440: You Don’t Have to Walk Through This Alone

Ask somebody who was the most bloodiest dictator in history.

Stalin will come to mind.

Hitler will come to mind.

But a third person needs to make that despicable list, Mao Zedong.

Some recent research by a historian named Frank Dikotter says, the true dimensions of what happened in China are only now coming to light thanks to the meticulous reports the party itself compiled during the famine.

What comes out of this massive and detailed dossier is a tale of horror in which Mao Zedong emerges as one of the greatest mass murderers in history.

responsible for the deaths of at least 45 million people between 1958 and 1962.

45 million people.

The mind struggles to comprehend such horror, right? That's the entire populations of Mexico City plus New York City plus Paris.

Mao Zedong attempted to collectivize his nation into vast communes.

He stripped people of their possessions, their professions, herded them into work camps.

Food was distributed according to merit by the spoonful.

Workers were punished and imprisoned.

Some of the stories that are emerging from those days are so horrible, they would keep a person up at night.

A boy stole a handful of grain, and his father was forced to bury him alive.

The father died of grief a few days later.

The man stole a potato.

One of his ears was chopped off.

His legs were tied with iron wire.

A 22-pound stone was dropped on his back, and then he was branded with a red-hot sizzling tool.

How dare a human being be so brutal? How dare he? Does Mao Zedong deserve every punishment for his crimes? My voice says yes.

I bet your voice says yes.

In the voice of God? Scripture leaves no doubt that God also says yes.

God's patience has an end.

God's mercy has a shelf life.