Patron Request - Communism Speading Christianity

Patreon Request and the Article on Christianity in China

Alright, well every month I roll a 12-sided die, and it might have to go up because we're getting more patrons, but I roll a 12-sided die to see one of my patrons who can recommend an article or a video or something like that for me to respond to or react to or whatever.

And this week, or this month rather, an anonymous donor, which I greatly appreciate, thank you so much for supporting the channel, and your money has helped me to buy a book that I otherwise would have bought myself maybe, but I would have been a little bit hesitant, but thank you so much for your support.

I do appreciate it. Hopefully the channel is benefiting from it, but anyway, so this anonymous person wanted me to review this article. It's kind of an interesting article. It's about the church in China, and it's by Joanne Pittman, and she makes the argument that the Communist Party, the party in China, is actually increasing church multiplication, or actually will potentially increase church multiplication.

And this is an interesting article. I've thought about this topic actually a lot, so I was happy to do a quick reaction to it. And what the article, the point of the article is basically this, that China is, well let me just read the first paragraph, and then you'll kind of get the sense of what it's about.

It says, 10 years ago, when I was still living in Beijing, I asked a Chinese friend, what were the main challenges facing Christians in China? Her answer surprised me. She stood up, banged her fist on my dining room table, and said, it is way too easy to be a Christian in China today.

We need more persecution. So that's the perspective, right? So this Chinese lady said that it's too easy to be a Christian in China, and what they need is more persecution, so that it's more difficult to be a Christian in China, and so I guess you'd be more of a real Christian.

And actually, at my church, we read a book that I really did not like. It was called, oh, what is it? Was it The Insanity of God? No, it was The Insanity of Obedience. And there was some good stuff in the book, but it also kind of takes this perspective that you can't be a real Christian unless you're being persecuted, or something like that.

It actually even talked about China, where in China, you're actually not a real disciple, a real follower of Christ, unless you've led somebody else to Christ. And I don't agree with that perspective at all.

Obviously, I would say that that works to justification. I get what they're saying, that obviously, you need to count the cost, and being a Christian probably will cost you something. But I don't think that persecution or something like that is necessary for the church to thrive.

Why Persecution Is Not Necessary for the Church to Thrive

I think that's a really weird perspective. And the point of this article is, well, the Communist Party used to really control things, but then they sort of loosened their grip on certain things in the religious realm, but now they're starting to realize that they need to tighten their grip, because socialism or Marxism, it doesn't work unless you have total control.

Listen up, social justice warriors. Socialism doesn't work unless the party is calling all the shots. That's part of the reason why it's evil, because God's system of economics, God's system of politics, I'm sorry, of law, is a law that emphasizes freedom.

Now, there are obviously laws and restrictions and things like that. The law is supposed to restrain evil, and the government is the avenger of God. So if someone's doing evil, obviously, the government has to step in, but if you look at the law of God, it more closely resembles people that value freedom than it does socialism.

It's just that simple. But anyway, what she's saying is that because the Chinese party is cracking down a little bit, it's going to sort of force a shift from megachurches into house churches, and it'll also force a shift for large churches, churches that are officially registered to do more in their communities by law.

So they'd have to do things by law in order to serve socialism. And she says that that'll be actually an opportunity for believers to be salt and light in the world, which I think is super weird. So forced charity was an opportunity to be salt and light.

I guess I kind of see what she's saying, but that's really weird. But anyway, the reason why the patron that suggested this wanted me to do it is because he thinks that he or she, it's an anonymous person, thinks that social justice warriors seem to have this kind of secret desire for persecution.

And honestly, I do agree with that in some ways, but I don't think it's only social justice warriors. This idea of persecution being a good thing for the church is very popular. Now I understand where they get it from because we see this is very common.

You look back at history and you see, well, in the past, you know, every time someone tries to crack down on Christianity or Christian expression that, you know, God flips the script on them. You know, he makes people more committed to Christ and things like that.

But that's not a good reason to desire persecution. Persecution's not a good thing. Just because God creates good out of persecution and he intends good by the persecution, that doesn't mean that we should seek it out.

Joseph, Evil Suffering, and God's Hidden Will

That's so ridiculous. That's absolutely a ridiculous perspective because God, God uses means for his ends, but that doesn't mean that it's okay for us words. Like let's say, imagine if I made this argument, right?

I said, you know, well, look at this. And actually this, this book, this book, insanity of, of obedience, it actually does make this argument. Listen to this, Joseph and his brothers, you know, Joseph was beaten up by his brothers who hated him, sold into slavery.

And then he was serving, he was in jail and then he was serving, um, uh, the Pharaoh or whoever it was, uh, one of the generals. And then he was thrown in jail for a while and kept there for a while. And he, and almost like God forgot about him.

And then when he came out, he was at the right place at the right time. And God used that to save his people. You know, he used that to save, uh, Israel and his family. And that was an amazing thing. And then, you know, that's where we get the verse, what you meant for evil.

God meant for good to save many people alive today. That's it. So, so what we need to do as Christians is discern when it's good to leave someone in prison unjustly. This book actually made that argument.

What if I said, you know, we need to discern as Christians when it's good to beat up somebody and sell them into slavery for the good of the church, of course. No, that's preposterous. That is preposterous.

God might use that kind of thing for, for, for good, but that's not something that we need to discern. We have revealed law. God has told us very clearly what to do. And then his secret will, his, his, his hidden will is something that we shouldn't even attempt to discern.

What is, what is, what, what, what is God going to do with this bad circumstance? Well, we should, oh, that means that we should do the bad circumstance. No, no, we shouldn't desire persecution. I've heard people pray for persecution and look, one of my brothers in the church, very close.

I love this brother. He does do this sometimes he prays for persecution and I think that's so ridiculous. I think that's ridiculous. I think we should pray, pray for protection and revival and things like that.

And then when persecution comes, we ask God to redeem it. We ask God to protect us. We ask God to make good ends out of these evil things. And so, um, if social justice warriors actually do want persecution and, and just because, you know, let's just say that, that China cracking down on the Christian church actually does lead to good things.

God Can Bring Good from Persecution, But It Is Not a Model to Emulate

I think it will lead to good things for the church because all things come together for good for the good of those who love God. But that doesn't mean this is a model, right? Just so as the socialist, communist, Marxist, uh, states of the world actually lead to the spread of Christianity.

That doesn't mean it's a model for justice. It doesn't mean it's something we should emulate over here. Um, there are, God can work through evil people, but he could also work through good people. He could also work through good circumstances.

And so that's kind of my reaction to this article. It's fine article. I don't really care so much about it. Um, but I, I don't think that this Chinese lady saying, well, it's too easy to be a Christian.

We need more persecution. I think that misunderstands things. We don't need persecution. If we get persecution, then that, then, then God will use that to his advantage. He always does that kind of stuff, but you know, it just be just fine.

If God decided, well, what I'm going to do is actually bless these people and I'm going to show them, I'm going to teach them, I'm going to regenerate their hearts. He could do that too. And he's done that before as well.

Closing Thanks and Upcoming Book Review

Um, so yeah, that's my reaction to this. Thank you again to the patron who suggested that I do this article. Thank you so much for your support. I appreciate it. Um, and hopefully the channel is benefiting from it and all of you are benefiting from it as well.

I know a lot of people have given me feedback that the woke church review was very helpful to them. You guys bought that book for me, so I appreciate it. I will absolutely be buying the, uh, Jim R. Tisby book coming out.

Um, I'm looking forward to it in a weird way. Um, anyway, I hope this is helpful. God bless.