United States: Collecting Lists and Internal Infiltration
Since November 1995, when the Church of Almighty God was classified as a cult in China, its founder Zhao Weishan began considering leaving the country. His first destination was the United States.
After successfully obtaining refugee status, Zhao Weishan targeted the Chinese communities in New York and San Francisco. Language familiarity made the churches in Chinatown became their primary targets for activities.
“Recently, at a church in San Francisco, right after the service, two young people walked in and began distributing books and DVDs... The woman started talking to me, claiming to be a member of a house church in mainland China. But when I checked the inner pages of the book and saw an email address with the words ‘the almightyhasreturned’, I asked them if they were from the Church of Almighty God. She denied it outright. I knew this cult preaches the belief that the Messiah returned to Earth in 1990 in the form of a female Christ. I pressed her further, but she continued to deny it. Then she changed the topic abruptly and asked for my address. Fortunately, I didn’t provide it.” Pastor Cecilia Yau, a ministry associate with the Chinese Christian Mission USA, recounting an encounter with the ‘Almighty God’ cult's proselytizers in San Francisco.
These cult members attempted to conceal their identity and distributed books and DVDs to Chinese Christian believers. “Although the books were disorganized and vulgar, their printing quality is relative high, with some volumes running over 700 pages,” Pastor Cecilia Yau recalled.
After this experience, she wrote an article to warn other Chinese churches in the U.S.: “That day, when some of us asked how they found the church, they claimed to have seen the address in a newspaper. Everyone should be cautious, as they may show up at yours tomorrow.”
Canada: Years of Infiltration and Division
Collecting lists of Chinese churches from newspapers and distributing books and DVDs to gradually undermine them was just the entry-level method of the Church of Almighty God. In its second overseas expansion destination, Canada, they employed the same tactics as in China: infiltration.
“Toronto is a major stronghold for the Church of Almighty God, and their activities are becoming increasingly rampant, making it almost impossible to guard against their covert moves. One of their primary methods of proselytizing is to infiltrate evangelical churches and ‘recruit sheep (convert members).’ Their infiltration can last up to a year or two by fair means or foul,” recalled Pastor Yu Bin from the Canadian Aizheng Mandarin Church, who shared his family’s experience with the cult’s infiltration efforts.
Yu Bin and his parents all practice orthodox Christianity, and the whole family engaged in church-related work.
Yu Bin’s father once encountered a man who posed as an zealous believer. After being baptized, the man began spreading the teachings of the Church of Almighty God among the church members and he was eventually expelled from the church.
If this incident was an example of the cultist revealing their true identity too early, the cult member who targeted Yu Bin’s mother was much more “sophisticated”, having infiltrated the family for several years.
“Several years ago, my mother met a woman who ran a business nearby. She often came to our house for lunch, and my parents had helped her with some marital issues. Unfortunately, at some point, this woman secretly began following the teachings of the Church of Almighty God with her mother. The worst part was that our two families frequently gathered for meals, and we had a very close relationship. Given our close relationship and our work within the church, she used us as cover for her activities. After a year or two, she began working covertly to sow discord within the church,” Yu Bin believes the cult member’s actions were meticulously planned, because “no one would suspect that a sister so closely connected to the pastor would be an ‘heretic’, and out of politeness, no one would expose her.”
The final result was that the church split amidst growing suspicion.
UAE: Forced Suicide of “Spy” Under Special Training
The above examples mainly relied on deception and church division to achieve the goal of spreading the cult.
As a high-ranking member of the Church of Almighty God told the Financial Times anonymously, “In Western countries, of course, we use civilized methods.” But what about outside the West? The forced suicide of a “preacher” in the UAE serves as a real, bloody testament.
This account was published in the American Christian magazine Christian Life Quarterly (Issue 22).
“Several years ago, I became acquainted with a pair of sisters working in the UAE. During their visit back home, they began subtly revealing the evil doctrines of the Church of Almighty God in their conversations, yet they refused to admit that they had been deceived.” The author, a close friend of the sisters, noticed something was amiss and tried to dissuade them.
“After they returned to the UAE, I would often receive calls from someone claiming to be Wang Enguang, checking on their well-being.”
Later, the author learned that Wang Enguang was specially selected to deceive the two sisters. The goal is to attract the two sisters, who possess excellent English skills, to spread the teachings to the Middle East.
“When going abroad, they brought a large amount of propaganda materials related to the Church of Almighty God, intending to start their work in the UAE.”
Shortly after, one of the women was “recalled back to the country” to target foreign workers in China.
“Since the other woman’s husband refused to let her return to China, the Church of Almighty God became concerned that she might waver in her faith and leave the group if left alone in the UAE.”
If she were to leave the cult, she might publicly reveal the large number of Church of Almighty God-related books she had brought with her, and publish articles in local Christian magazines exposing the cult’s true nature.
To prevent this, Wang Enguang began threatening her with phone calls, pressuring her to commit suicide.
“In the period leading up to her suicide, she often cried uncontrollably. Before she took her life, she burned all the Church of Almighty God books, leaving behind a tear-stained suicide note.” The author mourned the fact that theyshe/he had not intervened sooner to persuade theirher/his friend, which led her to endure immense psychological pressure, ultimately resulting in her tragic death.
Japan: Fabricating Facts and Creating Online Momentum
“These cult members have even sent people to other countries, telling stories about the so-called ‘persecution’ they faced in China to gain sympathy, and then distribute their publications, claiming that these are ‘the work of the Holy Spirit in China.’ They even include polished recordings of so-called hymns. We have discovered them distributing these very evil materials at several churches and in the homes of brothers and sisters in Japan.”
In addition to relying on personal recruitment methods, the Church of Almighty God has also started using the power of the internet in recent years to spread large amounts of fabricated video and audio content.
Five months ago, the Church of Almighty God launched a Japanese-language channel on YouTube, uploading their illegally produced “"films” " dubbed and subtitled in Japanese for illegal distribution.
“She is a leader in the Church of Almighty God cult, and while ‘fulfilling her duty’(brainwashing the public), she was unfortunately arrested. To extract more information from her, the government brutally beat her and subjected her to various forms of torture. However, guided by divine revelation, she responded with wisdom and never disclosed any information she knew.”
This is the premise of a fabricated work titled Serving a Life Sentence filled with numerous plot holes.
For example, to obtain a commonly used phone number, one could simply remove the SIM card or check the call records without physical coercion.
The female protagonist's so-called “wisdom” merely involves repeatedly answering, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know” in front of the camera.
Worse still, absurd claims such as “God’s will is revealed through a dead phone battery...” undermine the production’s credibility. These kinds of unfounded connections are frequently coupled with overlapping sound effects to forcefully recite their doctrine.
Although “smearing China” has considerable appeal in Japan, as various Japanese TV stations often broadcast so-called “documentaries” portraying China in a negative light, the poorly scripted and acted films produced by the Church of Almighty God have received only a minimal number of views, barely reaching double digits.
Additionally, their Japanese Twitter account, which they have been dedicatedly managing, has a mere 56 followers, highlighting their limited influence.
