Welcome to “Take Captive,” a new outreach ministry from those serving at Living Word Community Church. This blog is not a medium for wrangling and debate. It is intended as a forum for encouragement, instruction, and edification (Eph 4:29-32). We will be dealing with a variety of topics and issues with the Word of God as our guide.
One of the greatest challenges of living in a society with vestiges of a Judeo/Christian worldview is fending off worldliness. The United States was founded upon a number of biblical principles inherited from the Protestant Reformation. But that by no means makes the US a “Christian nation.” At best, this country was founded as a nation with many Christians. In fact, a significant number of our founding fathers were deists and rationalists. Their ideas were far more influenced by Enlightenment thought than Scripture. Nonetheless, the heritage of a government founded on biblical principles, along with a moral compass inherited from Scripture, has often resulted in a blurring of the lines between American citizenry and Christianity. Such a social climate can make it difficult to distinguish between being “in” the world as opposed to being “of” the world. It is Christ Himself who declared that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). In His high priestly prayer, he also made it clear that His followers are “in” the world but not “of” the world (John 17:13-16).
As early as 1970, Francis Schaeffer recognized that we are living in a post-Christian society. In other words, the Christian principles upon which this nation was founded along with the collective moral conscience grounded in Scripture have eroded, leaving the US a thoroughly secular nation. While this occurred gradually, the decline has been accelerating exponentially since the turn of the twenty-first century.
When Christians are naïve with respect to the spiritual condition of our nation, the world often ends up setting the agenda for the church. Far too often, the church follows the trends of the world in an attempt to be relevant.
In such a cultural climate, acute discernment is required to recognize how society, along with its secular philosophies and commitments, can profoundly affect Christians. Of course, it’s not as if the church intentionally seeks conformity to this age. But, without much needed discernment, many assume that the principles of our present-day culture, as in the past, are in some sense godly and, if not godly, at least not antagonistic to godliness. Such a perspective is not only naive, it is blatantly false. The world is not indifferent to Christianity. The principles of this age are utterly opposed to godly living.
When Christians are naïve with respect to the spiritual condition of our nation, the world often ends up setting the agenda for the church. Far too often, the church follows the trends of the world in an attempt to be relevant. They try to sanctify secular ideas with a handful of verses taken out of context. However, when the agenda of the church is set by the world, the church cannot help becoming worldly. Worldliness is nothing more than the philosophy of this present evil age informing the way we live. The unchanging Word of God must be our guide. The church should not allow the world to set the terms for discussions of truth for we know the One who is the Truth (John 14:6).
This is the purpose of “Take Captive,” to be guided by Scripture rather than the ever-shifting winds of a culture that has set itself against God. May God grant us wisdom as we navigate the treacherous waters of the age in which we live.
