Challenges from China

The following report from China comes from Chinese Church Support Ministries While many Chinese on the mainland are becoming believers, there are also challenges from cults.
"A couple of years ago when I was travelling in a village in southern China, a lady who became a Christian some years ago came along and asked me: ‘Is the Old Testament Jehovah the brother of Jesus? They both have the same family name’ (Chinese names begin with the family name)… I believe there are lots of Christians like the lady. How can she understand the teachings in the Bible without help?” (CCL) This true story reveals how little Biblical teaching many Christians in China have. The dangers of such a lack are obvious. Believers can easily be led astray by false teaching and cults. We have shared in previous prayer updates about the ‘Lightning from the East’ cult that is making considerable inroads into the Chinese church. During August, a pastor in China reminded us of the danger, saying, “Lightning from the East is one of the major cults. They penetrate into areas where they have the least Bible teaching and indoctrinate people to join them.”This pastor also brought another dangerous cult to our attention. He told us: “Another cult is called the ‘Three Grades of Servants’. They are establishing human authority instead of God’s authority. They prey on ignorant believers. This group is very fervent and active in spreading their teaching and bringing harm to the Body of Christ. That’s why we want to equip ourselves to be able to stand against heresies.” A few days later a Chinese pastor in another city informed us that he had taken Bibles to a village and found that the church there was now controlled by this same cult.This cult uses Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25 as the basis for the church to be divided into “three grades of servants.” The leader has appointed himself as the “Great Servant,” and disobeying his commands is seen as disobedience to God. He also claims absolute power as the only mediator between God and man. The Reuters news agency reported in July that three members of the ‘Three Grades of Servants’ sect had been sentenced to death for the murder of twenty people who had left the cult."