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Bryan: For many missionaries, secrecy is essential to the mission. If their true identity is discovered, they could be expelled from the country, imprisoned, or even killed. So how do they handle persecution of Christians and questions about their identity? Today, Brooks Buser helps us think through these important questions asked by Braxton Madison. How open should a missionary be about their identity as a gospel minister with the people they are trying to reach? Does it depend on the security risk of that nation? Is it being ashamed of the gospel to not be open about being a Christian there for the purpose of spreading the gospel and planting a church? Is it deceptive to say you are there for other reasons when we are messengers of the truth? Are there times where we should be more bold and trust God to use our persecution, if it happens, for the spread of the gospel? Is our fear of being persecuted causing us to operate too underground in such a way that it is not biblical and is hindering the Great Commission?
Brooks: Well, I want to say at the outset, Braxton, this is a really good question. It's a nuanced question. It's not a very straightforward black and white question. These are questions that have kept missionaries and sending agencies and churches awake at night. When do we keep our people in the country when the guerilla forces are coming closer, but this is a baby church? When do we pull them? COVID sweeps across the world and different pastors were getting pulled from different countries—do we keep our people there? How do we view ourselves in a closed access country? How do we tell people we're there for the gospel if it gets us kicked out next week? And so those are really complicated questions.
Let me give you kind of three thoughts here. One of them is really simple and the other ones are a little more nuanced or complex. Number one would be listen to episode 43: we talk about business in closed access countries, what it means to be a real Christian with a real business and to stay in country. And then kind of springboarding off of that, if you have a real business and you're really a Christian, you're going to conduct yourself in a particular way. And what I mean by that is you're going to share the gospel and you're going to want to see churches planted and you're not going to see your business visa getting pulled as the end all of your ministry.
Sometimes there's a time to tilt. There's a time to press in and sometimes there's a time to pull back, knowing where the gospel is at in your present location and what's the status of the church. There's no easy way to define when that time is. And we're going to look at some scriptures here (ten of them to be precise) in a little bit, just to see how Paul handled this and how there were times in Paul's ministry where he chose to flee.
And I think the second half of your question really kind of gets at the nub of this issue. When is it time to stand fast under persecution or potential persecution? And when is it time to flee? And man, that's a complex question. And that is a question that I don't ever really want to look in on a missionary's work, especially if it's complicated, and say I think he made the right call or the wrong call. Because a lot of the time it comes down to the guy or the lady on the ground and them knowing the factors that are going into this, trusting their God, and then making the wise decision at that time.
And so I think it clears up a lot if you're in the country and you know that you're there to start a water business, but you're a water businessman and you're a Christian. And so you can say, "Yeah, I run a water business." Because you're really going to do that if you're running a legitimate business and you are a Christian. And so Christians do Christian things. And I think that's the identity equation that sometimes people have a hard time with: well, if I'm a Christian, I should just say it if I'm there to share the gospel. That's not necessarily being wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove. You're also there to do something to benefit the local area, the group of people that God has put you among. So it's not untrue to say that you run a business, be it water, be it a tourist business, as long as it's a real business.
But I think coming back to the nub of your question: is it right to flee at times? Is it right to get out from under the pressure to live for another day, so to speak? I think Paul thought that there were opportunities where he should get out. And let me give you five of these, five verses where we can look and go Paul decided it was wiser to flee in these situations than to stand fast.
Number one is in Damascus, Acts 9:23-25. Paul is stirring up trouble. He's a brand new convert. This happens a lot with brand new converts, they get excited and they want to share the gospel and they want to point out where other people are wrong and not understanding who God is. And so they sneak him out. They put him in a basket and they dropped him out through the wall. Obviously Paul had to go along with this plan, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed in the basket. And so he decides it's better to flee in this situation.
He's in Antioch of Pisidia in Acts 13:50-51 and he decides to shake the dust off of his feet because of the opposition there, and he goes on to Iconium. He departs from that city. He decides it's better to move on to other areas because the hostility to the gospel was so great there.
And then he goes to Iconium in Acts 14:5-6 and he's nearly stoned and he flees to Lystra and Derbe. They were just about to stone him and Paul decided it was better to move on to other places.
And then he's in Thessalonica in Acts 17:10 and he leaves right after the riot, realizing there's enough going on here, it would be better for me to move on to another area.
And then he's in Berea in Acts 17:14 and guys from Thessalonica come up and they start stirring up trouble, and for the sake of the believers he leaves. He goes away from the Bereans who we remember were a more noble character, they searched the scriptures. He leaves those guys because it's better that I take these antagonistic elements away from this baby church.
So those are five examples where Paul thought it was wise not to stay. And then there are five more examples where we see that Paul decides he should stay, he should stand fast, he should take whatever is coming. And sometimes it's the potential against serious harm and sometimes it's real.
He's in Lystra in Acts 14:19-21 and he gets stoned. They think he's dead and he gets up and he goes back into the city to strengthen the brothers. That is a case of standing fast. They tried to take his life and he stood fast and he went back in.
He's in Philippi, he's in prison, and then there's an earthquake and he is released and he goes to the jailer's house and the jailer and his family become converts. And then the leaders of the town the next day come to him and ask him to leave and he says no, I'm not leaving until I am publicly exonerated. So they had to come and they had to publicly exonerate him from all charges before he would depart. I'm going to stand fast even if I end up in that same jail again, for the sake of the message that I proclaim and the testimony of it.
And then he's on his way to Jerusalem. He's in Caesarea in Acts 21:10-14. And Agabus comes and ties him up with his belt and says, "This is what the Jews are going to do to the owner of this belt." And Paul—everybody's weeping and begging him, "Please don't go on to Jerusalem"—he says, "I'm ready to die, not only to be bound and thrown in prison. I'm ready to die for the name of our Lord Jesus." He presses ahead.
And then the Jerusalem mob in Acts 22 when he was able to speak, he stands fast and he gives them in Hebrew a defense of the gospel.
And then finally, number five, he's before Felix and Festus and Agrippa all the way through the chapters of Acts 26-28. And they're looking for a bribe. They're looking for him to soften his message. They're looking for him to do anything to lessen the impact of the gospel. But Paul would not do it for the sake of the testimony of the gospel.
And so I think there are three principles really quickly here that we can see. Number one, Paul flees when the gospel could adequately be preached or gospel ministry be carried on elsewhere. That's a principle of his. If it can be adequately brought, if it can be adequately taught in another venue without me losing my life, without the gospel being compromised, I'm okay to do that. We can kind of see that in those instances. But then when he stands fast, it's that he would not compromise the gospel. If he compromised, if he bent, if he capitulated, if he gave a bribe, the gospel would be compromised. It would be weakened in some substantial way. Or if he would abandon those who were new Christians, he would stand fast.
And so yeah, Braxton, this is a tough question. It's tough because there is no black and white answer. To get into some of these countries you're going to have to have a legitimate, real plan and a real business. And my encouragement to you again would be to listen to episode 43 as we talked about business. If it's real, you can say in all honesty that it is real. You have integrity in that. And once you're in the country, to be wise and to make sure that you're there for the long term: that does not mean muting the gospel, that does not mean toning down the offense of the gospel, but it does mean staying long enough to see a church planted. And for that, many times you're going to have to figure out when is it right for me to tilt, so to speak, and when is it time for me to stand fast. So I pray the Lord gives you wisdom in that.
Bryan: You can read accounts of missionaries experiencing persecution at missionary.com/biographies or by reading J.M. Gurnsey's article, "Missionary Suffering Increased Our Love for Jesus." If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, drop a comment on this episode, get in touch with us on social media, or send us an email through missionary.com and your question may be featured on this show. And don't forget to subscribe to the show to get notified when the next episode airs next week. Thanks for listening.