The Massie defeat in the Republican Primary in Kentucky’s 4th congressional district reminds me that it seems one has to make a choice between being right and principled as opposed to swallowing hard having to be wrong so one can retain “leadership” position.
Massie was as principled as they come. I did not like his Libertarianism but there is no doubt the man stuck to his principles. That resolve contributed to his defeat at the hands of a Trump lackey.
This same principle applies in the church. Clergy can be principled standing on truth, resulting in getting tossed by either their congregation or their denomination or they can be compromisers in order to retain their position with the hopes of being able to steer the congregation in the future into a better place with the added benefit of keeping their jobs.
It is fairly obvious that most politicians and clergy are not like Thomas Massie who decided his principles were more important than continuing to give into a President who has repeatedly broken his word to the American public so that Massie could retain his seat. As a result, Massie was defeated by those who wanted to control him but couldn’t. Now his ability, at least for the short term, to have any input into the National conversation is gone, though his principles remain.
Joe Kent, who is now largely forgotten, made the same kind of decision as Massie. He gave up any influence he might have continued to wield in order to stand on his principles.
The conundrum here is found in the fact that if Massie were to have been willing to bend on his principles in order to retain influence, can it really be said that Massie owned those principles he abandoned in order to stay in power?
The lion’s share of clergy are not principled people like Thomas Massie and Joe Kent. They will not stand for the truth come hell or high water. Instead, desiring to keep their position, they will compromise. Some compromise could be understood but the kind of compromise that the putative white hat clergy are involved in right now is sinking the church and sinking the broader culture.
Having said this, I appreciate that clergy are in a tight spot. They have mouths to feed and a future to think of. Taking a strong stand on issues, like Machen did long ago, is a real launching out on faith in God’s ability to provide.
There are clergy, Elders, Deacons, and laity out there who have made a stand and are paying the price for making that stand. Greg Williams, Michael Hunter, Andrew Duggan, Phil Lovelady, Ryan Louis Underwood, the Holden Brothers, Sam Ketchum, etc. I receive phone calls from all across the country inquiring “what should I do.” I don’t have a ready or easy answer. I can only tell folks who phone me, “if you decide to stand on your principles be willing to count the cost and pay the price because your enemies are vicious Marxist dogs who will delight in ripping you apart.” Naturally, I want those who contact me to take a stand because until more come out of the shadows and raise their Ebenezer the promise of Reformation will continue to wane but I understand the incredible pressure that will descend if people determine to fight like Machen did long ago or like Massie and Joe Kent did recently.
I’d like to tell folks, “if you would just plant your flag and make a stand, all will be well.” I can’t and so don’t tell them that. In this life it doesn’t always end with, “and they lived happily ever after.” It may be the case that they have to pay a steep price if they make a stand on their principles. Machen was driven from his denomination in shame. Massie lost an election. Many other have lost a great deal more.
I do admire people for even wrestling with the tension despite how they eventually choose. I imagine Joe Kent spent many sleepless nights before deciding to resign. Most clergy don’t wrestle at all. They lick their fingers and stick them in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and tack in that direction. Those clergy that are even more inept than the finger lickers don’t even understand the issue. They are just floating downstream with the current, collecting their checks week in and week out.
It is not an easy path for someone who is continuing to grow in epistemological self consciousness. Such growth promises peril, and resistance.
Being postmillennial in my eschatology, I do believe the truth will win out. I do believe that there are deep and wide Reformations ahead of us. However, that path to Reformation is going to be blazed by those who were willing to hoist the black flag and wage war against the spirit of the age according to the principle of “no quarter asked for and no quarter given.” Goodness knows, the clergy enemy is waging that kind of war against the saints.
Every time the enemy “wins” it costs them. More and more we are coming to see that the bagels are a real problem and true enemies of Christ, His Church, the people and our nation. Conversations that once took place only in secluded rooms by “conspiracy theorists” are more and more taking place in public. This means that people of all stripes and backgrounds are starting to become “red-pilled regarding the JQ”. So we are seeing a very wide variety come into the fold of noticers. From MTG to Tucker to Groypers following Fuentes, to Alex Jones types etc. Our job is to resist temptation to build upon the worldly foundation of co-belligerency and to insist on the non-negotiables of our Christian faith.
“What will become of religion depends greatly on the pastors and priests, and on how much true religion they can still awaken from the intoxication of politics into which they have led their flocks. … For four centuries we have waited until we were overcome. Should we now wait until we die as well? … There is still a generation of tomorrow. That is precisely why every zealot is worth more to us than ten experts—is worth ten times more than a half-poisoned man whom we push aside, and still falls into a made bed rather than into an open grave.” p. 274.
SS Dutchmen, ‘Imperium of Thought: Panegyrics and Discourses’, Book 2: The Reich Idea, trans. Jan Barentz