"If I had been granted a tourist visa that time and I had gone abroad later, I would have spent the rest of my life as an underground slave laborer working overseas for the 'Almighty God' evil cult, never being able to come back." Duan Liwei (pseudonym), who comes from the rural area of a county in the south, said to the anti-evil-cult volunteers with moist eyes. "I want to tell people about how the ‘Almighty God’ evil cult poisoned my mind."
Falling into the trap of the “Almighty God” evil cult
In 2012, my wife was drawn into joining the "Almighty God" church by a fellow villager. At first, she was alone in following the evil cult privately, thinking that the "Female Christ" was coming and that only by believing in the "God" could she avoid the impending disasters. Later, she began to spread the message to the family. As a result, I also became a follower of the "Almighty God" evil cult in June 2013. My wife and I rented a house as a reception home for the “Almighty God” organization. During that time, we worked hard for the evil cult and had done many stupid and absurd things.
Refusing medical treatment for my daughter’s disease
The first stupid thing we did under the mind control of the "Almighty God" evil cult was refusing medical treatment for my daughter’s disease. Around October 2013, my little daughter had a severe cough caused by tonsillitis and she hadn’t got better after seeing a doctor. My wife said it was "God" testing us and she suggested that we ask people from the churches of “Almighty God" for help. They told us, "This is a spiritual battle. The more you care about the disease, the more serious it will get." Seeing my wife resolutely refused to seek treatment for my daughter, I gave up the idea of taking my daughter to hospital.
My father, who found our sick daughter being ignored by us, took her to see a doctor at a health station. After taking some medicine, my daughter had her disease cured.
Refusing social security insurance for fear of the doomsday
The second stupid thing I had done happened in December 2013. As my wife and I hadn’t violated the family planning policy, the government offered to buy social security and medical insurance for us every year as a reward. However, gripped by the heresies of the "Almighty God" evil cult, I refused without hesitation the reward offered to us according to the government’s welfare policy. I thought: What need is there for social security and medical insurance since the world is coming to an end and the earth is going to be destroyed? Can those things save us when disaster is upon us? It's so stupid!
Now, looking back at what I did, I feel I was so naive and ignorant. Being brainwashed by the “Almighty God” cult, I lost control of my mind, thinking only about such things as the end of the world and the destruction of the earth.
Losing humanity and treating my family members as demons
By April 2017, being completely obsessed with the heresies of the "Almighty God" evil cult, I became more and more indifferent to my family members who hadn’t followed the cult, looking upon them as strangers with opposing ideas. I wanted to make a clean break with them, who were Satans in my eyes at that time. My mother nearly committed suicide because I believed in the heresy that “Almighty God followers and non-followers are two types of people incompatible with each other.”
An “Almighty God” adherent narrowly escaped death
In September 2014, I was selected as a “church” leader. A few months later, a 69 years old female adherent was bedridden with serious illness and might pass away soon. Being afraid that her death would bring trouble to the "Almighty God" organization, I arranged for two other female adherents to send her to the nearby hospital of traditional Chinese medicine. When doctors found the patient was unconscious, they didn't dare to accept her, suggesting that she be sent immediately to a bigger hospital for treatment. When she was rushed to the People's Hospital, the doctor said that the patient had been seriously dehydrated and had no hope of being saved if she arrived a little later.
Making a failed attempt to go abroad by illegal means
In December 2014, the "church" to which I belonged issued a work arrangement, calling for all domestic "churches" to send personnel to “do their part” in overseas "Almighty God” churches. I was arranged by my “church” to apply for a passport to go abroad to "do my part". In April 2015, dozens of us who were to go abroad were received related training successively in a rented house in a big city in the south according to the arrangement of the church. We did so because our marital relations, workplaces, and property certificates, were all fabricated by the "Almighty God" cult organization, except our identification cards. Some dedicated staff led us through the process of completing the temporary marriage registration, obtaining certificates of employment, opening bank accounts, and getting records of account transfer, and so on. According to the original plan, we were to go with tourist visas to a foreign country, where someone would meet us after we passed through the customs procedures; and after we arrived at the "church", we would hand in all our certificates. In order to succeed in getting our visas issued, we had to have some training to get familiar with visa interview and memorize the invented reasons for going abroad so as to keep our ruse from being seen through.
The woman who pretended to be my wife to go abroad with me was an “Almighty God” adherent of another "church", whom I had never met before. Although we had prepared all the materials for our visa application, we were not a real couple and were not familiar with each other. Therefore, when the visa officers of the foreign consulate asked us why our children were not to travel abroad with us, they found out our hidden motives immediately. As a result, we were denied our visas on the spot and went home in a bad mood.
What would happen to me if I had gone abroad? Staying alone in a foreign country, with no legal identity, no relatives, no language skills, and no money, I would have to work hard for the "Almighty God" evil cult, doing free labor for its “church". I probably would work illegally outside to pay “dedication money”, and set up stalls to promote the evil cult.
Now, I have walked out of the quagmire of the "Almighty God", and I have had a clear understanding of the true nature of the evil cult. No matter how the cult changes its heresies, its evil nature will remain the same. Now, I will no longer be intimidated and confused by the cult. I will try my best to work hard for a better life, recover what I have lost in the past, and make up for what I owed my family over the years.
