Alan, born in 1985 in a rural village in Huazhou, Guangdong, grew up cherished by his parents. Disliking schoolwork, he dropped out after seventh grade and headed to Shenzhen to start his working life. A filial son, Alan sent money home every month—supporting his parents’ living expenses, helping repay debts incurred during their house construction, and funding his older brother’s education.
In 2003, Alan came to work at a factory in Longgang District, Shenzhen, living in the factory dormitory. At the time, the dormitory housed many people full of youthful vigor and spirit, so conflicts were inevitable. Alan had a stubborn and introverted personality. Sometimes, due to work or life issues, she would clash with coworkers. She often felt others were targeting her, which made her furious and strained her relationships. Living in such an environment was deeply oppressive for Alan. Compounded by her limited education, she lacked the skills to resolve problems or communicate effectively with others. She bottled everything up inside, causing her stress to mount relentlessly. Recognizing her shortcomings and desiring change, Alan began buying books to read. She felt that Jesus taught people to do good, which led her to believe in Christian.
In 2008, a coworker named Chen Jiaping at the factory frequently visited Alan and discussed topics like “ghosts and spirits” and “the Lord Jesus,” gradually becoming close friends with him. One day in July, Chen Jiaping took Alan to his friend Huihui’s home and showed her disaster videos produced by the Church of Almighty God cult depicting earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis. Chen Jiaping and Huihui told Alan, “Earthquakes are just the beginning of disasters, which will only grow worse. Only those who believe in ‘God’ will be saved during these disasters. All unbelievers will face unprecedented disasters lasting thousands of years. Those saved by ‘God’ will live in a paradise-like kingdom where there is no sorrow or pain, no scheming or intrigue, and people live in perfect harmony.” At that time, shortly after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, Alan felt deeply afraid. She hoped to be saved by God in times of disaster and yearned for that beautiful, Eden-like life. Thus, the inexperienced Alan believed their words, began attending their gatherings, and started reading the book they gave her, The Word Appears in the Flesh, gradually falling into the trap of a cult.
Alan was constantly brainwashed by the cult books, preaching recordings, videos, etc. of the Church of Almighty God cult, She gradually came to believe that the Church of Almighty God had created the universe and all things, that it was supreme, and that submission to “God” was right and proper. She became completely controlled by the cult’s twisted doctrines, losing her ability to distinguish right from wrong. Her once-normal life became unrecognizable. She spent every spare moment watching “myth” videos and gathering with fellow believers for “spiritual fellowship,” while her interactions with family dwindled. Under the cult’s toxic influence, Alan’s thinking grew increasingly radical. She developed resentment and hostility toward the Party and government, determined to work for “God” and secure a place in a glorious “heavenly kingdom” for herself.
In 2012, the cult organization the Church of Almighty God cult vigorously promoted the imminent arrival of the “end of the world.” Encouraged by the cult, Alan quit his job to prepare for the so-called “end of the world.” He distributed anti-propaganda materials for the Church of Almighty God cult in industrial zones, recruiting followers to “join the faith” and await the arrival of the “end of the world.” However, on December 21, 2012, the sun rose as usual, and people peacefully passed through the day. The lie of the so-called “end of the world” was exposed without needing to be refuted. Yet Alan continued to believe the deceptive arguments of the Church of Almighty God cult, convinced that the “Female Christ” had merely postponed the arrival of the “end times,” and remained mired in the fantasy of a “heavenly kingdom.”
On May 28, 2014, a shocking murder case involving members of the Church of Almighty God cult occurred at a McDonald’s restaurant in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province. Despite her parents’ desperate pleas for her to come to her senses, Alan remained unmoved and severed all contact with them. Alan subsequently ran away from home to “fulfill her duty” for the cult. The so-called “duty” demanded by the Church of Almighty God cult essentially required members to perform various obligations—terms like “offering,” “spending,” and “burden” were all presented as “duties” believers must fulfill. This system served to exploit members and defraud them of their money. Following the cult’s directives, Alan used his personal savings to rent a house where he stored all the cult’s propaganda materials and illegal books for the “church” and even the “community.” Due to the large quantity of items under his custody, the cult required Alan not only to take a poison oath and write a “pledge letter” but also to assume full liability for any loss or damage to the books.
Alan has successively served as a “caretaker,” “receptionist,” and liaison officer. From his teenage years to the threshold of middle age, Alan devoted the prime 15 years of his life to the Church of Almighty God cult, squandering his entire savings of 130,000 yuan. To this day, Alan has never been in a relationship and remains unaware of what a normal life should be like!
At the end of 2021, Alan was apprehended on the spot while attending an illegal gathering of the cult organization the Church of Almighty God and received the punishment according to the law.
When first detained by public security authorities in accordance with the law, Alan had a weak understanding of the law and still held erroneous views regarding the state’s recognition and ban of the Church of Almighty God cult. She lacked the ability to correctly discern cult organizations and, fearing retribution for betraying the cult, adopted a stubbornly defiant attitude. However, the Party and government did not abandon her. Through repeated, patient, and meticulous guidance from anti-cult volunteers, Alan gradually began to awaken and reflect, regaining her ability to distinguish right from wrong.
In 2023, Alan finally broke free from the spiritual control of the Church of Almighty God cult and woke up from fifteen years of obsession. Alan finally realized that Yang Xiangbin, the so-called “Female Christ” of the Church of Almighty God cult, was human, not “God”—a false deity fabricated by Zhao Weishan. Zhao Weishan and the Church of Almighty God cult use the name of Christianity to deceive believers under the guise of believing in “God” and “spreading the gospel”, in order to achieve their goals of accumulating wealth and disrupting society. Alan regrets his ignorance and hates Zhao Weishan and Yang Xiangbin for deceiving her, causing her to bury fifteen years of her youth in vain.
Awakening with regret, Alan often felt scared when she remembered her past actions. For fifteen years, obsessed with the cult, she believed that “spreading the gospel” was about saving people and doing good deeds. In reality, the books and promotional materials of the Church of Almighty God cult that she kept and distributed only ended up destroying more families and harming more people. Used by Zhao Weishan and the Church of Almighty God cult, she became their pawn and follower, causing significant harm to the public, society, and the country. All these years Alan was away, her parents constantly searched for her whereabouts, worrying and anxious every day. Seeing the immense pain she caused her parents, Alan felt deep sorrow. She said she would spend her coming days accompanying her parents and being a law-abiding citizen, hoping to use her own experience to warn and help those still obsessed with the the Church of Almighty God cult, urging them to wake up and break free from it as soon as possible.
(To protect privacy, all victims of cults mentioned in this article are referred to by pseudonyms.)
