If we do not fight the culture...?

I have suspected for some time now that a day would come in the USA when we would see more than rhetorical attacks against Christianity and Biblical principles.  I suspected that these attacks would come in my life time.  I did not suspect that these attacks would come so soon.  But enter the Chick Fil-A saga.  And here we are.

When Dan Cathy acknowledged his beliefs about marriage he ignited a storm that has brought Americans to a crossroads.  As a citizen, Cathy simply simply stated that marriage should be between a man and women.  As a citizen he has every right to say what he believes.  But there are those in America who disagree with that right depending upon the content of what is said.

The crossroads is not tricky.  As a country we will either take a right hand turn and once again be a Republic of freedom and constitutional law or we will turn left, and lose our freedoms while traveling down a road mixed with tyranny and the absence of religious freedom.  Yes, the crossroads is now in front of us.  We are waiting for the moment.  The decisions of which way we turn are upon us.

Why now?

Over the past few years the fight for right and wrong has been hit with apathy and left leaning ideology.  The hits that came were NOT from those outside of Christianity.  Our attacks have come from within Christianity.  Gone are the leaders who rallied us in the past.  Their replacements have presented a different model.  A model that frowns on culture wars and embraces naively the idea that people will accept all the differences and NO one will be harmed.  We have been told by these few that discrimination will not occur.  For once we cease the war, our love will earn the respect of those different from us.

They have been and are WRONG!

We have paved the road that has brought us to this crossroads.  We ceased from fighting.  We compromised our beliefs.  We joined the culture.  And we are paying for all the above dearly.

Men and women died so you and I could be free.  No politician or elected official has the right to tell a business owner or church or group of Christians, what they can and cannot say.  NOT in America. 

Or can they?

This is the crossroads.  If Chick Fil-A is attacked for her owners remarks, then why not go ahead and attack churches of all types?  You think I am crazy?  Think about the following.  In Chicago where the mayor is a former presidential Chief of Staff (who claimed that chick Fil-A was NOT welcome in Chicago) their zoning laws are allowing a strip club to go up next to a catholic home for the elderly run by nuns.  Just a few years ago the outcry over this type of decision would have been more than vocal.  Today, there is silence.

There is something wrong here!  Terribly wrong!

Though I am Baptist, I praise the Catholic church for fighting against many of the provisions in the healthcare reform bill.  Many Baptist have been silent.  Are Catholics now going to be targeted in the manner of Chick Fil-A?  Ask the priests and Bishops of the Catholic churches what they teach about same sex marriage.  Are they no longer welcome in Chicago, Boston, or San Fran?  Are Baptists next?  We see defense of criminal non profit groups like Acorn and yet we see attacks on non profits who support values and Biblical principles. 

If we do not get back into the fight we will lose the right to do what we are doing now as ministers and churches.  If we do not get back into the fight our children will live in a country with freedom only as a history point (if they even mention it at all).  And if we do not get back into the fight, we will have NO ONE to blame but ourselves.  For the weapons used against us were NOT more mighty.  We just ceased from using our weapons and thus allowed strongholds to build up in our lives, communities, and culture.

It is true that Christianity has always been more productive when freedom was lacking.  I do not for one moment think that fighting the culture will solve all the problems.  But I do know that abandon the fight will bring about attacks on Christianity like we in America have never seen nor experienced.  We are forgetting the real issues at stake.  We are forgetting we are salt and light.  We are blowing that which was bought and paid for with blood and ultimate sacrifice.  How dare we.

We cannot afford to sit out the fight any longer!