India, Russia, et al

I'm reading Yossef Bodansky's Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War On America (written back in the late 90's) for the first time, for a class. I highly recommend it. The name is misleading - while it weaves Uncle Osama in, it is really an account of an entire movement, not a biography - and is the better for that.

If this Mr. Bodansky is correct (not wrong, and not intentionally misleading us), there is a tacit, quiet alliance from North Korea to Sudan and beyond, bringing together such historical rivals as Iraq and Iran, among others. The Taliban was a lynchpin of that alliance, originally, though it (and sponsor Pakistan) had a bad falling-out with Iran, an important rift. But if this guy is correct, there could be a complete realignment of forces from the Cold War. Our new natural allies are going to be India and Russia - both enemies of China & Pakistan, both important nuclear powers with large populations. What's really interesting - and potentially devastating is the redrawing of the geopolitical lines to divide the Christian world from the fabled 10/40 Window. I'm sure the Enemy would love it if every Western or Korean missionary was subject to suspicion or exclusion simply because of their nationality!

The spiritual warfare brain trusts were right a decade ago when they predicted that the unprecedented opportunities for missions were a window that would not necessarily last. Of course, if my geopolitical logic holds true Russia and India will be open like never before, and we need to take those opportunities to try to expose large portions of those populations to the Gospel of Peace. Japan should be considered a tragedy of missions - no one yet has a truly successful approach, and the spiritual defenses around those wealthy islands are very strong. In China, on the other hand, there are more evangelical-charismatic-pentecostal Christians than in the U.S.! That has a lot to do with China's size, but yes that means an easy 100 million Christians in the world's largest nation. The Japan-China paradox just goes to show that no door is closed to God, and politics can't determine spiritual things, though it can influence them.