In the months of May and June in 1940, a rare opportunity for world-saving decisions presented itself when an unusual set of circumstances arose: France was about to surrender to the Germans, the British Expeditionary Force was in retreat to Dunkirk, the British war cabinet was on the brink of suing for peace with German Führer Adolf Hitler, while members of the royal family and Parliament were making the case for surrender.
Between May 26 and June 4, 1940, 338,000 British Expeditionary Force troops and allies evacuated from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. The escape granted British Prime Minister Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill the opportunity to speak in the House of Commons to the British people. The speech was Churchill at his finest, as he brusquely declared the Dunkirk evacuation to have been “a colossal military disaster.”
Then, demonstrating the brilliance of the man who helped save the free world, Churchill thundered: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.”
Mindful not to call the ‘Dunkirk deliverance’ a victory he said, “Wars are not won by evacuations … Nations that go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.”
Amidst our nation’s pitiful spiritual condition, American Christendom faces a similar dilemma. Are we going to fight to sustain the freedom bequeathed to us by the American Founders, or will we fold our tents and quietly depart to make early reservations for a place in heaven?
Unless believers move into the public square in obedience to Jesus’ ekklesia Kingdom assignment from Matthew 16:18, there will be much more to come of such as the forceful repression we were exposed to over the last two and a half years. Call to mind the COVID nightmare, the lockdown of America’s churches, the fly-by-night conduct of public health agencies, the engrafting of secular immorality and indecency in America’s youth through public education, and the restriction of free speech by Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Media.
Evangelist Mario Murillo’s recent urgent message at Charis Family Church is worth repeating: “Today it is my sworn duty to end the American Christian era of playing games. I’m going to put all of my currency on the table, I’m going to sacrifice any kind of favor I have with you. It is the sworn duty of every born-again Christian now to oppose transgenderism, abortion and wickedness in the United States [ … for we clearly are at war].”
Over 63 million babies dead, oceans of red ink and endless stretches of red tape, homosexuals praying at Inauguration and befuddled men under the spell of the biological disfigurement of transgenderism being paraded around as healthy and normal by the Biden Administration; all bespeak one thing: judgment is upon us.
If there is to be a spiritual resurrection of America, evangelical and pro-life Catholic Christians have no other choice than to engage the secular culture there where competition for ideological supremacy and control is fiercest: in the public square. Such involvement entails attendance at school board meetings, county commissions and city council meetings, all as part and parcel of Civics 101. This must be augmented by grassroots, precinct-level organizing, for the days of hiding the Light under the bushel behind the four walls of the church building have come to their inevitable end.
Big Tech and Big Media discrimination, censorship and manipulation of the culture must be stopped, along with the indoctrination and ruination of America’s youth. As long as salacious types like Howard Stern and Miley Cyrus instruct America’s youth on behavior, with Ellen DeGeneres and the Kardashians earmarking ideology and principles, “having an ‘R’ behind one’s name,” to quote Mark Steyn, “isn’t going to make much difference.”
Rather than politics, this is about two distinct religions vying for absolute control of the public square. The stakes are every bit as ominously high as when Winston Churchill defied Nazi fascism some 80 years ago.
A striking example occurred last week when the United Methodist Church—America’s third-largest religious body with over 6.2 million members—lost the second and seventh largest congregations by attendance in the greater Houston area. Both quit United Methodism over the 2019 ‘Traditional Plan’, a document that bans same-sex marriage and mandates that all pastors be celibate and monogamous if married.
Luckily for Methodists, the first step in solving a problem is recognizing that you have one.
Not to be outdone, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted to embrace radical transgender ideology “in all forms” available to children “at all ages.” This so-called gender-affirming ‘care’ is shoved down the nation’s throat by the Biden administration. “The LGBTQ-etc. movement is a cultural tsunami. Activists tolerate no dissent—to the point that even fervent gay rights supporters such as the gay journalist Andrew Sullivan and the socially liberal Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling have been subjected to vicious criticism and professional canceling for daring to question transgender orthodoxy.”
If the origin of America’s moral collapse needs further explanation, a good place to start is Matthew 5:13-16. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste [purpose], how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery].
“You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Regarding American Christendom’s surrender of the public square and culture, the chickens have come home to roost. “The restraining and preserving influences are gone, and then nothing remains to stay corruption or hinder the outworking of Satan’s plans. The order is ever the same; the one who has no fear of God before his eyes, has no genuine respect for the rights of his neighbor.”
Nevertheless, all things considered, we praise His name because Gideon’s and Rahab’s are beginning to stand. {eoa}
David Lane is the founder of the American Renewal Project.
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