On Romans 13, Christian Persecution and Compromise and Complicity with the State -- A Tale of Two Churches from Nik Ripken

My wife recently read the book 'The Insanity of God' by Nik Ripken. The book is about the author's travels to and discoveries of stories from the persecuted Church. My wife brought Chapter 22 to my attention, which happens to contain glimpses of the truth and insights about the State that the Christian Anarchist movement has come to understand. Here, I simply copy the relevant excerpt verbatim [emphasis mine] :

Much of what I heard from believers throughout Eastern Europe over the next several days echoed the stories that I had been told by the Russians and Ukrainians. But the most disheartening place I visited, which will go unnamed here, was a former communist-bloc nation where the church actually suffered little overt persecution.

That seemed like a positive thing, until I found out why that was true. My interviews there revealed that, from the beginning of communist rule, this nation's churches quickly and completely embraced the verses that Paul wrote in Romans 13 about honoring and obeying the authority of earthly rulers. In fact, the churches emphasized those verses so much that they ignored and failed to obey many other Scriptures, including some of the central teachings of Christ.

For example, once that nation's churches had made their go-along-get-along strategy for survival a central tenet of their faith, they pretty much forgot the very last instruction Jesus gave His followers -- to go and make disciples. Since the government concluded that the church posed little threat and would probably soon wither and die, there was no need for concerted persecution to control the believers. These compromised churches had shackled themselves.

These believers had failed to share their faith or speak for themselves. They had failed to speak for others when thousands of Jews were slaughtered just blocks from their church's headquarters. They allowed the communist leadership to share space inside their denominational offices. Why would they ever face overt persecution when they had already surrendered almost everything?

One small protestant group in another former Iron Curtain country had fallen into that same trap -- for a time. Gradually, over decades of severe persecution, they had allowed the government to dictate how, when and where they would worship. All the while, these believers resented their loss of religious freedom under communism. One of their pastors applied to the government for permission to study theology in England. Miraculously (and there seemed to be no other explanation), the communist government had granted the permission.

After three years of study, the pastor returned home. In a meeting with fellow pastors, he reported on his experience. "The ONLY important thing I learned," he told his colleagues, "was that we are free! We are free, because our freedom comes from God, and not from our government. We need to start acting like we are free!"

Over the next year, these pastors struggled with the meaning and possible application of this seemingly radical idea. During that year, they fasted and prayed. They tried to understand how this freedom related to the teachings of Romans 13. In the end, about half of the pastors signed a carefully-drafted letter that they then sent to their repressive communist government. It said, in essence: Our Bible instructs us to respect and accept your authority over us and the people of our country. For years now, we have done that. But our Bible also teaches us to distinguish between the authority granted to governments and the authority that belongs to God.

In the letter, they tried to articulate the difference. They assured the authorities that there was no intent to oppose or overthrow the government. But, respectfully, they also explained that they would obey God and do what God tells his followers to do in His Word. They explained that the Holy Spirit was giving them the freedom and the strength to do this. From that day forward, they stated, they were determined to fulfill the Biblical and historic role of their faith -- to proclaim the gospel, to plan churches, to witness to their beliefs in the public arena, to baptize new believers and to worship together when and where they chose.

The church leaders mailed their letter. Then they waited, no doubt with fear and trepidation, to see what might happen. To their surprise, the government did nothing in response. The only significant change that resulted from claiming their freedom was that they were now able to exercise that freedom. Eventually, they became part of the Body of Christ again.