More than 600 members of the Almighty God cult across China had been detained by the police for spreading rumors of an impending apocalypse on December 21, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Most of the cult members apprehended by the police were detained for five to 10 days for disturbing social order, in accordance with the Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Public Security.

"Most of the cult's members are unemployed people in urban areas or low-income groups hit by illness or disaster. People in their 40s make up the majority," said Ma Qiang, an officer with the Qinghai Provincial Public Security Department.

The sect, sometimes known as Eastern Lightning, claims to be an offshoot of Christianity, but would be barely recognizable to Western Christians. Founded in 1990 in central China's Henan Province, it states that Jesus has been resurrected as a Chinese woman.

"There are no records and explanations of doomsday in Christian doctrines, which differentiates Christianity from the cult," said Tong Ping'an, head of the Qinghai Provincial Christianity Association.

Tales of a female Jesus and a Great Red Dragon, have been used to convert people to the cult, distort the Bible, cause panic and disrupt the normal religious order, according to Tong.