Religious Freedom in America
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America wrote, “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” This was his view of America in 1835. I wonder what he would say today!?
In the church would he find the same fire and passion in the pulpit (or stool)? Has the church in America been the "salt and light" it was commissioned to be?
I know I speak in generalities. There are some GREAT CHURCHES and dynamic preacher across America. However, the nation no longer turns to the churches for leadership. Political parties have taken the church for granted partly due to the silence of the church in the culture.
Churches have often become internalized promoting programs and facilities to satisfy the needs of their members rather than impacting the culture with the message God's love to redeem and rescue sinners. The church often fears offending anyone with the warning of death, judgement and hell.
In the culture Tocqueville would discover a "cultural Christianity" that emphasizes human happiness and prosperity over holiness and heaven. The moral goodness he discovered in the mid 1800 has been replaced with society without boundaries.
The church lost the sexual revolution, the fight for life (abortion), and the war against the family (among others). The things that once were wrong and now right and the things that were once right are now wrong. We cannot lose battle for the very heart of our nation. I know we win in the end, but the coming generation requires our best efforts NOW. Our Lord has commissioned and commands His church to get the job done.
The early followers of Jesus were accused of turning the culture upside down. We have allowed our culture to be flipped by philosophies and practice that are destroying the foundation of our nation. Is it not time for the church to again be so strong that it flips the culture, disrupts the status que and even makes the devil mad?
So much of what we have seen happen to turn our culture upside down has been done in the name of "freedom" and "rights." We have moved from a moral base to a humanistic understanding of "rights."
Before I am labeled as a prophet of doom let me say that I believe we stand at the threshold of a Revival in the church and a Spiritual Awakening in the culture. These are despreat times. Desperation give way to earnest prayer,. Pray places us before Holy God which brings conviction of sin and repentance. Repentance produces forgiveness and positions us to receive the revival that God desires His people to experience.
A revived church turns on the light in a dark culture and spread the salt on a perishing generation. The results are a Spiritual Awaken to the power and present of the Holy Spirit.
What would happen if we experience REVIVAL in our churches and a SPRITUAL AWAKENING in our culture? Tune in to my next BLOG for that discussion
