North Carolina pastor, John Cao, sentenced to seven years in prison for missionary work
ChinaAid reports that North Carolina pastor, John Cao, has been sentenced to seven years in prison after a China’s southern Yunnan province court ruled that he was guilty of “organizing illegal border crossing.”
Chinese born Cao and Jing Ruxia allegedly crossed the China-Myanmar border last March, working to build sixteen schools and ministered to 2,000 impoverished minority children in Myanmar’s northern Wa State.
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The Pastor will face seven years in jail and pay a fine of $3,000.
The ChinaAid article noted Jing received a one-year sentence and a $792.00 fine, but has been released after one year in custody, due to “time served.”
ChinaAid President Bob Fu earlier told The Christian Post that “the top leadership is increasingly worried about the rapid growth of the Christian faith and their public presence, and their social influence. It is a political fear for the Communist Party, as the number of Christians in the country far outnumber the members of the party.”
The Post noted that “Underground churches have been raided, pastors have been arrested, rooftop crosses have been taken down, and human rights activists have been harassed and tortured under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, aimed at suppressing the rise of Christianity in the country.”
Cao is married to an American citizen and they have two sons.
