Innocent as Doves in a Politicized Church

The Politicized Church takes another form: the innocent as doves mentality that doesn’t accept also the shrewdness of snakes. It forms a Christian Bubble in which the captives fail to see that Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves ” (Matthew 10:16).

Why command both?

Jesus is not only the Son of God, but the Author of Reality. To be innocent as doves (and dancing with wolves!) without also having the commanded shrewdness of snakes is naïve at best and increasingly becomes the operating definition of a fool. It is this Christian Bubble—that religion of nice idealism where street smarts have no place—that causes Christians, even the Pope, to do very foolish things in the name of tolerance and magnanimity.

I totally get—from within the Christian Bubble—why Pope Francis would wash the feet of Muslims. I’ve read John 13 and I know what it says and whose feet were being washed. And I know what it doesn’t say.

Less easy to understand is why Pope John Paul II would kiss a Koran, and Scottish cathedrals would allow Islamic prayers from within the church.

I concur completely with Reverend Gavin Ashenden who resigned as Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen on account of this “not-shrewd” action of the Scottish Cathedral. Ashenden wrote,

I resigned in order to be able to speak more freely about the struggle that Christianity is facing in our culture.

I had no idea that there were plans afoot by a Scottish Cathedral to “reach out to Muslims” by scrapping a Bible reading from their worship on the Feast of the Epiphany (when Christ’s Lordship is celebrated as the Light of the World) and replacing it with a part of the Koran that denied Jesus was the Son of God.

But when it did happen, it represented such a serious repudiation of allegiance to Christ and the Gospels, that it could not be left unchallenged.

Leaving aside what kind of Christian would be happy to bring into the Ministry of the Word a passage from the Koran used to repudiate the claims of the Gospels, it represented one more step along a road, which if the Church continues to follow, will speed up the destruction of Christianity in our country.

Wow and Amen.

What the well-meaning doves want people to believe is that they’re just nice, considerate, open minded, tolerant, multicultural, and sympathetic to Islamic refugees. The shrewd-as-snakes missing component is that communication has both a source and recipient. How it is received dwarfs how it was intended.

Make no mistake, to followers of Islam, washing feet and Koran kissing means Christianity submits to the authority of Islam. Make no mistake, to followers of Islam, their prayer denying Jesus is the Son of God in that Scottish Cathedral is nothing less than their hostile act of spiritual warfare in which they believe they’ve emerged victorious. As they see it, Jesus bows to Muhammad. And the jihad is on its way to Rome…just as they’ve announced they want to do and the black ISIS flag won’t just be photo-shopped onto the Vatican–they think they are nearing its imminent reality and they’re doing it with the blessing of fools.

I’m not saying stop caring about refugees because Jesus would remind Christians that we’re all aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11). But He’s also the same God who knew the threats posed by lawless people and even today commands us to have nothing to do with lawlessness (Ephesians 5:11, 2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Maybe I’ll talk more soon about why I think the man of lawlessness of the last days may be on the move and how millions of Muslim migrants may be part of it. But for now, real Christians don’t let their brothers and sisters drive drunk on idealism when they can be innocent as doves, yes, but remembering they are likewise commanded….to be as shrewd as snakes.

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