Huang Kuo Lun's concert on the evening of Sep. 23 in Beijing's National Stadium (or Bird's Nest) had the attention of many Christians around China. Statistics showed that over 10,000 Christians were there that night with hope for a revival. Many pastoral workers were also present. Some churches paid for coaches for their congregants to go see the concert.
"Hallelujahs" and "Amens" kept coming from the audience during the concert. Information about the concert was also shared on social media. People trusted the hope of spreading the Gospel from Huang, waiting for the "altar call" moment.
However, brothers and sisters were saddened after the concert ended. There was nothing about the faith, not even a single Gospel song. So many believers felt disappointed and some left early.
This topic immediately broke in WeChat groups, Chinese social media. Many believers felt deceived, angry, and condemned the concert as a fraud.
Conspiracy theories also circulated, claiming Huang fooled Christians for his own concert's sake. However, such claims have no standing.
Some people questioned the church for having money for worshipping stars, but not caring about poor preachers, since they're the guarantee of the church. While others thought Christians were too kind and gullible. There were some Christian subscription accounts and believers who comforted themselves with spiritual victories that it was already a remarkable testimony for a Christian to be in the Bird's Nest.
Despite the various comments and criticisms, one thing is common: the disappointment at Huang's concert, that it wasn't a revival as the "Christian platforms" promoted.
Honestly, the reason people believed the concert to be a revival has everything to do with the misinformation of certain so-called "Christian platforms." These people spread the significance of Huang's concert in the Bird's Nest one month prior to the big night. They deemed the concert a Gospel revival and a turning point for Chinese Gospel ministry, saying Huang was going to witness for Christ in front of tens of thousands of people. They also included a video of Huang and other Christian celebrities witnessing God and blessing from a renowned pastor to convince people that it was a revival. Under such intentional misleading, many Christians believed, shared, and bought the tickets.
This misleading of the subscription accounts must be strongly condemned because they broke the commandment against giving false testimony. God despises this.
It even smells fishy when some of them were the ones selling the tickets. Were there hidden motives? Do people really support Huang, or are they destroying him by making him unrighteous?
Other Christian media also raised questions regarding Huang's concert. They pointed out that Gospel revivals are not possible under the current domestic laws. Huang only fulfilled his own dream through his concert and the church and its believers shouldn't follow the celebrities blindly.
Though many believers came around, some still turned deaf ears on this. They even criticized these platforms for judging Huang.
It is indeed such blind chasing that led to the hope vanishing.
As a matter of fact, the questioned publicity stunt was not that brilliant. Anyone with common sense could see the problem. However, Christians tend to believe so easily, especially concerning celebrity testimonies.
It is highly recommended for brothers and sisters to think twice before believing or sharing anything online. Many Christians also need to learn more about current social events and the social and cultural circumstance of the church to cope with misleading information online.
Christians chasing after celebrities blindly also plays an important part in this. Under the social environment of secularization and "Amusing ourselves to death," many believers see the stars as the backbone of society like other groupies. They expect these Christian celebrities to contribute to the Gospel ministry with their influence. But people need to clearly understand that these celebrities care most about their identities in the amusement industry, and then as Christians. There's no doubt that they show their music, films and TV shows in front of the public and media, instead of their faith in Christ and they focus primarily on their acting and testify Christ within the industry at most.
Therefore, there's no need for Christians to lay the hope for spreading the Gospel on celebrities. Providence requires the joint effort of the entire church, not a certain group. All Christians need to do is to pray for their favorite believing stars so that they can keep their faith and do the will of God in the tempting entertainment industry.
-Translated by Grace Hubl
