When I enjoy solitude, when I happily chat with friends, when I work steadily and comfortably, I can't help but think of the sisters I used to be with, and a sense of responsibility wells up in my heart. Why don't I express my personal experiences and feelings in writing, so that those who are still obsessed with the cult can wake up as soon as possible?
Today I picked up the pen to record those past events of abandoning the old and seeking the new, scene by scene appearing before my eyes...
Elder sister brought me “timely rain”
My name is Lin Ying, female, born in March 1990, with a junior high school education, from Guangxi. In May 2006, my elder sister introduced me to Almighty God. She told me, “People who believe in God do not suffer in their hearts and are happier.”
At that time, I had a poor relationship with my father and was always in pain. My sister saw it and felt sorry for me. After hearing what my sister said, I thought she must be giving me the best thing. So, I decided to listen to my sister and joined the Almighty God organization. I devoted myself wholeheartedly to the Almighty God organization, providing meeting places and doing various works for the organization until I was arrested by the Guangdong police in June 2022.
I was trapped in a cult, unable to escape
Since joining the Almighty God organization, I have gradually been brainwashed. The Almighty God cult claims to be the second incarnation of Jesus, and under the pretext of believing in God and being a good person, they fabricate lies about the end of the world and impending disasters, and promote the idea that believing in Almighty God can prevent disasters and bring people salvation, thus luring believers who do not know the truth. To better control its followers, Almighty God declares that not “spreading the gospel” and not “fulfilling one's duties” is rebellion against God, which will lead to God’s destruction. They claim that as disasters arrive, you will helplessly watch your loved ones and friends die in these calamities. Believers, in order to prevent their relatives and friends from dying in disasters, will do their best to recruit those around them into the cult. Almighty God uses this method to expand its organization.
Almighty God often plays self-produced videos during gatherings, frequently talking about how corrupt humanity is today, how those who do not believe in God are selfish and power-hungry, and how they meet tragic ends. All of this made me very fearful, afraid of impending disasters, losing confidence in life, and gradually believing everything Almighty God claimed. One day, I saw an internal article that said: “The root cause of people's inability to let go of emotions is the toxin of filial piety to parents in traditional culture, which corrupts humanity. Satan instills this toxin in people from a young age, causing them to suffer and betray God.” After reading it, I was very surprised and thought that the reason my relationship with my father was bad was because of this toxin. I should let go of family ties and then, the pain would disappear.
But family ties are not something you can just cut off if you want to. As the time away from home grew longer, I instead thought more and more about my father and my family. Whenever this happened, I would tell myself that missing home was wrong, and that those who did not believe in the Almighty God were all Satanic demons. Later, due to different duties, the scope of my work expanded, and I had more responsibilities. I was so busy and tired every day that I thought, when can I get a good night's sleep? When will God's work be finished? But then I would tell myself not to think this way, because God's work is unfathomable to humans, and people can only obey. It was in this state of inner conflict that I lived in fear for a long time.
Being caught by police awakened me from nightmare
Being apprehended by the public security authorities was fortunate for me. It marked the end of my involvement with the Almighty God cult, the beginning of my return to the right path in life, and a new starting point from straying into a nightmare to ending it.
When I first arrived at the detention center, I was extremely nervous. And I thought to myself, I had to be on guard at all times, be very cautious, and not fall for their tricks. But in the subsequent educational sessions, I was “very disappointed.” What I saw was the patience, tolerance, and understanding of all the staff. Not only did they tirelessly search for answers to all the difficult questions I encountered during my studies, but they also cared for and helped me in life, treating me with the same concern as they would their own family. How can these teachers and officers be associated with the cold and ruthless image seen in the Almighty God videos!
The teachers first took us to experience the great changes and developments across the country, then had us reflect on the real changes in our own lives. Faced with these facts, I was speechless. Later, I watched videos like “A Perspective on Foreign Cults.” With the teachers' patient guidance and a large amount of factual material, I slowly recognized the deceptive tricks and control methods of the cult, understood what religion is, what a cult is, why religions are protected by the state, and why cults are suppressed by the state. In comparison with the Bible, I discovered many contradictions and loopholes in Almighty God. Zhao Weishan and Yang Xiangbin deliberately distorted facts and misinterpreted the Bible's “The true way has been persecuted since ancient times,” misleading us to believe that Almighty God is the return of Jesus Christ. We believed in God and faced persecution, which made us harbor resentment towards the government and view the sneaky behaviors of the Almighty God organization as normal.
I gradually realized that the heretical doctrines Zhao Weishan had been instilling in us for a long time were all lies. I also understood why joining Almighty God for 16 years never resolved the issues between my father and me, and why I continued to live in pain. I also understood why the Almighty God organization wanted us to write personal resumes and disclose our privacy. It was to grasp our weaknesses and pain points to firmly control us. By “eating and drinking God's words” daily and solely receiving information from Almighty God, this brainwashing made me lose the ability to discern like a normal person and completely submit to the mind control of the cult.
During the 16 years of believing in the Almighty God, I devoted myself wholeheartedly, but I did not attain the happiness, joy, freedom, and release I had hoped for when I initially joined the cult. Not only did I fail to live out normal humanity, but I also became increasingly abnormal, less humane, selfish, self-centered, estranged from family, friends, and society. What I ultimately gained was not blessings or salvation, but the loss of 16 years of my youth. I became a victim of the cult, an accomplice to the criminal organization, and a person who had violated national laws and regulations, harmed national interests, and disrupted social order.
I regret the past, but I am even more grateful for the present. Thanks to the sincere help of volunteer educators, public security officers, as well as converted sisters, I have completely recognized the true nature of the Almighty God cult organization, freed myself from the mental control of the cult, and restored the thinking and rationality of a normal person. The 16-year nightmare has finally ended.
My sincere advice to sisters
16 years is so precious in a short life, but unfortunately, I believed in the lies of the cult and got deeply trapped. Fortunately, I was caught and regained a new life. I hope to use my own personal experience and insights to help those sisters who are still trapped in the quagmire of the cult, to help them wake up early, break free from the mental control of the cult, and live a normal life.
My dear sisters, don't believe the nonsense of the Almighty God anymore. Believe in everything that is really happening before our eyes. I spent 16 years fulfilling my duties in the Almighty God organization, deeply understanding the suffering, the exhaustion, and the pain within. With the help of the government, I have now found a job and my life is very stable.
Source：https://www.chinafxj.cn/n174/c863074/content.html