I have been a Christian for 53 years and during that time I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly within Evangelical Christianity. All are influenced by human beings who occasionally get it wrong but seldom with the wrong motives. The time we live in right now is an opportunity to bring peace where there is conflict and kindness where there is hate. The old acronym: WWJD. What Would Jesus Do?
I believe there is something happening in the world today that will greatly impact the "last days" which are mentioned in scripture. Most agree that the Church will be persecuted during that time and the debate has always been whether believers will be raptured before, during or after that persecution. The wishful thinkers/theologians, insist we will escape before any persecution is directed at us. After all, why would a loving God allow Christians to suffer. I will leave that for you to ponder.
The other options are much less appealing and yet a very real possibility. I have recently begun asking myself a question that I now pose to each of you: what will trigger that persecution? Or in other words, what will be the cause of that persecution?
For centuries, Christians have had targets on their backs but other than countries where Christianity has been forbidden, most of us live in relative safety and peace. That means something has to change and the popular assumption from Bible scholars is that it will be some Satanic attack to silence the Church from spreading the Good News of the gospel. That sounds reasonable because Satan wants nobody in heaven and he is a **** disturber.
Here we are in the year 2024 and the reality is, Christians in many circles, have become the **** disturbers. Some are even proud of it. Covid was a prime example of this when certain church leaders took it upon themselves to denounce governments for daring to force their doors to close on Sunday mornings. They supported blockades and had no trouble calling law enforcement "Nazis" among other things. WWJD comes to mind at which point all the above individuals would point out those tables knocked over by Jesus in the marketplace. We can get scripture to support anything if we try hard enough.
Then we have the events surrounding January 6th in the US and the subsequent unbridled support of Donald Trump by many mainline pastors. It has continued to this day where the idea of a "fixed election" is still mentioned in the Republican camp. It is one of many conspiracy theories that far too many Christian groups have latched onto. And here-in lies my premiss.
The Church is fast becoming the easy target for the world for the simple reason that their message has become distorted and full of anger. As Trump and his political party slanders opposition, many Evangelical leaders and their followers are following their lead. As you open up the news or look at social media postings, the nastiness toward anything that opposes Trump, has become ridiculous. It is causing division among Christians, even within churches and among friends. More importantly, it is diminishing the witness of the Church, where "salt and light" are an afterthought at best.
One needs to ask themselves, why would any non-believer believe the gospel message when so many Christians seem to be brain-dead? Sorry for being so blunt. There are Christians right now who are undermining the gospel message way more than the perceived offensive Last Supper debacle at the Paris Olympics. When Christians link politics and politicians to the message of Jesus Christ, we become our own worst enemy.
Matthew 7:15-18 warns us of those who will try and fool even those who are believers. The words are not spoken to non-believers because they are already deceived. Wolves in sheep's clothing are around us today and many Christians are following them instead if Jesus. That is not popular to hear, even among some of my friends but I find it frightening that so many can't see what is staring them right in the face. And I am a Conservative and would be a life-long Republican if I lived in the US.
Prophetic voices need to speak up and I am concerned that some are remaining silent because they fear the backlash from others in the Church. A reoccurring thought I have had lately is this: what would Billy Graham be thinking about the rhetoric coming from the mouths of Bible-believing Christian leaders? And then there is: WWJD?
