Do We Have No Shame?

Today I share a burden and ask that you join me in praying about this great concern. The latest news from Tibet should awaken our eyes to what we already know, have known, and continue to know going forward. Those in Tibet are being persecuted because of their religious views which are outlawed in China. While Tibet is not Christian, it is also against the law to practice Christianity openly in China except through their strictly limited and controlled registered Church. When are we going to understand that China is not a friend to any concept of freedom or democracy? They are not intimidated in any way whatsoever by the veiled threats about countries reconsidering participation in the upcoming summer Olympics. Meanwhile, the world weakly stands by in muffled silence as news leaks out about people being persecuted and murdered by the Chinese government. The sound of the cries of those being oppressed is drowned out by the blast horns on the huge ships bringing more and more cheap goods into our harbors.

I suppose there is a sense of what else is new concerning this open secret. Those who take a stand for Christ in China are imprisoned, tortured, and often end up disappearing from off the face of the earth. These are sad details but here in the homeland we are much too worried about the shelves being stocked at Wal-Mart to take notice of what actually is going on in a country financed by our purchasing of their goods and services. We send them our dollars. They send us lead poisoned toys. We defend them as a trading partner due to the precarious balance in our economy. They quietly take our money and spend it on building a new army that will one day threaten our children’s children.

Alarmist? Perhaps. But no more so than the youngster who proclaimed the emperor to have no clothes on. The world may find convenient excuses like not participating in the games would be a punishment to athletes, while the real crime was committed when China, a totalitarian regime, was awarded the competition to begin with. For all the fanfare about how doing business with China is the best way to see them change, how about some old fashioned standing up for right and condemning evil? Instead, we hear rationalizations and rhetoric. What are a few of our children being exposed to deadly poisons compared to the vast amount of low cost goods we can enjoy? What are a few million jobs eliminated here in our country so we can instead help pay for communism to flourish?

Saddest of all, what will it take for those of us who are believers to begin to identify with those brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering there daily for their faith? We are told in the Scripture that we should identify with them as if we are chained together with them. I am not sure what one small voice like mine can do. I’m not sure if there’s much that can be done. But, we do know that God cares about His own and He is aware of their mistreatment and suffering. We can pray that He will act and we can ask Him to help us to do what we can do, however small, to stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ, and that which is right.

Those who track the persecution of believers tell us an estimated 200 million are subjected to ill treatment each day. Their voices cry out to God and surely we can at the least join their chorus of prayer. It is time for us as God’s people to rise up against this tyrannical evil and change our thoughts, and our ways, so that literally billions of oppressed people can hear about the love of God and be saved. That’s what China needs. That’s what America needs. That’s what you and I need today. May God help us all is my prayer. Amen. …..More later.