We Must Put On The 'Armor of God'

 Joy Pullman has an excellent article up at The Federalist entitled As The Christian Cold War Heats Up, The Faithful Are Equipping For Battle. I urge gentle readers to take the article to heart. And while this blog has always been a gun blog, understand that the battle we are facing is a spiritual battle. As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Pullman points out that church leaders are split along some of the same lines as our political split. The high places of the culture are held by Leftists, and this culture affects the people.  But when the Church accommodates the surrounding culture, the Church loses its authority. It becomes just another voice among many, and even begins to sound like a kind of business. And of course, that was one of the issues Martin Luther had with the Church in 1517. At the time, the Church was engaged in the selling of indulgences to have to pope forgive the sins of those who paid.  But as Luther points out, forgiveness comes to anyone by faith in Christ.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the United States’ largest Protestant denomination, is one key example of this dynamic affecting American Christianity as a whole. On Oct. 1 in The American Conservative, Jackson Waters and Emma Posey reported on new developments in that denomination’s growing identity crisis. They contrast the Russell Moore, Beth Moore, and David French wing with the Voddie Baucham, Douglas Wilson, and I’d add Thomas Ascol wing.

“The direction Moore, French, and Moore are walking is not simply traditional evangelicalism, but a form of cultural accommodation dressed as convictional religion,” Waters and Posey write, after describing how the three have theologically shifted in recent years and months. “The result is a religious respectability that promotes national unity, liberalism, and wokeism under the rhetorical guise of love for neighbor. While Moore and his guest [Beth Moore] try to straddle the fence, there is little doubt that their biggest support is now coming from those significantly to their left politically.”

In modern times, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has made accomodation with the abortion culture, and the LGBTQxyz community by ordaining gays and lesbians, as well as electing a "transgender" bishop. Interestingly, ELCA congregations are losing congregants. By contrast, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) adheres to traditional Christianity and has growing congregations, with young families joining the Church.

While examples of leadership failures in the church are legion, one seems front and center today. In the face of mass government persecution of religious exercise over the past year and a half, Christian leaders overwhelmingly cowered and canceled services.

Shutdowns violate the theology of all Christians, both non-sacramentarians to sacramentarians. Those who don’t believe Christ’s statement, “This is my Body,” do heavily lean on his command called the Great Commission. In it, Christ tells the apostles to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” then tells them exactly how: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” You can’t baptize or make disciples via Zoom.

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For Christians who do believe in Christ’s real presence in Holy Communion, forbidding in-person worship is an even greater blasphemy. It means denying the Christ-mandated distribution of his physical Body and Blood to heal and preserve the souls of the redeemed for all eternity, the very reason for which Christ came to earth, was crucified, and resurrected.

While in other states, and in Canadian provinces, shutdowns of services continues, we here in North Carolina can attend church services relatively freely. But even our governor early on attempted to restrict services. This is wrong. People should always be allowed to decide for themselves.

While it is true that the Christian faith and the Church is under assault even here in the United States, I want to point out that it is far worse in other countries.  I recently had a link to the atrocities committed against the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.  The Taliban is no doubt hunting down Christians and killing many.  And of course, earlier the Chaldean Christian community in Iraq was under attack as are Christians in Nigeria under Boko Haram.  And these are but a few of the many cases of Christians being hunted and persecuted.

But because we are not being hunted and killed yet, doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention and call out each attack.  We, as Christians, must put on the "Armor of God," seek His Will for us through prayer, and courageously confront the evil facing us.