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Culture war is very real. You are at ground zero in the war zone. Western nations are presently engaged in the most intense and most important culture war ever. A study by LifeWay Research shows that 59% of Christians think we’ve already lost the cultural war and that we are now reduced to fighting for our very freedom to worship God and declare his greatness.
The answer to this is to unify, but before I get into that, let’s look at this culture war issue in more detail.
Fox News recently ran an article entitled, “Have Christians Lost the Culture War?” I include a portion of that below. My comments and admonition follow the article excerpt.
The culture war may be lost and religious liberty might not be that far behind, according to a new survey from LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Seventy percent of senior pastors at Protestant churches say religious liberty is on the decline in the United States, and 59 percent of Christians believe they are losing the culture war. Eleven percent considers that war already lost.
The survey results are staggering – indicating grave concerns about the moral direction of the nation from both the pulpit and the pew.
“Ten years ago we were talking about who would win the culture war, and now we’re talking about how will Christian rights be protected after the culture war,” Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research, told me. “We’ve lost our home field advantage. There are going to be some things that are different.”
Stetzer said it’s a big shift, “and it’s a shift I would not have guessed.”
Over the past few years, I’ve documented hundreds of instances of religious persecution in the United States. And the targets have been exclusively Christians.
The military labeled evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremists. Christian organizations like Family Research Council and American Family Association were labeled by the military as domestic hate groups. Bibles were briefly banned from Walter Reed Medical Center.
The Internal Revenue Service targeted Christian ministries engaged in pro-life activities. The government demanded to know the content of one group’s prayers. A Wyoming church was ordered by government officials to turn over their membership roles. A Baptist newspaper in North Carolina was audited – as was America’s evangelist, Billy Graham.
The list of attacks on Christians goes on and on – from students ordered to stop praying in front of the Supreme Court to chaplains being told they could no longer pray in the name of Jesus.
In recent days, the battleground has pitted gay rights groups against Christian-owned businesses that cater to the wedding industry. Christian bakers, florists and photographers have been hauled into court and brought up on state discrimination charges for declining to participate in same-sex weddings.
And in every single instance, lower courts have ruled that gay rights trump religious rights.
Scott McConnell, vice president of LifeWay Research, said the concern is widespread.
“Half of Americans say that religious liberty is on the decline,” he said. “That’s a lot of people.”
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, conceded that Christians are losing the culture war and they are losing ground every day.
“The primary reason Christians are losing the culture wars is that pastors are AWOL when it comes to informing and energizing their congregations,” Jeffress told me.
Unless Christians stand up and engage the political process, Jeffress said he fears there may come a day when religious liberty is extremely curtailed.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/02/20/have-christians-lost-culture-war/#
What Christians Must Do In Response
Culture war is nothing new, but we have lost considerable ground in the past century. We are being hit from all angles, from a multitude of different fronts, and we have not effectively stood against the onslaught in large enough numbers to make enough of an impact to change the tide. We are losing the culture war.
Make no mistake about it, we are now in the position that we must do something or perish.
Christian persecution is on the rise, not only in the Middle East, Europe, and England, but right here in the United States of America. Those persecuting us include government agencies installed by people we have elected into office. We have Islam demanding Sharia law in various areas. Homosexual rights trump religious rights. We must act now or our societies will continue to degrade. This is the reality of the culture war.
But what do we do?
We unify. We unify or we die, it’s that simple.
Together We Are Strong
The following scripture passage is lengthy, but please read it carefully and as often as you need to get the fullness of what God is telling us here. This is God’s vision for the Christian Church. He is not speaking of any particular group or denomination, but to the entire church, all who believe.
Ephesians 4:1-14
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it says,
“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,
AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Culture War Battle Plan: Christians Must Unify
The most disturbing thing I’ve seen among Christians is a lack of unified action to arrest the advances of non-Christian values in our societies. Although most of the hundreds of millions of Christians agree that homosexuality is a perversion, that abortion is wrong, that violence in music, movies and games is out of control, that Islam is anti-Christian and a huge threat, all they do is voice their opinions in private and only when asked. We need more than that.
We need a unified, visible front. Collectively, we have enough numbers to demand change. Collectively, we have enough numbers to influence elections and the writing of legislation. Collectively, we have a loud enough voice to be heard. But fragmented we are easily sidelined and we cannot do anything near what is needed.
Let’s unify, seek God through prayer, and take visible action in our world today. The Christian Culture Center is committed to help make this happen. But we need you. We don’t need as many people as the opposition has because God is much stronger, but we do need as many Christians as possible to work together to impact our culture for Christ. Become a member of our Advisory Board today and help us make an impact for Christ in culture. Your very freedom — and life — depends on changing what’s happening in our culture.
