Getting Frienemy-dly

So, in case you haven’t heard, President Trump has decided to ban American investment in 31 Chinese companies, that he says have links to the Chinese military. And while the Chinese are crying foul and many of these companies are claiming that they have nothing to do with the Chinese military, I don’t think that matters. I’m actually willing to be more sanction-y that Trump. Whether all 31 of these companies truly has a link to the Chicom military-industrial complex is actually a moot point. And it’s moot because money is fungible. And because money is fungible any money that goes to China will, at least in part, go to the strengthening and modernization of the Chinese military. And that’s an objectively bad thing. It is objectively bad for an expansionist, murderous, totalitarian regime to increase their fighting capabilities.

Now, you might say, but Luke, if China becomes rich they’ll become a democracy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard that tired line before and it just ain’t true. China may be moving out of Communism by fits and starts but it’s no less an authoritarian autocracy now than it has been…it’s just now they’re transitioning into a Nationalist police-state instead of a Communist police-state. That’s not an improvement. The concentration camps for Muslim Uighurs, forced abortions, sabre-rattling, trademark and copyright infringement, slave labor – all these things show that China is a bad actor. And China IS a bad actor, and the only people who say China isn’t a bad actor are liars who know better or useful idiots who don’t. Again, because money is fungible, any investment in China – not just these 31 companies – is an investment in the Chinese military.

And I think it’s a bad thing to invest in the Chinese military. I think it’s immoral. I think that helping China is a bad thing — I think it’s immoral. But don’t expect any of our social and political betters to get on board with this. Don’t expect the NBA to start divesting from China. Don’t expect Facebook and Google or Disney and Netflix to stop investing in China. They won’t because they’re cynical. The drivers of culture in America are saying that the Scientific Method and Logic are racist, but China can put Muslims in concentration camps – and that’s OK. The Wokesters tell us silence is violence, but forced abortions, nope…no reason to speak out against THAT -- I mean, what about a Politburo’s right to choose? There’s so little real public racism in America that we’ve invented terms like Microaggression to try to conjure up hatecrimes, but do our elites talk about China, where there is real and durable racism against non-Han Chinese? I could go on, but you get the point. We have a hyper-abundance of criticism about America and yet China doesn’t seem to ever receive any…I guess China must be beyond reproach?

Or...and I know this is crazy…or maybe the rich and powerful in this country have far too much money to make off of China and since China doesn’t tolerate dissent, they keep their mouths shut to keep their pockets full. Is that a cynical view? Maybe. But I can’t see how it would be false. And the fact is that companies that knowingly aid China are knowingly hurting America for their own benefit.

This is bad behavior. This is immoral behavior. And frankly, the American public ought to have the guts to not buy products that are made in China, whenever possible. Why? Because China is a bad actor who wants to aggress and conquer and hurt America. I think we should stop buying from China because they are a bad actor who hates us. And I don’t see any good-faith argument around that fact. Trying to profit off of friendship with your enemy is either treason or stupidity.

But ya know, this is not just something that affects geopolitics and economics. This is a Spiritual concept as well. You see, brothers and sisters, an awful lot of Christians have forgotten that the world isn’t our friend!

In John 15 we read:

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ (NIV)

OK, so let’s look at this and try to find all the places where it tells us that the world is going to love Christians? OK…searching…searching…yeah it’s not there. The world hates Christians because the world hates God. And therefore, for us to try to be friendly with the world is like trying to be friends with your sworn enemy. It ain’t a-gonna work.

The world hates us, not because of anything we can change but because of Christ. And if the world hates us because it hates Christ then there is nothing we can do to change that because they will never stop hating Christ. It’s impossible to be loved by the world and be like Christ and openly belong to Christ because the world will never stop hating Christ.

However, if Christians want to be loved by the world, here are a couple things they can do. And these won’t guarantee you’re loved, but maybe you’ll be hated less openly because you identify with Christ less clearly. OK, so, how to be friends with the world:

1)     Be ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is a hateful doctrine to the world. The Gospel says that men are wretched sinners deserving of Hell, and that there is nothing in man worth saving — but God out of His mercy saves because He delights to save. The world hates this. It is a rebuke. It insists that God is God. It insists that God is worthy of love and all our affections are, by nature, misdirected and even evil. It insists we are helpless. It insists we come to God as Spiritual beggars. The world hates the Gospel – so, if you want to cozy-up to the world, be ashamed of the Gospel.

2)     Act like a worlding. Salt stings the wounded and light burns in the eyes of those who love and live in darkness. Being salt and light causes nothing but trouble – so stop doing it. Letting your light shine simply guarantees that people who love the dark will try to extinguish it. Don’t be extinguished. I mean what will it profit a man to save his soul but lose his life? Why would you lose this whole world to gain your soul – that’s a sucker’s bet. The world is real…and angry. It’s safest to live in the now. So don’t let your light shine. Don’t be salt. In everything, do as the world. Insist on letting your mind remain conformed to the pattern of this world. Cause the moment your metamorphosize you’re gonna make enemies.

3)     Make Jesus Palatable. OK, let’s get one thing straight. Jesus went out of His way to make it clear that He does not compromise. He doesn’t compromise on sin…at all. Fornication is still a sin in Jesus’ eyes. As is homosexuality. As is transvestism and transgenderism. As is abortion. As is greed. As is pride. As is lying. As is dishonoring your parents. As is loving anything more than God. Jesus is immovable on these things, and worse and worse, his little lackey Moses condemns any and all who do these kinds of things! Jesus as the Bible describes Him is all about patriarchal, religious, messianic-Zionism. He’s so exclusivist! Making friends with the world means insisting on a gay, black Jesus – or a woman Jesus – or the communist Jesus – or the Jesus who didn’t really exist. There are all kinds of versions of people who come in His name, and to the world, they’re all better than the genuine article. Jesus, real Jesus, He’s a bigoted, racist, homophobe who must be rejected in our age of tolerance and acceptance. If you wanna be friends with the world, find out what kind of Jesus they’re tolerate or rally behind and then get behind that Jesus.

I think these are all really helpful notes on how to be friends with the world. I mean, of course James says this:

4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us[b]? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud

    but shows favor to the humble.”

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (NIV)

Yeah, James tells us that trying to be friends with the world makes us God’s enemies. But what did he know?!