Seth Udinski, FISM News
Christian leaders are banding together to stand against a tide of secularism in a historically anti-Christian governmental administration, as 1,700 pastors from across the globe recently affirmed the Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties.
Split in five different subcategories, the declaration is set in affirmation and denial format. The introduction highlights the declaration’s intent, to lovingly but boldly call to account the rampant abuse of power that has consumed the radical leftist elites in the United States, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The declaration’s introduction declares,
A few concerned pastors from different continents, moved by an emergent totalitarianism of the State over all realms of society, and particularly the Church, and the disregard of God-given and constitutionally guaranteed rights during the Covid crisis, joined in common cause to craft a solemn declaration, which seeks to address these threats with the timeless truths of God’s Word. The affirmations and denials, derived from biblical principles, we put forth for consideration by all Christians and relevant authorities, in the hope that this document will give light and strength for faithful witness to Jesus Christ in our day.
With biblical backing and specific scriptural references for each argument, the declaration affirms truth and denies falsehood in the five following articles: “God the Creator as Sovereign Lawgiver and Judge,” “God as the Source of Truth and the Role of Science,” “Mankind as the Image of God,” “God-given Mandates and Limits of Authority,” and “Christ as the Head of the Church.”
Appropriately, the statement ends with Christ as the Head of the Church, imploring Christians to submit to the supreme lordship of Jesus Christ in contrast to government intrusion. This final article states, in part,
We affirm that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ belongs to Him at the cost of His life and that it is accountable to Him alone in all matters of faith and practice … We therefore deny that any other authority has jurisdiction over the Church to regulate any of its affairs in matters of faith and practice, or to relegate its activities to a non-essential status.
Among the 1,700 signees are several well-known pastors, including Voddie Baucham, Dean of Divinity at Africa Christian University, and John MacArthur, renowned author and Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church.
Author’s Biblical Analysis:
Christians should be greatly encouraged by this worldwide stand against satanic governmental tyranny by a remnant of faithful pastors. These men have made clear that they will not stand idly by while godless secular rulers seek to hijack power over the Church. They have chosen to bow the knee to no one but the true Lord of the Church, King Jesus.
The stand these men have taken is not unlike the stand taken by the faithful Jewish trio in the book of Daniel, during the reign of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BC.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, known to us by their Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were required to bow the knee to a 90-foot tall golden image of the pagan king. They resolutely refused, confident in God’s power to protect them from the fiery inferno into which the king would cast any who refused to bow the knee.
O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. (Daniel 3:16-17)
As if that stand of courage was not enough, the men added a final resolution — even if God chose not to save them, they would still serve Him.
But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. (Daniel 3:18)
God did indeed spare them from the fire. Many theologians agree that the fourth person in the flames, whom Nebuchadnezzar described as a “son of the gods,” was none other than the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.
For Christians, the practical application of this report is simple: bow the knee to none but the One True God. The modern world is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel. Much as it was in the ancient world, Christianity is being shoved to the margins, and Christians are viewed as dangerous, judgmental, and in some cases even criminals.
Believer, in spite of all of this, the victory is yours. The Lord of the Church, who was there in the flames guarding the faithful Jewish trio, is with you, and he has promised that nothing, not even hell itself, can prevail against the Church for whom He bled and died.