Some apocalypse believers may be spending the end of the world in a Chinese prison.
More than 100 members of the “Almighty God” Christian cult in China have been busted for warning and harassing people about the impending doom the Mayans predicted for the world on Dec. 21, 2012, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“They are telling everyone that on Friday the sun will rise in the west and then disappear for three days and then there will be 72 days of terrible natural disasters starting from January 1 2013,” a former cult member who did not want to be identified told the Financial Times. “They’ve also told all members to withdraw their money from the bank in preparation for the end of the world.”
The Church of Almighty God, with millions of followers, also vows to destroy the “big red dragon” of the Chinese Communist Party, the Financial Times reported. The Chinese government seems to be taking this threat more seriously than the Mayan prophecy.
“There are many examples of similar fringe religious movements in China, and this one has been around for a long time, but the difference now appears to be its move into politics and its calls to destroy the Communist Party,” Canada-based historian Tao Yong told the Financial Times. “In the past, I haven’t seen this particular group use this language of slaying the red dragon, and it is this sort of thing that hits a nerve for the Chinese government.”
Culled form NY Daily News