[Posted at Bene Diction Blogs On August 12, 2010]
If you come to watch an event featuring Faytene Kryskow, or you hear her preach on the 'net or tape, you may wonder why she or her friends may sometimes seem militaristic.
For example, I wondered why the worship singers and dancers at The Cry Vancouver felt the need to be continually singing about dominion, and then started stabbing various flags at and over the audience like spears.
You could argue that there may be support for Christians acting like soldiers in the Bible. Indeed, theologians have argued about the concept of a “just war” for many years. That said, however, I would argue that the Bible teaches the appropriate level of force for each problem, following Christ’s counsel to be as clever as serpents and as gentle as doves .
Faytene Kryskow, however, at least once talked about what she saw as the need for Christians to put themselves on a war footing when it comes to social issues and problems.
And if she continues to believe that “…some peace only comes at the other side of war…”, I can imagine that peaceable minded Christians, and others, will have some issues with her.
Her comments below also come from her sermon at Embassy church, in Oshawa Ontario, on Sept. 2, 2005. Whether she believes exactly this now, I don’t know, but perhaps, as this was preached almost five years ago, this may be something that was foundational to her concept of ministry.
The Lord, she told her audience, wants the Canadian church to “rise up” and “get a dominion mentality for our nation.”. I’ve explained elsewhere, when she says this sort of thing, she means that Christians need to be supreme over all the significant areas of commerce, politics and such, so that Jesus can return. (Most people seem to believe that it is Jesus’ return that accomplishes these things.)
It was a time, she felt, that “God is drawing a line in the sand” and that Canadians would be faced with a choice—“God’s system” or “an earthly system of government”. Did the current generation want God to be their king?
She then goes on to approvingly quote a “prophetic word” from her friend Garnet Campbell. (She “felt the presence of God” after hearing it, and prepared a video about it, which she showed at this service, so one assumes she approved it.)
And then Faytene says, she saw a vision of the “generation that was alive during World War 2”.
Faytene Kryskow then begins to explain and elaborate on what “the Lord” then showed her, at the 29 minute mark:
“In World War Two, he [the Lord] said, there was a generation that did not question war. Pretty much most generations since that, there’s been this questioning of war, actually rebellion against the thought of war, in a godly sense. Some peace only comes on the other side of war, as my friend Nolan Clark often says, you know.”
Let’s pause her remarks for a moment. Note the word “rebellion”. This implies that “godly war” is always possible, and a command of the Lord. I hope that she is not referring to the wars between the Protestants and Catholics just after the Reformation, say.
She gets back to talking about the World War Two generation:
“So, this was a generation that basically said that, no, listen, we’re gonna enlist…and we’re gonna fight for our nation, we’re gonna rise up, we’re gonna step up to the front lines, we’re gonna represent our nation being sent with authority, fully equipped with the ammo, fully sent with the badge or Canada, or whatever.…”
She then mentioned meeting a World War Two veteran, during one of the travelling youth efforts, who said something to Faytene, who paraphrases it into “youth speak”:
“….I believe with all my might which you guys are forerunning with ‘The siege’ and what God is downloading onto a generation across this nation. This zeal and this passion to see His Kingdom come, to see His Kingdom [literally] established on earth as it is in Heaven, you know, and we’re gonna step up to the plate, fear nothing but our God, not fear death, not fear our reputation, not fear losing a little bit of pride, or a little bit of face or whatever, we’re gonna step uo to the plate and we’re gonna represent our King with boldness in this day….”
It’s a littlehard to parse this, but this is what I would say. Certainly, Christians should be very dedicated and serve the Lord as best they can. I have to consider, however, that while you may want to inspire the youth by saying “Our struggles resemble those of World War Two”, I don’t know that we need to use the same methodology and rhetoric. Will people go overboard?
Are there any really Hitlers today in Canada?
Is the state of Canadian society really such that we can expect martyrdom of the young if they follow the Lord as far as He wants them to go?
There are things that the church needs to work against and strive for…but wouldn’t it be better discernment to dial down the rhetoric.
After playing the video, she adds:
“I believe we are in a very similar time period…The war that they fought was against flesh and blood, but the Bible says that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and prinicipalities and rulers in high places….”
Kryskow later realizes that she sought to really crank up her audience and makes sure to say:
“….We need to be as zealous for righteousness in Canada as the unrighteous are as zealous are zealous for unrighteousness, and that doesn’t mean that we don’t have mercy, you know what I mean, and that kind of stuff because…when people try unrighteousness, it’s because they haven’t found Jesus yet, and that’s another reason why we need revival, you know…”
Perhaps I am not as zealous as Faytene is, but I think it’s the “mercy…and that kind of stuff” that will win Canadians to consider Jesus. You know what I mean?
How would Faytene Kryskow speak on this subject today? Differently, I hope.