2025-07-09: Eastern Christian Unity & American Christianity Critique

Overview

An extensive spiritual and strategic conversation between Gary Sheng and Mayssam Daaboul, a Lebanese Maronite Christian professor working on Eastern Christian unity. The conversation explored the state of Middle Eastern Christianity, critiques of American Christianity, and plans for building bridges between Eastern and Western Christians. Marcus Noel joined briefly to discuss economic systems and Christian unity from his perspective.

Key Themes & Discussions

1. Spiritual Warfare & Current Events

Mayssam opened with a deeply spiritual framework for understanding current global events through a biblical lens.

Biblical Perspective on Suffering

• Scriptural Foundation: "The Bible is a scary book. The Bible is a scary book...if your master has been wounded and insulted and killed, we are his slaves, and we should not expect more."
• World Hatred: "If this world hated him, we will hate us. And I feel in your voice that you are getting a great understanding of that."
• Progressive Revelation: "The more I see the darkness of this world, the more I trust in the words of Christ, the more I see the darkness in this world, the more I trust."

Truth vs. Lies Framework

• Crusade of Truth: "Saying the truth is a crusade enough in in this world filled with lies. So, I mean, when is the last time you spoke the truth? Online?"
• Spiritual Warfare: Positioned current events as part of larger spiritual conflict between truth and deception
• Suffering as Catalyst: "Great suffering is how they come [to Christ]. Americans will suffer."

2. Middle Eastern Christian Persecution & Context

Mayssam provided detailed analysis of Eastern Christian persecution and systematic elimination.

Historical Destruction

• Christ's Geographic Origins: "Christ was born in Bedland. He went to the south of Lebon...He wasn't in Paris. He wasn't in London."
• Systematic Erasure: "They work on raising history. On the American army for theada in 2003. The first thing they did was destroying the museum."
• Mary's Village: "Twelve years ago, the dinest army wanted to destroy. The village of the marrying Mother of Jesus violence, so Mary Mother of Jesus, her parents were from the south."

Current Persecution Patterns

• Iraq: "There are no longer Christians in Iraq"
• Syria: "The president of Syria now is ISIS. And his ISIS, the American Empire just said, oh, he's a nice guy"
• Lebanon as Final Frontier: "Lebanon is the final frontier for Christians. And this has been going on since the Ottomans."

Media Suppression

• Exposure Disparity: "Middle Eastern Christians, we're here. Like, it is beyond what you imagine low exposure is. It is a hundred times lower."
• Systematic Silencing: "The idea that Israel is Christian's friends have to stay locked in the American months. American Christians should not know what's happening with Christians."

3. American Christianity Critique

Mayssam provided a nuanced but critical assessment of American Christianity's current state.

Imperial Compromise

• Lost Hope: "We lost hope for the United States to be actually in a Christian country. As much as this I myself will see."
• Zionist Control: "It's an imperial beast that is guided by by by Zionist dwells"
• Surface vs. Reality: "There's a lot of Christian talk in the United States, but on the ground, it's an imperial beast"

Historical Acknowledgment

• Great Christian Tradition: "I saw that in the history history of the United States, there were always great to men and women of Christ that understood this. And it goes back to President Lincoln even before."
• Awakening Hope: "What if it was those great Christian American men and women, you know, rise up again and see that they have to feed their country"

Spiritual Assessment

• Misguided but Redeemable: "I would use like each and every one of us misguided in one way or another by the divid"
• Great Potential: "The American Christian has so much great potential that. the attack from the devo is very big"
• Systematic Destruction: "They knew from day one that the greatestness of the American Christian spirit, and they knew they needed time and they needed systemicallyic work to destroy it"

4. Eastern Christian Union Development

Mayssam outlined his comprehensive plan for uniting Eastern Christians across the Middle East.

Organizational Structure

• Multi-Denominational: "We're talking with all Christians, new denominations, modernized Catholics, Orthodox, and everyone"
• Decentralized Governance: "One main department that oversees all Christians and all the Eastern countries, and then in every country there's going to be a local government"
• Blockchain Integration: "We're going to aim to use blockchain. We're going to aim for transparency and all that"

Three Crosses Framework

Mayssam articulated three primary threats to Eastern Christians:

1. Turkish Sunni Cross: "Controls Syria now and is being the direct threat to Christians"
2. Shia Persian Cross: "Less dangerous...They've actually defended churches historically. They've never attacked church in their history"
3. Israeli Cross: "The third and worst cross, obviously, is Israel. So, first and foremost, Israel is ultimately threat"

Practical Implementation

• Resource Sharing: "We need to have communications, we need to have organization resources"
• Sovereignty Respect: "While respecting each nation's sovereignty...we empower Christians in Syria, certain Christians in their country"
• Mutual Support: "We talk to each other. We share resources, we share data, we share support because it's bad. It's really bad."

5. East-West Christian Bridge-Building

A major theme was the need for dialogue and collaboration between Eastern and Western Christians.

Complementary Strengths

• Eastern Approach: "More surrender to him, my son, and live day by day...We don't have the privilege to plan. We don't have the privilege to communicate using even basic technology"
• Western Approach: "You have more of a concrete. Very concrete on the ground attack"
• Mutual Need: "We need to complete each other...The West has the technological knowledge. It has the sources. Maybe we have more of a spiritual side and we're complimented"

Historical Separation

• Century of Silence: "Eastern and Western Christians haven't had a fucking dialogue between brothers and sisters in maybe a century"
• Salt of the Earth: "We're the sort of the earth. We're, we're, you know, as Gary is thinking, we're the motherfuckers that's supposed to do shoes"
• Urgency: "If we don't do anything, no one's going to do anything"

6. Letter to Western Christians

Mayssam discussed his current project of writing a letter from Lebanese Maronites to Western Christians.

Purpose & Content

• Bridge-Building: "I want to build this letter from my heart letter from the Lebanese Maronite to American and Western Christians"
• Worship Differences: "How we worship Christ differently from East to West"
• Mutual Understanding: "Learning how the West is living Christ...What do you mean by prayer? What do I mean by prayer?"

Collaboration Request

• Editorial Support: Gary agreed to help edit the letter for maximum impact
• Distribution: Plans to leverage Gary's network for broader distribution
• Authenticity: Emphasis on authentic spiritual dialogue rather than political positioning

7. Marcus Noel's Economic Systems Perspective

Marcus joined briefly to discuss economic systems and Christian unity.

Capitalism Critique

• Systemic Corruption: "Capitalism is completely gone off the rails. It makes sense on paper. The execution of it is terrible because humans"
• Banking Experience: Described transformation from idealistic community empowerment to "cutthroat business"
• Personal Cost: "I had to become a different person...That person was insecure. That person was less regarious, less confident"

Kingdom Economics Vision

• Wealth Accountability: "Take all these super wealthy individuals...who say that they want to do good and put them to the test"
• Standards-Based: "We need to raise the standards of how we live as believers and create kingdom standards"
• Holy War Framework: "Who's a real believer who's not? And we have to be bold enough in our actions"

8. Economic Systems & Alternative Visions

The conversation addressed fundamental critiques of current economic systems.

Mayssam's Analysis

• Incentive Structures: "Right now we incentivize greed, we incentivize competition to the death, we incentivize pride and pleasure"
• Alternative Framework: "We need to build transactions where we incentivize sharing, where we incentivize transparency"
• Friedman Reference: "We need to incentivize ethical behavior"

Collaborative Economics

• Zero-Sum Critique: "You don't have you don't have to lose for me to win. This is the right basis of our economic system for me to win. You have to fucking lose"
• Empathy-Based: Economic systems "based on empathy sharing and collaboration rather than competition"

9. Spiritual Disciplines & Monastic Wisdom

Mayssam proposed integrating monastic practices into active Christian life.

Monastic Integration

• Persona Development: "What if you create another persona which is getting the monk? And from time to time, submerge yourself fully in prayer"
• Deepening Practice: "Do you believe that if you wear the hat of a monk for a short period of time, fully submit that it would maybe empower you"
• Clarity of Voice: "Taking that submit to him even for a short period of time to the deepest that you can reach so we can truly understand his voice and his will"

Spiritual Warfare Protection

• Internal Borders: "We need to build our internal and external borders because...the point is to reduce the noise to get away from the temptations"
• Psychological Warfare: "They're in our TVs, they're in our children iPads. I mean, they're deep into our territory"

10. Joan of Arc Inspiration

Mayssam used Joan of Arc as an example of individual Christian impact.

Individual Empowerment

• Historical Example: "A 16 year old girl went to the king of France...telling him that she was born to save France"
• Divine Power: "In Christ you can shake empire. A 16 year old girl"
• Modern Application: "The real question to me is after we know that how, how are we able to carry through him such change"

11. Truth-Telling Platform Development

Discussion of creating platforms for Middle Eastern Christian voices.

Publication Needs

• Gary's Proposal: "I would fund an account that just publishes truthful testimonies that people have"
• Platform Scarcity: "If you feel like you have, there's no platform for your voice. Probably other people don't feel that way as well"
• Truth-Teller's Union: "The union must be a bunch of people willing to die...It must be a truth teller's union"

Mayssam's Priorities

• Relationship Over Money: "Before you would fund that, what I would ask you to offer is more of this. Your support, your ideas, your sympathy, your prayer, your network"
• Knowledge Exchange: "These kind of tools and software are good...we need servers...technology, and technology"

Key Quotes

On Spiritual Warfare

• Biblical Reality: "The Bible is a scary book. The Bible is a scary book...if your master has been wounded and insulted and killed, we are his slaves, and we should not expect more."
• Progressive Revelation: "The more I see the darkness of this world, the more I trust in the words of Christ."
• Truth Crusade: "Saying the truth is a crusade enough in in this world filled with lies."

On American Christianity

• Lost Hope: "We lost hope for the United States to be actually in a Christian country."
• Imperial Beast: "It's an imperial beast that is guided by by by Zionist dwells."
• Great Potential: "The American Christian has so much great potential that. the attack from the devo is very big."

On Eastern Christian Persecution

• Geographic Truth: "Christ was born in Bedland. He went to the south of Lebon...He wasn't in Paris. He wasn't in London."
• Systematic Destruction: "The first thing they did was destroying the museum."
• Final Frontier: "Lebanon is the final frontier for Christians."

On East-West Unity

• Century of Silence: "Eastern and Western Christians haven't had a fucking dialogue between brothers and sisters in maybe a century."
• Complementary Strengths: "The West has the technological knowledge. It has the sources. Maybe we have more of a spiritual side and we're complimented."
• Mutual Necessity: "We need to complete each other."

On Economic Systems

• Incentive Critique: "Right now we incentivize greed, we incentivize competition to the death."
• Alternative Vision: "We need to build transactions where we incentivize sharing, where we incentivize transparency."
• Zero-Sum Problem: "You don't have you don't have to lose for me to win."

On Individual Empowerment

• Joan of Arc Example: "In Christ you can shake empire. A 16 year old girl."
• Divine Power: "God gave us so much power. God gave us so much power."
• Monastic Integration: "What if you create another persona which is getting the monk?"

Strategic Outcomes

Immediate Next Steps

1. Letter Completion: Mayssam to finish letter from Lebanese Maronite to Western Christians
2. Editorial Collaboration: Gary to provide editing support for maximum impact
3. Platform Development: Explore options for Middle Eastern Christian voice platforms
4. Network Integration: Continued dialogue and relationship building

Long-term Collaboration

• Eastern Christian Union: Potential integration with Gary's Christofuturist vision
• Technology Support: Gary's expertise in blockchain, servers, communication systems
• Bridge-Building: Ongoing East-West Christian dialogue and collaboration
• Truth-Telling Platform: Development of unified platform for Christian voices

Marcus Noel's Contribution

Marcus briefly joined to share his economic systems perspective and kingdom-building vision:

• Banking Experience: Personal transformation from idealistic community empowerment to cutthroat business
• Wealth Accountability: Vision for testing wealthy individuals' commitment to good works
• Kingdom Standards: Creating "white paper" for Christofuturist standards
• Holy War Framework: Clear delineation between true believers and compromised systems

Conclusion

This conversation represents a significant expansion of Gary's network into Middle Eastern Christianity through Mayssam Daaboul's expertise and Eastern Christian Union initiative. The dialogue demonstrates deep theological compatibility despite different cultural contexts, with both participants recognizing the need for East-West Christian collaboration in the face of systematic persecution and spiritual warfare. Mayssam's academic credentials, organizational leadership, and spiritual maturity position him as a valuable bridge between Eastern and Western Christianity, while his critique of American Christianity provides important external perspective on Western Christian compromise and potential.