Stepping in Front of Evil

So I’ve been thinking a lot about a post that my buddy, Kris (known heretofore as Chris), put up a few days ago. Chris is one of those guys whose points of views I have to respect, because it’s so different from mine and yet, so similar. He grew up in another country, saw the Communist rule, and then moved to America and saw a different kind of country. He has seen all sorts of stuff..

He wrote this post the other day, which has been rolling around in my head like that blasted Vonage commercial music (Who-hoo a-whoo-hoo-hoo. Repeat x 1000). Here is what Chris said:

Based on what Russell says, its pretty obvious that the guy is not a fan of Christians, and makes it a rather personal agenda to attack them as much as possible. This should neither shock nor surprise anyone, as Jesus made it clear that the world will hate his followers. What should however concern us are the world's attacks when we provide the ammunition.

Whether the guys is right or wrong is nearly besides the point. The lure of political power is undeniably strong within the Evangelicals these days. Though we are called to be salt and light for the world, I don’t think politics is the vehicle God had in mind to spread his message. There is a passage in the Gospels where Jesus says that if he actually wanted, the Father would send legions of angels to defend him and establish his kingdom. What he is saying ( the way I read this ) is that the Gospel will not 'muscle' its way into the world. He will not use political, military or any other human means to conquer the world. He needs hearts not votes.

It puzzles me how hard we push to make sure we have all the freedoms and comfort to practice our faith, while in most of the rest of the world the Church thrives in a hostile environment. Are we afraid of not being able to continue to follow Jesus if there is no more TBN, or NRB, or 700 Club? We better make sure that our faith is build on something more real than the 'status quo'.

We put so much effort into making our beliefs mainstream to ensure that no one frowns on our convictions, but how much effort do we put into actually showing a genuine love, care and compassion for the world? Mixing politics with religion is a sure recipe for disaster. And even though it might definitely get the world's attention to what we have to say, the message will be powerless, compromised by selling out to this or that political power or agenda. At least that's how I see it.

So here are the walking contradictions rolling around in my head. These are just stepping stones.

• Martin Luther King Jr’s political movement is categorically good. So was Ghandi’s. So intermixing politics and law and religious principles can be a good and powerful thing.

• All the military might in the world can’t stop terrorism. The USA has planes that could decimate any nation, any village, and group of insurgents. But we can’t stop the evil in Iraq. It just keeps popping up – in London, in Egypt, in Iraq. You can’t stop evil with an M16.

• Jesus calls His followers to stand up for what is right. As young boys, we are all attracted to heroes (like Batman, Zorro, Robin Hood, Superman, Spiderman) who have the strength and courage to stand up against evil, because that’s what heroes do. And part of our DNA – as John Eldridge would put it - is to be dangerously good.

• Political Power does not equal health for the church. The more the church is politically persecuted, the more fervent and the faster it grows. The more comfortable the church gets, the more it has to fight against laziness, self-centeredness and materialism. This was true, as my buddy Grant pointed out, even in the early church in Acts 6.

• History is littered with examples that, according to lots of Christian scholars, the lure of political power for the Church has resulted in grave and unfortunate tragedies throughout history. The more political power the church has had historically, the worse it’s fared. This is a generalization, but one that’s pretty accurate.

• Christ fought evil, but he fought it in a strange sort of way. Instead of calling down, as Chris said, legions of angels, he submitted Himself to death. He substituted his life in order to beat evil.

• Christ was faced with a temptation in the desert of political power. He turned it down. In one movie, it was featured as a child starving, and Christ could have grabbed the reigns of all the nations of the world to stop this child from starving. But he didn’t.

Ginghamsburg Church
So all these ideas are floating around in my head. And then I went to church this Sunday. I went to a church in Dayton called Ginghamsburg church this past weekend with my best friend from high school Eric and his wife Amanda. The church recently was rated at the 9th most influential congregation in America. Obviously, number 1 and 2 were Saddleback and Willowcreek, but coming in number 9 (number 8 was The Potter’s House run by T.D. Jakes and number 10 was Ted Haggard’s church in Colorado Springs). I found out why the church was picked: its pastor, Mike Slaughter, is just awesome.

Last Christmas, he encouraged his congregation to no reinforce the selfishness of the holiday. He told them to match what they were going to give for presents to a fund to feed African children in Sudan. Or, to half what they were going to spend on Christmas presents and give the other half to Africa. The church raised 1.8 million dollars with the Christmas for Sudan drive.

As a result, the church will build two schools, a medical building, and has bought some cropland and has planted and irrigated a section of land that will result in enough food for 2000 people. Slaughter is going over to Sudan this August.

He was told before he went that he has to get his theology of evil down because in Sudan, there isn’t anyone to protect you. The people with M16s, aren’t good. The cops are all corrupt. The government doesn’t want you there. In fact, last week, Slaughter got a letter from the US Embassy telling him that the US strongly discourages all travel to Sudan because of hostile conditions.

“It’s great to be 53 years old and having to depend on God for my life,” Slaughter said yesterday, before the congregation came down and prayed for the 4-person team.

Slaughter’s message was on evil. And how evil always attacks innocence. He then quoted Revelation.

What’s the Deal with Revelation

Now, recently, as I’ve been reading online and reading lots of books, I finally figured out a minor mystery. Over Memorial Day, my father-in-law said to me, “How come Evangelicals use certan books of the Bible so much more than others.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“You know, like Revelation,” he said.

To be honest, I didn’t know. I side-stepped the question, saying that evangelicals often concentrated on Genesis and the Gospels because it’s origins and it’s the life of Christ. But I’d never heard anyone preach from Revelation.

But then I started reading all these articles, and I saw how certain segments of Evangelicals use Revelation every other word. I finally figured out that I think it’s because of the image of Christ coming back as victorious. This world is tough, and Christ usually loses when it comes to decisions and morality and the choices that people make. So it’s nice and comforting to know that someday, evil will lose.

But I think it goes beyond that. I think Revelation is used by those churches and those leaders strategically. I think they’re saying, “it’s time for Christians to win. It’s time for Christians to take back what is theirs. This is a holy war, people, and the life of our nation is at stake. So let’s roll!”

Whoop whoop. Crowd cheers.

Christ as victor. Don’t mess with Christ, or you’ll get the blunt end of a sword of fire, because he is the victor and you’re wrong and we’re right, and that’s ultimate reality.

Slaughter then pulled up a quote from Revelation, and I thought to myself, What is it about Revelation?”

But then Slaughter pulled the quote out and went through it.

7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

The key thing here is that Jesus is known as many names in the Bible. But the one the conquers evil once and for all is not the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. But the lamb.

Slaughter’s point, which I have been rolling around in my head, were this:

1. Evil always attacks innocence.
2. Evil uses power and control as its primary weapons.
3. Evil can never be defeated by power and control, but only by vulnerability and innocence.
4. We are called to step in between innocence and evil.
5. This will always mean losing our life, either metaphorically or literally.

This is why the political movements by Ghandi and MLK had such power and effectiveness. They stepped in between evil and innocence. It was the marchers who were bludgeoned with clubs, hit by police, bombarded with tear gas and attacked with dogs. It was the peaceful peasants who were gunned down by General Dwyer in the Massacre of Amritsar.

Stepping in between evil and taking what was never meant for you so that those who the blows were meant for never have to feel them. Isn’t that what sacrifice is about, especially Jesus’? Slaughter said, "If these people in Sudan gun us down, we will go and build more hospitals for them. If they kill us, we will go and build more schools."

The point isn’t about political movements: it’s about what YOU are doing to step in front of evil. What are you doing to personally step in front of evil?

I have a friend who is raising his sister’s eldest daughter because she can’t. When he found his niece, she was almost suicidal and had given up on life and herself. Now, she’s one of the more amazing young women I know, getting straight As, and as helpful and kind of a young person as I know. He’s provided her with a family. My buddy stepped in front of evil.

I have another friend who works tirelessly to send blankets and supplies down to a little orphanage in Mexico, where he adopted a little girl who he supports every month. In January, he’s leading a group of 10 people down to this orphanage to help for a week and deliver supplies. He’s stepping in front of evil.

I have another married couple who I am friends with. They just got back from Ghana on a medical missions trip. Their hearts are so on fire for this region, they’re going to try to raise $10,000 dollars so that the people there can have a well with clean water. It’s a simple procedure: just jam a pipe 50 feet into the spring and cap off the top. They’re trying to raise money. They’re stepping in front of evil.

I have another friend who’s girlfriend’s parents hate him because he’s not the “right” race. He’s been patient, and attempted to build bridges with the parents of this girl that he loves. It’s going nowhere, but he refuses to back down, refuses to stop praying, refuses to stop trying being open to them, if they ever come around. He’s absorbed all that hate, and not let one spark out. He’s stepping in front of evil.

I have another friend whose family is poor, and he’s constantly sending money and trying to help out with mortgage payments. He is concerned with their physical well-being and he gives up his money to help them out, even though he’d probably much rather spend that money to fix up his new house or go on a more elaborate vacation with his new wife. He is stepping in front of evil.

I think this is the message of Christ. And I think that truth, that power, that personal volition to stand up, is what the current Evangelical church needs to hear more of.

Because right now, they're just good people who are good for nothing.

I don't want to be that kind of follower of Christ.