In this, the final part, we’ll look at not only how we should respond, but how are we responding thus far and how our faith affects the outcome. Again, when I say “we” or “our”, I’m referring to “The Church” as a whole.
I’m really not a “numbers” guy. In fact, anything that has to do with math scares me. I just thank God that he gave me a truly wonderful, better half that can do math in her head. That stated, I believe that the Lord wanted me to take notice of some numbers.
It would stand to reason that the majority should have the most influence in a society, right? In just about every demographic or category one would expect that the majority to rule. In other words, they’d lead in everything and have the most influence. In America that should be us, Christians. Although on the decline, those who self-identify as Christians still maintain the majority in America. According to a Pew Research poll conducted in October 2019, “Today, there are roughly 23 million more adults in the U.S. than there were in 2009 (256 million as of July 1, 2019, according to the Census Bureau). About two-thirds of them (65%) identify as Christians, according to 2018 and 2019 Pew Center RDD estimates.” So then, ideologically speaking, Christians, should align themselves with the basic tenets of the Bible. i.e. The right to life, freedom, love, marriage being between one man and one woman, two sexes, one male, the other female, all sexual immorality and perversion is wrong, etc. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Let’s take straight vs gay as a comparison.
I submit to you that the tail is wagging the dog. For example, let’s take a look at the LGBQ+ community (my omittance of anything after what comes after the + is because of my ignorance and not meant to be disparaging. I just can’t keep up).
“A new Gallup poll has found that the number of Americans who identify as something other than heterosexual has doubled in the last decade.
Currently, 7.1% of Americans consider themselves to have an LGBT identity, according to the study, which was based on aggregated 2021 data and included interviews with more than 12,000 U.S. adults. That figure is more than double from 3.5% in 2012.
Of the adults surveyed, 86.3% said they are straight or heterosexual, and 6.6% offered no opinion.” Why is it then that alternative lifestyles are now mainline? You see this reflected in commercials, T.V. adds, Magazines, Disney, and even in Marvel comics and movies. On a side note, I just recently took my family to see the new Thor movie. It was rated PG-13. I was surprised that two of the characters were gay. Our culture is trying to get us to believe that this is normal and there’d be something wrong with you if you thought otherwise.
Why is it that the Church is having so little affect upon our culture? Aren’t we “the salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” making a difference? “The salt common in the Dead Sea area of Jesus’s day was primarily used as a preservative. Before modern refrigeration, salt was utilized to prevent bacteria from poisoning food. Without it, a person may unknowingly consume contaminated or spoiled food. In a secondary sense, pure salt both enhances flavor and produces thirst. Christians indwelt by the Holy Spirit, like salt, are part of God’s ‘preserving’ of civilization. There is a ‘sanctifying influence’ we bring to culture, not simply through fighting evil and speaking out against immorality and injustice, but also through the positive contribution we make to society. Primary through bringing others to faith, Christians help ‘preserve’ that which is good, honorable, and praiseworthy in culture. And by modeling wholesome, godly values regarding family and Christian character, we also help safeguard society from moral implosion” (The End of America? Jeff Kinley, 2017, pp. 192).
Then why are we having so little influence upon our culture? Personally, I believe the onus is mostly on today’s Church leadership and a Walmart church culture. Many churchgoers today want to attend a church where they can get most of their needs met. And we oblige them! We equate being busy in particular church group or ministry with Christion growth. Jeff Kinley puts it this way, “..in the Western church world is that many pastors have departed from the primary biblical mandate to equip the saints for the work of service (Eph 4:11-14.) Instead of focusing on teaching sound doctrine and deepening believers in their faith, we’re creating and designing church services and ministries that cater to a consumer-driven Christian populace.” (The End of America? Jeff Kinley, 2017, pp. 231). Add to this a steady diet of “positive”, softball sermons, none of which bring much conviction or require that an area of one’s life needs to change, and you have a church full of perpetual baby Christians. The Bible calls them carnal Christians. And these carnal Christians would naturally have little effect upon an increasingly decadent culture.
Some may argue, “brother, haven’t you read Revelation? Things are going to go from bad to worse until the Lord returns”. While that is certainly true, it doesn’t give us an excuse to throw up our hands and say, “Que Sera, Sera”, “whatever will be, will be”. Heavens no! God expects us to be the standard bearer! If the world doesn’t see a difference in us, we’ve not done our job as His stewards of this great country. America was founded by men that believed in the principles found in the Word of God and upon Judeo-Christian morals, virtues and values. John Adams wrote, “Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It’s wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” If we completely depart from either of these concepts we’re done! Finished! The country we had will be lost forever. And if you thought that being a believer is difficult now, just wait if that happens. You’ll be looking for caves!
Make no mistake, America is under attack. We know who’s doing the attacking and how they’re doing it. And we know how we should respond. But knowing and doing are two completely different things. Faith my friends is active, not passive. I’ll leave you with the question our Lord and Savior asked in Luke 18:8 (ESV), “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”