An ominous political argument is being made by leaders throughout the Western world that should be a forewarning to Christians who boldly testify to what God has done for their souls (Psalm 66:16). It is a recurring authoritarian conviction that once again has found support in the halls of government and academia; but sadly, has also crept into the social circles of our personal lives like a Ken and Karen among the flock.
What is this oppressive assertion being put forth by those in authority? Simply put, it is the renewed interest in the practice of partisan censorship, which they view as an essential power of control to secure the “safety” of public discourse in society. Nowhere in their self-serving contention, however, is there the slightest indication that maybe — just maybe — this is all just a matter of tyrannical people living in fear of any truth-telling soul who makes them uneasy on their thrones.
In the angst of their frustrated authoritarianism, these socio-political leaders are insisting there is a rising torrent of “misinformation” and “disinformation” that needs to be stopped at any cost to the people’s civil liberties. As such, they are not just proposing the suppression of unfettered speech, but are seeking to weave their engineered definition of “truth” into the cultural fabric so that public perception can be shaped to keep the masses blissfully ignorant or, more to the point, easily herded.
In America, for example, several high-status political figures have recently shown their complete disdain for the First Amendment of the Constitution by calling it a “major block” to their “total control” of the public flow of information. Without a hint of shame, they openly admit to coveting the dictatorial power to examine every citizen’s public and private communiques, identify all instances of so-called “disinformation,” and then, as John Kerry insists, “hammer it out of existence.”
Sadly, this “hammer” has already been forged by many Western authorities in order to enforce their partisan censorship, but also to bludgeon the free-speaking Christian. Due to an increasing number of new “hate speech” laws, many believers who dare to pray, sing spiritual songs, or recite biblical doctrine in certain public forums are likely to be threatened with social deplatforming, jail time and fines. In fact, one British citizen has already been convicted by the court for silently praying to God because he was doing so in a politically designated “buffer zone” near an abortion clinic.
Meanwhile, “approved” and ever-vocal slanderers, haters of God, inventors of evil, blasphemers and pornographers can freely express their pride and prejudice wherever and whenever they want.
These recent examples of heavy-handed enforcement of “public protection” laws against Christians who openly practice their faith proves that our social, political and corporate leaders are actively pursuing every legal (and not-so-legal) recourse to “suppress truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). Surely “the writing is on the wall” to warn us of this unrighteous censorship, and yet the question is whether or not we can read it before the authorities erase it from public view.
Indeed, in all its Orwellian glory, the control and dissemination of “culturally-appropriate truth” is becoming the latest public works project to dam up the natural current of information and replace it with a steady stream of mind-numbing ideology and thought-shaping propaganda. This devious attempt to impede the wellspring of righteous expression, however, will prove to be a difficult task because the powers-that-be fail to realize what “truth” really is — a divinely-created and Spirit-filled fountain of clarity rightly fitted by God to rise to the surface by cutting through the muck of man’s lies and deception (Proverbs 12:19; Luke 8:17; Romans 1:18; 1 John 4:6).
THE CHRONIC FEAR OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH
Needless to say, the selective gagging of free speech is the desperate tool most often used by those who fear the souls of those who uphold God’s truth and righteousness. They are builders of cages who seek to detain and silence those individuals who participate in the free marketplace of ideas where truth is proved in the fiery furnace of God’s testing. And by their vile attempts to destroy the truth-tellers of this world, these leaders show themselves to be like their father, the devil, who was “a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him” (John 8:44).
Of course, this recent growing demand by authoritarians for the suppression of truth has happened many times throughout history when prideful men built up earthly empires that eventually collapsed because of the rotting timber of their tyrannical construction. In fact, according to the Bible, the most notorious occurrence of this well-known authoritarian power-play took place soon after the advent of Jesus Christ and the unconquerable truth of His Gospel, which the satanic realm has always targeted for false accusation, judicial malfeasance and unjust execution.
During His earthly mission, Jesus of Nazareth was constantly accused by the religious hierarchy of abusing His public soapbox and dispensing subversive misinformation that challenged the mettle of their official “truth” and thus undermined their authority among the masses (Mark 11:28, 12:12; Matthew 12:24, 22:15; Luke 11:53, 20:20; John 18:13). Their hatred of Him and His inconvenient truth was so palpable that they proved the biblical adage that “the one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked” (Proverbs 29:27).
Later on, after Jesus’ glorious ascension, the apostles and other disciples began having their own run-ins with hostile authorities as they publicly testified to the grace of God found in the redemptive work of Christ (Acts 5:18; Acts 12:1-3; Acts 14:19; II Timothy 2:9; Revelation 1:9). Having been warned by the Lord that these tussles with the world would soon take place, they were surely not surprised when conflict arose (Matthew 24:9). Nevertheless, it must have been felt like a sickening gut-punch to the body of Christ when Stephen, a deacon and first martyr of the Church, was suddenly stoned to death for preaching the Gospel (Acts 7:54-60).
Confronted with this increasingly-violent resistance to their ordained ministry, the apostles could have conceivably retreated as obedient citizens in submission to the earthly authorities (Romans 13:1–2; 1 Peter 2:13). And yet, in a quantum surge of revelatory power, the Holy Spirit emboldened Peter, along with the other apostles, to declare for the first time a foundational principle of dedicated Christian obedience that is preeminent in the face of unrighteous civil opposition:
“We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
This pivotal moment, according to Alexander MacLaren, was the “first collision of hostile authority with Christian faith, and shows, as in a glass, the constant result of that collision in all ages.” And what was the primary cause of this age-old collision? It certainly wasn’t a demand by the authorities to uphold the integrity of truth, says MacLaren, but rather a demand to uphold their earthly power and control.
“This public activity of the Apostles threatened the (presiding council’s) influence or pet beliefs, and so, like persecutors in all ages, they shut their eyes to the important question, ‘Is this preaching true or false?’ and took the easier course of laying hands on the preachers.”
Is this not the typical toxic practice of rabid authoritarians even today? Their easy practice of selective censorship makes no effort to first consider whether a person’s speech is true or false before passing sentence, but is only calibrated to punish those who dare to express themselves without their consent and approval. And why is this? Because, above all things, these tyrants fear the soul that speaks any truth that is aligned to God and eternity.
THEY CANNOT KILL THE SOUL OF TRUTH
The pressing question for today’s God-fearing Christians, therefore, is how can we bring our Gospel testimony to the world or openly practice our one true faith if those in power tell us to renounce God’s truth or face the judicial consequences of our defiance against their censure? What, then, do we do with the light of God’s wisdom that shines through us, or as Alexander Maclaren called it, “this brave freedom of speech that comes from the Nazarene”?
Thankfully, a foundational command that addresses this very question was given by the Master to His disciples, as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus tells them (and us):
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
This is a blessed instruction from the Lord, for indeed the soul abiding in truth should always stand tall in the midst of the spiritual battle with the wicked of this world, and even more pointedly, with “the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). And why should Christian souls never fear what these unrighteous rulers might do to them? Because as spiritual soldiers, clothed in the armor of God and holding fast to the sword of the Spirit, we no longer have to fear death by their hands.
The Captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, has already charged into the fray ahead of us to secure our victory by defeating death on our behalf (2 Timothy 1:10). Thus, our mortal enemies in this world may kill our bodies, but they can never kill our souls nor separate us from the eternal love of Christ. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).
The glorious fact is, the desperate authoritarians of our day are more afraid of the believer than believers are of them. The fear of the soul has always been, and always will be, a persistent mania among the ranks of the wicked because they know that believers display an unconquerable faith that does not shrink against their ability to silence us. This is why professing Christians are so often persecuted throughout the ages — sometimes to the extreme of martyrdom and the spilling of their blood, which Tertullian once described as the “seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, Chapter 50).
Alas, for a moment in this fallen world, the ungodly may win the skirmishes against us, but ultimately believers will win the war when the injustice they endure only adds fuel to the spiritual fires of our Christian testimony. As first revealed in the recorded Acts of the Apostles, persecution against the Church is a divinely-ordained incendiary device for the spreading of the Gospel (Acts 8:1,4; Acts 11:19, 12:24). As a result, every unjust attack by fearful authorities has only scattered Christianity further into the world like the floating embers of an unstoppable wildfire. As Jack Wellman wrote, “(The authorities) kept stomping on it, but that only served to spread it.”
FEARLESSLY SPREADING THE TRUTH OF GOD
The Gospel and the other grand truths of God, therefore, are meant to be continually broadcast throughout the world. The Church was never called to gather in one place on earth to build a Christianized version of the Tower of Babel saying, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). On the contrary, God has called His saints to go forth as sowers into every land to scatter the seeds of the Gospel so that the Lord will “add to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Indeed, this righteous husbandry of “planting, growth and harvest” is so spiritually resilient that the opposing weeds and rocks of hate and persecution will only spread God’s truth further into the world wherever the eager soil is turned to receive it (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Luke 8:11; Acts 12:24).
Using our unwavering Christian voice, therefore, is an act of obedient stewardship to the Lord that brings a continual seed-bearing message to the world regardless of the cost to our temporal position. Whether in life or in death, our testimony is carried forth on the winds of the Spirit to be divinely planted, not only to become a flowering witness to draw sinners to Himself, but to be a pleasing fragrance for the edification and encouragement of the saints who fear God. As such, we speak like the psalmist, who sang out, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16).
This personal broadcast of God’s glory can never be seen as an optional or trivial thing for the soul of the believer. Our bold testimonies to His mercy and goodness are a necessary and vital counterpoint against fallen man’s godless boasts and sinful self-promotion. As Spurgeon once remarked, “There are trumpeters enough of man’s trumpery deeds; but to declare the gracious acts of God is instructive, consoling, inspiriting, and beneficial.”
Indeed, the many riveting tales of our faith-filled experience, says John Gill, “are things that are not to be concealed in a man’s breast, but to be told to the church and people of God, to their joy and comfort, and to the glory of divine grace.” Thus, every Christian’s testimony given as a loving appeal to sinners can also serve as a “jolly good chin wag” for the spiritual benefit and enjoyment of the body of Christ.
Nevertheless, we must be discerning in the spiritual application of our speech (Proverbs 10:19; James 3:13). How we righteously use that public voice for God’s glory is in the biblical art of following the Holy Spirit’s promptings. In one’s Christian walk, the believer must discern the appropriate time and place to resist authority because of a higher obedience to Christ. Without walking in the way of love by the Spirit’s leading, our impulsive voices would surely sound like noisy gongs and clanging cymbals.
The path of godly resistance against authority, therefore, must be clearly seen. “There must be a plain conflict of commands,” cautions Alexander MacLaren, “and we must take care lest we substitute whims and fancies of our own for the injunctions of God.”
“Peter was not guided by his own conceptions of duty,” writes MacLaren, “but by the distinct precept of his Master, which had bid him speak. It is not true that it is the cause which makes the martyr, but it is true that many good men have made themselves martyrs needlessly. This principle is too sharp a weapon to be causelessly drawn and brandished. Only an unmistakable opposition of commandments warrants its use; and then, he has little right to be called Christ’s soldier who keeps the sword in the scabbard.”
THE HEROISM OF THE GOD-FEARING SOUL
Jesus Christ, therefore, has shown us the way. By His example of righteous suffering, we too are called to follow in His steps as we boldly speak His truth to the world (1 Peter 2:21). No doubt those blessed souls who fear God but not man will have the world’s target on their backs, for “they hate those who reprove in the gate, and abhor those who speaks with integrity” (Amos 5:10). Is it any wonder, then, that some professing Christians fruitlessly succumb to the worldly pressure and are unable to speak of their Lord and Savior because they fear the ruling hierarchy? (John 7:13).
The thing is, even when you diligently fight against your spiritual enemies, you emulate your Savior by also praying for their souls (Luke 6:27-28). Remember, we are “sheep in the midst of wolves, so we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). As obedient Christians, we must take special care in this fight with the world and her ungodly authorities to reflect a wise and gracious character that honors our Lord and Savior.
By the grace of our sovereign God, Christians in the West have been abundantly blessed with the freedom to practice our faith, and only now are we starting to see the kind of persecution that other believers around the world have endured for centuries. Nevertheless, as we continue to openly speak the truth of Jesus Christ against the increasing lies and deceptions of our godless culture, greater persecution will surely come — but what of it?
If we are suddenly ushered into the holy presence of God by the hands of these fearful authorities, it should be considered the ultimate deliverance, for we know that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).
Indeed, the letter to the Hebrews teaches us that we, as God-fearing Christians, are equipped by the Spirit to emulate the historic heroes of the faith as we follow in the path of Jesus to spread His truth to the world (Hebrews 11). The world may not see our Spirit-fueled heroism, but what does that matter? As Johann Albrecht Bengel once noted, “The world admires the magnanimous spirit of those who fear nothing, and regards such a spirit worthy of heroes and great men. And yet the fear of God is the only heroism truly worthy of the name.”
“Why, then, should the Church fear? If we can see God’s hand moving all things, terror is dead for us, and threats are like the whistling of idle wind.” — Alexander MacLaren
