Volume 48 |Number 02-03 | 2025

Special Print Issue

 

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Please note the following articles on the The Eastern Lighting Cult are in this PRINT ONLY version which can be received for your partnering gift at the link above.

Please note Issue is still in production and is anticipated to ship  late Summer 2025. 

***Please note all original print articles are posted online at scheduled intervals based on original print date and/or availability of issue***

 

CONTENTS:

From the President

  • Christ Returns to Earth as a Female — An Exposé of the Eastern Lightning Cult 

by Hank Hanegraaff

Today’s Religious Movements : Eastern Lightning, also known as The Church of Almighty God, claims a Chinese woman is the reincarnated Christ, Almighty God, and the fulfillment of Jesus’s Olivet Discourse. Doctrinally deviant and sociologically subversive, this cult masquerades as a persecuted Christian group, exploiting Western narratives to spread its dangerous dogmas.

Feature Articles:

  • Theological Travesties of The Church of Almighty God

by Hank Hanegraaff

Doctrinal Discernment: The Church of Almighty God claims a Chinese woman is the reincarnated Christ while denying the orthodox doctrines of the Trinity, bodily resurrection, and biblical authority. Deeming the Bible outdated, it promotes reincarnation and asserts Christ’s male incarnation was incomplete, contradicting historic Christian doctrine with blasphemous distortions.

  • Radical Discontinuities: Rethinking The Church of Almighty God and Its Relationship to Christianity

by Paul H. B. Chang

Today’s Religious Movements / Doctrinal Discernment: The Church of Almighty God claims a woman — identified by outsiders as Yang Xiangbin — is Christ’s second incarnation, completing salvation in the “Age of Kingdom.” Although it draws on Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, this new religious movement distorts Protestant concepts, denies Christian orthodoxy, and incites violence — resembling a Chinese folk religion more than Christianity.

  • The Sociological Deviance of The Church of Almighty God 
    • Sidebar: The Six Trials 

by Hank Hanegraaff

 Counter-Cult Apologetics: The Church of Almighty God employs sociopsychological manipulation — altered states of consciousness, peer pressure, heightened expectations, and suggestion — to control devotees. Demanding absolute obedience, severance of family ties, and promoting violence, it is unequivocally a dangerous cult. Includes a sidebar: The Six Trials.

  • The Iron Rod of the Faux Almighty God

by Warren G. Nozaki

Doctrinal Discernment / Counter-Cult Apologetics: The Church of Almighty God, a pseudo-Christian cult, follows a self-proclaimed female christ whose heretical doctrines incite violence. Denying the Trinity and biblical authority, it employs psychological intimidation, disrupts families, and perpetrates physical assaults.

  • A Firsthand Account of the “4/16 Eastern Lightning Kidnapping Case”

by Zhang Heng, Abraham Ho, and Jacob Feng

Counter-Cult Apologetics / Christian Living: On April 16, 2002, Eastern Lightning kidnapped 34 China Gospel Fellowship leaders under the guise of theological training. Held under house arrest, drugged, and menaced with iron pipes, most resisted the cult’s teachings. Pastor Zhang Heng’s account details the cult’s violent tactics and his harrowing experience.

  • The Faux Almighty God’s Assault on the Family

by Warren G. Nozaki

Counter-Cult Apologetics / Doctrinal Discernment:  The Church of Almighty God’s female Christ demands devotees sever family ties, labeling nonbelievers as “great red dragon” offspring. By actively promoting divorce and abandonment, the cult’s teachings stand in stark opposition to biblical family values and have caused profound and lasting harm.

  • What Are the Characteristics of C-U-L-T-S Such as Eastern Lightning?

by Hank Hanegraaff

Counter-Cult Apologetics: Using the acronym C-U-L-T-S (Counterfeit Claims, Unbiblical Revelations, Linguistic Subversion, Theological Perversion, Sociological Deviance), Hanegraaff identifies The Church of Almighty God as a cult with heretical doctrines and dangerous practices, starkly contrasting authentic Christianity.

  • Cult vis-à-vis Xiejiao: With a Case Study of The Church of Almighty God

by Abraham Ho and Jacob Feng

Historical Theology / Cultural and Doctrinal Discernment: Contrasting the Chinese term xiejiao (evil teachings) with the Western concept of a cult, Ho and Feng highlight their distinct cultural and political connotations. Xiejiao is a legal designation in China for socially disruptive groups, while cult ranges from neutral to pejorative in the West. The Church of Almighty God serves as a case study to illustrate these differences.

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

by Hank Hanegraaff

Doctrinal Discernment: Using the acronym D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E (Deity of Christ, Original Sin, Canon, Trinity, Resurrection, Incarnation, New Creation, Eschatology), Hanegraaff contrasts essential Christian doctrines with the deceptions of Eastern Lightning, exposing the movement’s deviations from biblical truth.

  • Because Life and Truth Matter — A Family Reunited

by David Hanegraaff

Counter-Cult Apologetics: Beyond cursing the darkness, this issue of the Christian Research Journal serves as a lighthouse in the midst of the storm. A family torn apart by the devastating teachings of Eastern Lightning is reunited, illustrating the vital role of apologetics in combating heresy, restoring families, and fulfilling the Great Commission through truth and life.