Nimade wanted to know more about Christianity. The missionaries he met disagreed with Hong's vision. They did not agree that he was the brother of Jesus. Hong left them and decided to make his own cult. In Hong's cult, God was the Father, Christ was the Son and Elder (Older) Brother, and Hong was the Younger Brother. He called the New Testament the "Former Testament". He called his own ideas the New Testament. Hong's friend Yang Xiuqing used to sell firewood. Yang claimed to be able to act as a voice of God, to direct the people and gain political power.