One thing about history is that in spite of the warnings about
repeating it if we don’t learn from it is that it always repeats
itself. It isn’t history that needs watching as much as the
human heart. Nothing much changes in human nature. Those riding
the crest of the wave are usually found having a party while
those caught in the crash of the wave are gasping for air and
fighting for life.
There is little doubt that America is riding the wave. She is at
the peak of her power and at the top of her game. Trying to get
her attention would be a lot like trying to stop a train with a
handkerchief. Every similarity to previous world powers
notwithstanding our collective national behavior is so close to
ancient Rome that all that is missing is the togas. The land of
the mighty Caesars made a noise heard round the world for a
season then died alone in a protracted whimpering that went
largely unnoticed as the world entered the modern era. What can
we learn from this? Leaving this question unanswered might
normally imply that the answer is understood, however, it is
apparent that for Americans nothing at all is understood.
The dangers are ignored, the warnings go unheeded, and the party
goes on. Contrasts of our lifestyle and that of other nations
make us all the more pompous and less willing to question our
own indulgence. We have been all to willing to conclude that
there must be something wrong with those guys over there. The
prophet, bard and poet must now curb their urgency and put out a
more entertaining message in keeping with the tone of the party
spirit. We are only one step away from jailing, hurting or
killing the messengers who provide us with a call to conscience.
Or have we already taken our first few baby steps in that
direction.
Like a mangy little dog scampering behind us and nipping at our
heals comes the ACLU standing up for the rights of Gays and
Lesbians while beating down manger scenes at Christmas and Ten
Commandment plaques in public buildings. It makes me wonder if
even common heroism has fallen victim to perversion. Are these
acts heroic, are they really protecting our freedoms?
In Pennsylvania a law was recently rammed through the
legislature that makes it illegal for a minister of the gospel
to quote passages of the Bible from the pulpit that cite
homosexual behavior as a sin. That law has been challenged by
people with a bit of common sense still left to them in that
state.
In Iraq and Afghanistan we are kept from entering and searching
mosques that are known centers for Islamic jihad groups or where
weapons are stockpiled and cached. They are considered cultural
centers and thus are placed off limits. Contrast this to the
latest effort to keep military chaplains from praying in the
name of Jesus Christ with those who they are sheparding.
Chaplains are guarding the spiritual welfare of our own soldier
citizens, is that any less important than the cultural
traditions of foreigners?
On a recent ride through a rural district of Arkansas I noticed
that there was a church building about every one and a half
miles on the road I was on. There were Pentecostal, Full Gospel,
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Nazarene, Catholic
and some unheard of varieties of churches stretched out in
profusion for well over two hundred miles. As I drove I was
thinking of an old adage spoken by one of our most well known
missionary pioneers who said…”why should anyone hear the
gospel twice when there are so many people in the world who have
not even heard it once” I wondered if this profusion of churches
laid out to us like a grand spiritual buffet is just taken for
granted. No, I’m sure that it is.
After retuning home I saw a picture on the internet that I
couldn’t help but contrast to the highway of churches I had just
encountered. On a news site online was a picture of three
Indonesian policemen standing behind three seated women they
were guarding. The policemen were in full dress complete with
strapped gun holsters, uniforms with arrays of badges and medals
and a stern look of duty etched across each sullen face. In
front of them were seated three average looking Indonesian women
garbed in light blue prison jumpers. Three middle aged
elementary school teachers who had just been sentenced to three
years each for teaching their young students about Jesus Christ
in their predominantly Muslim school sat stunned as sentence was
pronounced. Save that Mosque but waste the lives of three
harmless but dedicated educators, now that’s good thinking.
So over here it may not seem so bad…yet. Hollywood would have
to make stumbling wimpy idiots of most gospel ministers; it goes
with the territory and may seem even a bit tolerable after all.
If you’re going to pump out a secular world view full of
profanity and degenerate living you don’t want gospel preaching
ministers to be taken too seriously. It would be too hard to
sell a product if the naysayer’s were allowed a soap box from
which to stand and proclaim that the product was trash within
the very medium the product was sold through.
Should a dedicated Christian happen to slip through the cracks
with the gospel on their lips and a life to back it up, they too
would be relegated to the class of the disdained. It seems
acceptable to make fun of the born againers and bible thumpers
in media and in society in general. No one cares if you strip
half naked, paint your face and act like a frenzied baboon on a
psychedelic drug at a football game…those are fans are they
not? But those who get even nominally excited about God are
always labeled…fanatics. It is unlikely that Americans notice
such double standards, since we are so bent on disregarding any
standards at all.
We have gone from a state of utter dependence on God as we did
during our pioneer days and then on to seeking the presence of
God in our formative years as a nation. But now we are entering
that place where we don’t even like to retain the knowledge of
God at all in our thinking or living. What will be the result of
all this and what can we expect next? I will let the Bible
answer that.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not convenient; Romans 1:28
