Young, Persecuted Member of The Church of Almighty God Is Granted Asylum in US

18-year old Sister Danxiang Cheng was recognized as a refugee after a legal battle that lasted several months.

Sister Danxiang Cheng is an 18-year-old member of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). During her time as a CAG member in China, she experienced several episodes that made her uncomfortable and fearful of living in Chinese society as a CAG member. She received intense scrutiny in school regarding students’ religious affiliation and, even though she was a good student, this pressure resulted in her dropping out of school. Her mother was nearly arrested by the police for her CAG membership and narrowly escaped, forcing her to hide in another town away from her daughter. In addition, two CAG members that Ms. Cheng was close to were arrested by the police and one of them was even sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment for her beliefs and activities!

Protection of Uyghurs, Church of Almighty God Refugees Requested at OSCE Meeting in Warsaw

Three speakers at the yearly Human Rights Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ask OSCE participating States to grant asylum to religion-based refugees fleeing China.

On September 13, during the yearly Human Rights Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Warsaw, three speakers have asked States in the OSCE area to grant asylum to religion-based refugees who flee from China.

Willy Fautré, of Human Rights Without Frontiers, focused on The Church of Almighty God (CAG). He explained the persecution of this Christian new religious movement in China, mentioning cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, and the scandalous attitude of several OSCE participating States, which do not recognize the obvious persecution of the CAG, refuse to grant asylum to the majority of CAG refugees, and even deport some of them back to China.

Document to Suppress The Church of Almighty God Exposed

A recently uncovered confidential document details the 2018 campaign to crack down on this persecuted Christian new religious movement in a region of Jiangsu Province.

The document, issued in April 2018 by the Public Security Bureau in a region of Jiangsu, an eastern-central coastal province of China, specifies the details of a campaign to suppress The Church of Almighty God (CAG), jointly implemented with the province’s Public Security Department. In 2018, as part of the nationwide campaign against the CAG, 1,984 Church members were arrested in Jiangsu Province, more than in any other region of China, according to the Annual Report on the Chinese Communist Government’s Persecution of The Church of Almighty God(the report has been reviewed in Bitter Winter).

Church of Almighty God’s Sister Zou Demei Is Free

Supported by a campaign by Bitter Winter and several NGOs, the former leader of the CAG in four Chinese provinces, who escaped to the US with a false passport, has finally left jail.

Sister Zou Demei is free. This is very good news for Bitter Winter and the NGOs who supported her case and, together with the Lantos Foundation and supported by the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, wrote to President Donald J. Trump asking for her release. It is also good news for her lawyer, Mr Russell Abrutyn, who spared no efforts to secure the result. In March, the Immigration Judge had granted her withholding of removal based on his conclusion that she will be persecuted in China because she belongs to The Church of Almighty God (CAG). He found, based on statements by scholars, the human rights community, and her fellow church members, that she is in fact Zou Demei, she belongs to the CAG, and China persecutes CAG members. Although asylum in the US was not granted for a number of technical reasons, Sister Zou is allowed to remain in the country. And now she has left the jail where she had been detained in Detroit for more than two years, and is a free woman.

Anti-Refugees “Demonstrations” in South Korea: The Real Story

On September 2–4, 2018, Austrian journalist Peter Zoehrer was an eyewitness to false “spontaneous demonstrations” staged by the CCP and Korean anti-cultists against asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God in Seoul. He tells the whole story to Bitter Winter.

Bitter Winter reported extensively about the false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized in South Korea between August 30 and September 4 by the Chinese Communist Party and Korean anti-cultists against the asylum seekers of The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement heavily persecuted in China.

We also reported that an Austrian journalist, Peter Zoehrer, was an eyewitness to the events. Zoehrer is also the secretary of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe) and has uploaded on FOREF’s YouTube channel videos of the events. We have interviewed Zoehrer in Warsaw, where he was attending the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe).

The Church of Almighty God / Eastern Lightning: 10 False Myths

Most of what you find on the Internet about The Church of Almighty God is false. Here is why, and where to look for more reliable information.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement. It is also known as “Eastern Lightning.” It has been founded in 1991, and after its rapid growth alarmed the Chinese regime, it was banned in 1995. It was heavily persecuted since, with hundreds of thousands arrested, hundreds of cases of torture, more than one hundred well-documented instances of death while in custody or as a consequence of police mistreatment, and several cases of organ harvesting. In the 21st century, to justify the persecution, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has launched a massive campaign of fake news against the CAG. Unfortunately, despite having been debunked by independent Western scholars, the fake news has been uncritically spread by some Western media and is still widely available on the Web, where Chinese propaganda is also active with anonymous or pseudonymous texts. Here is a guide to the most common myths and fake news.

The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement In China

The Church of Almighty God has replaced Falun Gong as the main target of Chinese religious persecution. Here is the essential information on what this Church is and why it is persecuted.

Eastern Lightning

Readers of Bitter Winter frequently encounter references to The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese Christian new religious movement. There is a good reason for this. The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious group in China today, often referred to as “the new Falun Gong”— not because of its theology, which is obviously very different, but because it has become the main target of the repression of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a position Falun Gong occupied until a few years ago.

Persecution of Chinese Refugees of The Church of Almighty God in South Korea Should Not Start Again

That The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is heavily persecuted in China, with thousands of arrests and many documented cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, is now an established fact, recognized inter alia by official United Nations and U.S. State Department documents. Hundreds of CAG members have escaped to South Korea, where they are seeking refugee status.

Confidential Documents Expose CCP’s Plans to Persecute The Church of Almighty God Abroad

CCP collects information on CAG members who fled China, uses agents and online propaganda to harass them. Anyone opposing the persecution deemed hostile to China.

The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement, which, due to its rapid growth, has been regarded as a threat to the CCP. It was included in the list of the xie jiao in 1995 and has become the most targeted and heavily persecuted religious movements in China ever since. Under the CCP’s ruthless oppression, often accompanied by torture and long-term imprisonment, some CAG members have been forced to flee overseas, but the authorities haven’t given up on persecuting them.

TODAY IN SEOUL, KOREA: Press Conference by Chinese Christians Who Fled From Persecution

Press Conference on July 22 of 2019 Given by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China

1. Speeches at the press conference

2. Witnesses telling their story as victims: Xiao Rui and Zhao Lin

Speech on the Press Conference Held by The Church of Almighty God, a Religious Group Persecuted in China

“The Chinese government’s religious persecution is true. We are the witnesses of this fact: we were tortured and detained, and we fled here for freedom. The CCP government should immediately stop the persecution of Christians, and stop its despicable acts of using our family members to incite Korean media to make false propaganda. ”

EU Parliament: The Church of Almighty God Christians in worse position than Uyghur Muslims

On December 10, 2018, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) and EU Reporters held a round-table discussion in the European Parliament. The discussion centered around the current situation of religious persecution in China, and focused on the persecution suffered by The Church of Almighty God. Among the participants were EU Parliament member Tomáš Zdechovský, political advisor Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, HRWF director Willy Fautre, and HRWF deputy director Lea Perekrests.

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Canadian Human Rights Organization Holds Press Conference:Calling Attention to Human Rights in China

The morning of December 10, 2018, a human rights organization in Canada, One Free World International (OFWI) hosted a press conference at Parliament Hill in the capital, Ottawa. In attendance were representatives from The Church of Almighty God (CAG), East Turkistan Association of Canada, Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) Canada, and Federation for a Democratic China (FDC), all groups who have suffered human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party government. Representatives present at the press conference urged the CCP government to cease its inhumane persecution of all religious groups and dissidents; they also called on the Canadian government to bring its attention to the deteriorating situation of human rights in China.

Know more:

Follow God by the Way of the Cross | Christian Video "Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China"

The Church of Almighty God | Christian Variety Show "Eyes Everywhere"

The crosstalk Eyes Everywhere describes how the Chinese Communist Party attempts to banish religion through using large-scale searches across the country, as well as turning people from every class and walk of life into eyes to investigate, monitor, and surveil Christians. Through a humorous, vivid performance, this comedy duo shows us all the despicable methods and detestable intentions with which the CCP arrests Christians, and at the same time shows us how Christians rely on God to avoid one pair of eyes after another, spread the gospel, and testify God.

More attention:

Follow God by the Way of the Cross | Christian Video "Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China"

The Church of Almighty God | Christian Variety Show "A Love No Net Can Catch" | Hold Onto Love for God in Persecution (Crosstalk)

The crosstalk A Love No Net Can Catch shares the experience of a Christian who is subjected to all sorts of monitoring and pursuit by the CCP government; she cannot return home, instead constantly on the run. The CCP has spent vast amounts of money to build its "Skynet Project" to suppress Christians and crack down on dissidents, establishing the world's largest video surveillance network to control China so tightly that even a needle, a drop of water cannot get through. Under the government's high-intensity surveillance Christians' freedoms are restricted at every turn and they face the constant danger of being arrested and imprisoned. But under God's guidance, Christians from The Church of Almighty God have not lost their faith in God and have become firmer in their faith through hardships. The CCP government may be able to catch their bodies in their net, but they will never get their hearts that aspire to the light and seek to love God.

Watch more：

Must Watch Christian Movie | Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China “A Youth of Bloody Tears”

Christian videos clip (4) - Obeying the Ruling Regime Is Not the Same as Obeying God

In order to deceive and tempt a Christian into forsaking God, the CCP called on a pastor of a Three-Self church to brainwash her, and this Christian and the pastor opened up a wonderful debate on Paul's words: "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God" (Rom 13:1). What are their different interpretations of these words? The Three-Self pastor is subject to the CCP and takes the path of the Three-Self Church—what ulterior motive is actually there? How will the Christian refute the pastor's argument to "be subject to the higher powers"?

Watch more：

Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China | "To the Brink and Back"

HK Media Attack The Church of Almighty God, Peril to Religious Freedom in HK - Massimo Introvigne

On November 20–21, 2017, in just two days, seventeen reports attacking The Church of Almighty God (CAG) were published intensively on Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, the mouthpiece media of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Hong Kong (HK), citing the rumors and fallacies consistently fabricated by the CCP to discredit and condemn the CAG. What signal can we get from the CCP’s sudden attack and condemnation against the CAG in HK? What will the situation of religion be like in HK? Prof. Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist, the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), makes comment on this.

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Follow God by the Way of the Cross | Christian Video "Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China"

Massimo Introvigne: Visual Artworks of The Church of Almighty God Convey a Very Deep Message

Brief introduction: 

In 1991, Almighty God, the returned Lord Jesus in the last days, appeared and began to work, expressing the truth—The Word Appears in the Flesh, and The Church of Almighty God came into being. Since 2014, some Christians from The Church of Almighty God fled overseas to escape from the brutal persecution of the CCP. They finally have the freedom of belief. In order to spread the truth expressed by Almighty God and testify to the kingdom gospel, they started to produce various artworks such as paintings, movies, musicals, hymns, dances, and music videos. In this episode, we have invited Professor Massimo Introvigne, a well-known Italian scholar of new religious movements, founder and managing director of Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR). He is going to talk about the visual artworks produced by The Church of Almighty God in recent years, from the paintings such as “God Making Clothes for Adam and Eve” and “Rainbow Covenant” to musicals such as “Xiaozhen’s Story,” as well as other artworks, Chronicles of Religious Persecution in China, and God Will Restore the Former State of Creation—New Heaven and New Earth. Professor Massimo Introvigne said: “The presence of Almighty God on Earth is not only momentous and decisive: it also creates unprecedented beauty.” Please stay tuned!

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