Understanding the Times
Accumulated Capital
We must denounce the proponents of selective history and reject historical revisionism. Revisionism is the common method em-ployed by secularists seeking to subvert American culture and society. Instead, we must require that our young people are accu-rately taught the history of the West, and how America became the most peaceful and prosperous nation in the history of nations. Commentator Roger Kimball observed that, “We have been living off the accumulated capital of Western civilization for so long that we’ve forgotten the heroic effort it took to accumulate that capital in the first place.” Citizens should tremble at what a post-Christian America would mean to all people of faith. Evangelicals and conservative must not stand idly by and allow secularists to set their own agenda and shape our culture in their own image. We do not want to become a secular anti-religious society. We must not allow them to impose this on our nation.
In the early days of America, pastors and community leaders would meet together to discuss the various candidates and their leadership qualifications before an election. They believed that since government is ordained of God, and those elected to office are ministers of God, then they should have a say in who represents them in government. If we expect to elect good people to office, this standard should apply in the upcoming 2008 election.
Reshaping Society
Today, Evangelicals and conservatives are seeking to reshape American society by implementing Christian principles and influ-encing society to adhere to biblical traditions and values in areas where secularists have made inroads and forced change by legislative activism.
Evangelicals are not interested in nationalism but evangelism. At the same time, Evangelicals are concerned about maintaining religious freedom in order to promote traditional values. Combining conservative principles with social and political action is not extreme American nationalism, as some claim. Christianity is a relational religion that is made up of the faith and followers of Je-sus Christ.
Historically, America is a representative democracy, it is not analogous to Islamism in any way, shape, or form. Islamists seek to reform society along harsh Islamic lines and force society to conform to radical Islamic legalism; religious freedom vanishes. Christianity grows through reasonable persuasion leading to freedom and civility; Islam expands through intimidation and coercion leading to cruelty and oppression.
The Political Agenda of the Conservative Right
The common factor behind America’s right wing is to restore America’s biblical foundation. Secularists have assaulted the foundational teaching of creation with the teaching of Darwinian evolutionism in government schools. Today’s public schools are government schools. The federal curriculum is used as an indoctrination tool to fill the minds of our most precious commodity with evolution, humanism and secularism.
Secularists have assaulted the right to life with easy access to abortion. Secularists have assaulted traditional marriage and family with so-called civil equality for gays, which actually has nothing at all to do with civil rights. Secularists have assaulted our respect for the traditional role of women with feminism. Secularists have assaulted the minds and lives of young people by pushing for drug legalization. Secularists have assaulted marriage and family with no-fault divorce laws and settlements.
A major appeal of evolution is power. Atheists need evolution to be true.
In her book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, Ann Coulter states: “Of course liberalism is a religion. It has its own cosmology, its own miracles, its own beliefs in the supernatural, its own churches, its own high priests, its own saints, its own total worldview, and its own existence of the universe. In other words, liberalism contains all the attributes of what is generally known as “religion.”’ Modern man has chosen evolution as his god, or source of law. Darwinism is said to govern both nature and histori-cal process. Evolution is regarded as impersonal except when elite men learn the secrets of evolution and then direct both nature and history.
Politically, conservatives consider their work an opposition to immorality, not modernity. America’s right wing, along with the Christian Right, is seeking to restore a biblical ideology of traditional cultural standards and civility in society. The so-called mod-ern developments, which began during the Enlightenment, undermine the basic right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness in so-ciety.
Becoming a “Mover and Shaker” for Change
Becoming a “mover and shaker” in the arena of moral and social change should be the goal of every Christian leader. Evangelicals should be concerned about moving every area of life in the right direction—toward order. Change will require new leadership to emerge; serious leaders who intentionally introduce a new direction in the public square; leaders who do what is right according to God’s laws and principles and serve through love and obedience. Good leadership is getting it all together and causing others to get it together.
Vision
No one puts much stock in a religion or political system that is irrelevant. Change is not brought about by wishful thinking or just talking about it. Change is not brought about by saying it is something we believe in. Change is the result of good ideas that are rooted in practical truth. Developing a vision for real change for the purpose of winning the social and moral cultural wars in America and then linking it to a well thought-out strategy to reverse the trend of secularization is not living in an alternate reality. Christians must never lose confidence in the power of biblical principles to make a positive and significant change in society. Forfeiting is not an option. We should choose to participate in what God is already doing.
Understanding the Times
Training evangelicals and conservatives who “understand the times” and know what they ought to do is indispensable in winning the culture war and the future of America. We must develop our own reformational and renewal agenda with the stated objective of reshaping society and reconstructing America with the original intent of the Founding Fathers. To clearly understand the times we are living in, we must realize that the battle line that has been drawn is over the phrase “separation of church and state” as a misleading metaphor. The battle lines along the false walls erected by secularists’ have already been drawn. Will we cut and run or fight until we win? There’s hope, but our future does not rest in hope alone! “We the people” can and will win the future, but only if we are free to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us, God! The truth is: the truth will set us free! Rev. John C. Rankin’s statement addresses the issue at the false wall battle line: “The true understanding of church and state is where a level playing field for all ideas to be equally heard is provided.”
Optimistic Expectation
An optimistic expectation for the future of mankind can be argued convincingly on the basis of a general Judeo-Christian ethos. The prospects of a bright future are rooted in the principles and precepts found in biblical law. A peaceful and prosperous future is ensured by God’s obedient nations.
