Chinese police arrested more than 1,000 people believed to be members of a dangerous religious cult, state-run Xinhua reported. Of those arrested, 100 were believed to be the core members of the group.

The cult Church of Almighty God, also known as "Quannengshen" and Eastern Lightning is alleged to be a cover for people committing crimes. The group, which is included in the 14 banned religious groups in China, laundered money and committed murders, according to reports.

Like Us on Facebook

Xinhua said that the group was accused of killing other people, including their own family and encouraging suicides.

Last May, five members of the cult brutally murdered a woman whom they were trying to recruit at McDonald's. They will be tried on Thursday at court, facing murder charges.

They also committed other crimes such as kidnapping, blackmailing to encourage people to join them, bribery, and torture.

One instance is the kidnapping of 34 leaders of China Gospel Fellowship, an underground Christian group. Reports said the cult demanded their captives by blackmail and torture to convert to their religion.

According to reports, the group is highly organized where members engage in recruiting or carrying out crimes. Their strategy is to build trust among the members and leaders before executing a plan.

With more members today, the group left the underground scene and continued to expand and recruit people. Now, it has more than a million followers.  

In 2012, members fearlessly proclaimed in public that the end of the world was coming and were held up by the authorities.

The group was founded in the 1990's by Zhao Weishan grounded on the belief that Yang Xiangbin, his wife, was the female reincarnation of Jesus. She was called "Lightning Deng."

In 2000, they went into hiding in the United States, according to reports. But the members they left in China carried out the group's activities, including the crimes. 

TagsEastern Lightning, religious cult, banned cult in china