During the last days,
God has once again become flesh in the East—in China.
In 1991, Almighty God, Christ of the last days, formally took up His ministry.
Since then, Almighty God has expressed millions of words
and carried out the work of judgment beginning from the house of God.
God's sheep hear His voice.
The people of various denominations who loved the truth and yearned for God's appearance,
have recognized that Almighty God's words are the truth,
and that this is the voice of God.
They believed that Almighty God was the return of the Lord Jesus,
and one by one they came before Almighty God.
The appearance and work of Almighty God sparked panic in the CCP.
The CCP issued numerous secret documents,
and mobilized the armed police and army
to maniacally oppress and eradicate the Church.
The whole of mainland China rained blood, dark clouds descended,
and there was universal outrage and indignation.
Today, the Christians of all the house churches,
particularly those of The Church of Almighty God,
are experiencing even more brutal and bloody persecution by the CCP government.
These Christians' bloodshed and loss of life ring like a song of victory over the forces of Satan,
and tell the grisly tale of Chinese Christians' persecution.
In November of 2011,
the CCP government began a new round of crackdowns
persecuting house churches all over Henan Province,
and arresting many Christians.
On November 15, Lin Haochen, a Christian of The Church of Almighty God,
heard that the police were arresting people in the area near his home.
He frantically hurried home to check on his family.
The moment he arrived in the village,
Lin Haochen could feel something was off.
His usually bustling village was eerily still.
The streets were oppressively silent and empty.
His heart thumped in his chest,
seeming to leap into his throat.
Brother?
From the mess in his house,
Lin Haochen was certain the CCP police had searched it,
and the man who was arrested in the police car was none other than his older brother.
Lin Haochen didn't know whether his parents had been arrested,
which made him even more uneasy.
Lin Haochen was worried about his parents' safety
and feared that his brother would be tortured by the police.
He had never been more anxious.
He could never have imagined
that his happy family could be ruined in an instant by the CCP.
Haochen, play us a song.
Play a hymn in praise of God.
OK.
Lin Haochen and his older brother
adopted their parents' belief in the Lord Jesus as children.
In 2001,
his family accepted the last days' work of Almighty God—the return of the Lord Jesus.
They accepted duties in the church,
and lived a full and happy life.
Mr. Lin, understand this,
you've done nothing but cause trouble for us.
The Lin family was well-known locally for their belief in the Lord,
and news of their belief in Almighty God spread very quickly.
The village cadres often visited
to threaten Lin Aizhong and his wife into giving up their faith.
Even when they met the Lins on the road, they would question them.
Don't go around spreading the gospel …
But even though the village cadres threatened and tried to frighten Lin Aizhong,
he maintained his belief in God and continued his duties.
Thanks be to God that we can come before God …
Mr. Lin! Mr. Lin!
I'll go see what's happening.
Mr. Lin!
Who is it?
It's me. Open the door.
Who is it?
It's me, Liang. Open the door.
Let's go! Go! Go! Go! (What are you doing?)
Get in there! (What are you doing?)
Hey!
Stand up!
In the spring of 2002,
Lin Aizhong was reported by an evildoer
for spreading the kingdom gospel in his home.
The police searched his home,
and arrested him and three other Christians
for the crime of "illegally spreading religion."
Daddy! Daddy! Don't take him please!
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! …
Lin Haochen watched his father forcefully taken by the police.
His young heart was filled with sadness and terror,
leaving a scar that would never heal.
Even though Lin Aizhong was released home the next day,
village cadres came every few days to harass them after that,
and assigned people to monitor them closely.
The police also came frequently to search the house
and threaten Lin Aizhong.
If they discovered he still believed in God,
they would arrest him and put him through the labor reform system.
To avoid being arrested by the CCP,
Lin Aizhong was forced to leave his home and go far away.
Lei.
Dad.
You're big now.
Listen to your mother at home.
Haochen.
Dad, I don't want you to go.
Lin Haochen couldn't bear to watch his father leave.
I'll be back before you know it.
Just listen to your mother.
He thought he would never see his father again.
Your father will be back soon.
As Lin Haochen silently watched as his father walked out the door,
he could only cry in his heart.
After Lin Aizhong left,
his wife Liu Xiuying took up the burden of supporting the family.
She had asthma, and couldn't bear hard work,
but now she was under enormous pressure, and slowly, she became weaker.
Lin Haochen was worried about his mother.
Even when he was bullied outside, he didn't tell her.
Oh, you're home. (Yeah.)
Dinner will be ready soon.
OK.
It was almost the Spring Festival of 2003,
and everywhere families were celebrating and reuniting.
Even though it seemed like only an instant,
Lin Aizhong had been gone for more than half a year.
Without his father,
Lin Haochen felt lost and dejected.
He couldn't find any happiness.
Lin Haochen missed his father terribly,
and blindly hoped that he would come home for Chinese New Year.
Tell us, now, who is he hiding with?
Lin Haochen's father wasn't waiting for him.
Tell us!
Instead, the CCP police who he feared and loathed had come uninvited.
You little brat! Come here! Come here! Come on! Come on!
Talk! Where is your father? Has he come back yet?
I don't know. (Talk now, brat, or I'll beat you!)
He's just a boy! What are you doing?
We haven't broken any laws. Why are you treating us like this?
Believing in God is against the law!
Tell us! Where is Lin Aizhong?
I don't know.
You still don't know?
Don't think there aren't other ways to get it out of you if you don't tell us.
I'm telling you,
even if he ran to the ends of the earth, I'm going to catch him!
So, has he called you on the phone?
I don't know.
Hello!
Good morning, teacher.
The threats from the police and the attacks and ostracization by his teachers and classmates
were unbearable misery and suffering for the young Lin Haochen.
He lived in the shadow of inferiority.
He was cut off from everyone,
and no one except his older brother was willing to play with him.
He often felt lonely and helpless,
and became more and more silent and antisocial.
Their brothers and sisters from the church often came to support and help them.
Through the comfort found in God's word,
they slowly emerged from the fog of darkness.
We still have to obediently follow God.
You little brat, it's you again!
Why aren't you in school?
In the summer of 2003,
Lin Haochen had taken a brother of the church with him
to preach the kingdom gospel to a friend.
Unfortunately, an evildoer reported them,
and they were caught and brought to the police station.
How dare you do such a thing?
The next day, the police told his school.
They threatened the school, forcing them to punish Lin Haochen harshly.
His teacher's words gravely wounded Lin Haochen's young soul.
He didn't understand.
He thought, everyone who believes in God is good,
so why do they experience so much discrimination and pain?
After his teacher's talk with him,
Lin Haochen was forced to quit school.
Do you understand me?
At that time, he was 12 years old.
You've embarrassed us.
Since the first half of 2003,
the SARS epidemic has reached 24 areas in mainland China.
5327 cases of SARS have been reported.
Faced with the epidemic,
the Party Central Committee has rapidly formulated a series of major measures
to incorporate the epidemic prevention.
Lei, go take a shower with your brother.
Haochen, take a shower with Lei, you can play afterward.
After he was expelled,
Lin Haochen became very quiet and depressed.
He often spent his time alone and in silence.
He wanted to go to school,
but his right to education had been mercilessly stripped away by the CCP.
Daddy!
Dad!
Haochen!
Dad!
Lei!
Dad, it's so good that you're back! I've missed you so much!
I've missed you too.
In 2003, the SARS epidemic erupted all over China,
leading to widespread panic.
The epidemic also struck the city where Lin Aizhong was hiding.
The local government demanded that non-local residents return to their homes.
Meanwhile, the police in Lin Aizhong's hometown feared infection,
and no longer dared to arrest at will.
Only these conditions allowed Lin Aizhong to return home.
Lin Haochen was overjoyed and excited to see his father.
The family was finally reunited.
Everything at home is good.
That's great!
In the years that followed,
although the village cadres often came to the house
to threaten the Lins into giving up their faith,
the family continued to believe in God and perform their duties.
In November of 2011,
across the entire province of Henan,
an intensified round of crackdowns and arrests
against The Church of Almighty God codenamed "Thunder III" was initiated.
According to secret CCP internal documents,
this crackdown mobilized state security,
technical detectives, internet surveillance, and other departments
for an 8-month program of secret surveillance,
over which more than 500 phone records were analyzed
and Christians were tracked and followed in more than 100 instances
by agents in several different guises.
Many Christians from The Church of Almighty God were illegally arrested in the Henan area,
massive sums of the church's wealth were taken away,
and many Christians were forced to leave their homes and flee.
Some of the victims of these frantic CCP arrests were Lin Haochen's family.
Hey, the eggs are ready!
They're ready? Hurry up! Quit taking so much time!
Wu, do you want one?
When the CCP police learned
that Lin Haochen's family kept watch over the church's money,
they immediately became a primary target.
On November 15, the police searched the Lin house,
but didn't find anything,
so they stayed at the house the entire day,
hoping to wait and catch all four members of the family at once.
Fortunately, Lin Aizhong and his wife learned of the raid beforehand,
safely transferred the church funds elsewhere,
and found another place to hide.
But, because they weren't able to contact their sons,
their older son was arrested that day when he came home from work.
After that, the CCP police always had someone watching the Lin home.
At the same time,
the CCP began a massive city-wide manhunt.
House by house, they searched for and arrested Christians of The Church of Almighty God.
To avoid arrest by the CCP,
Lin Haochen was forced to leave home.
He had to go into hiding everywhere he went, helped by his brothers and sisters.
In February of 2012, using another identity,
Lin Haochen found work in a factory.
Before long, through his brothers and sisters,
he heard news of his parents,
and learned that they had escaped,
and that his brother had been released.
It was only then that the tension in his heart eased a little.
In his days working at the factory, he often missed his family,
and hoped that he could see them soon.
Even though he didn't know where his parents were,
he always believed he would see them again one day.
Lin Haochen's brothers and sisters from the church often met with him
to read God's word and share their life experience.
One day,
Lin Haochen arrived early at a meeting place.
The sudden and devastating news of his mother's death
struck Lin Haochen like a lightning bolt, and left him in shock.
At that moment,
his mind was utterly drained of thoughts.
It was a fact he couldn't bring himself to believe or accept.
He had seen his mother only a few months ago.
How could she suddenly pass away?
What happened to her?
Haochen, what's the matter?
Oh, Haochen, what is it?
Haochen, Haochen, don't be sad. (Haochen, don't be sad.)
It would be okay. (Let's pray to God.)
Don't cry.
God will help us. (Don't be too sad.)
That'll be alright.
Let's pray.
Pray with us.
Lin Haochen wanted nothing more than to see his mother again and hear her voice,
but that was impossible now.
He thought back on all the happy memories of life with his mother,
and the more he thought, the more the pain rent his heart.
Hey, Haochen,
it'll be cold this morning and tonight,
take this jacket. (OK.)
And have a safe trip, please.
OK. I'm going, Mom.
OK.
He didn't sleep that night, every moment was torment.
It was the first time he had ever felt that the night could last so long,
it felt endless …
The passing of his mother caused Lin Haochen immense pain.
It was only through the consolation and encouragement of God's word,
through the faith and strength it gave him,
that the pain in his heart eased somewhat.
Haochen, hurry, the police are coming! (What?)
Go find a place to hide!
Quick! (Okay.)
But the arrests and persecution of the Lin family by the CCP still hadn't stopped.
The police were searching everywhere for them.
He was forced to leave the factory and hide everywhere he went.
Dammit!
Yeah, this place is a mess.
That's where we store the animal feed.
Come on, let's go.
OK.
Let's go now.
Report to us if you see anyone suspicious. (OK.)
After living for so long under this terrible anxiety and fear,
Lin Haochen's body and mind were exhausted,
and he felt tormented and apprehensive.
After experiencing so much persecution by the CCP,
Lin Haochen saw its evil face more clearly than ever.
In April of 2012, to avoid capture by the CCP,
Lin Haochen and several of his brothers and sisters
decided to continue spreading the kingdom gospel in another province.
Hey, Brother Luo is here.
Dad!
Haochen!
Dad! Dad!
Haochen!
It's so great! (Yes, it is.)
They found each other.
Dad, what happened to you and Mom that night?
I didn't take care of your mom.
That night, to avoid the CCP,
your mother and I managed to escape.
We fled our brother's and sister's home.
We made it into the mountains,
and hid in a cave …
Yes, hurry, in there.
That night,
Lin Aizhong and his wife Liu Xiuying escaped capture by the CCP.
After a difficult and treacherous escape,
they hid in a mountain cave, and lost touch with the church.
Because they lacked food and warm clothing,
hunger and cold took their toll,
and after days of being afraid, Liu Xiuying fell ill.
Xiuying!
Xiuying! Xiuying! …
At around 8:00 p.m. on March 2, 2012,
Liu Xiuying had an asthma attack.
At age 48, and missing her family members deeply,
she passed away.
Xiuying! Xiuying! …
His mother was driven to death by the CCP,
and his father was aged and pushed to the brink of exhaustion.
This filled Lin Haochen's heart with torment and loathing.
If not for the CCP arrests and persecution,
his mother wouldn't have suddenly died of her illness,
and their family wouldn't have been forced to flee.
On the bus headed south, father and son sat in silence.
Neither dared bring up the painful memories.
Come in and take a look. (OK, thanks.)
Come in, come in. (Okay.)
What do you think? Are you satisfied with it?
Who is it?
Police, we're checking household registrations.
Oh, then come in.
Who are these people?
They came here to rent the room.
Get out your IDs now, we need to check them.
Be careful,
don't rent your apartment to believers in God.
Oh, alright. (Or else you'll be fined!)
OK, OK. (Aside from them, are there any other tenants?)
Yes. They're upstairs.
You wait here. I'll go check upstairs.
Lin Aizhong had been arrested for spreading the gospel before.
If he was found, he would be arrested again.
Seeing the danger,
father and son prayed together silently, begging God for a way out.
Hey, what are you doing?
I'm talking to you.
Let's go! Now!
Quick, catch them!
Run!
Now!
Stop!
Stop right there!
Stop running!
Come on, Dad!
Stop! Where do you think you're going?
Lin Haochen thought,
even though his mother was gone,
he could at least live with his father.
But on their first day in Sichuan,
they encountered a police search and capture sweep.
After a short reunion, father and son were again forced apart.
Before long,
Lin Haochen found a local Church of Almighty God.
As he worked to spread the kingdom gospel,
he also sought news of his father's whereabouts.
During this time,
he was nearly arrested on several occasions,
but each time, he was lucky enough to escape.
In 2013, the CCP launched mass arrests of Church of Almighty God members
in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, and other areas.
Many Christians familiar to Lin Haochen were arrested one after the other.
On March 29, just past nine in the morning,
while he was waiting for two sisters at Wetland Park in Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province,
he was suddenly arrested.
Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!
Raise your head.
That's him.
Take him away!
Why are you arresting me?
Why?
The police took Lin Haochen to the police station,
where they searched him, registered him, and took his photo,
then transferred him overnight to the Cangxi County Detention Center.
What's your name?
The next day,
state security police questioned Lin Haochen.
Where is your hometown?
The police tried every possible method to threaten and frighten him.
Time and again they asked him for information on church leaders and church funds.
Tell us!
I don't have a family. I'm an orphan.
Lin Haochen was very nervous.
All he could do was silently pray to God in his heart.
Where have you been spreading the gospel?
During the interrogation,
the police read transcripts of Lin Haochen's phone conversations with other Christians.
I don't know them.
They even showed him pictures of him meeting with his brothers and sisters.
I'm sure you know them, right?
Lin Haochen was shocked and goosebumps rose on his skin when he saw them.
This is our job, and we've been doing it for years.
The police had been using security cameras,
phone surveillance, stakeouts, and other methods
to follow them for at least half a year,
they had very detailed records of their movements,
and were planning to arrest all the Christians of The Church of Almighty God
in the area in one final crackdown.
To protect his family, Lin Haochen claimed to be an orphan
and claimed not to know anyone in the photos.
When the police saw that Lin Haochen wouldn't give up the church's information,
they were furious.
The police escalated their threats bit by bit to make him talk.
They played psychological games, and used his family to threaten him.
Lin Haochen, didn't you say you were an orphan?
Not long before this,
Lin Haochen had managed to contact his father.
As the police threatened him, his heart thundered in his chest,
as if it were about to shatter.
He held his breath.
It felt as if all the blood in his veins was suddenly frozen.
He knew, once his father picked up the phone,
the consequences would be unimaginable.
His father's location would be tracked,
and he would be immediately arrested.
All he could do was silently pray to God.
We're sorry, the number you dialed is disconnected.
Please try again later.
At the detention center,
the police questioned Lin Haochen every day.
He was interrogated for more than half a month,
but he never betrayed the church.
We're arresting Christians all over the country.
The police's repetitive grilling yielded no results,
so they had to give up their interrogations,
and instead locked Lin Haochen up in a jail cell.
While he was imprisoned at the detention center,
each day felt like a year to him.
During the day, his meals weren't enough to fill him,
and he was so hungry
he didn't have the strength to speak.
At night, all he could do was lie next to the foul-smelling toilet.
The CCP police also often made the other prisoners abuse him.
With even the slightest flimsy excuse,
the other prisoners would viciously beat him.
Hey!
What are you still doing asleep? Get up! Get up!
Why don't you do what you're told?
You spend all day playing dead? (What are you looking at?)
You think this is funny?
Do you?
Teach him this is no joke!
The hellish existence at the detention center
was nothing but torment and misery for Lin Haochen.
If he didn't often pray and rely on God,
he wouldn't have been able to bear it.
Kick him again!
Keep going!
Pair of jokers!
Pair of twos! You want 'em?
6, 7, 8, 9, 10!
Man, I lost again! (Hey, hey! Come on.)
Don't quit! (Wait!)
The police also forced him to make tinfoil for 10 hours a day,
and denied him food if he didn't finish.
Because of long-term exposure to tin dust,
Lin Haochen, just like the other prisoners,
was covered from head to toe in red lesions.
It was unbearably itchy,
and his mouth was covered in festering sores.
Pair of jokers!
Thank you, friend.
Is this how you're supposed to do your job? Huh?
Come here! Come here! Do you see that?
What, are you blind? What are you looking at?
Think this is a joke?
Ah no, come here, come here!
Come here, get on your knees!
Yeah!
We'll teach you a lesson!
Kick him!
Yeah!
Kick! Kick!
Is this a joke? Is this a joke?
Hey!
I think you made your point.
Alright, you know. Come back, come back.
You got lucky, little rat!
You better be more careful!
Here,
let me help you up.
Thanks.
Although he was humiliated,
Lin Haochen never surrendered.
In the detention center,
he secretly testified Almighty God's work of the last days to good-hearted men.
A local criminal
seeing the CCP's cruel oppression of Lin Haochen
for doing nothing more than believing in God and spreading the gospel,
took pity on him,
and used his relationships to have Lin Haochen released.
I can tell, you are a good young man.
You don't deserve to be in here, huh?
We'll find a way to get you out.
More than three months after he was illegally imprisoned by the CCP,
Lin Haochen finally left the detention center,
but the police had taken all his money.
He was penniless,
and he had no way to contact his family or his brothers and sisters in the church.
He was forced to beg for money in the streets
for a ticket to go find his brothers and sisters.
Five yuan! You might pass here,
but you don't want to miss these!
Lin Haochen wanted to leave this place as soon as he could.
But by evening, no one had been willing to help him,
which left Lin Haochen feeling dejected.
At that moment,
when Lin Haochen's strength was failing him and hunger gnawed at his stomach,
he could only quietly pray to God.
Young man, are you hungry? Eat this.
Thank you! Thank you, sir!
Young man, you don't look like a beggar to me.
Why are you begging for money here?
A local man heard his story,
took pity on him, and decided to help him.
Young man, this is 45 yuan.
Take it, buy a bus ticket, and go home! Take it!
Thank you! Thank you, sir!
Go home soon, young man. (Thank you!)
In Cangxi county,
Lin Haochen was a stranger to the people and the place,
but he still received help from good-hearted people.
He knew that all of this was part of God's plans and arrangements,
that God had been secretly guiding and helping him.
Lin Haochen experienced God's love,
and his heart was filled with gratitude for God.
Who could it be at this hour? Do you wanna go check? (Go see!)
Who is it?
It's me.
Oh, Haochen! Come on, come on inside!
Haochen.
Brother Cao …
Haochen, where did you go?
We learned what happened to all the other brothers and sisters who were arrested.
We asked everywhere,
but we couldn't find out anything about you!
I … (But … you've finally come back!)
Where have you been all these months, Haochen?
We even thought the police … might have actually …
Sister Zhang … (Sit down and tell us what happened.)
After … after I was arrested, it was terrible …
After Lin Haochen found his brothers and sisters in the church,
he quickly wrote a letter to his father.
For the past three months,
after Lin Aizhong learned that his son had been arrested
and that there was no further information,
he spent every day in a state of desperate worry.
The loss of his wife had already been unbearable for him,
and he feared that the unthinkable had also happened to his son.
In the midst of his great torment,
he could only pray and entrust everything to God.
Thanks be to God!
My boy, you've grown up! Dad's so proud of you …
He quickly wrote a letter back to his son.
When Lin Haochen saw the letter, he was deeply moved.
His father had never been articulate,
and seldom spoke directly about his feelings to his son.
It was the first time Lin Haochen's father had ever said such words to him.
His father's words warmed Lin Haochen's heart.
In 2014,
the CCP fabricated the "Shandong Zhaoyuan Murder Case"
to frame and defame The Church of Almighty God.
Afterward,
large numbers of armed police and military units
were mobilized all around the country to arrest Christians.
Countless Christians from The Church of Almighty God
were among those arrested.
Some were tortured to death,
and countless more Christians were forced to flee their homes.
To avoid capture by the CCP,
Lin Haochen was compelled to constantly relocate,
live a wandering life, and stay in hiding everywhere he went.
Come on.
Come on, get in.
Get in.
Get in there.
Go.
Lin Haochen already felt like there was no place left to hide.
But the CCP government issued another secret order
to re-arrest all the members of The Church of Almighty God
who had formerly been arrested,
sentence them and put them in prison.
Faced with the danger of being arrested yet again,
he fully understood that there is no safe place for Christians in China.
If he remained in China,
he would be arrested and imprisoned sooner or later,
and might even lose his life.
In 2015, Lin Haochen, who had come to the end of his road,
after a treacherous journey,
escaped from China with the help of his brothers and sisters.
In his days in exile abroad,
he often thought back on his experiences.
Lin Haochen's emotions surged when he remembered his story:
Once, he had a happy family,
but the CCP's persecution had broken it.
His own experiences made him see clearly the CCP's devilish essence,
and allowed him to see that only the path of following God and believing in God
was the right path in life
and could allow him to live out a genuinely significant existence.
Although Lin Haochen was arrested and persecuted by the CCP,
and experienced many difficulties and setbacks,
none of these had shaken his faith in the slightest.
He swore to himself that he would unwaveringly follow God to the end!