Christians are cowards!
This may seem like a pretty strong, and for the most part, untrue statement, but American Christianity, for the most part, has become so lackadaisical, that it's about time to 'warm up the paddles'! For one thing, it usually takes some pretty strong medicine to cure such a terrible sickness. Many Christians out there, whether individually ( usually ) or as a whole, have bowed to the demands of their government, and seemingly forgetting who the Ruler of this world is; have said, 'we have no king but Caesar'!
Christians today, many of them, anyway, are like politicians, those who take the Name of God in vain, anyway, and will say things like, 'I have a very deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but I will in no way allow that to influence my policy-making decisions'! A friend of mine remarked that 'at least he didn't really perjure himself and something like 'Jesus is Lord'! The Federal Government ( FG ) likes these kinds of people; well, they'd rather you didn't even acknowledge the Name, but if you keep your 'faith' 'behind your eyes and between your ears', you can believe anything you want, just don't be religious about it: don't act on it! It is when God's people act on their faith, that the words of Thomas Jefferson are proven true: 'When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.' This is where much of so-called 'American Christianity' has relegated itself. By bowing to, by fearing the federal ( even state ) government that vaunts itself against God, and His Law; we as Christians, have proven ourselves to be the worst kind of cowards. We have freely given up some of our most important liberties, and have, wittingly or unwittingly, ushered in something that is dangerously close to being out and out tyranny! ( Many would take issue with this statement, saying, 'we're already there!' )
'What the hell kind of Christianity is that?'
That's a good question. When most Christians read what Paul wrote, 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free' ( Galatians 5:1 ); they seem to forget the whole lesson that Paul was teaching, and that he next said 'and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage'. Sure; in context, Paul was referring to the ordinances of man as opposed to God's Law.........wait........................that sounds like what we're facing today in America! This country, as a whole, still, praises be to God, has more freedoms than many other nations, to be sure, but as a famous singer once said 'we're losing control by the hour' ( maybe that should be 'loosing' ); that's the 'problem' in a nut-shell; American Christians, for whatever reason, and long ago ( way before our time ) began either to lose or loose control, and have given over to a bunch of unbelieving reprobates, and worse yet, 'Christian' reprobates, control of this great nation of ours!
I believe that much of this 'problem' can be laid at the feet of one lone enemy: this enemy can be called by several different names, 'apathy' being one of them, but probably the worst enemy that American Christianity faces, is pure, unadulterated ( or maybe that should be 'adulterous' ) laziness.We, as a culture, have become so lazy, that we have made it 'easy pickins' for politicians to swoop in and 'take care of all our problems for us', and then we complain when they foist another whole set of different but related problems on us. When will we learn to look to God, and not the Federal Government, for our salvation! When the government begins to fear the people, when Christians begin to grow a backbone, and stand up for their God-given rights, and say, 'Jesus is my Lord; you are not'; then true freedom will reign, but until then, until Christians begin to resurrect, to take a stand for their true Lord, all we have to look forward to is tyranny! How bad do things have to get before this happens?
When American Christians begin to live what they believe, not hiding behind their faith, but acting upon it; we can begin to take this country back. We seem to forget, often, that 'This is Our Father's World': He made it, and He rules it, but He has given us the dominion of it! We just need to stand up and redeem what we have lost, with the knowledge that He has willed His Truth to triumph through us, that the battle is already won: we just need to step up to the plate, and with the strength the God has given us, to fight the good fight!
When we begin to realize that true faith is a lived out faith, not just something between 'me and Jesus', then things will begin to turn around in this country, and God will honor our faith, just as He honored 'the faith of our fathers'!
Prayerfully,
Charles Haddon Shank
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