The group called “Nones” (Americans without religious identity) is now the 2nd largest after Catholics [Pew Forum]. Officially, then, there are almost as many “nones” as nuns. In fact, Pope Benedict, who is dedicated to combating secularism in Europe, has convened a 3-week assembly of Bishops to strategize how to get Catholics to come back to church. On the Protestant side, Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says “this is a wake-up call.” What exactly is it we should wake up to?
In a word: deception. Jesus warned of increased deception before His return—we are all at risk. “Warn each other every day... so that NONES [emphasis added] will be deceived by sin and hardened against God” (Heb. 3:13). (Yes, that is a play on words.) Many of these "nones" were once part of us.
At one time in my life, I was one of the “nones.” In my confusion and hurt, I was easy prey for Satan’s schemes. I was (as are today’s “nones”) a casualty of Satan’s war against the Church. Paul says we should be gentle with these “nones”—that they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants (2 Tim. 2:26). Significantly, an antonym to the word “none” is SOME. Let us remember “and such were SOME of you” (1 Cor. 6:11).
Hi Dr. Greg,
ReplyDeleteTimely post! Thank you! It makes me wonder at what point do we reach the "tipping point?" This a phrase that has become popular this election cycle as there is talk of the 47% and what happens when it becomes 51%. I am grateful that a little leaven is adequate for causing the dough to rise. I learned this the hard way when making pancakes from scratch and figured that since I did not have any baking powder, and there was such a little amount compared to all that flour, sugar, and salt, it would not matter if there no baking powder in the dough. Oops! In like manner, it does not require a lot of Christians to "salt" society and restrain breakneck evil. But my concern is that contemporary Christians will do the same thing that Christian professors did in the past. They chose to leave secular universities and start Christian colleges rather than fight the secular stream. And then Christian parents began sending their children to Christian universities, colleges, high schools and so on. The result of this is that due to the lack of rigorous intellectual challenge from a different perspective, secularism has gone unchecked. The "salt" influence in universities and colleges is now almost gone. So will go our society. As there is less and less salt, what salt there is will go underground and remain silent. And what does it take for evil to prevail? Only that good people do nothing. Sigh!
Godspeed!
Larry Q
Unfortunately, there isn't much saltiness in our so-called "Christian" high schools, colleges, and universities. Our son went off to a well-known Christian university and was taught the inerrancy of Scripture.
ReplyDeleteLast year Liberty University, longtime conservative stronghold, invited a mormon Mitt Romney to be its graduation speaker, and then for the new school years convocation, invited Donald Trump. I feel like I'm living in some kind of bad dream.
Excuse me... he was taught the ERRANCY of Scriptures.
ReplyDelete