China's Future is Written in Scripture


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Evening of May 24th 2000. The People's Republic of China (PRC) may soon be enjoying the benefits of the United States lifting trade restrictions with China's "miracle economy"-- giving the PRC Permanent Normal Trade Relations status with the U.S., as well as U.S. support for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)-- now that the House of Representatives has 237 to 197 passed a crucial trade bill. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared" (Revelation 16:12). Though Americans may have formerly viewed the economic benefits of the Far East to have been the product of Japanese electronics and automobiles, it is increasingly apparent to the average consumer that mainland China is the source of more and more of what Americans use. "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is His delight" (Proverbs 11:1). American labor unions-- traditional allies of President Clinton's Democratic Party-- joined ranks with conservative Republicans, as they attempted to stop President Clinton's strange coalition of defecting Democrats and mainstream Republicans, from passing the China trade bill, which the labor unions felt would give up more of their jobs to Chinese workers than they would receive in increased jobs for goods exported to China's "vast untapped" consumer base. "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh" (Ephesians 5:29).

Though the pro-business stance of the Republican Party was employed in support of this strategic trade bill, Republicans had to give grudging support to the communist government of the People's Republic of China-- with its well-known record of human rights repression, e.g., the loss of untold lives when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) suppressed the pro- democracy demonstrations of students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989-- while continuing to oppose normalized trade relations with the similarly repressive government of Castro's Cuba. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). The euphoric condition of the American stock market has projected a "never-ending-party" atmosphere to the American public, and undoubtedly has contributed to their Representatives' vote on the China trade bill. "19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" (Luke 12:19-20).

According to a May 24th 2000 article by Paul Sperry (WorldNetDaily.com), entitled, "China's dirty little secret: Hard-liners need trade status to hold onto power amid growing unrest", "unrest comes as China's unemployment rate hits a 30-year high and its economy nears collapse." PLA troops have put down the worst industrial rioting in years in a depressed mining town of mainland China. The father of China's democracy movement, dissident Wei Jingsheng, told Paul Sperry that angry, jobless farmers have staged "a record 2,000 riots against local communist authorities." He adds that Beijing "desperately needs money for the PLA to retake Taiwan, but also to smash uprisings." Further, economist Peter Brain of the National Institute for Economic and Industrial Research in Melbourne, Australia, says that unemployment has risen to 20 percent in China's cities. Brookings Institution economist Nicholas Lardy says that "China's debt is five times higher than it was in 1995", where 70 percent of current borrowing is going to service existing debt. Why the fiscal morass? Paul Sperry writes that China's current fiscal problems have come from the "biggest military buildup on the planet", where the Chinese Communist Party has ordered eight years of double-digit hikes in military spending. Since the PLA controls about 15,000 companies with some $10 billion in sales, and since the PRC government also runs the banks, Western loans are easily put towards the military. And, U.S. technology from companies like Boeing and Motorola, would be readily applied to develop new weapons systems, such as the satellite and missile technology that the PRC brandishes against the West Coast of the U.S. as a threatened response to American military interference with Mainland China's retaking of Taiwan. In short, contrary to the package sold to the House of Representatives by the Clinton White House, the China trade bill will serve more to attempt to rescue China's failing economy for its totalitarian masters, than to provide a boon to American workers' exports to China.

To the undiscerning, the fulfillment of Bible prophecy does not seem to have anything to do with the decisions made by the economic and political powers of the world, but the "king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Proverbs 21:1). "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Psalm 76:10). The Saints are required by God to pray for the fulfillment of the prophecy that they understand to be necessary to come to pass for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, i.e., "Thy Kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10). "Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them" (Ezekiel 36:37). Though China is mentioned only in passing in the Apocalypse, the Sixth Vial Judgment (Revelation 16:12) represents the Kings of the East as vital to the last conflagration that will be fought at Armageddon, before the Second Advent of the LORD Jesus Christ. "12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East [including China] might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of the beast [the Antichrist], and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the Earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I [Jesus] come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" (Revelation 16:12-16).

For those who believe the testimony of God, the Scripture is plain concerning the destiny of the Kings of the East, i.e., including the People's Republic of China. Jesus Christ, Whose "Name is called The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13) and who is truly the "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (19:16), is prophesied by Scripture to vanquish certainly, totally, and eternally the Kings of the East, and all that oppose Him at Armageddon. "17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the Great God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19 And I saw the Beast [the Antichrist], and the kings of the Earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Jesus] that sat on the horse, and against His army [the Saints and angels]. 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him [Jesus] that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh" (Revelation 19:17-21).

To those that look for the soon appearing of Jesus Christ, "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1Peter 1:13). And, to those that have not seriously looked at the coming events from the perspective of Scripture, "The time is at hand" (Revelation 22:10). Turn from your sin and selfishness, and trust Jesus Christ to save, sanctify, and keep you for time and Eternity. "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).

Maranatha!

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