Persecution Testimonies

“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…

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…

My name is Yong Gai, and I’m 72 years old this year. In 1992, I believed in the Lord Jesus. Because I ardently pursued, I was promoted to be main co-worker. Since then I usually preached and worked outside and accordingly, I suffered the Chinese government’s arrest. Around 11 p.m. on June 15, 1996, my family and I had fallen asleep. Suddenly, I was awakened by the dog’s barking. Then I heard “bam bam bam” from the door. I asked, “Who is that?” I heard a man said viciously, “It’s the police. Open the door quickly!” I thought: It’s so late. What do they come to me for? Just as I was opening the door, six or seven policemen rushed into my room. Two of them grasped me and forcibly twisted my arms, pushing me out of the door. Before I had recovered from this sudden arrest, another policeman kicked me hard, two times. While kicking, he said through gnashing teeth, “We’ve tried to capture you three times, but you’ve had us running around in circles. This time, we finally catch you.” When I turned my back and glanced at him, I found it was the director of the Public Security Division of our team. More than ten sturdy guys were standing beside the door with electric batons and sticks in their hands. I struggled and said, “Why do you arrest me? What law have I broken?” One of the police said, “Your belief in the Lord is illegal. Your preaching is disturbing the social order and is against the law.” I said, “Believing in the Lord is a good thing. How has it become disturbing the social order?” They seemingly didn’t hear me, and still marched me to the road with more than ten police following on either side and behind. After walking about fifty meters, I saw several police cars parking ahead of me. They pushed me into a car, and handcuffed my hands to it. About half an hour, the car stopped. They opened the handcuff and pulled me out of the car. Then they shoved me into a dark room more than ten square meters with only an empty cement floor. Seeing that they all looked ferocious, I couldn’t help but feel scared. So, I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord Jesus! Thanks be to You! The policemen take me here and I feel afraid. May You give me faith. I am willing to rely on You and stand firm in the testimony! Amen!” After my prayer, my heart was calmed. At around eight o’clock a.m. on June 18, it was rainy. Two policemen handcuffed my hands and pushed me into a car. About half an hour later, they took me to the municipal Public Security Bureau. One policeman put me in a cell and then intentionally raised his voice, “Listen carefully! This is a believer in the Lord! Be ‘nice’ to him and serve him.” Hearing his words, the prisoners came up to punch and kick me. I writhed on the floor with pain, and screamed unceasingly. One of the prisoners pulled me up from the floor and pushed me back against the wall, letting each of the eight strong prisoners hit hard on my chest seven times. Then he let me turn back with my face against the wall, and made them hit hard on my back eight times. I immediately felt I couldn’t breathe and ached unbearably. I cried and prayed to the Lord silently in my heart: “O Lord! May You protect me! I feel too miserable to bear it. I think I’m going to die. Lord, I give my life to You.” In my prayer, I seemed to see that the Lord Jesus was covered with wounds, bore the heavy cross and walked toward Calvary. “The Lord Jesus is innocent, but he was willing to be crucified. I am a sinner who received God’s mercy, why cannot I dedicate my life to the Lord?” At that moment, I heard someone say, “We can’t beat him anymore, or he will die.” I felt relieved in my heart, knowing this was the Lord’s compassion and care for me. One prisoner held me up, and asked, “What law did you break?” I said weakly, “I’m a believer in the Lord. I didn’t break the law.” He said, “Believing in the Lord is being a good person. Why did they arrest you?” I said, “Because they don’t allow people to believe in the Lord.” Hearing what I said, some prisoners said, “Believers in the Lord are good people. We cannot beat him anymore.” At that time, I thanked the Lord for His protection: If He hadn’t protected me, I would have been beaten to death for suffering such cruel beating. At this moment, I thought of the Lord Jesus’ words: “For whoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). “Yes, God is testing my faith by the things happened to me. When I give my life to the Lord, He protects my life. From this, I see my life and death are both in the Lord’s hands.” Around 8:30 a.m. on June 24, a policeman handcuffed me and took me to the interrogation room. The police there pounded the table and shouted, in a harsh tone and with a severe expression, “The Party’s policy is to be lenient to those who confess, and harsh to those who resist. Speak! Who preached to you? Who did you preach to?” I said angrily, “According to the state law, ‘everyone enjoys freedom of religious belief, and the state protects the legal rights and interests of people,’ why do you arrest me? This is illegal.” A policeman, who seemed to be the head of the police, sneered sinisterly and deceitfully, “Regarding religious freedom, that’s to deceive the public. To tell you the truth, China wanted to join the World Trade Organization. But any country…