After deprogramming, a former devotee acknowledges he is “his own God” and promises he “will only believe in science and the government.”
by Fang Yongrui
There has been a new developments during and after COVID in the Chinese fight against the xie jiao—“movements spreading heterodox teachings” (sometimes less precisely translated as “evil cults”) —which are mercilessly persecuted. To Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God a third group has been added as a “direct threat to national security,” the Association of Disciples.
The Association of Disciples (门徒会, Mentuhui) is a Christian new religious movement established by Ji Sanbao (季三保, 1940-1997), who was previously part of the True Jesus Church, in 1989. It faced a ban in 1990, was listed as one of the xie jiao, and experienced intense persecution.
From 2020, a national campaign of annihilation was launched against the Association of Disciples, which, like other forms of “illegal’ religion, has experienced a new growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Movements like the Association of Disciples provided religious reasons for why God permits natural disasters. They suggested they can be used by believers for spiritual growth, drawing in those unhappy with state-controlled churches, which during COVID only repeated the government’s slogans.
Members of the Association of Disciples assert that their movement imparts the “teachings of the Third Redemption” (三赎教), indicating it as the third symbol of salvation following Noah’s ark and the cross of Jesus Christ.
Deprogramming, a practice banned as a crime in most democratic countries, consists in submitting believers to threats, pressures, and intense indoctrination in a confined setting, until they renounce their faith. In China, deprogramming is routinely used by the state to persuade xie jiao devotees to abandon their religious movements.
A “success story” from Gansu recently published by the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association, which claims to be the largest anti-cult organization in the world and is directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sheds light on a feature of Chinese deprogramming. It does not limit itself to break the faith of xie jiao members. It wants to lead them to atheism.
In the story, a member of the Association of Disciples, after having been arrested, is submitted to deprogramming. While the report tries to attract the attention of the readers to the usual tragic story of how the devotee did not provide medical care to his son, who died, relying on prayer only, the interesting part concerns the atheistic outcome of the deprogramming process. The devotee, we read, “woke up as if from a dream. When he first joined the cult, he was confused about ‘what kind’ of ‘God’ is the ‘true God.’ Now he finally found the answer to this question: respect your parents, love your wife and children, work hard, be down-to-earth, advocate science, and love life, so that you can be your own ‘God.’”
Confirming he had been successfully deprogrammed, in the end the former devotee proclaimed: “I will never believe in the ‘Three Redemption Christ’ thing again. I will only believe in science and the government.”
These are the Chinese citizens the horrific system of deprogramming and torture aims to produce. Citizens who do not believe in God but are persuaded they are “their own God,” and “only believe in science and the government.”
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
