How Much More? Pushing Back

As I write this, there is turmoil in Afghanistan. America's hasty retreat has been more of a surrender as the Taliban now has control of the Afghani government. Already, suicide bombers have attacked the airport where evacuations efforts continued up until the Taliban's August 31 deadline. What happens next, no one can know for certain. But, by your fruits you will know them, and the fruits of the Taliban are not good.

It didn't take long in this conflict to start getting reports of Christian Afghans being slaughtered.

An update from the ground:

Our people are on the move, running from house-to-house and city-to-city to avoid getting caught. Unfortunately, many Afghans are calling out the location of people in hiding to gain favor with the Taliban. The situation is dire for our people as they are witnessing women and girls being taken from their homes as prizes for the Taliban and being raped. The streets of Kabul are nearly empty. There are NO women or girls walking around, Afghans are no longer wearing western clothes, and our leaders of the underground church have been stopped at the borders by the Taliban.

It turns my stomach to read this. There is a deep shame I feel as an American whose country is responsible for the situation, but I hurt even more because I'm connected to the Church in Afghanistan by a far deeper connection than any amount of patriotism I might feel here to my American brothers and sisters. The Spirit of God indwells me as He does them, and we are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, co-heirs with Him in His inheritance. Our bond is unshakeable.

And they're being hunted like dogs.

Western Problems

We have our own issues here in the West. In Canada, our brothers and sisters were being spied on by police helicopters as they (safely, I might add) met outside to worship King Jesus in defiance of public health orders earlier this year. If you know anything about us at Carpe Fide, you know that we have a huge heart for our Northern brothers and sisters.

Because of what has been happening to our brothers and sisters in places like China, the Middle East, and Africa, many large, "evangelical" organizations have criticized the tyranny that's reared it's head in places like Canada, the EU, and Australia. They view fines and imprisonment as rightful consequences of disobeying the governing authorities, and that the faithful pastors and churches would be free to worship if they just obeyed the governing authorities. Part of what they're saying is true, but it's unfortunate that these "evangelical" organizations would allow Caesar to dictate how and when God's people come together in worship. We are not called to worship earthly kings, but the King of kings and Lord of lords. We face a different kind of tyranny than our Afghan brothers and sisters, but we face tyranny here in the West just the same.

I recently rewatched the arrest of Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary, Alberta. If you've not done so, you should take 10 minutes and watch it now. The arrest is the launching point for the rest of this article, and you need to be invested in this conversation. It's crucial, for- no matter where you are in the world- your bond to Tim is more real than your bond to your own ubelieving family and friends.

Unlawful Decrees

Below I'll summarize the conversation between Pastor Tim's wife, Raquel, and one of the officers sent to arrest him:

Raquel: When you say there's an opportunity to go through the legal means. we're 15-16 months into this and they have yet to provide anything in court...a delayed access to justice is not justice at all. It's frustrating...
Officer: It's frustrating for us too.
R: And do you have a means to speak about those frustrations?
O: The same as you...
R: No other jurisdiction is imprisoning pastors for breaking health orders. It's only Alberta.
O: I'm not going to speak to that, ok? Continue the course that your on. Continue to push further ahead, push harder if you need to and that's all I can tell you to do.
R: How much harder can we push here? Will you arrest me too, and take me away from them (motioning to their crying children) too?
O: Stay your course...
R: Do you feel this is right?
O: walks away

Raquel's words ring in my ears. I'll never be able to forget them. Motioning to the police car containing her detained husband, she says, How much harder can we push here? That's the question the officer needs to answer. That's the question The Gospel Coalition Canada must answer. How much harder can we push when you're arresting our husbands, fining our congregations, and locking us out of our church buildings? How much harder, Paul Carter? How much harder Jonathan Leeman? How much harder Jason Kenney? How much harder Governors Murphy and Newsom? How much harder?

Will you arrest our wives? Our children? Our flocks? Will you kill us as a spectacle for the masses to enforce compliance? When governments make threats, the final logical step of enforcing the law is death. Is that the government we're supposed to bend the knee to? Or must we be faithful to God and His Word?

Pushing Back

So what's the answer? How far are we supposed to push, and what does that look like for each of us?

Let's take a text and use that as our firm foundation to stand on as we seek to answer this question. Consider the words of Christ in John 8:31-32:

If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

We've all heard the counter-arguments to Christian resistance, right? They ask the question "Is this really a hill to die on, or is there a more important one later on which we make our stand?" This question has it's time and place. Certainly when we consider secondary and tertiary doctrines, we can have amicable disagreements on where we land with these questions. However, when we have a clear command from God's Word, we must stand. Why? Because we know truth, and it's the truth that sets us free. Truth doesn't call us to live enslaved to lies. That's simply a logical contradiction. We cannot live a lie and stand for the truth. We chop off our legs. We lose.

So when we see our brothers and sisters in Africa lined up and shot, our kinsmen in China corralled and sent away for "re-education", when we see our spiritual blood sent to jail in Canada, we don't see them standing on secondary and tertiary hills. We see them on hills of primacy. They take seriously God's Word when the writer of Hebrews implores us, "And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:24-25).

What does pushing look like for you? It means, first and foremost, knowing your Bibles. It means being connected to solid, Bible preaching churches. It means living life in community with those believers. With all that in place, you'll start seeing all the lies swirling around you that the culture is pushing on you. You are enough. You've got this. One more _______ won't hurt. You need to celebrate me for who I am. You don't need Jesus. Alone, these lies are major temptations. But in the Word and being in a solid church, you have so much more ammo to fight these lies. And when these lies come for you, your family, your jobs, your social status, it's our prayer that you join with our brothers and sisters around the globe, and stand firm on the foundation of Truth. It doesn't matter if it's a huge thing, or a small, simple thing. It doesn't matter if you'll lose a friend or lose your job. It doesn't matter if they'll throw you in jail, or call you insane, or cut off your head. It doesn't matter because you're standing on Truth, and the truth will set you free.

Governing officials have been mistaking the order of the universe since the beginning. When we see Pharaoh time and time again refusing to let God's people go, ultimately, he thinks that these people are his people. But they're not his people. They are God's people. And the same is true for us today.

In Ephesians 1 we see that before the foundations of the world, God predestined sons and daughters unto himself:

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. Ephesians 1:3-6

Jason Kenney, Phil Murphy, Justin Trudeau, and Joe Biden do not have the final say for the Christian. They're not my family. We have ultimate allegiance to our gracious Father in heaven who is above all earthly magistrates. We have a bond stronger than blood with our brothers and sisters in the faith, and we have the whole of Scripture that shows us how we are to treat our family. When they suffer, we all suffer. When they weep, we all weep. When they rejoice in triumph, we join them in their rejoicing. When they have fines to the government for obeying Christ over Caesar, we rally and share our treasures with them. When they lose their jobs, we employ them. When they are hungry, we feed them. And no matter what, we join them in petitioning our Father for freedom and vindication.

So find a church that's open. Go to it. Love the people there. Read your Bible, and read it knowing that King Christ has a claim to your life and obedience. Walk humbly, but boldly, and do not bow to lies. If it costs you your job. If it costs you your freedom. If it costs you your life. Keep pushing.