What does the leadership of these nations consider to be their nations’ highest values? The goals to which they aspire? In France, as in so much of the West, the general answer is: inversion, which is what critical-theory academics mean when they speak of “queering” something. It means to turn the meaning of something inside-out, as our governing and cultural elites have done to our civilization’s values. We are told that we must be diverse, which means punishing those who hold non-progressive views.

The International Olympics Committee is in full-on damage control over its blasphemous Paris opening ceremony show. The IOC has apologized for the event, and deleted it from its YouTube channel. These elites would like everyone to forget what a global television audience saw last Friday: a filthy mockery of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, featuring drag queens as the disciples, and Barbara Butch, an obese lesbian DJ, as Our Lord. 
“Oh yes! Oh yes! The New Gay Testament!” Butch later messaged on Instagram. Underscoring the point, that tableau vivant was titled, in punning French, La Cène Sur Un Scène Sur La Seine – that is, The Last Supper Staged On The Seine.
The satanic parody feast featured as its blasphemous Eucharist a priapic Smurf meant to represent Dionysius—perhaps a sneering, obscene reference to St. Denis (a Gallicized version of “Dionysius”), the third-century martyr who is a patron saint of Paris. According to a tumescent Associated Press account of the event, the Greek god of wine pointed to his penis and sang, in French, “Where to hide a revolver when you’re completely naked?”
Thomas Jolly, the gay French theatrical director who conceived this vulgar abomination, said, “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock. Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”
There are people stupid enough to believe that. But even the leader of France’s far left, the anti-clerical Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is not one of them. In a blog post, Mélenchon condemned the revolting event as shaming the nation. 
“We were speaking to the world that evening,” Mélenchon wrote. “Among the billion Christians in the world, how many good and honest people are there for whom faith provides help in living and knowing how to participate in everyone’s life, without bothering anyone?” 
Jolly rogered the good faith of Christians the world over, and knew exactly what he was doing. So too did everyone at the IOC and in the French government who approved this thing. It is impossible to believe that this trashy LGBT mockery of Christianity didn’t get a sign-off at the highest level. This was Paris’s chance to present itself to the world, and they wouldn’t dare leave anything to chance. 
What the world saw was a transgressive homosexual romp and stomp across what Christians hold sacred. France’s elites signaled to the planet that it sacralizes homosexuality, transgenderism, sexual excess, and blasphemy. The Paris Olympics overture was a floor show for the Antichrist. 
As many commenters noted, these oh-so-courageous would never do this to Muslims. Nor should they, I hasten to say! It’s just that France is deep into a culture war between Islam and secularism that will determine the country’s future. For years now, many authorities have warned that the struggle could easily tip over into a civil war. And yet, these decadent French elites are determined to hasten the destruction of Western civilization. Decades ago, the lesbian cultural critic Camille Paglia warned her fellow homosexuals against reckless attacks on religion. Homosexuality only flourishes under conditions of advanced culture, she said—and like it or not, the church is a pillar of culture. Therefore, said Paglia, when gays “attack the institutions of culture (including religion), they are sabotaging their own future.”
In 2016, Paglia spoke at an ideas festival in Britain, saying that the West’s obsession with androgyny and transgenderism is a sign that “civilization is starting to unravel. You find it again and again and again in history.” 
“People who live in such times feel that they’re very sophisticated, they’re very cosmopolitan,” Paglia said. In truth, she goes on, they give evidence of a culture that no longer believes in itself. This, in turn, calls forth “people who are convinced of the power of heroic masculinity”—in other words, barbarians. 
Nobody will resist contemporary “barbarians” to defend a civilizational order that places the sexually disordered at its symbolic pinnacle.
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In the New Testament the house church was common. Judging from Paul’s references in Romans 16:5,10,11,14 & 15, there were at least five house churches in Rome, a city commonly estimated to have a population of a million. Links between these gatherings would have been close. But generally we do not find the infant churches in highly organised connection with each other. The seven churches of Asia Minor are listed in the order they would be visited on a postal route (Revelation 2 & 3) They knew about each other but did not have an organised presbytery exercising oversight as we would understand that. Of course, the seven churches are written to as representative of all the churches then and in every age. The New Testament recognises the priority of the local church and suggests a bottom-up rather than top-down model of presbyterial church government. 

Introduction
The existence of the Christian Church comes from Christ. He builds the Church (Matthew 16:18; Hebrews 3:1-6; Acts 15:14; 2 Corinthians 5:17 etc.). When, through the Spirit of Christ, people in a town or city are converted by grace and united to Christ through faith, there you have a church of Christ, a local expression of the Church of Christ. The Church of Christ in its widest extent consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true faith in Jesus Christ and subjection to him as Saviour and Lord, together with their children. The necessary inward aspect of genuine relation to Christ means that membership of the organised Church may not correspond to those truly redeemed. Departures from the Word of God may be such that a Church may become apostate, but even when there are quite serious problems, Paul can address, for example, ‘the church of God in Corinth’ according to its calling and profession. 
The Church in its deepest significance is not created by a mere legal Constitution approved by Parliament, or rules arbitrarily drawn up by members, as in a social club, but by God. It is a living organism before it is a developed organisation and must always keep that in mind. A local church or group of churches in an organised form needs to avoid thinking in merely denominational ways but remember that the Church is called to faithfulness to Christ its Head.
Christ is the Head of the Church because he is its King and Lord, and its organised life is to be regulated by the Scriptures, properly interpreted, as illustrated in 2 Timothy 3:
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Christ has given authority to the elders of the Church including specific instructions to them (Romans 12:8; 1 Timothy 5:2-22; Titus 3:10; 1 Peter 5:3). The laws the Church makes are limited to declaration of what the Lord has revealed (Acts 15:6-29) or applications of the principles in what has been revealed to particular cases or circumstances (e.g. 1 Corinthians 8). It seeks to do all things in an orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:26,40), always with a view to building up the body of Christ in love. Every member has a role or office, if you like. All have received gifts to be used to build up the whole body.
Christ is the Head of the Church also because the ministry and sacraments of the Church are effective by his blessing not by any power in the minister or elders or their predecessors in office. Christ equips and calls to office and in ordinary circumstances the Church recognises and admits to the offices Christ has instituted, when she finds the person qualified by the Word of God.
The Church After Pentecost
The twelve Apostles as the leaders of the reconstituted Israel were witnesses of Jesus’ ministry and resurrection. On the day of Pentecost 3,000 of those who listened to Peter were converted (Acts 2:41). We read:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 3 and 4 record the healing of the lame beggar and the futile attempt by the Sanhedrin to silence Peter and John. Towards the end of Acts 4 we are reminded of the unity of believers and God’s powerful working among them so that ‘there were no needy persons among them’ for gifts of money were ‘laid at the apostles’ feet, and distributed to any who had need’ (Acts 4:34,35).
How long this happy state lasted is unclear. One can well imagine the early enthusiasm waned a little and gave rise to the first evidence of New Testament church organisation in Acts 6:1-7 about AD 34.
6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
The daily distribution seems to have been primarily ‘of food’ (these explanatory words are added in the NIV), but ‘the distribution’ could be taken to include some ministry of the word as well, given Acts 2:46. At any rate, some Greek-speaking Jewish widows from Gentile lands influenced by Greek culture were being overlooked by the Jews living in Palestine and chiefly speaking Aramaic. It has been suggested of these widows by an Australian Roman Catholic ecumenist:
….they were neither free to attend large gatherings in the temple forecourts nor linguistically equipped to understand what these Aramaic preachers were saying when they returned from the temple to speak in the intimacy of the household (5:42). Accordingly, the Hellenist’s widows were in need of preachers who could teach them in Greek, and preferably at home when Greek speakers came together at their tables (6:2).[1]
We are not told if there were already elders from a Palestinian background helping the apostles. That is certainly possible as a carryover from Old Testament practice. At any rate, up till now the apostles had the leadership responsibility whoever else might have assisted. However, the open-hearted loving care for each other in the infant but growing community of some thousands became impacted by a greater consciousness of differences. Tensions between the descendants of those who had returned from exile in Babylon centuries before and those who had remained in the dispersion led to concern not just because of language but cultural difference. The apostles stated that it was not proper for them to leave the ministry of the word ‘to serve tables’ [diaconein trapezais]. The responsibility for distribution of food and/or money[2] to the poor believers from the resources given to the apostles (4.35,37; 5:2) needed to be placed in other hands. The choice was given to the believers subject to the requirement that those believers chosen should be full of the Holy Spirit evidenced particularly by their wisdom.
The Choice of Seven Men
Strikingly, the seven men chosen all have Greek names and might all have been Hellenists.
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Missions is the invitation to participate in the gospel’s advance around the world. It’s the privilege to see God’s Word at work. But you don’t have to leave your country to see and participate in its powerful effect. We might be discouraged when we experience resistance to our witness from family, friends, and society. But the stories of the gospel’s spread in hard places should embolden us to continue sharing the gospel. 

A car pulled up beside me as I briskly walked down a street in East Asia. The driver said, “Get in.” I hesitated a moment. Who was this telling me to get in the car? What would happen if I did? I looked at my translator. She motioned for me to get in. She knew what was happening. Still a little unsure, I opened the car door and sat down.
I was in this country to explore the possibilities of gospel work among an ethnic minority. The government was hard at work to hinder the church’s spread in this region, and it was especially strict with minority groups.
Around the world, resistance to the gospel takes many forms. Governments, religious leaders, extremists, and even family members seek to hinder its advance. The repression can be subtle or intensely violent. But whatever the severity of the persecution, God’s Word isn’t bound. It continues unhindered.
Unhindered Gospel
The book of Acts concludes with Paul under house arrest in Rome, waiting for his trial. Luke, the author of Acts, wanted the reader to see through Paul’s imprisonment and chains. He ends the book with the word “unhindered” (28:31, NASB). Despite resistance and persecution, the gospel spread throughout the known world in the span of one generation. 
This last word in Acts describes the progress of the gospel to the present day. No matter where the resistance or persecution comes from—government, society and family, or local religions—the gospel spreads unhindered.
1. Governmental Repression
When I got in the car that night in East Asia, I was relieved to find out the driver wasn’t an undercover policeman. He was a local pastor. As we drove, he explained the daily pressures his congregation faced from the government. He’d been interrogated and harassed by authorities many times.
You can imagine my surprise when the pastor explained to me through the translator, “Of all the Puritans, the most important to us were those who traveled together on the Mayflower.” The Pilgrims who braved the Atlantic for religious liberty were his heroes. He resonated with their desire to worship God in freedom.
We drove for about an hour to a forested area beyond the reach of surveillance. Worshiping in the woods allowed a measure of freedom. We waited there until church members began to join us.
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