Eastern Lightning emblem
Rev. 1:7 every eye will see him
Beware of false comings of Christ, that would not be universally visible.
Eastern Lightning (东方闪电, Dōngfāng shǎndiàn) is a religion founded in China in 1989, and led by Mr Zhao (Xu) Weishan, a former a physics teacher and member of the unbiblical Shouters sect. Followers believe that the Messiah has returned and lives in the body of Weishan's wife, Yang Xiangbin, a.k.a Lightning Deng, also a former member of the Shouters. The Chinese government has classified Eastern Lightning as a "heretical sect" and "dangerous cult".
Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism are the only religions officially tolerated in China. In many respects they are controlled by state religious authorities, still sore from events in the 19th century when the bloody Taiping Rebellion occurred. Taiping was led by Hong Xiuquan, a self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ, and the civil war contributed to the eventual fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911.
China's current campaign against Eastern Lightning has parallels with the crackdown since the 1990s on the Falun Gong, which China has labelled as similarly evil and jailed thousands of followers.
The name "Eastern Lightning" sounds a bit like the name of a race horse, which is perhaps why adherents, when speaking with outsiders, more frequently use the alias:
- Church of the Almighty God or
- Church of the Gospel's Kingdom
They have traditionally targeted house churches in China, word amongst whom has spread, putting them on guard. Consequently further aliases have sprung up more recently, and include
- The Congregation
- Oriental Lightning
- Seven Spirit Sect
- Second Saviour Sect
- True Light Sect
- True Way Sect, and
- New Power Lord's Church
No doubt other names have been coined since this webpage was written. All churches, worldwide, must be on guard - not only through approaches "house churches", but also via social media platforms (YouTube, WhatsApp, etc.)
Their members have been accused of kidnapping, extortion, brainwashing, torture and even murder – not only accused in the courts, but found guilty and convicted. Eastern Lightning's official rebuttal is that the accusations are lies, conjured up by the Chinese government to discredit them. The Communist Party of China is described in Eastern Lightning literature as the "Great Red Dragon", portrayed in Revelation 12, as the persecutor of God's chosen people.
Eastern Lightning and the State are likely to continue their battle and this page does not attempt to debate which side is more flawed; rather we look at the meaning of the Eastern Lightning's emblem.
(But you'll notice which side we disagree with more.)
The emblem
There are three elements to the emblem:
- The star in the east
- The cross
- The crescent
and we'll look at each in turn.
The Star of the East
(Actually, the star's position on the emblem is northeast, as is Henan, China, where the religion was founded. But let's not quibble; let's allow them some latitude.)
The name Eastern Lightning comes from Scriptural references to the returning Messiah and the east in Matt. 24:27
"For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be."
Note the wording carefully. Matthew does not say that the second coming of Christ is the lightning, but just like the lightning. Matthew does not say that Christ will return from the east, and even if he did, that doesn't necessarily mean China, which is in the west for countries east of China.
To make sense of Matthew's eastern reference we must remember that the Gospel of Matthew was written for the benefit of all mankind, but in particular for the benefit of early Christian churches in Israel. The geopolitical borders have shifted a bit since then, but the Arabian Desert is still to the east of Israel.
It doesn't rain much in the desert (< 100 mm per annum) so thunder and lightning are rare. It takes a pretty explosive lightning to light up the whole sky, and that makes such lightning from the east even more rare; so rare that it would be supernatural.
Now, if indeed Yang Xiangbin is the Messiah, then for Eastern Lightning's interpretation of Matthew to be correct, the bolt of lightning in China would have to be strong enough to be visible in Israel, permanently blinding the eyes of the billion or so people who live between the two countries. That rather contradicts Rev. 1:7 "every eye will see him."
Unfortunately for Ms Yang & Co., China doesn't fit that interpretation of Matthew, neither does "Son of man" really mean "Daughter of man", and the little star in the emblem looks more like a twinkle than an explosion of light.
The cross
The Cross represents the apparatus used to kill Jesus, and this points to one of the many glaring differences between Jesus Christ and the new Yang "Christ".
When Jesus was persecuted by the civic authorities, he presented himself to the court to receive his punishment, then dragged a rough wooden cross to Calvary on which he was crucified. From there he rose again, lives in Heaven, yet is in our hearts.
When Yang Xiangbin was persecuted by the civic authorities, she updated her passport, dragged her smart suitcase to the nearest airport and fled the country to New York, where she lives happily ever after with her husband Zhao and their son.
Therefore, including a cross in the emblem is curious.
The crescent
The crescent moon is favoured by followers of Islam, but Eastern Lightning is as distant from Islam as it is from Christianity.
Christians (and Muslims) do not dispute that Matthew wrote:
"For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be."
and neither do they dispute Matthew's words, just four verses prior (Matt. 24:23)
"If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe him. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."
Eastern Lightning is banned in China, the most populous nation on earth, and is seeking to expand. As already mentioned, their tactics traditionally target small churches.
Pastors worldwide, beware.
