CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/29/2025

[Patrick Ryan]

The Church of Almighty God, 764, Unification Church, Legal, Korea

Haarerz: An Apocalyptic Chinese Doomsday Cult Is Using AI to Evangelize Jews in Israel

"A Christian doomsday cult of Chinese exiles is behind a widespread influence operation that made use of AI-generated content to try to evangelize Jewish Israelis online, according to researchers from the Israel Internet Association.

The Church of Almighty God, also known as Eastern Lightning, is a messianic, apocalyptic sect that seeks to persuade millions online to convert to its brand of Christianity. Its followers believe that Jesus was resurrected in the form of a 70-year-old Chinese woman. The church was founded in the early 1990s in China, where authorities eventually designated it a cult and banned it. This led to the persecution of its members and the emigration of thousands, many of whom sought asylum in the West.

For years, the church has operated an extensive digital network of websites to disseminate its messages. Now, Israeli researchers have found social media accounts, TikTok pages and WhatsApp groups linked to the church's local branch. They distribute, among other things, AI-generated "Torah lessons" in Hebrew which are, essentially, thinly veiled sermons preaching the church's gospel to unwitting Israelis.

Signs of its activity in Israel were detected several months ago by researchers from the Israeli online intelligence company Intercept, which tracks, maps and counters disinformation for corporate and state clients. Their findings, reported in Haaretz, identified social media accounts and WhatsApp groups operated from abroad that published religious content in Hebrew aimed at a religiously observant Israeli audience. The firm believed this was the first stage of a wider, political operation that initially only sought to attract followers. For example, the network created fake Facebook groups masquerading as well-known, legitimate pages, including "Mothers Cooking Together," which amassed 13,000 members."

FBI: ‘764’ Extremist Group Leader Pleads Guilty to RICO, Child Exploitation Charges

A San Antonio-based member of the Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) group 764 pleaded guilty today to racketeering activity and multiple acts relating to the sexual exploitation of children.

“The FBI will not rest when it comes to identifying and holding accountable those who prey on children and other vulnerable individuals,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The court documents show the defendant coerced minors to commit heinous and cruel acts of self-harm. Today’s guilty plea is a major step in seeing justice served in this case and demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to protecting the nation’s youth.”

"Chavez led a group of online predators whose ultimate purpose is to destroy our society.  They tried to achieve that heinous goal by desensitizing innocent children to violence—coercing them to perform gruesome and harmful acts against themselves and animals—with the hope of encouraging further violence and spreading chaos," said Sue J. Bai, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security. "The National Security Division will continue to relentlessly investigate and prosecute predators who seek to terrorize our society by targeting our most vulnerable."

“764 members, like the defendant, use the Internet to prey on vulnerable minors, coercing them to mutilate themselves, produce child exploitation images of themselves, and attempt suicide," said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. "My office will do everything legally possible to prosecute and imprison members of this group for as long as the law allows."

According to court documents, Alexis Aldair Chavez, also known as Zack and Zack8884, 19, was an administrator and online leader of the ‘8884’ network, which is a network related to 764. Both 8884 and 764 are NVEs who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and engage with other extremists abroad. These NVEs share accelerationist goals that include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the U.S. Government. Members of 8884 work in concert with one another towards a common purpose of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, including minors. NVEs engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. NVEs demand, coerce, and extort victims to engage in variety of violent conduct, including self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder.

Korea Times: DPK's turnaround on Unification Church

"The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has agreed on the need to introduce an independent counsel to investigate allegations that the Unification Church lobbied and bribed politicians to influence policy making processes.

This is a welcome development. The ruling party should work closely with opposition parties to select a suitable independent counsel who can conduct a thorough investigation so that the truth about politicians’ alleged collusive ties to the controversial religious group can be uncovered. Those found responsible should face appropriate legal consequences.

The DPK’s announcement came as a surprise. Until Sunday, the party had maintained staunch opposition to appointing an independent counsel to probe the church’s political influence, arguing that the police were already investigating the case and that the National Assembly should wait for the results.

" ... DPK Chairman Rep. Jung Chung-rae said there was no longer any justification for rejecting calls for an independent counsel to investigate the Unification Church’s alleged connections with politicians. “Earlier, I refused to accept the call to introduce an independent counsel, but I changed my mind because our party has no good reason to reject it,” he said. 'It would be appropriate to investigate all politicians — including PPP lawmakers — to determine whether they had links with the church.'"

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