EMQ » April–June 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 2
By Tabor Laughlin
Over the years I have frequently heard but do not agree with the statement that it is unethical for a missionary to not tell the entire truth about his/her intentions in a restricted access country. I have served in a restricted country for ten years and everything I have done as a missionary is illegal. In a previous school I had a professor who mentioned his brother having conversations with authorities in Muslim countries where he was able to clearly say that he’s there as a Christian and part of being a Christian is sharing with people about his faith. This was a good situation for him to be in, but this has not been what I have experienced.
The university where I teach (and all higher education foreign teachers must sign) requires me to sign a contract stating that I will not take part in any missionary activity. Each year I have signed that contract, though each year I have continued to do missionary activity. In fact, if I did not sign the contract, I would not be able to work at the school and I would not be able to have a visa or a platform in the city.
This article is about the idea of “righteous deceit”—that there are circumstances when it is acceptable to tell a lie, especially in regards to serving as a missionary in a closed country that opposes the gospel. First, we will look at a couple examples from the Scriptures, then see what others have written about the subject. I’ll close with my conclusion on the matter.
Scripture Example 1: Rahab Declared Righteous
In Joshua chapter two, Joshua sends two scouts to spy out the land near Jericho. The spies enter the home of Rahab, then the king of Jericho is notified of such. The king asks Rahab to bring the spies to him, but she had hidden them. She tells the king that the spies had already left and were no longer at her house. Rahab told an outright lie to the king, and thus the spies were able to escape. Later she says that the Lord had given the land to [the Israelites] and the fear of the Lord had fallen on all the people (Joshua 2:9). The spies vow that they will spare Rahab’s life when the Jews conquer the city, and that is exactly what happens.
This story shows that Rahab was blessed as a direct result of her not telling the truth to the king. If she had told the king that the spies were at her home, they would have been caught and probably immediately executed. We cannot begin to speculate what would have happened to Israel had Rahab told the truth. She saved the Jews by her deceit. And as we know, this is not the end of the story. In the New Testament Rahab is declared righteous for her actions: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31). All of this chapter in Hebrews is talking about how people in the Old Testament displayed their faith through their actions. Rahab is listed among that great list of godly people because the spies of Israel were spared as the result of her deceit. Her heart to save the Jews sprung from her faith in the true God that was leading them. James goes into this again, as he mentions that Rahab was “considered righteous when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction” (James 2:25). James is not simply saying that Rahab was declared righteous by her faith in God, but rather that her righteousness is associated with her displaying her faith in God by hiding the spies from the king of Jericho.
We not only see that Rahab helped deliver the Jews by hiding the spies from the king of Jericho, but also that the authors of the New Testament declared her righteous by her actions. They do not condemn her or mention that she sinned in lying to the king, but rather they praise her for her actions.
Scripture Example 2: David and Achish
Another example of “righteous deceit” in Scriptures is the story of David and Achish in 1 Samuel 21:10–15. David was fleeing from Saul and he goes to Achish king of Gath. The servants of Achish warn him that before him is the David that songs were sung, telling of his great military conquests. This caused David to become very afraid of the king so “he pretended to be insane in their presence, acting like a madman by making marks on the door of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard” (1 Samuel 21:13). David’s tactic of escape worked as King Achish responded by declaring him insane and letting him go. In this story, David is saved by misrepresenting his mental condition by pretending to be crazy. If he had not done so, it can be guessed that he may have been killed or detained by the king.
However, this is not the end of the story. In Psalm 34 David is celebrating God’s deliverance and provision for him as he escaped the grasp of King Achish by acting like a madman. In his account of the story, David says, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). He continues, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6). So in commenting on his deliverance from King Achish, his main praise is that it was not David’s own cleverness that saved him, but it was the Lord who delivered him.
If David’s actions of not being honest were condemned by the Lord, it seems David would not have spoken as it being the Lord who delivered him. Then he says, “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies” (Psalm 34:13). It is very interesting that David, in celebrating what happened to him when he deceived the king of Gath, says to keep your lips from speaking lies. The conclusion must be that David did not consider what he did a lie. Perhaps David would say that there was dishonesty, of course, and maybe deceit in his actions. But the point is that David does not consider himself to have sinned in this deceitfulness, so that he could still tell others to “keep your lips from speaking lies” without being a hypocrite. This means that there must be some kind of dishonesty that is not a sin, just like Rahab lying about the spies and David deceiving Achish. This kind of dishonesty is what I am referring to as “righteous deceit.”
Application to Missionaries
I have referenced the stories of Rahab and David to show that such deceit is not necessarily a sin. In addition to not being a sin, I would venture to say that it is necessary behavior for missionaries who must disguise themselves in order to proclaim the gospel and live in countries that are hostile to the gospel. I have friends that want to serve in my restricted access country, but once they realize that it is officially illegal for foreigners to teach about Jesus, their conscience rebukes them and they say that they cannot serve because they would be lying and thus sinning against God. This seems to me to be a lack of understanding of the Scriptures on the topic.
Other Opinions: Supporting Views
There are missiologists and pastors who agree with this idea. An article on the 9Marks website says that some think “Christian workers who enter a restricted country by doing a secular job are somehow lying if their basic motivation for going is to share the gospel.” Then the writer goes on to say, “If a Christian worker never actually does what the visa application said he or she would do, then the charge of dishonesty would be accurate.”[i] The author uses the example from the Old Testament when God tells Samuel to not reveal the whole truth to Saul in order to protect David (1 Samuel 16:1–5).
Bill Commons agrees also when he writes in ABWE that if we only went to countries where missionary visas where granted, then we would be missing out on reaching the part of the world that needs the gospel the most. Connected with this is the position that it is not dishonest as long as the missionary does have a legitimate job in the country that they are actually doing with integrity. If this is the case, then the missionary does not necessarily need to reveal all the reasons why he is there.[ii]
Keith Parks, former president of the International Mission Board, said that as long as you are doing what you are supposed to be doing there are no ethical problems being a missionary in a restricted country.[iii]
Greg Livingstone is the co-founder of Frontiers, a mission that specifically targets Muslims. In an article in Mission Frontiers, he said that Jesus did not include in the Great Commission that we should only go to nations that will grant us a missionary visa. Livingstone says, “Is it ethical to go into a country to preach Christ without declaring it as your primary purpose? Of course!”[iv]
Former director of Global Opportunities Dave English notes that there certainly are ethical issues in this topic, but he says that he “praises God for the determination and courage of missionaries to find another way into closed countries.”[v]
Other Opinions: Opposing Views
In an interview with John Piper the question was asked, if it is ethical for a missionary to lie by signing a work contract that says he will not be sharing the gospel while working there. Piper responded by stating that he thinks it would not be appropriate to sign a work contract in a closed country that says that you will not share the gospel while there. He said that missionaries do not always need to tell the whole truth in every situation, but that they should not have to sign any contracts that make it a breach of their contract if they share the gospel.[vi]
In an article by Steven Haught in the Global Missions Network, he goes through many Scriptures that people use to support lying as a missionary. Basically his conclusion is that all of these are just attempted “loopholes” through the system, but should not allow missionaries to lie in any circumstances.[vii] In a blog about Baptist mission efforts in closed countries, one blogger writes that being a “stealth” missionary “gives people in these countries the wrong idea that it’s okay to break the law as long as it’s for Jesus.”[viii] In an article from Baylor University Liz Foreman says that laws in a country are made so that there may be order in the country. Therefore, it is unethical for a missionary to go secretly into a country. She says, “Missionaries who preach Jesus Christ’s ultimate message of truth, while simultaneously sidestepping laws and cultural values, send the wrong message.”[ix]
Conclusion
I think the understanding of Piper and many others is that we should not hide the fact that we are Christians if we are living in a closed country. I would agree with that as a general rule. However, it is not always as simple as that. Previously, I stated that every year I must sign a contract with the university to remain in the country. Included in that contract is the acknowledgement that I would not do any missionary work. But the only way I could have the job was if I signed the contract.
There seems to be three options: (1) The potential missionary follows his conscience to not lie and thus tells the government that he is there for missionary purposes, which likely will lead to being denied a job or visa and thus not able to live in the country. (2) The potential missionary refuses to go to the closed country because it would require lying and sinning against God. (3) The potential missionary understands that there is another way. Though there is some dishonesty in hiding his/her purpose of spreading the gospel from the government, he/she is not condemned by God. We see the examples of Rahab and David and declare that there must be instances in which being deceitful is not condemned by God.
Additionally, the very nature of the Scriptures is that we are not even bound by the letter of the Law, but rather by the Spirit. This is what Jesus is saying in Mark 2:23–28 about David being able to enter the temple and eat the bread he was not supposed to eat. And at the same time Uzziah is condemned for entering the forbidden room to burn incense. It seems that the Lord looks at the intention of our heart to see if we are obeying what the Spirit is guiding us to do. It may vary in different circumstances.
Currently, it seems that many countries are officially closed to missionary activity. It is not like centuries ago when William Carey did not need a visa to serve in India or Hudson Taylor did not need a visa to live in China. May no one have a weak conscience and be prevented from serving the Lord in a foreign country just because he or she feels guilty in signing a work contract that says he or she will not share the gospel with anyone while there. These situations are often necessary in completing the Great Commission, and also can bring blessing from God.
Tabor Laughlin (pseudonym), PhD, is a recent graduate of the PhD program in
Intercultural Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has been
serving for ten years and is president of a small mission agency in a restricted
country, overseeing workers in three cities.
[i] 9 Marks, “Lying, Hostile Nations, and the Great Commission,” http://www.9marks.org/journal/lying-hostile-nations-and-great-commission .
[ii] Bill Common, “Beyond Closed Doors: Understanding Missions in Restricted Access Countries” http://www.abwe.org/news/beyond-closed-doors-understanding-missions-in-restricted-access-countries#.Un6A7ihULCE.
[iii] John Pierce, “Use of Undercover Missionaries Getting New Scrutiny” http://assets.baptiststandard.com/archived/2003/5_5/print/undercover.html.
[iv] Greg Livingstone, “Show Me a Closed Door, and I’ll Show You an Open Window” http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/show-me-a-closed-door-and-ill-show-you-an-open-window.
[v] Dave English, “Paul’s Secret: A First-Century Strategy for a 21st Century World” http://www.globalopps.org/articles/.
[vi] John Piper, “Should Missionaries Intentionally Lie?” http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/ask-pastor-john/should-missionaries-intentionally-lie.
[vii] Steven Haught, “Lying for Missions, Can it Ever be Justified?” http://www.globalmissionsnetwork.info/lyingForMissions.html.
[viii] Hal Eaton, “Baptist Mission Efforts in ‘Closed’ Countries” http://forums.baptistlife.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3022.
[ix] Liz Foreman, “Undercover Missions Can’t Justify Breaking Laws” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2175755/posts.
