The next days prompted more questions. Were the
vast Olympic construction projects worth evicting more than a million
people? Was winning a gold medal worth lying about the age of a gifted
gymnast? Did
banishing Christian leaders and
their families from Beijing before the
Olympics fit the vision of a "One World" union?
Communism has always clashed with truth, freedom and integrity, and
China's choices illustrate the point. Only by unthinkable compromise can the
"free world" find "common ground" with Communist totalitarianism. Yet,
countless clues suggest that its masses are now marching blindly toward an
illusion of unity, following leaders who readily trade conviction for
compromise.
For example, President Bush knew well that a visit
to a government controlled church would look like an endorsement of the
Three Self
Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Yet, instead of meeting with faithful pastors
who viewed him as a Christian brother, Bush supported a Communist propaganda
scheme. Their disappointment is reflected in this letter:
1. TECHNOLOGY: WHERE WILL IT TAKE US?
Though
human greatness is no proof of goodness, the Olympics did demonstrate
China's technological advance. It warned us that we can
no longer trust our eyes to separate reality from fantasy. Technology
has become an indoctrination tool that blurs the line between fact and fascinating images.
More sobering are the
evolving surveillance networks made possible by today's sophisticated technology. While
Communism has always relied on spies and treachery,
America is making it more effective. As Ellen Bork wrote in "Don't
forget about China's dissidents,"
"The world isn't just sending athletes to the Olympics,
but surveillance technology that will help the government keep tabs
on its people for years to come. American companies alone have sold
China technology that invisibly copies computer hard drives, reads encrypted
text and performs facial recognition analysis on surveillance video."[7]
China is now testing its latest tools. No doubt Washington, too,
is
watching
the people's response.
"At least 20,000 police
surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern
China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from
an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces
of police suspects and detect unusual activity.
"...spreading
across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted
with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be
issued to most citizens. Data on the chip will include... work history,
educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical
insurance status.... Even personal reproductive history will be included,
for enforcement of China’s controversial 'one child' policy. Plans are
being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small
purchases charged
to the card.... 'If
they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot
get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control
the population in the future.'"[8]
Since the start of
Mao's revolutionary reign, China has tried to track the attitudes
and loyalties of its people. A personal record, called a
Dang'an would follow each person
through life. Those found to resist Communist indoctrination faced
re-education,
which included torture, deprivation and often death.[9]
Apparently the Dang'an still
includes "appraisals by supervisors and peers, academic reports from primary
school to university, professional credentials, any criminal convictions
or administrative penalties, club/society memberships, employment records
and political history (such as
Youth League and
CPC membership and assessments)."[9]
And that's not all.
"Alterations may only be
carried out by special
cadres, and when combined with the custom of
guanxi
the result is that 'Personal revenge, false entries and special favors
are thus part of the game.'... 'A black mark against you – a bad school
report, a disagreement with your boss, a visit to a psychiatrist – all
can travel with you for the rest of your life…'"[9]
China isn't the only country
to monitor its citizens. Like Mao,
Nazi Germany used terrifying
spy networks to force all to submit. So did
Stalin. I first realized that the United Nations called for
universal monitoring
when reading new documents on my flight home from its 1996
UN Conference on Human Settlements
in Istanbul. By then, America was already building its
cradle to grave system
of digital tracking that includes "mental
health" -- i.e. thinking and acting in accordance with global standards
for the "One World" community. [10]
2. SPIRITUALITY: BUT WHAT KIND?
A week before the Beijing Olympics,
Chinese President Hu Jintao told foreign correspondents in Beijing that
"the spiritual legacy [of the Olympics] will last much longer and be even
more valuable" than its "material legacy."[11]
What did he mean by "spiritual"?
I did a quick search on the Beijing Olympics website and found numerous
references both to "spiritual" (as in "spiritual ideas of understanding,
friendship, and equality") and to "spirit." The latter included cultural
spirit, fighting spirit, sporting spirit, Olympic spirit,
Chinese spirit and vibrant spirit.
Nothing "religious" there! Focused on feelings and aspirations rather than
facts and truth, these secular spirits fit right into Communist ideology.
So does China's religious heritage.
Its subjective blend of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and superstition
is largely a matter of social values, personal comfort, and ancestral
devotion. It's based more on feelings (of loyalty and honor) than on
facts. And the Yin Yang,
China's Taoist symbol of unity in diversity, serves as a reminder that
life is full of pain as well as pleasure -- and that both can be used to
manipulate our minds.
Aldous Huxley shared some interesting observations
about oneness in a book he wrote after Hitler temporarily shattered
the socialist vision of an evolving human community. In Brave New World
Revisited, he wrote,
"The future dictator’s subjects
will be painlessly regimented by a corps of highly trained social
engineers.... Their behavior is determined,
not by knowledge and reason, but by feelings and unconscious drives.... To be successful
a propagandist must learn how to manipulate these instincts and emotions....
Whoever wishes to win over the masses must know the key that will open
the door of their hearts.'... [Remember Rick
Warren's
community surveys]
"It is by manipulating 'hidden
forces' that the advertising experts induce us to buy their wares—a
toothpaste, a brand of cigarettes, a political candidate. ... 'All
effective propaganda,' Hitler wrote, 'must be confined to a few
bare necessities and then must be expressed in a few stereotyped formulas.'
These stereotyped formulas must be constantly repeated, for 'only
constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea upon
the memory of a crowd.'"[12]
Now, almost fifty years later, many of Huxley's
warnings have become reality. Individual thinking gives way to
collective thinking under the skilled guidance of
trained facilitators
(in churches as well as governments)
whose sophisticated strategies have been tested and proven in
psycho-social laboratories -- first
by Communist dictators and later in the "free" world. Their
guinea pigs were first our military troops, then the poor. Now their
tentacles are reaching out to everyone... especially through
schools and
large churches. The transformation
is universal, and woe to
those
who resist!
3. THE CLEANSING: WHO MUST BE
PURGED FOR THE SAKE OF HARMONY?
The
answer is simple: any group classified as "an evil cult." That includes
thousands of unregistered Chinese House Churches.
Communism
has never tolerated Biblical Christianity. Nor did Hitler. To manage the German
masses in the late 1930s, Hitler ordered all churches to
hang
his picture above their altars. Pastors who refused were replaced by
Nazi puppets.
Like
Nazi Germany, the Maoist regime in China determined to bring all "Christians"
into the same government-controlled fold. It established the Three-Self
Patriotic Movement (TSPM), and banned independent churches. Christians
had to choose whether to conform to TSPM rules or risk imprisonment, torture
and death.
The
Three Self (TSPM) ideals were designed to sound good: Self-governance,
Self-support, and Self-propagation. But faithful Christians
look to their Lord, not to Self, for guidance, support and propagation.
They would refuse to trade faithfulness to God for any loyalty to State.
The
TSPM pastors would be trained at government sanctioned seminaries, and its
registered members would be taught according to government guidelines. One
of those rules has outlawed our Biblical hope in eternal life with Christ.
Others are
listed here:
-
The Communist Party decides what can be
preached.
-
Preaching should focus on the social rules and the social benefits
of Christianity.
-
Preaching outside government monitored TSPM
church buildings is forbidden.
-
Evangelizing is forbidden.
-
Printing bibles
[without government permission] is forbidden.
-
Giving bibles to children or teenagers is forbidden.
-
Teachers [children, soldiers
and government officials] cannot be Christian....[13]
When
Christians face persecution, God gives them strength to endure
the pain and to demonstrate His love to others. That's why Communism
couldn't wipe out God's underground Church. It simply grew stronger. Some estimate that the number
of Christians in house churches now surpasses 100 million. Yet,
repression continues.
Dictators know that early prevention serves their goals better than persecution.
So Nazi Germany established the
Hitler Youth -- copying Stalin's effective
mind-changing strategies. China did the same. Today, its Olympics includes
a youth camp. Ponder its invitation to future leaders:
"'Youth Create the Future.'...In
the spirit of harmony, compassion, creativity and
learning through
experience, the Camp has already invited participants nominated
by more than 200 National Olympic Committees.... The
goal is to promote....
the ideals of world peace, cooperation and development...."[14]
Illusions may sound
enticing, but they can't change reality. God's Word stands forever,
and man can do nothing to cancel His eternal plans.
"Why do the
nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?
The... rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from
us.'" Psalm 2:1-3
But in the
midst of it all, God reigns! "Blessed are
all those who put their trust in Him!" Psalm 2:12
Endnotes:
1.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068253.shtml
2.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214070081.shtml
3.
http://chinaaid.org/2008/08/13/beijing-house-churches-forced-to-sign-document-pledging-not-to-meet-during-the-olympic-games/
4.
www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/sports/olympics/09china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=asia
5.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24169753-5014197,00.html
6.
www.crossroad.to/Persecution/china/house-church-bush.htm
7. Ellen Bork, "Don't forget about China's dissidents,"
The Wall Street Journal, August,
7, 2008.
8.
www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html
9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangan
10.
http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/MentalHealth2-99.html and
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/solidarity-1.html
11.
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news/article/-/4845335/olympics-hu-says-spiritual-legacy-games-important
12. Aldous
Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), 25-26,
41, 43-44.
13.
www.2008olympicsbeijing.org/threeselfpatrioticmovement-tspm.htm
14.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/culture/youthcamp/n214364457.shtml