(Originally written Dec. 2022)
How should we, as followers of Jesus Christ, engage our culture? There is no doubt such an engagement is critical. We, as a collective Church, have not been very good at going out, at reaching beyond our church walls into the communities where our churches reside. Yet, Jesus said to go.
But, how do we reach individuals inside their homes, how do we engage in the public square? I know there are some who have a voice, a platform from which they speak truth. Still, there are so many people who are not being reached, and there are so many believers who are not going out. So my question applies mainly to them, to myself.
Our culture seems similar to what Corinth must have been like in that Corinth was the center of philosophical thought. Paul determined not to engage in rhetoric over disputed concepts and ideologies. Instead, he relied on the power of God to show Himself as THE Truth so people’s faith rested on God and not on Paul.
Today, we have much to dispute but little of the power of God. But why? Why don’t we see the gifts of the Spirit operating in America today? God’s name is on the line in America and the Church has lost much ground. I feel like Hezekiah in his prayer when the Assyrians were coming against Jerusalem, “Pray for the remnant that is left.” he said, (Isaiah 37:4). For context, much of Israel had already been lost to Assyria and now they were coming against Judah, particularly Jerusalem.
The Old Testament records accounts of Kings and prophets calling on God to make himself real in the face of other nations blaspheming His character or his name, and He showed up in amazing ways. Will he do it again in our day? Will he show his power to our culture if we asked him to? Today, many in the scientific community and academia are saying God doesn’t exist. Believing in the existence of God is uneducated and simply foolish, they say. Will God just stand by while people seek to wipe away his existence? Perhaps he is waiting for someone to stand in the gap and ask God to hear the words of the atheists today like King Hezekiah did.
. . . This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
2 Kings 19:3-4
Post Script — Since this article was written, God has begun to move in sporadic areas of the U.S. Thousands have been saved and baptized, large crusades have taken place, and many have been experiencing God’s power. “Lord, continue!”