We Speak Truth

The news, to a degree, and social media, in particular, has been lit over what took place Sunday Morning at Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. If you’ve somehow missed the firestorm, here is a brief overview of what transpired.

Overview

Eight days ago, Sunday morning, January 18, a mob of anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) protestors stormed the sanctuary of Cities Church, completely disrupting and halting the worship. The protestors suspected that Cities Church Pastor, David Easterwood, is the same David Easterwood who is a “high-ranking ICE official.” I don’t know if that suspicion is accurate or inaccurate, and really don’t believe it matters.

Accusations arising from the intrusive behavior hold that adult members of the congregation were accosted, children were frightened, and the entire invasion was marked by intimidation and threat. Seeing videos of the encroachment, it is difficult to argue against those characterizations.

While the protestor incursion is disturbing, what has many people fascinated is the involvement of fired former CNN Correspondent and program host, Don Lemon, now working as an independent “journalist.” Lemon livestreamed the invasion for roughly thirty minutes on his YouTube channel. Lemon interviewed Cities Church Head Pastor, Jonathan Parnell, as well as protestors and congregants. In his confrontation with Parnell, Lemon argued that the invaders were exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

In response to Lemon’s involvement, he has specifically been called out for prosecution along with the protestors. Lemon maintains he was merely covering the event as an objective journalist. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating the entire ugly affair as a potential violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act which protects houses of worship from force, threats, or obstruction.

Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon, has put Lemon “on notice,” as an indication that Lemon’s “pseudo journalism” is not protected should it be determined that it was used in a “criminal conspiracy” to disrupt worship. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has threatened to prosecute the protestors, including Lemon, stating, “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”

We’ll see.

A Proper Response

With that backdrop, it is reasonable to ask, “What constitutes a proper response from a Christ-follower?

This Is Expected

In short, there is no proper response. What is the proper Christian response to a mosquito that pierces your skin to draw blood? What is the proper Christian response to a bad actor on the internet who hacks into and drains your bank account? That’s what they do! There is no response to such things because we all know that this is how they behave.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, what you read from here on will sound and feel familiar because this is a theme I return to with regularity. I’ll continue to bring it up for as long as there is a need to do so, which is likely to be for the remainder of my time on this earth.

People are shocked by the news, photos, and videos of the invasion of Cities Church. I am not, and I encourage you not to be shocked by it. The intruders are the world. They are in the world and of the world, and this is what the world does.

Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
– 1 John 3:13, ESV

Amplifying what John said above, I would say “Do not be shocked that the world hates you, neither be dismayed by it.” We should expect this and be concerned if it were not happening.¹ Anyone who is shocked by what happened at Cities Church is either ignorant of scripture, or is disregarding what scripture says in this regard.

We are sternly warned throughout the New Testament that this type of behavior is on the agenda. Disciples of Jesus in Nigeria, China, India, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, and Libya know they are in danger the moment they declare their allegiance to Jesus. In most of those countries, such a declaration is a death sentence. It is not shocking. It is expected. It is the world.

And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
– Mark 13:13, ESV

The context of this quote from Mark is the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in August of AD 70, but the principle holds true to this day. The world hates the faith of a Christ-follower because that faith is real and the object of that faith is true. You will note that the world does not engage with equal disregard for other major world religions. Christianity is given this special attention specifically because it is based in reality.

An Intrinsic Inability

It is important to understand that people like those who invaded Cities Church cannot be argued with, nor can they be reasoned with. We will never see fruit from such engagements because those arguments are with a depraved human being. Just as they are in and of the world, we are of the Spirit and what we want to see in them is that which is spiritually discerned, something those without the Spirit can never grasp.

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.
– 1 Corinthians 2:14-15, NASB

Please do not miss the three key phrases in what the apostle Paul has said here:

• they are foolishness to him
• he cannot understand them
• they are spiritually appraised

Do not lose sight of the fact that they believe we are the freaks, the oddballs, the ignorant buffoons. Everything we know to be true is an absurdity to them. They will never understand or embrace our ethical and moral worldview. We can proclaim messages of morality at the world from sun up to sundown, and the world will look at us with a blank stare.

A Better Investment

The world, as a whole, will never embrace the church or the gospel message. We know that. But we still have a responsibility to sow seed, remembering the parable Jesus taught.² In every presentation of this parable, Jesus begins by saying, “A sower went out to sow.” He says nothing of the sower inspecting the soil to determine the quality, receptibility, likelihood of a good yield. He does not say the sewer went out to debate and argue with the soil. The sower just sows. He throws seed.

We need to be throwing seed, which means we are not silent. We are speaking truth in the face of overwhelming evil. Truth in the face of ridicule and scorn. Truth in the face of political backlash. Truth in the face of governmental reprimand.

We throw out seeds of truth, knowing most of it will be trampled underfoot. But there will be seed that germinates and multiplies. We speak truth when huge percentages of what purports to be “the church” compromises and caves in to what culture demands. We speak truth when we are ostracized, blackballed, and physically attacked. We speak truth when we are banned, deplatformed, doxed, and cancelled.

While the world is drowning in error, we are not shocked. We expect it, and we speak truth.

Blessings upon you, my friends.

Victoriously in Christ!

– damon

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1. Luke 6:26
2. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Mark 4:1-9, 13-20, Luke 8:4-15