Taiwanese Group Prepares to Meet God -- in Texas
03/04/98
The New York Times

GARLAND, Tex. -- The members of God's Salvation Church started moving in last summer. They have bought at least 30 houses, all with cash and all within a two-and-a-half-mile radius. At least 150 followers have arrived from Taiwan, with more on their way.

They dress almost completely in white, including white sneakers and white straw cowboy hats. Their leader, Heng-ming Chen, whom they call Teacher Chen, says he talks to God through his hand and discerns godly wisdom from golden balls that he sees floating in the sky.

But what has really attracted the neighbors' attention here is the bold pronouncement in Teacher Chen's long guide to his religion, entitled "God's Descending in Clouds (Flying Saucers) on Earth to Save People." On page 176, he promises: "At 10 A.M. on March 31, 1998, God shall make His appearance in the Holy Land of the Kingdom of God: 3513 Ridgedale Dr., Garland, TX. 75041 U. S.A." He concludes: "I guarantee this on my life."

The modest, split-level, beige-brick home at 3513 Ridgedale Drive is the home of Teacher Chen, a 42-year-old former social-science professor who says he fathered Christ nearly 2,000 years ago and whose group includes two boys, Chi-Jen Lo and Che-Yu Chiang, whom he describes as the reincarnations of Jesus and Buddha.

Here in Garland, a working-class city of about 200,000 people just northeast of Dallas, the arrival of this religious group has been greeted with some wariness, but mostly bemusement.

"They told me that Garland is God's land, and I thought, 'Well, O.K., to each his own,' " said Bonnie Nichols, who lives three doors down from Mr. Chen. Her husband, Carl, said: "They all seem nice enough. They're quiet. They keep their yards up and everything."

But back in Taiwan, where Mr. Chen's followers generally sold everything they owned before coming here, the group's gathering in Texas has been major news. It has set off a wave of concern from distraught relatives who describe Mr. Chen as a cult leader who has both swindled and brainwashed the members into paying him their life savings for the privilege of taking a ride on a flying saucer to heaven.

Even more alarmingly, there have been recurring rumors that the group plans to commit mass suicide if God does not arrive on schedule here on March 31.

Teacher Chen, in an interview in front of his home, denied that his group, which includes several former professors and engineers, has any suicidal tendencies.

"That is absolutely impossible," he said through his interpreter, Richard Liu, as the boy whom Mr. Chen describes as the reincarnation of Jesus, 10- year-old Chi-Jen Lo, stood a few steps away, drinking Mountain Dew soda and nibbling on raisins. "Our principle is respect for all life, including human life, and no one has the right to take a life."

At the same time, though, Mr. Chen says he will surrender his fate to his followers if his prophecies prove untrue. "He is willing to be executed, stoned to death, put on a cross," Mr. Liu said. "It doesn't matter."

In Taiwan, the group is known as the most controversial outgrowth of a booming national interest in unidentified flying objects. Numerous associations and quasi-religious organizations that track sightings or predict arrivals of U.F.O.'s have cropped up around the island.

Mr. Chen's group, whose Chinese characters are best translated as "God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Association," started its first American chapter in San Dimas, Calif., in 1995. It moved to Texas in 1997 after the leader said he received a prophecy from God instructing him to move to the suburbs of Dallas. If you say it fast, Mr. Chen tells curious visitors, "Garland sounds just like 'God's Land.' "

In most cases, intact families have joined the group, although in late 1997 sheriff's deputies in Los Angeles County retrieved a 16-year-old girl, Nan-Hua Chiang, after her mother in California expressed fears that she was joining a dangerous pilgrimage with the group to Texas.

No one knows whether Mr. Chen's group may be an Asian version of Heaven's Gate, the group that committed mass suicide last March in a suburban house near San Diego in an effort to rendezvous with the Hale-Bopp Comet, or whether members simply subscribe to an unusual set of beliefs and will simply accept the development if God does not appear here on March 31.

Taiwanese officials in Texas, who say they are monitoring the group, play down its prospects for self-harm, noting that most group members have temporary United States visas and bought round-trip tickets to come here.

"They're just average people, just following their leader," said Chi-Chia Chen, assistant to the director general of Taiwan's Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, the equivalent of a consulate. "Their leader claims God will show on March 31 and will send a flying saucer to pick them up. If God doesn't show, then he says his followers can pack and go back to normal life in Taiwan."

Perhaps, but if interviews with Teacher Chen and several followers here are a reliable guide to their deepest beliefs, none would seem to have any intention of returning to Taiwan or any place else in Asia, even though many of their visas for stays in this country are scheduled to expire this spring.

Pointing to the ground in front of Teacher Chen's house, Ching-Hung Chiang, a follower, said: "This is where God is going to come. This is where God is going to be."

Mr. Chiang and many other followers were friendly and seemed open about sharing their views with a reporter.

Asia is headed for nuclear annihilation in 1999, Mr. Chen predicts, and recent events there -- the economic crisis, enormous fires in Indonesia -- are but a small prelude to the apocalyptic disaster (he calls it the Great Tribulation) in store for the whole continent.

According to his timetable, on March 25, God will make an announcement of His arrival, which can be seen by tuning into Channel 18 on any television set in the world. Then, on March 31, God will suddenly appear at the suburban house here, taking the human form of Mr. Chen.

At that time, there will appear to be two Mr. Chens, but the one who is God will be instantly recognizable because He will be able to walk through walls, converse in any language and clone Himself to simultaneously shake hands with everyone who comes to 3513 Ridgedale Drive.

Then, in exactly one year, from a primary rendezvous point on the shores of Lake Michigan in Gary, Ind., the select few will travel on flying saucers, possibly first to Mars, and eventually to heaven.

Mr. Chen and his followers caused a stir in January when they traveled to Gary and, in the shadow of the huge USX steel plant there, conducted a "purification ceremony" in the 37-degree waters of the lake with rice, fruit and ceramic dragons.

The group spent a few weeks last summer in British Columbia searching for a man whom Mr. Chen describes as the "Jesus of the West" (the boy Chi-Jen Lo is the Jesus of the East). The group could not find the man who, according to the prophecies Mr. Chen says he has received, is 28 years old, about 6 feet tall and looks like Abraham Lincoln.

The group here does not lack for money, and its members spend most of their time in rituals and study; none seemed to hold jobs.

Walt Hsu, marketing manager for a local bank here and a board director of the Garland Chamber of Commerce, said that many members had sold homes for more than $500,000 in Taiwan, bought houses here for an average of about $70, 000, and deposited the rest in local bank accounts.

Just how much control Mr. Chen has over all the money is unclear. But in Taipei, City Councilor Hui-chu Chin said in December that she had received 16 letters from family members of Mr. Chen's followers, seeking assistance in getting the members back to Taiwan and in recovering their assets, according to the Central News Agency of Taiwan.

For now, the group continues to travel periodically to Gary and other places it considers holy.

In the main, the group simply awaits the coming of God, an event for which nonplused Garland officials are also preparing. "Our job, come March 31 at 10 A.M., will be crowd control and media access," said Officer J. D. Bettes, a Garland police spokesman.