By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net) At a recent cocktail party I talked to a person who believed that secularism was “mankind outgrowing religion: getting beyond it.” He also implied that this was a good thing, in that “religion was the cause of wars." But is this the correct perspective? Or is our generation merely a disobedient one that is “doing evil in the sight of the Lord”? Certainly Old Testament Scripture is filled with the sad litany of disobedient generations that went on for much longer than our brief 200 years.
King Josiah in 2 Kings was an example of a “faithful” generation. But even his piety was not enough to save Judah, “because of all the provocations with which Manasseh (Josiah’s grandfather) had provoked him”, (2 Kings 23:26). The strongest provocation was Manasseh’s sacrificing children to Moloch. But is our practice of “lifestyle abortion” anything less egregious? King Manasseh sacrificed probably tens of thousands: we have sacrificed tens of millions! Do we really believe there will be no accountability?
Western Civilization faces a renewed struggle with Islam, a continuation of a 1000 year religious war that’s gone on since the year 634. But the secularists believe that since they profess no faith the struggle doesn’t apply to them. In the eyes of the secularists, a religious war is archaic and too absurd for words in the 21st Century. Not only do the secularists refuse to recognize the danger, they also actively oppose measures for our defense, placing us in grave jeopardy. The secularists concentrate instead on pushing a warped sense of "civil rights," such as homosexual scout masters, and severing our society from its Judeo-Christian heritage.
The prophet Isaiah had the same trouble with a smug and self-satisfied Jerusalem just prior to its destruction in 587 BC. They believed that with God in their Temple they were invulnerable. Isaiah found the people would "Keep listening but do not comprehend: keep looking, but do not understand" (Isaiah 6:9).
Do we not hear the same talk of our “invulnerability” and the same complacence? Will our fate be any different from Jerusalem’s?