As The World Burns

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
--Proverbs 24:10-12

Shannon Stapleton Reuters

"September 11: Under Attack" Rescue workers carry Fire Department Chaplain Father Mychal Judge from the rubble before the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Father Judge was said to have been killed by a jumper while performing the last rites on a victim of the attack.
The photograph to the left was pulled from Pictures of the Year International.

“I am sitting on a park bench reading a “how-to” book on heroism while I watch the firemen run into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Looking to my friend I asked, “Do you catch the tragic irony of this picture?”

“Russ, brother, this is a short season of your life. It, too, shall pass. Don’t be too radical,” (we’ll call him Joe) said.

I replied, “Joe, life is a short season. What part of “Go” are we not understanding here? I guess I don’t have a category for being too radical in my pursuit of souls.”

Joe countered by saying, “You are responding like one of those radical guys who think they are too spiritual for us ordinary Christians. You are falling prey to pride, and you are immature in your thinking.”

“Joe, your accusation of my being a prideful man is more than accurate. However, I sincerely do not want to waste even a fraction of the life that God has given me. If anything, I am not radical enough. I have yet to meet a Christian who I felt was too radical. I guess I don’t have an ‘ordinary Christian’ category in my line of thinking,” I said.

The conversation ended shortly after I responded to Joe’s next question: “So you believe that the ordinary Christian is wasting their life by not being radically active in the mission field because they feel it is God’s will for them to invest this short season in a different way?”

“Yes.”


Yoni Brook Freelance / New York University / Gamma Press /
The Washington Post
"Hydrant" Firefighter Michael Saber drinks and washes his face at a fire hydrant hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11.

The dialogue above is fictional. However, it is based on a few actual conversations that my friends and I have had in the recent past. These conversations have triggered a mixture of emotions within me, ranging from sorrow and loneliness to disbelief and anger. This post will be dedicated to defending my answer to Joe’s final question.

First, I want to make clear the fact of our world being on fire (This may come as a shock to some of you). The world is on fire in much the same way that the World Trade Center was in 2001. Second, and more importantly, I want to make clear the fact of the Church of Jesus Christ being alive and well in the midst of it. Lastly, I want to bring clarity to the fact that the “ordinary Christianity” that Joe mentions above is not the Christianity I read about in the Word of God. This “ordinary Christianity” will lead, most certainly, to a wasted life in light of eternity.

The world is burning. (Rom. 1; Genesis 6:5; Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 8:12; Matt. 13:42; Mark 9:48; Eph. 6; Zeph. 1:17-18)

We learn from the preceding verses the following: a) All of mankind stands wicked in the sight of God, b) All of mankind is characterized as being “haters of God”, c) All of mankind is “dead” in sin before the holy and just God of creation, d) All of mankind is enslaved to Satan, e) God will consume with fire all those who hate Him, f) All of mankind earns this justice by hating God, g) All of mankind has earned the punishment of being cast into “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, “where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”. Jesus Christ mentions this place of eternal torment more than any other Biblical figure by a wide margin.

Please note that the above diagnosis is for all of those who are deniers of the exclusivity of Jesus, the Christ. More so than that, the above diagnosis is reserved for all those who fail to repent (military term meaning “about-face”) and place their faith (meaning all that they have and are as a human being) in the person and care of Jesus Christ. It is reserved for all those who deny Jesus Christ as being the one true God of creation, the Savior of the created universe and everything molecule of it. Their treasure is found elsewhere. And by their fruits you will recognized them (Matt. 7).


The world (myself included), apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is without hope and destined for hell. There is simply no other way out. The world is on fire, and this not only is an urgent matter; it is the purpose and will of God for His sons and daughters (namely His Church) to bring hope to it in the face of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:6). How can we, with a good conscience, sit on a bench and watch a populated building burn when we are their only hope (Rom. 10:14-15)?

The Church is alive and well. (Matt. 28:18-20; 1 Pet. 2:9-10; Rom. 10:14-15; 1 Cor. 9:16; Acts 4:13-23; Acts; 2 Cor. 2:14-17; 2 Cor. 5; Phil. 3:7-14; Jer. 20:9; etc)

Jesus Christ gives what I have heard termed as the “Magna Charta” of the Church in Mathew 28:18-20. We are to go and make disciples of all nations. The Church is God’s chosen mouthpiece to a lost and dying world. We are to proclaim His excellencies to all the nations. There is no off season for this mission. It is a constant going.

“…For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16)!
“For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:23).

The Church is in a cosmic battle brought to earth! You are either in the war, or you are not in the war. I do not see an “ordinary” middle ANYWHERE in Scripture. If you are a part of the Church, you are the aroma and ambassador of Christ in whatever mission field God has called you to (2 Cor. 2:14-17; 2 Cor. 5). You are God’s royal priesthood, whom He has chosen for battle (1 Peter 2:9-10). And you are associated with the same Jesus Christ who choked to death on His own blood because of His radical love for you! This is the Church. This is CHRISTianity.

“Ordinary Christianity” is not Christianity. I see no sugar-coated, “ordinary” Christianity in Scripture. What I do see is the blood, guts, sweat, and tears of the true Church as it led a radical pursuit of Jesus Christ, making the most of every opportunity to make Him known to a world in need of true hope. Jesus was not all they wanted or needed; He was all they had!

I stand on Scripture alone in preaching to all the Joes who may be reading this. The Great Commission that the great cloud of witnesses who came before us spilt their blood over is not a light switch that you can turn on and off with the changing seasons. You are at war! I plead with you (and myself) to not waste your life reading about heroes when Jesus Christ has commissioned you to be that hero running into that burning building. Heroes (namely the Church) run into the burning building while everyone else is running out. Christianity is radical. Christianity is war. Christianity is bloody. And the true Church of Jesus Christ will NOT be found running or sitting on some park bench.
Joe, you can either join the Church, or you can continue to read about Her. Just quit acting as if there is a fluffy, “ordinary Christianity”. Jesus Christ has left no room for such a thing.