The Chinese Constantine
November 23, 2009
The leader of the communists in China has an epiphany and a sighting of the resurrection of Jesus. Out of the blue. Like Paul and like Constantine. And he hears a call to reestablish the Commune of Jerusalem. So he is called like Paul, but not to go for individual salvation as with the gentiles, but with communal salvation with the Jewish friends and followers of Jesus. So the communist leader is called to reestablish the Commune and to pit it against the evil of this present world (profit and greed) and to show the world what a national of devout Christians can accomplish in a commune. He would take on the world. He would unify the Chinese behind the commune so that preachers would tell them, like Paul told the slaves, work hard, for you are working for the Lord Jesus (and only appear as a slave in earthly eyes).
The leader must learn from the mistakes of Constantine. What should be stressed here is the authority of the Commune. And that there need not be unity of belief and much can be admitted, but the universal practical import of the churches in China will be to promote Christian devotion, from the leader on down to the peasant. So the theories may vary, but the practice in China must be directed toward the commune.
Then perhaps China could come up with two realms with their own laws and interactions, the Commune and the Profit Man. Let the Commune compete with the Profit Man in the market world, and use its total power to promote its own interest.
This will be good for the world, a confrontation of Commune and Profit in a world where people are permitted to make a free choice. Harping back on the confirmation of the Christian youth in China, I see where an age is reached when one will want to leave the Commune and live as a Profit Man. The Commune must always be willing to take them back (or is it a rejection like the crucifixion?) for Jesus is clearly a man giving “second chances.â€
If the Communist are willing to leave materialism, based on this sign-in-the-sky of the Chinese leader, and begin to energize the population with spirit through the preachers (in their practical message only), there is no reason that they could not reach for an expanded Commune of Jerusalem with great expectation. Once the people are taken by a spirit, they can do tremendous things.
In sum then: a sign, a communication (of Jesus) and an implementation of that plan in China where there is then a good chance that the world might end up orchestrated by a Christian China, and what Constantine sought the Chinese leader will have achieved: a world commune where it would be easy for people to be loving.
From a Christian perspective the promise is intriguing. We have Paul’s gentile Christian living in America (even though he is not yet understood by the Americans) and Peter’s “Jewish†(law abiding) Christian living in China. I think the Commune would win out in the end (due to the spirit of zeal which does not endure in a materialist world) and we would have the Kingdom of God on earth. We would have the rules of the communal living to maintain order and efficiency in the provision of happiness.
All of this might also work with Japan through the conversion of the Japanese. A Christian Japan dealing with a Christian China would be a power too great to withstand. The Profit Man will need to buy off the Japanese and keep him from becoming Christian (and speaking of sincerity and not formality). And the thing is, although we may have different understandings regarding to the medicines and poisons of this world, the Christian Commune of China would always be subject to the rule of love in all their dealings throughout the world. In other words I am thinking of a Christian China in a way that is different from America where there is (nationally speaking) much talk. I am imagining here a leader who may start off as a fraud (without implying this of Constantine) but who, as Constantine did, ended up a devote Christian.