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Burning Questions
answered by Rev. Colin Le Noury
Is
China mentioned in the Bible?
Does it have a role to play in prophecy?
The
recent heavily publicised takeover of Hong Kong,
during the summer, by the Chinese, has raised new
interest and questions about its prophetic role.
I
have to say that the name China is not found anywhere
in scripture but there are important prophecies
which, I believe, relate to this superpower. Some
of the clearest of these prophecies are found in
the book of Revelation, and events taking place
today would suggest that China is the subject of
them. China is an ancient civilisation with a long
and colourful history. For most of that time it
has been dominated by the ancient religions of Confucianism,
Taoism and Buddhism.
However,
the seeds of change began to flower about 100 years
ago - just before the turn of the century - with
the fall of the Confucian monarchy. This gave way
to western influence and internal revolution. The
celebrated Chiang Kai Shek rose to power but he
in turn was displaced in 1949 by Chairman Mao Tse
Tung and the formation of the People's Republic
of China.
Marxist
communism, with its godless and repressive ideologies
had taken hold of the world's most populated country.
Despite social changes, China today remains the
world's largest atheisticly led country.
How
then does this fit in with prophecy?
As
indicated above the book of Revelation is vitally
important. Let us consider the following prophecies:-
'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. And I saw three unclean spirits like
frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and
out of the mouth of the prophet. 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 ... and he gathered
them together into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue Armageddon.'
The
important phrase is 'the kings of the east.' The
word east literally means, 'the rising or the sun'
and is a clear reference to the orient The prophecy
clearly states that they will come from a land east
of the Euphrates river. We are talking here of a
major oriental power with the military strength
to involve itself in the world's greatest conflict.
China fits the description perfectly.
In
Revelation 9 v 14ff we read:-
'Say
to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose
the four angels which are bound in the great river
Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which
were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month,
and a year for to slay the third part of men.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were
two hundred thousand, thousand; and I heard the
number of them.'
Here
is reference to a mighty army of 200,000,000 with
the power to destroy a third of mankind. More than
25 years ago, China was already proudly boasting
of an army of that size. They have gone on to become
a nuclear power and the description of the destruction
inflicted by this powerful army, in v.18 could be
a reference to the unleashing of China's nuclear
arsenal:
'By
these three was the third part of men killed,
by fire, and by smoke, and by the brimstone, which
issued out of their mouths.'
It
is difficult to see any other nation but communist
China fulfilling these Middle East and is establishing
close links with Arab nations such as Iraq and Saudi
Arabia for the purpose of obtaining oil.
With
an exploding population of 1.2 billion and a developing
economy and industrial base, China is in great need
of oil. Although China has over 20% of the world's
population it has less than 2.5% of the world's
oil reserves. In this sense it is disproportionately
poor and experts say that It will probably face
major energy crisis in the next three years. As
the crisis deepens China will increasingly be looking
at the nations across the Euphrates rich in the
one commodity she lacks.
The
Revelation prophecies speak of an aggressive warlike
nation. China is a military nation controlled by
a repressive regime with an appalling record on
human rights. The world was clearly reminded of
that by the events in Tianamen Square just a few
years ago.
The
takeover of Hong King, despite British pleas to
the contrary, was accompanied by a massive show
of force reminding us of the hostile attitudes of
China's dictatorial leadership.
It
was thought by some in the west that following the
death of Deng Xiaoping China might experience a
break-up similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In fact the opposite has taken place - they have
moved to suppress any unrest in Tibet, Xingiang
and inner Mongolia. Added to this are Beijing's
noises in relation to their desire to retake Taiwan.
It
is this writer's conviction that China is the 'king
of the east' - a sleeping giant who is awakening
to fulfill its prophesied role in the last days.
YT
1/98
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