By Gao Liang, China

One day in April of 2006, I went to spread Almighty God’s kingdom gospel to a group of Christians, but they didn’t accept it. After that, I went back to spread the gospel to them again, but they sent a dog after me. Several days later, when I was at work, two plainclothes policemen came to my workplace and forced me to take them to where I was living at the time. I realized that the Christians had likely reported me. I felt anxious and fearful—I knew that if the police were to find the books of God’s words that I kept in my apartment, they would certainly arrest me. I prayed ceaselessly to God: “Oh God, if they really do arrest me today, it will be with Your permission. I’m ready to put myself in Your hands. Please protect me, give me strength and faith and guide me to stand firm in my witness.” After arriving at my place, they began rummaging through all my personal possessions without providing any identification, eventually finding one copy of The Word Appears in the Flesh, one gospel book, and one CD player. They then proceeded to take me to the county public security bureau.

An officer asked me: “Are you a believer in Almighty God? How many people have you proselytized to? Who is your leader?” I replied: “Yes, I believe in Almighty God, but we practice faith and share the gospel of our own accord. We don’t have leaders.” This made him so angry that he kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me stumbling back several steps. I knew that I probably couldn’t avoid being tortured and tormented after being arrested—such a day is always bound to come for those of us that live in China as believers and followers of God. I had to rely on God to get through this ordeal—I couldn’t bend the knee to Satan. The officer viciously grilled me, saying: “When did you join the church? Who gave you those books? Where does he live?” When I didn’t respond, he pulled my hands behind my back and handcuffed me to a metal chair. Just then, the Public Security Bureau chief, Chief Wang, walked in and yelled: “What the hell are you doing? Uncuff him right away!” Then, with a smile, he walked over to me, patted me on the shoulder and, affecting a sincere tone, said: “Old comrade, I only want the best for you. I know work hasn’t been easy for you. If you tell us everything you know about The Church of Almighty God, you’ll get a reward of several thousand yuan.” I realized that this was Satan’s cunning plot: The officer was trying to bait me into giving away information about the church, betraying God and selling out my brothers and sisters by offering a monetary reward. I thought to myself: “Even if you offered me a mountain of gold I still wouldn’t relent. I’ll never betray the church’s interests.” Seeing that I wasn’t convinced, he added: “If you just tell me what you know, you can even take a slice of our profits going forward.” I felt utterly repulsed by him and just ignored everything he said. When he realized I wasn’t going to say anything, he immediately turned sinister. With a scowl and in a severe tone, he said: “This one doesn’t know what’s good for him. Do what you must with him” and then stormed out of the room. One of the officers threatened me, saying: “If you don’t honestly tell us what you know, things aren’t going to end up well for you.” As he said this, he slapped me hard across the face, kicked me to the ground, then wrapped my arms behind my back and handcuffed me back onto the metal chair. I felt a little scared when I thought about what torture might be in store for me, so I silently prayed to God: “Oh God, it is entirely up to You whether I die at the hands of the police today. Please fill me with faith and strength—help prevent me from selling out my brothers and sisters and betraying You.” After concluding my prayer, I suddenly recalled the story of Daniel. Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den, but he had faith, and prayed to and relied upon God, so God closed the jaws of the lions to prevent them from harming him. I knew I too should have faith in God and stand firm in my witness for Him no matter how the police tormented me.

After that, they interrogated me on the same questions again, but I still wouldn’t respond, so they dragged me into a courtyard, placed five or six books of God’s words in front of me, and hung a placard around my neck that said “member of a cult.” They snapped a picture of me before taking my fingerprints and bringing me into a concealed torture room. As soon as I entered the room, I could feel my blood curdle—the room was stocked full of all different kinds of torture devices. There was a high rack made of welded steel, a tiger chair and foot shackles, as well as over ten boxes large and small filled with all kinds of other torture devices. On the wall hung leather whips, bakelite rods, clamps and many other smaller torture devices I’d never seen before. There must have been over a hundred torture devices in that room. I immediately felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and my legs went limp. I thought to myself: “They wouldn’t have brought me here if they didn’t plan on torturing me. Who knows if I’ll be able to make it out of here alive. Maybe if I just feed them some irrelevant information, they’ll let me go and I won’t have to suffer in this place. If I don’t tell them anything, they’ll certainly subject me to severe torture.” Just then, I suddenly recalled the story of Daniel’s three friends—they were thrown into a fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow to a golden idol, saying they’d rather die than betray God. God protected all three of them, with none suffering even the slightest burn. This reminded me of God’s almighty sovereignty; my faith in Him was renewed. I knew that my fate, whether it be to live or die, was all within God’s grasp. No matter how they tortured me, I had to rely upon God and stand firm in my witness for Him. After that, two young officers came in and adjusted the steel rack to my height, hanging my hands from the horizontal bar so that on tiptoes my feet just touched the ground. One officer viciously growled: “We’ve wasted a whole day trying to get you to talk, now it’s time to make you suffer!” My hands and arms were holding up my entire body’s weight. My whole body felt incredibly uncomfortable. After a while, my hands and arms began to hurt more and more, as if they were being slowly ripped apart. It hurt so much that I cried out in pain. I hadn’t eaten for an entire day and I felt dizzy and nauseous. It was really more than I could take. In the midst of my suffering, I suddenly recalled God’s words: “Perhaps you all remember these words: ‘For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’ You have all heard these words before, yet none of you understood their true meaning. Today, you are profoundly aware of their true significance. These words shall be fulfilled by God during the last days, and they shall be fulfilled in those who have been brutally persecuted by the great red dragon in the land where it lies coiled. The great red dragon persecutes God and is the enemy of God, and so, in this land, those who believe in God are thus subjected to humiliation and oppression, and these words are fulfilled in you, this group of people, as a result” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?). Through God’s words, I realized that He was using the great red dragon in His service to perfect His chosen people. I was being tortured to perfect my faith—there was a special meaning to this torture—so I had to stop being so negative and weak. I prayed to God then, saying: “Oh God! No matter how they torture me or how much I must suffer, I will never sell out my brothers and sisters or betray You!” After that, I was left to hang there for about two hours.

At a little past 8 p.m., four young men wearing ski masks entered the room and one of them viciously quipped: “Well, well, how we doing? Comfortable are you?” As he said this, he took a leather whip from the wall and began lashing me across the arms with it. With each lash, it felt like the flesh was being forcibly torn from my bones—it was unbearably painful. He whipped me at least fifty or sixty times and when he got tired, another guy took over. At the time, I was a bit worried that if they whipped me so hard my arms became crippled, I’d be unable to live a normal life, so I prayed to God: “Oh God, I place everything in Your hands. Whether I become crippled or not, I submit to Your orchestrations and arrangements.” It was only after they got tired out from all the whipping that they let me down from the rack. My entire body had gone limp and I immediately fell to the floor. But they weren’t done with me yet—after that, they bound me to the tiger chair and continued interrogating me. One of the officers growled: “Don’t count on getting out of here alive if you don’t tell us the truth! Just give us an honest account of what you know and we’ll let you go. The CCP is in deadly hostility to you—it takes you believers as its sworn enemies. They want to destroy you and kill you all. This is CCP policy—they can take the lives of you believers in Almighty God without the slightest impunity!” I steadfastly replied: “I don’t know anything. There is nothing I can say to you.” Seeing that I still wasn’t cooperating, they unstrapped me from the tiger chair and made me lie on the ground. They then each took one black, 30 inch long, 3–4 inch wide bakelite rod filled with steel balls and, standing on either side of me, proceeded to viciously beat me with the rods all over my body. My body shuddered with each and every strike of those rods. I writhed in pain, screaming out in utter misery. I was having trouble breathing; there are no words to describe how excruciating that pain was. They beat me the most on my buttocks—it went on and on, and I felt like they were beating my guts out. Enduring unbearable pain, I angrily yelled out: “You’re trying to beat me to death! You want to take my life! Why don’t you go catch some real murderers and arsonists? What laws have I broken to deserve this cruelty? Are you even human?” One of the officers became even more enraged upon hearing this and began to beat me so hard that his bakelite rod broke in two, sending the steel balls careening across the floor. All the officers broke out in a cacophony of laughter. Then through gritted teeth, an officer said to me: “You haven’t broken any laws? The CCP doesn’t allow the existence of any religious belief. The Chinese people must only believe in the Communist Party. You are the CCP’s enemies and they will destroy you, kill you and eradicate you all completely!” As he said this, they took two long whips from one of the boxes and said: “Still won’t tell us what we want to hear? Then let’s try a different flavor—see how you like the taste of this!” Then they ordered me to stand up and two of them began whipping me hard with a rapacious fury, inflicting unbearable pain. When they got tired out from whipping, two other officers took their place and continued the beating, trading off at least four times, with each beating lasting at least 30 minutes. By the end of it, I just fell paralyzed to the ground, but they pulled me right back up and continued interrogating me. When I wouldn’t say anything, they continued to whip me and kick my legs. It felt like they had broken my legs. I began to feel a bit weak and thought: “If I don’t tell them anything, they’ll keep using all different kinds of torture tactics to torment me. They might even torture me to death. But if I say anything, I’ll become a Judas and the vow I made before God would become a deceit. This would hurt God, and worse, provoke His bitter hatred.” I went back and forth in my mind—should I say something or not? Just then, I recalled Lord Jesus’ crucifixion and I remembered God’s words: “On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus was in agony, as if a knife were being twisted in His heart, yet He had not the slightest intention of going back on His word; always there was a powerful force compelling Him onward to where He would be crucified. Ultimately, He was nailed to the cross and became the likeness of sinful flesh, completing the work of the redemption of mankind. He broke free of the shackles of death and Hades. Before Him, mortality, hell, and Hades lost their power, and were vanquished by Him” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How to Serve in Harmony With God’s Intentions). To redeem all of humankind, Lord Jesus was willing to be crucified, to be humiliated and tormented, and to offer up His own life. God’s love for humankind is so great! With this in mind, I felt deeply encouraged and made a silent vow: “I will not become a Judas and betray God, even if it means being tortured to death!” After that, they continued to threaten me, saying: “If you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’ll beat you to death and send you to the crematorium, where you’ll be burnt to ash. Either that, or we’ll send your body to the brickyard where you’ll be ground to a pulp and made into bricks.” At the time, I felt scared, but I knew that it wasn’t within their authority to say whether I’d survive their beatings. All was in God’s hands, and I was willing to submit to His orchestrations and arrangements. Just then, it suddenly occurred to me that the church’s books were still in my possession and none of my brothers and sisters knew that I’d been arrested. If the police got their hands on those books, it would be a huge loss for the church. I began to panic, so I prayed to God, “God, my own life is not important, but as keeper of the church’s books, I must ensure that those books remain safe. Yet I don’t know if I’ll make it out of here alive. I place all of these concerns in Your hands and ask that You open up a way for me.” After concluding my prayer, something miraculous happened: I no longer felt any pain from the whipping. I knew that God was helping to allay my suffering and I was incredibly thankful to Him. When they saw that I was just lying there motionless and had stopped screaming, they hurriedly stopped their whipping. One of them slipped a finger under my nose and then nervously said: “He’s in bad shape. Take him out of here—we’ll have a real mess on our hands if he dies on our watch.” I knew that God had opened up a way for me and was watching over me, otherwise I certainly would have died in there.

Afterward, two officers dragged me out and threw me in a field, leaving me there. I lay on the ground motionless. It must have been about two in the morning. At that time, there was only one thought in my mind: I had to let my brothers and sisters know that the books had to be relocated before sunrise, so that they didn’t end up in the hands of the police. I tried to get up, but I was too badly injured. I exerted every last ounce of energy I had, but I just couldn’t stand up. I felt terribly worried and panicked, so I hurriedly prayed to God, asking Him for strength. After my prayer, I recalled a passage of God’s words: “Do not fear, the Almighty God of hosts will surely be with you; He stands behind you and He is your shield” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 26). God’s words gave me faith. After another 30 odd minutes, I tried to stand up again, and after about four or five attempts, I finally stood up. The sun hadn’t come up yet and it was still completely dark out on the roads. I dragged myself along, enduring excruciating pain as I hobbled step by step toward Brother Cheng Yi’s house. Upon arriving, I immediately told him what had happened and asked him to promptly instruct the brothers and sisters to relocate the books of God’s words. After informing him, I limped my way back to my apartment. That was about 3 in the morning. When I turned on the light, I found the place was in utter shambles. What had happened to my home? My quilts, pillows, mattress, and clothing had all been thrown on the floor. The entire apartment had been upended. Taking stock of my own injuries, I saw that I had been badly mutilated: The flesh of my legs had stuck to the inside of my pants, and about 4 inches of my rectum had prolapsed and seemed to be necrotizing. I was in excruciating pain, my breath was labored, and I felt like I was truly on my last leg. My injuries were extremely severe—I couldn’t move and couldn’t even get down a gulp of water. I thought to myself: “Can I survive all these injuries? Even if I do, will I be crippled? Will I be able to function on my own going forward? My wife and kids have all been misled by the CCP’s lies and are opposed to my faith. If I become disabled, they won’t take care of me….” The more I thought, the worse I felt, so I prayed to God. As I prayed, I recalled God’s words: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing in which I do not have the final say. Is there anything that is not in My hands?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 1). Indeed, my fate was in God’s hands. It was all for God to decide whether I would live or die and whether or not I would be disabled. I knew I should give myself over to God and let Him preside over arrangements. Even were I to become disabled, I would submit. Even if my wife and children wouldn’t take care of me, I knew that God was with me and my brothers and sisters would look after me, so I would survive all the same. Realizing this, I didn’t feel so tormented and agonized.

Brother Yu Zhijian arrived at my house at 4 a.m. that morning. When he came in, seeing that I was lying on my bed unable to move, he pulled back my blanket only to find my pants covered in bloody stains, my lower limbs laced with deep gashes and gaping flesh, and my rectum and pieces of flesh stuck to my pants. At the sight of this, he broke down in tears and brought me a basin of hot water, crying as he came. After cutting open my pants and applying a hot compress, he slowly separated the pants from my flesh, piece by piece. The skin below my knees was a mess of open wounds so deep that the bone was exposed. To this day, I still can’t bring myself to recall that ordeal. I had very serious injuries, but didn’t dare go to the hospital out of concern that the police would find me and arrest me when I checked in with my ID. I would also be putting my brothers and sisters at risk. During that time, I couldn’t take care of myself at all, and Zhijian risked being arrested to come and look after me every day. He was new to the faith and I worried that he would become frightened and weak after seeing how I’d been beaten. I told him: “Going through this ordeal was a good thing for me—it has allowed me to see Satan for what it really is.” To my surprise, Zhijian said: “Don’t worry about me. I’ve now seen for myself that the CCP is a demon that resists God and inflicts cruelty on mankind. We must stand firm in our witness for God.” Over the course of that week, I cleaned the prolapsed portion of my rectum every day with salt water and took a folk remedy as well. Finally, on around the eighth day after being arrested, the prolapse healed. After two weeks, I was able to walk again.

After that, the police would come to interrogate and harass me every 15 days. Each time, they would grill me with questions about the church and ask me if I was still in contact with other members. They even threatened me, saying: “If you don’t come clean, we’ll never drop your case!” I thought to myself: “I already see you all for what you really are. No matter how you coerce or threaten me, I’ll never give in to you. You can forget about trying to get me to betray God!” In the brief two years between being arrested in 2006 until 2008, the police came to interrogate me at least 25 times. Because they were continually monitoring me, I didn’t dare meet with brothers and sisters for fear of getting them in trouble, so I was forced to return to my family’s home in the country.

Later on, my rectum and back completely healed, but I continued to experience residual effects from the injuries sustained to my legs. I still have a lot of soreness and weakness in my right leg and I develop a limp in cloudy or rainy weather. The worst residual effects have been with my skin. The scabs from all the gashes came off only to reveal black, discolored patches, and my whole body is covered in unsightly pits, densely concentrated lumps with small white boils that itch like crazy. When I shower or get too hot, that itchy feeling from the boils is worse than salt in an open wound. It itches so much that I can barely take it—sometimes I have to rub the affected areas with pebbles from the riverside, or use a knife to drain the pus before I feel any relief. I’ve been afflicted by this pain night and day for over 15 years. During this time, I’ve gone to see several traditional Chinese medicine doctors in private clinics, spending 10,500 yuan in medical bills without any improvement whatsoever. Enduring incredible physical torment and being unable to contact my brothers and sisters and live a normal church life, I experienced great depths of agony and would often pray to God with tears in my eyes, asking that He stay by my side and give me faith and strength. If I didn’t have God’s protection and guidance during those dark days, I never would have made it through.

It’s been 15 years since I was arrested, and as I reflect, I realize that though I have indeed suffered to a degree, I’ve also come to see the great red dragon for what it really is and truly recognize its demonic substance. I now read God’s words which say: “Thousands of years of hate are concentrated in the heart, millennia of sinfulness are inscribed upon the heart—how could this not inspire loathing? Avenge God, completely snuff out His enemy, do not allow it to run rampant any longer, and do not permit it to rule as a tyrant! Now is the time: Man has long since gathered all his strength, he has devoted all his efforts and paid every price for this, to tear off the hideous face of this devil and allow people, who have been blinded, and who have endured every manner of suffering and hardship, to rise up from their pain and rebel against this evil old devil” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Work and Entry (8)). Pondering God’s words, I’ve seen even more clearly how cruel and savage the CCP is. They claim to respect religious freedom, but in secret they wantonly arrest and persecute Christians, seeking to thoroughly suppress God’s work of the salvation of mankind and turn China into an atheist country. They are a demonic cabal that despises the truth and resists God. I have truly seen the ugly face of the CCP and have come to despise and rebel against them entirely. Through this experience, I’ve also come to recognize how God is always looking after and protecting me. Each time I was in pain or felt weak, God’s words would instruct and guide me and give me strength and faith. I experienced God’s authentic love for humankind and His wondrousness and omnipotence. This deeply fortified my faith in God. No matter how rocky the road ahead might be or how much my body must suffer, I will follow God until the very end!