Re-evangelizing America

Philippians 3:8 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”

Romans 1:14 “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.”

Last presidential elections based on immigrant, gay, women and race minority vote, the recent rejection for a pastor  Louie Giglio’s participation in an inauguration because he had talked against gay rights movements 20 years ago, latest  designation of Hagel as defense secretary in spite of his pro Iran and anti Israel agenda, government forcing business owners to pay for health insurance that covers voluntary abortions, etc. All these issues present a gloomy spiritual future for the nation of America as they evidence a shift towards liberalism and sin both in the political and religious arena.

How did this happen? Can America trace its footsteps back? Well, in the first place I believe these events are a consequence of the things which have been slowly occupying more and more ground within people’s hearts. It’s been a long non stopping process which could have been stopped only by the church of Christ. By that I don’t mean the political religious protestant lobby in DC; I mean the magnificent bride of Christ, just as He sees her from heaven, I mean the redeemed, new born and sanctified, community of people who worship God daily in spirit and truth.

It has a lot to do with prayer life, sanctity of family and matrimony, financial integrity including tithes & offerings and passion for the lost. I believe all these important qualities have been greatly weakened over the last 50 years in America. Yet, I know there is a huge remnant holding on to the truth with all its strength, working hard to keep Christian values alive against a flood of sin.

However, I believe there are some issues that have to be solved if we want America to be back on the track for blessing. Things I sometimes denounced when I was a Missionary to America, when the Lord had spoken to me about the coming hardships in American Economy, back then it was 1999 and Clinton’s administration enjoyed the best economy ever in the history of the US, I remember the message from God I delivered in Kansas: “ If God needs to hit your economy so you can look upwards instead of focusing on your material wealth, He will, because, He is more interested in your eternal salvation than your earthly satisfaction”.

The strain on American economy came short time later, and the destruction of the twin towers was just a symbol of what was ahead, two wars that ended raising oil prices and putting more money on America’s enemies’ pockets, and a crisis that has placed the Nation on the edge of a fiscal pit. Meanwhile the Americans don’t seem to be seeking help in God but have tried to find rest in strategies that have failed in the rest of the world, just look at the Venezuelan example, following the path of socialism lost the freedoms it had been so proud about.

One hint to understand the situation is that America’s social composition has changed, as I said when I started, immigrants, women, GLBT and other racial minorities have control over votes, they have become a majority when put together. But, how did the greatest Christian nation from where most protestant missionaries were sent all over the world failed to evangelize its own citizens? Where are all the internal urban missions standing at today?

Well, I believe there is still a fundamental misunderstanding in very many American Christians today: They confuse their own culture with Christianity. Somehow main stream historical denominations of Christianity are engulfed within a culture, which they defined as western, civilized and Christian. But, the truth is that suburban American way of life has mostly succeeded in placing the message of the gospel inside some sort of cultural cocoon, where it feels safe from a hostile environment but that makes it unable to have an effect on the outer world.

Some newer denominations have been able to remove their shell at least partially and are succeeding in approaching traditionally liberal environments; such is the case with Baptists and Pentecostals in New England, where historical denominations of protestant churches are almost nonexistent. But, Why? Is it because nontraditional denominations have leaned their values towards political correctness? No, actually they can be very confrontational in terms of Bible values. It’s because they can get rid of the cultural issue. They are not attached to a single type of worship, language, music, buildings, clothing, etc.

If Christians in America really want their country back into serving God, they need to abandon their comfort zone and sacrifice mainstream culture for the sake of saving the lost that live among them. That might represent a tremendous sacrifice, very necessary when the Nation is in great peril. That might represent the need to advance intercultural church attendance, the necessity of Christians becoming real defenders of those who have less, of those who feel discriminated against. It’s time to take that role back from the liberals whose only purpose is to gain power.

Christians in America have to become real missionaries to their own Nation, but they need to do it now.

I pray this word may move some towards that goal, I pray we may seek within our hearts what C.S. Lewis described as “Mere Christianity”, I pray Christians in the US learn to use the spiritual tools they have instead of their cultural Americanism in order to assimilate those who have been left out, so the situation won’t come on them as a tidal wave, so Christ salvation may become relevant to all the nations and peoples and tribes living in the US, while all those who worship Jesus put their culture and pride aside in order to be together and fight together against what really is destroying American core values, which is neither the left wing of politics, nor the gays, nor the blacks, nor the Latinos.

Let’s overcome our self contentment and fight against satan.