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Find a way of thinking of Zon-Kuthon where he's a tragic hero and the good gods are a bunch of weak-willed liars.
For example, his transformation was a heroic sacrifice to keep Rovagug at bay but the other gods were afraid of his power and exiled him to the Plane of Shadow to cover up their cowardice. His clerics in Golarion are brave souls that are willing to face the darkness that is necessary to keep creation as we know it together, etc. etc.
I'm considering making a Kuthite soon. And after reading Inner Sea Gods, and Gods and Magic, I've gotten a bit of inspiration.
If a Kuthite is to convert people, he needs to take a it slow and delicately, choosing the right people to approach at the right time. Think of using a scalpel, for the right vision.
My Kuthite focuses on people who have experienced great personal tragedy (Zon-Kuthon's Darkness- Loss domain), and he instructs these wounded souls to turn their emotion pain into physical pain, telling them that they can't control their wounded hearts, but can control their wounded bodies. When they are overwhelmed, instead of feeling the pain in their mind, they can transfer it to their bodies.
Next, he instructs them, in the case of the envious, or the vengeful, to exact calculated revenge against their aggressors, by capturing and dominating their enemies with pain.
The end result is a normal people driven to habitual self-mutilation, and aggressive sadism. The Kuthites can now welcome him into their world, and the sense of new 'family' amongst fellow outcasts and practitioners does the rest.
The character considers himself Lawful Neutral, harboring a genuine concern for those who are suffering the emotional pain, and believing the community can help them deal with it. But of course, it's easy to also see him being Lawful Evil, but deluded.
That's my idea for running a Kuthite. Make sure their faith is inspired by human conditions, and reactions.
Really, I'd say the best way to get a handle on all things Zon-Kuthon is to go watch Hellraiser. If you don't have the time for that though, the real trick is to focus on the whole notion that pain is good for you, physically and spiritually, and how much of a shame it is that most people fear it.
Acting like someone who really legitimately supports the administration from some dystopian novel can work too. Anything that really gives you that "stop resisting, this really is for your own good" mindset.
Just started a Zon-Kuthon worshiping fighter in Pathfinder Society. Drawn quite a bit from a book called Blood Sport by Robert F Jones, I roleplay him as father who took his son on an extended fishing trip, became lost when they crossed over into the First World, then went insane looking for his son. He only found some semblance of reason when he was kicked out into the Uskwood and the Shades of the Uskwood tortured him until his mind came back into focus. Now he works for the Dark Archive securing artifacts so that cults of lesser gods don't try to steal the future Armageddon from his lord Zon-Kuthon. He's a tactically minded fighter the eschews all of the "no guts, no glory" nonesense of the standard tank.
Of course all the other players know so far is that he's a fighter named Bob with a lot of ranks in Knowledge: Planes and Knowledge: Arcana.
Find a way of thinking of Zon-Kuthon where he's a tragic hero and the good gods are a bunch of weak-willed liars.
For example, his transformation was a heroic sacrifice to keep Rovagug at bay but the other gods were afraid of his power and exiled him to the Plane of Shadow to cover up their cowardice. His clerics in Golarion are brave souls that are willing to face the darkness that is necessary to keep creation as we know it together, etc. etc.
You could take this further and make a doctrine of 'self discipline' that is not OVERTLY sado-masochistic, but is effectively sadomasochistic.
Some of the noted qualities of some believers is that they are so overcome with emotional pain that they need physical pain to overcome it. Taking notes from the pain taster PRC, you could simply make the pain into a form of exceedingly harsh training.
And the drive for this training might be due to a moment when you felt weak- as in those with a chip on their shoulder due to loss. The classic "my village was destroyed by bandits when I was a child, and I did not have the strength to stop it" backstory. That would also give a good avenue for the 'sadist' end of the religion- this warrior would have a grudge that makes him wish to punish those that he views as sinners, and to cause them pain (either by wiping them out, or torturing them after they are taken prisoner- often as a display to discourage others).
In terms of training, you could go the way of monks- I am sure we can all think of classic 'harsh kung fu training' montages that could be considered torturous (sitting under a freezing waterfall, etc.). If you take it as 'tempering of the mind', you could also go with more explicit torture. Whipping yourself is a classic from western culture, and would fit well with this religion.
This could all add up to a very harsh, serious LN character.