▲ On June 1, 2014, Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, after the Zhaoyuan case, a large number of citizens spontaneously laid flowers in front of the McDonald's where the incident occurred to pay homage to the deceased.

At 9 p.m. on May 28, 2014, because she refused the request of six "Almighty God" believers for her phone number, 37-year-old Wu Shuoyan was regarded by them as a "demon" and "evil spirit" and cruelly used a steel mop and lifted a chair. , kicking and beating violently.

By the time her husband arrived, Wu Shuoyan had died of craniocerebral injury. Her last words to the world were "I met a madman."

May 28, 2024 is the tenth anniversary of Wu Shuoyan’s death. The child holding a photo of his mother and wearing a mourning hat is now 17 years old.

On October 11, 2014, the Yantai Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Fan and Zhang Lidong, two believers of "Almighty God" in the Zhaoyuan McDonald's murder case, to death. Lu Yingchun was sentenced to life imprisonment, Zhang Hang was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Zhang Qiaolian was sentenced to 7 years in prison. . On February 2, 2015, father and daughter Zhang Lidong and Zhang Fan, who "are not afraid of the law but only believe in God," were escorted to the execution ground together for execution.

Until her death, Zhang Fan never imagined that a book she picked up from the ground would seemingly cure the depression that had plagued her for many years and help her find a direction in life. However, this direction would push herself and her whole family into into an abyss from which one cannot extricate himself.

 

▲ On October 11, 2014, the Yantai Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong and others to death in the first instance. Lu Yingchun was sentenced to life imprisonment, Zhang Hang was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Zhang Qiaolian was sentenced to 7 years in prison (Xinhua News Agency)

What kind of book is this, what kind of organization is this? How did "Almighty God", this cult organization also known as "Eastern Lightning", use violence, blood and fear to control a large number of believers time and time again?

From October 30 to November 10, 1998, the "Almighty God" Guardian Team carried out eight robberies and beatings in just 12 days. The victims had their limbs broken or their ears cut off.

During 2010, in order to punish a believer of "Almighty God" who wanted to leave, the "Almighty God" guardian team brutally murdered his child who was still in primary school, stamped the lightning mark on the soles of his feet and hid the body in a pile of firewood. .

At the end of 2012, because they firmly believed that the end of the world was coming, a large number of "Almighty God" believers took to the streets to openly preach and confront the government. On December 14 of the same year, Min Yongjun from Xinyang City, Henan Province broke into the campus and slashed 23 primary school students.

In October 2013, a middle-aged woman killed her biological father in Longkou, Yantai, Shandong Province.

……

If the self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 made people pay attention to the harm of the cult "Falungong", then the McDonald's incident in Zhaoyuan, Shandong on May 28, 2014 made people really pay attention to the cruelty of the cult "Almighty God".

What kind of ghostly organization is this?

"Almighty God" was founded by Zhao Weishan in the early 1990s.

Zhao Weishan, formerly known as Zhao Kun, was born in an ordinary railway worker family in Acheng, Heilongjiang Province in 1951. He is the third child and the eldest son, with seven brothers and sisters. It is said that Zhao Weishan has an amazing memory and excellent language skills since he was a child, but his studies have always been poor. When he grew up, his father was worried that Zhao Weishan, who had always been aggressive, would cause trouble, so he retired early and asked him to take over as a railway maintenance worker.

While working as a maintenance worker, Zhao Weishan did three things. First, he learned carpentry and used his spare time to earn money to support his family. Second, he changed his name from "Zhao Kun" to Zhao Weishan. Third, he successively believed in Buddhism, Catholicism and Christianity.

After embracing Christianity, Zhao Weishan was keen on preaching and in the process felt the pleasure of being worshiped by others. In 1983, Zhao Weishan gave up his job on the railway, which was still an "iron rice bowl" at that time, and changed several unprofitable jobs in order to have time to go out to preach. Zhao Weishan and his wife Fu Yunzhi also used the money earned from carpentry to build a brick house of less than 50 square meters, and used the house as a place for gathering and preaching in their own home. In the end, Zhao Weishan was suspended due to absenteeism.

In the winter of 1985, while the couple was preaching wildly, Zhao Weishan's parents and daughter, who was about to enter primary school, died of gas poisoning. However, he did not feel any grief at all. Not only did he refuse to pay tribute to his dead parents, he also said: "They are They are going to heaven, God is calling them there.” This kind of numbness, callousness, and ruthlessness later permeated his teachings.

Putting aside the "fetters" of his parents and children, Zhao Weishan embarked on the path of becoming a demon. He took advantage of the followers' admiration for him and started to set up his own church: first, he established the "Yongyuan Church" in Yongyuan Town, the former Acheng County. After being designated as an illegal organization, he fled to Henan and established the "True God Church". Later, he established churches in Henan, Hebei, and Anhui and other places came into contact with members of the cult "Shouters" and colluded with these people.

In 1992, Zhao Weishan, a self-proclaimed "god", met Yang Xiangbin, who had failed the college entrance examination and had mental problems. Yang Xiangbin claimed to the outside world that he could see strange dreams and visions, and even wrote "myths" to divide believers into "the eldest son of God", "sons of God", "subjects", "servers" and "eliminates". Zhao Weishan took the opportunity to designate Yang Xiangbin as the "female Christ" and called her "the second incarnation of Jesus". He himself claimed to be the "high priest" and "the person used by the Holy Spirit."

 

▲ "Almighty God" cult leaders Zhao Weishan (left) and Yang Xiangbin (right)

In 1993, Zhao Weishan completed the "upgrade" transition from "power master" to "God's body" and then to "Almighty God".

In 1995, Zhao Weishan and Yang Xiangbin, who were unmarried and living together, secretly gave birth to a son, Zhao Ming. Only a few people in the church knew about it, and those who knew did not dare to publicize it because "talking about God's body is blasphemy against God."

In 2000, Zhao Weishan, Yang Xiangbin and others fled to the United States by using pseudonyms, changing their ages, and forging identities. They also included Yang Xiangbin's sister Wu Xia, who had taken care of Zhao Ming for a long time. On December 2, 2001, 6-year-old Zhao Ming also left the country for the United States via Guangzhou on the grounds of visiting relatives and friends using a pseudonymous private exit passport under the care of others. At this point, Zhao Weishan's family began a life of enjoyment in the United States.

When it comes to the development of "Almighty God", we have to mention He Zhexun, a native of Hengshan District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, and his best friend who broke into the world together with Zhao Weishan.

In the late 1980s, He Zhexun met Zhao Weishan and became his die-hard fans. With the wholehearted assistance of He Zhexun, in 1998, the "Almighty God" organization established four districts in Northeast China, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong, and set up first-line, second-line, and third-line evangelism teams. In 2000, Zhao Weishan absconded and appointed He Zhexun as the leader of the "Almighty God" supervision team, fully responsible for the domestic affairs of "Almighty God". In the past seven years, when Zhao Weishan was not in the country, the "Almighty God" cult developed secretly, and its scope of influence expanded from the original four districts to Heilongjiang, Liaoning, southern Henan, northern Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hebei, Shandong, and South China (two lakes). Guangdong and Guangxi) and Zhejiang and other 10 districts. He Zhexun enjoys the status of "below one person and above ten thousand people" within the "Almighty God".

Around November 2007, Zhao Weishan was worried that He Zhexun would become more powerful, so he forced He Zhexun to resign on the grounds that He Zhexun had neglected his duties.

 

▲ He Zhexun, the core backbone of "Almighty God"

During this period, Zhao Weishan was not idle in the United States. He quickly established the headquarters of "Almighty God" in the United States, and at the beginning of the 21st century when the Internet was not yet popular, he controlled a large number of domestic believers through top-secret emails.

The occurrence of the Zhaoyuan case is a microcosm of the reality of these families who are being held hostage.

Until the case happened and she was being interrogated, Zhang Fan still did not think that what she did to Wu Shuoyan was illegal and criminal. She said: "I saw her top and abdomen shaking, that is when she was exerting her power, sucking me and my surroundings. Human aura, she is a cannibal.”

When asked by a reporter, "Are you afraid of the law?" Zhang Lidong said, "I'm not afraid of the law, I believe in God."

Investigations by prosecutors and public security agencies, as well as disclosures by the media, have allowed the public to see how the Zhang family has been trapped in the "Almighty God" vortex step by step over the past ten years. First, Zhang Fan developed from the extreme depression of a depressed patient to the extreme enthusiasm for "Almighty God". Then in 2008, she met Lu Xiuchun, who claimed to be the "eldest son of God", and became his "pastoral". "Little Lamb", until the whole family (mother Chen Xiujuan, father Zhang Lidong, sister Zhang Hang and brother Zhang) was attracted to "Almighty God", and even the whole family donated tens of millions of yuan in "dedication" to "Almighty God" . Once their experiences were reported by the media, they sparked heated debate across the country.

People lament that Zhang Lidong, a successful man who served as a soldier in his early years and started his own business from scratch after retiring, engaged in medicine wholesale and house rental, and accumulated tens of millions of household wealth after years of hard work, could be deeply seduced by a cult. Extricate yourself.

In fact, as the "Almighty God" behind the Zhaoyuan case gradually emerged, people discovered that the "Almighty God"'s experience of persuading and deceiving Zhang Fan's family was all a "routine", and everyone who was coerced into it could learn from it. They see themselves reflected in their experiences.

Tactic 1: Pretend to be Christ and deceive. Before joining "Almighty God", Zhang Lidong, who was having troubles with his business and family, tried to seek help from Christianity to seek "salvation" and even took his young daughter Zhang Hang to the Sanwu Mosque. Under the banner of Christianity, "Almighty God" appropriated some terminology and imitated some rituals, making it difficult for Zhang Lidong and others to identify and quickly accept it.

Tactic 2: Take advantage of someone's danger and sneak in. Zhang Fan and his father Zhang Lidong, as the principal culprits, were the most involved in the case. When they were deeply involved in the "Almighty God", they also experienced problems with their bodies and lives. Zhang Fan took two years off school from 2004 to 2006 due to depression. Zhang Lidong had a falling out with relatives in 2000 due to business problems. In 2011, he severed ties with his hometown with 20 million yuan from selling his factory. In the midst of confusion and confusion, when they encounter "Almighty God", they are like a drowning person encountering straw and clinging to it for dear life.

Tactic 3: Use pornography to lure and threaten. "Almighty God" believes that people who believe in the "Female Christ" no longer distinguish between men and women, can sleep together in the same bed, and can "communicate with each other's spirits." Before the incident, Zhang Fan regarded his mother as an "evil spirit" and called his father's lover, Zhang Qiaolian, who was 6 years younger than him, to Zhaoyuan. In their view, Zhang Lidong and Zhang Qiaolian were supposed to be husband and wife, Zhang Lidong was Adam and Zhang Qiaolian was Eve.

Tactic 4: Fabricating miracles to confuse and intimidate. From the perspective of the teachings of "Almighty God", it does not recognize "miracles" and claims that "miracles are the work of evil spirits." But in fact, they are particularly keen on pretending to be gods and ghosts, and often make up so-called "miracles" and "testimonies" "Fool people. Taking advantage of people's worship of God, they used fluorescent powder to write "Almighty God is good" and "Those who believe in Almighty God will have eternal life" on walls and eggs, and stuffed notes into the bellies of fish. Lu Yingchun once threatened Zhang Hang and others. In the past, some people did not act according to her requirements and violated the "god"'s temperament. In the end, they were punished by the "god" and died of ulcers all over their bodies.

Tactic 5: Use violence to harm others. Zhang Fan's mother, Chen Xiujuan, previously believed in another cult, the "Three Redemptions of Christ", also known as the "Disciples". Around May 20, 2014, after Zhang Fan communicated with Lu Yingchun, he believed that the whole family did not truly believe in the "Almighty God" because Chen Xiujuan was sowing discord between herself and her family and was the "King of Evil Spirits." After "recognizing" this, Zhang Fan was very angry and wished that his mother would be shattered to pieces. "God will punish her according to my spell." Zhang Lidong later said that if it hadn't been for Wu Shuoyan "resisting God," maybe the accident would have happened to his wife Chen Xiujuan.

Tactic 6: Fabricating doomsday and mind control. "Almighty God" spreads rumors about "the end of the world" and claims that "God becomes flesh again" is a judgment on mankind. In 2009, Zhang Hang had just turned 13 years old, and her parents did not arrange for her to go to school because they believed that "the end is coming soon, and there is no point in going to school, and there is no need to make any considerations or plans for the future."

Tactic 7: Forced brainwashing and confinement of thinking. Zhang Fan asked his sister to spend more time "eating and drinking God's words", reflecting on her words and deeds, writing spiritual notes, praying, and giving up many of her favorite things, because those are not in line with "God's" will.

The teachings of "Almighty God" state that "anyone who doubts will be killed. There is no room for consideration. He will immediately eradicate the roots and remove the hatred in my heart... Whoever is killed must be the descendant of Satan." After being killed Humans are the descendants of demons. Killing demons is not a sin, but a merit. This is why Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong and others showed no remorse after being arrested and interrogated, but instead showed chilling smiles.

 

▲ Zhang Fan smiled in court

What did he bring to Zhao Weishan by bewitching a large number of believers to follow him?

A large number of believers brought Zhao Weishan, who came from a humble background, a status that he had never imagined or imagined. Along with the status, there are countless "treasure pots" and "money rain" falling from the sky, which allowed Zhao Weishan, who grew up in a poor family, to become a rich man from a "humble family" and live a life of spending money like water.

On March 10, 2009, He Zhexun, the core member of the "Almighty God", was captured and brought to justice. He confessed in prison that from 2000 to 2007 alone, when he was the leader of the supervision team, he handled more than 60 million yuan in remittances. When he was dismissed in October 2007, the domestic "Almighty God" still had 70 million yuan in "donations." According to the estimated development speed at that time, an additional 10 million yuan could be added in one year.

In December 2011 alone, public security agencies across the country arrested more than 120 core leaders and backbone members at all levels of the "Almighty God" cult organization in a unified crime-solving operation, and confiscated cash and gold equivalent to more than 20 million yuan.

All these funds come from the "donations" made by believers "in filial piety" to the "Almighty God" and "Goddess". According to the rules of the "Almighty God" cult, the more you donate, the sooner you will reach the Paradise. As the "high priest", Zhao Weishan set the rules as early as the founding of the religion. The "sacrifice" offered by mortals to the "god" can only be enjoyed by "the priest and the god", that is, Zhao Weishan and Yang Xiangbin.

Zhao Weishan is not satisfied with these "bits and pieces" of "dedication money". At the end of 2012, Zhao Weishan used the Mayan prophecy that "December 21, 2012 is the end of the world" to encourage believers of "Almighty God" in the country to launch nationwide public activities and walk on the streets to spread the word about the end of the world. On the one hand, he took the opportunity to develop believers, and on the other hand, he On the other hand, the so-called "Noah's Ark" doomsday escape device is sold to believers at prices ranging from 1.5 million yuan to 5 million yuan.

 

▲ At the end of 2012, the "Almighty God" threatened others with the end of the world and carried out "massive bombing"

The seized internal documents of the "Almighty God" cult show that from November 2016 to March 2017, the "Almighty God" cult organization in Northeast China alone transferred 140 million yuan of funds overseas.

Today, Zhao Weishan and his family are still hiding in a luxurious villa area in New York, USA. They have launched websites in the United States, Canada, Japan and other places. They have carefully selected South Korea, Malaysia and other places as transfer stations for the "Almighty God", and set up an Asian headquarters in South Korea to strengthen Control over organizations within China to ensure that their status remains unshakable and money continues to flow.

It needs to be pointed out in particular that the harm caused by the "Almighty God" to society is not limited to behavioral violence and financial plunder. The damage caused by spiritual violence to families is even more difficult to make up for. In response to the obstruction and persuasion from family members, members of "Almighty God" often abandon their ID cards, run away from home mysteriously, and cut off contact, causing families to be separated and fragmented.

On the public welfare tracing platform "Help You Find Relatives" of the China Anti-Cult Network, 826 family tracing information has been released so far, 254 people have been found, and 572 people are still missing.

 

▲ China Anti-Cult Network "Help You Find Relatives" WeChat Mini Program

Regarding cult organizations like "Almighty God" that kill lives, destroy families, endanger society, and subvert political power, the Chinese government resolutely adheres to the policy of "unity and education to save the vast majority and cracks down on the very few in accordance with the law" and maintains legal treatment of its illegal and criminal activities. At the same time, it cares and helps ordinary believers who have gone astray without knowing the truth and are also victims of the cult, helping them return to society and return to normal life as soon as possible.

The deceased has passed away for a long time, and the alarm bell should always sound.

I only hope that there is no evil in the world, and I wish all the people peace!

Review of the "Almighty God" McDonald's Murder Case in Zhaoyuan, Shandong

On the evening of May 28, 2014, six believers of "Almighty God" Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong, Lu Yingchun, Zhang Hang, Zhang Qiaolian, and Zhang (a minor) mistook Wu Shuoyan, who refused to give out her phone number, as "a minor" at a McDonald's in Zhaoyuan, Shandong. "Devils" and "evil spirits" brutally beat her with steel mops and chairs. Wu Shuoyan died on the spot due to craniocerebral injury.

On June 2, 2014, five criminal suspects were arrested in accordance with the law with the approval of the Zhaoyuan Municipal People's Procuratorate on suspicion of intentional homicide.

On July 21, 2014, the Yantai Municipal People's Procuratorate filed a public prosecution in accordance with the law to the Yantai Municipal Intermediate People's Court against the five defendants involved in the intentional homicide case at the "5·28" McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan City.

On August 21, 2014, the case was heard in public at the Yantai Intermediate Court. The prosecutor charged that the defendants Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong, Lu Yingchun, Zhang Hang, and Zhang Qiao jointly committed intentional homicide, and the defendants Lu Yingchun, Zhang Fan, and Zhang Lidong committed the crime of intentional homicide. The crime of using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement. Defendants Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong and Lu Yingchun committed several crimes and should be punished concurrently.

On October 11, 2014, the Intermediate People's Court of Yantai City, Shandong Province made a first-instance verdict. The defendants Zhang Fan and Zhang Lidong were guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life; the defendant Lu Yingchun was guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was deprived of political rights for life; the defendant Zhang Hang was convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to ten years in prison; the defendant Zhang Qiaolian was convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to seven years in prison.

On the morning of November 21, 2014, the second instance of the cult-related intentional homicide case in Zhaoyuan, Shandong was held in public at the Yantai Intermediate Court. The court of second instance ultimately upheld the original verdict.

On February 2, 2015, with the approval of the Supreme People's Court, the Intermediate People's Court of Yantai City, Shandong Province executed Zhang Fan and Zhang Lidong, the criminals who committed intentional homicide and used a cult organization to undermine the enforcement of the law, in accordance with the law.