The rapid growth of the church in China, the lack of godly leadership, and the dearth of good Christian literature have combined to create an environment favourable to the development of some very strange cults and heresies.

This cult has grown rapidly in the last several years and is found widely spread in Henan, Anhui, Hebei, Shandong, Guangdong and Fujian. They quote Matthew 24:27 to 'prove' their teaching that the Second Coming of Christ will be like lightning from the East. Matthew 8:2-4 also refers to 'one from the East'--so Christ will be Chinese! But Jeremiah 31:22 talks about a 'woman'. So Christ will be a Chinese woman--and she is already living in Henan province in central China!

As if this were not bad enough, the cult declares that as they have already entered the new 'kingdom era', the Bible is no longer valid. The cult members actively dissuade people from reading the Bible. Those who continue to do so are accused of 'crucifying Christ again'. They earnestly call on all Christians to 'repent'. In addition, they deny the Trinity and state that people are only saved by obeying the law, not by grace through faith.   In 2004 members of this cult made a major advance on a number of Miao churches that had recently come to faith, though many turned back to Christ.  For more information about this cult and its practices, see the link Eastern Lightning.

The Shouters are an extremist offshoot of the 'Little Flock' founded by Watchman Nee. Their founder, Witness Li (Li Changshou), resided since 1962 in California before his death in 1997. In China the Shouters appear to have mutated in different areas from groups relatively orthodox to some who worship Li as the second person of the Trinity, replacing Christ. In their services they shout the words 'Lord!', 'Amen!' and 'Hallelujah!' like so many mantras, believing this will help their spirits to be liberated. In practice they often downgrade the Bible, saying the age of the 'Word' has been replaced by, that of the 'Spirit' (this is an old heresy).

In May 1995 they attracted adverse attention from the authorities by passing out millions of tracts in 61 cities in 21 provinces claiming Witness Li was 'the Living Christ'. One tract stated: "Who can understand the 66 books of the Bible? Only the Lamb on the throne of the universe. Li Changshou is that Lamb. He has seven doctorates? He is the Eastern Sun, the Light of the World, the New King of the Nations. Through him we obtain Life. He is the incarnate, living Christ?"

Their zeal in evangelism has attracted many young people, and efforts by the government since 1982 to suppress the movement by imprisoning key leaders have not been altogether successful.

This cult was founded in Taiwan in 1963 by Zuo Kun, a native of Jiangxi. Under cover of visiting his relatives he spread his false teaching widely in Jiangxi province. He teaches that only those who have been baptised by immersion can be saved. Those who attend Three Self churches cannot be saved. He particularly stresses spiritual gifts and encourages believers to speak in tongues by manipulating their tongues to speak nonsense syllables.

Zuo Kun has written many books, which in practice are placed alongside or even above the Scriptures. He claims to be God's special vessel and his preachers must obey him and do everything to please their spiritual 'father'. Prayer "in the name of Zuokun" is believed to be especially powerful. He claims to be an apostle and that apostles "should have political power, people and lands." In practice, Zuokun has set himself above Christ.

This group was originally founded in Miyang County, Henan. They reject the entire Old Testament as out-of-date and accept only the four Gospels and Revelation as authoritative. All of Paul's epistles are regarded as the mere words of a man and uninspired.

They praise a certain Mr Zhang as the 'Son of Man' in place of Jesus Christ. They encourage simple believers to sell all their property and present it to Zhang. They also discourage sect followers from singing hymns, from praying and from attending Sunday worship. (Like many sects down the ages, in the name of 'Christian freedom' they encourage rampant antinomianism or disobedience to God's holy laws.) The sect is also known as 'the Good Path of Eternal Life' (Yongsheng Shan Dao).

In Guizhou province a cult forbids believers to sit together with non-believers. Nor should they sit on unbelievers' chairs. When they visit unbelieving relatives and friends they must take their own chopsticks! In Hubei another group says unbelievers are devils and one must never talk to them, even though they are close neighbours.

In Sichuan and Heilongjiang there are those who teach that if a wife believes, but the husband does not, then they must get a divorce. Every cult-member must win at least twenty others, and when they get to heaven they will be rewarded with 8,880 ounces of silver.

In Zhejiang a man preached that 1995-1997 would be years of great famine in China. People were urged to stockpile food and shut themselves away from everyone else to pray. They wore white garments and preached a 慻ospel of tribulation'. Only those who joined their 'doomsday' cult would escape famine, drought, earthquakes and plagues.

A common heresy is that of downing tools to wait for the Second Coming. Peasants stop planting, and workers leave their factories. In Fang County in Hubei workers in a factory sold off all the processing equipment and encouraged people to use up all their food and money. In Anhui some foolish people went further, and went around smashing up other people's property.

In Hunan some people teach that Jesus has already come again and is a 21-year-old youth in Shanxi.

In all these cases the sad tiring is that gullible people have been led astray by false prophets or misunderstood the true teaching of the Bible.

How widespread are these cults? A recent survey in Jiangsu showed that there are over 900,000 Protestant Christians, but also some 15,000 followers of the 'Lingling cult'. If other cults such as 'Shouters' are taken into consideration, then perhaps we might estimate that 5-10% of the 'Christians' in jiangsu are involved in dubious groups of some kind.

The broad masses of Christian believers, whether in the TSPM or house-churches, are largely Bible believing and evangelical. However, nation-wide there must be tens of thousands, perhaps even several hundred thousand people, caught up in pseudo-Christian cults. The situation may not be desperate but it is certainly serious. The urgent need is for godly preachers and a large number of literate and Spirit-filled believers who are able to explain the Word of God simply to ordinary people.