The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places by Nik Ripken with Barry Stricker (2014)

It’s been 13 years since I read the provocative and life-changing book, The Insanity of God (2013) by Nik Ripken. He immediately followed that more personal book about missions and persecution with this, The Insanity of Obedience (2014), though it’s taken me this long to finally get to it.

I say “life changing” because the book gave me a whole new perspective on both Christian persecution and on the miraculous callings of Muslim Background Believers (MBB), something that I just read a great deal more about in Killing Christians by Tom Doyle (2015). These books were all published within the past 13 years, and persecution continues still today—Nigeria being the first, most obvious case in point. And the dreams, visions, healings, and miracles? Apparently they’re all still going on too. I’ll get to them momentarily.

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Brief Summary of The Insanity of Obedience

Whereas The Insanity of God was written to inform us of Ripken’s past and the persecuted church‘s present, this book is written more as a call for the Western church to learn about such persecution and to get involved in helping the right way. It tells the church that not all persecution must be “solved” by the West (i.e. sometimes God wants Joseph to stay in prison). It tells the church that sometimes Westerners can do more harm than good when getting involved with boots-on-the ground evangelism and church planting. It helps the church better understand how faith grows in Islamic contexts specifically, sometimes from the outside but more often from the inside.

This book also gives important pointers to Western missionaries on how we can get involved with the global church without inadvertently intensifying their persecution. I really appreciated Ripken’s list of ten things that a wise missionary would do when approaching work in such a field (261-262)—and in fact, the book would be worth the cost just for that in Chapter 21—and really that whole “Practical Matters” section (231-276).

A Book I Loved, a Book I Didn’t

This is a powerful book about persecution, and I have to state early that Ripken and I are both on the same team—we don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but on the major tenants, we do. So when I disagree with him in this review (and I will), it’s not because I think the book is totally worthless—it’s because in the midst of his fantastic research and solid arguments, he makes simple mistakes that deflate much of his hard work.

In fact, I almost feel like I should write two separate reviews for this book. On the one hand, I absolutely loved it. A book focused on waking up the Western Church to the needs and sufferings of hard-to-reach places is right up my alley. It is in fact my whole ministry! For that and for the personal information Ripken shares from his many interviews with persecuted believers, I can’t praise it enough.

But I also disliked the book and strongly so, because it too often felt—what’s the word?—manipulative. For all the research Ripken did and for all the findings he discovered, he might simply have stated the facts plainly and let the Spirit convict his readers. Instead, he uses this as a platform to pontificate, to be selective with his data, and to use some argumentative fallacies that emphasize his opinions and detract from the message. He has so much great data! Why couldn’t he have simply shared it instead of twisting it, so his findings could be “edgy” and even downright offensive?

Mistakes That Need Fixing

Ok, let me just get this out of the way now rather than saving it for the end. As a careful reader, I felt Ripken failed to fix some flaws in his rush to get this book to print. Some are minor, some are major and potentially damaging. I’ll list and briefly discuss five that I noticed.

Verbosity

Stylistically, Ripken is overly verbose in this book, using too many words and too much repetition to make his points. A strong editor could likely trim 25% of the book’s fat without losing anything. I won’t quote any verbosity, but by page 39, I had already noticed it enough to make this assessment.

At the same time, Ripken also paraphrases Scripture without citing references, which results in a sloppy research product. One case in point:

If we listen carefully to Jesus’ own words, we are compelled to consider that cost as well. According to Scripture, persecution is perfectly normal, and it is the inevitable result of faithful witness. (37)

All this might be true, but stating it without clearly referencing Luke 14:28-30 or 2Tim 3:12 suggests he’s arguing from “probably” rather than having done his due diligence to cite his sources.

False Dichotomies

In writing to his Western (mainly American) Christian audience, Ripken fairly argues for less direct Western involvement in the world’s most dangerous areas. But then he also writes this:

Focusing on the seemingly fruitful areas of the world, to the detriment of those areas that have never heard of Jesus, is not a balanced biblical approach. That choice is also not obedient. (50)

This accusation is flawed on multiple levels. First, to suggest there’s not enough work in the unreached areas contradicts his overall argument for more careful ministry that empowers not endangers the indigenous people to do what we Westerns simply cannot. Second, this is a false dichotomy, to suggest that “the reached” and “the unreached” are competing priorities or that so much effort in the majority world means we’re neglecting the minority pockets or disobedient in going elsewhere. Third, this arrogantly American assumption suggests that, if we aren’t working amidst MBBs, then the work must not be happening.

Too Strong on “Disobedience”

This above idea from page 50 that missions in “fruitful” (a.k.a. “reached”) areas is disobedient is an opinion simply too painful for me to read. I’ve committed my life to helping reach difficult places, but I would never consider my missionary partners in the majority world as “not obedient” simply because they’re reaching out to Catholics or the unchurched in “Christian nations” (a total misnomer).

Ripken veers into this territory again on pages 90-92, implying that decisions to avoid danger are themselves a form of disobedience. Aside from biblical examples like Paul fleeing persecution in a basket (which he does references on 180-181), I had to consider my own situation.

When COVID hit Asia in early 2020, we sought counsel from multiple advisors and opted to evacuate and wait out the disease in the States—and what we thought might be a few months turned into nearly 5 years away from the field. Does that mean we failed to listen to or obey God? Does that mean that we behaved out of fear or trusted man more than the Spirit? Heck no, and the implication is insulting!

Magnifying Tiny Moments

It was in this context of disobedience and fear that he quoted someone from his 600+ interviews who said that “Western workers teach us to be afraid.” (90-91) I don’t doubt he heard these words, and it’s quite possible he heard something similar more than once. But to suggest that this is the majority opinion of most believers in hard-to-reach places about the Western missionaries they’ve known is disingenuous, a total fabrication to make a point, and again insulting.

Mishandling “Persecution for Secondary Reasons”

The thing that annoyed me most in this book was his regular reference to persecution for secondary reasons, that is, persecution for anything but a Christian’s bold claim of Jesus Christ as Lord. Such secondary reasons might be that they work for a Christian or Westerner, they have a house church, they live in a Christian village, they own a Bible, etc. Ripken says it often enough to be notable that Christians who suffer and die for such things aren’t martyrs but “martyrs”—with quotes, making their sacrifice second-class.

God always uses the blood of those who die for Christ to increase and deepen witness. When the death of believers occurs more for their relationships with outsiders than their positive witness to the saving grace found in Jesus, then the positives that come from that “martyrdom” will likely be severely reduced… Being put to death because of employment practices or because of worship circumstances or because of possession of certain discipleship materials is not the same thing as being martyred for a positive, culturally sensitive witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus. (213)

What degradation of the life and suffering and sacrifice of people killed for being Christian! Do we really suppose that Jesus is in Heaven with arms only half-open, the martyr’s crown sort of “iffy,” because such people were murdered without first being given the chance to choose death rather than renounce that Jesus is Lord?

It’s perfectly fine for me to tell local believers, “If you’re going to suffer, suffer because of Jesus. Don’t be persecuted for Elliot.” (24) But to write that those who have died for “secondary reasons” are mere “martyrs” and not martyrs in the true sense is actually quite sickening.

Ripken sort of walks this back at the end of the book when he writes:

Whenever a brother or sister is persecuted, no matter how such persecution has come about, we look our brother or sister in the eye, we hold them in our arms, and we say, “What has happened to you is for Jesus’s sake and we are so proud of you.” (294)

This admission is a total reversal of all he’s written before, and it comes way too late in the book to matter. It’s yet another argumentative fallacy in the book, one I had to research to name: the Motte and Bailey Fallacy—hammering one view for 99% of the book, and then providing a one-liner caveat at the end to offer a little deniability when cornered.

OK. Thank you for letting my get all of that off my chest.

Dreams, Visions, and Healings

Before getting to my final list of all the things I loved about this book, I want to comment on my growing understanding of the dreams and visions that seem so prevalent among Muslims for the sake of the Gospel. While I don’t limit God’s power in any way, I do lean more towards a “cautious Cessationism,” in that I believe such “sign gifts” as tongues, dreams, visions, and healings are no longer normative, particularly in places that have immediate access to the written Word of God. Somalian villages do not have such access, so even as a Fundamentalist (for lack of a better word), I don’t balk too strongly at the miraculous conversion stories recorded here.

When Ripken writes that “God uses different methodologies in different places to make himself known” (152), I don’t immediately disagree. But I do wonder why some of God’s apparently “different methodologies” also ignore the Bible. When Scripture is an optional “bonus” to someone’s faith, why should I believe that this faith is genuine? Some Muslims, for example, have dreams and visions, and then get a desire to start reading the Bible. Okay, but this means that they do have access to the Word, so why the miracle?

Likewise, some Hindus experience healing and are therefore “Christian,” and then some of these “converts” also get interested in the Bible too—but not always. I saw and heard this phenomenon over and over in Nepal and India: “Jesus healed my foot, so now I’m a Christian.” No repentance and no understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice, just a shift in loyalty.

Ripken would call this a “pre-Pentecost” conversion, which I think is doctrinally inaccurate. In fact, that pre-Pentecost and post-Pentecost discussion is pervasive in this book and would require too lengthy a response. Let me just say that Paul’s declaration in Acts 17:30 should put that whole discussion to bed.

Major Blessings Drawn from This Book

Despite all the pushback I’ve written above, I did find this book both challenging and convicting. I want to share some of the wonderful things I found here via the topics below.

Facts of Ministry

Ripken makes many claims in this book, and without citation it’s hard to verify everything, but I think we can all agree that this particular claim just feels accurate:

Christianity is declining in “Christian” nations while its growing in nations of persecution. (33)

Of course, there’s no such thing as a “Christian nation,” but for the sake of history, we can not deny that many Western countries were founded on Christian principles and their populations generally worshipped some version of “Jesus.” Nowadays, however, those Western nations are closing their churches (or watching them burn). In Europe especially, whole cultures are being overtaken by immigrants—entire cities inundated with Muslim men crossing the open borders. Most of these “asylum seekers” fail to assimilate, instead importing their own religion, beliefs, cultures, laws, and hatreds into places like France, England, and Italy.

And yet Christianity continues to grow in China, in Myanmar, in African nations where persecution is strong. The Gospel is moving in the Middle East—not in tsunami waves but in trickles, despite or perhaps because of the persecution.

Shifts in Perspective

Ripken has a knack for helping us Westerners view things in new ways. This began in the Foreword, where a Chinese house-church pastor made the distinction between “church members” and “followers of Jesus.” (xxv-xxvi) The challenge to us readers is to ask “What’s the difference?” and “Which am I?”

He also described how persecution itself can be an indicator of God’s working in an area. He writes, for example:

The clearest predictor of persecution is response to the Gospel. (22)

One of the most accurate ways to detect and measure the activity of God is to note the amount of opposition that is present. (280)

In such areas where God is at work, Ripken provides this warning to those believers who remain silent:

Believers could be unwittingly complicit with the persecutors by simply refusing to share their faith. (29)

Particularly nice for me to read was this statement, which is the exact point I’ve long made in one of my favorite sermons, “The Invitation”:

Though it sounds ridiculous to say, we tend to believe that we travel to another land and “bring God with us.” But the wisdom garnered from the interviews turned the presumption upside down. It turns out that there is no place where God is not working. In Every place, God is already calling people to himself. In fact, it might even be suggested that we go out and witness so that we might discover where God is already at work! (139)

My Own Ministry Focus

Much of what Ripken writes in this book feeds my own recognition that standard missionary practices need a shift. Rather than depending upon white Westerners to go full-time into unfamiliar and dangerous nations where they must learn and assimilate and do all the work themselves, we can instead focus on training the indigenous to do the work.

There’s a vast difference, for example, between the Pastoral and Apostolic church-planting models. The Pastoral Model is the traditional model: the educated, experienced Westerner moves to foreign city, disciples a few people, starts and pastors a church, and hopes to hand it off to the locals “eventually.” The Apostolic Model instead sends that same educated, experienced Westerner into a similar country to reach and disciple believers to start and pastor their own churches without the Westerner ever taking a leadership role, but instead working from behind or alongside his indigenous partners. The difference seems slight, but it is actually quite massive.

In this book, Ripken also argues for less expatriate presence in these countries of higher persecution (98). The alternative is that expats play a supporting role in the spread of the Gospel and the advance of the church. I’d encourage you to check out this ministry which uses Western support to help indigenous churches send their own people into hard-to-reach places.

Ripken also emphasizes that the Pastoral-Model approach is not what’s most needed in these areas. Formal training of local leaders using a Western model of Bible College or seminary is not the indigenous church’s greatest need:

More important than formal education is intimacy with Jesus and personal character. Generally, literate clergy are trained outside of the local church. In persecution, as well as in most church planting movements, leaders are homegrown and trained. The character of their lives is open for everyone to see from birth until the grave. (194)

Conclusion

This was a fascinating book to read but a hard one to review. If you’ve made it this far, then kudos to you! Sounds like you need to sign up for more.

I will most certainly read Nik Ripken again, though with anticipation of some of his writing flaws in mind. His focus on the persecuted church and his call for obedience cannot be ignored. Get the book for those incredibly practical chapters (231-276) or read it in its entirety. I think it has much to teach.

©2026 E.T.

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