End Time Tome

SIOUX FALLS, SD – A South Dakota legislator has begun writing a book that tells a painful story of when faith turns into fanaticism.
State Senator Joni Cutler of Sioux Falls spent several years as a member of the End Time Ministries. She hopes her book exposes the dangers that religious cults pose to people seeking spiritual meaning in their lives.
Like most authors, Cutler often straddles a literary middle ground between the free-flow of words and writer’s block.
“I sit down with my computer and it’s easy to get to it. Other times, I know what to say, but I struggle saying it,” Cutler said.
Cutler’s book recounts a painful time in her past.
“Some people say, well, I had a bad day. Well, I know when I left, I pretty much had a bad decade,” Cutler said.
Cutler is referring to the 13-years she spent as a member of the Florida-based religious cult, End Time Ministries.
“When we use the word cult, that’s a very loaded word. People immediately conjure a certain type of cult in mind,” Cutler said.
As an idealistic teenager, Cutler joined End Time Ministries hoping to find spiritual direction in her young life. But she and many other members, got much more than than they bargained for.
“I had not only my own tragedy that was never really resolved, but I saw a lot of pain and suffering of young women,” Cutler said.
End Timers shun doctor’s offices in favor of faith healing. And that firm belief in a healing power beyond the scope of conventional medicine had tragic results for Cutler when she became a new mom.
“My first daughter was born prematurely with no medical care and she died of untreated pneumonia and so that’s very difficult,” Cutler said.
Cutler says the mind-control exerted by End Time Ministries influenced every aspect of members’ lives; from what they should think, to what they should wear. Cutler left End Time Ministries in 1986 and over the years has spoken out publicly against the psychological and physical harm that cults bring upon their followers. Her book will become a new platform for her to reach an even wider audience.
“It covers kind of the major human themes in life, the search for spirituality and religion’s role in all of that. Belief, faith, family,” Cutler said.
Cutler finds writing some passages emotionally-healing.
“It’s been an interesting journey back into my past,” Cutler said.
But other times, dredging up painful memories becomes too difficult to put into words.
“It definitely takes me into places that I’ve put behind me. Sometimes I choose not to write about some of those things, and other times, I think it’s important to include some of those experiences,” Cutler said.
Even though Cutler left the End Time Ministries 25-years ago, on occasion, she’ll hear a voice from the past that’s breaking a quarter-century of silence.
“Yes, Joni, I have a word from the Lord for you…”
Cutler is troubled by this message invoking God’s will left on her voice mail earlier this month.
“To have complete strangers find me and leave anonymous message that are meant to be messages from God to me, that concerns me,” Cutler said.
Culter says religious cults are just as active today as they were decades ago. Only now they have the power of the Internet and social media to spread their misguided messages.
“In fact, I think people try to be the most fanatical they can be in selling a conviction,” Cutler said.
Cutler hopes her book will show the redemptive power of rejecting a dangerous theology while giving this first-time author the final word on End Time.
“Sometimes choices in life can be painful, sometimes you have to lose a lot to gain what it is you want,” Cutler said.
A former publisher of a Florida newspaper that covered the End Time saga encouraged Cutler to write her book. She expects to finish her yet-to-be-titled work in about a year. She’s also shopping around for a publisher.

Original text from: http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6373.cfm?Id=116871

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The strange ways of Falun Gong

Hu JIntao, the president of China, is due for a big welcome during his two day state visit to Britain: not only does he get to stay with the Queen at Buckingham Palace, but the town is to be floodlit in red, in perhaps a misjudged attempt to make him feel at home.

There are vocal opponents of the state visit of course. Also much in evidence in London over the next few days, though he claims the timing is a coincidence, is Chen Yonglin, formerly the first secretary of the Chinese consulate in Australia, who defected in June and has since been a vocal critic of the regime. Mr Chen appeared at what was described as a press conference in London’s Foreign Press Association, along with three British politicians. The press conference was sponsored by an organization identified only as the FSC Centre. Inquiries produeced the response that this was the “Future Science and Culture Centre” in Cambridge. You may be none the wiser, and nor was oD. But it began to feel like Falungong. And so it proved.

Now there is nothing wrong with Falungong putting its case against the Chinese government: they have as much right to do that as anyone else. But why the subterfuge? And why the video crews filming the audience, as well as the speakers? And why the still photographer taking pictures of everyone who asked a question? If Falungong advocates democracy and truth, as they say they do, how about a little transparency in their own operations?

Original text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/puop/201107/t131351.htm

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Tang Dengwen: My wife gets mad for practicing Falun Gong

I’m Tang Dengwen, living in Nanzhong Village, Zhicheng Town, Henan Province. My wife practiced Falun Gong to treat diseases. However, she got mad instead of being cured.

My wife Hu Rongying was born in July 1956 and was once hard-working and virtuous. We had two children and a happy family,, which was not only the motivation of my hard working, but also my pride.

In the autumn of 1998, my wife got gallstone. She was still ill after the treatment. One day, she heard that Falun Gong could cure disease, so she bought some relative books and tapes and started to practice with other Falun Gong members in our village every morning and night.

Later, the State banned Falun Gong and I persuaded her to stop practicing, she agreed. However, a villager Liu Dongqing, who was a Falun Gong practitioner, frequently induced my wife to practice with her. My wife didn’t refused her because of their relationship and for the sake of healing gallstone. I had no refuted words so she picked it up again. In addition, she read Li Hongzhi’s book Zhuan Falun before going to sleep. Sometimes my wife brought some lections and brochures of Falun Gong secretly. I warned her not to believe or spread those things. Later I found her go out at night. I knew she went astray and sunk in Falun Gong and could not get herself away form it.

To save her, I called my relatives to persuade her to quit Falun Gong. But she turned a deaf ear to us and still persisted in practicing. As the time passed by, she became much more abnormal and crazy. At one night of 2004, I suddenly heard her crying, “Look! Falun is wheeling in my stomach.” I got up immediately. She kept on talking without stop and couldn’t hear me at all.

As she was crazy about Falun Gong, her condition was getting worse, she often spoke incoherently. Once, our married daughter said that she didn’t want to eat because of pregnancy and missed her mother’s cuisine, so she wanted to come back for several days to enjoy mother’s care, when my wife hanged up without a word. My daughter was anxious and angry about mother’s deed. Every time my daughter came home, she was always telling my wife not to keep on practicing Falun Gong, but in vain.

My son had a job in an enterprise and went to work at 9:00 am everyday. My wife cooked instant noodles as his breakfast at 4:00 am and it was hardly eatable when he got up. My son prevented her doing breakfast like that, but she persisted in her old way without time sense. At first, I ate her cooking reluctantly, while my son did not eat it at all. After a period of time, I felt sick when I saw instant noodles. Now, she cooked as usual, and then we discarded it. She even can’t cook delicious meals as before because of practicing Falun Gong.

As time passed by, similar phenomena appeared, so I took her to see a doctor. Doctor Wu of Jiyuan Psychiatric Hospital said that she was so obsessed with Falun Gong that she lost herself, and was possessed by the Devil to do something abnormal at last. She was diagnosed with visceral hallucination. Because it was not very serious, the doctor gave her some medicine and told her to go home for resting.

However, she was addicted to Falun Gong and had blinded faith in Li Hongzhi’s heresy, thus, she refused to take any medicine. In order to help her, I mixed the medicine into her food secretly. Her condition now is approaching stable, while, she is always nervous, absent-minded and murmuring for a while every day. Our villagers don’t talk with her and call her “fool” because of Falun Gong.

The tragedy of my family is caused by evil Falun Gong.

Original text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Data/02/201107/t131280.htm

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Chennai’s yoga centre under scanner

The Chennai Police has started a probe into the activities of a yoga center, which was teaching tantric yoga for enhanced sexual life.

A group of foreigners, who were running the centre, have gone missing. But just a few days before police laid their hands on centre, Headlines Today went undercover to a camp organized by the group.

The so-called yoga cult, Misa-satya, has been operating in Chennai for two years. But now, it has run into rough weather with the allegation being levelled that it indulges in distribution of pornographic material by mixing yoga with sex. But that’s not all. Its Romanian instructors are accused of running a business, while in India on a tourist visa.

Hindu Makkal Katchi’s Kannan says, “The instructors in this yoga center have acted in pornography. The instructors have come in tourist visas. They can’t indulge in any activities like this.”
The instructors, Mihai Stoain and Adina Stoain, went missing after the immigration department sought a report from the Chennai Police, but not before Headlines Today caprtured the truth of their operations on camera.

Mihai Stoain, lead instructor at Misa, says, “We are going to explain, co-relate and give practical elements on hormonal part of the body. We aim to improve your sexual and emotional life through yoga.”

After Mihai, Adina, and five other foreign nationals went underground, their organisation issued a statement. It says: The teachings in Chockalingam Nagar are a sharing of knowledge. The teachers perform the teachings completely voluntarily without earning any money. All the teachers have internationally recognized certifications, teaching from one of the best structured and comprehensive yoga curricula.

What goes here

What is it that exactly went on in the name of tantric yoga at the Misa camp in Chennai? The innocuous building in the heart of Chennai is actually the site where a group of foreigners taught tantric yoga. The sessions were held till a few weeks ago – that is when Headlines Today went undercover to expose what went on at the camp.

When the reporter went inside, she saw that lead couple, Mihai and Adina, were teaching exercises, giving lectures and screening movies on improving sex lives of couples. In fact, they’ve brought in Misa, which is a European cult, to India. Interestingly, Mihai and Adina have acted in a porn film as well.

Only a select group is allowed inside. The instructor, Immanuel, gave the details: “Here the erotic part is taught. In order to learn to control your energy, you need exercises that will help you. For instance for men to control ejaculation, we teach how to train yogic exercises. It is a mixture of erotic and spirituality. We even show movies.”

He also said that pornographic films were shown at the centre. “Students of school made those pornography movies. But they are very nice erotic movies and educational. Tantric is about the images to love. People of all age groups and nationalities attend the camp,” says Immanuel.

“I am a foreigner living in Delhi. I have come here for the camp,” says a girl. “The camp taught what women can aspire and what men can aspire,” she says.

Experts dismiss the claims that it can improve sex lives of couples. Sexologist Dr Narayana Reddy says, “These camps are not going to help anybody. I personally think they are exploiting ignorant people by promising them nirvana or sexual bliss.”

Yoga practitioners too are outraged. Niranjan of Bharath Swabhiman says, anything like this is destroying Indian culture.

Tantric love and yoga are not new to Indian culture, but exhibiting it explicitly in these camps has shocked people in conservative Chennai.

(India Today, June 14, 2011)

Original text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Data/01/201107/t131076.htm

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Falun Gong turns me into a murderer

My name is Yu Xuewei, born in January 1981, Korean ethnic minority. Graduated from a college, I worked as an assistant at a shopping mall named “Europe-Asia Market” in Changchun City, Jilin Province. I live in the Economic Development Zone of Changchun City. My husband Jin Mingduo is also Korean ethnic minority, born in February 1976. He worked for Changchun FAW-VW after graduating from a high school. We had a clever and lovely son in February 2004.

However, such a happy family as mine has been torn to pieces since both my husband and I became obsessed with Falun Gong. My husband Jin Mingduo was punished in accordance with law in April 2008 for printing, posting and distributing propaganda materials of Falun Gong for the so-called “truth-clarifying”, “anti-persecution” and “pursuing Consummation”. To answer Master’s “call” to pursue an early “Consummation”, I, together with other three Fulun Gong followers, beat another fellow practitioner Xiao Rong to death in order to expel “the evil spirit” from her body and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

My husband Jin Mingduo began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. He did not give it up after we got married in March 2003. Although Falun Gong was frequently criticized by the media at that time, I did not take it seriously since my husband just read the book Zhuan Falun at home or practiced meditation at evenings, never going out for studying Fa or attending the gatherings.

My 51-year-old mother was diagnosed with terminal stage of liver cancer and died less than a month later in December 2003. As her only daughter, I was overcome with grief at the loss of my mother and scared for the decay and death of the human world.

In those days of desperation and anxiety, I followed my husband’s suggestion and read the books like Zhuan Falun that he passed to me.

Li Hongzhi said in his book that “Karma is the root cause of all sickness and misfortune”, “those who really cultivate will not get sick. If you stopped cultivating, you would have already died” and that “when he succeeds in cultivation in the future, he will get whatever he wants just by holding out his hands, and he will have anything he desires. He can do anything he wants, and there is everything in his paradise.”

Are there such good things in the world? Practicing Falun Gong can “eliminate karma” so that you do not have to take medicine when getting ill. After reaching “Consummation”, you can also “be rewarded with fortune and ascension in broad daylight”.

Hence, from disbelieving to half-believing, I finally became obsessed with Falun Gong by and by. I even regretted that I started cultivation too late and that, if I had started cultivation earlier or cultivated with my mother together, she would not have fallen ill, or even if she fell ill, she would not have left me so early with the protection of Master’s “Fashen (body)”.

After a period of cultivation, I finally relieved myself from the pain of my mother’s death. More importantly, my husband and I found ourselves a “common interest”. Every day after work, my husband just could not wait to come back home to exchange the experience of “studying Fa”. We did not quarrel with each other any more, which made me feel the fun of “studying Fa”.

In the summer of 2007, my husband introduced me to Gao Hongqing (born in 1975, graduating from high school, worker of FAW-VW) who had very good “understanding” and Wang Haipeng (born in 1976, graduating from high school, worker of FAW-VW). Through exchanges with them, both of us became even more obsessed with Falun Gong. In that period, I had the same dream of attending Master Li Hongzhi’s lectures almost every night and the Master told me to treasure this “opportunity” and make “further advancement” in order to reach “Consummation” early.

Both Gao Hongqing and Wang Haipeng were my husband’s colleagues, and our homes were close to one another. More importantly, we were all “cultivating” together. Therefore, we met together from time to time to exchange our “minds” and told each other our respective dreams because Master said “what you see in your dreams is all real since your soul truly goes there”. In the way Zhougong interpreted the dreams, we would try to “understand” what Master revealed to us in the dreams, praising and lulling each other, because Master said it would be all right however you understand the dream and it would never go wrong.

On September 22, 2007, Master’s new scripture was published on the Minghui Net, claiming, “The cultivation of Dafa disciples is not only for their own Consummation…To save sentient beings is what the Dafa disciples must do.” Saving sentient beings should surely include those who had been transferred and who had not made “further advancement” because Master Li Hongzhi had said, the reason he extended the Fa-Rectification period was that he wanted “to give a chance to those people”.

We soon became nervous upon hearing this and all began to think who among those we knew had stopped practice Falun Gong or made no “progress”. My husband and I naturally and immediately thought of Jin Mingdong, my husband’s brother.

Like Jin Mingduo, Jin Mingdong began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. When the Government banned Falun Gong in 1999, he was a freshman in the former Jilin Industrial College (now re-named as Changchun Industrial University). He chose to quit school in order to continue his “cultivation”. Giving in to repeated exhortation of the volunteers, he finally gave up Falun Gong. He went to South Korea in 2004 and worked for a Sino-Korean trading company. As he could speak both Korean and English very well and was very capable, he was put into an important position by the company. He could earn over 100,000 yuan a year, excluding daily expenses.

This was really a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. How could we abandon this great mission of “saving sentient beings”?

From 1 to 15 February 2008, we left our son, who was less than 4 years old, to my father and went to South Korea without any hesitation. As it was the first time that we went abroad, we should do some sight-seeing by rights. However, to complete our mission, we did not go anywhere but staying at Jin Mingdong’s home he rented, trying to persuade him.

But our work did not go smoothly at the beginning, and Jin Mingdong was not influenced by our words. I described him vividly my illusions and dreams to let him believe that all of these were real. I also told him that it was almost the time for “reaching Consummation” and that if he gave up like this, all the hardship he experienced would be for nothing. With our earnest “admonitions”, he finally agreed to think about it.

We had to come back home with regret as our visa had expired. Instead of just leaving him as he was, we continued to urge him through long-distance calls or online video chatting.

As the saying goes, those who work hard will get rewarded. On April 4, 2008, having paid all the penalties due to breach of contract and left all “fame, material interest, emotion” including his newly-met girlfriend, Jin Mingdong came back to our home in Changchun. With the feeling of shame and remorse toward “Dafa”, Jin Mingdong cultivated even harder than before after he came back home from abroad.

The return of Jin Mingdong further strengthened our confidence and encouragement in “saving sentient beings”. We felt that our “Gong power” had been increased obviously and that we had stepped further towards “Consummation”. Hence, we decided to continue “saving sentient beings” and look for those who did not make “further advancement”.

Gao Hongqing said that some of his neighbors used to practice Falun Gong. He looked for them secretly. Nevertheless, after he met them, he found they were all grandpas and grandmas, who could not be able to guarantee their time for “advancement” due to heavy household affairs such as picking up their grandchildren to or from school or looking after the patients at home. They provided an important clue, however, that a young woman named Xiao Rong (born in Changchun in 1979 and jobless) cultivated very hard for “further advancement” and seemed “possessed” by something. Her husband watched her closely to prevent her from practicing Falun Gong.

We regarded it as very urgent, so we all decided that we must see this Xiao Rong and find out what on earth her “possession” was. Master Li Hongzhi said, animals like foxes, weasels, rats and willow warblers which could not cultivate into immortals by themselves often “posses” a human being by getting into his/her “mud-ball acupoint”, absorbing the essence of his or her body, so as to cultivate itself into a human form and finally replace this human completely. That human would look like someone at the appearance but in fact was one of these animals. Master mentioned in his Zhuan Falun that he once destroyed a “snake spirit”.

It was me, my husband, Gao Hongqing and Wang Haipeng who went for the first meeting. Xiao Rong talked incoherently and strangely. She talked about this one moment and that the next. For one moment she said that she witnessed Li Hongzhi’s Fashen (body) cleaning her body and for another moment she said that she was a fox spirit that had been with Xiao Rong for thousands of years and waited to see her today…

We did not dare to doubt any word by Xiao Rong, believing that this was the “possession” case mentioned by Master. At the same time when we worshipped Master more, we all regarded this was a test set by Master purposely. Perhaps his “Dharma-eyes” were watching us by the side of us. So, we made up our mind to help Xiao Rong to “expel the evil” so as to attain Consummation earlier.

But how could we “expel the evil”? None of us knew how to do it. So we decided to wait until we got full “understanding” of it.

On April 7, 2008, the fifth day after Jin Mingdong’s return, my husband went to work as he was on a day shift while Jin Mingdong and I stayed at home. At around 10:00 am, Gao Hongqing, who was on a night shift, came to my home, wanting to have a really nice long chat with Jin Mingdong who was regarded as making no “advancement” and to help the latter to restore his “Gong power”. About 12:00 pm, Xiao Rong, having just completed the divorce procedures, also came to my home with the divorce certificate. Upon arrival, Xiao Rong began to speak in tongues, talking for one moment, singing for the next and dancing sometimes. The voice produced from her mouth sounded like that two persons were talking and arguing.

Seeing Xiao Rong’s divorce certificate, we admired her from the bottom of our hearts for her courageous and resolute action. To believe in Dafa and to pursue early “Consummation”, she even gave up her marriage, husband and only-8-year-old son, which made us feel very much ashamed for ourselves. This also further enhanced our determination to save Xiao Rong. We had been deciding to drive away that “evil spirit” thoroughly to let Xiao Rong have a peaceful cultivation; otherwise, Xiao Rong could be ruined if it went on like this. Since we were cultivating together, we could not leave her alone. Moreover, this could probably be a test for us set by Master because he once said that nothing was coincident and all would be the test set for improving our minds.

Hence, we began to do in accordance with the requirements of “Fa”. At first, we formed a circle with Xiao Rong in the centre and read her the scriptures from Zhuan Falun loudly. Then we together sent forth “righteous thoughts” with reading “Fa will make the world right and eliminate all the evil…” However, half an hour later, Xiao Rong was still what she was. It did not work at all. According to Master’s instruction, “Any method could be adopted to stop evil”, we tried to freeze her with cold water, which did not work, neither. Thinking that the “fox spirit” might fear hotness, I boiled some water, put the hot water in a bottle, and then place the bottle on Xiao Rong’s stomach. Xiao Rong cried out for the hotness. We asked her if the “fox spirit” was gone or not. She said yes. So we stopped. But after a while, Xiao Rong began to speak in tongues, behave dottily and make grimaces again. We all thought that the “fox spirit” was rather deceptive. Therefore, following what people did in the TV series, we pricked the upper side of her lips, which did not work. We could do nothing but calling Wang Haipeng whose “Gong power” was superb for help. Wang Haipeng said we should not treat this “fox spirit” with mercy, as the Master said of “being pushed beyond the limits of forbearance”.

Therefore, we four began to beat her. We slapped her in the face first but she cried that she felt no pain and that she wanted us to beat her harder. Then the men kicked her randomly with their feet. Within a short while, Xiao Rong got black and blue all over and her face began to swell. Xiao Rong became much quieter and did not cry much. Finding it worked, we continued to beat her with both our fists and feet until she got down on all fours without any movement…

By this time, Jin Mingdong found something was wrong and said Xiao could probably be dead and should be taken to the hospital. We three all said that could not be possible because all those who practiced Falun Gong were protected by the Master. Even the cars could not kill them, how could we beat her to death? As a matter of fact, Xiao Rong was really dead. She was beaten to death by four of us.

Original text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Data/01/201107/t131076.htm

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Polygamous leader’s tax trial set for January

Polygamous leader Winston Blackmore will testify under oath for the first time about his ‘lifestyle’ during his 12-day trial in federal Tax Court begins Jan. 23, 2012.

Blackmore had asked for an unprecedented ban on the publication and use of any witness testimony or evidence related to polygamy during his tax trial so that none of that information could be used against him in any future criminal trial. His motion was denied by Judge Campbell Miller. Blackmore is not appealing the decision and now has three months to pay the $50,000 in court costs that Miller ordered him to pay.

Polygamy is illegal in Canada, but the law is under review by Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court, who was asked by the B.C. government to determine if the criminal sanction is constitutional since the Charter of Rights guarantees religious freedom and freedom of expression.

Blackmore’s unprecedented request was denied earlier this month, clearing the way for his trial which is also a precedent-setting case to determine how he and his extended family ought to be taxed.

Blackmore is appealing the reassessment of his personal income tax filings for 2002 to 2006 that concluded he had under-estimated his earnings by $1.5 million and the $147,000 he was assessed in penalties.

At issue is whether Blackmore’s large family (which includes 19 or more wives and more than 130 children), plus his extended family of siblings and their multiple wives and children constitute a “congregation” for tax purposes.

The government of Canada says they don’t. Up until 2002 when he was ex-communicated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Blackmore was the bishop of the congregation in Bountiful, B.C. Since then, the government says he and his family are not “a constituent part of any religious organization.”

In Tax Court, it’s up to the taxpayer to prove that the government’s interpretation is wrong. So, it will be up to Blackmore, his wives and others to prove that they all lived and worked together and share beliefs. And under cross-examination, lawyers for Canada will be able to ask questions about all of that including how many wives Blackmore had during the disputed tax years and where they all lived.

Original text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/201106/t130631.htm

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“Ascension in Broad Daylight” kills Liu Mingshu (photo)

My name is Han Wei, living in No.2 residential placement of Longxiang community in Longmatan District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. I used to be the landlord of the couple Liang Kongxin and Liu Mingshu. They started to rent my apartment in December 2005. At noon on September 17, 2006, I went to the apartment to collect the rent and just saw Liu Mingshu jumping off the window of the fifth floor with his head down. Then there was blood everywhere and lots of people gathered. Mr. Liang rushed down from downstairs like a shot and wailed bitterly with Liu in his arms…Now once I recall the scene at that time, I feel it miserable.

When they rented my apartment, I was reluctant to let it to them because I saw Liu Mingshu was sickly with a sallow face and a dull look in her eyes, maybe something was wrong with her. But after the sincere plea of Mr. Liang, I let the apartment to them finally. If I had known Liu Mingshu practiced Falun Gong and would commit suicide by jumping, I wouldn’t have let it, even if a highest rent was offered. Hearing that someone ever died in my apartment, people who wanted to rent or buy it turned away at once. So, I have to live there myself. In the still of night, I feel upset at the thought of Liu’s death in my apartment.

Recently I saw an article by Liang Kongxin on the website of Kaiwind named “My wife kills herself by jumping off the building for Consummation”, about which I have deep feelings: they once had a happy family, but due to Liu Mingshu’s practicing of Falun Gong and believing in Li Hongzhi’s fallacies, she committed suicide finally. It has a striking similarity as Tian’anmen Square self-burning incident. Liu Mingshu died for Consummation with nothing left but endless pain to her family, bitter memories and loneliness to her husband Liang, and fear and thinking to other people. What exactly Falun Gong is?

Liu Mingshu, female, born on March 3, 1954 in Lu County, Sichuan Province, primary school education, was a retiree from the Post Bureau of the city. Hearing that practicing Falun Gong could cure illness, Liu began to practice Falun Gong in 1996 to improve her poor health. After ten years’ practicing, she committed suicide by jumping off the building in 2006, at the age of 52.

At first Liu just believed what Li Hongzhi said about “curing illness and improving health” and “being good person”, and as time passed, she became thoroughly convinced of Li Hongzhi’s fallacy of “Consummation” and totally obsessed with it. Finally she staged a human tragedy of “Ascension in Broad Daylight” at 13:05 on September 17, 2006.

For the ten years of practicing, Liu Mingshu did “three things” in strict accordance with the requirements of Master Li. In order to be advanced, to reach “Consummation” and to realize “Ascension in Broad Daylight” as soon as possible, she learned the Fa and practiced Falun Gong desperately, even gave up her job and retired resolutely at the age of 46. During the cultivation period, anybody, including her husband and son couldn’t discourage her from practicing. Her husband had no choice but to quit the job and move house time and again, but still couldn’t stop her practicing. She was the loyal disciple of Li Hongzhi, but what happened to her?

Liu Mingshu was detained by the security organs in April 2000 for attending illegal gathering, which she believed as the sign that she “stepped forward” according to the requirements of Li Hongzhi, and “got further advancement”.

Because of sittingcross-legged for a long time, she always felt dim-sighted because of meridian obstruction. But she thought it was “righteous thoughts” being at work.

Regardless of relatives’ dissuasion and breaking off with her son, she stalled off her family and said “Cultivation is something you do right in the thick of tribulations. They’ll test whether you can sever your emotions and desires, and they’ll see if you can take them lightly”, and called it by a good name of “elimination of attachments”
Her neurasthenia got worse due to drug discontinuance and she often was in a trance and sleepless at night, which she thought was “eliminating Karma” and it was normal to get sick and a test on the way of cultivation. When the road lights were on, she thought it was the Master looking at her and sending Gong to her, she would reach Consummation soon.

In July 2006, before jumping off the building, she believed herself would reach Consummation soon, so she drank agricultural chemicals, but was found and sent to hospital for rescue in time.

Time stopped at noon on September 17, 2006, Liu Mingshu realized “Ascension in Broad Daylight” in her Consummation dream. At the same time, another human tragedy happened.

text from: http://www.facts.org.cn/Data/01/201106/t130440.htm

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Falun Gong: The face of Chinese opposition or a Chinese scientology?

Falun Gong is one of the largest groups of Chinese facing persecution from the Chinese government. Because of the brutalities suffered by its members in China at the hands of the Chinese government, and because its unique role as a religious opposition group, it has enjoyed a great deal of positive press in the west. This in turn earned them a lot of good will among the western audience. In some sense, they have become the face of Chinese opposition in the eyes of Americans.

But are they?

There had always been some sort of rudimentary mysticism component of Chinese culture throughout its history. But for the most part it’s not different from other forms of superstition, perhaps just a little more “mysterious.” The Star Wars “may the Force be with you” really distilled it and westernized it. Although George Lucas did a good job of translating it as “the force”, the Chinese concept is really “Qi”, which means “air” or “gas”. But it is indeed that mysterious mechanism with which you affect things supernaturally. Interestingly, the era of the Star Wars, the late 1970’s, was also the beginning of the Qi Qong fever in China.

At the same time in the late 70’s and early 80’s, there was also a blind reverence of anything to do with science and technology. But the population was largely ignorant of real science. So the combination of ignorance, the belief that anything “scientific”is good, and the tradition of oriental mysticism, led to some very bizarre popular practices. In succession, we went through waves of injecting chicken blood, drinking red fungus tea, exercise of swinging arms, and finally “Qi Gong.” Each wave swept through the whole China like a craze, with everyone doing it – our family didn’t escape it either. Imagine that at one time every family in Beijing had a jar of red fungus for drinking. It was all through person-to-person network. We got the red fungus from our neighbor. The foreigners would never learn about this.

Remember here in the US we had the stock market bubble, followed by the housing bubble? This episode from late 70’s to early 80’s in China was quite similar and can be thought of as a “superstition bubble.” Each new superstition that replaced the old one was a little more sophiscated, and swept over more people, and at the same time went a little crazier. Qi Qong was the last wave, and Falun Gong was the apex of the Qi Gong wave, and craziest of them all.

Falun Gong actually came quite late on the scene. There were already many very influential Qi Gong masters with millions of followers when Falun Gong was started. In order to grab more followers, and beat out the competitors, Falun Gong had to go quite a bit further in their practices. Most Qi Gong masters only claimed health benefits, but Falun Gong talked about the salvation of the soul. So it got much closer to a religion than the other Qi Gong cults. It also employed more aggressive recruiting and propaganda tactics. Although almost all Qi Gong masters relied on some degree of deception to convince people to believe in their magical powers, Falun Gong’s propaganda practices reached the level of outright fraud. For example, in order to claim that he is the re-incarnation of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder Li Hongzhi changed his birthday from July 27, 1952 to May 13, 1951 (the day that Buddha Shakyamuni was born). In recruiting new members, they relied heavily on “insiders” (firm believers who are willing to lie to convince potential new believers). One type of insiders were recovering cancer patients. They started to practice Falun Gong after surgery and chemotherapy to help recovery. But once they joined, they almost always told people that they were cured by Falun Gong, not medical treatment. Another type of insiders were former engineers. One famous case was a retired engineer Jing Zhanyi. He went to university campuses to recruit students and teachers. He told them that his soul was able to leave his body and examine machine parts that were unreachable by any detection equipment. This allowed him to make new inventions and got huge bonuses. These were not merely lies in order to convert believers. They collected steep membership dues, so these lies were the tools for them to get to people’s money. The founder Li Hongzhi is said to have made millions from donations of his followers.

But the damage was not limited to members’ purses. Members were told that they were protected by Falun Zhao and needed not to seek medical help when sick. One university student was said to have refused eating and drinking because he was practicing Falun Gong. When his life was in danger, he was rushed to the hospital for treatment. But after he got out, he did it again and had to be sent to the hospital again. This was repeated until the university intervened and forced him to give up the Falun Gong.

Another big problem with Falun Gong is that it spreads the message of hate in the name of religion. It teaches that homosexuality is abnormal and gays are evil. It brainwashes people into hating gay people. It did not change this stance even after it was driven out of China and had to survive among the “liberal” population of California and New York. Here is a letter to the editor on SF News Sentinel in 2006:

My name is Samuel Luo and my parents are both Falun Gong practitioners who have been hurt and exploited by this cult. Among the many harms done to them, I have been seriously concerned that they have refused needed medical treatment. In 2002, my step-father initially refused help when he had a stroke and he has suffered painful gout attacks unnecessarily for five years. He did so because he was being brainwashed into believing that Li Hongzhi, the founder and leader of this cult has the power to cure illnesses and taking medicine is counter productive.

The Falun Gong is also extremely homophobic. Li teaches that homosexuality is not the standard of being human, the priority of Gods will be to eliminate homosexuals and that gays are demonic in nature. These teachings are honored by all Falun Gong practitioners. Recently when I confronted my mother with these teachings she said that the elimination of gays is already happening. When I wanted her to give specific examples she said that all the natural disasters that happened recently are directed at corrupt people, gays included.

In my efforts to warn the public about the harmful and cultish nature of Falun Gong, my free speech was suppressed. Last year when the International Cultic Studies Association organized a program on the Falun Gong in which I was one of the presenters, the Falun Gong threatened the organization with a lawsuit and successfully suppressed our freedom of speech.

The Falun Gong is preying on the residents of this city I just want people to know that the Falun Gong is not what they claim to be.

The trigger for the Chinese government crackdown was when two scholars published an article on a newspaper in Tianjin criticizing Falun Gong as superstition. Falun Gong followers gathered at the city government demanding that the newspaper retracts the article. I don’t know what led to violence there. Falun Gong claimed that they were beaten. Evidently they couldn’t get it resolved in Tianjin so Falun Gong leaders called for a protest in Beijing. Then came the crackdown.

Their practice of deception and lie was moderated quite a bit after coming to the US. However, the lies are still quite plain (and sometimes bizarre) for people who can think for themselves. For example, since 2004 Falun Gong started a campaign asking Chinese Communist Party members to resign their party membership. The progress of this campaign is tracked by their website. As of today, they report that a total of 94,982,725 people have resigned their CCP membership. That’s nearly 95 million people. The actual total membership of CCP since 2003 is:

2003 67 million
2004 68 million
2005 69 million
2006 71 million
2007 72 million
2008 74 million
2009 76 million
2011 80 million

Now we all want to see CCP membership go down. But we cannot substitute fantasy for reality. Where is any indication of the 95 million people who resigned from the CCP?

Falun Gong is a group of hate-mongering, anti-science, money-grabbing, lie-spreading fraudsters. They are the Chinese version of scientology. If we mistake them for a force representing China’s hope for democracy, then we will simply lose our credibility in the minds of Chinese people.

text from:http://www.facts.org.cn/puop/201106/t130400.htm

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Cults in the eyes of their believers

Religious cults that make headlines for homicide are almost always well beyond the storefront stage – there is no better example than Jim Jones and his People’s Temple in Guyana 33 years ago.

Durham is awash in an exception.

Seven members of a small and heretofore unknown cult led by one Pete Lucas Moses Jr. are facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Antoinetta McKoy, 28, and Jadon Higganbothan, 5.

More than 1,200 religious cults of all sizes and beliefs are thought to flourish in the United States, thanks to the First Amendment and the country’s history of religious tolerance. Whatever Antoinetta McKoy was seeking in life, Pete Moses’ outfit in that cinder-block house at 2622 Ashe St. must have provided it until something went terribly awry.

From the Church of Scientology to Pete Moses Jr., religious cults have a bad odor among most Americans. Cults have a deserved reputation for creating a Stepford Wives mentality among their members, pocketing their money and alienating them from friends and family. Reasonable people regard this as a form of constitutionally protected body snatching, and it has spawned a vigorous anti-cult movement.

But what is a cult? And how is a cult different from, say, a religious denomination?

The late constitutional scholar Leo Pfeffer put it this way: If you believe in it, it’s a religion. If you don’t care one way or the other, it’s a sect. But if you fear it and hate it, it’s a cult.

Cults have been with us through the millennia. The mighty of Imperial Rome feared and persecuted the early Christians, whom they considered a subversive cult. The Christians eventually won the contest and became a mighty religion.

Cults appeared and vanished like the morning mist during the Vietnam War era and into the 1980s, attracting young Americans with the promise of finding their Bali Hai amid a fractious, militaristic and materialistic society. Most such communal cults – the bloodthirsty Manson Family was the worst of them – lasted about as long as the Summer of Love in 1967.

It is the religious cults that have always had staying power. Led by charismatic personalities, they exert a powerful sway over their adherents. Leaving such a cult is a wrenching experience akin to death – you become a nonperson, shunned and abandoned. The world you had been taught to hate is suddenly the one you must live in.

Studies of cults have shown that those attracted to them are not necessarily victims of brainwashing, as is commonly thought. New adherents enter cults on the basis of rational decisions. They see benefits and qualities in the cult that they like and want to share with others.

Predictably, the word cult is disavowed among academics, who consider it judgmental. They prefer “new religious movement.” That would have pleased the adherents of Heaven’s Gate, who believed suicide was the ticket to the celestial mother ship.

Whether we call them cults or new religious movements, the dangers can be real for young people seeking that elusive something greater than themselves. For Antoinetta McKoy and Jadon Higganbothan, that little white house on Ashe Avenue was not a home, but a horror.

Bob Wilson is a retired journalist, author and teacher who lives in southwest Durham.

text from:http://www.facts.org.cn/Reports/World/201106/t130280.htm

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