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As Christians, I propose we focus on protecting our families as we see increasing conflicts with the outside world approaching. These 21 tips are intended to provide both scriptural support and practical advice on hiding your Christian faith from outsiders. I apologize at the outset for its length.
it would be the popular term called faith “deconstruction” which I mentioned above. The concept of deconstruction not only encompasses all of the opportunities listed, it further implies there is a process to that effort.
Conclusion with Biblical Support
The challenge with the suggestions above stem from a natural conflict that occurs as we implement anti-Christian actions, while remaining a Christian.
This cognitive dissonance (holding two opposing thoughts at the same time) can become irritating, particularly if the Holy Spirit is involved.
To wrap this up, if you want to hide your Christian faith to protect yourself and your family from those hateful persecutors the Bible warns us about, I have hopefully given you some impressive tips. Unfortunately, you will have to deal with the verses below. They seem to suggest that Christians should expect to be persecuted rather than hiding their light under a basket (Mat. 5:14-16). I am still working on that rationalization and will get back to you as soon as I can with some more good excuses.
Mark 13:13 And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Acts 5:41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
1 Peter 4:12-14, 2 Cor. 12:10, 1 Peter 3:14, 1 John 3:13, Rom. 12:14, Rom. 8:35, John 15:20, 1 Peter 3:16, John 16:33, 1 Peter 4:16, John 15:19, Mat. 5:11, etc.
This podcast is based on original BCWorldview.org content. Some episodes are narrated using an AI-generated version of the author's own voice.
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Welcome to Biblical Christian Worldview's Selective Article Podcasts. So let's get started. The title of this article is 21 Tips for Hiding Your Christian Faith. As Christians, I propose we focus on protecting our families as we see increasing conflicts with the outside world approaching. These 21 tips are intended to provide both scriptural support and practical advice on hiding your Christian faith from outsiders. The theological underpinnings of hiding your Christian faith. Scripture clearly speaks to the importance of protecting you and your family from harm. Further, the Bible calls us to live peaceful lives, obeying the government and those authorities placed above us. Some verses include first Timothy five eight, but if anyone does not provide for members of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Romans twelve sixteen A and eighteen B talk about living in harmony with one another, peacefully with all. And then Romans thirteen one, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, those that exist have been instructed and instituted by God. However, God puts many of us in a bind because the world does not always follow his word. Christians have become tightly associated with controversial subjects like Trump, anti vax, racist, abortion, marriage, conversion therapy, climate deniers, misogyny, fascism, proud boys, creationism, the Ten Commandments, public prayer and the january sixth insurrection, and many more. As we try to live peacefully in this world and follow Christ's teachings, what are we to do? Prior to the last ten years, Christians could easily hide their faith, opinions, and theology. Folks were not as polarized as they are today, looking to ferret out aberrant Christian worldviews. Today we need to protect ourselves and our families from the increasingly negative consequences of our Christian faith. We must execute an action plan of misdirection. I do recognize some may not see the importance of this process in 2022. However, the day is coming when most vestiges of Christianity will be driven out of our culture in the interests of fairness and inclusion. If we don't prepare for that book burning today, we will be on record as one of them when the mob starts coming for us individually. So, the following is an exhaustive list intended on protecting ourselves and our loved ones. I recognize that some of these tips are more easily accomplished than others. Each Christian family will have to make their own decision on what is practical in their specific situation, while of course remaining true to their Christian faith. So the first group is hiding your Christian faith in the home. And the first point or first tip is what to tell your family, which is a good start. Before embarking on these needed changes in your lifestyle, you need to have good communication on the reasoning, the timetable, and the overall objectives of this process. Be open and honest with your spouse and kids. The guidelines you're imposing are in everyone's best interests, given the continuing increase in oppression of Christians. Make clear that your goal is to protect yourself and your family from that persecution and not to harm their faith in a supreme God. So reading material. Put away or give away better, all your dusty Bibles, Christian music, DVDs, pictures of Jesus, and any art that might suggest a Christian theme. You'll eventually have new friends who will spot these items and call you out on them. Technology. You and your family, especially your kids, have numerous apps on their cell phones. You need to check every device for applications like Bibles and commentaries and so forth and remove them immediately. Further, it would be wise to install cloaking software so any Christian websites visited would not be recorded. In addition, many of us have Alexa and other devices in our homes. As difficult as it is, you and your family need to stop talking about your faith in your home as those opinions are being or will likely be recorded at some point in the future. If you refer, uh prefer, rather, just remove those devices. That may be the simplest approach. Holiday material. Any Christian icons used in celebrations need to be removed from the home. This would include those found on Easter and especially Christmas, like the Cresh with the Baby Jesus or scripture-based ornaments or the star on the tree and so forth. Emphasize Santa and the Easter bunny and secular items during these times. Also, even if you only go a few times a year, avoid church services on these occasions. In fact, stop going to a Christian church entirely if at all possible. I'll refer to that in more detail under churches below. Next, greeting cards. If you have to send cards for birthdays, Christmases, anniversaries, etc. Make sure they show no religious connotation. You should have already cleaned all of those products out of your home. Here's a difficult one. Relocation. It may seem extreme, but moving out of the Bible belt will also help disguise your Christian worldview. Many will hold on until it's too late, hoping there will be a protection in numbers. However, as the persecution continues, these bastions of the faithful will be targeted as a locus for what is destroying our nation. You should move to a liberal city before your current location is targeted and property values crash. So the second section is hiding your Christian faith in the world. Jewelry and Clothing. Today crosses on bracelets and necklaces are benign. However, that may not be the case going forward, so be watchful for changing trends. As to clothing, you need to stop wearing any shirts or sweaters or other garments with religious symbols on them, especially scripture verses. Next vocabulary. Christians have their own vocabulary. Often, you know, they use buzzwords to communicate with each other terms such as brother and sister, apostle, deacon, elder, pastor, saved, salvation, scripture, gospel, faith, prayer, holy grace, heaven, or hell rapture, Satan, spiritual warfare, and prophecy, just to name a few, need to be trained out of your family's vocabulary. Those words are the quickest way for secular hunters to recognize your faith background. Words like God or Jesus Christ, if used in a derogatory way, really shouldn't be an issue. Next public etiquette. Besides not having any Christian clothing and abstaining from the use of churchy words in public, there are other behaviors that need to stop immediately. For example, never ask a restaurant server if you can pray for them before a meal. I know this is obvious. Ignore anyone who is expressing Christian beliefs in public conversation. They may be baiting you. If someone is in trouble, help them, but never, never ask if you can pray for them. Again, I know that's obvious. All these guidelines are even more important to follow in the workplace. The workplace. Do not under any circumstances have any Christian icons on your desk or at your workstation. Never speak to anyone about God or Jesus, especially if others try and elicit a faith based conversation. Coworkers have long memories, and what might seem comforting one day will be the basis for termination the next. Next point worthy causes. Christians are known for their willingness to support good causes. There is no reason to change that altruism. However, you should no longer tie to a local Christian church or any of the myriad of Christian parachurch ministries, like, for example, Sumarin's Purse. Currently, Salvation Army, and you need to monitor this one, goodwill, climate change, and animal rescue are safe avenues for support, along with other secular-based institutions. As an aside, contributing to Planned Parenthood would provide future cover. Third section, hiding your Christian faith as relates to political, religious, and social affiliations. First, the church. It's important, and I know this is obvious, not to hold any office in the church, such as deacon or Sunday school teacher, uh go to prayer groups, Bible studies, discipleships, preschool, children's church, visitation, all that will only expose you to future persecution. Often many of these roles are published on church websites and kept in their records. Even volunteer work that exposes you to the general public, like meals on wheels, should be avoided. Mission trips are absolutely out of the question. Finally, is it hard as hard as it may seem, when you're ready, request that your family's data be purged from the church records. As you know, pastors like to keep lists of attenders, another word for tithers, and these records can and will be used against you. Next one, news media. Generalizations within our culture suggest that you and your spouse watch Fox News as a Christian. That needs to stop. You need to transition to CNBC, CNN, and NPR among many others. This will help in two ways. First, it will give you the correct perspective in discussing contemporary issues with your new friends, see friendships below, and coworkers. Second, as you listen, you will see how much the conservative media has lied to you. Though the progressive media does have its own inherent bias, listening to these programs will provide you with a much needed perspective. Politics As with the news media, most believe the generalizations that all Christians are Republicans. Regardless of your current political affiliation, it's important to counteract any stereotypes that will inhibit your attempt to hide your fate. Be clear you need to become a staunch Democrat and preferably an outspoken progressive. Denominations Religious affiliations will not be attacked equally or at the same time. Some groups are more notorious for narrow minded views than others. As hard as it may be to leave the fellowship of your current friends, you need to move away from many of the independent Bible believing churches, such as Presbyterian PCA, Assemblies of God, and especially Southern Baptists as soon as possible. These will be the first groups targeted for hate speech. Eventually, many of the mainline churches and smaller ecumenical denominations will collapse into a global religion that will be promoted by the general population. For reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, I would recommend staying away from this group if at all possible. Next tip social media accounts. This is a problematic area because many posts made in the past can be resurrected and held against you. You need to immediately stop making any positive references to your faith. Begin seeding your media accounts with negative Christian statements, selectively making secular use of God and Jesus Christ as well as other blasphemies to counterbalance past faith-based posts. Social media is a great place to put down evidence that you are quote unquote deconstructing your faith. I'll reference deconstruction in a minute. And that you no longer believe in exclusive salvation through Jesus Christ. I know these actions seem extreme, but if you want to get the hound dogs off your scent, you will have to counter the Christian references you've made in the past. Remember to also clear out your music preferences, your profile page, and media associations such as other Christian followers. Next tip, friendships. Needless to say, you and your loved ones will have to change friends. Implementing the other items on this list will help facilitate that, you know, such as changing churches and so forth, but this needs to be actively pursued. Most Christians will likely hide their faith as times get tough. However, there will be a remnant who become entrenched regardless of the persecution. Those folks will become angry with the deserters and will likely call you out as times get tough. It's important to be proactive in changing to a more secular group of friends who will defend you as being just like them when the battle lines get drawn. Next tip regards social settings with kids. Controlling your kids could be your greatest initial challenge. Teaching them to change friends if needed, as well as to stop using Christian terms, if they currently do. Discussing theology, which is certainly not an issue most of the time, going to church along with other Christian activities could be difficult if they're strong believers. Studies show that this is becoming less and less a challenge in today's culture as the educational system has stripped all faith-based moral underpinnings from its curriculum. Unless your children are going to a Christian or home-based school, it's likely they've already been naturally sanitized due to peer and teacher pressure from anything that might trigger a Christian family worldview. If your teens are truly Christians, most fortunately aren't yet, they might be listening to bullhorn voic voices like Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens. It's important that you strongly counsel them against that. It will create conflict in the home. Social groups with kids. Beyond social media, you need to pull your kids out of anything faith-based. That would include upward basketball, awana, trail life USA, after school Bible clubs, and so forth. If your children are attending a Christian school, you need to get them out as quickly as possible and back into the public system. Parents willing to make substantial investment in a classical Christian education will be at the top of the list for persecution. Sadly, homeschooling has been stigmatized as a Christian form of education. If you choose to continue or to switch your children to teaching them yourself, do not use a Becca or any other Christian curricula. Lists of customers for these products are readily available on the dark web. Theology. You and your family need to start publicly questioning your Christian systematic theology. This is typically referred to as faith deconstruction, which again I'll go into detail in a second. It can begin casually by affirming that the Bible is likely not inerrant. That first step allows flexibility in aligning yourself with a fluid ethical standard based on our general population. If there is a verse or verses that do not fit the paradigm of your new peers, it becomes a verse that was added to the Bible later or mistranslated or refuted elsewhere in scripture. You know, you can use the internet for research to counter any of these verses that you might find uncomfortable. So let's conclude the 21 tips with deconstruction. You must maintain a process of public deconstruction or the breaking down of your faith by questioning and then amending its Christian theological foundations. This can begin by actively moving away from the Bible and its teaching teachings. Instead, refer to your own feelings about who God is and what he means specifically and exclusively in your life. Having personal insight into what God is saying to you while ignoring Scripture allows for tremendous freedom in navigating through the minefields of today's woke generation. One-sided comments like, quote, Jesus was a good moral teacher, unquote, and quote, God is love, unquote, can add to your arsenal of safe ways to publicly move away from the narrow minded view of your prior public faith. For current atheists, any concept of God is taboo, so you must handle this newfound personal insight carefully. Eventually, as mentioned earlier, all religions will coalesce around a central figure who by performing miracles will effectively terminate the atheistic view. However, don't expect this to take place in your lifetime. And the recommendations above cannot be accomplished overnight. As I mentioned earlier, one must have a plan to make this transition which will provide for the protection of you and your family. If one could boil this process down into a single word, it would be the popular term called deconstruction, which I mentioned earlier. The concept of deconstruction not only encompasses all of the opportunities listed, it further implies there's a process to this effort. So I hope this has helped you in your desire to hide from the torrent of discrimination coming towards the Christian faith community. There will, of course, be a hardened and hated remnant of stubborn biblical Christians that publicly hang on to their antiquated systematic theology. However, these fools will be ostracized from society and marginalized to the point of obscurity. So my conclusion the challenge with the suggestions above stem from a natural conflict that occurs as we implement anti-Christian actions while remaining a Christian. This cognitive dissonance holding two opposing thoughts at the same time can be somewhat irritating, particularly if the Holy Spirit is involved. As you move forward in the process, keep in mind that Scripture states in Romans and John, Romans 10 9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. John three three. Jesus answers him, Truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And John ten twenty eight, if I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Here's the point. One needs to hold these three verses close. If you have ever confessed Jesus as Lord and believed, even as a little child, that no one will be able to snatch you out of his hand, you should be fine. Of course, uh there is that verse in Ephesians which says Ephesians 4 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So you may do a little Holy Spirit grieving, but you're still safe and safely sealed until the day of redemption. Right? Of course, you may have to reconcile James's pesky little verse, which implies Christians are known by their works, or what we do. James two twenty six. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. However, we can still hide all of our beliefs and be good people and do good things, right? And then there's the Great Commission to deal with, Matthew 28, 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. So sure, Christians are supposed to tell people the good news of Jesus. However, one could easily argue that these days everyone is anti-Christian. Therefore, given that reality, we can safely reject the Great Commission based on the verses below. Matthew 10 14, and if anyone will not receive you and listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. In Matthew 7 6, do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you. If what someone hates what you stand for, Christianity, then you don't have to say anything to them, right? We need to, quote, shake the dust off our feet, unquote, leave them alone and and not, quote, throw our theology at the lost for the very reason that they will likely turn and attack us, right? The whole point of this article is to protect you and your family from just that attack. So, from all this, if we as Christians can get comfortable not evangelizing, then the rest of the process of hiding our faith for protection of ourselves and our families should be pretty straightforward. Here's a list of verses that'll help. First Corinthians 3 15. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. So in the end, you know, we may escape through fire as our good uh works are burned up, but we will still get to go to heaven for eternity, uh, though likely smelling a bit smoky. I wonder if that was what God was thinking about when he wrote in Revelation 7 that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Perhaps uh God is wiping away tears from our eyes because we protected ourselves and our family from this hateful world. Maybe just maybe we missed the boat in demonstrating the greatest love we could offer someone by having the courage to tell them the good news about a Savior who offers eternal life in heaven. Um Matthew 10 28, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Many of our family, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, uh, etc., still don't know the real truth. I guess we'll all know how it turns out when we get to heaven, right? To wrap this up, if you want to hide your Christian faith to protect yourself and your family from those hateful persecutors of the Bible or that the Bible warns us about, I've hopefully given you some impressive tips. Unfortunately, uh you'll have to deal with some verses I'm gonna give you in a minute. Um they seem to suggest that Christians should expect to be persecuted rather than hiding their light under a basket, which is Matthew 5 14. I'm still working on that rationalization, and I'll be back to you as soon as I can with some more good excuses. But in the meantime, let me give you those verses that uh remain a challenge for me. Mark thirteen thirteen, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. Sep Second Timothy three twelve, indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Act five forty one. Um Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Matthew five ten Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Luke six twenty-two Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Matthew five forty-four. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And then there's a bunch of others. I hope that what I've written, you know, will help you feel comfortable about hiding your Christian faith and um and protecting your family and their scripture verses to support that. God bless you as you as you think about these and and seek God's will. Today's podcast article was brought to you by bcworldview.org, providing honest reporting and analysis on the intersection of contemporary issues and theology based on a biblical Christian worldview. May God bless you as you continue to walk through this life with our Savior and Lord.