Since the opening up and reform in the 1980s, various fake commodities have flooded China with the enormous development of the market economy, seriously undermining consumers' interests. For this reason, cracking down on counterfeits has become a social concern.
Similarly, false testimonies and fake miracles exist in the church, which needs the attention of the church and Christians. We can say that the church also needs an anti-counterfeit campaign.
False testimonies are prevalent. They are the most common "counterfeit goods" in the church. A few WeChat official accounts repeatedly propagate the fake convertion testimonies of some political figures, including a nationally influential person, which are republished by many WeChat accounts. The most popular edition is that a political leader accepted the gospel in a visit to an earthquake-stricken area in Sichuan and was later baptized, promoting the development of Christianity in China. Other widespread fake testimonies also target historical celebrities like Guo Ziyi, a famous Tang dynasty general, the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Albert Einstein, and Lu Xun, a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. People who know a little about China's history and culture can identity the authenticity of these false testimonies, most of which are low-grade. However, these kinds of things are widely spread.
Fake miracles run rampant. All types of wonders and miraculous signs are extolled in the church owing to the growth of Pentecostalism and the emphasis of Chinese Christians on spiritual experience. Some wonders and signs, including "being filled with the Holy Spirit" and "performing miracles," appear in the conferences of many Pentecostal churches. However, these wonders and signs are not true in many cases. That some people behave unusually in conferences is actually due to the power of suggestion to some degree or the phenomenon of "the Emperor's New Clothes". We can tell fake miracles from real ones with spiritual wisdom, while we'd better stay away from mysterious experiences under collective unconsciousness.
Plagiarism of sermons starts to go popular. Fake sermons don't convey the message of heresies and cults. some preachers plagiarize others' sermons that are generally low quality. Some pastors and preachers hardly have time to be quiet and prepare sermons due to a tight schedule occupied with daily church affairs, so they plagiarize some famous pastors' online articles to make their own sermons. If a preacher doesn't time to prepare a sermon, he'd better state frankly that he cites an opinion of another pastor, which avoids sin and gains the congregation's understanding.
Apart from the above "counterfeit" phenomena in the church, there may be quite a few misconducts. What's important is that the church must adhere to truth and never follow others blindly in the counterfeit culture.
(The author is a Christian from Fujian.)
-Translated By: Karen Luo
