Obama calls nation to rebel against God ... where are our ministers?
About 1:00 on Sunday afternoon, I found myself sitting in the grocery store parking lot with the kids in the back of the van, waiting on my wife. While the two girls were entertaining themselves, I picked up the phone and called my minister. I left him a voicemail thanking him for taking the time during his sermon to say what needed to be said: that regardless of what your political philosophy may be, every believer in America should be incensed that the leader of our country has called for a national embrace of a behavior that God Himself reserved the word "abomination" to describe.
In an era where ministers are increasingly turning towards fulfilling the words of the book of Timothy, where they say only what "itching ears want to hear," I felt like my minister needed some encouragement for having the courage to speak the truth in an increasingly dark generation. If your minister did the same, please give them a call or email of support. They deserve it.
In my book '78: How Christians Can Save America', I write about the fascinating reality that we've come to in our country today: when a doctor fails to treat our illness properly, we have no hesitation about filing malpractice or at least switching doctors. When our financial adviser makes poor decisions with our money, we have no hesitation about switching control to a different investment guru. But when ministers fail to stand on the authority of God's Word and speak the full truth to difficult circumstances, we so often give them a pass. Does this not seem to indicate that we are more concerned with our physical and financial health than our spiritual health? If so, God help us.
There is no avoiding the reality that this president, through his allegiance to the sexual anarchists of the left, has brought our country to a crossroads. Mr. Obama suggests moving in one direction; God's Word and the Natural, Moral Law it represents calls us to move in another. I cannot fathom how such a moment could possibly evade the awareness and conscious of this country's ministers. There are undoubtedly some good reasons why the topic didn't come up this week at church that don't include a fear of standing on truth. But if your minister did not mention it, it's completely appropriate to ask yourself -- and him/her -- why.
I compiled as many reasons as I could, and personally, would find them wanting. Perhaps ministers were in the middle of a series, and this reality didn't fit the flow of what they were preaching on. Can't exceptions be made when the fate of our civilization hangs in the balance? Perhaps that seems dramatic, but all one has to do is to peruse the historical record of Scripture to see that God, while slow to anger when cultures do not perfectly abide His calls to care for the poor and the less fortunate, does not abide a society that embraces and celebrates sexual depravity.
Perhaps those ministers who didn't mention this reality were simply unaware of what the president did last week. That isn't any better. Our ministers are to call us to be a generation like that of the Sons of Issachar -- a generation that "understands the times" and knows what our civilization must do. An increasing number of ministers, however, is steering clear of the issues that affect their flocks the most. When they do, they allow the world to define those issues and that direction ... not good. Perhaps that's why there are an increasing number of churched people who are confused about these issues -- or worse, find sin acceptable.
Perhaps it was because this last Sunday was Mother's Day. And what does the public embrace of homosexuality have to do with that, after all? Quite a lot, actually. In fact, it's difficult to imagine a more appropriate time to bring it up. Consider what we are honoring on Mother's Day -- the irreplaceable role that a mom plays in the life of her child. We honor the significant role that moms play in shaping our culture by the influence they exert over their children's hearts and minds. We implicitly recognize that there are things that God has gifted moms to be able to do that dads just can't provide. Yet, there is the President of the United States trampling such an idea -- suggesting that there is nothing superior about the combination of a mom and dad to any other potential arrangement. All a child needs is two loving parents. Barack knows better than God, after all.
Unfortunately, the most likely rationale our ministers had in not mentioning Barack Obama's call to rebellion against God is that they didn't want the controversy. After all, offended people don't readily contribute to the offering plates. Given how harsh that may sound, it should be noted that ministers in this generation are dealing with a reality that previous generations did not have to confront. In previous American generations, most ministers could know that when speaking the truth of Scripture, they would have the support of a heavily Judeo-Christian civilization. They did not have the threats or the resistance of a non-biblical, non-Christian culture pushing back against them. This generation of ministers does. They are coming to understand what countless ministers of the Gospel throughout the world have known for some time -- that there comes a point where we must choose between honoring God ... or honoring man. In an increasingly post-Christian America, ministers of Christ will come to understand what Jesus meant when He said, "Men will hate you because of me." Standing on truth has not cost us in the past -- at least here in America. That day is quickly coming to a close.
In a very real way, then, we are seeing the separating of the wheat from the chaff in this country's churches. We are seeing which ones will remain righteous and committed to God's Word despite the changing environment around them. We are seeing which ones have built their foundation upon the Rock and which ones have constructed themselves upon the shifting sands. We are seeing which ones are interested in seeking the applause of men and which ones are committed to receiving the applause of heaven.
Did your minister mention the fact that our nation's leader called his people to rebel against the authority of God? If not, you owe it to yourself, to your minister, to your church and to your country to politely, but forcefully ask them: "Why?"
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