I find myself wrestling over some hard realities this morning. I pray that everything I say below (except the solutions part!) is WRONG, and I'm just up on the wrong side of the bed this week. What a spiritually tough week! You ever have one of those?
Friends, only someone with their head in the spiritual sand will refute this: we are losing. I didn't say "we lost;" I said we are losing. The battle for the soul of America that is. (We cannot lose ultimately because Christ is returning and He is Lord!)
Yes there will be pockets of revival and reformation, but we are AT LEAST a generation away from widespread biblical reformation, if it ever comes before the coming of Christ. I’m not trying to be a “downer,” but the devil pretty much owns:
- Politics
- Education
- Economics
- Religion (people’s views and worldviews)
- Social Issues
In other words, most of America would fail the PEERS Worldview Test, or any other tool designed to measure biblical worldview...the application of Truth.
Just this week a lawsuit against the Virginia Marriage Amendment (which defines marriage as between one man and one woman) was heard in a Federal Court in Norfolk. With Virginia’s new Gov, Lt. Gov. and AG all in support of gay marriage, I don’t have a good feeling about it ultimately. Nor can I see many victories in courtrooms ahead defending marriage or overturning abortion because those making those decisions aren't thinking biblically, and neither is the country anymore. Shucks, it’s hard to get CHURCHES to stand with God in these areas. These issues aren’t political; they are spiritual! We are past a tipping point. Our children and even many churches won't declare Jesus is Lord in these areas because they simply don't believe it.
Will we keep preaching Law (what God has commanded) and Gospel (redemption in His Son alone) and fighting for Christ and souls? Yes. We love God and people too much to quit. Plus, we have our commands from Christ and we must obey them.
BUT the hard reality is we are facing a VERY steep decline in Christian thought...even steeper than what brought us that mess at the Grammys. And I hurt as I consider the enemy’s continual “pulling” at CRCC and churches of a similar mind.
Oh Lord…protect your flock! Help us! Don’t allow the enemy to pull us apart as we fight for You! Don't allow our adversary to attack the relationships, bodies, and emotions of your people unchecked! Don't allow paranoia, unforgiveness, a lack of love, or temptation to overrun us! Forgive us of our sins! Help us to obey You!
Are there solutions? Sure! But to many they are too hard, considered unnecessary, unloving, or don't match a certain political persuasion or worldview framework so they are jettisoned quickly as ridiculous. With the Holy Spirit's enablement:
- Preach the whole Gospel. Cry out for men to repent. Help them see their sin before a holy God that they might thirst for righteousness in Christ.
- Set a standard. Live holy; live differently. Don’t love the world.
- Pull your children out of public schools and either home educate based on Scripture or send them to a Worldview Christian School. The humanist indoctrination and situational traps must stop. This has become one of the primary reasons we teach biblical stewardship: getting out of debt, saving, etc.
- Build family based on God's Word...father led, mother supported, children discipled by parents and pulled as far as possible out of secularism. Yes I know this isn't current reality for many and might even seem impossible, but this is what we should be shooting for and this biblical ideal should inform our "dating" practices, marriages, and sexual paradigms.
- Support God-fearing churches as you preach the Gospel and make disciples. Good pastors...many of them...are afraid to death of losing members because of preaching the full truth of God's Word. And that actually is a real possibility. Yes, that is a flaw in the pastor. Nevertheless, please encourage leaders to take a stand, with love, and support them when they do.
Even with all this in place…even on a massive scale…I think we are decades away any widespread change unless the Lord says differently. But YOU can change, and so can I. Will you? I'm going to try.
Help Lord.