UFO cult says God will make TV appearance at month's end

GARLAND, Texas (March 19, 1998 2:42 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - A Taiwanese UFO cult expects God to land on March 31, and says television viewers throughout North, South and Central America will be able to tune in and watch the event.

It doesn't matter whether or not televisions are switched on, said Richard Liu, spokesman for the God and Buddha Salvation Foundation.

"God will turn on the television sets and tune each TV in every house," said Liu, who said God has even selected his preferred frequency -- channel 18.

"It does not matter whether your set is cable or broadcast TV," Liu said.

During the foretold television broadcast, Liu said the voice of God "will tell people how they should prepare themselves for his arrival," Liu said.

In Garland, cable channel 18 is used by a local religious television station.

Followers of the cult believe God, in the form of their leader Chen Hon-ming, will appear at precisely 10 a.m. on March 31.

Upon appearing, they say, he will replicate himself into hundreds of thousands of clones, pass through walls and speak in tongues.

The Taiwanese -- about 100 adults and 50 children -- began arriving in this suburb north of Dallas last fall. Chen told a December news conference that they were attracted to Garland because the town's name sounds to cult members like "God-land."

Members of the cult are spending their days in quiet contemplation and prayer, while fending off rumors of a planned mass suicide.