Focusing… Feasting… Filling…
Pastor John Cao prior to imprisonment. (Photos: ChinaAid) |
Prior to his imprisonment, Pastor Cao dedicated his life to serving the poor and providing desperately needed supplies in China and Myanmar. Pastor Cao served as a missionary in Myanmar’s Wa [an autonomous region within Myanmar (Burma)] State. There, as he served the poor and provided necessary supplies, God used him to transform the lives of more than 2,000 impoverished minority children. As he worked to fight poverty in the region, Pastor Cao built 16 schools.
On March 5, 2017, although Pastor Cao and his colleague, Jing Ruxia, had not experienced legal trouble in the past, authorities in China’s Yunnan province intercepted them. They placed both men in prison on illegal border crossing charges. Later, officials changed Pastor Cao’s charge to “organizing illegal border crossings.” In March 2018, authorities sentenced him to serve seven years in prison.
Many observing Pastor Cao’s case assert that his imprisonment does not come from the violation of any border law, but rather arose from China’s ongoing campaign to suppress the Chinese church.
On July 25, 2019, following a farce appeal process, a Yunnan court upheld Pastor John Cao’s seven-year sentence. In the court surrounded by heavy police presence, the court handed down the decision. Officials only permitted Pastor Cao’s family’s lawyer, his 83-year-old mother, and his sister to hear the verdict.
In August 2019, CCP authorities transferred Pastor Cao to a prison in Kunming, the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province.
In your prayers for Pastor John Cao, please include Jamie and their two sons, Benjamin and Amos.
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