China Rising
POPE Benedict warned before Christmas that the "eclipse of reason"
in the West was putting "the very future of the world" at stake. He alluded to the
collapse of the Roman Empire, drawing a parallel between it and our times.
All the while, there is another power rising in our time: Communist China. While
it does not presently bare the same teeth that the Soviet Union did, there is much
to be concerned about the ascent of this soaring superpower.
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
Since this writing apostolate began some five years ago, I have had a constant "word"
on my heart, and that is "China." If I may, I want to summarize some of
the various thoughts I’ve posted on this in the past, while adding others, including
a poignant prophecy from one of the Church Fathers.
Several years ago, I drove past a Chinese businessman walking down the sidewalk.
I looked into his eyes. They were dark and empty, and yet there was an aggression
about him that disturbed me. In that moment, (and it’s hard to explain) I was given
an understanding, it seemed, that China was going to "invade" the West. That is,
this man seemed to represent the ideology or spirit behind China (not the
Chinese people themselves, many who are faithful Christians in the underground Church
there). I was shocked, to say the least. But most everything I write here, the Lord
will eventually give a confirmation of what He’s said, most often through the Popes
and Church Fathers.
Up to that time, I had had several dreams, which I usually don’t put much stock
in. But this one particular dream was reoccurring. I saw…
…stars in the sky begin to spin into the shape of a circle. Then the stars
began to fall… turning suddenly into strange military aircraft.
Sitting at the edge of the bed one morning after pondering this image, I asked the
Lord what this dream meant. I heard in my heart: "Look at the flag of China."
So I looked it up on the web… and there it was, a flag with stars in a circle.
CHINA RISING
Look over the nations and see, and be utterly amazed!
For a work is being done in your days that you would not have believed, were it
told. For see, I am raising up Chaldea, that bitter and unruly people, that marches
the breadth of the land to take dwellings not his own. Terrible and dreadful is
he, from himself derive his law and his majesty. Swifter than leopards are his horses,
and keener than wolves at evening. His horses prance, his horsemen come from afar:
they fly like the eagle hastening to devour; each comes for the rapine, their
combined onset is that of a stormwind that heaps up captives like sand.
(Habakkuk 1:5)
In doing some research on another subject, I was studying the writings of 4th century
ecclesiastical writer and Church Father, Lactantius. In his
writings, The Divine Institutes Institutes, he draws upon the Tradition
of the Church to refute error and explain the last ages of the Church. Before the
Era of Peace—what he and other Fathers referred to as the "seventh day" or "thousand
year" period—Lactantius speaks of the tribulations leading up to that time. One
of them is the collapse of power in the West.
Then the sword will traverse the world, mowing down everything,
and laying low all things as a crop. And— my mind dreads to relate it, but I will
relate it, because it is about to happen— the cause of this desolation and confusion
will be this; because the Roman name, by which the world is now ruled, will be taken
away from the earth, and the government return to Asia; and the East will
again bear rule, and the West be reduced to servitude. —Lactantius, Fathers
of the Church: The Divine Institutes, Book VII, Chapter 15, Catholic Encyclopedia;
www.newadvent.org
While he felt this change was imminent in his day—and certainly the Roman Empire
did finally collapse—Lactantius was clearly speaking of events that would come at
the end of this present age.
I do not grant that the Roman empire is gone. Far from it: the
Roman empire remains even to this day. —Blessed Cardinal John Henry
Newman (1801-1890), Advent Sermons on Antichrist, Sermon I
Lactantius’ words take on new weight and meaning in light of what was spoken by
Our Lady at Fatima.
COMMUNISM WILL SPREAD
China exists under the rule of the Communist Party of China—a single party state
that centrally controls all aspects of the state, military, and media. While China
has been relatively conservative in its affairs, the Marxist ideology underlying
its Communist roots remains a dominant force in its national direction.
In the approved apparition of 1917 to the three little children of Portugal, Our
Lady echoed the warnings of the popes at the beginning of that century: the world
was heading down a dangerous path. She said,
When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know
that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world
for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the
Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia
to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.
If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if
not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions
of the Church. —The Message of Fatima,
www.vatican.va
Later that very year, Lenin took power in Moscow and Marxist Communism took its
foothold. The rest is written in blood. Our Blessed Mother appeared to
warn that the "errors" of Communism
would spread "throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church"
unless Heaven’s conditions were met. It wouldn’t be until decades later that the
Consecration she implored took place (which some still dispute). Worse yet, the
world had not turned from its path of destruction.
Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that
it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we have
not yet seen the complete fulfillment of the final part of this prophecy, we are
going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject the path
of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the human person,
immorality and violence, etc. —Fatima visionary Sr. Lucia in a letter to
Pope John Paul II, May 12th, 1982;
www.vatican.va
The Holy Father confirmed Sr. Lucia’s insights:
The evangelical call to repentance and conversion, uttered in
the Mother’s message, remains ever relevant. It is still more relevant than it was
sixty-five years ago. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Homily at Fatima Shrine, L’Osservatore
Romano, English Edition, May 17th, 1982.
COMMUNISM IN MODERN TIMES
Where have Russia’s error spread? While both Russia and China’s economies have become
more free-market oriented over the past two decades, there remains disturbing signs
that the Marxist desire to control and dominate remains lurking… like a dragon in
its lair.
[China] is on the road to fascism, or maybe is heading
towards a dictatorial regime with strong nationalist tendencies.
—Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, Catholic News Agency, May 28, 2008
This is most evident in China’s domination over the Catholic Church, permitting
only a state-controlled "version" of Catholicism. That, and its one-child policy,
sometimes brutally enforced, leaves an ominous cloud hanging over China’s understanding
of both religious freedom and the dignity of human life. This is critical given
its rise as a global superpower.
Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between
Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even
to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of
human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other
than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social
organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on
human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority.
—POPE JOHN XXIII, (1958-1963), Encyclical Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961,
n. 34
North Korea, Venezuela, and other countries
are also following patterns of dictatorial Marxist ideology. Most shockingly, the
United States, under the current government, has increasingly tended toward socialist
policies. Ironically, it has drawn the rebuke of the editors of Pravda—the
Soviet Union’s once powerful propaganda machine:
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American
decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop
of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. —Editorial,
Pravda, April 27th, 2009;
http://english.pravda.ru/
At the heart of Our Lady’s warning that Russia would "spread her errors"
is the false hope that man can create a world without God, a utopian order where
everyone is equal based on an even distribution of goods, property, etc. controlled,
of course, by the leader(s). The Catechism has condemned this "secular messianism,"
tying this dangerous political ideology ultimately to the Antichrist:
The Antichrist’s deception
already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize
within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through
the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this
falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially
the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. —Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 676
The Marian Movement of Priests is a worldwide movement that includes thousands of
priests, bishops, and cardinals. It is based on the messages allegedly given to
Fr. Stefano Gobbi by the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a book, which has received the
Imprimatur, Our Lady ties "atheistic marxism" to the "dragon" in Revelation. Here
she appears to indicate just how successful the spread of Russia’s errors has been
since her apparition in 1917:
The huge Red Dragon has succeeded during these years in conquering humanity with the error
of theoretical and practical atheism, which has now seduced all the nations of the
earth. It has thus succeeded in building up for itself a new civilization without
God, materialistic, egoistic, hedonistic, arid and cold, which carries within itself
the seeds of corruption and of death. —To the Priests
Our Lady’s Beloved Sons, Message n. 404, May 14th, 1989, p. 598, 18th English
Edition
Pope
Benedict has likewise drawn upon similar imagery to describe this force:
We see this power, the force of the red dragon… in new and different
ways. It exists in the form of materialistic ideologies that tell us it is absurd
to think of God; it is absurd to observe God’s commandments: they are a leftover
from a time past. Life is only worth living for its own sake. Take everything we
can get in this brief moment of life. Consumerism, selfishness, and entertainment
alone are worthwhile. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Homily, August 15th,
2007, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The question here is, does China—also known coincidentally in the West as the "red
dragon"—have a role to play in the global spread and enforcement of these
ideologies?
CHINA, IN OTHER PRIVATE REVELATION?
Stan Rutherford was dead for several hours after an
industrial accident tore through his body.
He
died while on the operating table and was taken to the morgue.While lying on a gurney,
Stan told me that "a little nun" in a blue and white dress tapped him on the
face and said, "’Wake up. We have work to do.’" Stan, raised a Pentecostal,
realized later that it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to him. His
"recovery" was inexplicable to his doctors. Stan claimed he was"infused" with the
Catholic faith since he knew nothing of Catholic teaching prior to his accident.
He began a preaching ministry until his death in September of 2009. There were often
healings where Stan went, and most notably, statues or images of the Blessed Virgin
began to ooze oil. I witnessed this personally on one occasion.
When I met Stan about five years ago, this "word" about China was heavy on my heart.
I boldly asked him if Our Lady, who allegedly was still appearing to him, had said
anything to him about "China". Stan replied that he was given a very clear vision
of "boatloads of Asians" landing on American shores.
In the approved apparitions to Ida Peerdeman, Our Lady allegedly said:
"I will set my foot down in the midst of the world and show
you:
that is America, " and then, [Our Lady] immediately points to another part,
saying, "Manchuria—there will be tremendous insurrections." I see Chinese
marching, and a line which they are crossing. —Twenty Fifth Apparition,
10th December, 1950; The Messages of The Lady of All Nations, pg. 35. (Devotion
to Our Lady of All Nations has been ecclesiastically approved.)
In a more controversial apparition in Garabandal, Spain, Our Lady allegedly gave
an approximate indication of when future events, most notably the so-called "warning"
or "Illumination," would take place. In an interview, the seer Conchita said:
Conchita: "When communism comes again everything will
happen."
Author: "What do you mean by comes again?"
Conchita: "Yes, when it newly comes again," she replied.
Author: "Does that mean that communism will go away
before that?"
Conchita: "I don't know," she said in reply, "the
Blessed Virgin simply said 'when communism comes again'."
CHINA’S MUSCLE
One can only speculate on what China’s role may or may not be in the future, just
as the private revelations above—including my own—are subject to testing and discernment.
What is clear is that China has an immense foothold, particularly in resource-rich
North America. A high percentage of goods purchased here are increasingly "Made
in China."
Were relations with China to sour, and the
ruling party flex its "exportation muscles," the shelves of Walmarts could be mostly
emptied and the goods most North Americans take for granted vanish in a hurry.
But more than that, China holds the greatest portion of America’s debt out of foreign
nations. Should they choose to sell that debt off, it could further weaken an already
fragile dollar throwing the American economy into a deeper depression.
Furthermore, China has also gone on a global
buying spree of resources, land, real estate and companies, leading one publication
to title an article: "China
Buys the World." In essence, like a banker poised to repossess property
from a faulty client,
China sits in very advantageous economic position over nations that are
teetering on the brink of economic collapse.
Sadly, Western corporations and governments have chosen to overlook Bejing’s horrible
human rights record in favor of profits. But Steve Mosher of the Population Research
Institute says Western leaders are fooling themselves if they think China’s more
open markets are leading to a freer, more democratic China:
The reality is that as the Beijing regime grows wealthier, it
is becoming ever more despotic at home and aggressive abroad. Dissidents who once
would have been released following Western appeals for clemency remain in prison.
Fragile democracies in Africa, Asia and Latin America are increasingly corrupted
by China’s moneybags foreign policy. China’s leaders reject what they now publicly
deride as "Western" values. Instead, they continue to promote their own conception
of man as subservient to the state and possessing no inalienable rights. They are
obviously convinced that China can be rich and powerful, while remaining a one-party
dictatorship… China remains bound to a uniquely totalitarian view of the state.
Hu and his colleagues remain determined not only to remain in power indefinitely,
but to have the People’s Republic of China replace the U.S. as the reigning hegemon.
All they need to do, as Deng Xiaoping once remarked, is "hide their capabilities
and bide their time." —Stephen Mosher, Population
Research Institute, "We are Losing the Cold War with China — by Pretending It Doesn’t
Exist",
Weekly Briefing, January 19th, 2011
As one American war veteran said, "China will invade America, and they will do it
without firing a single bullet." Sounds a bit like what Russian dictator, Vladimir
Lenin allegedly said:
The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang
them.
That may in fact be a twist on words that Lenin himself wrote:
The [capitalists] will furnish credits which will serve us for
the support of the Communist Party in their countries and, by supplying us materials
and technical equipment which we lack, will restore our military industry necessary
for our furore attacks against our suppliers. —BNET,
www.findarticles.com
In some ways, this is precisely what has
happened. The West has fed the economic machine of China, enabling her in turn to
rise in unprecedented power. China’s military might is now a growing concern in
the Western world as billions are spent every year secretly building up the People’s
Liberation Army (and it’s believed many billions aren’t accounted for).
WHY?
There are a number of reasons why China may eventually "invade" the West (in particular,
North America). From the resource rich provinces of Canada with plentitudes of oil,
water, and space (overpopulation has taxed China’s resources), to the conquest
and subordination of the American military juggernaut. There are many reasons why
the Western world will likely fall into foreign hands completely.
I will give one.
Abortion.
I have heard over and over again in my heart…
Your land will be given to another’s if there is not repentance for the sin of abortion.
We are living in a pipe dream if we believe we can continue to literally butcher
and chemically burn children in the womb and not lose
God’s protection over our once Christian nations. That abortion continues today
despite the overwhelming scientific, photographic, and medical knowledge we possess
of the unborn from the moment of their conception, is a grotesque and wicked testament
to our generation that equals if not surpasses any murderous culture before us.
In fact, a new study shows that abortion in the United States is now on the rise.
Suddenly there shall come upon you
ruin which you will not expect. (Isa 47:11)
But wait a minute! From a reader…
I was just wondering why the USA is always being mentioned as
the wrong doers? China—of all places—not only aborts, but kills children as infants
to control the population. So many other countries forbid basic human needs. The
USA feeds the world; it sends American’s hard earned money to countries that don’t
even appreciate us, and yet, we are going to suffer?
When I read this, the words immediately came to me:
Much will be required of the person
entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with
more. (Luke 12:48)
I believe Canada and America have been protected and spared from many disasters
precisely because of their generosity and openness to many peoples, and
the faithfulness of many Christians living there.
I had the opportunity to pay homage to that great country
(USA), which from its beginnings was built on the foundation of a harmonious
union between religious, ethical and political principles…. —POPE BENEDICT
XVI, Meeting with President George Bush, April 2008
However, that harmony is increasingly discordant as both countries rapidly depart
from their Christian origins, forging a deeper and deeper gulf between Church and
state. The further we move away from our foundations, the further we move away from
God’s protection… just as the prodigal son lost protection when he refused
to remain under his father’s roof.
Christ had strong words for those Pharisees who thought outward works merited them
eternal life when, in reality, they were oppressing others, living a dual life.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the
weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. These you should have
done, without neglecting the others. (Matt 23:23)
GOD’S JUDGMENT
Indeed, judgment begins with the household of God (1 Pt 4:17). Scripture
teaches that we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7). In the past, God has often
used the "sword"—war—as a means to chastise His people. Our Lady warned at
Fatima that "[God] is about to punish the world for its crimes, by
means of war, famine, and persecutions."
When my sword has drunk its fill in
the heavens, lo, it shall come down in judgment. (Isaiah 34:5)
This isn’t fear-mongering. It is a painful reality for an unrepentant generation.
But it is also mercy, for a nation that tears apart its children tears
apart its soul. The Father loves us too much to let us drag an entire generation
or more into total spiritual darkness.
When he assumed Peter’s chair, Pope Benedict sounded this warning:
The threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe,
Europe and the West in general… the Lord is also crying out to our ears the words
that in the Book of Revelation he addresses to the Church of Ephesus: “If you do
not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." Light can
also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its
full seriousness in our hearts, while crying to the Lord: “Help us to repent! Give
all of us the grace of true renewal! Do not allow your light in our midst to blow
out! Strengthen our faith, our hope and our love, so that we can bear good fruit!”
—POPE BENEDICT XVI, Opening Homily, Synod of Bishops, October 2nd, 2005, Rome.
Benedict has pointed out that the vision the Fatima children had of an angel about
to strike the earth with a
flaming sword is not a specter of the past.
The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of
God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat
of judgment which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might
be reduced to ashes by a sea of fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself,
with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword. —The Message of Fatima,
www.vatican.va
In this regard, China may become an instrument of purification among many
during the labor pains in our times, given China’s
troubling secretive massive military buildup. The Second Seal in Revelation
speaks of a ‘red horse’ whose rider bears a sword.
When he broke open the second seal,
I heard the second living creature cry out, "Come forward." Another horse came out,
a red one. Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth, so that
people would slaughter one another. And he was given a huge sword. (Rev 6:3-4)
Not that China is necessarily the "rider" in this vision. St. John seems to indicate
that the sword will cause division and war among and between many nations.
Lactantius mentions this as well, echoing Jesus’s words, not about the end of the
world, but the "labor pains"—wars and rumours of wars—that precede and
accompany the many events of the "end
times."
For all the earth will be in a state of tumult; wars will everywhere
rage; all nations will be in arms, and will oppose one another; neighbouring states
will carry on conflicts with each other… Then the sword will traverse the world,
mowing down everything, and laying low all things as a crop. —Lactantius,
Fathers of the Church: The Divine Institutes, Book VII, Chapter 15, Catholic
Encyclopedia; www.newadvent.org
But recall what I quoted him saying earlier, that "the cause of this desolation"
will be due to a shift in power from the West to Asia and the East.
That is to say, brothers and sisters, that there is likely much to come in our world;
that events foretold by Our Lady are not, and likely will not happen overnight.
Hence, guessing dates and making timelines is futile. What our Mother calls the
Church to prepare
for are the dramatic changes that are coming when the
Seals of Revelation are definitively broken. It is a preparation of
prayer, fasting,
frequent Confession, and meditation on God’s Word. That, and to intercede
with all our hearts for those who are struggling and lost in our time.
The people of China as a whole are loved by God. The underground Church there
is large, strong, and courageous. We must never look at the Chinese population,
an often humble and hard-working people, with suspicion or derision. They are God’s
children too. Rather, we should pray for their, and our leaders, as St. Paul urged
us to. Pray that they will lead their nations into peace rather than war, into friendship
and co-operation, rather than greed, hatred, and division.
Published at:
http://www.markmallett.com/blog/2011/01/of-china/#more-4309
on January 19th, 2011