Lessons for America from the Protests in Hong Kong

Lessons for America from the protests in Hong Kong. That is the topic we'll discuss today right here on the Christian Worldview Radio Program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that you can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host of the program.

Our website is thechristianworldview.org. Well, thanks for joining us today for another edition of the Christian Worldview Radio Program as we talk about lessons for America from the protests in Hong Kong. Now, if you're not familiar with this particular region of the world, Hong Kong is a small peninsula with islands that juts into the South China Sea on the southern coast of China. Its territory only covers about a 20 by 20 mile area. Now, despite its small size, Hong Kong is, quote, one of the world's most significant financial centers and commercial ports. This is according to Wikipedia, the world's 10th largest exporter and ninth largest importer. And its legal tender, its money, the Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world and hosts the largest concentration of ultra high net worth individuals of any city in the world, unquote.

It's quite a place, small little place in the Far East on the southern coast of China. Now, Hong Kong also has a unique history. In, I think it was 1847, it became a British colony after a war, but was returned to mainland China 150 years later in 1997 under the auspices of this slogan, one country, two systems. In other words, Hong Kong would be part of China, one country, but maintain economic and individual liberties that it enjoyed under British rule that aren't present, of course, in communist China.

Now, only 22 years after that agreement in 1997, China is imposing ever more control over Hong Kong. This people who have tasted freedom and don't want to give it back in protests have rocked Hong Kong for weeks, garnering international attention. What will China do? What will America do if China cracks down similar to the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 in Beijing? And what should Americans and Christians be paying attention to?

Why should they be paying attention to this far left wing power grab? Well, David Aikman joins us today on the Christian Real View. He's an author and geopolitical analyst, and he specializes in China and Russia. Let's get to the first segment of that interview.

David, thank you for coming back on the Christian Real View radio program. It's been a year or two since you've been on the program, so we appreciate your taking the time today to talk about what is going on in Hong Kong and how it relates to America. This is a world away from Americans, other side of the world, so to speak. Frame what is taking place in Hong Kong right now. What is the history of that place? Who are the protesters? What do they want, et cetera?

Right, that's a very good question, and one that everybody needs to have answered before we even discuss the particular details of the protest. Hong Kong used to be part of China. It was seized as a British colony in a war in 1839 when the British wanted to trade with China, and the Chinese wouldn't allow that. So the British had a Treaty of Nanking, as they called it, which gave them the territory of Hong Kong Island and eventually part of the mainland. And the last portion of that was from 1899, there was an agreement that Hong Kong would be returned to China in 1997, which it was. But the agreement was that there had been certain civic and democratic political freedoms in Hong Kong, which the British had allowed, including voting for the chief executive.

The British hadn't allowed voting for the chief executive, but for members of the legislature who made the laws. And the Chinese said, OK, here's the deal. We respect that Hong Kong is different from China.

Now we've got it back. And so we'll have a one country, two systems, system of government. That means we'll be part of China. So Hong Kong won't have any independent foreign policy or anything like that. But on the other hand, you will have the same system of legislature, civic freedoms and so forth.

And then that was supposed to be for 50 years, from 1997 until 2057. But the one country's two systems has completely broken down as the Chinese government in Beijing has been nudging forward to take over more rights and political powers from Hong Kong than was previously possible. And a few months ago, back in June, the Hong Kong government at the behest of Beijing, which called for shots, introduced a new bill in the legislature that would allow people in Hong Kong to be extradited to China if there were sufficient evidence of a criminal offense in their background.

And even foreigners passing through Hong Kong could have been, in theory, returned to China. This precipitated huge revolts and protests and demonstrations by Democratic legislators and a very significant number of the people of Hong Kong. At the height of the demonstrations, there were 2 million people in the streets protesting. And when the population of Hong Kong is only 7 million, you can imagine what a sizable chunk of resistance that is. The resistance started in June, and it has been going on every single week for 10 weeks, and it's recently become more violent because some of the protesters have been trashing property, and in response, some of the police have been charging with batons, firing tear gas grenades and so on. And ominously, the Beijing government has said, this is terrorism, and has threatened to send in really large forces, not specifically threatening the People's Liberation Army, which does have a base in Hong Kong. But the Hong Kong police may not be able to control all these demonstrations, and the Beijing regime is so embarrassed by this opposition that they will insist that it is stopped or they will send in soldiers and armed police. So it's a very short situation, and a lot of people have been commenting on it, including President Trump.

Thank you for explaining that so well. That was an excellent explanation of the history of Hong Kong, who these protesters are, what they want and what they're up against in the Communist Chinese government. Just incidentally, as you were describing the history and some of those dates, I have some personal history in Hong Kong from back in my tennis playing days. I used to travel over there quite a bit, actually, and loved that city. It was always the most enjoyable city for me to visit, at least in the Far East, because of the Western atmosphere, English speaking, the free market systems and so forth.

It was a beautiful city on the sea. I remember, because I was there in the 90s, I remember what you were talking about with this one country, two systems changeover that was in the press in 1997. There was this huge change taking place where China was now going to control Hong Kong, and that was huge in the news. Of course, people were leery about that. What was going to turn out from that? Well, here we are.

We're here more than 20 years later now, and Beijing is striking down with a stronger hand with this issue of extradition, taking Hong Kong nationals, and you said maybe even foreigners, bringing them out of Hong Kong into mainland China to be prosecuted in the courts, and people are now protesting. So, very interesting. David Aikman again with us today on The Christian Real View. He's an author and geopolitical analyst. He holds his PhD, actually, in Russian and Chinese history.

He's an expert on this particular region. David, why is this situation in Hong Kong a significant geopolitical event that Americans and Christians should be informed about? Well, because ultimately it is a display of what happens when the Chinese totalitarian system run by the Communist Party comes up against democratic protesters who resist control of everything by the party. The Chinese Communist Party, I'll be very blunt about it, it's basically the mafia in charge of a country. It is the most corrupt, ruthless system of government anybody has ever devised, and they are hell-bent, to use a polite expression, on taking over the whole world, and certainly on dislodging the United States from its number one position as the global military and economic superpower. They've got a program called the 100-Year Marathon, which is to replace the United States as global heat, as they call it, by the year 2049, which is of course the 100th anniversary of the Communist power in mainland China. So it's quite a deliberate policy, and it has to be resisted by all freedom-loving peoples in every way possible. How do you anticipate that China will respond going forward here? You said they're embarrassed by the fact that these protests are growing. And if they crack down very harshly, like they did in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, I believe back in 1987, more than – 1989.

1989, so exactly 30 years ago. That's right. What would the U.S. actually be able to do, if anything, if their response is a major crackdown? Well, that is a good question. There are things in terms of doing sanctions against individual members of the Chinese Communist Party who've been involved in this. There are certain trade sanctions the United States could deploy. I don't think there's very much physically the United States could do. I mean, there are American forces in Asia, but the United States is obviously not striving for any kind of military conflict with China, and nor does the Chinese want that at this point either.

So it's a game of bluff and double bluff. As you probably heard, President Trump tweeted that he was willing to act as a go-between, between President Xi of China and the protesters in Hong Kong. Well, I think that's like – I can't think of the analogy, but I think it's very unlikely that the Chinese president would agree that President Trump would be a mediator between these two different forces. You're listening to an interview with David Aikman today here on The Christian Real View. Just spoke to him a couple days ago.

He lives in Ireland and has an extensive career in geopolitics. There are lessons here for America and for Christians in these protests in Hong Kong. It may seem like a world away, but as we get into this interview, you're going to see how this certainly relates to American history and potentially what's coming in the future in America as well. OK, we'll take our first break of the day here on The Christian Real View. Stay tuned.

Much more coming up on this situation in Hong Kong with our guest, David Aikman. The next Christian Real View Speaker Series event is on Sunday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Grace Church Eden Prairie. It features Darrell Harrison presenting on how social justice impacts the Gospel and the Church. Darrell is a former fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary and an expository Bible teacher. He has a passion for helping Christians understand what they believe and why. He'll do just that with the issue of social justice, followed by a Q&A moderated by host David Wheaton.

No cost, no registration. Just come. The event will also be live streamed on the Christian World View Facebook page. For more information, call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. The Christian World View Speaker Series with Darrell Harrison, Sunday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Grace Church Eden Prairie.

Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. The Prosperity Gospel is a prominent false gospel that God offers health, wealth, and prosperity if you just have faith and give money. Costi Hinn grew up on the inside of the prosperity gospel movement.

His uncle is world-renowned prosperity preacher Benny Hinn. Costi saw it all, the manipulation, staged healings, luxuriant lifestyles, and perversion of scripture before God opened Costi's eyes to understand sound doctrine and believe in the true gospel. Now a pastor, Costi has written an important book entitled God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel, which chronicles his own experience and gracefully points the reader to the truth of scripture. For a limited time, you can order this 224-page softcover book for a donation of any amount to the Christian World View.

Normal retail is $17.99 without shipping. To order, call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Back on the Christian World View today, our website is thechristianworldview.org. Just want to remind you very quickly, coming up here are two events in mid-September. Sunday, September 15th is the Christian World View Speaker Series event. That's September 15th at 7 p.m., Grace Church, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. That event is going to be on social justice, how social justice impacts the gospel and the church. Our featured speaker is Daryl Harrison, who's the director of social media for Grace To You, a U.S. Army veteran and a former fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary. This is going to be what we think, what we believe, hope is going to be a great event. So hope you can come, no cost, no registration, just come. We're also going to stream it live on Facebook for our listeners who aren't in the Twin Cities area. The next day, Monday, September 16th, is our annual golf and dinner event. And you can find out more about that.

That's at Woodhill Country Club in Waseda, Minnesota. So we'll have two very different events and hopefully you can come to one or both of them. OK, we're talking today about Lessons for America from the protests in Hong Kong. Our guest is author and geopolitical analyst David Aikman.

Let's get back to the second segment of that interview. Speaking of the Chinese military, David, they have quite a military. How is their military compared with the United States military? And is it true that they have gotten much of their military technology by stealing it from the U.S.?

It's absolutely true. They've got much of their general advanced technology by stealing designs from their American investor partners. And just going through all kinds of deceitful methods to get hold of technology that they might not otherwise have developed on their own. And from the get-go, the U.S. was always under the impression that if we help China become strong, if we build them up and they became a successful capitalist country, they would be just like us.

Well, guess what? The Chinese communist body doesn't want to be just like America at all. In fact, they look back to the days of the warring states in China, about 700 to 200 B.C., when there were all these individual kingdoms vying for power in China until one guy became the capo di tutti capi and imposed a totalitarian state that became the first of the imperial dynasties in 221 B.C. So, they have long-term ambitions to basically replace the United States with global hegemony. Do you think they have long-term ambitions of actually taking over the United States? Well, yes. If they dislodge the United States from its preeminent position as global superpower, and particularly as the defender of democratically instituted countries against Chinese subversion and external aggression, if they succeeded in replacing the United States, their ultimate goal would be to take over as much of the United States as they could have.

I don't mean by physically occupying it, although it could indeed amount to that at some point in some parts, but basically depriving the United States of the freedom of action that it has held in the world, basically unchallenged by anybody except the Soviet Union since 1945. David Aikman with us today on the Christian Royal View. He holds a Ph.D. in Russian and Chinese history.

That's part of the reason why we're having him on today. He's also an author and geopolitical analyst, very informed on the region of the Far East, specifically China. How is this conflict going on right now in Hong Kong going to affect Christians and the church, both in Hong Kong and in China? Because there has been a recent, within the last year, a major crackdown on underground churches and Christians in China. How do you see this developing, David?

Yes, there has. I mean, the crackdown on Christianity in China goes back to the very beginning of Xi Jinping's being party general secretary back in 2013. And Christians in Hong Kong, China, and everywhere else view this current situation as a very ominous development. Because if the Communist Party succeeds in persuading the Hong Kong government to deploy all the forces at its resources, at its availability, and suppressing opposition in Hong Kong, then that suggests that the Chinese Communist Party will be able to suppress almost any other activity that they dislike. Namely, Christian evangelism of any kind, either in Hong Kong or in China.

So, it's a very serious situation. The Chinese Communist Party is the most vicious opponent of the worship of God of any regime in the world since Joseph Stalin ruled Russia. That's a big statement, and maybe Kim Jong-un in North Korea would be a rival. The little rocket man, as Trump has called it, maybe he's a little bit more repressive, but he doesn't control as many people.

Right, exactly. David Aikman again with us today on the Christian worldview. Speaking of President Trump, what do you think of his dealings with China so far and his administration with regard to trade, with regard to tariffs on Chinese goods coming back into America, how he deals with them militarily? And really the bigger question is, part two is, should the U.S. be actually engaged with such a human rights abuser, a communist government such as China?

Well, you asked the right question, David, because the issue is whether we should be engaged. Godspeed magazine is doing a current issue about the watchmen, the people who are protecting the United States militarily or diplomatically against all adversaries. And of course, China is the single most important adversary as a single nation state. Gordon Chang, who is a frequent commentator on Fox News, told me in an interview, we should disengage from China, which means we shouldn't be encouraging businessmen to go over there and trade. We should cut our ties. We should cut our economic ties.

That is, we should look for alternative sources of manufacturing for American goods constructed overseas. And we should really be vigilant towards what the Chinese are doing within the United States, both through their diplomats and through agents of the Ministry of State Security, which is basically China's version of the FBI and the CIA combined. David Aikman with us today, an author and geopolitical analyst talking about lessons for America from the protests in Hong Kong. Now, these protesters in Hong Kong are generally unarmed. They don't have weapons, firearms, let's say.

They're up against an authoritarian communist government that is extremely well armed. How should this be considered by Americans with regard to the current battle over the Second Amendment right to bear arms in this country, considering that with the political views of the majority of the left in this country right now? As I tell all my European friends who always throw their hands up in dismay at every new mass shooting in the United States, I'd say the reason we have the Second Amendment is to protect all the freedoms we have as citizens, including the First Amendment and the basic constitutional freedom. And many Americans regard the right to bear arms as the ultimate protection of all the other rights. But I don't think in terms of Hong Kong any of those arguments really apply, because even the protesters in Hong Kong, the vast majority of them are not advocating violence of any kind, least of all violence involving firearms. The real issue is, in principle, at least as far as Second Amendment rights in the United States go, how do you essentially protect the basic rights of the American people without giving people the necessary self-protection they need in an emergency to defend themselves from an intrusive government?

I don't think there is any answer to that. It's something I've often considered, especially in light of being a Christian, where our government is one of the few in history that was specifically intentional about making sure that citizens had the right to bear arms, not merely for sport shooting, hunting and shooting targets, not merely just for self-defense against criminals, but really when a government becomes tyrannical, that's why the founders instituted the Second Amendment. And yet at the same time, David, as Christians, we read what it says in Scripture about submitting to governmental authority, even to those governmental authorities, like in the time of Christ. The Roman government was terribly tyrannical, and he and his apostles never advocated for or took up arms to throw off that government.

I think there's a lot of people in America who believe strongly in the Second Amendment and would take up arms against this government, as at the time of our founding, there was this debate going on as well amongst Christians about resisting the British government. Was that biblically ethical for Christians to do that? So maybe you could talk about that argument for us today in 2019. Okay, David Aikman will answer that question after this next break of the day on The Christian Worldview. I'm David Wheaton. a message by host David Wheaton and a live interview with special guest Daryl Harrison. The fellowship, content, and setting combine to make this a memorable event in support of the Christian Worldview radio program. We hope you can come. Again, the Christian Worldview Golf and Dinner event is on Monday, September 16th at Woodhill in Wyzeta.

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I'm David Wheaton, the host. Our website, thechristianworldview.org. We're talking today about lessons for America from the protests in Hong Kong. And that might seem like quite a disassociated thing, you know, Hong Kong protests, what that has to do with Americans and Christians, but there is. It has to do with how Christians interact with an authoritarian government.

Governments have the tendency to do this, and what should Christians do? And David Aikman is going to answer that question in just a second here as we get back to the interview. To give you a little more context on David, he spent a 23-year career at Time magazine. He's now the editor-in-chief of Godspeed magazine. He's the author of 10 books. He was a professor of history at Patrick Henry College in Virginia. He speaks six languages, did his Ph.D. in Russian and Chinese history. He's a graduate of Oxford in England. He's actually coming to us today in the interview from Ireland, where he is now 75 years old. And he was diagnosed with MS in 1994, and now today he is in a wheelchair. So you can remember to pray for him in that capacity as well. But God has given him a wonderful mind and a wonderful grasp of history. And we're thankful for his perspective on this topic today.

So let's get back to the final segment with David Aikman. I think there's a lot of people in America who believe strongly in the Second Amendment and would take up arms against this government, as at the time of our founding. There was this debate going on as well amongst Christians about resisting the British government. Was that biblically ethical for Christians to do that?

So maybe you could talk about that argument for us today in 2019. Well, at the time of the American Revolution, there was a great debate amongst many Americans whether there was biblical legitimacy to taking up arms. And the Americans decided that there was biblical legitimacy coming from the Old Testament when a king or a regime was corrupt or unrighteous, the people rebelled against that regime, and the Lord actually vindicated them by granting relief from the persecution. I don't think there's any argument against the normal Christian ability to resist tyrannical government.

Some Christians argue, well, God himself will intervene at the last minute to protect people from despotic tyranny imposed upon them from above. But there were so many examples in the history of the English-speaking peoples. I mean, in the 1840s, the British Puritans, the English Puritans, took up arms against Charles I, and they deposed him, and they momentarily imposed a republic on England until 1847.

And then eventually Charles II, the son of Charles I, was brought back. But the president of a righteous remnant overthrowing a tyrannical government is writ large in the history of the English-speaking peoples, both the British and the United States, and of course America's destinies based on the legitimacy of the original rebellion against British rule. Thank you for going back in history and showing that. That's a very interesting question.

I think that's one that needs to be considered both from history and from, of course, the Bible as well. Final question for you, David Aikman, is that as we look at these protests bumping up against the authoritarian government of China, I know no one can predict the future, but you have a lot of history in this region. How do you think this is going to end up eventually with regard to Hong Kong, their freedoms, maybe even Taiwan? And what role should the U.S. be playing in this, and how should Christians be praying for this region?

Well, let's start with the last question first. I think Christians should pray that reasonableness and harmony will prevail, and that these protests won't lead to a draconian crackdown similar to what happened in 1989 in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. That would be catastrophic. Unfortunately, given my experience of the Chinese Communist Party, I was one of the few people who predicted that they would shoot the demonstrators in 1989, and I was correct, unfortunately. I think the worst case scenario is definitely a possibility that you might have Chinese people's armed police and soldiers literally storming into Hong Kong, not to try and arrest everybody, but essentially to intimidate the core of demonstrators that they can identify and then maybe arrest them. The ideal solution would be for the demonstrators to agree to speak with some kind of mediator between the Hong Kong government, which of course is under directions from Beijing, and themselves as to a faith-saving resolution on both sides that would provide a mutually satisfactory halfway point, whether that meant removing completely the original bill to extradite people in Hong Kong or laying it on the shelf and postponing it indefinitely, I don't know. But what you have is people in Hong Kong are determined to show that they simply don't buy this one-country-two-systems approach as currently managed by Beijing.

They bitterly don't like any kind of communist rule in Hong Kong. As you were saying, talking about one-country-two-systems, I'm thinking as I'm watching the political conversation in this country right now that we almost have one country, two proposed systems going forward. On one side with the right, you have more of our traditional free-market system, and on the left, what's being proposed is a remaking of America in a socialistic-type government, a big government mentality. Is that inaccurate to say that the battle for America is for sort of this one country, two different systems going forward? Well, I think you do have the forerunner of a civil war where the left, elements of the American left are suggesting a regime that could impose its own socialistic program on the whole country, and that program would have involved the suppression of independent churches, possibly the suppression of all free Christian activity, and certainly the confiscation of all weapons from everybody. I mean, that's a hideous eventuality which would, I think, unquestionably lead to a real civil war.

I wrote a novel based on this premise many years ago called When the Almond Tree Blossoms, and I tried to convey just how awful a communist-type regime would be for the majority of citizens of the United States and what kind of resistance it would provoke. David, thank you so much for coming on The Christian Real View today, sharing from your experience and expertise your commentary on the situation in Hong Kong with regards to communist China and how it relates to America and Christians here. So we just wish all of God's best and grace to you.

Thank you again. Well, thank you very much for having me on, David. You've been listening to an interview with David Aikman. He's a geopolitical analyst, has had a long career in that field, the author of many books. You can connect with him now. He's even in his mid-70s here.

He's still working as the editor-in-chief of Godspeed magazine, godspeedmag.com. And if you missed any of the interview, as always, you can go back and hear it on our website, thechristianworldview.org. So this is something to pay attention to, not only because of what is taking place here in the Far East between a country or a territory, I guess you could call it, of Hong Kong that's really, for generations, only known Western-style democracy when it was under British rule. And all of a sudden, in 1997, the switch was flipped to go back under mainline China communist control. You can imagine what kind of an abrupt reality check that was for the people of Hong Kong awaiting what this might mean.

Well, now we know what it means. Now China's exerting ever more control over Hong Kong, saying that they want to be able to take people out of Hong Kong to try them in mainland China. And the people are saying, no, this wasn't the rule.

This wasn't the agreement back when the changeover took place of one country, two systems. We'd have a different legal system than you, communist China to the north. And the problem here is this is not a fair fight. Protesters can be out there every day and every week and raising their arms and holding signs and covering their faces so they're not seen. But the reality is government, when it all shakes down to whittles down to the bottom line, government has the guns. And that's why eventually this might turn into a situation, as we saw in Tiananmen Square many years ago, where China just cracks down on Hong Kong and sends a message. And these people in Hong Kong have no way to defend themselves.

They can protest all they want and march in the streets. But eventually when the communist China government comes in with firearms, they're probably going to be out of luck. And so the lesson is, as we think about this in America, one side of the political class is saying we need to basically disarm America. That's really what they want.

All governments want the citizenry disarmed because it makes it a whole lot easier to get your way when no one can push back. We'll come back. We'll talk more about this in the final segment of the day here on The Christian Worldview. The next Christian Worldview Speaker Series event is on Sunday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Grace Church Eden Prairie. It features Darrell Harrison presenting on how social justice impacts the gospel and the church. Darrell is a former fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary and an expository Bible teacher. He has a passion for helping Christians understand what they believe and why. He'll do just that with the issue of social justice, followed by a Q&A moderated by host David Wheaton.

No cost, no registration. Just come. The event will also be live streamed on the Christian Worldview Facebook page. For more information, call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. The Christian Worldview Speaker Series with Darrell Harrison, Sunday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Grace Church Eden Prairie.

Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. The prosperity gospel is a prominent false gospel that God offers health, wealth, and prosperity if you just have faith and give money. Costi Hinn grew up on the inside of the prosperity gospel movement.

His uncle is world-renowned prosperity preacher Benny Hinn. Costi saw it all, the manipulation, staged healings, luxuriant lifestyles, and perversion of scripture before God opened Costi's eyes to understand sound doctrine and believe in the true gospel. Now a pastor, Costi has written an important book entitled God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel, which chronicles his own experience and gracefully points the reader to the truth of scripture. For a limited time, you can order this 224-page softcover book for a donation of any amount to the Christian Worldview.

Normal retail is $17.99 without shipping. To order, call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Final segment of the day here on the Christian Worldview radio program. Just a reminder of our events coming up in case you just joined the program or haven't heard about them. We have two events in mid-September, speaker series event on social justice, and this would be a great one to bring some younger generation people to. So invite some folks.

There's no registration, no cost. It's just a one evening event on Sunday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Grace Church Eden Prairie with Daryl Harrison. Also the next day is our annual golf and dinner event on Monday, September 16th. You can come as a golfer, bring a foursome, bring a twosome.

We'll fit you in whatever works for you from a golf standpoint. If you're not a golfer, this event is still for you. We have a whole evening. It's a separate event basically in the evening of our dinner event. And that's September 16th, Woodhill Country Club. Find out more at our website thechristianworldview.org. By the way, we do have a deadline for the golf event because it is a registration event. The club has to know how many people are coming for golf and for dinner and so forth.

And that deadline is the day after Labor Day on Tuesday, September 3rd. Okay, just a few summary thoughts about our conversation with David Aikman today about lessons for America and also for Christians from the protests taking place in Hong Kong. And one lesson is left wing governments, communist governments, socialistic governments are always the most authoritarian and repressive governments. And people often think they're right wing and they call them fascists and so forth. Fascism, a tyrannical rule by a one leader, that's actually left wing. Anytime there's big government, that's left wing. Anytime there's limited government, that's more right wing. No government is anarchy. So left wing governments are the ones that are the most authoritarian and repressive. Take the Soviet Union, communist China, North Korea.

The authoritarian governments in Iran and so forth, those are also left wing, they're big government imposition of everything. The exchange that takes place is they'll talk about social justice for you. They'll talk about the things that you get from them, from government. They're going to give you free health care and education. They're going to give you a job. They're going to give you a little apartment to live in. They're going to have a great public transportation system so you can get around.

They might even give you food. They're going to give you those things, but the exchange is, you're going to have to give up your freedom. Your freedom of speech, your freedom of religion, your freedom of self-protection, the right to bear arms, because equality and security are always in opposition.

You either have one or the other. You either have equality and security on one side, and if you have that, you have to take away people's individual liberties to do that. So if you want perfect security and equality, you can just kiss your individual liberties of speech and religion goodbye and self-protection goodbye.

Now, there is a balance. You can have some of each, but when you start tipping toward the side of, well, I want perfect equality in society. I don't want anyone to be able to be discriminated against. This is what takes place today. We want a non-discrimination society, so if you're a Christian photographer or baker, and it's against your biblical conscience based on your sincerely held belief to service a same-sex wedding that you find offensive according to your beliefs, well, in the interest of non-discrimination, you have lost that personal liberty, and if you hold to that personal liberty, you're going to be punished for it. There's a perfect example of, if you want equality, don't expect to have all your same personal liberties, individual liberties of freedom of religion, speech, and self-protection.

Another example of this, you see this taking place in Canada. For someone who's transgender, now in Canada, they have laws that you have to call someone by their preferred pronoun. So if someone is born a man, but now they consider themselves a woman, you can't call that person a he, or you'll be punished for it. You can. You still have the liberty to do that, but you'll just be punished and sent to jail.

You'll be maybe not sent to jail, but you lose your job or whatever it's going to be. Again, if you want perfect equality and you want perfect security, you're going to be giving up individual liberties to do so. So that's why we did this topic today to think about what's taking place in Hong Kong. This is a freedom-loving people who have been used to having individual liberties. All of a sudden, they were given back to Communist China. Now you have a huge left-wing government of Communist China imposing ever more control over this people who's used to individual liberties. And so project that forward to what is being proposed now in the United States with the Democrat Party in this country. All these candidates promising free healthcare, free education, student loan debt, and free everything in government control and unending immigration and so forth. All under the guise of social justice, equality for all.

Everyone gets everything. Well, we know what happens when that takes place. They start to control everything, then they enforce their values on those who may not agree with them, like Christians who may want to have, who do want to have freedom of religion and speech and being able to protect themselves. And this also gets into the right to bear arms. This is a huge topic right now, always has been actually in America. We see these recent two mass shootings down in Texas and in Ohio, and the left is constantly clamoring to have gun control. Now they'll say we want comprehensive gun reform. They'll speak of it in terms of we're not trying to take your guns away, but ultimately they do want to take your guns away.

All governments want to take the guns away of people. They just do because it eliminates any opposition to them. It creates basically like a situation in Hong Kong where, okay, the people can hold signs, but that's all they can do. When Beijing decides it's over, people are going to die. People are going to be hauled off the jail.

Families are never going to see them again, and it's going to be an ugly situation. So Christians need to consider that very carefully as you think about your individual liberties in this country and what an unbelievable government environment we've had in this country since our founding and how this leftward turn is attractive from having equality and give people things. There's less difference between those who are wealthy and those who are poor. Let's create an equal society and non-discriminations.

Be careful what you wish for because when you wish for those things and work for those things, all of a sudden you find out if you have biblical convictions. People who don't, it doesn't matter to them. They'll just go right along with it like people in China. They're happy to get the free stuff, and a lot of people in this country are happy to get the free stuff too. They don't care about being able to live out their Christian faith because they're not Christians. They don't care about having a conscience based on Scripture because they don't have one. So it doesn't matter to them.

They just want their free stuff. But those of us who cherish what we believe is the most important thing in life, we don't want to be told that we have to do things that violate our conscience based on Scripture. So I think next week we might do a program going back to the Revolutionary War because Christians battled with this back then.

Should they revolt against England? Is that something that's biblically justifiable or not? That's a very interesting discussion. It might be something that's very relevant for Christians going forward, not saying there's some civil war coming at all. But you see the movement of the nations and what goes on around the world. These clashes take place very, very often. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian Worldview radio program.

We do live in a changing and challenging world, a world in which governments do seek ever more power over citizens. What is the Christian call on that? We'll discuss that coming up. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly. Call toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a weekly one-hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors. Request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian Worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.