Oh, Zhang Qi!

I haven't seen you for ages.

Yeah. That's right.

Were you on a trip?

How did you know? (Well.)

Did you really go somewhere?

Why don't you tell us all about it?

Where did you go?

Did you go with a group, or were you all on your own?

Neither one!

This is what you'd call a "super deluxe" trip.

I not only had a personal escort,

but a car service with forced pickups and dropoffs.

Wow! That is some service!

But … I couldn't choose my accommodations.

Why didn't … where did you stay?

I stayed wherever they put me.

In tiny rooms and common sleeping areas.

Sometimes I had to sleep against a toilet.

Oh no, that's filthy! People sleep there?

It is filthy, but it is not cheap.

It will bankrupt you!

What travel group was this?

They give you complimentary bracelets.

Ah, bracelets.

All steel.

All steel.

Some are barbed. (Some are …)

Wait, you weren't on a trip, you were arrested?

Yeah. Everyone knows the Chinese government will persecute people for religious beliefs.

They made me take a little vacation because of my faith.

They arrested me and put me in prison.

Having faith in China is not easy. (It's not.)

The Communist Party is atheist.

Since China's founding it has persecuted Christians regularly.

That is so true.

Hey, can you believe in God as a government official?

What?

Everyone knows officials aren't allowed to be religious!

My grandmother raised me to believe in the Lord since I was little.

Ah, since childhood.

After joining the government, my faith was not acceptable.

They wanna find anyone who believes in God and punish them.

Oh, that's really a problem.

I kept my belief private so I could earn a living.

You had no choice!

A few years ago,

my wife started believing in Almighty God. (That's great.)

Before long she gave me testimony on God's work of the last days.

That should be paid attention to.

Yes, I read a lot of Almighty God's words,

and I discovered that they are all the truth.

So I determined that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned!

This is wonderful news!

It is, but it got me in a lot of trouble.

That's a predicament.

If I don't accept the work,

I lose my chance of salvation. (Yes.)

But if I do, I'm afraid of being arrested!

That's really a dilemma.

And after wrestling with it for weeks and weeks,

I finally decided. (What?)

To protect my job, my child's education, and my family assets,

all I could do was—(Refuse?)

Believe in secret!

Well, following God's new work and worshiping in His house,

I feel so happy! (Happy!)

I feel excited! (Excited!)

But I couldn't just casually share with others.

The CCP rewards people

who report Christians to police, leading to arrests.

We had to be very careful when speaking of it.

I felt so stifled.

That is stifling!

To sum it up with a line from a song:

This is what it's like to believe in God in China!

No matter the situation, I had to figure something out. (Yes.)

I copied down some of God's words

and hid them in my desk at work.

That's not a bad idea!

In the mornings, before others came to work,

I quickly read a bit.

That's very devoted.

As soon as I hear the door, I would hide it.

Oh, you didn't want to be found out.

Sometimes after silently praying,

I would quietly hum a hymn:

Coming unto God is happiness.

It is!

But after a while I couldn't hide it anymore.

Oh, you were found out.

I saw something wasn't right,

so I got my things together and went home.

You quit?

Quit? No way.

I had to retrieve my copies of God's word from my desk.

I forgot about that part.

Now that, that's much safer.

The next day,

when I arrived for work, our boss had given everyone a memo.

I looked at it.

What did it say?

I immediately became furious!

Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!

What was it? What was it?

On that … that piece of paper

was nothing but the CCP's lies and rumors slandering The Church of Almighty God.

And they wanted me to sign it! I … I …

They wanted you to insult God!

Exactly!

My co-workers, my boss,

all signed it one by one.

They were just standing there watching me.

It seems they all knew.

Oh, wait!

Your smile is making me nervous!

I couldn't just let everyone down!

You signed it?

What are you saying? In the Bible it says:

I picked it up without a word, and "ssssss"!

You tore it up?

I tore it up! (Right!)

You have to choose a side between right and wrong!

That's right.

Soon the boss came over

and called me into his office.

"Do you believe in Almighty God?"

An interrogation.

"Party members cannot believe in God,

but you must know that.

The government is striking hard against that church.

Aren't you aware?"

Isn't that intimidation?

"Xiao Geng, you have your youth, you have promise.

Faith in God isn't worth the risk of defying the government.

Your future will be ruined.

You still have a chance

as long as you are willing to declare

you'll no longer believe in God.

It'll be no problem!"

What about still believing?

"Still believing?

Losing a job would be the least of it.

It would mean prison.

Your family would be dragged into it.

Think it over."

A choice between your faith and your future!

I was in a state of turmoil.

As I was between a rock and a hard place,

a hymn of God's words came to mind:

All losses can be dealt with,

except the loss of God. (That's right.)

Nothing can replace God's love.

Yes!

All those years of working within the system,

I was barely human.

Hey, we don't need to get into all that terrible stuff.

Okay.

I came before God and understood the truth through God's word,

not bound by Satan's schemes to corrupt humans.

It's a relaxing, free way to live! (Thanks to God!)

All of this was God's love. (Yes.)

I thought, I will never betray God, no matter what! (That's right!)

Even if it means prison

I will follow Christ and seek life. (Yes!)

When I thought of all this, I made a declaration.

What did you say?

Fame and fortune are as fleeting as smoke.

That's great!

The truth and life are priceless treasures.

It's a poem!

I will follow God to the end.

That was the smartest choice.

It was all God's grace. (Mm.)

After leaving my job,

I actually felt relaxed. (Yeah.)

I had more time to enjoy God's words

and I became closer to Him.

This is a temporal loss, but a spiritual gain.

That's it!

I thought quitting would make my practicing faith not so hard.

But you never imagined …

In order to arrest Christians,

the CCP uses surveillance, undercover officers and does stakeouts,

they are relentless. (Really!)

One time on my way to a gathering,

I was walking down the street.

What is it?

An undercover officer is tracking me.

Watching you? (Yeah.)

You, you, you … you have to lose him. (Yes!)

I cross Jianguomen Avenue, go to Heping Road,

then back to Machangdao, Dalidao, then back to Machangdao, after that I …

You went back and forth?

I had no choice, I had to take a roundabout route.

Right, get him off your tail!

Yeah! Exactly!

Hey, he's still behind me!

Then, then … then … then what?

I turned around and picked up the pace,

crossed People's Square and through Beiyingmen Avenue,

went around to Jianshe Road, then got to Daweiba Alley.

You lost him then, right?

Yeah, otherwise I would have been lost!

You see, believing in God in China,

Christians need to be resilient and able to elude the spies. (Yes.)

Not to mention physical strength, you have to run from danger.

It wasn't easy to get to the gathering.

Were the brothers and sisters worried?

Of course.

A roomful of people were all waiting,

so we all just started this …

A roomful of believers? Is that okay in China?

A simple room, about 9 square meters.

The four of us were about to read God's words,

and right then outside the door we heard a bang!

What was it?

Some big burly men broke down the door.

Who were they?

"Police! Don't move!

Search the place!"

Before long the whole place was trashed.

It's like burglars getting into your house!

Worse, burglars only steal possessions.

Wait, they …

They took everything, including people.

Plus they did a full body search on all of us.

"Damn! That's all the money you have?"

Isn't that blatant theft?

As they said, they'd force us to go with them.

I said:

"Our faith doesn't break any laws. What basis do you have for arresting us?"

Right, on what grounds?

"Hmph! In China,

believing in God is a crime!

You're the ones we want."

Is there no law, no justice?

"Law? Justice?

I'm the law, I determine justice.

Take them away!"

The CCP is lawless and godless.

No respect for justice.

They took us to a hotel.

What? A hotel?

It was a secret police interrogation location.

That's illegal!

I went in and … woah!

More than 10 people were waiting there.

The Public Security Bureau chief himself came to question me.

Really bringing out the big guns. (Yes.)

Such a big production just to question one Christian.

Wait, don't you know? (What?)

The essence of the CCP is resistance to God. (Yeah.)

For the central and local governments,

what's most important

is arresting and interrogating Christians. (It's true.)

They won't rest until they've eradicated all believers!

Hey, with their position,

I'm afraid they'll stop at nothing!

I saw a big, fat officer coming towards me.

The interrogation is starting.

"We've known for ages you're in charge. Talk!

Where are the church's funds kept?"

First thing he wanted was money.