Events

The Shangdi Jiaohui has been sponsored in the last 6 years by Hong Rengan as a way of securing the loyalties of people and officials alike. He invited Americans, Portuguese Catholics, Russian Orthodox, and any who would proselytize while keeping an eye on what they taught. With him retired after fulfilling his duty of seeing Tianguo resurgent, Shen Kong has taken the lead as the main advisor to Hong Xiuquan.

Now, 15% of the population in Tianguo follow this new church, which represents 20% of the total protestant population. The church stands as an effective method of centralising spiritual and temporal control much better than the old confucian ways.

The Shangdi Jiaohui is structured with the following beliefs, other than the typical christian ones:

1. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit all are three divine persons of the Heavenly Emperor, God.
2. Laozi and other classical chinese philosophers are saints who have contributed to the understanding of the Church.
3. The ancestor worship is somewhat equated with saint worship, with the reverence to the elders being of utmost importance.
4. Demons, angels and other esoteric characters take the naming from traditional chinese folk belief. For it was their true nature, hidden in plain sight.
5. The more pious one is, the closer one is to God. Thus, no one is closer than the Heavenly King.
6. The Heavenly King is both spiritual and temporal authority of the Church.

Most of these beliefs have been compiled in a personalised Bible, which takes writings from Chinese philosophers too. It is the gospel being spread in Tianguo, in no small part thanks to the foreign missionaries.