Pastor Yang Rongli of Golden Lampstand church has written a heartfelt letter from prison to her son in which she expresses the peace she felt when she learned about the verdict of her trial and her sorrow about being separated from her family.

The 69-year-old pastor had been held in detention for nearly four years on a fraud charge and was reportedly recently visited by a judge in the Yaodu District detention centre of Linfen City, Shanxi Province, and informed that she has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

In the letter Yang Rongli describes how she learned about the verdict of her trial and her immediate reaction:

“On June 20, the judge came to the detention centre and sentenced me to 15 years. This was a great honour given to me by God. The first thing I said to the judge was: ‘The sentence is too low.’ On that day, I was thinking very calmly and controlling my emotions. I felt a kind of peace and joy from heaven. The detention centre leaders were surprised to see my reaction to the 15-year sentence.”

She also explains the relief she felt when she was finally told the verdict and why she reacted so positively: “This result was a temporary one, and it made me feel relieved and at ease, because I had fought the good fight, I had run the race, and I had kept the faith. It was time for me to rest.”

“The Lord will restore the years the locusts have eaten.”

Pastor Yang, who previously served a seven-year prison sentence (until 2016) on a separate charge, also expressed the heartache she feels about not having been able to look after her family over the years. However she remains certain about her calling and sure of her reward:“I will continue to work with the Lord Jesus Christ and see what He does, but I know this has caused suffering to my son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and husband, whom I have not taken good care of. I have not done well in my life—I am not a wife like a wife, a mother like a mother, and I am even less worthy of being a grandmother to my grandson today. But the Lord arranges to let me ‘be a human being’ for Him first. I believe the Lord will restore the years the locusts have eaten.”

In her letter Yang Rongli also mentions the ten church workers from Linfen Golden Lampstand Church who had received prison sentences of up to nine years for alleged fraud and her husband Pastor Wang Xiaoguang [sentenced to 9 years and 7 months in prison] who was tried separately from the ten workers and her: “I learned the first trial results of your father and ten other co-workers. I can no longer do anything for them. May the Lord give them strength! I cannot repair the church’s financial losses. May God bless and help those in our church.”

“Let us thank and glorify Him together. Mother.”

Background

Golden Lampstand Church has been persecuted for many years due to its refusal  to register with the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement, and the government demolished its building in 2018. Pastor Yang Rongli and Pastor Wang Xiaoguang led the church for over thirty years and Yang Rongli was also head pastor of the 50,000-member Linfen House Church Network. She and her husband were previously imprisoned for seven years and three years respectively.

(China Aid/Bitter Winter)

Photo Credit: ChinaAid