The Church of Almighty God (), also known as Eastern Lightning (), is a monotheistic new religious movement which was established in China in 1991.Dunn (2008a). Government sources estimate the group has three to four million members.Li (2014), Ma (2014).
The group's core tenet is that Jesus Christ has returned to earth and is presently living as a Chinese woman.Dunn (2008a); Dunn (2015), 62. The name "Eastern Lightning" alludes to the Gospel of Matthew 24:27: "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
The movement has been described by Chinese media as the nation's 'most dangerous xie jiao', and the group has been formally banned in China since 1995. Christian opponents and international media have in turn described it as a cult and even as a terrorist organization.Tiezzi (2014).Gracie (2014); Shen and Bach (2017). In contrast, members of the group deny all accusations and argue they are victims of religious persecution at the hands of Chinese authorities.Kirk (2020).
Sources Scholars who have tried to study the group have complained that, due to its "secretive" nature and the fact that in China it operates underground, researching Eastern Lightning is difficult,Dunn (2015); Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019). and media coverage is only partially reliable.Yang and Pettit (2018), 60.
Two books on the group were published by Western academic presses. Brill published Lightning from the East by Emily Dunn in 2015,McLeister (2018). and Oxford University Press published Inside The Church of Almighty God by Massimo Introvigne in 2020.Brown (2020); Kirk (2020). Holly Folk, a professor at Western Washington University, reported in 2020 that she is observing Eastern Lightning through a participant observation study since 2016.Thompson (2020); Kirk (2020).
Due to the growing influx of refugees from Eastern Lightning who seek asylum abroad,Fautré(2018). some national authorities have published reports on the group. In 2019, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada published a compilation of its interviews with scholars about Eastern Lightning.Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019). In the same year, the National Commission for the Right of Asylum of the Italian Ministry of the Interior published and shared with the other European Union countries through the European Asylum Support Office a report on "Persecution for religious reasons in China: Church of Almighty God."Ministero dell'Interno, Commissione Nazionale per il Diritto d'Asilo (2019).
History
A woman, whose name is never mentioned in the group's literature, but is believed to be Yang Xiangbin (b. 1973, ), started spreading in 1991 among Chinese house churches, most of them part of The Shouters, mimeographed texts with revelations she said were coming from the Holy Spirit.Dunn (2015), 47–48; Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019), 2.1; Ministero dell'Interno, Commissione Nazionale per il Diritto d'Asilo (2019), 15. Chinese authorities state that Yang had a history of mental problems.
Zhao Weishan (; born December 12, 1951), a former physics teacher, had a history of membership in a variety of Christian new religious movements. In 1986, Zhao was a member of a Christian house church, and in 1987 he was baptized into a branch of The Shouters, a group within China targeted by the Chinese government as a xie jiao.Dunn (2015), 48. Zhao rose to a leadership position within the group and, according to Chinese governmental sources, preached that he was himself the "Lord of Ability."
In 1989, the Shouters were labeled a xie jiao by the Chinese government and officially banned.Dunn (2015), 31; Ministero dell'Interno, Commissione nazionale per il diritto di asilo (2019), 15. In 1991, Zhao met Yang Xiangbin and quickly became the main leader of her small group, where he was recognized as "the Man used by the Holy Spirit."Dunn (2015), 49; Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019), 2.1. According to one estimate, by 1991, the organization had more than a thousand members. In 1992, Yang's revelations propagated by Zhao announced that Yang herself was more than a prophetic voice; in fact, she was the second coming of Jesus Christ on earth and the incarnated Almighty God.Dunn (2019), 48. Since then, Yang was referred to as "he" rather than "she," as she was in fact regarded as Jesus Christ.Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019), 2.1. Chinese media started taking an interest in the religious community, and referred to Yang (sometimes also mentioned as "Deng"), as "the female Christ."Yang and Pettit (2018), 62.
In 1995, the group was classified as a xie jiao by China's Ministry of Public Security. On September 6, 2000, both Zhao and Yang entered the United States; they were granted religiopolitical asylum the following year. Since then, they live in and direct the movement from New York.Dunn (2015), 49.
Beliefs Eastern Lightning holds that Jesus has returned as a Chinese woman, worshiped by the religious group as Almighty God, hence its official name. The group is non-Trinitarian, and teaches a form of millennialism. The group publishes the revelations of its female Almighty God; most of them are collected in The Word Appears in the Flesh ().Dunn (2015), 20. The group is anti-Communist, identifying the Great Red Dragon of the Book of Revelation with the Chinese Communist Party.Dunn (2008).
The Church describes human history as "God's six-thousand year management plan," divided in three stages: the Age of Law, when God as Jehovah guided Israel; the Age of Grace, when God as Jesus Christ saved humanity, but did not eradicate its sinful nature; and the Age of Kingdom, inaugurated in 1991, when God in his present incarnation as Almighty God reveals the fullness of truth and works to free humans from their sinfulness. Also, the group mentions a future Age of Millennial Kingdom, in which the earth will enter after the death of the present divine incarnation, and will be transformed into a kingdom of peace and joy.
According to Holly Folk, an associate professor at Western Washington University that has been studying the Church, it does not view the Bible as God's word but as a human work with flaws.
Organization According to sociologist Fenggang Yang, Eastern Lighting is organized hierarchically, with "inspectors" overseeing regional and subregional leaders, who in turn oversee the leaders of the local congregations. At the local and regional levels, leaders are elected by the members.Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019), 4.
Members get together weekly (but not on a fixed day of the week) in what they call "fellowship meetings," in private homes in China and in "community houses," sometimes called "churches," abroad. There, they pray, read and discuss the revelations of Almighty God, sing hymns, hear sermons, and sometimes present artistic performances.Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2019), 6.1.
Starting in 2001, the group began efforts to proselytize online by creating websites which host church scripture in various languages, links to group chats, and news about online events. The group is also present on social media. Holly Folk, an associate professor at Western Washington University, said that "a lot of their international ministry functions as an internet religion".
Eastern Lightning's mode of expansion in China is to proselytize among independent Protestant congregations (commonly termed house churches), and many leaders among these Protestant communities have criticized Eastern Lightning and assisted the state's efforts to suppress the group.
Itself originally an offshoot of The Shouters, Eastern Lightning has developed offshoot groups itself.
Repression in China Eastern Lightning is banned in China and proselyting or organizing meetings on its behalf is a crime prosecuted under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code.Ministero dell'Interno, Commissione Nazionale per il Diritto d'Asilo (2019), 2–3 and 17. The United States Department of State in its Report on International Religious Freedom for the year 2018, published on June 21, 2019, reported claims that in 2018, Chinese "authorities arrested 11,111 of its [Eastern Lightning] members," and "subjected 525 of its members to 'torture or forced indoctrination,'" mentioning that some were "tortured to death while in custody".U.S. Department of State (2019), 2–14. In its Report on International Religious Freedom for the year 2019, published on June 10, 2020, the same U.S. Department of State mentioned claims that in 2019, "at least 32,815 Church members were directly persecuted by authorities, compared with 23,567 in 2018," and "at least 19 Church members died as a result of abuse (20 in 2018)."U.S. Department of State (2020), 12. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reported that "in 2018, the Chinese government harassed and arrested thousands of followers of [...] the Church of Almighty God. Many of those detained during the year suffered torture and other abuses, in some cases resulting in deaths or unexplained disappearances while in custody."USCIRF (2019), 40.
Controversies Eastern Lightning has been described by Chinese media as the nation's "most dangerous xie jiao". The group has been tied to, and accused of condoning and supporting, acts of violence.
1998 Nanyang attacks From October 30 to November 10, 1998, two alleged members of Eastern Lightning, Liu Shunting and Zhao Fating, committed a series of assaults and robberies across Tanghe and Sheqi Counties in Nanyang, Henan.China Daily Staff Writers (2014).Amnesty International (2000). Liu and Zhao, using knives, steel poles, and lime powder, beat, stabbed, blinded, and robbed 9 people over a 12-day period, reportedly for refusing to join or provide funds to the church. Of the 9 victims, 6 had their legs broken and 2 had their right ears cut off. On March 7, 2000, the Nanyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu and Zhao to 18 years' imprisonment and 17 years' imprisonment, respectively, on charges of intentional injury and robbery.
2002 mass kidnapping In 2002, The Church of Almighty God was accused of staging a campaign of simultaneous kidnappings across multiple cities to capture thirty-four leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF).Dunn
Scholar Emily Dunn concluded in her 2015 book that rogue members of the sect, acting without the approval of the leaders, might have been responsible for the incident, writing that, "While Eastern Lightning's leadership evidently does not condone the use of violence, it may be unable to impress this upon some followers."Dunn (2015), 160. Massimo Introvigne in his book published in 2020 suggested that China Gospel Fellowship members described as "kidnapping" what was in fact "deception," as they were invited, and went (voluntarily, according to Introvigne), to training sessions without being told that they were organized by Eastern Lightning.Introvigne (2020), 113.
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