Is Eliminating Our Past A Good Idea?

     I spoke to a friend the other day who had just returned from a trip to Ireland, and he was enthusiastic about his experience.  Like me, he is a lover of history, and he went and on about the historic sites he saw.  He was effusive about the castles, museums, and tours he went on that featured the struggles of ancient Ireland, the invasion of the Emerald Isle by the English, and the Crown policy of "plantation", by which English and Scottish Protestant settlers displaced the Irish Catholic landowners.  That hostility and animosity is still a part of Ireland's national character today.

     Likewise, my youngest sister has been visiting Prague, Czechoslovakia and the country of Poland this past week. She is sharing photos and her thoughts as she visits awe-inspiring 13th century churches and synagogues, the Jewish Quarter (ghetto), and the concentration camps where so many Jews were exterminated by men with evil hearts. 

     The hearts and minds of both my friend and my sister were moved and educated by seeing the rich history of these European countries.  The tour guides provided lots of insight about the historic events that took place among the ruins and majestic places they visited.  Monuments related the historic events that helped shape the current and modern country.  And the native inhabitants are eager to tell the stories of where they came from [historically], and which define who they are now.

     So, now I am forced to take a look at my own countrymen who seem unable to see the value in our history -- both the good and the bad -- and I wonder if we truly know who we are, and are we interested in being proud of who we've become.  I don't usually like to engage in current political discussions on this blog, but I am deeply conflicted when I see our younger generations calling for the removal of our Confederate memorials and statues.  It is not because I am a racist, or I condone slavery -- that would be a ludicrous accusation.  I simply do not understand how they think that destroying our memorials will 1) erase our history,  2) insure that it will never be repeated, or 3) change current attitudes, opinions or hostilities.  When they look upon these historical statues, do they really feel the memorials speak for continuing racist policies?

     First of all, they are showing their incredible lack of knowledge when they claim that every Southern general endorsed slavery; that the entire reason for the Civil War was to maintain the wicked, reprehensible, and immoral institution of slavery.  Perhaps they need to revisit the history books of decades ago [since I suspect the revisionist history being taught today is possibly in error].  But I do not want to wander into the weeds of debating what was in the hearts and minds of Southerners a century-and-a-half ago -- anymore than I want to debate the reasons why today's Southerners honor these memorials and statues. We can debate states rights, Southern pride, and white supremacy ad nauseam and never agree.

     I simply want to point out that the Irish and the Czechs and the Poles in Europe aren't pulling down their statues or destroying their memorials -- even though they could employ the same moral argument that some of the memorials are evidence of a shameful part of their past.  What's the difference in our mindset?  Perhaps the Europeans recognize, somewhere in their souls, a principle that God voices in the Bible... we should remember our past sins, but not focus on them; that our past (both good and bad) has led us to where we are today.  But it does not have to identify who we have become.
      In fact, I believe it is important to understand that our past does not have to have an influence on our present behavior.  When we can recognize our sin, repent for it, and receive forgiveness, we can look at the past without any fear of repeating it.  And we don't need to destroy the cultural memory of those sins as a safeguard against backsliding.  That doesn't mean we ignore the ugliness of our past history. It just means we don't have to hang on to it and let it continue to reinfect us.  It is important that we recognize we have evolved into a new identity... we must not forget where we came from, but instead, rejoice in who we've become.
     Do those who wish to destroy every shred of evidence of the dark days of slavery in our historical memory somehow think that it changes our history? Out of sight, out of reality, if you will?  If at the end of that awful war -- which resulted in 620,000 deaths; nearly half of the 1.26 million Americans who have died in the nation's wars -- reconciliation could take place and Christ-like forgiveness offered between our countrymen, why is there so much hate and vitriol today over the past?
     Why can we not look upon the aftermath of the Civil War and see that we, as a nation, did not suffer decades of guerrilla wars as some nations have endured after their own civil wars?  Why can we not see that the nation moved forward, despite ongoing racial struggles, and we have much to be proud of? It has been a long and difficult struggle, but there has been progress. Is there still racial prejudice and dark souls among men?  Yes, and there always will be until Jesus comes back and removes the instigator of such evil.
     But just because a statue of Robert E. Lee exists somewhere on a town square, it does not mean we are at the same place in our national character as we were 156 years ago.  That statue honors a man torn by a national debate that nearly destroyed our nation, yet he could say at the end of the Civil War, “I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and I have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”  Did he own slaves?  Disturbingly, the answer is yes. And there is no amount of rationalization that can justify that fact. There are many men throughout the world from that time who will have to stand before the Lord on Judgment Day and account for that sin.
     And removing his statue will not erase the dark shadow that hung over this nation for four long and bloody years. Only the blood of Jesus can do that.  And I pray that the same evil influence that whispered hate and enmity in the ears of our ancestors, will not find minds willing to embark on another civil war.  I guess we will find out... more statues and memorials are coming down by the day.  The question to be answered is this ... when the last statue comes down, the last street name is changed, and the last reminder of the injustice perpetrated against our fellow man is totally eradicated from our cultural conscience and memory, will we all then be able to live in harmony and peace?
     Will the absence of stone and iron memorials change the hearts of those who are intent on hate? Will we at last, as a nation, be free of the temptations of the Enemy and love our neighbor as ourself? I contend that it will be the renewing our minds [to be like Christ] that will ultimately eliminate the poison that is spreading through our national discourse.  Perhaps then we can begin to listen to each other and live in true harmony.
     I wish it was as easy as pulling down a monument.  I denounce our national sin of slavery, and any attempt to limit a man from becoming all that God intended him to be ... just as I decry our current national dialogue that seems intent on destroying our unity.  We don't have to let our past failures continue to divide us. Let us look towards building new memorials and testaments to a unified future.  There is a bigger picture here... looking at all that God has delivered us from and looking forward to all He wants to do in this amazing nation!  Let it begin today!

Colossians 3:12-14   "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity".


      

   

      

The Loss Of Faith In This Generation

     Those of us, who are of a certain age, remember the famous statement by Ronald Reagan: Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction... The same can be said of Faith, which is its own kind of freedom, wouldn't you say?  And while I do not agree with Christian Apologist Ken Ham on his "Young Earth Creationist" theory, I am in full agreement with what he wrote on his website, Answers in Genesis.  Mr. Ham said, "Every generation has the same decision to make: Will I serve the God of the Bible or a false god? The “god of this world” may shift his seductions slightly from generation to generation, but the basic challenge is always the same. So, Christians must be ever vigilant. Every newborn must be taught the truth from scratch or else that soul could be completely lost. While statistics indicate that churches and Christian homes are failing to reach kids, God has given us all the resources we need to turn the tide!"     

     Sadly, I believe this generation of young adults is on the verge of succumbing to a most clever seduction of the Enemy.  Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, supports this theory by explaining, "When Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took a close look at the religious beliefs held by American teenagers, they found that the faith held and described by most adolescents came down to something the researchers identified as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."  

     Exactly what are the foundations of such a belief system?  1) A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.  2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.  3) The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about one's self.  4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.  5) Good people go to heaven when they die.

     As you can see, this is a belief system based on the premise that "the self" is primary, and God is an appendage to the lives we live.  He's there, but only when we need Him; like a "Medicine Cabinet God".  And you can see touches of Gnosticism in these beliefs too: the goal is to be happy, and pleased with yourself; Faith is subjective (personal, individual, emotional, instinctive, intuitive); there is no recognition of God's superiority or Jesus's sacrifice for our sins -- all we have to do is "be Good". 

      In other words, this is very close to the same lies and seduction that Satan offered Adam and Even in the Garden: That the Word (Bible) is not reliable (allowing for doubt and distortion); That God doesn't have our best interests in mind, (if I follow His rules, I won't have any fun in this life!); and That your sin isn't all that bad (God knows I'm a good person overall and that's what counts).  In essence, our latest generation is believing the lie that Satan told Eve:  Be your own God!

      After conducting more than 3,000 interviews with American adolescents, the University of North Carolina researchers reported that, when it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs, many adolescents responded with a shrug and “whatever.” As the researchers explained, “For most teens [and I would surmise young adults], nobody has to do anything in life, including anything to do with religion. ‘Whatever’ is just fine, if that’s what a person wants.”

     It's abundantly obvious -- most Millennials can tell you more details than you want to know about the lives of favorite musicians and television/movie stars, or about what it takes to get into a good college, but most are not very clear on who Moses and Jesus were.  And with this conclusion, it is equally obvious that our culture has not followed God's commandment to "train up" the next generation.  He says it over and over in the Bible ... when God miraculously enabled Joshua to lead the people through the Jordan River, the first thing He told Joshua to do was to take twelve stones from the riverbed to build a memorial. But what was the memorial for? God wanted Joshua to explain, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know . . . the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over . . . that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever” (Joshua 4:21–24).  The stones were to remind the parents to make sure they taught the next generation about the true God. They were instructed to pass on the knowledge and fear of God to their children.

     But, as a nation and a culture, I'm afraid we have failed to do this.  When we took God, the Bible, and prayer out of our public schools, [and failed to establish them in our homes], we are left with generations of kids who have no foundational knowledge of God and His Word, and once in college and living on their own, they are likely to abandon Him altogether.  What's even more sad to me is that both these kids and their parents have not been taught apologetics ((how to give a reasoned defense of the Christian faith) in their homes or churches, so they don’t believe it themselves and certainly can’t defend it to others. 

     In effect, this theory of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism boils down to a couple of ideas ... It's all about individualism (let's not be judgmental, and everything is relative to the individual); and just "being nice" is central to living a good and happy life and being a good, moral person. That means being nice, kind, pleasant, respectful, responsible, at work on self-improvement, taking care of one’s health, and doing one’s best to be successful.  Just like Satan taught:  Be your own god!

     As the researchers explained, “This is not a religion of repentance from sin, of keeping the Sabbath, of living as a servant of sovereign divinity, of steadfastly saying one’s prayers, of faithfully observing high holy days, of building character through suffering, of basking in God’s love and grace, of spending oneself in gratitude and love for the cause of social justice, et cetera. Rather, what appears to be the actual dominant religion among U.S. [young adults] is centrally about feeling good, happy, secure, at peace. It is about attaining subjective well-being, being able to resolve problems, and getting along amiably with other people.”

     But that's not what God commanded us to teach the next generation!  In Deuteronomy 6:6-7, He tells us, "These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Instead, we have allowed ourselves to be seduced by Satan:  Don't listen to God! He just wants it to be all about Him!  I'm offering you an easier, more pleasant faith that is way more tolerant and undemanding. Instead of doctrines of Trinity, holiness, sin, grace, justification, sanctification, church, and heaven and hell, I am offering you a life on this earth [now] centered on happiness, niceness, and an earned heavenly reward (but that's later, you don't have to worry about it now). 

    By now, it should be obvious that Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a faith in "self", not Faith in God.  We tend to treat spiritual problems with a medicinal treatment plan.  Sin, and the Wrath and Justice of God, are terms that don't fit in well with our modern language and goal of self-actualization (the realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities). 

     So how do we reach a generation that is falling away from Faith in Jehovah God, as well as a nation that largely considers itself Christian, yet has very little knowledge or experience in Biblical Christianity?  It is apparent that we need to return to the directives God has given us in His Word... We must be earnest and persistent in teaching our children what the Bible says about God, so that they know WHAT they believe, WHY they believe it, and HOW to defend the Faith against the attacks of today's secular culture.  Then we have a generation that can proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God with AUTHORITY, because they believe by Whose Authority it stands.  

     They must be taught what "Faith in Christ" means... to know what it means to "Be Saved" and to "Walk with God", and all from a Biblical perspective, using God's own words!  We must answer their hard questions about sin in our culture and what happens when you die without knowing Jesus as your Savior.  We cannot give them more tolerant and permissive answers.  They must be taught Truth as God presents it in His Word -- not what the popular opinion is.  Once they accept the Bible as true, and the Authority of the One who inspired it to be written, then the world, with all its challenges, will begin to make sense to them. They need to see the reality of sin, and know God's Grace and Mercy, as well as His Judgment.  

     Once this generation knows [and believes] the Gospel Message that Christ died for us, was buried, and rose again with a promise of salvation to all those who have faith in Him, they will know that the power of that Gospel to save sinners rests on the authority of God's Word.  They will then need to be encouraged to boldly proclaim that Gospel to a lost world -- something that we have failed to do for several generations, and our society and nation are suffering for it.  But it is not too late!  We must replace the religion of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism with a genuine Faith in Jesus Christ by committing to instructing our children and grandchildren as God, the Father commanded us.  If we plant the seeds of the knowledge and authority of God through His Word, our Father and the Holy Spirit will be faithful to water them. It may take only one generation to lose Faith, but we can begin today to raise up the next one in Truth and Commitment to God and for the salvation of the world.  With God and His Word instructing us and them, how can we fail?

Judges 2:10-12  All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.  Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger.  

 

Have We Lost Our Way?

     I was intrigued with a recent article on the Charisma News website.  It quoted a prophetic statement made by Dr. Elton Trueblood, the former chaplain for Stanford and Harvard universities in the early 1900s. He was once asked what the church in America would look like in the last half of the 20th century. Dr. Trueblood stated, "By the year 2000, Christians in America will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant, militant paganism."  Well, we are nearly two decades past his prognostication, and I daresay that not only is the Body of Christ surrounded by paganism, but we are becoming increasingly comfortable with compromising with the pagan world.
    I feel confident in saying that because I see too much evidence that the Church and Christians are willing to let the "leaven" of the world infiltrate our professed faith in God.  Remember, in our discussion of God's Feasts yesterday that He warned the Israelites about sweeping the corrupting influence of Egypt out of their lives. Yet, I'm afraid that I see the world and its corrupting values permeating the sanctity of our Church buildings and our faith.

     I'm pretty sure that some of what I'm about to say will be viewed as legalistic, rigid, and uncompromising.  But I would like to propose the idea that it is precisely because of our compromise and lack of obedience to God's Word that the world is in the mess it's in. Because the Church has presented only a picture of a Loving and Merciful God, there is no fear of Him or His Judgment.  In addition, we have let the ideology of "tolerance" overshadow the areas in which Jesus was intolerant. As followers of Christ, we have become tolerant about divorce; about what constitutes the Biblical concept of marriage; about wickedness in high places; about immorality, as evidenced by the existence of rampant pornography, sex trafficking, and pedophilia; and crime and godlessness have become accepted norms in society, with nary a peep out of the Church.
     We have forgotten that Jesus warned us to enter by the narrow gate. He said, narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. This is perfectly illustrated by the Billy Graham Association, which wrote, "If you should ask a man the directions to New York City and he said, 'Oh, just take any road you wish, they all lead to New York,' you would question both his sanity and his truthfulness.  Nevertheless, we have somehow gotten it into our minds that 'all roads lead to Heaven.' " Yet, even Billy Graham, himself, whose faith in Jesus is without question, when asked whether those who belong to religions that reject Christ as Savior (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) and secularists will be saved, responded, “Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there [in heaven] and who won’t. … I don’t want to speculate about that.” I guess he's forgotten the Word of God!
    In fact, there was a time when no professed Christian would have dared to entertain the thought that other gods offer a path to eternal life. What was once solid doctrine has slowly eroded into the acceptance of multiple paths to eternity. And with that sliding scale of righteousness, we are becoming the makers of our own moral values. The consequences of Biblical sin are diminished, while standards of Divine morality or Divine revelation go unspoken.  How convenient is that? When God's standards are ridiculed or non-existent, then no one's moral values can be judged wrong. And when there is no Divine revelation, then we become our own god; the world operates by the religion of man and his politics, and we will be saved by secular values.... the path is wide that leads to destruction. That is why the modern Church is in danger of operating more on man's traditions and thought than God's Word.
     Sadly, we have removed the profound sense of mystery that is God and His supernatural characteristics, and reduced Him to just a slightly larger image of ourselves.  And we have allowed occultism, mysticism, magic, and the mysteries and worship of other gods to grow and replace YHWH's once exalted position. We are embracing Christian yoga, for goodness sake!
     And because we Christians have not stood firm in the Word as our guiding principle, we have seen the breakdown of the family; our youth abandoning their faith in God, as well as confusion over their God-given sexual identities; and the shocking increase of perversion in our culture.  I fear that we are headed for a showdown -- a confrontation between true Believers and those who profess a faith that has no foundation in Jesus.  This confrontation is already apparent in our society and it will soon split our Churches.  Greed, idolatry, and adultery with the culture is permeating the Body of Christ, and Jesus will no more allow His Church to succumb to such wickedness as He allowed the moneychangers to defile His Father's House.
     It's time the Church and the Body take a good hard look in the mirror. We have not been about our Father's business and we are now in a battle for hearts and minds, and the destiny of millions of souls hangs in the balance. I sense that we will soon hear a voice from Heaven announce, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." I believe the Body of Christ in America is in for a big transition.  Will we become the kind of Bride Jesus is looking for? I, for one, will not be in agreement with the world; nor will I compromise with those in the Church who insist on taking the wide path. I'm ready for the battle that is to come, and I will not hide the Light that is in me under a bushel basket. I will expose the lies of satan and the unfruitful works of his darkness and death. And I will tell the Lost of the abundant Life available when we are in fellowship with Jesus. Let us join together to find our way once again; to recover our path to Jesus, and return this world to the Lord!

Proverbs 25:26   "Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked".