ANGELA: So I got a different job, you know, teaching abroad. My plan was to move to Japan to do the job that I had originally intended to get. All you need is a bachelor's degree to teach English here, and I like teaching. It just happened to be a ticket out of Falun Gong and my family. I left January of 2023. I had to say goodbye to my parents, and as I was leaving, my mom gave me a big hug, and she was like, “do you promise me that you will be a good practitioner even while you are away?” And I said, “yes, of course.” And then I never looked back. I didn't admit to myself that it was a cult until much later, but what I knew was that I was leaving my parents who were stuck in their own ways, which I no longer agreed with, and I was finally going to be financially independent, which was my goal for a very long time. But I knew in my gut that I needed to get out. I did everything I could in order to ensure that.
LIZ: And so she's gone, living in Japan, recreating or creating a new life for herself outside of the cult.
TYLER: But her parents remained true believers.
ANGELA: So May of this year, 2024, I went home to see my mom. My dad had told me that she had been having issues with breathing for months after I left, and she refused to go to the hospital because this was her test. If you don't feel pain, then you aren't suffering and you aren't doing anything to pass your test. That's the whole point of the illness, is for you to suffer and take a little bit of that Karma away. Because you're paying back a debt that you owe because you did something bad in the past. We had this little picture of Master Li in our living room, and we would kneel down in front of that picture, burn incense for him and ask him to help us through whatever hardships we were going through at the time. So, that was how we dealt with it. But it got worse and worse. She couldn't sleep well, she was barely eating, and she fainted. And my dad had no choice but to take her to the hospital, where they diagnosed her with colon cancer.
LIZ: We'll be right back.
TYLER: Because of the cult and its disbelief in modern medicine, Angela's mother suffered in silence for far too long, only to finally understand what was causing her pain.
ANGELA: It got back to the group of practitioners that, “hey, she's not doing so well.” And people were like, “oh, you know, Master Li's, it's okay to get treatment sometimes. You know, it's like dire situation, you can do it, but just keep up your faith when I got her treatment.” Afterwards, my father told me that he had had a lot of practitioners come to our home to help my mom “Send Righteous Thoughts”. This was a process that I saw many times as a child, those who got illnesses like strokes, cancer, other illnesses would pass away because they had refused hospital treatment until the very last moment, and practitioners would go to visit the hospital or their homes and “send righteous thoughts”, like surround them in a circle and “send righteous thoughts” to save them. And this was happening to my mom. I've seen this so many times, I know how it ends. After they leave, one practitioner stays behind and my mom's condition is getting worse and worse with each visit. He tells my dad, “hey, you know, maybe the reason why she's getting worse isn't because of us and Falun Gong, maybe it's because you're not spiritually strong enough to save her.” Like, “maybe if you tried a little harder, she would be okay.” And then they just left. Who says that to someone who is losing his wife, going to be all alone in this world? And that's just the kind of chatter that surrounds the death of a person within the community. And it's so stripped of humanity and so inconsiderate to the people who are dealing with these kinds of issues. It's not what we need right now at all. At first, I was like, at least they have this community to lean on. I grew up with some of these people, but they say these kinds of things. Like, why? That made me officially lose faith in all of Falun Gong. My mom is really strong, very stubborn, incredibly dedicated to anything she puts her mind to. But when I went home, she was very frail. She couldn't walk without help, and she was having trouble breathing, always panting. So it was a difficult time, but I could still see strength in her eyes, and she still held on to her faith in Falun Gong. And strangely enough, I wanted that to stay the same. I didn't want her to turn her back on Falun Gong, even though at this time, I knew that it was a cult. I needed her to stay the same person that she was, and to hold on to who I knew her as, a woman who was very, very dedicated to things that she believed in so strongly. She loved me, second to Falun Gong, but I knew if she had the chance, she would love me fully. But Falun Gong didn't give her the chance to do that. And if she realized that in her last moments, that would be the saddest thing ever. So I went through all the motions with her. I did the exercises for the first time in a year. I read Master Li's teaching with her. And every day, I would lead her over to the shelf where we kept Master Li's framed photo. And my dad and I would lower her trembling body to the ground, where she would kneel in front of Master Li's photo. We would also kneel in front of it as well, put our heads to the floor and beg this man who claims to be a God to save my mom's life one more time.
LIZ: Now that is LOVE.
ANGELA: I knew that it was not going to happen, but I didn't say anything because obviously it's not the time. My parents are hanging on by a thread, my dad especially, and Falun Gong is part of that thread. I would also, in my mind, ask Master Li to do whatever he can to save my mom, but I know that he can't read minds, unfortunately.
LIZ: But there is a reason we like to believe in Santa Claus after all.
TYLER: And neither Santa Claus nor Master Li can really help her. Angela's mother is still hanging on.
ANGELA: Right now, my mom is sleeping maybe 22 hours in a day. The doctor has recommended hospice, but she thinks that accepting hospice care would mean she's done fighting, and she wants to fight till the end. But my father keeps telling me to “Send Righteous Thoughts”. You know, it's difficult for me to process all of this. It was so hard for me to go home to that. I thought I could just like keep pretending for the rest of my life. Well, my parents lived in their blissful ignorance, but I can't anymore. And my dad made me promise not to say anything bad about Falun Gong. Unfortunately, I broke that promise. But I couldn't not talk about it. Like, I need to get this out. I can blame it on my mom because I learned a lot of that from her. She is very vocal about the things that she believes in is right, and she sort of passed that on to me for better or for worse. So I'm just sorting through all my emotions, and hopefully by the end of the year, I can make another trip and see them again.
TYLER: Thank you, Angela, for your bravery and speaking out and spreading awareness about this cult that so many people, myself included, are in the dark on.
LIZ: We're so sorry to hear what happened to your mother because of this cult, and we hope it's a cautionary tale for someone else out there. And we also completely understand why you're so determined to shed light on this cult and your personal experience.
TYLER: Falun Gong today is not just a movement, but a media empire, most notably through the Epoch Times. Their reach, however, goes far beyond media, even influencing political conversations across the globe. But as we've learned through Angela's story, behind their well-polished propaganda lies a darker reality of control, manipulation, and emotional devastation for families caught up in their grasp.
LIZ: Angela, thank you again for being so vulnerable with us today. It was truly powerful hearing your story. We do it all here, folks.
