really needs a historical review. I don’t know if I would take that research on. It’s not difficult to see that our world, social and otherwise has changed. Some for the better, some not so much. The not so much, cost of living has gone up, but so have wages, although they do not keep up with each other. We are less patient, less tolerant, less optimistic, less free. There are more cars on the road and more aggressive drivers. Americans are more cynical, critical, sarcastic, and pessimistic about the future. And those are just people in my circle and comments I read on my social media. Nextdoor is crazy! There is no doubt everyone knows someone that has one or more of these traits.

Why are we less free? Well, we are more fearful. I live in Texas. Just about everyone carries. I figure if folks feel a need to pack a weapon of any kind they must anticipate or expect danger. That’s the world we live in. That’s bondage to fear.

During the COVID months, I found it difficult to understand the fear evangelicals had with persecution. There was no threat. The fear, for what they did not understand, drove them to the arms of conspiracy theorists. They feared those things which Jesus told us to expect. They fear worldly influences will seduce their children to the dark side. They teach their children to fear. The Scriptures are many – many -that speak to our journey in Christ. What to expect. What not to fall for and on and on.

• “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
• “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2
• “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” – James 4:4 (Our American identity and our identity if Christ are in conflict.)
• “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10 (Every person that enters politics must win the approval of fellow human beings -if they are to be elected.)
• “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
• “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Luke 6:31 (So, if you bully, you can expect to be bullied.)
• “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” – James 1:2-4
• “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” – 1 Peter 5:10

I am not surprised by the pastors standing firm on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These days defining the true gospel even seems impossible. But it really isn’t. Under the current administration our social world has been dramatically flipped. When laws once divided Americans by skin color, life was significantly harder for those with darker skin. Even after all the laws changed for the better, for people of color, many Americans held on to their prejudices and stereotypes, keeping people of color out of their orbit. So, white Americans created their own communities. And still the laws continued to change. People of color, for the most part, remain marginalized, but who would acknowledge it?

Clearly, the cost of intolerance was more and is more than some folks were willing to pay. And the church rather than being the instrument of change, peace, and forgiveness, grace, well – we know how that went. Being tolerant of differences – had nothing to do with accepting sinful behaviors as the norm. Yet, taking that route, for many evangelicals some sinful behaviors became more normalized, more forgiving, than others. They took sin and put it on a gradation scale. Not God. He has not changed. Sin is sin. The scripture says, everyone who sins is a slave to sin, does it not? It does not matter what the sin is, big or little, subtle, or obvious. Most of us may have one or more sins we do not give much consideration to. No Christian can deny that truth.

We were born into our circumstances.

We all had to undergo socialization into our various communities, for the good or the bad. Our social world can only decline as it transforms into whatever it will be next. History has shown us how this plays out. It’s like cleaning out a closet. You have to take everything out to clean and organize it. It gets messy.

The Jim Crow era was intact in the United States from the late 1800’s until century, around the mid-1960s. Here is where racial segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans thrived. White Americans were in their element and they loved it. Then came the Civil Rights Movement and our world slowly came out of the color divide. It still had, has a long way to go. The last few years we have regressed.

Encouragement is found in the Scriptures.

Through all this mess our social has experienced (Even though I know God is at work here and there are multiple factors involved, today’s evangelicals created this mess, because of their lust for power and control over a people they judge. Like Jonah did. This is a picture of the children of God turning away from God.) I have learned the need for spiritual discernment. This world is what it is. It is not my home. I do not expect the world to change for me, or my faith. The world cannot change if the hearts of man are not changed. Scripture says the heart is continually only evil (Genesis 6:5). But though we may have an evil heart, we do good. I would pray to the Lord to save me and mine from the evil influences, from the evil one who walks about looking for whom he may devour, from Karen, and the hooded and masked of this world. But, as the three Hebrew children proclaimed, even if God chose not to save us, I would not turn away from Him, and I would not cave to the gods of this world. Do I want God to save me? Yes. But persecution is not a possibility for those that believe. It is a biblical reality. We will face persecution. Read the Scriptures. It’s in there. When? Well, the Scriptures only provide signs to watch for.

Let’s get scripturally real here. No earthly law, or biblical law, no earthly leader is going to change the heart of man. “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).” It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change the heart of men. God does not reside in temples made by human hands. The apostle, Paul wrote, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is edifying (1 Corinthians 10:23)” We have freedoms in Christ. We have freedom in this country. But our American freedom, that which we cherish and protect, with the lives of our loved ones, does not give us permission to do, say, or act any which way we want. I recall a saying. I have not heard it for decades. “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.” Freedom of speech, basic. Well, neither does our freedom in Christ allow us the freedom to sin at will.

The church is infested with false teachers and doctrines of demons, and the traditions of men that sound genuinely biblical. That is nothing new. It sounds cool too. It is what itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). And church folk eat it up like manna from heaven. The Scriptures tell us to expect as much. So, all this, is every man doing what is right in his own eyes. He holds himself accountable to no one, not even God. This is typical behavior for the children of Israel. Can we expect anything good from them? Nope. God will deal with them as He always has.

So, I pray. I trust God to work things out for our good, according to His will. I read the Scriptures. I am not turned away from the church, the body of Christ, nor does it shake my faith in God. Locally, and out there, many Christian leaders I once saw as godly, have lost all integrity in my eyes. It’s like Joshua 9. They spew religious – political verbiage, they do it in the public square, and deny God His glory.

This fallen world is full of false gods, idolatry and all sorts of lusts, pride, arrogance, and hate. The end game, to lead God’s people away from Him. And it is working.

If I believed that being anti-abortion, pro-life, anti-LGBT, anti-left, or a republican, if I believed holding any of these labels made me righteous, or holy, I would be deceived. If I thought wearing these labels were a straight shot to heaven, I would be deceived. These worldly labels only make me politically minded. If I was commanded to deny Christ and live, I would be persecuted and possibly put to death. I expect that would come to pass. When? Your guess is as good as mine. I keep my eyes on the Lord.

Jonah did not want God to save Ninevah. He knew God was a forgiving God. He wanted God to destroy a people that had destroyed much of his world. So, does the evangelical not want God to forgive certain people? The evangelical church made its bed when it mingled with the world.

Scripture says “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls (Luke 11:17).”

God will judge our deeds. The God of the heavens likely laughs at the futility of men trying to do what it feels they have to do to feel good about themselves. May God have mercy on our souls.

Be blessed.