“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV
Ideas Have Consequences
Evolutionary philosophy upholds autonomous human reason over the authority of Holy Scripture and is therefore a cultural stronghold that must be demolished. The effects of generations of young people being educated into the basic tenets of this humanistic approach to science have been devastating. The widespread acceptance of Darwinism has brought academia and much of the Church to a point where any question of the fact of evolution is equated with intellectual suicide. Despite the unwillingness of the educational establishment to recognize that this issue is not a matter of religion versus science, I contend that both sides have competing views of history and different presuppositional beliefs about the past through which all scientific data is interpreted. My attempt here is to challenge what is commonly accepted as fact in order to drive both sides to a decision about whose history of the universe is more reasonable, consistent with observable facts, and provides meaningful answers to man’s basic questions of life: 1.) “Where did I come from?” 2.) “Why am I here?” and 3.) “Where am I going?”
Secularization of Culture
Something dreadfully wrong is transpiring in Western civilization. Much of Europe is devoid of spiritual vitality and this epidemic of secularization is sweeping across the United States. Local churches that were once thriving centers of Biblical instruction and spiritual training have been turned into figurative mausoleums. They still retain an outer shell of piety but inside their contents are in decay. As a result of this decline, families, the building blocks of the church, lack strength, leadership, and vision. The combination of these factors is a culture that is run amok with the degradation, perversity, and vileness of mankind. All of this is unfolding right before our eyes despite the proliferation of more Christian churches, Bible colleges, Theological seminaries, Christian radio stations, Religious book stores, and other Biblical resources than any country has ever had in the history of the world. Instead of unequivocally standing upon and courageously upholding the authority of the Word of God, much of the Church has accommodated and adopted the pagan religion of our day. The disease that is gutting the life out of Western civilization is evolutionary philosophy along with its millions of years of earth history and an even older universe. This attempted explanation of life apart from God is at its core a philosophy of life that says man by himself determines what he thinks is true, autonomous human reasoning. This epidemic is a stronghold that must be demolished for the sake of future generations, the salvation of lost souls, and the glory of God through the Church of Jesus Christ in this era of history and throughout eternity.[1]
A Culture and Church in Crisis. Christians must understand and formulate a proactive battle-front offensive against this cultural epidemic. In order to do so, several areas of critical concern will be analyzed. These include the spiritual condition of the United States of America, the current impact of the Church in contrast to the past, and the necessity to teach a comprehensive Biblical worldview that upholds the Biblical history of the universe in contrast to the evolutionary history of origins.
America is becoming less Christian every day. Lost sinners are certainly being saved and the saints built up but the majority of American culture is overrun with the moral and ethical degradation of mankind. This is clearly seen in the epidemic of political corruption, widespread lawlessness, abortion on-demand, euthanasia, normalizing LGBT sexual perversion, rampant family breakup, and senseless school shootings. Such depravity of mankind seems to be an engulfing shroud of darkness that purposes to destroy the lives of everyone and everything in its pathway.
The moral depravity of mankind is escalating despite having more Christian resources available than ever before. In the United States, today, we have a proliferation of churches, seminaries, Christian colleges/universities, radio stations, bookstores, and evangelistic crusades. Having been inundated with more Christian resources than ever before, one is left to consider and question the impact of the Church.
The Christian faith is still absolute truth, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is still the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. There is no need to implement humanistic methods of local church ministry in an attempt to make Biblical truth more palatable to the unregenerate and carnal Christians. The key is to recognize that a cultural shift has taken place but much of the Church does not realize this reality.
The culture has changed while the Church has failed to respond Biblically to these changes. Oftentimes, the Church accommodated these changes in the name of pragmatism, irrelevance, or ignorance. For example, in attempting to be more relevant, the Church actually became more irrelevant. The culture no longer readily accepts the Bible as truth but accepts man’s opinions as the final authority.
Recommended Resources:
“Divided Nation: Cultures in Chaos & a Conflicted Church” by Ken Ham
“The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Thrive in a Post-Christian Culture?” & “Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God” by Voddie T. Baucham, Jr.
“The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church” by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
“The Eclipse of God: Our Nation’s Disastrous Search for a More Inclusive Deity (And What We Must Do About It)” by Erwin W. Lutzer
[1] See “Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It” by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009).
