A Survey of the Evangelical Battle Field: Safeism

Safeism, like Biblical Illiteracy, is at a pandemic level and is part of Satan’s overall strategy to win the world to himself.

In my previous posts, I’ve argued that faithful Christians are currently waging war on six major battlefronts: Biblical Illiteracy, Safeism, Feminism, Wokeism, Elitism, and Deconstructionism. To be sure, there are as many battles available to us as there are false teachings. The six listed above, in my estimation, are the most formidable. These are threatening strongholds that Satan is building in families, schools, churches, and communities. The majority of our Biblical firepower must be centered on these six beasts. In this post, we’ll analyze Safeism: its Devilish origins, problems, and ultimate solution.

Worldview

Two missionary families moved into the Bisorio, an unreached people group that lives deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. The missionaries built relationships with people, learning their culture and language to present the Gospel and translate the Bible clearly. George Walker explains,

During the days of culture and language learning, a Bisorio woman named Bawame was carried from a mountain location down to the village where the missionaries lived. She was thin and very weak. The hearts of the missionaries broke with sadness and concern. After consulting medical workers, they prayed and cared for her, treating her with anti-malarial medicine and providing food and fresh water. Bawame’s family allowed her and two relatives to stay in the missionaries’ home so they could provide her with the constant care she required. Praise God, she began to improve. The missionaries took hope in that she was going to recover.

Then, unbeknownst to the missionaries, her uncle, Asebe, came and took Bawame away into the jungle to offer sacrifices to the ancestors to affect her healing. He took her in hopes that her illness was not caused by the yama, the evil spirit of death, for which no offering could be made. The missionaries heard people in the village shouting, “They’re taking Bawame! They’re taking Bawame!” The missionaries ran down to the edge of the river only to see the dugout canoes pulling away with Bawame. Though she had clearly begun to improve, she was still frail and required more care and medicine. The missionaries called out, pleading, “Please, Asebe, please don’t take Bawame yet. Please, wait. Please, let us help.” Asebe did not look back. He just kept paddling upriver, deep into the jungle. Bawame died shortly thereafter in a lonely, remote place, without ever hearing the Gospel of Christ.

George Walker continues, “Both Asebe and the missionaries wanted to care for Bawame, but they took different actions to do so. Why were their behaviors in such contrast? At a fundamental level, Asebe viewed life quite differently than the missionaries. What they each believed about the nature of reality greatly influenced how they viewed life and consequently acted. What people believe about the nature of reality, their worldview, affects the way they interpret and relate to all aspects of life. It can be a matter of life and death! Worldviews influence observable behavior and emotions. Understanding worldview is therefore of enormous importance.”

Control

Christians find peace in the reality that God is sovereign over all of life. He sustains the entire universe by the Word of His power, numbers every hair on our heads, determines how long we will live, and gives rain to whomever He pleases. The Bible teaches us that God has the whole world in His hands, and He has determined its end from its beginning. There are no surprises with God. When tragedy or suffering strikes, believers find incredible comfort in this truth.

A man who denies God and His sovereignty over all of life has no other choice than to take the throne and attempt to control life by himself. Humans can’t function without a feeling of control or order. Animists like Asebe live in constant fear. From their worldview, ancestral spirits are unpredictable and moody. This unpredictability leads to anger, frustration, murder, and strife as everyone in the village tries to figure out the right way to make these spiritual forces happy to bring order back to the community. One group is right, the other group is wrong, and because everyone’s standards of “order” are different and subjective, tribal fights erupt.

Safeists are in constant fear too. The reality they have built for themselves is crumbling. Because of the uncertainty and chaos that has ensued, fights erupt in our neck of the woods as the West tries different methods to bring about subjective order, according what is right in their own eyes.

An impossible task, indeed.

Chaos

Once we refuse to honor God as God, our whole view of life and the world becomes distorted.

R.C. Sproul

Worldviews are serious business. They are a set of beliefs upon which we’ve built our entire existence. When holes are punched into them and they fall apart, we only have two choices: dig our heels even deeper despite their failure, or radically change our lives. Safeists are those who have dug their heels in and have gone all-in for a “safe utopia,” despite the evidence contrary.

Safeism is the deeply held belief that all physical and emotional risk is evil, and, through strict adherence to culturally agreed-upon science and medicine, society is able to achieve a utopian-like state by completely removing any perceived danger.

A Safeist takes the throne of their lives and seeks to eliminate all perceived dangers through the removal of “toxic relationships,” whether on the personal, familial, societal, or political level. Suppressing the truth about God, Safeists deny, either implicitly or explicitly, final judgment or afterlife. This life is all there is.

Risk, therefore, is evil. Comfort is heaven.

However, despite science, medicine, technology, and all of man’s attempts to quell suffering, the destruction continues. Facebook often leads to depression and addiction, rather than community and self-esteem. Medical treatments that made safeists feel threatened in 2020 actually saved lives. Scientific hubris on the other side of the world caused a global pandemic.

The Safeists’ saviors are failing, and they have nowhere else to turn but fear. Holding onto control by their fingertips, they demand safe-spaces on college campuses, vaccination cards for Sunday worship, the cancellation of contradictory opinions online, a universal basic income to avoid work, and universal health care to coddle their phobias. Animists and Safeists alike will try anything, even if it means casting off our constitution and welcoming tyranny.

When a worldview is challenged by reality, fear, panic, disorder, and uncertainty prevail. Something has to give.

Safeism and The Church

There are those who profess belief in Jesus Christ but attend church for their own personal comfort. This is what they’ve always done, and this is what makes them feel most in control over their lives. The Religious Safeist chooses a body of people who makes them feel most comfortable. The Church, therefore, is nothing more than a coping mechanism. Evangelical Safeists are incredibly pragmatic and will try anything to bring order into their lives. From this paradigm, Christ is simply a security blanket—a helpful addition—not the Sovereign King of the Universe.

The Evangelical Safeist has a very small view of God and his sovereignty. Therefore, he must look out for himself.

Many pastors are risk-averse as well. Fearing men rather than God, some pastors refuse to preach expositionally, knowing that preaching verse-by-verse might force them to deal with some culturally-sensitive topics. Expositional preaching will lead to the discomfort of some of their congregants, which will force the pastor out of his comfort zone as he now must deal with the fallout. It takes courage to proclaim God’s Word, so Pastor-Safeists must water down the hard truths of the Gospel and worship “relevance.”

Safeism, like Biblical Illiteracy, is at a pandemic level and is part of Satan’s overall strategy to win the world to himself. Safeism is destroying our country. More importantly, Christ is removing many churches’ lampstands because of its prevalence.

The Cure

The answer to this problem within the church, of course, is not less doctrine but more of it. Men like Hudson Taylor and George Mueller risked life and limb because of their high view of God and His determination to work all things for good, for those who have embraced Christ as Savior. David fought Goliath because He had Jehovah-Sabaoth on his side.

Christians avoid risky obedience because they’ve avoided God Himself. They need expositional preaching and fearless examples in front of them.

As for the answer to Safeism among unbelievers, a different approach is needed. The solution to cultural rot isn’t “building bridges” but blowing up the bridge and sending brave men over with lifeboats to deliver individuals from the wrath to come. Their worldview is crumbling all around them, and their gods are failing. The Gospel: realities of God, sin, Christ’s atoning death and resurrection, judgment, and eternal life must be proclaimed on a personal level. Relational risks must be taken before it’s too late.

Outrageous medical expenses, safe spaces, vaccine cards, employee shortages, and seeker-friendly churches are all symptoms of a greater problem: sin. And sin is the ill-fated attempt to remove God from His sovereign throne and take control—for power, money, fame, or…personal safety.