I went outside the village for schooling, and only returned home on weekends, so the chances I had to meet my mother were even fewer. What consoled me was that during the summer vacation I could spend some time with my mother. It should have been a happy thing for me to meet my mother, but I must keep my weather eye open. Even when I was playing with my pals on the street, I could not play without worry like them, because I was entrusted with an important mission—keeping watch so that my mother could escape as early as possible when the police came. I don’t remember how many times I have stood guard, but I do remember how I lived my childhood in fear and dread. Ten years passed in a flash. Under the protection of God, our family got through the persecution of the CCP. My mother wasn’t arrested and kept performing her duty safely, and I’d been growing up healthily under God’s care. My Mother Was Almost Arrested One day in the winter of 2012, I heard from my father that my mother was almost arrested by the CCP police when she was spreading the gospel. That afternoon, the CCP police carried out a search of our house again. Seeing them rummaging through every corner like bandits, I was full of indignation. “Just because of your arrest, I could not enjoy my mother’s care as other children did when I was little, and now, I can’t even see her. But you still don’t let us off and search arbitrarily…

She was reported by the religious pastors and elders for preaching the gospel. Confronted with the pursuit of the Chinese Communist Party police, she had no other choice but to leave home and hide at the relatives’ houses, during which time the CCP police didn’t stop pursuing her.

Tang Jin is a mother as well as a Christian. For believing in God, her daughter was arrested by the CCP police when performing the duty outside. After the release, her daughter is constantly monitored by the CCP. One time, the CCP began to put the Christians who were once arrested into prison, so her daughter had to leave home.

On November 8, 2017, organized and incited by Wu, the representative of a religious website in South Korea, several family members of the CAG Christians from China staged a farce at the gate of Jeju courthouse in South Korea. They invited the media to hold a press conference, requiring the court to reject the asylum applications of their families in South Korea and declaring, “We want our families to go back home.” On November 9, Wu organized several family members to hold a press conference at the Seoul Press Center building, alleging that the proper asylum application of the CAG Christians was a misuse of the refugee law. On November 10, at the entrance of the Seoul Immigration Office, the family members of a Christian held a banner protesting against the collective refugee applications from the CAG. From November 11 to 13, they held the banner to protest outside several churches of the CAG, wantonly slandering and defaming the CAG, with the focus of  objecting to the CAG Christians seeking asylum and applying for refugee status in South Korea. Right of seeking asylum is one of the fundamental human rights. It is expressly stipulated in Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” So then, what is the background of the CAG Christians coming to South Korea to seek asylum? Are they qualified to apply for refugee status? If they have the qualification, why do their family members violate their right of seeking asylum and obstruct them in applying for refugee status abroad? Who manipulates and instigates the family members of the Christians to interfere in their freedom of belief and attempt to have them repatriated to China? Who is the real arch-criminal that forces the CAG Christians to leave their family and flee abroad? All these are the focus of the issue. In August, 2016, Tian, the wife of the CAG Christian Zhang, came to South Korea. Incited by Wu, she put on a “miserable play” of “looking for my husband in the foreign country” to discredit the CAG. In November, 2017, organized by Wu, Tian and the others hindered the CAG Christians from applying for refugee status again under the cover of familial affection. As to this, what do the Christians who have escaped to South Korea to seek asylum think of it? What is the true fact behind the “family trap” set by Wu? Next, we’ll reveal the truth of the fact in three aspects: Firstly, the true background of the Christians coming to South Korea to seek asylum. Secondly, is it after the teaching of the Bible for the Christians to believe in God and leave home to work hard and sacrifice for God? Thirdly, what is the true intention of Tian and the others coming to South Korea to “look for their family” and who is the invisible hand behind it?   1.The True Background of the Christians of the House Churches in China Coming to South Korea to Seek Asylum Tian and the others said that their family were not refugees and that the asylum application of the CAG was a cheat. So then, have the CAG Christians suffered persecution? What is the true background of their going abroad to seek asylum? As is known to all, China is a country ruled by the dictatorial Communist Party. The CCP has always attacked and condemned religious belief. After holding power, it has declared the Bible as an evil cult book and designated Protestantism and Catholicism as evil cults and wantonly suppressed and persecuted underground house churches. According to statistics, only before 1957, at least tens of thousands of Christians and preachers were persecuted to death and countless Christians were imprisoned in labor camp and fined, which caused a lot of families to be torn apart and destroyed. Since Almighty God, Christ of the last days appeared and did His work in 1991, the CCP has never stopped its persecution of the CAG. On May 8, 1991, the CCP dispatched the armed police force in coordination with the police to conduct a large-scale suppression and arrest operation against the church and pursue the arrest of church leaders. In 1995, the CCP declared Christian house churches such as Shouters and the CAG as cult organizations and subjected them to oppression and persecution. On April 29, and on May 1, 2000, the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China separately convened meetings of No.1174 and No.87. By issuing interpretation, the so-called legal basis is provided for the CCP to suppress, arrest, and ban the house churches and the CAG. And Article 300 of the Criminal Law is the Miscellaneous Provisions. After the Christians are arrested, even if they are innocent of a crime, as long as they believe in God, they will be imprisoned in labor camp and be persecuted to death with no one to answer for it. According to rough statistics, in the short span of two years between 2011 and 2013, there were up to 380,380 CAG Christians arrested and detained by the CCP government, of whom 111,740 people were fined or extorted, 43,640 people suffered various tortures and cruel treatment, and 35,330 people had their houses searched. Along with its sins of persecuting the Christians being constantly exposed to the world, the CCP was red-eyed with fury. In 2014, in order to completely ban the CAG, the CCP plotted the May 28 McDonald’s Murder Case to lay the blame on the CAG and also used the media to propagandize. On June 16, the CCP carried out a nationwide special action, the “One-Hundred-Day Battle,” to crack down on the CAG, escalating the act of suppressing the CAG into an “urgent, arduous, and significant” political task. Just according to the statistics publicly reported by the CCP’s media, there had been 1,858 CAG Christians arrested during the “One-Hundred-Day Battle,” and in the half year of latter 2014, at least 6 CAG Christians…

On April 4, 2018, at 3pm local time, the Center for Public and Contextual Theology held a seminar on the theme “Religion and State in the People’s Republic of China” at the chapel at the Australian Center for Christianity and Culture, in Canberra. This seminar discussed the current difficulties China’s religious beliefs are facing under the CCP’s dictatorial rule. Several internationally renowned professors and scholars from England, America and Italy, were invited to the seminar and delivered speeches. They spoke about the state of religious persecution in China, some experts and scholars also revealed the truth of the CCP cruelly persecuting The Church of Almighty God and appealed for refugee status of those Christians fleeing abroad.   At this seminar, Prof. Eileen Barker, the director of the UK’s INFORM, gave a speech titled “Tyrant or Protector? Why might it make sense for the Chinese People’s Republic to restrict religious freedoms?” She indicated China’s so-called religion is controlled by the CCP, and the CCP is the head of the Chinese churches, and that they determines and strictly controls the number of people baptized, preachers, and the preaching content, etc. Prof. J. Gordon Melton from Baylor University of the United States, gave his speech about the topic “How Religious Diversity and Religious Freedom Works in the People’s Republic of China.” He mentioned: About three years ago, the CCP drew up a plan to dismantle 4,000 churches in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province; and now, 1,500 churches have been forcibly demolished. In addition, he stated that the CCP wanted to remove all the crosses and fully restrict Christianity, and it has been more heavily persecuting and repressing The Church of Almighty God newly founded in China. In the seminar, Professor Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist and director of the Center for Studies on New Religions, spoke of China’s “Sinicization” of religion advocated strongly in recent years. Furthermore, he made a detailed introduction on The Church of Almighty God which is the most persecuted currently in China, including the teachings and origin of The Church of Almighty God, the true fact of it suffering the CCP’s persecution, and debunked the rumors made by the outside to discredit The Church of Almighty God. During his speech, he mentioned since 1995 when the lists of “cults” were again published by the CCP, The Church of Almighty God has consistently appeared in these lists of “cults,” and that the CCP’s persecution of religious beliefs has been becoming extremely severe especially after the McDonald’s murder case in 2014. According to rough statistics, from 2011 to 2013, within just two years, 380, 380 of Christians from The Church of Almighty God were illegally arrested, detained and sentenced by the CCP. Among them, 43, 640 people suffered all kinds of cruel tortures while being illegally interrogated, 13 people were beaten to death. So far, it’s well documented that 44 Christians from The Church of Almighty God are killed by the CCP. In recent years, with the CCP’s continuously escalating persecution of The Church of Almighty God, some Christians were forced to flee to overseas democracies and sought political asylum in order to survive and continue their faith. However, they have great difficulty being granted the refugee status in some overseas countries. Therefore, their current life cannot go smoothly, and some of them even are facing the danger of being repatriated anytime. Ms. Rosita Šorytė, President of International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees, talked about the issue of Christians from The Church of Almighty God seeking political asylum overseas. She mentioned that there are currently more than 200 members of The Church of Almighty God in Australia applying for asylum, and only 5 or 6 of them have been granted the refugee status, some have been rejected, some are still waiting for the interview. She also pointed out that the right of freedom of belief was enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. In addition, she said the cases of Christians from The Church of Almighty God totally correspond with the requirements for asylum application and they should be granted the refugee status, and that they should get timely protection, but they are ignored. At present, many international human rights experts, religious scholars as well as human rights organizations have called on the international community to pay attention to the state of The Church of Almighty God suffering the CCP’s persecution, to provide those exiled Christians with fundamental human rights protection, or at least guarantee that they are not in danger of being repatriated. Prof. Eileen Barker, the director of the UK’s INFORM delivering her message. (Photo: Ding Wei) Prof. J. Gordon Melton from Baylor University speaking at the seminar. (Photo: Ding Wei) Professor Massimo Introvigne giving a detailed presentation on the persecution of The Church of Almighty God. (Photo: Ding Wei) Ms. Rosita Šorytė, President of ORLIR, giving a speech. (Photo: Ding Wei) Source: Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom

From April 6th to 7th, 2018, the 46th annual conference of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) was held at the Gustav-Stresemann-Institut in Bonn, Germany. The main focus of this year’s conference is to pay attention to the humanitarian situation and religious freedom in the Middle East. Some of the human rights figures, religious figures and representatives of persecuted Christians were invited to attend the conference. On the afternoon of April 7, the theme “Religious Freedom in Asia” was being discussed in the conference. The honored guests spoke on the China’s beliefs. The retiring cardinal Joseph Zen from Hong Kong introduced the difficulties faced by Chinese Christians and reiterated that religious freedom is a human right, but it is absent in China. On the same day, cardinal Zen also received a human rights award from the Stephanus Foundation for Persecuted Christians. He said that the money will be used to support the oppressed Christians in China. The representative from The Church of Almighty God spoke of the fact that their church has been subject to suppression and persecution by the Chinese authorities. The Chinese Communist Party held many emergency meetings to formulate and issue many secret documents, and carried out various means that are used to deal with The Church of Almighty God: creating false cases, launching national propaganda machines, and inciting people to hate The Church of Almighty God; using high-end equipment to investigate Christians; forming WeChat groups and high reward system for reporting Christians; going into households to investigate Christians’ information with various excuses; abusing all forms of cruel tortures to extort confessions, torturing and persecuting Christians; and so on. According to the incomplete statistics from the 2017 annual report of The Church of Almighty God, from the beginning of 2017 to the end of September 30, at least 3,362 Christians were persecuted by the CCP, which involved 32 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in Mainland China. Of them, 2,122 were placed under surveillance, 204 were illegally searched and 1,036 were illegally arrested. The fact that The Church of Almighty God was persecuted by the CCP has attracted the attention of the participating experts. Dr. Seyrich Renate from the working group of the City of Karlsruhe of the ISHR said, “Today, thanks to your speech, I feel that it is very necessary for you to expose the CCP’s persecution and to let the public know what has happened in China, for this information is something we are not aware of. Although we all know that there is no freedom of human rights in China, we don’t know how bad it is. Your narrative has made us feel the cruel persecution more intuitively. Belief is the most fundamental human right, which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The basic law of Germany also protects human rights, so we also want to do something for the persecuted Christians from The Church of Almighty God, and let more people give you support and condemn the CCP’s evil actions as well as help you get shelter in overseas countries.” A spokesman for a working group of the ISHR said, “The status of China’s beliefs has scared me. This is an unusual situation for us. I cannot imagine Christians being persecuted in this way in China. We enjoy the freedom of religious belief in Germany; yet for the Chinese Christians, especially Christians in underground churches, their freedom of religious beliefs is not guaranteed and they are even brutally persecuted. I’m very shocked by it. I think that European people need to be awakened to understand what is happening in China and what is happening in this world.” A guest said regarding the overseas countries’ ignorance of the human rights situation in China, “I have always paid attention to the human rights in China and I know a lot about China. During the June Fourth Incident in 1989, the CCP cruelly suppressed the students. It made me see that there is no real freedom of democracy under the CCP’s rule. And as far as I know, the topic of ‘June Fourth Incident’ is forbidden to talk about in China. There is no freedom of speech and belief in China. The CCP bribes the Western media to report for it. Therefore, outsiders rarely know the true status of human rights in China.” Now, the status of China’s religious beliefs is still deteriorating. On April 3, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper entitled “China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.” It stated that they are actively guiding religions to adapt to socialist society. Then there are reports that the “Bible” on the Mainland China’s online shopping platform has been completely removed. It is feared by the outside world that this is a new measure taken by the CCP to suppress religious freedom following the forcible demolition of the cross. The 46th annual conference of the International Society for Human Rights. (Photo: Wang Fang) Source: Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom

Before, I was a preacher of a religious sect. At that time, because of the great work of the Holy Spirit, the gospel here was more and more prosperous. In that case, the CCP government started to arrest and persecute us Christians frantically. In March of 1994, I hosted two brothers who were hunted by the CCP government. Besides, I also adopted a daughter of Brother Zhu, the leader of our local church. This was because he had been arrested and imprisoned, and thus no one took care of his daughter. For this reason, the villagers often laughed at and slandered me. Many people even said with a sneer to me: “Why do you believers in the Lord become refugees and even have no home?” Every time I heard these mocking words, I felt so pained like needles sticking in my heart. But I thought of the following words of the Lord: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:10-11). The Lord’s words gave me comfort and made me realize that suffering humiliation and ridicule because of my faith in the Lord was a blessed thing and was approved by Him. In February of 1995, my younger daughter was arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison by the CCP government because of her faith in the Lord. This news struck me like a bolt from the blue: She was sentenced to 3 years at such a young age—she just turned 19. What kind of cruel tortures will she encounter? Can she bear the cruel torture of the CCP government? My heart became extremely pained. So I could only pray to the Lord silently: “O Lord! I’d like to give my daughter to You. Please protect her so that she can stand testimony and not be a Judas.” One day in March of 1995, a large co-workers meeting was convened here. More than 40 co-workers from Anhui Province and Henan Province attended it. At around 12 o’clock that very night, the police from Anhui Province and Henan Province united together and arrested all of them. Because I went out to work that day, I escaped from the arrest. But I was blacklisted by the CCP. In April of that same year, the two brothers whom I hosted were arrested by the CCP at their co-workers meeting in Henan Province. Several days later, at around 12 o’clock at night, I was awoken from a sound sleep by rapid knocks on the door. After I got up, I learned that it was the police who came to arrest me. So, I hurriedly climbed over the wall and escaped. Thank the Lord for protecting me from being arrested again. However, from then on, I didn’t dare to live at my home or go out during the day. Only in the evening could I go out to support my brothers and sisters. One day in October, I heard that the police went to my home to arrest me again. Because I was not at home, they took away more than 5,000 kilos of grain which my family painstakingly harvested, leaving nothing behind. They also took away our piglet weighing over 20 kilos, which we just bought. My house was cleaned out. When I heard this, I hated the CCP bitterly. I thought: What have we believers in the Lord done wrong? Why do you back us into a corner? Without any grain, how can my wife and son live? In the midst of my suffering, I had no choice but to call out to the Lord repeatedly and ask Him to give me faith so that I would be able to stand witness for Him. Afterward, I went to my elder daughter’s house. She told me that the police was arresting me everywhere. They went to the houses of my relatives and friends to dig up my information, and asked the villagers to monitor me and report to the police station immediately once they found that I returned home. Apart from this, they also said: “Chen Jia must be found, no matter dead or alive!” After hearing this, I felt very pained and weak in my heart, and couldn’t stop my tears from flowing. At that time, I thought of the words of the Lord Jesus: “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38). The Lord’s words gave me faith. I couldn’t help but think: To redeem us, the Lord Jesus was crucified and gave us His most precious life. Today, what I am suffering is also the cross given by Him. He has already suffered for mankind, and so I can’t back off. No matter how the CCP government treats and persecutes me, I will follow the Lord to the very end. On the morning of November 21, 1995, I exposed my whereabouts accidentally when I went to a brother’s house. In the night, our local police station immediately joined with another one in the neighboring county to arrest me. At around 2 a.m. the next day, the police suddenly barged into the brother’s house and asked him: “Chen Jia shelter here? Speak up!” The brother did not acknowledge. Then, the police searched the rooms one by one. Finally, they found me in a room. Instantly, five or six policemen pounced on me like vicious wolves, pushed me down to the ground, cuffed my hands backward, and slapped me twice in the face. One of them sternly asked: “You are Chen Jia? Damn it! Today we’ve finally arrested you. Do you know how many days we have secretly monitored around your house? We’ve got you! See how we’ll take care of you!” Then they pushed and shoved me into a police vehicle. I prayed in my heart silently:…

My name is Xin Lu. And this year, I am 62 years old. Three generations of my family all believe in God. Ever since I can remember, my brothers and sisters and I have believed in God with our parents. Jesus taught us that we ought to take up the cross, love our neighbor as ourselves, love our enemies, and have forbearance, patience, and forgiveness toward others. Accordingly, following faithfully the teachings of God, our whole family are benevolent and never quarrel with others. All our neighbors say, “You believers in God are really good people.” However, after the commencement of the Four Cleanups Movement (clean up politics, economy, organization and ideology), our three generations were persecuted brutally by the CCP government. As the Four Cleanups Movement began in 1964, the CCP government, waving the flag of maintenance of state power, fabricated rumors and whipped up public opinion, with slogans and big-character posters plastered across the country, saying that the Catholic Church was the penetration of foreign influence, attempting to overthrow the authority of the state. Later, we believers were abused inhumanely and repressed bloodily by the CCP. Even the children under the age of 10 years couldn’t escape. The whole of China was in turbulence at that period. Zhang, the Village Secretary, framed us, saying that we established an organization called the Rose Association, within which my mother and our church friend Wang were pillars. So he put the label of “active counterrevolutionary” on them. Besides, my grandma and father were labeled as one of “the four kinds of elements” (landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, and bad elements). Every night, Zhang would hold a general meeting of commune members. He shouted the names of my grandma and parents. Then each of them, one by one, was tugged up to the platform to be attacked and whopped. To torture them, two young and robust goons of the CCP forced them to bend their heads, twisted their arms behind their backs, and then forced them to raise their arms high like flying birds. After a while, their strengths gave way and they pitched on their heads before the public. Just then, several goons rushed forward and lashed them repeatedly about the head with V-belts, snarling ferociously, “How dare you oppose the Communist Party! How dare you hate the Communist Party! Go to hell, you reactionaries!” Meanwhile, Zhang yelled to confuse the masses below the platform, “All of those Catholics are having illicit relations with foreign countries and attempting to subvert the state. Every time they say the rosary, a Communist will be eliminated.” At the instigation of the CCP government, the masses followed to shout abuse as well. Bruised and lacerated, my grandma and parents were writhing on the ground. Hearing their agonized cries, I felt as if thousands of arrows were through my heart, and for two pins I’d fight against those ruffians. But I couldn’t, because I was a Catholic, and furthermore, I was only a child. I could but close my eyes and hang my head to choke back my tears, yet I failed. Not until those goons worn out to fight anymore was the beating over. Then they ordered my grandma and parents to kneel down again and continued the attack. At that time, Zhang’s hoarse shouts and invective resounded in the entire meeting place. One day, after midnight, the struggle session was over. My elder brother and I assisted our injured grandma to home inch by inch. When we were back, my elder brother bent over the table and sobbed his heart out. Seeing my grandma’s drawn countenance and massive injuries, I couldn’t stop the tears flowing from my eyes. Just when I was overwhelmed with sorrow, the teachings of Heavenly Father occurred to me: “But I say to you, That you resist not evil: but whoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And whoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:39-41). Remembering God’s words and His love toward us, I felt a bit relieved: We are sinners; we should tread where He had trod and suffer what He had suffered. It’s glorious for our family to suffer for God. Zhang, under the instruction of the CCP government, not only attacked and beat up my grandma and parents, but compelled them to get up early to sweep the streets and do heavy farm work. At that time, an able-bodied adult could dig an acre of corn stubble every day, while they each were demanded to dig an acre and a half, and could only get 150 or 200 grams food. In order to fill my belly, every noon, while others were having a rest, I picked some leaves to eat. In summer, without clothes, I had to strip to the waist. As a result, my scrawny body was burned dark by the sun. In winter, we had no quilted jackets, and all of my family could only cover ourselves with a worn blanket at night in a house that could not keep out wind and rain. It seemed the painful times would never end, and we didn’t have any expectation, which made me overcome with a feeling of utter despair. However, even so, the CCP government stitched white strips of cloth reading “A Counter Revolutionary” on the clothes on my parents’ and grandma’s backs, parading them through the streets with signs that read “A Counter Revolutionary” on their breasts. The mental torment was far more grievous than the physical persecution, making me unable to breathe. Late one night it was 2 am, and the attack had been over, but my parents still didn’t return. Then, my little brother, not yet one year old, was awoken by hunger and began to howl on the kang bed (a kang is a kind of stove,…

My name is Wang Yan, 82 years old now. I was born in a very poor family in Hebei, China. When I was young, all my family often went hungry, for my father couldn’t do any job because of his long illness and my mother couldn’t do heavy labor as a result of foot-binding. At my nineteen years old, I got married to a fellow believer. The whole family of my husband believed in God. Every day, we read the verses and prayed together. And we always kept the Sabbath and celebrated religious holidays. All the family loved each other and were patient with each other, which made all happy. From the bottom of my heart, I felt grateful to God for His selection and great love. However, it wasn’t long before the happy life was completely broken by the CCP’s persecution. In August 1964, the Four Cleanups Movement (clean up politics, economy, organization, and ideology) began and the CCP government started to persecute Catholics cruelly. At that time, a task force was stationed in each village. Gao, the leader of the task force in our village, kept us fellow believers together in a study class. With his eyes wide open, he shouted at us, “You believe in the foreign religion. You are collaborating with foreign forces on anti-party scheming to overthrow the government … Never believe in the foreign religion again.” On August 3, Gao ordered me to the west room of the village head’s office alone. He forced me to expose that the Catholic father and nuns were sexually promiscuous. (There lived a Catholic father, some friars and some nuns in the Catholic church in the south of the village.) I gravely said, “I haven’t seen that, so I can’t bear false witness. Bearing false witness is against the Ten Commandments. It is offending God.” Gao found that I didn’t cooperate with him, so he was very angry with me. The next morning, he ordered me to the office again and said aggressively: “Wang Yan, you are charged with establishing an anti-party organization called the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. The believers read a passage of words in the rosary secretly and a Communist will be cursed to death. Don’t try to be slick! Level with me! What have you done against the Party?” I said to him: “You are fabricating things! I have never been against the Party. We read the rosary in order to pray to the Virgin Mary to keep our heart be compatible with God’s heart so that we won’t do any illegal deeds.” Hearing those words, Gao exasperatedly cried: “You are fucking not honest. We’ll loosen your tongue. You’ll see!” He took out a pistol from his pocket and fiercely threw it onto the desk opposite. The pistol rebounded and happened to hit me in the leg. At once, I felt a sharp pain. Then, he shouted: “You are fucking stubborn. If you still don’t admit in three days, you will be paraded through all the villages. I will make you feel you’d be better off dead.” On the fourth morning, the task force ordered all the three thousand villagers to the struggle session before the stage. They stuck on my back a piece of cloth which reads “The Counterrevolutionary.” Then they pushed me and some other believers onto the stage to be on parade. They made me kneel down, lower my head and hold high up my arms backwards like a flying swallow. After one hour, I couldn’t stand it so that I fell down to the ground. Just then, some thugs of the CCP came up and kicked me. And they ordered me to take the same posture again. One of them put up his hand and shouted: “Down with Wang Yan!” And the villagers also followed together: “Down with Wang Yan!” The seven of us had been criticized and denounced for over two hours. Later they paraded us through the streets in the village. The struggle session didn’t end until midnoon. I couldn’t bear such disgrace. When the task force were escorting me home, I saw a well halfway, and then ran to it, attempting to kill myself by jumping into the well. However, I was prevented by two guards. They reported it to Gao. He hurried to the spot and ferociously said to me: “If I let you kill yourself, I’ll be too soft on you! You dare not cooperate with me, I’ll slowly torment you and make your life hell.” Subsequently, Gao assigned some people to watch me by turns and I had completely lost my freedom ever since. What was the most difficult for me to bear was that they interrogated me and criticized me whenever they wanted to. I had to go to their office as soon as I was called. If there was any struggle session in other communes, they still ordered me to stand with other “criminals” on the stage and receive criticism and denunciation together. Also they stuck on my back a piece of cloth reading “The Counterrevolutionary” and hung on my neck a board saying “Four Kinds of Elements” (landlords, rich peasants, counter revolutionaries, and bad elements) to intentionally humiliate me and insult my personality. At that time, I felt I was ravaged mentally and physically. I couldn’t live in the world even one more day. When I was extremely painful, I silently prayed that the Lord Jesus would help me through the tough time and protect me from betraying Him. After my prayer, I remembered the Lord told His disciples: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). The Lord’s words comforted me. I knew that the Lord was looking at me. His love deeply moved me. I was determined to carry my cross and follow Him. In no way would I betray Him. No matter how I was humiliated and how hard the life was, I…