In an apartment in Shanghai China, a small group of Christians came together for worship and were attacked by the Eastern Lightening cult, (reported by a BTJ leader yesterday).

After months of tough restrictions throughout China, many Christians were eager to get together with other believers in underground house church meetings. One group in Shanghai, led by a BTJ staff member, was visited by two new believers that were invited to join the underground meeting.

Once the meeting was underway, the two new ‘believers’ attempted to take over the Bible study.  This is typical of the aggressive tactics of the Eastern Lightening cult.  It was a scary situation.

The Eastern Lightening (“Dongfang Shandian”), is an extremely dangerous cult group that uses violence, kidnapping, rape, maiming, and murder to force converts to follow their group. They believe that Jesus Christ has been reincarnated as a woman from central China, and that the righteous are engaged in an apocalyptic struggle against China’s Communist Party — which they refer to as the “great red dragon.”  Christians that do not accept the female messiah are not real followers of the one true God, but are helping the ‘great red dragon.’

The other believers in the Bible study yesterday, had been trained about the tactics used by the Eastern Lightening cult and immediately understood what was happening. A few younger men in the group escorted the cult members out and ministered to them in private.

The home group fellowship will now have to take special safety precautions by meeting in another location and carefully watching over their children. The Eastern Lightening members are known for sharing information about illegal Christian meeting locations, in an effort to hurt fellowships that do not accept their teaching. They have also been known to attack families and children as a weapon of fear, in order to gain new followers.

Pastor Shen Xiaoming, the pastor of the megachurch China Gospel Fellowship of more than ten million members, shared his story with BTJ when he was kidnapped and tortured by the Eastern Lightening in the book KIDNAPPED BY A CULT.

There have been more reports of brutal attacks, kidnappings, and murders by the Eastern Lightening cult than any other illegal group in China today. It has been reported that there may be as many as one million Eastern Lightening cult members in China, with offices in Japan, Korea, USA, and UK.

The BTJ leader in Shanghai has a young family. Your prayers are desperately needed.