I’m 55 years old this year. Both my son and daughter have married. My husband and I grew vegetables on our land of more than two Mu. During slack seasons, my husband would go out doing odd jobs for pocket money, and I would go to the fair running small business or play mahjong with friends. All in all, our life used to be a leisure one.
In the year when I was 51 years old, I went to the fair and met my third sister-in-law living in the neighboring village. She told me that since she had no grandchildren to take care of, she had much free time to believe in “God”. And soon after that, she lived a meaningful life and her physical condition also improved. Then, she asked me to believe in “God” with her. I didn’t take her words seriously, and went back home after a few small talks with her. Before I was about to go out to play mahjong in the afternoon of the same day, my third sister-in-law came visit us again and tried to persuade me into believing “God” once more. I replied that I believed in neither “God” nor “Ghost” so she could just spare me at that. After saying that I locked the door and went out to play mahjong. After dinner, we decided to turn in early that day because my husband was quite tired after a day’s work. Right before we planned to go to bed after shower, my third sister-in-law knocked on our door again, but this time, she was with another woman in her 50s. In order not to disturb my husband’s sleep, I sat down with them in the yard. The two talked to me in a mysterious manner, claiming the “God” they believed in was not Jesus Christ but the one called “Almighty God”. They also said that they were doing the preparation work for days after the apocalypse because both the earth and human beings living on it were doomed. They added that it was “Almighty God” that sent them to save common people. They explained the reason why they were sent by “Almighty God” to save my husband and I was that both of us were kind-hearted people. They further explained, as long as I believed in “Almighty God”, our whole family would be blessed even when the whole world was destroyed. I was quite confused about what they said. Then they kept visiting me many days in a row. Eventually, I got roped in and became an “Almighty God” follower.
After believing in “Almighty God”, I started to behave the same as them, spreading the so-called “Gospel” everywhere and participating cult parties frequently. As time went by, my husband was gradually displeased with my behaviors, criticizing me for not taking care of the family and not doing housework like cooking or laundry. He complained that he could only see empty pot and cold stove after a day of hard work. I said that since you didn’t believe in “Almighty God”, we were not a family in a sense, and therefore I had no responsibility to serve you. Because my husband adored me all his life, he took care of all household chores after realizing he couldn’t dissuade me from believing it. Afterwards, I started to wholeheartedly worship “Almighty God”. As the keeper of the household savings in my family, I contributed 500 Yuan, sometimes even more, on a weekly basis. All my sisters of the “God’s family” envied me of my capability to make such a large amount of contribute every week. They all congratulated me that I would be taken good care of by “God” since I donated so much. I was also very pleased with my doings because I firmly believed the old saying that “you reap what you sow”. In this way, over the more than three years I believed in “Almighty God”, I had stolen all my family savings and spent it on tributes for “God” or buying books about “Almighty God’s” teachings. Later, I had to borrow money from my children for offering tributes.
One night in last year, I accidentally fell down on the way to a party held in a neighboring village. And the pain in the thigh was so severe that I couldn’t even stand up. And what was even worse was that I didn’t get my mobile phone with me. Fortunately, it was summer so that after over an hour, two fishermen for eels found me on the road and called 120 to send me to a hospital. Upon examination, I was diagnosed as thigh comminuted fracture. My husband rushed to the hospital to pay my bill and only found out that there was no money left in the bank account, at which he felt greatly mortified. Then he had to ask our son to come and pay for the hospital bill. After staying in hospital for more than ten days, I was discharged by the doctor who advised me to have a good rest at home so as to fully recuperate. When I got back home, those sisters of the “God’s family” came to my home to pray for me. Whenever they came, my husband and my children would ask them for the money that I offered as tributes for “Almighty God”, and they repeated asked it for several days in a row. Every time they did so, I was so angry that I would have a terrible quarrel with my family about it. Then, those sisters stopped visiting me.
During my recuperation of more than three months at home, my husband would quarrel with me every time he saw me saying prayers or reading books of the “God’s family”, accusing me of being too confused to come to my sense; and complaining that my belief in “Almighty God” made the family go bankrupt and caused my leg broken. I told him that it was just a small test from “Almighty God” and that, afterwards, “Almighty God” would be twice as good to me in the future. Three months later, I went to a sister’s place for a party, but those sisters all blamed me for not being loyal enough to “Almighty God”, saying that my broken leg was a punishment from God. They also said that my son had reported them to the police for defrauding. Therefore, they warned me not to participate their party anymore in case I might get the “God’s family” into troubles. Their words were too harsh for me to bear because I just couldn’t understand how come I was abandoned by “Almighty God” after having dedicated all the money my family had as tributes to “Almighty God”.
Later, my husband and my children all consoled me that as an evil cult, certainly defrauding people of their money was the business of the “Almighty God”. They also said that we were quite lucky for that all we lost was just money while many other families got totally broken up after all their money was swindled. With the help of my family, I was able to gradually have a normal family life again. Looking back on those years when I believed in the “Almighty God”, I was totally obsessed with its fallacies, which deeply harmed not only my family but also myself.
