What Can WE Do?

By: American Decency Staff

This is the first installment in a series of articles we are sending out for the encouragement of the saints and to the glory of God. As persecution is impending upon our horizon, it’s vital that we see, as Christians, what our response ought to be. We know that there are no “cookie cutter” answers and that it must be as the Holy Spirit leads each person; that being the case, we invite you to chew on these topics with us. Become people who will work “from the bottom up” to the glory of God alone!

What Can WE Do?

A local pastor stopped by our office recently, heavy-hearted about the collapse occurring all around us.  As he sat down to talk and commiserate, he asked the question that many are asking:  “So, what can we do?”

It’s becoming increasingly clear that, at least for this period of American history, we Christians are on the losing end of a sexual revolution that is radically transforming the moral framework and virtually every institution of our culture.

Sure, the battle continues, but with each day and each headline there is every indication of what the outcome will be.  Defeat. 

Look for yourself:

A bill making its way through the California legislature will prohibit Christian universities from operating according to their beliefs. 

A judge orders the Christian dating website, Christian Mingle, to include homosexual dating matches.

The Iowa Civil Rights Commission states that churches which hold services “open to the public” must follow anti-discrimination laws regarding gender and sexual orientation.

These are just a smattering of examples.  I could fill these pages with other recent headlines showing the rapid-fire assault we’re facing.

Many Christians in America are experiencing shell-shock – how did this happen?  How have we gone from a country that once lauded Christian virtues, to one where Christians are now seen as villains?

As theologian Al Mohler writes:  “… The Christian church has always enjoyed the moral high ground; it has always been understood to be the guardian of what is right and righteous, at least in Western societies. But what we are seeing now is a fundamental change. … For the first time in the history of Western civilization, Christianity appears to be on the underside of morality, and those who hold to biblical teachings concerning human sexuality are now “ousted” from the position of high moral ground.

“… And so what was previously understood to be immoral is now celebrated as a moral good. As a result, the Christian church’s historic teachings on homosexuality—shared by the vast majority of the citizens of the West until very recently—is now understood to be a relic of the past and a repressive force that must be eradicated.”

Eradicated.  That sums up very well what we are facing.  The sexual revolutionaries are advancing and the Christian faith is the only thing standing in the way of their complete victory. Virtually every cultural institution – the courts, schools and universities, corporate America, the entertainment industry of course, even the military – is turning on Christianity…which is actually to turn on Jesus. 

In spite of what the First Amendment says, sexual liberty now supersedes religious liberty.   It’s becoming increasingly evident that any criticism of the new sexual liberty (i.e. homosexuality, transgenderism, etc.) will not be tolerated – in fact it will be punished.

As Rod Dreher writing for American Conservative warns, this won’t stop at pharmacists or florists:  “Sooner or later, you are going to have to take a stand — and if you stand on Christian orthodoxy, you are going to be knocked flat. Can you take that? You had better be able to.”

American Christians are beginning to wake from their stupor only to find themselves captives in Babylon.   

So how do we sing the Lord’s song in a land that has become foreign right under our very noses?  We look to God’s Word, of course – our only rule for faith and practice. 

Jeremiah 29:4-7tells us to seek the good of the “city” where we now find ourselves as exiles and pray on its behalf. (more on that later)  We don’t withdraw; we “bloom where we are planted.”  We continue what we should have been doing all along:  teach our families God’s ways; be doers of good; influence and minister to those around us; be voices for Godliness and Truth in an ungodly nation that hates truth.

Yet, it’s also important to remember that as we do so, a lion’s den or fiery furnace will likely be our reward.

Looking at others who found themselves captives in Babylon—Daniel and his three Hebrew companions—we see fine examples of how to respond to a pagan culture while being vastly outnumbered.

Being in the minority does not give us license to retreat and lick our wounds.  We don’t keep our heads down and just go along to get along, while those around us are being led down a path of destruction.  We can’t obey the command to love our neighbor and not warn of the consequences of unrepentant rebellion against God.  What is needed is for Christians to boldly and courageously share the hope and the truth of the Gospel in spite of persecution. 

Which leads us to the promise of persecution.  This should not come as a shock.  After all, Jesus told us we would be hated for His name’s sake and as my 8-year-old Sunday School students can tell you:  “God always keeps his promises.”

In the Beatitudes right after the Lord speaks of us being persecuted, reviled, and having all kinds of evil uttered against us falsely (Matt, 5:10-12), He follows that immediately with:  “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Being hated, lied about, and persecuted does not exempt us from our call to be gritty, flavorful salt and blazing, dark-dispersing light.

When those who hate us don’t see our good works as “good,” but consider us and what we do evil, what should we do?

I Peter 2:12 basically tells us to do good anyway.  We don’t resort to the same tactics.  We don’t hate or revile. When we’re called evildoers, as is already taking place, we strive to “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Notice that last phrase.  Isn’t that amazing?  Every judge or justice who issues unlawful rulings against Christians for following their faith or seeking to protect life, every governmental leader who uses their position to persecute those striving to do good, everyone who now maligns those demonstrating God’s love and truth, will one day be unable to withhold giving glory to God!

Until that day, don’t expect all of our doing good and speaking truth to necessarily change our culture.  Do good and speak truth anyway.  We’re commanded to do so, but God’s Word doesn’t guarantee the outcome we hope for.

However, there is something we are also called to do, that does come with a promise.  It’s a verse that is so familiar that it can almost seem trite.  But God’s Word is never trite, and – as I said above -“God always keeps His promises.”

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

God promises to heal our land not when homosexuals or abortionists or atheists turn from their wicked ways, but when His people do.  WE are in need of humbling.  We too often don’t truly seek God’s face – or only as a last resort when our own methods have failed.  The sin which we justify is a stench in God’s nostrils.  But if we truly humble ourselves and pray and seek God and turn from our sin – there is a promise: then God will hear our prayers and will forgive our sin and THEN God will heal our land.

That is the ultimate answer to the question:  “What can we do?”  True repentance.  Humble hearts prostrated before God. Fervent prayer.  Striving to rid our lives of those “little” sins that so easily beset us. 

Perhaps what we see taking place in our country is not so much a judgment on the lost, but a call to repentance of the saved.  We may very well be driven to our knees – which is the best place to be.

May tears of repentance flow in you and me and all His people and may our broken-hearted prayers rise to our promise-keeping God.

Repentance is our greatest need; yet we do it so poorly. So, we are bringing the message of repentance to the Grand Rapids area in a free conference entitled From the Bottom Up. Pray for this conference and those who will be in attendance.

Please join us on July 22, 2016 from 7 PM to 9:30 PM at the Harvest OPC, located at 930 52^nd Street SW in Wyoming, MI 49509.

Our well-known speakers will be speaking on repentance and how God so often works “from the bottom up.”

To register contact us at 231-924-4050 or by email to Kimberly@americandecency.org or online at www.americandecency.org

You won’t want to miss out on this call to repentance; please join us in prayer.

 To support our efforts please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412.  

American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.



 

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