A female pastor in China’s Hubei province has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of “fraud for preaching the Gospel” after her house church refused to join the state-run church, which monitors and regulates Protestant churches.
After being in police custody for two and a half years, earlier this month, Echeng District Court in Ezhou in Hubei province sentenced Pastor Hao Zhiwei, who led a house church in Ezhou.
Hao, 51, was arrested in 2019 after she refused to join the Three-Self Church, UCA News reports. Her lawyer, Si Weijiang, said that she was charged for preaching the gospel and receiving donations from church members outside of the permission of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches and the Christian Council.
According to The Christian Post, Si noted that while several house church pastors have been arrested for fraud, Hao is the first in the country to be implicated in a fraud case.
According to the watchdog group Church in Chains, Hao’s church building was demolished in 2019 amid ongoing persecution.
The party used cross removal, the sealing and demolishing of church buildings, banning of church offerings and “Sinicization” to try to coerce churches into joining the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Sinicization is the practice of incorporating Chinese culture, religious and political ideology into Christianity.
“Other charges include: ‘illegal business operations,’ ‘inciting subversion of state power,’ ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble,’ and so on. These charges are thorns on loyal preacher’s head and God’s crown for His loyal servants,” the group added.
Hao is survived by her two sons. Her husband passed away several years ago. According to the watchdog group International Christian Concern (ICC), Hao’s youngest son, Moses, attends middle school and suffers from depression.
The group also noted that Hao’s health is deteriorating in prison, and she has lost a significant amount of weight.
“After being detained for more than two years, she has developed acute pancreatitis four times and was sent to the emergency room. She nearly lost her life,” ICC said.
Despite being imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, Hao has “strong faith that she can be released without charge.”
this breaks my heart but we as followers of Christ know this has to happen in order for everything to be set in place for the return of our king of kings, king Jesus. these precious pastors and their families will have many many jewels in their crown to turn back to their god saying this I suffered in your name. and Christ will say well done my child enter in. I pray they won’t have to endure pain for a long time. and I pray even while they are in prison Jehovah Nissi will be there and his name will be glorified forever. God, be with you till we meet inside the gate.