Eastern Lightning: Lies, damn lies and Religion

In my previous articles about Eastern Lightning, the Chinese cult group that I've joined to get an insight into how they operate, I've talked about:

• the message they're spreading, that God has returned as a Chinese woman and the end of the world is nigh,
• the tactics they use to recruit new members, using social media to find new people, and then love bombing them through instant messaging,
• a behind the scenes peek into how the fellowship meetings are run, with strict instructions in spreadsheets

Now we're going to look at some of the sneaky, deceitful and misleading tactics that I have seen being used by the group.

Impending Doomsday

I've talked before about the End of the World message the church employs to prove that we are entering a new age, the Age of Kingdom, where Almighty God has returned to judge everyone before destroying the earth. My fellowship leaders have all talked in our meetings about natural disasters, and how it's obvious both that these are increasing and that this proves that God is wrapping up his business here.

We were told that the recent cyclone was God's work, as are “virus disasters” (e.g. COVID). And, like the book I talked about before that chronicled people who rejected God's word, and came to gruesome deaths, we were told that these disasters are used by God as punishment, and that we can avoid them by believing:

_It's like with big earthquakes, when people are eating, drinking and enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, “crack,” the ground shakes and people want to run but are unable to and have all been killed. You see, the judgment and chastisement of actual facts is fast, transient, sudden and hard to detect

If we don't cherish the chance of gathering, if we don't try our best to pursue the truth, we will miss this opportunity and suffer in disaster finally._

This fear mongering even extended beyond scaring people about weather and geological events, also using the fear of nuclear armageddon as leverage:

Especially nowadays, disasters can be seen everywhere. The plague is spreading around the world. The war between Ukraine and Russia is about to trigger World War III. Once the nuclear war breaks out, it will cause a lot of deaths everywhere and our living environment will also be severely damaged.

Cautionary Tales

Despite this religious group, like others, acting like it's based in love, it's obvious that fear is a major driving force behind their preaching, and their conversions. As well as the usual talk of people burning in hell for not believing, and those constant warnings about natural disasters and the impending end of the world, there's an entire book (titled “Typical Examples of Punishment for Resisting Almighty God“) that details people in China, by province, who either rejected the word of Almighty God, or accepted and later turned away from it. For each person, the book gruesomely describes the horrible death that quickly ensued after their rejection of God's words. Here are just a few examples from one province, Henan:

Lü XX, female, aged 51, from Zhengzhou City, a worker of the Local Church. In 1998, someone preached God's end-time work to her, but she refused to accept it. In August 1999, she said in a meeting, “Witness Lee is the true way, and ‘the Eastern Lightning' is a false way. If Witness Lee is false, and ‘the Eastern Lightning' is true, let me die within one year.” On January 2, 2000, Lü was thrown out of the vehicle on her way to the meeting, and she died that day. She really died within one year!

Yu XX, male, aged 63, from Xindian Township of Yexian County in Pingdingshan City, a worker of the Local Church. He refused to accept God's end-time work and even intentionally disturbed others. Moreover, he specially formed a prayer group to blaspheme God's flesh. He committed a heinous sin against heaven! In the fall of 1998, Yu got an unknown disease. He lost all sensation in his whole lower limbs. He received medical treatment, but it had no effect. Later, he had a lump on his back, and it grew bigger and bigger. In the end, he had a constant high fever, and his lips blistered and he was delirious and raved. In April 1999, he became dry-boned and died.

Du XX, female, aged 56, from Guolian Township in Yuzhou City, a junior leader of the Pentecostal Church. In 1995, when the gospel of God's end-time work was preached to her, she not only refused to accept, but she said, “You are evil spirits and heretics.” And she also hindered the brothers and sisters from accepting it. At the end of 1995, Du got intestinal cancer, and she passed blood. During her sickness, she was possessed by evil spirits and was tortured half dead. On August 25, 1996, she died.

Guo XX, female, aged 47, from Liangyuan District in Shangqiu City, an accountant of the Three-Self sect. In April 1999, a sister preached the end-time work of Almighty God to her, but she refused to accept and condemned, “You must be deceived by a false christ. Don't believe in it! I'd rather die and go to hell than listen to you!” On April 24, 1999, while quarreling with her neighbor, Guo suddenly could not speak and lost consciousness. She was sent to the hospital, but all rescue measures failed and she went to Hades the next day.

I'm sure some of the cases given are true, given that there are over a billion people in China and some of those who were preached to and resisted conversion would have ended up dying fairly soon after - it's just a case of numbers. But I'm sure there are also many cases of people in China who rejected Eastern Lightning and are now living successful, happy lives that will last for a long time. Cherry-picked unverified accounts of people dying are not evidence of God's wrath.

Duplicity

After my meeting about moving into leadership, I was asked to “help out” Sister Mercy with a new Level 1 group. Sister Mercy told me that she needed someone to help read out Almighty God's words, as some of the new members were a little shy. I was added to the new Facebook group, and joined the first meeting that night.

I was only asked to read one passage, which wasn't a great use of my reading skills, but this wasn't surprising as my suspicion was that the real reason I was there was to pad out the group and make it look like it contained more new members than it actually did. This suspicion was quickly confirmed during the first meeting when I was admonished for not answering the questions that were being asked. By doing this, I was pushed into acting like I was new to the religion and needed to answer the questions like any other Level 1 group member. One admin, Sister Olivia, was especially heavy handed in this group - and was also calling out anyone who didn't answer Sister Mercy's questions, coercing them into interacting. (As an aside, it's been nice to see things like this happening - mistakes that hopefully push people away from the cult, rather than pulling them further in.)

After the meeting, Sister Mercy messaged me to thank me, and I used this opportunity to raise my “doubts” and see what she would say. I was not prepared for the answers I received! Here's my conversation, copied from Facebook chat. Think of the heart emojis at the end from Sister Mercy as being approval from her for what I've said before them. Apologies, this is a long one, but I think it's worth reading as it's a bit of an eye opener (and, as before, my responses are right aligned and in italics):

Hi good job brother, thank you for help reading🥰🥰

_No problems, but I felt a little bit uneasy about tonight.

Can we talk about it, or are you busy?_

oh what's wrong?

what made you feel uneasy brother?

no worries, we can talk about it

_You asked me to join the chat to help out with reading, but then I was treated like I was new to the faith, especially when you prompted me to answer the questions you were asking.

This would make it look to others like I'm one of them, new to the group, rather than the reality that I've done the group 1 course already.

So in a way it feels a little dishonest to treat me like I'm new when I'm not - almost like it's an attempt to make the group look more popular than it actually is.

Is this normal? Is this sanctioned by our church?

Do you want me to pretend to be new?_

i ask u to help read, later i see u started answering questions, hehe little surprise, thinking u may motivate others to answer questions

_Yeah, you mentioned me and others by name, asking us to answer questions.

But that felt a little strange, like you weren't being totally honest with the new members._

hehe i copy who are join the call…

_Oh, okay, so it was an accident that I was treated like a new member!_

then i misunderstand u😅i thought you want to motivate them,

_I'm happy to help motivate them if that's what you want me to do, and if it's okay to do that._

but some of them very shy, if being encouraged and motivate, they'll feel better

and familliar with group members and feel at ease

some may not be that shy

_Okay, so you want me to pretend I'm new?

To help people feel comfortable._

and brother, this have nothing to do with church…not represent church, we just try to help seekers to understand and seek God's work, lead them to the right way, help them can undersand topic better, no bad intentions,

um, at begining i just want u to help read, not think too much

it depends on you hehe

but i want to share with you a principle related to this thing brother

_Yes please.

Anything to help me._

The Man's Fellowship:

What is wisdom? It is being able to use all sorts of ways and means to carry out God's will and practice the truth. Wisdom is among the things that are positive and it is what is employed to attain proper goals, so using wisdom is what God praises. In any matter involving carrying out God's will and completing what God has entrusted to us, no matter what ways or means we adopt to accomplish the goal, that is wise, and if people can use ways and means to get things done that is wise. Deceit, however, is among the things that are negative, and among the methods that people of Satan adopt to achieve their reactionary aims and individual ambitions.

Sometimes the means used out of wisdom and out of deceit may look the same in how they appear, but because the meaning of each and the aims that are to be achieved are different, they are different by nature. The deceitful people commit misdeeds by adopting all sorts of methods in order to achieve individual aims that are despicable, which cannot be called wise, and can only be called deceitful or scheming. God's people use wisdom to defeat the foe, to support God's work, and to achieve satisfying God's intentions, this is among the things that are altogether positive. That is wisdom. And using wisdom is right. If someone says that it is scheming, that's denigrating what is positive and confusing right and wrong, as well as an absurdity of foolish, ignorant people without any discernment. In judging something you must see into its essence and feel out its source before you reach a fitting conclusion.

from “Difference Between Wisdom and Deceit” in Records of Christ's Talks

After reading, feel free to share ur understanding brother

_Thank you - that makes a lot of sense to me!

It seems to be saying that an action that isn't totally honest is wise if the result is justified and holy, but deceitful otherwise._

Being wise is in order to properly perform your duty and carry out God's will; it is something positive.*

_And if it's God's will to help people by being "economical with the truth", then that is justified._

In judging something we must see into its essence and feel out its source before we reach a fitting conclusion.

_I guess the end result is what matters?_

what does this "economical with the truth" mean?

_It means not telling the whole truth.

So not actively lying, just not revealing everything.

But sometimes it can also mean lying.

It's an odd English phrase - a euphemism, if you know what those are._

That deceitful people practice deceit is an exposure of their nature. That honest people use wisdom is God's demand, it is a necessity in work as well, and still more is it necessary to possess it in fulfilling one's duty. If honest people are foolishly ignorant they are not suitable for being used by God, because without wisdom they cannot accomplish results in their work

_So God says we need to be wise and not ignorant, and then we can accomplish what we need to._

❤️

but if u still feel uncomfortable, then just be urself…do what u feel comfortable…

_It's uncomfortable, but if it's what God needs me to do, then I should do it._

❤️

And there we have it - being dishonest is okay, because the end result is what matters. Yes, there's an irony here that I'm using deception to find out more about this group. In my case I'm comfortable with my deception, because I'm a skeptic trying to uncover the truth about a secretive cult, and not a member of a religious group who frame themselves as being honest and holy. I'm a skeptic, and I am happy that my deception is a temporary state, and that with this article the truth will be made public. Whereas the Church of Almighty God appears to be operating on the principle that lying is simply “wisdom” if it's in the service of God, and that their members never need to know that they are being tricked into believing.

In my second evening back in the Level 1 group, I was once again treated as a new member. During the fellowship I decided to play up my acting of being new, to see what they would make of it. For example, one of the questions was:

_Q:How many times can God be a human?

A-once, only Lord

B-Twice, 2000 years ago and when He comes back

C-Many times_

Even though I knew the answer was B, I wrote:

B or maybe C

After the fellowship, Sister Mercy messaged me to thank me for my “help” (which was just two readings, one of Bible verses and one of God's New Words), and then we had this conversation:

btw, about how many times God becomes man, clear?

2 times or many times?😁

_Haha

I thought it was more convincing to not be so sure about all my answers.

That's a good thing to do, right?_

haha so you answered that way in purpose

made me surprise😅

_Yes, because I thought that's what you'd want._

not bad

_Thank you!_

if in the future, u help preach, are one of preacher, not only reading, another role😁, need to give a correct answer, or they'll mislead😁

_Yes, when I'm preaching I'll make sure I give the correct answers!_

it seems you are talented in preaching😁no one taught u, u already know some skills😁

i find that you are so smart now😁

_You're too kind._

Once again being deceitful is approved of - my “initiative” in acting like I don't know the answers to questions is rewarded with praise.

Spamming

The church is relentless when it comes to spreading the word, which is probably one of the reasons they have spread so quickly. Each morning for the first couple of weeks I would receive passive-aggressive messages, in the form of questions, reminding me that I needed to fulfil my duty to “witness to” as many friends and family as I could. Messages like:

brother i wonder if u learned in level 3 what's performing duty?

Morning brother~as a created being, we have our responsible and duty, do u know what it is?

have u ever thought to spread gospel to ur family or people around u that you are close and familiar with them?😁

After first warning my handlers away from trying to get me to convert my friends and family, I finally chose to engage them. One saving grace was that they actually had a list of rules for who I should approach about the meetings, and this list pretty much rules out every one of my friends and family!

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

1. Invite people over 16 years old cuz we are the groups for adults

2. Invite people who want to know the word of God and look forward to the return of the Lord Jesus

3. Invite devout believers

4. Invite the common believers first, cuz the pastors and elders they have rich knowledge of bible, we will arrange separate group for them

5. Invite who has fb and connection cuz we are online fellowship

we can spread gospel to those who we know them well, who love learning God's words and yearning for God's return first. coz they won't refuse us easily, and such kind of people are intrested in learning God's words, they'll be thankful for us to invite or preach to them

Although I've made it clear that I will not be supplying the contact details of anyone to the church for them to be invited to join, I was a little surprised the other day to see a Facebook post from a friend talking about how he'd been messaged by someone who had invited him to a fellowship meeting online. Sure enough, I recognised the name of the person who had messaged him - Amanda, who had been the very first person from the church who had made contact with me and Facebook friended me:

I messaged Amanda to find out what had happened - surely it wasn't a coincidence that she had messaged one of my Facebook friends out of the blue to invite them to join the church. If she was going through my list of Facebook friends contacting them, I was not going to be a happy bunny.

After a bit of to and fro, with some innocent questioning from me and talk about how I was sorry she had to deal with one of my “crude” and “rude” friends, I managed to piece together that, because of the pressure the church puts people under to constantly recruit new people, one of the ways members can do this is by messaging people whenever they get the opportunity. And what better opportunity than Facebook's “People you may know” list of recommendations - which is exactly what Amanda was doing, clicking on anyone that Facebook recommended to her as a friend and inviting them to an “online fellowship” meeting. The kicker here is that this list is populated, at least in part, by friends of your existing facebook friends. When you combine this behaviour with the church's overzealous sending of friend requests to new church members (all of my fellowship group leaders have sent me friend requests, as well as other church members), it seems likely that some of my friends are going to find themselves contacted in this way.

I do wonder whether some of the decision makers in the church might understand how this mechanism of Facebook friend connections opens up a new source of accounts - a constant source of fresh fodder for those who are actively trying to recruit. But this could also just be a coincidence I guess.

Where to from here

For now I'm still attending the online meetings, giving readings, etc. But I've kept away from actually running any of these sessions so far - I've talked before about how that might feel like a step too far, and I certainly don't want to accidentally convince anyone to join the church! It feels like walking a tightrope at times, wanting to find out more about how the church is operating behind the scenes, while not wanting to do any damage by recruiting anyone. And it seems that some people in the church are still a little concerned that I'm a “skeptic”. I've had to put out fires on a couple of occasions now, explaining that the work that I do for the NZ Skeptics is “charity work” (because we're a Registered Charity!), and that the church just needs to let me know if they want me to stop donating my time.