The Internal and External Causes affecting the Forming of the Church of Almighty God

III The Internal and External Causes affecting the Forming of the Church of Almighty God

During 1960s and 1970s, the new religious movement emerged and became active in many countries like America, Japan and Korea, etc. From the perspective of Sociology of religion, it is an inevitable phenomenon in the modernization process of the society. History suggests that cults tend to arise in two kinds of social context: one is in a broad relaxation religious environment. A country that has no state religion and separates church from state, will be the soil for free growth and development of various new religions. The other was in a turbulent time, like the Civil War time, several main immigrant flows and division of Protestantism in American history. It is the time when traditional religion was highly secularized, the ideological trends of anti traditions and culture emergent, and the cults blossomed. China is not the exception. The emergence and growth of the Church of Almighty God in China has its internal and external factors: a complicated international political and religious environment, along with the local social and economic context.

Political and Economic Factors

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the international political environment changed dramatically, like revolution in Eastern Europe, the collapse of Soviet Union and Tiananmen Square incident in1989. People got agitated by political unrest. With the world view and value system collapsed, cults creped in the vacuum. After the downfall of Soviet Union, confrontation between the two camps in the ideology field came to an end. Religions revived worldwide since then, as well as cult groups. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 3,300 cult groups around the world.  Meanwhile, after convening the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978, China began its economic reform progress: transiting the planned economy into individual economy and market economy, and breaking the old production mode and life style. A considerable increase in people’s income was achieved, whereas the income gap enlarged as well. The interpersonal relationships changed accordingly. Particularly in rural areas, people felt insecure about the new economic system and the fast changing social norms, even were scared of the future life. Such rapid transformation of the society created a crisis of belief and spiritual vacuum. In the late 1980s, many people in northeast of China was laid off because of the transformation of unprofitable factories. That was the time when the Church of the Almighty God spread vastly.

Religious and Social Factors

Since the economic reform was introduced, China has loosened its control over religions. The religious beliefs restricted in Cultural Revolution released rapidly. Religions which had been destroyed boomed again, especially the Christianity. As the Christianity grew fastly, chaos came in the churches in rural areas, where believers were in low educational level and lacked solid theology foundation. Worse still, having been absent from Chinese social life for a long time, the traditional Christianity is vulnerable and defenseless. Again with its rigid structure, orthodox religion is less attractive than those new religions and cults. Apart from that, the civil society supply suitable soil for secret religions, especially in the regions of northeast and central China, where the Shamanistic culture and Witchcraft beliefs has deep influence, and also the witches, make the “female Christ” be accepted easily. Besides, folk associations and secretive societies could create a sense of belonging and security between neighbors, and also a sense of mystique.

Going through Ming and Qing Dynasty, secret religious sects have developed into a vigorous civil society movement, with rapid expansion and various sects. In modern times, when social upheavals occur in China, secret religions and societies become more diverse and complex. According to recent studies, there are 4,500 kinds of superstitious sects and secretive societies on record over the past 100 years, forming a strong social forcewith impacts infiltrating all ranks of society. Some of them still remain until today. The Church of Almighty God has developed in such a special historical and social background. But why is Zhao Weishan who founded it? It is related to his upbringing and personalities.

His Upbringing

Seen from the process of Zhao Weishan’s growth, many of his personality traits foreshadow the changes in his later life. He grew up in a family with ten children, two boys and eight girls. They were so poor that often ran out of food when he was young. The Dad was harsh on him. He did not like to play with others, and was some kind of selfish, disregarding of other people. As a person being somewhat obstinate and rebellious, he did not design to his fate. He also showed his dissatisfaction toward the poor and noisy family, where he couldn't find warmth. We can see his fighting with fate from his insisting on changing his name. He got a reference letter from the school and changed the name Zhao Kun, which he thought was obsolete, even quarreled with his father about it. Moreover, he got a chance to release his unreconciled heart in 1966, when the Cultural Revolution lunched. In his 15 years old then, he tasted the satisfaction and sense of fulfillment from fights and rebellion. He organized a rebel group, he himself as the group leader. They condemned the headmaster in struggle sessions, wrote big-character poster as well. They propagandized the newest directions from Chairman Mao in the railway police guard room. His Teacher Hu Yasen reviewed Zhao Kun as “a boy being poor in academic performance, naughty and mean-spirited”. After getting married, his irritable temper did not change. His apprentices left him because they could not stand his criticism and scold. Zhao Weishan was proud and intensely ambitious. In the church, he boasted of his knowledge in music and bible, but despised the aging elders and their sermons. When the will of promotion did not realized, he divided from the church, holding meetings at his own home, interpreting the bible and leading believers to sing and pray. He could read the music sheet and write in calligraphy, so he wrote verses and hymns on newspapers, then hung them on the wall and taught the followers. Believers regarded him as the pastor or the leader as time past, through which his vanity and selfishness was gratified.

Doctrines and Teachings

The main doctrine of the Church of Almighty God is based on “three stages of the 6,000 years management plan”. They believe that God's nature and work differ in the three stages. First of all, the Church of Almighty God will bring back the kingdom of God and establish it in today’s China.  Believers could experience and engage in the realization of the hope, thus have a sense of honor. For those who are dissatisfied with the reality could get a strong sense of belonging from it. Second, it defies Yang Xiangbin as the female Christ, who is actually controlled by the highest priest Zhao Weishan. Indeed there was a previous female God deified by him before Yang Xiangbin in 1986, named Dou Yanqiu, Zhao's former mistress. Third, the cult practices mind control over its followers. It claims that God's main work in the age of Kingdom is exercising judgment upon men. The unbelievers and those who resist God will be rejected by Him. They ask for an absolute obedience of the members, by the means of intimidation and threaten. Followers have to write a guarantee or swear when join the organization. With a highly organized management structure and guard teams, many followers does not dare to leave, even when they get to know its absurdity. If they leave or refuse to join, they will be greeted with personal attacks and injuries. Fourth, they specified the eschatology to collect money. They encourage followers to consecrate properties as sacrifices to the female Christ to flee from the judgment to come and get reward. Many followers abandon their families and jobs to fulfill their “duties”, and disappear for years. They even handed over all their life-savings. In this way, the Church of Almighty God therefore had much money. From the year 2000 to 2007, when He Zhexun as the supervising team leader, he transferred more than $ 60 million RMB abroad. Fifth, they believe that Satan has manifested in our days and regard God's kingdom and human kingdom as a binary opposition. They resemble the Communist Party as the Great Red Dragon, the police as little dragon. Behaviors that are anti-government, or antisocial, or amoral, are rationalized by them. Hence, it can easily attract people who encounter setbacks and complain about social and government. Furthermore, Zhao Weishan used many Christian terms and aimed to recruit Christians in Local Churches, thus caused a huge loss for the Local Churches in 1990s. In summary, the doctrines above are the obvious common features shared by destructive cults. They are not biblical based and cannot be testified by theological analysis. However, it is these plausible teachings that are easy to understood and accepted by the depressive followers. Moreover, the mysterious self-sealing bureaucracy of the cult matches part of Chinese folk culture and customs. For these reasons, it can expands quickly in the remote rural areas where people with low literacy.

Conclusion

Above all, the Church of Almighty God is a typical Chinese cult that mixes Eastern Mysticism with western Christian doctrines. With highly deceptive and destructive traits, it involves in illegal activities like mind control, collecting money, challenging authorities and spreading doomsday predictions, etc.. This paper works on Zhao Weishan's life experiences, which are closely link to the rise of the Church of Almighty God. It also points out the mistakes of online materials by field investigations, and digs out the true facts concerning Zhao Weishan and the Church of Almighty God. This paper of course cannot completely cover all the details, many of which still need a closer inspection. Further studies can focus on his later life in America, and the following development of the cult, as well as how its doctrines differ from orthodox Christian doctrines. There are underlying causes that make the Church of Almighty God to emerge and develop. Only when we explore the religious sociological rules behind, can we foresee their future developing direction, and accordingly take measures to prevent it. Although most researches are conducted by nonofficial groups, it was relatively more objective and persuasive compared with the official reports that lean to its own side. Therefore, more researches of this subject need to be carried out.