Organized oblivion

Among the first actions the new communist regime took in Russia in the
winter of 1917, was to begin dismantling the Russian Orthodox Church.
Its priests were killed or imprisoned, its buildings razed or
appropriated for secular purposes. Why? The new government wanted no
moral opposition to its agenda.

Recent events in America seem to indicate the Communists wasted their
time and effort. The most momentous moral decision in human history has
just been handed down by George W. Bush – and American churches seem
oblivious. The only shred of moral guidance came from the Catholic
hierarchy in the form of statements for the press. These were
treated – not unsurprisingly – with somewhat less moral authority than pleas
by Michael J. Fox, a disease-stricken actor advocating such research for
his own personal benefit.

Is there anyone, anywhere, reading this column, who heard a sermon in
their local church on fetal stem-cell research and human cloning? Is
there one pastor or priest anywhere in the Western world who even
attempted to educate his congregation or parish on the science and the
issues involved? Please send me the sermon! I’d like to post it on my website.

Of the $203 billion in charitable giving in America, some $74 billion
flowed into church coffers, according to recent figures from the
American Association of Fundraising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy. Few
churches would openly dispute that this was God’s money – yet what did it
pay for? On what did the Church – as God’s visible representative here on
earth – spend His money?

Many of today’s churches seem
more concerned with how we can “all just get along” than with boldy preaching righteousness. And as much as we
may decry his personal lifestyle, Rev. Martin Luther King held the Bible
up in America’s face and preached that racial inequality was wrong! He
stood for what he held that God believed and he not only educated, but
changed America.

John Adams, our second president, wrote in Novanglus, a history of
events leading up to the Revolution, “It is the duty of the clergy to
accommodate their discourse to the times, to preach against such sins as
are most prevalent, and recommend such virtues as are most wanted.” And
in June of 1776 he wrote in a letter, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan
and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which
can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”

Two years later Adams wrote in his journal, “In vain are Schools, Academies,
and Universities instituted, if loose Principles and licentious habits
are impressed upon Children in their earliest years. … The Vices and
Examples of the Parents cannot be concealed from the Children.”

Indeed.
Thirty-five years later, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Adams wrote,
“Have you ever found in history, one single example of a Nation
thoroughly corrupted that was afterwards restored to virtue? … And
without virtue, there can be no political liberty. … Will you tell me
how to prevent riches from becoming the effects of temperance and
industry? Will you tell me how to prevent luxury from producing
effeminacy, intoxication, extravagance, vice and folly?” Adams was
succeeded by Jefferson, our third President, and although there were
bitter political squabbles, they grew with age to be the dearest of
friends. Both died on July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day after
signing the Declaration of Independence.

Today America’s children are drowning in a sea of moral degeneracy,
political corruption and expediency, ethical nihilism, and sensual
overload that is enslaving their bodies, minds and spirits. Much of it
is found daily in their own homes. Parents are working two jobs to pay
for new Nikes, and their school is mainly concerned with whether they’re
homosexual, heterosexual, wear a condom and can get an abortion behind
their parent’s back – when they’re not drugging them with Ritalin.

Where is the Church?

No other institution has the ability to restore America’s future – because no other institution has the moral authority to attack America’s fatal
malaise of consumptive degeneracy. None. Is the Church’s moral authority
weakened? You bet it is: Silence and acquiescence in the face of evil
will do that! But do you know what? People today still crave even a
diminished Church’s moral blessing on their postmodern lives. What do
you think the drive for homosexual “marriage” is all about, if not
acceptance? What’s pushing the movement toward homosexual pastors in
churches? People who want the Church’s blessing on a lifestyle they know
in their hearts that God condemns. Legislative legitimacy is not enough!
And as the world watches the Christian Church abandon God’s laws for
worldly acceptance, its moral authority is further diminished. When
people see the Church’s principles for sale on the same shelf where
government, industry and personal integrity are sold or traded, moral
authority vanishes.

Those outside the church frequently cite hypocrisy as the reason they
don’t participate. God gives them that authority to judge us within,
when we fail to do what He says. Just as in our own lives, individual
church budgets reveal our true priorities: salaries, buildings, bank
loans and membership programs. Foreign missions are a distant line
item – and ministry to the community outside our door is non-existent in
most churches. And we wonder why strangers rarely darken our door? Like
the priestly class of Jesus’ time, we’ve become an exclusive club for
those “in the know.” We can rise up en masse when our financial interest
is threatened – but we can’t be bothered with mere moral and ethical
dilemmas, upon which, we assure ourselves, “honest people can disagree.”
And disagree they can – provided they are willing to ignore what God has
said about the matter. No, moral and ethical dilemmas the Church today
leaves to Hollywood celebrities, government funded researchers, and
biotechnology conglomerates that just might yet grant us eternal life – at the price of our soul.

In the Old Testament, God gave the prophet Ezekiel a guided tour of
Israel’s secret sin, perpetrated by its secular and religious
leadership, whose abominations culminated in the temple itself, where
God’s Spirit dwelled. After God showed the prophet the destruction that
was coming – beginning at the temple – Ezekiel writes, “While they [angels]
were carrying out their orders, I was all alone. I fell face down in the
dust and cried out: ‘O Sovereign Lord! Will your fury against Jerusalem
wipe out everyone left in Israel?’

“Then he said to me, ‘The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are
very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with
injustice. They are saying, ”The Lord doesn’t see it! The Lord has
forsaken the land!” So I will not spare them or have any pity on them.
I will fully repay them for all they have done.’ Then the man in linen
clothing, who carried the writer’s case, reported back and said, ‘I have
finished the work you gave me to do” (Ezekiel 9:8-11).

The fork in the road toward Babylon is a good way behind us now. I’d say
it was back at the Roe v. Wade signpost – when the Catholic church stood
alone for the right to life for the preborn and powerless. Had
America’s churches spoken with a single voice, the pillars of the
Supreme Court would have shaken and its inhabitants fled for their
lives, overturning their own decision on the way out the door, before
Congress acted to impeach them! A right decision on abortion – and euthanasia, fetal stem cell research, human cloning and designer babies would have been easy. Yet now, when people are desperately seeking answers – the Church huddles in its corner – lest its enemies speak a harsh
word to it.

But the American Church need not worry about what its enemies might do
to it. The American Church needs to worry about what God is going to do
to it.

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Author’s note: New resources about stem cell research have been placed
on CC&M’s website.