Sect Expects to Meet God in Michigan

At Least They're Not Looking in New Jersey...

Sect leaving Texas, expects to meet God in Michigan - Leader says spacecraft will take them to Gary, Indiana

April 1, 1998

GARLAND, Texas (AP) -- The faith still burns for the followers of the True Way, although their divine path to salvation now leads to Michigan. Seven months ago, followers of the True Way moved to this suburb of Dallas -- chosen because it's name sounds like "God's land" -- to wait for the promises of their leader, Chen Hon-ming, to materialize.

He said that God would appear in person March 31, or on television last week on Channel 18.

Most of the 160 followers, who dressed in white clothes and white cowboy hats, say they are not disappointed that neither promise came true and will now move to Michigan.

There, says Chen, God will gather all worthy souls in a flying saucer and shuttle them to Gary, Indiana, to save them from a nuclear holocaust.

Teacher Chen," leader of God's Salvation Church, did not admit failure. Instead, he gave a crowd of followers, reporters, neighbors and police five minutes to decide whether to stone him to death. They didn't.

"You yourself have become gods," Chen told the crowd. "Now, don't think of yourselves as just piles of bones and flesh or you will die in the GreatTribulation."

Speaking through an interpreter, he had a few warnings for those who would listen:

Don't eat meat, or expect nightmares involving the dead animals and indigestion.

Watch for machinery -- those who fail to care for cars and trucks risk being run over while asleep in bed.

Other items like computers, toasters, and refrigerators may begin moving around rooms and talking.

'It was a beautiful experience'

Church member Lin Hung-chih, 38, said he and others who follow Chen and his "zhen dao," or True Way, movement, had expected the earlier prophecies to come true.

"Some were disappointed," Lin said. "But I was not. It was a beautiful experience."

And he still has faith. He said Chen's sacred vision of flying saucers "gives us hope."

Chen said he and 10 followers would leave Garland Wednesday on a flight to Buffalo, New York, before moving to Michigan to await further instructions from God. Most of the rest will follow, selling houses they bought here in September.

About 20 of Chen's followers plan to return to Taiwan this week, said Walter Hsu, a banker who had befriended followers of Chen's movement. The rest expect to be gone from Garland by May 10, said police Lt. Don Martin.

Gone, too, was the crush of media that descended on this quiet, middle-class suburb for the promised TV appearance last week. With the seven-month buildup about over, feelings were mixed among residents of the leafy, winding street where the sect bought homes.

"I think P.T. Barnum couldn't have put together a carnival like this," said Dick Beardsley, 81.

Others said they were pleasant neighbors. "It was nice to see them walking and cycling in groups," said Kia Vaandrager, 66.

The Rev. Jack David Daniels, the pastor of the First Baptist Church, had his own prediction.

"People like this are a sign that we are living in the last days," he said.

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Updated April 3, 1998