Though human greatness is no proof of
goodness, the Olympics did demonstrate China's technological advance. It
warned us that we can no longer trust our eyes to separate reality from
fantasy. Technology has become an indoctrination tool that blurs the line
between fact and fascinating images.
More sobering are the evolving
surveillance networks made possible by today's sophisticated technology. While
Communism has always relied on spies and treachery, America is making it more
effective. As Ellen Bork wrote in "Don't forget about China's
dissidents,"
"The world isn't just sending
athletes to the Olympics, but surveillance technology that will help the
government keep tabs on its people for years to come. American companies
alone have sold China technology that invisibly copies computer hard drives,
reads encrypted text and performs facial recognition analysis on
surveillance video."[7]
China is now testing its latest tools.
No doubt Washington, too, is watching the people's response.
"At least 20,000 police surveillance
cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will
soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an
American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of
police suspects and detect unusual activity.
"...spreading across Shenzhen, a city
of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips
programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens. Data on the
chip will include... work history, educational background, religion,
ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status.... Even personal
reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s
controversial 'one child' policy. Plans are being studied to add credit
histories, subway travel payments and small purchases
charged to the card....
"'If they do not get the permanent
card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that
is a way for the government to control the population in the
future.'"[8]
Since the start of Mao's
revolutionary reign, China has tried to track the attitudes and loyalties of
its people. A personal record, called a Dang'an
would follow each person through life. Those found to resist Communist
indoctrination faced re-education,
which included torture, deprivation and often death.[9]
Apparently this Dang'an still includes
"appraisals by supervisors and peers, academic reports from primary school to
university, professional credentials, any criminal convictions or
administrative penalties, club/society memberships, employment records and
political history (such as Youth League
and CPC
membership and assessments).[9] And that's not all.
"Alterations may only be carried out
by special cadres, and when combined
with the custom of guanxi the result is that
'Personal revenge, false entries and special favors are thus part of the
game.'... 'A black mark against you – a bad school report, a disagreement
with your boss, a visit to a psychiatrist – all can travel with you for the
rest of your life…'"[9]
China isn't the only country to monitor its citizens.
Like Mao, Nazi
Germany used terrifying spy networks to force all to submit. So did Stalin.
I first realized that the United Nations called for universal
monitoring when reading new documents on my flight home from its 1996 UN Conference on Human
Settlements in Istanbul. By then, America was already building its cradle
to grave system of digital tracking that includes "mental
health" -- i.e. thinking and acting in accordance with global standards
for the "One World" community. [10]
2. Spirituality: But what kind?
A week before the Beijing Olympics,
Chinese President Hu Jintao told foreign correspondents in Beijing that "the
spiritual legacy [of the Olympics] will last much longer and be even more
valuable" than its "material legacy."[11]
What did he mean by "spiritual"? I
did a quick search on the Beijing Olympics website and found numerous
references both to "spiritual" (as in "spiritual ideas of understanding,
friendship, and equality") and to "spirit." The latter included
cultural spirit, fighting spirit, sporting spirit, Olympic spirit, Chinese
spirit and vibrant
spirit. Nothing "religious" there! Focused on feelings and
aspirations rather than facts and truth, these secular spirits fit right
into Communist ideology.
So does China's religious heritage. Its
subjective blend of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and superstition (remember,
the lucky number "8" became the guiding light for the Olympic schedule) is
largely a matter of social values, personal comfort, and ancestral devotion.
It's based more on feelings (of loyalty and honor) than on facts. And
the Yin
Yang, China's Taoist symbol of unity in diversity,
serves as a reminder that life is full of pain as well as pleasure -- and that
both can be used to manipulate our minds.
Aldous Huxley shared some interesting observations about mandatory
oneness in a book he wrote after Hitler temporarily shattered the
socialist vision of an evolving utopia. In Brave New World Revisited,
he wrote,
"The future dictator’s subjects will
be painlessly regimented by a corps of highly trained social
engineers....
"Their behavior is determined, not by
knowledge and reason, but by feelings and unconscious drives. It is
in these drives and feelings that 'the roots of their positive as well as
their negative attitudes are implanted.' To be successful a propagandist
must learn how to manipulate these instincts and emotions.... Whoever wishes
to win over the masses must know the key that will open the door of their
hearts.'... [Remember Rick Warren's community surveys]
"Twenty years before Madison Avenue
embarked upon 'Motivational Research,' Hitler was systematically exploring
and exploiting the secret fears and hopes, the cravings, anxieties and
frustrations of the German masses."
"It is by manipulating 'hidden forces'
that the advertising experts induce us to buy their wares—a toothpaste, a
brand of cigarettes, a political candidate. ... 'All effective
propaganda,' Hitler wrote, 'must be confined to a few bare necessities
and then must be expressed in a few stereotyped formulas.' These stereotyped
formulas must be constantly repeated, for 'only constant repetition will
finally succeed in imprinting an idea upon the memory of a
crowd.'"[12]
Now, almost fifty years later, many of Huxley's warnings have become
reality. Individual thinking gives way to collective thinking under the skilled guidance of trained facilitators (in churches as well as governments) whose sophisticated
strategies have been tested and proven in psycho-social laboratories
-- first by Communist dictators and later in the "free" world. Their guinea pigs were first
our military troops, then the poor. Now their tentacles are reaching out
to everyone... especially through schools and large churches. The transformation is universal, and
woe to those who
resist!
3. The cleansing: Who must be purged for the sake of
Harmony?
The answer is
simple: any group classified as "an evil cult." That includes thousands of
unregistered Chinese House Churches.
Communism has
never tolerated Biblical Christianity. Nor did Hitler. To manage the German
masses in the late 1930s, Hitler ordered all churches to hang
his picture above their altars. Pastors who refused were replaced by Nazi
puppets.
Like Nazi
Germany, the Maoist regime in China determined to bring all "Christians" into
the same government-controlled fold. It established the Three-Self Patriotic
Movement (TSPM), and banned independent churches. Christians had to choose
whether to conform to TSPM rules or risk imprisonment, torture and death.
The Three
Self (TSPM) ideals were designed to sound good: Self-governance,
Self-support, and Self-propagation. But faithful Christians look
to their Lord, not to Self, for guidance, support and propagation. They would
refuse to trade faithfulness to God for any loyalty to State.
The TSPM
pastors would be trained at government sanctioned seminaries, and its
registered members would be taught according to government guidelines. One of
those rules has outlawed our Biblical hope in eternal life with Christ.
Others are listed here:
• The Communist Party decides what can
be preached.
• Preaching should focus on the social rules and the social
benefits of Christianity.
• Preaching outside government monitored TSPM
church buildings is forbidden.
• Evangelizing is forbidden.
• Giving
out tracts is forbidden.
• Importing bibles is forbidden.
• Printing
bibles [without government permission] is forbidden.
• Giving bibles to
children or teenagers is forbidden.
• Teachers [soldiers and government
officials] cannot be Christian.
• Children or teenagers cannot be
Christian.[13]
When
Christians face pressure from the world, God gives them strength to both
endure the pain and to demonstrate His love to others. Faced with persecution,
God's underground Church simply grew stronger. Some estimate that the number
of Christians in house churches now surpasses 100 million.
Yet,
repression continues. Ponder these pre-Olympic attempts to silence the
Church:
"Beijing activist
and house church leader Hua Huiqi has been evicted from his home amid rumors
that officials want to keep him away from next month’s Olympic Games.
Public Security Bureau officers used a hammer to break into Hua’s rented
flat and threw the family – including Hua’s 90-year-old father, Hua Zaichen
– into the street with their furniture. Hua’s brother sustained serious
injury to his eye after officials beat him. Hua’s elderly mother, Shuang
Shuying, remains in Beijing’s women’s jail, serving a two-year sentence on
disputed charges of ‘damaging government property’. Officials have told Hua
she will be freed if he gives up his human rights work and church
activities."[14]
Pastor Zhang Zhongxin Sentenced to Two Years
Re-education through Labor:
"Authorities accused him of cult participation in the 'the whole
scope of the Church'... preaching the Gospel...."[15]
"Pastor Bike Zhang, chairman of the Federation House
Church and his wife, Xie Fenglan, were forced to leave their
home
.... The couple was
able to find shelter in the home of a friend, Niu Bei until officials again
found the home and forced the Zhangs to leave. Zhang and his wife were
forced to move into a hotel. ... PSB officials threatened the owner of the
hotel to evict the couple or face incarceration. The couple then decided to
find residence in Changping, but were stopped by police officials.... Police
proceeded to interrogate the couple... without food, drink, or rest. ... Xie
Fenglan collapsed due to the stress of the torture.... The couple was
released... stopped at a local hotel ... officials again drove the couple
out of the hotel.... Zhang begged the PSB officials to allow his sick
wife to stay in the location and rest overnight. The officials rejected this
plea....
"When asked why the couple
was being expelled from Beijing, officials responded, 'Because Bike Zhang
met the Americans, and destroyed the harmony of the Beijing Olympic
Games.'"[16]
Dictators know that early
prevention serves their goals better than persecution. So Nazi Germany
established the Hitler
Youth -- copying Stalin's effective mind-changing strategies. China did
the same. Today, its Olympics includes a youth camp. Ponder its invitation to
future leaders:
"'Youth Create the Future.'... I believe your
participation and experience in this camp shall be marked with respect for
each other and forged in a sense of unity and
cooperation. ...
"In the spirit of harmony, compassion, creativity and learning
through experience, the Camp has already invited participants
nominated by more than 200 National Olympic Committees (NOC).... The goal
is to promote the Olympic spirit among young people, and the
ideals of world peace, cooperation and
development...."
[17]
Illusions may sound enticing but they can't change reality.
God's Word stands forever, and man can do nothing to cancel His eternal
plans.
"Why do the nations rage, and
the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves --
and the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His
Anointed, saying,
'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their
cords from us.'" Psalm 2:1-3
But in the midst of it all, God reigns! "Blessed are all those who put
their trust in Him!" Psalm 2:12
Part 1: Who's Guiding the Olympic Vision?
|
When Iron Gates Yield
Endnotes:
1. One World One Dream at http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068253.shtml
2. The Olympic Emblem at http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214070081.shtml
3. China Aid at http://chinaaid.org/2008/08/13/beijing-house-churches-forced-to-sign-document-pledging-not-to-meet-during-the-olympic-games/
4. China’s Leaders Try to Impress and Reassure
World at www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/sports/olympics/09china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=asia
5.Starlet Lin Miaoke mimed at Beijing Olympics Opening
Ceremony at www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24169753-5014197,00.html
6. House
Churches Deeply Disappointed in Brother Bush' Visit to the TSPM at www.crossroad.to/Persecution/china/house-church-bush.htm
7. Ellen Bork, "Don't forget
about China's dissidents," The Wall Street Journal, August, 7,
2008.
8. Enacting
a High-Tech Plan to Track People at www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html
9. "Public records in China at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangan
10. http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/MentalHealth2-99.html
and http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/solidarity-1.html
11. Olympics: Hu says spiritual legacy of Games most
important at http://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news/article/-/4845335/olympics-hu-says-spiritual-legacy-games-important
12. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (New York: Harper &
Row, 1958), 25-26, 41, 43-44.
13. www.2008olympicsbeijing.org/threeselfpatrioticmovement-tspm.htm
14 China: Hua Huiqi evicted at www.releaseinternational.org/pages/posts/china-hua-huiqi-evicted-from-his-home406.php
15. Pastor Zhang Zhongxin Sentenced to Two Years Re-education
through Labor at http://chinaaid.org/2008/07/09/pastor-zhang-zhongxin-sentenced-to-two-years-re-education-through-labor-by-shandong-officials/
16. President of Chinese House Church Alliance
forced to live on streets for meeting with American Congressional
Delegation
at http://chinaaid.org/2008/07/18/president-of-chinese-house-church-alliance-forced-to-live-on-streets-for-meeting-with-american-congressional-delegation/
17. Beijing 2008 Olympic Youth Camp Handbook at http://en.beijing2008.cn/culture/youthcamp/n214364457.shtml
