China cracks down on doomsday rumor cult (4)

The cult operates as a secret underground organization, and it is much like a pyramid scheme in which one member generates two or three referrals who join the cult, Ma said.

They refer to each other using cryptic names instead of their real names, he added.

The sect, sometimes known as "Eastern Lightning," claims to be an offshoot of Christianity, but would be barely recognizable to Western Christians. Founded in 1990 in central China's Henan Province, it states that Jesus has been resurrected as a Chinese woman.

Mainstream religions and critics have criticized the "Almighty God" cult for using rumors to confuse people and to coerce others to join the cult. Some members have also been involved in blackmail cases.

Four "Almighty God" cult members were detained in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for swindling elderly people in the remote Arxan mountain area. They proclaimed that only by believing in the "Almighty God" could they survive doomsday.

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