Cancel Culture, Fact Checking and the Patience of the Saints
A Challenge for Faithful Christian Believers
People are silencing voices they disagree with. It's an ancient practice, as old as Cain and Abel, echoing through history in various ways.
This phenomenon first found a modern resurgence on social media. Here, disagreement can be managed with a click—unfriend, unfollow, or block. Some internet platforms take it a step further by suspending or deleting accounts for sharing what's deemed false or harmful. It seems like a civil alternative to the brutal methods of the past.
A Return to Persecution?
In past eras, dissent led monarchs to send martyrs to the stake, the rack or the chopping block. Could it happen again?
It’s not unheard of for Christian martyrs to face a firing squad, a noose, or torture in nations where Christians are a minority. In nations with representative governments, the same evil spirit that led to bloody persecution in the past is the evil spirit moving today. These “enlightened” societies talk of legal limits and repercussions for speech that deviates from the accepted narrative, hinting at a future where words could lead to trials, and trials to prison or death.
In nations where freedom of speech once prevailed, the current trend has been aptly named "Cancel Culture" by those voices being silenced. By influencers claiming they want to protect the public from false narratives pushed by extremists, it’s called “Fact Checking” to curb misinformation.
When Power Dictates Truth
History reveals that when people in power seize control over what information the public should hear the results are devastating. Whether it’s at home, in church, or in the public square, when one person or group shuts down another’s voice because it challenges their influence, views, or comfort, trust is broken, and relationships turn tense and contemptuous.
Describing the character of Jesus' end-times church, Revelation 14:12 calls out the “patience of the saints...who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” First, they love God with their whole being. Second, they love their neighbors (including enemies) as themselves.
Love in the Face of Betrayal
How is love for others expressed in the way a follower of Jesus responds to speech they disagree with? Jesus relationship with Judas offers a good example.
Jesus disclosed early in His ministry that one of the disciples "is a devil" (John 6:70). A day before Jesus' crucifixion, as Jesus and the twelve sat together at their last supper, it wasn't until Jesus revealed that devil's identify to John that any of the disciples knew Judas was the betrayer.
In Jesus' relationship with Judas, Jesus did not even give a hint that He loved Judas any less than the other eleven disciples. Judas role in the ministry of the disciples was the same as that assigned to the others. Jesus included Judas when giving His twelve disciples power to cast out demons, preach the gospel, and heal the sick (Luke 9:1-6).
If Jesus saw a devil in Judas long before Judas betrayed Him, what influence did his words and behavior have on the other disciples? In retrospect, we can see that Judas' ambition conflicted with Jesus' mission. This disagreement led to a bitter end for Judas. Yet, without silencing Judas or banning him from participating in gospel ministry, Jesus worked gently and patiently with him to lead him to repentance until Judas’ heart could no longer respond to Jesus’ love.
Endurance of the Faithful
People in our sphere of influence will disagree with us at home, in church, in the places we work and go to school. If we gently and patiently walk alongside them in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we may influence them to choose a different path than Judas. Could this in part be the patience of the saints attributed to Jesus’ end-times church?