I Was Warned About the World- But Not About This

I've been training for this moment for decades.

I’ve been training for this moment for 4 decades.

I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom when I was in elementary school. After finishing the book, I opened my closet doors and wondered how I could hide persecuted Jews behind my drop-waist dresses with sailor collars. I loved those dresses.

I could fit 4- maybe 5?

I even tested out cutting a tiny hole in the back corner of the closet with a butter knife. Why? I think I was trying to see how they could escape through the wall once the coast was clear.

Our Christian school gave us reading assignments of biographies of Christians martyred for their faith. It was a settled fact that someday, we would all be faced with a MOMENT where we would be in a situation where we would have to decide to do something contrary to our Christian faith or face great sacrifice: friends, comfort, security, income, jobs. . .

Would I be ready?

I hoped so.

About a decade ago, I read Andy Andrews’ book How Do You Kill 11 Million People? In it, he laid out how the German government, led by Hitler, lied to the people and how many Christians, instead of facing the truth, literally looked the other way.

I determined not to look the other way.

It’s been years since I first was warned by youth group leaders, pastors, and Christian radio show hosts that “the world” would tempt me to deny my faith with offers of power and money.

I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me, as I surveyed my closet for the best hiding spots in 1985, what the US would look like in 2025.

I was prepared for resistance from “the world”.

I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me that the places I would experience the most resistance to holding to the way of Jesus would be in businesses owned and filled with Christians and in church gatherings.

I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me that the place my own children would be more likely to not fit in for not celebrating a man whose past and current actions were the opposite of the character we were taught to admire in a leader would be in their Christian homeschool tutorial.

My friend, Marty Duren, shared a hopeful vision in an essay on Christian Nationalism in his recently published book:

“We return to and embrace the ethics of God’s kingdom instead of those kingdoms of men: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Jesus’ wilderness temptation to receive all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for bowing to Satan is recognized as a temptation to sin, rather than the opportunity of a lifetime.” (The Disparate Ones: Essays on Being in the World but Not of the World, emphasis mine)

As I’m writing this, it’s been two days since United States President Donald Trump publicly lashed out against Ukrainian President Zelensky and falsely claimed Zelensky had started the war while praising the man who was the actual aggressor, Vladimir Putin.

I’ve been looking to see if there is any evidence that the mentors who taught me the historical accounts of murderous dictators and the brave Christians who stood against them are pushing back against the dangerous lies of our President.

I’m still waiting.

This invitation to power and influence isn’t the opportunity of a lifetime.

It’s a trap. I know because they taught me well.

The MOMENT is here. I won’t look the other way.

Image by Peter Tóth from Pixabay