By Zhou Yi, China

One evening in September 2002, a younger brother and I were on our way home from sharing the gospel, when all of a sudden, two guys taking miner’s lamps came toward us, one on each side of the road. Shining their bright lights straight into our faces, they trapped us between them. One of them got a document out and said, “We’re the police!” They snatched my bag out of my bicycle basket and ordered us to squat down to be searched. I felt pretty nervous, not knowing how the police were going to treat us. I said a silent prayer to God and asked Him to give me faith. I didn’t want to be a Judas, no matter what. I remembered something God said: “Faith is like a single log bridge: Those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to sacrifice themselves can pass over, sure of foot and worry-free” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 6). I knew that I had to rely on God and have faith, that being ready to give up my life was the only way I could stand witness.

The police pushed us into their car, and then when they weren’t looking, I pressed my pager hard against the side of the seat and broke it, then hid it under the seat. At the station, the police took us into an office and one person held up my broken pager and yelled, “Who said you could break this?” Then five or six people surrounded me and started punching and kicking me. After a bout of violently beating me, they slammed me down on a bench so hard that the top layer of it broke right then and there. They picked me up and slammed me down again. I was seeing stars and my whole body was in pain. I prayed to God nonstop, asking Him to give me the strength to withstand the pain. Then, an officer held up my ID card and asked me what my name was and I said it was written on the card. He glared at me and said, “Answer the question, or I’ll pry that mouth of yours open!” I ignored him, so he got a plastic cord about as thick as a chopstick and tightly wrapped it around my whole body, starting from the feet. Then he hung a piece of a blackboard from my neck and had me stand up straight without moving. I was struggling to breathe—it was really awful. They kept questioning me: “Who’s your leader? Where have you been spreading your gospel? Who have you been talking to?” I didn’t say anything, so one of them picked up a dress shoe and pounded on the blackboard hung from my neck while others used sticks to smack the blackboard and threaten me. Seeing I still wouldn’t talk, a few of them kicked me down to the ground, then rushed over and undid the plastic cord. One officer kneeled right on my spine, pulling my right hand over my shoulder while pulling my left hand up behind my back. They forced my two hands together and handcuffed me that way. I could feel the bones in my arms being yanked and cracking, and I broke out in a sweat from the pain. Then they grabbed my arms and hauled me up forcefully, tied the cord to the handcuffs behind my back and yanked backwards while demanding I talk. They got more shoes and forced them between my back and the handcuffs. My arms hurt so much, they felt like they were going to snap in half—it was a searing pain and I fell onto the floor. They pulled me back up and kept demanding information from me. I thought, “If they keep torturing me like this, I’ll either end up dead or disfigured.” I was getting more and more scared, and was calling out to God nonstop, saying, “God, please give me faith and the resolve to withstand this. I want to stand witness for You before Satan.” Then I thought of these words of God: “When you face suffering, you must be able to lay aside concern for the flesh and to not make complaints against God. When God hides Himself from you, you must be able to have the faith to follow Him, to maintain your previous love without allowing it to falter or dissipate. No matter what God does, you must submit to His design and be prepared to curse your own flesh rather than make complaints against Him. When you are faced with trials, you must satisfy God, though you may weep bitterly or feel reluctant to part with some beloved object. Only this is true love and faith” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement). God’s words gave me faith and strength, and I knew that God was using this torment to perfect me, so I needed to rely on my faith and bear witness for God, to humiliate Satan. Then more of God’s words came to mind: “Just keep your heads up! Do not be afraid: I—your Father—am here to support you, and you will not suffer. As long as you pray and supplicate before Me frequently, I will bestow all faith upon you” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 75). It’s true—I believe in Almighty God, the ruler of the universe and all things. If God didn’t allow me to die, the police couldn’t take my life. The police tortured me the entire night without getting a single word out of me. One yelled in anger, “You’re a damn mule!” and then he left. I silently gave thanks to God.

About two hours passed. I’d been handcuffed that way for so long that my wrists were really swollen and I’d lost all feeling in my hands. They came to remove the handcuffs, but they were pressed tightly into the flesh. One person held me still while another forcefully pulled my arms together. I was sweating from the pain. All my fingers were so swollen I couldn’t even separate them. They were purple and black, like a ripe eggplant. They took me over to a row of metal cages after that. I was stupefied. I saw the older sister who was hosting me and her husband, an unbeliever, locked in cages. She looked really frail, entirely devoid of strength, and her husband had a dull look in his eyes, with an expression of resignation. Seeing these two, both in their 70s, being mistreated this way was a horrible sight, and I couldn’t hold the tears back. They told me to remove all my clothing, only letting me keep a pair of underwear on, then pushed me into a cage and locked it, and ordered me to stand up straight without closing my eyes or leaning against the wall. Four police took turns keeping an eye on me, working in pairs. They were constantly banging on the rails with metal bars, and the loud clanging sound would get my heart pounding. I was on the verge of falling apart, and I felt like I was surrounded by demons in hell. I thought, “If they keep me here more than a couple days, even if they don’t beat me, I’ll lose my mind from this torment. Am I going to die in here? If I do die, how will my wife and children get by?” The more I thought about it, the more it pained me. I couldn’t hold back my tears. Realizing my heart had strayed far from God, I quickly said a prayer: “Oh God! Please give me faith and strength. I am ready to stand strong for You through this.” I remembered a hymn of God’s words: “Do not be discouraged, do not be weak, and I will make things clear for you. The road to the kingdom is not so smooth; nothing is that simple! You want blessings to come to you easily. Today, everyone will have bitter trials to face. Without such trials, the loving heart you have for Me will not grow stronger and you will not have true love for Me. Even if these trials consist merely of minor circumstances, everyone must pass through them; it’s just that the difficulty of the trials will vary from one person to another. … Those who share in My bitterness will certainly share in My sweetness. That is My promise and My blessing to you” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs, The Pain of Trials Is a Blessing From God). God’s words bolstered my faith and I understood that God was permitting this suffering of mine, and His goodwill was within it. My faith and love could only be perfected through that kind of hardship and suffering. It was a blessing from God. Having that chance to stand witness for God in front of Satan was God raising me up. This thought took away my fear and gave me the resolve to suffer and satisfy God.

The next afternoon, the police pushed me into an interrogation room and seven or eight of them swarmed me the moment I entered, handcuffing my hands separately to iron bars, leaving my body suspended in air. One of them asked me menacingly, “Who is your leader? Where do they live? Who have you evangelized? Talk! The moment you tell us all about your church is the moment we let you down. Otherwise, you won’t see an end to your suffering. We can beat you believers of God to death and it doesn’t even count as a crime.” Then a cop pried one of my eyes open and viciously spit straight into it, then started guffawing wildly. It sounded like that laughter was coming out of hell. It was eerie. When I still wouldn’t talk, a skinny officer picked up a plastic rod that was about a meter long and the thickness of a rolling pin and pounded it against my stomach. My body swung back from the force and the cop standing right behind me kicked me in the behind. My body was swinging back and forth, hitting the iron bars. The handcuffs were buried into my flesh again—it was such a piercing pain that I yelled out. A cop shouted at me, “Will you talk, or not? Spit it out!” I stayed silent. The skinny one raised the plastic rod he was holding and brought it crashing down on my head, leaving my head buzzing. My vision went black and I lost consciousness. When I came to, I realized I was lying on the floor and someone was splashing cold water on my face nonstop. The police saw I’d woken up, so they dragged me back to the cage, one on each foot, and locked me in. I lay on the ground, racked with pain, and totally unable to move. My head was buzzing and ached terribly. Feeling it with a hand, I found there was a huge lump on my head and I silently said a prayer to God: “God, it’s thanks to Your great power that I’ve survived this day. I give thanks to You!”

My third day there, the police started tormenting me in shifts to wear me down. They made me stay standing in the cage day and night without letting me sleep or even close my eyes, and would only give me half a bowl of rice steeped in hot water every day. Physically, I was totally depleted after being tortured for so long, and when I got unbearably sleepy, I’d just fall asleep standing up. Then the police would bang on the bars with their metal rod, scaring me awake time and again, putting me in a constant state of high alert. They also beat me with a 3-meter long bamboo pole. There was nowhere to hide inside that cage—I had black and blue marks all over my body. Every part of my body hurt and my feet were swollen and numb. I’d been standing barefoot on the tiles all this time, so my heels were covered with cracks and hurt something awful. Once I got so sleepy I couldn’t stop myself, and I involuntarily sank down to the ground, asleep, then the police rushed into the cage with a mop and beat me with it savagely, hitting me a dozen or so times. I instinctively put my arms over my head, so my hands ended up bruised and swollen from the beating, and my head felt like it was about to explode. They didn’t stop until they were worn out, and ordered me to stand up. I was utterly miserable and was afraid I really would be tortured to death. I didn’t want to be in there another minute. I used a fingernail to scratch a line into the wall for every day that passed, hoping to be freed from that living hell as soon as possible. I wondered, “If I don’t tell them a single thing, but just keep wasting away like this, how much longer can I last? What else will they do to torture me? If I tell them just a little bit, they might let me go, and then I wouldn’t need to go through all this. But if I do talk to them, that would make me a Judas, which would be a serious betrayal of God, and I would be cursed by Him.” I felt absolutely awful and couldn’t help but cry. Through my tears, I prayed, “God, I really can’t take this anymore, but I can’t sell out brothers and sisters or betray You. Please give me faith and strength so that I can stand witness in this environment!” Then I remembered these words from God: “Toward those who showed Me not the slightest loyalty during times of tribulation, I shall be merciful no more, for My mercy only extends so far. I have no liking, furthermore, for anyone who has once betrayed Me, much less do I like to associate with those who sell out the interests of their friends. This is My disposition, regardless of who the person may be. I must tell you this: Anyone who breaks My heart shall not receive clemency from Me a second time, and anyone who has been faithful to Me shall forever remain in My heart” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination). I felt clearly that God’s disposition will tolerate no offense, and no matter what, I couldn’t be a Judas and betray God. Then it occurred to me that when I was arrested, there was a book of God’s words in my bag along with a notebook. All of that was in the police’s hands. If I didn’t confess, they would torture me brutally and relentlessly, and might even kill me in the process. Thinking about this made me more and more miserable. I felt so conflicted. It suddenly occurred to me that if I denied that I was a believer they might not keep interrogating and torturing me. Then I wouldn’t have to suffer so much and they might even let me go.

The afternoon of the fourth day, the police took me to an interrogation room and said, “You’d better tell us something soon. The sooner you talk, the sooner you walk free.” They also said the younger brother who had been arrested along with me had already confessed everything, and they’d let him go home. Then they brought over a book of God’s words, a Bible, and my notebook and asked if they were mine. I didn’t answer them. One of them raised his right foot and kicked me in the thigh several times and pinched the flesh on my chest really hard, continuing to ask me hatefully. I said, “I’ve already told you. I just found the things in that bag. I’m not a believer.” They didn’t believe me at all and gave me a hard slap, then punched and kicked me. Then they forced me back into the cage and made me keep standing. I was so angry, so exasperated. I hadn’t imagined that if I refused to acknowledge I was a believer, they still wouldn’t let me go. After standing all day and all night, I felt like I was so terribly depleted of strength that I didn’t know much longer I could make it. I was suffering bitterly. I prayed to God over and over in my heart, feeling like I had to be with Him at every moment. Just when my misery was reaching a critical point, the police got a copy of Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs and a notebook. They opened up “Song of the Overcomers” and pointed to a section to have me write out five times. I knew they wanted to check my handwriting and use that as evidence to prosecute me, so I intentionally changed my handwriting as I copied it out. The part of God’s words I copied was this: “Have you ever accepted the blessings that you were given? Have you ever sought the promises that were made for you? You will surely, under the guidance of My light, break through the stranglehold of the forces of darkness. You will surely not, in the midst of darkness, lose the light guiding you. You will surely be the master of all creation. You will surely be an overcomer before Satan. You will surely, at the downfall of the kingdom of the great red dragon, stand up amid the myriad throngs to bear witness to My victory. You will surely stand firm and unwavering in the land of Sinim. Through the sufferings you endure, you will inherit My blessings, and will surely radiate My glory throughout the entire universe” (Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs, Song of the Overcomers). While copying this, I was silently singing the hymn to myself in my heart, and the more I sang, the more moved I felt. At my weakest moment, God got the police to put His own words into my hands. I was so grateful to God. This part was particularly special: “You will surely, at the downfall of the kingdom of the great red dragon, stand up amid the myriad throngs to bear witness to My victory.” It really magnified my faith and all the misery I felt just disappeared. It also gave me the confidence to stand witness for God through all the brutal persecution of the great red dragon. My face was covered with tears at the time and I said this prayer in my heart: “God, when I was at my most helpless, You sustained and supported me with Your words, giving me faith and strength. God, I truly thank You! Now I know that there’s meaning in my suffering. I don’t want to let down Your earnest intentions for me, but I want to bear a resounding witness for You before Satan.”

On September 9, two police walked into the cage and put a water bottle full of clear liquid in front of me. They smiled and said, “How have you been doing? Pretty thirsty, aren’t you? Go ahead and drink this.” Seeing their unctuous smiles, I realized this was another one of their tricks. I was afraid that drinking that would put me in a daze, and I would sell out brothers and sisters in spite of myself. I shook my head. Seeing me refuse, they really bared their fangs. The skinny one grabbed my right upper arm while twisting my left arm behind my back, then used his other hand to squeeze my neck and shove me into the interrogation room. Five or six more officers came right on our heels. They pushed me down onto the ground, facing up. I urgently called out to God, “God! These evil police tried to get me to drink something they had in that bottle, but I’m afraid that drinking it will make me give them information on the church. God, please protect me. I’d rather die than sell out my brothers and sisters or betray You.” I felt a surge of strength after my prayer. Four of the cops each had a foot on both my hands and legs, while a chubby one held my head down forcefully with both hands. Another officer was pouring the contents of the bottle down into my mouth. I wasn’t willing to drink it, so he found a thick metal bar to pry my teeth apart, forcing it into my mouth. I struggled with all of my might and in the end managed to spit it all back out. Seeing this, the chubby one smacked me across the face several times and the others stamped on my hands, then used their feet to smash my arms down to my hands so that all the blood collected in my hands. My hands had way too much blood in them—they were swollen, numb, and painful to the point that I nearly couldn’t breathe. I gritted my teeth and held on, crying out to Almighty God in my heart to protect me. It wasn’t long before the pain subsided. The police kept madly stamping on me, crushing me, but I wasn’t in as much pain. I really felt at peace. I was incredibly grateful to God. I thought of some words of God: “When people are sad, I come to comfort them, and when they are weak, I come to help them along. … When they weep, I wipe away their tears” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 27). God was taking away my pain, bringing me peace.

They dragged me back to the cage and I lay on the floor, face up. After a little while, I became dizzy, my stomach was burning, and I started feeling disoriented. But in my heart, I was totally clear. I figured it had to be whatever drug they had given me taking effect. Just then I perceived someone coming in and I opened my eyes, though it was a struggle. I saw a chubby officer using handcuffs to move my head back and forth, and he said, “I’m the police chief, and those of us in the Communist Party care about people. I need to tell you that your daughter’s been in a car accident and she’s in critical condition in the hospital. As a father, can you really not go see her? Tell us all about your church and we’ll take you there. If you’re running all over the place preaching your gospel, abandoning your family, who will take care of your wife and child? Tell us what we want to know and you can go back to be with your family.” I silently prayed to God, “God, now the police are playing nice to confuse me, trying to tempt me into betraying You by playing on my feelings for my daughter. God, please guide me to triumph over this temptation of Satan.” Seeing I still wasn’t talking, the police chief went on: “Your daughter’s receiving emergency care and you’re urgently needed. Just talk to us! Just give us a couple names of other believers, and then we’ll take you to see your daughter …” He went on for half an hour, and I started to feel conflicted. If I kept refusing to talk, would they really torture me to death? Mention someone who’s not that important? Then I figured they would let me go. Then these words of God suddenly occurred to me: “Let Me tell you: Even though your flesh might pass away, your oaths cannot. In the end, I will condemn you based upon your oaths” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Are All So Base in Character!). I remembered I had sworn an oath to God that I would never betray Him. My resolve was starting to weaken because of a little fleshly suffering. Wasn’t that cheating God? What God wanted from me in that moment was to stand witness for Him before Satan and Satan was waiting to see what I’d do, too. I could not let God down. I prayed to Him: “God, I will not be a Judas, even if it means my death!” When I became willing to give up my life to bear witness for God, Satan was shamed and defeated again. The police chief went on for ages, but I remained silent, and he slithered off.

When both the carrot and the stick had failed, the police switched to another tactic to humiliate and torment me. One day, three officers stood outside the cage, and one said to me in a really strange way, “Do you know what the most painful thing in a person’s life is? I’ll tell you—it’s losing their last little bit of personal freedom.” From then on, they stopped allowing me to relieve myself. I urgently needed to use the bathroom, but they wouldn’t let me go, and when I truly couldn’t hold it any longer, I had to urinate in my clothing. Seeing this, two officers came in with a mop and hit me in the head with it while yelling, “If you piss yourself again you’ll have to drink it!” I thought, “I really will be driven mad if this goes on. Maybe I can pretend that I’ve lost my mind, then they’ll probably stop questioning me and won’t torture me as much.” I started pretending that I’d gone crazy. Sometimes I’d stare blankly at a random spot, and sometimes I’d just stare at the cops. When they yelled my name, I pretended not to hear. I stopped asking to go to the toilet when I had to pee, but just peed on myself. They started glimpsing at me a lot to see my expressions and movements, trying to see if I was faking it. They took my only pair of underwear off of me and took me into the hallway and made me stand there exposed, totally naked. After female officers had walked by me as they went through sometimes, they’d be standing off to the side laughing at me. I felt really humiliated and I was furious. I really detested those swine in human form! After about 20 minutes, they locked me up in the cage again. I was absolutely miserable and felt like I didn’t have a shred of dignity left. I really wanted to go head to head with them. At worst they would kill me, and if I were dead I wouldn’t have to suffer that humiliation. Then I thought of when the Lord Jesus was crucified, and of what God said: “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. … Throughout His life, He endured immeasurable suffering for God, and He was tempted by Satan countless times, but He was never disheartened” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How to Serve in Harmony With God’s Will). God’s love really moved me. I thought about the Lord Jesus being mocked and humiliated by the Roman soldiers. They whipped Him and put a crown of thorns on Him. They even made Him walk toward Golgotha with the heavy cross on His back, and in the end they nailed Him to it. In order to redeem all of humanity of our sin, He suffered incredible humiliation without a word of complaint, and He was perfectly willing to put Himself in Satan’s hands. Almighty God has appeared and is working in the last days, and He has been pursued by the government, condemned and blasphemed by the religious world, and rejected by this age. He has endured all of that humiliation, and continues to express truths to save mankind. God’s love for us is so great! Thinking about God’s love made me realize how selfish and base I was. I was a corrupt human being, following God to pursue salvation, but suffering a little embarrassment made me wish for death. That’s no kind of testimony! I thought of the Lord Jesus saying “You shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of” (Mark 10:39). I realized that in this dark, evil age, following God does mean enduring some humiliation, but this is having a share in Christ’s hardships and His kingdom. By humiliating me and tormenting me, the police were just showing how evil and beastly they were. They were actually embarrassing themselves. The next day, the police had a doctor come to verify if I had really gone insane. He came into the cage and squatted down on a wooden plank, and used a bright light about as thick as a finger and shone it straight into my eyes for five seconds or so, then quickly moved it to see if my pupils responded. He did that two or three times. Then he grabbed one of my arms and lifted it up, and ran a small pair of scissors along my armpit, back and forth. Normally I wouldn’t be able to help but laugh from being tickled like that, but surprisingly, I didn’t feel anything at all right then. They shared a look, then the doctor shook his head and walked off. They stopped questioning me after that, but they did keep torturing me and only let me sleep two or three hours a day.

A couple of weeks passed. One day, the police took me into an office and told me to sign a legal verdict, sentencing me to a year of reeducation through labor for illegal evangelism and disrupting the social order. I refused to sign it, so two cops grabbed my hand and forced me to leave a thumbprint. I said a prayer: “God, I’ve truly seen how evil, how savage the Communist Party is. I despise these demons and I swear on my life that it will be my mortal enemy forever. Oh God, no matter how brutal prison life is, I am ready to stand witness and humiliate Satan.” I was shocked when the very next day, the police said they were sending me home. I was really moved when I got the news. Later on, I found out that the labor camps won’t accept the mentally ill, so they had no choice but to let me go.

After that experience, I thought that undergoing all that torture without selling out any brothers and sisters meant I had a certain stature. That was until I read this passage of God’s words: “Man does not merely not know Me in My flesh; more than that, he has failed to understand his own self that resides in a fleshly body. For so many years, human beings have been deceiving Me, treating Me as a guest from outside. So many times, they have shut Me outside the ‘doors to their homes’; so many times, they have, standing before Me, paid Me no heed; so many times they have renounced Me in the midst of other men; so many times, they have denied Me in front of the devil; and so many times, they have attacked Me with their bickering mouths. Yet I do not keep account of man’s weaknesses, nor do I, on account of his disobedience, ask for a tooth for a tooth. All I have done is apply medicine to his illnesses, in order to cure his incurable diseases, thereby restoring him to health, that he may come to know Me” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 12). In particular, reading the words “so many times, they have denied Me in front of the devil” really hit home and left me feeling terrible. I felt like that was me exactly. I was someone who had denied God in front of the devil. When I was arrested and brutally tortured, I denied that I was a believer, trying to escape a little bit of physical suffering. I’d had faith for so many years but wouldn’t even acknowledge the God I believed in. It was pathetic. What kind of faith is that? How could I call myself a Christian? I felt like a true good-for-nothing, really selfish and despicable. I thought of the trials that Job went through. He lost his possessions and his children, and he had boils all over his body. Even his wife turned on him and demanded that he give up his faith, but he continued to uphold the name of Jehovah God, saying, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). Throughout the ages, when saints have been persecuted, they’ve borne witness to God’s name, even when they’re martyred. But I denied being a believer when I faced persecution and I particularly wouldn’t acknowledge the name of Almighty God. I was weak and useless, clinging greedily to life. The Lord Jesus said, “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” (Matthew 10:32–33). I felt more regret and guilt the more I thought about it and felt like I wasn’t worthy to live before God. I said a prayer: “Oh God, when I was tortured in police custody, I never acknowledged that I was a believer in front of the devil. I saw that I was too enamored of my life and let Satan get a laugh. I’m so weak and spineless. I’m not worthy of following You, or eating and drinking Your words.” That was a really difficult time for me. I felt I hadn’t borne a good witness, that it was a stain on me, and I wasn’t worthy of living before God.

I read some testimonial articles later on from brothers and sisters who had been arrested, and they’d never denied or betrayed God, even through horrible torture. The one that left the deepest impression on me was by a sister in her thirties. She was tortured for nine days and nights, never allowed to close her eyes. They hit her in the mouth with handcuffs, turning the inside of her mouth into a bloody pulp, but she never said a word. The torture she suffered was more brutal than mine, but she never denied the name of God. I felt ashamed by comparison. I saw my stature was so small, that I was really weak. I wondered why I had denied the God I believe in when I was tortured. Wasn’t it because I was afraid of being tortured to death? I read this in God’s words later on: “When people are ready to sacrifice their lives, everything becomes trifling, and no one can get the better of them. What could be more important than life? Thus, Satan becomes incapable of doing any more in people, there is nothing it can do with man. Although, in the definition of the ‘flesh’ it is said that the flesh is corrupted by Satan, if people truly give themselves over, and are not driven by Satan, then no one can get the better of them” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Interpretations of the Mysteries of “God’s Words to the Entire Universe”, Chapter 36). I realized that Satan had seized on my fear of death, attacking me with that to get me to deny God and fail in my testimony. But the truth is, living or dying is in God’s hands. Whether I was beaten to death or not was subject to God’s rule, and I needed to accept His plan. Even if I do lose my life, I will stand witness for God, and this will be commemorated by God. That’s worth dying for. I prayed to God, “God, if I’m ever arrested again, no matter what kind of torture I face, I’m ready to stand witness and satisfy You.”

Then in December 2012, I was arrested again along with five other brothers and sisters while we were out sharing the gospel. In the police car, I prayed to God nonstop, “Oh God, I believe Your goodwill is behind me being arrested again. I’m willing to stand witness for You in front of Satan.” When we got to the station, the police asked us who those books belonged to. I thought about how, 10 years before, I’d denied I was a believer, and hadn’t provided real testimony. I knew that this time, I had to say straight out that I was a Christian instead of denying God to cling to my shameful existence. The police took us into the lobby to register us one at a time. They verified our identities and addresses, and got our fingerprints and footprints. I gave them my real name, but they didn’t find any record of me in the system. They had to pull up older files to find my personal information. I realized that my residential registration had been voided by the police, so there wasn’t any record of my previous arrest. I silently gave thanks to God. There was an officer in the lobby at the time who was blaspheming God nonstop, swearing and going on, “Where is this divine being? Where the hell is this God? If you’re gonna believe in anything, believe in me!” I said angrily, “You are blaspheming God, and that is a sin that will not be forgiven in this world or the next!” He made a fist and started to swing at me. I felt pretty nervous and said a prayer. Just then, three or four other officers held him back and took him outside. Then I mustered up my courage and said, “In the old days, everyone acknowledged and even worshiped Heaven. They said ‘People do things, Heaven watches,’ ‘Man proposes, God disposes.’ God created the heavens, earth, all things. God rules over the four seasons, He manages the wind, the rain, the snow, all of it. All things grow thanks to God, and our survival is inextricable from His sustenance and care. Not a single person can separate themselves from the rule of Heaven. This is a fact!” They listened to me say this, then walked out without a word.

The police took me into a sealed off interrogation room the next afternoon. They forced me onto a tiger chair, handcuffed my hands separately, and strapped down each leg. There were two really bright lights shining on my face from either side. There was an ominous feeling in the room. Two officers were staring straight at me, and I started to feel pretty anxious. I said a prayer to God, asking Him to give me faith. Then one of them looked right at me and said, “You people are spreading the gospel all over the place, saying a great disaster is coming. Aren’t you disrupting the social order?” I said, “The Book of Revelation in the Bible foretold a great disaster in the last days, and this is an indisputable fact. We share the gospel and bear witness to God so that people accept the truth and can be saved by God. It’s to save people. Where’s the crime in that? The great disaster is coming very soon. If you refuse to come to your senses, but keep arresting and persecuting Christians, standing in the way of God’s work of salvation, that’s working against God and offending His disposition. You will be punished by God.” Seeing their rigid expressions, I recited a passage of God’s words to them. Almighty God says, “He who defies the work of God shall be sent to hell; any country that defies the work of God shall be destroyed; any nation that rises up to oppose the work of God shall be wiped from this earth and shall cease to exist. I urge the people of all nations, of all countries, and even of all industries to listen to the voice of God, to behold the work of God and to pay attention to the fate of mankind, in order to make God the most holy, the most honorable, the highest, and the only object of worship among mankind, and to allow the whole of mankind to live under the blessing of God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Appendix 2: God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind). Hearing God’s words, one of them stood there staring blankly, not moving at all. Another hung his head and said, “We’ve done too many terrible things. Your Almighty God wouldn’t want us.” Seeing this gave me a sense of the might of God’s words, and it gave me even more faith. I said, “You could stop doing evil, stop arresting and persecuting Christians and standing in the way of God’s work to save mankind. God is righteous, and He deals with us and repays us based on our actions.” After that, the police let me check their notes, undid the restraints on my hands and feet, and let me leave. They let me go just like that. The entire thing was so incredible for me, so unexpected. I was worried about what other tricks they might have up their sleeves, so when I left, I rode around in circles on my bicycle to make sure no one was following me home.

Being arrested and persecuted by the Communist Party left me with no doubt about its perverse, evil essence, and that it’s entirely made up of demons that resist God. It’s the most evil, the darkest force of Satan on this earth. I rejected and cursed it from my heart. I also recognized God’s almightiness, sovereignty, and His wondrous deeds. Surviving this attack from the Communist Party was entirely thanks to God’s care and protection. When I was desperate, God’s words enlightened and guided me, giving me the courage to go on. When I bore witness to God, Satan was shamed and defeated. This showed me the power and authority of God’s words and it gave me more faith in God. I saw that God’s wisdom is always carried out using Satan’s tricks, and the great red dragon is just a pawn in God’s hands, a tool serving God for the perfection of His chosen people. Having that kind of experience and understanding was God’s blessing and grace. I give thanks to Almighty God!