The issue resolves itself in two principles.
One, the Principle of Influence If Christians don't change the unsaved, they will soon change us. And don't we see in many churches today ideas, habits and relationships foreign to Bible teaching? In 2003, evangelical Wheaton College decided to allow student dancing on campus and faculty drinking and smoking off campus. And why? Dancing because it had been an important factor in student lives before they came to Wheaton. Drinking because a 1991 state law forbade discrimination against employees who used “lawful products.” Let’s see: dancing was allowed because it REFLECTED society; and drinking was allowed because STATE LAW said prohibiting it was discriminatory!? While we may or may not wish to make an issue of either practice, we must question the reason on which Wheaton officials made the decision. Should we EVER determine Christian decisions based on secular perspectives? Indeed, nothing is more mortally wrong than to adjust our expectations downward to the morality society accepts and practices. Two, the Principle of Purpose God did not design Christians for certain work. Before and during World War II a group of devout Christian intellectuals met weekly in Germany to discuss ways to bring moral regeneration to the nation. Whatever they suggested, however, they refused to even consider assassinating Hitler—though they had no explanation how change could come while Hitler lived. But with our respect for human life, we’re not designed to be assassins. Neither are we designed to be experts on global warming, as some evangelical leaders advertise themselves. We are qualified to tell environmentalists that the creation wants to be incinerated, not preserved. For in being burned it will be renewed as the eternal home of God’s redeemed, not simply the temporary home of fallen, mortals. We’re not designed to be economists, but we are qualified to warn people against greed and materialism that make a god of wealth and possessions. We’re not designed to be geneticists, but we are qualified to know that life begins at conception, and that homosexuality is a learned, not an inborn behavior, and therefore a sin, not an alternative lifestyle. No…we’re not made for some roles—which anyone can fill. But we’re fearfully made for others that only we can fulfill. We are made to see spiritual truth and meaning where others see only facts and statistics. And in those spiritual insights we enlighten the spiritually blind and educate the spiritually illiterate. And only we can! Fini
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Consider how Jesus is the perfect leader in a counter-cultural movement. First, as God's revelation of himself, whatever the Testament, whoever the people, in whatever form the message came, Christ always appeared differently from expected. For the purpose of this blog, these few examples.
Jesus never:
In relating to humanity, Jesus:
In establishing his kingdom, Jesus:
In these examples, Jesus Christ perfected, as all prophets before him approximated, God's will in every way possible, however unlikely it seemed. End Part II According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, a counter-culture is "a culture with values and mores that run counter to those of established society."
Counter-cultures can be bad:
All of the above are satanic in origin, concept, practice and destiny. Anyone believing, supporting or sponsoring any of the above, and particularly the secular humanist plan to deconstruct America without God in Christ, are:
Next, why Jesus proved the perfect counter-culture leader in ministry, continues to lead his people in his cause and why Christians must become an aggressive counter-culture. This writer systematically and continually criticizes our society for debasing into anti-Christian secularism a once Bible-based society. Christians have allowed the deplorable apostasy by neglecting evangelism of the unforgiven.
Consider today a couple examples of how we have improved on our past. Remember...each generation considers itself Modern. A history of Illinois published in the 1880's called 1830's residents PIONEERS and itself Modern Illinois. However, the 1880's lacked certain improvements we take for granted in 2021. For example, the Lincoln Herald newspaper, September 9, 1875, p 3, related the story of a Lincoln mother. As she sat nursing her baby in the family sitting room, a dangerous- rattle sounded, immediately followed by an erect snake's head poised before her. Don't know how she managed to keep her wits, but perhaps a scream scared the critter down, after which female rage found a stick to kill the varmit. A screen door would have prevented the intrusion. In our rented mobile, this is the first time Judy and I haven't had a screen on either door. We don't fear snakes, but miss screen doors so we can open the house to morning and evening breezes. For example, a casket maker in Atlanta, Illinois sold 27 coffins in the month of February, 1875. The increase in business came when a dreaded diphtheria epidemic killed 173 people in Illinois. The authorities feared a higher count since not every death had a certificate indicating cause of death. Lincoln Herald, March 11, 1875, p 3 We remember that the famous Iditarod Dog Sled race each spring re-enacts the desperate race in 1925 where teams of mushers rushed Diphtheria Serum from Anchorage to Nome, saving countless children's lives. Both illustrations come from the Logan County Genealogical and History Society, Spring, 2021. Notice that both examples stressed improvement in daily life: screen doors to keep out unwanted pests; medicines that prevent or cure otherwise deadly diseases. Notice also that the MODERN generation in America doesn't feel the ALARM of older citizens. To the MODERNS, who have matured in a progressively-permissive society, it's the "way life is." To senior citizens, "it ain't the way life should be." And not because seniors are out of touch with the times, but the younger generations have lost touch with God in Christ. Poisonous snakes and untreated disease can kill the body. But rejecting God in Christ will so blacken God's spirit within us that he refuses any association with it and us. Be warned, America. Jesus told us not to fear those who can only kill our body. "Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" Matthew 10:28. Why would we be afraid of snakes and Covid-19, but not of Almighty God? Using Hebrews 5:8 as a touchstone, although Jesus was a son, "he learned obedience from what he suffered", did S.S. Seward or William P—Pushover—Jones prove a better father for their respective sons? Which father called his son to a maturity he didn't have? Demanded personal accountability he hadn't shown? Put him on notice to either discipline his excesses or find himself perpetually enslaved to them? Indeed, which encouraged maturity into manhood and contributed to perpetual childhood?
While S.S. Seward yanked his erring son into reality by refusing his continued residence at home, William P. thought to HELP his child by pampering him, considering his every request a command, thinking that never leaving a need unmet proved parental love. God the Father certainly didn't ease God the Son's way through life. From the age of 12 Jesus knew his destiny, knew the Cross awaited and increasingly felt the burden it imposed. It started in Satan's initial temptation to turn from the Cross and finished in Christ's horrifying experience in Gethsemane. See Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 12:50 and John 12:20-29 for the ever-increased stress Christ's crucifixion placed on him. He never diverted his gaze from Calvary, but always sensed the increasing stress of being separated from God while he became sin--became for us, in our place—II Corinthians 5:21—though NOT a sinner. The lesson every Christian needs to learn from this blog is: accept the pain, cost, rejection, loneliness of being a witness for Christ. Count it an honor when he imposes on us tasks, requirements and commands that get out of our comfort zone into obedience to his sacrificial life. He considered no price excessive to save us. How can we consider any cost in discipleship excessive in his service? Fini |
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