Take a Stand on Key Issues: Addiction, Abortion, & Marriage

The silence of the church on key issues of our day is deafening.  By remaining silent on these issues, for fear of controversy, the church unilaterally makes itself irrelevant.  When it's just a social club, or even a Christian fellowship of worship, well... something very important is missing.  What's missing is true cultural engagement.  The church has the power to be a voice on key issues like abortion, religious liberty, and human trafficking.  Let's make sure we do so.  

These are not easy topics to discuss.  But when we do discuss them, ears perk up.  The most valiant churches of the past took on cultural issues.  Think of William and Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army.  They challenged the depraved culture of "darkest England."  They took the Christian message to the streets.  This very much offended the high society churches of that time.  In fact Salvation Army parades, open air meetings, and bands would be routinely attacked and pelted with rocks.  Why? They were stepping out of the mold.  I imagine to talk of the whoring, or the brothels, or the alcohol abuse of that society was quite taboo.  Most churches I'm sure didn't discuss such things.  They were afraid of losing money or becoming overly controversial.  The Salvation Army protested, they went out into the streets, they went to the poor and wretched those who society carefully ignored.  And they transformed the culture of England.  

Think of William Wilberforce's stand against slavery in England.  Think of the hundreds of thousands of Christian citizens who took a stand against slavery in America.  It would've been much easier to carefully ignore the topic, for fear of losing church members who owned slaves.  But instead they took a stand.  They formed abolitionist societies.  

Today there is a deafening silence, especially in the few dozen megachurches in our society that tend to stand in the limelight.  Lord help us!  They are so often silent on the following topics: abortion, homosexuality, religious liberty, human trafficking, drug addiction, pornography, and political corruption.  Why?  Why do these megachurches refuse to take on abortion or homosexuality?  Because those issues are "controversial" and "divisive."  They know they'd take a pounding from the mainstream media.  They know they might lose donations.  But these issues are at the core of our societal debate.  To ignore them is to render ourselves irrelevant pukes whose religion is a farce.  A religion to be practiced inside the walls of the building on Sunday, but impractical and unapplicable to life in the real world.  Is that really what our faith is?  Of course not.  

We as the body of Christ must find our voice on these issues.  We must find our solid rock positions, based on the scriptures, and stick to them.  That's what it means to be a Christian.  We're called to take a stand.  We're called to know the truth, and put it into practice.

Let's make sure though, that we don't end up taking knee jerk positions on these topics.  It's very easy to say to any one of these problems "government needs to fix it."  That is the knee jerk response.  We need to funnel tax payer dollars, or we need to enforce new laws.  But that doesn't work.  So let's think outside the box on solutions to these issues.

1. Drug Addiction - Why the silence on drug addiction?  Who could say!  Maybe the church just doesn't understand this issue.  Drug addiction is becoming an epidemic.  Personally in Wisconsin and Michigan we've seen communities where ten years ago the only problems were alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana.  Today those same communities have methamphetamine and heroin problems spiraling out of control.  Drugs are becoming a cancer on the young people of today.  The voice of the church must be heard in the realm of drug addiction.

2. Human Trafficking - We're starting to get our voice on human trafficking.  It's easy now, because it's becoming a more known issue.  There was the opportunity for the church to lead the way on this issue, but that didn't happen.  Instead we followed the gang, leading from behind.  The response of society as a whole has been slow on human trafficking.  This is no less than modern day slavery.  And in many ways much worse than ancient slavery.  This form of slavery in repeated sexual abuse, gang rape, sexual violence, and truly a life of unspeakable abuse for those forced into this trade.  It is pure evil.  We must disturb the present, and call out the evil!

3. Abortion - Many have taken a stand on the issue of abortion.  I think we need to get louder on this issue though.  We need more churches taking a stand.  We need to raise awareness like wildfire.  And it's starting to work.  In fact though millennials tend to be more pro-gay marriage, they also tend to be more anti-abortion.  This is a good trend.  Preach on abortion!  Take a stand on social media!  Get loud! 

4. Homosexuality - Oi vey, the great impenetrable issue for the church.  The megachurches are stark terrified of this issue.  The silence is deafening, once again.  Why?  Because we've seen the LGBT mafia strike time and again.  They've shown a powerful ability to bully Christian business owners and public figures into total submission, with the help of corrupt government officials and cultural cronyist big businesses, all carefully framed as bigotry by the secular drive by mainstream media.

The best way to target this sinful practice is not through silence.  And it's also not necessarily through slamming people with Bible quotes.  Actually, the best way to tackle this subject is with facts and evidence.  The facts are clear: homosexual marriage is harmful to society.  Gay marriage culture is not a healthy activity.  It's harmful to the people who practice in it, and it's harmful to culture in general.  There is a great apologetic out there by Dr. Frank Turek.  Check it out on Youtube titled "How Gay Marriage hurts Everyone." We have got to find our voice on this issue, despite the LGBT activists looking to bully and punish anyone who dissents.  The best way to turn the tide in this debate in not by going after gay marriage as wrong, but instead as framing the debate as one between LGBT authoritarianism and the cherished first amendment right of religious liberty. 

5. Religious Freedom - The cherished right to practice our religious faith without persecution is under attack by leftists, the news media, and big business.  The deck is stacked against Christians suddenly.  It's not looking good.  The church has to stand up with one voice and do something.  And keep doing something until we make sure this cherished right is engraved in stone for all time.

6. Pornography - The church is taking on pornography more and more.  It's a wonderful thing.  If you've got the pulpit, talk about it!  Encourage candid discussion.  You'd be amazed to see the statistics on pornography addiction in the church.  Many, many struggle with it!  Even pastors admit to pornography problems.  It's an epidemic.  The church must take a stand.  Keep it up!

7. Political Corruption - The USA is 19 trillion dollars in debt, Christians are losing their jobs for being Christians, children get their bible swiped by staff if they bring it to public school, gay marriage is now normal, the media celebrates LGBT pride, Congress and big business are together to screw over the general public, and we've got get involved in these issues.  We really really need to infiltrate the political system, take up positions of leadership, and lead the country to a sane future.  And we can. 

God is good.  He will help us take a stand on these issues.  We cannot be silent on these issues.  We need to preach on these issues, and encourage discussion.  The church must be the guide of the civilized world in championing great causes.  The church has always done that, at least until recent times.  Today the church is leading from behind, following the coat tails of the secular world.  That is not acceptable.  We must take the lead, despite the risks.  Yes there is a risk of controversy and media attack if we stand on these issues.  But God calls us to take a stand on these issues.  And He will bless our efforts.  Pray for our nation.  And raise awareness of these issues, and their solutions.  Pioneer causes of the future.  The witness of the church is blessed by champions who take on evils of their ages, whether slavery, education, or abortion.  

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2. An Appeal to Heaven: The Movement
3. The Supreme Court, Same Sex Marriage, Religious Liberty
4. Thoughts on Public Schooling: Should Christians homeschool their Children?
5. All those who Wander are not Lost: A Study in Nothingness
6. Kim Davis is only the Beginning: Prepare your Ministry for Persecution
7. A Cause Worth Dying For: Materialism, Millennials, & the Authentic Mission
8. What is the Truth about Abortion? Fact, Fiction, Christianity & Humanism
9. Faith in the 21st Century: The Seven Key aspects of Faith
10. Christian Activism: Can Christianity survive the new cultural attitudes?

A Movement of Millennials: The last hope of Western Civilization

I'd like to tell you about a movement.  It's a movement of young people.  It is a movement to recover what has been lost.  And it has only just begun.

This is a movement toward redemption.  And toward hope.  But most importantly a movement toward the truth.  This is a movement to tear the veil over the truth in our society.  Great things are done not by mythic heroes, no, great things are done by everyday young people who take a stand.  They take a stand, even though they're afraid.

History like anything else is circular.  A pattern emerges for those who can spot them.  Generation by generation events take a familiar turn time and again, there is nothing new under the sun.

The first generation builds an economic empire, a Christian nation.  They stack up their bodies, die side by side to free themselves from cruel overlords.  Again they fight to banish slavery pouring out their blood for the cause of liberty.  One hundred years later men and boys die on the battlefields of this world once again, heaping up their bodies sacrificially with every ounce of strength imaginable to topple the great evil of the Nazi regime.  Not cinema, but reality.  Only 80 short years ago a genocidal dictator nearly took the world, yet he was stopped.  

The second generation builds on the advancements of the first, developing the Christian nation.  They build on the platforms of the first, wisely.  Economic prosperity ensues.  Innovation becomes an everyday occurrence.  Technology blossoms. Diseases are cured.  The people begin to live in real luxury.  They honor God, and preserve a moral structure within the society.

The third generation, having eyes that did not see the victories of the first, begin to systematically eject God from the society.  They don't need God.  They look down on the first and second generation as backward rubes, fools, war mongers whose religion destroyed the world.  Little do they realize that they live in the lap of the blessing provided by such faith.  The third generation is arrogant, rebellious, tired of the status quo.  They seek to remake reality in their own image.  

In their flight from Christianity they embrace the very ideologies that brought the world to the brink a hundred years ago.  They begin to teach those ideologies in schools, and bring them into every academic discipline imaginable.  They wage a quiet war on the faith of their fathers.  They abandon moral precepts.  They develop psychological phenomenon aimed toward liberating the "suppressed human spirit."  They declare God dead, and develop convoluted theories, philosophies, and sciences to explain away God.  They revel in their own glory and build altars to themselves amongst the cities.  

The fourth generation comes on the scene.  This is my generation, young people today.  Some call us "millennials."  The third generation stood on the Godly platform provided by previous generations as they tore down the structures.  The fourth generation is raised up in the lies of the 3rd generation.  They are children of the rebellion. They become the first to truly live out the full entailments of the godless ideologies.  The result is chaos, addiction, pain, sorrow, and brokenness for the fourth generation.  They are destroyed by it.  So a few of them wander, broken into quiet spaces, careening toward the darkness... away from the ruins, and something beautiful happens.  God finds them there.  They discover the God of their grandfathers.

"Millennials" is an interesting name for us.  I wonder, are we millennials of the new age of relativistic pluralism, self anointed gods of the universe?  Or maybe, just maybe could we be the children of God, glorified adopted children, part of the coming millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ? 

There are two roads before us. The first is that of embracing the ideologies we were raised on: modernity, materialism, naturalism, and more recently post-modernism and "democratic" marxism.  We can embrace the unification of all religions into one pot in which we proclaim ourselves demigods.  We can embrace the drug culture, sex, selfishness, gender-whatever, and all of this madness.  But where will it lead us?  The answer is simple, profound, self-evident: This road leads to total destruction, implosion, disaster.  It is the end for western man.

The second road, well, that's something special.  It's this movement we're talking about.  This movement is powerful, because anyone part of it quickly realizes that it could not have come about organically.  It's something that's been designed, and set forth by God himself.  That's the movement.  This unnamed movement of young people.  And it is a movement.  It's happening today.  It's doing the impossible.  Let me tell you about this movement... this movement that I'm a part of:

We are those raised in a society where the truth had been carefully hidden from us.

We are those who have found this world empty and wanting.

We are those who have perceived the darkness within and without.

We are those who have turned to the light.

We are those who rejected ideologies that suited our fancies, or give credence to our debased desires for sex and pleasure.

We are those in search of the truth.

We are those who have found the truth.

We are those who dug through the ash heaps, amongst the broken idols of naturalism, darwinism, materialism and all the rest, in search of an old book.

We are those kin of Josiah, searching through the wreckage of this empire; we have discovered the book of the law.

We are those who have been totally crushed under the weight of our own sorrow.

We are those selected by a loving God to do his difficult work on the Earth.

We are those who have come to realize that Christianity is the truth about life.

We are those who see following Jesus as a systematic worldview.

We are those who have gone back, and searched through history, science, theology, and government, pouring over old books in search of the truth.

We are those so filled to the brim and set a fire by the truth of Jesus Christ that we desperately seek to share it with anyone who will listen.

This is a movement of young people.  This is a movement of millennials.  This movement displays itself in many ways: through apologetics blogs, facebook groups, twitter accounts, at small churches, in recovery groups, on college campuses, in science departments, in academia, on websites and forums, and in politics.  This movement flies over dozens of banners: religious liberty emblems, appeal to heaven flags, the God's Not Dead movement, American flags, Gadsden and Moultrie flags, occupiers and protesters, anonymous activists, churches, political groups, Christian activists, libertarian hedgehogs, Freedom caucus patriots, on and on the list goes.  

We are those who have found the book of the law scattered in the wreckage of this falling nation.  And we're trying so desperately to set things right, to share the truth hidden by the media and secular academia.  

We're outnumbered.  We're constantly censored and minimized.  We're mocked and ridiculed by media organizations.  We're bombarded by advertisements and sensual stimuli.  

We are the exception to the rule of our generation.  We watch our brothers and sisters driven toward depravity, darkness, and hedonism through the mass production centers of public schools, secular universities, Hollywood and the mainstream media.  

We are truly watching millennials, our fellows, being force fed the debased ideologies of the rebellious third generation that turned from God.  They preferred sexual revolution, they preferred Tim Leary drug culture, they preferred evolutionary biology to intelligent design, they preferred secular self help therapy to healing in Christ, and they preferred revisionist history to the true anthropology of man.  

Yet we are rising up, attacked from every side, crippled and broken by addictions and sorrows, yet we are rising up, young people, like me, like you, we're fighting tooth and nail to save western civilization before it's too late.  

Our enemy is powerful.  They are dead set on ridiculing, outlawing and destroying the America their forefathers built.  They are seeking to replace it with an impossible marxist utopia.  Instead they've opened the doors to disaster, refusing to see that their ideologies have left western man addicted and destroyed.  They cannot face that truth, so they push forward unto total collapse.

Yet even if it's too late for western civilization, and it may well be, we have a greater challenge ahead of us: to share the Gospel.  We're fighting to share the incredible true gospel of Jesus Christ with a generation lost.  We're not just fighting for civilizations or countries, we're fighting for the souls of humanity.

We're fighting and amazingly we're winning.  They can't keep us hidden forever.  God's not dead.  He's truly alive.  Jesus is coming again, souls hang in the balance.  Join us today.  If your reading these words, you are the future.  You are the last hope of western civilization.  You are the resistance.  You are the body of Jesus Christ.  Share the truth, share the apologetics, share the real history, share the science, share the gospel!  Onward Christian soldiers, onward. 

Even if it's too late for the declining church, for western society, at least we fought to our last breath to proclaim the gospel, to share Jesus, and to redeem the world.  Don't give up.  I know your out there, hurting inside, burdened for the nations, crying out in the darkness toward God in heaven, interceding for the people.  You aren't alone.  Others are out there, standing strong in their towns and communities.  There is still hope at this the twilight of western man.  There is still a light burning brightly.  Let us continue until He returns.  Burn brightly. For Christ. 

Gideon chooses the 300, via Wikimedia

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2. What is the matrix?
3. Living in the Suburban Sprawl (Mountains beyond Mountains)
4. Ancient Doorways in the Brickhouse: Fields of Green in your Dreams
5. Depression & Meaninglessness: Where is God in the depths of sorrow?
6. The Awe of Dreams & the Surreal
7. Big Picture: The Solution to all the Problems of Earth
8. What is the meaning of Life?
9. You Oh Lord are my Strength: The Manifold Provision of God
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10 Video Shorts on the Evidence for Christianity

These short videos are incredibly powerful.  So many facts have been hidden from us.  So many truths have been pushed aside and minimized by a radically secular education system and media.  We've been deceived, and driven from the truth by a deceptive agenda.  It's madness.  These video shorts will blow your mind.  You'll be amazed.  Share these videos far and wide, share them with your atheist and humanist friends.  Share the facts, share the truth, because the world needs it!

1. The Kalam Cosmological Argument

2. Does God Exist? Four Arguments


3. The Fine Tuning of the Universe
 

4. The Moral Argument


5. Leibniz’ Contingency Argument


6. Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

7. Evolution Refuted


8. Fossils and the Flood


9. Does Science argue for or against God?


10. God and Suffering


Consider these facts, and have a change in your mind. Facts are stubborn things.  The truth is powerful, it moves us and demands an answer.

Related Posts:

1. Origin, Meaning, Morality, & Destiny: An atheist and a Christian on discuss Worldview
2. Seven Objections to the Bible and Seven Reasonable Responses
3. Quick Fact Sheet: Four Points to Consider
4. 10 Answers to Common Questions Raised by Skeptics
5. Believing in the Miraculous: The Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross
6. Can you see through the illusion? 
7. Philosophy, Science, Logic, and History: Presentations on the Truth of Christianity from Multiple Disciplines
8. No Evidence for God? 
9. Declaration of Worldview (What we Believe) 
10. Reasonable Evidence for Christianity  

Take a Stand Like Daniel: Being a counter-culture warrior in a post-Christian America

Thomas Cole, the Course of Empire: Destruction

The mallet strikes hard wood and there you are, in the defendant chair. A court has been convened, the judge sits high on the bench robbed in black, and you sit there with your defense attorney, terrified. For you know the charge is grave and there is only one penalty: death.

But unlike most courts, where your goal would be to be found “not guilty” today your goal is to be found guilty of a very simple crime. Though you would not die for this crime in the United States, in over fifty other countries on this planet, this crime is punishable by death.

The crime is to be found guilty of being a Christian, a follower of the Way.

If investigators were looking through your legal documents, browsing through your social media feed, if they were questioning your friends and family, if they were looking at your personal conduct, would there be enough evidence to convict you of the crime of being a Christian?

Because we’ll all face this question one day, before the judgment seat of Christ: Were we faithful? Or will Christ say that he never knew us?

Let’s look at 3 categories of how we could look at believers and non believers.

First category, you’ve got your everyday people. They don’t believe in God, they don’t necessarily firmly disbelieve in God, they just frankly don’t care.

Generally speaking they sleep with who they want to, when they want to. If lying will help, they lie. If stealing will get them something they want, they steal. They watch any movies they like, maybe even pornography. They may even use drugs. They gossip regularly, tear down others in private. Maybe they smoke cigarettes. They party at bars and occasionally take strangers to bed. Curse regularly, and take the Lord’s name in vain. Just average people, you see them all the time.

Second category, we have believers in the church. They attend church, twice a month, maybe even hit a Bible study occasionally. But in at least a few ways, they look just like the world. They swear, they cheat, they steal, they lie. They drink too much sometimes, sleep around with whom ever they choose, and live how they want to live. Some call them “cultural Christians.”

3rd category, we have the believers in Christ who are sold out for the cause. This believer is a beautiful thing to witness. Their relationships are marked by love. They are polite and kind. They are careful what they watch on tv, and what movies they go to. They don’t use drugs, or smoke cigarettes, and they use alcohol responsibly. They understand that abortion is murder. They understand that gay marriage is wrong. They understand that how they speak matters. They understand that their conduct before God must be holy, holy, holy.

This 3rd category lives out a biblical worldview. They see the world through the lenses of the Bible. And they understand that daily, they are partaking in a spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of mankind.

Are you really sold out for Christ? Does your life look like that of a follower of Jesus? Or are you more in the second category?

If so, now is the time you can resolve to say: You know what. I’m going to adjust things in my life and get sold out for Christ.

This isn’t uncommon though, many of the parables elude to a simple fact: God is allowing the wheat and the weeds to grow together. What does that mean? God is building his church, and within it’s ranks are many who don’t really believe, they are the weeds. And the true church is the wheat, soon to be harvested.

But this begs the question: Why do so many Christians live like God doesn’t exist? Let's look at some quick quotations:

“If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in.” –Robert Jastrow, agnostic astronomer, author of God and the Astronomers

“An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” –Francis Crick, biochemist and spiritual skeptic, shared the Nobel Prize for discovering the molecular structure of DNA

“There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all....It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature's numbers to make the universe....The impression of design is overwhelming.” –Paul Davies, an internationally known British astrophysicist and author

"Donald Page of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Science calculated the odds against our universe randomly taking a form suitable for life as one in ten billion to the 124th power! This is a number so large, it is safe to say that the universe did not come together randomly. It was created by an incredibly intelligent and powerful designer." –Charlie H. Campbell

“When you realize that the laws of nature must be incredibly finely tuned to produce the universe we see, that conspires to plant the idea that the universe did not just happen, but that there must be a purpose behind it.” –John Polkinghorne

“It was my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science, it is only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.” – Allan Sandage

Given that we know God is real and we trust in Jesus Christ, then we want to make sure we are living a Godly life in Christ Jesus. Broken down to it’s core: We’re talking about conduct. And for our example of Christian conduct, we look to the book of Daniel.

Daniel provides us a perfect description of our current situation, and how to respond to it. In the book of Daniel we see that the nation of Israel had been judged by God. God allowed the Babylonians to invade and take captive Israel, and they were forced to live in exile in the foreign nation of Babylon. When they were brought to Babylon, certain Israelis were selected to be brought up in the courts of Babylon. It's interesting what they tried to do, first they gave them new names, and then they tried to acclimate them to Babylonian culture, by feeding them fine foods and giving them fine clothing. Daniel was very wise in his response. He refused the food tactfully, by requesting vegetables from the guards, arguing politely that he would grow stronger by eating vegetables instead of all the fine foods of Babylon. He also did not keep the name he was given, but continued to use the name Daniel.

Daniel was a counter-cultural warrior. He took a stand against the prevailing orthodoxies of the times. We must do the same today.


Daniel 1:8 (NIV) says "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way."

They’ve got some goodies on the tray for Daniel and his buddies. Maybe some malt beer, some fine foods, all the good stuff. Look at Daniel’s buddies. They’re watching him quite intently. How true is that? For you young people, you’d be surprised how closely your friends will be watching you, especially if you’re a sort of unofficial leader in the crowd. Most people out there are clueless, when they see a pit they jump into it, and bad things happen. But when they see just one person take a stand, it inspires them to take a stand as well. Be faithful in your conduct because others are watching. You could change the entire culture, at your school, at your college, just by taking a string of stands on things like sex, partying, making fun of others , lying, cheating, and caring about issues that really matter in the world. Courage is contagious.

So if they offer you something that just seems too good to be true.. like Daniel: Talk to the hand.

Is our situation so different than Daniels? Something happened in our country. The United States, a Christian nation began to fall away from God. And that falling away has grown, and grown, and really the children of today in many cases are those raised in a worldview devoid of Christian truth. I was one of those young people. Today many Christians leaders refer to the United States a post-Christian nation. And the evidence of that is pretty clear:

Today it’s considered normal to have sex before, during, and after marriage.

Today it’s considered normal for unborn children to be killed. It’s something the Old Testament calls “Child sacrifice.” Since Roe v. Wade over 56 million persons, made in the image of God, have been slaughtered, children, while still in their own mother’s womb. Think about that.

Today gay marriage is considered normal, though the Old and New testament are quite clear that the practice of homosexuality is sinful. You’d be amazed how many within the church can’t understand the truth on this issue.

Today, profanity is considered normal.
Today pornography is a part of everyday life.
Today, it’s all about the benjamins. Money is king.

America isn’t in the process of turning from God, America has turned from God. But there’s still a remnant of the church fighting to stay alive. That’s us.

In the same way, Israel had turned from God. They forgot God. Their leaders were corrupt. You can see this again and again in the Old Testament: God blesses Israel, Israel prospers, that generation fades away, the next generation forgets about God, turns to idols and sin, then God judges Israel, a time of darkness happens, the people are humbled, they cry out to God, God hears them, delivers them, then the cycle repeats. And isn’t it haunting, to see that same cycle repeating to this very day in our own country!

During the corrupt reign of King Zedekiah we see Israel on the brink of disaster. And if you recall, King Zedekiah was the son of King Josiah, who was a godly, good king, he recovered the book of the law from the ash heap and set Israel on a path of honoring God. But King Zedekiah and Israel turned away from God. God finally said, “Have it your way.” He raised up Babylon to conquer and enslave Israel. King Nebuchadnezzar sieged Jerusalem for over a year, and finally he conquered the city, destroyed the temple, and enslaved the population, bringing them to Babylon in chains.

Daniel was among those enslaved, but once in Babylon, he prospered by the blessing of God. And God blessed him because his conduct was upright, and he remained loyal to the God of his ancestors. Daniel eventually became counsel to King Nebuchadnezzar, then after Babylon was conquered by the Meads, Daniel became a chief counsel to King Darius.

He was so good at what he did that Darius, the king, planned to put him in charge over them. Daniel’s coworkers were not too happy with him. So they decided to try and destroy Daniel. But how? They couldn’t find any way to get at him and make him look corrupt.

The scriptures say he was faithful, responsible, and completely trustworthy. But they knew what they would do. They’d find a way to make his religious faith interfere with his service to the king. They manipulated Darius into signing an edict that no one could worship anyone for 30 days except to worship the King.
What did Daniel do? And what would we do in the same situation? Imagine this situation: Prayer has just been outlawed by President Obama. Imagine that situation, or maybe prayer has just been outlawed by President Trump. It goes out on all the news networks, CNN, Fox, NBC, ABC, and they laud this new law as just a wonderful thing. Finally the American people can be free from bigots pushing their beliefs on others. The talking heads on the major networks cheer the news, and pretty soon many of your friends and neighbors are talking about what a great thing this new law is. What do you do?

Do we obey the laws of God, or do we obey the laws of man?

It says in Daniel 6:10 “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”

He didn’t weigh the pros and cons. He didn’t exhaust over it. He just continued to pray steadfastly. He was found to be faithful in his devotion to God, at a critical moment.

Firstly, Daniel resisted temptation. Secondly, Daniel was faithful. He stuck with God, in the midst of a terrible, terrible trial. Recently when I had a surgery, I had a rough time with it. I really, really was not doing well. Got depressed. Imagine what it must’ve felt like, to be enslaved by your enemies. Might you be wondering if God had forsaken you? Might you be wondering if God still even wants you at all?

We stay faithful despite our circumstances. We have to. Our outward circumstances don’t reflect a disdain from God. They reflect the blessing to suffer for Christ.

In the same way, Daniel was faithful. Now, what did he get for it? What did he get in response to taking a stand for his faith? You take a courageous stand for something, you do something really tough, and you expect maybe a bit of recognition. Maybe even a ticker-tape parade of congratulations, and wealth and the respect of your fellows. But that isn’t what this world is like. If you were working for the devil you might get all those things. But we work for the Lord God Almighty. For Daniel’s trouble, he got tossed into the Lion’s Den.



There's your ticker-tape parade. The cold stone of the lion’s den. But the angel of the Lord closed the mouths of the Lions. Let me be clear here: God may close the mouth of the lions when your feet are to the fire. But then again, maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll bring you home to glory. Sometimes he stops the spear, sometimes he cures the cancer, sometimes he leads us into death and darkness, for his glory. And shouldn’t we be only too happy to go to dark places, in the service of our God, who saved us from the fires of hell?

Thirdly, Daniel was truthful. It says Daniel was found innocent in the sight of God. Aren’t we looking for the same as we walk through life, covered by his grace yet accountable for how we live?

The scriptures say Daniel was truthful. Daniel understood what the truth was. He lived the truth. One could say Daniel held a biblical worldview. He saw reality through the truth of God’s word. And he shared that truth. We are called to do the same today.

Our conduct will inevitably flow from the truth, which is our Christian worldview… which includes these truths. We must be so, so, so careful to make sure these truths are at the center of our daily thoughts, and actions.

Fourth and finally, if we are to be biblical in our conduct we must be careful. We must be cautious. Its astounding how easy it is to slip onto a bad path. It can seem so harmless at the moment. And it isn’t until later that we realize we’ve become addicted to a desire we can’t control.

In the book of Matthew it’s recorded that Jesus Christ commissioned his twelve disciples and gave them instructions before he sent them out to proclaim the gospel. One of the key instructions Jesus gave to his disciples was this:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

Where the Rubber hits the road: Are we really, actually living it out?

Are we literally on fire to share the gospel? Are we disturbed by the thought of a single soul going to hell?

We’ve got to apply this faith we have to every part of our minds, our emotions, our intellect, our daily life. When we look across the skyline, we must see the handiwork of God. When we look at the faces of our friends and neighbors we must see children of God.

When we gaze into the woods, or upon the mountains we ought be inspired by the glory of God’s creation. When we think of eternity we must tremble with the fearful fate of the many who fall into the grips of hell. We must be set aflame by the gospel of Jesus Christ, to carry the message to the lost in our own community.

Every moment is another chance to live it out, to live wisely, in conduct, innocent in how we live.

So we want to be wise, as wise as a serpent. And innocent as a dove. And ultimately if our conduct flows from the desire to serve Christ, we can be wise and innocent. Someone once asked Billy Graham “If Christianity is valid, why is there so much evil in this world?” To this the famous preacher replied, “With so much soap, why are there so many dirty people in the world? Christianity, like soap, must be personally applied if it is going to make a difference in our lives.”

We must apply our faith to every part of our lives. We must leave no room whatsoever for the sins that so easily corrupt. Radical adherence to holy conduct is what we need, stoic dogged determination.

In closing, maybe there is a sin in your life you want to give up. Maybe there is a part of your mind or your life that you want to turn over to Christ. Maybe you want to give your life to Christ for the first time today.

My favorite words from a hymn by Charles Wesley are as follows: My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord,
Into thy blessed hands receive;
And let me live to preach thy word,
And let me to thy glory live;
My every sacred moment spend
In publishing the sinner's friend.

Perhaps you'll make that your prayer today. Listen to the hymn, pray through it if you desire, click here. Song will also appear here:

Thank you for reading. God is good. He loves you. In response to his incredible love and relationship with you, please honor him with your conduct. We're called to live a different kind of life. I know what the world out there says, and they're wrong. We must live differently. Don't follow the crowd, instead, follow Jesus.

Here is a closing prayer. I hope you'll make it your prayer today. God will be with you always, and keep you spotless in Christ Jesus assuming you honor him in your conduct and remain free from sin. This is quite achievable in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord God of Heaven and Earth, we thank you that you’ve empowered us to live in holiness. We thank you Lord that you’ve provided for us the ability to be faithful, truthful, and careful in our daily lives. We ask for your strength, your Holy Spirit to be with us, and your savior to uplift us. We ask that you consecrate us to your cause today, so that you may have our whole hearts, not just some of us. Help us to be courageous and hopeful for the future. Help us to be the sold out, radical, dedicated disciples you would have us be in Jesus name, Amen.

Related Posts:

1. Eternity & Christ: The Promise of Life
2. The Paradox of Victory through Surrender: Rise Above
3. The Heart & Mind of Humanity: Reflections on Suffering
4. Coming into Maturity: Grace, Love, and Service
5. A Cause Worth Dying For: Materialism, Millennials, and the Radical Mission
6. Life after Death: Law, Eternity, and the Changed Mind
7. Wisdom from Above: Living in Light of the Victory of Christ
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Called to Live Differently: Counter Culture Lifestyle in a Dark Society

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
2 Timothy 1:9 NIV

Jesus has changed the world.  The God who came, has come.  We face a daunting task of carrying the gospel to the world.  But in his power we can do just that.  

We've been called to a holy life in Christ Jesus.  We're called to live in holiness.  We're called to be different. What does it mean to be holy?

To be holy means to live well.  It means to serve others, and live with a selfless attitude.  This attitude of course does not come all at once, it takes years and years of growth in the Christian life.  But over the long term it can be done.

We need to challenge ourselves in this area.  How can I be more like Jesus?  We've got faith down pretty well, but we're slacking on the holiness side.  

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. -2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

The two biggest pressure points, where the rubber meets the road are: sex and money.  Anyone can claim to be a follower of Jesus.  But look at how they use their God-given sexual desires, look at how they use their money, and you'll know very shortly if they are truly a follower of the way.  

Screwing friends and strangers isn't a game.  It isn't harmless.  In fact it's quite destructive.  It looks like simple pleasure, but hidden beneath the surface is a cost immaterial, heavy, dark, insidious.  Much like many of the tender chocolates of the delicacies of this world.  

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.  1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV

There is so much more to life.  But sex has become the center, the ultimate. It's the obsession, driven by the media, for the sake of profit. Such a system leaves young people desolate, broken, poured out.  So much sorrow flows from sexual acting out... internal brokenness, aborted babies, emotional disturbances, codependency, and of course the spread of disease.  But my generation wanted to have fun, and it ain't so fun anymore.  

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.  -Hebrews 13:4 ESV

We were once in the high noon of the sexual revolution, today we find ourselves in the grizzly morning after.  We're hung over, left alone in an empty room at the rising sun, wishing we could forget and trying so hard to hide from the shame of what we've become.

It reminds me of a Smashing Pumpkin song called "Tonight, Tonight" in which the words are written: Time is never time at all, you can never ever leave, without leaving a piece of you.

It's the same way with life I'm certain, every lost friend, every broken relationship, and every one night stand leaves a part of you behind, marked eternally in history, a part of your soul you can never, ever recover.  It's true.  

Is that frightful, or oddly beautiful?  Perhaps a bit of both.  Inevitably we do leave ourselves behind along the trail of life.  We're strewn out about the trail, year after year, poured out for ourselves, or another.  

The song continues.  "And our lives are forever changed.  We'll never be the same.  The more you change the less you feel."

Greater is he who conquers himself, than he who can conquer a city (Proverb 16:32).  Have you conquered yourself?  Or are you slave to your own urges?  In the world out there, we find ourselves bombarded by imagery, sound, all sorts of magic.  So often in the bombardment we find ourselves naked, succumbing to desires that can never be truly fulfilled.  They are bottomless pits, always demanding more.

And again, "Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." (Proverb 25:28).

In ancient times the only possible way to defend a city was by building a wall around it.  A city without walls was open to being pillaged and sacked by enemies at any moment.  How similar it is for someone who has dropped their defenses in regard to sex.  Or in regard to alcohol.  Or spending.  Or drugs. Or just about anything else! 

Now about money.  Money is not the root of all evil.  The love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil.  As Americans we were raised on this mentality.  Money is what you need.  Get money and you can then use money to get everything you need or want.  Is that really true?  Can money really bring me everything I want?  Of course not.  In fact the richest of our society are often the most disturbed, drug addicted, and lost.  Think of how Robin Williams hung himself in his closet.  Think of the myriads of celebrities who "had it all" who killed themselves or overdosed on drugs.  Just to name a few: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, Chris Farley, Kurt Cobain, Keith Moon, Jack Kerouac, Marilyn Monroe, Sigmund Freud, and David Waymer.

Money isn't evil.  But when we let it dominate our lives, our love for it becomes evil.  What grows from the love of money is the love for power.  Because money is really a source of power.  We see many political and business leaders who have been led astray by the love of money and of power.  

How can we be wise with our money?  We ought to give 10% of our income to charity.  Or 10% of our income to our local church.  Or 5% to each.  It should be at least 10%.  If you think about it, that's not much.  After all, all of it belongs to God.  Come to think of it, you belong to God.  

Or as the amusing story is told, an atheist met God along an ocean beach and suggested to God that making life wasn't so hard.  So God challenged him, "Then go ahead and draw up life from the ground as I did."  The atheist thought to himself, sure, no problem.  He got down on his knees and began to work.  God quickly responded, "Hold on. Get your own sand."

There are many resources out there to help with managing money better.  There is an excellent organization called Thrivent Financial that can help with money management.  Another organization I've heard about is Samaritan's Purse.  Still another resource is the Dave Ramsey radio show.  He is an expert on money management.  

Recently a man at the church I serve in spoke to me about tithing.  He told me, "Justin, you can never go wrong with tithing 10%."  This man had tithed his entire life.  He told me how he slowly began to tithe even more than 10%.  He said that God always blessed him with enough money.  And he closed the conversation by saying how today, by the grace of God, he was a millionaire.  And every year he made just over $50,000.  But since he was generous with his wealth, God blessed and multiplied his wealth again and again.  

Or as Proverb 11:24 (NIV) states "One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty."

In a world where we're constantly bombarded by advertising and sensual temptations, it's a real challenge to live in holiness.  It's an incredible challenge.  We perhaps unlike any other nation in human history are bombarded by more temptations on a daily basis than any other.  I've seen studied that suggest a single person is exposed to hundreds of advertisements per day.  Still other studies suggested it's higher, in the realm of thousands.  

We must be aware of this.  We must be aware of the stimuli.  I know I've felt it.  Many a times, I've wondered why I'm so crazed with desires within my soul.  Why do they keep piling up?  Well, when I do something as simple as driving down the road or stepping into a gas station I'm literally being exposed to dozens of stimuli.  And virtually all of those stimuli are attempting on a certain level to tingle my senses and manipulate my desires enough to cause me to pour money out of my wallet.  It's true.  I'm not saying the intent is overtly insidious, it's just about making money, but the affect can be quite insidious.  It's destructive to the mind.  I recall a liberal book I was required to read, as part of my education in the University of Wisconsin school system was on this topic.  It was called "Affluenza" by John De Graaf. Though I felt put upon by social justice culture, the message was fair enough.  

I really believe the decline of western civilization and the collapse of meaningful culture is all interrelated to media.  The television America, it's destroying us.  It's pouring hot garbage into the minds of the young.  The young who are left naked and defenseless to the schemes of media and business by the pathetic, broken public school system.  

Commercials, they affect us.  TV shows, they affect us.  Movies, they affect us.  Music, it affects us.  There is a message being communicated to us in media. So we've got to take a stand.  We've got to be radical holiness types.  We've got to be counter-cultural warriors.  

One of the gravest complaints against the church is that it looks so much like the world.  That's quite an indictment.  But there is also much good that the church does.  

It gets ignored and minimized as a general rule.  Anything good the church does, is minimized.  It won't get any air time.  But if a tiny little hell hole church called Westboro Baptist comes out to protest military funerals and holds signs that say God hates certain people groups, then the media will be all over it.  Because Westboro Baptist fits their narrative perfectly.  In much the same way, Donald Trump fits the media narrative perfectly.  He is the wet-dream of any leftist who wants to pigeon-hole conservatives as racist sexist bigamists. 

The mainstream media, especially the television media is radically secular.  The progressive agenda in our country is destroying the minds of young people.  The depravity flowing out of the television is corrupting an entire generation.  It's amazing to witness.

Especially when it happened to me personally.  It's just astounding, especially reading about the (uncensored) history of our nation, the history of our nation that shows how Christianity was once the very center of life.  Then seeing the revisionist history taught in schools and college campuses.  And how the United States and it's founders are demonized as wicked, self-interested despots who lived on the backs of slaves and committed genocide against Native Americans.  What a farce.

In the Truth Project curriculum by Focus on the Family it's taught in one of the lessons how Christopher Columbus' original Christian intent has oft been omitted from school textbooks.  And scores of other revisions to American history.  The Truth Project is a must see series, if you haven't already.  It's simply astounding.

The good news is we're waking up to the false narrative.  We're waking up to the truth of God almighty and his presence in the affairs of humanity.  America may turn from God, and it seems America has done so in large part, but we can be a holy remnant.  To do that we have to live differently from the world.  

It starts with you and I.  Are we going to really do it?  Are we going to really live it out in the tough areas like sex and money?  I understand how it feels!  I'm single myself.  I'm a single male, 31 years old.  It's not easy.  I have desires at times that are very hard to control.  I'm not preaching at you from on high, riding upon a white horse of purity.  In fact just a few years ago, I was the debased hedonist of hedonists.  I sat in basements in tie dye smoking from grass pipes, philosophizing about how bad "the corporations" were.  Yet never doing anything about it.  I was the hypocrite liberal puking out anti-war sentiments, feeling a very high and mighty sense of unearned moral superiority.  Yet in my personal life I spent a great deal of my money on weed, and was willing to sleep with any girl I thought was hot.  

I understand, because I've lived it.  It's not easy.  But in the power of God almighty, with Christ, and the Holy Spirit we can't be stopped. We've got the victory in Christ.

Will we take a stand?  Or will we give in to temptation?  
Is it such a big deal?  The answer is yes.  You'd amazed what a small compromise can do.  It can open a door that begins to open wider and wider, until it seems impossible to close.  I opened those doors in my heart and mind, time and again.  It had become impossible to close them.  It was only by the power of Jesus Christ that they were closed once again and I was given another shot at life.  

It starts in personal conduct.  Am I waiting for marriage?  Am I refusing the temptations of pornography and masturbation?  Am I giving a certain percentage of my income to charity?  Or am I hoarding it all for personal pleasure?  Or even worse, am I descending into crippling debt?  Am I letting unchecked pleasures run amuck through credit cards and loans?

When we start living differently, others notice that.  And eventually others begin to do the same.  Our personal conduct flows out to those around us, and it rubs off.  More so than you might realize.  We're inevitably humans in community, we can't escape each other and the influences we have, whether good or bad.  So take a stand.  Be an example in your conduct.

We have to be counter-cultural Christian powerhouses, standing against the corruption of this world.  That starts on a personal basis, in holiness. Once the personal is checked and the walls are built, then we can also interact as Christian activists, fighting day and night in the realm of ideas to free the young and the led astray from the strong delusions and false worldviews.  Those false worldviews include progressivism, relativism, post-modernism, naturalism, and atheism.  But if we walk around limping, hearts beset with sin after addicting sin, we won't be able to stand as powerhouse Christian activists.  If we do stand firm and resist temptation, day in and day out, God will bless our activism with success and growth.  

A movement is already forming, are you part of it?  Or are you on the sidelines?  Get on fire for the Lord, and join the battle.  You are needed.  We are outnumbered.  Every single soul matters in this fight for the hearts and minds of western civilization. 

May God be with you in all you do, blessing your efforts with multiplication, preparing hearts and minds to receive the sacred truth you carry on your sleeve.  God be praised, in Christ, amen.

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. -1 John 3:6-10 (ESV)

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