Countries’ Roles in the Bible: A Summary

The Philippines: Both Judas Iscariot and Judas Thaddeus at the same time as the Philippines has East Asia’s largest Christian population, yet openly and repeatedly betrays God and will betray America out of spite when it collapses as it considers joining China in the future.

Britain: Shinar/Sumer in the sense of being the mother-state to future civilisations that carry over their cultures to varying degrees, it will be destroyed and be no more in some fashion (Britain might get forcibly dissolved into three separate countries by both Russia and King/Prince William in the future).

America: Babylon and Satan, the most arrogant and corrupting nation-state to emerge. It starts out as promising and full of potential, but getting much worse over time and popularises or originates questionable things like pro-choice feminism, pornographic films and magazines, rock music/most popular music genres at present (if you believe the likes of both AA Allen and David Wilkerson about the matter), celebrity culture (idolatry) and more.

Canada: Egypt in the sense of being a railway station for the enemy of the enemy to get to the biggest offender of all time and also subjected to the enemy’s influences in some capacity, it’s kind of telling that Canada has the misfortune of even sharing the same landmass as Mystery Babylon does. Also corrupting to God’s people in a way, well to a lesser extent as the real Egypt did get Christianised and still has something of a Christian population to this day.

Indonesia: Jacob in the sense that the Philippines is Esau, a nation that forfeit’s God’s blessing in favour of worldly evil. Should the Philippines ever become deeply secularised, Indonesia would be the one to evangelise to it a lot. The older sibling ends up serving the younger sibling, or in here the one with the largest Christian population at present will be evangelised to by a currently Muslim majority country.

Vietnam: Joseph in the sense of being mistreated by its family, only to get up achieving greatness in tough times. Might come to house a bigger Christian population in the future, should the government change to be amenable to their needs and wants.

China: Job because it’s lost a lot of its allies to western powers (Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, possibly Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam) and then will get them back more than it lost before, that’s why China’s friendly to African countries at present and may even form a Lesser China consisting of the African countries and their Oceanian counterparts, and a Greater China consisting of itself and all its closest neighbours.

Russia: Persia as the nation that punishes the enemy of God, subjugating said enemy before said enemy disappears without much of a profound trace.

Ireland, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, South Africa and the like: Moses and Joshua because for all their faults that got them there, they will be avenged and be brought back better than they were before.

All of Europe: Ananias and Sapphira as they got into trouble for denying God the Holy Spirit, Europe and possibly Canada and America will all get conquered by Russia one day.

South Korea: Moses because it will be reunited with its sibling North Korea but also disobedient as to live with the consequences of its actions, until it finally gets it right and gets back what it wanted to do.

Meet the substitutes

This is something I’ve talked about before regarding the future loss of American influence in the Philippines that if the Philippines were to pull a Canada on America, when the latter doubles down on taking control over both Greenland and Venezuela at all, that substitutes might actually be readily accepted by the general public when this happens at all in the future. But the fact that a good number of books found in the Philippines come straight from America that having to personally translate books from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand would be a hassle at first, not just due to acquiring the rights to these publications but also learning such languages like Indonesian and Vietnamese beforehand as well as having the writing skills to make it readable. It would be no different if Philippine publishers did the same thing to comics from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and China as the comics industry is really a subset of the wider publishing industry.

(Maybe except the word balloons that workarounds are necessary here.)

It might lead to a less westernised Philippine publishing industry than at present, but this means the Philippine publishing industry would come to follow publishing trends of its neighbours more from then on. As for the subject of superheroes seeing that there’s a lot of Philippine fans of cartoon heroes like Batman and Superman, that both homegrown favourites like Lastikman and Indonesian imports like Sri Asih might gain traction here in an anti-American Philippines. What’s weirder still is that Indonesia successfully cultivated a shared universe of pre-existing Indonesian characters like Sri Asih again for years, whereas something like Bayan Knights didn’t last that long. And even if it would’ve been possible to create a kind of shared universe featuring the likes of Lastikman, the nature of American neocolonialism in the Philippines means it feels more appealing to work on American publications, than to actively better the local comics industry more.

To the point where if local superheroes are unable to compete this well with their US counterparts, or for another matter Indonesian superheroes here in the Philippines, well at least at present that the Philippines might as well have to favour another field in the comics industry that the US counterpart has been unable to gain a foothold of. A more shocking future is when the US does collapse (per Christian prophecy as it’s Mystery Babylon, the country that corrupts the entire world with its filth and abominations), that Philippine publishers would turn to both prioritising local stories and translating their country’s neighbours’ products more out of necessity. But one that results in a highly Asianised Philippine publishing industry, if this ever becomes the norm in a post-American world. It’s even more shocking that the United States might cease to exist as a nation-state, coupled with the undoing of its influence, that the need for substitutes is far more urgent than ever.

(Don’t despise Godly prophecies, though this is something I sometimes struggle with.)

It’s like if American influence gets undone in tandem with the United States collapsing real badly, that in order to survive food companies like San Miguel and Jollibee turn to localising Indonesian foodstuffs like tempe and oncom to adapt to changing tastes and mindsets. This is hypothetical for now but it’s something that I interceded for others to cope with that this is highly plausible, even if it might turn out the way I expected it to at times (which I also struggle with). It would be no different from praying to God to help others (people you personally know as well as celebrities and the like) cope with the popularisation of Vietnamese and Laotian food in the Philippines, that inevitably local food companies would adapt to changing preferences also out of necessity when American influence gets undone in some way or another.

And even if American influence doesn’t complete disappear, it will be greatly minimised in the future. Consider the country that America’s been compared to by prophets like Celestial: Babylon and whilst God used it to punish his people for their rebelliousness, but the fact that it’s so corrupting and they don’t want to be corrupted themselves that he ended up undoing Babylonian influence to set them free. Not just by getting the Persians (ancestors to modern day Iranians) to free them from their captors, but also deserting Babylon for long and even euthanising both the Akkadian and Sumerian languages, as well as the use of cuneiforms, that its influence really got undone and moreso when the Babylonian Empire finally got Arabicised that come the 2020s, there’s very little Babylonian influence left in the world.

Much of it survives in the sciences and to a lesser extent as loanwords in some languages like Aramaic and possibly some Arab dialects in places like Iraq (where Babylon originates in). A degree of American influence might persist into the future, especially when it comes to computers and information technology like the Internet, but that will be all there is to it in the future. It would be shocking if future Philippine people will no longer be fluent in English and Tagalog, but rather Mandarin and Tagalog instead should the Philippines come under Chinese influence in some manner due to its own sins and the like. An even more disturbing possibility is when US companies like Microsoft and Apple have the audacity to kill Christians behind closed doors, which is also something Celestial prophesised before.

One would wonder if China’s Huawei not only introduces its own version of Microsoft Windows but also substantially improves on it that one can import not only programmes and documents from a previous operating system onto it but also the browsers’ bookmarks and histories that makes the transition really smooth, to the point of becoming widely accepted by many people all over the world and turning Huawei into a world leader in computing by innovating a system that makes it easier to retain everything and anything from the previous OS, right down to the bookmarks, into a newer one. As for Russia’s Ucoz that it’s possible it would be used more often by other people if its company makes major improvements to its products that make it much easier to make websites with, essentially substantially improving on the very technology America introduced similarly.

If the blue dye is bluer than the indigo plant itself, then both China and Russia are the pupils who’re going to outshine their teacher (America) when they succeed at improving on the very technologies America introduced to the world. It’s already like this with both superapps and short-form videos, the latter is introduced by America as Vine but China improved on it significantly and even popularised it to the point where YouTube now rolls out YouTube Shorts and Facebook with Reels. A more horrifying possibility if is China were to buy Alphabet (YouTube’s owner) and Russia to buy Meta (Facebook’s owner) only to merge it with VK, then they have effectively displaced their professor by buying the very companies America originated, or for another matter things like Automattic as there’s a precedent with Russia buying Livejournal.

If God can give back more than one lost, it’s going to be this way with China and Russia or is already there to some extent. It would be surprising if Russia succeeds in getting all of Europe and half of North America, but this is comeuppance for their own sins that they will give into their master the way the Philippines and others would under China. With China it should be noted that it used to influence much of East Asia to varying degrees that this is a return to form, but strengthened and restored this time due to declining US influence that these relationships might return in another way or already is but will grow in the future. Russia might be no different with other countries like Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Romania that it could get these back, in addition to countries that historically weren’t under Russian influence like America, Canada, Britain (soon to be divided into England, Scotland and Wales due to Trump and Prince William’s decision to end the UK as we know it), France, Italy and Spain.

The loss of America might accelerate this and even then it’s already underway to an extent, but God’s judgement on America would only hasten the deAmericanisation of the world.

Judgement to the Philippines and the P-Pop industry

I feel there are people like Mary Rose who say that the Philippines will be judged by God for idolatry that it will be permanently given over to China for long, not helped by the presence of a P-Pop industry here that it does make one wonder how and why the Philippines got there. There are even Catholic priests who pointed this out that it doesn’t make sense for the Philippines to call itself Christian when it always falls short of it and never repents to get better by God, let’s not forget that P-Pop is derivative of K-Pop and both of them promote idols (in both senses of the word) as to get chastised by God just the same. South Korea will be forcibly reunited with North Korea under Chinese influence, alongside Japan for repeatedly rejecting God, that China will be given back more than it had lost before. The Philippines is technically Christian-majority, but has the audacity to create its own version of K-Pop, which is already riddled with idolatry, that this will be why western influence will be nearly completely revoked here.

Like there’s really no point in calling yourself Christian when it’s practically lip service at this point, that the Philippines has left its first love suggests the Philippines might be on its way to backsliding. I have backslided before and it’s resulted in consequences like losing books, that it’s only now I’m finding my way back to God and perhaps strengthened from losing somebody whom I didn’t want to marry, that the loss was really a blessing in disguise to get me back on track. Leading to me reading not only more devotionals and Bible readings, but also habitually listening to sermons a lot more that losing this person did more good than harm in the long run. It also turned out that he’s gay in addition to my prior fear of him being a pervert that if I had married him but continued with that attitude before, it would’ve been worse than at present, since he’s not only into pornography but also into a form of idolatry aimed at other things (which I struggle with too) that I would’ve drifted further from God this way.

The Philippines becoming less westernised is actually something that I prayed for before, but this devotional at the time told me that God will answer it unexpectedly, that this may even lead to a Philippines where English gets replaced by Mandarin as the other national language alongside a newly re-Asianised Tagalog and perhaps a more mainstream socialist government at that point in the future. To the extent that the Philippines has become a second Vietnam in the sense of being heavily Sinicised, socialist and also a former Latin European colony, where it also has a substantial number of Catholics there where one can freely read lectionaries and stream sermons from there. The Latin European nation in Vietnam’s case is France, though Vietnamese Catholicism also has roots in Portugal as some of the earliest missionaries were Portugeuse themselves, to the extent that they even gave Vietnam the Latin alphabet.

In most regards the Philippines will become like other East Asian countries, no longer that exceptional if because the Philippines currently fails to live up to its self-proclaimed reputation because it’s useless and redundant by now. There’s no point in the Philippines calling itself a Christian nation when it openly condones idolatry through not only garden variety celebrity worship syndrome (now euphemistically called parasocial relationships), but also P-Pop and K-Pop that over time the Philippines will become no different from its neighbours in a way. In the sense where the Philippines might become a very secularised country where there’s not a lot of avid churchgoers there (well, it’s already a thing to an extent), that unless if the Philippines repents it might be heading this direction anyways. And if it doubles down on the P-Pop thing, then it’s on it why it stopped being a Christian majority country, why it permanently comes under China in nearly all ways and so on.

What a shame about it really.

Love Me Like You Do

I remember saying this that as the Philippines continually fails to live up to what it says, never repenting in any way and stuff, the more it will turn out to be like other East Asian countries in a way. If you know a tree by its fruits, then it’s going to be obvious that the Philippines repeatedly fails at being a Christian country, that sooner in the future it will become like other East Asian countries in nearly all (perhaps all) regards. If the fruit doesn’t fall too far from the tree, this is what I remember preachers saying this before. The Philippines fails at living up to what it proclaims itself to be, that Christianity might precipitously drop among the Philippine public. Most especially among younger adults as well as teenagers, that it’s turning out to be obvious there’s no use in the Philippines calling itself Christian when it does the opposite as usual, never repenting of it in any way.

To be honest, even as a Christian, I personally feel that the Philippines is too westernised for its own good and I’ve been praying for others (priests, celebrities and close relatives) to cope with this country receiving more East Asian influence, that this will really come true but in a way I didn’t expect. Like the times I prayed to God to get back sermons on a radio station that I listen to that the sermons did come back, albeit at around 5:30 in the morning in Ghanaian standard time and the second time in that hour with a different preacher. So this would be true for the Philippine getting more East Asian influences, especially outside of both Japan and South Korea, but in a way where nearly all western influence is erased here and permanently so for most of them. The only remaining western influences here would be just the surnames, Christianity and writing system, especially in the future.

Filipinos will no longer regularly speak in English and Tagalog, but rather Tagalog and Mandarin instead the more the Philippines comes to rely on China as the US will fail to save it once Uncle Sam gets embroiled in a civil war himself, that the Philippines begins to engage in realpolitik with China in earnest. Philippine preachers and priests might even see this as an opportunity to even evangelise to the Chinese and set up more churches and monasteries there, so the tradeoff in losing western influence might not be a bad thing and it’s about time for the Philippines to evangelise to its closest neighbours more, even China as well. This might lead to a blessing in disguise as more Chinese get to be saved, the more Philippine preachers and priests willingly and dutifully convert them to becoming God’s followers. That due to Philippine influence, Christianity begins to be practised more openly in China and in larger numbers to boot.

Surely western influence may substantially lessen in the Philippines, but evangelising to China as well as Vietnam and Myanmar is something the Philippines really needs to do. As East Asia’s premier Christian majority country, it has to fulfil the Great Commission when it comes to preaching a lot to its neighbours (including China), that if it constantly fails to do so then Christianity might drop substantially in numbers here if the Philippines doesn’t act quickly. There’s no point in bashing China a lot (though this is something I strugle with as well) when the Chinese themselves are in need of salvation, Christianity’s actually growing there and there are even online Chinese lectionaries and devotionals that attest to this. Even if Christianity doesn’t exactly drop this low in the Philippines in the future, between willingly preaching to China and continuining to wallow in sin, if somebody says they love God yet loathe their enemy then they don’t really love him (something that I struggle with as well).

This is a dilemma the Philippines has to confront soon enough, lest Christianity decline significantly there, though this is something I also struggle with from time to time due to my trauma (as what somebody on Reddit pointed out). Even if China does seem annoying at times, it’s not always this bad. It’s not even that consistently oppressive to Christians, though that’s due to God providing for his followers there. There are even Christian websites coming from this country, so there’s really no point in bashing it despite good reasons to chastise it, so the Philippines really has to evangelise to China as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar and Laos. If it wants to live up to its reputation as East Asia’s number one Christian majority country, then it has to act the part as well. Otherwise it’s just lip service, as it usually is for us.

It would be awkward praying for one’s enemies, though this is something that I’ve come to do in my personal life, but if it involves making sure they too will be on the right path regarding whatever sins they might struggle with then it’s for the better. Which is how I feel about a certain cousin whom I’ve been praying for, regarding whatever problems she could have underneath, that it’s good that God put her in my mind not just to reconcile with her one day, but to also help her confront her own struggles since she can’t always do it on her own and needs someone else who’s more experienced in (trying) to overcome their own demons too. Something like lust, which I’ve also struggled with. Maybe on a larger scale the Philippines might help China out with its own problems, if it’s willing to help its enemy out. It would be hard and awkward, given such sentiments in an attempt to overcome (which is what I struggle with).

But ultimately it’s going to be a test to see if the Philippines will even preach to China and others if it wants to remain a Christian-majority country for long, or if it refuses to then it will become like any other East Asian country religiously speaking.

The show is over

Another person goes on prophesising that not only will Donald Trump actually get killed, but also the US economy will crash so badly due to hyperinflation, that ultimately America truly stops being a superpower from then on. It kind of points out at a kind of undoing of consumerism in American culture, that makes one wonder why would a self-proclaimed Christian nation partake in crass materialism, especially when these goods don’t last long? Although this kind of materialism didn’t originate in America, what America did (as a superpower) is to popularise and even normalise this. Like it’s not enough to be able to have a nice house and stuff, you have to have more of those. It turned out to be unattainable even for other Americans, that it seems to be a case of misplaced needs and wants for years.

Not that there’s anything wrong with a nice house and stuff, but there are other people who’re really in need of it despite not having much, to the point where you either invite homeless people to stay in your house for long. Or you could build a house from something cheap and readily available as it is with some people, you needn’t to spend an insane amount of money to get a nice house when you can learn to make a nice house from rubbish. This could be a very good solution for homeless people seeking a nice house to stay in, whilst it might be more tedious and difficult than a prefab house. But it’s something that’s doable by using what’s readily available in a way (rubbish in the form of plastic bottles), that although it took take time figuring out the logistics of making a house from plastic bottles when it comes to toiletry and sinks, but it’s helpful enough to give somebody a nice home from scratch.

The Bible speaks highly of helping the poor and needy among us, that anybody who goes against this will be judged for this. It may not entirely eliminate poverty, well not immediately, but it does help alleviate problems like these. It also makes it easier for others to realise their dreams, needs and wants, but this involves putting their desires above your own. The Bible speaks about having to serve others, however awkward it may be (as it is with me before), but in this case it involves helping out the poor and needy. In this case, it’s homeless people seeking good homes to be in without having to pay much. Even when people can afford to and stay in homes for long, housing problems still exist in another manner. This involves living in overcrowded, claustrophobic places (as it is in Hong Kong), living in rooftop slums as it is in Hong Kong and so on.

It should be noted that slums were a thing in the United States before, but I feel if the US economy were to crash again in the future then slums might return. In fact they’ll become the new normal from then on in a way, blessings become curses that the American dream has become the American nightmare. American poverty might grow in unprecedented numbers so quickly once the US economy crashes so badly, along with lasting power shortages, that the United States has kind of effectively regressed. Poorer than Nigeria even, which will become a newly industrialised country very soon (same with Ghana and others). Admittedly this is going to be kind of frightening, because I often peruse US online lectionaries and devotionals to pray to God with. The loss of electricity in the US would cut people off of certain websites, the more I think about it.

Unless if these ministries head elsewhere or if God provides substitutes in their place, it would be pretty frightening navigating a world where these don’t exist. That’s how I feel about sermons not getting played at expected times, that it’s hard warming up to a substitute when you want the real thing real badly, but you also can’t be double-minded (as I learnt). Sometimes it happens due to my misdeeds, sometimes it’s something I have little control over. It would be no different for other people in this situation, that it’s possible God will provide substitutes in their place instead. This could come from anywhere else in the world, like Nigeria, China, India or Vietnam; but especially China as it’s got a rising Christian population. It’s quite possible that if American ministries were to face loss in power, he might raise Chinese ministries in their place to reach out to many people instead.

There might be many more Chinese devotionals and lectionaries in the wings waiting to be used by many people around the world, that if lasting electrical shortages were to occur in the United States, that their Chinese counterparts would have to do to make up for a particular loss like these. It’s also possible for their Nigerian, Ghanaian, Cameroonian, Ugandan, Ivorian, South African and Zimbabwean counterparts to step in and do the same for other people, perhaps even those from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia just the same too. It would be a kind of miracle for nonwestern ministries from both East Asia and Africa to step in and care for people’s spiritual needs when their American counterparts are unable to help out, due to a forthcoming prolonged electrical shortage coming over to the US. I’ve been listening to a radio broadcast about miracles, so God could provide something in an unexpected way.

That is by having Indian, African and East Asian ministries provide online lectionaries and devotionals for free to make up for a loss of US devotionals and lectionaries for those still wanting to worship God, and they will explode in huge numbers to meet these demands that Christian websites and the like that don’t usually have devotionals and lectionaries will have these by then. A case of God making good out of evil, making up for the losses American ministries may face in the future, especially in light of electrical shortages that either they rely on alternative sources of electricity to remain active in some way, or turn to substitutes to make up for it. But I feel these losses would necessitate some kind of alternative, however awkward it may be at first, even then America’s increasingly less powerful as a country. And being Mystery Babylon it might be far less powerful than it makes itself out to be by now.

There’s a prophecy of America getting hit by a meteor, which lines up with neatly with Babylon the Great getting hit by a stone. So the US truly is Mystery Babylon and why it’s overdue to get revoked and destroyed for all the evil it ended up doing for the years, never repenting and never trying to do better, it deserves to be wrecked.

The Eastern Churches

With the possible exception of those in the Philippines and also South Korea, possibly Africa to some extent as well, a good number of churches throughout both West and East Asia are practically and truly countercultural. That just by merely practising and following Christ a lot, even if they sometimes get it wrong, they are going against the grain in which the dominant religions there are either Islam (the Arab states, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Krygyzstan and Azerbaijan) or Buddhism (China, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan). So they truly know what it’s like to be in the minority, simply because they follow a different religion altogether. The situation of Christianity in both Europe and North America as well as in Africa, the Philippines and South Korea to some extent is that most adherents are lukewarm, or if you will nominal Christians at that.

Like they are Chrisians simply because they were baptised in a church, follow Christian holidays, attend church and have Christian names, but that’s really about it. But there’s also the aspect of Christianity that’s kind of missed out even by other Christians at times is the constant struggle between the spirit and the flesh, having to stop oneself from sinning despite attempts being imperfect at times (as it is with me in an attempt to not get angry or lust). It’s not really a religion that makes you come as you are, but be better than you are, for God is perfect and you should be perfect too. I feel there’s a current strain in Christian thought where you just be yourself, but this kind of softens the Biblical stance on repentance or the willingness to actively stop sinning. It’s a feel-good Christianity that doesn’t demand much of people, regardless of how and why you have Bible verses demanding to let go of the old self.

I remember this video about how and why subsequent preachers soften the message in the Bible, though this was specifically about lust, it could be applied to any other sin. It’s kind of hard preaching repentance when others strongly insist on just being yourself, when at times they actively conflict with one another. One demands having to hold oneself to a higher standard by God, the other involves not much effort at repenting and stopping sin. I’m starting to think the current Christian obsession with self-acceptance is largely unbiblical, one that seems far worldlier than it makes itself out to be be and one that I experienced multiple times due to my sins, that there’s really a big limit to this sort of acceptance in Christianity. So in Christianity it’s more like 99% be better than you are regarding sin, 1% come as you are when you’re vulnerable or somewhat more than that. But I don’t think Christianity’s built for monumentalism at all.

Rather it’s a faith that thrives on flexibility in the sense of adapting to circumstances (relying on God in tough times, obeying whatever authority he puts in charge) and willingness to change (the whole repentance thing), whereas the world thrives on monumentalism in the sense of you are who you always were, which goes against the Christian thought in renewing the self. So the desire for repentance and the desire for self-acceptance will often conflict with one another, so they generally don’t complement each other much when they oppose one another to begin with. It seems western Christianity’s heavily influenced by western secular thought, one that’s more preoccupied with both individualism (the self’s put above the community) and monumentalism than with both collectivism (the community’s put above the self) and flexibility. It’s kind of hard to actively serve others, when it’s easier to please the self.

Not helped by that western Christianity strongly emphasies a personal (in fact, solipistic) relationship with God over being truly concerned over brothers and sisters in Christ, the whole body of Christ really, that it would be this easy to be selfish and unconcerned about others (admittedly my attempts at interceding for others, especially when trying hard not to lose my temper or lust, backfire). So it seems like both western and eastern Christianities don’t seem to read the same book, don’t worship the same God and so on due to their differing cultural circumstances. Because the west has been Christian-majority together as to take it for grant and grow complacent, whereas in the east Christianity’s a minority religion for a long time so there’s an awareness of being outsiders to the majority belief systems there. Sort of like the difference betweeng being a Christian in Britain as opposed to in Chnia.

It’s kind of makes for an interesting study in contrasts where western Christianity’s influenced by individualism and western laicity, but eastern Christianity’s fully aware of its outsider status. This is like the difference between Christianity in France and Christianity in Vietnam, the former is Christianity-majority longer than the latter and it’s not uncommon to find French people with Christian names like Victor, Paul, Jean and Matthieu, some of which relate to Christian concepts of victory and the like. People with those names are in the minority in Vietnam, though from my experience frequenting Vietnamese Christian webpages it’s less anti-Christian than one expects it to be. But with Buddhism being the predominant religion there that Vietnamese Christianity takes on an outsider character that’s alien to French culture, even if France is highly secularised at this point.

It still makes for an interesting study in contrasts between the two cultural regions.

Fandom and Consumerism

It’s not wrong to support bands and musicians financially and economically, but I feel it’s not always feasible for those who literally can’t afford to do other things to show their fandom for someone or something. Maybe that’s me speaking from my experience being unemployed and then underemployed, given I have something of a job from selling clothes but I’m also at the mercy of somebody else’s budget and time when it comes to buying materials needed to making something or anything to sell to somebody or anybody. There are likely some Taylor Swift and K-Pop fans who feel the same way too, wanting to support their favourite musicians but are unable to afford other things and/or spend their fannish budget on more important things like supporting family members and close friends, anybody they personally know.

There is a way to show one’s fandom for any musician or band without breaking the bank much, one can stream their favourite songs and albums for free on platforms like Spotify. One can livestream concerts on social media websites like Tiktok and Youtube, one can read free articles on available fansites and fan communities, and even mirror entire archived fansites. I’ve done this one many times over when it comes to my other favourite bands like Ace of Base and Massive Attack, one can even find pirated materials online if they’re willing to go the extra mile (I’ve done this many times too and likely some K-Pop and Taylor Swift fans too). Surely it does pose problems just the same like idolatry* and stuff, but I feel the way K-Pop agencies treat fannish love is painfully predatory.

It’s as if it’s not enough for K-Pop musicians to interact with their fans online, it’s not enough for K-Pop fans to merely stream music and read available materials about their favourite musicians and bands, it’s not even enough for K-Pop fans to just buy albums even when others can’t afford to get limited edition materials about their favourite celebrities that it’s actually rather cruel. I even think it’s cruel of K-Pop agencies to constantly exploit fans’ devotion to celebrities to such a disgusting extent that we have saesang stalkers to begin with, it’s cruel of K-Pop agencies to make fans buy things related to their favourite bands and musicians even when they literally can’t afford these materials themselves. No doubt it plays into the graven images made out of stone and wood thing.

But it’s also bad for their budget, especially if K-Pop fans might find themselves in a situation where supporting such musicians is financially insensible, to the point where not supporting them is the only way they can manage their budgets better the next time around. If some K-Pop fans can’t afford to attend concerts, yet there’s the risk it would interfere with other things like attending church and helping around family members and close friends alike, then quitting K-Pop fandom’s the only way they can do this to be not only closer to God, but also truly available for those who actually know them best. Nakita even said that K-Pop is ungodly and very worldly, that no sooner or later some K-Pop agencies will go into administration. Especially JYP Entertainment this year.

Made worse by that its founder moonlights as a pastor, yet enables idolatry of his bands that he deliberately makes others stumble, as to warrant getting judged by God (I did this before and got into trouble just the same). Actually this isn’t even unique to him, even if other founders of K-Pop agencies are secular from the get-go, made worse by that South Korea has one of the largest Christian populations in East Asia, next to the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Vietnam (yes, Christians exist in the latter three enough to justify the existence of such websites like these). What does this tell you about the state of South Korea where it’s both a Christian nation and also prone to idolatry? It’s kind of double-minded as to be uncertain whether to actually go back to God, or get worse over time that it’s kind of depressing.

It’s even more depressing by that at any point where the South Korean government would’ve helped local ministries translate lectionaries and devotionals into languages other people may want to understand, or even get Korean publishers to have their Christian books licenced overseas and then translated into other languages, this never came to pass. Maybe not yet but if delayed obedience is still disobedience, then it’s on South Korea why it never took advantage of these to reach out to unsaved people in other places and even somewhere in China, as China’s got a growing Christian population at this point. Let alone Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei, Timor Leste, Bangladesh, wherever there are both rising Christian populations and a need to evangelise the locals there.

It’s kind of painful seeing fans being made to buy things they can’t always afford to, as if K-Pop agencies are really merciless in their quest for more money, regardless if fans themselves can’t afford to buy all those other merchandise and may even spend it on something else altogether.

*I struggle with idolatry from time to time.

It’s gonna happen

Somebody else has a prophecy of America getting halved into two, albeit horizontally and with an incoming meteorite strike to boot (isn’t that a reference to something in Revelation where Mystery Babylon gets hit by a millstone?). Given that America has often been compared to Mystery Babylon, albeit not in polite company, maybe getting hit by an asteroid kind of lines up with that Biblical passage of Babylon II getting hit by a millstone. It’s even more shocking to think that this natural disaster’s much sooner than expected, one that might succeed in killing a lot more Americans than one realises. That other countries will do onto it what it did to others is a disturbing comeuppance, but one that others suspect that America may have been up to no good at all.

Always causing wars where there’s no need for those, destroying the lives of innocent bystanders. Ruining entire cultures even, though this is going to be controversial. As for South Korea, it should be noted that for the longest period of time, it was one and the same country as North Korea. They’re divided by ideology and politics, even when they’re actually one nation together. South Korea was created to contain the spread of socialism onto the rest of the Korean peninsula, to the extent that it could essentially be a US colony but not in polite company. There’s a book called ‘How To Hide An Empire’ which is about America keeping its colonial empire a secret or something, as to appear as a proper republic. When in reality it’s really anything but a republic, because it effectively and practically acts like an empire.

It has colonies in the Asia Pacific, colonies that were taken from other empires. South Korea should ought to be included because it was created to keep socialism from spreading throughout the Korean peninsula, otherwise the entire Korea itself would’ve ended up more like either Vietnam, China or Laos really. It’s really telling that America created South Vietnam to do the same thing, only it didn’t last for long and all of Vietnam became socialist instead. South Korea is practically so dependent on America for its ideological and economic existence that it should ought to be seen as an American colony just the same, but given the prophecies of it reuniting with North Korea, that its days as a US colony might be over this time around. Another Vietnam really and one that America may’ve dreaded the most.

America might even lose both South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines to China forever, but I feel if America is Mystery Babylon then China should be seen as a tool of indignation. Not just against the US but also the sins of its neighbours just the same, the Philippines and South Korea for falling into sin despite being Christian countries, Japan for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and so on. This leads to its own version of either the Soviet Union or the European Union, though in reality it would be in the middle in a way, thus forming Greater China together all in all. Taiwan would become another Hong Kong, whereas the Philippines becomes a near-facsimile of China as to undo much American influence here. Given China used to influence much of East Asia before, this is a sign that God’s giving it back greater than it did before.

Albeit where the African and Oceanian countries form a new Eastern Bloc, thus leading to a global east given there’s already a global west composed of both Europe and the Americas. The global east would involve both East Asia and much of Africa (north to south), as lead by China against America and eventually Russia over Mongolia. Countries like India, Iran and Turkey would be neutral superpowers at this point, not wanting to take sides between Russia and China. Even then this is a changed world where America’s been made irrelevant, redundant and be tossed aside altogether, to be gone forever and this is a word from the Lord. In the interval America will get physiogeographically destroyed, just as it’s on its way to witnessing more civil unrest in the months and years to come.

The things that make America a superpower will be revoked due to its sins, that ultimately these will be undone and its own allies like the Philippines will be made into near-facsimiles of its enemies. Canada will be no different from the Philippines, only replace China with Russia and whilst Canada may arguably not be a near-facsimile of Russia, it will be Russified over time the more it becomes either a colony or commonwealth or protectorate of Russia. But American influence will be further lost there when Canada does come under Russian occupation and jurisdiction in some way, where America will ultimately be forgotten in the future, or remembered as a footnote in everybody’s book.

The state of American Christianity

The weird thing about American Christianity is how combative it is and it’s like this for so long and often that it kind of passed on its belligerence onto any country allied with the US to varying degrees, given how and why America is a major world power in this day and age as well as being the current seat of western civilisation. Contrast this to how Christianity’s done in Malaysia, China, Vietnam, India and Indonesia where it tends to be more of a minority religion, though ones with a substantial number of adherents enough to justify a plethora of online lectionaries, sermons and devotionals to consume in any way. Although it is my view that these countries are actually less hostile to Christianity than one realises, but being outsiders to the more popular belief systems and ideologies that the focus is more on survival in tough times instead.

In the sense their Christianities are closer to the one in the Bible when Christianity was a very radical and different belief system in the Roman Empire as to risk persecution and ostracism at any point, it’s still like this whenever a Christian lives in an anti-Christian or unsupportive environment whether if they live in China or live in a deeply secular household anywhere else in the world from my personal experience. American Christianity is pretty different from these Christianities in the sense of how combative and aggressive it is towards its opponents, that to be a Christian is to staunchly oppose feminism, communism, evolution, immigration and multiculturalism, in addition to being pious but I feel American Christianity takes on a weird character that mixes Christian piety with unrelenting aggression towards its opponents a lot.

To oppose feminism American Protestants would have to put the stay at home wife as the feminine ideal, which ironically recreates Catholic Marianismo given the similar intentions and despite how a good number of Evangelicals see Catholicism as bad Christianity. A kind of ecclesiastical horseshoe where both denominations arrive at the same conclusion, despite being opposed to one another in some facets/regards. Or how there’s something of a religious horseshoe between some Protestants and Muslims, especially when it comes to the insistence on female modesty, disdain for graven images of sacred figureheads and a tendency towards political radicalisation. It’s shocking to think it’s this way but the way American Christianity insists on its values seem more similar to one of its opponents than it is to other Christianities elsewhere.

The part about American Christianity paralleling Islam is kind of shocking to admit and realise, but when it comes to a profound preoccupation with female modesty and disdain for graven images, that they strongly parallel each other much more than American Christianity does with say Vietnamese Christianity. It’s not just that Vietnamese Christianity usually tends towards Catholicism, if because it’s better established there than in America, but also because despite having a substantial number of adherents enough to justify their online presence in many ways, Christianity’s still a minority faith in Vietnam as well. American Christianity is much more unusual in how it mixes politics with faith, especially right wing politics, that it’s not enough to be merely socially conservative in most regards.

This might not be unique to it as some Latin American Christianities do the same, but it doesn’t seem to be particularly the case in China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia where it is something of a minority religion there, despite having a substantial number of adherents among some of them. In their case, Christianity is a religion that defies political affliation and to the extent, it’s even like that with the Bible itself. The Bible isn’t pro-LGBT but it’s big on making people be kind to immigrants and foreigners, it’s bigger on animal welfare than one realises, it’s kind of anti-racist and anti-rich people (in a way), it may not appear to be big on feminism but it does demand men to treat women well, demands equity for disabled people and so on.

But it’s kind of unfortunate that only in the Americas is Christianity this heavily aligned with right wing politics, even when its stance doesn’t always consistently align with it, especially regarding both poor people and immigrants. European Christianity also resembles most East Asian Christianities when it comes to certain matters, but this has to do with most Europeans being nominal Christians at best and lukewarm Christians at worst. In the sense that they are technically Christian by the virtue of being baptised in a certain denomination, but never practising the faith in any recognisable way. So there are a few practising Christians in many European countries these days, so in that sense Christianity has become a minority religion there. Not necessarily in the technical or legal sense, but that not many Europeans go to church anymore, read the Bible, pray and so on.

American Christianity stands out like a sore thumb by being this affiliated with right wing politics, very aggressive and combative towards its enemies (be it gays, feminists, China, Russia or whoever angers American Christians). American Christianity seems to be the kind of Christianity that seeks to pick a fight with anybody, given the way American Christians are socialised to distrust whoever or whatever opposes America. Very paranoid, distrusting and apprehensive towards whoever and whatever opposes America, be it feminists, socialists, Russia, China, West Asians or Muslims. To the extent that American Christian organisations often make countries like Vietnam seem worse than they really are, even given China’s own government crackdowns on a number of Christians, this hasn’t stopped other churches and their websites from being operational in any way.

Even if the Indian government does the same thing as well, this hasn’t stopped Indian churches and their media from being operational just the same too. If God can preserve his remnant, then he can make Indian and Chinese Christians survive the challenges they’re put into. So he could allow both Chinese and Indian Christian websites and the like to survive for as long as they need to, as to meet the demands of Chinese and Indian believers in any capacity, for as long as they can manage themselves in such a tough environment. Sort of like the way Christianity’s portrayed in the New Testament, where it wasn’t fashionable and mainstream to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. But over time it spread so this is already the case with both China and India, where it’s on its way to spreading quickly and greatly among people there.

Blessed are those who’re being persecuted, for they’ll inherit something great in the long run. No wonder why both China and India are home to rising Christian communities, especially given they’re met with great opposition out to test their faith. If God makes something good out of something bad, then both China and India could eventually house very substantial Christian populations in the future. Maybe not necessarily majority yet, at least for now, but it’s on its way there. It would be odd to live in a future where some Chinese provinces have this many Christians enough to be majority Christian in some sense, maybe this is already happening at present. Or some Indian provinces for another matter, but it’s the same thing really. Not necessarily entirely politically right wing, but I don’t think the Bible needs to directly align with politics either way.

Which means Chinese Christianity more closely resembles Christianity as initially introduced to the world, whereas American Christianity has become a farcical facsimile of it. The former is truly countercultural, not mainstream and definitely otherworldly but growing. The latter is worldly and more consistently politically right wing but to the detriment of compromising Biblical stances on other things, to the point where it shapes American Christianity’s peculiar character. Even if there are proper Christians in the United States, American Christian thought is so heavily influenced by right wing politics and vice versa, that it becomes evident in other cases.

Not quite

I feel when it comes to media literacy, it’s a practise based around deciphering and understanding the messages and themes media impart and inculcate onto others, like if you’ve been solely around Anglophone websites regarding the status of Christianity in Indonesia, China and Vietnam, there’s almost always a tone of suspicion on the latter three’s part on how hostile they are to Christianity. But if you go to their online lectionaries and devotionals in their languages, a different and more sympathetic picture emerges. Not necessarily any less apprehensive towards it at times, but nowhere as bad as western media sources make it out to be, if you know where to look. It should be noted that Indonesian and Vietnamese Catholic churches even air their church services online daily and it’s usually for free.

Likewise countries like Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Britain, Spain, Norway and Sweden are less secular than one makes them out to be if you do the same things with them, but it seems to be this way is because there’s apparently less practising Christians in those places than in the United States. So the real difference has more to do with quantity as these countries don’t have a particularly substantial Christian political bloc the way America does, but online lectionaries and devotionals are pretty much present enough to meet their needs in some capacity or another. Conversely speaking, America might be more anti-Christian than one realises. Maybe not in ways it immediately recognises those traits as, but in the sense of calling good bad and bad good.

Having to go with the flow and honouring your community’s and family’s wishes above your own are the very things that are in line with what the Bible says about the same things, well sometimes if God sees it fit whereas in American culture it’s a matter of doing what you like for as long as people are fine with it, which sometimes work if someone has to accept somebody as they are, which is also in the Bible to some extent. But with America being such an individualistic society that’s going to be at the forefront of things that put individual expression above communal dedication and responsibility, especially regarding things like polyamory and any other form of modern consensual nonmonogamy. Do what you want to do, judge and the jury too as one song went.

This epitomises the American individualist mindset, the American individualist approach and the American way of doing, I feel a Japanese band wouldn’t have come up with this song at all. Not that collectivist countries like Japan, China and Vietnam restrict individual expression this much, but there’s a bigger emphasis on having to accomodate others’ needs and wants above your own, as well as their best wishes for you above your own. But I feel for a number of people that to be Christian is to be American and vice versa, even when facets of American culture go against Christianity a lot. To be fair, there are Americans who are truly Christian in belief and demeanour, though Christian nationalism is unfortunately very ingrained in American Christian culture.

Like you can’t be a Christian without having a very high regard for American culture, even when the religion long-predated the founding of America. If countries like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya are any indication, Christianity can easily be decoupled from the west and be very widely applicable to African countries. Christianity can even thrive in large numbers in unexpected places like Indonesia, Vietnam and China really, but unfortunately associating Christianity with American culture a lot results in people becoming put-off by it even when it shouldn’t be and should never be. Christianity long predated the American nation-state by centuries, not to mention America is a settler-colony. A country built on someone else’s sovereign territory.

If China is actually less anti-Christian than one makes it out to be at times, since online devotionals and lectionaries are easily available and fairly numerous enough to meet the needs of Chinese Christians, then I suppose it’s easier to make it more anti-Christian than it actually is and even if it has a vexed attitude towards Christianity, this sentiment or suspicion is Sinophobic to some extent. Surely China does take down some Christian websites, but others are still up and running, speaking from personal experience. Though usually a number of these websites that are still operational in any way tend to Catholic and Catholicism does have a longer, earlier presence in China than Protestantism does, not all but a decent number of them are.

Same goes for Cambodia and Vietnam, which are both former French possessions. If you do bother looking for these at all, these countries are less anti-Christian than one makes them out to be. Maybe not necessarily any less distrusting of it, but in a way that makes you realise that the number of Christians there is substantial enough to justify a plethora of online lectionaries and devotionals. There’s clearly an audience for them in these countries, which you can use to gauge the actual breadth and depth of Christianity in these countries. In the case with China, it’s easier to exaggerate the role of anti-Christian sentiment there due to overall Sinophobia, instead of deliberately looking for more online lectionaries and devotionals in simplified Chinese (which almost always leads to Chinese media online).

Coupled with really bad media literacy and you get a situation where China’s made out to be more anti-Christian than it actually is (sometimes), regardless of the fact that you can scour for online readings and devotionals coming from this country and its associated territories alone. Likewise India really isn’t that anti-Christian either in that you could also scour for daily readings and devotionals in any of its languages, that Indians do air or upload sermons online in any capacity suggests that there is an audience for these media. When it comes to media literacy, one has to be alert to certain biases that paint a skewered picture of something or someone. Especially China where it’s made to be more anti-Christian than it really is, and even if it were true to an extent, this hasn’t stopped some websites from continuing to be operational and updated.

(Though there’s no mistaking that China seems more lenient to Catholicism, being longer established sort of helps things in a way.)

Sometimes other East Asian countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia get this same treatment, even if you could easily play sermons from their social media channels and gain easy access to their online devotionals and lectionaries just the same. Likewise European countries like Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, France, the Netherlands and Germany aren’t as secular as others make them out to be, because they still offer online lectionaries and devotionals for those looking for them at all. If God saves a remnant, then it’ll be the audience for these media. One would wonder if their impressions of China and Germany aren’t just informed by their own views, but also their lack of any extensive exposure to their own media if they can’t afford to save there for long.

But if they did the latter, it would fundamentally change their views of any one or both of them. It’s like in my case I used to think Japan is anime-land until the day I perused certain keywords in Japanese to look up on stray dogs in Japan and a different picture emerges, one that’s at best very indifferent to it. If you use certain keywords in simplified Chinese to find online lectionaries and devotionals, a different China emerges and one that’s not as hostile to Christianity, despite its own recurring apprehensions around it. Or for another matter, Vietnam and Indonesia, that when coupled with extensive exposure to such media gives a better idea of what Christianity’s like in those places. This could also be applied to both Malaysia and Germany as well.

To the extent that it’s not the same impression anymore for most of the part, since the average Vietnamese/Indonesian/German/Chinese don’t speak English too well, as opposed to many Ghanaians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Filipinos, Britons and Irish, speaking from my own experience perusing such media. Actually by using foreign language media a lot (websites, social media, podcasts, radio stations), you get a better idea of what Christianity’s like in countries like China and Vietnam, if relying on secondhand sources isn’t always this reliable and trustworthy. Since with the latter they’re almost always somebody else’s impressions of the country or culture in question, instead of actually checking it out for yourself. This also goes for countries like Ghana and Nigeria, if you know one of their languages well.

But this involves being this exposed to their media for so long and so often that your impression of what Christianity looks like in those places starts to form independently of reading up on secondhand accounts of the same, because you exposed yourself to the real thing quite frequently. When it comes to the Anglophone part of the world, it’s this easy to heavily expose oneself to American media even without trying given America’s standing as the current superpower of our day. Foreign language media insulates countries from being this influenced by America to a doable extent, but this also means they have peculiarities onto themselves. A good number of western Christians, especially practising Christians at that, tend to be American.

But this means being so immersed in American culture as to have a very American worldview and perspective of things like China for instance, even if not all American Christians feel or think this way, but it does seep into their view of the world. Exposing oneself to foreign language media a lot, especially whenever it pertains to devotionals and lectionaries at all, whether if they come from Germany or China, will risk changing one’s view of any country. Maybe not always so drastic but in a way that enables you to see the other side to its culture, one that’s not commonly represented in the media that you’re usually exposed to. Like say China actually has a large, thriving Christian community that’s more obvious if you peruse online devotionals, sermons and lectionaries from it alone.

(Though in my case, I tend to listen to Mandarin language sermons from a Malaysian social media channel every Sunday.)

This could also be applied to Indonesia, India and Vietnam, that it would be really hard to realise Christianity actually exists there if you don’t even peruse their media at all. With machine translations and the like, you could find a way to understand these lectionaries and devotionals yourself. But this would involve realising the greatest concentrations of practising Christians have shifted towards both Africa and East Asia, including China, that it would be hard for some people to recognise and reconcile with. Or in the case with European countries like Sweden and Belgium, there are still Christians out there that God has preserved and provides for. But with America being the epicentre of both western civilisation and for a long time, world Protestantism, that it would be easy to spread and inculcate American ideas onto folks.

Something like creationism and anti-feminism that this gets transferred to the countries closest to the American sphere of influence in some way like the Philippines and South Korea, that if they were (still) under the Chinese sphere of influence it would’ve turned out somewhat differently. But to my knowledge, however limited it is, I don’t think any one of those presents a major hot button topic in Chinese Christianity the way it does in American Christianity. Though it’s a lot to do with Christianity in China being more of an outsider’s faith, despite some denominations like Catholicism being well-established before, that it’s going to be aware that its own views and sentiments aren’t mainstream and are often challenged by a more popular belief system.

Whereas American Christianity feels deeply threatened by anything challenging it in some fashion that it has to fight back real badly, so it often makes boogeymen (boogeywomen, boogeypeople?) out of China, Russia, communism, feminism, Islam, so on and so forth as to readily and frequently engage in culture wars every now and then. American Christianity is very combative and belligerent in a way Chinese Christianity isn’t, feeling the need to attack anything that opposes it when the feeling arises. Indonesian, Indian and Vietnamese Christianities are in the same position as their Chinese counterpart, self-aware of the fact that they are outsiders to the more popular belief systems and ideologies that there’s no point in fighting back when surviving and making the most of it matters more.

If China, Vietnam, Indonesia and India aren’t that anti-Christian, especially if one’s exposed to their own Christian media a lot, then it’s really a matter of media literacy where there’s a kind of Sinophobic sentiment in some American Christian quarters. It can be hard to check out Chinese Christianity yourself if you encounter anti-Chinese sentiment a lot that you’d have to seek out Mandarin language lectionaries, sermons and devotionals instead to better know what Christianity’s like in China, or for another matter the same things in India, Indonesia and Vietnam.