A New App in China

https://www.christianpost.com/news/chinese-christians-must-register-to-attend-church-service-report.html

No, this isn't about TikTok but about a state sponsored registry app for Christians within China and the reporting failures of the Evangelical infotainment, tabloid, and spin factories that try to pass themselves off as news.

The article fails to properly explain that this would only be in reference to state registered churches. The Underground Church largely considers these bodies to be apostate and since underground meetings are illegal anyway the state-sponsored app would have no relevance.

Once again, Smartphones are coming to the fore as a primary means of government tracking and control. I don’t know what the underground Christians are doing in China but it would seem to me that dispensing with a Smartphone would be a good idea – at the very least, leave it at home when you go to your church meetings. I realize it’s getting more and more difficult to move about and travel by train and that sort of thing without it and such a regime is creeping into existence here in the United States. During my most recent visit to Pittsburgh I was struck by how many transactions no longer produce a receipt without a Smartphone and I’m wondering if in the near future parking is going to be difficult if not impossible without one. At the very least I expect with many things to be financially penalized for not having one and utilising an app.

While I do not doubt the story, Bob Fu's ChinaAid is not a very reliable source as it is closely connected with the American Right which is clearly angling toward a war with China. The recent revival of the Lab Leak theory regarding Covid-19 is reminiscent of the WMD campaign in 2002 and about as credible. The US is on a war footing and sadly groups like ChinaAid will play a role in this. It’s something to keep in mind.

No church should register with the state under any circumstance. I realize this is highly problematic for those who envision huge insured buildings and parking lots – and who make false ‘stewardship’ appeals to tax exemption. The New Testament Church has no need for these worldly trappings and their entrapments. Small congregations can meet and when they grow, they form new congregations. The present denominational model with its ‘pastors’ does not lend to this very well but it works perfectly with the polity of the New Testament and its true plurality of elders.

And for that matter, churches following the New Testament pattern could also face some kind of ‘fraud’ charge under the American system. If you don’t register with the state and because depositing money will lead to trouble with the IRS – whoever deposits it will have to account for the money in terms of taxes. The idea that potentially large amounts of cash are being collected and stored (all unregistered) will raise red flags. And yet because of the government’s monitoring of the banking system it makes any other alternative difficult. The government wants to track and tax that money and unless you incorporate and become a corporation in the eyes of the state and submit to its regulation and polity requirements (which 99%+ of US churches do), then you cannot open a bank account. Individuals such as elders can deposit the money in their own accounts – although many churches following the world’s business mindset balk at this in fear of corruption and embezzlement. But that shouldn’t be a concern among Christians and there are ways to engage in accountability. Business models have no place in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless if you deposit thousands of dollars you’re on the hook for that in terms of income tax. The only other way is cash and for the church to pay for things with cash or by means of money orders and that sort of thing. It’s not easy and for those who envision the Church as a pillar in society that belongs on Main Street, this is unacceptable.

And yet the Church did this for centuries. Modern banking did not arise until the Renaissance and churches did not become involved with it until much later. What was the norm for centuries is today unthinkable.

The Underground Church in China understands this but increasing numbers of their leaders and members have fallen under the pernicious influence of the sacralist American Church and its Dominionist theological tendencies. They are trying to have it both ways and are falling afoul of the state.

A few American Churches understand the problems associated with state registration and money but sadly in almost every instance I have encountered they are driven primarily by a Libertarian ethos and dominated by John Birch-style narratives and thus they too are in great error and the wisdom they exhibit in resisting registration is wasted. The US system doesn’t have to be communist to be evil and contrary to their delusions, Washington is not even remotely a Marxist stronghold.

The American Church just isn’t there, it's not a place where these issues can be addressed or in most cases even raised. While so-called Sinicization offends Americans they are happy and even eager to raise the American flag in the midst of their meetings and sing praises to the country and to turn its heroes into saints by means of a romanticised sanctifying read of American history. It will occur to few readers of The Christian Post that the majority of the American Church is already more in line and of like spirit with the state churches in China.