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restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
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No Tactics of Accommodation
We are living in a day when a coalition of clergy and laypersons are mobilizing against the statism endemic in American society. It is a “Confessing Church” movement similar to that which arose during the Nazi era in Germany. Its mission is distinctly theological and ecclesiastical, not political.
The Confessing Church movement in Germany was, of course, a failure. It reached its zenith in the fall of 1934, profiting from popular hostility toward the Nazi treatment of pastors. Fragmentation soon set in, however, and the movement failed to obtain what it most wanted: Hitler’s recognition of its control over the Protestant Church in Germany.
Perhaps the ineffectiveness of the conservative resistance to Hitler has some lessons for Americans today. It is my own belief (and here I will not feel slighted if no one follows me) that American conservatism has been defeated by the spirit of accommodation. In our desire for acceptance from the world we exalt ourselves instead of God and the curse naturally follows. If we truly want to experience the mercy of God upon our nation we must seek to be other-worldly.
The world is perishing for lack of knowledge of God, and the church is famishing for want of His guidance. Consider the vitriolic attack that those who despise “losers” like Michael Peroutka and Chuck Baldwin will resort to. They see fit to lambaste on the basis of the most absurd arguments all those who preach against the cult of Americanism. They specialize in one thing: fear. Fear of losing the general election, fear of being called radical, fear of men. They forget that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. They forget that when we accept the myth of neutrality we fall into the trap of incrementalism and pragmatism.
It is time to shed the naïve notion that the evangelical church in America exists to engage real problems in society. We have replaced truth for evangelistic pop-crusades. We are more interested in decisions than disciples, and the result is that the whims of men mean more to us than the Word of God.
What must we do? We must expose the lies of the elites who tell us to support our pagan leaders. We must obey Christ in the face of arrogant judges and others who would take the place of God. We must undermine the secularism in our churches even as we oppose those who would silence the Christian political voice and prevent the real issues from even being discussed.
Christian leader, let your heart be moved toward weary, confused people. Tell them “the full message of this new life” (Acts 5:20). Let us live every aspect of our lives in the light of the pure Word of God. Clear direction comes from a total acknowledgement of Him “in all our ways” (Prov. 3:5-6). “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (Col. 4:5). “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15).
Let our chief concerns be harmonized with God’s concerns. Let His burdens be our burdens. For I know this to be true: in committing our lives to the absolute Lordship of Christ, there can be no tactics of accommodation.
September 25, 2004
David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book is Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.