Yang Shuyu
Yang Shuyu is my neighbor and former colleague. She is 65 years old and is a retired primary school teacher in Yinan County, Shandong Province. Due to her obsession with the “Almighty God" cult, she refused to take medicine for her illness and suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage in March 2015. She is now paralyzed and bedridden.
Yang Shuyu's husband is a middle school teacher, and they have a daughter. Her daughter has a PhD degree and is a teacher in a university. They had a very happy life and we all envied them, but since she became obsessed with the “Almighty God”, there have been many changes in the family.
In the afternoon on one day in 2008, Yang and I were resting in the shade when a woman actively came to us to have a talk. She began to talk about the "real god”. Later, we know that this is the cult "Almighty God". She said that the real god is "the second incarnation of Christ, she is the only true god with infinite power in the world". Only her "people" can get the "blessing of god". If you believe in her, you will be cured of any illness without any treatment and will never fall sick again.
She also insited that when the “doomsday” came in 2012, the people who believed in her would be saved and not be destroyed. She said that she used to have diabetes, high blood pressure, and had spent a lot of money and suffered a lot. Since she started believing in “Almighty God” and “prayed” every day, her diseases were cured slowly and she didn't fall ill again, all without taking any medicine. She described her situation vividly and Yang was impressed by her words at that time. It happened that some relatives came to my home, so I walked away. Later, Yang also told me that the woman had sent her two books, "Talking About the Revealing of God" and "Sing a New Song Next to the Lamb," and she was ready to have a try.
One night, about two months later, it was very noisy in her home, and I went over to mediate the quarrel. I found that the reason for the argument was that Yang had contributed 20,000 yuan, which is her pension, to the "Almighty God". Her husband grumbled that since Yang started to believe in the god, she spent almost all of her time learning "mythology". She held those books all day long to recite them, and never did the housework.
In July of that year, Yang's daughter came home from the provincial capital with her grandson, and found"Talking About the Revealing of God" and other "Almighty God" publicity materials. She repeatedly asked her mother where she got those materials and asked her whether she had joined any cult. Yang yelled at her daughter: "You come back home only a few times a year. What would you know? Since I started to believe in this, I'm much better, and when did you care about me?" The daughter said nothing. Over the next few days, Yang ignored her daughter. Her daughter went out and asked Yang to take care of the grandson, but her thoughts were far away and she kept reading her book. The little boy went out secretly to play, but she didn't realize. When her daughter came back and found her son had disappeared and her mother was still reading, she became furious. Then, with the help of the police, she found her son by the Wen River, a very dangerous place. After that, her daughter rarely went back home.
In January 2012, Yang left without saying goodbye and went out to preach the so-called Gospel. We searched all over with her family, but still could not find her. She disappeared for more than a year. One morning in March 2013, just after dawn when there were few people on the road, I came back home after morning exercise and suddenly found a scrawny, dying Yang at the door. We hastened to call her family to take her to the hospital. Then, we checked the security camera footage and discovered that it was an unlicensed car which brought her into our yard in the morning: a few people carried Yang to the doorstep, and then quickly left after checking around. The doctor said she had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, which was already very serious. It was too late for effective treatment and she is now paralyzed in bed. Yang has no feeling in her body and can only move her eyes. Yang has been in bed for two years and is unable to speak or move, and her life is in constant peril. She must think about what she had done over the years. The “Almighty God” crippled her.
The suffering of Yang Shuyu is a pity for the neighbors. A hard-working primary school teacher has been destroyed by a cult, and the cult has caused so much pain to this family.
(Editor in charge: Lin Yi, XiuCai)
