Note: This post is a satirical response to this post by Daniel Chew Huicong. To show the kind of liar Daniel Chew is, here he writes, “This would be my last word on the cyber-terrorist, liar and anti-Christian watchblogger anonymously called "Antithesis".” But just two days later, he writes about “Antithesis” again. Does he even have a single iota of integrity as a self-professed Christian?
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:23-28
Nope, I am not praising Watchman Chew, and I am not out of my mind. I am merely praising the art of satire.
In our struggle against the flesh and the world, nothing ever comes close to practically surfacing the sinful desires of the flesh than trials and tribulations, especially when others wrong us and slander us without cause and without truth e.g. Watchman Chew’s relentless condemnation and anathematization of a multitude of churches, pastors, elders, worship leaders, and fellow brethren-in-Christ.
What shall we do then? We can attempt to fight fire with fire, and attack those who anathemathize us even more harshly and vociferously. After all, don't we all have a right to protect ourselves and defend our reputations, especially when the venerable Watchman Daniel Chew Huicong condemned so many of us to hell fire and called us heretics? Since the truth is on our side, victory is all but assured and we can thus steamroll all opposition, can't we?
To tackle this question, we must look at what the Scripture teaches about the topic of satire and mockery. In fact, there is an entire book written to defend satire within Christian writings and polemics. The problem with the usual approach is that it doesn’t go through the head of hidebound hypocrites like Watchman Daniel Chew Huicong.
But what is “satire” according to the Bible? It is written in this book, “A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking,”
“Satire treats the foibles of sinners with a less than perfect tenderness. “Satire is the exposure of human vice or folly through rebuke or ridicule. … It might consist of an entire book (e.g. Amos), or it can be as small as an individual ‘proverb.’” But nevertheless, if a Christian employs satire today, he is almost immediately called to account for his “unbiblical” behavior.” [1]
Hence, satire is defined as the “exposure of human vice or folly through rebuke or ridicule.” “Ridicule” would include the usage of mockery, humor, sarcasm, derision, teasing, scoffing and scorn, while “rebuke” would involve chastisement, criticism, censure, and castigation.
One biblical approach to dealing with our enemies is to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of course, his use of satire and mockery:
“The disciples were worried about the effects of the Lord’s rhetoric. Did you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard this? (Mt. 15:12). Yes, I did, He replied in effect. His mission was accomplished (v. 13). The Lord attacked the scribes and Pharisees for their long robes, sanctimonious geegaws, prayer habits, tithing practices, their ways of greeting, their seating arrangements, their hypocrisies, and so on. If the Pharisees had funny hairdos, like they do on TBN, we would have heard about that too.” [2]
In replying an opponent, the satirical exposé exposes the hypocrite for who he is, warts and all. This hypocrisy would include Daniel Chew’s two-faced notion of naming a post, “In Praise for AT,” and then turning around, pretending that he is a little god, and pronouncing eternal damnation upon my soul:
“He as a Neo-Orthodox heretic is not saved. Yet, to desire for his good means to desire for his salvation from his vain way of life. Seen in this light, I pity him. His emptiness has generated only hatred in him which he spews at people like me who proclaim the truth. He has nothing to offer; no Gospel to save him from his sins and he is on the road to perdition.”
This kind of “praise” would probably be the kind of praise Daniel Chew offers to God when he sings, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” – the utter hypocrisy and his “fair show in the flesh” is clear to those who have eyes to see.
It is not within the scope of this post to discuss Daniel Chew Huicong’s long robes and graduation gown, his sanctimonious gewgaws, prayer habits, tithing practices, his ways of greeting (for example, he would commend you as a brother-in-Christ, then nitpick on your writings, call you a heretic, and condemn you to hell like he is God Himself), his seating arrangements in church (especially when he is late for service on the Lord’s Day – his pastor would know this), his hypocrisies, and so on. If Chew had a funny, twisted smile on his face – like he does on his graduation photograph – we would have heard about that too if this were a satirical exposé.
The English Puritan, George Swinnock, writes:
Sin reigning in the heart, is oftentimes more hurtful
than when it rages in the life. Such civil people go to
hell without much disturbance, being asleep in sin.
They are so far from being awaked that they are many
times praised and commended.
Example, custom, and education, may also help a man
to make a fair show in the flesh. They may prune and lop
sin, but never rip it up by the roots. All that these can do,
is to make a man like a grave, green and flourishing on
the surface and outside, when within there is nothing but
rottenness and corruption.
One purpose of satire is to awake such “civil people” who “go to hell without much disturbance, being asleep in sin. They are so far from being awaked that they are many times praised and commended.” Being constantly praised and commended by fellow bloggers for condemning so-called heretics and churches to hell, it is little wonder that such hypocrites or fools continue to be asleep.
The Bible discussed many ways of answering a fool. Sometimes, we answer not a fool according to his folly, lest we be like him (Prov. 26:4), but “in other situations a fool must be answered according to his folly lest he become wise in his own conceits. “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit” (Prov. 26:5). In other words the Bible says that answering a fool does provides a temptation to the satirist, and so he must watch out. But not answering provides a temptation to the fool and allows him to marinate further in the juices of his own vainglory.” [3]
Indeed, the marinating juices of vainglory has got to one’s mind and soul, that it seems an almost impossible task of coating the slippery body with a crunchy, tasty breadcrumb crust of “Christ-likeness” so as to fry the fool within the oil of sanctification. Just look at what the Watchman Chew has written about himself:
“Through AT, whatever things that can be used against me has been dug out somehow, thus showing me my weak spots. Although all of AT's commentaries are outright lies, yet because he is by nature an enemy, he would endeavor to collect as much dirt as possible to smear my reputation. In this regard, I am thankful for how little he can actually find, thus requiring the manufacture of entire sets of lies in order to malign my character.”
What a self-deluded individual he is! Whatever little we have done, we do it out of our own leisure and free time. We have not even started dabbling in his appalling writings at Credo 500, his self-acclaimed “papers,” and his long blog posts – we simply do not have the time (like Daniel Chew has) to critique such unedifying “papers” and narcissistic blogging attempts. Of course, if we get paid a lucrative salary for doing it, we might just spend our precious time performing a thorough critique of all his writings. But it will not be an enjoyable task. And of course, Daniel’s assertion that we are lying is, indeed, a lie in itself (please refer to our previous post).
Daniel laments, “But whatever happens, the main thing we should remember is that faithfulness to God and His Word counts more than our reputations. Jeremiah's reputation wasn't very great in his entire life time [sic], and he was imprisoned many times for the truth. We should care less about our own reputations and more about the honor of God's name. Rather that we be despised by the world than for God to be dishonored.”
What an honorable aim in life for Daniel: to call down hell fire upon his opponents, to relentlessly pick on pastors, elders, teachers, church leaders and various denominations in order to condemn them as heretics. What do we say to Watchman Daniel Chew’s attempt at being a Watchman? This is our answer:
“Consequently, prophetic rebukes should come from seasoned prophets, from men called to the ministry of guarding those people who belong to the Lord. The work should be done by men of some age and wisdom, and not by novices, firebrands, and zealots. The work should most certainly not be done by the kind of man who practices on his mom, wife, or kids. … A man who has a need to cut others is a man who ought to be silent.” [4]
In conclusion, in our dealings with the enemy, let us seek to emulate the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us have the courage to call the charlatan for who he truly is – a hypocrite. Towards a hypocrite who demands the Matthew 18 methodology in approaching a brother-in-Christ when we deal with him, while he himself indulges in calling down hell fire upon his opponents without ever bothering to even contact them, we would plead for the use of satire as laid out in the Word of God. God will judge in the end, and His judgment will be perfectly just according to the sins committed. May we learn therefore how to desire the ultimate good for our enemies, even through the use of biblical satire. Amen.
References
[1] Douglas Wilson, A Serrated Edge: A Brief Defense of Biblical Satire and Trinitarian Skylarking (Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2003), p. 12, quoting Leland Ryken et al, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1998), p. 762.
[2] Ibid., 101
[3] Ibid., 103
[4] Ibid., 104-5.
