Was I In A Cult? - Falun Gong P2: “Falun Gone… For Good”

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

In Part 2 of Angela's story, the realities of Falun Gong’s grip on her family deepen. Angela reflects on the emotional toll of a cult that prioritized spiritual salvation over physical health—even as her mother’s condition worsens. But escaping isn’t easy when your family remains deep in the cult’s ideologies… Angela’s journey out of this cult is filled with heartbreaking revelations and the resilience that defines a true “surthirver.” ____ Donate to CUDDLY today! Head to cuddly.com/CULT and help make a difference! Angela on TikTok/Instagram: @workplace_doodles Follow us on Instagram/TikTok/FB: @wasiinacult  Have your own story? Email us: [e-mail]  Please support Was I In A Cult? Through Patreon (we appreciate the hell out of you guys)  Merch is here! www.wasiinacult.com 

The views, information or opinions expressed by the guest appearing in this episode solely belong to the guest and do not represent or reflect the views or positions of the hosts, the show, podcast one, this network or any of their respective affiliates. Welcome back guys to Was I in a Cult? I'm Liz Iacuzzi. And again, I don't have to say it every a Cult? I'm Liz Ayacuzzi. And again, I don't have to say it every week, but I'm going to. I'm Tyler Meesom. You do. You have to. And if you missed last week's episode, guys, just pause right now, go back and start there because today is part two of Angela's mind-blowing, mind-opening,

mind-expanding story of being in the Falun Gong cult. Right. And 1 usually goes before 2 in numerical order, unless of course the number is 21. Then it would go after. Or unless Tyler's on the John, but you won't get that reference unless you listen to part 1. Today is part 2 of Angela's mind-blowing story of being in the Falun Gong cult. Quick recap from last week, because it's been a whole week and you've slept since that time and you forget things and you've probably had some via hemp and possibly a margarita.

So a recap. And hopefully you've taken a bath, men. To all the men listening. I have not taken a bath since then. I failed on my promise to take a bath. I'm actually in the bath right now. Is that why your glasses are steaming up, Rob? Okay, recap.

We met Angela. She's an outspoken TikToker and she talked about her childhood growing up in a wide-reaching cult known as Falun Gong. Falun Gong began in China, guys, in the 1990s by a man referred to as Master Li, who claims to have superpowers and in spirit likes to watch young kids all day long like a spiritual pedophile Santa Claus. Ho, ho, ho. The movement slash religion slash cult slash dance company slash levitation consultation is now banned in China, but it continues to have a significant presence throughout the rest of the world, including Europe, Canada, Taiwan, parts of Southeast Asia, and New York, where

the Shenyang dancers are headquartered. The group remains vocal today in its opposition to the Chinese Communist Party and is the entity that is behind the Epoch Times. Yes, an avid reader am I. Angela got pulled into this group by her mother, who at the time was dealing with some serious chronic pain and was introduced to Falun Gong by someone close to her. So the group persuaded her that Falun Gong's methods, quote, healed her. And well, the rest is history. We left off when Angela was 16 years old and was being trained heavily to live the dream of becoming a Shenyang dancer one day.

Which news flash, no one asked her, and was something she had zero interest in ever becoming. So, with all of that, and now you know a bit about Falun Gong, this is the Falun Gong show. Do you guys remember the Gong show? You are too young for the Gong show. No, the Gong show came back with Mike Myers, remember? I don't remember that. I was at the pilot taping. I think it lasted about three episodes.

The Gong show was a terrible and wonderful show at the same time. But that's enough of that rubbish. Let's get to our Falun Gong Show, the second part of Angela's story. Here she is talking about her involvement in Falun of it a lot because I would go to school and I would see all my friends and they were all Christians and Catholics and I thought, wow, that's kind of dumb. And then I would look at myself and be like, oh, it's kind of the same thing except I believe in aliens and not eating raw meat because there are spirits in there. So I would have a lot of doubt, but I couldn't express that.

So I just kept the fact that I was in this cult a secret from my friends who were in school. I was aware that people called it a cult, and I was hesitant, of course, to call it a cult myself because most of the people who are calling us cults were people from mainland China. We would be at a booth trying to sell tickets or get people to sign petitions against organ harvesting or whatever, and the Chinese person would come by and be like, you stupid cult people. And it'd be like an old lady. And I'm like, oh, she's kind of maybe not right in the head.

A big breaking point that came for me was this girl moved into our community and she was like 16 at the time, I was also 16. And she came in and her guardian was very vocal about none of the girls can go close to her because she's lesbian. We're trying to get her to be straight, so please try not to tempt her. Ah, yes, because being within 50 feet of a lesbian automatically means you'll turn into

one. That is called the lesbian osmosis theory, which I'm about to make up, and it is when you stand too close to lesbians, you have a propensity for driving a Subaru and adopting too many cats. Now, I can actually make that joke because my sister is a lesbian with far too many cats. I guess she's she's bi, though. So but the scale tips much more 80 20 towards the lesbian side. That's just based upon what she said to a date the other day. She went on a date with a guy and she's like, you know what, I think I'm 90% gay.

I'm going to go home. That would be a definite check please sentence if a woman said that to me. He still wanted to hang out. Maybe he likes cats. I had the experience at school of being ostracized by a group of people before and I empathized with that. So I was like, why not just be friends with her? So I did. And all the other girls, they weren't like rude about it, but they also were very actively ignoring us while we were hanging out.

After a while, I guess a rumor got out that we were dating or something. So someone in the community came up to me and they were like, you need to stop talking to her. Like, if you talk to her and we see that, we will beat you and then we will hit her too. We're serious. Falun Gong, the movement that is committed to truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, and threatening violence to innocent young women. And that scared me, so I did stop talking to her. But the whole time I was like, why?

You're preaching truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and you're threatening people with violence? I had a big revelation there. Maybe we're not as kind as we say we are. The core values, truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance are faked. What else is fake? Cults. That's what's fake, because they're the biggest hypocrites in the world. Cults.

But if you recall from part one, Angela was being trained, whether she liked it or not, to one day become one of those coveted Shinyun dancers. But when I was 16, I had the wonderful chance of auditioning with Master Li himself in Long Beach, California, Terrace Theater. I remember the exact date because it was the most embarrassing day of my life.

I was watching the show and my parents were volunteering as security guards. And all of a sudden during intermission, my mom dragged me out of my seat and said, we're going somewhere. And I knew exactly what it was because two of my friends had auditioned the same exact

way days before. But as my mom was dragging me into the elevator I was like, I don't really think I can be a Shinnin dancer. I don't like wearing leotards. I don't like putting my hair up in pins. I move like a stick. This is embarrassing. But another thought also hit me, like this is going to be my first real interaction with Master Li. The elevator door is open and I'm face to face with Master Li himself. It's a surreal experience because my mom is there and she's trying not to fall over on her knees and be like, oh masterly, it's you. And she walks me over to him. He asks the choreographer guy to measure my wingspan, my height, and my legs. This whole time I'm like trying to keep my mind blank because he can read

minds. I don't want him to like see something, but of course he knows everything. So what's the point? And I realized like I can send him a little telepathic message. Be like, hey man, I don't really want to be a Shin-Yun dancer. Like you don't want bad dancers and I don't want to dance in front of a million people. It's a win-win, you know? Oh, yes. in front of a million people. It's a win-win, you know? Oh yes, telepathic negotiation. Something in which I believe my wife is a seasoned veteran at, and me, I am a meager, struggling amateur. I think all women in general just have a telepathic way to control us and to speak to each other.

Oh, it's more like, I told you that in my mind. Probably what happens is you actually tell us with your mouth and we still don't hear it. So how are we gonna hear it in your mind? That's actually true. Our female audience just is loving this right now. A man admits that we do not listen effectively. We got him!

And he's like, okay, let's see you do the splits. I give him a little mental wink while I'm sliding down into my splits and I am such an embarrassment. Like my crotch is like four inches off the floor. Such an embarrassment like my crotch is like four inches off the floor I am making like the worst noise as possible like grunting I see the choreographer in the corner of my eye and he's trying really hard not to laugh and After what feels like an eternity masterly goes, okay You can get up and my mom looks like she wants to shoot herself in the head. But she's keeping this like really plastic smile to save face. Okay, so as a former gymnast, I know the four inches she's talking about.

I would have just like, barely like a sliver of space between me and the floor. And my crazy coaches, she would get down on her knees, her nose would be at my crotch level and she'd scream I see daylight Now going for the gold Liz isn't easy So I'm waiting for someone to say something and my mom goes, oh my gosh, like you don't understand She wants to be a shin-yun dancer so bad. Like this is her dream. I look at master Lee I'm like you can reject me now, go ahead, go do it.

And what he says instead is, she has great proportions. If she grows a couple of centimeters and gets her splits down, she's in. And I'm like, dude, come on. Like, did you not get the message? My mom walks out of there elated because he basically gave me a second chance. The girl who went before me, an amazing dancer who got her splits down, didn't have the right proportions. And she got rejected like straight out he said she should pursue other interests. But for me he said she

has another chance. And I walked out of there pissed off. Like, dude, either you cannot read minds or you are petty as hell because I made it so clear. So what is it, Master Lee? Either you're a creepy spirit Santa Claus who can read minds or you're not. Pick a lame bro. For the next two years my parents were relentless. They had me practice dance all the time and any interests that I had outside of Shunyun would be brushed off. I'd say like oh I want to like try to be a teacher and they're like oh you know where you can be a teacher? You can be a teacher at Sh Yun. After you dance for four years, maybe you can teach Shen Yun dancers. Wouldn't that be great?

No, mom, that sounds awful. So Angela is well on her way to becoming a Shen Yun dancer. Or is she? Find out after the break. That's called a cliffhanger. So that you won't turn the channel. Or we just told them when to change the channel. Now push 15 seconds ahead. Shit, don't do it. Actually don't.

Listen to the ads. Stop complaining about it. What else are you gonna listen to? Psst, hey Liz, you wanna hear something cool? Is it that rare sound of you giving me a compliment, Tyler? Oh no, not at all. It's a fact. According to a study, owning a pet can reduce a person's

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We here on Was I in a Cult support shelter animals, which is why we are so happy to be partnering with Cuddly. Tyler and I both got our pets from a shelter. My dog was a litter of seven. He was the runt. He was in the back of the cage, curled in a little bowl. He was shaking, covered in piss and fleas. And I was like, that, that's my baby. And shelters like the ones we have adopted our pets from need your help. Cuddly is a fundraising platform that supports animal welfare organizations all over the world. Over 4,000 shelters and rescues trust Cuddly to raise funds and receive donations of supplies for the animals in their care. And all donations made through Cuddly are tax deductible. Cuddly thoroughly vets and verifies every rescue organization they work with. So you can be

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Head to cuddly.com slash cult today to make a donation and help make a difference. That's cuddly.com slash cult today to make a donation and help make a difference. That's cuddly.com slash cult. How were those ads guys? Back from the ads. Did you like them? They were good ads. I loved listening to ads. How'd they go? How'd they go? You remember that time when we played that ad and you said that joke and then we sold that thing? God, that was good. Use your codes, guys. Don't forget to use your codes. So this group Falun Gong purported to teach you how to gain spiritual enlightenment.

You know, the amount of times, Liz, that we've said that sentence and then just a blank line underneath it that says, insert cult here. How many times we've said that is outrageous. Like, it's either they're purporting to get you into celestial heaven or it's about while I lied to them much. Are you guys picking up on the patterns yet? Rob, are you picking up on them? Not really, only because I don't really pay attention to the words that are spoken here.

I'm more of like a waves of sound kind of guy. Just the levels. Just the levels. Great. Well, start downloading what we're sending. Well, I feel like after all this time, Tyler, the only people who can really teach true spiritual enlightenment is us. And the cult podcasters have become the cult leaders.

The circle has been closed. But we'll opencasters have become the cult leaders. The circle has been closed. But we'll open it up to let you guys in. But we do have an inner circle. And it's just Rob. And I'm trying to get out. Enlightenment comes from getting rid of your attachments. But my mom, she would say, my biggest attachment is you.

My love for you is what's keeping me from enlightenment. And then my dad would be like, oh yeah, me too. And so I would just sit there and be like, oh. So like, if I didn't exist, you would be a god now? Okay. I was really sad about that. I was like, still a kid too. They said it all the time, a lot more when I was in high school and trying to get into

Shunyun or whatever. They're like, my biggest attachment is you. And if you went to Shunyun, I would not have that attachment anymore because I would know you were in safe hands. Yeah, yeah, I didn't know how to process that at the time. It felt like they were saying that they loved me, but that love was something that they needed to get rid of. And of course, they made me practice the splits every night. Sometimes I would be in that position for 30 minutes at a time,

and I was in so much pain because I didn't want to do this but they wanted me to be flexible. So I would be there in that position, butt to the wall, chest to the floor, like swimming in a pile of my own sweat and tears for up to 30 minutes a day. But to be fair, her parents were deeply indoctrinated. And if you've been listening for a while, you understand that what comes with that is sadly not prioritization of your family, but prioritization of the cult. And becoming a Shenyang dancer was the ultimate honor

within Falun Gong for girls of Angela's age. And the deadline was my 18th birthday. So as the deadline grew closer, my parents got more impatient. And they would yell at me, they would sit on me while I was in the splits and not let me get up. Every evening was like the worst of the battle. It would always end with me crawling into bed, sobbing. My legs sore, I'm covered in bruises, and nobody knew that I was going through that because it was really embarrassing.

Like, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life, but I couldn't express that, because what I was supposed to do was be a Shinyoon dancer. That's my destiny, you know? And then? I turned 18 and I got my splits down. Wow. And I'm sorry. But, um, I didn't get in because I was four centimeters short. Thank goodness. I was like, yes! Um, but, you know, I won the war.

It was over, but I suffered a lot of I won the war. It was over. But I suffered a lot of casualties from that war. I lost my sense of self. I didn't know who I was supposed to be. I didn't fulfill my destiny, set by the creator of the universe himself. And I was essentially the worst practitioner to ever exist. At least that's what I thought. But thank goodness we don't usually know what's best for us at that young age.

That's the thing. On the surface, it's always sunshine and sparkles. Everything is great. Everyone is wonderful. We all practice truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. That cover is always there. We always have that mask on. So instead of becoming a Shenyang dancer,

Angela goes to college. I went to Cal Poly Pomona. I was an English major. Go Broncos. But she was still committed to Falun Gong at this point. There were many times when my parents would ask me, like, do you want to stop practicing? And in my mind, I thought, of course.

Like, I don't want to do all of this anymore. I'm practicing two hours of meditation a day, one hour of studying the Fa, going to work, to three part-time jobs, and also being a full-time college student and volunteering every Sunday at this organ harvesting booth. A sentence no one has ever said before. I feel like this is a good time for some organ harvesting fun facts.

I was just waiting for you to say that. Because nothing says trivia time like stolen kidneys. Did someone say stolen kidneys? You did, Tyler. You did. Because it's estimated that over 7000 kidneys are illegally obtained each year and sold on the black market. Anyone want to take a guess how much a good kidney goes for? Oh. Low miles, good interior, still has that new kidney smell. Come on

Okay, who would be a person needing to buy a kidney from the black market? Someone who has kidney failure. In fact, only 10% of Organ needs are met in the world actually. So so there's like this underground Right, Oregon a black market for organ sales in the world actually. So there's like this underground organ. A black market for organ sales. $10,000? $10,000, come on. That's like a spleen number, come on.

Oh, kidneys, right, because you're gonna die, right. Okay, $80,000. Very close, about $200,000 is what the going rate for a kidney on the black market is. Give or take. Can you put it on credit? Nope. That's cash in a briefcase. Or bitcoin, most likely. There is no payment plan for a kidney. And 17 people each day die from needing an organ transplant and failing to

get one. Falun Gong claimed that over 60,000 kidneys are harvested every year. That's a large number, if in fact correct. Which is why Angela spent her perfect Santa Monica Sundays at a kidney booth. Also a line no one has ever said. But all of this work and no play started to wear young Angela down. I'm overwhelmed. I don't want to do this anymore.

I'm really exhausted. Angela down. I want to die and I couldn't say that to my parents after everything they sacrificed for me. So it was an uphill battle. And of course there were classic cult fear tactics at play here too. Because we believe that people who leave Falun Gong will suffer immensely because you are reaping the benefits of Falun Gong, but you are not seeing it to the end. So basically you are taking advantage of Master Li's kindness and compassion to save you. You are taking advantage of Master Li and that's the biggest sin that you can commit. Like, if you truly believe in what Master Li says, that if you leave Falun Gong, you are reaping the benefits and karma will come and get you.

Any like bad luck or illness that you face after Falun Gong, you might have that doubt of, wow, is it because I left Falun Gong? You know, anytime you are asking yourself this question, it may be quite likely that you were in a cult. Now, can we stop beating around the bush here and talk a little bit about Epoch Times, please? We sure can. Epoch Times, for those who don't know the Epoch Times, that's spelled E-P-O-C-H, is a widely circulated newspaper that is known for pushing far-right narratives and conspiracy theory in recent years, and surprisingly was founded by this cult. So it's Falun Gong propaganda disguised as news. Okay, so the Epoch Times started, I'd say around the same time Shen Yun started. My mom had been working at the Epic Times

full time. They paid her below minimum wage. But there was a loophole. Like, it was all legal because they were like, you know, the difference in salary is just a donation to the newspaper. You agree to that, right? And my mom was like, yes, anything for Falun Gong. Goat's sitting up loopholes. There's always a loophole. Speaking of loopholes, do you guys know where the term loophole came from? I have a feeling you're about to tell me. I am and I guarantee you that 72% of our listeners will use this at some point because I've used it a number of times to bore

individuals at dinner parties. A loophole is a hole. Wait, before you tell us, you know those people that bother you on the street and they're like, hey, do you like animals? You should just be like, do you want to know what a loophole is? I guarantee those people will walk away and they won't want your signature. If I put a hat down on the ground and it said, useless trivia for a dollar, I would probably make more money doing that than I would doing this. Let's try it, we'll film you.

Would you pay a dollar for this information? For example, a loophole, which few people know what it is, a loophole is a narrow slit in a fortress, in a castle, and on the inside, that is where soldiers would fire arrows into invading armies, but invading armies couldn't fire into the small hole, making it somewhat unfair. A loophole. The sexual innuendos with this story are just... There is no sexual innuendo there. It's about invading hordes of armies.

A small slit and the soldier can't fire it into the small hole. Happy 12th birthday. So many of you may know that the epic times became more popular in the Trump era, but it didn't start like that. They were pretty involved in politics, but mostly Chinese politics and anything having to do with Chinese politics, which is why they probably slid under the radar for so long.

Once Trump became president and started to, you know, talk about being anti-China, Falun Gong was like, hey, that's us. We're anti-China. We don't like the Chinese Communist Party. A lot of practitioners were like, maybe Trump is a guardian angel A lot of practitioners were like, maybe Trump is a guardian angel sent by Master Li to save the United States and China. And of course Master Li was like, no, no, no, you're not worshipping anybody else but me. He was like, we do not worship any politicians. Let's keep that in mind, you know, I'm the only one.

But he did say the politicians who do favor us are great people and we can save them. Trump is someone to be saved. And the Falun Gong practitioners jumped on that real quick and started to put out propaganda piece after propaganda piece on the epic times, which is how most people see them now. And then she dropped this bomb. I was actually at the Capitol insurrection on January 6th with my mom because she was there to report about it for her own little YouTube channel

and she was also putting out propaganda pieces on her own while also being employed by the Epic Times. I saw the big orange man and I was like, oh, there he is. We didn't actually get to see the Capitol insurrection because I was too cold. I'm a California girl. It was January in Washington, DC. I was like, mom, get me out of here. We already got like really good footage of the Trump rally. Can we please go back to the hotel where there is a heater and snacks and warm soup? So we went back to the hotel and then we turned on the news and live footage

of the people storming into the Capitol. We were like right next to the Capitol, like at the gates, at the very front. So if I had not been cold, we could have like been swept in there. But there were Epic Times reporters there too, and they saw everything that happened. But the story that they twisted was the people who stormed the Capitol were actually Black Lives Matter people in disguise trying to ruin the reputation of Trump supporters. And I was like, really?

Because all the people at the front who we were talking to were like hardcore Trump supporters. They were like white people holding Trump signs, singing like Christian songs, like praise Jesus, all that stuff so I I don't think so and my mom was like no like those good people left and then the Black Lives Matter people came in and replaced them and then stormed the capital that's the story that we were telling for the longest time. Oh my gosh, so many people read the Epic Times, anything that confirms their biases and act on that, no matter if it's the Epic Times or any other news source. But especially because the Epic Times is so extreme in their views, but like not

many people know that it's run by a cult. Liz, why are you so gosh darn chill today? Oh don't worry it's not me Tyler, it's CB Distillery, a longtime sponsor of this show guys, we love this brand and I particularly love their ah CBD gummies, I take them right before bed, or when you just need to chill out from dealing with an overly, what are you? Overly anxious co-host. And I love their shh gummies. It's definitely for sleep.

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And in turn helps with aging. And the great thing about this product, guys, is that you only take it twice a month for two consecutive days and then not again for another month. I love this product. In two months, I have felt a huge boost of energy and just overall, like, get up and go. More get up and go, Tyler. Their formulas are created by top scientists and MDs so this company is legit and this product is awesome. It really is. Check it out for yourself. Resist aging at the cellular level by trying Qualia Centilitic. Go to qualialife.com slash cult for up to 50% off and use our code CULT at checkout for an additional 15% off. For

your convenience, Qualia Centalitic is also available at select GNC locations near you. That's Q-U-A-L-I-A-life.com slash CULT for an extra 15% off your purchase. Yeah, thanks to Qualia for sponsoring today's episode. When I graduated college in 2022, my mom had been working at the Epic Times for two years, and she wanted me to work with her. And I was like, no thanks. They paid her below minimum wage. And she was working full time. And I was like, okay, I guess I can just like go to the hiring event and see where that takes me. I was already going in kind of like, I don't want to do this. They sat us down in this meeting room and

there were a bunch of people there and they started giving us presentation after presentation about how great Epic Times is. They're a booming company. They're getting more and more popular. There are so many readers now. All this great stuff. And then this guy comes out, the spokesperson. He says something that is so funny to me. He says, the Epic Times is a very objective media. We're not left or right. We give very very objective views. And I was like, really? Because I was there at the Capitol insurrection. I was there when my mom sat me down at the dinner table and made me watch the whole QAnon documentary you guys put out. Either they're really self-aware or they're just like flat out lying. Either way I don't want to be a part of this. I turned down the job

because I don't want to work for Epic Times and my parents were really upset. It was like the whole Shen Yun thing over again. They were like, you're giving up this great opportunity. Like you've wanted to be a writer for so long. You read the New York Times. You do all this reading. The Epic Times isn't so different. I was like, yeah, except they're paying you like below minimum wage and they're run by Falun Gong.

Like Falun Gong had taken up so much of my life already. It was in my family life. It was the root of every single mental and physical problem that I've ever had. And I didn't want it to control me financially either. So that was the decision that I made, again, to the disappointment of my parents. It's so hard to disappoint your parents,

but thank God you made that choice, Angela. And so instead of working at a right wing fear base loose with the truth propaganda machine. So I got a different job, you know, teaching abroad. My plan was to move to Japan to do the job that I had originally intended to get. All you need is a bachelor's degree to teach English here and I like teaching. It just happened to be a ticket out of Falun Gong and my family. I left January of 2023.

I had to say goodbye to my parents. And as I was leaving, my mom gave me a big hug and she was like, do you promise me that you will be a good practitioner even while you are away? And I said, yes, of course. And then I never looked back. I didn't admit to myself that it was a cult until much later

but what I knew was that I was leaving my parents who were stuck in their own ways, which I no longer agreed with. And I was finally going to be financially independent, which was my goal for a very long time. But I knew in my gut that I needed to get out. I did everything I could in order to ensure that. And so she's gone living in Japan, recreating or creating a new life for herself outside of the cult. But her parents remained true believers. So May of this year, 2024, I went home to see my mom.

My dad had told me that she had been having issues with breathing for months after I left, and she refused to go to the hospital because this was her test. If you don't feel pain, then you aren't suffering and you aren't doing anything to pass your test. That's the whole point of the illness, is for you to suffer and take a little bit of that karma away because you're paying back a debt that you owe because you did something bad in the past. And we had this little picture of Master Li in our living room and we would kneel down in front of that picture, burn incense for him and ask him to help us through whatever hardships we were going through at the time.

So that was how we dealt with it. But it got worse and worse. She couldn't sleep well. She was barely eating. Then she fainted and my dad had no choice but to take her to the hospital, where they diagnosed her with colon cancer. We'll be right back. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. As your kids get older, some things about parenting get easier. Yeah, I feel like everything is easier once you get past potty training. But some things get harder, like having that difficult conversation about money.

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to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together. Sign up for Greenlight today at greenlight.com slash cult. That's greenlight.com slash cult to try Greenlight today. Greenlight.com slash cult. For years Tim Ballard has been championed as a modern-day superhero. The first time I saw one of the kids from the video and it like changed my life. He was the face of Operation Underground Railroad, a movement that inspired hope around the world by rescuing children from human traffickers. However, Ballard's crusade to save innocent lives has always hidden a darker secret. Well I think he's a pathological liar. Beneath the accolades

and the applause, a dark storm has been brewing. I mean, I can't find a time that he's told the truth about anything. Shocking allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced, casting a shadow over his once unquestioned reputation. I am host Sarah James McLaughlin, and in this new season of The Opportunist we explore the rise and the fall of Tim Ballard. Join us this October for Tim Ballard Unmasking a Hero. Subscribe to a new season of The Opportunist now wherever you get your podcasts. Because of the cult and its disbelief in modern medicine, Angela's mother suffered in silence

for far too long, only to finally understand what was causing her pain. It got back to the group of practitioners that, hey, she's not doing so well. And people were like, oh, you know, Master Lisa says it's okay were like oh you know master lisas it's okay to get treatment sometimes you know it's like dire situation you can you can do it but just keep up your faith they went and got her treatment afterwards my father told me that he had had a lot of practitioners come to our home to help my mom send righteous thoughts. This was a process that I saw many times as a child,

those who got illnesses like strokes, cancer, other illnesses would pass away because they had refused hospital treatment until the very last moment. And practitioners would go to visit the hospital or their homes and send righteous thoughts, like surround them in a circle and send righteous thoughts to save them. And this was happening to my mom. I've seen this so many times, I know how it ends. So after they leave, one practitioner stays behind and my mom's condition is getting worse and worse with each visit. So he tells my dad, hey, you know, maybe the reason why she's getting worse

isn't because of us and Falun Gong. Maybe it's because you're not spiritually strong enough to save her. Like maybe if you tried a little harder she would be okay. And then they just left. Who says that to someone who is losing his wife, going to be all alone in this world? And that's just the kind of chatter that surrounds the death of a person within the community. And it's so stripped of humanity and so inconsiderate to the people who are dealing with these kinds of issues. It's not what we need right now at all. At first, I was like, at least they have this community to lean on. I grew up with some of these people, but they say these kinds of things.

Like, why? That made me officially lose faith in all of Falun Gong. My mom is really strong, very stubborn, incredibly dedicated to anything she puts her mind to. But when I went home, she was very frail. She couldn't walk without help, and she was having trouble breathing, always panting. So it was a difficult time, but I could still see strength in her eyes, and she still held on to her faith in Falun Gong. And strangely enough, I wanted that to stay the same. I didn't want her to turn her back on Falun Gong, even though at this time I knew that it was a cult. I needed her to stay the same person that she was and to hold on to who I knew her as. A woman who was very, very dedicated to

a woman who was very, very dedicated to things that she believed in so strongly. She loved me second to Falun Gong. I knew if she had the chance, she would love me fully. But Falun Gong didn't give her the chance to do that. And if she realized that in her last moments, that would be the saddest thing ever. So I went through all the motions with her. I did the exercises for the first time in a year. I read Master Li's teaching with her and every day I would lead her over to the shelf where we kept Master Li's framed photo and my dad and I would lower her trembling body to the ground, where she would kneel

in front of Master Li's photo. We would also kneel in front of it as well, put our heads to the floor and beg this man who claims to be a god to save my mom's life one more time. Now that is love. I knew that it was not going to happen, but I didn't say anything because obviously it's not the time. My parents are hanging on by a thread, my dad especially, and Falun Gong is part of that thread. I would also, in my mind, ask Master Li to do whatever he can to save my mom. But I know that he can't read

minds unfortunately. But there is a reason we like to believe in Santa Claus after all. And neither Santa Claus nor Master Li can really help her. Angela's mother is still hanging on. Right now, my mom is sleeping maybe 22 hours in a day. The doctor has recommended hospice, but she thinks that accepting hospice care would mean she's done fighting and she wants to fight till the end.

But my father keeps telling me to send righteous thoughts. You know, it's difficult for me to process all of this. It was so hard for me to go home to that. I thought I could just like keep pretending for the rest of my life, while my parents lived in their blissful ignorance. But I can't anymore. And my dad made me promise

not to say anything bad about Falun Gong. Unfortunately, I broke that promise. But I couldn't not talk about it. Like, I need to get this out. I can blame it on my mom because I learned a lot of that from her. She is very vocal about the things that she believes in is right. And she sort of passed that on to me for better or for worse. So I'm just sorting through all my emotions and hopefully by the end of the year I can make another trip and see them again.

Thank you Angela for your bravery and speaking out and spreading awareness about this cult that so many people, myself included, are in the dark on. We're so sorry to hear what happened to your mother because of this cult, and we hope it's a cautionary tale for someone else out there. And we also completely understand why you're so determined to shed light on this cult and your personal experience. Falun Gong today is not just a movement but a media empire, most notably through the epic times. Their reach, however, goes far beyond media, even influencing political conversations

across the globe. But as we've learned through Angela's story, behind their well-polished propaganda lies a darker reality of control, manipulation and emotional devastation for families caught up in their grasp. Angela, thank you again for being so vulnerable with us today. It was truly powerful hearing your story. Next week, we will be back with One Woman's Journey. Oh, boy, guys. During the pandemic. Oh, boy. In and out of QAnon.

An online cult. QAnon and on and on and on. QAnon, that's what I got to say. As I'm gaining all these followers, people are reaching out to me like, on and on and on. Cueing off, that's what I gotta say. As I'm gaining all these followers, people are reaching out to me like, come join this group. So I found myself in these Instagram groups where it was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was this super eclectic group of Christians,

but then there was like new agey people who were into like crystals and all of a sudden you got the QAnon stuff. It was all in the same area and I didn't know anything about QAnon at that point and to me it looked like this shiny bright hopeful thing where everyone's different yet together on this one thing, freedom. It was all just like a big happy family and I was like, I loved it. And I feel like at this point I went down the rabbit hole.

["Wazain't a Cult?" by The Bunch of Fools plays in background.] Wasain't a Cult is written, produced, and hosted by me, Liz Lupol Ayacuzzi. And me, Tyler Levitation Meesum. Rob 8 inches from The Splits. Para, our audio producer and sound designer. Audio editor, Greta, the kidney giving Stromquist. And our social media master is the lovely Epak Shakur Shani Paine.

Nice. And executive producer is Steven 9 inch organ harvesting booth, Labrum. That's it. Next week we'll be into some crazy conspiracy theories, guys. So call your friends, call your grandma. Tell them not to miss this one. Take out your knife Purify me Don't spare my life

Crucify me You know what's always the funnest thing about women and men is that I will go to a friend's house or something and Talk with him for an hour or whatever. He's going through divorce and I'll come home and Diana was like, oh my god How is he? How's he doing? I mean, I don't I don't know fine She's like you were there for an hour he's getting a divorce. What did you talk about? Caddyshack quotes and get divorced? What did you talk about? Caddyshack quotes?

And, uh, did you see the game last night? Did you see that Braves game? That's basically what- What is that? Just because you're so emotionally inept, you're just like, the feelings, baseball. I think it's a part of that, but I also think sometimes we don't want to talk about that. We just wanna keep that shit inside, burning until it comes out in some rage at a post office. Or we just would rather talk about it.

The healthy way of dealing with feelings. Same thing, like, as a woman, like, Adam went to visit a friend who's been trying to have a baby forever and they're finally pregnant. And I was like, well, did you ask him, like, did they use embryos and how did it? And like all the questions I would ask if it was my girlfriend. He's like, no.

It's universal. He's happy he's pregnant. I'm like, you didn't ask any questions? Yeah. Sometimes Diana will do this. I'll tell her a story about something that happened. And she goes, hold on. Tell me about it.

And I'm like, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm like, you didn't ask any questions? Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes Diana will do this. I'll tell her a story about something that happened. She goes, hold on. Tell it to me as if you were a girl and I was your friend. And I'll start over and go, oh my god, parking was so terrible.

I had the hardest time getting there. I'll regale her with every minor thing instead of just giving her a quote from Stripes. And then she's happier and then... A quote from Stripes. We're figuring out the sexes while breaking down cult mentality. We do it all here, folks.