Have Faith in God and in Jesus Christ, His Son, to receive salvation from sin and an eternal home in Heaven. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
by L. Agnes Russell
That includes turning from sin, as illustrated in I Corinthians 6:11, after verse 9 lists sins that will keep us out of the kingdom of God. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” God offers reconciliation and “has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son,” Colossians 1:13.
There are things we must do as a Christian, whether a longtime believer or just a babe in Christ. We are told, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the Faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you are disqualified,”
II Corinthians 13:5. That phrase “in the faith” refers to believing the tenets of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in the New Testament.
In keeping with this requirement, we are told to “flee from lust” (II Timothy 2:22) and “Forsake sin.” One way we can have success in this endeavor is to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and He will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded,” James 4:7-8.
We must then be “being filled,” which means diligently seeking God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Ephesians 5:18-20.
As to the idea of our Country in the title, for those of us who thought we were securely living in the country of our grandparents, we have become shocked and saddened at the tremendous and terrible tragedies of the last year, with whole blocks of cities being burned down and people being “cancelled” for their beliefs and opinions.
Trying to discover what has happened, I stumbled upon an explanation that I think deserves attention. A series of blog posts by a Dr. Christian Overman, called An Introduction to Critical Theory opened my eyes to a lot of things. It seems a group of social theorists known as the Frankfurt School left Germany in the 1930’s and came to the United States to spread their activist ideas in our universities. Their poisonous seed found fertile ground and bore fruit in these environments. According to Dr. Overman, they divided people groups into two categories, the oppressed and the oppressors. Critical theory can be summed up by the idea that oppressed (dominated) people groups must be liberated from all forms of social oppression, particularly in relation to gender, race and class. Then last night a text led me to listen to American Family Radio’s program on Critical Race Theory, which was most enlightening.
To cut to the chase, for lack of space, the result is that today even innocent Americans, who try to do right by their own families and everyone else they meet, are labeled as oppressors, if they are, among other things, capitalists, heterosexuals, white, and definitely Christians. And they are to be not just censured but removed. People who believe this way believe Christianity must be silenced, because “it teaches there are universal, objective, unchanging moral norms that apply to everyone, and we are individually accountable.”
As noted by the author of this paper, and to which I agree, Christianity for many years established what was socially normal in America and was a “gate keeper for socially acceptable behavior.” We have come so far from this standard. Which brings us to the question of what makes Christianity so dangerous in the minds of these people. They seek to change America from its norms and standards, from the legacy we inherited from the founding fathers of this nation, with individuals and families thriving in a safe environment of growth, prosperity and freedom to choose their own way of life.
These socialist activists believe we all must accept every person’s ideas and lifestyles, even to the point that we must condone, support, and promote them. The Christian cannot do that, as our God have given us a very exclusive belief system. We must believe a “biblical worldview” that says Jesus is the only way to God, He is the ultimate authority and every knee will bow to Him, that He has given us a set of moral laws to which our hearts insist we must adhere.
Many who claim to be of the Christian faith do not have a biblical worldview, as there has been such an onslaught of unbiblical ideas on media that has caused them to become desensitized to sin, to reject the narrowness of the Christian way, and to become deceived. We, the Church, must begin to be Fervent in prayer, and “contend,” or Fight “for the Faith which was once delivered to the saints,” Jude 1:3.
Our enemies, physical and spiritual, have succeeded in changing America into a cesspool of abominable sins, such as pornography that is beginning to corrupt our children, abortion that is murdering our children, and sex trafficking, that is stealing our children. Crime is soaring in some places. Our media, government, and technology, all make us feel helpless, unable to find or disseminate truth. These activists have set out to destroy our foundations of family, church and morality.
The above ideas of fleeing sin, seeking God, and fighting for the Christian faith culminate in
2 Peter 3:10-12, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…”
That verse generates fear and awe, but another one gives us a positive vision of the same thing: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (I John 3:2-3) These last paragraphs tell us to purify ourselves. Therefore, it appears that, in order to save our western civilization, we must purify ourselves, pray fervently and fight for Christianity in our nation.
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon! You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com.
