Theology of Leaven

 

Theology of Leaven

Matthew 13:33 “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”

Many people read Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option and discussed it afterwards. Many more didn’t read it but criticized it anyway. The most prominent critique was that he was calling for people to “head for the hills,” or become Amish. Of course removing yourself and your family from a bad situation is not always a bad idea, especially if you live in a place where you will be persecuted for your faith (see Acts 8). But Christians should not be known as people who only retreat.

That said, retreat is not what Dreher calls for. He calls for strategic training and redeployment. Now that may sound like a mere euphemism for retreat, but in reality it’s a separate plan.

In Defense of Real Church

 

The most significant attack on the Church currently is sexual relativism. This infection has been invading for decades and the host has shown little defense. But perversion is not the only attack, just the most significant one currently. There are other lines of attack, and one we must prepare for is the attack on real, local churches.

I don’t necessarily believe churches will be physically attacked. Right now that would draw too much attention and support for them. Our enemy – the one not of flesh and blood – is too smart for that. He prepared the groundwork for this attack through confusing reality and mediated reality over the last sixty years. “Reality” as I refer to it here is that which exists and is true, regardless of our human perception or understanding. Mediated reality, in contrast is what we perceive to be real as mediated by other sources, particularly technological sources.[1]