Is the Culture War Lost?


Our answer is 'yes'. 

We don't mean to suggest that we've given up the fight; however, where we live, our country has recently legalized same-sex marriage. In the USA, pro-choice President Barack Obama recognizes the right for women to choose abortion. All over the world, pro-euthanasia lobbyists continue their campaign to legalize the right to die. The cultural rot is going to get worse before things get better - and this will only happen at the Millennial Reign of Christ Jesus.

Just the same, for the Religious Left to point the finger at the Evangelical Right (so-called the 'Christian Right') for ignoring the cultural rot is missing the point of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Many adherents of the Christian Left and New Evangelical Right (including the Dominionists, and those in the New Apostolic Reformation, Purpose-Driven and Emergent Church Movements) are fond of painting the Christian Right as 'Cultural Nazis'. They claim that we are passive about the decay of society such as same-sex marriage, gay rights, abortion and euthanasia, as well as the assault on God's precepts and values in education, in the judiciary, and in what goes on in the public square, caused by Darwinism and postmodern relativism. 

The assertion that the Christian Right are 'Cultural Nazis' (or Fundamentalists - as if this were a bad thing) is inflammatory and an ad hominem without merit.

If that were true, what are we, then, to make of Dominionism, which, according to its own agenda, entails the change of society through coercion and manipulation, and even force? This is opposed to the biblical directive of the peaceful preaching of the Gospel through reason and persuasion. In all honesty, then, who are the real Cultural Fascists?

It has been alleged that "being salt and light in a dark and decaying culture isn't the Christian Right's concern: let the culture and the Constitution rot, for all they care; they're awaiting the rapture." At best, this is ignorance of Scripture, of Discernment Ministries and of many on the Christian Right, and, at worst, it is utter fabrication.

The Bible says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God" and "Go ye into the world and make disciples of all nations."

Christians who obey God's commands to teach about sin, repentance and salvation come under the Dominionist's verbal assault of ignoring the prevailing societal decay. However, it is an eisegetical overreach to assert that we must demonstrate our concern for the prevailing social ills by participating in their remedy: what the 'Christian' Left fail to realize is that we already do this since the root cause is always sin.

Participating in cultural wars aside from preaching the true Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) is an example of a 'social gospel', which is the agenda of the Dominionist and the Emergent Church Movements such as the P.E.A.C.E. plan of Rick Warren. They seem to be averse to the idea of Jesus' literal return to establish a kingdom by His rule and culture, as taught in Scripture, and vehemently attack anyone who teaches this.

It is Christ who will set up His own Kingdom with a new culture based on His character. We cannot change culture by engaging in a war on the public square unless we impart the message of sin and salvation in Christ's death and resurrection, which is the Gospel message. By teaching the Gospel message, we can address the root of societal ills, which is sin; individuals can then repent of their sin, which in turn leads to changed lives. This, then, results in cultural change.

However, what 'The Purpose Driven' paradigm, at its core, is advocating is treating the symptoms through engaging in a cultural revolution, and ignoring the cause, that is sin. Apart from attaching a Jesus-label on it, how is this different from the humanist or naturalist approach to addressing the problems of society?

Therefore, cultural change begins through the transformational power of the Holy Spirit in the repentant individual.

Last, but not least, the assessment that those of us opposed to the Purpose Driven / Emergent / Kingdom Now paradigm are legalists rings hollow and smacks of, not just irony, but also, hypocrisy. For consider the Dominionists' aim, which is to establish the Kingdom of God through their own efforts, as opposed to the Grace of God bought for us by the blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Legalistic much?

Christians are spiritual warriors and not cultural warriors. Indeed, the Bible doesn't teach us to engage in cultural imperialism and world domination as Dominionists like Rick Warren, Janet Porter, the late Charles Colson, Brian McLaren and Rick Joyner appear to pride themselves for doing. The Bible does, however, teach that a special crown awaits those who look forward to Christ's return. In light of this, it is better to occupy our time in the latter - and this includes "waiting for the rapture" (Titus 2:13).

Yet, the implication that we are resting on our eternal laurels "awaiting the rapture" is mere histrionic that has no basis in reality. Excluding the cultists, most Bible-believing Christians are not all sitting on their laurels on some remote mountain in the Himalayas waiting for the Lord to snatch them away: indeed, it has been documented that many Christians who adhere to the imminence of the Coming of Jesus are more likely to be invested in people's souls and eternal destiny, especially among the Jewish people, making the Great Commission a priority in their lives.

So let us please dispense with the fallacious strawmen that only result in further misinformation, fracturing and dividing the body of Christ, which is precisely what the enemy wants.

It isn't uncommon for Dominionists to (erroneously) claim that "we are so heavenly minded, that we are of no earthly worth". But even if this were true, it would be preferable than to be so worldly minded as to be of no heavenly worth.

That is something to ponder.

By KT and The Whyman
June 2010