What does the Apostle Paul and the Sicilian Crime Boss, Matteo Messina Denaro (who eluded authorities for decades before being caught) have in common? Not much outside of the fact that both men his in plain site.
Today, I want to look at the the most surveilled, monitored and tracked biblical character in the Bible, the Apostle Paul; and let Paul’s example serve as our own template for less stressful living.
In Episodes 1, 2 and 3, I spoke about the recently caught Crime boss Matteo who hid from the authorities for 30 years by living according to the ancient Jewish saying “If you want to hide a tree, plant it in the forest”. Matteo, the Sicilian crime boss was wise in that he understood the simple truth, that to hide in plane site is the best place to hide. As for you and I today, living peacefully an unseen is more difficult due to increasing digital monitoring by the government through technology; namely the impending programmable CBDC digital currency designed to track every financial transaction we make. While many countries and most large countries are adopting a CBDC monetary system, many are not; including Poland, most of Central and South America, parts of Asia and many countries in Africa.
What can we do about where we live in a CBDC regulated world? For starters, we can push back before the CBDC is launched by asking our representatives to add in as many protections for it’s citizens as possible. Outside of that, we must look to God’s Word and see what He has to say about how to navigate through such a world. What does the Bible say about our privacy? About our hiding in plain site, and the concept of a CBDC? While the Bible does’t address CBDC’s directly for obvious reasons (computers weren’t around at that time), the Bible does address privacy and hiding in plain site. A good place to start is by looking at the life of the Apostle Paul who was monitored very, very closely by government officials and the military.
How did the Apostle Paul handle being monitored and surveilled by the government and military eyes in his life? For starters, when Paul came into Rome, while he was allowed to stay by himself, he was assigned a soldier to guard him” (Acts 28:16). From the perspective, he really wasn’t all that alone. Th Apostle Paul was put under the watch of and chained to a Praetorian Guard. What I found fascinating is that while Paul was under house arrest, he still carried out his mission calling from God. God provided the freedom to “write” and he did just that. Paul sent letters, accepted visitors in Christian fellowship and I would assume from those who would have wanted to hear the Gospel message. The Bible says that Paul even preached and taught, sharing his faith with a captured audience-the soldiers on duty! Did Paul hide out in the middle of nowhere? No, he hid like a tree in the forest-in plain site. And God used him immensely.
WHO WAS PAUL’S AUDIENCE? His audience were the soldiers guarding Paul and anyone in the “household of Caesar” that interacted with Paul; both of which heard the Gospel message. As a result, as Paul’s letters tell us, some became followers of Jesus and joined the first century church in Rome. Paul was, according to Luke (and the Holy Spirit) chained to a single Roman soldier in contrast to Peter who was chained to two Roman soldiers (Acts 28:16; 12:6). The ancient historian Josephus tells us that this would have been a four-hour guard, meaning 6 men/guards per day! Do you think that those guarded and the household of Caesar would have heard the Gospel message had not Paul been surveilled as such? Think about that question for just a moment.
Did Paul fear the loss of his freedoms and all things most consider worth living? Yes, I believe he did, but he kept to his mission and never succumbed to “APATHY”. For you and I today, the “LOSS” of freedom, material wealth and many other things we have come to depend on and enjoy is what we fear if honest. Naturally, we too, like Paul fear the loss of our freedom and possibly our lives. That being said, God still calls us wherever we choose to live, to live as a tree planted in a forest, not in seclusion from other human beings.
In the end, it’s easy to push the “God out of the machine” or “ex-deo mechanica” button and say “the world is coming to an end” with the moral and legal codes of America destroyed and the country falling apart morally, economically, financially and literally. But, whose fault is that? The politicians and leaders? Who voted those leaders and politicians in? We did. We are in the position we are in currently because we as the body of Christ have grown too comfortable with the privileges and blessings God has given us. We have, if honest, slacked and gotten comfortable in our safe, free country and forgotten why we were blessed by God.
As a result, we have neglected to live more biblically in light of our current material state of wealth and comfort. When we strip away the facade of our current privileges, we see that as believers in Jesus Christ, we are pilgrims on this earth. As such, we are always to some degree go against the grain of the secular culture. We are called to help those who are lost to see the light of Jesus Christ through the Word of God and with help of the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, despite where we live, let’s be certain to plant our tree in “the forest”, meaning in plain site, and not in a field, behind a wall, over the hill, or behind the barn-secluded from God’s calling and the lost world altogether.
The best place to hide really is in plain site, so that we can let our light shine to all the world and to the lost. 1 Thessalonians 5;11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” How can we do that if we are secluded and confined, limited in our exposure to others? As authentic followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to encourage other authentic Christians as well as with the lost world. We If we do this, God will do a work in our personal lives and restore things a new in your country and mine; albeit in a new, different but joyful way.
So what does the Apostle Paul and the Sicilian Crime Boss Matteo have in common? While Matteo the crime boss lived a life very opposite of how the Bible commands us to live, the Apostle Paul lived very much in line with how the Bible calls us to live. Outside of the fact that both were from Italy, and both figured out that the best place to hide is in plain site, there was nothing much they had in common.
Paul was the most surveilled, monitored and tracked biblical character in the Bible next to Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the Bible and Paul’s example and use that as our model for how to live in our monitored and surveilled world. It’s God true template for how we can and should live, and how we can live a less stressful life, knowing that God is in full control. And let’s remember, “the best place to hide a tree is in a forrest.”
