Contrasting Eastern Lightning Deception and Essential Christian D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E

Author:

Hank Hanegraaff

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Article ID:

JAF48238

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Updated: 

Nov 19, 2025

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Published:

Nov 6, 2025

This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, Special Print Issue, volume 48, number 02-03 (2025).

For further information on this issue please click here. To learn more about receiving this issue for your partnering gift please click here. 

 

The importance of essential Christian doctrine can hardly be overstated. These are the very doctrines that form the line of demarcation between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the cults. While we may debate nonessentials without dividing over them, when it comes to essential Christian doctrine there must be unity. Hence, the maxim: In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.

Furthermore, essential Christian doctrine is the North Star by which the course of Christianity is set. Just as the North Star is an unchanging reference point by which sailors safely guided their ships, so essential Christian doctrine has safely guided the church through doctrinal storms that have sought to sink it. Shooting stars may light the sky for a moment; following them, however, leads to shipwreck.

Finally, essential Christian doctrine is the foundation on which the gospel of Jesus Christ rests. Covering topics ranging from His deity to the eschatological certainty that He will appear a second time to judge the living and the dead, essential Christian doctrine is foundational to the gospel. All other religions compromise, confuse, or contradict these essentials. As contrast is the conduit to clarity, I think it essential to memorably contrast discord between essential Christian doctrine and Eastern Lightning deceptions. To do so memorably, I employ the acronym D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E.1

 

DEITY OF CHRIST

Though Jesus came among man and did much work, He only completed the work of redeeming all mankind and served as man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, after man was forgiven of his sins, God returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm.2

—The female christ

 

The biblical witness is clear and convincing. Jesus Christ is the eternal Creator God ( John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1; Revelation 1). Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus claimed to be God in word and deed (Mark 14:61–62; John 5:18, 20; 8:58; 10:30–33). And He vindicated His claim to deity by living a sinless life ( John 8:46; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22); by manifesting His power over nature (Mark 4:39), over fallen angels (Luke 4:35), over sickness (Matthew 4:23), and over death ( John 4:50; 11:43–44; 1 Corinthians 15); and by accurately prophesying God’s judgment on Jerusalem through the destruction of the temple in ad 70 (Matthew 24:1–2, 32–35).

In stark contrast, Eastern Lightning (aka The Church of Almighty God) overtly denies the unique deity of Jesus Christ by pontificating that His incarnation was insufficient for the salvation of humankind. Therefore, according to the female christ, it is now up to her to finish that which Christ neither did nor could do.3

First, the female christ profanely pontificates that since Jesus Christ came in incarnation as a man, “not even a single woman could be saved.”4 Consequently, Christ had to be reincarnated as a female. Sans that, salvation for women would have been utterly unattainable! Females would have been fated to “perish for eternity.”5

Furthermore, while the female christ falsely dichotomizes male and female salvation, the historic Christian faith does not. Authentic Christianity depends neither on ethnicity nor societal standing, nor is it contingent on gender. If you belong to Christ, whether male or female, you are, without distinction, an heir “according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28–29).6

Finally, the female christ blasphemously accuses Jesus Christ of a quintessential failure. While she acknowledges that Jesus bore “the sins of man,” she gratuitously asserts that He failed “to do even greater work.” Namely, He failed “to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition.” Thus, what Jesus Christ failed to do, she, the alleged reincarnation of Christ, now claims to do in order to elevate “man into a higher realm.”7

 

ORIGINAL SIN

Jehovah created mankind, that is to say, He created the ancestors of mankind, Eve and Adam, but He did not bestow upon them any further intellect or wisdom. Although they were already living on earth, they understood almost nothing.8

—The female christ

 

In the grand metanarrative of Scripture, the doctrine of original (ancestral) sin looms large. God spoke to the apex of His creation, saying, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16–17).

In reckless response, Adam sprayed the canvas of God’s creative handiwork with the venom of his own self-will. He disobeyed, and the whole of humanity inherited his “broken gene” — an inclination toward sin — a disease leading inexorably to death.9 In the words of the apostle Paul, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12 NIV2011).

The very chapter that references the original sin also records the divine plan for restoration — a plan that takes on definition with God’s promise to make Abram a great nation through whom “all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Abram’s call, therefore, constituted the divine antidote to Adam’s fall. God’s promise that Abram’s children would inherit the Promised Land was but a preliminary step in a progressive plan through which Abram and his heirs would inherit “a better country — a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).

The plan came into sharp focus when Moses led Abram’s descendants out of the four-hundred-year bondage in Egypt. For forty years of wilderness wandering, God tabernacled with His people and prepared them for the land of promise. Like Abram, however, Moses saw the promise only from afar. The plan became a tangible reality when Joshua led the children of Israel into Palestine. Palestine, however, was but a preliminary phase in the patriarchal promise.

Not only would God make Abram the father of a nation, but Abram would become Abraham — “the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4). Abraham “would be heir of the world” (Romans 4:13). As such, the climax of the promise would not be Palestine regained, but paradise restored.

As God promised Abraham Palestine, so, too, He promised him a royal seed. Joshua led the children of Israel into the Promised Land; Jesus will one day lead redeemed humanity into paradise restored. From Adam’s rebellion to Abraham’s royal seed, Scripture chronicles God’s one unfolding plan for the redemption of humanity.

The grand metanarrative of Scripture is indeed a majestic masterpiece.10 But a masterpiece obscenely vandalized by Eastern Lightning. To begin with, the female christ of this pernicious cult has the temerity to assert that she is the very Jehovah God who “created Adam and Eve.”11 With great bravado, she bellows, “I am God Himself! Do you understand? I am God Himself!”12

Furthermore, in stark contrast to the God of the Bible who pronounced the entirety of His creation “very good” (Genesis 1:31), the female christ declares that humanity was created without sufficient “intellect or wisdom.”13 Moreover, from her perspective, the corruption of Adam and Eve was not derivative of their original sin; instead, their “corrupt nature originates entirely from Satan.”14

Finally, as one reads through the pontifications of the female christ in the multi-volume series, The Word Appears in the Flesh, it becomes readily apparent that her words undercut the great arc of the biblical narrative from the Old Testament canon to the New. From Genesis to Revelation.

 

CANON

If you eat and drink the Old Testament and the New Testament, then you are outside the stream of the Holy Spirit! 15

—The female christ

 

The Hebrew Scriptures along with the Greek New Testament constitute the Christian canon (meaning “standard of measurement”). While inspiration provides the divine authority for the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16), canonization provides human acknowledgment of that authority. As such, the canon was determined by God and discovered by church fathers who accepted books as part of the canon on the basis that they were widely used within the churches and ultimately traceable to the authority of the apostles and prophets. Heretics have no key to the mind of Scripture. Thus, they turn it into a wax nose. They purpose, said Saint Irenaeus, “to weave ropes of sand,” and in so doing “dismember and destroy the truth.”16

The words of Saint Irenaeus have particular relevance with respect to The Church of Almighty God. If ever there was an example of turning the mind of Scripture into a wax nose, of weaving ropes of sand, of dismembering and destroying truth, it is the heretical Eastern Lightning cult. The very moniker “Eastern Lightning” is itself emblematic of truth decay. In evidence, this cultic commune brazenly contends that the words of Jesus Christ spoken during His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24) apply specifically to the female christ. Namely, that the “lightning” that “comes out of the east, and shines even to the west” (v. 27) points prophetically to her reincarnation in the East and to the presumptive reality that this “eastern lightning” will radiate even to the West.17

Furthermore, while Christians view the holy canon of Scripture as an immovable bulwark fueling their faith and shattering the waves of skepticism and doubt18 The Church of Almighty God renders the Christian canon an “outdated” and “moldy old book.”19 As such, they purpose to supplant the Holy Bible with the rhetoric and ramblings of a female imposter whose alleged utterances comprise a new and “holy bible,” perfectly suited for what they dub “The Age of Kingdom.”20

Finally, it is instructive to note that Eastern Lightning’s counterfeit canon goes as far as to surreptitiously replace the Ten Commandments of the Christian canon with “Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of the Kingdom.”21 Moreover, the female christ has the temerity to warn her cultic conclave that it is her purpose and prerogative to “kill all who are not in line with My intentions and who violate My administrative decrees.”22

 

TRINITY

Since all people say that God is the only one true God, then there is a single God, divisible at will by none! God is only one Spirit, and only one person; and that is the Spirit of God. If it is as you say, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, then are They not three Gods? The Holy Spirit is one matter, the Son another, and the Father yet another. Their persons are different and Their essences are different, so how then can They each be part of a single God?23

—The female christ

 

Although the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, it aptly codifies the essential biblical truth that (1) there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10); (2) the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God (1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:8; Acts 5:3–4); and (3) Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct Subjects (Matthew 28:19; John 15:26; 17:1–26). It is important to note that when Trinitarians speak of one God, they refer to the nature or essence of God. Moreover, when they speak of Subjects or Persons, they reference personal self-distinctions within the Godhead. Put another way, Trinitarians believe in one What and three Whos.

In sharp contrast to the Trinitarian theology of the historic Christian faith, The Church of Almighty God denigrates the biblical doctrine of the Trinity as incoherent and incomprehensible — a mere figment of Satanically corrupted human imagination. In the vernacular of the female christ, “The triune God simply does not exist. That is, the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit simply does not exist. These are all conventional notions of man, and the fallacious beliefs of man.”24

Furthermore, the female christ not only misconstrues Trinitarian theology but tendentiously trades the Triune God for a unitarian pretender.25 A capricious counterfeit purportedly revealed in three successive dispositions and three sequential dispensations: Jehovah in the Age of Law; Jesus in the Age of Grace; and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ as a female deity in the Age of Kingdom.26

Finally, it is essential to note that the unitarian deity of The Church of Almighty God, by definition, lacks the moral perfection of love and, thus, on the basis of logic, is morally defective.27 This is so because for God to be a perfect being, He must of necessity also be a loving being (1 John 4:8). This implies that there is someone to love. But there has not always been someone to love, because in accordance with modern cosmology,28 the universe and the persons that inhabit it came into being a finite time ago.29 Thus, independent of creation, the unitarian female imposter would not have had an object on which to lavish love. Additionally, while moral imperfection applies to the unitarian female counterfeit, it does not likewise apply to the Trinitarian God. For though the biblical God is an single being, there are subject-object distinctions within the Godhead. Moreover, the three centers of consciousness within the one true God have loved one another from all eternity!30

 

RESURRECTION

Could My resurrection from the dead during My first incarnation really be taken literally? Was the process really as it was described in those [biblical] texts?31

—The female christ

 

All four canonical Gospels record the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The immutable fact of Jesus’s resurrection is the cornerstone of Christian faith. It not only vindicates Jesus’s claims to deity but also ensures our future bodily resurrection and union with God (1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). The historical reality of the resurrection can be demonstrated by eyewitness accounts of the fatal torment Jesus suffered on the cross; the empty tomb (early Christianity could not have survived an identifiable tomb containing the corpse of Christ32); the postresurrection appearances of Jesus; and the transformation of believers whose lives have been radically altered upon experiencing the resurrected Lord.33

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of historic Christian theology. An essential of “first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Conversely, resurrection is a stumbling stone for devotees of The Church of Almighty God. A Christian dogma that ought not to be taken literally. For had Jesus Christ physically resurrected from the dead, the female christ could not simultaneously be His reincarnation.34

Furthermore, the female christ not only pontificates herself to be the reincarnation of the first Christ but posits reincarnation as a virtual universal verity.35 Some will be reincarnated as “human, while others will become animals.” And a wide variety of animals at that. “The range of animals that they might become includes cows, horses, pigs, and dogs. Some people could be reborn as birds, or ducks or geese.”36

Finally, it should be noted that according to the faux female christ, reincarnation is seldom a one and done proposition. “Most people commit too much evil, and their sins are too grievous, so they have to incarnate as animals seven to twelve times.”37

Biblical Christianity posits quite the opposite. “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrew 9:27).38

 

INCARNATION

Why do I say that the meaning of the incarnation was not completed in Jesus’s work? Because the Word did not entirely become flesh. What Jesus did was only one part of God’s work in the flesh; He only did the work of redemption, and did not do the work of completely gaining man. For this reason, God has become flesh once again in the last days.39

—The female christ

 

The doctrine of the incarnation is aptly summed up in the words of the apostle John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” ( John 1:1, 14 NKJV). The unambiguous testimony of Scripture is that, in the incarnation, Jesus Christ was, and will forever remain, fully God and fully man; that is, the eternal Son of God, the second Person of the Triune Godhead, added to Himself an additional nature such that He exists as the perfect unity of a divine nature and a human nature in one Person ( John 1; Colossians 1). As Theanthropos (“God-man”), the spotless Lamb of God ( John 1:29) lived a perfectly sinless human life and died a sinner’s death to sufficiently atone for the sins of humanity (Romans 5:1–21; Hebrews 10:11–18) and thereby to adopt us into the family of God. Through adoption, we become by grace what the Son of God is by nature — children of God. Gods by grace. Partakers “in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

While historic Christianity affirms that the incarnate Christ died a sinner’s death to sufficiently atone for the sins of humanity, the female christ demeans His incarnation as incomplete: “Why do I say that the meaning of the incarnation was not completed in Jesus’s work? Because the Word did not entirely become flesh. What Jesus did was only one part of God’s work in the flesh; He only did the work of redemption, and did not do the work of completely gaining man. For this reason, God has become flesh once again in the last days.”40

Furthermore, according to The Church of Almighty God, if Jesus Christ had only come in incarnation as a man, “not even a single woman could be saved.”41 This contention is as bizarre as it is blasphemous! As noted, Scripture makes plain that in Christ, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28–29 NIV2011). Moreover, the quasi-modalistic notion of a God who manifests in the flesh first as a male and then as a female is far afield from “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” ( Jude 3).42

Finally, it is significant to note that unlike Jesus Christ, the female christ offers no evidence whatsoever for her scandalous claim to be Almighty God. Their faux bible says as much. She “shows no miraculous signs” and “works no miracles.”43 Conversely, Jesus manifested supernatural authority over sickness, the forces of nature, fallen angels, and even death itself. And only Jesus Christ of Nazareth could emerge through the doorway of Old Testament prophecy.

 

NEW CREATION

God will no longer live among humanity, nor will humans be able to live with God in His destination. God and humans cannot live within the same realm; rather, both have their own respective manners of living.44

—The female christ

 

The essential doctrine of New Creation is aptly codified in the words of the apostle Paul: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). All who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord are reconciled to God and inherit eternal life in His glorious presence ( John 3:16; Romans 10:9–10). Jesus’s resurrection from the dead inaugurated the renewal of all things. The new creation of faithful believers and the new creation of the natural world will be consummated in the resurrection when Jesus returns bodily to Earth as the conquering King (Romans 8:18–25).

To become a new creation in Christ means far more than being “saved from sin; we are saved for sonship, to be divinely adopted sons and daughters of God. Forgiveness is the precondition for God’s greater gift, the gift that will last beyond our death: the gift of divine life” as a new creation in Christ.45 Thus, it may be said with a certainty that for we who were shipwrecked, the port of salvation is not the sole goal. The goal is the resumption of a “journey whose sole goal is union with God.”46 Through adoption, God’s children become what they were designed to be — new creations in Christ. Not surpassing what it means to be human but satisfying what it means to be human — becoming truly human.47

Contrary to the sufficiency of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, The Church of Almighty God proclaims the insufficiency of Christ Jesus. In genuine Christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ set aside three barriers: “That of nature by His incarnation, of sin by His death, and of death by His resurrection.”48 In the counterfeit Christianity of The Church of Almighty God, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ proved singularly insufficient. “Though Jesus came among man and did much work, He only completed the work of redeeming all mankind and served as man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all  his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition.” Thus, taking the form of a woman, “God returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment. This work [of the female christ] has brought man into a higher realm.” And not just a higher realm. But a “higher truth” and “greater blessings.”49

Furthermore, it is instructive to note that according to the female christ, in the consummation of all things, “God will no longer live among humanity, nor will humans be able to live with God in His destination. God and humans cannot live within the same realm; rather, both have their own respective manners of living.”50 Thus, to forever experience communion with the Holy Trinity is supplanted by the counterfeit concept of forever experiencing estrangement from God.

Finally, according to The Church of Almighty God, Jesus Christ will not return physically in the consummation of all things. Why? Because in this false paradigm, the female christ has presumably already returned as the reincarnation of the first Christ. It should go without saying that such a paradigm is not only preposterous but patently profane. Of one thing Christians can be certain: In the future, Jesus Christ will return bodily again. And when He does, the dwelling of God will be with men. “They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3–4). This, not the incoherent rambling of the faux christ, is most certainly “trustworthy and true” (v. 5).

 

ESCHATOLOGY

I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah — I shall be called the powerful and Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end. I was once called Jehovah, I was also once known by people as Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior with love and esteem. Today, I am no longer the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past. Rather, I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end.51

—The female christ

 

The word eschatology is an intimidating word with a simple meaning: the study of end times. While the meaning of eschatology is simple to grasp, its importance is difficult to overstate. Far from being a mere branch in the theological tree, eschatology is the root that provides life and luster to every fiber of its being. Put another way, eschatology is the thread that weaves the tapestry of Scripture into a harmonious pattern. It is the study of everything we long and hope for. Early in Genesis, Adam and Eve “fall into a life of constant sin terminated by death.”52 The rest of Scripture chronicles God’s unfolding plan of redemption. Although Christians debate secondary aspects of eschatology, such as the timing of the Tribulation or the meaning of the Millennium, we are united in the truth that just as Christ came to Earth once to bear the sins of the world, so, too, He will return again to gather the elect and to usher in the resurrection of all things (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Hebrews 9:27–28). On that day, the just will be resurrected to eternal life and the unjust to eternal conscious torment and separation from the love and grace of God ( John 5:28–29). Paradise lost will become paradise restored, and the problem of sin and Satan will be fully and finally resolved (Revelation 20–22). How different the end-time paradigm of the female christ!

To begin with, according to Eastern Lightning mythology, Jesus Christ will not return to forever dispense with the problem of sin and Satan. Indeed, Jesus Christ cannot return. Why? Because in the twisted theological theory of Eastern Lightning, the female christ is the reincarnation of the first Christ!53

Furthermore, much of the flawed eschatology of the female christ is rooted in the belief that the six days of creation correspond to a “six-thousand-year management plan,” which “consists of three stages, or three ages: the Age of Law of the beginning; the Age of Grace (which is also the Age of Redemption); and the Age of Kingdom of the last days.”54 The pretext for this odd predilection is derived from a misapprehension of the words of Saint Peter in 2 Peter 3:8. Namely, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” The faux christ’s interpretation of Saint Peter’s words is transparently wrongheaded. Moreover, while it is one thing for a minister of God to misconstrue Scripture, it is quite another for someone claiming to be God to do so. As should be obvious, the text does not say that a day is a thousand years. Rather, a day is like a thousand years. Quite obviously, this is a simile, an analogy. When the Psalmist says a thousand years are like a watch in the night (Psalm 90:4), are we to suppose that a thousand years is equal to four hours? Of course not! Peter’s point is crystal clear: God’s relation to time is different than ours. We think our lives are long. From God’s perspective they are but a vapor ( James 4:14).

Finally, let me underscore the unequivocal reality that all the Bible is eschatological. From Genesis to Revelation, it is the chronicling of God’s redemptive plan for fallen humanity. Eschatology is a thread that runs through the tapestry of the entire text of Scripture. Thus, when eschatological models, such as those proliferated by the female christ, are imposed on the text, the tapestry is undone, and loose ends dangle ignominiously. Indeed, what becomes readily apparent when reading through the eschatological writings and ramblings of the female christ is that she fails to hear the background music of the Old Testament.55 Instead of reading Scripture in light of Scripture, she reads the Scriptures in light of her own faulty paradigm. As previously underscored, while this may be understandable for a misguided prophet or preacher, it is incongruent for someone who asserts herself to be the Almighty God.

In sum, Eastern Lightning is not only sociologically subversive but doctrinally deviant. Even the name of their cultic commune is perverse. To assert that they are The Church of Almighty God is to avow that a female from China, now presumably residing in New York, is the very God who spoke and the universe leapt into existence.56 Thus, I have laid the straight stick of essential Christian D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E next to the Eastern Lightning counterfeit so as by contrast to observe its crookedness. In doing so, it is readily apparent that the unique Deity of Jesus Christ is compromised by the profane pontification that He has been reincarnated in the present as a Chinese female. Original Sin is compromised by the perverse assertion that the corruption of Adam and Eve was not due to their original sin, rather their “corrupt nature originates entirely from Satan.” The Canon of Holy Scripture is supplanted by a blasphemous extra-biblical revelation that purports to eclipse the Ten Commandments with “Ten Administrative Decrees” — declarations in which she warns devotees that it is her prerogative to kill all violators. The Holy Trinity she deems incoherent — a mere figment of Satanically corrupted imagination. Resurrection is malevolently compromised by the outrageous assertion that the female christ is the reincarnation of the first Christ, and Incarnation is debased as incomplete by the profane assertion that Jesus Christ failed “to do the work of completely gaining man.” The scintillating truth that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation” is compromised by the counterfeit concoction of eternal estrangement from God. And Eschatology — the thread that weaves the tapestry of Scripture into a harmonious pattern — is ignominiously sullied by a largely incoherent Eastern Lightning eschatological charade.

 

Notes: 

  1. Portions of this article are adapted from Hank Hanegraaff, The Complete Bible Answer Book — Collector’s Edition, rev. and expanded ed. (Thomas Nelson, 2024), 6–11, 350–51.
  2.  “Preface,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, The Appearance and Work of God, trans. The Church of Almighty God (n.p.: The Church of Almighty God, 2023), accessed March 7, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/preface-4/. The same words (basically) quoted here from the Preface are attributed to “Almighty God,” whom I refer to as the female christ. See “Conditions for Entering the Kingdom of God,” The Church of Almighty God, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/gospel/entering-the-heavenly-kingdom-14/
  3. See the quote serving as the epigraph for this very subsection, “Deity of Christ.”
  4. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, emphasis added, accessed September 20, 2024, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-significance-of-the-incarnation/.
  5. “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation.” See note 4.
  6. Bible quotations are from the NIV1984 unless otherwise noted. Italics in Bible quotations indicate the author’s emphasis.
  7. “Preface.” See note 2.
  8. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): The Vision of God’s Work (3),” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-vision-of-godswork-3-3/.
  9. Frederica Mathewes-Green, First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey Through the Canon of St. Andrew (Paraclete Press, 2006), xiv–xv.
  10. This sentence and previous six paragraphs are adapted from Hank Hanegraaff, Truth Matters, Life Matters More: The Unexpected Beauty of an Authentic Christian Life (W Publishing Group, 2019), 62–63.
  11. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches III ( July 1993 to March 1994): You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/humanity-has-developed-to-the-present-day-2/.
  12.  “Part One: Utterances of Christ in the Beginning — The Words of the Holy Spirit to the Churches (February 11, 1991 to November 20, 1991): Chapter 87,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-eighty-seventh-utterance/.
  13. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): The Vision of God’s Work (3),” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-vision-ofgods-work-3-3/. Says the female christ, “As someone who was newly created, she [Eve] had no ability to discern good from evil, and nor did she have any cognition about anything around her.” “God Himself, the Unique IV,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 2, On Knowing God, trans. The Church of Almighty God (n.p.: The Church of Almighty God, 2023), accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/god-himself-the-unique-iv-4/.
  14. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches IV (1994 to March 23, 2010): A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (2),” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/a-very-seriousproblem-betrayal-2-2/.
  15. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): Concerning the Bible (1),” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/concerning-thebible-1/.
  16. Irenaeus (c. 130–c. 200), Against Heresies 1.8.1. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (repr., Eerdmans, 1985), 326.
  17. “What’s the Origin of Eastern Lightning?,” The Church of Almighty God, January 15, 2021, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/origin-ofeastern-lightning/. The Bible translation is that of The Church of Almighty God.
  18. Hank Hanegraaff, Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible’s Divine Inspiration (W Publishing Group, 2011), 54.
  19. “Concerning the Bible (1).” See note 15. According to the female christ, the Christian Bible is “merely a human record,” since “the author of this book is not God, but men”—“nor did Jehovah personally guide its creation.” See “12. The Notion of the Religious World That: ‘The Entire Bible Was Inspired by God, All the Words in the Bible Are God’s Words,’” in Truth Realities That Believers in God Must Enter Into, trans. The Church of Almighty God (n.p.: The Church of Almighty God, n.d.), accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/regarding-resolvingreligious- notions-12/.
  20. “Preface.” See note 2.
  21. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches IV (1994 to March 23, 2010): The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, emphasis added, accessed September 14, 2024, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/ten-administrative/.
  22. “Part One: Utterances of Christ in the Beginning — The Words of the Holy Spirit to the Churches (February 11, 1991 to November 20, 1991): Chapter 103,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, emphasis added, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www. holyspiritspeaks.org/the-one-hundred-and-third-utterance/.
  23. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): Does the Trinity Exist?,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/does-the-trinityexist-2/.
  24. “Does the Trinity Exist?” See note 23.
  25.  Says the faux female christ, “At all times, God can only be called the almighty and one true God, the all-inclusive God Himself. The distinct persons do not exist, much less this idea of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is only one God in heaven and on earth!” “Does the Trinity Exist?” See note 23.
  26. See “Preface.” See note 2.
  27. This argument, originally written in the context of a critique of the Islamic unitarian conception of God, is adapted with modification from Hank Hanegraaff, MUSLIM: What You Need to Know About the World’s Fastest-Growing Religion (W Publishing Group, 2017), 156–57.
  28. See Alexander Vilenkin, “The Beginning of the Universe,” Inference 1, no. 4 (2015), accessed March 27, 2025, https://inference-review.com/article/the-beginning-ofthe- universe.
  29. See Genesis 1, especially verse 1; Psalm 33:6–9; Psalm 148:1–6; Proverbs 8:22–29; John 1:3; Romans 4:17; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2–3, 11:3.
  30. See John 3:35; 5:20; 14:31; Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:8, 16. For helpful discussions, see Donald Fairbairn, Life in the Trinity: An Introduction to Theology with the Help of the Church Fathers (IVP Academic, 2009), chapters 2–4; C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (HarperOne, 2001), 172–77; William Lane Craig, “The Concept of God in Islam and Christianity,” Reasonable Faith, June 22, 2015, accessed March 27, 2025, www.reasonablefaith.org/the-concept-of-god-in-islam-and-christianity.
  31. “Part One: Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, The Words of the Holy Spirit to the Churches (February 11, 1991 to November 20, 1991): Chapter 98,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed September 20, 2024, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-ninety-eighth-utterance/.
  32. William Lane Craig, “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?,” in Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus, eds. Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland (Zondervan, 1995), 146.
  33. For robust defenses of the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus, see Craig, “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?,” 141–76; William Lane Craig, “The Resurrection of Jesus,” in Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics, third ed. (Crossway, 2008), 333–404; Gary R. Habermas, On the Resurrection, vol. 1, Evidences (B&H Academic, 2024); Hank Hanegraaff, “Defense of the Resurrection of Christ,” in Resurrection (W Publishing Group, 2000), 1–62.
  34. The female christ denies the bodily resurrection of Jesus by making clear that neither the first nor the second incarnation is permanent — the embodied interactions between a human incarnation of God and humanity eventually cease. Why? Because the faux Almighty God “has to shed the flesh to do the work He must do.” “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches I ( June 1992 to October 1992): 40 The Essential Difference Between the Incarnate God and the People Used by God,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 17, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/incarnate-god-and-people-2/; “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches II (November 1992 to June 1993): 21 The Mystery of the Incarnation (2),” accessed March 26, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-mystery-of-the-incarnation-2/.
  35. Says the female christ, “The basis of mankind’s existence is repeated reincarnation of the soul. In other words, every person gains a human life in the flesh when their soul is reincarnated.” However, blasphemers are not reincarnated but end up in hell: “Blasphemy and slander against God is a sin that will not be forgiven in this age or the coming age, and those who commit this sin will never be reincarnated.” See “A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (2)” (see note 14) and “Part Three: Words on Knowing God’s Work and Disposition: Excerpt 27,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 3, The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days, trans. The Church of Almighty God (n.p.: The Church of Almighty God, 2024), accessed March 8, 2025, https://www. holyspiritspeaks.org/knowing-God-s-work-and-disposition/.
  36. “God Himself, the Unique X: How God Rules and Administers the Spiritual Realm” (February 15, 2014), in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 2, On Knowing God, trans. The Church of Almighty God (n.p.: The Church of Almighty God, 2023), emphasis added, accessed September 20, 2024, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/godhimself-the-unique-x-2/#sigil_toc_id_230.
  37. “God Himself, the Unique X: How God Rules and Administers the Spiritual Realm,” emphasis added. See note 36.
  38. As Douglas Groothuis explains, “Jesus, like the Hebrew prophets and teachers before Him, affirmed that people died once and were then judged by God. There would be a final reckoning made by God at the end of history regarding the eternal destiny of all people.” Says Jesus: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” ( John 5:24–30 NIV2011; see also Matt. 25:31–46; Dan. 12:2). Douglas Groothuis, “The Reincarnation of Reincarnation,” Christian Research Journal 43, no. 1 (2020), accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.equip.org/articles/the-reincarnation-ofreincarnation/. The biblical teaching of one body per person also demonstrates that the gulf between reincarnation and resurrection can never be bridged. Rather than the transmigration of our souls into different bodies (reincarnation), the apostle Paul explained that Christ “will transform our lowly bodies” (Philippians 3:21). Paul also explicitly said that the body that dies is the very body that rises (1 Corinthians 15:42–44).
  39. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches III ( July 1993 to March 1994): The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/theessence- of-the-flesh-inhabited-by-god/.
  40. “The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God.” See note 39.
  41. “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation.” See note 4.
  42. See also note 25.
  43. “The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God.” See note 39.
  44. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches III ( July 1993 to March 1994): God and Man Will Enter into Rest Together,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/godand-man-will-enter-into-rest-together-3/.
  45. Scott Hahn, “Foreword,” in Called to Be the Children of God: The Catholic Theology of Human Deification, ed. David Vincent Meconi and Carl E. Olson (Ignatius Press, 2016), 7.
  46. Vladimir Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, trans. Ian Kesarcodi-Watson and Ihita Kesarcodi-Watson (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1978), 84.
  47. Paragraph adapted from Hanegraaff, Truth Matters, Life Matters More, 108, 115.
  48. Nicholas Cabasilas (1322–c. 1391), Life in Christ III, quoted in Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, trans. Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002), 136. 49 “Preface,” emphasis added. See note 2.
  49. “God and Man Will Enter into Rest Together,” emphasis added. See note 44.
  50. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches III ( July 1993 to March 1994): The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud,’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, accessed March 27, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-savior-has-already-returned-upon-a-white-cloud/.
  51. G. Richard Bozarth, “The Meaning of Evolution,” American Atheist (February 1978):19.
  52. See “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation.” See note 4.
  53. “Part Three: The Words of Christ as He Walked in the Churches III ( July 1993 to March 1994): The True Story Behind the Work of the Age of Redemption,” in The Word Appears in the Flesh, vol. 1, emphasis added, accessed March 8, 2025, https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/the-truth-concerning-the-work-in-the-age-ofredemption-2/.
  54. I first heard this metaphor from New Testament scholar N. T. Wright.
  55. Massimo Introvigne, Inside The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement in China (Oxford University Press, 2020), 39–40.

 

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