- With the year 2000 approaching, incidents
of strange religious activity have increased throughout the world. During
the 1990s, a few aggressive cults have reared their heads with bizarre
and sometimes lethal results. Branch Davidians, Aum Supreme Truth, and
the Order of the Solar Temple are the most prominent examples of marginal
faiths gone sour. Recently, another doomsday cult has emerged near Dallas,
Texas. Variously known as God's Salvation Church, God Saves the Earth Flying
Saucer Foundation, and Chen Tao (True Way), the group has proclaimed that
God will arrive on Earth in a flying saucer to warn humanity about an impending
nuclear holocaust. Although Chen Tao may not become dangerous, their predictions
of the End of the World are indeed cause for alarm.
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- When theories of UFOs merge with New
Age concepts like reincarnation and channeling, the result is space religion.
Groups like Unarius, the Raelians, and, most notoriously, Heavens Gate,
have built entire religious systems around space aliens who reportedly
watch over Earth. In the case of Chen Tao, flying saucers (masked as clouds)
are an important component of a theology that mixes the tenets of established
Eastern and Western religions with millenarian paranoia.
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- The leader of the True Way is a Taiwanese
national named Hon-Ming Chen. He has drawn international attention by claiming
that God will be reincarnated in his body on 31 March, 1998 at 10:00 AM
Central Standard Time. Six days before this epiphany, God will make a worldwide
announcement of his return on television Channel 18. Chen boasts that he
will perform three miracles to prove his divine power. He will be able
to 1) turn invisible, 2) duplicate his body to greet everyone simultaneously,
and 3) speak with anyone, regardless of his or her native tongue. In his
spiral-bound book Gods Descending in Clouds (Flying Saucers) on Earth to
Save People (1997), Chen says, I have the full faith to say that God will
appear at the referred time. At that time people shall see the One in exactly
the same look of me to meet the people. I guarantee this on my life. (178)
Based on this statement, some people have surmised that the group might
be suicidal like Heavens Gate, but Chen and his followers disavow this
morbid speculation. Citing strict vegetarianism as proof of respect for
life, he denies that they will commit mass suicide.
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- The 42 year-old Hon-Ming Chen once taught
at Chianan College of Pharmacology and Science. Originally, he received
direction from Ms. Yu-Hsia Chen, who he believes was one of Gods representatives
on Earth. His first spiritual proclamation was that on 11 February, 1996
all Gods and Buddhas descended upon a temple at Pei-Pu village in, Hsin-chu
County, Taiwan. According to Richard Liu, Chens translator, before that
time there wasnt a gathering place, but we were instructed by God to build
one so that God could come down to operate on the Earth. We built it in
haste. Everything was built in great haste.
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- God next told the group to move to San
Dimas, California where they established Gods Salvation Church. Chen drew
attention in mid-1997 when he claimed to have discovered a man in Vancouver,
Canada who was supposedly the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Chen already
had a 10 year-old boy named Chi-Jen Lo within his group who was touted
as the reincarnation of Buddha. The mentors goal was to arrange a meeting
between these two embodied gods. In the preface to The Practical Evidence
and Study of the World of God and Buddha (1996), Chen describes the soul
of God as divided into two parts: one recognized in Taiwan and the other
living in Canada. He wrote that when the time comes, they will meet people
of the world at some place in the USA, and get together with the elect.
(ii) The meeting between Buddha and the Canadian Christ never occurred,
but a 9 year-old named Che-yu Chiang has now assumed the messianic role.
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- The True Way has now landed in Garland,
Texas because to them it sounds like Gods Land. Chen purchased his creek-side
residence on 26 March, 1997, which is coincidentally the same day that
the Heavens Gate mass suicide was discovered by the San Diego police. During
the next few months, about 150 members of his congregation bought expensive
homes in the same neighborhood. At first, the group attracted little attention
and most neighbors were unaware of their presence. However, eventually
there were signs that something strange was on the horizon. In late September,
groups of thirty to forty members dressed in Chinese farmer hats and white
robes started riding bicycles through the streets. Neighbors found peculiar
fliers at their doorsteps explaining that the bike rides were instructed
by God to prepare for and welcome the descending of Gods Kingdom in America.
The tone of the message was polite and even apologetic, so none of the
recipients feared that the End of the World was nearing.
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