Faced with the present situation of the churches in China, some people worry that the churches now, compared with previous years, are going downhill. Also, it is said that there are always ups and downs in history, and at this juncture, the churches in China find themselves traversing a valley, which will inevitably go up to experience a revival.
Whether going downhill or rebounding at the bottom in the future, as Christians today, one of the most important things for us is to reflect on our times. In order to explore the way out for the churches in China, many pastors across the nation agree that current churches need to return to the status of the Apostolic Age.
Pastor Quan (pseudonym), who has been serving in northern China for many years, maintains that the churches in the apostolic era had many characteristics, the first of which was that the era attached great importance to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Quan was raised up in the revival of a Northeast church in the early 1990s. The young pastor experienced the work of the Holy Spirit. In the early 1990s, he saw how thriving the congregations were when they were baptized and witnessed many churches beginning to pray at four or five o’clock in the morning. Frequently, he would hear the joyful or tearful testimonials of believers regarding the grace bestowed upon them and the power of the Lord after the services. He asserted that the spiritual reivval that the churches in China underwent from the late 1960s to the early 1990s could be attributed solely to the agency of the Holy Spirit.
In a relatively short span of time, he also bore witness to the gradual stagnation of the churches in Northeast China during the late 1990s, followed by a decline in the year 2000. Furthermore, he engaged in dialogues with pastors from various regions and discerned that, after 2000, churches in different regions experienced a similar descent, not limited to the Northeastern sector.
Not long after, he also witnessed the slow growth of the churches in Northeast China in the late 1990s and the downward trend in 2000. He also had communications with pastors in other regions and found that after 2000, churches in many regions had a downward trend, not only in the Northeast.
Pastor Quan said that the Holy Spirit steers the course of the church through distinct phases. On the one hand, we should admit that God’s thoughts are higher than ours, and the work of the Holy Spirit has its own due time and methods. On the other hand, the revival of the churches in China on the whole is indeed declining compared with that of decades ago. The churches should admit that, at least from the outside, the work of the Holy Spirit is not so strong, so they need to reflect on why they fail to hold on to the work of the Holy Spirit from their own perspective.
The reason is that the churches in China have a problem attaching importance to the Holy Spirit. He gave four reasons as follows.
Immaturity of the churches
Pastor Quan said that from the 1970s to the 1990s, the revival spread from Wenzhou to Henan and Anhui, and then to all parts of the country. At that time, there was indeed a group of servants who were particularly chosen by the Lord. They longed for words and eagerly prayed, and with signs and wonders, they tried their best to preach the gospel, leading many to believe in the Lord.
Pastor Quan reflected on this history and found a problem: after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit, many believers did not know how to pursue the promotion of spiritual life, but instead pursued more spiritual gifts. During the Apostolic period, when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, which might be confusing to others because people described them as “drunk with new wine”. However, the apostles were powerful when they were facing the rulers and in preaching, and the Holy Spirit made people holy and understand the truth, leading people to break through the temptation of lust and the suppression and bondage of various sins.
The disturbance of evil spirits
Secondly, Pastor Quan saw the disturbance of evil spirits. He said that the stronger the work of the Holy Spirit is, the more unwilling the evil spirits are.
Pastor Quan explained that before 2000, the gospel began to revive mainly in rural areas. At that time, people’s knowledge was limited, and there were fewer learning resources for theology books. Due to the lack of pastoral ministry, many believers would have deviations in their understanding of the truth, which also led to the distortion of the gospel when it was spread. Originally, it should have been witnessing the salvation of Jesus, but it gradually became a subjective personal experience and testimony.
Because the truth is vague, evil spirits will take the opportunity to deceive some people. Pastor Quan himself knows a sister who is opposed to the pursuit of the Holy Spirit. As a new preacher in the 1980s, she was once a minor celebrity in the Christian community. The reason she opposed the pursuit of the Holy Spirit was exactly because she wanted to be filled up by the Holy Spirit. However, due to a lack of correct teaching, she was unfortunately possessed by a demon for five years.
Because of the disturbance of evil spirits in the church, people dare not pursue the Holy Spirit. Pastor Quan emphasized that this is the enemy's plan: if you do not know the truth, opening to the Holy Spirit will come with certain risks.
The confusion of people’s will
When the Holy Spirit comes, some people get the anointing of the Holy Spirit: the gifts of faith, medical treatment, prophecies, or tongues. However, the Holy Spirit gives these gifts to people in accordance with His own will. If people do not stay in God’s presence for a long time, it is easy for them to do things according to men’s will.
By human standards, the Holy Spirit refers to someone chatting slogans or dancing at a service. As a pastor who has experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit, Pastor Quan felt very sad when he saw these phenomena. “There is no problem with chanting slogans and dancing, but do not say that it is a sign of being filled by the Holy Spirit. In my opinion, it is noise! Over the years, the Charismatic churches have been too chaotic! Some people say that the Holy Spirit is like a pyramid with men and women lying on top of each other. I do not think it is good. The Holy Spirit is not confusing but gentle and obedient. The spirit of the prophet is obedient to the prophet.”
Some Charismatic churches recognize "fall-down" as a sign of being in touch with the Holy Spirit. A friend of Pastor Quan experienced it personally, but at first he was skeptical about throwing himself down. The local church invited a pastor. It is said that when people put their hands on each other in prayer, the other party would fall down. His friend stood quietly and relaxed while being prayed for, wondering how he might be pressed. However, when the pastor prayed for him, he did realize that he had the ability. When he laid his hand on him for the first time, he stepped back but continued to stand. When the pastor pressed his hand again, he really felt an irresistible force and fell down with a bang. After falling, the whole person surrendered to God.
Pastor Quan himself was invited to a “fall-down” service but never fell down. However, the speaker explained that was because some pastors were so proud that they could not surrender, however hard they were pressed. Ironically, someone else fell down because of the speaker’s bad breath.
He said, “This is a service that is confusing and gives people a handle for slander. Excessive men will just hinder the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not work, so we just wait. When the Holy Spirit comes by himself, it is pure, which can bring about renewal and change in life.”
The wrong teaching
Pastor Quan also observed wrong teachings. After 2000, many theological classes sprang up in China, some of which were more pertinent and objective and were also helpful to the life growth of believers and workers. However, the time when some mainstream theologians advocated teaching the Holy Spirit’s anointing has passed. They advocate perfect management mode and meticulous logical thinking ability, preach more rationally, and attract the knowledgeable generation with theory, so that many elderly people and people with lower educational levels cannot understand their sermons.
Pastor Quan said that theology is indeed important, but as a subject, it cannot replace the truth. Moreover, many theological theories are also mixed with men’s will, especially in the new theology. Influenced by postmodernism, it advocates that everything is relative, even the absoluteness of the Bible, and that wrong teaching slowly extends in the church.
All those who pay attention to the Bible's truth are the servants of the revival church that the real God raised. After China's "Wesley" John Sung was awarded a doctorate in the United States, he entered a seminary where knowledge replaced faith, and he was very confused. However, after an exhilarating meeting, he began to repent of his life, so he got a “spiritual baptism”. The joy of forgiving sins made him praise God unceasingly. Sometimes shedding tears, sometimes laughing, and thanking God with words and deeds that were misunderstood, he was mistakenly sent to a mental hospital for 193 days, but he learned the way of the cross in obedience in the hospital. In half a year, he read all of the Bible forty times and deeply understood the truth of the holy book revealed by God.
The theological seminary at that time regarded his being filled with the Holy Spirit as a psychopath, and the churches in China have had the same trend since 2000, he added. Pastor Quan believed that theological education should serve the biblical truth. However, due to the immaturity of the churches in China, some theories have deviations, which eventually lead theology to be mixed with human Neo-Confucianism.
Pastor Quan reminded us to be cautious. “I’m afraid someone will take you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
