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The Christian Dynamic
What is different about Christians? Why do they seem to have an unusual way of looking at things? Well, it isn’t that it’s just the way they are. There are some definite, fundamental, underlying reasons for their uniqueness.
Spiritual Life
Everyone that isn’t dead is physically alive but only Christians are truly alive in the full sense of living. Jesus spoke of this:
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John3:1-7).
We see from His words here that the two births are first the physical and then the spiritual. Two kinds of births implies that there are two kinds of life; so there is physical life and spiritual life. It also means that there are two kinds of death, physical death and spiritual death. The Bible tells us that Christians were once dead but have since been made alive (Eph. 2:1).
We are all familiar with the physical but just what does this notion of spiritual life mean? Is it just a lively feeling in one’s heart or is there more to it than that? Jesus, speaking to Martha said:
25 …I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John 11: 25, 26)
This tells us that there is much more to spiritual life than just a feeling. It is a result of faith and it never ends. Anyone that is born again possesses spiritual life and lives forever! Are Christians different from unbelievers? Emphatically so! They live forever! Life in this world is just the beginning for them. They see a glorious future that lies beyond the grave. OK, you say, but that is all in the future. What about now? Are they different today? Is the only difference in their mindset, how they look at things? The answer is that what one believes about the future can have a tremendous effect on what he does or doesn’t do in the present.
The potential dynamic that lies relatively dormant in Christianity is very great. History is replete with examples of Christians, in both the past and the present that have died as martyrs rather than denounce their faith. This is not very visible today because today’s Christians have been inactive and primarily inwardly directed. They have been taught that the condition of the outside world is not their responsibility and have not put any significant effort into changing it. Should this general outlook change, we could see a sleeping giant awakened.
The Two Seeds
How did this come about? Why are there two kinds of people in the world? Well, it began way back at the beginning of history when the entire world population consisted of one man and one woman. Adam and Eve concluded that they didn’t need God to tell them how to live; they decided to switch their allegiance from God to the Serpent and became his followers. Afterward, God speaking to the Serpent said:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
God gave them here a glimpse into the future. There would be two Seeds, two categories of mankind. At that point in time there was only one category; all of mankind, Adam and Eve (and all their progeny to come) were the Seed of the Serpent. But God, in His mercy, promised that there would be another category, the Seed of the Woman. We know from Scripture that this is a reference to Christ. When He gave Himself as a ransom for many on the Cross, the second category of mankind, the Seed of the Woman, was formed. As the elect, throughout all of history, were regenerated and came to faith, the Seed of the Woman was populated.
Notice that God said here that He would place enmity between the two Seeds. There would be a heel bruised and a head crushed. The enmity is there to prevent intermingling and consequent compromise between good and evil. The two Seeds were to be polar opposites, one representing God, the other Satan. How could they be anything but natural enemies?
Today though, there is much compromise. Christians and unbelievers live together in a common culture and law system. Their predecessors didn’t heed the warning God gave the Israelites against social mixing with the people of the surrounding nations and close social relations and intermarriage of Christians and unbelievers is now commonplace.
Purpose
We have been created as beings that need a purpose to live for. A purposeless life is not worth living and lack of purpose is often a cause of suicide. God created us to glorify Him and, to the extent we do so, we are content and have peace in our hearts. Unbelievers, because they live for themselves, cannot participate in this peace. They live in troubled waters, either blindly seeking pleasure or trying to find a reason for living. Only Christians, because they recognize themselves as God’s creatures, can have real purpose in their lives.
The Commission
Jesus, at the end of His earthly ministry gave us what is truly the GREAT Commission.
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28)
Jesus declares here that He is the rightful ruler of all the nations of the earth and sends out His disciples to bring His nations into obedience to Him. He identifies two concurrent tasks: to baptize and to teach. The former is the work of the Gospel, primarily the work of pastors and missionaries. The latter is the work of the Law and is the responsibility of every Christian. Each and every Christian is charged with the task of teaching God’s law wherever he has authority or influence. He has the authority of Jesus’ commission behind him and is to do this work diligently and fearlessly. It entails dispensing both instruction in righteousness and correction when and where it is needed.
The goal is a peaceful world in submission to Christ, one in which the laws of the nations reflect God’s Law.
Responsibility and Authority
We see then that there is a great deal of difference between Christians and unbelievers. Outwardly they look alike; one cannot tell them apart as they walk down the street. Inwardly, they might as well be from different planets. Christians are spiritually alive, aware of the spiritual reality that surrounds them, and have been given this great responsibility of doing the Creator’s work in this world.
How should the new Christian respond to this change? He should come to see himself as a privileged member of an exclusive body. He is a member of the Body of Christ, the Seed of the Woman, an essential and integral part of God’s eternal plan for the recovery of the world from Satan’s clutches. He should make his work in this great cause the highest priority in his life, coming even before basic concerns such as food, clothing and shelter (Matt. 6:33).
The Christian should see himself as God’s free man. He answers only to God; all human authority is secondary, delegated authority that he obeys to the extent that such obedience is in keeping with God’s Law. It is only a true and mature Christian that can enjoy this kind of freedom; he knows the truth and the truth makes him free (John 8:32). This freedom gives him the boldness he needs to challenge any authority on earth that is not acting in conformance with God’s Law-Word. He can stand before that authority knowing that he does so with the greater authority delegated to him in Christ.
With all this freedom and authority comes a heavy responsibility. The Christian that truly knows who he is in Christ feels the weight of the world on his shoulders. He knows that, while he is not alone, it is up to him to do his part. He is in a life-long race to do as much as he can while he is in this world; he feels that, as Paul said, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Obedience to God is at the forefront of his mind. He has a lasting, God-given responsibility that fills his life with meaning and purpose.
Christian Teachers
Christians that take upon themselves the role of pastors and teachers have an especially important responsibility. Other than as evangelists or missionaries, they must not see themselves as the primary workers in the building of God’s kingdom. Rather they should assume their God-given role as the instructors that bring the word of God to His people. Their work is to study to understand and then to effectively communicate God’s Law-Word, His plan for victory over the evil powers that have usurped Christ’s rule over the nations. The congregations they teach are the hands-on workers that will effect the changes that will eventually result in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Christian teachers bear the task of instructing their brothers in Christ in the whole counsel of God. This is an especially difficult task because it involves more than the simple exposition of the word, important as that is. It requires that the word be inculcated into the hearts of the hearers. It involves the audience’s reception as well as the content of the message. They need to feel the message in their hearts as well as hear it in their ears and in their minds. Believers should come away from the sermon with a lively sense of their responsibilities in this top-priority, kingdom-building task. They must see themselves, and not the pastors and missionaries of the church, as being God’s emissaries on the front lines of the battle for the world.
Christian teachers need to monitor their congregations to assess the extent to which their teachings have taken root. They cannot allow themselves to be satisfied with just covering a range of subjects on a calendar schedule. Some subjects can be dealt with quite infrequently while others will need much more repetition. It is the teacher’s responsibility to insure that this sense of the significance of each Christian’s task as God’s representative in the world does not fade or die out. This must be taken seriously; the degree to which Christ’s kingdom is advancing is more a function of the motivation of the congregation to do their work in the culture at large than it is in the evangelization of new believers. Christians, after all, are only frail creatures; they are in the process of sanctification but have not yet arrived; they easily lose heart and grow weary of well-doing. They are constantly in need of the encouragement an experienced pastor can give. They need frequent reinforcement of both the significance of their task and of their God-given freedom and authority in it.
Teachers should appreciate that a congregation that is motivated to serve their Lord in this kingdom-building task and places that service at their highest priority is one that will also serve God more fully and carefully in every aspect of their lives. They will not need to be constantly reminded of their sin and their need for God’s salvation. They will be more diligent students of Scripture and will more diligently and consistently apply what they learn in every area of life. They will be an outgoing and growing congregation that glorifies God with increasing vigor. Their enthusiasm is contagious and will bring many others, curious to see where all the excitement is coming from, to the church services. It may well be a significant and powerful evangelistic influence.
Vision
Christians that have not been properly instructed in this, their real purpose in life, but rather have been taught: (a) that there is nothing they can do about the condition of the outside world and that Jesus will fix everything when He returns or (b) that their only enemy is within themselves and that their central purpose in life is to defeat Satan’s attempts to influence them or their loved ones, have been short-changed. Instead of concentrating on God’s great purpose, the building of His kingdom on earth, they have been deceived into adopting a self-centered rationale (my salvation, my future in heaven). This, of course, does not begin to provide the inner satisfaction and sense of life-purpose they should have. Instead of taking whatever action they can to defeat Satan, they limit themselves to telling people about Jesus and to prayer. They pray that God would guide their pagan rulers and slow down the advance of evil; in other words, they pray that God would do for them what He has commanded them to do!
Today, almost the entire Body of Christ has taken on this truncated life-purpose. The culture has degraded and, as it continues to degrade, it becomes more and more difficult for Christians to constrain themselves to this limited-action plan. Evil has intensified to the point that it has begun to penetrate into their lives and the lives of their loved ones and all but the most sequestered Christians have begun to see that more is needed. They are realizing that they need to go beyond prayer, to get involved and start taking real action.
This is where we are today. The current schools of pessimistic theology are coming to the end of their time. It is not so much because of the introduction of new theology but because God’s people are tired of taking a back seat to the humanism that has come to dominate the culture. It is the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of His people that is making them uncomfortable with inaction.
As the culture degrades further, this process will accelerate and grow into a major movement, one that will set the Body of Christ in the right direction and will, in time, result in the final crushing of Satan’s head.
Jesus is Lord!
Christians often say “Jesus is Lord” but what does that really mean? Europeans give the title of lord to some of their nobility but Americans don’t have nobles or lords and are not familiar with the concept of lordship. The Noah Webster 1828 edition defines lord as: “A master; a person possessing supreme power and authority; a ruler; a governor.” We read in Philippians 2:
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is a definition of the nature of Jesus’ lordship. It was all-extensive, permanent and immediately effective. It tells us that Jesus is today Lord of both heaven and earth!
Jesus, after His resurrection, speaking to His disciples said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18-20). He declared Himself to be the God-given holder of supreme power and authority over the entire universe. He then told His disciples (all Christians) to teach the nations, His nations, to obey Him. He and He alone is the rightful Lord and Lawgiver of all the nations of the world and His emissaries have been charged with the task of bringing the nations of the world into submission to their Lord.
The Early Church
The expression “Jesus is Lord” goes back to the time of early church during the Roman Empire. Those Christians understood what the word “Lord” meant. They saw Christ and not Caesar as Lord and lawgiver. They obeyed Caesar because Jesus told them to obey the civil laws wherever they didn’t violate God’s law. Rome didn’t care which gods the people worshipped but they insisted that Caesar was the ultimate lord and lawgiver for all people in the Empire and everyone was expected to acknowledge that Caesar was lord in this absolute sense. All that was needed was to go through a simple ceremony that affirmed Caesar as lord on earth and they would be free from persecution. This, the Christians refused to do. They felt that to do so would be to deny Christ His rightful position and preferred to suffer for Him instead. Many were tortured and torn apart by lions rather than deny this fundamental tenet of their faith. Their perseverance in obedience to Christ’s commission eventually resulted in the conversion of the Roman Empire and Jesus was finally acclaimed as Lord in all of Rome’s provinces.
Today
Today, a very different spirit rules among Christians. They appear to have lost sight of the commission Jesus’ gave them and have reduced the scope of His lordship on earth. It is now limited to Christians, their families, churches and a few other associations. The nations of the world are seen as being beyond the purview of His rule. Indeed, the idea that Christ has given them the responsibility to work to establish His law in the nations is treated as a foreign concept. Many see the world as Satan’s territory, an area for evangelistic activity and perhaps where they can have some small influence. But to declare that Christ and not Congress, the President or the Supreme Court, is Lord in Washington DC, heaven forbid it!
Satan rules now, they say, but Jesus, when He returns, will dispossess him. But this is a denial of His very words. It is either to say He was mistaken, He changed His mind, or that Satan was able to resist Him. To be truly God, God must be God everywhere and always. To limit either the extent or the time of Christ’s rule is a form of polytheism, the belief in many gods. This wrong-headed kind of thinking is characteristic of both premillennialism and amillennialism. These theologies implicitly deny that Jesus is Lord and make Satan a rival god.
This attitude has been building among Christians for a century or more. Other than in a few pockets of resistance, Christians have virtually abandoned any effort to bring their faith into the government or the culture at large. As a consequence, the laws and life of the nation have moved farther and farther away from God’s commandments and America is becoming less and less the Christian nation it once was. Isn’t this just what we should expect? Just as nature abhors a vacuum, centers of power and control cannot remain unfilled. As the Christians moved out, the humanists moved in, and they will do what humanists do and will not desist until every vestige of Christianity is eliminated.
What Next?
When will we Christians come to our senses and realize that we need to obey our Lord? Will it only be when the Christian faith is ruled illegal and driven underground (as it already is in the public schools)? Must we first suffer as the early church did before we begin to declare that Jesus is Lord? We cannot expect Jesus to do for us what He has commanded us to do. He will do what He has promised and will remain seated at God’s right hand until an obedient generation, one that does His will, arises and does as He has commanded.
What does the Great Commission, the grand task given to all Christians in this age tell us to do and how is it to be accomplished? We are told that it involves conversion and baptism but can it be limited to just that? Can we remain aloof from the cultures of the nations and just send missionaries without also working to change their pagan cultures and laws? Can we ourselves live in this semi-pagan culture America now is without making any effort to change it? Experience should tell us that we cannot even maintain the faith in our own families in this sort of environment. No, we cannot limit our efforts to evangelism alone. We must at the same time work to bring the culture and laws (the whole environment) of our nation into conformity with God’s righteousness. This is where every Christian is needed and must become involved if it is to be successful. The work of the Great Commission has a far greater scope and cannot be limited to the work of pastors and missionaries. A full scale frontal attack on every stronghold of Satan’s entrenched forces is what is needed to comply with our Lord’s commission.
We are not as strong as we once were but there are still many millions of Christians in America. Our problem is not numbers; we are a far higher percentage of the population than the early church was when they challenged, and eventually defeated Caesar. Our problem is apathy, a consequence of ignorance. We have lost the proper concept of what it means to be a Christian, and have little understanding of the extent of our responsibilities to our Lord. He has put us in charge of this world! He didn’t leave it to unbelievers, devoid of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are “dead in trespasses and sin” and totally incapable of doing His will. We are His Body and have been chartered to do His work. These nations, His nations, need to be taught to obey Him. His law, God’s law, must become the law of the nations and only His people can bring this about. It certainly cannot be done in a day and may sometimes seem altogether impossible. But nothing is impossible with God and Jesus said He would be with us to the end of the age. Do we need more than this?
The Body of Christ
Why are Christians portrayed as a body? Where did this idea originate? What is God’s purpose for this body? How is it supposed to function as a unit? How does it relate to society at large, to family, to church, to the state?
Its Origin
In the beginning God created the earth, sun, moon and stars, the entire physical universe. He created all living things culminating in man, whom He created in His own image. Man was given responsibility for the earth. He was told to develop it and populate it with godly offspring.
When he believed the Tempter and disobeyed God, this responsibility and the blessings that attended it were forfeited. Adam and Eve abdicated their responsibility when they chose to be “as gods,” that is to join with Satan. They were now under Satan’s dominion and could no longer be God’s servants and do the work they were created to do. In this, Satan appeared to have won a great victory; the entire human race was now in his power. Evil had triumphed over good. It would appear that God’s plans were frustrated but all this, of course, was a part of His overarching plan for His creatures and their world.
God at this point announced His intentions; speaking to the Serpent He declared that mankind would be divided into two opposing bodies, the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman (Gen. 3:15). These are, respectively, those in bondage to Satan (1 Cor. 12:27; Gal. 3:29, 6:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; John 8:42–45;. 1 Jo. 3:10) and the Body of Christ, those that have been translated into Christ’s kingdom (Col. 1:13).
Its Purpose
God, at this time also said that He would place enmity between the two seeds. The heel of one would be bruised while the head of the other would be crushed. This is typically thought of as referring to the struggle between Christ and Satan. It is this but it extends to two bodies of people as well. The enmity between Christ and Satan is obvious and well known but the enmity that God placed between the two bodies of which they are the respective heads is not so well understood.
Why enmity? God is a God of love, not hatred. Why would He divide mankind into two warring factions? It isn’t our place to question God, but one reason could be that He knew that we always tend toward the easy road of compromise and He did not want to see good and evil mixed together (much as we see it today). They were to be set apart from each other and clearly distinguished. All His creatures were to be faced with a clear and unambiguous choice. They were to be without excuse.
Its Formation
The Body of Christ came into being when Jesus died on the Cross and paid the sin-debt of all that believed in Him. In this act, they were now redeemed, bought back and released from bondage to Satan. The human race was no longer totally in that bondage. There were now two seeds in competition for the future of the world, each striving for very different goals. The struggle God instituted could not end until one of the two seeds was totally victorious and the other totally defeated. At Christ’s resurrection, Satan’s defeat was assured but much work remained, and still remains, to undo the evil effects of the Fall.
Jesus’ atoning sacrifice took place 4,000 years after the Fall but its effects were felt throughout all of history. All those that believed in Christ, the Messiah, both prior to and after Calvary, were made a part of the Body (Hebrews 11).
Its Charter
The responsibility originally given to Adam has been transferred to Christ. Christ was given “all authority” over the nations of the world and He delegated to His Body the task of bringing His nations into obedience. The Body was to baptize, teach and disciple the nations until they obeyed all His commandments (Matt. 28:18-20). This Great Commission is nothing less than a call to make this world a Christian world!
All this is to take place while Christ is seated at God’s right hand and all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet (Acts 2:34-35). When this work is completed, the Serpent’s head will have been crushed and his power broken. It was crushed in principle at the Cross and will be crushed in fact in history.
Its Operation
The meaning of all this is quite clear for pastors, missionaries and evangelists; they are to preach, baptize and teach Christ’s commandments (God’s word). But what about the rest, the great bulk of the Body of Christ; how do they fit in? What are their responsibilities? Is it any more than to believe, raise godly families and support the church? Jesus said they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This sounds like a much broader responsibility, which it is indeed. They are to be the force that prevents the decay of what is good (salt) and spreads God’s truth (light) throughout the world. They are to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, as the top priority in their lives, even before food, clothing and shelter (Matt. 6:33). It is what they pray for in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Great Commission is a two-sided coin; conversion and baptism on one side and cultural overhaul on the other. The first is primarily the role of pastors and missionaries but the second, the far greater task, is the role of every believer. It means influencing family and friends and using every available opportunity to teach as many others as possible the need to live in accordance with God’s law. It means putting personal pride and other inhibitions aside and speaking out against evil and wickedness in the media, the schools or wherever it raises its ugly head. It means influencing government by writing letters in support of godly and in protest of ungodly court, legislative and other governmental actions. The nation’s true faith is reflected in the nation’s laws and these, along with the entire culture, must be brought into subjection to Him who is today the King of kings and Lord of lords. In this way, not through the use of force or coercion but by means of teaching and persuasion, Christians are to take dominion in the name of Christ and by the authority vested in them through His Commission.
But before this can begin, the members of this great Body must themselves gain an understanding of what it is they are fighting for. They cannot teach, or even obey God’s law, before they understand it themselves. This means serious study of the word and discussion with fellow workers to insure that all are in good agreement and possess a firm grasp of its meaning. Much of this can be accomplished by Christian nurture within families but, to insure unity and coherence within the Body, there is still a need for ongoing study, regular assemblies and continuing interactive communication with other believers (Heb. 10:25).
We read in Jeremiah 10:23, “O LORD, I know that theway of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” All men are slaves, either slaves of God or slaves of other men, which is to be the slaves of Satan. The slaves of God are the only truly free men in this world. They are, in principle, free from every form of earthly slavery. It is only the memory and residue of previous slavery that inhibits their freedom to become modern day prophets, speaking and demonstrating openly and forcefully what life in obedience to God can and should be. The Body of Christ is comprised of God’s free slaves. They should not be fearful and hesitant to proclaim God’s truth as so many are today.
The martyrs of the early church were not such; to die for Christ was, for them, a privilege. The freedom they had in Christ gave them the ability to face death and challenge Rome, the highest authority on earth, in His name. They are an example history gives us of the kind of power that lies dormant today but is an inherent characteristic of the Christian faith. Rome really never had a chance of suppressing even the very few that held this faith. We today, can do they did. When even just a small number of Christians are ready to sacrifice, really sacrifice all they have for Christ, it will be all over for Satan in America. His power will have been broken here just as it was in Rome. Scripture assures us that this day will come. Let’s make it sooner rather than later.
To be a member of this Body is the highest honor that can be bestowed on anyone in this world. It confers a status greater than the highest of any nation and has far greater value than the wealth of all the billionaires in the world combined. If you are a true Christian, you should appreciate that the world belongs to you (1 Cor. 3:21-23). You have been commissioned by the highest authority in heaven and earth to bring His law to the nations. Hold up your head and straighten your back. Speak the truth of God’s word with boldness but also with pity and compassion for all those that do not possess the gift of faith and the gift of life that is yours. Their situation is desperate. They are “dead in trespasses and sin” (Eph. 2:1) and need what you have been chartered to give them. Take dominion as one commissioned by the highest authority but also as one who knows what it means to be forgiven.
Its History
The Body progressed vigorously during its first two to three centuries. In that time, it grew in numbers and influence to the point that the Roman Empire acknowledged Christianity as its official religion. This growth rate waned however, as the Body began to see itself as an institution instead of the organic body it was and was intended to be. Its leadership, previously distributed throughout the Mediterranean, began to center more and more in the bishop of Rome. The Pope became the new Caesar, the new claimant to be the representative of God on earth. As this centralization deepened, the restraint of the Spirit’s influence working through the Body at large diminished, the leadership moved away from the apostolic doctrine and every form of decay set in. Corruption of life and doctrine, especially at the highest levels, grew to the point that the violent upheaval of the Reformation was unavoidable.
The Reformers did much to correct doctrinal error but did not return the Body fully back to its earlier organic state in which the influence of the family was prevalent. The institutional form it had acquired over the previous centuries was retained and its earlier vigor was not fully revived. The cry that Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord was seen in a spiritual sense and the state was not, in practice, held to be subject to Christ. This was not the view of all the reformers but the outcome was that the family remained subject to both church and state and had little voice in either institution. This lack led to the subsequent cultural decline and the rise of the humanistic state.
Growth, however, while not at the rate of the early centuries, did continue at least through the 18th and into the 19th centuries. At this time, new theologies began to come into favor. The Body began to move away from the apostolic doctrines and became pessimistic as to the future. By the 20th century, the influence of the Body, most notably in the Christian West, was shrinking instead of growing. Civil governments throughout the West, reflecting the loss of faith in the general culture, were moving toward secular humanism and away from the Christian faith.
Today, as the culture continues to degrade, the Body is showing signs of reviving. Christians are beginning to see that they cannot just wait for Jesus’ return—as the theology they’ve been taught implies. They are gradually coming to realize that they need to do something to counter the direction the culture is taking. They are beginning to see that they can’t just ignore the greater society but need to exercise effort to move it in a more godly direction. Perhaps without realizing it, they are responding to Christ’s call for action in the Great Commission; they, led by the Spirit within, are beginning to see that they need to take dominion in His name.
Its Future
We can be sure that the Body of Christ will eventually overcome the Serpent’s Seed and accomplish the task God has set for it. The victory, however, will not be handed down, as if on a platter. Christ has given His Body this responsibility and will not do it for them. We are told to pray for God’s kingdom to come but we are also commanded to seek it and to work to establish it. We cannot expect to receive without effort what God has commanded us to do. This generation has not paid much attention to the Great Commission but one will arise that does and it will be carried out. The efforts of all the work done toward it in the interim, however, will not be lost. Everything done for Christ will last!
After working and suffering for Him in this world, the members of the Body of Christ will be with Him for all of eternity. They will be blessed beyond the ability of words to describe. Every effort they expend, every pain they experience in doing His work in this world will be rewarded many times over. When it’s over, they will hear Him say the words they yearn to hear: “well done good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25: 23).
Faith and the State *
The usual dichotomy is “church and state” as if faith was the realm of the church and the state had nothing to do with faith. But this is not the case; the state is very much dependent on the faith of its people. They must believe that the state is a legitimate ruling authority or they will not obey, at least not from the heart, which is all-important. The faith can take many forms; it can be Christian, pagan or humanistic (faith in man) but it must be a faith that is generally believed.
The pagans of antiquity understood this better than we do today. The pagan state governed all of life, the religious as well as the civil. Anyone that disagreed with the state on legal or on religious matters was considered an outlaw and would be arrested, prosecuted and punished accordingly. Rome in the time of Christ was such a state. While Rome gave a great deal of latitude to its subjects in religious matters, it insisted that Caesar be acknowledged to be the infallible representative of whatever god one worshiped. So, for Rome, Caesar was lord and master of all things in this world and his word was law. In the eyes of Rome, the early Christians that refused to acknowledge Caesar as lord were outlaws. Whether this was considered a religious or a civil matter was immaterial; to say Christ was Lord made them outlaws.
No state can exist without an underlying theology. Law without a lawgiver, one that people recognize as authoritative, loses its power, and either a police state or anarchy results. During the persecution, the Roman state was fighting for its life just as much as the Christians were for theirs. The Christians obeyed Rome’s laws because Christ commanded them to do so (Rom. 13:1,2) but they insisted that Christ was Lord over Caesar and that He gave Caesar whatever power Caesar had. As the Christian faith grew and began to permeate the Empire, Roman law began to conform more and more to God’s law. The old Rome faded into oblivion. Its former pagan structure was gradually dissipated and replaced by one in which Christ was officially recognized as the Lord and ultimate lawgiver. The early Christians defeated Rome by undermining the old pagan forms of faith and replacing them with Christianity.
Church and State
Most of the early churches, Catholic and Protestant, held that all people were under both church and state. Universal church membership was seen as a means of securing a common faith and with it peace and tranquility in the nation. The view was that voluntary church membership would result in a shrinking church, a diverse faith and general anarchy everywhere. But to unite church and state meant the persecution of dissent. It led to coercion of the faithless along with the lawless and did not produce the desired result. To avoid sanctions, unbelievers gave lip service to the faith. This created a situation in which profession of faith became meaningless and one could not easily distinguish between false and true Christians. In this confused milieu, both church and state degraded more and more into self-serving entities typically controlled by the most shrewd and ruthless.
The Baptists were an exception; they believed in voluntary church membership based on profession of faith. This avoided the problem of needing to be a party to legal action against members and also retained a more visible distinction between believers and unbelievers. The problem with the Baptist approach, though, was that it meant a separation of church and state, which meant a separation of religion and state. This, of course, leads to a secular culture in which the life of the church and its faith is compromised; it is first tolerated, then persecuted and eventually eliminated.
Today’s churches, following the Baptist model chose to be separate from the state and therefore are now having to deal with an increasingly secular state. The Western states are now in the process of discarding their older Christian base and marginalizing the Christian faith. So we see that neither the universal nor the voluntary church formula has produced a lasting church-state relationship in which the faith could survive and prosper. Both approaches have led away from the true faith and toward a secular culture.
Conclusion
The separation of faith and law into church and state, whether as dependent or independent entities, does not result in a stable society. Because life is a unity, there cannot be two competing faiths as sources of law. Where two exist, one must eventually subsume the other. Church and state both require faith from the people but faith cannot be divided into contradictory elements. Any such division can only exist as a temporary condition. Christianity and humanism (or any other form of false faith) cannot exist side by side in a common law system. The two are invariably locked in a God-ordained perpetual struggle for dominion (Gen. 3:15). The world must end up entirely Christian or entirely devoid of Christianity.
If Christianity is to prevail in this struggle it must recognize that it cannot survive within a secular state. The Pilgrims understood this when they first left England and then Holland for the wilderness that was America. So also did the early church when it held firmly to the concept that Christ and not Caesar was Lord. This was not just a religious matter. It was a highly charged political statement that claimed Christ as Lord over the state.
Today’s churches have taught Christians that the state represents neutral territory and is not governed by Christ as Lord. But there is no such thing as neutral territory. There are only two forces in this world, the force for good and the force for evil. Where Christ is not Lord, there Satan reigns. The task set before all believers is to work to bring the nations under His rule and law (Matt. 28:18-20). The concept of a neutral state must be discarded as one of Satan’s lies.
* See R. J. Rushdoony, “Law and Society,” pages 110 – 117
Unity in Diversity
Christianity today is highly diversified. The present day lack of unity has weakened the Christian witness to the world and humanism is rapidly taking control of America as it already has in Europe. The apostle Paul told us that this is not God’s intent. He has given us leaders and teachers in order to bring us all into the unity of the faith. This unity, we are told, must be “of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” It’s purpose is: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” (Eph. 4:11-13).
In other words, it must be a unity in the truth. It cannot be a unity based on a least common denominator in which much of the truth is absent. Such an attempt at unity is bound to fail. It cannot survive because, it ignores the very differences that caused the diversity to begin with. Actually, unity is only possible in the truth; false elements cause dissention and tend to destroy unity.
Unity and Knowledge
So then, how can the many diverse elements now present in Christianity ever be unified? Each group believes that they are the possessors of the whole truth and that their view is the only true truth. They each see their way as the only path to unity. This is the present impasse but Scripture points to a way out. We read in 1 Cor. 11:
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
The context is the Lord’s Supper but Paul’s reference here is to the problem of divisions within the church, which is our situation today. So, instead of attempting to solve this difficult problem on our own, lets take our lead from God’s word. We have here a group of Christian assemblies that disagree with one another to such an extent that a large section of a book of Scripture is dedicated to it. Paul says that heresies existed in Corinth and gives a reason for their existence. They existed so that “they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” The heresies were necessary! They were the vehicle through which the truth would become known. All the views needed to be aired and discussed until all the congregations understood the respective teachings. Heresies were not to be ignored but were to die out through exposure, and in the process, leading to widespread understanding of the truth.
The strong implication here is that the exposure is to be general. It cannot be limited to the pastors or elders but must include the members as well as the leaders. History teaches us that heresies do not originate or develop within the general membership but rather among the leaders and teachers. Such individuals often tend to harden in their respective viewpoints and vehemently resist change. Those that have the charismatic skills can often attract many followers to their views and heresy prospers.
Today, heresies abound. Any individual with or without credentials can start a church in his home or a school and, if he has the right charisma, can lead a great many people astray. The problem is not that there are too many such individuals but that the general population is so ignorant and gullible. Sadly, it is not just the unchurched that are susceptible to heretical ideas; church members, even long-time and otherwise very capable church members, often lack sufficient knowledge of Scripture to resist the heretics.
Here we have the underlying root issue responsible for the divisions we find in Christianity. It is the lack of Scriptural understanding in the great majority of Christians and their inability to resist and check heretical teaching. Very few have a good grasp of their own, let alone other denominational, teachings. Too many are easily led astray by charismatic charlatans. A case in point is dispensationalism, promoted by J. N. Darby and C. I. Scofield, which virtually took over the fundamentalist churches. It contributes greatly to the current lack of unity.
Unity and Doctrine
Unity among physically separate groups is dependent on a common purpose, one that separates them from others. Its effectiveness is dependent on the extent to which this purpose governs their thinking and their lives. A loosely held desire or inclination will not do much while a deeply held sense of life-purpose can effect tight bonds between strangers. When these groups are a small minority or face opposition, the sense of unity is further strengthened.
Prior to the 19th century, the majority or at least a substantial minority of Christians in the West were united in the purpose of establishing and strengthening God’s kingdom on earth. They felt that the entire world would one day be Christian and that they should do whatever they could to bring this about. The methodology employed included effecting cultural change as well as evangelism. The typical Christian that sat in a pew on Sunday felt responsibility for what took place within his or her range of influence. Speech or actions that were in violation of God’s law or word, be it by an individual in civil office, a business man, a man on the street or a child, were rebuked or punished accordingly. Individuals that persisted in such behavior found that they were not re-elected, lost business or were otherwise chastised by the community. Christians were strongly united in this kingdom purpose.
The new 19th century theologies (dispensationalism and amillennialism) that were adopted and taught in the churches discouraged this faith in the future of God’s kingdom on earth and in time. They were highly pessimistic toward the future and deferred any victory of Christianity until after Christ’s return. The only work then left for Christians to do was evangelism; “let’s save as many as we can before time runs out.”
The typical Christian, believing these new doctrines, understandably lost interest in any personal involvement in social activity other than evangelism, an activity that most felt lay in the purview of pastors and missionaries. The old purpose is now gone and its replacement (if we can call it that) holds little interest for the average Christian. Humanism has filled the gap that Christianity left behind and is now in control of all but isolated pockets of Christian culture. Having lost their purpose, Christians lost their unity. The unity of a century or two earlier is now but a pale shadow of what it was. Its power, a doctrinal system that instills a real heart-felt purpose among Christians, has been lost.
Unity and the Church
The church leadership, in just about every denomination, has treated their congregations as sheep that need to be spoon-fed the very basic teachings. Most pastors see themselves as shepherds charged to protect their sheep that, in their opinion, would otherwise be at the mercy of heretics or unbelievers. Often, protection is needed but the best form of protection is knowledge. These sheep-children need to grow up and be able and “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15).
A major factor in the sheep-like condition of the great majority of Christians is the two tier structure characteristic of today’s churches. Congregants are not given sufficient reason or incentive to lead them to spend the time and effort needed to acquire an in-depth understanding of Scripture. It entails many hours of reading and study, a commitment that most men would need a good reason to expend. They need to be shown from Scripture that this is something that is required of them and this, the churches do not provide. The few that do demonstrate a significant level of interest (typically younger men) are encouraged to enter a program of study to become pastors. Hence, the development of a two-tier, shepherd-sheep system in which Scriptural knowledge and responsibility are concentrated in the pastor class. This is not the picture of the Body of Christ we see in 1 Corinthians 12. There we see serious participation on the part of the entire congregation, each doing the work the Holy Spirit has equipped them for.
Pastors must stop treating their congregations as children that are unable to deal with doctrine other than on a do this and don’t do that basis. This may be the case today in the majority of typical congregations but even there, a significant number of members are capable of understanding and then teaching many of the rest. Christians should be united in the faith and in the knowledge of the faith and must believe with understanding. This process is necessary to achieve the goal of Ephesians 4:13 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine…”
Unity at the level of pastors and leaders, while desirable, is no substitute for unity among the people. It is the Body of Christ that constitutes His effective force for establishing righteousness and His members cannot do so without a thorough understanding their responsibilities in this regard.
Today’s churches are too top-down oriented. There is too much separation between the leaders and the people and little or no participation by the latter in church affairs. The pastor preaches a sermon; the people listen and then go about their business in life. But their affairs do not include the church; the church is a place they go to be obedient to God and to learn about Him and His word. Christians need to feel that they are not merely spectators but are an integral part of the churches they attend. They should see, for example, that a baptismal ceremony is something they are doing. The pastor is merely the individual designated by the congregation to perform the actions of the ceremony but it is the church body as a whole that is welcoming the new member into its community.
Unity and Freedom
All this is a consequence of a gross misunderstanding of the institution we call the church. It is pictured as a ruling institution that, alongside the state, sits above and rules over the family and the individual. This is a distortion of the biblical picture, where we see the regenerate individual free in Christ and in bondage to no one. He obeys the magistrate “for conscience sake,” because God says he should and then, only when in his opinion, such obedience does not violate God’s commands. This is not subservience it is the free choice of a free individual who sees only Christ, his true Lord and only lawgiver, above him.
The same is true relative to the church. Absolute obedience is only to the Lord and not the pastor or bishop or any other official. He obeys church officials because God tells him to and only when, again in his opinion, the request conforms to God’s word. He is told to “search the Scriptures” to see if what he is being told is true and what he is being asked to do is in conformity with God’s law.
We see here one sense in which Jesus’ saying, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” is true. Freedom is through faith in the truth, the truth that God is God and there is no authority independent of him. All authority is given by God and subject to God’s law and oversight. The Christian, the believer in Christ, while under both church and state is truly free. He obeys the temporal authorities because his final obedience is to God.
What is more, both church and state are to be the objects of the free man’s dominion work. As God’s prophet, he is to “teach the nations” to obey his Lord (Matt. 28:18-20) and seek “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). He does these things as God’s free man in his personal life, his family, and both church and state. This means working, within the means that God permits, to promote God’s law in civil government and God’s truth in the church. In this work he can find unity with others of like persuasion.
Restoring Unity
Unity cannot be achieved through meetings of pastors, seminary professors or other institutionally trained individuals. Most are too set in their views and have too many supposedly right answers to the theological questions. Many, if not most pastors are too concerned with loss of members, especially the older members that provide most of the funding, to take any steps that might offend them. Sadly, for many more, the prestige, power or financial security of their positions override all other considerations. In addition, the peer pressure from fellow pastors prevents many from seriously considering any change in their currently held positions.
Seminary professors have a life-long investment in the many students they have inculcated into what they feel certain are the only truly biblical theological positions. This is true also of older pastors that have taught a particular viewpoint all their lives. For these reasons and others, meetings held for the purpose of increasing unity tend to degrade into totally impotent, least-common-denominator endeavors.
But God is not frustrated by disobedient or self-serving organizations. Most Christians are already very upset with today’s godless society and feel it should be more Biblically oriented. This is evident in the stand taken by men like David Green who was ready to give up his Hobby Lobby organization if it meant disobeying God’s law. It is also evident in the enthusiasm Christians display when they hear speakers support such actions. They feel that the Ten Commandments should be obeyed and be incorporated into our laws and they want to do more than just pray about it.
God’s law is truly written in their hearts and their desire is to follow its lead; but because they have never been given a biblical basis to support such action, and many pastors actually discourage it, they have been unable to coordinate and take concerted action. Nevertheless, they know in their hearts that Jesus called them to be salt and light and are beginning to act accordingly. As more and more Christians begin to take action to correct the godlessness in the world around them, a unity based on this purpose will develop. This has already begun and will develop more and more rapidly as the culture continues to degrade.
This movement is developing outside of the seminaries and Bible schools. It is springing from the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people. There is a tension developing between the teachings of the currently popular theologies and what is going on in the world. Christians are feeling with increasing fervor that they must act to correct the trampling-under of God’s commandments regardless of whether or not such action may be in conflict with the theology they hear from their pulpits. Despite all the teaching to the contrary, they are becoming dominion workers by applying God’s law in society.
A second reformation, one that is centered in and driven by God-fearing family heads, is forming. The first reformation, while correcting much of the error and corruption in the church left church and state as rival institutions and therefore lost its original power very early. It made possible the subsequent rise of humanism and its take-over of the greater part of society. But God in His wisdom knew the effect that that would produce in His saints. They needed to feel the scourge of Satan to wake them up and motivate them to become the soldiers for Christ they were destined to be.
Both church and state will be transformed by this coming reformation. The state will move away from its current humanistic orientation and begin to conform closer and closer to God’s law. The church, perhaps with much opposition from its leaders, will move away from the nonsense of the current highly pessimistic dispensational and amillennial theologies and will become more consistently biblical and optimistic in its outlook. Most importantly, the institutional church will be humbled and begin to see itself as the teaching constituent of God’s word it was meant to be and not as the be-all and end-all of God’s kingdom on earth. Christian family heads will begin to do their dominion work in both church and state. All this is not a consequence of the work of any denomination or charismatic leaders. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people.
Christians and especially pastors and teachers, that already understand the need for Christians to exercise their God-given, dominion work, should encourage others to get involved in this movement. In most cases, that should be done without attempting to refute all the theological error that brought about this situation. These believers are following the lead of the Spirit and should not be discouraged from doing so.
Correct theological development however is still necessary. The Body of Christ must be brought together to be in substantial and not just superficial agreement. All must “know the Lord” in a full sense. Mature Christians should be able to walk into almost any church assembly in the world and feel at home with what is being taught. We must become one as the Father and the Son are one (John 17:21-23). We are a long way from that condition today but it must be our goal, something we keep in view and work toward with due diligence.
Lou to Interview with Save America Ministries
Lou will interview with Charles Crismier of Save America Ministries on August 7, 2014. The program will air at 4:00 PM on ViewPoint Radio in Richmond Virginia.
Possess the Land!
Here are words God gave His people three millennia ago just prior to their entry into the land of Canaan, the land He had promised Abraham 500 years earlier.
[1] Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
[2] Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
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[5] Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
[6] Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
[7] For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
[8] And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4)
These words were a reminder of what God had told the Israelites forty years earlier when He released them from their bondage in Egypt. These people were the “Christians” of that day. They were called Israelites because they were the descendants of Israel (or Jacob), Abraham’s grandson. But they were Christians in that they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah just as we today look back to that same event. They worshipped the same God we worship and were given the same law we are given today. We see in this passage the importance and centrality God places on His law. Obedience to this law was to be a source of blessings for Israel and for all nations.
The Law
Deuteronomy means, “second law” (second giving of the law). It was not a different law from the law He gave a generation before; nor is it a different law from the law God gave us through His Son to govern us today (see Matt. 5:17-19). God says, “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). God does not go back on His word; He does not give one law to one group of people and another to another group. When He lays down His law, He gives it once for all of mankind and, like He Himself, it never changes. We see in verses 6-8 above the great value God sets on His law. When a nation obeys this law, it becomes a beacon to the other nations of the world. It is seen as a great nation, one the rest of the world will seek to emulate.
America was such a nation; it began with a serious attempt to implement this law as its civil law. It didn’t do so fully or perfectly but, even so, it became and still is the greatest nation in the world. Only God knows how much greater it might be today if it had fully implemented this law and had been careful to maintain adherence to it. But this was not the case and, alas, America’s laws are now drifting farther and farther away from God’s injunctions. Some of the greatness is still there but it is fading ever more rapidly.
Ever since Satan deceived Adam and Eve, man has attempted to find some area of independence from God. Satan’s subtle temptation “you can be as gods, knowing good and evil,” the one thing man could never achieve, has cast an indelible stain on his character. Man has a lingering desire to control some aspect of his life; it varies in individuals but all feel its effects. Even Christians, those that possess the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, are not completely free of this taint. At times they follow their old nature and seek to assert their own ideas instead of just, simply obeying their God. Forgetting that they are only creatures, totally incapable of governing themselves, they make themselves judges of God and His law. They say that some of these laws are too harsh; they come up with excuses for changing it, such as: “we are a much more elevated people than were those crude ancient Israelites” and they proceed to edit God’s law. God tells in this passage and throughout Scripture that we need His law and that we need to obey it exactly as He gave it.
Possessing the Land
We see in verse 1 that the Israelites were to take possession of the land. The land was a gift from God but not a gift that required no effort on their part. The Israelites were responsible for taking actual physical possession of it. They would need to fight and die if necessary in the process. This is what God commanded Adam and Eve to do and what He commands every Christian in every age to do. The earth was created for man but not for man in rebellion against God. It was always intended to be the home for man in subjection to God. Christ came to save the world, to return it to faithful man. His work on the cross initiated the crushing of Satan’s head, a task left for His Body, all true believers, to complete.
Adam and Eve had the more pleasant task; there was no enemy to overcome; all they had to do was to procreate and educate. They were told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with God-fearing people (Gen. 1:28). Christians have the more difficult task of restoring a fallen world, which means crushing the Serpent’s head by teaching the nations to obey God (Gen. 3:15; Matt. 28:18-20). This world is God’s world and unbelief is a temporary disturbance, a blemish that came with Adam’s fall and will eventually be corrected. But effort is involved; God will not do for us what He has commanded us to do.
Just as the Israelites of old were made responsible to take the land of Canaan, so Christians today are to take possession; they have been given the responsibility to convert all the nations of the world and thereby eliminate every form of unbelief. This is not a task that can be delegated to pastors and missionaries alone. The battle for the winning of the culture must be fought at every level and all Christians are involved. They are to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11) and seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness as a top priority in their lives (Matt. 6:33). They should see themselves as soldiers for Christ, doing everything in their power to establish His rule over all people. This means getting involved in every aspect of the culture, the schools, the media, government, politics, etc. Every area of activity must be brought into subjection to Christ and His law must become the law of all the nations. This is war, not a physical war such as the Israelites had to fight, but a war nevertheless. It needs to be seen in this light and be taken seriously. It is God’s command and cannot just be brushed aside with impunity. Consequences follow disobedience. People continue to suffer and die under the rule of unbelief, all because Christians fail to fulfill the task God has assigned them. Two thousand years of suffering and death have passed since the Great Commission was given and the nations have not yet been taught to obey Christ, their rightful king. We need to face up to the fact that we Christians haven’t done our job. We have not been obedient to our Lord, the One that died for us.
Satan’s Gain
Because God’s people have been negligent, unbelievers have usurped a great portion of God’s creation and have twisted it out of shape. It is time for Christians to repent of their selfish ways, turn to God for forgiveness, and begin to take possession of the land. The problem is that today’s typical Christian doesn’t have a clue that God expects any more of him than to pray for the nation and its leaders. A century ago, anything in the news that was the slightest bit contrary to the Christian faith provoked a flood of letters to congressmen, senators, the president, newspaper editors, etc. Today, the most blatant anti Christian court judgments, laws or actions do not evoke more than a whimper of protest from the Christian majority. What has happened? What has brought about this reversal in behavior?
Strange as it may seem, the change in attitude is primarily due to a change in how Christians view the future, how they see the golden age Scripture promises will be theirs. Will it be realized in this world or in the next? Does it come before or after Christ returns? Up to a century or two ago, the answer was almost universally, that it would come before Christ’s return. The view of most Christians was that Christ would return to a Christian world. The many Scriptures that support this view were taken literally, at face value (Psa. 72:8-11; Isa. 11:1-10; Jer. 31:33,34; Dan, 7:27; Mic. 4:1-4; Acts 2:33,34; 1 Cor. 15:23-25, etc.). This began to change in the 19th century, which saw the rise of new ideas and new interpretations of Scripture. Many of the mainline Protestant churches went into what was called “modernism,” which amounted to a departure from the basic tenets of the faith. Others, retaining the basic teachings, reject the older idea of a Christian victory in two ways: Some say that there will be no millennium, no golden age, no victory in this world. For these, the Christian hope lies in heaven, in the age to come. The rest, the great majority of the evangelical churches, though they believe in a millennium, believe it will only come after Christ returns. They believe that, no matter what they do, no matter how hard they might work for it, the world will not get better but will rather get worse and worse until Christ arrives and sets it straight.
Both these views are pessimistic regarding the prospects for the present age. Neither holds any hope for the future that relates to something individuals can do or work for. For both, Christians are not responsible for the larger picture of what happens in this world. The world, over which Christ declared He had all authority (Matt. 28:18) is seen as Satan’s territory. These defeatist ideas have severely limited the effectiveness of Christian action; Christians are not fools or fanatics and do not work for what they believe is impossible. They don’t write letters and don’t make themselves heard on public issues because they no longer believe they have anything to say that could possibly be of any real and lasting consequence. They have relegated the world at large to Satan and his emissaries!
Recovery
Instead of going in to possess the land, Christian activity has been focussed on evangelism. Having given up all hope of victory over Satan’s forces, they have reduced the Great Commission to an action of attrition. They have convinced themselves that all that is required of them is to seek and to save as many souls as possible before the end comes. This is good activity but it falls short of the commandment and for that reason cannot be as effective as it should be. When Satan’s forces control the schools, the media, the laws, the entire public environment, evangelism suffers. Evangelism is needed but evangelism alone cannot fully accomplish God’s purposes for man. He will not be satisfied with partial success; the world must and eventually will submit to its rightful King. If this generation doesn’t do it, another will. Each of us is responsible to do whatever we can to correct the wrongs we see about us and to work toward the Christian world that will eventually come into being.
Because so much ground has been lost, the work must begin at the most basic level. The immediate need is for Christians to regain a sense of responsibility for the world. Sadly, so many of the 300,000 pastors in America, those in the best position to bring about this needed change, have themselves fallen captive to Satan’s lies and have become the promoters of these false doctrines. These men need to be turned around or replaced. Many of them are already beginning to see that they have been leading their flocks in the wrong direction. But admitting error and changing what one teaches is a difficult thing for anyone; these men need the support and encouragement of their congregations. Dear brother in Christ, if this makes sense to you, it may just be where you can make a real and significant contribution toward the building of God’s kingdom on earth. God bless you as you put your shoulder to the task.
A Christian World?
Christians today are not what they were earlier in history. Up to a hundred or so years ago, they represented a dominant world-changing force that saw the world as Christ’s kingdom, a kingdom not yet fully realized but one that would surely come to its own in the not too distant future. They saw themselves as Christ’s emissaries, responsible to Him for making this world a Christian world. They felt the need to do whatever they could, and wherever they had influence, to eliminate godless institutions, godless activities and godless thinking and replace them with their God ordained alternatives. They realized that their individual contributions might be quite miniscule in the grand scheme of things but they persevered anyway in the hope (and knowledge) that they were not alone, that God had His 7,000 that had never bowed the knee to Baal (Rom. 11:4).
Indeed, they were not alone; they became the dominant cultural driving force in the West and were making great progress throughout the world. Robert Dabney wrote in the late 19th century, “Christianity now “walks in her silver slippers.” She was the queen that no one, however disposed in their hearts, dared to speak out against. Those that did were held in contempt by the public and lost any respect they might have had previously. The Christian faith so dominated the culture that, in 1892 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously stated “This is a religious people.” They went on to conclude, through an extensive 300-year study of legal documents, that this is a Christian nation.
Today, the situation in America is almost reversed. Christianity has been excluded from every level of the school system. It was first ignored and later mocked by the great bulk of the entertainment media. Our laws are steadily moving away from their earlier biblical character toward an ever more vulgar humanistic degeneracy. There seems to be a greater stigma against being a Christian than being an atheist. Why? Why did our culture shift from a strongly Christian to an almost anti-Christian perspective in so short a time? Christians are still in the majority in America but where they previously were the leaders of the culture, they now follow it, looking for ever dwindling scraps of recognition from their new masters.
The answer to this question lies in the hearts of Christians themselves. They differ from their predecessors of a century or two ago but not in their basic faith or even in their desire that people everywhere should believe and worship as they do. The difference lies in their understanding of the responsibilities God has given them. Throughout the Christian era and well into the 19th century, the great majority of Christians believed that the Christian faith would eventually be universal, that it would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). They saw themselves, in whatever capacity they lived, as God appointed emissaries that would do their parts to bring about this change. They didn’t leave this work to the pastors and missionaries but felt that, in everything they said or did, they represented their Lord and were careful to support the fact of His authority over all things. He was seen as the present Lord of lords and King of kings, not just for one’s personal behavior or just for Christians, but over all of life for all mankind.
This broad application of God’s word and God’s law included civil government. Christians of that day held their representatives and those in authority at every level of government, responsible for following God’s word. They felt that taking the oath of office with one’s hand on the Bible, meant something, and they held them responsible for any deviation, not just from the law, but primarily from what the Bible taught. Laws or court judgments that were seen to be in contradiction to God’s law evoked a barrage of letters to Congress, the Supreme Court and other government agencies as well as to the newspapers. Those Christians were activists!
All of this though is pretty much a thing of the past. Today’s Christians do not feel this sense of responsibility for Christ’s kingdom. They have been told over and over again in many different ways that this world is Satan’s world, that he is the god of this world, and that it will continue to deteriorate until Jesus returns. The great majority of evangelical Christian churches have been propagating this falsehood for almost a century, and it has thoroughly penetrated the thinking of Christians throughout the world. Christians go to church each Sunday expecting to hear God’s word; some of which they hear; but one thing they rarely hear is any reminder of the fact that they are responsible for this world. They may hear of the need to live in obedience to God in all they say and do; they may hear of the need to pray that God would correct, or at least slow down the slide into depravity we see in the schools, the media and government. But they never hear that it is the Christian neglect of the world that has caused it to become so depraved. Unbelief, ever ready to fill the vacuum left behind, was quick to do so and is now well established.
So, Christian, are you upset and disgusted with the ever-increasing godlessness in the world around you? You don’t have very far to look to discover the source of the problem. It is you, yourself! You are to blame for not having obeyed your Lord. Yes, you can say you didn’t know, that you were taught otherwise, and that claim has some validity; but we are all responsible to study God’s word for ourselves. When we fail to do so, we fall prey to two sorts of deceivers: those with evil intent that see the church solely as lambs to be exploited, and the well meaning ignorant, those that have themselves been taken in by false interpretations of Scripture.
The seminaries of just about every denomination are graduating thousands of the latter, mostly well meaning individuals, to be the pastors of America’s churches each year. Pessimism has so thoroughly permeated the seminaries and Bible schools and most pastors have become so hardened in this wrong view that there is little hope they will change without an outcry from the Christians in the pews. So, as you have been the source of America’s cultural decline, so also are you its only hope for recovery. If in this generation, the vitality of America’s Christians is to be restored, you must make yourself heard in protest against cultural decline but also against the weakness in the pulpits that has silenced the voices of America’s many Christians. May God bless you as you join together with others like you to make this world a Christian world.
Speaking to the Christian Difference
Almost everyone sees that Christians are different from other people. They are physically or outwardly very similar to others but are inwardly quite different. They don’t think the same way and seem to have a different value system. In fact, the differences are far greater than even most Christians realize. When Christians, interacting with unbelievers, attempt to tell them why they believe as they do, they almost always fail to take into account the basic foundation of these differences.
The root of the differences between believers and unbelievers goes much deeper than either of them usually appreciates. It extends into the most basic ideas of what constitutes reality, how we know things, and how we attach values to things. The Christian believes that before anything else existed, there was God; that God created the world, the sun, moon and stars, the entire universe; that He then created living things, plants, animals and finally, He created man in His own image. He created all things and controls all of history, past present and future. The Christian believes that all of reality is God’s created reality, all knowledge derives from God’s revelation of Himself in nature and in Scripture, and all values are the values that God assigns.
The Christian believes that Adam, the first man was created out of the dust of the earth, that Eve was created from one of Adam’s ribs, and that they both sinned against God and came under Satan’s power. He believes that, as a consequence of the fall, all of mankind has been born into subjection to Satan, from which only the Holy Spirit can release them. He believes that he is now a born-again, Spirit-filled, redeemed person; he believes that God has released him from Satan’s grip and his desire is to obey his new master.
The unbeliever, though, believes none of this. He may have some fuzzy ideas as to how the world and living things came into being. But on the other hand, he has very firm ideas about his own autonomy. He firmly believes that he possesses an ability to make choices that is independent of God. He believes that he has this ability and is able to judge as to whether God exists or not. He does not realize that his ability to think rationally depends on the fact that God exists, and were there no God he would not be able to make any sort of judgment about anything. He thinks he has a place in a scale of being alongside of God. He believes he may be lower down the scale but that he is, at least to some degree, independent of God. He does not see himself as the totally dependent creature he actually is.
In speaking to unbelievers about spiritual matters, it is important that Christians do not mislead them as to these truths. We cannot concede to them by implication or in any other way that their basic view of reality is true. When we begin, for example, by citing fulfilled prophecies and expecting unbelievers to react favorably, we are telling them two things: (a) that we think they possess an ability to reason that is independent of God. Also, (b) we confirm their claim to be basically unbiased and able to take a neutral stand on the question of God. We are telling them first, that they can do what no man can do and second, that sin has not biased their thinking.
But this is not the truth and, in fact, it actually contradicts and undermines what we want to tell them later about original sin, spiritual blindness, and the need to be born again. Such attempts to soften the message are all the unbeliever needs. He has just been given free reign to stand on his own false premises; he says, you have your opinion and I have mine. I don’t believe your evidences are sufficient to prove your point; end of discussion! Instead of having been softened, as was intended, he has been hardened against God’s truth. He has received an affirmation that his basic philosophical ideas were correct.
Instead, the unbeliever needs to be brought face to face with the reality he knows in his heart is true. He knows that he is God’s creature and that he has sinned and is now in rebellion against his Creator. He has suppressed this knowledge and will fight as hard as he can to support his decision. Just as we believers have an old nature we need to deal with, so the unbeliever has his old nature; it is that he is God’s creature and was created in God’s image. This is what we must speak to when we practice apologetics. When we begin by telling the unbeliever that his ability to reason logically “from the facts,” is perfectly OK, we can’t later on turn around, tell him the opposite is true and still retain our own credibility. We also fail to be obedient to the command that we “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15).
In the World—Not of the World
We are often told that Christians are in the world but not of the world (Col. 2:20; 1 John 2:16). Just what does this mean? Are we to act like visitors from outer space and shun all contact with the natives? Are we to begrudge the very air we breathe because it’s worldly air? It seems that some Christians feel this way while others take the opposite view and embrace the world in an attempt to evangelize. To get God’s answer we need to go back to the beginning of history.
When God completed His creation work with the creation of man, He declared it all good (Gen 1:31). There were no flaws; the world was a good world. We know, of course, that afterward, with a total world population of only two persons, it went sour. Adam and Eve decided they didn’t need God’s directions and decided to follow Satan’s advice. The world population, in a single step, went from Christian to humanist and subsequently all their descendants, every new member of the human race, was born into this faith as well. They were all what God referred to as the Seed of the Serpent (Gen. 3:15). God, though, didn’t give up on His world; at that same point, He promised a deliverance from the evil that had the race in bondage. He said that there would be a Seed of the Woman that would be placed in opposition to the Seed of the Serpent and would crush the Serpent’s head. We know from Scripture that that Seed was Christ and that it includes His Body—all Christians (1 Cor. 12:12-27).
When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty that had been pronounced on all unbelievers. He released all those that believed in Him from Satan’s bondage and they became members of His Body. They were thereby translated from their previous membership in the Seed of the Serpent to the Seed of the Woman (Col. 1:13). His death and resurrection resulted in the formation of the promised Seed of the Woman, the Seed that would oppose and crush Satan.
God placed enmity between the two seeds (Gen. 3:15); they were not to be friendly companions but were to be in opposition to one another in this world. The servants of God (all Christians) were to be perpetually at war with the servants of Satan (all unbelievers). Why warfare and not friendship? Because God knows us better than we know ourselves and knew we would be inclined to compromise and make concessions with unbelief in an effort to end the conflict and reach peace. But righteousness cannot compromise with evil without losing its purity and God’s people must be pure as He is pure (Matt. 5:48).
Separation from the world then, is required of Christians but we are also told to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-16). Are these mutually exclusive? How can we be salt and light if we’re separate? One way, of course, is by example; we can stay separate but still be visible. We can influence the world by demonstrating the great advantages of living under God’s law, without subjecting ourselves (and especially our youth) to its temptations. We can also send emissaries (missionaries and others) to teach them how to obey their true Lord and Master. What we must not do is allow them to influence us. Our youth and weaker members must be protected from the evil influences such exposure would entail. We see in God’s commandments to the nation of Israel how dangerous such exposure can be (Deut. 7:1-6).
The Christian goal is to crush the head of the Serpent, to reduce Satan’s forces to total impotence, and to make this world what God originally created it to be, a Christian world (Gen. 1:26-28). This is to be accomplished, not through the use of force, but by teaching the nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:18-20). As many as believe are converted, become Christians, and join the ranks of the Seed of the Woman. The rest die off and are lost but the process continues until they are rendered impotent and Satan’s head is finally crushed. Christ crushed it in principle on the cross and is doing it in practice by His Body in history.
We cannot choose to disobey either of God’s commandments; so we must find a way to be separate and at war with the world and yet be the salt and light our Savior requires of us. The Christians that were once in control of this country have neglected the command to be separate and we are now suffering the consequences of their disobedience. The humanism that Adam and Eve submitted to is now in control of our schools, the news and entertainment media, the financial world, the government and virtually the entire culture outside the churches. Christians are forced to try to raise godly families in the face of obstacles even the early church didn’t see in the days of the Roman persecution. We are losing our country to atheistic humanism because we have not obeyed God and kept ourselves separate from, and at war with, the evil influences of the world.
This situation might have been readily easy to correct a century or two ago but now it presents us with a formidable task, one that will require the efforts of true believers for generations. The first step must be education; we must teach ourselves, and any that will listen, the truth of what God expects of us and do this in the face of opposition, even from our own leaders and teachers. They are the reason we have come to our present impasse and are not likely to be much help to us. They have given up the challenge Christ set before us and have reduced the scope of the gospel and the Great Commission to merely the salvation of a few. The idea of a Christian world has long ago been set aside. It must and eventually will be revived but the revival will originate in the pews and not the pulpits.
Secondly, we need to extract ourselves out of the cultural morass in which we are presently ensnared. The early church did this by refusing to acknowledge Caesar as lord. This made them outcasts and subjected them to much tribulation but they realized that lord meant lawgiver and for them that had to be Christ and Christ alone. They obeyed as much of Roman law as they could without disobeying God but refused to obey any laws that would compromise their faith. We must do likewise and, using the liberties we still have, should protest as strenuously as we can any laws or regulations that contradict God’s law. We need to recognize, as those early saints did, that we must obey God and not men. We must declare, as vocally as possible, that Christ the Creator of the universe, is both Lord and Lawmaker, not of just us Christians but of the whole world and that, rightfully, every living soul should bow to His will. By the way, this is just what the Muslims do today. Should we let them put us to shame?
A few Christians, such as David Green of Hobby Lobby, have already begun taking some of these steps. They need our support; indeed, Congress and the Supreme Court should now be inundated with mail denigrating the godless actions they’ve already taken and urging change. They are not swamped with mail because most Christians have never been taught and don’t understand that this is really their responsibility. We see by the attendance at churches that the American people are hungry for God. If this message gains traction, change could take place rapidly. Those of us that understand what it is that God requires of us must deliver the message with whatever energy we can bring to bear on the task. All is in God’s hands but it is in our hands as well. We can’t expect God to do for us what He has commanded us to do. It is the Seed of the Woman that must crush the head of the Serpent by teaching the nations to obey the King of kings and Lord of lords.