Kohima, Aug 22 (IANS): The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has warned the church leaders in Nagaland against a cult called the Church of Almighty God from China. The NBCC said this is a dangerous cult as they are actively spreading false Gospel and false teachings.

NBCC General Secretary Zelhou Keyho in a letter to all executive secretaries and directors of Baptist associations under it, said: "I am writing this with a grave concern concerning a cult, called the Church of Almighty God from China, reportedly making inroads into our land. The Church of Almighty God or Eastern Lightning cult is a well organised group, aggressively moving forward with publications and creating many Facebook pages and colourful artwork that appears biblical and enticing."

The two-page August 19 letter, with the subject "Warning against cult" said that the cult teaches that Lord Jesus has come back to earth as a woman, named Yang Xiangbin, also called Lightning Deng, and the New Testament has been replaced by their new bible, called "The Word Appears in the Flesh".

"They teach that God is speaking through this woman, and they refer to God's speaking through this woman, as utterances, and these utterances are written in their books, as revelations from God, and they are being published and promoted through books, videos, computer generated movies and artwork and many other forms of media."

Keyho in his letter, available with IANS, wrote: "Jesus said in His Word that He would return to earth, not as the almighty who speaks through a woman from China, but as He was, is and ever shall be. Let us beware of this dangerous cult as they are actively spreading a false Gospel and false teachings. Let us research them and expose them and take every measure to shield our respective congregations from such false religion."

The NBCC General Secretary said that they came to know about this for the first time sometime in May. "We are trying to create consciousness in our churches through different associations and even through the media," he told reporters.

Christianity has emerged as the major religion in three northeastern states -- Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. Over 5.5 million Christians live in Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur while there are a significant number of Christians in the other northeastern states of Tripura, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as well.