34 Chinese Christians 'kidnapped by evil cult'

The Telegraph/June 24, 2002
By Damien McElroy

Beijing -- A banned sect that believes Jesus Christ has returned to earth as a Chinese woman has been accused of kidnapping 34 Christians in a bizarre attempt to gain converts.

Shen Yiping and Shen Xianfeng, the founders of China Gospel Fellowship, and 32 of their followers claim they were abducted in April by members of Lightning from the East, a group condemned by Beijing as an evil cult.

They were released late last week and yesterday said they had been drugged and subjected to psychological torture. A spokesman said the kidnap victims had resisted Lightning from the East's attempts at brainwashing.

"Although they were tempted, enticed and threatened in every way, they have been able to hold on to their faith in the Lord, to overcome the temptations and to refuse the heresies of the female Christ."

Lightning from the East is notorious for trying to force underground Christians to convert, according to the Bangkok-based missionary body Asia Harvest, which monitors its activities.

"They specially target house church Christians. They often resort to kidnapping, beatings, torture, drugging, sexual entrapment and intense brainwashing," the group said. There was "credible evidence" that dozens of Christians had been murdered by the sect.

Government papers leaked last year contained instructions from Jia Chunwang, the public security minister, for action against the sect, saying: "We need to work more, talk less to smash the cult quietly."

Beijing has rounded up more than 2,000 followers of Lightning from the East but it has not been able to wipe out the group, which was founded in 1990.

Its leader, Zhao Weishan, claims that the second coming of Christ has already taken place in the form of a 30-year-old peasant woman called Deng, who has never been photographed and is shielded from ordinary members of the sect. She is said to have written an apocalyptic addition to the Bible.