You may already have received emails about the content of this article... if so, please simply delete it. If you haven't received it yet, please READ it, and ask God what part you can play in standing with our Chinese brothers and sisters in what is possibly the most serious attack on the church in China to date.

===================================== When China's Christians Wish They Were in Prison An Examination of the Eastern Lightning Cult in China By Paul Hattaway Director of Asia Harvest http://www.asiaharvest.org

Please note: This article may be freely distributed, reprinted, sent by email, and posted on websites, as long as proper accreditation is given (i.e. everything written as above this note, including website details), and the reproduction of this article is not used for monetary gain.

Dear Friends,

Last week we sent out an urgent prayer request with breaking news told to us by reliable contacts inside China that over 100 house church Christians had been arrested by the police in six different locations.

Since then (as you may have already heard), more information has come to light, and the news is worse than originally thought! Compared to what has happened, it would have been a blessing for the missing brothers and sisters to have been in the hands of the police!

Thirty three of the top leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship are now confirmed kidnapped by members of the Eastern Lightning Cult. Thirty five were originally captured, but two managed to escape. This information comes directly from the elderly founder of the China Gospel Fellowship, who himself was not abducted because he is no longer in active leadership within the movement.

The Eastern Lightning is a Satanic cult that believes Jesus has already returned, as a 30-year-old woman living in China's Henan Province! They specifically target house church Christians with twisted doctrine. If believers refuse to accept their teaching they often revert to kidnapping, beatings, torture, drugging, sexual entrapment, and intense brainwashing. There is credible evidence that dozens of Christians have been murdered by the Eastern Lightning over the years. Most are poisoned, making it difficult for the authorities to prove they were murdered. Many more house church Christians have simply vanished, not known if they converted to the cult or were killed.

The China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) is organized at a national level with what they call the Chai Hui (missionary sending agency) level underneath. To qualify as a Chai Hui, a region must have at least 30,000 baptized believers, and a certain number of trained leaders and training centers. By last year, there were 22 such Chai Hui's throughout China in the CGF. It is believed that the cult has kidnapped EVERY ONE of these top leaders.

Regarding the kidnapping of the China Gospel Fellowship leaders, here is what is known and has been confirmed from inside China. This information comes from a variety of sources, including Brother Mak of the Chinese City Gospel Mission:

(a) This kidnapping was carefully pre-planned by the Eastern Lightning cult. About a year ago, a lady introduced some Singaporeans to one of the major leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship, starting the relationship. The Singaporeans identified themselves with a Bible School based in Singapore, the Haggai Institute, which has a good reputation. The CGF leader made some investigations about the school, and when he received good reports he trusted the Singaporeans from that time on.

(b) A short time ago the CGF was informed that some famous professors from the Singapore school were coming to China to give them leadership training. Because the CGF leaders are being hunted by the government, for security reasons it was decided to split their leaders into six different groups, to go to six different locations for training. The Singaporeans promised to cover all travel and accommodation expenses, and to conduct their training in a safe environment.

(c) On April 19th each group of house church leaders went to the meetings. It is known that at one location, the organizers greeted the church leaders and immediately requested they hand over their mobile phones for safe keeping (thus removing their ability to communicate outside of the room). When some of the brothers refused to cooperate, the Eastern Lightning beat them to get their phones. This was the first the believers knew they were in trouble.

(d) One sister, after realizing the Eastern Lightning was behind the whole thing, asked to go outside to use the toilet, and she managed to escape. Praise God for this! If she had not escaped nobody would have any idea what had happened to these house church leaders. They would have simply vanished without a trace, which was the intention of the cult. When they discovered the sister had escaped, the Eastern Lightning went to her home. Not finding her there, they beat up her parents before leaving. According to Bob Fu, Executive Director of the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China, this sister reported the leaders were already being severely tortured by the time she escaped.

(e) The escaped sister went to the police and told them what happened. Together they rushed back to the meeting place, but by the time they arrived the room was deserted, with no trace of where the house church leaders had been taken. It is clear, however, that the Eastern Lightning in the past always separate Christians and spread them in different locations to be brainwashed and beaten individually. By now, it is likely the 33 Christians are scattered in 33 different places. Two have managed to escape.

(f) Yesterday we received an unconfirmed report from a Chinese church leader that one of kidnapped pastors was very vocal in witnessing to his captors, and wouldn't stop praying loudly to the Lord. Despite threats, he wouldn't stop, so the Eastern Lightning cut his tongue out.

(g) From a different location we received a confirmed report that after being kidnapped, men dressed in police uniforms came and took the believers away to different places. Should this be found to be true, it could either show local officials worked together with the Eastern Lightning to stage this incident (a suspicion that many house church leaders have shared with us in the past, see the attached file), or else the Eastern Lightning may have impersonated being police officers as part of their act.

(h) This kidnapping has shaken all house church believers across China. They have been fighting with infiltration from the Eastern Lightning for more than 10 years, but never before has there been such a coordinated attack launched against house church leadership. Thousands of believers inside China are fasting and praying around the clock for God's intervention. They invite their Western and Asian brothers and sisters to join them.

(i) Even though most of the kidnapped believers were themselves being hunted by the government for leading unregistered churches, it has been decided by some remaining house church leaders that they must take the risk of getting government involvement in this case. One of the two China Gospel Fellowship leaders who escaped from the kidnapping traveled to Beijing on Sunday April 28th where he hired a lawyer to represent them to the Communist authorities. The government indicated they are willing to cooperate, and that they are willing to partner with the house churches to crush the Eastern Lightning, who they claim they've been trying to destroy for years with little success.

(j) Please pray the Blood of Jesus will cover this plan, and that the house church leaders are truly being led by Godly wisdom. Many Christians may question the wisdom of aligning with an atheistic government in a bid to help the Church, especially seeing the China Gospel Fellowship and many of the other house church networks in China are already on the very same "evil cult" list as the Eastern Lightning! After researching this cult, I'm convinced that even though the central government in Beijing wants to smash the Eastern Lightning, there is strong evidence that many local government officials around the country (who are the organs Beijing must use to do their work locally), have either converted to or been bought off by the Eastern Lightning. The corrupted local officials use their influence to protect the cult. For example, when an order comes from Beijing for action against the Eastern Lightning, it goes first to local officials. Those who are under the cult's influence inform the Eastern Lightning to relocate, thus making the plans of the central government almost impossible to fulfill. This suspicion of local government complicity with the cult is confirmed by an official government document, which notes that the Eastern Lightning has been able to "infiltrate into the inner circles of the [Communist] Party, the government, and the Three Self Patriotic Movement."

(k) House church Christians in China are among the strongest and most effective in the world. Church leaders throughout the country believe they have entered spiritual warfare at its highest level. This action by the Eastern Lightning has roused them not only to pray for the release of these 33 leaders, but to mount a revolution to completely destroy the Eastern Lightning once and for all. They see this as a spiritual fight and are determined to win at all costs. One pastor has said, "The worst thing that can happen is the government will arrest us and send us back to prison, where we can still preach the Gospel but this cult needs to be destroyed regardless of the risk of more government persecution against us." Unprecedented levels of prayer and communication are taking place between believers from different groups. Praise God! This is one sign of good to have already come out of this incident.

Since news of the kidnapping started circulating around the world, many people have written to me, asking me to shed some light on the Eastern Lightning cult. Most Christians around the world have never heard of them, while even many missionaries and Christians working inside China have little clue about what they believe and why they pose the Church so strongly.

In response, I have spent the last few days compiling a report on the Eastern Lightning, which I've entitled "When China's Christians Wish They Were in Prison." This article is posted on our website: http://www.asiaharvest.org . We will be posting updates there as we receive them. We also have a feedback form where people can post a message about this situation, express their feelings, or pray for the believers in China. On our website there are also details of how you can practically help this situation (including how to make contributions to the printing of a book written by a House Church pastor exposing the lies, deception and practices of the Eastern Lightning. The book includes almost 100 pages of testimonies from believers across China who have fallen prey to the cult, before God graciously allowed them to be restored.)

If you don't have the time to read the article, please at least read the testimony reproduced in the accompanying email which aptly describes the practices of the cult and the tremendous trials our Chinese brothers and sisters are enduring.

Please feel COMPLETELY FREE to forward this message to praying Christians around the world, to reprint it, post it on websites, etc.

God bless you, and may the Lord protect His flock in China!

Paul Hattaway