The World Hates Non-Conformity

The world is a society of rebels. It finds it hard to tolerate those who are in joyful fellowship with Christ. There is a sense in which believers are aliens. They do not belong. They are different, and the world hates the difference. … Says [William] Barclay, “To put it at its widest—the world always suspects nonconformity. It likes a pattern; it likes to be able to label a person and to put him in a pigeonhole. Anyone who does not conform to the pattern will certainly meet trouble. It is even said that if a hen with different markings is put among hens that are all alike, the others will peck her to death.”

David J. MacLeod, “Destroying Our Illusions: What the Bible Says About the World: A Meditation on John 12:31," The Emmaus Journal, Vol.5/No.1, pg.16-17

Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good:

Warning of Error.  Well worth reading.

A very good defense of an often-raised criticism of the Bible.

Excellent history lesson on the Reformation!

Be a watchman on the wall.

The Bad:

You have to read it to believe it.  When T.D. Jakes’ and Joel Osteen’s “ministries” are involved, it has to be bad.

I’ve been saying for a long time that Francis Chan is not a teacher/pastor anyone should be following.  The news now proves my warning to have been correct.

The Church of England spirals into apostasy.

Tim Keller’s church — need I say more?  Although I disagree with the article’s calling it “effeminate” because I think it’s just ballet, I still think it is inappropriate to have entertainment at a worship service.

Popular Christian music groups teaching heresy?  YES!  Excellent article exposing CCM for what it really is.

The Ugly:

An excellent example of the rank idolatry by the Roman Catholic Church and their worship — YES WORSHIP — of Mary.

“Practicing Christians” are too accepting of evil ideologies!  Real Christians should know better.

Patricia King is one of the worst false prophets/teachers out there, and this is an example of why she is to be avoided at all costs. She speaks nasty lies.

The deceit of the Seventh-day Adventists is getting more and more subtle, and they position themselves as great humanitarians.  Their false gospel continues to take more and more people into bondage.

Do You Feel Moral Indignation?

Is not one of the greatest tragedies in the world at this hour the failure to feel moral indignation and wrath because of things that are happening?  Is not there a fatal tendency to be complacent  and to explain everything away, and to remain indifferent?  Even though we hear people “on the air” and on public platforms deliberately teaching “Evil, be thou my good,” still there seems to be no protest.  We seem to have lost the capacity to be roused morally by a sense of indignation.  This is, to me, one of the major problems in the world today.  There has been a steady decline in morals, not only in behavior but in outlook and reaction.  We merely shrug our shoulders and allow sin to go unrebuked.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg. 230

As a Man Thinks, So He Is

We have got an adage which reminds us that “As a man thinks, so he is.”  It is absolutely true, although we often tend to forget it.  Everybody today who is alive and doing this or that is proclaiming exactly what he or she thinks!  Everybody is a philosopher, everybody has got a philosophy of life, and we show what our philosophy of life is by the way in which we live.  Our actions always correspond to what we think and what we believe.  Therefore, if people are living a superficial, bubble kind of existence, they do so because that is the sort of mind they have.  It is their failure to think that causes them to live a superficial kind of life.  And this leads me to say that the problem of immorality or vice or crime can never be tackled directly.  Conduct is the result of the point of view, so you can never deal with conduct directly.  To try to do so is the fatal blunder of every non-Christian system.  And we are seeing the failure on all hands.  Men refuse to recognise the fundamental principle that as a man thinks, so he is.  Therefore, it is of no use trying to control his behaviour if his thinking is wrong.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Darkness and Light: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17,” pg.383

Looking Upward

The reason why the men of the world think so little of Christ is that they do not look at Him; their backs being turned to the sun, they can see only their own shadows, and are therefore wholly taken up with themselves; while the true disciple, looking only upward, sees nothing but his Saviour and learns to forget himself.

Edward Payson, cited by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: An Exposition of Ephesians 3, p.244

Church Personality Disorder?

It there were such a thing as "corporate" multiple personality disorder, it would seem the Church has one.  Out of one side of the Church's mouth, the Church says man is a sinner.  Out of the other side of the Church's mouth, man is said to be sick.  Is it possible to deny the doctrine of sin by calling sin sickness and still be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Sermons, Bible study literature, and books by beloved Christian authors are filled with euphemisms for sin.  A fornicator may be called to repentance, but if he is sick then he is no sinner.  Instead, he is an addict.

David Tyler & Kurt Grady, Deceptive Diagnosis: When Sin is Called Sickness, p.13

Mankind in Sin

“[T]he man who is not a Christian is a man who is simply governed and controlled by the world, its mind, its outlook, its mentality.  I know of nothing which is more sad about man in sin than just that.  You see it in all your newspapers.  Is it not sad to see the way people are governed entirely by what other people think and say and do?  They are sorry for those of us who are Christian.  They say, ‘Fancy shutting themselves down to that one Book, those narrow miserable Christians!’  So speaks the so-called broad-minded man of the world.  How subtle the devil is to persuade people of that!  For their little life is entirely controlled by the organization of the world.  They think as the world thinks.  They take their opinions ready-made from their favorite newspaper.  Their very appearance is controlled by the world and its changing fashions.  They all conform; it must be done; they dare not disobey; they are afraid of the consequences.  That is tyranny, that is absolute control — clothing, hair style, everything, absolutely controlled.  The mind of the world!  There is no time to elaborate on the subtle, almost devilish influence that is displayed often in its fashions — sex rampant.  This is a sex-ridden age.  It comes out everywhere — photographs and pictures and placards suggesting it.  Most lives are controlled by it and governed by it, all their opinions, their language the way they spend their money, what they desire, where they go, where they spend their holidays; it is all controlled, governed completely.  Surely all this was never more evident in the world than it is today.  When people talk so glibly about their emancipation they are giving a very clear proof of the fact that they are governed and dominated and controlled by this world, the mind of the world, the age of propaganda, the age of advertising, the mass mind, the mass man, the mass individual, without knowing it.  Is it not tragic?  But that is man in sin.  He is spiritually dead, because he is controlled by this mind of the world.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2, p.21-22

Outside the Life of God

The way of the world, with all its changes, its constant changes, is a proclamation of the fact that those who follow it are profoundly miserable.  That is why they have to go on changing.  They get tired of everything, they must always be seeking after something new.  They are always looking for thrills and they run after them.  Why?  Because it is intolerable to them to spend a few hours with themselves.  They find their own company so miserable that they spend their lives in running away from themselves.  That is the measure of the misery of a life of sin: no resources and no reserves, because they are outside the life of God.


D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2, p.20

Christian Sentimentalism

...[A] work of art may be solidly biblical in content, yet have little or no artistic merit.  Christians should not allow themselves to develop sloppy aesthetic judgment by accepting low-quality religious kitsch just because they agree with the message.  When I was growing up, the typical religious art exhibited a saccharine Victorian sentimentalism.

What makes this sentimentalized art and music so insipid? It equates Christianity with sugar and spice and everything nice.  The poet Paul Claudel pilloried the sweet-and-light style by asking, "If the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?  With sugar!"

When generations of children are nourished on these sugary images, they lose a sense of Jesus' true character.  In the words of Dorothy Sayers, "We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah," turning Jesus "into a household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies."  Yet in the first century, this so-called "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" was so adamant and inflammatory "that He was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbeted as a firebrand and public danger."  How will the church portray that Jesus in its art?

Today's parallel to Victorianism would include praise music that mirrors the vapid emotionalism and egocentrism of pop culture.  I once visited a church where I was startled to hear the congregation sing lines like "You are my all desire," and "I want to feel the warmth of your embrace."  The lyrics made no mention of God or Jesus.  No reference to salvation or justification or any other theological theme.  Nothing to suggest that the song was anything but a love song to someone's girlfriend.  The lyrics were such an extreme example of the Jesus-is-my-girlfriend genre that I wondered how any man could sing it with a straight face -- though as I looked around the room, I saw several men with their eyes closed, arms raised.

Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, & Meaning, p.270-271.

Random Apostasies and Heresies

The election last week has disappointed most true Christians, because even though most of us really wanted someone better than Mitt Romney for our candidate, just about anyone would be better for the Judeo-Christian worldview than Barak Obama.  

But I think Christians have a lot to answer for, because for the most part the Church as a whole has accepted and adopted the world's ways and is no longer the light exposing the darkness.  The Church allows so much aberrational, heretical and other false teaching to go unexposed for fear of "causing division" that a large percentage of Christians have no idea what the Faith really teaches, or the worldview it expects of them.  And so they follow every wind of doctrine and play marbles with the World, then wonder why the world is going amok.  Remember that unbiblical doctrine leads to unbiblical worldview.  Living and supporting an unbiblical worldview will eventually lead to a loss of our religious freedoms.  So think about that the next time you are unhappy with apologists exposing the wolves among the sheep!

I found another interesting review of Rachel Held Evan’s book, “A Year of Biblical Womanhood.”  Apparently, real Christian women are not happy with the fraudulent version Evans’ book projects.

Christine Caine, Beth Moore and Lisa Bevere have taken their aberrant and unbiblical teachings over to Greece.  “Do Not Be Surprised...” has a good report on this bad news.

Arch-heretic Joel Osteen makes so many people feel good while going to Hell that he just keeps writing more and more useless books.  Tim Challies had a good article about how Osteen’s ilk lead people to Hell as they keep on smiling and being “nice.”

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has always been a strong bastion of the Word of Faith heresy, and it has always dismayed me to see some solid teachers appearing on that station giving credence to it.  With scandals currently going on at TBN, there are questions as to whether real teachers should pull out.  I want to know why they compromised in the first place!

Apprising Ministries posted “The New Evangelical Christian Creed.”  While it is somewhat amusing to read - knowing how factual it actually is among some people - it is also a shame that such beliefs actually exist!

If you want to see just how bad some of the Word of Faith teachers can get, you really need to see this article about Paula White.  She is truly blaspheming God by claiming she hears from Him.

To end on a lighter note, I direct you to Mormon Coffee for an amusing interview between Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ at the final judgement.

Christian Liberty and Entertainment

Principles For Living God’s Glory

1.  The Edification Principle: Will this activity produce spiritual benefits?

In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul explained that “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”... So based on this verse, believers should ask themselves, “Will doing this activity enhance my spiritual life and the spiritual lives of others?  Will it cultivate godliness in me and in them?  WIll it build us up spiritually?”  If not, then is it really a wise choice?

2.  The Enslavement Principle:  Will this activity lead to spiritual bondage?

...Don’t allow yourself to become addicted or enslaved to that which is sinful or even just potentially destructive.  If what you are considering can be habit-forming, why pursue it?  Don’t allow yourself to be in bondage to anything or anyone.  You are a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone.

3.  The Exposure Principle:  Will this activity expose my mind or body to defilement?

Speaking specifically of sexual immorality, Paul commanded the Corinthians to avoid anything that might defile them.  “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Elsewhere, he told the Ephesians to reprove and avoid the sensual deeds that characterize the wicked, “for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:12).  Instead, believers are to dwell on those things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy, and of good repute (Philippians 4:8).  So ask yourself if the decision you are about to make will expose you to the sinful, lewd, and debauched elements of fallen society.  If it will, then stay away from it. ... Thus, anything that defiles your body or pollutes your mind ought to be avoided.

4.  The Esteem Principle:  Will this activity benefit others, or cause them to stumble?

[1 Corinthians 8:8-9, 12-13; Philippians 2:1-5]

... If you know that your choice - what you consider “in bounds” and approved by God - will cause another Christian to stumble and sin, love that brother or sister enough to restrict your own freedom.  That is not very popular in our self-absorbed society, but it is biblical.

5.  The Evangelism Principle:  Will this activity further the cause of the gospel?

... Christians should always consider how their actions will affect their witness to a watching world. ... Whether or not you are aware of it, what you allow or disallow in your behavior affects your witness for Christ.  It is an issue of testimony - what your life says about God - to the friends, relatives, coworkers, neighbors, or even strangers who might be watching you.  Your testimony either tells the truth about God, or it tells a lie.  The choices you make in the gray areas should reflect your concern not to bring offense to God’s reputation but to bring Him praise instead.

6.  The Ethics Principle:  Will this activity violate my conscience?

... “He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).  We sin if we act in any way that goes contrary to the convictions of our own faith and good conscience. ... Never train yourself to violate your conscience.  If your conscience is troubled by what you are thinking about doing, don’t do it.  If you are not sure about it, don’t do it.  It is hard to overstate the value of a clear conscience, and it is definitely worth keeping your conscience clear so that your relationship with God will not be hindered. (cf. Psalm 66:18).

7.  The Exaltation Principle: Will this activity bring glory to God?

The summary and goal of the aforementioned six principles is found in this one.  Paul declared, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). ... Our heart’s cry is to glorify our Lord and Savior with our lives.  So when it comes to the gray areas, think about your decision.  Will God be glorified, praised, and exalted?  We genuinely honor Him when we make choices that are consistent with the principles found in His Word.  On the flip side, when we make foolish and sinful choices, our actions dishonor Him.  If an activity will glorify God, then do it.  It if won’t, or if it is questionable, then do something else.

A Few More Thoughts About the World of Entertainment.

The Seven principles we’ve examined can apply to every gray area in life, including those related to entertainment, amusement, and leisure.  At the same time, however, there are some additional principles that are specifically helpful in considering how we choose to be entertained.  ...

The Lordship of Christ Demands Good Stewardship

...[A]sk yourself how much real benefit you receive by watching television and movies or playing video games, and how that compares to the time you spend in spiritual pursuits.  How much money do you spend on temporal amusements, and how does that relate to your eternal investments?  How hard do you labor not to advance your own agenda but to further the work of Christ’s kingdom?  These are heart questions every believer needs to ask.  As stewards of the King (Matthew 25:14-30), we have been called to so much more than our own entertainment.

The Lordship of Christ Denounces Impurity and Worldliness

Ephesians 5:3-4 has excellent words in this regard: “Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”  Those two verses alone rule out much of what passes as entertainment in our world today - sexual immorality and impurity, dirty jokes and silly talk, and anything that promotes greed or undermines the giving of thanks.  That list is a pretty good summary of what is wrong with much of contemporary American media.

Movies, for example, are usually rated according to language, violence, sexual content, and thematic elements.  Many of them are not just non-Christian, they are anti-Christian. I don’t mean that they openly attack the Christian faith [often they do, though].  But at least in some cases they might as well.  They employ filthy language and lewd humor...; they glorify violence rather than peace...; they glamorize lust and immorality rather than holiness...; they instill feelings of discontentment and desire rather than thankfulness...; and they promote worldviews that are antithetical to biblical Christianity....  Does this mean a Christian should never watch movies?  Not necessarily.  But we must be discriminating about the things we allow in our minds.  We are called to renew our minds.... When we continually fill our minds with the filth of this world, we do ourselves a great spiritual disservice.

The Lordship of Christ Determines Right Priorities

Our media-driven culture has redefined the pursuit of happiness.  The American Dream - which used to consist of a loving family, a nice house, a white picket fence - now includes instant fame, endless riches, easy romance, and the blank-check promise that anyone can achieve his or her dreams.  Reality television and the rise of the Internet are perhaps somewhat to blame for this phenomenon.  But ultimately the problem lies in the human heart.

We were created to long for satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy, and those desires are good in and of themselves.  But our fallen world tries to meet those desires with money, romance, fame, and other earthly pleasures.  Yet temporal things can never bring lasting satisfaction to a heart that was created to find its ultimate joy in God. ...

Christians should not allow entertainment to define their understanding of happiness, romance, modesty, masculinity, success, fulfillment, justice, or anything else.  The Word and the Spirit should shape our worldview, not Hollywood.  Sadly, however, many Christians today are more affected by the movies they watch than the sermons they hear.  They show more enthusiasm for video games or television sporting events than they do for pursuing Christlikeness.  They fill their minds with the sounds of talk radio or perhaps the latest hit albums rather than letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within them.  Deep down, they enjoy exploring the pleasures of the world - even if only vicariously - as they watch actors play out scenes in which sinful pursuits are seemingly rewarded with happiness.  The irony, of course, is than in real life those same actors are just as miserable as everyone else, a sobering reality that keeps supermarket tabloids in business.

Our priorities, passions, plans, and pursuits must be grounded in our love for Jesus Christ.  Only in Him can we find true satisfaction....

The Lordship of Christ Defines a Proper Perspective

Right priorities and godly passions stem out of a proper perspective - a heavenly mind-set that understands eternal realities and interprets this life accordingly.  If this world were all there was, we would be wise to amass treasure and search for happiness in the here and now.  But that is not reality.  This world is not all there is.

Reality, as revealed by the truth of Scripture, encompasses much more than the temporal pleasures, priorities, and pursuits of this world.  God is real; His Word is real; heaven and hell are real; the gospel is real; Jesus is real; His death, resurrection, and ascension are all real, as is the fact that He will soon be coming back.  The brevity of this life is real; the certainty of death is real; the promise of future reward is real; and the threat of eternal destruction is also real.  In contrast, the world of entertainment is not real.  In fact, most entertainment is about escaping from reality, not portraying it accurately.

As Christians, our worldview must be grounded in reality, not in the imaginary worlds of Hollywood.  People can deny reality, and the can distract themselves with fantasy, but they cannot change the fact that one day they will stand before God (Hebrews 9:27).  At that moment, the riches, pleasures, and accomplishments of this world will be of no use to them.

John MacArthur, Right Thinking In A World Gone Wrong, pp. 18-27

Orthodoxy Leads to Orthopraxy

Claiming that Scripture is true and complete should preclude evangelicals from turning to other sources for establishing thought and life.  Yet many do just that.  In cosmology, for example, a straightforward reading of Genesis 1-2 is often dismissed on the basis of modern evolutionary theories.  In apologetics, philosophy and human reason frequently take precedence over Scripture.  And in church growth, demographic surveys, marketing techniques, and a man-centered theology with a watered-down gospel override clear biblical truth.

To this list, the subject of morality and ethics must be added.  Instead of looking to the Bible, many professing Christians look to psychology and sociology for supposed solutions to personal needs and social ills.  The rise of postmodern thought has similarly skewed the church’s understanding of right and wrong - as an unbiblical tolerance (in the name of love) has weakened churches to the point where they are as soft on truth as they are on sin.  Popular television shows, from Oprah to The Tonight Show to the average sitcom, have had a tangible effect (and not for the better) on how American Christians think through everyday issues.  The political arena, too, has played a major role in shaping an evangelical understanding of morality, as words such as Republican and Democrat or liberal and conservative have come to redefine the difference between what is good and what is evil.

The fact is the far too many professing Christians live their lives, day in and day out, on the basis of something other than the Bible.  As a result, their priorities reflect the world’s priorities, not God’s.  Their patterns of behavior and their plans for future differ only slightly from those of their unsaved friends and neighbors.  Their expenditures reveal that their perspective is temporal, and that they are vainly pursuing the elusive American Dream.  Their shortcomings, when they admit them, receive the same fault-free labels that the world ascribes (“mistakes” or “diseases” or “addictions” rather than “sins”), as they search for answers in psychology, medication, or the self-help section of the bookstore. Though they adhere to an external form of traditional Christian moralism, there isn’t anything particularly biblical or Christ-centered about how they live.

Yet it is in the lives of sinners who have been transformed by the gospel of grace that a distinctly Christian ethic must be fleshed out.  True Christianity is not defined on the basis of external moralism, religious traditionalism, or partisan politics, but on the basis of a personal love for Jesus Christ and a desire to follow Him no matter what the cost (John 14:15).  It is only because believers have been transformed on the inside (through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit) that they are able to exhibit godliness in their behavior.  And the world cannot help but take notice.  As Jesus told His hearers in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16; df. 1 Peter 2:12).

The Heart of the Christian Ethic

The heart of the Christian ethic, of course, is the gospel.  Only those who have been transformed from within (Titus 3:5-8), being indwelt by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:13-14), are able to exhibit genuine holiness (Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Peter 1:16).  Biblical Christianity is not primarily concerned with external behavior modification (cf. Matthew 5-7), but with a change of heart that subsequently manifests itself in a changed life (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

A true Christian ethic, then, is not possible without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.  Unless the inner man is washed first, external morality and religious observances are only a superficial facade.  Jesus rebuked the hypocrites of His day with these words: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).  Christ was not saying that behavior is unimportant.  But rather that from God’s perspective, the heart is what matters most (cf.1 Samuel 16:7; Mark 12:30-31).

Of course, a heart that has been truly transformed by God will respond in love to His Son, Jesus Christ (cf. John 8:42).  And those who love Jesus Christ will eagerly desire to follow and obey His commands (John 14:15), as found in His Word (cf. Colossians 3:16).  A truly Christian ethic, then, eagerly affirms and applies the moral instructions found in the Bible.  But it does not do so in an attempt to legalistically earn salvation (Isaiah 64:6).  Rather, having received salvation as the free gift of God through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), it readily obeys out of a heart of love (Ephesians 2:10).

If Christians are to live in keeping with who they are as children of God, they must live according to the Word of God through the power of His Spirit.  No other source of wisdom or moral insight will do.  By definition, they are people of the Book - and not just on Sundays, but every day of the week (cf. Isaiah 66:2).

....

Critics and skeptics (and sometimes even professing Christians) may claim that the Bible is not sophisticated enough for modern times.  Such claims only expose their own foolishness.  The Bible is absolutely pure, flawless, and error-free.  There is no need to update, edit, or refine it.  It is perfect.  When I was in college I learned about philosophy.  Almost every philosophy I studied was already long dead.  I also had to learn about psychology.  Almost every form of psychotherapy I read about back then is now obsolete and has been replaced by new theories or techniques.  But there’s one thing that never changes, and that is the eternal Word of God.  It is always relevant.

John MacArthur, Right Thinking In A World Gone Wrong, pp. 7-9, 12.

Train Up A Church In the Way It Should Go

I borrowed today’s title from a section of the introduction to Brannon Howse’s new book, Grave Influence. I just started this book last night and only finished the introduction, but Brannon had some profound thoughts which I want to share here with you. His introduction mentions much of what I have been observing and complaining about for years. Now listen to Brannon:

The church in America has had billions of dollars at its disposal in modern times. In theory, this money has been available to fulfill the Great Commission - making disciples of Jesus Christ. Training and equipping adults and students in apologetics and a Biblical worldview is how this is accomplished. Yet, with all of its monetary resources, the Church has largely failed. Untold billions have been spent on buildings and entertainment rather than establishing Christians in the faith.

... Most churches do not care to do this work of creating followers of Jesus Christ. They are too concerned about maintaining and growing a club complete with social activities, entertaining programs, and multi-million dollar buildings.

You may think I’m being too harsh, but in fact, I’m being reserved in my criticism. Yes, some churches are led by godly pastors. But from what I’ve seen of the congregations in America, these faithful churches represent merely a remnant.

How hard is it to train adults and youth pastors to teach apologetics and a Biblical Worldview? Not that hard. You simply have to want to train a church staff, Sunday School teachers, parents, and grandparents to do it. The typical evangelical church prefers, rather, to simply provide people with employment, to make those who show up on Sunday morning feel comfortable, and to provide activities for the kids so they stay out of trouble. Most evangelical churches do not have a comprehensive Biblical worldview curriculum for kindergarten through adult. There are no benchmarks, no tests, no building one year of training on the previous year. There is no interest in teaching “line upon line and precept upon precept.”

And herein lies one of our greatest areas of surrender. The Church may not be interested in instructing our kids, but many others “out there” salivate over the opportunity. Humanist and educator Charles Francis Potter, in his book, Humanism: A New Religion, understood the prospects for equipping students to know what they believe and why they believe it:

Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism [atheism], and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday Schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?

“Ah,” you say, “but what about those students that attend a Christian school?” Numerous studies reveal that Christian school students have a worldview almost identical to those in the public school system. Why? Because the average private, Christian school in America is far more “private” than it is “Christian.” While there are a few Biblical worldview Christian schools, there aren’t many, and it is for essentially the same reason that we don’t have many solid Bible-teaching churches. Their goal is not Christian education, the leadership often lacks a comprehensive Biblical worldview, and the focus is more about how many people attend, whether or not the bills get paid, and how popular it is in the community. Christian schools put more effort into their sports programs than into their Bible curriculum. I attended a Christian school growing up and have spoken in enough of them to have seen this problem firsthand, over and over again.

Brannon, I whole-heartedly agree with everything you said! I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.