‘I’m in the Lord’s Smarmy’ — How ‘Sham-Wow’ Christianity Threatens Western Civilization
We wonder how a nation of 70 to 80% professing Christians would allow this level of rot in our own back yard. Our churches have morphed into malls with Fortune 500 business models; our pastors major in fundraising and minor in Tony Robbins; our pews are filled with “crack is whack” customers coming for their weekly fix of sunshine. This is how table salt becomes street salt. Warren Wiersbe was right when he said “the church today is starting to suffer from success and the only remedy is to return to worship!”
Sermons about “how to feel good about yourself” or “your best life now” would never have produced the generation of heroes that founded this country. Nor are they suitable to protect it. Cotton candy Christianity is no substitute for the aged steak that is sound Bible doctrine. It was steak that informed and inspired the founders. And it is faithfulness to the divinely inspired Word that will nurture and preserve liberty.
SALT AND LIGHT
In the ancient world, salt wasn’t just a condiment, it was a refrigerator and it was highly valued. The Roman Army paid it’s legionnaires with salt and one of the reasons that Philippi was granted colonial status was that they sent salt to the legions when Roman supply lines had been cut. Salt was a preservative. Imagine how quickly the steak would spoil if the salt was not available? If you’re paying attention, you don’t have to imagine much. You see it and smell it all around you. That rancid smell is the testimony of the Western Church.
A seat in the bleachers is not an option. The Christian Life is played out in the arena, and we enter it bold, battle-ready to the Glory of God or in shame dragged there by an adversary that we refused to confront or even acknowledge.
If this country fails it will mainly be the fault of “Christians” that heeded Bill O’Reilly and ignored Jesus Christ – embarrassed believers, willing to hide their light because it may offend the cockroaches. Apathetic followers sporting a “dead” faith whose worth to their Lord and their fellow man is not of much value:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt becomes tasteless, with what shall it be salted? For it has strength for nothing any more but to be thrown out and to be trampled under by men.” – Jesus Christ
Friends, the shofar has blown, it’s time to put the rattle down and pick up the sword.
Image: Barnum and Bailey poster; source: Library of Congress: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b52428; author: New York, Cincinnati : Strobridge & Co., Lith; Public domain/copyright expired