An anonymous writer challenges us to think through how to navigate through the present times of antipathy towards biblical faith
James Mildred gave some well-advised warnings of the trend in politics in his new en column ‘Body Politic’.
He concluded his article in the February issue by saying ‘if history teaches us anything, it is that God’s plans and purposes are unstoppable’. And so they are.
We know that at the end of the age the world will experience a time like that of the days of Noah, and like those of Sodom and Gomorrah: a time of little faith. History is moving towards that destination and surely God’s final judgment is nearer.
Lloyd-Jones’ warning
Politically and morally the UK must be at its lowest ebb. Included in this is an extra element of which Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave warning: ‘There have often been periods of gross sinfulness, moral degradation, riotous living and so on: but there is an additional factor today and it is this which I regard as being most desperately serious. We are not merely faced with disobedience today, we are faced with a denial of all moral principles and of even the very concept of law itself.’
We do well to ponder that if two World Wars have failed to correct mankind and we have now reached the above situation, why should God strive any more with man? (Genesis 6.3)
Do the words of Isaiah apply to us: ‘Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint’ (Isaiah 1.5).
The cost of persecution
from February The en Commentary addressed ‘Brave Men’ and was a call for brave leaders, those who will be pioneers in evangelism and defend Christian ethics by displaying a seemingly foolhardy courage so desperately needed in the West.
One can understand such a call. True Christianity even in the UK has become serious. The times of not knowing persecution are over. It may now cost (although you can pass without notice by being all things to all men-in the worst possible sense of the words!).
It has been said that the Downgrade Controversy cost C.H. Spurgeon his health, and maybe his life, as he sought to defend the complete reliability of Scripture against the inroads of liberal theology. The apostles may have had a ‘clear-cut moral outlook which gave no quarter to materialism, lying, adultery, heresy, homosexuality’, but it cost most of them their lives. John the Baptist was outspoken, and lost his life.
Hide or speak?
By contrast to this, Proverbs 22.3 speaks of the prudent man who foresees coming evil and hides himself. 7,000 in Elijah’s time did exactly that.
So are we to stand or to be hidden? Alexander Maclaren comments as follows: ‘Christ’s boldest witnesses are sometimes bound to save themselves by fleeing to another city. To hide oneself till the calamity be over may be rank cowardice or commendable prudence. All depends on the circumstances of each case. Prudence is an element in courage and courage without it is foolhardiness. There are outward dangers for which it is a Christian duty to run and there are outward dangers which it is a Christian duty to face.’
So it is a question of prudence. What if we had a few leaders with Elijah’s spirit who could stand against secularism, humanism, and Acts of Parliament that are undermining Christianity? We might reflect on Elijah who boldly defied all those 450 prophets of Baal and achieved a stupendous victory. The record goes on to reveal that … Elijah fled? What? Why did he flee? For his life. Preservation.
The days of Elijah
God said: ‘I have reserved (preserved) to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the images of Baal’ (Romans 11.4).
We might ask why the 7,000 faithful did not rally round their new hero. But if they had, Jezebel may well have had King Ahab slaughter every one of them. God’s wisdom in these matters is greater than ours. The scale of the task facing such leaders today is absolutely enormous. Even a man like David, who courageously defied Goliath, acted like a gibbering fool to preserve his life when he fled to Achish, king of Gath (1 Samuel 21.10-15). Why? Preservation.
It is only in the fullness of time and in the coming of universal judgment that God’s glory will be displayed, and the Lord vindicated as every knee will bow.
A matter of wisdom
We must always stand in the almighty power of God, as Paul’s letter to the Ephesians instructs, but there may be a time to stand at the cost of our lives and there may be a time to be hidden to preserve our lives. It is a matter of wisdom, discretion, prudence. We must consider carefully each confrontational situation as it arises or before, if we see it coming. To be very, very careful in our actions and to consider with great thought how we should act. To help us we do have the benefit of history and the wise counsel of former ministers.
William Jay (1769 – 1853) was an English nonconformist who preached for 60 years at Argyle Chapel in Bath. He said: ‘Christians are sometimes hidden by persecution. For though this does not prevent their being Christians, it hinders them from appearing as such, especially by secluding them from their social and public assemblies.’
Picking up on the Lord’s words in the Sermon on the Mount, Spurgeon said: ‘It may be needful to go into the market or on the exchange. But be in the fear of the Lord among the throng. It may be thou wilt seldom be able to speak of that which is most dear to thee, lest thou cast pearls before swine.
Amos 5.13 says: ‘Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time.’ Matthew Henry comments: ‘It is an evil time when good men will reckon it to be prudent when wrongly treated, to make no complaint to magistrates who would not act justly. For God’s faithful ministers and people were maliciously treated if they attempted to reprove evil. They were not only despised but that there was enmity towards them. Inveterate enemies that could not even endure the sight of an honest man and abhorred him that spoke justly.
‘In addition, it shall seem fruitless to reprove when they see wickedness so full committed to. Cast not your pearls before swine – at those who are joined to their idols. Let reproof be kept for better times for there is a “time to keep silence and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3.7)’. Evil times will not bear plain dealing.’
Against the tide – impossible?
Over 50 years ago, at the Evangelical Alliance meetings in 1966, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones asked for a stand to be made, but his call was resisted and it may now be impossible to swim against the tide of humanism, secularism and the law of the land. It is now brazen or, in the words of Isaiah 3.9, ‘they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not’.
The great Evangelical Bishop J.C. Ryle wrote: ‘I believe that it is for the safety, happiness and comfort of all true Christians, to expect as little as possible from churches or governments under the present dispensation, to hold themselves ready for tremendous convulsions and changes of all things established and to expect their good things only from Christ’s second advent.’
Is there a modern-day application of the following words of the prophet Isaiah? ‘Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of this place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity’ (Isaiah 26.20,21).
