Recently I attended a concert of the Hangzhou Symphony Orchestra. A violin concerto called “The Butterfly Lovers” was a part of the program. My youngest daughter, who knows about such things, told me that the piece was quite controversial, having been composed during the Cultural Revolution, which rejected all things Western.
To my ears, the concerto followed in the tradition of Western classical music, ornamented with elements uniquely Chinese. The piece was a delight to both the ears and the eyes as we watched and heard the soloist and the orchestra perform with intense passion.
This experience got me thinking about the Cultural Revolution and modern China. Mao Zedong, the embodiment of Satan if there was such a thing in the twentieth century, was the driving force of the movement that wiped out much of what was traditional in Chinese culture, sundering families in the process. And yet . . .
Into the cultural vacuum stepped the Gospel. God used the villainy of one of history’s most wicked men to wipe the slate clean so that the Gospel could take hold. Today, Chinese Christians need us to teach them the basics of Bible interpretation and the Christian life. What they already have in abundance is the courage to withstand persecution.
This idea set me to thinking about Europe, where I have lived for the past nineteen years. Being a missionary in Europe is like trying to grow crops on a concrete parking lot. You rejoice in anything that will sprout up through a crack. And yet . . .
The foundations of Western secular culture and postmodernism are collapsing as Europe commits cultural suicide. Could God be breaking up the concrete parking lot, only to replace it with a fertile field, ready for the reception of the Gospel? Will we be ready, or will we cede the ground to militant Islam?
Islam may be fanatically pre-modern and dangerously violent, but its very fanaticism exposes the decadent weakness of Western culture. Islamism seems like an unstoppable force. And yet . . .
We see fissures starting to form in Saudi Arabia. The ruthlessness of the Iranian mullahs betrays a deep insecurity. Do they see that their days are numbered? Those of us of a certain age remember when the possibility of the sudden collapse of communism seemed impossible, but it happened despite our lack of foresight. Where are the young people learning Arabic or Farsi?
Someone will object, “I am a premillennialist. I believe that the general trajectory of mankind is punctuated decline, followed by direct divine intervention, in part to prevent the human race from destroying itself (Mark 13:20).” I am one of those premillennialists, too. I think the key word is “punctuated.” God does indeed bring seasons of revival, even in this sin-dominated world. Do we have the faith to pray for revival and to be ready should God grant it?
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Dr. David Potter is a missionary pastor serving in Hungary.
