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THE EASTERN LIGHTNING CULT BEGINNINGS, BELIEFS, AND BUILDUP by Rara Aguja
The Eastern Lightning Cult is a new religious movement founded by Zhao Weishan.1 This quasi-Christian group centers in the end-time revelation of the female Christ and submission to her words penned in The Word Appears in Flesh, their sacred literature.2 Well-funded, highly organized, and discreetly tactical, this group has gained millions of followers in Mainland China and began to expand beyond the country’s borders. Its doomsday message and rapid recruitment ploy coupled with threats, deceptions, and violence have raised an alarm not just towards Chinese government but also to international media. The underground evangelical church, its main target, issues updates through its website, describing the devastations its spying members have…