Migrant Deportation and China’s one child debacle

While seemingly unrelated, beware of the folly of defying God as a matter of national policy. 

From 1979 to 2015 China had an official policy limiting families to one child. This was motivated by concerns of overpopulation and the economic cost of large numbers of children to be raised. Implementation included economic coercion, various birth control measures, abortion, etc. In the natural course of things, the consequences included a preference for sons and a shortage of young marriageable women, and an age demographic distribution with fewer young adults to provide for a comparatively growing population of the aging. This includes a shortage of young workers, and in general the need for young people, especially men, to staff the military, which will persist for a generation from the end of the policy. This is not to say that China’s economy is struggling, because it is currently booming. Raising children is an investment in the future (very costly as parents can testify from experience), so having fewer of them increases resources available for present consumption at the cost of future return on investment - eating the seed corn. It appears that China finally realized this.

Satan tried to kill Moses (Exodus 1:16 & 22) and Jesus (Matthew 2:13-18), but he is impotent in eliminating God’s anointed. Satan’s effort in China similarly failed, and China’s deliverer will be revealed in due time. Lest we be tempted to judge the evils of abortion and infanticide associated with this policy in China, we must remember that Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973, and legalized abortion ran amok for almost fifty years in the United States.

In 2025 we have an initiative to deport illegal migrants from the U.S. The basis for this seems to be concern about crime, and economics such as competition for employment and higher burdens on social welfare systems, health systems, housing and public schools. Most studies that I can find referenced on the internet show no correlation between crime rate and birthplace or immigration status (other than the basic crime of undocumented immigrants not having legal status by definition). The hard work of immigrants is ubiquitous in our workforce, indicating that most migrants did not come here for a hand out, but for freedom and opportunity to work hard and make something of their life.

A policy of not showing hospitality to immigrants contravenes Scripture:

•  Exodus 22:21: You shall not oppress a stranger nor torment him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (See also Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:19.)

•  Matthew 25:34-35 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in. …  41-43 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ (see also Hebrews 13:2.)

The Old Testament commands from God cite Israel’s time as strangers in Egypt, a practical view that circumstances change and a cultural ethic of hospitality or lack of it will eventually be repaid. This is not a biblical command to allow for uncontrolled and unlimited immigration. Abraham brought trouble on himself when he went to Egypt during a famine without God’s direction. (Genesis 12:10-20). This contrasts with the blessing on Israel in Egypt beginning in Genesis 41. Joseph matured through trials before he was blessed and served God faithfully, also blessing Egypt during their famine. (Genesis 41:41-56) Israel was later invited by Pharoah to move to Egypt. (Genesis 45:16-20) And God also told Jacob to go there (Genesis 46:2-4) More fearsome is the judgment when Egypt treated Israel as slaves, refusing to let them leave. (Exodus 7-12) In the context of Biblical values, immigrants must respect the basis of our culture and society, for example the U S Constitution and the legitimacy of elected officials they disagree with. To invoke God’s care and protection, migrants must honor and respect Him, and live accordingly - they need divine sanction for migrating.

The New Testament turns to Jesus repaying in kind those who welcome and care for strangers, or don’t. This points to a spiritual dimension of causation that should be a warning for us. Even if society as a whole does not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and live accordingly, there are cause and effect consequences to obeying or defying His moral law. A century ago, the roaring twenties were followed by the Great Depression. The debauchery of the 1920’s is of a different sort than mistreatment of strangers. And yet God cries out to us to not go this road, because of His love, He asks us to repent. He gives us object lessons – Scriptural and recent history. He offers us love and blessing if we respond to Him. We can only speculate what form God’s discipline will take for rejection of His ways. Are we on a path to find out as described at the beginning of this post?

Book Review: Forty Days of Decrease, by Alicia Britt Chole

 

Subtitle: A Different Kind of Hunger, a Different Kind of Fast

Written for a daily devotional for fasting during Lent, this book discusses forty different behaviors and attitudes that we can abstain from. The impetus is that by fasting them, we can decrease their influence on us. Each day has four sections: a discussion of one event in Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem; reflection on the relevant point of that event; a specific behavior or attitude that we can fast; and a short discussion on the historical evolution of Lent from the time of Christ to modern practice. The point of these is that Jesus did not divinely march to Jerusalem in confidence and faith, but that He humanly struggled with obedience to the Father’s plan, without sin.

The grand reduction began when Jesus fasted omnipresence and clothed Himself with flesh. He fasted the worship of angels and accepted the disregard of man. He spent thirty years in obscurity. He chose weakness. He fasted food in the wilderness after His baptism, but He had thirty years experience fasting from and hungering for the presence and glory of God the Father Himself, that He had voluntarily left.

A complete list of the items to fast, in the table of contents, includes (a few examples, there are forty):

•      Tidy faith

•      Fixing it

•      Isolation

•      Spiritual self-protection

•      Neutrality

•      Formulas

•      Escapism

•      Stinginess

•      Spectatorship

One example: fasting premature resolution. Do I make decisions too abruptly, or do I wait too long to make a decision? Jesus said, “My soul is troubled.” (John 12:27) This was in the specific context of the Father’s plan for Jesus to die for the sins of the world, as He contemplated His approaching death. A troubled soul is sometimes the signature of obedience-in-the-making. Obedience is a process, not a moment. We need to discern between two possible causes for our heart to be troubled: fear of the future; or obedience-in-the-making. This takes time spent in discerning the root of our troubled soul. The discernment process may involve questioning, agonizing, and weeping. Fasting premature resolution means going through the process to a conclusion instead of truncating it too early.

Another example: Fasting escapism. The disciples and other believers had varying reactions to shattered dreams after Jesus’ death and burial (before His resurrection). Some were healthier than others. What is your default when spiritually disappointed? Distraction with activity? Drowning in pity? Numbing entertainment? For the health of our soul, we must resist checking out when it looks like God just died. Instead, we need to address God directly and honestly about our pain, and let it remind us that we need to take time to heal, and embrace disappointment as a forward step in spiritual formation.

We are not in Jesus’ place of having left heaven. Yet, we can fast from attitudes and behaviors of the flesh in order to hunger more strongly for His kingdom and to be like Him. The essence of this challenge is that to grow so as to be conformed to His image, natural human behaviors and attitudes must be reduced to create space in us to conform to the divine spiritual kingdom of Jesus. Franklin Hall vividly explained that the power of fasting from food focuses our spirit on Jesus, that then manifests in atomic power with God through miraculous interventions that reveal His glory.  Alicia Chole explains how fasting from natural, human behaviors conforms our heart to become like His, which reveals His glory in a different dimension. What is God’s glory? Ultimately, it is His power to bring the dead to life, and His holiness, which is His authority to overcome and vanquish sin in our lives, to free us to do what He calls us to.

Book Review: Atomic Power With God thru Fasting and Prayer by Franklin Hall

I’ll start right off by saying this book is challenging. The topic of fasting is challenging to begin with, both to do and to understand. The writing is clear but there is a lot of repetition between chapters. The illustrations from actual events are compelling. They call to mind stories of the power of God from the second great awakening.

Hall discusses Biblical stories of fasting (e.g., Jesus, Paul, Moses), Biblical precepts about the practice, reasons why we should fast, the essentials of fasting and the human appetites to be mastered, very straightforward instructions on how to do it (drink lots of water, phases to expect, how to end one), the effects on the physical body (besides being hungry), and how to break the fast. On the practical side, he talks about the health benefits of fasting in terms of cleansing the body (digestive system, blood, etc.), conquering addiction to food or other things (smoking), and getting the body to readjust its metabolism to a healthier weight set-point. He also talks about healthy living post-fast, what foods to avoid (written in 1950, well before ultra-processed foods were the norm, and the bane of healthy diets).

He identifies four human appetites - spiritual, hunger, sex, and greed. In the normal human condition our lives are controlled by one of the last three. By overcoming hunger (which takes a few to several days) the other appetites are demoted in our soul. At the point our spiritual appetite can take control and urge us into Godly behavior. Hindrances and obstacles to a life of faith are removed, initially in small ways but eventually as an appetite altogether.

On the spiritual side, the first point is that after fasting forty days, Jesus told Satan that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then He started His ministry with preaching and miraculous works of power (healings, casting out demons, raising the dead). When we deny our bodily desires, we are open to focus on the essence of spiritual life - to hear God’s voice, to secure our faith in God’s presence, to know what God wants us to do and to pray for, and devote our whole heart to Him. In the quiet times that we need to set aside, any or all of these things empower us to become and to do in the spiritual realm. And this empowerment leads to the same kinds of ministry that history records both in the Bible and in more recent revivals. Yes, it seems that all revivals of which I have heard were intimately tied to intense fasting and prayer.

When I was forced to fast as a result of a medical procedure, the physical effects followed just as the book describes. More importantly, when I set aside quiet time to wait on the Lord, I was able to grasp just how helpless I am apart from the Lord. And the physical pain that could only be partially medicated and resulting hours of being awake in bed were perhaps a foretaste of what eternity will be like for those we cannot reach, who will regret their actions in this life that they cannot undo in the next, their separation from God, and their inability to do anything at all.  I did not sense any new spiritual depth to pray for lost sinners or nations at war (both of which desperately need prayer), but this was not primarily a spiritual fast.

And so the book concludes that a great spiritual awakening is in the making, a mighty revival of power, signs, wonders and miracles. The Holy Spirit is on the move and we must respond with fasting and prayer. This was written in 1950, before the Charismatic revival (portrayed in the movie The Jesus Revolution), or the Catholic charismatic conferences. But in the 21st century, we face unprecedented spiritual challenges discussed in The Return of the Gods (and innumerable other books and media). We need to buckle down and learn from prior generations how to experience God’s power and presence through fasting and prayer.