{"id":28980,"date":"2022-10-06T15:21:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T22:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28980"},"modified":"2022-10-06T15:21:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T22:21:51","slug":"remember-your-creator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/remember-your-creator\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember your Creator"},"content":{"rendered":"

In The Upheaval<\/em>, Lyons paints a landscape of the unprecedented change that is sweeping across the world. He notes that the key players include China, driving geopolitical change; America, influencing global culture and ideas; and the rest of the world managing technological innovations at a rate that is previously unheard of. The revolutions Lyons describes are both global in scale and disturbing because there is no guarantee that the key individuals behind the changes will remain committed to world peace. In addition, there is the possibility that countries not mentioned and yet wield significant military might (Russia, North Korea, Iran), could contribute significantly to global change.<\/p>\n

In my view, Lyons comments on the China\u2019s \u201crelentless rise\u201d in global geopolitics represents a significant western confirmation to Kishore Mahbubani\u2019s predictions about the resurgence of China after a century of western leadership[1]<\/a>. Writing in The Economist<\/em> in April 2020, Mahbubani provides an important reason for China\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n

The entry bar to the Chinese Communist Party is set very high: only the top graduating students are admitted. Equally importantly, the rising levels of competent governance is both fuelled by, and contributes to, rising levels of cultural confidence. All this is gradually eroding the natural deference to the West that used to be the norm in Asia.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Mahbubani substantiates his views with evidence of Chinese leadership in the UN.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, no Chinese national ran any United Nations organisation. Today they oversee four: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Industrial Development Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0I am not sure what this might mean for global leadership in our hyper-turbulent world, but imagine that given the heartfelt prayers of many Chinese followers of Jesus, the world could be on the verge of a very interesting season of change.<\/p>\n

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn\u2019s acceptance speech of the 1983 Templeton Prize unveils an uncommon humility born out of personal experience of persecution and deep respect for the persecuted church. Reflecting on the \u201cruinous Revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people,\u201d Solzhenitsyn, recalls a conversation he heard as a child and concludes that it is because \u201cMen have forgotten God[4]<\/a>.\u201d Unimaginable as it may seem, men actually stray so far from God that they forget Him. As the story of the prodigal son illustrates, when we forget God, we lose intimacy with God, family ties, material resources and dignity. Citing the use of poison gas, nuclear arms and other developments, Solzhenitsyn reminds us that we also lose our humanity when we forget God. As if these are not enough, the Christian History magazine shows us how forgetting God can degenerate into severe persecution of followers of Jesus. Claudius, Nero, Domitian and several others illustrate this[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The significant changes sweeping across our world and the great potential to forget God, beckon us to remain faithful until the end, while doing all possible to effectively engage everyone we can with the unchanging gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Lyons, N. S. The Upheaval: Introducing the Revolutions Upending Our World<\/em>. https:\/\/theupheaval.substack.com\/p\/the-upheaval<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Mahbubani, Kishore. Kishore Mahbubani on the dawn of the Asian century<\/em>. (The Economist, 2020),. https:\/\/www.economist.com\/by-invitation\/2020\/04\/20\/kishore-mahbubani-on-the-dawn-of-the-asian-century?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIga7gm5_M-gIVlKztCh2NdQW_EAMYASAAEgKRPPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Men Have Forgotten God: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn\u2019s 1983 Templeton Address. (National Review). https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2018\/12\/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-men-have-forgotten-god-speech\/#:~:text=The%20Templeton%20Address,why%20all%20this%20has%20happened.%E2%80%9D<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Christian History. Persecution in the Early Church: A Gallery of the Persecuting Emperors. https:\/\/christianhistoryinstitute.org\/magazine\/article\/persecution-in-early-church-gallery<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In The Upheaval, Lyons paints a landscape of the unprecedented change that is sweeping across the world. He notes that the key players include China, driving geopolitical change; America, influencing global culture and ideas; and the rest of the world managing technological innovations at a rate that is previously unheard of. The revolutions Lyons describes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2367,2368],"class_list":["post-28980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lyons","tag-solzhenitsyn","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28981,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28980\/revisions\/28981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}