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They were being held by the Eastern Lighting "Satanic" cult
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BEIJING, CHINA - All of the 33 leaders from the China Gospel Fellowship who were
kidnapped in April by the Eastern Lightning cult have been released, according to
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) of the UK. News of how this occurred is not yet
available.
"Given the past treatment of Christians kidnapped by the group, it is a miracle that
all have been released and are safe," said a CSW spokesperson. "They are very
thankful for the prayers of all the Christians around the world who have prayed for them.
Thank you for your compassionate and committed response to this situation. We praise God
that he has heard our prayers and moved so powerfully.
"We would be grateful if you could continue to uphold the members in your prayers.
The ordeal was obviously very harrowing for them and they are now recovering physically,
emotionally and spiritually."
News of the shocking kidnapping in April initially came from founder of the China Gospel
Fellowship (CGF), who himself was not abducted because he is no the China Gospel
Fellowship, who himself was not abducted because he is no longer in active leadership
within the movement.
Paul Hattaway, Director of Asia Harvest has described the Eastern Lightning as a
"Satanic cult" that believes Jesus has already returned, as a 30-year-old woman
living in China's Henan Province!
TORTURE TACTICS
"They specifically target house church Christians with twisted doctrine," he
said recently. "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."
Hattaway said that The China Gospel Fellowship 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," he said. "By last
year, there were 22 such Chai Hui's throughout China in the CGF."
He added, "The 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.
"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.
" 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.
"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.
" 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 managed to escape.
"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."
He then said, "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.
CSW has now asked for prayer for Chun Ki Won in China. "You may remember that he was
arrested with three others for helping North Koreans reach safety," said the CSW
spokesperson. "He has been detained for five and a half months in China and his case
is due to come before the Chinese courts in the next day or so. It is very much hoped that
he will not be sentenced, but rather deported. We do covet your prayers for a good outcome
for him and his co-defendant, Mr. Kim Qi Lyung. Mr Kim is a Chinese citizen so may face
other difficulties. We praise God that the two men arrested with them, Mr. Oh and Mr Jung
have already been able to reach freedom and are back in South Korea.
"We deeply appreciate your concern and your prayerful support for our brothers and
sisters facing these trials. It is a great encouragement to know that we can immediately
raise the prayer support that they so desperately seek."
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