To my fellow Christian conservatives: This is no time for a pity party
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Here in America, nothing that we have suffered for our righteous stands can be compared to what precious believers in different parts of the world have suffered. Among them you do not hear the voice of hopelessness or witness the spirit of despair.
It is true that an ugly anti-Bible tide is rising in America. It is true that many conservative believers – in particular Christian – have been discriminated against, be it by the IRS or by the social media giants. And it is true that there is a growing hostility against our beliefs on university campuses and in places of business. I don't deny that for a moment. In fact, I have been documenting it for years.
But let's not wallow and complain as if we are helpless and defeated. Let's not throw a big, "Woe is me" pity party. Such an attitude is unfitting for followers of Jesus the Lord.
To be clear, I believe we should continue to document abuses. We should continue to push back in the courts of law. We should continue to expose inequity. We should continue to confront intolerance. The last thing I'm advocating is retreat and defeat.
What I'm talking about here is our attitude. Do we have the attitude of overcomers or the attitude of complainers? Are we more focused on the very real opposition we are facing than on the (even more) real promises of God?
Earlier today, I was proofreading one of my chapters in a forthcoming book co-authored with New Testament scholar Craig Keener. The book – Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why We Don't Believe in a Pre-tribulation Rapture – is due out next March.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of a "pre-tribulation rapture," it refers to a widely-held, contemporary-evangelical belief that Jesus will "rapture" the Church before a final period of terrible suffering on the earth. That terrible period of time is called the Tribulation (or, at its worst, the Great Tribulation), a time of unprecedented pain and upheaval and wrath. It will be as if all hell breaks loose on the planet, and many Christians believe that Jesus will spare us from the worst of it, taking us safely to heaven until He returns in triumph.
There are many fine Christians who hold to this belief, including some of my dearest friends and co-workers. (Craig could say the same.) And so, it is not an area that we divide over. In fact, it's an area most of us hardly even debate.
But as I was responding to our editor today, reviewing my chapter on how we overcome, I was struck by the courageous mentality found throughout the New Testament writings. It is a mentality commonly found among persecuted Christians as well.
It's an outlook that says, "Whatever Satan or the world mean for evil, God will turn for good."
It's a mindset that thinks, "Go ahead and kill us. The faster you cut us down, the more quickly we will grow."
It's a mentality that says, "No matter what comes our way, no matter the cost of following Jesus, we are victorious in Him. We died with Him, and now we're risen with Him. Who can possibly hurt us?"
Both Craig and I have ministered among persecuted Christians in different parts of the world. Some of our friends or colleagues have been arrested and imprisoned. Others have been beaten or stoned. Some have been killed.
Yet among these precious brothers and sisters, you do not hear the voice of hopelessness. You do not witness the spirit of despair.
In the midst of the agony and mourning, there is a sense of triumph. Sometimes there is downright joy.
In our new book, I tell the story of one my trips to India. (I've been there 25 times in the last 25 years.)
On one of those trips, I washed the feet of a martyr's widow whose husband I had commissioned to plant churches. (He was killed as a church planter.) To say it was deeply moving would be a massive understatement.
On that same trip, we also washed the feet of pastors who had been persecuted for preaching the Gospel, one of them nearly beaten to death. He had won so many Hindus to the Lord that he was savagely attacked and lay in a coma for five days.
To make things even worse, in the hospital where he lay unconscious, a doctor had been bribed to kill him. But his family found out and rescued him, taking him out of the hospital while he was still in a coma, after which he gradually recovered at home.
Subsequently, he went back to the same area and began preaching again, winning to the Lord and baptizing the first man who had assaulted him, along with many others. He was then attacked once more and had to go into temporary hiding, but he was resolute in his desire to return and preach.
When I interviewed him through a translator he showed no fear and considered it an honor to suffer for his Master, even bursting into song. We could learn something from this pastor!
I still remember vividly what happened on that day when we washed everyone's feet. (There were two martyr's widows there, along with one of their teenage daughters, plus all the pastors.)
The music had been somber, and there were many tears being shed. But then, once we were done, the music suddenly changed, and in a moment, the men were jumping and dancing and leaping and celebrating.
It is because they realized, "We have the privilege of being persecuted for righteousness! We have the honor of being treated like Jesus! What a high calling! What a joy!" It was really a sight to see.
Here in America, nothing that we have suffered for our righteous stands can be compared to what these precious believers have suffered. Yet they danced and sang and rejoiced because it was all for their Lord. And even though the Hindu government was against them, they knew their God was greater still.
Let us take hold of that joyful, overcoming spirit. It is the spirit of faith. It is the spirit of truth. It is the spirit that will prevail.
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But as I was responding to our editor today, reviewing my chapter on how we overcome, I was struck by courageous mentality found throughout the New Testament writings. It is a mentality commonly found among persecuted Christians as well.
It’s an outlook that says, “Whatever Satan or the world means for evil, God will turn for good.”
It’s a mindset that thinks, “Go ahead and kill us. The faster you cut us down, the more quickly we will grow.”
It’s a mentality that says, “No matter what comes our way, no matter the cost of following Jesus, we are victorious in Him. We died with Him, and now we’re risen with Him. Who can possibly hurt us?”
Fearless Devotion
Both Craig and I have ministered among persecuted Christians in different parts of the world. Some of our friends or colleagues have been arrested and imprisoned. Others have been beaten or stoned. Some have been killed.
Yet among these precious brothers and sisters, you do not hear the voice of hopelessness. You do not witness the spirit of despair. In the midst of the agony and mourning, there is a sense of triumph. Sometimes there is downright joy. https://stream.org/fellow-christian-conservatives-no-time-pity-party/
Does this apply to a woman's right to make health care decisions about her own body and the right to marry who one wishes to marry regardless of gender?
Lets be honest here, Jesus was a liberal, that's obvious. So why does the religious right of today exhibit NONE of those traits that Jesus coveted? Answer? Because Jesus's message has been perverted into a political ideology. If Jesus came back today, he would be ashamed and furious that the right wing has used his name for bigotry, racism, hate, division and misogyny.
The far right wing Christians of today have nothing....NOTHING in common with the Jesus they worship... Do you really think Jesus would not bake a cake for two people who love each other, regardless of gender and want to commit to one another for the rest of their lives? Never... Jesus loved everyone, no matter what... Can today's right wing Christians say the same thing? Nope.
Most contemporary American conservatives cannot be Christians.
Christ's basic message, the one He Himself described as "the most important commandment" is "love God and one another". There is no small print, there are no escape clauses. "Love one another".
Contemporary conservatism is full of hate and exclusion. Antinomic with Christ's message.
It makes me wonder how many contemporary Christian liberals love Trump.
Excellent question. Probably not very many. OTOH, I don't think there are anywhere near as many liberals who claim to know Christ. My point here is not that everyone must love everyone... only that all who call themselves "Christian" must love everyone.
Your basic skinhead self-proclaimed neo-Nazi isn't pretending to love Christ, so if that person hates "those people", he's just conforming to his ideology. The hypocrisy is in people who pretend to not be neo-Nazis, but rather "Christians"... while pretty much holding the same ideas as the neo-Nazis.
Also... while we see lots of wingnuts talking about "hatred" of Trump, I don't think that's a real thing for very many people on the left. There are lots of people who are disgusted by him, but that's not the same as "hatred".
Although I dislike him for many reasons, my strongest feeling about Trump is that I feel sorry for him. The minute he won the presidency, I said that winning it was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Trump could have continued his shady deals, money laundering, and playing the clown on TV until the day he died. Now he's probably going to end up in jail.
All who call themselves Christians must love everyone and not personally hate anyone. They must be willing to pray for our nations leadership no matter if it’s who we voted for or not.
Is that why you commented not long ago how fun it was to witness all the liberals crying on election night ? Is that Christian love ?
BTW, glad you're okay.
The overall message here really applies to all American Christians regardless of political preference. Few of us really know the persecution faced by brothers and sisters in Christ in places around the globe where it’s happening. Their joy and faith in the face of it is an example to us all.
Nope. That's called being a CINO (Christian in name only). And there seems to be a lot of those in the world today. They endlessly talk the talk, but, seldom actually walk the walk. There is one right here in my own area that goes around preaching to everyone about how they need to repent, but, he does not practice what he loudly, endlessly preaches. He doesn't come to my door anymore. Why? He doesn't speak Cherokee.
I didn’t and don’t hate any of them.
You said you did, you said how fun it was.
What does that have to do with hate? I remember the 08 election on MSN and the 12 election on Newsvine when the roles were reversed and the left switched to Fox to watch and privately gloat/celebrate our defeat. Did those doing that hate us?
That is really sad that one can say that it’s not possible for a conservative to be a Christian.
Kind of whiny really. It's possible to be both, but not very likely these days. Do you really think labeling yourself christian means anything? There is nothing biblical or christian about today's conservatives who claim the label. And then they have to go and try to force their narrowminded and wrong religious tenets on everybody! Try living those christian lives instead of merely calling yourselves christian. If anybody is an oppressor here it is said christians trying to legislate their morality, one they don't live by, incidentally.
It's sad that one cannot say otherwise.
Judge not lest ye be judged. Man looketh upon the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart.
I'm not judging anyone. It's up to each of us to judge ourselves. In this particular matter, if we lie to ourselves, then we are lying to God.
When judging anything, criteria are needed. I am stating a criterion: It is impossible for a present-day American conservative (racist, authoritarian, admirative of the rich) to follow Christ.
One or the other. Not both.
Seems like the Christian extremists in the US suffer both from an excess of privilege and from an excess of Christian Persecution Complex. They should move to Trump's favorite country where they'll really be persecuted (unless of course they're members of the Putin-approved Orthodox sect).
I would say you're right as usual.
Many of the denominations that are common here and present in Russia are being persecuted there to one degree or another.
It's a real shame that we can't actually persecute them here given how much they love thinking that they're persecuted.
I persecute door to door thumpers by getting them prosecuted for trespassing.
I had to shoo away some Jehovah Witnesses yesterday at 8am. That's way too early on a weekend to worry about bible-babblers.
A real shame, eh? I knew that deep down many in the secular progressive left would if only they could.
We want to help you fulfill your persecution fantasies but we need more lions.
How are Christians "persecuted" in the United States?
The concept is nonsense.
'Christians' want to be able to make the country conform with their biblical beliefs and that can't happen, so they act constantly butt hurt. In terms of actual discrimination against and mistreatment of Christians, it doesnt exist.
The answer to your question is, they're not. But they love to scream persecution. Kind of like the theological equivalent of yelling wolf.
Is a Christian extremist really a Christian if they don't have a persecution complex?
I don't think it's limited to just exremists.
Umm the never Trumpers have been doing that for 18 months.
Eventually they will figure out how dumb they look.
I think you give them too much credit.
It’s easy to give the never Trumpers too much credit.
I missed the part in the seeded article where it mentioned any hard persecution of believers here. The point was something totally different.