Lightning from the East Religion in Chinese Societies

Home , Bob Fu, Eastern Lightning, Jesus Family

Edited by

Kenneth Dean (McGill University) Richard Madsen (University of California, San Diego) David Palmer (University of Hong Kong)

volume 8

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/rics Lightning from the East

Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China

Emily Dunn

LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Public gathering of members of the Church of Almighty God (Eastern Lightning) in 2012. Pictured banner reads: “In 2012, the Almighty God will deliver mankind. Only those who accept [Him], pray, and call [on His name] can be saved. If a person resists God, God will send them to hell. If a country resists God, God will wipe it from the face of the earth.” (Available at http://zt.kaiwind.com/a/qns/ tuwen/2012/1230/224.html. Accessed November 21, 2014.)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dunn, Emily (Associate) Lightning from the East : heterodoxy and Christianity in contemporary China / by Emily Dunn. pages cm. — (Religion in chinese societies, ISSN 1877-6264 ; volume 8) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-29724-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-29725-8 (e-book : alk. paper) 1. Dong fang shan dian (Organization) 2. Cults—China. 3. Christianity—China—History—20th century. 4. Christianity—China—History—21st century. 5. Christianity and politics—China. 6. Protestantism—China. I. Title.

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Contents

Acknowledgments viii Notes x List of Figures xi List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xii

1 Eastern Lightning (Church of Almighty God) and Religion in China 1

2 Protestant-related New Religious Movements in Contemporary China 25

3 The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 62

4 The Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings: A Case Study 99

5 The Chinese Government’s Response to Protestant-related New Religious Movements 118

6 The Art of Persuasion: Eastern Lightning’s Recruitment Strategies 139

7 Chinese Protestant Depictions of Heresy 163

8 Conclusion: Eastern Lightning in Local and Global Perspective 196

Appendix 1: Annotated Bibliography of Eastern Lightning’s Chinese Texts 207 Appendix 2: Annotated Bibliography of Eastern Lightning’s English Texts 213 Bibliography 216 Index 243 Acknowledgments

This book grew out of a PhD thesis that was completed at the University of Melbourne in 2010. I remain thankful for the institutions and individuals who lent their academic, financial and personal support to that project. First and foremost, Professor Anne McLaren helped to clarify my thinking and encouraged me to argue boldly; Professor Antonia Finnane also offered incisive feed- back. I have learnt a lot from both of them. “The Book” may never have eventuated were it not for Kim-Kwong Chan urging me to develop it, and taking the initiative to email the editors of this series. I am grateful also to Benjamin Penny for cheering me on, and for redeeming the manuscript from assorted “infelicities.” Any that remain are entirely my fault. Numerous other colleagues offered suggestions and asked questions in conversations that enriched this book. I thank (then) fellow students Haiqing Yu, Anthony Garnaut, Mark Crosbie, Corey Bell, Ayxem Eli, Jonathan Benney, Paul Farrelly, Vicki Turner, Jeremy Clarke, Scott Pacey and Nathan Woolley. I benefited from presentations and discussions at a variety of conferences and symposia, and extend particular appreciation to organizers and participants at the Dissertation Workshop of the Asian Studies Association held in Chicago in 2005, the Internet in Asia Symposium held at the University of Melbourne in 2006, and the Religious Innovation in East Asia Conference held at the Australian National University in 2007. I am indebted to the academics, theologians and Christians who welcomed and informed me in Hong Kong, Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai. I continue to be humbled by their devotion, integrity, expertise and sense of humor. I think particularly fondly of Jessie. The impressions that these people have left extend far beyond this book. I thank Qin Higley, Thomas Begley, and Patrick Hunter of Brill for their patience and expertise, Dinah Rapliza for typesetting, and Alexandra Hellios and Susan Karani for their fine copy editing. I much appreciated the comments of my two anonymous readers, and thank them for their time and analysis. Warm thanks also the editors of this “Religion in China” series for allowing my book to be published in it, and for their contributions to my own research, which are evidenced by the footnotes which follow. At the University of Melbourne, Bick-Har Yeung of the East Asian Division of the Baillieu Library was a long-serving and tireless support to scholars of China. I also thank the following institutions for access to their collections: Yale Divinity School, the National Library of Australia, Dalton McCaughey Library acknowledgments ix

Parkville, National Library of China, Shanghai Library, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Holy Spirit Study Centre, and Alliance Theological Seminary. Long before I embarked on this project, Zhou Shaoming, Lewis Mayo, David Holm and Jeffrey Goonan taught me Mandarin, and Mrs. Anson introduced me to Chinese history. Friends at Hoping Presbyterian Church in Taipei gave me the vocabulary I needed to research Chinese Protestantism, as well as some very happy times. My parents and friends were a tremendous source of moral and practical support during trying times. Special thanks to my Mum for many a Tuesday and Dad for much advice; also to Nicole, Tim & Fletcher Ellis for their exceptional, easygoing hospitality, Jessica Roberts and Emily Townsend for their friendship, and Jan Lane for keeping me sane (I hope). My grandparents have supported my education for many years, and I particularly thank my grandmother, Mavis Tassicker, for her generosity and example of continuous learning. Last but not least, I dedicate this book to Princess Sophie, little Anna, and Roger. They, too, have made many sacrifices for this project. I look forward to having more fun with them now that, perhaps, it is finished.

Near Melbourne October 2014 Notes

All quotations from the Bible are taken from the New International Version (NIV). Chinese characters are given in traditional or simplified form according to the original text, geographical location or era under discussion. Pinyin Romanization is used except where another form is better known. I have obtained hard copies of many of the Eastern Lightning (Church of Almighty God) texts that are examined in this book, but prefer to cite electronic versions to facilitate the reader’s access to them. Many of the web addresses for these documents have changed since my research began; to facilitate the reader’s access to these sources, I updated the citations in October 2014. The URLs and contents pages provided in the notes and appendices to this book may well change again; in this case, readers should use publication titles and any additional information such as that given in the appendices to locate the materials cited. Note also that the Church of Almighty God changes the titles of its publications frequently, and the order of their contents. The organization also revises its English translations, meaning that some quotations may not always appear precisely as they do in the pages which follow. Sincere thanks to the New Testament Church 新約教會 for kind permission to reproduce Figure 1, to He Qi 何琦 for Figure 5, and to Tian Feng 天风 magazine for generous provision of Figures 7 and 8. Some of the material in Chapter 7 was first presented in my article “Netizens of Heaven: Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web”, Asian Studies Review 31, no. 4 (2007): 447–58; most of Chapter 4 appears as “The Big Red Dragon and Indigenizations of Christianity in China”, East Asian History 36 (2008): 73–85 (http://www.eastasianhistory.org/). Some of the material and arguments of this book were first presented in a more rudimentary form in “ ‘Cult,’ Church and the CCP: Introducing Eastern Lightning”, Modern China 36, no. 1 (2009): 96–119 (DOI 10.1177/0097700408320546). I thank the editorial committees and reviewers of these journals for their comments on drafts of these articles; also the publishers for permission to reproduce the material here. List of Figures

1 “Behold! God’s Chosen Prophet in the East!” New Testament Church pamphlet, c. 2000 41 2 Origin of adherents in Eastern Lightning testimonies 59 3 Cover, Typical Cases of Leaders in Catholicism and Christianity in Mainland China Who Resist Almighty God Being Punished (Church of Almighty God, 2002) 81 4 “Michael Defeating the Demon” by Giuseppe Castiglione (18th century) 104 5 “Moses Striking the Rock” by He Qi (2005) 114 6 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–1997 171 7 “Don’t Believe Lightly” (切勿轻信 qie wu qing xin), Tian Feng, May 1998 172 8 “Resist Evil Teachings” (抵制邪说 dizhi xieshuo), Tian Feng, September 1999 174 9 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2002 176 10 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2012 183 11 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2012 (modified) 184 12 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using the terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2013 (modified) 186 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

ANS Amity News Service BBS Bulletin Board Systems (online discussion forums) CACA Chinese Anti-Cult Association CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CCC China Christian Council CCP Chinese Communist Party CGF China Gospel Fellowship PRC People’s Republic of China Protestant lianghui Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council SARA State Administration of Religious Affairs, formerly the Religious Affairs Bureau SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome TSPM Three-Self Patriotic Movement

For abbreviated book and periodical titles, refer to bibliography and appendices. CHAPTER 1 Eastern Lightning (Church of Almighty God) and Religion in China

Eastern Lightning, also known as The Church of Almighty God, is a new religious movement which teaches that Jesus Christ has returned to earth in the form of a Chinese woman to judge humankind and end the present age. It recalls its genesis in Henan province thus:

In 1991, a sister in the church was moved by and received word from the Holy Spirit, and testified to ‘God’s name’ and ‘God’s arrival.’ Everyone was excited, but did not understand what was going on. Then Christ began to speak, issuing forth talks one after the other. People were passing them around and felt they were the words of the Holy Spirit, and surely from God.1

In May 1992, the magazine of the nationally-registered Protestant associations reported on the movement’s forays into Neixiang County of Henan province in March of the previous year in less favorable terms. It assessed Eastern Lightning as a “counter-revolutionary” organization based on its representing the Chinese Communist Party as the demonic dragon of the Book of Revelation from the Christian Bible. This article also recounted that the group had been suppressed by the county government, and that the Religious Affairs Bureau and registered Protestant organizations were now re-educating its followers.2 Eastern Lightning was evidently considered to be of little importance by the magazine’s editors at the time, as the report occupied a single column on page twenty-four. Indeed, it was just one among an array of new religious movements that were emerging and operating in rural north China in the early 1990s. The “flood” of “heterodox sects”—as the magazine had recently put it—had seen numerous individuals claiming the ability to heal diseases and exorcise demons, and warning that the end was nigh. A recent convert to Christianity in Guangxi province, for example, claimed to have received divine revelation that heaven

1 Church of Almighty God, “Guanyu women 关于我们” [About us], 2. 2 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织” [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb], TF 5 (1992): 24. English translation: Xu Shengyi, “Beware of Wolves in Sheeps’ Clothing,” CSJ 7, no. 2 (1992): 64.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004297258_002 2 CHAPTER 1 was about to collapse, and led one hundred followers to fell five hundred trees and build a three-story ark in which to seek refuge.3 Other groups were reported to harbor lethal potential; twenty farmers’ wives in Henan planned to drink pesticide in order to ascend to Heaven.4 Eastern Lightning therefore did not receive widespread attention from either Protestant organizations or state authorities until the mid- to late-1990s. It was formally identified as a ‘cult’ (邪教 xiejiao; literally ‘heterodox teaching’) and proscribed by the Ministry of Public Security in 1995. Despite this, it continued to prosper. Chinese authorities began to pay considerably more attention to new religious movements shortly before the turn of the millennium. Following the gathering of Falun Gong practitioners outside the headquarters of the Central Government on 25 April 1999 and the ensuing clampdown, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials described Eastern Lightning as “another evil force second only to the cultic organization of Falun Gong.”5 They accordingly intensified their rhetoric against it and efforts to suppress it. Protestants’ attitudes toward Eastern Lightning also galvanized in the final years of the millennium as more and larger ‘heretical’ movements anticipated the end of the world, and Eastern Lightning expanded across China’s provinces. The antagonism between Eastern Lightning and Protestant churches peaked in 2002, when Eastern Lightning kidnapped thirty-four members of a house church network and held them against their will for two weeks in an attempt to convert them.6 As the first decade of the new millennium drew to a close, far fewer reports of Eastern Lightning and similar movements emanated from China. The eschatological anticipation surrounding the year 2000 had dissipated, and the political and social campaigns against Falun Gong had also abated. However, the lull ended in late 2012, when Chinese authorities arrested one thousand members of Eastern Lightning for publicly proclaiming that the world would end on December 21, in accordance with ancient Mayan prophecy. The movement’s notoriety surged again in mid-2014 when six evangelists said to belong to the group were arrested for murdering a woman in a McDonald’s restaurant.

3 Wei Kun, “ ‘Noah’s Ark’ in Luzhai,” Bridge 47 (1991): 14–15. 4 Lu Guangwen, “We Must Guard against Heterodox Sects,” CSJ 6, no. 2 (1991): 72–73. 5 “Shijiazhuangshi gong’anju yichu guanyu zhuanfa Hebeisheng gong’anting zongjiaochu Bi Rongsheng fu chuzhang zai ‘807’ zhua nan xietiao huishang de jianghua de tongzhi 石家庄市公安局一处关于转发河北省公安厅宗教处比荣生副处长在’807’抓南协调会上的讲话的通知” [Announcement from the First Division of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau]. Available at http://www.china21.org/simpChinese/docs/shijiazhuang/index.htm. Accessed May 15, 2010. Quotation from p. 3. 6 See http://www.chinaforjesus.com; also 155ff of this book. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 3

These spectacular incidents reignited discussions of new religious movements related to Christianity in the Chinese media, and drew attention from international news outlets.7 Interaction, rather than straightforward repression and resistance, has increasingly characterized state-religion relations in China over the past thirty years.8 From the beginning of the reform era, the CCP recognized that religion would persist for the foreseeable future, and resolved that the Party should therefore adopt a policy of toleration rather than extirpation.9 Accordingly, the five official religions of Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism were rehabilitated after having been proscribed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). In addition to the registered religious associations, many unregistered religious communities have also been able to operate with relative impunity, enabled by factors such as their charitable works, claimed status as ‘local custom’, and connections with local elites.10 At the same time, some forms of religious expression have been associated with periods of political and social instability, and accordingly suppressed. Riots erupt in Tibet and Xinjiang (as in March 2008 and July 2009 respectively), and the government denounces ‘separatists’ for threatening national security.11

7 “Quanguo 1300 ren yin sanbo ‘shijie mori’ bei ju, Qinghai Guizhou zui duo 全国 1300 人因散播‘世界末日’被拘，青海贵州最多” [1300 detained for spreading “end of the world” rumors; most in Qinghai and Guizhou]. Available at http://gz.people.com .cn/GB/n/2012/1222/c194827-17902893.html. Accessed January 18, 2013; now defunct; Terence McCoy, “The Murderous Chinese Cult that Thinks Jesus Has Returned—as a Chinese Woman.” Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/ wp/2014/10/13/the-murderous-chinese-cult-that-thinks-jesus-has-returned-and-shes- chinese/. Accessed October 15, 2014; Andrew Jacobs, “Chatter of Doomsday Makes Beijing Nervous.” Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/world/asia/doomsday-chat ter-makes-chinese-government-nervous.html?_r=0. Accessed February 14, 2013. 8 Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, “Making Religion, Making the State in Modern China: An Introductory Essay,” in Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China, ed. Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009), 2, passim. 9 Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, “Document 19: The Basic Viewpoint on the Religious Question during Our Country’s Socialist Period [1982],” in Religion in China Today: Policy and Pratice, ed. Donald E. MacInnis (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989). 10 Adam Yuet Chau, “The Politics of Legitimation and the Revival of Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China,” Modern China 31, no. 2 (2005); Fenggang Yang, “The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China,” Sociological Quarterly 47, no. 1 (2006): 97–98. 11 The China Story Project, “Anxieties in Tibet and Xinjiang.” Available at http://www. thechinastory.org/yearbooks/yearbook-2012/anxieties-in-tibet-and-xinjiang/. Accessed March 9, 2014. 4 CHAPTER 1

In 2011, the Shouwang (守望) unregistered Protestant church frustrated Beijing authorities when it met in public spaces in defiance of orders to shut down. Most memorably, from April 1999, Falun Gong challenged the Chinese state to an extent unseen since the Tiananmen confrontation a decade earlier. Ten thousand practitioners gathered publicly to demand official recognition, and since then the movement has encouraged followers to channel their ener- gies against Chinese leaders. While the state has proven able to contain these movements and maintain its central control, the possibility that this may not remain the case is tantalizing for many within and beyond China’s borders. This book is about another type of new religious movement that Chinese authorities have also viewed as a serious concern for the past several decades. These movements are loosely related to Protestantism, and have emerged in China since the late 1970s. They recruit Protestants and espouse doctrines that are regarded as heretical by both Protestant churches and the Chinese state.12 The state’s labeling of them as ‘cults’ (邪教 xiejiao; literally, ‘heterodox teachings’) places them in the same political category as Falun Gong, which is not tolerated and cannot function in the open at all. The Chinese state regards Eastern Lightning as posing a lesser threat than Falun Gong but as belonging to the same fundamental category, which is theoretically distinct from unregistered religious organizations and subject to a much higher degree of censure and persecution.13 The political sensitivity surrounding new religious movements in China is no doubt partly why this is the first monograph to offer a detailed account of Eastern Lightning. Within China, the state’s campaign against Falun Gong has spawned a profusion of publications on “cults flaunting the Protestant banner” (打着基督教旗号的邪教 dazhe Jidujiao qihao de xiejiao).14 Chinese articles generally cite the crimes and perils of new religions, locate their origins in rural

12 Early Catholic and Protestant missionaries translated their faiths as “the teachings of the Lord of Heaven” (天主教 Tianzhu jiao) and “the teachings of Christ” (基督教 Jidu jiao) respectively, thus giving Chinese audiences the impression of two different religions. The distinction continues in religious practice, popular parlance and academia to this day, and it is for this reason—together with the absence of Catholic influence upon the new religious movements discussed here—that this book addresses Protestantism in particular. 13 Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The Religious Question in Modern China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), 340–42. 14 For example, contributions to Shehui wenti yanjiu congshu bianji weiyuanhui (社会问题研究丛书编辑委员会), ed., Lun Xiejiao: Shoujie xiejiao wenti guoji yantaohui lunwenji 论邪教：首届邪教问题国际研讨会论文集 [On Cults: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Issue of Cults] (南宁: 广西人民出版社, 2001). Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 5 poverty and ignorance, and call for increased vigilance to combat them. Such literature provides information on the organization and suppression of these groups in selected locales, but rarely draws upon material produced by the religious movements in question. Even social scientists at leading PRC tertiary institutions have been unable to gain access to these due to their politically sensitive nature.15 Anglophone studies of religion in China increasingly point to Protestant- related new religious movements as holding the potential to foment political protest and social instability,16 reflecting fragmentation within Chinese Protestantism,17 and manifesting continuity with indigenous religious traditions.18 However, these have been brief treatments, raised in the course of discussing other topics. This book offers a sustained exploration of Eastern Lightning’s teachings, activities and reception by considering five main questions: What does Eastern Lightning teach? How do these teachings relate to those of other religions in China, both past and present? How is the religion disseminated? To what extent has Eastern Lightning challenged the legitimacy of the government and Protestant churches, and how have these parties responded to Eastern Lightning? The focus is squarely on Eastern Lightning—

15 Interviews with theologian of the official Protestant church and sociologist, Nanjing and Shanghai respectively, May and April 2006. A noteworthy exception to most of the Chinese scholarship in this field is Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi: Dangdai Zhongguo xiejiao juhe jizhi yanjiu 邪教的秘密：当代中国邪教聚合机制研究 [Given English title: The Secrecy of Evil Cult: A Study on the Regime of Evil Cult Assembly in Today’s China] (北京：社会科学文献出版社, 2005). However, Wu uncritically adopts the Chinese government’s discursive category of “cults” (xiejiao), and the reliability of some of his sources is questionable (for example, interrogations of prisoners may have involved coercion). 16 Jae Ho Chung, Hongyi Lai, and Ming Xia, “Mounting Challenges to Governance in China: Surveying Collective Protestors, Religious Sects and Criminal Organizations,” China Journal 56 (2006). 17 Daniel H. Bays, “Chinese Protestant Christianity Today,” China Quarterly 174 (2003): 496– 97; Richard Madsen, “Signs and Wonders: Christianity and Hybrid Modernity in China,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-Cultural Perpectives, ed. Francis Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013), 22–24. 18 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 215–30; Kristin Kupfer, “Saints, Secrets, and Salvation: Emergence of Spiritual-Religious Groups in China between 1978 and 1989,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Francis Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013), 196–97; Goossaert and Palmer, Religious Question in Modern China, 384; Daniel H. Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 193–97. 6 CHAPTER 1 the most notorious group of its kind—but this book also illuminates dynam- ics in religion in China more broadly, and the historical legacies which shape them. While the Chinese government projects the image of a modern state seeking to protect its citizens against a newly arising movement, its response to new religious movements has been consistent with longer standing relations between such movements and Chinese rulers. Despite forming in the early 1990s, Eastern Lightning likewise owes much to far older religious sensi- bilities. These are associated not only with Christianity, but also with popular religion.

Popular Religion

Chinese ‘popular religion’ (民间宗教 minjian zongjiao) is a vexed category, used to encompass a multitude of beliefs and practices that vary widely according to the individuals who engage with them, and the area and time in which they live. This awkwardness is compounded by the fact that the concept was not indigenous to China—the neologism ‘religion’ (宗教 zongjiao) was imported from the West via Japan during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.19 In contrast to the paradigmatic ‘Western’ religion of Christianity, popular religion was not enshrined in the imperial state apparatus or distinctive social institutions, but was expressed in family and community contexts, or as C.K. Yang described it, “diffused”; “merged with . . . the social order.”20 By the late imperial era, Confucianism enjoyed an unrivalled status as the basis of the state’s ideology and bureaucratic system, and Daoism and Buddhism were established ‘teachings’ (教 jiao). Those who engaged in popular religion, however, were generally not concerned with delineating the ‘religious’ sphere from the rest of everyday life, or one religious tradition from another. Hence, now as in the past, the ‘three teachings’ of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism figure in ritual and belief alongside an array of gods and goddesses. Temples and shrines are devoted to gods associated with marriage, fertility and health, historical and legendary figures, local cults, and tutelary deities.

19 Vincent Goossaert, “Republican Church Engineering: The National Religious Associations in 1912 China,” in Chinese Religiosities: Afflications of Modernity and State Formation, ed. Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 211–14; Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes: Religion and the Politics of Chinese Modernity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009), 7–8. 20 C.K. Yang, Religion in Chinese Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 20. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 7

They coexist with practices such as geomancy (famously, 风水 fengshui), calculating auspicious dates for certain activities, spirit healings, and exorcism.21 These traditions are not set forth in a fixed canon, but are transmitted orally and in numerous scriptures imparted by mediums, as well as in books promoting morality and miracle stories.22 The plurality of Chinese popular religion reflects the overriding concern with magical or spiritual efficacy (灵 ling); a variety of gods and rituals can be summoned to solve a problem.23 However, this absence of exclusivity does not entail a lack of moral accountability for the believer, as both good and evil will be repaid (报 bao), whether by gods, karma or fate.24 In the nineteenth century, the central Qing state tended not to intervene in popular religious practices, but left it to social actors and local officials to nego- tiate their operation, or ignored them altogether.25 Throughout the twentieth century, authorities and modernizers frequently regarded popular religion as backward and ‘superstitious’ (迷信 mixin) due to its structural difference from Western Christianity, which served as the normative model of ‘modern’ religion. Represented as antithetical not only to religion, but also to science and modernity, the fortunes of popular religion therefore waxed and waned in roughly inverse proportion to the strength of the state and its nation-building enterprise.26 While some communities negotiated their coexistence with a

21 Henri Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, trans. M. Kennelly S.J., vol. 5 (Shanghai: T’usewei, 1918); Yang, Religion in Chinese Society; Ma Xisha (马西沙) and Han Bingfang (韩秉方), Zhongguo minjian zongjiao shi 中国民间宗教史 [A history of Chinese popular religion] (上海：上海人民出版社, 1992); J.J.M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, vol. 4, bk. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1901). 22 Gareth Fisher, “Morality Books and the Regrowth of Lay Buddhism in China,” in Religion in Contemporary China: Revitalization and Innovation, ed. Adam Yuet Chau (London: Routledge, 2011); Adam Yuet Chau, Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006), 48. 23 Chau, Miraculous Response, 2, 64–65. 24 Cynthia Joanne Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and the Moral Order in Late Imperial China (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 53; Lizhu Fan and James D. Whitehead, “Spirituality in a Modern Chinese Metropolis,” in Chinese Religious Life, ed. David A. Palmer, Glenn Shive, and Philip L. Wickeri (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 15–17. 25 Vincent Goossaert, “Managing Chinese Religious Pluralism in Nineteenth-Century City God Temples,” in Globalization and the Making of Religious Modernity in China: Transnational Religions, Local Agents, and the Study of Religion, 1800–present, ed. Thomas Jansen, Thoralf Klein, and Christian Meyer (Leiden: Brill, 2014). 26 Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes, 5–9. 8 CHAPTER 1 new, secular national culture, many were subjected to heavy regulation and anti-superstition drives, notably during the Nationalist Decade (1927–37).27 Popular religious activity was severely repressed during the Cultural Revolution but has resurfaced in the post-Mao period, its exuberance evident both in rural areas and in prosperous urban environments.28 Although popular religion remains susceptible to being labeled ‘superstitious’ under an atheist regime, many communities have manoeuvred to gain legitimacy through philanthropic service, or designation as ‘local custom’ or tourist site. The lived religion continues to evolve, incorporating talismans of Chairman Mao, which dangled from rearview mirrors in the mid-1990s.29

Heterodox Religions and the Chinese State

China has a rich history of rulers imposing their constructions of ‘orthodoxy’ and suppressing ‘heterodoxy.’ From the Western Han dynasty (206 BCe–9 CE), Confucian orthodoxy dictated that the emperor be revered as the True Son of Heaven, but religious movements sometimes arose to resist or oppose him. Millenarian sects blossomed in rural north China and frequently erupted in rebellion at times of social and economic crisis. The first such popular movement was instigated by the Yellow Turbans in the eastern provinces of China in 184CE and contributed to the demise of the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE).30 The late imperial era saw the proliferation of sectarian societies that involved a more deliberate and individual association than popular religion. By the mid-sixteenth century, these millenarian groups believed in an ‘Eternal Mother’ (無生老母 Wusheng laomu) who offered salvation through bodhisattvas.31 As the predicted apocalypse approached, their proselytizing

27 Shuk-Wah Poon, Negotiating Religion in Modern China: State and Common People in Guangzhou, 1900–1937 (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2011); Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes. 28 Fan and Whitehead, “Spirituality in a Modern Chinese Metropolis.” 29 Chau, Miraculous Response, 51, passim. 30 Barbara Hendrichke, “Early Daoist Movements,” in Daoism Handbook, vol. 1, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden: Brill, 2000). 31 Daniel L. Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting Sects in Late Traditional China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976), 1–2; Susan N. Naquin, “The Transmission of White Lotus Sectarianism in Late Imperial China,” in Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, ed. David G. Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn Rawski (London: University of California Press, 1985). Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 9 intensified.32 In 1774, Wang Lun proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of the Buddha Maitreya sent by the Eternal Mother to rescue her children and led a rebellion in Shandong; in 1813, members of the Eight Trigrams sect invaded the Forbidden City.33 These and similar groups were most active in rural areas of northern provinces such as Henan, which in the late twentieth century also became a hive of popular Protestant fervor and the birthplace of Eastern Lightning.34 The state referred to rebellious groups as “White Lotus Teachings” (白蓮教 Bailian jiao). The historical precedents set by this millenarian paradigm inform contemporary interpretations, both of heterodox religious movements themselves and their relationship to the state. David Ownby, for example, has argued that Falun Gong and qigong are “twentieth-century elaborations of a set of historical popular religious traditions generally labeled by scholars as ‘White Lotus Sectarianism.’ ”35 However, the supposition that they constituted a cohesive tradition has been famously problematized by Barend Ter Haar, who has shown ‘White Lotus’ to be a label that was applied indiscriminately to almost any group that was considered heterodox—i.e., at odds with the Confucian canon—by the imperial rulers.36 In his stead, Benjamin Penny points out that similarity between religious movements is not necessarily indicative of a “kin- ship relation.”37 Today, the Chinese state adds to the sense of similarity between Protestant- related new religious movements and previous heterodox groups by using the same vocabulary to label them. As Ter Haar has again shown, from the mid- Ming period the label of “heterodox teachings” (邪教 xiejiao) was central to the state’s treatment of heterodox religions, and served “to help in determining the course of action to be taken by the institution in control of ideology.”38

32 Susan N. Naquin, Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976), 17. 33 Ibid.; Susan N. Naquin, Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981). 34 J.J.M. de Groot, Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China: A Page in the History of Religions (Amsterdam: Johannes Muller, 1903), 152; Yang, Religion in Chinese Society, 225. 35 David Ownby, “A History for Falun Gong: Popular Religion and the Chinese State since the Ming Dynasty,” Nova Religio 6, no. 2 (2003): 223. See also David Ownby, Falun Gong and the Future of China (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 24–25. 36 B.J. ter Haar, The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999 [1992]). 37 Benjamin Penny, The Religion of Falun Gong (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 27–29. 38 ter Haar, White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History, 13–14. 10 CHAPTER 1

Thus, the significance of today’s Protestant-related new religious movements is partly that they demonstrate continuity rather than difference. Even as popular media and academic studies rightly make much of the rapid pace of China’s social transformations, this book reminds us that issues of orthodoxy and heterodoxy remain at the core of Chinese religion and the state’s regulation of it.

Eastern Lightning and the Making of Chinese Christianity

Wherever it has taken root since its nascent days in Jerusalem, Christianity has changed—and been changed by—the cultures with which it has come in contact. Despite often being thought of as a Western religion, it became such only after a long period of accommodation and adaptation. This process was reflected in artistic depictions of Jesus Christ, church architecture, and doctrinal interpretations. In the Germanic lands of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, for example, Jesus became a “blond Aryan”, and “the biblical LORD became a feudal lord.”39 More recently, African Christians have followed indigenous conventions by giving God vernacular names, Pentecostals in Latin America have retained the authoritarian leadership and patronage networks found in popular culture, and some Koreans have depicted Jesus as a liberator from hatred (han) along the lines of a traditional shaman (mudang).40 Christianity has been undergoing a process of inculturation in China from first contact in the seventh century, when Nestorian missionaries from Syria translated their teachings using Buddhist and Daoist terms (Buddhism itself having been of foreign origin).41 The Jesuit missionaries of the sixteenth century became famed for their attitude of accommodation towards Chinese cultural practices, styling themselves as Chinese scholars and Buddhist priests so as to facilitate the acceptance of their teachings among the Chinese elite.42 By the mid-eighteenth century, Christianity had become a local religion in at least

39 Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 7. 40 Andrew F. Walls, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002), 120–21; David Martin, Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), 282; Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, The Jesus of Asian Women (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2006), 100. 41 Bays, New History of Christianity in China, 10. I consider “indigenization,” “inculturation,” and “contextualization” to be largely synonymous, although the latter two are used primarily by theologians. 42 Liam Matthew Brockey, Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579–1724 (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 33, 68. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 11 some places.43 This was aided by the elite persecution of Christianity as heterodoxy; officials often associated Catholicism with ‘White Lotus’ groups due to its departure from the official orthodoxy and similarities in the social background of adherents.44 The association was not entirely unfounded: from the early eighteenth century significant numbers of converts to Catholicism were in fact drawn from popular religious sects, resulting in the “cross-fertilization” of religious traditions.45 Suspicions about the heterodox nature of Catholicism culminated in the Yongzheng emperor’s proscription of the religion in 1724. A century of persecution ensued, which assisted the process of localization by binding Christians together as they hid alongside each other.46 Laamann assesses that by 1800, Catholicism in China had become “largely independent of foreign influence.”47 The stigma of Christianity’s foreign origin was reinforced following the Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century. The first Protestant missionary had arrived in China in 1807, but the post-war treaties facilitated an influx of missionaries and subsequent growth in the number of Chinese Protestants. During these decades, the Taiping rebellion (1851–64) also demonstrated that syncretic brands of Protestantism could hold popular appeal and wreak social and political havoc on a gigantic scale. Hong Xiuquan 洪秀全 (1814–64) received revelation that he was Jesus’ younger brother and was entrusted with establishing God’s kingdom on earth. While using Protestant vocabulary and annotating portions of the Bible, Hong’s doctrine bore traces of an array of other religious, philosophical and cultural traditions including Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and secret societies such as the Heaven and Earth Society (天地会 Tiandi hui).48 His Taiping Army slaughtered some twenty million people, took control of large areas of southern China, and came within one hundred miles of the imperial capital, Beijing. Chinese officials today extol the Taipings as forerunners of Communist peasant uprisings, but awareness of

43 Lars Peter Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China: Christian Inculturation and State Control, 1720–1850 (London: Routledge, 2006), 25. 44 ter Haar, White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History, 220. 45 Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 23ff. See also Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, The Bible and the Gun (New York: Routledge, 2002), 34–36. 46 Eugenio Menegon, Ancestors, Virgins and Friars: Christianity as a Local Religion in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2009), 9. 47 Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 70. 48 Eugene Powers Boardman, Christian Influence upon the Ideology of the Taiping Rebellion, 1851–1864 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1952); Vincent Y.C. Shih, The Taiping Ideology: Its Sources, Interpretations, and Influences (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967). 12 CHAPTER 1 this rebellion also surely contributes to official apprehension towards quasi- Christian movements and Christianity in general. Chinese Protestantism saw continued growth and greater diversity in the early twentieth century. Notably, up to 150 Pentecostal missionaries arrived in China between 1908 and 1915, around a decade after the birth of the religion in North America.49 Their converts went on to found indigenous Pentecostal sects such as the Jesus Family,50 the True Jesus Church51 and the Little Flock.52 The theological conservatism, millenarianism and evangelistic zeal of these movements proved attractive, and by the 1940s independent churches, many of which were Pentecostal, accounted for perhaps 20–25 percent of all Chinese Protestants.53 At the same time, elements of Christianity were being popularized by syncretic sects.54 Despite the harsh persecution of Christianity in the People’s Republic of China up until the late 1970s, the number of Protestants grew from around seven hundred thousand in 1949 to three million in 1982.55 Chinese Protestantism has seen dramatic grow over the last thirty years. The official church currently estimates that China has between 23 million and 40 million

49 Allan Anderson, Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2007), 138; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 45–46. 50 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 64–84. 51 Lian Xi, “A Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China: The Launch of the True Jesus Church in the Early Twentieth Century,” Modern China 34, no. 4 (2008): 407–8. 52 Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, “Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China,” Church History 74, no. 1 (2005); Daniel H. Bays, “The Growth of Independent Christianity in China, 1900–1937,” in Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Daniel H. Bays (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996); Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 155–78. 53 Daniel H. Bays, “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937: A Pentecostal Case Study,” in Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, ed. Steven Kaplan (New York: New York University Press, 1995), 126. 54 Lian Xi, “Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China,” 433, passim; Philip Clart, “Jesus in Chinese Popular Sects,” in The Chinese Face of Jesus Christ, vol. 3b, ed. Roman Malek (Sankt Augustin, Germany: Monumenta Serica Institute & China-Zentum, 2007), 1317, 1330; Thomas Jansen, “Sectarian Religions and Globalization in Nineteenth-Century China: The Wanbao baojuan 萬寶寶卷 (1858) and Other Examples,” in Globalization and the Making of Religious Modernity in China: Transnational Religions, Local Agents, and the Study of Religion, 1800–Present, ed. Thomas Jansen, Thoralf Klein, and Christian Meyer (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 128–30. 55 Yang, “Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China,” 103. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 13

Protestants,56 while Western commentators double those figures based on their knowledge of unregistered ‘house’ churches (家庭教会 jiating jiaohui).57 Much of Chinese Protestantism continues to be characterized by personal experience of miraculous events (chiefly, faith healing and visions), literal interpretation of the Bible, Pentecostal forms of worship and eschatological expectation.58 This ecstatic brew prevails in rural areas, and is contrasted with the somewhat more measured evangelicalism of urban churches frequented by young intellectuals and those run by entrepreneur ‘boss Christians.’59 Is Eastern Lightning another step along the path to the indigenization of Protestantism in China? This is an important question, in part because indigenization is central to the politics of legitimation for Chinese Christians. Despite the transformation of Catholicism into a local religion in the eighteenth century and the insistence of indigenous churches in the early twentieth century that they were independent of foreign missions, the ‘official’ Protestant and Catholic associations were founded in the early 1950s on the assertion that Christianity was a ‘foreign religion’ (洋教 yangjiao) in China. Founded on an anti-imperialist ideology, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (三自爱国适动 San zi aiguo yundong; TSPM) sought to be “self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing” (自养、自传、自治 ziyang, zichuan, zizhi)—goals that had, ironically, been espoused by English missionaries in the early nineteenth century.60 The TSPM has served as the legal Protestant association and has governed registered Protestant congregations at the national, provincial and county levels since that time except for during the Cultural Revolution, when all forms of religious expression were repressed.

56 Jiang Hongbing (姜泓冰), “Zhongguo Jidutu renshu zai 2300 wan zhi 4000 wan zhijian 中国基督徒人数在 2300 万至 4000 万之间” [Chinese Christians number between 23 million and 40 million]. Available at http://www.mzb.com.cn/html/report/140822760-1. htm. Accessed September 3, 2014. 57 Tony Lambert, China’s Christian Millions (Oxford: Monarch, 2006), 19; Jason Kindopp, “Policy Dilemmas in China’s Church-State Relations: An Introduction,” in God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, ed. Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), 2; Pew Research Center, “Table: Christian Population in Numbers by Country.” Available at http://www.pewforum .org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-in-numbers-by-country/. Accessed July 24, 2014. 58 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 2. 59 Cf. Nanlai Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem: Christians, Power and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2010). 60 Philip L. Wickeri, Seeking the Common Ground: Protestant Christianity, the Three-Self Movement, and China’s United Front (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), 37. 14 CHAPTER 1

Today the TSPM maintains that Protestantism was “unfortunately linked with Western colonial expansion and aggression” during the nineteenth century and was therefore largely rejected by Chinese people.61 Chinese scholars and TSPM theologians therefore insist that the TSPM is the proper embodi- ment of and vehicle for the indigenization of Protestantism. They contrast the ‘indigenous’ TSPM and its theology that is ‘adapted to socialist society’ (与社会主义相适应 yu shehui zhuyi xiang shiying) with house churches and Protestant-related new religious movements, which are frequently alleged to have shady foreign connections.62 In fact, churches operating at a popular level away from the national, official Protestant organizations have undertaken indigenization more organi- cally, developing their own styles of worship and organization as they have been largely independent of foreign missions since the early 1950s (and in some cases, much earlier). One of the keys to Christianity’s success has been its congruence with—and often, adoption of—elements and forms of popular religion and earlier heterodox sects.63 The overlap has included charismatic phenomena, to the extent that it often seems not that foreign Christianity has transformed Chinese culture, but that “the robust religious culture of the Chinese enchanted world . . . has to a great degree transformed Western ‘fundamentalist’ Christianity into its own likeness.”64 Thus, Protestantism is “no longer a foreign religion”, but a popular, Chinese religion.65

61 CCC/TSPM, “Lianghui jianjie‘两会’简介” [A brief introduction to the CCC and TSPM]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/quanguolianghui/lianghuijianjie.html. Accessed September 3, 2014. 62 For example, Duan Qi (段琦), Fenjin de licheng: Zhongguo jidujiao de bensehua 奋进的历程:中国基督教的本色化 [A spirited journey: The indigenization of Christianity in China] (北京：商务印书馆, 2004); Ni Guangdao (倪光道), “Shenxue chujinghua yu sanzi aiguo yundong 神学处境化与三自爱国适动” [Theological contextualization and the TSPM]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/church/semin/2010/831/10831412 .html. Accessed August 22, 2013. 63 Bays, New History of Christianity in China, 193–94; Richard Madsen, “Beyond Orthodoxy: Catholicism as Chinese Folk Religion,” in China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future, ed. Stephen Uhalley and Xiaoxin Wu (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001); Leung Ka-lun (梁家麟), “Suben qingyuan: Jidujiao xinxing jiaopai yu Zhongguo jiaohui huiying 溯本清源：基督教新興教派與中國教會回應” [Given English title: “Christian Sects and the Chinese Churches (sic) Response”], 中宣文集 [Given English title: CMS Journal ] 6 (2006): 29, 14ff. 64 Madsen, “Signs and Wonders,” 23. 65 Quotation from Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem, 7. Also Peter Tze Ming Ng, “From ‘Christianity in China’ to ‘Chinese Christianity’: Changing Paradigms and Changing Perspectives,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Sociocultural Perspectives, ed. Francis Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 15

Eastern Lightning is an extension of this phenomenon. Its use of indigenous traditions is more forthright than popular Christianity, and it modifies Christian teaching more radically, supplanting Jesus Christ with a Female Christ who is redolent of an indigenous goddess. Hence, Protestants join Chinese authorities in viewing Eastern Lightning as an aberration, and categorically different to orthodox or ‘normal’ Christianity. Nevertheless, Eastern Lightning reflects and contributes to the localization of Christian-related symbols and practices. As we shall see, it does this in ways that are creative and that resonate with Chinese religious history.

Notes on Key Terms

‘Eastern Lightning’ The first report of Eastern Lightning that I have found was written in 1992 about activities in March 1991, and refers to it as “the Church of the Lord of New Abilities” (新能力主教会 Xin nengli zhu jiaohui).66 In the year 2000, an internal government report stated that this organization “evolved” into Eastern Lightning after authorities in Heilongjiang banned it.67 The appellation ‘Eastern Lightning’ (东方闪电 Dongfang shandian, occasionally also translated as ‘Oriental Lightning’ or ‘Lightning from the East’) was first recorded by Chinese Christian publications in the mid-late 1990s.68 It was undoubtedly derived from the title of Eastern Lightning’s scripture in circulation at the time, Lightning from the East (东方发出的闪电 Dongfang fachu de shandian);69 as Chapter 3 of this book explains, this title is taken in turn from a verse in the Gospel of Matthew. Less frequently, people outside the group have also referred

Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013); Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 8; Madsen, “Signs and Wonders,” 22–26. 66 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织” [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb], TF 5 (1992): 24. The group is clearly identifiable as Eastern Lightning as the article mentions its scripture title and characteristic doctrines. 67 “Notice on Various Issues Regarding Identifying and Banning of Cultic Organizations,” Chinese Law and Government 36, no. 2 (2003 [2000]): 26. 68 “New Attempt to Crack Down on Cults,” CSJ 11, no. 2 (1996): 49; TF 11 (1997): 23–26. “Notice on Various Issues” reports that ‘Eastern Lightning’ was proscribed in 1995, suggesting that the term had been used by officials prior to that, but the original document has not been made public (26–27). 69 This title is mentioned in three articles in TF 11 (1997): 23–26. 16 CHAPTER 1 to it by the name of 实际神 Shiji shen, which English translations render “Real God” or “Practical God.” For most of its history, Chinese Christians, the media and authorities have refrained from using the group’s autonym of ‘Church of Almighty God’ (全能神教会 Quannengshen jiaohui), probably because they do not consider it a legiti- mate ‘church.’ They began to refer to the group as ‘The Cult of Almighty God’ (全能神邪教 Quannengshen xiejiao) in late 2012,70 perhaps to heighten public vigilance against the group without giving it ‘church’ status. Western media have been slightly more tolerant, and recently began to adopt the autonym.71 I choose to refer to the new religious movements discussed in this book in a manner consistent with most of the existing publications in the Chinese and English languages (i.e., mostly “Eastern Lightning” rather than “Church of Almighty God”). While wary of imposing an exogenous term, particularly one that has been wielded in denigrating contexts, I do so here for the sake of clarity—navigating the terrain of Chinese religion is arduous enough without further obfuscation by differences in naming. To be frank, I also think the shorter version reads and types better! Works produced by Eastern Lightning are nevertheless referenced as authored by the “Church of Almighty God,” since these words are printed on materials generated by the group.

‘Heterodoxy’ et al. This book follows existing scholarship in using the adjective ‘orthodox’ to translate the Chinese word 正 zheng and refer to religions that are supported by the state, and ‘heterodox’ to translate the Chinese word 邪 xie and refer to religions that are repressed by it.72 ‘Heterodox Protestantism’ thus refers not to groups that depart from religious norms or my own personal preferences, but to those forms of Protestantism that the state seeks to suppress—including, on occasion, unregistered ‘house’ churches. It is difficult to translate the Chinese term xiejiao in a way that encapsulates both its contemporary and historical usages, and so I mostly retain the Chinese original. Other times, I use the literal translation of ‘heterodox teachings’ for

70 For example, “Qing Qian zhuahuo 700 yu ‘quannengshen’ xiejiao renyuan 青黔抓获 700 余‘全能神’邪教人员” [Over 700 members of “Almighty God” cult arrested in Qinghai and Guizhou]. Available at http://newspaper.jfdaily.com/jfrb/html/2012-12/20/ content_942877.htm. Accessed January 17, 2013. 71 Jacobs, “Chatter of Doomsday Makes Beijing Nervous.” 72 Hubert Seiwert, Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 2, 454–55; Kwang-Ching Liu and Richard Shek, “Introduction,” in Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China, ed. Kwang-Ching Liu and Richard Shek (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2004), 1; Ma Xisha (马西沙) and Han Bingfang (韩秉方), Zhongguo minjian zongjiao shi 中国民间宗教史, 7. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 17 late imperial contexts, and ‘cults’ for the mid-1990s onwards, so as to reflect the Chinese government’s relatively recent attempts to align its opposition to new religious movements with global anti-cult discourses. Since 1999, Chinese government organs have frequently rendered xiejiao as “evil cults” and so this more pejorative term, too, is occasionally used to reflect the ire with which the state regards new religious movements. I use the term ‘heresy’ to approximate the Chinese yiduan (异端) and to indicate one religious association’s negative assessment of another’s teachings. While this term was ubiquitous in the political persecution of heterodox groups during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, it carries more of a religious flavor in contemporary Chinese usage, as material in Chapter 7 illustrates.

‘Official’ and ‘House’ Churches In this book, the term ‘Protestant’ refers to both official and unofficial churches. The TSPM resents the descriptor of ‘official church’ (官方教会 guanfang jiaohui). While it is true that the TSPM is not a government organ, it is the Protestant church organization sanctioned by Chinese religious policy, and ‘official churches’ or ‘registered churches’ reflects their status with the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA).73 ‘Unregistered’ or ‘unofficial churches,’ then, refers to congregations that are not registered with SARA. These congregations are also called ‘house churches’ (家庭教会 jiating jiaohui), even though many of these churches meet in venues other than houses (for example, caves, fields, hotels or even factories), and boast a very large attendance. Some TSPM gatherings take place in homes and are registered as ‘meeting points’ (聚会点 juhui dian) with SARA; for the purposes of this book, however, they are considered ‘official churches’ rather than ‘house churches.’

‘Protestants’ and ‘Protestant-related New Religious Movements’ I refer to Eastern Lightning and similar groups as ‘Protestant-related new religious movements.’ In so doing I follow scholars of religion who since the 1960s have chosen to use the term ‘new religious movement’ in preference to ‘cult’ or ‘sect’, so as to avoid the negative connotations of the latter terms.

73 The State Administration of Religious Affairs, formerly known as the Religious Affairs Bureau, is a government department administered by the State Council. Broadly speaking, it holds administrative control over religious organizations, and is responsible for imple- menting religious policy (as prescribed by the CCP’s United Front Work Department) and enforcing regulations on religion. Specifically, SARA registers and inspects religious venues, and authorizes the appointment of ministers of religion. 18 CHAPTER 1

That said, the term ‘new religious movements’ is arguably a misnomer. One of this book’s central arguments is that Eastern Lightning is not entirely ‘new’; though it has emerged in the past twenty years and boasts a website, it draws on a sectarian paradigm that is very well-established. As will be addressed in Chapter 5, many Chinese assessments also deny that the religious groups discussed here are ‘religious.’ Further, the extent to which some of them can be considered ‘movements’ is also questionable given lapses in communication and coordination between congregations in different areas. The term ‘new religious movements’ must therefore be read with these caveats in mind.74 I describe the new religious movements discussed here as ‘Protestant- related’ to acknowledge their simultaneous borrowing of and departure from doctrinal and ritual elements of Protestantism. I use ‘Protestant’ rather than ‘Christian’ because Protestantism and Catholicism are distinct traditions in China; the groups discussed here have no links to Catholicism other than a handful of converts. Given that new religious movements adopt Christian vocabulary, and in many cases claim to be essentially Protestant (just a purer version than those that have hitherto been on offer), the boundaries between ‘house church’ and ‘new religious movement’ can be difficult to discern, and in some cases may be more theoretical than empirical. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge the differing relationships these groups have with Protestant traditions, as they themselves do. Three main factors distinguish new religious movements from Protestant churches. The first is a substantially new or revised doctrine in relation to Christianity—chiefly, the claims that Christ has come again or that the Bible has been superseded by another text. The second factor in this book’s treatment of certain groups as ‘new religious movements’ is the consensus of Chinese Protestant publications and online discussions. New religious movements generally have a high degree of tension with both the TSPM and house churches, and Christian opinion is seldom divided on whether a certain group is orthodox in its religion. The third factor germane to identifying ‘new religious movements’ is their degree of tension with the Chinese state. While there has been an expansion in the expressions of Protestantism that are either officially permitted or occupy an ambiguous legal status but operate relatively undisturbed, the Chinese government has banned the movements discussed here in no uncertain terms. The bellicosity is mutual. Whereas the resurgence

74 For further discussion, see George D. Chryssides, Exploring New Religions (London: Cassell, 1999), 11–18. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 19 of religion in China since Mao has been marked by “quiescence and accommodation with the state,”75 new religious movements are hostile towards the government.

Accessing Eastern Lightning

This book has a textual focus. It examines written statements and publications for what they tell us about the doctrines, documents and experiences of Eastern Lightning and the responses of the Chinese state and Protestants to it. Whereas most Protestant-related new religious movements reportedly either have no scriptures of their own or circulate them only in relatively remote communities, a small number of Eastern Lightning followers has moved to the USA and set up websites which boast scriptures, hymns, sermons, testimonies and church regulations.76 This has proven a windfall for researching a movement that is illegal in China. Admittedly, it is unclear how many Eastern Lightning followers engage with its websites. In the first instance, residing primarily in rural regions of northern China (particularly Henan and Anhui provinces), many adherents fall on the disadvantaged side of the ‘digital divide.’ The internet penetration rate in rural China reached 29 percent by the end of 2013, having increased exponentially over the past decade. Nevertheless, agricultural workers—who are reported to be a major source of adherents for new religious movements—made up just 7 percent of internet users.77 Second, potential users may be deterred by government regulations, which prohibit accessing Eastern Lightning’s website. The Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Maintaining Internet Security passed in December 2000 states that “in order to protect national security and social stability”, anyone who “uses the Internet to organize a cultic organization or contact members of a cultic organization”

75 Mayfair Mei-hui Yang, “Introduction,” in Chinese Religiosities: Afflications of Modernity and State Formation, ed. Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 5. 76 As of mid-2014 Eastern Lightning’s website was at www.hidden-advent.org (simplified Chinese characters), www.godfootsteps.org (traditional Chinese characters), www.holy spiritspeaks.org (English) and http://kr.kingdomsalvation.org/ (Korean). For more on Eastern Lightning’s earlier websites, see Emily C. Dunn, “Netizens of Heaven: Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web,” Asian Studies Review 31, no. 4 (2007). 77 China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), “Statistical Report on Internet Development in China.” Available at http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/ 201404/U020140417607531610855.pdf. Accessed August 16, 2014. 20 CHAPTER 1 will be prosecuted.78 Eastern Lightning’s websites are blocked in the PRC. The ‘Great Firewall of China’ can be circumvented by using a computer outside China as a proxy server (for example, via a virtual private network), but Eastern Lightning’s texts suggest that few followers connect with the group through the internet. Fortunately, comparison of the texts available from Eastern Lightning’s website with hard copies distributed by the group in the PRC confirms that the material on the internet is the same as that circulating on the ground.79 The web content is also consistent with other reports of Eastern Lightning’s teachings and activities, such as Chinese newspapers and Protestant articles. Thus, it can be supposed that Eastern Lightning’s website does indeed reflect the group’s ‘official’ doctrine, from which individuals’ beliefs and practices may nevertheless diverge considerably. The corpus of Eastern Lightning texts includes several genres, all of which are discussed at appropriate junctures throughout this book. The most sacred of Eastern Lightning’s texts, its scripture, is The Word Appears in the Flesh (话在肉身显现 Hua zai roushen xianxian), which was written between 1991 and 1997. Adherents hold this volume to be the “Word of the Almighty God” (全能神的话语 Quannengshen de huayu), and to contain the teachings of the Female Christ as either enunciated or written by her. It has periodically been published under different titles to avoid detection by Chinese security forces and wary Protestants; earlier, partial editions of The Word Appears in the Flesh were titled Lightning from the East (东方发出的闪电 Dongfang fachu de shandian) and The Holy Spirit Speaks to the Churches (圣灵向众教会说话 Shengling xiang zhong jiaohui shuohua). Besides the general attribution to the Almighty God and Female Christ, no information about the authors or transcribers of The Word Appears in the Flesh is given. Some sections are written from “God’s” point of view and others in the third person, suggesting multiple contributors. All are written in modern Chinese prose, are often colloquial, highly polemical, and have a

78 Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (全国人民代表大会常务委员会), “Quanguo renmin daibiao dahui changwu weiyuanhui guanyu weihu hulianwang anquan de jueding 全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于维护互联网安全的决定” [Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on maintaining internet security]. Available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/it/2006-04/30/ content_4495376.htm. Accessed August 20, 2013. Refer to Article 2.4. 79 In 2006 I obtained hard copies of several Eastern Lightning texts by ordering them from its website. They are consistent with reports of Eastern Lightning’s texts emanating from the PRC mainland, and copies distributed in Hong Kong. Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 21 distinctly northern Chinese flavor. A limited range of tones and themes domi- nates the pages—praising God and jubilation at the coming of the new era, chastisement of believers, and vitriolic pronouncements against unbelievers. In an attempt to reach English speakers, Eastern Lightning began to provide (clumsy) English translations of selected portions of The Word Appears in the Flesh in early 2006. The translators’ preface to this conceded that that “none of us is a linguist or has a good command of our mother tongue”;80 indeed, Eastern Lightning’s scriptures, sermons and essays are repetitive, verbose, ram- bling in structure and frequently opaque in meaning. In this respect, and their bureaucratic tone, they resemble the type of writing and speeches which prevailed during the Cultural Revolution.81 In addition to The Word Appears in the Flesh, sermons, testimonies, hymns and instructions pertaining to church activities are also used by Eastern Lightning believers. These are regarded as possessing lesser religious authority than the scriptures, but are helpful in clarifying how Eastern Lightning’s leaders understand the teachings. Hymns are of two varieties. The lyrics of the Hymns from God’s Word (神话诗歌 Shenhua shige) are passages of scripture, while the words of the Kingdom Praises (国度的赞美 Guodu de zanmei) have been written about the “life experiences” of adherents.82 Both have been set to the tunes of folk, pop and or Communist propaganda songs and are thus similar to Christian Songs of Canaan (迦南诗歌 Jia’nan shige), which were penned by Henan peasant Lü Xiaomin 吕小敏 from 1989 and are now used widely in house churches throughout China. Still other types of literature generated by Eastern Lightning are used for proselytizing and apologetics. Texts for this purpose include answers to frequently asked questions, essays that attempt to refute detractors’ criticisms of the movement, an “About Us” statement, and anthologies of anecdotes that relate tales of divine retribution, dreams and visions. As these texts are used to represent the movement to outsiders, they give insight into the kinds of narratives Eastern Lightning believes will attract people to the religion, and bestow legitimacy in the Chinese religious context. Reports from Chinese state and Protestant sources provide supplementary information on Eastern Lightning. The magazine of the national Protestant

80 Church of Almighty God, The Scroll that the Lamb Opened: From “The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh” (short title: SLO), xiii. 81 Lowell Dittmer and Chen Ruoxi, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Berkeley: University of California, 1981), 45. 82 Together, these two collections of hymns appear as Church of Almighty God, Gensuizhe gaoyang chang xin’ge 跟随着羔羊唱新歌 [Sing a new song with the Lamb]. 22 CHAPTER 1 associations, theological journals and online discussion forums narrate the conflict between Protestants and new religious movements. Newspapers inform of suppression and reeducation at a local level, and leaked state documents published by US-based non-government organizations in 2002 provide insight into the state’s concerns about Eastern Lightning at the turn of the millennium.83 In all of these materials, Eastern Lightning and other new religious movements are represented as criminal, and morally and theologically corrupt. Cult leaders rape women and engage in fraud; members use deceptive means to recruit new members; the groups’ theology is undeveloped and outrageously unbiblical, and while cults are seriously dangerous, there is also an overriding sense of incredulity that anyone would join these movements. Accusations made against new religious movements must be viewed with circumspection. This is no less the case when they are supported by the statements of ‘cult’ leaders who are now in prison,84 as accusations of coercion have been made by their supporters.85 The primary contribution of these materials to this book therefore lies in informing us about their authors’ perceptions and depictions of new religious movements, and the possible ideologies and interests behind them. Protestant-related new religious movements such as Eastern Lightning are deemed by the Chinese Communist Party to be illegal organizations that are to be diligently suppressed. For this reason, no attempt was made to contact Eastern Lightning adherents within the PRC, or to conduct participant- observation fieldwork on this subject. I did, however, hold conversations on the topic with approximately two dozen academics, theologians and a smaller number of Protestants over three months in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing in 2006. Their names are not given in this book in accordance with their wishes. In addition to activities in China, there are reports of Eastern

83 These documents were first released by Li Shixiong and Fu Xiqiu (Bob Fu), Religion and National Security in China: Secret Documents from China’s Security Sector (New York: Committee for the Investigation of the Persecution of Religion in China, 2002). Reprinted in Chinese Law and Government 36 (3): 2003. The leaking of these documents did not elicit a response from Chinese officials, but they have nevertheless been treated as authentic by recent scholarship on religion in China. 84 For example, Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, passim; CCTV News, “Cult member: Murdered Woman an ‘Evil Spirit.’ ” Available at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=xSb67nOPEhg. Accessed September 22, 2014. 85 The daughter of the executed leader of the Three Grades of Servant movement claimed that her father’s confessions had been obtained under torture. Anthony Kuhn, “China Gives Christian Trio Death Terms in Killings,” in All Things Considered (National Public Radio, July 8, 2006). Eastern Lightning and Religion in China 23

Lightning adherents in North America.86 Archived versions of the group’s website listed an address in New York, which I visited in early 2005. The address was a suburban home in an area heavily populated by Chinese migrants. Residents claimed to have no knowledge of any religious group having been there, and so I can only presume that the house was previously inhabited by a member of the group who has since moved on. I communicated briefly with an Eastern Lightning representative in the USA via email on several occasions. However, the correspondent declined to answer my questions about the group, referring me instead back to the Church’s texts, which she claimed would answer all my questions. I followed her advice, and found that together with materials from Chinese Protestant groups and state organs, they do indeed illuminate a heterodox subculture related to Chinese Protestantism.

Book Structure

Chapter 2 of this book chronicles the development of Protestant-related new religious movements in the PRC since the early 1980s, when religious expression was flourishing and reconfiguring after decades of repression. Most of these groups were offshoots of indigenous and millenarian sects that had emerged during the republican period (1912–49). To discern their chief characteristics and collective significance for the field of Chinese religion, I here study nine of the movements that the state has banned. Chapter 3 expounds Eastern Lightning’s doctrine and eschatology, examining scriptures, hymns and testimonies, and presents a cogent account of the group’s beliefs. Teachings that are prominent in scriptures but seldom acknowledged by commentators are unearthed, leading to a critical assessment of state and Protestant characterizations of the group. Eastern Lightning’s apocalyptic and millenarian vision is explained, and areas of affinity between its beliefs and those of popular religions are identified. While the idea that “Jesus is back, and she’s Chinese”87 is novel for a Western audience, it makes sense in the social and religious setting from which Eastern Lightning draws its members.

86 Wu Minggao (吴明高), “Xiejiao weifa fanzui huodong de qushi ji chuzhi duice 邪教违法犯罪活动的趋势及处置对策” [Trends in cults’ criminal activities and measures for addressing them], 政法学刊 30, no. 2 (2013): 82; Matthew Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese,” Time, November 5, 2001. 87 Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese.” 24 CHAPTER 1

In a case study of the development of Eastern Lightning’s doctrine, Chapter 4 traces the origins of its teachings concerning a ‘big red dragon’ back through the history of Christianity in China. While the previous chapter demonstrated its congruence with popular religion, the discussion here shows that Eastern Lightning is also located firmly within a tradition of heterodox Protestantism. Chapter 5 discusses the relationship between Protestant-related new religious movements and the Chinese state. As with Falun Gong, this has been one of outright suppression. Specifically, I examine the labeling of Protestant- related new religious movements as “heterodox doctrines” or “cults” (邪教 xiejiao). This has been bound up with the regulation of Protestantism, and the campaign against Falun Gong. Eastern Lightning’s recruitment techniques are the subject of Chapter 6, which draws on Eastern Lightning sources such as plans for church development, a missionary manual and testimonies of conversion. Common proselytizing methods include the distribution of tales of dreams and visions, the movement of lay evangelists throughout the nation, and the cultivation of social networks. The group’s detractors tell a different story, however, alleging that Eastern Lightning routinely uses kidnapping, violence and deception to lure naive Protestants into its lair. These allegations are narrated and evaluated. Eastern Lightning and other Protestant-related new religious movements have been of particular concern to Protestant communities, which decry the heretical nature of their doctrine and rue their successful attempts to proselytize Christians. Protestant responses to ‘heresy’ over the last three decades are explored in Chapter 7. While these have been characterized by unanimous and sustained vilification, they also reflect cleavages in understandings of religious orthodoxy and heresy. Chapter 8 concludes the inquiry by considering Eastern Lightning’s relationship to both the local and global religious environments. I also discuss recent developments in the movement, and what they might mean for its future. Together, these chapters unveil dynamic, complex and fraught interactions among an array of political and religious actors, and the historical legacies that continue to shape them. CHAPTER 2 Protestant-related New Religious Movements in Contemporary China

From the late 1970s, religion flourished in China. The Communist Party ended the extreme suppression of religion that had prevailed during the Cultural Revolution, publicly acknowledged that religion would persist as a social phenomenon for the foreseeable future, and called for the respect of freedom of religious belief.1 Enabled by this renewed toleration, each of the ‘five major religions’ (五大宗教 wu da zongjiao) officially recognized by the state— namely, Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism—reopened places of worship and religious training and reassembled the ‘patriotic’ religious associations that had been formed during the early years of the PRC. In the case of Protestantism, the first TSPM church reopened in April 1979, and a National Christian Conference was held the following year, in which the China Christian Council was also formed to coordinate the management and min- istries of churches.2 Reflecting the growth of Protestantism during this time (and also during the years of suppression), the number of Protestants in China had climbed from seven hundred thousand in 1949 to three million in 1982.3 Protestantism was introduced to Henan, the birthplace of Eastern Lightning, in the late nineteenth century by the missionaries of the China Inland Mission (内地会 Neidi hui). By the turn of the century, the Mission was reporting a fine spiritual harvest there and had established eight churches.4 In the early

1 Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, “Document 19.” Also Article 36, National People’s Congress, “Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.” Available at http://www.gov.cn/english/2005-08/05/content_20813.htm. Accessed February 10, 2010. 2 Theoretically, the TSPM is responsible for running churches and theological matters, while the CCC attends to pastoral needs. In practice, however, the division of responsibilities between the two Protestant organizations (i.e., TSPM / CCC) is unclear. Both have committees on national, provincial, and county levels, membership of which frequently overlaps. 3 Carsten T. Vala, “Pathways to the Pulpit: Leadership Training in ‘Patriotic’ and Unregistered Chinese Protestant Churches,” in Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China, ed. Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009), 96. 4 Wang Baoquan (王保全), “Henan sheng Jidujiao jianshi 河南省基督教简史” [A brief history of Protestantism in Henan province]. Available at http://hnjdj.lingd.net/article- 1135028–1.html. Accessed July 1, 2009.

twentieth century, an influx of other missions descended upon Henan, such that by the late 1930s the province boasted sixteen denominations, 314 churches, 394 missionaries, 1106 Chinese clergy and 12,418 Chinese Protestants.5 At the same time, indigenous and millenarian sects such as the True Jesus Church also expanded rapidly in the province.6 A TSPM Committee was established in Henan in 1958. In this year the provision of church services was drastically reduced throughout the nation under the rubric of ‘combined services’ (联合礼拜 lianhe libai), before they ceased public operations entirely during the Cultural Revolution. Since the 1980s Henan province has been a stronghold of ‘Protestant fever,’ with 800,000 Protestants, 3000 meeting points and 1800 clergy counted there by the TSPM in 1987.7 Today, sources close to the China Christian Council estimate that several percent of Henan’s 100 million-strong population have become Protestant believers.8 This figure is impressive given that such sources do not usually count members of unofficial churches or believers who have not been baptized. Alongside the expansion of registered religious organizations, popular and local religions also experienced a revival in China from the early 1980s. Tens of thousands of temples were rebuilt and practices such as geomancy, shamanism, fortune-telling, exorcism and faith healing resurfaced, despite still being branded as ‘superstitious’ (迷信 mixin) and ‘reactionary’ (反动 fandong) by the state.9 In urban areas, qigong became popular for its body cultivation techniques and supernatural claims. Unofficial Protestant groups—many of which continued to meet clandestinely and even multiplied during the Cultural Revolution—have also burgeoned since the early 1980s. Most continue to be influenced by the teachings of Watchman Nee and the indigenous sects that emerged during

5 Ibid. 6 Bays, “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937,” 136. 7 Wang Baoquan (王保全), “Henan sheng Jidujiao jianshi 河南省基督教简史.” 8 In 2004, the Amity News Service estimated 4.585 million Protestants in Henan. A 2007 estimate revised this down to 2.63 million, but in conversations with me in 2006 several workers in the national TSPM / CCC organizations cited Henan as one of several provinces with a Protestant population of over 5 million. See Amity News Service, “Church Statistics” (2004). Available at http://www.amitynewsservice.org/page.php?page=1230. Accessed April 25 2007; now defunct; Theresa Carino, “ ‘Coping’ with Rapid Church Growth in Henan,” ANS 4/6, no. 3 (2007). 9 Ann Anagnost, “Politics and Magic in Contemporary China,” Modern China 13, no. 1 (1987). Also materials reprinted in Donald E. MacInnis, Religion in China Today: Policy and Practice (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989), 387ff.; Robin Munro, “Syncretic Sects and Secret Societies,” Chinese Sociology and Anthropology 24, no. 1 (1989). Protestant-related New Religious Movements 27 the republican era.10 Accordingly, the religious revival has been characterized by Pentecostalism.11 Charisma such as miracles (chiefly, faith healing), glossolalia,12 visions and exorcisms are all widely reported, as is a climate of millenarian expectation. The national magazine of the registered Protestant bodies, Tian Feng 天风, testified to this in the first years of its resumed publication: it condemned ‘superstitious activities’ (迷信活动 mixin huodong) making their way into the church, the emphasis placed on miracles by some believers, and eschatological speculation surrounding the year 2000.13 A panoply of new religious movements emerged from this context. Who founded these movements, and where? What did they teach? What were their distinguishing characteristics? This chapter proceeds to outline nine of the Protestant-related movements banned as ‘cults’ (邪教 xiejiao) by the Chinese government—namely, the Shouters, the Established King movement, the Lord God’s Teachings, the Disciples, the New Testament Church, the Efficacious Spirit Teachings, the All Sphere Church, the Three Grades of Servants, and Eastern Lightning.14 Wherever possible, I refer to sources emanating from

10 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 215–16. 11 Alan Hunter and Kim-Kwong Chan, Protestantism in Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 134. 12 Glossolalia or “speaking in tongues” (说方言 shuo fangyan, literally “speaking in dialect”) refers to an ecstatic religious experience in which the worshipper produces vocalizations that are not recognizable as originating in any specific language. These vocalizations may then be interpreted by a fellow religious believer as a message containing spiritual insight. 13 See respectively Deng Yueming (邓月明), “Jingti fengjian mixin huodong zuanru jiaohui 警惕封建迦信活动钻入教会” [Beware of feudal and superstitious activities making their way into the church], TF 11 (1982): 23; Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩). “Shenji qishi bushi fuyin de zhongxin 神迹奇事不是福音的中心” [Miracles and unusual phenomena are not the heart of the gospel], TF 4 (1981): 19–20; Wang Shenyin (王神荫), “We Kust (sic) Put a Stop to Criminal Activities Carried out in the Name of the Church,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation, no. 12 (1983): 17. Originally published in TF 2 (1983). 14 With the exception of Eastern Lightning, each of these nine movements appeared in a list of fourteen “evil cults” circulated by the Ministry of Public Security and the General Offices of the CCP Central Committee and the State Council at the height of the suppression of Falun Gong in April 2000. (“Notice on Various Issues.”) The four Protestant-related groups included in the CCP’s list but omitted from discussion here are the Unification Church, Damin Mission, World Elijah Evangelical Mission, and Children of God. I have been unable to find reports of any substantial presence within China for these groups; since they are all foreign-based and regarded as “cults” overseas, they may have been included in the list of proscribed groups to lend legitimacy to the Chinese government’s anti-cult measures. The omission of Eastern Lightning from this list is curious; however, it has been labeled an “evil cult” in numerous other government documents. 28 CHAPTER 2 the movements themselves to support my discussion. This is possible for the ‘Shouters’, the New Testament Church and Eastern Lightning. In the remain- der of cases, I assembled information from Chinese academic sources, media reports, court transcripts and internal government documents that have been leaked to Western human rights organizations.15 As the previous chapter acknowledged, relying upon these accounts is problematic due to the Chinese government’s expressed interest in criminalizing and suppressing new religious movements. I have therefore corroborated them with materials emanating from Hong Kong theological institutions and Chinese house churches, which are frequently critical of both the TSPM and CCP. I have also chosen to omit some information that is given only by a single source, and which is either uncorroborated or contradicted by multiple materials elsewhere. The following discussion shows that Eastern Lightning fit in well with the religious climate from which it emerged. The Protestant-related new religious movements that formed in the 1980s and early 1990s have proclaimed apocalyptic teachings, held out hope of healing miracles or avoiding disaster, and practiced exorcism. They have developed and maintained transprovincial organizational networks, dispatched zealous evangelists, and printed tracts. They have gathered to sing, dance, and pray in an environment of religious innovation and revival.

‘Shouters’ (呼喊派 Huhan pai, also translated as ‘Yellers’)

The first new religious movement to attract the government’s wrath in the post-Mao era was the ‘Shouters.’ The movement so named by its detractors was established by Li Changshou (李常受, known as Witness Lee in English). In the 1940s, Lee served as one of seven leaders of the Little Flock (小群派 Xiaoqun pai), a large indigenous church founded by Watchman Nee (倪柝声 Ni Tuosheng) in the 1920s. On the eve of the 1949 revolution Lee fled to Taiwan, where he continued to develop the group, while Nee was imprisoned. In 1962 he relocated to the US, where he established the Local Church (地方教会 Difang jiaohui).16 The Church entered the PRC through Wenzhou in late 1978, armed with its own religious literature and cassette tapes. It grew rapidly,

15 For the latter, see Chinese Law and Government, 36, no. 2 (2003). 16 Jason Kindopp, “The Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China: State Control, Civil Society and Social Movement in a Single-Party State” (PhD diss., George Washington University, 2004), 436. Kindopp presents a detailed study of the Local Church on pp. 429–82. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 29 attracting followers of the Little Flock who rejected the TSPM and were now bereft of Watchman Nee, their founder who had passed away in the early 1970s. Thus, by 1983 the ‘Shouters’ boasted an estimated two hundred thousand followers in and around their Henan stronghold of Lushan city.17 Between 1974 and 1979, the Local Church’s editorial team produced a translation of the Bible, which they entitled the “Recovery Version” (恢复版 Huifu ban).18 It contains lengthy annotations written by Lee that expound his theological interpretation. In his numerous books, Lee presented his theology as restoring God’s truth, which had been neglected by modern-day Christianity. Established Christianity was fettered by institutions and had fallen into error; the Local Church had been entrusted by God with the mission of revealing the true nature of the “all-inclusive Christ” and pure Christian worship:

In today’s Christianity we see neither the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ nor the practice of the proper church life. For this reason, during the past fifty years [author’s note: i.e., since the founding of the Little Flock] the Lord has come to show us His recovery of the experience of Christ and of the proper church life . . . The Lord has shown us that Christ is the all-inclusive, wonderful One. He is all in all. He is God, the Creator, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and also the proper man.19

Lee developed the notion of an “All-Inclusive Christ” in the early 1960s, and it remained central to his theology. It referred to Lee’s belief that Christ is not just a member of the Trinity, but is himself also God the Father and the Spirit. Lee also taught that Christ is man; Christ “mingled with man” during his life on earth and remains human as well as divine in nature even now; hence, both the Creator and the creature can be found in him.20 To elucidate this concept, he reflected in relation to Jesus Christ:

17 Human Rights Watch / Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” Human Rights Watch / Asia (report) 6, no. 6 (1994): 3. 18 The Recovery Version can be viewed online at www.recoveryversion.org. 19 Witness Lee, “Contending for the Faith: The Truth Concerning the Trinity.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks.org/SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=1DD0CBD3CE. Accessed September 30, 2014. First published 1976–1977. 20 Witness Lee, “The All-Inclusive Spirit of Christ.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks .org/SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=1DDAC9DCCB. Accessed August 20, 2013. First published 1962. 30 CHAPTER 2

Within this life we have God the Son, the Father, the Spirit, and man. Take a cup of plain water and mix it with tea. Now the water is more than just water. Originally it was water, but now it is water mingled with tea. Before Christ was incarnated, He was God alone, but after His incarnation He is God mingled with man. In Him is not only the divine nature, but also the human nature, the human essence, the human element. He is God, He is the Father, He is the Son, He is the Spirit, and He is man.21

It is not these aspects of Lee’s teachings that are most commonly criticized by Chinese political and religious figures. The most distinctive and controversial aspects of Lee’s doctrine are those that concern religious rituals. In order to lead a full spiritual life, or “fully enjoy the riches of the Lord,” Lee instructed believers to imbibe the essence of Christ, or “eat the Lord.” Pointing to biblical references to eating and drinking from the time of Adam in the Garden of Eden, Lee taught that “the Bible is a book on eating [God],” and that Jesus came “for us to eat Him.” While Holy Communion is a physical representation of eating Christ, the eating of which Lee taught is a spiritual one: “The Lord is Spirit, so we must use our spirit to eat Him.”22 In practice, believers can “eat the Lord” or absorb his essence by “calling on his name.”23 According to Lee, we should call on the Lord as individuals “daily and hourly,” and also “corporately.”24 Calling upon the Lord audibly will invoke his presence with the believer and/or congregation, just as when one calls out a human being’s name, he or she will come. Although Christians who pray quietly will receive eternal life, Lee wrote, “calling loudly helps people to be saved in a richer and more thorough way . . . The more you shout, ‘O Lord Jesus, You are so good to me!’ the more you will be released from your self and filled with the Lord.”25 This practice has earned ‘the Shouters’ their

21 Ibid. 22 Witness Lee, “Eating the Lord.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks.org/ SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=1DDACBD8C5. Accessed September 30, 2014. This sermon was first given in September 1979. 23 Witness Lee, “Calling on the Name of the Lord.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks .org/SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=1EDAC7DCCD. Accessed September 30, 2014. 24 Witness Lee, “Pray-Reading the Word.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks.org/ SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=13DCCFD2CD. Accessed September 30, 2014. 25 Witness Lee, “Calling on the Name of the Lord.” Protestant-related New Religious Movements 31 appellation.26 Although the Local Church in the USA discontinued this practice in the 1980s,27 it has continued in China. The ‘Shouters’ attracted the attention of Chinese state organs and Protestant communities soon after their arrival in the PRC. In 1979, they organized protests against the government in Neixiang County in Henan province.28 In February 1982, they were denounced by the TSPM after they stormed into churches and yelled insults against the TSPM during prayer time in TSPM churches in Dongyang and Yiwu counties in Zhejiang province. Two hundred members were reported by TSPM sources to have physically assaulted churchgoers and Public Security personnel who had been called to the scene.29 In 1983, the ‘Shouters’ became the first religious group in the post-Mao era to be labeled a ‘cult’ and banned by the State Council.30 By that year, it had spread to twenty provinces and autonomous regions, and boasted an estimated two hundred thousand followers.31 The banning resulted in some two thousand arrests32 and a nation-wide crackdown on unregistered Protestant congregations. Despite the State Council’s condemnation of the ‘Shouters,’ some Local Church congregations have succeeded in registering with SARA while maintaining independence from the TSPM. In one case uncovered by Jason Kindopp, registration was granted because officials were encouraged by the fact that the Local Church had refrained from participating in the 1989 political demonstrations, and appeared to be independent from foreign control.33 Reflecting the diversity within the Local Church, many Christians within China draw a distinction between the Local Church and the ‘Shouters’ (identified with the

26 The practice of “shouting” may be a continuation of Protestant expressions that were popular during the republican era. See Human Rights Watch / Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” 2; Hunter and Chan, Protestantism in Contemporary China, 132. 27 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 467n627. 28 Neixiang County Local Gazetteer Editorial Committee (內乡县地方史志编纂委员会), ed., Neixiang xian zhi 內乡县志 [Neixiang County Gazetteer] (北京: 三联书店, 1994), 728. This gazetteer does not give any reason for the Shouters’ discontent. 29 “More on the Dongyang and Yiwu Incidents,” China Study Project Bulletin, no. 21 (1983): 29–31; Deng Fucun, “The Truth About the So-Called Dongyang & Yiwu Affair,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 12 (1983): 20–21. 30 In Zhejiang, the suppression of the Shouters was ordered by the Dongyang People’s Government on July 3, 1983. Editorial Committee of the Dongyang Municipal Gazetteer (东阳市地方志编委会), ed., Dongyang shi zhi 东阳市志, [Dongyang Municipal Gazetteer] (上海: 汉语大词典出版社, 1993), 727. 31 “Notice on Various Issues,” 26. 32 Human Rights Watch / Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” 5. 33 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 466–70. 32 CHAPTER 2 earlier and later stages of Lee’s teachings respectively), viewing the former as orthodox and the latter as heretical due to its emphasis on ‘shouting.’34 Overseas, the Local Church is sensitive to any suggestion that it is ‘heretical’ and has sued editors of an encyclopedia for listing it as such.35 Witness Lee passed away in 1997, but his death did not curb Local Church activities in the PRC, where in 2004 it had an estimated eight hundred thousand adherents.36 The ‘Shouters’’ influence was further evident as some of its members split off from the group to form their own religious movements; the Established King, the Lord God’s Teachings, and Eastern Lightning were all founded by former Shouters. Their fiery apocalypticism, ecstatic millenarianism, hostility towards the state and the conventional church, and vibrant worship, all provided a template for future movements to refer to.

Established King (被立王 Beili wang)

One such offshoot was the Established King group, which was formed by Wu Yangming (吴杨明) in 1988 and centered in Fuyang in Anhui province and Xuzhou in Jiangsu province. Born in 1945, Wu was a peasant from Yingshang County in Anhui province with a junior high school education.37 He converted to Protestantism in 1979,38 joined the Shouters in 1983, and came to lead a congregation.39 In 1983 he was arrested during the crackdown on the Shouters in Anhui province, and in 1986 he was interrogated and “re-educated.”40 This was

34 Interviews with house church leader and Christians, May 2006. 35 Mark A. Kellner, “Local Church Fights for Evangelical I.D. Card: Witness Lee Group Local Church Sues for $136 Million Over Harvest House Cults Article,” Christianity Today 47, no. 2 (2003). 36 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 430, 437. 37 Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织‘被立王’案” [The case of the ‘Established King’ cultic organization], 人民公安 Z1 (1999). Luo Weihong cites a different birthplace for Wu (though also in Anhui), and states that he had only a primary school education. Luo Weihong, “The Facts about the Activities of the Heterodox Sect ‘The Established King,’ ” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 17–21. Originally published in 当代宗教研究 (Research on contemporary religion) 1 (1998). 38 Shang Zhong (尚钟), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ bei yifa qudi 邪教组织‘被立王’被依法取缔” [“Established King” cultic organization suppressed in accordance with the law], 中国宗教 2 (1995). Originally published in TF 6 (1995). 39 Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织‘被立王’案.” 40 Shang Zhong (尚钟), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ bei yifa qudi 邪教组织’被立王’被依法取缔.” Protestant-related New Religious Movements 33 evidently ineffective, for the following year Wu was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for “using a cult to engage in illegal activities” on the basis of having established seven Shouters congregations with a total of approximately one thousand people.41 Wu reportedly founded the Established King religion after being released from prison in September 1988, claiming to have received special revelation from God. The name of the group, which is also the title Wu gave himself, invokes a word in the Gospel of Luke. Having received revelation from the Holy Spirit, a man called Simeon prophesied over the infant Jesus that “This child is destined (被立 beili) to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”42 In adopting this appellation, Wu positioned himself as the returned Christ, holding immense numinous power, and also, importantly, a potent political force destined to “cause the falling and rising” of earthly powers. In 1989, Wu was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor in connection with his religious activities, but he escaped from custody during home leave at the end of 1990.43 In April 1992, Wu was listed as ‘wanted’ by Public Security organs in six provinces, and some seventy meeting points and fifty-eight leaders of the group were uncovered.44 It was not until January 1995, however, that Wu and five other leaders were arrested by Public Security agents in Bengbu city, Anhui. The following month, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Department detained several more leaders and subpoenaed and “re-educated” over twenty other members. Authorities believed that at this time, the Established King had five hundred meeting points and tens of thousands of believers spread throughout China.45 The group was identified as a “cultic organization” by the Ministry of Public Security in August 1995.46 In September that year, Wu was sentenced to death after being convicted on charges of rape, and he was executed three months

41 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 66. 42 Luke 2:34–35. Strictly speaking, the name of the movement would therefore be better translated as “Predestined King.” For the sake of consistency, I nevertheless follow earlier renderings here. 43 Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织‘被立王’案.” 44 Leung Ka-lun (梁家麟), “Suben qingyuan 溯本清源,” 34. 45 Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织’被立王’案.” 46 “Notice on Various Issues,” 31. 34 CHAPTER 2 later.47 The group subsequently lost momentum, with many of its members transferring their affiliation to the Lord God’s Teachings.

The Lord God’s Teachings (主神教 Zhu shen jiao)

Liu Jiaguo 刘家国, founder of the Lord God’s Teachings, was born in 1964. A peasant from Huoqiu County in Anhui Province with a primary school education, he, like Wu Yangming, was once a member of the Shouters. Liu later joined the Established King movement, and in 1991 was sent to Hunan for the purpose of proselytizing, where he converted a few dozen people.48 Liu left the Established King movement to establish the Lord God’s Teachings in Hunan in late 1992. Other than claiming to be the returned Christ, few details of his teachings are known. Following the suppression of the Established King group and the execution of Wu Yangming in late 1995, the Lord God’s Teachings attracted many of its former members—presumably Liu was able to attract Wu’s followers by virtue of his previous position of leadership in Wu’s group.49 One account estimates that Liu had ten thousand followers at the group’s peak in 1997.50 In that year, the movement held a national meeting in Hunan—where it was based—and established a hierarchy that included the ranks of ‘God the Lord’ (主神 zhushen), ‘Lord on high’ (在上主 zai shang zhu), ‘Elders’ (长老 zhanglao),

47 For a very detailed account of the rapes and subsequent proceedings against Wu Yangming, see Ai Qun (艾群) and Wu Xiaolong (吴小龙), “Zhenbu xiejiao ‘beiliwang’ 侦捕邪教’被立王’ ” [The investigation and suppression of the “Established King” cult], 南风窗 4 (1997). Also “The Heretical ‘Established King Cult’ is Brought to Trial,” CSJ 10, no. 2 (1995): 59–61. 48 Jiang An (江岸) and Zhang Shiping (张世平), “ ‘Zhushen jiao’ fumie ji‘主神教’覆灭记” [A record of the destruction of the “Lord God’s Teachings”], 中国宗教 1 (1999); Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 68. Faison gives later dates for these activities in Seth Faison, “Strategy for a Charlatan in China: Claim Deity, Then Steal and Seduce,” NYT, September 18, 1999. 49 A court document simply states that Liu “inherited the mantle” of Wu Yangming. Hunan Supreme Court (湖南省高级人民法院), “Liu Jiaguo、Zhu Aiqing zuzhi, liyong xiejiao zuzhi pohuai falü shishi, qiangjian, zhapian an (xingshi panjue shu) 刘家国、朱爱清组织、利用邪教组织破坏法律实施、强奸、诈骗案 (刑事判决书)” [Verdict on Liu Jiaguo and Zhu Aiqing organizing and using a cultic organization to obstruct the law, rape and defraud]. Available at http://www.lawyee.net/Case/Case_Display .asp?RID=16609&KeyWord=°ô°°ÅÉ. Accessed April 21, 2009. 50 Faison, “Strategy for a Charlatan in China,” NYT, September 18, 1999. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 35

‘Four living creatures’ (四活物 si huo wu),51 ‘Seven angels’ (七天使 qi tianshi), ‘Provincial authority’ (省权柄 sheng quanbing), ‘County authority’ (县权柄 xian quanbing), and ‘Co-workers’ (同工 tonggong).52 Zhu Aiqing 朱爱清, a middle-aged peasant from Xiangxiang city in Hunan Province, was appointed as the ‘Lord on high.’ The Lord God’s Teachings was identified as a ‘cult’ by the General Offices of the CCP Central Committee and the State Council in April 1998.53 Two months later the Hunan Public Security Bureau arrested approximately twenty of its leaders.54 Liu was executed in October 1999, having been convicted by a Hunan court of rape, fraud, and organizing and using a cultic organization to obstruct the law. At this time, Zhu Aiqing was also sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment and fined ten thousand yuan.55 As with the Established King group, the arrest of the leader precipitated the group’s decline. Nevertheless, both religions are reported to remain active.56

The Association of Disciples (门徒会 Mentu hui)

In contrast to the trajectory of the Established King and Lord God’s Teachings, the Disciples has grown in recent years. This movement was founded in

51 In the visions recorded in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4:6–8, “four living creatures” represent creation and worship God. Eastern Lightning elsewhere draws on elements of Revelation 4, such as lightning and seven spirits. 52 “Notice on Various Issues,” 31; China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端 [Guard against and refute heresy] (China Gospel Fellowship, ca. 2002–2004, 201 pp.), 110. Leung gives a different hierarchy, perhaps reflecting regional variations within the organization. Leung Ka-lun (梁家麟), “Suben qingyuan 溯本清源,” 34. The term “coworkers” (同工 tonggong) is widely used by Protestants to refer to fellow believers who are involved in religious work such as proselytizing, often in a volunteer capacity. 53 “Notice on Various Issues,” 31. 54 Jiang An (江岸) and Zhang Shiping (张世平), “ ‘Zhushen jiao’ fumie ji‘主神教’覆灭记”; Faison, “Strategy for a Charlatan in China,” NYT, September 18, 1999. 55 Hunan Supreme Court (湖南省高级人民法院), “Liu Jiaguo, Zhu Aiqing (xingshi panjue shu) 刘家国、朱爱清 (刑事判决书).” 56 Xi Wuyi (习五一), “Yingdang guanzhu xinxing mobai tuanti de pohuaixing yinsu 应当关注新兴膜拜团体的破坏性因素” [We should pay attention to the destructive elements of newly arisen worship groups], 科学与无神论 1 (2010): 52; CCC/TSPM, “Anhui sheng Jidujiao diwuci daibiao huiyi zai Hefei longzhong zhaokai 安徽省基督教第五次代表会议在合肥隆重召开” [Fifth Anhui Christian Congress convened in Hefei]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/news/lo_ex/2013/520/13520188.html. Accessed August 23, 2013. 36 CHAPTER 2

Xunyang County in Shaanxi Province by Ji Sanbao 季三保, who is said to have been born on Christmas Day in 1940. Accounts of the Disciples’ development give conflicting details, but all begin in 1976, when Ji converted to Christianity following the death of two of his young children. He joined the True Jesus Church and established a congregation in his family home. He soon proved to be a gifted evangelist, and roamed the countryside preaching for much of the early 1980s. Abundant acts of healing and exorcism attested to his spiritual efficacy and ensured his popularity.57 Alongside these miracles, Ji’s connection with alimentary sustenance is prominent in the teachings of the Disciples. One day, while Ji was praying, he reputedly

suddenly saw a pillar of light streaming into his [wooden chest for grain storage]. Through this light, grain flowed like water into the chest. Seeing that it had filled and was about to overflow, [Ji] cried out “Enough! Enough!” The shaft of light instantly disappeared, and the chest was left full of grain . . . From this time on, he lived on this grain. He didn’t finish it until the following year, when his stores were replenished.58

Ji’s mastery over food was again demonstrated when he reportedly fasted and prayed for 32 consecutive days in 1988. This was to be a significant event in the history of the group: it was subsequently cited as proof of his superior spiritual status. An excerpt of the movement’s materials eulogizes Ji thus: “He once fasted for 32 days, praying all night long. God taught him about the mysteries and reasoning of his Kingdom one by one, enabling him to understand all that is to come. His spirit travelled; he saw heaven and hell.”59 Most accounts of the group state that it was only after this that Ji formally established the Disciples. During the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in

57 Tan Songlin (谭松林) and Peng Bangfu (彭邦富), eds., Zhongguo mimi shehui 中国秘密社会 [Chinese secret societies], vol. 7: 当代会道门，当代黑社会组织 (福州: 福建人民出版社, 2002), 121. 58 Ibid. In rendering this translation I consulted Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 223. 59 Excerpt given in Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 32. See also “Notice on Various Issues,” 27. Ji later claimed that followers had created and propagated this myth without his input. Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie: fangfan he diyu mentuhui feifa zuzhi 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪 : 防范和抵御门徒会非法组织” [Expose fraud, drive out evil: Resist “The Disciples’ ” illegal organization]. Available in 2007 at http://www.cnfxj.org/Html/spzt/ 2007-5/31/140214640.html; now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHpaoeMIsHQ. Accessed September 23, 2014. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 37

1989, he held a meeting of followers and declared himself to be a prophet and “God’s stand-in” (神的替身 shen de tishen).60 The name of the sect originates from its early commissioning of twelve ‘disciples’ (门徒 mentu). It is also known as Narrow Gate in the Wilderness (旷野窄门 kuangye zhaimen) in some regions because adherents profess to have entered the ‘narrow gate’ of Matthew 7:13–14 (“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”)61 The inclusion of ‘wilderness’ in the name additionally reflects the practice of meeting in remote areas, necessitated by the politically sensitive nature of the religious gatherings. In other regions of China, the group is also referred to as One Hundred Grams of Food (Sect) (二两粮 er liang liang) because it teaches that adherents can live well on this amount of food ingested each day—a practice that has attracted no small amount of opprobrium.62 Yet another appellation for the group is Teachings of the Third Redemption (三赎教 sanshu jiao), because it presents Noah’s Ark and Jesus’ death and resurrection as having achieved the first two redemptions.63 The Disciples implement a ‘7–7 organizational system’ (七七制 qiqizhi), meaning that it has seven tiers of organization, each of which supervises seven subordinate groups. The tiers are titled General Assembly (总会 zon- ghui), Major Assembly (大会 dahui), Branch (分会 fenhui), Minor Assembly (小会 xiaohui), Minor Branch (小分会 xiao fenhui), Church (教会 jiaohui), and Meeting Points (教会点 juhuidian), with just three to six people to a Meeting Point.64 Each level has positions such as Head Deacon (主执 zhuzhi),

60 Xi Wuyi (习五一), “Yingdang guanzhu xinxing mobai tuanti de pohuaixing yinsu 应当关注新兴膜拜团体的破坏性因素,” 52–53; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 223–24; Ma Yonghong (马永红), “Guanyu ‘mentuhui’ de xiangguan qingkuang 关于邪教‘门徒会’的相关情况” [The circumstances surrounding the “Disciples”]. Available at http:// www.cnfxj.org/Html/xiejiaocn/2007-6/13/130155807.html. Accessed July 9, 2010. 61 “Mentuhui 门徒会” [The Association of Disciples], 河南公安高等专科学校学报 6 (consec. 25) (1995). 62 Jing Xing (儆醒), “Yiduan “mentuhui” de neimu” 异端《门徒会》的内幕” [Inside the heretical “Disciples”], TF 1 (2008): 31. “Jing Xing,” meaning “on guard,” is probably a pseudonym. 63 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 223. 64 Jing Xing (儆醒), “Yiduan “mentuhui” de neimu” 异端《门徒会》的内幕” [Inside the heretical “Disciples”], TF, no. 1 (2008): 29; Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 104–5. 38 CHAPTER 2

Associate Deacon (配执 peizhi), Charity Officer (慈事 cishi), Deacon (执事 zhishi) and Preacher (传道员 chuan dao yuan).65 The Hubei Provincial Government proclaimed the Disciples to be an illegal organization and ordered its suppression as early as 1990.66 It is unclear whether this was before or after March of that year, when the group incited some three thousand members to encircle government buildings in Yunyang county, where they assaulted public security officers and local cadres and seized firearms.67 The Disciples have also instigated a large number of religious protests in Shaanxi province over recent decades.68 By the time the Chinese Central Government proscribed it in 1995, the organization was believed to have spread to over three hundred counties across fourteen provinces, with followers totaling approximately 350,000.69 In 2007, a film made by the Chinese Anti-Cult Association reported that Ji Sanbao died in December 1997 after his car crashed into a road barrier. It also stated that one Yu Shiqiang 蔚世强 replaced Ji, but died of liver cancer in May 2001; the most recent leader was said to be surnamed Chen, and to be serving a thirteen-year sentence.70 A sequel made in June 2009 claimed that all three of the movement’s top leaders—Chen Shirong 陈世荣, Zhang Buxiong 张步雄 and Liu Zhiping 刘治平—had been arrested and sentenced.71 However, as it began with a larger base of followers than the Established King and Lord God movements, it can be supposed that the Disciples will continue to operate for

65 “Mentuhui.” Leung gives a different hierarchy, suggesting regional variation: Leung Ka-lun (梁家麟), “Suben qingyuan 溯本清源,” 36. 66 Xu Dike (许弟科), Zhang Shitong (张世桐), and Huang Jinsong (黄劲松), “Songzi shi ‘kuangye zhaimen’ huodong de diaocha 松滋市’旷野窄门’活动的调查报告” [Investigative report on the activities of the “Narrow Gate in the Wilderness” in Songzi municipality], 湖北公安高等专科学校学报 2 (1998): 37. 67 Tan Songlin (谭松林) and Peng Bangfu (彭邦富), eds., Zhongguo mimi shehui 中国秘密社会, 134. 68 Chung, Lai, and Xia, “Mounting Challenges to Governance in China,” 22. Chung et al. do not reveal the motivations behind these protests, though we can speculate that possibilities would include the treatment of fellow members, and the complaints which have fueled other rural protests (such as corruption and living standards). 69 “Notice on Various Issues,” 27. 70 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪.” 71 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Zai jie mentuhui de pianju 再揭门徒会的骗局.” [Exposing the “Disciples’ ” fraud again] (made June 2009). Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze89dRUEqtc. Accessed August 13, 2013. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 39 some time. Indeed, a survey conducted in Yunnan over 2009–2010 found that the Disciples were active in 54 of 128 counties in that province.72

New Testament Church (新约教会 Xin yue jiaohui)

Far less popular than the Disciples but nevertheless classed as an ‘evil cult’ is the New Testament Church, which was founded in Hong Kong in 1963 by a film actress named Jiang Duanyi (江端仪 Kong Duen-Yee, also known as Mei Qi). Jiang taught that Christians must accept the ‘full gospel’ (全备福音 quanbei fuyin) of blood, water and spirit. In the Church’s theology, blood represents Jesus’ atoning death on the cross, water represents baptism, and spirit represents the manifestation of ‘spiritual gifts’—principally, glossolalia. While this message is consistent with that of many Pentecostal churches throughout the world, Jiang manifested sectarian tendencies—that is, she insisted that her church alone was the full truth, and that it was the continuation and restora- tion of the early church. New Testament Churches in Malaysia and Singapore sprang up following Jiang’s visits there in the early 1960s, and by the mid-1990s the Church was “one of the largest independent charismatic churches in Singapore.”73 After Jiang’s death in 1966, her daughter Ruth Chang (张路得 Zhang Lude) assumed leadership of the church and established the organization in Taiwan, but she later left the group for theological reasons. A new church leader popularly called Elijah Hong (洪以利亚 Hong Yiliya; also known as 洪三期 Hong Sanqi) established a new headquarters for the Church on a hill near Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He named it Mount Zion (锡安山 Xi’an shan), invoking Isaiah 2:2–3, which reads:

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He

72 Personal communication with Kim-Kwong Chan, then Executive Secretary of the Hong Kong Christian Council, August 17, 2010. Christianity was found in 74 of the 128 counties. 73 Tan Jin Huat, “Pentecostalisms and Charismatics in Malaysia and Singapore,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 305n20, 287. 40 CHAPTER 2

will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.74

Thus, as Paul Farrelly has detailed, Mount Zion is more than a headquarters, and has sacred significance for the Church. Following Revelation, adherents expect that Mount Zion will be the site of Jesus’ return to earth, and that they will be ‘raptured’ up to heaven from there.75 The Church sees signs of the ‘last days’ that are to precede this in contemporary phenomena such as natural disasters, crime, AIDS and the specter of a nuclear holocaust. In church pamphlets, these conjunctures are interpreted as the tribulations prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and accordingly as signaling that judgment is about to fall upon Babylon—the human kingdom.76 People should repent from being “unfilial”, and from loving “worldly pleasures” such as “smoking, alcohol and gambling, watching movies, dancing, reading obscene publications and lis- tening to indecent music.”77 Alongside this conservative Christian morality, the physical construction of New Testament Churches observes traditional Chinese geomantic principles.78 Church pamphlets represent both founder Jiang Duanyi and Hong as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 41:2 that God will “stir up one from the east” (Figure 1).79 As I discuss in the next chapter of this book, many new religious movements in East Asia find significance in Bible references to the ‘east.’ Thus, the New Testament Church proclaims:

74 These Bible verses featured on Mount Zion’s English homepage at http://home.zion .org.tw/zion/english/index.htm. Accessed November 4, 2008. In the book of Revelation, Mount Zion is part of the new heaven and new earth that is to appear after Armageddon. 75 Paul J. Farrelly, “The New Testament Church and Mount Zion in Taiwan,” in Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and the Pacific, ed. Lenore Manderson, Wendy Smith, and Matt Tomlinson (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2012), 183. 76 Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “Da zainan linjin le! 大災難臨近了！” [The Great Tribulation is at Hand!]. Available at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/ chinese/pdf/poster/TheGreatTribulationIsAtHand.pdf. Accessed August 21, 2013. 77 Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “The Great Tribulation Is at Hand!,” Available at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/english/. Accessed August 21, 2013. 78 Farrelly, “New Testament Church and Mount Zion in Taiwan,” 194–96. 79 Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “Xianzhi zai dongfang! Shengshan zai Taiwan! 先知在东方！圣山在台湾！” [The Prophet in the East! Holy Mount in Taiwan!]. Available at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/chinese/pdf/poster/ God’sChosenProphetInTheEast.pdf. Accessed August 21, 2013. Isaiah 41:2 reads, “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind- blown chaff with his bow.” Protestant-related New Religious Movements 41

figure 1 “Behold! God’s Chosen Prophet in the East!” New Testament Church pamphlet, c. 2000.

Today, all nations and people must know that the Holy Land consecrated by God is no longer Jerusalem in the Middle East; it is Mount Zion in Taiwan, an isle in the East. This mountain is God’s chosen holy mount in these last days!80

In 1980, the Nationalist party (Kuomintang), which ruled the then one-party state of Taiwan, evicted the church denizens from the mountain, and a seven- year protest ensued during which the Church staged public demonstrations in Taipei.81 In the words of the New Testament Church’s website, “the Holy Spirit led the New Testament Church to the streets to expose the evil of the Chiang dynasty and vanquish the atrocities of the KMT with huge ban- ners, thus accomplishing the mission to ‘execute justice, vanquish tyrannies, and rescue mankind.’ ”82 In 1986, the church was permitted to return to the

80 Ibid., Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “Behold! God’s Chosen Prophet in the East! Holy Mount in Taiwan!” Available at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/english/. Accessed August 21, 2013. 81 Photos of members protesting outside the Presidential Building in Taipei during this period can be found on the Church’s Chinese website at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/ chinese/zion/zion_02.html. Accessed February 4, 2009. 82 “We Vowed to Return to Zion Even to the Point of Death.” Available at http://home.zion .org.tw/zion/english/index.htm. Accessed February 3, 2009. The “Chiang dynasty” refers to Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國, President of Taiwan 1978–1988) and his father Chiang 42 CHAPTER 2 mountain. It now attracts visitors, who are encouraged to learn about the religion while enjoying the organic vegetable gardens, grandiose sculptures, cafeteria, church building, and visitors’ centre. Pilgrimages that occur during holidays such as Chinese New Year are interpreted as fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of nations returning to Zion.83 Despite having been declared by the General Offices of the CCP Central Committee and State Council to be a “cultic organization,”84 the Church has an insignificant presence in mainland China; there are few reports of its activities from either Protestant or state sources. Three members were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in Xiamen—a coastal city in Fujian province, directly across the strait from Taiwan—in February 2001; they had joined the group in May 1998, recruited 40 members, and established a Xiamen Chapter of the Church.85 Public Security organs in Beihai, Guangxi also cracked down on the New Testament Church in 2001.86 In 1988, a former leader of the New Testament Church’s branch in Shipai, Taipei established ‘The Blood and Water of Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit Full Gospel Evangelistic Band’ (血水圣灵全备福音布道团 Xueshui shengling quanbei fuyin budaotuan; also known as ‘The Church Rebuilt by the Holy Spirit’ (圣灵重建教会 Shengling chongjian jiaohui). Zuo Kun 左坤 proclaims himself to be God’s end-times Prophet, adopting the biblical name of Moses. Like the New Testament Church and the Shouters, the Church claims to be the res- toration and purification of the true church:

Kai-Shek (蔣介石, Chairman of the Chinese Nationalist government and President of Taiwan until 1975). 83 Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “All Nations Flow to Mount Zion to Entreat God’s Grace from the Prophet.” Available at http://home.zion.org.tw/zion/ english/index.htm. Accessed February 3, 2009. 84 “Notice on Various Issues,” 29. 85 Luo Tianxing (罗天兴) and Wang Xu (王旭), “Xiamen panjue zuzhi he liyong xiejiao zuzhi pohuai falu shishi an 厦门判决组织和利用邪教组织破坏法律实施案” [Convictions for organizing and using a cultic organization to obstruct the law in Xiamen]. Available at http://www.people.com.cn/GB/shehui/44/20020205/663083.html. Accessed March 8, 2004. 86 “Guangxi beihai dahei chu’e chengji zhuozhu: qunian po’an 2884 jian 广西北海打黑除恶成绩卓著去年破案 2884 件” [Outstanding results in crackdown on sinister activities in Beihai, Guangxi: 2884 cases solved last year]. Available at http://news.sina.com .cn/c/2002–02–06/468607.html. Accessed August 13, 2013. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 43

The Rebuilt Church by the Holy Spirit is the church which is reverted [sic] to the church Peter, the apostle, built up when the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost in the Jerusalem . . . In the last days, it is just the vision, entrustment and commission of the Rebuilt Church by the Holy Spirit [sic].87

Zuo led an evangelistic mission into mainland China in 1989.88 By 1999, the Church had just three churches in Taiwan, but claimed to have 2500 churches on the mainland.89 Chinese government reports state that the organization has spread to over 20 provinces, autonomous regions and special municipalities;90 public security forces in Anhui province cracked down on the group and arrested key leader Wan Renhong around the year 2000.91 Overall, however, there are few reports of the Church’s activities, suggesting that the government’s reports are inflated. In the absence of a large following, the New Testament Church and its offshoot were likely included in the blacklist to lend weight to the depiction of ‘cults’ as having dubious connections with religious organizations beyond the PRC mainland that seek to ‘infiltrate’ China.92

Efficacious Spirit Teachings (灵灵教 Lingling jiao)

The Efficacious Spirit group has no such connections. It was formed in the mid- 1980s in Hunan province by a man called Hua Xuehe, who was from Jiangsu. Hua was a primary school teacher with a high school education. He joined the CCP during the Cultural Revolution, but became a Protestant in 1978 and joined the True Jesus Church in 1979.93 In 1982, authorities cracked down on the True Jesus Church congregations that he had established, and Hua was

87 Moses Tsuo, “The Ministry of the Apostle: Preface to the 2nd Edition.” Available at http:// www.church.org.tw/english/books/03.html. Accessed March 9, 2004 (now defunct). The Ministry of the Apostle (使徒職分 Shitu zhifen) is the group’s most important text, but adherents also read the Bible. 88 “A Miracle to Bind the Ancient Dragon.” Available at http://web.archive.org/web/2001 0803231531/www.church.org.tw/english/index.html. Accessed October 10, 2006. 89 Tsuo, “Ministry of the Apostle: Preface to the 2nd Edition.” 90 “Notice on Various Issues,” 29. 91 “The Bulletin of the Department of Anhui Public Security,” Chinese Law and Government 36, no. 2 (2003 [2001]): 43. 92 For example, ibid., 48. 93 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端, 105; Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 65. 44 CHAPTER 2 expelled from the Church for unspecified reasons. He then began to preach independently.94 The Efficacious Spirit movement has not developed its own texts. Converts are taught that Christ could not save Himself on the cross, and so they should not pray in his name but in that of the ‘New Lord’—that is, Hua.95 Accordingly, members celebrate Hua’s birthday on January 17 instead of Christmas.96 Hua’s claim to be the second incarnation of Christ is apparently bolstered by the fact that his name (华雪和 Hua Xuehe) differs by just one syllable from the Mandarin word for Jehovah (耶和华 Yehehua). The difference is reportedly attributed to the fact that Hua was born on a snowy (雪 xue) day, and Jesus was born in winter.97 Hua was arrested in 1990, at which time government sources state the movement had been propagated in a dozen provinces and attracted fifteen thousand followers.98 These same sources report that seven hundred followers staged a protest after Hua was sent to a labor camp.99 He has reportedly since been released,100 but his whereabouts and fate are unknown.

All Sphere Church (全范围教会 Quan fanwei jiaohui) (also known as the Born Again sect [重生派 Chongsheng pai] and the Weepers [哭派 Ku pai])

While Chinese Protestants generally support the state’s listing of the aforementioned groups as ‘evil cults,’ the case of the Born Again sect is more controversial.

94 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 66. 95 Tony Lambert, “Modern Sects and Cults in China,” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 7. 96 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 66; China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端, 105. 97 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), “Touxi lingling jiao 透析灵灵教” [An analysis of the Efficacious Spirit sect] in 论邪教：首届邪教问题国际研讨会论文集, ed. Shehui wenti yanjiu congshu bianji weiyuanhui (社会问题研究丛书编辑委员会) (南宁: 广西人民出版社, 2001), 266. See also Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, “Christianity in Contemporary China: An Update,” Journal of Church and State 49, no. 2 (2007): 297. Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping rebellion, similarly found significance in biblical use of Chinese characters that were (albeit tenuously) related to his name, such as the “rainbow” (虹 hong) which appeared to Noah after the flood. Franz H. Michael, The Taiping Rebellion: History and Documents, vol. 2 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1971), 225. 98 “Notice on Various Issues,” 28. 99 Ibid., 29. 100 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端, 106. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 45

The sect was founded in 1984 in Pingdingshan City in Henan province by Xu Yongze (徐永泽; English name Peter Xu), a native of Zhenping county in the same province.101 Xu came from a Christian family and experienced a vision of God and a call to preach while still a young child.102 State and some Protestant (chiefly, TSPM) sources condemn the group for its emphasis on crying as a sign of authentic repentance and spiritual rebirth, and ecstatic evangelistic meetings (called ‘Life Meetings’, or 生命会 shengming hui, which generally last for three days). Other Protestants dispute this depiction of the group. They understand it to be Pentecostal but broadly within Christian norms, and consider it a ‘house church.’103 Certainly, this is how the group represents itself, and Xu has denied that he considers crying “a theological requirement of Christian salvation.”104 In the wake of Xu’s arrest in 1997, his son defended him as “the leader of one of the largest house churches in China,” and denied any knowledge of an organization called the All Sphere Church.105 Xu gained political asylum in the United States around the year 2000,106 but the nature of this group and its status vis-à-vis Christian orthodoxy remain a subject of contention.107

Three Grades of Servants (三班仆人 San ban puren)

The most extensive government operation against a Protestant-related group to date has been directed against the Three Grades of Servants. This

101 “Notice on Various Issues,” 27. 102 David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2003), 87. 103 See chapters by Zhou Gonghe and Wang Ruizhen in Susanna Chen (陳韻珊), ed., 真理異端真伪辨: 透視大陸教會異端問題 (Given English Title: Discerning Truth from Heresies: A Critical Analysis of the Alleged and Real Heresies in Mainland China) (臺北: 基督教與中國研究中心 [Christianity and China Research Center], 2000). 104 Aikman, Jesus in Beijing, 88. 105 Xu Lai’en (徐來恩), “Wode fuqin zenme le? 我的父親怎麼了?” [What’s wrong with my father?], in 真理異端真伪辨: 透視大陸教會異端問題 (Given English Title: Discerning Truth from Heresies: A Critical Analysis of the Alleged and Real Heresies in Mainland China), ed. Susanna Chen (陳韻珊) (臺北: 基督教與中國研究中心 [Christianity and China Research Center], 2000). 106 Timothy C. Morgan, “China Arrests Dozens of Prominent Christians,” Christianity Today (2004). Available: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/februaryweb-only/2-16-31.0 .html?start=2. Accessed May 28, 2010. 107 See further, pp. 136, 168–70, 190–91 of this book. 46 CHAPTER 2 movement was founded in the late 1980s or early 1990s108 by Xu Wenku 徐文库 (also known as Xu Shuangfu 徐双富 and Xu Shengguang 徐圣光), who was born in 1946 in Nanzhao county in Henan Province. The group’s name is derived from Xu’s emphasis on triumvirates, which he taught recur throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, he instructed, the pattern is evident in the three servants of God (Moses, Aaron and Pashur); in the time of Jesus, the pattern is evident in the three friends of Jesus (Martha, Mary and Lazarus; see John 11:1) and the parable of the three talents (Matthew 25:14–16). In the early church, the pattern continued as God appointed apostles, prophets and teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28).109 Xu occupied the top grade of ‘great servant’ (大仆人 da puren) in the group’s hierarchy and styled himself as an end times prophet who communicated directly with God, just as Moses had in the Old Testament.110 Below him were ‘lesser servants,’ (小仆人 xiao puren), ‘handmaids’ (使女 shinü) who oversaw the organization in one or two provinces, and evangelists of lower status. Financially, a host of small businesses run by believers sustained the organization.111 A 2006 National Public Radio (USA) report estimated that the group had half a million followers, making it one of China’s larger Protestant- related new religious movements.112 The Ministry of Public Security listed the Three Grades of Servant group as an ‘evil cult’ in March 1999, probably in response to the movement’s suspected political designs, and its predictions that the apocalypse would descend in the

108 Kahn states late 1980s, while Lian states early 1990s. Joseph Kahn, “Violence Taints Religion’s Solace for China’s Poor,” NYT, November 25, 2004; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 225. 109 Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》” [Salvation through Ascetic Devotions: Three Grades of Servants], in 真理異端真伪辨: 透視大陸教會異端問題 (Given English Title: Discerning Truth From Heresies: A Critical Analysis of the Alleged and Real Heresies in Mainland China), ed. Susanna Chen (陳韻珊) (臺北: 基督教與中國研究中心 [Christianity and China Research Center], 2000), 109. 110 Kahn, “Violence Taints Religion’s Solace for China’s Poor”; Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》,” 108. 111 Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》,” 110–11; Liu Zhiming and Deng Fei, “Xu Wenku and His Religious Empire,” Phoenix Weekly 11 (consec. 216) (April 15, 2006). Available at http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060429_1.htm. Accessed September 5, 2007. 112 Kuhn, “China Gives Christian Trio Death Terms in Killings.” Kahn reported that the group claimed to have had over a million followers, but it is common for new religious movements to overstate their following. Joseph Kahn, “China Executes at Least 12 Members of a Secret Christian Sect,” NYT, November 30, 2006. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 47 year 2000.113 Beginning in 2004, a crackdown on the group saw more than one hundred members initially detained in Heilongjiang province in April,114 and over sixty members prosecuted over 2004–2005.115 More dramatically, in early 2006, three leaders were sentenced to death and approximately a dozen other members received jail terms for fraud and involvement in twenty homicides, the victims of which were mostly former members who had joined Eastern Lightning. The murders occurred over 2002–2004 in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Chongqing City, Gansu, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning, and involved such gruesome acts as live burial, strangulation, stabbing and beating.116 A 2006 audio-visual presentation made by the Chinese Anti-Cult Association interviewed public security personnel, ‘cult’ members who were then awaiting sentencing, and their victims’ family members.117 Their allegations were supported by the New York Times’ interviews with victims of other violent incidents, which were likewise borne of internecine conflict between the Three Grades of Servant and Eastern Lightning.118 For his part, in court, leader Xu Wenku retracted his previous confession on ordering the homicides and alleged that it had been obtained under torture. His daughter protested his innocence and described him as a “true” and “devout Christian.”119 Xu was nevertheless executed in November 2006, after which reports of the group dwindled.

Eastern Lightning (东方闪电 Dongfang shandian)

Each of the aforementioned groups has been censured in the Chinese secular and Protestant press and denounced as an ‘evil cult’ (邪教 xiejiao) by the Chinese government. Eastern Lightning, however, has attracted the greatest ire because it is the largest of these groups and has made the greatest inroads into Protestant communities. As introduced in Chapter 1, Eastern Lightning

113 “Notice on Various Issues,” 33. 114 US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004,” vol. 1 (Washington, DC: 2005), 704. 115 Kahn, “China Executes at Least 12 Members of a Secret Christian Sect.” 116 For a detailed description of the incidents, see Tony Lambert, “Sanbanpuren—Three Grades of Servant Part 1: The Murders,” China Insight (March/April 2007). 117 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jingti maoyong zongjiao mingyi de feifa zuzhi 警惕冒用宗教名义的非法组织” [Beware of illegal organizations using the name of religion] (2006). Available at http://www.zjtxdj.com/content .aspx?id=300000002214. Accessed September 23, 2014. 118 Kahn, “Violence Taints Religion’s Solace for China’s Poor.” 119 Kuhn, “China Gives Christian Trio Death Terms in Killings.” 48 CHAPTER 2 explains its origins in the following statement: “In 1991, a sister in the church was moved by and received word from the Holy Spirit, and testified to ‘God’s name’ and ‘God’s arrival.’ ”120 The identity of this woman and the teachings of Eastern Lightning are discussed in detail in Chapter 3 of this book. Here, suf- fice it to note that this woman is identified by Eastern Lightning as Christ, and said to have returned to China to end the present age in accordance with biblical prophecy. Other Chinese sources present a far more complex account of Eastern Lightning’s origins. They charge a middle-aged man named Zhao Weishan 赵维山, once a physics teacher or railroad worker, with founding the movement. These sources report that Zhao, originally from Yongyuan township of Acheng municipality in Heilongjiang province, was a member of the Shouters in the late 1980s. He left the group with other believers in 1989 to form an offshoot called the Church of the Everlasting Foundation (永存的根基教会 Yongcun de genji jiaohui), in which he presented himself as a “Lord of Ability” (能力主 nengli zhu). The Heilongjiang government cracked down on the group and shut down its printing house in 1991, whereupon Zhao fled with other leaders to Henan. In May 1992, a Christian magazine reported that a group called “the New Church of the Lord of Ability” (新能力主教会 Xin nengli zhu jiaohui) had been distributing tracts and cassette recordings in the southwest Henan since March 1991. One of these tracts was titled Lightning from the East. However, this report does not mention a Female Christ, suggesting that the doctrine developed subsequently.121 The different stories of Eastern Lightning’s origins in the Female Christ and Zhao Weishan respectively serve their tellers’ interests. With respect to the Chinese government, Zhao Weishan’s leadership reinforces its depiction of ‘cults’ as headed by indolent, poorly educated, self-seeking and criminal men; for Eastern Lightning, a goddess figure may be more attractive to prospective recruits—the vast majority of whom are themselves female—and withhold- ing her ‘earthly’ name protects her and those in direct contact with her from persecution. The interests of the authors of each class of sources complicate our ability to discern the true origins of Eastern Lightning. However, a close reading of their materials suggests that there is some truth to the external reports. Eastern Lightning material does not mention Zhao or any other leader by name, but their ten commandments (formally entitled “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Obey in the Age of the Kingdom”)

120 Church of Almighty God, “Guanyu women 关于我们” [About us], 2. 121 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织” [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb], TF 5 (1992): 24. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 49 dictate that adherents “should take orders from the man used by the Holy Spirit in everything and should not disobey any of them but should obey them absolutely.”122 One of their scriptures elaborates:

Because no one can directly understand God’s word or God’s will, God raises up a man used by him to do such work. The man used by God can be said to be a go-between through whom God leads people and an ‘interpreter’ through whom God communicates with people.123

While “the man used by the Holy Spirit” is never named in Eastern Lightning texts, he could reconcile the state’s depiction of Eastern Lightning with its self- presentation. It is possible that Zhao Weishan, while not publicly acknowledged by Eastern Lightning, has been at the heart of its formation and organization. While the Female Christ is worshipped as an Almighty God, in practice Zhao may wield considerable power in the running of the movement.124 Eastern Lightning’s writings lend further weight to accounts of the group as having split from the Shouters through Zhao; these writings frequently use Local Church jargon such as “eating and drinking God’s word” (吃喝神话 chihe shenhua).125 An “About Us” statement on Eastern Lightning’s website also formerly acknowledged this pedigree.126 Like other new religious movements, Eastern Lightning is a tiered organization. A Supervisory Unit (监察组 jiancha zu) is an administrative structure responsible for communicating instructions from “the top”, and inspecting and reporting on churches every six months. Leaders (带领 dailing) and their Assistants (配搭 peida) lead churches at regional (区 qü), sub-regional (小区 xiaoqü) and church (教会 jiaohui) levels. Each region and sub-region has a Preacher (讲道员 jiangdao yuan), and Deacons for Evangelism (传福音执事

122 “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Obey,” in Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh (short title: WAF), contents p. 4, item 63. 123 “A Word About God Using Men,” in Church of Almighty God, The Scroll that the Lamb Opened: From “The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh” (short title: SLO), 2. Electronic version in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 3, item 37. 124 Given that Zhao claimed political asylum in the USA around 2001, “the man used by the Holy Spirit” could also refer to key leaders such as Yi Haitao 伊海涛, about whom no further information is available. For mention of Yi and other leaders’ names, see “Announcement from the First Division of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau,” Chinese Law and Government 36, no. 2 (2003 [2000]): 67. 125 “On Normal Spiritual Living,” in Church of the Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 3, item 34. “Eating and drinking God’s word” refers to reading and absorbing scripture. 126 Church of Almighty God, “Guanyu women 关于我们” [About us] (2005 version). 50 CHAPTER 2 chuan fuyin zhishi). The division of responsibilities between levels is not very specific, but all officers must report to their superiors, and supervise and guide their subordinates to the “Truth.”127 Information about Eastern Lightning’s church activities is given in its “Handbook of Principles for Church Work,” which was available from Eastern Lightning’s website for several months in early 2006 and is reported by Chinese Protestants to circulate on the ground.128 The Handbook suggests, but does not stipulate, that each congregation meet three times per week for two hours at a time.129 There are to be no more than fifty people in each church, and members are to divide into small groups of between three and seven to meet, the precise number depending on the local security situation.130 No formal liturgy is prescribed, but it is suggested that each service open with prayer and be followed by hymns.131 Only hymns approved by the top level of the church hierarchy are permitted; both hymns and scripture are circulated among the congregations on CD and can be downloaded in MP3 format from Eastern Lightning’s websites. The hymns consist of passages of scripture and individuals’ reflections set to tunes borrowed from such heterogenous sources as folk songs, popular television and movie themes, and songs used for patriotic education from the 1950s through to the 1990s.132 As the service continues, members are to listen to a reading of Eastern Lightning scripture, which perhaps reflects a low level of literacy among adherents. There is then to be a time of “fellowship” (交通 jiaotong), during which members of the congregation are given the opportunity to speak, presumably to share their reflections on the passage just heard or their own religious experience. The service may conclude with more hymns and another prayer. Eastern Lightning’s documents notably omit the common Christian rites of baptism and communion. Eastern Lightning was just one of a myriad heterodox groups to emerge during the early 1990s, and did not receive significant attention from Protestant

127 “Guanyu jiaohui geji dialing gongren de zhize guiding 关于教会各级带领工人的职责规定” [Rules for leaders at all levels of the church], in Church of Almighty God, Guanyu jiaohui gongzuo de jiaotong jiangdao yu jiaohui gongzuo anpai linian huibian 关于教会工作的交通讲道与教会工作安排历年汇编 [Compilation of plans and talks concerning church work over the years; short title: 关于教会工作], vol. 1, contents p. 2, item 79. 128 Church of Almighty God, Jiaohui gongzuo yuanze shouce 教会工作原则手册 [Handbook of principles for church work]. 129 Ibid., chap. 24. 130 Ibid., chap. 8. 131 Ibid., chap. 24. 132 Church of Almighty God, Gensuizhe gaoyang chang xin’ge 跟随着羔羊唱新歌. I thank Haiqing Yu for her assistance in identifying a selection of these tunes. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 51 or state authorities until later that decade. Even its identification as a ‘cult’ by the Ministry of Public Security in 1995 failed to curb the group’s development. On the contrary, Eastern Lightning reports that membership “increased rapidly” from 1997,133 corresponding with large numbers of Protestant reports during 1997 and 1998 that alleged coercive behaviors on the part of Eastern Lightning evangelists and expressed dismay at the heretical doctrine of the Female Christ.134 These reports coincided with the Chinese media adopting global anti-cult discourses, the suppression of the Established King sect, and escalating tensions between Falun Gong and Chinese authorities.

Commonalities

Each of the new religious movements discussed here has become notorious for certain features. Eastern Lightning teaches of a Female Christ, the Shouters shout, and Hua’s name is important to the Efficacious Spirit sect. All lay exclu- sive claim to the True Way (真道 zhen dao), and vie against one another in what the New York Times dubbed a “bull market in sects and cults competing for souls.”135 The competition has bred a degree of fanaticism, and resulted in instances of sobering internecine violence. Yet despite the avowed rivalry, there are also commonalities between the groups in the profile of their founders, organizational structure, proselytizing activities, doctrine and ritual.

Heresiarch and Organization The founder of Protestant-related new religious movements in contemporary China is typically male, middle-aged, and from rural north China. He has converted to Christianity early in the reform era, and thus is familiar with some Christian traditions and doctrine. None of the heresiarchs have been involved with the TSPM, but rather have been associated with unofficial, autochthonous groups that draw on millenarian Pentecostalism. The founder claims to have received divine revelation that he is Christ incarnate or a prophet specially anointed by God to undertake His work in these ‘end times.’ Holding out promises of access to the truth (or at least a superior version of it), everlasting salvation, and perhaps physical healing or material blessing, he attracts and

133 “The Spreading of the Work of God’s Second Incarnated Flesh in Mainland China,” in Church of Almighty God, About Us, 4. 134 See, for example, the November 1997 issue of Tian Feng (天风). 135 Kahn, “Violence Taints Religion’s Solace for China’s Poor.” 52 CHAPTER 2 leads a handful of followers from his former church who proceed to proselytize Protestants and establish organizational and doctrinal frameworks. The organizations comprise multiple tiers. The titles of these tiers are often drawn from Protestant forms of organization such as ‘elder’ (长老 zhanglao) or ‘deacon’ (执事 zhishi); Wu Yangming and Liu Jiaguo’s former affiliations with the Shouters were evident as the Established King and Lord God Sect similarly had the rank of ‘authority’ (权柄 quanbing).136 As is the case in Chinese Protestantism, women commonly occupy positions of leadership, though sources outside the movements report this comes at the cost of sexual abuse or exploitation. Chinese accounts emphasize the leader’s formidable command over the organization and the total obedience demanded of followers. They point out that their tiered structure can be used not only to organize and mobilize, but also to surveil and control hapless subordinates.137 While these accounts are often interested in vilifying the movements and must therefore be interrogated, they have received some support from Kindopp’s study of the Local Church, in which Kindopp reflects on Witness Lee’s “dominance as a charismatic spiritual authority who commands total allegiance from his followers,” and concludes that this group “exhibits the attributes of a personality cult more than a bottom-up movement.”138 The waning of the Established King group following Wu Yangming’s execution likewise suggests that the success of Protestant-related new religious movements may be tied to their founder. Conversely, the founder’s role is more ambiguous in the case of Eastern Lightning. Its leaders have eluded CCP authorities, thereby contributing to the movement’s longevity. The Protestant-related new religious movements discussed in this chapter are largely indigenous and independent of foreign support. Clearly, some new religious movements do have foreign links; in the case of the Shouters, Witness Lee developed his teachings in the USA and missionaries then spread the doctrine into China. While the group has become largely self-sufficient within the mainland, a Hong Kong resident was caught attempting to smuggle 33,000 Recovery bibles to Fujian in mid-2000, suggesting continuing external bonds.139 Eastern Lightning also operates overseas (chiefly, the USA), and given that most adherents are of humble means, it is possible that some of the

136 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 103; Lee, “Christianity in Contemporary China: An Update,” 298. 137 For example, Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》,” 110–13. 138 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 444. 139 Ibid., 456. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 53

funding for its publications comes from abroad. In most cases, however, groups have originated in China and there is no evidence of foreign support. On the contrary, the new religious movements that have originated in Hong Kong and Taiwan—namely, the New Testament Church and its progeny, Moses Tsuo’s Church Rebuilt by the Holy Spirit—have met with negligible success on the mainland.

Proselytizing and Publishing As their rapid transmission attests, Protestant-related new religious movements in contemporary China place a strong emphasis on proselytizing, reflecting the zeal for ‘spreading the Word’ (传道 chuan dao) in Chinese Protestantism. From a religious perspective, proselytizing saves individuals from damnation in the next world and possibly misfortune in the present, and is part of establishing God’s kingdom on earth. From a pragmatic point of view, it is necessary for the religion’s continued operation and growth. New religious movements proselytize almost exclusively among Protestants because they are perceived as being more sympathetic than the general population by virtue of religious similarities, and their own experiences of religious persecution. As in Protestantism, neophytes are usually recruited through familial and regional ties.140 In this way, new religious movements instinctively recognize the finding of studies in the sociology of religion that new religions grow alongside relationships between members and prospective recruits, and that “disembodied appeals” are an ineffective means of proselytizing.141 In the Chinese context, this is also a consequence of the proscribed nature of these religions—friends and family are thought less liable to report evangelists to the authorities than strangers. This said, believers are dispatched both within the local area and to other provinces to establish new churches.142 Occasionally, proselytizing may also be open and brazen, such as publicly distributing pamphlets and tracts.143

140 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 127, 129. 141 William Sims Bainbridge, The Sociology of Religious Movements (New York: Routledge, 1997), 154. 142 Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织‘被立王’案”; Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 103; Shang Zhong (尚钟), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ bei yifa qudi 邪教组织‘被立王’被依法取缔.” 143 In October 1994, for example, the Established King movement printed an “open letter” proclaiming the imminence of Judgment Day and slandering the TSPM. Believers in Shanghai then distributed this at bus stops, wharfs, schools, and churches, and to selected town- and village-level government organs. Kong Xiangtao (孔祥涛), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ an 邪教组织’被立王’案.” For mention of Shouters’ pamphlet distribution 54 CHAPTER 2

Material used for proselytizing and other religious purposes is presented in various formats according to their intended audience’s level of literacy, and the organization’s financial resources and level of technological sophis- tication. With the increasing uptake and availability of technology in China, websites, emails, and instant messaging services such as QQ are increasingly used by some of the larger groups.144 At one end of the spectrum, the Local Church’s publisher disseminates Witness Lee and Watchman Nee’s teachings through the Recovery Version bible, miscellaneous books, and hymnals, which they also make available in electronic format online. Such is the reach of the Local Church that pamphlets advertising the Recovery Version were dropped into my letterbox in Melbourne in 2004! Books, tracts, CDs and DVDs are now often seized by authorities, the latter having replaced the cassette tapes popular during the 1980s. At the other end of the spectrum, even in the late 1990s the Disciples’ materials were sometimes copied by hand as the Bible has been by Protestants during times of shortage, such as the Cultural Revolution.145

Doctrine Protestant-related new religious movements are markedly apocalyptic, teaching that China is presently undergoing the tribulations that the Book of Revelation foretells will precede the coming of a new heaven and new earth. Natural disasters, astrological configurations, social malaise and outbreaks of disease are all interpreted as evidence of this. Accordingly, religious and political adversaries are denounced as evil opposition in these last days—the TSPM as the “great harlot” (大淫妇 da yin fu) who betrays the church in Revelation (17:1–6) and the CCP as a “satanic power” (撒旦政权 Sadan zhengquan) that will soon fall away to be replaced by “God’s kingdom” on earth.146 These new religious movements are also millenarian, proclaiming either that Jesus’ return

in Anhui province in 1995, see “Notice on Further Strengthening of the Investigation Work on the Cultic Organization Almighty God,” Chinese Law and Government 36, no. 2 (2003 [1999]): 63. For Eastern Lightning, see pp. 94, 118 and cover illustration of this book. 144 Wu Minggao (吴明高), “Xiejiao weifa fanzui huodong de qushi ji chuzhi duice 邪教违法犯罪活动的趋势及处置对策,” 81. 145 Xu Dike (许弟科), Zhang Shitong (张世桐), and Huang Jinsong (黄劲松), “Songzi shi ‘kuangye zhaimen’ huodong de diaocha baogao 松滋市‘旷野窄门’活动的调查报告,” 37; Jiang Chen (江沉), “Chenzhongde shizijia: Zhang Yongfang canyu “mentuhui” cuowu jishi 沉重的十字架——张永芳参与”门徒会”错误纪实”[A heavy cross: Zhang Yongfang’s involvement in the “Disciples”], 党风与廉政 8 (1995): 2. 146 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 37–40. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 55 has taken place or is imminent, and that we are now in the end times.147 Some attached particular anticipation to the year 2000.148 Many claim that the believer will be blessed by miracles—their land will not require expensive fertilizers to grow crops and their illnesses will be healed. In some cases, there is an ascetic bent to these teachings; the Disciples teach that the less a believer eats, the higher their level of spiritual attainment or maturity, and the more sincere their repentance.149 State and Protestant accounts of new religious movements are critical of these teachings because they lead believers to neglect ‘normal’ activities. Peasants cease to plant and harvest altogether in face of the anticipated millennium, or reap less because they have not fertilized their crops. Rejecting conventional medical treatment leads to death, and fasting to malnutrition. As revealed in subsequent chapters, Eastern Lightning’s texts support some of these allegations of fanaticism. While most of these new religious movements view the Bible as having been superseded by their own texts, they also legitimize their doctrines by presenting them as fulfilling biblical prophecy and teaching. Adding to the ambiguous role of Christian teachings, some new religious movements are reported to blend them with excerpts from classical Chinese texts such as the Confucian Analects, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the teachings of Mencius.150 Bolstered by such syntheses, reports of new religious movements are dismis- sive of their doctrinal content and present it as underdeveloped at best, and more often as a mere guise used by malicious individuals to facilitate criminal and immoral malefactions.151 Due to lack of access to sources from the groups in question, evaluating these accusations is difficult, as is forming a thorough understanding of doctrinal content. However, in many cases it does seem that followers are persuaded by fairly simple arguments. Hua Xuehe 华雪和, for example, has been able to attract devotees on the basis that his name resembles the Chinese word for Jehovah (耶和华 Yehehua). In other cases, promises

147 Classical studies of millenarianism include Yonina Talmon, “Millenarian Movements,” Archives Européennes de Sociologie 7, no. 2 (1966); Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970). 148 Of the Established King and Three Grades of Servant, for example, see “Notice on Various Issues,” 31–32. Of Eastern Lightning, see chap. 3 of this book. 149 Xi Wuyi (习五一), “Yingdang guanzhu xinxing mobai tuanti de pohuaixing yinsu 应当关注新兴膜拜团体的破坏性因素,” 53. 150 For example, Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》,” 111. 151 See pp. 97–98 of this book. 56 CHAPTER 2 of good fortune and hopes of miracles may be more important than issues of doctrine.

Gatherings and Ritual The patterns of new religious movements’ religious gatherings resemble those developed by Christians during the Cultural Revolution. To avoid persecution during these years, Protestants in rural areas of Henan, for example, met under the cover of darkness, often with just a few others, and frequently changed the location of their meetings.152 New religious movements also typically meet several times each week under clandestine conditions, and their members even adopt aliases to minimize the chance of being reported to the authorities by a fellow believer or an undercover officer.153 While the state represents these precautions as evidence of the movements’ ‘tight organization,’ it is likely that their operation at a grassroots level is largely decentralized and informal. While Eastern Lightning leadership prescribes a modicum of structure to meetings, there is evidently sufficient flexibility within this framework for the self-determination of individual churches. The Eastern Lightning Handbook allows that

There are many kinds of meeting styles: singing hymns, dancing, praying, and consuming God’s Word can all be used creatively . . . Each church is to arrange how many times per week it will meet. You can meet more in the agricultural slack season; in the future, when the [security] environment permits, you can also have large meetings. The churches themselves are in charge of these matters; the upper levels do not plan them.154

Despite this autonomy, the religious activity of new religious movements is broadly similar to that of the Pentecostal and charismatic expressions of Protestantism, which have been predominant in the growth of the religion in China over the past thirty years, and also featured in the autochthonous denominations of the republican period.155 In worship services, the followers

152 “The Indigenous Church of Wuyang,” Bridge 28 (1988): 3; Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 86–89. 153 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), “Touxi lingling jiao 透析灵灵教,” 267. Groups which use aliases include Eastern Lightning and the Established King sect. See respectively p. 143 of this book and Leung Ka-lun (梁家麟), “Suben qingyuan 溯本清源,” 33. 154 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册, chap. 10.3. 155 Bays, “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937,” 129. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 57 of these movements are reported to emphasize glossolalia,156 to “dance in the spirit” (跳灵舞 tiao lingwu), and to weep or shout.157 Healings are also an important part of religious ritual, and because illness is often interpreted as a sign of demon possession, so are exorcisms.158 Many groups have composed their own hymns, which are set to the tunes of folk, pop and or Communist propaganda songs. The Efficacious Spirit Teachings, for example, reportedly set lyrics exalting their leader to the tune of “Study Lei Feng’s Example” (学习雷锋好榜样 Xuexi Lei Feng hao bangyang).159 The lack of formal liturgy follows the informal custom of Chinese house churches, and is suited to a membership that possesses little formal education.

Membership and Scope Affiliation with Protestant-related new religious movements occurs simply through an acceptance of their teachings. An Eastern Lightning document advises “Provided the person is not too wicked, too bad, or too evil, and in their heart they truly believe that the Almighty God is the Word become flesh, you should admit them into the church.”160 Each of the movements introduced in the present chapter is reported to have spread to multiple provinces—a dozen or even all of them—but the number of adherents is difficult to ascertain due to the illegal status of the groups, and the conflicting figures cited by Chinese reports. While estimates are therefore somewhat speculative, it seems reasonable to suppose that some of the larger groups such as Eastern Lightning have attracted several hundred thousand members at their peak, or perhaps closer to one million.161

156 Eastern Lightning is an exception to this, and discourages speaking in tongues.. 157 Edmond Tang, “ ‘Yellers’ and Healers: Pentecostalism and the Study of Grassroots Christianity in China,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 8. On the Efficacious Spirit Teachings also Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), “Touxi lingling jiao 透析灵灵教,” 267. As Laaman points out, “spirit dancing” (跳神 tiao shen) was an element of popular religion, consistent with ancient shamanic ritual. Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 30. 158 For a report of Hua Xuehe teaching this, see Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), “Touxi lingling jiao 透析灵灵教,” 268. 159 Ibid., 267; Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 61. 160 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册. 161 Lian Xi suggests that the three largest groups (Three Grades of Servant, Eastern Lightning and the Disciples) may have a combined membership of approximately two million. Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 222. Concerning Eastern Lightning, see also p. 139 of this book. 58 CHAPTER 2

There is no doubt that Protestant-related new religious movements are at their strongest in areas of rural north China, which have experienced a rapid growth in Protestantism since the early 1980s. Two decades ago, they were almost entirely a rural phenomenon, but are increasingly taking root in cities as China continues to urbanize and experiences internal migration.162 The movements also appear to have only small numbers of adherents among ethnic minorities; there is no evidence of materials having been translated into other dialects. Nevertheless, some Protestant-related new religious movements are making their presence felt in areas populated by ethnic minorities.163 The most extensive study of the demographic composition of Protestant- related new religious movements is that conducted by Wu Dongsheng, who collated data on approximately seven hundred members of the Lord God’s Teachings, the All Sphere Church and the Association of Disciples in 1996. Between 60 and 70 percent of the subjects were female,164 and approximately half were between 31 and 60 years of age. Peasants comprised over 95 percent, and those who were illiterate or had only a primary school education more than 85 percent. More recent, smaller-scale studies support the characterization of new religious movements as primarily attracting middle-aged and elderly women of relatively low educational attainment. This is broadly consistent with the demographic makeup of Protestantism in rural north China in the reform era.165 My own examination of data from Eastern Lightning confirms that it is centered in the north-central province of Henan. In 2009, I examined 3400 testimonies published by Eastern Lightning over four separate collections, which cited their subjects’ province of origin.166 As Figure 2 demonstrates, the most

162 Gu Mengfei (顾梦飞), “H sheng Jidujiao yiduan ji xiejiao huodong diaocha fenxi H 省基督教异端暨邪教活动调查分析” [A survey and analysis of the activities of Protestant heresies and cults in H province], NTR 1 (2011): 26–27. 163 From Inner Mongolia, see “2012 shi da dianxing shi anli 2012 十大典型事案例” [Ten top cases of 2012], 法制资讯 1 (2013). 164 This figure and others attributed to Wu in this paragraph from Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 181–82. 165 Li Liang, “Protestant Christianity in Henan,” CSJ 9, no. 2 (1994): 4. Chen Meilin, “The Status and Role of Women in the Growing Church of China,” CTR 17 (2003): 98–103. 166 The following are 2009 versions of texts published by the Church of Almighty God: Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng 圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证 [Testimonies to the Holy Spirit’s guiding people to turn to the Almighty God]; Jingli Jidu huayu shenpan xingfa de jianzheng 经历基督话语审判刑罚的见证 [Testimonies of experiencing the judgment of the Word of Christ]; Jidujiao gezong gepai didang quannengshen shou chengfa de dianxing shili 基督教各宗各派抵挡全能神受惩罚的典型 Protestant-related New Religious Movements 59

Other 19% Henan 29%

Shanxi 4%

Liaoning 7%

Jiangsu 11% Anhui 17% Shandong 13% figure 2 Origin of adherents in Eastern Lightning testimonies. common province of origin given was Henan, from which close to one third of all testimonies were sourced; Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu were also home to a significant proportion of adherents. In these testimonies, women (‘sisters’, or 姊妹 zimei) rather than men (‘brothers’, or 弟兄 dixiong) are more often said to initially evangelize the subjects. Additionally, a significant proportion of the cases that omit mention of sex ascribe activities to the subject that are gendered in rural China (chiefly, domestic chores such as washing clothes, cooking and child minding).

The Protestant Cultic Milieu in Contemporary China

The rise of sectarian movements in post-Mao China is frequently explained with reference to the deprivations endured by China’s rural poor. The retreat of the state from social organization has left an organizational, spiritual and social vacuum, and waves of internal migration have exacerbated the decline

事例 [Typical cases of punishment for resisting the Almighty God; short title: 受惩罚]; Ge zongpai shouling bei shen huayu zhengfu de tiezheng 各宗派首领被神话语征服的铁证 [Ironclad proofs of being conquered by God’s Word]. 60 CHAPTER 2 in social cohesion. Peasants experience particular insecurity as their incomes remain low and they still lack access to affordable health care.167 These factors have undoubtedly contributed to the rise of the movements introduced in this chapter. Moving from the question of why these groups have emerged to how, Kristin Kupfer points out that new religious movements mobilize assets.168 What I would add to this discussion is that the cultural resources evident in Protestant-related movements are not unique to each group but are shared; they come from a common reservoir that nourishes multiple religious movements, and from which religious individuals can freely draw. In the long run, this reservoir is more significant than any single movement. In 1972, British sociologist Colin Campbell argued that given the oft- ephemeral nature of cults they “must exist within a milieu which, if not conducive to the maintenance of individual cults, is clearly highly conducive to the spawning of cults in general.”169 He was writing about the New Age movement in 1960s England, but the salience of his work to the Chinese context is manifest: he described this “cultic milieu” as comprising “deviant belief systems and their associated practices,” which are united by a common position as deviant or heterodox in relation to “dominant cultural orthodoxies.” Hence, David Palmer has suggested that the burgeoning of qigong denominations during the early reform period in China indicates a “cultic milieu” of the kind outlined by Campbell.170 The movements that are the subject of this chapter have arisen from another milieu that developed alongside the growth of Protestantism early in the reform era, and substantially overlaps with popular Protestantism in the rural north. Features of this milieu include charismatic phenomena, an intensive focus on proselytizing, millenarianism, and distant links to the indigenous Protestant sects founded during the early twentieth century. Campbell also wrote that the cultic milieu serves as an agent of cultural diffusion, facilitating the accommodation of “alien” cultural items into a host culture.171 The religious movements discussed in this chapter both reflect and contribute to the appropriation of some elements of Protestantism by Chinese communities in rural areas. Many peasants are evidently now familiar with the

167 Munro, “Syncretic Sects and Secret Societies,” 5–7; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 230–32. 168 Kupfer, “Saints, Secrets, and Salvation.” 169 Colin Campbell, “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization [1972],” in The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization, ed. Jeffrey Kaplan and Heléne Lööw (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002), 14. 170 David A. Palmer, Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 14n26. 171 Campbell, “Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization [1972],” 19. Protestant-related New Religious Movements 61 figure of Jesus Christ, the vocabulary of the Bible, and with Christian rituals such as singing hymns, tithing, confession and prayer. Moreover, they are so comfortable with these elements as to incorporate them into new tapestries of meaning, identity and belief. This is significant because Protestantism has long borne the stigma of being a ‘foreign religion’ (洋教 yangjiao). Given the current lack of access to adherents and texts for many of these movements, there remains much to discover about them, but it seems that there will be ample time in which to do so. Campbell writes that the cultic milieu is a constant feature of society, continually spawning new cults and absorbing extinct ones.172 Over the last thirty years, some heterodox movements have fallen, and others have risen to take their place. When the Established King group was suppressed, the Lord God sect attracted many of its followers; lesser-known, smaller groups centered on individual prophets are also constantly forming and dissolving.173 The Protestant-related cultic milieu is thus a creative and resilient feature of the Chinese religious panorama. Eastern Lightning emerged from this milieu, and has come to epitomize it.

172 Ibid., 14. 173 For example, Wu Yongnan (吴勇南), “You yige jia jidu mihuo qunzhong 又一个假基督迷惑群众” [Another false Christ misleads the masses], TF 4 (1996): 26. Also “A Christian Sect: The ‘Three Kings’ Are Punished for Plotting ‘Ascensions to Heaven,’ ” in Munro, “Syncretic Sects and Secret Societies,” 33. CHAPTER 3 The Teachings of Eastern Lightning

On February 11 1991, Eastern Lightning’s God announced his return to earth with jubilation:1

Praises have come to Zion. God’s dwelling place has appeared. The glorious holy name is being praised and proclaimed by all the peoples. Oh! Almighty God, the head of the universe, the last Christ, is indeed the shining sun, which has risen on the majestic and grand Mount Zion in the entire universe. Real God incarnated in the flesh, we shout for joy to you; we dance and sing. You are truly our Redeemer, the great King of the universe!2

These words were to become the beginning of Eastern Lightning’s scripture. In speeches recorded and words written over the ensuing six years, the Almighty God and Female Christ proclaimed that the end of the present era was nigh and that the prophecies of Revelation were soon to be fulfilled. They instructed their followers to build a church, and promised that their detractors would be punished. The apocalypse was imminent, but those who remained loyal to the Almighty God would be safe. This chapter expounds Eastern Lightning’s teachings as set forth in its scriptures and reflected in sermons, essays and testimonies. I explain the doctrine of ‘lightning from the east,’ the identity of the Female Christ, her work sus- taining believers through trials and punishing unbelievers, and the evolving expectations surrounding the end of the present age. Secondly and concurrently, this chapter addresses the relationship between Eastern Lightning’s teachings and Chinese religious history. To what extent is Eastern Lightning a

1 For the sake of brevity in this chapter I have frequently omitted such clauses as “Eastern Lightning teaches / claims that.” Hence, statements of the variety “The Holy Spirit spoke” are to be read as “Eastern Lightning teaches that the Holy Spirit spoke.” The date of February 11, 1991, and “God’s” use of the third person are noted in “Neirong jianjie 内容简介” [Overview] in hard copy of Church of Almighty God, Hua zai roushen xianxian 话在肉身显现 [The Word appears in the flesh], 2. 2 “Di yi pian shuohua 第一篇说话” [The first speech], in hard copy of Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, 9. On “Mount Zion,” see discussion of the New Testament Church on pp. 39–42 of this book. The reference here to a rising, radiant sun carries Maoist overtones; for more on Maoism and Eastern Lightning see pp. 77, 162 of this book.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004297258_004 The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 63 new, innovative movement, and to what extent do its texts draw from religious and cultural traditions?

Why ‘Eastern Lightning’?

A good place to begin exploring Eastern Lightning’s teachings is with its popular name. ‘Eastern Lightning’ has been coined by people outside the group in response to its use of a verse in the biblical gospel of Matthew: “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”3 Here, Jesus speaks of his own eventual return to earth and “the end of the age”; he will be the “lightning.” Coincidentally, Chinese etymology also associates lightning with divinity. Eastern Lightning uses the term 神 shen for God—a term historically associated with pantheism, and more vernacular than the other main contender in Protestant translations, 上帝 shangdi.4 A dictionary from the Han dynasty, the second-century Explaining and Analyzing Characters (說文解字 shuowen jiezi), records that the character 神 shen was formerly written as the homoph- onous 申, which in turn originally meant lightning (电).5 Eastern Lightning does not use this linguistic relationship as an apologetic argument, but many Christians find significance in Chinese characters’ purported reflection of biblical teaching, especially Genesis. (The traditional Chinese character for ‘righteousness’ [義], for example, shows a ‘lamb’ [羔] radical up the top and ‘me’ [我] down the bottom, and thus is perceived to reflect the Old Testament prescription of animal sacrifices for sin and, indirectly, Jesus’ atoning work as a sacrificial ‘lamb’ on the cross.) It is therefore possible that the historical link between God (神) and lightning (电) bolsters support for Eastern Lightning’s teachings at a popular level. To adherents, the Female Christ revealed in the early 1990s is the lightning that Jesus foretold, and as such signals the arrival of the end times. Thus, she fulfills New Testament prophecy (including Revelation), just as Jesus’ coming

3 Matthew 24:27. Eastern Lightning uses the Chinese Union translation of the Bible. 4 Irene Eber, “The Interminable Term Question,” in Bible in Modern China: The Literary and Intellectual Impact, ed. Irene Eber, Sze-Kar Wan, and Knut Walf (Sankt Augustin, Germany: Institut Monumenta Serica, 1999). 5 Jia Jinhua (贾晋华), “Shenming shiyi 神明释义” [An exegesis of “Shenming”], 深圳大学学报 (人文社会科学版) 31, no. 3 (2014): 5–6. 64 CHAPTER 3 fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.6 The ‘east’ mentioned in the Matthew verse is identified as China, and so Jesus prophesied that Christ would return there, before Eastern Lightning spreads to western nations. Interpreting biblical references to the ‘east’ as referring to East Asia is common in new religious movements across the region—including in the New Testament Church in Taiwan, the Mahikari religion in Japan, the Unification Church (‘Moonies’) in Korea, and the True Jesus Church and the Shouters in China.7 It would be easy to construe the Chinese nationality of this second Christ as an expression of nationalism on the part of Eastern Lightning adherents. Cultural and popular nationalism has been a prominent feature of Chinese political and social life over the last two decades, manifest in Confucian revivalism, the response to the spy plane collision over the South China Sea in 2001, the Beijing Summer Olympiad of 2008, and clashes with Japan over the Diaoyutai/Senkaku islands.8 Nationalism has also featured in many Chinese Protestant movements. During the republican period, for example, the True Jesus Church even presented itself as the “lightning from the east” of Matthew 24;9 some contemporary Christians also see God as having a special covenantal relationship with China.10

6 “Question 8,” in Church of Almighty God, Questions and Answers on the Testimony of the Kingdom Gospel. 7 See, respectively, Grace of Jesus Christ Crusade (基督靈恩佈道團), “Behold!”; Catherine Cornille, “Jesus in Japan: Christian Syncretism in Mahikari,” in Japanese New Religions in the West ed. Peter B. Clarke and Jeffrey Somers (Sandgate, UK: Japan Library, 1994), 94, also 102n19; George D. Chryssides, The Advent of Sun Myung Moon: The Origins, Beliefs and Practices of the Unification Church (London: Macmillan, 1991), 43; Deng Zhaoming (鄧肇明), “Indigenous Chinese Pentecostal Denominations,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 441; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 217. See also Isaiah 41:2; Ezekiel 43:2, 43:4. 8 Jacques deLisle, “ ‘One World, Different Dreams’: The Contest to Define the Beijing Olympics,” in Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China, ed. Monroe E. Price and Daniel Dayan (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008), 34–36; Yingjie Guo, Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary China: The Search for National Identity Under Reform (New York: Routledge, 2004). 9 Lian Xi, “Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China,” 409, 416, 420; Carsten T. Vala, “Protestant Reactions to the Nationalism Agenda in Contemporary China,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Francis Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013). 10 Tobias Brandner, “Trying to Make Sense of History: Chinese Christian Traditions of Countercultural Belief and Their Theological and Political Interpretation of Past and The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 65

In stark contrast to these movements, Eastern Lightning scripture states repeatedly and unequivocally that China is the “filthiest country” and its people most corrupted by the Devil.11 The nation’s backwardness and poverty are singled out as evidence of sinfulness and inferiority:

Man’s corruption, filth, unrighteousness, opposition and rebelliousness are most comprehensively displayed in Chinese people. All of these things are manifest in them. On the one hand, they are of poor quality (素质差 suzhi cha); on the other, their lives are backward, their thinking is backward, their habits and social environments, and the families to which they were born are all poor and are all most backward, and the status of these people is also low.12

Thus, Eastern Lightning’s proclamation that God has chosen China as the site of the Second Advent is not an expression of national pride, but precisely the opposite. He has chosen China because its darkness magnifies His brilliance:

Why is the work of the end times being done in China, this darkest and most backward of places? It is in order to show forth God’s holiness and justice. The darker the place, the more it can show forth God’s holiness.13

In addition to running counter to the tide of popular nationalism, these teachings undermine state-led nationalism. Particularly since the time of Eastern Lightning’s formation in the early 1990s, the state has claimed to be leading a society that is increasingly modern, ‘civilized’ (文明 wenming), and pow- ering ahead on the back of economic growth. In challenging this depiction of China, Eastern Lightning refutes the state’s legitimacy, and discredits the

Present History,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Francis Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013), 80. 11 “The Vision of the Work (2),” in Church of Almighty God, The Scroll that the Lamb Opened: From “The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh” (short title: SLO), 224–25, 403–4. Also available online in Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh (short title: WAF), contents p. 4, item 16. 12 “Zuogong yixiang (er) 作工异象（二）” [The Vision of the work (2)], in Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, contents p. 4, item 16. 13 “Di’er bu zhengfu gongzuo shi ruhe dadao guoxiao de 第二步征服工作是如何达到果效的” [How to achieve results in the second step of the conquering work] in hard copy of Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, 908. 66 CHAPTER 3 ideology intended to unify the nation for socialist construction. What, then, might account for Eastern Lightning’s antinationalism? One possible source can be found in the cultural judgments made by some missionaries to China in the late imperial period. The well-known Baptist Timothy Richard (1845–1919), for example, viewed China as shackled by “ignorance and harmful custom.”14 Eastern Lightning echoes missionary admoni- tions against ‘idolatry’ as it remarks that “Chinese people have . . . never served Jesus. They only know to kowtow and burn incense, burn paper money and worship Buddha, and worship idols.”15 However, missionary influence cannot be the only contributing factor to Eastern Lightning’s antinationalism because other churches in China with a strong missionary heritage do not commonly exhibit national shame. Many TSPM churches were originally founded by foreign missions but are fiercely patriotic; house churches have likewise pro- fessed to “love the Lord, the Chinese people, and the state.”16 Further, Eastern Lightning has only indirect links with the West, having descended from the indigenous Little Flock and the Local Church founded by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee respectively. In Eastern Lightning, any foreign input has been indirect, and heavily mediated by Chinese agency. Rather, Eastern Lightning’s antinationalism may draw more substantially from Chinese sources. The religion was born at a time not only of nationalism, but also of intellectual and popular critique of Chinese tradition. This ‘culture fever’ (文化热 wenhua re) began in the mid-1980s and reached its apogee in 1988 with the television production of River Elegy (河殇 Heshang), which blamed Chinese tradition for the nation’s backwardness and the tur- moil of past decades. The Great Wall “could not stand for strength, progress or glory” but only for “isolation, conservatism and incompetent defenses”; the Yellow River was clogged with the silt of ancient civilization and must now open up to the vast, sky-blue sea—the West.17 Culture fever in turn echoed the critical spirit of the May Fourth period of roughly 1915–30, when intellectuals blamed Chinese tradition for the nation’s weaknesses, as evidenced by

14 Timothy Richard, Forty-Five Years in China: Reminiscences (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1916), 7. 15 “An Extract From: The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab,” in hard copy of Church of Almighty God, SLO, 398ff. 16 “Attitude of Chinese House Churches towards the Government, Its Religious Policy, and the Three-Self Movement,” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 58. 17 Xia Jun (夏骏), dir., 河殇 (River Elegy), Zhongyang dianshitai (CCTV): 1988. Available at http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_40_china_presenting_river_elegy. Accessed January 10, 2011. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 67 military defeats at the hands of foreign powers from the mid-nineteenth century. These movements catalyzed popular support for national revitalization and modernization; alternatively, Eastern Lightning is much more apathetic and despondent, encouraging only conversion to the religion. Additionally, Eastern Lightning’s negative depiction of Chinese people may reflect the internalization of Chinese development discourses and their derogation of peasants. In China under Mao, to be a peasant was glorious. In 1927, Mao described the poor peasants in his home province of Hunan as “the foremost heroes who have accomplished the great revolutionary undertak- ing left unaccomplished for many years.”18 Accordingly, peasants were one of the three classes regarded by Chinese socialists as the revolutionary leaders of the New China.19 In recent decades, peasants’ social status has declined as the market has grown. Since the late 1980s, the epithet of “lacking in [human] quality” (素质差 suzhi cha) has frequently, though by no means exclusively, been directed at precisely the demographic most prevalent among Eastern Lightning followers—women from poor rural areas of Henan and Anhui.20 Although government officials and party representatives initially disseminated it, Gary Sigley has noted that the popularization of the term brings with it the “potential for redirection from below.”21 In this vein, Eastern Lightning’s characterization of the entire Chinese nation as benighted and of low suzhi (as per quotation above) inverts state discourses of modernity and development. While the neologism has been associated with state campaigns to eliminate ‘superstition’ (迷信 mixin),22 in Eastern Lightning’s scriptures the tables are turned as believers invoke a discourse of quality against those who deride them. In this way, heterodoxy lies at the heart of Eastern Lightning. The central teaching that God has chosen China as the site of his second advent serves

18 Mao Zedong, “Report of an Investigation into the Peasant Movement in Hunan,” in The Political Thought of Mao Tse-Tung, ed. Stuart R. Schram (New York: Praeger, 1969 [1927]), 254–55. 19 The three classes were workers, peasants, and soldiers (工农兵 gong nong bing). 20 Wanning Sun, “Suzhi on the Move: Body, Place, and Power,” positions: east asia cultures critique 17, no. 3 (2009): 624–25, 634. 21 Gary Sigley, “Suzhi, the Body, and the Fortunes of Technoscientific Reasoning in Contemporary China,” positions: east asia cultures critique 17, no. 3 (2009): 560; Tamara Jacka, “Cultivating Citizens: Suzhi (Quality) Discourse in the PRC,” positions: east asia cultures critique 17, no. 3 (2009): 524. 22 Ann Anagnost, National Past-Times: Narrative, Representation, and Power in Modern China (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997), 75–76; Tamara Jacka, Rural Women in Urban China: Gender, Migration and Social Change (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005), 41. 68 CHAPTER 3 not only to exalt a deity—which itself conflicts with atheist Communism and the five officially-operating religions—but also to propagate a view of China as dark and primitive. Eastern Lightning is not the only Protestant- related new religious movement to subvert the government’s depiction of China; The Disciples circulate a text entitled Down with Eastern Customs (打倒东方风俗 Dadao dongfang fengsu), suggesting that cultural iconoclasm is prevalent among Protestant-related new religious movements and the cultic milieu from which they draw.23

“Will the Female Christ Please Stand Up?”: Exploring Her Identity

Further to teaching that God has chosen China as the site of his second coming, Eastern Lightning contends that the present incarnation is female. It does so primarily on the basis of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” According to this verse, God created humankind in his own image; he created men and women, and therefore, Eastern Lightning reasons, God manifests as both male and female:

If God only came as a male when he became flesh, people would decide God was male, and that he was a God for men. They would never think that God was for women, too. Then men would think of God as having the male gender and as being the head of men. What about women? This wouldn’t be fair. Wouldn’t it be biased? In this way, all those that God saves would be men like he is, and no women would be saved. When God created mankind, he created Adam and Eve. He didn’t only create Adam, but created man and woman according to his image. God isn’t only the God of men; he is also the God of women.24

23 Jing Xing (儆醒), “Yiduan ‘mentuhui’ de neimu 异端《门徒会》的内幕” [Inside the heretical “Disciples”], TF 1 (2008): 30. Despite rejecting traditions in some places, Disciples’ texts also include reference to elements of Chinese tradition such as the Yuan dynasty classic The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety (24 孝 xiao). Liu Yanwu (刘燕舞), “Sanshu Jidu zai Hunan de chuanbo—jiyu Hunan Mingcun, Huangcun, Xingcun sancun de diaocha 三赎基督教在湖南的传播—基于湖南明村、黄村、星村三村的调查” [The transmission of the Disciples in Hunan: A survey of Ming, Huang and Xing villages]. Available at http://www.rbw.org.cn/article.aspx?ty=uul&i=uNM&pg=23. Accessed July 9, 2010. 24 “Zuogong yixiang (san) 作工异象（三）” [The Vision of the work (3)], in Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, contents p. 4, item 17. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 69

Eastern Lightning materials furnish us with scant biographical information about the earthly identity of the Female Christ. They tell us that she is a virgin and “looks exactly the same as a normal person.”25 The most extensive description of her upbringing likewise emphasizes its commonness: “Christ was born in an ordinary family in the north [of China]. From childhood, she knew in her heart that there is God. She gradually grew up as an ordinary person does.”26 This pedestrian life contrasts with biographies of other leaders of new religious movements in contemporary China,27 but may appeal to Eastern Lightning’s followers as they, too, are typically women from north China with an unexcep- tional background. It may even lend credibility to the claim that the Female Christ is the second incarnation of God, as the biblical prophet Isaiah foresaw that Jesus would have “no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.”28 In the Bible the disciple Nathanael remarked “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” when first presented with reports of Jesus Christ;29 one can likewise envisage Chinese urbanites steeped in suzhi discourse wondering whether anything divine could possibly come from an ordinary woman in the country’s rural north. In this way, Eastern Lightning converts the humble social origins of the Female Christ into symbolic capital. Moreover, it reassures followers that ‘ordinary women’ can in fact be extraordinary, and occupy a unique place in God’s plan for human history. Eastern Lightning’s “About Us” statement indicates that the Female Christ converted to Protestantism in the late 1980s, when the religion was experiencing exponential growth in northern China after government crackdowns on unofficial congregations earlier that decade. In its words, “In 1989 just when the Holy Spirit was working greatly in the house churches, Christ gave up her studies and formally entered the house church.”30 This woman was not immediately recognized as the Female Christ; people “merely regarded her as an ordinary sister who received the revelation of the Holy Spirit.”31 The process by which the Female Christ came to be worshipped as such is not recounted; rather, the movement describes her advent as “hidden.”32 She does not make

25 Hard copy of Church of Almighty God, SLO, 85, 415, 467. See also “Knowledge about God’s Present Work,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 3, item 44. 26 Church of Almighty God, About Us, 2. 27 “Brief Biography of Li Hongzhi: Founder of Falun Gong and President of the Falun Gong Research Society,” Chinese Law and Government 32, no. 6 (1999): 16. 28 Isaiah 53:2. 29 John 1:46. 30 Church of Almighty God, About Us, 2. 31 Ibid. 32 Thus, Eastern Lightning’s website bears the URL www.hidden-advent.org. 70 CHAPTER 3 public appearances, and only a small number of people are destined to recognize her deity. While the Female Christ’s lack of public presence is interpreted by detractors as secrecy, it is explained by Eastern Lightning as being necessitated by the climate of religious persecution in China. An essay points out that Jesus, too, behaved surreptitiously at times; Mary and Joseph fled with him to Egypt to escape King Herod’s slaughter of male infants, and Christ occasionally instructed witnesses not to tell of the miracles he performed.33 Since she does not appear publicly, a small number of Protestant sources speculate that the Female Christ has either died, or never existed at all. They suggest that no individual identified as the Female Christ has ever existed; she is, rather, a fictitious creation that leader Zhao Weishan uses to attract and manipulate followers.34 The majority of reports external to Eastern Lightning, however, argue that such a woman does exist, but is rarely seen. They reason that the religion would not have been able to achieve such popularity if no followers had met her.35 A section of scripture written during the movement’s early years does indeed reveal the voice of an underprivileged rural woman, lending weight to the view that a woman identified as the Female Christ existed at least for a time:

When people saw me, they didn’t pay any attention to me because I didn’t wear classy clothes and brought only my ‘ID card’ (身份证 shenfen zheng) to ‘dine’ with them [author’s note: as opposed to a credit card?]. My face was not plastered with expensive makeup, there was no flashy crown on my head, and I wore only a pair of ordinary ‘homemade shoes’ on my feet. What people found most disappointing was that I did not wear

33 “Question 21,” in Church of Almighty God, Questions and Answers. See also Matthew 2:13– 18, 8:4, 9:30. 34 For example, Tang Weimin (唐卫民). “Pouxi yiduan jiduan 剖析异端极端” [An analysis of heresies and extremism] (河南基督教两会, 2008). Available at http://www.hnjdj.org/ article-1165788-1.html. Accessed July 7, 2009. 35 For example, Zhang Dakai (张大开), Pouxi xiejiao dongfang shandian 剖析邪教组织东方闪电 [Given English title: An Analysis of the Eastern Lightning Cult]. Available at http:// www.chinaforjesus.com/resources/exel/contentsch.htm. Accessed May 9, 2006. Perhaps the Female Christ spent a large amount of time with her followers in the movement’s early days, but has become more reclusive as the group has incurred greater persecution. The preface to one section of Eastern Lightning’s scripture states that it is comprised of speeches given and essays written personally by the Female Christ during the time that she “walked with the churches.” “Neirong jianjie 内容简介” [Overview], in Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 71

lipstick and couldn’t make ‘polite conversation’ . . . so people took me for a ‘country bumpkin’, ignorant and foolish.36

Assuming that she exists, what is the earthly identity of this female Christ? Chinese Protestant sources previously reported that the object of Eastern Lightning’s devotion was an unmarried woman with the surname Deng 邓 who lived near Zhengzhou in Henan.37 For its part, Eastern Lightning’s website vehemently denied this, but did not supply an alternative identity for her:

the antichrists and wicked elements have dared to directly attack the flesh of the Almighty God, and have committed the heinous sin of blasphemy. They say “The Church of Almighty God believes in a woman surnamed Deng from Zhengzhou, Henan, who was once possessed by a demon.” This is pure fabrication. In fact, the place where God was born as flesh and dwells isn’t in Henan province at all, and the surname is certainly not Deng. The rumors concocted by these wicked elements don’t even come close to the truth.38

The denial was quite possibly honest, as in late 2012, Chinese media began to identify the Female Christ as Shanxi woman Yang Xiangbin 杨向彬 instead. Reports from this time have stated that in 1991, Zhao Weishan was in the dol- drums following the suppression of his fledgling new religious movement in Heilongjiang. He fled to Henan, where he came across Yang (b.1973), who had experienced a mental breakdown after failing her university entrance examination, and had been writing a religious text that she called ‘God’s Word.’ Zhao recognized the potential that she and her writing held to attract followers, they became lovers, and Zhao declared her to be the Female Christ in 1993.39

36 “Di sanshiyi pian shuohua 第三十一篇说话” [The thirty-first speech], in Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, contents p. 1, item 33. The passage is dated April 11, 1992. 37 For example, China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), “The Development and Beliefs of the Eastern Lightning Cult.” Available at http://www.chinaforjesus.com/EL_develop ment.htm. Accessed March 12, 2004. 38 “Dui di Jidu gongji Quannengshen Jiaohui de si da yaoyan de pouxi 对敌基督攻击全能神教会的四大谣言的剖析” [Analyzing the four main rumors spread by the anitchrists to attack the Church of Almighty God], in Church of Almighty God, Jiechuan di Jidu de yaoyan miulun 揭穿敌基督的谣言谬论 [Exposing the Antichrist’s rumors and falsehoods]. Formerly available at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/fanbo/section1/0001.php. Accessed August 14, 2010; now defunct. 39 Wang Zaihua (王在华), “Meiti cheng quannengshen jiaozhu taozhi Meiguo yaokong zhihui xintu 媒体称全能神教主逃至美国遥控指挥信徒” [Media claim Almighty 72 CHAPTER 3

It is not clear why Chinese sources began to identify Yang Xiangbin only in 2012, after Eastern Lightning had been banned for nearly two decades. It is also curious that Eastern Lightning’s websites do not mention Yang Xiangbin, particularly given their previous denial of the Ms. Deng rumor. The discrep- ancy between reports that adherents worship a Ms. Deng and a Ms. Yang raises the possibility that there is divergence between the beliefs of at least some adherents in China. Persecution has necessitated secrecy and decentralization in Eastern Lightning’s operations; this has frustrated efforts to preserve unity and enabled alternative, unauthorized teachings to emerge and gain a foot- hold in selected locales. Whatever the case, the fact that the Female Christ is not named in Eastern Lightning texts suggests that her earthly identity is not important for the movement. Surely, a large proportion of followers have never met the Female Christ if indeed Ms. Yang fled to the USA with Zhao Weishan in late 2000. The Female Christ therefore serves a largely symbolic purpose. Moreover, while the figure of the Female Christ is undeniably central to Eastern Lightning’s cosmology, God’s gender actually occupies a somewhat ambiguous place in Eastern Lightning’s teachings. The female nature of God is emphasized less in Eastern Lightning’s writings than exogenous commentar- ies would lead one to believe. The Word Appears in the Flesh writes far more of the ‘Almighty God’ than the ‘Female Christ,’ for example, and usually refers to God in masculine terms. The Female Christ is never referred to as ‘mother’ in scripture; instead, believers are described as the Almighty God’s children and He as their Father. In early 2006, the English translation of Eastern Lightning scripture temporarily used feminine pronouns (‘she’ and ‘her’) to refer to God, but only sporadically; the Chinese text retained the masculine forms (他 ta).40 The Female Christ and the Almighty God are one, but in Eastern Lightning’s literature, the female nature of God is eclipsed by the male.

God leader fled to America: Commands followers from afar]. Available at http://news.163 .com/12/1221/18/8J92TR1S0001124J_all.html. Accessed August 26, 2014; Wang Zaihua (王在华), “Jiemi ‘Quannengshen’ xiejiao jiaozhu Zhao Weishan 揭秘 ‘全能神’ 邪教教主赵维山” [Revealing Zhao Weishan, leader of ‘Almighty God’ cult]. Available at http:// news.cntv.cn/2012/12/21/ARTI1356082787384518_2.shtml. Accessed September 21, 2014; Tian Liang (田亮), Li Jingtao (李静涛), and Huang Ying (黄滢), “Xiejiao jiaozhu zui’e zhenxiang 邪教教主罪恶真相” [Cult leader’s true evil nature], 环球人物 16 (2014): 26. 40 “Dui shen xianshi zuogong de renshi 对神现时作工的认识” and “On Knowing God’s Present Work.” Formerly available at http://holyspiritspeaks.org/shenhua/ section3a/0036b.php and http://english.hidden-advent.org/book/0013.php respectively. These URLs are now defunct, and the English has reverted to using masculine pronouns; see https://www.hidden-advent.org/en/books/45047.html. Accessed September 9, 2013. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 73

The Female Christ’s Mission

Why has the Female Christ come to earth? To comprehend this, we need first to understand Eastern Lightning’s teleology. Eastern Lightning maintains that Almighty God’s interaction with humankind has been marked by three dispensations. The first of these, the Age of Law (律法时代 lüfa shidai), corresponds with the events of the Old Testament. Eastern Lightning adopts a chronology that is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, and believes that the events spanning the Age of Law (i.e. from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ) occurred over a period of four thousand years. During this time, God revealed himself as Yahweh, and his principal ‘work’ was to create the world, lead the Israelites out of Egypt and give them his commandments.41 The birth of Jesus marked the end of the Age of Law and the beginning of the Age of Grace (恩典时代 endian shidai), which covered events up until the advent of the Female Christ. Jesus was compassionate and loving, and during this time the divine mission was to die on the cross for the redemption of humans. However, Eastern Lightning teaches that Jesus was “only a normal man” until he began his ministry at the age of twenty-nine, three years prior to his crucifixion.42 This doctrine is supported with reference to Matthew 3:16, which records that immediately after Jesus’ baptism, “heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.”43 While Luke 3:23 notes that Jesus was “about thirty years old when he began his ministry,” the idea that he was not God up until this point conflicts with conventional Christian teaching. Furthermore, Eastern Lightning teaches that Jesus only partially completed the work of salvation. Although he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, “men”44 continue to be “corrupted” (败坏 baihuai) by Satan; while Jesus’ death enabled their sin to be forgiven, their sinful nature remains fundamentally unaltered.45 It is for the transformation of this sinful nature that the Almighty God, through the Female Christ, is working in the present Age of The Kingdom

41 “Lüfa shidai de gongzuo 律法时代的工作” [The work of the Age of Law], in Church of Almighty God, 话在肉身显现, contents p. 4, item 41. “Yahweh” is the Hebrew proper noun used in the Old Testament to refer to the God of Israel. 42 “The Mystery of the Incarnation (1),” in Church of Almighty God, SLO, 312; also available in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 22. 43 Ibid. 44 I use masculine language in this chapter as Eastern Lightning’s English texts do (although they clearly intend their teachings to apply to women, too). Eastern Lightning’s Chinese texts use “people” (人 ren). 45 “Question 28,” in Church of Almighty God, Questions and Answers. 74 CHAPTER 3

(国度时代 guodu shidai). Just as Jesus “did a newer work beyond the Old Testament,”46 the Female Christ is today extending God’s New Testament mission by “transforming people’s nature” (变化人的本性 bianhua ren de benxing). This is also referred to as “the work of conquering” (征服的作工 zhengfu de zuogong) or “the work of perfecting” (成全的作工 chengquan de zuogong).47 Despite appealing to the Bible to support its teachings, Eastern Lightning claims that since the former does not prophesy the Female Christ’s work in the present age, it is “outdated” and “aged and moldy” [sic].48 A corollary of this focus in the Female Christ’s ministry is that miraculous phenomena occupy a relatively minor place in Eastern Lightning’s formal teachings. Scripture states that the Female Christ does not perform healings, exorcisms or other miracles because those acts belonged to the Age of Grace, which has now passed:

In God incarnate this time, people cannot see with their physical eyes any signs or wonders, such as healing the sick and driving out demons, walking on the sea, fasting for forty days . . . She does not do the same works as Jesus did, not because the substance of her flesh is different from Jesus’, but because her ministry is not to heal the sick and drive out demons . . . Healing the sick and driving out demons was the work done in the Age of Grace and was the initial work of the redemptive work. Since God has saved man from the cross, he will no longer do the work of healing the sick and driving out demons . . . the principle of God’s working is that he never repeats the work he has accomplished.49

This is highly conspicuous in the Chinese religious context. The promise of healing has been central to the popularity of most religious movements in China;50 in particular, it is estimated that up to 90 percent of Protestants in rural areas have converted to Christianity due to a personal encounter with

46 “The Vision of the Work (3),” in Church of Almighty God, SLO, 244. Newer translation available in WAF, contents p. 4, item 17. 47 On conquering and perfecting, see “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work 1 & 3,” in Church of Almighty God, SLO, 366–97; WAF, contents p. 4, items 28 and 30. 48 “A Statement About the Bible (1),” in Church of Almighty God, SLO, 269, 272. Rendered “old [and] musty” in WAF, contents p. 4, item 18. 49 “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 57. 50 Chau, Miraculous Response, 55; Madsen, “Signs and Wonders,” 17, 29. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 75 faith healing.51 Leaders of other Protestant-related new religious movements are also reported to hold out promises of healing and good fortune, and are credited with performing miracles such as fasting for long periods. One possible explanation for the absence of healing promises in Eastern Lightning’s literature is that its members have been previously disappointed in this area. Eastern Lightning depicts other Protestant movements as ineffective in treat- ing illness and bringing good fortune, and this may resonate with those who converted to Christianity with these hopes, only to be frustrated. However, Eastern Lightning’s teachings are inconsistent in regard to these matters. An Eastern Lightning publication contains over one hundred testimonies from people who received judgment in the form of illness and other misfortune, but many were healed after professing faith in the Almighty God.52 This same publication provides testimonies concerning religious visions, despite church papers elsewhere condemning visions as “the work of an evil spirit.”53 Finally, in blatant contradiction to the block quotation above, Protestants report that Eastern Lightning recruiters fake exorcisms in a bid to demonstrate their spiritual power.54 While Eastern Lightning’s scripture does not promise healing and exorcism, it is possible that some believers hold out hope that the Almighty God will heal them in this Age of the Kingdom. The teaching of three dispensations has no doubt been influenced by Watchman Nee, who also taught of the dispensations of the Patriarchs

51 Claudia Währisch-Oblau, “Healing Prayers and Healing Testimonies in Mainland Chinese Churches,” CSJ 14, no. 2 (1999): 5–21; Jason Kindopp, “Faith Healing (Christian),” in Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, ed. Edward L. Davis (London: Routledge, 2005). 52 Section 2 in Church of Almighty God, Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng 圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证 [Testimonies to the Holy Spirit’s guiding people to turn to the Almighty God]. 53 Ibid.; “Dui youguo xieling zuogong yu bei gui fu de ren ying qübie duidai 对有过邪灵作工与被鬼附的人应区别对待” [Those who have been affected by an evil spirit and those possessed by a ghost should be treated differently], in Church of Almighty God, Guanyu jiaohui gongzuo de jiaotong jiangdao yu jiaohui gongzuo anpai linian huibian 关于教会工作的交通讲道与教会工作安排历年汇编 [Compilation of plans and talks concerning church work over the years; short title: 关于教会工作], vol. 1, contents p. 2, item 44. 54 Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese”; Shang Qin (尚琴), “Women shou mihuo de jingguo he jiaoxun: Jielu he pipan yiduan xiejiao ‘dongfang shandian’ 我们受迷惑的经过和教训—揭露和批判异端邪教’东方闪电’ ” [How we were misled, and the lessons we have learned: Reavealing and critiquing the heretical cult “Eastern Lightning”]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/Christian%20Witness/jian-womenshou.htm. Accessed July 13, 2010. 76 CHAPTER 3

(encompassing Adam to Moses), the Law (Moses to Christ), Grace (spanning the first and second comings of Christ) and the anticipated Age of the Kingdom (from the second coming of Christ).55 Reports of other new religious movements suggest that they, too, have adopted a tripartite dispensationalism—the Three Grades of Servant, for example, are said to teach of the era of the Holy Father (圣父时代 shengfu shidai), the Age of the Holy Son (圣子时代 shengzi shidai), and the Charismatic Age (灵恩时代 ling’en shidai).56 The popularity of the three dispensations mirrors the Chinese Buddhist division of history after the Buddha’s death into three ages. Related to this, heterodox sects in late imperial China taught that a numinous representative was dispatched to lead people back to the Eternal Mother during each of the three eras. She had sent the Dipamkara (Lamp-lighting) Buddha in the past, the Sakyamuni Buddha in the present, and would send the Buddha Maitreya in the future.57 Maitreya was to come to the Eastern Land (東土 dong tu); the Female Christ has also come to the East. The elements of the east, a female deity, and three cosmic eras thus feature in the cosmologies of both Eastern Lightning and Chinese sectarian traditions. According to Eastern Lightning, the goal of God’s present “conquering work” is not only to eliminate Satanic influence, but to make the believer “completely obey God.”58 Good and evil are described in terms of one’s allegiance to the Almighty God and, by extension, the Church. Thus, Eastern Lightning’s Ten Commandments—which are described as “higher” than, while not abolishing, those given to Moses59—pertain largely to submission to the church organization. The seventh instructs that members should

55 Watchman Nee, How to Study the Bible (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1999), 108–9. This book is based on talks given by Nee in China in 1948–49. Lian Xi states that Nee taught of three dispensations, and that this was derived from the dispensationalism of the Italian monk Joachim di Fiore in the twelfth century. Lian Xi, “The Search for Chinese Christianity in the Republican Period (1912–1949),” Modern Asian Studies 38, no. 4 (2004): 885. Witness Lee spoke of three eras spanning two thousand years each: from Adam to Abraham, Abraham to Christ, and Christ to today. Witness Lee, “The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man.” Available at http://www.ministrybooks.org/ books.cfm?xid=292TTVZG67K9J. 56 Zhuo Xuan (卓軒), “Kuxiu dejiu de ‘sanban puren’ 哭修得救的《三班仆人》,” 109. 57 Naquin, Millenarian Rebellion, 9; Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion, 139; Li Shiyu (李世瑜), Xiandai huabei mimi zongjiao 现代华北秘密宗教 [Secret religious societies in modern North China] (上海: 上海文艺出版社, 1990 [1949]), 32–34. 58 “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (3),” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 30. 59 “The Vision of the Work (1),” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 15. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 77

take orders from the man used by the Holy Spirit in everything and should not disobey any of them but should obey them absolutely. Do not analyze whether they are right or wrong. Whether they are right or wrong has nothing to do with you. You should just obey them absolutely.60

The absence of a broader ethical code in Eastern Lightning’s literature is a striking difference from the precious scrolls and morality books of folk religious sects in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and also to the teachings of recent religious movements such as Falun Gong.61 Perhaps, despite Eastern Lightning’s indisputable hostility to the Chinese Communist Party, its construction of morality as centered on loyalty and obedience has been influenced by the personality cult surrounding Mao Zedong, the quasi-religious nature of which was noted in the 1960s by renowned sociologist C.K. Yang.62 Given that most Eastern Lightning adherents are middle-aged or elderly, the Maoist mass political campaigns are within living memory for many of them. Where they danced loyalty dances to Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution, they now dance to the Almighty God.63 Eastern Lightning also resembles Maoism in its concern with transforming the individual. In 1957, Mao stated that “Socialist transformation is a twofold task, one is to transform the system and the other to transform man.”64 And in 1966, “The purpose of the Great Cultural Revolution in the schools is to carry out struggle, criticism, transformation.”65 Eastern Lightning also teaches that personal transformation comes through struggle, albeit a different kind of struggle to that conceived of by the CCP. In Eastern Lightning’s texts, one

60 “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Obey,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 63. For “the man used by the Holy Spirit,” see p. 49 of this book: probably Zhao Weishan. 61 David Ownby, “Falungong as a Cultural Revitalization Movement: An Historian Looks at Contemporary China.” Available at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~tnchina/commentary/ ownby1000.html. Accessed June 5, 2004. 62 Yang, Religion in Chinese Society, 381–86. Also Dittmer and Chen, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 37. 63 Xing Lu, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture and Communication (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004), 133–34. 64 Mao Zedong, “Beat Back the Attacks of the Bourgeois Rightists (July 9, 1957).” Available at http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_65 .htm. Accessed June 16, 2013. 65 Mao Zedong, “Speech at a Meeting with Regional Secretaries and Members of the Cultural Revolutionary Group of the Central Committee (July 22, 1966).” Available at http://www .marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-9/mswv9_59.htm. Accessed July 16, 2013. 78 CHAPTER 3 can have one’s nature transformed and be ‘perfected’ by God only through overcoming ‘trials and tribulations’, which the Bible teaches precede the apocalypse and the coming of the new heaven and new earth. ‘Trials’ can refer to anything that may cause the believer to waver in their faith, or even renounce it. In some cases, the tribulations are relatively benign: maintaining belief in a Female Christ who appears so ‘normal,’ for example.66 However, Eastern Lightning sources most frequently identify the term ‘great tribulation’ (大患难 da huannan) with the government crackdowns and social rejection experienced by its adherents.67 For example, from around 2004, the principal concern of a handbook chapter entitled “Twelve Instructions for the Time of Trial” was to equip readers with techniques for evading public security agents.68 In this way, the Church of Almighty God internalizes present hardships by construing them as confirmation of God’s end-time plans for individuals, the Church and the world. Individuals are encouraged to reason that the Female Christ, like Jesus Christ, has suffered on this earth at the hands of a repressive regime and religious detractors, and so they must likewise be prepared to sacrifice all for the sake of the Word. Teachings about earthly assays bestow value upon them by depicting them as tools used by the Almighty God to perfect the elect; a ‘refiner’s fire’ in which to forge the saints (圣人 shengren) who will reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom. Thus, the costs of persecution and suffering are not only neutralized, but regarded as having positive effects:

The greater refining people undergo, the greater suffering they undergo, and the more torments they undergo, the deeper true love they will have for God, the more true faith they will have in God, and the deeper knowledge they will have of God.69

66 “Knowledge about God’s Present Work,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 3, item 44. 67 This usage is broadly consistent with that of Revelation 7:14, which refers to the persecution of the church. 68 Church of Almighty God, Quannengshen jiaohuide xingzheng, gongzuo anpai yu jiaohui dailing shifeng shen de yuanze 全能神教会的行政、工作安排与教会带领侍奉神的原则 [Principles for the administration of the Church of Almighty God, work plans and church leaders serving God]. This document instructed that adherents should meet only in very small groups, be wary of new believers and those who have been recently arrested lest they inform on the organization, and that group leaders should flee their homes. 69 “All Those to Be Perfected Have to Undergo Refining,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 2. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 79

Here, Eastern Lightning echoes the apostle Paul’s reflection that “we . . . glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope.”70 The development of a culture of martyrdom in the wake of repression is also shared by many religious movements in contemporary China. A scripture from the Association of Disciples extols leader Ji Sanbao in the following terms: “He endures attacks from out siders, meets with persecution from Pharaohs and rejection from his own family and friends . . . He has tasted sweetness and bitterness, experienced a thousand trials.”71 Falun Gong has emphasized the principle of forbearance (忍 ren) as it resists authorities and sees persecution as a ‘test’ (考验 kaoyan);72 martyrdom also shapes Chinese Catholic and Protestant communities.73 What makes Eastern Lightning exceptional is the degree to which it prescribes self-sacrifice. Scripture goes so far as to state that “Before people are refined to the extent that they are half dead and have tasted death, the refining will not end . . . People will all have to be refined to that extent, without any hope or support.”74 It is also significant that Eastern Lightning’s writings were not always so morose. The quotation above contrasts with the optimistic excla- mations that permeated the first writings of 1991, as represented at the opening of this chapter. Despite appearing towards the front of Chinese versions of The Word Appeared in the Flesh, these earlier writings are omitted from recently translated English versions. This suggests that the leadership of the movement is now emphasizing the more somber tone of the Female Christ’s later pronouncements, and that repression at the hands of political and religious opponents has engendered the radicalization of Eastern Lightning’s teachings. These teachings foster a boldness and dedication that is feared by Protestants and government organs alike.

70 Romans 5:3–4. 71 Excerpt given in Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密, 32. The Association of Disciples uses the term “Pharaohs” (法老 Falao) to refer to political leaders, recalling the Israelites’ oppression at the hands of the Egyptian kings in the book of Exodus. 72 Gareth Fisher, “Resistance and Salvation in Falun Gong: The Promise and Peril of Forbearance,” Nova Religio 6, no. 2 (2003): passim; Penny, The Religion of Falun Gong, 135. 73 Richard Madsen, “Catholic Conflict and Cooperation in the People’s Republic of China,” in God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, ed. Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), 99; Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 209. 74 “All Those to Be Perfected Have to Undergo Refining,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 2. 80 CHAPTER 3

Punishment and Retribution

Eastern Lightning teaches that the events used to perfect or refine the believer can also serve as a form of ultimate judgment for the unbeliever and the person purged from Eastern Lightning. Revelation tells that the Devil will ultimately be defeated, and the dead will be raised to receive judgment before God, who will be seated upon a white throne. Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be thrown into a lake of fire; the others will dwell with God in a new heaven and a new earth.75 Eastern Lightning’s “About Us” statement proclaims that “The judgment of the great white throne has finally begun,”76 and that

To the evil ones among all mankind, he [the Almighty God] is burning, judgment, and punishment; to those to be perfected, he is tribulation, refining, trial . . . to the eliminated ones, he is punishment and retribution (报应 baoying).77

The misfortunes of unbelievers are vividly portrayed as God’s righteous retribution in an anthology of anecdotes intended to persuade prospective recruits to join the movement. The front cover of the book Typical Cases of Leaders in Catholicism and Christianity in Mainland China Who Resist Almighty God Being Punished graphically depicts the fate that is to befall those who reject Eastern Lightning’s teachings (Figure 3).78 The robed people in the illustration represent clergy of the official church (TSPM), and the plain-clothed figures members of house churches. The clergy- man second from the left has the head of a wolf, evoking the phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ (披着羊皮的狼 pizhe yangpi de lang), which is used by assorted Protestant factions and new religious movements to denigrate each other. In the foreground, a second wolf gnaws on the leg of a man lying face down, perhaps symbolizing this infighting.79

75 Revelation 20–21. 76 Church of Almighty God, About Us, 5. 77 “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of Incarnation,” in Church of Almighty God, SLO, 344. Different translation available in WAF, contents p. 4, item 26. 78 Front cover, Church of Almighty God, Jidujiao gezong gepai didang quannengshen shou chengfa de dianxing shili 基督教各宗各派抵挡全能神受惩罚的典型事例 [Typical cases of punishment for resisting the Almighty God; short title: 受惩罚] (hard copy, 2002). 79 The phrase “wolf in sheep’s clothing” originates from Matthew 7:15: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 81

figure 3 Cover, Typical Cases of Leaders in Catholicism and Christianity in Mainland China Who Resist Almighty God Being Punished (2002).

Lightning strikes from the heavens. The traditional Chinese character meaning ‘word’ (話 hua) is emblazoned throughout the picture—the phrase ‘God’s word’ (神的话 shen de hua) is used by both Protestants and new religious movements to denote the Bible and/or their own scripture. The shining sword on the book’s cover also represents ‘God’s word.’ In the Bible, Paul instructs 82 CHAPTER 3 the Ephesians to take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” that they might guard themselves against “the devil’s schemes.”80 The sword and the ‘word’ are depicted as causing anguish, even death, to those beneath it, illustrating the power of the Almighty God’s revelation and judgment. Cracks in the earth and flames in the background additionally reflect Eastern Lightning’s apocalypticism. The text that lies beyond this illustration records the experiences of 887 Chinese Christians between the years of 1995 and 2002 whose illness or accident, often fatal, is interpreted as being God’s judgment upon them for rejecting Eastern Lightning.81 The number 888 is considered auspicious in China; the fact that the number of anecdotes in this collection falls one short of this is probably intended to highlight the misfortune of the book’s subjects to its readers. The reporting of each case assumes a uniform structure. First, the province, surname, previous denomination, and usually age and sex of the subject are given. It is then recounted that a friend, relative and/or previously unknown evangelist made unsuccessful attempts to recruit them to Eastern Lightning. The subject is then struck down with accident or illness days, months or even years after their rejection of Eastern Lightning. Accidents occur in traffic or in the course of home repairs; the litany of diseases mentioned includes all sorts of cancer, stroke, emphysema, paralysis, diabetes and insanity. The grisly tale of a thirty-eight-year-old woman from Henan province is typical of these vignettes, and reads as follows:

In 1998, people told [a believer surnamed Sun] about God’s work in the end times on multiple occasions, but she rejected it and went around spreading rumors and hindering others from accepting the True Way [真道 zhen dao]. When someone preached God’s end-time work to her once more, she hurled abuse, saying: “. . . God will surely punish you in days to come! You believe in an evil spirit, a false Christ, Satan, the devil, a heretic, a deceiver” . . . On the night of December 2, 1999, at about 9 p.m., Sun was returning home from Changge on the back of a pedicab [三轮车 san lun che] driven by her husband. When they were travelling through Yuzhou, she was hooked by a big oncoming vehicle and dragged away. When her husband finally found her, all that remained was internal

80 Ephesians 6:10–17. 81 Church of Almighty God, 受惩罚. Abridged English version: Church of Almighty God, Typical Cases of Punishment for Resisting the Almighty God. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 83

organs and bits of flesh scattered everywhere. The devil finally met with a curse!82

In light of the anecdotes’ standardized narrative structure and their intended function of demonstrating that Eastern Lightning’s God is indeed almighty, it is unsurprising to read that an editorial committee has vetted them:

because the people who provided each case came from different areas and their level of education (文化程度 wenhua chengdu) also varied, we proofread, straightened them out and verified them several times over, completing the book only after going to a lot of trouble. Owing to the difficulty of the investigative work, there may be errors in one or two of the cases; if this is so, please excuse them. We have published in such a hurry in order to present these cases to you as quickly and accurately as possible.83

Given the editorial intervention in these tales, their significance for Chinese religion is not to be found in their factuality or their proof of the religion for which they contend. Rather, they are of interest because they demonstrate continuity in the kind of experiences reported by members of religious movements in China, and the literature they generate and view as persuasive. Popular religious sects attributed illness and misfortune to immorality as early as the Han dynasty.84 Anecdotes of divine retribution were collected in Hong Mai’s (1123–1202) Record of the Listener (夷堅志 Yijian zhi), and from the mid-Ming, the theme of karmic retribution (报应 baoying) pervaded sectarian scripture texts.85 This tradition is alive and well in contemporary China. People continue to profess belief in retribution, and tales of it circulate among a wide variety of religious groups, including popular religion, Falun Gong and Protestantism.86

82 Case number 69, “Henan” chapter, in Church of Almighty God, 受惩罚. 83 “Xie zai qianmian de hua 写在前面的话” [Preface], in ibid. 84 Seiwert, Popular Religious Movements, 38–39, 47–50, 468–69; Yang, Religion in Chinese Society, 57; David Ownby, “Imperial Fantasies: The Chinese Communists and Peasant Rebellions,” Comparative Studies in Society & History 43, no. 1 (2001): 79–80. 85 Alister D. Inglis, Hong Mai’s Record of the Listener and Its Song Dynasty Context (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006); Daniel L. Overmyer, “Alternatives: Popular Religious Sects in Chinese Society,” Modern China 7, no. 2 (1981): 159; Fisher, “Morality Books,” 55–56. 86 Goossaert and Palmer, Religious Question in Modern China, 274–75; Chau, Miraculous Response, 241; Benjamin Penny, “Animal Spirits, Karmic Retribution, Falungong, and the State,” in Chinese Religiosities: Afflications of Modernity and State Formation, ed. Mayfair 84 CHAPTER 3

Even the Chinese government appeared to use this template when it published case studies of Falun Gong practitioners who had died as a result of mental illness or rejecting medical treatment.87 While government organs would not have evoked any religious paradigm intentionally, it is consistent with religious genres of exhortation and warning, and demonstrates that Eastern Lightning’s texts marshal themes, discourses and beliefs that are deeply embedded across many sectors of contemporary Chinese society.

The Female Christ and Chinese Religious Traditions

Furthermore, the cover illustration of Eastern Lightning’s book (Figure 3)— and the teachings of the movement—suggest that a particular mythological articulation of ideas about misfortune and retribution have shaped the group. Chinese classics such as the first century Lunheng (论衡), fourth century Records of Searching for Spirits (搜神記 Soushen ji), twelfth century Record of the Listener, and miscellaneous Qing dynasty biji (筆記 jottings), depicted deaths by lightning as retribution for sin.88 In Chinese Daoist and popular religious traditions this lightning is believed to be emitted by the Mother of Lightning (电母 Dian mu), who punishes evil alongside her husband, the Thunder God (雷公 Lei gong). The lightning goddess evolved into being. The Book of Changes identified lighting as being of the female (阴 yin) element. The Thunder God split into Thunder God and Lightning Father (电父 Dian fu) around the Han dynasty, and the latter then developed into the female form and adopted a new name by the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE).89 In the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368 CE), she

Mei-Hui Yang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 149–54; Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 449; Danyun, Lilies amongst Thorns, trans. Brother Dennis (Kent, UK: Sovereign World, 1991), 191. 87 Ownby, Falun Gong and the Future of China, 176–77. 88 Henri Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, trans. D.J. Finn S.J., vol. 10 (Shanghai: T’usewei, 1933), 7; Henri Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, trans. D.J. Finn S.J., vol. 9 (Shanghai: T’usewei, 1931), 182; Inglis, Hong Mai’s Record of the Listener and Its Song Dynasty Context, 27; Charles E. Hammond, “Waiting for a Thunderbolt,” Asian Folklore Studies 51 (1992). 89 Guo Wu (郭武), “Dian mu 电母,” [The lightning goddess] in 中国原始宗教百科全书, ed. Editorial Committee of the Encyclopedia of Primeval Chinese Religions (《中国原始宗教百科全书》编纂委员会) (成都︰四川辞书出版社, 2003). Liu Yahu (刘亚湖), “Dian mu 电母” [The goddess of lightning], in 中国民间信仰风俗词典, ed. Wang Jinglin (王景林) and Xu Tao (徐匋) (北京︰中国文联出版公司, 1997). The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 85 appeared on military flags and was depicted among a cornucopia of gods on the murals in the fourteenth-century Yongle Palace in Shanxi province.90 Veneration of the Mother of Lightning has continued in modern China, and today she and the Thunder God remain popular, worshipped in numerous temples for protecting agriculture and punishing evil.91 No existing commentary on Eastern Lightning, Chinese or Western, mentions the Mother of Lightning as a possible source of inspiration for the movement. However, the commonalities in these goddesses’ names and activities suggest more than an accidental relationship. They also explain why the Female Christ is so different from the most popular Chinese goddesses. Two goddesses stand out as particularly significant in the history of Chinese religion. From the Han dynasty, the Queen Mother of the West (西王母 Xi wang mu) was an object of veneration in the Daoist pantheon. She bestowed pros- perity and immortality, and was patron to Daoist women. Subsequently incarnated as the Eternal Mother, she was also the supreme deity of heterodox sects in the late Ming dynasty.92 Second, the bodhisattva Guanyin 观音 was, like the Female Christ, of male gender in her culture of origin, but underwent a meta- morphosis in China around the twelfth century. Both of these Chinese goddesses have interacted with Christian-related religions, notably influencing Chinese Catholics’ adoration of the Virgin Mary.93 Jeremy Clarke has shown the influence to be mutual: Catholic images of Mary disseminated by Franciscan missionaries in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries also shaped depictions of Guanyin.94 In the Protestant sphere,

90 Liu Yahu (刘亚湖), “Dian mu 电母”; Shi Hongyun (史宏云) and Chen Sisi (陈思思), “Yongle gong ‘chaoyuan tu’ nüxing tuxiang yishu tezheng tanjiu 永乐宫《朝元图》女性图像艺术特征探究” [Research on the artistic characteristics of female images in Chao Yun Triptych of the Yongle palace murals], 山西档案 3 (2013): 15. 91 Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, vol. 10, 7; Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, vol. 9, 182; Bin Li (斌礼), “Leigong yu dianmu 雷公与电母” [The God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning], 民间传奇故事(A卷) 5 (2009); Editorial Committee of the Dictionary of Chinese Nationalities’ Myths and Religions (《中国各民族宗教与神化大辞典》编审委员会), Zhongguo ge minzu zongjiao yu shenhua da cidian 中国各民族宗教与神化大辞典 [Dictionary of Chinese nationalities’ myths and religions] (北京: 学苑出版社, 1990), 237. 92 Naquin, Millenarian Rebellion, 9; Overmyer, Folk Buddhist Religion, 139. 93 Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 35. 94 Jeremy Clarke SJ, The Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013), 24–31. 86 CHAPTER 3 sects formed around a syncretic ‘Mother-God’ in the Republic of China.95 An offshoot of the True Jesus Church called The Church of the Heavenly Mother (天母會 Tianmu hui), for example, was “led by a woman who was apparently trying to fashion a Christian variant of the millenarian White Lotus belief in the Mother of No-Birth [i.e., Wusheng laomu].”96 Chinese goddesses such as Guanyin, the Eternal Mother and even Mary are depicted as compassionate and merciful, offering salvation and protection.97 As mothers, Chinese women implore them to intercede in matters of marriage, fertility, and bearing sons.98 In contrast, the Female Christ is a much harsher figure, and concerns surrounding fertility and childbearing are entirely absent from Eastern Lightning’s scripture and discussion of the movement. The chief characteristic that Eastern Lightning’s Female Christ shares with Chinese goddesses other than the Mother of Lightning is the ability to “keep one safe and sound” (保平安 bao ping’an).99 As Chen-Yang Kao has illustrated, concern with “misfortune management” came to the fore in Chinese Protestantism during the Cultural Revolution. The “indigenous expectation” that an efficacious god would keep disaster at bay gained prominence, as people experienced insecurity around such issues as their political status and physical safety.100 Similarly, avoiding the accident and illness relayed in Eastern Lightning’s anecdotes is attractive to recruits because they tend to belong to a particularly vulnerable demographic. Rural residents often lack

95 Lian Xi, “Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China,” 426; Hunter and Chan, Protestantism in Contemporary China, 132. 96 Lian Xi, “Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China,” 426. 97 Richard Madsen, “Chinese Christianity: Indigenization and Conflict,” in Chinese Society: Conflict, Change and Resistance, ed. Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden, Asia’s Transformations (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003), 277–78; Richard Madsen, China’s Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 88–90; Clarke SJ, Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History, 83–89; Li Congna (李从娜), “Shengtai nüxingzhuyi shijiaoxia de jindai nüshen xinyang 生态女性主义视角下的近代女神信仰” [An ecological feminist perspective on the worship of goddesses in modern times], 民俗研究 2 (2013): 40. 98 Li Congna (李从娜), “Shengtai nüxingzhuyi shijiaoxia de jindai nüshen xinyang 生态女性主义视角下的近代女神信仰,” 40; Steven Sangren, “Female Gender in Chinese Religious Symbols: Kuan Yin, Ma Tsu, and the ‘Eternal Mother,’ ” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 9, no. 1 (1983): 14. 99 Li Congna (李从娜), “Shengtai nüxingzhuyi shijiaoxia de jindai nüshen xinyang 生态女性主义视角下的近代女神信仰,” 40. 100 Chen-Yang Kao, “The Cultural Revolution and the Emergence of Pentecostal-style Protestantism in China,” Journal of Contemporary Religion 24, no. 2 (2009): 172. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 87 access to affordable medical treatment;101 Eastern Lightning’s testimonies reflect this concern as they often mention the high cost of medical treatment incurred by their subjects because of their obstinate rejection of God.102 The representation of the Female Christ as meting out judgment in the form of misfortune instead of being a maternal figure lends weight to the hypothesis that the she draws primarily on the tradition of the lightning goddess, rather than other deities. Chinese accounts of the Female Christ also bear evidence of interaction with previous religious movements. According to Chinese sources, the woman identified as the Female Christ attempted and failed the university entrance examination (高考 gaokao) when she was approximately thirty years old. She then suffered a mental breakdown (Protestant sources add that this was a result of demon-possession). In search of healing, Deng/Yang converted first to Christianity and then to the Shouters.103 Finally, she claimed that the Holy Spirit was at work in her, and penned a section of scripture about how she was ‘God.’104 The reported experience of the Female Christ bears a compelling resem- blance to the biography of Hong Xiuquan, founder of the God-Worshippers Society and leader of the Taiping Rebellion. Born to a peasant family in 1814, Hong failed the imperial examinations on all four of his attempts. He read several Christian tracts and then fell ill, whereupon he received the religious visions that convinced him of his divinity and inspired a religious-fuelled peasant uprising that was to jeopardize the Qing dynasty.105 Protestant reports of the Female Christ’s academic failure, conversion to Protestantism, illness and visions echo this tale, now one hundred and fifty years old. Such reports never mention the Taipings, and the comparison they evoke may

101 Qi Cao et al., “Report from China: Health Insurance in China; Evolution, Current Status, and Challenges,” International Journal of Health Services 42, no. 2 (2012). 102 For example, case number 9, “Henan” chapter, in Church of Almighty God, 受惩罚. 103 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), “The Development and Beliefs of the Eastern Lightning Cult"; Wang Zaihua (王在华), “Meiti cheng quannengshen jiaozhu taozhi Meiguo yaokong zhihui xintu 媒体称全能神教主逃至美国遥控指挥信徒.” 104 Zhang Dakai (张大开), Pouxi xiejiao zuzhi dongfang shandian 剖析邪教组织东方闪电. These sources are consistent with Eastern Lightning’s account to the extent that the Female Christ “dropped out of school” before joining a house church, but differ in their additional report of mental illness and demonic possession. See Church of Almighty God, About Us, 2. 105 All accounts of the Taipings relate this information; see, for example, Jonathan D. Spence, God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan, 1st ed. (New York: Norton, 1996), 46–50ff. 88 CHAPTER 3 well be unintentional. There are also differences in the lives of Hong Xiuquan and the Female Christ—to begin with, the former is from southern China and the latter from the north. Nevertheless, the parallels raise the possibility that the story of Hong Xiuquan is so inscribed upon the popular imagination as to leave a residual template for describing and condemning those who espouse heterodox interpretations of Protestantism. Additional resonance between Eastern Lightning’s Female Christ and the Taipings lies in the God-Worshippers’ Society’s teaching of a Heavenly Mother (天母 Tian mu). An old woman, she appeared to Hong Xiuquan in a vision in 1837, cleansing him of the earth’s filth in preparation for meeting his heavenly father. She was not a focus of devotion, and was mentioned only a few times in Taiping texts.106 Yet it is intriguing that the Taipings supported their teaching of the Heavenly Mother with reference to the same Bible verse which Eastern Lightning now uses to defend its teaching of a Female Christ. Joseph Edkins, a Protestant missionary who visited Hong Xiuquan in 1860, recorded that on the basis of Genesis 1:27, Hong “pleaded for the offensive and blasphemous notion that there is therefore in heaven a female divinity, corresponding to Eve in paradise.”107 The biography of the Female Christ also resonates with the Chinese tradition of spirit possession. Indeed, the term Eastern Lightning uses to refer to God ‘descending’ to earth (降 jiang) is customarily also used to describe a spirit ‘descending’ into a shaman.108 In Chinese tradition, it is common for an ordinary woman to fall ill and experience healing prior to becoming a shaman. Initially, there is often some debate among her peers as to whether her altered affect is a result of spirit possession, or of mental illness.109 These

106 Michael, Taiping Rebellion, 54. Later, the Heavenly Mother brought Hong fruit and helped him to fight (ibid., 59). She was depicted in Taiping texts as residing in heaven with the Heavenly Father (ibid., 602–3). 107 Rev. Joseph Edkins, “Narrative of a Visit to Nanking,” in Chinese Scenes and People: With Notices of Christian Missions and Missionary Life in a Series of Letters from Various Parts of China, ed. Jane R. Edkins (London: James Nisbet and Co., 1863), 290. Edkins lamented that he was unable to dissuade Hong from propagating this interpretation of Genesis 1:27. Genesis was the only book of the Old Testament that Hong annotated, but he did not comment on this verse in the notes reproduced in Michael, The Taiping Rebellion, 225. 108 Catherine Despeux, “Women in Daoism,” in Daoism Handbook, vol. 1, ed. Livia Kohn (Boston: Brill, 2000), 403–4. 109 Margery Wolf, “The Woman Who Didn’t Become a Shaman,” American Ethnologist 17, no. 3 (1990); Anagnost, “Politics and Magic in Contemporary China,” 52; Fan Lizhu, “The Cult of the Silkworm Mother as a Core of Local Community Religion in a North China Village: Field Study in Zhiwuying, Baoding, Hebei,” China Quarterly 174 (2003); Tung The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 89 differing responses are mirrored by Eastern Lightning’s worship of the woman as Christ, and Protestants’ dismissal of her as insane. Description of the female Christ as writing under the influence of God’s spirit is further congruent with the shamanic practice of spirit-writing (扶乩 fuji), which remains an important means by which popular religious scriptures are created today.110 It seems likely that preexisting religious traditions have contributed both to adherents’ acceptance of Eastern Lightning, and others’ descriptions of it. A popular Western audience might interpret Eastern Lightning’s worship of a Female Christ as a feminist theology. Yet although women comprise approximately three quarters of the Chinese Protestant population and occupy positions of leadership in both official and unofficial churches, feminist theologies have only marginally influenced Chinese Protestantism, particularly in the rural areas where Eastern Lightning has been most successful.111 Eastern Lightning’s teaching of a Female Christ is more likely to have been nurtured by Chinese religious traditions, in which female deities are prominent. Reference to these traditions has enabled us to appreciate their legacy. It has also enabled us view the Female Christ from a vantage point closer to that of Chinese believers and consequently, to understand why her existence is credible—even attractive—to them.

When Prophecy Fails: Eastern Lightning’s Vision of the Future and the Timing of the Eschaton

Revelation 5–8:5 foretells that the second coming of Christ will open the seven seals of a covenant scroll and in so doing unleash a series of woes upon the earth, including war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes and fire; together, these are referred to as the “hour of trial” (患难时期 huannan shiqi).112 Eastern Lightning teaches that this scroll is the Female Christ’s scripture and that she

Sen-yong, “Shamans from Orchid Island: Their Encounter with Christian Faith,” in Shamanism and Christianity: Religious Encounters Among Indigenous Peoples of East Asia, ed. Olivier Lardinois and Benoit Vermander (Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute, 2008), 127–28. 110 Graeme Lang and Lars Ragvald, “Spirit-Writing and the Development of Chinese Cults,” Sociology of Religion 59, no. 4 (1998): 314. Indeed, there is precedent for Jesus appearing in the spirit-writing of popular religious sects in the republican era. Clart, “Jesus in Chinese Popular Sects,” 1317; Li Shiyu (李世瑜), Xiandai huabei mimi zongjiao 现代华北秘密宗教, 44. 111 For an overview of feminist theology and the TSPM, see Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Feminist Theology and the Chinese Church,” CTR 15 (2000): 40–44. 112 For “hour of trial,” see Revelation 3:10. 90 CHAPTER 3 has unfurled it; the movement’s 2006 English translation of scriptural excerpts is titled The Scroll that the Lamb Opened. Accordingly, Eastern Lightning pos- its that all manner of disaster has intensified in recent years, and that these testify to the imminence of the eschaton. Floods, droughts, wars and epidem- ics of Mad Cow Disease, AIDS, SARS and avian influenza are all interpreted as having “exactly fulfilled” the biblical prophecy that in the “end times,” “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”113 This is consistent not only with biblical prophecy and millenarian movements the world over, but also Chinese sects that have believed that disasters of water, wind and fire are to come at the end of every cosmic cycle. Eastern Lightning teaches that the present disasters are among the trials and tribulations God uses to refine and transform members, and which they must overcome. As one believer reflects, “God wants to mould us through this kind of pain, persecution and trials. This is God’s purpose, and is the necessary route to perfecting man.”114 Once ‘transformed’ by the Female Christ, adherents will obtain immortality:

As we know, ‘death’ came through sin; because men had sins, death came to them. (cf. Romans 5:12) So, when men’s sinful nature is taken away and they become holy, death will not come to them, and they will become ‘holy bodies,’ and become living men with a spirit. This work of transforming and purifying men is exactly the work of judging and purifying that Almighty God does in the end time with the word.115

Conversely, without submitting to the Female Christ’s efforts to ‘perfect’ man, people will retain their sinful nature and consequently die.116 Accordingly, heaven (天堂 tiantang) and hell (地狱 diyu) are seldom mentioned in Eastern Lightning literature; the latter appears only forty-five times

113 “Question 11,” in Church of Almighty God, Questions and Answers. See also Matthew 24:7. 114 “57: Qishi lu zhong yuyan de yingyan 启示录中预言的应验” [57: The Fulfillment of Prophecies in Revelation], in Church of Almighty God, Jiechuan di Jidu de yaoyan miulun 揭穿敌基督的谣言谬论 [Exposing the Antichrist’s rumors and falsehoods]. Formerly available at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/fanbo/section1/0057.php. Accessed August 16, 2010; now defunct. 115 “Question 7,” in Church of Almighty God, Questions and Answers. Romans 5:12 states that “sin entered the world through one man [i.e.: Adam in the Garden of Eden], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” 116 “A Talk About ‘The Millennial Kingdom Has Come,’ ” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 5. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 91 in the 1231 pages of The Word Appears in the Flesh,117 and little characterization of it is given. Rather, the focal point of Eastern Lightning’s eschatological vision is the advent of a Millennial Kingdom (千年国度 qiannian guodu) on earth. Eastern Lightning’s vision of this kingdom is loosely based on that presented in Revelation, which tells that Satan will be bound while the saints reign with Christ for one thousand years.118 Numerous hymns express jubilation that the “new heaven and new earth” have arrived, but Eastern Lightning’s texts refer to the Millennial Kingdom as some time off, without specifying a date for its arrival.119 Amidst their preoccupation with containing Falun Gong at the turn of the millennium, public security officials in north-east China expressed private concerns that Eastern Lightning had invested the year 2000 with eschatological significance.120 Eastern Lightning’s chronology of world history indicates that this concern was not unfounded. The movement subscribes to the notion of a ‘World Week’ in which the six days of the world’s creation (as narrated in Genesis 1–2:2) correspond to God’s “six-thousand-year management plan” (六千年经营计划 liu qiannian jingying jihua) for human life. Biblical support for this is found in 2 Peter 3:8, which remarks that “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” A literal reading of the genealogies in the Old Testament leads Eastern Lightning to believe that God created the world in 4000 BC. The year 2000 AD was therefore anticipated to witness the advent of the millennial kingdom,121 which corresponds to the seventh day of rest observed by God at the beginning of creation. Some Christians have held this belief since the first century; Eastern Lightning’s adoption of it broadly follows Witness Lee, who is credited with founding the Shouters.122 The testimonies of Eastern Lightning adherents recall the onset of chiliastic paroxysm within the movement as the curtain fell on the twentieth century.

117 This was determined by conducting a Google search of chinese.hidden-advent.org/ shenhua for “地狱” on October 18, 2007. 118 Revelation 20:2–6. These teachings are not entirely alien to the Chinese religious landscape; Daoist adepts could become immortals (仙 xian) who could live for one thousand years in this world before ascending to heaven. 119 “Hymn 19: God has Sat on the Throne,” in “Kingdom Praise” section, Church of Almighty God, Sing a New Song With the Lamb. For “new heaven and new earth,” see Revelation 21:1. 120 “Announcement from the First Division”: 69. 121 “Question 14,” in Church of Almighty God, Answering 100 Questions Related to the Bible. Formerly available at http://english.hidden-advent.org/questions/0014b.php. Accessed June 8, 2007. 122 Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1, chap. 15, pt. 4 (London: Strahan & Cadell, 1782); Witness Lee, “Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man.” 92 CHAPTER 3

Zeng Qun from Sichuan province writes that she was captivated by the fantasy of improved living standards in the millennial kingdom:

In 1999, I heard that God’s work would be ended soon. In excitement I began to think: All the unbelievers will have been destroyed, leaving the buildings, markets, cars and abundant material things, which we can use and enjoy as we please. I won’t have to live in my shabby house or ride my miserable, shabby bicycle, and even less have innutritious [sic] rice gruel for meals.123

Zeng continues to relate that the fear of falling out of favour with God and being denied these rewards stirred her into a frenzy of proselytizing, which caused domestic discord. She had thought:

There is only one year left before God’s work ends, and now I should expend my all for God, otherwise there will be no more opportunities. So, I gladly accepted the commission from God, and every day I ran around outside for the business of God’s family with great enthusiasm. Because of this, I had no time to cook for my children, no time to do the farm work, and no time to manage the household affairs. Every time after I came back home from performing my duty [i.e.: itinerant proselytizing; see pp. 141–42], I seized every minute to learn singing hymns [sic], to dance, and to read God’s word, for fear I would be discarded by God if I slacked off a bit. Seeing this, my husband said that I went [sic] insane and he threatened to divorce me. I cheerfully told him that we could get divorced if he liked and I wanted nothing but the clothes to wear.124

Needless to say, hopes surrounding the year 2000 were not realized. In the absence of the new Kingdom, Eastern Lightning’s leaders advanced the doctrine of a period of “seven years of trials” (七年试炼 qinian shilian).125 In Revelation 13, two beasts emerge from the water and earth respectively and

123 “65: The Seven-Year Trial is Salvation to Me,” in Church of Almighty God, Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ. 124 Ibid. 125 In a sermon posted on Eastern Lightning’s website in 2007, the preacher reflects that it was “the fellowships” of “the man used by the Holy Spirit”—probably Zhao Weishan—who introduced the doctrine of the Seven Year Trial. He Yi, “We Should Know the Significance of God’s Raising Up the Man Used by the Holy Spirit,” in Church of Almighty God, A Collection of Supplying Preaching (sic), contents p. 1, item 6. The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 93 cause havoc for three and a half years each before the fall of Babylon, the beginning of the millennium and the coming of a new heaven and a new earth; on this scriptural basis, Eastern Lightning announced that followers were to endure seven more years of suffering before enjoying the millennium. Just as in the Old Testament Israel had journeyed through the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land, so now believers must pass an extended period of “refining” and “perfecting.”126 This new doctrine was disseminated among believers in literature that is supplementary to scripture and not attributed to the Female Christ; scripture itself was not revised. Not all were convinced, however. Zeng Qun, who had forsaken her home duties in favor of proselytizing during 1999, recalls her dis- concertion upon realizing that her zeal had left her in a precarious financial situation. She needed money for her parents’ medical treatment, her children’s school fees, groceries, and chemical fertilizers. She could not see how she could both make ends meet and sustain her proselytizing for another seven years. She regretted her shortsightedness over the previous year, and felt “deceived and fooled.”127 The essay “People’s Nature as Viewed from their Reaction to the Seven Year Trial” reveals that postponing the millennium caused a backlash among many believers:

After the Great Trial of Seven Years was announced, almost everyone was negative and lukewarm. Some even wanted to leave God and return to the world to seek the good life. Only a few continued in their service normally, but even they still harbored negativity in their hearts, feeling hurt and not knowing what to do. In short, most people couldn’t get past this plan of God’s, and had an attitude of resentment.128

In some cases, these grievances were resolved by methods reminiscent of the political study sessions of decades past. One adherent recalls that their

126 “Jubei zhenshi de xin cai neng duguo suoyou de shilian 具备真实的信才能渡过所有的试炼” [Only by possessing true faith is it possible to pass all the tests], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu yu jiaohui gongren de zuotan jiyao 基督与教会工人的座谈纪要 [A record of Christ’s discussions with church workers], contents p. 2, item 64. 127 “65: The Seven-Year Trial is Salvation to Me,” in Church of Almighty God, Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ. 128 “Cong dui qinian shilian de fanying kan ren de benxing 从对七年试炼的反应看人的本性” [People’s nature as viewed from their reaction to the seven-year trial], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu yu jiaohui gongren de zuotan jiyao 基督与教会工人的座谈纪要, contents p. 2, item 66. 94 CHAPTER 3 congregation held a meeting to share the “truths” that they had realized from the teaching of the seven year trial. In turn, the members reflected that the revised doctrine had benefited their faith by helping them understand God more, and showing up their own lack of loyalty.129 In this vein, a chastened Zeng Qun came to believe that the seven-year trial was an opportunity to “get rid of [her] corruptions and have [her] nature transformed.” She resolved to “cherish” this time and to accept the coming trials “so as to get rid of the impu- rities in [her] belief and be gained by God in the end.”130 The beginning of 2007 should have marked the end of the Seven Year Trials, but it passed without mention on Eastern Lightning’s website. Nor was the teaching acknowledged in outsiders’ (i.e.: CCP, Protestant and academic) reports of the group, suggesting that the specific date of the eschaton was not of significant concern to most individuals’ religious practice and belief. Moreover, the abatement of commentary on Eastern Lightning over 2005–2011 suggested that the movement was losing momentum. Its appearance in news headlines in late 2012 was therefore abrupt. Chinese authorities cracked down on the group in Qinghai and Guizhou provinces, arresting approximately one thousand members for publicly proclaiming that the world would end on December 21, holding outdoor prayer vigils and distributing pamphlets.131 In addition to being the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice, December 21, 2012 was the date on which an ancient Mayan prophecy predicted the world would end. Eastern Lightning’s adoption of this date reflected a popular fascination with the Mayan legend in China, which was popularized by the box-office success of the 2009 Hollywood film 2012.132 In Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster, a solar flare causes the earth’s core tempera- ture to rise, resulting in the earth’s crust breaking up and causing gargantuan earthquakes and tsunamis. Crucially, a remnant of humanity survives aboard several “arks”, which have been built deep underground in Tibet under Han Chinese supervision. In the three years leading up to the apocalypse, places on these arks are sold to the world’s wealthiest for a billion dollars apiece.

129 “481: I Was Really Regretful,” in Church of Almighty God, Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ. 130 “65: The Seven-Year Trial is Salvation to Me,” in ibid. 131 “Quanguo 1300 ren yin sanbo ‘shijie mori’ bei ju 全国1300人因散播’世界末日’被拘.” See also the cover illustration for this book. 132 Feng Juxiang (冯菊香), “Wangluo liuyan de chuanbo lujing, yingxiang ji zhili: Yi 2012 ‘shijie mori shuo’ wei li 网络流言的传播路径、影响及治理︰以2012 ‘世界末日说’ 为例” [The dissemination, influence and management of internet rumors: The case of ‘doomsday theories’ in 2012], 今传媒 5 (2014). The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 95

The movie ignited an apocalyptic craze in the PRC. A hoax email from NASA predicting a three-day-long total blackout went viral. The Beijing Institute of Technology published a book on “The truth of the 2012 Mayan prophecy.” Over twelve thousand “2012 end-of-world Noah’s ark tickets” were listed for sale on Taobao, an internet shopping bazaar. Travel agents advertised trips to Tibet to find the arks, where tourists could purchase postcards bearing flood scenes from the movie and the words “Noah’s ark ticket.” A Zhejiang entrepreneur made and sold “arks” designed to withstand volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, and nuclear radiation for one to five million yuan per unit.133 While most of the population regarded the fad with a dose of good humor,134 some Eastern Lightning believers took it more seriously. They warned of the impending apocalypse, and claimed that the Almighty God could save members from it.135 The organization printed a compilation of favorite scriptures under the title The Church of Almighty God: The Ark in the End-Times, complete with cover depicting a wooden ark being lashed by waves.136 However, the members of Eastern Lightning who embraced the Mayan prophecy appear to have done so without sanction from the group’s self-proclaimed authorities. A letter dated December 16, 2012 addressed to churches throughout China boasted of recent evangelistic successes but stated:

We do not proclaim judgment day (世界末日 shijie mori), but simply testify to God’s work in the end times. The judgment day theory is mistaken; the Bible records that there will be major disasters in the end times, but doesn’t say anything about the final day . . . The Bible prophesies that

133 Shi Aidong (施爱东), “Mori yaoyan de hudie xiaoying ji qi chuanbo dongli 末日谣言的蝴蝶效应及其传播动力” [The butterfly effect of doomsday rumors, and driving forces behind them], 民族艺术 2 (2014): 46, 53–54. 134 Ibid., 93. 135 Feng Juxiang (冯菊香), “Wangluo liuyan de chuanbo lujing, yingxiang ji zhili 网络流言的传播路径、影响及治理,” 38; Wu Minggao (吴明高), “Xiejiao weifa fanzui huodong de qushi ji chuzhi duice 邪教违法犯罪活动的趋势及处置对策,” 83. 136 Church of Almighty God, Quannengshen jiaohui, mohou de fangzhou 全能神教会,末后的方舟 [The Church of Almighty God, the ark in the end-times]. In fact, it was not the first Protestant-related movement to have referenced Noah’s Ark—the True Jesus Church referred to itself as the “ark in the last days,” as did several small new religious movements in the late twentieth century. Deng Zhaoming (鄧肇明), “Indigenous Chinese Pentecostal Denominations,” 441; Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Jingti yiduan xiejiao liyong Jidujiao ‘moshilun’ zaocheng weihai 警惕异端邪教利用基督教 ‘末世论’ 造成危害” [Beware of harm caused by heresies and cults using Christian eschatology], 中国宗教 12 (2012): 45. 96 CHAPTER 3

disasters will get bigger and bigger . . . but the world and humans will not be completely destroyed, and the earth and heavens will remain.137

The fragmentation of Eastern Lightning provides part of the explanation as to why Eastern Lightning has remained relatively unaffected by the failure of its prophecies. Evidently, only a few chapters of the Church of Almighty God embraced the idea that the world would end in 2012, and so the rest of the organization was insulated from the effects of its errancy. This calls into question CCP depiction of the group as ‘tightly organized’—a point which will be developed in Chapter 5 of this book. Another reason for Eastern Lightning’s continued strength in the face of failed prophecy is that, as seen in the case of Zeng Qun, Eastern Lightning’s leadership has offered explanations for the delay in the arrival of the new era. As Stephen O’Leary has elucidated, the rhetoric of apocalyptic movements inevitably moves from prediction and persuasion to enactment. As time passes and the fulfillment of the promises held out to believers cannot be postponed, apocalyptic argument “becomes a mode of ritual enactment that retraces the pattern of the divine revelation”; what was formerly predicted is said to be presently unfolding.138 Thus, shortly after it was announced in the mid-1990s that in the Millennial Kingdom God would “speak to the entire universe”, not just China, Eastern Lightning released a compilation of scripture entitled God Speaks to the Entire Universe, constituting a rhetorical enactment of the pro- phetic Millennial Kingdom.139 Finally, Eastern Lightning has provided social support for these explanations. This process bears out a theory advanced by sociologists who studied an American UFO group over fifty years ago. When Prophecy Fails suggested that individuals were unlikely to leave a group if given strong social support for the religious explanations of failed prophecy.140 As we saw in the case of Zeng

137 Church of Almighty God, “Gei ge di jiaohui shen xuanmin de yifeng xin 给各地教会神选民的一封信” [A letter to God’s elect in churches everywhere]. 138 Stephen D. O’Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory of Millennial Rhetoric (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 206; Talmon, “Millenarian Movements,” 169–70. 139 “A Talk About ‘The Millennial Kingdom Has Come,’ ” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 5. From March 2001 Eastern Lightning’s homepage, then at http:// www.godword.org, linked to a publication entitled Shen xiang quanyu de fasheng 神向全宇的发声 [God speaks to the entire universe]. Ascertained using tools at http://www .archive.org/web/web.php. 140 Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1956). The Teachings of Eastern Lightning 97

Qun, most members of Eastern Lightning were reassured by their peers and so accepted the trials as part of the divinely ordained eschatology, and renewed their commitment to the movement. It remains to be seen how Eastern Lightning’s leaders will explain the continued postponement of the millennium, and just how long followers will remain satisfied by these explanations.

The Relevance of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings

Over the past twenty-odd years, Eastern Lightning has produced 1231 pages of scripture and a multitude of additional texts explaining and defending it as life-giving Truth. Though the Female Christ’s teachings have been pored over by countless followers, they have yet to be studied from a scholarly perspective. Within China, Eastern Lightning’s status as a ‘cult’ (邪教 xiejiao) entails that its doctrine is treated as a thin veneer for the wiles and ambitions of Zhao Weishan. Therefore, it is considered unworthy of rigorous study, an issue quite apart from the political hazards of such research. Even Wu Dongsheng, a Chinese scholar noted in Chapter 1 for his study of Protestant-related new religious movements, reflects this judgment as he inserts inverted commas around the term “doctrine” (教义 jiaoyi) in the chapter of his book allocated to that topic.141 Chinese scholars further sideline the teachings of Eastern Lightning and other religious movements by portraying their adherents as uninterested in—and often ignorant of—them. According to these scholars, simple peasants are instead preoccupied with securing tangible and immediate benefits such as physical healing and relief from poverty.142 Such an approach is compatible with the Marxist intellectual tradition, which views religious belief as grounded in material conditions. However, Western scholars have also ques- tioned the primacy of doctrine and emphasized the concerns of pragmatism and spiritual efficacy (灵 ling) for Chinese believers in both historical and

141 Wu Dongsheng (吴东升), Xiejiao de mimi 邪教的秘密. 142 Lu Yunfeng, “Report on an Investigation into the Illegal Organisation, the ‘Disciples Sect,’ ” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 12; Xi Wuyi (习五一), “Yingdang guanzhu xinxing mobai tuanti de pohuaixing yinsu 应当关注新兴膜拜团体的破坏性因素,” 53. 98 CHAPTER 3 contemporary times.143 At a more fundamental level, social scientists have queried the role of cognitive processes in religion.144 The names of Protestant-related new religious movements, which include ‘Efficacious Spirit Teachings’ (灵灵教 Lingling jiao) and ‘Practical God’ (实际神 Shiji shen, another name for Eastern Lightning), do indeed suggest the importance of efficacy and personal benefit in these religions. This chapter has also identified aspects of adherents’ religious practice that appear to depart from Eastern Lightning’s doctrine, and incoherencies in Eastern Lightning’s texts, which suggest that the theoretical aspects of the religion are not of prime concern to its adherents. Nevertheless, unlike popular religions, heterodox sects have historically emphasized correct belief, and Eastern Lightning may be identified with this textual tradition in this regard.145 Irrespective, Eastern Lightning’s teachings are worth studying for what they demonstrate about the legacy and longevity of elements of earlier religious movements in China. Eastern Lightning has built upon the same cultural traditions it condemns— anecdotes of retribution, shamanism, the lightning goddess, the Taipings, and even contemporary secular crazes. While looking forward to a time to come and claiming to reject and transcend the old, it also appeals to the past for meaning and legitimacy. In this sense, it is a typical millenarian movement.146 Yet certainly, while millenarian new religious movements are found the world over, Eastern Lightning could only have been made in China.

143 Overmyer, “Alternatives,” 157; Carsten T. Vala and Kevin J. O’Brien, “Attraction without Networks: Recruiting Strangers to Unregistered Protestantism in China,” Mobilization 12, no. 1 (2007): 86; Chau, Miraculous Response, 2, 58–60. 144 Malcolm Ruel, Belief, Ritual and the Securing of Life: Reflective Essays on a Bantu Religion (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 36, 57. 145 Daniel L. Overmyer, Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 1999), 280–1. 146 Talmon, “Millenarian Movements,” 195. CHAPTER 4 The Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings: A Case Study

A “big red dragon” (大红龙 da hong long) recurs throughout Eastern Lightning’s texts, wending its way through hymns, scripture, testimonies and an electronic “About Us” statement. The motif is a reference to the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, in which a “big red dragon” is eager to devour a male child who is destined to “rule all the nations.” The dragon does not succeed, and there ensues a battle between it and angelic forces in which the dragon is vanquished:

there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.1

In Eastern Lightning texts as in Revelation, the dragon represents a satanic adversary. More specifically, it usually refers either to the CCP or to government agents. In an essay entitled “What does it mean to hate the big red dragon?”, for example, we read that the dragon-devil of Revelation has become incarnated as Chinese power holders who are persecuting Eastern Lightning members (“saints”):

the devil Satan is using the despots to corrupt humanity, brutally persecuting and devouring people’s souls. It is precisely these Princes of the Devil who wield power and tyranny on earth, using their power and influence to rob people of freedom . . . This gang of fiends is indeed the incarnation of the big red dragon; they are its representatives. How many

1 Revelation 12:7–9. Discussion in this chapter focuses on the Christian dragon as it appears in Revelation, as this is the context most commonly referred to by Chinese Protestants in their own discussion of the dragon. On Chinese interpretations of reference to the dragon- serpent elsewhere in the Bible, see Archie Chi Chung Lee, “The Dragon, the Deluge and Creation Theology,” in Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology: Emerging Trends, ed. Rasiah S. Sugirtharajah (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1994).

saints have died under their sword! Today many are still in their custody, spending their lives in dark dungeons.2

Needless to say, the identification of the dragon with the CCP has ramifica- tions for Eastern Lightning’s political status. Its writings on the dragon are also of interest because they contrast with popular Chinese representations of the dragon, which are generally positive. In its first recorded appearance, the dragon (龍 long) presented a scroll bearing the Eight Trigrams to the emperor Fuxi 伏羲 (2852–2737 BCe).3 From the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE), Chinese people prayed to the dragon god for rain. A dragon was used to represent imperial power; the emperor, thought to be an incarnation of the dragon, reigned from a ‘dragon throne’ (龍椅 longyi) and wore a ‘dragon robe’ (龍袍 longpao). Centuries later, the Qing rulers chose the dragon to represent the Chinese nation. Today, the dragon is the most auspicious of the twelve zodiac animals, and ‘dragons’ dance during Chinese New Year, often donned in the festive color of red. How, then, did Eastern Lightning come to adopt the dragon as a symbol of evil? And what might Eastern Lightning’s dragon add to our understanding of the relationship of the movement to other Chinese traditions? In tracing the development of Eastern Lightning’s depiction of the dragon, this chapter unearths the historical responses of Christians in China to the creature. From China’s early encounter with Christianity to the present day, some believers have viewed the Chinese and biblical dragons as distinct creatures and accepted both the positive and negative representations. These believers argue that the Chinese word long (龙; traditional form 龍, usually rendered ‘dragon’ in English) is a completely different creature to the Western dragon, as it is an amalgam of animals and predates cultural exchange between China and the West. Others have drawn equivalence between the Western dragon and Chinese long and consequently shunned the latter, believing it to be demonic.4 In its depiction of the big red dragon, Eastern Lightning thereby

2 “Shenme jiao hen’e da honglong? 100: 什么叫恨恶大红龙?” [100: What does it mean to hate the big red dragon?], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu yu jiaohui gongren de zuotan jiyao 基督与教会工人的座谈纪要 [A record of Christ’s discussions with church workers], contents p. 3, item 68. 3 Doré, Researches into Chinese Superstitions, vol. 5, 677–78. 4 In so doing, these believers subscribe to what Lydia Liu refers to as a “trope of equivalence”—namely, “the idea that languages are commensurate and equivalents exist naturally between them.” Lydia Liu, Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity, China 1900–1937 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995), 3. While not wish- ing to reinforce this “trope,” this chapter continues to translate long as “dragon” in order to Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 101 echoes Protestant-related teachings that are time-honored and have long been branded as heterodox by the state.

The Christian Dragon Comes to China, c. 1580–1850

The first Christians to arrive in China in the modern era, the missionaries of the Society of Jesus famously represented by Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), became renowned for their deep appreciation of Chinese culture and adaptation to Chinese traditions. Accordingly, they were tolerant of Chinese representations of the dragon. When asked in 1639 whether Westerners believed that dragons sent rain, for example, Giulio Aleni (1582–1649) elected not to deny the existence of the dragon—though he did comment that should the dragon exist, it would not have a soul.5 Within one hundred years of the Jesuits’ arrival in China, however, priests were speaking openly of evil dragons before their Chinese audiences. From 1675, a Jesuit translation of sacramental rites from Latin into Chinese instructed priests to recite this prayer at the conclusion of an exorcism:

Almighty Lord . . . Jesus Christ. Formerly you bestowed authority on your followers: our feet could trample on poisonous dragons (毒龍 dulong) and pythons (蟒蛇 mangshe), on all the power of the evil demons (邪魔者 xiemozhe) . . . I humbly beg you to grant that I, your insignificant servant, whose transgressions are forgiven, might, relying on your grace and ability, be brave and attack this fiercely poisonous dragon (利害毒龍 lihai dulong).6

demonstrate the mechanics and logic through which it has operated. On the long generally, see M.W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: J. Muller, 1969 [1913]); Wang Dong (王东), Zhongguo long de xin faxian 中国龙的新发现 [New discoveries concerning the Chinese dragon] (北京: 北京大学出版社, 2000); Zhijian Tao, Drawing the Dragon: Western European Reinvention of China (Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2009), 15ff. 5 Gang Song, “Learning from the Other: Giulio Aleni, ‘Kouduo richao,’ and Late Ming Dialogic Hybridization.” (PhD diss., University of Southern California, 2006), 283–84. Song quotes Kouduo Richao 口鐸日鈔 as reprinted in Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus, ed. Nicolas Standaert and Adrian Dudink (Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute, 2002), vol. 7: 553. 6 Ludovico Buglio, trans., Shengshi lidian [Rituale Romanum]. Originally published in Peking, 1675; Chinese text reprinted in Chinese Christian Texts from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus, ed. Nicolas Standaert and Adrian Dudink (Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute, 2002), vol. 11. 102 CHAPTER 4

Nicolas Standaert states that liturgical manuals such as that quoted above were “hardly used” because the Vatican did not permit the celebration of the liturgy in Chinese.7 However, the exorcising powers of the missionaries were in high demand. According to popular aetiology, unfavorable situations— including illnesses—were frequently caused by demons, and the new religious teachers from the West were perceived as being able to perform the exorcism required to remedy the situation in the same way as their Buddhist and Daoist counterparts.8 Thus, several decades prior to the translation of this rite, the Jesuits were already famed as exorcists, and regarded by rural people as “powerful masters of ritual.”9 The popularity of exorcistic practices together with lingering traces of this rite in the 1950s (discussed below) suggest that a considerable number of Chinese may have been exposed to the Jesuits’ representation of the dragon as demonic. However, it should not be inferred from this that the Jesuits were insensitive to the cultural considerations surrounding evil dragons. Rather, they translated their ritual in terms consistent with preexisting religious traditions. From the fifth century, Chinese Buddhist texts taught of a “poisonous dragon” that eventually escaped his dragon form by accepting the commandments.10 Skin diseases such as leprosy and scabies were also attributed to dragon venom.11 This tradition was noted by Western visitors to China in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1886, a reverend of the Southern (USA) Presbyterian Mission in Suzhou recounted Chinese Buddhist miracle tales that mentioned a “bad

Translation here is from Thomas H. Reilly, The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Rebellion and the Blasphemy of Empire (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004), 38. 7 Nicolas Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1: 635–1800 (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 627. 8 Jacques Gernet, China and the Christian Impact: A Conflict of Cultures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1985), 89–90. 9 Brockey, Journey to the East, 97, 95. 10 William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous, A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 1995), 265. Soothill and Hodous cite Da zhidulun [Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra] vol. 14. The “commandments” to which Soothill and Hodous refer are most likely the Five Precepts (戒 jie) which prohibit stealing, taking of life, adultery, speaking falsely and drinking wine. Buddhists believed that lay disciples who observed these Precepts would be reborn in the human realm. See Soothill and Hodous, Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 239. 11 Ren Jiyu (任继愈), ed., Fojiao da cidian 佛教大辞典 [Dictionary of Buddhism] (南京: 江苏古籍出版社, 2002), 376. Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 103 dragon” and “poisonous dragons that sent pestilence and disease.”12 In 1922, E.T.C. Werner noted the association of evil dragons with mountain-dwelling nagas, or deities, which take the form of a snake.13 In introducing the Christian dragon to China, then, the Jesuits adopted a vocabulary already familiar and acceptable to many Chinese, and not offensive to the imperial house at which some of them served.14 The Jesuits’ sensitivity towards the imperial house in their depiction of the dragon is additionally reflected in the work of Giuseppe Castiglione (1688– 1766), a missionary who became a painter for the court under the Kangxi emperor in 1715. Castiglione was well aware of the association between the dragon and the emperor—he painted the Qianlong emperor in dragon robes seated on a dragon throne in 1748.15 Consequently, when he set out to paint the archangel Michael defeating the big red dragon as recorded in Revelation, he followed European artists in using a human-like form and appending a dragon’s tail in preference to depicting a Chinese-style dragon (Figure 4).16

12 Hampden C. DuBose, The Dragon, Image, and Demon, or The Three Religions of China: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism: Giving an Account of the Mythology, Idolatry and Demonolatry of the Chinese (London: S.W. Partridge, 1886), 175. 13 E.T.C. Werner, Myths and Legends of China (Singapore: Graham Brash, 1984 [1922]), 208. 14 In this connection it is also worth noting that from the fourteenth century, women’s practice of Daoist inner alchemy involved a practice known as “decapitating the red dragon” (斷赤龍 duan chilong), in which “women refine[d] their menstrual blood by progres- sively diminshing their menstrual flow and eventually stopping it altogether.” Despeux, “Women in Daoism,” 406. 15 Michel Beurdeley, Peintres jésuites en Chine au XVIIIe siècle (Arcueil, France: Anthese, 1997), 69. 16 The Christogram which appears on Michael’s shield here (“IHS”) has been used widely by the Jesuits; the inscription along its rim reads “Soli Deo honor et Gloria” [To God alone be honor and glory]. Chinese Christian artist He Qi 何琦 (on whom see discussion later in this chapter) attributes the painting to Castiglione and argues that its depiction of the dragon reflects cultural sensitivity. He Qi (何琦), “Four Historical Stages of the Indi genization of Chinese Christian Art.” Available at http://www.omhksea.org/2012/06/four- historical-stages-of-the-indigenization-of-chinese-christian-art/. Accessed August 15, 2013. A painting of the “Arcangelo Michele” is also attributed to Castiglione by George R. Loehr, Giuseppe Castiglione 1688–1766: Pittore de Corte de Ch’ien-Lung, imperatore della Cina (Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed estremo Oriente, 1940), 117. An article on the website of the Amity Christian Art Center (also introduced later in this chapter) likewise mentions a painting of the Archangel probably painted by Castiglione, and speculates that it may not have been signed because court painters were not permitted to paint outside the court. Available at http://www.acac.org.cn/llwx-23.htm. Accessed June 24, 2008. 104 CHAPTER 4

figure 4 “Michael Defeating the Demon” by Giuseppe Castiglione (18th century).

Not all Westerners shared the Jesuits’ accommodation of Chinese attitudes towards the dragon; later visitors to China were perturbed by the dissonance between Chinese and Christian representations of the dragon. The remark of a British interpreter in 1856 that the Chinese imperial dragon was “a most excellent animal with which to astonish an admiring, uninitiated, European audience”17 merely hints of bemusement. Other commentators were less tolerant, and censured Chinese celebration of the dragon as a form of Satanic worship. One British naturalist was troubled by the use of a dragon in a procession on the island of Macao in 1838, complaining:

the pleasure of contemplating such [processions] is strongly marred by the thought, that the choicest gifts of Providence, the graces of human

17 Thomas Taylor Meadows, The Chinese and Their Rebellions, Viewed in Connection with their National Philosophy, Ethics, Legislation, and Administration (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1856), 60. Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 105

life, and the refinements of art, are made to move in procession to the honour of the Devil; for there he was under the semblance of a huge dragon, ‘the old serpent,’ just as he appeared to our first parents when he persuaded them to break their pledge with their Maker.18

“Our first parents” here refers to Adam and Eve, who were tempted by the devil in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden; Revelation (12:9, quoted on page 99 of this book) tells us that this serpent is one and the same as the big red dragon. Hence, Lay ruefully concluded:

The Chinese are faithful in retaining their heritage of moral learning, and in keeping many of their handicrafts from the contagion of improve- ment, but they have been still more faithful in handing down from father to son the abominable worship of Satan, with all its insignia and ostenta- tious parade.19

It is unclear to what extent attitudes toward the Chinese dragon were divided along Protestant and Catholic lines. However, at least some Protestants were critical of Catholic tolerance of the creature. Hampden C. DuBose expressed his dismay that French priests “adopt[ed] the heathen rites of the Chinese . . . on a Catholic altar in Shanghai the dragon and cross are united,”20 and on the basis of such accommodation dismissed Roman Catholicism as “Buddhism prepared for a foreign market.”21 Soon after the arrival of Protestants in China, then, the dragon had become an issue of contention among Christians.

The Dragon and the Taipings, 1851–64

In the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese individuals drew an equivalence between the Chinese and biblical dragons on a mass scale. Hong Xiuquan viewed himself as having been “specially dispatched” by God to slay the big red dragon-serpent of Revelation,22 and depicted the Manchu rulers as serpent-

18 G. Tradescant Lay Esq., The Chinese as They Are: Their Moral, Social, and Literary Character; A New Analysis of the Language; With Succinct Views of their Principal Arts and Sciences (London: William Ball & Co., 1841), 201. 19 Ibid. 20 DuBose, Dragon, Image, and Demon, 290. 21 Ibid., 291. 22 See Hong Xiuquan’s annotations to Revelation 12 in Michael, The Taiping Rebellion, 236. 106 CHAPTER 4 demons.23 His equation of the dragon of Revelation with the Chinese dragon is evident as he condemns popular veneration of the dragon of the Eastern Sea, which was traditionally credited with bringing rain:

in recent times there have been heretics who falsely declared that the dragon devil of the Eastern Sea can produce rain, however, this dragon devil of the Eastern Sea is nothing more than a transformation of the devil of Hades.24

Hong Ren’gan (洪仁幹) (1822–64), cousin and second-in-command to Hong Xiuquan, removed images of dragon demons from his home alongside figures of Confucius and other Gods after hearing of Hong Xiuquan’s visions, and recorded that those who believed in him “destroyed innumerable idols.”25 He also appeared to recognize the potential for controversy surrounding the dragon as he decreed that

during the present founding period of the state, all memorials and public notices have special political significance . . . in the preparation of memorials, such demonlike expressions as ‘dragon virtue,’ ‘dragon coun- tenance,’ . . . must not be used . . . on one matter there may be two different views, making it difficult to distinguish between right and wrong. If one reads without understanding, the consequences may be serious.26

Both Westerners in China at the time and later scholars attributed the Taipings’ negative representations of the dragon to Christian influence.27 The dragon does not grace the pages of Liang Afa’s Good Words to Admonish the Age, the Christian tract that made an infamous impression on Hong.28 However, passages in the Book of Revelation concerning the dragon were among the

23 Shih, The Taiping Ideology, 12. See also Peter A. Russell, “Christian Millenarianism and the Taiping Movement: Reopening a Debate,” Histoire Sociale / Social History 10, no. 19 (1977): 121. 24 In “An Exhortation on the Origin of Virtue for the Awakening of the Age,” which was written between 1844–46 and forms part of the Taiping Imperial Declaration reprinted in Michael, The Taiping Rebellion. Quote from page 39. 25 Michael, The Taiping Rebellion, 6. 26 Quoted in Shih, Taiping Ideology, 78. 27 Meadows, Chinese and Their Rebellions, 420; Boardman, Christian Influence, 82, passim. 28 Liang Fa (梁發), Quan shi liang yan 勸世良言 [Good words to admonish the age] (臺北: 臺灣學生書局, 1965 [1832]). Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 107

portions of the Bible Hong annotated, suggesting that his attitude towards dragons may indeed have been informed by his exposure to Christianity.29 This said, Hong’s condemnation of the dragon was not universal, but selective and pragmatic. Citing visions of golden dragons in heaven, he deemed that the “precious dragon” used by the Taipings to adorn their imperial seal, utensils and vestments was acceptable. He thereby retained the representation of the dragon that could bolster his authority (namely, the imperial dragon), and discarded that which might serve as an alternative source of devotion (namely, the dragon deity), ruling that: “the precious dragon is truly a dragon and truly not a demon; but beyond these . . . all the snakelike demons which delude the souls of men; these, while called dragons, are really demons.”30 The Taipings succeeded in taking control of large areas of southern China and enlisted three quarters of a million soldiers in the movement. While the extent to which these recruits helped to propagate their leader’s view of most dragons as devils is unclear, individuals’ religious affiliations were frequently transferred between Christianity and the Taipings, especially after the defeat of the latter,31 providing opportunity for the diffusion of these beliefs. In any case, we see in the remarks of Hong Xiuquan the ‘dragon-as-devil’ thesis evolving from a largely foreign teaching in the Christian context into one espoused and developed by Chinese religious actors. This trend was to continue during the twentieth century.

The Dragon in Chinese Protestantism, 1900–1960

Few sources directly address the dragon in Chinese Christianity in the early twentieth century. Evidently, some missionaries continued to despair. In 1911, Pentecostal Missionary Union worker Frank Trevitt longed for “Christ’s glorious Ensign, to be placed where the Dragon holds such sway.”32 There are also

29 Michael, Taiping Rebellion, 236. 30 “Book of Declarations of the Divine Will Made During the Heavenly Father’s Descent to Earth [II],” in ibid., 217–18. In Hong’s visions, God wore a “black dragon robe” and dignitar- ies were dressed in dragon gowns, marking them as men of importance in the traditional manner. See Shih, Taiping Ideology, 8–9. 31 Jessie Gregory Lutz, Opening China: Karl F.A. Gützlaff and Sino-Western relations, 1827–1852 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2008), 259. 32 Allan Anderson, “Revising Pentecostal History in Global Perspective,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 163. Anderson cites Frank Trevitt, Confidence 4:8 (August 1911): 191. 108 CHAPTER 4 signs that teachings on the dragon were disseminated by the independent Protestant movements that prospered during this period. Watchman Nee, leader of the popular Little Flock, identified the big red dragon with murder and cruelty when preaching on Revelation in the 1930s.33 One of his disciples, Witness Lee (李常受 Li Changshou), fled to Taiwan in 1949, where in 1953–54 he denounced “ornaments, furniture, and clothing with the image of the dragon” as “evil and unclean” and exhorted followers to do away with them. He related the following anecdote:

Once, there was an elderly sister in whose home were two things: a silk lamp shade embroidered with dragons and a tea set also printed with a dragon design. Long after her salvation she did not sense anything. Then she was enlightened by the Lord and became possessed of a deep inner feeling toward these things. She had no peace whenever she saw these items with dragon designs. She then proceeded to destroy them according to her inner feeling.34

Indigenous denominations also continued to invoke the dragon in the context of exorcism. In the late 1950s, one Ceng Aiguang (曾爱光) publicly accused “reactionary elements” in the True Jesus Church in Wuhan of having performed an exorcism upon her in 1950. She alleged that during the ritual, conducted when she was just fifteen years old, church members referred to the demon as a “python spirit” (蟒蛇精 mangshe jing), using a term reminiscent of the Catholic rite quoted above.35 Around the turn of the communist revolution, then, the dragon had been integrated into configurations of Protestantism that were independent of foreign control.

33 Watchman Nee, “Study on Revelation,” in Collected Works of Watchman Nee, set 1, vol. 16. Available at http://www.ministrybooks.org. Accessed June 24, 2008. 34 As recounted in chap. 2, Witness Lee went on to found the Local Church in the USA, which is often referred to as the “Shouters” and labeled an “evil cult” in contemporary China. The Church reprinted Lee’s talks, including dragon references, in 1968 and 1998. Witness Lee, “The Experience of Life: Regeneration and Clearance of the Past,” Affirmation & Critique (1998 [1968]). Available at http://www.lsm.org/affirmation- critique/pdfs/1998/01/98_01_a3.pdf. Accessed January 15, 2008. 35 Ceng Aiguang (曾爱光), “Xue yu lei de kongsu 血与泪的控诉” [An accusation of blood and tears], TF 10 (consec. 553) (1958): 8–9. Of course, accusations made during this time were frequently inaccurate. However, members of the True Jesus Church were instructed to “seek the power of healing and of exorcising demons.” Bays, “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937,” 134. Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 109

The dragon—and Christians’ attitudes towards it—became highly politicized in the early days of the People’s Republic. During the anti-rightist campaign of 1957–58, members of the TSPM accused preachers who refused to join the movement of encouraging the destruction of “idols” such as vases, teapots and quilts bearing the dragon totem.36 In this way, the equation of Chinese and biblical dragons was now deemed to be heterodox by participants in the CCP’s United Front. Indeed, with the advent of ‘Red’ China, the big red dragon took on new significance for some Chinese Christians, and they identified the creature with the CCP.37 In Liaoning province in 1957, for example, one Sun Xipeng was criticized in both Protestant and secular media for labeling the CCP the “big red dragon”, and preaching that its rule was the Great Tribulation that precedes the final judgment in the Book of Revelation.38 Likewise in Heilongjiang, a pastor who had joined the Kuomintang (Nationalist party) publicly cursed the Party as the “red dragon.”39 In light of the political excesses of this period, we may doubt the veracity of such accusatory reports. However, studies of Chinese religious movements in the 1940s and 1950s, including studies of Protestantism, have noted the preva- lence of apocalyptic and chiliastic ideologies during this time,40 and so it is

36 See, for example, Qi Dao (启道), “Shanghai Jidujiao nei de yiban niliu 上海基督教内的一般逆流” [An adverse current within Protestantism in Shanghai], TF 10 (consec. 553) (1958): 19, 21. 37 For Protestant accusations of such behavior, see Zhejiang Protestant TSPM Committee (浙江省基督教三自爱国运动委员会), “Jielu Zhejiang sheng Jidujiao nei de yixie feifa weifa huodong 揭露浙江省基督教内的一些非法违法活动” [Revealing some illegal activities within Protestantism in Zhejiang province], TF 28 (consec. 555) (1957): 18; Xu Rulei (徐如雷), “Jianjue fandui feifa weifa huodong 坚决反对非法违法活动” [Resolutely oppose illegal activities], TF 28 (consec. 555) (1957): 20; Wang Shenyin (王神荫), “Shi ren haishi shou? Yincang zai Shandong jiaohui nei de fandong fenzi de zuixing lingren fazhi 是人还是兽? 隐藏在山东教会内的反动分子的罪行令人发指” [Man or beast? The crimes of reactionary elements hidden within the church in Shandong pro- voke indignation], TF 10 (consec. 553) (1958): 14. See also Lydia Lee, A Living Sacrifice: The Life Story of Allen Yuan (Kent: Sovereign World, 2001), 144. 38 “Liaoning sheng tongdao jihui jielou youpai fenzi Sun Xipeng 辽宁省同道集会揭露右派分子孙鹏翕” [Christians in Liaoning Gather to Unmask Rightist Sun Xipeng], TF 26 (consec. 535) (1957): 3–5. Originally published in the Liaoning Daily newspaper (遼寧日報) on August 14, 1957. 39 See Carsten T. Vala, “Failing to Contain Religion: The Emergence of a Protestant Movement in Contemporary China” (PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 2008), 43–44. Also Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 201. 40 Gao Ying, “God’s Promise and Eschatological Hope,” CTR 20 (2007): 48–50; Ownby, “Imperial Fantasies,” 75ff. 110 CHAPTER 4 credible that some Protestants interpreted the Communist victory through the lens of Christian millenarianism. Such an interpretation was undoubtedly encouraged by the CCP’s suppression of religious expression. Written against a backdrop of the persecution of Christianity at the end of the first century, the book of Revelation depicts the dragon as recruiting oppressive political powers to its assault on the church. While apocalyptic and millenarian movements throughout the world have interpreted political events as fulfilling this prophecy, the notion no doubt resonated with particular strength in the Chinese context given the association of the color red with Chinese culture and the CCP, and the profile of the dragon in cultural traditions. Associating the big red dragon with the Communist Party was, and remains, offensive to the latter not only because the dragon is an incarnation of the devil, but also because it is eventually defeated in Revelation. After battling angels and persecuting the church, the dragon-devil is eventually “thrown into [a] lake of burning sulfur” and “tormented day and night for ever and ever.”41 In identifying the CCP with the big red dragon, Christians effectively prophesy the demise of the regime, just as heterodox sects before them denied the emperor’s Mandate of Heaven by predicting the fall of dynasties. Conversely, the TSPM’s condemnation of identification between the dragon and the CCP in the 1950s reflected its support for the new political regime. Chinese believers were not alone in depicting the CCP as the big red dragon; some exiled missionaries evidently shared their view,42 and thus the ‘dragon’ has continued to be associated with a negative, Western depiction of China since this time.43 However, the fact that the reports discussed here appeared in the Protestant press after the exodus of missionaries from China suggests that it was not solely the political prejudices of foreigners, but also indigenous agency and innovation that took the big red dragon from being a general symbol of evil to one that was frequently associated with the CCP and its persecution of religion.

The Dragon in Post-Mao Chinese Protestantism

The equation of the Chinese and biblical dragons by some Chinese Protestants survived the Cultural Revolution, and flourished within house churches and Protestant-related new religious movements during the early 1980s. Since then,

41 Revelation 20:10. 42 Harold H. Martinson, Red Dragon over China (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1956). 43 Peter Hays Gries, China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 1–2. Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 111 some Protestants have been reported to believe that the historical misfortunes of the Chinese nation and of individuals are a consequence of God’s displea- sure at veneration of the dragon, and to proclaim that as “descendents of the dragon” (龙的传人 long de chuanren), Chinese people are particularly sinful.44 As in previous decades, tales abound of pious Christians throughout the nation smashing house wares that bear the dragon totem,45 going so far as to warn that anyone who uses a quilt embroidered with a dragon is “sleeping with Satan” (抱着撒旦睡觉 baozhe Sadan shuijiao).46 Contrary to more customary Chinese preferences, today’s young Protestants and even pastors commonly avoid mar- rying and giving birth during the Year of the Dragon, change their name if it includes the dragon character, and avoid using the Dragon Credit Card (龙卡 longka) issued by the China Construction Bank.47 Protestant-related new religious movements draw on this culture; the Taiwanese Full Gospel of Blood, Water and Holy Spirit Evangelistic Mission claims that its leader exorcised the “ancient dragon” from a female Christian in 1989,48 and in 2008, the TSPM’s magazine reported that The Association of Disciples demanded the destruction of images of snakes and dragons.49 Identification of the dragon with the CCP also persists. While many religious formations in post-Mao China have enjoyed a more cooperative relationship with the state, new religious movements and some Protestants have rejected conciliation. In early 1983, a pastor in Shandong province reported that some Protestants were “using the dragon for counter-revolutionary purposes”;50 in

44 Wang Kuilin, “Must Everything with a Dragon be Destroyed (sic),” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 18 (1985): 37–38; Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩), ed., 坚持真理,抵挡异端 [Hold fast to the truth, resist heresy] (Shanghai: CCC/TSPM, 1996), iv; Wan Ge (万戈), “E’du de ‘dongfang shandian’ 恶毒的‘东方闪电’ ” [Malicious “Eastern Lightning”], TF 11 (1997): 24–25; Geng Weizhong, “ ‘Dragonizing’ over Creatures in the Bible,” ANS 7/8.5 (2004). 45 Wang Tongzhang (王同章), “Dizhi xiangcun jiaohui de yiduan xieshuo 抵制乡村教会的异端邪说” [Resisting heresies in rural churches], TF 5 (2005): 24. 46 Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩), “Shengjing guan yu ‘long’ de wenti 圣经观与“龙”的问题” [Biblical hermeneutics and the dragon], 金陵神学志 (Nanjing Theological Review) 3 (2006): 64. 47 Ibid. Also Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem, 71. 48 Moses Tsuo Kun 左坤 is said to have exorcised the demon from a “Sister Liu.” The group, which was introduced in chap. 2 of this book, has led proselytizing expeditions to mainland China, with what seems to be limited success. The exorcism, complete with conversation between Zuo and the “dragon,” was formerly recorded on the group’s website. “Miracle to Bind the Ancient Dragon.” 49 Jing Xing (儆醒), “Yiduan ‘mentuhui’ de neimu 异端《门徒会》的内幕” [Inside the heretical “Disciples”], TF 1 (2008): 30. 50 Wang Shenyin (王神荫), “Bixu zhizhi jiajie jidujiao mingyi jinxingde weifa fanzui huodong 必须制止假借基督教名义进行的非法犯罪活动” [Illegal activities using 112 CHAPTER 4

1992, an article in the national Protestant magazine again lamented that “[the term ‘big red dragon’] is employed by reactionary elements both in China and abroad to denigrate the New China, and to slander the Chinese Communist Party.”51 Later that decade, the Established King movement was reported to have described the CCP as the great red dragon and “able to grow only by drinking dry the blood of the faithful and the prophets.”52 The eschewing of the dragon has thus become notorious in contemporary Chinese Protestantism, while being far from universal. The registered Protestant organizations (Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council) continue to condemn animosity towards the dragon, and pastors and theologians associated with these bodies continue to argue that the drawing of an equivalence between the Chinese and biblical dragons is theologically “erroneous.”53 Representative of these arguments is an article published in the journal of the national Protestant seminary in 2006 by Zhao Zhi’en. Reverend Zhao contends that the dragon as it appears in Revelation is a “symbolic description,” and that the devil is an intangible “evil spirit” rather than a physical animal.54 He chides some Protestants for their negation of Chinese culture, and implores them to be mindful of the cultural background against which Revelation was written in considering their treatment of the dragon.55 In April 2009, Reverend Ni Guangdao similarly related the story of the young wife of

the name of Christianity must be stopped], TF 2 (1983): 31. Note that Wang had earlier voiced criticism of “reactionary” depictions of the dragon in the 1950s (see note 37 of the present chap.). 51 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织” [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb], TF 5 (1992): 24. 52 “The Heretical ‘Established King Cult’ Is Brought to Trial,” CSJ 10, no. 2 (1995): 60. 53 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Theological Reconstruction in Shanghai,” CTR 16 (2002): 92; Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩), “Shengjing guan yu ‘long’ de wenti 圣经观与‘龙’的问题” [Biblical hermeneutics and the dragon], 金陵神学志 (Nanjing Theological Review) 3 (2006): 64. 54 Zhao Zhi’en, “Shengjing guan yu ‘long’ de wenti 圣经观与‘龙’的问题,” 65. 55 Yet while those who view the dragon as evil are frequently represented by their detractors as ignorant and superstitious, the shunning of the dragon by Protestants in Taiwan and Chinese congregations in the USA indicate that the dragon taboo is to be found across a broad spectrum of Chinese believers, and was probably commonplace prior to 1949. A highly educated and well-travelled Taiwanese friend sounded a note of caution upon observing the dragon motif on bowls in my kitchen; see also Fenggang Yang, Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 146–47. Nor is this a uniquely Chinese problem; see Mark Galli, “A New Day in Vietnam,” Christianity Today (2007). Available at http://ctlibrary.com/ct/2007/may/24.26.html. Accessed May 22, 2008; James H. Grayson, Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 113 an intellectual who burned precious artworks with the dragon to improve her chances of falling pregnant. Ni described this as an example of “extremism” and distanced the Chinese dragon from evil as he reflected that “In fact, everyone who understands the Bible knows that the idols that God opposes are objects of worship, not things that people collect, appreciate or use every day.”56 Such accommodation of Chinese dragons is reflected in the work of He Qi, an artist who was formerly a professor at the TSPM’s Nanjing Union Theological Seminary (金陵协和神学院 Jinling xiehe shenxueyuan). He’s website states that he “hopes to help change the ‘foreign image’ of Christianity in China” (i.e., the image of Christianity as being foreign).57 Accordingly, his paintings depict Old Testament patriarchs as high-ranking officials in the Chinese style. David, an Old Testament king, wears the image of an imperial dragon,58 and Moses and Joshua also wear the face of the dragon on their outer garments (Figure 5).59 He 何 intentionally uses the dragon due to its traditional association with power and the emperor.60 Both He’s work and reproductions of Castiglione’s painting (Figure 4) have been sold in the Amity Christian Art Center (爱德文化艺术中心 Aide wenhua yishu zhongxin)61 opposite the national theological seminary in Nanjing, representing the TSPM’s tandem acceptance of Chinese and biblical understandings of the dragon, and Protestants’ reconciliation of their own identities as both Chinese and Christian. The dragon remains of interest not only to political and religious figures, but also to the broader Chinese community. In 2006, the dragon was reportedly rejected as the mascot for the Beijing Olympics for fear of alienating Western

“Elements of Protestant Accommodation to Korean Religious Culture: A Personal Ethnographic Perspective,” Missiology 23, no. 1 (1995): 47–48. 56 Ni Guangdao (倪光道), “Lun jiaonei de yixie jiduan xianxiang 论教内的一些极端现象” [On some extremist phenomena within Protestantism], TF 4 (2009): 48. 57 “About Artist.” Available at http://www.heqigallery.com/about.html. Accessed August 8, 2013. 58 He Qi (何琦), Look toward the Heavens: The Art of He Qi (New Haven, CT: OMSC Publications, 2006), 47. 59 Ibid., 29, 37, 38, 43. 60 Susan Wunderink, “The Dragon in the Belly: Patriarchs, Judges, and Kings,” Christianity Today (2008). Available at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/aprilweb-only/117- 51.0.html. Accessed May 22, 2008. 61 Author’s observation, Nanjing, 2006. The Amity Foundation is a Chinese Protestant charity founded in 1985; proceeds from the Amity Christian Art Center’s store help fund aid programs. See www.amityfoundation.org and www.acac.org.cn. 114 CHAPTER 4

figure 5 “Moses Striking the Rock” by He Qi (2005).62 audiences,63 and media seized on the suggestion of a Shanghai professor that the character 龙 be rendered “Chinese dragon” or “long” in English translations

62 He Qi (何琦), “Moses Striking the Rock.” Available at http://www.heqigallery.com. Accessed May 6, 2009. The title of the painting refers to Exodus 17:1–7, in which Moses strikes a rock with his staff and water comes out of it for the Israelites to drink as God had promised him. 63 “Options on English Version for ‘Chinese Dragon’ Suggested,” People’s Daily Online (December 12, 2006). Available: http://english.people.com.cn/200612/12/eng20061212_ 331596.html. Accessed August 25, 2007. Yet, ironically, the foreign architects of the new Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 115 so as to prevent cultural confusion.64 The issue of using the dragon to sym- bolize China became a “hot topic” on the Strong Nation BBS (online discussion) forum, and the popular website sina.com conducted a survey, which saw 90 percent of one hundred thousand respondents voting to keep the dragon as a national icon.65 In short, it is a symbol of popular nationalism.

The Dragon in Eastern Lightning, Revisited

In stark contrast, Eastern Lightning’s teachings regarding the big red dragon echo earlier iterations of Protestant-related religiosity, which have been viewed as heterodox by the state and official religious associations. These teachings are of concern to the authorities. In September 2000, the Deputy Director of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau expressed indignation at Eastern Lightning’s teachings about the dragon as he informed colleagues that “This organization attacks China with the claim that currently she is ‘a large decadent imperial family dominated by the Big Red Dragon’ ” and that “In their conviction to overthrow the power of the ‘Big Red Dragon’, [Eastern Lightning leaders] are actively seeking theoretical basis and draft work plans [sic] in order to recruit more members.”66 To date, Eastern Lightning’s fight against the big red dragon has been largely confined to the spiritual realm and to evading authorities.67 Nevertheless, the reasons for the state’s castigation become clear when viewed in light of earlier portrayals of the dragon. Since the dragon has historically been associated with the state, attitudes towards the dragon frequently reflect political orientation, and can serve as a barometer of a religious group’s orthodoxy or heterodoxy in the eyes of the state. Thus, the TSPM’s defense of the Chinese dragon reflects its united front with the CCP, while the metaphor of the dragon is a thin shroud for Eastern Lightning’s bellicosity.

Beijing Airport celebrated its “dragon-like form.” Foster + Partners, “Beijing Airport: Description.” Available at http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1235/Default.aspx. Accessed September 16, 2007. 64 “Options on English Version for ‘Chinese Dragon’ Suggested,” People’s Daily Online. 65 “Dragon Debate Stirs Public’s Imagination,” People’s Daily Online (2006). Available at http://english.people.com.cn/200612/12/eng20061212_331381.html. Accessed August 25, 2007. 66 “Announcement from the First Division,” 67–68. 67 As an example of Eastern Lightning’s nebulous references to counterattacks on the great red dragon, see hymn number 43, “God Has Gained Glory” in “Kingdom Praise” section of Church of Almighty God, Sing a New Song to the Lamb. 116 CHAPTER 4

Government repression of Eastern Lightning only reinforces the antagonism: Eastern Lightning interprets it as enacting the biblical dragon’s persecution of the church in Revelation. Li Huiqin of Weinan city in Shaanxi province, for example, writes that after joining Eastern Lightning, her salary continued to be paid by the government and she did not initially incur any trouble as a result of her religious affiliation. She therefore bore no ill will towards the ‘dragon’ and was perplexed by God’s desire to annihilate it. All this changed in April 2003, however, when she and six other female believers were allegedly detained and beaten by police. Li writes that as a result of this incident,

I silently confessed to God in my heart: O God! I was so ignorant and blind . . . I always had doubts about your words of disclosing [sic] the essence of the great red dragon, and I even couldn’t understand why you would exterminate this old devil completely. I was really too ignorant! . . . Today . . . I have distinguished between good and evil, seen your beauty and kindness, seen the ugly and wicked features of the great red dragon.68

This dynamic is also evident in the development of the movement as a whole; Eastern Lightning reflects that “without the cruel persecution of the great red dragon, the church of Almighty God would not have developed.”69 The dragon has occupied a prominent place in exogenous reports of Eastern Lightning from the movement’s early days. In May 1992, the national Protestant magazine Tian Feng reported that beginning in March of the previous year, materials distributed by the organization in Neixiang county of Henan province had linked the great red dragon with CCP oppression, and threatened to “mount a powerful counter-attack against the Great Red Dragon.”70 However, there is some indication that the group’s rhetoric surrounding the big red dragon has escalated.71 An “About Us” statement written in 2006 refers repeatedly to

68 Li Huiqin, “208: The Great Red Dragon Is Too Hateful!” in Church of Almighty God, Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ. While we cannot be certain that the events which Li recounts did in fact take place, Eastern Lightning’s publication and circulation of her testimony reflects and perpetuates the view of persecution as con- firming the satanic nature of the CCP. 69 Church of Almighty God, About Us, 3. 70 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织” [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb], TF 5 (1992): 24. 71 Dunn, “Netizens of Heaven: Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web,” 451–52. Heritage of Eastern Lightning’s Teachings 117 the CCP as the “great red dragon,”72 and predicts that it is about to “fall from power” (垮台 kuatai);73 in early 2013, a church communiqué interpreted the CCP crackdown and negative media reports of the Church as “the great red dragon trying in vain to fight back and disrupt God’s work with its final breaths.”74 Thus, the CCP has yet to find an effective way of stopping Eastern Lightning’s identification of it with the dragon, and of breaking the cycle of repression and subversion. In addition to their political import, Eastern Lightning’s teachings pertaining to the dragon are significant because they reflect the development of a Chinese Christian culture. The prominence of the dragon in Eastern Lightning’s ideology indicates that biblical or ‘Western’ depictions of the dragon have been appropriated, indigenized and developed by Chinese religious actors who have been regarded as heterodox by political authorities, and by other Protestants. From early missionaries to the Taiping rebels to popular Protestantism to Eastern Lightning, the identification of dragons with devils has been woven into the fabric of folk Protestantism and become an iconic component of Protestant-related heterodox movements in contemporary China.

72 Church of Almighty God, About Us, 2. 73 Ibid., 5. 74 Church of Almighty God, “Dadui meiti jizhe caifang guanjian zaiyu zenyang jianzheng shen de zuogong 答对媒体记者采访关键在于怎样见证神的作工” [Witnessing to God’s work is the key in responding to media interviews]. CHAPTER 5 The Chinese Government’s Response to Protestant-related New Religious Movements

In late 2012, in several hundred to several thousand incidents, groups of up to a hundred-odd Eastern Lightning members gathered in public spaces throughout China to proclaim that the end of the world was nigh.1 They also demonstrated outside local government offices to demand the release of members who had been arrested, in some cases assaulting police. Shortly thereafter, Eastern Lightning’s leadership reminded members that “Our spreading the gospel and witnessing about God has nothing to do with politics. It is without political ambition or motivation, and nor is it in order to overturn any government or political party.”2 However, the timing of the action was particularly sensitive as it coincided not only with the apocalyptic predictions attached to the Mayan calendar, but also with the CCP’s Eighteenth National Congress in November, at which Xi Jinping was elected the Party’s General Secretary. Government organs therefore responded with a swift crackdown, which proved effective in curbing the unrest. The Chinese government claims that its response to Protestant-related new religious movements differs little from that of governments in other countries, but two contexts distinguish it. First, since 1999 the Chinese government’s response to new religious movements has been shaped by its confrontation with Falun Gong. While the eventual containment of Falun Gong demonstrated authorities’ power to coerce, sanction and monitor,3 the conflict resulted in the most extensive social and political unrest in a decade. Jolted by these events, authorities scrambled to gather intelligence on Protestant-related new religious movements around the turn of the millennium. The Ministry of Public Security convened a meeting in August 2000 for representatives from security and defense departments from fourteen cities and provinces to discuss Eastern

1 See front cover of this book. 4365 incidents cited in Tian Liang (田亮), Li Jingtao (李静涛), and Huang Ying (黄滢), “Xiejiao jiaozhu zui’e zhenxiang 邪教教主罪恶真相,” 28. 2 Church of Almighty God, “Dadui meiti jizhe caifang guanjian zaiyu zenyang jianzheng shen de zuogong 答对媒体记者采访关键在于怎样见证神的作工.” 3 James Tong, Revenge of the Forbidden City: The Suppression of Falun Gong in China, 1999–2005 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 225, passim.

Lightning;4 six weeks later, the Department of Public Security in Hebei province did the same for authorities there. The department’s Deputy Director expressed the concern that if Eastern Lightning continued to grow, it would “seriously endanger the rule of the party and the socialist system.”5 This may be hyperbole, but surely demonstrates the political sensitivities surrounding Eastern Lightning. The government’s wariness of new religious movements is also heightened by China’s history of heterodoxy. In imperial times, Chinese elites regarded sectarian cosmology as menacing due to popular belief in an intimate relationship between kalpic and dynastic cycles. The end of a kalpa (world era) was thought to signal the end of a dynasty, and so proclaiming its imminence was tantamount to prophesying the demise of the ruling dynasty. Either natural disasters or social unrest could indicate the withdrawal of the Mandate of Heaven, and so new religious movements that threatened the court mili- tarily or symbolically were suppressed. With its proclamation that the world will soon end and the dragon will be slain, and its fomenting of ‘social unrest’ via public gatherings, Eastern Lightning similarly violates the CCP’s symbolic order. As Chapter 1 indicated, Christian-related religious movements have been among those which have historically threatened Chinese rulers, and been deemed heterodox by them. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Christianity was widely viewed as heterodox by officials and the literati due to its departure from Confucian orthodoxy and perceived threat to local political order.6 In 1616 the vice minister of Nanjing’s Ministry of Rites denounced missionaries, thereby initiating the Nanjing persecution of 1616–17. Specifically, Shen Que (1565–1624) condemned the Jesuits for their teachings on astronomy, holding secret meetings, “confusing” people, soliciting conversion through bribes, departing from Confucianism and “injuring imperial influence.”7 Officials interpreted Christian activities as resembling those of heterodox sects, claiming that they “chanted sutras” (誦經 songjing) and read “heretical scriptures” (邪書 xieshu).8 Eventually, the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1722–35) and the Board of Rites banned Christianity

4 “Announcement from the First Division,” 66. 5 Ibid., 70. 6 Jean-Paul Wiest, “Setting Roots: The Catholic Church in China to 1949,” in God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, ed. Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), 84, passim. 7 Brockey, Journey to the East, 66ff. 8 Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 19. 120 CHAPTER 5 in 1724 on the grounds that “[The missionaries] attract to their religion the ignorant, both men and women; they build churches, where men and women assemble together indiscriminately, under the pretext of praying . . . The Empire gains nothing by this.”9 Western missionaries regained access to China following the Opium Wars and the resulting ‘unequal treaties’, but the coercion involved in this process increased enmity towards Christianity and added to the perception of it as heterodox. In the nineteenth century, anti-Christian literature thus “accused Christians of sorcery and sexual perversion and of indulging in a series of revolt- ing practices.”10 The religion’s reputation was not improved by the Taipings, who were regarded by the Qing government as Christians and denounced as a “foreign heretical teaching” (外洋邪教 waiyang xiejiao).11 Heterodox teachings—Christian-related or otherwise—did not result in rebellion all or even most of the time.12 Nevertheless, there is good reason for the government to be alert to new religious movements. Susan Naquin observed that the Eight Trigrams sect of the early nineteenth century was “normally diffuse but potentially cohesive” in terms of organization and could, “when their leaders predicted that the millennium was imminent, be literally transformed into openly defiant rebels against the state and the established order.” Thus, “believer and rebel [were] merely different phases of the same salvational process.”13 While Protestant-related new religious movements have yet to demonstrate the capacity and motivation to pose an immediate threat to the regime, their base level of ideological antagonism (as per the ‘big red dragon’) and the history of the rapid transformation of such groups into rebellious forces entails that the CCP remains vigilant. This chapter examines the form that this vigilance has taken in relation to Eastern Lightning and similar movements over the past thirty years, and history’s effect on it. Protestant-related new religious movements dominate lists of banned ‘cults’ and are subject to crackdowns in which ‘nests’ of activity are uncovered, religious materials confiscated, leaders arrested, and adherents interrogated. The government claims that it bans cults because they harm

9 Quoted in Columba Cary-Elwes O.S.B., China and the Cross: A Survey of Missionary History (New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1956), 163. 10 Wiest, “Setting Roots,” 88. 11 Xia Chuntao (夏春涛), Tianguo de yunluo: Taiping tianguo zongjiao zai yanjiu 天国的陨落—太平天国宗教再研究 [The fall of the heavenly kingdom: reexamining the religion of the Taiping heavenly kingdom] (北京: 中国人民大学出版社, 2005), 444. 12 Overmyer, “Alternatives,” 155. 13 Naquin, Millenarian Rebellion, 2–3. The Government’s Response 121 individuals, families and society, engaging in such crimes as fraud, rape, and assault. It is difficult to assess the accuracy of these claims given Chinese authorities’ record of demonizing religious figures and political adversaries, and our distance from the new religious movements in question. What is clear is that the government has been concerned about the potential of Protestant- related movements to create social and political instability, and condemning them has also supported its broader endeavors to suppress other unauthorized religious gatherings.

From “Counter-Revolutionary Organizations” to “Evil Cults”

In 1982, an influential state policy document called for respect of freedom of religious belief and declared that following the Cultural Revolution, “The contradictions of the religious question now belong primarily to the category of contradictions among the people.”14 Yet while the government accepted some expressions of religion as anodyne, intolerance of heterodoxy persisted. The document distinguished between the “normal religious activities” of the Patriotic religious organizations, and “criminal and counter-revolutionary activities under the cover of religion,” which the government was “determined” to suppress.15 Accordingly, a crackdown on the Shouters, which began in May 1983, saw the group labeled a “counter-revolutionary organization” and resulted in approximately two thousand arrests. Leaders received prison terms while other adherents were forced to attend lengthy “study” sessions.16 The term ‘counter-revolutionary’ (反革命 fan geming) had been used to label deviance under the CCP for decades. Like today’s new religious movements, Protestant evangelists and leaders who resisted joining the Patriotic religious association in the early 1950s were criticized for “twisting the Bible,” “wearing the cloak of religion,” and demonizing the CCP; they were also accused of fraud and rape, and of causing physical and psychological harm through futile attempts at faith healing and exorcism.17 Even in the late 1980s Chinese periodicals continued to employ the vocabulary that dominated denunciations during the Maoist decades; Witness Lee and his followers continued to be

14 Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, “Document 19,” 11. 15 Ibid., 22. 16 Human Rights Watch / Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” 3, 5, 7. 17 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 200–02. 122 CHAPTER 5 referred to chiefly as “counter-revolutionary” (反革命 fan geming) and “reactionary” (反动 fandong) in Chinese scholarly writing on Protestantism.18 When the Chinese government condemns Eastern Lighting today, it uses a different term—xiejiao. Literally meaning “heterodox teachings”, this has been translated in a multitude of official documents over the past fifteen years as “[evil] cults.” The term is rooted in the Chinese state’s construction of—and response to—heterodoxy throughout history. Chinese rulers have used the binary categories of orthodoxy (正 zheng) and heterodoxy (邪 xie) to classify religious groups and their relationship to political authority for at least two thousand years. The latter word appeared in both the Confucian Analects and the Book of Poetry (詩經 Shijing) meaning “evil or depraved” and in the Works of Mencius meaning “perverse or morally misguided.”19 Polemics involving the compound term 邪教 xiejiao developed in medieval China when Confucians, Buddhists and Daoists vied for favor at the courts of officials. As Buddhism and Daoism incurred lesser persecution after the Tang dynasty, xiejiao was reserved for sectarian groups that were judged to be particularly pernicious, but became standardized only in legal arguments during the mid-Qing dynasty.20 Discussion of xiejiao resurfaced in Chinese literature in the 1990s after a series of spectacular incidents involving new religious movements overseas.21 In April 1993, around 80 members the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh perished in a fire that came at the end of a 51-day FBI siege of their headquar-

18 For example, Li Yongqing (李永清), “Guanyu Jidujiao zai Wuhan shi nongcun fazhan de sikao 关于基督教在武汉市农村发展的思考” [Reflections on the development of Protestantism in rural areas around Wuhan], 中南民族学院学报（哲学社会科学版) 3 (consec. 36) (1989): 40; Yi Min (一民), Gong Qin (功勒), and Yun Liang (运良), “Nongcun zongjiao huodong zhengchanghua guanjian zaiyu yindao: Guanyu Gushi xian Jidujiao de diaocha he sikao 农村宗教活动正常化关键在于引导：关于固始县基督教的调查和思考” [The key to normalizing religious activities in the countryside lies in leadership: Survey and reflections on Protestantism in Gushi county], 信阳师范学院学报（哲学社会科学版) 1 (1990): 30; Yu Jin (余金), “Jidujiao de shehui biaoxian yu qi zongjiao xinyang de neizai lianxi 基督教徒的社会表现与其宗教信仰的内在联系” [The inherent connection between Christians’ social behavior and their religious faith], 上海社会科学院学术季刊 4 (1986): 155. 19 David A. Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines, Reactionary Secret Societies, Evil Cults: Labeling Heterodoxy in Twentieth-Century China,” in Chinese Religiosities: Afflications of Modernity and State Formation, ed. Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 116. 20 Kwang-Ching Liu and Richard Shek, “Afterword: The Twentieth-Century Perspective,” in Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China, ed. Kwang-Ching Liu and Richard Shek (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, 2004), 482–84. 21 Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 126. The Government’s Response 123 ters in Waco, Texas. The term “cult” was ubiquitous in American media reports in the aftermath of the tragedy, and Chinese scholars followed suit by adopting xiejiao in their own analysis.22 Two years later, Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, killing twelve people and capturing world attention. Xiejiao again appeared in Chinese reports, though some preferred the term “new religious movements” (新兴宗教 xinxing zongjiao), which was employed by the Japanese.23 As David Palmer has pointed out, from this time onwards, state and academic use of the term xiejiao thus indicated both the revival of late imperial condem- nations of heterodoxy, and an attempt to legitimize repression by appealing to a “universal framework” and “the international menace of destructive cults.”24 ‘Counter-revolutionary’ would not have been appropriate to describe movements in non-Communist countries, and the transfer of polemics was facilitated by the resumption of scholarly exchange between China and the West in the late 1980s.25 Reports of Protestant-related new religious movements in the mid-1990s reflected the trend towards referring to heterodox movements using the history-laden xiejiao. In the mid-1990s, the term appeared in secular reportage of the arrest of Wu Yangming, the leader of the Established King movement, on rape charges. While Wu had been prosecuted for “counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement” (反革命宣传煽动罪 fan geming xuanchuan shandong zui) in relation to his activities with the Shouters in 1987,26 by 1995 the headlines read “Established King Cultic Organization Suppressed According to

22 For example, Dirk Johnson, “Death in Waco: 40 Bodies of Cult Members are Found in Charred Ruins,” New York Times, April 22, 1993; Yu Shixi (余事熙) and Xiao Shizhi (肖世之), “Meiguo xiejiao neimu da baoguang 美国邪教内幕大爆光” [Inside American cults], 图书馆 4 (1993). 23 See Wang Dajun (王大军), “Riben xiejiao: Aomu zhenli jiao 日本邪教—‘奥姆真理教’ ” [Japanese cults—‘Aum Shinrikyo’], 中国宗教 1 (1995). Cf. Yuan Wenhua (袁蕴华), “Riben xinxing zongjiao Aomu zhenli jiao deng jianjie 日本新兴宗教奥姆真理教等简介” [A brief introduction to Japanese new religious movements such as Aum Shinrikyo], 国际资料信息 11 (1995). 24 Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 133. 25 Gao Shining (高师宁), “Xinxing zongjiao ji qi yanjiu zai Zhongguo 新兴宗教及其研究在中国” [New religious movements and Chinese research on them]. Available at http:// www.mzb.com.cn/html/report/84814–1.htm. Accessed June 8, 2010. 26 Su Kang (苏康), “Jiexia Wu Yangming de mianju 揭下吴扬明的面具” [Removing Wu Yangming’s mask], TF 4 (1996): 25. 124 CHAPTER 5 the Law,”27 and in 1996 his group was considered by some journalists to have become “China’s largest cultic organization.”28 Similarly, the Association of Disciples was referred to as an “illegal organization flaunting the Protestant banner” (打着基督教旗号的非法组织 dazhe Jidujiao qihao de feifa zuzhi) by the Hubei provincial government in 1990,29 but was listed as a xiejiao in August 1995 by the Ministry of Public Security.30 While Maoist labels were still invoked in Chinese writing on Protestant-related movements in the mid-1990s and were explicitly favored by some authors to better reflect their sedition,31 the tag of xiejiao became increasingly common. The term xiejiao was enshrined in the revised Criminal Law of 1997 as Article 300 prescribed a term of three to seven years’ imprisonment for “Whoever forms or uses sects (会道门 huidaomen) or evil cults (邪教 xiejiao) or uses superstition to undermine the implementation of the laws and administrative rules and regulations of the State.”32 Officials’ disquiet at Falun Gong continued to grow—though still relatively slight at this stage—and a handful of reports about Eastern Lightning were published in Protestant magazines in the mid-late 1990s.33 However, the general populace was frequently unfamiliar with the new religious movements operating in their midst. When prefacing a detailed account of the suppression of the Established King group, the editor of a major news magazine recounted Aum Shinrikyo and the Branch Davidians and asked “So, can China also produce cultic organizations?”, reflecting the impression that readers were either unaware that new religious movements

27 Shang Zhong (尚钟), “Xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ bei yifa qudi 邪教组织‘被立王’被依法取缔.” 28 Ou Zhengtao (偶正涛), and Liu Zhifeng (刘峙峰), “Zhongguo zuida de xiejiao zuzhi ‘Beiliwang’ fumie ji 中国最大的邪教组织”被立王”覆灭记” [Notes on the suppression of China’s largest cultic organization, the “Established King”], 海内与海外 6 (1996): 26. 29 Song Yonglin (宋永林), “ ‘Kuangye zhaimen’ weihe lüjin bu zhi‘旷野窄门’为何屡禁不止” [Why repeated prohibitions have failed to quash the ‘Narrow Gate in the Wilderness’], 吉林公安高等专科学校学报 3 (1997): 26. 30 “Notice on Various Issues,” 31. 31 Song Yonglin (宋永林), “ ‘Kuangye zhaimen’ weihe lüjin bu zhi 旷野窄门’为何屡禁不止,” 26. 32 “Zhonghua renmin gongheguo xingfa 中华人民共和国刑法” [Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China]. Available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/huiyi/lfzt/xfxza8/2008- 08/21/content_1588538.htm. Accessed August 28, 2013. 33 TF 11 (1997): 23–26. The Government’s Response 125 such as Falun Gong and Eastern Lightning were active within China, or did not consider them to be ‘cults.’34 Chinese authorities took increasing notice of Eastern Lightning in the late 1990s as its membership grew. In 1998, the first division of the Public Security Bureau in Anhui instructed offices throughout the province to “begin serious investigation” of the Eastern Lightning “cult.”35 On 2 April 1999—three weeks prior to the Falun Gong gathering outside Zhongnanhai—it warned that Eastern Lightning may be planning a large and politically disruptive event for the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the PRC in October that year. These remarks, however, were confined within the pages of a top-secret security document circulated only among public security bureaux.36 Even in early 1999, there was little secular reporting or scholarship on Protestant-related new religious movements. The query of one Xia Shulin to the editor of the magazine of the Jilin People’s Congress in early 1999 illustrates the sketchy awareness surrounding Protestant-related new religious movements and the state’s treatment of them at that time. Xia wrote that in November the previous year, he had been involved in the investigation of the Korean Elijah “cult” (邪教 xiejiao) in a village within the greater municipality of Ji’an 集安.37 He reported that multiple crackdowns on the group had prompted its leaders to flee to remote villages in the nearby mountains. On one occasion witnessed by Xia, local police and the village committee detained two leaders for fifteen days, discovered 38 followers, and confiscated 467 copies of sectarian tracts. Xia, however, was unclear as to the legal basis for this action, and requested clarification from the magazine’s editor.38

34 Editor’s introductory remarks to Ai Qun (艾群) and Wu Xiaolong (吴小龙), “Zhenbu xiejiao ‘beiliwang’ 侦捕邪教‘被立王,’ ” 56. 35 “Notice on Further Strengthening of the Investigation Work,” 62. 36 Ibid., 62–63. 37 The World Elijah Evangelical Mission originated in Korea in 1980, and entered north- eastern China in the early 1990s. The Chinese government banned it in 1996 in response to a report by the Public Security Bureau in Jilin province, which found that the group had approximately six hundred members, some of whom were living in communes and spreading anti-CCP ideology. The movement has not spread widely. “Notice on Various Issues,” 34–35. 38 Xia Shulin (夏树林), “Qudi xiejiao ping shenme? 取缔邪教凭什么？” [On what grounds can cults be suppressed?], 吉林人大工作 1 (1999). 126 CHAPTER 5

“Evil Cults Flaunting the Protestant Banner”

Xia’s query would have been unimaginable later that same year, by which time the “Falun Gong problem” had erupted in spectacular fashion, and state usage of xiejiao was reinvigorated on a grand scale. In October 1999, the National People’s Congress’ “Legislative Resolution on Banning Evil Cults” provided a fresh legal basis for the suppression of new religious movements. The Supreme Court elaborated, describing xiejiao—now translated by Chinese government sources as “(evil) cults”—in the following terms:

In recent years, cultic organizations—especially the cultic organization of Falun Gong—have used religion, qigong or other pretences to install and deify key elements, worshipped their leader, and used methods such as the creation and dissemination of superstition and heresy to mislead and swindle others, recruit and control members, engage in illegal activities, and harm the lives, assets, safety and economic development of the masses. This has seriously threatened social stability, and must be firmly punished in accordance with the law.39

This description was quoted ad infinitum by government representatives, academics and popular commentators, and Protestant-related new religious movements were represented accordingly. One example of the government’s depiction of “evil cults flaunting the Protestant banner” (打着基督教旗号的邪教 dazhe Jidujiao qihao de xiejiao) is a half-hour audio-visual presentation entitled Expose Fraud, Drive out Evil: Resist ‘The Disciples’ Illegal Organization.40 The film is of particular interest because it contains interviews with former members of the Disciples and public security personnel involved in efforts

39 Supreme People’s Court (最高人民法院), “Zuigao renmin fayuan guanyu guanche quanguo renda changweihui ‘guanyu qudi xiejiao zuzhi, fangfan he chengzhi xiejiao huodong de jueding’ he ‘liangyuan’ sifa jieshi de tongzhi 最高人民法院关于贯彻全国人大常委会《关于取缔邪教组织、防范和惩治邪教活动的决定》和“两院”司法解释的通知” [Notice of the Supreme People’s Court on the Implementation of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress “On Banning of Evil Cults, Preventing and Supppressing Cultic Activities” and the Judicial Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme Procuratorate]. Available at http://www.pkulaw .cn/fulltext_form.aspx?Gid=26459&Db=chl. Accessed August 21, 2013. See also “Full Text of New Chinese Legislative Resolution Banning Cults.” Available at http://www.cesnur .org/testi/falun_005.htm. Accessed March 31, 2004. 40 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪.” Descriptions and quotations in the following several paragraphs are also derived from this source. The Government’s Response 127 to suppress the movement. It was made in 2007 by the Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会 Zhongguo fan xiejiao xiehui), which was founded in November 2001.41 While the Association is not technically a government body, it has functioned to support and disseminate the government’s depiction of ‘cults’ in public education campaigns, and political representatives were among its founding members. It can therefore be considered to represent the state’s view of new religious movements. As outlined in Chapter 2, the Association of Disciples was founded in Shaanxi Province in 1989 by Ji Sanbao, who claimed to be the incarnation of Christ. It has since become one of the larger of the Protestant-related new religious movements. The film was made for the express purpose of exhorting the populace to “guard against” “evil cults”, and could still be viewed on anti-cult websites as of mid-2013. It begins with the sound of cheerful violins and scenes of bounteous rice paddies, stores of grain, blue skies and shiny new tractors. A narrator rejoices:

Since [the commencement of] reform and opening up, the face of the countryside has changed. Peasants’ cultural and material lives have constantly improved, and there have been new developments in all kinds of rural projects. Most rural folk are striving to build a new socialist countryside and a harmonious society.

Here, the music abruptly takes on an ominous tone and the sky clouds over. The narrator continues in a sombre tone: “However, a few dark things are spreading, poisoning peasants’ thinking and destroying the order of peasants’ lives and production, causing great harm.” From the start, then, the Disciples are presented as a rural problem. As the film continues, this is reinforced: we hear from peasants with heavy accents that require subtitles, and see footage of herds of sheep, crumbling brick houses and hand-woven baskets. It is true that the followers of some new religious movements are mostly poor and located in rural areas. However, the state here emphasizes that new religious movements exacerbate financial hardship through the religious requirement to tithe (奉献 fengxian). An old woman bemoans that she sold the family cow to donate money to the organization; the narrator observes of former adherents that “the more fervent their belief, the poorer they became” (越信越穷 yue xin yue qiong).

41 In late 2014, the website of the national Anti-Cult Association was at www.cnfxj.org; formerly www.anticult.org. Provinces, and many major cities and counties, have their own chapters. 128 CHAPTER 5

The presentation invites amusement at the superstition of these peasants. A young woman in Hunan recalls with a chuckle that her mother-in-law had claimed that her store of rice would magically replenish itself if she believed the Disciples’ teachings. To her amazement, the daughter-in-law saw that the level of the rice in their storage container did indeed seem to be rising. The ruse was uncovered, however, when she returned to the house unexpectedly one day to find her mother-in-law refilling the container on the sly. Other accounts of charismatic phenomena related by the film are far more sobering. Through tears and indignation, adherents’ families tell of injury and death caused by the abandonment of medical treatment in favor of prayer. A young man of thirty was recovering from nephritis (inflammation of the kid- ney) when evangelists claimed that if he joined the Disciples he would not need to take any medicine; six months later, he was dead. Most chilling is the case of one Sun Ruidong 孙瑞东. Sun joined the Disciples in late 2004, enticed by the prospect of a cure for the muscular dystrophy that affected his legs. His younger brother recalls that Sun soon began to exhibit symptoms of mental imbalance, becoming immersed in prayer and obsessed with the prospect of “ascending to heaven” (升天 shengtian). In June 2005, Sun received a vision which led him to believe that if he killed four people he would indeed ascend to heaven. He then murdered his mother. Decked in prison garb as he serves a life sentence, he now weeps with bitter remorse. Alas, the narrator observes, his tears cannot bring his mother back. As the film continues, it plays interviews with cadres who knew Ji Sanbao, the Disciples’ founder, as a young man. They attest that he was a “slacker” (二流子 er liuzi) of peasant background, and recall that after minimal school- ing he worked in a coal mine, but fled to Xinjiang after stealing some money. According to the film, Ji died in December 1997 after his car crashed into a road barrier. He was replaced as leader by one Yu Shiqiang 蔚世强, who died of liver cancer in May 2001; the most recent leader is said to be surnamed Chen, and to be serving a thirteen-year prison sentence.42 The political aspirations and activities of the Disciples are also shown. We see footage of a Disciples’ meeting place in Hubei, which consists of a cave dug out from a hillside. Its doorways are painted with red characters proclaiming

42 In publicizing the fate of the Disciples’ leaders, the state counters one of the chief claims of the movement—namely that joining offers protection (保平安 bao ping’an), and that if they do not, disaster will strike (大难临头 danan lintou). Yet in showing that crime does not pay, the state indirectly reinforces the popular notion that disaster will befall those who reject the True Way. (See also pp. 80–87 of this book, and Ownby, Falun Gong and the Future of China, 176–77.) The Government’s Response 129 the incarnation of God and the Throne of David, a famed Old Testament king. We are also told that the Disciples proclaim God’s kingdom (神的国度 shen de guodu), and that from 2004 they made flags bearing a red enlongated cross against a white background (called “Victory Flags” 得胜旗 desheng qi). A police officer reports that the Disciples have fanned dissent towards the government, and that in Inner Mongolia in 2006, two hundred members surrounded a local government building to demand the release of fellow members who had been arrested. As the film approaches its conclusion, we see scenes of peasants studying anti-cult materials in a courtyard. The voiceover advocates punishing cult leaders and educating “ordinary believers” to recognize the evil nature of the Disciples; methods suggested include anti-cult cultural exhibitions, door-to- door visits, and public broadcasts over loudspeakers. The film suggests that in addition, poverty alleviation measures will remove the incentive to follow the Disciples and help peasants to become more productive and law-abiding citizens. In this vein, former adherents—one with a thick accent and conspic- uously dressed in suit and tie—rejoice that they have become wealthier since having left the organization. Finally, as children run through an orchard, the narrator exhorts those enmeshed in the Disciples to turn from their ways and contribute to the building of a new socialist countryside, a harmonious society, and a better tomorrow.

“Second only to Falun Gong”

The state produced propaganda such as this film in response to its real unease at Protestant-related new religious movements and their capacity to create social harm and political instability. However, its efforts against them have also had two important effects upon the politics of Chinese religion in recent years. The first of these has been to lend legitimacy to the campaign against Falun Gong. The Chinese government has claimed that it is not only responding to the specific threat of Falun Gong, but that a whole tide of ‘cults’ is jeopardizing social stability. While the National People’s Congress’ “Legislative Resolution Banning Evil Cults” of late 1999 singled out Falun Gong for mention, it did so in the context of a broader censure of “cultic organizations” in China’s recent past, some of which were said to be unrelated to qigong and to have “used religion.”43 State condemnation of Protestant-related new religious movements supports

43 Supreme People’s Court (最高人民法院), “Tongzhi 通知.” See quotation given on page 126 of the present chap. 130 CHAPTER 5 the claim that ‘cults’ are a widespread and pressing problem requiring a formidable response, and enables the government to ward off suggestion that it is on a witch hunt against Falun Gong alone. This consideration was undoubtedly partly responsible for the dramatic increase in the number and profile of Chinese reports of Protestant-related new religious movements after April 1999, even though they did not engage in exceptionally large-scale or public political action around this time. The arrest of Liu Jiaguo, leader of the Lord God’s Teachings, at a train station in June 1998 went largely unpublicized. On June 3 1999—five weeks after Falun Gong’s vigil outside Zhongnanhai—he was sentenced to death and fellow leader Zhu Aiqing to twenty years’ imprisonment for rape, fraud and organizing and using a cultic organization to break the law.44 Whereas Liu’s capture had attracted little fanfare in 1998, his execution by firing squad in late 1999 made the fourth page of the People’s Daily newspaper.45 In publications and at conferences, Eastern Lightning and other Protestant- related movements have been mentioned in the same breath as Falun Gong, and are said to “defraud followers,” “fabricate rumors,” “endanger lives,” “seduce and rape women,” “use single-line communication,” “constantly change addresses,” and “use threats and intimidation.”46 Where Falun Gong is “fake qigong”, Protestant-related new religious movements are said to “dress themselves up as Protestant” (披着基督教外衣 pizhe Jidujiao waiyi); where in the case of Falun Gong physical harm is said to result from practitioners searching for a wheel inside their abdomen, in the case of Protestant movements, harm comes as followers are discouraged from seeking medical treatment; where Falun Gong practitioners organized a “disturbance” outside Zhongnanhai,

44 Hunan Supreme Court (湖南省高级人民法院), “Liu Jiaguo, Zhu Aiqing (xingshi panjue shu) 刘家国、朱爱清 (刑事判决书).” 45 Shi Tao (石涛) and Hu Jie (胡杰), “Jianyin funü, zhapian qiancai, weihai shehui: xiejiao ‘Zhushen jiao’ ” zhufan zai Xiangtan fufa 奸淫妇女、诈骗钱财、为害社会 (sic): 邪教”主神教”主犯在湘潭伏法” [Raping women, perpetrating fraud, harming society: Prime offender in “Lord God’s Teachings” sentenced in Xiangtan]. Available at http:// www.people.com.cn/rmrb/199910/15/newfiles/col_19991015001038_zyxw.html. Accessed September 9, 2006. 46 For example, Liu Xueli (刘学礼), ed., Mikuang de linian: Xingxing sese de xiejiao 迷狂的理念：形形色色的邪教 [Blurred understandings: All kinds of cults] (上海: 上海科学技术出版社, 1999). Also contributions by Jiang Jiasen, Zhu Tongyou, Xi Wuyi, Lu Yao and Zhao Kuangwei in Shehui wenti yanjiu congshu bianji weiyuanhui (社会问题研究丛书编辑委员会), ed., Lun Xiejiao: Shoujie xiejiao wenti guoji yantaohui lunwenji 论邪教：首届邪教问题国际研讨会论文集. On this characterization of “evil cults,” see Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 124–25. The Government’s Response 131

Eastern Lightning was alleged to have incited followers to pray in Tiananmen Square in anticipation of the eschaton in 1999.47 In most cases around the year 2000, commentary on Protestant-related movements was nebulous, suggesting that it had not been written in response to specific incidents but rather the need to justify the anti-cult campaign, and the possibility that Protestant- related movements might foment instability akin to that associated with Falun Gong. Why haven’t they? Protestant-related new religious movements have shared Falun Gong’s ability to attract devotion through promises of healing, miracles and personal transformation; as recalled at the beginning of this chapter, their members have also held protests. While this is not the place for thorough sociological analysis, it is worth observing several significant differences between Falun Gong and Protestant-related movements here. First, Protestant-related new religious movements have not attracted as much popular support as Falun Gong. Falun Gong was fed by the ‘qigong fever’, which swept through China in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ‘Protestant fever’ has also gripped China, but the majority of those who have caught it have adopted evangelical Christianity and regarded new religious movements as virulent. Qigong also enjoyed extensive patronage from the media, military elites, and senior leaders of the State Council,48 whereas despite China’s ‘cultural Christians’ (文化基督徒 wenhua Jidutu), Protestantism and its heterodox progeny have lacked the elite and media patronage that qigong once boasted. Finally, Falun Gong garnered international support after 1999 through allegations of human rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese government. Although Zhao Weishan seemed to emulate Li Hongzhi in moving to New York around the year 2000, Protestant-related new religious movements have done little to shore up foreign sympathy. On the contrary, Chinese Christians’ opposition to them has earned new religious movements the wrath of Protestants overseas, too. Second, Protestant-related new religious movements have hitherto had access to fewer financial resources than Falun Gong. Clearly, they have the resources to maintain transprovincial religious networks, support missionaries and fund the production of literature, micro-videos and CDs. Yet whereas Falun Gong received abundant revenue from training session admission fees and the sale of qigong-related products, and many of its members were of

47 “Announcement from the First Division,” 69. I have found no evidence to corroborate this specific allegation, though as demonstrated in chap. 3, Eastern Lightning did attach eschatological expectations to the year 2000. 48 Palmer, Qigong Fever, 46–85. 132 CHAPTER 5

“considerable financial means,”49 Protestant-related new religious movements have had no apparent source of income other than the voluntary contributions of believers within China—most of whom have been poor rural dwellers. Recent reports suggest that this may be changing as movements gain a greater following in urban areas, but to date, their monetary backing appears not to have equaled that of Falun Gong. Third, Eastern Lightning’s organizational structure has limited its involvement in coordinated political activity. The doctrinal exclusivity of Protestant- related new religious movements drastically limits the prospect of their collaborating with other agents of dissent, which Chung, Lai and Xia advise is crucial in assessing the threat they pose to government control.50 Moreover, despite government reports of “tight organizational systems,” there is evidence that the leadership of Protestant-related new religious movements is often impotent to control the beliefs and activities of rank-and-file adherents. Eastern Lightning has manifested diverging teachings pertaining to predictions about the end of the world and miracles; the next chapter will also discuss how some adherents transgress the central leadership’s explicit instructions against the use of violence and kidnapping. In addition, the rural location, poverty, and low educational attainment of most adherents has meant that these movements have been less inclined to harness the power of technology to commu- nicate and organize, again contrasting with Falun Gong.51 Finally, ideologically, Eastern Lightning’s depiction of China as dark and ret- rograde and the CCP as the ‘big red dragon’ is subversive, but Eastern Lightning also believes that it is ultimately divine rather than human agency that will defeat evil.52 The kingdom of heaven is to descend upon believers rather than be created by them, and they are called to spread the gospel rather than to instigate a revolution. However much they may talk about hating the big red dragon, adherents have hitherto appeared to be more concerned with reading scriptures and converting acquaintances than with plotting against the government, as Eastern Lightning’s voluminous literature attests. The Chinese government appeared to have become more cognizant of the limits to Eastern Lightning’s potency as it made fewer public pronouncements condemning Protestant-related new religious movements after 2004. While

49 James Tong, “An Organizational Analysis of the Falun Gong: Structure, Communications, Financing,” China Quarterly 171 (2002): 656. 50 Chung, Lai, and Xia, “Mounting Challenges to Governance in China,” 25–26. 51 Cf. Tong, “Organizational Analysis of the Falun Gong,” 647. 52 On similar emphasis in popular Protestantism, see Brandner, “Trying to Make Sense of History,” 87. The Government’s Response 133 the government is by no means tolerant of these movements, denunciations dwindled as the ‘Falun Gong problem’ subsided, consistent with the argument that the discourse against Protestant-related new religious movements functioned to support the campaign against Falun Gong. Chinese academic literature on new religious movements saw a comparable abatement.53 “Xiejiao” is now translated as “weird religious organization” in the Criminal Law.54 In 2007 and 2009 the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences hosted conferences on new religious movements, but referred to the subject using a new term—膜拜团体 mobai tuanti, literally “worship groups”—in preference to xiejiao. While this may have reflected an attempt on the part of Chinese academia to distance itself from xiejiao discourse, there were indica- tions that the change was superficial rather than substantive. When recalling the conference, one scholar from CASS’s Institute of World Religions did not disown the ‘evil cult’ label but rather drew an equivalence between the two terms.55 Further, she understood the conferences as being intended to enable China to “establish its own voice” (建立自己的话语权 jianli ziji de huayu quan) and “take the microphone” (积极争取话语权 jiji zhengqü huayu quan) in the international academic arena.56 Chinese scholars have by no means repudiated the term xiejiao, and are continuing their efforts to carve out a legitimized space for it in international fora. Meanwhile, media reports continue to ridicule doomsday prophecies, and to warn of the ‘evil cult’ of Eastern Lightning.

‘Evil Cults’ and State Regulation of Christianity

In addition to supporting the war on Falun Gong, the Chinese government’s crackdown on Protestant-related new religious movements has affected its regulation of Protestantism. The government insists that its suppression of ‘evil cults’ has no bearing on religious freedom or policy, and that since cults are not religions but rather use religion or qigong, they fall beyond the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Religions, this line of argument contends, have a large and usually international following, a long history, and contribute to

53 Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 133. 54 “Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China.” Available at http://www.npc.gov.cn/ englishnpc/Law/2007–12/13/content_1384075.htm. Accessed August 28, 2013. 55 Xi Wuyi (习五一), “Yingdang guanzhu xinxing mobai tuanti de pohuaixing yinsu 应当关注新兴膜拜团体的破坏性因素,” 51. 56 Ibid. 134 CHAPTER 5

society through good deeds, whereas cults have a short history, are centered on an individual leader and are destructive.57 Consistent with this, government depictions of Protestant-related new religious movements emphasize their deviation from Christianity. An Anti-Cult Association audiovisual presentation on the Three Grades of Servant movement demonstrates the ‘cult’s’ distance from ‘normal’ (正常的 zhengchang de) Protestantism both through its title (“Beware of illegal organizations abus- ing the name of religion”), and by exposing its leader’s ignorance of Bible stories.58 When quizzed by an interviewer, leader Xu Wenku cannot say where Joseph and Mary lived before Jesus’ birth. In response to the question “On which day do Christians celebrate Jesus entering the Holy City?” he first replies “Christmas,” and proves unable to read the correct answer of “Palm Sunday” when shown it in a book. When several of the inmates interviewed in the film refer to the Three Grades of Servant using a term for a popular religious sect (道 dao; also translated as “Way”), the film’s subtitles add the word “organization” (组织 zuzhi) in explanatory parentheses after it, thereby repositioning the movement as a clique rather than a religious association.59 Despite the state’s attempts to divorce its treatment of ‘evil cults’ from the issue of religious freedom, the ‘cult’ label has sometimes functioned as legal and political justification for the persecution of groups that are not registered with SARA, but which are widely considered by Protestants both within China and overseas to be orthodox. Early examples of this were the persecution of evangelical house churches during the campaign against the Shouters in 1983– 4, and the labeling of the China Gospel Fellowship as a ‘cult’ by the Xinyang County People’s Government in Henan in the late 1990s.60 In 1998—prior to

57 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Zongjiao he xiejiao burong hunxiao 宗教和邪教不容混淆” [Cults cannot be confused with religion], TF 6 (2000): 24–25; Chen Xingqiao (陈星桥), “Zongjiao, xinxing zongjiao, xiejiao 宗教、新兴宗教、邪教” [Religions, new religious movements, and evil cults], in 宗教、教派与邪教: 国际研讨会论文集, ed. Shehui wenti yanjiu zongshu bianji weiyuanhui (社会问题研究丛书编辑委员会) (南宁: 广西人民出版社, 2004). 58 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jingti maoyong zongjiao mingyi de feifa zuzhi 警惕冒用宗教名义的非法组织.” 59 In keeping with this, neither prosecution nor defense counsel raised the issue of religious persecution during the trials of the Three Grades of Servant leaders on murder charges in 2006. Rather, they described it as “just an ordinary criminal case.” See Kuhn, “China Gives Christian Trio Death Terms in Killings.” 60 “From the Dairy (sic) of a Traveller: Churches in Zhumadian and Zhoukou, Henan,” Bridge 86 (1997): 10; Shen Xianfeng, “Accused Leader Responds to Charge: Are We Truly a Cult?,” CSJ 13, no. 2 (1998): 60–62; “Christian Group Labelled as a Cult,” CSJ 13, no. 2 (1998): 59–60; The Government’s Response 135 the escalation of tensions between the state and Falun Gong—house churches therefore saw fit to issue a joint statement in which they defended their faith as “orthodox” and appealed to the government to “no longer mistake [them] for cults.”61 After the confrontation between Falun Gong and the Chinese government, the mislabeling became even more prevalent. As the United States Commission on International Freedom concluded in 2006:

The campaign against ‘evil cults’ has, in recent years, expanded beyond the Falun Gong and similar groups to those religious communities that have refused to register and become part of the system of officially- sanctioned religious organizations. This campaign has targeted leaders and members of newer, as well as long-established, Protestant and Catholic groups which, for various reasons, have not registered with the government.62

The websites of the China Aid Association and the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China [sic]—both US-based organizations that publicize the cause of persecuted Christians in China—cite instances of house churches being labeled as ‘evil cults’ (邪教 xiejiao) by public security personnel, from which persecution or abuse often follows.63 These include members of the China Gospel Fellowship, and other, smaller churches who protest their theological orthodoxy in public statements of faith.64

“Bar Urged on Illegal Crackdown,” CSJ 15, no. 1 (2000): 95; Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 94–96. 61 “Attitude of Chinese House Churches towards the Government, Its Religious Policy, and the Three-Self Movement,” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 60. 62 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “U.S.C.I.R.F. Annual Report 2006: China.” Available at http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/ rwmain?docid=4855698023. Accessed May 26, 2010. 63 The web addresses of these organizations are http://www.chinaaid.org and http://www .china21.org respectively. 64 China Aid Association (对华援助协会), “Three Christians Sentenced to One Year of Re-Education through Labor in Zhoukou, Henan.” Available at http://www.chinaaid .org/2009/01/three-christians-sentenced-to-one-year.html. Accessed August 13, 2013; China Aid Association (对华援助协会), “Shuozhou Pastor’s Home Destroyed: 6 Christian Leaders Detained.” Available at http://www.chinaaid.org/2010/01/shuozhou-pastor- home-destroyed-6.html. Accessed August 13, 2013. See also Teresa Wright and Teresa Zimmerman-Liu, “Engaging and Evading the Party-State: Unofficial Chinese Protestant Groups in China’s Reform Era,” China: An International Journal 11, no. 1 (2013): 10. 136 CHAPTER 5

Government and some academic sources additionally discredit unofficial Protestant churches by identifying practices in which they engage as ‘cultic.’ Xu Lai’en, the son of the man said to have founded the All Sphere Church / Born Again Sect, accused the government of drawing equivalence between proselytizing and “poisoning people with an evil cult,” and “encouraging people to evangelize” and “preventing them from working.”65 In the CACA presentation on the Disciples, the fact that the group meets clandestinely in unauthorized venues is presented as evidence of its ‘cultic’ nature, but unregistered churches also do this to evade government persecution. Likewise, state emphasis on the deleterious effects of miracles and visions (as in the case of Sun Ruidong) could be interpreted as an attempt to discredit all charismatic expressions of Protestantism. In some cases, Christian practices that are advocated even by the TSPM are implicated—the CACA film on the Disciples emphasized the cost to adherents of tithing ten percent of their income to the ‘cult’, for example.66 Even some of the largest groups the government labels as ‘evil cults’ have claimed to be Christian, and to be the victims of mislabeling. Xu Lai’en described his father as “China’s Billy Graham” and “the leader of one of the largest house churches in China.”67 The daughter of the leader of the Three Grades of Servant group similarly defended her father as “a true Christian” and his church as practicing “a very pure form of Christianity.”68 Government sources respond by acknowledging that members of groups classed as ‘evil cults’ often identify themselves as Protestant, but dismiss their claim to orthodoxy. 69 Hence, the boundaries between ‘house church’ and ‘new religious movement’ are hotly contested. Given this, we must consider the possibility that the label of ‘evil cult flaunting the Protestant banner’ functions in the way that ‘White Lotus (白蓮教 Bailian jiao)’ did in the late sixteenth century. As Barend ter Haar has demonstrated, this was a “pseudo-autonym” used by officials and literati to legitimize the suppression of an array of rebellious sects.70 In other words, we must

65 Xu Lai’en (徐來恩), “Wode fuqin zenme le? 我的父親怎麼了?,” 18. 66 Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪.” 67 Xu Lai’en (徐來恩), “Wode fuqin zenme le? 我的父親怎麼了?”, 18. 68 Kuhn, “China Gives Christian Trio Death Terms in Killings.” 69 For example, the voiceover to the CACA presentation about the Disciples states that newcomers to the group believe that it is Protestant, but a police officer rejects their claim to the religion. Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪.” 70 ter Haar, White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History, 196ff. Following ter Haar, Palmer has suggested that in the 1950s, “Yiguandao” 一贯道 may similarly have been used The Government’s Response 137

consider whether groups such as the Three Grades of Servant actually exist and if so, whether they are truly destructive, or whether they are a state fabrication and mere labels used to legitimize the extirpation of religious groups that offend it. The government imposes organizational names that differ from the autonyms used by these groups—All Sphere Church for the Born Again Movement and, until recently, Eastern Lightning for Church of Almighty God. Government and mainstream depictions of new religious movements also differ from their self- representations. However, the existence of these new religious movements is evidenced in many cases by their own literature or websites, and in others by a gamut of Protestant and government reports that condemn them for heretical beliefs and abusive deeds. Even the China Aid Association, which reprimands the government for wielding the ‘evil cult’ label indiscriminately, describes Eastern Lightning as “a violent cult” and “very harmful . . . to Christian churches and society,”71 constituting an independent affirmation of the government’s depiction of this group; the Shouwang Protestant Church, which has been subject to crackdowns, also rejects Eastern Lightning.72 The concentration of reports around the year 2000 and evidence of chiliastic anticipation from Eastern Lightning sources also suggests that new religious movements may indeed have been particularly active around the time of the state’s crackdown against Falun Gong. Thus, the existence of groups such as Eastern Lightning is not purely an illusion propagated by the state. Nevertheless, while it is difficult to ascertain the extent of the problem, Chinese government organs and public security officers have mislabeled some Protestant groups as ‘evil cults’, resulting in their persecution. Despite the state’s attempts to present the label of xiejiao as “objective and scientific”73 and to distance it from issues of religious persecution, the ‘cult problem’ is connected to state control of religion.

to prescribe a course of action to be taken by authorities rather than being an accurate reflection of affiliation. Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 123–24. 71 China Aid Association (对华援助协会), “Annual Report of Persecution by the Government on Christian House Churches within Mainland China, January 2009– December 2009.” Available at http://www.purdue.edu/crcs/itemResources/NGO/China aidreports/chinaaidreportE2009.pdf. Accessed August 13, 2013. 72 Zhao Zhou (赵周), “Dang yiduan chuxian zai xiaozu 当异端出现在小组” [When heresies appear in cell groups]. Available at https://t2.shwchurch.org/2013/01/30/当异端出现在小组赵周/. Accessed September 11, 2014. 73 Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 128. 138 CHAPTER 5

Conclusion

State reports of Protestant-related new religious movements seldom invoke comparisons with the Taipings or other heterodox religions of the late imperial era, probably because CCP historiography has tended to portray the latter as heroic forerunners in the struggle against imperialism.74 Yet while the state has attempted to present its response to Eastern Lightning and other new religious movements as modern and clinical, it is steeped in history, as in the case of the term xiejiao. As if acknowledging the salience of late imperial precedent, the homepage of the Chinese Anti-Cult Association bears images of the Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City.75 Occasionally, the link between Protestant- related new religious movements and their antecedents is made more explicitly. In the CACA film, a police officer alleges that when two hundred members of the Disciples surrounded a local government building in Inner Mongolia in July 2006 they shouted a slogan chanted by the Taiping rebels some 150 years earlier.76 In other sources, the Disciples are said to “try to bring about dynastic change,” “clamor for toppling the present emperor, changing the dynasty and establishing a man of the new mandate.”77 It is not clear whether these statements represent continuity in the political aspirations of new religious movements, or the denunciation of them by state representatives, or a combination of both. Whether sectarians are repeating history in chanting these slogans, or officials in their accusations, the history of heterodoxy in China continues to shape the conflict between the government and Protestant-related new religious movements.

74 Palmer observes that White Lotus rebellions were treated favorably for this reason in Communist historiography in the 1960s and 1970s. Ibid., 125. 75 http://www.cnfxj.org/. Accessed September 26, 2014. 76 “We will cross the Ma’an Stream and create a bloodbath at Matou Mountain; We will take the throne, and ride into Xi’an.” (“踏平马鞍川，血洗马头山；要想坐王位，骑马到西安 taping Ma’an chuan, xuexi Matou shan, yao xiang zuo wangwei, qi ma dao Xi’an.”) Chinese Anti-Cult Association (中国反邪教协会), “Jiechuan pianju, kuangzheng quxie 揭穿骗局，匡正祛邪.” 77 Hunan Provincial Lianghui, “Circular: Concerning Supporting the Government to Ban the ‘Disciple Church’ and Doing Well to Clean Up the Church,” Bridge 75 (1996 [1995]): 12–13. CHAPTER 6 The Art of Persuasion: Eastern Lightning’s Recruitment Strategies

A month after Eastern Lightning’s Almighty God resumed speaking in February 1991,1 his words were being proclaimed in Henan province.2 A decade later, Time magazine estimated Eastern Lightning’s followers to number “some- where in the tens of thousands,” and a decade after that, the group claimed to have proselytized over a million people in north China.3 Fifty people converted to the religion at a wedding, seventy-eight heard the message at a market in one morning, four hundred in a factory one evening, and two thousand in a school.4 In 2014, the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Anti-Cult Association estimated that the movement had several million followers.5 While it is impossible to ascertain just how many members Eastern Lightning has due to its illegal status, there is agreement that, true to its name, Eastern Lightning’s teachings have spread rapidly across Chinese Protestant communities. This growth reflects the importance of proselytizing in both Eastern Lightning texts and individuals’ religious practice over the past twenty years. Eastern Lightning’s texts present proselytizing as a duty for all believers. Its ninth commandment instructs followers to set aside their earthly ambitions and “throw your whole heart and being into God’s work. Give priority to God’s work and put your own life second.”6 A sermon reiterates:

Everyone has a responsibility to testify to God, not only those who are evangelists, but also church leaders; everyone has this responsibility and

1 The date of February 11, 1991, is given in “Neirong jianjie 内容简介 [Overview],” in hard copy of Church of Almighty God, Hua zai roushen xianxian 话在肉身显现 [The Word has appeared in the flesh], 2. 2 Xu Shengyi (许圣义), “Jingti pi zongjiao waiyide fandong zuzhi 警惕披宗教外衣的反动组织 [Beware of reactionary organizations in religious garb],” TF 5 (1992): 24. 3 Church of Almighty God, “Gei ge di jiaohui shen xuanmin de yifeng xin 给各地教会神选民的一封信.” 4 Ibid. 5 Wang Yusheng (王渝生), “ ‘Quannengshen’ xue’an jingxing shiren‘全能神’血案警醒世人” [“Almighty God” murder puts people on alert], 科学世界 7 (2014): 87. 6 “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Obey,” in Church of Almighty God, The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh (short title: WAF), contents p. 4, item 63.

a part to play . . . Ideally, those who are not full-time evangelists will be able to save at least one or two people, and thus have a share in God’s work of expansion.7

This is consistent with a strong norm of proselytizing in Chinese Protestantism.8 While the state prohibits citizens from “compelling” others to believe9 and stipulates that “No religious organization or believer should propagate or preach religion outside places designated for religious services,”10 the exponential growth of Protestantism since the late 1970s could not have occurred without millions of believers actively promoting their faith, seeking to persuade their friends, family, colleagues and strangers of its veracity and efficacy. In interactions with Eastern Lightning, however, the roles are reversed as Protestants become the proselytized. Eastern Lightning views all outside the movement as bound for hell, but focuses on evangelizing Protestants and members of Protestant-related new religious movements because they are thought less likely than the general population to inform the authorities of their activities, and no doubt also due to cultural and religious similarities.11 This chapter investigates the techniques that Eastern Lightning uses to recruit Protestants to the religion. I introduce four different methods, information about each of which can be gleaned from four different texts. First, Eastern Lightning evangelists travel to areas of China where the group has little or no presence in order to establish new congregations. Second, they adopt a clandestine approach that sees recruiters covertly gathering information on potential converts, and relying upon cultivated networks of social relations to attract them. Third, Eastern Lightning adherents distribute literature—notably,

7 “Shixing zhenli yu ren dang jin de benfen 实行真理与人当尽的本分” [Practicing the truth and the part that people should play], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu yu jiaohui gongren de zuotan jiyao 基督与教会工人的座谈纪要 [A record of Christ’s discussions with church workers], contents p. 2, item 6. 8 I use the terms “recruitment,” “proselytizing,” and “evangelism” interchangeably. While the first of these is preferred by sociologists and the latter two by English-speaking religious groups, all refer to the process of disseminating teachings and encouraging people to adopt them. Eastern Lightning follows Chinese Protestants in using the terms “ 传道 chuan dao” (literally, “spreading the Word”) or “传福音 chuan fuyin” (“spreading the gospel”). 9 Article 36 in National People’s Congress, “Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.” 10 Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, “Document 19,” 18. 11 Technically, non-Christians (referred to as “Gentiles” [外邦人 waibang ren]) may also be recruited. In practice, however, I have found no account of a person lacking prior affiliation with a Christian-related group joining Eastern Lightning. The Art Of Persuasion 141 anecdotes of divine retribution and visions of supernatural phenomena—to persuade their audience to trust in the Female Christ. Finally, some adherents evidently resort to abduction and violence. Examining each of these four methods of proselytizing—using migration, networks, literature and coercion— equips us to evaluate government and Protestant reports of Eastern Lightning, and yields insights into the activities and culture of both the movement and the environment in which it operates.

Migrating Evangelists

Eastern Lightning’s Plans for Church Life in 2006 stated that “the Gospel Work has basically finished in the vast area of the central plains,” presumably meaning that their message had been preached throughout the movement’s strong- holds of Henan and Anhui, but “there is still much Work to be done in the outlying provinces, which will require at least two or three years to complete.”12 Consequently, evangelists have been sent as far afield as Gansu and Xinjiang, and also to southern China, although Protestant sources indicate that Eastern Lightning activity remains most intense in Henan and Anhui provinces. In Eastern Lightning, migrating or itinerant evangelists are usually women over the age of thirty. They leave their homes and husbands, children and possibly parents, and travel to other villages or distant provinces, where they may lodge with local Eastern Lightning “host families” (接待家庭 jiedai jiating) for months or even years. While it is unclear just what proportion of Eastern Lightning believers embark upon migratory or peripatetic evangelism (as opposed to evangelism within their local communities), anecdotal evidence from Eastern Lightning and Protestant sources—together with the impressive growth of the movement across the nation—suggests that it is common. Despite this, the practice does not rate a mention in Eastern Lightning’s scripture, The Word Appears in the Flesh. Rather, information about it is to be found in plans written by church leadership, and the testimonies of individual adherents. Evangelism is presented in Eastern Lightning sources as “repaying God’s love” (还报神的爱 huanbao shen de ai), and as one of several tasks that an adherent can undertake to “offer their duty” (尽本分 jin benfen; perhaps better

12 Reprinted in .pdf version of Church of Almighty God, Guanyu jiaohui gongzuo de jiaotong jiangdao yu jiaohui gongzuo anpai linian huibian 关于教会工作的交通讲道与教会工作安排历年汇编 [Compilation of plans and talks concerning church work over the years; short title: 关于教会工作]. 142 CHAPTER 6 translated as “do their bit”).13 The hymn “Leave Home and Do Your Bit” promotes evangelism through the following lyrics:

Oh, my God; Oh, my God When I recall your work, I feel your love and tenderness. Oh, my brothers; Oh, my sisters; When we are far apart, I think of you often.

Oh, my hometown; Oh, my church I yearn for the church life in my hometown. Oh, my God; Oh, my God Only by your Word keeping me company have I grown into maturity.

Leave home and do your bit, experience the hardship of God’s work Leave home and do your bit, understand more truths Leave home and do your bit, learn how to live independently Leave home and do your bit, repay God’s love.14

As the hymn reflects, migrating evangelists may be faced with homesickness, culture shock and language difficulties. The author of the following testimony was sent from Xuchang city in Henan to Xinjiang, and writes of the difficulty she had in leaving her family:

In February 2003, our leader wanted me to go to Xinjiang to help in the Work. Although I reluctantly agreed, I was afraid: Xinjiang is so far from home! It’s not as if I could come back after a couple of months. If I go, who will look after my child? He’s only 15. He can’t look after himself— he’s never even washed a pair of socks.15

13 Others may become itinerant by virtue of practical necessity as much as religious piety; Eastern Lightning material comments that “there are so many people who are wanted and hounded by the Communist Party of China and cannot go home, so they can only drift about expending for God” (sic). Church of Almighty God, About Us, 4. 14 Hymn no. 271: “Likai jia jin benfen 离开家尽本分 [Leave home and do your bit],” in Church of Almighty God, Gensuizhe gaoyang chang xin’ge 跟随着羔羊唱新歌. 15 Zhen Zhen (真真), “29: 神话带我走出情感” [God’s word helped me to leave my emotions behind], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu shenpan taiqian de jianzheng 基督审判台前的见证 [Given English title: Witnessing Before the Judgment Seat of Christ]. Formerly available at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/jiaoliu/section10/0029.php. Accessed August 19, 2010. The Art Of Persuasion 143

In addition to family considerations, security issues weigh heavily on the minds of evangelists. Eastern Lightning is an illegal organization and of extreme political sensitivity, and adherents are well aware of the proscribed nature of their activities. The situation is particularly precarious for migrating evangelists, whose arrival in a close-knit community may attract attention. To minimize the likelihood of being caught, Eastern Lightning evangelists, like adherents of other new religious movements, are instructed in church documents to adopt aliases (referred to as ‘new names’ or 新名 xinming) and, where possible, to forge personal identity cards, use only public telephones, and conceal their evangelistic literature.16 Despite these measures, the assiduous threat of persecution seems to have a great psychological and practical impact. One woman responsible for hosting evangelists, for example, tells of her concern that one of her guests made too much noise when brushing her teeth and washing her face, and that the sound of her heavy footsteps in the house might betray her presence to authorities or neighbors.17 The vulnerability exposed in these narratives contrasts with government and Protestant accounts of Eastern Lightning. The latter frequently depict recruiters as calculating, ruthless and predatory, yet Eastern Lightning evangelists report an initial reluctance to embark on their assignments. Hundreds of Eastern Lightning testimonies in the compilation Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ (经历基督话语审判刑罚的见证 Jingli Jidu huayu shenpan xingfa de jianzheng) begin with the evangelist recalling hardships experienced in the course of their ministry, which tempted them to consider abandoning their mission or even their faith. However, they then realized that their attitude was erroneous (usually after praying, reading a portion of Eastern Lightning scripture, or speaking with church leaders). They come to see their misgivings as selfish and disloyal to God, and resolve to “offer their duty” whatever it takes. An adherent from Henan, for example, writes as follows:

16 Church of Almighty God, Jiaohui gongzuo yuanze shouce 教会工作原则手册 [Handbook of principles for church work]. Baptismal names were usually used among Christian neophytes in China in the mid-eighteenth century in order to avoid persecution, though it is not clear whether this custom has had any direct relation to Eastern Lightning’s practice. See Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 43. 17 Wang Ling (王玲), “25: Shenhua zhuanbianle wode guandian 25: 神话转变了我的观点” [25: God’s Word changed my perspective], in Church of Almighty God, 基督审判台前的见证 [Given English title: Witnessing Before the Judgment Seat of Christ]. Formerly available at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/jiaoliu/section13/0025.php. Accessed August 19, 2010; now defunct. 144 CHAPTER 6

On July 23, 2003, I was at a sister’s house on a visit, and at that time the sister’s niece was also there. At two o’clock in the afternoon, the little girl’s father came to fetch her. But she cried her eyes out and was unwilling to leave, screaming, “Mama! Mama!” . . . The sister’s whole family shed tears. Then I felt perplexed, and I asked the sister what the matter was. She said, “Her mother has run away with another man, and her two children are left uncared for. Children without a mother are so pitiful.”

The evangelist thought of her own daughter, who was the same age as the little girl, and became distressed:

I was unwilling to perform my duty anymore; I only wanted to go home immediately to make up for my indebtedness to her. But I was afraid of offending God’s nature to incur punishment . . . Just then God’s words guided me within. . . . What is man? Aren’t my daughter’s life and my life in God’s hand [sic]? . . . I felt deeply that emotion is indeed my fatal corruption, because it may cause me to alienate myself from God and for- sake God at critical moments.18

These testimonies are distributed among Eastern Lightning adherents, and thus have a didactic function. Believers are taught that their own suffering is insignificant, and that they must be willing to make extreme sacrifices for the sake the movement. Far from being heartless manipulators, these evangelists show frailty and fear. This said, the ability of Eastern Lightning to command and mobilize loyalty in the face of such misgivings indicates the organizational and motivational strength of the movement—just some of the features which so trouble the CCP. Itinerant evangelism has been practiced by Chinese Christians since the late eighteenth century, when peripatetic professionals such as merchants, doctors, and barbers disseminated their beliefs in marketplaces.19 In the nineteenth century Protestant missionaries toured markets and temple fairs in rural areas, often accompanied by Chinese ‘Bible women.’20 Itinerant and migratory

18 Li Xiao’ai, “1: God’s Word Freed Me from the Bondage of Emotions,” in Church of Almighty God, Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ, contents p. 1, item 1. 19 Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China, 47. 20 Lee, Bible and the Gun, 57; Margo S. Gewurtz, “The ‘Jesus Sect’ and ‘Jesus Opium’: Creating a Christian Community in Rural North Honan, 1890–1912,” in The Chinese Face of Jesus Christ, vol. 2, ed. Roman Malek (Sankt Augustin, Germany: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2002), 688–91. The Art Of Persuasion 145 evangelism continue to be practiced in contemporary Chinese Protestantism. Whereas TSPM preachers are constrained by government restrictions concerning the area within which they are permitted to preach,21 house church evangelists have been far more willing to travel.22 The most coordinated program of migratory evangelism in contemporary Chinese churches is the Back to Jerusalem movement. This began in the 1940s among students of the Northwest Bible Institute in Shaanxi province who aimed to spread the gospel to Xinjiang and Gansu and, eventually, into the Islamic world. Some contemporary house church leaders have revived this vision, and find significance in their belief that since Jesus’ time, the gospel has spread in a westerly direction from Jerusalem. These Protestants believe that Jesus will return when the “fire of the gospel” has circled the globe, and that “God has given us a solemn responsibility to take the fire from his altar and complete the Great Commission by establishing his kingdom in all of the remaining countries and people groups in Asia, the Middle East and Islamic North Africa.”23 Eastern Lightning retains the Chinese Protestant vision of sending the gospel from east to west, and its practice of dispatching missionaries throughout the nation. It does, however, appear to exert an unprecedented degree of pressure upon its evangelists to ‘do their bit’ for the organization and their Almighty God. Some believers are reluctant to go, but their concerns are dismissed as they are told to sacrifice all in order to prove their loyalty to God, and bring more people before Him. Evidently, many are successful in their endeavor.

“Sounding Out”

Protestants accuse Eastern Lightning evangelists of habitual deception. The proselytizers are said often to pretend to be Protestants, participating in church communities for the sole purpose of cultivating goodwill with potential converts. Only then do they reveal themselves to be Eastern Lightning believers

21 Bays, “Growth of Independent Christianity in China,” 314–16. 22 Karrie J. Koesel, “The Rise of a Chinese House Church: The Organizational Weapon,” China Quarterly 215 (2013): 578; Vala and O’Brien, “Attraction without Networks,” 90; Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 68, 163, 171–72. 23 Paul Hattaway et al., Back to Jerusalem: Called to Complete the Great Commission (Carlisle, UK: Piquant, 2003), 26, 29 (quote at 26). See also backtojerusalem.com, which references the 1920s. Christians use the term “Great Commission” (大使命 da shiming) to refer to Jesus instructing his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19–20). 146 CHAPTER 6 and urge their acquaintances to join the movement. A man who followed Eastern Lightning for a short time before returning to Protestantism recalled:

Before we accepted this ‘True Way’ [真道 zhen dao], Xiao Zhang and her companions pretended to be Protestants who loyally loved the Lord. When eating they said grace in Jesus’ name; when preaching they prayed in Jesus’ name. They were cordial in speech, and when reading and preaching the Bible they talked about the circumstances of each church.24

Since Protestants have expressed strong interest in discrediting Eastern Lightning, allegations of underhand tactics must be met with caution. However, they are supported to some extent by sources emanating from Eastern Lightning, which suggest that the movement’s unusual tactics have been developed to reconcile the conflicting imperatives of evangelism and personal security in the face of hostile political and religious authorities. In the first few years of the new millennium, Chinese Protestants claimed to have obtained a copy of an internal Eastern Lightning document entitled Detailed instructions for sounding out and paving the way (摸底铺路细则 Modi pulu xize), which is a set of instructions to church members concerning proselytizing strategy. The vocabulary and content of this document is consistent with other Eastern Lightning materials,25 and also with Protestants’ descriptions of Eastern Lightning’s activities and a Time journalist’s description of a “missionary manual” given to Eastern Lightning’s “most trusted members.”26 The title of the document refers to two phases in Eastern Lightning’s recruitment process. First:

‘Sounding out’ involves using every available means and personal connection to infiltrate churches of all denominations, establishing relationships with people and winning their trust and goodwill, in order to

24 Wei Dao (卫道), “Wo ceng shou dongfang shandian jia xianzhi mihuo 我曾受东方闪电假先知迷惑” [I was once deceived by Eastern Lightning’s false prophets], TF 3 (2000): 24. Similarly, Xi Men (西门), Jingti yiduan xin dongxiang “警惕异端新动向” [Beware of new trends in heretical groups], TF 3 (2010): 28. 25 See Church of Almighty God, 关于教会工作. 26 Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese.” Forney describes this manual as instructing adherents to “start slowly, lend money, convince converts that God’s work is incomplete and, finally, that doomsday is coming and Jesus has arrived to complete that work.” All of this is contained in Eastern Lightning’s Detailed Instructions. The Art Of Persuasion 147

understand their internal affairs and lay a good foundation for witnessing to others or the witnessing work.27

The Detailed Instructions proceed to reveal that working either alone or in groups of two or three, Eastern Lightning recruiters are to conceal their religious affiliation and insert themselves into a Protestant church, building relationships within the local congregation and assessing members’ receptivity to their message over several months or even years. They are instructed to avoid using Eastern Lightning jargon such as “eating and drinking God’s word,” “work principles” and “punishment and judgment,”28 and are rather to behave like “normal” Protestants (by frequently quoting from the Bible, for example) so as to avoid suspicion of being heretical. The reader is also encouraged to cultivate goodwill with Protestants by helping with household chores or supplying modest gifts of food.29 As they infiltrate Protestant churches, evangelists are instructed to ascertain the denomination and size of the congregation, meeting times, the “quality” (素质 suzhi)30 of the members, leaders and preachers, and the extent of their knowledge about Eastern Lightning. They are also to discover the age, level of education, and home addresses of church leaders, and to make note of the most enthusiastic members of the congregations—those who arrive early and leave late, who sit up the front armed with notebooks, pray and sing out loud, who do not fall asleep during church services, and are familiar with the books of the Bible. All such information is to be obtained through discreetly observing, so as not to arouse Protestants’ suspicion.31 Eastern Lightning’s Handbook of Principles for Church Work corroborates this as it instructs those in charge of evangelism to encourage members to “use every available means to obtain intelligence” on potential recruits, and “for those to whom the gospel can be spread, research the case and find ways to win them over.”32

27 Church of Almighty God, “摸底铺路细则” [Detailed instructions for sounding out and paving the way] in 防备辩驳异端 [Guard against and refute heresy], ed. China Gospel Fellowship, 170. 28 Ibid., 172. 29 Ibid., 170, 172. 30 On suzhi see discussion and references on pp. 65 & 67 of this book. 31 Church of Almighty God, “摸底铺路细则” [Detailed instructions for sounding out and paving the way], in 防备辩驳异端 [Guard against and refute heresy], ed. China Gospel Fellowship, 171–72. 32 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册. 148 CHAPTER 6

In some cases, the operator responsible for the “sounding out” phase of recruitment quietly withdraws from the church but passes intelligence on to a second line of evangelists, who then arrive armed with information about Protestants’ background and prospective receptivity to their message.33 Testimonies from Eastern Lightning adherents are candid about collecting information on individuals thought likely to be open to the Eastern Lightning gospel (dubbed “leads” 线索 xiansuo), and of passing their details on to a “second line” (二线 erxian) of evangelists who then swoop in and explain the movement’s teachings at a later date.34 When the Eastern Lightning recruiter has accumulated a working knowledge of the church and its members and established cordial relationships with them, either she or other Eastern Lightning evangelists begin to tenta- tively question her Christian friends’ faith, and gradually proceed to introduce Eastern Lightning’s beliefs. As the Detailed Instructions explain,

‘Paving the way’ refers to speaking some truths to change people’s thinking (转观念 zhuan guannian) after establishing relationships but before witnessing. [It refers to] harnessing those ideas, thoughts and understandings that are easily compatible with God, and filling in the truths they have missed. Any conceptions that conflict with God should be resolved and put to rest, enabling them to humbly seek and investigate God’s work.35

33 For Protestant reports of Eastern Lightning’s use of “scouts,” see Wei Ze (威泽), “Dongfang shandian” you wan xin huayang‘东方闪电’又玩新花样 “ ” [“Eastern Lightning” changes its tricks again], TF 8 (2002): 43; Zhu Ning (朱宁), “Jielou ‘dongfang shandian’ xie’e de benzhi 揭露‘东方闪电’邪恶的本质” [Exposing the evil nature of “Eastern Lightning”], TF 8 (2003): 17. From Eastern Lightning, see Church of Almighty God, “Shangmian jieda wenti de huixin: daodi zenyang chuan fuyin jianzheng shen cai he shen xinyi 上面解答问题的回信：到底怎样传福音见证神才合神心意” [Reply from the top to a question: How to spread the gospel and testify to God in accordance with His intention]. 34 Wang Lin (王琳), “96: 我不再仰望人了” [96: I no longer look up to people], in Church of Almighty God, Jidu shenpan taiqian de jianzheng 基督审判台前的见证 [Given English title: Witnessing before the judgment seat of Christ]. Formerly available at http:// chinese.thelordsadvent.org/jiaoliu/section7/0096.php (current as of August 19, 2010; now defunct). 35 Church of Almighty God, “摸底铺路细则” [Detailed instructions for sounding out and paving the way] in 防备辩驳异端 [Guard against and refute heresy], ed. China Gospel Fellowship, 174. The Art Of Persuasion 149

The Detailed Instructions suggest that discussion may be initiated by complaining about the church, commenting on the emptiness of the human heart, noting signs that the times are changing, or pondering God’s will for people through different ages. When judged to be safe and appropriate, the Eastern Lightning teachings are then introduced. However, aspects of Eastern Lightning’s doctrine that may be more difficult to accept—such as the punishment of unbelievers in the afterlife and the identification of the Chinese Communist Party with the devil—are often shared only once the target has converted to Eastern Lightning.36 Conversion itself is a matter simply of declaring one’s personal belief. No sources mention any rite of initiation, and Eastern Lightning testimonies describe conversion in short, matter-of-fact phrases such as “I finally understood.”37 Why has Eastern Lightning adopted the remarkable tactic of “sounding out”? First, it minimizes the risk of persecution—social bonds reassure the recruiter that the target is unlikely to turn them in to authorities. The risks associated with proselytizing on behalf of Eastern Lightning are considerable. While the state has demonstrated a willingness to turn a blind eye to the activities of some house churches in recent years, groups branded ‘heterodox teachings’ or ‘evil cults’ such as Eastern Lightning are another matter. Evangelists are likely to be subjected to severe ostracism and persecution if discovered, and so must be even more prudent than the average Protestant about revealing their religious affiliation. Numerous references throughout Eastern Lightning documents demonstrate a concern for security. The Handbook instructs adherents to focus on attracting Protestants from house churches rather than TSPM churchgoers, as the latter are thought to be more likely to report Eastern Lightning to public security agents.38 One essay, for example, states “we have all seen that the pastors and the elders of the Three-Self churches rely on the power of the state to persecute and arrest those who preach God’s end-time gospel.”39 Believers are to meet only in small groups, and leaders should consider vacating their homes to evade arrest. Members are advised to avoid contact with fellow believers

36 Ibid., 183. 37 For example, testimony number 55 in Church of Almighty God: Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng 圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证 [Testimonies to the Holy Spirit’s guiding people to turn to the Almighty God]. 38 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册, chap. 4. 39 “Question 53,” in Church of Almighty God, Answering 100 Questions Related to the Bible. Formerly available at http://english.hidden-advent.org/questions/0053.php. Accessed August 20, 2010. 150 CHAPTER 6 who have been detained during the previous six months lest they have become police informants; other security measures include changing cell phone numbers frequently and concealing religious affiliation from non-believing family members.40 In addition to shielding the evangelist from persecution, Eastern Lightning uses the strategy of “sounding out” because it has proven to be effective in building relationships with Protestants, which in turn is conducive to their recruitment. The Handbook attributes the movement’s growth to the influence of networks of relationships (关系 guanxi): for example, it states that “the people we gain are sourced mainly from newcomers’ guanxi networks.”41 Therefore, it exhorts, “we must make good use of newcomers’ guanxi networks so as to bring even more people in,” and, further, elevates this to the status of “the main tactic for evangelism.”42 Consistent with this, Chinese accounts of new religious movements often report that they spread “relative-to-relative, friend-to-friend.”43 In advocating the use of networks and “sounding out” over more open and public approaches, Eastern Lightning instinctively recognizes the observation of sociologists that conversion is a matter of “coming to accept the opinions of one’s friends”44 and “People will convert to cults to the extent that their attachments to members outweigh their attachments to outsiders.”45 However, on the basis of their study of recruitment to unofficial Protestant groups in northeast China, Carsten Vala and Kevin O’Brien have proposed that social bonds “sometimes matter less for drawing a person into a movement’s orbit than for completing conversion.”46 They have observed that Protestants suc- cessfully use mass appeals, public places and cold calling to generate interest in their religion, and that social networks often come into play later in the recruitment process than is commonly argued by researchers.47 In the case of Eastern Lightning, however, social bonds may be much more important due to the greater security concerns associated with belonging to groups branded

40 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册, chap. 15. 41 Ibid. See also Church of Almighty God, 关于教会工作, 502. 42 Ibid. 43 Of the Lord God’s teachings, for example, see China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), 防备辩驳异端, 110. 44 John Lofland and Rodney Stark, “Becoming a World-Saver: A Theory of Conversion to a Deviant Perspective,” American Sociological Review 30, no. 6 (1965): 871. 45 Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge, Religion, Deviance, and Social Control (New York: Routledge, 1996), 105. 46 Vala and O’Brien, “Attraction without Networks,” 79. 47 Ibid., passim. The Art Of Persuasion 151 as ‘cults’ by the state and heretical by Protestants. While a few bold evangelists may knock on the doors of strangers or stand on street corners, this is less likely to occur in locales where officials are zealous and the risk of persecution is high. Indeed, as a crackdown on the group commenced in late 2012, Eastern Lightning’s leadership warned against audacity and reaffirmed the use of the “wise” methods of guanxi and “sounding out.”48 While Protestant and government sources depict “sounding out” as typifying the general cunning and evil of the movement, the tactic has probably been developed primarily with the goal of protecting vulnerable evangelists, rather than preying upon unsuspecting Protestants. Networks also explain why once Eastern Lightning gains a foot- hold in a Protestant community, a tide of conversions often follows. In 1997, for example, Eastern Lightning arrived in a certain area of Shandong, and within a year had attracted approximately three hundred people and “eaten up” four rural TSPM churches.49 Likewise, one leader of a Nanjing house church told me that when he discovered three Eastern Lightning adherents in his congregation in 2005, he “threw them out, but not before they were able to steal thirty- odd people.”50

Anecdotal Testimonies

Eastern Lightning members distribute religious texts to prospective recruits by introducing the materials during the course of a conversation, pressing them into the hands of strangers on the street, or leaving them in public locations such as train stations for passers-by to discover.51 Almost any literature published by the Church may be used for this purpose—hymns or scripture in hard copy or MP3 format, booklets of answers to frequently asked questions about the church, and anthologies of anecdotes or testimonies (见证jianzheng).52 In 2006, Eastern Lightning’s Handbook of Principles for Church Work boasted that use of these materials had been effective: “At the moment there are many

48 Church of Almighty God, “Shangmian jieda wenti de huixin 上面解答问题的回信.” 49 Hong Wen (红文), “Dongfang shandian” hairen buqian‘东方闪电’害人不浅 “ ” [“Eastern lightning” causes deep harm], TF 5 (1999): 20. 50 Interview, Nanjing, May 2006. 51 Interviews with approximately one dozen Chinese Protestants and pastors and Western Christians who had personally witnessed such behavior. Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, 2004 and 2006. 52 Refer to lists of Eastern Lightning publications given in the appendices to this book. 152 CHAPTER 6 materials for evangelism; giving copies of God’s Word and hymns on CD and also testimonies is very beneficial. Lots of new people are coming in.”53 Many of these texts are discussed elsewhere in this book; Chapter 3 examined scripture and tales of judgment. Here, I consider the publication Testimonies to How the Holy Spirit Guides People Back to the Almighty God (圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证), which first appeared on Eastern Lightning’s website in 2003, and now comprises 307 anecdotal testimonies ostensibly written by Eastern Lightning converts. Approximately two-thirds of these concern subjects who received visions or dreams, and approximately forty percent of these in turn are reported to have occurred in Henan province, reflecting the strength of the movement in this region.54 The structure of these cases is similar to that of the tales of judgment introduced in Chapter 3. First, the province, surname, previous denomination, and usually also age and sex of the subject are given. The subject then narrates that they had defied at least one attempt on the part of a friend, relative and/or previously unknown evangelist to recruit them to Eastern Lightning. Then, usually within a few weeks of the latest attempt, the subject receives an unusual dream or vision, which often features motifs that are central to Eastern Lightning’s teachings (such as lightning or a woman). The dream is interpreted as validating Eastern Lightning’s message, and together with the urgings of evangelists convinces the subject to join the movement. A typical anecdote reads as follows:

Henan Province, Yang XX, female, 27 years old, formerly a Catholic. On May 30 2002 my aunt and uncle proclaimed the gospel [author’s note: i.e.: Eastern Lightning’s teachings] to me, and asked whether God was in my heart. I didn’t respond, and so they left. That night, I had a dream. I dreamt that it was windy and raining outside; lightning was flashing and thunder was sounding. I leapt out of bed to shut the door, when all of a sudden I saw a woman standing in the room. She asked me: ‘Is God still in your heart? Do you still want to believe in God?’ I said: ‘God is in my heart, and I want to believe!’ I turned around and saw four glittering gold characters on the wall in the middle of the room: ‘God is among us’ (神在人间 shen zai ren jian). Then the woman vanished. The next day, I went to see my aunt and uncle. They told me: ‘God has come among us as the word become flesh, and is doing the work of the Word’ . . . Then I finally

53 Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册, chap. 4. 54 Church of Almighty God, Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng 圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证. The Art Of Persuasion 153

understood that it was God revealing himself to me in the dream, and accepted this stage of work without hesitation.55

Po-Chia Hsia points out that dreams “utter culturally specific discourses” and “have a cultural history.”56 Eastern Lightning’s frequent mention of thunder and lightning occurring in dreams indeed reflects Chinese oneirocritical traditions, which have interpreted astronomical phenomena as representing divine omniscience and omnipotence, and thunder as a symbol of majesty and justice (as per the Thunder God).57 Eastern Lightning’s anecdotes also evoke the “accounts of the strange” (志怪 zhiguai), which circulated in China from the Six Dynasties period (220–589 CE) until the end of the Qing dynasty. Benjamin Penny has linked these to Falun Gong’s anecdotes of retribution against its “persecutors”, indicating that the genre continues to influence religion in China today.58 Like Eastern Lightning’s testimonies, zhiguai included but were not restricted to instances of divine retribution and dreams. They were didactic anecdotes, used notably by Buddhists as “vehicles of cosmological reflection and religious persuasion.”59 During the late imperial era, they experienced a resurgence and came to be more closely associated with folk religion and popular superstition.60 Here as in the figure of the Female Christ, then, we see Eastern Lightning drawing on popular religious traditions.

55 Testimony number 55 in ibid. Eastern Lightning’s texts replace given names with “XX” to protect adherents’ anonymity. Large, gold-colored characters often decorate the front or the walls of Chinese Protestant churches. The phrase “this stage of work” here refers to Eastern Lightning’s teachings about God’s work of judgment and transformation. 56 R. Po-Chia Hsia, “Dreams and Conversions: A Comparative Analysis of Catholic and Buddhist Dreams in Ming and Qing China: Part One,” Journal of Religious History 29, no. 3 (2004): 225. 57 Fang Jing Pei and Zhuang Juwen, The Interpretation of Dreams in Chinese Culture (Trumbull, CT: Weatherhill, 2000), passim; Luo Jianping (罗建平), Ye de yanjing: Zhongguo meng wenhua xiangzheng 夜的眼睛: 中国梦文化象征 [Night vision: Symbols in Chinese dream culture] (成都: 四川人民出版社, 2005), 21, 31, 32, 36. 58 Penny, “Animal Spirits,” 152. 59 Robert Ford Campany, Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), x. The authors of the zhiguai studied by Campany came from south-central locations such as Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang (169), which are also hotspots of activity for Protestant-related new religious movements. 60 Leo Tak-hung Chan, The Discourse on Foxes and Ghosts: Ji Yun and Eighteenth-Century Literati Storytelling (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1998), 3–4. 154 CHAPTER 6

There is also a venerable history of dreams in Chinese Christianity. Where Catholics since the seventeenth century have seen the Virgin Mary, Eastern Lightning adherents see the Female Christ; bright lights, golden Chinese characters and copies of scripture are also motifs common to both.61 The arrival of Pentecostalism in China during the first decades of the twentieth century provided additional impetus for dreams and visions in Protestantism, and these soon appeared in indigenous denominations.62 Today, dreams and visions are widely reported not only by members of Protestant-related new religious movements, but also by more orthodox Protestants. The vision received by a Protestant woman after being sentenced to six years in prison on Good Friday in 1983, for example, resembles the Eastern Lightning testimony quoted above: “I saw a large character for the word ‘Congratulations’ written in the sky. An extremely bright, golden light was flashing.”63 In their iconography and function, then, Eastern Lightning’s anecdotes of dreams and visions echo previous Christian traditions. The similarities between zhiguai, Chinese oneirological symbols, Christians’ dreams and Eastern Lightning’s anecdotal testimonies indicate continuity in the narratives, genres, discourses and experiences that are perceived as mean- ingful and authoritative by Chinese believers (or some of them, at least). The fact that Eastern Lightning proselytizers use these testimonies for recruitment purposes indicates that they believe their audiences will give credence to them, and expect the occurrence or absence of such phenomena to factor in prospective recruits’ evaluation of their religion. Thus, despite its rhetorical renunciation of popular religious and cultural traditions as ‘idolatry’, Eastern Lightning attests to the resilience and versatility of traditional narratives of the supernatural, even as it seeks to ‘spread the gospel’ of a new Christ.

Coercion

Protestants have expressed dismay at Eastern Lightning’s proselytizing efforts from their first encounters with the group, depicting the group’s teachings as heretical and its use of anecdotes of judgment as intimidating. An incident in

61 Hsia, “Dreams and Conversions; Part One,” 232–33; R. Po-Chia Hsia, “Dreams and Conversions: A Comparative Analysis of Catholic and Buddhist Dreams in Ming and Qing China; Part Two,” Journal of Religious History 34, no. 2 (2010): 114, 117; Madsen, “Chinese Christianity,” 278. 62 Lian Xi, “Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China,” 409, 417, 419. 63 Danyun, Lilies amongst Thorns, 102. The Art Of Persuasion 155

2002 brought their indignation to fever pitch. The China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契 Zhonghua fuyin tuanqi), one of the nation’s largest house church networks, was formed in Tanghe County in the south of Henan province in the late 1970s. It has spread throughout China and in the early 2000s boasted a membership of between 2.3 and five million.64 On April 16 2002, members of Eastern Lightning abducted thirty-four of the network’s most senior leaders, and held them against their will for up to two months in an attempt to convert them and, ultimately, their congregations.65 The scale and audacity of the act shocked many in the Chinese and overseas Protestant communities, and illustrated Eastern Lightning’s organizational capacity and social and religious threat. In the days following the abduction, the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) set up a website devoted to recounting the ordeal, to which they uploaded regular updates on the victims’ welfare and later added theological critiques of Eastern Lightning.66 Given that the Chinese government and Protestants have been antagonistic towards Eastern Lightning from its inception and have an ideological and organizational interest in discrediting new religious movements, we must consider reports of the kidnappings with circumspection. However, the CGF does not have a history of making false allegations, and most Christians both inside and outside China regard it as a mainstream evangelical church. The Fellowship’s written account of the abduction is consistent with an account verbally related to me by one of the victims in Shenzhen in March 2006, and with multiple second-hand oral reports that I heard during my fieldwork from theologians, church leaders and lay Protestants. For these reasons, I treat the CGF’s reports of the incident as broadly accurate, and use them here to reconstruct the abductions.67

64 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 373; Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 65–66, 250. 65 Protestants report that Eastern Lightning routinely targets church leaders for recruitment, who are prized converts due to their potential to bring their entire congregation to Eastern Lightning. Wan Ge (万戈), “E’du de ‘dongfang shandian’ 恶毒的‘东方闪电’ ” [Malicious “Eastern Lightning”], TF 11 (1997): 24; Hong Wen (红文), “ ‘Dongfang shandian’ hairen buqian‘东方闪电’害人不浅” [“Eastern lightning” causes deep harm], TF 5 (1999): 20; Wei Ze (威泽), “ ‘Dongfang shandian’ you wan xin huayang‘东方闪电’又玩新花样” [“Eastern Lightning” changes its tricks again], TF 8 (2002): 43. 66 As of late 2014, this website was still at http://www.chinaforjesus.com. 67 The documents which form the basis for the ensuing several paragraphs are Brother Shen, “Testimony of Younger Shen: The Kidnapping.” Available at http://www.chinafor jesus.com/cgf/CGF_shen_july_2002.htm. Accessed July 8, 2009; China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), “Report from China Gospel Fellowship of the April 16 Kidnapping 156 CHAPTER 6

According to the CGF’s reports, Eastern Lightning’s operation began when two leaders of the Fellowship were approached in Pingdingshan City in Henan province by a stranger who purported to represent a Singaporean theological institute and offered to provide a three-week theological training course for house church leaders. To evade detection by public security personnel, he proposed the training be conducted simultaneously for small groups in six separate locations in Shanghai, Hubei, Shandong, Hebei, Shaanxi, and Liaoning. Upon their arrival at these locations, the CGF leaders were asked to hand over their cell phones—again, ostensibly for security purposes—and were split up into even smaller groups of two or three. The Fellowship leaders were somewhat bemused by the excessive furtiveness of the Singaporeans, but also sym- pathized with it and so complied. According to the Fellowship’s report, the Eastern Lightning members did not initially allude to distinctive elements of their teachings. However, the members of the Fellowship soon suspected a ruse due to their instructors’ ver- bal attacks on Protestant churches and their use of Shouter vocabulary. These suspicions were confirmed as the doctrines of the Female Christ and the three dispensations were introduced. Finally, when their requests to leave were denied, the Protestants realized that they had been abducted by adherents of Eastern Lightning. The CGF reports that the Eastern Lightning captors initially seemed kind, but accuses the latter of drugging them, using deception, sexual seduction and flirtation, bribing local police and threatening divine retribution at various later points during their detention. Shen Xianfeng, nephew of Fellowship founder Shen Yiping, recalls:

They put me in a room, the door of which was bound with ropes and locked up. Even the windows were painted with dark green oil paint, let- ting hardly any light in. There was also a guard at my door at all times. I lay on my bed and refused to listen to them . . . They tried to ‘teach’ me everyday and condemned me [for my Protestant beliefs] everyday. They didn’t stop twisting the Bible and opposing the truth, attempting to make me give up my beliefs. If there was any free time, they’d fill it by playing songs from their CDs. I couldn’t sleep during day or night; nor could I enjoy any food. I felt like my head was exploding and I was deeply tormented both spiritually and physically.68

by the Eastern Lightning Cult.” Available at http://www.chinaforjesus.com/cgf/070702/ index.htm. Accessed March 23, 2004. 68 Brother Shen, “Testimony of Younger Shen.” The Art Of Persuasion 157

Three days into the ordeal, one Protestant escaped and informed other CGF leaders in Henan about the incident, who then deliberated whether to report it to government authorities. They elected not to report the incident in Henan because authorities there had labeled the Chinese Gospel Fellowship itself a ‘cult’ (邪教 xiejiao) and cracked down on it in recent years, and the abductions had not occurred in that province.69 Instead, they resolved that relatives of the kidnapped leaders should travel to Beijing to report the case, and they arrived there on April 27. While the Public Security Bureau was not directly involved in securing the captives’ release, as they could not determine their location, they were privately sympathetic to members of the house church. One by one, the captives found opportunity to flee their confinement, the last in mid-June—a full two months after the kidnapping. News of the incident spread like wildfire in Chinese Protestant circles. On the internet, groups published articles and Protestant discussion forums filled with posts condemning the kidnappings and Eastern Lightning, calling for prayer, and warning fellow Christians against heresies.70 The CGF subsequently published a book on the Eastern Lightning ‘cult’ written by a theologian who had himself been detained (软禁 ruanjin) by them for one month,71 and the group also developed a two hundred-page manual for training its members in rebutting new religious movements.72 Neither the national registered Protestant bodies nor government sources acknowledged the incident

69 The following article notes that the CGF was listed as a target in the Henan government’s 1996 crackdown on “cults” (邪教 xiejiao): Liu Guojian (刘国建), “Zhonghua fuyin tuanqi huodong de xin tedian 中华福音团契活动的新特点” [New characteristics of the China Gospel Fellowship’s activities], 铁道警官高等专科学校学报 1 (2009). On the Xinyang County People’s Government’s labeling and suppression of the China Gospel Fellowship as a “cult” over 1997–2000, see “Christian Group Labelled as a Cult,” CSJ 13, no. 2 (1998): 59–60; Shen Xianfeng, “Accused Leader Responds to Charge: Are We Truly a Cult?,” CSJ 13, no. 2 (1998): 60–62; “Bar Urged on Illegal Crackdown,” CSJ 15, no. 1 (2000): 95. 70 Author’s observation of BBS discussion threads dating from April 2002 (viewed between mid-2004 and mid-2007 from sites such as www.loves7.com, www.kuanye.net, and www.edzx.com). As one example of a house church magazine’s report of the kidnapping, see Zhang Weidong (张卫东), “Fuyin tuanqi zaoyu dongfang shandian jishi 福音团契遭遇东方闪电纪实” [A record of the China Gospel Fellowship’s encounter with Eastern Lightning], 道路 [The Way] (December 12, 2002). Available at http://www .daolu.org. Accessed November 24, 2009. 71 Zhang Dakai (张大开), Pouxi xiejiao dongfang shandian 剖析邪教组织东方闪电 (Given English Title: An Analysis of the Eastern Lightning Cult). Mention of “detention” on p. 1. The link to this publication on the China Gospel Fellowship’s website (www.chinaforjesus.com) makes it clear that Zhang is affiliated with this network. 72 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端. 158 CHAPTER 6 publicly, in line with their general reluctance to associate with unregistered churches. However, the former passed a “Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults” at the National Christian Congress, which was held shortly thereafter, and this possibly constituted a tacit response.73 Word of the abductions also reached Protestants overseas via personal con- tacts, the internet and a smaller amount of mainstream media.74 In the USA, they eventually inspired an English-language fictionalized rendition, which was printed by a Christian publishing house. C. Hope Flinchbaugh, a “wife, mother and freelance writer from Pennsylvania,”75 interviewed a victim of the kidnapping in China in October 2002 who described his ordeal as “worse than the Communist prison” and claimed that “We’d rather be caught by the police than fall into the evil hands of the Eastern Lightning cult.”76 With dramatic flair, the novel gives a blow-by-blow creative reconstruction of the kidnapping. It ends with the hero proposing to his sweetheart and the felicitous couple resolving to found an orphanage as “Together they watched the sunlight dance over the water in sparkling silver shoes, finding new steps as the air brushed past.”77 For its part, Eastern Lightning emphatically denies Protestants’ allegations of coercion and kidnapping in a statement that was first posted on its website in March 2003:

The second big rumor used by the evil anti-Christs78 to attack the Church of Almighty God is: The Church of Almighty God kidnaps people illegally and forces them to accept the True Way. Those who fabricate these kinds of lies are very foolish. The Church of Almighty God never intimidates

73 CCC/TSPM, “Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults and Resisting Heretical Beliefs,” ANS 5/6.9 (2002). 74 Paul Hattaway, “An Examination of the Eastern Lightning Cult: When Christians Wish They Were in Prison.” Available at http://www.cswusa.com/Countries/China- LighteningfromtheEast.html. Accessed March 16, 2004 (now defunct); Damien McElroy, “34 Chinese Christians ‘Kidnapped by Evil Cult,’ ” Telegraph (June 24, 2002). Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/1398252/34-Chinese-Christians- kidnapped-by-evil-cult.html. Accessed February 11, 2010. 75 C. Hope Flinchbaugh, Across the China Sky (Bloomington: Bethany House, 2006), 6. 76 Ibid., afterword. 77 Ibid., 345. 78 In the New Testament, the term “Antichrist” (敌基督 di Jidu) refers to people who deny that Jesus is Christ (1 John 2:18, 2:22, 4:3; 2 John 1:7). Eastern Lightning uses the term to refer to Christians who deny the advent of the Female Christ. The Art Of Persuasion 159

anyone into accepting the True Way or joining in church life, because God’s administration clearly stipulates: ‘Do not drag in any of your unbe- lieving relatives (such as your children, husband, wife, sisters, or parents). God’s family is not short of men and does not need useless men to make up the number [sic].’79

Upon close examination, however, one portion of material posted elsewhere on Eastern Lightning’s website appears to support the Fellowship’s report of the kidnappings. In a lengthy report released in July 2002, the Fellowship rejoiced that all but one of the victims had resisted the pressure to accept Eastern Lightning’s teachings. The exception was a thirty-six-year-old male from Shanxi province named Xue Mingxue 薛明学. In this context, one amid the hundreds of testimonies published by Eastern Lightning merits special attention. The collection entitled Iron-Clad Testimonies of Leaders of Each Denomination Being Conquered by God’s Word After Resisting Christ (各宗派首领抵挡基督被神话征服的铁证) comprises the stories of former leaders of Christian churches who previously slandered Eastern Lightning, but converted after reading Eastern Lightning scripture, meeting with evangelists, or being punished in the form of illness. One “Xie Qiang” writes from Henan that he was formerly a leader of the CGF, and that in mid-April 2002 he was sent to Qingdao for theological training. According to the testimony, it was only on the third day of the course that he realized that his instructors were Eastern Lightning adherents. He then feared for his safety, but to his surprise, they patiently endured his insults and spent thirteen days teaching him about the Female Christ and the division of God’s work into different stages. He then put his faith in the Almighty God, and implores the reader to do likewise.80 “Xie Qiang,” 谢强 literally meaning “thankful for strength,” is almost certainly a pseudonym. Most Eastern Lightning testimonies sign off with names

79 “对敌基督攻击全能神教会的四大谣言的剖析” [“Analyzing the Four Main Rumors Spread by the Anitchrists to Attack the Church of Almighty God”], in Church of Almighty God, 揭穿敌基督的谣言谬论 [Exposing the Antichrist’s rumors and falsehoods]. Formerly available at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/fanbo/section1/0001.php. Accessed August 14, 2010. This last sentence is from the tenth of Eastern Lightning’s “Ten Commandments”; see “Ten Administrative Decrees God’s Chosen People Must Obey,” in Church of Almighty God, WAF, contents p. 4, item 63. 80 Xie Qiang (谢强), “Wo mengle Quannengshen jida de zhengjiu 我蒙了全能神极大的拯救” [I received the Almighty God’s great salvation], in Church of Almighty God, Ge zongpai shouling bei shen huayu zhengfu de tiezheng 各宗派首领被神话语征服的铁证 [Ironclad proofs of being conquered by God’s Word], contents p. 1, item 19. 160 CHAPTER 6 bearing religious connotations, and are presumably the ‘new names’ used by adherents as aliases to avoid persecution.81 In relation to details such as time, place and evangelistic technique, the details of “Xie’s” “training” are consistent with the CGF’s allegations of abduction. For these reasons, it is credible that the testimony may indeed have been written by Xue Mingxue, and thus that it corroborates the gist of the Protestants’ accusations against Eastern Lightning. Although the CGF incident is the largest-scale event of its kind orchestrated by Eastern Lightning to date, other abductions and violent incidents have frequently been reported.82 While Eastern Lightning’s leadership evidently does not condone the use of violence, it may be unable to impress this upon some followers. Such tactics are ultimately counterproductive, however. Just one of the thirty-four China Gospel Fellowship leaders captured was persuaded to switch religious affiliation, and the incident catalyzed domestic and international condemnation of Eastern Lightning. The sending of evangelists throughout the nation and use of networks of personal relations has proven far more effective in yielding converts.

Concluding Reflections

Eastern Lightning’s program of proselytizing has much in common with existing patterns of Chinese Protestant activity. Both Protestants and new religious movements exhibit great zeal for proselytizing and use texts, travel and networks to spread their teachings. Eastern Lightning thus stands in a line of devoted women instructing their ‘sisters’ in faith—a tradition that is evident from the seventeenth century through to the Cultural Revolution and the present day.83

81 Eastern Lightning discussed the allocation of “new names” in Church of Almighty God, 教会工作原则手册. 82 Zhu Ning (朱宁), “Jielou ‘dongfang shandian’ xie’e de benzhi 揭露‘东方闪电’邪恶的本质” [Exposing the evil nature of “Eastern Lightning”], TF 8 (2003): 16–17; “Yaoyan huozhong canhai yiyi: Tanghe xian xiejiao ‘dongfang shandian’ bei pumie ‘妖言惑众残害异己——唐河县邪教‘东方闪电’被扑灭” [Spreading fallacies to deceive people, injuring dissenters: The “Eastern Lightning” cult is stamped out in Tanghe county], TF 5 (2000): 24; Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese.” 83 For example, Gail King, “Spaces for Belief: Christianity, Women, and Accommodation in Seventeenth-century China,” Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal 35 (2013): 32; Kao, “Cultural Revolution,” 179–80. The Art Of Persuasion 161

Eastern Lightning is often criticized for breaking up families by engender- ing religious conflict or enticing adherents to abandon their homes in order to proselytize. In the past few years, groups such as The Anti-Almighty God Coalition (反全能神联盟 Fan Quannengshen lianmeng) and The Anti- Almighty God Alliance (反全能神同盟会 Fan Quannengshen tongmenghui) have been set up to offer support to those affected by ‘cults’, and to assist them in their search for lost family members. Their websites post photos of women who have left home for evangelism and been reported as missing by relatives.84 The Eastern Lightning materials examined in this chapter reveal that outsiders’ depictions of the group’s activities are not entirely unfounded, and the organization exerts an exceptional degree of pressure upon members to proselytize. One therefore hesitates to praise Eastern Lightning as a source of empowerment for women. However, a gendered dimension to these criticisms is also discernible: it is often rued that the movement discourages women from attending to their duties as wives, mothers and daughters. When Women’s Life magazine published the stories of women who joined Eastern Lightning, for example, one of its complaints was that they ceased cooking and doing housework.85 Similarly, a video on the website of the Anti-Almighty God Coalition criticizes parents who join cults for having messy homes, giving their money away, and neglecting their children; families that do not believe in cults, in contrast, are depicted as spending money on shoes, being neatly dressed, and having tidy homes.86 By the same token, it is often implied that new religious movements succeed because women are gullible.87 What these accounts miss is the courage, ambition, resourcefulness and effectiveness of Eastern Lightning adherents, who have traversed the nation, infiltrated Christian communities, converted countless individuals and written and distributed large amounts of literature. This literature presents a much more humanized picture of women who risk their personal comfort and lib- erty to share their religion because they are convinced that the end is nigh and that God has called on them. Eastern Lightning’s texts also suggest that the

84 www.fqnslm.com; http://www.xjshzzj.com/h-index.html; http://www.xq166.com/. Accessed September 28, 2014. 85 Feng Shijun (冯士军) and Lan Feng (蓝风), “Xinjiao: Qianwan caliang nide yan 信教: 千万擦亮你的眼” [Believing religion: Keep your eyes open], 妇女生活 5 (2013): 4. 86 Anti-Almighty God Alliance (反全能神联盟), “Xin xiejiao jiating de haizi 信邪教家庭的孩子” [The children of families who believe in cults]. Available at http://www.fqnslm .com/Html/?783.html. Accessed July 16, 2013. 87 Gu Mengfei (顾梦飞), “H sheng Jidujiao yiduan ji xiejiao huodong diaocha fenxi H省基督教异端暨邪教活动调查分析” [A survey and analysis of the activities of Protestant heresies and cults in H province], NTR 1 (2001): 24, 29. 162 CHAPTER 6 strategy of building networks through discreet and arguably deceptive means has been adopted in response to the intense political and religious opposition with which it is met rather than out of malicious intent or a preferred modus operandi. Karrie Koesel argues that the organizational structure of the China Gospel Fellowship over the past few decades has resembled that of early communist movements. Both are “clandestine organization[s] competing for members and operating in a repressive political context,” and use a “fractal” organization operating at multiple levels that are insulated from each other.88 The same can be said for Eastern Lightning, despite its enmity towards both CCP and CGF. Further, the vocabulary Eastern Lightning adopts to discuss its recruitment activities bears witness to the legacy of communist movements in China under Mao. So prevalent was the use of military terms and warlike expressions during the Cultural Revolution that they became “routine and mediocre.”89 Thus, in the late 1960s, “targets of investigation” (对象 duixiang) were suspected political enemies; for Eastern Lightning, they are potential converts ripe to be approached with the gospel message. Eastern Lightning’s use of terminology such as “lines” (线 xian) of workers and “leads” (线索 xiansuo), its sense of mission and danger—even the violence to which it has been subjected and in which it has engaged—all call to mind the political environment that can rea- sonably be supposed to have surrounded Eastern Lightning adherents in their youth. Mao’s endorsement that “it is right to rebel” paved the way for activities and rhetoric now fuelling the rapid growth of Eastern Lightning and its chal- lenge to orthodox political and religious institutions.

88 Koesel, “Rise of a Chinese House Church,” 584. 89 Dittmer and Chen, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 30–33. CHAPTER 7 Chinese Protestant Depictions of Heresy

Long before international media were reporting on the Church of Almighty God, and long even before the CCP cracked down on Falun Gong, Christians were expressing consternation at the teachings and activities of new religious movements such as Eastern Lightning. Both the TSPM and CCC (together and hereafter known as the Protestant lianghui)1 and unregistered (‘house’) churches have condemned new religious movements, but there have been differences in responses to them. The lianghui’s criticism of new religious movements has reflected its united front with the state, while the responses of other Protestants have followed the government’s approach less closely. In both cases, Protestants represent themselves as more orthodox not only than new religious movements, but sometimes also than other configurations of Protestantism. In charting the discussion of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in contemporary Chinese Protestantism, this chapter illuminates areas of continuity, for the differences between lianghui and alternative Protestant responses to new religious movements reflect longstanding tensions within Chinese Protestantism. This chapter also extends the study of orthodoxy and heterodoxy in China by taking it beyond its more traditional philosophical, political and religious set- tings to examine it in a new millennium, a new technological setting, and a different religious context. Despite these changes, from Confucian canon to Christian chat rooms, the pursuits of combating heresy and promoting orthodoxy remain of paramount concern to at least some Chinese believers.

The Protestant lianghui’s Response to New Religious Movements

Critiquing the Shouters, 1982–1983 Protestant anti-heresy discourses first appeared in the post-Mao era in connection with the Shouters. As explained in Chapter 2, ‘Shouters’ is the pejorative name given by state and Protestant sources to the Local Church, which was the first new religious movement to take root in Chinese Protestantism in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Protestant lianghui’s attention was drawn to the group in February 1982, when approximately two hundred Shouters stormed

1 The Chinese term 两会 lianghui simply means “two committees / organizations.”

TSPM churches in Dongyang and Yiwu counties in Zhejiang province and yelled accusations that the organization was unbiblical.2 The lianghui subsequently embarked on an education campaign in an attempt to curb the spread of the Shouters, coinciding with a government crackdown on the group in the lead-up to the campaign against “spiritual pollution.” The Zhejiang provincial lianghui held a Bible Training Course in March 1983 for church volunteers from Dongyang and Yiwu counties “because the churches in these two counties had been in grave danger from the heretical opinions of Li Changshou,” the leader of the Shouters.3 In mid-1984, over two years after the event, “training” continued, suggesting that the new religious movement was still attracting some Christians.4 Education against the Shouters was linked with the promotion of the TSPM and efforts to strengthen local lianghui bodies, which were still re-establishing themselves in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. A church in Yiwu County held a study course on the virtues of the TSPM for four hundred participants, led by the same two pastors whose preaching had been interrupted by the Shouters a year previously.5 In Dongyang County, a TSPM Preparatory Committee was established.6 The longtime Chairperson of the national lianghui, Ding Guangxun (丁光训, also known in English as K.H. Ting, 1915–2012), wrote an open letter to the Shouters in which he attempted to persuade them—and presumably any other readers—of the theological, political and moral shortcomings of the group and its founder. This letter represents the only public attempt at communication between the lianghui and adherents of new religious movements to date, and opened with a conciliatory and even amiable tone: “Dearly beloved, your love of God is, I know, the gift of God Himself and it brings you here together not for reasons of sectarian interest or to gain influence but because we are bound

2 “More on the Dongyang and Yiwu Incidents,” China Study Project Bulletin, no. 21 (1983): 29–31; Deng Fucun, “The Truth About the So-Called Dongyang & Yiwu Affair,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 12 (1983): 20–21. 3 “Bible Training Courses for Dongyang and Yiwu,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 13 (1984): 29; “Heretical Group Causes Problems,” China Study Project Bulletin, no. 23 (1983): 6. 4 “Yiwu Church Special Bible Training Course,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 16 (1985): 34–36. 5 Wang Xi’an, “Studying Three-Self at Yiwu, Zhejiang,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 12 (1983): 23. 6 Editorial Committee of the Dongyang Municipal Gazetteer (东阳市地方志编委会), ed., 东阳市志 [Dongyang Municipal Gazetteer], 727. Mention of the “Preparatory Committee” (筹备委员会 choubei weiyuanhui) indicates that the county had not had its own TSPM Committee up until this point, but had probably been governed less directly by the provincial-level lianghui. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 165 together as brothers and sisters in the Lord.”7 However, Ding was unsparing in his attack on Witness Lee (Li Changshou), emphasizing Lee’s opposition to Communism in the late 1940s and his American connections. In seeming contradiction to this, he also asserted that Lee was involved with the violence of the “extreme left” during the Cultural Revolution.8 The Shouters met with Three-Self leadership to discuss their differences, but they were evidently irreconcilable, as the TSPM took the Shouters to court, where the latter was judged to be “counter-revolutionary” in May 1983.9 The Religious Affairs Bureau instructed churches to “resist the activities of the Shouters.”10 To this end, the lianghui’s campaign against the Shouters intensified with its publication of the book Firmly Resist the Heretical Opinions of Witness Lee (为真道竭力争辩 Wei zhendao jieli zhengbian).11 Its authors, Tang Shoulin and Ren Zhongxiang, had led Little Flock congregations prior to 1949 but aligned themselves with the Three Self Movement in the early 1950s, when Watchman Nee was persecuted. Given Witness Lee’s history of affiliation with this denomination, it was particularly salient that prior members of the Little Flock rebut his teachings. In May of 1983, the lianghui convened a forum to discuss the book in Shanghai—where Tang, Ren and the national offices of the lianghui were based. A Tian Feng report from this event illustrates that the condemnation of the Shouters voiced there reflected contemporary political priorities, and also followed the format of Maoist denunciation meetings of the preceding decades:

In the Forum everyone expressed support for the essay’s political analysis of Lee’s heresies. Pastor Sun Yanli said that Witness Lee’s current activity is a continuation of his policy of ‘using the gospel to wipe out the revolution’ (以福音消灭革命 yi fuyin xiaomie geming) in the 1940s. His anti- culture, immoral and irrational falsehoods are intended to destroy our unified and peaceful achievement of the ‘Four Modernizations.’ Fellow

7 K.H. Ting (丁光训), “Discussion with Members of the Yeller Sect,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 15 (1984): 23–27. 8 I have found no other sources to suggest that Lee was in the PRC during the Cultural Revolution. 9 Human Rights Watch/Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” 4. 10 Ibid., 5. 11 Tang Shoulin (唐守临) and Ren Zhongxiang (任钟祥), Wei zhenli jieli zhengbian: Bochi Li Changshou de yiduan xieshuo 为真道竭力争辩: 驳斥李常受的异端邪说 [Commonly given English title: Firmly Resist the Heretical Opinions of Witness Lee] (上海: 上海市基督教教务委员会, 1983). 166 CHAPTER 7

church worker Yin Xiang said that Witness Lee’s religious heresies were in service of his reactionary political purposes. Many speakers mentioned the problem of so-called ‘Shouters’ opposing the TSPM in some areas of Zhejiang and Fujian, and expressed the view that in fact, there’s nothing to be opposed in the ‘Three Selfs.’ Many churches overseas are also self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating. The real reason why Witness Lee wants to incite ignorant people to rise up and oppose the TSPM is that he wants to oppose the New China and the patriotism of us Chinese Christians. This is a political problem.12

The TSPM continued to express its concern with political orthodoxy, and articles in Protestant circles referred to Lee’s teachings not only as “heretical” (异端 yiduan), but also as “counter-revolutionary” (反革命 fan geming)—a term still used frequently in the secular press and law courts at the time. From Guangxi, Protestants wrote that “our hatred for the heretical teachings of Li Changshou penetrates to the very marrow of our bones” and that Li aimed to disrupt “our socialist New China.”13 A statement issued by delegates to the Forum further expressed the hope “that all patriotic and Church-loving Christians throughout the land will join together in the cause of a pure Church and a stable nation by throwing themselves into the struggle against infiltration and heresy.”14 To this end, forty thousand copies of Tang and Ren’s book were issued to church leaders across the nation by the national TSPM seminary.15 Churches used this material to educate Christians against the Shouters and in the value of the TSPM; lesser-known mimeographed booklets denouncing Lee’s theology also circulated among students in lianghui seminaries.16 Coming shortly after

12 “Quanguo lianghui zhaokai zuotanhui, zuotan jianjue dizhi Li Changshoude yiduan xieshuo 全国两会召开座谈会,座谈坚决抵制李常受的异端邪说” [The national Protestant lianghui hold forum, discuss boycotting Witness Lee’s heresies], TF 4 (1983): 12. Watchman Nee and the Little Flock were charged with hoping to “use the gospel to extin- guish the revolution” during the 1940s; TSPM writing on the Little Flock and the Local Church / Shouters since the 1980s has made frequent mention of this. 13 “Visiting Churches in Guangxi,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 16 (1985): 20. 14 “Opposition to Li Changshou,” Religion in the PRC: Documentation 13 (1984): 28. 15 “Heretical Group Causes Problems,” China Study Project Bulletin, no. 23 (1983): 6. The following report states that ninety thousand copies of the book were circulated but does not cite a source for this figure: Human Rights Watch/Asia, “China: Persecution of a Protestant Sect,” 4. 16 “Dao cheng roushen yu Li Changshou de ‘zihua lun’ 道成肉身与李常受的 ‘子化论’ ” [The word become flesh and Witness Lee’s “theory of the incarnation”]. Handwritten, photocopied booklet; no publication information given; “Yesu Jidu de shenwei 耶稣基 Protestant Depictions of Heresy 167 the Cultural Revolution, the lianghui’s response to the Shouters bore traces of Mao-era mobilization and propaganda.

Labeling Heresy in the 1990s Fewer reports of Protestant-related new religious movements appeared in lianghui publications between 1985 and 1995, but heterodoxy remained alive and well in Chinese Protestantism. Assorted individual prophets continued to emerge and retreat, believers anticipated the apocalypse and Jesus’ return, and an unhealthy emphasis on miracles and popular taboos against medical treatment were also reported to be prevalent among Christians.17 A few larger new religious movements also achieved considerable spread.18 Such was the influence of the Born Again movement, the Shouters and the Efficacious Spirit Teachings in Henan province in the late 1980s and early 1990s, that the national lianghui assembled preaching bands to “concentrate on the areas where heresies and factional divisions are most apparent, with an emphasis on restoring order.” Thus, reported Reverend Wang Shengcai of the Zhengzhou Protestant Church, pastors, seminary graduates and trained volunteers visited churches in rural areas of the province, where they publicized the CCP’s religious policy and Three-Self principles (of self-support, self-propagation and self-governance) while also seeking to restore “the true faith of those who have gone astray” and “resist infiltration and heresy.”19 The arrest of the leader of the Established King movement on rape charges in January 1995 inspired a new wave of lianghui reports on new religious

督的身位” [The person of Christ]. Handwritten, photocopied booklet; no publication information given; “ ‘Yong zai de fu’ neng shi fu chengwei zi de tiezheng me? ‘永在的父’ 能是父成为子的铁证么？” [Is “Eternal Father” proof of the Father becoming Son?]. Typed, photocopied booklet; no publication information given. I am grateful to a former lecturer at the Nanjing (Jinling) Theological Seminary for providing these materials to me in June 2006. 17 Wu Yongnan (吴勇南), “You yige jia jidu mihuo qunzhong 又一个假基督迷惑群众” [Another false Christ misleads the masses], TF 4 (1996): 26; Sun Chengfa (孙成发), “Ruhe denghou zhulai? 如何等候主来？” [How should we await the Lord’s coming?], TF 6 (1994): 28–29; Liu Guangcai (刘广才), “Yao fangbei jia xianzhi 要防备假先知” [Be on guard against false prophets], TF 1 (1992): 29; Shen Mingsui (沈明燧), “Wo dui shenji qishide kanfa 我对神迹奇事的看法” [My view of miracles and unusual phenomena], TF 1 (1986): 18–19. 18 Tian Feng (田丰), “Dui Shandong yixie diqu chuxian de yiduan xieshuo de sikao 对山东一些地区出现的异端邪说的思考” [Reflections on the heresies which have appeared in some regions of Shandong], TF 12 (1994): 11–12. 19 Wang Shengcai, “Change Brought about in Henan by Preaching Band,” CSJ 6, no. 2 (1991): 69. 168 CHAPTER 7

movements. The June 1995 issue of Tian Feng was devoted to “resisting heresies and eliminating chaos” (抵制异端邪说,消除混乱现象 dizhi yiduan xieshuo, xiaochu hunluan xianxiang), which was evidently to be achieved by denouncing the Established King, the Shouters and foreign new religious movements.20 Essays at this time predominantly referred to the new religious movements as “heretical teachings” (异端邪说 yiduan xieshuo), retaining the vocabulary that lianghui sources had used to refer to the Shouters over a decade previously.21 “Take the Orthodox Road” (走正路 Zou zheng lu) was one of the pieces published in the June 1995 issue of Tian Feng. It was submitted from Anhui province, where new religious movements have flourished. A didactic comic dialogue (对口相声 duikou xiangsheng), it exemplifies the lianghui’s depiction of members of new religious movements (and, frequently, also of unofficial churches) as poorly educated, lacking in comprehension of Christian doctrine, superstitious, and adopting religion for material gain. Conversely, the TSPM is represented as leading Protestants along the Orthodox Road and protecting them from inferior and destructive religious groups.22 The dialogue calls for one actor to play the part of an unregistered evangelist (A) and another, a Christian who attends a TSPM church (B). The unregistered evangelist claims that designated church buildings are “unholy,” that the TSPM is “run by the government,” and that believers who attend TSPM churches “cannot be saved.” Her identity as a member of the All Sphere Church or Born Again sect is never explicitly stated, but is nonetheless clear as she talks about her conversion (she recalls that she cried all night and then saw a vision of Jesus Christ and a cross in the air—both experiences that are commonly associated with this movement). The TSPM churchgoer questions her belief that profuse crying is a condition for salvation, whereupon the evangelist attempts to demonstrate a biblical foundation for it.

A: OK. Open the Old Testament to ‘Lavinia’ (利末计 Limo ji) B: Sister, you read that wrong; that’s ‘Leviticus’ (利未记 Liwei ji) A: Huh? ‘Leviticus’? B: Yes.

20 Many of these articles were reprinted by the lianghui in Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩), ed., 坚持真理, 抵挡异端, [Hold fast to the truth, resist heresy] (上海: 中国基督教协会, 1996). 21 Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩), “Jianli jidujiaohui bixu jingti yiduan xieshuo de weihai 建立基督教会必须警惕异端邪说的危害” [In building the church we must guard against heresies], TF 6 (1995): 9. 22 Zhang Shuyun (张树云), “Zou zheng lu 走正路” [Take the orthodox road], TF 6 (1995): 43–45. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 169

A: ‘Lavinia’, ‘Leviticus’, they look the same to me. Someone just taught me those few characters. Let’s look at the New Testament instead. Open to ‘Epeasians’ (以费所 yifeisuo) Chapter 2 . . .23

Mystified by the limited literacy of her interlocutor, the TSPM churchgoer enquires as to how many years of study she undertook before becoming an evangelist.

A: Just a month. B: You can be an evangelist after studying for just one month? A: Haha . . . but of this month, I missed 29 days of class. B: So you only studied for one day. A: Haha . . . That lunar month only had 29 days. B (Laughing): So you didn’t even study for one day? A: That’s right. B: So how can you be an evangelist? A: I just rely on a few sentences someone taught me. B: Can you spread the gospel effectively? A: Aiya, never mind that, as long as my belly is full.

In 1997, the All Sphere Church came to the attention of the lianghui once again when its leader, Xu Yongze, was detained by the Public Security Bureau in Henan. In response to international concern over the incident Dr. Han Wenzao 韩文藻, President of the China Christian Council, defended Chinese authorities’ actions in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. Han described the denomination as a “cultic organization” (邪教组织 xiejiao zuzhi), denied that Xu was a Christian and likened his arrest to foreign governments’ prosecution of the Branch Davidians and Aum Shinrikyo in recent years. He accused Xu of holding illegal gatherings and prohibiting believers from working. He also claimed that Xu taught that hysterical crying was necessary for salvation and that the end of the word was nigh, “thereby confusing and poisoning people’s minds.”24 In the June 1997 issue of Tian Feng, the movement was again referred

23 Ibid., 45. 24 Han Wenzao, “Statement by China Christian Council President Dr. Wenzao Han on China’s So-Called ‘Religious Persecution,’ ” ANS 7.1 (1997); Xinhua News Agency (新華社), “Zhongguo Jidujiao Xiehui huizhang Han Wenzao dui ‘zongjiao pohai’ shijian fabiao tanhua 中國基督教協會會長韓文藻對‘宗教迫害’事件發表談話” [CCC President Han Wenzao releases statement concerning so-called “religious persecution”], in 真理異端真伪辨: 透視大陸教會異端問題 [Given English Title: Discerning Truth 170 CHAPTER 7 to as a “cult” in a report of murder—a 57 year-old female peasant adherent had attempted to cure a schoolteacher of an unspecified illness by “beating the devil” out of her.25 These depictions of the group differed markedly from that in “Take the Orthodox Road.” In 1995, the Born Again evangelist had been depicted as foolish, ignorant and motivated by material gain; in 1997, Xu was presented as a danger to society, and his network of churches compared to movements of global infamy. This shift towards using the term xiejiao (‘cult’) and emphasizing the damage that new religious movements inflicted reflected trends in the secular press in the mid-1990s, and was a harbinger of developments to come. In Protestant as in other publications the term xiejiao had initially been employed to refer to new religious movements overseas, first appearing in discussion of the Children of God in the United States in a Tian Feng edition of 1986.26 In November 1995, the Born Again Sect, Established King and the Shouters were labeled xiejiao by the Ministry of Public Security.27 It was from around this time that Protestant sources began to label Protestant-related new religious movements such as the Established King as xiejiao, but they did so only sporadically. As Figure 6 shows, the term xiejiao (‘cult’; ‘heterodox teaching’) was used with only one quarter of the frequency of yiduan (‘heresy’) at this time.28 As recounted in Chapters 1 and 5 of this book, the term xiejiao was used by the late imperial state to prescribe the suppression of heterodox sects. Confucius (441–479 BCe) first used the term 异端 yiduan to denote strange or alien principles, lamenting in the Analects that “The study of strange doctrines is injuri- ous indeed.”29 In the contemporary context, however, yiduan is used chiefly by religious figures to denote ‘heresy,’ or deviant religious teachings. Tian Feng magazine’s more frequent use of xiejiao suggested that the Protestant lianghui was increasingly aligning itself with the state’s stance towards new religious

from Heresies: A Critical Analysis of the Alleged and Real Heresies in Mainland China], ed. Susanna Chen (陳韻珊) (Taipei: Taipei: Jidujiao yu Zhongguo yanjiu zhongxin [Christianity and China Research Center], 2000 [1997]). See p. 136 of this book for Xu’s son’s rebuttal of these accusations. 25 Yang Miaoyu (杨妙玉), “Yi qi yanzhong de xiejiao sharen an 一起严重的邪教杀人案” [A grave case of murder at the hands of a cult], TF 6 (1997): 20. 26 Li Hufa (李护法), “Yige xin xiejiao 一个新邪教” [A new cult], TF 1 (1986): 20–21. 27 “Notice on Various Issues,” 25. 28 Data in this and subsequent figures was obtained by searching CKNI Chinese Academic Journal database index of Tian Feng. 29 Liu and Shek, “Afterword: The Twentieth-Century Perspective,” 477. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 171

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10 Incidence of 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 “xiejiao” in full text 0 16 12 16 “yiduan” in full text 40 64 58 61 figure 6 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–1997.

movements, and calling for their suppression rather than simply criticizing their teachings. Reports of heresy (异端 yiduan) continued to surface in Tian Feng in late 1997: of the Efficacious Spirit Teachings in August,30 and of Eastern Lightning in November.31 Tian Feng also adopted a new medium for critiquing new religious movements in this year. The Sister Martha (Mada zimei) cartoon strip featured a cooperative churchgoer (reminding her Christian brothers and sisters to be punctual and dress appropriately for services) and a Good Samaritan (her compassion symbolized by the radiant heart she holds in the serial’s logo—see Figure 7), and also demonstrated unfailing devotion to the lianghui and CCP. The serial is reminiscent of Maoist propaganda in its promotion of a model citizen to be emulated by the masses, and typifies the mobilization of the lianghui’s educative apparatus in its efforts against heterodoxy. Indeed, the creator of the series has stated that one of its aims was to help Protestants to

30 Zhong He (中和), “Women zheli laile chuan yiduande ren 我们这里来了传异端的人” [People spreading heresies have come to us here], TF 8 (1997): 27; Wang Qidi (王七弟), “Yesu yi erci jianglinle ma? 耶稣已二次降临了吗？” [Has Jesus already come again?], TF 8 (1997): 26. 31 TF 11 (1997): 23–26. 172 CHAPTER 7

figure 7 “Don’t Believe Lightly” (切勿轻信 qie wu qing xin), Tian Feng, May 1998. identify heresies (异端邪说 yiduan xieshuo).32 Hence, in May 1998, Martha appeared in the cartoon “Don’t believe lightly”, warning her peers against speculation about Jesus’ second coming (Figure 7).33 The first and second frames of the cartoon depict Martha urging others not to believe predictions about Jesus’ return. In the third frame, Martha’s peers come to her, confused by literature that reads “Jesus is coming soon. Jesus told me that you should give your money to me, stop work and await his coming. I am sent by him.” Martha tells them it is heresy. The final frame shows Martha resolving her peers’ confusion once and for all by opening a Bible to the verses Acts 1:11 (“He will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven”) and Matthew 25:13 (“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour”), which the final caption echoes. Published eighteen months before the turn of the millennium, the cartoon was undoubtedly a

32 Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), Mada zimei 马大姊妹 [Sister Martha] (上海: 中国基督教协会, 2001), author’s introduction. 33 Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), “Mada zimei lianhuan manhua 21: Qie wu qing xin 马大姊妹连环漫画 21：切勿轻信” [Sister Martha serial comic 21: Don’t believe lightly], TF 5 (1998): 29. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 173 response to the eschatological expectations held by some Chinese Protestants and many new religious movements at this time.34

Falun Gong and the Rise of the Term xiejiao in Protestant lianghui Sources, 1999–2002 In response to Falun Gong’s assembly of ten thousand practitioners outside Zhongnanhai on April 25 1999, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress resolved that “All corners of society shall be mobilized in preventing and fighting against cult activities.”35 Accordingly, representatives of the five official religious associations denounced Falun Gong (Buddhists, in fact, had been doing so since 1996).36 In September 1999, the lianghui deployed Sister Martha in a Tian Feng cartoon for this cause (Figure 8).37 In the first frame of the cartoon, Martha doubts the merit (功 gong) of Falun Gong’s methods. In the second, she teaches that Falun Gong’s claims of healing are deceptive and harmful. The third frame portrays the infamous Falun Gong “disturbance” (闹事 naoshi) outside Zhongnanhai, which is said to have revealed the movement’s “savagery” (狰狞 zhengning). As a bulldozer clears up Falun Gong plac- ards in the fourth frame, Protestants file into a church and the text reminds the reader that “religious activities are protected by law.” The Protestant lianghui sustained such responses to Falun Gong during the years in which the authorities’ actions against the new religious movement were most intense. In 2000 Tian Feng featured articles that dismissed “evil cults” and their appeals to human rights and upheld the government’s distinction between cults and religion;38 in 2001 the Shanghai and National lianghui met to denounce Falun Gong a couple of weeks after a self-immolation

34 See “Millennial Movements Gain Momentum in China,” ANS 9/10.1 (1999). Other Martha cartoons included “Heresies are harmful” which depicted adherents of a new religious movement attempting to beat the devil out of an elderly woman, “Don’t believe heterodoxy” which warned against fortune telling and fengshui, and “Destroy superstition” which discredited traditional funerary practices. See Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), Mada zimei 马大姊妹 [Sister Martha], 44, 47, 49. 35 “Full Text of New Chinese Legislative Resolution Banning Cults.” 36 Karrie J. Koesel, Religion and Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict, and the Consequences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 55–56; Benjamin Penny, “The Falun Gong, Buddhism and ‘Buddhist Qigong,’ ” Asian Studies Review 29 (2005): 36. 37 Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), “Mada zimei lianhuan manhua 31: Dizhi xieshuo 马大姊妹连环漫画 31：抵制邪说” [Sister Martha serial comic 31: Resist heresy], TF 9 (1999): 22. 38 Gong Zheng (龚正), “Wei xiejiao zhengqu renquan tai guofenle 为邪教争取人权太过份了” [Claiming human rights for cults is over-the-top], TF 6 (2000): 24; Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Zongjiao he xiejiao burong hunxiao 宗教和邪教不容混淆” [Cults cannot be 174 CHAPTER 7

figure 8 “Resist Evil Teachings” (抵制邪说 dizhi xieshuo), Tian Feng, September 1999. incident.39 Thus, the lianghui had been vocal in its opposition to ‘cults’ for several years by the time the Standing Committee of the Seventh National Christian Congress passed a Resolution Opposing Evil Cults in 2002, which called upon “all Christians to resolutely oppose evil cults, especially those that masquerade as Christian, and to support the government’s legal attempts to eradicate evil cults.”40 The Amity News Service (ANS) translated the lianghui’s representation of evil cults for English speakers in accordance with its aim of “communicating

confused with religion], TF 6 (2000): 24–25; Zheng Jincan (郑金灿), “Zongjiao yu xiejiao 宗教与邪教” [Religions and evil cults], TF 7 (2001): 18. 39 Wang Chao (望潮), “Zhongguo, Shanghai jidujiao lianghui zai hu juxing zuotanhui shengtao ‘Falun gong’ 中国、上海基督教两会在沪举行座谈会声讨‘法轮功’” [The National and Shanghai branches of the Protestant lianghui hold forum in Shanghai, condemn “Falun Gong”], TF 3 (2001): 13. Five people set themselves alight in Tiananmen Square on the eve of Chinese New Year on January 23, 2001. The government (and a flood of Chinese media) reported that they were Falun Gong practitioners; Falun Gong denied this. 40 CCC/TSPM, “Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults and Resisting Heretical Beliefs,” ANS 5/6.9 (2002). Protestant Depictions of Heresy 175 the news and views of the China Christian Council.”41 In 1997, it published Han Wenzao’s condemnation of the Born Again Sect in response to foreign accusations of religious persecution.42 In 1999, it summarized Tian Feng’s reporting of Eastern Lightning, describing it as a “sect” and “millennial group”—terms less pejorative than xiejiao, which was peppered throughout the original Chinese reporting. These articles were also accompanied by editorial remarks, which appealed to worldwide anti-cult actions and discourses.43 In 2001, ANS chose not to tweak the lianghui’s open letter to “friends overseas” in which it described Falun Gong as a “cult,” argued that it was not a religion, praised the government’s policy on religious freedom and quoted Bible verses to support its condemnation of Falun Gong.44 In this way, the Protestant lianghui defended Chinese government actions and policies to an international audience. The campaign against Falun Gong heralded new developments in the lianghui’s labeling of heterodoxy. Specifically, lianghui sources used the term xiejiao with increased frequency, not only to condemn Falun Gong but also in relation to Protestant-related new religious movements. Whereas Eastern Lightning had been described as a “heretical evil teaching” (异端邪说 yiduan xieshuo) in 1997,45 articles in editions of Tian Feng during late 1999 repeatedly described it as an “evil cult” (xiejiao).46 While use of xiejiao did not surpass that of yiduan in Tian Feng during the state’s crackdown on Falun Gong, it did increase dramatically (Figure 9), suggesting that the CCP’s anti-cult action affected the TSPM’s understanding and depiction of heterodoxy. The imperative for those connected with the lianghui to observe the CCP’s linguistic and ideological prescriptions on new religious movements is illustrated by the fate of a book by Pastor Jing Jiuwei 靖玖玮, which was published

41 This was the motto of the Amity News Service, which is now archived at http://www .amityfoundation.org/eng/content/amity-news-service-1992-2011. 42 Han Wenzao, “Statement by China Christian Council President Dr. Wenzao Han on China’s So-Called ‘Religious Persecution,’ ” ANS 7.1 (1997). 43 “Millennial Movements Gain Momentum in China,” ANS 9/10.1 (1999); “ ‘Eastern Lightning’ Sect Continues to Do Damage,” ANS 5/6.4 (1999). 44 CCC/TSPM, “An Open Letter on the Falun Gong Issue,” ANS 3/4.9 (2001). 45 Wan Ge (万戈), “E’du de ‘dongfang shandian’ 恶毒的‘东方闪电’” [Malicious “Eastern Lightning”], TF 11 (1997): 24–25. 46 Jing Huanxin (景焕新), “Jinfang xiejiao ‘Dongfang Shandian’ jia jidu pianrende baxi 谨防邪教‘东方闪电’假基督骗人的把戏” [Beware of the “Eastern Lightning” cult’s false Christ ruse], TF 7 (1999): 20–21; Jiang Shan (江山), “Xiejiao ‘dongfang shandian’ chuanbo shoufa jiemi 邪教‘东方闪电’传播手法揭秘” [Exposing the “Eastern Lightning” cult’s methods of dissemination], TF 9 (1999): 25–26. 176 CHAPTER 7

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0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 “xiejiao” in full text 0 16 12 16 19 20 37 36 32 “yiduan” in full text 40 64 58 61 45 42 56 50 50 figure 9 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2002. by the China Christian Council in May 2002.47 A Look at All Kinds of Heresies gave the definition of key terms such as ‘heresy,’ a history of Christian-related heresy, and an overview of new religious movements in China and abroad. Within two years of its publication, however, the book had been withdrawn from sale; when I visited a lianghui bookstore in Shanghai in mid-2004, a salesperson expressed bewilderment as to the reason for its removal from the shelves, but proffered her own personal copy of the book, which she kept beneath the counter. I was advised that the book was withdrawn from circulation due to its stance on Falun Gong.48 While Jing’s book was written at the height of the state’s anti-cult campaign it seemed relatively unconcerned by Falun Gong, discussion of which occupied just six pages and was buried at the end of the chapter on heresies and cults—after all the Protestant-related new religious movements, including Children of God, which merited only one paragraph and has negligible presence in the PRC. Jing’s discussion further vio- lated state anti-cult norms as it left room for Falun Gong and other ‘cults’ to be

47 Jing Jiuwei (靖玖玮), Yiduan xiejiao mianmian guan 异端邪教面面观 [An examination of heresies and cults] (上海: 中国基督教协会, 2002). 48 Interview with church leader in Hong Kong who has frequent contact with Christians on the mainland. Hong Kong, February 2006. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 177 considered ‘religions’, where the state insisted that Falun Gong and other ‘evil cults’ were of a fundamentally different nature to ‘religion.’49 Treatment of the Sister Martha comic strip also attests to the sensitivity of Protestant discussion of Falun Gong. Figure 8 was included in a 2001 lianghui compilation of Sister Martha strips, but with three amendments to its original Tian Feng form.50 First, the title of the print was changed from “Resist Evil Teachings” (抵制邪说 dizhi xieshuo) to “Resist Evil Cults” (抵制邪教 dizhi xiejiao), reflecting the political correctness of using the term xiejiao at the time. Second, the text accompanying the second frame was revised to depict Falun Gong’s promises of healing as causing death rather than just harm. Third, the final frame reminded the reader that “religion is protected, [while] evil cults are prohibited,” reiterating the condemnation of ‘evil cults’ and their demarca- tion from ‘religion.’ It is not clear whether these subtle yet significant changes were initiated by the artist, or under the instruction or inducement of another party. Either way, they reflect the lianghui’s support for the government’s treatment of new religious movements, the adoption of the lexicon favored by it, and the escalation of polemics.51 The lianghui did more than ensure that its rejection of new religious movements adhered to CCP ideological and linguistic prescriptions; it also projected the conformity back into the past. At the Third Meeting of the Ninth Session of the Chinese People’s Consultative Congress in 2000, Cao Shengjie, President of the China Christian Council, suggested that the meanings of xiejiao and yiduan were essentially the same, though the latter term was favored in religious circles: “In the past twenty years, the number of Protestants has grown considerably, but evil cults (Protestants call them ‘heresies’) that are constituted from the distortion and selective use of Protestant doctrine have also appeared

49 “Is Falun Gong a religion? Some people put it in the category of new religion (新兴宗教 xinxing zongjiao), and see it as a kind of newly emerging religion. I do not wish to discuss whether or not Falun Gong is a religion; I just want to investigate whether Falun Gong possesses the characteristics of a xiejiao.” Jing Jiuwei (靖玖玮), Yiduan xiejiao mianmian guan 异端邪教面面观, 161. 50 Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), Mada zimei 马大姊妹 [Sister Martha], 45. The 1997 Martha cartoon reproduced in Figure 7 was not altered for inclusion in the 2001 compilation. The cartoon addressing Falun Gong may have been thought to warrant revision given the extreme political sensitivity attached to this movement in particular. 51 The lianghui was not alone in this; on the Chinese Buddhist Association’s increasing use of xiejiao, see Palmer, Qigong Fever, 262; Penny, “Falun Gong, Buddhism and ‘Buddhist Qigong,’ ” 37. 178 CHAPTER 7 everywhere.”52 By equating the terms ‘heresies’ and ‘evil cults’ in her interpola- tion, Cao implied that the lianghui’s anti-heresy efforts of the past two decades indicated that they had long appreciated the problems of ‘evil cults,’ and had been forerunners in China’s war upon them. In fact, religious figures usually represent yiduan as falling within the category of religion, which xiejiao do not, and the lianghui had not called for government action to deal with them up until this point. Further, the lianghui’s response to new religious movements has been consistent with its efforts over the past sixty years to discredit religious groups and leaders who lie outside the united front and compete with the TSPM for religious authority and legitimacy. In the 1950s, leaders of the TSPM accused foreign missionaries of being imperialist agents “hidden within Christianity,” and Chinese Christian leaders who resisted joining the TSPM of being “counter-revolutionary.” Lianghui authors now accuse new religious movements of being politically motivated and “anti-government.” And just as Chinese evangelists who refused to join the TSPM were accused by the latter of sexual immorality, brainwashing, fraud, faking exorcism and causing death by advocating faith healing, leaders of new religious movements are depicted in the same way today.53 It is difficult to assess accusations of criminal behavior, and possible that historical continuity characterizes the practices of religious individuals as well as the accusations of the Protestant lianghui. Clearly, however, the lianghui’s polemic against religious competitors and dissenters has followed the vicissi- tudes of domestic politics. From “counter-revolutionary” to “evil cult”, lianghui literature has adopted the terminology and depictions favored by the state, and its assessment of religious teachings has been affected by considerations of political as well as religious orthodoxy. Hence, the lianghui describes new religious movements as “disturbing social order,” “anti-government” and “unpatriotic.”54

52 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Zongjiao he xiejiao burong hunxiao 宗教和邪教不容混淆” [Cults cannot be confused with religion], TF 6 (2000): 24–25. My emphasis. 53 On the earlier period see issues of Tian Feng from 1950 to 1951, for example, Qiao Weixiong (喬維熊), “Kongsu Jidujiao bailei Gu Ren’en 控訴基督教敗類顧仁恩” [Accuse Christian scum Ku Jen’en], TF 262–63 (1951): 28; Wallace C. Merwin and Francis P. Jones, eds., Documents of the Three-Self Movement (New York: National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, 1963), 34–36. On new religious movements in recent times see Chang Lewen (常乐文), “‘Dongfang shandian’ zai pouxi ‘东方闪电’ 再剖析” [Analyzing “Eastern Lightning” once again], TF 5 (2007): 30–31; Mao Song’en (毛颂恩), “Yiduan hairen 异端害人” [Heresies are harmful], in 马大姊妹 (上海: 中国基督教协会, 2001), 44. 54 CCC/TSPM, “Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults and Resisting Heretical Beliefs,” ANS 5/6.9 (2002). Protestant Depictions of Heresy 179

Tackling Heresy, Disseminating Orthodoxy at the Turn of the Millennium In addition to denouncing xiejiao, the lianghui has taken more tangible measures against them. The lianghui attributes the transmission of new religious movements in large part to the low “[human] quality” (素质 suzhi) of Protestants in rural areas, where new religious movements have thrived and seventy to eighty percent of Chinese Protestants live. The need to improve believers’ “quality of faith” (信仰素质 xinyang suzhi) and thereby combat new religious movements is widely presented as one of the most urgent tasks con- fronting the Chinese church. At the Seventh National Christian Conference in 2002, Cao Shengjie reported:

At present these heresies are mainly active in rural areas and small towns, because rural Christians’ educational level is lower and they lack a correct understanding of Christian truth; there is also a serious lack in rural villages of pastors with theological training. These serious facts tell us that if we do not pay attention to rural church work, and strive to raise the quality of believers there, the future of all Christianity in China will be affected.55

In turn, the lianghui relate the “poor quality” of Protestants’ faith and the spread of new religious movements to the severe shortage of trained clergy in China. Hence, in its 2002 Resolution Opposing Evil Cults, the lianghui remarked: “those grassroots-level churches and rural churches which lack pastoral staff are vulnerable to negative influence from heretical groups.”56 In Henan, a hotspot for new religious movements, the number of clergy is notoriously inadequate: as of 2009, the provincial lianghui estimated just 184 ordained pastors for more than 2.4 million Protestants and six thousand congregations, equating to one pastor per thirteen thousand believers.57 To alleviate the paucity of ordained ministers and stem the tide of ‘heresy’ the lianghui has expanded its theological programs, but demand still exceeds

55 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Put Down Roots and Build, Strengthen Ourselves, Move with the Times and Run the Church Well: Work Report of the 7th National Christian Conference,” CTR 16 (2002): 17. See also Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Zongjiao he xiejiao burong hunxiao 宗教和邪教不容混淆” [Cults cannot be confused with religion], TF 6 (2000): 25. 56 CCC/TSPM, “Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults and Resisting Heretical Beliefs,” ANS 5/6.9 (2002). 57 Wang Baoquan (王保全), “Henan sheng Jidujiao jianshi 河南省基督教简史.” 180 CHAPTER 7 supply.58 For this reason, lianghui at the provincial and county levels hold short courses for volunteers and evangelists. In Zhoukou in eastern Henan, for example, they provide theological instruction to enable the city’s one thousand churches to respond more effectively to the influence of new religious movements, which was a high priority for the municipal lianghui after it was founded in April 2003.59 In addition to the training courses held at its headquarters, it has sent teams of evangelists led by graduates from seminaries in Zhengzhou and Nanjing to visit rural churches during the agricultural slack seasons, where the seventy volunteers train local Protestants.60 The lianghui’s construction of heterodoxy is evident not only in its denunciations of heresy, but also in the orthodoxy it promotes. The lianghui endorses time-honored Christian creeds and its official statement of faith reads as a standard evangelical one.61 However, since 1998 the project of Theological (Re-)Construction (神学思想建设 Shenxue sixiang jianshe) spearheaded by the late lianghui patriarch Ding Guangxun has been concerned to “adapt Protestantism to socialist society” in accordance with President Jiang Zemin’s 1993 directive.62 Thus, it has reflected political orthodoxy’s influence on the lianghui’s religious orthodoxy. From the mid-1990s, Ding Guangxun, who had been member of the TSPM Standing Committee in the early 1950s and chaired both the TSPM and CCC since 1980, began to speak out against the ‘fundamentalist’ bent of many Chinese Protestants, including those within the TSPM. Differences between

58 In Henan, for example, 340 Christians sat the entrance examination for the Bible School in 2012, hoping to secure one of the seventy new degree places. Jin Xinyuan (靳新元), “Henan shengjing zhuanke xuexiao juban 2012 nian zhaosheng kaoshi 河南圣经专科学校举办 2012 年招生考试” [Henan Bible School holds 2012 entrance examination]. Available at http://www.hnjdj.org/article-5305296-1.html. Accessed July 29, 2013. 59 Wang Rongwei (王荣伟), “Jinri Zhoukou jiaohui: Zhoukou jiaohui shenxue peixunban jianwen 今日周口教会—周口教会神学培训班见闻” [The Zhoukou church today— theological training classes for the Zhoukou church], TF 15 (2007): no pages given. English translation: “Love Finds a Way at Zhoukou Church,” ANS 10/12.3 (2007). 60 Ibid.; Theresa Carino, “ ‘Coping’ with Rapid Church Growth in Henan,” ANS 4/6.3 (2007). 61 CCC/TSPM, “Xinyang xuangao 信仰宣告” [Statement of faith]. Available at http://www .ccctspm.org/about/2008/529/xuanshi.html. Accessed July 29, 2009. 62 “Actively lead religion into mutual adaptation with socialist society” (积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应 jiji yindao zongjiao yu shehui zhuyi shehui xiang shiying) was one of the “three phrases” (三句话 san ju hua) coined by Jiang Zemin at the National Conference on United Front Work in 1993, and has been widely invoked in government pronouncements on religious policy since this time. While “相适应 xiang shiying” is translated as “mutual adaptation,” the adaptation required of socialist society seems frequently limited to tolerating the registered religious associations and the private beliefs of individuals. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 181

Ding and more fundamentalist evangelicals extended many decades into the past, when the latter opposed the formation of the TSPM. But while Ding had been preoccupied with the rehabilitation of the TSPM in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, he could now focus on the future of the Chinese church, its theology, and its standing in Chinese society. The crux of Ding’s objection to much Chinese Protestant thinking was that it gave undue weight to the doctrine of justification by faith, at the expense of encouraging good works. Ding found it unfathomable that Communist models such as Lei Feng “who did not accept Christianity, yet sacrificed their lives for others” could be consigned to perdition.63 To correct this imbalance, he advocated a shift in doctrinal emphasis towards the love that he saw revealed in Christ, and which he believed precluded God from being so “cruel and brutal” as to “send millions of people to the eternal flames of hell.”64 Ding’s ruminations culminated in the launching of the Theological Construction campaign in November 1998. At the Sixth National Christian Conference, a lianghui resolution calling for the “strengthening of theological reflection” presented theological construction as a dialogue beneficial to theological understanding and the relationship between the Protestant church and Chinese society:

Holding fast to our basic beliefs, building on a foundation of ‘loving country, loving church’ (爱国爱教 aiguo aijiao), we must encourage the sharing of different viewpoints with mutual respect, deeper exploration, productive sharing and exchange in order to expound the treasures of Scripture and enable the Chinese church to build on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ and adapt all the better to our socialist society.65

Ding—also the former President of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary— clearly presented his theology as a more correct reading of scripture, thus link- ing Theological Construction with religious orthodoxy. He argued for the need to “dilute” (淡化 danhua) the doctrine of justification through faith on the grounds that it had been developed by Paul “to counter the Pharisees’ reliance on observance of the law as the way to salvation.” The doctrine was not intended to exclude people from God’s favor, but on the contrary “greatly enlarged the

63 K.H. Ting, Love Never Ends, trans. Janice Wickeri (Nanjing: Yilin, 2000), 508. 64 Ibid. 65 CCC/TSPM, “Resolution Regarding the Strengthening of Theological Reflection issued by the Second Joint Meeting of the 6th Committee of the National TSPM and the 4th Session of the China Christian Council, November 23, 1998,” CSJ 14, no. 1 (1999): 48. 182 CHAPTER 7 ranks of those who received the grace of salvation.” Thus, Ding argued, pastors should not “talk about countless upright people going to hell.”66 While the Campaign was presented as a quest for the Christian truth and the development of a Chinese theology, Ding was also motivated by United Front concerns. He expressed dismay at the prospect that the fundamentalists’ emphasis on justification by faith might “lead to the contradiction between belief and unbelief, which would lead to endless divisions, damaging the nation’s stability.”67 He elucidated:

Some things unsuitable to socialist society that were drawn out of faith in the past should be set aside, or at least be downplayed, while at the same time, we should as much as possible draw out things which can be beneficial to a socialist society. And that is why today we are promoting theological construction.68

Lianghui representatives argued that in addition to developing an orthodox Chinese theology that is suited to the Chinese political and cultural context, the Theological Construction campaign would address the problem of “heresies” within the Chinese church.69 Accordingly, discussions held under the rubric of Theological Construction occurred around such topics as the Second Coming, divine revelation, miracles, and even the Chinese dragon.70 However, the drive met with widespread resistance even within the TSPM and had

66 Ting, Love Never Ends, 493. 67 Ibid. 68 K.H. Ting, “Old Style Theological Thinking Needs Revision and Renewal,” CTR 14 (2000): 23. As Kindopp points out, the phrase translated in this quotation as “set aside, or at least downplayed” actually means “eliminated immediately” in the Chinese original; the selective translation reflected the Amity News Service’s desire “to minimize fallout abroad.” Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” 321. 69 Wang Chao (望潮), “Zhongguo, Shanghai jidujiao lianghui zai hu juxing zuotanhui shengtao ‘Falun gong’ 中国、上海基督教两会在沪举行座谈会声讨‘法轮功’” [The National and Shanghai branches of the Protestant lianghui hold forum in Shanghai, condemn “Falun Gong”], TF 3 (2001): 13; Xu Rulei (徐如雷), “Kaizhan shenxue sixiang jianshe, dizhi yiduan fanlan 开展神学思想建设，抵制异端泛滥” [Engage in Theological Construction, stem the tide of heresies], in 论邪教: 首届邪教问题国际研讨会论文集, ed. Shehui wenti yanjiu congshu bianji weiyuanhui (社会问题研究丛书编辑委员会) (南宁: 广西人民出版社, 2001). 70 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Put Down Roots and Build, Strengthen Ourselves, Move with the Times and Run the Church Well: Work Report of the 7th National Christian Conference,” CTR 16 (2002): 6–20; Zhang Keyun, “Theological Reconstruction in Jiangsu,” CTR 16 (2002): 96–101. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 183

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0 3 2 4 2011 2012 2001 2010 1995 1997 1994 1998 1999 1996 200 200 2007 2005 200 2000 2008 2009 2006 “xiejiao” in full text 0 16 12 16 19 20 37 36 32 27 27 16 38 28 38 16 21 95 “yiduan” in full text 40 64 58 61 45 42 56 50 50 37 27 29 58 46 46 27 40 20 20 figure 10 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2012. minimal impact on congregations.71 Tian Feng’s circulation dropped thirty percent after the campaign was launched; it was viewed by Christians as too much like the political movements of the Mao years.72 The lianghui leadership’s ability to impose its version of orthodoxy upon the Protestant flock was shown to be limited.

Continuing the Trend, 2003–2013 Later in the first decade of the new millennium the ‘Falun Gong problem’ subsided, and a more moderate tone characterized academic scholarship on new religious movements.73 Correspondingly, the problem of ‘evil cults’ was no longer so prolific in lianghui publications (Figure 10). While Figure 10 shows that the number of articles in Tian Feng discussing “evil cults” and “heresies” rose over 2006–2008, this is because the magazine

71 Kindopp, “Politics of Protestantism in Contemporary China,” chap. 7. 72 Ibid., 311–15; Zhu Xiaohong, “Call for Dialogue and Cooperation: Reflections on Jianshe or the Reconstruction of Theological Thinking,” in Christianity and Chinese Culture, ed. Miikka Ruokanen and Paulos Huang (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2010), 320n2, 324–27. 73 Palmer, “Heretical Doctrines,” 133. 184 CHAPTER 7

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0 3 2 4 2011 2012 2001 2010 1995 1997 1994 1998 1999 1996 200 200 2005 2007 200 2000 2008 2009 2006 “xiejiao” in full text 0316 12 16 19 20 37 6 32 27 27 16 19 14 19 16 21 95 “yiduan” in full text 40 64 58 61 45 42 56 50 50 37 27 29 29 23 23 27 40 20 20

figure 11 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2012 (modified).

experimented with producing 24 issues rather than the usual 12 during those years. If the incidence of the terms is halved to better reflect their average spread over twelve issues (albeit crudely), a downward trend in the propor- tionate number of articles discussing new religious movements is evident. Over 2005–2010, Tian Feng published roughly as many articles discussing new religious movements as it had prior to the nation-wide crackdown on Falun Gong (Figure 11). To be sure, the lianghui continued to condemn new religious movements.74 Overall, however, its publications concerning new religious movements were markedly milder. Ni Guangdao, the Deputy Secretary of the TSPM, cautioned that not all heresies were ‘evil cults,’ and not all extremist expressions of Christianity were heretical.75 Even more remarkably, a Tian Feng article on extremism (极端 jiduan), heresies (异端 yiduan) and cults (邪教 xiejiao) considered the Shouters and Eastern Lightning to be heresies rather than

74 Yi Ming (毅明), “Jingti xiejiao ‘quannengshen’ de chuanbo 警惕邪教‘全能神’的传播” [Beware the spread of the “Almighty God” cult], TF 10 (2009): 52–53; Xi Men (西门), “Jingti yiduan xin dongxiang 警惕异端新动向” [Beware of new trends in heretical groups], TF 3 (2010): 28. 75 Ni Guangdao (倪光道), “Lun jiaonei de yixie jiduan xianxiang 论教内的一些极端现象” [On some extremist phenomena within Protestantism], TF 4 (2009): 48–49. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 185 cults.76 Such views were seldom articulated at the height of the state’s campaign against Falun Gong. Eastern Lightning’s doomsday proclamations in late 2012 brought the issue of new religious movements to the fore of Christian media once again (Figure 12). As authorities cracked down on the movement, churches held ‘anti-cult’ meetings to denounce Eastern Lightning and to instruct Christians in dealing with it; these were often attended by representatives from SARA or the United Front Work Department.77 Tian Feng published a renewed spurt of articles against Eastern Lightning and its predictions about the second coming of Christ,78 and in September 2013 the movement’s recent activities were singled out in the Ninth Christian Congress’ Resolution Regarding Boycotting Heresies and Opposing Cults.79 Much of the July 2014 edition of Tian Feng was devoted to denouncing “The Cult of Almighty God” in the wake of the murder of a woman in a fast food restaurant in Shandong province. The lianghui, like the Chinese state, has been keen to reference international anti-cult movements, and also to situate its response in the context of church history, pointing to heresies such as Gnosticism in Jesus’ time.80 Yet the

76 Dong Yanliang (董延谅), “Jinfang jiduan, xiaochu yiduan, fangzhi xiejiao 谨防极端、消除异端、防止邪教” [Beware of extremism, eliminate heresies, guard against evil cults], TF 1 (2010): 52–54. 77 Ma Wei (马薇), “Yunnan shenxueyuan zuzhi xilie huodong dizhi dongfang shandian 云南神学院组织系列活动抵制东方闪电” [Yunnan seminary organizes activities to resist Eastern Lightning]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/news/lo_ex/2012/1221/121221160 .html. Accessed July 23, 2013; Yang Shuguang (杨曙光), “Ningbo shi Jidujiao lianghui zoufang, diaoyan bing zhaokai fan xiejiao gongzuo huiyi 宁波市基督教两会走访、调研并召开反邪教工作会议” [Ningbo Protestant lianghui studies and convenes a conference on anti-cult work]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/news/lo_ex/2012/1218/121218729 .html. Accessed July 23, 2013; Jia Fangzhen (贾防震), “Chengwu xian Jidujiao lianghui zhaokai dizhi yiduan xiejiao gongzuo huiyi 成武县基督教两会召开抵制异端邪教工作会议” [Protestant lianghui in Chengwu county hold convene conference on boycotting heresies and cults]. Available at http://www.ccctspm.org/news/lo_ex/2012/1231/121231128 .html. Accessed July 23, 2013. 78 “Shibie he dizhi ‘quannengshen’ xiejiao zuzhi 识别和抵制 ‘全能神’ 邪教组织” [Identifying and boycotting the “Almighty God” cultic organization], TF 3 (2013): 4–7; Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), “Jingti yiduan xiejiao liyong Jidujiao ‘moshilun’ zaocheng weihai 警惕异端邪教利用基督教 ‘末世论’ 造成危害”: 44. 79 TSPM Committee (中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会), “Zhongguo jidujiao dijiuci daibiao huiyi guanyu dizhi yiduan fandui xiejiao de jueyi 中国基督教第九次代表会议关于抵制异端反对邪教的决议” [Resolution of the Ninth Chinese Christian Congress regarding boycotting heresies and opposing evil cults], TF 10 (2013): 13. 80 “Sects and Heresies—A Global Problem,” ANS, 1/2.2 (2001). Originally published in TF 1 (2001). 186 CHAPTER 7

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0 3 3 2 4 2011 201 2012 2001 2010 1995 1997 1994 1998 1999 1996 200 200 2005 2007 200 2000 2008 2009 2006 “xiejiao” in full text 0 16 12 16 19 20 37 36 32 27 27 16 19 14 19 16 21 9 5 26 “yiduan” in full text 40 64 58 61 45 42 56 50 50 37 27 29 29 23 23 27 40 20 20 42

figure 12 Incidence of articles in Tian Feng magazine using the terms xiejiao and yiduan, 1994–2013 (modified).

discussion here has shown that the domestic political context in which these events have unfolded has affected their treatment; both the terminology used to discuss new religious movements and the frequency with which they are written about have followed the contours of the state’s reaction to spectacular ‘cultic’ events very closely (Figure 12). It is not at all clear that the ebbs and flows in Tian Feng’s discussion are an accurate barometer of the levels of sectarian activity in grassroots communities. One of the relatively few lianghui articles on new religious movements in 2011, for example, mentioned that researchers had found Protestant-related new religious movements to be active in 92 percent of the counties and municipalities in an unspecified province two years previously, suggesting significant levels of ongoing activity.81 Likewise, reporting on new religious movements in Tian Feng reached a nadir in 2012, only to return abruptly to levels not seen since the campaign against Falun Gong after authorities arrested one thousand members of the Church of Almighty God.

81 Gu Mengfei (顾梦飞), “H sheng Jidujiao yiduan ji xiejiao huodong diaocha fenxi H省基督教异端暨邪教活动调查分析” [A survey and analysis of the activities of Protestant heresies and cults in H province], NTR 1 (2001): 25. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 187

Although the TSPM is clearly affected by the “authoritarian linguistic environment” of the PRC,82 it would be erroneous to view the TSPM purely as a stooge for the Chinese government. Christian leaders discourage new religious movements on detailed theological grounds, and have pastoral concerns about the inroads that new religious movements have made into Chinese churches. As we will shortly see, house churches share most of these concerns. To dismiss all TSPM literature as government propaganda would result in underappreciat- ing the complexity of religious interactions in and around Christian communities, and the social significance of movements like Eastern Lightning.

Mainstream Protestants’ Response to New Religious Movements

Online Discussion of Heresy While the lianghui purport to represent all Chinese Protestants, many Protestants do not identify with these organizations or some of the theology and policies prescribed by their leadership. Accordingly, the response of these Protestants to new religious movements has differed from that of the lianghui. Like lianghui sources, mainstream Protestants condemn new religious movements such as Eastern Lightning on religious, moral and criminal grounds. However, their discussions manifest a greater privileging of religious over political concerns in questions of orthodoxy. In the discussion which follows, I use the term ‘mainstream Protestants’ to refer to believers who worship in house churches, and also the multitude of believers who attend registered (TSPM) churches yet do not subscribe to key aspects of the lianghui elites’ theology (such as its “diluting” of the doctrine of justification through faith).83 Because they sometimes depart from the orthodoxies of the Protestant lianghui leadership and the CCP, and usually worship in unauthorized venues under the guidance of unauthorized preachers, mainstream Protestants’ discussions of heterodoxy can be politically sensitive. However, they are readily accessible in Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), which

82 Andrew Kipnis, “Suzhi: A Keyword Approach,” China Quarterly 186 (2006): 312. 83 Studies of contemporary Chinese Protestantism have observed precisely such a cleav- age between these segments. See Jason Kindopp, “Fragmented yet Defiant: Protestant Resilience under Chinese Communist Party Rule,” in God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-State Tensions, ed. Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004), 129; Ryan Dunch, “Christianity and ‘Adaptation to Socialism,’ ” in Chinese Religiosities: Afflications of Modernity and State Formation, ed. Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 177. 188 CHAPTER 7 were the most popular forum for online discussion prior to the ascendancy of the more private instant messaging service QQ around 2010. Protestants have had a strong online presence relative to other religions in China,84 reflecting recent decades of growth in the religion among young and well-educated urbanites. Protestant websites by names such as “Cry in the Wilderness” (旷野呼声 kuangye husheng) and “Grace Online” (恩典在线 endian zai xian) serve as hubs for a broad range of Christian content, including hymns, memory verses, poems, artworks, news bulletins, blogs, and BBS.85 Protestants have used BBS to ask how Christians should define and identify heresies and cults and to disseminate information about new religious movements. In some cases, messages can run to several thousand characters in length and engage in detailed theological critique, but most messages are far shorter, as befits the social electronic format. Discussions are also initiated to warn of a group that has appeared in a specific church community, or to share an experience of a personal encounter with heresy. In March 2009, for example, a dentist from Nanjing recorded his contact with an Eastern Lightning evangelist “in order to enable more brothers and sisters in the Lord to recognize and understand some of the methods of the evil cult ‘Eastern Lightning,’ and to guard against it.” Under the username of paul2005, he related his discov- ery that a forty-five-year-old female former patient whom he had befriended was actually an Eastern Lightning evangelist attempting to convert him in the “deceptive” manner described in Chapter 6 of this book.86 In other cases, Protestants request prayer for a friend or family member who has fallen prey to heresy, and solicit opinions of a suspect doctrine or person. Participants in online forums variously advise fellow believers in such situations to call the police, to sever connections with any adherents, or to try and persuade the ‘heretic’ to return to the Christian fold. When a participant by the username of Purple Dragonfly recounted that some Eastern Lightning adherents had come to his fellowship, and solicited opinions as to whether it was

84 David A. Palmer, “Cyberspace and the Emerging Chinese Religious Landscape: Preliminary Observations,” in Cyber China: Reshaping National Identities in the Age of Information, ed. Françoise Mengin (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 41–42. 85 Available at http://www.kyhs.me and www.edzx.com. Accessed September 19, 2014. 86 Paul 2005, “遭遇东方闪电” [Encounter with Eastern Lightning]. Available at http://bbs .edzx.com/viewthread.php?tid=23888&highlight=%B6%AB%B7%BD%C9%C1%B5%E7. Accessed July 10, 2009. The online conversation took an interesting turn when someone responded that Paul’s description of the evangelist fitted that of his own relative. This woman had joined Eastern Lightning six years prior and to her family’s chagrin had rarely been home to visit her bedridden, eighty-year-old mother. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 189

“okay” to take a look at Eastern Lightning’s books out of curiosity, a user named “JulieforLord” posted the following response:

They are controlled by an evil spirit, [so] you shouldn’t be curious. In the Bible, the Lord tells us not to even ask after this kind of people. Two members of my family fell prey to them. They left home over a year ago, walking out on their own children. Brothers and sisters please don’t be deceived. They also attacked me, but by the grace of God I was able to get out. We shouldn’t throw ourselves in harm’s way; burn their books the moment you discover them.87

As in the case of the lianghui, the lexicon employed by mainstream Protestants sometimes reflects the linguistic prescriptions of the CCP. In using the term “evil cult” (xiejiao) in his BBS, for example, paul2005 indicated that anti-cult discourses propagated by the state have permeated mainstream Protestantism. The China Gospel Fellowship’s theological critique of Eastern Lightning likewise bore xiejiao in its title.88 However, some Protestants also demonstrate a disregard for government pronouncements on new religious movements. In a 2013 thread titled “Is Eastern Lightning a heresy (yiduan) or a cult (xiejiao)?” for example, one conversant commented that “You can’t count the government’s definition.”89 A brief survey of offline mainstream Protestant sources on new religious movements also indicates resistance to government constructions of orthodoxy. Use of the politicized term xiejiao notwithstanding, the book An Analysis of the Eastern Lightning Cult does not comment on the group’s political status or ambition. It instead concentrates its analysis on Eastern Lightning’s moral turpitude, methods of proselytizing, and religious offences of “blaspheming the Holy Spirit,” “slander” and “denigrating the Bible.”90 An anti-heresy cur- riculum developed and circulated by the China Gospel Fellowship refers to new religious movements as “heresies” (yiduan) and likewise refrains from

87 JulieforLord’s response was posted as a response to “Zenme shibie dongfang shandian? 怎么识别东方闪电?” [How to identify Eastern Lightning?]. Formerly available at http:// zanmei.net/bbs/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=42408. Accessed January 18, 2006; now defunct. 88 Zhang Dakai (张大开), Pouxi xiejiao dongfang shandian 剖析邪教组织东方闪电. 89 Contribution number 3 to BBS thread headed “Dongfang shandian shi yiduan haishi xiejiao? 东方闪电是异端还是邪教？” [Is Eastern Lightninga heresy or a cult?]. Available at www .jonahome.net/bbs/dv_rss.asp?s=xhtml&boardid=11&id=73753&page=9. Accessed July 24, 2013. 90 Zhang Dakai (张大开), Pouxi xiejiao dongfang shandian 剖析邪教组织东方闪电. 190 CHAPTER 7 commenting on these movements’ political ambition or sedition.91 Offline as in online, mainstream Protestant sources have been less concerned with the political status, activities and implications of new religious movements than have the lianghui.

Online Discussion of Orthodoxy Online condemnation of new religious movements such as that of “JulieforLord” is usually met with a chorus of brief affirmations such as “Amen” and “may the Lord protect his flock.” All respondents condemn Eastern Lightning for “twisting the Bible” and “stealing believers,” suggesting that they share an interpretation of orthodoxy that transcends denominational differences and justifies my use of term ‘mainstream Protestants.’92 This is affirmed by the fact that the most popular Protestant websites are not clearly affiliated with any offline organization, be it TSPM or unofficial churches. As the “About Us” page for “Christnet” (基督网 Jiduwang) explains:

Christnet aims to provide a platform for online exchange between believers, denominations, and organizations, and hopes to open a new chapter of online evangelism . . . Christnet does not come under any group, church or organization, and is an independent ministry body not affiliated with any denomination.93

Indeed, the neutral and anonymous nature of these spaces enables interactions between members of a broad spectrum of Protestant traditions, and thereby helps to bridge pre-existing offline divides. The willingness of Protestants to interact in such a way additionally suggests that identity as a member of an official (TSPM) church or unofficial (‘house’) church is of secondary importance to identity as Protestant in the face of heterodox groups such as Eastern Lightning. Despite these commonalities, the status of some groups in relation to Protestant orthodoxy is an issue of contention even among mainstream Chinese Protestants. Such is the case for the All Sphere Church/Born Again group.

91 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端. 92 The foundation of the TSPM ostensibly heralded the “post-denominational” era of Chinese Protestantism. In practice, however, differences persist, both as a result of missionary heritage and different theological and ritual emphases on the part of Chinese believers. 93 Jidu wang (基督网), “Guanyu women 关于我们” [About us]. Available at http://www .jidunet.cn/about/aboutus.htm. Accessed July 24, 2013. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 191

As this chapter has demonstrated, the lianghui’s stance toward this group is unequivocal, and the government identified it as a cult in 1995. However, many other Protestants allow the possibility that the group is generally orthodox. The China Gospel Fellowship’s anti-heresy materials, for example, condemn any teaching that weeping is a necessary sign of salvation but acknowledge that not all believers who go by the name of the Born Again denomination subscribe to this belief.94 Online discussions have also seen members of the group defending the orthodoxy of their faith to guarded outsiders, who inter- rogate them about their beliefs.95 Such discussion has persisted despite the Protestant lianghui’s public condemnation of the Born Again sect, and state prohibitions against posting “cultic” (邪教 xiejiao) or “superstitious” (迷信 mixin) materials in BBS.96 While participants must acknowledge these prohibitions when joining many of these forums,97 this is evidently insufficient to prevent either them or the moderators from challenging state injunctions, and they do not fear the repercussions of transgressing them. Cleavages in Protestants’ constructions of orthodoxy are also occasionally evident in BBS discussions of the lianghui, even though members of official and unofficial churches generally acknowledge each other as “brothers and sisters” (弟兄姊妹 dixiong zimei). Paul2005’s anecdote of meeting with Eastern Lightning members, for example, resulted in a critique of the lianghui’s theology. While one contributor implied that the “closed” nature of house churches made them more susceptible to heretical teachings, paul2005 condemned the lianghui and the theology associated with its Theological Construction campaign. The exchange proceeded as follows:

94 China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), Fangbei bianbo yiduan 防备辩驳异端, 191. The handbook expresses a similar tentative acceptance of Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists (145–52). 95 Jim, “Chongsheng pai shi yiduan ma? Xuyao xiangxi ziliao! 重生派是异端吗？需要详细资料！” [Is the Born Again sect heretical? Need detailed information!] BBS thread initiated on July 3, 2004. Formerly available at http://www.zanmei.net/bbs. Accessed March 29, 2007. For a similar, more recent discussion, see http://www.hnjdj.org/comment- 1165788-2.html. Accessed June 11, 2010. 96 Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国信息产业部), “Hulianwang dianzi gonggao fuwu guanli guiding 互联网电子公告服务管理规定” [Regulations for Broadcasting Bulletin Systems (BBS) on the Internet]. Available at http://www.miit.gov.cn/n11293472/n11294912/n11296542/11957379 .html. Accessed July 30, 2013. 97 For example, http://lt.jdjfx.com/member.php?mod=register. Accessed September 19, 2014. 192 CHAPTER 7

guozi 147: Go to a big TSPM church (教堂 jiaotang); they’re a bit safer [author’s note: i.e.: less likely to be heretical].

paul2005: Going to a big TSPM church is a waste of time and life. I left a big TSPM church. To put it bluntly, big TSPM churches just want you to be a good person—i.e., justification through love. But Christ’s church is not like this; we are justified through faith . . . without a firm foundation, it’s easy to be blown to and fro by other teachings.

guozi 147: Please don’t judge (without getting the facts) . . . maybe the TSPM church you went to was like that . . . but the one I’m at isn’t. And the preaching isn’t irrelevant like you said. If it was like that I wouldn’t listen either. If it was as you say then all the Protestants would have long gone from the TSPM churches.

paul2005: I’m not judging anyone, I’m speaking God’s truth. The TSPM’s teaching is not the real truth—justification through faith is smothered while justification through love is held up, [they] barely talk about the judgment of sin, [but rather] talk mostly about doing good. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus is watered down, while entering heaven through works is held up as orthodoxy.

guozi 147: It’s ok, our church proclaims righteousness through faith . . . I’ve never heard of ‘righteousness through love’ . . . I don’t know about the churches you’ve been to, but the ones I’ve been to teach righteousness through faith, believe in God, and lift high the cross.98

The discussion quoted here attests that while lianghui liberals led by Ding have held out the fruits of Theological Construction as orthodoxy, this has been rejected and resisted not only by Protestants who worship in house churches, but also by many TSPM churchgoers and preachers. Indeed, the current Statement of Faith on the lianghui’s website concurs with those of other

98 BBS thread headed Paul2005, “遭遇东方闪电” [Encounter with Eastern Lightning]. Available at http://bbs.edzx.com/viewthread.php?tid=23888&highlight=%B6%AB%B7 %BD%C9%C1%B5%E7. Accessed July 10, 2009. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 193

Protestant websites in professing that “people fall short of God’s glory because of sin, but because of faith through Jesus Christ, can obtain forgiveness, salvation, and resurrection through his grace, and enjoy eternal life.”99 House churches’ formulation of orthodoxy was articulated in several statements jointly issued by leaders of four of the largest house church networks in November 1998. The first was a Confession of Faith, which was drafted in the hope that it would “strengthen the faith of brothers and sisters, resist heresies and cults and together forward the great revival of the Church in China.”100 Accordingly, it condemned doctrines that are specific to certain new religious movements. The teaching that the Trinity is one entity with three modes of manifestation, famously espoused by the Shouters, was refuted, as was the teaching that Christ has returned to earth.101 Released in the same month that the lianghui’s Theological Construction project was unveiled, the Confession also pointedly criticized the TSPM as it stated opposition to “the unity of Church and state or the intermingling of the Church and political power.” In a second statement, the house church leaders elaborated upon this by stating that they believed government requirements for registration to conflict with Biblical principles. The Three-Self movement was “initiated by the government” and led by people who “propounded liberal social gospel type of theology” or “were not even Christians,” whereas house churches “developed from the traditions of the fundamentalists and evangelicals.”102 As this statement reflects, some of the present debates over orthodoxy within Chinese Protestantism are a reiteration of those that plagued it in the twentieth century. The lianghui elite are the descendants of the ‘social gospel’ theologians of the 1920s and 1930s, and continue to espouse a theology that supports participation in the United Front as they did in the early 1950s. Correspondingly, the present opposition of house churches to the lianghui continues the legacy of evangelical Christian leaders such as Watchman Nee,

99 CCC/TSPM, “信仰宣告.” Cf. “Guanyu women 关于我们” [About us]. Available at http:// www.kyhs.me/about/index.html. Accessed September 19, 2014; “Xinyang gaobai 信仰告白” [Declaration of Faith]. Available at www.jidunet.cn/about/index.htm. Accessed July 30, 2013. 100 Confession as reprinted in Lambert, China’s Christian Millions, 75. 101 Ibid., 73. 102 “Attitude of Chinese House Churches towards the Government, Its Religious Policy, and the Three-Self Movement,” CSJ 13, no. 3 (1998): 59–60. There has long been debate among Protestants concerning the sincerity of Wu Yaozong and Ding Guangxun’s faith. Many viewed the fact that Ding remained unscathed during the Cultural Revolution as evidence of his membership of the CCP. Interviews, 2006. 194 CHAPTER 7

Wang Mingdao and Lin Xian’gao (Samuel Lamb) who resisted the formation of the TSPM during the 1950s, and who continued the opposition of evangelicals to modernist theologians in the 1920s and 1930s. This said, all condemn Eastern Lightning.

Cooperation and Conflict

In its denunciations of heterodoxy over the past three decades the lianghui leadership has followed the vocabulary favored by the CCP, reflecting its participation in the United Front. Mainstream Protestants have largely confined their criticism of new religious movements to religious and social considerations, and have judged the liberal theology espoused by the late Ding Guangxun to be heretical. Nevertheless, all Protestant groups abhor the majority of the movements listed as ‘cults’ by the state; during the course of my research I failed to find a single article or BBS post in defense of Eastern Lightning. Thus, at the same time as highlighting divisions, new religious movements can serve to unite fragmented Protestants against a common foe. Signs of modest cooperation are evident in articles published by the lianghui, which reprint portions of the China Gospel Fellowship’s anti-heresy training material.103 The specter of new religious movements may also engender a closer working relationship between churches and the state. From the CCP’s perspective, the Protestant lianghui can be used to disseminate and legitimize an orthodoxy conducive to a harmonious socialist society, and to dissuade believers from joining subversive religious movements. House churches, too, are surely a lesser evil than new religious movements, which both predict and pray for the demise of the CCP, and Christians may provide authorities with valuable intelligence on new religious movements.104 From the churches’ perspective, the state is uniquely powerful to quash new religious movements. Hence, when China Gospel Fellowship leaders were abducted, their relatives approached authorities in Beijing for assistance, and pastors now urge their ‘flocks’ to report new religious movements to police.105

103 Jing Xing (儆醒), “Yiduan ‘mentuhui’ de neimu 异端《门徒会》的内幕” [Inside the heretical “Disciples”], TF 1 (2008): 31. Cf. China Gospel Fellowship (中华福音团契), 防备辩驳异端, 98. 104 Wang Ao (王傲), “Qiantan fei zhengfu zuzhi zai fan xiejiao qingbao gongzuo zhong de zuoyong 浅谈非政府组织在反邪教情报工作中的作用” [On the role of non- governmental organizations in gathering intelligence against cults], 法制与社会 2 (2012). 105 “‘Zhaoyuan shijian’ dajia tan ‘招远事件’ 大家谈” [Everyone’s talking about the ‘Zhaoyuan incident’], TF 7 (2014): 8. Protestant Depictions of Heresy 195

Culturally, all Protestants have more in common with new religious movements than they would care to admit. This is evident in shared epithets, such as the phrase “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (披着羊皮的狼 pizhe yangpi de lang). Matthew 7:15 records Jesus as warning “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” In the 1950s, Wu Yaozong (吴耀宗; Y.T. Wu), the inaugural leader of the TSPM, used this phrase to describe foreign missionaries, but himself complained of being labeled a heretic.106 Today, lianghui authors and participants in BBS describe Eastern Lightning and other sectarian evangelists as such;107 Eastern Lightning itself invokes the phrase in the illustration on the cover of its compilation of anecdotes of judgment (Figure 3). Other phrases used by all groups include “evil spirit” (邪灵 xieling) and “false Christ” (假基督 jia Jidu). This common invective most likely not only reflects the fact that all groups draw upon the Bible, but also the circulation of members and cultural elements between the groups, as identified in Chapter 2 of this book. In all of these cases, discourses of orthodoxy are central to religious identity and legitimation. Believers see themselves as followers of the True Way (真道 zhen dao) and travelers on the Orthodox Road (正路 zheng lu); either Jesus Christ or the Female Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”108 Hence, while much writing on Chinese religion has emphasized believers’ pragmatic concern for efficacy, some are also concerned with doctrine and ‘Truth.’109 Nor is orthodoxy prescribed from above and accepted passively from below, but passionately debated; there are many and vibrant interpretations of orthodox Chinese Protestantism. Such discussions are not confined to the state, but are close to the heart of contemporary Chinese Christians.

106 “Y.T. Wu’s Report,” in Merwin and Jones, eds., Documents of the Three-Self Movement, 34–36; Wu Yao-tsung, “Christian Ideals Implemented by Communism,” in Christian Missions in China: Evangelists of What?, ed. Jessie G. Lutz (Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1965 [1951]), 70. 107 Julie for Lord’s response was posted as a response to “Zenme shibie dongfang shandian? 怎么识别东方闪电?” [How to identify Eastern Lightning?]. Formerly available at http:// zanmei.net/bbs/viewthread.php?action=printable&tid=42408. Accessed January 18, 2006; now defunct. 108 See John 4:16. 109 In this vein, see Clarke SJ, Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History, 7. CHAPTER 8 Conclusion: Eastern Lightning in Local and Global Perspective

This book was borne out of my simple intrigue with a religious movement that teaches Jesus has returned to earth in the form of a Chinese woman. I wanted to understand what made this teaching credible and attractive to believers, and why Chinese Protestants and authorities were making such a fuss about it. Through my reading of Eastern Lightning’s texts, I discovered that as well as being one instance of the age-old, pan-cultural phenomenon that is millenarianism, the movement is very much at home in Chinese religious history. Teachings such as a female Christ, apocalyptic warnings and millennial expectations are not especially novel to the Chinese context. The conclusion that Eastern Lightning draws on pre-existing religious and cultural sources is hardly surprising, for all new religious movements do. Christianity itself began as a new religious movement emerging from Judaism, and first-century churches borrowed from local pagan beliefs.1 Nevertheless, Eastern Lightning is unique in its admixture of teachings. It differs from popular Chinese religions in its organizational structure, soteriology, lack of efficacious response, and the extent of its Christian references. It differs from Christianity in its new scriptures, eschatological predictions, and teachings of the first and second incarnations of God. Unlike the Eternal Mother of earlier sectarian groups, Eastern Lightning’s Female Christ is not a maternal figure, and does not prescribe meditation or body cultivation techniques. Finally, Eastern Lightning lacks Falun Gong’s scientism and allusion to Buddhism. Where, then, does Eastern Lightning fit in Chinese religion? This runs the risk of being a Eurocentric question, as most Chinese were unconcerned by such classification projects prior to the popularization of the term ‘religion’ (宗教 zongjiao) in the early twentieth century. (An exception to this was heterodox sects, which circulated scriptures emphasizing the importance of belief in their respective teachings.)2 Nowadays, however, as Chapters 5 and 7 illustrated, the classification of Eastern Lightning within (or indeed, beyond) the schema of ‘religion’ is central to the way in which it is treated by political and

1 Clinton E. Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae (Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1996). 2 Overmyer, Precious Volumes, 280–81.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��5 | doi ��.��63/9789004297258_009 Conclusion 197 religious leaders. Where Eastern Lightning fits is therefore not just a Western or even an academic question, but one of great political and practical concern in China today. Eastern Lightning is best understood as part of a heterodox tradition that hybridizes elements of Christianity and popular religions. The big red dragon indicates that Christian motifs have been indigenized by believers at the grassroots, and the Female Christ exemplifies the way in which popular religious notions have affected interpretations of Christianity and led to religious innovation. The boundaries of this tradition are blurred and porous, but it is characterized by millenarian teachings that refer to biblical themes and characters, the presence of supernatural powers and phenomena in everyday life, and the rejection of mainstream political and religious prescriptions. Commonalities between Eastern Lightning and the Taipings regarding the dragon and the reading of Genesis as foretelling a female divinity lead one to wonder how continuous this heterodox tradition might be, and how it might continue to evolve.

Eastern Lightning and the Glocalization of Christianity

This book has considered Eastern Lightning in the Chinese context to identify its cultural origins, and to foreground the innovations and agency of those who are involved with and against it. Historically, studies of Christianity in China have tended either to represent local agency as a response to foreign activity, or to focus on East-West cultural exchange, which can still insinuate that China is worth studying for its relationship with the West. It is refreshing now to invert this weighting, and consider Eastern Lightning’s relationship to global developments in something of a postscript. Eastern Lightning can be viewed as part of a global shift in Protestantism from northern continents to southern continents. Whereas for the past five centuries Christianity has been bound up with European (-derived) civili- zations, over the past hundred years, its “center of gravity” has shifted.3 Of the countries with the largest overall growth per hundred Christians in 2010, seven of the top ten were located in Africa and three in Asia, while six of the ten largest overall losers per hundred Christians were in Europe.4 The popular view of Christianity as a Western or European religion is therefore outdated, and a “next Christendom” is already to be found in Africa, Latin

3 Jenkins, Next Christendom, 1. 4 Todd M. Johnson and Kenneth R. Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), 60–61. 198 CHAPTER 8

America, and Asia. Although assessments of Chinese Christians as “changing the global balance of power” or numbering 140 million are probably inflated,5 Eastern Lightning has surely emerged from a time in which an ascendant “southern” Christianity is exploring the relationship between Christianity and indigenous cultures. Contemporaneous with this shift, Pentecostal and charismatic forms of Christianity have grown to account for roughly two-thirds of Christians in Asia.6 In China, Pentecostalism has been the “dominant form” of Christianity in the reform era.7 Chen-Yang Kao attributes this to the reinforcing of religious elements associated with Pentecostalism during the Cultural Revolution— specifically, healing, exorcism, dreams, and the concept of spiritual warfare.8 According to Kao, this Pentecostal style of religion developed not due to the work of foreign missionaries, but as an autochthonous response to the closure of religious institutions in China. Nevertheless, it happened to exhibit traits shared by other Pentecostal movements throughout the world.9 Although ‘classical’ Pentecostalism emerged from the United States, many indigenous versions predated it or emerged concurrently. Korea and India experienced Pentecostal revivals in the first decade of the twentieth century,10 and there were “similar manifestations” of religion in Africa, England, Russia and Latin America prior to that.11 Contemporary Chinese house churches embraced the Pentecostal style of religion in a similarly organic fashion.

5 Ibid., 140; Aikman, Jesus in Beijing. 6 Hwa Yung, “Pentecostalism and the Asian Church,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 38; Mark Hutchinson and John Wolffe, A Short History of Global Evangelicalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 225. 7 Madsen, “Signs and Wonders,” 29; Nanlai Cao, “Gender, Modernity, and Pentecostal Christianity in China,” in Global Pentecostalism in the 21st Century, ed. Robert W. Hefner (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 149. See also Chen-Yang Kao, “The House Church Identity and Preservation of Pentecostal-Style Protestantism in China,” in Christianity in Contemporary China: Socio-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Francis Khek Gee Lim (London: Routledge, 2013), 208, 216. 8 Kao, “Cultural Revolution,” 175, 172. 9 Ibid., 183; Yung, “Pentecostalism and the Asian Church,” 43ff. 10 Allan Anderson, “The Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements,” in The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. 9: World Christianities c. 1914–2000, ed. Hugh McLeod (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 90; Anderson, “Revising Pentecostal History in Global Perspective,” 153ff. 11 Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 18. Conclusion 199

Kao argues that this homegrown version of global Pentecostalism is the key to understanding popular Chinese Protestantism. Whereas scholars have tended to ascribe the “signs and wonders” in contemporary Protestantism to interaction with popular religion, Kao argues that Pentecostalism offers a superior framework of understanding (although he acknowledges that the religion manifests syncretic tendencies). This is because Chinese Christians profess antagonism towards indigenous traditions even while borrowing from them, and the coexistence of these contrary inclinations is characteristic of Pentecostalism. In the words of Joel Robbins, Pentecostalism “accepts local enchanted cosmologies only to attack them.”12 Might Eastern Lightning, too, be better understood as global Pentecostalism than as a product of religious interaction? Certainly, the phenomenon offers to explain why Eastern Lightning condemns popular religious rituals such as burning paper money and yet promotes anecdotes of retribution and dreams; it explains why Eastern Lightning finds the dragon to be a potent symbol, but associates it with evil rather than beneficence. Another important characteristic of Pentecostalism is the prominence accorded to the dualist struggle between the divine and demonic,13 and this might also account for one of Eastern Lightning’s most central teachings—that China is the most ‘backward’ of places because its people have been most ‘corrupted’ by the devil (aka CCP). Describing Eastern Lightning as Pentecostal would require drastic qualifi- cation, however. Without wanting to be dogmatic, it is clear that key aspects of Eastern Lightning’s teaching place it beyond the bounds of Christianity. Eastern Lightning’s denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ prior to his adult ministry, upholding of its own scriptures as more authoritative than the Bible, and worship of a Female Christ are all at odds with core Christian doctrines, and thus better understood as belonging to a new religious movement. Moreover, Eastern Lightning’s understanding of the gifts and role of the Holy Spirit differs from that of Pentecostals.14 On the whole, Eastern Lightning’s texts manifest an authoritarian and bureaucratic bent rather than encouraging the democ- ratization of religious interpretation as Pentecostalism tends to do (for example, through prophecy). In Eastern Lightning’s texts, the Holy Spirit is more a

12 Kao, “Cultural Revolution,” 183–84. Kao quotes Joel Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 127. 13 Robbins, “Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” 128–29. 14 Cf. Allan Anderson, “Introduction: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia,” in Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia, ed. Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2005), 2; Madsen, “Signs and Wonders,” 18, 23. 200 CHAPTER 8 force for sober obedience than for ecstatic inspiration, enabling believers to withstand torture at the hands of police and remain steadfast in their loyalty to the organization.15 Speaking in tongues, prophecy, and miracles are either dismissed or downplayed, and tales of visions and dreams serve only to reinforce the movement’s authority. It is of course entirely possible that some believers adopt a more euphoric and experiential emphasis in their personal spiritual life as is found in Chinese Protestantism at large, but overall, describing Eastern Lightning as Pentecostal seems to complicate as much as illuminate. A way of considering global processes that might contribute to our understanding of Eastern Lightning more substantially is to acknowledge both homogenizing and heterogenizing tendencies in globalization. Specifically, the concept of glocalization emerged from the disciplines of business and marketing in the 1980s–90s, and was introduced by Roland Robertson into the social scientific field as he argued that “globalization . . . has involved and increasingly involves the creation and the incorporation of locality.”16 Eastern Lightning demonstrates the penetration of elements of Christian culture into much of China. However, rather than attesting to the “triumph of culturally homogenizing forces,” it is a microcosm of a far more symbiotic relationship between the universal and particular, as indigenous elements are revitalized and re-worked in sync with the once-foreign.17 We have seen this dialectical dynamic not only in Eastern Lightning’s teachings, but also in the Chinese state’s anti-cult campaigns, as discussions of xiejiao infuse Ming-Qing methods of managing heterodox religious associations with the rationales of modern, international anti-cult movements. Similarly, while churches worldwide deplore ‘heresies,’ Chinese Protestants’ thinking about them has been influenced by the history and politics of Protestantism in twentieth-century China. More than pointing to the compatibility of global and local (as ‘indigenization’ and ‘inculturation’ also do), glocalization suggests the power of the local in shaping the global.18 In this vein, Eastern Lightning has set its sights beyond China. In accordance with the prophecy that “lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west,” it anticipates that its teachings will spread

15 Cf. Robert W. Hefner, “The Unexpected Modern: Gender, Piety, and Politics in the Global Pentecostal Surge,” in Global Pentecostalism in the 21st Century, ed. Robert W. Hefner (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 2. 16 Roland Robertson, “Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity,” in Global Modernities, ed. Mike Featherstone, Scott M. Lash, and Roland Robertson (London: Sage, 1995), 40. 17 Ibid., 25. 18 Ibid., 40. Conclusion 201 throughout the world and gain recognition in Western nations.19 Founder Zhao Weishan is reported to have entered the US and sought political asylum on the basis of religious persecution in around the year 2000, possibly with “Lightning” wife Yang Xiangbin, and a small number of followers meet there.20 By 2014 The Church had been reported to be proselytizing aggressively in Taiwan and Hong Kong,21 and the group’s website, Facebook page and YouTube uploads also indicated revamped attempts to recruit from Chinese-speaking communities in San Francisco, Seattle, England, Canada, Italy, Sweden, and South Korea.22 It is hard to envisage Eastern Lightning gaining much currency in the West, but its diffusion of Christian cultural elements may contribute indirectly to ‘southern’ Christianity, and religiosity in the Chinese diaspora. Whereas discussions of the Chinese Christian contribution to the rest of the world usually reference relatively elite groups such as TSPM/CCC leaders, cultural Christians and boss Christians,23 Protestant-related new religious movements suggest that an equally significant exchange might be occurring at a popular level. Sectarian societies have initiated East-West cultural flows since the nineteenth century.24 While it may seem unlikely that a Female Christ could have any serious impact beyond the PRC, she would not be the nation’s first religious export.

The Future of Eastern Lightning

International efforts aside, from humble beginnings in poor, rural areas of Henan province, Eastern Lightning has succeeded in transplanting itself

19 Matthew 24:27; Church of Almighty God, “The Seven Thunders Peal,” in Church of Almighty God, The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh, contents p. 3, item 1. 20 Aikman, Jesus in Beijing, 243; Forney, “Jesus Is Back, and She’s Chinese.” For several years from 2002, Eastern Lightning’s website and literature listed P.O. boxes in Bayside and West Nyack, New York, for its Morning Star publishing house. In 2005 I met with a Chinese Christian who claimed to have had several conversations with Zhao in Queens, New York, in 2002. 21 http://anticag.org/; Christian Tribune (基督教論壇報), “Taiwan jidujiao zhong jiaohui lianhe shengming 台灣基督教眾教會聯合聲明” [Taiwan Protestant churches issue joint declaration]. Available at http://www.ct.org.tw/news/detail/2013-00561. Accessed September 6, 2014. 22 https://www.facebook.com/godfootsteps (accessed July 12, 2013); http://www.youtube .com/godfootsteps (accessed July 12, 2013). 23 For example Peter Tze Ming Ng, Chinese Christianity: An Interplay between Global and Local Perspectives (Leiden: Brill, 2012). 24 Jansen, “Sectarian Religions and Globalization in Nineteenth-Century China.” 202 CHAPTER 8 throughout China, such that the areas targeted in a 2012 crackdown on the group were in the western provinces of Qinghai and Guizhou. Like some Protestant house church organizations, Eastern Lightning has reportedly used the old CCP tactic of building up support bases in the countryside from which to “encircle” cities (以农村包围城市 yi nongcun baowei chengshi),25 and thus is increasingly found in urban areas, including Beijing and the southern indus- trial city of Guangzhou.26 It evidently has extensive financial resources with which to fund this expansion—Chinese media report that in 2012, tithes for its Shandong region alone totaled 44 million yuan, and in 2013, Zhao spent 10 million yuan promoting the group in Hong Kong.27 Increasingly, Eastern Lightning’s websites depict the movement as attracting upper-middle class, urban members. YouTube clips, social media pages, MP3 files and online discussion forums demonstrate technological sophisti- cation, and pages in English, Korean and traditional Chinese suggest cosmo- politanism. Videos feature footage of staid, well-dressed members meeting in office spaces and appreciating Church choirs in concert halls.28 Anecdotes of judgment, dreams and visions are still offered for download, so this new emphasis is part of a strategy of expansion rather than a complete disowning of the group’s enchanted roots. Nevertheless, Eastern Lightning’s online pro- jection is a far cry from rural Henan, and the ecstatic paroxysms of the movement’s quasi-shamanic origins. These developments lead one to wonder what Eastern Lightning’s future might hold. In light of the dynamic and possibly fragmented nature of Eastern Lightning, I shall explore some possibilities rather than make a confident or technical prediction here, but my discussion is loosely informed by sociological

25 Li Huishan (李辉山), “Hexie shehui shiyuzhong nongmin jingshen xinyang de chonggou 和谐社会视阈中农民精神信仰的重构” [Reconstructing peasants’ faith on the threshold of harmonious society], 兰州交通大学学报 32, no. 2 (2013); Shi Aidong (施爱东), “Mori yaoyan de hudie xiaoying ji qi chuanbo dongli 末日谣言的蝴蝶效应及其传播动力,” 56. Cf. Koesel, “Rise of a Chinese House Church,” 580. 26 Carrie Gracie, “The Chinese Cult that Kills ‘Demons.’ ” Available at http://www.bbc.com/ news/world-asia-china-28641008. Accessed September 6, 2014; Wu Minggao (吴明高), “Xiejiao weifa fanzui hudong de qushi ji chuzhi duice 邪教违法犯罪活动的趋势及处置对策,” 82. 27 Tian Liang (田亮), Li Jingtao (李静涛), and Huang Ying (黄滢), “Xiejiao jiaozhu zui’e zhenxiang 邪教教主罪恶真相,” 27. 28 See clips entitled 東方之光演唱會 and 永远的使命 at http://tv.kingdomsalvation .org/. Accessed September 5, 2014; also Church of Almighty God, “Touguo Shandong Zhaoyuan xiong’an kan shishi zhenxiang 透過山東招遠兇案看事實真相” [The truth as evidenced by the Zhaoyuan murder]. Conclusion 203 analyses of religious movements as well as the historical precedents discussed in Chapters 1 and 5 of this book.29 First, Eastern Lightning could become more conciliatory towards its adversaries in order to pursue growth. Over the past decade, Eastern Lightning has toned down its anti-Christian invective. Promotional videos now refer to its members as “ordinary Christians,” in contrast to the condemnation of Christians found in its 2002 testimonies of judgment.30 However, if Eastern Lightning is trying to endear itself to Chinese Christians and their supporters abroad, they have not met with much success. Experience to date suggests that Protestants in the Chinese diaspora are not nearly as open to Eastern Lightning as those in rural north China, where disappointments and guanxi abound, and a Female Christ who dispenses judgment seems far less intuitive to Westerners than to Chinese. Both Chinese and Western audiences are increasingly educated about the ‘cult’ and its alleged violence, thanks to media attention in 2012 and 2014. For the first time, non-Protestant members of the public are voicing concerns about the group, forming non-governmental associations to oppose it.31 Second, Eastern Lightning could rebel in a more concentrated and spectacular fashion than it has done to date, following in the footsteps of the Taipings or Falun Gong. This seems more likely than the previous option, as Eastern Lightning shows no signs of toning down its hostility towards the CCP. A video uploaded to the Church’s Youtube channel in June 2014 condemns the CCP for the mass movements of the Maoist years, the Long March and, star- tlingly, for “initiating” (发动 fadong) the Sino-Japanese war of 1937–45. Even more provocatively, it paints the Church as the latest victim in a long line of conspiracies in which the CCP has framed dissenting movements to justify their suppression and “massacre” (屠杀 tusha).32 Precedents cited include the 1989 pro-democracy movement, protests in Tibet, and Falun Gong. Alignment with these movements will only intensify the CCP’s wrath towards Eastern Lightning. Alternatively, Eastern Lightning could simply continue to await the millennium, as it has done since the failed prophecy of 2000 (and possibly 2012). In

29 Bryan R. Wilson, Magic and the Millennium (London: Heinemann, 1973), 27, 36–67, 451– 52, 495; Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge, A Theory of Religion (New York: Peter Lang, 1987), 267, 270; H. Richard Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (New York: H. Holt and Company, 1929). 30 See note 28 above. 31 www.fqnslm.com; http://www.xjshzzj.com/h-index.html. Accessed July 16, 2013. 32 Church of Almighty God, “Touguo Shandong Zhaoyuan xiong’an kan shishi zhenxiang 透過山東招遠兇案看事實真相.” 204 CHAPTER 8 the long run, eschatological anticipation may prove difficult to sustain, particularly if negative publicity about the group frustrates recruitment drives for new members who are unwearied by waiting. In such circumstances, schism is likely. Thus, Eastern Lightning could produce offshoots, which in time may come to outlive or overshadow it. The Protestant-related cultic milieu in China sees successive movements rise and fall, and there are signs that Eastern Lightning is already progenerating, however unwittingly and unsuccessfully. In August 2014, five alleged members of the Church of Almighty God were tried in connection with the May murder of a woman in a fast food restaurant in Zhaoyuan city of Shandong province. Zhang Lidong 张立冬, his daughters Zhang Fan 张帆 and Zhang Hang 张航, his partner Zhang Qiaolian 张巧联, and his partner’s friend Lü Yingchun 吕迎春 had been soliciting strangers’ cell phone numbers in the diner for the purpose of proselytizing. When Wu Shuoyan 吴硕艳, a sales assistant in a nearby women’s clothing store, refused to divulge hers, the quintet declared her an “evil spirit” and beat her to death with a mop handle.33 International media outlets repeated the Chinese assessment of the Church of Almighty God as bizarre and violent. What they overlooked were Lü Yingchun and Zhang Fan’s statements to the court that although they started out as members of Eastern Lightning (in 1998 and 2007 respectively), they had outgrown it. In Lü’s words,

Zhang Fan and I are the only spokespeople for the true ‘Almighty God.’ The one that the state is cracking down on is Zhao Weishan’s ‘Almighty God,’ not our ‘Almighty God.’ They are the fake ‘Almighty God’; only we are the true ‘Almighty God.’34

Eastern Lightning’s blog wasted no time in pointing out this divergence and distancing itself from the “psychopaths.”35

33 “Chinese Cult Murder Trial Opens in Shandong.” Available at http://www.bbc.com/news/ world-asia-china-28857395. Accessed September 29, 2014. 34 Yang Feng (杨锋), “Zhaoyuan xue’an beigaoren fating zibai: Wo jiu shi shen 招远血案被告人法庭自白：我就是神” [Court confession of accused in Zhaoyuan murder: I am God]. Available at http://news.qq.com/a/20140822/067021.htm. Accessed September 28, 2014. 35 Xiao Li, “An Extensive Exposure to the Sinister Intention of the Evil CCP’s High-Profile Public Trial on the Psychopaths (sic).” Available at http://en.blog.hidden-advent.org/ an-extensive-exposure-to-the-sinister-intention-of-the-evil-ccps-high-profile-public- trial-on-the-psychopaths/. Accessed September 26, 2014. Conclusion 205

Evidently, Eastern Lightning itself has become a resource for religious inno- vators. As this book goes to press, the story of The Church of Almighty God continues to develop apace. It remains to be seen whether it will erupt into a larger conflict with the state on the scale of Falun Gong and earlier sectarian movements. Either way, the Female Christ represents a tradition that is a fixture of the Chinese religious landscape. Her religion is forged from centuries-old anecdotes of retribution and visions, an indigenous goddess, popular Christianity, and mass political movements. The state and Protestant churches’ responses to her have similarly been shaped by history, and varied over decades. They have not succeeded in eliminating a subculture of heterodox Protestantism, which continues to simmer. It may not always make headlines, but will continue to unfold as believers in China dream and proselytize, and authorities admonish and arrest them.

Appendix 1 Annotated Bibliography of Eastern Lightning’s Chinese Texts

• Arranged alphabetically by pinyin of short title where cited in footnotes, or title. • All URLs current as of April 2015 unless otherwise indicated. Note, however, that URLs and order of contents change frequently. If this happens, the reader should still be able to locate most of these sources by following links from www.hidden- advent.org. • Early hard copies are attributed to Morning Star Publishing (晨星出版社 Chenxing chubanshe); more recently to Church of Almighty God (全能神教会 Quannengshen jiaohui). • Asterisk (*) indicates hard copy obtained by author. Title: 达到办事有原则必须进入的真理实际 Dadao banshi you yuanze bixu jinru de zhenli shiji [Truths which must be grasped in order to manage things in a principled fashion] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/principles.html Notes / description: Preface is dated October 20, 2011. Comprised of 162 excerpts from scripture, sermons and other materials.

Title: 答对媒体记者采访关键在于怎样见证神的作工 Dadui meiti jizhe caifang guanjian zaiyu zenyang jianzheng shen de zuogong [Witnessing to God’s work is the key in responding to media interviews] URL: https://www.hidden-advent.org/inst-c.html?k=20130110 Notes / description: Circular dated January 10 2013.

Title: 各宗派首领被神话语征服的铁证 Ge zongpai shouling bei shen huayu zhengfu de tiezheng URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/tiezheng-index-1.html Notes / description: 138 testimonies from Eastern Lightning adherents who led Christian churches and preached against Eastern Lightning

prior to their conversion. English version titled “Ironclad Proofs of Being Conquered by God’s Word,” developed March 2004.

Title: 给各地教会神选民的一封信 Gei ge di jiaohui shen xuanmin de yifeng xin [A letter to God’s elect in churches everywhere] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/inst-c.html?k=20121216 Notes / description: Dated December 16, 2012.

Title: 跟随着羔羊唱新歌* Gensuizhe gaoyang chang xin’ge* URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/songs-txt.html Notes / description: Lyrics and MP3 files for a selection of hymns using portions of scripture and adherents’ reflections are available for download. The number of hymns available has gradually increased over the past decade. A hard copy obtained by the author in 2006 contained 712 and 307 hymns of each type respectively. English compilation of lyrics is entitled “Sing a New Song with the Lamb.”

Short title: 关于教会工作 Title: 关于教会工作的交通讲道与教会工作安排历年汇编 Guanyu jiaohui gongzuo de jiaotong jiangdao yu jiaohui gongzuo anpai linian huibian [Compilation of plans and talks concerning church work over the years] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/anpai1–1.html Notes / description: Covers the period from August 2003 to the end of 2011. 1432 pages.

Title: 关于我们 Guanyu women URL: https://www.hidden-advent.org/about.html Notes / description: Electronic “About Us” statement providing a brief history of the Church. An earlier statement, “关于我们” (2005), was formerly available from http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/about_us.php Accessed September 7, 2005.

Title: 国度福音见证问答* Guodu fuyin jianzheng wenda* Chinese Texts 209

URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/fuyin-index-1.html Notes / description: Rebuttal of 77 objections that Christians may have to Eastern Lightning, with reference to the Bible. English version titled “Questions and Answers on the Testimony of the Kingdom Gospel.”

Title: 国度福音讲道专辑 Guodu fuyin jiangdao zhuanji [Sermons on the Kingdom Gospel] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/fuyin25-index.html Notes / Description: Transcription of 30 sermons; 278 pages.

Title: 话在肉身显现* Hua zai roushen xianxian* URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/shenhua-index-1.html Notes / description: Eastern Lightning’s scripture. Available from website from late 2002. Hard copy is 1231 pages; for further description see Chapter 1 of this book. English version is entitled “The Word Appears in the Flesh.”

Title: 基督话语三百条真理问答 Jidu huayu sanbai tiao zhenli wenda [300 questions and answers about God’s word] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/sanbai1.html Notes / description: 300 questions and answers on the “vision” and “implementation” of Eastern Lightning’s scripture, The Word Appears in the Flesh. Includes an appendix addressing the eternal fate of various groups of people, such as those who reject Eastern Lightning.

Title: 教会工作原则手册 Jiaohui gongzuo yuanze shouce [Handbook of principles for church work] URL: http://holyspiritspeaks.org/gongzuoan/ (now defunct) Notes / description: Available from Eastern Lightning’s website for several months in early-mid 2006. It is referred to in a more recent compilation, 关于教会工作 (p. 638).

Title: 基督与教会工人的座谈纪要 Jidu yu jiaohui gongren de zuotan jiyao 210 Appendix 1

URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/hejiao1.html Notes / description: 47 essays, organized into two parts. Part 1: Adherents’ summa- ries of recorded talks given by the Female Christ. Part 2: sermons and responses to questions delivered by church leaders. English version entitled “Selected Preachings of the Leaders from Different Levels in the Church.”

Title: 接受顺服神的作工才是最有福的人 Jieshou shunfu shen de zuogong cai shi zui youfu de ren [Those who accept and obey God’s work are most blessed.] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/obedience-index.html Notes / Description: 100 essays about adherents who are faithful during trials and thus avoid disaster (such as the 2008 Sichuan earthquake), while those who “resist God” meet with it. 538 pages. Published either late 2012 or 2013.

Title: 经历基督话语审判刑罚的见证 Jingli Jidu huayu shenpan xingfa de jianzheng URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/jingli1.html Notes / description: 500 testimonies from adherents whose faith was strengthened after experiencing trials and reading Eastern Lightning texts. English version entitled “Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ.” Previous Chinese edition titled “基督审判台前的见证” ( Jidu shenpan taiqian de jianzheng) contained 1800 testimonies.

Title: 全能神教会的行政、工作安排与教会带领侍奉神的原则 Quannengshen jiaohui de xingzheng, gongzuo anpai yu jiaohui dailing shifeng shen de yuanze [Principles for the administration of the Church of Almighty God, work plans and church leaders serving God] URL: http://truth-way-life.org/index.php?cccpage=Jobs_And_ Administration (now defunct) Notes / description: Available in April 2004; superseded by 2006.

Title: 全能神教会，末后的方舟 Quannengshen jiaohui, mohou de fangzhou [The Church of Almighty God, The ark in the end-times] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/ticket-index.html Chinese Texts 211

Notes / description: Compilation of excerpts from The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh. Published in 2012.

Title: 上面解答问题的回信：到底怎样传福音见证神才合神心意 Shangmian jieda wenti de huixin: daodi zenyang chuan fuyin jianzheng shen cai he shen xinyi [Reply from the top to a question: How to spread the gospel and testify to God in accordance with His intention]. URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/inst-c.html?k=20121215 Notes / description: Dated December 15, 2012.

Title: 神三步作工的纪实精选 Shen san bu zuogong de jishi jingxuan [Highlights of God’s three stages of work] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/sanbu.html Notes / description: Published September 2005. Recounts Bible stories from Old and New Testaments, also extracts from The Word Appears in the Flesh.

Title: 神隐秘降临作工的见证汇编 Shen yinmi jianglin zuogong de jianzheng huibian [Testimonies to God’s hidden descent and work] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/huibian.html Notes / description: 130 conversion stories from Eastern Lightning adherents who had strongly opposed the group when they were Christians. Began to be uploaded onto website from May 2003.

Title: 圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证 Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/yindao-index.html Notes / description: 186 testimonies of Christians who have received dreams and revelations, 111 who have been punished for rejecting God, 10 who have witnessed miracles. Testimonies began to be uploaded onto website from May 2003. Translated as Testimonies to the Holy Spirit’s Guiding People to Turn to the Almighty God.

Title: 识破撒但的诡计才能站住见证 Shipo Sadan de guiji cai neng zhanzhu jianzheng 212 Appendix 1

[You must see through Satan’s schemes if you are to stand firm in your witness] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/fanbo-index-1.html Notes / description: 131 essays rebutting Christians’ criticisms of Eastern Lightning.

Short title: 受惩罚 Title: 基督教各宗各派抵挡全能神受惩罚的典型事例* Jidujiao gezong gepai didang quannengshen shou chengfa de dianxing shili* URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/chengfa-index.html Notes / description: Hard copy was first printed in June 2002; electronic version available from website shortly thereafter. Comprises 887 cases of Christians who died because of accident or illness after rejecting Eastern Lightning. For cover image and discussion, see Chapter 3 and Figure 3 of this book. English version entitled “Typical Cases of Punishment for Resisting the Almighty God.”

Title: 透過山東招遠兇案看事實真相 Touguo Shandong Zhaoyuan xiong’an kan shishi zhenxiang [The truth as evidenced by the Zhaoyuan murder] URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMBDP2297VA&list=UU6 7Rl9H5ihh_Z6IgAbk8Uqw Notes / description: 26-minute video presentation uploaded in June 2014.

Title: 只有信全能神才能达到蒙拯救 (传福音实用手册) Zhiyou xin quannengshen cai neng dadao meng zhengjiu (Chuan fuyin shiyong shouce) [Salvation can be attained only through belief in the Almighty God: A practical handbook for evangelism] URL: http://www.hidden-advent.org/handbook1.html Notes / description: Four parts. Appendix 2 Annotated Bibliography of Eastern Lightning’s English Texts

• Arranged alphabetically by short title where cited in footnotes, or title. • All URLs current as of April 2015 unless otherwise indicated. Note, however, that URLs and order of contents change frequently. If this happens, the reader should still be able to locate most of these sources by following links from www.holyspirit speaks.org. • Asterisk (*) indicates hard copy obtained by author. Title: About Us URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/about/ Notes / description: “About Us” statement providing an account of the Church’s history.

Title: A Collection of Supplying Preaching (sic) URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/books/jiangdao/ Notes / description: Sermons.

Title: Ironclad Proofs of Being Conquered by God’s Word URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/tiezheng/ Notes / description: 137 testimonies from Eastern Lightning adherents who led Christian churches and preached against Eastern Lightning prior to their conversion. Chinese version entitled “各宗派首领被神话语征服的铁证 [Ge zongpai shouling bei shen huayu zhengfu de tiezheng]”

Short title: Questions and Answers Title: Questions and Answers on the Testimony of the Kingdom Gospel URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/qa/ Notes / description: Rebuttal of 77 objections that Christians may have to Eastern Lightning with reference to the Bible. Previously titled Answering 100 Questions Related to the Bible. Chinese version: “国度福音见证问答” [Guodu fuyin jianzheng wenda]

Short title: SLO Title: The Scroll that the Lamb Opened: From “The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh” URL (now defunct): https://www.hidden-advent.org/en/books/download.html Notes: First printed in 2006. Hard copy bears P.O. Box address in West Nyack, New York. Online pdf version was 1177 pages as of September 2013. This greatly expanded on the 2006 edition; translation also revised.

Title: Sing a New Song with the Lamb URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/books/hymns-of-god-word/ Notes / description: Translation of lyrics for approximately 500 “Hymns of God’s Word” (i.e., hymns with lyrics derived from Eastern Lightning scripture) and 292 “Hymns of Experience” (i.e., hymns with lyrics penned by adherents). Chinese version titled “跟随着羔羊唱新歌” [Gensuizhe gaoyang chang xin’ge].

Title: Testimonies of Experiencing the Judgment of the Word of Christ URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/books/testimonies-of- experiencing-the-judgment-and-chastisement-of-christs-word/ Notes / description: Testimonies from adherents who wavered in their faith, but resolved to carry on after going through trials and reading Eastern Lightning scripture or other texts. Chinese version titled “经历基督话语审判刑罚的见证” [ Jingli Jidu huayu shenpan xingfa de jianzheng]. Older edition titled Witnessing Before the Judgment Seat of Christ: The Experience of Accepting the Judgment and Punishment of the Word of God.

Title: Testimonies to the Holy Spirit’s Guiding People to Turn to the Almighty God URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/books/testimonies-to-the- holy-spirit-guiding-people-to-turn-to-almighty-god/ Notes / description: 50 testimonies from adherents who have received dreams and revelations, 50 who have been punished for rejecting God, and 20 who have witnessed miracles. Chinese version titled “圣灵引导人归向全能神的见证” [Shengling yindao ren guixiang quannengshen de jianzheng]. English Texts 215

Title: Typical Cases of Punishment for Resisting the Almighty God URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/typical-cases-of-punishment- for-resisting-almighty-god/ Notes / description: 219 cases of Christians who died as a result of accident or illness after rejecting Eastern Lightning. Available from Eastern Lightning’s websites in early 2007. Chinese version titled “基督教各宗各派抵挡全能神受惩罚的典型事例” [ Jidujiao gezong gepai didang quannengshen shou chengfa de dianxing shili]. For cover image and discussion, see chap. 3 of this book.

Short title: WAF Title: The Word Appears in the Flesh URL: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/books/the-word-appears-in- the-flesh/ Notes / description: Eastern Lightning’s scripture, abridged from the Chinese “话在肉身显现” [Hua zai roushen xianxian]. Available from website from early 2006; translation revised in January 2008. Omits sections of the Chinese version written between 1991– 1992; includes portions written 1992–1997. Bibliography

Periodicals Frequently Cited

Amity News Service (ANS) (http://www.amityfoundation.org/eng/content/amity-news- service-1992-2011) Bridge China Study Journal (CSJ) China Study Project Bulletin Chinese Theological Review (CTR) Nanjing Theological Review (NTR; 金陵神学志 Jinling shenxue zhi) New York Times (NYT) Religion in the PRC: Documentation Tian Feng 天风 (TF)

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2012 94–95 Church Rebuilt by the Holy Spirit 43 affiliation process 57, 149 Eastern Lightning 2, 94, 118, 149 Age of Grace (恩典时代) 73–74 Efficacious Spirit movement 44 Age of Law (律法时代) 73 Established King movement 32, 33, 123 Age of The Kingdom (国度时代) 73–75 Lord God’s Teachings 35, 130 Aleni, Giulio 101 New Testament Church 42 aliases 56, 56n153, 143, 159–60 ‘Shouters’ 31, 121 All Sphere Church (全范围教会) 44–45 Three Grades of Servant 47 CCP labeling of 136–37 Association of Disciples (门徒会) 35–39 demographic composition of 58 1996 study of 58 mainstream Christians’ discussion of adherents, number of 57n161 190–91 authorities’ labeling of 124 TSPM/CCC depiction of 167, 168–70, 175 Chinese Anti-Cult Association’s depiction Amity Christian Art Center 103n16, 113 of 126–29, 136 Amity News Service 174–75, 182n68 demonstration involving 129, 138 anecdotes published by Eastern Lightning depiction of CCP 79, 138 and Chinese traditions 98, 199 handcopying of texts 54 and data on adherents 58–59 martyrdom 79 and Pentecostal Christianity 200 relationship to Chinese traditions 68, 111, concerning the year 2000 91–94 138 of Christians’ conversion to Eastern teaching regarding food consumption Lightning 149, 159–60 37, 55 of divine retribution 75, 80–84, 202 Aum Shinrikyo 123, 124, 169 of dreams and visions 75, 151–54, 202 of healing 75 Back to Jerusalem movement 145 of persecution 116 bao ping’an (保平安). See misfortune of proselytizing 142–44, 148 management usefulness in proselytizing 152 baptism 39, 50, 73 Anhui 32, 33, 34, 43, 59, 125 BBS 115, 157, 187–92, 194 anti-Christ 71, 158 Bible anti-cult organizations 161. See also Chinese 1 Corinthians 46 Anti-Cult Association 2 Peter 91 apocalypse Acts 172 in Eastern Lightning 62, 82 and Chinese Protestants 13, 54, 63, 81, in Eastern Lightning around 2012 94–97, 121, 175, 189 118 and Taiping rebellion 44n97, 88 in late imperial era 8, 119 Eastern Lightning’s interpretation and in other Protestant-related new religious use of 73–74, 147. See also bolded movements 54, 46–47, 167 references for specific books under in religious groups around 1949 109–10 ‘Bible’ See also tribulations and millenarianism Ephesians 80 ark Exodus 79n71, 93, 114n62 and Eastern Lightning in 2012 95 Genesis 63, 68, 88, 91, 105 in the Association of Disciples 37 in new religious movements 18, 55, 46, in miscellaneous new religious 134 movements since 1978 1–2, 95n136 Isaiah 39–40, 69 in True Jesus Church 95n136 John 46, 69n29, 158n78, 195n108 arrests Luke 33, 73 All Sphere Church/Born Again movement Matthew 15–16, 37, 46, 63–64, 70n33, 73, 45, 169 80n79, 145n23, 172, 195, 200–01 Association of Disciples 38, 128, 129 Revelation 1, 35n51, 40, 54, 62, 63, 67, 80, Christians 28, 134–35 89–96, 99–117 passim 99, 115–17 244 Index

Bible (cont.) film on the Association of Disciples 38, Romans 79, 90 126–29 ‘Shouters’ version 29–30, 52, 54 film on the Three Grades of Servant 47 biji (筆記, jottings) 84 website 127n41, 138 Born Again movement (重生派). See All Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Sphere Church cooperation with Christians against new ‘boss’ Christians 13, 201 religious movements 194 Branch Davidians 122–23, 124, 169 demonization of 54. See also under Buddhism dragon “accounts of the strange” (志怪 zhiguai), heresiarch’s membership of 43 use of 153 religious policy 3–4, 25, 121, 134–35, 167 Buddhas and cosmic eras 76 response to Eastern Lightning 2, 115, 119 dragon 102–03 response to new religious movements Eastern Lightning’s view of 66 27n14, 35, 42, 118–39 exorcism 102 See also Eastern Lightning—antagonism Falun Gong, denunciation of 173 towards Chinese Communist Party and Guanyin 85, 86 persecution and arrests in heterodox sects during late imperial era Chongsheng pai (重生派). See All Sphere 8–9 Church in late imperial era 6 Christianity 4n12. See also Protestantism in medieval China 122 and Catholicism and global Christianity in popular religion 6 Christmas 36, 44 in reform era 3 Chung, Jae Ho et al. 5n16, 132 in Taiping rebellion 11 Church of Almighty God (全能神教会). See syncretism with Christianity 10 Eastern Lightning Church Rebuilt by the Holy Spirit Campbell, Colin 60–61 (圣灵重建教会) 42–43, 111 Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁) 177–78, 179 communion 30, 50 Castiglione, Giuseppe 103–04 Confucius and Confucianism Catholicism basis for defining orthodoxy and dragon 105 heterodoxy in imperial China 6, 8, 9, dreams and visions 154 122 heterodox status and persecution of 11, contemporary nationalism 64 79, 119–20, 135 in contemporary new religious indigenization 10–11 movemements 55 Marian devotion 85 in popular religion 6 official church/Patriotic Association 13 in Taiping rebellion 11 relationship to Eastern Lightning 4n12, conquering, work of 74, 78 18, 80–83, 152 crimes, allegations of 22, 120–21, 126. See relationship with Protestants 105, 191n94 also rape and fraud and murder and See also Jesuits kidnapping and arrests Chang, Ruth 39 Criminal Law 124, 133 China Aid Association 135, 137 cultic milieu 60–61 China Christian Council 25. See also cults. See xiejiao and new religious Protestant lianghui movements China Gospel Fellowship 155 cultural Christians 131, 201 anti-heresy materials 157, 189, 191, 194 Cultural Revolution Eastern Lightning’s kidnapping of allegation of Witness Lee’s violence during leaders 155–60 165 labeled as ‘cult’ 134–35, 157 Eastern Lightning and loyalty dances 77 organizational structure 162 Eastern Lightning and rhetoric during China Inland Mission 25 21, 162 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 133 Protestantism during 25, 26, 54, 56, 86, Chinese Anti-Cult Association 127 193n102, 198 estimate of Eastern Lightning adherents suppression of religious activity 3, 8 139 culture fever 66 Index 245 dancing 40, 56, 57, 62, 77, 92 east Daoism Chinese Protestantism 145 exorcism 102 Eastern Lightning interpretation of biblical goddesses 84, 85 references to 63–64, 76, 200–01 immortals 91n118 in heterodox sects during imperial era in popular religion 6 76 inner alchemy and dragon 103n14 in New Testament Church 40–41 late imperial era 6 in religious movements in East Asia 64 lightning 84 Eastern Lightning (东方闪电) medieval China 122 adherents 19, 50, 57–59, 77, 97, 161–62. reform era 3 See also under women syncretism with Christianity 10 adherents, number of 57, 138 Taiping rebellion 11 Almighty God in 49, 57, 62, 72, 73, 76, 90. demonic possession 71, 87. See also See also retribution exorcism antagonism towards CCP 54, 65–68, demonstrations 118, 119, 132, 199, 203. See also under Association of Disciples 38, 138 dragon Eastern Lightning’s identification with antagonism towards Protestants 54, 149, 1989, pro-Tibetan and Falun Gong 155–60, 203 203 CCP response to. See Chinese Communist Eastern Lightning’s involvement in 118, Party: response to Eastern Lightning 125 development 51, 139, 201–05 Efficacious Spirit movement 44 eschatology 89–97 Falun Gong 2, 4, 203 evil cult status of 2, 15n68, 27n14, 51, 97 new religious movements generally 5 financial resources 52–53, 131–32, 202 New Testament Church 41 hymns 21, 50, 56, 92, 142, 152 ‘Shouters’ 31 organization 49–50, 52, 56, 96, 132, 162, Ding Guangxun (丁光训, K.H. Ting) 164–65, 196, 202 180–82, 193n102, 194 origins / early 1990s 1, 15, 47–48, 62–64, disasters. See apocalypse 68–71 Document 19 3n9, 25n1, 121, 140n10 overseas Christians 66, 131, 158 dragon 99–117 overseas move and expansion 19, 22–23, Chinese Communist Party represented as 52–53, 64, 72, 200–01 1, 109–10, 111–12, 116–17 popular opposition to 161 Chinese Protestants 107–13, 182 proselytizing 92, 139–62 Eastern Lightning 1, 99–100, 115–17, 132, relationship to Christianity 15, 18–19, 199 59–61, 99, 140, 196–200, 203. See also exorcisms of people possessed by 101–02, Eastern Lightning: antagonism towards 108, 111 Protestants and under Bible Jesuits 101–04 relationship to heterodox movements in popular nationalism 113–15 late imperial China 9, 76, 85–86, 110 Protestant missionaries’ perception of relationship to ‘Shouters’ 48–49, 87, 91 104–05 relationship with Three Grades of Servant Taiping rebellion 105–07 group 47 traditional representations 100, 102–03, religious practice/ritual 50, 56–57 199 sacred text 15–16, 20–21, 62, 72, 79, 81 dreams and visions studies of 4–5, 97, 133 Chinese Catholicism 154 ten commandments 48–49, 76–77, Chinese Protestantism 13, 27, 154 198 159n79 Eastern Lightning 75, 152–54, 199–200, term used in this book 15–16 202 texts 20–22 official disapproval of 136 websites 19–20, 49, 159, 201–03, 204 other Protestant-related new religious See also anecdotes and Female Christ movements 36, 45, 128, 168 Efficacious Spirit Teachings (灵灵教) Taiping rebellion 87–88, 106–07 43–44, 55, 57, 98, 167, 171 246 Index efficacy 7, 86, 97–98, 195, 196 freedom of religion. See Chinese Communist Er liang liang (二两粮). See Association of Party: religious policy Disciples Fujian 42, 52, 166 Established King (被立王) movement 32–34, 112, 123, 167, 170 gender. See women Eternal Mother (无生老母) 8–9, 76, 85–86 geomancy 7, 26, 40, 173n34 etymology 63 global Christianity 10 197–200. See also evangelism. See proselytizing indigenization execution 33–34, 35, 47, 130, 204 globalization 199–200. See also exorcism indigenization Buddhist and Daoist 102 glocalization 200. See also indigenization criticism of 121, 178 glossolalia 27, 39, 57, 200 Jesuit 101–02 goddesses 6, 84–87 Protestant 27, 108, 198 guanxi (关系) 150–51 in Eastern Lightning 74, 75 Guanyin (观音) 85–86 in new religious movements 1, 28, 36, 57, 111 Han Wenzao(韩文藻) 169, 175 in popular religion 7, 26 He Qi (何琦) 103n16, 113–14 healing Falun Gong Chinese Protestantism 13, 27, 74–75, 87, and CCP suppression of Protestant-related 198 new religious movements 118, 124–25, criticism of 26, 121, 167, 173–74 126, 129–31, 132–33 Eastern Lightning 74–75 and Protestants’ criticism of Protestant- new religious movements 1, 36, 55, 75, related new religious movements 51, 87, 97 173–78, 183–84, 186 popular religion 7, 26 anecdotes 153 health care 60, 87, 93 antecedents 9 heaven 1, 2, 36, 40, 73, 80, 90–91, 96, 107, 128 CCP suppression and ‘evil cult’ status of Heilongjiang 15, 47, 48, 109 2, 4, 79, 118 126 hell 36, 90–91, 140, 182 Eastern Lightning compared to 2, 131–32, Henan 196, 203 “accounts of the strange” (志怪 zhiguai) martyrdom/forbearance 79 153n59 morality 77 as backward 67 retribution 83–84, 153 Eastern Lightning in 1, 48, 58–59, 71, 152, families 53, 120–21, 128, 142, 144, 150, 161 156–57 farming 56, 92, 127 miscellaneous new religious movements Farrelly, Paul 40 in 2, 9, 44, 47, 167 Female Christ Protestantism in 9, 25–26, 56, 134, 167, and Chinese religious traditions 84–89, 179–80 197, 205 ‘Shouters’ in 29, 31 authority of 49 heresy (异端 yiduan) 163–95 passim authorship of scripture 20, 62 definition 17, 170 early 1990s 1, 48 Local Church / ‘Shouters’ labeled such fulfilling biblical prophecy 63–64 31–32, 163–67 identity 68–72 See also xiejiao ministry 73–75 heterodoxy miracles 74 term used in this book 16–17 visions of 154 See also orthodoxy and xiejiao and dragon feminist theology 89 Holy Spirit fengshui. See geomancy Eastern Lightning’s 1, 19n76, 20, 69, fertility 6, 86 199–200 Flinchbaugh, C. Hope 158 Eastern Lightning’s “man used by the” food 36, 127–28 49, 77, 92n125 fraud 22, 35, 47, 121, 130, 178. See also crimes New Testament Church 41 Index 247

Hong, Elijah (洪以利亚, aka Hong Sanqi) in Efficacious Spirit Teachings 44 39–40 in new religious movements 18, 34, Hong Kong 44–45, 51, 172 Eastern Lightning 20n79, 201, 202 in New Testament Church 39–41 New Testament Church 39, 53 in popular religion 89n110 ‘Shouters’ 52 representation of, in various cultures 10 Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全) 44n97. See also ‘Shouters’’ teachings on 29–30 Taiping rebellion Taiping rebellion 11 house churches 3 TSPM/CCC statements concerning 181, All Sphere Church as 45, 190–91 192–93 claim to orthodoxy 135, 193 Jesus Family (耶稣家庭) 12 discussion of heresy 187–190 Ji Sanbao (季三保) 36–38, 79, 128 discussion of orthodoxy 190–04 Jiang Duanyi (江端仪) 39–40 Eastern Lightning literature concerning Jiang Zemin 180 80, 149 Jing Jiuwei (靖玖玮) 175–76 nationalism 66 judgment. See retribution number of Protestants 13 judgment day 53n149, 89–97 relationship with CCP 16–17, 134–36, 194 relationship with TSPM/CCC 14, 191–94 Kao, Chen-Yang 86, 198–99 reform era 26–27, 145, 149, 198 kidnapping 155–60 term used in this book 17–19 Kindopp, Jason 28n16, 31, 52, 182n68, 187n83 Three Grades of Servant claim to be 136 Koesel, Karrie 162 See also China Gospel Fellowship Kuangye zhaimen (旷野窄门). See housework 59, 92, 161 Association of Disciples Hsia, Po-Chia 153 Kupfer, Kristin 60 Hua Xuehe (华雪和) 43–44 Hubei 38, 124, 128, 156 Laamann, Lars Peter 11, 57n157 human rights 131, 173 Legislative Resolution Banning Cults 126, Hunan 34–35, 43, 67, 68n23, 128 129, 173. See also Criminal Law Li Changshou. See Witness Lee iconoclasm 68, 106, 108, 109, 111, 113 Lian Xi 5n18, 57n161, 76n55 inculturation. See indigenization Liang Afa 106 indigenization 10n41 lightning 63–64, 81, 84–85, 152–53, 200–01. and Eastern Lightning 14–15 See also Eastern Lightning of Christianity globally 10 Lingling jiao (灵灵教). See Efficacious Spirit of Christianity in China 10–14 Teachings See also global Christianity, glocalization literacy 50, 58, 169 and syncretism Little Flock (小群派) 12, 26, 28, 29, 108 Inner Mongolia 58n163, 129, 138 relationship with TSPM/CCC 165, 166n12, internet 193–94 anti-cult websites 127, 161 Liu Jiagu0 (刘家国) 34–35, 130 Chinese Christians’ use of 113, 135, Liu, Lydia 100n4 187–89, 190–93 Local Church (地方教会). See “Shouters” Chinese use of 19–20, 115 Lord God’s Teachings (主神教) 34–35, 52, Eastern Lightning’s use of. See Eastern 58, 130 Lightning—websites Lü Xiaomin (吕小敏) 21 New religious movements’ use of 41, 54, 111n48 Macao 104 Madsen, Richard 14n63, 14n64 Jesuits 10, 101–04, 119 ‘mainstream Protestants’ 187 Jesus Christ Malaysia 39 and Established King movement 33 Mao Zedong and Maoism in All Sphere Church 168 and Eastern Lightning 62n2, 77, 93, 162, in Association of Disciples movement 37 203 in Eastern Lightning 73–74. See also esteem for peasants 67 Female Christ in popular religion 8 248 Index

Mao Zedong and Maoism (cont.) National Public Radio 46 influence upon Protestants’ denunciations networks (personal). See guanxi (关系) of heresy 124, 165–67, 171, 183 new religious movements See also Cultural Revolution in imperial China 8–10 Mao Song’en (毛颂恩) 171–74, 177 term used in this book 17–18 martyrdom 78–79, 143–44. See also New Testament Church (新约教会) 39–43, persecution 64 Marxism 97 New York Times 47, 51 May Fourth movement 66–67 Ni Guangdao (倪光道) 14n62, 112–13, 184 Mayan prophecy 2, 94–95, 118 Ni Tuosheng. See Little Flock McDonald’s. See murder—Zhaoyuan 2014 medical treatment, rejection of 55, 84, 128, O’Brien, Kevin J. 150 130, 167. See also health care and healing official church. See TSPM and Protestant mental illness 71, 84, 87–88, 128 lianghui Mentu hui (门徒会). See Association of O’Leary, Stephen 96 Disciples oneirology 153–54 messiah. See Jesus Christ and Female Christ orthodoxy millenarianism distinction between new religious in Chinese Protestantism 12, 26, 27, movement and Christianity 18, 32, 109–10, 172–73 45, 134–36 in connection with the year 2000 2, 55, in contemporary China 10, 115, 195 91–97, 172–73 in imperial China 8, 119, 122 in connection with the year 2012, 118. See Protestants’ online discussion of 190–94 also Mayan prophecy and 2012 term used in this book 16 in Eastern Lightning 89–98, 203–04 TSPM/CCC formulation and promotion in imperial era 8–9, 90, 120 of 179–83 in new religious movements since See also heterodoxy twentieth century 54–55, 60, 86, 197 Ownby, David 9 miracles. See also healing and dreams and visions and exorcism Palmer, David 60, 123, 136n70, 138n74, Buddhism 102–03 177n51 Chinese Protestantism 13, 27, 198–99 patriotism. See nationalism Eastern Lightning 74–75, 132, 200 peasants new religious movements 28, 36, 55–56 founders of new religious movements popular religion 7 32, 34, 35, 71, 87 wariness/criticism of 25, 109, 116, 127–28, members of new religious movements 154 55, 58, 87, 127–29 misfortune management 86, 128n42. See socioeconomic circumstances of 59–60, also retribution 67, 87 missionaries Penny, Benjamin 9, 153, 177n51 denunciation of 119–20, 178, 195 Pentecostalism Franciscan 85 and new religious movements 39, 43, 45, Nestorian 10 51, 56–57 new religious movements 52, 131 global Pentecostalism 198–200 Protestant 11, 12, 13, 25–26, 52, 66, 88 in contemporary China 13, 27, 198–200 Protestant dismay at Chinese dragon in early twentieth century 12, 107, 154, 107, 110 198 See also Jesuits and Eastern Lightning— See also dreams and visions, glossolalia, proselytizing and healings, miracles, Holy Spirit Protestantism—proselytizing perfecting, work of 74, 78 Moses 42, 46, 76, 113–14 persecution Mother of Lightning (电母) 84–85 of Christians during 1949–76 12, 56, 165 murder 47, 128, 170 of Christians in reform era 53, 116, Zhaoyuan 2014 2, 185, 204 134–37 of Christians in seventeenth and Naquin, Susan 103 eighteenth centuries 11, 119–20, 143n16 nationalism 13–14, 64–68, 115, 166 of Eastern Lightning 4, 99–100 Index 249

of Eastern Lightning, affecting response to Falun Gong 173–77 organization of 48, 70, 72, 78, 143, term used in this book 163 149–51, 201 theological construction 180–83, 191–93 Eastern Lightning accords positive value See also Three-Self Patriotic Movement to 78, 90 and China Christian Council and TSPM/CCC denial of Chinese Protestantism and Tian Feng government’s religious 169–70, 175 Protestantism See also dragon and martyrdom and during Cultural Revolution 56 xiejiao and arrests during early twentieth century 12 popular religion 5–7 faith healing 74–75. See also under aetiology 83 healing and Eastern Lightning 66, 131, 154, 199. Henan 25–26 See also popular religion—lightning history and indigenization of, in and judgment China 11–14 criticized by Christians 173n34 ‘mainstream Protestants’ 187 lightning and judgment 84–85, 153 new religious movements’ relationship to reform era 8, 26 14–15, 60–61 relationship to heterodox sects 8, 9, 98 new religious movements, responses to spirit-writing 89 163–95 passim syncretism with Christianity 11, 14, proselytizing 140, 144–145 57n157, 89n110, 197, 199 reform era 12–13, 25–27, 69, 89, 198–99 See also spirit possession statistics 12–13 poverty 65, 70–71, 93, 97, 127, 132 term used in this book 18–19 Practical God (实际神) 16, 62, 98. See also See also Protestant lianghui and house Eastern Lightning churches and Bible and Pentecostalism pragmatism. See efficacy protests. See demonstrations propaganda 21, 57, 126–29, 171–73, 187 prophecy, failed 89–97 qigong 9, 26, 60, 126, 131 proselytizing. See also missionaries and under Qinghai 94, 202 Protestantism and Eastern Lightning Quan fanwei jiaohui (全范围教会). See All in new religious movements 53–54 Sphere Church late imperial sects 8–9 Quannengshen (全能神) 16. See also official condemnation of 136 Eastern Lightning Protestant lianghui (TSPM/CCC) as ‘official’ church 17 rape 33, 35, 121, 130 attitude towards Chinese dragon 108–09, Real God (实际神) 16, 62. See also Eastern 112–14 Lightning congregations 17 rebellion 8–9, 120, 138n74, 162, 203. See also demonized by new religious movements Taiping rebellion and demonstrations 54 recruitment 140n8. See also proselytizing depiction of All Sphere Church 168–70 ‘religion’ (宗教 zongjiao) 5, 126, 133–34, 173, depiction of house churches 14 177, 196 depiction of new religious movements religion in China 1–15, 25–27. See also 163–87 Chinese Communist Party—religious division of responsibilities between the policy and names of various religions two organizations 25n2 Religious Affairs Bureau. See State Eastern Lightning announces judgment Administration of Religious Affairs upon 80–81 retribution 7, 80–84, 110–11, 153, 156, 199 in Henan 26, 179–80 Revelation. See under Bible indigenization of Protestantism 13–14 Richard, Timothy 66 number and training of clergy 179–80 River Elegy 66 number of Protestants 12–13 Robertson, Roland 200 Protestants’ differing views of 191–94 reemergence in late 1970s 24 Sanshu jiao (三赎教). See Association of relationship with CCP 185–87, 194 Disciples relationship with ‘Shouters’, 163–67 secrecy 69–70, 145–51. See also aliases 250 Index sects. See xiejiao and new religious dispensations 76 movements millenarianism around year 2000, 55n148 Shaanxi 36, 38, 145, 156 number of adherents 57n161 shamanism. See spirit possession Three-Self Patriotic Movement 13, 15, 25n2. Shiji shen (实际神) 16, 62. See also Eastern See also Protestant lianghui (TSPM/CCC) Lightning Tian Feng (天风) 1, 27, 108–09, 112–13, ‘Shouters’ (呼喊派) 28–32 165–85 passim Christians’ critiques of 163–67, 185, 193 Tibet 3, 94–95, 203 overseas links 52 Time magazine 23n87, 139, 146 relationship to other new religious Ting, K.H. See Ding Guangxun (丁光训) movements 32–33, 34 tithing 61, 127, 136, 202 See also Eastern Lightning—relationship tongues. See glossolalia to ‘Shouters’ tribulations Shouwang Church (守望教会) 4, 137 Eastern Lightning 78, 80, 89–90 Sigley, Gary 67 new religious movements generally 54 Singapore 39, 156 New Testament Church 40 six-thousand-year management plan 91 Protestantism in 1950s 109 Songs of Canaan (迦南诗歌) 21 True Jesus Church (真耶稣教会) 12 sources 19–23 exorcism 108 spirit possession 7, 26, 57n157, 88–89 Henan 26 Standaert, Nicolas 102 influence upon new religious movements State Administration of Religious Affairs 36, 43, 64, 86, 95n136 (SARA) 15n73, 31, 185 TSPM. See Three-Self Patriotic Movement and superstition Protestant lianghui popular religion labeled 7–8, 26 Tsuo, Moses. See Zuo Kun Protestant condemnation of 27, 112n55, 168 Unification Church 27n14, 64 reform-era efforts against 67, 124, 126, 191 United Front Work Department 17n73, 185 suzhi (素质; [human] quality) 65, 67, 69, United States of America. See Eastern 147, 179 Lightning—overseas move and expansion syncretism 11, 12, 55, 85–86, 197–200. See also and ‘Shouters’—overseas links indigenization and under popular religion Vala, Carsten T. 150 Taiping rebellion 11–12 Virgin Mary. See Catholicism—Marian and Association of Disciples 138 devotion and dragon 105–07 visions. See dreams and visions and Eastern Lightning 87–88 Heavenly Mother 88 Watchman Nee. See Little Flock regarded as ‘heterodox teaching’ 120 website. See internet and Eastern See also Hong Xiuquan Lightning—websites Taiwan White Lotus Teachings (白蓮教) 9, 11, 86, Church Rebuilt by the Holy Spirit 42–43, 136, 138n74 111 Witness Lee (李常受 Li Changshou) 28–32, dragon 111, 112n55 52, 54, 76n55, 91, 108, 165. See also Eastern Lightning in 201 ‘Shouters’ Little Flock 28, 108 women New Testament Church 39–42, 46 [human] quality, or suzhi 67 Taoism. See Daoism in 1724 proscription of Christianity 120 ter Haar, Barend 9, 136 in Eastern Lightning 59, 68–69, 73n44, testimonies. See anecdotes 141, 161 theological construction 180–83, 191–93 in new religious movements 52, 58 Three Grades of Servants (三班仆人) in other religions 130n14, 160 45–47 Word Appeared in the Flesh. See Eastern Chinese Anti-Cult Association depiction Lightning—sacred text of 134 World Elijah Evangelical Mission 27n14, claim to be orthodox 136 125n37 Index 251

Wu Dongsheng (吴东升) 5n15, 22n84, 58, TSPM/CCC leadership’s use of term and 97 depiction of 169–78, 183–86 Wu Yangming (吴杨明) 32–34, 123 use of term by other Christians 157, 158, Wu Yaozong (吴耀宗, Y.T. Wu) 193n102, 195 188, 189 Wusheng laomu. See Eternal Mother Xinjiang 3, 128, 142, 145 Xu Wenku (徐文库) 46–47, 134 xiejiao (邪教; variously translated as Xu Yongze ( 徐永泽 Peter Xu) 45, 169 ‘heterodox teaching’ and ‘cult’) authorities’ depiction of 43, 48, 126–29 Yang, C.K. 6, 77 Christianity labeled as 11, 119, 134–36, Yang Xiangbin (杨向彬) 71, 72, 87, 201 157 Yellers. See ‘Shouters’ distinction from ‘religion’ 4, 129, 137, yiduan (异端). See heresy 176–77 Yiguandao (一贯道) 136n70 Eastern Lightning labeled as 2, 15n68, Yunnan 38–39 16, 97 in imperial China 8–10, 89, 120 Zhang Lidong (张立冬) et al. 204 legal basis for suppression of 124, 126, Zhao Weishan (赵维山) 48–49, 70, 71, 72, 134 92n125, 201 origins of term 122, 200 Zhao Zhi’en (赵志恩) 112, 168n20 other Protestant-related movements Zhaoyuan. See under murder labeled as 4, 27, 120 Zhejiang 31, 109n37, 153n59, 164 prohibited from using internet 20 zhiguai (志怪) 153–54 revival of term from mid-1990s 122–24, Zhu shen jiao. See Lord God’s Teachings 200 Zion 39–42, 62 studies of 4–5, 22, 97, 133 Zuo Kun (左坤 aka Moses Tsuo) 42–43, term used in this book 16–17 111n48