Eastern Lightning

Eastern Lightning, also called the Church of Almighty God, is a Chinese Christian new religious movement that teaches Jesus Christ has returned in the form of a woman in China.

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Church of Almighty God: A Chinese Christian new religious movement whose members believe Almighty God is Christ returned in the last days. This is the movement’s formal name, used alongside Eastern Lightning.
China in the 1990s: The period in China following the 1989 Tiananmen protests and preceding the turn of the twenty-first century. The movement took shape in this period of expanding religious activity and state scrutiny.
The Word Appears in the Flesh: A collection of religious writings regarded by the Church of Almighty God as the words of Almighty God. The movement treats these writings as the principal record of its current divine revelation.
Religious persecution in China: State restrictions, surveillance, and punishment directed at religious groups and practices in China. Members report arrests and pressure from authorities because the movement is banned in China.
Second Coming of Christ: The Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to the world. The movement interprets its central claim as the fulfillment of Christ’s return.
House Church Movement: Chinese Protestant congregations that meet outside officially registered church structures. Eastern Lightning arose in a religious landscape shaped by unregistered Protestant networks.
Almighty God: The name used by the Church of Almighty God for God incarnate in the last days. This title names the figure at the center of its worship and theology.
Religious freedom in China: The legal and practical conditions governing religious belief and practice in China. The movement’s underground status reflects limits on religious organization outside state control.
Incarnation: The belief that God became embodied in human form. Its teaching identifies the returned Christ with a living person in China.
Zhao Weishan: A Chinese religious leader associated with the founding and leadership of the Church of Almighty God. Accounts of the movement’s emergence identify Zhao as a central organizer.