Posted on 10/22/2004 10:15:13 PM PDT by woodb01
Why Christians and the Church are unable to fight the culture war
although it's still not too late
October 23, 2004
http://www.nodnc.com
Often, in and out of church walls today, we hear about the apathy of the religious community. Hardly a month goes by that the church is not embroiled in some major controversy to the glee of the anti-christian left. The Church in America has lost its soul. The American church no longer fears God, and no longer loves God.
If this sounds like harsh criticism, I intend to fully support it in just a moment.
First, a little background. Since as far back as I can remember, I was raised in a Baptist Church, in my late teen years, after considerable rebellion, I had an "awakening" to what is meant by being "born again" after getting involved in the Pentecostal / Charismatic movement. Not the typical emotional "born again" experience that many people go through, but a true, life-changing, life-altering event that only an encounter with a living God could have initiated. This event led me to pour over the pages of the Bible for over 20 years, reading it cover to cover many times.
In a direct parallel to the church and our out of control culture today, I was on a roller coaster ride. On the wagon, off the wagon, running after God, running away from God, believing in a Heavenly Father and then having my doubts. Compromise, tolerance, foolishness, and sin were regular occurrences in my life, just like the American Church and American Culture today.
Then one day reading my Bible I stumbled on this:
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil...
That unnerved me because I didn't HATE evil. I was "tolerant," I was accepting just like all good little secular humanist citizens should be. I knew there was something wrong because if I didn't fear God, then how could I profess to truly be a Christian? Then other verses struck me:
Psalms 97:10 You that love the LORD, hate evil...
Romans 12:9 ...Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Confronted with this harsh reality that I did not HATE evil and therefore did not love or fear God, I was forced to change. My realization forced me to concede that I was headed straight for hell--, just like today's American Culture, and frighteningly enough, the American Church.
HATE, is a passionate thing. HATE is an active thing. You can't be apathetic if you have that passion. Activism and involvement against the causes of evil are the obvious results. Am I advocating violence? NO! Absolutely not! What I am advocating is serious, sincere, and committed activism to confronting and changing the sick and twisted evil in this culture today.
For example, as prayer was taken out of the schools, and abortion became the judge made "law of the land," every pastor and Christian in this country should have been running for Congress for the sole purpose of impeaching the Supreme Court Justices. It should have been the American Church's passion to stop the evils of the anti-christian assaults of American religious tradition and to stop the butcher of innocent human life. But there was nothing.
Today, with the controversy surrounding gay marriage, it hasn't been the Protestant faiths leading the fight, but the Catholic church, family groups, father's groups, and the Republican Party. The American Church's protestants are eerily silent.
Recently the democrats in Congress attempted to pass new "hate crimes" legislation identical to Canada's. In Canada, it is a hate crime to preach against homosexuality, even if you take it directly from the Bible. Yet still the church and christians do nothing.
The church, the family, values, morals, ethics, our children and our country are under attack. A relentless assault is being waged on patriotism and America from treasonous traitors within and still the American Church stands idly by as a spectator. It's time for American Christians to find their passion and their souls. DEMAND that your pastor abide by the Bible and teach what the Bible says about hating evil and if that pastor refuses, that pastor does NOT fear the Lord, and does NOT love God! That pastor must be removed from that position. It's time for the American Church to clean house and once cleaned to stand face to face with the vile anti-christian beast that has arisen in American government and lop the 7 headed hydra's heads off!
For an eye opening expose of the "democratic" party's agenda, and how it is focused on destroying family, faith, and America, please see this recent 2003 Congressional Testimony.
You're right. And it's sad. It took a long time for one of the pastors at my church to finally stand up and talk straight out about the war in Iraq. Everybody is so afraid of offending others these days. Some people deserve to be offended. Some people I might even try to offend. We need to stop shrinking back and live up to what we claim to be our beliefs. Very good article.
It's gone even further than tolerance. The nation, and even some Christians, are falling into the trap of believing there is no right and wrong.
Well said kezekial.
The Church has only one mission and one mandate.
However, any of God's people, may be individually called (by God) to confront evils of culture, or evil done by heads of state, friends, ...family (you get the idea). But doing so does have its risks (...John the Baptist !).
Every creature is subject to God's standards of righteousness (...Nebuchadnezzar). Any creature can be called to account by God at any time (...Belshazzar).
So, if anyone feels they are called to be in the business of calling down God's judgment on others, you better make sure God is the one who gave you that job, else you will be the one on the carpet before God (James 4:12).
That's hard medicine to swallow.
Well, I don't mean that win or loss is really up to us. It's up to God. But we social conservatives - and especially religious believers - certainly haven't done our job of standing up and fighting for the truth (generally speaking).
Here's what a friend of mine said in a newsletter in 1995 (he's a fighter for preserving traditional values and especially marriage):
"Folks, I know that some of you are thinking along the same lines as this gentleman [a friend who was discouraged about winning against the "gay" agenda]. To tell you the truth, we've been fighting the homosexual agenda for almost four years [about 15 years, now] and though it's sometimes tempting to think in these "win/lose" terms, we simply don't do it. Why? It's a waste of time and energy. There's too much work to do. OUR business should be doing what needs to be done to stop the homosexual movement's influence in society. The win/lose stuff? We all know that's up to Him."
Here's what a friend of mine who has been active in the movement to protect marriage for many years had to say in a newsletter in 1995:
"Folks, I know that some of you are thinking along the same lines as this gentleman [a friend who was discouraged about winning against the "gay" agenda]. To tell you the truth, we've been fighting the homosexual agenda for almost four years [about 15 years, now] and though it's sometimes tempting to think in these "win/lose" terms, we simply don't do it. Why? It's a waste of time and energy. There's too much work to do. OUR business should be doing what needs to be done to stop the homosexual movement's influence in society. The win/lose stuff? We all know that's up to Him."
Everyone who knows right from wrong - especially in relation to serving God - has a duty to do whatever he or she can do. Some can do more, some less. Everyone can do something to fight against the destruction of morality and religion that is occuring at a very fast rate. Many social conservatives have not done enough; said enough, stood up enough, and so on. Too much camo. Trying to fit in, blend in, not rock the boat, not wanting to be seen as fanatics, self righteous and so on.
If more of us had spoken up and been more active, the leftist/secularist/homo-agenda/abortionist/ACLU etcs would not be where they are today. I have no doubt about that.
Hmmm - I wrote one reply and it disappeared - so I wrote another one. Then they both appeared. Oh well.
Of course we should speak out - as long as we have the breath to do so! The root of all of the nation's problems lies in the acceptance of moral depravity. The process to facilitate this acceptance begins early - on the day students enter public school, if not before. One of the nation's founding fathers, John Adams, described the moral underpinnings of the nation thus:
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
(The term "gallantry" did not mean bravery in the 1790s, but sexual license. Bill Clinton would have been a very "gallant" in the 18th century.)
This is the root of the problem. The reason all of our institutions are in ruin is due to an amoral, ignorant electorate who care only for their personal gratification. That's how politicians like Bill Clinton and John Kerry get elected. If one removes or neutralizes the moral foundation from any aspect of society - business, politics, education, arts, sciences, and the rest - all that's left is depraved human nature, a raw struggle of the strong devouring the weak. This is where we are at today. While we sit in comfort and watch ESPN and MTV, our enemies are on their knees five times a day before what they think is the true God, false as it is. Because of its denial of God, and his transcendant moral law, our secular materialist culture has no moral basis to oppose Islam. Even the ostensibly Christian president of the USA is reduced to the absurd statement that "Islam....is a religion of peace" - a statement that utterly denies 1450 years of recoded history.
The farther we get from 9/11, the closer we get to 9/10. America, and the West in general, must repent of liberal materialism or it they surely perish. Sadly, I see few signs of repentence anywhere in the West.
I agree with you 100%. The more the general population consists of slaves - slaves of their mind's flickering wants and demanding senses - the easier it will be for them to be conquered by one enemy after another.
Slaves are easy to conquer.
There's so much to say about it, that has been said more eloquently by others. I have a file of such quotes, which I can't find because my computer is getting ready to be sent away due to its bad behavior.
Putting aside the spiritual and intellectual laxity of the average pew sitter, the pulpits of this nation (Catholic and Protestant alike) have been the subject of a hostile corporate takover.
The architect of this takeover is none but Old Scrat himself.
Many "ministers of the Gospel" today do not believe in the divinity of Christ, His virgin birth, saving grace, etc., etc. All too many not only lack faith, but also lack any real knowledge of the Bible itself.
They sought out the seminary as it was the doorway to a cushy lifestyle. I happen to be Roman Catholic, but in my travels have known many good Protestant Christians - devout souls - who have pointed it out to me. I have seen it with my own eyes, and with my ears, in the screed which is blathered from all too many pulpits upon a sleepy people.
If you talk to some of these wolves in sheep's clothing, who pass themselves off as "Christian ministers" you will often find that they not merely espouse some brand of heresy, but that they espouse some brand of Socialist/Marxist mindset.....some are even involved in one form or another of the occult/wicca.
While there are some good Catholic priests and Protestant ministers out there........you will find they are few, and usually assigned to the ecclesiastical equivalent of the gulag......St. Frigida's in the middle of nowhere. You will not usually find them pastoring larger, wealthier churches of any stripe.
This explains the silence. We expect our religious leaders to do or say something. They will not, as they are not "singing out of the same hymnal" as most would think they are!
Ha! I call it priestly Siberia. You can tell what kind of bishop you have by the assignment of the good priests.
We all all sinners, Man is a sinner, no man is or can be without sin. It is the "discipline" that we must display in controlling our sinful ways and desires. I refer you to two of the pages that I sometimes say with my Rosary:
http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/15prayersofstbridget.html
http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/5wounds.html
I think if you read through them you will find your answer.
You can tell what kind of bishop you have by the assignment of the good priests.
Indeed! But that does not portend well for the Church in the US, as there are very few truly good nad brave prists of God out there. And they are usually assinged to the churchly equivalent of rowing on a Roman Galley ship.
You will only very rarley see good priests in the chancery offices, or given choice parish assignments.
Viz Cardinal Egan of NY. He took Msgr. Eugene Clark out of St. Agnes - the consummate traditionalist parish - replaced him with a a succession of two gay modernist priests, and put Clark as Rector of the Cathedral.
Was the Cathedral post a reward? Not in the least. Clark has to put up with the bizzarities of liturgical abuses, enforced by political correctness. Like African American "liturgies" with women dancing around with bowls of insense, of HIspanic "liturgies" with all manner of "music" accompanied with rocks and sticks. The funeral of minor entertainment personalitites, which demand the worst of liturgical abuse nightmares.
It is a penance for him. And it keeps him - now pushing 80 - tightly under control of Egan's watchful and profoundly unCatholic eye. He was forced to remove the world class director of music he had hired, and replace him with a ditsy Fillipino woman who things that the Teletubbiemusik is "good for liturgy".
Good post! The ghost of Antonio Gramsci looms large over the society of nations today - eapecially the formerly Christian west.
Was that Somary?
Besides that, even though it's a small congregation, we're growing. Pastor's toughness is not driving people away.
That's a great example of "tough love". Your pastor sounds like he's worth his weight in gold. Praise God!
Thank you for this.
Bump for later read.
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