By Their Fruits

God is calling us to pursue fruitfulness, allowing Jesus to shine His light through us. Jesus taught about fruit-bearing in John 15:
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

We can consider whether or not we are walking in the power of the Spirit or obeying the desires of the flesh - there is a difference, which Galatians 5 highlights for us. There are plenty of representations of Christianity that have very little to do with the Bible, and we have to be diligent to make sure that we are laying down our own lives, so that His life may be seen in us. We can portray an authentic expression of the presence of Jesus, but we have to make sure that we acknowledge that we cannot do it ourselves.

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How we act, especially as we claim the name of Christ, will reflect on people's views of Him. Coming up, I'll share some comments from a writer for a policy organization in Illinois, who uses a variation of this passage from Matthew 7:
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The events of January 6, 2021 will continue to be seared into the minds of Americans who have been pummeled with disturbing images of people entering the U.S. Capitol building and committing or threatening violent acts.  Thanks to the House impeachment managers attempting to tie the lawless actions of that day to the former President, another round of reminders of what has come to simply be known as the "insurrection" has been instituted.  And, don't get comfortable - with the announced return of Donald Trump to public life with an appearance at this weekend's CPAC conference, a deprived media and other Trump opponents will have the opportunity to remind our country of the dreadful events of that day. The picture is coming clearer about who was involved and what motivated them, and the Insider website reports that 260 arrests have been made related to the criminal behavior of that day.

And, there are those who want to tie evangelical Christianity to the events of that day.  Yes, there were a number of Christians who attended a rally the day before, including Brian Gibson of Peaceably Gather, who told me on The Meeting House that he preached the gospel to the crowd gathered and people came to Jesus.  I would dare say that since Donald Trump gained a significant amount of Christian support in his two electoral runs, that believers were also part of the crowd that heard his speech on the Ellipse on January 6, and perhaps there were even Christians who were part of the events outside the Capitol that day - after all, it was a publicized event.  But, what occurred inside was not a representation of the practice of Christianity or proper Christian involvement. Jamie Dean of WORLD Magazine wrote about the events of that day and some of the people involved, including Leo Kelly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; she writes:

In an interview with LifeSite News, the Cedar Rapids man said he walked to the Capitol after the Trump rally. He was disillusioned by the outcome of the election, and says he thought: “None of my institutions are working. What am I supposed to do?”

On the floor of the evacuated Senate, he watched a group pray behind the speaker’s desk, and said they “consecrated it to Jesus. … That to me was the ultimate statement of where we are in this movement.” A reporter’s video from the Senate floor shows a group of rioters purporting to pray after an expletive-laden romp through the room: “Jesus Christ, we invoke Your name.”

This is not a picture of the practice of how the Church should respond to matters concerning our government.  Dean also states:

Joshua Black of Leeds, Ala., said he wanted to make a similar prayer, according to investigators. Authorities said Black acknowledged posting YouTube videos of himself from the Senate floor. An affidavit quoted Black as saying in one of the videos: “I wanted to get inside the building so I could plead the blood of Jesus over it. That was my goal.”

Leo Guthrie Jr., of Cape May, N.J., also cited religious motivations. Guthrie said he didn’t enter the Capitol building, but authorities arrested him for breaking through a police barrier outside. He told a local news station he thought the people who went into the Capitol were wrong, but said, “This was about revival, it wasn’t about threats.”

Both Kelly and Black were also charged for their actions.

Law enforcement used Leo Kelly’s online interview in a statement of facts about the incident, and the FBI arrested him on charges that included knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority. Officials filed similar charges against Black. Kelly said, “God will judge us for what we did,” he said. “I’m redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. There’s no judgment that stands against me—perhaps I did something wrong. ... What are Americans supposed to do?”

Jamie Dean has an answer, writing:

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the accused rioters using Christian language have roots in local churches, but the answer to Kelly’s question isn’t complicated: Praying for elected leaders is Biblical, and peaceful protests are lawful. But invading the seat of government as part of a spontaneous mob is antithetical to Scripture.

This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Christian-led event or a demonstration or practice of Biblical Christianity, regardless of what Bill Maher says; Faithwire reported that on a recent episode of his HBO show, the talk show host and political commentator stated:

“As long as we’re going to go to the trouble of another impeachment trial,” he told his audience, “we might as well be honest about what it’s really about: the events of Jan. 6 were a faith-based initiative.”

Maher explained that — in his view — those who support former President Donald Trump are part of “a Christian nationalist movement” of people who believe the real estate mogul “was literally sent from heaven to save them.”

Laurie Higgins, writer for the Illinois Policy Institute, cried foul at these attempts to tie Christianity to the Capitol riots.  She said:

Elana Schor wrote an unhelpful article titled “Christianity on Display at the Capitol Riot Sparks New Debate” for the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday. It’s an insubstantial dollop of slumgullion ostensibly on “Christian Nationalism” that throws together equally unhelpful quotes from Christian leaders without once defining Christian Nationalism (or nationalism); or making distinctions between patriotism and “Christian Nationalism”; or between those who merely use Christian rhetoric and true Christ-followers; or between the rioters and the thousands of Americans—including many Christians—who were at the protest but had nothing to do with the riot.

Higgins writes about those who "...claim that the image of Christianity is now marred in the view of leftists, many of whom already hate Christianity and seek its eradication from public life. But is that true? Or are leftists cynically exploiting the indefensible acts of those who falsely claim to be Christ-followers?"

Laurie Higgins poses these questions, too: "Who is doing more damage to the church (small 'c'): the Capitol rioters or the heretical wolves in sheep’s clothing who have infiltrated every denomination and are corrupting doctrine and leading flocks astray...?" And, regarding the fascination that some have with this infiltration of QAnon into the Church, she suggests: "If crazy QAnon ideas have infiltrated churches as heretical views of sexuality have, they must be purged. In my experience, however, heretical views of sexuality are far more prevalent in churches than are QAnon ideas and far more dangerous."

We are in an age where the mischaracterization and attempted marginalization of Christianity has been heightened.  The challenge is on us to show the world the unlimited love of an authentic Jesus. And, civic involvement is a way that we show the love of Christ - by injecting His ideas into a process that can affect culture.  That's why we should not be scared off by those who conflate proper love of country with so-called "Christian nationalism."  We should not shrink back, but we should be careful, as always, how we engage.

In her closing paragraph, Laurie Higgins writes:

The challenge for Christians in this time of turmoil and growing persecution is to hold fast to the whole counsel of God, rooting out heresy of all kinds; to proclaim the whole counsel of God even when the world hates us; and to come alongside those who speak truth in the public square and are mocked for doing so. We have no biblical warrant for speaking truth only when we’re guaranteed doing so will be cost-free.

We have to make sure that we are living our lives based on the firm foundation of God's Word, knowing the truth so that the truth might be seen in us.