Concerned Citizen (Part Two)

So now what? Part One did not offer much hope, because without an act of mental discipline, I do not feel much hope. I just don’t feel it. I’m sad. Sorry, that is the truth. However, my feelings do not define reality. And I refuse to stay mired in these sad feelings. I will listen to what God is saying. When I hear from God, there is always hope. There is.

I have given the ultimate answer to all of our current conundrum repeatedly in past blogs and sermons. The ultimate answer is spiritual awakening, which will come when the church is truly revived. See 2 Chronicles 7:14. However, I want to go in another direction this time. I want to think about this a little bit more in terms of what has happened to my country… the nation where I am a natural-born citizen, and to which I am loyal. I want to talk about what has been lost and what can be regained, because as Christians, we need to figure out what battle we are fighting.

I am not so sure we can ever get our country back in the ways that we would like. In fact, I do not believe we can. I do not believe it is likely that America will ever be considered a Christian nation again. Mr. Obama was actually half right when he said that we are not a Christian nation (He was wrong to say we never were, but that’s another topic). Truth is, I would not want the world to think our nation currently represents Christianity. The world mostly sees our media and our leaders, and folks, that ain’t Christian.

Now, I have to insert a paragraph here to say what I am not saying in this blog. I am not saying Christians should throw up their hands, that we should not vote or be active in the political process. I am not saying I won’t be VERY interested in what happens with our next presidential election. I can carry on a political conversation with the best of them, and I’m very up on things, because I care. I can even have a little bit of hope that maybe we can slow the tide of secular humanism to some degree through the political process. Rest assured, I will be voting and I am not afraid to say what I believe about the issues in the appropriate setting.

Having said that, notice I said I can only hope to slow down our negative progression, not stop it. I am a realist. My hope is not that we will return to 1950’s America. Folks, it is not going to happen. Look at history. All governments get bigger and freedom always erodes. In virtually any group of people (even ancient Israel), the true God is eventually rejected by the majority and morality declines. Historically, the only way any of this predictable negative progression ends is through the death of the original nation and the birth of a new one. Considering the pain and destruction involved in that whole process, there is not much hope there.

No hope. But that is because I have been talking about the America of today returning to the America of yesterday, and I honestly do not believe there is any realistic hope of that happening. But before I get to the place where I do find hope (they say suspense is a good thing in writing), think about what would happen if many or most of the best American Christians made the restoration of our previous national identity or a return to Christianity-driven cultural norms… what they are all about? What if American Christians were mostly a bunch of people who are angry about how bad things have gotten to be? What if we became, mostly, just a bunch of cry babies hollering about how much better things once were? And worse, what if the thing we are hoping for is not even the will of God? What if His present goals have nothing to do with returning America to its former glory? What if He has decided to let us come to the end of ourselves as a nation?

I realize the people who loved my last blog are beginning to hate this one. That includes me. I don’t like what I’m writing at this present moment. I’d rather shout on about how mad and disappointed I am and figure out some way to arm twist the nation back to its Christian roots. I'd at least like to hear myself rant about the fact that we DO HAVE Christian roots! We all want to hear SOMEBODY say the things I said in my last blog. We are all sick and tired of nobody speaking the truth. We’re angry. We have reason to be angry. But where can we find hope?

In part one of this blog, I listed eight core principles that have been rejected by the new majority of Americans, particularly those who are the America of tomorrow. I do not believe we can hope the majority is going to change its mind. I am sorry. Again, I am a realist. If a return to those principles is the thing I am hoping for, I am left without hope. I am left arguing on social media or perhaps boycotting practically every single business in existence to try to make a point. I’m left with nothing to eat but Chik-Fil-A and nowhere to shop but Hobby Lobby. If changing the opinions of this culture is where my hope is, I’ll spend my time ranting about the media and politicians, when my real problem is with the majority of my fellow Americans who I don’t want to believe exist.

Sometimes I still hear this idea that if we would just come together as Christians, we could take back this country. In fact, I have been hearing that all my life. There may have been a point where it was true, but I do not believe it is true any longer. The so-called silent majority is no longer a majority. In my city of around 50,000 people, maybe 3,000-4,000 folks are in church on a given Sunday. Maybe. Probably a third of those do not really believe the Bible. When are we going to wake up and realize most people are not like us? Committed Christians whose worldview is founded in Scripture are now the minority in America, by quite a wide margin. We need to deal with reality.

So where the heck is the hope?

My hope is in the book of Acts! My hope is in the first three centuries of Christianity in the Roman Empire! My hope is in what is happening today in China! We are not the first Christians to find themselves a minority. We are not the first to be persecuted, and make no mistake persecution is coming to American Christians. It has already begun, and it is going to get much worse. Wait, and that brings me hope? Yes, my friend, it absolutely does.

Listen to me, American Christians! Our hope is in evangelism and prayer, not picket signs and boycotts! Did the early Christians make changing the Roman Government their mission in life? Did they try to change the established “church” (Judaism)? Not really. They faced incredible odds as a tiny minority with almost no public voice. They were persecuted, tortured and killed. They were squelched. Their freedoms were taken. They were a tiny island in an ocean of those whose worldview was completely opposed to their own. (Sound familiar?) And yet, surely you know what happened. They changed the world. Truth is, everything was going great until they got the government on their side, about three centuries after they started.

Things are going to change. Make no mistake, I am profoundly sad about it. Churches will probably decline in numbers… maybe a lot for awhile. The decline in church membership and attendance in recent years across the nation has been staggering. We will be hated. We will not be popular. We will be misunderstood. We will be slandered. Where in the Bible does it say ANY of that should be our concern?

But again, where is the hope? My hope is in the fact that the church of Jesus Christ has always thrived when it is persecuted. My hope is in the fact that things are about to get very real when it comes to following Jesus. My hope is not in a nation (though I love my country). My hope is in a kingdom... the Kingdom of God and of His Christ.

Consider this: What did you always think was the most amazing thing a Christian could decide to do? I was always so inspired when someone was called to be a missionary. If someone decided to move to a foreign land, some place almost always less Christian than America, they were simply heroic. Their sacrifice inspired me. Still, by far, most of us… didn’t go. While the chosen few were willing to leave this great country and go someplace worse… to actually live in a foreign land for the express purpose of leading people to Christ… the rest of us stayed right here. We did not go to that difficult place to live… that challenging place to raise a family, and to serve. We did not go to that land. Instead, it came to us. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the foreign mission field. Welcome to America.

What do international missionaries do? Do they try to change the government where they serve? Do they try to change the culture? Do they try to change the schools or get everyone to think like they think or believe what they believe about every issue? No. What do they do? They evangelize. They try to lead one person at a time to Christ. And when that person comes to Christ, does he or she immediately agree about every economic or social issue? Does that person immediately change his or her entire worldview? Of course not. Sometimes, as they grow in Christ, their views can change, but it takes time, and sometimes, some of those views never change. Every missionary knows you don’t try to change the culture, you just try to reach people for Jesus, and let Him do whatever changing He thinks needs done… one person at a time.

What if American Christians began to think more like missionaries, called to America? What if we stopped expecting our work to already be done!? What if we began to see opportunity instead of disappointment? What if you and I have been called to witness for Christ in a foreign land where Christianity is hated? What if that land is America? What if our hope is simply found in one more person coming to know Jesus Christ?