The Church in the Presence of Evil

This is a slight rewrite of a post I wrote in 2008 while still in the Presbyterian Church USA. My thoughts are now mostly refocused on a different idolatry in the Church- that is the worship of nation, power and ethnicity. But mainly I am concerned for the comfort, joy and faithfulness of those seeking purpose and courage in the midst of a frightful time. My favorite book by C.S. Lewis is the last one in his sci-fi trilogy, That Hideous Strength. It pictures perfectly, I think a society moving toward authoritarianism and the church gathered together with both weakness and faithfulness within that society.  

 In the book That Hideous Strength, C. S. Lewis describes a group of people who, in one way or another, have become refugees from their own homes. They are taken under the wings of the Director whose name is Ransom. They are living in the presence of evil as they watch a group of diabolical utopians tear apart their familiar world, a small but ancient college town.

The beauty of this story is that the gathered people live as a family expecting to do great things in the presence of great evil. But the most important thing they do is follow the directions of the Director whether that is doing kitchen or garden duty or running risky errands for Ransom. In the end it is the wizard, Merlin and all the powers of heaven that confront and destroy the evil as those in Ransom’s house simply watch with some wonder.

The Church in the world, the ancient city of God, those gathered under the care of Jesus often face evil and faithlessness. But it is faithfulness and obedience that is required. The words of Holy Scripture are His directions.

“But you, beloved ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, ‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 17-25)

Adding to this, idolatry in the Church, I understand that there is some division among Christians in the United States over ICE's (really the Trump administration's) treatment of refugees. Many catholic and protestants protest, but too many charismatic and evangelical Christians are either aloof to or are in agreement with ICE's treatment. And it should be pointed out that in some cases the charismatics such as Paula White are prosperity Christians and have moved either to the outer ring of mere Christianity or have moved far beyond the fold of Christ proclaiming that they will become little Christs. 

The division has begun to grow where some evangelicals are more concerned with faithfulness to President Trump than to the Lord of the Church. It isn't that they are not concerned with faithfulness it is just that they have become so concerned with political power (for some good causes of course) that Jesus has been overshadowed. They have forgotten the Kingdom and the Power is His.  

Karl Barth in his day certainly saw the Church bow down to a leader and wrote:

"Along with the external oppression of the Church she can be summoned to consider that God is at liberty to take away the light of the Gospel, if we do not want to have it otherwise. Even as He once removed the 'candlestick' from the North African Church, which was as much the Church of St. Augustine as the German Church is that of Luther. It would then be fruitless and a silly thing to fight, by means of the instruments of Church-politics, against the sign given us in maybe one last moment in which all that mattered would be to cry aloud unto God, in the presence of this certainly fearful signal, that He might not be altogether weary of His rule amidst the great disloyalty of modern German Christianity [American Christianity] and 'Churchianity,' and that He might be disposed to make us more loyal to His Word, by means of His Word, than we and our fathers [and mothers] have been."

Of course, the American Church is mostly oppressed where the Hispanic is fearful of going to church or mass because of ICE kidnappings--being delivered to detention centers and countries beyond the reach of family or lawyers. She is also oppressed where individual members are defamed for rejecting the idea that God is using Trump to save America. (God has His purposes and he may be using Trump to judge America.)  

Nonetheless there is joy, comfort, and peace in faithfulness and obedience to only one Lord, love for one another, care for those misused, the needy, the refugee, the troubled, even the rebel. 

Praise the Lord from the earth,

sea monsters and all deeps;

fire and hail, snow and clouds;

stormy wind, fulfilling His 

word;

mountains and all hills;

fruit trees and all cedars;

beasts and all cattle;

creeping things and winged

fowl;

kings of the earth and all

people;

princes and all judges of the

earth;

both young men and virgins

old men and children;

let them praise the name of the 

Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

His glory is above the earth and

heaven (Psalm 148: 7-13)

We are Living Amid the Beginning of Terrible Times

Today, in the United States, some are unaware of where we are living. Concerns over the killing of unborn children, the sadness that biblical marriage is pushed aside in so many ways, not just in the gay community but the many who forgo marriage and simply live together or go from pardner-to-pardner troubles many and should. But there is a deeper darkness spreading among us. A chilling darkness that places us very near the gates of hell. Christ loved us and died for us even when we are sinners—we have forgotten the love and compassion of our Lord. We have forgotten kindness. 

When my husband began his journey downward with Alzheimer’s I did not understand at first his new world. My ignorance too often caused problems. I encouraged him to watch movies and television with me. I had just ordered a movie that as a ten-year-old had begun my journey to Jesus. The movie Quo Vadis is the story of the early Roman Christians and their horrific persecution. As we watched, one of the first big scenes was of Nero’s wife performing a huge pagan rite. My husband got very angry, “this isn’t a Christian movie,” he said. I had to turn it off he didn’t understand the sitting. 

One of the next things we watched was a news program on PBS. There was a segment about how the pythons were taking over the Everglades in Florida. As they showed the huge pythons my husband jumped out of his chair, hid behind it and started throwing pillows at the TV. And then I knew his world was now so different then mine. I needed to protect him from the horrors that frightened him although to me they were not horrors. And such is our world today. Because we belong to a loving, compassionate, forgiving Savior we cannot ignore the pain of the strangers in our midst. They are experiencing horrors that we can only see or read about. 

Yes, some are criminals but most are not. They are being nabbed and carried off to such places as Alligator Alcatraz where both alligators and pythons which roam the outskirts of their prison are not just images on a video. (Every time I have read or seen videos of this detention center, I think of my husband hiding behind his chair.) I hear Trump laughing that the prisoners if they try to escape will need to learn how to zig-zag when running. And Laura Loomer, Trump's confident, suggesting that now the alligators will have at least 65 million dinners. There are 65 million Hispanics in the United States. 

And what I’m trying to say, to write, is that we are living amid the beginning of terrible times. We can live as though nothing’s wrong; we can live as though all of these strangers deserve what is happening to them. But God’s laws and God’s love is greater than any nation and his word is filled with admonitions to care for the stranger, the needy. 

 There is a beautiful scene in the movie Quo Vadis where Peter leaving Rome is stopped by words from Jesus telling him to go back to Rome, “my people in Rome have need of thee.” He will go and die with the Christians in the arena. I believe the Lord wants his people in the United States to care about those who are truly being kidnapped off of the streets, farms and churches and sent away. At least speak up and pray.

  

That Fox-- The Christian and Authoritarian Rulers

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we as Christians should react to leaders who are authoritarian—who cause hurt to the vulnerable. I’ve been thinking about this because I keep grieving over the horror stories I have posted on my Facebook page—stories of those immigrants, some citizens of the United States, some in the process of becoming citizens, some who have lived here for years but are not citizens like the dreamers, they have been harshly, sometimes violently, even illegally arrested by ICE. And this leads me to a man Jesus referred to as a fox.

 In the book of Luke, the Pharisees tell Jesus he should leave the area he is in because Herod (Antipas) is going to kill him. Jesus tells them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach my goal. Nevertheless, I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day, for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.” Jesus goes on to grieve over Jerusalem and warn them of their loss.

 How has Jesus characterized Herod, a king, a wicked one, and why. Leon Morris in his Tyndale commentary on Luke writes: 

The fox was used by the Jews as a symbol of a sly man, but more often for an insignificant or worthless one (SB). It was sometimes a symbol of destructiveness. T.W. Manson says , “To call Herod ‘that fox’ is as much as to say he is neither a great man nor a straight man; he has neither majesty nor honour.’ The expression is thus contemptuous. Herod is the only person Jesus is recorded as having treated with contempt. 

This picture of Herod is also an explanation of why Jesus used the term fox. Morris reminds his readers that when Jesus during his trial was sent to Herod, he never spoke a word to him. Herod was not worthy of Jesus words. Herod was a man who simply encased himself in pride and offered up human life if it bettered his life. He allowed John the Baptist to be beheaded for the sake of not losing face with his dinner guests. He had James killed and was ready to kill Peter because he found it pleased the Jews. He allowed the people listening to his speech to praise him as a god and was judged by God. 

 In this case Jesus is not only the Savior, the Redeemer, as usual he is the model. In this interaction Jesus simply outlines His planned actions, healing, casting out demons and going forward with the purpose his Father had given him, to suffer and die at Jerusalem. Herod has no meaning, no part, good or bad in Jesus’ holy calling. Just continue on with the Father’s plans but be honest about the adversary. 

 On the other hand, Jesus faced the religious authorities with truth. The truth of their sinfulness and their needs. They burdened their people, they changed the word of God with tradition, they failed to grasp who Jesus was. But Jesus didn’t treat them with contempt—he named them but with truthful names that spoke to their sin and their need to repent. They were empty tombs full of dead men’s bones, they were greedy and wanted power and wealth. Jesus cared for them, contended with them, pled with them, brought some of them to faith in himself. His response to them was not different then his response to all who are hard hearted against the redemptive work of God. When they attempted to maim or kill Jesus he simply disappeared out of their reach and went on toward his calling. 

 Jesus’ disciples had to also come to terms with how they should respond to authoritarian rulers and leaders. Their first confrontation was with religious authoritarian leaders. They were told to no longer preach in Jesus’ name—to no longer preach the reality of His death and resurrection. Two things here, in preaching the gospel it was necessary to speak of those who had wickedly and foolishly killed Jesus. And authoritarians do not like to hear of their own sins, just the sins of others. They do not like to see the goodness and righteousness that is gifted to Jesus’ followers. 

 So, what is the disciple’s answer to those who demanded their silence concerning Jesus? 

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20) 

 The disciples made three important points here: not only would they obey God rather than these leaders but would place on the leaders the burden of decerning how people should act when God’s authority is attacked. Thirdly when knowledge of truth is seen and known we are compelled to speak out about it. More importantly when it is knowledge that concerns the truth of who Jesus is and what He calls His followers to, whether that is speaking of salvation or helping the needy we must speak truth.

 Undoubtedly the strongest words in the New Testament concerning Christians and their obedience to authority comes from Paul in the book of Romans:

 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise of the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

 Paul goes on to write of obeying for the sake of the authority’s wrath but also because of your own conscience’s sake. He adds to this the need to be obedient by paying taxes.

 I add the statement about taxes because I want to take a bit of a rabbit trail in order to come back and seek more clarity on the word of God. During my years of writing about some racists groups who were called Identity because they thought the white races were ancestors of ancient Israel and the Jews were literal children of Satan I discovered that they did not legally marry or pay taxes. They had clearly divorced themselves from the government by not participating in any civil requirement. They considered the government illegal calling it ZOG—Zionist Occupation Government. 

 This is exactly what is happening with the extreme right, they do not consider the government legit and wish to rid themselves of what they call the establishment or the deep state. So, considering the word of God and its admonishment to be in subjection to the authorities there is a need for obedience. And yet there are nuances because obedience to God is the greater obedience. 

And there is another part of this admonition, a description of the main duty of the authority. That is that the ruler bears toward the law breaker God’s wrath. But and this is very important, the Christian is not under God’s wrath. In exegeting these passages F.F. Bruce in the Tyndale commentary on Romans writes: 

For the sake of conscience. The Christian has a higher motivation for obeying the ruler than the unpleasantness of the consequences of disobedience, the Christian knows that such obedience is in accordance with God’s will, and by rendering it will preserve a good conscience in relation to God.

 What must be added to this is that a law or action, given by an authority which requires disobedience to God must be disobeyed in order to also preserve a good conscience in relation to God. This is where the two kingdoms split, one earthly, one pervasive of both heaven and earth, eternal, and the Christian is placed in a worrisome position. When to obey and when not to obey.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer suffered this decision. A pacifist he joined the military since some top generals were against Hitler and were actually helping Jews flee Germany—for this crime Bonhoeffer was arrested. He was martyred but it is still unknown whether it was because he was part of the plot to kill Hitler or simply because he was part of the plot to work against Hitler. But nonetheless he suffered these questions of obedience as many others have throughout history. 

So, here are several of my thoughts on Christian obedience to authoritarian leaders. Jesus is the first example. Jesus in the midst of lies, oppressiveness and persecutions continued on obedient to his Father—nothing deterred Him from the purposes of God, the redemption of sinners. In fact, the Scripture states that it was with joy he continued. (Hebrews 12:2) In living through this he ignored the one, that fox, who gave no meaning either bad or good to his purpose. He contended and pled with those opposed to Him, speaking truth because evil in humanity must be addressed not hidden, not ignored. Speak truth for the sake of both victim and the oppressor. 

 Jesus did not call for an army of angels available to him but endured His calling of suffering. (Matthew 26:53) 

The disciples were obedient when it was necessary, but disobedient when ordered to not preach about Jesus. They also spoke the truth unafraid to name evil when necessary. The first martyr Stephen called his listeners stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and always resisting the Holy Spirit. (Acts: 7:51) Paul when attempting to explain the gospel to the proconsul Sergius Paulus but was being thwarted by a magician accused him of being full of deceit and fraud and called him son of the devil, and enemy of all unrighteousness. (Acts 13: 6-11) 

 Also the disciples refused to be unlawfully misused by authorities. When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison and the authorities discovered they were Romans fearfully told the jailer to have them leave. But Paul insisted that instead they come themselves and release them: “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” (Acts 16: 37) 

 Biblical truths allow us to speak truth about evil, to point out unlawfulness used against victims, to attempt to draw evil doers away from their lifestyles, their hunger for power, their greed and abusiveness. And since we are all sinners, we must turn that speech towards ourselves as well. 

 And while we cannot obey orders that cause us to disobey God, we must obey orders that do not cause evil to others. This is the final understanding of our actions and attitudes toward authoritarian leaders, we are a people living under the cross. Speak the truth, do not be afraid to name evil, but pray for and plead with those who hurt the vulnerable. Attempt to protect and speak up for the vulnerable. Go on, with joy, following the One who has called you to this moment. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.