China's New "Two-child Policy"

Wang Zai, one of the indigenous leaders of the Chinese Christian revival that broke out in Mainland China just prior to the Communist takeover of China, was my great-grandfather. The father of no fewer than six children, Wang Zai was forced to flee China with a price upon his head--all for his Christian faith and evangelistic work in China. His younger brother, Dr. Luke Wang, was martyred for his Christian faith during the Cultural Revolution. Wang Zai's friend and co-laborer in ministry, Wang Mingdao, spent over two decades in prison, oftentimes being tortured, because of his refusal to allow the Gospel to be censored by the Communists. Therefore, the sufferings of Mainland Chinese Christians are very personal to me. This week China announced a relaxation of its notorious "One-child Policy" in the form of a "Two-child Policy." I offer here a few brief statements of love-motivated, biblical warning to anyone in the Church who would be tempted to rejoice over this announcement: 1. The One-child Policy in China has been one of the most monstrous, diabolical policies ever enacted by any human government during the whole of human history. It has born the Satanic fruit of forced abortions, gender-selective abortions, rampant abandonment of female babies, a national outbreak of pornography, prostitution, and sexual immorality, and, at root, a Communist-national vision of the "family" that is so anti-biblical in nature as to merit the title of being an "anti-Christ" (small "a," at least) ideology. The One-child Policy is not only "child sacrifice"--which God abhors (Deuteronomy 12:31). It is also one of the worst forms of child sacrifice, since it wars against the divine blessing of child bearing, itself. It calls bountiful procreation "evil" and birth control "good"; in brazen and blasphemous human pride, it calls the sweet "bitter," and the bitter "sweet" (Isaiah 5:20-21). 2. Christians in the Western world who decry the evils of the One-child Policy in China oftentimes do so very hypocritically. For, the truth is not only that God abhors the One-child Policy. The truth is that God abhors all forms of birth control. This is so because the anti-child heart behind birth control (including "Natural Family Planning") runs contrary to His holy Word (Genesis 1:28; 1 Chronicles 25:5; Malachi 2:15; 1 Timothy 5:14; Titus 2:4; etc.). A true, God-fearing posture towards procreation in marriage desires the maximum fruitfulness of the womb, even as it lauds, with holy humility, the suffering faith of those married men and women of God who are given the heavy crosses of barrenness and bereavement (see, for example, Jeremiah 31:15 and Luke 1:6-7, amongst such a host of other Scriptures). Therefore, any policy that seeks to force married couples to employ birth control in their marriage is anathema to God. 3. Thus Reggie Littlejohn of Women's Rights without Frontiers is correct when she says, boldly, "The One-child Policy does not need to be adjusted. It needs to be abolished." However, biblically speaking, Mrs. Littlejohn has not been bold enough. For, the truth is not merely that God demands the abolition of forced abortions in China, and not only that He decrees the abolition of all other forms of abortion in China (for, He abhors all forms of abortion in China), but also that God commands, unequivocally, that birth control, itself, be abolished, both in China, and in all nations. 4. To say otherwise--to live in the hypocrisy of decrying the One-child Policy, on the one hand, and of condoning birth control, on the other--is to be a true disciple of Margaret Sanger (who founded Planned Parenthood, under its former name of the "American Birth Control League," in 1921). For Sanger herself was too sophisticated to trumpet murder (even if, secretly, she was very bloodthirsty for abortion). Rather, her largest (and quite Satanic) legacy was to deceive Protestant Christians into advocating birth control. This was quite a triumph for Sanger, and especially since the historical facts say that all of historic Christianity (Luther, Calvin, Baxter, Wesley, and Pink included!) up until the time of Sanger had condemned the use of birth control as an unthinkable sin. 5. A "Two-child Policy" thus is not to be interpreted as a harbinger of hope. It remains darkly diabolical. Yes, it will save some lives, and for each life saved, we ought to be grateful to God. Yet the policy, itself, remains Satanic and murderous. Forced abortions will continue in China. Gender-selective abortions will continue. Abortions, in general, will continue (and every abortion, whether forced or not, and whether gender-selective or not, is shocking to the conscience that knows and fears the Lord). And birth control, both in its abortifacient forms and in its non-abortifacient forms, shall continue to destroy the sanctity of the family in China. In sum, this week's announcement of the new Two-child Policy is similar to Pharaoh king of Egypt saying to his people, "So that you may know the benevolence of your ruler, and my compassionate care for all of my subjects, I hereby decree that not every Hebrew baby boy must be thrown in the Nile River. From now on, one out of every ten Hebrew baby boys shall be spared. It is, of course, very necessary to continue the reduction of the Hebrew population, for the sake of economic expediency and national interests, but at least now it may be said, once and for all, that the Hebrews have no more room to question our sacrificial benevolence towards them, our subjects." 6. The sad, horrible reality is that the Chinese Church "has blood on her hands" (as a missionary to China once put it to me). Sectors of the Church in China (including the House Church) have actually paid money in order to procure abortions for their church members. They have not followed the Bible in its vision for life in the womb. Rather, they have been enslaved to the brainwashing tactics of Chinese Communism, and have promoted, rather than decried abortion. Of course, certainly not all Chinese Church leaders are guilty of this, but a large number of them are so guilty. Precious few have been prophetically outspoken against the abominable nature of abortion. Even fewer have had the courage to declare that the historic Christian position on birth control is that it is unthinkable sinful. However, God loves His Church in China, and His Spirit is drawing her to repentance. Even now, many Chinese believers are awakening to these sins, repenting of them, and courageously going out to proclaim the truths of God's heart for preborn children. 7. Yet there is a great price to be paid by persecuted and suffering believers in China, as these truths begin to be embraced by them. If the "dragon" of Communism in China hates anything that questions its ultimate authority, then certainly it will despise any Christian leader who calls for the total abolition of abortion in China (for, the dragon feeds on such bloodshed). It will also rage against any pastor in China who begins to call birth control an "unthinkable sin." It will gnash its teeth against any House Church network that "goes underground" with the godly practice of bountiful Christian procreation and God-fearing home education. The price to pay for these truths is enormous. It is Cross-sized. Yet this is how God works! He uses Christian midwives and Christian mothers to conquer kings (Exodus 1:17; 2:9), and Christian babes to conquer kingdoms (Revelation 12:4-5). He also employs the testimony of the martyrs in order to slay the bloodthirsty dragon. They win by dying; they conquer by laying down their lives for the sake of others, and especially for the little ones in the womb: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Revelation 12:11)

Soli Deo Gloria. Glory to God, alone. -TLF Copyright Timothy L. Fan 2016. All Rights Reserved.