John Cena and the House of Rock

John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center

John Cena has built a persona, both in the wrestling ring and on the silver screen, as a tough guy. Last week, however, Cena made headlines for contritely apologizing to China for referring to Taiwan as a country. And he did it in Chinese, even.

As tempting as it is to get snarky about the whole scene, this story is about far more than one celebrity. Millions of dollars are on the line with a new Fast and Furious film, and Hollywood hasn’t been willing to criticize Beijing since Seven Years in Tibet twenty-four years ago. Beijing’s oppression of Taiwan and Hong Kong and Christians and Muslim Uyghurs has only gotten worse since then. Yet Hollywood and much of corporate America turn a blind eye, while criticizing Georgia and North Carolina.

Of course, the pressure of having to choose between your career and your convictions is very likely in the future for every Christian. As Christ warned, our faith won’t survive unless it is built on the Solid Rock.

Copyright 2021 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

Genocide – The Musical

John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center

Totalitarian propaganda takes many forms, for example, the Soviet-era paintings where everyone looks stoically to the horizon, or, the Nazi film “The Triumph of the Will”.

These more stoic examples aside, some propaganda is more lighthearted. Back in 1943, for example, an American fan portrayed Joseph Stalin as a kindhearted man instead of as the brutal killer of millions. And, despite his body-count of even more millions, Chairman Mao’s fatherly smile still adorns posters across China to this day.

And now, according to the UK’s The Guardian, Beijing has made a musical inspired by the 2016 American hit, “La-La Land.” But, the purpose of this Chinese film called “The Wings of Songs,” is to convince viewers there’s nothing to the ongoing genocide of Muslim Uyghurs.

The truth is far more brutal and ugly than the film portrays. If we’re going to stand for human rights in the face of a new holocaust, we must tell the truth of what’s happening in the Xinxiang province.

Copyright 2021 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

China Realizes—Maybe Too Late—That Vital Societies Need Babies

John Stonestreet, Radio Host and President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview.

Recently, a communist party official admitted that China’s war on fertility, decades of propaganda and even violence to keep Chinese women from having more than one child, has worked too well

Since relaxing the “one-child policy” in 2015, China’s fertility rate has only risen to about 1.5 births per woman, which is still far below the 2.1 births necessary “to meet labor demand and keep the vitality of the economy and society.”

For forty years, Beijing taught its people that the fewer kids they have, the better off they would be.  Apparently, the people continue to believe it.

China, however, is not alone. As I recently noted on BreakPoint, the U.S. may be headed for a COVID baby-bust, further lowering our already-low fertility rate. In fact, every single county in the Western world is failing right now to secure their futures.

Because the future of any nation depends on babies.

Copyright 2020 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

Featured Photo Credit: Five Stars by Slices of Light, on Flickr.