Our Moment in History

In Tim’s absence he was kind and gracious to ask me to contribute to his blog, and so in connection with recent entries dealing with the culture war and the encroaching darkness squeezing in all around us, I thought I would share some thoughts in this regard from one of my theological and spiritual mentors in the faith, the late Francis Schaeffer. Speaking concerning the rebellion of our culture against the infinite-personal God of the Bible, he had this to say about how we should view this and what our response should be:

Finally, we must not forget that the world is on fire. We are not only losing the church, but our entire culture as well. We live in the post-Christian world which is under the judgment of God. I believe today that we must speak as Jeremiah did. Some people think that just because the United States of America is the United States of America, because Britain is Britain, they will not come under the judgment of God. This is not so. I believe that we of Northern Europe since the Reformation have had such light as few others have ever possessed. We have stamped upon that light in our culture. Our cinemas, our novels, our art museums, our schools, scream out as they stamp upon that light. And worst of all, modern theology screams out as it stamps upon that light. Do you think God will not judge our countries simply because they are our countries? Do you think that the holy God will not judge?

In a day like ours, when the world is on fire, let us be careful to keep things in proper order. We must have the courage to draw the line between those who have compromised the full authority of the Scriptures, either by theological infiltration or cultural infiltration, and those who have not. But we must at the same time practice an observable oneness among all who have bowed to the living God and thus to the verbal propositional communication of God’s Word, the Scriptures. Learning from the mistakes of the past, let us raise a testimony that may still turn both the churches and society around--for the salvation of souls, the building of God’s people, and at least the slowing down of the slide toward a totally humanistic society and an authoritarian suppressive state.

We cannot think that all this is unrelated to us. It will all come crashing down unless you and I and each one of us who loves the Lord and his church are willing to act… to stand up in loving confrontation, but confrontation--looking to the living Christ moment by moment for strength--in loving confrontation with all that is wrong and destructive in the church, our culture, and the state.

What do you think?