Divergent Missionary Legacies in The Middle Kingdom

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Growing-Chinese-nationalism:-celebrating-Christmas-is-'a-burning-shame'-45828.html

The sad thing is that the Chinese government has a point. All too often Western missionary work has functioned as a form of cultural imperialism if not rank and overt tool of imperialism.

Biblical Christianity is trans-national and anti-Sacral. This alone will earn the ire and wrath of the bestial state. Christians refusing to honour the gods of society and fulfill the proper rituals and roles will lead to bitterness and persecution. So it was in ancient Rome. But in China what we're seeing is the Shapur Effect wherein Christians are perceived to be a fifth column, agents and operatives not for 'trans-nationalism' in a nebulous sense but for the militarist West in particular.

This of course does not in any way shape or form sanction or vindicate the evil being perpetrated by Beijing against the Church. The leaders of the CCP are wrong, but sadly Western missionaries and certainly modern Evangelicalism have also (often) been wrong and have planted many rotten seeds which in addition to producing rotten fruit are bringing down an unnecessary wrath and one dis-connected from the gospel itself.

Yes, Western missionaries did make converts in the past but all too often they built their houses on the foundations of Western imperialism and in particular in the wake of the bitter chapter of the Opium Wars. Now the false gospel of Dominionist Constantinianism and the imperialism it effectively mandates is bringing new waves of persecution.

But this round of bestial wrath is not because of the gospel. Sadly it's largely about politics and the Chinese Church needs to distance itself from the West and from the likes of Bob Fu, BreakPoint and the many other corrupt and exploitative Evangelical 'ministries' which function instead as lobbyists and advocates of American foreign policy.

In addition to being little more than swindlers who make merchandise of God's people these folks are pushing for war and aggression towards Beijing. They are the worst enemies the Chinese Christians have... maybe even worse than their CCP persecutors. I say that realising many will struggle to understand it. The nature of this conflict transcends the political aspects of Beijing's policy toward Christians as well as the struggles between Beijing and Washington. From the standpoint of the Church both Beijing and Washington are beast powers and enemies of the Kingdom. Western connected Evangelicals have failed to understand this and have instead become whore-agents of the American beast.

The one seeks to rule by might, the other (at this point) seeks to undermine the Church through subversion and seduction. Sometimes the latter is more dangerous. Remember it was Delilah who ultimately brought Samson down.

We must continue to pray for the Chinese Church and pray that they would (even at this stage) reform and return to the Scriptures and purge not only Western thinking with regard to Dominion... which is making great inroads, but that they would come to a better understanding of Sola Scriptura. It is clear they have already drunk deep from the poisoned wells of American Evangelicalism and learned much from its perverse ecclesiology.