Herd Immunity has been a useful concept in monitoring the spread and mortality rates of disease. It meant earlier, as it means now, if a certain percentage of individuals receive vaccination from a disease, the protected group offers the unprotected a margin of safety. It’s true today with Covid-19.
It’s also true spiritually. Should enough individuals in any locale produce the Holy Spirit’s fruit, a community, a state, a nation can be a spiritual powerhouse for God despite the existence of unsaved people in each. Which offers a troubling statistic to America. The recent Gallup Values and Beliefs Poll revealed that, in 2022, 81% of American adults believe in God. In 1944, 98% of Americans believed in God. The largest drop in belief came from young adults 18-29. That loss of faith, squarely the fault of Christians, has led to increasing corruption and depravity in society—leading to the worse curse humanity can ever suffer: that society has no ability to appreciate spiritual values. America’s hostility to God in Christ is a perfect example. Now, more than ever before, we focus on US, not on HIM. On our origins in myth, not on the Bible’s truth of God as Creator. On our demand for Diversity, not on Christ’s Singularity. By eliminating God as our Source of Being, we naturally develop secular interests without God—medicine, business, economics, psychiatry, animal rights, etc. And we consider those, and associated interests, as our life-purpose when they’re only career-choices. For, since God made us, our life-purpose is to find eternal life in Christ Jesus II Corinthians 5:5-6. The absence of Christian influence only increases our alienation from God. For example, if we believe that we originated from a hole in the ground, we revere creation as our deity-source and turn into radical environmentalists. “Love nature, its creatures all equal and part of the family.” If we believe we resulted from the struggle of primeval forms seeking to improve themselves, we admire the survival of the fittest, resulting in an evolved humanity from an unpromising beginning, as Darwinians do today. If we believe we resulted from a collision of wills between competing deities, as pagans have always believed, each nation, city, state and culture has its own religion. The corollary of that view is, “don’t bother converting people because it isn’t necessary.” Thus…it’s essential that we have a RIGHT answer to the question—where did humanity begin? The SOUL purposefully teaches and leads us to GOD ALMIGHTY. Where the Holy Spirit’s real work in us begins. What this means for Christians is: we must now, more than ever before, focus our lives on God in Christ. We must now, more than ever, embody Jesus in our lives. We must now, more than ever, associate with saved people to encourage one another to be strong for Jesus. We must now, more than ever, associate with unsaved people to encourage their surrender to Jesus. In II Timothy 4:6-8, facing death, Paul anticipated a “crown of righteousness” from Jesus. On his death bed actor Burt Reynolds regretted not having made more money so he could have had more fun. Christians, which model have we been following as a habit-pattern? Fini
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