Tag: communist

Who are the ‘least of these’ and why does it matter?

By John Doane, Op-ed contributor Sunday, October 20, 2024

Lutheran reverend Yousef Zamgila (L) speaks to members of his congregation at the small improvised church they helped set up in a neighbours yard in Omdurman, Khartoums twin city, on August 22, 2019. Sudan’s Christians suffered decades of persecution under the regime of Islamist general Omar al-Bashir. | JEAN MARC MOJON/AFP via Getty Images

Several years ago Tony Campolo wrote, “I place my highest priority on the words of Jesus, emphasizing the 25th chapter of Matthew, where Jesus makes clear that on Judgment Day the defining question will be how each of us responded to those he calls ‘the least of these.’”

President Obama, speaking to the Pope at the occasion of his visit to the White House in 2015, stated “You call on all of us, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to put the ‘least of these’ at the center of our concerns.” And then the President went on to identify “the poor and the marginalized” as the “least of these.”

Others identify those needing adoption or the homeless as “the least of these.” Former NIH director Francis Collins in his recent book The Road to Wisdom identified “the poor, the sick, the orphans, the prisoners, [as] the least of these that Jesus said we are most called to help.”

Since Jesus makes this such an important issue, it would behoove us to identify those whom the Bible itself would call the “least of these.”

Notice that in Matthew 25:40 Jesus said, “… inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.” So the “least of these” are His brethren. Who are Jesus’ brethren? Hebrews 2:11 answers, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Romans 8:29 calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brethren.” 1 John 3:13-14 counsels us “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you,” but “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.”

So, love for the brethren (Christians) is a sign that we have eternal life, just as in Matthew 25 Jesus indicates that those who care for the least of His brethren are welcomed into His eternal Kingdom.

Some Christian writers have identified the brethren of Jesus in Matthew 25 as disciples called to preach the Gospel, such as those sent out by Jesus in Matthew 10. Those may indeed risk hunger, loneliness, nakedness and imprisonment, but the ones mentioned in Matthew 25 evidently refer to those who actually suffer such things.

Now we know from the rest of the Bible (e.g. Romans 4:3-8 and Romans 10:9) that our righteousness is based on our faith in the finished work of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and belief in His resurrection. So, the works on behalf of the least of Jesus’ brethren mentioned in Matthew 25 do not earn us salvation. Rather, they are a sign that we are already saved, as James said, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).

Why is this important? First of all, this passage from Matthew should not be used for virtue signaling, to drum up support for one’s favorite charity, or to promote a government program. Our salvation is never based on our works, however good they may seem. Secondly, notice that the passage in Matthew 25 is part of the so-called Olivet Discourse starting in Matthew 24 where Jesus spoke to his disciples in private. In that context, Matthew 25: 31-46 gives His brethren, His disciples, a way to distinguish between others “blessed of My Father” (v. 34) and those deserving of “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41).

As in other places, Jesus was sorting out appearances from reality. For example, before the breakup of the Soviet Union, many leaders in the World Council of Churches and major Christian denominations refused to believe that Christians were in prison for their faith in communist countries, even when presented with exhaustive evidence. Such leaders preferred to associate with leaders of state-controlled churches in those countries. Other nominal Christians either deny that Christians were suffering persecution in communist countries, or they were indifferent about helping them. The ones suffering persecution were indeed in prison. Their families were naked and hungry, because they had no income, and the governments forbade others from helping them. Like St. Paul, they were made “the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things” (1 Corinthians 4:13), surely the “least” ones.

Meanwhile, laymen supported efforts to bring relief to families of Christian martyrs and those in prison. When the communist governments of Eastern Europe collapsed, more Christians understood the magnitude of the persecution that had occurred. More Christians also became involved in helping our persecuted brethren elsewhere.

Nevertheless, one can still discern differences in how Christians and the world respond to the persecution of Jesus’ brethren. Believers still suffer severe persecution in communist China, North Korea, and Cuba. Recently it has also become fashionable to discourage criticism of Islam. However, it’s not fashionable to help Christians persecuted by Muslims in Nigeria or Iran, by Hindus in India or by Buddhists in Myanmar.

The worldly media generally ignores or downplays such persecution, and so it takes effort by Christians to identify it. Christians suffering this persecution are the “least” of Jesus’ brethren, hated by the world (1 John 3:13). But while they are persecuted, practical help provides encouragement that they are not forsaken (2 Corinthians 4:9). One can “visit” them also through prayer and letter writing.

Our priority is always our own household (1 Timothy 5:8) and our brothers and sisters in the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). When we help our persecuted brothers and sisters we exhibit our love for Christ, since Christ dwells within each believer (Colossians 1:2 and 1:27). Unbelievers do not have that love, because suffering for the name of Christ is foolishness to them. It is God Himself who puts that love into our hearts, so it is no cause for boasting.

John Doane received a bachelor’s degree from Yale, a PhD from MIT, and worked in microwave technology for Bell Laboratories, Princeton University and General Atomics. He served on the Board of Directors of Jesus to the Communist World  (which later became Voice of the Martyrs). His recent articles have been published in the Creation Research Society Quarterly and The Christian Post.

Source: Christian Post

Red China: The Body of Christ and The Political Situation

Source: Asia Harvest Newsletter

(Dear Reader: This ministry was recommended to us by a friend who served in Communist China for years and it is worthy of your support. May God bless you and the church in China. Carl)

This newsletter shares insights into the current situation in China, both politically and for the Body of Christ. In addition to our standard newsletter, we want to share links to articles and videos that give further context into some of the claims we have made.

For those who are serious about learning more of the situation in China today, please click on this link to go to a page with a list of links to extra resources on the situation in China.

Please note we have selected just a few of the most interesting and helpful pages out of hundreds that are available online. Pages from other websites should open in separate windows on your browser.

President Xi Jinping and His Role in the World

“How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant? They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting. They crush your people, Lord; they oppress your inheritance….

Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge? The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.”     –    Psalm 94:3-5, 10-11 

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS many people from around the world have asked us to help them understand what’s going on in China.

Many Christians are shocked, because for years all they heard was how revival was bringing millions of Chinese into God’s kingdom.

Suddenly, all news from the Church in China stopped in its tracks, as a new Emperor, Xi Jinping, caused the Body of Christ to adopt a defensive posture.

Who is this man who has “purged” (i.e., killed or imprisoned)
hundreds of thousands of people, and who has created such a
stench across Asia that 20 neighboring countries — from Central
Asia to India and the Philippines — now have disputes with China.

Let’s take a closer look at this man who has so enlarged the Chinese military and covert influence that a World War seems inevitable if things continue on their present trajectory.

We deliberately used the term “Emperor” to describe Xi Jinping. While technically he is the atheistic head of the Chinese Communist Party, for thousands of years China was ruled by Emperors whose authority was absolute. 

There were no elections, debates, or protests against emperors. Any perceived hesitancy to obey an emperor’s edict was met with swift and severe punishment. In there paranoia, many Chinese emperors killed millions of their subjects to consolidate their power.

Although emperors have not officially ruled China since 1912, in reality Communist leaders like Mao and Xi have been emperors in all but name. It is important to understand that Chinese emperors were never viewed merely as leaders of China.

You may know that the Chinese name for their country, Zhong Guo, means “Middle Kingdom.” The belief that their country is the center of the world is deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of every Chinese generation.

Emperors are believed to have a “Mandate of Heaven,” by which they receive the authority to rule. This philosophy, which dates back 2,500 years, assumes that because there is only one heaven, there can only be one emperor and one state with legitimacy in the whole world.

Over the years we have frequently met Chinese from all walks of life who are glad and proud that China is now throwing its weight around in the world. From taxi drivers in Singapore to businessmen in San Francisco, countless Chinese believe that now is the time for China to rise up and seize its destiny as world leader—economically, culturally, and militarily. It

is not so much a desire as a statement of fact. Even among Chinese Christians we have met few who would ever dare to openly criticize Xi Jinping or his decisions. After all, he is the emperor, appointed by heaven itself. Opponents are seen as evildoers and are mercilessly crushed. Just ask people in Hong Kong how life has changed since Xi came to power.

The Mandate of Heaven philosophy spread to many parts of East Asia in the centuries before Christ. It explains why countries like North Korea have been unable to throw off its heavy yoke of rule by the Kim family for so long, Japanese emperors were also seen as heaven-
sent leaders who were invincible because of the Mandate of Heaven. The Japanese belief of invincibility abruptly ended when two atomic bombs fell on Japan in 1945.

In 2016, we began to report that a major shift was happening in China, and the new dynamic would change the way Christians function in China, while the country itself would become a huge threat to democracies.

China decided it was time to throw off its “Century of humiliation” at the hands of foreign powers and take its rightful place as leader of the world, with Xi Jinping on the throne. 

A Prediction…

WE DO NOT BELIEVE THE RISE OF CHINA will lead to world domination.

“Emperor” Xi’s harsh authoritarian rule, as he has consolidated absolute power in China and made enemies all around Asia and the world, has not been working out too well.

The economy in China is in tatters (far worse than reports in Western media), and a growing number of Chinese are beginning to quietly question if their leader is taking the country on a path that will end well for them.

Many nations now see China as the number one threat
to global security and Xi’s aggressive stance has brought about the formation of military alliances to counter his plans.

It has been said that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Strongmen like Xi Jinping believe they operate with impunity, as it is their birthright. Above all else, the thing they desire most is regime survival.

For that reason, Xi constantly purges his leaders, isolating himself more and more while at the same time changing the constitution to guarantee he will never be replaced. Emperors of China were never changed. They ruled for life.

Do we think that Xi and the Chinese Communist Party will reach their goals of world domination?

No, for the following SEVEN REASONS: 

1 GOD HAS THE FINAL SAY.

We believe it is not a coincidence that as soon as China launched its campaign to systematically destroy Christianity in 2016-17, their economy began to disintegrate. Ultimately, the battle for the 1.4 billion souls of China is what is at stake.

The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased a pure bride numbering over 100 million believers in China. They are the apple of His eye, and He will not stand by and let His precious inheritance be decimated. 

2 THE DEMOGRAPHICS FOR CHINA ARE A NIGHTMARE.

With a rapidly ageing population and a lack of young people of tax-paying age to pay for Xi’s military expansion, things are likely to stagnate and deteriorate in China.

Some economists estimate that China needs 400 million more people of working age to keep its economy going forward and fund their military aspirations, but they have “sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)

The Communist Party’s one-child policy, accompanied by hundreds of millions of forced abortions, has wiped out a generation of Chinese. The very people they need to pay for their plans don’t exist. They were sacrificed on the altar of the Communist Party death cult. 

3 THE POPULATION OF CHINA IS ALREADY IN RAPID DECLINE

with some provinces shrinking by millions of people each year. Some experts calculate that by the end of this century the population of China may be half of what it is now. Two years ago, it was hardly noticed when the government lowered the national population by 121 million from previous inflated figures.

An increasing number of young people in China today have no desire to have children, which are considered an economic inconvenience. That unnatural instinct has been suppressed by generations of Marxist propaganda that work and money—not faith in God and a loving family—are the keys to happiness.

4 STRETCHED TO BREAKING POINT.

Xi’s reign has been greatly helped by his access to technology that previous rulers like Mao Zedong could never have dreamed of.

A friend who recently returned from his first visit to China in several years was shocked at the changes he experienced. He said:

“Everywhere I experienced anti-foreign sentiment from unfriendly people, and I saw many people paying for things with their faces. By allowing their faces to be scanned, payments are deducted directly from their accounts. No phone or bank card is needed, and cash is practically unheard of.”

With more than 400 million facial recognition cameras watching and evaluating their every move, and Xi demanding complete obedience to the Marxist-socialist agenda, many people feel stretched to breaking point and are increasingly fed up with the system. 

5 XI HAS TRIED TO REPLACE GOD WITH A CULT OF HIMSELF.

He wants to be all-seeing, all- knowing, and all-powerful. He has erected giant billboards and posters of his face (like the one on the cover of this newsletter) and he demands unwavering devotion and commitment to his cause. In tens of thousands of churches across China, crosses and Scripture verses have been forcibly removed and replaced with posters of Xi and Mao, or with Chinese flags.

The Chinese Communist Party always claims there is no God, while setting themselves up as gods who must be obeyed and worshipped at all times.

Interestingly, in churches where posters of the Ten Commandments were displayed, instead of the authorities removing them they just scratched out the first commandment that says: “You shall have no other gods before me.”

They didn’t object to any of the other nine commandments, but only the first one upset them. Why? Because like Satan, they desire to fill the role of God in people’s lives. 

6 A GENERAL MALAISE HAS COME UPON THE YOUTH OF CHINA.

After studying hard all their lives, tens of millions of university graduates can’t find any work at all, and a new expression, tang ping, or “lying down flat” swept over many Chinese young people.

Countless millions have lost the desire to excel, and they now see life as meaningless.

More recently, during Xi’s harsh Covid restrictions, tang ping has been replaced by a new catch-phrase: bai lan, meaning “let it rot.” These developments refer to a voluntary retreat from pursuing goals and will expediate decay in Chinese society and the economy.

7 XI JINPING SEEMS TO HAVE A PERSONAL HATRED FOR CHRISTIANITY.

After systematically expelling almost all foreign Christians from China over the past 6 or 7 years, a widespread persecution has afflicted God’s people in every part of the nation, but especially in the border provinces.

The Communist Party has even been working on a new Bible, removing passages they don’t like, and replacing them with socialist teachings.

One proposed change is the story of the woman at the well. The Communist Party didn’t like that she was forgiven, so they are reportedly changing it.

So instead of Jesus telling her, “Go and sin no more,” the new Communist Bible has Jesus picking up a stone and stoning her to death! Let’s see if God will allow such blatant blasphemy and corruption of His holy Word to go unpunished.

Is God ALMIGHTY?

In the gospels Christ teaches that God is almighty. But there is so much suffering in the world that God sometimes seems to be powerless. His Son, who was executed like a common criminal, continues to suffer every time a Christian is martyred. And atheist rulers try to chase Him from their countries. If God were almighty, wouldn’t He end the injustice and suffering?

A Communist prosecutor in the Soviet Union before its dissolution, lured or coerced a number of Christian children to disclose the names of their Sunday school teachers. As a result, four leading Christians in the town were sentenced to prison. Although these children could not have known the consequences of their actions, their consciences may forever accuse them as Judases.

Also in the Soviet Union, the children of a Christian family were placed in a home for mentally disabled children because they believed in Christ. One year later, their parents succeeded in getting them out of the home and having them evaluated by doctors in another town, and the children were found to be mentally healthy. Will these children ever recover from what they suffered?

Why does Almighty God ordain or even allow so much suffering? Is He almighty, or is He powerless? The suffering that all of us must endure prompts us to ask the same question.

First, we must examine our understanding of the word might. Many of us probably view the word as meaning the power to crush, subdue, suppress, or punish. But the word can also be used in a more positive way, as in the might to love, to be patient and quiet, to suffer innocently and to be good to wrongdoers.

While beating a Christian, a Communist officer told him, “I am almighty, as you suppose your God to be. I can kill you.” The Christian boldly replied, “The power is all on my side. I can love you while you torture me to death”. Such is God’s might which is reflected in the deep tranquility of the souls of saints. They do not ask “Why all the sorrow?” because they have learned to love the cross, accepting rejection and discomfort. When we take this attitude, our perplexity ceases.

Suffering drives some to despair and torments their soul, while others are grateful for it. I have seen faithful Christian prisoners dancing for joy. They recognize God’s might and patiently show love towards their torturers. God’s love will conquer.

We cannot understand God’s reasons for allowing suffering, but someday we will know as we are known by God (1 Corinthians 13:12). And cannot God compensate in eternity for suffering endured here for a little while? The saint is not a man who is illuminated by God. He is nothing, through whom God’s power shines to love even the worst of men. Who knows if today’s murderer may not be a future disciple?

 We bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, advancing on the path of faith without tormenting ourselves with endless questions about suffering. May we embrace these unanswered questions as we learn to glorify Christ joyfully.

Author: Richard Wurmbrand (1909 -2001) was imprisoned in Communist Romania because of his faith in Christ. You can read his complete story in Wurmbrand: Tortured for Christ – The Complete Story.

Report: ‘Tremendous Progress’ Ahead for Religious Freedom Worldwide | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

Report: ‘Tremendous Progress’ Ahead for Religious Freedom Worldwide | News & Reporting | Christianity Today
— Read on www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/april/uscirf-tony-perkins-international-religious-freedom-2020.html

Why communist and leftist governments hate Christianity – The Christian Post

Why is it that Communist and Leftist governments persecute and hate Christianity so much?
— Read on www.christianpost.com/voices/why-communist-and-leftist-governments-hate-christianity.html

New Law Requires Chinese Christians Fully Submit to Communist Party

The Chinese government has tightened its reign on its citizens by announcing that all religious personnel of any faith must submit to and evangelize about the Chinese Communist Party.
“In practice, your religion no longer matters, if you are Buddhist, or Taoist, or Muslim, or Christian: the only religion allowed is faith in the Chinese Communist Party,” said a Chinese Catholic priest, according to CBN.
Starting on Feb 1, all religious groups must adhere to the new rules, which consist of six chapters and 41 articles. They require government approval for any type of gathering and total submission to the Communist Party.
One law, Article 17, states: “Religious organizations must spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as national laws, regulations, rules to religious personnel and religious citizens, educating religious personnel and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, supporting the socialist system, adhering to and following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics…”
Manuscripts from each religion are also not immune to censorship. The Daily Mail reports that the Communist Party intends to complete a “comprehensive evaluation of the existing religious classics aiming at contents which do not conform to the progress of the times.” As Christian Headlines previously reported, this means that books such as the Bible or the Quran will be rewritten to “reflect socialist values” and any paragraphs that the government deems “wrong” will be changed.
“In many ways, the Chinese government’s control, including censorship of the Bible and the Quran, has twisted the doctrines of these religious texts and thus the religions,” said Patrick Poon, a China Researcher at Amnesty International. “There is simply no genuine religious freedom.”
The new laws come after finishing off 2019 with the “worst religious persecution in the country’s history,” according to the Federalist. A pastor of house church Early Rain Covenant Church, Wang Yi, caught international attention last year when he was arrested and later sentenced to nine years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business activities.” His family wasn’t even sure if he was alive until they heard about his sentencing.
(Mikaela Mathews, “New Law Requires Chinese Christians Fully Submit to Communist Party,” ChristianHeadlinesOnline Tuesday, January 7, 2020)