We Must Recover Our Conviction

Yesterday I had a post entitled How We Got Here about our own lack of conviction. When "being nice" became the highest Christian virtue instead of being righteous, we began the slow trek away from God. Understand that I don't mean that we should be some sort of Puritan who goes around judging the sins of others, a sin in itself. Jesus tells us to take the logs out of our own eyes. But since we can't do that, we need a healthy dose of compassion to go along with righteousness. One must act in righteousness, but be gentle with the unrighteous.  In this post I want to expand on what I said yesterday, by way of highlighting another writer, J. B. Shurk in his post A Time For Good People to Fight Back.

Shurk writes about the lack of moral leadership our country faces. Barack Obama had trouble finding Hamas to be at fault in its attack on Israel, for instance. But this is not new. Bill Clinton was equally bad when it comes to moral leadership. But we re-elcted him because, after all, we were electing a president, not a pastor.  It was a grave mistake.  America seemingly has lost its way, and the world with it. We are supposed to lead the world, yet we are ourselves bogged down by evil like an elephant attacked by a wolf pack. With enough wolves, even an elephant can be taken down

A former American president is not capable of moral leadership. Students at some of the best schools in the world are not intellectually prepared to comprehend anything of history or geopolitics beyond trite political slogans written on cardboard signs. And a military man fears the weather more than the prospect of regional tinderboxes in Israel, Ukraine, and the South China Sea igniting widespread nuclear conflagration — an event that would, indeed, affect the world’s “climate” dearly. Taken together, these weak and grotesque reactions to the bloodiest attacks on Israel in half a century show how a vacuum in American leadership has left the next generations dangerously unmoored from reality and unprepared to survive the threats from our increasingly volatile world.

Kidnapping and raping young women is evil. Bludgeoning and knifing grandmothers and sending pictures of their remains to their grandchildren is evil. Swiping babies from their mothers’ arms is evil. These vile acts are so depraved that they cannot even be camouflaged behind the sinister platitudes of moral relativism’s oozy sludge. No justification could ever excuse beheading babies or gunning down sleeping families, yet there are members of Congress today defending Hamas terrorists as “victims” of Israeli “oppression.” It is sickening to see U.S. lawmakers take sides with rapists, sadists, and baby-slaughterers. Those who do so do not ignore evil; they embrace it.

That any American could refrain from condemning Hamas — or worse, find ways to condone its wickedness — is another glaring warning sign that America has lost her way. For decades now, the people who have risen to the top in government, the arts, and academia have shared a common disdain for moral virtue, a haughty devotion to self-indulgence, and a malignant delight in elevating sin. The “ruling class,” such as it is, has worked to replace Americans’ obedience to God with an unholy dedication to “politically correct” pablum, idolatry, and worthless “wokeism.” In effect, American “elites” have demanded that the American people reject God and worship the atheists instead. The end result has been predictable: not only have Americans suffered through a drought of character, but also they have lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil. It should be no surprise, then, that evil has taken full advantage of this opportunity and now flourishes.

Shurk writes about the Marxist twisting of language to make their program seem somehow worthy, and to convince people that they should follow it. But this is nothing more than the evil that was presented to Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is lies mixed with a bit of truth to confuse the unwary. Marx and Marxists have been telling the same lie for generations now, that if you follow them, you will be free.  You can have what others have if you just take it.  But as William Penn noted "Those who will not be ruled by God will be ruled by tyrants." And that is the true purpose of all Marxists. And Marxism, strangely aligns with the goals of Muslims.

Muslims, it is said, distain American freedom. Actually, the Catholic Church does too. The problem is a lack of understanding of what "freedom" means to Americans. We are not free to do anything. To do so would be the sin of hedonism. What the revolutionaries fought for was freedom to do the right thing. But this entails understanding what the right thing is, which requires a thorough study of the Bible. We are intended to be God's images on Earth; to be His representatives. That is our purpose. How far we have fallen.

The Marxist proclivity to cause social friction by distorting language has given us a generation of adolescents incapable of determining whether they are girls or boys. Religious-like adoration of “diversity for diversity’s sake” has splintered cultural bonds and forfeited hard fought triumphs of Western civilization. Moral incisiveness — forged through a stubborn determination to do what is right — has worn down like a blunt blade, causing more harm than good. Strength of character — evidenced by those who refuse to blindly follow the crowd — has withered away.

American leaders have taught young generations to pursue physical pleasure without constraint, to blame others for what they do not have, and to take what is not theirs. They have taught the young generations to reject the virtuous as too judgmental and to embrace the sinful as worthy of emulation. They have taught the young generations to abandon hard work but to expect success as theirs by right. American leaders, in other words, have broken our country’s moral compass and left the youngest among us lost in a thicket of despair, devoid of real purpose, and with no direction to go.

Here, Shurk points to a way out of this mess, though it will be a long, difficult slog through nasty and brutish times. We have let Evil become too powerful. It is not clear that we can win. Fortunately, He has already won. It remains for us to show faith in that victory and press on.

Now, in the midst of all these dispiriting observations, allow me to suggest something counterintuitive: this moral confusion and weakness in America is precisely the time when good people must stand up. Americans have been poisoned with postmodern gobbledygook for so long that they are desperate for moral guidance. They are like travelers wandering the desert searching for a cup of water, and those of good character are equipped to offer them what they need for salvation. This is not the moment in history when all is lost; this is the moment in history when the lost are brought back into the fold.

Leaders — true leaders, not the ones who pick our pockets today — rise not in times of certainty, but in times of anguish. They stand with purpose — even while being pummeled with rocks from their enemies. Without regard for their own safety, they seek out those suffering in the darkness and say boldly, “Come with me. I have a light. I can show you the way.” If you are asking yourself what you can do to save your country, the answer is simple: stand and be recognized. Be bold, act boldly, and by doing so, embolden others. Courage, like light, burns brightest in darkness.

...snip...

Evil is real. It must be acknowledged and confronted without hesitation. Negotiation will not lead to evil’s surrender. Compromise will not confine evil to where it now exists. Wherever it is allowed to fester, evil grows until those beyond its reach today are under its thumb tomorrow. It is unrelenting, and so, too, then, must be those who choose to fight it.

You fight evil with a faith in God that yields to no government. You fight evil with moral conviction that cannot be bent to appease the offended. You fight evil by standing when others sit and by speaking when others fall quiet — because sometimes it is the outsider who inspires a righteous rebellion or the soft voice that can only be heard when others are silent.

Gentle readers are encouraged to read Shurk's article, and please crack the spine on your Bible as well. Also read any statements by your church body or denomination to see if it aligns with Biblical truth. If it doesn't, begin searching out one that does. But the first thing that has to be acknowledged is that Satan and his demons are very real, and what Christ said about them is true. If your heart is not filled by the Holy Spirit, it will be filled by Satan. Beware.