“They Killed My Mother, They Arrested My Father”: Sister Zou Demei’s Father’s Day Reflections

The former leader of The Church of Almighty God in four Chinese provinces is free in the United States, but her mother has been killed and she cannot contact her elderly father in China.

Editorial note: Bitter Winter readers are familiar with the story of Sister Zou Demei. In the United States, June 16 is Father’s Day. In this article, she talks about her father and how the persecution prevents her from contacting him.

SOUTH KOREAN FALSE DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE CHURCH OF ALMIGHTY GOD REFUGEES END IN DISGRACE

Police intervention stops further false demonstrations by CCP executives and anti-cultists harassing harmless refugees in Korea. 

Bitter Winter has reported in the last few days about false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized in South Korea against The Church of Almighty God (CAG) by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) executives who came from China for this purpose, with relatives of CAG asylum seekers they had “persuaded” to join them and local anti-cultists led by pro-Chinese activist Ms. O Myung-ok. For a fortunate coincidence, the Austrian journalist Peter Zoehrer, secretary of FOREF (Forum for Religious Freedom Europe), was in Seoul for collecting material about CAG members who suffered torture in China, and was able to document and photograph the events for Bitter Winter.

They Are Coming! CCP Sends Again Relatives of Church of Almighty God Refugees to Korea to Stage False Demonstrations

The CCP harasses again the relatives of CAG refugees in Korea who live in China, luring them to travel abroad to South Korea on July 22-24 next to “search for relatives” and bring them back… to jail.

Ms. O during the false demonstrations of September 2018

by Zhou Hua

The Church of Almighty God: Persecuted At Home and Abroad

　　The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is the largest Chinese Christian new religious movement. Due to its rapid growth, the Church was included in the xie jiao list by the CCP in 1995 and has been heavily persecuted since. CAG members have been subjected to persecution, with frequent cases of arrests and torture. According to the recently released 2019 report of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), “in 2018, the Chinese government harassed and arrested thousands of followers of […] The Church of Almighty God. Many of those detained during the year—whom The Church of Almighty God estimates to be in the thousands—suffered torture and other abuses, in some cases resulting in deaths or unexplained disappearances while in custody.” According to the yearly Report on International Religious Freedom of the U.S. State Department for 2019, covering the year 2018, “The Church of Almighty God reported authorities arrested 11,111 of its members during the year,” against 9,000 from Falun Gong, the second most targeted group. “The Church of Almighty God, the document adds, reported authorities subjected hundreds of their members to ‘torture or forced indoctrination.’” Overall, the document said, “The Church of Almighty God reported authorities subjected 525 of its members to ‘torture or forced indoctrination’ during the year. The Church also reported members suffered miscarriages after police subjected them to ‘torture and abuse’ in detention facilities.”

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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Paris Symposium on Denial of Asylum Requests From The Church of Almighty God Christians

On March 9 of 2018, the Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience (CAP LC) organized a special event in Hôtel Château Frontenac in Paris, France. In the event, the denied asylum requests of the members of The Church of Almighty God were discussed as well as the risk of deportation at any time that some Church members are facing after receiving the removal orders. An appeal was also made to the French government for the protection of the human rights of The Church of Almighty God Christians. Professor Massimo Introvigne, a well-known Italian Scholar of new religious movements and Managing Director of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions); Mr. Willy Fautré, Executive Director of HRWF (Human Rights Without Frontiers); Ms. Marie Holzman, French Sinologist and President of the Association Solidarité Chine (Solidarity with China); and Mr. Eric Roux, the President of EIFRF (European Interreligious Forum for Religion Freedom) were all in attendance and delivered speeches. During the event, the organizer played a video of the testimonies of two Church members who suffered persecution at the hands of the authorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Those in attendance were moved to tears.

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Western Scholars vs CCP Representatives at the UN in Geneva About The Church of Almighty God

On March 1, 2018, during the 37th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, the Coordination of the Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience (CAP LC) organized a Side Event on the denial of religious freedom in China and the case of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). A panel of international scholars and human rights and freedom of religion experts discussed the dramatic situation of the members of The Church of Almighty God both in China, where they are severely persecuted, and in South Korea and Europe, where their requests for asylum are often denied. During the event, there was a debate between the western scholars and CCP representatives of the Chinese delegation…

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