To Use Scandal

by Frank Turk

Why yes: since it came up in Christianity Today yesterday, I do actually have some more to say about Louie Giglio.

Before we get to the torches and pitchforks, let me say this: in the last 20 years, Louie Giglio has been a very nice guy.  He has even been, from time to time, a preacher with some flair -- the right kind of flair and not just metaphorical or photoshoptical lens flair.  If we should give a man a little grace because of his lifetime of work, I give it here to him for that.  Overall: nice work.

That said, this showed up on my FB timeline yesterday:

Of course it's the caption that caught my eye there, which was supplied by the culture vultures* over at Christianity Today.  Giglio got something right, according to Mark Galli.  Here's what he says:

Giglio noted his priorities when he said, "Clearly, speaking on this issue [homosexuality] has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ." Giglio is exactly right. Unfortunately, in a desire to reach the world for Christ, some inadvertently reverse Giglio's priorities and make much about our ultimate significance. Jesus becomes merely the means by which we feel better about our place in the universe. Need purpose and meaning? Follow Jesus, that will do the trick. In this subtle shift, we become the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega.

Wow -- So close! So close!  What you would hope, as he says this, is that Galli would have someplace else come up with the Gospel to somehow season Giglio's idiosyncratic post-Piper rhetoric into something which does make this exactly right.  For example, maybe Galli would talk about the dire state of our sinful culture -- how sinfulness is actually the signature of this world, and that Christ's death is the only action possible to overcome it.

Well, "sin" apparently doesn't come into it -- not in this essay, anyway.  And when referring to "sinners," Galli -- a Fuller grad -- has this to say:

In the long run, we cannot gain a hearing for the gospel through our admirable ethics or social justice because in the end, we are still sinners, with hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah put it, that remain desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). When we do live well or accomplish a social good, we will be admired for our moral success, not because Jesus died to save a rebellious world. And when we fail to live up to our values—and we invariably will--well, we will look like every other sinner on the planet. Not much of a witness there, except to our humanity.

See: the problem of being a sinner is the church's problem, not the world's problem -- though credit where credit is due that he does reprimand the social gospel as somewhat impotent.  The other mention of our problem is equally notable:

Looking at how this message scandalized the ancient world opens a window into our preaching today. When the culture takes issue with the church today, it carps about our oppressive sexual ethics (especially our opposition to homosexual behavior) and our various prosperity gospels (from the most egregious health-and-wealth messages to the more subtle but equally dangerous sermons on how faith in Christ can improve your marriage, your business, and your self-esteem). And then there is the regular complaint about our self-righteousness—our incessant habit of pronouncing judgment on our culture, which is grounded in the assumption that sinners are found mostly in that culture, outside the church walls. Thus all the sermons about how we need to reform and stand against the culture, as if the "we" is in no need of fundamental reform, or that the Lord does not have a controversy with his people.

That is: somehow the message that there is sin to be repented of (homosexuality being his example) is conflated with the prosperity gospel as co-equal absurdities, co-perpetrators of violence against either the culture or the Gospel -- or maybe both.  And just to make sure he isn't misunderstood, Galli tells us this:

The most needful and difficult task of the church today is to again preach the message of the Cross, and to do so in a way that alarms, surprises, scandalizes, challenges, invigorates, and inspires a 21st century world. What that would look like exactly is hard to say; our theologians and pastors need to help us here. In the most general terms, it has to be about Christ first and last. It has to be about the Christ who came into the world not to improve generally good people, but to resurrect the dead, not to bolster our self-esteem but to forgive us, not to make people successful but to make them loving, not to win the culture but to establish a kingdom without end. Even more scandalously, the message of the Cross is about a universe saturated with grace, where nothing we have done or can do earns us the right to participate in this stunning new reality; all has been done for us. The best we can do is acknowledge the reality (faith) and begin to live as if it is reality (repent). [empasis added]

Wow.  He sure told us.  He even told us with my key point from theNines 3 years ago.  And to be utterly fair: he does say that Christ forgives -- but forgives what?  And is repentance and faith really best described as merely "acknowledgment and living"?

In that view of things, for once mentioning that sin is actually offensive to God, no wonder Louie Giglio's resignation is the right thing to do: Giglio was actually wrong 2 decades ago.  He was part of the problem -- and now that it's exposed, he should just walk away.

That is: unless the Gospel is supposed to truly offend those for whom it is meant.

See: Galli tosses around the word "scandalize" and its apparent synonyms in his essay as if its meaning is self-evident, and we should simply nod solemnly and humbly at it because he used one of the safe words of the New Testament against the Apologetics and Expository classes of the English-speaking world.  But in fact it's not the kind of word he's looking for.

Now, I could tell you why by breaking open the dictionary or the thesaurus, but instead I'm going to do something else.  I'm going to use "scandal" in the way it was originally used in reference to the Gospel:

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block (μὲν σκάνδαλον) to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

There, the idea of something being a "scandal" does not make it "fresh" or "invigorating."  It doesn't make the Gospel a rush.  Indeed, when Paul talks of the "scandal" of the cross to the Galatians, he makes it transparently clear that he is suffering, and is persecuted, because the Gospel offends.

Now, look: I have gotten your hate mail about the griping Dan and I do and have done about the popular side of the internet lunchroom, and I receive it.  But the cool kids over at CT here are, frankly, jumping out of the apple cart and into the ditch when they say that when persecution comes, we should simply bow in apology and make much of Christ by not making a peep -- turn the other cheek and so on. Should we really see it that way?

Paul didn't see it that way.  He certainly didn't behave that way.  When the persecution came, and the chains, and being run off from the city for turning the world upside down, he didn't shut up and sit down -- or worse, tell people that they have nothing to worry about since the universe is saturated in Grace.  He preached harder. He preached in such a way that Bereans were converted -- and in such a way that the Greeks mocked him.

But: he preached -- a judgment on the living and the dead by one who was shown worthy by his resurrection.  That was the way Paul made much of Christ.

If we have forgotten that, even God will not help us.  Our lampstand is already out.

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*Yes, I know that a "culture vulture" is supposed to be a person who is overly-fond of high-brow culture.  Savor the irony and the sarcasm with me.

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Before It Gets Big Enough

by Frank Turk

It's funny how topics can run together.  I was going to write a post-script this week about the response to last week's series on Passion2013, and it turns out Louie Giglio made headlines for another reason thereafter, so we'll talk about that for a bit as well.

You know, I thought that the key moment in last's week's posts was when I said this:

And I ask it for only one reason: Jeff is famous because he wanted to draw the thick black line between Jesus and Religion -- and I find myself in full agreement with that objective.  I find myself fighting that fight in my own life on a daily basis. 

It is a completely fair question -- and I think the answers are useful to all kinds of people, and not just the young person who found himself or herself filled with something which looks and feels pretty good. 

Somehow, that morphed in the minds a few people into my condemnation of young people, joy, singing … all the usual ways in which the internet turns into J. Jonah Jameson braying about a menace who must be stopped.

I was notified by many that they have personally witnessed real salvation at Passion events, and to that I say: of course you have.  Well, why not?  Piper has historically brought out the hammers and tongs at Passion; in spite of his flightiness Francis Chan almost always gets it right when it comes to traditional, TMS-oriented, exposition of the truths of faith (being a TMS guy, after all).  Some people are going to get saved or convicted when that happens.

The point of last week's posts was, frankly, to notice that even people who get the name of God right are likely to get the way to love and worship him wrong.  Nobody (well, not nobody, but …) gets their noses out of joint when it is pointed out that people who think God comes in manifestations and not persons have a religion and not a faith in Jesus.  Nobody certainly gets their noses out of joint when we heap scorn on legalistic types or libertines.  But when we find out that the young and hip crowd could possibly have a false religion, suddenly we just don't get it.  It's my fault for noticing.

Listen: if you personally can't imagine that you might possibly be the victim of your own personal idol factory, let me suggest that you don't know yourself very well -- and you'd do yourself a favor to review the bits of Scripture we ran past last week to see which of those weeds are creeping up your personal trellis of worship and devotion before it gets big enough to say to you, "feed me, Seymour."

But the other thing which needs to be clarified in the post-script is that the organizers of the Passion event(s) need to make sure they are calling people to the right thing, setting the right expectations.  It's one thing to say that some friends are going to get together to discuss the faith and offer the exchange as a way to edify like-minded people; it's the same sort of mundane thing to say that God's word is going to be laid open by men who have been tested and approved.  But it's another thing entirely to advertise your event (explicitly, or implicitly) as a place where there's something that happens that doesn't happen (or worse: can't happen) at your local church.  There's always something fishy about super-apostles, whether they are chest-kicking charlatans like Todd Bentley, or they happen to bring the light show and their catalog of CDs for sale.  The real supply-side problem is not the religion, but the celebrity which creates the religion, and I leave the rest for you to sort out.

That makes a keen segue to my concluding topic today: as I am sure you have heard, Louie Giglio walked away from praying at the inauguration for President Obama's second term because, it was discovered, Giglio preached a sermon against homosexuality once, about 20 years ago, as he puts it.

On one side, it's sign of the times we live in.  All religion but the historic Christian faith is welcome in the public square.  It's a pretty odd situation we find ourselves in when, 4 years ago, Rick Warren prayed at the inauguration in spite of his stand against sin; today, after 4 years of the post-racial President, Louie Giglio gets the side eye for one 20-year-old sermon, even if he has repositioned the Gospel away from the hard demands of God's Law since then.  And the really bothersome part of this is that there wasn't even much of a flap about it.  It came up, and Giglio folded -- didn't want to be a distraction, he said.

In that, Matthew Lee Anderson praised him in his premiere piece for CNN by saying, effectively, more Christians ought to just keep it down when they are challenged about the dividing lines of the faith.  After all, he reasoned, Jesus just took it until they put Him to death.  That's how we should suffer.  Somehow the examples of Paul and Stephen got past Matthew's radar, where we are shown that persecution is actually a place where the demands of Christ and the need for the Gospel are make crystal clear by proclamation, not by analogy.

See: what I find most troubling about Giglio's resignation is not that he was, in any way, challenged about his faith or beliefs.  Politically, I say open the marketplace of ideas and let's see who has the silver and gold and who has the filthy rags -- even if someone winds up acting like Cain when we find out that he has something unacceptable, either to God or to other people, when it is all laid out in the open.  And theologically -- that is to say, as I am instructed in my faith -- while I expect the Gospel to save many, I also expect that it may have to do so as I share in the suffering of Christ.  That might mean, on a small scale, that they don't promote me at work because I think there's one holy book which makes the others look like pulp fiction; it might mean, on a larger scale, that when it comes out that I believe this stuff, they hurl insults at me over the internet -- even and especially people who claim to believe in Jesus.  Or more spectacularly, it might mean that people who actually identify themselves with their sins will demand I be excluded from the public forum because I am turning the whole world on its head -- and in my own defense, I can therefore proclaim the true fame of Christ.

The problem really isn't that we live in a post-Christian nation.  We should accept that we do.  We should be convinced of it.  The problem is when we are therefore satisfied with that, and we find that Jesus is only our private savior, and our local comfort, and our homestyle god -- one not fit to proclaim or defend when it's His law and His Gospel which are being reproached by those who would rather see the world in tatters and in rags, headed toward a fire who will never go out. The problem is that we think the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel is that it should gain us privilege and not disrepute.  When the side-eye comes against us because the Gospel offends, we think we're the ones who have done something wrong.

Last week, I prayed for those at Passion, and for those who organized it and promoted it as something which ought to set us at least on our guard against our own native tendency to deceive ourselves.  This week, I pray for our nation which now can brand a man a bigot because he believes that sex is important enough to have inherent governing principles.  And I pray for that man, because he doesn't think those principles, and their creator and sustainer, are worth making a public fuss anymore.

Be in the Lord's house with the Lord's people on the Lord's day this week, and pray for all of us.  May God have mercy on us all.

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Suffering Reproach for Christ's Sake Is a High Honor

Your weekly dose of Spurgeon
posted by Phil Johnson

The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "Chastisement," a sermon delivered 28 October 1855, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

f thou thinkest that reproach for Christ's sake is a dishonor, thou judgest wrongly of it, for it is the greatest honor that can possibly happen to thee.

There are many of you who count that religion is very honorable while you can be respectable in it, while you can walk in respectable society, but if the cause of God brings you into tribulation, if it engenders the laugh and jeer of the worldling, the hiss and scorn of the world, then you think it a dishonor. But my son thou dost not weigh the blessing rightly. . . .

When they say all manner of evil against us falsely, we put that down not in the book of dishonor but in the scroll of glory. When they call us by opprobrious titles, we write not that down for loss, but for gain. We accept their jeers as honors, we count the vile things they cast at us in the pillory of scorn to be a donation of pearls and diamonds: we take their evil speaking, we read it by the light of the Word of God, and we discover that in it lie music, notes of honor and chords of glory to us for ever.

Now you who faint under a little trouble . . . let me encourage you in this way. My son, despise not the persecution. Remember how many men have borne it. What an honor it is to suffer for Christ's sake! . . .

We in these gentle times cannot suffer for Christ's sake. God has put us in evil times because we cannot encounter so much as we wish for him. These times are not good for us. We almost wish for different ones, when we might be more partakers with Christ in his sufferings. We would almost envy those blessed men of yore, who had the opportunity of showing their courage and faith to all men, by enduring more for Christ; and if any of you are in a peculiar place of trouble, where you have more persecution than others, you ought to glory in it, and should be glad of it. He that stands in the thickest part of the battle shall have the highest glory at last. . . .

Count it glory to go into the hottest part of the field. Fear not, man, thine head is covered in the day of battle; the shield of God can easily repel all the darts of the enemy. Be bold for his name's sake. Go on still rejoicing.

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Keeping Our Priorities Straight in These Spiritually Treacherous Times

by Phil Johnson

Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:13-14)

eter wrote those words to Christians living in exile (1 Peter 1:1) and suffering under the cruelest kind of Satanically-inspired persecution (1 Peter 5:8-9). Their lives were constantly in danger because of their faith; most had already lost all their earthly posessions. Their suffering was multilayered and relentless.

Yet Peter's first concern was their holiness.

He urges them to gird up their minds, and in so doing, he reminds us what spiritual warfare is all about. It is a fight against sin, and it is first and foremost a personal warfare against our own carnal desires. Although we are beset in this world by the enemies of truth and people who would persecute and abuse us, this world is our mission-field, not our battlefield. Rome, and Nero, and the rest of the pagan world are not our main enemies—our own carnal desires are. So that is where Peter focuses our attention.

Here's how Matthew Henry paraphrases verse 13:

You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do; as the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gather in, and gird up, their long and loose garments, that they may be more ready, prompt, and expeditious in their business, so do you by your minds, your inner man, and affections seated there: gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you; restrain their extravagances, and let the loins or strength and vigour of your minds be exerted in your duty; disengage yourselves from all that would hinder you, and go on resolutely in your obedience.

Matthew Henry goes on to say, "The main work of a Christian lies in the right management of his [own] heart and mind; [that's why] the apostle's first direction is to gird up the loins of the mind."

So in the midst of all the dangers these Christians were facing, Peter's first and most important exhortation was a call to personal holiness. It was not that Peter was unconcerned for the temporal welfare of these exiles. The epistle is full of encouragement for them. But even in that, Peter takes the long view and encourages them by reminding them that this life's suffering is temporary while the hoped-for glory is eternal (1 Peter 1:3-4, 7; 4:12-13; 5:10).

Persecution has a purpose, and it is to conform us to the image of Christ. The fires of persecution have a purifying effect, so Peter encourages these believers to rejoice in the midst of their trials. Note verses 6-7: "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Pursue that end, he says, by cultivating holiness, starting with your own thought life. That's what the true Christian warfare is all about.

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Some Thoughts on Persecution

Your weekly dose of Spurgeon
posted by Phil Johnson

The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "A Word for the Persecuted," a sermon preached Sunday Morning, 16 August 1874 at the Met Tab, London.

ever court opposition. God forbid we should do so. Some zealots seem bent on making religion objectionable. The cup we hold to a sinful world is in itself repugnant enough to fallen nature; there can be no wisdom in making it yet more objectionable by presenting it with a scowling face.

It is as well when you have medicine to give to a child to show him a piece of sugar too: so let your kindness, and cheerfulness, and gentleness sweeten that which the world is not very likely to receive anyhow, but which it will the less resent if you present it with love, showing a desire to live peaceably with all men, and to consult the comfort of others rather than your own.

And then endure whatever you have to endure with the greatest possible meekness.

There was a farmer whose wife was very irritated with him because of his attending a dissenting place of worship, and joining with Christian people. She often declared that she would not bear it much longer, but he was very patient, and made no harsh reply to her. One day she fetched him out of the harvest field, and said, "Now it is come to this; you will give up those people, or give me up"; and she brought out a web of cloth and said, "Now you take half of this and I'll take the other half; for I am going."

He said, "No, my dear, you are welcome to it all. You have always been a very good industrious wife, take it all."

Then she proposed taking a part of their household goods and settling everything for a final separation, but again he said, "Take all there is. If you will go away take everything you like, for I should not wish you to be uncomfortable; and come back again whenever you please, I shall always be glad to see you."

Seeing that he talked in that way, she said, "Do you mean me to go?"

"No," said he, "it is your own wish, not mine. I cannot give up my religion, but anything else I can do to make you stay and be happy, I will do."

This was too much for her, she resolved to cease her opposition, and in a short time went with her husband to the place of worship, and became herself a believer.

This is the surest way to victory. Yield everything but what it would be wrong to yield. Never grow angry. Keep cool, and let the railing be all on one side.

There was a poor godly woman who used to attend the ministry of Mr. Robinson, of Leicester, and her husband, a very coarse, brutal man, said to her one day in his wrath, "If you ever go to St. Mary's church again I'll cut both your legs off."

He was a dreadful man, and equal to any violence, but on the next occasion of worship his wife went as aforetime. As she came home, she commended herself to the care of God, expecting to be assailed. Her husband said to her, "Where have you been?"

"I have been to St. Mary's church," said she.

With that he felled her to the ground with a terrible blow on the face.

Rising up, she gently said, "If you strike me on the other side I shall as freely forgive you as I do now."

She had been a very passionate woman before conversion, and had been accustomed to give her husband as good as he could send, and therefore he was struck with her gentleness. "Where did you learn this patience?" said he.

Her reply was, "By God's grace I learned it at St. Mary's."

"Then you may go as often as you like." Presently he went also, and the war was over. There is nothing like meekness. It will conquer the strongest.

After bearing with meekness return good for evil. For cruel words return warmer love and increased kindness. The most renowned weapon for a Christian to fight his antagonists with is that of overcoming evil with good.

Evil to evil is beastlike, and no Christian will indulge in it; but good for evil is Christlike, and we must practice it. I think I have before told you the story of the husband who was a very loose, gay, depraved, man of the world, but he had a wife who for many years bore with his ridicule and unkindness, praying for him day and night, though no change came over him, except that he grew even more bold in sin.

One night, being at a drunken feast with a number of his boon companions, he boasted that his wife would do anything he wished, she was as submissive as a lamb. "Now," he said, "she has gone to bed hours ago; but if I take you all to my house at once she will get up and entertain you and make no complaint."

"Not she," they said, and the matter ended in a bet, and away they went.

It was in the small hours of the night, but in a few minutes she was up, and remarked that she was glad that she had two chickens ready, and if they would wait a little she would soon have a supper spread for them. They waited, and ere long, at that late hour, the table was spread, and she took her place at it as if it was quite an ordinary matter, acting the part of hostess with cheerfulness.

One of the company, touched in his better feelings, exclaimed, "Madam, we ought to apologize to you for intruding upon you in this way, and at such an hour, but I am at a loss to understand how it is you receive us so cheerfully, for being a religious person you cannot approve of our conduct."

Her reply was, "I and my husband were both formerly unconverted, but, by the grace of God, I am now a believer in the Lord Jesus. I have daily prayed for my husband, and I have done all I can to bring him to a better mind, but as I see no charge in him, I fear he will be lost for ever; and I have made up my mind to make him as happy as I can while he is here."

They went away, and her husband said, "Do you really think I shall be unhappy for ever?"

"I fear so," said she, "I would to God you would repent and seek forgiveness."

That night patience accomplished her desire. He was soon found with her on the way to heaven.

Yield on no point of principle, but in everything else be willing to bear reproach, and to be despised and mocked at for Christ's sake. In hoc signo vinces—by the cross patiently borne thou couquerest.

"This is a hard saying," says one. I know it is, but grace can make the heaviest burden light, and transform duty into delight.

Here let one also remark that to this gentle endurance there must be added by the persecuted Christian much exactness of life. We must be very particular when such lynx-eyes are upon us, because if they can find us trespassing they will pounce upon us at once. If it is only a little wrong, a thing which they would not have noticed in anybody else, they will magnify it and raise quite a clamor about it. "Ah, that is your religion," say they, as if we claimed to be absolutely perfect.

Be watchful, therefore, walk circumspectly, do not put yourself into their hands; let them have nothing to say against you save only upon the point of your religion. Nothing bothers opponents like integrity, truthfulness, and holiness: they long to speak against you, but cannot find a fair opportunity. Take care that you daily pray for grace to keep your temper, for if you fail there they will boast of having conquered you, and will assail you again in the same way. Ask for grace to be patient, and say as little as you can, except to God. Pray much for them, for prayer is still heard, and how knowest thou, O believing woman, but thou mayst save thy unbelieving husband? Only watch on and pray on, and a blessing will come.

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Pyromaniacs (and you?) contra mundum

by Dan Phillips

On the heels of trying to source a Spurgeon quotation....

One of my favorite stories from church history may never have happened — but should have! It is the tale of Athanasius during the Arian controversy.

Sitting pretty as we are, we don't feel the drama of that time, where there were powerful and influential professed Christians who were deceived by Arianism. The leading, unyielding, and stalwart defender of the truth of Christ's full Godhood was Athanasius (328-373), the Bishop of Alexandria. Throughout his ministry, Athanasius suffered great pressure, and even seventeen years spent in exile. One exile was specifically in retaliation for Athanasius' refusal to obey Emperor Constantine's order to reinstate the unrepentant heretic Arius.

The tide was not always with Athanasius.

The story is that, at one point, someone tried to persuade Athanasius to moderate his stand. "Don't you know that the whole world is against you, Athanasius?" the man pled.

"Then Athanasius is against the world," the bishop replied. I picture Athanasius either saying it with a shrug, or else nailing the other with a "Duh!" glare — but that is definitely apocryphal. (Alternate version: the Latin phrase Athanasius contra mundum was engraved on the bishop's tombstone.)

That story of unblinking, unwavering, adamant allegiance to God's truth has long moved and challenged me. Years ago — I think it was when I was seriously considering giving the then-future Josiah the middle name "Athanasius" — I tried very hard to find any historical, contemporary validation of the story in question. (I'm a stickler for sourcing stories and quotations before using them.)

Try though I did, searching and making inquiry, I was only able to push any kind of documentation back as far as the Middle Ages. So, while it surely fits what we know about the character of Athanasius (and of clerical appeasers), and while it's one of those stories that should have happened even if it didn't... it may be a fiction.

We do know that Athanasius stood, and was ready to stand against the world if need be. We just don't know whether the story ever occurred as reported.

Yet there is a much older story that has impeccable — you might say inerrant — attestation. That is the story of Noah.

Here is the divine comment on the whole episode:

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Hebrews 11:7)

Think of it. Even more so than Athanasius, Noah was literally the only man in the world who believed what he believed. His stance isolated him totally from all his contemporaries. Only Noah and his immediate family trusted God's word. All of the smartest, most powerful, most influential people in the world thought he was barking mad.

It was, in the most literal sense, Noë contra mundum.

And how did that work out for Noah? For his peers? Rather well, and rather disastrously, respectively. By his stance of faith in God's Word, Noah "condemned the world."

And we, today? Sometimes we feel (and are made to feel) that we're odd, that we stick out, that we're not trendy. Well: we are, we do, and we aren't. What's odd is that it is professing Christians who make those accusations — as if they're bad things, rather than par for the course (Matthew 10:11, 25; Luke 6:22; John 7:7; 15:18-20; 17:14; 1 Timothy 3:12; 1 John 3:1, 11-12). What ought to worry us, is if we find ourselves to be in the majority (Luke 6:26; James 4:4). Because it won't go well with the majority (Matthew 7:13-14).

Just remember: however small our number, more stand with us than stood with Athanasius — and far more than stood with Noah.

All that matters is whether the Lord stands with us (2 Timothy 4:17), and we with Him (Hebrews 13:11-14).

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Burned Alive: Some Background on the India Violence

Mission, Ministry, and Martyrdom in India Today
by Phil Johnson

UPDATE: See yesterday's comment thread. Commenter "Amit" writes: "if preachers from your community keep doing the same they are doing right now (Spreding dis-information about Hinduism) I am affraid to say that acts are justified." He's not joking or exaggerating, nor is he by any means alone in nursing those passions. Do keep praying for our brothers and sisters who live within easy reach of that kind of hostility.

raham Staines was an Australian (Brisbane-born) independent Baptist missionary who lived and served in India for most of his adult life. Staines was 23 years old in 1965 when he first went to India to meet a pen-pal with whom he had corresponded since childhood. While there, he visited an Australian-sponsored leprosy hospital. Deeply moved, he decided to stay and devote his life to working among leprosy victims in India. He never went back to live in Australia.

Graham became fluent in Oriya (the dominant language in Orissa), as well as the Santhali dialect. His ministry was mainly among India's poorest, most disadvantaged people. He met Gladys, a young nurse, in 1981 when she came to work with leprosy patients. Graham and Gladys married a year and a half later. Though they were relatively late starting a family (Graham was 42 and Gladys almost 32 when they married), they had a daughter (Esther) and two sons (Philip and Timothy).

And on a personal note, they were friends of Grace to India and members of the tape library there.

In January of 1999, Graham took his sons to the remote—almost inaccessible—village of Manoharpur (near Kendujhar, Orissa) for a four-day jungle camp. The terrain was so rough that reaching the village required an off-road vehicle. Staines had a four-wheel-drive Willys minibus that allowed him to get there, and he and his sons slept in the vehicle each night.

"Jungle Camp" was an annual event in Manoharpur; Staines had been organizing them there for fourteen years. Graham and his sons were well known and well loved by the villagers there, and he would teach them every year on a broad range of subjects ranging from public health and hygiene to the gospel, which he proclaimed unapologetically, but without pressuring villagers for conversions. Nevertheless, some 22 low-caste families had reportedly converted to Christianity over the years, and Hindu radicals in the surrounding district used the charge of "forced conversions" to incite hostility against Staines's work.

Sometime in the early-morning hours of January 23, a mob of more than 100 angry Hindu radicals approached the vehicle where Graham Staines, nine-year-old Philip, and seven-year-old Timothy were sleeping. The group surrounded the automobile, trapping Staines and his sons inside. They doused it with gasoline and then torched it, burning Staines and his two young sons alive. According to a short news item featured in Christianity Today a couple of months later, "As the flames engulfed the vehicle, the mob danced and some shouted, 'Justice has been done; the Christians have been cremated in Hindu fashion.' The mob kept would-be rescuers at bay for more than an hour until making sure the missionary and his sons had died."

There was a considerable amount of publicity about the incident in the worldwide media at the time (except in America's mainstream media, where the story was barely covered). Regional officials at first seemed prepared to let the matter drop after only a cursory investigation, until the Indian Cabinet in New Delhi ordered a judicial inquiry.

A year later, the purported ringleader, Dara Singh (aka Ravinder Kumar Pal) was arrested. Over the following three years, he was tried, convicted of the crime, and sentenced to death (in spite of Gladys Staines's personal plea to the judges for clemency on his behalf). Finally, in 2005, Singh's sentence was commuted to life in prison, and eleven other persons who had been convicted in the conspiracy were summarily released from prison. Recently, Dara Singh has petitioned the court for his own early release.

Gladys and Esther Staines remained in India and continued their ministry for several years after the murders. About four years ago, they returned to Australia. Esther, barely 13 at the time of the murders, wanted to earn a medical degree in Australia, and Gladys, exhausted, simply wanted to be a mother for a while. She still makes regular visits to India and continues to support the work she and her husband began in Orissa.



Most of India was shocked and outraged by the 1999 atrocity, but there is a radical Hindu element, still strong in Orissa, who continue to justify the unprovoked killing of Graham Staines and his two young children, even today. And the killer, Dara Singh, is still something of a folk hero among radical Hindus.

All of that is important context to keep in mind while trying to make sense of events in Orissa over the past ten days.

When radical Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was murdered last week (see our previous post), Hindu radicals immediately blamed Christian missionaries. Many Hindu nationalists remain insistent that Christian missionaries plotted and carried out the attack, even though non-Christian Moaists have taken responsibility for the murder. Blogs and websites with ties to the radical VHP have been reassuring one another that Christian missionaries were indeed behind the Swami murder, and all reports to the contrary are being dismissed by them as propaganda fomented by "the secular press" in India.

One false story, widely and quickly dispersed through the VHP community, claimed an employee of World Vision had been arrested as a suspect in the Swami murder. It turned out World Vision employees had only been brought to a police station for their own safety, after they were forced to flee bands of marauding Hindu fanatics. But VHP blogs and websites continue to propagate the false rumor anyway.

Sadly, the long-term effect of the violence incited by Hindu nationalists has had a chilling effect on Christian activities—especially the preaching of the gospel. Conversion is now a politically incorrect word and a concept guaranteed to stir hostile passions in India, where often no distinction is made between the simple preaching of the gospel and the forced style of "conversion" by which Islam originally spread through the subcontinent at the point of a sword.

Moreover, the situation in India is terribly confounded by the issue of so-called "mass conversions," urged even by some evangelical groups. Mass conversions are frequently publicized in advance and usually appear to be socially rather than spiritually motivated. India's Dalits (sometimes called Untouchables) are especially prone to use mass conversion as a social protest. (To quote a good friend of mine who is an Indian pastor: "Mass conversions . . . can result in social not true Christianity and much false conversions of the low castes who [merely] want aid and social recognition.") Mass conversions to Buddhism are common among Dalits as well.

Some so-called Christian groups in India seem to have forgotten that being a Christian is a matter of personal faith in Christ and obedience to Him as Lord. That's not an incidental idea, but the very heart of the gospel and the principle of sola fide. A failure to make the gospel clear is one of the sad by-products of the decline of Western evangelicalism—and it is tragic to see the effects of that decline hurting the church in India as well. Authentic Christianity is not a caste or a social identity, and that fact too often gets lost or obscured, especially in India.

So continue to pray for courage and conviction and safety on behalf of our fellow believers in India. These are difficult—dangerous—times for gospel-centered ministry there.

ADDENDUM: I got this message from a close friend in India this morning: I just wanted to add that hundreds of Christians have fled from their towns and even villages into the jungles and there are several stories emerging of christians being cut up into pieces (I was told of even one boy—son of an evangelist—of 13 who was cut up into 15 pieces). BTW, there are over 2 million people affected by a flooding of the Kosi river in the state of Bihar (one of the poorest states of India). Pray for the crisis there, too. ALSO: Read "In a crucified state," from The Hindustan Times

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Pray for India

by Phil Johnson

eports out of India over the past week or so describe a dramatic increase in violence against Christians, mainly at the hands of radical Hindus in the state of Orissa. The conflicts are to a large degree rooted in Hinduism's caste system and Hindu resentment over lower-caste people who have converted from Hinduism to Christianity.

But the incident that sparked the current violence was the August 23 murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, Orissa's top leader of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a hard-line Hindu nationalist organization. Saraswati was well-known for his militant opposition to Christianity. He is alleged to have directed the burning of hundreds of churches.



Maoists (communists) have taken responsibility for Swami Saraswati's murder, but Christians have been the main targets of the radical Hindiu backlash. VHP leaders insist Christian missionaries plotted the murder.

More than 50,000 Christians are said to have fled the region, hiding in jungles and forests to escape the violence. Many of them will likely be permanently dispossessed of all they have.

Reports also allege that the partisan government in Orissa has done little to stop the anti-Christian violence, and has perhaps even been complicit in the persecutions.

I've received a few e-mails this weekend from friends in India describing some of the persecution. The Web is full of stories about it as well. None was more disturbing than this e-mail I received, from an evangelical church in India:

Yesterday one of our church members B_____ P______ hailing from Orissa reported that Fanatic Hindus came to her home in Orissa and asked all of them to become Hindus. On refusal they started threatening the family, so her brother said, "We will worship our Lord Jesus." The Hindus said that they would kill him, and asked, "Don't you fear to be killed?" He said, "I am willing to die for Jesus." So they cut him in three pieces. They also killed her maternal uncle, burnt the whole house and threw them on the road. Kindly keep on praying. Things are started happening in our state also. Kindly see Orissa violence on Net for more information. I thank you all for praying, & we can say that He is El-Shaddi God. S_____ F______.

Here's another document, compiled by the Evangelical Fellowship of India, listing forty-six typical acts of violence that have occurred over the past week. At the end of the document is contact information for three government officials to whom letters of concern and protest may be addressed.

On 24th of August Pastor Jeebaratna Lima from Khurda District, was attacked and beaten up mercilessly. The miscreants doused petrol on him and about to set him on fire but timely arrival of Police saved his life. He was in Police custody but later was released on bail next day. Pastor Bahumulya Paik of Bamandei, Patpur Police Station. Ganjam District was beaten to a point of death by a mob of around 100 people. He vomited blood and later gained conciousness and managed to flee from the place while the group was engaged in attacking the local believers. Since the hospitals were closed no medical help was available. On August 26, the police escorted him to some distance by their vehicle and left him on the way to take a bus and go away. Pastor Bishnu Kumbhar and his pregnant wife of village Dutta, under Madan Rampur Police Station of Kalahandi district, were chased out. To save their lives, they ran away in the darkness and hid themselves from the attackers. Pastor Susanjit Beero of Tengada Pathar under Tikabali Police Station of Phulabani, was attacked by a group of Hindutva miscreants. Along with few believers he is still reported to be taking shelter in the forest though without food and clothes from the last 48 hours. Pastor Dillip Koshla of Tiangia village, under Raikia Police Station was attacked by the mob. His house and property are burned and looted by the unruly mob. Pastor Birendra Harijan, of Nakapolo Church under Dharmasala Police Station of Jajpur District was beaten up badly. As the miscreants were about to set his house on fire the timely arrival of police saved the disaster. Pastor Amit Pani of Ampani village, Koksora Police Station(PS) under Kalahandi district was chased out and locked in a house but they manage to escape. Pastor Lebiyo Raito of Kanjamendi, Nuagam PS, Phulbani, was attacked and chased away from his house. He is still hiding in the jungle. Pastor Jatan Nayak, of Bhadrak district was attacked and his house ransacked. He is in the Police protection at the moment. Pastor Abinash Garjang, of Tattaguda, Malkangiriis attacked and the Church building was ransacked. Pastor Aurobindo Sahu of Tumgurpada Church, Bargarh District is threatened to leave the place with dire consequences. District pastor Anant Benya of Badibahal church, Luisingha PS, in Bolangir District was issued threat to attack the church on 26th August. Pastor Pabitra Digal and Pastor Dharmendra Digal, of Sundargarh district have received threats to their life burning the church. Pastor Thomas Bhoi of Petapanga church Raikia, Kandhamal district was attacked by the mob and their household items were damaged. Pastor Ramakant Pradhan of Dotta Church and Pastor Sulaisng Barik of Hatibandh Church under Sinapali PS of Nuapada District was chased away from the village. Their whereabouts are not known. Pastor Bijaya Surya of Penkam Church, Gunapur PS, Rayagada District is threatened and asked to leave the place. Pastor Mothilal Sagar and his family, also along with 5 Sisters and two brothers in Madekela, Godphila block were attacked but they managed to flee and hid themselves. The miscreants are searching for them. More than 15 church buildings of Believers Church alone and several churches of other denomination are damaged. The rampage is still going on unabated. Church building and 60 houses in Tiangia village, Raikia, Kandhamal burnt. Two Christians named Dasarath Pradhan, Bikram Naik killed. Church building was bombed and destroyed. 30 houses burnt in Tengdapathar, Tikabali, Kandhamal. Church and parsonage damaged, 20 houses burnt, Two believers killed in Pettapanga, Saranggada, Kandhmal. Chandrasekaharpur, BDA Church, Bhubaneswar damaged. Tangupada, Bargarh District, the anti-Christians have threatened the pastor Arobindo Sahu to leave and they have a plan to destroy the newly built Church. Audio Visual Team are hiding in the jungle in Chandragiri, Gajapati District because of the threats. BOH (Education centre for Children) in Kuttenpalli, Bolangir District having 120 students was threatened to close down. Tattaguda Church of Pastor Abinash Garjang in Baipariguda, Malkangiri demolished. Bhatta Palla Church of Pastor John Naik in Madanpur, Rampur, in Kalahandi demoslished. Tujung Church of Pastor Basant Digal in M. Rampur Kalahandi damaged. Ladapanga Church of Pastor Rajanikanth Nayak in Daringbadi damaged. The residences of Pastor Bijaya Kumar Surya, Pastor Susil Lima of Miraguda, Gunupur ransacked and looted. No police protection given. The Church of Pastor Junus Digal destroyed and 180 houses of Christians burnt in Balkidadi, Kandhmal. Without food and drinking water the Christians are in the jungle from last three days. The church building and all the houses of the Christians in Kurmingia of Kandhamal burnt. The Christians have fled to nearby jungles. Church building and houses ransacked and later burnt in Tattaguda of Malkangiri District. Churches destroyed and houses burnt along with 4 believers killed in Dadingia of Raikia, Kandhamal. The church of Pastor Alif Nayak alongwith 12 houses in Ranipada, Kandhamal burnt. Pastor killed. Houses burnt and Christians attacked in Madkela, Tusura in Bolangir. Pastors Dandapani and Junus Diagal chased out of their place but they managed to flee to safety in nearby jungle. Four incidents of attacks reported in Koraput. 39. Carmel English Medium School in Khurda threatened to close down by Hindu fundamentalists. Houses in Khariapada, Udaigari were bombed by petrol bombs. Unconfirmed reports suggests around 10-11 Christians were killed in jungles by angry and unruly mob. Church in Balangir demolished. Complete failure of Law and Order in violence affected areas. Police and Para-millitary forces are mere spectators. 300-400 attackers burnt houses of Christians in Kurmanga, Raikia. Nuagaon village dominated by around 50 Christian families completely burnt down. Church in Nuagaon village burnt. Grace Girls Hostel having 60-70 students in Kotagarh, Phulbani attacked by more than 1000 people. Just 10 Police personnel posted for protection were not sufficient to protect the Hostel. The [Hindu] fundamentalist group are going from village to village destroying Churches, burning houses, attacking and killing Christians. It is reported that thousands of extremists have been brought from Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to perpetrate this violence which has spread to all the districts of Orissa. Their agenda is to wipe out Chrisitians and Christianity from India starting from Orissa. Christian community is saddened by the response of the Government so far to tackle the situation in Orissa that has become the boiling pot of crooked political agendas of the Sangh Parivar. EFI once again request the concerned Christians to voice their concerns at the below mentioned addresses: Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India Room No. 152, South Block, New Delhi, 110001 Shri Navin Patnaik Chief Minister of Orissa Naveen Nivas, Aerodrome Road, P.O.-Bhubaneswar, District-Khurda, Pin-751001 (Orissa) Email:cmo@ori.nic.in Shri Amarananda Pattanayak, IPS Director General of Police Rev. Dr. Richard Howell General Secretary Evangelical Fellowship of India New Delhi, India Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Do pray for our brothers and sisters in India.

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