Nowadays, 39-year-old Yang Yu (a pseudonym) dared not look back on those days when she was mind-controlled by the “Almighty God” cult because it was such a terrible experience for her. Two years might not be a long time, but it was unbearable for Yang Yu to reflect, as if she was falling into an abyss during that period. Her marriage ending in divorce, the closure of their restaurant once jointly-operated by the couple, the confusion of her son, and tears of her mother, these painful memories deeply hurt Yang Yu like hell.
A hard-working and successful business woman who had a happy family
Yang Yu, female, born in 1983, came from a rural area in a Hefei suburb, Anhui Province. Because she failed her college entrance examination after graduating from a high school, she went with her mother to the city and worked in a large restaurant as a waitress. As a young girl who was diligent and able to endure hardships, Yang Yu was becoming popular among all her colleagues. During work, Yang Yu fell in love with the head chef of the restaurant and they got married in 2004. The following year she gave birth to a son, and the family of three enjoyed a very happy life.
In 2006, the couple started a catering business of their own with a rented two-story house facing the street. His husband was in charge of making various delicious dishes in the kitchen, while Yang Yu leading waiters and waitresses in the lobby warmly greeted guests. As their business became more and more prosperous, the couple’s family life was greatly improved. Inside the family, the couple were fully engaged in running their business, and their son was taken good care of by Yang Yu’s mother. In such a way, the family of three generations lived a peaceful and happy life.
However, Yang Yu didn’t expect that her happy life would be ruined by “Almighty God” someday.
She fell into the trap for befriending wrong people and readily believing others
In the first half of 2016, three women frequented Yang Yu’s restaurant, the eldest of whom was quite a talker and became familiar with Yang Yu soon. As an outgoing and cheerful person, Yang Yu felt she had lots of things in common with that woman when chatting.
The three women often ate in the restaurant, and each time they asked to sit in a private room in the corner. After getting familiar with them, Yang Yu would manage to find time to chat with them in their private room. The elder woman often told stories about ghosts and gods and made them sound believable with the aids of the other two women, as if these stories happened to people around us or on our own doorstep. Yang Yu originally didn’t believe the existence of ghosts and gods, but after listening to many stories about them, she gradually started to think, “Maybe ghosts and gods really exist in the world.”
Once, Yang Yu talked to them about her mother and son, and expressed her heartfelt feelings, hoping that her mother could live a long and healthy life and that her son could achieve academic success and live a happy and sound life. At such times, they would always bring up topics about believing in God, such as “You need a faith in God so that you could be protected by Him”, or “We’re all believers of God so that we are always under the blessing of God”, or “Join us and serve God so that your wish will be fulfilled by God no matter whatever your wish is”, “‘Almighty God’ is omnipotent so that you could get whatever you want if you believe in ‘God’ and show reverence for ‘Him’”, etc. As time went by, Yang Yu gradually started to think that maybe there was some truth in what they said.
One day in the next morning, the elder women brought a “teacher” to the restaurant before the opening hour, saying the new comer would provide a tail-made “guidance” to Yang Yu. The “teacher” told several stories to prove the very existence of “God” and cited her own experience of once suffering from breast cancer in her early years as an example, saying that she had got fully recovered long time ago because of her belief in “God”. The “teacher” also played many videos on her laptop regarding doomsday and various disasters, and explained that “Almighty God” was the reincarnation of Jesus and the unique “true God” in the world who could not only save the mankind but also provide followers with everything they need. Yang Yu became “enlightened” at once, exclaiming “There really is such a good ‘God’.”
Ever since Yang Yu started to believe in “God”, she had completely fell into the trap of the “Almighty God” cult.
At that time, what Yang Yu didn’t know was that lying was a common practice of the “Almighty God” when it conducted “evangelism” and drew in innocent people. They deliberately fabricated lies to gain trust and gradually exerted subtle influence on people to make them unknowingly fall into the trap and accept the fallacy that one could only be saved and avoid misfortunes by means of believing in “Almighty God”.
She divorced her husband, broke her family and ruined their business for obsession with cut
Later, Yang Yu followed the “teacher’s” arrangement and provided a private room in the restaurant to facilitate their “gatherings” where they would “eat and drink god’s words” before the opening hours. The “teacher” also gave Yang Yu a new name called “Xiaohuan” and told Yang Yu that all fellow brothers and sisters believing in “God” must use their new names required by “God” instead of their real names on their ID cards.
At each gathering, Yang Yu prepared tea, snacks and lunch with enthusiasm, which was appreciated by all the three fellow sisters. Each time, the gathering began with a group praying, then the “teacher” talked about “Almighty God” related stuff including The Word Appears in the Flesh, Singing New Songs with Lambs, and Three Stages of God’s Work, taught everyone to sing songs in praise of “Almighty God”. Each gathering would be wrapped up with discussion session where everyone exchanged their learning experience.
After hearing others talked about their experience of “witnessing God” or “being punished by God”, Yang Yu also started to feel that “miracles” happened to her. Things like that her son’s academic performance improved, that the restaurant’s revenue increased or that her mother recovered from a flu, were all regarded by Yang Yu as “blessings” from “Almighty God”.
In fact, these were all mind-controlling tricks adopted by the “Almighty God” cult, which required followers to use alias, write guarantee letters, and pledge their live . As to the so-called “miracles” and “witness”, these were no more than traps set by the “Almighty God” cult for ideologically enslaving its victims by having people mistakenly believe that it was impossible for them to expect “miracles” unless they “had faith in God”.
Upon learning that Yang Yu became a believer of “God”, her husband firmly opposed her decision at first. But Yang Yu defended herself by saying that believing in “Almighty God” only helped her find her faith, and that the whole family would be blessed by “Almighty God” therefore there were only benefits without any harm. After hearing that, her husband started to turn a blind eye to her choice on conditions that her faith in “Almighty God” must not affect their business or family life.
In August 2017, Yang Yu’s mother accidentally fell while going downstairs and was admitted to a hospital. At gatherings during that period, Yang Yu questioned her own worship for “Almighty God”, doubting that her mother’s fall was a punishment from “God” because she wasn’t doing well enough. At that time, her fellow sisters brought forth a “good” proposal: more tributes be paid for the church, and getting closer to “God”; in another word, trying her best to “do her part” would help her avoid misfortunes. Additionally, the “teacher” told Yang Yu explicitly that to prove her faith in “Almighty God”, she must contribute as much money and strength as she could. Only with such devotion could she be worth of being blessed by “Almighty God”.
Yang Yu started to go to all lengths to “do her part” for “Almighty God”. Without her husband’s knowledge, she furtively offered the income of their restaurant as tributes to “Almighty God”, delivered letters for her fellow brothers and sisters by driving their own private car, and went out to “spread the gospel” for days without going back home sometimes.
Yang Yu was so obsessed with “Almighty God” that she totally ignored both her family and business. Her mother tried in tears to dissuade her by saying, “those ‘Gods’ are all false. There is no ‘God’ in the world.” Her husband also advised her, “It is a hoax of those people to make you believe in ‘God’. So, you’d better stop believing in it.” However, Yang Yu turned a deaf ear to these suggestions and regarded her husband as an obstacle on her way. So, she asked for a divorce.
Then, her husband and she went through divorce formalities, and they closed down their restaurant. Yang Yu’s original happy life was totally destroyed by “Almighty God”.
In fact, the “dedication” advocated by the “Almighty God” aimed to encourage believers to willingly pay money to the organization, and the cult would accumulate money by all means possible including deception. The “Almighty God” demanded absolute obedience of its followers, causing many followers lose common senses, families and sometimes even become criminals.
Breaking away from cult, she fully came to her senses and started a new restaurant business
In October 2018, Yang Yu was caught by the police while delivering illegal propaganda materials for the “Almighty God” by her own car. During the trial, instead of being repentant, Yang Yu regarded her stubbornness as a way of passing a test from “Almighty God” and being a witness for “Almighty God”.
In order to help her break free from clenches of the “Almighty God”, relevant government departments and anti-cult volunteers quickly provided deprogramming assistance to her with a softly-softly approach so as to thoroughly eliminate the mental control put on her by cult.
With unremitting efforts of the volunteers, Yang Yu finally came to her senses and saw clear the evil nature of the “Almighty God.” Looking back on those two years when she was bewitched by the “Almighty God”, she had actually become a tool for the cult to commit crimes, and caused great harms to her family. Yang Yu couldn’t help breaking down in tears so many times.
In 2019, with the help of her mother and son, Yang Yu and her ex-husband remarried. Later, with the support of the government department at grass-roots level, Yang Yu and her husband started their business again by opening a new restaurant with a big dining hall and six private rooms, which were always packed with customers.
Yang Yu’s happy life has been back again.
