The cult organization refers to the “Almighty God” cult organization of the Boshan community, which promoted and spread the heresies of the “Almighty God” cult under the leadership of its superior, the “Almighty God” cult organization of Zibo district.
After the hearing, the Boshan District People's court in Zibo City delivered a first instance judgment on six members of the "Almighty God" cult according to law, sentencing them to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 10 months to 3 years coupled with a fine. Two of the defendants who couldn't appear in court due to the Covid-19 epidemic were tried and judged by the court via video links.
Mrs. Jia, 77 years old, is the oldest of the six defendants. She expressed remorse for joining the "Almighty God" cult after hearing the verdict. She had used her house as a stronghold for spreading the “Almighty God” cult for a long time. Therefore, she was sentenced for breaking the law. It is too late for her to regret it now.
Mrs. Cui died of breast cancer at the age of 48 due to her blind belief in the “Almighty God” cult
According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, there should have been seven defendants on trial in this case, but one of the defendants surnamed Cui had passed away before the case was brought to court. All of the seven defendants on trial suffered from different diseases before. However, their blind belief in the “Almighty God” cult prevented them from seeking timely medical treatment.
Mrs. Cui, who was suffering from disease, no longer took medicines after being deceived into joining the “Almighty God” cult. She believed that she would get well without treatment. As a result, her minor illness became a major one, with her finally diagnosed with advanced cancer in a hospital.
Cui’s husband said he often went on business trips because of his job requirement, with his wife taking care of their children at home. A year ago, when his wife, Mrs. Cui, felt unwell, he advised her to go to the hospital for a checkup, but she had been reluctant to follow her advice. It wasn’t until November 2019 when the public security authorities came to him that he learned his wife had joined the “Almighty God” cult. When his wife felt increasingly uncomfortable, he applied to the public security authorities for medical parole for her. He took his wife to the hospital for a checkup, and he spent 170,000 yuan, all the money his family had accumulated, on her treatment. However, it was too late by then. In April that year, Mrs. Cui left the world at the age of 48. Her husband had been hiding her death from her 87-year-old bedridden father, afraid that he might be unable to bear hearing of the sad news.
Mrs. Cui’s husband had been unable to calm down since her death, feeling not only remorse for the death of his wife but also indignation at those evil cults. He said, “Things like evil cults are harmful! They can ruin your family!”
Mrs. Sun fell under the mind control of the “Almighty God” cult and gave her money for buying groceries to the cult organization
Evil cults have done a lot of harm to people, but they are often dressed in hypocrisy. The “Almighty God” cult was founded in 1989 by Zhao Weishan, a key member of the former “Shouters” sect. To mislead people, the “Almighty God” cult often disguises itself as Christianity and spreads heretical fallacies everywhere.
Mrs. Sun, from Linzi District, Zibo City, originally had a good family and a stable job. But all this had changed since she joined the “Almighty God” cult in 2011. In order to preach the cult, Mrs. Sun resigned from her job in 2014 and worked wholeheartedly for the “Almighty God” cult. According to Mrs. Sun, the “Almighty God” cult held weekly meetings for its members to study the so-called “teachings” so as to indoctrinate them with heresies, which resulted in those misguided people getting obsessed with the evil cult and refusing to come to their senses. Mrs. Sun told reporters, “It always used those kinds of words to control your acts. In fact, it was exercising mind control over you so that you couldn’t extricate yourself from it.”
In order to spread the so-called “teachings”, Mrs. Sun offended all the relatives and friends of her family. After she joined the “Almighty God” cult, her temperament changed dramatically and she became increasingly indifferent to her family. When her elder brother was hospitalized, she visited him only once. Even when her father died, she did nothing but attend the funeral as a formality.
Seeing that Mrs. Sun rarely returned home and ended up being utterly isolated, Mrs. Sun’s second elder brother suffered great mental torment. He made a lot of efforts to help his sister see the nature of the “Almighty God” cult but still failed to bring her back to the right track. Apart from imposing mind control over its followers, the “Almighty God” cult organization accumulated wealth by requiring them to give “devotion money” to it. Mrs. Sun, who was out of work, was also required to give money, even the money for buying groceries, to the cult organization. Mrs. Sun said, "Those with jobs would give one-tenth of their salaries to them. As for me, I had to save some of the money my husband gave me to buy groceries, and then I’d give 20 or 30 yuan to them."
In 2017, the cult organization that Mrs. Sun joined was investigated and punished by the public security authorities. Mrs. Sun was also sentenced for organizing and participating in cult activities. Looking back on the absurd things she had done over the past years, Mrs. Sun now understood the nature of the “Almighty God” cult. She said, "We have been deprived of feelings or affection for our families by the "Almighty God" cult."
Education and publicity efforts should be strengthened to keep more people away from evil cults
Evil cults are terrible not only because they are harmful to society but also because they make many people who get addicted to them their victims and even their accomplices. Once you get trapped in an evil cult, it is difficult to extricate yourself from it. It can be seen from the above cases that the focus of the fight against evil cults is on prevention, education, and publicity work so that more people can recognize the true face of evil cults.
China's Criminal Law has severe penalties for those who organize or use a cult organization or superstition to undermine the implementation of state laws and administrative regulations. However, it is also stipulated in relevant judicial interpretations that defendants who commit a first offense, plead guilty, show repentance, and indicate their intent to quit evil cults can be treated with leniency, considering many cult members have been tempted to commit crimes due to their temporary dissatisfaction with their life, work, or marriage.
A case of especially serious nature may be not regarded as especially serious as long as a defendant is willing to quit an evil cult and no longer participate in cult activities. The punishment against the defendant, in this case, may be reduced to a lower level. A case of serious nature may be regarded as less serious as long as a defendant is willing to quit the evil cult and no longer participate in cult activities. The defendant, in this case, may be sentenced to less than three years in prison. A person who had been given administrative or criminal penalties previously for attending cult activities or disseminating cult propaganda materials should be punished more severely if he or she commits another crime. The standard for constituting a crime, in this case, may also be lowered correspondingly.
