Just after 8 a.m. on November 5, 2016, Zhong Wei, a resident of Zhucheng County in Shandong Province, suddenly heard his mobile phone ring, and saw it showing a strange phone number from Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. At first, Zhong Wei thought it was a sales call or a fraud call, so he hung it up casually; but after a moment, the call came in again, and he had to pick it up. The caller claimed to be a police officer from Fogang County Public Security Bureau in Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province. He asked Zhong Wei if he knew a person named Peng Shuying. The police officer said that they had just cracked an “Almighty God” cult case involving Peng Shuying from Zhucheng County, Shandong Province. They found out Zhong Wei’s phone number through Zhucheng County Public Security Bureau and asked him to go to Fogang County for a face-to-face conversation as soon as possible. They also left contact information to Zhong Wei.
Putting down the mobile phone, Zhong Wei suddenly had an ominous feeling because, Peng Shuying was none other than his mother, and there had been no news about her ever since she ran away from home on February 16, 2015. But now, a police officer from Guangdong gave a sudden call to ask him about his mother and invited him to have a face-to-face conversation, Zhong Wei felt very, very upset. After confirming what the police officer said was true, Zhong Wei rushed to Fogang County, where he saw his mother's cold body.
After introductions by the police, Zhong Wei learned that on October 7, 2016, a woman named Li Shunying was seized and sent to the public security department by the local people for spreading “Almighty God” propaganda, and then the police found Peng Shuying already lost consciousness at Li Shunying's house. According to Li Shunying’s confession, Peng Shuying came from Henan Province in July 2016, guiding Li to "preach the Gospel." Peng accidentally fell down to the ground while going to the bathroom on the morning of October 6, 2016, and hit her head on the concrete steps of the bathroom, causing her to lose consciousness. However, Li did not send her to the hospital because of fear. When police arrived, they immediately took Peng Shuying to a hospital, but she died of excessive cerebral hemorrhage due to the extended delay, regardless of the hospital's all-out rescue. When policemen were sorting out Peng’s personal belongings, they found her ID card in the interlayer of a heavy coat. So the police called Zhong Wei.
Looking at his mother's cold body and recalling what his mother had done over the past few years, Zhong Wei felt so regretful that he found nowhere to vent his hatred.
In the spring of 2012, Zhong Wei’s father died of illness. Since then, his mother, Peng Shuying, had suffered from a severe migraine headache which brought about unbearable pains. At that time, Zhong Wei just got married and the couple worked in a textile factory. They often worked overtime, so it was difficult for them to spend much time going back to their hometown to visit and accompany the old lady. Zhong Wei asked his mother to move to the downtown area and live with them, but she refused. She said if she moved to the downtown area, there would be no one talking with her during the day, because the couple was busy working; but in their hometown, she could go to the church nearby for gatherings with old friends, which was an enjoyment for her.
One day in the second half of 2013, Peng Shuying told her son on her way home that she met a woman in a gathering. The woman told her that the era of Jesus was over, and the age of “Almighty God” had come, and the “Almighty God” would dominate mankind. She also told Peng Shuying about all the benefits of believing in “Almighty God”. She said that believing in Jesus could only save one’s soul, but believing in “Almighty God” could save both the soul and the body. She also said that only by believing in “Almighty God” could she be saved from disasters, trials and punishments, and that her current migraine headache was just a minor test. As long as she believed in "God", her minor illness would soon be cured, and happiness and well-beings would all come to her family. Zhong Wei didn't take her words to heart, thinking it didn't matter what his mother believed, as long as she was happy and in good health.
Misled by that woman, Peng Shuying wrote down a guarantee and gradually fell into the abyss of the “Almighty God” cult. She went out early in the morning, and came home at midnight, attending sermons in different places, and kept it a secret from her family. The cult followers called each other “brothers and sisters”, they learned to sing church hymns, performed spiritual dances, and gathered to pray and "eat and drink God’s words." And sometimes, they would suddenly laugh or cry for no reasons. Under the influence of such a "warm" atmosphere, Peng Shuying felt that her migraine headache was somehow eased a little, and she was more convinced about “Almighty God”.
To obtain God’s full blessings as soon as possible, Peng Shuying went out to "preach the gospel," and sometimes she would go out and “communicate” for one day, two days or even three days… Later, she called cult followers to gather at her own house. To avoid being discovered by her son, Peng Shuying asked Zhong Wei to telephone her in advance every time before he came home, and she was always in a hurry to drive him away shortly after his arrival. In this way, she managed to draw seven Christians and three housewives over to her side, but only one of them joined the “Almighty God” cult.
During the Spring Festival of Year 2015, Zhong Wei's wife was about to give birth, so he discussed with his mother that after the Festival, he would sell the old house in hometown together with house the couple currently lived, plus the 180,000 Yuan left behind by his father, to buy a larger new house in the downtown area. In this way, they could take care of each other by living together. However, Peng Shuying did not accept the idea, as if she had been offended.
On February 16, 2015, Zhong Wei got up as usual, but did not see his mother. He thought she should have gone out to visit relatives or friends. Yet by lunch time, his mother did not come back and left her mobile phone at home. Zhong Wei felt a sudden dart of panic. He looked around, but couldn’t find his mother's whereabouts. Looking back at his mother's behavior during the whole Spring Festival, Zhong Wei slowly came to realize that since the discussion of selling and buying house, his mother had become very abnormal. She usually liked to go out, but choose to stay in her own room during the Festival. Sometimes, she even talked to herself or read a book, and seldom talked with her family. Just a few days ago, one of Zhong Wei’s aunts from a neighboring village came to visit his mother every day, and the two stayed in the room for half a day while Zhong Wei did not know what they had talked about. Three days later, Zhong Wei’s mother still didn’t returned home, so he had to report the case to police. Days later, Zhong Wei went to the bank to check the deposit left by his father, only found that the original 180,000 Yuan turned out to be only 1 Yuan left.
Since then, for more than a year, Zhong Wei posted notices everywhere for his missing mother and had sought help from the news media. As long as there was a clue, Zhong Wei would rush over to verify it. Therefore, he had travelled to Jinan, Qingdao, and even as far as Gaoyou City in Jiangsu Province, but it seemed that his mother had disappeared from the world and there was no news about her. On the eighth day after his mother ran away from home, Zhong Wei’s wife gave birth to a daughter. He had hoped that his mother would help take care of the child, but now he had to ask his wife to quit her job to look after the baby at home. Facing multiple pressures from life, work and a missing mother, Zhong Wei suffered from insomnia, headache and neurasthenia, so he had to take medicine to help himself sleep and alleviate the pain.
Finally, Zhong Wei got the news of his mother, only to find that she was no longer alive.
Over the past few years, the “Almighty God” cult not only poisoned Peng Shuying's mind, but also drove her body away from her family. She failed to take care of her son and granddaughter, but “did her part” to a cult, causing lifelong harm to family members and costing her own life as well.
