Listener Responses from China

Topic of the Month - Monstrous Phenomena in the Society and Social Problems

No money, no medicine

At the end of January this past year, I had a cold. The virus entered my brain and caused inflammation of my cerebral nerve. Fortunately, it didn't cause meningitis. I stayed in the hospital for a month. I saw how physicians did their jobs. There was not one doctor who acted responsibly. Their standard was, as long as no one died, then it was fine. The hospital had to assume sole responsibility for its profits or losses, so money was the most important thing. The doctors believed this as well. When they saw a patient, their first concern was not the health of the patient, but whether the patient could afford to pay the bill. Patients had to pay before receiving medication. No money, no medicine. If you could not afford to pay, then you would not be accepted into the hospital. (Of course it was true that when the hospital had no money, then the doctors would not receive a salary.)

All the doctors and nurses I saw were full of complaints and very good at shirking their responsibility. Irresponsible hospital staff and sky-high medical expenses cause many people (perhaps the majority) to buy patent medicine from drug stores rather than go to hospitals to see doctors. As a result, the drug stores' business is improving and situations where people take the wrong medicine often happen. Besides, health care products, tonics and qigong claim to be able to cure disease and to keep people healthy. Even churches use miracle healing as a tool to preach the gospel (but many problems arise because of this).

(#15546 Tianjin)

The world has become very unjust

In our business, there were some people who tyranically entrapped people and did great harm. The business even closed down early last year. The tyrants were to blame for this. They were all middle or upper managers. They earned what they wanted and still entrapped innocent people. Everyone knew about it but no one minded and no one cared. Moreover, every promotion put them in very important positions. For ordinary staff, a big deal was made over minor mistakes. Furthermore, the managers led people into traps and would not be content with anything besides people's destruction. Even the police worked according to the will of the managers. It was incredible. The organizational structure changed several times. When managers earned enough money, they transferred themselves to other posts immediately. The successors ignored the debts owed by their predecessors. Every manager did the same thing. As a result, our salaries were not paid for several years. I felt that the world has become very unjust, which is beyond imgaination. I write to you to ask for prayer for me to be delivered from my troubles, to leave this unfair world and to attain long-lasting peace, happiness and goodness.

(#M0263 Shanxi)

Dream to become a millionaire

I remember when Zhengzhou issued lottery tickets a few years ago, most of them were sold on the designated date and at the designated place. At that time, the first prize was less than one million RMB. However, on the issuing date, fortune-seekers poured into the concourse where lottery tickets were sold. It was a spectacular scene. What about these days? There are new varieties like the Central Lucky Computer Lottery and the Sports Computer Lottery etc. Lottery stores are everywhere. Lottery tickets are sold year-round. The first prize can be as much as five million RMB. Fortune-seekers choose their own numbers and the winning numbers are announced every Tuesday and Friday. Since lottery stores are now located on both large and small streets in urban areas, places which sell lottery tickets are not as crowded as they were a few years ago. However, when the drawing day approaches, fortune-seekers gather around every lottery store by twos and threes to buy lottery tickets. What busy places! There are quite a lot of fortune-seekers around me. They buy lottery tickets almost every issue.

Every fortune-seeker has a dream -- to become a millionaire some day, though they know the chances of having their dream come true is very small. Yet, they won't give up a chance to fulfill their dream. Their belief is that whenever you buy, you have a chance, and the more you buy, the more chances you have. Recently, a greeting has become popular: "Have you bought a lottery ticket?" "What were the numbers drawn for this issue?" Everyone values money a lot. Everyone is very concerned about the lottery numbers. It seems that everyone thinks that when you get money you get everything.

(#M0389 Henan)

Indulgent behavior is common

(#E0042 Shonghai)

Graft is on a rampage

It is totally anarchic around here nowadays. The government no longer cares for the livelihood of ordinary people. Graft is on a rampage. Officials don't care whether people live or die. When more and more graduates cannot find jobs and unemployment is increasing, a large-scale riot would is inevitable eventually. People are losing their humanity. In order to earn money and to survive, people stop caring about others. This world is going where the Bible foretold it would go.

At the post office where I work, so-called "leaders" rack their brains everyday to fire workers who have held their positions for ten years or more years. Several tests are conducted each month which put great pressure on workers. They leave no stone unturned to create difficulties for workers in order to pocket the money the workers deserve and then to fire them. This may be a true picture of the end times. I desperately hope that the Lord Jesus Christ may come early!

(#8061 Guangdong)

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