First there
must be a recognition that the New Testament teaches that we are called to imitate
Christ, suffer and expect persecution. We are called repeatedly to endure and
though it defies the wisdom of this world we are to rejoice when we suffer for
the name of Christ.
This is
completely contrary to the Pseudo-Christian ethic of wealth and acquisition,
security and the wielding of power. This heretical ethic has governed
Christendom and still reigns supreme in the Evangelical Church of our day.
Second, we
do have the option of flight. Christ encouraged people to flee the advance of
the Roman legions and the events of the year 70 foreshadowed and typified the
destruction to come at the time of His return. Paul fled on numerous occasions
when his enemies sought his life.
We do not
have the option to capitulate. If we stay, then we have to be prepared to
suffer the consequences. We never back down or compromise our message.
We do not
compromise Christian ethics in the name of the greater good. Consequentialism
has come to dominate Christian ethics and this needs to be revisited and
reconsidered. Ethics are difficult and sometimes there is no good solution.
Think of Rahab and the spies or the Ten Booms in the Netherlands. Sometimes you
might have to lie and that opens the door to larger ethical questions. Some
have argued that we should kill in order to prevent greater numbers of deaths.
Sometimes we
are forced into situations that no matter what happens we will essentially
engage in some kind of sinful behaviour. But we must be careful that we don't
start to form new paradigms that normalize and justify the behaviour. Sin
should be grievous to us no matter the circumstance. Lying is problematic but
taking life and plotting murder would seem to belong to a different category.
Those that
would make all sin equal have oversimplified the Bible's teaching. Before God
all sins are worthy of death and eternal destruction. All sins are rejections
of God's Sovereign and Holy Authority.
But before
men, there's a difference. Lying and thinking adulterous thoughts are worthy of
God's judgment but under Mosaic Law, these sins did not command the same
penalty as murder. There is a difference in degree.
As
Christians we are not called to wield the sword of vengeance. We are called to
be witnesses and martyrs if need be. We are to be loving and/or sacrificial. We
can give our lives for others but not in the process of taking lives.
History is
replete with examples of horrific regimes, bestial manifestations, governments
that demand total subjection and worshipful veneration. I will admit there are
some situations hard to imagine and in some cases watchful wary Christians can
do little more than warn and flee.
Since we are
exiles, strangers and pilgrims living in the wilderness the affairs of Babylon
do not greatly concern us. We need to be vigilant, knowing the times, how to
speak, and taking care to provide for our families. We need to know which way
the wind is blowing and we need to speak out on the issues of the day... not
politically but spiritually. The Bestial powers may politicize our speech and
persecute us but that's their problem and they'll answer for it. We're not to
suffer as agitators and evildoers. If we go about the business of the gospel,
lead quiet lives working with our hands, minding our own business, not
entangling ourselves in the affairs of this life, we will for the most part be
left alone.
There are
always exceptions.
The plight
of Christians living in Nazi Germany was such a time but we've seen it before.
Assyria and Babylon were not all that different from the Nazis. Brutal
conquerors they would enslave and remove those they captured and kill any who
resisted. They were genocidal idolaters and monstrous in every way.
Imagine a
true believing Jew from the Northern Kingdom, exiled into Assyria and hearing
about the impending Battle of Carchemish, the climax of the Babylonian-Assyrian
war.
Now, were
there Jews writing 'Land Letters' to Assyrian politicians telling them what the
Biblical worldview was regarding this war? Perhaps they wrote to the Egyptian
allies?
Did the Jews
believe that the collapse of Assyria would somehow affect the Covenant? In fact did it really matter which Beast
ruled over them?
Granted some
were better than others. Babylon probably was preferable to Assyria and Persia
though still a Beast was even better.
While Greece
and Rome may have seemed less brutal they were in some ways more dangerous.
They had a strong cultural message which greatly affected the Jewish people,
were spiritually seductive and ultimately created a cultural division. In the
end it may have been seductive Greek culture that was more dangerous than
Babylonian captivity.
There are
many ways to look at these questions and weigh them, but as exiles our
responses are quite different than the Constantinian framework which is in
itself Bestial as well. It creates a social monism and seeks to coercively apply
its theology. It makes claims of Divine sanction. Its wars are holy. Dissent is
heresy.
God took
care of the Assyrians when it came to Judah. For Israel it was different and
yet many of the Remnant would have suffered along with the apostates.
Assyria will
fight Babylon and then they'll both be replaced by something else. You cut off
one of the dragon's heads and another grows back and takes it place.
There will
be wars and rumours of wars. See that you're not troubled.
This is not
to say that it's always easy. Times can be hard and desperate, full of peril,
suffering and tears.
But that
doesn't mean we abandon who we are. God rules the wheels of time, the paths of
history. His hand of restraint keeps any Assyria from going too far.
But isn't
that letting the world fight the battles for us? They fight for their own
reasons and by their own motivations. They don't fight for righteousness. We do
err when we think of one side as good and the other evil. Usually it's Assyria
vs. Babylon. And even under that paradigm many innocents will suffer, villages
will be sacked etc...
There are
plenty of occasions of wanton destruction and unprovoked invasion and it's a
great crime when this happens. But we do not repay evil for evil.
God will
protect His own and Providence will raise up another Beast to slap down the one
who became too aggressive. Regardless His purposes are accomplished.
We can be
thankful the Soviets with the help of the Anglo-Americans stopped Hitler. But
it hardly brought about a happy ending. It was Assyria vs. Babylon with the
help of Egypt. There are no 'good guys' in such a war. America and Britain were
both empires of blood as well. Maybe they didn't look so bad when compared to
the USSR or Germany, but the people of the Philippines or China might have
offered a different take on the question.
We can show
mercy, help the wounded, save lives and testify to the truth. But take up the
sword and kill? That's not our calling. We are called unto prayer and spiritual
warfare and if necessary use the testifying weapon of martyrdom.