Dear…
‘Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches…’
Psalm 73:12
‘But they that are minded to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’
1 Timothy 6:9
Ungodly or not, it is not for me to judge, but clearly, China today is a prosperous place, very much different from the China I know from reading literature written back in the 1970s. Back then, communism was very much more egalitarian in its distribution of deprivation(save for the ruling elite) and one piece of information that stay etched in my memory is this fact that meat, primarily pork was eaten once a month and the basic staple was more into rice, potato and vegetable.
Having not been in Beijing since my last trip right smack into SARs back in year 2003, this recent trip last week is an update for me. The shopping malls are even more plentiful, with a coterie of very high end luxury goods. Though a few short days might not be fully representative, clearly the disparity between the haves and have-nots have greatly widened. And interestingly, a significant number of the wealthy Chinese seem to take their confidence from the flashy branded accoutrements on their body, and less on their own sense of self worth.
‘Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency….’
Psalm 73:13
It is difficult not to feel overawed by the ostentatious display of mega wealth, and even harder not to be envious or at least think about how to jump onto this bandwagon of super normal growth in wealth in our once much maligned and despised motherland. China, as its name implies, is once again the center of the world, at least economically and possibly militarily in the distant future. In my last trip to Shanghai in April, standing in the midst of the mega buildings in Pudong, I was reminded of this giant machine that is China today, incessantly sucking in the world’s resources and its implications for the world at large.
‘ …Who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth…’
1 Timothy 2:4
Can China which seems to be very fixated on worshipping mammon, instead of the once revered demi-gods in its human leadership, truly be the land upon which many Chinese Christians will go forth into the vast and last reaches of Central Asia, to share the gospel to the last of the unreached?
‘One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.’
Psalm 27:4
In this vast land of China, there are many still very materially impoverished, but rich in the spirit, in their desire to know and serve God. Where our treasures are, there lies our heart. And the Lord our God impressed upon me this verse Psalm 27:4 deeply during my brief stay in Beijing. Man seeks the temporal, and comes to permanent grief. We as believers and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ must seek God, and look to the eternity He promise all who seek Him.
‘…I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart…’
Psalm 101:2
Beijing, a place I have been to four times these past decade never fails to impress me with its expression of power, be it the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace or the Tian An Men Square, not forgetting the Temple of Heaven. Such ostentatious use of finite resources is only possible in lands where an autocratic sovereign power exists. And it needed a passionate belief to translate that power to exercise the resources at one’s disposal to bring to fruition one’s aggrandized dreams or fantasies.
The Forbidden City, though much aged, still retains a sense of its splendor during the heydays of the Ming Dynasty and its successor Dynasty , the Qing. Today, modern and confident China is out to recapture those glory days, and besides making its presence felt with the no expense spared, coming out parties in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and this year’s Shanghai Expo, China is actively setting up cultural/educational facilities to promote Confucius and his teachings. Increasingly, the rest of the world will feel the presence of a resurgent China, and it need not necessarily be all things nice, for the world has only so much space for its burgeoning population with infinite wants, and something has to give.
‘When thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, They face, Lord, will I seek…’
Psalm 27:8
The home is where once feels a sense of comfort, where one feels a sense of achievement. On an individual level, that means both the material quality as well as the emotional equanimity of our abode. On a national level, that means what a country can count as what it owns and her sphere of influence. In all Empires, this would include projecting one’s power outside of one’s country. The British had their colonies and a powerful naval fleet. The Romans had the centurions and the aqueducts across its empire. The Chinese is increasingly reverting to the early days of Admiral Cheng Ho, when a confident Ming China seek to explore the world and appoint vassal states, which was done with great success before it inexplicably looked inward and closed its doors to the outside world.
‘But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness…’
1 Timothy 6:11
Contrasts that to the life of a believer and follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. We seek not the riches of the material and carnal world, but rather, the richness of a personal relationship with a loving Father in Heaven. His grace is suffice for all, and there will never be a need to compete amongst His children, for the spring of life flows forth endlessly. Home is our very body, a temple upon which the Spirit of God resides, and God looks not for sacrifice but an obedient heart that is faithful.
‘But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.’
Habakkuk 2:20
‘Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart, wait, I say, on the Lord.’
Psalm 27:14
Contrast again to the philosophies of the carnal world. Sinful men must always be antlike and warlike in their behavior, always striving and in strife. Witness the usual representation of a nation’s sense of strength, by the massive man made edifices, the military might, and its intent to impose its values on others.
‘Charge them that are rich in this present world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute…’
1 Timothy 6:17-19
With God, we lean upon Him, and follow as He leads. We think more of His will than ours. We think of the needs of others than ourselves.
Quite a different way of building our ideal home from that of the carnal world.
‘I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, and said, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it…’
Habakkuk 2:1-2
Last week, I was at the movie “Prince of Persia” with my son and his buddy. A rather run of the mill movie, with the main actor’s agility being the highpoint of the movie or maybe it was the ostrich race that drew some grunts of interest from a sedate audience. Modern day Iran might be working hard on recapturing its past glories as a major Empire, but it is its next door neighbor Turkey(the once mighty Ottoman Empire) that has lately come out of its bridesmaid role.
Long cozy with Israel, the once staunchly secular, military ruled Turkey has now moved to an even cozier relationship with staunchly anti-Israel Iran, with its change to a civilian government, whose religious orientation is more aligned with that of the majority in the Middle East.
Is the recent incident in the seas off the Gaza, just the beginning of more testing of the waters by the enemies of Israel, before they finally decide to take the big plunge of a full scale war with Israel? Is everyone jostling to be the next Empire, under the pretext of defending the cause of the plight of the homeless Palestinians? Is home the personification of the heights of glory and power? If so, then the race to recapture those glory days of the past will not just be restricted to the Iranians(old Persia), the Turkish(old Ottoman Empire), but will include the Russians(Tsarist), the Chinese(Ming Dynasty), the Germans(not Nazi but Bismarck’s Prussia), the Japanese(Meiji Restoration) and now even the Hungarians(from the old Austro-Hungarian axis of pre World War 1).
‘…it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.’
Matthew 13:11
Armageddon I am not sure. Political analyst I am not, enthusiasts maybe. But clearly, politics have become the dominant consideration in our world this year, and on that, the fumbling and bickering Europeans have done a bad job about it. And through the rest of the year, politics could take on an even harder edge, with xenophobia stoking the flames of social unrest in a heavily indebted Western society and throw into the simmering pot, a possible military conflagration in the Middle East, things are indeed going to get hotter and we are not just talking about climate change.
‘When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out, and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. The goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and well there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.’
Matthew 12:43-45
Is this a prediction or a vision that God gave me. It is not but rather a thought that crossed my mind as I pen this sharing. Home is where our heart is, and if God is where our heart has the only place for, the world would be not just a happier but a truly blessed place. Yet reality is, conflicts, strife and subterfuge will continue to dominate our present world, the devil’s world, as long as God has no place in our hearts, and home or homeland continues to be a place that is swept clean for even more demons to take abode in.
'Unless the Lord builds the house. They labor in vain who build it....'
Psalm 127:1
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
(7th June 2010)
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