“Almighty God” Cult on Public Trial in Heilongjiang Province

Grace Zhi
China Christian Daily
August 22, 2018

A man gives his heart and everything to a cult devil.

On Jul 31, 2018, People's Court of Daqing High-tech Industry Zone in Heilongjiang Province heard a case of sabotaging legal enforcement by organizing and using heretical religion, according to cctv.com. It is reported that the case is related to "Almighty God" cult.

The four defendants on trial are the key members of the cult's northeast branch, according to the report. A police officer in charge of the case said that Almighty God cult forced many cult members to leave their home to "fulfill duty", bringing great pain to families, during recruitment. 19-year-old Xiao Man, who was rescued from the cult, had been arranged to make propaganda videos every day.
Xiao Man told the journalist that every day was fully scheduled and she went out two or three times only in half a year. "It seemed that the time was not enough to finish her jobs if she spent two or three hours on sleeping," said Xiao Man.

Last June the Heilongjiang police arrested in Daqing the leaders and key members of Almighty God cult's northeast branch fleeing around in northeast China.

According to Heilongjiang police, the northeast branch of the Almighty God cult transferred funds worth up to 140 million yuan, which are all from cult members, overseas from Nov 2016 to Mar 2017.

The cult members' daily activities were weird. They attended gathering with surgical masks on their faces. They sent messages with scripts and were not allowed to use mobile phones, get access to the internet, watch TV and listen to the radio. They could only watch videos about Almighty God cult and apocalypse, as well as fake policemen played by cult members extorting confessions by torture, and books on the cult.

The cult's doctrines are borrowed from and misinterpret the Bible. They advocated apocalypse and engaged in illegal activities in the name of Christianity. The Chinese government identified the cult as an evil organization in 1995. The cult was established in the 1990s and spread from Henan Province to the north and then nationwide discreetly. At the end of 2012, they acted sharply in the name of Almighty God with the rumor of doomsday. Though the cult is strictly forbidden by the government, its influence is still extensive.

When gathering, they don't pray, preach, or read the Bible, but read their own "classics", share what they learned, dance, and sing their own new songs, as well as threaten and violate members sometimes. It is reported that there are "truth protectors" beating those who refuse their recruitment or intend to get rid of the organization.

-Translated by Lin Changfeng

http://m.chinachristiandaily.com/news/7503

US supports evil cults to destabilize China: expert

Liu Xuanzun

Global Times

August 14, 2018

Expert rebukes US for supporting cults to destabilize China

The US is trying to destabilize Chinese society by supporting evil cults in China, and its accusation that the Chinese government is restricting religious freedom is a pack of lies, a Chinese expert said on Tuesday.

Article 36 of China's Constitution states that citizens of China enjoy freedom of religious belief, "but an evil cult isn't a religion," Li Anping, former deputy secretary-general of the China Anti-Cult Association, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"Cults call themselves religions, but are in fact reactionary organizations that disrupt social stability," Li said.

On the contrary, Li noted, "cracking down on cults is protecting religious freedom and human rights."

Li's remarks came after a statement released by the US Embassy in China last month, accusing China of restricting religious freedom and naming the illegal cult Falun Gong as a victim of repression and discrimination.

The US accusation was "a pack of lies. It cannot be accepted," Li said.

Falun Gong is not the only cult that has US backing. 

Almighty God cult leader Zhao Weishan escaped to the US in 2000 and controls the cult in China remotely, China Central Television reported.

From November 2016 to March 2017, the cult transferred 140 million yuan ($20.3 million) abroad, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

In 2014, five Almighty God members murdered a woman at a McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan, East China's Shandong Province.

Cults must be cracked down upon to maintain social stability and ensure people's safety, according to Li.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1115356.shtml

China launches crackdown on 'Christian CULT': 'Almighty God' leaders facing action

A CHINESE court has launched proceedings against leading members of the banned religious group "Almighty God", state media reported, the latest crackdown on what the government has labelled a dangerous cult.

Express
August 13, 2018

China has already sentenced dozens of followers of Quannengshen, or the Church of Almighty God, since the murder of a woman at a fastfood restaurant by suspected members of the group in 2014 sparked a national outcry.

In the latest case, an unspecified number of members of the group have been on trial in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang since July 31, state news agency Xinhua said late on Sunday.

The report said, citing local police: ”Heilongjiang police arrested the leader and some key members of the cult branch in northeast China in June 2017.”

It provided no other details of the case and it was not possible to reach a representative of the group in China for comment.

The group, which originated in central Henan province, believes that Jesus was resurrected as Yang Xiangbin, wife of the sect's founder, Zhao Weishan, Xinhua said. Zhao is also known as Xu Wenshan, Xinhua said, adding that the couple fled to the United States in 2000.

The group mainly recruits less-educated women who have family problems, and "lures" them in with normal Christian teachings, the report said.

"In the beginning new recruits were not forced to donate or attend the gatherings but after becoming a convert they were manipulated to leave their family and devote everything to the cult," it quoted an anonymous Heilongjiang police officer as saying.

Members are banned from using mobile phones, watching television or reading non-religious books and are made to "watch videos made for brainwashing", Xinhua added.

In 2012, China launched a crackdown on "Almighty God" after it called for a "decisive battle" to slay the "Red Dragon" Communist Party, and preached that the world would end that year.

China's constitution proclaims freedom of belief, but in reality the officially atheist ruling Communist Party keeps a tight rein over all religious activities and has cracked down on sects it says threaten social stability and promote violence.

China has previously promised harsh punishments for any group who spread superstitions.

Two people were given death sentences for the killing of the woman in the McDonald’s restaurant in Shandong.

Zhang Lidong and his daughter Zhang Fan were both executed for the murder of the 35-year-old woman, Wu Shuoyan after she refused to give the pair her phone number.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1002784/china-christian-crackdown-almighty-god

18 detained in connection to cult activities

Xinhua

July 26, 2017

HANGZHOU, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Police in east China's Zhejiang Province have detained 18 suspects in connection to activities of the "Almighty God" cult.

Police in Changxing County caught the suspected cult members following an investigation. Police also confiscated laptops and books used by the cult for dissemination of information.

"Almighty God," known in Chinese as Quannengshen, grabbed national headlines in 2014 with viral videos showing five of its members beating a woman to death at a McDonald's in the eastern city of Zhaoyuan, condemning her as an "evil spirit" after she refused to give them her mobile phone number for recruitment purposes.

First appearing in the 1990s in central China's Henan Province, Quannengshen claims that Jesus has been resurrected as Yang Xiangbin, who is the wife of the cult's founder Zhao Weishan, also known as Xu Wenshan. The couple fled to the United States in September 2000.

According to Dong Jianfeng, a police officer from Changxing County, most of the apprehended suspects showed signs of depression.

"Some of them are divorced and do not seem to know how to vent their suppressed emotions," Dong said. "Some of their families have experienced bad accidents and caused them to become depressed."

According to initial investigations, the cult's financial sources mainly came from "donations" from its members. The higher the donation, the more rights a member obtained. More donations allowed members access to higher positions within the cult, according to police.

"Every member was willing to donate their money, and the amounts ranged from 10,000 yuan (1,481 U.S. dollars) to tens of thousands of yuan," Dong said.

"The cult's 'leaders' imposed spiritual control over the members," Dong said. "They were told that as long as they gave donations, the Almighty God would keep their illness at bay."

Of the detained suspects, eight have been "re-educated" and denounced their cult beliefs, police said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/26/c_136474914.htm

China’s Other Religious Problem: Christianity

Shannon Tiezzi
June 03, 2014

Signs of a crackdown on Christianity in China may increase the strength of more extremist, quasi-Christian groups.

The recent upswing in terrorist attacks in China, with militant Islamist groups like the Turkestan Islamic Party claiming responsibility, much of the conversation about religion in China is focused on Islam. Scholars debate how restrictions on the practice of Islam in Xinjiang may be related to an increase in fundamentalism (and terrorism). Meanwhile, others compare Uyghurs to China’s other largely Islamic minority group, the Hui, who are mostly integrated into Chinese society.

However, at the same time that China has declared its own “war on terror” with a year-long anti-terror crackdown, Beijing also seems poised to declare war on another religion: Christianity. Earlier this year, local authorities demolished the  massive Sanjiang church building in Zhejiang province, citing violations of building regulations.  Church members, though, said the effort was part of a coordinated crackdown on Christianity.

A New York Times article on the demolished church saw the event as the end of an informal truce between church and state in Zhejiang. Largely tolerated by the local authorities in years past, churches in Zhejiang have recently been ordered to remove crosses and other signs of the Christian faith. Others, like Sanjiang, have been demolished. The Times article, citing a provincial policy statement, says that it’s “clear the demolitions are part of a strategy to reduce Christianity’s public profile.” The policy paper explicitly urges officials to target churches using a pretext of “illegal construction,” exactly what happened to Sanjiang. “This is crucial to investigate and prosecute from the perspective of laws and regulations to avoid inviting heavy criticism,” the document said, according to NYT.