It comes natural to most Christians. Pick up the cross, stop whining, get off the bleachers and into the action! Fight the good fight, evangelize, protect the widow and the orphan and defend the scriptures. In the movie, Amazing Grace, a friend of William Wilberforce goes as far as to say, “You can use your voice to praise the Lord or you can use it to change the world!” Later someone else states, “[Wilberforce], I humbly suggest that you can do both.” It’s commonly excepted that the Christian can glorify God with causes, banners and making the world a better place. It’s true.
Attending the World Vision conference was a great experience. I picked up some new resources and my views were reaffirmed. The speakers ranged from our Chicago-local, Dr. Erwin Lutzer to Dr. David Reagan. Within a few hours they wrapped our minds around complex concepts of the church, last days and goals as Christians. When speaker Brannon Howse took the floor, however, he shook things up with bold-faced honesty.
“We’ve lost the culture war!” He shouted and there was a visible reaction in the audience. He continued. “Do you really think we can undo the damage that has been done in the last 75 years? Is there a way that we can undo mistakes like Roe Vs. Wade? Are bibles, prayer and creation going to be allowed back in schools?” He paused, like a comedian before the punchline. “No! You aren’t going to undo these catastrophic decisions.” To back up his statement he went on to explain that in bible we never win the culture war. “All you have to do is read the last book of the bible to tell that the attempt is futile.” As time goes on thing get worse and worse until finally everything is so bad that there must be radical change and the world comes to an end. Just read Revelation, it’s right there.
I’ve never given thought to the culture war. I’ve never considered the fact that I was in a culture war or that I was fighting against the tide of the secularized world. I just fought because it’s the way things work. I’ve read the book of Revelation more than once and still I never made the connection that we’re not actually supposed to win these huge battles we’re fighting. We can’t bring back the millions of dead children, we’re not going to get prayer back in our schools and we’re not going to see Roe Vs. Wade reversed. In order for biblical prophecy to be fulfilled we have to actually lose some of these battles to make progress towards a perfect earth!
The concept is hard to grasp and makes me want to lose hope right now. It doesn’t make me feel empowered and it doesn’t sound like everything is going to work out alright. But one thing I know: Even if we aren’t going to win, we can’t stop fighting. We can’t lay down and let the world trample on us, removing free speech, instituting gay marriage and enslaving free people. The quote by A.E. Hotchner rings true, “I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail.”
We must continue fighting because we are right, not because we will win. We must continue to grow spiritually and keep our churches alive, following God’s word, not the teachings of the world and false prophets – 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
Written by Eric Novak. For more articles by Eric check out his site: EricNovak.com
Hey buddy. Good piece. I am not totally in the camp that we can not win. This may be the last days, or it may just be a bad time with the last days a certain time off. Either way, whether this is a battle that we can win, or one we can not; our job is to keep on fighting.
Too often, I hear people say woe is me, and not try hard enough. I appreciate your strong affirmation of our responsibility to keep on trying. God bless, brother.