There is a lot of anxiety at present, fears that the blowing winds of social and political change will find the Church in a place of danger. Freedoms known by Christians for generations are in jeopardy and there is a nervousness about the future and what Christians should do.
Some of these fears are undoubtedly hype. We've been here
before. We've heard these warnings time and again and to be honest – they've
mostly proven to be unfounded. The world hasn't ended. Christians haven't lost
their businesses. They haven't had their children taken away. They haven't had
their publishing houses, websites, radio stations and television channels shut
down. There are always exceptions and instances when people find themselves in
difficulty but we can think back to the dawn of the Obama era – or for that
matter the Clinton presidency and remember all the fear and panic that mostly
turned out to be nothing and next to nothing
But surely it's different this time? Biden is a socialist,
right?
Well, once again there's a lot of hype and misinformation.
Biden is many things and while I would certainly and safely say he's neither a Biblical
Christian nor a friend to New Testament Christianity – he is not a socialist or
anything close to it. This is not an endorsement of him. Far from it. In many
respects he stands for and advocates wickedness. And he is certainly corrupt.
But as Christians we're strangers and pilgrims on this Earth.
Heaven is our home and that's where we are called to lay up our treasures.
We're told the world will hate us, persecute us, and that this world (which
includes the United States of America) is subject to the god of this world –
the spiritual entity known as Satan. The world is about lusts and pride and
Christ's Heavenly Kingdom is contrasted with it and what it represents. Power
and money go hand and hand and that's why Christ plainly said that you cannot
serve God and money. That's not a very popular message in the American Church
and many (even many who profess to take the Bible seriously) have chosen to
ignore these words and the dangers spoken of by Paul – that money is a trap, a
snare and the love of it – is the root of all evil. Christ also spoke of those
whose faith failed because they were choked by riches and the cares of this
life. That may not resonate too closely with American values but as Christians
we need to examine ourselves – and our allegiances. We may live in America but
we're citizens of the Kingdom. Don't ever forget that or become confused on
this point. Your very soul is at stake.
There are real dangers to the Christian Church and yet for
the most part they're not represented by the likes of Joe Biden. He represents
the world system and as president he is certain to do many evil things – things
that all presidents do that no Christian faithful to the New Testament can
possibly endorse or approve of. That's how it is and yet in terms of
persecution – frankly, there's little to fear from Biden.
The primary dangers to the Church have always been of a
different nature – they're mostly from within. In the Old Testament it was
kings like Saul and the false prophets who led God's people astray and were
most aggressive in terms of persecuting God's people. It was these same types
that led God's people to worship wrongly and on a false and worldly basis. They
changed God's rules and ways and substituted them for their own. They had no
qualms about using God's word and His people for their own ends.
There were always the outside threats like the Assyrians,
Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Rome. But they only came as forms of
judgment, sent by God Himself to punish His people – and as a fulfillment of
his larger plan for the world.
The real threat, the real spiritual battle has always come
from within and that warning continues into the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians
Paul says the patterns of the Old Testament are an example for Christians to
understand. The patterns seen there are destined to be repeated in Church History.
The false teachers, the apostasy (the falling away from the faith), the
betrayals – are all going to characterize the age of the Church and they
already have. The faithful have always been few, a mere remnant – again, just
like in the Old Testament. It's a recurring theme throughout Scripture.
Today, the primary threat isn't coming from Joe Biden. Will
he raise our taxes? Maybe. Can he take away our businesses? Maybe, although I
doubt he will. He's just as plugged into the American system and its prosperity
as the next guy. He wants the economy and stock market to boom and believes
strongly in American might and power and will use it to push other people and
nations around. Will he introduce teachings that will deceive the Church? I
suppose that's possible but given that most Christians are hostile to him, it's
not likely. He can threaten the body as it were – but he can't really harm the
Church – not in ways that matter.
And yet there's another force at work that's quite dangerous
to the Church. It teaches a different set of ethics about money than what is found
in the New Testament. It teaches a different kind of morality when it comes to
power. It celebrates violence and confuses the world's ideas and concepts with
that of the New Testament. It has a split allegiance – on the one hand it
claims to be devoted to Christ and comes in His name but at the same time is
devoted to the nation, to its political order, its greatness and its power. It
claims to be conservative but at the same time behaves in a way that is
anything but conservative. The movement is primarily driven by a desire to win –
and seems willing to say or do almost anything to accomplish this goal. While
that's admirable in the world's terms – the parameters of lost people and the
sinful way in which they think – in Christian terms, it's a betrayal of Christ
and the way of the cross.
This threat comes bearing the name of Christ and yet clearly
most of the people involved in the movement do not know Him. And they've lost
their way and thrown in with a thieves, liars, whoremongers, rapists, and
murderers. I speak of the Christian Right and its current and particularly
dangerous manifestation: Christian
Trumpism.
I speak as one committed to historic Christianity and as one
who takes the Bible as my sole and absolute authority. There are other threats
to the Church to be sure. There are false teachings such as the Charismatic
Movement and Catholicism and then of course there are all the mainline churches
which deny the authority of Scripture and the basics of historical
Christianity. They are also threats and I don't mean to downplay them. But
Trumpism is powerful because it's able to work within all these groups and
swallow them up. It's like a catch-basin, a new religion that seems able to
pull from all these camps.
And just because the 2020 election has ended – don't think
the damage hasn't been done or that the threat is simply going to go away.
The situation is dire, the hour is late and the warning given
here must be stated in absolute and even desperate terms. We are surrounded by
apostasy in many forms and yet among those churches that have over the past
century (in the face of great opposition from science, culture, and the
mainstream churches) professed fidelity to the Scriptures, there is a great
cancer at work – one that confuses a mythologized reading of the US Constitution
with the Bible, one that confuses the gun with the cross, one that confuses the
Christian ethic with the ethos and spirit of libertarianism and a willingness
to trample others in the name of preserving one's rights and prerogatives.
These people have turned their backs on what the Scriptures say about the sword
and the coin and have instead baptized or sanctified what the world teaches
about these things and have brought their errors wholesale into the Christian
church.
The Evangelical movement is awash with dirty money and
corruption. Many of the so-called stalwarts, the faithful teachers holding the
line are in fact bought-and-sold sellouts and traitors. And yes, I'm speaking
of many of the voices you might hear on the radio. Outwardly they preach the
Scriptures but they distort them and instead teach the ideologies of the world.
The Church is under threat in 2021. It's not Biden that I'm
worried about but the spectre and spiritual influence of Donald Trump. He
didn't start it. He was but the culmination of forces that have been at work
for decades. But he represents the turning point – the point of no return.
Things have changed and the values and spirit of Trumpism are antithetical to
New Testament Christianity. They cannot exist side by side. We are surrounded
by churches and congregations that 'sold out' to the world generations ago and
yet among those that seemed to be
faithful – we are witnessing a massive defection, an apostasy.
The imagery in Revelation is that of dragon-beast which
represents the world, its empires and its power. The Church is the Bride of
Christ but in the vision she is transformed into a harlot, a whore. She sells
herself out to the world and the picture in Revelation is that this whorish
woman now rides on the back of the beast. The two are in alliance – the world
system and the Church. It's the Church that has sold out – given itself to
power, the sword and the coin. This isn't unique to our day. It has happened
over and over again throughout the history of the Church.
But it is happening once more in our day. It's been happening
but over the past ten years we've entered a new phase, a new era and the danger
is great. Come out from among them and be ye separate – so command the
Scriptures.
Study the Scriptures – for only in mastering the true can you
hope to detect the counterfeit. For those familiar with the Scriptures, the
counterfeit gospels and kingdoms stand out – and we're surrounded by them.
Awake, repent and seek Christ's Kingdom. The hour is short. The Church is under threat but the enemy isn't from evil politicians like Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi or some imagined shadow of communism. The threat is from within. It's in the pulpits, the pews, and being broadcast over the airwaves.