China's leading newspaper, the People's Daily, carried a signed article in its overseas edition on November 9 exposing the evil snares spread by the heretical Falun Gong cult.

The Falun Gong cult has attracted such a large number of practitioners because it uses many cunningly-designed tricks and traps, the article said.

Health-conscious people are tempted into the cult by its false claims that it can cure terminal illness through meditation alone and that medicine is unnecessary for treating physical ailments.

People confused by the ways of society and nature are brainwashed into believing the Falun Gong's heresies that the end of the earth is near, and that the earth will one day explode, the article said.

Falun Gong positions itself as the saving grace for people who feel powerless in their life, promising peace in heaven for people who pledge total obedience to the group.

The article pointed out that once a person is trapped by the cult, he or she gradually becomes completely controlled by the spiritual prison.

Falun Gong has every feature of a cult. Led by its founder Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong has organized several demonstrations that went against governmental regulatory measures against such gatherings.

Within the organization, followers blindly worship Li Hongzhi, and individuality and personal dignity are sacrificed for the sake of the group.

The Falun Gong cult defies civilized society and order, and violates the Chinese people's human rights, the article noted.

It said that since the government declared the ban of the Falun Gong cult, more and more Chinese people have seen through the charade and have seen the cult in its true light.

However, Li Hongzhi and his kind, now residing abroad, continue to stir up trouble and behave like enemies of the state, the article said, adding that more rigorous efforts are needed to rid this cancer from society.