Hello, my friends,

As you might imagine, I receive a lot of messages and comments over the course of the week in response to my work. This last week, several people told me that if the world is not persecuting me for my faith, I’m not a “real Christian.” They went on to say that the message I preach is weak and one of “soft men” if the world finds it appealing in any way. Almost every one of these folks used Matthew 10:22 or John 15:18 where Jesus talks about how his followers will be hated in support of their claim.

I am sure I’m not the only one who has heard this theme before, so I thought we could explore this issue together. Especially after seeing many who claim to follow Jesus spreading false and hateful lies about our Haitian brothers and sisters, which resulted in bomb threats and school closures in Springfield, OH, this topic of what we Christians think it means to be hated by the “world” and why is extremely important.

But before we dive in, here are some things that have me thinking this week:

​-Trump’s Lie Is Another Test for Christian America, by Russell Moore. As you know, Russell Moore is a former, high ranking member of the Southern Baptists and has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump. He always has such articulate calls for repentance and faithfulness toward Evangelical Christianity and this article is one of those calls.

​-Ohio Haitians Feel Panic, Local Christians Try to Repair Divides, by Emily Belz. This is a really illuminating article from Christianity Today that highlights the situation in Springfield, OH through the eyes of local pastors. It is a really important read.

​-Onward Christian Soldiers: The Christian Case Against Christian Nationalism, by Extremely American Podcast. I was honored to be on this bonus episode of Extremely American for a panel discussion about Christian Nationalism. It was probably one of the most tension-filled panel discussions I have been part of in a long while. I hope you find it helpful.

​-The politics of threat detection (with David French) by Good Faith podcast. This conversation with David French is directly related to my article for today about the Christian persecution complex here in the United States. I think you will find it very enlightening and helpful.
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Okay, now onto today's topic.

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"You Will Be Hated By Everyone Because Of Me."

Let's begin with scripture. Specifically, the scriptures often used to justify this idea of being hated because of following Jesus.

“You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” -Jesus (Matthew 10:22)

Taken at face value, this verse really does seem to imply that if we follow Jesus, we will be hated by everyone, but we must stand firm.

Yet when we read it in context of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 10, a different picture emerges.

This verse is found among the instructions Jesus is giving to his twelve disciples before sending them out to proclaim the gospel. In verses 5 and 6, Jesus says something very specific, “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”

Jesus isn’t sending them outside their own religious group, but to people within it. After giving them further instructions on what to take and not take with them, he says that famous line in verse 16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

Then what does verse 17 say? “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged…” where you might ask will they be flogged? "in the synagogues.”

Jesus goes on to talk about how their ministry will result in harsh family and community conflict along with their own suffering because of their ministry in his name.

The “everyone” who will hate them that Jesus is talking about here in verse 22 isn't people of "the world," but the people in their own religious community of Israel.

Reformers and Prophets

Jesus is essentially talking about how they will have the experience of being reformers, like the prophets of old. The prophets worked relentlessly, even gave up their entire lives in order to bring reform within Israel. They weren’t focused on the world. They were focused on calling God's people to be a people who are faithful to God. More often than not, everyone hated them for it and proved it to them. This is so similar to the experience Jesus is telling his disciples they would have as well.
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There's No Hate Like Christian Love

As you know, I grew up and pastored in very conservative Christian communities. As time went on, I couldn't help but notice the problems, idolatry, and even downright sin that seemed to just go unchecked within my own Christian movement (Evangelical Christianity).

In the year leading up to the 2016 election, I began to write and speak publicly about these things, as gently and pastorally as possible. The moment I did was the moment I actually understood what Jesus was saying here in Matthew 10.

Before that time, I had experienced some rudeness from people who I considered “secular” because I was a Christian, but nothing prepared me for what I would endure from my conservative Christian community.

Not only did I begin to see people stop returning my calls and opportunities for career advancement starting to disappear, but I could see leadership above me begin to look for any opportunity to push me out of the denomination where I had served for more than 14 years, which they eventually succeeded in doing.

All while this was happening, I would receive horrible messages from people I once counted as dear friends and hear the worst rumors being spread about me. All throughout my ministry and public writing career, the worst treatment and most hateful words I have ever received have been from people who claim to follow Jesus. All for simply trying to bring reform and repentance within my own religious group.

Honestly, I have yet to experience anything worse than the hate and mistreatment I have received from conservative Christians. Hear me, I do not believe all conservative Christians are that way at all. I just haven’t experienced anything as condescending, vulgar, and demeaning from any other people group as I have from my Conservative Christian community. Everything from rumors, condemnation, cussing, and questioning my character, my masculinity, and my eternal salvation. What is worse, they would follow these things up with saying, "I'm just telling you this because I love you and want what's best for you."

There is still so much pain from that season. Wounds that are reopen with every similar kind of message I'll get in my inbox on a weekly basis.

This kind of chaos is actually what Jesus means by his other often misinterpreted line in Matthew 10:34. After he describes all the hate and harsh treatment his disciples would experience by following him among their own religious group, he says, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Jesus had come into the world as the Word of God, which is sharper than any double-edged sword, and sought to first bring reform and repentance among his people, Israel.

Just ask anyone who has tried to bring change within their own religious group and you will hear how much it resulted in so much chaos and division rather than peace. Even though this work of reform and repentance is so necessary, it always takes such a toll on the one who has been tasked to bring reform.

The same is true for anyone seeking to truly follow Jesus within much of the American Christian landscape of today. The hate you will most likely receive is not from the world, but from fellow Christians.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” -John 15:18

I just want to briefly mention this verse too, because it often gets used for this theme as well.

Notice the word “if” at the beginning of this verse? The world hating Jesus’ followers is not a guarantee nor is it evidence that they are being faithful. Rather, Jesus is simply stating “if the world hates you” then tells them how they are to respond.

The incredible thing about this verse in context with the rest of John chapter 15 is this warning about the possibility of the world hating them comes directly after Jesus gives them the command to love. Telling them that to be associated with him they must follow his command to love.

Then, right after this command, Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that they hated me first.” Isn't that incredible? Put another way, if the world hates us, it should be for no other reason than because we are displaying the same compassionate, humble, justice-seeking, mercy-giving, self-sacrificial love that Jesus did. The same love that he was ultimately crucified for because his love for others disrupted the status quo among the wealthy and the powerful too much. Again, just like the prophets.

This is the same exact theme we have in the context of Matthew 5:11-12, where Jesus says in his sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Who is the "they" that persecuted the prophets? Their own people, Israel. What did the prophets do? Call for repentance and reform of the status quo among their own people.

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​Dismantle The Persecution Complex

What I have come to realize after studying these passages is that they express the opposite sentiment of how they are often used.

I have heard these words of Jesus be used in a way that not only guarantees and glorifies being persecuted by “the world” for following Jesus, but in a way that makes persecution a requirement and even an indication of faithfulness to Jesus. Much like the messages I received that I told you about at the beginning.

This kind of perspective on persecution is deeply problematic for so many reasons, but I’ll mention a few here.

First, this perspective can cause Christians to intentionally seek out conflict with those they consider to be “enemies” simply to receive backlash in return and then wear it as a badge of honor in their faithfulness to Jesus.

Second, this perspective can cause Christians to define any kind of accountability for their words and actions as being “persecuted,” which results in just doubling down on harmful words and actions, while neglecting any kind of self awareness about using the name of Jesus in hateful ways towards others.

Third, this perspective is so disrespectful to other Christians around the world who are actually having their lives threatened and taken because of their Christian faith to call what we Christians are experiencing here in America “religious persecution.”

What is often seen as “persecution” is often simply our cultural shifts and a growing, diverse population. Christianity is declining in influence and numbers in our country while other religious and nonreligious numbers are growing and seeking an equal voice in our society. This can be a very divisive, messy, and tension-filled experience for many.

If you see the need for Christianity to maintain authority and dominion over our our entire nation, the push for a pluralistic and democratic society can very much look like and feel like “religious persecution.” In reality, all we Christians are asked to do is share. Share this country with the diverse population that calls it home too.

Unfortunately, in the midst of this messy tension, as we have seen, the push for legislation against progressives, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights could be fairly said to be persecuted by certain Christians towards others rather than others persecuting Christians.

As David French articulates so well in this article, no Christian group is really immune to this kind of persecution complex. While I don’t see the same level of aggressive hostility on the Christian left as I have experienced from the right, both sides have a nasty habit of antagonizing and digging at one another until no conversation is even possible.

This happens legislatively as well. While movements like Christian nationalism seek to have the church control the state, there are other movements who seek to have the government dictate the church. Both are reactionary movements towards each other due to legislative and cultural overreaches of power from both sides in our recent and distant past.

Our goal instead should be to work for an equal balance for Christianity and other religious and non religious groups to live in harmony and for both the church and state to not dictate one another but also hold each other accountable.

All that to say, it is so important that we Christians stop mischaracterizing accountability and the request to share this country with others as anything close to being “persecuted.” A great first step to doing this would be to listen to the voices of the prophets within our own movements who are calling for a revival of faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Who Is Hating Who Now?

As I wrote this newsletter this week, my heart was broken by the amount of hateful rhetoric towards the Haitian community in Springfield, OH that was spread not only by powerful people like J D Vance and Donald Trump, but was circulated by countless others online as well. Many of whom claim to be Christians themselves.

This rhetoric not only mirrored racist tropes of eating animals that have been used against people of color and other marginalized groups since the 1800s, but it resulted in bomb threats and school closures and further potential violence, as hateful rhetoric tends to do.

As I watched this outrage happen online I just couldn’t help but remember the outrage over the Olympic opening ceremonies at the end of July. The ourage from Christians that a group of artists might have been "mocking God” was seen everywhere online for many days. Only to now see many of those same voices spreading baseless, hateful rhetoric about people they don't even know, people who are created in the image of the God they claim to worship. For me, the irony could not be more stark and more tragic.

Those who were claiming that others were “mocking God” in July are turning around and actually “mocking God” by claiming to follow Jesus and demonizing others, which is stoking local violence against them.

Haitian immigrants are not only here legally, but they are here because of how devastated their own country is right now. They were also invited by cities like Springfield Ohio to build their lives and the infrastructure of the city they now call home.

The hateful conspiracy theory towards them was based on a separate isolated incident that happened in a different city where the perpetrator wasn’t Haitian or an immigrant.​

I simply can’t imagine having my entire family and community targeted by wealthy, powerful people while trying to simply rebuild my life in a new country after having to flee my own because of violence. Our hearts should be broken over how shameful and disgraceful the Haitian community has been treated and pray no further violence is perpetrated against them because of this hate.

No matter the misinformation or the dehumanizing rhetoric, the sad reality is that when we Christians are seen participating in, let alone believing blatant propaganda and lies, we not only play a part in stoking hatred and potential violence towards others, but we lose any shred of integrity when it comes to our public witness to the truth. What is more, it makes us look like total hypocrites when we turn and say that WE are the ones being persecuted.

We can have many diverse opinions about many different political issues, but hate, prejudice, and deception are not political positions. It is just hate, prejudice, and deception masquerading as a “political position.” If we can't tell the difference between demonizing immigrants and opinions on immigration reform, we need new opinions on immigration reform.

Jesus said, “love your neighbor as yourself.” I believe this also applies to the things we choose to believe and talk about regarding our neighbors. If we don’t want false, hateful things believed and spread about us, then we should be even more careful about not doing that towards others.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" is the ninth commandment in the Ten Commandments, which is found in Exodus 20:16.

When we Christians bear false witness against our neighbors, we not only invite harm onto them, but we destroy our reputation as God’s people and any chance we have to be treated as people who “speak the truth.”

A theology rooted in fear results in hostility, aggression, and coercion towards others.

A theology rooted in love results in kindness, humility, and compassion towards others.

How we Christians treat others is the clearest indication of which theology we have.

All this to say, it’s always easier to say “The world hates me because I follow Jesus!” than it is to ask “How might I be using the name of Jesus in hateful ways towards others?”

It’s always easier to say “The world is just pushing out God!” than it is to ask, “How might I be pushing people away from God?”

It’s always easier to say “I’m being persecuted because of my beliefs!” than it is to ask, “How might I and the groups I associate with be using Christianity to persecute others?”

May we ask ourselves the hard questions with discernment rather than simply blame others and refuse to take accountability for our actions.

May we be open to reform within our Christian movements and hunger and thirst for the teachings of Jesus, rather than double down on the way things are right now.

There are better days ahead and we can get there together, if we but remain open to the leading of Jesus.

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