I hear these commentaries five days a week on
the Family Life Network…a so-called Christian ministry which dominates the
Mid-Atlantic region and continues to grow. In the past they’ve carried other
Christian worldview commentators like Kerby Anderson and Cal Thomas. They’re
all cut from the same cloth.
I wish
to be abundantly clear in expressing the level of disagreement I have with
Colson and his successors. This isn’t just a disagreement. There is a
fundamental even existential difference in our understanding of the world we
live in and how we as Christians relate to it…and what it means to be a citizen
of the Kingdom of God.
Here’s
the commentary. The original link can be found here if you wish to read the
unbroken text or listen to the audio. My interactions are interspersed.
BreakPoint Commentator E. Metaxas:
The persecution of Christians is something most
of us would rather not think about. Find out why we need to, next on BreakPoint
Christianity came to Ethiopia in the
fourth century and today about two-thirds of the population is Christian, but
not everyone is happy about it.
In May 2011, Abraham Abera, a worker at
an Evangelical church, was walking home with his pregnant wife, Bertukan.
Suddenly, six Muslim men wielding machetes assailed them beating Abraham to
death and leaving Bertukan unconscious. She and the baby survived and as
Bertukan recounts the attack she recalls the men’s words: “You [Christians] are
growing in number in our area. You are spreading your message. We will destroy
you.”
Proto:
Actually according to tradition
Christianity came to Ethiopia in the 1st Century…the eunuch in Acts
8 was said to have brought it. Nevertheless the Christianity in Ethiopia
certainly is representative of the events and theology shaping in Christianity
during the 4th century, viz. rampant syncretism.
When Europeans came into contact with
the Ethiopians during the 18th and 19th centuries they
found the old ‘Christian’ kingdom of Axum awash with pagan barbarism and
idolatry…despite a Christian veneer. The same can be said of the Armenians,
Assyrians and other ‘Christian’ nations. Of course we might also extend this to
the ‘Christian’ nations of England, France etc… Syncretism manifests itself in
different ways, and the ‘minority’ church-nations were in a different context and
thus manifest their cultural ‘Christianity’ in a different fashion.
The problem is the definition of
Christian and Christianity has been terribly distorted and this is one of the chief
errors of Metaxas, the BreakPoint crowd and Sacralist thought in general. The
category of Christian they’re using here is not one found in the Bible. They’re
using the term as a sociological and historical construct, but being absent
from Scripture it carries no theological meaning.
Actually it does carry a theological
meaning, but not in the Biblical sense. Or to put it differently, it carries a
theological definition that can only be categorized as heretical. Nations and
cultures are not baptized, they’re not redemptive. Citizenship, race, or
geography does not a Christian make. Nor can it be defined by civilization
refinements. It’s not about whether you eat with a fork, or wear a certain type
of clothing, nor can it be defined by some of kind of Constantinian style
tradition or political theory. One does not become a better Christian by
adopting Western language, dress, or any other custom.
This whole commentary is already off to
a bad start. There are certainly Christians in Ethiopia and yet the
missionaries you talk to would certainly dispute the claim that 2/3 of the
country is Christian. If that were the case, the land would hardly be a
candidate for missionary activity. The claim of Metaxas as you will see is
rooted in political concerns which are ultimately ‘the gospel’ for these
people.
Metaxas:
In Russia, police with automatic weapons
and attack dogs stormed St. George’s Lutheran Church during Sunday morning
worship. Blocking all exits, they announced that they were searching for
“extremist literature” and proceeded to ransack Bibles and hymnals. Justifying
the raid, the police commander said, “There were indications that terrorists
were gathering there, and distributing terrorist literature.” In fact, the raid
was part of a growing program of hostility toward the Lutheran congregation
that has been oddly branded “a Catholic sect.”
Proto:
This just exhibits more confusion.
Suddenly Russia is not Christian? I of course would say Russia has never been
‘Christian’ nor has any other nation. There have long been Christians in Russia
and certainly they were persecuted under the Tsarist Orthodox Church and the Soviets.
Today the difficulties many churches face are due to the renewed and growing
power of the Orthodox Church. Would Metaxas say the Russian Orthodox Church is
‘not’ Christian? What makes them different from the group in Ethiopia, most of
the churches in Africa, or for that matter the Papacy which he seems to
venerate?
What’s the criterion he’s using? At
times he seems as if they only issue is whether or not the nation in question
is in line with American foreign policy.
This is one of those moments that I
wonder…is he ignorant or being deceptive? Under Colson I had no doubts
whatsoever. The man had no qualms about being deceptive and regularly played
fast and loose with the truth. He made a career of it, before and after
Watergate. With his disciples who have taken over, I just don’t know. I guess
he can feign ignorance of what’s happening in Russia and try to blame it on
someone else.
Though Metaxas seems offended and treats
the notion as novel, the Orthodox have long considered Protestantism to be nothing
more than a ‘Catholic’ sect. As far as they’re concerned Protestantism is
merely a different flavour or variation of Catholicism. The creedal and
theological, indeed the philosophical issues that differentiate the Orthodox
world from the West are in no way assuaged by the Protestant Revolt. If
anything the Reformation only enhanced these differences. 21st
century Russia is reverting to a Sacral model and they’re being consistent in
their suspicion and rejection of Protestant missionary movements. It doesn’t
mean they’re right, but it is consistent with Sacral thinking.
Protestantism is crypto-Catholicism to
them and a threat to their Sacral vision of Russia. The same would be said here
if the Christian Right wielded political power and suddenly there was a massive
influx of Orthodox activity within our borders.
While I hardly think these Lutherans
represent some kind of threat to the Kremlin and while I would (unlike Metaxas)
never appeal to violence in order to defend some version of the Sacral state…if
I were a member of the Russian authorities, I too would be suspicious of
American-linked Evangelicals. They tend to be pro-American Empire, militarist,
and few exhibit any hesitation in co-operating with the American intelligence
agencies. Russia is painted as the aggressor in the Western media but there’s
another side to the story and an equal if not more compelling case can be made
that the opposite is the reality.
This is what happens when you politicize
the Church, when you bring it into the power equation.
Metaxas:
These and far too many other stories are
told by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea in their book Persecuted: The Global
Assault on Christians.
“Our Christianity,” they write, “doesn’t
require us to keep looking over our shoulders, unsure if we will be arrested
for praying or attacked for having a Bible.” But the majority of the world’s 2.2
billion Christians do look over their shoulders. They have to.
Consider this horrific fact: “Christians
are the single most widely persecuted group in the world today.” The authors
write, “This persecution is targeted at all Christian faith traditions from
Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant to liturgical, evangelical, and
charismatic, including hundreds of small, little-known sects.”
Proto:
While I do not dispute Christian
persecution exists and is widespread, the categories employed in this commentary
are meaningless. Using the teaching of Scripture as the criteria it can be
safely asserted that only a small fraction of the 2.2 billion figure qualify as
something resembling Biblical Christianity. That said, in no way do I endorse
any state or group wielding violence against others…and that would include the
state Metaxas and I both live in. Why this broad extra-Biblical categorization?
That becomes clear enough as the commentary progresses.
Metaxas:
The sources of persecution, write
Marshall, Gilbert, and Shea, are threefold: Communist and post-Communist
regimes that still “hunger for total political control”; Hindu and Buddhist
nationalists who see Christianity as a political as well as a religious threat;
and radical Islam with its “urge for religious dominance.”
Across the world Christians are
harassed, arrested, jailed, tortured, raped, beaten, and killed. Their churches
and homes are bombed or burned to the ground. And children are taken from their
Christian parents lest they too become tainted with faith in Jesus.
As I wrote in the Foreword to Persecuted,
“we have been blessed with such a bounty of religious freedom that we can
hardly imagine what such suffering must be like.” But imagine it we must.
Persecuted is
a hard book to read not because it’s complicated, but because of the injustice,
violence, and suffering running down every page. In some ways it hurts to read
this book, but I recommend you read it nonetheless. Why?
Well first of all, it will strengthen
your faith. The lives of those who witness to the truth of Christianity in the
midst of unspeakable pressure are inspirational. Second, you’ll understand the
world better. This blood-spattered world is the world Jesus came to save and
for which we need to pray.
Proto:
Employing terms like ‘Communist’ and
‘post-Communist’ regimes tell us more about Metaxas and the authors he cites
rather than anything about the actual regimes. Communism, Socialism, Fascism,
Democracy…these terms are all thrown about and have become almost meaningless.
The Communist states in many ways were never communist at all. They were
Totalitarian and failed on many key points to implement the ideas of Marx or
Engels. The leaders were not motivated by Communism then…or now.
The problem is power. The problem is
that man wants to build Babel and in order to do so needs a unified and largely
uniform society. Thankfully God breaks up their projects before they go too
far.
Metaxas is no different. In order to
accomplish their Babel-goal, people like Colson and Metaxas have simply changed
the old parameters and increased their power-base. Starting during the 1990’s,
they’ve sought to ‘bring in’ Roman Catholics and others that historically
Protestants would have nothing to do with. This has opened them up to a new
pool of demographic and financial resources. And despite this they’re still in
demographical trouble. The last election has made them realize that they need
to recalibrate again and attempt to bring in new groups. Their thinking,
motivations, and thus interpretations and commentary are not shaped by
Scripture.
During the Cold War, pseudo-Communism
was the Sacral ideal, the glue, the vehicle the Eastern Bloc employed to bind
society together. Today, they are just as happy to employ the Orthodox Church
which historically…fulfilled that same subservient role to the state. That’s
why in many ways the Communist era (particularly in Russia was almost a
recasting of the Tsarist vision. Stalin was like Ivan the Terrible taken to the
superlative. He has rightly been called the Red Tsar. Mao has rightly been
called the Red Emperor. Marx would have repudiated both and all they stood for.
The Orthodox see the Evangelicals as
‘cowboys’ coming in to take over their territory and it serves the state’s
interest to back up the ‘church’. If you want to understand Russia today, then
you’re going to have to dig a little deeper than Metaxas. You need a shovel,
not a plastic spade fit for a toddler.
Why do nationalists perceive Evangelical
Christianity as a threat? I would like to say it’s simply due to the offense of
the Gospel. In some cases that may be true but all too often I’m sorry to say
the believers (and unbelievers categorized as Christians) are suffering due to
what I have labeled the Shapur Effect.
Prior to Constantine, Christians lived in the Parthian and Sassanid Empires of
Persia with little difficulty. Rome and Persia had long been enemies and when
Constantine ‘converted’ and began to formally sponsor Christianity this put the
Christians in the Persian Empire in an awkward position. Suddenly they seemed a
fertile ground for intrigue, espionage, sabotage etc… a Fifth Column that would
naturally look to Rome for political protection and support. The Persian Empire
began to persecute Christians…not because of the Gospel, but because of
political affiliations and concerns. Christianity was now identified with Rome.
A tamer version of this occurred in the 1950’s under McCarthy. It was a new
occasion for ‘Thoughtcrime’. People who sympathized with the enemy were
perceived as a threat.
Christians are suffering today not
exclusively but certainly largely due to their association or even feared or
perceived association with Western and particularly American interests.
Americans think of their country as a force for good in the world, a land that is
looked up to and admired…the good people.
This is a fantasy. While there are some
that view America as a rich and fat land, a place of opportunity, there are
very few who view it as good. In fact I would argue the majority of the world
not only considers American foreign policy to be evil, but considers the United
States to be the world’s chief terrorist-state. At the end of the day American
presidents and the military they command have killed far more people than
Al-Qaeda or Saddam Hussein. In fact America has sponsored characters every bit
as bad as Bin Laden and Hussein…in fact under different circumstances sponsored
the very same!
Other people think in Sacral terms. To
them Christianity due to its Western and American associations means Lady Gaga
and Wal-mart as much as its Christianity…which to them usually means Joyce
Meyer and World Vision. It all goes together much to the lament of Biblical
Christians who would wish to divorce themselves from the whole package.
This in no way justifies the violent
actions of nationalists in other countries. Nationalism is an idolatry
Christians must always reject. That said it is one of the most prevalent and
deeply rooted heresies in the American pseudo-church. If a Muslim or Buddhist
country filled the geopolitical position currently held by the United States
and this hegemonic supra-culture of Buddhism or Islam was overtaking our
culture… many of the good gun-toting Americans would react with similar
vitriol. I have no doubts whatsoever on this score.
The problem is power and the violence it
generates. Metaxas is guilty of this and so are the nationalists and other
cultists and pseudo-religionists around the world.
As usual the situation is more
complicated than he’s willing to admit or perhaps even understands. His frequent
attempts to ‘claim’ Martin Luther King, suggesting that Colson and the American
Christian Right somehow are the inheritors of the King legacy demonstrate a
gross ignorance (or deliberate distortion) of history. He’s old enough to
remember when King was demonized in white politically conservative Evangelical
circles. Metaxas doesn’t seem to realize that it was mostly conservative
Protestant ‘Christian’ people who were resisting King, championing Jim Crow…and
it’s a historical fact that the big shift in the South that took white
Southerners out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican camp was due to
Nixon’s Southern Strategy which sought to capture white conservatives upset
with Lyndon Johnson’s passage of the Civil Rights Act. In other words the
reason the Bible Belt is dominated by Republicans today is directly tied to the
fact that white Christians became Republican in order to express their
rejection of the Civil Rights Act. If they had stood with King as Metaxas
claims…then when they voted in 1968 just seven months after King’s
assassination… Hubert Humphrey would have been the 37th president of
the United States and Richard Nixon’s comeback would have gone down in flames.
This is normal fare for these people.
They twist and distort history every chance they can. They are desperate to ‘claim’
any revered figure in the history of the West. I laughed out loud when I heard
Colson praising Charles Dickens the Christian and his writings. First of all
Dickens wasn’t a Christian in any orthodox sense. And secondly his writings and
ideas (which are certainly worthwhile) represent the utter repudiation of the
type of society and economic systems (and the morality it produces) that Colson
and his crew champion. Without hesitation it can be said that Dickens (were he
alive) would absolutely reject these people. He rejected their ideological
ancestors in the 19th century. He would decry the Christian Right as
immoral and both rightly and ironically…anti-Christian.
But for Colson to have these ‘great’
(whatever that means) figures of the Western tradition like Dickens and King be
placed outside the Christian fold is unthinkable. This is the same kind of
mentality that has led authors like Schmidt and Stark and for that matter
Huntington, to produce their hack histories comparing East and West. Everything
good in the world is due to the Christian West and everything bad in the world
comes from the East. It’s an old lie but one that tickles the ear of the
devoted Sacralist. It is both theologically and historically erroneous.
Metaxas:
Third, it will prepare you to act. As
Christians in America, we’re in a position to put pressure on our government
and in so doing come to the aid of our suffering brothers and sisters—and we
must.
Proto:
And ultimately we come to what this is
all about. What we as ‘christians’…whatever that means in the Metaxas
theological lexicon….need to appeal to the American Empire to threaten other
nations in order to get our way. This seemingly innocuous statement is a call
for blood vengeance, bombs, and the threat of annihilation.
Does he not realize that threats or to
use the euphemisms ‘pressures’ or even ‘incentives’ contain a promise of
violence? America is famous for many things….Hollywood certainly ranks near the
top. But even above that it’s known for its bombs. America loves to drop bombs
on other countries and has made an art of it.
The Early Church would not have
understood someone like Metaxas. His theology would have been alien to
them…even yes, evil. Nowhere in the New Testament do we find the Sacralism he
proffers or the definition of Christian he employs. And certainly the violence
he advocates, invokes and hopes for is completely absent.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere for
Christians to appeal to the American state for ‘aid’ in advancing or promoting,
or defending the Kingdom of God is idolatry if not rank apostasy. It is going
down to Egypt for help and that certainly warrants an imprecation from the
prophets of old.
No Secretary of State or Foreign
Minister can help to build or protect the Kingdom of God. Not Hilary Clinton,
John Kerry, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and certainly not the likes of
Albright or Kissinger…none of these butchers and Beast-worshippers represents
the Christian Church. Only poison can flow from their lips. They represent an
empire of lies and violence… how ironic that so many ‘christians’ have confused
it with the Kingdom of God. They even place its banners in their sanctuaries
(sic) where with the same breath they praise the Prince of Peace.
I pray the lying mouth of Metaxas would
be silenced, that the true Gospel would go forth and that our brothers and
sisters around the world can be freed from the influence of the false church
and the abundance of heresies which flow from this Bestial Pseudo-Zion. I pray
this Empire would break and dissolve and that the world would be rid of its
evils and that the Gospel would never be tied to an Empire of violence and that
the church would be liberated from false prophets and agents of the enemy.
Metaxas:
As Philadelphia Archbishop Charles
Chaput writes in the book’s Afterword, “Ignorance of the world is a luxury we
cannot afford. We must know our faith, know our world and its struggles—and
then open our hearts, engage our minds, and lift our hands.”
Proto:
An appropriate ending. An appeal to an idolatrous prelate
presiding over a sodomitical hierarchy. What is this ‘faith’ the self-styled
Archbishop speaks of? The dogma of Rome?
This is the faith Metaxas would invoke? The faith that
worships Mary, denies the completed and sufficient work of Christ on the cross,
in polytheistic fashion invokes the invented cult of saints, and acknowledges
the divine lordship and infallibility of the popes, placing itself above the
Holy Scriptures?
What can this Archbishop teach Christians but to embrace the
fleshly wisdom of Rome, to baptize death and follow the world in its quest for
power? Will this Archbishop teach us how to approach God through their myriad
of mediators? Should we embrace the very doctrines Paul labels as demonic? The
doctrines that associate piety with asceticism in the very forms of forced
celibacy and abstention from foods…the very error of Lent which Metaxas and his
Roman allies endorse?
While I do not celebrate the Reformation, there are at the
very least some principles I share with it that draw a line in the sand. If
Metaxas and his ilk are right, then the Reformation was an inexcusable schism,
Sola Scriptura must be a devilish lie… and the majority of Bible believing
Christians are simply lost or at the very least in grave error.
But if the (dare I say it?) plain doctrines of the New
Testament are correct and to be adhered to without modification or read through
the filter of Sociological Christendom….then Metaxas represents the very thing
Paul warns us of in 2 Corinthians 11.14:
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no
wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers
of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
Those who invoke or live by the sword
will certainly die by it. Paul’s statement does not indicate these ministers
are always consciously aware of their actions. In fact, I am certain many
believe they are actually serving God.
Jesus warned his disciples in John
16:
2 They will put you out
of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think
that he offers God service. 3 And these things they
will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.
In this case synagogues can even be
understood in terms of prophetic idiom. The ‘church’ formally speaking had not
yet started. The synagogues were the assemblies where the people of God, those
in Covenant with Him met, worshipped and fellowshipped. He’s warning them that
the ‘people of God’ will throw them out, reject them and think they do God
service. As is clear in verse 3, they’re enemies, but don’t know it. They think
they’re doing right. They think they’re serving God, building and defending His
Kingdom.
And these are the same people who in
Matthew 7 are identified as wolves. The same type of people who redefine what a
Christian is and by labeling 2.2 billion people as Christians demonstrate the
following words mean nothing to them….
13 “Enter by the narrow
gate; for wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it.
And sadly the subsequent verses also
apply…
15 “Beware of false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous
wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from
thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good
tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, nor can a bad
tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their
fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who
says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does
the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me
in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons
in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will
declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Lawlessness……
If redefining the categories of
Scripture so that the terms it employs become essentially and certainly
effectively meaningless…
If goodness and the ways of peace, a
Kingdom based on the work of the Holy Spirit that teaches a selfless ethic
rejecting all power and violence…if this is turned into a quest for political
power and the invocation of the state to employ its means (which can only be
coercion and violence) in order to advance the Kingdom of God…
If that isn’t calling good evil and
evil good, if that isn’t lawlessness than I don’t know what is. The World
offers many temptations and there are many false paths, wicked philosophies,
and false hopes. We must reject its lies and enticements.
But always the greatest threat has
ever been and will ever be the wolf in sheep’s clothing that offers lust of the
flesh, eyes, and the pride of life as a gospel and a way of piety. The lusts of
the flesh and eye do not necessarily have to refer to inappropriate sexual
desire. Even those who idolatrize pleasure are manifesting another tendency…the
root of all sin, self idolatry, man’s desire to be a law unto himself, to wield
all power, to be God.
Am I too harsh? Perhaps some of these
folks are just misguided. I’ll grant that. I cannot judge the heart but I judge
the tree by its fruit, and I see great power, wealth, and influence at work in
these circles. I see great evil and a multitude clamouring after it. I am surrounded
by churches but only a tiny portion preach something approaching the teaching
of Scripture and yet in these congregations other terrible errors are
promulgated. It is in these very congregations that Nationalism and the worship
of militarism and other pagan notions seems to run the strongest.
If I’m wrong…then dismiss my words,
by all means mock my ideas and my foolish tongue.
But if what I say is true…then what
is the state of things when there are so very few who seem to discern what is
happening? How dire is the situation when even those who can clearly see the
errors of an Osteen or a Benny Hinn…cannot see the idolatry and the deviations
from New Testament Christianity which have been enshrined in the church? We
have wolves among us who claim to follow Christ and the Apostles and reflect
the teaching of the Scripture and yet in so many crucial areas teach the very
opposite.
This is what happens when I turn on
the radio. But unfortunately I’m usually in the middle hooking up some wires or
nailing a board down…and it takes me a couple of days to find the time to write
down my thoughts. My heart goes out to the multitudes that hear this stuff and
yet don’t have the tools to discern it or see through it. What a sad time we
live in. The false shepherds leading the church are a disgrace. The people of
God (broadly speaking) are in a state of terrible ignorance no different than
the provincial peasant living on a feudal manor.