Why Christians are not Losing the Culture Wars
Christian leadership gurus notoriously distract Christians from the main subject: Jesus Christ, Savior of sinners. The object of the guru is to gain as many followers as possible. He wishes for fame and notoriety, as he helps pastors achieve their human potential.
Top gurus invent a fusion of psychology and Christianity to impress others with their wisdom. Today’s Christian “leader” in America would have thrived in first century Athens (Acts 17).
Some Christian leadership gurus project themselves as expert on culture. Human culture is created by humans, and the key ingredient of men is sin. Hence, the universal element in every human culture, around the globe is this one guiding principle. Sinners sin because of their sin nature and their slavery to Satan, who we might call, “King Sin.”
Sin reigns in every human culture, regardless of what that culture deems is excellent. So when the church leadership guru spooks the church with yet another dire prediction of how the culture has changed, leaving the church behind, he gathers a greater audience, honing his doomsayer prowess. He will not shy away from the new year’s predictions which nobody remembers at the end of the year. He, of course, is fortunate not to be living under the Old Testament Law (death penalty for false prophets).
In pride, man strives for acclaim from other men. He is Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year.” She was voted most beautiful woman in the world. The culture of competition and striving with one’s neighbor may even get you a Nobel Prize.
Church leadership gurus lead the Christian church into meaningless strategy sessions to keep up with the changing world cultures (a.k.a. new ways of sinning). In the quest for new schemes for evangelism, global missions, church planting, etc., the latest culture correlations are adopted. Corporation culture is typically the first choice because of the money and research invested in keeping up with the competitions’ cultures.
Worldliness is the key element to winning the culture war in the American church. We are told, “Millennials won’t come to church unless there are strobe lights in a dark warehouse theater with movie house seating.” We might inquire, “Is that more important to them than their impending death and appointed judgment where they will receive their sentence of eternal hell?” The answer by the Christian leadership gurus must be an unequivocal, “Yes.” Otherwise, the Christian would be laboring to know the Bible, so as to preach sound doctrine — warning every man, teaching every man.
The war that Christians engage in is seen on the pages of Scripture. We do not war against flesh and blood, that is, men and their culture wars. Rather, we war against principalities and powers in heavenly places. These are the deceiving spirits behind every man-made idol.
Sinful men are idol worshipers. They worship the work of their hands (ie. success in one’s occupation; number of followers on social media; etc.). They invest their time, talents, and treasure in banal pursuits. There is nothing new under the sun in the sinful world. Madison Avenue marketing teams, however, convince church leadership gurus this is simply not true. They insist the church needs a new name, a new logo, a new marketing scheme, etc. They might even suggest the church needs a new culture…one like theirs.
The good news is that although many professing Christians are serving Christ in the church as carnival leader or entertainment technology specialist, the Holy Spirit is still at work. His only instrument is the Bible, the Word of God. Everything else is silly distraction. Sheep are easily led astray but goats more so.
The weapons of our warfare are the cache of Ephesians 6:10–20. Christians are wasting time and energy by doing anything else than practicing using and/or actually using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
God is always leading His people in triumph in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 2:14). Faith, given to us as a gift of the Holy Spirit (Phil 1:29), is evidence of our victory (1 Jn 5:4). We are more than conquerors in Him who loved us (Rom 8:37).
Christians are not losing the culture wars. We are not even fighting culture wars. We are victorious in the war for truth, as Jesus Christ goes out conquering and to conquer (Rev 6:2). He is setting captives free from lies and deceit propagated by the enemy. This is the war (Is 61:1), and these are the weapons (Eph 6:10–20). The Lord Jesus Christ secures the victory, and He gets the glory. Stop being a game changer in the culture war and become a faithful preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His Word commands you to do so (2 Tim 4:2).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
April 18, 2022
