Our Greatest Duty: Part One

[PART A: Historical Realities]

1. The Rise of Persecution in the West, Soft and Hard.

It is hard to imagine mass persecution if you grew up in the west during what was arguably the most prosperous time in the history of the world. The Pax Americana was the new world order following the allied victory in World War II and it ushered in for those born afterwards, a time of ease and pleasure that had never been known in our recorded history, largely due to technology, but also due to unprecedented global trade and communication. My father was a baby boomer, my mother a Gen Xer, I am and my friends are either Gen X or Millennials and we grew up with technological conveniences and a consumer culture that made life quite enjoyable and easy. IF you worked a steady job, you could get a decent house with a decent yard just about anywhere, take yearly vacations hundreds of miles from your home if you would so choose, eat out at restaurants every month and hit up fast food a few times a week. We had hundreds of channels of entertainment instantly transmitted to our televisions, interactive entertainment called video games, and our schools had plenty of coming-of-age activities. We started out riding bikes with our friends during a time of innocence, playing in tree forts, trick-or-treating, and playing out until sunset. Then we had high school sports, sleep-overs, bon-fires, prom, and college. We were told that if we stay in our lane, get a decent education, that we would get a decent job and that this would continue forever for our children and children’s children.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Francis Fukuyama, the famous historian and political scientist, boldly declared that liberal democracy had succeeded in defeating its competitors, first with monarchy in World War I, then Fascism in World War II, and finally communism in 1989. He openly declared “the end of history” with the hope that only the sky was the limit. Our shows depicted this, it seemed inevitable according to any sci-fi you watched that the nations would eventually be united, under a UN like entity, and we would then take our collective diversity and intelligence into the stars, colonize planets, and rule the universe, the final frontier.

It was during this time of economic prosperity, scientific discovery, technological conveniences unknown in the history of mankind, and of more amusement than man could ever know what to do with, that Christianity took its biggest beating, a serious beating indeed (arguably the worst time in history for Christians second only to the conquests of Islam).

While I grew up enjoying the fruits and riches and spoils of the American Empire, the faith that I was taught to believe was “our religion” was everywhere in retreat, decline, scandal, and humiliation. I was raised in a culture in Appalachia that at least paid lip-service to the idea of Christianity being part of their identity, just as being white, American, and Pennsylvanian was part of their identity. However, to take any part of that identity too seriously was viewed with suspicion. For one, Christians disagree with each other on so many topics, the idea that Christianity was the One Truth seemed absurd, especially in families like mine where Catholics married Methodists, and others yet married unbelievers. Further, “fanatic” Christians taught things that were contrary to “science” and pushed practices “that just weren’t done anymore” like moms staying home, or tithing, or resting on the Sabbath (or Lord’s Day) (which was only accepted inasmuch as it allowed for afternoon football or the NASCAR race). Christians didn’t help themselves much in this area either. Since we were all enjoying all the same pleasures of empire, most “Christians” basically looked and acted like everyone else, there were no “distinguishing” traits or customs, you couldn’t tell a Christian apart from an atheist either in a crowd, or at a job, or even in the home. That and the televangelist revolution led to the exposure of many “conservative evangelicals” as crooks, adulterers, and even closest homosexuals, but worst of all, hypocrites.

Since the 1960s, nearly every political battle, every shift of policy or of culture, was to the detriment of Christians. We were being phased out, marginalized, and mocked. Every film ridiculed us, or made us out to be some combination of closet pervert, cruel bigot, or hayseed hick retard. Rock music excoriated Christianity, pastors, churches, and even Christian morals (especially regarding chastity and purity) were treated as oppressive and lame. With this, rock music and popular music in general, increasingly promoted promiscuity, drug abuse, and sometimes blatantly satanic imagery and Christians would then, out of insecurity, overreact with either crap Christian alternatives (…to rock music, hollywood film, etc., usually due to budget) or prohibit such entertainment altogether.

Statistics showed that a soldier on Normandy Beach during the D-Day invasion had a better chance of survival for his life, than a Christian had in preserving his faith if he went to college, and yet, nearly everyone went to college and sometimes with the support and praise of parents and pastors.

Where this story leaves off, I will return, but first let us look at what was going on outside of the American Empire…

2. The Dark History of Communist Persecution in the East.

While this was all going on, we American Christians looked on with “horror” at the persecution of Christians in Soviet Russia and Maoist China. We heard stories at missions’ conferences or youth meetings about “how bad” Christians had it in other places and we dutifully put a twenty in the plate during our moment of inspiration. However, we had no idea how bad they actually had it.

The Archbishop of Moscow was beheaded publicly at the behest of the state, and Christian missionaries were murdered or ejected. Christians were captured, as true accounts tell, and put in gulags, subjected to shock-torture until they lost their minds, while others had their testicles crushed under jack-boots. Some Christians were tied to a cross and laid on the floor where every prisoner in the gulag was required to come and urinate and defecate on their face, and yet, as horrifying as this all is, it did not get to that place over night, rather it all started very slowly in the youth culture.

Christians at the end of tsarist Russia had huge discontent with the state of affairs and they ignored the fact their own kids in college were critical of the state, the rich, and even the church; largely thinking they were just opposing things that everyone already had criticisms about. Parents wanted to keep peace with their kids and before anyone knew what had happened, those kids had led a revolution and were the leaders of the Bolsheviks, inspiring poorly educated workers to help them in their overthrow of their bosses, lords, and governments. Soon they attempted to abolish the family and they did abolish the church, only to reopen it under international pressure with new priests and bishops loyal to the Kremlin. Free speech was abolished, families were monitored in their own homes, and many homes had wires in the wall for this purpose. Children were taught in mandatory public schools to turn-in their own parents for criticizing the government and even for practicing their faith. Tens of millions of people, largely Christians or political dissidents, were murdered by the State.

In China, the Cultural Revolution led to the mass murder of anyone that opposed the communist regime, often turned in by their own students or children based on the education they received from the state. The Maoists came down hard on the church and Christians were murdered with the rest, 60 million perished, which was the largest and most malevolent destruction of human life in mankind’s recorded history. Christians in China are still, this very day, arbitrarily thrown in prison for decades for possessing bibles or preaching; Likewise, until very recently, women were forced to have abortions and babies were killed or abandoned because of government pressure to reduce population with a one child policy and so disastrous was this policy that they have now finally reversed it. Even in my own life, I had to be on call, in the middle of the night, to pickup Chinese students illegally attending my Seminary from the airport and housed them as their landlord for student housing. The CCP would hack into our Seminary to attempt to find out who was attending, we even had to blur their faces when recording their sermons at Chapel. Being desirous to obey God’s Word, Chinese Christian couples would then have as many kids as possible while in the United States because of a foreign-student loop-hole in their one-child policy. We even had a Marxist professor from China who had secretly converted to Christianity and who was preaching in the underground church, but who, as far as the CCP was concerned, was an actual Chinese Marxist. The tyranny they lived under was real, and it followed them from China even to a city like Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, but the desire to be obedient was even more real and persistent in spite of how flawed and weak they often were (as all sinners are).

3. The Fall of the American Empire and the Challenge Facing Christians.

Now, let us return to our story in America, we had a new generation raised on sitcoms and Saturday morning cartoons, coddled and spoiled in every way, never knowing real hardship other than increasingly broken and dysfunctional families and mental illness. At college, the majority lost their purity, their innocence, their reason, and their morality, and they took positions of increasing power and influence with their postmodern version of Marxism at the fore of their thought and policies. They in turn created advertizing, movie scripts, school curriculum, laws, regulations, and HR policies nationwide and increasingly drained freedom and common sense from every corner of our once great society.

History will remember 9/11 as the symbolic end of America, much like the Blitzkrieg was to the end of the British Empire, or the sack of Rome was to the end of “the eternal city” after a thousand years of what seemed like invincibility. From 9/11 the invulnerable was made vulnerable and after that day nothing would be as it was and this is how history shall remember it: “The idea that the fall of the Berlin Wall was the “end of history” soon became dismissed, even as its supporters labeled yet another “one last enemy” in Islamic fundamentalism (which they have now extended to all religious fundamentalism). The final manufactured foil before the death spiral of their republic’s inevitable doom.”

Now, whether 9/11 was exactly what we were told it was is ultimately irrelevant for my purposes here, but as a crisis it conveniently gave the President almost absolute powers over the military and borders (Homeland Security, TSA, etc) and it gave the surveillance state the ability to monitor our communications and even our transactions (the Patriot Act), all of which are being used as we speak against Christians (as revealed in the FBI and Twitter Leaks). The same terrorist label once used against Islam has now been used for intelligence agencies to infiltrate conservative and traditionalist catholic churches and we have no reason to believe that it has stopped or will stop with just the Catholics. Christians are actively being banned from the public sphere by social media corporations at the behest of government agencies, which was an easy sell to corporate America anyway, as the state and the leaders of major corporations share the same anti-Christian worldview and profit incentives, and often come from the same families and from the same universities as one another. Make no mistake; the elite of America would just eliminate all of the fly-over state Christians if it weren’t for that; “ pesky constitution thing” and the fact that there are still so many Christians still hanging on that it would be too obvious to get away with (though not for much longer).

More could be said, but what must be stressed here is that this is NOT paranoia. Survivors of the Soviet Union and China, that we discussed earlier, moved to the US to be free to practice their faith, and THEY are the ones that are currently sounding the alarm bells. That is not paranoia that is a warning.

These survivors of communism say, with the utmost seriousness, that we are all in grave danger. The same cultural phenomena, the same policies, the same atmosphere, and the same enemies are all at work. Make no mistake, when the gate to the cage gets slammed shut (with you inside) it will happen quickly and suddenly and then they will close and lock the cage in which you will be tortured for the rest of your life under tyranny and oppression, and they are very close to getting the key to that gate, the key to total institutional power.

The survivors of soviet oppression are telling us that persecution IS coming. They are telling us that we are ALL in danger and that the state is coming after Christians. They are shocked that we so willingly and without reflection, utilize social media, email, and smart phones, for they remember how far more primitive technologies, with far-less capability, completely imprisoned people for generations. They remember that they had to lie in public, knowingly, in order to protect themselves and their families. We are now here. People are self-censoring or keeping their real opinions private and the soft persecution has begun which always precede and accompanies hard persecution and this is not just in the US, but all throughout the developed world, and there is no going back.

Christians, in recent years, have been losing their careers, educational opportunities, reputation, and we are now starting to see, starting now, the loss of child custody, the loss of freedom (to speak, assemble, and practice one’s faith), and soon what will follow will be the loss of property and imprisonment. This is soft persecution in-transition to hard persecution, and next will be loss of life or limb, next will be torture labeled as “reeducation,” imprisonment labeled as “a disappearance,” and murderous executions labeled as “the punishment of insurrectionists and terrorists.”

Yes, there will be those that fight back on the Right, most of which are, however, are one of the following: older, obese, chronically ill, mentally disturbed, paranoid, opioid-addicted, and uneducated.

Remember, and do not forget, that the first shot of despotism will occur when one of these angry boomer-cons are put in a corner enough to shoot a cop or government agent. At that point, we will see a crackdown that made the dystopian reaction to the nothing-burger of Jan 06 look like a routine traffic stop.

So, what is it that we can we do in the face of the wealthiest and most sophisticated surveillance states and military powers in the history of mankind? Is there anything we can do?

Yes, there is, and we will now explore this plan, a plan that is ancient, a plan that is biblical, and a plan that cannot be defeated or thwarted. This plan is how Christians in ancient Rome faced persecution and succeeded and how the Christianity of the future will succeed.

The Christianity of the future will not have martyrs in vain, because the martyrs of the future will be the martyrs of one church, for they will be every Christian’s martyrs. In Rome, we bled as a Body, for each time a person was killed for the Name of Christ it was just as if a new wound piercing the side of Christ was made out of which sprung forth life giving blood, for every time Christians die as a united front and as one church, the church is strengthened and grown.

The sacrificial suffering of the faithful emboldens the unity of the whole church and results in more piety, more evangelism, more childbearing, and an even greater courage to embrace martyrdom among God's people. In such an environment of sacrificial unity, division cannot and is not tolerated. Heretics are exposed and censured and the wicked are cast out with the tax collectors and prostitute, and all because of the church's willingness to die.

Only by dying to ourselves can the church come together again. This is the secret truth of the Red Martyrdom and now follows the biblical case for it as the truth of God.

[PART B: The Biblical Arguments]

1. A Witness for the Gospel is a Brother in the Gospel: A Look at How We Have Rejected the Biblical Doctrine of Christian Brotherhood.

There is an excellent charity called Voice of the Martyrs that my dear brother has recently begun contributing to and he will often tell me stories and give me updates on the great work that charity is doing in the world. The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) charity focuses on persecuted Christians throughout the world and especially those who are being actively persecuted under Islam and Communism (which still remain as the two greatest enemies of the Christian faith).

Now, when one examines the VOM website and their mission, you find that the word “martyr” applies to all Christians throughout the world who are being persecuted.

"By Christians, they mean just the Catholics, right?" Nope.

"....Just the Baptists then?" Nope.

"Well surely, they must mean the...." No, No, NO!

Some will say: “…But are “they” (fill in the blank with any denomination) even really saved?”

Well, what do the Holy Scriptures say?

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)

Do Catholics, Baptists, Mennonites, Oriental Orthodox, Anglicans, and Pentecostals call upon the Name of the Lord? Yes.

Do they believe in their heart that Christ rose from the dead for their salvation? Yes.

Have they been baptized into the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Yes.

If yes, then they belong to Christ. If they belong to Christ, they are saved, and if they belong to Christ they have put on Christ, and if they have put on Christ, then they are the true children of Abraham, the true Israel of God. We must remember again that those of the household of faith shall be known by their works, and especially their willingness to suffer for Christ, that again must be our measure.

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12)

Do the Scriptures teach that those who desire to live a Godly life in Christ that they will be persecuted? Yes.

Do Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals desire to live a Godly life? Yes.

Are they persecuted for pursuing this Godly life? Yes.

Do we treat each other as fellow Christians all united to the Body of Christ? NO. We do NOT.

“So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)

Those who die because they refused to deny their Savior shall be acknowledged before God the Father in Heaven and saved (see also Revelation 20:4).

So then why do we not acknowledge all such persons as Christians?

If Christ is acknowledging them before the Father for their standing for Him, then why do we refuse to call them our brothers? Why do we treat them as heathen while they are yet alive (and all because of often ancient divisions)?

Because we have collectively rejected the word of God.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” (1 Peter 4:12-16).

If we see Roman Catholics insulted in films, mocked at costume parties, and labeled as terrorists by the FBI, and they suffer this for their faith, then the Spirit of God rests upon them and they suffer as Christians and should not be ashamed.

Are we as Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists, or Presbyterians (or whatever we call ourselves) ashamed of them because of those things with which we disagree with them?

If the glory of God rests upon them, who are we to reject their honor and speak of them as with shame or bitterness? Why do we choose to act this way towards one another?

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” (John 15:18-21)

When we look at the Methodist church, the Assyrian Church of the East, or the Anglican church (I speak specifically of conservative bible-believing Christians in these churches), do we see them as enemies or as brethren?

If an Anglican no less than an Adventist, or a Wesleyan no less than a Calvinist, is hated by the wicked because of his or her commitment to live according to Christ and not of the world, and is mistreated because of it, then they are truly not of the world, they are truly of Christ, and they were CHOSEN by God to be His and to experience such sufferings for His sake.

Does the Adventist treat the Anglican as chosen by Christ? Does the Calvinist treat the Wesleyan as chosen by Christ (even if the Wesleyan wrongfully thinks he made the choice himself)?

Why don’t we think this way as revealed in the Bible? Why don’t we treat each other as chosen in Jesus Christ?

Why you ask?

Because WE have ALL REJECTED the WORD of GOD and it really is that simple.

We ALL now stand here accused by Jesus Christ, and one day you (as an individual) will stand before the Great White Throne in judgment and be asked to answer this charge.

What shall your testimony be in that day? Did you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Did you love all Christians as Christians and as you love yourself?

2. Christian, Do You Hate Your Brother?

We should treat as brothers in life those who we would call brothers in death.

If we regard a Baptist killed by a Buddhist in Myanmar as a Christian martyr in death, then why do we not fellowship with him as a Christian while he yet lives? Why do we support Catholics dying in Nigeria as martyrs, when we treat them as heretics and unbelievers here at home? Why should we regard a Lutheran murdered by the Soviets in communist Hungary as a Christian if we bar him from communion at our church?

The issue is that our theology of the church is inconsistent and built upon errors. We have puffed up these errors, often out of a regard of contending for true doctrine, but doctrine ultimately is defined by the Holy Scriptures, and even if you were to regard “tradition” as authoritative or necessary, no tradition or custom of the church has the authority to directly contradict the Word of God.

Thus, when we prevent other believers from partaking of Holy Communion with us, and from fellowship, and from marriage, what we are in fact saying is that they are not Christians at all.

The Scriptures make no distinction between Christians and the church, for Christians ARE THE CHURCH.

Hence, if you contend for true doctrine as you say, then why do you reject this doctrine on the unity of all baptized and professing believers in Christ?

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)

There is ONE Lord, ONE Faith, and ONE Baptism (as also the Creed says). Not one for every protestant, orthodox, or catholic denomination.

There is to be no division among us, this appeal by St. Paul is given to us in the Name of Christ!

But what if we disagree with them on certain doctrinal points? Doesn’t our duty to contend for true doctrine imply that we oppose their ministries and set up rival missions to theirs in unreached locations? Are we not to compete against them in the space of charity, outreach, and apologetics? Shouldn’t we try to thwart other Christian efforts because they hold to errors?

Do you need to get a bitch-slap from Jesus?

“John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9:49-50)

How about a kick in the balls from St. Paul?

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:1-12)

Even on questions of dietary laws and of the Sabbath day (one of the Ten Commandments), fellowship is NEVER to be broken, for all Christians, willing to live and die for the Lord, belong to the Lord and all will have to give account for their particular doctrinal beliefs.

If you say that you desire to contend for true doctrine? Then why do you not contend for this one?!

Those who refuse to acknowledge a fellow Christian (who is willing to suffer for Christ, and who is not in active rebellion to the Law of God) by barring them from the table of Holy Communion, are saying that they hate their brother.

Those who refuse to pray with Christians outside their own denomination, or work with other Christians, or fellowship with them, as if they were low-down dogs and heathen, such persons are saying that they hate their brother.

Saying that “you can still love them” while treating them this way, is a lie straight from the Pit, it is utter nonsense.

See the words of St. James, look at the example he uses to make his point. Those who say they love their brother, but do not care for them, are liars:

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

See now also the words of our savior:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:35-46)

If you do not love your brothers and sisters in Christ, you do not love Christ. You are His enemy.

Do you show special love and care for your Eastern Orthodox neighbor, or your Presbyterian uncle? Or even your crazy Pentecostal aunt? Do you treat them as you would treat Christ?

If not, I’d put on my fire gear.

If you do not love, commune with, and care for other Christians who are baptized into Christ and call upon His name and who maintain the absolute fundamentals of Scripture as represented in the Nicene Creed, then you are refusing love, communion, and care for Jesus Christ Himself. Your soul is at risk of eternal judgment.

“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21)

If you do not fellowship with all true and sincere Christians, regardless of denomination, then you are no Christian at all. You know not the Truth.

[PART C: How We Must Fight This Battle and Why It Matters]

1. A Willingness to Defy Churches Who Do Not Love the Brethren and The Martyrs.

We have just explored the Holy Scriptures, and what did we find?

1. It is a command, not an option, to have unity and love the brethren.

2. There is only one church, because all who call upon Christ and are baptized into Him are truly of Him and part of His Body, and this is reinforced by the fact that there is One Faith, One Lord, One Baptism.

3. Those who are doing the work of Christ, we are not to oppose, even if they are not of us, for anyone who is not against us, is for us, in the work of Christian ministry.

4. If you do not love, fellowship with, commune, or care, for all Christians as brother and sisters, such is the same as mistreating Christ Himself. You cannot show hatred and disregard for other Christians and be a Christian yourself.

5. The penalty for not loving all Christians is eternal damnation, because you are not of Him.

6. One of the principal ways we can tell who we should regard as Christians (within the household of the faith, as defined by the Nicene Creed), is whether or not we would regard them as Christian martyrs in the event they were killed for their faith.

7. Those who are persecuted for living a Godly Christian life, in any manner whatsoever, should be regarded as our brethren.


_________________________________________________


So, given these propositions above, how are we to deal with our present reality and the fact that we do live in a world of denominations and institutional separation? What should be our response, how should we then live?

1. We should reject the empty platitudes of elitist clergy having masturbatory “unity” conferences that compromise everything that matters without actually resolving anything and leaving everyone just as separated as when they first started, with the only “goods” which ever result being the formation of institutions and cooperative campaigns that invariably result in the enrichment of their so-called pious patrons. That is, we must reject the ecumenicist movement, because it is a sham and a scam.

2. We must be radical in defying these ecclesiastical authorities. If the filioque and the doctrine of justification were grounds for great upheaval in the churches of Christ, then this issue (which is FAR more important and far more dangerous to one’s soul) should be more than grounds for a NEW upheaval, and for turning the world upside down. We are called to return to having only One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, a church of all true Christians, a church which has always existed though fractured it may be in eyes of the world. We are called to be Peacemakers, even violent ones (let he who has understanding, understand).

3. Hence, Christians must visit and seek Holy Communion at any faithful Christian church, they should go out of their way to go to bible studies at various different churches and attend various different services. Have both Reformed and Lutheran sympathies? Then go to both and insist on membership at both, infiltrate leadership at both. We should seek access to the Lord’s Supper at any Christian congregation. In ancient times, a Scot could go to Italy or Alexandria and take Communion at any church he came upon along the road, for there was, as Scripture teaches, only ONE church. Our leadership WILL NOT bring us this God-honoring reality, they will not restore the church, so we must be the ones to do it.

4. Christian ministers must use their power and position to practice Nicene communion (semi-open communionism) to all sincere professing Christians that come into his midst. Only those accused (in accordance with Matthew 18) for violating the Law of God, can possibly qualify (under actual conviction) for being barred from the table (1 Corinthians 5), along with those who deny the truth regarding the nature of God and Christ as we confess (2 John 1:7).

5. Christians, of various denominations, must decide to come together to do more small-scale local charities, clinics, outreach, education, support, and defense. Likewise, Christians must unite in the engaging of common political battles, such as against the murder of children and of the sodomites. Likewise, we must recognize, support, and defend all Christian martyrs; we must elevate and honor all our people who suffer for our faith in any way. We must recover the ancient’s church’s theology of the sacredness of martyrdom.

6. As has been said elsewhere, there should not be “competitive” missions in the field. If a tribal region in Papua New Guinea has a Baptist mission already, then there is no reason for you to also have a Presbyterian mission there unless the Baptist mission requests extra help. This is because, after all, there is One Faith, One Lord, and One Baptism.

2. Common Table, Common Keys. Common Keys, Common Law.

You cannot have a common law without a common national faith, so nations with Christian majorities have gotten away with having secular law by using the division among Christians as pretense to claim that a common biblical law is not feasible for there are too many differences among them and the state cannot be seen as showing preference. So instead of showing preference to any Christian denomination, they show preference to “none” by which we mean, they show preference to scientific analysis, statistics, medical reports, and whoever has the most money to lobby the parliamentary body for its own interests.

For Christians to change things there must be a common law held among Christians that can be enforced independent of the state. To have this, we must have a common enforcement of a common standard, but you cannot have common enforcement without a common table (communion), that is, you cannot kick someone out of fellowship with every religious body in the country unless every religious body in the country is “technically” in fellowship. That is how the early church brought Rome to its knees, for to be removed from fellowship (excommunication) in one church meant to be removed from fellowship in all churches. By doing this, Christians solidify their unity on ethical matters and can then, as a unified front, lobby or reform government to implement Christians laws and eliminate socialistic regulations.

3. Unity and Covenant: How The Kingdom Takes The Nation.

The other aspect is covenants. Covenants are like contracts in the sense that have they two or more parties binding themselves in a mutually beneficial agreements. Covenants have existed since the beginning of record history and Christian covenants bind the covenanter to the terms of the covenant as under Christ.

As Christian churches continue to unify in a geographical region and families begin to form agrarian communities (see my future article of green martyrdom), then you will see local businesses, farmers, judges, magistrates, and ministers sign covenants with and through the church and to each other, declaring a commitment to the crown rights of Jesus Christ over their endeavors and the Law of God the standard of their ethics. Each sphere of human sovereignty, whether it be the private sector, the congregation, or the means of governance (courts etc), all are obligated to recognize the mediatorial kingship of Jesus Christ over their sphere and that His Law is to be the operating principle of all their actions.

This process of covenanting will continue to spread, from area to area, until all spheres of society, and eventually the most sovereign of all the human spheres (typically the national state), submits to that covenant and its obligations.

This movement of covenanting and bringing under subjection every form of authority is paramount to the conquest of Christ’s Kingdom and will cost lives. Many Christians, in the process of bringing a nation under Christ will be killed, tortured, imprisoned, exiled, and suppressed by those that reject the glorious light of that Kingdom as it marches through a society. However, as mentioned, such martyrdom is basis for recognizing who really is of Christ and who is not.

It was once said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, and this red martyrdom wherein Christians suffer real persecution is the seed of the church in the sense that it calls other Christians to exhibit courage knowing of their heavenly reward, and this emboldening and blessing of the church occurs in tangent with the church’s enemies increasingly losing ground and suffering calamity as God curses them for harming His elect, just as He has promised (I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you). We must recover red martyrdom and utilize its power, but we can only do so by opening our eyes to who the martyrs really are, and once we see them, we will never see the divisions of denominations again.

Joshua Johnson

← All articles