 Kirk reported the opinion by the American scholar Holly Folk that, "Once you examine the track record, you realize none of the accusations are true... You see the exact same move by the Chinese government against the Falun Gong.”

In 2002, The Church of Almighty God was accused of staging a campaign of simultaneous kidnappings across multiple cities to capture thirty-four leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF).Eastern Lightning denied the accusations, and scholar Emily Dunn concluded in her 2015 book that rogue members of the sect, acting without the approval of the leaders, might have been responsible for the incident, writing that, "While Eastern Lightning’s leadership evidently does not condone the use of violence, it may be unable to impress this upon some followers.