At the mention of the homicide case that occurred in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province on May 28, 2014, also referred to as McDonald’s murder in China, many people have heard it all before because it has been zealously publicized by the party-run media, heard by Yantai Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong, featured on BBC’s news, included in Wikipedia, one of the world’s largest reference websites, published and reproduced on a flood of big websites and social media platforms. It has already gripped and shocked the whole world. Due to the misleading impression created by news media, a great many people blame this murder on the Christians of the Church of Almighty God. However, discerning observers have recognized the whole case to be dubious. Besides, since the McDonald’s murder is only one of the countless homicide cases in China, why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) heavily publicize and hold a high-profile trial for it? What is the actual truth? What conspiracies of the CCP are behind this? Now, let us work together to reveal the true colors of the CCP.

Review of the Murder

Around 9 p.m. on May 28, 2014, six people beat a woman to death in a McDonald’s restaurant in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province, China. Three days after the egregious incident, three of the highest-rated programs of China Central Television (CCTV), Evening News, Topics in Focus, and Oriental Horizon, were impatient to feature reports about it, designating the perpetrators, including Zhang Lidong and Zhang Fan, as members of the Church of Almighty God, wildly smearing and condemning and laying the full blame on the Church before the case was heard. On the same day, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security openly declared crackdown on the Church of Almighty God. Since then, the McDonald’s murder has turned from a criminal case into a political one aimed at suppressing religion amid the propaganda of the CCP. Every media outlet of newspapers, television and the Internet in China immediately rushed to report it, and major western media outlets kept republishing it. Nonetheless, as the case was surrounded by doubts, China’s Internet users raised questions about it in their posts online and directly exposed the CCP’s real intention behind it as cracking down on religious faith, which sent the CCP, who quickly deleted hundreds of thousands of posts, or millions, into a panic. Following the deletion of the posts, the CCP’s oppression and persecution of religion did not cease, but intensified.

On June 16, 2014, the CCP’s Central Leading Group on Dealing With Heretical Religions held a video and phone conference call of the whole country, publicly labeling the Church of Almighty God as an “evil cult organization” and seeking legislation to impose sanctions, starting a nationwide special crackdown of the “Hundred Days Battle” on the Church of Almighty God, and sending down a document to every province and city. Soon afterward, the central authorities called in funds of tens of millions to offer rewards to units and individuals that stood out in their efforts to persecute the Church of Almighty God as well as the masses who informed against the members. In August, the CCP mobilized an enormous number of armed forces and regular troops to carry out capricious arrest and cruel oppression of the Christians of the Church of Almighty God, who, in consequence, were tortured, sentenced to imprisonment, and even crippled or tormented to death, with their homes raided. … An unprecedented persecution came upon the Church of Almighty God and all the other Christian house churches.

Restoring the Truth

Although the CCP’s media outlets repeatedly spread the rumor that the McDonald’s murder was committed by the Christians from the Church of Almighty God, Lyu Yingchun and Zhang Fan, two of the five suspects tried at Yantai Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong Province on August 21, 2014, clearly stated in court that they had never been involved or associated with the Church of Almighty God, that they didn’t believe in Almighty God at all, and that they themselves were God.

The confessions of the suspects, Lyu Yingchun and Zhang Fan, totally prove that all the six people have not the slightest association with the Church of Almighty God, much less are they members of the Church. From their incoherent and preposterous confessions, it can also be well confirmed that Zhang Lidong and the other perpetrators are, in fact, people who impersonate God and have no reason. However, the CCP exploited this group of mentally ill people to frame and make false charges against the Church of Almighty God, and to suppress and abolish the Church, thereby carrying out a nationwide religious persecution. The CCP’s despicable intention has been all too obvious!

At this point, we have clearly seen that the six culprits of the McDonald’s murder, including Zhang Lidong, Zhang Fan, Lyu Yingchun, are not members of the Church of Almighty God, and that the homicide case has nothing to do with the Church. But then, what plot was laid beneath the whole murder? Who was behind it?

Finding the Mastermind Behind the Scenes to Bring the Truth to Light

After the McDonald’s murder took place, a mysterious man who wore a green T-shirt, khaki pants, and white shoes was spotted in the surveillance footage provided by the McDonald’s restaurant and a cellphone video recorded by a witness on the spot. From when the victim was attacked to the moment the police cordoned off the crime scene and transferred the victim, the green-clad man had been free to enter and exit. This telltale clue has exposed the plot behind the case and caused the mastermind behind the scenes to bubble to the surface.

The Eerie Smile of the Green-Clad Man

In the video captured on a cellphone by a witness at the scene (),[T1] the green-clad man appeared (at 00:46) when Wu Shuoyan, the victim, was arguing with Zhang Lidong and his accomplices. At the 1-minute mark, the green-clad man stood near the scene of the crime and remained composed with his arms crossed over his chest. Wearing a calm, untroubled expression, he seemed to have expected what was happening then and showed not the slightest surprise. It was even more inconceivable that the green-clad man should have an eerie smile on his face, as if gaining the joy of completing a conspiracy, when he saw Mr. Zhang ferociously attacking Ms. Wu.

At 01:57, the green-clad man, heading out of the door of the restaurant, was still close to the crime scene. That is to say, he had been in the immediate area during the one minute when the deadly beating, which lasted more than three minutes, was at its fiercest pitch. Bizarrely, he did not show any fear or panic at the bloody scene of Mr. Zhang attacking the victim, let alone had the intention to dissuade or stop him, but instead watched it silently with a calm expression and deliberate steps. This can absolutely not be reached by ordinary people but for well-trained policemen. As we can see, the green-clad man still carried himself with ease as he left the scene.

Anyone with a little elementary legal knowledge will know that a crime scene must be heavily guarded in order to protect the criminal evidence left in the site, and that only paramedics and police are allowed to enter a crime scene while random rubberneckers are not. However, the green-clothed man was actually able to freely enter and exit the guarded scene of crime.

Three days after the McDonald’s murder, CCTV hastened to bring it to the screen and publicly condemned the Church of Almighty God without giving any evidence. Apart from using the state-run media to gain influence for the law enforcement and guide public opinion, the CCP convicted the Church before the case went to trial and allowed the media to directly reach a verdict on the case. This not only was contrary to the normal judicial process, but violated journalistic rules. It is public knowledge that judicial adjudication involves investigating, collecting evidence and other legal matters. So, news media should take a cautious approach in commenting on the process and result of a trial, and in particular not make comments about a case when it is under trial. Because that will easily make the judicial verdict be replaced by public opinion, which is to say, public opinion can lead to an incorrect consequence. Western news media usually don’t comment on a case in their reports. They deliver only facts to the public. By contrast, three days after the homicide case happened, the CCP’s media jumped to a conclusion and directly put the blame on the Church of Almighty God, and released the news that the Ministry of Public Security would soon launch a crackdown on the Church across the country.

Combined with the perverse actions of the media, it becomes even more clear that the CCP is the behind-the-scenes mastermind of the McDonald’s murder. In fact, the CCP police have already unabashedly admitted that the homicide case was meticulously plotted and conducted by them. From 3 p.m. on July 16, 2014 to 4 a.m. the next day, five Christians were interrogated at Zhaoyuan Police Department in Yantai City, Shandong Province. A policeman unapologetically acknowledged, “I’ve seen many of your kind. I’ve worked as a policeman for a dozen years and done all evil things. The May 28 Zhaoyuan murder case was carefully planned by us.”

At this point, the organizer and mastermind of the McDonald’s murder has totally surfaced, and the truth finally comes out.

Differentiating Between Cults and Good Religions by Principles and Seeing Through the CCP’s Nature of an Evil Cult

From the truth of the McDonald’s murder, we can see that the CCP distorts the facts and confuses black with white, framing the Church of Almighty God after it has cooked up the May 28 homicide case and thereby publicly labeling the Church as an evil cult. Obviously, the CCP is actually a thief yelling, “Stop, thief!” It spreads rumors about and falsely charges against the Church of Almighty God, and all the accusations it levels at the Church are utterly groundless. Notably, every time the CCP cracks down on religious belief, it first designates the suppression targets of religion as cults and then carries out rampant repression and persecution, which is its habitual tactic.

Then, what is a good religion? What is a cult? How can we tell the difference between them?

When it comes to differentiating between cults and good religions, it can’t be differentiated by however some political party or person wants to differentiate it, and moreover it cannot be determined by some country or its national constitution. In order to ascertain the true way, we should start by knowing what is “good.” It says in the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God is the source of all that is good. Only what comes from God is the right way. Then, where does the truth come from? The truth comes from Christ, who is the embodiment of God. So, the truth comes from God, and whatever comes from God are regarded as positive things. Only the Creator’s words are the truth, and only the incarnate Christ can express the truth. This is Heaven’s will and a heavenly rule. No nation, political party, or group can disobey, and whoever disobeys will only bring destruction upon himself. Just as the saying goes, “He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray.” In the world, in human society, all positive things are in accord with the will of God and that of people. A religion in accord with God’s will and people’s will is a good religion. Apart from conforming to God’s will, believing in God is also in line with the will of people, which means that most people approve of it and agree that believers in God are decent and good people. So, faith in God as well as obedience to God is regarded as a positive thing in conformity with both God’s will and people’s will. What is “evil”? “Evil” means anything that is at odds with God’s will and runs counter to people’s will. Then, what disobeys God’s will and people’s will? Forbidding people to believe in God. All that is disapproved of and condemned in the conscience and sense of people is evil, whereas all that people approve of, admit, and acknowledge in the conscience and sense are positive things. Belief in God is a positive thing, and all those of condemnation of, resistance and opposition to God are negative things, which are completely out of the evil forces of Satan. Exactly speaking, all churches that believe in the true God are good religions, while all those that believe in false gods, evil spirits, or Satan the devil, that advocate the fallacies and heresies of resistance to God, such as atheism and evolution, are cults.

As we all know, the CCP is an atheist party that originated from the communism developed by Marx, a believer in Satanism. It treats communism as the “soul of the party,” and Marx as the “ancestor.” However, in fact, Marx’s communism has already been recognized across the world as the most evil ideology that is anti-social and against humanity, with communist parties likened to the fascist Nazi party. Former U.S. President George W. Bush compared communism to terrorism. He said that communism took the lives of 100 million innocent people during the 20th century, tens of millions killed in China and the Soviet Union. Most countries in the world have wiped out communism as the plague. The Indonesian government has legislated that “any persons violating the law in the public, be it verbal, written and or through any mediums, spreading or promoting the teaching of communism/Marxism/Lenin will be sentenced to 12 years in prison.” Eastern European and Baltic states deeply tormented by communism have begun consultations on establishing an international tribunal to investigate the heinous crimes committed by communist regimes in the past. Facts have proven that communism is the most evil ideology and communist parties are the most evil political parties in the world. As one of the few remaining communist parties, the CCP has been wildly opposing God, arresting and slaughtering Christians since it took power, committing numerous crimes. Over the nearly 70 years of its rule, the CCP has killed at least 80 million Chinese people and ruined countless families. … In terms of its doctrines and crimes of harming and massacring the people, the CCP is truly an evil cult, the largest cult group for today’s world. Such an anti-social and anti-human cult group that has shed the blood of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people, how can it be qualified to condemn others? Isn’t it too absurd?

The CCP’s ancestor Marx once claimed himself to be Satan the devil. Is the communist party founded by such a demon not a genuine cult? However, the CCP is even more cunning than its ancestor. Marx did not shy from acknowledging that he was Satan the devil, while the CCP doesn’t dare to say that. The CCP is remarkably adept at twisting the truth and confusing black with white. It turns right into wrong, and evil into justness. It is also an expert in disguise. Obviously being evil and reactionary and belonging to Satan, the CCP has always pretended to be positive and just, and endeavored to establish itself as “great, glorious, correct.” It is particularly skilled in playing the trick of a thief yelling “stop thief” as the most deceptive entity in the world. So, it can be said that whatever the CCP approves of, supports, and advocates are all negative things. Only the CCP designates good religions as cults, while it is the real evil cult itself, and a typical representative of all evil cults. The CCP is Satan the devil of modern times—this is absolutely correct!

Besides, whether a religion or a church is a cult should be judged by the majority, all people of faith, and people around the world according to the publicly accepted universal values, which is just. It’s really absurd to judge a religion as a cult only based on the constitution formulated by the CCP, for the CCP itself is atheistic and doesn’t acknowledge the existence of God at all, much less know God. It resists God and is the enemy of God. Therefore, it doesn’t have the right to comment on belief in God, and moreover is not eligible to condemn any group or church with religious beliefs. As a matter of fact, the CCP has determined all churches and groups that believe in the true God as evil cults, including Christian and Catholic house churches and other religious groups, and has openly declared that the Bible is an evil cult book. This is a generally acknowledged fact. Since the CCP assumed power in Mainland China, it has always restricted, oppressed, and persecuted believers in God by all kinds of cruel means, and deprived people of their freedom of belief. Also, it has used public opinion, and political and legal means to pressure and threaten the believers, forbidding them to worship and follow God. In contrast, it asks people to worship it, submit to it, and continue to receive its rule and serve it. Furthermore, it is truly brazen and unreasonable in propagating that the Communist Party bestows happiness on the Chinese people and is the “bread giver” of them. As is clear, the CCP is a real evil party and cult, even more sinister and reactionary than the fascists, which is widely known. It simply has no right to judge or condemn a religion or a church as a cult. In addition, the constitution of the CCP does not conform to international human rights conventions at all. Although it has signed some international agreements, that is merely a show to cheat the people and the world, and they have never been acknowledged, accepted, or obeyed in reality. Thus, the constitution of the CCP is not at all true law. It is formulated as an instrument to restrict and bind the people, while the party itself never abides by it. It can be said with certainty that in the country under the dictatorship of the CCP, there is no law at all. All its government officials and policemen have claimed publicly that they are the law and what they say is law. So, in this autocratically ruled country, power is always greater than law, which results in the present lawless situation. The Chinese people have long distrusted the party’s nonsense, for all that it says are preposterous heresies and fallacies which distort the facts and invert right and wrong, and are lies that cheat, numb, and play the people. It has been a fact known to the whole world.

The CCP Frantically Represses and Persecutes the Church of Almighty God, Unveiling Its True Satanic Essence

At this point, I believe most people have understood what good religions and cults are and seen clearly the CCP’s substance of an evil cult. Now that the CCP is a demonic group comprised of atheists and intrinsically opposes God, how can it allow God to do the work of saving man? How can it allow people to believe in God and follow God? Since the returned Lord Jesus—the incarnate Almighty God—appeared in China to do the work of judgment in the last days, the CCP has been wildly condemning, suppressing, and persecuting the Church of Almighty God. During more than twenty years, several million have returned to Almighty God as the truth expressed by Him is testified to and spread, and those who truly believe in God and thirsted for the Lord Jesus’ second coming in all religious denominations have recognized God’s voice through reading His words. The rapid development and growth of the Church of Almighty God has thrown the CCP into a panic. It is afraid that the Chinese people may all accept the work of Almighty God in the last days and reject its regime after understanding the truth and seeing through its essence of satanic demons. So, it has been fiercely attacking and brutally suppressing the Church of Almighty God. As the Church publishes online the truth expressed by Almighty God and testimony articles and videos of the experiences where God’s chosen people were cruelly persecuted by the CCP, which has become an international sensation, more and more people from around the world have come to seek and investigate the work and words of Almighty God. Moreover, people of the world gradually come to the realization of the CCP’s demonic substance and are no longer deceived by it with its monstrous crimes of persecuting God and abusing the Christians made public, and the CCP finds it increasingly difficult to maintain a foothold in the international community. Pushed into a corner, the CCP fabricated the McDonald’s murder, spread rumors and discredited the Church of Almighty God, in vain attempt to eradicate the Church. This is the cause of the CCP’s opposition to Almighty God and persecution of the Church.

Not only does the CCP frenziedly crack down on religious belief in China, it stretches its talons to overseas democracies, pressures them with economic and diplomatic measures, and forces them to grant its vile request for suppression of religion and persecution of certain religious groups. On top of that, the CCP openly starts rumors and smears the Church of Almighty God on major Internet media, with a view to deceiving the world’s people and roping all countries into resisting, condemning, and blaspheming Almighty God. As a result, the whole mankind can be brought on the nefarious path of opposing God and finally be destroyed in hell due to their resistance to and blasphemy against God. This is the villainous agenda of the CCP, and also a true revelation of its satanic essence. Almighty God says: “Satan builds its reputation through deceiving people, and often establishes itself as a vanguard and role model of righteousness. Under false pretenses of safeguarding righteousness, it harms people, devours their souls, and uses all sorts of means to benumb, deceive and incite man. Its goal is to make man approve of and go along with its evil conduct, to make man join it in opposing God’s authority and sovereignty. However, when one sees through its schemes and plots and sees through to its vile features, and when one does not wish to continue to be trampled upon and fooled by it or to continue slaving away for it, or to be punished and destroyed alongside it, then Satan changes its previously saintly features and tears off its false mask to reveal its true face, which is evil, vicious, ugly and savage. It would love nothing more than to exterminate all those who refuse to follow it and who oppose its evil forces. At this point Satan can no longer assume a trustworthy, gentlemanly appearance; instead, its true ugly and devilish features are revealed under sheep’s clothing. Once Satan’s schemes are brought to light and its true features exposed, it will fly into a rage and expose its barbarity. After this, its desire to harm and devour people will only be intensified. This is because it is enraged when man awakens to the truth, and it develops a powerful vindictiveness toward man for their aspiration to yearn for freedom and light and to break free of its prison. Its rage is intended to defend and uphold its evil, and it is also a true revelation of its savage nature” (“God Himself, the Unique II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words have clearly exposed Satan’s demonic essence of hating God and harming mankind. Contemplating what the CCP has done, we can fully recognize that it is simply the embodiment of Satan the devil, and a demon that has been devouring the souls of the people.

Finally, let us look at another scheme the CCP has launched in order to ban the Church of Almighty God and crack down on overseas religious groups.

On February 24, 2016, Beijing issued a secret document entitled “Outline to Implement the Spirit of Speeches by the Central Leadership and of Relevant Meetings by the Central Leading Group on Dealing With Heretical Religions.” In the document, it was stated that the suppression of various religious groups should expand overseas. Meng Jianzhu, head of the party’s Central Politics and Law Commission, made the following requirements: Stick to the first principle of being bold to crack down and take action, and never show weakness or flinch. Take the initiative in dealing with all religious groups, maintain high pressure in the suppression without wavering, and cut back the room for religious groups to operate overseas to the greatest extent.

Here is a brief introduction to the main points:

1. Lay more stress on the work of collecting intelligence information of all religious groups and intensify the efforts, while bolstering the secret overseas forces to improve the targeting and validity of the crackdown.

2. Explore main diplomatic channels, scheme to carry out special repressive actions, and narrow the room for the overseas operation of religious groups. … Use the growing dependence of western countries on China to make our countermeasures abroad more proactive.

Note: What does “the growing dependence of western countries on China” refer to? To put it plainly, isn’t it economic and trade dependence? The CCP uses the money it has extracted from the Chinese people to court the western countries, and entices or even coerces them to stand on its side to oppose and condemn the Church of Almighty God and persecute religious belief. How evil it is!

3. Build a large database of members of overseas religious organizations according to the investigation abroad, and ensure the accuracy of the crackdown and punishment.

4. Insist on taking the initiative and tactically use … relevant state laws to impose oppression and sanctions on various religious groups.

5. Explore supporting or establishing online platforms overseas to guide public opinion and take countervailing actions.

The CCP’s persecution of God and religion has already reached the condition of a great outbreak of hysteria! Its demonic face has been completely exposed before the people of the world, and it shall be rejected by the whole world and subjected to God’s righteous punishment and destruction. Almighty God says, “Wherever the incarnation appears is a place from which the enemy is exterminated. China will be the first to be annihilated; it will be laid to waste by the hand of God. God will give absolutely no quarter there” (“Chapter 10” of Interpretations of the Mysteries of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). It has long been prophesied in the Book of Revelation, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall mourn her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come” (Revelation 18:8-10).