Gary critiques the modern (and past) response of the church and Christians to cultural decay and immorality.
Politics was as messy in biblical times as it is today. Biblical heroes like Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel, Barak, and Samson had their moral failings, and yet they are in the biblical “Hall of Faith”:
And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon [idolater], Barak [coward], Samson [womanizer], Jephthah [made a rash vow], of David [adulterer, accomplice to murder, man of bloodshed] and Samuel [a terrible father who raised two evil sons] and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight (Heb. 11:32–34).
These were some very flawed people, and yet they are described as having “performed acts of righteousness.” But there was a lot of unrighteousness mixed in. Samson was a very carnal man, and yet God used him. He was chosen by God to save Israel from the Philistines, and yet he demanded of his father and mother that they help him marry a pagan Philistine woman:
Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me” (Judges 14:1–4).
We always need to keep in mind that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, so that no man may boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:27–28). There is no perfection in this world. In most cases, we have to settle for the less than righteous while always pursuing righteousness. There aren’t many Josephs or Daniels around. There was only one of each in the Bible.
None of this is to say that we should dismiss the sins of people running for public office. Far from it. Christians should strive to elect people who exemplify a righteous life. The fact is, however, we’re not always given the opportunity to vote for such candidates.
Restoring the Foundation of Civilization
There are many Christians who will not participate in civilization-building efforts that include economics, journalism, politics, education, and science because they believe (or have been taught to believe) these areas of thought are outside the realm of what constitutes a Christian worldview. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Buy NowIn this first part of a recent interview with Pastor Richard Henry, Gary critiques the modern (and past) response of the church and Christians to cultural decay and immorality. Eschatology and social action are closely tied together and the paralysis of evangelicals is usually preceded by the claim that things getting worse and worse is merely a “sign of the end times.” Things are getting bad because Christians aren’t involved and active in making things better.