Friday, August 3, 2012

We Need Revival Not Religion!


The recent overwhelming  national turnout to support the restaurant chain, Chick-fil-A was certainly heartwarming, and it underscored that many Americans still embrace traditional Judeo-Christian values over godless, secular values. However, the insults and verbal intimidation by hack politicians and their media surrogates shouldn't have to provide the motivation for many Americans to declare their Christian beliefs to the world.

But too often these days, it does. For too many years, Christians have been losing the battle for the heart and soul of the American culture because they've become lazy and apathetic in their faith. For too many years, secular humanists have had their way with the culture by taking control of America's educational system, its entertainment industry and its media. 

And the results are obvious; fewer Americans marry today than at any time in their history. Fewer American households have children, and those that do are often missing at least one parent. The United States aborts nearly one million babies annually because America has become a despicably immoral nation that worships pleasure and sex. When pregnancies occur because of all that pleasure and sex, abortion is often utilized as the solution to get rid of an unwanted baby before it is born. In the African-American community, the abandonment of traditional biblical mores has resulted in a 79 percent out-of-wedlock birthrate, soaring rates of violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, academic failure and high incarceration rates. It's been estimated that nearly 30 percent of African-American births are terminated by abortion.

And so, it stands to reason that many of those Americans that stood with Chick-fil-A and its CEO Dan Cathy on August 1, 2012 against the political and media forces of intolerance, would like to see their nation return to the God-fearing country that featured strong families that raised their children right and respected authority. It also stands to reason that if tens of thousands of Americans still believe in biblical values such as traditional marriage, honesty, integrity, hard work and prosperity, then they still possess the freedom to spread those values across their nation.

And those values aren't spread by church membership drives, Sunday morning religiosity in the local church where clown-costumed clergy lockstep the aisles while tossing burning incense and holy water, or by quasi-political-religious events dominated by loudmouthed motivational speakers. Judeo-Christian values are spread by those who truly know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and understand what it truly means to be born again by faith in Christ as the Son of God. That's not religious--that's living faith. 

And an active living relationship with God through Christ produces strong faith that translates into unwavering Christian values that influences people. For example, many years ago in San Francisco, a homosexual gave up his lifestyle and became a born again believer in Christ because he witnessed firsthand what living faith was all about. The man had gone to a church with a group of his friends to provoke a confrontation with church members because that church taught that homosexuality was a sin. When the members of that church refused to be provoked into violence and instead turned the other cheek as per Christ's commands (Matthew 5:43-48) it had a profound affect upon the man who felt condemned by his actions. The man confessed that he was unprepared for the response he received and he was transformed by Christ's love.

And that's what we need if we are to retake America from the secular forces of darkness. It's easy to be a Christian inside a cozy church where others share your values. But it isn't easy outside the walls of a church where the enemy lurks. Reclaiming America for Christ won't happen at the ballot box--it needs to begin inside our churches where Christians need to profess their love once again for Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and stop treating him like some historical figure from the ancient past. That love for Christ needs to be displayed on the streets with a powerful verbal and living witness that makes Christianity relevant once again to the world. And that love needs to remain strong in the face of anger, hostility, violence and persecution.

Love conquers all. Love spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ. Love must never waver nor shrink back from evil. It is Christ's love for us that we must translate to America and the world if we want to save our nation from certain moral destruction. The apostle John stated: "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1John 3:18) If we do that, we can transform our culture and ultimately the world into a far better place than the moral sewer it's become over the past 50 years.

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