While all of this is certainly concerning I was far more
troubled when I watched the protest videos closely and spent some time examining
the signage. A lot of it has a 'Christian' theme to it.
This is problematic as the protests have a clear paramilitary
flavour. As mentioned previously this is not just an expression of '2nd
Amendment' rights even though many believe that to be the case. They do not
understand their own messaging and as Christians they are expressing a frankly
heretical confusion of American Constitutional narratives and Christian concepts
and ideals – all to the detriment and destruction of Christian ethics and the
doctrines which undergird them.
They have fallen prey to the same kinds of manipulation
previously mentioned and increasingly there seems to be no way to get through
to these people – a troubling spiritual sign indicative not of faith but a
hardened and intransigent conscience. You can show them what the Bible says and
how their actions are wrong. You try to divorce the discussion from American
politics but you cannot. For them it's all woven together and issues of
'rights' and 'liberties' not to mention guns and 'socialism' are inseparable
from the discussion. The American socio-political fabric and the narratives
they've embraced concerning it are inseparable from their understanding of Christianity
– and thus in many cases it must be concluded that the Christianity they
profess is not New Testament Christianity but a heretical hybrid religion, one
that is rooted in a different epistemology, reliant on sub-Biblical metaphysics
and it must be admitted represents an utter repudiation of Biblical ethics.
Power, money and pride are its guiding principles – the virtual antithesis of
New Testament Christianity which calls us to brokenness, humility, mortification
and cross-bearing coupled with a joyous pilgrim mentality focused on worship
and the Kingdom of Heaven. New Testament doctrine and ethics are foolishness to
the world – worldly Christianity also rejects these teachings and instead attempts
to put a 'Christian' gloss on the values of their culture, making a mockery of
the faith in the process.
They come in the name of Christ but clearly they do not know
Him and as a consequence they have let the world shape their thinking. Trapped
by the paradigms and pseudo-dilemmas created by the architects of the American
Imperium they have been sold a messianic package in the form of a thuggish
rapist-criminal and pathological liar who clearly cares nothing about the
country and is happy to immerse it in flames if he can hold on to power and
enrich himself in the process.
The Christians bearing guns in public protest are candidates
for Church discipline. Starting with 1 Corinthians 5 and Romans 13 and moving
from there to some of the other epistles it wouldn't be hard to make a case. Not
that there's any chance of this. Of course the protestors in confusing their
Enlightenment-informed Americanism with Christianity, you're not going to get
through to them. In many cases they literally cannot understand. Conversing
with them is about as productive as my interchanges with the mechanic or the
local fisherman.
Ironically the travesty that is 'Christian Worldview' has in
many cases made the situation worse. Their intellectuals think they have a
unified system that represents the outworking of the Bible. They do have a kind
of unified system or comprehensive philosophy – but it does not represent the
New Testament. It's a cobbled together syncretistic myth – a fabrication that
in fact betrays Christ and the teaching of the apostles.
They are involved in insurrectionist activities even if they
haven't started to pull the trigger. They are issuing threats of violence. I
cannot overemphasize how serious this is. This is the logical consequence of
politics taken to the next step – the necessary course when the normative
process begins to break down and collapse. Christians cannot be part of this – and
if they understood that they shouldn't be part of the political game in the
first place – they would see that standing in protest in front of government
buildings dressed and armed like soldiers is a problem and it sends a clear
message of violent threat to the powers that be. They are resisting the
ordinance of God and bringing themselves into judgment. It's that simple. But
given that the Rebellion of 1776, a sinful insurrection resulting in tens of
thousands of deaths is sanctified, woven into a wicked meta-narrative of
nationalism, holy war and power – then their actions are no great surprise.
They're not Christian patriots, they're Christian heretics
and they stand condemned. And thus we need to understand how this crisis is affecting
and going to affect the Churches – yes, the same churches that have in many
cases sold out to government registration and are firmly plugged into the US
social and economic system. We have a dual dilemma here – worldly compromisers
and worldly zealots, both of which are wrong.
There's going to consequences and conflicts. Churches that
support and are affiliated with these insurrectionist acts are at some point
going to come under scrutiny. Trump and Attorney General Barr aren't going to
be around forever. These controversies are going to divide and split
congregations and lead to further confusion. Innocent people are going to get
caught up in the conflicts and who knows what direction it all will go.
After the pandemic wanes there's going to be all kinds of
payback and consequences. It's going to affect all of society and because the
Church has become (in many respects) indistinguishable from the larger society
and has deliberately sought to integrate itself within it – it too will be
caught up in this.
There will be tensions over the politics, over the bureaucracy,
over government regulation and the principles which undergird authority. These
debates will be exacerbated by the factions of pandemic 'acceptors' and
'deniers', the capitulators and the resisters.
There will be questions about not just regulation but money
and sadly for others there will be questions concerning guns and resistance to
the government.
For those who still have some concept of what the Church
actually is this is going to present serious problems. The notion of
'communion' will become something of a joke as congregations are going to be
divided and hostile in some cases. I'm looking for splits and schism.
Of course it will also be hard for those of us who (Sardis
fashion) are still trying to avoid defiling our garments. When communion is a
mockery, when worship, polity and congregational focus are directed toward
politics and statecraft, when violent gun glorifying heretics are tolerated in
our midst –we have a real problem. The testimony of the Church has been
compromised. I don't want to be associated with such people. I don't want to be
on some government list of church 'members' alongside insurrectionist
zealot-heretics. I want to avoid even the appearance of being associated with
their evil – by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of (1
Thessalonians 5.22, 2 Peter 2.2).
We do not yet fully understand the fallout from the pandemic.
It's going to affect society and the Church for a long time to come and in ways
that people have not yet grasped. We're going to be forced to make decisions –
either to go along with it all (the government regulation of the Church or in
other cases the zealot resistance), or to resist these equally negative and
dangerous forces and face ostracism and perhaps even denunciation or threat
from fellow Christians – or we might need to reconsider where we assemble. I'm
apprehensive but eager to see just what is going to take place as we approach
the second half of 2020 and near the election.
As expected the arguments and framing are wrong. We have the
capitulators who want to stay mainstream and respectable and subject the Church
to the state. And we have the increasingly insurrectionist zealots who have
cast everything in terms of law and liberty, guns and patriotism. Both are
wrong. In many respects this will parallel the Social Justice debate and I
expect the factions to follow similar lines.
We have a command from God to assemble as the Church. We ask
no permission and the state has no standing in this question. We do not take up
the sword, we repudiate it. If necessary we break their laws and if caught,
flee or pay the price. It's easy enough when you're not invested in the society
but obviously the false gospel of American Christianity has clouded these
issues. We do not use their courts and we do not cast these questions in terms
of the American political narrative and its non-Christian ideological
frameworks. It's not about power. In fact we're to embrace weakness –a basic
New Testament theme these folks (in both camps) have missed. They've read the
Bible but they haven't understood it.
It's not much of a hope but nevertheless I do hope that this
crisis will engender real consideration of reform – that growing (but probably
small) numbers of people will reconsider basic questions of ecclesiology and
Biblical authority – and thus both Church and secular history. I hope for an
exodus and a revival or even a reformation along Biblical lines. It's long
overdue and I pray that the Spirit might work at this time. It may be in God's
will to do so. Or maybe not. Clearly this is also an hour for judgment and that
judgment may very well extend to Western Evangelicalism and the American Church
(speaking broadly) that has so given itself over to the world. We can labour for
truth and reform and yet if the Church perishes for lack of knowledge and the
state of affairs is Judgment rendered by God and the false shepherds and
deceivers are the result of His displeasure – then all our labours will come to
naught. And yet like the prophets of old we have to speak anyway, even if no
one listens and it seemingly makes no difference.
Praise be to God.