Persecution Testimonies

By Chen Chen, China Monday, December 5, 2016 Cloudy Today, I was released from jail. I’m overwhelmed with emotion. I spent four years in “the hell on earth” and could still survive. This was entirely due to God’s protection and guidance. At about 3 o’clock p.m., I was brought back by the local officials, including the director of the Judicial Bureau, an officer of the police station, the village committee secretary, and the township public security officer. They took me to the local judicial organ first and then to the police station; at the same time, they took samples of my hair, fingerprints, photograph, blood type, and handwriting. 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 catch you back once we find you leave without permission. And one more thing, you must come and report every month.” Hearing these words, I was indignant, thinking: “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 inhuman torture and torment. Today I could narrowly escape death and get out of the jail, but you start to control and restrict my personal freedom 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 the life at home is much better than in prison, I can’t go out to attend meetings or see my brothers and sisters because of the CCP’s restrictions of me. At 4 o’clock this afternoon, the head of the police station talked 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, can it be that he will directly send me to jail again? Anyway, I’ll break through this dark influence. 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 an icy glimpse and said, “Then you must be under our supervision for five years. If you behave well, we’ll terminate control over you after two years.” I realized that this was Satan’s temptation. They wanted to induce me to give up my faith for getting rid of their supervision soon. Undoubtedly, they wanted me to deny God and betray God. How sinister and cunning they are! I prayed to God silently: “O God, the CCP is crafty, and did its utmost to entice me to betray You. I implore You to keep my heart so that I won’t yield to it 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 sounded a pounding noise on the door. I was stunned and hurried to hide my book of God’s word, and then calming myself, 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 God? If you want to believe in anything, believe in the CCP.” Hearing his biting words, 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 gathering. Besides, you must cooperate with us: If someone comes to preach the gospel or ask you to attend meetings, call me and report right away.” Hearing his words, 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 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 the 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’ll cook something delicious for him, and prepare a family reunion dinner. After lunch, I began to make preparations, humming hymns of God’s words happily. Suddenly, we heard a knock at the door. My husband opened it and found that they were the head of the police station and three other policemen. They came to harass us even on the New Year’s Day as if they were haunting ghosts; my good mood was spoiled. The head said to us with tongue in cheek, “We came to implement the communiqué from Party Central(the campaign themed “family-like ethnic bonding”). All the people who have religious beliefs are the objects we bond with. From now on, we are relatives. What plan do you have for the year ahead? If you have any difficulties in life, just tell us.” Hearing his words, I was very astonished. I thought: “We have neither money nor power, and we have been abandoned by the worldly people because of believing in God. How come you as a government official care about my family and are even going to be our relatives? There must be Satan’s scheme within 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 my home. And I will have less freedom. Just because my husband and I believe in God, both of us were imprisoned for a total of ten years, when we were forced to slave away 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.

“Tell me, do you believe in Almighty God?” asked Wang Li’s husband the moment he came through the door.
Wang Li felt puzzled. How come her husband was acting so strangely and asking her this question all of a sudden? She was stunned for a moment but then replied, “Yes, I do. What’s wrong?”

By Zhang Zhi Editor’s Note: Zhang Zhi, a Christian, was arrested and brutally tortured by CCP police for having faith and sharing the gospel. After his release, he’s unable to withstand life long-term in the prison without walls he’s subjected to, and so he flees. Several years later the CCP is still tightening its noose—his family members are arrested and a 50,000 yuan reward is offered for his capture. But with the guidance of God’s words, he makes it through all those arduous days and nights. Let’s take a look at how Zhang Zhi relies on God and stands witness as the CCP is closing in on him. God’s Love Guides Him Through Brutal Torture On December 12, 2012 around 9:00 p.m., Zhang Zhi was reported by the village head for sharing the gospel. The news traveled swiftly, and he was arrested by police and taken to the county police station. As Zhang Zhi was handcuffed very tightly to a tiger bench, an officer barked at him, “When did you start believing in God? Where did you get these religious materials? What’s your role in the church? Do you know where the church money is kept? Speak up!” Faced with police interrogation, Zhang Zhi didn’t hesitate to silently call out to God, asking for God’s protection so that he wouldn’t fall for Satan’s tricks, so he wouldn’t be a Judas and betray God. After praying, he said calmly, “I just read God’s words and seek the truth. I have nothing to do with any money.” The officer said viciously, “You’re pretty tight-lipped. I’m warning you—you’d better be up front and tell me what you know, otherwise, I’ll have no problem dealing with you!” Over two hours of interrogation yielded no results—the officer was enraged. He took Zhang Zhi into a room without any surveillance cameras and started slapping him over and over, alternating between the left and the right side. After doing this a dozen or more times, Zhang Zhi was seeing stars and his face was burning with pain. The officer then snarled as he picked up a wide leather belt and savagely whipped him in the face with it. Zhang Zhi cried out loudly from the pain; the officer tightly restrained both of his arms and affixed a leather belt over his mouth so that he couldn’t make any noise. For a moment Zhang Zhi felt unbearably suffocated and his head rapidly swelled with blood. There was a whirring sound in his ears and his vision was going fuzzy. Two evil police officers tightly clamped down on his hands so he couldn’t even struggle. It was then that Zhang Zhi finally saw the true face of “the people’s police”—they’re nothing but a pack of deranged demons. Zhang Zhi’s consciousness was becoming a bit fuzzy, but he faintly heard one officer bellow at him, “So how about it? Are you going to talk or not? Looks like we have to get a little tougher!” Saying this, he took a blanket and wrapped up Zhang Zhi’s body with it, then beat him all over with an iron bar. He was in pain and afraid and all he could do was continuously call out to God in his heart: “Oh God, please save me!” After praying his pain suddenly lessened—he was deeply aware that this was God’s accommodation for his fleshly weakness. After a while they tore the blanket off and stopped beating me. They were out of breath from their exertion. Zhang Zhi couldn’t hold back his thanks to God for protecting him through this ordeal. Then an officer demanded, totally exasperated, “Will you talk or not? Who is your leader? Who told you to proselytize? If you don’t tell us everything we’ll get you sentenced and sent to prison.” Zhang Zhi still wouldn’t say a word. An officer with a ferocious-looking face yelled, “So it looks like we need to get tougher! Get him ready for ‘Erlang carries a mountain.’” Two officers quickly twisted one of Zhang Zhi’s arms backwards and hauled it up forcefully while two others lifted his other arm over his shoulder and twisted it behind his back. They then dragged it down, forced his arms together, and handcuffed him. For a moment Zhang Zhi felt like both of his arms had been broken. He cried out loudly, in so much pain that he nearly couldn’t breathe. Not long passed before, he lost feeling in both hands. They then ordered him to stand in a squat. The pain throughout Zhang Zhi’s entire body caused him to break out in a cold sweat and there was a buzzing sound in his head. His consciousness became even less clear, and he really had the feeling that he was on the verge of death. Zhang Zhi really could not withstand such inhuman torture; he was very much afraid that he wouldn’t be able to consciously control himself because of the weakness of the flesh, and he would divulge information on the church. He called out to God, “God! I really can’t take this anymore. I’m so afraid that these awful police are going to torture me to the point that I lose my resolve and betray You. Oh God, please bring down a disaster so that this pack of demons and I all come to our end!” At that moment, he thought of these words of God: “The suffering of some people reaches a certain point, and their thoughts turn to death. This is not the true love of God; such people are cowards, they have no perseverance, they are weak and powerless!” God’s words made Zhi Zhang’s head suddenly clear and he realized that his prayer was not in line with God’s will. In the mist of pain and hardship, God’s hope was that he could lean on God and be a witness who could overcome Satan. If he died now because of his fleshly weakness, not only would there be no testimony, but Satan would get…

She was arrested and given a 4.5-year sentence because of her faith in God. After serving time, she was still monitored and threatened. How did she stand firm in oppression and hardship?

Christian Li Gang has been arrested twice by the CCP and robbed of a total of ten years for his belief in God. Ten years of prison life and the cruel, inhumane torture didn’t crush him, but instead strengthened his faith in following God. How did he achieve that?

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.

In the spring of 1999, I believed in the Lord Jesus because of the disharmony of my family. Since then, I received much grace and had peace and joy in my heart. This made me even more certain that the Lord Jesus is the true God. So I began to preach the gospel, and very soon 20-odd people turned to the Lord. Later, as the number of believers in the Lord increased, I provided my two empty rooms as the meeting place for convenience of brothers and sisters. At that time, although I often read the Bible, yet I couldn’t explain it well because I hadn’t believed in the Lord long. Thus, I taught brothers and sisters to sing hymns, and I led a full life every day. However, when we were immersed in happiness, the Chinese government’s sudden persecution befell us. … It was a Sunday morning in the spring of 2000. Over a dozen brothers and sisters were having a meeting at my home. Suddenly, five policemen broke in; without saying anything, they began to snatch the Bible from us. We were all frightened by this, stood there and didn’t know what to do. I took a close look at them, finding that three of this gang of police had come to my home the other day. At that point, they wore everyday clothes and said they came to purchase medicinal materials. I preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus to them, and they all said believing in the Lord was a good thing. Before leaving, one young man even said that he would let his wife believe in the Lord and asked when we would have a meeting. I trusted his words and told that to him. Until now, I knew they were plainclothes policemen and had long planned to arrest us. How sinister and vicious they are! In short order the policemen put more than twenty Bibles and the hymn books all into a bag. Moreover, they flipped my house upside down and turned it into a mess. Seeing Sister Wang and I stand in the forefront, they took us away without a word. At that time, although I heard the CCP persecutes religious belief, I always thought: We just have gatherings and praise the Lord at home, and we don’t do anything illegal, so even if the police take us away, they merely ask us about something. However, the fact fought back against my notion greatly. When Sister Wang and I were taken to the Town Police Station, the policemen separated us for interrogation. Three policemen interrogating me said many blasphemous words against the Lord. Not only did they say our gathering was illegal and disturbing the social order, but questioned us closely about who the upper-level leaders were and who preached the gospel to us. Seeing their baleful look, I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words, “But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you” (Matthew 5:44). Then I kept calling out to the Lord in my heart, “O Lord! The police force us to betray our church, but I will never be a Judas, the Lord’s betrayer. May You forgive their sins and move their hardened heart so that they turn to You. …” After my prayer, I felt assured in my heart and also had faith. Seeing I didn’t say anything, one of the policemen gnashed his teeth and threatened me in a harsh tone, “If you still believe in Jesus, I’ll sentence you and put you into the labor camp at once.” Hearing that we would be sentenced, I was in a panic and thought: I still haven’t harvested wheat. If the harvest is delayed, we’ll suffer the loss of this year’s harvest. Then how will my family live in the future? And moreover, my five-year-old granddaughter is at my home; if I’m sentenced, who will look after her? Thinking of this, I unconsciously felt weak. At this moment, a policeman took out the paper and pen and asked me to write a letter of guarantee, saying that if I didn’t believe in the Lord and paid a fine of two hundred yuan, I would be allowed to go home. Hearing that I needed to pay the fine, I became very angry, thinking, “If a person does something wrong or takes the wrong path, he should pay the fine. But God created us humans, and supplies us with everything. It’s the law of heaven and earth that we believe and worship the Lord. If I pay the fine, doesn’t that mean I am wrong? They have us write the guarantee, don’t they want us to betray the Lord?” But seeing their fierce look, I felt somewhat afraid. “If I don’t act according to their words, I really don’t know how they will treat me.” Just as I was timid, the Lord Jesus’ words occurred to my mind, “Whoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 10:32–33). The Lord’s words gave me strength, and made my nervous heart calm down. I said firmly, “It’s proper and right for us to believe in the Lord. No matter when, I will believe in the Lord.” Hearing my words, the policemen were at their wits’ end, and then they brought Sister Wang and me to the County Public Security Bureau. After we arrived there, two policemen interrogated me and questioned closely about the same questions, but I flat-out refused him. Finally, when they saw their plot failed, one policeman roared wildly, “You believers in the Lord are too stubborn.” With that, he waved his hand and immediately came several policemen. They forced Sister Wang and me into a police car and took us to the county detention jail. As soon as I entered there, I felt it was ghastly…