Every Nazi-occupied country of World War II had a resistance
— courageous patriots doing all they could to vex, subvert, cripple,
and eventually destroy the monstrous Nazi regime oppressing their
homeland.
The Allied forces working to liberate Western Europe from Nazi
occupation gained valuable assistance from each nation’s resistance.
The New Oppressors
The Western world today is, by and large, occupied by hostile forces
in many ways more monstrous than the Nazis. These forces, like
communism and National Socialism itself, are committed to a rapacious
secular humanism. They are incensed by any public expression of
Christianity, and they violently oppose it. The prime objective of their
elites is worldwide domination for the forces of anti-Christianity.
Early this June, for example, students at a public high school in
Mississippi held a fully legal and constitutional out-of-class meeting
in which they apparently experienced genuine, Christian revival. The
principal, a professed Christian, did not step in when the five-hour
revival spilled into class time. She was criticized and even vilified
by the secular liberal elite. No matter that, by all accounts, the
Christian revival radically changed the students’ behavior (as all
genuine revivals do). No matter that no non-Christian was forced to
participate in any of these activities or to listen to any Christian
speeches. No matter that this was an entirely voluntary meeting that
produced observably favorable results. No, the issue is not favorable
results: we must sacrifice favorable results, according to the secular
elite, in order to preserve our relentless hatred of historic
Christianity — or anything that smells like it.
The secular elite are not neutral when it comes to Christianity. It
is not neutrality they want in the public arena, but dominance for their
religion — secular humanism.
This secular humanism is the dominant religion of our culture, not
merely the schools. It pervades the arts, media, and technology,
business — and even many churches. Its goal is a radical
transformation of the inherited Christian civilization of the Middle
Ages and the Reformation to which colonial America and the early United
States were committed. It is nothing less than a full-scale revolution
designed to remake Western society in the image of secular, humanist
man. Sadly, the revolution to this point has dramatically succeeded.
We live in an almost thoroughly secular culture, devoid of almost all
Christian civilization.
Occupied Territory
We Christians must not delude ourselves. We live in occupied
territory. It is occupied by our enemy — secular humanism. We will
not turn back this highly successful onslaught by pious platitudes and
religiously motivated hand wringing. We must develop a new Christian
resistance, unwaveringly committed to restoring Christian civilization.
How do we do this?
Holy Boldness
First, we must recover the boldness of the early church, which
“turned the world upside down” for their King, Jesus Christ (Acts
17:6). In a secular culture where it is everywhere held that the only
religious convictions permissible are those between anybody’s two ears,
Christians are easily intimidated into silence in the face of flagrant
depravity. They are led to believe that if they stand on the
unconditional truth of the Bible, they are somehow dangerous people.
This notion is trumpeted most loudly, of course, by those who support
the butchering of unborn children, the homosexualization of our society,
and the revocation of our basic Christian and American freedoms. They
are emboldened, while Christians are intimidated, and they are
emboldened often precisely because Christians are intimidated.
The new Christian resistance must change this. We must not sit
passively by while unborn children are butchered, older children are
indoctrinated in anti-Christian propaganda funded by our tax dollars,
“churches” deny the core doctrines of the Bible, and country-club
politicians surrender our liberties. We must write, pray, preach,
teach, work, vote, telephone, and e-mail — we must employ every
legitimate peaceful measure to turn the tide of evil. A status quo
Christianity that lopes along hoping all will be well simply will not
suffice. It is high time that Christians say, “Enough! We will no
longer tolerate abortion, euthanasia, pornography, feminism, socialism,
gun control, tax-financed secular education, Hollywood sewage,
immorality, and so on.” Desperate times require desperate measures.
This requires an active, biblically radical resistance.
The Whole Bible
Second, we must return to the whole Word of God, the Bible. We must
not think that the Bible’s message can be reduced to the gospel. The
gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is a central theme of the
Bible; but it is not the only theme. The same Bible that says, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31), also
says, “Thou shalt not kill,” and “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:13
and 15). To say we are faithful to Jesus Christ if we preach only the
gospel and do not preach the Bible’s law is to deny Christ’s Word. The
blessed or happy nation is the nation whose God is the Lord (Psalms.
33:12), and no nation can own God as its Lord if it tramples upon His
Word, the Bible.
Christianity an Entire Life System
Third, we must recognize that Christianity is not a
Sunday-go-to-meetin’ religion, but an entire “life system,” or
worldview. The popular view which holds that all of our duties are
discharged to God when we have attended church on Sunday and experienced
a five-minute daily “quiet time” enjoys no approval from the Bible. The
Scriptures tell us, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever
ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We are called
to glorify God in all we do — this includes our family, education,
vocation, arts, technology, politics, and so on. To confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord while limiting His lordship to family and church is
to deny His Lordship
(Ephesians 1:20-22).
Christians must work to Christianize every area of thought and life.
This does not mean using the coercive power of the state to force people
to accept Christian beliefs. Using political coercion for religious
purposes is the tactic of secular liberals, not biblical Christians.
We believe men’s lives are reoriented by the gospel, not by the
state. In fact, the Christians’ objective in political involvement is
largely to reduce the size, scope, and power of the modern
Leviathan state so that individuals and families and churches can get on
with the business of their Christianity. Non-Christians should have the
same liberty. (Well-read statists know this, and this is why they so
strongly oppose the Christianization of society; it will grant greater
liberty and freedom, and this is anathema to their dreams of a secular,
Big Brother Utopia.)
Devotion to God
Finally, and no less importantly, we must rekindle our love for and
devotion to the Triune God. This is the first and great commandment
(Matthew 22:37-38). Ours is not fundamentally a political, or even a
cultural, agenda but a religious agenda with profoundly cultural and
political implications.
Christians must return to their knees and cry out to God for revival
and reformation, beginning in their own lives, families, and churches.
There must be a restoration of fervent, biblical, Spirit-anointed
preaching in our pulpits. There must be a revival of husbands’ and
fathers’ decisive, manly leadership in the family and in the church.
There must be a heightened dedication to training our children in the
Faith — and training them to assume positions of leadership in
tomorrow’s culture. When our territory is occupied by secular
humanists, halfway measures will not suffice.
Business as usual means more dramatic advances for secularism. It is
not time for the status quo; it is time for radical Christianity.
It is time for a new Christian resistance.
