“Cult,” Church, and the CCP

Abstract

Eastern Lightning, also known as the Church of Almighty God, teaches that Jesus has returned to earth as a Chinese woman. It originated in China's rural north in the early 1990s and is now the largest Christian-related new religious movement. This article provides an introduction to the group's beliefs, and the ways the Chinese government and Chinese Protestants have responded to it. It finds that while posing a very contemporary challenge for the Chinese state and Protestant communities, Eastern Lightning also reflects the influence of heterodox religious traditions that stretch back far into China's past.

The Effects of Provincial and Individual Religiosity on Deviance in China: A Multilevel Modeling Test of the Moral Community Thesis

“…Because the Spatial Explorer of Religion data include only officially registered religious sites, the number of total religious sites is surely an underestimate given that unregistered house churches and small-scale congregations are thriving in both urban and rural China (Bao et al 2014;Wenger 2004;Yang 2005Yang , 2010Yu 2010). Cults with strong organization, such as Eastern Lightning and Falungong, that are forbidden by the government should also be taken into account (Chan 2004;Dunn 2008).…”

Migración y globalización del cristianismo chino: dinámicas locales y transnacionales de las iglesias cristianas chinas en Barcelona

“…Asimismo, las personas entrevistadas hacen alusión a la cordialidad entre ellas. En el polo opuesto, encontramos el rechazo frontal de estas tres organizaciones a la llamada Iglesia del Dios Todopoderoso o del Relámpago Oriental (Quanneng shen jiaohuì 全能神教会 / Dongfang shandian东方闪电), movimiento religioso originario de China que predica que Dios resucitado descendió en China para continuar con su obra y que tuvo lugar una segunda reencarnación de Cristo como mujer (Dunn, 2009). Esta organización ha sido catalogada como secta diabólica por parte del Estado chino, siendo objeto de persecución.…”