Many Christians and their Shepherds reason if they are not silent in the face of wrongs, they may be seen as rude, or taken as unkind. They wrongly believe truth’s confrontation with the lie would not be Christian. They boast that they strive to live a life without making enemies, by fearing the world’s condemnation[1]. They unwittingly say it is the Christian way. This is why so many Christians do not mingle in the never-ending fight for righteousness between good and evil. They do not endure their duty to God by being bold and brave like the Book of Acts church. They try to keep from making foes and therefore, small and easy is the work they have done for Christ. They have not exposed the darkness of traitors to the faith or warned the wicked of their evil ways in order to save their lives.[2] They do not honestly use the power of the spoken word of God[3] to uncover the perjured lips of evil principalities and governors. Therefore, they do not try to turn a public wrong to right. The reason is obvious, they have not “learned to do right: seek justice. Defend the oppressed and take up the cause of the fatherless” (Isaiah 1:17). They have become, cowards in the fight for righteousness.
Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) said before the Nazis hung him on a hook with a wire. “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Bonhoeffer may be referring to Acts 7:58 when Saul witnessed the stoning of Stephen and accommodated the stoners by letting them lay their clothes at his feet. Paul was silent and his silence gave support for the killing of Stephen. Paul did not act and he did not speak in the face of evil.
Most of the evil works of Satan are lies delivered through humankind and principalities. Satan has no power over people but his strength is in deception, and subterfuge to affect the mindset of humans. When Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16:23, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Jesus was telling Peter that Satan had influenced his mindset by standing in the way of the word of God.
Silence as we can see does nothing but further the opportunity for sinful acts to be undiscovered and justice undone. Holding back part of the truth then becomes the game as to not offend, but half-truth speakers are false witnesses.[4] When a person testifies in court, they swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God, but telling part of the truth is perjury.
Silence enables the Christian mindset to become blurry and forget their silence is participating and supporting evil acts. Silence in fact vicariously supports the lie, because silence can be an essential part of evils success. The story of the person who awakens in the middle of the night to see his neighbor’s house who is on-vacation being burglarized. Does he call the police or go back to bed? Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold him guiltless, so he better act, or if he remains silent, he is supporting the burglars.
How about the Drag Queen story hour being held at the local zoo or library? Drag Queens are homosexual men dressed as women telling evil stories to corrupt the minds of our children and convince them that sexual perversion is normal and honorable. Do the Shepherds and Disciples in the local church’s stand and defend the Gospel of truth in the public square, against what God calls an abomination? Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold them guiltless, so they better act, or if they remain silent, they are supporting the Drag Queens.
There are many cowardly churches whose mindset is trying to stay out of the public eye and neutral as to not offend anyone. This is the opposite of being “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Seeking neutrality in the battle between good and evil, identifies this enterprise as evil. Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30). Silence denies Christ before people, and sadly, Christ will deny them before His Father in heaven.[5]
The fight-or-flight response is a functional reaction to a perceived threat or harmful event. Silence is the mindset of fearful flight that worldly reason concludes will escape perceived conflict, persecution or punishment. The flight mentality becomes compulsive as a fearful learned response, because like flight animals it becomes their only defense. Silence only temporary hides Christians from evil because spiritual evil never stops if not confronted by the most powerful being on earth, the Holy Spirit of truth. This is why “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28). Our duty to God in Ephesians 6:10-20 is to bravely confront and fight evil with the sword of the spirit the word of God. However, if we are negligent in our duty, God “Curses the one who does the Lord’s work deceitfully…” (Jeremiah 48:10)
Paul instructs us to renounce deception in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways (silence is one); we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” Paul writes, “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech” (2 Cor 3:13).
All truth comes from God. When His truth is spoken by His Disciples in the market place of ideas this has the result of countering the lie by allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede in the lives of those who are being lied to. Disciples speaking the truth of Christ calls upon the Holy Spirit to “…open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God…” (Acts 26:18). This proves the most powerful entity in the world is witnessing the Word who became flesh and brought grace and truth, (John 1:14). The second most powerful is the lie, because it represents itself as the truth.
In Hebrews 5:9, the source of salvation is for those who obey Christ. One of Christ’s commands to obey is in Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” The reason to expose lies follows in Ephesians 5:13; “But when you expose them, the light shines in upon their sin and shows it up, and when they see how wrong they really are, some of them may even become children of light!
God’s duty-bound truth speakers understand they can be the final voice in a divine chain of witnesses in the life of an unreached soul to positively affect his or her eternity. This is the reason we bravely speak into darkness because Christ has given us the power (Acts 1:8)[6] and the great commission to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
The poem named, “No Enemies” by Charles Mackay (1814 to 1889).
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas! my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.
How can Christians and their Shepherds have the evil mindset to sit around in church hoping God will do something, and not use the power God has given them to speak the light of Christ into this darkness that can bring those living in darkness to the light of Christ? Maybe there is a new kind of Christian I’m not aware of, called the covert Christian. They are lightless, cowards. May it never be, but it is!
Christians today need brave leadership that will stand for biblical truth in the public square, vigorously refuting the lies, evil rulers, and the worldly forces of darkness! God said in Isaiah 6:8, Who will go for Us? Who will say, “Here am I. Send me!”
David Howard, Foxhole Ministry
[1] Luke 12:4-5 – My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
[2] Ezekiel 3:18-19 – When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
[3] Acts 1:8 – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me… to the end of the earth.”
[4] Exodus 20:16 – “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
[5] Matthew 10:32-33 – Confess Christ Before Men – “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
[6] “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem …and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”