While Christian leaders and pastors’ debate over whether or not Christians should be involved in the culture wars, two Chinese Colonels have long ago already outlined that there are forces at work seeking to wage war on society on many other fronts,
“Aside from what we have
discussed above, we can point out a number of other means and methods used to
fight a non-military war, some which already exist and some of which may exist
in the future. Such means and methods include psychological warfare (spreading
rumors to intimidate the enemy and break down his will); smuggling warfare
(throwing markets into confusion and attacking economic order); media warfare
(manipulating what people see and hear in order to lead public opinion along);
drug warfare (obtaining sudden and huge illicit profits by spreading disaster
in other countries); network warfare (venturing out in secret and concealing
one's identity in a type of warfare that is virtually impossible to guard
against); technological warfare (creating monopolies by setting standards
independently); fabrication warfare (presenting a counterfeit appearance of real
strength before the eyes of the enemy); resources warfare (grabbing riches by
plundering stores of resources); economic aid warfare (bestowing favor in the
open and contriving to control matters in secret); cultural warfare (leading
cultural trends along in order to assimilate those
with
different views); and international law warfare (seizing the earliest
opportunity to set up regulations), etc., etc. In addition, there are other
types of non-military warfare which are too numerous to mention. In this age,
when the plethora of new technologies can in turn give rise to a plethora of
new means and methods of fighting war (not to mention the 
cross-combining and creative use
of these means and methods), it would simply be senseless and a waste of effort
to list all of the means and methods one by one. What is significant is that
all of these warfighting means, along with their corresponding applications,
that have entered, are enter
ing, or will enter, the ranks of warfighting
means in the service of war, have already begun to quietly change the view of warfare
held by all of mankind.”[1]
While many Christian pastors naively argue that there are
no culture wars and that Christians should not be seeking to advocate for the right kind of culture, these two Chinese
Colonels have pointed out that “cultural warfare” is only one means of seeking
to influence and defeat a nation. There are many other types, all of which we
have seen examples of in our own nation in recent years.
During Covid psychological warfare was unleashed against
whole populations.
Drug warfare has been going on for decades.
International law warfare is a continual thorn in the
side of those who seek to expell illegal immigrants, or who seek to engage in
various fields like coal and nuclear power, or even make reliable cars.
Many more examples can be given.
Those who say that there are no culture wars are
incredibly naïve, foolish, or downright deceptive. We live in a world where nations
are competing for supremacy and dominance, and as the Church we have a responsibility
to speak into this space with the truth of God, to call leaders to repent and
to be active in spreading the message of the kingdom of God. We should not be naïve
to the many ways that other forces are seeking to undermine our society.
There is not just a culture war, far more is going on in
our society and world than we realize.
List of References
[1] Col.
Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui 1999, Unrestricted Warfare, Echo Points Books
and Media, pp42-43.
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