The inability to distinguish the spiritual from the carnal, and acceptance of all applications for church membership have always been the mortal wound of the Chinese Church...many in [the congregation] claimed to be Christians but had no eternal life; they fought for privileges but retreated from responsibilities...[churches] filled with people dead in trespasses and sins (Timothy Lin, Ph.D., The Secret of Church Growth, FCBC, 1992, pp. 38, 39).