You'll Never Guess What Terrifies Russia

About every couple of months, I have the privilege of sharing the gospel with Jehovah’s Witnesses. There’s a Kingdom Hall two or three blocks away from my house, so I’ve become quite familiar with a few of them through the years.

It’s easy to get sidetracked in these conversations, but one of the main messages you want to get across is that Jesus is not simply the first and best thing God created. No. Jesus is the Lord God manifested to the world. I’ve demonstrated a couple of the methods I use with Jehovah’s Witnesses to help lead them to this truth (here and here), but I’ve found that what starts to bring down their defenses has nothing to do with Jesus’ divinity.

Though their founder was a false prophet and they have some seriously flawed beliefs about Jesus and other things, Jehovah’s Witnesses are generally really good people. They take the Sermon on the Mount very seriously, probably much more simply and seriously than most evangelicals. Their strict adherence to Matthew 5 is one of the examples they use to prove that they have the truth.

Also, most Jehovah’s Witnesses I speak with have been taught that after the original Apostles died, the beliefs and practices of the Church were corrupted. So, I’ve found that I gain some ground with them when I explain that there are no recorded homicides committed by Christians against unbelievers until after 380CE, when Roman Emperor Theodosius declared that everyone in the Empire must become a Christian. They are equally surprised when they learn that the early Christians were declared enemies of the State and hunted down for their undivided devotion to Jesus and His teaching.

Tertullian, one of many early Christian apologists, elucidated this truth well at the end of the second century.

We are equally forbidden to wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill, to think ill of all men. … If we are enjoined, then, to love our enemies, as I have remarked above, whom have we to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to retaliate, lest we become as bad ourselves: who can suffer injury at our hands? … As those in whom all zeal in the pursuit of glory and honor is dead, we have no pressing inducement to take part in your public meetings; nor is there anything at all more entirely foreign to us than affairs of state. … We are charged with being irreligious towards the Caesars, since we neither propitiate their images nor swear by their genius. We are called enemies of the people. – Tertullian 195CE, ANF Vol. 3, p. 65-67, 196 [CD-ROM]

Clearly, the early Christians posed no physical threat to the Roman Empire. Depending on the transformative power of the gospel, they refused to try to change the world through politics or violent revolutions. And yet, they were furiously persecuted as supposed enemies of the State.

On April 6, 2017, Russia's Supreme Court upheld a decision by a Russian city to ban Jehovah's Witnesses, labeling them an extremist group. The ruling arrived during proceedings on a Justice Ministry suit seeking to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia completely. And why is that?

Time.com states, “Jehovah's Witnesses are pacifists, and their religious beliefs require them to abstain from political activity. They declare allegiance only to God, not to a state or political entity. They do not vote, lobby, protest, or join military. This lack of participation can be seen as a threat if a state demands nationalist and patriotic activity.”

In many respects, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are being viewed as a threat to Russian national security because of their strict interpretation of and adherence to the Sermon on the Mount and other words of Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong. I definitely believe the Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of the many cult groups in the world. That being said, when a heretical religious group reflects many of the practices of the early Christians more closely than most modern Western believers, we might want to take some time to assess the hermeneutics that influence our approach toward Jesus’ teachings.  

If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. could be challenged and inspired by the way Mahatma Gandhi (a Hindu who rejected the lordship of Jesus) implemented the nonviolent red letters of the New Testament, we Christians should be motivated by the devotion of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Just imagine the panic that would break out in the kingdom of darkness if Christians worldwide began to faithfully practice the simple words of Christ!    

“How Do You Become A True Christian?”

After preaching a chapel service for a local Christian school, a student approached me and asked, “How do you become a true Christian?” What a great question, right?

I began by explaining that we must get first things first. Jesus gave His entire life for us. When we repent of our sins and give our lives to Him, He pours His life into us through the Holy Spirit. We are reborn from above with Jesus’ life flowing through us. As we walk with Him by faith each day, He begins to transform us to be more like Him in our thoughts, desires, dreams and actions.

The next step, I told the young man, is to find an older Christian man that is passionate about following Jesus. I urged him to ask if they can meet up on a regular basis so the man can mentor him in the basics of Christian life. Finally, I encouraged the student to pass on what he learns in his walk with Jesus to his siblings and friends.

I thought I had given the young man a fairly solid reply. However, I soon realized that I had not addressed his actual point of interest. He told me that he has been in the Church for many years, and has come across so many hypocritical Christians. I asked for some clarification, so he gave me an example of what he believed a genuine Christian looks like.

The young man said that he recently saw the movie, Hacksaw Ridge (which is based on a true story), and was inspired by the main character’s integrity and desire to live out the simple words of Christ. Hacksaw Ridge tells the story of WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa but refused to kill people, and eventually became the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Doss believed that the Sermon on the Mount is not merely a high and lofty ideal Christians are to aspire to, but are not actually called to live out. No. Doss believed that followers of Jesus are actually supposed to follow Jesus’ lead. Though Private Doss’ approach to the simple words of Christ may seem novel or exceptional to modern Christians, in many ways he would just be considered a normal Christian in the first 300 years of the Church.

Aristides is one of those Ante-Nicene Christians. His 2^nd century letter to Emperor Hadrian is one of many apologetic works that reveals how the early Christians’ steadfast adherence to the red letters of Jesus is powerful evidence of the validity the gospel message.

The Christians, O King, went about and searched, and they have found the truth. As I have learned from their writings, they have come nearer to the truth and genuine knowledge than the rest of the nations. For they know and trust in God, the Creator of heaven and of earth, in whom and from whom are all things. …

Therefore, they do not commit adultery or fornication. They do not bear false witness. … They do not worship idols made in the likeness of man. Whatever they would not wish others to do to them, they do not do to others. They do not eat food consecrated to idols, for they are pure. They comfort their oppressors and make them their friends. They do good to their enemies. … Falsehood is not found among them, and they love one another. From widows they do not turn away their esteem, and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. 
And he who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. 
… They follow the commandments of their Christ with much care, living justly and seriously, just as the Lord their God commanded them. – Aristides 125CE, Volume 9, p. 443-444 [CD-ROM]

How many Christians like that have you met throughout your life? How many Christians have you met that seriously seek to follow the commands in the Sermon on the Mount? I’m guessing if you’re a typical American Christian, you probably haven’t run into a lot of them. And yet, if you were alive in the first three centuries of the Church, that type of Christian would basically be all you encountered.

So, why do Christians today often look very different from the fathers of our faith? Francis Chan says it quite well:

“When I was a kid we would play follow the leader. … We would play outside and one guy would flap his wings, and so you’d do the same thing. It’s so crazy but in the Church we’ve twisted things around, and follow Jesus is different than follow the leader. With follow Jesus you just have to do something in your heart that no one sees. …

We all played Simon says, right? Simon says pat your head, and that’s what you do. But Jesus says is a totally different game. If Jesus says pat your head, you just memorize it. Jesus says go into the world and make disciples of all nations, and you get that memorized. It doesn’t make sense." – Francis Chan

The early Christians took Jesus simply and seriously, and so they ended up looking a lot like their leader. Christian academia over the last several centuries has influenced our leaders to feel justified in paying lip service rather than life service to our Lord.

How do you become a true Christian? Follow the Leader. It may be hard and scary to do, but it really is that simple.

There is a war going on for the souls of men. We need more Christians with the conviction of Private Doss to stand for Christ so that the eyes of unbelievers would be turned from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God. May we encourage one another to faithfully follow Jesus.

The Hope of All Mankind?

Being without my primary source of income over the last month has been an interesting experience, to say the least. I have noticed a low-grade pessimism creeping into my attitude, and with that, an increase in irritability. Multiple studies have demonstrated joblessness has an affect on one’s ability to posses a hopeful outlook.

It makes sense. Without a job, we can’t make money. Without money, we can’t afford the things that give us a sense of security. When our sense of security has been threatened for a significant period of time, feelings of despair often creep in. And though I cannot speak for others who are going through similar circumstances, I think this season has revealed that too much of my hope and sense of security lies in things of this world.

Hope is not only critical to us individually, it is also a vital component to a society’s ability to thrive. Politicians are well aware of this need, so they masterfully manipulate the populace to continually place their faith and hope in the god of the State.

Consider these quotes from America’s previous two presidents.

People outside of this country are expressing disappointment because they got high expectations for America. And they want America to lead. They want America to lead through our values, and through our ideals and through our example. But they have high expectations of us because, I think, that this country is still the last best hope on earth. – President Barack Obama on The Late Show with David Letterman, April 9, 2007

September the 11th, 2001 will always be a fixed point in the life of America. … We resolved a year ago to honor every last person lost. … We owe them and their children, and our own, the most enduring monument we can build, a world of liberty and security, made possible by the way America leads and by the way Americans lead our lives. The attack on our nation was also an attack on the ideals that make us a nation. … This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope drew millions to this harbor. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it. May God bless America. – President George W. Bush on Ellis Island, September 11, 2002

The last best hope on earth? The hope of all mankind? Wow. Those are some strong words, especially coming from purported Christ followers.

Did President Bush’s last few sentences stand out to you? Did you recognize them? That’s right. He quoted John 1:5, but instead of saying that the Light that lights our way is Jesus Christ, he said it is the ideal of America. Isn’t that the very definition of blasphemous idolatry?

And yet, many Christian Americans read and heard those words without batting an eyelash. Some respond with whole-hearted approval. Why? Because our hope is where our citizenship is.

The New Testament has quite a bit to say about hope and citizenship, but one of the most striking examples is found in Philippians 3.

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. – Philippians 3:18-21

It’s interesting to note that Paul says the real enemies of the cross are not unbelievers. The actual enemies of the cross are professing Christians whose functional god, whose true security, whose real hope is this world.

True followers of Jesus, Paul writes, identify as citizens of heaven. Accordingly, citizens of heaven find their hope and security in heavenly realities, which should therefore cause Christians to live in a manner that is in stark contrast to citizens of earthly governments.

These truths were powerfully articulated in an early Christian document entitled, A Letter to Diognetus, which was written in the second century and details the attitudes and actions of followers of Jesus throughout the known world at the time.

Christians … live in their own countries, but only as guests and aliens. … Every foreign country is their homeland, and every homeland is a foreign country to them. … They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but through their life they surpass these laws. They love all people and are persecuted by all. Nobody knows them, and yet they are condemned. They are put to death, and just through this, they are brought to life. They are poor as beggars, and yet they make many rich. They lack everything, and yet they have everything in abundance. They are dishonored, and yet have their glory in this very dishonor. They are insulted, and just in this they are vindicated. They are abused, and yet they bless. They are assaulted, and yet it is they who show respect. Doing good, they are sentenced like evildoers. When punished with death, they rejoice in the certainty of being awakened to life. … In a word: what the soul is in the body, the Christians are in the world. – Letter to Diognetus 125-200CE, Volume 1, p. 47-48 [CD-ROM]

The attitudes and actions of the early Christians don’t make sense from a worldly point of view. The Sermon on the Mount doesn’t make sense if one views the things of this world as his or her source of security and hope. Yet, the early Christians lived with a tremendous sense of security because their hope was in heavenly, eternal realities. They also saw countless lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit as the kingdom of God grew like a mustard seed in their midst.

People need this heavenly hope demonstrated to them by the Church like the body needs the soul. Without the soul, the body is a lifeless corpse. Therefore, if the Church’s hope is in the things of the world, we’re all in a lot of trouble. But if the Church has its hope fixed completely on the gracious realities brought to us through Jesus Christ, then His light will shine brightly through us and the darkness will not overcome it.

Jesus Christ is the true and eternal hope of all mankind. So whether your trial is currently one of joblessness or abundance, how do you respond inwardly and outwardly when you feel your temporal, earthly securities being threatened? How can you demonstrate the hope of heavenly citizenship to others in the situation you find yourself today? 

Though the politicians would have you to believe otherwise, the world and all its desires are passing away; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Put your hope in Jesus.