[aron]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Aron named some cults in China, so my post also addressed this question of his:

"How many cults have the Baptists spawned? "

Obviously I would use Westboro baptist as an example of a Baptist spawned cult, and not First Baptist Dallas.

An important question triggered by Eastern Lightning is: why the surge of cults from Christianity in recent years?

‪In July of 2009, the author found 14 officially named cults posted on the Chinese government's website. These include the Shouters (呼喊派), the Disciple Society (门徒会), the Lingling Sect (灵灵教), All Sphere Church (全范围教会), Lord God Sect (主神教), New Testament Church (新约教会), Guanyin Method (观音法门), Anointed King (被立王), the Unification Church (统一教), Three Grades of Servants (三班仆人派), True Buddha School (灵仙真佛宗), Children of the Heavenly Father (天父的儿女), Dami Mission (达米宣教会), and World Elijah Gospel Mission Society (世界以利亚福音宣教会). Of the 14 cults named, 12 of them fly under the banner of Christianity. Three of the groups (the Unification Church, the Dami Mission Society, and the World Elijah Gospel Mission Society) are from South Korea. The New Testament Church has its roots in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The remaining eight cults are all homegrown Mainland Chinese cults. It is true that the Shouters arrived by way of Witness Lee (李常受) from America; however, Lee himself was sent out of the country by Watchman Nee (聚会处), leader of the Little Flock churches on the eve of the Communist Liberation. Therefore, at its root the Shouters are a homegrown group.

So it is understandable why people raise the question, why do these cults fly under the banner of Christianity? And, why do the majority of cults that label themselves Christian come from Mainland China? Does it have something to do with the popularization of Christianity or with folk Christianity?

‪Another noteworthy phenomenon is that, among the eight homegrown cults, aside from the Shouters, there are two additional cults that derive from the Shouters: the Lord God Sect and the Anointed King. In addition, the All Sphere Church (also known as the Criers (哭派) or Born Again Criers (哭重生派)), the Disciple Society, and Three Grades of Servants all certainly have a connection with the Shouters. If this is true, six of the eight homegrown cults belong to or are associated with the Shouters, which accounts for more than half of those cults. Moreover, there are several cults that were not included among the 14 cults but are viewed as heretical sects. The Changshou Sect (常受教), the Mainland China Administrative Deacon Station (中华大陆行政执事站), and Eastern Lightning were all originally were born out of the Shouters.

‪Because the Shouter's origins lie in the Little Flock church (聚会处), some have suggested that there is some kind of intrinsic link between the cults produced by Christianity and Little Flock.

I think it's worth looking at how much craziness the LSM move into China spawned. Every group seems to have its lunatic fringe, baptists included. LSM seems to have produced little except lunatic fringe. Thus my comparison.

http://www.chinasource.org/resource-...anity-in-china