One might describe me as a Protestant. The root of this word is that Protestants would protest the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s. To use a more positive term, I am Reformed. I stand especially with all the confessionally Reformed streams of Protestantism – Anglican, Presbyterian, continental Reformed, Lutheran. I reject the radical reformation (anabaptist theology). Historically, these Reformed Churches were known as evangelical churches because they preached the gospel. As John Calvin once pointed out, the two main criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church was their idolatrous worship and their obfuscation of the doctrines of justification and sanctification.
You will see though that the protest of the Reformers was not only directed at Rome. If you read through the Belgic Confession, the radical reformation also came under serious critique. Later on, the Synod of Dort was written in response to the errors of Jacobus Arminius. So in the good tradition of the Reformation, it is my duty to protest whatever sin and error creeps into the vineyard of the Lord.
I do not reject these protests of the Reformation. Nevertheless, today my protest is against the hot, steaming mess of secularism that has devastated churches across Canada, bringing the Christian home to almost near collapse, and wreaking havoc amidst the holy things of God. This secularism has made inroads into Reformed & Baptist churches alike, hollowing out mainline Protestantism with godlessness.
We saw this secularism go into full bloom during the COVID lockdowns. There was nothing sacred left. The gods of secularism waved their banners in our sanctuaries. The twin gods of modern secularism – statism & scientism – marched into our places of worship and roared. The wild boars came in from the forests to ravage our sanctuaries – it was all very sanitary, there was lots of hand sanitizer – but the destruction was wholescale. Many churches are still reeling. The holy and sacred things of God, like the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments, where either heavily choked, or ceased to exist for over a year or two. The sacraments of scientism replaced the religion that the secularists thought they had killed. We signalled our virtue with masks and social distancing, were justified by the jab. What resulted was a systematic and almost complete privatization of religion. This is the goal & aim of the godless ideology of secularism.
From the strangle-hold of secularism on the Canadian Church arose a merry band of men who would contend once again for the Lordship of Christ, not only behind the eyes and between the ears, but a vision for the Lordship of Christ that begins in the sanctuary and flows out into the world.
What happened during lockdowns was not new. For years, religion was being increasingly privatized, not only in Canada, but also in Reformed & Presbyterian Churches, even ones that historically boasted of a complete world & life view. For years, families had made excuses that they could stay home from the gathered assembly to watch a pastor on YouTube 2000 miles away who neither knew them nor cared for their souls. For years, the Christian family had been drifting from sound Biblical practices like family worship and the proper discipline and teaching of Christ in the Christian home.
This is my protest. I oppose secularism. I’m a straight up 5-point Calvinist. I love the Reformed confessions from back to front. I’m deep into covenant theology. The gospel is also for babies. I love Presbyterial systems that bind the local church in unity to the universal church. Over the years I was willing to pick my fights, my hills to die on. But this was the last hill before the advance of this soul-crushing secularism. If the secular state can throttle a worshipping church for weeks and months and years, then what are they capable of doing? My protest stands opposed to all the godless secularism that has done so much damage to the Christian church and home in our nation. Not only has it scrubbed the public square of reference to Christ & His Lordship. As demons always do, they are not satisfied with the public square. They will put chains on the doors of our church buildings and come for our children. They will come for worship, because all reformation and transformation in society flows from the sanctuary.
Secularism be damned. A boar has been unleashed in the vineyard of the Lord.
We could consider other problems have have only accelerated the secularization of the church into a place that accepts the morality of the day and ceases to declare the Lordship of Christ. The song of the twin sirens of feminism and Marxism have gripped the imagination of the church for the last 100 years. Already weakened by theological liberalism that undermined the authority of God’s Word in the early 1900s, much of the church has fallen wholescale to the siren call of identity politics, whoring herself out to other gods. This happens both in left-wing and right-wing politics, that hold the church hostage to political ideologies, imagining that the state really is the arbiter of truth. But what is important here is to see that secularism, or any other ‘ism’ that disposes of the proper teaching of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all, first and foremost in His Church, is the root of all the other ‘isms’ that bring chaos and division in the Church.
So here is my protest. I protest by doing my duty before Christ and His Church.
As a pastor I am committed to the ministry of the Word and the sacrament as well as faithful spiritual discipline in the church. As of February 2025, I have been ordained for 5 years. It is this commitment to the faithful ministry of the Word & sacrament that has marked my first 5 years of ministry. I pray that it will mark the next 50 if God gives me 82 years of life and upholds my ministry before Him for that many more years in His gracious gift. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6–7: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” God has given us this gift through the laying on of hands, so that we would be His embassy here on earth. Pastors are given “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” in order to accomplish the mission. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:13–14: “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” He continues in 2 Timothy 4:1–2: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” My desire is that if Jesus returns tomorrow, He will find me committed to the ministry of the Word and of the sacrament. That is my protest against secularism.
As a father I am dedicated to teaching my children the Scriptures. We read either the ESV or NKJV translation of the Bible at the dinner table from day to day. We also read from Rev. Kevin De Young’s retelling of the Bible stories for little children. We sing together. We pray the Lord’s Prayer. I want my children to know the Scriptures, how to live holy lives, from the youngest of ages. We have fun together. I tickle my children. I kiss my wife. That is my rebel yell against the secularism that is destroying our homes.
This is my protest. To live by the Bible. To love the church wherever she may be found. To submit to those godly authorities that the Lord has placed over me. To promote the Lordship of Christ. To lead my church and my home in repentance and faith in Christ. To worship the Triune God. To take my family into the assembly of saints gathered to worship the living God. To lead a holy life. To rejoice in His goodness. To accept my lot and rejoice in my toil, knowing that Jesus is Lord over that too.
This is my protest. Jesus is Lord!
Photo by Alex Woods on Unsplash
