Evangelicals and Their Nietzschean National Security Nightmare
NATO has absorbed nearly all the former Warsaw Pact countries and Baltic states that were once aligned with the former Soviet Union. To channel Mearsheimer one more time, America and NATO want us to believe that all their actions and decisions since the fall of the Soviet Union were virtuous and morally right. “This war,” they say, “is all Putin’s fault, and we did nothing wrong.”
There is a simple fact with which evangelicals need to come to grips immediately or risk blaspheming the evangel itself. This fact is undeniable and unconcealable, and it is supported by insurmountable evidence. Attempts to defend any proposition to the contrary amount to a denial of the faith once delivered. And it is this: wherever on the globe American foreign policy goes, death and displacement of millions of people follow.
When it comes to foreign policy there are not two parties: one Democrat, and the other Republican. Rather, there is a Uniparty bent on keeping America engaged in endless wars resulting in untold horrors to human beings around the world—many of whom are Christian. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine all have one thing in common—American intervention or interference resulting in mass death and displacement. This is not to say that there are no other causes, complexities, or mitigating circumstances, but this is the one constant in the midst of all other variables.
It is time for evangelicals to untether themselves from this Nietzschean nightmare and denounce with one voice, with all the muster they have, all the warmongers who are bringing death and destruction wherever they go by promoting perpetual war.
Many Muslims have done a better job of denouncing the more radical elements within Islam than American evangelicals have done in speaking out against unjust and illegal wars fostered by their own government.
Some evangelicals seem to be schizophrenic in that they identify as prolife on the subject of abortion, but are pro-war and pro-death when it comes to foreign policy. Of course, this is more of a theoretical distinction than a practical one because most evangelicals do very little to oppose abortion in any concrete way. Nevertheless, this is an unbiblical and unchristian dualism, and it must be reconciled before evangelicalism loses it soul.
The soul of American evangelicals was stained by the so called “wars on terror.” Of course these wars were never really about America’s national security. They were always about regime change, and in every instance the regime change that resulted was a complete and catastrophic disaster.
In the same way, America’s involvement with the war in Ukraine is not about preserving democracy, or even preventing further Russian aggression. It is about regime change.
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An Agenda Other than Justice
Five pro-life activists who protested against Santangelo’s practice were found guilty of conspiracy and of violating the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act. They are looking at up to 11 years in prison, while Santangelo continues to work with a valid medical license. In 2020, the members of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) live-streamed their entrance into the Washington (D.C.) Surgi Clinic, where Santangelo works and where he advertises abortion services up to 27 weeks. The group went into the clinic and sat praying and singing. The group avoided all violence. But police were called within minutes of the protest and arrived on the scene, as evidenced in the livestream video.
The Biden Justice Department has no interest in investigating more than 88 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers, but it will easily pursue harsh sentences for pro-life activists who protest at a late-term abortion facility known for killing full-term infants.
In 2013, abortionist Dr. Cesar Santangelo assured a 24-week pregnant woman that he would not intervene to save the life of her baby if her second-trimester abortion didn’t successfully kill the child.
A Live Action investigator filmed an appointment with Santangelo and captured his admission, which he admitted several times, on camera. As a result of this evidence, combined with evidence of full-term, aborted babies found in the clinic’s “medical waste,” activists were compelled to take action.
The aborted baby bodies were discovered after the clinic protest but proved what activists suspected at the time was true: that Santangelo was killing full-term, born-alive infants. Furthermore, a woman died after fetal tissue was found in her lungs after an abortion at Santangelo’s office.
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The Gospel Never Does Nothing
As we continually expose ourself to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as we just open our empty hands before him, we can trust that he will do his work. He will not leave us as we are. He will increase our joy. He will soften our sorrows. He will heal our wounds. He will, if he must, even cause the fish to get sick and spit us upon his shores to witness his redemption.
Christ who is the content of the gospel leaves no one in a neutral state.
—Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God, page 399The one thing the gospel never does is nothing. Under the preaching of the gospel, no one remains the same. We are either moving closer to God or further from him. No one remains neutral. No one remains unchanged. We soften, or we harden.
Encountering Jesus is a life-altering event every time it happens. His word is always fresh. Even if we believe we know it, because he is God, his word is not returning void. Every time it is spoken, something happens. We fall in love with him, or we grow to despise him. We lean in, or we turn away. In every church meeting every Sunday morning, there is a massive movement in the hearts of people all over the world because of the gospel of Christ. Because Christ is the gospel, when we hear his word, we hear him, and when we hear him, we either fall down before him, or we run the other way. The one thing we don’t do is nothing.
It’s not always easy to perceive this movement. Perhaps we notice the leaning in more than the turning away. Yes, we can sprint in the other direction, but that’s not how it works for most of us. It’s more like drifting away at sea.
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Consider the Small Churches
The burgeoning of large churches with arrogant pastors has led to the stunted growth of many Christians and a serious de-christianization of too many cities. The rocketing growth of large churches often leads to the hollowing out of other, smaller churches around. When they implode, those people often don’t go back to church.
Well, it’s that time. You move to a new town. You go to college. You get married. You leave your last church for whatever reason. And you’re on the hunt again, looking to find a church. Everyone wants to have a church into which they are born, grow up, and die. But most of us will make the painful decision to say “Goodbye” (hopefully in a good way) to our old church and start looking for a new church a few times in our lives. There are lots of factors you need to consider: theology, style of worship, philosophy of ministry, location, etc.. I want to draw attention to one factor that you should pay attention to. Is the leadership humble?
Has the work of the Almighty Son of God, Jesus Christ in denying himself to accomplish our salvation as our substitute and sacrifice on the cross been like chemotherapy to the cancer of pride?
Specifically, are those who are responsible for the teaching of God’s Word humble. Why? Hebrews 13:7 tells us that we should imitate the example of those who teach God’s Word. Paul tells Timothy that by keeping a close watch on himself and his teaching, he will “save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16) He is pretty clear that the teacher must set, “the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” (4:12)
In particular, a pit of errors is avoided by humility. James warns us that those who harbor “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” in their hearts have demonic roots which leads to “disorder and every vile practice” (James 3:14-16). By contrast the “meekness of wisdom” (3:13) will lead to “a harvest of righteousness.” (3:18) For reasons I can’t elaborate on here, I believe that James 3:13-18 is specifically written for leaders. Some might disagree. But I think all can agree, this at least applies to the leaders of an assembly.
