What happens when the Church is asleep

In a matter of a few short years, life in the West has changed, almost beyond recognition.  The traditional social and moral values undergirding our society up until the ‘60s have been ousted and replaced by a society where the need to be politically correct trumps Godliness and personal conviction.  For Christians, navigating is tricky, to say the least! 

Christian freedoms have come under threat in the West – a way of life it would have been hard to predict a generation ago - although the seeds were being sown quite openly.  In this article, we’ll briefly discuss three trends which have brought us to this situation.

Firstly, aggressive secularism.  It is this that seeks to drive the Christian worldview from the public space, and it is deeply embedded in our society.  For example, the National Curriculum now dictates what our children learn in school, and any suggestion that God is the sole creator, designer and sustainer of life on earth has been neatly eliminated.  Deviate from the national belief in a world that has evolved haphazardly, and Ofsted will soon put you right.  The media supports the evolution argument, feeding the unsuspecting public with the notion that science has proved Christians and the Bible wrong.

Why is there such resistance to any attempt to reduce the legal limit for abortion, or the abortion statistics generally?  Ultimately, it comes down to the same aggressive secular spirit at work in the West.  Women make their own decisions and what is expedient is acceptable.  Cut God out of the conversation, and a tiny baby is no more than a foetus that is either a potential person or a nuisance to get rid of.  In the secular world there is no room for a God-given conscience.

In the recent assisted dying debate, again human autonomy is promoted by the secularists.  There is no mention of human dignity because we’re made in God’s image. In the LGBT and same-sex marriage controversy, once again, the human autonomy card has been played; it’s up to us to decide what is right or wrong, with no reference to God’s immutable laws.

 As a result of aggressive secularism, some Christians have lost their jobs, and many more realise they could easily do so in days to come, simply for living out their faith in the workplace.  The god of secularism will not acknowledge a greater God, so Christians are naturally viewed with suspicion, and eventually their allegiance to Jesus Christ puts them and their jobs on the line.

Secondly, radical Islamism.  It is this that drives ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militant Islamic groups.  Whilst taking different forms and names, it has a unique and comprehensive ideology of its own, with little or nothing to do with the faith of everyday Muslims. 

Nevertheless, Tom Holland, the author and television presenter, has explored the centuries around the birth of Islam, and believes that the stories about the Prophet Muhammad, if taken at face value, are the inspiration driving hundreds of young Muslims into the arms of terrorist groups.  Moreover, for Muslims to claim that the IS’s ideology has nothing to do with Islam is ‘wishful thinking’; the militants’ theology has a strong basis in the Koran and early Islamic history.  (See Oliver Moody’s article in The Times, 29 September 2014.)

Islam is vehemently opposed to Christianity and seeks to destroy any semblance of Judaeo-Christian values from the face of the earth – nominal as well as heartfelt.  Hatred of Christians and Jews in particular, but not exclusively, from these Islamists accounts for much of the persecution in the world today.

The threat to the West is real.  As Cameron and Obama sanction troops to defend Iraq from the devastation ISIS is causing, they will quickly discover the extent to which radical Islam is already entrenched in their home soil.  What has been largely hidden, deliberately kept under cover, will soon rear its ugly head in retaliation and its fury will rip into the fabric of nations who, by being part of the ‘West’, are on the butt end of radical Islam’s uncompromising policies.

Thirdly, multiculturalism.  The West has become cosmopolitan since the mid 20^th century, but despite the many blessings it has come at a price.  National ambivalence and scepticism toward traditional Christianity following the devastation of two world wars opened the door for a myriad of faiths to be practised, with no clear voice from the institutional Church about how to relate to them.  Each isolated community worships its own gods, and the best the Church can offer, is to hold interfaith services, where the uniqueness of Jesus is peculiarly absent.  As Christianity has been demoted to just one religion amongst many, the message of the Cross seems out of sync with the rest.  Instead of a proclamation of Jesus’ triumphant victory over death and hell, and the joys of a new life bought by his blood and bringing reconciliation with our heavenly Father, God has been reduced to a benevolent, loving old man, who isn’t interested in sin and welcomes everyone regardless of their creed.

What a travesty!  Yet, perhaps the most concerning aspect, is that the Church has been asleep, and still is!  She is seemingly oblivious to the trends, and blind to the implications.  Even now, much of the Church is carrying on as if the very real threats will dissipate and life will resume just as it was before.  This little poem encapsulates the mood well:

They thought they were free… by David Skinner

First they came for the Christian B&B s but I don’t use B&Bs and so I didn’t speak up. 

Then they came for the Christian schools and teachers but I don’t have any children and so I didn’t speak up.

Then they came for Christian counsellors and therapists but I struggle with no inner heartaches and so I didn’t speak up.

Then they came for Christian lawyers but I am a law–abiding and righteous person, so I didn’t speak up.

Finally they came for me but I serve no use to anyone except to be cast out and trodden underfoot and so no one spoke up.  

(http://anglicanmainstream.org/they-thought-they-were-free/)

But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.  Jesus spoke about these days, and a comfortable life is not what he foretold.  He warned his disciples that a day would dawn when they would be hated by all nations because of him (Matthew 24:9). He also said that the love of many would grow cold. 

The spirit behind the aspects we’ve discussed will not relent while there are passionate disciples of Jesus on earth.  Perhaps the fourth line of attack is to encourage widespread apathy in the Church; then accomplishing the task of removing the presence of God from the earth would be easy to achieve.  There is no time to lose!  The Church must wake up and become the force to be reckoned with that the scriptures say she will be before Jesus’ return to rule and reign as King.  The Bride of Christ’s finest hour is yet to come.  So, let’s be awake and vigilant.  As Peter wrote:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-9).

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