Hey, Calvary Fremont –
Some time ago a government official was addressing a group of visitors to Washington, D.C. on the state of the nation and the world. He began his remarks, “Mr. Chairman and fellow passengers aboard the Titanic.” That caught my attention. This government official was comparing America to the Titanic. The Titanic was celebrated as being unsinkable – is America unsinkable? Are we passengers on an unsinkable, sinking ship?
It’s without dispute that America has hit a philosophical iceberg that has divided our nation. Whether one is supportive of all things LGBTQ+ or believes these things to be a moral catastrophe – the nation is passionately divided over this. Whether one believes gender is fluid or fixed – the nation is divided over this. Whether one celebrates BLM and CRT and their philosophical underpinnings or believes them to be agenda driven biases – the nation is estranged. Republican and Democrat no longer present differing political strategies for keeping America healthy, they present competing visions of what our nation should be. We’re no longer squabbling about the best route to the next port, we’re arguing about which port we should be headed to. When we can’t agree whether a baby is a human being or not, we’ve hit an iceberg. When we don’t have common consent that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl, we’ve been split in two. When a biological male can freely and lawfully go into the girls’ locker room, we’re sinking.
When did America slam into the iceberg that has us scrambling to ensure our national survival? President Obama said the following on June 28, 2006: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.” Many heard him say that we are no longer a Christian nation. But, in actuality, he said that we are no longer just a Christian nation. A lot of my pastor friends were angry when he said this, but I wasn’t – I agreed with him. If a Christian nation is one that is guided by the Judeo-Christian ethic, America is no longer just a Christian nation. And this isn’t due to the presence and influence of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, or Hindus. It is the work of nonbelievers.
When did America slam into the iceberg that has us scrambling to insure our national survival? When the reason of man became more authoritative than the revelation of God. Someone might say, “Give me a date when that happened. Tell me when America hit the iceberg.” I can’t. My best response is to say, “Read ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman. He traces the centuries long philosophical and moral arc that has led to the America of today.” Thomas Sowell has much relevant input in “A Conflict of Visions” and “The Vision of the Anointed.” (I think that any pastor, or anyone, wanting to know the cultural moment we are in should read these books.)
George Orwell relates this personal anecdote: “I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him. It is the same with modern man. The thing that has been cut away is his soul…”
Orwell goes on to make his own application, but let me say this – when a baby has no value, when we can’t agree whether there are two genders or 102 genders – America has been severed and we are bleeding out. There will be no flight for us, no further heights will be reached unless that which is severed is healed. And here’s the Good News: Jesus can do this! Jesus is America’s only hope! In 1946 Winston Churchill stated that an iron curtain had descended upon the (European) Continent… In similar fashion, an Ideological Curtain has descended upon America – almost as strong as the wall of hatred and enmity dividing Jew and Gentile in the first century. But Jesus brought down the wall of division separating Jew and Gentile. Jesus is the Peace between Jew and Gentile and Jesus is the Peace in our day. Let us pray for a mighty revival to sweep our land.
Is America sinking? I know, it’s depressing – but it seems so. Even as a mighty ship can’t remain afloat long with a gaping hole in her hull, so America can’t survive a torpedo hit from Enlightenment Humanism that has torn a massive hole in the minds and hearts of Americans. Our nation is taking on water and listing to the side, yet know this, the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ. I am a Christian first and an American after that. If America sinks, the Church will remain afloat and will never sink. Is America unsinkable? No. Is the Church unsinkable? Yes. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. Through water and fire, sword and persecution – the Church remains long after the mighty Empires of history have majestically risen only to crumble into dust. I might be aboard the Titanic, but I live in Christ. My hope is not in America, my hope is in Christ. Politics will not heal America. America has a spiritual problem and a spiritual problem does not have a political solution. America has a philosophical problem and a philosophical problem does not have a political solution. America will not heal from the top down, but from the inside out. “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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