{"id":49444,"date":"2024-03-19T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T05:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=49444"},"modified":"2024-03-19T13:46:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T04:46:14","slug":"vomk-report-295","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2024\/03\/19\/vomk-report-295\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: PASTOR JOHN CAO RELEASED AFTER COMPLETING 7 YEAR SENTENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49434″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting that Pastor John Cao has been released from prison in Kunming in Yunnan province on March 3rd after finishing his seven-year sentence for allegedly organizing illegal border crossings into China from neighboring Myanmar. Voice of the Martyrs had conducted a global letter writing campaign on behalf of Pastor Cao, working to ensure that he received a constant stream of encouraging letters from other believers for the duration of his imprisonment while making sure prison officials were aware that people around the world were closely monitoring the pastor\u2019s situation.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley, four police escorted Pastor Cao back to his home in Changsha City, Hunan Province, where he lives with his <\/span>88-year-old<\/span> mother.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\u201c<\/span>His two s<\/span>ons<\/span> were<\/span> looking forward to <\/span>visiting from<\/span> America,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cA visit <\/span>with <\/span>his wife, who is a US citizen<\/span> living in the US<\/span>, looks like it will have to wait until the required documents can be successfully filed.\u201d Representative Foley says Pastor Cao <\/span>likely faces<\/span> a prohibition on <\/span>travel <\/span>for at least five months <\/span>and <\/span>has to<\/span> report <\/span>to the <\/span>local police station <\/span>weekly.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cPastor Cao told associates that he was \u2018<\/span>full of joy<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>upon his release <\/span>despite <\/span>having <\/span>be<\/span>en<\/span> separated from his family for seven years,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span> \u201cHe said, \u2018<\/span>I am now more willing to be broken with my life.<\/span>\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says Pastor Cao, who is 65 years old, has told friends he has no plans to retire, despite observers reporting that he now suffers<\/span> from a variety of chronic health conditions due to his imprisonment.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49438″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, Pastor Cao depended on Bible reading and prayer for spiritual strength during his imprisonment, though he did not receive an actual Bible until he had been in prison for six months.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Until then, Pastor Cao looked for scripture verses and hymn lyrics in the books in the prison library, and he copied the ones he found onto a toothpaste box,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cPastor Cao\u2019s lawyer said that when Pastor Cao was finally granted access to a Bible in September 2018, he cried when he touched it<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley noted that the permission for Pastor Cao was later withdrawn, and he then had to depend on the Bible verses sent to him in letters from his mother. \u201cIf she put too many Bible verses in the letter, authorities would simply not deliver it to him,\u201d says Representative Foley.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that Pastor Cao <\/span>practiced daily morning prayer in prison despite the lack of a clock and a prohibition on speaking aloud. \u201cHe told associates that he woke up on his own at 5AM every day and turned sideways to <\/span>cover <\/span>his <\/span>pray<\/span>ing activities,\u201d says Representative Foley.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, Pastor Cao was kept under close watch by prison guards throughout his seven-year sentence. \u201cIn the daytime he was not allowed to talk to anyone, and they even watched <\/span>him while he slept,\u201d she says. <\/span>“<\/span>But he told friends he wasn\u2019t lonely. He said, \u2018<\/span>I have never been alone. The Holy Spirit gives me strength. I know that God is with <\/span>me<\/span> and my brothers and sisters are with me.<\/span>\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”49431″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Before imprisonment” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”49442″ img_size=”300X475″ alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor John Cao upon his release from prison” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Pastor Cao became a Christian in his 20s. In 1988, he married an American <\/span>woman, Jamie Powell, <\/span>and entered <\/span><\/span>Alliance<\/span> Theological Seminary<\/span><\/span>. <\/span>Ordained after graduation, he became a permanent resident of the US in 1990 but <\/span>chose not to <\/span>apply for <\/span>citizen<\/span>ship<\/span>. <\/span>\u201cHe strongly believed China was his calling,\u201d says Representative Foley. <\/span>He <\/span>eventually turned his attention to <\/span>Myanmar<\/span> beginning in 2014, where he built 16 schools and launched anti-poverty programs in the <\/span>Wa<\/span> State<\/span> region bordering China.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]After three years of crossing the border between China and Myanmar without incident, Pastor Cao was arrested on <\/span>March 5, <\/span>2017,<\/span> and eventually<\/span> charge<\/span>d<\/span> with <\/span>organizing illegal border crossings<\/span> and sentenced to <\/span>seven years in prison in March 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley cautions that prayers are often needed more after a prisoner is released than during the<\/span> imprisonment<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Former prisoners of faith often tell us that while they are in prison, the Lord feels very close to them, and then when they are <\/span>released<\/span> the<\/span>y<\/span> feel<\/span> overwhelmed by all the challenges of returning to normal life–especially when authorities are watching closely,\u201d she says. \u201c<\/span>Pastor Cao <\/span>will need <\/span>time <\/span>to recover his health and <\/span>to <\/span>make arrangements<\/span> to meet with his wife. T<\/span>he family will need to rebuild their relationships day-to-day and discover a new \u2018normal\u2019 routine. We should pray that the family <\/span>will experience<\/span> the <\/span>Lord<\/span>\u2019s comfort and strong, safe presence<\/span>, and that they <\/span>will know how to serve him in the coming days<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley also says that writing letters to Christians imprisoned for their faith is a ministry often neglected by Christians. \u201cMost Christians don\u2019t realize that it is often possible to write letters to Christians <\/span>like Pastor <\/span>Cao<\/span>, to encourage them while they are in prison,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cChristians assume that the letters would be blocked or would create further troubles for Christian prisoners<\/span>, or they worry that they themselves will be tracked somehow for writing a letter<\/span>. But our website <\/span>maintains<\/span> a list of prisoners in places where mail can be received, and where a simple letter of Christian encouragement will not create trouble for the prisoner<\/span> or the letter writer<\/span>. Former prisoners <\/span>frequently<\/span> tell us how much letters from Christians around the world <\/span>meant to them <\/span>during their imprisonment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The ministry\u2019s website currently lists the information and addresses for 1<\/span>0<\/span> Christians currently imprisoned for their faith, in countries including China, North Korea, and Eritrea. The list is accessible at <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/<\/span>en\/<\/span><\/span>prisoner-profiles\/<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49434″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting that Pastor John Cao has been released from prison in Kunming in Yunnan province on March 3rd after finishing his …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":49435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49444"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49456,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49444\/revisions\/49456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}