I was recently scanning the internet to learn something about various churches in another state. This new information, along with decades of attending various denominations coupled with my interest in beliefs and practices of churches in general, produced a startling revelation.
First, I have been grousing (i.e. I have written several blogs) about the lack of engagement of our culture by conservative denominations. For the most part, at least in their statements of purpose, their Sunday sermons, and their various ministries, they seem to care not whether the founding freedoms of this country that give us religious liberty remain or not. Or at the very least, they are taken for granted and rarely mentioned.
Conservative churches dwell solely (many say appropriately so) on personal salvation. Few if any words or admonitions are spoken about the unGodly direction our nation has taken over the last few decades – and especially the recent path many leaders and their many constituents have taken in their hard left turn toward a socialism that dismisses God in favor of more government in the name of “social justice.”
So, my startling revelation is this: Liberal churches, including mainstream Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics and several other denominations that are known as “liberal” or “progressive” are all about promoting less God and more government. One example I noticed this evening is a PCUSA Church that noted in its statement of purpose the promotion of “justice.” Who doesn’t want “justice?” But in the context of that Church’s political leanings that I am fully aware distort many aspects of Scripture including the Gospel of Christ, their definition of “justice” means the “social justice” of open borders, one world government, equal outcomes for all, and basically the atheistic agenda of “more government/less God.”
No, Jesus would not want that because it goes against all Biblical teaching of personal responsibility, giving voluntarily to people in need, not through mandatory taxation, not through bigger, coercive government. The liberal churches ignore the Christian precepts which were the building blocks of our Republic: Based on a population that was generally unified in adhering to Biblical morality as understood and taught by this nation’s early settlers and influenced by devout ministers and evangelists of that day.
Continuing with my revelation, while liberal churches promote a socialist agenda, conservative churches are absolutely SILENT on these matters. Conservative churches have turned totally inward and have become all about “me”, “my” salvation, feeling good. We are no longer engaged with the culture and avoid at all costs the thought of influencing government in any Godly direction because, heaven forbid, it might be called POLITICS. And tax laws are only used as a convenient excuse to not venture into this territory. It’s like the pummeling that the “moral majority” movement of three decades ago has caused conservative Christians and their churches to become shell shocked. We were mocked into a corner of non-engagement – we now know our place.
No, that is not our place. Our place is to be salt and light in the world. We are to influence every sphere of influence at our disposal: Our homes, our communities, our places of work, our voting booths, and our government.
Apostate liberal churches are promoting their version of governance in their services and perverted doctrine. Isn’t it time conservative churches began, once again, to promote sound doctrine to influence our culture and government in a more Godly direction?
