Chinese Pastor Gives Thanks from His Prison Cell

An imprisoned Chinese pastor is thanking God for his suffering and treating it as an opportunity to rest after 23 years of serving his congregation.

Pastor Li Guozhi has been jailed for seven months on charges of "divulging state secrets," according to the human rights group China Aid. 

On June 30, he wrote his wife a letter about the benefits he's found in prison.

"I can no longer hear the clamorous noise, but can better listen to the Lord's voice," Guozhi writes under the pseudonym Yang Hua. "This is a good place to rest, where I am cut off from the rest of the world and brought closer to God."

Guozhi, the pastor of Huoshi Church, was taken into police custody in Dec. 2015 after trying to stop government personnel from confiscating church hard drives. Originally sentenced to five days in prison, officials kept increasing the charges and the jail time until he was eventually moved to a criminal detention facility and charged with crimes against the state.

The pastor's attorneys say he has suffered torture at the hands of officials trying to get a confession out of him.

Nevertheless, the pastor wrote the following words: "Dear wife: Everything's fine!" and "I am thankful."

After discussing money and monthly visits, Yang encourages his wife saying, "Psalm 23 says, 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' You should copy the whole chapter."

"I want to share what I have received with you," he wrote. "Let the words of God make you stronger."

"God has given me a year of rest after 23 years of hard work. Previously, when I was out of [jail], things were always coming down incessantly, because there were many different kinds of affairs [to attend to]."

He tells his wife, "Do not live in weakness and confusion; this is Satan's scheme. Be full of the Holy Spirit and leave spiritual predicaments. Seek to fulfill all of the Lord's decrees. Remove all of the negative thoughts and voices from your life."

Yang includes these words of wisdom saying, "Genuine rest has nothing to do with the environment."

"No matter if the waves are quiet or the sea roars, our hearts rest in God, just as a weaned child sleeps in its mother's arms."

"I want to thank God for using this special method to give this special gift to our household," he concludes. "Let us accept and enjoy it with a thankful heart."

To read more about Yang's case, to donate to support persecuted families, and sign the petition for his release visit at Free Yang Hua.