What it’s about
This is the story of Nik Ripken (a pseudonym) and his
family. It chronicles the story of his own walk with God and how it led him to
become a missionary in Somalia. After experiencing all the horrors that could
be imagined going to a place like that, he and his family were forced to leave.
Left with many questions about God, including whether God can and does work in such
darkness, he came home and decided to search for answers. He began to travel
all over the world, interviewing Christians who were being persecuted for their
faith. Significant portions of the book are dedicated to his experiences in
these countries, especially Russia and China.
Why this book is
important
The Insanity of God
is a grown-up view of persecution. In a health-and-wealth gospel world,
sometimes I have difficulty finding a balance between an arrogant lack of faith
in the miraculous and a naïve belief that God will heal all diseases and fix
all situations miraculously according to the quality of one’s own faith. The
first is letting yourself be dragged in to the naturalistic assumptions that plague
the western world. The other is something my pastor aptly called “adolescent
Christianity,” which is unwillingness to let God be sovereign over evil and pain.
It is a failure to trust His wisdom for the way He chooses to act in this
world.
The Insanity of God
wages war on both errors. Concerning naturalism, there are clear accounts of
the miraculous things that God is doing all over this world. There are reports
of acts of healing, answers to prayer, and even testimonies of people being
raised from the dead. If God is indeed all-powerful, He is not bound by the
laws of the world He created. He can and does act in miraculous ways just as He
did in the book of Acts. This book does not put a skeptical slant on these
stories but allows a belief in a God who works wonders.
On the other hand, there are clear accounts of persecution
and suffering. While miracles happen, they do not always happen. Sometimes God
has a reason for putting His people through very difficult circumstances, and
this book tells many stories of that as well. Never is the Chinese believer’s
imprisonment linked to a lack of faith because he is going through suffering.
Rather, the suffering is seen biblically; namely, as something that matures the
believer in character and brings hope.
I really appreciate this approach. In the middle of these
two extremes is a Biblical land where we can live, though we must live there
without all of our questions answered. Although clearly very intelligent, the
author writes with a humility and honesty to which I can easily relate to. God
doesn’t always answer all of our questions, and Ripken is honest with this fact.
In this honesty he finds believers from all over the world who speak truth into
his doubts and encourage him. While this
book does not give exhaustive answers to why suffering exists (which are
answers that only God knows), it does offer testimonies to reassure our faith.
Criticisms
When I read reviews, most of the negative critiques came from
people who did not have biblical worldviews. For example, one said that the
miracles discussed made the story seem fictional. This is nothing more than
naturalism and is foreign to biblical Christianity. Another was unhappy that
Ripken, while noble in his efforts to bring relief to suffering nations, missed
the boat in proclaiming Jesus the only hope for these situations. Again, this
is a criticism from one who is starting off with a different authority than
Ripken and myself, making it an easy criticisms to dismiss.
I will give one criticism, however, and then offer a
disclaimer for it. Much time was spent offering great stories from different
cultures, bringing to light interesting differences in their experiences with
persecution. I would have liked to have heard the author analyze the
differences in the ways the varying cultures were experiencing persecution. In
other words, questions like: “Why does suffering in this culture have this
affect, while in other cultures it does something different?” “What are the
differences and similarities between a top-down persecution (in which the
government persecutes people) and a bottom-up persecution (in which families
persecute their own family members when they convert)?”
These questions are particularly pertinent for me. While I
was very encouraged hearing the stories from China and Russia, those are not
things that I personally experience. I serve in France where there is freedom
to practice religion, even if that does mean something different than it does
in America. The government is not going to throw me or people in my church in
jail. Bottom-up persecution does exist here, however, especially in the large
Muslim population. I find myself asking the difficult questions that
he was asking from time to time, and I would have liked to have heard more of
his perspective.
A lot of time was spent on Russia and China, but he never
came back to how those situations related to Somalia. Or rather, he never came
back to that from an analytical standpoint. He did revisit it in terms of
faith, which I appreciated and do not want to discount. He believes God can
work anywhere, and I agree with him. I do, however, still think there is value
in discussing these questions of how we observe God working in different
cultures. I would have liked to have seen more of that.
Now for my disclaimer about my criticism. My criticism is
largely one of omission, but such an omission is understandable. The book is
fairly long as it is, and it no doubt could’ve been longer. The book seemed to
be focusing on strengthening the faith of those hearing these stories more than
it was about analyzing trends in the way God is working in the world. Perhaps what
I wanted was beyond the scope of the book. The author no doubt would have much
wisdom on this subject, however, and perhaps there will be a future project
with this in mind. I would personally love to have a coffee with him and
discuss these issues. He has worked hard to gain the perspective that he has,
and I hope he will continue to share his wisdom with us.
What this book did
for me personally
One issue that I was challenged with is the way I am to pray
for the persecuted church (which I do not do enough). Typically, I have been
encouraged to pray that these persecutions would stop and that liberty would
come to these countries. I was surprised to discover that the believers in
these stories (especially those in China) were not praying for their
persecution to stop. Rather, they were praying for their faith to be strengthened
so that they could endure the suffering. This takes a deeper trust in God’s
sovereignty and a strength of faith to believe even when being thrown in prison
and tortured. I greatly admired this and wondered if I could be that strong
myself in such a situation.
In a similar vein, I was impacted by the difference in
vitality of the church between the pre and post-Communist Russia. Those who
grew up in that persecution had memorized books of the Bible to be ready for the persecution. Bibles were not readily available,
and they surely would not have one if they went to prison. Their solution was
to memorize it. This changed with the newer generation of believers who grew up
in liberty. They could hardly name the books of the Bible.
This is a sad reality that I have also experienced in my own
life. It seems that if things are not going badly then I do not pray that often.
It is a particular challenge for believers who grow up with liberties of
worship (which we should be thankful for) not to take them for granted. We need
to use our freedom to become stronger disciples of Christ. We have Bibles
everywhere, hymnbooks in our pews, and iPhones that allow us unlimited numbers
of downloadable sermons. Why should it take threats of jail to get us to
memorize God’s Word and hide it in our hearts?
Conclusion
This is a book that should be read by believers. It will
both strengthen and challenge your faith. It does not water down the questions,
but neither does it leave us in doubt of the power and goodness of God. It
challenges the western church without bashing the western church. It provides
some great stories and lessons for us from believers all around the world. Take
advantage of this great book that would have been very difficult to write in
ages past. This one is a must read.
