A guest writer shares his experience returning to the United States after serving overseas in an undisclosed location.
From 2020-2023, I had the privilege of working in a nation that has consistently been one of the top 5 most persecuted countries in the world. Local Christians risk losing their jobs, families and clans (their main source of identity and support), jail, and even death. As an expatriate, they assume I am a Christian. However, I could get kicked out of the country for proselytizing at any time, and the threat of jihad always remains. A group of us expatriates lived in a small city of about 30,000 people with only one known local believer. We gathered in each other’s homes as the body to worship and encourage one another as we sought to share the gospel with an unreached people group largely resistant to the gospel. I have been stateside for a year now. While I grew up in the American church, spending significant time in a very different context, and re-entering the American context has opened my eyes to things in the American church I couldn’t see before. Here are a few observations.
A Demonic Lullaby
Before returning to the US, I remembered reading a testimony of a Christian couple who had moved to the US from one of the most persecuted nations on earth. After only a short time living in the US, they chose to move back to their home country. They sensed a demonic lullaby, feeling they were at risk of being lulled to sleep in their faith. They returned to where their dependency on Jesus would remain strong so as to keep oil in their lamps (Matthew 25:1-13).
Shortly after arriving in the US, I heard another testimony of a brother from a persecuted nation who had been beaten up, lost his job, and homeless three of the last five years. A friend of his in the states flew him to the US for a two week break of rest and encouragement. A week into his time, he was spending time with Jesus on the porch of his friend’s house. He saw a spider web and knocked it down. The next day, he noticed the spider had completely rebuilt his web. Astonished, he exclaimed, “Even the insects are busy here! In my country it would have taken that spider a week to rebuild his web!” He told his friend he wanted to go home early because he felt a spirit of busyness that threatened his faith Jesus.
I was aware I was moving back to a lullaby and that I needed to be alert to its seduction. But after being stateside only six months, I was succumbing to its allure. I have never been the type to think or worry about money, desire to get rich, be addicted to harmless hobbies, or desire to live a ‘normal American life’. Yet upon moving back, getting married, and thinking about the future, I found myself constantly checking the stock market, and thinking of ways that I could make enough money to live a comfortable, middle-upper class American life. I never considered walking away from Jesus. My eyes simply weren’t focused on following Him, the Great Commission, and how to fulfill my role in it in a worthy manner in light of his return (Ephesians 4:1-3). Rather, I focused on my own life, on this age, on how I could achieve a comfortable, satisfying life, while still having the hope of salvation in Jesus and seeking to serve him. In other words, my eschatology shifted from being absolute to subjective. The demonic lullaby did not cause me to question my faith, tempt me into overt sin, or abandon intentionally serving Jesus. It simply shifted my focus from the age to come to this age, tempting me to serve two masters (Ephesians 6:24), and deeming myself worthy of being spit out (Revelation 3:16). My eschatology shifted from being absolute, focused on the return of Jesus, the resurrection, the kingdom of God, and the age to come, to subjective, focused on creating a good end to my life in this age.
The scary thing about all of this is that I was expecting such a lullaby to be a temptation. Yet, after the Holy Spirit’s gracious conviction, I found the lullaby to be much more subtle, gradual, and deceiving than I anticipated. It was almost undetectable. I told myself, “You need to be responsible. It’s a good and godly thing to want to provide for your family and give your future children a good life. It’s not an idol, it just needs to be done.” To be honest, I still would give a hearty amen to this. But here’s the deceiving part: as soon as these things are prioritized above Jesus and being his disciple, or at the expense of them, we have been deceived.
I once reunited with an friend who had played a vital role in my discipleship. He shared the gospel, talked of making disciples, and had discipled me. When we met a few years later, while talking about these things, he said, “I’m married now, have a kid on the way, and have a family to provide for.” He seemed to infer he could no longer do these things because he had a family now. This is the deception.
In the American church, I do not think it is the devil’s primary goal to get us to reject Jesus altogether. Indeed, this is happening in increasing numbers, but I think the devil’s goal is to seduce us to put other things above him and his kingdom, all in the name of godliness. It is to lull us to sleep into the subjective eschatology of the American dream (which includes faith), only to wake up having to give an account on the day of the Lord (Hebrews 4:13).
Merriam Webster defines a lullaby as “a soothing refrain,” usually to quiet children to sleep. Here’s the thing, sleep is a good thing. It is necessary. It enables us to be more effective later. I believe the devil is using good and necessary things, like providing for your family, giving your children as much as possible, being good stewards of our time and resources etc., to lull us into inactivity, cool our fire for Jesus, make us lukewarm, thereby deeming ourselves unworthy of the age to come (Acts 13:46), while still having a reputation of being alive (Revelation 3:1), leading us to export our theology to the rest of the world and overall hindering the great commission as the day of the Lord approaches because we are not a bride seeking to make herself ready for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7).
Perseverance of the Saints
I recently heard a sermon at a prominent church in America on the woes in Luke 11:37-52. The pastor prefaced by saying, “I want everyone here to hear this message from the place of positional security.” I am sure there were many sincere believers in the room. However, my observation is that the writers of Scripture do not use such caveats when writing hard things. Jesus did not give a caveat in this passage. Paul did not assure the Galatians they were fine despite his harsh warnings. The writer of Hebrews did not qualify his warnings (Hebrews 3:12-13, 6:3-8). Indeed, he is “convinced of better things" (Hebrews 6:9). Paul affirms Christ will perfect the work he began in us (Philippians 1:6). My point is not to argue Calvinism versus Arminianism. My question is this: has the American church’s emphasis on assurance of salvation left us to assume we are saved no matter what, and though we would never say it, not take warnings seriously (since they don’t apply to us anyway)? Has it distracted us from giving up everything to live for the age to come and instead hold on to a level of comfort in this age since we will be saved anyway? What if, instead of constantly reassuring ourselves, we let these warnings cut to the heart, lead us to repentance, and with sincere faith seek the kingdom first (Matthew 6:33) and the age to come, rather than continuing in the status quo?
A Prelude
In Matthew 24-25, Jesus answers his disciples’ question about when the temple will be destroyed, and what will be the sign of his coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). After giving the facts, he says twice that no one knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36, 25:13). Three times he says to be alert (with the third saying we should be alert because we do not know the day or hour) (Matthew 24:42, 44; 25:13), and gives six parables illustrating this point. Rather than succumb to a lullaby that lulls us to sleep, let us be alert, and with anticipation, align our lives with songs that say both “worthy” and “how long” as we wait for our Savior, and be faithful witnesses in the meantime.
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