Chen Meifang (a pseudonym) is one of my good friends who lived in Zhanjiang, Guangzhou Province. She was born in August, 1964 and retired as a worker. We got along so well that she’d like to share her thoughts with me. On January 3rd, 2019, just two days after the New Year’s Day, Ah Fang came to visit me, and I was startled by her looks, a sallow face, disordered hair, and eyes that seemed so big against her skinny body. She looked very weary and spoke softly, swallowing saliva from time to time with dry lips. I asked her what she had been through in recent years and she answered my question slowly.
An illustration from the Internet
Fell into the clutches of Almighty God cult and wasted both money and efforts
Li Li (a pseudonym), one of my classmates, was a member of the Almighty God cult. One day in 2012, the long-lost Li Li came and told me, ‘The doomsday is coming, and just those who believed in the Almighty God, the only true God’, can be blessed and saved’. I was terrified by her words. Later on, Li Li came to see me almost every 2 or 3 days with some pamphlets, which she said were records of God’s words. She asked me to study those pamphlets very carefully and took me to a room for a cult party where so-called brothers and sisters said that only those who were in pursuit of truth could survived the coming doomsday. I was so scared to hear it that I then started to actively participate in similar parties without any hesitation and doubt.
Gradually I was brainwashed by the Almighty God cult and began to provide homestay for other Almighty God cult members who attended parties, taking care of all their basic necessities of life for free. For that, I had to spend more than ￥1700 per month, which accounted for a majority part of my monthly pension. Therefore, I could hardly make ends meet. But I kept contributing my money and efforts to the Almighty God cult and dared not make any complaint or neglect anyone or anything.
Whereabouts of Almighty God cult parties were uncertain and their location messages were only informed in forms of written notes. After 2017, I was assigned by the church to an affairs team which involved a lot of long-distance travels. Because my pension was not enough to cover my travel expenditure, accommodation costs and my tributes to the cult, I had to cancelled several insurances that I bought so that I could manage to get ￥100,000 all used as tributes to the cult.
An illustration from the Internet
Although abandoned by the cult for being sick, she was still bigoted
One day in 2014, Li Li came and said good-bye to me. She told me mystically that she would go abroad to carry out God’s work. But in August 2017, Li Li showed up in front of me, saying she was sent back to China by the Almighty God cult after she was diagnosed with diabetes. Later I learned that the church received instructions from upper level, dictating that ‘she is quite sick and requires lots of money for her medical treatment, but the money is the tribute to the God, so it’s very inappropriate to spend on her……anyone who is over 50 and suffers from severe illness must be sent back home for recovery so that no trouble shall be brought about to the Almighty God cult.’
Ah Fang was obsessed with the Almighty God cult and only regretted it when death arrived
I haven’t heard from Ah Fang for a long time since I saw Ah Fang that time. It was until one day in August 2020 that I learned the news of Ah Fang’s death from her brother, which was quite shocking to me and made me sad.
In 2017, Ah Fang started to suffer from physical problems and had the symptom of chest tightness, but she insisted on not going to hospital. The reason behind her being unreasonable lies in that Ah Fang believed everything the Almighty God cult peddled, ‘The Almighty God is an Almighty doctor. If you think you’re ill then you’re ill, but if you think you’re living in the kingdom of God then you’re totally fine. As long as you breathe, the Almighty God will keep you alive.’ This is why Ah Fang didn’t try to go to hospital even though she felt quite unwell all the time.
In March 2019, Ah Fang felt sick again with severe pains and was hospitalized by her little brother. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with advanced stage lung cancer and died in August 2020. Her younger brother said that in her last time, she was in great pains, moaning and out of her breath, and she told her family brokenly, ‘I’m …… very regretful …… female Christ …… doomsday…… they’re all …… lies’.
The Almighty God cult ruthlessly took advantage of Ah Fang’s kindness and naivety and made her obsessed with the cult. Unfortunately, she failed to get rid of the grip of it, and paid the price with her own life.
