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himself in a cell with ten people
sleeping together on a single, large
bed! ‘The good thing was I was able
to share Jesus Christ with the people
on my left and on my right! So the
hearts of the two guys were opened
by the Spirit to believe in Jesus Christ.
Both of them accepted him as their
Lord.’ Shortly after this, John managed
to collect water in a bucket, during
heavy rain, and poured it over them to
baptise them!
‘Then the officers found out and moved
me to another room. So I started over
again!’
Before too long John led two more
men to faith in Christ. One was facing
a death sentence for drug smuggling.
‘Of course he was totally desperate and
hopeless but after he accepted Christ
he said to me he felt totally relieved,’
said John. ‘I baptised him in the same
way, with rain water.’
During the next four years John was
severely restricted in terms of letters
he could receive from family and
friends. When his mother copied a
few Bible verses and put them into
a letter this was confiscated by the
authorities.
‘My mother travelled more than 20
hours by train to visit me. We talked
over a phone through a window
and the officers listened to our
conversation. My mother said Pastor
so-and-so is praying for you – and
the conversation was then cut off
immediately. My mother had travelled
all those hours but was only able to
talk for three minutes because she had
mentioned someone was praying for
me. They didn’t like the word “prayer”.
‘I was not allowed to do anything for
my faith. I could not pray. At first I
was kneeling down to pray every day
but then they stopped me. So I started
John Cao saw several
inmates come to Christ
during his time in prison
to pray by lying down on my bed as if
sleeping, with my face down.’
John was not allowed a Bible or even
other books. So he started composing
poems. ‘I had never composed a poem
before. I had to write in very “unclear”
language, or the police wouldn’t have
allowed me to send them to my mother.
It required wisdom. I started to praise
my God and to express my thanks to my
Lord and how I was understanding my
life in prison and how I can live for Jesus
Christ.’
A selection of John’s poems were
subsequently published by Release
International’s partner, ChinaAid, as
Living Lyrics: Poems from Prison. One of
them includes the following verse:
You can take away my freedom,
but you can’t take my prayers.
My prayers have wings and leap
over the towering iron mesh
wall.
Many brothers and sisters have
heard them.
They fly freely every day and reach
Heaven above the blue sky.
In March of this year John was released
from prison. However, the authorities
have not given him his Chinese ID
papers, which means he is not free to
travel around China. ‘I can move
around freely in my city. I don’t see
anyone following me,’ he said. ‘But I am
unable to travel. I can only stay in my
city. I have been removed from a small
prison into a big prison that is my city!’
Although he has lived in the US John
has retained his Chinese citizenship.
‘With Chinese citizenship I am able to
come into China without being
stopped. I love America just as much as
I love China! I love China because
I want to share Jesus Christ with
Chinese people!’
John expressed his thanks to those
who prayed for him during his time in
prison. He added: ‘I would encourage
you to continue to pray and show your
solidarity towards all those people
who are behind bars [for their faith in
Christ]. Pray also for the full recovery
of my civil rights and citizenship and to
be able to travel as before.’