Recently, Cliffe Knechtle was interviewed by Tucker Carlson and he was asked if he thought there was more Christian persecution in the world or if there was a revival of Christianity in the US and he answered “Both”. In his explanation, he referenced a statistic that the 20th century had more martyrs than all previous centuries combined, specifically mentioning that since the year 2000, more than 50,000 Nigerian Christians have been slaughtered for their faith. And while this episode is not intended to critique everything that he said, we do want to focus on the statistic that he cited, why it is not correct, and why we shouldn’t use it to imply that the church is about to expand because of all the blood that has been shed. Besides it being a serious confusion of cause and effect, we first need to understand what persecution and martyrdom are and how they differ from God judging his church for its lack of faith and obedience.

In this episode, we spend time discussing how easily persecution is misunderstood. For part of this discussion, we leverage specific information we have from over a decade of ministry in Nigeria, specifically in the Northern areas where Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsman have been most active in their attacks. While many people in Nigeria have been killed, the disagreements and attacks have been much more over politics and resources than over faith. The church in Nigeria is largely corrupt, ironically, with much of it dominated by those who preach the prosperity gospel, many pastors there openly admit to sleeping with congregants, and theft and lying is rampant among church leadership.

The point of all this is not to be discouraging. God is working among his people, but we should recognize that in Nigeria and in the United States, we are not being persecuted for righteousness, but for our sins. It is not that revival is far away from us, but that the path to that revival lies not through enduring God’s judgment but in repentance.

Timecodes
00:00:00 The Clip
00:02:49 What Is Actually Happening in Nigeria
00:14:08 What is a Martyr
00:29:11 Reason for violence in Nigeria
00:37:51 Call to Repentance
00:50:02 True Witnesses
01:03:40 Do Martyrs Have To Die

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

While scripture commands those who follow after Christ to marry in the faith, many Christians end up in the situation where they are married to a husband or wife who is not a believer. And while there are times where the unbeliever chooses to leave or divorce, there are many cases where they do not. For a wife, there are explicit instructions in how to live in that marriage. (see 1 Peter 3:1-2), and while there are definitely nuances there that are worth discussing, for this discussion we are going to focus on the situation where a believing husband is married to an unbelieving wife. This is actually a growing problem. For many years, more women attended church than men, but recently that trend has reversed. So here is the question: how should a Christian man live in obedience toward God with his unbelieving wife?

Thumbnail image by Wyatt Fisher under CC BY-SA 2.0

Timecodes
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:34 Ephesians 5
00:06:15 Different Situations
00:12:01 Practicing Love from 1 Cor. 13
00:19:32 Leading an unsaved wife is your ministry
00:31:26 Sanctification is the Goal
00:46:18 Wisdom in God’s Ways
00:49:43 Don’t Lose Hope
00:51:34 How to bear her burdens
00:58:24 Watch out for bad influence
01:02:36 Sex as a weapon
01:11:29 Examine what your wife is bringing to you

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Why is the American church so desperate to receive a handout from the government? Why are Christians so willing to approve of men with no testimony of faith and to follow after them, seeking their approval in return? Is it because of a lack of understanding or a lack of faith?

For the purposes of understanding, it is true that God created the church and state to accomplish different roles. The church is the people of God, made to know Him and to understand His Word. The church’s power is in its intimate knowledge of God, both that the church communes with God and that it speaks God’s words to the world. The state was created to serve God in a different way: to punish evil and reward good. The state wields the sword, and in many ways it is dependent on the church to teach it right from wrong and how to properly discern evil.

But in terms of faith, the church is never to look to the state for protection or power. The church knows God and receives its blessings directly from His hand. The church should never look to the government to do its work or to be its provider. In doing so, it ceases to trust in God and becomes dependent on the government, and in that dependence, it finds itself no longer capable of speaking the truth for fear of loss.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Whether it is politicians saying that we can deport illegal immigrants because you are separating children from their parents or the bill needs to pass because it is the biggest spending cut ever, politicians lead primarily with stirring up emotions. The church isn’t much different as music and stories are used to create an atmosphere so the people first respond emotionally rather than with reason. It is then easy to get them to agree with the reasoning when they are emotionally invested already. So here’s the question: How should emotion be used in leadership?

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson