There are a few shows on television that I find entertaining & a challenge to the mind. They usually feature detectives or their associates who have the uncanny ability to see the things hidden from most of us and thereby be able to solve the crime. Sometimes the extrapolations are a bit far-fetched, but after all, it is fiction meant to entertain, not science meant to prove. Literature is filled with such characters like Sherlock Holmes and Jessica Fletcher, and Hercules Poirot. The Patrick Jane in the Mentalist is a current day version of such fictional characters.

The ancient Greeks had a school of philosophers known as the Sophists, who took pride in their ability to prove impossible things. Some sophists even hired themselves out at public events, where audiences could watch spellbound as they proceeded to prove propositions that were obviously false. They were quite the tricksters of mental gymnastics.

Down through history there have always been “intellectuals” who have used their positions of power and their uncanny ability to argue “nonsense” while ignoring the reality of history in order to promote their own radical agenda.
This was never more true than what we saw in the 60’s and early 70’s with the huge counter-culture movement designed not just to end the Vietnam war, but to reshape America into a Socialist state.

The “true believers” in this movement turned a blind eye to what social communism did as it swept into the vacancy left by our departure, torturing and killing millions upon millions of people. We didn’t hear a word from our own news media as the socialists set up their brutal dictatorships of oppression backed by fear of what would happen to you if you didn’t co-operated. They weren’t very tolerant leaders.

Some of the “movers and shakers” behind the American counter culture did see what happened. Their eyes were opened as they realized what these communist regimes had done in the 20th century. Literally countless numbers of people were brutally killed. Racism and intolerance skyrocketed. Many of the counter culture who were honest, had “second thoughts” about their political views as they saw firsthand the end result of their “dream ideals” in Marxism. David Horowitz is one of the leaders of this movement.

But many of these extremists stayed the course. They realized that the power rested with those who controlled the institutions of learning and culture. They put together a long range plan of taking over the institutions of education. Under their leadership, the schools of higher learning would come to be filled with sociologists, art critics, psychologists, philosophers, “sexologists,” political scientists, and a host of other “experts” intent on converting Marxism from a strictly economic theory into a cultural reality in America.

These were the roots of the secular progressive movement in America today.
“Tolerance” was the by-word that they used in order to get their foot in the door, and to eventually take over. What we have discovered today is that their “tolerance” was a virtual one way street. They wanted tolerance for their agenda’s, but there was to be no tolerating of any opposing positions.

Today they have pretty much shut down the opposition. If you are a conservative in your values and morals, if you believe in the traditional strong beliefs of Scripture and in Jesus Christ you will not get the opportunity for your voice to be heard. This seems a little strange coming out of liberal institutions where “tolerance” and “freedom of speech” were championed as the sacred stones upon which they could build their “empire”. Today they will go to any lengths to shut up conservative Christians and to put evangelicals down.

The true believers of secular progressivism have won the cultural war and they don’t intend to give an inch of ground back. And now it is up to the “true believers” in Jesus Christ to take their stand. We have enjoyed the comfort of easy Christianity since the founding of our country. But now the table has been turned. There is increasing hostility toward those of us who disagree with the ongoing normalization of homosexual conduct and so-called “gay marriage.” In recent months we’ve seen people as varied as football players, TV stars, restaurant owners, wedding photographers, and others face fines, suspensions, and even the loss of their livelihoods for failing to celebrate the new sexual orthodoxy.

As followers of the Way the Truth and the Life, we are going to have to adapt to this change. At a recent prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, Professor Robert George, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said: “The days of acceptable Christianity are over … It’s no longer easy to be a faithful Christian … They threaten us with consequences if we refuse to call what is good, evil, and what is evil, good. They demand us to conform our thinking to their orthodoxy, or else say nothing at all.”

And what happens if we don’t go along? According to Robert George : “To be a witness to the Gospel today is to make oneself a marked man or woman. It is to expose oneself to scorn and reproach. … One may in consequence of one’s public witness, be discriminated against, denied education opportunities and the prestigious credentials they offer, one may lose valuable opportunities of employment or professional advancement.”

The persecution that has afflicted Christianity in two thirds of the world for centuries is now coming to America, a country founded on religious freedom.  Leave it to Satan to pull off a coup like this! I would say that they must be rejoicing in Hell, but then I remember, there is nothing but terror, weeping, gnashing of teeth in that realm of eternal flame and darkness.

Thanks to the rulers of this American world, “normal” has changed. The basic definition of culture is what a group of people have accepted as normal. The normal has changed in our culture and there is no hope in it.  Good is now called evil and evil is called good. Is there any chance of repentance, (turning around) for our culture? There is a chance, but it is slim indeed. For it requires Christians to begin to stand up, and speak out, not in condemnation, but in offering the Hope and Change from the True Messiah, Jesus the Christ. And this must be done in an encouraging, forgiving, humble and winsome way.

People who are enslaved to various forms of immorality and suffer different types of brokenness need to be able to come to the church and find answers. We must wage war by offering love with our words, our lives, and our actions. The church is a hospital for the “sin sick”. If this is ever going to happen, then we need to start training the Body of Christ in how to make our case in a positive way. We have kept silent too long. We must begin to speak out. As Mordechai told Queen Esther in chapter 4 of the book of Esther:
13    “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape
any more than all the Jews (the people of God).
14    “For if you remain silent at this time,
relief & deliverance will arise for the Jews (God’s People)
from another place
and you and your father’s house (America) will perish.
And who knows whether you have not attained royalty
for such a time as this?”
You and I live in this culture. You were born, ordained by God, for such a time as this. We must pick up this Cross and          follow our Lord, regardless of the consequences.
Veritas pro Christo et ecclesia, Pastor Mike